Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy X-2 or any of its characters, settings, and languages. Yes, that is real Al Bhed. If you would like to, learn it at my
The endless humming of the machina and the repetitive movement of the scenery came to a halt, catching Vidina off guard. His eyes had been shut, probably for an augmentation of detail in his scarring mental images. At the hover's stop, his eyes jolted open and his body was forced into the support uncomfortably. Vidina sighed, using his free left hand to rub his aching right arm.
"Sorry about that stop. I tend to get nervous," The Al Bhed woman turned to apologize, smiling sympathetically and turning back to face the road ahead. Vidina hesitated but eventually hopped off the hover, wiping his right hand across his sweating forehead. His skin was unusually dry from the Highroad's heat, probably from the lack of cover.
"Where exactly are we?" Vidina asked the Al Bhed woman, scanning the area. Along with the rest of the Mi'ihen Highroad, the scenery was unbearably dull. A virtually endless carpet of miniscule shrubs, flourishing jade grass, and rich brown soil extended as far as Vidina could see, meeting with the azure blue sky. He did not know whether it was his imagination or not but the sun seemed magnified, clearing all darkness from the highroad.
"Rin's Travel Agency. It's basically a shop for travelers and the mid point of the Mi'ihen Highroad," She explained, yawning as if she was invulnerable to the extreme humidity. Without another word, Vidina walked away from the hover, approaching the small building. The reddish door was imprinted with golden hieroglyphics, some form of Al Bhed, Vidina supposed. When he entered, he was greeted with the smiling face of the female clerk. As he approached her, he lifted his left eyebrow in suspicion.
"Welcome to Rin's Travel Agency. How may I help you two?" She asked, looking between Vidina and something behind him. Vidina jolted around to face...Makku!
"How did you find me so quickly?" Vidina asked him, his arms folded in confusion.
"I snuck onto the hover when you weren't looking," Makku explained, smirking with pride. "What's going on with you?" Makku then asked him, worried about his teammates behavior.
"It's just that...that game meant a lot to me. I could never face my dad, ya?" Vidina explained, trying to grip the last bit of empathy in Makku he could.
"I get it but what're you going to do now?" Makku replied, concern written all over his expression.
"Stay away from Besaid. For as long as I can, anyway," Vidina admitted, bowing his head in a saddened manner. There was a sudden silence that swallowed the conversation. Neither islander had anything to say, or so it seemed.
"Well then-I'm coming with you," Makku's voice cut through the silence, surprising Vidina substantially. Vidina threw him a grin, finally relieved that he would not be alone. The grim feelings that were absorbing his happiness had slightly died after Makku's companionship begun.
"All right then. But where to go?" Vidina asked him, not knowing much of conditions around Spira.
"Lets just continue moving. I'm sure something will pop-up," Makku answered, heading for the door. A sudden chill ran down Vidina's spine, but this time it seemed to be positive. The thought of an adventure made him ecstatic, and he ran out the door after Makku.
As the two walked down the dirt path five minutes later, it seemed they had lost any sign of society. "Where does this highroad end!?" Vidina complained, wiping his hand across his forehead. In a beat, a strange sound began to augment. It was a combination of a descending harp and a wind chime, filling the atmosphere with its stately sound. Makku and Vidina stopped short when they spotted a strange object about five feet away. It was a long, wooden staff, diagonally towering out from the disturbed earth. What was it doing in such a strange place? Makku was hesitant, but Vidina approached the staff.
"That's a bad idea, ya?" Makku commented, stepping back from the staff. Vidina took a deep breath. There was something about this staff that struck fear and awe into those who caught its sight. It gave off a strange vibe; something that was impossible to contradict. Vidina placed both hands on the staff, then using his strength and leverage to pull the staff from its resting place. He spun it around in a deft manner. Vidina was no stranger to staffs. "How did you learn to do that?" Makku asked him, raising an eyebrow at the perfection.
"Just something I picked up from a traveler. He had come to stay in Besaid for a while, working with the small Youth League branch on the island. On his spare time, being a friend of my dad's, he taught me the art of staff combat. What can I say? I learn quick, ya?" Vidina explained, finally putting the end of the staff against the ground. Suddenly, pain flashed through him with a forceful kick of some sort. His body was thrown to the ground, on top of the staff not to mention. Vidina quickly picked himself up, turning to face the hostile thing that had committed such a cowardly act. It was another Al Bhed woman. Do these people just love to meddle? "Who the hell are you!?" Vidina asked her, keeping in a fight stance.
"Huha uv ouin picehacc, tuk! Huf keja sa dra cdyvv!" She yelled in Al Bhed.
"What!?" Vidina shouted, obviously oblivious to the message.
"Kut tysh ecmyhtanc...I said, give me the staff!" She translated, glaring at the two islanders.
"We found it first!" Vidina denied her request, premeditating what would be the result of this argument. The woman yelled in frustration, then unsheathing her lengthy spear. She jumped up into the air, her dainty feet nearly reaching four feet above the ground. She held the spear up behind her head, then swinging it down at Vidina. In retaliation, Vidina lifted his staff, milliseconds before the spear struck down on it. She spun the spear deftly, then returning to Vidina's left side to meet the staff. Vidina could feel the energy surging into him as he grasped the staff. The pace that he moved at was fascinating and nearly twice his regular speed. Finally, Vidina swung the staff upwards from the soil, just knocking the woman's chin up with fierce strength. Her sharp armor sliced through the air as she traveled many feet back to the ground. Vidina watched as she jumped back up without the help of her hands. This woman was a true warrior.
The Al Bhed female charged at him, as if to impale him with the spear. She lifted her right hand and muttered something, as a strange dark aura began to surround him. A petrifying spell? He could feel his feet begin to freeze, the coldness of the stone rising further upwards as she charged angrily. The line that separated flesh from stone continued to rise, swallowing his arms and eventually his upper chest. There was no worse feeling than that of death. The coldness contradicted the humidity and eventually, the icy feeling swallowed him. Vidina could see and hear everything, but movement was futile. This was the end. In a few moments, he would be nothing but rubble on the ground. The Al Bhed woman was only two feet away when a familiar blue figure knocked her on the side of the head, throwing her balance and resulting in a violent landing. Makku had thrown his blitzball! He walked over to the frozen Vidina, throwing some sort of vial on him. As quickly as it came, the freezing feeling was gone and heat had taken its place.
Vidina walked over to the Al Bhed woman, who crawled away weakly. He put his staff right in front of her face, forcing her to turn over and simply face the standing figure.
"You're lucky I'm in a good mood, otherwise you might've died, ya?" Vidina scared her, smirking as a result of his success. Suddenly, the woman went pale. She picked herself up and ran off before the two islanders knew it. "What could be the matter with her?" Vidina asked, awaiting Makku's response. All he could hear was a weakened voice, attempting to say something. "Are you okay?" Vidina asked as he turned around. There in front of the two stood a full-fledged monstrosity. Standing at nearly fifty-five feet was a fiend like no other. Black as the night with wings spreading widely. Golden scales along its arms and mid-body. Its wings held the colors of blood and mauve, swirled in different designs. On the fiend's forehead were two demonic horns erecting from within. The fiend's toenail alone could provide the islanders with a fight to the death. There was only one option...
"RUN!" Vidina shouted, taking off after the Al Bhed girl who had managed to escape. He ran the remaining uphill path (closely followed by Makku of course) and then used the minor downhill path to speed up. The remainder of the road was nothing new, just a never-ending strip of dirt with absolutely no curves. This chase was useless. There had to be another way of losing the flying behemoth. For the moment, the two continued running, stopping every time the black fiend's claws touched the ground. The fiend would fly a few feet ahead, then placing its claws against the ground in the shape of a mitt so that the islanders would run straight into them and get taken away. The trap was useless however, because Vidina and Makku would run around the claws every time. The last time the behemoth did the trap, it spread the claws out so the two would each run into a claw. Vidina went through the gap in the middle, now losing his breath. It felt as though he was running from an inferno because of the burning sensation in his calves. Any longer with this endless sprint and he would be dinner. When he checked to see how Makku was holding up, Vidina realized two things. Makku was gone...and so was the Behemoth.
Vidina basically let himself go, dropping to the ground and panting rampantly. "N-no..." he managed to say, his eyes welling up with tears.
A few minutes passed and Vidina was able to stand up. His right ankle had been injured from the lack of stretching before the run, and he was forced to limp. Vidina promised himself only one thing. "I need to save Makku," he thought to himself, finally approaching the long-awaited exit of the Mi'ihen highroad. "Mushroom Rock Road," he read to himself as he passed the simplistic sign and entered the dense forestry.