Insert standard disclaimers here, and then apply them to every chapter from here on out so I don't have to keep writing it, ya? ;-)
It's finally here! It's also the much revised shorter version. . .my disk went wacko and took this whole chapter with it. *sighs* Ah, well, maybe it's for the best. This chapter was getting WAY long.
The Final Summoning,
Chapter 3: A Sword for Jecht
"Wow."
I couldn't help but smile. We had just arrived in Luca, and Jecht was standing in the middle of the dock, absentmindedly scratching the back of his head. He clearly hadn't expected Luca to be as large as it was.
"The great Jecht, rendered speechless?" I teased him. "I never thought I'd see the day."
"Yeah, well, I wasn't expecting this. . .what's the name of this town?"
"Luca."
"Yeah, Luca. Didn't think it was gonna be this big, you know, you guys being fond of little villages and all."
"It's not that we're so fond of them, my friend." I spread my hands out to my sides, indicating the city around us. "Given time, I truly think Spira would have more great cities like this. But where large numbers of people gather, Sin attacks, and we lose what we've built."
"Then how did Luca get so big?"
"Blitzball." I pointed my staff toward the blitzball stadium. "Blitzball brings joy to the people of Spira. It gives us something to enjoy, something to think about besides what Sin is doing to our world." I turned to face Jecht again. "The Crusaders defend Luca with all their might, and the city has been able to grow because of it."
"Blitzball," Jecht mused. "Huh."
"Indeed." Auron pushed himself away from the wall he'd been leaning against and jerked his head toward the center of town. "I believe we have an errand to run."
"Oh, yes," I recalled. "Lead the way, old friend."
"Where are we going?" Jecht asked, racing after Auron.
"To the marketplace," Auron replied over his shoulder. "We're going to buy you a sword."
"WHAT?" Jecht's shout attracted scathing frowns from several passersby. "Forget it, man! I'm stickin' with my blitzball. It's safe."
"It's too safe. It hardly damages fiends."
"Oh, so you wanna give me a sword." Jecht snorted. "Well, I can give you a whole lot of reasons not to give me a sword, you freak. Like, oh, you'll be springin' me from jail again. . .Braska'll be usin' his magic stuff to put my body parts back on. . .or usin' those creepy phoenix things on me after I chop off my own freakin' HEAD!"
Auron looked at him steadily. "Are you finished?"
"No, I'm not finished! I – AAARRGH!"
Auron had grabbed the blitzer by the scruff of the neck and was literally dragging him over to the weapons booth. I followed, barely containing my laughter.
"How may I help you – ah, Lord Summoner!" The weapons merchant bowed deeply and performed the prayer of Yevon. I returned the gesture, privately amused by the man's formality. Meanwhile, Auron shoved Jecht forward.
"This man needs a sword," he stated, ignoring the look Jecht was giving him.
"You've come to the right place, Sir Guardian!" The merchant positioned himself behind the table that held his wares. "What do you have in mind?"
Auron peered at Jecht over his glasses. The blitzer stared back, nonplussed. After a moment, Auron lifted a long, slender blade off the table and presented it hilt-first to Jecht, who took the sword and eyed it suspiciously.
"Hold it upright, like this." Auron unsheathed his massive sword, easily maneuvering it into an upright position, ready for attack. Jecht imitated the movement easily enough, and Auron ordered him to attack.
"Okay – wait, attack?!"
"Attack me," Auron repeated patiently. "You won't be able to hit me."
"Oh, YEAH?"
Jecht lifted the blade over his head and charged forward. Auron deflected him easily; his new student bounced several feet backward, landing flat on his back with both feet waving gracelessly in the air. Auron picked up the sword and looked at me, his expression clearly saying, Yevon help me.
"Not that one," I offered helpfully.
"No. Not that one." Auron exchanged the sword for one which was slightly shorter, but twice as wide, and clearly much heavier. Jecht's eyes rounded when he saw it.
"Oh, h*ll."
"The other one was too light. You're muscular. You need a muscular man's blade."
"Thanks. . .I think." Jecht took the sword and nearly fell over. "Holy crap."
Auron simply motioned Jecht to attack. With a sigh, Jecht obeyed. Of course, he was knocked down again, this time in an even more amusing manner: Auron deflected the blade to the side, and Jecht went with it, landing on his belly in the middle of the marketplace. "D*mn it!"
"You should let go of the sword when that happens." Auron turned to the weapons merchant again. "Not that one, either."
I spent the next half hour watching, along with a steadily growing crowd of onlookers, as Jecht tried several other blades, with varying degrees of success. I was just beginning to wonder if this was really such a good idea, when Auron handed Jecht the most vicious-looking blade I had ever seen. It was a longsword of an unusual variety, fairly wide, one edge sharpened to lethal perfection. The other edge sported a curving hook, obviously meant for gutting fiends. Jecht's eyes widened when he saw it.
"You. . .can't be serious."
"It fits your technique." Auron stepped back, motioning the blitzer to attack. "Humor me."
"Okay. . ."
Taking a deep breath, Jecht lifted the weapon and rushed Auron, who dodged this time instead of blocking. With a surprised grunt, Jecht let the sword complete its arc, raising it over his head and going in for another try. Auron blocked; then, with a single swift movement, dislodged the sword from Jecht's grip.
"Enough." He turned to the merchant. "How much?"
"Six hundred gil, Sir Guardian."
Jecht let out an ungentlemanly snort. "Sounds awfully steep for all this. . .public humiliation."
"Think of it as entertaining the masses," I offered.
"What, were we that amusing to watch?"
"You were a sight to behold."
Jecht snorted again. "I'd like to see you try, pretty boy."
"I did try, many times, in my youth. Unfortunately, as I've told you, I'm not the athletic type." I smiled broadly. "You, however, are the athletic type."
"Right. Lucky me." He eyed the sword in its scabbard, which he had finally managed to secure on his body. "Now, you said there's blitzball here, right?"
"That's right."
"So. . .are we gonna watch a game, or what?"
"As a matter of fact, we are. The season opener takes place soon, and we've got excellent seats."
"How excellent?"
"VIP section." I smiled pleasantly at the surprised (and pleased) expression on Jecht's face. "You'll find that traveling with a summoner has many advantages. Now, let's go find our seats, shall we?"
As always, Auron went a few paces ahead, surveying the area for threats. Jecht trotted along beside me, nearly tripping over his new weapon.
"So, what's the catch?" he inquired. "I mean, VIP seats are expensive, or at least they are in Zanarkand. So there's gotta be some kind of catch, even for a summoner, right?"
"A small one," I replied. "We'll be sitting with the maesters."
"What's a maester?"
"They're the high priests of Yevon," Auron answered from in front of us. Shooting a threatening glare over his shoulder, he added, "I would advise you to show them the greatest respect."
"Sure thing…ya friggin' stiff."
* * * *
The stadium was already half full when we arrived, with more people streaming in from every entrance. As we headed toward our seats, giant jets of water sprayed up from ground level, filling the magically contained blitz pool. Jecht watched in open-mouthed amazement as the water level slowly rose, forming a perfect sphere of water, despite the fact that there seemed to be nothing holding it together.
"I don't see any…uh, what's holding that water in?"
"Magic, of course." I chuckled softly. "We may not have the sophisticated machina your Zanarkand has, but we've adapted fairly well."
"Guess so."
Auron stopped and jerked his head to the side, indicating that he had located our seats at last. Not that this was a difficult task; the maesters had already arrived, and they stood out quite plainly. I went to greet them, my two guardians following closely behind.
"Grand Maester Mika," I said, performing the Yevon prayer.
"Ah, Braska!" Mika returned the greeting, smiling warmly. "Or should I say, Summoner Braska. How goes your pilgrimage?"
"Quite well, thank you. I've already acquired two aeons, Valefor and Ifrit."
"Good, very good." Mika inclined his head respectfully; then he turned his attention to Jecht and Auron. "Ah…I don't believe I've met your guardians…"
A rather long round of introductions followed. I introduced Jecht and Auron, the latter thumping the former in the back of the head to remind him of protocol. For Jecht's benefit, I then introduced the maesters: Grand Maester Mika, the head of the entire Yevon faith; Maester Kinoc, representing Spira's human population; Kelk Ronso, whose people served as guardians of Mt. Gagazet; and, to my delighted surprise, Jyscal Guado. The Guado had only recently turned to Yevon, and Jyscal had been rather busy familiarizing Yevon's newest followers with the teachings. I was further surprised when Jyscal introduced the pale, blue-haired boy sitting beside him as his son, Seymour.
"Lord Summoner," the boy murmured, gracefully performing the prayer. I inclined my head, finding it difficult to take my eyes of Seymour's face.
"His mother was human," Jyscal said softly, so that only I could hear.
Ah, I thought. That explained his unique appearance. With a slight bow, I said, "It's a pleasure to meet you, young Seymour."
Seymour smiled slightly -- in greeting or in amusement, I couldn't tell. Then he turned his gaze back to the sphere, his face completely unreadable.
"Weird kid," Jecht muttered under his breath, earning himself a strong rebuke from Auron. I turned around, thinking I might need to separate the two of them for my own sanity, when I noticed dark, heavy objects falling from the sky. I looked up into the sky, and my blood turned cold. No, not today…not here…but a shout from nearby confirmed my fears.
"Sin!!"
WHEW! 'Bout freaking time I finished that chapter. It was almost finished when my disk went screwy…stupid machina.
Yes, this was my comic relief chapter. I couldn't resist: I had this image of Auron teaching Jecht to use a sword, and it was too funny to leave out. By the way, the sword I described, the one Jecht finally bought, is Tidus' longsword from the beginning of the game. Cool, eh?
Thanks to Noacat, Breea, Pierson, and The Angel of the Lion for your kind reviews! *hugs reviewers* Y'all keep reviewing--keep me on track, ya? ^_^
