Chapter 6: "Absence Makes the Heart Grow Fonder"

I sat there holding Rikku comforting her as best I could for a long while. The sun had almost set by the time she calmed down enough that she could speak again. "Thank you Chris," she said trying to smile but she was still almost crying. I nodded and layed down. Rikku poked my arm and I sat back up, "I'm gonna get some sleep," she said getting up and she was about to hop in to her machina when she suddenly stopped. She stood there for a moment then turned around. She walked towards me, gave me a quick kiss on the cheek and then almost ran back, hopped inside, and closed the door behind her. I sat there in pure shock for about ten minutes. Did she just... wow, I thought when I had actually regained some ability to eventhink. I couldnt sleep since I had only woken up a few hours ago and I couldn't stop thinking about the warmth that had surged through my body when Rikku's lips had touched my cheek. Finally, I came out of my state of shock, but then I noticed it was dark. Hmm I wonder if more fiends appear at night then during the day I thought, this question being answered moments later by a large spiderish fiend jumping at me. I effortlessly slashed at the fiend, it seemed to hover for a moment and then disappeared in a burst of pyreflies.

I had stayed awake all night only having a few other fiends attack me, when Rikku opened up the hatch and popped her head out. She yawned, stretched then looked over at me and said, "Morning," with a cheerful smile on her face. I turned around and smiled, "Hey, I see your feeling much better," I said cracking my neck to cure the stiffness. She nodded and then asked, "Did you sleep at all last night?" I shook my head, "Nah, wasn't really tired, plus those spider type fiends kept me on my toes," I responded. Then four things happened very fast. First, Rikku yelled, "Watch out!" Second, I turned to face whatever was coming at me. Third, as I finished my turn I felt something hit the middle of my torso, hard! Last, I felt myself fly backwards and water surround me completely. I floated there for a minute trying to process what just happened. Then I did a small backflip and kicked the fiend away from me. It squirmed, trying to get back to the surface, eh? I thought swimming after it my blade at the ready. Then as I approached it, it just went flying inland. I've heard of undertoe pulling you out to sea but never heard of it pulling you out of the sea, I thought as I released the hilt of my blade and anaged to reach the surface, only to see that I had drifted to far from the machina to swim back, so I yelled at the top of my breath, "Rikku, head for the Moonflow, I'll meet you there, trust me I'll find my way!" I barely saw it but I noticed Rikku give me a quick thumbs up. When I arrived at the beach I met up with the tricky fiend that ambushed me a little while ago. "Think your gonna get away with that," I yelled afterr the fiend as it began to run away.

I chased after it since it was heading in the right direction anyways. I managed to catch up to it and jumped over it, landing right in front of it. It reared back ready to attack so I jumped closer and drove my knee into where I guessed it's ribs would be. It fell back down in pain, then I drew my blade hitting it with the butt of the hilt, in the head, as I did so. It stumbled back and I gave it one last slash before it exploded into pyreflies. "Ha, weak just like the rest," I said putting my blade back in its sheath. Suddenly I felt a searing burning pain in my right arm. "AHH," I said falling to my knees in pain. I looked at my arm but saw no wound. Then I heard the Bahamut fayth's voice in my head, "Don't give in to the darkness." I got back to my feet and then heard another voice, "Chris," I looked aroud but saw no one. "Chris your armlet, It's me Rikku, are you all right," Rikku said over my braclet. "Yea, I'm fine," I lied clenching my arm in pain, "so when did you plan to mention that this works as a communication device too?" Rikku ignored my question, "You know the secret path I told you about, yea well it's a lot quicker then walking I'm already here," She said. "Don't worry I'll be there soon," I said. Rikku then explained that I should somehow get on top of the riding piece of the shoopuf. I told her I would, "Huury though you have to get here before Yunie does," Rikku said. Even though I knew perfectly well who "Yunie" was I had to ask since I wasn't supposed to know. "Yunie," I said with a questioning tone in my voice. "Yea, my cousin, Yuna is her real name but I call her Yunie," Rikku responded. I laughed a little at this, but Rikku was getting impatient, "Hurry up!" "Yes, ma'am," I said taking off at a run. When I reached the fork that leads to Djose temple or the moonflow I saw Yuna and her group there. I ran straight by them, shouting back, "Hey sunuh," directed at Tidus. He looked straight at me with a shocked look on his face. Then he started pointing at me and saying something to the others. I guessed he was explaining who I was but I was long gone before the group had even started moving again.

I finally reached the Moonflow's dock. Man the game is so out of proportion to the real Spira I thought while panting and plopping down to the ground to attempt to catch my breath. There was no one close enough so I decided to try and reach Rikku. "Rikku, can you hear me," I said to the armlet. No response, I guessed it was a one way thing, until after she talked anyways. I noticed that the burning in my arm had stopped. Wonder why that happened I thought rubbimg ,y arm as I approached the hypello driver of the Shoopuf. "Ride ze Shoopuf," he asked when I came close. I thought for a minute. "I'm going to ride on the very top and wait for a certain someone to ride this shoopuf," I more stated the asked. The Hypello looked irked, "Imposhhibible, imposhhibible," he replied. I pulled out my money bag and threw it at him. "Will that about cover it," I asked staring at the Hypello. "Oh yeshh yeshh, thank yoo," he replied seeming happy that he had made some money out of this. Greed on Earth, greed in Spira everywhere you go there's still greed. I used the elavator to get up on the shoopuf then grabbed the roof and flipped myself up onto it. I sat up there till I heard the driver say his little ride ze shoopuf again. I peeked over the edge and saw Sunuh (or Tidus for you people that don't think he's dumb) and the rest about to get on. Then Rikku said rather loudly, "Are you here yet?" I shushed her and replied quietly, "Yes, I'm here and I'm on the shoopuf and Yuna is about to get on," "Okay, good," she said now in a hushed voice, "wait till you see an opertune moment to grab Yunie." I knew exactly when to grab her, right when Auron told her to sit down. I sat there listening to the conversation progress, until I heard Yuna move and Auron say, "Sit down!" Now I thought sticking the top half of my body over and grabbing Yuna. Then I somehow managed to maneuver myself in the air so that I landed on the shoopuf's tail, with Yuna on one shoulder. I slid down the tail and obviously Rikku had been watching because she popped up just in time for me to land on top of the machina.

I put Yuna down and a barrier quickly formed around her. Then I jumped into the cockpit of my machina, which then closed and detached from Rikku. We both sank down extremely fast and met up with Tidus and Wakka at the bottom. They seemed to be focusing their attack on Rikku, so the next time Tidus came over to slash her I gave him a swift kick in the side which knocked him silly for a moment. Then I felt my machina jolt. Wakka had nailed me in the back with his ball. I swam towards him and slashed at him like mad, he narrowly dodged every hit except the last one hit, cutting his leg a little. "Ahh," I heard over my armlet and quickly turned to see Rikku's machina explode. It was a good thing I knew she survived otherwise I would have been distracted. Wakka swam over and grabbed Yuna, then he signaled that he was bringing her up. I pushed off a rock and flew towards Tidus. He moved and slashed my left arm as I zoomed by. The controls inside sparked, "Ack, evil thing, kill Tidus," I yelled turning and swiming towards him. But then I noticed that couldn't find him. Wait that probably means... Wham, a sword had just come within inches of hitting my head. The controls sparked and fizzled like mad. I hit a button that opened the hatch and then shot me out at a great speed. I quickly reached the surface but now I was tired. The water had enough resistance to make my entire body sore on the way up. I tried to swim to shore ending up drifting the last few feet or so. I floated up right next to Rikku. Then everything went black.

I woke up to another rude awakening. Tidus or rather sunuh was poking me in the head with a stick. I quickly grabbed the stick and snapped it in half. Tidus jumped back at my sudden outburst. "Ouch you jerk," I moaned still lying there. Then Rikku got up and removed her wetsuit thing, and proceeded in telling Tidus that we had been in those machina. I finally managed to get to my feet. Stretching every muscle and cracking every bone in my body. Then the rest of the group walked up. Tidus almost made the mistake of telling Wakka that Rikku was Al Bhed. Then the girls had their private little chat. I stood there expecting to be ignored for a while. Then Rikku called me over. When I got close I heard Yuna ask, "Who's your friend?" "My name is Chris and I have no idea where I'm from," I said in response. Then Yuna whispered something in Rikku's ear that made Rikku's cheeks turn bright red. I cracked my neck again, "So, why did you call me over here," I asked beginning to lose patience with the gossip. Yuna whispered to Rikku again then Rikku said, "Chris, Yuna wants to know if you'll be her guardian." "Don't you think you have nough guardians already," I asked not sure if I wanted to guard Yuna or not, because what if I was like Tidus, once we defeat Sin, he's going to disappear, will I meet the same fate? Rikku looked impatient, "Be her guardian," she commanded me. Then she pulled something that looked like a remote out of her pocket and hit a button.

beepbeepbeep. The armlet had just beeped there times. Then I suddenly felt a surge go through my body, the armlet was electrocuting me. Rikku hit the button again a few seconds later and I fell on my knees. She looked at me raising an eyebrow. "Fine," I gasped once I caught a breath. Rikku was extremely giddy. Then they went and talked to Auron who said if Yuna wanted us to be her guardians it was fine with him. Everybody began walking again except me and sunuh (Tidus). He walked over. "Hey is there something going on between you and Rikku," he asked rather bluntly. I was surprised for a moron Tidus was actualy good at noticing when people like each other. "Was it that obvious," I asked. "Nah, I've just got a knack for this thing," he replied laughing. "Well at least I'm not as obvious as you and your love for Yuna," I said silencing his laugh. "Don't tell anybody," he pleaded. "Only if you keep your mouth shut," I said. We agreed and shook on it then caught up to the rest of the group on the road to Guadosalam.

Damn that sunuh he's got dirt on me. But I have dirt on him too so there hahaha. Anyways please review.