Chapter 3: The Search begins

            The next morning, the whole gang have gathered in front of the temple. They were only waiting for Yuna. Wakka took Tidus aside to hand him something. He showed him a sword with a blue blade. It was as if it was made of solid water with bubbles inside.

            "Wow!" Tidus said swinging it as a try.

            "That's the sword you gave Chappu," Lulu commented.

            Tidus froze and turned to her.

            "Well, he never used it," Wakka said scratching the back of his head. "Might as well be put to some use, ya? I'm sure he would have wanted that."

            "Hey, what are we waiting for?" Zell asked getting impatient.

            "Well, since it's a pilgrimage for a summoner, I think we should wait for the summoner," Carole said burying a laugh.

            "Huh... right."

            A thud was heard from the temple and everyone looked that way. Yuna just dropped a big box that looked pretty heavy.

            "You really don't need all that luggage," Lulu said amused.

            "They're not really my things," Yuna answered. "They're gifts, for the temples we're to visit."

            "This isn't a vacation, Yuna," Wakka said.

            He sounded so serious about it, it was as if they could all die on the way.

            "I guess you're right," Yuna said leaving the box behind.

            She joined with the others and Tidus looked at her. She really was cute.

            "You know everyone?" Wakka asked pointing the gang.

            She seemed a bit lost so they introduced themselves.

            "I'm Carole. Nice to meet you."

            "I'm Rachel, her sister."

            "I'm Zell, Rachel's boyfriend. Hi!"

            "I'm Adam."

            "And I'm Dave, his cousin."

            "I'm Kerry Gornall, nice to meet you, Lady Yuna."

            She heard everyone in town call her that so it only seemed fit to call her that herself.

            Yuna bowed.

            "I hope you can find your way back."

            "You believe us?"

            "Why not? Just like I believe Tidus can come from a Zanarkand with no Sin."

            Tidus swung his sword. It was called the Brotherhood, which was suiting it very well. So much for his father's sword.

            "When do we leave?" he asked eager to try it out.

            "Is everyone ready?"

            They all looked at each other. They had all their clothes, weapons, items and all. Carole's gang had GFs junctionned, magics and all. But she took them aside earlier and told them not to summon any GF. Since only summoners could summon any, they might offend someone.

            They all nodded.

            "We're ready," Carole told.

            "Let's go then."

            They all followed Wakka out of town but Yuna stayed behind. She looked at the village with a small smile then did the prayer. Then she followed.

            Tidus was walking on the front with Wakka and Yuna and Lulu were following. Carole was walking in the front of her gang with Kerry.

            "Watch for fiends," Wakka warned. "They might attack us."

            Just to confirm his words, some monsters attacked. A bird and a wolf that both Tidus and Wakka took care of.

            They met more and Wakka explained Tidus about flying types being real quick so it was best if he took care of these himself. Then Lulu gave a demonstration of magic attacks, depending on which type a monster is weak against. Yuna summoned Valefor and everyone was still surprised by it.

            But the lecture bored Carole, Zell and Rachel. As SeeDs, they already knew all that. For Dave and Adam, it was only logic but for Kerry, it was a bit like class.

They climbed a hill and came upon a statue. Yuna kneeled in front of it and started praying. The others looked at each other with curiosity so Wakka explained.

            "Everyone who leave Besaid pray here for a safe trip. Chappu didn't pray that day and he didn't make it."

            He kneeled in front of the statue and prayed with Yuna. Tidus decided to just stand and do the prayer, mimiced by the others right away.

            Once they were done, they kept going. It was a waste of time for some, but they had their own habits themselves so they didn't want to break those of others.

            Then they left to head back on the road. They walked on a small road with high pillars standing each side of it. There was a blue jewel on one and Kerry went to it.

            "There's something written there," she said.

            She frowned trying to read it.

            "'Kilika yht Bikanel zueh yc uha'... what??"

            "What the fuck??" Rachel stated.

            "That's Al Behd, isn't it?" Tidus asked.

            "Yes, it is," Lulu stated. "You can sometimes find messages like that in other places as well."

            "Weird..." Zell commented.

            "I love foreign languages!" Carole said. "I wonder if I can..."

            She walked to the pillar and took a look. She frowned a moment.

            "Kilika and Bikanel... What's that?"

            "They're islands," Yuna answered. "Kilika is where we're heading and Bikanel is a desert island."

            "Kilika yht Bikanel... Kilika yht Bikanel... 'yht' could mean 'and' so... it sounds like a code more than a language... 'y' is 'a', 'h' is 'n' and 't' is 'd'. Zueh ends with an 'n', 'yc' starts with a... at or as?"

            "Cut it out, Carole!" Rachel said getting impatient. "You could spend the whole night trying to figure it out! We don't have all day!"

            She turned to them and smiled a bit embarrassed.

            "Heh heh, sorry. I'm still gonna write it down and study it a bit more. It might be useful."

            "Tch!" Wakka objected. "Anything coming from them is bad news!"

            Carole took out a small pen and a piece of paper from her pocket and wrote the sentence down. Under it, she wrote what she thought was the proper translation so far. She promised herself to take another look at it later and placed all in her pocket. She nodded at the others to tell she was ready and apologized again. Tidus came to her and got close for only her would hear what he had to say.

            "I didn't tell Wakka anything but when I first arrived in Spira, I was helped by a crew of Al Behd. I couldn't understand much of their language but if it can help you, I know a word. 'Oui' means 'you' in Al Behd."

            "Cool! Thanks," she said taking note.

            "I'll try and help you with that. I'd like to know more in case I ever meet up with the same Al Behds."

            She nodded and they walked again.

            As they were passing under a high bridge joining the pillars, a roaring sound was heard. Always ready for battle, the SeeDs and their friends took out their weapons. Carole grabbed her gunblade and frowned, looking around. Kerry got her knives ready even though she never really used them, Zell stood with his fists high, Adam readied an arrow, Dave unsheated his sword and Rachel took an axe from her back. Rachel was small and thin so when she first chose that weapon, everyone thought she wouldn't be able to use it, but her axe was a revolutionnary model which was hard and light in the same time. Not to forget deadly.

            "What the hell?" Zell asked nervously looking around.

            "There!" Kerry exclaimed pointing the top of a pillar.

            Everyone followed her gaze and saw what looked like a monster. A blue furred lion. They had trouble seeing clearly because of the sun's rays but they recognized Kimahri. He jumped down, using the pillars to push himself farther. And heavily landed right in front of Tidus who jumped back with surprise.

            "Wow!"

            Kimahri clenched his fists then punched the ground with both of them. Then he took a deep breath and let out a loud growl before taking out a spear and attacking Tidus.

            "Tidus!" Carole exclaimed making a step forward.

            "No! Stay behind!" he warned waving his arm out.

            Tidus had some trouble keeping up with the beast. He tried his best to avoid the attacks but despite its size, Kimahri was pretty quick. He even unleashed an overdrive, using his spear to jump in the sky and land it on Tidus. The fight kept going for a while until Wakka, Lulu and Yuna came back. They were gone further ahead and came back at the sound of the fight.

            "That's enough!" Wakka said with arms folded.

            Kimahri placed his spear aside and Wakka walked up to him. Once he was by his side, Kimahri spun around and walked further ahead. Wakka came to Tidus' side as all were tracing Kimahri leaving.

            "What's with that guy?" Tidus asked arching an eyebrow.

            "Kimahri Ronso," Lulu said. "Of the Ronso Tribe. He's learned the fiend's way of fighting."

            "That's not what I meant," Tidus replied folding his arms.

            "He's another one of Yuna's guardians," Wakka told.

            "Huh?"

            "That's no reason to attack someone out of the blue like that!" Carole complained.

            "Yeah, the guy's got it bad for fighting!" Zell said.

            "Like someone I know," Rachel said with a smile.

            "Bah..."

            Yuna laughed a bit and went to them.

            "Sometimes we don't understand him either. Kimahri doesn't talk much anyway."

            She looked at everyone, reaching for her chest.

            "But he has protected me since I was a child."

            Tidus nodded. He could guess Kimahri wanted to see if he was a trained fighter who would be able to defend himself and others or if he'd be a burden along the way. He didn't know if he proved himself to him or what, but at least no one was hurt in the process.

            "Are you just gonna stand there and wait for fiends to attack or are we moving ahead?" Lulu asked in her usual cold tone.

            The others shook the surprise off and placed their weapons aside. Adam decided to walk closer to Lulu, hoping she wouldn't mind even though Dave told him it was a bad idea. For himself, he decided to walk with Tidus and ask him about Blitzball. Rachel walked with Yuna since she was her age and thought she could get along with her. Zell walked by their side, his hands behind his head. Carole found herself alone. Kerry looked at her and decided to walk by her side.

            "Were you scared?" Carole asked her as they all walked forward.

            "Huh... a bit..."

            "You have to get over it. We may encounter many stronger monsters on our way... and we might even come on that 'Sin', even though I'd rather not... after all, we don't know where to look, so we'll have to stick with these people for a while."

            "They seem nice."

            "Yeah, but there's something more to what they told us... And I don't think the others realized that yet."

            "What do you mean?"

            Carole shook her head. Yeah, what did she mean? She was feeling strange and it wasn't because she was still uneasy about being leader or scared of never finding any of their friends. She couldn't put her finger on it yet and decided it didn't matter so she wouldn't bother the others with that. She turned to Kerry and smiled.

            "Forget it. Hey, you got good instincts! You took your weapons out pretty quickly!"

            "I did it on an impulse."

            "That's good, but you must always figure if you're threatened or not. If someone comes behind you to surprise you, you may attack him and hurt him bad or even kill him. So you must always stay focused no matter what. You have to feel threats and sort them from friendly intentions."

            "It sounds complicated!"

            "I know, but that's how it works."

            Carole scratched the back of her head.

            "Maybe I'm not fit to be an instructor... I'm better on the battlefield or so it seems."

            Some fiends attacked on the front so Adam, Lulu, Dave and Tidus took care of them. Lulu wasn't annoyed by Adam. He figured she wasn't the kind who likes to speak a lot so he just walked by her side and kept silent. She didn't seem to quite believe they were from another world so he decided not to talk about it.

            Carole was listening to the waterfall as they walked on a small bridge over a river. She missed her home, her friends, Miaka and Gackt who stayed behind. She must have been so worried! She missed her usual cheerful 'Carole-chan!'

            She looked at Kerry who was looking back at her and thought that she was to pity a bit more. She didn't even took a first class of Garden yet and she was thrown on the battlefield. Carole was now 18 and to her, Kerry was still a kid... but a kid not to be taken lightly.

            She suddenly lightened up like she had an idea.

            "Hey, I just thought of something. Back home, I have a friend whom everyone calls Miaka, it's a nickname. But I call her Mia-chan and she calls me Carole-chan."

            "Why?"

            "'Chan' is a word you place after a name for a close friend in japanese. There are others, but I don't want to mess you up with them. I could call you Kerry-chan, but it's not personnal enough so... what do you say I call you K-chan?"

            "Cool! And I could... call you C-chan?"

            "Sure!"

            "Hurray!"

            Some noises disturbed them and they spun around taking their weapons out.

            "This was threatening!" Kerry stated.

            "Yup!" Carole agreed seing the fiends behind them.

            The girls looked at each other and smiled.

            "Let's do it!" Carole exclaimed.

            "Yeah!"

            Carole took care of a dog monster and Kerry tried her luck against the bird. With her knives held like scisors, she didn't have trouble reaching it. She swung both her weapons forward and cut the bird in half. It faded in those green lights fiends always faded in. She stood up and turned her head to Carole who just finished her fiend.

            "Did you see me?" Kerry asked excitedly. "Did you see that?"

            "Yes I did. You did great, K-chan!"

            The girl walked again with pride.

            Before they knew it, they were on the beach by the dock where a ship was waiting to leave. Townspeople had gathered there to wish them good luck on their journey and see them off.

            "Well, I guess that's it," Tidus said.

            It was the place he and the others ended up to when they arrived.

            Carole stared at the horizon. She still couldn't understand why only them made it on Besaid... Where could the others be? Tidus came to her side.

            "Want me to go take a look around?" he asked. "There are some places where people can step and get stuck."

            She didn't dare asking but since he was volunteering...

            "You don't mind?"

            "I'm a swimmer after all!"

            And he jumped in the water. Zell saw this and did the same.

            "Zell!" Rachel exclaimed.

            "Hey, might as well take a look around too! Since my weapon is my fists, it can't rust or anything!"

            Rachel shook her head and waited there. The others were walking ahead.

            It didn't take long until both Tidus and Zell came back ashore.

            "I only got this," Tidus said showing some kind of a crest with the shape of the moon."

            "I didn't see anyone or anything worth taking with us."

            "Too bad, are we leaving, now?" Rachel asked getting impatient. "Everyone's waiting for us."

            It wasn't really true. The townspeople were saying good-bye to Yuna, giving her some items for her journey. The others quickly caught up with them and stepped on the boat.

            "What did you do?" Adam asked trying to stay far from Tidus and Zell not to get wet.

            "A last minute bath," Zell joked drying his hair with his hand.

            "Took a last look around," Tidus said.

            The boat was ready for departure. Yuna was leaning on the edge and waving at the people. A kid was waving back with a hand, and wiping tears away with the other. Yuna was smiling then did the prayer. The boat started heading towards the sea.

            "Good-bye," Yuna said.

            The ship headed towards the horizon slowly, taking its crew with it.

            Meanwhile, in the 'interspace', some being was smiling.

            "Let's see how they do in their first encounter with Sin..."

            She was smiling with pleasure as she kept looking at the result of her own boredom.

Note: How was it? Did I do alright? It took me a while to write this one cause I got messed up with the leaving Besaid part. But I did fine in the end. Review please!