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Tidus woke up in the water again after encountering Sin. 'What is it with me and water everytime I have a close shave with Sin?' thought Tidus as he sputtered water out.

As he got out, he noticed he was at a desert now, and nobody in sight. He sighed and hoped everyone made it. Even he couldn't find them, he could count on Max to find him. He was sure that his buckler had a tracking device, being friends with him. He checked his equipment and found that his sword was still with him. Thank heavens Max gave him a special chain to hook his sword to his waist. He turned around to the water to give one last message to his father. He wasn't sure that Jecht could hear it, but he still did it anyways.

As he walked out to the desert, a giant bird descended from the skies to attack him. Muttering a curse, Tidus drew his sword while casting Haste on himself. Luckily, he was able to land a few good hits, but the bird was just too big that he couldn't land a death blow. Then, Auron suddenly appeared from nowhere and slashed the fiend at the chest.

"Need some help?" asked Auron. Tidus could only sigh in relief that he had back up. Suddenly, a bolt of lighting hit the fiend in the head. Right after that, an arrow flew right into its eye. "Are you all right?" asked Lulu, concerned for everyone.

"Reinforcements has arrived!" cheered Max as he shot another arrow at the fiend.

Together, they managed to defeat the large bird fiend without much difficulty. As Tidus tried to get his breath back, he asked about if they found the others. They all shook their heads. "Haven't found them yet. We're supposed to stay in one place if we get split up," advised Lulu. Auron promptly ignored it and walked off.

"Wait here if you want. He's not," said Tidus.

Lulu could only shake her head before catching up. While they were walking, Tidus hung back with Lulu to distract her while Max quickly opened his arm computer. Auron merely glanced at Max before whispering to Max if he found anyone yet. Max grinned and pointed in a direction. They found Wakka finding shelter under a large broken machina.

"Where's Yuna?" asked Wakka. Everyone just exchanged glances, making Wakka groan.
"Dammit!" muttered Wakka, kicking the broken machina he had taken shelter under,"First I lose Yuna, then I'm ambushed by machina! Great day I'm having."

They kept walking, with Max pointing at random directions. At first, Wakka and Lulu thought he was crazy, but they managed to find Kimahri and Paine from his 'intuition', so they didn't question it. They found Rikku after walking a bit further.


"Where's Yunie?" asked Rikku.

Everyone's face fell as they had hoped Rikku had found Yuna. Max sighed and decided it might be time to reveal everyone his arm computer to track down Yuna. She still had the tracker on him that he secretly has Tidus place on her hair braid. But to his surprise, Rikku revealed that she might know where she is, though.
"Umm… There's something I wanna tell you, but promise not to say anything," she said hesitantly. Wakka immediately scowled at her, causing Max to hit him on the head to stop scowling.

"I know where we are," she declared, "We're on Bikanel Island. There's a place us Al Bhed call Home near here. Yunie's there, I'm sure of it! Other Al Bhed must've come and rescued her!"

"Rescued? You mean kidnapped!" interrogated Wakka.

"What does it matter as long as she's safe?" responded Tidus.

"That's right! Anyway, I will take you there if you promise… that you won't tell anyone about it. Especially not Yevonites, okay?" said Rikku with a serious face, "You know they don't like us Al Bhed. Who knows what they'll do if they knew?"

"Gimme a break. What are you accusing Yevon of this time?" shouted Wakka.

"Yevon did something really bad to us before," replied Rikku sadly. Wakka, however, kept attacking her heritage.

"Well, you Al Bhed must've deserved it," snorted Wakka. Rikku looked like she was going to cry until Max decided it was enough and jabbed Wakka in the stomach.

"Enough! Now's not the time to argue about the past. We need to find Yuna," said Max. Wakka growled but decided to promise not to tell. As they were walking, Tidus whispered to Max, "No luck on the tracker?"

Max shook his head. Somehow, the tracker wasn't showing on his radar, which meant she was too far away from them. The motion detector had a smaller range, so that was also useless.

Rikku lead them through the desert. However, she was not the exactly good with directions and ended up admitting she was lost. Luckily, Max saw a sign written in Al Bhed and had Rikku translate it, finding their path again. As soon as they climbed a dune, Rikku proudly stated they were at Home, only to shout in horror as she saw it was under attack. Everyone quickly rushed down, hoping Yuna was all right.


Everyone drew their weapons and attacked the fiends to try to help the Al Bhed. However, the damage was already done and bodies laid on the floor. Rikku found someone who she knew for a long time and was horrified to find him dying.

"Keyakku! Who? Who's attacking us?" Rikku sobbed out before asking it again in Al Bhed.

"Yevon… Guado…," Keyakku breathed out before dying.

"Keyakku? Keyakku!" shouted Rikku, shaking the dead body in hope that he was just sleeping. "A war? Between Yevon and the Al Bhed?" Lulu asked in aghast.

"Doesn't surprise me," said Paine, "Yevon's always been looking to strike at the Al Bhed for a long time, now."

Soon, a bald man with an authoritative aura around him came to Rikku. He gently pushed Rikku away, embracing Keyakku one last time as a goodbye before clearing his throat and standing up. His stern face looked at Rikku's friend, his body showed that this man clearly worked out, even if he was wearing yellow clothes that covered his figure. "You Rikku's friends?" asked the bald man with a tattoo on the side of his head, "Well, just don't stand there, come on! Let's go kick those Guado out of our Home!"

He rushed back into the fight with the Al Bhed gathering around him, gaining courage as he dived in headfirst towards the enemy.

"Who is he?" asked Max.

"Cid. Leader of the Al Bhed… He's my dad," Rikku answered back. Max could only gulp and did not look forward to talking to him in a more personal setting. "Let's go," commanded Tidus. "We have to save Yuna."


They rushed into the base, fighting off fiends and Guado that had managed to get in. Wakka was now witnessing first hand how cruel and brutal Yevon was and was in shock at this. How could they murder people in cold blood? They didn't deserve this.. this genocide. Suddenly, a voice rang out from the announcers.

"Drec pedac! Rikku! Oui nayt sa? Oui ku ihtan, duu! E ys majamehk Rusa! Yht dra veaht fedr ed!"
"Oh, no!" shouted Rikku.
"What'd he say!?" yelled Wakka.

"Something about destroying all the fiends and Home along with it," replied Max. Everyone ran even faster at this.

"We have to get underground! To the Summoners' Sanctum! This way!" urged Rikku.

They fought even more Guado and fiends trying to get through. As they got through a hallway, Wakka took some time to look around. Walls had holes in them, and the fire was spreading.
"This place done for," said Wakka. Rikku couldn't deny that truth.
"You're right," said Rikku in a small voice, "You're right, Wakka. We Al Bhed, we…we weren't always like this. Sin destroyed the island where we all used to live. After that, we were scattered to every corner of Spira. But then, my dad brought the Al Bhed together again. If we few put our minds to it and worked together, then we could make a new home. Everyone worked hard, we had our Home back again… But now… Why did things have to turn out this way?" She started to cry, and her head was on Wakka's chest. Max felt jealous but put it off for now. There were more important things happening.
"Rikku…," muttered Wakka, feeling extremely guilty on how he treated Rikku earlier and hugged her, "Damn those Guado! What are they thinking?"


As they mowed down more Guado and fiends, Lulu decided she needed to know something.
"Rikku, what is the Summoners' Sanctum?" asked Lulu.
"The Summoners' Sanctum is where we keep the summoners. We keep them safe there," replied Rikku.
"You kidnapped them," stated Wakka flatly.
Rikku nodded and answered, "I know it's against the teachings and all that…"
"I get why you did it, but…" said Wakka, as if understanding why. Max and Tidus didn't.
"Well, I sure don't get it, Wakka," exclaimed Tidus, "They might get hurt on their pilgrimage so you kidnap them? I mean, if the summoners don't do their job, then who will beat Sin? You want to protect them, I know. But guardians are there for that. If guardians do their job well, summoners will be safe! Right?"

Nobody answered back at this. Even Paine seemed to look away from him.

"Right!?"

"Hello? He's right, isn't he?" asked Max. Everyone seemed to adopt an even guiltier face at this. The awkward silence stretched out to everyone.


Kimahri decided to announce that he would take the front lines in case of more attacks. They all quickly entered the room dubbed the Summoner's Sanctum, where they saw it was in shambles. There was wreckage everywhere, and dead Al Bhed bodies laid on the floor.
"Yuna!" shouted Kimahri as he burst into the room.
"She's not here," a voice rang out. Everyone looked to the source of the voice to see Donna and Isaaru approaching them.
"Hello again," greeted Dona without her usual haughty voice, "Wait there until we have performed the sending."
"They died…protecting us. It's not much, but the least we can do is give them a proper sending," explained Isaaru.
Pacce suddenly ran up to Tidus and Max and asked "Hey, um, what's 'sacrificed'? The Al Bhed said summoners were being 'sacrificed.' That summoners shouldn't have to do a pilgrimage…"

Tidus didn't understand Pacce's question, but those words chilled Max to the core.

'No, no no!? Please tell me it's not what I think it is!?' Max mentally shrieked.

"Why couldn't they trust guardians to protect the summoners? The Al Bhed had no right stopping their pilgrimage!" shouted Tidus.

"The pilgrimages have to stop! If they don't, and they get to Zanarkand… They might defeat Sin. Yunie could…but then she… Yunie will die, you know?" shouted Rikku. The place shook as if to punctuate this statement. Tidus and Max completely froze at this.

"You know, don't you?" Rikku asked, "Summoners journey to get the Final Aeon. Yuna told you, didn't she? With the Final Aeon, she can beat Sin. But then…but then… If she calls it, the Final Aeon's going to kill her! Even if she defeats Sin, it will kill Yunie too, you know!" She fell onto her knees and started to cry.

Tidus slowly rebooted his brain up. "Were we the only one who didn't know?" he asked slowly in disbelief.

Max kneeled down to Rikku to shake her to ask "Why!? Why didn't you tell me, or Tidus? Why didn't anyone tell us at all? Why hide it? Don't you think we should've known this!" His tone started to become hysterical.
"We weren't hiding it…" Wakka said quietly.
"It was just…too hard to say," finished Lulu.
"Lulu!" screamed Tidus, tears in his eyes, "How could you? How could you? Isn't she like a sister to you? I thought you were family!"

Max whirled around to Wakka with rage in his eyes, "And you accepted this barbaric tradition? YOu even told us nothing has to change, and you're willing to send someone who you see as a sister to die!?"

"Don't you think we tried to stop her? She follows…her heart," replied Lulu. She couldn't face Max and Tidus with a straight face. Wakka wanted to reply to Max, but his words stung him deeply. Was he really fine with sending someone he loved to death just to follow tradition?

"And that's just totally wrong! Summoners shouldn't have to sacrifice themselves…just so the rest of Spira can be happy, right?" asked Rikku.

Max and Tidus faced Auron, wanting to demand answers. He had known them the longest, and this sort of secret wasn't something one was supposed to hide. However, a large fiend, similar to the one they fought back at Macalania Lake materialized from the pyreflies. The summoners were too late to send all the Al Bhed.


"But that is our choice…" stated Isaaru, answering Rikku's question as he walked towards the fiend.

"We all live in fear of Sin. You know that," said Dona as she walked with him. The summoning lights started to come forth from them while Maroda and Pacce stood behind them. "A world without Sin… That is the dream of all Yevon's children," said Issaru passionately, "And we will use that power, even if it means our lives!"

As he finished his sentence, Valefor and Ifrit were summoned by the summoners to deal with the fiend. Ifrit immediately leaped towards the fiend and start to pummel on it. Before Valefor could take to the air, though, Tidus had ran past everyone right towards Valefor and start pounding on its chest.

"And I've been telling Yuna…," cried out Tidus, "Let's go to Zanarkand together! Let's beat Sin! I told her all the things we could…we could… And all along, the whole time, I didn't know anything! But Yuna, she'd…just smile."

Many, including the summoners, were shocked at Valefor's next action. Instead of leaping to battle to aid Ifrit, even though it clearly didn't need help, Valefor chose to drop back down to the ground, sensing Tidus's sadness. It crowed as it leaned its neck down to nuzzle Tidus, trying to wash his tears away. Dona had clearly commanded it to attack the fiend, but it chose to ignore that order to wash misery away. Tidus had flashbacks of all the memories he had with Yuna, all the happiness he had found with her. He soon found his resolve.

"I can't let her die! I'll find her!" shouted Tidus as he stood back up, his eyes blazing with resolve.

"And I'll help," stated Max with eyes the same as his.

Everyone nodded and ran out to the next room, Rikku leading the charge. Soon, they arrived to see Al Bhed trying to get into a ship. Max instantly recognized it as an airship, and was amazed that they managed to find something like this. As they got in, Max saw the Al Bhed loading as much machina as they could and grinned.


On the bridge of the airship, Cid was urging his crew to hurry up, telling them there was no time. The pilot, who they recognized to be Brother, was complaining that they needed more time and that some of the systems weren't fully operational. Gippal was also on the ship, trying to run a system check on a computer he barely had any idea what to do. Before anyone could do anything, Max ran forward and took the pilot seat. Max and Tidus had both agreed as they boarded the ship that it was time. Tidus wanted to interrogate the captain on where Yuna was but knew that speed was of the essence. He would do it later.

"What are you doing, brat?" shouted Cid as he was about to pull Max away.

Suddenly, Max opened his arm computer for everyone to see in amazement, halting Cid in his tracks. He quickly pulled a wire out, found a port for it to install, and quickly accessed through the files. He was typing in commands at lightning speed that they couldn't keep up with him as files kept popping up all over the screen, both at his arm computer and the screens on the ship.

"Converting language to English, check. Engines, check. Weapons systems online. Flight status all green, oh wait there's a yellow one. Recalculating power on that... done. Ready for flight," muttered Max as he shut his arm computer.

"Tidus, sit at that seat. That's one of the main control panels for this airship. Cid, sit with him. Rikku, go with your friend down there. I'll need a translator if I want him to do as I say," commanded Max. Tidus quickly grabbed Cid to sit down while Rikku followed orders. Everyone except Auron was still in shock that Max just took charge, but more importantly, was very familiar with machina. Before Wakka could launch an interrogation, Max shouted out "READY FOR LAUNCH! EVERYONE EITHER TAKE A SEAT OR GRAB HOLD OF SOMETHING!" He turned the engine on, signifying it was ready.

"Tidus! The computer should be in English for you to read. Activate the announcement button and tell Cid to have everyone sit down or grab something steady in Al Bhed," said Max.

Cid was shocked that there was something like that in his ship, but complied as Tidus flipped the switch and told him to speak clearly towards the computer. As Cid was talking, everyone could hear that his voice was being echoed through the airship.

"So, how are we going to find Yuna?" asked Pain, "Do you know where she is?"

"'Course not," replied Cid, "Those stinking Guado managed to snag Yuna before we could back at Bikanel Island. That's why we're gonna look! Using this airship!"

"Airship?" Wakka stuttered.

"Opening hangar doors," said Max, being in complete control. The airship slowly rose from the ground, going out the hangar doors.

"Fruy! Ed sujac!" said Brother in amazement.

"You said it," whispered Gippal.

"Necg pek, feh pek!" replied Cid in laughter.

Soon, the airship took off to the skies, leaving Home behind it. Everyone was still in shock they were actually flying, except for Tidus and Max. Tidus still enjoyed it, but Max was used to it, after making a few inventions that dealt with flight.


Soon, Cid took charge again. He spoke in Al Bhed first, but then realized that the pilot of the ship and the kid next to him didn't speak Al Bhed.

"Kid, we're using that thing located around the ship and shooting it to Home."

"The name's Max! Remember it otherwise, I do a barrel roll when you're not expecting it," replied Max, although he was already engaging the weapons system. Cid didn't know what a that was, but felt like he wouldn't like that, and decided to obey him. Max had Tidus look up the weapons system while he was flying and was enjoying what he saw was on the ship.

Before he fired, Brother started to sing the Hymn of the Fayth. He was soon joined in by all the Al Bhed crewmen, including Cid, with sad faces.
"What's goin' on?" asked Wakka.
"We're…we're going to blow up our Home," repliedd Rikku glumly.
"How?" asked Lulu, horrified at this.
"With one of the forbidden machina!" replied Cid. "Fire now!"

"Not yet," said Max, who had been scanning the ship sensors. "We're not out of safety distance yet if my calculations are right, and we'll only need a half barrage, not a full one that you were planning. Also, we have some unwanted visitors in the cargo area."

He pulled up a screen in the middle of the bridge, showing them all that some of the Guado had managed to make it on the ship. Unfortunately for them, they were at the cargo area. Max took a peek at the screen and saw everything in there was nailed down and grinned.

"Cid, make the announcement in Al Bhed and tell everyone to hold on tight to something for their lives. Have anyone that doesn't understand what you just said to follow their lead," said Max.

"What are you planning, Max?" muttered Cid as he made the announcement. Five seconds later, he found out and wish he didn't.

Max suddenly had the cargo area's door open, surprising the Guado. Before they could do anything, the ship completely flipped onto its left side. Some managed to grab on to something while others fell out screaming.

"Lnywo pycdynt! Oui'mm tuus ic ymm!" shouted Brother. Max just ignored him and punched in a few keys. Soon, the song Otherworld came blazing on the speakers. Tidus was rocking his head to the song with Max while everyone else thought those two was crazy.

"Huh, stubborn little buggers," said Max, seeing that some of the Guado were still hanging on. He righted the ship back to its original pace. The Guado sighed in relief lowered their guard for a second, and it cost them.


Max did a barrel roll.


They fell out screaming while everybody else on the ship was also screaming.

"All right. Tidus, go ahead and fire our missiles, half salvo only," said Max as he had the weapons ports opened.

Tidus grinned, typing up the command before he saw the button that would allow him to fire the weapon. He quickly slammed it, and missiles were launched from the right side only. They all flew right into Home, detonating on impact and leveling it into dust.

Cid laughed weakly after seeing their Home destroyed. He would have laughed louder, but he felt a bit queasy after Max's stunt, "Gah-hah-hah-hah! Nadinh du cyht!" Brother was weakly crying at the loss of their home, but the feeling of throwing up was more prominent.
Seeing Rikku depressed, Wakka tried to cheer her up."Hey, look. Don't get so down. Boom! Like happy festival fireworks, ya?" Let it be known that Wakka was not the most tactful person.
"You can cram your happy festival, you big meanie!" shouted Rikku before storming away. Wakka's face fell at that, knowing himself that he screwed up.
"Why didn't I just shut my big mouth?" he groaned

Soon, everyone managed to feel a bit better after Max's stunt. Tidus decided it was time to ask Cid some questions he wanted answered.

"Where's Yuna?" asked Tidus. When Cid chose to ignore him, he repeated his question louder and with a snarl.

"And What'll you do when you find her, eh?" asked Cid, with a frown in his face.

"I didn't know anything about what a summoner is supposed to do," replied Tidus with a whisper. He tone grew louder as he continued to speak, "And I told her all those things without even knowing. I've got to tell her. I've got to tell her I'm sorry!"
"That's it?" questioned Cid, grabbing Tidus's shirt. "You're gonna tell her you're sorry? And then you just drag her to Zanarkand and make her fight Sin, huh? You're all the same — let the summoner die so we can live in peace!" shouted Cid as he shoved Tidus down.
"No!" yelled Tidus as he stood back up with resolve burning in his eyes, "I'm not gonna let Yuna die!"
Cid saw that Tidus was completely serious about this. "Boy, don't forget those words, 'cause if you do…I'm gonna make you regret it."
Tidus nodded in acknowledgment, swearing that he would find a way, "I won't. So you know where she is? "
Cid shook his head as he walked to the center of the bridge, where a sphere image popped up, "I'm lookin' into it, okay? Don't worry, I'm using a sphere oscillo-finder. If she's out there, we'll get her."
Tidus tilted his head in confusion at that. Seeing his reaction, Cid merely sighed.
"It's an ancient machina. I don't know how it works either, so don't ask me, okay?" said Cid.
"And you still use it?" asked Lulu in shock.
"I don't even rightly know how this rig flies, either!" laughed Cid, causing Wakka to curl up in fear. "All because of the Yevon taboo on machina, we're running around in the dark here! Ain't it a rush, kiddos?"

Tidus shook his head when Max stepped up to the sphere image. Tidus grinned. He knew Max would be able to solve this one faster. True to his mind, Max popped open his arm computer again and plugged a wire into a port, where he started typing up some commands.

"Hey, wait, if Max is here... Who's flying the ship?" asked Paine.

Everyone froze and quickly looked at the pilot seat to see it was empty. Everyone was screaming and/or panicking except for the people who had been in Zanarkand for at least the past 10 years. Max sighed as he shouted over the panicking crowd, "It's on autopilot! If you don't know what that means, it means the airship system is currently piloting it."

Nobody knew what that really meant, but they decided not to question it since the ship wasn't going down. More importantly, they had questions for Max. The first question... came from Rikku.

"What is that? Is that a machina? How long have you had that? What's it do? Can I see it?" Rikku stopped to take a breath. Max took this time to answer her questions.

"Arm computer. Yes. Had this for about... a year after making it. Let's me do a lot of things. Maybe."

Wakka finally rebooted his own brain and shouted, "Wait! You've had that ever since we met?! And you made it!? You two told me that you were mainly a blitzball adviser and blitzball player!"

Tidus chuckled and answered that question, "I never said that was his main job. He still is, though."

"Boy.. What's your main occupation?" asked Cid.

Max had finished uploading the program to the system to help find Yuna before closing his arm computer and turning around to look at them all in the eye.

"My main job/hobby... is a machina specialist. I create and study them back at home. I could probably tell you how all of the stuff on this ship works."


DUN DUN DUNN! The truth is revealed on both sides! Man writing this chapter felt good. Read and Review!