I woke up in my bed with my position changed. I remembered falling asleep flat on my face, but here I was, my eyes wearily staring at the ceiling. I guessed Lenne had moved me after I collapsed on the bed yesterday night. Yes and here she lay, huddled softly in my arms. She must have thought it to be too late to walk all the way home and chose to stay. It made me feel bad about not showing her to my guest room or taking her home. I was just far too spent. Lenne was snuggled next to my left side, her head resting on my shoulder and her hand draped across my chest. I stroked her hair gently while thinking on past events. It had been close to nine months and I still couldn't tell her my feelings, even after the gift. I knew I was truly feeling those emotions for her, but my heart wouldn't let me express them. My theory remained that I would tell her when the moment was right and it wouldn't happen a moment sooner.
A few minutes later, Lenne awoke. "Uh… Good morning, Shuyin." She said to me, rubbing her eyes of sleep as she took in a breath to sigh in the new day.
"Morning." I replied, looking at the back of her head until she turned to grace me with her smile.
Suddenly, she got up and rushed to the bathroom. I got up slowly, not knowing what the cause for her rush was, and decided to go after her. I waited outside and watched her brush her teeth, not thinking about what else I could do. I'm not the best morning person, especially if I was exhausted the night before. It must have looked like her brushing was a fireworks display and I was a five-year-old kid. Lenne nearly choked when she saw me staring at her like that.
After I had also freshened up, we started talking about what we were going to do for the day. Lenne already had plans, apparently, saying that, "I wanna see Kirin again. I told her that I'd go to Besaid with her today." Lenne informed me that Kirin wanted to show her her favorite beach.
"That's cool. I'll go hang out with Rothel, then." I responded, thinking how long it had been since I actually hung out with him. It would be good to have some time to catch up with the guy.
We kissed and exited my house. I locked the door and we were off, back to Kirin's place.
"Hi again, guys!" Kirin greeted as she opened the door, "Lenne, we set?"
"Yep, we're all ready to go to Besaid." She answered.
"Great! I can't wait for you to see it. It's got such a view of the ocean!" My blonde friend exclaimed, jumping a little before grabbing Lenne's arm and running past me.
"See ya later, Shuyin!" Kirin waved, still dragging Lenne away. I couldn't help but laugh a little. The girl was just so perky.
After seeing my two lady friends disappear from the horizon, I embarked on my journey to see Rothel. Thank goodness for that day, the citizens weren't out and about. I had no idea why not, but it was good for me. I wouldn't have to sign autographs or have pictures taken. I didn't have to sneak around and use the "underground." That can get annoying sometimes. I can't say I don't like and appreciate the tenacity of the crowd, but a little bit of peace goes a long way. I strolled carelessly, taking my sweet time to get to my friend's house, something I rarely had the opportunity to do so I milked it for all it was worth.
"Hey, man! Nice ta see ya! Where's the girl… or, ah… girls?" Rothel said with a wink, giving me a few light punches to the gut.
"Well, Lenne's off with Kirin and the summoner has her job, ya know?" I answered, still not telling him the complete truth.
"Whoa! Kirin's wit Lenne? Damn! That girl's gonna make Lenne a perky lil' songstress. That oughta put a nice smile on ya face, eh?" Rothel laughed.
"C'mon, Rothel. You know I'm not like that." I replied, trying to get him to back off on the subject.
"Eh? Right, right, right. I forgot, ya know? You ain't never had one o' them, ah nights." He chuckled, patting his trunks. He's the best. You can always count on Rothel to put a smile on your face with his wise cracks and infamous hi-jinx.
"So, how's it going with your girl?" I asked, my own fiendish grin appearing on my sly face.
"What girl? You know I don't keep 'em. I mean, yeah, a week or two, maybe, but I don't keep." He explained, casually waving me off.
"Yea, sure. One of these days you'll change your mind about that." I said, thinking back on the wonderful time he had had with a certain Kume. She had been his first ever longer than "a week or two" girlfriend. Unfortunately, even though all the guys thought this was the one for him, he wasn't and…
"Anyway, me and that girl ain't together no more. She don't like a guy that can't commit, ya know?" He sighed. I felt a little upset with him from that kind of a statement.
"Couldn't commit?" I thought, a blip of frustration giving me a twinge in the back of my mind.
He could if he really wanted to, but he's so stubborn, always pegging himself for the playboy and nothing more. "Rothel, you know as well as I do, you can't hide forever. Sooner or later a girl's gonna win your heart and you'll be head over heels ready to satisfy her." I said, thoughts of Lenne surging through my words.
"So, you in love, eh, kid? I get that. Good for you, Tidus. Ya deserve the best. Maybe this ol' lunka ain't got that luck, ya know?" He commented, patting my back.
"Rothel, I promise you: One day, be it tomorrow or years from now, some girl is going to kill the playboy in you." I told him, knocking at his chest, "Better look out, pal."
We went to Mt. Gagazet that day. He had wanted to chat with a ronso friend of his and I just wanted to hang out with my buddy so it was Gagazet or bust for us.
"Hey there, Galte!" Rothel waved over to a large, white ronso. By looks alone, the guy was a tough contender and towered over both of us easily.
"Galte happy to see Rothel." The lion-faced being replied, hugging his friend.
"Hey! I want ya to meet another pal o' mine." Rothel said, introducing me to Galte with a point, followed by a grab to my shoulder. Pulling me closer to him, he gave me a shake before shoving me forward toward the ronso.
"Galte know him. Galte see him play blitz with Rothel. He is Tidus." The ronso replied, acknowledging my status.
"Yes, I am. Hi there, Galte! It's nice to meet you." I said, holding my hand out to shake his massive paw.
Galte didn't take it. Instead, he grabbed me and pulled me into a tight hug, too. "A little friendly are we? C'mon, you're crushing me!" I coughed out, gasping a little for the breath that Galte was squeezing out of me.
It was bad enough that the air was thin up on the mountain, but to be compressed by a strong being such as he was just too much. How did Rothel deal with this?
"C'mon, you gonna kill 'im. He ain't as rough as us." Rothel said, prying Galte off me.
I spent most of the time there listening to them telling old stories about their friendship while we stayed at a local bar. "Then, he got canned, remember?" Rothel shouted about some Al Bhed they had embarrassed somewhere in Djose City a few years ago.
"Galte remember. Funny Al Bhed! Puny Al Bhed!" He yelled, laughing up a storm and banging the bar counter.
What happened was that an Al Bhed tourist had asked Rothel for directions to Djose's best nightclub, Raze. Rothel pointed him to it, but then he and Galte got the idea to tip the bouncer and have him give the guy a hard time. Unfortunately, the bouncer wasn't clear on what humour was and ended up dumping the Al Bhed fact first into a dumpster. Did these guys really think it was THAT funny? They started talking about another time, in Bevelle, when they had embarrassed its leader by throwing beer at him and causing his wig to fall off.
"That shit was hilarious! The guy fumed at us for so long an' then we had to run away from them dumb ass guards!" Rothel cackled, chugging the rest of his beer and asking the bartender for yet another.
"Galte like times with Galte's friend! Rothel make days good for Galte." The ronso laughed.
Meanwhile, I was thinking about the upcoming season of blitz. It would be my second season with Lenne at my side. With how the last season ended, Bevelle would be steamed at us for taking the glory in their own stadium. I was thrown away from those thoughts as a big Ronso paw smacked my back hard.
"Uh! Galte! Ow, that hurt!" I complained, rubbing my back as the sting started to spread.
The two of them just laughed that much harder and chugged more beer. Rothel looked at me like I had a fever or something and asked, "Hey, T? Why you ain't drinkin' wit us?"
"I'm not much of a drinker, Rothel. You know that. I'd prefer a cola." I replied with a grumble, still rubbing my back.
"Hey! Bartender! Get this kid over here a Alchem-cola, ya know!" Rothel ordered, snapping his fingers at the man behind the counter.
"Right away, bud!" He yelled, wiping a glass clean and pouring the orange-red carbonated drink into it.
He slid it across the counter and I stopped it with my left, picking up the glass and staring into the liquid for a while, my mind trying to recollect my thoughts.
"So, how ya think the Fangs'll do this season?" Rothel asked Galte.
"Galte think Ronso do good this season. Galte know Fangs defeat Abes this season. Fangs will win!" He responded, hitting his chest with his right fist in intimidation.
"Oh, is that so? Tidus, tell 'im what you know's gonna happen. Tell 'im what's gonna happen every season." He said, snapping his fingers at me and pointing.
"Uh, well, I think the Abes can win the championship again. I mean straight victories, right? I think we can keep it up. Don't count out the reigning champions, right?" I answered, my own confidence and pride showing.
"Galte wish you luck. Fangs going to win this season. Galte know. But Rothel friend of Galte so Galte wish him and new friend good luck." Galte said, patting Rothel on the shoulder.
They departed with another hug as I winced in remembrance of my own experience with it. "Hope ya the best, Galte." Rothel said.
"Goodbye, Rothel and Tidus." The white ronso returned.
He walked off to the summit as Rothel walked back over to me. "Hey, let's go." He said, pushing my shoulder to get me to start walking. With that, we began to head back for home, when…
"Ya know, talkin' with Galte got me to thinkin'." Rothel started.
"Thinking of what?" I asked, not knowing what .
"I ain't really got too many memories wit you. Maybe we should make some, ya know? Blitzball ain't everything. How 'bout it?" He replied.
"Well, what do you have in mind?" I asked, wondering what he was up to.
"Let's get to Bevelle and really pull a prank." He suggested, enthusiasm coursing through his veins.
"Um, I don't know about that. It doesn't seem like such a good idea." I returned, concerned that my answer might have hurt my friend, but in his zeal, that was impossible.
"Nah, we be fine. In fact, you can take the easy job. I'ma round up some poor shlub to get to the prank point, then you just gotta make sure the trap's all done, ya know?" He responded, eager to have me go with this plan of his.
"Fine… If you really want to." I gave in.
"Great! We gotta think up a helluva plan. This one's gotta be a killah!" He howled, extremely enthusiastic about this prank of his while he continued to brainstorm.
We arrived in Bevelle within a half an hour, hitching a ride on the back of some cargo-glyph that just happened to pass by. After it got us there, we waited about an hour outside. It took so long due to the fact that Rothel had a little prankster's block, stalling his ideas. However, he had eventually managed to think up a really "good"' one and I had to set up the trap. We entered Bevelle and, again, I noticed that weird behavior. A lot of the stores were closed and whoever was out kept rather silent I didn't want to be there. Something just told me that Bevelle and Zanarkand were feeling some turbulence and this visit wasn't helping things. The prank we'd pull wouldn't be helpful, either. It all felt like one bad move.
Regardless, I got into position and started to build the trap. The basic idea was to have a greased up floor, a sticky wall, and a nice little sign with a punch-line on it. This sign would have "Bevelle's Brightest" written on it. I guess he was gonna find some brainiac and get him to slip on the greased floor, hit the sticky wall, and look like a complete idiot while the sign was displayed above him for all to see.
My guess was correct much to my dismay. As I finished the trap, Rothel ran toward me yelling behind him about someone's mother.
"Get down!" He whispered with a low grunt, commanding me to hide.
He lunged at me, tackling me to the ground as I was too shocked to react in time. We watched as the man chasing him, a high-ranking guard of Bevelle, ran into the grease, slid, screamed, and smacked right into the wall, getting himself utterly and completely stuck and in the most awkward position at that. Rothel laughed like a lunatic as he walked out into the open. He pointed and cackled at the guard who was steaming with rage with each passing second of humiliation.
"Oh my goodness, he's gonna kill Rothel one day." I muttered, still hiding behind the crate my friend had tackled me into before. Rothel walked back over to me and, with a shake of my head, I hopped over the crates. After I assured him that I saw the end result of the prank, we ran towards the exit of Bevelle.
"Just where do you two think you're going?" Another guard asked, as he closed the gap between us, eyeing suspiciously underneath his visor.
"We were just gonna go home." I said, trying to keep a low profile. If we didn't look like troublemakers, we'd get out of there easily.
"Yea, we just plastered one o' your boys to a wall. You probably be hearin' his shrieks soon. 'Bevelle's brightest', ya know?" Rothel laughed.
The guard didn't find any of this funny calling for a few other guards to come and apprehend us. About five guards showed up, each pointing one of those bladed rifles Areth had been armed with in my dream.
"Hey man, just a joke. Don't take life so seriously, man. Take it easy, ya know!" Rothel eased with his hands held up, trying to get us out of the mess, but to no avail.
"Arrest them!" The initial guard commanded. The other guards surrounded us, closing in while still pointing their guns. Unfortunately for them, they got a little too close to me…
I whipped out my sword quickly and knocked the ones nearest me to the ground with a leg swipe. Rothel ducked right after and I lifted myself, making a higher swing with my saber, this time batting the other guards in the head with the flat side of my blade.
"Let's get out of here!" I yelled waving, for my team captain to follow.
Rothel nodded, and we ran as fast as we could back for Zanarkand. As we left the gates, a bullet hit the ground near my foot. Flashes of my dream stung my mind. Was this incident trying to tell me that my dream would become reality? More bullets came, hitting the walls and gate of Bevelle and threatening to tear into us, as well. However, seeing as it didn't hit either of us yet, we both just kept running as fast as our legs could take us.
We got back to Zanarkand rather quickly, having gone on that run at our top speed. Stopping right after the gates, we both gasped for breath, hunching over as our muscles finally had the chance to relax.
"You… are… an… idiot!" I choked out, glaring at Rothel while taking in ragged breaths of air.
"Hey… take… easy… man…" He also breathed, trying to calm me down.
"We could've died back there!" I exclaimed, my second wind kicking in, giving me enough oxygen to speak normally again.
"Nah… Never happen." Rothel said, waving a hand at me as if to push away that kind of thought.
That stunt was incredibly stupid. What if that shot had hit my foot? What if they caught us? What if I actually saw my dream come true from it? If one of those shots hit either of us, I'd never forgive myself if Rothel got hurt because I didn't deter him from that stupid prank. I promised myself that I'd never do anything that stupid again.
We walked back to Rothel's house and I threw myself on his couch and put a hand to my face, trying to calm myself down after that horrendous act.
"Tidus, I'm sorry, ya know? " Rothel apologized, speaking seriously for a change.
"Yea, I know." I mumbled just loud enough for him to hear, "But don't ever ask me to do anything like that again."
"But ya gotta admit, it was funny." He said, laughing again.
I shook my head. That kind of funny wasn't for me.
"I'm kinda pooped out. You got anywhere to go?" Rothel asked.
"Yea, I'll probably just go find Lenne. She and Kirin should be back from Besaid by now." I answered, getting up from my seat.
"You ain't mad at me, right? Just thought it'd be fun, ya know? Ain't hang wit ya like this a lot." He asked, concerned for our friendship.
"Nah, just take care of yourself, okay?" I replied, exiting his house.
I walked about aimlessly for a while, thoughts lingering on what had nearly happened. I reached Kirin's house and saw that the lights were on so I decided to knock on the door.
"Oh, Shuyin! Hey there!" Lenne said with a blush on her face as she opened the door.
"Hiya, Shuyin!" Kirin yelled from behind her, waving playfully.
She was hiding because she wasn't dressed… again. "Keep your clothes on!" I yelled, covering my eyes.
"Sorry, bad habit!" She offered, running back to the living room where she'd left her skirt and bikini top.
A short while later, Lenne uncovered my eyes by grabbing my hand. She dragged me into the house and Kirin came over to pat me on my chest. "So, is this better?" She said, presenting herself to me with a cute curtsey.
"Yes, much." I replied, nodding.
"We were thinking about dancing outside before you came so… Wanna join us?" Lenne asked.
"Sure! I'd love to see what Kirin's got." I answered.
It wasn't like I had anything else to do. Besides, dancing was relaxing and, with Lenne, it was even more relaxing. Together, we left Kirin's house.
"I knew I'd find you here!" A shrill female voice shouted. I looked and saw that it was that other summoner I'd met in Macalania, Trista.
"What do you want?" Kirin sneered, looking at the summoner with much distaste. Lenne must have told her about her and that conceited attitude of hers.
"I'm not talking to you, troll." Trista hissed, turning her gaze back to me, "We've got unfinished business."
"What are you talking about?" I asked, showing my disdain with my words.
"Oh, you know. Don't think I forgot what you did to me!" She sneered, her glare burning a hole into my chest.
"What, you didn't have enough of me when I was choking you?" I jeered back, grinning at the thought of snapping her neck.
"Enough!" She barked, "I want my revenge!" She formed her staff in her right hand and smirked at me.
"You versus me? Fine, let's see who'd win." I growled, unsheathing my sword.
"You'll regret those words." She hissed. I realized my miscalculation as I watched her starting to summon an Aeon, spinning her staff.
"Oh crap!" I mumbled, gritting my teeth.
"Stop this, Trista!" Lenne yelled, trying to keep the girl from summoning something that could tear me to pieces.
"Shut it, Lenne. He brought it on himself!" She snarled, finishing the summoning of Valefor with a wave, pointing the tip of her staff behind her. The winged-beast appeared behind her and gave a battle cry.
"Fine! I'll take on all your Aeons! I'll take them down one by one!" I roared, losing my fear and gaining my rage. My eyes became angry eyes again. Once again, the light blue of the pond transformed into the dark blue of a hurricane just biding its time, waiting to be unleashed.
The bird attacked me with its beak, making a sharp dive. I dodged left and it flew past me, its wing smacking me in the back of the head. I growled and lunged at it. The strike missed it as it flew upwards and made yet another dive at me. I stood my ground. As it came in, I leaped, grabbing onto it as it struggled to lose its new passenger.
"Gotcha!" I screamed, stabbing the beast in the back of the neck.
It faltered, losing altitude little by little. I jumped off of it as it hit the ground and slashed it one last time in the face for good measure, watching as it dispersed into pyreflies with a cry.
"I'll teach you to kill my Valefor!" Trista yelled, beginning a new summon. I tried to stop her, but she managed to get the Aeon out before I reached. It was an Ifrit.
"You're lucky your little bitch of a girlfriend has a Dispel Curse on me because Valefor would have killed you if I could've helped it." She stated, following with a command to her Aeon, "Ifrit! Fira!"
The summon obeyed and blasted me with flames. I dodged just in time and kept myself moving to avoid getting locked on by the beast. Closing in, I kicked off of its arm, slashed its neck, and landed in front of it. Quickly, I stabbed Ifrit behind me and heard the anguished scream of the beast as it, collapsed.
"Ifrit! Get up! Use HellFire on the bastard!" She screamed.
That really got me steamed. Nobody calls me a bastard. I didn't wait for the Aeon to attack. As it charged up the fireballs of HellFire, I ran at it and sliced off its head swiftly, far too suddenly for it to dodge. The fireballs extinguished as did Ifrit, faltering and falling onto the floor, disappearing.
"I'll get you yet!" Trista fumed, summoning yet another Aeon.
"Ixion! Thundara!" She ordered, as I watched the summoned beast form electricity with its arms, aiming for me. The bolts rained outward, racing towards me. I dashed right, but one of the bolts hit my sword, shocking me, as well.
"AhHhhH!" I screamed, the pain coursing through my body. The beast started walking towards me and I tried my best to move, but the jolt had paralyzed me.
"Stupid horse!" I grunted, cringing while trying to regain my ability to move my arm.
It formed disks of energy and sent them my way, but I blocked them both somehow with my sword. I could feel them, their energies flowing through the weapon, almost like I had absorbed their power into it. It used another Thunder spell, but I flipped over it, following through by cutting the creature in both legs and arms. It began to sway and finally kneeled onto the floor due to the injuries I gave it.
"Ixion! Use Thor's Hammer now!" Trista yelled. The Aeon slowly got back up and waved its arms around, creating a storming vortex around us both.
"Shit!" I exclaimed, running toward the beast.
I jumped onto one of its arms, spun, and slashed a deep gash straight through the beast's chest, landing in a neat stance next to the fallen creature. It vanished, as well, taking with it the vortex of lightning.
"Is that all you got?" I snarled at the stupid prissy bitch that was causing me so much grief.
"Oh, that's far from it. I'll give you something to worry about! Like… Shiva!" She cried, summoning the maiden of ice. I ran towards her without hesitation, sword held out, ready to cut her down.
"Blizzaga!" Trista commanded, choosing a stronger level of Black Magic as her other two Aeons fell with the weaker form.
Shiva waved her arms and shot a strong beam of frost at me. I tried to escape its cold grasp, but the wider radius of the spell managed to hit my leg and I crashed to the floor. My leg was frozen solid and it hurt a lot, a thousand icy needles piercing right to the bone. The maiden floated over to me and lifted me up, looking at me with icy blue eyes.
"I can't lose… I won't!" I struggled, trying to get out of her grip.
She moved her face closer to me, closing her eyes. My guess was that she was trying to kiss me, a kiss that would bring only cold death by their touch.
"No!" I growled, shaking as her lips came closer.
At the last possible second, my leg felt warm again and I also managed to struggle out of my shirt that Shiva was still holding. When I landed on the floor, I quickly sprung up and kneed her in the gut, causing her to fold over. Then, I took the opportunity to get my sword in position. As she rose, I stabbed her in the gut and twisted. Her body fell onto mine and with a cold tear, Shiva became another of my victims.
"Fine! So what if you beat those wimps. You won't beat my next Aeon!" Trista hissed, beginning to summon yet another Aeon.
"Now, witness my power! I call forth Bahamut!" She roared, summoning the most powerful Aeon I'd ever seen.
"Bahamut! Destroy!" She ordered, yelling at her dragon. The beast roared, a sound that penetrated my mind, body, and soul. Fear grasped me.
"What was I to do now? I can't fight Bahamut." I told myself silently.
It charged at me with unequivocal speed. I tried to dodge, but its claw caught me and tore into my chest. The shear force of the impact sent my body flying backwards. When I landed, I had three blood-spewing tears etched onto my chest and I was coughing up the same substance.
"Shuyin!" Both Kirin's and Lenne's voices screamed, the pitch sounding so far off.
Bahamut came back around, ready for a second strike. I stumbled back onto my feet and fearfully awaited its next and, given the current statistics, most likely its final assault. Then, it came at me again, glistening claws extended, covering a fading sun with its ominous presence.
The grin on Trista's face showed me that I had lost. My vision blurred a little, but I forced them to focus with a shake of my head.
"Shuyin!" Lenne cried once more, tears streaming down her face as she watched on, totally powerless.
It was true that she had the spells Cure, Cura, and Curaga that could have helped me. However, as she was holding back Trista from aiding her Aeons, her own abilities were tied up. Lenne wouldn't be able to save me if I should be struck again.
I waited, acting even more injured that I truly was, though I was definitely damaged horribly. The beast lunged at me, its razor-sharp claw held out in front as if to reach into my crimson-covered chest and rip my still-beating heart straight out. At the last possible moment, however, I jumped and flew into the air above the beast. I pointed my sword downward and, as Bahamut's body passed me by, the entire spine had a deep gash apparent upon it. The creature roared in pain, crashing through a nearby lightpost.
"Get up!" I heard Trista scream, furious at my survival.
The Aeon, too, seemed peeved, growling at the sight of my living form. It flew at me yet again. This time I chose to latch onto it. I waited for it to get close enough to me and then I grabbed onto the large golden ring at the shoulders of the immense Aeon. I hung on tightly despite my loss of blood and energy. With my sword in hand, I impaled the dragon with it, the blade passing from the back of the skull right through the mouth. I tore my weapon out from the left side of Bahamut's face, ripping apart the jaw. I leapt off of the creature and it landed in a heap, struggling to keep from having to admit it was dying. With one final attempt, the beast surged back to life and planted itself on the ground. Energy swirled around the golden ring I balanced myself with before and its mouth began to glow as power focused and grew.
"Yay! MegaFlare now!" Trista commanded, the tone of her voice alarming me to the magnitude of her Bahamut's strength.
I had to act quickly. I had to make sure to stop this beast before he could fire that energy and fry me to a crisp. I couldn't think of a way out, but something else did. My body took on a life of its own and decided on making use of its own ultimate blast. I watched on as it positioned my sword back, bringing a fist in front to signal the start of my assault. I could feel energy collecting inside me. With a glare at the Aeon opposite my form, I gathered all the energy into the blade. Bahamut finished and sent the stream of destruction towards my direction. Meanwhile, I had collected enough energy, as well, and sent forth my own power.
"Force Rain!" I heard myself erupt as the energy flew towards the MegaFlare.
Both concentrations of energy collided and destroyed one another as the winds swirled fiercely from their wake. Bahamut cried its final cry and collapsed to the ground, dead. The pyreflies rose up from its melting body and flew back to Trista as her face became pale, but vengeful nonetheless.
"Okay! Enough with the nice girl act!" She shrieked. Again, she started a summoning.
Cherry blossoms formed and fluttered in the wind and drums began a slow beat. There was a chime and Trista's Aeon was revealed, manifesting itself amongst a cloud of the petals. This Aeon was one I'd never seen. It looked like an obese man with a large straw hat.
"I'll bet you've never come across this little baby. I picked him up at this cave that you're never going to find. This baby's got an attack that can't be beat!" She gloated.
This Aeon was strange, though. It didn't immediately attack like the others and Trista didn't command it right away, either. Instead, it seemed to be waiting for something, standing firm in a defensive stance. After a while, I found out what that was and, sure to say, it amused me even while I was in such a state.
Trista strolled over to the Aeon and said, "Here Yojimbo. Your payment for killing this little dweeb."
With that, the summoner dropped a large sack into the awaiting open palm of the Aeon. It nodded and proceeded to take out a sword. The sword didn't really look that impressive, though. I heard Trista fume at Yojimbo for that.
"That's not Zanmato! Don't use Daigoro! Use Zanmato!" She barked but the Aeon didn't pay attention.
Obviously, even with my bleeding and fatigue, this was quite the brow-raiser and I couldn't help but crack a smile. It seemed like this Aeon was nothing more than a mercenary. Yojimbo approached slowly but menacingly nonetheless. It pulled the sword up to the sky and I charged it, running out of patience as the life-maintaining crimson continued to flow from my wounds. I went to swipe at its midsection, but it brought down the sword to block. The sword shattered in the clash, much to my amazement.
"What the?" I stammered, utterly baffled by the horrible craftsmanship of the blade.
"Use ZANMATO!" Trista screamed. Next, the Aeon pulled out yet another blade.
This one was abnormally short and I thought Yojimbo was spiting its master. "Use Zanmato! Don't use Wakizashi!" Said the pompous summoner of whom I spoke.
I couldn't help but laugh. Yojimbo was the perfect Aeon for her. It was so very humorous to watch her Aeon disobey every one of her commands to use whatever Zanmato was.
"Silence, worm-bait!" Trista growled, pointing me out for her summon to attack.
Quickly, Yojimbo lunged at me, trying to impale me on the end of its short blade. I parried and struck the assailant's wrist, severing it. Yojimbo howled in pain and Trista smiled. She wasn't smiling at the Aeon's wound as punishment for not following orders, however. Instead, she was smiling at the fact that I had just pissed it off. It was going to use Zanmato because of that. The sword it pulled out then, it had created out of thin air. This time, the kitana actually felt like raw power. I braced myself. Yojimbo sped to me and made a downward strike, trying to cut me in half. I somersaulted away and put my sword out to my rear. I charged towards the creature and slashed at it countless times in various places. First a horizontal slash, then a diagonally upward one, followed by a vertical upward, and so on. I continued this for at least two minutes straight and Yojimbo was powerless to stop me as I never stayed in the same place while delivering the blows.
"I call it, the Hit and Run." I said, finishing the attack.
Yojimbo limped forward to me just a little, but as it went to try and grab my neck, it winced in pain, falling forward and separating into a shower of pyreflies against my body.
"Grr… Stupid useless Aeons! I can't believe they were beaten by a dumb, stupid boy!" Trista huffed, having a hissy fit.
"So, get lost already!" Kirin tried to grumble, her voice not suited for the tone.
She added to her statement by motioning her hands to shoo the summoner away. I didn't want that, though. She had gone too far with this fight. She was going to let her Bahamut kill me. I ran to her with no one able to suspect my actions. I grabbed her by her flimsy neck and lifted her struggling form off the ground just like I had done the last time, except I was planning to let her go this time around.
"You go too far m'lady summoner." I snarled, tightening my grasp.
She couldn't speak. All she could do was choke, and choke she did, that haggish face flushing red as her breath slowly started to stop. I wasn't about to let her off with a warning. No, she'd pay for her failed attempt.
"Shuyin! Stop!" Lenne cried, pulling at my free arm.
I didn't pay attention. My eyes never left Trista's for a moment. Cold and dead blue eyes stared at her like a tiger stares at a doe before tearing out its throat. "Time to visit the Farplane." I growled, tightening my grip ever more.
I started to hear the cracking of her vertebrae and my evil and vicious gaze grew to display the satisfaction I received from her squirming. That's when I was thrown back by an invisible force, one that had saved Trista's worthless life.
"ENOUGH!" I heard in the distance.
From some yards away, the woman I'd seen before, the daughter of Yu Yevon, Yunalesca, arrived…