Rikku and Gippal explore the Bikanel Desert.

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italics = denotes thought or memory (for the most part)

Not Mine

Adventure - 6 Days Until the Coronation

Sand kicked up around Rikku as she looked out over the absolute nothing that made up the Bikanel desert. Endless sand upon sand dune greeted her, and she found herself longing for the beach front of their Kilika home. But her brother had said that he had something fantastic to show her. So here she was - back in the thick of it with little to show for it. Maybe Gippal loved digging in the desert for days on end but that was not Rikku's idea of a good time. Instead she and Auron were currently combing through a tower they had found recently, somewhere between the islands of Besaid and Kilika.

The tower had been deep into the jungle of the island and getting to it had been a challenge. It was not a surprise to Rikku that while people had found the island, the tower had gone undiscovered until now. Surrounded by roots and moss the tower had almost appeared a giant tree from a distance. Towering over the whole island like some sort of god. It was only when she and Auron had gotten up close enough to see the stone, that she had realized that it was not in fact - a tree. So far the two of them had only made it to the 20th floor, and looking at the height Rikku knew they had many floors to go. In fact upon reaching the fifteenth floor and realizing how many floors they still had to go Rikku had promptly named the tower Iutycyr Tower. Which in the Al Bhed tongue was the word for phantom. And the tower did seem like a phantom, a beast to defeat and conquer.

Auron was not here with her now. He had decided to stay back in the ship with Naimi who had seen the vast wasteland of sand and decided promptly that she didn't really want to come with. Rikku didn't really blame her daughter. Naimi was too young to properly remember or have an emotional connection to the sands like Rikku and Gippal did. Instead she, like her mother preferred water and jungle. Beach sand was okay, only because it was not endless and could be escaped. But here in the desert there was no escape, sand would get everywhere. A promise of what could not be completely washed off.

To give Naimi something to do Auron had taken her to the dueling ground he had installed inside the airship, promising to teach her more sword play. This had excited Naimi to such a point that by the time they had landed she was practically pushing her mother out the door so that she and her father could be alone. Naimi's loved learning combat. And Rikku was glad her daughter could learn it without the fear of Sin.

Adopting Naimi had been a blessing in disguise Rikku thought. When she and Auron had first married eight years ago she had been afraid to leave her husband alone, terrified of what would happen if his body lost the fight and became a fiend. Now though, he had two grounding influences in herself and their daughter. Naimi had long ago been told of what Auron was - Rikku didn't want her finding out later on in life and resenting her for it, and didn't seem to mind that her father was an unsent. At first she had been distant about it and a little afraid, which Auron had to remind Rikku was normal. But eventually their daughter had come around. It was nice to know that she could leave her husband now, and not have to worry. Naimi could handle herself after all. For the most part anyway.

Having two parents who were constantly moving around and exploring meant that Naimi had grown up near danger at almost all times. A bunch of parenting manuals that Rikku had read in the first few weeks of adoption had all said that this was bad. But as someone who had grown up fighting off the fiends of the desert, and then fiends in the water too - Rikku didn't really see what the harm in it was. Parenting manuals, Rikku had eventually discovered - were mostly rubbish anyway, "Hurry your ass up!" Gippal called out to her.

Far afield Gippal was standing on a sand dune looking at her as she climbed up toward him, "Don't you tell me to hurry!"

"I'll tell you to do whatever I want."

"Oldest doesn't mean you get to shout commands." She reached the top of the dune and glared at him.

"Come on cec. Don't glare at me like that."

Over that last few years her relationship with Gippal had repaired itself. It wasn't perfect, but they had reached a point where they were able to go sphere hunting together and were mostly able to not get truly annoyed at each other. Mostly. What they were doing right now was just gentle ribbing between family members. Rikku's eyes softened and she stared down the dune and into what looked like a valley - looked being the key word. What she was really seeing was a huge sandstorm that whipped up inside the valley's bowl.

The sand was so thick that she could see less than a few inches in front of her. The bottom of the valley a mystery to her. The crest of the dune that made up the top most edge of the valley seemed to curve around to form a protective half shell, and then eventually sloped downward into the valley. The sandstorm too followed the inside wall of the valley, and then stopped where the valley once again met desert at the beginning of that slope. Beyond that the valley seemed to be a giant basin with no entrance but the sloped area, "What are we looking at exactly?" Rikku asked.

"Put on your sand goggles and you'll see." Gippal answered her.

Sand goggles were a new invention, they filtered out the fuzz produced by sand and allowed you to almost see through the storms. They were used in abundance out in the desert and the Al Bhed that worked here were very fond of them. Nhadala, who had invented them, made a pretty penny off their sales every time a new exploration into the desert occurred. Some people even bought them as fashion accessories. Rikku thought this was honestly ridiculous considering how much they cost. It hadn't stopped Naimi for asking for a pair though. Rikku put the goggles over her eyes and once again peered into the valley. What she saw blew her away.

Instead of what she expected to see - which was cracked stone and dust, maybe a few desert trees, Rikku found herself looking down into a valley filled with cactus. And, if she stayed where she was and didn't move - sometimes a small cactus looking creature would run between the larger ones. It didn't take long for her to realize that her brother had stumbled upon a Cactuar home. For the most part Cactuar were harmless cactus creatures that only attacked when threatened and that usually choose to run away in battle instead of fighting back. They were also very mysterious. She had run into a few while collecting her weapon Godhand, but had also learned nothing about them in the process. Everyone knew where fiends came from, but what little fights they had gotten into with Cactuar made it very obvious that they were not fiend but instead some sort of other creature. Which up until this moment hadn't had a known home or place of origin, "Holy chocobos."

"That's what I said." Gippal told her.

"This is - this is amazing."

"I also said that. Think of how much recognition we are going to get for this."

"We can't tell anyone about this." Rikku said with finality.

"What?"

"Weeellllll… maybe Benzo." He was a strange teenager who worked on her ship that had been working on learning the Cactuar language, "But no one else."

"Why not?" Gippal looked ready for a fight.

"Because people like to poke at things. Heck I like to poke at things. I don't want to disturb their way of life. They deserve peace, just like we did."

While she knew her brother didn't like what she had said, she could tell just by the way his eyes softened that he agreed with her. Despite that, she had been right - she did like poking at things and getting Benzo down here to try to translate and talk to the Cactuar didn't seem like a bad idea. She was sure that the Cactuar had a different view of history and the world around them compared to all Spirans, and she was curious to see what it was like. What would something that had been around for so long, and seen everything from such a small height tell them?

A rumble under their feet alerted both herself and Gippal to the fact that something was coming. A second later a large Sand Worm erupted out of the ground in front the entrance to the Cactuar home. There were a lot of tiny cries and nonsense chatter as the Cactuar's exclaimed in fright at the huge fiend. Pulling the neck of her sand poncho over her mouth Rikku looked at her brother, "Well come on."

"I'm not going down there!" Gippal exclaimed.

"You fought Vegnagun once upon a time. This is just a measly sandworm. It will help earn their trust for when we come back." As she said this she was already running forward to the slope.

Rushing after his sister as she slid down the sand slope Gippal yelled, "I thought you said we were not going to poke!"

"We're not. We're going to talk. Hopefully. If Benzo actually can do what he says he can." Rikku told him.

"Whatever you say."

They came to a quick stop in front of the giant sand worm and Rikku threw two ice gems at the giant monster. It brushed off the attack and turned to face Rikku and Gippal who had taken up defensive positions, "Cover me!" Rikku said.

"Wha-"

But he didn't have any time to finish what he was going to say. A second later the sandworm sent a wad of mucus his way and he had to jump backward to avoid it. Sometimes he didn't exactly get how his sister got them into these sort of scrapes. She had done it as a young girl, and now a young woman she still seemed to be able to get them into trouble no matter the situation. Gippal pulled out two small pistols and rapid fired into the belly of the worm. Each shot sunk into the giant's stomach with a shuddering noise that was honestly disgusting. Next to him a bright light reached the edge of his vision and disappeared. Turning he found Rikku had changed into one of her dressphere outfits, "Never leave home without it!" She exclaimed.

She stored her gun and pulled out two more Gems. These Blessed Gem's were different than the Elemental Gems that she normally used. In her many travels she had started picking up newer more powerful Gems. Her current favorites replicated the effects of Yuna's Holy spell and were ridiculously strong compared to her current Elemental Gems. Combine that with the tinkering she had done on her alchemist outfit - which now allowed all non elemental damage to do double damage, and Rikku thought she was doing okay for herself. She threw the two gems into the air and watched as they released two very powerful Holy spells. The sandworm honestly never had a chance.

As the pyreflies cleared so did the sand behind them. The small show they had put on, of protecting the Cactuar's had worked. The protective barrier of sand slowly came to a stop leaving the whole valley clear. Now she could see tiny Cactuar running between large cacti, stopping in front of one before running to another. Each time they stopped they would let out sounds as if they were talking to the bigger cactus that were clearly rooted to the ground. The bigger cactus would then shake it's branches in response. Upon witnessing this Rikku slowly realized that the bigger cactus were Cactuar too. Just ones that were much older. Now she knew she had to get Benzo over here to translate.

Still, she didn't want to fully engage them just yet. Not when a few misplaced words could undo everything. Trust was earned after all. A split second decision was made to leave them as they were. Grabbing her brother's arm she tugged him up the dune to small protests. Once she was above the valley once more she yelled down at the Cactuar,"Be safe. We'll be back. I want to know everything about your people. We'll keep your home a secret!" She hoped that they understood her in that moment.

A loud chorus of noise came from the valley that Rikku thought sounded positive, and then the sand started up once more. Rikku couldn't wait to get home and share what she had found with Naimi, the girl would be very put upon that she hadn't come. Auron would admonish her a little for running in without thinking, but she thought that he too would be happy to know of what they had found. Or at least moderately impressed. There was so much history to be discovered in this sand and Rikku couldn't wait to get to the bottom of it. Not until as Yuna's Coronation was over though, of course.

A/N: Bits and pieces for this episode:

Cec: Is Sis in Al Bhed.

Iutycyr Tower: Is a bonus dungeon from FFX2 Last Mission. It contains the superboss Major Numerus.