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Part Six: The final Guardian
After they had obtained the Aeon from Djose Temple they set out for the Moonflow. The fiends were giving them less trouble and they were making good time. After only a few days they were nearing the crossing point. Fox had been told that people crossed the Moonflow on huge elephant like creatures called shoopufs. Ever since Fox had heard about them he had been overcome with a childish need to see one. They sounded like something out of a fairy tale or bed time story.
Auron had told them about how Jecht had attacked one while he was drunk on his previous pilgrimage. It was a pretty amusing story, but Fox noticed a layer of sadness to Auron's words. Fox thought Auron missed Jecht and Braska more than he was letting on.
When they finally reached the crossing place Fox laid his eyes on a shoopuf and he couldn't help but smile. It reminded him of a huge dog. When Fox was done observing the creature he entered a small building to join the others. Fox saw thier faces and knew something was wrong.
"What happened?" Fox asked as he put his hand on his sword. Yuna saw this and spoke immediatly.
"Oh, nothing dangerous. Somebody just told us to be careful again. They said that summoners were vanishing again." She told him. He took his hand off the sword and noticed a look of relief on her face.
"Thats three times now. Who do you think is abducting the summoners?" Lulu asked.
"Probably those worthless Al bhed. Those heatens think they can do whatever they want to, ya!" Wakka said in disgust. Fox was beggining to get sick of Wakka's constant complaining about the Al bhed.
"It doesn't matter who it is, all you should concern yourself with is protecting your summoner." Auron told him. A few minutes later they were on the shoopuf making thier way to the other side of the Moonflow. While the others talked about nukes and machina cities and things Fox was taking in the view.
This world was not like his, the air was so much cleaner. There hadn't been a machine in a thousand years and it made the air smell...different. The Moonflow was a truly spectacular sight, vast and beautiful with pyreflies rising out of it. Fox saw why the hypellos liked to live here.
It was right then that Fox smelled it, oil. He was only able to detect it because he hadn't yet this entire trip. It just stood out in this world. He got to his feet and scanned the horizion only to see nothing.
"Fox? Whats wrong?" Yuna asked. Just as the last word escaped her mouth a huge mechanical tentacle snatched her from
the shoopuf. It took a minute for the others to register what had happened, but by then Fox was already in the water.
The machina was huge and Fox knew it wouldn't be easy to take the thing down.
Before long Wakka and Tidus had joined him as they were the only other ones able to fight competently underwater. They surrounded the machina as it lashed its tentacles out at them viciously. Fox dodged one of them while he brought his sword down on it. The tentacle was severed quite easily as Fox evaded another one.
Wakka made a mad dash towards the things middle section while Fox took this chance to weave his way to a hatch on the machina. He stuck his sword into it and began to slash away at it. He heard a scream from inside, a young womans scream. He wasn't expecting that. He summoned Lucavi to increase his strength and ripped the rest of the hatch off. he pulled the girl from the machina and dragged her to the surface.
He reatched the shore and tossed the girl into a tree. He put his sword to her chest and looked her in the eye. She was terrified.
"Who are you!" Fox screamed at the shaking girl..
"i'm R-rikku!" She stammered in fear.
"Well Rikku, why were you after summoners?" Fox asked as he towered over her. She was about to respond when Fox heard Tidus's voice.
"Rikku? What are you doing here?" Tidus asked confused.
"You two know each other?" Fox asked.
"Uh, yeah. She was with the Al bheds that found me when i first came to Spira." Tidus said. The others were catching up as Fox asked his next question.
"You never answered me Rikku, why are you after summoners?" Fox said as he brought his blade to her throat. He wanted an answer before the others could intervine. Again she was only seconds away from responding when Yuna cut her off.
"Whats going on? Who is that?" Yuna said as the rest of the team arrived.
"This was the person in the machina." Fox said as he turned to ask again before he was stopped a third time.
"R-Rikku? is that you?" Yuna asked as she walked closer. "It is!"
"Yuna, can i talk to you alone for a minute?" Rikku asked as she eyed Fox fearfully.
"Um, i suppose so." Yuna said as she and Rikku walked a few feet away and talked. Fox put his sword away and leaned against a tree.
There was some thing wrong here, this Rikku girl would not have gone through all this trouble to catch summoners for no reason.
Yuna and Rikku walked back to the others after a mintue and Yuna shocked them all.
"I want Rikku to be my guardian." Yuna told them. They all looked at each other wondering the same thing. Rikku was pretty frail looking and Fox didn't think she would be too helpful in a fight. Auron made his way to Rikku and looked her over.
"If that is what you want Yuna." he said as he continued down the road to Guadosalam. The others looked like they might protest until Auron spoke again.
"Lets get moving, we're nearly there." he called to them from down the road. They followed suit and were once again heading towards Guadosalam.
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When he reached the Guado town, Gray Fox was repulsed by it. He wasn't sure why exactly, he just knew that bad things would happen here. It was a gloomy place and it seemed dark to him. It reminded him of the room he trains in with Lucavi, it had the same feel to it. The first thing they did was check into an inn and get some well needed rest.
The next day they were greeted by a Guado named Tromell as soon as they left the inn. The Guado told them that Seymour wanted an audience with them later. The Guado seemed important enough but Fox knew he was little more than a servant. While everyone else was talking about Seymour and his invitation Gray Fox's mind was else where.
He was thinking about the Farplane. He wasn't sure if he really wanted to go there after all. He didn't know if he was ready to face the dead. He was pondring this all day when he was tapped on the shoulder.
"What?" he said, a little angry that someone had disturbed his thinking. He saw that it was Rikku and noticed that she was still very afraid of him.
"I just wanted to introduce myself properly. Yuna told me all about you and i wanted to make sure we got off on the right foot." she said not meeting his eye.
"Sorry about putting the sword to your throat Rikku. I thought you were my enemy." Fox replied.
"It's okay, i did attack you after all. So do you ever lighten up or are you just like Auron?" she asked cheerily. She had become much less timid now and was practically bouncing around for the next hour or so while she bombarded him with questions. Eventually Fox got tired of it and asked the group something.
"Can we just go to Farplane?" Fox asked. He still wasn't sure if he was ready for it but he was sure of one thing. He was sick of Rikku's endless wave of questions.
"Ah, whats the matter Fox? I thought you and Rikku were having fun, ya." Wakka snickered. Fox gave him a death glare and he went pale.
"Fox is right, we should go. Cmon every one, lets get going." Yuna said as she made her way down a path. Within minutes thay had reached the stairs the lead to it. The group started up them but Fox noticed Auron and Rikku didn't follow.
"Auron, Rikku? Why'd you stop?" Fox asked.
"I'm not ready for the Farplane yet." said Auron as he sat down.
"I think memories should stay memories." Rikku said as she sat down as well. Fox shrugged and followed the others. He was simply amazed at what he saw.
They were standing on a small piece of rock overlooking a magnificent sight. Massive waterfalls and lush greenery were below, Fox saw how people could think of this place as the after life.
He heard Yuna say that you just have to think about someone in order for them to appear. He was fairly sure no one he knew would come because they hadn't died in Spira but he tried all the same. He closed his eyes and envisioned him. When he opened his eyes he was taken by suprise. Standing before him in midair was a transparent Big Boss.
"Is it really you?" Fox asked as he stared in shock. Fox knew these apparitions couldn't speak back but he had asked the question none the less. Big Boss's ghost smiled at him.
"Been a long time, Null." Big Boss replied. Fox stared at the ghost speechless.
"Don't think i've forgotten how you failed me. If you had been able to kill Snake then Outer Heaven could have become a reality! How could you have been so weak!" Big Boss taunted as Fox felt his guilt rip at him inside.
"No, it wasn't my fault!" Fox said loudly as he fell to his knees, memories washing over him.
"Don't try to pawn off the blame soldier! You were too weak to protect me and now look where we are. One of us dead and the other talking to a ghost." Big Boss said as he faded away. Fox looked up and saw too different ghosts now, the last two people he ever wanted to see again.
"Monster!" cried one of the ghosts.
"What have you done with our little girl?" sobbed the female ghost. Fox looked at Naomi's parents and lost control. He began shaking uncontrolably and fell flat on his face. He could hear evil laughter as his vision blacked out.
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Fox woke up and looked around. He was back in the room of statues.
"Hunter, we have called you hear to deliver a warning. The beast you are ment to kill is mustering its strength to stop you." spoke the statues.
"What do you mean?" Fox asked.
"In the Farplane you felt it's madness. It has summoned a vessel to kill you. It is a shadow of great power. The shadow has broken through the barriers and it is coming for you. Do not let your guard down, even though it is a mere shadow its power is great." spoke the statues.
"It's sending sinspawns after me?" Fox asked the statues.
"No. This shadow is nearly as old as the beast. It is the beast's most powerful servant. It is devoid of a soul and lives only to serve its master." Spoke the statues. Fox was about to ask another question when he woke up again, this time in a bed. He looked around and saw the others standing over him.
"Wake up sleepy head." said Rikku. Fox saw that even she did not have a smile on her face.
"How long was i out?" Fox asked as he sat up.
"A couple hours. We already went to Seymour's little dinner party. You'll never guess what happened there." Tidus told him. Fox noticed that Tidus had a small amount of anger in his voice.
"What happened now?" Fox said as he stood up.
"Before we tell you we have to talk about what happened at the Farplane." said Lulu.
"What do you mean?" Asked Fox stupidly.
"The pyreflies talked to you. We heard them, but that dosen't make any sense. Your not from Spira so they shouldn't have even been in the Farplane." Yuna said.
"I know why they were there. Sin did it to toy with me." Fox said. The others looked at him suspiciously.
"How can you be sure?" Auron asked.
"I was told so." Fox said simply.
"Your not telling us something." Auron guessed.
"True, but you still have some secrets of you own don't you Auron? I'll keep mine as long as you keep yours, but nevermind about that.
What happened with Seymour?" Fox asked.
"The guado maester has asked Yuna to marry him." Auron said. Fox knew immediatly that something was out of order here.
"I'm going to pay our guado friend a little visit." Fox said as he made for the door.
"Wh-wait! What are you going to do?" Yuna asked.
"I'm going to find out whats going on here. Theres something wrong about Seymour and i'm going to discover what it is." Fox said.
"No, don't do that! You sound like your gonna do something violent." Yuna said.
"I'll do what i have to." Fox said.
"You realize you won't be able to continue with us if you do this? All of Yevon will be against you." Auron said.
"You'll be seeing me again soon enough i'm sure. I'll catch up to you guys after i get to the bottom of this." Fox said as he walked out onto the streets of Guadosalam. He didn't know why he was so sure Seymour was worth all of the inevitable hell he would have to pay for this, he just knew this was what he had to do.
He walked through the city and felt the guado's eyes on him so he went to the Farplane. He went far enough inside it to where they couldn't see him and kneeled. He summoned Lucavi's power and created a double of himself. He sent the puppet back out and had it walk around the town aimlessly to draw eyes off of the real him.
He got to his feet and again used Lucavi to make him invisible. He headed towards the maester's house and stood outside its doors. He felt magic coming from the door and walked a few feet to the right and was now in front of the house's outer wall. Fox touched the wall used Lucavi to pass through it.
He came out in a hallway and sensed his surroundings. He could feel Seymour's presense upstairs and he set off towards it. He made his way to the room and passed throught the door. He looked around and saw Seymour sitting down across the room. He walked silently until he was right behind the guado and put his hands on the maesters head.
He dug into Seymour's head and saw all the evil guados memories. He saw the young maester kill his own father. He saw Seymour's plan to become Sin, which led him to the what the final summoning meant. Fox left the guado's mind as he drew his sword, still invisible. Seymour stood up and looked around for the one who had invaded his mind.
As soon as he stood up however, a sword was thrust through his chest. He fell to the ground with a grunt as Fox removed his invisibilitiy.
"I won't allow scum like you to manipulate me or Yuna. Enjoy your Death." Fox said as he removed the maester's head with a slash of his sword. Seymour was able to get off a spell before his death however, as a loud crash from a thunder spell sent the door flying off its hinges. Fox cursed the dead guado, Seymour had cast the loudest spell he could in the hopes that the other guados would kill Fox while he tried to escape.
Fox dashed down the hallway until his path was blocked by dozens of guados. Fox lept down the stairs and ran into a large room that appeared to be a dead end. Fox cursed as he turned around and prepared to fight his way out. Guados started swarming into the room as Fox used Lucavi to decapitate several right off the bat. He then threw himself at the guados and began to chop and stab them.
He stabbed one guado through the chest as another swung its sword at him. He shot a dark spike of energy useing Lucavi from his free hand which made a hole in the guado a foot wide. He cut a guados arm off as he dodged a blade and put his sword through a downed guado's head. There were far too many of the however and he was being overwhelmed. He blocked as many as he could but eventually he caught a sword in his sholder.
He tried to pull back but the guado twisted the blade as Fox stabbed the guado in the face. A second later he felt another sword in his back, that pain was quickly forgotten as another sword was plunged into his right lung. He dropped to his knees defeated and looked up at the guados. He saw them draw back thier swords before he heard a voice in his head.
"WEAKLING!!!!!" shouted Lucavi as it sent a wave of crushing dark energy from his body. The wave pushed the guados back and broke many of thier ribs. The guados looked at him in shock as they saw a dark outline of transparent energy surround him. He went on a rampage and began to devestate the guado warriors..
The guados watched in horror as they saw Lucavi peel flesh from the bone. The beast let out an malevolent laugh as it tore one poor guado in half. Limbs and gore were sent flying in all directions as the few guados that could move were trying desperatly to escape. Lucavi created a darkness barrier and trapped them as he lashed out at a terrified guado and split his gut open. Lucavi finished off the few remaining guado by shooting darkness spikes up from the gound of the entire room.
Fox saw that Lucavi had healed his wounds as well. Why had the beast helped him of its own will? Fox would worry about this later however, as he heard more guados coming. He quickly used Lucavi to become insivible again and passed through the walls until he was outside. He mad his way for the thunder plains to plan his next move.
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It had only been a few hours but Fox had already made it through the Thunder Plains with ease. Lucavi was becoming more and more useful as he became more skilled with it. Fox was on the outskirts of the Macalania Woods when he decided it was time to conract the others. He focused Lucavi and located them, they were still at the Guadosalam inn which was good. They were all in the same room talking as Fox used Lucavi to contact them.
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Rikku was joining the others in a discussion about Grey Fox and Seymour.
"I can't believe he actually attaked the Maester." Yuna said.
"I don't like sayin this about a maester, but if Fox attacked him there must have been a good reason, ya." Wakka said darkly.
"Wakkas right, Fox must have discovered something very sinister for him to act as he did." Lulu said.
"either way we'll have to be careful now, the guados may give us trouble. We sho-" but Auron stopped when he saw a dark circle appear on the floor of the inn. Fox materialized in it, but it was not the Grey Fox they were used to. It was like his shadow as it was completely black with no features or eyes.
"Hello everyone." Fox said.
"What the heck!? Is that you Fox?" Rikku asked.
"Yes, i'm quite aways ahead of you guys and i thought it was time i let you know what happened." Fox told them.
"We know what happened, you attacked the maester and killed alot of guados. We saw what you did to them, it was...horrible," Yuna said.
"Let me explain. I mad my way into Seymour's room undetected. I discovered that he had killed his own father to become maester. He also had a very grim reason to wed you." Fox said. He decided Auron should know, as he was probably the only one who knew about the sacrifice the Final Summoning required. Fox used Lucavi to put the knowledge in the guardians mind.
"I decided Seymour was too dangerous to be left alive, so i killed him. Complications arose whe-" Fox said but he was cut off.
"Killed him? We saw him eariler today, hes not dead." Rikku said confused.
"Impossible, i cut off his head. Are you sure you saw him?" Fox asked.
"Yes, im 100 sure. It was the maester." Yuna told him. Fox had underestimated Seymour, the guado must have great power to survive the removal of his head.
"That complicates things. I'm making my way to Macalania lake now, i'll wait there for you. All of you will then head for the temple while i follow unseen. If you get into a fight you can't handle i'll join in but i hope i won't need to. The longer i can stay in the shadows for now the better." Fox explained.
"How long do you plan on staying out of sight?" asked Rikku. Fox hesitated before answering.
"I don't know. Something is coming after me, something powerful. Some sort of great shadow, it would be safer if i fought it in a secluded place." Fox told them.
"Something after you, something strong? Well then you should definatly stay with us! What if it kills you!?" Rikku protested.
"I get the feeling this thing is pretty big. It's only after me so if the rest of you are with me it puts you in unessecary danger." Fox said as his shadow faded away. Rikku looked at it angrily.
"How stubborn! He could get killed. He'd be much safer with us!" Rikku said as she stormed out of the inn.
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There ya go. Once again i apologize for taking so long. I just needed to get back in a ff x mood you know.
Any guesses at what the shadow monster could be? Ha, i can't tell you for a while cause it'll give away the ending but you might be able to figure it out.