Disclaimer : I don't own aything.

Note : I'm sure you noticed the appearance of Leanne and Kelly in the previous chapter. This chapter too will have guest appearances. Hope you like it.

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(Kilika Temple, Blake's POV)

I noticed as we made out way into the temple, that a lot of the priests and civilians bowed respectfully to Tori as we walked by. Honestly, I wasn't sure what to make of this. How did everyone know she was a Summoner? Or did they know?

I also noticed several statues, and I mean huge statues of people in the room. One was of a man with short hair, and he seemed to be older. I saw Shane kneel at the base of his statue and pray, and managed to hear him saying the name Ohalland. I guessed it was another Summoner or something.

Then there was one of a man with long brown hair, who was dressed in robes, whereas this Ohalland was dressed in baggy pants and a lose top. I saw Tori was over to this one and bow down respectfully, who he was, I had no idea. And finally, there was one of a woman with long white hair who was dressed in what looked like a skimpy bikini.

"Who were these people?"

I felt a presence beside me and saw Hunter standing there, giving he an unreadable look. "Don't tell me you don't know."

Sighing, I shook my head. Again, I never knew it to begin with. "I don't remember." I stated with a shrug.

"The one Shane is praying to is Lord Ohalland, High Summoner of Kilika. He was a professional blitzball player as well as a Summoner who defeated Sin." he explained with a sigh as he pointed to the statue of the older man with the short hair. Next he pointed to the one Tori was praying at. "Lord Braska. High Summoner ob Bevelle, and Tori's father. He was the most recent one to defeat Sin."

"Whoa! Wait. Tori's father?" I questioned incredulously. I didn't know much about her father, but as far as I knew, his name wasn't Braska, and he died a long time ago.

Hunter shot my narrowed eyes that looked irritated and suspicious. "Yes. Her father. 10 years ago, he journeyed to get the Final Aeon and save Spira. Yuna knew the path she chose when she became of age. She wishes to give Spira a new Calm."

Calm. A 10 year period of peace where Sin is dormant. After that time, it rises back up and causes more damage. I thought to myself, piecing bits of information I'd gotten together. "I see." I mumbled, watching as Tori slowly stood up and walked over to Shane, where she knelt at his side. That made my eyebrow rise. Was she praying for blitzball too?

"The last one is the first Summoner to ever defeat Sin." Hunter spoke up, causing me to look at him. His eyes were narrowed and the suspicion he'd casted at me was transferred to the statue. "Tori's name sake. Lady Victoria, first High Summoner, out of Bevelle. It was her, 1000 years ago, who defeated Sin."

"But if she defeated him, then why was Zanarkand so completely destroyed?" I unconsciously wondered out loud.

Hunter's face spun to me, his eyes wide in shock. "How...what do you know about that?" He demanded quietly, seemingly not wanting to draw attention to himself.

Realizing my mistake, I struggled to find an excuse. "Uhhh...I saw it." And that's not going to help. I thought, mentally rolling my eyes when Hunter's eyebrow skyrocketed and he folded his arms across his chest. "I remember hearing about it." I tried again. Sighing, I shook my head. "Relax bro. I don't remember k? I just remember hearing about it." I insisted, raising my hands and looking him in the eyes.

Sighing, Hunter shrugged. "We should get going." With that, he turned and walked towards the other two.

Frowning, I looked to the statues. So...what he means is...everyone prays to a bunch of clay statues of Summoners, or something. I thought in confusion. But again, it didn't make any sense. 1000 years was a long time, so why only three large statues? And what's with all the smaller statues around the walls? So he explained the stautes to me, but it didn't help.

I couldn't help but wonder, if those were the 'High Summoners' who temporarily beat Sin before, where were they now?"

"Blake."

Turning my head, I noticed Shane motioning me over and I walked to them, noticing two unfamiliar people walking out of the doorway at the top of the stairs and approaching Tori. I stood by her side, not liking the icy look of the blonde woman in front of her.

The blonde woman had light brown eyes, and wore a very revealing dress that left little to the imagination. She held a staff at her side and gave my Summoner a withering look. The man behind her had long brown hair that was tied back in a ponytail, and brown eyes. He crossed his arms and stood behind the woman, watching all of us warily. He was dressed in white robes that I found to be rather familiar to ninja style robes, and the emblem on his check was that of a falcon.

"A Summoner, are you?" The woman asked in an airy tone.

Tori nodded, and gave her a sweet smile, though I had the feeling she wanted to knock this witch's head off. "My name is Tori. I come from the Isle of Besaid." she said, bowing to the woman in respect.

The woman gave a small laugh and shook her head, sticking her hip out and placing her hand on it. "Kimberly. So you're High Summoner Braska's daughter. That's quite a name to live up to."

And from the sounds of her voice, she didn't expect Tori to go far at all. She was condescending and it made me want to hit her, but I refrained, folding my own arms across my chest.

"My, my, my...And all these people are your Guardians? My, what a rabble!"

I grit my teeth and went to take a step forward, when I felt a hand on my arm and turned to see Shane holding me back and Hunter shaking his head. Their messages were clear, leave Tori to deal with her.

"As I recall, Lord Braska only had two Guardians. Quality over quantity, my dear. Whatever were you thinking? I have only need of one Guardian. Right, Tommy?"

I saw his eyes light up as he nodded quickly, offering a quiet 'Kim' under his breath. If was obvious the poor guy was heads over heels, and when I looked closely at Kimberly, I could swear it was mutual, before she reassumed the haughty air he was using the whole time.

Tori sighed and shook her head. "I only have so many Guardians as there are people I can trust. I trust them all with my life! To have so many Guardians is a joy, and an honour! Even more so than being my father's daughter. Of course, I would never think of questioning your ways either. So, Lady Kimberly, I ask of you: Please leave us in peace."

I had to bite my lip to hold back from either laughing at the offended look on Kimberly's face, or to keep my jaw from dropping at Tori's poetic way of telling her to go screw herself.

Raising her head, Kimberly tried to recover her dignity. "You do what you want. Tommy? We're leaving!"

With that, she strolled out of the room, Tommy trailing after her, giving her enough space that he wouldn't be hit by her staff when she swung it.

A Guardian's someone a Summoner can trust with their life. It made me wonder, did Tori feel that way about me?

I felt a pang of hurt run through me when I remembered how I'd used her to get to Ninja Ops, and how betrayed she looked and felt. I never expected her to speak to me again, so it was a big shock to hear her talking like that. Looking at her, I saw her smiling and raised an eyebrow as I followed them into the temple to get the next Aeon, Ifrit.

What's she smiling about?

We reached another elevator, and stood just outside it as we got ready to go.

Shane grinned and nodded. "The Fayth is below. Let's do it!"

Frowning, I remembered the Fayth. They were souls of the dead, special ones. Instead of turning into fiends, they were bound to help the Summoners in battle. Forever supposed to be good, unless the Summoner is corrupted. Basically, bound to whatever Summoner obtains their power.

Hunter nodded at Shane. "But first, the Cloister of Trials. Shane? Tori? Are you ready?"

Looking at him, I felt my frown deepen. Was he purposely ignoring me? Or was the omittion of my name meant to mean something?

"Strength, everyone!" Tori spoke in determination.

Getting onto the elevator, I followed them, but was pushed off by Hunter who glared at me. "Hey! What gives?!" I cried as I glared right back.

Hunter almost seemed to smirk. "You're not a Guardian yet." he pointed out.

Tori nodded, though she looked sad. "We'll be back soon, ok?"

Nodding, I kept frowning as they left and grumbled to myself as I paced around. "Yeah sure. Soon like 'tomorrow' soon, I bet!" Turning, I noticed strange pcitures on the walls that I couldn't identify, and silently wondered to myself. If I'm to protect the Summoner, how can I do that if I can't go with them?

I noticed the elevator returned and turnd towards the doorway when I heard the sound of footsteps. Kimberly and Tommy stood behind me, and the Summoner looked smug to see me alone, making me wonder what the hell she wanted.

"Where's Tori?" she questioned in mild confusion.

I pointed behind me to the elevator. "Down there." I answered with a shrug.

She raised her eyebrow. "Then what are you doing up here?"

There was that 'mightier-then-thou' attitude that was seriously starting to piss me off. "I'm not a Guardian, so I'm not supposed to go in, right?" I answered with a glare as I took a step back.

Now she gave an evil smirk that creeped me out. "Not a Guardian you say?" she repeated. Casting a quick glance at her Guardian, Tommy walked forward and picked me up, throwing me over his shoulder, walking to the elevator and dropping me on it. He activated it and walked away, as I struggled to get off before it could descend.

"What's the big idea?" I cried as the lift started down.

Kimberly smirked and shrugged. "Just a little game." she stated sweetly, walking away with Tommy shooting me apologetic looks over his shoulder.

Shaking my head, I settled myself for what was coming. "This is bad. Very bad!" I muttered. Evil, conniving witch and that bastard of a Guardian of hers! I mentally ranted as the lift settled to the bottom floor. "Only Guardians allowed, and I'm sure no Guardian. Oh well, too late to turn back now." I sighed to myself. Stepping off, I made my way through the Cloister of Trials, which was strangely, a lot like the Besaid Cloister, and soon found my way to Hunter and Shane.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Shane cried, frowning as I walked into the room.

Quickly raising my hands in a sign of surrender, I sighed and rolled my eyes, pointing my thumb over my head. "It was Kimberly and that big muscleheaded guy!"

Hunter looked towards yet another door at the top of a flight of stairs. "Tori will be the one to suffer the consequences." he told me.

Frowning, I didn't like the sounds of that. "Consequences?"

Shane sighed. "She could be excommunicated!" he exclaimed in worry, before settling down.

Walking over to Hunter, I stood next to him and watched the door as well, secretly praying to whatever deity that Tori was safe. I heard a sigh and noticed Hunter's pose relax a bit, though he kept his arms crossed over his chest and leaned against a wall. "The chamber beyond that door is a sacred place." he said, unconsciously answering my unspoken question. "Only Summoners are allowed in."

"What about Guardians? They can't go?" I questioned as I crossed my arms over my own chest. I mean, they should be allowed in too, right?

Shane gasped and shook his head quickly. "It's taboo!" he exclaimed vehemantly. I nodded to Hunter and walked over to Shane who looked at me and offered a half smirk. "Just wait."

Wait? Wait for what? I was confused by everything, which was getting a little irritating. As soon as I got answers to my questions, new questions popped up, and it seemed they'd never end. "So, what's in there anyways?" I asked casually, hoping to spark a conversation to get more answers.

"The Fayth, remember?"

"Right." Huh? "That thing." As if I knew much about it at all. In other words, she was locked in a room with a ghost or something?

Hunter groaned and stood up straight, rolling his shoulders as he took a step towards the stairs. "The Fayth are those who gave their lives to battle Sin. Yevon took their souls, willingly given from their still living bodies."

Ewwww! That left a mental picture I didn't need. Shuddering, I shook my head and quickly banished the images as I nodded to Hunter, hoping he'd stop the explanations!

"Now they live forever..."

I guess he didn't take the hint. I thought sarcastically, resisting the urge to roll my eyes.

Hunter shot me a look to say he caught my hint all too well, but was ignoring me, making me want to take my thunder blade and shove it up his-

"...trapped in statues." he continued, effectively interrupting my thoughts. "But when a Summoner beckons, the souls of the Fayth emerge once again. That's what we call an Aeon."

And that made all of little sense to me. I thought with a mental groan, nodding again. "All that, in this room?" The idea of Tori surrounded with ghosts and monsters made me frown. "So...what's Tori do in there?"

It seemed Shane finally decided to jump into the conversation. "She prays with all her heart for a way to defeat Sin."

And here we were, back on the subject of Sin. No matter what we talked about, it always led back to that monster, and the same question I asked myself every time. Why didn't the previous Summoner kill it again?

That's when Tori made her appearance. The door opened up and she stumbled out, clearly exhausted. She was pale and sweaty, and I wondered how someone could get that way from praying. What else was going on? What were they hiding from me?

We finally left the temple. Luckily, there was no sign of Summoner Kimberly or her Guardian Tommy. As we left, we made our way down to the base of the forest, where Hunter and Shane walked ahead and Tori walked up to me.

"Are...are you ok?" she asked softly, briefly resting her hand on my arm and looking at me in concern.

Shrugging, I shook my head. "Not really. I miss home." And everyone there. I thought sadly.

She nodded and smiled, a mischievious spark, playing in her eyes. "What do you wanna do?" she asked, slipping into her normal speech, seeing as no one else was around.

Giving her a smirk, I shrugged again. "Scream real loud." I admitted. There was so much going on and I felt so lost. It was like a big pressure building up in my chest, and I felt ready to explode. Shaking my head, I give in when Tori nods and scream at the top of my lungs, making Hunter and Shane jumpe and spin around, looking for the source of what made me scream.

Giving them sheepish smiles and muttering a quite apology, I noticed Tori holding back a laugh as she raced over to them, and we continued to Kilika port. What I wouldn't admit was, I felt a hell of a lot better after letting it out.

Once we made it to the boat, Shane grinned at me as we boarded. "Next stop is Luca. The blitzball matches begin when we get there so rest up."

With that, he and the others left, going below deck, and leaving me to wonder why he wanted me to rest up when I wasn't a player in the game. I remembered that they said they'd look for someone who knew me in Luca, but I already knew, no one would.

Not when I was from a totally different world.

(Night Time)

I couldn't sleep. Too much going on and too many questions haunting my mind. Instead of trying, I got up off my bunk, and went up on deck. I noticed Hunter walking up to the second, smaller deck, and followed him up, using my Ninja skills to remain silent. Noticing that Shane was up there too, I hid on the stairs and listened to their conversation.

Don't ask me why. Sure, I knew evesdropping was bad, and I could get into a lot of trouble, but something told me to listen.

Besides, Tori was busy being surrounded by people again.

"Well, say something. You'll take responsibility?" Hunter demanded.

Turning my attention from Tori to them, I noticed him speaking to Shane who almost seemed to cower in front of his anger.

Shaking his head, Shane tried to brush it off. "Relax! He's bound to know someone in Luca."

Crossing his arms over his chest, Hunter continued to glare at him. "And if he doesn't?"

"He could always join a blitz team. Besides, it's better than just leaving him in Besaid!"

"What? Just leaving him in Luca?" Hunter snorted disbelievingly.

They want to leave me behind? I thought incredulously. First of all, how was I supposed to 'protect the Summoner' if I was left behind, and second...how could they just abandon me like that?

Frowning, Shane sat down against the mast. "What do you want me to do?"

"Tori wants to make him a Guardian."

Sighing, Shane let his head drop. "Oh yeah, geez...there's that too, eh?"

Raising his eyebrow, Hunter leaned back. "And who's fault is that?" he demanded.

"Not mine!" Shane shot back.

Shaking my head, I sighed silently. No. It's mine for thinking you'd help me. I thought sadly, really feeling alone at that moment.

Hunter continued glaring at Shane and the latter let out a resigned sigh. "It is my fault, huh?"

Not wanting to listen to anymore, I walked away, and went to where I'd last seen Tori. I noticed she was alone and walked up, determined not to let her see my pain. "Hey."

Turning around, she smiled. "Hey Blake. What's up?"

Other than the fact that I might not be near you much longer? I thought sadly. Giving a shrug, I looked out over the water. "Nothing much really."

"What...what would you do if we could go home right now?" Tori asked softly.

Looking at her, I raised an eyebrow. "I honestly don't know. Probably smack Cam one for making us go to Zanarkand."

"I never thought I'd say this, but I miss fighting Lothor." she admitted with a small, sad smile.

Remembering her reaction towards my morpher, I looked at her wrists and noticed she didn't have hers. That confirmed what I realized earlier. I'm the only Ranger here. "We're running into everyone." I muttered absentmindedly.

"First you run into Dustin. I run into Hunter and Shane. Then we run into Leanne and Kelly." She giggled, obviously remembering how his boss had acted. Tilting her head, she thought for a moment. "I don't know why, but Kimberly and Tommy were familiar."

Shrugging, I kept looking out over the water. "I didn't recognize them."

We talked a little longer, just going over random things, before we decided to turn in for the night. I doubted I'd be able to sleep at all, but I figured that if everyone else was trying, I'd try too.

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There we go. Another chapter up! Special thanks to Kimberly and Tommy for the guest appearances.

Kimberly : Yes yes, whatever. Tommy! We're leaving!

Tommy : (grumbles and follows her out)

Ahem! Anyways, hope you liked this chapter. Many more special appearances and two more Guardians coming along in the story.

Thank you.

R+R please.

Tenshi