At the request of my first reviewer, I shall change the layouts of my chapters. I don't own FFX, spells, and lots of other things. Punctuation screwed up in chapter one (chapter two, actually). Anyway, I'm glad no one was on my case about it. It's not my fault anyway. Please R&R. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Seiryu Island To Ryujinbito Village: The Pilgrimage Begins

So, Rikku was sent soaring through the air to regions unknown, whilst Ryu was left to deal with the dragon on his own. Rikku awoke in water, not too far from a beach. She felt something hit her in the head.

"HEY!!! YOU OKAY?" a woman shouted.

Rikku was feeling a little dazed, so it took her a few seconds to respond. "Yeah, I'm fine!"

"Good! Swim on over here!" the woman responded.

Rikku took a moment to take in the scenery. Palm trees, a clear blue sky, and a small group of friendly looking people standing on the beach who were dressed like a Blitzball team.

"Hi," the woman said. "I'm Becca, captain of the Seiryu Reapers. I'm sure you've heard of us though, ya?"

"No, I can't say I have," was all Rikku said in response.

Becca seemed very surprised by this. "But, we're the best team around!"

"But captain, we've lost every year for the past 20, and some of us haven't even been alive that long!" one of the Reapers said.

"All that means is that our ancestors had some bad luck, ya?"

"What, and we haven't?" another Reaper said.

"Just shut up, all. So, uh, you play Blitzball?"

"Nope"

"Jeez, uh, even a little?"

"No."

I'm beggin' you," Becca begged, "please, just say you play a little!"

"I haven't"

"NOOOOOO!!!!! We need a good player for the tournament, brudda!"

"So, what is this place, anyhow?" Rikku inquired.

"This," Becca said as she pointed hey finger around as if displaying the beauty of the island, "is the Island of Seiryu."

"Uh, I was near Saint and everything, so could you please "remind" me about what this place is?"

"Hmm. You were near Saint and you're still alive? I bet someone like you could make a great guardian someday, ya?" Becca responded. "But anyway, four score and seven years ago-

"I've heard that one before," Rikku interrupted.

"Oh? Well then, 'Once upon a time-

"Heard that one before, too. Could you PLEASE make this little history lesson sound original?"

"Ugh. FINE!" Becca barked. "Back in the day when dwarves were still around (Lali-ho!), there was a pilgrimage to defeat Saint. The Dark Summoner only had two guardians. The Dark Summoner was Sei, and his guardians were my sister, Radilu, and a legendary warrior. I forgot her name, though. Anyhow, when they got to Saint, Sei summoned the Devil Aeon and-

"Defeated Saint?" Rikku asked.

"What? No! The Devil Aeon couldn't defeat Saint, so Sei and my sister died in vane, and only the legendary warrior survived." Becca said.

"The Devil Aeon was your sister?"

"Yeah. You kinda remind me a' her, though. Anyway, I'll take you to Seiryu Village since I doubt you remember where it is, ya?"

"Uh, sure," Rikku responded uneasily. She had really never heard of the place.

"Follow me."

Becca led Rikku over to a small waterway that led to the village. She was going to push Rikku in, but seeing as she wasn't a Blitzball player told her it wasn't a good idea. The grenades Becca saw bulging in Rikku's pockets didn't help.

"Uh, you know what?" Becca asked. "Maybe we should go this way instead."

So, Becca decided to lead Rikku in a different direction to the village. On their way there, Rikku decided to ask a question. "That pilgrimage you were talking about. It happened four score and seven years ago?" Rikku asked.

"Huh? No! It happened ten years ago, brudda. Four score and seven years ago? Ha! What gave you that idea? By the way, in spite of the fact that you're obviously a girl, I'm gonna call you 'brudda' from time to time anyhow on account of the fact that I feel like it." Becca said in a form that somehow relates to a run-on sentence a bit.

"So, what else do you know about the summoner, besides the fact that his name was Sei?"

"I know quite a bit about him. He had two sons. One grew up with us in the village. The other led a far more successful life. He's a maester now, brudda."

"Oh." Rikku said in response. She couldn't help but wonder why the two brothers didn't grow up together.

"Well, we're here, brudda!" Becca stated while staring over at the village.

Suddenly, two people clad in armor walked by. "Hello, are you the one that they say have been close to Saint?" one said.

"Who's 'they'?" Rikku asked.

"Uh, I dunno. Look, uh, you'll get better soon and, uh, stuff," the first one responded.

"That doesn't help very much," Rikku said with disappointment in her voice.

"Good!" the man who hadn't been talking said. "See you later!"

Both men left.

"Who were they?" Rikku asked Becca.

"I dunno. Some losers from da Crusaders, I guess. They work to defeat Saint or something. They suck at it, though. That's plain to see, though, ya?" Becca answered. "Anyway, welcome to Seiryu Village!"

Rikku's stomach growled at that point. Actually, it was more like a screech or something. Would you believe, a lion's roar meets a gorilla's scream?

"Heh, I guess we should go get somethin' to eat, ya? Before we eat though, go to da Summoner Temple and pray or somethin'," Becca laughed.

"Okay!" Rikku said, very cheerfully as always. Rikku marched straight towards the temple. When she entered the temple, she saw a statue of a man who wore a pure black robe and had short, silvery hair.

"That's Shadow Lord Sei, in case you are wondering. I can understand if you've never seen a painting of him or anything. There are few who have," an old man explained.

"What's a 'Shadow Lord'?" Rikku questioned in wonder, her eyes shining with curiosity.

Everyone gasped at what Rikku had said.

"Uh, I got close to Saint, so, uh, I, uh, don't remember, uh, things that I, um, am supposed to, uh, remember. Yeah, that's it! I don't remember things." Rikku explained, sounding very much as though she was making it up, which she mostly was.

"Hmm." the old man said, seemingly thinking. "It's good that Kaiser allowed you to live through a close encounter with Saint. Kaiser is the being who guides us in our daily life-style, by the way."

Rikku thanked the old man for explaining, and then left for Becca's house. After eating, Rikku went to sleep. Becca was awake and drinking hey water as an old man entered. He explained the situation to Becca.

"Da summoner's still in there, eh?" Becca inquired.

"Yes, now come. We must hurry and help him!" the old man whispered so as not to wake Rikku.

Rikku had heard the conversation in her sleep and awakened only moments later. She rushed towards the temple to see what was going on. "What's wrong with the summoner?" she asked.

"He's been in there for a day. We're worried about him, brudda." Becca said.

"Then I'm gonna help him!" Rikku shouted, rushing towards the Cloister of Trials.

"No!" the old man yelled. "The precepts must be obeyed!"

"Who cares?" Rikku shouted back.

Meanwhile, in the Chamber of the Dark Fayth, a 'war' was raging between the summoner and the Fayth.

"Checkmate!" the summoner shouted. "I beat you again, old man!"

"Come now, Devin, one more round!" the Fayth pleaded.

"No way, Diablos. I owned you at chess 114 times in a row. Will you PLEASE be my frickin' aeon already?" Devin asked impatiently.

"Fine, just one more test. Beat me at tic-tac-toe."

"Did that 79 times." Devin said.

"Fine. Checkers."

"Did that 93 times."

"Hopscotch?"

"Did that 81 times."

"Wrestling?"

"48 times."

"Then how 'bout fighting?"

"Ugh. FINE!" Devin stated unhappily.

Uh, right. Anyway, Rikku had just completed the Cloister of Trials as Becca caught up to her.

"You crazy? You can't just waltz on into the Cloister of Trials! It's forbidden!" Becca scolded.

"Sorry. It's just that, I wanted to help the summoner." Rikku said apologetically.

"Well, I guess it's okay. But remember: You can only enter if you're a summoner or a guardian like me." Becca explained. "Well, I guess we might as well keep going. There'll be two people in the next room, ya? One's got a short temper and a really bad attitude. I mean, not to be insulting to him, but he'd destroy a city if some citizen touched his hat! Anyway, the other one's pretty silent."

Rikku and Becca continued into the next room. There, they saw two strange looking people. One was a man with a pointed hat and a blue, buttoned jacket. His mud-brown hair reached down past his eyes in front so his eyes were hard to see. The other was covered in blue fur, so she was obviously a Ronso. She wore light armor and carried a spear.

"Well, if it isn't Becca and, uh, some kid." The man said. "Didn't think we could handle this on our own, did you? You had to be all up in our faces, thinkin' your so cool just 'cause you play Blitzball. I swear, if I felt like wasting time, I'd kill you right-

"Wow, you weren't kidding about the temper, Becca." Rikku interrupted.

"Ah, whatever." The man said. "Devin should be out soon, if I had to guess. By the way, little girl, I am Lolo, black wizard extraordinaire."

"Hah! Puh-lease! Your barely powerful enough to light a match with you pathetic magic skills!" Becca laughed.

"Shut up! Anyway, the lady over there is Kiri, a Ronso. But that's obvious, isn't it?" Lolo questioned.

Rikku just nodded. She wondered how Spira and Skike were so similar, yet so different. She also wondered if the summoner was in pain right now. While she was thinking that, the summoner emerged from the Chamber of the Fayth. At first, it looked as though he was going to fall. But then, he just yawned. "Man, that was easy, but it was so BORING!" he shouted. "Well, at least I'm a Dark Summoner now. And let me tell you, it's about time! 'Course, I'm gonna have to kill the next Fayth that makes me stay in there that long."

"So you're okay then, brudda?" Becca asked.

"Hey, uh, am I seeing double here?" Devin asked. "'Cause I was pretty sure that only two guardians came with me. On top of that, if Becca was here, I still only have three guardians in total."

"Uh, yeah, um, this is Rikku. She showed up on the beach earlier." Becca stated.

"Whatever. Let's all get back to the village." Devin said.

When they all got back to the village, everyone begged Devin to summon. He finally caved in.

"Fine, fine. Everyone, stand back." Devin said.

Rikku had seen summoning before, but none like this. Devin became shrouded in pure darkness. His red eyes began to glow. His night-black hair could barely be distinguished from his body. His brown baggy pants, his brown belt, and his green shirt-like light armor couldn't be distinguished from the darkness, either. His black gauntlet, knee guard, shoulder guard, and black-armor boots were still slightly visible though. In any case, he shot beams of dark energy into the sky. It seemed to be some sort of beacon to summon the aeon. The beams tore a hole in the sky, and from it emerged Diablos. He came down from the sky, everyone stared in awe.

"Wow! That was amazing!" Rikku shouted, being the only one there that had never seen a Dark Aeon. Devin smiled a bit at her praise.

Later that night there was a big, uh, celebration-like thing. There was dancing and stuff. Rikku looked around. Lolo was practicing magic, Kiri was being silent and stuff, Becca was talking with the Blitzball team, and there were two teenage girls talking to Devin. Devin was sitting on the ground with an annoyed look on his face.

"Oh, look! It's the heathen!" one girl said.

"I bet her mom bought her that shirt!" the other said.

"Is that even an insult?" Devin muttered very softly so people could barely hear him.

"She's pretty ugly, too." The first girl said.

"Why don't you shut up, you filthy wenches?" Rikku said, for she was getting very aggravated.

"Hey, you better be nice to us!" the second girl said. "Devin knows powerful spells and me and him are like this." The girl continued as she help up two intertwined fingers. "Right Devin?"

"Who ARE you two, anyhow?" Devin asked. He really didn't know them. Really. He seriously wasn't just trying to make them feel bad. "Sorry about them." Devin said, as he walked towards Rikku. "They get pretty mean sometimes."

"Yeah, I see that." Rikku responded. "By the way, that Dark Aeon thing you summoned was really cool."

"You think so? Thanks. I'm trying to be a Shadow Lord just like my old man Sei was. Except, I'm gonna defeat Saint and make my old man proud." Devin explained.

"So you're one of Sei's sons? Who's the other one?" Rikku inquired.

"Ah, I don't wanna talk about him. He's a jerk. I hope he's dead." Devin said coldly.

"Wow, uh, isn't that a little harsh?" Rikku asked.

"Trust me, if you lived the cruel, unfair childhood that I did, you'd understand what I'm talking about."

"Could you maybe, uh, tell me about your childhood, please?" Rikku asked, begging slightly.

"Fine, I'll tell you a little bit." Devin said, while clearing his throat. "Back in the day of the dwarves (Lali-ho), my dad went on his pilgrimage, leaving my brother and I by ourselves. I didn't blame him, because defeating Saint was something that really needed doing because of all the Dark Summoners over the centuries who have battled him, none have succeeded. So, my brother and I lived in an orphanage until we were adopted. A maester of Kaiser came to adopt us both, but an old man told him not to. He insisted that he had been watching me and that I was nothing but trouble. So, the maester adopted my brother but not me. My brother made the most insulting face at me that day as he was leaving. Knowing that my brother's kindness to me for the past few years was all a lie got me really angry. Well, needless to say, the old man adopted me. I really got to liking the old guy when I found out that he was going to train me in dark wizardry. I had really wanted to learn darkness spells for a long time. I couldn't wait to start."

"So what happened next?" Rikku asked very excitedly.

"Uh, I'll tell you some other time. I think we should get some sleep. See you tomorrow." Devin said.

"Bye!" Rikku shouted. Just then, Becca came up behind her.

"Hey, don't get any funny ideas." Becca said.

"Hey, I'd say we both like each other." Rikku stated matter-of-factly.

"I don't t'ink so." Becca responded. "Now let's get some sleep."

When Rikku went to bed that night, she thought she would dream about Devin and Ryu, but she didn't. She woke up in the middle of the night and went outside. She saw Lolo and Becca talking.

"I know what you're doing. You're using the girl to replace the emptiness you fell since Radilu died." Lolo said.

"I am not. It's just that, uh, seeing Rikku makes me think that maybe she's still alive, ya know?" Becca replied.

"How pathetic." Lolo stated in a mean fashion.

Rikku went back inside the hut and went to sleep again. The next day, Rikku woke up and went outside. Lolo and Becca were talking again.

"Hey, what's up?" Becca asked as she noticed that Rikku had come outside. "I want you to have something."

Becca handed Rikku a sword.

"Uh, it's a nice gift and everything, but I don't fight with swords." Rikku said awkwardly.

"Told you. Idiot." Lolo stated sternly.

"Well, uh, my sister used these claws in battle, unlike this sword." Becca said unhappily.

"That's because I gave them to her and I actually know how to make weapons." Lolo bragged.

"Anyway," Becca continued, ignoring Lolo. "They're called the Kaiser Knuckles. They come in handy."

"Thanks." Rikku said cheerfully.

Just then, Devin came out dragging a big trunk.

"Wow, what have you got in there? Rocks?" Rikku joked.

"Well, yeah!" Devin said loudly and matter-of-factly. "I'm gonna throw them at the people on the boat."

"Devin, we know you're a Dark Mystic, but lay off the evil deeds for a while. You're suppose to bring hope to the people of Skike!" Becca shouted, almost in a scolding way.

"Aw, can't I just bring one? There's this one guy who I really wanna hit!" Devin pleaded.

"Fine." Becca and Lolo said, reluctantly and in synchronization.

"Wow!" Rikku shouted cheerfully. "That was really weird how-

"Whatever!" Lolo yelled. "Can we PLEASE get going?"

"Okay, okay." Devin said.

So, basically, they left the village. They found Kiri along the way to the port. When they made it there, Devin started talking to Rikku.

"Yeah, so, uh, we were going to give you a tutorial on what we can all do in battle but, uh, we didn't." Devin explained. "Basically, I kill fast things, strong things with summoning, and holy things, Becca kills flying things, Lolo casts spells that makes things fall down, and Kiri does, uh, other things. Now let's get on the boat to Ryujinbito Village!"

Fin