WOW, a big hiatus. But I wanted to continue so here is chapter 9.
Chapter 9
Aeon, the Dark Knight
Bevelle was massive! No city on Earth was this large, at least no city I've ever been too.
I followed close with LeBlanc as the Gullwings were behind us.
"Our target is the New Yevon Praetor, Baralai!" Ormi shouted to us.
"A girly-man like him doesn't stand a chance without his personal guard." Logos mocked which made me laugh a little.
"So we just move in and find this guy and have him take us to Vegnagun, right?" I asked the group.
"That's the general idea love." Leblanc was quick to say. A series of Yevon guards approached us.
"Hey! It's the Gullwings! They're sided with the Youth League, get them!" the one in red shouted.
"You can take it from here loves." LeBlanc shouted as we left the Gullwings behind to fight. I wasn't worried; they've been through worse.
After a long time searching through the buildings we found nothing. Not a trace of this kid. "Where is this guy? We've been searching for hours and nothing!" I said pounding my covered arm against a wall only to have it give way. It was a switch of some kind. The floor folded out into a staircase leading down.
"Wow, I guess I should have seen this coming." I told them in awe.
The four of us went down the set of stairs and were in this large underground factory by the looks of things.
"Bevelle has always had a thing for secrets." Logos informed us.
There was a chest nearby that I opened up and found this orb.
"What's this?" I asked.
"It's a sphere of some kind." Ormi answered.
"A dress sphere is more like it!" I heard Rikku's chipper voice shout from behind.
"How do you use it?" I asked her.
No sooner did I ask did it activate. I changed clothes very quickly, in the blink of an eye. I was clad in a black suit of armor from head to toe and was now carrying this large two-handed sword rather than my rifle.
"It's some sort of Dark Knight. Very fashionable." LeBlanc said admiring my armor.
Then I just blacked out. I don't know how or why but I was suspended in some kind of alternate reality where I had no control over anything other than thought.
Underneath Bevelle my body began to move on its own. Everyone was unaware of the changes that took place but it wasn't good.
Going up to Ormi he punched him square in his shield. Everyone looked back at him and started shouting variations of "What was that for?"
He clutched his blade and swung at the stout man. It missed. They didn't know what to make of this change in behavior but it was clear that Ashley was no longer in control of Ashley.
"Ashley, what's wrong?" Yuna asked drawing her two guns ready to defend herself.
"Who is Ashley? Don't you mean Aeon?" LeBlanc asked. She didn't know my real name yet.
"Ashley isn't in control anymore. I am Aeon." He told them. "I am everything that Ashley wanted to be. Cool, loveable, charismatic, strong. That is why he invented me. But dealing with you Gullwings made him want to stop being me, he wanted to get away from the person he created, but he can't. I'm always there!"
With that he let loose a powerful shockwave of dark energy. It engulfed everyone and seemed to drain his or her vitality.
"Ashley would speak to you but he's going insane right now. Torn between himself and the personality he's crafted." He sneered at them all.
I had no idea how to regain control over myself. This person wasn't letting me have any say in this matter.
Everybody was rather perplexed by this sudden change in behavior. It made things easier for Aeon to have at them without much trouble.
"If you three goons would get your rears in gear!" LeBlanc shouted to Yuna, Rikku, and Paine. The three of them quickly stood ready as Aeon lunged at them.
Yuna was knocked to her feet by a big shoulder slam and Rikku felt the wrath of a swift roundhouse kick. Paine managed to trade blows with him before she was sent to the cold, mist covered, floor.
"It's been fun but I'm going to pay Vegnagun a visit. I've heard people talk about him over the years and I never got the chance to say hi." Aeon told everyone before running down a hallway.
Watching this happen made me start to realize something. "How the heck am I watching this?" I asked myself out loud.
I was still in the room where I activated the dressphere but only nobody could see or hear me it seemed. "Isn't this a little cliché?"
"That…was different." Ormi said standing to his feet.
"What made Ashley do that?" Yuna asked everyone.
"Who in the world are you talking about?" LeBlanc shouted.
"Aeon's real name is Ashley." Paine told them.
"Wait, if his real name is Ashley then why did he keep calling himself Aeon? Shouldn't he be calling himself Ashley then." Ormi said thinking that the Aeon in the Dark Knight outfit was really called Ashley.
"No. He's some weird type of mental thing that the Dark Knight brought out when Ashley put it on." She explained further.
"But…" Ormi started.
"Trust me! I'm right." Paine interrupted not wanting to waste anymore of her time.
"If Aeon's real name is Ashley then how do the three of you know this?" LeBlanc asked.
"He told us while he was on our ship when you stole that sphere." Rikku told my boss.
"Why would he tell you losers and not me? I could tell she wasn't taking this very well.
"Look, right now we need to find a way to get him to take off that costume." Yuna pleaded with everyone.
"But how? It doesn't seem like we can ask him nicely and have him remove it himself." Rikku chimed in.
"While I was fighting with him I noticed something. On his chest was this red sphere that looked like the dressphere that changed him into the Dark Knight. If we can somehow remove that from his armor I'm sure he would revert back to his former self." Paine explained.
"But he's no going to let any of us get close to him, how are we going to get it off?" Ormi asked.
"Logos, I want you to shoot it off him. You can stand far away and hit it right?" LeBlanc asked him.
"Well I could do that. The question is, should I? We are here after all to get rid of Vegnagun and Baralai." He protested. I could tell Logos still had it in for me since I embarrassed him the day I arrived here.
"I know it's a bit of a detour but we may need him for this job, and I don't want to just leave whoever that is free to run around like this." LeBlanc informed all of us.
I was touched that the boss cared about me.
As they ran after Aeon I followed too, but they didn't know that. They cornered him in a room with pyreflies all over staring into this abyss with machines on the walls.
"You followed me? I'm flattered." He said before he was met with a swift blow to the face with LeBlanc's fan. "That hurts boss."
"I am not your boss!" she yelled at him.
Rikku and Paine both attacked him at the same time, but they couldn't land a single blow. It was almost like they were defending from his attacks so they wouldn't get hit rather than him doing the same.
I saw Logos holding his pistols with remorse. I could tell he really didn't want to help me out. "Logos! Do it!" Ormi shouted catching his shield.
Shaking his head he aimed and fired a large bullet, which struck the sphere on his chest plate, and it fell out to the floor. I felt myself being pulled back into my body and when my eyes opened I was back to normal with the crimson colored sphere in front of me.
"Ashley is that you?" Yuna asked.
"Nice try, but I'm afraid it ends here." I said laughing as the grabbed Yuna's arms and said, "boo!"
Everybody was so scared, but I was just laughing out loud.
"I'm sorry. I couldn't resist. I'm back to normal now." I told them grinning ear to ear.
"OUI YCC!" Rikku shouted planting a kick to my gut.
"To your feet!" I heard LeBlanc order as I managed to rise.
"Why did you tell them your real name but not me?" she demanded to know.
"I'm sorry boss. It was very hard fighting against them. I felt it was a way to apologize to them for all I did to wrong them." I told her.
"I need time to think about this. We have to find this weapon." She said.
I was beginning to feel bad again. I could tell the boss was upset with me.
This was going to have to wait though. We still had a job to do.