Chapter 3 – Tragedy of the Ancient Machina
Rikku choked back a scream when the realization that this statue might be an ancient machina sunk in. Her vision tunneled only on this heaping Tonberry machina approaching her. Just as dumbfounded as her cousin, Yuna snapped out of their daze when the machina took a quick jab at her. She barely dodged it, getting knocked off her feet by the following crash of its arm into the moss-covered ground. A soft punch inflicted a gigantic dent into the solid stone floor. A wall of silt and dust shrouded the machina. Yuna grunted in pain as she felt up and down her ribs and legs. Luckily she wasn't injured.
"Ahh! Yunie, are you okay?" shrieked Rikku.
Yuna stood up and dusted herself off. "Yeah, it'll take more than a cheap shot to take me out."
Paine nodded at Yuna's quick resilience and pulled out her large warrior's sword. Understandably angered by her near-death hit, Yuna whipped out her pair of Tiny Bee pistols.
Rikku screamed at the animated statue, "E's kuehk du gelg ouin ycc!"
Running parallel to each other on either side of the machina, Yuna and Paine shot and stabbed it with blazing fury. Unfazed by the onslaught, it roared and smacked Paine with its huge arm, knocking her into the wall behind her. Fat, yellow sparks emerged from its head, and fired a beam of lightning in front of Yuna, frying a streak of the ground. The smell of charred stone quickly filled the air
"Stupid machina! I'll tear you apart myself!" bellowed Rikku, as she jumped onto its back.
"Rikku! Get off of that!" yelled Yuna frantically.
Her plea fell on deaf ears, as Rikku focused on dismantling the machina. She jammed her twin blades rapidly into the back of its head. Nothing happened from it. Instead, the machina snapped its head back, flinging Rikku into the wall nearby the unconscious Paine.
"No, Rikku!" screamed Yuna.
She sprinted around the machina and took a defensive position in front of her friends. She refused to let some thousand-year-old tin can kill them. Firing madly with both pistols, she clanked two clips of bullets off the machina's metallic shell. She gasped, realizing her bullets had no effect.
"Hey, Yunie. I think I got an idea," choked out Rikku, in great pain from slamming against the wall. "The book we read has the two spheres we have in it. I think we have to use them to destroy the—watch out!"
The machina swung at Yuna in true ferocity, nearly beheading her twice. She felt the tops of her hair clipped each time she ducked under the swooping arms of the statue. She rolled away, barely getting to her feet before it attempted another blow. Its blood-red optical sensors could sense the blood of a summoner in its sights.
"Yunie, use your orb in one of the pedestals!" shouted Rikku.
Yuna darted over to one of the pedestals behind the machina, stuffing the sphere into place. The machina raised its front appendages into the air and began charging up another electrical attack. Seeing this, Rikku used all her might to stand up. She leaped over to the other pedestal and shoved the sphere in place.
Once set, three beams of light shot out of the pedestals, forming a pyramidal shape around the machina. It cried out in a hideous, mechanical sound, and as abruptly as it came awake, froze still. The killing machine stood dormant, a halo of dust swirling around it. Yuna held her breath, waiting to make sure the monster remained inactive. Once assured, she moved over to Rikku, who stood hunched over, panting heavily.
"Are you alright, Rikku?" she asked, attempting to assess her wounds.
She nodded. "Yeah, I think I'm okay. But Paine looks like she might be—"
"Hey shrimp, don't take pity on me," interrupted Paine, who knelt down in front of Rikku. "It just stunned me for a bit."
"Whew! You guys had me worried," exhaled Yuna.
"Well, getting thrown into a wall was no picnic. I ought to blow that stupid thing to pieces!" Rikku declared, still unhappy by seeing a cutout of herself on the wall.
"I told you guys going in here was a bad idea," grumbled Paine, poking Rikku in the forehead.
"Hehe, oops!"
"Hey, look at that over there," called Yuna, pointing over to a pedestal near the three others.
She walked over to the pedestal and took a long, hard look at it. After brushing off a layer of dust, it appeared to be a real sphere. She closed her eyes and pulled it out. Squinting her green eye open, she witnessed the machina staying put. Sighing in relief, she examined the sphere further.
"It looks like this might be what we came for!" she cheered, holding the sphere over her head.
Rikku ran over to her. "Yippee! Oww . . . see, coming here was a good thing after all."
"So, what's on it?" asked Paine, limping over to Yuna.
Yuna wrinkled her nose. "I don't know. Let's find out!"
With a flip and a click, the sphere projects a fuzzy image. At first, Yuna couldn't make out anything discernable. Then the picture sharpened from a blurry, cyan haze. A young woman appeared, maybe around Yuna's age. Her long, brown hair flew behind her as she appeared to be sprinting away from someone or something. After a little static, the image of the machina they had just fought roared behind her. Other actual Tonberries appeared in the background.
The image faded out, but a second appeared. Again, this woman appeared fleeing from the raging machina. Now she appeared outside a temple or similar structure. The image degraded almost to the point of nothing. However, a man's voice could still be heard.
"Please fzzt don't go that way bzzzt Lenne!"
The sphere clicked off. None of the Gullwings understood what they had just seen. That woman seemed familiar to Yuna. They had never heard of anyone named Lenne before, although Yuna thought that name was familiar as well.
Rikku was the first to speak. "Well, that was interesting . . . I guess."
"What a waste. What good will that do us?" barked Paine.
Yuna sighed. "I guess it won't hurt if we let Shinra examine it. At least he might find some use from it."
The Gullwings left the Tonberry temple and headed back to Kilika. Disappointed by their lackluster sphere, Rikku sat quietly on their boat ride back. Not needing a reason to remain silent, Paine sat and stared out into the ocean. Still thinking about the sphere, Yuna wondered who was this woman named Lenne. Her name seemed so familiar, that it sulked on the tip of her tongue. Still, what did she care? Whoever this Lenne was, she would have died over a thousand years ago and had nothing to do with finding Tidus. Once again, she was let down by another sphere.
Yuna stared at her reflection in the sphere, whispering, "Will I ever see you again?"
