Wonderwall
Author: Chaos Valkyrie
Date Conceptualized: January 2, 2006
Posted Chapter 05: February 24, 2006
Updated: April 15, 2008
Disclaimer: Don't own a thing. Except a very nice game disc, thank-you-very-much. Oh wait… nope, actually, I don't own that either. I borrowed that from my brother-in-law… (sweatdrops)
Author's Note: Well, I'm finally on Gagazet… in the game. But this story is no where near that point in the plot, so it's irrelevant. And I had predicted this to be about 40 chapters, doing some rough game-plot-line divisions, but that's very approximate now, due to the fact that I've been doing a lot of revision on my outline. This story will follow the game plot, but will focus more on the behind the scenes aspects of FFX as well as involving the major characters.
Chapter Five: New Purpose
Tysh ed, it's hot. Really really vilgehk hot. When Rikku told me she lived on a desert island, I pictured palm trees and coconuts and exotic flowers. But now I know that when she says desert island, she means desert on an island.
The Al Bhed Home is a huge complex of machina towers that jut above the sand like an impossible mirage. There are more cactuses than any other plant, and the sand stretches as far as the eye would want to see. We dock there a few days after Rikku gave me the weapons, and almost immediately all the inhabitants of Home are swarming over the airship like kids attacking Santa's workshop.
While the airship is half-dragged and half-lifted by multiple heavy machinas into a large underground bunker, Rikku decides to take me on a tour of the complex, showing me different garages full of grease-covered mechanics and a whole slew of machina in various stages of repair. Cannons, speeders, ships, weapons – all being assembled with frightening speed.
Rikku confesses that they're gearing up for a large battle soon against Sin, and that the Al Bhed here were preparing all this weaponry to fight against and destroy the menace once and for all. I merely shake my head, speechless. I hope it will work for them… but somehow, I have a bad feeling about this. I keep my doubts to myself, however, as Rikku babbles on about how maybe this would lead to the acceptance of her people.
That night, we eat dinner with her father and brother in her family's section of the complex. The kitchen is half buried under various bits and pieces of machina, but the food is good, and her family is warm as they heckle each other and me in a mixture of Al Bhed and Spiran.
I'm starting to understand the language better, and Rikku and I are now able to carry on whole conversations in her native tongue. The only times I really have trouble are with some of the others, when they speak too quickly or their accents are too heavy.
"Tomorrow we're going to commence work on the airship," Cid drawls, catching my attention. "First we'll wipe the systems and try to reprogram it to fly to our specifications –"
"No!" I shout, interrupting him. He and Pnudran give me funny looks as Rikku shakes her head. "There may be information in that system on Sin! We've gotta check it out before you wipe it," I declare. Rikku looks at her father in disbelief.
"And besides, pops, since when do you know to program airships?" she asks, and he looks slightly abashed. "That's what I thought. Don't go overboard, pops. Jael has a knack for programming, why don't ya see if she can get it up and running?" she asks. Cid looks over at me, and I'm none-too-sure about that gleam in his eye.
The next few days pass in a blur. As soon as Cid discovered that I had a knack for working with machina, he immediately assigned me to work on the airship. While Rikku crawls through ducts replacing wires and parts, I get to sit on the Bridge and play with the computer systems as they come online. Its slow going, delving through the ship's records and trying to learn how to fly it in the process. Not to mention teaching Pnudran and the rest of the crew what I'm slowly gleaning from the system.
"Find anything yet?" Rikku asks me as she wanders onto the bridge. I snort as I look at her, her overalls covered in grease and bits of wires sticking out of her pockets. I hold up my "Sin Facts" notebook and grimace.
"Well, I think this ship crashed before Sin appeared… I can't find any specs on it at all. I have found a lot about a war between Zanarkand and St. Bevelle… that must've started after Sin attacked, I don't remember it…" I trail off thoughtfully. "And there's lots about the weapons that both sides used and Summoners and war related information… but nothing on Sin." I sigh heavily. Rikku flips through my notebook and grins suddenly.
"Is this your master plan for Sin's defeat?" she chuckles at me. I mock-frown at her from my chair and snatch the notebook back.
"All right, so my only plan at the moment consists of using the Final Aeon to weaken Sin, then chopping it into little bitty pieces and a having one hell of a fish fry that'll feed Spira for the next few millennia. It could work," I tell her petulantly. She merely laughs harder.
The progress on the airship is moving along faster than I would have thought, and Cid would probably keep me here full time if not for Rikku.
Rikku, with a batting of eyelashes and a twist of her little finger, won the two of us time off to retreat into the desert and fight fiends. Around the work on the airship, I learn a great deal about my gun over the next few days, and how to fight these odd creatures.
My first lesson is that it is almost impossible to run away from a fiend. The reasoning behind that is that they are so consumed with jealousy and hatred that they blindly follow humans anywhere, as long as they have the chance to kill. Which is handy, actually, because we lure many a fiend into traps set up by the Al Bhed for the upcoming operation.
However, the Al Bhed don't need too many fiends for Mi'ihen, and so Rikku and I get to practice our fighting skills as well. We practice Overdrives and weapon abilities on the fiends, and I learn how to quickly mix stronger ammunition during a battle. I improve my draw, learning to quickly switch between clips of different ammunition and reload clips with frightening speed when they're empty. We also win a pretty number of spheres, and Rikku teaches me the most basic of thieving skills. However, after a Zu almost rips my arm off, I gladly leave most of the stealing to Rikku.
I've been in Spira for almost two weeks now. It seems like so much longer, however. I have already had to relearn the most basic living skills in order to survive in this alternate world. Rikku is proud of herself at how much she has taught me, and I in turn devote myself to working on the airship as repayment. However, everything begins to change again as my eleventh day in Spira draws to a close…
"Vilg!" I hear a voice scream. My head jerks up, and I almost beam myself but good inside the control panel I'm rewiring. I pull myself out and run towards the front of the airship where the exclamation originated from.
The others are gathered around a man clutching his left arm in pain. It wouldn't take a genius to tell that it's broken. Someone I don't know forces a potion down his throat, and it seems to work all right. However, as he rubs the appendage, it's obvious that it hadn't worked well enough.
One of the mechanics, and man called Nimrook, shakes his head. "Blappa, fryd tet oui tu?"
"Pnuga so yns, fryd tuac ed muug mega?!" the man spits through the pain. Rikku giggles at Nimrook's expression.
"Tysh ed, fa'ja kud y kysa eh dfu tyoc!" the burly man curses. Cid grunts in annoyance.
"Cu bmyo fedruid res," he tells him.
"Fedr fru? Ymm uin nacanja bmyoanc yna ehjumjat eh Mi'ihen," Nimrook sighs exasperatedly. The others are deep in thought when Rikku suddenly flares to life.
"Jael luimt bmyo!" she screeches excitedly. The others look at her, then at me. I had been doing a pretty good job of keeping up with the conversation, but Rikku's words left me opened mouthed and gaping like a goldfish.
"Me?" I ask her, wiping my grease covered hands on a cloth a little more forcefully than necessary. She turns her large swirly emerald eyes on me in a way that would make puppies envious.
"Please?" she begs. Nimrook coughs behind her.
"What position did you play?" he asks. I gulp.
"Um, forward…" I answer slowly. Blappa grimaces from the floor.
Rikku turns her eyes on Nimrook. "Bmayca?" she begs him. He sighs.
"Fa'mm caa," is his only reply as he turns and motions us out of the garage. Rikku grins and grabs my arm, pulling me after the surly player.
One practice match later, the Al Bhed Psyches welcome me to the team. I was amazed that the Home complex had a blitz arena deep within its bowels, but that's where Nimrook took me and Rikku. He called out the other players and some of the reserves to play the match. I manage to score five goals off of the reserve goalie, and once against Nimrook. I'm quick to admit that he was better than Wenno in the goal, but not as personable. Rikku cheers from the sidelines as we finish our game and shut down the sphere.
"Oui'na bnaddo kuut… fa'mm dyga oui," he says, patting my shoulder as we enter the locker room.
"Dryhgc," I reply sarcastically. He grins a toothy smile.
"Hu bnupmas," he replies, shucking his goggles and winking at me. I roll my eyes and walk out to find Rikku.
"Well, did I make you proud?" I ask her. She smiles.
"We'll win that championship for sure!" she laughs. I grin at her, shaking my head.
"I'm beginning to wonder what I've gotten myself into," I groan as we leave the arena to head back to her family's complex.
Chapter Five Al Bhed Translations:
"Blappa, fryd tet oui tu?" "Blappa, what did you do?"
"Pnuga so yns, fryd tuac ed muug mega?!" "Broke my arm, what does it look like?!"
"Tysh ed, fa'ja kud y kysa eh dfu tyoc!" "Damn it, we've got a game in two days!"
"Cu bmyo fedruid res," "So play without him,"
"Fedr fru? Ymm uin nacanja bmyoanc yna ehjumjat eh Mi'ihen." "With who? All our reserve players are involved in Mi'ihen."
"Jael luimt bmyo!" "Jael could play!"
"Bmayca?" "Please?"
"Fa'mm caa," "We'll see,"
"Oui'na bnaddo kuut… fa'mm dyga oui." "You're pretty good… we'll take you."
"Dryhgc," "Thanks."
"Hu bnupmas," "No problem."
Borrowed Quotes: "I have a bad feeling about this." Unintentionally borrowed from Star Wars, Episodes 4-6.