AN: I do not own FFX-2 or the characters in it...yada yada yada. Well, the formalities are out of the way. :D
I wrote this story especially for a contest hosted by the Leblanc Syndicate fan group on Deviantart. It's my first L.O.L fic (well in this case O.L. haha). Reviews and constructive criticism welcome. Please enjoy ^_^
The rotund henchman put his hand to his chest and inhaled sharply, completely out of breath from hiking to the summit of Mount Gagazet. The mountain had usually proven to be a promising site for sphere hunting. However, The Syndicate was having a minor setback courtesy of a rival sphere hunting party. The day was spent searching to no avail until The Boss had officially declared the mission a flop, dismissing everyone until further notice.
Huffing and puffing, the goon sprawled onto an inviting boulder. Snow ceaselessly fell and the wind was picking up. There was a terrible throbbing pain in his feet and his face was growing numb from the coldness; yet nothing was going to stop him from reaching his destination. He unstrapped the satchel that was attached to his back and began digging through it.
Though random odds and ends seemed to dominate the bag, he finally found what he was looking for. Triumph spread over his face as he held a beautiful red apple in his hand. This particularly exquisite piece of fruit was hand selected from the Syndicate's fruit table; it had taken him ten minutes to find the perfect one. Breathing on it ever so lightly he shined it with his sleeve, licked his lips, and prepared to feast.
"Ormi!"
Startled, the henchman tossed his beautiful apple and it rolled off of the colossal mountain.
He frowned. "Ahh why do yous always gotta sneak up on me, Logos?"
Logos shook his head. "I've been searching for you for over an hour. The Boss has already pressed onto Zanarkand with two she-goons." The tall goon's eyes narrowed, "What are you doing way up here in the peaks, anyway?"
Ormi rubbed the back of his neck. "Well, I...uh...was just looking for spheres..."
"You've always been a terrible liar..."
Ormi stood from his boulder and walked towards the edge of the peak. It was true, he had never been able to keep a secret from Logos; ever since they had been employed with Yevon. He always tried to hide small things. From collecting Blitzball magazines to sleeping on guard duty occasionally. But somehow Logos always busted him. Sighing, he knew he had to come clean about why he was really here.
"Yous remember when I fought the Gullwings here a month ago?"
Logos crossed his arms, a bit frustrated at his round friend. "Vaguely. But what does that have to do with anything..?"
"I'm getting to that.." Ormi insisted, raising his hands in front of him. "See there's a hotspring up there just past them rocks.."
He stopped and bit his lip.
"And..?" Logos demanded.
"And I happen to know theys gonna be bathin' there tonight.." Ormi confessed, his cheeks turning pink.
Logos' eyebrows raised. "Really?" He cleared he throat. "I mean, how do you know that?"
"Before we fought I overheard them talking about how much theys loved the hotspring.." Ormi explained, "And theys agreed to come back once a month to use it. Well, it's been a month since I fought them, right? It only makes sense that they would come back tonight..."
Logos uncrossed his arms. "Yes I suppose it does..." He glanced over his shoulder to make sure they were alone, then looked back at Ormi. "Well, The Boss won't need us until tommorow. We may as well climb the rest of the peak to see if we find anything...interesting."
Ormi grinned. "Yous mean like the Gullwings?"
"I didn't say that.."
Their climb had not been proving to be an effortless one thus far. The rocks were icy which caused the goons to take a couple of nasty spills. Fortunately, they had the right equipment for climbing the icy rocks; a rope from Ormi's satchel and a dagger Logos kept equipped for emergencies. As the wind picked up halfway during their climb they stopped for a break.
"Geez...this..is...tough.." Ormi puffed, collapsing onto the icy surface.
Logos leaned against the icy mountain's wall. "Indeed. But we're halfway through now."
"Yeah.." Ormi grinned, "Almost to the springs..."
Logos pondered this for a moment. The Gullwings would be waiting at the top, soaking in the hotsprings. No doubt they would be wearing swimsuits, maybe even bikinis. The henchman blinked. Then again, it is a hotspring. Who needs a swimsuit? Perhaps they will go au naturel!
Feeling a nosebleed come on as he pictured this, the tall henchman quickly grabbed his nose.
"What's wrong, Logos?" Ormi asked.
"Uh nothing." Logos insisted, still pinching his nose. "Nothing at all."
Ormi crossed his arms. "Then why yous holding your nose all funny like that?"
"Oh drop it, for Yevon's sake, and let's go..."
Fighting against more strong winds and icy rocks, the goons made finally made it to the top. Ormi unwrapped the rope from around his waist and then helped Logos do the same. After sticking the rope back into his satchel, Ormi carefully eyed the top of the peak until he spotted the entrance of the hotsprings.
"There it is.." He said, tugging on Logos' sleeve and pointing. "Can yous see it?"
Logos looked ahead and squinted his narrow eyes until he saw the entrance to a rather isolated looking cave; about seventy five yards away.
"You mean that cave over there?" Logos pointed out.
"Yeah, that's it! The hotsprings are just on the other side of it.." Ormi beamed, "Come on, let's go!"
The two henchman practically began leaping towards the entrance of the cave. The hotsprings were so close they could almost taste them; and they could not get there fast enough. Gullwings, here they come!
After running almost halfway there, a roar came from behind them. Stopping in their tracks, Logos and Ormi reluctantly turned around and found a protochimera staring at them. The center head bare it's teeth at the trespassers; while it's other two heads snarled wickedly.
Ormi looked at his friend. "Well, what do yous think?"
Logos drew his revolvers. "We didn't come all this way to be stopped by a fiend. Kill it.."
"Alright!" Ormi cheered, taking the shield off of his back. "Let's do this!"
Logos fired his weapon, shooting the right head. The fiend howled in pain and Logos fired again; killing the first head. The beast snarled and prepared to charge.
Ormi spun around three times before flinging his large shield at the left head; completely detaching the second head from it's body.
The two henchman glanced at each other. All that was left was the final head; the center. The beast roared violently, threw it's head back, and cast a thunder spell on the larger henchmen.
Ormi groaned but quickly recovered. He retrieved his shield and began to run towards the beast; smashing into it with all of the strength he could muster. The beast collapsed onto the icy ground, weak from the hard hit. Logos quickly shot it between the eyes. The chimera instantly vanished, replaced by hundreds of pyreflies
"Are you alright?" Logos asked.
Ormi huffed. "Yeah..I'm alright. Just need to walk it off.."
"Right. Well, let's walk.."
The cave was a beautiful sight to behold; the walls glowed a brilliant shade of emerald, reflecting onto the icycles that hung from the top. An exit could be seen merely a few feet from where they stood. With a quick glance to each other, they resumed their mission.
Splashing echoed through the passageway to the springs.
"Did yous hear that?" Ormi beamed, "I told ya they was gonna be here.."
Logos quickly raised his hand. "Quiet, you dunce. They'll hear you..."
Logos momentarily pictured the ass-kicking they would surely be delivered if they were caught spying. The Gullwings were not only physically attractive, but they also had crazy good fighting skills. He had experienced firsthand just how tough they really were, more than once.
The goon shook the thought from his head; he did not intend to get caught.
"Over there..." Ormi pointed to a large rock inside of the area where the springs were. "That's where I eavesdr...erm, I mean..overheard The Gullwings..."
He got down on his hands and knees and waited for his partner to do the same. On Logos' signal, they began crawling towards the large rock. The icy ground was cold on their hands and their knees were already sore from the long hike; but the springs were so close now. A little more pain did not matter at this point.
The rock was just large enough for both of them to lean their backs against. Deciding it would be wise to catch their breath, the henchman did just that.
A splash came from behind the rock and the goons glanced at each other anxiously.
"Okay, on the count of three.." Logos whispered, "We will carefully, and QUIETLY, peak over the rock. Are you ready?"
Ormi nodded. "Yeah..start countin'"
"Right." Logos breathed, "ONE.."
Their bodies tensed as they quietly turned around and faced the rock.
"TWO..."
They grasped the top of the rock eagerly. Logos gave Ormi one final nod before saying:
"THREE..."
They silently peered over the rock.
The round henchman's face twisted in horror; his partner's eye began to twitch.
The hotsprings contained three hypellos. The first was spotted in a far corner sleeping as he soaked, while a female hypello was giving what appeared to be a back massage to the third hypello. There was not a piece of clothing to be seen among them.
"Mmmm...that feelsh nishe..." The hypello slumped further down onto the rock he was resting against. "More...more..."
The female sped her massage up, causing the relaxed hypello to let out a rather odd sounding groan.
"Oh yeeeah..." He moaned, "Jusht like that...oh yeeah baby...yoo treat me sho fine.."
Ormi shuddered. He didn't have anything against hypellos, but this was just disturbing. Logos' eye continued to twitch. Sure, he imagined some back rubbing action on his way up here. But this wasn't exactly what he had in mind.
Logos put his hand to his forehead. "Oh, you boob. How did I ever let you talk me into this...?"
"But yous said-"
Logos shook his head. "Never mind. Let's just get out of here...now."
"Yeah.." Ormi sighed, "I'm with yous.."
Looking at the hypellos one more time and shaking their heads, the goons stood up and exited the springs.
"We could have been halfway to Zanarkand by now." Logos mumbled as they walked through the cave. "What a waste of time..."
Ormi slapped his hand on his friend's shoulder. "Ahh come on, Logos. It wasn't all bad.."
"What are you going on about..?"
"I kinda had fun." Ormi chuckled. "And besides there is a bright side to this..."
Logos rolled his eyes. "And what in Yevon's name is that?"
Ormi grinned. "This'll make one helluva story..."