A Generation of Aeons
Chapter Forty-One

Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy X or X-2

Last Time:

"Lenne!" Darka's voice called as Lenne and Gaia turned. They watched the Crimson Knight come out from the temple's room in his uniform with a different cape that he held in his hands. "Lenne, what is this?"

Reaching them, Darka turned to Lenne for an answer. "Back in the old days, summoners wore different kinds of clothes to show their rank."

He looked at her skeptically. "I don't see you wearing anything special."

Lenne held out her chokin necklace in return. "I have a convenient little necklace that changed every time I passed an aeon's test."

"So where'd this come from?" Darka questioned, staring at his new cape. It was made up of red and white with the image of Suzaku in flight in the center.

"I had it made while you were asleep," Lenne answered. "I know you wouldn't give up wearing your uniform completely so I just replaced the cape."

He looked at her unsurely.

Gaia just smiled. "Well, I think it makes you look handsome."

Darka raised an eyebrow. "Thank you, Gaia." He turned to Lenne. "So when do I start this training of yours?"

She smiled. "I'm in danger of being a hypocrite, but once you've fully regained your strength. Besides," Lenne added, "I have to figure out what Byakko, Genbu, and Seiryu are up to. Suzaku can't be the only one who's chosen a head summoner…"

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A group of three stood surrounded on Besaid's beach. Among the group happened to be the Crimson Knight of Besaid Darka; his usual sword and pistols gone.

Fourteen surrounded the smaller group; Lenne, Gaia, and Vidina among them. Darka couldn't help but notice a small smile on the latter's face.

Four days had passed since Darka had first been chosen as Suzaku's head summoner. Over the course of the past few days, two others had come to Besaid claiming to have been chosen as head summoners. They had both been told that the High Summoner Lenne would train them.

The first to arrive in Besaid was a twenty-three year-old woman from Macalania. Jesa had dark black hair that she wore in short curls. She was a short, lightly built figure that was not completely unaccustomed to fighting fiends. Upon her arrival, Lenne had her fitted, and the young woman was now adorned in simple and efficient clothes of an icy blue.

A day after Jesa arrived in Besaid, so did Genbu's head summoner. A guardian for the city of Mushroom Rock, Kathurn was of middle rank. Nothing about him made the eighteen-year-old guardian stand out. He was plain to look at with simple brown hair that looked like a great disarray on his head, and his brown eyes conveyed no emotion whatsoever. The guardian also had a physical build that barely surpassed that of an average man. Lenne had him dressed in somewhat extravagant clothes of silver, although, it didn't seem to add any depth to him.

Along with Darka, they now stood together weaponless surrounded by all the guardians of Besaid, the High Summoner Lenne, and the Gullwing Head of Historical Spheres Gaia.

"Lenne," Darka spoke, "tell me again what the purpose of this is? Not to mention you took away our weapons?"

She shrugged. "What do you think it's for, Vidina?" Lenne asked her other friend.

Vidina just grinned, holding his spiked blitzball. "How should I know, ya? All's I know is that I get to attack Sir Darka. Why ask?"

"Yeah!" Gaia agreed, holding a curved dagger in one hand while wearing a claw on the other. "It'll be fun! Just be happy Garren isn't here, he wouldn't hold anything back!"

Darka grimaced. "Good point…"

Lenne laughed but raised an eyebrow. "What makes you think I won't?"

"Oh boy…" he muttered.

The head summoner of Seiryu chuckled nervously. "Well, at least everyone's going to be focused on getting you, Sir Darka."

"Oh, don't worry," Lenne added, "I haven't forgotten about you two."

"Goodie…" Kathurn answered.

"Well," the high summoner said quickly, "on your mark, get set, go."

Immediately the three head summoners scattered as all the guardians of Besaid, Gaia, and Lenne came at them.

Five guardians were on Jesa in a second, and she found herself unable to do anything.

Three guardians went after Kathurn immediately, and he tumbled out of the way at the last minute, tripping one of them in the process. He managed to knock another down, but the last of them had a rifle pointed at his head before he could even move.

Darka on the other hand had Lenne, Gaia, and the remaining guardians on him in the blink of an eye. He immediately threw down two of his guardians into the sand, managed to take down a third guardian, and took their rifle; using it to disarm the last guardian. He pulled Gaia down and pointed the rifle at her.

He couldn't help but smirk. "Gotcha."

Then he felt a sword up against the back of his neck and heard Lenne's voice. "Got you."

"Crap…" Darka muttered.

The Crimson Knight released a frowning Gaia from his grip and stood up, Jesa and Kathurn also being released.

"Well…" Lenne said, appearing to brush lint off her clothes, "that lasted a grand total of two minutes."

"It would have been longer if we had our weapons," Darka answered grimly.

The high summoner shook her head. "At this point, each one of you has enough power to overthrow all of us. Well… maybe not me, but everyone else."

"Huh…" Gaia commented. "Since when do you have an ego?"

Lenne shrugged. "I don't know, I'll tell you when I figure it out, but anyway," she quickly waved away, "time for round two."

"Are you serious?" Kathurn whined.

"Yep," Lenne answered, smiling brightly.

"At least give us a weapon this time," Darka argued.

The high summon shrugged again. "Okay." She motioned to the pile of weapons nearby. "But you can only get one."

The three head summoners looked at her skeptically before approaching the heap of abandoned weapons. Darka watched Gaia and Vidina laugh while Lenne smiled as he took hold of his sword.

"Thanks," he said, "but what's the catch?"

Lenne watched Gaia and Vidina laugh nearby. "You guys wanna tell him?"

Gaia grinned anxiously. "Well, I can't tell you how disappointed Garren was when he found out he couldn't help come beat you up…"

"So," Vidina finished with an equally mischievous grin, "Sir Garren sent us some reinforcements. To help us out, ya?"

Suddenly appearing from all around were nine guardians who joined the ranks of Besaid's.

Darka rolled his eyes. "There's always a catch."

"Of course," Lenne answered cheerfully, "let's try again, shall we?"

In the blink of an eye, Lenne began to move towards the small group, and the rest of the guardians, Vidina, and Gaia quickly caught on.

Kathurn and Jesa had teamed up to better their chances and stood back-to-back. Kathurn had chosen to get his pistol and was busy disabling the guardian's rifles while Jesa casted spells at anyone who got too close.

To the dismay of Kathurn and Jesa, Vidina and Gaia had also decided to team up and go up against the two summoners.

A blitzball quickly separated the head summoners of Genbu and Seiryu, and a dagger pinned Jesa deep into the sand while Gaia held Kathurn at bay with her steel claw almost touching his throat.

Darka had quickly evaded most of his pursuers, somehow managing to steal their weapons and immobilizing them. He threw a guardian over his head and stole their daggers and pistols before they had even hit the sand. He pinned down another Bevelle guardian, and with his stolen pistols, Darka disabled more of the enemy guardians' rifles. In a flash Lenne was attacking him with her thin, light sword. He could barely keep up with the speed in which she attacked. The Crimson Knight tried to get at Lenne with a dagger as he parried another of her attacks, but she only blocked it. Knocked off balance, Lenne was able to bring her sword so that it almost touched Darka's unblocked torso.

Lenne panted hard, trying to catch her breath. "Well, that was certainly better than last time."

Darka shrugged as Lenne sheathed her sword. "I suppose that's what you get for giving up our weapons to start with."

"Combined," Lenne continued, "you three still had enough power to beat all of us."

"And how do we do that?" Jesa argued.

The high summoner nodded, almost understandingly. "I'll tell you what, you get to have as many weapons as you want this time." She motioned to the weapons on the ground and watched Darka, Kathurn, and Jesa pick them up hesitantly. "I'm going to have all the guardians back off as well. Only Gaia, Vidina, and myself will attack. All right?"

Kathurn smiled. "I like those odds."

She smiled as she brought her sword between her palms. "In a minute you won't."

Lenne closed her eyes, and everyone watched. The wind began to blow and flames seemed to appear out of thin air. The flickers of fire formed a circle around Lenne before suddenly charging into her. Her eyes shot open, and there was a flash of silver. A similar aura found its way to Lenne's sword as she brought it into an attacking position.

Vidina grinned. "I like these odds."

Darka crouched down with his sword, his eyes narrowing at Lenne, his first target.

She only smiled at him. "Let's do it."

The Crimson Knight of Besaid charged towards Lenne, determined to finish her first… but she was gone.

He hastily turned his head, trying to find where she had gone when a wall of fire erupted in front of him. He immediately took a step back and covered his face with his hands, trying to shield himself from the immense heat. Through the flickers of the flame, Darka could see Kathurn and Jesa trapped in the same situation.

Lenne stood a little ways off, just where the dirt became sand with an open-mouthed Vidina and Gaia, her sword at her side.

"Vidina, Gaia," Lenne said, "you can reach them from here, can't you?"

"Uh, yeah, I 'tink so," Vidina answered, scratching his head.

"Yeah…" Gaia agreed, equally as dazed, "I guess we could…"

"I'm sick of this!" Kathurn suddenly yelled out. "I'm sick of being pushed and shoved around! I'm sick of it!"

The normally passive and quiet guardian of Mushroom Rock looked furious… and for a minute, his eyes flashed a dark green. He slammed his fist into the ground in rage, a wave of sand went up into the air by the impact, and a crack formed at Lenne, Vidina, and Gaia's feet.

"Uh oh…" Gaia muttered.

The ground beneath them gave way, the walls of fire surrounding the three head summoners vanished, and Kathurn, Jesa, and all the guardians rushed to the hole, peering into the dust below

Kathurn stood above with everyone else, the hunter green gone from his eyes. "Oh, crap… I'm sorry! I didn't mean to! Are you okay down there!"

Everyone waited above, some crossing their fingers while others whispered to each other, trying to figure out what had just happened.

They heard someone cough.

"High Summoner Lenne?" Jesa asked hesitantly.

"'Course, they worry about you…" they heard Gaia's voice comment. "Ow! That hurt, Lenne! You didn't have to hit me that hard…"

"We're fine!" Lenne's voice called back, the dust beginning to clear, "just figure out a way to get us out of here!"

Darka motioned to one of his guardians. "Go get some rope."

"I have some, Sir Darka," a Bevelle guardian volunteered, handing it to him.

"Watch out!" he warned, throwing the rope down.

Coming out onto the beach unnoticed was a young man with long dark brown hair. He managed to find his way to where the large group stood and saw a person coming up from a deep hole in the ground.

Gaia stood dusting her clothes off while Vidina managed to completely pull himself up.

Darka threw the rope down a third time, and Lenne emerged looking somewhat amused and disheveled.

"High Summoner Lenne," Kathurn said, practically throwing himself down at her feet, "I'm so sorry! I didn't realize what I was doing! I didn't mean to!"

"Kathurn!" she interrupted. "Two things: first, drop the title, you don't need to call me high summoner; second, don't worry about it, the whole point of today was trying to get one of you to summon. Now that we've accomplished that, I think we can call it a day."

"I summoned?" Genbu's head summoner asked in disbelief.

"Mhm," Lenne answered. "You summoned the same way I did, only I used Byakko's essence while you used Genbu's." She paused, dusting off her clothes, and looked around, finding the newcomer. "Okay, who do we have here?" He was definitely taller than her and was dressed in the simplest of clothes. He also had startling blue eyes… startling lively and honest eyes. She had seen them somewhere before.

"Uh, you're High Summoner Lenne? I'm, uh, I'm Oryon. I'm-I'm, well… I'm not quite sure how to put this…" the young man drifted.

Lenne grimaced. "You must be Byakko's new head summoner?" She watched him nod his head. "Cheribum…"

"Did I do something wrong?" Oryon asked.

"No," she shook her head, "it's just… you look exactly like the last head summoner of Byakko before the war."

Oryon raised his eyebrow in genuine interest. "Really, who was he?"

Lenne smiled. "His name was Ryak. He was a friend and a good man."

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Author's Notes:

Final Revision