Chapter Two – Journey to the lost city
The sky was clear, the sun glistening off the metallic paint of the Celsius and the crew were optimistic about their first real mission since the disbandment of the Gullwings.
"We shall be arriving in the Zanarkand area within 15 minutes" announced the pilot, Brother watching like a hawk over his shoulder.
"Hmmm maybe I'll change my outfit before we land" pondered Rikku and without any further hesitation, she nodded to herself and skipped out towards her private quarters.
"Honestly" said Brother, "When will that girl learn that real heroics don't come down to what you're wearing. What happened to the good old days of plain old combat".
"I reckon one day we'll take fighting to a new level. I foresee wars, giant weapons operated by magical powers and the return of powerful Aeons!" said Shinra.
"Ha, you and your imagination, and I suppose we'll be flying around in outer space too ya?" joked Brother.
Shinra rued not being taken seriously just because he was young and naive.
"Actually it's funny you should say that because…"
"We are approaching Zanarkand sir" interrupted the pilot.
Brother hopped over to the seat to the right, completely disregarding the fact that Shinra was about to set him straight. "Prepare for landing" he announced, "All crew members to your positions".
After the necessary landing procedures had been performed, the crew made there was to the exit joined by Rikku who was now sporting blue hot pants and a revealing white top. Brother shook his head in disagreement with this attire.
Upon exiting the ship, the crew were met by another group of people standing next to another Airship. It was the Machine faction lead by Gippal (a former candidate of the Crimson squad).
"Good day Gullwings. I can only assume that you are here on similar business to us?"
"Yeh and we're not Gullwings anymore, we're the Saints!" exclaimed Rikku, with a proud look on her face.
"Fascinating", remarked Gippal as he walked over to meet Brother.
"We have had reports of unusual seismic activity in this area and have been sent to aid your investigations into the matter".
"Hang on a minute, why have you been sent here? I thought you dealt primarily in machina research?" said Shinra. Gippal looked flustered to be questioned by such a youthful yet curious young man.
"My my" He said, "Aren't you a curious young clam. The machine faction has the right to investigate possible routes of new technology and I have always been interested about this particular area…what's your name young sir?"
"The names Shinra... Rufus Shinra"
"Nice to meet you Master Shinra, I have heard of your technological prowess with the Al Bhed…have you ever thought about joining the Machine faction?" asked Gippal.
"I never thought about it no…" he replied. Gippal smiled and leaned closer to Shinra, "think about it" he said, "Now then on to business, lets head over here, it seems to be the source of the anomaly".
Gippal lead both organisations over a hill past the ruins of a small house to find a large crack in the ground.
"Phewweee, it just goes on forever an ever" said Rikku as she leaned over to take a look down the crevice. Nippal was huddled with a group of Machine faction members who were all studying small pieces of machina that were emitting all sorts of strange noises.
"Interesting, we are receiving an immensely high energy reading from this cave" said Nippal.
"And what exactly does that mean?" asked Brother.
"It means…"
"It means that there is some kind of energy source down there isn't there!? Perhaps ancient machina preserved since the destruction of Zanarkand!?" Said Shinra, interrupting Nippal.
"Good observation Master Shinra but these readings are off the chart. Whatever's down there is pure energy…with astonishingly larger readings than that of normal machina. We need a sample to send back to our labs".
"And then what happens?" asked Brother.
"Well…we'll wait to see what Professor Mako has to say".