Scenario:Chichiri - A Burning Fear
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A Burning Fear
Zhuque suddenly appears in front of Chichiri as she wallows in the forest, and the crew make it just in time to drive the bird off. Chichiri tells the crew that her fear of Zhuque is the reason why she has yet to defeat it. After a pep talk, she realizes confronting fear is the only way to protect what's important, and decides to face the bird again.
Moments earlier, Chichiri had left the crew at the training grounds to be alone for bit.
She takes a seat in the forest, hugging her knees and crying softly to herself.
Chichiri: Sniff... I'm such a loser... So pathetic...
Chichiri: Everything bad that's happened is a result of my namby-pamby ways...
Chichiri: I'm happy (Captain) and the others see me as someone who's better than that, but I...
Chichiri: ...
Vyrn: Makes sense to me. She's got a mean glare that stops Zhuque in its tracks.
Chichiri: I wha?
Chichiri: That's not true, Vyrn. Actually, I lost consciousness...
Chichiri: Happens every time I face Zhuque. The beast scares me so badly I end up fainting. I have no idea how I ever make it back alive.
Chichiri: And then there was that incident where I...
Chichiri: Urk...
Chichiri: ...!
Take it back, (Captain)! Catch!
Take it back, (Captain)! Catch!
Chichiri: I thought I'd gotten lucky when the yupei fell into my lap without me having to lift a finger...
Chichiri: Then the second I touched it, Zhuque's scary eyes were glaring right at me!
Chichiri: Ugh, makes me never wanna touch the yupei again...
Chichiri: And how come Zhuque only gets serious when it fights us Saints! That's so not fair!
Chichiri: Sniff... Well, doesn't matter anyway... I can talk a big game about wanting to win all I want; that doesn't change the fact that I'm a wuss.
Chichiri: Waaah! I'm so sorry, Grampy...
Chichiri: I can't beat Zhuque... I'm too scared... Some Saint I turned out to be!
Chichiri: Ugh... Dang, darn, drat! I suck!
Chichiri crosses her legs so that she can squeeze a pressure point on the sole of her foot.
An intense wave of pain meant to clear her mind floods her body, but it fails to wash away her morosity.
Chichiri: Aagh... Ouch, that hurts... Great, now my body hurts and I still feel sorry for myself.
Chichiri: I wish you were still here, Grampy... Sniff... Ow...
Chichiri: ...!
Chichiri suddenly gets goosebumps. She pops to her feet and flees from where she'd been sitting.
Had the young girl not escaped in time, she would've been incinerated by a dazzling rain of ominous fiery feathers.
Chichiri: H-huh?
Zhuque: ...
Chichiri: What are you doing here! You're only supposed to ever show up on that wandering island of yours!
Chichiri: Is it me you're after? Is that why?
Zhuque: ...!
Chichiri: Wait, wait, wait! I'm in no state of mind to fight you right now! Stop! Go away!
The normally self-confident Chichiri, who laughs in the face of danger with inflated swagger, is nowhere to be found.
In her place is a Chichiri who's reeling from self-pity and self-doubt.
Zhuque: ...!
Chichiri: Noooo! I said stop it! Shoo!
Lyria: Chichiri!
Chichiri: ...!
Vyrn: Do it, (Captain)!
In a repeat of how the crew had come to meet Chichiri, (Captain) steps in front of the stricken girl and hits Zhuque with a mighty slash.
Zhuque: ...
Chichiri: Gasp...
The blazing beast fires off a piercing stare at Chichiri before flying away.
Lyria: Are you okay, Chichiri?
Chichiri: Y-yeah... Totally peachy! Thanks a bunch!
Vyrn: Then how come you're crying?
Chichiri: Wh-what! This? Just got some soot in my eyes!
Lyria: We're sorry, Chichiri. To be honest, we know about everything...
Chichiri: What?
(Captain) explains what the old man from town had told them.
Chichiri: B-busted...
Chichiri: It's all out in the open then, huh?
Chichiri: Gah! Does that mean everyone in town knows my secret? Craaap! My life is over!
Chichiri: The whole sky knows I'm a super-duper good-for-nothing, dum-dum crybaby who fails at everything she's ever done...
Vyrn: Whoa, calm down. C'mon, nobody said that. The old guy just said fear turns you into a crybaby...
Chichiri: Sob... Waaah!
Lyria: I-I'm sure he didn't mean anything bad by it! All of the townspeople are simply worried about you.
Chichiri: Sniffle... It's hard to feel good about myself when the entire community knows I pass out every time I face Zhuque.
Vyrn: Huh? You do?
Chichiri: Bleh. Me and my big mouth...
Chichiri: Sigh...
Chichiri plops down hard on the ground, having resigned herself to the situation.
Chichiri: Guess you're pretty disappointed in me now that you know what a shrimpy-wimp I am.
Vyrn: Surprised? A little. Disappointed? No way! Doesn't change the fact that you're a real trouper!
Lyria: That's right! Despite your traumatic experiences, you're still determined to complete your duty!
Chichiri: You guys are too nice...
Chichiri: Ugh. I can't do it though. I honestly can't. Zhuque frightens me too much.
Chichiri: Something about its eyes—the way they bore into me—chills me to the bone.
Vyrn: Are you haunted by what happened to your Grampy?
Chichiri: Well, there's that too. But the thing is...
Chichiri: Grampy, Mama, Papa, Great-Grampy, and my ancestors before them... Each and every one of 'em feared Zhuque.
Lyria: Oh?
Chichiri gently rubs a crystal growing on her body.
Chichiri: It started a long, long time ago when one of my ancestors lost to Zhuque.
Chichiri: Ever since then, when inheriting the duty of being a Saint, it also came with a crippling fear of Zhuque. That's why we can't win.
Chichiri: Well, there's also the problem of Zhuque supercharging itself whenever it encounters us Saints, but our fear is the biggest hurdle.
Chichiri: We always falter when it counts. Even Grampy couldn't shake off the shakes when he fought Zhuque.
Vyrn: I had no idea...
Chichiri: It's not about how many hours I put into training. Doesn't even matter if I gain the strength to destroy a fully powered Zhuque!
Chichiri: This fear can never be erased.
Chichiri: Just thinking about the beast is bad enough!
Chichiri: Sniff... Yeah, I know... It's stupid to be afraid.
Lyria: Mm-hm. Fear is a completely normal emotion.
Lyria: Everyone is afraid of something! In my case, I have a hard time dealing with ghosts and dark places.
Chichiri: Yeah, ghosts are pretty spooky too, though they're downright cuddly compared to Zhuque...
Lyria: You think so?
Chichiri: When I was a kid, I would've ranked 'em at the same scariness level.
Vyrn: But you can tolerate ghosts now? Did that come with age, or...
Chichiri: Hmm... I wanna say it's thanks to Grampy.
Chichiri: So this one time I had to use a road that was said to be haunted. There was no way around it.
Chichiri: My legs wouldn't stop shaking. Couldn't even stand up. That's how scared I was.
Lyria: Oh dear... I would have been a nervous wreck too...
Chichiri: Grampy came to my rescue by carrying me on his back. That's when I noticed that he was shaking too.
Chichiri: I heard the quiver in his voice every time he tried to calm me down. Yet despite his own shrimpy-wimpiness, he forced himself to spring into action for my sake.
Chichiri: I realized that him being scared didn't diminish his awesomeness one bit.
Chichiri: It helped to calm me down.
Choose: See? Nothing wrong with being afraid.
Chichiri: Huh?
Vyrn: Like Lyria said, everyone's got a fear of somethin'. Doesn't have to be ghosts—could be monsters, or whatever you're fighting.
Vyrn: (Captain) was shakin' like crazy when you two were sparring.
Chichiri: Toughy-woughy (Captain)? No way...
The captain confirms how nerve-racking fighting Chichiri had been, for any slip in concentration on the captain's part would've spelled doom.
Vyrn: Our crew's tackled boatloads of crazy baddies, and anyone who says they ain't scared is a liar.
Chichiri: Is that so... Then why keep fighting if you're scared?
Lyria: To protect what's important.
Chichiri: To protect?
Lyria: Like what your grandfather did. He persevered because he wanted to protect you.
Vyrn: He carried you past the ghosts because he knew you were afraid.
Vyrn: So there's nothing wrong with being scared. You shouldn't have to force yourself to change.
Vyrn: What matters is managing that fear and finding a reason to confront it. Does that make sense?
Chichiri: ...
Chichiri: Yeah, guess being afraid isn't all that weird. People still find the strength to press on despite their fears.
Chichiri: Hm... And Zhuque?
Lyria: What about it?
Chichiri: When I held the yupei in my hand this morning, I got jump scared by Zhuque's face suddenly popping into my head.
Vyrn: Ah, so that's why you chucked it back at (Captain).
Chichiri: Yeah, it spooked me good. But thanks to the pep talk you guys gave me, looking back on that vision of Zhuque's face, I think I noticed something.
The puzzled crew members stare at Chichiri quizzically, but the Saint is lost in her own thoughts at the moment.
Zhuque: ...
Chichiri: (Are you afraid of something too? Do you have something you want to protect like we do?)
Chichiri: (Why do you seem so desperate?)
Chichiri: (Captain), can you hand me the yupei? Something tells me I can handle it this time.
(Captain) shows Chichiri the yupei, and she reaches out to take it.