CHAPTER TWO: Sand, Heat, and Spheres

Yuna awoke from her light slumber in the cabin of the Celsius. For a moment, she had forgotten where she was, but then she remembered. She was on the airship that belonged to the Gullwings, the sphere hunters, which she had become a part of. But whether it was more for spheres or for finding Tidus, she couldn't decide.

She sat up, rubbed her eyes, and stood slowly. She headed down the stairs and past the Hypello, Barkeep. She went onto the Bridge and met with Buddy.

"How are things going?" she asked.

"We're just about to Bikanel. Don't worry. Did you sleep good?"
"Fine, thanks."
"That's good to hear."

"Bikanel Desert, up ahead!" Brother shouted. "Land!"

He pulled the ship into the vast desert. Yuna, Rikku, and Paine exited. As they stepped off, the sand stirred beneath their feet.

"You do know where you're going, right?" Brother assured.

"Of course I do, silly!" Rikku said. "Don't worry."
"And you have the letter?" he asked again.
"Got it!" Yuna removed her permit from her outfit and waved it for Brother to see.

"By the way," Buddy called to them. "This is a hotspot, so there's a sphere around here, too. But be careful, because where there's a sphere, there are people trying to keep you away from it."
"Got it!" Yuna called.

"Now be careful, Yuna. I'll be waiting!" Brother said as he closed the ramp to the ship.

Yuna sighed and shook her head.

"Don't mind him, Yunie. He's just a freak. Come on, let's move out!"

Rikku began to lead the way. She led them right into the camp. Nhadala was speaking with another man. Yuna approached her. Nhadala turned to face her. She looked her up and down, as if approving of her presence. Finally she spoke.

"Can I help you?"
"Uh, yeah. Gippal gave us this letter to give to you."

She handed the letter to Nhadala. Her face changed from irritation to happiness.

"Oh! So you're the new diggers."
"That's us!"
"We've been waiting for you. You can start digging immediately."

She began to lead them over to one of the engine-controlled machina.

"We'll start you off in the Western Expanse. Dig there, just don't stay out too long. You could dehydrate. You'll have an itinerary to cover with a list of machina pieces to find. Once you find them, bring them back to me. For each piece you find, we'll give you 100 gil. Whatever you find that we don't need, you get to keep."

Yuna recalled the sphere. "What, besides the pieces, could we find?"

"Nothing really special, but you can find potions, remedies, phoenix downs...you know, battle stuff. And," she leaned in to whisper. "For your liking, I hear there's a sphere buried out there somewhere. Maybe you'll get lucky...?"

Yuna grinned as she leaned away. "I sure hope so!"

Nhadala handed her a report of items to find.

"10 items buried in 10 different spots, all in the same Expanse. Find them and report back to me. Understood?"

"Yes."

"Good luck, ladies. You'll need it." she said.

"And what does that mean?" Rikku said, hands on hips.
"No offense, but I wouldn't expect her royal high summoner to be the best at this job. In fact, I wondered why Gippal even hired you..."
"Oh, none taken!" Rikku said sarcastically.

"Like I said, don't take it offensively. My impression on you isn't so high that's all."

"Neither is mine." Rikku muttered as Nhadala headed off, back for one of her tents.

"Well, she sure is a judge by-the-cover type." Paine said, disgusted.

"Don't worry, Yunie! We'll do fine, no matter what she says."

They turned around to face the large machina.

"Where you pretty ladies headed to?" a gruff man asked.
"The Western Expanse, please." Yuna said.

He chuckled. "Well, hop aboard!"

The trio boarded the ride as it sped through the desert. Not much of a sight, Yuna thought, as nothing but sand flew by. In moments, they were off in the Expanse to dig. Instantly, she noticed that the heat here was much hotter than back at the camp. Rikku groaned.

"It's so hot out here!" she wiped her forehead.

"Come on," Paine said. "Let's just dig. Remember we're looking for a sphere, too."

Yuna looked at her dune-scanner. A red dot flashed on the screen, signaling the find of a machina piece. She made her way in its direction and began to dig. Immediately, she found the piece just below the surface. She put it in the knapsack Nhadala had given her. This wasn't as hard as she thought! But, sure as she thought, the next few pieces were harder to find. She continued to dig, wondering how much Rikku and Paine had found, hopefully a lot.

"Yunie! Yunie!" Rikku called, running up to her.

Yuna stood from her crouching position to a stand.

"What is it?"

"We each found 3 pieces. How many have you found?"

"Four."
"Good! Then we're done! But that's not what I came to say. Over by the oasis down there," she pointed to a speck of an oasis in the distance. "My scanner's picking up the signal of a rare object. Maybe it's the sphere!"

"We should go check it out!"

"Let's go fast though. I'm thirsty!"

They met with Paine and trekked through the sand and to the oasis. Resting on the sand was a brightly-glowing, orange sphere.

"The sphere!" Rikku and Yuna cried in unison.

Yuna rushed to it and picked it up, handling it carefully.

"Let's get back so we can watch it on the ship!" Rikku said excitedly.

"Well, if it isn't the Dullwings!" a sassy voice called out.

The Gullwings turned around to find the Leblanc Syndicate standing there.

"We would really like to thank you, actually, for taking time from your busy digging schedule to find our sphere!" Leblanc said.
"Your sphere!" Rikku cried. "It's finders, keepers! And we found it! You're too late!"

"Well, no one said that that rule always applied! As I recall, it could also be 'takers, keepers'."

"It can't be keepers unless you can take it from us. Which you can't!"

"Oh? And why can't we?"

"Because you're not quick enough!"

"We'll see about that..." Leblanc bellowed. "Boys?"

"Yes, Boss?"
"Show them how it's done!"

The two teams engaged into a battle, the fight for the sphere. After the seemingly endless battle, the Gullwings came out successful.

"I told you that you wouldn't get it!" Rikku gloated.

"It's not over, Dullwings!" Leblanc said as she sat in the heap of three bodies.

With the wave of her fan, they disappeared. Rikku looked around.

"Once again, the Gullwings started and finished in the lead!"

"You expected any less?" Paine said.

"I wonder where her royal failure-ness went to?"

"Probably to go patch up their wounds." Yuna said with a giggle.
"Let's get back to the camp." Paine said. "We need to see what's on this sphere."
"And we need to get a big drink of water!" Rikku said.

In a few minutes, they were back at the camp. They gave Nhadala all the machina pieces. She examined their condition and then handed them off to the other men to take in for cleaning. She sighed as she faced Yuna.

"Well, I was certainly wrong about you, Yuna. I didn't think you were going to find even one piece!"

"Uh...thanks?" Yuna said, unsure if it was more of a compliment than an insult.

"And I promised you a reward, so...take this 1000 gil. Hopefully it'll be useful to you."
"Thank you."
"Did you find anything else?" she said quietly.

Yuna revealed the sphere.

"Wow." Nhadala said. "I've never actually seen one of these. It's remarkable! Can we watch it?"

Yuna glanced at Paine, who seemed to be irritated by Nhadala inviting herself. But she agreed. She played the sphere. The sphere showed what looked like a giant monster...or some kind of weapon. It was black and glowed red. People ran far from it, screaming in fear. Several, however, didn't make it, getting murdered by the thing. The sphere ended.

"What was that?" Rikku asked.

"I'll tell you what it was." Nhadala sighed. "It's Vegnagun. A powerful machina weapon. It was created only two years ago, and the Machine Faction hid it away, but where, no one knows."

"Did the scenery look familiar to you?" Yuna asked.

"No, sorry. All I could see was Vegnagun."
"Wait a minute..." Rikku pondered. "Yunie! The other sphere! Of him! Didn't that look the same as this sphere? You know, the background and all?"

"Come to think of it, it does!"

"All we have to do is find where Vegnagun is being kept and we'll find him!"

"Did you forget that the Gullwings are sphere hunters, not people hunters?" Paine put in.

"Of course!" Yuna said quickly. "But...I do wanna find my friend."
"Of course you do, Yuna." Paine muttered. "Let's get back on the ship."

"Once again, thanks for all your help, guys. We appreciate it."

"Not a problem!" Yuna said.

"Let's go, go, go!" Rikku said as she ran off for the Celsius.

They boarded the ship. Brother approached them.

"You found it!" he exclaimed. "Let's watch it!"

Yuna played it for them. After it was done, Brother stroked his chin with his right hand.

"Hmm, very peculiar."

"Nhadala said it's called Vegnagun. A powerful machina weapon hidden away years ago. No one knows where, though."
"Then we find it!" Brother shouted. "Where do you think, or who, do you think might know about it?"

"As far as I've heard, New Yevon like to hide things." Paine put in. "Maybe they know something about this?"
"Yeah..." Rikku thought for a moment. "As a matter of fact, they did make a tie with the Machine Faction a long time ago! Maybe they do know something!"
"So our next stop is Bevelle?" Buddy asked as he turned in his seat to face the group.
"Right! Let's go!" Brother shouted.

"I was asking Yuna, but okay..." he muttered as he directed the ship for Bevelle. "Nothing for youguys to do until then. Just kick back and wait."

Being dismissed, Yuna went up to the deck of the ship.