Mari: Sorry it took so long to get these last two chapters up. Someone
wanted to do homework.
Toey: Well excuse me for thinking about your future!
Mari: Shut up or I'll feed you to the evil poptart!
Toey: Uhhh...we already ate it...
Mari: ...Shut up!
Toey: My angry friend here does not own SquareEnix or FFX-2 in any way.
Mari: *foams at mouth*
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
The morning sounds of seagulls awoke Paine. She had fallen asleep on the park bench! Glancing up at the clock, she sat straight up. It was nine forty-five, too close to waste any time on food.
Dock number 4 wasn't too far away, but she would have to run to make it in time. So, still half asleep, Paine scuttled to the boats. The attendant, a meek, brown-haired woman, bowed politely and accepted her letter as a pass. Mumbling low thanks, the disheveled recorder stumbled onto the boat.
She fell into one of the beds on the lower floors and closed her eyes. Boats weren't really her thing. Just as she fell asleep, she recalled a memory of a conversation with her brother, Crew.
They were splayed out on the roof of the agency as they stared over the ocean.
"Whatcha thinking about, sis?" Crew asked.
"Airships," she replied. "Wouldn't it be so awesome to fly in one? Fly like a bird!"
Crew frowned on this idea. "I dunno, sis, mom and dad told me that we shouldn't use machina. It's against the teachings of Yevon."
Paine shrugged. "Not really. I mean, you can't really shoot things out of an airship, I think. Still, don't you wanna fly?"
"Yeah, I guess it would be fun," Crew murmured.
"Tell you what," Paine said, standing up, "When we grow up, I'll get us an airship and we can ride on it," she extended a hand down to him. "Together. I promise." Crew smiled and took her hand, getting up as well.
"Right!" he cried. "Together!"
Paine felt a hand on her shoulder. "Go away, Crew, let me sleep!" she muttered.
"Uh, miss?" it was the meek attendant. "We've arrived at Bikanel Island. I think you should get down there now." With that, she left to go upstairs. Paine got up and quickly scrubbed her face before grabbing her sword and leaving.
The air on deck was hot and dry, carrying particles of dust and grit that forced itself into her mouth and nose. She coughed once or twice before spotting the large group that had huddled together on the makeshift dock.
"Trainees of the Crimson squad!" a man in green called out over the crowd, "Please assemble in the tent to your far left! You will receive all of your directions there!" Paine and the others filed into the red tent, where they saw rows of guns, cameras, glimmering spheres, and other sorts of weaponry.
The man who had addressed them earlier stood on a small platform and began to speak. "Ladies and gentlemen!" he cried. Confused murmuring commenced at the mention of a woman in the crowd.
"Ladies? Why there ain't no ladies here!" a soldier yelled.
Paine sighed and hit him on the back of the head. "Back here you moron!" she shouted. He turned around and met her hard, red eyes. He shrugged sheepishly and muttered what sounded like an apology.
The irritable man in green coughed loudly. "As I was saying!" he continued, "You'll find your group numbers listed here, as is the location of your drill and the group you will be going up against. Your objective is to capture the opponent's fort and destroy any fiends." A projection appeared out of a sphere he was holding. Paine was in Team 5. "Collect your gun or camera here, along with a weapon of choice if you wish. A caravan will come to pick you up as soon as you are ready."
There was a flood of people to the racks as soon as he stepped down from the podium. Paine grabbed a camera and a couple of spheres before running out of the mosh pit of a tent. She hadn't gotten a chance to see who her other group members were, but didn't really care either way. It's not like they were going to be friends, anyway.
"Where to miss? Your group will be my first stop," the Al Bhed driver asked. He had a little bit of an accent as he spoke. Paine had never really met an Al Bhed, and her parents and priests had warned her against them. They said that the Al Bhed polluted Spira and cursed Yevon's beliefs.
"Uh, Team 5?" she asked. "I'm not really sure where that is."
"No problem! I'll take you there as soon as the other groups arrive!" he said. So Paine waited under the covered caravan as one by one, the other members of different groups arrived.
Team 5 arrived at their site first. Paine sat down by a large rock or fragment of large machina and attempted to install her sphere. Her other members were three men. One of them was blonde and wore an eye patch. He waved and grinned at her. Paine ignored him, pretending to be fixated on her camera.
The second one wore the heavy, green robes of a follower of Yevon. His silver hair swept back over a well-tanned face. He had a curious look about him, always surveying his surroundings. She could tell he was a friendly guy.
The other man was by far the oddest. He limped on a metal leg and had an uninviting air around him. He completely ignored her and the other two members. Instead, he concentrated on loading his gun. Paine would get nothing out of him. He seemed somehow familiar, though. As if she'd seen him before.
The sphere finally snapped into place just as Team 3 started firing. Paine lifted up the camera and began to film.
"This is rough," the man in robes commented.
The blonde Al Bhed sat down, covering his head. "Isn't Team Three getting a little carried away? I thought this was supposed to be a drill!" An explosion nearby knocked him off his feet. He stood up and fired a few rounds at the opposite team.
"Aren't you an Al Bhed?" the curious one asked. "Why are you trying out for the Crimson Squad?"
"Hey, the Al Bhed want to protect Spira too. I wanted to be a Crusader but apparently we're, uh, 'not eligible.'" He examined his gun. "Besides, no one can handle one of these babies like an Al Bhed can."
"Machina," the Yevonite murmured, looking ready to drop his rifle. "Even if the maester's okay with it, what about everyone else?"
"Shut up," the man with the metal leg snapped, "We'll get reported." He looked pointedly at Paine. The Al Bhed waved at her to turn off the camera. Paine shrugged and flipped it off.
A few minutes later, Paine flicked the switch back on. The Yevonite was attempting to make friends with the serious, metal-legged man. "My name's Baralai. I'm from Bevelle. You?"
He didn't receive an answer. The Al Bhed man scoffed. "I've seen this a thousand times," he said, walking up to Baralai, "A lot of people would rather shoot an Al Bhed than tell them their name."
The man paused. "It's Nooj," he replied coldly.
Baralai gaped. "THE Nooj?" he asked. Paine remembered when she had seen him. He had been hanging around Mushroom Rock when she was a child, applying for a job as a Crusader. Back then, he had both legs. People called him a "Deathseeker," someone who was searching to die.
"Uh, hey, Nooj?" The Al Bhed said in a quirky tone, "My name is Gippal." Nooj continued to ignore him as he ascended up the hill.
Baralai walked over to Paine. "And you?" he asked. The sphere went dark.
"Damn it!" Paine cursed. Too much sand had gotten into camera. The sphere would now be unusable. She tossed it over her shoulder and installed a new one, ignoring Baralai's question.
"Hey!" Gippal pointed over the fortress to a row of machina leading over to the enemy's side. "We can get through there!" Baralai looked in the direction and nodded. "Great! You coming?" Gippal asked her. Paine nodded as well and picked up her sword.
They had almost reached the enemy's shelter when the gunfire suddenly stopped. The four of them looked at each other quizzingly and stood. There was no sign of the other team. In their place were a multitude of fiends. Almost instantly, they were surrounded. Paine began to film again.
"Ammo?" Baralai cried.
"I'm out!" Gippal shouted back.
"This is it!" Nooj yelled.
"Don't give up!" He now held a long, bladed staff.
"Me?" Gippal pulled out two thieves knives.
"Now what?"
"After you!"
"Scared?"
"BANG!" Baralai shouted, trying to scare the fiends back.
It was then that Nooj did something Paine thought no living person would ever do. He hobbled over to a flame-breathing fiend and threw down his gun down at its feet. Paine gasped and threw down her camera, picking up her engraved sword. She sliced it in half with a practiced, downward sweep, leaving Nooj dumbfounded.
She then commenced helping Baralai and Gippal with the other fiends. Once they were exterminated, she picked up her camera to finish her work.
Nooj glared at her with dark eyes. "How dare you..." he asked. He wanted that fiend to kill him. This amateur had prevented that.
"Nooj," Paine said coolly, "Word has it that you're searching for a place to die."
Gippal, who had been looking around for any more fiends in the sand, glanced up. "You serious?" he asked.
The Deathseeker sighed. "It's harder than it sounds."
"He's serious," Gippal replied in Al Bhed.
"You were ready to give up back there," Paine continued, "Ready to die."
"Very perceptive," Nooj sarcastically replied, "You'll be a legend among recorders."
"You're a legend yourself," she said, "The Crusaders won't soon forget 'Nooj the Undying.' So why?"
He stared at her for a while before answering. "It's my life to throw away." He began to walk away, limping heavily on his metal leg. Paine raised her eyebrows. This was in interesting man.
Baralai frowned. "Nooj?" and followed him.
"Hey!" Gippal jogged after him as well. Paine turned the camera off and tagged along, pleased with her day's work. They better pay me well, she thought.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Toey: That sure was a long chapter.
Mari: We worked really hard on it. You know, watching the spheres over and over again, to make sure that we have all of the words exactly right.
Toey: Yeah. I'm exhausted.
Mari: Want to go get a cookie?
Toey: Sure!
Toey: Well excuse me for thinking about your future!
Mari: Shut up or I'll feed you to the evil poptart!
Toey: Uhhh...we already ate it...
Mari: ...Shut up!
Toey: My angry friend here does not own SquareEnix or FFX-2 in any way.
Mari: *foams at mouth*
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
The morning sounds of seagulls awoke Paine. She had fallen asleep on the park bench! Glancing up at the clock, she sat straight up. It was nine forty-five, too close to waste any time on food.
Dock number 4 wasn't too far away, but she would have to run to make it in time. So, still half asleep, Paine scuttled to the boats. The attendant, a meek, brown-haired woman, bowed politely and accepted her letter as a pass. Mumbling low thanks, the disheveled recorder stumbled onto the boat.
She fell into one of the beds on the lower floors and closed her eyes. Boats weren't really her thing. Just as she fell asleep, she recalled a memory of a conversation with her brother, Crew.
They were splayed out on the roof of the agency as they stared over the ocean.
"Whatcha thinking about, sis?" Crew asked.
"Airships," she replied. "Wouldn't it be so awesome to fly in one? Fly like a bird!"
Crew frowned on this idea. "I dunno, sis, mom and dad told me that we shouldn't use machina. It's against the teachings of Yevon."
Paine shrugged. "Not really. I mean, you can't really shoot things out of an airship, I think. Still, don't you wanna fly?"
"Yeah, I guess it would be fun," Crew murmured.
"Tell you what," Paine said, standing up, "When we grow up, I'll get us an airship and we can ride on it," she extended a hand down to him. "Together. I promise." Crew smiled and took her hand, getting up as well.
"Right!" he cried. "Together!"
Paine felt a hand on her shoulder. "Go away, Crew, let me sleep!" she muttered.
"Uh, miss?" it was the meek attendant. "We've arrived at Bikanel Island. I think you should get down there now." With that, she left to go upstairs. Paine got up and quickly scrubbed her face before grabbing her sword and leaving.
The air on deck was hot and dry, carrying particles of dust and grit that forced itself into her mouth and nose. She coughed once or twice before spotting the large group that had huddled together on the makeshift dock.
"Trainees of the Crimson squad!" a man in green called out over the crowd, "Please assemble in the tent to your far left! You will receive all of your directions there!" Paine and the others filed into the red tent, where they saw rows of guns, cameras, glimmering spheres, and other sorts of weaponry.
The man who had addressed them earlier stood on a small platform and began to speak. "Ladies and gentlemen!" he cried. Confused murmuring commenced at the mention of a woman in the crowd.
"Ladies? Why there ain't no ladies here!" a soldier yelled.
Paine sighed and hit him on the back of the head. "Back here you moron!" she shouted. He turned around and met her hard, red eyes. He shrugged sheepishly and muttered what sounded like an apology.
The irritable man in green coughed loudly. "As I was saying!" he continued, "You'll find your group numbers listed here, as is the location of your drill and the group you will be going up against. Your objective is to capture the opponent's fort and destroy any fiends." A projection appeared out of a sphere he was holding. Paine was in Team 5. "Collect your gun or camera here, along with a weapon of choice if you wish. A caravan will come to pick you up as soon as you are ready."
There was a flood of people to the racks as soon as he stepped down from the podium. Paine grabbed a camera and a couple of spheres before running out of the mosh pit of a tent. She hadn't gotten a chance to see who her other group members were, but didn't really care either way. It's not like they were going to be friends, anyway.
"Where to miss? Your group will be my first stop," the Al Bhed driver asked. He had a little bit of an accent as he spoke. Paine had never really met an Al Bhed, and her parents and priests had warned her against them. They said that the Al Bhed polluted Spira and cursed Yevon's beliefs.
"Uh, Team 5?" she asked. "I'm not really sure where that is."
"No problem! I'll take you there as soon as the other groups arrive!" he said. So Paine waited under the covered caravan as one by one, the other members of different groups arrived.
Team 5 arrived at their site first. Paine sat down by a large rock or fragment of large machina and attempted to install her sphere. Her other members were three men. One of them was blonde and wore an eye patch. He waved and grinned at her. Paine ignored him, pretending to be fixated on her camera.
The second one wore the heavy, green robes of a follower of Yevon. His silver hair swept back over a well-tanned face. He had a curious look about him, always surveying his surroundings. She could tell he was a friendly guy.
The other man was by far the oddest. He limped on a metal leg and had an uninviting air around him. He completely ignored her and the other two members. Instead, he concentrated on loading his gun. Paine would get nothing out of him. He seemed somehow familiar, though. As if she'd seen him before.
The sphere finally snapped into place just as Team 3 started firing. Paine lifted up the camera and began to film.
"This is rough," the man in robes commented.
The blonde Al Bhed sat down, covering his head. "Isn't Team Three getting a little carried away? I thought this was supposed to be a drill!" An explosion nearby knocked him off his feet. He stood up and fired a few rounds at the opposite team.
"Aren't you an Al Bhed?" the curious one asked. "Why are you trying out for the Crimson Squad?"
"Hey, the Al Bhed want to protect Spira too. I wanted to be a Crusader but apparently we're, uh, 'not eligible.'" He examined his gun. "Besides, no one can handle one of these babies like an Al Bhed can."
"Machina," the Yevonite murmured, looking ready to drop his rifle. "Even if the maester's okay with it, what about everyone else?"
"Shut up," the man with the metal leg snapped, "We'll get reported." He looked pointedly at Paine. The Al Bhed waved at her to turn off the camera. Paine shrugged and flipped it off.
A few minutes later, Paine flicked the switch back on. The Yevonite was attempting to make friends with the serious, metal-legged man. "My name's Baralai. I'm from Bevelle. You?"
He didn't receive an answer. The Al Bhed man scoffed. "I've seen this a thousand times," he said, walking up to Baralai, "A lot of people would rather shoot an Al Bhed than tell them their name."
The man paused. "It's Nooj," he replied coldly.
Baralai gaped. "THE Nooj?" he asked. Paine remembered when she had seen him. He had been hanging around Mushroom Rock when she was a child, applying for a job as a Crusader. Back then, he had both legs. People called him a "Deathseeker," someone who was searching to die.
"Uh, hey, Nooj?" The Al Bhed said in a quirky tone, "My name is Gippal." Nooj continued to ignore him as he ascended up the hill.
Baralai walked over to Paine. "And you?" he asked. The sphere went dark.
"Damn it!" Paine cursed. Too much sand had gotten into camera. The sphere would now be unusable. She tossed it over her shoulder and installed a new one, ignoring Baralai's question.
"Hey!" Gippal pointed over the fortress to a row of machina leading over to the enemy's side. "We can get through there!" Baralai looked in the direction and nodded. "Great! You coming?" Gippal asked her. Paine nodded as well and picked up her sword.
They had almost reached the enemy's shelter when the gunfire suddenly stopped. The four of them looked at each other quizzingly and stood. There was no sign of the other team. In their place were a multitude of fiends. Almost instantly, they were surrounded. Paine began to film again.
"Ammo?" Baralai cried.
"I'm out!" Gippal shouted back.
"This is it!" Nooj yelled.
"Don't give up!" He now held a long, bladed staff.
"Me?" Gippal pulled out two thieves knives.
"Now what?"
"After you!"
"Scared?"
"BANG!" Baralai shouted, trying to scare the fiends back.
It was then that Nooj did something Paine thought no living person would ever do. He hobbled over to a flame-breathing fiend and threw down his gun down at its feet. Paine gasped and threw down her camera, picking up her engraved sword. She sliced it in half with a practiced, downward sweep, leaving Nooj dumbfounded.
She then commenced helping Baralai and Gippal with the other fiends. Once they were exterminated, she picked up her camera to finish her work.
Nooj glared at her with dark eyes. "How dare you..." he asked. He wanted that fiend to kill him. This amateur had prevented that.
"Nooj," Paine said coolly, "Word has it that you're searching for a place to die."
Gippal, who had been looking around for any more fiends in the sand, glanced up. "You serious?" he asked.
The Deathseeker sighed. "It's harder than it sounds."
"He's serious," Gippal replied in Al Bhed.
"You were ready to give up back there," Paine continued, "Ready to die."
"Very perceptive," Nooj sarcastically replied, "You'll be a legend among recorders."
"You're a legend yourself," she said, "The Crusaders won't soon forget 'Nooj the Undying.' So why?"
He stared at her for a while before answering. "It's my life to throw away." He began to walk away, limping heavily on his metal leg. Paine raised her eyebrows. This was in interesting man.
Baralai frowned. "Nooj?" and followed him.
"Hey!" Gippal jogged after him as well. Paine turned the camera off and tagged along, pleased with her day's work. They better pay me well, she thought.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Toey: That sure was a long chapter.
Mari: We worked really hard on it. You know, watching the spheres over and over again, to make sure that we have all of the words exactly right.
Toey: Yeah. I'm exhausted.
Mari: Want to go get a cookie?
Toey: Sure!