I don't own anything except the Takahari family, their Dragoon Spirits, and Kenji Okamura
Following Ryan's encounter with a lightning bolt, our group moved cautiously into the Thunder Plains, while keeping a constant eye out for lightning.
I kept close to Rikku; if I was correct in my theory that her problem with lightning was a phobia, she would need encouragement to get through the ghastly place. "So why are you afraid of thunder?" I quietly asked her.
She shrugged. "Well... A few years ago, I was on the beach when a water fiend attacked me. My brother used a Thunder spell on it, but he missed and hit me, instead. I've hated lightning ever since."
"I see," I said, nodding sympathetically. "I'm not exactly sure what the other natives of Spira would think of it, but my world knows a little about psychology. While most of what psychologists spout is mere psychobabble, we do know about irrational fears that you can't rid yourself of. We can them phobias, in case that means anything to you."
She blinked. "Uh, not really." Then she smiled. "But at least you took my mind off the storm!"
"Glad to help."
Abruptly, she frowned. "Wait a minute. What do you mean, 'your world'? Aren't you from Spira, too?"
I raised an eyebrow. "You mean nobody's gotten around to mentioning it? These Dragoon Spirits ain't exactly the sort of thing you'd find in Spira. Neither are the guns, for that matter. I'm originally from a place called Earth, and I came here from the land of Endiness." I proceeded to give her a brief rundown of what had happened in the past six years.
"Wow!" Rikku's expression was an odd mixture of surprise, disbelief, and interest. "Not even the ancient machina could do that!"
"It's magic, not science," I said with a shrug. "I don't pretend to understand it either. As long as it works, I'm happy."
I was about to say more, but in the brief flash of light from an electrical discharge, I saw a figure standing on one of the lightning rods. I discerned that he had red hair, and wore a tattered cloak. There was a golden ring on his finger, a coiled snake with jade eyes.
When next the sky lit, the man was gone, and I could determine nothing else. But what I had seen startled me. Him!? What's he doing here!? I stopped in my tracks, staring open-mouthed at the spot the man had been occupying. d'Eltham... How the devil did you get here, and why? Have you come for the same reason as before?
Rikku noticed my astonishment, and paused, concerned. "Hey, Ian? Is something wrong?"
I shook off the feeling. "Uh, no... No, it's nothing. Just... thought I saw a ghost, that's all."
"You are weird," she commented, sounding almost admiring. "But I guess nobody in this group is exactly normal."
"Too true." I slowly swept my gaze over each of my companions. Three ninja, two worlds removed from their own... One Black Monster, still learning to live and love again... A man from a city that hasn't existed in a thousand years... A Blitzball player turned Guardian, who's a little too much of the true believer... An almost silent monster who walks like a man and fights like a force of nature... A young summoner who is clearly way over her head in something... A Gothic woman who was once nearly engaged to Wakka's brother, and seems to have some feelings toward him... An Al Bhed who is guarding a Yevonite... And a man who is already dead, yet walks among the living; as if he still has one last task to complete...
My musing brought something else to mind, and I turned to the young Al Bhed once again. "By the way, you said Yuna's mother was your father's sister. Would your father's name be Cid, by any chance?"
She looked surprised. "Yeah; how'd you know?"
I shrugged. "Yuna once mentioned that her father, Braska, told her that if she was ever in any trouble, she should seek out the help of her Al Bhed uncle, Cid. So it stood to reason that your father would be that uncle."
"Yeah; Yunie's mother was Dad's only sibling. That's also why Yunie has different-colored eyes; that's the mark of a half-Al Bhed."
"Most interesting..."
Most of the rest of the journey through that area of the Thunder Plains was uneventful, but tedious; dashing from lightning rod to lightning rod in search of shelter.
When we reached an Al Bhed Travel Agency, however, Rikku begged us to take a break; the storm was getting to her.
Auron finally acquiesced, saying, "We rest. She's worse than the storm."
She does get her way... when she wants it badly enough, I mused.
While the others went in to rest, I stayed outside, with Rose and Ryan. "I just don't quite understand being afraid of thunderstorms," I murmured. "I mean, I realize she had a bad experience with it, but I find it rather soothing."
"Oh, believe me, I can understand it," Ryan said fervently. "After you've been struck by lightning, you want to avoid a repeat performance."
I smirked, remembering my brother's encounter just as we entered the Plains. "Your own fault, brother. You should have been more cautious." Then I subsided, staring into the storm.
"Something wrong, Ian?" Rose asked with concern.
"Ahh, I just have a very bad feeling about what's to come. A premonition, almost." I unconsciously rubbed my eyepatch, then lit my pipe. "And I feel a faint aura, a familiar one... But I can't place it. And it seems to be tainted with a mechanical presence. A combination of organic and machine..." I forbore to mention the figure I had seen in the lightning flash.
Ryan closed his eyes, clearly stretching out with his own paranormal senses. After a moment, he nodded slightly, and opened his eyes. "You're right, niisan, though it doesn't feel familiar to me. I've never encountered anything like it." He paused, considering, as if what he was about to say was something he didn't really believe himself, and didn't expect me to believe. "Niisan... Isn't that kind of how you'd expect a cyborg to feel?"
I started to shake my head, then paused thoughtfully. "You know, Ryan, you may have something, at that. I know the Hideoshi family was working on something like that before they were wiped out, so it's not impossible. But it would be extremely odd to find one in a place like Spira."
Rose frowned, not understanding what we were talking about. "What, exactly, is a 'cyborg'?"
"Cybernetic organism," Ryan replied. "You take a human being, then replace things like certain internal organs, skeletal structures, and the like with machines, and maybe add a computer built right into the brain and maybe a powered exoskeleton. To my knowledge, even Hideoshi Industries, a clan-run company, never got beyond the prototype stage, and even then, there were no human test subjects. But it could be that someone found the research and ran with it, maybe adding in a little gene-therapy."
"And the result would be a super-soldier," I said quietly. "Stronger, faster, and maybe even smarter than a normal man. And capable of absorbing far more punishment. It's entirely possible that even I, or you, Rose, would be unable to defeat such an opponent, especially if he were armed with some type of firearm, or, worse yet, a laser."
"Or she," Rose pointed out softly. "I can't get as clear a read on this 'presence' as you two, but I believe it's a she."
"Well, that narrows it down," Ryan said sarcastically. "That still leaves a lot of people Ian's known over the years. Even if you limit it to Terrans."
"I think she's right, brother," I murmured. "I also think that I'm not going to like this one bit. How many people have I known that you haven't...?" After a moment of useless speculation, I shrugged. "Not important right now. Now we need to rest, at least until Auron says it's time to move on."
"Why Auron?"
"Well, you didn't think Yuna was in charge of this jaunt, did you?"
Auron got us moving again not long after that.
As we entered the next and, theoretically, final section of the Thunder Plains, I studied the Spirans, assessing their attitudes. Something seemed... different.
In particular, Yuna appeared greatly disturbed by something, and seemed to be psyching herself up for something. Tidus, on the other hand, looked very embarrassed by something, though I couldn't begin to guess what; though it did seem to have something to do with the young summoner.
As always, Auron and Kimahri were pretty much unreadable, while Wakka and Lulu seemed about the same. Rikku, fortunately, had obviously rested enough to avoid freaking out on the rest of the trek through the storm.
I couldn't shake my own misgivings; our brief rest had only intensified them. I wasn't sure what disturbed me more: the fact that I had them, or the fact that I was the only feeling it.
To me, this suggested that whatever it was, it was my problem, not Rose's, not Ryan's, not Karen's. Mine. And that scared the daylights out of me.
Perhaps, if I had known in time, things would have been different. Maybe... I could have...
Around halfway through the journey across the Plains, Yuna called a brief halt, and we gathered in the shelter of one of the lightning rods.
"I feel that I should tell you all what my decision is," she said. Taking a deep breath, she continued, "I... I have decided to accept Maester Seymour's proposal."
"What!?" The stolid Wakka looked stunned, and Tidus bore the expression of someone who'd just been punched in the gut by a Virage.
"As Maester Seymour said, a summoner's duty is to give happiness to all of Spira," Yuna began. "I believe that this will bring happiness to the people."
"Is she nuts?" Ryan muttered with his usual lack of tact.
I put a restraining hand on his shoulder. "Quiet, Ryan. It's not our business who Yuna decides to marry."
"Yeah, but I thought..."
But I thought it would be Tidus, I thought, silently completing his sentence. "I know, Ryan, but it is still none of our business. Concentrate on the mission, brother."
He took a deep breath, smoothing his face. "You're right, of course, niisan. The sooner we complete the mission, the sooner we're back at the dojo. Never thought I'd say this, but I actually miss the day-to-day routine. At least there we've got things like running water, electric lights, and air beds."
"You're getting soft, Ryan," I chided. "Better watch yourself, or I might take apart the generator some night, scatter the pieces, and tell you to find them and reassemble them by dawn."
His horrified expression was priceless.
"You are sure?" Auron said to Yuna.
"Yes."
She's up to something...
He examined her face for a moment, then finally nodded. "Very well. Let us move on."
"I think you're right, Ian," Rose told me as the entourage got underway once more. "She's almost certainly up to something."
I turned my head and looked at her through narrowed eyes. "You never mentioned you could read minds, love."
"Not your mind, just your face." She chuckled at my expression. "Oh, a stranger wouldn't see anything, but to anyone who actually knows you, you might as well be screaming it."
"I'll have to work on that," I muttered.
Karen paused for a moment, mid-step. "You know, Ian, Ryan's not the only one who's looking forward to the completing the mission. I'd like to get back myself, check up on everybody..."
"And go see Lavitz, right?" I said, smirking. Her relationship with the Serdian knight was not unknown to me.
The chop to my ear was delivered with such blinding speed I never saw it coming, and I collapsed, dazed. "Watch it, niisan! That's none of your business!"
"Okay, okay," I said weakly, "I won't say another word. Ouch," I added, and moaned a couple of times, rubbing my head.
Karen looked satisfied as I dragged myself back to my feet, then sniffed and walked away. "She's been practicing," Rose noted. "That's the first time I've seen her actually hit you. Even Ryan only managed it while he was under Soul Slayer's influence."
"I wasn't expecting it, that's all." I winced. "Though I suppose I should have, knowing my sister." Watching her go, I noted with a certain amount of trepidation that she was now speaking with Rikku. "One thing, Rose... Let's make sure that Rikku never, ever gets together with both Meru and Karen. That just doesn't bear thinking about."
When we finally reached the entrance to Macalania Forest, Ryan heaved an audible sigh of relief, along with Rikku. Now that they were out of the thunderstorm, they were both much more cheerful.
"Better get over your little problem with lightning, brother," I advised. "Especially since our Gothic friend seems fond of Thunder Magic."
"Ahh, I'll be fine," Ryan replied. "I'm just still a little 'shocked' from my encounter with it."
I rolled my eye; he always did have a penchant for bad jokes. I estimated it would be a century or two before he got to the emotional age of fifteen or sixteen.
"How many malevolent forests does this make that we've gone through in the last six years?" Rose wondered aloud.
"Hmm." Karen scratched her head. "Well, let's see... First there was the forest outside Seles, then the Dragon's Nest and the woods leading to Deningrad... and the forest on the way to Kilika Temple. So this is the fifth. Though it seems like the hundredth, doesn't it, Rose?"
"Yes, it does." Gazing at the forest ceiling for a moment, she frowned. "I wonder what happened to that 'Alucard' fellow. Now that Cassius is dead, I'd have thought he'd have returned, if only to check up on you, Ian."
"You never really know with Alucard," I replied with a shrug. "Maybe he's gone back into hibernation, or maybe he just has more important things to worry about. Who knows?" Pausing for a moment, I drew Raiden-Ken, rolled sideways, and bisected a mean-looking fiend. "Anyway," I continued, sheathing my blade, "our primary concern at the moment is getting through this dratted forest with our hides intact."
Deep within the forest, the summoner Dona's Guardian, Barthello, came running over to us. "Hey!" he called, puffing with exertion. "Have you seen Dona? We got separated."
"Dona?" Tidus frowned. "No, we haven't. Why?"
"Damn it!" he cursed. "I've got to find her!"
"Calm yourself," Auron said quietly. "Guard your emotions, then guard your summoner."
Barthello looked angry for a moment, then took a deep breath and nodded. "You're right." He took several more deep breaths. "Excuse me," he said, and ran off.
Noting Rikku's strange look, Tidus walked over to her. "What is it?"
She shook herself. "Oh, I just wanted to wish him luck, that's all."
I gave her a sidelong glance. Why do I get the feeling that the Al Bhed are responsible for this? Not that I mind; even Dona doesn't deserve a fate like that.
Over an hour later, as we neared the edge of the forest, Auron paused, turning toward a side path that was blocked off by some kind of crystalline formation. "There is something you should see," he said.
"But-" Wakka protested.
"It won't take long." Auron hefted his huge sword, let his left arm fall from its sling, and swung, time and again, slicing the obstruction into tiny pieces. "Come."
In the clearing at the end of the trail, a small pool full of some kind of liquid lay at the base of a tree. "Wow," Rikku said in awe. "What is it?"
"This is what spheres are made from," Auron replied.
Moments later, a large, spherical thing arose from the pool. "Fiends are also attracted to such places," he added. "Draw your weapons."
With a dubious glance at the bizarre fiend, I drew my katana once more. "What is this thing?" I wondered aloud.
"A Spheromorph," Wakka replied, animosity temporarily forgotten in the face of battle. "I've heard of 'em, but I never thought I'd see one. Use magic on these guys, yah? Physical strikes don't work to well. They're like big Flans, 'cept these guys change element sometimes. Be careful!"
"No kidding." Elemental; that would put all four of us Dragoons at a disadvantage; three of us were non-elemental, and the fourth was Dark, which didn't seem to have an equivalent here. In that case... "Ryan," I barked, "get ready for kuji fire spells. Karen, you use water, and Rose" for over the years, she too had learned kuji "you use ice. I'll go with lightning." Those four, since they seemed to be the most common elements in Spira.
The following battle was grueling, yet I had a sense of foreboding. Whatever it was that I had been sensing earlier, it was soon going to show itself.
I was distracted a moment too long, and I didn't realize the danger approaching me until Tidus shouted. "Ian! Look out!"
Instinctively I whirled, jumped, and somersaulted through the air over the incoming spell, stabbing backwards into the fiend as I landed. "Die, you piece of protoplasmic garbage!"
Abruptly, and to my complete and total surprise, my katana was batted aside by another. "You have other problems," a feminine, electronic-tinged voice said behind me.
I spun to face the owner of the voice, and found myself face-to-face with the entity I had sensed earlier, the one Ryan had correctly thought to be a cyborg. And, as Rose had predicted, a female. No trace of her features were visible, for she was covered in a gray exoskeleton, with a featureless helmet. She carried a naked blade in one hand.
"Who are you!?" I demanded, smoothly assuming a fighting stance.
"Have you forgotten me, Ian?" Though difficult to tell through the exoskeleton, the cyborg seemed disappointed. "I have come from another world to do battle with you," she continued. "I will kill you, or you will kill me. It makes no difference."
"I do not know who you are," I said quietly. "But I do not believe I have any quarrel with you. Leave, and I will not harm you."
"No, Ian," my adversary said softly. "This must be done." She raised her blade. "Come and fight!"
"As you wish." Raising Raiden-Ken, I moved swiftly forward, beginning with a conservative slash, which was easily turned aside. I continued into the Dancing Death, sill attempting to end this fight in a nonlethal manner. A ninja ruthlessly dealt with his enemies, but I refused to kill some one I had never before met if I could avoid it.
She seemed to have other ideas: her return blow opened a shallow cut on my right cheek and severed the strap holding my eyepatch on, causing it to flutter to the ground. "To the death, Ian. That is how this must be."
Using cybernetically-enhanced reflexes, the cyborg unleashed a powerful, insanely fast combination that I was only barely able to block, and I was forced to leap over the final strike.
As we went at it, with the battle with the Spheromorph going on behind us, I reflected that the only entity who had given me this much trouble was Cassius; even Count Draco von Schneider wouldn't have lasted this long had we ever fought a straight-out duel. Come to think of it, he hadn't.
I tried a powerful backhand slash, and that was when the battle ended, for the cyborg woman's return blow cut off my right arm above the elbow.
Stunned, I stared as my sword arm dropped to the ground, still holding my blade in a tight grip. "Wh-what...?" I couldn't even feel it; I was still in shock from the injury, and I stared helplessly up at the woman who was about to kill me. Not even my ring would help me now, for it was on the hand I no longer had. "Why?"
She knelt, picked up the ring, and tossed it into the watery pool. "It had to be done." She raised her blade once more...
Only to have it knocked away as the man whom I had seen in the Thunder Plains dropped out of the trees, red hair and gray cloak fluttering in the wind of his passage. "Get away from him," he said coldly, standing between me and the cyborg. "It is not his time."
Without answering, she glanced first at him, then at me. Then she nodded, touched some kind of control on her exoskeleton, and vanished.
"d'Eltham...?" I said weakly, clutching my stump. "What are you...?" Before I could complete my question, my injury caught up with me, my eyes rolled back into my head, and I surrendered to unconsciousness.
Author's note: Pretty unexpected, eh? I realize the cyborg may seem a little out of place, but it'll be explained soon enough, as will Ian's mysterious rescuer. And, of course, Ian himself will not be left in this condition too long.
Songwind, there was indeed a section I was looking forward to, and I have just reached it. I should have the next chapter up before too long. As to your other question, I haven't decided yet.
YojimbosBlade, as long as you don't use my characters and such, you don't need my permission to write an LoD/FFX crossover. I own my characters and certain alterations to the storyline, nothing more.
I think that about covers everything. Read it and let me know what you think. -Solid Shark
