Chapter 5 – Someone Save Poor O'aka
The night provided none of the solace Yuna desperately sought. Often she would retire early because the night brought out all the pessimistic feelings she held around her adventures. The excursions around Spira hunting for spheres gave her a purpose she enjoyed. Gaining a new friend in Paine injected so much joy into her heart. The night stole much of that joy away. Left to her own devices, Yuna doubted any of her sphere hunting would bring Tidus back to her. He wandered the Farplane forever, having fulfilled his destiny. Like a dream, he faded in from a dream world and faded out to another. When the light of the moon above hid behind a shroud of cloud cover, her heart felt most vulnerable. Even her favorite memories, such as their night together embracing in the Macalania spring, could not force away the sadness. Although she tried to push the doubt away, she couldn't overcome the idea that Tidus never truly loved her—not in the way she loved him.
The bustle of the town washed away the higher the moon rose in the sky. She remained at the end of the pier, occasionally splashing the water with her feet, fighting with her thoughts until sleep overcame her. Yuna returned to the Celsius to bury her head in her pillow. She loathed these desolate emotions that kept swelling up inside her. While her new journey began with hope and optimism, recent doubt plagued her more often. She lulled off to sleep. Her friends returned shortly thereafter to the ship, well past Rikku's bedtime as Paine remarked. They were pleasantly relieved to find Yuna sleeping quietly in her bed after her long disappearance.
"Even while she's sleeping, she looks so innocent," whispered Paine to Rikku.
Rikku muffled up her giggle and waved goodnight to Paine. It had been a long day for the three Gullwings.
Somber sunlight peered through the windows of the Celsius the next morning. Unlike the previous day's warm sun, an overcast sky greeted Yuna. Lines of grey clouds ran across the sky, dimming the light on the ground. She fell back onto her bed, sprawled out over her covers, weighed down by a lack of motivation. No need to do anything but sleep in she thought. She closed her eyes and started to doze off. A sudden burst of sirens rocked Yuna and her comrades straight out of bed. Nobody shared Yuna's sentiment with Brother that it was a good day to sleep in, as he sounded the ship's alarm.
"What's going on?" mumbled a half-conscious Rikku. "Is there some kind of four-alarm fire?"
Not happy by being startled out of a nice dream, Paine yelled out from her bed, "I'm gonna kill someone if that thing isn't shut off!"
Yuna rubbed her eyes while stumbling over to the intercom sphere. "Brother! What's going on?"
The alarm ceased, much to her relief. After a buzz and a crackle, Brother's voice roared across the intercom.
"Rise and shine girls, we have an important job to do!" he declared boldly.
"What kind of job could possibly require that alarm to wake us up?" Paine yelled furiously.
"Oui yna cilr yh eteud, Brother!" yelled Rikku, taking a swipe at the intercom.
"Just hurry, I'll explain it on the bridge. It's urgent!" he demanded.
The girls looked at each other with equal confusion. They changed clothes and rushed up to the bridge. Slumped over disheveled on the bridge, Buddy yawned while rubbing his eyes. He rested his head against the console he sat at. Shinra furiously typed away at his console, evidently full of morning energy.
"Alright Brother, what's this urgent job?" Rikku grumbled.
"Well, it seems your friend O'aka the indebted salesman jumped ship yesterday while you were away," he finally explained.
"O'aka jumped ship?" asked Yuna in disbelief. "Why did he do that?"
Brother shrugged. "How should I know? The guy is kinda fruity, to begin with. Anyway, I figured he went back to his shop, so . . ."
"So what?" Paine asked with rage in her eyes.
"So I used that CommSphere doodad Shinra created and took a peek at his shop in Macalania. It's being attacked by fiends, and he doesn't look like he can handle 'em," explained Brother, taking an uneasy step back from Paine.
"That's terrible! We should help him!" exclaimed Yuna.
"Right! Who else is gonna sell us stuff dirt cheap?" asked Rikku.
"I thought he was just a swindler," glumly remarked Paine.
Brother threw his arm into the air and began to do one of his spastic dances around the bridge. "That's it—Gullwings to the rescue!"
"Here we go again." Paine rolled her eyes.
Buddy set in a course for Macalania and floored the Celsius. Yuna and Rikku were ready to help poor O'aka. On the other hand, Paine shared considerably less enthusiasm. Yuna guessed she didn't know how much O'aka helped her in the past during her pilgrimage. He even went to prison because of her. She attempted to covey his importance to her in a succinct manner, although she couldn't determine how much Paine understood.
The Celsius quickly approached the snowy tundra outside Macalania Woods. A desolate tundra of an environment surrounding the lake. Thick, snowy embankments covered the drab rocky ground. Looking out at the swirling flurry outside, Yuna wished she had a big fur coat to wear, maybe something made from Chocobo feathers. At the moment, hundreds of Chocobos all over Spira sneezed.
Buddy prepared to land the Celsius near O'aka's store. "Better get ready to deploy, we're here."
"Gotcha! Let's go bag us some fiends!" yelled a ready-to-go Rikku.
The Gullwings burst into full swing and dashed to the entrance to O'aka's store. Light, fluffy snow covered the ground closer to the building, leaving a cluster of different-sized tracks all around the area. Fiends surrounded the building, scratching at the walls and roof of the store. The sounds of their snarls and chirps carried with the wind. Yuna scanned the perimeter quickly, only noticing smaller fiends clustered around the shop.
"Ah, this ought to be easy," declared Rikku, crouching into an attack stance.
"I'd say it'll be a walk in the park, but there's no grass here," commented Paine sarcastically.
Wielding two Al Bhed grenades, Rikku leaped into action first. Pulling the pins out with her bare teeth, she lobbed them at a jelly-like fiend. The two grenades exploded in a blaze of fire, shooting sticky, purple jelly all over the white snow.
"Yeah, got one!" cried Rikku in victory.
Not to be outdone, Paine charged up a ball of energy in her gigantic samurai-like sword. Two beams shot out from her like fireworks, plastering two flying bat-winged eyeballs into oblivion. Not even having the chance to touch the ground, clusters of pyreflies ascended into the sky. Yuna unholstered her weapons and calmly shot apart three wolf creatures in rapid succession. A surge of satisfaction coursed through her veins, happily discharging all the dark feelings pent up inside from the night before. The thunderous barrage attracted the attention of the remaining fiends, and even Rikku and Paine looked at her in awe.
"Didn't think a little girl like me could pack so much heat?" boasted Yuna, winking at her friends.
Her partners smirked and went back to clobbering the fiends still in the vicinity. In short order, the hoard of fiends had been dispatched. A handful of pyreflies spiraled up into the sky before vanishing from sight. Noticing the fiends were slain, O'aka slowly poked his head out of the door.
"Is it safe to come out?" he asked, peering around cautiously.
"Yes O'aka, it's okay now," replied Yuna warmly.
O'aka sighed in relief. "Thank you very much, Gullwings! I don't how I can repay you."
"It's nothing—" began Yuna.
Cutting in front of her, Rikku interrupted. "Got any cool stuff we can buy?"
"Uh, well of course I do m'lady. O'aka is always open for business. A couple of measly fiends can't keep me from making a sale!"
O'aka started to lead the Gullwings inside his store when the ground rumbled violently below them. Yuna bumped against the door frame and grabbed ahold of it to keep her balance. Her heart felt like it would jump out of her chest. She quickly turned around to see a gigantic fiend charging at them in the distance.
"That sucker is huge!" bellowed Rikku.
"Oh great, just what we need," growled Paine, sizing up the colossal size of the fiend.
Towering above them, the fiend's three heads roared profusely, each appearing to bear a different elemental type. Its feet and hands were red, and its tail took the form of a hissing snake. Yuna ran behind Paine and Rikku, who formed up to confront the monster. Suddenly a dual burst of fire and ice flew at the Gullwings and O'aka. They dispersed away from the blast. High-tailing it to safety, O'aka ran inside his shop and slammed the door shut.
"Alright girls," commanded Yuna. "It's time to coordinate!"
Rikku pulled a quartet of big gems out of her pockets. She chucked them at the beast. Blasts of red, blue, white, and yellow bombarded the fiend. Shaking off the energy blasts, the fiend snarled and charged toward them. Energy rippled through its bulging veins.
"Oh man, that wasn't part of the plan," shuttered Rikku, giving a nervous chuckle afterward.
"Let's try this again!" yelled Paine as she charged the beast.
Large swirls of black engulfed Paine's sword and the fiend as she charged for her attack. It took a lunging swipe at Paine, but she swiftly dodged it, not stopping her advance. The burning gaze in her eyes hit its peak when she ran into striking range.
"Zantetsu—die!" yelled Paine demoniacally at the fiend.
Driving her sword down deftly against the fiend, it clanged against its hide. Much to her surprise, the fiend stood resolute against her strike. It countered with a blast of electricity, shooting white-hot lightning at her, singeing her hair.
"Wait a sec!" called out Yuna. "I have an idea. Distract it for a minute!"
"Oh sure, Yuna. Maybe Rikku can make faces at it," replied Paine, wisps of static still shooting from her hair.
Rikku winked at Paine. "I can always cause distractions!"
Paine gasped at the sinister smile on Rikku's face. In a sudden, insane burst of thinking unimaginable to a normal person, Rikku started running circles around the fiend. All the while, she hollered insults in Al Bhed while making idiotic faces at it.
"Rikku!" Paine cried. "For all the goodness in Spira, stop doing that!"
Tracking Rikku's circle around it, the fiend shifted its focus onto her, incensed by her taunting. Intelligent enough to know when it was being mocked, its eyes narrowed solely on her. In fits of rage, it threw repeated magical attacks at Rikku, all of which she ducked and dodged. Blasts of fire and ice crashed around Rikku, kicking up snow into the air. She twirled like a ballerina, leaped like a stag, and stuck out her tongue continually.
"Got it!" Yuna yelled, placing a blue-colored bullet into one of her pistols. "Stand back, Rikku!"
With a howling blast, the bullet shot from Yuna's gun and pelted the fiend straight in one of the heads. A concussive wave of air burst from the impact and dropped the fiend in one clean shot. Letting out a final, curdling whimper, it plopped down dead, quaking the ground with its collapse before dissolving into an array of dazzling pyreflies.
"Duck soup!" cheered Yuna delightfully.
"Duck what?" questioned Paine, glaring at Yuna.
"Aw, I was having fun playing with the fiend, " pouted Rikku.
"What?" shouted Paine. "That thing could have killed you!"
Rikku didn't reply, only giving Paine a mischievous wink. A crackle sounded behind them. Once again, O'aka poked his head out of the door, peering around with chattering teeth. This time, he made extra sure no more fiends rampaged within view.
"I certainly hope that is all of those wretched fiends. That'll show 'em," he said, bolstering his wobbly voice.
"Right. . ." Paine sighed while rolling her eyes.
A buzzing sound came from Yuna's CommSphere, followed by Brother's voice. "Yuna, have you guys finished up?"
Yuna smiled. "Yep, we just liberated O'aka's store."
"Once again, thank you. You're a real lifesaver," thanked O'aka vigorously. "Please come by any time to buy your supplies. I'll give you all a really terrific discount."
Paine shook her head. "I still say he's a swindler."
Yuna and Rikku laughed. "Goodbye, O'aka!"
The Gullwings returned to the Celsius, ready to leave Lake Macalania's frigid weather and get warm. Thoughtful as always, Barkeep had three cups of hot cocoa ready for them. Once again, the Gullwings completed a successful mission. Though no money or spheres came out of it, Yuna felt proud to save a friend. The dichotomy between her life as a summoner to her life after destroying Sin had troubled her. While the Eternal Calm provided new opportunities to everyone in Spira, she felt useless. The sphere from Mt. Gagzet Rikku brought to her reinvigorated her with new purpose, but she felt that energy already wearing off. Even amongst the merriment of conversation with her friends, in the back of her mind lingered her doubt in the future.