Chapter 3: Sin Strikes
Anasazi Darkmoon: Hello and welcome to the fic! I actually don't have any idea of who exactly she will be paired with, but i think i'm gonna put in another new character. Anyway, I hope you like the rest of this fic.
dark dragon knight1993: Thx for the review and I'm glad you like it! The identity of the black 'thingy' won't be revealed for a while. I'm glad you reviewed again…I haven't had much luck with people staying loyal to my other fic.
Everyone rushed to the bow of the S.S. Liki to see what was going on. The ship rocked from side to side with another massive strike. Lauren and everyone else aboard the ship were flung off their feet and sent hurtling towards the railing on the starboard side. An enormous light brown fin like entity came jutting out of the crystal clear waters sending yet another barrage of waves at the ship. The passengers onboard the ship were tossed like rag dolls back to the port side from the sudden rush of waves. One of the men near the bow of the ship gained his footing and hurried over to a harpoon gun mounted to the deck.
"What do you think you're doing? Stick a harpoon in him and we'll get dragged under!" Wakka shouted over the sound of crashing waves and terrified screams.
The man cocked his head back towards Wakka and Yuna. "Sin is going for Kilika! We gotta distract it! Our families are in Kilika! Forgive us, Lady Summoner!" Yuna nodded allowing the man to turn back to the harpoon gun, steadying his aim.
The man squeezed the trigger on the harpoon gun mounted on the deck. The harpoon sailed through the air, a small rope trailed after the harpoon as it cut through the air like a knife. The harpoon sunk into the flesh of Sin's fin, patches of its light brown hide chipping off into the water. The pieces of flesh unfolded themselves into their sinscale form in the crystal clear ocean water. The sinscales cut through the water with implausible ease at the boat to feed on the helpless passengers.
The first few sinscales flew out of the water and onto the deck of the ship. Glaring evilly around at the passengers, the sinscales charged one for each of them. Wakka's blitzball zipped through the air and smacked one upside the head right before it swooped onto an unarmed passenger. Tidus cut another one down with his sword flashing into its flesh wildly. Lulu fired off a lightning spell that arched off her dark purple fingernails and into one of the scale's chest. Lauren charged up to a villager who had a sinscale latched onto her chest. She bashed the sinscale's head in with the butt of her sword hilt and brought her sword around to cut its legs off.
A sinscale went unnoticed behind Tidus and its wings began to glow with the familiar blue and purple sparkles and began to shake. Tidus whiled around only to get struck by the vast multitude of spikes ejecting from the scale's wings. The tiny spikes pricked his skin, the momentum of the launched spikes cast Tidus sliding along to deck for a few feet. His skin burned where each of the spines stuck shallowly in his flesh. Forcing himself to move through the pain, Tidus kicked up along the ground after the sinscale. He flashed his blade down on the left side of the scale, slicing off its wing, and brought it back and spun around. He took his blade in a horizontal slash that went into the sinscale's soft torso flesh, severing it in half.
Wakka launched his blitzball at the brownish fin jutting out of the crystal clear water. The ball bounced off the fin's brownish flesh, shedding several scales into the water, and returned back to its keeper. The few scales that plopped off the fin raced towards the boat and then leapt up onto the deck in front of orange haired blitzer. He chucked his blitzball at the sinscale closest to him, dropping it instantly. The ball returned to his hands just in time for him to hurl it at another sinscale before it slashed him. The ball reflected off the sinscale's chest and pushed it back through the air hitting the other and final sinscale off the boat.
Lulu conjured up an orb of red and orange flame right in front of her out stretched right hand. The orb continued to grow in size for a few seconds until she pushed her hand away from her body towards the fin. The orb of flame crashed into the fin with an explosion that could be heard over the roaring of the waves splashing against the ship and the seagulls in the sky. Dozens of the sinscales popped off of the fin and plopped into the crystal clear ocean water below. They cut through the water with the same incredible speed as a hot knife slicing through butter. The deck was soon overloaded with the scales as Lauren, Tidus, Yuna, Wakka, Lulu, and Kimahri tried to fend them off with their remaining strengths.
Tidus and Kimahri were forced back to back with the overwhelming numbers of sinscales crawling upon the deck. "Kimahri." The Ronso glanced over his shoulder to Tidus. "Hold still and lean forward." He obliged Tidus' request, leaning forward as he swept his spear along the deck.
Tidus pushed himself onto the Ronso's back and did a back flip into the waves of sinscales. As his feet connected with the deck he bent his knees, getting close to the deck, and took his sword in both hands. He twisted his spine it the last preparation for his attack giving the scales the appearance that he was about to leap into the air or something. They hurried to gather around the blitz ace so as to bar him from leaping into the air and escaping, taking his bait. He untwisted his spine and unbent his knees as he raised brotherhood and swung it around in a massive circle. The sinscales broke upon his blade like water on rock as more and more ran in only to fall by his perfectly executed attack.
Yuna was separated from everyone and was desperately trying to fend off the vast waves of sinscales assailing her with her little rod. Lauren had been forced to the bow of the boat and saw Yuna being pinned against the cabin of the ship. She attempted to run to aid the unskilled summoner but was prevented by the extensive amounts of scales. Lulu saw Lauren trying to aid Yuna and conjured up a bolt of lightning which erupted from her fingertips and gouged a line in the sea of scales leading from Lauren to Yuna. Lauren silently nodded her thanks over the sea of sinscales that separated her from Lulu and took off along the gap to aid Yuna.
The summoner was getting the air knocked out of her repeatedly by the sinscales that were tackling her to the ship's cabin. Lauren came in from the side, catching the sinscales off guard, and tackled them away from the battered, young summoner. "Yuna get out of here!" Lauren shouted at the summoner before she got jumped by the scales she had just beaten away. Yuna looked around franticly for some path to take out of harms way, but there was none only more and more scales and the ship's cabin walls.
Lauren fought off the ones that had been assailing Yuna but was soon attacked by yet even more of the sinscales. Yuna seemed to fade out of the scales vision. They only went after Lauren so she took this opportunity to heal her. She raised her staff and pointed it at Lauren, and let out a call. "Heal!" A pallid radiance enveloped Lauren as she cut down another of the seemingly endless numbers of scales. She felt refreshed and as though she could take on any number of sinscales, but she was wrong. A wave of scales rushed her, some sticking to the deck while others leapt through the air. They crashed upon the teen with a force that shattered her balance and sent her sprawling out onto the deck.
Kimahri swept his spear from side to side while wading through the vast numbers of sinscales that were now being thinned. He was attempting to make his way over to Yuna to perform his duties as a guardian but was soon blocked by a rank of scales. He impaled the sinscale in the middle of the line that blocked him and waved it around on the end while smacking around all others around it. A scale stepped to stand diagonally behind Kimahri and started to shake its wings. He threw his spear back at the sinscale, catching it right before the spearhead, ramming it into the scale's head.
Wakka sent his blitzball zipping through the air towards the pile of sinscales atop Lauren. It bounced off one and flew back to its keeper and then was launched again into the flood of scales. Soon after he tossed the first ball the sinscales were all ripped asunder leaving Lauren by herself laying on the deck in pain. Wakka rushed over to where Lauren lay on the deck however he was tripped on the way over. He leapt back onto his feet quickly and swung out his leg and spun around close to the deck. The scales were thrown to the side and rushed over to where a couple sinscales were cheeping up on the incapacitated teen girl.
As he reached Lauren, Wakka tossed his blitzball into a sinscale that was about to kill her. The ball bounced off the one scale and flew into the one standing next to it sending it off the side of the ship deck. Wakka went over and checked Lauren for a heartbeat and found very faint signs of life. "Yuna!" He shouted over to the summoner standing up against the ship cabin wall. "Get over here, she needs healing!" Yuna nodded and rushed over to where Lauren lay. She pointed her staff at her and shouted 'cure' letting the white radiance flood over Lauren's body.
Lauren felt the warm radiance of the cure spell course through her veins and bring life back to all her extremities. She sat upright and placed a hand on her forehead and gazed about. Tidus and Kimahri were finishing off the last of the sinscales and Lulu was off helping some of the passengers that were attacked. She shifter her gaze to where Yuna was standing over her with a look that said 'are you alright?' Lauren nodded drawing a smile from the young summoner.
"Yuna. Try summoning on that fin, ya?" Wakka said causing Yuna to focus her attention on summoning instead of Lauren.
Yuna began her movements to perform the summoning for Valefor. The massive bird like aeon came sailing out of the sky and landed on the deck next to the summoner. She ordered it to attack and it pushed off the ground into the sky. Its wings batted at the air as it opened its mouth and began to charge up an energy beam in front. It stretched its neck out towards the brownish fin and fired off a highly concentrated or pure energy. It plunged into the fin's flesh and moved its head to the left dragging the energy beam along the fin's side. None of the sinscales that burst forth from the fin's flesh were singed and died as they plummeted into the water.
A deep bellow erupted from within the depths of the crystal clear water. The fin plunged into the water sending up a massive wave that tipped the boat onto its side, but not enough to capsize it. Tidus was jostled from his position near the railing on the starboard side of the ship and sent overboard. Lauren rolled along the deck of the ship towards the starboard side. A gold chained locket slipped up over her head and through her hair and slid down the deck. The locket lingered on the very edge of the deck as the chain leisurely slipped into the ocean. The locket was finally cast off the edge of the deck by a wave of ocean water that lapped halfway up the deck.
Yuna ran over to the railing and clutched onto it keeping her from falling in after Tidus as the boat stabilized. She tried to leap into the water after him but Wakka placed a restraining hand on her shoulder. Kimahri strode over to stand beside Yuna, his muscular, blue fur covered arms folded across his chest. Wakka leapt into the water after Tidus as Lulu strolled over to the railing to join Yuna and Kimahri in gazing over the edge of the ship awaiting Wakka to return with Tidus. Lauren picked herself off the wet deck and felt around on her neck. She stopped with a sudden shock feeling no necklace draped around her neck. She glanced over to the side of the ship that dipped into the water and ran over to the railing. Before anyone could stop her, Lauren hopped onto the railing and leapt off into the crystal clear ocean waters.
Yuna, Lulu, and Kimahri gazed into the clear ocean water to spot any signs of their friends; however, there were none. Yuna was ready to leap into the water again after her friends but Kimahri gripped the young summoner's shoulders firmly. "I hope they're okay…" Yuna let out a sigh of defeat.
Meanwhile underwater, Tidus was being assailed by a pair of piranha like fish as he lay drifting in the water unconscious. A blitzball came zipping through the water out of nowhere smacking into the piranha like fish. The fish were instantly destroyed and burst into pyreflies as Wakka came in close to Tidus. He fumbled around in his pockets till he felt and potion and brought it out casting it into the water right above Tidus. The cascade of healing liquid sank through the water and washed over Tidus' injured body, healing all wounds almost instantaneously.
Lauren swam through the salty, dark bluish green ocean waters attempting to locate her fallen locket. Out of the corner of her eye she spotted something gold glinting off some of the few rays of sunlight piercing the water. She swam towards it, but it seemed to be moving to fast for her own pace so she came to a halt. Indeed the object was floating towards her and at a very rapid pace that would soon reach her in a matter of seconds. She glanced around frantically looking for any signs of Wakka or Tidus, but found none. She turned around and began to swim as fast as her arms and legs would carry her but a long slippery tentacle wrapped itself around her right leg. She cocked her head backwards over her shoulder to see a massive squid like thing with a diamond shaped head emerging from the dark depths.
The colossal squid like entity hauled its tentacle with Lauren's leg securely gripped within back to its side. The sudden change in depths as well as just the movement from one position to another through the water knocked all the air out of her lungs in one painful blast. She tried to go for her katana resting on her waist but the squid like fish had her arms plastered to her sides making them useless. Her lungs started to burn slightly, the pain increasing ever so leisurely, from the lack of oxygen. She tried to scream but since she was underwater there were no sounds only air bubbles rising to the surface. Her eyes became heavy with haziness and exhaustion and were very soon too heavy to keep open.
As her turquoise eyes shut tightly, Lauren felt ripples in the water zipping along her side and into where the squid like entity would be. She felt the thing convulse and then felt another wave of ripples come down from the direction of the surface and severed the tentacle that wrapped around her steadily. She sensed herself plummeting from the position that she had been in and into the deep depths of the ocean. An arm slipped around her waist and dragged her up through the now choppy water. Her head breached the surface of the water with seagulls squawking like a welcoming trumpet blast. A sudden rush of oxygen flooded into her lungs from the air around her causing her to open her eyes hastily.
Lauren coughed dramatically while gazing around at her surroundings to see Wakka bobbing in front of her. "You okay?" She nodded and then looked around for Tidus.
"Where's Tidus?"
"Still down there fighting that sinspawn." Wakka referred to the squid like entity.
"Well, we can't just leave him down there all by himself! I'm going back down to help him!" She dove into the water before Wakka had a chance to stop her. He shook his head in frustration and then leapt into the water after her.
Tidus sliced off a tentacle that shot out at him as Lauren arrived at his side. He shot her a questioning glance but had top focus his attention back on the squid like thing for it had launched two tentacles at him. He was struck with the tips of each of the two tentacles and felt some of his strength begin sapped and transferred into the sinspawn. The tentacles soon released content with their amount of energy sapped from the young blitz ace. Wakka's blitzball soared through the water and struck the sinspawn on the orange spot on its diamond shaped head. It let out a squeal of pain that was barely audible in the churning waters that separated Besaid from Kilika.
Wakka got Lauren's attention and pointed to the orange spot on its head as if it were some sort of weak point on the beast. She swam hastily through the water towards the sinspawn to plunge her katana into the thing's head. As she drew closer the thing rose up its middle row of tentacles and began to whirl them around like a blender. She was sucked into the torrent of chaotic water being churned around the sinspawn. The whip like tentacles slapped all over her body, suction cups leaving little red disks all along her slender figure. The sinspawn halted its blending of the water and slapped Lauren back through the water at Wakka and Tidus.
Tidus gestured for Lauren to take the right flank and for Wakka to stay in the middle for a distraction as he took the left flank of the sinspawn. The thing fell for the ploy. It lashed out at Wakka as he sent his blitzball zipping through the water time and time again. He evaded each blow in turn and kept up his assault on the sinspawn as Tidus and Lauren made their ways around the thing.
Lauren reached the sinspawn first and went for the orange spot on its head but was stopped when something caught her eye. It was her locket draped around one of the small tentacle like things jutting out from the squid like thing's head. She lifted her katana up and lopped off the tentacle like thing and grabbed her locket with both hands locking it tightly within her palms. The sinspawn was infuriated and began to whip its tentacles around again to perform the same attack that it had used a moment before but it stopped and let out a mighty squeal. Tidus' blade sunk into the orange colored weak point spilling out a thick, milky white substance into the water. The thing began to convulse and Tidus withdrew his sword and swam away from the squid like entity as fast as his arms and legs would carry him. The sinspawn began its dematerialization into pyreflies as the three friends ascended through the water towards the surface.
Lauren's, Tidus', and Wakka's heads popped out of the water with deep inhalations all around. Yuna was so happily surprised to finally see her friends safe that she almost leapt into the water to hug each of them. The three swam back over to the stern of the ship and used a small ladder placed there to access the deck of the boat. Yuna ran up to each of the three and gave them all friendly hugs and expressed how worried she was when the fell into the water and didn't come back up for such a long time. After Lauren was greeted by Yuna, she went off on her own to the other side of the ship deck.
As soon as she was out of sight from the others, Lauren slowly opened her fingers up around the golden strung locket. She stared at it for a moment before shedding a few soundless tears. She curled her fingers back up around it and pushed it to her chest, tears slipping down from her eyes and down to her chin. Yuna walked up from around the corner of the ship cabin and silently approached the crying teen. "What you got there, Lauren?" Her words jerked the teen violently out of her sobs, gently sliding her arm down to her side. Before she could open her mouth to explain anything a passenger shouted that Sin was attacking Kilika.
Yuna forgot all about her query and rushed to the bow of the boat to witness the horror of Sin completely trouncing Kilika. Before rushing off to join her friends in watching the horror of Sin ripping Kilika asunder, Lauren strung the gold necklace bearing the locket back around her neck. Sin was now out of the water and was skidding along the surface with what appeared to be some kind of hovering force. As it smashed into the docks it ripped up planks, trees, people, and other debris and flung them wildly around in a circle above it. After obliterated most of Kilika port, Sin smoothly skidded along the water's surface away from the port town.
"That's…that's just horrible." Lauren gazed out over the vast extent of desolate debris filled waters.
"I will defeat Sin... I must defeat Sin." Yuna clutched her hands tightly to her chest while announcing her resolve.
The boat glided the rest of its voyage into the mostly destroyed port city of Kilika. Tidus seemed lost in thought staring out into the light blue sky, seagulls whirling overhead. As the ship docked a throng of villagers gathered around the ship awaiting the arrival of the summoner. Yuna stepped down off the ship, her friends and guardians following her closely. "Greetings!" She bowed. "I am the summoner Yuna. I have come from the temple in Besaid."
"M'lady Summoner!" One of the women encircling Yuna exclaimed.
"If there is no other summoner here," She gazed around, seeing no other summoners she continued. "Please allow me to perform the sending."
"Our loved ones... We feared they would become fiends!"
"Please, take me to them." Yuna and the villagers moved along the docks towards where the coffins of the dead rested in the water.
Everyone proceeded to follow the throng of villagers and Yuna except for Tidus, Wakka, and Lauren. "So, what do we do now?" Lauren queried. "And what is this 'sending' that Yuna is going to do." She turned to Wakka.
"The dead need guidance. Filled with grief over their own death, they refuse to face their fate. 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." Wakka faced away from Lauren and Tidus. "We'll go see what we can do to help in town." He told the two blonde teens.
Wakka and Tidus continued up along the various docks and met up with the rest of the Aurochs. Lauren however, stopped to watch Yuna perform the sending for all the people who died when Sin attacked. "Is performing a sending hard?" Lauren leaned close to Lulu as to not allow her voice to be overheard by any villagers.
"This is Yuna's first sending. It will test her skills as a summoner as did acquiring the aeon from Besaid and then summoning it" Lulu expressed without breaking her gaze away from Yuna dancing out on the water with the various pyreflies dancing around her in a harmonious manner.
"Must be tough, being a summoner." Lulu looked over at Lauren oddly. "I mean having so much pressure on your shoulders to do a perfect job has got to be nerve-wracking. And to top it all off her father was the last summoner to defeat Sin, so she's got an awful lot to live up to." Lulu shifter her gaze back to Yuna, still performing the sending.
"Yuna chose her own path. She knew from the beginning what it meant. All we can do is protect her along the way. Until the end." Yuna began to stride back over the water back towards the docks.
"Until the end? Until she defeats Sin, right?"
"Exactly." Yuna placed her feet back onto the docks and walked up towards Lulu and Lauren.
"I hope... I hope I did okay." Yuna bowed her head in front of Lulu.
"You did very well! They've reached the Farplane by now." Lulu comforted Yuna with her words as well as pats on the back. "But...no tears next time, hm?" Yuna nodded.
After Yuna was done performing the sending, all the villagers started to disperse and retreat back to what is left of their huts to retire for the night. The group each got their own room in the only inn that wasn't annihilated by Sin earlier. After everyone else went to sleep, the Aurochs stayed up and worked on rebuilding the docks for some time.
Lauren awoke the next day to the sounds of hammers falling, children running amuck on the docks with balls, seagulls soaring overhead while squawking, and the calming sound of ocean waves lapping up on the beach and pier posts. She stood up in the small inn room and walked over to the single window on the other side of the room overlooking the docks. Yuna was down on the docks right in front of the inn and called out to Lauren as soon as she spotted her in the window. "Lauren!" She caught her attention. "We're going to go pray at the temple, hurry up."
"Wait up!" Lauren rushed over to the door and opened it and ran down the stairs into the main lobby of the minuscule inn. Outside she met up with Yuna and they began to stroll over towards a huge forest resting on the outskirts of the port village. Lulu and Kimahri met up with them as the reached the outskirts of the forest and continued into the lively forest. Tidus and Wakka were nowhere to be found and so the group waited for them to catch up, for they were undoubtedly still in Kilika port. A few moments later Tidus and Wakka emerged through the diminutive foliage that lay at the entrance to the forest that protected the temple.
"What took you so long?" Lauren jested playfully. Tidus and Wakka did not heed her until they were right in front of her.
"Just fixing up the town, unlike you sleepyhead." Tidus responded teasingly back at Lauren.
"Hey! I'm not used to this kinda stuff, fighting fiends and all like you guys are." Lauren retorted. "Besides, I almost got drowned remember? So cut me a little slack, will you?" She hit Tidus on the arm playfully.
"Hey! That hurt!" he gave a soft punch in the arm back to her. They both broke out in laughter, amused with their own antics.
"If you two are done, we have to go to the temple for Yuna to pray to the fayth." Lulu quickly shut down the conversation between the two blonde teens. The group moved on up an old, moss covered stone road for a bit till Yuna stopped and turned to face Tidus and Lauren.
"I want to ask you two to be my guardians." She spoke in her soft, formal voice.
"Yuna! What? This is no time for jokes, ya? He may be a blitzball whiz kid and she may be fun to be around, but up against fiends, they're newbies." Wakka practically shouted at the young summoner.
"Not a guardian, then...I just want him nearby." She completely ignored what she said about Lauren and only referred to Tidus.
"What? What do you mean?" Tidus looked even more lost than when he didn't know anything about this time or place.
"It's just that, well..." Yuna trailed off.
"We're all going to the temple anyway. Can't this wait till later?" Lulu urged them along towards the temple.
The group of companions soon emerged from the part of the trail that was sheltered by large tree tops into an open area with a little stream running along the right side of the path. Around a bend in the path multitudes of flights of stairs ran up a hill to the top where the temple lay. Wakka steps one foot on the stairs and goes off explaining some of their history without being asked. "These stone steps have a history, you know?" Tidus and Lauren looked at him oddly. "Yep. Lord Ohalland trained here at his peak."
Before either of them could ask who Lord Ohalland was two of the Aurochs ran up and challenged them to a race. Tidus, Lauren, Wakka, and the two Aurochs lined up on the first landing on the stairs. "Yuna, if you would." Wakka asked Yuna to start off the race.
Yuna stood before the four of them, her arms up past her head. "Ready?" She spun around and began to charge up the stairs, giggling. The rest of them were stunned form a moment but then they chased after her, but Tidus kinda hovered back. Lauren, Yuna, Wakka, and the two Aurochs disappeared over the top of the flight of stairs leading onto one big flat area. A scream shot up through the air catching Tidus' attention as a couple of villagers came scrambling down the stairs.
"Everyone, quick! Sinspawn!" Wakka appeared over the lip of the stairs summoning his friends. Tidus rushed up the stairs, drawing his sword on his way up, and came upon a massive shell like thing with tentacles bursting out of the ground. It whipped out one of the smaller tentacles attached to the lager one at Yuna. Lauren ran over to stand in between the blow and Yuna but was cut off by another tentacle. She dropped her katana blade onto the moss colored tentacle that was starting to bind itself around her waist. The moss colored tentacle plopped to the ground and wriggled around ceaselessly at Lauren's feet.
Kimahri charged the large shell like thing that was rested on the far side of the courtyard like open surface. He plunged his spear into the impenetrable shell protecting the sinspawn with a powerful lunge. The spear tip bounced off the shell and flew into the air dragging the Ronso back with it until he regained his footings by smashing the butt of his spear into the ground. He then proceeded cross his blue fur covered arms in front of his muzzle and pulled them away to his sides. A giant sphere object erupted out of his mouth and hurtled through the air towards the sinspawn. Even the very hasty velocity of the seed like object could not penetrate the rough outer shell of the sinspawn.
Wakka tossed his blitzball a few feet into the air and caught it on his right pointer finger. The blitzball spun around on his pointer finger and a burst of flames flared up to ensnare the blitzball. He tossed the now flame enveloped blitzball dashing through the clear azure sky towards the center of the sinspawn's shell where a slight crack hid. The ball smashed into the scallop shaped ornaments edging the shell where it would open up to show its true form. The blitzball sizzled on the sinspawn's coarse outer shell as it burnt its way through the shell very leisurely. The thing let out a shrill shriek of pain but did not let its shell slid open to make it vulnerable.
Tidus eluded one after another of the moss green tentacles on the left side of the large open landing. He became winded after some time of evading the finger like tentacles and was shortly caught up in one of them. He squirmed around in the tight, forceful grip of several of the moss colored tentacles in an attempt to relieve himself of the pressure, but it was all in vain. The tentacle rolled back, almost touching the ground tiles, and then became erect while also loosening its grip on Tidus sending him sailing through the air. He landed into a patch of bushes and other plants to the left of the vast circular landing on which the sinspawn rested.
Seeing no other way to help her friends, Yuna went through the process Valefor while her friends battle it relentlessly drawing its full attention on them instead of her. Valefor plummeted from the sky, the air wrapping around it like it was an artillery shell that had been fired at extreme velocities. The aeon stopped and unfolded its wings from around its body right before it struck the ground. "Valefor, energy ray!" Yuna hollered the command at her aeon. Valefor propelled itself into the air and spun around, its wings tightly locked around its body. It lowered its neck and aimed its mouth towards the thick shell of the sinspawn and fired off a beam of pure energy. The beam glided along the sinspawn's hard outer shell sending the scent of burning plants as well as flesh wafting into the azure sky.
When the dust cleared from Valefor's energy ray the sinspawn was still standing there and seemed to be infuriated rather than injured. It cracked its rough shell open about half a foot and emitted a strange, green, brown gas. The noxious gas washed over the wide circular landing, consuming all in its poisonous fumes. Valefor was immediately stunned by the noxious fumes and then was lashed by the finger like tentacles continuously. Kimahri was the closest to the sinspawn when the gas erupted from within the depths of the shell. He attempted to fight the poison out of his system but it was too potent for the Ronso. Yuna saw her guardian from childhood succumb to the sinspawn's poison and rushed off to help him. "Esuna!" She shouted across the gap that separated her from Kimahri. He soon felt the affects of the poison diminishing and soon returned him back to full health.
Lauren ran towards the sinspawn to where Wakka's fire blitzball had left a burn hole in the sinspawn's rigid shell. She plunged her katana blade through the burnt out hole not knowing what to expect for a reaction from the thing. The sinspawn cried out in pain as her blade sank deeper and deeper into its supple, unguarded flesh. However, it immediately went into a blind assault on the blonde haired teen. Both of its moss colored tentacles with the finger like ones jutting out of them, left the other fighters and focused their assault on Lauren. She was completely unprepared and still had her katana lodged in the sinspawn's shell when the tentacles struck.
They hit Lauren hard and fast, not allowing her enough time to retrieve her sword from within the shell. Each of the tentacle whips made thick, long red marks all along Lauren's body. She was doubled over in pain every time a tentacle came for her and had no way of stopping the blow, nor any chance of eluding it. She stood there, letting the moss colored tentacles pummel her ceaselessly, until something inside her snapped. She could no longer feel the pain inflicted upon her by the sinspawn's tentacles.
Time seemed to slow down in her eyes as the tentacles made their way through the air towards her inch by inch. She ran back over to the sinspawn's shell and heaved upon her sword, jostling it from its position imbedded in the spawn's flesh. She hurried back over to where the tentacles were still failing around and unleashed a small concession of blade strokes. After several blade strokes, the tentacles were all severed clean from the portion connecting them to the sinspawn. Her katana began to glow bright with a vibrant pallid radiance as it passed through the last tentacles.
Lauren whiled around on her heels and charged back at the sinspawn, who was wailing in pain from her previous attacks. She leapt into the air and brought her katana blade down upon the top of the tough shell. Where her katana and the sinspawn's rigid shell connected was a blinding flash of the same pallid light that her sword was emitting. The top portion of the shell seemed to melt away before everyone's eyes with the pallid light radiating the entire time. Lauren did a back flip through the air away from the melting sinspawn shell. As her feet connected with the ground a crippling pain shot up through her body causing her to collapse forward.
"Lauren!" Yuna yelled, ruining over to the collapsed teen. "Are you alright?" Lauren just lay there, unconscious.
"Lu! Hit it now with your fire magic!" Wakka ordered the black mage. She raised her hand into the air and conjured up a large, red orange fireball. She aimed it at the now exposed sinspawn and cast it in the direction of the fiend. It struck the sinspawn's supple flesh with an earsplitting sizzle and set it ablaze. The blaze soon traveled from the sinspawn's main body out to what was left of its tentacles sending up a blaze around the perimeter on the sides of the circular landing.
Tidus emerged from the foliage that surrounded the vast circular landing and rushed over to Lauren, seeing her lay face down on the ground. "What happened to her?" Tidus exclaimed his voice cracking and heavy with breathing.
"I…I don't know. One minute she was being attacked by all those tentacles and the next minute she killed them all and the sinspawn too. Then she landed her and collapsed." Yuna looked over Lauren's body quizzically.
"Well, what are you waiting for? Heal her!" Tidus hollered. Yuna nodded while standing up and trained her rod down towards the incapacitated Lauren. The pallid aura left Yuna's rod and flowed over Lauren's injured body. Her eyes shot wide open and she coughed. She slowly stumbled to her feet, holding her head with her right hand.
"Are you alright Lauren?" Yuna gazed at the blonde haired teen.
"Yeah…" Lauren responded, tripping over a rock that almost sent her on her stomach. "I am now. Thanks Yuna."
"You're welcome."
Tidus turned away from the two girls and strolled up to Lulu. "What are these "sinspawn" anyway?" The blitz ace inquired.
The black mage gave him an icy glance but answered his query. "Fiends. They fall from Sin's body, and are left behind in its wake." Wakka strode up to Tidus and Lulu.
"Leave 'em alone, and Sin comes back for 'em. You gotta be quick" He added onto Lulu's explanation.
"Everyone?" Yuna got the entire group's attention. "Are we ready to move on?"
"Only if you are Yuna." Lulu stated. Yuna nodded and the group continues their ascent up the vast stairs.
"So, uh...they got fiends in Zanarkand, too?" Wakka asked Tidus on their long, boring ascent of the stairs.
"Just a few. It's a big deal when one shows up, though. Hey! Since when have you believed me about Zanarkand, anyway?" Tidus exclaimed.
"I been thinking." Wakka scratched the back of his orange covered head. "Maybe people Sin gets to don't die. Maybe Sin carries 'em through time. Like a thousand years through time. And then, one day, maybe they just pop back, see?"
"Amazing. Simply amazing." Everyone shifted their lines of sight hastily at Lulu. "You make up one theory after another, refusing to face the simple truth. Sin didn't take Chappu anywhere. Sin crushed him and left him on the Djose shore! Your brother won't just pop back. Oh, and one more thing. No matter how much you want it, no one can take Chappu's place. No one can replace Sir Jecht, for that matter. And there's no replacement for Lord Braska, either. It's pointless to think about it, and sad." Her voice was lined with scorn.
"What's gotten into her?" Lauren leaned over to whisper in Yuna's ear.
"Chappu…Chappu and her were close…And then he went and joined the crusaders and never returned." Yuna's eyes seemed to dim.
"How close? If you don't mind me asking." Lauren looked into Yuna's eyes. They were now filled with sorrow for her friend that she considered an older sister.
"Wakka says that he was going to propose to her…but then he left and was destroyed by Sin.
"Like him…"She whispered aloud drawing Yuna's attention.
"Like who?" Yuna asked noting the sadness in Lauren's eyes.
"Huh?" Lauren's thoughts shattered in her mind. "Oh…it's nothing…" Yuna didn't seem convinced but didn't continue the conversation anyway.
They moved on up the stairs until they came to the summit where a large temple with a ramp down into the temple with crimson flames in globes lining either side of the ramp. As they approached the temple a group of five people came out of the temple doors and walked up to the companions. "You here to pray for victory, too?" Wakka queried.
The man with red hair chuckled. "Us? Pray? Who needs to pray? The Luca Goers always win!" His attitude was smug and backed up by his teammates.
"Oh, yeah? Then why are you here?" Wakka patently awaited the response.
"We've been praying for some competition this year!" Another of the men boasted.
"So, what's you goal this time? You gonna "do your best" again? Ha! It's too bad your best isn't good enough! Why even bother showing up" The red haired man laughed.
"Wow, what a jerk." Lauren whispered between her and Tidus.
"Yeah." Tidus walked away from Lauren and stood next to Wakka. "This time, we play to win!" The Goers' all let out an arrogant laugh.
"Oooh! Play away! Just remember even kids can play, boys" The red haired man mocked Tidus. "Let's go guys." He and his fellow teammates push past Wakka and Tidus.
"See you in the finals!" Wakka shouted after the retreating Goers.
"We'll beat them. We have to!" Tidus said to Wakka.
"Yeah! Kick some butt guys!" Lauren encouraged the Aurochs. "Wipe that smug grin off their faces!"
"You bet!" Tidus howled. "I can't wait to see the look on their faces when we take the cup!"
"Let's keep going." Yuna urged on the continuation of going to pray to the fayth. Everyone nodded and entered the temple.
Once inside the temple Tidus and Wakka go over to a statue placed on one of the sides of the main staircase that leads to the cloister of trials. Yuna, Lulu, and Kimahri walked over to stand right in front of the stairs. Lauren meandered around the temple chamber for some time before the door to the cloister of trials slid open. Out of the open doorway came a tan skinned woman with black hair and very skimpy clothing. Right behind her lumbered a big ox of a man with black hair and massive muscles. The two descend the stairs and stride right over to Yuna. "A summoner, are you?" The woman inquired.
"My name is Yuna-from the Isle of Besaid." Yuna did a little bow like she did usually.
"Dona. So, you're High Summoner Braska's daughter. That's quite a name to live up to. My, my, my... And all these people are your guardians?" She looked from Wakka to Tidus to Kimahri to Lulu and finally to Lauren. "My, what a rabble! As I recall, Lord Braska had only two guardians. Quality over quantity, my dear. Whatever were you thinking? I have need of only one guardian. Right, Barthello?" Barthello nodded yes.
"I only have as many guardians as there are people I can trust. I trust them all with my life! To have so many guardians is a joy, and an honor!" Lauren appeared as though she blushed a bit. "Even more so than being my father's daughter. Of course, I would never think of questioning your ways, either. So, Lady Dona, I ask of you: please leave us in peace." Yuna summed up.
"You do what you want. Barthello, we're leaving." And with that Dona and Barthello swept pass Yuna and her guardians and out the entrance of the temple.
"What was with her?" Lauren inquired. "Does she think she has to be that rude to accomplish anything in life?"
"I don't think that's it." Yuna said in her usual soft voice. "I just think that she has a different perspective of things and that we are not the ones that should be questioning that." She explained.
"I still say I don't like her." Lauren said bitterly.
Without saying any other words, the group moved on and ascended the stairs to enter the cloister of trials. On the other side of the door sat an elevator perched over a hole that led down into the cloister of trials. Everyone steps onto the elevator but when Tidus and Lauren try to go on Kimahri bars their path. "Hey, what gives?" Tidus shouted, certainly angered.
"You're not a guardian yet." Lulu retorted in her usual calm but spiteful voice.
"We'll be back as soon as we can, okay?" Yuna said as the elevator lurched downward and then slid all the way down on the track.
"Oh, sure! Soon like "tomorrow" soon, I bet!" Tidus said sarcastically, kicking the wall.
"Hey, if we go down there and we're not guardians we might get Yuna in trouble, you know?" Lauren attempted to calm Tidus down.
"I know. I just don't want to be stuck up here by myself." Tidus slouched on the wall he had just been kicking at.
"You're not alone, I'm here." Lauren comforted Tidus.
"Yeah, yeah."
"What's that supposed to mean, huh?" Lauren stared angrily at Tidus. "What? I'm I not good enough for you? Or is it that you just don't like me anymore?" She got right up into the blitz ace's face.
"It's nothing like that. I…"He trailed off upon hearing footsteps echoing from the doorway.
Dona and Barthello came ambling through the doorway and met with Tidus and Lauren. "Where's Yuna?" Dona asked, Barthello standing right behind her. Tidus pointed down the elevator shaft with a shaky finger. "Then why are you here?"
"We aren't guardians yet." Lauren answered.
Dona looked over Tidus and Lauren. "Hmm. Not guardians, you say?" Barthello strides forth and picks both Lauren and Tidus upon his shoulders and carried them to the elevator.
"Hey! Wait! Ah! Let us go!" Tidus bellowed as he and Lauren kicked at the muscular man. Barthello steps onto the now risen elevator and heaves Lauren and Tidus onto it. "Hey! What's the big idea?" The blitz ace complained some more.
"Just a little game." Dona said with an eerie tone as the elevator descended into the cloister of trials.
Once inside the trials, Lauren and Tidus decide to press on to locate their friends. They came upon a room with a burning pedestal in the center of it. Lauren ran up and took a sphere out from the pedestal, it stopped burning. Tidus located a recess in the wall right next to a door with vine like things baring the doorway with a line connected from the recess to the vines. Lauren rushed over to where Tidus stood, next to the doorway, and placed the fire sphere gently into the recess. The fire sphere lit up the line connecting the recess to the vines with an orange glow that seemed like fire. The vines caught ablaze from the power of the sphere and continued to burn.
"What do we do now?" Lauren asked Tidus. "These flames won't die out."
Tidus pondered for a moment. "I got it!" He declared, taking the Kilika sphere out of the recess in the wall. The flames dissipated and the ashes of the vines collapsed to the ground in a dusty pile of black.
Upon entering the next room, Lauren and Tidus noted another one of the Kilika spheres resting on a pedestal. Lauren went up and snapped it out of the sphere shaped recess in the pedestal and ran next to Tidus. They each went to opposite sides of the room and placed their respective spheres into recesses in the walls. A glyph appeared on the north wall and Lauren ran up and touched it. The wall where the glyph was opened up to allow its guests to pass through into the next room.
In the next room there was another Kilika sphere, which Tidus took and then ran back to the previous room and placed it in a recess on the west side of the room. Then he ran back to the other room and picked up a glyph sphere. He then ran back to the last room and fitted it into the empty slot left by the Kilika sphere. Then Lauren ran back to where the pedestal was and took a Kilika sphere out from one of the recesses in the wall. She placed the Kilika sphere into one of the two sphere shaped slots on the pedestal and waited fro Tidus to bring another.
He soon came with another Kilika sphere and dropped it into place on the pedestal. He pushed it up through the doorway and onto a shimmering tile that was right in the middle of the floor. Flames to the left of him and Lauren went out showing a staircase that led down into a path between the two sides of the room. Lauren removed a Kilika sphere from a recess in the wall at the bottom of the stairs and as she did the flames that blocked up the rest of the path disappeared. They ran through the pathway and ascended a flight of stairs and found another of the doors blocked with vines. Lauren placed the Kilika sphere into the recess next to the doorway just like before and watched the vines get incinerated. After she removed the sphere, the vines collapsed to the ground allowing her and Tidus into the waiting room where all their friends waited on Yuna to get done praying to the fayth.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Wakka exclaimed as Tidus and Lauren entered the room.
"Calm down Wakka." Lauren said.
"It was Dona and that big musclehead man!" Tidus elaborated.
"Yuna will be the one to suffer the consequences!" Lulu stated from her leisurely standing point.
"What consequences?" Lauren queried, uncertain to what Lulu meant.
"She could be excommunicated!"
"So, what's in there anyway? What is she doing in there?" Lauren asked trying to get off the other subject.
"The fayth, remember?" Wakka reiterated.
"Oh, yeah, that thing. Right" Tidus remembered what they had said about the fayth being at the end of the cloister of trials.
"The fayth are people who gave their lives to battle Sin. Yevon took their souls, willingly given from their still-living bodies." Lulu explained the roles of the fayth. Lauren and Tidus looked at her like she was an alien or something. "Now they live forever trapped in statues. But when a summoner beckons, the souls of the fayth emerge once again. That's what we call an aeon." She went on.
"All that in this room? S-So what's Yuna doing in there?" Tidus asked, his curiosity getting the better of him.
"She prays with all her heart for a way to defeat Sin." Wakka said to the blonde blitz ace. Tidus turned around and was about to walk out when the door to the chamber of the fayth slid open slowly. Yuna emerged from the chamber of the fayth with her newly acquired aeon, Ifrit to be summoned at any time.
The group then meandered back through the now finished cloister of trials and headed back up the elevator. Once outside, a throng of villagers surrounded Yuna the instant she emerged from the temple. They all gazed at her in wide wonder and awe. All she could do was just smile back at all the adoring fans. The villagers dispersed a few moments later and the group set back towards the docks to catch a ride on the next boat out of Kilika.
Many villagers were out to bid Yuna a fond farewell. Yuna could only wave and smile back at the throngs of villagers that surrounded the S.S. Winno. "Great…another boat!" Lauren complained. "I just hope Sin doesn't attack this one too." Tidus laughed.
"Yeah, it would be a shame if we had to kick its butt again!" Tidus mocked Sin while striding up to the bow of the ship.
"Don't think that just because we defeated its fin that the entire beast will be easily overcome." Lulu ended Tidus' laughter. "Remember what it did her just yesterday? It tore this place apart without getting so much as scratch."
"Sheesh Lulu! I was just messin' around." Tidus turned away from the black mage.
"Even so, if you mess around with Sin you will get yourself killed." Her voice was stern, yet had a twang of sadness barely noticeable floating on it.
Lauren seemed to note this sadness in Lulu's voice. "Lulu, is something the matter? You seem a bit on the sad side." The black mage said nothing, only turned away from Lauren and strolled away.
"I bet that has something to do with Chappu." Lauren said aloud.
"Chappu? Why him?" Tidus startled Lauren.
"Whoops! Didn't mean to say that aloud!" She smacked herself in the forehead. "Yuna told me that Lulu and Chappu were very close."
"So, that means that she was sad cuz Chappu got killed by Sin?"
"Yes." Lauren responded. "Poor Lulu. It must be hard to lose someone that you love." Lauren stared off into the azure sky at the white fluffy clouds. 'Unfortunately, I know all too well how that feels.' She thought to herself, reaching a hand down her sweatshirt to rub the locket that was draped around her neck.
"Lauren? Lauren?" Tidus snapped his fingers In front of the blonde teen girl's face, jerking her out of her thoughts. "What's with you?"
"Oh…it…it's nothing." She stammered.
"Okay. But if you ever need someone to talk to, I'll be there for you." Tidus cocked his head at Lauren, a friendly smile painted upon his face.
"Thanks Tidus, I'll keep that in mind." She smiled back at the blitz ace.
"No problem."