CHAPTER ONE: Old "Friend"

Yuna stood aboard the Celsius, gazing out of the window, watching the tiny bits of land far down below speed by. Was this journey really going to help her find her lost friend? She could only hope. Taken from her slumber by Rikku was what brought her aboard this airship, set to become a member of the Gullwings, a group of sphere hunters. That sounded fun, and journeying all over Spira might help her to find if Tidus really was still alive.

An audible whoosh! went by behind her as doors opened. She turned around to see a slim, short blonde girl approaching her. Yuna smiled. She rushed up to her old friend and cousin and hugged her.

"Yunie! It's so good to see you!"

She let go and stepped back to see Rikku.

"Wow, you're all grown up!" she said, still smiling.
Rikku grinned innocently and tossed her head to the side, her long ponytail following. "Oh, not really. I'm still your friendly little Rikku! I'm older, but I still act like the 15 year-old girl you met two years ago."

Yuna laughed. "I would expect no more."

They took a couple steps inward towards the doors Rikku entered in.

"So where are we exactly?" Yuna asked. "I know we're on an airship."
"The Celsius. And you're one of the leaders of the Gullwings!"

"One of? How many are there?"
"Well, there's Brother, my brother, who's the leader, but you're kind of his co-pilot, only you don't pilot. And there's Buddy..."

They went through another pair of doors where a tattood man was piloting the ship, and an Al Bhed with the goggles on was co-piloting on a computer.

"He operates our destinations!"

The tattood man left his seat and approached Yuna, shaking her hand quickly.

"High summoner Yuna! It is so nice to see you!"
Yuna pulled back nervously. "Uh...right! And you are...?"

"Oh, don't listen to him!" Rikku butted in. "That's Brother."

"Oh! Nice to meet you!"

The other man approached the group of three.

"And this is Buddy!" Rikku introduced him cheerily.

"Nice to finally meet you, Yuna. Rikku's spoken much about you."

Yuna nodded. A woman dressed in black in a warrior dressphere approached them. Rikku went up to her.

"This is Paine. She travels with us! The three of us are YRP. We actually do work." Rikku glanced over at Brother, who shrugged in return.
"What? You say I do nothing?"

Rikku sighed. "Anyways, I guess...oh! And that's Shinra. A really smart kid! He does all our smart person stuff."

Rikku pointed to a young boy in the seat on a computer.

"So make yourself at home, Yunie!" Rikku invited warmly. "The elevator to the rest of the ship is just down the hall if you want to tour it."

She smiled and bounded off to the seat opposite the captain's seat. Yuna timidly approached Buddy, who had slipped back into his seat.

"So...what do we do right now?" she asked him, a bit unsure of what to do.
"Well, you tell us!"

"Huh?"
"Choose a destination, and we'll take you there."

He gestured to the computer screen with a list of locations over Spira. At the bottom of the list was the Zanarkand Ruins. Her heart flipped. Maybe Tidus was there!

"Zanarkand...we can go there?"
Buddy sighed. "Maybe not right away. Not until you strengthen up. Zanarkand is issuing a warning of high-fiend-activity. Maybe we should wait...?"

"Uh, right!"

She looked over the rest of the list. Buddy put his finger over the glass screen, right over the Bikanel Desert.

"I don't suppose you'd forget that place?" he grinned.

Yuna smiled back. "Of course! What about it?"
"Well, an Al Bhed named Nhadala works there. If you want, you can get a letter from her to permit you to dig there."

"Dig what?"
"Anything you find. But you'd have to vist the Djose Temple and speak to the Machine Faction leader, Gippal, first." he chuckled under his breath. "Good friend of Rikku's."

Yuna wasn't sure of what he meant, but she smiled in agreement.

"I suppose we could."

"So the Djose Temple?"
"Right!"

"Hey!" he announced. "Your leader, Yuna, has decided we will pay a visit to the Djose Temple!"

"No! I am the leader! I decide!" Brother argued. He breathed in. "To the Djose Temple!"

He jumped in his seat and began to stear for Djose.

"Wow." Rikku said, looking around as they landed on the ground. "This place looks a lot different than before."

She sighed and waited for Paine and Yuna as they jumped to the ground from the airship.

"So where to?" Paine said, monotone.

"Uh..." Yuna was confused. "Rikku! Where are you going?"

Rikku was running up to the large doors. Yuna shook her head and sighed, following, with Paine at her heels. They approached Rikku, who was speaking Al Bhed with a fellow Al Bhed. She turned to Yuna.

"He says we'll have to fill out an application to get in."

"Application for what?" Paine asked.
"To get interviewed, silly!"

Rikku bounded off for one of the small huts along the road.

"You have quite a friend." Paine said as they headed for the hut.

"You gotta love her. She's the friendliest person you'll ever meet." Yuna smiled as she recollected her journey with Rikku two years ago. "It was only two years ago when I met her."

"It was only a week ago when I met her."

In a matter of seconds, Rikku came running out with a paper in her hand. She rushed past Yuna and Paine and right to the guards at the door, handing them the form. She turned and gestured for them to follow. Moments later, they were inside the temple, waiting. Two men were speaking to each other in Al Bhed. Then, one of them approached the trio.

"Well, well, well. I never thought the high summoner would be the one crawling to the Machine Faction begging for a trowel and shovel."

Yuna was puzzled. "Have we met?"
"Gippal. Leader of the Machine Faction. And I've heard quite a lot about you, Miss Yuna."

Yuna stepped back. "Uh...we're here for the -"

"Well, if it isn't Cid's little girl! How's life treating you?"

Rikku folded her arms over her chest. "Hmph! I have a name, buddy!"

Yuna couldn't help but smile. "You two know each other?"
"Well, yeah! We made quite the couple!"
Rikku turned red. "Wh...hey!" She pushed him as he grinned at his humiliation of Rikku.

"Couple, huh?" Paine asked.

"Whatever he's talking about..." Rikku said, looking away.

"Oh, yeah. Back in those days -"
"We're here for the interview!" Rikku put in quickly.

Gippal grinned devilishly. "Right. The interview. Well, you're hired! Take this letter to Nhadala."
"Uh...that's it?" Yuna said.

"What? You want a parade?"
"No, it's just that -"
"And, hey! Why leave so fast? I'm sure you'd like to visit the temple, right?"
"Well -"

"Good! How's about I show you around?"

He began to walk off. Yuna sighed and followed, knowing she did need to get on his good side.

"The Machine Faction organizes the digs. Well, we permit Nhadala to organize them. We build and send the machina to the desert to serve them in their digging. Whatever they find there, they give to us, and we pay them 25 of what it's worth. We also help them by giving them the machina."

"What all do you find?"
"Machina remains. Scraps that are still good that can be used to build up some new machina. Maybe you find other stuff you could use. For battle, say...potions, phoenix downs, remedies. Stuff that the Gullwings might like."

He stopped walking.

"Another sphere hunting group dropped by a while ago. Leblanc? They wanted me to hire them, but seeing how their your arch foes, I told them we already hired."

"That was...a nice thing to do." Yuna said.
"On your side, it was."

"So...what else is there to see around here?"

"Head across the bridge and you'll find a split for a choice of visits. But whatever you do," he warned as he leaned in closer. "Don't get too sneaky around the temple. We've got a few confidential things we wouldn't like the public to know about."

"And we're considered the public?"
"Just that it's supposed to be kept between the Machine Faction. Nothing personal."

"I'm sure."

He opened a large door that led to a stairwell, leading down into darkness. The walls were lit only by torches.

"Well, now that you know a bit, go take a look around!"

They began to walk off. He grabbed Rikku by the wrist and pulled her back.

"Not you."

"Hey!"

"I wanna show you something."

She glanced back to Yuna, who seemed to be enjoying their scenes together.

"I'll be a minute!" she called.

She entered the room and waited for Gippal as he secured the large door behind them. She walked down the thick stairs alongside him.

"So how've you been?" he asked.
"Where are we going?" she ignored his question.
"I told you I wanna show you something."

"What?"
"Something I think you'll be pleased with."

"Like...?"
"You'll see."

At the bottom of the stairs, he unlocked another door and closed it behind them. In the next room were small machina in each corner and a large cabinet at the back wall. They approached it and Gippal unlocked it. He removed a metal case and opened it. Rikku gasped at the sight inside.

"Dual Blades!"

"That's right."
"These are much better than the ones I have now!"

Rikku reached in the box and removed the blades that were similar to her current ones with her Thief Dressphere, but these were far more advanced.

"Where did you find them?"
"I didn't. Nhadala's diggers did. Of course, we owed them a nice little amount of gil, but it was worth it."

"Wow. They're in such good condition!"

She twirled them around quite professionally.

"I want you to have them."

She stopped playing with them and looked at him, surprised.

"Are you serious?"
"Sure. It's not like I'll ever use them. And I figured it could help you in your sphere hunting."

"Well..."
"Don't say you can't take it. Just take it."

"I...well...thank you. Very much! It's very sweet of you."

They began to head up the stairs, back to where the others awaited.

"Why don't you come along with us?" Rikku suggested brightly. "We could use another Gullwing!"

"And leave the Machine Faction? Whatever, kid."

"Leave it in the hands of someone else!"
"That's like turning it over to some homeless guy on the street. I leave, and this place goes down, and machina are needed all over Spira."

"Well...temporarily! You can come on the ship, then come back here!"
"I still can't. Sorry."

He opened the door for her that led to the stairs. They began trodding up the steps.

"But we could use your help."
He chuckled. "I've been right all these years. You do need me."

She stopped walking. Noticing her not following, he turned around to find her staring at him disappointedly.

"Did you give me these just to give yourself pride in the thought that I can't live without you?"
He grinned. "Well, something like that."
"You are such a meanie! In fact, if that's all, I don't want it!"

"Give yourself a break, kid. You need those weapon as much as you need me."

"I don't need you! I can handle myself, thank you!"

"Boy, has that changed," he muttered.

Rikky drew back, angry. She covered her head and stomped, groaning loudly. After recollecting herself, she shoved the blades to Gippal and pushed her way past him, up the stairs, and out the door, meeting with Yuna and Paine, who were speaking with Buddy and Brother. Yuna saw her as she approached them. She came up to Rikku.

"So, what did he want?"

"To be a show-off!"
"What?"
"Nevermind. It's nothing. Ready to go?"

Before she could answer, Brother rushed up to them.

"So, Rikku, how is your old friend, Gippal?" he teased.

"He's fine. Ready to go?"
"No, not quite. Maybe we should -"
"Yuna!" she called. "Do you wanna leave?"

"Um, sure!"

Brother sighed.

"Fine. What Yuna says. Onto the ship!"

Rikku tried to push her arguement with Gippal behind her as she boarded the airship. She knew, no matter what had happened in their past that had angered her, she still shouldn't have acted that way. Using such words against someone she needed to ally herself with in her journey as a Gullwing wasn't such a good idea, and she instantly began to feel guilty. She boarded the ship and sat back in her piloting seat. Buddy was the last to board the ship, and he had a case in his hand. He approached Rikku as Brother began to lift the ship from the ground.

"Gippal says you might need this. He wanted you to have it."
"What?" she said, almost shouting. "He is such a meanie!"

"Why is that?"
She sighed and leaned back. "Nothing, it's nothing. Just set it over there. Let's get going."