A/N: I am so sorry for the terribly long wait. School and the final exams had taken all of my time. But school is finally out. You all probably thought I really did give up on this, but all of your wonderful reviews really encouraged me to keep writing. So thanks to: motko the dragon tamer, -insert amusing name here-, geekish, green-eyed-blonde, Falcone, Firaga, Cute-Kitty, and Andrea Roberts. I really appreciate your comments. I know now people do read this. I tried to make this chapter extra long, since you had to wait so long. So, here is chapter five.
Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy.
Chapter Five
Rikku's POVI had no idea how we were going to win. It was nearly impossible. I looked over at Gippal and could tell that he was thinking the same thing.
"Well, I don't think we have much of a choice. If we don't at least try to destroy them, then they will definitely attack the temple," Gippal said, not taking his eye off of the fiends.
"I know, but I don't think we're gonna win," I stated somberly.
"Come on, I thought you were the optimistic one."
"Well, it's a little hard to be optimistic right now! That's enough chit-chat, let's kill some fiends before they kill us," I said, getting ready to charge the fiends. Gippal and I were about to attack when there was a bright light followed by a loud explosion right where the fiends were.
Gippal slammed himself and me to the ground. Rocks flew everywhere and it was hard to breathe with all of the dust and smoke in the air.
As the smoke cleared, Gippal got up and helped me up as well. I was coughing my lungs out and could not talk.
"What just happened?" Gippal asked looking at where the fiends once stood. They were clearly dead because all that was there now was a bunch of rocks. I stopped coughing just soon enough to hear a voice behind us.
"It looks like I just saved your worthless lives."
We turned around to see a tall man standing there, wearing Yevon robes. He looked just like a traditional priest, baldhead and all. I already didn't like this guy because he was a Yevonite and because he called us worthless. Must be an Al Bhed hater.
"Who are you?" I asked, looking at the man wearily. I don't know how he got rid of the fiends. I could tell that the explosion was not from anything I have ever seen before. I'm pretty sure it was some weird type of powerful magic.
The man looked at me and smiled. "My name is Rufan, and I believe you owe me some gratitude for saving your lives." This guy was really pushing it and I was getting really angry. I could tell Gippal must have thought the same because he had that you-better-get-out-of-here-now-if-you-want-to-live look on his face.
"I don't think we owe you anything. Now, I strongly suggest that you get lost," Gippal said coldly. Can't really blame him though. I felt like hitting Rufan myself. The fact that he's a priest just makes matters worse. Yevonites don't really like Al Bhed to begin with, and especially not me and Gippal because we are so well known. It doesn't matter that I am Yuna's cousin or that machina are accepted now. They still hate us. And this guy expects us to worship the ground he walks on. Yeah right.
Rufan narrowed his eyes. "Well, just let us see who saves you next time." And with that, he turned and walked towards the highroad, robes swishing all the way.
"Well, that was…interesting," I stated uncertainly.
"Damn Yevon priests. Think they are better than everyone else," Gippal muttered.
"Right, this just adds to my to-do list. I'm going to Luca to investigate the area that was attacked. The guy who attacked me is threatening the Al Bhed and I'm going put a stop to it," I then turned to Gippal. "And you're gonna help me."
Gippal looked slightly shocked. "And here I was thinking I was gonna have to fight you to let me come. But, since you asked me to, I don't know if I wanna come," He said, smirking and looking proud.
That selfish, arrogant, little jerk.
I glared at him, grabbed his arm, and proceeded to drag him to the Celsius.
"You're coming whether you like it or not, buster."
"Okay, okay. No need to get violent," Gippal said laughing.
When we got on the airship, Brother, Buddy, and Shinra gave us weird looks.
"We're going to find out exactly what happened in Luca. So take us there, Brother. Now!" I said, walking over to him and looking up at him. I saw him open his mouth to protest. "No buts." I turned and walked over to Gippal. I could hear Brother mutter darkly before doing what I told him.
When I reached Gippal, he had a look of amusement on his face.
"What?" I asked. He just shook his head. I was really getting tired of this. I ask him something and he just shakes his head.
"So, what exactly are we looking for in Luca? You know they won't let us into the square," Gippal said, leaning back against the rail.
"Well, we will just have to find a way in. Who knows, I just might be able to convince the guards to let us in," I said, not really believing it though. I don't think Gippal did either.
I knew it was going to be tough, if not impossible to get in there. But, me being me, I had to be optimistic. Even if it is only once in a while.
The rest of the ride to Luca was silent. No one dared to make a sound, though I wasn't sure why.
When we arrived in Luca, Gippal and I quickly made our way to the square. I saw guards standing around and decided it would be wise to ask to get in before sneaking in.
I walked over to one burly looking guard. He was extremely tall and I was beginning to wonder if he was half Ronso. He looked up at me when I stopped in front of him. He glared at me. "What do you want?" He asked harshly.
I looked over my shoulder at Gippal and gave him a look that clearly said that he'd better keep his mouth shut, or else.
I looked back at the guard. "Yes, we're with the Lucan officials and we are here to investigate the attack. Now would you be so kind as to move aside and let us though?" I asked, very proud of my fabulous acting job.
The guard just stared at me and then he started to chuckle.
"Nice try Missy, but the Lucan officials already investigated, and no offense, but they sure don't dress like you. Now get lost before I call the real Lucan officials on you," He finished, with a menacing glare.
I wasn't about to give up just yet.
"For your information, we are specialist that were called in to determine what exactly attacked, how many there were and how strong they were. We are currently undercover and you are to let us by at once," I said, stomping my foot for emphasis, which was probably a bad idea, because I accidentally stomped his foot. Oops.
"You guys had better get lost now before I have you arrested. Now, get out of my sight!" He yelled.
I was ready to argue with him some more, but Gippal came up to me and started pulling me away. When we were out of earshot, Gippal started laughing.
"What are you laughing about? I don't see what's so funny about it," I stated, glaring at him. I seemed to do that a lot these days.
That's because you couldn't see yourself. You looked and sounded like an idiot. I can't believe you thought that would get us in. the guards probably thought you were just some little kid, with the way you were acting," Gippal said, finally done laughing at me.
I still don't see what was so funny about it. So what if I acted like a little kid, that's not funny, right?
"Whatever," I stated coolly, walking past Gippal.
"Aww, is Cid's little girl mad at me?" he asked mockingly.
"Does it look like it?" I asked swinging around to glare at him.
"Calm down Cid's girl. I was only kidding. Anyways, how are we getting into the square? Anymore bright ideas?"
"If you call me 'Cid's girl' one more time, you're gonna be a dead man. As for getting inside, I do have a bright plan, as a matter of fact," I said, extremely proud that I had just come up with something. It was way better than anything he could come up with.
"Really? And what would this idea be? Beating up all of the guards, maybe?"
I've noticed through the unfortunate years of knowing Gippal, that all of his plans involve violence. Thankfully, he never was put in charge of any missions. Half of Spira would be dead or wounded.
"No, my plan doesn't involve violence. I know of a secret entrance to the café. When I was talking to the guard, it didn't look like anyone patrols that area, so we shouldn't get caught snooping around."
"How exactly did you find this 'secret entrance' of yours?" Gippal inquired, looking like he didn't believe a word I said.
"I've had a lot of time to explore every inch of this city. I kinda stumbled across it one day," I stated, thinking back to when I found it. Good thing Gippal didn't know I literally stumbled across it, and nearly broke several bones in the process. He'd laugh his head off, at least until I smacked him a couple of times.
"Why didn't you mention this before? It would have saved a lot of effort." He still didn't believe me. Well, that was his problem. He doesn't have a reason not to.
"I had forgotten about it. You'd better be glad I just remembered it. Now, follow me," I said, walking off.
"Whatever," I heard him mumble, no doubt with an eye roll.
We had to get to the stairs leading towards Mi'ihen Highroad, so that meant I had to call Brother and get him to pick us up, and drop us off there, since no one was allowed in the square.
Once we got there, I preceded to climb down the slope, next to the stairs. The slope was on the same side as the hovers, so I had to make sure the attendant didn't see me. I finally made it to the bottom and landed on the ground. I looked up to see Gippal still standing at the top of the hill.
"What are you doing? Get your butt down here before someone sees you!" I hissed.
He mumbled something and started his trek down the slope. When he finally got to the ground, I started to lead the way through the overgrown brush.
"Where exactly are we going?" Gippal asked, next to me.
"This leads to the back of the city. The buildings are so close in Luca that it is nearly impossible to get behind them. This is the only way that I know of," I said, as I fought my way through one particularly nasty bush.
Sometime later, we finally made it to the back of the city. It was a little hard to find the café, since I normally don't see this side of the buildings. I finally spotted it and made my way over.
The door was slightly ajar, which startled me, because it was always locked. The rocks and other things that were normally blocking it had been strewn aside. I guess people were using this door to get out.
"So, you actually knew what you were talking about, Cid's girl. I'm impressed." I turned around, gave Gippal a glare, and went inside. I stopped dead in my tracks when I saw all of the destruction.
Everything in the café was strewn everywhere. There was nothing left unbroken. Plaster from the ceiling was all over the floor, along with the glass from the windows and cups. All of the tables and chairs were destroyed. It looked like someone had wanted to make sure nothing was left intact. I continued into the deserted café, with Gippal right behind me.
"I think we now know this was done by fiends," Gippal said, looking at the damage.
"Huh? How can you tell?" I asked quietly, feeling awkward talking in the disaster struck place.
"Well," he said crossing his arms over his chest, "you've been around machina just as long as I have. Does this look like anything a machina could have done?" He was looking at me expectantly.
I looked back over at all of the damage. I hate to admit it, but he was right. Even though everything is ruined and broken, it's just too neat to have been done by machina, or a bomb.
Machina don't exactly have any intelligence. Everything they do is programmed into there system. So, I guess it's kinda like artificial intelligence. True, someone could have programmed the machina to do this, but they would still have had their glitches, so it is unlikely that all of this would have been done without any evidence of a machina exploding. They tend to explode when they malfunction or overheat. Gippal knows all about that, from a first-hand experience. Hence, the eye patch.
"You're right," I finally said, after thinking it over for a while. I guess I was right about those fiends at Djose too. The fiends attacked Luca, and attempted too attack Djose Temple. I told Gippal this and he seemed to agree.
"There's no other logical explanation. Everything points to them, but why would they just group together like that and attack?" Gippal asked more to himself than to me.
"Let's go ask Shinra. He supposedly knows everything," I said.
We headed back to the Celsius and filled everyone in on what we discovered.
"So, now we know that fiends attacked Luca. We just need to figure out why," Buddy said, as he paced around the bridge.
"Can the fiends actually attack like that? They don't really have a reason to, do they?" I asked, while sitting on the steps by Shinra's chair.
"No, it is absolutely impossible for fiends to attack on their own freewill," Shinra finally decided to join the conversation. He had previously been watching us, like he was observing our stupidity. I really hat that kid sometimes.
"So, someone is controlling them?" Gippal asked, even though it sounded like he already knew the answer.
"Precisely." Shinra acted so smug, like he knew the answer to every question in Spira. Which he didn't.
"But how can the fiends be controlled?" I asked, completely lost. I really didn't get how some person could control the unsent.
"It's quite simple really. Fiends are not very bright creatures. Their freewill is extremely weak. This is due mostly to the fact that they were once humans, who died, and were never sent. They could not accept death, but they allowed themselves to become fiends, rather than going to the Farplane. Their reasons for doing so are unknown.
"Generally, fiends only attack because they feel threatened, but they would never attack so many people at once, because they are basically too scared to. Because of their essentially non-existent freewill, it makes them very easy to control. It would just take someone with a strong mind and body."
Wow, I guess Shinra does know what he is talking about. Sometimes, at least.
"Okay, so if it is possible, who would want to destroy Spira?" I inquired, thinking hard about the matter. I really didn't expect an answer, since no one could possibly know the answer, so it was kinda of a rhetorical question.
"How the heck am I going to know that? I'm not some freakin' psychic. Besides, isn't it your job to figure this stuff out? Now, leave me alone, you insolent brat!" Shinra exclaimed. He obviously didn't know what a rhetorical question was. And he claims to know everything. Yeah right.
"Geez, he wasn't suppose to answer it," I said, walking over to Gippal. I personally thought it was kinda funny. It's not everyday you see a little kid try to tell someone off.
Gippal, on the other hand, looked mildly shock at Shinra's little outburst.
"What did you do to the poor kid, Rikku?"
So, how did you like it? Review and let me know. I'll try to get the next chapter up quicker. I've already started working on it, so, hopefully it will be.