author's note: man, sorry bout the long wait! i had writers block you kno...haha so annoying...anyways new humors haha hope you guys like it!
Disclaimer: uhh...you kno who i own and dont own...so...ON WITH THE SHOW
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It had been days since they had been outside of Rin's shop. The rain never stopped, and the lighting always flashed. Leif, being deathly afraid of thunder never let the group take one step out of the building. which caused them to use you all of their income.
"Shinra when are we going to leeavee?" lexi whined, she wanted to get out. Being cooped up in a travel agency far away from d good source of food wasn't her idea of fun. She was sitting upside down on her chair.
"i don't know...ask leif when he's ready to leave..." Shinra sighed, and placed a pond in a black square. he was playing chess with evie.
"okay, so, i'm going to move the nice horsey here..." Evie picked up the knight and placed it in a white square.
"good move," Shinra smiled, course, he knew she moved it wrong.
The three boys were sitting at a table, playing with leggo and Leif sitting in the corner in a little ball.
"one...two...freddys coming for you...three four better lock your door..." he sang while trembling, hugging his knees close to himself. everyone ignored him.
Lexi walked over to him and sighed, "are you ready to go yet?"
Leif looked up at her with dead eyes, and continued singing. She began poking at him.
"THIS! THIS IS ART!" Rick exclaimed, smiling at himself.
"what did you do now?..." Everyone turned around lazily.
"THIS!" Rick held up his leggo art. it was multicolored, and shaped as a pyramid, actually...it was a pyramid.
"what's that? A tomb?" Tidus asked, "THIS is art..." Tidus held up his multi-colored attempt at something crustatious (crab-like).
"it's a pyramid... and the one one is a deformed pyramind" Shinra sighed.
"is not! mine's a train!" Rick exclaimed excitedly,
"and mine is a car!" tidus smiled.
"it's a pyramid," Shinra shook his head, and placed his next move on the chess board.
"hey, what are you doin' there ol' chap?" Rick asked, leaning over to see what Chappu was up to. Chappu covered up his work with his large muscular arm.
"Hey man, don't be ashamed if yours isn't as great as mine or Rick's." Tidus smiled, trying to look over Ricks shoulder.
"Ta-da, ya!" Chappu smiled and held up his art. All the colors in specific places, the wings spread out like a bird.
"ney, nice air-ship, Chappu," Shinra smiled and let Evie stumble over her next odd move.
Rick and Tidus looked at thier pyramids and turned around,
"i can do that, his wasn't so great..." Rick mummbled,
"just cause he's brown..." tidus sighed, and haunched his shoulders.
Lexi wasn't paying attention to any of this, and she waved her hand infront of Leif's dead eyes. She poked his cheek, and pinched them, and stretched them. She pulled at his hair, tugged at his shirt, and tied his shoes laces together.
"Hey, you guys, i think Leif died. Can we go now?" Lexi asked, turning her head around.
"okay, sure," Shinra shrugged and got up from his chair. Evie not paying any attenion, still trying to get to her next move. Shinra had eaten everything but a tower, two ponds and the king.
The boys and lexi headed for the door. Leif suddenly snapped back into reality, and he flashed towards the group and his arms grabbed Tidus' ankle.
Tidus stopped, and looked down, seeing Leif's half dead body holding onto his ankle, and his saliva dripping onto the floor.
"do not leave..." he growled. Tidus shuddered, and tried to wiggle Leif off of him. He took a step forward and Leif pulled him back, causing him to fall on his face.
"AHH!! I'M BEING ATTACKED!! MAKE HIM LET GO!! LET GO!!" Tidus screamed, as Leif crawled back to his corner while dragging Tidus with him.
"Tidus!" Lexi exclaimed, and chased after him.
"NO!! SAVE YOUR SELF! LEAVE! RUN!!!" Tidus tried to grab on to everything, anything. his nails dug into the wooden floor.
"Tidus! nooo!!!" Lexi tried to grab his hand, but the boys grabbed her and they made thier way tot he door.
"he'll be fine, we can't stay here any longer. We must leave now or it'll be too late!" Shinra exclaimed.
"Tidus..." Lexi became teary eyed as the rest of the group headed for the door.
"Ah-HAH!" Evie smiled and placed her king down. "Check-mate!" She smiled proudly. The small group went over to look at what happened.
"uhh, Evie," Lexi said, shaking her head.
"yes?" she answered, looking at her.
"you got a check-mate... but..."
"but what?"
"It's Shinra's check-mate..." Rick laughed.
"oh, well, fair enough, Let's go now," Evie smiled and went ahead of the group. They simply followed her, with out argument. Tidus chasing after them.
Rin walked in through the back way only to find the place messy, and Leif sitting in the corner singing the freddy song.
"okay kid, i know you're Rikku's son, but i don't give a damn. You either clean and stay, or don't clean and go." Rin tapped his foot.
Leif looked up, and shuddered. He walked out of the building, silently.
Rin was standing there, dumbfounded. The mess of lego, chess parts, and a wet floor was waiting just for him.The door opened, Rin was hoping it was the young Leif boy. It was Rick.
"oops, forgot something sorry Rin," Rick smirked and grabbed Evie's Summoner wand from the table.
"uhh, see you later!" Rick smiled and left as quickly as he came in.
--change scene--
The crew botled through the pouring rain, now leading ahead of their summoner. She was carelessly dancing and twirling about through the muck.
"My shoes! Daaaaaaaaaamn! My shoes!" whined Rick darted from shelter to shelter. Leif wimpering and following his brother. Chappu stuck with his friends but couldn't help but laugh at them.
"Guys.. it's only water yah? I luv this stuff." he said and smiled stupidly at his friends. Lexi, Tidus and Shinra had run ahead and were waiting in a shelter. "I remember this little overhang.. it's where Yuna told us-" began Tidus.
"I don't wanna hear about any of your little memories. Please... not now" snapped Lexi. The word 'Yuna' out of Tidus' mouth usually meant nothing but a really long and boring story to her.
Evie came strolling up next, practically soaked from head to toe but smiling. She rung her hair out and asked, "How much further to Macalania?" she asked. "About a few hundred yards or so." replied Shinra.
Tidus remembered Macalania very fondly. Not just from the little kissing session him and Yuna had, but from all the cool items and the place where you could level up your already super uber cool weapons.
Lexi thought of forest and knew it was going to be a bad idea. "Great a huge forest... there's no way we're gonna get through there and not get lost" she mumbled.
Leif, and Chappu came running for the shelter. It was a surprise that Chappu made it this far without getting struck by lightning, his hair being so tall and all.
"Hey guys... where's Rick?" asked Lexi. "He's taking his time. I dunno why though, I really wanna get outta here now! Macalania forest is next I know... and it's lightning free" replied Leif. Chappu blinked a couple of times.
"F-f-forest?" he asked and then paused to remember the poison oak he had gotten in the bush at Moonflow. He shuddered and grit his teeth.
Rick came bounding up the road a little while later, out of breath and soaked. The shelters were just too far apart and he was just to lazy. "You puff puff forgot your staff..Ev-puff-vie" he said.
She blinked at him for a little while and smiled and reached to grab it. "Naw! Let him carry it" said Lexi. Evie paused and nodded. "Yes, Rick, I am.... er.. tired, you carry my staff for me" she said.
Rick raised his eyebrows and said "no way! i saw you dancing around with all that energy? how can you be tired?" he asked in protest. "she just is" added Tidus laughing at Rick. Chappu snickered.
Evie shrugged and started off again, skipping down the road this time instead of dancing. Lexi follwoed her in a flat out running race, closely followed by Leif and Tidus and Chappu.
Shinra stood next to Rick, a smile on his face. Rick caught his breath and straightened his posture. "shut up..." he mumbled and set the staff on his shoulder. "I didn't say anything" said Shinra and followed him.
Now on the road leading out of the thunder plains the crew was even more hyped up than ever, Leif was feeling less frightened, and Rick's mood had improved. It must have been all the energy in the air, literally.
The road had split up by now into two paths. And the crew was faced with a choice of either going left or right. Which way? "We should ask for directions" said Shinra. "Let's ask them" piped up Lexi and pointed to two people.
Strangers on the side of the road. One was dressed like as summoner, a rare sight to see these days, so they would probably help out a fellow summoner and her party.
"Ahoy there!" shouted Tidus over to them. The two men took notice of the group and walked over to meet them.
"Hello there" said the man who was dressed like a summoner. "Would you be so kind as to tell us which of these two paths leads out of the thunder plains?" asked Shinra.
"My name is Sajid" said the man dressed like a summoner. There was a long and silent pause. "Can you help us or what?" asked Lexi crossing her arms.
"This is a summoner's pilgrimmage party, is it not?" asked Sajid. "Believe me, this ain't no party" mumbled Rick to himself.
Sajid acknowledged Rick's response and said, "Very well, then I challenge you, summoner!" he explained and pointed his staff in Rick's direction. Rick was still carrying Evie's staff.
"If you can defeat me, then I shall tell you which way is the right way out, if I defeat you, then u give me every bit of gil you own along with your valuables and I will leave you here to die" he said.. There was another long pause.
The crew went into a huddle."Sounds fair" piped up Chappu. "Oh please, we don't have time for this" whined Leif, looking around anxiously. "This could be really fun to watch" said Tidus. "But what if we lose?" asked Shinra, not meaning to doubt Evie. "Shinra, we have no money to lose" said Rick. "Yeah and Evie can't lose, she's the best!" said Lexi enthusiastically. Evie smiled and said, "Yeah, but Sajid challenged Rick, not me."
There was yet, another long and silent pause. "Hey dont worry. I've seen Evie do it and it looks simple enough. I think I can pull this off." said Rick. "Be my guest" laughed Evie. The group spread back out and gave Rick some room. He cleared his throat, raised the staff to the sky and shouted," I summon.... PORKBUN!!!" Nothing happened.
Everyone was desperately trying to hold in their laughter. Lexi hiccuped and everyone buckled over and laughed as hard as they could. "What's going on here?!" exclaimed Sajid in outrage. Even Rick couldn't help but laugh to himself. Evie stood up and wiped a tear from her eye. "Sorry to have deceived you, but we couldn't resist" she said.
"Charming..." sneered Sajid. Evie walked over to Rick and he handed her the staff. Rick walked back over to his friends and gave high-fives all around.
Everyone stood still now, Evie twirled her staff twice, a small flame grew in her hand and she touched the ground. Up out of the bowes of the earth cam Ifrit. Evie flew into the skies and was caught by the aeon. Tossing Evie onto it's shoulder and landing safely, it got ready to battle.
Sajid stepped to the side and tossed an electrical beam into a void of nothingness. Later her revealed a Ixion aeon. It reared up at neighed at Evie's Ifrit. The battle was an intense fued between the forces of fire and lightning.
Ifrit spent most turns scratching Ixion, and healing itself. Ixion used thundra and scan. It not only scanned Ifrit, but also Evie and her band of guadrians. "Psh, its wasting its turns" mumbled Tidus.
It was fairly standard until Ifrit hit its limit break." alright... Hellfire!" shouted Evie. Hellfire shot up into the sky around Ixion, and the chunk of earth hit it, and it slammed against the hard stone. It shook for a little bit but then sucked in energy from the skies of the plains.
Recharged and ready to continue battling, it was as if Hellfire had never occured. "Why isn't Ifrit's attacks works, ya?" Chappu asked the rest of the crew. Leif and Rick shrugged. Tidus was dazed and confused as usual. Shinra and Lexi both noticed the lightning being absorbed by Ixion. Bingo!
"The lightning..." whispered Lexi. "Watch how the summon absorbs the lightning Shinra whispered to the rest of the crew. Rick nodded slowy as if he understood but soon asked, "What does that mean?" Leif blinked and gave Shinra a confused look.
"I get it... Ixion is restoring" said Tidus. Then he stood up and yelled, "Hey Sajid! Your summon is restoring from an outside source!" Next, Lexi stood up and shouted, "Cheater!"
Sajid began to look around in panic, his one guardian just stood there. Crossed his rough arms. Only now did the crew notice that he was a guado. A guado guardian? Something was wrong with this picture.
Sajid yelled out "Alright everyone place your valueables on the ground for the guado guard to see!" "why the hell should we?!" exclaimed Leif. Chappu took a step forward. "I know that guy, ya? He's the guado general who put us in that cell, ya?"
"Oh please, how many times do we have to kick your ass?" blurted out Lexi. "Stupid tree dude.." mumbled Tidus. "It seems that you stupid kids tooka very valueble treasure from Guadosalam". The crew exchanged confused looks. Everyone sneered at Rick but he denied stealing anything.
Evie scratched her head uneasily and then pulled a white dress sphere out from underthe ribbon that she had tied in her hair. The guado geneal's eyes widened. "The sphere! I knew you kids had it! But I would never have guessed her taking it. I would have said it was you.. or you" he saod pointing to Rick and then to Tidus.
'It belongs to Lexi, not the guado and it was Yuna's decision to give it to her" Evie snapped. Lexi paused. "I knew it!" she excalimed pointing at the guado. The she looked at Evie, "When did you have TIME to steal it?" she asked.
Evie replied, "Oh, that's my little secret" she said smiling. THe crew exchanged worried looks. I guess there really was a little Rick in everyone, otherwise she wouldn't have pulled it off.
"so ...wait, so that little ball is valuable treasure? Sweet!We aren't totally poor!" excalimed Rick in excitement. "shut up" snapped the guado. "Hey, if it's Yuna's I'm not gonna let you tree dudes have it" piped up Tidus. The crew stood their ground, ready to face off if they had to.
"Fine! Then I'll just kill you all and THEN take the sphere" shouted the guado getting ready to petrify them and have th aeon finish them off. He cast confuse on summoner Sajid and then poison on the crew.
"Ixion! Use Thundaga on all of them! But save your limit break for the summoner and her aeon. They are evil and must be destroyed". shouted Sajid under the status aliment of confuse.
The crew sputtered and coughed as they tried to run away, but fell over out of weakness. Evie stood on the shaking ground before Ixion. It reared up to shoot out Thor's Hammer at her. The first part being the huge electrical shock that was almost lightning. She was quick to turn and cast esuna on Rick.
He stood up and watched the lightning come down and strike the groun din front of her. Rick concentrated and cast mightguard on the summoner to stop the lightning attack. But when it struck her Evie went flying backward and hit the rock ground hard. Her staff rolled across the ground and stopped in front of Lexi.
She tugged on Rick's sock and exclaimed "cure me you idiot!" in a wheezy voice. Rick threw antidotes and everyone's head and laughed. "Alright people drink up we got us a guado to barbaque." he encouraged.
Shinra ran after Evie and tried to pick her up and run for it. But Ixion was bearing down on them, await its master's orders to cast Thundaga on them. BUt nothing happened. "Give the order you fool!" shouted the guado general. But Sajid did nothing.
"It's not his turn" said Shinra. The crew came over and did another little huddle to decide what to do about their situation. "We can't fight an aeon" said Leif. "Someone needs to call a summon" suggested Tidus. "We can't do that ya? We're not summoners" said CHappu. "I can do it" smirked RIck. "You moron. I'll do it" said Lexi, holding up EVie's staff.
SHinra looked down on Evie. The phoenix downs weren't working. "She's petrified" stated Tidus. Shinra looked at him blandly, "I noticed that genius" he said. Lexi took a step forward with Evie's staff in her hands. "WHy did she only cast esuna on Rick? Why not me or Shinra?" she asked. Rick spoked up with, "she must have seen me steal all of those antidotes from Rin".
"Make your move! I'm getting impatient!" yelled the guado. "uhh...." said Lexi and she took the summoner stance she thought would be correct.
She clumsily spun around and stupidly waved the staff in random directions. The guys were trying their best not to laugh, it wasn't exactly the best time for humor.
"I summon...something.. ANYTHING!" she yelled up at the sky. A dark grey cloud formed and there was a sparkle of light. Down dove a red, purple and white bird-like creature. "Valefor" said Tidus quietlty to himself. Valefor took its place at Lexi's side. It took up some turf as it landed.
"OK Valefor I want you to dive down and grab Evie and Shinra then take them to the edge of Macalanica forest. Ignore you're enemy, we'll take care of them. Do you understand me?" she whispered. Valefor purred. Lexi wasn't sure what it meant, but she was going to guess that it understood her.
"Go!" she shouted. ANd to her surprise the summon was actually listening to her. Valefor took off into the air and swooped down on Evie and Shinra picking them up with its feet and then taking off again and flying left, toward Macalania.
Moments later the crew realized they still had Sajid to deal with, and Ixion's thundaga attack. But the summoner was quickly KOed by rock thrown from the hand of Chappu. It was a really good shot too. THe crew laughed for a bit and then turned their attention back to the guado.
Looking worriedly left and then right before he took off down the path on the left, fleeing toward Macalania. Everyone took off after the guado general in anger, Lexi with staff in hand leading, followed by Chappu, Tidus, Leif and Rick bringing up the rear.
--change scene--
Valefor let down the couple gently on the ground and then flew off again witha soft gust of wind. Shinra beat himself up inside about not doing anything. She seemed to be breathing, but the bottom of her boots were scortched and still steaming. It was too close of a call. He remembered that she was still petrified. Taking a soft from his pocket, he unpetrified her.
Sh sat up sharply and breathed heavily. "Shinra!" she excalimed. Reality set in and she settled down, noticing he was sitting right next to her. He smiled. She nervously forced a smile back at him.
"Uhh.. what happened?" she asked. Shinra looked down at her steaming boots again and then back to her. "Thundaga.. are you ok?"
Evie giggled and adjusted the bangle she wore on her left wrist. Three lights appeared around her. One red, one white and one blue. It was the remainder of the mighty guard spell Rick had cast. "Mighty guard worked? We better not tell Rick or his ego will be through the roof" laughed Shinra.
--change scene--
"Dammit! I think we lost the creep!" exclaimed Lexi as she stopped angrily around with the summoner staff. "Yeah, I wanted to smash his face in" said Rick. Then hang him by his feet from a tree" added Leif. "And throw rocks at him" laughed Lexi evilly.
"And then hang him by his feet from a tree" added Chappu laughing. There was a long pause. "Let's go ahead and see if Evie is okay" said Tidus. They walked the path without getting lost. (only because it was a straight line). They approached the edge of Macalania forest to find Shinra pacing about and Evie leaning against a tree, brushing ashes off her boot.
"Evie!" exclaimed Lexi. She jumped on her summoner with joy and almost knocked her off her feet as hard as the Thors Hammer had.
"That was a really good fight you put up back there Evie" said Leif. "Yeah, you reminded me of Yuna" said Tidus. Chappu slapped him on the back of the head. "Thanks" laughed Evie but then she asked, "what happened after I was knocked out and petrified?"
"Lexi picked up your staff and clomped around like a gorilla" laughed Tidus. Lexi elbowed him in the ribcage. "I think I managed a very good summon" she said in her own defence. "Which aeon did you summon.... summoner Lexi?" asked Evie.
"Uhh.. some big bird thing" she replied. "I'm pretty sure that was a Valefor summon" said Shinra. There was a long silence. Evie was frowning and looking at the ground. "That sure is strange..." she said. "What is?" asked Lexi. "Lexi, i don't have a Valefor summon. I didn't event pray to the fayth in Besaid."
"We took you to the temple ourselves" piped up Leif. Evie shook her head and said, "I knew that it would have to wait till later. And because I left right after you did, I caught a bit of an argument with Lexi and Virak". Lexi's eyes widened.
"Why didn't you go back and get it. Now we have to go all the way back to Besaid before we can go to Zanarkand" whined Leif. "Exactly" said Evie. "But i came on this pilgrimmage to escape home" ssaid Lexi softly. "You can't do that Lexi. You can't run away from your problems. Now we're going to get the rest of my aeons and all you are going home to face your families before we fight Sin" Evie said.
Lexi was staring off into space, she asked without turning her head "If I'm not a summoner, and you don't have a Valefor aeon, then where did that bird come from?" EVeryone paused and it was Tidus who spoke up next. "Maybe it's just braska looking out for us" he suggested. EVeryone exchanged worried looks. It seemed to be the only reasonable explanation. Ironically, it wasn't all that reasonable.
Heading onward into the woods of Macalania.
Next time... Tidus' past and Lexi's present clash in the place where Tidus and Yuna first kissed. Moonlit Macalania romance for Shinra and Evie. Treasure of the al-bhed brothers and a much better weapon and way of fighting for Chappu.
Disclaimer: uhh...you kno who i own and dont own...so...ON WITH THE SHOW
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It had been days since they had been outside of Rin's shop. The rain never stopped, and the lighting always flashed. Leif, being deathly afraid of thunder never let the group take one step out of the building. which caused them to use you all of their income.
"Shinra when are we going to leeavee?" lexi whined, she wanted to get out. Being cooped up in a travel agency far away from d good source of food wasn't her idea of fun. She was sitting upside down on her chair.
"i don't know...ask leif when he's ready to leave..." Shinra sighed, and placed a pond in a black square. he was playing chess with evie.
"okay, so, i'm going to move the nice horsey here..." Evie picked up the knight and placed it in a white square.
"good move," Shinra smiled, course, he knew she moved it wrong.
The three boys were sitting at a table, playing with leggo and Leif sitting in the corner in a little ball.
"one...two...freddys coming for you...three four better lock your door..." he sang while trembling, hugging his knees close to himself. everyone ignored him.
Lexi walked over to him and sighed, "are you ready to go yet?"
Leif looked up at her with dead eyes, and continued singing. She began poking at him.
"THIS! THIS IS ART!" Rick exclaimed, smiling at himself.
"what did you do now?..." Everyone turned around lazily.
"THIS!" Rick held up his leggo art. it was multicolored, and shaped as a pyramid, actually...it was a pyramid.
"what's that? A tomb?" Tidus asked, "THIS is art..." Tidus held up his multi-colored attempt at something crustatious (crab-like).
"it's a pyramid... and the one one is a deformed pyramind" Shinra sighed.
"is not! mine's a train!" Rick exclaimed excitedly,
"and mine is a car!" tidus smiled.
"it's a pyramid," Shinra shook his head, and placed his next move on the chess board.
"hey, what are you doin' there ol' chap?" Rick asked, leaning over to see what Chappu was up to. Chappu covered up his work with his large muscular arm.
"Hey man, don't be ashamed if yours isn't as great as mine or Rick's." Tidus smiled, trying to look over Ricks shoulder.
"Ta-da, ya!" Chappu smiled and held up his art. All the colors in specific places, the wings spread out like a bird.
"ney, nice air-ship, Chappu," Shinra smiled and let Evie stumble over her next odd move.
Rick and Tidus looked at thier pyramids and turned around,
"i can do that, his wasn't so great..." Rick mummbled,
"just cause he's brown..." tidus sighed, and haunched his shoulders.
Lexi wasn't paying attention to any of this, and she waved her hand infront of Leif's dead eyes. She poked his cheek, and pinched them, and stretched them. She pulled at his hair, tugged at his shirt, and tied his shoes laces together.
"Hey, you guys, i think Leif died. Can we go now?" Lexi asked, turning her head around.
"okay, sure," Shinra shrugged and got up from his chair. Evie not paying any attenion, still trying to get to her next move. Shinra had eaten everything but a tower, two ponds and the king.
The boys and lexi headed for the door. Leif suddenly snapped back into reality, and he flashed towards the group and his arms grabbed Tidus' ankle.
Tidus stopped, and looked down, seeing Leif's half dead body holding onto his ankle, and his saliva dripping onto the floor.
"do not leave..." he growled. Tidus shuddered, and tried to wiggle Leif off of him. He took a step forward and Leif pulled him back, causing him to fall on his face.
"AHH!! I'M BEING ATTACKED!! MAKE HIM LET GO!! LET GO!!" Tidus screamed, as Leif crawled back to his corner while dragging Tidus with him.
"Tidus!" Lexi exclaimed, and chased after him.
"NO!! SAVE YOUR SELF! LEAVE! RUN!!!" Tidus tried to grab on to everything, anything. his nails dug into the wooden floor.
"Tidus! nooo!!!" Lexi tried to grab his hand, but the boys grabbed her and they made thier way tot he door.
"he'll be fine, we can't stay here any longer. We must leave now or it'll be too late!" Shinra exclaimed.
"Tidus..." Lexi became teary eyed as the rest of the group headed for the door.
"Ah-HAH!" Evie smiled and placed her king down. "Check-mate!" She smiled proudly. The small group went over to look at what happened.
"uhh, Evie," Lexi said, shaking her head.
"yes?" she answered, looking at her.
"you got a check-mate... but..."
"but what?"
"It's Shinra's check-mate..." Rick laughed.
"oh, well, fair enough, Let's go now," Evie smiled and went ahead of the group. They simply followed her, with out argument. Tidus chasing after them.
Rin walked in through the back way only to find the place messy, and Leif sitting in the corner singing the freddy song.
"okay kid, i know you're Rikku's son, but i don't give a damn. You either clean and stay, or don't clean and go." Rin tapped his foot.
Leif looked up, and shuddered. He walked out of the building, silently.
Rin was standing there, dumbfounded. The mess of lego, chess parts, and a wet floor was waiting just for him.The door opened, Rin was hoping it was the young Leif boy. It was Rick.
"oops, forgot something sorry Rin," Rick smirked and grabbed Evie's Summoner wand from the table.
"uhh, see you later!" Rick smiled and left as quickly as he came in.
--change scene--
The crew botled through the pouring rain, now leading ahead of their summoner. She was carelessly dancing and twirling about through the muck.
"My shoes! Daaaaaaaaaamn! My shoes!" whined Rick darted from shelter to shelter. Leif wimpering and following his brother. Chappu stuck with his friends but couldn't help but laugh at them.
"Guys.. it's only water yah? I luv this stuff." he said and smiled stupidly at his friends. Lexi, Tidus and Shinra had run ahead and were waiting in a shelter. "I remember this little overhang.. it's where Yuna told us-" began Tidus.
"I don't wanna hear about any of your little memories. Please... not now" snapped Lexi. The word 'Yuna' out of Tidus' mouth usually meant nothing but a really long and boring story to her.
Evie came strolling up next, practically soaked from head to toe but smiling. She rung her hair out and asked, "How much further to Macalania?" she asked. "About a few hundred yards or so." replied Shinra.
Tidus remembered Macalania very fondly. Not just from the little kissing session him and Yuna had, but from all the cool items and the place where you could level up your already super uber cool weapons.
Lexi thought of forest and knew it was going to be a bad idea. "Great a huge forest... there's no way we're gonna get through there and not get lost" she mumbled.
Leif, and Chappu came running for the shelter. It was a surprise that Chappu made it this far without getting struck by lightning, his hair being so tall and all.
"Hey guys... where's Rick?" asked Lexi. "He's taking his time. I dunno why though, I really wanna get outta here now! Macalania forest is next I know... and it's lightning free" replied Leif. Chappu blinked a couple of times.
"F-f-forest?" he asked and then paused to remember the poison oak he had gotten in the bush at Moonflow. He shuddered and grit his teeth.
Rick came bounding up the road a little while later, out of breath and soaked. The shelters were just too far apart and he was just to lazy. "You puff puff forgot your staff..Ev-puff-vie" he said.
She blinked at him for a little while and smiled and reached to grab it. "Naw! Let him carry it" said Lexi. Evie paused and nodded. "Yes, Rick, I am.... er.. tired, you carry my staff for me" she said.
Rick raised his eyebrows and said "no way! i saw you dancing around with all that energy? how can you be tired?" he asked in protest. "she just is" added Tidus laughing at Rick. Chappu snickered.
Evie shrugged and started off again, skipping down the road this time instead of dancing. Lexi follwoed her in a flat out running race, closely followed by Leif and Tidus and Chappu.
Shinra stood next to Rick, a smile on his face. Rick caught his breath and straightened his posture. "shut up..." he mumbled and set the staff on his shoulder. "I didn't say anything" said Shinra and followed him.
Now on the road leading out of the thunder plains the crew was even more hyped up than ever, Leif was feeling less frightened, and Rick's mood had improved. It must have been all the energy in the air, literally.
The road had split up by now into two paths. And the crew was faced with a choice of either going left or right. Which way? "We should ask for directions" said Shinra. "Let's ask them" piped up Lexi and pointed to two people.
Strangers on the side of the road. One was dressed like as summoner, a rare sight to see these days, so they would probably help out a fellow summoner and her party.
"Ahoy there!" shouted Tidus over to them. The two men took notice of the group and walked over to meet them.
"Hello there" said the man who was dressed like a summoner. "Would you be so kind as to tell us which of these two paths leads out of the thunder plains?" asked Shinra.
"My name is Sajid" said the man dressed like a summoner. There was a long and silent pause. "Can you help us or what?" asked Lexi crossing her arms.
"This is a summoner's pilgrimmage party, is it not?" asked Sajid. "Believe me, this ain't no party" mumbled Rick to himself.
Sajid acknowledged Rick's response and said, "Very well, then I challenge you, summoner!" he explained and pointed his staff in Rick's direction. Rick was still carrying Evie's staff.
"If you can defeat me, then I shall tell you which way is the right way out, if I defeat you, then u give me every bit of gil you own along with your valuables and I will leave you here to die" he said.. There was another long pause.
The crew went into a huddle."Sounds fair" piped up Chappu. "Oh please, we don't have time for this" whined Leif, looking around anxiously. "This could be really fun to watch" said Tidus. "But what if we lose?" asked Shinra, not meaning to doubt Evie. "Shinra, we have no money to lose" said Rick. "Yeah and Evie can't lose, she's the best!" said Lexi enthusiastically. Evie smiled and said, "Yeah, but Sajid challenged Rick, not me."
There was yet, another long and silent pause. "Hey dont worry. I've seen Evie do it and it looks simple enough. I think I can pull this off." said Rick. "Be my guest" laughed Evie. The group spread back out and gave Rick some room. He cleared his throat, raised the staff to the sky and shouted," I summon.... PORKBUN!!!" Nothing happened.
Everyone was desperately trying to hold in their laughter. Lexi hiccuped and everyone buckled over and laughed as hard as they could. "What's going on here?!" exclaimed Sajid in outrage. Even Rick couldn't help but laugh to himself. Evie stood up and wiped a tear from her eye. "Sorry to have deceived you, but we couldn't resist" she said.
"Charming..." sneered Sajid. Evie walked over to Rick and he handed her the staff. Rick walked back over to his friends and gave high-fives all around.
Everyone stood still now, Evie twirled her staff twice, a small flame grew in her hand and she touched the ground. Up out of the bowes of the earth cam Ifrit. Evie flew into the skies and was caught by the aeon. Tossing Evie onto it's shoulder and landing safely, it got ready to battle.
Sajid stepped to the side and tossed an electrical beam into a void of nothingness. Later her revealed a Ixion aeon. It reared up at neighed at Evie's Ifrit. The battle was an intense fued between the forces of fire and lightning.
Ifrit spent most turns scratching Ixion, and healing itself. Ixion used thundra and scan. It not only scanned Ifrit, but also Evie and her band of guadrians. "Psh, its wasting its turns" mumbled Tidus.
It was fairly standard until Ifrit hit its limit break." alright... Hellfire!" shouted Evie. Hellfire shot up into the sky around Ixion, and the chunk of earth hit it, and it slammed against the hard stone. It shook for a little bit but then sucked in energy from the skies of the plains.
Recharged and ready to continue battling, it was as if Hellfire had never occured. "Why isn't Ifrit's attacks works, ya?" Chappu asked the rest of the crew. Leif and Rick shrugged. Tidus was dazed and confused as usual. Shinra and Lexi both noticed the lightning being absorbed by Ixion. Bingo!
"The lightning..." whispered Lexi. "Watch how the summon absorbs the lightning Shinra whispered to the rest of the crew. Rick nodded slowy as if he understood but soon asked, "What does that mean?" Leif blinked and gave Shinra a confused look.
"I get it... Ixion is restoring" said Tidus. Then he stood up and yelled, "Hey Sajid! Your summon is restoring from an outside source!" Next, Lexi stood up and shouted, "Cheater!"
Sajid began to look around in panic, his one guardian just stood there. Crossed his rough arms. Only now did the crew notice that he was a guado. A guado guardian? Something was wrong with this picture.
Sajid yelled out "Alright everyone place your valueables on the ground for the guado guard to see!" "why the hell should we?!" exclaimed Leif. Chappu took a step forward. "I know that guy, ya? He's the guado general who put us in that cell, ya?"
"Oh please, how many times do we have to kick your ass?" blurted out Lexi. "Stupid tree dude.." mumbled Tidus. "It seems that you stupid kids tooka very valueble treasure from Guadosalam". The crew exchanged confused looks. Everyone sneered at Rick but he denied stealing anything.
Evie scratched her head uneasily and then pulled a white dress sphere out from underthe ribbon that she had tied in her hair. The guado geneal's eyes widened. "The sphere! I knew you kids had it! But I would never have guessed her taking it. I would have said it was you.. or you" he saod pointing to Rick and then to Tidus.
'It belongs to Lexi, not the guado and it was Yuna's decision to give it to her" Evie snapped. Lexi paused. "I knew it!" she excalimed pointing at the guado. The she looked at Evie, "When did you have TIME to steal it?" she asked.
Evie replied, "Oh, that's my little secret" she said smiling. THe crew exchanged worried looks. I guess there really was a little Rick in everyone, otherwise she wouldn't have pulled it off.
"so ...wait, so that little ball is valuable treasure? Sweet!We aren't totally poor!" excalimed Rick in excitement. "shut up" snapped the guado. "Hey, if it's Yuna's I'm not gonna let you tree dudes have it" piped up Tidus. The crew stood their ground, ready to face off if they had to.
"Fine! Then I'll just kill you all and THEN take the sphere" shouted the guado getting ready to petrify them and have th aeon finish them off. He cast confuse on summoner Sajid and then poison on the crew.
"Ixion! Use Thundaga on all of them! But save your limit break for the summoner and her aeon. They are evil and must be destroyed". shouted Sajid under the status aliment of confuse.
The crew sputtered and coughed as they tried to run away, but fell over out of weakness. Evie stood on the shaking ground before Ixion. It reared up to shoot out Thor's Hammer at her. The first part being the huge electrical shock that was almost lightning. She was quick to turn and cast esuna on Rick.
He stood up and watched the lightning come down and strike the groun din front of her. Rick concentrated and cast mightguard on the summoner to stop the lightning attack. But when it struck her Evie went flying backward and hit the rock ground hard. Her staff rolled across the ground and stopped in front of Lexi.
She tugged on Rick's sock and exclaimed "cure me you idiot!" in a wheezy voice. Rick threw antidotes and everyone's head and laughed. "Alright people drink up we got us a guado to barbaque." he encouraged.
Shinra ran after Evie and tried to pick her up and run for it. But Ixion was bearing down on them, await its master's orders to cast Thundaga on them. BUt nothing happened. "Give the order you fool!" shouted the guado general. But Sajid did nothing.
"It's not his turn" said Shinra. The crew came over and did another little huddle to decide what to do about their situation. "We can't fight an aeon" said Leif. "Someone needs to call a summon" suggested Tidus. "We can't do that ya? We're not summoners" said CHappu. "I can do it" smirked RIck. "You moron. I'll do it" said Lexi, holding up EVie's staff.
SHinra looked down on Evie. The phoenix downs weren't working. "She's petrified" stated Tidus. Shinra looked at him blandly, "I noticed that genius" he said. Lexi took a step forward with Evie's staff in her hands. "WHy did she only cast esuna on Rick? Why not me or Shinra?" she asked. Rick spoked up with, "she must have seen me steal all of those antidotes from Rin".
"Make your move! I'm getting impatient!" yelled the guado. "uhh...." said Lexi and she took the summoner stance she thought would be correct.
She clumsily spun around and stupidly waved the staff in random directions. The guys were trying their best not to laugh, it wasn't exactly the best time for humor.
"I summon...something.. ANYTHING!" she yelled up at the sky. A dark grey cloud formed and there was a sparkle of light. Down dove a red, purple and white bird-like creature. "Valefor" said Tidus quietlty to himself. Valefor took its place at Lexi's side. It took up some turf as it landed.
"OK Valefor I want you to dive down and grab Evie and Shinra then take them to the edge of Macalanica forest. Ignore you're enemy, we'll take care of them. Do you understand me?" she whispered. Valefor purred. Lexi wasn't sure what it meant, but she was going to guess that it understood her.
"Go!" she shouted. ANd to her surprise the summon was actually listening to her. Valefor took off into the air and swooped down on Evie and Shinra picking them up with its feet and then taking off again and flying left, toward Macalania.
Moments later the crew realized they still had Sajid to deal with, and Ixion's thundaga attack. But the summoner was quickly KOed by rock thrown from the hand of Chappu. It was a really good shot too. THe crew laughed for a bit and then turned their attention back to the guado.
Looking worriedly left and then right before he took off down the path on the left, fleeing toward Macalania. Everyone took off after the guado general in anger, Lexi with staff in hand leading, followed by Chappu, Tidus, Leif and Rick bringing up the rear.
--change scene--
Valefor let down the couple gently on the ground and then flew off again witha soft gust of wind. Shinra beat himself up inside about not doing anything. She seemed to be breathing, but the bottom of her boots were scortched and still steaming. It was too close of a call. He remembered that she was still petrified. Taking a soft from his pocket, he unpetrified her.
Sh sat up sharply and breathed heavily. "Shinra!" she excalimed. Reality set in and she settled down, noticing he was sitting right next to her. He smiled. She nervously forced a smile back at him.
"Uhh.. what happened?" she asked. Shinra looked down at her steaming boots again and then back to her. "Thundaga.. are you ok?"
Evie giggled and adjusted the bangle she wore on her left wrist. Three lights appeared around her. One red, one white and one blue. It was the remainder of the mighty guard spell Rick had cast. "Mighty guard worked? We better not tell Rick or his ego will be through the roof" laughed Shinra.
--change scene--
"Dammit! I think we lost the creep!" exclaimed Lexi as she stopped angrily around with the summoner staff. "Yeah, I wanted to smash his face in" said Rick. Then hang him by his feet from a tree" added Leif. "And throw rocks at him" laughed Lexi evilly.
"And then hang him by his feet from a tree" added Chappu laughing. There was a long pause. "Let's go ahead and see if Evie is okay" said Tidus. They walked the path without getting lost. (only because it was a straight line). They approached the edge of Macalania forest to find Shinra pacing about and Evie leaning against a tree, brushing ashes off her boot.
"Evie!" exclaimed Lexi. She jumped on her summoner with joy and almost knocked her off her feet as hard as the Thors Hammer had.
"That was a really good fight you put up back there Evie" said Leif. "Yeah, you reminded me of Yuna" said Tidus. Chappu slapped him on the back of the head. "Thanks" laughed Evie but then she asked, "what happened after I was knocked out and petrified?"
"Lexi picked up your staff and clomped around like a gorilla" laughed Tidus. Lexi elbowed him in the ribcage. "I think I managed a very good summon" she said in her own defence. "Which aeon did you summon.... summoner Lexi?" asked Evie.
"Uhh.. some big bird thing" she replied. "I'm pretty sure that was a Valefor summon" said Shinra. There was a long silence. Evie was frowning and looking at the ground. "That sure is strange..." she said. "What is?" asked Lexi. "Lexi, i don't have a Valefor summon. I didn't event pray to the fayth in Besaid."
"We took you to the temple ourselves" piped up Leif. Evie shook her head and said, "I knew that it would have to wait till later. And because I left right after you did, I caught a bit of an argument with Lexi and Virak". Lexi's eyes widened.
"Why didn't you go back and get it. Now we have to go all the way back to Besaid before we can go to Zanarkand" whined Leif. "Exactly" said Evie. "But i came on this pilgrimmage to escape home" ssaid Lexi softly. "You can't do that Lexi. You can't run away from your problems. Now we're going to get the rest of my aeons and all you are going home to face your families before we fight Sin" Evie said.
Lexi was staring off into space, she asked without turning her head "If I'm not a summoner, and you don't have a Valefor aeon, then where did that bird come from?" EVeryone paused and it was Tidus who spoke up next. "Maybe it's just braska looking out for us" he suggested. EVeryone exchanged worried looks. It seemed to be the only reasonable explanation. Ironically, it wasn't all that reasonable.
Heading onward into the woods of Macalania.
Next time... Tidus' past and Lexi's present clash in the place where Tidus and Yuna first kissed. Moonlit Macalania romance for Shinra and Evie. Treasure of the al-bhed brothers and a much better weapon and way of fighting for Chappu.