Another day, another chapter...ah well, let's get to the replies, shall we?
Auron's Fan: (cough) Yeah. You're right. This is bad. Very bad. This is a very bad thing for me, ya know?
XxCougarxX: Maybe so, but there's something else. Most of the first chapters of this story will have the dialogue and events from chapters 1 and 2 in game sort of blended. Things happening simultaneously, together,and such.
Daniel Wesley Rydell: I'm gonna maim you, ya?
Iron Reaver: (cough) Quit laughing at me. You're laughing at me.
Fallenone: Hoedowns...hm...(ponders) Anyhow, yeah, I was going to put the Den of Woe bit in. How can you not? It's crucial to storyline later on.
MoombaRave: Oh...I'll be doing more side missions than you think. You must have patience, young grasshopper.
Well...on to the chapter now, I suppose. It's kind of short, but not really.
Chapter 9—It's All How You Look At It
Running back to the fork in the road, we quickly run along the north path, leading us onto the Djose Highroad. As we turn a corner, we come across two female goons, apparently looking for something. Standing back, we listen in on the conversation.
"That's weird," the first says. "Where did we drop that thing? We gotta find that sphere or the boss'll be furious! We might even...get the heel!"
"Why don't you stop the complaining and help me look?" the second replies, obviously annoyed by the actions of her comrade. As the two run off farther down the road, Yuna turns to all of us.
"Hey, did you hear that? Let's find it first!" she says, beginning to walk off down the road, looking around.
"Someone's turning Yuna into a bad girl," Paine says, looking directly at Rikku.
"Who?" Rikku replies, innocently.
"Gee, I wonder..." I say sarcastically, and Rikku shoots me a glance, rolling her eyes. Chuckling, I set off down the road after Yuna, looking around as well. Looking ahead, I can see Yuna still searching, but she suddenly stops, kneeling down to her right. Walking over, we see Yuna hold up a sphere, a shining pink in color, and turn back to us. Suddenly, Ormi walks up from behind us, and places his hands on his hips.
"So that's where it was! Sorry for the trouble. I appreciate yous finding it for us, though," Ormi says, looking over us.
"Sorry. It's ours now," I say simply, looking over at the burly man.
"What? You're not giving it back?" he asks, a look of genuine shock on his face.
"Nope," I reply.
"The nerve!" he exclaims, as Logos walks up with a female goon beside him; one of the ones from earlier, possibly.
"The Gullwings!" Logos exclaims, drawing his pistols.
"These meanies won't give me back the sphere!" he whines, causing me to smirk.
"So then we take it back," Logos replies, calmly.
"Ah," Ormi says, taking his shield off his back.
"And on that note...take it back!" Logos says, stepping in front of us.
(Play FFX-2 theme I'll Give You Something Hot)
"Try," I say, dropping into a fighting stance and drawing my pistols, snapping off a salvo of shots at Logos. The bullets all hit him, and he aims at me, before firing off a rain of shots of his own. All the bullets hit me, forcing me back, as Rikku and Paine double-team Ormi. Yuna seems to be dealing with the Fem-Goon, as I can hear shots coming from her general direction.
"Power Break!" Paine cries, her sword slamming into Ormi's shield, which he then smashes into Paine, sending her stumbling back. Rikku reaches over and grabs something from Ormi's side, before slashing across his chest twice and hopping back. Ormi then starts to spin, before throwing the shield, which slams into Rikku and knocks her to the ground.
"Rikku!" I yell, my attention momentarily diverted.
"Bad idea," Logos says, firing a single shot at me. As the shot hits, I fall to the ground, more power behind the attack than usual. Wincing, I stand back up and spherechange, changing to Warrior quickly, before charging Logos, another shot hitting me as I advance.
"Power Break!" I yell, slashing my sword upwards across his chest. He stumbles back, his strength lowered, as I kick him in the stomach, causing him to double over.
"Take this!" I hear Yuna yell, and I turn just in time to see the Fem-Goon go down, courtesy of what I believe was a Potshot attack from Yuna. Turning back to the fight, I take another rapid burst of shots from Logos, and growl.
"Okay...that's it. I'm taking you out, now," I mutter, sheathing my sword. Charging Logos, he fires at me, but misses this time, as I throw a fist out towards his face. He dodges to the side, and slams me in the stomach with the butt of one of his pistols, causing me to double over a little, just in time to get thrown down by the second pistol's butt slamming into my skull. Stars dancing around my vision, I shake my head and stand up shakily, only to be put back down again by another shot from the pistols.
"Leave him alone!" I hear Rikku yell, and with what little vision I have left at the moment, I can see Rikku blindside Logos, slamming into him with all her strength, then slashing at him furiously. Silently, I thank her and stand up, spherechanging again. This time, as the light clears, I'm dressed in a long, white robe, with an oaken staff in my right hand. A hood is over my head, and I shake my head again, adjusting to the White Mage dressphere quickly.
"Cure!" I yell, sparkles dancing around me as I feel my body heal itself up some. Now looking clearly again, I can see Paine locked in battle with Ormi, Yuna now helping her. The goon that was accompanying the duo is flat on the ground, out cold. Rikku is still keeping Logos off of me, and so I spherechange back to Warrior, running up and rejoining the fight.
"Now you're mine!" I yell, as I run and leap into the air. A flying kick catches the turning Logos in the shoulder, spinning him around as I land in a roll, springing back to my feet and spinning to face him. He raises his pistols to fire, but Rikku knocks them down as he fires, the bullets bouncing off the ground in front of me. Running back up to him, I lash out with my right arm in a blindingly fast cross, dazing the marksman, before my left knee snaps up. As Logos doubles over from the knee to the stomach, I step back, a high kick snapping into his face a moment later and sending him to the ground.
"Nice," Rikku comments, as I hear another sound behind me, Ormi falling to the ground under the combined onslaught of Yuna and Paine.
(End FFX-2 theme I'll Give You Something Hot)
"Thanks for keeping him off of me," I reply, nodding to her.
"No problem!" she replies, as Yuna and Paine begin to walk over to the now-awakening goon. Rikku joins them, and I have to stop myself from laughing as the goon wakes up to see two pistols, a sword, and a pair of daggers dangerously close to her face.
"Take off your uniform," Yuna instructs, smiling sweetly. "Please?" The goon's face goes white, and she stands up, quickly obliging the trio of girls. Out of decency, I turn around, a moment later seeing Logos, Ormi, and the goon run off out of the corner of my eye. Turning back around, I see a triumphant looking Yuna holding the goon's uniform in her hand.
"That's one!" she says, smiling. I just shake my head, still a little shocked and amused by her actions.
"Remind me to never have you three interrogate me. Ever," I say, looking over the trio. Paine just smirks, as Yuna begins to lead us all back to the Celsius.
"One uniform down!" Yuna says, as we re-enter the bridge. Brother turns, and smiles.
"Excellent! Three more to go!" Brother exclaims, and I nod.
"Let's head to the Moonflow next, if that's okay," I suggest, and Brother seems to think for a moment, before nodding.
"Let's go!" he tells Buddy, who nods, the Celsius lifting off and heading towards the Moonflow.
The Moonflow. I can still remember Tidus' and Auron's small argument here. We never did get to see the sunset. But, times have changed now. People are scattered around the area, looking around, and generally enjoying the peacefulness of the outdoors.
"Hey, this is nice out here," Yuna says, as we arrive.
"What?" Rikku says, turning to her friend.
"People are enjoying nature," she replies. "It's very peaceful."
"Sure is. A lot of people are traveling these days, trying to learn more about Spira," Rikku explains.
"Thanks to you two," Paine adds, looking at myself and Yuna.
"I had nothing to do with it," Yuna says, embarrassed at the compliment. I just remain silent, as Rikku speaks.
"Go on, give yourself a pat on the back!"
A few feet from us, I spy an amusing sight. A short man, dressed in a red outfit, with what appears to be a bird's beak for a mouth. I've seen stranger things, and I recognize the person instantly. Hard to forget him, really. As I walk over, he looks up at me and the others, and smiles.
"On this spot, I'll be sponsoring an extraordinary show! Do, do come! Oh, and I'm Tobli," the small man says, apparently noticing he forgot to introduce himself. "Yup-yup! It will be splendid indeed! Mark my words! People here and there, and merriment everywhere!" Smiling, I look down at Tobli, before beginning to speak.
"Sounds good to me, Tobli. Good luck to you," I say, as Paine and the others begin to walk off. Noticing they're about to leave me, I turn and jog back to them, before Tobli speaks again, stopping us.
"Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait! I have a favor to ask of you!"
"Let's go," Paine says, Yuna turning to her.
"Um, okay?" she says, reluctantly. "After all, we're sphere hunters."
"Right-o!" Rikku agrees. No one says anything for a moment, before Yuna sighs, turning back to Tobli.
"Oh, let's hear him out!" she says, and I chuckle at their antics, walking back over to Tobli.
"Oh, here's the thing, you see," he begins. "My able assistant hasn't come back. From Luca, of course. Where else? He went to fetch some supplies, which are vitally, crucially important! For the show, you see!"
"'Go check on him,' right?" Rikku asks, and Tobli nods.
"Oh, quite, quite!"
"Why ask us?" Paine asks, folding her arms in annoyance.
"Because you are sphere hunters and sphere hunters hunt spheres!" Tobli says, pulling out a sphere from one of his pockets.
"That settles it!" Rikku says, and I nod.
"Right, right. It's yours if you return my assistant safely back to safety. I'm thinking he must be over in the general vicinity of Djose Temple. Oh, and he's a Hypello," Tobli explains.
"We'll bring him back, don't worry," I say, beginning to run down the road, everyone else beside me.
As we come to the end of the road, near the fork that would lead us to either Luca or Djose Temple, we spot a Hypello, with a chocobo hitched to a small wagon.
"Oh, I am in trubabble," the Hypello says, and I nod to the others, walking over to the Hypello.
"You're Tobli's assistant, I take it?" I ask, and the Hypello nods.
"Yesh. Are yoo friends of the chief?" he asks, and I nod.
"We sure are. You just sit back and let the Gullwings escort you back to Tobli," Rikku says, and the Hypello nods, beginning to move the chocobo and wagon down the road. It's not long before we hear movement, and spot a trio of men wielding longswords moving towards the wagon.
"Bandits," I mutter, drawing my sword and preparing to fight. Yuna and Rikku take one of the bandits, Paine taking the second, which leaves me with the third. Ducking under a slash from the man, I kick his ankle, causing him to stumble, before slamming my sword handle upwards into his stomach. The man winces, before I slash him across the chest, sending him to the ground for a moment, before he gets up and runs off. The others follow suit after a moment, and I smirk.
"Too easy," I say, Paine nodding. "Let's get this wagon back to Tobli."
After a few minutes of defending the wagon from bandits, but with little trouble at all, we reach the end of the road. The Hypello moves the wagon beside Tobli, as we approach the small man once again.
"Oh ho ho, you returned!" Tobli says to his assistant, who nods.
"Thanks to these ladies," the Hypello says, and my face scrunches in annoyance.
"Why am I always grouped with the girls..." I mutter, Rikku overhearing and giggling.
"Yup-yup!" Tobli says, turning to Yuna. "Of course, you've been most helpful! With this, the show is just a step away from smashing success! Here, as promised," he tells her, handing over the sphere. "Oh, and take this with you, too," he continues. "For everything you've done." Digging in his pocket for a moment, he pulls out a small circlet, as well as a Garment Grid bracelet, and hands them to Yuna.
"Thank you," she says, and Tobli nods.
"It's such a good fuzzy feeling, meeting reliable people persons such as yourselves. Yessiree," he says, and Yuna smiles.
"You're very welcome!" she replies, Rikku nodding.
"Just remember, it was the Gullwings that helped you out!" she says, as we all head back towards the Celsius once again. Quickly, we climb aboard, as the airship takes off into the sky once again.
Well, one uniform down, three more to go! Till next time, please read and review!