Ah...starting back to college. Such fun. Yeah, right. Anyhow, on to the replies!
Zexion72: Thank you for the compliment, I appreciate it.
Daniel Wesley Rydell: ...Sure.
Auron's Fan: Well...Logos isn't really known for comments that make sense, is he?
AKM: Lenna will make another appearance very soon. Just wait.
MysticSuperSaiyanGohan: Thanks.
AnuyDreamer: Thanks.
Shadowkiller27: I shall try, but college has now restarted. Which will put a cramp in my writing, I believe. And that's quite a few characters...Oo
Iron Reaver: Already discussed that Al Bhed thing. And don't worry...the plan will go off.
XxCougarxX: Right here, actually. And the mini game...you'll have to see.
Snare646: Welcome to Eternal Requiem, Snare! I'll agree with you wholeheartedly there, I do not write quite as much romance as I would like. I'll try and remedy that, though.
Remco: Welcome to Eternal Requiem, Remco! And you can see the above review to Snare for my feelings on that.
Well, then, on to the chapter, I suppose!
Chapter 13—Frigid Discoveries
"Did you guys find anything interesting?" Yuna asks, and I shrug.
"What's your definition of 'interesting'?" I reply, and Rikku holds up the guard's uniform, now somewhat folded, as I step down the small stairs of the bridge.
"Two down, two more to go!" Rikku says, and I laugh, amused by my girlfriend's antics.
"So, where would they be now?" Paine asks, causing me to shrug.
"Search me." Suddenly, Yuna's eyes light up, as she smiles.
"We should go see Kimahri!" she exclaims, and my eyes widen, as my face takes on a grin.
"That's right...I haven't seen him since I left you guys. And, we didn't see him the first time we went to Gagazet, either." Nodding, Rikku smiles.
"Yeah! So, let's go see the big lug already!" she exclaims, and I laugh again, starting to step out of the bridge. With all this cheer, I think I might pop with happiness if I stay around too long.
"Hey, wait up!" Rikku's voice from behind me stops me, and I turn to face her.
"What is it?" I ask, and she walks over to stand next to me.
"What, I can't talk to my boyfriend now?" she says, grinning.
"Funny," I say, chuckling, before stopping, a serious expression coming over my face. "But, really, you're right...when have we ever gotten to have any time to ourselves?" I ask.
"Not a whole lot..." Rikku trails off, and I nod.
"Yeah. So, I've got a solution. Meet me in the cabin, tonight. It'll be just the two of us."
"Sounds good," she says, and I smile. Without another word, I pull her into a kiss, treasuring the rare moment of solitude we're having. After a moment, I break the kiss, stepping into the elevator.
"See you then," I say, smiling, as the doors close, taking me to the deck.
"Perhaps, I truly have found happiness..." I mutter, feeling the wind surround me as I stand on the deck. Reaching into my pocket, I pull out a small object, staring at it with a faint smile. A small pendant, a shimmering white in color, now rests in my hand. The pendant is carved into the shape of a small ice crystal, and I smile, remembering the origins of the item. It was a gift from a friend, given to me when I graduated from high school. I've always kept it with me, as a sort of good-luck charm, as well as a lasting memory of our friendship, no matter what might happen. Smiling, I take the pendant, looping it around my neck to let it dangle down to my chest.
"For all the times I've had, and those I have yet to come. No matter what happens, I'll treasure them. The moments, the feelings, the good and the bad times...laugh as though you'll live forever, live as if you'll die tomorrow."
Sighing, I smile, remembering the friends I left back home, before noticing the towering peak of Mount Gagazet off in the distance. Turning, I quickly walk back inside, taking the elevator back down.
Mount Gagazet. Probably the coldest place on Spira. After all, it is a mountain. So, as Yuna and Rikku already know, I feel right at home in the climate, loving cold places. Paine just gives me a slightly strange look, having not really bothered to pay attention to my reactions the last time we were here, but says nothing. As we approach the beginning of the trail up the mountain, I see Kimahri, talking with a number of other Ronso. Kimahri looks over, seeing us, and says something, the other Ronso scattering quickly. Stepping over to us, Kimahri's expression shifts slightly, somewhat of a smile for the Ronso.
"Hey, Kimahri. Good to see you again," I say, and the Ronso nods.
"Kimahri!" Yuna exclaims, walking up to her old friend and guardian.
"Yuna look well. Kimahri glad," Kimahri replies, and I smile.
"How you been, Kimahri?" Rikku asks, looking up at the taller Ronso. "What's it like being an elder?"
"Elder's job difficult. Kimahri troubled," he responds, looking around at the Ronso around him, who are seemingly talking among themselves. After a moment, he turns back to Yuna, speaking again. "Kimahri sorry."
"Sorry about what?" Yuna replies, confused.
"Kimahri look for sphere for Yuna. But Kimahri find nothing. Kimahri disappoint Yuna," he replies, looking a little ashamed of himself, though it's hard to tell Ronso feelings.
"It's all right, Kimahri," Yuna says, trying to console her friend. "Of course, I'm happy that you tried to help, but Yuna has to deal with Yuna problems."
"Kimahri search mountain one time," he explains, shifting his gaze to the top of the mountain. "But still one place Kimahri not look. Fayth Scar rises high on mountain," he says, pointing upwards, towards the peak. "Scar is sacred ground which Ronso not tread."
"Might still be some spheres up there," Paine says, glancing up at the mountain.
"Summoners no longer climb mountain. Now only sphere hunters come," Kimahri continues. "Kimahri worry hunters defile sacred ground."
"Do you think it's Leblanc and her goons?" Rikku asks.
"Who else would it be?" I ask, sarcastically. Rikku just frowns, sticking her tongue out at me.
"Maybe we should check. Is that okay?" Yuna asks Kimahri, who nods.
"Kimahri trust Yuna. Kimahri not worry." Nodding, Yuna turns to us, and motions for us to come on. Looking around, I quickly notice a device of some sort, near the start of the trail up the mountain.
"Check this out," I say, walking over to the device and kneeling down.
"What...is it?" Yuna asks, looking down at the object. It's a square sheet of some sort of metal, about 2 and a half feet wide on any side, and decorated by strange markings.
"Hm...I think...I think it's a sort of teleportation pad. Think about it. Zanarkand is very close to here, right? They were quite advanced in technology...who's to say they didn't discover teleportation back then, before they were destroyed?" I reply, shrugging. Yuna, Rikku, and Paine look a little skeptical at the idea, and I look over at them for a moment, before stepping onto the pad.
"Okay. Let's see if this works," I say, taking a deep breath, and focusing on where I want to go. "Fayth Scar," I mutter, and suddenly, with a flash of light, I find myself standing alone at the beginning of what appears to be the Scar itself. Sharp peaks surround me, as well as tall cliff faces. Another bright flash, and Yuna, Rikku, and Paine are behind me, looking about as startled as I was. The sensation is weird, but I somewhat expected that, after taking portals to and from Spira several times now.
"See anything?" Rikku asks, after the trio shake off the strange feeling from using the device.
"Must be up ahead," Yuna answers, and I nod, starting to walk a little farther ahead. As we do, we find our path ahead blocked by a large gap in the path, easily too wide for us to leap. My eyes scan around, and finally fall on the cliff face next to us.
"You mean we're supposed to climb this?" Rikku whines, and my face scrunches a little. I don't exactly want to climb this myself.
"No wonder the Ronso never come here," Paine comments.
"Look!" Yuna exclaims, seeing one of Leblanc's goons climbing up the cliff. Our eyes follow the goon, as she climbs for a minute, reaching the top quickly and walking out of our range of sight. Shrugging, I jump onto a small piece of rock, and begin to work my way up, everyone else doing the same. It takes a minute for us to make our way up, but finally we reach the top. Looking around, we notice a small cave entrance, and shrug, walking inside. The sight there makes me smile a little. Below us, two goons are in a hot spring, their uniforms off and lying on the ground beside the spring.
'Makes our job all the easier...' I think, as one of the goons starts talking to the other, the both of them beginning to step out of the hot spring.
"That water felt great! Can you believe there's a hot spring in a place like this?" she tells her comrade, who simply shrugs.
"But isn't this supposed to be sacred Ronso ground?" she asks, sounding a bit nervous. "Maybe this wasn't such a good idea..."
"What? You think some Ronso boogie man is gonna come get you?" she says, almost scoffing at her partner. "Better that than the boss, know what I mean?" Suddenly, who walks in but Ormi, looking as obnoxious as ever.
"Hey! You two been slacking off?" he asks, seeing the duo out of their uniforms and back in normal clothes.
"No, we were, uh, getting ready for duty," the first goon stammers. "Just trying to, uh, rejuvenate, sir."
My amusement at their situation is quickly put to a stop by a cracking noise. Looking down, I give a short cry along with Yuna, Rikku, and Paine as the rock platform we're watching from falls, crumbling on the ground below us. Landing on our feet unsteadily, we quickly try to regain our balance. Ormi and the two goons seem to panic upon seeing us, fleeing the cavern. Apparently, they know they're outmatched.
"What's this?" Yuna says, looking down at the pool of water.
"A hot spring?" Rikku says, and I also examine the water, Paine watching the direction that Ormi fled to.
"Were those Leblanc's goons?" she asks, and I nod.
"Look! They forgot something!" Rikku says, pointing to the two uniforms, still lying on the ground. Blinking, I shrug, stepping over to them and grabbing them, beginning to fold them somewhat. As I start to fold one, though, I feel a slight bulge, and reach into one of the pockets. Withdrawing my hand, I pull out an icy blue colored sphere, which glows faintly in my hand.
'Huh...that's weird. A sphere. Didn't expect to find one here...' I think, turning back to folding the uniforms after pocketing the sphere.
"That was easy enough," I mutter, before stopping. "Wait. 3, 4...oh, you've got to be kidding." My mind suddenly goes from amusement to somewhat horrified, as I now realize the situation I'm in. "If it wasn't for bad luck, I'd have no luck at all," I mutter, and Yuna and the others giggle, apparently now realizing the same thing I have. Sighing, I walk back to the others, the uniforms now about half folded and still lying on the ground. Yuna eyes the hot spring for a moment, before turning to us.
"Well, as long as we're here..." she trails off, looking back to the hot spring.
"On sacred ground?" Rikku asks, understanding what Yuna means.
"No one's looking," Paine replies, shrugging.
"Paine's got a point, I guess," I say, walking over to the spring and dipping my hand in it, feeling the warm water wash over my palm. "It does feel quite nice." Yuna, Rikku, and Paine look at each other for a minute, sharing some silent discussion, before they all start to take off their clothes, revealing bathing suits underneath.
"You girls come prepared for anything, don't you?" I say, feeling my face go a little red.
"Yep!" Rikku says, before they all jump into the hot spring. Shrugging, I take my shirt off, tossing it to the ground, before diving into the spring, water going everywhere from my entrance.
"Hey, watch it!" Yuna says, and I chuckle.
"What? If you don't want to get wet, little late now!" I say, smirking. Sighing, Yuna just elects to lean back against the side of the spring contently.
"This feels great," she says softly. Rikku suddenly gets a devious smile on her face, looking around at all of us.
"Hmm...what have we here?" she says, smiling slyly.
"What?" Yuna asks, and Rikku shrugs.
"Hmm...whatever. I know who's got it goin' on!" she says.
"Excuse me!" Yuna says, slightly shocked. Rikku just continues to grin, moving towards Paine.
"Stay away!" Paine says, backing away from the advancing Rikku.
"Who-hoa!" she says, stopping quickly and holding her hands up.
"Wanna get hurt?" Paine asks, causing Rikku to turn to Yuna.
"You should check out Paine?" she asks, and Paine stands up quickly from her position in the spring.
"Hurt time!" she says, moving towards Rikku.
"You want some?" Rikku says, standing up and beginning to play fight with Paine. Chuckling, I choose to simply watch the scene unfold.
"Ooh! Let me help!" Yuna says, grabbing Rikku from behind quickly.
"Where were we?" Paine asks, moving towards Rikku again. Rikku tries to struggle out of Yuna's grip, but can't.
"I didn't mean it!" she says, trying to escape.
"Too late!" Paine and Yuna exclaim, and for the first time, I think I actually see Paine having fun. Stifling laughter, I move to the other side of the spring, letting the trio have their fun. Suddenly, their fight is interrupted by a transmission from Brother.
"Yuna, what's all the noise?"
"Just taking a little dip," she replies.
"E meddma dip!" Brother exclaims. "Code pink! I'll be there right now!" Immediately following Brother's sentence, a loud thud resonates though the transmitter, and Yuna's face turns concerned.
"Brother?"
"Don't worry, I knocked him out," Buddy replies, and I laugh.
"Maybe we should get out," Rikku replies. "I'm getting all pruney!"
"I really needed that," Yuna replies, nodding and climbing out of the spring. The three of us follow suit, quickly changing back into our clothes, as Rikku gives a small smile at me.
"Like what you saw?" she asks me, and I simply smile, beginning to whistle with feigned innocence. Rikku bursts out in laughter, and I quickly follow, before the moment is quickly interrupted by the same two goons from before.
"We'll be taking those uniforms back!" the first yells, and the second nods.
"If we lose 'em, Leblanc will give us the heel!" the other yells, and they drop into fighting stances. I don't even bother to take a stance, as Yuna pulls her guns, Rikku and Paine also pulling their weapons. The goons advance, and are nearly immediately knocked back by a duo of shots from Yuna, a quick slash from Paine, and another duo of attacks from Rikku. Standing straight, the first goon casts a Fire spell on Paine, who flinches a little, but is otherwise fine.
"Leave us alone!" Yuna yells, beginning to use her Trigger Happy attack, bullets showering one of the goons and sending her to the ground. Rikku charges the remaining one, and slams her to the ground as well with a series of fast attacks. Wincing, the two goons get up and run off, not wanting to stay any longer.
"Think we should get out of here now?" I ask, and everyone nods, beginning to head back to the teleport pad. The climb back down is relatively easy, but as we reach the bottom, who is standing near the teleport pad but Ormi, looking quite annoyed.
"Lousy Gullwings!" he exclaims, grabbing his shield from his back. "Falling down on people like that. Gave me a little surprise, that's all."
"For a little surprise, you sure took a while to come back," Paine retorts, and I smirk.
"Who asked you!" he yells, now angered by the comment. Stepping forward, I drop into an offensive stance, grabbing my sword from my back quickly. I feel a little strange, almost like a new power is within me, but I can't use it for some reason. Shaking the feeling off, I charge Ormi, bringing the sword down in an overhead cleave that bounces off the shield.
(Play FFX-2 theme I'll Give You Something Hot)
"Have to do better than that!" Ormi taunts, before throwing the shield at me, the spinning weapon slamming into my stomach and throwing me to the ground, the wind knocked out of me. Standing back up slowly, trying to regain my breath, I hurl myself to the right just in time to move out of the way of a shield bash. Running in again, my sword starts to glow white, as I lunge out with a jab.
"Ice Brand!" I cry, the tip of the sword jabbing towards Ormi, and connecting slightly with his side, a burst of frost hitting him and causing him to step back. "Better?"
"Not even close!" he retorts, beginning to spin quickly, before letting the shield go at me. Ducking quickly, I begin to advance on him again, before I'm slammed in the back with the shield, throwing me forward and onto the ground. "What's the matter?" he taunts. "Losing your edge?"
Standing up again, I sheathe my sword, spherechanging quickly to Gunner and drawing both pistols. Aiming quickly, I unleash a burst of shots at Ormi, before running to a different position and firing again. The Trigger Happy attack simply pings off the shield, but as he drops it, my Potshot attack connects, sending him back another step.
"Why, you..." he mutters, throwing the shield out at me again. I fire at it, hoping to knock it off course, but end up having to duck anyway, this time turning around to dodge it again before it returns to Ormi. As I take a breather for a moment, I notice that the strange feeling I felt earlier is a little more pronounced since I spherechanged to Gunner.
'Could that be...wait. It has to...' I think, a broad smile working its way across my face.
"What are you smiling about?" Ormi says, and I chuckle.
"You're just about to find out," I retort, quickly spherechanging to Thief. Before he can react, I charge him, stealing a gem of some sort from his pocket, before pocketing it and beginning to spherechange again. Yuna, Rikku, and Paine are staring at me in slight confusion at my hit and run tactics, as I finish spherechanging into Black Mage.
"Fire!" I yell, casting the magic on Ormi, who grunts in pain, but doesn't seem very hurt. Running up to me, he delivers a hand shield bash that sends me back yet again. Wincing, I spherechange quickly to White Mage, and raise my staff into the air.
"Cure!" I cry, the magic washing over me and healing some of my wounds, before I lower the staff, and spherechange for a fifth time, this time ending up in my final equipped dressphere, Gun Mage.
"Are you done yet?" Ormi asks, apparently thoroughly annoyed at me now. Smiling an almost sickeningly sweet smile, I shake my head.
"I still have one more trick up my sleeve," I reply, my smile changing to a smirk as I spherechange once again. But this time is quite different. A bright, ice blue light surrounds me as I jump into the air, the light seemingly melding itself to my body. A bright burst of light follows, and I land back on the ground, now dressed quite differently from my Gun Mage dressphere. Now, I'm wearing a white, long sleeved shirt, with a pair of long pants, light blue in color with a white stripe down the outside of each leg. A set of blue-colored chain mail armor is worn over the shirt, and a pair of daggers are in sheaths attached to either side of my waist. A second set of daggers are in leg sheaths, and a pair of katana sheaths are strapped to my back in an x-pattern.
"My final dressphere. Blade Knight. Now, I'm done," I say, the smirk still on my face as I draw both of my new swords. My hunch had been correct. The energy I had been feeling was actually the new power from my special dressphere. I just hadn't recognized what it was until I spherechanged, and felt the power grow slightly more prominent. Unfortunately, my strength is waning, and so I realize that I either need to end this quickly, or bluff my way out. Fortunately, the latter should be relatively easy.
"You..." Ormi stutters, obviously at a loss for words.
"Something to say?" I ask, before setting a stance. "Too bad. Renzokuken!" I yell, charging Ormi with blinding speed and landing seven slashes across his body, only one bouncing off the shield. Falling to a knee, Ormi stares at me with mute shock as I step back, trying to keep my face level.
"Had enough? Or do you want me to go all out on you?" I say, hoping Ormi won't call my bluff.
"...I'll be back!" he yells, standing up and running off quickly. Apparently, he decided a tactical retreat was in order. Sighing, I shift back to my normal Warrior, falling to my knees and breathing heavily. I also didn't realize that using a special dressphere took that much out of you.
(End FFX-2 theme I'll Give You Something Hot)
"Are you okay?" Yuna asks, walking over to me. Taking a few deep breaths, I stand up, nodding.
"Yeah, I'll be fine. Definitely a new experience there..." I reply, as Brother comes in over the comlink.
"This is Brother! How is everything?"
"Mission accomplished!" Yuna replies. "We found ourselves two more uniforms."
"Roger! We're on our way!" he says, and from our position on Gagazet, we can see the Celsius lift off, heading towards us quickly. After a minute, the airship hovers over us, dropping a rope ladder that we climb up quickly.
The rest of the day is remarkably uneventful, for a change. Everyone seems to just wander around, talking to each other and generally seeming to relax. As night falls, I stare out the window of my room for a moment, staring at the rising moon, before beginning to head to the cabin to meet Rikku.
"Hey," she says, as I enter the cabin. Smiling, I walk over, sitting down next to her.
"Hey there. How are you feeling?" I ask, giving her a quick kiss.
"Fine," she replies, smiling. "So, we finally get some alone time, huh?"
"Yep. You have no idea how hard it was to convince Barkeep to leave for a while. I thought I was going to have to drag him out!" I say, chuckling a little. Rikku also starts to laugh, and I sigh, shaking my head a little. "As funny as it seems, I still can't quite picture Yuna as the type to be doing this. No matter how much she's changed. And I've seen that for myself."
"Well, Yunie's been hanging around me too long, I guess!" Rikku says, and I nod.
"That has to be it, huh?" I say, grinning. Rikku nods, grinning back at me.
"So, why hasn't Paine changed any?" I ask, Rikku shrugging in response.
"Paine's just...Paine. She just doesn't know how to have fun."
"She'd hurt you if she knew you said that, too," I reply, and Rikku gives me a little shove.
"Hey!" she retorts. "No she wouldn't! She knows it's true!"
"Doesn't mean she still wouldn't hurt you for it. I think she got you pretty good today in the hot spring," I say, smiling as I remember the antics of my friends.
"Okay, you got me there. But that still doesn't mean anything!" she says, and I laugh.
"Alright, alright." Conceding the point, I look around, enjoying the silence for a moment, before Rikku speaks again.
"What's it like, in your world?" she asks, and I quirk an eyebrow.
"What do you mean?"
"Is it like here, in Spira, or is it completely different?" she says, causing me to lower my head in thought for a moment.
"It's a lot different, but still somewhat the same," I reply, a little unsure of exactly how to respond.
"Do you miss being home?" she asks. The one question I'd been asking myself the entire time I'd been here. Sighing, I stay silent for a moment, before finally answering.
"That's...a tough question, Rikku. Back home...I have my family, or what's left of them, my friends...but I don't really have any sort of life I care to lead. Here, in Spira, I've got friends who I consider family, and it's really fun being able to travel and go on all sorts of adventures...but I still miss my home. No matter how much I like being here, there's always a part of me that remembers where I came from, and I don't ever want to forget that."
"I thought you'd say that...you're easier to read than Yunie, you know?" she says, and my face takes on an expression of shock.
"Say what?" I ask, and Rikku giggles.
"You're easy to read. I can tell almost what you're going to say before you even say it!" she says.
"Now, is that a good thing, or a bad thing?"
"You tell me," she retorts, and I shrug.
"I dunno," I say, Rikku saying the exact words I do at the exact same time. "...That's not funny, you know." That just causes Rikku to break into laughter.
"Yes, it is!" she retorts, and I just sigh, laughing along with her.
"You're impossible," I say, standing up from my seat and moving over to her. "I think I'm gonna go to bed, I'm pretty tired."
"Yeah, I'm kinda tired too," she replies, and I smile, beginning to walk out of the cabin with her. Stopping at the door, I pull her into a kiss, Rikku holding me close. Rikku finally breaks the kiss, and we head for the elevator, smiling.
"Night," she says, and I smile back at her.
"Night," I reply. "I better go find Barkeep, or he'll throw a fit!" Rikku laughs, and I sigh. The elevator starts to move, Rikku stepping off and heading to her room after a minute as I just watch, the doors closing behind her and leaving me alone once again.
This chapter was both incredibly fun, and incredibly hard to write at parts. Still, I hope you guys enjoyed it. As always, please review!