Cleaning House
The amount of relief I felt when the Gullwings' airship arrived was beyond words. When I heard that they were outside I wasted no time in getting there to let them know what was happening. Though I suppose they were already made aware given the circumstances. Yuna, Rikku, and Paine were all waiting outside the temple where most of the Faction were as well.
"I'm glad you're here. We sent out the distress signal as soon as it got bad," I said. Rikku looked around the camps set up outside and at the temple door.
"Is Gippal inside?" She asked.
"No. He left on some sort of business and left me in charge," I explained. "We were keeping the fiends back for a time, and it seemed to be going fine since we pushed them back into the antechamber but..." I turned around and looked at the temple doors. "It's gotten really bad."
"So Gippal leaves and the last group standing collapses," Paine commented.
"Wonder if he's still with Nooj and Baralai?" Yuna's words were quiet, and were only meant for Rikku and Paine, but I heard them anyway and turned back to the three sharply.
"You know where they are?" I asked, looking between all three of them for an answer. None of them gave me eye contact. "Guys if something's... you know what? We'll deal with the fiends then we'll talk. The place is already going to hell and we're wasting time out here."
"How bad's it gotten?" Rikku asked, glad that my questioning had been put on standby for now.
"The fiends are merging with the machines," I stated bluntly. "And Ixion is in the antechamber, same situation with him. I think if we take him out the others will go, too, but that's just a guess at best."
"An Aeon here too?" Paine looked to Yuna, who I locked eyes with briefly.
"Valefor and Ifrit were in the temples, too," she told me. "And Yojimbo was in the cavern in the Calm Lands. We didn't see Shiva at Macalania but there were a lot of fiends at the lake."
"Is Besaid okay?"
"It's fine now but you're right. We take out of Aeon and the fiends go with it," Yuna nodded.
"Great. Then let's go," I led them into the temple and approached the guards at the cloister entrance. "Fa'na kuehk eh. Gaab kiynt yht fa'mm caht funt ev fa haat yccecdyhla."
"Kuut milg," the guards let us by and we walked through to the antechamber.
"So keeping busy then?" I asked.
"The fiends have appeared in every temple. We're still not sure why it's happening," Yuna said. "How are the fiends merging with the machines here?"
"It's before they're fully formed. The pyreflies form around the machines and then the fiends that are made become incredibly unstable and destructive. We've not made an attempt to attack Ixion yet but I wanted to get through the Aeon then break through into the Chamber of the Fayth," I explained. "I figured if we can get in there we might find out what's going on."
"Sounds like you've been busy" Paine said.
"It's not ideal. Gippal just sort of said "hey you're in charge" and left. It's not like him to do something like that and if you're saying he's with Nooj and Baralai..." I sighed and looked at Yuna. "Spira's going to be in a lot more trouble if we don't do something." Yuna only replied with a nod and I really hoped she would tell me where Gippal and the others had gone. Three world leaders up and leaving at the same time was not something that just happened.
We got to the electric barrier that was holding Ixion within and I deactivated it, looking to the girls too see if they were ready. There wasn't much room in the antechamber to fight so we'd have to be careful moving around each other. I went in first to take any attack that Ixion threw out. I wasn't sure if Yuna, Rikku, or Paine would be able to take it but I knew I could.
I was struck with a lightning bolt as soon as Ixion had me in its sights. I fell to my knees, my muscles stiffening from the shock. The girls ran round me and surrounded the Aeon. Squeezing my eyes shut I got up, shaking off the shock and bringing my fists up. When I looked at Ixion it was bursting with electricity, parts of its hide covered in machines to keep it functioning.
"Just be careful; the machines aren't stable," I told them.
Rikku used that Garment Grid thing the Gullwings had to change into what looked like a Black Mage costume, casting water spells at the Aeon while Yuna fired off bullets and Paine used her sword. I watched as Ixion moved around and I ran in front of the others to take the attacks. As he reared around, turning in the small space, I charged and shouldered him, taking him off balance and gave a hard punch in its side. The machines overcharged with Ixion's electricity and a small explosion occurred, damaging the Aeon but not taking it down.
The parts that had joined with Ixion malfunctioned and it dropped to the ground, unable to move without triggering another blowout on the machines. It lay on the ground, panting and sparking violently. We backed off and kept our eyes on it, only to hear the door to the Chamber of the Fayth opening. Yuna glanced at us all quickly before walking towards the door. Rikku and Paine followed and, eventually, so did I.
Inside the chamber was a deep hole with pyreflies flowing out of it steadily. The girls were crouched at the hole, peering down inside it.
"Another hole... wonder what's down there," Rikku mused.
"Go find out," Paine said and looked to her, to which Rikku shook her head furiously.
"No way!" Her voice echoed a little into the hole. Yuna was still silent as she looked down it.
"Are all the temples like this?" I asked, getting Rikku and Paine's attention.
"Pretty much, yeah," Rikku nodded.
"You mentioned Besaid, Kilika, Macalania, and the Calm Lands... what about Bevelle? Was Bahamut there?" I asked.
"That's, uh... well..."
"Okay you need to tell me what's going on right..." I heard something clanking behind us and turned around. Ixion was at the entrance... pyreflies were shooting out of him and the machinery was at breaking point. "Get down now!" I yelled as the machines completely exploded. I ducked down, hands over my head to protect myself but there was nowhere for me to really move and I felt machines hit my back and knock me to the ground. I grit my teeth and bared it, hoping that I got the worst of it.
"Yuna!" I shot my head up and quickly scrambled to my feet. Paine and Rikku were staring down the hole. Yuna wasn't there any more...
"Shit," I got to the edge and looked down. Rikku put her hands to her mouth and paced around before tapping her radio.
"Guys, Yunie's in trouble. She fell down the hole in the Chamber of the Fayth," she spoke frantically. I couldn't hear what was said over the radio but she nodded. "Roger that. We'll be there soon. Paine we've gotta go."
"Hold up," I stepped in front of the entrance, blocking them. "You're not running off without explaining what's going on. Worlds leaders gone, Aeons reappearing and now Yuna's fallen down a hole that leads who knows where! Tell me what's going on."
"Mind if we talk on the airship?" Rikku asked. I sighed and folded my arms and nodded. If she'd talk there at least I'd get answers.
When we left the temple I told the others to double check for fiends and begin clean up to get things back to normal. I said I'd be back in a while and followed Rikku and Paine onto the airship. It had felt like ages since I'd been on it. All of the Gullwings were on the bridge and the guys were a bit surprised that I had come with the girls.
"Okay, so can someone explain to me what is going on?" I asked again as I tried to keep my cool.
"Well, you know about the Awesome Sphere, right?" Rikku asked.
"The one the Youth League and New Yevon were fighting about in Kilika? Yeah, I heard about it," I nodded.
"Well on the sphere was this recording of some kind of superweapon. When we gave the sphere to Nooj he called it Vegnagun," Rikku continued. "The sphere had a guy on it, the one who... we're not sure if it's Tidus or not but it sure looked like him. All we know is that Vegnagun was dangerous and ever since we gave the sphere back the two groups have been getting worse and worse with the fighting."
"So that's why they kept coming to the Machine Faction? A recording of a superweapon was enough to make everyone paranoid?" I asked, finding it a little difficult to believe. "So where is this weapon anyway? They'd only be worried if the other side knew where the weapon was."
"They did. The Leblanc Syndicate work for the Youth League and they analysed a sphere from Zanarkand," Paine answered. "It was in Bevelle. In the last place anyone would find it."
"The Chamber of the Fayth," I nodded.
"There was a huge underground facility that housed Vegnagun," Paine said.
"Okay, so then we've got an idea of how old it is," I replied. "A machina weapon under the Chamber of the Fayth means it's older than Yevon. We're talking around the time of the war between Zanarkand and Bevelle." I looked at the group, particularly Rikku and Paine. "... I'm guessing from the look on your faces that it's not there any more."
"Bahamut was where it was meant to be... along with a giant hole like the ones we've found at the temples," Rikku said. "We don't know where it's gone but after we got out that's when the fiends started appearing, but we can't figure out what happened to the Aeons."
"Right... so how do Gippal, Nooj, and Baralai fit into this?" I asked. "I understand Baralai maybe finding out about Vegnagun but it doesn't make sense how Nooj would know before watching that sphere."
"They were friends once," Paine said. "Something happened between them and it's connected to Vegnagun."
"So they're trying to stop it?" I asked. "Where are they?"
"We followed them to the Bevelle Underground again but... we're not sure," Rikku started pacing around the bridge. "And now Yunie's down one of those holes too... we don't even know what's down there!"
"We could throw a commsphere down the hole," Shinra suggested. "It'll give us an idea of where she is... maybe."
"A maybe's better than nothing," I said, trying to sound hopeful. I certainly didn't feel it. "I'll toss it down, let me know if you find anything. About Vegnagun, about Gippal, Yuna, the others... anything just tell me. If Yuna turns up at the temple I'll let you know."
"You going to be okay?" Rikku asked.
"Gippal asked me to keep everything running while he's gone, so I'll keep the Machine Faction under control," I nodded. "I won't take any more weapons orders from either side. There will be a lot of fighting from both sides and probably some in-fighting as well. I won't get the Machine Faction involved any more than it already is to minimise the damage."
"Sounds like a plan," Paine commented. Shinra handed me the commsphere and I looked at the group.
"If you need help don't hesitate to contact me," I turned around and headed to the elevator. I had to prepare myself with a lot of political bullshit when the Youth League and New Yevon come knocking again.
Al Bhed translations:
"We're going in. Keep guard and we'll send word if we need assistance."
"Good luck."