Death

I am an avid fan of both the Armored Core and Final Fantasy games. The FFX crew obviously aren't my creations, but all the AC designs and other people are. If you have a problem with me or any of my characters, by all means write a scorching review revealing all shortcomings in gruesome detail. Get carried away people.

Tidus leapt from the boat, slamming into the broken earth and rolling to his feat. Lulu, Auron, and Wakka followed more gracefully. Death surrounded them. All life in Kilika had been eradicated.

"Whoa. I dun think this was fiends, ya?" said Wakka.

"No," said Auron, kneeling down to study the ground. "Machina."

Everyone turned to look at Rikku.

"Hey, it's nothing I know, k?" she squeaked.

"Hiya, guys, we got a survivor." called Tidus from a burned out hut farther down the waterfront. When they had dragged the man out, they could see it was far too late. His legs were blown off.

"What happened here?" asked Auron quietly but urgently.

"It....it was....huge.....like....giant spider.......shooting fireballs " the mans head lolled to one side as the life left him. Auron scowled.

"Yuna, send him."

As Yuna began the morbidly beautiful dance, Tidus and Wakka continued the search for life.

"What did he mean by commas?" Wakka wondered aloud.

"Maybe he meant comets." suggested Tidus.

"Good idea. Where you think it's from?" asked Wakka absently as he picked his way through another ruined home, intent on the ground.

"Does it really matter?" Tidus responded, casually following him. "Fiend kills town, we kill fiend. Nothing to it."

"We have decided this is not one of Yevon's machina." announced Auron, causing Tidus to jump a few feet in the air.

"Hey, don't sneak up on people like that!"

"What you mean, not one of Yevon's machina?" asked Wakka, scratching his head. "That mean the Al-Bhed declared war on the rest of Spira?"

"No!" said Rikku indignantly. "Ya see, the biggest machina around are those machina shaped like giant people the Church of Yevon uses. And they're obviously not temple sized."

"Obviously. Where's this going?"

"You'll see. All the machina the Yevonites have are artifacts from the Zanarkand-Bevelle war. they can't build any more, they don't have the materials. And neither do the Al-Bhed. Sooo someone we don't know must be making machina." concluded Rikku, voice trailing off slightly seeing the thoughtful expressions of her companions.

"I think," said Yuna, breaking the silence that followed. "That we should hunt down whoever did this and make them pay."

"Um, yeah, Yunie, but how are we gonna find them?" squeaked Rikku from her perch on a burned black rock.

"We'll figure out where they're going next and ambush them there."

"You sure you want to do that?" called a bemused voice from behind them. Auron turned, whipping out his sword. Wakka brought up his ball, ready to throw. Tidus raised his sword too quickly, lost his grip, and dropped it with a loud clang.

The speaker was a tall, wiry built youth crouching on a piece of rubble. As the party turned towards him he rose and unhurriedly climbed down from his perch.

"Who are you?" Auron growled threateningly.

"Ya man, why you sneaking up on us?"

"Jeeze guys, chill a little. I ain't gonna hurt you." the youth grinned. "Not much anyway. Name's Cloud."

"I am Yuna."

"I figured. Lemme guess, the guy with big blade's Auron, ballman's Wakka, bondage babe is Lulu, little mouse is Rikku, and that blond punk wetting his pants over there is Tidus." Cloud said, grin replaced by one of those I'm-just-messing-with-you smiles.

"So how did you get here?" asked Auron urgently, not amused. "And how do you know who did this?"

"I walked. As for how I know the guy who did this....that might take a while. Too bad their aren't any chairs here. My home is nearby, let's go there."

And with that Cloud walked off into the forest.

"Whatcha think of him, eh?" asked Wakka.

"If he can take us to the person responsible for this, I say we follow him." said Yuna, and walked quickly after Cloud, followed by Tidus. The rest glanced at each other, than followed.

What they found they did not expect.