well here we are, at chapter 4... i haven't gotten many reviews, but people that do review say the story's pretty good. i need more reviewers, but thank you all the same to those who have stuck with me these past four chatpers... i'm not all that great at writing yet, but i think i'm getting better as i go. anyway,Sephirothxx i think this chapter is a little longer then the last one. sorry, but deal with it. and now on to the seemingly long awaited chapter 4...

Chapter 4: Sin and Sinspawn

"Man, it's been a long time since I've been on a boat." Ryan muttered as he leaned against the railing at the back of the ship, watching everyone in his line of sight out of boredom.

"Peaceful, isn't it? It's amazing how at ease a mind can be in the vast emptiness of the ocean." Matt said as he and Andy joined Ryan in his study of the passengers.

"That was a bit deep for you." Ryan said with a sidelong glance at his friend.

"They say something like that in the Last Samurai, when Algern's coming to Japan." Matt replied coolly.

"Ah." Andy and Ryan replied in unison. "Thought so. I knew it sounded familiar." Andy finished.

"So now what?" Matt asked after a period of silence. "We've pretty much figured out its Yuna, so what do we do now? With people like Wakka and Lulu around, she isn't in too much danger if you ask me."

"Calm before the storm." Ryan muttered quietly.

Matt sighed. "Right." He said somewhat sadly. "Forgot about that."

"What are you two talking about?" Andy asked.

"My family. We've got a sixth sense for things that are wrong or out of place. Sort of like a natural instinct you could say." Ryan said with a chuckle when he saw the look on Andy's face. "Call it a premonition."

"Ah." Andy said. "So we're here, more then likely anyway, to protect Yuna from whatever the hell's giving you this feeling." Ryan nodded. "This trip just keeps getting better and better."

"Yeah it does." Matt stated in the same he had used earlier. "It's gonna be a hell of a trip though, that's for sure."

Ryan grinned. "Yeah, that's probably gonna be an understatement." He stated. "Hey, I thought Lu was gonna teach you black magic." Ryan said, suddenly remembering the conversation Matt and Lulu had had before they left Besaid. Before Matt could reply the ship rocked violently as it went through a very large wave, nearly sending the three overboard. "Well I think I know why I had such a bad feeling." Ryan said grimly, pointing into the water towards the front of the boat.

"What the hell is that?" Andy asked as a giant fin appeared in front of the ship. "And what the hell are those guys about to do with that harpoon?"

"You don't think they'd really shoot that thing, do you?" Ryan asked as he watched the crew load the harpoons, yelling the entire time.

"Sin." Matt said in a breathless voice. Ryan and Andy looked at him in confusion. "That's what one of the crewmen was yelling, Sin. It's the thing the summoners keep killing!"

"God damn it." Andy yelled as he ran towards the front of the ship. Before he made it half way there a bug looking thing with wings appeared and attacked him. Ducking under the attack Andy countered with a running punch, slamming all of his momentum and body weight into it, which went all the way through to the other side.

"Damn, what the hell was that thing?" Matt asked as he and Ryan caught up with Andy.

"I don't know, but it looked too much like a bug for my liking." Ryan said flatly as they watched the fireflies rise from the twitching corpse. Suddenly the entire boat cut sharply to the left. Before anyone could do anything about it Ryan was flying over through the holes in the railing, and he jerked to a stop when his sheath got caught between two pieces of wood that didn't want to break. "Some help!" he called out, desperately trying not to panic. Without thinking Andy and Matt each grabbed one of Ryan's shoulders, and pulled him up. "That was a little too close for me."

"It's about to get a lot worse." Matt growled as two more of the insect looking things charged down the boat towards the teens. "What say we do some bug exterminating?"

Ryan and Andy grinned. "That's about the only thing I like bugs for." Ryan said as he drew his sword.

"I've never agreed more." Matt said with a smile as he drew his axe. Much to the confusion of the two boys the bug things stopped. "What in the name of god-" Matt started, but the rest of the sentence was cut off when the things fired spikes at them. He and Andy flattened themselves against the wall on the left, feeling some of the spikes cut through their shirts.

"This is why I hate bugs!" Ryan yelled as he ducked under most of the spikes. Despite his best efforts his shirt was torn to piece in the back, and dozens of long cuts appeared on his back. Before he had a chance to get back up a very familiar spear tip ran one of the things through.

"Little boy blue!" Matt said with a grin as the fireflies started leaking out of the limp body. "Good to see you here."

"Get to room. Safe." Kimahri said bluntly before knocking the other bug of the boat and into the water.

Without the bugs to block the way the boys saw the desperate battle raging up ahead between their friends, a few of the crewmen, more of the bug things, and the giant fin looking thing that was now sporting two harpoons from it.

"The idiots actually shot the thing with harpoons." Andy whispered with disbelief. "How stupid are these people?"

"Later Andy." Ryan said as he and Matt took off towards the battle, weapons drawn.

"Hey, get outta here, ya?" Wakka yelled as he noticed the boys running towards the fight. "We got this under control, no need for you to be here, bruddas."

"You don't seem to mind Tidus being here." Matt said as he brought his axe down on one of the monsters, cleaving it in two. Wakka stared at the kid.

'Why the hell didn't he do that to the coyote, ya?' he wondered as he launched his blitzball towards the giant fin.

"If you're going to be here protect Yuna. Without her we will have a problem healing people." Lu said flatly as she launched a thunder spell at the fin. Suddenly a second one crashed into it, connecting in nearly the same spot. She glanced back at Matt as another spell flew down, just missing the giant fin. Despite the fact that he had missed several fireflies started coming out of the water.

"That was a big fish." He said as he shrugged, smiled evilly, and started fighting his way towards Yuna and Tidus.

'He picked that up quickly.' Lulu thought in slight surprise.

"Good to see you three are still alive." Tidus said somewhat winded. He was bleeding from a dozen scratches, but seemed fine despite the superficial wounds. "These things just keep coming."

"Great." Andy said as he punched one of the things in its leg, snapping it off. Suddenly three spikes shot off of Sin and landed on the deck. As they unfolded themselves, and much to the annoyance of everyone present, turn into three more of the bug things. "What the hell are these things?"

"Sin scales." Yuna informed. "They're born from Sin's skin when it separates from its body."

"And Lulu and Wakka are just adding fuel to the fire." Matt muttered as he watched Wakka's ball knock off some of Sin's skin.

"Please distract the sin scales." Yuna said as she started to do the dance that she had done back on the island.

"Right oh." Andy said as he charged the fresh batch, quickly cutting through one's armor. Suddenly a thunderbolt landed behind him, and fireflies started to filter up around him.

"You're really getting good at that, aren't you?" Ryan asked as he glanced over at Matt who smiled evilly. "I'll take that as a yes."

Suddenly Valefor appeared in the sky. For a moment it sat there, gathering energy in its mouth. Then it fired all the energy at Sin, which dove into the water, tipping the boat forward and sending Tidus over the edge.

"Wonderful." Ryan muttered as he ran to the front of the boat. Just as he was about to dive in to help Wakka save Tidus he was stopped by a restraining hand on his shoulder.

"Wakka and Tidus will be fine. Let's hurry up and finish off the sin scales." She said in an emotionless voice. Ryan sighed, but did as he was told and went back to fighting the sin scales that were no longer infinite in number. Between Valefor, the three teens, Lulu, and Kimahri the sin scales were gone before Wakka and Tidus broke the surface, looking rather beat up.

"Some help woulda been nice, ya?" Wakka stated in an annoyed voice as he and Tidus were helped back on board.

"I was going to, but Lu stopped me." Ryan said flatly.

"You only would've slowed them down, and given them one more person to worry about." She replied evenly.

"Sorry to interrupt, but look at that!" Andy yelled, pointing at what looked like a giant floating fish above a port that he assumed they were supposed to dock at. Before they were close enough to do anything Sin attacked, almost completely destroying the town, and the Sin was long gone.

"I will defeat Sin… I must defeat Sin." Yuna said after a few moments of somber silence. Ryan looked at her in surprise.

'Guess this is what she really wants to do.' He thought, surprised she was so determined to beat the monster after it's display of power. "We didn't even hurt it."

"What?" Lulu asked, turning away from the wrecked town.

"Sin, we didn't even hurt it." Ryan repeated, his eyes narrowing. "All of that, and I doubt it even has a scratch on it anymore. If we had done any real damage it would've run off to lick its wounds. But it decided to destroy the town instead. We didn't even hurt it."

"Well, that's a wonderful thought. You're such a damn optimist, you know that?" Matt questioned sarcastically. "Come on, you've gotta look on the bright side once and a while. Even I'm not that bad."

"Where do you see a bright side out of that?" Ryan asked somewhat crossly, pointing at the ruined town. "I don't care what anyone says, those people didn't need to die."

Less then ten minutes later the boat docked on what seemed to be the last remaining dock. The rest of the day was spent helping to rebuild the town, until the sun started to set and most of the people gathered around the remains of the docks.

"What the hell is going on now?" Andy wondered as he looked up from hammering an annoyingly loose plank back into place.

"Dunno." Ryan admitted. "Looks like they're not in a very good mood though. You gonna check it out?"

Andy nodded as he dropped his hammer onto the dock and headed for the growing group. "Uh, what's a sending? We going somewhere?" He heard Tidus ask Lulu when he was close enough to hear the two talking.

"You truly are clueless. Are you sure it's your memory that's the problem? The dead need guidance. Filled with grief over their own death, they refuse to face their fate." Lu said quietly. "They yearn to live on, and resent those still alive. You see they envy the living. And in time, that envy turns to anger, even hate. Should these souls remain in Spira, they become fiends that prey on the living. Sad, isn't it? The sending takes them to the Farplane, where they may rest in peace."

"Summoners do this?" Tidus asked.

Instead of waiting for Lulu to reply, he turned and watched Yuna, as she walked onto the water, before pillars appeared and lifted it up, appearing wherever her dance took her. The firefly things were coming out of everywhere, surrounding Yuna and adding an eerily beautiful glow to the horribly sad scene that brought tears to everyone watching. Even Matt and Ryan, alone on the docks, couldn't help but shed a few silent tears.

"It must be tough being a summoner." Tidus said sadly.

"Yuna choose her own path. She knew from the beginning what it meant. All we can do is protect her along the way. Until the end." Lulu said quietly as Yuna walked back onto solid ground.

"You mean until she beats sin." Andy asked quietly. Lulu never answered.

"I hope… I hope I did okay." Yuna said sadly, a single tear rolling down her face as she approached the three.

"You did very well. They've reached the Farplane by now. But… no tears next time, hm?" Lu said in a sisterly voice that left Andy once again wondering if she was really as cold hearted as she let on.

Several hours later Ryan found himself staring up at the stars, listening to the quiet breathing of everyone around him. 'What's wrong with me?' He thought as tears started to slide down his cheeks. 'It's not like anyone I know died, and even though it's sad, why am I crying?'

"Are you okay?" Lulu's voice rang out through the quiet night, causing Ryan's heart to skip a beat.

"Yeah, I'm fine." He replied quietly.

"You don't sound fine." Lu replied quietly, but didn't push the subject.

"What about you?" Ryan asked after a long, and very awkward silence. Lulu turned to him, confused by what he was getting at. "On Besaid, the day after Yuna summoned Valefor, you were yelling at Wakka all morning because of Chappu." Lu gasped in surprise.

"How did you know about that?" She asked wit an uncommon outburst of emotion. "It was so early, no one was up then!"

Ryan smirked. "Didn't I tell you and Wakka that I was good at becoming invisible?" He replied simply. "And I get up a 4:30 in the morning Lu, I'm up before some people go to bed. So what was really making you so angry? I doubt you'd have been that way if it really was just about helping us out."

Lulu was quiet for a moment. "Chappu and I were close. He once said that…" Lu stopped and laughed quietly drawing an amazed look from Ryan. "Never mind. The past is the past. We shouldn't dwell on it."

"Sometimes it helps to talk about things though." Ryan said, standing and turning to face the black mage. "But you don't seem like the kind of person to do that."

"You should get some rest." Lu said quietly. "You'll need it once you get to Luca."

"Please Lu. Do you really think Wakka's gonna play three teens that have never played an actual game before if he doesn't have to?" Ryan said with a chuckle.

"I suppose you're right." Lu said, smiling genuinely for the first time while she had been around him. "This has been… fun. Perhaps we'll have to do it again sometime." She said as she turned and went back to her bed.

Ryan smiled. 'Just one more person to watch out for.' He thought to himself as he lay back down and went to bed.

888

"Hey Tidus, get your lazy ass outta bed! You too Andy." Ryan yelled at the two, throwing a nearby blitzball at the two. "Everyone's waiting for you."

"What the fuck dude! That was just cruel!" Andy retorted with a yawn. When the two had gotten outta side Wakka called the entire team together for a huddle.

"On to the temple, where we pray for victory!" Wakka said. Everyone agreed, and with Lulu, Yuna, and Kimahri they started for the temple. Along the way Wakka told Ryan, Matt, Andy, and Tidus about how a great summoner who had defeated Sin had lived at Kilika's temple, and had been a great blitzer, which had cause them to lag behind somewhat. When they caught up to the rest of the group Lulu turned to Tidus.

"Yuna is saying she wants you with us." She said bluntly.

"I want to ask you to become my guardian." Yuna restated.

"Yuna! What? This is no time for jokes, ya? He may be a blitz whiz kid," Wakka said jabbing a finger in Tidus' direction, "but up against a fiend, he's a newbie."

"Not a guardian, then… I just want him nearby." She said, blushing slightly.

"What? What do you mean?" Tidus asked, causing Ryan, Andy, and Matt to smile to themselves.

"It's just that, well-" Yuna started.

"We're all going to the temple anyway. Can't this wait till later?" Lulu asked suddenly. Ryan raised an eyebrow but said nothing.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have…" Yuna said quietly.

"There's nothing to be sorry about. I'm just not really sure what's going on." Tidus replied with a laugh.

"You have my apologies." Yuna stated anyway.

"Hey Yuna," Ryan said, waiting for the summoner to turn around, "didn't he say there was nothing to be sorry about. You don't have to apologize for everything you know." He said with a smile.

"Right." Yuna replied, returning the smile. The group moved on, chatting amongst themselves until they reached a set of rocky length stairs.

"Now I know how Rocky felt." Ryan muttered as he looked up the stairs. Suddenly Yuna took off running up them, followed closely by Wakka, Tidus, and the rest of the Aurochs. The three teens laughed when Tidus passed Yuna. From their angel it looked like she tried to smack him in the arm, but she missed. Suddenly Datto, one of the Aurochs who had already finished yelled something.

"Everyone quick! Sinspawn!" Wakka yelled, appearing at the top of the stairs before disappearing.

"Man, there is never a moment of peace around you four is there?" Ryan wondered aloud as the four of them took off up the stairs. Matt was the first to reach the stairs, and he couldn't believe what he saw. Tidus, Wakka, and Kimahri were being thrown around like rag-dolls by a big plant looking thing's vines, and Yuna was casting cure spells faster then Matt had thought possible.

"What in the name of god?" Andy asked in disbelief as he and Lulu reached the top of the stairs.

"Where's Ryan?" Matt asked, noting the damn-Japanese-assassin wanna-be's absences.

"You're a bit off today Matt." Ryan said as he walked out from behind Andy. "What the hell do we do about this?"

"Kill it." Matt and Andy replied in unison, drawing a sigh from Ryan.

"How?"

"Protect Yuna. Without her spells we won't last very long. Sinspawn are much stronger then normal fiends. Try not to get hit if you can avoid it." Lulu said as she cast a fire spell on the thing. It's replied in the form of a rather thick vine slamming into the group of four, sending them all flying.

"Maybe we should be protecting you too." Ryan said as he stood up and drew his sword. "One of you watch Lulu, I'll get to Yuna."

"Why you?" Andy asked to which Ryan held up his sword.

"Because I'm the only one that uses defense out of the three of us." Ryan said flatly.

"I guess he's got us there…" Matt said with a grin. "Okay, I'll keep an eye on Lulu, you take care of Yuna, and Andy can act as a diversion if one of us messes up."

"Why am I the diversion?" Andy complained.

"Shut up and do it, we don't have time to waste on reasons, now move!" Matt yelled, causing Ryan to take off towards Yuna and Andy to stop halfway in between the two mages.

"Hey Yuna, you look like you could use a hand." Ryan said when he saw Yuna struggling to keep away from the thick tentacles that were attacking everything within reach. With a screech drawing slash Ryan cut deeply into the tentacle, green blood splattering everywhere. Two more fire spells, followed by a thunder spell slammed into the monster, drawing another scream from the thing.

Suddenly Lulu yelled, casting eight fire spells on the thing in rapid succession. "Well that… should just about… do it." Wakka said breathlessly as all of the tentacles went limp.

Lulu nearly collapsed from exhaustion, but Matt caught her at the waist. "Damn, you've got to teach me how to do that one of these days." He said as he let her down gently. Suddenly one of the tentacles shot out, slamming into Tidus and sending him flying into Kimahri. While everyone watched the two fly back in surprise another tentacle swung out and slammed Wakka into Andy, knocking the wind out of Wakka and Andy out completely.

"We need to get out of range of those tentacles, Yuna go help Lulu." Ryan said as he kicked an incoming tentacle to buy Yuna a little more time, only to have another swipe his legs out from under him. Cursing he slashed at the things randomly, hitting more times then he expected to. He also managed to cover himself and his sword in the fiends green blood. "That's not good." He muttered as he pushed off the ground, having bought a few seconds reprieve which he used to make sure Yuna and Lulu were safely out of the fiend's reach.

"What say we kick this things ass?" Matt asked as he struggled over, limping slightly every time his left leg touched the ground. "I'll get that thing to open up with some spells, you kill its ass."

"Great." Ryan said with a nervous grin. Suddenly the thing reared back, a fresh burn on what they assumed to be its face. Wakka was standing, still gasping for breath, but twirling his blitzball. Much to the surprise of Ryan and Matt, flames surrounded it, and they left another burn mark when they hit. While the ball was on it's way back to Wakka the fiend pulled the leaves up around itself.

"What you guys waiting for, ya? I can only buy you so much time bruddas." Wakka gasped out as he started to spin the ball again.

"Good old Wakka." Matt said as he prepared to cast his spell on the gigantic fiend. Before he could the things tentacle shot out and slammed into Wakka, throwing the winded blitzer into Matt, and throwing both of them down the stairs.

Ryan felt something inside of him snap, and he tightened his grip on his sword. The creature started to pull itself towards the two fear-struck mages. "I don't think so." Ryan growled as he brought his sword up over his head.

"Ryan are you insane? Get out of there!" Lulu yelled as she launched another fire spell at the thing. It didn't even flinch, and the fire lasted until it burned out on it's own. "What?" Lulu shouted in horror.

"Go to hell." Ryan growled as he lowered his sword so the tip was touching the ground and charged the fiend.

"What the hell is he doing, yelling this early in the morning." Andy asked as he looked up only to see Ryan go flying past him faster then he'd thought Ryan could run.

"Hiten Mitsurugi Style, Do Ryu Sen!" Ryan yelled slashing the blade forward with in an uppercut like motion.

"Do Ryu Sen?" Andy asked in a confused voice as Matt reached the top of the stairs, heavily favoring one leg. Before anymore could be said the rock path, and a great deal of the dirt under it, ripped out of the ground and flew towards the Sinspawn. "Holy shit, he actually pulled off a Do Ryu Sen!"

"But that makes no sense, why would he still be charging?" Matt asked from the stairs.

'This had better work.' Ryan thought as he drew his sheath and shoved it onto the hilt of his sword until it touched the finger guard. "Die, you overgrown garden weed!" He yelled as he drove his sword into the thing's soft flesh, all the way to the finger guard. Before he could do anything else one of the tentacles wrapped around him and threw him back towards Matt.

"Not again." Matt muttered as he stepped to the side and grabbed Ryan by the collar of his shirt. "You've got some explaining to do." He yelled as he dropped Ryan onto the ground.

"Hit the sheath with a lightning spell!" Ryan yelled before he hit the ground.

"What the hell are you-" He stopped in mid sentence when he realized what Ryan had done. Spinning around he cast a lightning spell onto the sheath.

"What are you doing, wasting magic like that?" Lulu asked in annoyance. Matt just grinned.

"Just watch, you'll understand." Ryan said, propping himself up on the ground. Almost as if on cue the rest of the group stirred and gathered around the mages.

"What did you do to it?" Tidus asked as the Sinspawn started to thrash about violently.

"I made it a giant lightning rod." Ryan replied, and everyone else, except Matt, gasped as flames started to burn the thing from the inside out. "It's simple. If it was too hard to hurt on the outside, it must be soft on the inside, right? I just shoved my sword through one of the burns Wakka made with his ball. Then Matt hit the metal sheath with a lightning spell, and it traveled through the sheath, through the finger guard, through the blade, and into the thing. Since it's a plant it went up in flames, but it took a little bit for us to see it."

"You actually thought about all that?" Andy asked in surprise.

Ryan just grinned. "Never let your mind freeze up. Never." Ryan said as fireflies started to filter out of the thing's ashes. "Man, what's with those fireflies."

"Those are Pyreflies." Lulu stated. "They're the souls of all living creatures, and the sending sends them to the farplane."

"Oh. I still think they look like fireflies." Ryan said with a laugh.

"Well all's well that ends well, right?" Matt said as he helped Ryan to his feat. "And I guess you need a new weapon, huh?" He added as he looked at the twisted remains of Ryan's sword and sheath.

"Yeah, looks that way. But I don't think I'll need one anytime soon." Ryan said as Yuna started to heal the battered group. 'Now i get why we're here. Yuna's gonna need all the help she can get to stop sin...'

and there you have it! ryan's first special attack, and he uses it as a diversion. the teens have officially begun to understand why they're in Spira, and just how powerful sin is. Next chapter should be fun to write, but it might be a little delayed. i just got Champions of Norrath: Return to Arms and it's really fun. i highly reccomend it to anyone who enjoyed the first one or a baulder's gate game for playstation 2. if enough people want to know what Do Ryu Sen means in english for some reason, i'll add the translation here. but it's gonna take more people complaining then i have reviewers at the moment, so deal with it. anyway, once again i'd like to tell any Yu-Gi-Oh or Bakura fans to go check out From the Past by sailiorarctic. as always, read and review people! cya next update!