Chapter Six: The End of a Tragedy and a New Friend
A/N: Sorry guys for the long update, but I've been in a kinda writing slump, with a bit of writer's block as well as not feeling like doing anything but playing video games. I'm sorry if there is too much text straight from the game but I'm not very good at coming up with my own dialogue and also it feels weird not putting in some of it, for some unknown reason. Anyway, on to responding to your reviews!
Spira'sSentry: Just think I was gonna make the previous chapter go all the way till the end of operation Mi'ihen, but you know me and battle scenes, I make them long so I decided not to. I'm glad you really like this fic and that you are keeping up with reviewing all the chapters! I love your fic and think that it's really starting to get really good and I can't wait for the next chapters, by the way how many are left? Anyway, hope you enjoy this chapter as much as the last and all.
Anasazi Darkmoon: Yeah, about calling Auron that, a few other people, including my friend anbu713, you should check out his FFX fic, it's awesome, used it a few times and I was too lazy to think up some other description for him so I just used that last chapter, but I will try to not do that anymore since u seem to not like it that much. And as I said before, yep, Seymour is a creepy bastard so why fight it. And I'll try to review more of your fic then I have been lately, I've just not been in the mood for reading for a while, sorry.
dark dragon knight1993: That's okay that you took so long to review 'cuz I took so long to update this chapter. Yep, Seymour is very, very, disturbing. Anyway, here is the next, long chapter for you!
Auron strode forward, his massive sword resting upon his right shoulder leaving the rest of the group staring at the sinspawn wide eyed. Braska's former guardian beckoned for the rest of the group to follow up behind him and they did so hastily and without any hesitation. The sinspawn crept eerily across the dirt cliff overlooking the bay towards Lauren and her friends. As it drew nearer it came to a halt and shot its head back into the air and let out a cry that made everyone's' skin crawl, even Auron's. The group formed up into a formation where all the melee fighters were in the front protecting Lulu and Yuna as they cast spells from a safe position.
Tidus was the first to take up the attack. He charged up along the cliff edge in an attempt the catch the sinspawn off guard while its concentration was focused more on his friends instead of him. The blitz ace successfully made it up close to the sinspawn without it realizing he was there, but beyond that he didn't have much luck. He leapt into the air right below the centipede/crab fiend's head, his sword back behind his head ready to strike its target on its master's command. The fiend caught a glimpse of the young blitz ace ready to decapitate it and lashed out with its left shield like arm. The blow struck Tidus in his side and sent him soaring through the air back toward where his friends stood, almost colliding with Wakka.
Kimahri charged at the fiend as it charged him back, both its shield like arms thrust forward and together to act as the shields they mimicked. The Ronso guardian thrust his razor sharp spearhead out in front of him and at the middle sinspawn's arms trying to catch a weak point where the two massive arms came together. His spear merely bounced off of the fiend's extremely thick arms instead of locating a weak point that he could take advantage of. The sinspawn started to shake its head and cave out a little cry as a dark orb of energy formed around Kimahri. The mighty Ronso guardian tried to escape from the sphere of energy, but it was all in vain. The orb of dark energy wrapped itself tightly around the Ronso before expanding and imploding in upon the Ronso guardian.
Kimahri was tossed aside by the implosion of the sphere of dark energy and landed at Yuna's feet, after passing through the wall of other guardians. Yuna quickly trained her elegant staff on Kimahri and shouted, "Cure!" letting the white aura drift peacefully off the tip of her staff and flow over Kimahri's battered body. Kimahri's eyes shot open and he flung out his right arm and grasped hold of his spear shaft and leapt to his feet just in time to block Wakka's fire charged blitzball from smacking Yuna in the face.
The blitzball smacked into Kimahri's spear causing flames to erupt from the point of collision, and then making their way around the Ronso toward Yuna. Kimahri glanced back at Yuna after the blitzball was safely knocked aside to see if his protection attempt was in vain or if he succeeded. Yuna stood a few feet back from the might Ronso's back with a thankful smile painted upon her friendly face. It seemed like Kimahri sighed in relief and then turned back to head back into the battle all his friends were enveloped in.
Auron strode forward to take the sinspawn head on, shifting his mammoth sword restlessly upon his right shoulder. He cast aside his useless sleeve on his left side allowing his left arm to hang freely at his side for him to use to swing his colossal blade full tilt. Swerving in between strikes by the centipede/crab like fiend's gargantuan shield like arms and its odd head, he charged toward the sinspawn at his maximum speed. Braska's former guardian leapt into the azure sky doing a small flip which seemed nearly impossible for the older man while his body flew toward the fiend. He came out of his small, yet hasty spiral and brought down his immense blade down upon the sinspawn's let arm, near the join to the rest of the body, severing it clean off. The sinspawn let out a shrill cry of intense pain as its severed arm writhed on the ground, spurting trace amounts of crimson colored blood everywhere, before finally dissipating into pyreflies.
Auron went back in after the detached arm had evaporated into a cloud of pyreflies and tried to finish off the fiend, but was unlucky in his attempts. As he drew nearer to the beast it let out a cry and its head began to shake violently as the air surrounding the eldest guardian twisted into a blackish purple. He hastily noted the sudden attack attempt and hurried his efforts to cut down his foe before it cast its magic spell upon him. He was just about to plunge his sword into the sinspawn's chest cavity as its right shield arm flung out from its unnoticed position folded against the fiend's side. Auron was sent sailing through the air back toward the group of friends that watched him almost take down the monster.
Lauren shot out of the group just as Auron came to a sliding halt on his back right behind her and hurried off toward the centipede, crab mix sinspawn. The blonde haired teen rushed to the fiend's left side where it had no defenses other than the magic casting head. She leapt into the air and was just about to land on the fiend's left shoulder area when all of a sudden its arm regenerated and batted her back away from its body. "What the! Why does it get to regenerate!" She shouted as she dug her katana blade into the ground to use as a support to get up after being swatted back through the air about twenty feet.
"Because, it's a sinspawn and sinspawns are parts of Sin." Auron stated bluntly in his usual unmoved voice as he rose to his feet and strode up next to the teen.
"That's not what I meant… ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh!" she cried out in pain as the air around her began to contract and expand in a purple haziness. Her body was being twisted in all directions as the sinspawns gravity magic continued to contract and expand as all her friends gawked in horror as she was being assailed. Finally the fiend ended its casting and Lauren was hurled back through the air, striking Yuna like a human missile. The two teens lay upon the ground, Lauren moaning in agonizing pain and Yuna forcing herself to stand to heal her friend and guardian. She aimed her staff at the blonde teen wearily and shouted, "Cure!" letting the pallid aura flow throughout the beat-up teen's body, fixing her like new.
"Thanks Yuna…" Lauren said as she regained her composure and stood upon her two jell-o like legs, almost collapsing forward as soon as she stood. Yuna nodded as she aided her friend in standing upright. "Now, we got to figure out a way to defeat this thing even though it can regenerate at least its arms." She gazed around at her friends, scratching her head and pondering of a way to defeat the fiend once and for all.
"Yuna, why don't you just summon one of your aeons?" Tidus chimed in with an idea that didn't seem to go over well with her.
"I… I can't. If I summon something then I won't be able to help out anymore because summoning will drain the rest of my energy." The brunet summoner protested the blitz ace's proposal.
"But if you summon something wouldn't it be able to defeat this thing no problem?" He kept trying to convince Yuna to some aone of her two aeons to combat the fiend.
"I'm not sure if it will be enough to defeat it and if not then I won't be anything more than a burden for the rest of you to protect."
"Well… it's coming this way so we better thing of something quick!" Lauren hollered drawing everyone's attention, except for Auron's who had been focusing on the opponent the entire time, back upon the sinspawn.
"Lu your magic should be enough to hold it back, right?" Wakka suggested a plan to make some more leeway for the group to formulate a plan to destroy the fiend.
The black mage nodded, dropping her doll to the dusty ground and raising her hands above her head. "Fire Fury!" She dropped her arms through the air causing a succession of fire spells to smash into the fiend's copper colored head. The sinspawn let out a sharp screech of pain as each of the fire spells belted it in the head, singing some of its flesh and the little red plant like things hanging from the bottom of its jaw. In total, eight fire spells assailed the sinspawn causing major damage along with the pain that stunned it for a few moments as it thrashed about in blind pain.
"I got it!" Lauren cheered as a plan of attack burst into her brain drawing everyone's attention. "Auron." She pointed at him. "You take up the charge and slice off one of its arms." Braska's former guardian nodded in acceptance of her order. "Kimahri, you hack off the other with your spear. Lulu, if you see its head doing anything weird like it's about to cast a spell hit it first before anyone gets hurt. Wakka, you guard Yuna and guide her around to anyone that needs her healing magic. As for me and Tidus, we're gonna climb up its back while you guys are distracting it as attack it from the back." Everyone seemed alright with the plan and the blonde gave a hand signal to execute the mandate.
Auron and Kimahri charged in first, being the ones that had to take out the first lines of defense they had to go in first, unprotected, except by Lulu watching out for any spells from the sinspawn's head. The two warriors evaded the blows cast by the fiend with its twin shield arms and continued in to get close enough to sever the arms from the body. They both swung down with their respective weapons at the shoulder joints, taking both arms off in one clean swoop from each blade. The fiend let out an immense howl of anguish, its head convulsing violently from the shock of the wounds. The twin shield arms wriggled upon the ground much like the one Auron lopped off until they evaporated into pyreflies that continued on their way to farplane.
Lauren and Tidus took up either flank and rushed behind the sinspawn as it writhed in pain from the beating Auron and Kimahri gave it. They snuck around undetected and began to ascend its back, hewing off each of the centipede like legs protruding from the back of what appeared to be its neck. The fiend let out even more yowls of anguish as the two blonde teens hacked away at the small legs upon it back. They finally reached the top of the sinspawn's head and were about to plunger their blades into the center of the top of its head when it reared its head back jostling the two teen guardians from their perches atop its copper colored head.
The centipede, crab mix sinspawn whirled around to kill Lauren and Tidus, smashing Auron and Kimahri away with its main body mass. Without any appendages the fiend had to rely on its magic abilities and began to conjure up the blackish purple gravity spell that would surely envelop the two in a vortex of pain and destruction. Lauren shook her head and opened her turquoise eyes just in time to see the sinspawn's head commence its shaking and shouted. "Lulu! Hit it now or we're dead!" The black mage swiftly ran around the side of the fiend so that she could see its head and cast a fire spell that gave off a deafening explosion as it struck the fiend's copper colored head, stopping it from casting its own spell.
Auron plunged his enormous sword into the back of the sinspawn and wiggled it around violently, slashing up its innards. The sinspawn reeled to the side in an effort to escape the sword master's fatal blade stokes. Kimahri planted his spear into the fiend's side as it moved away from Auron causing it to stop on impact from the intense pain. The sinspawn lurched around in a desperate attempt to escape from its assailers but everywhere it turned someone was awaiting it. Finally Tidus was getting annoyed at the thing and did a cartwheel toward it and then leapt into the air. He went into a series of spins and twists ending up with his blade lodged within the fiend's second, not already slain head, located in its main body mass.
The sinspawn thrashed about the cliff ledge wildly in blind pain, successfully trapping Lauren in between the thrashing fiend and the cliff face. It continued to push onward toward the blonde guardian till her heels almost slipped right off the edge of the cliff. She gazed around desperately trying to find a way out, but there was none other than the fall down the cliff, which she didn't want to happen. Although she didn't like it the sinspawn eventually did knock her over the cliff face, following her with the utmost loyalty. She landed upon the coarse beach sand and flicked her blonde locks out of her eyes and gazed upwards at a free falling fiend. She hastily rolled to the side, the sinspawn landed with a softened thud just as the teen guardian rolled over to her new position. She let out a sigh of relief only to gaze out into the bay to see Sin floating in the outermost part of the bay.
The cannons resting upon all the surrounding cliffs sounded off in unison sending their payload toward their target, Sin. Each cannonball struck Sin almost simultaneously casting sinscales into all the surrounding waters. An officer upon chocobo back hollered "Charge!" and all the forces up on the beach flooded into the water to meet the incoming sinscales head on.
"This just isn't my day!" Lauren muttered to herself as she reached for her katana. "What! Where is it!" She exclaimed as she reached an empty sheath and hand. She gazed around hastily to find it but found nothing so she began to panic. 'Oh god where is it!' she ran around aimlessly in an effort to locate her misplaced saber. 'Could it have fallen…' she glanced over to the body of the sinspawn, sweat beginning to form on her brow. '… if it did I'm dead.' Just as she thought that, a wave of sinscales clashed with a rank of infantry right in front of her.
A few of the sinscales from the battle in front of Lauren assailed her as they passed over the bodies of dead crusaders. She punched the first one in the head knocking it aside with ease but the others kept coming at her. She turned and ran since she had no real experience of fighting hand to hand especially not against monsters that had the upper hand for that. The blonde teen soon found herself pinned between three sinscales and a razor sharp rock wall. She pressed her back against the rock wall only to get a very sharp prick on her left shoulder blade that made her jump forward from the sudden pain. A sinscale lashed out at her with its fangs trying to quench its thirst for blood, but to no avail. She leaned up against the wall, regardless of the pain, and kicked the scale in the head sending it back a few feet to where the others waited for their turn.
Lauren hopped up just as a sinscale rammed its head into the rock wall, piercing its skull on a jagged rock, and bounced off the corpse. She landed into a forward roll but she hit something metallic and fell out of her tumble to see what it was. Her katana sat half submerged in the coarse Mi'ihen beach sands. Seeing the blade brought glee to her eyes as she grabbed for it greedily and drew it up, along with her body into a defensive stance. The remaining two scales charged the now equipped guardian, their fangs gnashing wildly with a heavy thirst for blood. She stepped to the side and slashed one of them down the side causing it to crash into the sand and burst into pyreflies. The other scale rounded in its charge and headed back for another go at the prey its counterpart failed to nab. The blonde teen merely rammed her katana blade down the sinscale's throat as it neared her, killing it instantly.
Without any sinscales on her tail, Lauren gazed about at the battle taking place around her. There were bodies everywhere, all gnarled and bloody, the sight of which caused the young guardian to cringe and shut her turquoise eyes tightly. It seemed as though the sinscales were in endless numbers for more and more kept washing up on shore, and, or popping up out of the water much to the surprise of some unsuspecting Al Bhed or crusader. Cannon shells kept whizzing overhead trying to smash the life out of Sin as it sat peacefully in the bay next to a large two pronged, yellow Al Bhed gun.
The yellow gun began to charge up electricity that wrapped around the twin prongs jutting out from the main control room. Sin began to charge up its own shot but it was in the form of a purple colored shield completely surrounding it. The Al Bhed gun fired upon Sin and its newly formed barrier only to put a small dent in the shield. The Al Bhed gun continued to convey electricity through the gun and at Sin's barrier but it was no use. Sin began to push back the beam of electric as it expanded the shield around itself to cover the entire bay. The gun was toppled and disintegrated almost immediately and the wave of death continued outward.
Lauren watched this whole spectacle with wide eyes and an open mouth that signified she was scared to death. She stood their frozen in fear as the purple wave of death continued on, wiping out all of the Al Bhed cannons positioned on the cliffs in front of her. Finally she snapped out of her sheer fear and scampered around for some way to shield herself from the wave of devastation. The blonde spotted a crack in the face of the cliff leading up to where she had just fought the sinspawn and made a break for it.
The wave Sin expelled smashed into the first ranks of the fighting between the sinscales and the crusaders and Al Bhed. All of them were instantly vaporized in the purple wave that continued moving on toward the inward shore, destroying everything in its path. Lauren reached the recess in the cliff face just as the wave of devastation was only about twenty feet away from her. She rushed around a little curve in the nook and curled up in a ball as she awaited the wave to splash upon the cliff face. It smashed into the rock wall with the force of a hurtling train and also sounded like trains were running all around Lauren. She kept her eyes shut as tightly as she could and covered her ears the best she could but the sound still reached her two ears.
In a matter of seconds, which seemed like an entire lifetime to Lauren, the wave had dissipated, leaving only carnage upon the beach. The shaken teen emerged from her hiding spot in the cliff face to see that everyone that she had just seen combating the sinscales, along with them, were nowhere in sight. Rocks and other natural debris were strewn about the entire beach along side the wreckage of Al Bhed weaponry. There were a few dead bodies here and there farther in shore but for the most part the beach was only filled with rubble.
Lauren searched around the beach in search of any survivors, but her search was in vain until she head magic being cast up on the cliff she was on fighting the sinspawn. She heard the shrill screeched from the fiend right before she caught a glimpse of who was fighting it. Seymour stood next to Yuna and Auron whilst casting more powerful fire magic at the sinspawn than Lulu had. A cloud of pyreflies rose from the cliff after a sharp screech pierced the silent air surrounding the bay. Yuna hurried to the edge of the cliff and gazed off in search of her friends, and, or any survivors that may be near. She saw Lauren and gave her a friendly wave and a smile, Lauren did the same as the young summoner's glance shifted hastily to Sin floating in the bay. She began to move her staff in a summon pattern but then she turned around and spoke with someone that stopped her from performing any summon.
Sin turned and faced the beach one last time before it headed back out to sea, submerging itself in the moderate sea waters as it left the bay. Yuna, Seymour, and Auron made their way down to the beach where Lauren scurried around looking for any survivors as well as the rest of her friends. Tidus was found washed up on the beach about twenty yards from where Lauren first stood after he tried to swim after Sin. Lulu was sitting upon a rock looking out over the carnage of the day and apparently thinking. Wakka emerged from some ruble near the cliff face and came out to meet the rest of his friends. Kimahri just appeared out of nowhere and walked over and stood sentinel at the ramp leading up to the road leading to the Djose temple.
Tidus ran up to Auron and they talked a bit before Maester Kinoc passed them on his was out. Braska's former guardian must have said something to upset the Maester for he had a look of annoyance on his face. Seymour spoke with Yuna for a little while before he bid farewell to the young summoner and caught up with his escorts. Then Auron and Tidus had another chat and Tidus got pissed off at something Auron had said but then the guardian strode away from him and up the ramp onto the road. Lauren hurried along after the rest of her friends after gazing at the carnage one last time and met up with them on the first bend after the ramp.
"So where are we off to now?" The blonde guardian queried as she finally caught up with the rest of the group.
"To Djose temple, don't you remember?" Lulu answered shaking her head in disbelief.
"Sorry, but I guess almost getting killed three times back there and seeing hundreds of people being killed must have thrown my memory for a loop." Lauren replied angrily at the black mage, who just stood there gazing at her with an amused smile painted upon her face.
"Are you alright Lauren?" Yuna asked noting a few of the wounds her friend had acquired from her fray with the sinscales while she was unarmed.
Before she could respond Auron cut her off, "She is fine." The eldest guardian strode off toward the temple but stopped ten feet away when he realized no one was following him. "Are you coming, or do you plan to stop your pilgrimage here?"
"Of course she's not." Lauren answered for her summoner friend. "C'mon, let's get going." Yuna nodded and started up their walk along the road leading to the Djose temple, everyone following suit.
As they walked Tidus and Kimahri stopped to talk, letting everyone else go on ahead but then Lauren came back in mid conversation. "If we worry, she tries harder. Do not frown." The Ronso guardian said to Tidus which came as a great surprise to Lauren as she stopped right in front of them.
"Wow Kimahri, you can talk?" Lauren's jaw hung open as the Ronso's words reached her ears. "Why haven't you spoken before now?"
"There was no need." The Ronso spoke strangely like Auron in a blunt monotone like voice that got straight to the point, short and sweet.
"Come on you guys, we got to go to the Djose temple!" Yuna hollered back to her friends and guardians as the rest of the group was almost around a bend in the road.
"Coming!" Lauren shouted back at the brunet summoner as she hurried Tidus and Kimahri along the road to catch up with the rest of their friends.
The road was a pretty boring spectacle with only rocks and dirt as the surroundings and a roof made of rock to shield travelers from the elements. The road wrapped around the cliff, weaving in and out at random spots where the cliff face was bowed in or out. The fiends upon the road were the same species that they encountered upon Mushroom Rock Road with the addition of a basilisk with stone stare that could turn one of the friends into stone. The only way to cure the petrifaction was to either use a soft potion or have Yuna cast esuna to remove the stone coating. Other than the fact that the basilisks could turn them to stone, the group didn't have much trouble with them or any other fiend upon the road. Finally they came to a fork in the road with a sign placed in between near a hill of green grass.
"Which way is the temple?" Lauren queried glancing back a forth between the two trails, one leading to a dead end with rocks and dirt and the other leading to a long winding dirt road with grass on its banks. "I like the one to the left 'cuz I'm sick and tired of all this dirt a rock, but that's not the right way, now is it?"
"That one leads to the Moonflow and then to Guadosalam…" Lulu pointed toward the trail with the grass. "… but that is our current destination, the Djose temple." The black mage gestured toward the road leading to the long bridge and then the temple, which remained hidden within its rock cocoon.
"Is there anyway we could skip over that? I just want to get out of here as soon as possible." Lauren protested but her friends seemed firm on going except for Tidus, who seemed to have the same train of thought.
"I have to pray to the fayth in every temple in order to earn the Final Aeon." Yuna explained, trying to get her friend to understand the importance of going to the Djose temple.
"That's a summoner's training. She's gotta prepare mind and body, all just to get ready for the Final Summoning." Wakka added to try to sway Lauren's mind to see the importance of every temple.
"Okay, I just didn't know that all of them were important to a summoner and their pilgrimage." The blonde guardian nodded to her friends and strolled over to the road leading to the temple. "Let's go then, since it's so important to your pilgrimage, Yuna." Lauren said, taking her friend's hand leading her toward the temple in a sort of speed walk, leaving the rest to catch up at their own paces.
Tidus and Auron held back much like they have been doing lately to chat about something unknown to the rest of the group. They finally caught back up with the group after a little while as the rest of the group stood in front of a large rock resting near the back of the alcove. "Where's the temple?" Lauren asked after a while of standing there with her friends waiting for Tidus and Auron to catch back up to them. "I thought you said the temple was this way and that it was important to get there immediately, yet there is not temple as far as I can see." The blonde teen walked about the alcove glancing around lazily waiting for a response.
"Just wait." Lulu said just as Yuna began to pray to the fayth with the usual Yevon prayer movements. Lightning began to jut out of the rocks forming cracks all over the rock cocoon encircling the Djose temple. The rock cocoon floated away from the center and broke apart, the lightning holding the rocks in a revolution around the newly revealed temple.
"That's cool…" Lauren said in awe as the fragments revolved around the lighting temple. "So, are we going in or just standing around here watching the rocks move with the lightning?" She inquired when her friends did nothing to advance toward the temple.
"Another summoner is here." Yuna said out of the silence after Lauren's question.
"Really? How can you tell?" The blonde teen seemed a little more than confused. "I thought you prayed to the fayth from out here to reveal the temple." Lauren walked toward her summoner friend.
"I didn't get that far into the prayer. Someone must be trying to leave, so they have to be a summoner." Yuna replied staring at the temple wondering who could be in there.
"I hope it's not Dona." Tidus piped in his concern. "Her and that guardian of hers, what's his name, Barthello? They are just the aggravating types, and last time she almost got Yuna in trouble after she had him thrown me and Lauren into the cloister of trials thingy."
"We have to hurry." The honey brown haired summoner exclaimed as she took off at a walking pace toward Djose temple. The rest of the group soon followed in at their own paces, Lauren and Tidus off in front followed by Wakka then Lulu then Kimahri and finally Auron.
Once inside the temple the group moved along the dome main chamber and headed for the stairs leading to the cloister of trials, but was stopped by another summoner and his guardians coming out. "I beg your pardon, but may I ask your name?" A man in green and blue summoner robes with brown hair done up in a little pony tail like manner, who was also accompanied by two others, queried.
"I am Summoner Yuna, from the isle of Besaid." Yuna replied to the summoner.
"As I thought! The daughter of Lord Braska. You have the look of your father." Isaaru exclaimed.
"My father? You knew him?"
"No. I have never met the man. Ah, my apologies. I am Isaaru. I am a summoner, like you." The brown haired summoner introduced himself.
"I'm Pacce. Pleased to meet you." The little kid who was apparently Isaaru's younger brother chimed in.
"And I'm Maroda. I'm guarding my big brother here." The other, much older with a strong build younger brother greeted Yuna.
"Since I was a child, I've always looked up to Lord Braska. I wished I would someday become a high summoner like he was. You must have some of your father's talent in you! I believe you might someday defeat Sin." Isaaru remarked.
"I...I'm not really... I've only just become a summoner." Yuna stammered.
"Of course, I've no intention of losing, either. So perhaps we should race to see who can defeat Sin first, no?" Isaaru friendly offered a challenge to Yuna.
"Very well, then. I accept your challenge." Yuna nodded with a friendly smile sitting upon her face once again.
Maroda tapped his older brother on the shoulder causing him to bid Yuna farewell. "I, beg your leave! Good luck, to both of us!" Yuna bowed and did a little Yevon prayer as Isaaru did the same and then left rather hastily.
As everyone else walked up the stairs Lauren was held back by Isaaru right before he left the temple with his two guardians. "You are Yuna's guardian, no? Maroda's heard a curious rumor. I thought you should know." The summoner explained.
"I heard it from those Crusaders. Seems that summoners have been going out on pilgrimage and just...disappearing." Maroda elaborated on the rumor.
"Okay, thanks! I'll be on the look out for anything suspicious, after all, I don't want to ruin Yuna's pilgrimage nor lose her as a friend." The blonde guardian thanked Isaaru and Maroda. "See ya guys!" She said before taking off up the stairs to the cloister of trials to meet up with her friends.
"What was that about?" Lulu asked Lauren as she finally entered the trials.
"Oh that. Maroda and Isaaru told me that summoners have been going out on their pilgrimages and just disappearing without a trace." She clarified.
"Well then, you must not forget your roles as guardians." Auron said as he walked off into the cloister of trials. "Now, let's get going. Yuna can't linger around too long in any place," Everyone followed after the eldest guardian in their group.
In the first room there were two recesses in the walls, one on either side, and each harboring an orb of white lightning. Lauren and Yuna took one out each and found two slots at a door on the far side of the room that was shut and slipped the two spheres into the holes. The door opened up ushering them into another room where there was a pedestal with an orb upon it and two other, one on either side of the room. Tidus went off to grab the one on the left side and slipped it into an empty recess on the right with a line connecting it to another slot with an orb already in it and a pedestal upon the ceiling. As soon as he placed the sphere in it ignited a spark that ran from the first slot to it then to the pedestal upon the ceiling, lightning swirling around it. Wakka pushed the pedestal in the center of the room over under the one hung from the ceiling. A lightning bolt conveyed down from the ceiling pedestal to the other, the sphere upon it becoming super charged with energy.
Lulu took the supercharged sphere and placed it into a slot next to a door in the back of the room which slid open as soon as the sphere ignited the line. Behind to door rested currents of electricity what covered a wide gap, where on the other side sat another pedestal. Tidus and Lauren fetched the other spheres from before and placed them in the empty slots upon the pedestal that once harbored the supercharged one. Kimahri pushed the pedestal over to the door and through it and onto the waves of electricity lining the gap. Surprisingly the pedestal floated allowing Tidus, the most agile of the group, to hop across and push in the other pedestal setting off a glowing eye in the center of the floor in the previous room. He hopped back to the others and looked back at the stranded pedestal with the two spheres that it seemed they need for the next part of the trials.
"Now what?" The blitz ace let out a sigh as Auron walked over to the left side of the room and down the little set of stairs and stepped onto a pad that no one had noted. The pedestal harboring the two spheres popped back into the room right on top of the panel, right in front of Auron. Lulu took the super charged one back out of the now useless door slot and placed it into a slot on the right side of the room and activated ahead like portion around the glowing eye on the floor. Lauren and Tidus took the two spheres off the pedestal and rushed them back where they were when they started, lighting up the rest of the symbol on the floor. An elevator formed where the symbol was allowing the group to head up to the upper level where the chamber of the fayth resided.
Upon being transported to the upper level the group noticed five pedestals, each with its own little alcove behind it with a lightning shaped fixture going to the center of the ceiling. Lauren, Tidus, Wakka, Kimahri, and Auron went over to their own pedestal and pushed it back into the respective recesses in the wall. The five pedestals each made a clicking sound that conveyed a bolt of lightning up through the lightning shaped fixtures into the center of the ceiling where they all met. A doorway opened up on the left wall right next to where the elevator like platform had brought them up, revealing some stairs to the chamber of the fayth. Yuna entered the passageway leading up to the chamber of the fayth followed soon by Kimahri who seemed to never let her out of his sight.
Yuna went into the chamber of the fayth to pray and the rest of her friends stayed outside in the waiting chamber awaiting her return. While they were waiting for Yuna to return Dona and Barthello walked in upon the waiting guardians. "Well, well. You again. Still traveling with quite the crowd, I see." She mocked as Barthello walked toward Auron. "What is it, Barthello? You know this riffraff?" She inquired as her guardian inspected Braska's former guardian.
"You are...Auron, no?" The large, muscular guardian queried.
"What of it?"
"Can...I shake your hand?" Barthello stuttered. "Auron-no. Sir Auron. You're the reason I became a guardian!" He exclaimed while to two shook hands. "Thank you, sir! This means so much to me!" He thanked Auron as he surveyed his hand in awe.
"Calling the personal guardian to Lord Braska riffraff?" Wakka said in an amused voice.
"And you call yourself a summoner?" Lulu continued the mocking of Dona.
"Barthello, enough! Get back here!" The black haired summoner ordered her muscular guardian. He hurried over to her side just as the door to the chamber of the fayth slid open and Yuna appeared within the doorway, ready to collapse. Before she fell Kimahri reached out and caught her in his arm just before she tumbled down the stairs.
"You owe much to your father. All these guardians... and Sir Auron, too? And I heard Maester Seymour's quite taken with you. The world must look different when you're the daughter of Lord Braska." Dona said, trying to tarnish Yuna's image of feelings, but failing at both.
"This has nothing to do with my father!" Yuna proclaimed. "I am traveling on my own, as a full-fledged summoner!" She went on to defend her name.
"Oh, is that so? Then try standing on your own two legs for once." Dona said, once again trying to belittle Yuna as a summoner. "Your guardians won't be able to protect you when the time comes." This remark seemed to catch Lauren's attention.
"Hey, we'll protect Yuna through anything, right guys?" Lauren exclaimed looking out over the faces off all her friends. Everyone except Tidus didn't say or do anything; they just looked down or away from one another as Tidus backed up his friend.
Dona turned and beckoned Barthello to follow her, it was apparent that she was pissed and didn't want to hang around them anymore. Everyone walked out of the room and went into the temple's main chamber. "I don't know about you guys, but I'm tired." Lauren remarked as they strolled into the main chamber out of the cloister of trials. Most of her friends nodded and continued to walk out of the temple as a temple worker came up to Yuna.
"I beg your pardon Lady Yuna, but if you could we have some people here that could use your healing and a sending is needed for those who have lost their lives here." The young summoner nodded and the clergyman led her to where the wounded resided.
The next morning Lauren awoke to all her friends standing outside the temple and the little shop like building where they all had spent the night. "Where's Yuna?" The blonde teen inquired noting the summoner's absence.
"She's still sleeping." Lulu explained. "She was up practically all night healing the wounded and sending those who had lost their lives yesterday to Sin." The black mage looked away form Lauren and back at the temple.
"Okay then, we'll let her sleep till whenever she gets up, right?" The black mage nodded and Lauren went over to sit upon a rock to wait for Yuna to wake up.
About an hour or so later Yuna finally emerged from the temple to her awaiting friends. "Good morning." Lauren greeted a rather messy haired Yuna.
"What? Morning?" Yuna looked around franticly.
"Don't worry." Tidus came up next to the two girls.
"But it's morning! I'm so sorry! I-I'll get ready right away! Just a moment!" She glanced about still in a daze.
"Calm down Yuna, it's okay. You don't have to rush. We're fine just waiting." Lauren attempted to calm down her summoner friend, but with only a little potency.
"Yo! Sleepyhead!" Wakka called to Yuna as he approached the summoner and Lauren and Tidus, the rest of the gang trailing behind him.
"Sorry! I'm so sorry!" Yuna apologized to her newly arrived friends for a purpose they didn't seem to get. "Please forgive me." She faced Auron as she said it.
"Really, there's no rush... here, your hair" Lulu handed Yuna a hairbrush to fix her horribly messed up honey brown hair.
"A summoner with bed hair! What's the world comin' to?" Wakka joked as Yuna stood there with a puzzled look upon her face looking out over the smiling faces of all her friends.
"You could have woken me up!" Yuna continued up her protest.
"Come on Yuna, you needed the rest. You were up practically all night helping out people so we decided that you deserved some rest." Lauren wrapped her left arm around Yuna's shoulders friendly.
"We did call to you, but with all that snoring..." Lulu joked with her bewildered friend.
"Hmm... what is it today? Everyone's picking on me!" Her comment sent everyone into laughter, even Auron who had barely laughed in his life. "You too, Sir Auron?" She glanced at the eldest guardian questioningly.
He laughed a bit before saying something. "Once Lady Yuna fixes her hair, we leave!" He caused everyone to break out into laughter.
"Yeah Yuna. You can't go and save Spira with bad hair, you know. That would just not be good for your image." Lauren joked. "Could you imagine it? Today we have Lady Yuna, defeater of Sin and savor of Spira…oh wait, what's this? Looks like she's having a bad hair day! Would you look at that, even summoners have them!" She imitated to the best of her ability an announcer that was at the celebration ceremony for Yuna's defeat of Sin.
Everyone laughed at Lauren's comment, even though they all had a glint of sadness in their eyes except Tidus and Lauren, whom had no idea what defeating Sin meant. "We leave!" Auron commanded after everyone had ceased their laughing and walked away from the temple.
As the group was walking over the bridge to where the road forked to the Moonflow Lucil and Elma stood upon it on one side. They expressed concern for Yuna since she had been up all night helping out others and barely got any sleep, but she said she was fine and had slept enough. Clasko shouted to Lucil and Elma for them to wait up for him and Elma scolded him for taking too long. He said something about how is he supposed to keep up with the chocobo Lucil and Elma had, but she just hollered at him again. Lucil bid Yuna and the rest of them farewell and rode off with Elma, Clasko hurrying behind them on foot.
Once in the area where the road split in three the group conversed. "Where to next?" Lauren queried, not remembering where Lulu had told her where they were going after the Djose temple.
"The Moonflow, remember?" The black mage asked in an irritated voice that Lauren was too used to really notice her anger.
"We must hurry." Auron ordered from his once silent position standing closest to the road leading to the Moonflow.
"What's with you Auron? You always seem to be pushing us along in quite a bit of a hurry." Lauren stated as she walked over to stand in front of the one eyed guardian. "Do we have to be somewhere in a hurry or are you just bored staying in one place for too long?" Auron just stood there inspecting the blonde teen as he did often. "Stop staring at me like that all the time, will ya!" She shouted at the eldest guardian as he shifted his gaze back onto the horizon.
"As you wish." Auron walked off toward the road leading up to the Moonflow.
"And will you stop talking like that and walking off as if you want to avoid everything and everyone!" Lauren hollered at Auron causing him to halt in his movements for a moment before continuing on. "What is with that guy?" She asked after the eldest guardian was out of earshot.
"Hey, mind your mouth!" Wakka scolded the blonde guardian, which she just waved off his comment. "You should be more respectful to the guardian of High Summoner Braska." The orange blitzer hollered at her, once again expressing his devout fayth in Yevon and anyone that stood high in the beliefs.
"Just can it with the religious crap, Wakka!" Lauren shouted almost at the top of her lungs at the orange haired blitz champ. "Seriously, what is Auron's problem?"
"He's just like that and has been for as long as I've know him." Tidus explained, coming up next to Lauren to calm her down. "You need to learn how to just accept it and go along with him. And, there's no reason to take it out on Wakka. So, just calm down and we'll leave when you're ready." Lauren nodded to the blonde blitz ace. "Okay! Moonflow, baby, here we come!" He shouted as he led the group after Auron.
Auron walked up the road a few moments before the rest of the group caught up with him, but before they did he encountered a cloaked man. "You are Auron, correct?" The mysterious man's voice was deep and had a sinister edge on it.
"And if I am?" The man smiled at the guardian's response.
"Good, I have found you!" The man exclaimed. "Now, down to business! You have a certain person traveling with you that my lord has foreseen as a threat to Spira. And knowing your standings as being a guardian to the late Lord Braska, you are in favor of protecting Spira as well as the Yevon fayth, am I right?" Auron did nothing but gaze at the cloaked man in wonder from the safety of his keenly placed sunglasses. "Of course I am! So, if you would do us a favor, make sure that she does not make it to the end of her path where as she can destroy Spira." Auron still made no movements or made any expressions of interest or question. "I see, I guess just relying on your fayth isn't enough to get you to work with us." The man jiggled a bag of change out from under his cloak. "Take this." He handed the package to Auron. "Payment for your services."
Just as the bag of money reached Auron's grip a voice called out to the former guardian of Braska. "Auron! Auron, wait up!" Tidus called out to the guardian, who then turned to see the group coming up on the road. He turned back to where the cloaked man was standing only to find that he had vanished into thin air. "I see you decided to wait up for us after all." The blonde haired blitz ace said as the group approached Auron.
Auron turned away from the group and started off down the road much like he had before when Lauren yelled at him. The road they traveled was a long dirt road much like the one they hiked on before the incident with Sin at Mushroom Rock. Various grasses and other plants lined the banks of the road as well as some random ruins of this and that, much like the Mi'ihen highroad. Farther down the road two Ronsos came around the corner, the ones from the café in Luca, right before the Blitzball match. As the group approached the two Ronsos, they began to speak with Kimahri as well as mock him and Tidus.
"Look! One of Kimahri's friends. Looks just like him." Biran teased Kimahri and Tidus in the same sentence. Tidus had a look of great confusion pained upon his face that caused Biran and Yenke to burst out in hysterical laughter. "Both follow summoners on all fours! Hornless goatlings!" Biran ridiculed the two guardians, their faces becoming twisted into an angry look, their eyes narrowing at the comments.
"Hornless! Hornless!" Yenke taunted from Biran's side causing them both to brake out into laughter. Lauren walked up beside Kimahri to support him against the other Ronso's assault of crude remarks and taunts.
"Hey! Leave Kimahri alone!" She hollered at the two large Ronso, giving them a defiant stare and placing her hand on her hips to try to further add to her fury.
"You come to insult Kimahri?" The Ronso guardian inquired hastily trying to avoid Lauren's involvement in the squabble.
"Wrong. We come to warn little Kimahri." Biran admitted.
"Summoners disappear. Never return." Yenke warned everyone present drawing surprised looks from everyone except Kimahri and Auron, who never showed much expression.
"Next will be Kimahri's summoner." Biran taunted.
"Poor Kimahri! Lost his horn, next lose his summoner!" Yenke mocked the silent Kimahri as he just stood there and took the barrage of insults without saying or doing anything to defend himself.
"Pitiful Kimahri! Howl alone! Howl alone!" Biran mocked before waving to Yenke to leave. The two Ronsos moved off down around the bend in the road off toward the Moonflow, leaving Lauren and her friends to ponder on what Biran and Yenke warned them about.
"Do those two got something against you?" Tidus asked Kimahri after Biran and Yenke left them. Kimahri said nothing but shook his head 'no' slowly and only once, just barely enough for anyone to see. "What, they were just picking on you?"
"Kimahri will deal with them." The Ronso guardian declared.
"But there's two of them. Don't you think that you might just need a little bit of help form anyone?" Lauren questioned, but Kimahri didn't do anything but stand there.
"It's Kimahri's problem. We can't interfere; it's a rule" Wakka came up to Lauren, trying to wave away the teen's concern for their Ronso friend.
"I'm worried." Lulu said out of nowhere.
"Let the Ronso deal with Ronso problems, ya? That's how it's always been."
"I mean I'm worried about those summoners disappearing." The black mage reinstated her comment.
"They aren't just disappearing into thin air." Auron said drawing everyone's attention.
"What could be getting them then?" Lauren queried, gazing about her group of friends for any kinds of explanations to what could be happening to all the summoners. "Isaaru said that the fiends aren't getting to them, so what or who could be doing these abductions?" No one came up with any ideas until Tidus spoke.
"Hey, if we guardians do our job...no problem, right?" He said in an extremely confident voice that sounded throughout the road, echoing a bit off the rolling hills etching the sides of the road.
"Right! Now, let's not worry about summoners disappearing 'cuz we're gonna protect Yuna, and let's get going to the Moonflow so we can get on with Yuna's pilgrimage!" Lauren ushered her friends down the length of road that still lay before them leading to the Moonflow.
"This is the Moonflow." Lulu proclaimed as the group came to a bend in the road where the vast river comes up to meet the bank of the road.
"These are moonlillies! They say that clouds of pyreflies gather here when night falls." Yuna pointed out the various colored flowers dotting the river surface in clusters near the bank near the road and all over the entire waterway.
"The entire river glows, like a sea of stars." Lulu stated looking out over the Moonflow into the crystal clear waters and over the multitudes of moonlillies.
"Can we spend the night here and see the lilies?" Lauren requested as she gazed in wonder at the flowers laid out before her over the Moonflow. "It sounds like it would be really pretty and I would like to have some sort of relaxing after all we've been doing lately." She gazed over the faces of all her friends, and they all seemed to like the idea, until she got to Auron.
"We're not spending the night." Braska's former guardian put an end to anyone's hopes of spending the night to see the view and to have some relaxation.
"Awwww! Why not?" Lauren complained to the unwavering guardian. "C'mon Auron, please?" She pleaded to the guardian, but his facial expression didn't change, nor did he say anything. "We could all use some rest, even you I bet. Why can't we just waste one night, huh? It's not like it would do much in delaying or affecting Yuna's pilgrimage in any way." She continued to beg the eldest guardian, but with little success. "Fine." She threw her hands up in defeat and stomped off in the direction of the shoopuf dock.
The group caught up to Lauren, who was standing in wide eyed wonder at a large creature, within a moment. The creature was twice the size of an elephant and had green, leathery hide instead of the traditional gray colored hide as elephants have. The gigantic creature had a large dorsal fin jutting up from where its tail met its back and also had a curled up trunk instead of a normal straight one. Upon its massive back sat a large platform with a tent canopy over some seats where passengers sat for their voyage across the vast water body.
"This is a shoopuf." Wakka said as the group reached up with Lauren.
"Whoa... Let's ride! Come on, let's go!" Tidus exclaimed, making his way closer to the shoopuf.
"All right! We board soon as we're ready, ya?"
"Let's go!" The blonde haired blitz ace rushed up to where the driver, a small blue skin colored creature with large eyes stood. "You guys coming?" He asked when he realized he was the only one up on the platform with the rider. Everyone followed him up and spoke with the rider who lowered an elevator like thing for them to get in and be taken up to the back of the gentle giant.
The shoopuf launched from the dock from the command of its keeper, and out into the majestic, lucid watered Moonflow. About halfway on their voyage across the vast river Wakka pointed out some ruins of an old sunken machina city that sunk when the people became too greedy and built too much until it collapsed. Wakka, Lulu, and Yuna explained about a war that occurred a thousand years ago between the different peoples of Spira. Eventually, the people got too out of hand by building even more powerful machina as quickly as they could until they thought that they could destroy all of Spira. Then Sin came and wiped out all of the huge machina cities to keep the peoples of Spira from destroying it. Then Sin stayed around to keep reminding people of what not to do, and destroying any city that got too large.
"That's just not right. You shouldn't have to suffer for something people did a thousand years ago, right?" Lauren proclaimed. "It's just not fair and makes no sense!" She exclaimed, throwing her arms to her side as she rose from her seat upon the back of the massive shoopuf.
"Yeah, but that's the way things are and always have been since then." Wakka said trying to calm Lauren down. "We just have to repent for our sins and Sin will go away, forever. But, the Al Bhed keep screwin' everything up!" Just as the words passed over his lips the water began to tremble, shaking everyone from their positions. Lauren fell back down into her seat and Yuna shot up and looked around hastily in the water to see if she could spot anything.
"Sit down!" Auron commanded but before the young summoner could sit back down an Al Bhed leapt down from atop the canopy above the seats and snatched Yuna by the waist. He then continued to leap down into the crystal clear water below them, dragging Yuna down with him.
"Yuna!" Lauren yelled after her friend that had been taken under the water by the Al Bhed. "C'mon, we gotta go down there and save here!" The blonde guardian poised herself upon the side railing, readying herself to plunge into the water.
"Wait!" Tidus exclaimed. "You can't breathe underwater or hold your breath long like Wakka and I can you?" Lauren looked back at the blonde haired blitz ace and got back down into the basket thing upon the shoopuf's back.
"I know, but I have to do something! She's my friend!" The young guardian screamed and turned back to plunge herself into the waters to help Yuna.
"Here." Auron whipped out a small tube like metallic object from within one of the many pockets concealed within his crimson jacket. Lauren looked at the object and then up to the eldest guardian with a questioning gaze. "It's for breathing underwater. Just put it in your mouth and it will do the rest." He dropped the article in the blonde's hands and went back to his seat.
Lauren opened her mouth and placed the strange metallic object into her mouth and pressed her lips and teeth against it to hold it in position. She dove into the surprisingly chilly water, Wakka and Tidus following suit hastily. Once she was in the water she swam around trying to locate Yuna, but had little success until she saw something glistening in a stray ray of sunlight piercing the deep water. As she swam closer she could see that the thing wasn't just random fragment of metal but an entire functioning machina.
The bottom of the machina was just like the bottom half of the oblitzerator only the feet were folded together for there was no use for them in the water. The top portion looked exactly like the oblitzerator top, except instead of the two grinders there were three oddly shaped rods jutting out of it. Multicolored ribbon like things protruded from where the three rods met the body of the machina, each with a little amethyst orb glowing near the end. Atop the three poles sat a translucent sphere with Yuna standing trapped within, just floating in the center.
Lauren charged through the water toward the machina, her katana drawn out to her side and shimmering in the scattered rays of sunlight. As soon as she neared the machina the multicolored ribbon like things attached to the top half of it spun around violently, keeping her from a direct all out charge. She dove down below the machina and came back up where the tripod like legs opened up a bit where she could attack the machina without risking being assaulted by the machina's twirling ribbons. She hacked away at one of the legs, putting a huge dent into the knee joint of the leg, almost severing it in half. The machina dived down to counter her attack and struck her with the bottom of itself onto the back of her head. She fell through the water about twenty feet before she regained control over her body and stopped herself from falling down any farther.
Wakka hurled his blitzball through the chill water toward the center of the machina where the two arm like pieces opened up revealing some of the central body. The blitzball bounced back and forth between the right arm and the main body of the machina a few times before returning to its master's hands. A small metal door slipped open on the left arm of the machina revealing a red tipped torpedo resting within it. The torpedo launched out of the newly revealed hole and hurtled toward the orange haired blitzer at unimaginable speeds. The blitzer managed to evade the torpedo but it exploded right behind him sending him sailing through the water toward the machina.
Before the machina had anytime to lash out at Wakka as he drifted closer and closer to it, Tidus swooped in and hacked off one of the ribbons. Wakka regained control over himself and swam out of range of the machina's physical attacks ad waited. Tidus slipped past the machina's sensors and plunged brotherhood into the left arm, near where the torpedo launched at Wakka. Sparks spewed out of the hole as the blonde haired blitz ace wriggled brotherhood around in the jagged gash he created. One of the severed wires waved out of the gash and connected with Tidus' blade conveying a current of electricity into his arm. He let go of brotherhood and let it drift down through the clear waters, ending the electric shock being done to him.
Lauren swam back up under the machina and did a three sixty spin in between the tripod legs. The three legs snapped off with jagged edges and spewed out jet black oil into the water, clouding the teen's view as they drifted down to the riverbed. She felt the water around her wash down past her body, pushing her down a few feet and spinning her around. She gazed up to see a few compartment doors open up on the bottom of the machina and drop out a bunch of cylindrical containers. She tried to evade them but even though they missed striking her they still exploded around her. She was thrown around in all different directions as she moved from a spot where one depth charge exploded to another.
Tidus spotted Lauren being battered by the multitudes of depth charges and swam down to catch her as she fell through the water toward the riverbed. He caught her in his arms and reached into one of the pockets lining his black shorts and rummaged through them. Seconds later he produced a small, bluish colored vial from his right pocket and held it close to the incapacitated teen's mouth. He removed the breathing implement Auron had given her and popped the cork off of the end of the vial. He shoved the vial to her lips and tilted it back to release the bluish colored healing liquid into her mouth. She swallowed the healing liquid down her esophagus and into her blood system, spreading all throughout her body. The blonde teen girl let out a muffled cough in the water before Tidus replaced the vial with the metallic breathing implement that Auron gave her.
She smiled at Tidus and nodded her thanks before a lightning etched blitzball flew through the water above the two teens. The blitzball smashed into the machina where the right arm connected to the top portion of the machina. There was a loud cracking sound that was muffled a bit by the water as the blitzball tore through the armor plated machina arm. The arm fell off and began to sink through the water as sparks shot through the water, almost reaching the three in the water. The machina convulsed violently for about ten seconds before returning to normal as the electrical current was shut off from that sector of the machine.
The machina sent the multicolored ribbons into a whirlwind around itself and took off toward Tidus and Lauren. The two teens scattered, Tidus went down and Lauren went up to evade the machina's wild thrashing. The blonde blitz ace came up from underneath the machina and swam back up at her top speed and drove his blade into the bottom of the machine. He pushed it into the bottom of the machine all the way up to the hilt and then pushed forward on it with both his arms. Brotherhood's blade slipped right through the machina's metallic paneling and circuitry and popped out the bottom, creating a huge gash the length of his sword. Wires of all sorts of colors hung out from the massive gash, spewing a few sparks and giving Tidus a few singes on his flesh.
A compartment opened up and dropped out a depth charge on top of Tidus' head, exploding on impact. The blitz ace was blown down away from the machina with such force that could topple a small building. As he drifted at an accelerated speed away from the machina he regained control and flipped around and pushed out his sword in front of him, flat side facing outward, to slow down his descent. In a few seconds he stopped entirely and whirled around to see another of the depth charges headed straight for him. He had no time to react so he closed his eyes and held his breath as the depth charge sunk down toward him. All of a sudden he felt a wave of water pass over him with a high concentration of air bubbles. He opened his eyes to see the fragments of the depth charge drift in all different directions as Wakka's blitzball zipped back to him.
Lauren swam up to the machina, her katana bouncing against her waist in its sheath at her side. The machina was focused on Wakka so it didn't notice the blonde guardian as she swam toward the rods where the transparent sphere held Yuna. She reached for her katana hilt and wrapped her slender fingers around the hilt and leaned in toward it. She drew the katana blade out of its sheath at an incredible speed, her arm stretching out as far as she could reach in upward, diagonal motion. Nothing happened for a few seconds before a blade thick diagonal line appeared on the rod the teen guardian was in front of. The rod slid down away from the main body of the machina on that forty five degree angle, loosening the hold on the sphere that held Yuna. Lauren smiled at the fact that her attack had worked so well on the machine before she felt something rushing toward her.
The multihued ribbons attached to the machina began to spin uncontrollably as Lauren backed away from the machine, but she was too slow. The first ribbon slammed into her side sending her to her left a few feet from the impact of the rapid rotation of the ribbons against her side. The next one whacked her upside the head, almost knocking her unconscious and sending her into a state of frozen panic. She just floated in the water while being pummeled by the four remaining ribbons as they revolved around the machina hastily.
Tidus hastily swam up above the machina and then plunged down upon the top of the machine near where the ribbons were attached to the spinning circle in the middle of the machina. He jammed his sword deep into the rotating circle that spun the ribbons around, congesting up the rotating ring. The revolution of the ring came slowly to a halt, releasing Lauren from the brutal assault of the spinning ribbons. She drifted slowly down toward the riverbed before Wakka caught her in his arms and kept her from falling all the way. The multihued ribbons lay limp against the body of the machina as Tidus removed his blade from the ring of the machine sending a shower of sparks into the water.
Lauren shook her head as she felt a healing liquid flow through her body and fluttered open her turquoise eyes to see Wakka's smiling face. She smiled back at him and then looked back up to the machina to see that its remaining left arm had opened up all the hidden door panels on it, each harboring its own torpedo. Each of the crimson tipped torpedoes launched from their hiding spots within the arm of the machina and zipped through the crystal clear water toward Wakka and Lauren, leaving a trail of air bubbles behind each. The two guardians split up to the left and to the right as the torpedoes passed by them at mach speeds. To Wakka's and Lauren's horror the torpedoes swerved back around and came after the two guardians once again.
Wakka hurled his blitzball at one of the closest torpedoes causing it explode on impact and send a shockwave that set off another of the torpedoes. Lauren swam as fast as she could with two torpedoes trailing right behind her on either side of her body. As she swam she decided to do barrel rolls sending the two chasing torpedoes into a spinning loop, spinning faster and faster and growing closer and closer to each other. Finally the twin torpedoes gained enough speed that they collided and exploded, giving Lauren an extra boost of speed. Wakka, who had the last torpedo trailing him, swam toward the machina that had initially launched them at Lauren and him. He weaved in and out of the now floating in different positions ribbons until he had passed the machina and dived down to where he was at the middle of the machina's body. The torpedo crashed into the center of the machina, blowing a massive hole into the side of the machine causing it to sink farther down in the water.
Lauren headed toward the machina as it turned to hunt down Wakka, but as she drew near a large compartment opened up. From within the compartment shot out a large yellow colored, two pronged gun that could send electricity to a specified location without being spread out in water. Electricity began to charge around the twin yellow prongs as it aimed itself toward the blonde female guardian. Only seconds later the electricity jumped off of the twin prongs and headed straight for Lauren with a deafening static noise. Lauren held her ears to block out the unnerving sound as the lightning bolt traveled toward her, cutting through the water with ease and without being diverted.
The bolt struck the young guardian in the chest and spread throughout her entire body, encasing her in a prison of lightning. Her lungs burned as the electricity flowed throughout her body causing her to scream in pain and drop the metallic breathing piece Auron gave her out of her mouth. She could feel an intense burning sensation in her head as she continued to scream silently in pain. Her throat began to burn as she attempted to breath in whilst screaming out in pain and holding her chest with her right hand as if to keep her heart in. The lightning finally evaporated from around her, leaving her with pain, some singed flesh and no air left in her lungs. Her vision started to become very blurred and her eyelids became extremely heavy and began to close over her blurred vision. Then, out of nowhere she felt someone grab her and keep her from drifting away while placing something metal in her mouth.
Her turquoise eyes shot open with a sudden burst of oxygen to see Tidus floating there, his arms around her. She glanced down to see the metallic breathing implement Auron had given to her was there and also saw some small burn holes in her clothes. She closed her eyes, relieved that someone had saved her until the blitz ace shook her by her shoulders to keep her from falling asleep. Her eyes shot open and a sudden fire burned within them as she glanced over Tidus' shoulder at the machina. She released herself from the blonde blitz ace's supporting grip and out of nowhere teleported behind the machina.
Lauren drew her sword up across her neck and back behind her head as the machina whiled around to see her. Her katana blade began to glow in a dark purple radiance and grew over ten feet of pure energy. She twisted her torso as far as she could to gain as much momentum as humanly possible and swung her katana in a downward, diagonal slash. The machina split in half and slid away from each other with a ton of sparks and began to explode in several places. As the machina sank and exploded the sphere that imprisoned Yuna fell free from it and began to float toward the surface. Lauren's turquoise eyes gently slid shut and she began to drift down to the bottom of the Moonflow, but Tidus swam over and caught her once again in his arms and swam her to safety.
Wakka and Yuna got upon the back of the shoopuf followed closely by Tidus, carrying Lauren on his right shoulder. As Tidus lay Lauren down on the floor of the transport Yuna went over and trained her staff on her body. The white colored aura drifted off the summoner's staff and washed over the blonde guardian's wounded body, healing up her burns and cuts, as well as a few broken bones. Her turquoise eyes fluttered open slowly to see all her friends standing around her, except Auron, who never seemed to be interested in much. "Thanks again, Yuna." The white mage slash summoner smiled friendly down at Lauren.
"No, I should be thanking you for saving me." Yuna said as Lauren stood up.
"Damn the Al Bhed!" Wakka shouted. "What do they want from us? Could it have something to do with Luca? What are they after Yuna for? Wait! They're mad they lost the tournament! Or, wait! They're mad about Operation Mi'ihen!" The orange haired blitzer pondered about why the Al Bhed tried to kidnap Yuna.
"I wonder... Didn't Kimahri's clansman say something...about summoners...disappearing?" Lulu wondered aloud.
"Ah! So the Al Bhed are behind that! Those sand-blasted grease monkeys!" Wakka exclaimed, shaking his fist angrily in the air.
"Hey, Wakka. It's no use complaining about the Al Bhed now, right?" Tidus inquired. "We'll protect Yuna from anyone, anywhere. It's that easy. That's all I need to know!" He proclaimed with much confidence.
"Thank you." Yuna bowed her thanks to the young blitz ace and he just smiled and scratched the back of his head like it was nothing.
The shoopuf finally docked on the other side of the Moonflow after about another ten minutes after Lauren, Tidus, and Wakka returned to the ferry. A crowd of people wrapped themselves around Yuna, keeping her from moving anywhere for a while. Lulu, Wakka, and Kimahri stood at the edge of the crowd and just watched and waited for the throng of people to disperse. Auron just stood near the shoopuf dock, also waiting for the throngs of people to leave Yuna alone. Lauren, being bored, wandered off down the road leading to the edge of a small, dense forest bordering the Moonflow.
As she wandered along the road, Lauren found her way to a little spot where water came up and met with the dirt road. Lying, washed up on the shore of that little spot, was a short girl clad in a multicolored wetsuit. As Lauren approached the figure she stood up and unclipped the head piece revealing her golden hair that was done up in a type of pony tail. She then continued to unzip the rest of her wetsuit revealing a leather orange tank top and short green shorts with what appeared to be frayed edges. The girl looked over toward Lauren and opened up her jade eyes, which amazingly had a swirl in them.
"Hi there. What's your name?" Lauren asked as she inspected the blonde with the swirling jade eyes.
"My name's Rikku!" She said in a very upbeat voice. "Ouch!" She rubbed her arm and the expression on her face changed from lighthearted to that of anguish.
"Are you alright?"
"No. Ouch!"
"What happened to you?" Lauren queried, looking at Rikku with much concern on her face.
"You beat me up, remember?" Rikku's face turned into a frown and she stared right up into Lauren's face.
"Wait, what! I didn't do anything to you. I've never even met you before." Lauren tried to clear her name, but ignorance wasn't going to do that.
"I was in that machina in the river." Rikku explained. "That really hurt, you know. You big meanie!" She hollered at a dumbfounded Lauren.
"What? But you attacked us and tried to kidnap Yuna!" Lauren proclaimed, once again trying to clear her name.
"Nuh-uh. It's not exactly what you think." Rikku shook her head and gazed into Lauren's eyes for understanding.
"Yo!" Wakka shouted from a little ways down the path as he and the rest of the group came up the road.
"Rikku! You're Rikku! Hey! You're okay!" Tidus hollered as he came up the path next to Wakka, soon taking the lead as he noticed Rikku.
"Friend of yours?" Wakka asked with a questioning look upon his face.
"Uh, you could say that."
"Pleased to meet you! I'm Rikku!" The young Al Bhed put out her hand to shake Wakka's. He took her hand and shook it in a friend handshake.
"Yuna, Lauren, Lulu...I told you about her, remember? She was the one who helped me before I was washed up on Besaid! She's an Al Bhe...beh..." Tidus trailed off in the presence of Wakka, the Al Bhed hating religious man.
"Wow, so you, like owe her your life! What luck meeting here, ya? Praise to be Yevon!" Wakka went into a little Yevon prayer. "So, uh... Rikku... You look a little beat up! You okay?" The Al Bhed just looked down and played with a rock with her foot.
"Uh, Wakka..." Lulu trialed off.
"Huh? What?"
"There's something we need to discuss." Yuna said drawing closer to Lulu.
"Oh, go ahead."
"Girls only Boys please wait over there!" Rikku exclaimed as she gather up Lauren, Yuna, and Lulu leaving the boys to wait for them to be done discussing whatever they were discussing.
Yuna and the rest of the girls came over to where Auron stood, waiting for their little group huddle to be over. "Sir Auron... I would like Rikku to be my guardian." Yuna admitted to the eldest guardian.
Auron looks at Rikku with a questioning glance. "Show me your face. Look at me." And with that she lifter her face up toward him and slowly opened up her left eye to reveal her jade swirled eye. "As I thought." Braska's former guardian stated.
"Um... No good?" Rikku queried looking up at the one eyed guardian.
"Are you certain?"
"A hundred percent!" Rikku exclaimed. "So, anyway... Can I?" She looked questioningly up at Auron.
"If Yuna wishes it." He looked over at the young, brunet summoner with his one eye.
"Yes, I do." She said calmly and bowed a little bit to Auron.
"Well, I'm for it! The more, the merrier!" Wakka exclaimed, still not noticing the fact that Rikku was one of the ones he has hated forever.
"Right on! Then I'll just have to be the merriest." Rikku cheered and shot her arm up into the air. Tidus seemed lost in thought as everyone else huddled around Rikku. "Rikku, at your service!" She had a great big smile painted upon her face.
A/N: Yay! Finally got to where Rikku comes in, woot! Anyway, i hoped you guys enjoyed this chapter, and once again i'm sorry for the extremly long update. I'll try to update the next chapter quicker. It's 4:30 in the morning, gotta get to bed. Cya later!