A New YRP Member
By: AstronSoul
Rating: T to NC-17 depending on chapter.
Summary: What happens when YRP gains a new member? What will it mean for Paine? (note: some creatures are purely my own imagination for the fun of it)
Pairing: Paine/Astron & Yuna/Rikku
Chapter 4: Battles & Memories
As they walked along the dark tunnel from the opening of the cave, all four women tried to stay alert; Yuna and Rikku took point while Astron and Paine watched the rear. It felt odd to the two warriors as they walked behind their companions, however in silent agreement between them they decided not to say anything to the two up front unless there was an actual threat. After about half an hour Rikku was getting antsy as per usual, leaning over to the brunette she started giggling as she whispered, "Paine told me to earn my points back I had to move her stuff into Astron's cabin, she's moving in with her!" her voice squeaked excitedly which earned curious looks from the warriors behind them, shaking her head and smiling at them making sure they knew nothing was wrong. Smiling Yuna draped an arm over her girlfriends shoulder, "That's great hun, then Gippal will work on the suites to combine them for us.." hugging the blonde they started back down the rocky path silently.
"Wonder what that is up there?" muttering quietly to herself Astron kept a trained eye on the ceiling of the tunnel as she and Paine kept hearing small noises, looking over at the silver haired woman with a raised brow in question and nodding toward the two smaller woman, Paine shook her head as she leant in closer, "Let's not worry them, I'm sure we can get what it is before it tries anything." Nodding Astron gripped her sword, flicking the hilt so it changed into the gun and held it to her side, as Paine kept her sword close to her hip as well. Then quickly something was falling from the ceiling, Astron aimed as fast as she could and shot three rounds in rapid succession; both Yuna and Rikku jumped hearing the sudden outburst of noise. As they turned they saw liquid like things land on the ground convulsing, "Nice shot…" walking over Paine watches as the little creatures convulse once more then lay still. "Water thistles, get stung by one and you're out for days, that's if you wake up."
"Well now they won't be doing anything." Astron slid her blade into it's sheath, "Shall we continue?" Paine nods smirking to herself, again they start to follow the two others quietly; soon the blonde notices a light up ahead. "Oh the sphere light, that has to be the sphere light!" grinning as she bounces on her feet, Yuna looks up frowning, "That's not the sphere light, that looks like light from a fire…" slowly everyone crept up to the corner, Rikku stuck her head out, then Yuna, followed by Paine and then Astron making it look like a tower of heads. "This is not good." Yuna mutters, they all see four men sitting around a fire.
:Why does the boss want someone here all the time again, I mean it's not like anyone ever shows up?" A raven haired man asked disgruntled eating a piece of dried meat, "Because he has a feelin that bitch will come back here to visit her families graves and when she does we are supposed to kill her." Astron quickly moved back from the corner, hands in tight fists as she growled low in her throat, Paine looked up at her wondering what was wrong, but the men speaking caught her attention again. "Wasn't the name of the family Stryde or something?" a blonde man was asking, "Yeah, Stryde is right. Boss had her parents and the bitch's sister killed right in front of her, then went to dispose of her and she fought back. That was eight years ago, I doubt she'll ever show up again."
Without warning Paine moved forward revealing herself to the four men, quickly resting her blade to a man with brown hair; he was the one who explained it all. "Hello boys." She watched as they started to move minus the brunette who just gulped, "Easy boys, I'm not who you are looking for" The men settled down a bit, but still nervous with this new intruder who was holding their leader at blade point. Astron watched as she shook her head, "Paine you idiot what are you doing?" Only Yuna and Rikku could hear her, but they had figured out by now that those men were talking about Astron herself. "Astron, don't get in Paine's way, she's angry and she is looking for blood." I won't but she shouldn't be doing this, it's my fight Yuna." Drawing her gunblade once more, Astron moves closer to the corner, making sure it was in gun mode, "Stay here, if you see them get up then come out." The two smaller women nodded, but Astron waited to move.
"Say what are you doing here anyway girl, far from home ain't ya?" the raven haired man asked eyeing Paine up and down, 'ugh what an ass' she thought, "I'm a sphere hunter, there is a sphere down here and I want it, but I overheard you talking and I was curious who Stryde is and why is she wanted dead?" She was angry, she wanted to kill each one for calling Astron a bitch but she kept her cool demeanor. "Oh some woman named Astron Stryde, boss had made a bet oh eight years ago on this tournament, betting a certain woman would win, even stacked the fights in her favor. But Stryde went to the finals against that woman and she won, after that he's been gunning for her." Flexing her fingers on the hilt of her sword Paine growled, "Your boss is an ass, I was the woman she fought against and won."
Stepping into the light, Astron walked over but stood by the raven haired man as she locked eyes with Paine before looking at them, "I fought damn hard that day, and your bastard of a boss wanted me to lose, I wasn't there to make crap bets I was there to win, and this bitch came back." The men that could move quickly got to their feet, "You stupid bi.." Before the man could finish his sentence a steel blade sliced into his neck silencing him permanently, before the body even fell to the floor Paine was at Astron's side, as well as Yuna and Rikky brandishing their weapons; Astron took aim at the raven haired man shooting him in the shoulder before the gunblade turned into a sword. The two warriors turned their attention to the wounded man, while the other two took one of the two men left.
Minutes passed by quickly as they made short work of the remaining men; pushing a man off her blade Astron grunted wiping the blade clean with the man's coat. "Damn bastards, guess I still have a price on my head." Putting their weapons away and sitting down they all breathed a sigh of relief, scooting closer Paine wrapped an arm around the tall woman's shoulder's, "Do you know who they were and why after so long, this guy whoever he is, is still after you?" Looking at her love Astron sighed heavily, "I do not know his name, but he used to be in the Crimson Squad, however I know he is a privateer now a days, and still has a grudge against me for that tournament." She looked at Yuna and Rikku knowing Paine was a member of one of the squads at one point but knew she didn't know anything of her or what happened to her family. "How about we get that sphere and get back to the ship? I need to work my muscles still got adrenaline to burn off." Nodding everyone rose and started making their way deeper into the mountain again This time Paine sticking right to the tall woman's side as they led pint and the two other's followed behind, "When we get back you and I need to talk." It was a plain statement when Paine spoke, not needing to look at the woman to know she agreed; soon they came upon a soft glow much different from the fire earlier.
"Rikku I believe this is the sphere glow, but let's be careful you know there is always a…" As soon as Paine started to say it, a large fiend appeared looking very wolf-like in appearance with extra legs and about ten times larger than a normal wolf. Grinning Rikku twirled out her dual daggers bouncing on the balls of her feet while Yuna aimed her pistols, Paine stood ready with her Sword gauging the fiend; all this while Astron had put her gunblade away and now was wielding a long steel staff ready to heal when needed. The battle lasted quite a while as they found the hide touch and the legs of the beast quick but three against one was always better odds. Soon the girls were panting but standing proudly over the dead beast. "You girl's sure fight well together." Impressed Astron smiled at them, pointing to the sphere, "There is your sphere go claim it."
Leaning against a cave wall she watched as Rikku bounded up to it then stopped right before touching it, "Since this was your first hunt Astron, why don't you claim it?" Smiling Yuna looked at the taller woman seeing if she would accept to not, as did Paine; it was unusual when Rikku offered a sphere to them let alone someone she didn't know. Pushing herself off the wall and striding over Astron looked at Rikku, "You sure, I mean I'm new to this?" Seeing the blonde nod, Astron leaned down and plucked the sphere from its small stand and held it in front of her eyes, "Mission complete I would say then ladies!" She held it up smiling as the blonde bounced around her excitedly, "Yay Astron has a sphere!" Chuckling the tall woman tucks the sphere into a pouch to keep it safe then notices something sitting against the sphere stand; kneeling down she picked something up but not sure what it was exactly. "Oh my!" Yuna ran over looking at what looked like a grid, "You found a grid garment!" She was grinning from ear to ear. Astron had heard of these things but didn't know anything about them, "Ok does it go with the sphere or did someone just leave it here?"
"It looks like it goes with the sphere so now it's yours, you look a bit confused Astron are you okay?" Cocking her head to the side Yuna looked more intently at Astron. "Well I know about them just not how to use them, I'm sure one of you can show me later." She moved to put the grid in a pouch, but without knowing she activated it; the room disappeared and she was alone then she felt a little hum and the room reappeared, "Whoa what the hell was that!" She looked at the others who were blinking and their jaws dropped, well Yuna and Rikku's dropped; Paines eyes bulged but she kept her cool exterior. "What is it?" They all pointed to her, as she looked down she gasped, "Ok so that's what it does, but why is this so…" trailing off she noticed the outfit was similar to Rikku's, the blonde was even more excited than usual, "It has the the if outfit on it cool!" the small woman started poking and prodding at the outfit, "Hey hey watch your hands! How do I reverse this?"
Walking up Paine showed Astron how to use the grid, then a few seconds later Astron was back to normal; putting the grid away extra carefully this time to make sure she didn't activate it. "Ok let's get back to the ship, I'm hungry." Chuckling the three started making their way back as Yuna radioed Gippal to come pick them up.
