Chapter 12: Oh Cram it Dona!
"Honestly Wakka, you can put me down now." I said pushing away from his back.
"Lulu told me to carry you until we get to the temple, ya. You want her to yell at me again?" he asked tightening his grip.
"But I feel fine. That crap-in-a-bottle really works wonders." I still had that icky antidote taste in my mouth.
He shook his head, "Lu's the boss." He said.
I groaned in frustration. I guess you can already tell who wears the pants in this relationship. The Luca Goers emerged from inside the temple and stopped in front of us.
"You here to pray for victory too?" Wakka asked politely.
Graav laughed, "We don't need to pray for victory." He said smugly.
"We're here to pray for some competition." Bickson said, "What about you? Gonna do your best again? Too bad your best isn't good enough."
Tidus stepped forward, "Laugh it up now. But this year, the Aurochs will be taking the cup."
"Who are you suppose to be?" Graav asked, turning to Tidus.
Tidus crossed his arms and smiled up at Graav, "Wouldn't you like to know." he replied.
Graav rolled his eyes, "You couldn't win the cup if we gave it to you."
I looked at Wakka, "Did he just insult us?"
He frowned and nodded, "I think they just did. But you got to admit that Tidus did make himself look foolish."
The Goers walked off, "yeah you better run you bunch of sissies." I shouted, shaking my fist at them.
We walked on into the temple and Wakka gently set me on the ground. I stretched, "It's good to walk on my own 2 feet again."
Wakka walked over to a statue and knelt down. He began praying, repeating over and over, "Lord Ohalland guide our feet."
Tidus got on his knees beside him and began praying too. The cloister doors opened noisily and two people came out. The lady had horrible fashion sense and the man looked like he was just plain stupid. "Another summoner?" The woman asked.
Yuna rushed over to her and performed a prayer, "Yes, I am the summoner Yuna From the isle of Besaid."
"Dona." She replied simply. She looked behind Yuna and saw all of us standing there watching her, "Are all these people your guardians?" she asked, "My, my, my, what rabble. As I recall Lord Braska only had two Guardians. I, on the other hand, only need one guardian right Barthello?"
Yuna took a defensive stance, "I only have as many guardians as there are people I can trust with my life…"
"Whoa, whoa, whoa." I said waving my hands and walking over to Yuna, "If you're going to do this, you're going to do it right." With my hand on her shoulder I whispered in her ear, "Here say this…"
Yuna turned back and gave me a weird look. I urged her forward with my hand, "Go on say it. You know you want to."
Yuna put her arms down to her sides and stood face to face with Dona.
Tidus looked at me and said, "What did you tell her to say?"
I pressed my index finger against my mouth and said, "Hush, just listen."
"You are full of hot air. If anybody needs a guardian it's Barthello to protect him from your face. So why don't you just cram it, Dona." She said looking back at me, "did I do okay?" she asked.
I shrugged, "close enough."
Dona looked at each of us with a scowl on her face, "Barthello we're leaving." She growled stalking out of the temple.
I laughed, "That was awesome. She's such a snob."
Yuna looked at me, a serious expression on her face, "But I am serious. I need guardians I can trust with my life." She said. Then she looked over at Tidus and smiled warmly.
"It's time for the trials, Yuna." Lulu said walking up to us. Yuna nodded and followed her up the stairs. Tidus stood beside me, "What was she smiling about?" he asked.
I looked at him, "She thinks your man chest hair is sexy." I said locating a strand and yanking it from his chest.
"Owwww…hey that really hurt." He said rubbing his chest.
I laughed and followed the others up the stairs. "The Fayth is below. Wakka, Kimahri, ready?" Lulu asked. They stepped onto the elevator and Tidus tried to join them.
Kimahri pushed him off and he stumbled beside me, "Hey what gives?"
"You're not a guardian yet." Lulu stated.
"Uummm we'll be back as soon as we can…" Yuna said, nervously.
"Yeah soon I'll bet, tomorrow soon." He mumbled as the elevator descended down into the cloisters.
"Give it a rest Tidy. They'll be back." I said.
"Where's Yuna?" Dona asked walking up behind us.
Tidus pointed behind us to the cloisters. "Then why are you here?" she asked. She looked over at me and her scowl returned, "Barthello…" he walked over to me and picked me up.
"Hey man, this is so not cool. What are you doing?" I asked as he threw me onto the elevator.
"This should teach you manners." She replied flipping her hair behind her shoulder.
"This isn't funny." I replied. I tried stepping off but big and stupid simply tossed Tidus on top of me, as if he were nothing more than a doll. The elevator went down into the cloisters and came to a stop. "Get off me." I said shoving him to one side.
"This is bad. Can't we get in trouble for this?"
"Oh don't worry. We'll only get yelled at by Lulu." I said brushing the dust from my clothes, "But once I get my hands on that no good…dirty rotten…" I marched toward the trials.
"Seriously Siry, we shouldn't do this." he said.
"Look, we don't have any choice. The elevator won't go back up. Now quit your bellyaching and come on." I pushed the door open and stepped inside, "Let's get this over with."