Due to my absence (caused by EVIL HOMEWORK and a down Internet) I am trying to update really quickly. I assure you that I will work with utmost urgency and fervor… -Evil Cactuar begins to laugh at Famfrit's attempt to speak eloquently- What are you doing here? Leave me alone! –Cactuar runs off laughing- :*( Anyways, I hope you like the entry, and I DO NOT OWN FINAL FANTASY OR SQUARE ENIX!
====*====
"Where is he now, then?" Rikku inquired to Benzo, who was sitting on a crate filled with ancient parts of machine. They were just about to be shipped off to Djose to be used for research. The Cactuar translator was currently off-duty from an issue that had arisen earlier between the Al Bhed and Cactuars. Marnela, overjoyed with the defeat of Angra Mainyu, had suggested continuing research of ancient Spira by finding spheres scattered throughout the desert. The Al Bhed complied, and Benzo had spent hours translating speeches by Marnela and her fellow cacti on directions and myths about such spheres. Now he was cooling off with a frosty capsule of water and listening vaguely to Rikku.
"I can't be sure. Gippal said he had business to attend to dealing with the Cactuars... I find it odd that he'd be interested in the Bikanel project, though, seeing that he's the leader of the Machine Faction and all," Benzo said. Logos walked up, pistols readied.
"Young boy, tell us where he is," he hissed. "Or I shall be forced to play a little game with these two guns."
"Logos! Stop being so mean!" Rikku said, and whacked his shoulder with a clenched fist. He grabbed his shoulder in pain for a split-second, and then smirked a bit in a way that frightened the young Al Bhed girl.
"He's off with Nhadala. They're looking for spheres now in the Western Expanse," Benzo said, oblivious to the threat. "I'm sure the driver will be happy to direct you there."
Rikku sighed, and then walked off to the hover, a still smirking Logos not far behind. Rikku stopped in front of the driver and in a polite but urgent way commanded, "Take us to the Western Expanse. We need to speak to Gippal."
The pilot shrugged, and then headed to the driver's seat. Rikku flipped into the back seat, while Logos comfortably walked in through the side and took a seat next to Rikku. She scooted away from him, and he looked away to the swirling dunes. The hover began to shake, then it zoomed forward gracefully upon the sands like an eagle in flight.
Rikku looked out into the endless line of fiery sands, and she saw something that caught her eye. A tiny green speck was flipping over the sands, and after at least five minutes she figured out it was a Cactuar. She smiled a bit. Cactuars, as pesky as they were, had always been her favorite thing about the desert.
Logos looked over at Rikku, eyes agleam. The girl was obviously not interested in him. That didn't matter; he had a perfect view of her backside from the way she was sitting. Rikku felt eyes upon her back, and she swiveled around, eyes in tiny slits.
"What are you doing?" she said to an astounded Leblanc Syndicate member.
"Oh, just looking at the beautiful view," he said with a snicker. Rikku figured out the hidden words' meanings, and she smiled in a satiric way that actually frightened Logos.
"Oh, are you? Wonderful." Her
words were like fire upon the sandy air. Then she opened her mouth to speak
again. "Oh yeah, stop looking, you perv."
Logos's hopes of courting with the little lady took a blow, landing with a dreadful splat. He turned away, staring into the sky. Rikku sighed and turned away. Before the two knew it, the hover had come to a stop.
"He should be out there," the driver said, shrugged, hopped back in the hover, and departed to the dismay of a frantic Rikku.
"How are we going to get back?" Rikku asked, a frightful look stricken upon her face. Logos shrugged.
"I have no idea... Perhaps we will return with the hover that is all ready here?" he suggested with a slight laugh before leaving the girl in the dust. An exasperated Rikku followed, readying her knives in a fearful fashion.
"The sooner we find Gippal, the better," she murmured. The two headed across the hot sands, and at the top of a rather large hill they had a perfect view. Off in the distance, they saw the tiny speck that was the hover. Rikku headed off in that direction, making sure that Logos wasn't staring at her.
Finally, after what seemed like hours, they reached the hover, panting and sweating. Nhadala stood there, checking things off a billboard and shaking her head sadly. She looked at the two desert travelers and gave a smile.
"Hello Rikku," she said, "and your friend over there." She didn't recognize Logos, all though she had seen him before at the Oasis.
"Oh, he's not a friend,"
Rikku said, the words barely escaping her clenched teeth. Logos gave a
satisfactory smile. "Where's Gippal?"
"Gippal's out looking for spheres amidst the sands. Says he found something huge, but I haven't been without work for at least half a day now," she said with a sigh. "I've been checking off items on a checklist, computing complex calculations in my head, and calculating the positions of the spheres according to the radar. So far we've found useless ones."
"Useless?" Rikku asked, and Nhadala withdrew a handful of small, sandy green spheres.
Nhadala said with a sigh, "Gippal found them in a small chamber yesterday. We viewed them, but they are pretty unimportant."
"Can I see?" Rikku inquired. Nhadala nodded, and handed her the spheres. She reluctantly held them up so both her and Logos could see.
Inside the first showed a dune and the window blowing. An emotionless Cactuar lay upon the dunes, sand billowing around it. After about half a minute, the sphere ended. Rikku viewed the next one, and it was much the same all though now three Cactuars lay draped across the dunes. The third one was exactly identical accept she saw one Cactuar fall onto the sands during the sphere and lay like the others. The fourth one featured six Cactuars, and the fifth featured at least a dozen. They were all emotionless and unmoving, except for the third sphere.
"They're... sleeping," Nhadala said with a shrug. "Well, that's at least what I figured from their behavior."
The image of the Cactuar falling onto the dunes was rolling through her mind again and again, and suddenly she knew the frightening truth. "Nhadala... They aren't sleeping. They're dying."
====*====
"Come on," Maroda said. "The praetor is just inside. It's not like you're running a race."
"For him it is," Paine said coldly as she walked through the grand doors. A panting Ormi followed quickly after, bursting through the doors much louder than she had been. The misty entrance room to the enormous HQ of New Yevon was quite frightening for the sphere hunter. Paine merely sighed as she boarded the lift, taking a shaking Ormi up to Baralai's office.
She knocked on the door. There was no answer, but she heard the shuffling of feet and the door opened. A pallid Baralai stood behind the door, eyes wide. "Come in," he directed, and the two walked into the luxurious office. The two walked down the ledge and sat on two hover-stools, sitting in front of an ornate desk featuring small statues of Lord Zaon and Lady Yunalesca, which made Paine vexed.
"Why the statues of... them?" she inquired. Baralai looked down at the statues, and looked at her with wide eyes.
"I'm planning to dump them, don't worry. This was once Mika's office, before he disappeared the way he did," Baralai explained. "I'm not keeping them here because I want to."
Paine raised her eyebrows, and then turned to Ormi who was looking around and sniffing the air as if food was about. She smirked a bit and turned to the praetor. "So, how's it been?" she asked.
"That's what I need to talk to you about," Baralai said shakily. "I found a rather frightening sphere. I've been afraid to show it to anyone... but I wanted you to see it." Paine nodded, and Baralai held out a white, misty sphere. Paine picked it up, raised it to her eyes, and then peered in to take a peek.
She could see it was the Bevelle Labyrinth. A strange figure stood, hunched over something Paine couldn't really see. It was a while before she found out the figure was a man—tranquil and at the same time fearsome.
The man was cloaked in indigo, and a strange sigil of silver lacquer was printed upon a black tunic that he wore. Two elegant wings of black, feathered daintily, pointed down from his shoulder blades. A long sheath lay upon his waistline, and Paine could tell it held a powerful blade. The man had dark black hair that cascaded down his back. His eyes were burning red, and Paine stepped back in surprise.
"The Five have finally been found," he said into the sphere. "Prepare for the ultimate end of Spira. Armageddon has finally arrived for the wicked." He released his hands, dropping five spheres, each of a different color—brownish orange with a core of red, light blue with a core of turquoise, shimmering white with a core of cerulean, amber with a core of sparkling white, and black with a core of dark, tainted purple—all of which began to glow. "Awaken, apocalyptic spawn of darkness!" he shouted and the spheres began to intensify their glow, eventually becoming bright white.
"Now you shall see who is running the show, Spira," the man said with a cackle. "Know that Omega sends his regards." The man neared the recording sphere as the spheres he had thrust upon the ground evanesced into thin air.
"There were five that were created from the depths of the darkest soul,
There were five that were created to achieve the darkest goal.
One was borne amongst the tides in the city of the dead,
One was borne amidst the burning sands where all the exiled fled.
One was borne in the darkest fathoms of the city of the light,
One was borne amongst the barren glen of electrical might.
The final, fifth, and foremost was borne within the darkest tomb,
Waiting, watching, cursing, taunting, counting Spira's doom.
The sphere ended abruptly, and Ormi who had joined to watch was shocked. Paine's eyes widened immensely, and she stared for a long time at Baralai. "What in the world was that?" she asked. Baralai looked at her meaningfully.
"I didn't know for sure. But I did some research," he said, pulling out a small glyphic book based with gold. "This is Grand Maester Mika's 'Tome of Foundation'. Don't ask me what it does, but apparently he hired Seymour to figure out different issues pertaining to this matter. Apparently, I wasn't the first person to find the sphere."
"What do you mean by that?" Paine asked, and Baralai flipped to a page and pointed down. Seymour's fancy script was upon the page, and Paine could clearly read what it said. The poem had been written down, and notes were scrawled along its sides. Seymour had identified the places described in the poem.
"The tides of the city of the dead... Zanarkand?" Paine said as she read the notes. That made sense, but suddenly something hit her. "Is it Sin?"
"No. Seymour wrote that down, too," Baralai said, pointing to a small note reading: 'This is NOT Sin.' Paine shrugged shakily.
"The burning sands... That's Bikanel Desert," she declared. "And the electrical glen is the Thunder Plains."
"Yes, that's what he said," Baralai said. "But look at where the fifth one was borne."
He pointed to a bolded note near the bottom. "The Fifth was borne in the Omega Ruins," she said aloud. "Didn't Yuna destroy Omega near the end of Sin, though? She told me all about it." Thoughts of the traitor to Yevon filled her mind with dark thoughts, ones she had long forgotten. "Omega is dead, isn't he?"
"Seymour figured out the answer to that, too," Baralai replied, pointing down to a small note on the page. "Apparently he wrote that Omega made some kind of demonic pact to get vengeance... He offered his soul to demons for revenge, ultimately turning him into a fiend with his traitorous partner, Ultima. But there was something more to this pact than just that... He must have created the Five, then."
"What are 'the Five'?" she asked. Baralai's eyes filled with fear.
"I researched again," he said. "I found that they were put into legend. The Five are five titans created to create chaos and havoc amongst Spira and ultimately end it... once and for all. But that's not what scared me."
Baralai pointed to the note next to the one pertaining to 'the darkest fathoms of the city of the light', making Paine's blood run cold. The note read, "This is Bevelle."
====*====
"So why are all the fiends appearing?" Tidus asked, a sleeping Meow huddled in his arms. Yuna was softly stroking the Couerl-like feline's fur, causing the resting cat to purr in her sleep.
"Waters are at unrest around Zanarkand," Kimahri explained. "Fiends come from the water and swarm the land."
"Strange," Yuna said thoughtfully, the chilling Gagazet wind piercing her skin. It had never been, and would never be an easy trip to make it to the end of Mt. Gagazet, sacred mountain of the Ronso. It was chilling and grueling.
"Zanarkand is city of dead. Raging waters cause unrest amongst dead," Kimahri said grimly. "Spirits come to Zanarkand. It is not safe."
"Where does Isaaru... guard?" Yuna inquired.
"Ronso do not know. Guardian of Zanarkand guard where he need."
With that, the trio resumed their trek up the mountain. Meow lay sleeping in Tidus's grasp, and suddenly she awoke, leaping onto Yuna's shoulder. Yuna laughed, petting the friendly feline, and as she did so Tidus's hand met hers. Her eyes flew to his, and for a moment she felt ultimately at peace.
"What is Meow?" Tidus asked Kimahri. "You knew what that Gaga-thing was, so you probably know what species she is, too... don't you?"
Kimahri looked at Meow, who looked back with shimmering eyes. Kimahri turned to Tidus. "She is Coeurline. Coeurline live on mountain slopes and are friendly to Ronso. Ronso respect the Coeurline when they help against mice and rats."
"A Coeurline, eh?" Tidus said, petting the feline's head. She closed her eyes in contentment as Yuna stroked her pure-white fur. She had a beautiful, silky pelt, but the pigments at the end of her whiskers were strange and bristly all though brightly colored. Yuna somehow sensed something magical within them, and the Coeurline looked up at the former summoner when Yuna's fingers lightly brushed their tips. Maybe they were sensitive, too.
"What are we going to do?" Tidus asked almost randomly at the summit of Mt. Gagazet. Kimahri had stopped to meditate for a moment, and Yuna stopped to take a break from walking. Strangely enough no fiends had been on the mountain, all though she felt a hostile presence lurking not too far ahead.
Tidus recognized this as the place of many different events before the party had reached Zanarkand. It was where Seymour had once again appeared to them and told them of the massacre of the Ronso, and that he knew who Sin's true identity was. It was here that Yuna had found out the secret he had masked for so long.
"I think we should meet up with the Ronso in the ruins," Yuna said. "We can regroup there to figure out what we should do about Isaaru and the sphere." Tidus nodded.
"That sounds good... WATCH
OUT!" he shouted abruptly, pulling back Yuna and causing them both to collapse
upon the ground, narrowly missing an enormous spike that shot out from beneath
the rock. The snowy rock began to crumple, descending thousands of feet from
the edge. "KIMAHRI!"
The brave Ronso Elder held onto the ledge by merely a hand and was struggling to help himself up. Yuna lunged at him. "Kimahri, hold on!" she shouted, grabbing his hand. She couldn't let him die! This was all too fast for her... She groaned as she began to heave him up onto the rock, and just when she was about to break her grip Tidus embraced her around the stomach, supporting and strengthening her. Yuna was filled with warmth and hope and began to pull again, and finally Kimahri pulled himself onto the ledge, heaving and panting.
The exhausted trio turned around to face whatever had controlled the spike to jut from beneath the rock in the first place. Tidus and Yuna gasped in awe and fright, and Kimahri gazed into its hateful eyes bravely. It was enormous scorpion-like fiend, its exoskeleton grisly gray and its gaping eyes dark and endless. Its eight legs were like spindly, spidery scythes, and its two front claws were sharp and jagged. Two sets of dusty wings supported its back, allowing it to hover.
"What the hell is this?" Tidus muttered as the creature reared into the air, snapping viciously and letting out a fearsome bellow. Meow leapt onto his shoulder, gazing up at the creature with wide eyes. It was then that Yuna noticed the most peculiar thing about Meow. One of Meow's eyes was blue, and the other was green, just like her.
"Wintros," Kimahri said, wide-eyed. "Specters of Gagazet. They hostile creatures with dark minds... Demons."
"Wintros?" Yuna asked out loud as the Wintros turned to her, cutting down with a scything claw. She was hit full force, feeling herself fly into the icy mountain behind her. She crumpled to the ground before getting up and brushing her wet robes off a bit.
"Meow, attack it!" Tidus commanded, and the Coeurline leapt from his grip and latched onto the Wintros, digging her claws into its thick hide. She was stuck for a moment before losing her grip and running back to Tidus, having done no damage.
"Its hide is impenetrable," Kimahri said. "Only powers of light can harm."
"You mean that I can damage it with healing spells?" Yuna inquired, and Kimahri nodded as he began to charge up a White Magic spell. Tidus followed suit, commanding Meow to charge up a healing spell.
"Curaga!" Yuna shouted as a sphere of white light glistened around the Wintros. It appeared unaffected for a moment before staggering back, the light seeping into its ghastly pores. Meow unleashed a curative spell as well, which dug into its exoskeleton and caused it to stagger back in pain.
"Holy!" Kimahri shouted as a ring of pearly white orbs surrounded the Wintros, illuminated by a cloudy sky. Suddenly they spiraled upwards, leaving an assault of powerful holy damage in their wake. The Wintros shrieked in pain and began to sparkle before unleashing Ultima.
Tidus gripped Meow and Yuna as he flew into the wall, hit his head hard, and plummeted to the ground. Kimahri was blown back, watching as his Spiritual Lance clattered uselessly yards away. Yuna, shielded by Tidus, watched as she merely was knocked over. She felt her life lessen as she drifted into unconsciousness. It was up to an unarmed Kimahri to finish off such a beast now.
Meow nudged her master, and then nudged Yuna. They both would not awaken. Knowing what they would do in her shoes, she daintily fetched the Spiritual Lance and dropped it by Kimahri's side. The Ronso picked it up as Meow leapt into his strong grip, and she climbed onto his shoulder. The Wintros began to charge up another spell.
Kimahri leered as he began to charge another holy spell. Suddenly, the sky became clouded and the ring of orbs descended and ascended, leaving the Wintros badly damaged in its wake. Still alive, the Wintros cast Flare, sending Meow to the ground, charred by the hot energy. Kimahri flew back, watching as a nearly flaming Spiritual Lance landed dangerously close to Meow's body. His eyes fluttered into unconsciousness.
The Wintros had successfully won, and thus descended upon the party unfortunate enough to be attacked by it. They all had tantalizing souls to devour... But the girl's was especially delicious-smelling. It hovered above her, ready to siphon her soul from her unconscious form. Just as two claws headed in to draw out the fragrant morsel, a beam of white-hot light shot through the Wintros and the foul creature exploded into a large swarm of pyreflies.
Isaaru leapt nimbly from his aerial vantage and landed near Tidus's unconscious form. He began to drag all the unconscious bodies into the shelter of the shade, and then began to cast reviving spells upon the three. Almost immediately three beams of light shot from the sky and landed upon the bodies, causing them to awaken.
"What the..." Yuna said, turning drowsily to Isaaru. Her eyes widened. "How did you get here?"
"I was watching you," he replied. "If it weren't for me, the Wintros would've eaten your soul."
Yuna shivered as Isaaru withdrew a fleecy blanket from his bag and wrapped it around the former summoner. She bowed slightly in thanks, and Isaaru smiled. "Don't thank me. I should thank you," he said. "Ever since the monkeys became a part of Zanarkand, I found myself without duty. I fled to the Ronso, but when the monkeys began to disappear... I knew it was my part."
Yuna nodded slightly. Tidus opened his eyes, staring at Isaaru for a moment. "Isaaru? Is that you?" he asked. Isaaru nodded slightly. Tidus waved a bit, and Yuna laughed. "Good to see you again. What's up?"
Isaaru grinned, eyes shining. He had found some peace amidst all of this confusion. Yuna got up, and then turned to a drowsy Kimahri.
"Kimahri! It's Isaaru!" he said, an unconscious Meow leaping into Tidus's arms as the Blitzer laughed. Kimahri nodded.
"Hello Isaaru, guardian of Zanarkand."