Author's Note: I do not own Final Fantasy X-2 or anything affiliated with it. The rights to it belong solely to their respective owners.
Ch.20 Gippal
Once we finished clearing the cave of fiends we began making our way back to Calli and Clasko... only to see them on the ground, surrounded by a set of five Blue Elementals. "Oh no!" Rikku exclaimed.
"We have to help them!" Paine said firmly, drawing her sword and charging. I was right behind her, while Rikku and Yuna stayed at a distance and cast Thundara. Two bolts of lightning rained down and blasted two of the Elementals, nearly killing them instantly. As it was, they managed to survive and turned to them tow of them, casting Watera. The other three switched targets as well, cast targeting Paine while one went after me. Paine grunted and held her hand over her sword, which began crackling with electricity. "Thunder Blade!" she called, and slammed it against the one on her right.
While the physical power of the hit did the little, the voltage of the current did cause the Elemental to shudder, and when Paine repeated the attack three times it tried to stop her with Osmose. However, Paine dodged the spell and used Thunder Blade one more time, destroying the Blue Elemental. I weathered a Watera from the one targeting me and replied with Bio, firing an orb of green toxins that hit the monster dead on. It tried to hit me with Silence, but the moment it made an attempt its body froze, unable to act from the pain of the poison. I smirked and changed into my Black Mage garb, firing two Thunder spells that sent the monster to the ground. Yuna and Rikku dodged the Watera spells from the Elementals targeting them, and both cast Blizzara to freeze the fiends in place.
However, they weren't even affected by the chill, and cast Magic Up on themselves before firing Watera again. The blast of water were two large to dodged this time, and both Yuna and Rikku were knocked over the from the deluge. Paine saw this and was momentarily distracted, allowing the fifth Elemental to hit her as well. But before it could attack another further I fired another Bio, which hit it and caused it to lock up. If it had a mouth the fiend would have groaned in pain, and Paine took the chance to spring to her feet and used Armor Break twice, ending it with a single thrust to the fiend's center. It fell over and began fading away, while Yuna recouped enough to change into her Gunner outfit while Rikku switched to Thief.
She ran up and stole a Dragon Scale from each of the Elementals, while Yuna used Trigger Happy to distract them. The one on the left feel from the barrage, and Rikku killed the last one with Pilfer HP. With the last of the fiends gone we put away our weapons and helped Clasko and Calli back to consciousness. Once they were awake and able to stand, Clasko rubbed the back of his head. "Thank you for saving us. Did you manage to clear out all of the other fiends?" he asked sheepishly. At our nods he smiled hugely. "Really? Thank you, Gullwings!Now I can finally accomplish my dream!" he said, with Calli and the chocobo they rode on cheering. I frowned. "Um, exactly what dream is that?" I asked. "I'm going to start a chocobo ranch! No one will bother me here, so I can raise chocobos in peace!" he said proudly.
I smirked at that. Even before Sin had fallen, Clasko was always a chocobo lover. I remember how he even asked Tidus once if he'd make a better Chocobo Breeder than Chocobo Knight. Though the thought of Tidus dampened my mood, as thinking about any of our fallen comrades did, I didn't let that show on my face and simply smiled. "Well, good luck with your dream!" Yuna encourages, and I nodded in agreement. We all waved our goodbyes and left, calling for Brother to pick us on up on the Celsius. He did, and once we were back in the bridge Rikku huffed. "Well, this stinks. We've been to halfway all over Spira, and we still haven't found the last two uniforms we need!" she complained. Paine nodded. "You'd think that people like Leblanc's goons would be scattered everywhere," she said.
"Maybe they have been around, and we're just not the ones who've seen them," Yuna suggested. I raised an eyebrow at that. "You mean there could be people we just need to ask if they've seen anything?" I questioned. When she nodded the rest of us thought about. They certainly weren't in Besaid, else the Aurochs would have told us. They cleared out of the Djose Highroad after we beat them, so... "What about the Sanubia Desert? There are a bunch of people digging there now; odds are one of them saw something," Rikku said. I smiled. "Sounds like a good idea. But don't we needs permits to go anywhere there now?" I asked. Buddy spoke up. "That's right. You can get letters from the leader of the machina Faction, Gippal, at the Djose Temple," he explained.
"Well then, what are we waiting for? To the Djose Temple!" Yuna declared. Brother looked back at her. "Hey, I am the leader here! I decide where we go!" he exclaimed. "Well?" Paine said, after a moment of silence. Brother looked ahead, embarrassed. "Um, Gullwings! Forward to the Djose Temple!" he ordered. Yuna and Rikku giggled while Paine and I rolled our eyes, and Shinra muttered "Kuut kneav..." (Good grief) The airship flew south towards the temple, but once we came close I saw a huge crowd gather near where we were going to land. I frowned, concerned that someone would be stupid and end up crushed. Thankfully, that didn't happen, and we were able to land without any trouble. Once we exited though, every single person turned to Yuna, some with stars in their eyes.
As we walked forward Yuna quickly became uncomfortable. "Everyone's staring..." she muttered. "That's 'cause you're famous, Yunie. Better get used to it," Rikku said cheerfully. But Yuna shook her head. "All I want is some peace and quiet," she revealed. Paine smirked. "Poor thing. She's lived such a sheltered life, fiercely protected" she stated, while also looking at me. I rubbed the back of my head. "Yeah... That's kind of my fault," I conceded. "Or maybe she's getting old," Rikku teased. "Who's getting old?!" Yuna said, angrily glaring at the blonde. Riku froze stiff- an angry Yuna was uncommon and to be feared. Before Rikku could dig herself a deeper hole though, we heard a set of voices and turned to see a young man surrounded by assistant, all trying to talk to him at once.
I raised an eyebrow. "Gippal?" I asked, and Rikku nodded. The leader of the Machina Faction had, like all Al Bhed, green eyes with spiral pupils, though an eyepatch covered his right eye. Though, I wasn't sure if he had actually lost the eye or if it was just a fashion statement. His hair was short and spiky blonde, and wore armor over a blue jumpsuit with purple overalls and indigo boots. Gippal smirked. "Okay, let's do some interviews. Bring it!" he said. Yuna hummed. "He seems alright," she said. I nodded, adding "If a little... 'devil-may-care'." We followed after Gippal and he entered the temple, but before we could do the same we were stopped by some Al Bhed guards. "Sorry, but you can only get an interview with Gippal after you've registered," one of them said, pointing.
I followed the direction he was pointing towards... and my jaw dropped. "You've got to be kidding me! That's the line we have to be in?!" Rikku demanded, voicing my thoughts. The registration was taking place in the small side building next to the temple, and the line to get in completely snaked around the building in a full loop. I groaned, and looked at the guard. "Do high summoners and their guardians get special privilege?" I asked, hoping against hope. It was a good idea too, because the guard shook his head and smiled. "Sorry, no can do," he said. Rikku pouted while Paine simply shrugged, stepping in line. We all followed her example, and to pass the time I pulled out the Crimson Sphere Nooj had given us.
The sphere activated and showed that the video was rather grainy on quality. As it was I could hear a woman panting, and the camera kept swerving around as it the person carrying it were running. I could also see a beach... was that the Djose shore? The one where Operation Mi'ihen was held? "Guys, where are you?" the woman asked. I frowned. That voice sounded familiar. But then noting else happened, and the screen went dark. My frown deepened. What the heck had I just seen? Who was the woman? Her voice sounded panicked, but it was indeed familiar... "Hey," I heard Paine say, and I jumped. "W-What?" I asked, putting away the sphere. The silverette raised an eyebrow. "It's your turn. Hurry up," she said stoically, pointing forward. I blinked, and indeed saw that the line had been cut down even faster than I thought.
Laughing nervously, I walked forward. Inside the receptionist looked smiled at me. "So, what exactly is it that you want?" he asked. I cleared my throat. "I'd like for a chance to have interview with Gippal about digging on Bikanel Island," I said formally. The receptionist nodded, and typed something into the computer. "Okay, you're all set. Just go inside the temple now," he said, and I nodded. As I left and stood next to Yuna, Rikku walked in with a confident smirk on her face. I tried to think of who that woman could have been. Come to think of it, I had never heard Paine ever sound panicked, but her voice was a lot similar to the woman's voice in the sphere... "Sofia?" I jumped again, looking over at Yuna while inwardly cursing. What the hell was with me?"
"Are you okay? You seemed... distant," she asked. I sighed and shook my head. "Just thinking about the Crimson Sphere Nooj gave us. We have two of them now," I replied. Yuna nodded, before smiling. "Well, let's hope that we can get the other eight and get inside that cave, huh?" she said. I nodded in agreement, and that was when Rikku and Paine walked up. "You guys get accepted too?" I asked, and they nodded. "Alight, now let's meet this Gippal," Paine declared. We all walked back up he steps for the temple, and this time the guards let us through. Inside Gippal was surrounded by more people assistants.
The Machina Faction leader grunted. "E'ja ymnayto ehdanjeafat baubma. Uha uv oui kioc dyga ujan," he said irritably. (I've already interviewed people. One of you guys take over.) One of the Al Bhed not surroundhing him yelled "Gippal!" "Huh?" he said back, and the Al Bhed pointed at us. Yuna smiled, saying "Hello." Gippal blinked, realizing who she was... and that this was his chance to get away from his assistants. Break from from them and stepped forward. "You, uh, here for an interview?" he asked. "That's right," I said. At that he chuckled. "The high summoner wants an interview?" he asked again. Yuna's smile faded. "Former summoner," he told him. "Hmm. All right. Follow me," he said, walking out. We followed him as he moved at a brisk pace, and we could hear his assistants complain behind us, much to our amusement.
Once we were near the center of the bridge Gippal stopped, and turned around, a devilishly flirtatious smirk on his face. "Never been this close to a celebrity before," he tried to compliment. Not falling for it, Yuna simply said "That's nice." Nevertheless, Gippal smiled wider and said "I could get used to this." Yuna actually didn't respond, and instead stood there with a smile. Taking that as a "yes", Gippal was about to say something else when the air suddenly turned cold. He looked to see me standing there behind Yuna's shoulder, a smile on my face as well. "Oh really?" I asked in a sweet tone that just promised malice. Gippal's eyes widened and he gulped, trying to find a distraction. He found one in the form of Rikku, saying "Well, if it isn't Cid's girl."
"Hey, I have a name!" Rikku told him. Gippal chuckled. "Heh. How's Brother doing?" he asked. "Same as ever. Buddy's fine too," the blonde told him. "Same as ever is right," he muttered, before his eyes landed on the last member of our group and widened. "Ah! You!" he said. Paine regarded him with her usual flat stare. "Paine. Nice to meet you," she said. "Huh?" he replied, looking confused. That in turn made me confused, but then Paine added "We're here for the interview." Gippal blinked. "Uh... Right! The interview! So, you sure you want to dig?" he asked. As one we all nodded, and he said "Okay, you're hired then." Now it was our turn to blink. "What?" Yuna said. Gippal's smirk came back. "You. Are Hired. Don't know why a superstar like you would want to play around in the sand.
"Well, do what you got to do. Anyways, I've done what I can. Dig to your heart's content," he said. "Um, thanks," I said, still surprised by the sudden agreement. He nodded and pulled out an envelope. "Show this to a woman named Nhadala. You'll found her in the Bikanel Desert. Well, happy digging!" he said, before walking back to the temple. For a second we all stood there, before Rikku said "That... came out of the blue." I nodded, but smiled. "Well, at least we can go digging in the desert now," I pointed out. "Yep. And while we're out there, we can find out treasure- a uniform," Yuna said.
The Gullwings have finished helping Clasko, and now they're on their way to the desert! Will they find what they seek?
Please review! If you flame me Liam Neeson will look for you, he will find you, and he will kill you. (I'm just kidding... or am I?)