The last of my stories to be archived and deleted, for now, is my sole Final Fantasy X-2 story, to date. And it's a crying shame, too. Its predecessor Cycle of Sin was a brilliant story, IMO, and I felt it deserved a sequel. Unfortunately, I messed up in doing it, and now, well, it's being archived and deleted. So, sorry, fans...
REVENGE OF SHUYIN
CHAPTER 1:
TO CATCH A THIEF…
"YRPHT: In position. It's showtime, people."
Harry Potter sighed quietly, before he whispered back into his radio, "Back home, they have a saying: the best laid plans of mice and men oft gang agley. Translation: even the best plans often cock up. And this isn't the best plan, Rikku."
"I agree," came the dry voice of Paine. "I'm only going along with this because I want to kick Leblanc's arse."
"Hey, Harry's my husband, Paine, not yours," came the indignant hiss of Harry's wife, Rikku. "Anyway, we're raining on Leblanc's parade for stealing Yunie's Garment Grid and doing a concert as Yunie."
Harry groaned, but he did agree that kicking the arse of Leblanc was appealing. Instead of arguing any further, he asked, "Tidus, Yuna, how're things? Did they stop having you hand out promotional balloons yet?"
"We're all right, we're getting into position at the docks," the demure voice of Yuna said.
"Yeah, these costumes are pretty damn hot," Tidus remarked. "I'm glad the Garment Grid automatically cleans me and the clothes during the transition, but I'm still gonna have a cold shower once we're back on board the Celsius."
"I might join you," Yuna said playfully. Her voice never had any hint of sultriness or lust: she still had that innocent, almost childish way to her attitude. While they weren't yet ready to have kids, and were taking their relationship slowly, it didn't mean that either of them were celibate. In fact, if anything, Yuna had confided to Harry and Rikku that she felt liberated by being on the Celsius as part of the Gullwings, probably away from the awe-filled eyes on Besaid, and had been more willing to sleep with Tidus in more than the most literal sense.
Tidus was certainly happier, though he was generally quite cheerful anyway.
"Spare me the innuendo," Paine said. "It's about to begin."
Harry nodded. He was lingering near the main stage door for the stadium under his Invisibility Cloak. The plan was to use Rikku and Paine to flush Leblanc out of the stadium during the concert, have Harry attempt to capture her, with Tidus and Yuna as back-up. It wasn't a bad plan per se, Harry just knew there were plenty of things that could go wrong, and knowing his luck, it could end up that way.
It was that very luck that had him end up on Spira. While it was bad luck to fall through the Veil and end up on another world entirely, one where a theocratic government dominated, and most technology was banned due to both religious objections and a technophobic genocidal hellbeast called Sin, in a way, it was good luck, once Sin was destroyed for good. Harry had a new start on a new world, as had Sirius Black, who fell through the Veil with him. A few others he knew from Hogwarts had also made the journey to Spira, many of them friends.
They had lost so many, though. Auron, the acerbic warrior, had willingly allowed himself to pass on along with Sin, as had the Aeons, entities of massive magical power that Yuna once commanded. And that was not counting some of the people killed by Sin, or by the more hypocritical sections of Yevon, not least of which was the deranged rogue Maester, Seymour Guado.
And yet, Harry not only got a fresh start, he got a lover. True, they had only started being physically intimate relatively recently, partly because they wanted to be sure of the strength of their bond first, and partly because of their ages, but he was glad he met Rikku. The cheerful Al Bhed girl was one of the first people he met in Spira, and the two became fast friends. Plus, he was lucky he had met her, as most of Spira were wary, if not hateful, of technology, and the Al Bhed used it frequently in defiance of the precepts of Yevon.
There were, for the most part, no such qualms now. While machina weaponry (aside from firearms) was not used, transport and medical technology was becoming more widely used. And the desire for more machina had partially fuelled the rise of the sphere hunters, groups who sought out spheres of Spira's past, particularly the pre-Yevon past. And in this environment, three big factions showed.
The first, Aegis, rose from the ashes of the original Yevon, and for that reason, was frequently nicknamed New Yevon by many wags. Aegis was a more conservative group, not in a bad way for the most part, than the other groups. They discarded the religious trappings of Yevon (and with them, the anti-machina attitudes) in favour of a more spiritual and philosophical bent. They proclaimed themselves to be a force for stability for those who needed it in troubled times, and was headed by Yunalesca, who, being one of the key figures in Yevon, helped give it legitimacy. While the Gullwings could not be said to be strong allies with Aegis, they were at least on good terms with both Yunalesca and her offsider, Baralai, once one of Paine's comrades in the Crimson Squad.
The second, the Youth League, was a more progressive and even aggressive organisation. While not quite enemies against Aegis, their rhetorhic suggested a disdain for them. A number of former Crusaders joined the Youth League, as had Ron and Ginny Weasley when they emigrated from Earth. The Gullwings were on good terms with most of the Youth League, but they were wary of Mevyn Nooj, the leader of the Youth League, if only because Paine had learned that Nooj had shot her comrades in the back. Okay, he was probably possessed by the hateful ghost of a Blitzball player who resembled Tidus, but still, it was something that caused Paine to be wary about dealing with the infamous soldier known colloquially as the Deathseeker.
A more neutral organisation, and one the Gullwings had far closer ties to, was the Machine Faction, founded by Rikku's old boyfriend Gippal. The two had remained friends, and indeed, Harry was on good terms with the eyepatch-wearing Al Bhed, despite having married his ex. In fact, Gippal was now in a relationship with Hermione, who had also emigrated to Spira with her parents.
Speaking of emigrants to Spira, he'd have to thank the Weasley Twins. They had helped the Gullwings find out about this concert long before it was announced, as well as Leblanc being the woman who stole Yuna's Garment Grid, and with it, her best Dresspheres. They owned a store in Luca, and they kept their ears to the ground for any interesting rumours for the Gullwings. Harry reckoned he would have to give them a big tip.
On a nearby screen, they were showing the concert. He had to admit, Leblanc was doing a good job of impersonating Yuna with the Garment Grid, and assuming she wasn't lip-syncing, she was a pretty good singer too. Shame she was a thieving bitch, though.
After the song, Real Emotion, Harry watched as Rikku and Paine used a floating barge to get to the stage. Paine looked as she always did, dressed in dark clothing with metal studs, her boyish stern face topped by a quiff of silvery hair, red eyes peering at her foe. Rikku had changed her costume now to something rather skimpy. It was her choice, really, and Harry didn't exactly complain, but it was basically a thong bikini in yellow, with a green skirt over the bikini bottom, and a few other accoutrements. He felt his wife was attracting a bit too much attention, though. Rikku had only really become a bit more exhibitionistic recently. Maybe Cid forbade her from doing so until recently. Then again, Rikku's custom Thief Dressphere was a bit scanty, her other costumes were a bit less so.
He watched as Paine and Rikku fought off a pair of Leblanc's goons, before the fake Yuna left, yelling, "Sorry, no time for an encore!" Then, she threw down a flashbang.
Harry readied himself. Then, Leblanc burst out of a nearby door. Harry yelled, "Petrificus Totalus!", and sent his quarry crashing to the ground. Putting his Cloak away, he approached the downed Leblanc, and then said, "Accio, Yuna's Garment Grid." The square of stone and crystal was torn away, revealing, in a flare of light, a woman in a rather revealing violet dress with blonde hair and a haughty demeanour. Tattooed above her cleavage was the symbol of the Leblanc Syndicate, a pink heart with two holes at the top.
Pain and Rikku ran out of the exit, and saw that Harry had captured their quarry. "What were you saying about it going wrong?" Rikku asked with a wry smile.
"Don't say anything," Paine said. "You'll be begging for the universe to make it worse."
"Oh believe me, girl, it will."
The voice was unwelcome, nasal and drawling. It was like listening to a cut-price Snape. Harry saw the speaker emerge from nearby, a tall, thin man dressed in frankly ridiculous blue robes, wielding a pair of pistols. Harry recognised him from the descriptions Fred and George gave of Leblanc's associates. "Oh look, it's Stan Laurel," Harry snarked, knowing the actual name of the man, but deciding to have some fun.
"My name is Logos," sneered the tall thin man.
"Laurel, got it right the first time. Where's Hardy?" Harry snarked back.
"Oh, I am very hardy," boomed a boisterous voice, a rotund man in similar clothes and a massive shield on his back, "but the name's Ormi."
"So does that make her Mae West?" Harry asked, pointing at Leblanc. "Oh wait, did she appear with Laurel and Hardy?"
"Don't ask me," Paine said with a roll of the eyes. She looked at Logos and Ormi, and made the universal gesture for 'he's crazy' with her finger.
Logos sighed, before he said, "I presume that our boss is still alive. However, you will return the Garment Grid."
"It was stolen by you guys in the first place," Rikku snapped, "while we were in that hotel in Guadosalam."
"Only the most ruthless sphere hunters survive, little girl," Logos sneered. "We won't kill you…but broken bones aren't off the table."
Harry sighed. "You guys…do remember that we kicked Sin's arse? And Seymour Guado? I mean, seriously, take your boss, and, well, see out there?" He indicated outside the stadium, at the streets of Luca, at a pair of mascots waddling in, one a Moogle, the other an Onion Knight. "See all those fucks out there? I give them to you(1)."
"I don't see anything, just a couple of mascots," Ormi said.
"That's because I don't have any fucks to give."
Then, suddenly, Leblanc had surged to her feet, the Body-Bind spell having worn off quicker than Harry would have liked. Then again, maybe she had some sort of accessory that was enchanted to resist such things. "Hmm, tempting, but as much as I'd love to applaud you for getting the drop on me, it's equal odds. Give me the Garment Grid, and I won't beat you within an inch of your life."
Harry sighed, and plucked out the Garment Grid, and weighed it in his hands. Then, he smirked. "YUNA, CATCH!" he yelled, throwing the Garment Grid at the Moogle mascot.
Despite having thick hands that were designed for fumbling caught things, the Moogle caught it, and then, dissolved in a blizzard of multi-coloured light, the Onion Knight soon following suit. Standing there in their place was a young woman with brown hair, and a young man with blonde hair respectively. The former was dressed in a white tube-top, black hotpants, and half a blue skirt, wielding a pair of handguns. The latter was in a red shirt, with a pale yellow coat over it(2), and wielded a sword.
And Harry? Well, he was dressed in a red shirt with a black waistcoat, with a wide-brimmed hat, wielding a gun that had a strange ring-like apparatus in front of the muzzle. A Mage-Gun.
"Oh look, it's five against three," Harry snarked. "Hey, Yuna…you want to show this bitch how you really dance?"
Yuna smiled, before she once more disappeared in a blizzard of light, only to appear in the same outfit as Leblanc had assumed while masquerading as her: short black skirt, purple sleeveless blouse with ruffles, and wielding a microphone like a magic staff. Instantly, she began dancing, just as Leblanc tried to attack, only for Rikku, her intended target, to dodge easily. Leblanc and her minions tried attacking, but Yuna's dance, the Dance of Darkness, interfered with their eyesight. Soon, they tired themselves out, with Harry deciding to finish this. He plucked out a trio of Gil coins, tapped them with the Mage-Gun, and then threw them at Leblanc and her goons, who promptly vanished.
Rikku laughed, and Paine looked at Harry, a wry eyebrow raised. "I know you just turned those coins into Portkeys, which is a waste of good Gil, but where did you send them to?"
"The Moonflow. Just close enough to the shore, I think, so they won't drown. They can then walk back to Guadosalam."
Rikku laughed even louder, before Tidus said, "Umm, Yuna? The show's over, you don't need to dance anymore."
Harry turned to see that Yuna was still dancing. Given the bemused and embarrassed look on her face, though, she wasn't in control of her body. "Didn't Shinra say there may be side-effects to using a Garment Grid?" Paine asked.
"Yeah, but dancing mad wasn't one of them," Tidus said. "Hey, Yuna, snap out of it."
"I can't, I…sorry, my body has a mind of its own," Yuna said apologetically, though the smile on her face suggested that, on one level at least, she was enjoying it.
Rikku laughed, before she said, "Come on, let's use a sphere to get back to the Celsius. Maybe Shinra can help…"
Later, they were on the bridge of the Celsius, Yuna having finally managed to regain control of herself. She was back in her default Dressphere state of Gunner, her pistols holstered. They had just explained what had happened to Shinra, a young Al Bhed prodigy who had developed the Garment Grid system as he sat at his workstation. "Well," his voice rasped from behind the mask he wore, "it's possible for the emotions and memories recorded on the Dressphere to influence the user. Recording spheres do record emotions and intent to some small degree, due to Pyreflies being influenced by such things."
"But is it dangerous?" Tidus asked. "I mean, you did say that Dressphere is based on a sphere Lenne recorded, right?"
"I'm just a kid," Shinra said, which Harry knew was Shinra-speak for, I don't know, despite the fact that I say I know everything.
Brother, who was standing near one of the cockpit seats, said, in stilted English, "Yuna dancing? I want to see!"
Yuna giggled, and said, "It'll cost you." Brother promptly began digging around in his coveralls for Gil coins as Tidus scowled. The Mohawk-wearing Al Bhed hadn't changed much, still wearing those damned coveralls, and still having something of a temper, or at least no indoor voice. He was a decent enough leader for the Gullwings, but he certainly wasn't the brains. His intelligence was mostly towards maintaining machina.
"She was kidding," Harry groaned in Al Bhed at Brother.
"What, she won't dance for me?!" Brother yelped in the same language.
"Hey, she's taken, remember?" Rikku responded. "Plus, we're cousins. That isn't as bad as siblings, but come on, Brother!"
Save for Barkeep, everyone on the Celsius could speak Al Bhed. Then again, there were times when the Hypello quartermaster could speak better English than Brother, and considering that the Hypello spoke a strangely mangled pidgin English that sometimes made House Elves eloquent by comparison.
"So, where to next, now that we dealt with Leblanc?" Tidus asked.
"We'll go where the next sphere signals are found," Buddy said from his place in the cockpit. "There's some interesting signals in the Mount Gagazet area, but we can't confirm what they are yet. Go get some rest if you want."
The five sphere hunters congregated in the rec room, drinking drinks provided by Barkeep. "I think next time, we'll have to keep an eye on our gear," Harry said, "especially while we're in Guadosalam. I'll see if some sort of ward will work on Garment Grids without interfering with the system. Hermione or Luna's probably got something. And given that we found that sphere of Shuyin, I think one of our next stops should be Bevelle, see if Yunalesca's made any progress in finding Vegnagun. The last time we were there, admittedly a little over six months ago, she said she was still looking for it."
"What will she do once she finds it?" Yuna asked.
"Seal the damn thing. Trying to destroy it outright might risk it trying to defend itself," Paine said. "I'd prefer to dismantle it, but according to Yunalesca, Vegnagun actually killed the technicians who tried. Our main task is to find out where Shuyin is. We've been keeping an eye on Nooj, and there's no indications that he's still possessed, assuming that was the case when he shot Baralai and Gippal. Which means Shuyin isn't actively possessing Nooj…or else he's got someone else under his thrall. I won't discount either possibility."
"Why hasn't he tried to go after Vegnagun yet?" Tidus asked.
"Maybe he's forgotten where exactly it was," Rikku mused. "Or it was shifted by Bevelle after he originally tried to take it over."
"Who knows?" Harry asked. "We'll just have to be ready…"
CHAPTER 1 ANNOTATIONS:
So, there you are, the first chapter of Revenge of Shuyin. Not quite as actiony as the beginning of Cycle of Sin. We'll skip to the end of the second mission (the one where YRP confront Leblanc and company on the ruins on Mount Gagazet), and get to other matters.
Now, for those confused, Harry is a Gun Mage or Blue Mage, while Tidus, as in Final Fantasy X, is a Warrior. Yes, it's too early in the story for a Gun Mage to be obtained. Deal with it.
1. I modified this line from the darkly humorous Shinji Doesn't Care, a Fate/Stay Night one-shot by Lord Mendasuit. I love that line.
2. I had to think about what Tidus would have worn if he had a Warrior Dressphere. I decided to go with a look not unlike Minato Namikaze from Naruto. Keep in mind, he changed his clothes like Yuna did when joining the Gullwings, to remain, if not incognito, then not immediately recognisable. Harry I thought of as looking a bit cowboyish as a Gun Mage, albeit without a jacket.