I'm back, everybody! It was a little hairy for a while, but we came through all right. Anyway, I don't own anything except the OC's, although I wouldn't mind owning some of the other characters. Also, anything spoken in Al Bhed will be quoted with apostrophes ('). Okay, it's time for Chapter 5.

Chapter 5: Discoveries

The sign at the entrance of the little border town read "Discovery, Alabama". Ria took it as a possible omen, but she didn't know whether it was one of hope or doom. She saw Auron staring at the sign's flowery script with a slightly bewildered expression on his face. "Auron, is something the matter?" she asked him, carefully turning so that she didn't accidentally fall off her chocobo.

"What does that sign say?" he pointed at it.

"What, you mean you can't read?" Ria was incredulous.

"No, I can read, it's just that the letters here are different from those on Spira."

"Oh, well the sign says 'Welcome to Discovery, Alabama'. You'd probably be able to read it if it wasn't written in cursive letters." she told him.

They rode into town and noticed that the people seemed to be nervous. Finally, Auron grew tired of the suspicious looks that the townspeople were throwing him, and reined in his chocobo. "All right," he shouted after dismounting, "What is everyone's problem?"

Ria pulled up next to him and stopped. "Auron, are you out of your damn mind?" she hissed. "These people have shotguns! You DO know what a gun is, don't you?"

He didn't look at her, but kept his baleful gaze on the frightened townsfolk. "Yes, Ria, I do know what a gun is, and I'd really like it if you would stop questioning my sanity." he told her.

A wizened old man stepped forward from the crowd, a muzzleloader clutched in his trembling hands. "Are you with those monsters we've been seeing lately?"

"No, sir," Ria calmly replied, "My grim friend and I are monster hunters, and we had stopped by to see if you people needed any help."

"Oh, thank God!" the old man cried, relief evident in every inch of him. "Hey, everybody, they're here to help us."

Suddenly, the chocobos let out a warning cry, and their feathers flattened in alarm as a trio of mottled blue and red lizards appeared from behind an abandoned building. Auron and Ria pulled out their weapons, but the townsfolk had already begun an assault on the fiends. It was a short fight that ended with the fiends riddled with numerous bullet holes before they faded away. When the fight was over, Auron looked around with barely-concealed amusement mingled with astonishment. "It looks like you don't need our help after all."

"Those things aren't the problem," the old man retorted.

"Oh, really?"

"Our problem isn't these small fry, it's the dragon."

"A dragon?" Ria gaped, "You've got to be kidding me."

"I'm not joking! There's been this big-ass red dragon attacking the town off and on for the past few days, and we've tried to fight it, but a lot of our people got killed and it's still coming back!"

Auron thought about it for a moment and asked, "Do you know where its lair is?"

"No, but it'll come back in a couple of hours, and you can fight it all you want when it gets here."

"Very well, but first we'll need some supplies."

The old man eyed the swordsman suspiciously. "What kind of supplies?"

Suddenly, a blond-headed young man piped up, "Hank, I think he means all that weird stuff that stranger has in his shop."

Old Man Hank's eyes lit up and he replied, "Oh yeah, I forgot about that."

"What shop are you talking about?" Ria was curious.

"Well, this weird guy and his old lady showed up about the same time the monsters did, and they set up shop up the road from here. They've got some really good medicines, even though they'll only take monster treasure in payment."

"Did they say where they were from?" Auron asked him.

"Yeah, they said that they were 'All Beds' or something like that, and they have a really funny accent when they speak."

"Take us to them."

Hank led the two of them and their chocobos up the road to what appeared to be a refurbished antique shop. He nodded toward the door and said, "Well, there's the shop. The dragon will show up before long, though, so this is where we say good-bye."

"Don't worry; we'll take care of it." Ria told him.

"Confident, aren't we," Auron smirked as they entered the shop.

A man in a blue jumpsuit of an odd design greeted them. He was darker than Auron, but had curly orange hair and goggles hiding his eyes. "How may I help you?" the shopkeeper asked.

The swordsman said, "My Al Bhed is a little rusty, but…" and spoke haltingly in an odd language that Ria had never heard before.

'I need some supplies for a battle,' Auron said.

The keeper looked surprised, then replied, 'Well, I never thought I'd see another Spiran around here. What's your name, brother?'

'Auron, and yours?'

'I am Bakkuri, and my wife, Keyya is in the back.' He stopped and peered closely at Auron. 'Hey, you're Lady Yuna's guardian, aren't you?'

'Yes, but now I'm hers,' he nodded at Ria, who gave him a nervous smile.

"Hello, my lady," Bakkuri greeted her with a little bow. "I am Bakkuri, the owner of this little shop."

"I'm Ria," the young woman replied, "And I thank you for switching to a language I understand."

The shopkeeper threw back his head and laughed heartily. "Sir Auron, your summoner has a lot of spirit!"

Auron's lips twitched slightly as he said, "Some people would call it contrariness, but she's a mage, not a summoner."

Ria sniffed. "Well, Sir Auron, some people have enough sense to appreciate a woman with spirit. I'm so sorry that you don't seem to be counted among them."

She stalked out of the shop, while Auron sighed and Bakkuri guffawed. "Summoner or mage, all women will find some way to get you in trouble," he laughed.

Auron made a face, "Which is why I avoided getting married in the first place. Anyway, do you have some Potions and Ethers?"

"I have plenty of Ethers, but I'm running kind of low on Potions right now. These people seem to have no idea how to use magic, but know a lot about machina."

"Yes, the people in this world are strange, but we can't do anything about it."

The swordsman paid for the items and started to leave, but Bakkuri stopped him. "Oh, and here," he said, pressing some crumpled paper into Auron's hand. "I don't know what this stuff is, but the people here keep trying to give it to me and Keyya."

Auron left the shop, and looked around for Ria. He found her with the chocobos, and with her back turned to him. She turned around at the sound of his approach and asked, "Did you get some more Potions and stuff?"

Before he could reply, the chocobos shrieked in terror as the dark form of the dragon flew overhead. It wheeled around and landed in the middle of the broad central road, giving Ria and Auron a baleful stare as it did so. The dragon was every bit as huge as the legends made it out to be, and was covered head-to-tail in ruby-red scales and gleaming ebony spikes. The fiend's huge golden eyes gleamed with a malevolent intelligence as it slowly advanced on the two of them. "Would you happen to know anything about this thing?" Ria asked Auron as she pulled out her bat.

"No, I've never seen this thing before in my life," he replied with a grin.

"Oh, well that's reassuring."

The red dragon roared, sounding like the T-Rex from "Jurassic Park" and swept its spiked tail around in a fearsome arc, just missing the would-be slayers and shattering the asphalt of the street. The two of them split up, trying to force the fiend to choose a target, and began their assault. Ria managed to get behind it, and brought her baseball bat down on the end of its tail with a resounding crack. The dragon let out a deafening scream of pain, and swept around, knocking the young woman to the ground. She whipped the bat around and cracked it on the end of the snout, but the blow only succeeded in making the fiend angrier. Auron stepped in and swung his katana in a vertical strike that lopped off several feet of the dragon's tail, and deep violet blood spurted out of the stump. The fiend bellowed again, but this time had an unusual dark cloud floating around its head.

"I've blinded it," the swordsman shouted, easily dodging the monster's now-inaccurate attacks. "It should be easier to handle, now."

Just then, the dragon's wings started to glow and it flapped them once, and a great explosion of fire erupted out of the air. Then it used the momentary distraction to swipe at Auron with a clawful of foot-long talons. He managed to escape a painful death by rolling out of the way, but still got a nasty slash across his back. Ria bashed it on the still-bleeding tail, and the dragon knocked her down. The dragon loomed over her, still blinded by the black fog, but trying its best to eat her. Finally, Ria managed to scramble out from under the fiend, but lost her bat in the process. It chased after her, and the young woman ran, while muttering to herself, "A dragon, a dragon, it has fire, so which element was it that Auron said Fire was weak against?"

She dropped to the ground, and barely missed being incinerated by a wave of flame from its mouth. "Wait, I remember now!"

Ria got up and turned around just in time to see the fiend bearing down on her. She threw up her hands and yelled "Blizzard", and a spike of ice fired upward out of the ground, piercing through the dragon's throat. The dead monster dropped to the pavement and dissolved into the usual cloud of pyreflies, and once again, they turned red and black before vanishing.

"Woo-hoo! I did it, I actually killed a fiend!" she exulted.

"Good job," Auron responded, wincing as he gingerly got to his feet.

Just then, the people of Discovery came out of their hiding places and started cheering wildly. "You did it!" Hank gleefully shouted. "You guys killed the dragon!"

A middle-aged woman approached the heroes and said, "I'm Carlotta Jenkins, the manager of the King's Hotel, and as a thanks for you're heroism, I'd like to let the two of you stay in the hotel for free for a few days."

"What's the catch?" Auron's tone was doubtful.

Ria elbowed him in the ribs and said, "Thank you, ma'am. We really appreciate it." She looked over at Bakkuri, "Sir, could you take care of the chocobos for us while we're here?"

The Al Bhed nodded and replied, "I would be honored, lady."

An hour later, the two of them had settled into the best room at the hotel, which unfortunately, turned out to be a one-bed Honeymoon Suite. "Ria, we really shouldn't stay here," Auron told her, with a strange note in his voice.

Ria came out of the bathroom, now wearing a pair of lavender pajamas, and shot him a dirty look as she toweled her hair. "Look, I know you don't want to stay here, but we're both exhausted. You aren't Superman, you know." she snapped. "Besides, those Potions may heal injuries, but they don't take away the fact that we've been walking, riding, and sleeping on the ground for damn near a week, and I was about ready to kill for a shower. Oh yeah, and you can put those clothes that Hank gave us to good use while we get ours cleaned."

She handed him some of the clothes out of the stack that had been given to them, and wrinkled her nose. "Now, go take a shower, please."

He glowered at the young woman, and she stared right back. Finally, Auron surrendered and stalked off to the bathroom, swearing under his breath. Ria finished drying her hair, and then left to find something to eat.

A little while later, she returned with some Chinese takeout, and found the swordsman hard at work repairing his coat. He stopped, set down his work, and stood up. Ria found herself staring at him like an idiot (again!). Auron was wearing a pair of black pajama bottoms and nothing else. He gave her a concerned look and asked her, "Ria, are you all right?"

"Yeah, I'm just fine," she answered, shaking her head as if to clear it. "Well, I brought us some food, if you're hungry. Bakkuri said that he would feed Snow and Shadow, so I didn't go see them."

"Who?"

"Snow and Shadow. You know, our chocobos. Shadow is the black one and Snow is the white one."

"Okay, I guess the names are appropriate."

They ate in silence, and Ria was trying very hard not to stare, since Auron wasn't wearing a shirt and he happened to be very well built. He pushed his ponytail back over his shoulder, and gave her a peculiar look. "Are you sure you're all right?"

"Yeah," her voice went up an octave and she stopped, took a deep breath, and sighed. "No, I'm not all right, but it's just a little problem that I will get over on my own."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes." Ria threw away her garbage and picked up the remote control. "Let's see what's on the news."
The television came on, and after a little channel surfing, she found a channel that was playing the news. "…Satellite imaging sent back to Earth has shown that a new continent has appeared in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean…" the reporter intoned. "…Scientists believe that this continent may be the lost Atlantis from legend, but all attempts to even get near the mysterious landmass have met with the disappearances of all who approach…"

"That's Spira!" Auron spluttered, trying not to choke on a piece of chicken. "That's my homeland."

"Why the hell is it here?" Ria asked, trying very hard to remain composed.

"I don't know, but we'll have to find out."

"We?"

"Yes, the two of us can check it out, but it can wait until we find your family."

The young woman turned off the television, and said, "But first, we need to get some sleep."

Auron grabbed a blanket, and was about to sleep on the floor when Ria stopped him. "What are you doing?"

"I'm going to bed."

"On the floor? Get up here." she ordered.

"What?" the swordsman actually blushed slightly.

"Look, it's not like we're lovers or something, and this is a big-ass bed, so you can sleep up here, too."

"But,"

"No buts. I've done this plenty of times with both male and female friends, and nothing happened then, either."

"All right, you win," he climbed into the bed next to her and lay so that his back was to her. "Good night, Ria."

She turned off the light and said, "You, too."

Auron lay there for quite some time, listening to Ria's breathing, when she rolled over and threw her arm over his side. He waited to see what the young woman was going to do, but she just sighed and settled into a deep sleep. "I think that this is going to be a very long night," he thought to himself before finally dozing off.

Woo-hoo! I finally finished chapter 5! (A crowd appears and cheers wildly) Yes, I know there is some sexual tension between Auron and Ria, but I guarantee that if anything happens, it won't be for a while yet. Anyway, review and tell me how I'm doing so far. Thank you and good-bye for now.