Chapter 6: The Calm Before the Storm

Shion spent her whole morning walking through the woods to get to the boat Jin had spoke of. Judging by this place, Shion wasn't sure that they would even fit in this boat. But Jin assured her that it was a good-sized ship and that many people were traveling on it.

They walked a long ways that morning, and by the time they reached the ship it must have been noon. The small journey was a little rough- they fought all kinds of strange monsters (up until now they had only fought gnosis, machines and people) and the blue lion man by mistake, who the summoner introduced as Kimirahi. They even stopped to prey at yet another shrine, Jin joined in this time as well. The rest of them and the blonde one just watched.

She now just sat on the ship, lost in thought. So many questions to ask- but whom should she ask? To make matters worse, these people condemned machinery… this ship ran on bird power. Would that make KOS-MOS a sin to them? She already knew using her MWS would be out of the question, but how long could she pass KOS-MOS for a human? All she could do now is put on her best poker face and try and make it home.

But Jin was right about one thing, this place was fascinating in a way. She wanted to remember it when she got home. She didn't want to forget- so many discoveries could be made here. So she decided it was her duty as a scientist to keep a record of their adventures here. She would have to keep it on paper (she was thankful for those classic handwriting classes she took in collage) because her UMN device was broken, and she would have to write it in a way that was believable. But something in her knew that this was the best way to use her time here, on this virgin planet. So she began to write…

Tidus, on the other hand was having his own brand of fun. He had swiped some binoculars from one of the ship mates and was enjoying the pleasant view. Lulu looked pretty nice, that Shion lady wasn't too bad, her friend KOS-MOS had a nice butt, but the fairest of them all was still Yuna. She seemed to have noticed him, although not his intent, and waved from a distance.

"Enjoying the view I see?" It was his little friend.

"Yeah… What's it to you?" Jr. didn't answer he just snatched the binoculars from his hands.

"Hey Momo!" as Jr. her saw binding over the deck, observing the sea life below, he made some observations of his own. Lulu walked by his view and rolled her eyes. Momo was gleefully running toward the boys.

"Your little girlfriend?"

"Shut it."

They whispered back and forth, but the realian was already behind them. They turned to her as she smiled up at them.

"Hiya Jr.! What are you doing?"

"Ohh well Tidus and I were just checking out these really cool binoculars! These old-styled ones are hard to come by back home, but they're really cool. Here you should try them!" Jr. had to make a save, before Ziggy noticed exactly what they had been viewing through those really cool old-styled binoculars. He handed them to Momo, and followed her to the upper deck to watch the seagulls that flew over head.

Tidus decided he was going to try and talk to Yuna today. Tell her about Zanarkand, because she wanted to hear. He just wanted someone, anyone, to believe him. Jr. seemed to just think he was confused, and was probably from this or his world and had the names mixed up. But if Yuna would believe him, it would mean the world.

Shion was frantically writing everything she had seen. Covering all of it in exclusive detail, she didn't want to forget anything. She wished she had art skills. Her crude sketch of Yuna's bird didn't do it much justice.

"Ohh is that Valefore?" an innocent voice behind her questioned. Shion looked up to meet the summoners duel-colored eyes. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to peer over you like that…it's a very nice sketch though!" Shion thought the summoner must have been lying through her teeth. Who could compliment this horribly misshapen thing?

"Umm thanks. I'm not sure what it's called, it's the bird you summoned yesterday. I wanted to take note of it so I will remember it when I get home." Shion couldn't be sure how to address her, and she didn't like sounding clueless, but then again, how could she help it when she truly was, "I'm sorry my sketch is terrible. I don't normally write in ink and I've never tried to draw anything in my life."

"Ohh no, not at all! I like it." The summoner sat down as if she wanted to make conversation, "Shion, right? Wakka told me all about you and your friends last night. You're one of Jr. and Tidus' friends right?"

"Yeah, that's right. I'm Shion, Shion Uzuki. Nice to meet you!" Shion shook hands with the nameless summoner. She never picked up on her name yesterday, their meeting was brief and she seemed busy for the rest of the night. She was also surprised Wakka had remembered her name, after all when Jr. had introduced them two days ago he was pretty hasty and impatient. "And I'm one of Jr.'s friends, yes. He crashed with us. But I didn't know…Tidus until we met in the village." She struggled to remember his name, and wanted to praise the summoner for remembering everyone else's. "So, what is your name? I didn't catch it yesterday."

"Well after yesterday, I'm Lady Yuna from the isle of Besaid, but you can call me Yuna." and Yuna smiled. She did that a lot.

"Forgive me if I am not remembering correctly, but what does a summoner do exactly? You summon those beast, and try and defeat… sin right?" Again, Shion hesitated to ask her questions. As much as she needed the answers, she wasn't used to being the one to have to ask the questions. As a scientist, she asked her questions privately and answered them aloud. But, given the circumstances, she let her inquisitive nature take over, as it was the easiest way to seek the truth.

"Well, a summoners' job is to bring the calm." Yuna explained, "We visit every temple in Spira and prey at them, to obtain the aid of their aeons. Our ultimate goal is to obtain the final aeon in Zanarkand and defeat sin." Wakka had explained some of this yesterday, but the panic of the hour caused Shion to temporarily forget. It was a good refresher, and Shion noted three new words especially. Aeons, which must have been creatures like the great beast Yuna called upon, Spira, which was probably the name of the planet, and then there was Zanarkand. She heard the word before, maybe Wakka had said it? Perhaps he did, but she remembered it from her dream- Nephilem had mentioned it.

"Can you tell me, about… Zanarkand?" Asked Shion, pen readily in hand.

"Well our Zanarkand… it was destroyed 1,000 years ago in a war with Bevelle. But the first summoner to defeat sin, Lady Yunalesca, was from Zanarkand." Yuna smiled and was a little flustered from having to give a history lesson. "But all of that stuff is boring! I want to hear about your home, Miltia!" Yuna was gesturing her hands as if she were very excited. Shion was surprised she believed them, seeing how Wakka and her other guardians had reacted to it. Shion caught up on her notes, and explained.

"Well the Miltian Star Cluster is a… different place from Spira…" She was trying to figure out exactly how to explain her home without alarming the innocent summoner before her, "We have a lot of technology, we fly in big ships to get to one place to another. And we use machi-" that's right machines were bad here, "AWGS units and ES to combat the gno-… fiends." Yuna looked a little confused. Yet she seemed fascinated, not offended by Shions descriptions. "But we miss our homeland… being here makes me think of what Lost Jerusalem might have been like. We don't have beautiful oceans like this where we live." Shion inhaled some of the salty air. She kind of appreciated this place, now that she thought about it. Up until now she just wanted to get home.

"Your homeland? Was it destroyed?" Yuna asked, still perplexed yet fascinated.

"Well yes, it was. None of us lived there then though, it was thousands of years ago. They say all of the humans moved to space before it was sealed away, and now we all live there, trying to do our best." Shion sighed. She was a little tired of being the one to do the explaining, but she couldn't seem to resist answering her. She was so interested.

"Well maybe you can find it someday and go back!" Yuna clasp her hands together happily and hopefully. Shion knew it was impossible though, every attempt at getting the Zohar or working toward finding lost Jerusalem had failed. But maybe… "I want to see your Miltia though! It sounds so interesting." And the summoner smiled. The crowds were drawing around her again, and Shion stepped away to give her some room.

Tidus was going to make his approach to Yuna. Weather Wakka liked it or not. He was going to talk to her, he was determined. To bad the crowds were in the way.

"I heard she's high summoner Braska's daughter!"

"Ya don't say!"

Were some of the mingled words he heard through the crowed. So her dad was famous too?…

"So, is Yuna's father famous or something?"

"Yah! She's the daughter of high summoner Braska! You saw his statue at de temple. Lord Braska defeated Sin 10 years ago. She's de heir to a great legacy!" Wakka gladly explained. That made enough sense, he guessed.

"It's tough, when you're father's famous…"

"Eh?" He didn't seem to understand.

"Wakka is a bit lacking in the imagination department." Lulu strode by, teasing Wakka.

"Thanks Lulu I'll keep that in mind." Tidus laughed and decided to go on the upper deck. Maybe there was something to do there.

Momo absolutely loved observing this world. Everything was so pretty. Pretty water, pretty seagulls, pretty fish, pretty blue lion man. So much to fill her database with, and so little time to fill it. She was surprisingly happy here. Here she didn't have to worry about her dad, or being compared to her sisters, or receiving weird looks for being a realian. She didn't have to worry about Albedo or U-tic kidnapping her for the Y-Data. She didn't even have to worry about the Y-Data! These people didn't even know what that was. She was happy here. Ziggy and Jr. were here with her, and all of her other friends. Not to mention how interesting everything was. Like that beast the summoner summoned. How did she do that?! She did miss her mom though. She wondered how she was, if she was okay. So she didn't want to stay here forever, but she was going to enjoy her time here.

"Hey Momo! You almost done with those binoculars?" It was Jr. He had been up there with her on the deck for a while, but he was strangely quiet and she didn't even remember he was there.

"Ohh yes! Sorry, it was your turn again wasn't it?" She handed the black binoculars back to Jr.

"Nah, don't be sorry you really seem to be enjoying them." He giggled and handed them back to her, and smiled his boyish smile, "so what do you see?" that was an interesting question.

"Well I see animals. Real animals, not bio-generated or robotic ones. They're real, like the ones daddy used to tell us about," She was looking through the glass again as she made her list, "I see water, it has a much higher salt content than drinking water or even the water at the Kukai Foundation's beach. " she continued to observe, "I see chaos! Hi chaos!" chaos waved from the deck below, he seemed to be talking to the gothic woman, Shion and KOS-MOS were beside him, "and I see…. Tidus? That was your name right?" Tidus was directly in front of her. So close, his face was blurred in the lens.

"Yep that's me!" Tidus said, casually putting his hands behind his head to stretch.

"Hey why are you up here? I thought you were going to hit on Yuna!" Jr. bumped Tidus with his elbow. Tidus blushed, and wondered how he knew about that.

"Yeah well she's er… busy right now!" Tidus tried to muster a comeback, "Besides, why would I do that when I can hang out with you and your girlfriend." He found one.

"SHHH! Pipe down, the old man's over there." Jr. pointed to Ziggy. He was on the other side of the deck, keeping a keen eye on Momo as she ran about. Although Ziggy didn't seem to hear this, Momo did and giggled at the two boys.

"Aww, Jr. it's ok I'm sure Ziggy would understand!" She teased and held on to Jr.'s arm. Jr. blushed a little and gently nudged her off, so the old man wouldn't notice. Tidus just laughed.

"You know it's not cool, to do that to your girlfriend."

"I said stop, damnit! Aren't you a little old to be acting so childish?" Jr. was annoyed. Really annoyed. And his rejection and objection made Momo a little sad. She wondered weather he was acting to throw off Ziggy or if he really felt that way.

"Aren't you a little young to be carrying a fire arm and constantly mutter curse words?" Tidus teased, playfully fluffing Jr.'s red locks. Momo could tell- he was .

"I told you that's none of your business. " he grimaced and forced Tidus' hand off of his head.

"Well I came up with my own theory…" Tidus explained, "I think you're a…. Midget! Yep you've got to be a midget! I mean just look at you, you're all short and angry and stuff. Just like a midget!" Jr. was really, really, really mad. How dare he call him a midget? That's just- UNSPEAKABLE!

"Agh, I'm going to the cabin. Have fun observing Momo, I'll be back when this joker leaves." Jr. threw his hands up and stormed down the wooden steps.

"You know, Tidus, you shouldn't make Jr. mad like that." Momo steped towards Tidus now. She was upset that Jr. was upset at the notion of her being his… girlfriend. "Jr… he tends to get upset easily. And when he gets really mad, he can lose control. I don't think your teasing could make him that angry, but it's still not very nice." Her gold eyes looked into his blue- he could tell that this upset her.

"Well, about that, I don't think he meant what he said." Tidus shrugged and itched his head, trying to lighten the mood, "Boys are just weird like that's all. I think he likes you, so don't pay any attention to me okay?" he patted her head and smiled.

"Okay. Thanks Mr. Tidus!" And Momo ran off to show her binoculars to Ziggy.

"Uhh don't mention it?!" He hollered to her, she was now on the other side of the deck now. Tidus looked down at the lower level of the ship. Yuna was alone, by herself. Maybe this was his chance.

"So you still think that, huh?" Lulu was intrigued. She looked at the blue, green, and L.E.D red eyes of the people before her.

"Yes mam. We aren't lying, our world is just as real as yours is." chaos tried to explain in the most respectful way possible, "We know how odd it must sound to you, but we are telling the truth. "

"I know you are." Lulu said, raising a sleek black brow, "You certainly don't seem to be damaged by Sin. Unlike the blitz ball player, you didn't even know what it was." she shock her head. "I believe, you. But I also believe your people… are not good news. Not at all. You have already described what sound like machina. We do not need people like yourself to be around the summoner."

"Our technology isn't all bad! It can be good!" Shion was outraged, and disgusted. KOS-MOS, was good! She took her insult to machinery as an insult to KOS-MOS, even though she didn't even know she was a machine. "We have plenty of good technology, things that heal and help people!"

"And make humans lazy, and interrupt the natural cycle of death. " Lulu came back. She was hard to argue with. "I don't know who you are, or where you came from. But if you interfere with lady Yuna's pilgrimage, I will make it my duty as her guardian to make sure you are properly disposed of." With that the gothic woman strode into the cabin area, slamming the door as she entered.

"What's her problem?!" Shion pouted, folding her arms and making the appropriate expression.

"Ahh Lu's just a lil up tight. She'll come around!" It was Wakka, she could tell by the voice. He must have heard her.

"Wakka, do you agree with her?" chaos wondered.

"Well, Lu's right about the Machina, but I can tell you aren't bad people. She'll come around. She always does." He gave an assuring smile. At least they could feel welcome around him.

Shion took some notes in her new book, "Thanks Wakka I-" scribbles ran across the page. The whole ship was shaking and the people panicked around them. Wakka had left to aide Yuna in the midst of the pandemonium. What was going on?

"SIN!!!!" cried one of the sailors.

"Shion, stand back. I will attempt to combat the incoming threat. Please evacuate to the cabin where it is safe." KOS-MOS ordered, gently pushing Shion back. The android readied her R-BLADE and ran towards the monster at full force.

Author's Notes:

YEY I finally finished chapter six! I've had a busy week and a half, working on school work and such. But I think this turned out well. I wanted a light chapter before the depressing Kilika scene, I also wanted a little more of the other characters. I think I accomplished this quite well. Anyway I'm fired up again so you should see another chapter soon. Please review and give me the needed energy to write more! =)

PS: I'm working on a really large Xenosaga community with a forum and all the works. If you're interested in staffing, email or PM me. I already have quite a bit of support from Live Journal, but the more people I can reach the better.