Chapter 3: Swimming is Fun

Charlie awoke to a dull ache in her gut, and a forest of ankles around her. She sat up and looked around long enough to notice that she was now on some kind of ship, but then one of her captors noticed that she was awake, and the scenery became the least of her worries. The dazed girl got to her feet, but then one of the commandos shoved her roughly and barked a command in the same strange language from earlier. "Hey, that hurt, you jackass!" she growled, but he ignored her and continued babbling at her, waving his gun in a threatening manner. "Hey, whatever dude. You've got the gun, so you call the shots."

Just then, a hatch opened, and the mystery girl from the temple and a heavily tattooed man in suspenders and a blond Mohawk emerged from below decks. Charlene stared searchingly at them, hoping that they weren't going to change their minds and cut her into fish bait, and finally Tattoo-Boy spoke up. Apparently, it was some kind of search order, because the commandos hauled her to her feet and briskly patted her down. "Hey, don't get so familiar!" she hissed, as she pulled free from their grip.

After that ordeal was over, the tattooed moron started making swimming motions, grunting like an animal all the while, and Charlie eyed him suspiciously, wondering if he had any marbles under his stupid haircut. "Riiiight…" she said, inching back a step.

He gaped at her in what she supposed was a bewildered expression, but it was hard to tell with the goggles in the way. "Tu oui hud cbayg?" he asked, before pointing at some strange silver necklace and grunting again.

The now-irate girl's indigo blue eyes flashed angrily, but she smiled brightly and said, "Oh look, a trained monkey!"

The acid in her voice must have been obvious, because Tattoo-Boy shrieked something in his language, and the man in the gas mask pointed his rifle at her chest. "Boy, I've really stepped in it now, haven't I?" she thought, mentally kicking herself as she closed her eyes and waited for a bullet.

Suddenly, the pink-clad commando girl called out in the peculiar tongue, stopping the situation, and turned to Charlie and said, "He said you can stay if you make yourself useful!"

Charlene's eyes flew open in surprise, and she stared down at the much shorter girl in disbelief. "You speak English! Why didn't you say anything before?"

Before she could get a response, however, one of the lackeys shoved her, causing her to stumble and almost fall on her face. "Hey, I'll work already, so stop pushing me!"

She turned back to the mystery girl, and said, "Well, what do you guys want me to do?"

"We found some ancient ruins right beneath us. They're not active now, but there should still be some power left. We're gonna go down there to activate them, and then we should be able to salvage the big prize!" she chirped.

"Sounds like fun," Charlie sarcastically replied, but it was lost in her "partner's" enthusiasm.

"Okay, let's get to work!"

…

A little while later, the two girls jumped ship and quickly swam into the depths of the ocean. "Jesus Christ! I must have the lung capacity of a damn sperm whale or something!" Charlie thought after she realized she'd been underwater for almost fifteen minutes without needing a breath. "That freaky little kid really did a number on me, didn't he?"

They managed to get into the ruins without too much difficulty, and after pushing several buttons to get the unfamiliar equipment to work; Charlie resorted to force and bashed the machinery into submission. "I guess violence IS the answer!" she thought, trying not to snicker and accidentally drown herself as the ancient console slowly came to life.

Various lights came on, and a rather large school of piranha-like fish emerged from the tunnel behind them. The two girls managed to dispatch the little monsters without too much difficulty, and once they finished their work, made their way back to the entrance. Suddenly, as if from nowhere, a gigantic blue octopus appeared and lashed out at the two girls with its many tentacles. They managed to evade the attack, but before they could retaliate, the beast quickly swam to the other side of the room, effectively blocking the exit. Charlie watched it carefully for a moment, and then turned to her companion, pointed at her, then at the squid. The mystery girl nodded her assent, and the two of them split up, hemming in their enemy with a pincer formation. After that, the battle was a fairly simple one, with the two girls attacking the octopus and trying to avoid its lashing tentacles as it attempted to defend itself. Its efforts were in vain, however, and it collapsed into a cloud of the unusual flickering lights, but not before it knocked Charlene into the wall.

Dazed and in pain, she drifted to the floor as her still unnamed partner quickly swam over to aid her. The commando girl pulled out a bottle of familiar-looking pale blue liquid, popped off the top, and held the open end against Charlie's aching ribs. Defying all logic, the strange substance plopped out of the bottle and rolled against her injured side, instead of dissipating in the seawater. Then it vanished and a surge of strength, much akin to that from the blue light back at the temple, flowed through her body, transforming a sharp pain to a dull ache in an instant! "What the hell is that stuff…and where have I seen it before?" Charlie wondered as she followed her partner out of the ruins and back toward the surface.

…

A little while later, they were back on the ship, and the men were talking excitedly amongst themselves…probably about the mechanical monstrosity the undersea lights had revealed. They walked back inside the ship, and Charlie started to follow, but one of them turned around, shoved her, and said something that most likely translated into "Keep your carcass out here!"

"I helped out, you know!" she muttered as the hatch slid shut.

They ignored her, so she went and plopped down on the deck, trying to ignore the insistent gnawing in her stomach. "Lousy slave-driving bastards!" she muttered angrily as she stared at the predawn sky.

Eventually, she found herself starting to doze off when someone kicked her in the shoulder. "Hey, what the hell was…" Charlene began, but stopped when she saw that it was the commando girl, and she had a plate of food in her hands. "Oh, wow! Thanks a lot!" she said, gratefully taking the tray.

The food was delicious, but unfortunately, it was also very spicy, which caught her off-guard and caused her to cough violently. The commando quickly tossed the choking girl a small canteen of water and said, "Oops, I forgot to mention it was spicy."

Charlie quickly finished off the water and got to her feet. "Thanks for the food. Really. So, uh…what's your name?"

"Rikku."

"I'm Charlene, but everyone just calls me Charlie. Hey, why didn't you say that you could understand me earlier?"

"I didn't get a chance to because everyone thought oui were a fiend!" Rikku replied.

"Uh…'we'?"

"Oh, 'oui' means 'you'."

"Right. Well, who are you guys anyway?" Charlie asked, happy to have a decent conversation at last.

Rikku paused for a long moment, clearly taken aback by the question. "We're Al Bhed…can't you tell?" Then she stopped and gave her a worried look. "You're not an Al Bhed-hater, are you?"

"Rikku, I don't even know what an Al Bhed is, so how can I hate you for that?"

Considering this, the Al Bhed girl thought for a moment, then asked, "Where are you from?"

"You got time for a long story?"

…

Charlene spent the next hour or so telling Rikku about her home, how she ended up in Zanarkand while Sin was attacking, and about Auron and the light, but she deliberately left out the fact that this was all supposed to be a video game. When she finished her tale, she turned back to Al Bhed, who just gaped at her, spiral green eyes wide with surprise. "Uh…Rikku? Did I say something wrong?"

"Charlie…you were near Sin, but don't worry, you'll be better in no time! They say that your head gets funny when Sin is near, so maybe you just had some kind of dream?"

"I had a dream?"

"Yeah, because of Sin's toxin."

"Are you sure about that, Rikku?" Charlie's tone was doubtful.

"Yeah, there is no Zanarkand anymore because Sin destroyed it a thousand years ago."

"But…I saw Sin attack Zanarkand! That couldn't have happened that long ago…could it?"

Rikku nodded sadly, and Charlene shoved a stray lock of black hair out of her face and sighed, "Now what am I gonna do?"

"You should go to Luca!" the commando suggested. "There are lots of people there, so maybe someone will know who you are, or you'll see someone you recognize."

"Luca? Okay, you've just lost me again."

The Al Bhed shook her head and paced around for a bit, but finally came back and said, "Just leave it to me! I'll get you to Luca, I promise!" When Charlie nodded in agreement, she continued to speak. "Okay, I'll go tell the others, so just wait here."

Rikku started to leave, but then quickly turned around and said, "Oh, and whatever you do, don't tell anyone you're from Zanarkand. Yevon says it's a holy place, so you might upset someone."

"Whatever." Charlie didn't know what a "Yevon" was, but she figured that Rikku knew what she was talking about, so she wasn't about to argue. "I don't know what everyone's deal is, but Zanarkand looked about as 'holy' as New York or Los Angeles."

Satisfied with the "sick" girl's answer, Rikku went back inside, leaving Charlene alone with her thoughts, which were becoming increasingly irritated. Sin? Luca? Yevon? This place was one oddball event after another and it was really grating on her nerves. Finally, the reluctant "hero" kicked an unoffending piece of equipment and yelled, "Damn it, this really sucks!"

Suddenly, the ship started shuddering violently, and the Al Bhed hurried onto the deck, screaming all kinds of things, but the only word Charlie could make out was "Sin". "Oh, joy!" she groaned as a jet of water violently burst from the surface of the sea.

While the crew panicked, the huge spray of water worked its way toward the ship, and then disappeared as Sin went under it. The salvage vessel shook again, and Charlie slipped and fell over the side! Upon hitting the water, she a whirlpool engulfed her, instantly sucking her into the blue darkness. "You know, I'm REALLY starting to get tired of this losing consciousness routine…"