Hey. I'm back, with the much dreaded chapter 3. New summary: Two years after the defeat of Sin, something worse appears in Spira. Can Yuna and some of her guardians, save Spira before it is too late? Its slowly becoming Aurikku. Still rated T. Characters will probably be out of character, and this will be AU.
I'll thank my anonymous reviewers now.
Zombie Slayer Leon: Thanks for reading and reviewing. Glad you liked it. Puzzles and BOWs well I can't make you any promises there. I'll say maybe.
Zombies R'us: I'm happy that you like it. You're wanting some tips on how to defeat the guy with his eyes sewn shut and has the long claws in the prison area of RE:4 huh? Okay… hmmm, what do we know about him? He's wearing gladiator like armor, and a helmet right? He is also blind right? He has a parasite attached to his back right? Okay what about the surroundings? We're in a room with a cell, stairs, and bells right? His armor will make him a lot tougher to beat from the front, and head shots are out because of the helmet. He's blind and can hear very well, so walking instead of running is a good idea. What about the bells, they will make a loud noise if you shoot them, so why not give it a try? Some advice: Use the riot gun, or assault rifle when you shoot him, unless you are wanting a long battle. Remember the parasite is the key to defeating him.Tips on the chainsaw maniacs, okay. Hmmm… Never get too close, one attack from these guys and girls can kill you. Next tip, if you have hand grenades use them. Last tip, never use anything less powerful than the shotgun or if you don't have a very powerful weapon you will want one that fires pretty fast. I've killed them with the Blacktail handgun before, after upgrading it all the way, that was on a new game though after beating it once. If you have the Broken Butterfly or Killer7 when fighting them it probably would make it a lot easier, but you don't get the BB or Killer7 until late in the game. The TMP is another gun that is okay to use against them because of its speed, of course it would drain you of ammo for that gun using it, but enough hits from it would almost kill anything. Or if you have the Red9 and have it upgraded all the way it can be a handy weapon to use, of course its slow but its also powerful and when you are against these guys you either want speed or power.
Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy X, and I never will... Although if anyone has any good ideas for kidnapping Auron... Oh and The Bevellian Biohazard Countermeasures Service members are inspired by Umbrella's Biohazard Countermeasures Service in the Resident Evil games. I do not own the Resident Evil movies or games. I do not own Shaun of the Dead, or the feature found on the Shaun of the Dead DVD fittingly titled "Funky Pete".
Chapter 3: Creepy Buildings, Books, and the Living Dead
"A precision tactical nuclear device." Punk says
"Did you say nuclear?" Rikku asks turning towards Punk.
"Yes."
"What yield?" She asks
"3 Kilotons." Punk says
"Funk me." Rikku says
"RIKKU!" Auron and Yuna both yell at once effectively scolding her.
"What? Its just an expression ya know."
About an hour later, the newly formed group of eight had decided to find out what they could about the epidemic and had separated into groups of two. The groups were Punk and Harry, Tom and Dick, Yuna and Tidus, and Rikku and Auron. Punk and Harry were taking the LPD building, Tom and Dick were taking the Governors Mansion, Yuna and Tidus were taking the Blitzball stadium and a few of the surrounding buildings, and Auron and Rikku were taking the Lucan Historical Society building. Each group had been given a link sphere so that they could communicate back and forth with the other groups.
It was quite a task, making it past several zombies and managing to get through all of the panicking people in the streets, but at last Auron and Rikku had made it to the Historical Society Building. The doors were locked, but that didn't stop the dynamic duo from making an entrance via the window. It was dark inside, the only light was coming through the window from the street lamps outside. The lighting was casting an eerie glow throughout the room. Rikku scooted closer to Auron before moving behind him.
"Heh, heh this is giving me the creeps." she says grabbing onto his hand.
"You're the one who wanted to come here." he says almost smirking at the spooked Al-Bhed.
"Yeah, sure, whatever. Can we hurry up so we can get out of here." she says tightening her grip on his hand.
"Let's go." he says as he begins walking towards the closest table. She follows him looking at the papers scattered on the table before them. Auron walks over and begins turning the lights in the building on. Books are thrown all over what once was a nicely clean floor, papers scattered all over the tables, and one book has almost every page torn out of it.
"Has someone searched for something here already?"
"Maybe." he says as he picks up the book with almost every page torn out, he turns the book over and begins reading the title, "Spira's Religions."
"Huh? Why would someone tear the pages out of a book about the different religions of Spira?"
"I don't know." Auron says as he opens the book and begins reading through the only page left, the index. "Rikku what does this say?"
"Uh its Al-Bhed for The Hope for Spira." she says reading over the index its in Al-Bhed.
"What about this?"
"Yunalesca's Promise."
"Yunalesca has her own religion?"
"More of a cult of weird women." Rikku pipes in grabbing Auron by the hand, "I don't think anyone who doesn't belong in the Bevelle Asylum for the Criminally Insane would be in it."
"Okay, what does this say?"
"Dra Ahmekrdahat Uhac it means The Enlightened Ones." Rikku says.
"Are these Al-Bhed religions?"
"No. Ya know for a guy who has been dead and come back to life, you sure don't know much about us Al-Bhed."
"Humph." he says as he walks to the other side of the table and begins looking through loose pages.
"Ya don't have to get so mad about it. I was just telling you that you should know we are not religious people, but listen Auron, Pops used to tell me scary stories about Dra Ahmekrdahat Uhac and from what I remember some of their higher members had the power to resurrect the dead."
"Resurrect… hmmm, Rikku what else do you remember?"
"That's actually about all I remember. Pops would remember more."
"Do you believe that they could have somehow caused this?"
"I don't know, I'm just grasping at straws here."
"When we are done here, we need to have a talk with Cid."
"You said it. Now can we go talk to Pops?"
"Not yet. Did you notice what those guys called themselves?"
"Punk, Tom, Dick, and Harry?" Rikku asks, "Or do you mean The Bevellian Biohazard Countermeasures Service?"
"The last thing you said."
"Yeah, I noticed. Why?"
"Why would Bevelle have a biohazard countermeasures service?"
"Maybe they are working on something that's a biohazard?" Rikku says
"Exactly."
"So you think that Bevelle has discovered something or created something biological that could do this?" Rikku says
"Yes."
"Okay, we'll see what we can find here about that, but I bet we would have better luck searching for a cactuar needle in a Mi'hen haystack than we would have searching for something on something that Bevelle is doing." She says. He looks down and her and smiles a little.
"I am proud of you." he says. "But we are still looking."
"Awe thanks Auron. Ya know, when we were on the pilgrimage I always felt like I wasn't needed, like the only reason I was there was because Yunie is my cousin and she wanted me there. I wondered if you just let me join because Yunie wanted me to…
"Rikku…
"No Auron listen. I would be feeling like I wasn't needed or that I wasn't important to our party or like I just got in the way or like I couldn't do anything right or like I wasn't wanted… but then everyone let me know I was wanted, and you, sometimes you would tell me after a battle that you were proud of me or that I had done good, and it, it would make my day."
"Rikku who in our party could customize weapons?"
"I could."
"Who in our party knew how to use Al-Bhed potions?"
"I did."
"Who in our party was the thief?"
"I was."
"Who in our party could make powerful mixes?"
"I could. Auron, you're not that forgetful are you?"
"Yes, I have Farplane Amnesia." he says and her jaw drops. "No, I am trying to make a point."
"Okay."
"The point is, I don't think we could have done it without you. You were a very important member of our party."
"I know that now." she says.
"Okay." he says, "let's get started searching."
It takes about four hours to search the entire building and they find nothing on Bevellian research. Once they are finished Rikku takes a moment to pocket the potions and gil that was carelessly left in the desk drawer and then they start to leave the building. They make it to the window and notice a large crowd of zombies gathering on the outside. Suddenly one of the zombies notice them and begins trying to get in. Auron runs to a shelf and begins pushing it in front of the window. Rikku jumps in and helps him with the shelf and they begin barricading the door with another shelf.
"This won't keep them out for long. We need to find another way out of here."
"Does this place have a backdoor?"
"Yeah." Rikku says. They run for the back door. By the time they reach the backdoor several zombies have began making their way through the alley towards the backdoor. "What now?"
"I don't know." he says
"If we could only trap them in here we would be in luck." She says grinning. She turns looking for him and he has began looking for something in the room they had searched through. "What are you…
"Rikku do you still remember the fire spell?"
"Yeah. Why?"
"If we could get them in here we could burn them."
"Fire spells alone wouldn't burn this place fast enough to keep them in here. But the lamps on the tables here are made by us Al-Bhed. The wicks in these lamps draws up the oil in the bottom of these lamps, then once you light the wick they continue to draw up the oil so that the flame won't go out. The oil used in these lamps are pretty flammable." she says as she grabs the lamp, takes the globe off and then takes the part holding the wick off. She sniffs the oil in the lamp and smiles. "This is not the regular lamp oil, this is kerosene which is more flammable and a lot cheaper than the regular lamp oil."
"Okay." Auron says as he picks up another lamp. He throws the lamp at the wall, the glass fuel tank shatters and the kerosene splashes on the wall. Both begin grabbing the lamps from the tables and shelves around the room and breaking them in the floor by doors and windows. Before they finish the shelves in front of the window and door have been knocked down and the zombies have made their way into the building. Auron throws the last lamp on the shelf hitting the floor in front of a zombie and runs. He grabs Rikku's arm and begins pulling her away from the small side tables.
"Okay, I'm coming." she says as she tosses the lamp over her head not caring were it lands. As they run Auron knocks several lamps off of the shelves before grabbing one and tossing it at the door they are going to use as their escape route.
Suddenly zombies begin walking through that door too. Auron draws his sword and begins hacking through them as they try to make it out. More and more zombies pour through the doors trying to get to them. Rikku begins grabbing things off of the shelves and throwing at the zombies. The zombies keep coming forward.
Suddenly a zombie grabs one of Rikku's arms. She yelps as she whirls around drawing her gun and slams it into the zombies mouth. Then she begins trying to pull away from the zombie. The zombie won't let go of her arm.
"Rikku duck." Auron yells from somewhere behind. She obeys and his sword whizzes over her head slashing through her gun and the zombie's neck. It lets go of her arm before falling forward. They begin rushing towards the door as fast as they can with Auron in front using the side of his sword to knock zombies out of the way.
Finally they make it out of the building and down the alley into the street. A few zombies have followed but the most of them are still in the building. Rikku stops and begins casting fire spells inside the building while Auron protects her. After about four fire spells they begin running away from the building. Maybe a minute passes before the building explodes.
"That much kerosene wouldn't have done that. There must have been a larger fuel tank somewhere inside that we didn't see." she says as Auron looks at her and nods. They continue running towards the blitzball stadium.
They run for about an hour avoiding or killing what zombies they pass in the street. Soon they can see the stadium. They slow their pace and begin approaching it. Suddenly zombies begin pouring out onto the street.
"Uh Auron I left my gun in the building we blew up."
"I know." he says, "we'll get you another one. Try casting on them."
"Okay." she says. Then she casts fire spells at them. A few zombies catch on fire but it doesn't stop them. After a moment of burning a few of the zombies that are on fire falls and begins to crawl towards them. After a moment of crawling the zombie gets back up and continues to walk towards them. Since fire didn't work she casts a water spell drenching a few of the zombies and putting a couple of the ones that are still on fire out. The water doesn't phase them. Next she casts blizzard spell on them and again that doesn't phase them. Then she casts a thunder spell on them. The thunder spell gives the zombies a bit of a shock but it doesn't seem to do a lot of damage to them. "A lot of good that did."
"I see." he says. Suddenly she casts multiple water spells on them before casting a thundaga. This causes several of the zombies to collapse, and a few to become immobile for a moment. By the time the zombies on the ground have managed to stand up again several more have made it onto the streets. "There is too many of them."
"Yeah." Rikku says
"Can you cast while running?"
"I've never tried." She says. He picks her up and positions her until she can see around his arm, then he begins jogging away.
"Tell me when you feel like you are running low on mana energy."
"Okay." she says as she casts several more water spells followed by a thunder spell. After a while of this Rikku stops casting. "Tired."
"Okay." Auron says as he eases her out of his arms. They have ran for about an hour when they see a good sized group of zombies blocking the road ahead of them. They stop and look behind them, about three hundred feet behind them is the group of zombies from the stadium. Both begin searching frantically for an escape route. Auron grabs Rikku's arm and begins darting for the closest building.
It doesn't take them long to make it to the door, and to get it open. Once inside they begin pushing everything they can find in front of the door and window. Once they are barricaded in they begin searching for anything they can use. After going through a room that looks like a waiting area they take the only other route available, the stairs.
Upstairs they find several apartments. They make their way through two of the unlocked apartments before going into one and hearing a woman talking on the Sphere.
"…with news channel 12 reporting live from the Mi'hen Highroad Travel Agency. Again we report unconfirmed acts of violence from the citizens of Luca, we do not know what has caused this or how to stop it. Our only advice to anyone alive in the city is to try and make it out. Hold on, what?" she says as she stops talking. Another voice can be heard in the background but what it says is hard to understand. "It has just came in that the Grand Maester of Bevelle has authorized a sanitization of the city at eight PM tonight. What this means is a nuclear device of three kilotons will be launched tonight at eight PM. It will completely decimate the city. Again our advice to anyone alive in the city is, try and make it out. Huh?" Another voice can be heard in the background. "Shortly the Bevellian Chief of Security will be holding a press conference and news channel 12's very own Ethan Wills will be bringing you live coverage from Bevelle. Over to you Ethan."
"Thank you Sindel. How is it looking at the travel agency right now?"
"As you can see Ethan, everyone is in a panic. Several folks have came in injured, needing a healer. That's about it. What's going on there?"
"Well Sindel as you can see, several people are showing up. The Chief of Security has arrived and is waiting for everyone to get seated before starting his public announcement. Wait a minute, the Chief is stepping up to the podium." Ethan says and suddenly becomes quite. The crowd quiets down and the Sphere shows a tall man, with dark hair, wearing a blue uniform standing at the podium.
"Hello good citizens of Spira. I am sorry to announce that in less then 15 hours Luca will be destroyed. We do not know what has caused this, this epidemic in Luca. We claim no part in it. We have sent in 4 of our best Security Agents to investigate and try to clear the city of any dangers within its borders. Upon careful consideration the Grand Maester of Bevelle has issued an order of Nuclear Bombardment to Luca. His statement is that he cannot and is not willing to risk the lives of everyone everywhere else in Spira for the sake of one city already on the verge of destruction. If the team we have deployed in Luca can not stop the epidemic and clear the city of all dangers, in 24 hours a precision tactical nuclear device of 3 kilotons will be launched from the silo in Bevelle and will destroy Luca. We are sorry for all losses. At eight PM tonight the device will be launched unless the team reports back that all is safe. We offer our condolences for anyone who has lost a loved one due to this crisis. I am sorry but this is all the time I have. Our Junior Chief of Staff will be available in a moment to answer any questions you have." The man says on the Sphere. Auron turns the Sphere off and grabs Rikku by the arm.
"Rikku, we need to move on."
"Oh sorry." she says. They search that apartment, and the next before running out of unlocked doors to go in. They break into the rest of the apartments and find nothing usable. After the last apartment they make it into the back staircase. There's stairs that go up another floor labeled "Roof" but they go back to the first floor. Once back on the first floor they see that the zombies have made their way inside of the building and are blocking the exit. Auron grabs Rikku by the hand and they begin running back up the stairs. Once back to the second floor they run up the next set and out onto the roof. Its light outside now.
They walk over to the edge and look down to see a large group of zombies standing in the street below the building they are on and in front of the building over from it. There is a small walkway linking the building they are on and the next building. They walk across it and across the roof of the next building. The next building over has nothing connecting it to the one they are now on.
Rikku stands back from the edge before running at it. Then she jumps, making it across. Auron does the same. They walk across this roof and finally see stairs and ladders leading down to the ground. They climb down and make it back out on the street as fast as they can. Then they begin running away from the large group of zombies.
It doesn't take long for the zombies to notice them and to begin following them. While running Rikku glances at her wristwatch. "Auron its 9:30 AM."
"Okay." he says quietly. Rikku reaches out and grabs his hand.
"I hope Yunie and Tidus are alright."
"So do I."
"We can make it out of here. Our summoner party defeated Sin. If we can do that, which we did, we can definitely do this." she says. Auron looks behind them and suddenly begins to run faster. "What is it?"
"Look." he says glancing back again. Rikku looks back and her eyes widen.
"Oh shit, when did they learn to run?"