They had worked their way through the scouting of Zanarkand with little effort. There wasn't much to be found -- a single sphere on the building of Vegnagun had been the only useful thing there. Mostly it was just personal records from summoners who had passed though. They kept every sphere they found, however, just in case it would prove to be useful.
Just when they had decided to go to Macalania to investigate the problem that Gippal had heard about in his time on the Celsius, Baralai's keen eyes spotted something strange on the road to Mt. Gagazet.
It was a rock. However, it was a perfectly spherical rock... and that was something that didn't happen naturally. Gippal went over to it and picked it up. "It weighs like a regular sphere," he said, bouncing it in his hands a little.
Nooj wet his sleeve in the snow that collected off to the side of the road and wiped the surface of the rock-sphere down with the hem. "It's really dirty," he observed, peering at the newly-cleaned spot. "But it looks like an ancient white sphere."
"A white sphere?" Baralai came over to get a closer look. "The ones that stored--"
"--medical records," Gippal finished, sighing. "Useless. What good would medical records do?"
"You never know," Nooj said, pulling off layers of dirt with the tips of his robotic fingers. "There might be something interesting. It's worth a watch."
The three of them gathered around, each working at cleaning off the sphere as best as he could, until finally the playback buttons were cleared off and the screen was visible. "Let's see if this works," Baralai said, wiping the last of the dust off and pressing the button to play the sphere.
The voice of a woman, scratchy and barely understandable, came through the sphere. Her words were broken. "Discovered source... plague outbreak... released... no human... air... specially trained... blessed... sealed... colossal... Bevelle..."
The screen sputtered and faded after that, and the three looked at it curiously. "Plague?" Baralai finally asked, scraping a little more dirt away.
"There's too much dirt on it, this needs a special reader," Nooj said, wrapping the sphere in a handkerchief. "We should get this back and look at it as soon as possible."
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The three men gathered around the sphere reader in Bevelle, in Baralai's office, and awaited the machine to warm up and analyze the sphere. Once the light clicked on and the magnifier screen appeared, the playback started automatically.
"We have discovered the source of the plague outbreak," said an image of a woman in long, coarse, gray robes. "The infection was being released around the location of a great tree near the sacred lake, so thick that no human could breathe the air without dying instantaneously." She went on talking, though static obscure the next thing she said, until full audio resumed with "...specially trained creatures, blessed with sacred relics to ward off the infections, controlled by their masters, were able to obtain the root and leaf of the tree and the indestructible power was sealed away in the colossal machine underneath Bevelle. We fear it coming to life again, but it will be many generations before any are powerful enough to destroy the machine."
The screen fizzled and sputtered, the image of the woman disappearing entirely. The three men waited to see if there was more, but the sphere reader clicked off after a moment as well.
After a long silence, Baralai breathed, "Vegnagun."
"That's what it sounds like," Gippal added. "Colossus under Bevelle? What else could that be?"
"Indestructible power," Nooj said, picking up the sphere out of the sphere reader carefully. "Sealed in Vegnagun."
"And... Vegnagun was destroyed." Baralai's voice was shaking.
"Well, good going, people, destroying the thing which housed the indestructible power," Gippal said with a smirk, leaning back and falling into a rather plush chair in Baralai's office.
"It was either that, or have Vegnagun itself destroy the world," Nooj said, turning a glare onto Gippal.
"The reader says that the sphere appears to be more than 1100 years old," Baralai said, taking the sphere from Nooj, glancing over it carefully. "Maybe if Vegnagun sat for so long housing this power, it could have died off... and since Vegnagun was destroyed, wouldn't whatever was inside of it been destroyed as well?"
"Look, it said something about the tree near the 'sacred lake' or whatever," Gippal said, standing up again and pacing. Ghiki... "Maybe we should figure out where that is and go check it out there."
"Gippal," Nooj said, his glare dissolving, "that's the best idea you've had in a while."
"Sacred lake..." Baralai mused, glancing over the sphere. "There's the water in Zanarkand, but that wouldn't have been sacred back then... the only other lake with those sorts of connotations is the one in Macalania--"
"--which is where the girls are headed," Gippal broke in. "Maybe we could kill two birds with one stone... figure out this mystery, and get some answers about that dress sphere." Ghiki...
"Then, to Macalania we'll go," Nooj announced, standing up fully.
"We'll leave in the morning," Baralai told them, motioning to the hallway outside the office. "You guys, go get a couple of rooms and get some rest. Sleeping out on the road for so long can grate on you."
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"Hey Nooj?"
Nooj turned around and faced Gippal, looking at him curiously. "What is it?"
"Uh," Gippal said, kicking at the ground slightly. "Can I... have that dress sphere?"
Nooj raised his eyebrows. "Why?"
Ghiki!
Gippal shook his head. The calling, Rikku's voice, it wouldn't go away. "I... know you and Lai are worried, but..."
Nooj took a step closer to Gippal, studying his face. "You never were one to run," he said finally, turning and going back into the room.
"She's calling me, Nooj!" Gippal protested before the other man could shut the door in his face. "I'm worried, she's... I keep hearing her."
"You've gone crazy," Nooj replied, trying to shut the door again. "No, I won't let you have it."
"Please!"
"No, Gippal!" Nooj's voice was firm, and his glare even firmer. "You told us what you saw, and I couldn't stand having something happen to you and have it be my fault."
"Thanks for your concern," Gippal said harshly, pushing his arms through the opening of the door and trying to get inside. "But I have to, what if she's in trouble--"
"Rikku helped defeat Vegnagun," Nooj said very calmly. "I'm sure she can handle whatever this is without you butting in and checking up on her."
"You don't understand!" Gippal was now almost entirely in the room. "She's calling me, I can hear her voice, I need to go to her before it drives me insane."
Maybe it was the desperation evident in Gippal's expression, or just the fact that Gippal was trying this hard to get past him, but Nooj softened after a moment. "Fine, Gippal, you can have it," he said, allowing Gippal access to the room, and the treasure box that was sitting in the center of the floor.
"Thanks," Gippal said, moving toward the box.
Before he could get very far, Nooj grabbed his elbow. "But I'm going with you," he informed him.
Gippal was slightly astounded. Ghiki...? "I don't know if that's possible--"
"Any number of people can use a dress sphere at the same time," Nooj said, lifting the lid of the box with his other hand. "And, while you fear death, I don't. Whatever it was that you saw, it won't frighten me."
Gippal looked down at the sphere. "I... don't know what'll happen... but they call me Ghiki." It was a little strange telling Nooj of all people that, but maybe it would help. Then, he smirked as he crouched down to take the sphere. "I hope I don't have to share a brain with you."
"That would frighten me more than death frightens you," Nooj replied, dropping into a slow crouch himself. Machinery in his leg clinked together slightly as he did so. "Now, how do you do this?"
"You just put your palm on it," Gippal explained, reaching out to place his palm on the sphere.
Nooj nodded and gripped onto Gippal's arm with his mechanical hand, and put his hand outstretched next to Gippal's. "Here goes," he said, cocking a bit of a smile at Gippal.
Ghiki... Gippal nodded, meeting Nooj's gaze for a split second before they both reached forward and their palms connected with the sphere.