Edonil: People seem to be enjoying this… I think I've done a fairly good job keeping the lot of you on edge… I'm so happy.

Disclaimer: FFIX doesn't belong to me.

Claimer: Crims, Sarah, and the mysterious girl do.

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To Change

Chapter Twenty-Four

"Be careful!"

"What's with this- ARGH! Bleh!"

"I said be careful!"

"WAAAA!"

"What part of 'be careful' do you fools not understand?"

"Blank, you're driving; you have something to hold on to. We- AACK!"

"Morons."

It was stormy. Very stormy. Kuja had gone to the predetermined meeting place to meet Garland. Garland would get Queen Garnet's Eidolons, and Garland would leave Sarah alone. It should be simple…

Of course, the meeting place was in the middle of the ocean. The place where Kuja had traced Garland to, actually. The place with the now sunken island. And of course, something was up with the weather. These fools driving the boat thought it was just a bad day. Kuja new better. Something magical was affecting the weather.

"Hey Kuja! Come here!" Kuja turned to look at his brother. Zidane was huddled under a small overhang, as if it would somehow keep him dry.

"Why?"

"You're getting soaked!"

"So are you."

"Yes, but I have stuff nearby to grab if a wave tries to dump me into the ocean."

"Zidane, have you seen me having trouble standing?"

"Ye- No. Why not?"

"I'm hovering, Zidane. Perhaps you should try it, too. It is a highly useful skill, and keeps one from stumbling."

"Oh."

"Hey, Pretty Boy! Get under cover! There's a big 'un comin' this way!" Kuja turned to look at the driver, one of Zidane's friends. Pretty Boy? Kuja looked over at the wave in question; it was definitely large. Kuja casually strolled over to stand beside Zidane. The crew of the boat, those fools from Tantalus, glared at him.

Then the wave came, and everyone was much to busy trying to stay in one piece to worry about anything else.

---

The Angel carefully snuck into the teleport room. The Master had come here, and the Angel wanted to ask the Master something.

The Master wasn't in here. A pity. The Angel wasn't allowed in the room, though, so the Angel couldn't scan the teleporter for knowledge of the Master's location. Shrugging, the Angel turned to go.

There was a humming sound, and the Angel whirled around. The teleporters weren't supposed to do that. One of them was glowing faintly. The Master wouldn't want the Angel to be in here, but the Angel knew how to fix teleporters… Deciding that it would be best to fix it before it went awry and something bad happened, the Angel stepped into the room.

There was a blinding flash of light.

Then darkness.

---

He was wet. How Kuja hated being wet! And salt water! His make-up was probably smudged, his clothes would never be the same, his hair might never return to its neat and carefully styled look… How much worse could life get?

A glance at the bottom of the ship, where he could see the ocean through a huge gouge, answered that question.

The Tantalus fools quickly started dropping things on top of the hole, no doubt hoping to stop the boat from sinking. It was quite obviously futile. The hole was much to large. And Blank was no longer steering; something was going to happen in about five seconds.

Four. Three. Two. One.

A huge crack reverberated through the ship as it split in half.

---

Blank coughed up salt water. Ugh! Where was he? He hadn't seen any land nearby when he'd been steering…

"Blank! There you are!" It was Cinna. Blank sat up. "Where are we?"

"I dunno. Anybody know were we are?" There was a chorus of nos.

"We're on the island of Kola Tetla." Everyone turned to look at Kuja, who was calmly ringing out his hair.

"Where?"

"The island of Kola Tetla. A couple hundred years ago, there was an earthquake in this region, and the island sunk. I would assume we're in some sort of air pocket."

"Uh-huh." Baku looked around. A bunch of ruins, and a lot of moss. "Is there anything here anymore?"

"The ruins of a temple complex."

"What kind of temple?"

"I don't know. The books I read did not say. It had some connection with Terra, I believe. And something that I didn't understand. The book was in an archaic form of Gaian, and I do not speak archaic Gaian fluently."

"I see. Any idea how to get off this lump of land?"

"Judging by the way we came, I would suggest swimming."

"And what do we do when we get to the surface."

"When we reach the surface, it will take all our strength to stay there, because of the storm. Therefore, we will run out of energy, and probably drown."

"You're a bloody ray of sunshine, ain't cha?"

"I'm merely telling you the facts."

"So now what do we do?"

"Explore, I suppose. Wait a bit, and hope the storm subsides, and that somebody sends a rescue mission for us."

"Lovely."

Blank sighed. They were trapped on an underwater island, with no hope of getting off it and surviving, with an ex-mass-murderer. Lovely.

Edonil: So, what did you think? The next chapter should include some important plot points… Please R&R!