Author's Note: I do not own Final Fantasy or anything affiliated with it. The rights to it belong solely to their respective owners.
Ch.14 What Lies On the Sphere
Once we were on the Celsius Rikku was grinning from ear-to-ear, and looked back at the rest of us. "Did you guys see that? We totally beat that Geo guy, and made everyone else wet their pants!" she said. "Do you think we overdid it?" Yuna asked. I shrugged. "Hey, it got the job done, right?" I asked. "Exactly! 'Overdid it'? There is no such thing! The Gullwings will be notorious throughout Spira!" Brother called. "Don't forget, notoriety can be a bad thing," Paine pointed out. Rikku stopped, saying "Huh?" "They're weren't too happy," she explained. "So what? I want to have fun!" Brother announced. Buddy chuckled. "Just don't do anything to land us in how water, okay?" he requested. Rikku pouted "Aww... Where's the fun in being plain old regular sphere hunters?" she said.
"Yeah! What she said!" Brother seconded. My eyes widened, and both Paine and I said "Oh, no..." "What?" Yuna asked. Shinra walked forward. "Whenever Rikku and Brother agree... bad stuff happens," he said. Yuna thought about that, and eventually said "That... can't be good." I remembered what I had thought about before, and walked up to Shinra while he was in his chair. "Hey, can you do me favor?" I asked. "Sure. What?" he replied. "There's two things I want to look up in whatever data you can: The night Ravens, and the Crimson Squad," I said. "Got it," Shinra said, typing away. "How'd the sphere analysis go?" Yuna asked. "Hmm... It's just a regular movie sphere. It doesn't seem to have any special features. Want to take a look?" he offered.
Yuna and I nodded and Shinra projected it on the windshield, while Brother set the ship to autopilot. The screen was black for a second before resolving into a place that looked underground, but walking to them frame was... Tidus. I gasped, as did Yuna and Rikku, and we watched as he looked back before hurrying forward onto a platform. Right in front of it was a giant machina, with two tusks on its face. Tidus, or at least the man who looked like him, gazed at the machina, saying "You know, you're all I can count on to save Lenne." The machina was silent, and a few seconds later sirens began going off, right lights flashing. Tidus looked behind him, but then turned back to the machina. And that was when the video ended.
"Fryd eh Spira ec dryd machina?" Brother asked, nervous. "Any ideas?" Buddy asked. "Not one. But, as machina go, it looks dangerous. Definitely a weapon," Shinra said, shaking his head. "Yunie... it's him," Rikku said quietly. I looked over at her, and I saw that while Yuna's face was calm, her fists were clenched tight. "U tyr'd mega drec cbrana," Brother announced. I frowned. In all honesty, I didn't like this sphere either. But now that I was going over it, I had a little niggling thought in my head.
Who was this "Lenne"?
After seeing the sphere Yuna went to go clear her head on the deck, and Shinra told me to come over. "As you requested, I dug up everything I could on both the Night Ravens and the Crimson Squad," he said. I smiled, patting him on the back. "Nice work. What did you get?" I asked. "First, the Night Ravens. Like they said, they're a group of sphere hunters like us, and even have their own airship. Where they got it in unknown though. They're in the Machine Faction's good books and help out with their excavation works in the Bikanel Desert along with their efforts as sphere hunters. There even helped gather supplies for a concert on the banks of the Moonflow. Originally it was just their leader, Xander, but once he started doing that Geo showed up as well."
"Then a complaint was filed with Machine Faction of how the Ravens were supposedly letting the merchant O'aka XXIII, who owed them a large amount of money, be a stowaway on their ship. Around that same time Lucian began appearing with the group, and the three of them have stayed like that ever since," Shinra concluded. I frowned. "Did they actually let him on their ship?" I asked. Beneath his mask Shinra smiled, saying "Well, the Night Ravens immediately refuted this claim, but according to what I've found O'aka hasn't been spotted anywhere in Spira since then." I chuckled. For some reason, that sounded just like them. "Anything else?" I asked. "No, not really. Even with all that I've uncovered, the Night Ravens make sure that little is known about them. "
"They claim it helps make rival sphere hunters more intimidated by them," the young Al Bhed said. I nodded to myself at that. While it hadn't worked on us Gullwings, I could see it working on other sphere hunting groups. Okay. Did you find anything on the Crimson Squad?" I questioned. To my surprise Shinra shook his head. "Not much. There isn't much if any data on them, but I did find this. They were an elite group of Crusaders, and was led by Maester Wen Kinoc. The names supposedly comes from the phrase 'Crimson Blades', which was the original name for the Crusaders. Beyond that, there's nothing. All evidence of them is either destroyed or not on record, so I can't find it," he told me. I was disappointed, but nodded and said "Thanks." I walked off, thinking.
So the Night Ravens were basically just another sphere hunter group like us, even if they were pretty strong. What concerned me though, was the Crimson Squad. What was the story there? Before I could ponder it any further, I heard Brother announce "Gullwings, front and center!" I rolled my eyes and stood back in place while Rikku and Paine did the same, and after a minute Yuna joined us. Brother scratched his head. "So, uh... Let's give back that sphere, what do you say?" he asked. I didn't even have to think, saying "I say that idea sucks." "Sofia's right! We worked so hard to get it!' Rikku protested. Brother shook his head, saying "That sphere is uber bad news!" "What if we donated it to the study of Spira's history? That's what being a sphere hunter was originally about, right?" Buddy suggested.
"It's a little late to be bringing that up," Paine told him. "Yeah! We already swiped it!" Rikku added. "Well, I still don't want it! We're giving it back! Now!" Brother ordered. I was about to argue with him, but then I saw Yuna nodded her head, and stopped. "You don't mind?" I asked. "I've seen it," she replied. At that I was quiet, before eventually shrugging. "I guess you're right," I said. "Of course I'm right! I am the leader!" Brother called. I glared at him, saying "I wasn't talking to you, eteod." Rikku laughed and Buddy chuckled, while Brother face turned red. "Fro oui...!" he began, but then Buddy stopped him. "It's pretty shameless to saunter up and give back the sphere we just stole," he said. "Oui pi xiead!" Brother yelled.
"Our reputation is all but worthless if we do that. Our leader's too," Paine pointed out. "Crid ib!" Brother shouted. Everyone was silent, either puzzled, frustrated or, in my case, both. "Well, this isn't fun at all," Yuna commented, sitting down. "I really gotta let off some steam," Rikku declared. "Why don't you do that in the gym?" I suggested. She shook her head, and Buddy said "What do you have in mind?" "What don't we ask Yuna to dance?" Shinra suggested. Yuna blinked. "Dance?" she repeated. "Oh, that's it! Yuna, you must dance! Our sanity depends on it!" Brother said. While I could have made a comment or two on the state of Brother's sanity, I decided to keep my mouth shut for once. Paine smirked, saying "That sounds like an order, Yuna." Yuan smiled and nodded. "The exercise will do us good," she said.
"Whoopee!" Brother yelled, literally jumping with joy. I rolled my eyes and Yuna stood. "Hang tight while I get ready! Sofia, come on!" she said, grabbing my arm. I blinked. "Me?" I asked. She nodded. "Yes, you. Now come on!" Yuna said, pulling me to the elevator. As we got close we heard a sound coming from the direction of the cabin, and I frowned. "What was that?" I asked. "Ah, just some hitchhikers I picked up. They're a colorful bunch," Brother told us. Yuna nodded and kept pulling me, until we were in the elevator and the doors shut. Immediately I turned around and looked at Yuna, saying "Before you even ask, I am not dancing." Yuna frowned, sticking her up her lip and pouted. "Come on, Sofia! Please?" she asked.
I shook my head firmly. "I won't do it. Not for you, not for ten-thousand gil, not even to save my own life," I said. "Please! If you don't dance with me, I'll be all nervous and end up looking bad!" she said. I shook my head again but Yuna stuck her lip out further, giving me a huge set of puppy-dog eyes. "No," I said, crossing my arms and turning my head away. The elevator reached the cabin floor but Yuna blocked the way, still looking up at me. I was still looking away. But after about ten seconds I glanced, seeing her still there. I could feel my indomitable will wavering, and Yuna said "Pleeeaaase?" At that I finally crumbled, like I always did in front of my sister. "Alright, fine! I'll dance with you, but just to make sure you're not nervous up there and mess up!" I said.
Yuna smiled and hugged me, saying "Thank you, sis!" I hugged back, even if I was groaning inside. Sometimes my sisterly love for Yuna could be a pain in the ass. She let go of me and we walked out of the elevator, seeing a trio of musicians there. One of them, Daraya, came up to us. "Mr. brother welcomed us aboard at Kilika Port. Let us play ya a song o' thanks!" he said. "Actually, I'm singing tonight..." Yuna said. "Well then, let us accompany ye! That's right up our alley! Just help us get over to the exit. Ay, we're lookin' forward to being to a part o' the show!" Daraya told us. We nodded and did just that, pushing the three musicians along until all of them were in the elevator. "Right, now we're ready go!" Daraya said. "Tonight, your dance will make you one with the stars above!" Dorra declared.
"It's time to go, time for the show!" Pukara added, and they handed us an Enterprise accessory. Once they did the doors closed. Yuna and I changed into our Songstress outfits. Mine was similar in appearance to Yuna except the shirt was white with black floral sleeves and the skirt was white as well, with black knee-high boots. Yuna and I both grabbed our mikes and Yuna looked back at me, smiling. "Ready?" she asked. I groaned and rolled my eyes, trying to preserve what dignity I had left. "Let's just do this," I said. She giggled, and we both got onto the elevator.
The sphere has been seen, and the concert is soon to come! But ho will the Gullwings give the sphere too? That shall be revealed next chapter!
Oh, and one another thing. I will from now on be putting the English translations of any Al Bhed phrases that appear in chapters here, so as to help my reader better understand. As always, please review! If you flame me Liam Neeson will look for you, he will find you,l and he will kill you. (I'm just kidding... or am I?)
Fryd eh Spira ec dryd machina?- What is Spira is that machina? U tyr'd mega drec cbrana.- I don't like that sphere. Eteod- Idiot Fro you...!- Why you...! Oui pi xiead!- You be quiet! Crid ib- Shut up!