Hey! Sorry for the delayed update, I had stupid homework to deal with... Grr... Anyways, this update will hopefully satisfy everyone who is looking not only for Rikku/Gippal but also Paine/Baralai, as a new twist in plot will... –evil Cactuar comes up from behind Famfrit and hits him over the head- Ouch! Never mind... Anyways, I do not own Square Enix, Final Fantasy, or Final Fantasy Tactics, or Slim Jim... Hehe! Please enjoy!
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"Yunie, wake up! And you too!" Rikku shouted frantically in front of Yuna and Tidus's bed. "Buddy has urgent news to tell us about!"
"What?" Yuna said, getting up. Tidus sat up, looking at Rikku.
"Calm down, Rikku," he said. Rikku stopped jumping, but the look on her face told the couple that something was very important.
The three leapt off the ledge. "Where's Paine?" Yuna asked.
"No time for questions!" Rikku said, holding up a finger. "Oh, she's on the deck. Come on!"
After an elevator and a run down the hall, the trio had reached Buddy, who was shaking his head. Paine stood nearby, staring at the wall and the open sky. "Bad news, guys," he said.
"What?" Yuna and Tidus asked in unison. The Al Bhed pilot looked at Yuna's feet, a distraught look on his face.
"We have a request that we can't refuse," Buddy explained. "We have two unwanted guests aiding us in our search through Bevelle."
"What do you mean by that?" Yuna asked, and Tidus nodded. Buddy turned and looked at the door.
"They're in the engine room," he said. "I sent them in there. They were causing too much of a fuss over how Shinra was handling the spheres."
Yuna turned to Shinra, who was now muttering angrily to himself. "I fine-tuned the scanner, cretin," he breathed. "The spheres are in top condition in my care, not your grubby paws."
Yuna turned back to Buddy. "Go meet them," he instructed. "Paine and Rikku will come, too."
Yuna nodded, and then took Tidus's hand. Together the two, closely followed by Paine and Rikku, walked down the hall and into the elevator without a word.
"Do you know who the visitors are?" Tidus asked Rikku. Rikku turned to him, an annoyed and distressed look on her face.
"Yes," she said, "but you don't know them. Unless you recognize them from the wedding, of course."
The doors opened, and Yuna gazed out into the steam that was growing into the room. She heard a deep cough and two faint outlines appeared amongst the thick, misty cloud. The strange thing was that one was at least two heads taller than the other, and the shorter one was about three times the width.
"I would have to say these engines are quite rusted," said a sophisticated voice which Yuna recognized at once. The voice came from the taller, slimmer figure.
"Hahaha," the fat, short one said, but Yuna didn't think it was a laugh. It was a strange form of cough.
The two figures walked into the air, and Yuna's thoughts were verified. It was none other than...
"Why hello, Lady Summoner," Logos said. Yuna gave him a perplexed look.
"Why are you here?" she asked. Ormi walked up to the former summoner, eyes agleam.
"Leblanc was worried about us. She says that it wasn't good for us to be sitting around in Chateau Leblanc. So that captain of yours let us on to aid yous guys in the mission you took," Ormi said. Yuna gave him a confused stare.
"So you're helping us?" Yuna asked. Logos and Ormi both nodded at once.
"Yes," Logos said. "Don't worry. We've agreed to let you keep the sphere you obtain and 75% of the profits. That captain of yours all ready agreed to it, anyways."
"His name is Brother," Rikku said with a smile. "My brother."
"Wonderful," Logos said unenthusiastically. "Shall we get started, then?"
"I... I guess," Yuna said. Paine walked up to Yuna, and then stood in a relaxed position at her side.
"Come on," she said, motioning for Leblanc's henchmen to follow. Under her breath, Yuna heard her say, "Come on, Slim Jim and fatso."
Yuna laughed, just as the six entered the elevator and rose up to the deck. Buddy gave a peculiar look to Ormi and Logos, who didn't seem to care. Logos began to check his twin pistols, and Ormi began to polish his shield. Yuna and the others prepared their Dresspheres.
Yuna looked through the vast selection. She remembered the Mascot Dressphere from stealing back her Garment Grid from a notorious Leblanc, who had posed as Yuna and sung in concert using the Songstress Dressphere. She remembered the Songstress Dressphere, the key that made her appear like Shuyin's lover Lenne in her past adventure. She looked them all over, then finally decided on one of her favorites, the White Mage Dressphere... Again. She gathered her Trainer, Gunner, and Mascot Dresspheres, remembering the heat of being stuck in a Moogle costume. She then locked them into her Garment Grid.
Paine looked over the selection quite gingerly, picking each one up and fingering it carefully, checking their gleam and shimmer. She felt the powers of the orient upon picking up the Samurai Dressphere, and the loyalty of a faithful companion upon lifting up the Trainer Dressphere. She felt chemicals bubble between her fingers upon picking up the Alchemist Dressphere, and cosmic powers of the infinite locked within the Black Mage Dressphere. She finally picked up a familiar one that she had long since mastered: the Dark Knight Dressphere, remembering to pick up the Black Mage, Berserker, and Samurai Dresspheres and locking them securely into her Garment Grid.
When Paine finished her careful selection, Rikku leapt upon the pile like a greedy child with a fistful of coins in a candy store. Her eyes began to gleam upon seeing her favorites, like the Trainer Dressphere and Thief Dressphere. She gazed long and hard into the painful Dark Knight Dressphere, the Dressphere in which she sacrificed her own energy to take away that of her foes. She finally settled on her favorite one, the Thief Dressphere, making sure that her own Garment Grid was equipped with her other favorites like the Trainer Dressphere and Alchemist Dressphere. She then made a quick pick of the Gun Mage Dressphere, one of her personal favorites which she loved to use to blast her foes into smithereens.
Tidus was next and final in line. He had only used the Gun... No, Gunner Dressphere so far, so he picked it. He had three more he could choose. What where they all? Some glistened like gems, others glinted like dark beacons. He grabbed the Warrior Dressphere, as he knew what that was. There was two more Dresspheres to choose. He chose the Samurai Dressphere, as Paine had told him earlier during the campfire that it was a trusty Dressphere. There was only one more to go. He decided to choose something more magical, so he looked over them all again, blocking out tempting ones such as the Dark Knight Dressphere and Berserker Dressphere. His eyes fell upon one that made his mind leapt with joy for some reason, and he felt magic pulsating from it as well as brute force. So, he took it, not knowing that he had grabbed the Trainer Dressphere. He locked all of his choices into his Garment Grid.
When they were all done, Buddy was scanning the radar and constantly watching for messages. Brother was easily piloting the Celsius towards Bevelle. Shinra was tapping away busily on the computer, and Logos and Ormi were playing rock-paper-scissors. Finally, Logos got sick of it as Ormi was always winning, and headed off for the bar.
Suddenly the alert went off. In a flash, everyone had regrouped in front of the cerulean sphere that Brother had once used to direct the party to the Farplane and the holes within the Chamber of the Fayth in each and every Temple, minus Macalania, Remiem, and Baaj. "What is it, Buddy?" Yuna asked. Buddy looked even more distraught.
"Today hasn't been a good one for the Gullwings," he said. "We have two missions to take on, and we have to do them simultaneously if we are to fulfill them."
"Well that's easy," Rikku said. "One Leblanc Syndicate member can go with two Gullwings, making two teams of three each."
Buddy shook his head. "No, it's not that we now have two missions to take on. We just were assigned two more missions, and we'll have to do them all at once if we want to get them – all three – done."
Rikku sighed. "Well, I guess that means one Gullwing with one Syndicate member for two teams, and one team of two Gullwings."
"I'll go with Ormi," Paine said suddenly. Ormi looked at her.
"Whatever she says," he said with a shrug, standing next to the silent warrior.
"Fine then, I'll go with Logos," Rikku said. "I wouldn't want to split up those two just after they got reunited."
Yuna smiled, and Tidus grinned. Rikku stood by Logos, who was grinning to himself. If pretty ladies were involved instead of his blubbering, bloated buffoon of a partner, it might be a good day for the Leblanc Syndicate after all.
"What are the two new missions, then?" Tidus asked. Buddy turned to him, somewhat surprised that the newcomer had talked.
"Well, we just got a message from Zanarkand from an urgent Isaaru. He says that the monkeys are going crazy!" Buddy said with a slight laugh. Paine, Rikku, and Yuna all laughed, remembering how they had made the monkeys fall in love to prevent visitors from the place Yuna sought to protect.
"No, it's not that the monkeys are overtaking it," Buddy said. "He says that the monkeys are disappearing, and quickly. Not only that, but fiends are reappearing in large numbers all over the dome, and he's had to flee up to the entrance from Mt. Gagazet to keep from getting killed."
Yuna's eyes widened at this comment, and suddenly Tidus spoke up again. "Yuna, let's do that," he said. Yuna nodded, knowing how much Zanarkand meant to the Blitzball star.
"What's the other one?" Yuna asked. Buddy turned to her, and then he sighed, glancing a bit in Rikku's direction.
"Something bad is happening in Bikanel Desert. Nhadala said that it's urgent enough for even Gippal to return to the desert," Buddy said. "She said it has something to do with ancient spheres and a fiend we long since thought we were done with."
"You mean...?" Rikku asked fearfully, and Buddy gave a grim nod.
"Yes," he said. "She said that it's about that fiend... Angra Mainyu, she called it. You remember him?"
"How could we forget?" Paine said. "It just took about half the day to find the Cactuar Guardians, and the other half was spent kicking his ass."
"Who wants to do it?" Buddy asked. The group was silent for a while, but finally Rikku spoke.
"I'll do it," she said, looking down. Logos grinned in a peculiar way, one that made Yuna shiver at the sight. Rikku did not look forward to a scorching day under the desert sun, but at least she'd be with him...
"Finally, we have our mission to Bevelle. Sorry I omitted most of the details last night, but you will be aiding Praetor Baralai in the discovery of a series of ancient chambers down in the Bevelle Labyrinth. He says that there are a lot of spheres down there, too. That just leaves you, Paine... and Ormi," Buddy said. The two nodded.
"Sounds like fun," Ormi said. Paine merely glanced at him, and then turned back to the open sky. Well, at least Baralai was apart of the mission. Maybe she could get someone else to come and accompany Ormi so that the fat man wouldn't interrupt.
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"Well, we're here," Brother
said as the Celsius swooped down over Bikanel Desert,
the closest location. "Rikku and Logos, please leave."
Rikku fired a nasty glare as she readied her knives. Logos smiled as he shined his pistols, eyes fixated upon the pretty prize that awaited him in the heat of Bikanel. Suddenly he snapped up straight, and remembered that he was on a mission. He glanced one more time at Rikku, and then left the ship.
"See ya!" Rikku shouted to Tidus, Paine, and Yuna as she got off. Logos waved slowly and without a smile to Ormi, who was off with Shinra arguing about some petty issue. Almost immediately after they saw Rikku dash out into the desert sands did the Celsius lift into the air, shooting off towards Bevelle.
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"Paine and Ormi, time to leave," Brother said, pointing to the exit. Ormi grimaced, and Paine rolled her eyes. This would not be fun with the fatso around.
Yuna and Tidus waved goodbye to an unenthusiastic Paine, who was now off the onramp and walking down the luxurious entrance road to Bevelle. Paine gave a slight wave and followed a hopping Ormi down the road, and once again the door shut firmly and the Celsius flew off.
"Bye," Yuna said as the ship flew into the air. No more Leblanc Syndicate members to worry over, and now she was alone: with Tidus. She grinned, taking his hand. He smiled satisfactorily as the clouds whipped by the Celsius like wisps of white light.
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"Final stop, Gagazet!" Brother shouted as the Celsius began to descend.
"What?" Yuna asked. They were supposed to be going to Zanarkand, not the sacred Mt. Gagazet.
"We can't land there, remember?" Buddy said. "The fiends are too numerous down there. Way too dangerous to attempt to land, unless you wanted to jump thirty feet or so."
"Gagazet sounds fine," Yuna said. Tidus looked at her, then down at the misty mountain of the Ronso tribe. He remembered the vivid events at Gagazet, when he found out that Seymour knew his father was Sin, when he fainted at the Spring of the Fayth, and when the city of the dead first loomed into view. He also wanted to see an old friend, however, no – make that two old friends. He had wanted a talk with Kimahri, whom he knew now was the Ronso Elder.
"Time to get off, Yuna," Brother said, and the couple smiled as they descended the onramp onto the cold, icy ground that lead up to Mt. Gagazet. Yuna remembered how much fear she felt when Garik would walk by, the ferocious rebel of the Ronso who wished only to kill the Guado. However, Kimahri had successfully reasoned with him and calmed his fiery spirit down.
"Goodbye!" Brother shouted as the door slammed shut and the Celsius blasted off into the clouds. Yuna waved quietly, and the two resumed walking up the frosty pathway. When they arrived at the top where the Ronso commonly gathered, Yuna's blood ran cold.
"Where are they?" she asked, seeing that not one Ronso was standing on the snowy clearing. A hollow wind blew through, chilling the White Mage to the bone. Tidus beside her shivered as well.
"Maybe they... left?" Tidus suggested, but Yuna didn't feel too sure about that. She felt something wrong, a gut feeling she had felt when she had first traversed this path to get up the mountain, after Yevon's true nature had been revealed.
"There's only one thing to do," Yuna said. "We have to check everywhere." She looked around. She couldn't see anything that would help them, but she still felt something odd around her. When she figured out what it was, it was too late.
"No!" she shouted as Tidus took a step, walking onto the ice which began to crack. "A fiend!"
The ice began to rattle and shake as a frozen being rose from underneath. It was obviously alive and active; however an aura of sheer ice surrounded it, veiling Yuna and Tidus and turning their sweat into frost.
"I'm... so cold," she said aloud as the creature began to roar. She shook the beads of ice from her hair, and Tidus drew his pistol, ready to fire. She had remembered to equip her Black Lore for just such an occasion.
"I think we're going to have to fight it," Tidus said. Yuna gave him a worried look as the creature approached. It was massive, appearing as a large creature with four legs layered with ice crystals. A strong torso rose from its front, shimmering with frost and ice, and two broad arms covered in crystals lowered down in front of it. Two blazing eyes of white glared down at the humans, and shimmering locks of crystal hair cascaded behind its glittering figure.
"Are you crazy? Alone?" Yuna said, but Tidus grabbed her, holding her tight.
"We'll be all right. Trust me," he said. Yuna shook her head slowly, and then readied to fight.
The frosty being began by casting Blizzaga, and two enormous ice crystals formed around the two and shattered into a shimmering oblivion, freezing and damaging the two. Tidus charged up a shot, and then released a pistol which shattered upon hitting the creature's icy shield.
"We aren't going to be able to hit it with normal weapons," Yuna said grimly. "I think you'll have to use... something else."
"Like what?" Tidus inquired. "I only brought the Gunner, Warrior, and Samurai Dresspheres…" He remembered the one that had felt so oddly peculiar to him. "And another one, one I didn't know the name of."
"Spherechange!" Yuna said as she was hit by the creature's claws. She immediately reacted with Curaga, which healed her wounds in a glistening prism of light.
Tidus nodded, and began to spherechange. He felt his body glow and his pistol dissipate as he became limp, floating in space. Suddenly he reappeared, clad in an orange, fiery-patterned shirt with a brown vest and his normal black overalls. He landed in a patch of green earth with flowers blooming beautifully...
"You got the Trainer Dressphere?" Yuna asked.
"I got the what?" Tidus asked, but before he could react a dainty Coeurl-like feline had strolled into the flowers, purring softly. Tidus stroked its fur, and it meowed before the small patch of earth disappeared.
"What is it?" Yuna asked, but Tidus was petting it again.
"Good kitty," he said faintly, and the feline, twitching two Coeurl whiskers, began to charge up something.
"I think it's one of those cat things," he said rather vaguely. Yuna looked at the cat peculiarly.
"You mean a Coeurl? Maybe so... But it's smaller, and Coeurls are a lot less friendly, and dirty white and brownish black. Your cat is snow-white with black tiger stripes, and its whiskers are tipped with white, blue, yellow, and red," Yuna says. "Who knows..."
Before she could finish with, "What it is," the Coeurl-like creature hissed fiercely as a typhoon of flame enveloped the creature that was now focused on the feline.
"I'm going to call it... Meow," Tidus said as the icy creature staggered back. Meow purred contently, and Tidus stroked it again. Yuna smiled a bit just as she flew backwards onto the ground, knocked out from an icy blast.
"YUNA!" Tidus shouted, but the former summoner did not reply to his call. He knew she was well knocked out. "Meow! Use... Something hot!" Tidus commanded, and Meow obeyed. She began to charge two stars of white-hot brilliance upon the tips of her whiskers as the crimson stripes at their tips began to glow.
Just as the creature leapt at him again, Meow unleashed her fiery attack, sending another spiral of white flame shooting out from under the enormous ice creature. It staggered back, and Tidus heard a familiar shout.
"Yuna!" Kimahri belted, leaping masterfully over the creature and nimbly landing on his feet right next to Tidus. The two stared at each other, their gazes meeting.
"Kimahri?" Tidus asked. The Ronso Elder's eyes became lit with joy as he smiled his toothy grimace, causing Tidus to laugh a bit.
"It is you," Kimahri said, holding up his Spiritual Lance, a sacred weapon he had received while helping Yuna. "Yuna is in trouble. You fight, I heal."
Tidus nodded, and then Meow resumed her charge of fiery assault. Kimahri's eyes closed and he folded his padded palms, head tilted skywards.
"Raise!" he commanded, opening his eyes. His eyes were pure white without an iris or pupil. A beam of light poured down from a cloudy Gagazet sky into Yuna's unconscious form, and suddenly she awoke.
She groaned a bit, and then stared at Kimahri. "Kimahri?" she asked aloud. The Ronso Elder nodded, and she greeted him with a friendly hug. "Thank you."
"Kimahri is Yuna's guardian. He always do his duty," Kimahri replied, then turned to face the ice creature, spear drawn and glistening. Yuna nodded. "This is a beast called Gagazora. He haunt mountain for many years, until Kimahri lock him up beneath clearing. He break out, and we must fight."
Yuna nodded, and then began to pray. Kimahri thrust his spear, watching as its shimmering edge dove into Gagazora's icy skin. It shattered away. Meow, sensing a drop in strength, leapt faithfully at the small crack, her curious claws digging into the vulnerable flesh beneath. Gagazora shrieked, letting a stream of small icicles and cold breath fire into Meow, who landed upon the ground with a desperate meow and then trotted back to Tidus. Tidus pet the tired feline, and she nuzzled his palm.
Kimahri kept thrusting his spear into the icy layer surrounding Gagazora, and eventually there was a large hole. Meow began to thrash the vulnerable patch of flesh avidly, ignoring the pain she severed through a chilling counterattack. Kimahri began to chant something upon his foggy breath, and the Spiritual Lance began to glow with crimson fire. He then thrust the fiery weapon directly into the center of the vulnerable flesh, causing the Gagazora to bend down.
"Gagazora, titan of winter, retreat back to your sealed realm," he chanted, and Gagazora roared as it exploded into a glassy crystal, shimmering with utmost brilliance. Yuna gasped at its beauty as it fell, and she watched it descend into the cold darkness below. Kimahri blew his breath onto the wind, and suddenly the platform, which now had a gaping hole, began to quake violently. Suddenly a cloud of mist descended upon the hole, and when it lifted the platform was as good as new.
"You didn't kill it?" Tidus said. Kimahri shook his head.
"Elder does not kill. Elder protect," he explained. "Gagazora pose no threat when sealed. Kimahri seal him up... He will not attack again, at least for awhile."
Tidus and Yuna nodded all though the Blitzball player was still quite perplexed. Kimahri stood silently, and Yuna sensed something different about his appearance she hadn't noticed before.
"You seem... different," Yuna said as the cold Gagazet wind began to blow about. Kimahri nodded.
"Ronso honor Kimahri with robe of Elder. It is heirloom among Ronso," he said. That was it! He was wearing some sort of feathery robe, made of a light blue material that shone beautifully in the clouded light. Feathers lined the mantle, and Yuna could tell he liked being in such a grand robe.
"Where are all the Ronso?" Tidus asked. Kimahri turned to him, eyes widening.
"Ronso flee to summit of Gagazet. Fiends begin to swarm Zanarkand. That is bad omen among Ronso. We stay up in ruins until fiends leave," Kimahri explained. Yuna remembered the floating ruins the Gullwings had found near the beginning of their quest.
"What about Isaaru?" Yuna asked. Kimahri fell silent, and then stared to the sky, a distant look in his eyes.
"The guardian does his duty. He
guards Zanarkand," Kimahri said. "Ronso believe he is foolish. I believe he do
what he think right."
"Is he okay?" Yuna asked, concerned. Kimahri shook his head.
"He disappear from Gagazet. He say that he is fine," was all he had to say.
"Let's go meet him, then. He might know something about the sphere that is supposedly here." And with that, Yuna began a slow walk up the towering Mt. Gagazet.