-Mushroom Rock-

Squall leaped in the air, his gunblade ready to hack the hell out of the Fire Element fiend, however just before the teen could get any close, a spiral of water crashed down on both him and the monster- the fiend of course being killed instantly. The brunettes hair slightly covered his eyes leaving him to scoff and push back the drenched fibers that slightly blinded him and finally glance over his shoulder, seeing Cloud shut his eyes then dash off towards a red and blue hornet.

"Tch- IRVINE!"

The Cowboy turned around instantly knowing why Squall called his name in such a manner. The gunman raised his weapon, watching Cloud leap towards the enemy in hopes of cutting it in half with his large blade. This made the cowboy smirk and shoot at the Hornet almost instantly taking it out. Cloud landed on the ground of the cove glaring at the gunman who chuckled to himself pompously. The boy stopped however feeling a slight shove from Vincent who charged towards an overgrown orange and blue lizard, of which he hacked to pieces with his claw. Irvine hissed running after the man with the cape shooting at the monsters before him. Vincent glanced at the child from the corner of his eyes before turning around and pointing his gun towards him. Irvine jerked and ultimately dashed to the left once he heard Vincent's gun go off. The cowboy trembled with agitation getting ready to say a few words, but just behind him he noticed a Garuda falling before his boots- spurting out blood and what looked to be like souls. Irvine blinked before fixing his hat and going after his own fiends, however due to Irvine trying to kill Vincent's monsters, the older man was throwing a little payback at the boy- sniping down the fiends Irvine wanted to shoot before he could even pull the trigger. It brought eerie laughs to escape from the older man's throat.

From afar at a safe distance, Tidus and Zidane watched the 4 men go after each others fiends like children. It...It made them sad really.. That feeling of disapproving sadness..took over them as they both sunk their heads at the sight.

Tidus sighed. "Don't suppose you could get them to stop?"

"Are you kidding." Zidane began still staring at his team. "In the state that they're in...They won't stop till all the fiends on this road are dead..."

"*sigh* Guess...we should leave them be then. " the older blonde let out as he took one of the kids daggers.

"HEY-"

"Calm down. I'm just removing your bandages."

The monkey sat like a child still watching his team fight against the fiends that constantly appeared. He took a deep breath then sighed thinking back to when he and the others got off the Highroad. As soon as they made it too the cove, the monkey couldn't help but cough up a heavy amount of blood due to his injury on his left side. Surprisingly Mi'ihen's stone/metal lance had broken a rib or two. What was odd out of the whole fiasco though, was the fact that as soon as the monkey coughed- fiends started appearing out of the blue.. Zidane facepalmed himself figuring all this to be his fault now.

Tidus stood tossing the kids bandages aside then smiled. He knew he was no white mage, but he was a little happy that he could help the kid out regardless. "So you alright now?"

Zidane hopped off the ground beginning to stretch and take huge breath's, in the end nodding to Tidus with a smirk. "Yep, seems I'm all better."

"Y'sure?"

"Yes mother." The boy groaned sarcastically. "2 potions and 1 elixir..I think that got me in tip-top shape."

Tidus laughed a bit but jerked feeling a huge Floating Eye (Those annoying ass flying monsters with one eye, and they always seem to blind you in battle- first turn!) lifted Zidane's bandages then fluttered down the road, to which Cloud and Squall leaped to finish off. Both boys glared at each other as they landed before the fading monster before them. With that Irvine ran beside his buddy, resting his left arm over his shoulder. "Nice going SQUALL! YOU totally killed off that last fiend."

Again Cloud glared but said nothing, shutting his eyes. This left Vincent to eerily chuckle again, giving the group the initiative to look to him. The caped man waltzed over to Cloud leaving everyone to still stare at him with an awkward breeze of silent winds to pass every now and again till finally he spoke.

"You claim to be a good shot..but now I can see with those eyes you can't be."

Irvine glared. "... Say what now?"

"He's saying that you obviously didn't see me finish off that fiend." Cloud interested.

"Let's be honest." Squall began. "I leaped to that monster before you did, therefore.. I killed it."

"Yes, but as you can see-" Cloud began and he set his buster sword on his back. "My weapon is much more lengthier than yours..therefore... I...killed that fiend."

Squall scoffed leaving Irvine to swoop in and save the day with one of his many witty/sarcastic remarks. "Oh- we noticed how big your sword is Cloud.. We also figured that you're obviously overcompensating something.. amirite?"

Cloud jerked to the comment while beside him Vincent looked away trying his hardest to keep his chuckles to himself. Squall quickly nudged Irvine with his right elbow in a means of telling him 'thanks' while Cloud closed his eyes once more composing himself before slightly moving some hair from his face.

"Just what I need, An effeminate child and an angsty teen checking me out."

With that comment said, both Squall and Irvine twitched ready to lunge at Cloud, while the older men grabbed their weapons ready to cut and/or shoot some teammates if they had to. This gave Tidus and Zidane the drive to run inbetween the groups and stop them from their rather brash actions.

"Enough guys! We're a team! Lets act like one!" Tidus calmed.

"If it makes you guys feel any better- I kinda saw a tie!" Zidane added.

Cloud and Vincent backed away composing themselves once more. Cloud being the one to look down at the teenagers beyond the blonde blitzplayer and monkey. "Hmph...Its fine.. Its not like we were competing against them anyway."

"Like hell you weren't!" Irvine shouted.

Squall only raised his right hand in a means of silence, once that was given the brunette folded his arms and looked to Tidus. "Lead us to Djose.."

Tidus nodded still a bit taken back by the groups disagreements.. He thought at least by now they'd try and get along..but now that was obviously too much to ask for. So..with a sigh, the blitz player walked down the northern path of the road knowing that it wouldn't take that long to get to Djose. Zidane ran beside him folding his arms as he glared up at the leader, leaving Tidus to sigh once more and respond with a 'What is it?'

"I told you that the group would be happier if Rikku came along.." he mumbled covering his mouth from the others.

"I.. really don't' need to talk about this now Zidane.." Tidus groaned rubbing both temples of his head.

"I'm just saying~...we could turn back now and pick her up.."

"Zidanee..." Tidus groaned getting agitated now.

The Genome huffed looking ahead of the road wondering what was wrong with the 'chipper' leader all of a sudden. He understood that watching the group argue, bicker and fight could get annoying from time to time, but it wasn't 'oh I just got a headache because of this-' annoying. He wondered if it was something that he said that bothered Tidus..like his Rikku comments.

'No way...if anything, my saying Rikku should be in the group was accurate. Not my fault he regrets the decision now..'

Before the monkey could agree with his thoughts any further, he felt a palm land hard on his head, causing him to hiss and look up only to see Irvine smirking, "S'on your mind monkey? You mad?"

"No- now get your hand off me."

"Whoa." Irvine eased holding his hands up in surrender. "The Monkey is a little touchy today?"

"Keep calling me that and see if I don't carve you a new one!"

"Oh-ho~ And what will you do if I don't? You'll turn pink again?"

Zidane jerked before growling at the cowboy. "ITS NOT PINK OKAY!"

"Whatever."

Behind the bickering kids was Squall and just behind him was Cloud and Vincent. The oldest blonde couldn't help but shake his head and groan. "Vincent..what did we do to deserve this?"

"-To think, this all could've been avoided if you just followed Tifa out of Nibelheim..." the older man uttered.

"!- What? Don't put this on me!" Strife glared. "If you were so worried about her- Why didn't you follow her?"

"I'm not the one she likes." Vincent answered, his face as stoic as ever.

"...You...I...T-That wasn't..."

Squall groaned pinching the bridge of his nose as he always did when he needed to think or calm down, however this wasn't easing the aggravating feeling he was getting being around this group of clowns. He wondered the same as Cloud however, as to what he did to deserve such an annoying fate.. He only wished that there was some way he could learn the whereabouts of any town, place or valley by himself so he can make this journey alone.

"HEY SQUALL!" Zidane shouted, snapping the brunette out of his thoughts. "Get your friend Irvine or I swear-"

"What're you gonna do shorty? Break my kneecaps?" Irvine teased.

"I agree, call off your dog. His bark seems to be more annoying today." Cloud mumbled.

"Dog?" Squall repeated glancing over his shoulder. "The only Dog here is the one in the red cape who constantly follows you."

Vincent only stared, not even bothering to get into another squabble.. No wait a minute.. He didn't mind at all. The crimson eyed gunner looked to Squall solemnly as he readied his sentence. "You misunderstand, I have my reasons for refusing to follow anyone else." he began. "You see, Cloud doesn't run his mouth much..plus he doesn't make this irritatingly annoying moogle sound when he speaks...much like you and your friend do.."

"Moogle?" Squall repeated.

"Whoa are you calling my friend a Mog!" Irvine shouted turning full circle.

"We're not too far from you kid, there's no need to yell." Cloud sighed.

"I wasn't talkin to you-"

"Hey don't' turn your back on me when I'm talking." Zidane let out.

"Enough..all of you." Squall groaned.

"Wait didn't you start this argument?" Zidane wondered.

Irvine and Squall glared. "Shut up."

On and on the bickering went- leaving Tidus to continue to lead, rub his temples and groan at the poor sight of teamwork. How was he supposed to save Yuna from the coated villains if his team was constantly treating each other like the enemy? He couldn't understand it- No, he just couldn't' stand it!

"WILL ALL OF YOU SHUT UP!" He shouted, refraining from leading the team.

Cloud, Squall, Vincent, Irvine and Zidane froze in that instant- all of them looking at Tidus who was fuming a few meters away from them. The blonde held his head as he felt an enormous headache pulse through his brain- but instead of tending to it he continued to glare at the group in front of him.

"ALL YOU GUYS DO IS ARGUE WITH ONE ANOTHER! DAY IN AND DAY OUT! BICKER, WHINE, COMPLAIN, DISAGREE! JUST- SHUT- UP!" He screamed calming down a bit afterward. "I...I don't understand you all...you know that the people we care for are in trouble..and yet...you're treating each other like the enemy. Don't you see..if this continues..this team will fall apart..and we won't get to where we need to be, let alone save the people we care for.. Just..stop.. Stop acting like children and Stop beating each other down!- You have nothing to gain from that!"

The group blinked a few times, wondering where this all came from, but they could only assume that Tidus was bottling this in for the longest. That was fine and all in Squalls opinion, however..

"Who the hell do you think you're talking to?" the brunette let out.

Tidus jerked watching Squall close his eyes then continue on the path of the road, with that Cloud surely followed. "And you call us children.."

"Way to be a kid about this- You Big Crybaby!" Zidane laughed following Cloud.

"I agree, you could've approached us like adults instead of yelling at us like that dude.." Irvine let out as he passed.

Vincent said nothing, just shook his head disapprovingly at Tidus while passing as well. The blitz player was left in a state of utter confusion..what the hell just happened and why was everyone saying that he was the one who was acting like a child? The blonde groaned hunching over tiredly following the group...
This..was too much..

-Djose Temple / Grounds-

The group reassembled with Tidus leading them once more, due to the fact that there was a split in the road and they didn't exactly know where they were going, but as soon as they made it over a few dusty cobblestoned bridges, the group was relieved. Zidane ran ahead of Tidus, glancing at the temple just ahead- Slabs of large rocks hovering around the temple of lightning as if it had its on gravitational pull while in back there was nothing but dark mountains and such.

"A little morbid for my tastes, but its kinda neat." He smirked.

"Wait'll you see the inside." Tidus let out as he led the group closer to the temple.

Squall noticed that just to the right of them, there was a shop or an inn which made his body jerk a little closer to said establishment. He refrained however, following the group instead while rubbing the side of his head with his left hand. For some odd reason he was always tired, but he figured that he just hadn't got much sleep back in Luca thanks to Tidus shouting about something idiotic.. Whatever the case, Squall knew that back at Balamb- he got waay more sleep than he did here in Spira and it was kind of annoying. He glanced to the left of him seeing Cloud continue to follow- saying nothing and marching like some kind of robot.. it kinda pissed the brunette off- I mean come on! All the man did was push Tidus to lead them to different places, without even bothering to get an ounce of sleep..it was just..agitating..

Irvine chuckled to himself following behind Squall- he knew that the teen was a little cranky and nothing was going to fix that but a bed and a blanket. The cowboy stopped however seeing a few monkeys chase each other around the grounds, around his feet then over to Zidane. The monkey couldn't help but notice the animals jump and nip at his tail every so often leaving him to grab the appendage and pull it away from the sneaky looking animals. "Lets hurry and get inside."

Tidus rolled his eyes. "Relax, we're almost at the-"

"Wait"

The group stopped then looked to Cloud who was glancing about the area of rock and dead grass...something was..watching? Tidus glanced around with shifty eyes thinking that maybe the older blonde had spotted a crimson coat- however he relaxed noticed some Al Bhed Machina come out of hiding from behind small dunes, under the sand at their feet and behind the inn Squall was peering at. Cloud blinked questionably at the moving machines- commanding his right hand to grip the handle of his sword. Tidus laughed a little nervous, turning to the team in back of him.

"Relax..Yuna told me that some machina was around this temple now..seems someone else is watching over the temple rather than the old maesters.."

"Machina.." Cloud blinked.

"Maesters?" Zidane let out.

Tidus only shook his head than ran into the temple with his group quick to follow.

-Djose Temple / Inside-

As soon as the group made it inside the temple, they were kinda amazed at the cryptic looking statues, walls of flames and numbers of people and machina, however before they could stare any longer they were kinda paralyzed due to the staring eyes of the people in steampunk kind of wear. Tidus gulped audibly as he watched a familiar looking man in a mohawk and blue and black eye make-up walk his way. As soon as the man-made it over- he glared leaving the blitz player to wave his hands nervously.

"Zned ehi ayo tyurk nihi?"

Tidus and the others kinda jerked a bit to at the way the man spoke- his voice was pretty forceful and he sounded to be a bit irritated- either way that was no excuse for anyone to talk to someone they didn't know so rudely, so of course Squall folded his arms immediately not liking the guy.

Zidane blinked. "What's he saying?"

Tidus couldn't help but copy Zidane, after all the time he's spent in Spira he didn't really know the Al Bhed language so well..maybe a gist of it, but no- not the overall language. The blitz player rubbed his head slightly trying to remember what he had learned from those Al Bhed primers so long ago, only to come up with a really choppy sentence.

"Er.. I um..wait.. 'U..Lyyg..Gippal?' Gippal- I want to see..?"

The man glared, and Tidus only wished Rikku was here at the moment. The Al Bhed squinted his right eye the most as he folded his arms and tapped his left boot as if waiting for Tidus to say something else...y'know something like:

'Ohay sorry for taking Yuna away from you! Hahahahhaha'. (If you didn't realize already- the man whom Tidus is speaking to is Brother from X-2 . )

The man with the mohawk fumed glancing at the blondes stupid face, but the only thing he wanted was to get him out of the temple. After taking 'his world' away, he wanted nothing to do with the guy.

"Hrm..You..want to see..Gippal?" he asked, his accent obviously thick.

"Yes!" Tidus shouted, excited that his Al Bhed wasn't a fail. "I'd like to see him..if he's here."

"Hrrmmm.." the man hummed before walking off into the crowd of other Al Bhed and machina.

Tidus smiled to himself ecstatic, proud to speak the Al Bhed language so fluently while beside him Zidane stared. The chimp folded his arms whilst his tail swayed back and forth behind him- That language...

'God it sounds so ugly..' the monkeys mind snapped.

After that thought, the Genome had noticed a monkey staring up at him from the floor- wagging its tail happily..which kinda annoyed him. What was it with the animals here?

It wasn't too long after that, a monkey had landed on Zidane's head pulling and tugging at his hair, to which he reacted by screaming and hitting himself. This caused an uproar of laughter within the temple leaving the guys to groan and look away embarrassed, Irvine not so much. The cowboy had already noticed that it was only the male chimps that didn't seem to like Zidane, while the women only followed the boy- This of course meant that the men would fight him to look like the better ape. Irvine tipped his hat feeling sorry for the child but..gosh it was kinda funny- No, hilarious to see him running around the temple hitting himself while monkeys attacked. However the cowboys laughter stopped when he noticed the Al Bhed guy with the mohawk walk through the crowd of now dispersing people only to be followed by a dude who looked kinda like Zell...in a jokers suit..

Irvine covered his mouth slightly, just picturing the hot dog eating boxer in a clowns wardrobe trying his best not to laugh while Tidus only rubbed his head watching Zidane run closer and closer to the man he assumed was Gippal until finally he bumped into the man landing on the back of his head. The blonde Al Bhed turned lazily, rubbing his black eye patch that sat over his left eye, and sighing quite a bit. "You..alright kid?"

Zidane weaved his arms around his head letting out low hisses every once in awhile but stood off the floor and nodded. The Al Bhed laughed before turning to the group before him widening his only visible eye in the end. Tidus kinda jumped to his reaction seeing as the man appeared to be only looking to him. Cloud watched closely as all the people within the temple began to stare at the group hard now, not only that, the Gippal guy was looking to be a bit..troubled by Tidus..Why was that?

Tidus blinked looking around at all the staring eyes then back to Gippal rubbing his head slightly. "Um.. Hi..or uh..' Nu'..heh.."

Gippal glared that instant, extending his right hand to which a random Al Bhed ran to his side. "Kufi li ayoh kor."

With that the Al Bhed beside him pulled an ebony pistol from under his sash and began to hand it to the obvious boss. Vincent was the first to react, by pulling out his own gun- he quickly aimed it at the person besides Gippal, his finger already on the trigger and ready to shoot. This of course made every Al Bhed within the temple withdraw their guns, knives, swords, and every other weapon you could imagine at the group still standing nearest to the door.

"H-Hey we're not here to hurt you guys! Don't shoot! -Er wait..Uh.. 'Tyrd...mnyyd?' " Tidus jerked.

"We speak english dumbass." Gippal glared.

"Well if that's the case, can you tell us why you and your friends are aiming their weapons at us?" Zidane asked looking around cautiously.

Squall's eyes shifted every now and again, he was counting just how many enemies there were in this temple and also thinking if he could take them out. He closed his eyes in thought just knowing there would be minor casualties if he and the others just went in for an attack, but he was fine with that..as long as it was Cloud who was to be hurt. Thinking just the same but rather a tragic outcome dealing with Squall, Irvine and Zidane- Cloud thought glancing at the enemies around, but especially the one straight ahead. He and Tidus obviously had a past..one that Tidus didn't seem to be aware of.

Gippal smirked. "How scary..I thought we killed you off way back when."

"What?" The blitz player let out.

"Don't act like you don't remember, you were out to destroy Spira awhile ago and now what?- You think that just cause you found yourself some friends and you're travelling about you can undergo some sort of redemption?"

"I have no idea what you're talking about! I just came here because Rikku told me you could help me." Tidus explained.

"Tch..'Cuim'.." Gippal mumbled.

Just to the left of them, the Al Bhed with the mohawk(Brother) approached Gippal kind of warily. He didn't think Tidus' being here would cause this kind of stir up, but either way he knew that if Yuna was here, she wouldn't be too happy seeing her boyfriend with a few bullet holes.

"U-Um..Gippal..maybe we should uh...talk to them?"

"Decg? Zna?"

Brother fiddled with his fingers as he caught the other mans glance, with this he found something to say that would at least get everyone to put their weapons down- too bad everything he said was in a different language so the guys couldn't necessarily understand, especially Tidus. Both were talking too fast for him to even decipher what they were saying.. with this he facepalmed himself. "Ugh I should really study my primers more.."

"Primers?" Cloud repeated.

"Uh..they're books that help you understand the Al Bhed language.."

"I'll keep that in mind.."

"Silence." Gippal demanded as he lowered his gun. "Tell me..who are you and whats your relation to Rikku?"

"Me? I'm her friend! She helped me defeat Sin a long time ago." Tidus explained.

"Really now..." The man let out his voice getting a bit less serious. "Y'know she told me that she defeated Sin, but I never really took it to truth..Come, follow me." he let out with a turn.

After that he shouted something in Al Bhed again, that made everyone put their weapons away and make Zidane rest his hands behind his head. "Wonder what he just said.."

"He obviously told them to put their weapons away." Squall answered.

"Doesn't take a scholar to figure that one out." Irvine let out with a laugh.

Zidane growled but stopped soon after, once Gippal began to lead them to a hallway that led them deeper into the temple. Tidus stared in amazement and awe as he watched a few Al Bhed run around the halls and separate rooms like it was some factory. It was way different than before, where there were nothing but fiends, cold walls, dripping ceilings and kilika/besaid spheres used to open certain pathways- Now there were brightly lit walls populated with monkeys machines, and Al Bhed, there were rooms that had shops and some that even had beds..if anything it was like some sort of super inn. There were no words that could be said as the blitz player looked at the definite change, but his face said it all. Mouth slightly open, eyes looking as if they were going to fall out of their sockets. It made Gippal feel pretty awesome.

"Yep- This old temple, used to summon the faith of Aeons has now been replaced with stuff that's actually resourceful to Spira. Now when your exhausted from fighting fiends on the Highroads you could come here for some supplies, rest and maybe get a little action." he explained with a turn. "No need to thank me." he added with a smug look on his face.

Irvine raised a brow then leaned a bit closer to Squall, "He seems a bit full of himself dont'cha think."

"He's annoying." Squall uttered walking off as he noticed Gippal continue to lead. "-Just like you."

Overhearing the statement Cloud hid a rather small smirk- at least the Squall boy was honest to his friend. Zidane glanced about still noticing the monkeys stare at him menacingly/curiously which freaked him out but he bared with it till the Gippal character finally stopped before a room guarded by two women. He flicked both his wrists in opposite ways in a really..egotistical type of manner that made the women move to the side and allow him to open the door. Gippal smirked to himself proceeding into a rather large office like room over to a desk and large chair that stood the farthest in back. He took a seat then kicked his feet up waving his hands about to the group.

"Come now, don't be so nervous. Relax."

"Its a bit hard to relax after having several guns and weapons in your face..." Squall glared.

"Not to mention its hard to get passed your sudden personality change.." Cloud spoke glancing around the room.

It was quite large for it to be an office, he figured something important must've been here at a time. Either way the Gippal character made nice of the large room, by filling it with all sorts of stuff. There were several bookshelves to the left of the room, and just beside each of them were a stack of papers- to the right of the room there was a single chair, more papers and disassembled machina along with other tools, parts and guns spread about. It wasn't really a comfortable environment for Cloud.

Gippal groaned taking his feet off his desk and instead scooting closer to the large table, making his body hunch. "Listen..about that... You just remind me of this guy who really pissed me off a few years ago..I can't seem to recall his name.." he explained staring only at Tidus.

"Well I assure you I'm not him." the blitz player stated. "But listen..Gippal..I'm not here to defend about being someone I'm not..I'm here because Rikku told me you might be able to help me with my- well our problem."

"And that would be?"

"Its a long story." Tidus groaned.

The blonde Al Bhed stared dully, wondering why Rikku was always giving him things to do even when she wasn't close. She always seemed to pack more work on the busy blonde- and telling by the looks of the six characters in his office, this was going to be a big and time-consuming task. The man with the eye patch laced his fingers together on his desk then leered, "All right, tell me everything. I've got the time."

As told, Tidus told Gippal everything about what had happened to Yuna and the journey so far. As he explained, Cloud, Squall and Vincent stared usually adding a nod or two or speaking up themselves to verify their stories, however Irvine and Zidane weren't' taking it seriously so much. Irvine was too busy glancing at the old guns and gun parts spread about the room while Zidane was looking through a few Al Bhed primers- it was enough to occupy the boys time though, seeing as once they got bored of what they were doing Tidus and the others had already finished their stories leaving Gippal to stare a bit amazed at the tale.

"So you see.." Tidus began. "We're not sure on whether you know anything about Insinda or the whereabouts of Yuna..but if you saw any guys walking around in blood red coats, or all black coats or just anything odd- it would be a great help."

Gippal leaned back in his chair, folded his arms and shut his only visible eye- leaving Tidus to kinda sink his head. He figured Gippal's reaction only meant that he didn't have a clue on what he was talking about, nor that he could help. And that only meant that he'd have to travel some more in order to find something.

Gippal let out a loud sigh before opening his eye and leering at Tidus once more, "I haven't seen many people in red or black cloaks around here, just some lost travelers and some more Al Bhed...I also have no idea who this Insinda is or who Yuna is..but her name sounds pretty if that makes you feel any better."

"..."

"However..." He began shutting his eye once more. "Rallia!, Shellie! 'Syli ur nihi' "

The two women who were posted just outside Gippals door barged in immediately shoving Irvine just to make it over to Gippals desk. As soon as they stood before the slab of wood they saluted hollering a 'yes sir?'

"I want you to open the path to that weird magic circle. You can do that for me right?"

"OF COURSE!" they squealed before running off and out the office.

Tidus looked from the open doorway to Gippal who was staring at him seriously again. It kinda creeped him out how the guys face would change every time he looked away- and the looks that he always seemed to give him..seemed...like...he wanted to kill him or something- or at least cause harm!

Tidus shook his head a bit, getting the negative thoughts out as he always did, then gave Gippal the same stare. "So..what exactly is this..weird magic circle you're talking about?"

"Its something we found just recently as we were remodeling this temple." Gippal answered. " We thought it was just a rift that would take you to the place of Aeons but we were wrong..it was something weirder.."

"Hey Tidus whats he talking about.. A place of Aeons?.." Zidane asked.

Cloud, Squall, Irvine and Vincent looked to him for an answer, suddenly the men all had gotten more serious thanks to the talk about a magic circle.

"A long time ago..when summoners went to retrieve Aeons in temples like this.. Most of them would appear out of a rift.." Tidus answered before glancing back at Gippal. "I'm sure you thought that stepping through that would lead you to a land of Aeons."

"Correeect!~" Gippal cheered as sarcastically as possible. "We thought that if that was an open portal to the land of Aeons then of course that unique power would be ours. Just think! You could summon an Aeon without needing to be a summoner! It would of course be safely hidden and kept a secret as well..but like I said, when a few of us stepped in we didn't see Aeons..Instead we saw people, and not just 'people' people, they were ghost like people..We couldnt' interact with any of them.

"Ghosts?" Cloud mumbled figuring the guy was an idiot.

Squall let out a "Hmph.." figuring Gippal was an idiot as well- but also he knew for damn sure he wasn't going to waste his time messing with some paranormal crap that wasn't his business, however something processed in the teens mind that made him jump and step closer to Tidus. "Didn't you say back in Luca that you encountered ghost like people?"

"Yes! They were the guys in the coats! Gippal, are the ghosts wearing coats?"

"They looked like normal people to me..but who knows some of them might just wear'em." he answered.

Tidus' blood began to boil with adrenaline as he heard those words. Finally a lead!- He looked just slightly behind him seeing that the group was a bit at ease.. At long last, after travelling for so long and so far, they had found someone who could actually help. Zidane smirked rubbing his nose slightly, figuring he was getting closer to saving Garnet which made Gippal laugh.

"..You said Insinda has a power to merge worlds right.." he asked staring at the ceiling and pretty much speaking to himself. "Well I wonder.. if what we've found..Is another world its merging with ours." he finished with an eager grin.

A/N: YES FINALLY DOWN TO A FREAKIN PLOT! Bout time right? I know this was a long chapter, but hey I'm just trying to have it cut to the chase rather than having the characters argue, b*tch and moan about Insinda all the time without really getting in depth about it. Either way, this chapter will be the breakthrough to the now emerging plot and new chapters with new characters/villians! :D