Yojimbo and the Al Bhed moved their boat as close as they could to Omega's cave. The Sphere Balls were about to be used. Each Al Bhed made sure there weapons were fully functioning. Tidus and Rikku were sorting out there weapons. Still it seemed strange that their main weapons were hand weapons. Until he noticed the types of machina they were carrying. Grenades, and all were carrying their forbidden machina. Theses were the Al Bhed Cdunsdnuubc, who were devasting when necessary. The Cdunsdnuubc split into two groups, one around the adopted son, and the other around..Yojimbo blinked, she was a priestess-elect of the Al-Bhed, as demonstrated by her rank ribbons.
"Apologies Holy one." Yojimbo spoke to Rikku. Rikku blinked. "You recognised my rank ribbons? I didn't realoise their were any Yevonites who did, even among the Priests of Omega. So you were of the Crusaders' belief before becoming an Omegite. No not a crusader. The Crusader himself, General Mi'hen. But keep it down, if the machinists know I'm keeping an eye on them."
The Al Bhed moved quietly down the tunnels. A yell of "RETREAT" as they came back to defensible positions. Something was blocking their way down the caverns. Mi'hen recognised the noise. Undoubtedly Defenders Very dangerous,. unless you knew how to deal with them. He grinned evilly and smiled. "Can you face me, false priestess? For I am a summoner!"
"Betraying the oath you swore, Mi'hen? Conspiring with heathens and heretics."
"Sticking to my oath, that I swore to the last true Maesters of Yevon. At least Omega never attacked the Al Bhed. You murdered him and broke his wishes. And I heard the pronouncement as did the rest of my men. And yet you disobey that very pronunciation. I would rather fight for heathens, than the whims of an insane god."
The battle was joined. It was brutal and bloody until Tidus had an Idea.
"The caves are narrow are they not? Too narrow for Aeons right."
"But not for Guardians. Who are merely fleeting dreams." Rikku reminded him. "So call upon our god!"
"No she will not be useful here, but maybe he will." Mi'hen Says then starts chnteing:
"Against our enemies
Your power is hurled
King of the Seas
Encompassing the world."
"That Aeon is long...Oh shit!"
A powerful rumbling sound echoed through the cave. It seemed to grow and then turn into a massive roar of rushing water. Then they noticed they giant snake. Somehow filling up the room. And then there is the crashing and smashing of breaking waves. The summon disappears straight afterwards.
Tidus blinks. "Did you see that?. And could you both get off me."
Rikku and Yuna realise how hard they are hugging Tidus and let him go. "Any questions?"
"Who are the machinist faction of the Al Bhed?"
"There are three main beliefs in the Al Bhed, I'm a Gandofist, Ronso were Omegan's. Those held in a use of machina and summons together to defeat the evil that was Sin. Then there is the main arm of the Al Bhed who believe in unity using magic and technology and nothing else. Then there is the machinist faction. They believe a rather Yevonite belief, except reversed. They believe all magic is the cause of Sin. They were the ones that kidnapped you at the game. Only being of Royal Blood saved you, Yuna. After all they didn't want Cid angry."
"So Al Bhed themselves have factions within them. Still I noticed something. Your power was increasing faster than theirs at this point. If it hadn't been for the sundering you would be the power. In one world similar to this you probably are. What gets me, is that the Maesters used machina to do it. They had a chance to end Sin..."
"Trust me, she was doing what she felt was right. Sin is far less devastating than a full machina war. I'm glad the Dark dream puts in translation. At that time, what we call the Calm Lands were known as the Broken Lands. Something changed at that time. I also see why Mi'hen gained the title Lord."
"Alex's Bridgehead. More like Alex's Brotherhood. You're Monks!"
"We were, yes. At least until Yu Yevon himself lead an attack on our stronghold. I just wonder why we built the summoner's sanctum."
"Think about it. We always assumed the Al Bhed had stolen Yojimbo, but unlike other summons, he requires money, or rather the metal within. Suppose he's trying to forge something." Yuna muses.
"Like what?"
"The Body of Alex. You'd need a vast amount of metal, and the easiest source of money was from the worshippers of Yevon. He was one of the Al Bhed fayths. And thanks to the sundering, crusaders sympathies started to lie with the Al Bhed."
"I have you now false priestess!" grumbled a girl.
"Fool to face a priestess of Yevon, Without backup."
A bang and a bullet flies on a trajectory before hitting the silver-haired girl.
"Shot your own man, gunner? I thought you'd have better aim than that."
"He does. He's a Gun Mage" replies the girl, and the priestess then sees the field surrounding the gun.
"The Dark Gunner, Soldier of Sin, is here!"
The Gun Mage opened fire demonstrate his abiltiy to use his different skills. The girl seemed to be an excellent swordsman. Together they thought hard. There was only one choice the woman thought. Time to summmon. She started an ancient chant.
"Imprisoned until Stone becomes Sand, Titan, now show the Anger of the Land."
"Alex! An aeon. I thought they were all sent." the Dark Gunner cried
Paine grumbled. "I knew I hadn't taken enough precautions. But we didn't have much choice. If only the legends were true and Al-Bhed do have summoning abilities."
"Unfortuntley I only managed to get the Machinsts on this jaunt. So we're doomed." The Dark Gunner pointed out
A mech suddenly burst through the door with firing its guns at the new Aeon. This machina was ancient and corroded, glowing with holy power. An avatar of the Al Bhed's god. This guy was going to engage the Aeon sacrificing his life to let them get away from the summoner.
This was a fight best watched from several yards away. As they left they saw the high priestess face and were shocked. This news had to be delivered quickly. For once in there lives the machinists were right. This was really bad.
Wakka and Lulu decide to separate the three friends. This is a problem. Since Tidus is a decent person, and he was a product of his 'time.' So the dual marriage would not work. Even so, he would probably split them up. It was the worst possible time for him to return. Rikku was about to move on, but of course she would now restart her catch Tidus campaign. The last time Tidus didn't see it consciously because he was concentrating on Yuna. Now of course he'd been told about Rikku's crush.
Rikku smiles at Yuna and Tidus, this time though Tidus allows himself to notice her smile is false. Tidus once again thinks to himself how brave Rikku is. That was the first, well second thing that attracted him to her. Tidus has always liked courageous girls. He wasn't going to say anything about that to Yuna. Of course Yuna caught him looking at Rikku's butt. A mistake to be sure, though if it was anyone else Yuna wouldn't mind as much as she did.
"Looking at my cousins ass?" Yuna yelled, shocking herself at the volume and her emotion. It was raw jealousy. And Rikku had wiggled it delibrately as well.
Tidus mentally kicked himself. Of course he shouldn't have looked like that at Rikku. If he admitted he was attracted to Rikku because of personality, increase in jealousy, if he didn't punishment for treating Yuna's cousin as a piece of meat. Always problems this way. Thing was he didn't want to give up either of them. He had to force them to settle their differences.