I'm sorry this chapter took longer than normal, I've had an evil case of writer's block for the past week or so. But anyhow...on to the replies, ya?
Auron's Fan: You won't know till that part comes, now will ya? And as for Lady Luck...you'll find out. Suffice it to say...it'll be different.
Daniel Wesley Rydell: Hmk.
Iron Reaver: Yes, I have, and I shall ask Mr. Rydell of the Strange Reviews (I rather like that title...) as well.
Anuy Dreamer: Welcome to Eternal Requiem, Anuy! Hope you enjoy reading it!
XxCougarxX: I've already got the perfect plot device...I mean, solution, yeah, that's it, solution...to that problem.
Bracey Face Anime Gurl: Indeed I do.
Well, onward to...the chapter. (dramatic musical cue)
Chapter 10—Faith
"So, I wonder what this sph..."
"Gun Mage."
The look on Rikku's face as I answer her unfinished question? Priceless.
"...You're beginning to freak me out by doing that, you know," Rikku tells me, causing me to smirk.
"I know. Why do you think I do it?" I reply, chuckling. Rikku just glares at me, and I step back a little in mock terror. "Easy there, killer. Don't want to maim me, you know."
"Or do I..." she says playfully, turning and advancing on me.
"Hey, don't come any closer! I...I know martial arts, you know!" I stammer, as my girlfriend advances on me. Backing away slowly, I suddenly run into something, and feel a pair of arms grab me and pin my arms to my side. Turning my head, I see the smirking face of Paine, and realize that I've just been set up. Grinning, Rikku advances on me, and begins...to tickle me.
"N-No! Stop...stop that! Please, stop!" I yell, laughing hysterically as I'm attacked, if you can call it that, by my girlfriend. After a moment, Paine lets me go, and I fall to my knees, still laughing and trying to catch my breath.
"That...that was cruel and unusual punishment, Rikku!" I say, standing back up and composing myself.
"Well, you earned it!" she retorts, grinning. Sighing, I just decide to admit defeat.
"Alright, alright, I'll quit doing that. You got me," I say, turning to Yuna. "So, where to now? Any ideas on where Leblanc's gang might be?"
"I'm not really sure...any of you know anyplace?" she asks, Paine shaking her head. Rikku looks thoughtful for a moment, before smiling.
"How about Macalania?" she asks, and I nod.
"Not a bad place to start, I guess."
"Fine, then, we're going to Macalania!" Yuna says, as we head into the bridge.
Macalania Forest. Probably the most beautiful place in all of Spira. The magnificence of the place still astounds me, even though I've been here before. Looking up through the trees, I sigh, staring at the blue sky above. They say that since the fayth of Macalania Temple left, it's been having an effect on the trees of the forest.
"It's so clear...so pretty," I say softly, before being alerted by a shout from Yuna.
"Don't look now, but we've got company!" she yells, turning our attention to a fiend approaching us. It...appears to be a blob. Like the Spherimorph we fought two years ago; this fiend looks almost exactly like it. Taking a battle stance, I realize that this fight won't be very easy.
Quickly, I decide to try out the new sphere we just earned. Spherechanging, I leap into the air as light covers my body. When the light fades away, I'm now garbed in a bluish-purple shirt, with intricate markings and patterns covering it. The sleeves end about halfway between my elbow and my wrist, as well. I'm also wearing a pair of long pants, the same color as the shirt, as well as a pair of shoes, a deep blue in color. In my right hand is a quite interesting looking gun, and I lower the gun to my side, focusing on one of my Gun Mage abilities.
"Scan!" I yell, pointing a hand at the blob. Immediately, information on the creature comes rushing into my mind. It's an Amorphous Gel, and right now, it seems to be focused on lightning element, absorbing it, but making itself weak to water. Dispelling the Scan information, I suddenly get hit by a Thundara attack from the gel, making me twitch as the electricity courses through me. Paine runs in and tries to slash at the creature, but to no avail. The sword moves right through the creature easily, no damage being done.
"Take this!" Yuna yells, a glowing white bullet flying from her gun and striking the Gel, causing it to shiver in pain as the Enchanted Ammo attack hits it.
"Physical attacks don't work!" I yell, and Rikku and Paine nod, quickly spherechanging to Black Mage.
"Water!" A duo of spells from Rikku and Paine fly in and strike the blob, the Gel floating back and collecting energy around it. Suddenly, a Fira attack lances out at Rikku, knocking her to the ground. Another Enchanted Ammo attack strikes the Gel, and I step back, spherechanging into Black Mage as well.
"Blizzard!" I yell, the ice shard impacting the Gel, and causing it to shiver a little. A second Blizzard attack from Paine connects as well, and the fiend spasms, before melting onto the ground and dissipating into pyreflies. Sighing, I spherechange into Gunner, before we regroup.
"Everyone okay?" Yuna asks, and we all nod. "Good, let's start looking!"
A few minutes later, we've searched most of the woods of Macalania. We now seem to be headed towards the lake, but as we travel along the small path leading towards it, I stop, looking to my right.
"What is it?" Yuna asks, and I point to my right, to show the path that Auron cut through the trees two years ago, leading to the small lake where we found a sphere left by Jecht.
"There," I reply simply, walking down the small path and towards the water. As I round a turn in the path, I can see a figure standing near the water. Silently, we all walk towards the figure, who turns as we approach to reveal Tromell Guado, looking much the same as I remember him.
"Oh, High Summoner Yuna," Tromell says, turning to Yuna and bowing. "Forgive me for the grief I have caused you."
"How have you been?" Yuna asks, smiling.
"Well...with Lord Seymour gone, we Guado are hardly any different than the dead," Tromell replies, sending a shiver down my spine at the mention of the treacherous Seymour.
"Many Ronso lost their lives at the hands of Lord Seymour," Tromell continues. "Those who survived swore vengeance for their fallen comrades. We Guado sealed ourselves away in Guadosalam and strengthened our defenses...but soon we no longer had the strength for even this. Now, we live among the shadows of these woods."
"Tromell..." Yuna trails off, before the Guado continues speaking.
"High Summoner, do not trouble yourself to show sympathy for the Guado. We once walked willingly with Lord Seymour, never questioning, even as he led all Spira into madness. Lady Yuna, I cannot ask that you forgive us...only that you forget us."
"Tromell..." Yuna starts again, before Tromell silences her again, speaking once more, but in a slightly happier tone of voice.
"Ah well, what brings the high summoner to these woods?" he asks, Yuna clasping her hands behind her.
"Well, I'm a sphere hunter now," she replies.
"Hm. A sphere hunter?" Tromell asks, a little surprised at Yuna's response.
"We hunt spheres," Rikku states, to which Tromell simply smiles.
"You don't say...well, then, please allow me to give you this. It is of no use to us," he says, pulling a sphere from his robe and handing it to Yuna, the sphere glowing a dim blue.
"Score!" Rikku exclaims.
"Thank you!" Yuna replies happily, and I smile, as Yuna begins to lead us back towards the airship. As we walk back out onto the main path, however, I can hear yelling. It sounds like it's coming from Rin's Travel Agency.
"Do you guys hear that?" I ask, turning towards the direction of the agency.
"Yeah...it sounds like..."
"Al Bhed..." Rikku finishes for Yuna.
"It doesn't sound very good. I'm going to check it out," I say, running in the direction of the yelling.
"Hey, wait for us!" Yuna yells, chasing after me.
When I arrive at the agency, I'm greeted by the sight of three Al Bhed, two male and one female, standing outside of the front door. They don't sound very happy, either.
"Frana ec ra?" the first man asks, apparently to no one in particular.
"O'aka, kad uid rana!" the second man yells.
"Lusa uid! Nacicdyhla ed videma!" the woman shouts, apparently trying to get O'aka to come out of the shop. A noise behind me catches my attention, and I turn around to see a small man in a hat and green vest, carrying a backpack. I recognize the man as O'aka, as he looks at the four of us, then the three Al Bhed. Yuna goes to say something, but O'aka stops her quickly.
"Shhh! Do O'aka a favor and pretend ye never saw him!" he says, before bolting away, faster than I ever would've thought a man like him could run.
"Come on!" I whisper sharply to the trio of girls, beginning to sprint after O'aka. Despite appearances, O'aka can surely run fast. As we arrive at a small crossroads, we see that O'aka is nowhere to be found.
"He has to be here...I saw him!" Rikku says, before looking around at the area. "O'aka, where are you?" she shouts, and I look around carefully, before spotting something that seems a little out of place.
"That tree...it just shook," I say, pointing at a tree a few meters away. "There's no wind, though, and I don't see any fiends." Carefully, I walk over to the tree, walking around it for a moment, before looking up. There, I see O'aka himself, sitting up in the tree, and I smile. "Gotcha."
"It looks like ye finally caught up with me," O'aka says, dropping down from the tree and brushing himself off. "O'aka, at your service!"
"So, why were you running from the Al Bhed?" Yuna asks, looking over at O'aka.
"I bought the travel agency from Mr. Rin, but then the temple nearby sank to the bottom of the lake," O'aka explains, sighing. "And business sank with it. Just my luck. Now the Al Bhed have come to collect and they're not in the mood for excuses. Think ye could give old O'aka a place to lay low? Hmm? For a while? I'll find a way to make it up to ye, I promise."
"What do you think?" Yuna asks us. I just shrug, Paine doing the same. Rikku just nods, and Yuna turns back to O'aka, nodding.
"Thank ye!" O'aka exclaims, beginning to follow us out of Macalania Forest, and back to the airship.
Back on board the airship, Yuna turns to us, sighing.
"Well, that went nowhere fast," she says, sounding dejected.
"How about we try...Besaid?" I ask, saying the first thing that comes to my mind.
"Sounds good to me," Paine says, shrugging. Yuna just nods, and heads to the bridge to tell Brother the new destination, as we all head to our rooms.
A while later, I feel the airship start to land at Besaid, and I get up, stretching and walking to meet up with Yuna and the others. As we walk out near the village, I can see the Aurochs near the entrance, apparently talking amongst themselves. Datto turns as we walk up, waving.
"So, you gave the sphere to the Youth League, ya?" he says, Jassu stepping up next to him.
"Ya, we knew you were on our side!" he says. Yuna looks a little confused by this.
"What do you mean?" she asks.
"The Besaid Aurochs have all joined the Youth League," Datto explains.
"Well, unofficially, at least. And, uh, Wakka hasn't joined up yet," Jassu adds.
"Can't blame him, ya? His kid's popping out any minute, you know. Now's not the time for him to be fussing around with politics."
"Fussing, you say?" a voice says, approaching from within the village. As I look up, I see someone approaching us, with obvious intent and what seems like near-militaristic discipline.. Walking up to all of us, he turns to face the four of us.
"I am Beclem. I've been dispatched to Besaid by Youth League headquarters. I'm here to pound some fight into these pathetic slackers," he explains.
"He's a hundred times stricter than Wakka," Jassu says, and Beclem spins to him.
"You must be awfully confident in your strength if you're skipping training just to flap your lips like that," he says, crossing his arms. "So, I guess you won't mind showing me what you're all really made of, then." The Aurochs just mumble among themselves, and Beclem turns away from them, shaking his head.
"Is no one among you man enough to break my record?" he sneers. "You're pathetic."
"Okay, he's creeping me out," Rikku whispers to Yuna.
"Seriously," she whispers back.
"See you later, Yuna!" Datto says, bowing to Yuna.
"Stop that at once!" Beclem yells, spinning to Datto. "The age of temples and prayers is over. It's about time you let go of those musty old traditions. There's no need to bow down to summoners either. Yes, summoners are a thing of the past." At this, Yuna's expression changes to anger, as well as mine. I don't take too kindly to being insulted like this, nor having my friends insulted as well.
"Hold it right there! Who's Calm do you think this is, buster?" Rikku says, her eyes flashing anger at Beclem.
"You will take those words back," she says, glaring at Beclem, who simply smirks.
"I will," he says, nodding, "if you succeed in proving your worth to me. Well, what do you say?"
"You're on, Beclem," she says, and I step forward as well.
"I'm in too. You won't get away with standing there and insulting me that easily. Name your challenge."
"It's simple. Make your way to the beach from here, killing or avoiding any fiends on the way. If you make it there faster than I did, you win. The way you twaddled on before, you had best break my record. Now, begin!" he yells, and I set my stance, sprinting towards the beach and drawing both pistols as I run. Yuna does the same, and we come across a pair of Dingoes on the first stretch. Without missing a beat, Yuna puts two bullets into the first, and I jump into the air, putting two into the second in mid-air and landing on it for good measure, continuing to sprint even as the pyreflies dissipate behind us.
As we make our way to the beach, we're beset by all manner of fiends, even large birds such as Zus. Nothing stays in our way for long, however, as we either blast it clear out of our way, or slow down for a moment and pick them apart. We seem to make good time, and as we hit the beach, we stop. Someone else is there, one of the Aurochs, and as we wave to him, he walks over. As he tells us our time, I smirk. We've beaten Beclem's record by nearly 10 seconds.
"That'll show that poser," I state, and Yuna nods, as we begin to make our way back up to the village.
"Well?" Beclem asks as we arrive.
"You not only lost, you lost badly. We beat you by almost ten seconds," I say, smirking. The look on Beclem's face is great, somewhere in between shock and anger.
"Take that!" Rikku exclaims, pointing at Beclem.
"Hm. Skill you may have, but I find it hard to believe that you defeated Sin!" he says, looking at us as we walk over to everyone. "You obviously had some help."
"I did, from my friends. My pilgrimage was successful because my friends and the aeons supported me along the way," Yuna says. "And they still do. Memories of the time we spent together makes me strong. I won't let you stand here and call that strength useless."
"Must your kind always prattle on about your precious memories?" Beclem says.
Before he really even knows what's happening, I send him to the ground with a punch, causing him to rub a little blood away from his now-split lip. Standing over him, I growl, bringing my fist back for another punch.
"Want to see just how useless I really am!" I yell, bringing my fist down. Before I can hit him, however, a strong pair of arms restrains me, pulling me away from Beclem. Glancing back for a moment, I discover it's Paine, and I growl again, trying to struggle out of her grip.
"Let me go, Paine..." I warn, but she holds tight as I start to calm down, my emotions putting themselves back in check once again. Paine seems to see me calm down, and lets me go, as Beclem stands up, wiping blood from his lip. Still glaring at him, I step forward again.
"You think we're useless? You might want to try reminding yourself that we're the reason people like you don't have to live in fear of Sin any more. We saved Spira, and you can't even give us respect as a human being for that. Next time you want to call someone useless, instead of picking on those weaker than you, you might want to take a look in a mirror," I spit, turning and walking off towards the airship.
"He's got some nerve," I can hear Rikku say, behind me.
"Sore loser," Paine responds, and the trio catch up to me quickly, all of us stepping back into the airship.
I enjoyed writing the part at Besaid. I never liked that guy anyway. But, next chapter, the second uniform will be found! Where? You'll have to read to find out! As always, please read and review!