Chapter 5: Bad mimes and freaky dancing

When I finally came to, Tidus and I were standing on the deck of a ship I could barely recognize. Only when I spotted Brother, an Al Bhed, grunting and doing some kind of funky mime routine did I remember what was going on. Tidus simply stood there looking annoyed, "I don't understand you." He said, "How 'bout you speak English."

I sighed in agitation, "We can stay if we work." I whispered to him.

Rikku looked at me suspiciously, "Yes. You have to make yourself useful if you want to stay on the boat."

"Hey she understands us Siry." He said ecstatically.

I rolled my eyes, "Are we diving in now?" I asked.

"I think you should learn how to use the Sphere Grid before we just go jumping in." Rikku protested.

"I already know how to use it. Tidus, I'll explain it to you later."

"Well, there's a sunken ship right beneath us and we're going to have to go in and investigate."

"Fine whatever. Now let's get this over with before I change my mind." I said shaking my head towards the Al Bhed with the guns. It was a wonder they didn't shoot me in the back as I dove off the ship. We dove underwater and began swimming toward some underwater ruins. Now I'm not really into snorkeling, seeing as how I don't want my face eaten off by a shark, but I was surprised at how adept I was at swimming and fighting underwater. Not only that, my lungs didn't feel like they were about to explode. Once inside the ruins, Rikku pointed to a control panel. Tidus swam forward and began banging on it. "Way to go genius," I thought. Now what if he broke it and it blew up? I guess I would have to hunt him down on the Farplane and kill him till he died. The only door in the room slid open and we swam through. We followed the tunnels along, slapping down the piranhas who dared to get in our face. We finally reached a big room with something hanging from the ceiling. Rikku pointed to it and I swam up and gave it one good kick. It lit up and Rikku signaled for us to move out. We swam out of the room and was ambushed by Tros, the octopus. Of course, what's life in a Square game without being ambushed by monsters? Tidus whipped out his sword and attacked the monster, while Rikku chucked some grenades at it, and I kicked it in its head. Finally fed up with our brutal assault, he swam out of our attack range. I hit my fist against my open hand, now what? I would soon discover the answer when Tros used Nautilus Charge. He knocked us stupid for a moment, which made me pretty angry. I signaled for Rikku to toss another grenade. She did and Tidus and I attacked at the same time. And just like that, Tros was gone. I crossed my arms and stuck my tongue out at the dissolving pyreflies. We swam out of the ruins and discovered the other Al Bhed had came down too, examining some big…something buried under the tons of sand and seaweed. Once we returned to the ship, I settled on the deck under a tarp covering some boxes while Tidus being the big stupid that he is tried to go below deck with the Al Bhed. He was of course denied. He sighed and settled down beside me, "Those guys are rude." He said leaning against a box, "We helped out didn't we?"

"They said if we helped we could stay. They didn't say anything about us staying below deck. Just be grateful we aren't out there all alone." I whispered. I closed my eyes and tried to imagine home. It was funny. I pictured my mom and dad ragging on each other. Gee, I was really starting to miss them. Tidus's growling stomach brought me back to reality.

"Hungry…" he moaned. Well I couldn't disagree with him. I was hungry too.

"Hey…" Rikku said. She was standing there with two trays of food. She dropped them down in front of us and Tidus began stuffing his face.

"Pig..." I whispered. I looked down at my own tray and couldn't help but wrinkle my nose, "what the heck are you feeding me woman?" I thought. But it was food and didn't I mention something about being grateful earlier? Oh well bottoms up. I began eating and to be honest, it didn't really taste that bad. I glanced over at Tidus just in time to see him start to choke on his food. I giggled; even though I found him to be a bit annoying in real life, I had to admit I really liked Tidus. Rikku handed him a flask filled with water and he gulped it down. Then he stood up and Rikku called out to him, "hey…" she said.

"What's your name?" Tidus asked.

"Rikku." She said.

"You really do understand. Awesome." Tidus said taking her hands and doing some freaky dance with her.

Rikku jerked her hands away then turned to me. She was seemingly studying my features. I guess she was hoping to find an answer as to who I was in my eyes. No such luck sister! Tidus spoke again interrupting our staring contest, "Why didn't you tell me you spoke English?"

"I didn't get the chance. Everyone thought oui were a fiend."

"Uhh 'we'?"

"Oui means you." I said standing.

Rikku turned to me, "How did you know that?"

I smiled, "I took the time to learn the language. I think the Al Bhed are cool."

Rikku smiled, "You don't hear that everyday." She said.

"Excuse me!" Tidus said, "But what is an Al Bhed?"

"We are. Can't you tell?" Rikku asked staring out into open water, "Wait…you don't hate Al Bhed do you?" she asked.

"Can't hate it if I don't know what it is…"
"Where are you from?" she asked.

"Zanarkand. I play blitzball there…" Tidus began but slowly his voice faded out.

I didn't even bother to listen to what he was saying. I was too absorbed in my own thoughts. I couldn't tell them where I was really from could I? No way! They wouldn't believe me anyway. Better to play it off. Yeah that's what I would do.

"Siry…Siry…yoo-hoo you awake?" Tidus said waving his hand in front of my eyes.

"Huh?" I said taking his hand and moved it away from my face.

"Rikku is taking us to Luca." He said.

Suddenly the ship lurched and Tidus and I toppled over each other. The Al Bhed ran out on to the deck and began shouting in their language. Sin had returned and something told me it wasn't for the complimentary q-tips.