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.26 Fight for the Sphere
After Logos and Ormi activated the booby traps in the labyrinth, we were able to deactivate them via solving a puzzle by activating four security buttons. The act nearly had us impaled by a wall of spikes, but we managed to escape it and solved the traps. Once that was done a new hallway appeared and we followed it to a door we had not entered before. Inside was a room with a treasure chest, a sphere oscillo-finder and a handful of treasures chest.
"Looks like this is where Leblanc keeps her trove of hunted spheres," I said, grinning. They had wanted to steal from us? Two can play at that game. But first… "That means that ours has to be somewhere in here, right?" Rikku asked. "Let's look," Paine suggested. We nodded and began looking around the room, though there wasn't much to look through, considering the room's rather small size. There were three chests in the room arranged in a semicircle, with the two outside ones being chock-full of different colored spheres. I grinned fiendishly at Leblanc's expressions once she realized that all her hard work was gone.
But then we opened the third and center chest, and Rikku and Paine both called "Found it!" Rikku held out the chest's sole contents for us all to see. In her hands were two halves of a broken orange sphere- one of which was our half. "Now I get it. I was wondering why they'd steal half a broken sphere," Paine said in realization. "So, they already had the other half," Yuna concluded. I grinned my largest yet. "If we took both halves of this sphere, Leblanc would lose it!" I stated. But apparently I had thought of the blonde one too many times, as just then a voice behind us said "Very true, loves."
We turned to see Leblanc standing there with her fan already drawn and her expression aggravated. Logos and Ormi were behind her. "I won't through a lot of trouble to gather those pieces- all for Noojie-Woojie. So don't you lay a finger on them! Get 'em, boys!" she ordered. "Yes, boss!" they both called, drawing their weapons. We did the same and charged, breaking through them and back into the more open area of the halls.
I immediately cast Confuse on each of them, but to my surprise they were all unaffected by the spell. In reply Leblanc cast Fira and tried to hit me with a ball of fire, but I rolled out of the way. Rikku used Steal and swiped an Elixir from Leblanc, while Yuna changed to her Songstress outfit and began dancing. "Darkness Dance!" she called, and waved her microphone at the trio of enemies. As one their faces were all enveloped in clouds of shadows, making them cry out in surprise. "What the heck! I can't see!" Ormi complained.
"Here!" Logos called, taking out a Remedy and tossing in his direction. But then Paine, who was wearing the Gunner outfit, shot the bottle in midair and sent the contents spraying everywhere. Logos glared in her general direction and used Hail of Bullets, using a wide range to compensate for his lack of sight. Most of them missed, but Paine was forced to block two bullet and one got a high in her right thigh. She gritted her teeth and grunted in pain. Rikku promptly switched to White Mage and cast Vigor on her, the healing magic pushing the bullet out and closing the hole.
Instead of casting Confuse I tried for Bio. A puddle of poison appeared underneath each of their feet, but only Logos and Ormi were affected by it. Both began hacking and coughing, before hastily pulling out Antidotes and chugging them down. I glared at them and charged, swinging from both sides at Ormi. Unfortunately, it was at that moment that Yuna's Darkness Dance came to an end, and he was able to put up a hasty block with his shield. Now able to see, he pushed me away and charged at Yuna, knocking her down with a tackle.
Logos also used Russian Roulette on Rikku, hitting her with Curse status and keeping her from spherechanging. Leblanc went for her own attack, casting Watera and firing a large wave of water from her fan at Paine. Paine dodged the wave and charged at Leblanc, her blade turning purple. "Magic Break!" she called, swinging from the side. Leblanc blocked it with her fan, but the purple energy went off in a blast that both sent her skidding back and reduced the power of her spells. Not one to be undone, she looked at her accomplices. "Let's word together now!" she said.
The two of them nodded. "Sure thing, Boss!" Ormi called. "Let's go," Logos said. Together they jumped closer to each other, and as one called "No Love Lost!" Before we could defend ourselves Leblanc swung her fan, kicking up a miniature tornado that pulled all four of us into the air. Logos cocked his pistols and released bullet after bullet into the storm, landing hits on various limbs and mine and Paine torsos. Once Logos was out of bullets the whirlwind died down, and we fell to ground. But then Ormi called "Cannonball!" and shot into the air, coming down and crashing on top of Rikku.
She cried out in pain was the impact broke her left arm and most of her left ribs, and Ormi jumped away as he got off. We all stood, battered by the combination attack. Leblanc smirked and then cast Not-So-Mighty Guard to keep us from retaliating, bestowing all three of them with Protect, Shell and Regen. Rikku, still her White Mage garb, set about going back and forth between healing us and casting Dispel on the enemy. I switched to Black Mage and fired Thundara at Logos. He had been trying at aim at me when I did, and the electricity went through his pistols and ignited the gunpowder in them.
Logos cried out in pain as his guns suddenly exploded in his hands, leaving with burnt hands and no weapons. Ormi covered for him by using Concussive Force, tossing a grenade that exploded in the middle of all of us. Leblanc also cast Sonic Fan, creating blades of wind the spread out the explosion. I gritted my teeth and held my ground against the assault, and once it was over I hurriedly chugged down a Hi-Potion. Then I cast Blizzara at Leblanc, who countered with Fira and destroyed both spells. "Feeling lucky?" Logos asked. He took out a spare set of pistols and aimed at Yuna, firing Russian Roulette again.
"This time it inflicted Silence, disabling her magic. Luckily Yuna wasn't barred from her Gunner attacks, and used Trigger Happy. Bullets after bullets rained down on him for five full seconds, and when it was over Logos's robes were riddled with holes, and he himself had more than a few bruises. None of the bullets had actually penetrated though, due to his Protect Status. "Stop fooling around this instant!" Leblanc called, and ran to Ormi and used Love Tap on him. The move was more of a hit to the head with her fan than anything else, but it did give the henchman Haste status.
With increased speed and began spinning on one foot, telegraphing his Pirouette Pitch. I cast Watera at the ground around him, making it slippery enough that he was forced to stop or end up falling over. Paine charged at him and used Armor Break, knocking down his defenses, which were then lowered further when Rikku cast Dispel and removed his Haste. Then I changed back into Dark Knight and cast Darkness, enveloping my body in shadows before I zapped in front of him and delivered a punishing blow with both of my swords. The dark energy exploded and sent Ormi skidding back, nearly knocked out of commission.
"I'm almost out!" he warned. Logos frowned. "Then let's give them a combined assault, hm?" he suggested. Leblanc smirked. "I agree!" They jumped back together, and I groaned as I realized what they were about to do. Hastily all four of us put up our guards, even as they called "No Love Lost!" Leblanc sent another twister at us and we managed to stay on the ground, though our stationary movements left Logos with free targets to fire. Then Ormi called "Cannonball!" again and sailed down from up high, this time landing on me.
I glared at him and shoved him of, before using Darkness again. The cost of the attack caused my bullet wounds to bleed even faster, but I still shot in front of Ormi and hit him again. This time the blast did knock him, also catapulting him ten feet away. Leblanc was quick to give Logos a Love Tap, even as he fired Hail of Bullets at Yuna, Rikku and Paine. But now that Ormi was gone they numbers were two to one, and Rikku switched to her Warrior garb. Both she and Paine charged at Leblanc while Yuna and Logos fired at each, dodging bullets qnd trying to get a lucky shot. I took the Elixir we had stolen from Leblanc and drank it, healing the injuries from two consecutive Darkness attacks.
Then I moved out of his sight while eh still focused on Yuna. I waited until I was right behind him and waved at Yuna, who nodded. "Take this!" she called, and fired Trigger Happy again. Logos was about to get out of the way when I cast Drain on him, sapping away and strength and slowing him down enough to be hit. He feel back with holes covering both of his arms, and he fell on his back. He was able to drink his own Elixir before passing out though, keeping the bullet wounds from being fatal. Leblanc had tried to keep up a defense by keeping Rikku and Paine away with her spells, but the two and powered through them.
The fight ended when Rikku swung down with an overhead that Leblanc blocked with her fan, and Paine used the opportunity to smash the flat of her blade into the side of the older blonde's head. Leblanc stumbled back and feel on her rear, dazed and defeated.
I sighed and sheathed my swords, all of us putting our weapons away. Quickly we dragged Logos and Ormi- with some difficulty considering his size- over to Leblanc and propped them against each other. "Well? Want another helping of your just deserts?" Rikku asked, smirking. Paine was quick to add "No one's going to hear you scream down here." Leblanc eyes widened, seeing that they had lost and trying to think of a way out. "W-Wait! I'll let you see what's on the sphere!" she offered. I raised an eyebrow. "Let us?" I repeated. She huffed and rolled her eyes, but conceded. "Please, the sphere is yours to watch," she said.
I looked at the others and we had a silent conversation, before nodding. "Agreed," we said. With that Rikku pulled the two halves of the sphere back out and held them against each other. The line that showed where they were broken glowed, before the two halves reattached to become a complete sphere. Once that was done we played it back.
The sphere showed a video of a underground cavern, though the walls were made of metal and covered with glyphs. I frowned as I saw the glyphs, mentally noted how they were somewhere… Yevonite in nature. As if to accompany that thought, a man wearing the uniform for a warrior monk and carrying a machine rifle walked down some sort of platform, at the end of which were other warrior monks. Then the camera rose to show that just beyond the platform… was the colossus Vegnagun. I gasped, seeing the dreaded machine again. The sphere gave a close up of its insect-like features and menacing expression, before dissolving into static and ending.
By now Leblanc had managed to recoup, and stood with Ormi and Logos. Crossing her arms, she said "As you probably know, that was Vegangun. We finished analysis of the sphere, and it appears to have been recorded underneath Bevelle." I grimaced. So that explained the warrior monks and Yevon glyphs. "Looks like Yevon hasn't lost its old fondness for secrets," Paine said plainly. "Exactly! Those Yevon scum have been hiding that thing all along. If they use that thing, Spira is done for," she said, all pretenses of kidding around gone. "But it's a machine. All we have to do is shake our way up to that thing and take it apart!" Rikku pointed out.
Leblanc nodded. "That's what Noojie has in mind. And whatever he's planning, I'm planning. What about you?" she asked, looking at Yuna, Rikku and me. We blinked, saying as one "Us?" "The High Summoner who defeated Sin and two of her former guardians ought to stand up to defend Spira once again," she pointed out. Yuna thought about that and nodded, as did Rikku. I nodded as well, though my arms were crossed as I thought about Nooj. So he now knew the location of Vegnagun, and planned to take it apart. But if that was the case, then what did he mean by Spira being in for a 'rough ride'?
While I was thinking about that, Leblanc said "So I guess that we're on the same side this time. We'll be waiting for you." "Waiting where?" Paine questioned. The blonde chuckled. "Don't be silly, love! On your airship, of course! I've always wanted to take a spin on that thing!" With that they turned and walked off. "Ever heard of asking?!" Rikku shouted indignantly, following after them. Paine did as well, but just as I was about to I saw that Yuna's expression was troubled. Being the care sister that I was, I asked "Something wrong?"
"Sin is gone. The Calm is here. I thought our peaceful days would never end. The Eternal Calm. I really believed it would last forever...until now. I never realized how fragile it can be," she said somberly. I frowned. Being the pessimistic of the two of us, I could imagine something coming along and ending this era of peace. I just hadn't thought that it would be so soon. I placed a hand on her shoulder, smiling confortingly. "Relax. Whatever happens, we'll take care of anything that come our way," I assured her. Yuna was silent for a moment, before she slowly smiled back and nodded. Together, we made our way for the Celsius.
The sphere of Vegnagun has been found, along with its location hidden by Yevon. Bu what will stand in the way of our heroes reaching it? Stay on board to find out!
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