As the hover was about to pass through the gate connecting the Mi-ihen Highroad to the Djose Road, Stree saw the white flash light up the sky. He wondered for a second what it was, but then the shockwave of the explosion hit him, and threw him, and everyone else, off the Hover, landing hard on the ground. The only one who wasn't thrown was Rin, though he got shaken around the cockpit because of the force. Stree picked himself up off the ground, and stared through the darkness of the night to try and find what was once the Mi-ihen Highroad Travel Agency. He vaguely noticed the others checking each other for injuries, and walked over to a corner to be on his own. He started mulling over the events of the travel agency, and was surprised to find himself almost overwhelmed with anger over Yojimbo's death. Thoughts started racing through Stree's head. He was a better fighter than anyone else there! He had strength enough to throw me as far as he did, he could have made the jump! He could have cut through any of those Fiends! He smacked the wall, and found himself still holding Yojimbo's sword. Pictures and voices started racing through his mind. Yojimbo thrusting the sword into Stree's hand. Yojimbo picking Stree up and throwing him, just before being spear tackled by a Fiend. Yojimbo slicing through the fiend that was planning on chomping down on Stree. Suddenly, a deep voice cut through him, clear as though he was standing right next to him.
"Stand strong." The voice rang through Stree's head. He looked around, thinking that Yojimbo was near, but couldn't see anyone except the others. "Don't give in. The worst is yet to come. Stand strong." Stree looked down at the sword, and tried to figure out where the voice was coming from.
"Is something wrong?" asked a voice from behind him. Swallowing down a momentary burst of anger, Stree turned around to face Rikku, who was, perhaps wisely, standing a few feet away. "Are you alright?" she asked.
"I'm fine," replied Stree, hoping to brush her off, but she wouldn't be swayed.
"Are you sure? You seem angry."
Taking a deep breath, Stree willed himself to not take the sword in his hand, and plunge it into the nosey girl's body.
"Alright then, let's try something else. Where do we go now?"
Growling, Stree tried to push past her. "Why ask me?"
Rikku stared at his as though it was a stupid question. "Well, you're the leader."
Now it was Stree's turn to give a strange look. "Leader of what? All we've done is get attacked, and driven off, there's nothing to lead!"
"So. You don't know us, yet you've saved our lives at least once each, even Tidus', who by all accounts you hate! Makes it hard for people to not respect or trust you."
"What's your point? You're all so hell-bent on staying with me for some reason, and you can all hold your own in a fight, even Blondie, so it makes sense for me to have as much help as I can get."
"You also seem to be the most battle-proficient and the best strategist! Hmm, I can see why we shouldn't look to you as a leader!" replied Rikku, in an angry voice.
"Think what you want," said Stree, feeling anger rising again. "I don't want to be a leader, and I'm not, so go figure out for yourself what you're doing!"
He heard Rikku growl, then saw a fist come flying right at his face. It was only inches from his face when he lashed out and grabbed it, squeezing hard enough to discourage her, yet not cause any real damage in case they had to fight again. He stopped when he heard he start to whimper. "Never do that again," he growled pushing her back.
"Hey!" Stree growled again as another person, a female dressed in the gear of a warrior, came up to him, and helped Rikku up. Rikku, in a very childish move, poked her tongue out at him, and ran over to the Summoner. The warrior turned around and stared at him, and Stree couldn't help but notice the way her crimson red eyes seemed to peer into his very soul.
"What do you want? You going to pick a fight with me too?"
The woman shook her head, making her silver hair shake all over the place. "I saw what happened. Rikku's always the happy one. What did you do to set her off?"
"I wanted her to go away. Sort of like this situation."
The warrior laughed shortly. "At least you're honest." Suddenly, Rikku popped over the warrior-woman's shoulder, apparently completely over what had just happened.
"Hey, Paine. You know something? You two seem meant for each other. You're both too serious!"
Paine sighed. "Three points, Rikku." Rikku, groaned, then sulked away.
Curious despite himself, Stree asked, "Points?"
The warrior—Paine, laughed again. "I told her once that I keep a table of 'respect points' as a way of getting her off my back. Seems that it still works."
Stree laughed, something he hadn't done for a long time. "Maybe I'll have to try that some time."
"If it works. I'm Paine, by the way." She held out her hand.
"Stree Kry'tal." Stree held out his hand, and found that it still had Yojimbo's sword in it, and all of his dark emotions threatened to overwhelm him again. Without knowing how much danger she was putting herself in, Paine reached out and gently took the sword.
"Was this that Yojimbo guy's" Stree nodded. She swung it through the air a couple of times. "Nice balance. Good weight." She turned and handed it back, and Stree put it into the sheath that used to hold his Hammer. Paine nodded to him, then, as if realizing it would be safer to leave him alone, turned and started to walk away "Say, she said, stopping for a second. "You need to get used to that sword if you're going to use it. In the morning, would you like to practice?"
"Why not?" replied Stree. Paine nodded, then turned around and headed off. Stree turned towards where Kam was rolling out his bedroll. "What's going on?"
"We're staying here tonight, then we're heading off in the morning. Off to Mount Gagazet. Yuna's Ronso friend knows people who can protect us." Stree nodded. And grabbed his bed. He rolled it open a little further away from everyone else, and hopped in. As he started to drift off to sleep, he found himself unable to stop thinking of how his training with Paine would go in the morning, and eventually dropped into the first dreamless sleep he had had in a long time.
The sun was only just beginning to come up when Stree awoke, but he found Paine already up. He got out of his bed, and pulled on a fresh pair of pants, but as it was a fairly hot day already, decided to leave his shirt off. He grabbed his new sword and a towel, and walked over to the clearing where Paine was warming up. "You're up early," Stree asked as he got near her.
Paine stared at him for a second, then replied. "I'm not the only one," replied Paine, her breath coming a little short from the warm-ups. Stree nodded, then brought his sword up.
"You ready to start?" he asked.
"Shouldn't you warm up first?"
"Maybe."
Paine looked at him and shook her head. "Your funeral." She brought up her sword, and Stree caught a good look at it.
"Nice sword." He said.
"Thanks," she replied as she half-turned and let the bladed end drop to the ground behind her.
"You know, when you do that, there's a chance that a fast enough fiend can cause a lot of damage to you."
"Yeah, right."
"It's the truth. Here, I'll show you." Without another word, Stree brought his sword around and aimed at her neck, but she ducked out of the way and brought her own blade around, but, as though sensing where it would make contact, he brought his sword around and knocked it away.
"Not fast enough," said Paine. Stree nodded, then stabbed out at her, stopping himself just before making contact with her throat. Paine jerked backwards in shock.
"Still too slow?" Paine laughed for a second. Then she flew at him. Stree ducked and sidestepped and twirled as she launched a frenzied assault at him, forcing him to block at every turn and not even giving him the slightest chance to attack. He got sick of this after a little while, and knocked her sword out of the way with more force than normal, then spun around and slashed at her neck. Only she wasn't there any more, she had somehow gotten around behind him, and tapped him on the side of the leg with her sword. Stree smiled, then started on his own attack pattern. This sword however, was lighter than his Hammer, and he found himself swinging with more force than he normally would, and as a result, ended up on his back a lot, from having Paine trip him up repeatedly as he tried to find his balance. After a little while though, he got used to the sword and started making contact with her a lot more. After a couple of hours of training, when everyone else was supposed to be getting up, and they were both too tired to keep fighting, they decided to call it quits for the day.
"That was the most challenge I've had in a long time. We should do this again," said Stree, grabbing the towel to wipe off the dirt he had collected as they started to walk back.
"Hmm? Oh, yeah. We should," replied Paine a bit distractedly. Rikku was up and bouncing around when they got back, and when she saw them, she actually hopped over to them.
"Heyyy, what've you two been up to, hmm?" she asked in a mischievous voice.
"Training," growled Stree, starting to walk back over to his things, where Kam was waiting.
"Yeah, sure," replied Rikku. She started making loud kissing noises and hugging herself.
Paine sighed again. "Twelve points, Rikku!" Rikku gulped and ran off, and Paine walked over to her things.
Stree made his way over to Kam and his things, making sure not to get near to Tidus, as he was still pumped up on adrenaline from training, and he wasn't sure what he would do.
"Morning," said Kam when he reached her.
"Morning," replied Stree. "Sleep well?" Kam laughed. "What?" asked Stree as he reached down to grab a top.
"II was just thinking of how long it's been since you asked me if I slept well."
"How long?"
"A very long time. It's been a very long time since you've been in a good mood." Stree smiled to himself. "And as it happened, it was also the last time you got laid," said Kam. Stree spun around to push her away, but she was already halfway across the other side of the camp. Laughing truthfully for the first time in years, he turned back to his stuff, only to find Rikku in front of him, still kissing and hugging herself. He was about to grab his sword and give her a good scare, but then a pair of socks came flying across in front of him, smacking her square in the face, and she ran off. He looked over to see who had thrown it, and found Paine there with a scowl on her face. Smiling openly now, he turned to finish his packing.