Disclaimer: The characters of Freelancer and FFX are wholly owned by Microsoft Studios and Square-Enix.
Author's note: the names: Juni, Trent, and Tobias are just place holders from the Freelancer universe, they mean nothing in the story.
Drunken Bar Fight
"Tell me," Juni said sternly.
"I'm not sure I really want to," replied a sheepish Rikku. "We're all still kinda embarrassed by it."
"Tell me or I'm leaving." The threat was genuine. For the past hour, Juni had been entertaining a drink while listening to Rikku blab on and on about miscellaneous things, and the conversation had begun to wind down. She was beginning to think about talking to Tobias (or, Fayth forbid, Trent) instead when Rikku popped an interesting tidbit into the conversation, but refused to tell about it.
"Oh, all right."
****************
It was a magnificent evening in Luca. The sun shone a deep crimson, and its reflection moved playfully in the water by the shore. Boats rocked back and fourth along the docks, and various personal aircraft were parked along the boardwalk. The city lights winked on and off, reminiscent of old Zanarkand. But the streets, oddly enough, held few people.
Suddenly, a squadron of five regal looking aircraft few overhead in a delta formation, framing a large, motorcycle shaped craft painted bright red. Canisters dropped form the large craft, and floated in midair for a split second before detonating themselves into thousands of sparkling shards, floating slowly to the ground. A heavily accented Al Bhed voice screamed over a loudspeaker "Famlusa, uha yht ymm du dra vacdejedeac! Welcome the one and the all to here festivitals!" On the streets of Luca, hundreds of thousands of people cheered for the start of the third annual Lucan Eternal Calm Festival.
A few hours later, and the celebration was clearly not going to stop till noon the next day. People cheering in the streets, drinking various alcoholic beverages while singing the Hymn of the Fayth off key, and Lucan police dragging off the really impaired were the predominant activities of the night.
In the massive Lucan convention center, a hyperactive, wide eyed Al Bhed in revealing clothing was simultaneously munching a large cookie and poking her head into the many stores that lined the two sides of the convention center's octagonal corridor.
"Rikku, are you going to buy anything?" Rikku turned around to see a very irritated young woman dressed in black leather.
"It's called window shopping, Paine. You search around for the clothes you want, and when you find a good bargain, then you buy it. Not that you would understand; you never change your clothes. I mean, who goes around wearing all black…" Rikku immediately stopped speaking when she saw the look she was getting from Lulu. Now silent, but still hyperactive, Rikku bounded out of the shop and continued down the corridor. Lulu and Paine followed, with Tidus, Yuna and Wakka bringing up the rear. Tidus struggled with all the bizarre junk he bought, and Yuna taking the time to greet passersby while Wakka carried all her bizarre junk, simply given to her by shop owners.
As Rikku rounded a corner, a cocky, suave, but nonetheless infuriating voice (at least to her) sounded in her ear.
"Well, if it isn't Cid's girl! How've ya been?"
Rikku turned her head to see a young, spiky-haired Al Bhed smiling at her.
"Gippal? I thought you were in Home!"
"Eh, Home's celebration's the same each year. Me and the boys here thought we'd take a trip down to Luca to see how things are done here." Gippal motioned to his companions, which, as Rikku saw, included not only his Machine Faction friends, but Nooj, Baralai, and even LeBlanc and her ever-present companions, Logos and Ormi.
One of Gippal's companions (Rin, or something?) stood up. "Hey, how's about we get the High Summoner and her guardians over here for a few rounds, eh?"
"I don't think that's such a good idea," warned Lulu, but before she could go on, Tidus had already broke into a run, deposited his stuff on a counter, and plopped himself onto a stool.
"All right! A bar!"
"I'm assuming that people from Besaid don't go barhopping very often," Gippal commented while looking at the very excited Tidus. "I would go as far as to say that you don't even drink on that island of yours."
"Hey, I'm willing to bet that they wouldn't even last three rounds before passing out!" That comment was from Rin, and it stirred up Rikku's competitiveness.
"Oh yeah? I'm also willing to bet: that my man Tidus can top any one of your drinking records!" Rikku wrapped her arm around the shoulder of a very confused Tidus.
"Okay, let's bet." The always business minded and equally competitive Rin proclaimed. "One side verses the other. Last team standing is the winner. Loser pays 100 Gil to each of the winners."
"Deal!" Rikku literally jumped up in the air, eager to take on another challenge.
"Rikku, are you sure this is a good idea? There are nine of them, and only six of us. Plus I don't think Yuna's even drank before," a still confused, but now a little nervous Tidus told her.
"Actually, it'll be less six people," a frowning Lulu stepped out. "I'm not one to get go and make a complete fool of myself." She stared at Rikku for the last part of the sentence.
Rikku, ignoring Lulu, turned back to Tidus. "Don't worry. I'm sure Baralai hasn't touched the stuff either. The only one's who look like big drinkers are Gippal and Ormi." She ran back to the rest of her group. "Yunie, Paine, Wakka, you in?"
Wakka flashed a big smile before sitting down beside Tidus. Both Paine and Yuna looked reluctant.
"Come on, Dr. P! It's your old Crimsom Squad buddies!" Getting no reaction, Rikku continued to pester her. "Lighten up! This is a celebration, and you're the only one without a smile on your face (well, except Lulu)!"
"Oh, all right!" Paine walked past Rikku and seated herself besides Baralai. Rikku looked back at Yuna.
"Okay, if everyone else is doing it…I guess." Yuna grabbed a chair beside Wakka. Lulu promptly sat down on a park bench in the middle of the corridor. This should be amusing, she thought.
Gippal grinned. "Barkeep! A round of Sake for everyone here!"
****************
An hour later, and everyone was holding onto the counter, attempting to right themselves while continuing to drink. Gippal, Paine, Logos, and (strangely enough) Baralai were holding their own (but still very drunk), while Wakka, Tidus and Rikku could barely hold themselves up. Yuna had already turned several shades of green.
"Bartender! Another round of Sake!" shouted Baralai.
"Sir, do you think that's such a good idea?" the barkeep replied.
"Do you know who I am?" Unfortunately for Baralai, the combination of his threat and the way he was sitting made him look so outrageous that even Paine had to smirk.
"Fine. You'll all be sorry in the morning." The bartender fell silent once again and poured another round.
Rikku began to stare at Tidus, confusing him with Gippal due to her blurred vision and bad judgement. I've never noticed how attractive he looked… She bent over to kiss him.
In a blinding flash of light Yuna pounced on her, forcing Rikku off her barstool and onto the ground, her drink splattering all over Paine.
"How dare you try to kiss MY boyfr…" Yuna screamed, but suddenly realized she had more important matters, and proceeded to vomit twelve rounds of drinks onto LeBlanc.
"MY DRESS!!! You'll pay for this! Ormi, Logos, get her!"
"No." LeBlanc turned to see a determined, out-of-balance Logos. "I've had it with your orders and demands and your whiney voice and your…" Ormi, still loyal to his mistress, pounced on him, and LeBlanc went back to going after Yuna.
Meanwhile, Rikku looked up at Paine. Even through her alcohol-induced haze, she could still see the violent red glow of her enraged eyes. Rikku smiled sheepishly.
"THAT WAS YOUR LAST RESPECT POINT!!!" Paine snarled, before beginning to pound the living daylights out of Rikku.
"Dear! Stop it; you're causing a scene!" Nooj yelled over LeBlanc, who was now struggling with both an overprotective Tidus and vengeful Yuna.
"Shut up!" The voice came from Baralai. "You're making my headache get worse!"
"We'll see how bad it can get, Yevon boy!"
Gippal, sensing danger in the air, attempted to get out with Rin, their companions, and the barkeep, but were pulled back into the tangled mass of tangled drunks.
Lulu was lying on the park bench, laughing till she was teary-eyed, when she noticed that things had gotten out of hand. She took several steps towards the glass window of the bar, when suddenly Wakka lept out of the fight and pressed his face against the window.
"Lu, get the police!" he called out, before being dragged back into the fight.
****************
Rikku didn't know if she was actually awake. Her entire body felt numb, all except her head, which felt like it was about to give birth to a Chocoboo. Maybe Sin stepped on me, she thought, before she began to remember the events that transpired the previous night. Wait… this isn't the bar. Where is…
Her train of thought shattered when she saw what appeared to be a row of bars. Looking around, she saw that Wakka, Yuna, Tidus and Paine were in the jail cell with her, and LeBlanc, her henchmen and the Machine faction slept in a nearby cell.
"Rumo Cred!"
She crawled (the numbness had gone away, and was replaced with horrible pain) towards her sleeping cousin, and gently shook her, calling: "Yunie, Yunie…"
"What..." Yuna moaned softly. "My head…where are we Rikku?" Rikku motioned to the cell doors.
"HOLY FAYTH!!!" Yuna's scream was even louder than Rikku's, causing Tidus and Paine to stir. In the adjacent cell, LeBlanc had begun to utter a long chain of obscenities.
A motion caught Rikku's peripheral motion. She walked to the door of their prison to find Lulu, sitting on a chair cross-legged, with the day's newspaper in her lap. At once all the power of her headache converted to pure anger, and she screamed at the top of her lungs: "Get us out of here!"
Lulu calmly looked up from her newspaper, and slowly directed her attention to enraged, but still very hung over Rikku. "As soon as I get the bail money."
"And when will that be?"
A tiny hint of a smile formed on Lulu's face, a byproduct of her twisted sense of humour. "In a couple of days. I have to go back to Besaid, you know."
Rikku's face would have turned white if it wasn't already pale green from previous night. Visibly shaking, she reverted to her native tounge: "Tyoc?! E's vysuic! E lyh'd kad ynnacdat..."
Yuna, eventually figuring out what was going on, crawled over to where the two other women were arguing. "Lulu, isn't that a little too…" A sudden thought struck her. "Lulu! What about the media?"
Lulu's smile grew wider. "They want to ask you a few questions as soon as you get out. Here, see for yourself." She handed the paper to Yuna, who squinted in an attempt to try to read through the fog of hangover.
"High Summoner and Guardians battle New Yevon and Youth League in Eternal Calm Festival Barroom Brawl." Yuna buried her face in the newspaper. "How am I going to get out of this one?"
Lulu got up, and began walking towards the building's main door. "I'll be taking my leave; I have to get the money." She stopped and turned to face them one last time. "Let this be a lesson to all of you." She smiled to herself once more before heading out the door. As the opening to the cells closed, she could hear the string of insults Rikku was giving her.
"Fryd ec drec, cusa cund uv bnyldelym zuga? Fyed, frana yna oui kuehk! Lusa pylg, fedlr fusyh! E'mm kad oui vun drec! E'mm kad oui vun drec!"
****************
"I once heard a rumour about the fight! I thought it was just that; a rumour!"
Rikku, satisified with her companion's response, replied: "Well, Lulu managed to keep the media attention to a minimum (Juni decided that, knowing Lulu, she didn't want to know how), but we were still hounded for weeks on end. Eventually, I did get back at her, though."
To Rikku's surprise, Juni chuckled.
"The High Summoner gets that much media attention because of a drunken brawl like that?" She said, "The gang and I used to get into so much more trouble. Why once…"