REVENGE OF SHUYIN

CHAPTER 3:

THE MACHINE FACTION

Djose Temple was once one of the most spectacular temples of Spira, with massive rocks orbiting the temple, anchored by bolts of lightning whenever the Fayth, that of Ixion, was prayed to. Even now, it was still an inspiring sight, though the orbiting rocks had been replaced with various machines and generators. Djose Temple had become the de facto headquarters of the Machine Faction, a predominantly Al Bhed group, but they accepted any comers who went through a vetting process.

The Gullwings found the leaders of the Machine Faction examining a rather large robot on the edge of the temple grounds. One was a tall, handsome young Al Bhed man with spiky blonde hair and a rakish, devil-may-care attitude that was helped by an eyepatch and an outfit that made him look vaguely piratical. The other was a young woman with bushy hair framing bookish but beautiful features, dressed in green coveralls and a yellow shirt with goggles propped up on her forehead(1).

"…So, I guess the Repair charm ain't cutting it with this one," the young man muttered. "Oh well. It's handy, but that's part of the joy of working with machina and machines, working out how they work without shortcuts."

"Well, we know it's a combat robot, of a type similar to the Defender archetype," the young woman said. "If need be, we'll just take it apart for spare parts and analyse the CPU. I've finally got that program working on the laptop I brought over."

"Great!" the young man looked up as they approached, and the pair of them smiled as the Gullwings approached. "Hey!"

"Hey, Gippal! Hey, Hermione!" Rikku greeted them.

"Hi, Rikku," Hermione said, hugging the blonde Al Bhed girl, and then Harry and Paine in their turns. "Harry, Paine, it's been too long!" She noticed the other two, and her smile widened. "Yuna, Tidus! So these three managed to drag you away from Besaid?"

"Yeah, it's a long story," Tidus said, rubbing the back of his head sheepishly.

"Well, let's hear it," Gippal said, gesturing for them to enter one of the temple buildings he had commandeered as his office.

Gippal frowned as the sphere finished playing. "So…that's the guy who possessed Nooj? I remember you mentioning that before. Damn, but he looks and acts a lot like you, Tidus. I know he ain't, but still…"

"So, Shuyin is some sort of Unsent who can go around possessing people," Hermione mused, pacing slowly around the office. "Is there any defence?"

"If there is, we haven't heard it," Paine said. "Sirius mentioned something called Occlumency as a possible defence. Just be careful around Nooj, Gippal."

"Hey, haven't got to tell me twice, Doctor Paine. He shot me in the back, remember?" Gippal said with a wince. "Anyway, enough about that. I'm guessing you didn't come just to say hi."

"We came to register Yuna and Tidus for the Bikanel digs," Rikku said. "Just in case the sphere hunting business gets slow. But I'd prefer it done relatively discreetly."

Gippal snorted. "Rikku, news spread pretty fast when these two lovebirds vanished from Besaid," the young Al Bhed said. "I won't brag about having them working for us, I know you guys don't need that, but people are still going to notice, and talk. So discretion's gonna be a relative term. Hey, Paine, why don't you help these two with the paperwork? Hermione's been busting to talk to Rikku and Harry for a while."

"Fine," Paine said with a resigned sigh, before she looked at Harry and Rikku. "I'll keep an eye on them."

Moving back into the open, Hermione, Rikku and Harry went around the side of the building, Gippal in tow. "Sorry about that, I've just wanted to talk to you guys for a while, but I didn't want to intrude. I mean, I can't just send a message to the Gullwings for a social call, can I?" Hermione said.

"Sure you can," Rikku said. "You're Harry's friend, and you're now my friend. Sure, Brother'd be miffed, and Paine, well, she's a bit stiff at times, but we'd love to see you."

Harry nodded. "You were one of my first friends, Hermione. You know, you could send messages. Just don't use the priority channel, unless you need us urgently."

"I know, it's just…I like to see you two face to face. Ever since you fell through the Veil with Sirius, Harry, it felt like something was torn from me. And when I learned you were alive, and on a whole different world…I was so worried. I need to see you to remind myself that you're still alive, that this is real, not some weird dream. It's why I'm so grateful to you for keeping an eye on him, Rikku. He needs a smart girl to keep him from rushing headlong into danger. I know sphere-hunters do a lot of dangerous stuff…but I trust your judgement."

Rikku smiled at Hermione, and hugged the other girl. Ever since they met, they hit it off, with Rikku glad to meet someone, not an Al Bhed, who actually understood many of the terms (even the ones Harry didn't know) that would go over other people's heads. Rikku had declared Hermione the sister she never had, and while Hermione was a bit bemused at Rikku's energy, she never disputed the claim. Indeed, she embraced it. "Don't worry, we look after each other. By the way, how's life with Gippal lately?" Rikku asked.

Hermione laughed softly. "Never a dull moment, at least not for long. Okay, not quite as exciting as sphere-hunting, I'm sure, but it's still great. You know it took a while for my parents to get used to him. I mean, with the eyepatch and that get-up, he looks like a pirate. They thought I was dating him to rebel against them."

"Yeah, we know, we set them straight, didn't we?" Rikku said with a giggle at the memory. "Dad's more used to the idea of Harry and me being wed, though." Her face fell at the reminder of Cid, a slight scowl coming over her features.

"What's wrong?" Gippal asked. "Did you have an argument with Cid? I mean, I heard rumours, but…"

"Bit of a bad one, and a stupid one, over Brother and me forming the Gullwings," Rikku said. "Not to mention him turning Zanarkand into a tourist trap. Okay, Yunalesca's apparently okay with that, but still…"

"He's got Padfoot to keep him on the straight and narrow," Harry said.

"Really?" Hermione asked in a flat, sceptical tone. "Sirius Black…keeping someone on the straight and narrow."

"Relatively speaking," Harry amended. "It was Sirius who basically wanted it turned into a memorial of sorts for the High Summoners, and for Zanarkand as it was before the war. Some of the spheres we found are used there, as they show footage from Zanarkand at its height."

Rikku nodded. "I trust Sirius to keep Dad on a leash, not make it tacky. I don't like it, it's like turning the ruins of Home into a resort, but…anyway, apparently Isaaru's there as a tour guide."

Hermione knew the name. "That's that former Summoner, right? The one that helped you guys?"

"Along with Dona, yes," Harry said. Dona had mellowed since he first met her: she had apparently been rather rude and abrasive to Yuna. Well, she was like that to everyone, but she thought that Yuna coasted along on her reputation, and chose quantity over quality with her Guardians. If anything, Yuna had been burdened by her reputation, which, like Harry's, was due to something her parents did. With Yuna, it was her father vanquishing Sin. With Harry, it was his mother being able to stop Voldemort and protect Harry in the process.

Dona and her former Guardian and current lover Barthello were living at Kilika. The last time Harry had heard from Remus and Tonks, who had also settled there, there was trouble brewing between Dona and Barthello. Dona had joined the Youth League, Barthello had joined Aegis.

That being said, Dona got along well enough with Remus Lupin and Tonks, even helping to brew an improved Wolfsbane Potion for them. Now Remus didn't have to transform under the full Moon, though he did become more aggressive: the atavistic nature of the werewolf ailment didn't go away. Though that just meant that Tonks tended to stock up on Stamina and Contraceptive Potions for the pair of them for those days. They were going to try for a child before long.

"So, you're off on a new quest?" Hermione asked, deciding to change the subject.

"Mostly trying to find out where the hell Shuyin is," Harry said. "This sphere Kimahri found is the best lead we've had for a while. It may be that he isn't possessing Nooj anymore."

"There's another factor," Rikku said. "Yunalesca's found Vegnagun, and she's trying her best to make sure it can't be accessed."

"Good," Gippal said. They had discussed the machina weapon with Gippal and Hermione before. "I hope she buries the damn thing under as much crap as she can. As much as I don't like the thought of Aegis having access to Vegnagun, if Yunalesca and Baralai are trying to prevent it from being used…well, I trust Baralai. Can't say I trust Yunalesca, even if she helped you guys stop Sin. Well, not completely. Most of Aegis is pretty sane, but she's still got some idiots in Aegis who try to wreck our stuff. Let's face it, Aegis is basically a revamped Yevon. But at least Yunalesca would know better than to use it, and would do as much as she could to make sure nobody uses it."

"I remember what you said about Seymour," Hermione said with a shudder. "Imagine what would have happened if he caught wind of Vegnagun. He sounded nihilistic enough to use it."

"Thanks, Hermione, I'd gotten tired of sleeping at night," Harry snarked. He did not need to think about Seymour getting a hold of Vegnagun.

"Well, it's pretty quiet, mostly, with our own activities," Gippal said. "We try to steer clear of the politicking between the Youth League and Aegis. That being said, we've got a pretty big Fiend attacking some of our more remote digs on Bikanel lately. We think it's the ancient Fiend known as Angra Mainyu. Most of the time, it just seems content to send anyone who bothers it packing, but a couple of times, well, there've been deaths. I know you guys beat Sin and all, but don't take any unnecessary risks if you do join the digs at Bikanel."

"We'll keep that in mind," Paine said as she, Yuna and Tidus walked up. "Here you are, Gippal. All the paperwork signed. I hated doing that as part of the Crimson Squad." She looked at Harry and Rikku. "As I was the junior member and doing combat recording more than actually fighting, these lazy bums made me do the paperwork they forgot."

Gippal snickered. "Hey, remember when you got those forms requisitioning a haemorrhoid balm for Kinoc? Like, a whole box of the stuff? All the way from Guadosalam? I think it was just after Seymour got ordained as a Maester, and he put in this tongue-in-cheek message to Kinoc. Best prank ever."

"You played a prank on Maester Kinoc?" Rikku asked Paine.

The silver-haired girl rolled her eyes. "I was bored, found the forms, and I was sick and tired of listening to the unctuous fuck lord it over us. And I overheard him consulting with his doctor about his…affliction."

"We are so telling Sirius about that one," Harry said. "Who knew you were a closet prankster?"

"Tell anyone, and you die," Paine said, utterly deadpan. Only the faintest of twinkles in her crimson eyes told of her mirth…

Upon making their way back onto the Celsius, they were ordered to the bridge by an excited Brother. "What's going on?" Rikku asked in Al Bhed.

"Sphere waves, in two separate locations!" Brother yelped excitedly. "There's one on Besaid, and another at Zanarkand."

Paine frowned. "Well, the one at Besaid means Tidus and Yuna have to face the music, given how they left all of a sudden. And the one at Zanarkand means seeing Cid. Not exactly arduous, but not things you want to do."

"Besaid's fine," Yuna said. "I'll go and apologise to Wakka and Lulu. Then we'll head to Zanarkand."

"You hear that, Brother?" Harry asked.

"Got it," the mohawk-wearing Al Bhed said. "Next stop: Besaid Island!"

And soon enough, they were on their way. It was time for Yuna and Tidus to pay the piper, though the Gullwings doubted that things would be that bad, at least as far as Wakka and Lulu, along with the other inhabitants of Besaid were concerned. Getting the sphere was another matter entirely, though…

CHAPTER 3 ANNOTATIONS:

So, a reunion with Hermione, a discussion of the state of affairs with Gippal, and finally, onto Besaid.

Review-answering time! Zane Tribal Tyne Alexandros: Agree with you about what Shuyin would call Tidus, albeit without Gilgamesh's arrogance, and I reckon Dumbledore would dress in a Lord Fortune dressphere because it'd be gaudy and colourful, just like he loves to wear. This is a man, after all, whose sense of fashion is almost comparable to the Sixth Doctor's…

1. If you're wondering what Hermione looks like, I thought of her as wearing Agatha Heterodyne's standard outfit in Girl Genius.