AHHHH, hii! It's totally been a week since I updated... :ashamed: Okay, well, here I am, and this is a bit longer than usual, and I'll try to keep the updates coming muuuch faster than this! A big GIGANTIC thank you to all who reviewed! Cookies all around!
Paine3: :gives cookie to Paine3: Hehehe... I agree with you, though--I love Lulu and Paine, too. Rikku's pretty cool, though, too. Thanks for chucking a review my way, and enjoy your cookie :D
Motet: Aha, I shall continue! Thanks for the review :D
slamlam: Glad you likey, keep reading and reviewing!
DarkAnimePriestess: AHH, sorry I took so long...but the fact that you want a new chapter makes me feel happy! Thanks for reading/reviewing!
...ooo...
Minutes later, they were all crowded around Shinra's computer on the airship in hopes of viewing the sphere that Yuna, Rikku, and Paine had found.
After several moments of tension filled silence, Shinra let out a sigh. "Not possible right now," he said at last. "It needs to be enhanced a couple hundred times over, at least. It's almost completely deteriorated, though it's not that old."
"Hmm," Paine said thoughtfully. "That's strange."
"Tell me about it," Shinra said, examining the diagrams that were popping up on his computer. "Well, it will take awhile, but with the new upgrades we have to the system, it will go much faster than it would have if we had found it a month or so ago."
"So, when do you think we'll be able to watch it?" Lulu asked anxiously.
"I'm just a kid," Shinra replied, standing up and walking back towards the elevator.
"Excuse me?" Lulu made a move to follow him, but Rikku put an arm out to stop her.
"What he means when he says, 'I'm just a kid', is that he doesn't know," Rikku told her. "He's been saying that since the Gullwings were formed."
Lulu's brow furrowed. "What a strange child."
"Tell us about it," Rikku said.
"So Brother, where are we off to first?" Yuna wanted to know. "To find Wakka and Tidus, I mean."
"Well, since we have no clues at all, I guess we should start in Besaid," he said uncertainly, peering over at Buddy.
Buddy nodded in approval. "Try the secret cave first, then the temple, and if we need, we'll search the woods, too."
Rikku, Yuna, and Paine all groaned at the word 'woods'. Rikku in particular had no desire to fall at least fifty feet down another hole, run into some giant spiders, and get spider guts all over herself from kicking their asses again.
"Secret cave it is," Lulu murmured, picking up her moogle and leading the way off of the airship. Since Brother and Buddy had landed on the outskirts of town, the secret cave was considerably closer than it would have been if they had left from the village. They started down the path, Paine leading the way, with Rikku, as usual, bringing up the rear.
"You've never been out on a Gullwings adventure, have you?" Yuna asked Lulu.
"No… but when we get done with this, I have to go back to the village and get Vidina," Lulu said. "Miku has been watching him all day, and I owe her some money. Do you think anybody would be able to watch him if I brought him on the airship?"
"Sure," Yuna replied easily. "Calli is still on the airship from before. I'm sure she'd be happy to watch him."
"How long has she been on the airship?" Lulu asked.
"Since almost the beginning of our stint as Gullwings," Rikku answered. "She wants to be one, I guess, and Yuna's been training her. The only problem is that she's crazy for chocobos…"
"I've wanted to chuck her off at Clasko's ranch and call it a day for awhile," Paine said, sounding completely serious.
Rikku giggled. "Paine, you wouldn't." Paine only smirked, and didn't reply.
They walked in silence for the rest of the way to the cave. It seemed to be an unspoken agreement. Lulu had shaken herself up by talking about Vidina, and didn't want to think about anything to do with Wakka at the moment. It was horrible that he was gone, but thinking about it made it even worse. If she had just gone in that store with them, maybe she could have… no, then she would probably be gone, too, and Vidina would have nobody.
When they at last reached the cave, Yuna pulled out her guns and took the lead. They walked slowly, groping their way through the dark, before Rikku tripped over a good sized stick, and Lulu lit it with a fire spell. Yuna carried it around like a torch, and moving around the cave became much easier.
Before long, they ran into a couple fiends—two wolves and a lizard. Paine slashed at one wolf, Yuna and Rikku took the other one, which left Lulu with the lizard.
"Burn," she said through gritted teeth, casting a well placed fire spell that eliminated the lizard in one hit. It dissolved into pyreflies, and Lulu let out a breath of relief. She hadn't lost it—not quite yet. She smiled in satisfaction, and rushed over to help Paine dispose of the wolf that had sunk its teeth into her arm, causing her to drop her sword. Lulu hit it with a water spell, and Paine picked up her sword and pushed it right into the monster's heart. Within moments, it was gone. Rikku and Yuna finished assaulting the wolf, which promptly died the second Yuna shot at its head, and they continued on through the cave.
Paine had drawn attention to herself unintentionally by holding her forearm where the wolf had bitten her.
"I'll take care of that," Yuna said, once they had finally persuaded Paine to show them what had happened. She quietly cast a healing spell, and the wound disappeared. Paine looked enormously grateful, and mumbled her thanks. Lulu had picked up the torch that Yuna had dropped at the beginning of the battle, which was still lit, and resumed carrying it.
They thoroughly searched the whole cave, but found no trace of Tidus and Wakka. The only thing they found at all, in fact, other than the stick, was several batches of fiends, which they disposed of with no other casualties.
When they at last emerged from the cave, none of them were feeling particularly discouraged just yet. They had a feeling that they wouldn't be finding anything on Besaid from the beginning, but didn't want to overlook anything. They hurried back to the village in silence.
Lulu made straight for her and Wakka's hut, where Miku would still be with Vidina. She was walking so fast that Rikku began complaining. Lulu burst through the door, and saw Miku calmly playing with Vidina, looking as though she was not phased at all that Lulu was at least an hour late.
"Hi, Lulu," Miku said brightly. "How was your time in Luca?"
Miku was a short brown haired teenager, with bright blue eyes and freckles scattered across her nose. She had generally been a good babysitter for Vidina, and Lulu was certain that her baby son enjoyed Miku's company. Vidina had already begun to speak in small, detached sentences, and Miku always tried to teach him to say her name, and tried to teach him the names of all of his toys.
Lulu tried to hide a flinch at the mention of her time in Luca. "It was fine, Miku, thank you for asking." She fished some gil out of her bag, and handed it to Miku. "Thank you very much for your help."
"Oh, it's no trouble at all," Miku assured her. "Give me a call if you need me again."
Miku left the hut to walk home, and Lulu picked up Vidina and pulled him into a hug.
"Vidina, we're going to go on a little trip," Lulu told him, setting him down in his crib and hurrying around to pack a bag of things he'd need. "I promise we'll have lots of fun."
"Daddy," Vidina gurgled.
"Daddy," Lulu repeated, voice sounding hollow. "He's… well… we'll see."
"Where daddy?" Vidina wanted to know.
"He's… okay, Vidina, mommy doesn't know, but she promises she'll find him."
Vidina didn't seem to register what she was saying—if he could shrug his shoulders, he probably would have, because he stared at her for a moment before picking up the toy truck that was next to him and started playing with it.
Rikku walked over to where Vidina was laying, and looked down at him, leaning casually on the crib. "Hi, Vidina."
"Rigu," he said with a squeal of delight. He wasn't quite able to make a 'k' sound yet, so 'Rikku' came out as 'Rigu'.
"Yeah, that's right," Rikku said. "Aren't you excited? You get to come on a trip with Yuna, Paine, and me."
Vidina nodded, still playing with his toy truck.
Lulu finished packing Vidina's things, while Rikku and Yuna played with Vidina, who was giggling uncontrollably.
"How bout you and Yunie head back to the airship and get stuff set up for Vidina while Paine and I check the temple real fast?" Rikku suggested to Lulu.
Lulu was reluctant to agree, since she felt searching for Wakka and Tidus was mostly her responsibility. Then again, she didn't want to leave Vidina in the care of anyone else, so she agreed. Rikku and Paine set off for the temple, and she and Yuna left their hut for the airship.
...ooo...
Well, if you like it, you gotta let me know! Reviews make my day, and besides, this time you get a cupcake! I make a pretty mean cupcake, if I do say so myself XD
Thank so all soooooo much,
Lulala