Disclaimer : I don't own anything.

Note : Well, this fic is going along nicely, I think. Another chapter ready to go. :)

Trini - Benzo

Thank you to everyone who reviewed. Your reviews are much appreciated and encourage me to keep going. :)

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(Macalania, Tori's POV)

As we ran through the ever fading woods, we soon came out at the Macalania Travel Agency, and were shocked to see several fiends around it. There was also a lone body lying on the ground, obviously dead.

"The agency!" Dustin cried, knowing people often took refuge there from the cold.

I watched as a couple flans, a few wolves and a few floating eyes moved around and felt my eyes narrow. "Fiends? Here?" I questioned in confusion. After the temple had sunk, I didn't think fiends would ever be seen here again.

"Must be from Macalania Temple. The fact that it's under water doesn't seem to matter." Cassie pointed out as she grabbed her sword.

Shaking his head, Dustin took a quick step forward with his daggers ready. "We can worry about that later!" he cried in horror. "Tori!"

"We have to help them!" I agreed as I grabbed my guns.

"And our fee?" Cassie said with a raised eyebrow.

Blake raised an eyebrow right back at her and shook his head as Dustin turned and responded. "I'll pay you myself! How's that?"

I already knew she was just teasing, and without another word, we rushed into battle. Normally, we wouldn't have any problems with these guys, but for some reason, they were stronger than usual. I took on the floating eyes as Blake took on the wolves. Dustin changed to black mage and used fira on the flans to take them out, thankful they were elementals.

As the last flan faded away, he turned back into thief and helped me with the floating eyes. They too, weren't too difficult, but they were able to dodge a lot of Dustin's attacks, rendering them useless.

Cassie joined in, having also changed to gunner. She wore a black halter top with purple arm warmers and black shorts with a purple half skirt over them. Holding up her two guns, she took aim and charged a Trigger Happy as I joined her.

Dustin took that as his chance to help Blake finish off the last of the wolves.

Soon, we finished the battle and looked around warily as the last of the fiends faded away. I was honestly confused as how or why the fiends appeared, but chose to leave it for another time.

"Think that's the last of them?" Cassie asked as she holstered her guns and turned back into warrior.

Dustin replaced his daggers on his belt and shook his head. "How're the people inside?"

"Let's go look." I said as I raced forward.

Once we entered, there seemed to be a few broken machina and a couple more bodies. Upon closer inspection, it turned out that all the bodies were Al Bhed, and I felt a frown come to my face as I watched the last man standing, slowly slide to the ground as he held his hand over a bad gash on his side.

As we raced up to him, I frowned and shook my head slowly, already knowing we were too late and that there was nothing we could do.

"Fryd fyc ed? Dryd rika cryba, taab fedreh dra myga. E fiend...machina? (What was it? That huge shape, deep within the lake. A fiend...machina?)" he whispered with a hoarse voice as he coughed up blood.

"Don't speak." Dustin urged quietly with tears in his eyes. "Save your strength."

Shaking his head slowly, he pulled out a sphere and handed it to me. "Dyga drec. E vuiht ed rayn dra myga. (Take this. I found it near the lake.)" he whispered before his eyes closed and with a slight convulsion, he died.

Taking the sphere slowly, I identified it as Berserker, and placed it on my Garment Grid before turning back and bowing my head in prayer. "Thank you." I whispered softly.

Taking the time to bury the bodies respectfully, we headed back to the airship quickly. If this was what Macalania was like, I was almost afraid to see the rest of Spira.

(Bikanel)

As we walked into the Bikanel diggers camp, we watched the Al Bhed hurrying back and forth with their usual daily routine. I took the lead and walked over to Syd who looked surprised and majorly relieves to see us and I bit back a wince, wondering what she wanted now.

"Boy, am I glad to see you! We could use your help!" she cried as she ran up.

Resisting the urge to roll my eyes, I nodded. "Fiends?"

Shaking her head, she raised her hand to her forehead and let out a groan. "Not fiends, Cacti."

Blinking a moment, I wondered if she'd been out in the heat too long. Other than being in the way, and being a pain...literally... How could cacti be causing her problems?

"Marnela of the Cactuar Nation has asked to see us."

Cactuar Nation? I wondered silently.

"We've been too busy to spare anyone. If it's not a problem, could you go and meet with her? I'd like to ask you to be our representatives." she said hopefully.

I was still a little confused. What was this Cactuar Nation and who was Marnela? Sighing, I nodded slowly.

As if reading my mind, she gave me a look that said that it was understandable that I was confused. "Don't worry if you haven't heard of it before. We've only recently established diplomatic ties." Turning around she seemed to look for someone. "Trini!"

A young woman with long dark hair and dark eyes came running up as she dusted off her yellow shorts and rearranged her orange tank top. Bowing to us, I realized she looked asian and very kind.

Turning to us, Syd nodded again and gestured to the young woman. "This is Trini. She's our interpreter."

"Very nice to meet you." she said in a light voice as she smiled.

"Hi." I responded, still very lost about what was going on.

"All right. You can take it from here." Syd said as she walked away to tend to other matters.

Turning to me, Cassie shook her head with boredom. "When will you ever learn to say no?"

Sticking my tongue out at her, we took the hover to the places called the Cactuar Nation, and were surprised to find a rather abandoned looking area with several large cacti. Blinking a moment, I felt myself frown as Trini led us to the center of the field and right up to one of the largest cacti there.

"It's cactus central out here!" Dustin cried as he took in the number of gigantic cacti around us.

It kind of was too, seeing as how we've been all through the desert and never once found even one cactus that big.

"So, where's this Marnela?" he continued as he stared at Trini.

Laughing a little, she bowed her head. "Right here." she said with a knowing gleam in her eye.

"Here where?" he asked in confusion as he looked around.

Blinking a moment, I turned to her and shook my head. "You sure we got the right place?"

Suddenly, the cacti beside Trini began moving and making strange squeaking sounds.

Dustin's eyes flew wide and he fell back on his butt as he stared in shock at the unusual cactus. "It talked! Wh-what's going on?" he stuttered.

Turning to it, she nodded and smiled before turning back to us. "This is Marnela." she said with a giggle as she pointed to the cactus. "I'll translate." she said as she turned back to the wiggling cactus. "She's greeting us. 'Hello, Trini.' she says. 'Hello to you too, sphere hunters. I am Marnela of the Cactuar Nation. it does not surprise me that you are startled.' " Trini stopped and giggled. "By the way, she's laughing."

Taking a deep breath, she returned to the explanation. " 'We, the cacti of this nation, were once cactuars. When cactuars mature, they once again become cacti, burying their roots deep into the sand. Thus have we watched over the sands of Bikanel Desert since the dawn of time. Tell me, do you believe what I have told you?' "

Nodding slowly, I honestly did. Everyone already knew that the cacti were here longer than any humans ever were. "It makes perfect sense."

"She says 'Thank you.' " Trini informed us. Turning back to the cacti, she nodded slowly and turned serious. "I think she's about to tell us why she's asked for us here. 'A strange wind has been blowing through the desert. You, too, may have felt the sands trembling beneath your feet.' " She went on to explain about how a 'fearsome fiend' has begun to awaken and how the cactuars were responsible for locking it away in the first place.

It was ten particular cactuars that did so, but now that so much time has passed, they needed to renew the seal. Only one problem. The ten cactuars needed, the 'Ten Gatekeepers', had gone to explore Spira.

We were asked here in order to help them find the ten Gatekeepers and bring them back. It was a dire task, but Marnela also knew about our problem with the temples and fiends, so told us to deal with that first.

Thanking the leader of the Cactuar Nation, and Trini, we left and boarded the airship. We really weren't sure where to go next, but decided to check out the Calm Lands before any place else.

(I didn't write more, because I don't know if this mission will be described later in the script. To be safe, I didn't want to say yes or no. So it's just left at maybe.)

(Calm Lands)

As we walked through the Calm Lands, we noticed nothing really seemed to be wrong. It was still pretty much empty, but a few people would stop now and then to play the games.

We passed by the agency, and then, the new Chocobo Ranch Cole had opened up. Heading to the Gagazet path, I noticed how there was a loud commotion down in the gorge. Looking to the others, I saw their confusion as well, so instead of crossing the bridges to go to Mt. Gagazet, we took a path that went under the bridges, following it down to a large clearing and a cave.

Now, I remembered hearing of this place once. It was a gorge where a very special cave was set. After our pilgrimage two years ago, Hunter had spoken to me privately, telling me of a Summoner who lost her life in this cave, trying to get an Aeon.

A Summoner since had come and sent her, but the Aeon remained in the cave. However, it, along with the others, died the very day Yu Yevon was killed. No one knows how or why, but three Aeons that I'd never found, had died with the others.

Yojimbo, Magus Sisters, and Anima.

All three were what many Summoners called optional Aeons because they weren't necessary.

And all but Yojimbo were found in temples. Magus Sisters and Anima weren't widely known because their temples had been ruined so many years ago. Yojimbo wasn't well known because his Fayth was stolen.

No one even remembers where he first came from, but his Fayth had been stolen by Al Bhed and moved to this cave. Thus, they named it the Cavern of The Stolen Fayth.

As we approached the cavern, I sighed and rolled my eyes at the number of people crying and shaking in fear. As secluded as this place was, they'd come here and gotten themselves in trouble.

"Fiends, from deep within the cave!" a man yelled as he saw us approaching.

Another man nodded in fear. "There are still some people trapped inside! There's nothing we can do to help them..."

To be honest, I'd had enough. I wanted to blame them for turning a place like this into a tourist attraction.

An old woman came rushing up with fear in her eyes, and as angry as I was, I couldn't fight the urge to help them. "Please, won't you help us rescue the people trapped inside?"

Sighing again, I nodded. "All right, we'll help." I said in a resigned voice.

Entering the cave, we split up into two groups. Blake went with me, and Dustin and Cassie went together. We planned to work from different starting points until everyone was rescued. Dustin and Cassie would begin at the back of the main area, and take the two side rooms we'd learned about, and Blake and I would start at the front.

Things were pretty uneventful, but I frowned as I felt like something was calling me from the hidden Chamber of the Fayth.

Rescuing 15 people, we got the needed energy spheres to start up the teleport pads, and first teleported to the side rooms to rescue the last two people. Leading them out of the cave, we met up and nodded before heading back to the teleport pad and heading into the Chamber of the Fayth.

I gasped as we entered. Where the stone statue must have once stood, a large, gaping hole took it's place. Just like in Bevelle, pyreflies floated up from the seemingly bottomless hole.

But that wasn't what made me gasp.

Appearing as a ghost and solidifying, was a large Aeon like I had never seen before. He looked like a giant humanoid monster dressed as a Samurai, with a wolf-like dog at his side. Turning to us, he glared with angry, glowing red eyes as he unsheathed his katana.

"Please!" I cried as I took a step forward. "Tell us why this is happening!"

Though I'd never bonded to him, I still felt the pain as if I had.

"This is wrong! You have to stop!" Blake called as he came to stand beside me. His sword was in his hand, and his eyes were narrowed with tears in them.

Unfortunately, either the Aeon didn't hear us or he didn't care. Raising his sword, the wolf raced for me, snarling, and Blake just barely managed to block it with his sword. Using his body weight as strength, Blake pushed forward and knocked the wolf back as Cassie changed to gunner and let off a few rounds at it.

Dustin began to attack with his daggers and focused on Yojimbo as I helped him. I aimed my gun and fired Trigger Happy at him as Dustin raced around, slicing at his torso. Realizing how powerful he was, I shook my head. "This isn't going to work, guys! We need a new tactic!"

Blake turned to me and ran over as he sheathed his sword. "Then let's morph!"

Nodding to him, I holstered my guns and raised my morpher. "Ninja Storm!"

Blake followed my lead quickly. "Thunder Storm!"

"Ranger Form! HA!" we chorused together as we morphed.

Reaching within me, I tapped into my power, remembering our last attack. "Power of water!" I cried as I unleashed a jet of water that soaked the wolf. I was aiming for the wolf, because though it wasn't as powerful as Yojimbo himself, it still packed a punch.

Blake seemed to get the idea of what I was doing, and focused on his power too. "Power of thunder!" he called as strong bolts of navy lightning shot down and electrocuted the wolf, causing it to fall over and fade away.

"Ninja Sword!" I called as I grabbed my sword and raced forward. Using my ninja streaking, I raced around the Aeon, slicing it over and over. As I pulled back, Blake followed suit with his thunderstaff.

Once we were done, Cassie and Dustin took their openings to attack and attacked in tandem. Cassie shut off Trigger Happy as Dustin used his blades.

As I watched, Dustin got hit and knocked into a rock wall, where he remained on the ground, unmoving. I raced over to his side and pulled out a phoenix down to revive him, before giving him a hi-potion to heal his wounds.

Turning around, I was met with Blake using his ninja streaking again, as Cassie sliced at the Aeon's stomach. When they pulled back, he slowly knelt down on the ground, and I demorphed to watch as he faded away into pyreflies, a lingering 'I'm sorry' floating through the air.

I watched as Blake demorphed and Dustin walked up to kneel at the edge of the hole.

"Hello!" he cried as he peered into the unending blackness.

Cassie rolled her eyes and shook her head as she stood at his side. "Careful. Someone might answer you." she warned in with a slight grin, watching as he quickly stood up and moved away from the edge.

We exited the cave, and noticed as the people around us all stood up quickly and began to cheer and clap. One of the men from before walked up with a relieved smile and bowed in respect. "I can't thank you enough. I promise you, we won't be doing business here anymore." he said with a firm shake of his head.

Nodding to him, we turned and left, climbing back up the path to the bridges, and crossing them to Mt. Gagazet.

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Talking cactuars...yeah I know, weird. LOL. I raised an eyebrow and thought the same thing when I first played the game. A lot of the side quests, I'm not including because they weren't included in the script. I really don't know if certain things will happen or make sense, because I have yet to see what the script I'm using includes.

Oh yeah, I also realize that any links I provided in chapter notes wouldn't be posted. Sorry about that, I didn't think that would happen. Well if you're curious, email me and I'll send you the script link as well as the link to the battle and sphere change quotes I use.

I wish I remembered this game better so I could do it more from memory, but oh well.

I also realized I made a TON of spelling mistakes in all my previous chapters and apologize for that. I don't have a spell check on my computer. Luckily, while I was on a different computer, I though to check and correct most mistakes. Hopefully, future chapters will be better. I'll just have to keep an eye out.

Hope you like this so far...

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"To make matters worse, Cid ran off a while ago and hasn't come back. I guess that makes me Zanarkand's lone defender."

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Hey! A mention of Shane! I wonder how said it... LOL.

Anyways, R+R please. :)

Thank you everyone.

Tenshi