Here it is mates, a new chapter. Sorry about the shortness, but I'm really trying to move the story along. I also started another fic, it's in the Pirates of the Caribbean section, so I'm going to have to switch off between the two. Just had to get this chapter finished and posted, so here you go, read and review!
Oh, and a reminder for you: I still don't own it, goddamnit!
"Normal people sleep, Auron," I grumbled, hearing the rustle of the sleeping bag as Auron came over to wake me up.
"You are not so normal," Auron replied. Even though my eyes were shut, I could just see the smirk on his face.
"Everyone talks to themselves, Auron. I just do it in public."
"Whatever you say."
He then proceeded to literally dump me out of my sleeping bag, picking up the end and shaking it until I came out. I plopped onto a snoring Tidus, but once again failed to wake him up. Ana, however heard the noise, and a groan issued forth from her. As soon as she was able to form a coherent sentence, she said, "oh loo ell, O-en!" Well, a semi-coherent sentence. She had another go at it. "Go to Hell, Auron!" she moaned.
"Where is Hell, anyway?" Auron wanted to know, standing over me with a suspicious look on his face. When I pretended to have fallen back to sleep, he prodded me with his foot. This hurt, as he had never taken off his shoes.
"Just tell her, 'I'll meet you there'," I moaned, getting up before I got another boot toe in my gut.
"Whatever you say." Auron shook his head and offered me a hand up. I took it gratefully. Ana was already standing over me.
"Hang getting dressed for now," she said, looking down at herself. "I don't want to have to worry about washing clothes. We don't smell or anything, right?" She sniffed herself. I pretended to throw up. Behind me, Auron chuckled a little. "What was that?" Ana asked me, looking up as I quickly composed myself.
"Oh, nothing," I said in a voice that I hoped was innocent. "How about breakfast then?"
The three of us were heading downstairs when we heard Tidus mumble, "Hey, what fell on me?"
*********
Hannah was the first to arrive. Clutching a wrapper from a granola bar she presumably ate for breakfast on the way over, glasses slightly askew, and wearing two different shoes, she looked like she had woken up three minutes ago. Which she most likely had.
Wakka handed her a blitzball. It had magic counter and attack counter built into it, and spikes all over it increased her damage capability by quite a bit. "Cool!" She said taking it, throwing it up into the air, and trying to make a smooth catch, but instead she completely missed it. The blitzball fell on the floor and shattered a tile.
Yuna fixed it with a quick spell, and I was reminded forcefully of the Harry Potter books. In the game, they had never used spells outside of battle, so it felt weird seeing Yuna magically repair a tile.
Next came Allen. "Sam was behind me," he gasped, having run the entire way. "But I was faster than him! Ha ha ha!" Yuna quickly engaged him in conversation as the rest of us braced ourselves for Sam to arrive.
"Good morning!" he said enthusiastically. "Where's Tidus?"
"Right here!" Tidus replied, attempting to match Sam's gusto. "Look. This is my old sword. It increases your strength and speed, and Auron helped me add an S.O.S haste for extra speed when things get tough! Is that not so cool?"
Sam cocked an eyebrow. "That's great. Now, how am I supposed to use it?"
"I'm going to teach you," said Tidus proudly.
"Wonderful," Sam muttered.
Lulu gave Robbie a moogle with deathstrike that powered up magic. "It won't work on Seymour, though. He will have found a way to make himself immune to killing magic."
"He can't die?" Robbie sounded extremely worried.
"No, he can definitely die," Lulu said dryly. "Just not in one hit."
Ana received a spear from Kimahri that gave her both strength and defense. It also had poisonstrike, which Kimahri assured her would work on Seymour.
Finally, Marcus arrived, and was presented with some kind of clawed glove by Rikku, which was a very basic weapon, but we all knew where Rikku's true strength lie. "We're only gonna do a little with this. What we're really going to work on is items. It gives the enemy a big surprise, and that's always good, you know?"
The fourteen of us stampeded out the sliding glass door into the backyard.
I followed Auron over to a corner of the backyard near the woods, and looked at him expectantly. "Well, then, are we gonna get started here, or what?"
"I suppose we'll start out with a basic hit," said Auron. "Like this." He started by lifting the sword up near his shoulder, much like a baseball bat. Then, he simply brought it down onto a large log in front of him, slicing it neatly in two. "Now you try." I took up my sword, but Auron raised his hand to stop me. "Use my sword. If you learn with the heavier one, you'll be much better with the light one, and you'll have more endurance." I nearly laughed at the thought of me having endurance. My idea of exercise was a fast fighter with lots of button mashing. I took the sword anyway, and stood there waiting for further instruction. "Get into a ready position," Auron said. I tried to mimic his baseball-like stance. He looked at me, moved my arms and legs slightly, and gestured toward the log. "Now just bring it down, not too hard, but hard enough." Okay, I thought. I can do this.
I brought the sword down, using all the power my skinny little gamer arms could muster. Completely missing the log, I was carried forward by the sword's weight and my own momentum, and sort of slid/tumbled down a short hill, ending with my blade stuck high in a tree. I hung from it, my toes just brushing the dewy grass, for a few seconds, letting go and dropping onto my feet when I saw Auron heading over to help me. I tried pulling it out, but it wouldn't move an inch. "It's stuck," I told Auron, giving it another yank.
Auron grabbed hold of the hilt behind me. "On three. One, two, three!" we both pulled with all of our might, freeing the sword, but ending up in a tangled heap on the sodden grass.
"Ouch," I said, and started to laugh. From under me, Auron laughed too.
"And that is the danger of using a heavy blade," he said. "Okay, try it again, but this time with more control. Try to resist being pulled down by it."
An hour and many tries later, I was able to mimic Auron almost perfectly. Looking pleased, he told me I could have a quick break, and then we would perfect the basic attack and work on blocking. Sitting down on the chopped-up log, I looked around to see how the others were fairing.
"Not to much, okay good," said Lulu, overseeing Robbie as he cast a fire spell.
"I have to use careful amounts for certain enemies, right?" Robbie said, sounding like he was concentrating very hard.
"No," said Lulu, picking something up off of the grill where he was casting it. "Just when you make me toast."
I looked over at Hannah, who was throwing the blitzball into a hoop Wakka had hung from a tree. Wakka sat carefully out of range, watching her and nursing a large bump on his head.
Sam and Tidus were having an intense looking sword fight. Just when it looked like he was about to lose, Tidus dropped his pants, startling Sam, and disarmed him. This left me feeling immensely disturbed.
Ana attacked the same small tree over and over again, while Kimahri nodded his approval. Without warning, Ana got an especially good hit, and the tree fell right on top of Kimahri, winding him. He was lucky it was a small tree.
It appeared that Rikku had just finished teaching Marcus how to use the claw weapon, and had moved on to items. She held a grenade in her hand, showing him. Then she pulled the pin and threw it. Thankfully, Yuna had set up some kind of protective shield around their area, but it didn't stop the noise. It went off with a bang as loud as several firecrackers.
"What in damnation?" my next-door neighbor shouted.
"Sorry, Mr. C," I yelled back. "I didn't realize the stereo was up that loud!"
"Damned kids and their damned rock music," he muttered, slamming his window shut. Lulu went over and cast a silence shield around them as well, and they resumed practice.
Finally, I looked over at Allen. He was bent low, deep in concentration. He hadn't changed position in a long time. A silver staff lay across his knees, and his head was pointed skyward, eyes shut tight. Yuna looked on encouragingly, but said nothing. He hadn't even fluttered an eyelid when the grenade went off.
Sighing, I went back to my sword practice. This was going to be a rough few days.
**********
Finally, Auron declared it was time to pack it up and go in for dinner. At that point I had learned to defend, and do power break and magic break. Robbie proudly proclaimed he had learned level two elemental spells, bio, and demi. Allen had finally stirred a few minutes ago, looking very tired, but very proud of himself.
"Can you wait just a second. I want Allen to summon his aeon. We all gathered up our weapons, and stood around Allen in a circle to watch. He danced and swung the staff gracefully, eyes closed the entire time. Raising the staff, he ended the summon. The best way to describe it was that the sky split open, and out tumbled Valefor, powerful and majestic in a way that you have to see to understand. It landed next to Allen, who stroked it gently, whispering to it.
"You're all I need, Valefor. We'll beat him, you and me, together."