A/N:

Shadray, I've been working on this project for about six months, on and off (mostly off, to be honest, but I have to deal with having a fragment of a life). No duh I massivly update in one shot, most everything except for the ending is worked out, excepting minor bugs that I'm hacking at. And you must have gotten Frozen Wind just as it was placed onto the board thingy. Because I uploaded the nine chapters all at once. Though your reviews had me laughing for a good while. But I'll slow down now. Maybe one update for every day. I just got over-eager.

Can you blame me, honestly?

Secondly, Icewind doesn't hate Yuna. He thinks she's a sweetness and light type. I'll quote "Anyone in a position of power in my experience tends to be either an ass, or an idiot." He's not talking about Yuna, he's talking about Mika. Yuna doesn't have power, expecially since they've already gone over her being excommunicated. She doesn't control some major power group, so he doesn't have that instant dislike.

Third: well, you might want to re-read the story. He's talked about why he wouldn't have reason to smile for awhile. He's a mass murderer, and his gf / lover died right in front of him (part of the song thing). That doesn't make for a happy life.

And where did you get the idea that Yuna would get the ability to summon pokemon? But you GOT what you asked for, I updated, so you didn't have to burn me. Next time, be a little more careful with your words, god (or the gods) might decide to have a little bit of fun at your expense. :)

a

z

Anyone who's reading this, please, for the sake of my sanity (sorry Brother, but I'm stealing your line), review. Even if you only want to comment on how that impromptu concert thing at Besaid was stupid. I'm THAT desperate for attention. Not really, but I could use commentary. Writing these things take up a good chunk of your life, and I'm faintly wondering if I wasted my time doing this.

Highroad:

After a staircase climb, an old man approached us (Yuna's group, collectively.) "Do you know what those ruins are from?"

I shrugged. "Some old city?"

"Correct. A city most ancient! A terrible testament to Sin's power. I tremble every time I see them. Compared to Sin, humans are mere mudpuppies!"

I wasn't really concerned. You see, some pokemon could do a similar thing to what Sin was doing. On a lesser scale, true. But they COULD wreak hell if they had a reason. If Kyogre woke up, for example… the world would probably end. Damned Team Aqua and Magma. I should have killed them too. Too late now, though.

Yuna quietly said "But I believe humans are the only ones capable of defeating Sin." Not necessarily true (methinks an uber- Big Bang attack would do a hell of a lot of damage to Sin), but I wasn't correcting her. And I wasn't going to try that out unless Sin was stupid enough to try something like that again, and give me an opportunity.

The old man seemed glad. "A good reply. I am relieved to hear you say that, m'lady summoner. Where are my manners? I am Maechen, a scholar. At your service, m'lady. I am on a journey, studying the history of our world, Spira, seeking its stories and secrets... My travels have taken me to many places, and I am troubled by what I seen. Fragile smiles on people's faces crumbling at the mere mention of Sin. They are counting on you, m'lady. Give them a reason to rejoice once more."

Yuna nodded. "I will."

He walked towards Luca, while we continued on. Once he was out of sight, I released Suicune, and restrained the urge to make several comments that would be insulting at best.

&&&&&&&&&&

Three people rode up riding birds that looked like dodrios to me – sort of. Minus two heads, and with gold feathers. I gave Suicune a look, and she disappeared into the grasses. No reason to panic them with a 'fiend'. Fucking hell…

The apparent leader said to Yuna "Lady Summoner, I presume?"

Yuna nodded. "Yes, I am Yuna."

"I am Lucil, captain of the Djose Chocobo Knights."

The other lady spoke up (she had feathers in her hair) "And I'm Elma. We've been charged to guard the Highroad."

"There have been reports of a large fiend appearing in this area, with a taste for chocobos. Do take care, Summoner Yuna, if you are to rent any chocobos."

"Thank you. We will be careful." Yuna made a bizarre looking motion after that. I guess it was praying, but what do I know? Sure ain't my world.

Lucil said "Good. We should get back to our rounds. Farewell."

Elma waited a moment, then said, "Our prayers are with you." For some reason, she gave me a speculative glance.

The Chocobo riders left. I was about to speak up about how a large fiend would be a joke to me (so they could rent those birds if they wanted), but Tidus spoke up first. "A large fiend... Let's go get him!"

I rolled my eyes. "Why?"

Tidus looked at me strangely. "It's the right thing to do."

"It's the right thing to do?" Auron laughed.

Tidus didn't see the humor in what he said. Neither did I. "What'd I say now?"

"Jecht said that a lot, too. And every time he said it, it meant trouble for Braska and me."

Tidus looked pissed after that. I guess he has issues with his father. Sometimes, I really feel like an outsider. Just as well though, since I AM one.

I waved my hand, and Suicune came back. She sighed (as did I), and we trailed everyone else.

&&&&&&&&&

Next… well, Yuna went over to talk to a woman standing on the road. She waved us over, and introduced her. "This is Belgemine, a summoner like me."

She did a prayer motion as a way of bowing. I shook my head slightly (screwy prayer), and nodded my head (most the others bowed).

Yuna continued "And she's asked for a Aeon battle. Could you make sure no one gets hurt?"

Tidus nodded, and the two started their battle.

Yuna called the bird Aeon, while Belgemine called Infrit. Instantly, Yuna called out "Valefor… Energy Blast!"

The Aeon jumped up into the air, and a bright half-circle appeared from its mouth. It began to spin (the half-circle), and blasts of energy struck Infrit.

The dog Aeon tried to get up from the attack… but fell over. Valefor took the opportunity to deliver several blows to the disabled Aeon, making sure it didn't get back up.

Belgemine dismissed her Aeon, and talked quietly to Yuna. Yuna bowed to her, and responded… with something. Don't ask me, I didn't hear it.

Belgemine looked over at me while they were talking. I swear; her eyes widened minutely when she looked at me, as if I scared the living crap out of her or something.

&&&&&&&&&&

That night, we camped on the road (we'd left late in the day). I was a bit off in the distance, talking to Suicune. Auron found it amusing that she could talk back. I think he even cracked a joke, but I couldn't tell. Kinda too far away.

"Well, now what? Obviously busted." We passed that a long time ago. Might as well serve as a guardian to her. I heard that before, you know. "That was more for Tidus's sake more than ours." True. You know, he really is thick. She obviously LIKES him enough… I chuckled for a moment, then stiffened when Tidus appeared from behind me, trying to surprise me. Luckily, I didn't react the way my body wanted to. "Tidus… fair warning. I've been in serious bad trouble before. NEVER sneak up on me. I don't want to end up killing you because of my hardwired reactions."

He seemed a bit surprised by it. Maybe hurt, I couldn't tell in the darkness. By this time, everyone had walked over to me. Yuna seemed to be thinking something over.

I sighed, and waited, looking skyward. I could never get tired of the sky. Saffron city born and bred, the smog from there made sure of that.

"That floating thing… Psymachine… told us that you had some problems in your past. Could you tell us… I mean… you don't have to…" She trailed off, obviously nervous. I have that effect sometimes. People are more perceptive than they think. They had a good reason to be afraid of me – but they just didn't know it.

I thought about it, then shook my head. "Look… I'm still trying to recover. You know when I went berserk? That brought up a memory. One I hate… I hated… myself. For what I did… and what I couldn't do." My throat closed, and I shook my head again. "Don't… ask… please." Whatever had happened, sometimes… I still hurt. I didn't want to die… but I didn't want to willingly remember what happened. Especially since I had a long time ahead of me, keeping an eye on Yuna. It would be harder if she didn't trust me… and knowing what I had done would make anyone distrust me.

You'd be surprised how addictive trust is.

"Does it have anything to do with that girl who was killed?"

"She wasn't 'that girl'. She was my fucking fiancé, thank you very much, bastard."

Lulu seemed to understand that I wasn't in the mood, because she took Yuna aside. With Yuna gone, no one said a word. Maybe it was shock. I guess I don't seem the type to fall in love. After they came back, Yuna clearly nodded. "It's all right. You tell us when you're ready."

I smiled faintly. "Thanks."

As they walked away, Yuna turned, stopping in place. "Are you sure you won't get cold?"

I snorted. "I lived on a mountain for months. A cold one. I'll be fine."

She nodded, and walked back to the fire.

Suicune looked at me curiously. I shook my head, and quietly said "No. If they find out about what we did to the Rockets… then there's no go for us. And if we can't do our job… well, I don't want to die anymore. But if this fades…" I… understand. She walked up to me, and leaned on me. Normally, that would be bad, seeing as Suicune weighs more than I do. But I knew what she meant. I nodded, and she plopped down next to me. She rubbed up against me, then curled up to sleep. I swear, before she fell asleep, I heard He's… all I have left. I can't see him in pain like this… but I won't let go either…it's not fair… why couldn't they just give us back Her?

I sighed, and let out Balrog. Shortly after he began to pace, making sure we were safe, I fell asleep looking at the foreign sky. I wanted Her back too – but I knew she'd never come back. It was time to move on, I guess. I'd been on Mount Silver for probably months… and besides, if she saw me moping like that, she'd kick me to kingdom come for not moving on. It was one of Her character flaws - she had this problem with being violent...

What the hell am I doing, dredging up memories again?

&&&&&&&&&

The next day, it was like last night hadn't happened. Mostly, anyway. Sometimes, Wakka would forget himself, and start to ask.

Lulu kept him in line. Mostly. But it was Auron that worried me the most. He continually glanced at me when he thought I wasn't looking. I think he saw the metaphorical blood on my hands, and worried about Yuna.

A woman approached us. "My Lady Summoner!"

Her daughter (I think) said "You're a summoner?"

"Yes. My name is Yuna."

"I'm Calli." I walked a bit away, Suicune walking next to me. Hopefully, no one would notice us, with Yuna around. We were still in plain sight, but a bit behind them, out of sight.

Yuna's eyes flicked to me for a moment, then she looked back at Calli. "Nice to meet you, Calli."

"Lady Yuna, are you going to bring us the Calm?"

"Yes, very soon."

Calli looked happy, and started jumping around. "Yay!"

Her mother looked down at the bouncing child, and smiled. "We're looking forward to another Calm, My Lady Summoner."

"I'll do my best."

The woman and Calli left. I quietly wished them well. Optimism… I've lost that. It turned to Lulu. "What's the Calm they were talking about?"

"The Calm is a time of peace. It comes after a summoner defeats Sin, and lasts until Sin reappears."

Yuna was quiet. "Sin dies and is reborn."

Tidus nodded. "I get it! I thought it was weird. Yuna's dad defeated Sin ten years ago, right? But Sin's still here! Didn't make much sense till now. Wait... If it just comes back..."

Yuna cut him off "Don't say it isn't worth it... Because it is."

I nodded quietly. "Any hope in a time of darkness… is worth a great deal, Tidus. It's worth it. Especially if the bringer of that fear… can possibly be destroyed."

He stared at me for a while after that. I guess he expected an insult. I had one on the tip of my tongue… but I thought the other comment worked better.

&&&&&&&&&

When we moved on, we encountered two Crusaders, and something inside a cage. Everyone seemed to know them except me. Suicune sighed, and dashed off again. I was getting tired of this too.

"Hey, we saw the game! You guys are great!"

"Congratulations, Wakka!"

One of the duo looked over at me. "Hey… it's…"

The chocobo knights came into sight. Elma began to yell at them "Hey! Stop loafing around!"

One of them tried to explain themselves "Uh... The lady summoner and her guardians..."

Lucil cut him off. "This mission requires our full attention. We've no time to waste! Understood?"

"Yes, ma'am! Apologies, ma'am!"

Lucil sighed. "Carry on."

The chocobo knights left. I sighed gently, shaking my head.

One of them said to the other (he must have been more experienced) "See? Keep your head down, say "sir" a lot, and you'll do fine."

"Right...sir."

"Hey, Yuna. Even though Yevon rejected us...we still believe in you. That won't ever change." He gave me a glance, and I shook my head.

Yuna thanked them graciously. "Thank you, Sir Luzzu, Sir Gatta. But, you know... It's not too late for you to go back to Besaid, and..."

"We should be going, sir!" The two of them ran off, moving a carriage of something. I sighed softly, and watched them run off. "Is it just me, or do they have no clue what they've gotten into? Take on Sin, and they'll be rolling the dice… with their lives on the line."

Lulu turned, and gave me a soft look. "Luzzu and Gatta are from Besaid. They joined the Crusaders to try to defeat Sin. But you're right, they don't know what they're getting into."

I had a question for her, anyway… "Lulu, can I ask you something?" She nodded, showing she was paying attention. "What did you say to Yuna?"

Lulu seemed to think it over. "I asked her to not ask you. Your face when she asked… I knew you were not ready to talk about it. I just hope someday you are."

I shrugged. "Thanks… but don't count on it. Some parts… are hard to explain."

She just smiled, and nodded. "We all have a horror story in our lives. Yours just seems worse than ours. If what we saw was only part of it… I understand."

I swear, sometimes she so goddamn scary. How does she know so much? Suicune walked back to the group, and gave me a suffering look. I nodded, and just returned her to her pokeball. She was tired of that, and so was I. At least inside of her pokeball, she'd get some peace.

While I was talking to Lulu, Yuna had been talking to a disciple of Yevon. She seemed upset about technology – the Crusaders (don't ask me who the fuck they are, I just learned about them myself), were planning some attack on Sin, using technology. Speaking of that… "Let them use whatever they want. They still won't defeat Sin." Auron sounded confident. He must know something they don't.

Shelinda (that was her name) said "But, it's not about defeating Sin! The teachings of Yevon must be upheld!"

I sighed, and rolled my eyes. Yevon was based on the idea that Sin was eternal. I'm not sure about that. Sin might be a monster, but nothing is immortal, not even the universe. "Faith for the sake of faith? That doesn't make any sense. Yevon's founded on the idea to get rid of Sin, right?" I would have elaborated, but she cut me off. "But you don't understand! Yevon is the only way to free ourselves from Sin! But… the Crusaders won't even listen to me. And it's all because I'm just a lowly acolyte."

"Don't say that. Well, I haven't been a summoner for very long myself, you see. Still, I can't put myself down every time I fail. People are depending on me. They're depending on both of us!" I wish I had Yuna's confidence. She was so sure that she could succeed, that she convinced most everyone that she would. Wait, what did I just say? I'm with her. She'll get to the end of her pilgrimage – no fiend here was as powerful as a well trained pokemon. Well… Sin was, but… that thing's not a fiend. Besides, I still want to try a Big Bang on it.

"Yes! Yes, you're right, my lady. Absolutely right! Thank you so much, Lady Yuna! Now I feel I have the courage to finish my training."

I smiled slightly. How did Yuna always do that? Why do the sweetness and light types always seem to be so lucky? Maybe it's me. Since I'm so disillusioned, I project it. Whatever. It's not my job to reassure, I kill first. Or protect, in this case.

&&&&&&&&&

We stopped at a travel agency. I remembered them from the race to get to Besaid. Auron clearly knew the place. "We stop here."

"But this is an Al Bhed shop!" Wakka clearly didn't like them – even after Lulu warned me, I still growled softly. Damn idiot. Didn't he know that Yuna was half Al Bhed? At least I knew that much. Well, I admit… I had to be told. But I'm not from this world, and he is.

"Is that a problem?" It wasn't me, that was Auron. I wish it had been me, I wanted to make him STOP.

"They don't believe in Yevon, and in Luca they... They kidnapped Yuna!"

I snorted. "And that's basically not your fault because you were playing some silly game."

"Well, yeah… uh…" I just laughed, and walked in. I was familiar with most the stuff (I've been in my share of inns. There isn't always a pokemon center), so I just got a room and passed out. But before I fell asleep, I let all my pokemon out.

A little act of kindness for not being loosed on the walk, besides Suicune. They really liked the fresh air – or something like that.

Balrog didn't sleep during the night, anyway. He'd burn down anyone who tried something, and howl if he needed help. Five other pokemon would be enough to stop anything.

&&&&&&&&

I woke up, and saw Tidus and Yuna looking at the sunset. I looked away quickly, and went back to sleep.

I admit, I'm still envious. Even at this point. Seeing people in love… it makes me feel like my heart's being ripped out again. And it dregs up memories.

&&&&&&&&

When I woke up for the second time, I heard someone scream "Help! The chocobos!"

Balrog didn't like that. He woke EVERYONE up with a howl, and we all rushed out. I had to return most of them, though, because they were too big for the door.

Once we were out, everyone got back out. Balrog and Mindstrike were the only ones free before that (remember, Houndoom aren't that big, and neither are Medicham). Everyone was fighting this thing with really big arms. I charged in swinging.

The sun became blindingly bright shortly after that. I laughed, knowing what was coming. "It's about time! Now blast this thing already! Everyone else, TAKE COVER!" I took my own advice, and ran like hell.

Everyone (I mean all my pokemon, the rest of the group was scrambling for cover) charged up, then fired. A solarbeam, hyperbeam, ice beam, flamethrower (they were on opposite sides), and two psychic attacks hit the thing.

It was bathed in energy, and I never saw it re-appear after the attacks ended. I never saw the pyreflies escape, either. I guess they were taken out too.

There was a dead silence for a while. I guess we kinda overdid it. At least this time there wasn't a massive explosion. Sometimes… that DID happen. I didn't get all my scars from fights. Suicune and I exchanged a relieved look, before the murmurs started.

"Did he just order fiends around?"

"Did they just respond to him?"

"How did he do that?"

"I heard someone talk about how the blue one and him somehow did some kind of weird performance..."

I gave the others a look, one that said 'oh, shit'. Wakka was nearly bent over from laughing. I ran over to Erastrani, and returned everyone else. We disappeared into the sky, but I gave Wakka the finger before I jumped onto her.

&&&&&&&&&

Erastrani didn't go too high. She just flew into the sun, and out of sight. There was no reason to loose everyone just because we got a bit over-excited. It looked like everyone else rented a chocobo, and was riding it. We dove down, keeping pace. The chocobos mostly ignored Erastrani.

"Hey! The look on your face!" Two guesses who it was.

I sighed. "Why is it that Aeons aren't fiends, but my poor pokemon are?"

"Everyone knows what an Aeon looks like, ya? Your guys don't look like 'em."

I sighed. "The things I put up with…"

Tidus must have caught that, because he asked "For what?"

I fell silent. "Something… It'll make sense later."

"If you ever do talk about it." I shrugged, looking at Lulu. She just smiled again mysteriously. Auron looked at me again, and I caught a significant look.

I was going to catch shit when he had a free moment. But right now, he had his hands full of feathers.