Chapter 7: Shape Shifter
The Beauty of Simplicity- Thx for the review, I'm really glad u liked it. I always love to get a new reviewer and it makes my day and it also motivated me to write more. Anyway, welcome to the story and hope you like the rest!
Eriks leadinglady- Thx for your enthusiasm and your reviews. I think I'm going to reveal who is behind this some time in the next few or so chapters.
Rikku awoke the next morning on the Celsius to find Gippal missing. She hurriedly gazed about the empty cabin to search for him or anyone else, but found no one. She popped upright into a sitting position and flipped the sheets off her body. She bounced up onto her feet and bounded off into the shower and turned on the hot water. The warm water felt heavenly on here cut and aching body as it cascaded down to her feet. After the refreshing shower she strolled over to her dresser and pulled out some fresh clothes. The fresh clothes felt so wonderfully comfortable after being in the same, sand encrusted clothes for the past two days.
After showering and changing her clothes, Rikku, bounded off through the echoing corridor to the elevator. The elevator lurched and then began to rise in its casual way to the bridge. The elevator came to a halt in front of the door to the bridge. She exited the elevator's platform and onto the metal floor in front of the door causing it to swoosh open. She raced down the corridor to the bridge, footsteps echoing the entire way. The door separating the corridor and the bridge swung open revealing her friend's faces welcoming her, except for Yuna.
"Hey. Where's Yunie?" Rikku questioned as she greeted Paine.
"She's up on the deck." Paine emotionlessly gestured above them.
Rikku spun back around and took off down the echoing corridor to the elevator. The doors flung open as she neared each one and passed through them. She got onto the elevator and rode it to the deck where Yuna was standing in the gentle breeze of the morning. She looked as if she were very troubled and was pondering about a great many things. Rikku leisurely strolled up to her cousin and stood right behind her. Yuna turned her head around to see the happy, energetic face of her cousin as her body followed her head's movement.
"I see you're finally up." Yuna said jokingly as she let a slight smile pass her lips.
Rikku couldn't help but smile back at her warm hearted cousin. "Yup." The two cousins stood there for another moment before Rikku questioned Yuna. "What ya doing up here anyways?"
"Nothing much."
"Is it about Issark?" Rikku asked innocently. Yuna lower her head to her chest and placed her hands behind her back and swayed a bit as if she didn't want to answer. "It's okay. We don't have to talk about it." As her words passed over her lips Brother's voice crackled over the loudspeaker.
"Rikku. Yuna. Come to the bridge right away."
The two cousins broke free from each other's gaze and took off to the elevator. They descended on the metal elevator to the sliding doors to the bridge. They passed through the two doors and entered the bridge, each of them leaping off of the railing to the middle of the bridge with their right hands. Brother stood in front of the sphere in the heart of the bridge and Buddy stood next to him. Shinra was still sitting at his computer console typing away with something. Paine was in front of Buddy but gazed off at the two cousins as they entered the room.
Rikku and Yuna came to a halt in front of their friends. "What's up?" Rikku questioned all present in the bridge.
Brother began to speak but Buddy cut him off. "We got a call from Kimahri which said that there is something strange going on up at the fayth scar. And you know with Ronsos, they don't go up there so he calls upon you to go check it out." Buddy explained the entire situation to Rikku and Yuna.
"So what are we waiting for? Kimahri is counting on us! Let's get going to Mt. Gagazet!" Rikku's upbeat, energetic voice echoed through everyone's ears as well as the entire ship.
"Affirmative." Buddy hoped back into his seat and typed in some coordinates as Brother took his seat at the helm. Shinra never left his computer monitors or keyboard out of his sight the entire time his friends conversed or during the flight to Gagazet.
They arrived at Mt. Gagazet in a matter of a few moments. The puffy white clouds surrounding the fayth scar were torn asunder as the Celsius descended to the cliff side. The cargo bay door slid down with the figures of Yuna, Rikku, and Paine upon it. The Celsius edged closer and closer to the side of the fayth scar where it was accessible to deliver Yuna, Rikku and Paine onto the mountain side.
When the Celsius drew close enough to the fayth scar the three sphere hunters leapt off onto it from the cargo bay. All three landed softly on the dusty sloping trail that runs the entire length of the fayth scar. As soon as they began to trek down the long dusted trail they were ambushed by a pack of white fangs. The three friends cut down the small pack of four white fangs fairly easily and continued on with their trek down the trail.
Yuna, Rikku, and Paine continued up the trail of the fayth scar for about another hour or so. They climbed up the insanely steep cliffs that led to a small, now broken off, rock formation that overlooked a hot spring. They continued past this formation and continued to climb up the jagged slope of the scar. Their traveling made them come upon a ledge where the wind accelerated to an unearthly speed. They forced themselves up each of the ledges where the wind attempted to bar their path.
At one point in their climbs Rikku questioned if they should turn back but Yuna and Paine pushed her on. They continued to ascend the impassible labyrinth of ledges mixed with the incredibly strong wind. Yuna leapt up and grasped a rock on the ledge above her that made her hover a few feet above the previous ledge she was on. There was a sharp cracking and the rock Yuna was grasping broke loose of the ledge and tumbled down at her. Yuna tumbled down after the rock and tried to grasp a hold on the ledge below her but it was all in vain. Rikku, who was brining up the rear, noted that her cousin was plummeting towards her and reached out an arm to catch her. Rikku's outstretched hand caught hold of Yuna's pink hood which caused the young Al Bhed the be pulled down with the momentum of the fall. Luckily she got a foothold on the ledge below her and held onto her cousin for her life. Yuna was slammed into the cliff side from the abrupt halt and was almost knocked unconscious.
Rikku finally got Yuna up onto the ledge, they were both breathing hard. "Yunie, are you okay?" Rikku panted from her overexertion.
Yuna was doubled over trying to catch her breath form her near death experience. "Yeah…just a little spooked." Yuna stood back up to a normal stance and gestured to being their ascent again.
They finally reach a spot where the wind was noticeably less that all the others. There was a cave concealed on the left side of the rock shelf. "Hey look!" Rikku pointed out the cave. "Wanna take a look?" Before either of her friends could answer she took off into the cavern.
"She's hopeless." Paine mocked Rikku's excitable personality.
Yuna followed her cousin into the damp cavern calling to her. "Rikku! Wait up! We don't know what's in there!" Paine soon followed her two friends into the cavern being the only one of the three that wasn't blindly running around.
Paine followed the echoing steps of her two friends down a incredibly constricted and damp passageway. Her running came to an abrupt halt when she bumped into something solid. It was Yuna. She was just standing there in awe right behind her cousin who was doing the same thing. Paine gazed into a small open area that was dimly lit with the few shards of sun light that managed to pass through the narrow passageway. The few shards that did make it into the room through the passageway revealed a horrific sight.
The three friends gaped into the room for a long time. There were five Ronso bodies that had been terribly mutilated. Limbs all crooked and bloody, bones jutting out from the limbs and a few from the bodies chests. One of the bodies was decapitated with its head, all bloody, only a foot away from where Rikku was standing. She stepped back as she realized the decapitated head near her feet, falling into Yuna. Crimson blood was splattered all over the walls and the ceiling some in long trails in one direction and others in massive puddles. A long streak of blood led through another passage to the right of the chamber where it looked like a bleeding body was being drug.
Yuna was the first one to break the terrifying silence. "Wha…what has happened here?" She continued to gaze around the blood soaked room in bewilderment.
"It seems like someone or something wants the Ronsos dead." Paine gave out a theory. "I'd have to say someone judging from the style of their deaths it looks like a professional did it not some random fiend."
Rikku broke her gaze from the slaughter and looked at her friends. "But…who would want to kill the Ronsos?" The three of them pondered on her question for quite some time.
"Well, it couldn't be the Guado; they have suppressed their hatred of the Ronso." Yuna broke one thought of who could have done it.
"I thought the Ronsos never came up here anyway. They said it was sacred ground right?" Rikku queried. "So why were these Ronso up here?"
Paine strolled past her two friends and stared at one of the Ronso bodies. "This one was no ordinary law biding Ronso. Doesn't he look familiar to you?" Rikku and Yuna turned to gaze at the body Paine spoke of and sure enough they recognized it, somehow, through all the carnage.
"Hey, isn't that Garik?" Rikku pointed out.
Yuna though about the assumption for about a minute before she answered. "Yeah, it dose look like him."
"That still doesn't explain why he and his guys were up here." Rikku scratched her head as if looking for the answer.
"That's simple." Paine glanced to Rikku and then the bodied and then back to Rikku. "He and his flunkies don't follow all the rules that the others follow. As to exactly why he is up here he was either seeking solitude from the rest of the Ronsos, except his flunkies, or he was lured up here."
"But what or who could lure him up here?" Yuna queried Paine.
"I don't know." Paine admitted. A short moan came from the passage with the blood trail leading into it.
All three of the friends turned and gazed down the blood streaked passageway from which the moan came. "Wha…wha…what…was that?" Rikku was getting creped out by her surroundings and then the noise made it worse.
"Only one way to find out." Paine began to stride off into the blood soaked passageway. Yuna followed suit as did Rikku, not wanting to be left alone in the bloody chamber.
When the three friends entered another room at the end of the second passageway they saw the form of an injured person. As they drew nearer they realized that it was a Guado that was covered in wounds head to toe. The three of them shot questioning glances to one another at the sight of the lone Guado. The injured Guado noticed the three sphere hunters as they entered the room and stared at him. He gazed up at them which caused Rikku to jump back at the sudden movement. His gaze was one of pain and pleading. Yuna rifled through one of her pouches and produced a blue vial for which she handed it to the injured Guado. He took it, thanking her with a friendly nod and uncorking the vial and gulping it down. "Thank you." He finally spoke.
"No problem." Yuna accepted the thanks.
"What are you doing up here?" Rikku broke the gaze between Yuna and the Guado.
The Guado stood up. "Alas, I was lured here by those brutes out there while I was traveling to sight see at Zanarkand."
Paine stepped forward. "I was under the influence that Guado do not travel around anymore due to the fact the former Maester Seymour was evil and corrupt."
The Guado chuckled and smirked evilly. "My you are a smart little girl. You're right Guado don't travel around anymore but you see…" He began to glow. "I am no Guado." With those last words passing from his mouth the vibrant light around him began to radiate astronomical light, temporarily blinding the sphere hunters.
When the light settled to a dim glow a figure stepped out from it. He had long, pointy brown hair with a crimson band wrapped around his skull. His left arm was clad in grey metal plating that stretched the entire length of his arm. He was adorn with several scars all over his body and had a large 'J' like tattoo planted on his chest. Black shorts with one longer side that was colored orange and then faded to crimson rested around his knees. In his right fist he grasped a massive sword with a taped up hilt and an arrow head shape at the tip of the blade.
"Si…sir…Jecht?" Yuna questioned the newly formed figure that appeared to be her father's guardian.
Jecht smirked and let out a malevolence laugh. "Wrong again! Aren't we a smart bunch?" The figure managed to speak through his laughter. "But, I am using his body for I will not reveal mine for some time, that is if u live long enough!" He drew up his massive sword and lunged at Yuna. She dodged the massive blade as it bore itself into the cavern wall behind her from Jecht's sheer strength.
Paine took out her skull blade and attempted to impale the man pretending to be Jecht. Instead he released his sword from his grasp and evaded the blow Paine made. Then he grasped the hilt with both of his muscular hands and wrenched his blade out of the moist cavern wall. He broadsided Paine with his blade knocking her into a rock formation at the back of the room. He rushed over to the incapacitated warrior and poised his blade above her head. A sharp, but not strong tug came from the chain attached near the hilt of his blade. He whirled around to see Rikku grasping the other end of the chain. He ginned. "Troublesome Al Bhed girl." He then continued on to toss his blade behind him with a muscular arm. Rikku was still gripping to the other end of the chain and was carried across the room by the momentum of the sword. She slammed into the wall, barely evading the blade from being lodged into her spine.
Paine swept a sturdy leg out at Jecht and swept his legs out from under him. He collapsed to the chill floor and cursed. Quickly recovering, he took a boxing stance and began to send blow after blow from his muscular legs and arms at the warrior. At first she was able to elude the blows made by Jecht but as a small portion of time passed he picked up the speed at which his blows were carried through the air. A blow landed on her right cheek then her left and then she felt the wind rush out of her as a knee was brought up into her stomach. She wanted to collapse to the ground but Jecht wouldn't allow it he continued to assail to warrior with a multitude of kicks and punches each inflicting major damages to Paine's body. Finally he let her collapse to the ground after barraging her for two minutes of constant blows that would put any normal person into a coma.
Jecht bounced on his feet as if ready for more, much more, as he felt chill metal touch the back of his head, parting his brown hair. "Ah, now you're getting smarter." He leapt onto his hands and propelled himself back at Yuna with all his strength. His feet landed on her stomach instantly knocking the wind out of her and sending her flying into the wall behind her. Jecht stood back to full height half expecting someone to jump right on him but none of the three girls did. "Now you're getting boring! I thought you were stronger than this." He complained as he continued to bounce on his feet, throwing punches at the air.
Rikku looked up at the man resembling Jecht and muttered something under her breath. He must have heard her because he focused on her. "Now that's not a nice thing to say little girl." Rikku flipped out and snatched up the blade beside her and rushed Jecht. She brought it up over her head as she continued towards him. He just stood there, calm as ever, and smirked. She brought the blade down upon his head with all the force she could muster and closed her eyes. When she didn't feel the blade smack the floor she opened an eye and then shot open the other in surprised horror.
Jecht had caught the blade between his hands. "I'll be taking that back!" He wrenched it out or Rikku's hands dragging her forward at him. "Thanks for giving me my sword back. Now I can finish you off with it." He brought the blade up to rest above Rikku's neck and waited. He was never the type to just end something, he always wanted a challenge or at least some entertainment from watching others suffer so he never brought his massive sword down on Rikku's neck. Instead he began to stride away from the trembling Al Bhed girl when she got back up and attacked the former guardian. "I suppose you're not done then?" He spun around at the exact time to catch her twin daggers in the holes on his blade. He knocked her dual orange and yellow blades off to the side and prepared for an attack. "Be gone you bothersome little girl!" He thrust his blade right into her gut drawing gasps of pain from within her. She felt the chilled tip of the blade leisurely sink deeper and deeper into her stomach.
Then Rikku could fell a slight tingle on the skin on her stomach as a faint blue light erupted from her bellybutton. The blade was forced back out of the Al Bhed girl's stomach with a quick burst. Jecht almost tumbled backwards from the sudden ejection. 'What is this?' he though as he tripped over his own feet sending him tumbling backwards. 'She may pose more trouble than I thought.' His head struck the earth and he let out a silent curse. His blade was shot through the air and shattered upon the wall into thousands of tiny shards.
Rikku collapsed to her knees after almost being impaled and caught her breath. Jecht got back up onto his feet and gazed at the Al Bhed girl in wide eyed wonder. 'Hmmm. I wonder what made that magical barrier.' He contemplated as he continued to stare at the girl. 'No matter. I'll bring it down!' He assumed a boxing position again and began to unload his fists of fury upon the magical shield surrounding Rikku. All his blows were glanced off and soon he gave up with that approach. He rifled through a pouch he had strung up on his waist. His face light up as he griped the object he was looking for. 'I didn't want to use this but she leaves me no choice.' He slipped on something that looked like brass knuckled on his right hand and held something small and circular in the other.
Rikku did not move from her collapsed position as the former guardian approached her. He poised his right fist back and ready to punch while gripping the smooth item in his left. The brass knuckle like thing began to glow with a turquoise glow. "This will shatter your little barrier!" He flung his fist forward at the barrier surrounding Rikku and struck it. At first his blow just stuck to the barrier and sprayed sparks throughout the room. Then he applied more and more pressure and the barrier gave way to the awesome might of the magical item mixed with Jecht's strength. He took his left hand and brought it down towards Rikku's head making sure the object in it would make first contact. As it moved closer and closer to her head he braced himself for what he knew was to come. This item would make Rikku's head get blown clean off and devour her soul.
His hand was almost upon Rikku's golden locks when a gunshot rang through the ears of everyone present as well as throughout the cave. Jecht felt a sharp pain shoot through his left hand as he dropped the trinket he had been harboring. A bullet whole remained in the center of his palm as crimson blood trickled out of the fresh wound. 'Well, she saved me from doing that inhumane thing to the other girl. No matter how much I enjoy killing I never get any satisfaction with that object but instead I get an immoral feeling. I don't know why.' He pondered as the blood dripped from his palm onto the cavern floor.
The next bullet Yuna fired went straight for Jecht's head but he dodged it with ease. She then continued to fire increasingly more rapid shots as he began ducking and weaving in and out of each bullets trajectory. He never once got the chance to get up close to Yuna as she never let up her bombardments of bullets. He took another bullet to his right leg but shrugged it off and continued to dodge the constant bullets. After a few moments of this constant bombardment Yuna's guns began to overheat and malfunction. Jecht saw his chance and leapt upon her with gorilla like force.
Jecht pinned Yuna to the ground and wrapped his right hand around her slender neck. He began to apply pressure to her neck cutting off her oxygen supply almost instantaneously. She tried to kick and thrash around but she couldn't budge under the pressure of Jecht on top of her. She opened her mouth to let out a shrill scream but only silence passed out of her open mouth. With the oxygen cut off from her brain she began to breathe hard and her eyes blinked with darkness.
Rikku regained her composure to see Yuna having the life chocked out of her ever so slowly. Her eyes went ablaze with rage and concern for her cousin. She acquired her twin daggers and rushed straight for Jecht's head. The man caught a glance of the oncoming attack and stuck out his left hand to bar her path. She came sliding to a halt as the former guardian flung Yuna in front of him as a human shield. He moved closer to Rikku still holding out the suffocating Yuna. Then without warning he thrust out his left hand and clenched Rikku's throat as well. He lifted the two girls into the air and laughed manically as he continued to slowly drain the life out of each of the girls.
A deep throated growl came from the entrance to the cave. 'Wonder who that could be.' Jecht thought as he tossed the two cousins onto the ground and strode out into the blood soaked room where the Ronsos were slaughtered. In the doorway stood a blue blur with a severed horn atop its head. "Ah, I see you have come to see what has happened to your friends as well as your kinsman Ronso elder Kimahri." Jecht smirked as Kimahri let out an angered roar. "Now that won't get you anywhere except an early grave because that is annoying the hell out of me."
He rushed the Ronso elder like a trained martial artist. Kimahri let fly a devastating blow into the man's gut sending him soaring through the air and slamming into one of the mutilated corpses. "You have disgraced Kimahri's people. You have disturbed our sacred place. And you have hurt Kimahri's friends. Now you too will be hurt!" Kimahri rushed forward at the former guardian as he dusted himself off. Kimahri bashed into Jecht's ribs causing some of them to crack and split with a sickening sound. He let out a small cry of pain that was masked over with a smirk. He gripped the Ronso's half of a horn and yanked on it till the Ronso elder dropped him from pain. He let out another of his angered roars and drop kicked the man in the face.
Jecht flew back into a wall about twenty feet back or so. The blow struck with so much force that dust and rocks began to plummet from the ceiling but then clearing up. He popped back up onto his feet and went into his usual boxing stance and waved for Kimahri to 'bring it'. The Ronso elder obliged his request and charged full speed at the taunting fighter. Jecht snatched up a rock the size of a kickball and kicked it at the charging Kimahri. The rock surprisingly bounced off of Kimahri, causing him to stumble in his charge, and flew back to Jecht. He then continued with a punch to the rock sending it hurtling back at the Ronso. Once again it bounced off his fur and back to fighter. As it flew back to him, Jecht leapt up into the air and sun around causing him to flip upside down. He then kicked the rock at Kimahri once more, this time sending the Ronso elder back up against a wall. Jecht landed as he finished up his flips and spins on his knees and one hand in a cool manner.
"Ha! The mighty Ronso elder Kimahri, guardian of Yuna, the defeater of Sin and you were brought down with one meager move. You really have grown soft in the past three years." The man impersonating Jecht laughed at the pathetic Ronso elder. "I guess I'll just have to finish you off here and now." He drew out a small pink pill and slipped it under Kimahri's tongue forcing him to swallow the pill. He then began to stroll back into the room where Yuna, Rikku, and Paine were to finish them off as well when he felt something clutch his shoulders and squeeze.
Kimahri had risen and grasped the feeble human body in his massive Ronso muscles. "I see you want to have some more fun." Jecht grinned as a wave of pain and nausea washed over Kimahri depleting his strength instantly. "Foolish Ronso. Even one of you race can't withstand the poison I introduced into your system. Now leave me be to destroy your three friends." He kicked the collapsing Ronso in the chest sending him onto his back. Then he continued on through the blood soaked passageway back to where Yuna, Rikku, and Paine lay unconscious.
Jecht reached the room where the three sphere hunters lay unconscious and he took up Paine's skull blade in a sturdy hand. He tossed it back and forth between his two hands as if amused by the way it was forged. He poised it above Paine's chest ready to plunge it into her still warm flesh when suddenly a voice rang through his head. 'There is a problem with the prisoner, get back here immediately. Don't worry about those three we can deal with them latter.' He silently responded to the order and dropped the sword to the ground causing a clamoring to echo throughout the cavern. Paine lifter her weary head to see the man impersonating Jecht rifle through a pouch and produce an orange sphere. He noted Paine's conscious state and threw the sphere at her temple, knocking her out cold on impact. He then began to glow as he did a few fancy hand motions and then disappeared into thin air leaving the three girls and the Ronso unconscious in the cavern.
Several hours later Kimahri awoke in the dreary cavern he was knocked out in. He shook his head and rubbed his eyes with a pawed hand. He suddenly remembered Yuna and the others were hurt, if not dead in the other room. Then he noticed that he was not dead. For surely the poison should have killed him or maybe it wasn't a deadly poison after all or maybe just maybe his body was able to fight it off. Either way he strolled into the back room of the cavern to find his three fiends still sprawled out over the floor but not severely injured. He hoisted each of his friends one by one onto his broad shoulders and carried them back out of the cavern and back down the mountain trail.
Yuna's eyes leisurely slid open to gaze upon a huddle of Ronso children standing around her gazing in wide wonder. Their eyes lit up as her bi colored eyes meet theirs and they began to shout and holler to the grownup Ronsos. "She's awake elder!" One of the Ronso children managed to squeal out of the excitement of the moment.
Sure enough as the child spoke Kimahri slowly strode over to where Yuna lay on the slightly chilled bare ground. "Kimahri glad to see Yuna okay." Yuna couldn't help but smile at her old friend and protector.
"I'm glad to see you too Kimahri." Yuna managed to muster enough of her strength to stand up. Gazing around she posed Kimahri a question. "Where are Rikku and Paine? Are they alright?" She began to panic as she remembered the torture they went through up in the cave in the fayth scar. "And when did you come in to save us? I thought you guys weren't allowed up there because it's a sacred place."
"Kimahri worried about Yuna and her friends so Kimahri went to check on them." Kimahri answered flatly.
"And what about Rikku and Paine? Are the alright?" Yuna's voice was breaking up with panic as it seemed like Kimahri was evading the question somehow.
"Rikku, Paine over there." He gestured with a clawed finger to where sure enough the figures of her two friends passed out on the ground were surrounded by a few Ronso tending to their visible wounds.
"Kimahri surprised to see Sir Jecht in sacred part of Mountain." Kimahri struck up some conversation between him and the one he had protected for ten years.
Yuna stopped in her tracts as she was making her way over to her two unconscious friends and turned to face her lovable former guardian. "That wasn't Sir Jecht Kimahri. It was just a projection of him someone used instead of his real form. We still don't know who the man was or why he came and killed those Ronsos up there and then attacked us but one thing is for sure he must have something to do with that summoner Issark that is out to get me." Yuna explained the entire situation she was in to Kimahri.
"Kimahri worried for Yuna. Kimahri doesn't want anything to happen to Yuna."
"Thank you Kimahri." She smiled and gave the Ronso elder a great big friendly hug. "It frightens me about all these people after me but to know that I have the help of my friends makes the situation less nerve-wracking." She smiled up at her big friend.
"Kimahri happy that he can help Yuna." Kimahri started to walk away from Yuna but quickly turned back to her. "Yuna should rest. Follow." He lead her up into a little alcove where there stood a bed of soft cloth. He gestured for her to lay down and rest. She complied with his actions and went to sleep.
When Yuna opened her eyes again after falling asleep in the bed Kimahri showed her to she found Rikku staring at her. Her twin jade swirl eyes shot open in excitement when she saw Yuna awaken. "Good morning Yunie!" Rikku greeted her waking cousin.
"Good morning Rikku." She glanced around the alcove for signs of Paine but she was nowhere to be found. "Where did Paine go?"
"She's just off on her own like usual." Rikku answered as Yuna sat up in bed. She then threw the covers off of herself and sung her smooth legs over the side and stood up. She then began to walk off without saying a word to Rikku. "Where you going Yunie?"
Yuna turned around to meet her cousin's glance. "Just going to check on Paine." And with that she strolled off in search of her friend of solitude. She looked up the mountain trail that led up into the high cliffs of the mountain. Paine was standing near the grave of a former summoner leaning her back against the wall and staring out into the vast clouded sky.
As Yuna approached her friend she threw something at her. "Here!" A small orange colored sphere zipped through the air towards her. "It's for you." Yuna cradled the sphere in both hands as it landed into her palms. "Take a look. It's something you need to see." Yuna shot a questioning glance at her friend before obeying and flipping the sphere on.
A figure was shackled to the moss covered wall with thick rusty chains. A dark cloaked figured stood five feet from the figure shackled to the wall with another man standing beside him. Yuna recognized the man beside the cloaked one. It was Issark. He snapped his fingers and several torches around the room flared up revealing the identity of the shackled figure. Yuna's eyes shot side with terror and surprise. It was Tidus. Tidus was a prisoner of Issark and whoever else the cloaked man figure was.
"Go ahead little boy." Issark urged Tidus to speak. "Talk to her you worthless rat." His voice was sharpened with anger and threat.
Tidus lifted his head that now felt like a ton of bricks up level with the center of the sphere. "No…no, I can't." Issark walked over to the imprisoned Tidus and spoke.
"If you don't you know what I will do to you."
Tidus lowered his head and then brought it back up suddenly with a great jerk. "No! I won't let you do anything to her!" Issark ginned a bit and then struck Tidus in the gut, knocking the wind out of him.
"Now let's try this again. And no screw ups." Issark threatened Tidus with his dual colossal axes.
"No matter what you threaten me with or what you do to me will make me get her here." Tidus' defiant voice rung through Yuna's ears.
Issark took up his right axe and brought it down upon Tidus but before it sank into his flesh an outstretched hand from the cloaked man stopped it. "Issark stop this madness. We need him alive or did you forget that?" The man took the axe from Issark. "Now, lady Yuna…"He turned to face the sphere. "If you ever want to see your lover boy again then you will come to the farplane immediately." The figure's voice was shrill and cold.
"No Yuna don't! It's a trap!" Tidus rattled his bindings wildly but was silenced as Issark kneed him in the stomach. The sphere went blank after that.
Yuna let the sphere plummet to the snow covered earth and dropped to her knees. She couldn't believe that Tidus was really alive and that he was being held captive by Issark and what appeared to be his master. She began to sob a muffled sob as Rikku approached her from the back.
Rikku noticed her cousin's sobs. "What's wrong Yunie?" She rushed over to her cousin's side.
Yuna looked up at Rikku, crystal tears streaked her face. "Tidus is alive and he is being held hostage by Issark and another guy in the farplane and they want me to come there if I ever want to see him again." Yuna began to cry even more after envisioning the sphere events again.
Rikku rubbed Yuna's back to try to calm her down but to no avail. "Yunie it's gonna be all right. All we have to do is go into the farplane and beat up Issark again and rescue Tidus."
"I'm not worried about Issark Rikku. I'm more worried about the other person who had control over Issark in the sphere recording."
"C'mon Yunie. He shouldn't be too hard after all we did defeat Yu Yevon and then Vegnagun. How much stronger could this guy possibly be than they were?" Rikku said in an attempt to cheer Yuna up.
"I…I…I just don't know. I got this strange feeling when I saw him on the sphere, a feeling of terror towards an immense power." Yuna elaborated on her feelings of the cloaked man.
"Yu Yevon was a god right? Can a person be more powerful than a god?" Rikku queried once again trying to comfort Yuna.
"If he is a stronger god." Paine interjected.
"Hey! Stay outta this!" Rikku shot an annoyed look at Paine as she went back to the wall.
"I…I know what to do." Yuna choked clearly through her sobs. "We must go to the farplane and rescue Tidus."
"Now that's the kind of thinking I like!" Rikku leapt up from her kneeling position and wrapped an arm around Yuna's shoulders.
Kimahri strolled up to see what all the commotion was. "Is Yuna and Rikku alright?"
"Yeah Kimahri." Yuna said. "We are gonna leave now. Thanks for everything Kimahri!" She gave the Ronso one last hug before she radioed Buddy.
"What can I do ya for?" Buddy queried.
"We need to get to Guadosalam right away." Yuna spoke into the communicator to Buddy.
A/N: Sorry for the delay in this chapter but I got addicted to Half Life 2 online multiplayer for a few days so I didn't work on this at all till yesterday except for like a page or two before that. Anyway, I hope you like the story development in this chapter with the addition of yet another unknown character. Can't wait to get your review!