Eek! A shorty chapter! Sorry; I'm going to make the next chapter longer. I've got homework piling up, my birthday looming closer, and to top it all off I'm succumbing to some virus. Yippee. But, see, see? Before the 17th, like I promised. Now you'll have to wait til next week for more, cause I'm mean that way. 'runs away'
Chapter 6: Frantic Search
"What do you mean they're gone!"
The new Al Bhed charged with babysitting Rikku and Auron (and keeping quiet about it) stammered, "They were sitting on the floor one minute and gone the next. I've been looking everywhere, but I can't find them."
"They make enough noise to rouse the Farplane!" Cid roared, pulling out nonexistent hair from his head. He wandered around, tipping over buckets and anything large enough to hide two bodies, as if they were simply playing a really convincing game of Hide and Seek with the sitter. "How could you not have noticed them missing!"
"Enough!" Kimahri bellowed. Everyone turned to the Ronso, wide-eyed and still. "Shouting at woman not help find Auron and Rikku," Kimahri said sagely. "Find them with Kimahri's nose, with Al Bhed's cameras," he pointed to the machina attached to the walls, constantly spanning the halls.
"Kimahri is right," Lulu joined, her quiet voice loud in the silence Kimahri instilled. "Please, stay here in case the children come back," she told the babysitter. "Wakka, Yuna, go with Kimahri and see if you can find them with their scents. Tidus, Cid, and I will go to the maintenance and track their movements by the cameras."
Everyone split up, and the search began. Kimahri's nose led Yuna and Wakka to the hangar where the Flyers 4 and 5 awaited take-off. Cid, Tidus, and Lulu rushed into the control tower above them, breathing heavily.
"We tracked them to the hangar," Cid told the three over the intercom. "Start looking around here. They can't have gone far."
Yuna and Wakka began searching through the crates and niches, yelling out the children's names and earning some strange looks from the Al Bhed crew. Kimahri, however, strode purposefully to a spot in the center of the runway and paused. He sniffed twice, then asked an Al Bhed crewman suspiciously watching everything, "What here some time ago?"
The Al Bhed blinked, then hiked a thumb toward the incoming Flyer. "We launch the Flyers down the runway. We've already sent out 1 through 3."
"Yo," Wakka approached Kimahri, laughing nervously, "Kimahri, you don't think they were on a Flyer, ya?"
Kimahri blinked, then growled uncertainly. Wakka stared, then hung his head. "Oh, man. This is not good."
"How could they have launched one of the Flyers without noticing them?" Tidus raged on the airship, which flew at top-speed for the Moonflow. "They're two kids, they don't belong in a hangar, much less a questionable aircraft!"
"We use pressure sensors built into the seats to determine if our drones are seated," Cid answered, face in his hands; he didn't remember Rikku being this much trouble, it must be Auron's influence. That was it, it was all Auron's fault. He tried not to remember that Auron was three years younger than Rikku currently. "Combined, Rikku and Auron's weight must have been enough to pass the standard drone weight."
"It hasn't crashed yet," Yuna said, anxiously wringing her hands together. "Doesn't that mean the Flyer could have landed without a hitch?"
"Or it's still in the air," Lulu said bitterly, "ready to fall at any moment."
"Don't talk like that!" Tidus yelled. "Auron and Rikku aren't going to die! I won't let it!"
"How will you stop it?" Lulu shouted back. "You don't even know where they are!"
"At least I'm not some pessimistic downer just waiting for them to die!" Tidus accused.
"Hey, hey, stop it!" Wakka leapt to his feet when Lulu summoned a ball of fire to her hand. "None of this yelling is gonna find them for us. Lu, put that fire out. Tidus, get a grip, ya."
Tidus dropped his glare. "Sorry Lulu. I shouldn't have lost my temper."
Lulu sighed. "And I shouldn't have lost mine. Damn hormones—" Her hand slapped to her mouth, three seconds too late.
"Lulu," Yuna said cautiously, "is there something you want to tell us?"
Finding every eye aimed toward her (including the pilot's) Lulu gave in. "I'm three-weeks pregnant."
Wakka stared, mouth gaping and eyes a bit wider than normal. "You mean– I'm gonna be a dad in nine months?"
"Eight months and a week," Lulu replied firmly. "I'm not putting up with pregnancy any longer than I have to."
"Hey, congratulations!" Tidus slung an arm around Wakka's neck, though his smile was bittersweet with the children's absences. "You're gonna have a kid! Do a better job of parenting than my old man, alright?"
As hugs and congratulations were passed to the two parents-to-be, the pilot shouted, "Ay! E vuiht dra Vmoan!" (I found the Flyer!)
"Frana?" Cid jumped to attention, leaning over the pilot's shoulder (Where?).
"Tufh drana, hayn dra suidr uv dra Moonflow," the pilot answered (Down there, near the mouth of the Moonflow).
"Did you find the Flyer?" Yuna asked hopefully, leaning over the pilot's other shoulder. The pilot tried not to tip over with a nose-bleed as he realized the High Summoner--the High Summoner who had defeated Sin, no less--was incredibly close. He suspected Cid wouldn't appreciate an attempt to sniff his niece's perfume by his pilot.
Shaking his head as he remembered many of them didn't understand Al Bhed, Cid announced aloud, "We've found the Flyer 1. We're landing now, and hopefully we'll find them as we search on foot."
"Then let's go!" Tidus cried, running out of the bridge and ignoring Cid's call, "We haven't even landed yet!"
"Sometimes that kid just really makes me laugh," Wakka shook his head as everyone followed Tidus.
Ten minutes later, the adults had searched the entire area around the remarkably whole Flyer 1, with no signs of the children.
"Maybe they took a different Flyer," Wakka tried unhelpfully as they congregated by the Flyer, Tidus still searching the craft desperately. "There were two other Flyers after this one, ya?"
"The cameras showed them climbing into the Flyer 1," Cid snapped. "The cameras don't lie."
"Hey, Cid?" Tidus hollered from within the cockpit. "Do these things have chairs?"
"Just one," Cid answered.
"Well," Tidus popped his head out, "there isn't a chair here. What does that mean?"
Cid smacked his forehead. "It means they ejected! Rikku, my darling little princess, she must've figured out how to eject from the Flyer."
"Where land?" Kimahri growled.
"Depending on how far up they ejected, they could be anywhere within a fifty-mile radius." Cid took out a radio and shouted, "Ryc dra cbrana uclemmu-vehtan belgat ib yhodrehk?" (Has the sphere oscillo-finder picked up anything?)
Silence. Then the radio cackled, "Drnaa semac hundr uv ouin bucedeuh, Cid. Drana yna nacetiac uv puto rayd raytehk dufynt Guadosalam." (Three miles north of your position, Cid. There are residues of body heat heading toward Guadosalam.)
"Perfect," Cid huffed, jamming the radio into his pocket. "We go north, to Guadosalam. Hopefully we'll find them nice and easy in the open and not in some stinking Guado home."
"Then what are we waiting for?" Tidus shot out of the Flyer and ran for Guadosalam. "Rikku, Auron! We're coming!"
Okay, not much resolution/detail here, but I couldn't really add anymore without stealing material from the nextchapter. I have parts of it written, I just need to write the last half, which won't get done til the weekend. So...stay tuned.