Decided to update on this while me and Shadoobie work on Divine Comedy. Give you something to read.

Chapter 3: Love in All the Wrong Places

"Hold on, girls," Rikku shouted. "This is going to be a bumpy landing." Her hover car was currently on a crash course for Kilika Port, but Rikku had enough control over it to make a rough landing on the outskirts of the forest. Rikku sat up and fanned the smoke away from her face.

"You girls alright?" she asked.

"I think I'm gonna hurl," Ria said before leaning over the side over the car and making her prediction come true.

"What happened?" Lucia asked.

Rikku hopped out of the car and looked underneath. "I think maybe the coil limiter rubbed up against the tow case. Anyone and their brother would know that that would cause the limiter to overheat, starting a chain reaction that would shut down the central propulsion hub and open all exhaust flaps to let the smoke out. And with no centrifugal force in the hub, there's no power to the hover field projectors. That's why we lost altitude. But I can't understand how the coil limiter worked its way around the crystal pitch aligner to even get close to the tow case."

"Wait a minute, Grandma," Ria said wiping her mouth. "Even if the coil limiter rubbed up against the tow case, it'd have to do so for about four seconds to overheat to the point of hub shutdown. And besides, it would only shut down the upper hub. We would still have enough energy to the projectors to maintain altitude. I think it's…yeah, here's your problem." Ria reached under the car and tinkered about. "The limiter rubbed up against the way gate. And since the way gate puts off a lot of heat anyways, even the slightest contact would cause the limiter to overheat. I'd say you need a way dampener and a couple limiter cradles to fix this. Wouldn't you girls say so?" Ria looked over at Elayn and Lucia.

"Just nod and agree with her," Elayn said. Lucia gladly complied.

"This isn't just a patch up job, Ria," Rikku said. "I don't think Kilika carries those kinds of parts. I may have to call New Home and have them deliver some. But I'm not even sure the Commsphere network still works out on Bikanel. And what with it being sandstorm season and all… We may be stuck here a few days."

"What do we do until you get the car fixed?" Elayn asked.

"You may have to stay with Dona for a while until I get this thing fixed."

"Dona?" Lucia asked.

"Old friend of Yuna's. She'd be happy to take you in while I get this thing fixed."

"I'll help, Grandma!" Ria said.

"Glad to hear it, Ria," Rikku said, wiping the grease from her hands. "But you go and have fun with your friends. This may take a while. Enjoy the downtime."

"Okay, Grandma," Ria said with a pout.


"Why do we have to stop in Kilika?" Andre asked as he walked with his hands behind his head.

"Because this is the closest town to Besaid," Saito explained. "Surely some of these people have heard of a Summoner passing through her. Though they haven't seen one in close to 40 years. Summoners stick out in a crowd. This one will especially, since whoever it is carries one of the Guardian Aeons."

"You sure he'll have the grand entourage that you think?" Kellee asked.

"We don't know if the Summoner is a he or a she, but in any case, he should. All I know is that the summoner will stick out in…a…crowd…" Saito slowed his speech as he saw someone across the waters.

She had flowing brown hair, wore tight clothing that showed off her figure. When she turned to her friends he saw that she had one green and one blue eye. She had a great smile, too. And she appeared to be about his age.

"Saito?" Andre said, waving a hand in front of the warrior's face. "Hello? What you lookin at?" Andre looked across the water at the girl that had caught Saito's eye. "Oh, that? Give it up, man. Girls are nothing but trouble."

"What was that?" Kellee asked.

"Except you Kellee," Andre said, turning to her. "You're no trouble at all. In fact, you never fail to bring a smile to my face."

"That's what I thought," Kellee said, walking off in a huff.

"At least she left," Andre said. "As I was saying…" Andre turned, but Saito was nowhere to be found. "Oh, yeah, that's right," he said, exasperated. "Just leave me here!"


"Where should we go first, Elayn?" Ria asked as they walked down the boardwalk.

"I don't know," she said. "I've never been to Kilika before. Maybe we should…" Her stomach gurgled. She put a hand against it and blushed. "Eat?"

"Sounds good," Lucia said. "My grandma said that there's a place down here that makes the best milkshakes this side of Guadosalam."

"Cool!" Ria shouted. "Let's go!"

They made their way through the crowds and eventually came to a long bar made out of surfboards. Behind it was a group of people running grills, taking order, and running ice cream machines. It was fairly slow today, so there were only about two or three people at the bar, and about five at tables. The girls sat down and grabbed a few menus. As they looked through them, Lucia saw someone over at one of the tables looking at them, specifically Elayn.

"Someone's eyeballing you, Layny," she said.

"Who?" She started looking around until Lucia grabbed her head and jammed it into her menu.

"Don't look around you idiot," Lucia hissed. "Act nonchalant. Act like you don't notice him and he might come ever here."

"'He?'" Elayn asked. "A guy's looking at me? Why?"

"Oh, I don't know," Ria said. "Because guys are attracted to girls, maybe? And you just happen to be a girl."

"I know that, Ria," Elayn said. "But why would a guy be interested in me?"

"Let's find out, shall we?" Lucia said with a sinister grin on her face. "Ria and I have decided that we want to eat lunch at a table." Lucia stood and walked off. "Let's go, Ria."

"Bye, Layny," Ria said, as she followed Lucia to one of the tables.

"What?" Elayn watched them go. "You guys can't just leave me here like this!"

"Friends ditch you?" she heard from behind her. She turned around and saw a handsome young man wearing black robes, had black hair tied behind his head, and bright blue eyes. Frankly, Elayn thought he was gorgeous.

"Y-yeah, they did," Elayn managed to mutter. The young man sat down next to her and she felt her face get hot. She must have looked as red as the Celsius.

"My cohorts are off on their own, as well. Why don't we eat lunch together and enjoy each others company?" he asked.

"Uh…okay," Elayn said, her blush caught on her face.

They sat and talked for a while, and Elayn started to get more comfortable with him. His name was Saito and he was in Kilika on business with two of his friends. Elayn actually found herself liking him.

"But what business is there in Kilika? There's not much here to do, other than relax."

"Our actual business is in Besaid. We're to find someone. A Summoner. We hear that High Summoner Yuna lives there, so there must be some good Summoners on Besaid."

"Uh, yeah, sure," Elayn said, the blush creeping back on her face. "But what do you need a Summoner for?"

"We, uh, our boss wants to learn more about summoning," Saito stuttered, "so he sent us to find Lady Yuna and see if she could tutor him." Nice save, he thought.

"Oh, okay." Elayn stood up, hoping to hide her blush from Saito. "I should probably be going, now."

"Wait, Elayn," Saito said. Elayn looked back at him. "How long are you staying here in Kilika?"

"About three days," she said. "Why?"

"Could I see you again?"

Elayn looked away and thought about it. A smile sprang to her face and she looked back at Saito. "Sure. Okay, I'd like that."

Saito smiled back but cast a strange look over Elayn's shoulder when he heard two girls chanting over and over, "Layny's got a boyfriend! Layny's got a boyfriend!"

Elayn picked up a salt shaker and chucked it right at Ria and Lucia. "Shut up! He's not my…boy...friend," she said, looking back at Saito.

Saito looked at Elayn and then put his hands up. "You're absolutely right. We just met."


"We'd better get out of here before Layny gets really mad," Lucia said after narrowly dodging the salt shaker.

"Yeah, before she throws the pepper and the sugar."

Ria and Lucia walked across the boardwalk, leaving Elayn to contend with Saito. While captivated by a necklace at a shop, Ria accidentally walked into someone. The red-headed girl dropped the portable game player she was fiddling with and fell to the ground.

"Hey," she said in a pathetic voice. "What'd you do that for?"

"I'm really sorry about that," Ria said. "I wasn't watching and…holy crack!" Ria grabbed the game player from the ground and looked at the screen. "You have Super Turbo Chocobo Knights IV: Curse of the Silver Feather? This game doesn't come out for at least another week. Where'd you get it?"

"My boss gave it to me as a birthday present. He can do stuff like that because he's just that influential."

"Oh, cool," Ria said. "I've been researching codes for this game for months. Did you know you can get infinite feather points by entering the code FEATHERDUSTER at the temple?"

"No I didn't," the girl said. "Thanks! Oh, my name's Kellee, by the way."

"I'm Ria. What other games do you have?"

"I have…" Kellee dug through a bag at her side. "Chocomon Silver Version, Sphere Hunter EX, Extreme Blitzball 360, and I think I have The Second Sin somewhere."

"I'm gonna leave you two alone to nerd out over your games," Lucia said.

Lucia walked off on her own, leaving Ria and Kellee to freak out over their games. It was a few minutes later that Lucia discovered that she was bored. She walked over to the pier and sat down next to the water. She looked at the water roll under the docks and sighed.

"Friends ditch you, too?" she heard from behind her. She turned to find a man wearing red shorts and sporting the wildest purple mane she had ever seen.

"How'd you know?" she asked.

"Animal instinct. And that's the same way I looked when my friends ditched me."

"Oh…"

"You summon any?"

"A little. I like bird summons the most, though. I just like the freedom of riding the wind. I sometimes envy birds. They get to feel so free. I want that feeling, too." Lucia laughed a little and looked up at the man. "I must sound really pathetic right now."

"You don't. I summon myself. Beasts, mostly. I like the freedom that animals have. They have so much less to worry about than us humans. I admire them." He stuck out his hand. "Name's Andre. And who might this beautiful bird be?"

Lucia took his hand and introduced herself. "But I'm no beautiful bird, more like an ugly duckling."

"That will soon become a beautiful swan, if you remember the story correctly." Lucia blushed. "You know what you need?" Andre asked. "A good summoner's battle. You and me."

"That sounds good," Lucia said. "The only one I've had to spar with has a pathetic little Aeon that only knows defensive spells."

"Great. Meet me by the forest tomorrow."


Later that night, the girls met outside of Dona's home. The years had been kind to her, but not so kind that she could still escape modesty. She wore a brown and black dress and stood in the doorway to greet the girls. After they pulled out a few mattresses, the girls settled down to sleep.

"So, Elayn," Lucia said. "Do you like that guy?"

"Who? Saito?"

"Is that his name?" Ria asked. "Weird…"

"He's not weird," Elayn said.

"So you like him?" Lucia asked again.

Elayn blushed. "Yes…" she said meekly.

"Layny's got a…" Ria began to chant before she got a pillow stuffed into her face.

"Can it, Ria!" Elayn said.

The girls had a short pillow fight, but soon, Dona quieted them down. They turned out the lights and soon, they all fell asleep.


A great serpent rose from the waters. It glared down at Elayn with piercing yellow eyes. The waves before her began to crash more and more violently on the shore. She tried to run, but found that she was frozen in place. The serpent slithered closer and closer to her, but stopped and looked to the sky. Elayn looked up and saw a beautiful garden hanging in the sky. A beautiful light shone from it.

From behind the garden, a flying ship dropped from the sky and skimmed the water far to Elayn's left. It looked like it had a dragon's head on the front of it and a large propeller on its back. The serpent never took its eyes off of the ship. It flew into the horizon and past a line of soldiers. Elayn counted and saw 13 knights walking towards them. The one in the middle drew its sword and yelled something Elayn couldn't understand. The other knights drew their weapons, spears, halberds, staves, and axes, and broke into a run. The serpent hissed and slithered towards the knights.


Elayn sat up and put a hand to her forehead. It was a dream. She understood that, but it looked and felt all too real. She stood and got dressed. Ria and Lucia soon followed. They all walked outside and went their separate ways. Elayn and Saito were meeting for breakfast, Lucia and Andre walked towards the forest for their battle, and Ria and Kellee decided to go exploring in the temple.

Elayn and Saito sat down at a table and ordered. They talked about Elayn's life on Besaid, her friend's summoning training. She left out that she couldn't summon, despite the fact that she possessed a Guardian Aeon. The more they talked to each other, the more the seemed to like each other.

Saito told Elayn that he was a summoner himself and that he possessed the Aeon, Yojimbo. Elayn knew this Aeon because her grandmother had once summoned him.

"Do you still have to pay him?" Elayn asked.

"Pay him what?"

"Grandma Yuna said that she had to pay Yojimbo to get him to fight."

"I've made a deal with Yojimbo," Saito said. "I fight alongside him, and he doesn't ask for payment."

"I thought that summoning drained the summoner to the point where they couldn't fight."

Saito smiled. "You underestimate my skills." And when I find the summoner of the Guardian Aeon, I'll show him exactly what I can do.

Meanwhile, on Besaid…

Lulu glanced at the board. "Crap," she said as she bit her thumb. "You took my knight."

Paine smiled. "The first kill of the game."

Wakka looked at the two of them incredulously. "You two have been playing for two days and you've only made…what? Five, maybe six moves?"

"Chess is a game for thinkers, my dear husband," Lulu said. "Both of us are very deadly and calculating. We analyze the outcomes of ten moves before we make one. This is a very even match."

"That, and I think Lulu's stalling," Paine said. Lulu shot a death glare at the other woman. But being this close to death made Paine immune to the death glare. Wakka walked off exasperated and they continued playing.

FDB: Something tells me that whenever Lulu and Paine finish this game of chess, there will be hell to pay. Have a serious case of writers block concerning Divine Comedy. Hoping to post a new chapter on that before the New Year. Well, I leave you all with the same requests as always. Review!