Chapter 04 – Showtime!

Mikal could almost call his meditation this time peaceful. Almost no rocking to the ship, the wood creaked every once in a while but other than that it was quiet, there was a smell of vanilla and cinnamon coming from the kitchen which made Mikal feel at ease and the energy that flowed through Mikal was stronger than ever.

WHAM!

Take everything back...

The boat was slammed by something outside! Mikal was thrown across his room and slammed into the wall, he grunted in pain as he slid to the floor. He moaned as he tried to stand up.

WHAM!

The boat was hit again and sent Mikal face first into the wall of his room. "What the hell is going on out there?" he yelled as he held his nose in pain. Then he felt it, his nausea was coming back. He managed to slide himself into the bathroom before retching into the toilet once more.

"This is insane...I've hardly had anything to eat! Where is all this coming from!" he shouted in annoyance.

Mikal managed to regain his footing and stumbled back into his room. He raised his head from his hand and started to stumble towards the bottle of whiskey that was on the table, it was already half gone. He grabbed the neck of the bottle, pulled out the cork, and took another large swig. Mikal sighed as he felt the liquid heat up his throat slightly.

The boat was hit again and the bottle was knocked from his hand, shattering on the floor.

"That's so not cool." Mikal said in a unamused tone.

He put the hood on his cloak up and opened the door, determined to figure out what was going on. People outside his room were running around screaming in terror, something wasn't right. He grabbed the closest person he could find, it was the same girl that had come to his room.

"Hey, what's going on out there?" he said as the girl trembled in his grip.

The girl was wide eyed, she was in shock. "Sin." she said.

Mikal's body went ice cold. "Listen. You're going to be okay. Go to your quarters and stay there until its quiet. You understand me?" he said.

"Sin." The girl repeated, she was scared out of her mind.

Mikal sighed. He slapped the girl across the face. "Hey! Get to your quarters and stay there until its quiet! You understand me?" he said forcefully.

The girl looked at him and gave him a strained nod. Mikal let her go and she ran.

Mikal pushed past numerous frightened passengers as he made his way to the deck. The adrenaline already started to flow through his veins, his hands shook and he gripped them tightly to get them under control. His eyes burned with violence, he wanted to fight. Mikal reached the top of the stairs and pushed open the doors to the deck. Surprisingly enough it wasn't a terrible sight. Whatever evidence that a battle was taking place had been washed away with the sea water.

Yuna and her guardians were all standing fighting the Sinspawn that were landing on the deck, and they were doing a pretty good job at it. The fact that they all stood in a pretty line and not all spread out was a good idea, made it easier for ranged warriors to attack and not hit their own. There was a lull in the fighting and everyone took the time to heal. Mikal walked up and took position beside the Ronso.

It looked down at him and growled.

Mikal looked up at him from under his hood. "Easy there, tiger." he said.

"Kimahri think you should leave. You not look like fighter. You get hurt." He said, revealing his name to be Kimahri.

"What are you doin', ya?" The besadian said "You're gonna get yourself killed, brutha!"

Mikal just stood there. Staring at the giant fin in front of them.

"I think he wants to help." Tidus said.

Mikal caught that bit. "Brilliant deduction, kid." he said.

"Hey!" Tidus yelled out "Thats not funny."

The gothic woman chuckled quietly at the remark.

"Please. Let us fight this battle. I do not want to see you get hurt. You have no weapons!" Yuna said with a caring tone. Oh how she had no clue.

Mikal watched as four more Sinspawn were launched off of Sin, flying towards the deck at high speed. Mikal grinned as they landed and transformed.

"Alright everyone, same strategy as before!" Tidus yelled out. When did he become the leader?

Mikal lifted his arms and threw them down at his sides with great force. His katar's unfolded, the handles finding their way into his palms and the blades making a clicking noise as they moved into place. The blades stuck out a good two and a half feet from the handle and Mikal raised up into a fighting stance. He pulled on the levers that were attached to the handles and the blades clicked open and then clicked close.

"I guess he has weapons now." The gothic woman said sarcastically. "Now, they enemy has had enough time to get ready."

Kimahri roared as he charged forward and struck one with his spear, killing it instantly.

'Nice hit.' Mikal thought.

One of the spawn made a run at Yuna and Mikal was just about to react when it was struck with a blitzball. Mikal cocked an eyebrow from under his cloak at the choice of weapon. The ball returned to the Besaidian and he grinned at his victory.

The last one was Mikal's. He charged at it with great speed and slashed at it twice before flipping in the air coming down on its "head". It was dead after the first hit. He heard a loud screeching noise and looked up to see four more spawn coming down at the deck. He rolled out of the way as the one landed right where he was standing. He charged at it with both weapons ready...and it burst into flames.

"What?" he said in confusion.

The gothic woman smiled an evil looking smile at him basically saying "You're next." on it. Mikal didn't question it.

Suddenly Tidus flipped over Mikal's head and cleaved a spawn in two with his sword, which more or less resembled a fish hook. Now the whole party was out of order. There was spawn all over the deck and everyone took several to try and fight off. Someone had to take control of this mess and Tidus wasn't exactly stepping up to the plate.

"Listen!" Mikal yelled "Protect the ranged fighters! Hit them before they land on the deck." Mikal ordered as he spun around and stabbed a spawn through the body and opened the blades up inside of it to cause more damage. The good thing about Sinspawn is that there was no blood to worry about.

Strangely they all listened to him. The ranged fighters began to hit the spawn in the air and whatever landed on the deck was dealt with by Tidus, Kimahri and Mikal. If someone got hurt then Yuna would heal them. The boat was constantly getting knocked around by Sin and Mikal couldn't figure out why, then he saw the spear gun.

"We have to cut that wire off from Sin! He'll pull the whole boat under!" Mikal yelled as he plunged his Katar's into another spawn.

"That's what I said, ya!" The besadian yelled.

"Wakka look out!" Tidus yelled, another name revealed.

A Sinspawn jumped on top of the blitzer and tried to take a bite of him. Mikal reacted the fastest. He ran over and booted the spawn off of him, the spawn being zapped to hell and gone seconds later.

"Thanks, brutha. I thought I was gonna be lunch there for a second." Wakka said.

"Don't mention it. Just keep doin' what you're doin' and we'll survive." Mikal said as he pulled Wakka to his feet.

"Look out!" Wakka yelled as he pointed behind Mikal. Mikal spun around and stabbed a Sinspawn that had jumped at him just inches away from his face with a battle yell. It's several eyes fixated directly on Mikal as its mouth hung open and screeched in pain. The creature was heavy but Mikal didn't notice, the adrenaline rush had taken over. Mikal opened the blades again and sliced clean through its body.

"Lu, hit the wire with a fire spell!" Tidus yelled. Lu? Possibly short for something?

The black mage nodded and fire soon surrounded the wire on the spear gun. There was a loud snapping noise and the wire and most of the gun went flying out to sea. Sin suddenly disappeared beneath the water and its tail end rose hundreds of feet into the air and slammed down into the water, sending wave after wave into the boat as well as a shock-wave that could have been felt miles away.

Water splashed over the boat as everyone held on for their lives. In a moment, it was all over. Everyone started to relax very slowly as they looked for any sign of Sin. Wakka looked worried and then Mikal realized that Tidus was missing.

"Man overboard!" Mikal yelled and Wakka dove into the water to search for Tidus

Kimahri stood by Yuna's side and wouldn't move, his loyalty was unquestionable that was for sure.

Yuna looked over at Mikal and bowed. "Thank you, sir. I feared that we would not have been able to repel such a violent attack."

"Kimahri thank you. You smart fighter." Kimahri said.

The black mage looked at Mikal and simply nodded, she clearly wasn't one for words. Mikal didn't mind though. If she didn't want to talk then Mikal wouldn't say anything.

"You looked like you needed some help. I wasn't about to stand there and let you guys be Sinspawn food." Mikal said as he flicked his hands up and his Katar's once again folded back together and were strapped back on his wrists.

"Especially with a Summoner with you" Mikal said as he lowered his hood, his green eyes gleaming in the sun and his black hair blowing slightly in the wind.

Kimahri growled and gripped his spear. Yuna looked up at him and touched his large paw.

"He means us no harm, Kimahri." Yuna said. She turned to Mikal and did the prayer of Yevon. Mikal only nodded his head, he took no pleasure in worshipping Yevon. Kimahri loosened his grip and nodded at Mikal as well.

"How did you know I was a Summoner?" Yuna asked.

Mikal shook his head and smiled. "I listen. People on this boat feel all special inside because they are in the presence of a Summoner. Especially one of your reputation, Lady Yuna."

Yuna gasped. "How do you know my name?" she said. Kimahri growled again.

"Everyone knows you, Lady Yuna. Everyone who hasn't been living under a rock and eating dirt knows your father, High Summoner Braska, had a daughter. It only made sense that you would follow in his footsteps and defeat Sin." Mikal explained. Almost biting his tongue off when he talked about her father and what he accomplished ten years ago.

"Well...would you still have helped if I wasn't a Summoner?" Yuna asked.

"Most likely not. I saw enemies, and I saw people being attack. I assisted when I was needed." Mikal said as he bowed.

Mikal heard coughing and turned around and ran to the side of the boat. Tidus and Wakka had resurfaced, both of them looking quite beat up.

"Here," Mikal said "give me your hand." Tidus reached up and grabbed Mikal's hand. Tidus looked at him but Mikal turned his head away. He crawled on board behind Mikal and then the two of them helped Wakka up.

"Sir Wakka!" Yuna cried as she ran over to Wakka and embraced him.

"Easy, ya. I'm a little sore." Wakka said as he rubbed his side.

"Oh...sorry." Yuna said as she moved backwards and clasped her hands behind her back.

"And we would have been in a lot more pain if it wasn't for you, brutha." Wakka said as he extended his hand to Mikal. He looked into Wakka's eyes cautiously and then shook his hand and nodded.

"I was just helpin' out was all." Mikal said.

"Well you sure saved our skin's" Wakka said. "Thanks a lot."

Tidus stood behind Wakka and stared at Mikal with a thoughtful look. The two locked eyes for a moment and Mikal brought out a small amount of his energy to transfer a message into Tidus' head.

'You don't know me kid. Don't even think about saying anything in front of the others. If you want answers, you're going to have to be patient.'

"What did you just say?" Tidus said.

Mikal shrugged his shoulders. "I have no idea what you're talking about, kid." he said calmly.

Tidus shook his head. "No. You said something to me. Didn't anyone else hear it?"

Everyone around Tidus shook their head at him.

"You sure that Sinspawn didn't knock a few screws loose in that head of yours." Mikal said to him. He wasn't getting the picture.

'Shut up! You're stupider than you look, you know that? I'll explain this to you in Kilika IF, you promise to be quiet. Understand me?'

Tidus rubbed his head. "Uh...sorry. I need to sit down for a bit. I must have gotten hit harder than I thought."

Yuna giggled at his response. Even after almost being killed she still maintained a positive attitude

One by one more people began to pour onto the deck to survey the damage that had been done and if anyone needed medical attention. Some people started to cry with happiness that they were still alive, others cried because they thought Sin was moving on to Kilika.

The sun was beginning to set the skyline ahead was turning orange, it would be dark soon. It couldn't be much longer before they reached Kilika either. Two...maybe three hours? Mikal turned and began to walk below deck.

"Hey," Tidus yelled "Where ya going?"

Mikal turned around and smiled. "I'm starving and I'm tired. It's not everyday you get to fight off Sin. Come down to the galley and I'll buy you some dinner." He walked down the steps and soon enough he heard the others follow him.

Mikal wasn't looking forward to explaining anything to Tidus...

A/N: Okay so chapter four is all said and done with, little more dialogue in this one as well as some action. Hopefully I've drawn a few people in so far and I want to see some reviews from those people. Don't be shy, I don't care how evil the review is. You could rip me apart for all I care! Anyway, R/R and let me know what you think of it so far.