Here's the next chapter. More words and thoughts of mine to this chapter see below. Enjoy reading!

When Yuna woke up it was already bright outside and so she sat up. Her eye fell at the empty bed next to hers, so she looked further around and saw Paine sleeping in the Bed next to the stairs. Wondering what time it was she stood up to look at the clock hanging at the wall above the bar, but then her attention was drawn to a snoring coming from below. Soft-footed she went past Paine and down the stairs, before she caught sight of the reason for the snorting: It was Tidus, sleeping with his forehead resting on the table surface. The rest of the table was covered by his extended arms and sphere-break coins lying all over the place. With a chuckle Yuna's sight wandered towards the chair on the other side of the table, opposite to Tidus. There was Rikku, nearly fallen off the chair and sleeping like a dog.

Now Yuna fought the urge to giggle before she walked towards Tidus and aimed to tap him on the shoulder. After all it was late enough to wake up. But then she decided to let him sleep instead and went towards the elevator. She assumed that Shinra hadn't found out very much so far but she couldn't just sit idly and wait. As she entered the bridge she found Shinra sitting at his workplace and tinkering with the sphere and some other thing. He looked tired and so it was apparent that he had worked right through. But still he worked very concentrated, thus it surprised Yuna that he must have recognized her without even looking at her direction as he said: "Morning Yuna. Wanna know how things are?"

Thereupon she nodded „Of course!"

"Come here, I'll show you something." As she went towards him, he took the flower-like sphere that had enclosed the little sphere until the day before and gave it to Yuna. „You have to go somewhere where it's dark. Then you'll see it".

Yuna nodded and then they went upstairs into the darkest corner of the corridor. There she could perceive a weak luminescence.

"At night, when it was really dark, I could see one petal gleaming brightly." Shinra explained. "Only the petal showing in that direction gleams. If you turn around, another petal, namely the one that shows in that direction then, starts gleaming and the other one stops gleaming. So I guess the one petal gleaming shows the direction where we can find the next hint."

"So you say it's kind of a compass?" Yuna asked as they went back to Shinra's desk.

"Exactly! The only problem is that the petals gleam only in the dark. So I'm trying to interlink it with the sphere Oscillo-finder in order to get the position of the next sphere or hint. But I guess that'll take some more time, so you can get back to the cabin if you want."

"Are you sure you don't need a break too?" she asked him worried.

"I'm fine. I couldn't sleep right now anyway."

"Well, if you say so. But let me know when you need some help."

After Shinra had nodded, Yuna headed back to the elevator. Just as the door opened she could hear a cry of joy: "Ha!" Shinra shouted with glee as he clapped his hands loudly. Thereupon Brother and Buddy, who seemed to have slept in their seats, jumped to their feet.

"Shinra, what the hell - !" Brother complained.

"Got it! I know how to interlink the sphere and the sphere-finder. Yuna, go and wake the others! I just need half an hour, and then I'll explain it to everyone."

Yuna nodded and went into the elevator. As the door opened at the cabin, she run out and called at the same time:" Hey everyone! Wake up!"

Paine seemed to have realized the reason for Yuna running around and calling and stood up. But Tidus and Rikku seemed to be still deep in sleep. So Yuna went towards them and clapped her hands right in front of them. "Hey!"

"Yuna!" Rikku and Tidus shouted out simultaneously as they awoke with a start. "Yuna, what's wrong?" Tidus asked worried.

„You didn't wake up straightaway." She answered with a grin on her face. Although she felt sorry for waking them up this way, she couldn't deny that she had also fun doing so.

"You're mean!" Rikku said drowsily as she sat up and looked at the table. As she saw the sphere-break coins spread all over the table she said to Tidus." By the way, what was the latest score?"

After that Tidus looked at the table as well, before he answered dozily:" I think I have won three times and you-"

"Wait, you haven't won three times. I have won three times and you were about to lose the game."

"No, I wasn't about to lose, I was –"

"Both of you were about to lose, cause I have won five times!" Paine barged in as she was walking down the stairs.

"Paine!" Rikku and Tidus shouted at her simultaneously. "There you are. Where have you been? We waited for you for ages." Rikku complained to Paine.

"I said I'm going to see if Shinra has found out something, and that's what I did. It's not my fault that you two were asleep when I came back. So I went to bed."

"That still doesn't …."

Yuna was still a bit confused, but she assumed that the tree of them played sphere break and Paine went having a look at Shinra. As it was her turn again, Rikku and Tidus waited for her – and by and by they fell asleep as Paine was still talking to Shinra. Then Yuna clapped her hands once more to attract their attention. "Shinra has found out something!" she said loudly.

"He has what?" Rikku asked alerted.

"He has found out something. He wants us to be at the bridge in a few minutes."

"Why didn't you say that right away?" Rikku replied. "Let's go!"

At the bridge Shinra told them the same he had told Yuna before and then he went towards the sphere-oscillo-finder. "It took a while, but finally I managed to format the sphere-finder so it interacts with the sphere." Then he took the flower-shaped sphere and put it on top of the sphere-oscillo-finder. After a few seconds it reacted with the sphere.

Buddy scrutinized it before he said: "There's a weak signal coming in. It appears that the signal comes from Macalania."

„Can you say exactly from where in Macalania it comes?" Paine asked.

"That's difficult to say" Buddy replied, „the signal is too weak, I'm not even 100% sure it really comes from Macalania. But after all I'd say it comes from close to the lake."

"Then let's have a look!"

"Ready when you are!" Rikku said motivated.

So Brother set them down at the entrance of Macalania wood near to the thunderplain. Due to Buddys suspicion they decided to go to the lake first, thus they took the short cut above the treetops. They went past Oaka's and stopped on the escarpment. Curiously Tidus looked around before he threw a glance at the hole itself. It was deep and he couldn't see the ground below, which was now hidden under a lake of meltwater. Then Yuna took the flower-shaped sphere and held it close to her body as she was also putting her hand in front of it to keep off as much light as possible. "It gleams very dimly and it hardly shows up. But unless I'm very much mistaken, we have to go in that direction." She said and pointed right towards the hole. Rikkus eyes fell from the escarpment over the hole towards the horizon. But the hole seemed to have no end and so the chance that there could be 'another side' seemed to be a slim one. "This cannot be good." she commented therefore.

"I suppose there's no way left that leads towards the other side?" Paine asked.

Yuna shook her head. „The only way I know about is the one who led across the frozen lake."

"Well, if there's no way yet, then we'll find one!" Tidus remarked full of zest for action and gave Yuna a smile.

Contagioned by his energy she said "All right, let's go!" before she smiled back at him.

After that the group went along the escarpment. Their plan was to walk round the hole, but as expected that was anything but easy. There were fiends everywhere and the ice below their feet was as smooth as glass. Matters were complicated by the fact that the terrain was declined to the hole – so every slipping could end up in falling into the hole.

"You know what still sets me wondering?" Yuna asked around while they were still walking. "I still wonder why the fiends wanted the little sphere so badly - and what the reflections portended."

"Something about it must have been very attracting to them." Paine responded. "Maybe it sent out some energy which they could feel. I'd also like to know where the Chocobo came from and how it gained the sphere. But I guess it won't be able to answer our questions."

"Hey girls," Tidus said, "what did you exactly see when the little sphere reflected something? Did you all see those lights?"

"I didn't see anything the first time Yuna saw them and I didn't see them the second time. But I saw the rainbow and the globe." Paine remarked.

"The first time I didn't see anything as well." Rikku said, "But the second time I saw something too. It looked like lights, but not like the ones Yuna described. To me they looked more like the lamps we used to have in home. What about you?"

"I'm not sure. Mainly I saw Yuna being reflected. But I think I also saw some lights like Yuna described them. But they were very faint, barely visible. That's why I'm not sure if I really saw them or if it was just my imagination."

"So what are you getting at?" Rikku asked curiously.

"What if everyone saw –"

"Ahhh!"

"Rikku!" the other three called out. Rikku had slipped on the ice and was about to slide down on an ice-chute that was leading down into the dark. Yuna stretched out her hand and grabbed Rikkus arm, but then she slipped too and was dragged down by Rikku.

"Yuna!" Tidus called out her name as he fell down to his knees and bended over the edge. But he couldn't look down to the ground, the hole was too deep and it was too dark in there.

In the meantime Rikku and Yuna had landed on the ground.

"Ouch!" Rikku said as she got up. "Hey Yuni, are you alright?"

"Yeah, I guess so." Yuna nodded and looked around. There wasn't much light and it looked like they'd fallen onto the bottom of a ravine. To her left there was another precipice and below she could see meltwater passing through the ice. In front of her as well as behind her was a steep ice-face. To her right there was the steep ice-chute leading upwards along the ice-face. And between the ice-chute and the other steep face there was a passageway. Then she looked up towards the edge.

"Oh, this cannot be happening!" Rikku said as she was trying to climb up the ice-chute. But therefore it was too steep and slippery.

"Hey Rikku," Yuna said "can you see Tidus or Paine?"

To that Rikku stopped her failures to climb up and looked upwards as well. But she couldn't see anyone at this distance.

Suddenly a faint call resounded: "Yuna, Rikku!"

"Hey, that's Tidus." Yuna noted before she called back "Hey, can you hear me? We're alright!" Then she paused and looked around once more before she continued: "There seems to be a path leading into the same direction as the upper one. We go and check if there's a way upwards! Besides the sphere also points into that direction." After a few seconds of silence she heard Tidus answering "Ok!"

But just as Yuna was about to set off, she heard Tidus calling again: "Wait a sec!" Then she heard something coming sliding down.

Rikku listened closely: "Is that-?"

"I guess yes." Yuna answered perplexed. And then their suspicion proved to be right: it was Tidus.

Rikku was a bit puzzled and asked him "Why did you –"

But then she was interrupted as Paine was also slipping down to them.

"Paine. Is there - "

"A dead end!" Paine responded. „I was looking for a way going on, but I couldn't find one." Then she turned to Yuna "And then your boyfriend had the great idea of following you. He said something of an ongoing path and before I could say something he was gone. So I followed too." Then Paine looked at Tidus. "At least he's got a good idea of how to get back if here's a dead end too." Still a little bit confused, Yuna and Rikku looked at him as well and waited for an explanation.

"Nothing easier than that." He grinned. „If there's no other way leading upwards, we use some magic spells and melt a stairway into the ice!"

"Well, that stands to reason." Rikku agreed and set off. The path was gently inclining and led them deeper into the darkness. Of course that didn't facilitate walking, but at least the gleam of the sphere was clearly visible. While walking Paine turned to Yuna and whispered to her: „ I hope you know what you've got yourself. You should've seen him after you had slipped down. He was insufferable."

Yuna blushed at this but at the same time a pleased smile passed over her face. "I know."

„Well then…" Paine smiled back.

After a while it brightened as they draw nearer to a big ice cave. In fact it was more a big vertical tunnel bored into the ice and the surrounding rock than an ice cave. It was open towards the upper end and thus they could see the sky. Tidus looked upwards and then around. The tunnel was more than 100m in diameter and brightened towards the lower end, which was somewhere far below. Drops of meltwater were falling down upon the group and opposite the path was a roaring waterfall, transporting meltwater from the surface area down deeper into the precipice. On some ledges were wooden boards and items that seemed to be remains of the temple.

"So this is what happened to the temple?" he asked the girls.

"I guess so." Yuna responded „The temple is said to have sunken into the lake because the Fayth has disappeared."

"I guess sunken isn't the right word for that." Paine said "Seeing this I'd say crashed down is the better word."

"But if there's water down there the temple has crashed down and sunken!" Rikku commented, "I rather wonder how many pieces of the temple swim there."

"You'll see soon enough!" Paine remarked as she looked at the sphere in Yunas hands "After all it seems that we have to go down there."

The path they had walked on stopped there too, but further down seemed to be another path-like ledge. The spatial arrangement of single, small ledges made it possible to get there by jumping from one ledge to another. Having arrived on the path-like ledge, they could see a big lake far below. Down there seemed to be a broad tunnel in one side of the icy cave-wall, thus Yuna supposed that the lake was connected with the big lake in front of Oaka's. On the lake below were some ice floes and wooden boards floating around something that looked like the roof of the temple. The water was very clear and so they could see that it wasn't just the roof but probably the whole temple, that seemed to be still in one piece.

But there was no way to get there – except by jumping down. The path they were following led to a plateau in front of a cave. There was lake imbedded in the icy plateau, covering nearly its whole area. The lake reached from the outmost edge of the plateau to the inside of the cave. Around the lake was only a small ring of ice and the only thing preventing the lake-water from falling down to the big lake was a few centimeter broad icy edge. Having reached the plateau Yuna looked at the sphere again: It pointed right into the cave. The cave had a manageable size of about 70m in diameter and its whole floor area was occupied by the lake.

"Look! You think what I think?" Rikku said as she pointed to the middle of the lake inside the cave. Below the surface floated something that looked like a sphere, glowing light blue.

"The sphere!" Tidus remarked as they went to the entrance of the cave. After looking around the cave Paine said: "I guess one of us has to take a frosty ba-"

"What was that?" Yuna asked startled and interrupted her. The others turned their heads to her but neither they could see nor hear something. So Rikku asked: "What?"

"I could swear I heard a cracking just a moment ago."

"I didn't hear something but I guess that doesn't make it bette- ", another, this time clearly audible crack, interrupted Tidus. The crack was followed by a loud grumble and before they could do anything a big chunk of ice fell from the wall above and hit the edge of the ledge. It split off the thin icy edge that had prevented the lake-water from falling down, causing the lake to empty rapidly as a roaring waterfall developed. But the draining-off water also carried off the sphere. Tidus became aware of the fact that there was no chance of getting the sphere once it had fallen into the lake below. So he ran towards the lakeside and tried to grab the near bypassing sphere, but he was still too far away from it and the current was too strong to wade into the water. The sphere drifted rapidly towards the waterfall. Just as it was about to pass the edge Yuna got the helping idea and called: "Blizzaga!"

The waterfall froze immediately and prevented the enclosed sphere from falling down into the lake.

"Phew, that was close!" Tidus sighed with relief. Meanwhile Paine went towards the edge and looked up at the ice-wall. She assumed that the chunk of ice had come off the wall above and was deflected by another ledge before it hit this ledge. If it hadn't been deflected it would have fallen down perpendicularly – and might have hit the sphere hunters. But there seemed no other chunk to be following and so she went towards Rikku who was already picking out the sphere from the re-melting ice.

"Got it!" she said triumphantly as she picked it up. Then the sphere flashed and at the same time a deep growl shook the whole ice-canyon, which put the group on alert. It was echoed by the walls, making it hard to localize its original direction. The walls were shaking slightly and chunks of ice were breaking loose, falling down on subjacent ledges or into the lake below.

"It's high time to get away from here!" Paine said seriously but calmly. Nearly at the same time a big ice floe on the lake below flashed and started deforming: It took the shape of a bear. As it had finished the bear opened its eyes and fixed its gaze on the group.

"Now!" Paine called. But faster than they could blink the ice-bear had run upwards, standing between them and their way back. Left with no other option everyone drew one's weapon and prepared for fighting.

Tidus looked the bear up and down. It was ice-blue and its height at withers was about 1,5m. Its eyes were emerald and its look was piercing. Meanwhile Yuna followed its line of vision. "Rikku", she said "it wants the sphere!"

Then the ice-bear proceeded to attack. It ran towards Rikku and raised its paw ready to strike. Rikku dodged while the others attacked it simultaneously. But the bear had a hard shelter and so the attack didn't affect it particularly.

"Guess this is gonna take a while." Paine remarked.

This strike, however, had made the bear more furious and it prepared for the next attack. It opened its mouth and spitted freezing water, causing Yuna, Tidus and Paine to freeze on the ground. Rikku had leaped up into the air and avoided being frozen on the ground thereby. But as a consequence of the attack the already slippery ground became as smooth as glass and Rikku slipped and fell while landing.

"Rikku! " Yuna called as she tried in vain to remove the ice around her feet.

"I'm fine!" Rikku said as she stood up, but the bear was already preparing its next attack. Yuna shot at it to distract it from attacking Rikku, but it didn't care about her. Unaffected the bear went straight towards Rikku and attacked her, but she could dodge once again.

"Hey, if this bear is out of ice, then it should be vulnerable to fire-spells, shouldn't it?" Tidus said as he was picking his feet out of the ice.

"Yeah, that's right!" Yuna agreed before she cast a magic spell on the bear:"Firaga!" As a consequence the bear was given a jump and it turned around to Yuna. This allowed Rikku to change into the blackmage-custom and attack the bear with most vigorous black magic spells.

After Yuna had melted the ice around her, Tidus' and Paine's feet she attacked it with magic spells as well. As a result of the magic spells the bears shelter weakened and bit by bit even sword-strikes seemed to affect it effectively. But while its shelter was weakening, its power grew stronger. Suddenly it attacked them again with freezing water. This time it hit everyone and due to its strengthened power, each one was frozen up to hip.

"It starts panicking!" Paine noted. "I guess we'll have finished it soon."

After removing the ice once again the four sphere-hunters attacked the bear one after another, giving it barely a chance to attack. From then on it didn't take long until the bear was beat. Finally it disappeared into pyreflies. As before with the dragon in Kilika the pyreflies gathered and danced in a circle. Again one of them left the circle and vanished into the sphere before the remaining ones scattered in all directions. As Rikku was looking at the sphere she concluded: "This seems to be kind of a ritual."

"And therefore the dragon and the bear appeared. First we had to beat them before one pyreflie per sphere went into it and activated it." Paine remarked.

"I agree. It seems that they're kind of a guardian." Tidus said. Inwardly Yuna winced at this before she looked at him and said: „Guardians of the spheres, that's really possible" then she looked to Rikku and Paine as she continued: "the moment Rikku took the sphere it flashed - and right after that the bear appeared. "

Paine nodded. "I remember the indigo-blue sphere in Kilika flashed as well before the dragon appeared, I guess you're right. So we better prepare ourselves for more fights when we look for the other spheres."

Then Paine looked at the sphere before she said: "Let's go back and tell the others!"

Tidus, Yuna and Rikku nodded and so the four of them started on their way back.

So, this was chapter 10. Maybe I should say some more words to how I imagine the Macalania-landscape and the lake:

In FFX - as we all know - the surface of the lake is frozen. And we also know that the party falls down to the "ground" after fleeing out of the temple. And they can walk and breathe there, which means that between this ground and the frozen surface must be a big air-filled cavity.

So I guess that the original lake froze (respectively its surface froze) and then the still fluid water beneath this frozen surface went down, leaving a big cavity. After all it must have some connection to the sea, just remember that SIN came there and took the party to Bikanel. Well, the ground they had fallen onto could be either the right ground or just another frozen surface. Unfortunately I cannot remember anymore if there was anything explained about that in FFX. I guess I should play FFX once more =)

What I want to say is that when the ice started melting, the surface of the lake fell down (which we all can see in FFX-2 ;) ). But what happened to the rest of the frozen landscape? It's also melting and I think the whole area – the rocks, the ground etc. - was mainly built out of ice, like a big glacier or something like that. So all this is melting too. The meltwater is boring holes and tunnels into the ice while it's flowing down to the ground. And on the ground there's a lake, of course.

Another point is, that is seems to me that the temple in FFX hangs in a big ice-cave. So when the ice started melting, the temple didn't just 'sink' but rather fall down into the lake.

Well, I hope I haven't confused you more than you've already been…

( maybe I should just draw a picture of how I imagine the landscape then. But I can't draw such things…but if you're really confused let me know – I will try my best then… )

Well then, same as always: let me know if there's anything you don't understand, you don't like or what you like, while I'm still trying to increase my writing-speed.

So until the next chapter then,