Chapter 10 – Distant Early Warning
Note (3/27/05): I'm going back and rereading my previous chapters, making the occasional error fix or story tweak.
Opening her tear-filled eyes into reality, Yuna looked over across from her. Rikku was still snug in bed, as was Paine to her other side. The sun had yet to glimmer of a new day, it was still nighttime. Yuna rubbed her eyes, which stung from being swollen with tears. She got out of bed, and walked downstairs. She took the lift to the deck, where she sat – thinking.
Not knowing what to make of such a hideous nightmare, she curled up, trying to calm herself. She was fed up with being tormented by these damnable images that invaded her sleep. But, what aggravated her the most, was that woman. Clamping her eyes hard, she attempted to remember the woman's face. She appeared so familiar, as if Yuna had known her for a thousand years. Yet, try as she might, only a blurry memory of the woman remained.
A new day rose from the horizon, as the sun peeked its light over the Celsius. A few birds chirped as they flew around the airship. Yuna sighed, giving up on dwelling on her dream. All it did was antagonize her, so she found no point on continuing this insanity.
On the bridge, Buddy was already up bright and early. Yuna entered, surprised to find someone was awake this early in the morning.
"Good morning Buddy," she greeted, stepping down off the bridge's platform, "you're certainly up early."
Buddy turned his head around to see who was talking to him. He was equally surprised to find someone up at the crack of dawn like he was.
"Yuna, morning. I didn't expect anyone to be awake this early either."
"Couldn't sleep I guess..." she said with a melancholy chuckle.
"Well, since you're here, I guess I tell you about why I'm out of bed so stinkin' early." he grumbled, happy to make use of his early-morning work.
Yuna approached his console. On his screen was a map of sphere signal locations. They seemed to be color coded – either blue, orange, or red.
"I compiled this map from data Shinra gave me," Buddy began to explain, "These are all sphere locales."
Yuna nodded her head and asked, "But, what do the colors mean?"
Buddy smiled, "I'm glad you asked. The colors are for how dangerous these locations are. Blue means they aren't very dangerous, like Moonflow here. Orange means there is some hostility in the area, like Kilika, or there are some nasty fiends, such as in the Calm Lands. And finally, red means that there is a lot of risk involved, like that sphere in Bevelle."
"Wow," said Yuna pleasantly, "you've put a lot of work into this. Thanks."
"Hey no problem Yuna. This is also a good visual way of explaining to Brother why racing off to a certain area might not be such a good idea." he laughed.
"What do you mean I need a visual explaining?" shouted a voice from behind.
The angry face of Brother peered at Buddy. He stomped his way down to the two, snorting and shaking his fists like he was diseased.
"He was only joking Brother." Yuna remarked, attempting to quell his little fit of rage.
"Joking, there is no joke here. Just an under appreciated Brother that is all." he pouted.
Buddy chuckled, "Under appreciated? Just who was it that ate the most cake last night, and then went to bed first?"
"I was quite hungry," Brother exclaimed, while twitching out, "and all the sugar made me quite tired...fyed, fro ys E aqbmyehehk socamv rana! (wait, why am I explaining myself here!)"
Yuna and Buddy began laughing hysterically at the sight of Brother's temper tantrum. He finally realized he wasn't helping his situation, and slumped into his "driver's seat." They were soon joined by Paine and Rikku.
"Since it seems we are all here, let us go uniform hunting again." declared Brother, to the interest of no one.
He clamored something asinine in Al Bhed and once again delivered his order, "Ahem! As I said, since we are all here..."
"Yeah, yeah we here ya. Where are we going to look now?" grumbled Paine, who wasn't much of a friendly morning person.
"Umm...I do not know..." Brother whimpered, just now realizing he had no idea where they should go.
"Well, I do remember a Hypello or two back in Guadosalam mentioning something about there being some LeBlanc goons in Bikanel. Why don't we go check there?" suggested Shinra, who was watching Brother from over his chair.
Brother and Buddy shrugged to each other. And so it was clear, the Gullwings were off to the sandy deserts of Bikanel. Yuna wanted to do a little digging while she was there, Rikku was back in (sort of) familiar territory, and Paine just wanted to stay cool.
The girls left from the Celsius and walked to the Machine Faction's campsite, hoping to find a good clue or two. Of course, Nhadala immediately begged for Yuna to go digging. However, after a nudge in the side by Rikku, she politely turned down the offer.
"Sorry I can't help," she apologized, but continued, "we're actually wondering if you've seen anyone from LeBlanc's group around."
Nhadala thought to herself for a moment, "Hmm...oh that's right! There was some weird people snooping around the Oasis. Could you go check it out for me...they might be LeBlanc."
Yuna nodded, "Sure, we'll check it out."
To the sweltering desert the Gullwings went. Fiery beams of sun roasted down upon them. It figured, at least to Paine, that she'd end up spending the day wiping beads of sweat from her face. Luckily, the place where Pilot stopped wasn't far from the Oasis. By the time the girls approached it, they could make out two clumsy looking figures prancing about. There clothes were pink and purplish, with the all too familiar LeBlanc logo on them.
"Awesome, they really are LeBlanc's goons!" exclaimed an overjoyed Rikku.
"What in Spira could they be doing all the way out here?" wondered Yuna.
Paine grabbed Yuna by the shoulder, "Who cares. Let's just steal those uniforms and get out of here."
Yuna nodded, and motioned for Rikku to hide behind a palm tree. The two goons weren't really paying attention anyway, as they were too preoccupied with digging in the sand. Rikku leaped from behind a palm tree and tackled one of the goons to the ground. Yuna and Paine pounced on the other one, wrestling her to the ground. In short order, the two goons were wandering the desert with skimpy attire.
"Ha ha! That was too easy!" shouted a victorious Rikku.
"Who'd figure it would be this easy." chuckled a smug Paine.
The triumphant trio returned proudly to the Celsius, bearing two tacky uniforms as their trophies. It wasn't much of a spectacle, but they had better things to do. Immediately they flew to Guadosalam, the taste of spheres in their mouths. This feeling was quickly stifled when they put on LeBlanc's stuffy uniforms. Still, they had no choice but to deal with them. Upon approaching LeBlanc's mansion, they were stopped by two stalky-looking guards. The girls stood in front of them, looking goofy.
"Reporting for duty!" they exclaimed in tandem.
"Uhh...ok. Keep up the enthusiasm." one of the goons said, not sure what to make of them.
Upon entering, they walked into a room in the back. A pair of voices could be heard echoing from the back of the room. The girls tiptoed in, careful not to make a sound, even if they were in uniform.
"Argh! These door panels never seem to work right." grumbled a tall, skinny Logos.
"I told LeBlanc we shouldn't use cheap parts from that Shinra Corporation." shrugged a fat n' round Ormi.
On the Celsius, Shinra shook his head at the terribly corny allusion. Back in LeBlanc's mansion, Logos and Ormi continued to complain. Logos turned around, spotting the girls clumped together in the corner.
"You there..." he began, startling the girls.
"Um, y-yes sir." Yuna bumbled out, along with a bad salute.
"Figure out how to fix this. I'm tired of messing with the stupid thing. We need to go check on how LeBlanc's doing." Logos commanded, to the relief of the girls.
"Huh? What's wrong with LeBlanc?" asked Rikku.
"The Boss is all depressed because Nooj has disappeared." explained Ormi, gesturing his arms in distress.
"Yes, the Boss is truly obsessed with this Nooj character. I'm fearful that at this rate, she may quit sphere hunting all together." sighed Logos.
"Man, that must be hard on you guys." comforted Rikku, semi-sarcastically.
"If only she knew..." Logos sighed again, clenching his head.
Ormi and Logos then left the room, leaving the girls to enact their deviance. However, they had the same problem in figuring out how to work the control panel as Ormi and Logos were. Rikku, getting frustrated, leaned up against the wall.
"This is gonna take all...ahh!" she bellowed.
The wall began to turn, revealing a secret passageway. Rikku fell down the stairway that was behind.
"Are you alright Rikku?" questioned Yuna, running after the tumbling Rikku.
"Oww...so rayt... (my head...)"
"Your head's thick enough. Let's go find that sphere. But first..." said Paine, removing the helmet of her uniform, "let's change into something more comfortable – not to mention stylish."
The girls wholeheartedly agreed, and ditch their tacky uniforms. Heading through the underground chamber, they approached what seemed to be a bed room. The door wasn't locked, so they decided to enter. The girls started searching for a sphere throughout the room.
Paine looked in a chest near the door, put just found a bottle of potion. Rikku checked under the bed, but only found some nudie magazines.
"Hey look Yuna, its Summoner's Gone Wild. Maybe you should be in this!" teased Rikku, flashing the magazine's centerfold at Yuna.
"Very funny...hey, put that away! Of all the..." yelled Yuna once she realized what the magazine was.
Yuna went back to hunting for a sphere. She peeked into a dress drawer. In the top drawer, she found half a sphere.
"Here it is, our sphere piece." she said happily.
Suddenly, a disgruntled voice sounded from the doorway, "You know, it isn't nice to scour through other people's rooms."
A very angry Logos stood leaning against the doorway, with Ormi trotting up next to him. Paine reached back for her sword.
"There's no need to be hasty. We aren't here to fight." Logos said, not wanting to upset the short-fused Paine.
Yuna turned to face Logos, holding out a broken half-sphere.
"What's on this." she asked sternly.
"We're not sure ourselves. We haven't taken a look yet." he responded decisively.
"Too busy lookin' at this?" chimed in a cheeky Rikku, waving Logos' magazine around.
He darted over and grabbed the magazine out of Rikku's hands, "I don't know what you're talking about. Ormi, give Yuna the other part of the sphere. We'll watch it together."
Ormi bumbled across the room and handed Yuna the other sphere piece. She clasped the two halves together, and began playing the video. An image of a man in a cage appeared from the sphere. The image was fuzzy and distorted, showing the signs of ages of degradation. Yuna gazed with full intent at the image of the man. Could it be him, she thought in her mind. The man was arguing with a guard. The guard wondered why Zanarkand wouldn't stop this war. Slamming his fists on the cage wall, the man shouted at the guard, blaming Bevelle for what was happening. Still yelling, he went on to tell the guard that it will be over all too soon. Then he turned around, his mood instantly turned to melancholy. He whimpered something out, and sat down in the cage, curling up into a ball.
"It's amazing what Bevelle is hiding under their streets, isn't it loves?" boomed a familiar voice out of nowhere.
"Boss, your done sulking...I mean, you're feeling better." stammered Ormi, hoping up an down joyously.
LeBlanc nodded, "Well, I got to thinking. If my Noojie-Woojie is out searching for spheres, he's obviously going to need my help."
"Uh...right Boss." agreed Logos, smiling half heartily.
LeBlanc turned to the girls, "I don't know about you girls, but I certainly don't want those nutty Yevonites to have a machina like Vegnagun sitting in their basement."
"Obviously no one wants that," Paine put it satirically, "so how do you suppose we go about defeating them?"
A evil smile crawled across LeBlanc's lips, "Easy love, we hit them head on."
"Uhh..." murmured Rikku.
However, it was too late for anyone to react. LeBlanc, with Logos and Ormi in tow, raced out of the room and were on their way out of there.
"We'll meet you on that airship of your," yelled LeBlanc, so kindly inviting herself, "then we'll talk about battle plans!"
Paine looked at Rikku, Rikku looked at Yuna. Yuna just looked like she was hit by a hovercraft. A collective sigh was released, and the girls strolled back to the Celsius. Paine argued for a moment about backing out of LeBlanc's crazy idea. Nonetheless, she stopped quickly when she realized is was too late for that.
Aboard the Celsius, Brother was fuming at LeBlanc for handing out orders to him. Logos told him to shut up and get ready for takeoff. Brother, having all he could take, began running around the bridge shouting explicit remarks in Al Bhed about Logos' mother. It was something to the tune of a metal pipe, a dark hole, and a fat Hypello. All the while, Shinra was holding his ears immensely, blocking out Brother's wild profanity.
The girls entered, luckily, at this point. Brother jumped for joy, and asked Yuna to kick LeBlanc off the airship.
"Sorry Brother, we kind of need them. We're going back to Bevelle." she explained.
"What-! You can't being serious Yuna?" he shrieked, "Why do we need these cdibet eteudc (stupid idiots) here anyway."
Yuna pointed sternly at Brother, "Look Brother, I'll explain later...just get us to Bevelle."
"Ok Yuna, but I do this only for you..." he sighed, turning back to his big chair.
The voyage there was more than interesting. Truly it was entertaining, with constant bickering between Brother and LeBlanc. Getting a headache from all this, Yuna eventually headed down to the cabin to take a rest. Bevelle was not on the top of her list of places she wanted to go. But she tried not to think about it.
She closed her eyes, only to rest them. Almost as quickly as she laid down, she fell asleep. Images began forming in the recesses of her mind. Outside Bevelle, in what appeared to be the Macalania Forest, she stood. A cloud of swirling gray fog hovered about her legs.
As impossible as it could be in reality, she saw him – Tidus, walking into the New Yevon Headquarters. She called out to him, but he couldn't hear. Not to be left behind, she began racing after him. A guard outside the city limits told her to stop, but her legs didn't hesitate. Down the long, long corridor she ran, as fast as she could, to the gate of the temple. Suddenly, a large machina hovered in front of her.
It wielded twin cannons, which could disintegrate a normal person. She drew out her guns, and began firing at it. Emptying all her shots, the machina fell to the ground with a deafening crash. She reloaded her guns in case of more attacks. Now, an aura of raw determination began raging in her blood.
The gate opened, and a guard ran out, taking a potshot of Yuna. She dodged, and clenched her guns tightly in indignation. She became overwhelmed with fury. In cold blood, she shot the guard twice in the skull, splattering red blood on the gate behind.
She now entered the temple, still running full tilt. The hallway inside the temple seemed endless. In the far distance, she spotted Tidus, who was also running down the hall. In that instant, she found herself in his arms. A large, cavernous room encircled them. She looked around, finding a gigantic hole in the wall, with pyreflies swarming out from it. She had not the time to analyze it, once the sound of footsteps echoed throughout the room.
A dozen guards ran into the room, guns aimed at them. Yuna looked over at Tidus, tears running off her cheeks. She started to run over to him for one last embrace. Shots rang out, hitting Tidus for what seemed to be an innumerable amount of times. The impact knocked him off the platform they were standing on. Yuna ran to the edge, screaming as she watched his body fall in the dark abyss.
Yuna gasped, as she smacked the floor. Regaining her senses, she realized that she only fell out of bed. She knelt up to the bed, grabbing the pillow from off the floor. She smothered her face into it, muffling her horrid moaning and crying. And there she knelt for a couple of minutes, doing nothing but sobbing uncontrollably.
Now the nightmares were affecting her worse than before. Each one progressively ate into her soul that much more. Feeling so dark, so abysmal – they seemed not to be her own, yet she knew them to be so close. Her recovery was ephemeral, as Brother's voice sounded over the intercom; they had reached Bevelle.
The Gullwings and LeBlanc walked to the long corridor leading up to the gate of the New Yevon Headquarters. Paine noted that she still wasn't sure how they were going to take out Vegnagun.
"You got any ideas LeBlanc?" Paine asked, standing arms folded.
"Of course...we attack those Yevonites head on, and destroy Vegnagun. There's no reason to beat around the bush." she replied boldly, to the delight of her two goons.
Yuna nodded as well, "Sounds as good as any plan. We need to take care of this menace before it starts hurting Spira."
A large crash shook them out of their planning, as the sight of Yevon guards and a monstrous machina rapidly approached them.
"You, stop there!" one of the guards yelled, "what are you doing here?"
"Well, you guys have got the front. See ya later loves!" said LeBlanc, turning tail along with Logos and Ormi.
Rikku grabbed her head, "Argh! You've got to be kidding me!"
"Heh...we've got no choice guys," spoke Paine, pointing her sword at the Yevon guards, "let's attack!"
Next Chapter: It's a grand showdown for the Gullwings as they must bust their way into the belly of Bevelle. Mysteries profound, the girls discover there is more to this situation than meets the eye.