2020-09-20: Flight Through The Battle Of Home
- Log: Flight Through The Battle Of Home
- Cast: Rikku, Wakka, Lulu, Tidus
- Where: The Cape of Breath
- Date: September 22, 2020
- Summary: Yuna's Guardians have uncanny success at pursuing their summoner back to Spira, but remarkable failure at actually catching up to her...
============================<* The Cape of Breath *>============================ Stretching from the edge of the slowly-spreading northern desert, the Cape of Breath is the lush southern region of Meria Boule. Farmland and livestock take up much of the hilly region, dotted with the estates and castles of Merian nobles, often at the height of elevation, but across temperate land to the west great forests begin, still part of the great resources of the Merian nation. In places the badlands of the north find mirrors here, hotter regions with accordingly sparser populations... where people could move. To the farthest south and east are the wide coastlines, each marked with large cities. Only the fortress nature of many estates at the hearts of settlements recalls much of Meria's more warlike history, after the great efforts of the late Queen to ensure peace for all Meria Boule, and the spread of knowledge. Nevertheless, the increasing spread of monsters can make travel without caravan or guards a perilous undertaking indeed. BGM: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T_gmgvAz8Ks DC: You switch forms to ISLAND STYLE! WAKKA APPEARS!!! DC: Wakka switches forms to ISLAND STYLE! WAKKA APPEARS!!!
DG: A party led by Rikku is now entering Flight Through the Main Gate. DG: Party formation is now over. An Entry Challenge will now be drawn and displayed to the party.
======================<* Flight Through the Main Gate *>======================
=====================<* CHALLENGE - Relentless Pursuit *>=====================
|Type: Entry |Dungeon Ability: Agility |Challenge Rating: 2 |
--------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------
Solaris has seized control of this facility. Or, more accurately, they've
awakened something that has done so on their behalf. With the main gate
blockaded, and a relentless robotic killer on your tail, you have one option
left:
Run.
Megaman Juno's voice rings down the corridor, calm and composed as ever.
It's coming from speakers on the walls, giving the illusion that he is
everywhere, at once. Nevertheless, the low, steady hum of his systems points
out his true location--he's nearby, and getting closer.
"System diagnostics complete. All security measures remain operational. I am
attempting to isolate and contain the invasive Biomass before further
contamination occurs."
With no warning whatsoever, a door to your left slams shut, sealing itself
tightly. A door up ahead does the same. Fortunately, there are more doors to
choose from, but Juno is doing a good job of locking down the area. The
network of sterile corridors turns into a dynamic, reactive maze--a clear
path could become a dead end at a moment's notice. It will take lightning
speed to outpace him, but if you're lucky, you might be able to gain a lead
on him.
=Dungeon Conditions: Fright, Hesitate, Slow, Vault============================
<Pose Tracker> Rikku has posed.
So a lot happened. Yuna got kidnapped by the Al Bhed despite her being on another world. The Al Bhed escaped. Kimahri and Rikku informed the group. Lacking leads back home they then came to Kattelox Island to look for a way back.
Odessa and Solaris happened.
And now...
... this guy: https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/megaman/images/c/ca/Juno1.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20090807045459
Proving to be an unstoppable Machina force of nature with a penchant for purging carbon-based lifeforms, aka them, and an apparent validation of all of Yevon's teachings...
...the Guardians, especially Rikku, the Machina expert, reacted calmly. "AAAAAA - RUN! RUN!"
Into the facility they've fled, down one sterile corridor unto the next. A calm voice seems to get closer even as he speaks...
"System diagnostics complete. All security measures remain operational. I am attempting to isolate and contain the invasive Biomass before further contamination occurs."
"If he catches us it's all over!" Rikku notes the obvious, in full sprint... as she tries to turn left. And almost runs into a door as it slides closed. Screeching to a stop, Rikku then backpeddles and turns another way. Another door closes.
Rikku though spies another in the distance down the sterile corridor, "Not all of them are closing! He must be manually controlling them!"
And thus, it is up to them to navigate these same looking corridors despite their pursuer hindering them in every way possible...
DG: Rikku has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Relentless Pursuit.
<Pose Tracker> Wakka has posed.
Wakka is bringing the hustle.
Also, kind of a big mood.
"Reaverbot machina outside," he pants.
He slides under a door right before it closes.
"Murderbot machina chasing us," he pants.
He flips up over a low wall in a frankly spectacular vault and lands, well-balanced, on its slender top.
"Al Bhed kidnapped Yuna," he pants, offering Lulu a hand up without even thinking about it.
Then he gazes down a long straightaway at a door that's already starting to close.
"Kinda thinking--" He whips out one of his favorite blitzballs, the one he's named Tie Breaker, and winds it up in his arm behind him like a bowler, "--maybe this could all be RELATED--"
He hurls it at the door, timing it exactly so the blitzball lands in the gap just as the door would close on it, wedging it open.
"--YA?!????"
DG: Wakka has used his Tool Tie Breaker toward his party's challenge, Relentless Pursuit.
<Pose Tracker> Lulu has posed.
That guy.
Lulu is hurrying too, naturally. She would have to be, heavy skirt trailing along s she moves past one door, then another, another--
There has been a lot going on. Lulu hasn't actully done anything resembling 'relaxing' since Kimahri and Rikku returned sans Yuna, but that's either completely obvious or not at all obvious. Now, she's definitely not relaxed--
"Thank you." Calmly taking Wakka's hand, Lulu rises again, holding a Cactuar under her arm that glows as she suddenly turns away from a door right before it closes. But as a door is wedged open, she moves toward it and just--
Sighs. It is a heavy sigh. It says perhaps everything she might otherwise say in the moment.
DG: Lulu has used her Tool Swift Cactuar toward her party's challenge, Relentless Pursuit.
<Pose Tracker> Tidus has posed.
Why did it have to be killer robots? Seriously, this is ridiculous. They just want to find Yuna and go home already, okay!!
Though... it's occurred to Tidus that maybe Yuna's already home, if the Al Bhed have gone after her again. There's no need to stop her from completing her pilgrimage as long as she's on Filgaia, right? So maybe they figured out a way back to Spira. ...Maybe that's wishful thinking, though. Either all, all of this is the pits. Including, most presently, the part where they're being pursued by a killer robot. Seriously, what the heck!!!!
"I'M RUNNING! I'M RUNNING!" he yells at Rikku as everyone gets the heck out of dodge. When a door closes in everyone's faces, Tidus wheels his arms to brake himself in time to not splat into it. Wakka wedges a door open with a blitzball, and Tidus follows up by doing the same to the next closing door with his *own* blitzball. Look, no need to reinvent the wheel, especially when there's a machina trying to murder everyone around.
"LOOK, Wakka, *there's machina everywhere on this planet*!" Tidus points out as everyone makes their way through the series of doors. "A bunch of 'em were even fighting each other just a few minutes ago! Not everything is the Al Bhed's fault!!"
...even if Yuna's kidnapping is. Look, that's an argument for later, all right?
DG: Tidus has used his Tool Signed Blitzball toward his party's challenge, Relentless Pursuit.
======================<* Flight Through the Main Gate *>======================
=====================<* CHALLENGE - Relentless Pursuit *>=====================
|Type: Entry |Dungeon Ability: Agility |Challenge Rating: 2 |
--------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------
Solaris has seized control of this facility. Or, more accurately, they've
awakened something that has done so on their behalf. With the main gate
blockaded, and a relentless robotic killer on your tail, you have one option
left:
Run.
Megaman Juno's voice rings down the corridor, calm and composed as ever.
It's coming from speakers on the walls, giving the illusion that he is
everywhere, at once. Nevertheless, the low, steady hum of his systems points
out his true location--he's nearby, and getting closer.
"System diagnostics complete. All security measures remain operational. I am
attempting to isolate and contain the invasive Biomass before further
contamination occurs."
With no warning whatsoever, a door to your left slams shut, sealing itself
tightly. A door up ahead does the same. Fortunately, there are more doors to
choose from, but Juno is doing a good job of locking down the area. The
network of sterile corridors turns into a dynamic, reactive maze--a clear
path could become a dead end at a moment's notice. It will take lightning
speed to outpace him, but if you're lucky, you might be able to gain a lead
on him.
=Dungeon Conditions: Fright, Hesitate, Slow, Vault============================
=================<* Flight Through the Main Gate - Round 1 *>================= =======================< Results - Relentless Pursuit >======================= Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Rikku 0 --(8)--> 8 Fail Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Wakka 0 --(8)--> 8 Pass Tie Breaker 2 Agility Effects: Resilient ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Tidus 0 --(8)--> 8 Pass Signed Blitzball 2 Agility Effects: Stalwart ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Lulu 0 --(8)--> 8 Fail Swift Cactuar 3 Agility Effects: Fanfare ----------------------------------< Party >----------------------------------- Leader: Rikku 0 --(30)--> 30 Pass Conditions: Fright(2)|Hesitate(2)|Slow(2)|Vault(1) Effects: Resilient(1) ==============================< Dream Chasers >===============================
DG: The party led by Rikku has passed this challenge! The party gained 30 exploration! If anyone needs to use party management commands, do so now. Otherwise, the next round's GM may begin the next round with +dungeon/draw. DG: Wakka has drawn a new Challenge.
=======================<* Flight Through the Main Gate *>=======================
====================<* CHALLENGE - Smashing Is Cathartic *>=====================
|Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Brute |Challenge Rating: 2 |
---------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------
Rounding a corner, you end up in a chamber the size of a good-sized bedroom.
Screens, consoles, and other electronic equipment line the walls, and at
least some of it is currently active. This is about to become urgently
important, as the door slams shut, trapping you inside.
"Now what is /this/? Trigger, I'm detecting anomalous sorcerous phenomena at
multiple points within the facility. The magnitude matches standard B-class
Biomass capability, but the waveform /itself/ bears distinct and definitive
elemental resonance. There's no match in /any/ of the databanks. Is it
coming from the /Biomass/? How could such a thing be possible?"
Whatever Juno's going on about, he's not sitting idle. More of the machinery
turns on, displaying camera feeds, fluctuating graphs, and Zeboim text that
scrolls by too fast to follow. Careful observation reveals that the
terminals are being accessed remotely by the system administrator.
Destroying them would definitely be a setback for your pursuer, but it could
also attract his attention. Is the risk worth it?
"Trigger, if you can identify the source of the anomaly, please isolate it
and bring it to me alive for study. Consider this a formal administrative
directive, Code 12-Violet. Failure to comply will result in a permanent
administrative demerit. Thank you."
Then again, maybe you've earned the right to take out your frustrations on
some hapless monitoring equipment. It might even convince Juno that letting
you out is worth the risk.
=Dungeon Conditions: Weaken===================================================
<Pose Tracker> Rikku has posed.
"The Al Bhed kidnapping Yunie doesn't have anything to do with this Wakka!"
Though Rikku certainly isn't blind to his point, of suddenly all of these Machina trying to kill them seemingly happening just after the Al Bhed kidnap Yuna and all seemingly related to WHY Yevon forbids such things. It's just, she doesn't believe they're related, this time.
All the same, she slides beneath the door as the ball wedges in. Then again when Tidus does the same.
Lulu's sigh perhaps says far more to her than Wakka's open statements, because she really looks up to her!
Even if it isn't directed at her in particular, Rikku FEELS like she's disappointed.
Eventually however, they manage to put some distance between themselves and Juno - eventually with the teamwork of the Blitzball stars managing to make it out of the sterile maze, and when they take a moment to catch their breath, Rikku discretely pats Tidus on the shoulder and mouths 'Thank you.'
She understands emotions are high and doesn't want to make a big deal about it, but she sure appreciates the back up from a friend in a moment when she's feeling pretty low about what happened to Yuna on her watch.
<Pose Tracker> Wakka has posed.
Wakka lets Lulu down graciously.
Tidus makes his point, Rikku her assertion, and the blitzballer shakes his head. Not in disagreement, but as though he's trying to clear it. Like a dog trying to dry himself off. It's a similar gesture. Trying to... remove something from himself.
"I'm just SAYING!" he just says. "We didn't even know the Al Bhed could GET to Filgaia! We don't know what else we don't know! They coulda had a base this whole time. This could," he's suddenly hopeful, in a vague, unfocused way, "BE their base."
Round a corner, they wind up in a chamber the size of a good-sized bedroom; given that there are six of them, it's suddenly a pretty tight fit, especially after the door slams shut. There is a ton of very high-tech equipment on the walls: screens, consoles, and the like.
"Now what is this? Trigger, I'm detecting anomalous sorcerous phenomena at multiple points within the facility. The magnitude matches standard B-class Biomass capability, but the waveform itself bears distinct and definitive elemental resonance. There's no match in any of the databanks. Is it coming from the Biomass? How could such a thing be possible?"
Wakka gives the suddenly active machinery, which is displaying camera feeds, fluctuating graphs, and unreadably fast scrolling text, an extremely dark look.
"Trigger, if you can identify the source of the anomaly, please isolate it and bring it to me alive for study. Consider this a formal administrative directive, Code 12-Violet. Failure to comply will result in a permanent administrative demerit. Thank you."
There's a way to make a measured, rational choice about what to do next; evaluate whether or not slowing down the babbling robot overlord is worth attracting his attention.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAUGH!"
This is not that way. Wakka slams two fists through the nearest screen.
He tried to calm down, he really did. He tried thinking of happy thoughts, like how the Crystal Cup is, by now, surely back on Besaid Island. Keepa is undoubtedly shining it every single day. It's the greatest achievement of a lifetime of striving. He's so proud of them.
"STOP!" He slams a keyboard into bits. "TALKING!" That camera lens is toast. "ABOUT!" Farewell, seismometer. "LULU!!"
DG: Wakka has used his Tool Crystal Cup toward his party's challenge, Smashing Is Cathartic.
<Pose Tracker> Lulu has posed.
Lulu hasn't said a single word of disparagement to Rikku about the kidnapping. All she did was note it and begin planning how to try to get her back. If she was particularly harried... Well, aren't they all? Whether they intend to harm Yuna or not...
Well. In the meantime they manage to get through another door-Lulu hears Rikku and Tidus both state their arguments, but she's known Wakka for a very long time. "It's true that there's much we don't know," Lulu says.
"But I don't think the Al Bhed are interested in destroying 'biomass' as a rule."
On the other hand Wakka is slamming fists through screens over the thing... tlking about--her? It's possible that it's about her. Lulu frowns at that.
"...Nevertheless, I think this is solidly under machina we may not use." Mog approaches the terminals. Mog hops up--
SLAM, doll fist starts hitting things. Things start breaking.
"And I don't have time for study just now."
DG: Lulu has used her Tool Power Mog toward her party's challenge, Smashing Is Cathartic.
<Pose Tracker> Tidus has posed.
As far as Yuna's kidnapping goes, they're all at fault. They're all her Guardians, and they were all supposed to be protecting her. That's what Auron remarked to Tidus after the news hit, and Tidus hates to admit it, but he agrees. Lulu's heavy sigh is probably proof that she agrees too. When everyone takes a moment to catch their breaths, Tidus looks over Rikku when she pats him on the shoulder and, at her mouthed gratitude, gives her a smile and a thumbs up.
But then Wakka makes his *own* point, and Tidus has to admit it's a pretty good one. "I *was* thinking--if they got here and kidnapped Yuna, maybe they've got a way to get back to Spira," he admits. "But I didn't want to get everyone's hopes up..." He shakes his head, this time at Wakka's assertion that maybe this is the Al Bhed's base. Echoing Lulu, he adds, "You're right about one thing, Wakka: there's way too much we don't know right now."
Which is probably the most diplomatic way he could have phrased that. Maybe he's been hanging around Lulu just enough. Good thing she makes her own very solid argument. Whether Wakka listens to it is another story, especially when that creepy robot talks about elemental something-or-other and capturing it and Wakka just goes *spare* on a bunch of machina. Tidus outright laughs to see it, not necessarily because it's funny, but because everything is so absurd right now he has to laugh.
"Yeah, let's just go to town!" he agrees, joining in Mog and Wakka with smashing up consoles, albeit with kicks rather than punches. Either way, it *is* cathartic.
DG: Tidus has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Smashing Is Cathartic.
<Pose Tracker> Rikku has posed.
"There's... there's no way!" Rikku protests at Wakka's comments, however, she immediately doubts it. They did make it up here. And they did lose track of them. Is it possible that her Father has secrets like this he's been keeping?
She can't rule it out. Though if he did she thinks... she'd be super upset about it. Wouldn't they all deserve a chance to figure out whether they want to live away from Sin?
Even if they all decided to remain in their Home... they all deserved the right to consider it.
It's Lulu's comment that jolts her out of her such thoughts, "Uh-huh! Absolutely! That'd be really... self-destructive!"
But reluctantly, internally, she has to admit... she doesn't know as much about what's going on as she likes. It bothers her that they came all the way to Filgaia after Yuna.
Why?
Though as Wakka starts slamming fists... "Um, it's possible he doesn't mean Lulu? Maybe?" ... and Power Mog starts punching. Despite Rikku's initial response, but then manages to smile as Tidus laughs at the absurdity of it. And it allows her to clear the thoughts and insecurities from her head. "You know what - sure - let's do some damage!"
And with that, a pin is pulled and a grenade is tossed at a console showing fluctuating graphs.
"Boom!"
DG: Rikku has used her Tool Far Too Many Grenades toward her party's challenge, Smashing Is Cathartic.
=======================<* Flight Through the Main Gate *>=======================
====================<* CHALLENGE - Smashing Is Cathartic *>=====================
|Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Brute |Challenge Rating: 2 |
---------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------
Rounding a corner, you end up in a chamber the size of a good-sized bedroom.
Screens, consoles, and other electronic equipment line the walls, and at
least some of it is currently active. This is about to become urgently
important, as the door slams shut, trapping you inside.
"Now what is /this/? Trigger, I'm detecting anomalous sorcerous phenomena at
multiple points within the facility. The magnitude matches standard B-class
Biomass capability, but the waveform /itself/ bears distinct and definitive
elemental resonance. There's no match in /any/ of the databanks. Is it
coming from the /Biomass/? How could such a thing be possible?"
Whatever Juno's going on about, he's not sitting idle. More of the machinery
turns on, displaying camera feeds, fluctuating graphs, and Zeboim text that
scrolls by too fast to follow. Careful observation reveals that the
terminals are being accessed remotely by the system administrator.
Destroying them would definitely be a setback for your pursuer, but it could
also attract his attention. Is the risk worth it?
"Trigger, if you can identify the source of the anomaly, please isolate it
and bring it to me alive for study. Consider this a formal administrative
directive, Code 12-Violet. Failure to comply will result in a permanent
administrative demerit. Thank you."
Then again, maybe you've earned the right to take out your frustrations on
some hapless monitoring equipment. It might even convince Juno that letting
you out is worth the risk.
=Dungeon Conditions: Weaken===================================================
==================<* Flight Through the Main Gate - Round 2 *>================== ======================< Results - Smashing Is Cathartic >======================= Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Rikku 8 --(8)--> 16 Pass Far Too Many Grenades 2 Brute Effects: Strengthen -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Wakka 8 --(8)--> 16 Pass Crystal Cup 3 Brute Effects: Rally -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Tidus 8 --(8)--> 16 Fail Force 0 Brute Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Lulu 8 --(8)--> 16 Pass Power Mog 3 Brute Effects: Rally -----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------ Leader: Rikku 30 --(20)--> 50 Pass Conditions: Fright(1)|Hesitate(1)|Slow(1)|Weaken(2) Effects: Strengthen(1) ===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: The party led by Rikku has passed this challenge! The party gained 20 exploration! If anyone needs to use party management commands, do so now. Otherwise, the next round's GM may begin the next round with +dungeon/draw.
<Pose Tracker> Wakka has posed.
Like all of them, Wakka's been under ENORMOUS pressure since the revelation of Yuna's kidnapping. And like Lulu, he hasn't blamed Rikku -- not exactly. He and Kimahri shared an epic, silent exchange, and are currently a little sour with one another, though.
And yeah, he might be getting a little too into this.
"Ya well, I don't know about no biomass." He rips out a monitor, and an immense tangle of wiring comes out with it too, "But maybe they messed with something they shouldn't and it's outta control. That's the oldest story there is."
He starts stripping the wires into bits of wire, like a homicidal maniac with pasta as his target.
Tidus' laughter spurs him onwards, and Rikku's grenade, though heretical, suits his mood perfectly. Abandoning his birds' nest project, he goes for a panel of flashy lights. Shortly thereafter, they are a panel of unlit buttons.
"I just, I just can't," he pants. "Why would they bring her back to Spira but not us? It makes no sense. She's gotta be here somewhere."
The door slides open.
Wakka gives the last unbroken screen in the room a long, soulful look as the group files out past him.
*slam*
*tinkle*
DG: Lulu has drawn a new Challenge.
=======================<* Flight Through the Main Gate *>=======================
======================<* CHALLENGE - Sharukurusu Squad *>=======================
|Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Combat |Challenge Rating: 3 |
---------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------
A heavy /clang clang clang/ echoes down the corridor, like an entire
mechanical regiment marching in unison. It is unquestionably a Reaverbot
patrol, and there's nowhere to hide. The hideous shriek of an alert siren
tears down the hall, and the enemy engages you.
Sharukurusu are massive and broad-shouldered, with long arms ending in
wicked claws. They're also a lot more flexible than their build would
suggest, making the corridor less of an obstacle than it should be for them.
You'll have to fight your way through if you're to have any hope of making
it out alive.
(OOC: http://legends-station.com/mml1/reaverbots/largesharukurusu1.jpg)
=Dungeon Conditions: Fright, Exhaust==========================================
<Pose Tracker> Lulu has posed.
Lulu often agrees with Auron. Not always, but this time.
"It seems likely," Lulu agrees with Tidus about a way back. But Wakka has another point, and this one Lulu cannot actually counter, and does not try. "We'll learn what we can when we aren't running," she says instead, as Mog work up more destruction. But bring her back to Spira and not them...?
"They tried to separate us from her before," Lulu says of that, recalling her doll as she looks over the destruction. "Hmmm. Good work."
But get the thing's attention they must have, because clang clang clang. The hideous shrieks of alarms tear down the hall as they move out into the next hallway, and the great, broad reaverbots before them will not be easy to counter.
Lulu pulls another doll, and Cait Sith drops to the ground, mirroring her casting motions and enhancing her spell. Sorry, Rikku.
<Pose Tracker> Tidus has posed.
"Boom!" Tidus echoes Rikku, wheeling backwards out of the way of the explosion. He takes a deep breath, then heaves it out. "*Whew*. I think we all really needed that." He sobers at Wakka's question. "...Yeah. That's the part *I* can't figure out," he says quietly. "There's no aeons here, no pilgrimage. If they wanna stop the summoners from fighting Sin and getting killed, what better way than to leave her on Filgaia? Why take her back to Spira? And why take her away from *us*? Then again... I guess we *were* trying to go *back* to Spira... so maybe they're trying to *keep* her here..."
Is *that* what they're doing? He looks at Lulu and Rikku to see if they agree with his stream-of-consciousness musings. There's no time for them to really get into it, though, because the next moment, alarms blare. When they all book it out the exit, a *new* machina with crab-like claws blocks their way.
"Arrrgh! Would you just *move it* already, sparky?!" Tidus snaps, drawing his sword. Rather than try to slash the machine, though, he raises an arm and concentrates on casting as waves of light circle around him. A moment later, a crushing orb of Waterga materializes around the Reaverbot's head. Follow it up with Lulu's lightning, and...
Well, either way, afterwards they'll need an ether boost. Tidus shares one with Lulu so they can keep the hurt up.
DG: Tidus has used his Tool Baskar Hi-Ether toward his party's challenge, Sharukurusu Squad.
<Pose Tracker> Rikku has posed.
"You might be right." Rikku says to Wakka, and it might be a surprising statement. However, in her insecurity, perhaps not so surprising. "That someone woke up something they shouldn't have. I just think Solaris or Odessa did it. They use Machina on a destructive scale that makes you wonder if... battles like this were what caused Yevon to forbid it in the first place. We Al Bhed... we don't want this."
Rikku doesn't address Wakka's lack of understanding, or Tidus' explanation, she looks away and down. She knows they were trying to take her too as like a secondary objective... but trying to explain would lead to something potentially even more uncomfortable, confronting this right now.
However, Tidus' words confirms something for her. Without a doubt...
... he doesn't know. It's not just that it's too hard to say for him. He genuinely... doesn't know.
And then suddenly, the Reaverbot. Rikku is actually pretty relieved for yet another distraction, "We don't have time for you! Get out of our-" It's perhaps Lulu's stance that alerts her. It's not the first time, it won't be the last time she's seen Cait Sith mimic her movements that way. "-way." She squeaks, "Oh no - Oh no!"
Suddenly she covers her ears and crouches and there's a prolonged shriek.
Trembling, as she gets up, she suddenly tosses out a handful. And there's a shower of coins that flies at the Reaverbot with surprising speed. Likely leaving many dents...
... but really it's more a feint, because not too many moments later, a shivering Rikku reappears behind the Reaverbot, and tries to extract... a singular, part.
DG: Rikku has used her Tool Bribe Budget toward her party's challenge, Sharukurusu Squad.
<Pose Tracker> Wakka has posed.
Wakka shrugs more eloquently at Lulu than anything that's come out of his mouth in days. "Makes no sense, taking her off Filgaia," he mumbles again, in Tidus' wake. Sort of agreeing and sort of not. Something's going on with him and that theory.
Rikku's comment gives him pause. "Well of course they are," he grumbles. "Sin ended the last machina war. We've been paying for that mistake ever since." But the Al Bhed refuse to get with the program. How can she say 'they don't want this'?
Right around the time that his face gets that squashed tomato look that it gets when he's screwed it up too tightly from thinking too hard, the cavalry arrives.
Evil machina to beat up?
Wakka's expression is very readable: AW HELL YES.
He might need a little more catharsis than the rest of them.
As he sets about his rampage, his body is extremely tense but his face oddly... reverential. Occasionally he mutters something under his breath. Low, unintelligable, and deadly serious.
It isn't curses; it's the opposite. Each of his 'kills', he's obviously dedicating to Yevon. After the third or fouth time, there's a sense that he may feel that current events are punishing them for their ongoing heresy on Filgaia. Everything happens for a reason, after all. Actions have consequences. And they've been enjoying themselves, in this machina-rich world, while Sin runs rampage on their home for who knows how long.
Maybe they deserve this.
Wakka repents. Thoroughly. Which includes being on the front line more than he should... but his armlet, a Danger Armguard enchanted with Yuna's white magic, helps to compensate for his otherwise excessive quantity of wounds. Healing is at WAY more of a premium in this party than usual, and maybe he shouldn't be drawing on this so hastily.
But there are some things more important than strategy.
Afterwards, though, he seems calmer. Grimmer.
And he wraps a trunk-like arm around Rikku's shivering shoulders without a single word.
SHE doesn't want this, that much is obvious. And that's good enough for him.
DG: Wakka has used his Tool Danger Armguard toward his party's challenge, Sharukurusu Squad. DG: Lulu has used her Tool Ominous Cait Sith toward her party's challenge, Sharukurusu Squad.
=======================<* Flight Through the Main Gate *>=======================
======================<* CHALLENGE - Sharukurusu Squad *>=======================
|Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Combat |Challenge Rating: 3 |
---------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------
A heavy /clang clang clang/ echoes down the corridor, like an entire
mechanical regiment marching in unison. It is unquestionably a Reaverbot
patrol, and there's nowhere to hide. The hideous shriek of an alert siren
tears down the hall, and the enemy engages you.
Sharukurusu are massive and broad-shouldered, with long arms ending in
wicked claws. They're also a lot more flexible than their build would
suggest, making the corridor less of an obstacle than it should be for them.
You'll have to fight your way through if you're to have any hope of making
it out alive.
(OOC: http://legends-station.com/mml1/reaverbots/largesharukurusu1.jpg)
=Dungeon Conditions: Fright, Exhaust==========================================
==================<* Flight Through the Main Gate - Round 3 *>================== ========================< Results - Sharukurusu Squad >========================= Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Rikku 16 --(12)--> 28 Pass Bribe Budget 2 Combat Effects: Embolden -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Wakka 16 --(12)--> 28 Pass Danger Armguard 1 Combat Effects: Cleanse -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Tidus 16 --(12)--> 28 Pass Baskar Hi-Ether 1 Combat Effects: Cleanse -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Lulu 16 --(12)--> 28 Fail Ominous Cait Sith 2 Combat Effects: Stalwart -----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------ Leader: Rikku 50 --(20)--> 70 Pass Conditions: Exhaust(1)|Fright(2)|Weaken(1) Effects: Cleanse|Embolden(1) ===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: The party led by Rikku has passed this challenge! The party gained 20 exploration! If anyone needs to use party management commands, do so now. Otherwise, the next round's GM may begin the next round with +dungeon/draw. DG: Tidus has drawn a new Challenge.
=======================<* Flight Through the Main Gate *>=======================
========================<* CHALLENGE - Lightning Trap *>========================
|Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Brute |Challenge Rating: 3 |
---------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------
Your flight continues, mercifully devoid of Juno's commentary for the
moment.
Then, everything goes to hell.
All it takes is one wrong move--someone steps on a floor tile that shudders
and sinks beneath their foot. There's a split-second delay, just long enough
for experienced Drifters to realize what that /means/. The trap deploys in a
heartbeatThe floor splits open, and four long, circuitry-studded pillars
erupt from beneath; the crackle of ozone fills the air. An electrical field
erupts around the person who triggered the trap, freezing them painfully in
place--and potentially entrapping others.
The pillars must be destroyed, but if the field is disrupted too much, it
might seriously hurt the people who are trapped. A delicate hand is needed
here.
=Dungeon Conditions: Weaken, Injure===========================================
<Pose Tracker> Lulu has posed.
Lulu takes her share of the Ether when Tidus gives it to her, and does not argue further about Spira and Filgaia. "Your logic is sound," she says to Tidus, "But we can only speculate for now."
Boom! More casting. What the Al Bhed want, what they don't want; Lulu doesn't and can't know beyond what Rikku says. So her internal thoughts remain internal for now, storming like the magic she uses with conclusion and counter, information and not enough.
Lightning and water--powerful Blitzball throws. Deft work removing important parts. They work in perfect sync to take one down, and then the next, the reaverbots becoming small explosions becoming piles of junk and scrap metal in short order. But Lulu notices the way Wakka exerts himself; can she guess what he's thinking?
Does she wonder some of the same things?
It's hard to say, but when the battle ends Lulu seems a little strained as she recovers her doll, closing her eyes for a moment and shaking her head.
"We're clear, for now," she says then. "Wakka..."
"Don't push yourself too hard."
<Pose Tracker> Tidus has posed.
"Yeah," Tidus says to Lulu, nodding back. "We won't know for sure until we find her." And they *will* find her. They've got to.
As for what the Al Bhed do and don't want, Tidus is inclined to trust Rikku on that part. It makes him smile a little to see Wakka go to comfort her in the wake of Lulu's Thunderga. It sucks that she has to put up with that sound, but, well, machina are weak to lightning.
And as for Wakka's exertions, Tidus doesn't get what specifically he's doing. But he definitely does notice that Wakka's trying way harder than the rest of them. When Lulu chides him, he can only nod again in agreement.
From there, it seems like the coast is clear. No more Reaverbots, Juno's shut up for a while or maybe gone off to harass some other Drifters, there aren't lavyrinth-like twists--
*click*
However, there does appear to be a trap. Tidus steps square on it as the group runs through the corridors, staggering as it sinks beneath his weight. "Woahhh, what the--! Guys! Watch out!!"
That's all the warning anyone gets, as when the trap unfurls, it unfurls *fast*. Columns rise in a square around Tidus, who does his best to shove anyone too close out of the way if needed; after that, electricity sparks in triple wires around him, binding him in place. He's only barely not electrocuted in the process, but the sensation is somehow both painful and numbing at the same time. He grits his teeth and holds fast.
Hopefully someone else has some bright ideas, because he's doing his best just holding out. He's already slowed everyone down getting caught in this dumb trap; at least he could stay conscious so they don't have to drag him out, too.
DG: Tidus has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Lightning Trap.
<Pose Tracker> Rikku has posed.
Perhaps her only response to Wakka in this moment is to turn, stand on her tiptoes, and wrap her arms around him in a hug, waiting until the shivering stops.
She's silent in these moments, but the moment she finds her composure, she lets go, drops down on her heels, and smiles at him. And those green eyes of hers, with the spirals of her heritage are smiling too.
Some things, like appreciation, don't always need to be said.
Lulu's comment does alert her to the idea that maybe most of this is the heat of the moment. She's been too absorbed in her own stress - when obviously Yuna's childhood friends whom she grew up with, as close to her as family, would be extremely stressed too.
And then... as the coast is clear and they step into the next room. At his warning she abruptly quick steps out of the way and turns to see...
...Tidus being introduced to what would be the WORST KIND OF HELL for her. Like if it were simply concentrating the entirety of the Thunder Plains in on her. Even the sight of it electrocuting him freezes her in place for too many seconds.
Until suddenly... "Oh gosh - TIDUS!"
Rikku hurriedly moves to each pillar, quickly trying to assess how the currents are running through it. Taking some kind of sticky goop, she glues one grenade to the outside of one pillar, then another to the next, and another to the next, and so on at the four corners.
There are four grenade pins over the fingers of a single hand, worn like bling. The abrupt sequence of detonations will - HOPEFULLY - disrupt it without harming Tidus further.
DG: Rikku has used her Tool Far Too Many Grenades toward her party's challenge, Lightning Trap.
<Pose Tracker> Wakka has posed.
Wakka grunts at Lulu. It was probably in the affirmative. The back of his neck, below that shock of orange hair, is agonized still. This man needs a massage. Also, a shower.
But a minute later, when Tidus has sprung a trap, he's sweating like ten times as much as he already was.
He gives Rikku a fleeting, panicked look -- expecting the expert on traps to be too freaked out by the lightning to be of much use when they need her the most -- and is pleasantly surprised by her (relative) composure. If anyone watches him watch her, they might catch a hint of pride in his steely eyes.
"Hey bruddah," he tells Tidus, "Just sit tight, kay? We'll get you right outta there!"
And he sets to work. Once Rikku's charges have detonated, ("Good job,") he steps up; he is, it must be admitted, the party's second best master of 'delicate force'. There's something very technical about how he fights.
"Just like in the final," he mutters to himself -- a different, more familiar kind of prayer -- as he squints, one-eyed, down the length of his own arm, again terminating in a blitzball.
A moment later: boom-boom-boom-boom -- smack.
He has flung his blitzball into the pillars, causing a triple ricochet that might as well be simultaneous for its swiftness, then caught the ball on the rebound.
"Lu, you wanna finish it?"
DG: Wakka has used his Tool Crystal Cup toward his party's challenge, Lightning Trap.
<Pose Tracker> Lulu has posed.
They won't know. Lulu is certain of that much. ...She's also certain of her concern for Wakka, at the moment. It's nice, what he does for Rikku, of course. It's nicer that he has that look of pride. But Lulu too steps up after Rikku.
The others have already stepped on comforting Tidus through the ordeal; Lulu works to set herself up. Once Rikku's charges detonate, she's already moving into position. Wakka pulls his Blitzbll...
"Yes. Hold on."
Lulu looks utterly focused in the next moment. Her Power Mog has crossed to the opposite side of the trap for now, to give her a better angle--and as sh gathrs up power--
Ice slams down onto the pillars with Lulu and Mog's hands moving in time.
DG: Lulu has used her Tool Power Mog toward her party's challenge, Lightning Trap.
=======================<* Flight Through the Main Gate *>=======================
========================<* CHALLENGE - Lightning Trap *>========================
|Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Brute |Challenge Rating: 3 |
---------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------
Your flight continues, mercifully devoid of Juno's commentary for the
moment.
Then, everything goes to hell.
All it takes is one wrong move--someone steps on a floor tile that shudders
and sinks beneath their foot. There's a split-second delay, just long enough
for experienced Drifters to realize what that /means/. The trap deploys in a
heartbeatThe floor splits open, and four long, circuitry-studded pillars
erupt from beneath; the crackle of ozone fills the air. An electrical field
erupts around the person who triggered the trap, freezing them painfully in
place--and potentially entrapping others.
The pillars must be destroyed, but if the field is disrupted too much, it
might seriously hurt the people who are trapped. A delicate hand is needed
here.
=Dungeon Conditions: Weaken, Injure===========================================
==================<* Flight Through the Main Gate - Round 4 *>================== ==========================< Results - Lightning Trap >========================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Rikku 28 --(12)--> 40 Pass Far Too Many Grenades 2 Brute Effects: Strengthen -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Wakka 28 --(12)--> 40 Pass Crystal Cup 3 Brute Effects: Rally -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Tidus 28 --(12)--> 40 Pass Force 0 Brute Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Lulu 28 --(12)--> 40 Pass Power Mog 3 Brute Effects: Rally -----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------ Leader: Rikku 70 --(20)--> 90 Pass Conditions: Fright(1)|Injure(2)|Weaken(2) Effects: Strengthen(1) ===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: The party led by Rikku has passed this challenge! The party gained 20 exploration! If anyone needs to use party management commands, do so now. Otherwise, the next round's GM may begin the next round with +dungeon/draw. DG: Rikku has drawn a new Challenge.
======================<* Flight Through the Main Gate *>======================
=====================<* CHALLENGE - What Lies Beneath *>======================
|Type: Final |Dungeon Ability: Wits |Challenge Rating: 3 |
--------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------
One of the Main Gate's great secrets lies bare before you--it was built atop
something much, much older, something repurposed by whomever constructed the
Gate facilities.
This chamber is massive, and lined with crystalline circuits that look like
they were grown, rather than built. Structures that look like cracked-open
geodes sit in front of banks of ancient machinery, which still thrums with
power. At the very center of the room is a great gyroscope made of crystal,
a gimballed mechanism that presently sits idle.
It's slightly different from the ones you've seen before, but this is
clearly an Elw teleporter. Activating it is your only chance to escape Juno
and his hordes.
"The Biomass infection has penetrated the deployment level. Megaman Trigger,
I order you to divert there and purge them at once. Additional units are en
route to assist."
Get it working again, and hurry!
=Dungeon Conditions: Stupify==================================================
<Pose Tracker> Tidus has posed.
"G-g-gotcha," Tidus replies through grit, jittery teeth when Wakka reassures him. Thankfully for everyone, Rikku's keeping her head in the presence of lightning traps, and Lulu--well, she's always calm. Grenades detonate, blitzballs are hurled, and Blizzagas freeze. The former two actions destroy the corner bars while the Blizzaga ensures that they don't *explode* and take out their poor victim. The trap thus breaks down, sparking out of power and shutting down. Tidus promptly collapses, twitching.
"That sucked," he groans.
Don't worry, he'll be back on his feet in a moment. Yup--that's him staggering up to his feet and sort of fall-running in the direction of wherever it is they need to go next. Good thing he's got rubber soles; it could've gone way worse.
<Pose Tracker> Rikku has posed.
"We can take a moment." Rikku says with a faint sympathetic whimper in her voice, as she tries to help tend to Tidus, offering him a potion. "Don't rush it."
If she's fussing over him a little extra, it's because she can only imagine how horrible it was. Though once he's up on his feet, she doesn't question it.
Instead darting off after him in in a rapid gait.
Though she skids to a stop once they enter the next chamber.
The chamber is massive. The crystalline circuits look naturally grown. "Those crystals... the Machina here... this whole place is..."
Rikku mumbles, as if stunned by it.
She's never seen an Elw teleporter before, but a quick sweep of the technology shows...
... promise. "So wow... this is..." Pause. "... a lot."
She's participated in an actual ancient airship being salvaged, and yet she can hardly COMPREHEND this place.
A loudspeaker announcement suddenly interrupts them "The Biomass infection has penetrated the deployment level. Megaman Trigger, I order you to divert there and purge them at once. Additional units are en route to assist."
And that jolts her out of her awe, "Deployment level!" She blurts out, repeating it, and rushes over to a one of the consoles connected to a Geode. "So everyone! I think this might be a way back! We need to figure out how to get this working! Look for anything you might recognize! Most of this Machina here is grafted onto something even more ancient - so I think I can work with the newer stuff to get it working!"
Rikku suddenly tries to access the console and finds herself locked out, so she quickly grabs some tools, drops down and tries to undo an access panel starts rapidly trying to force the matter of her access...
"Let's hope that it's still aimed at a place that... still exists!" Rikku laughs nervously, as she works, "I mean what are the chances that it wouldn't be?"
DG: Rikku has used her Tool Quickpockets toward her party's challenge, What Lies Beneath.
<Pose Tracker> Wakka has posed.
Wakka gives Lulu a look of simple appreciation. It is firm, supportive; it is utterly unsurprised by her success.
Afterwards, he gives Tidus an arm up. "Take a breath," he advises, and if it's a little bit brotherly, maybe by now that's been earned, rather than the unfair presence of a holy ghost. "We good?"
Once they move on, he gazes in amazement at the Elw teleporter chamber. You might expect the gag to keep running, about how he grabs his blitzball and starts smashing and someone has to stop him, but that isn't what happened.
"It's beautiful," he says instead, after a really long moment of wondrous silence.
Then, somewhat dutifully, he adds, "And unnatural. Naturally unnatural. Yeah."
He's not SUPER into activating ancient machina but ones that will get them out of here and save all their lives, he's okay with making an exception for. His ignorance is staggering -- unlike some of the others, who've been studying under Rikku (and to a lesser degree, Tidus)'s tutelage, he's been wilfully avoiding that. But he's got a certain intuition on his side, and he follows various circuits along the walls, letting them guide his feet, until he notices a place in the dance with a missing step.
"Hunh. This needs to be... repaired, or something. Anyone see a separate chunka wall? Like something's supposed to be here," he slaps the empty rock, "But it isn't, ya?"
'Something's supposed to be here, but it isn't.' Life is just one long Cloister of Trials.
DG: Wakka has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward his party's challenge, What Lies Beneath.
<Pose Tracker> Lulu has posed.
Lulu looks back to Wakka and nods--it takes that support, though she doesn't verbally acknowledge it. That's something they could all use right now.
But... When Tidus is down, Lulu approaches this time, kneeling down to look at him until he rises, at which point she rises again as well as Wakka helps him up. She moves with the rst, at that. And then, this place...
"Yes," she agrees with Wakka on its beauty, the first time he says it. She considers, then--and Rikku gets to work. Lulu moves to help as best she's able, working with Wakka; indeed, that separate chunk of wall...
"I think I see something that fits."
DG: Lulu has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward her party's challenge, What Lies Beneath.
<Pose Tracker> Tidus has posed.
Between Wakka and Rikku, it doesn't take long for Tidus to feel more like himself again. "Thanks a ton," he tells them both, the former for the arm up, the latter for the potion. After the moment Rikku suggested is taken, he crooks a smile at his friends, with an extra nod to Lulu for taking the time to watch over him. "Yeah. We good." His gaze steels, and he pumps a fist. "Now let's get going! Yuna's waiting for us!"
From there, the lot of them hurry onwards--only to find a piece of technology that even Wakka can admit is beautiful. Tidus's eyes widen to see it, too, this teleporter with the grown crystals and the circuits and geodes. Zanarkand is a city of great technology, but he's never seen anything like *this* before.
"Repaired, huh," he muses. "That's a pretty good call. I think--"
oh hi juno we hadn't heard from you in a while
"--we'd better figure this out, fast!!" While Wakka and Lulu search for missing pieces, Tidus moves to Rikku to help her jimmy open that access panel so she can hopefully bypass the need for repairs. Somehow. Once they've got repair parts and open access, he'll take out his megaphone to help direct people further--including directing the non-active party members to block the entrances. Juuuust in case they need some extra time.
DG: Tidus has used his Tool Megaphone toward his party's challenge, What Lies Beneath.
======================<* Flight Through the Main Gate *>======================
=====================<* CHALLENGE - What Lies Beneath *>======================
|Type: Final |Dungeon Ability: Wits |Challenge Rating: 3 |
--------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------
One of the Main Gate's great secrets lies bare before you--it was built atop
something much, much older, something repurposed by whomever constructed the
Gate facilities.
This chamber is massive, and lined with crystalline circuits that look like
they were grown, rather than built. Structures that look like cracked-open
geodes sit in front of banks of ancient machinery, which still thrums with
power. At the very center of the room is a great gyroscope made of crystal,
a gimballed mechanism that presently sits idle.
It's slightly different from the ones you've seen before, but this is
clearly an Elw teleporter. Activating it is your only chance to escape Juno
and his hordes.
"The Biomass infection has penetrated the deployment level. Megaman Trigger,
I order you to divert there and purge them at once. Additional units are en
route to assist."
Get it working again, and hurry!
=Dungeon Conditions: Stupify==================================================
=================<* Flight Through the Main Gate - Round 5 *>================= =======================< Results - What Lies Beneath >======================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Rikku 40 --(12)--> 52 Pass Quickpockets 2 Wits Effects: Enlighten ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Wakka 40 --(12)--> 52 Fail Investigate 0 Wits Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Tidus 40 --(12)--> 52 Pass Megaphone 3 Wits Effects: Fanfare ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Lulu 40 --(12)--> 52 Fail Investigate 0 Wits Effects: BASIC ----------------------------------< Party >----------------------------------- Leader: Rikku 90 --(30)--> 120 Pass Conditions: Injure(1)|Stupify(2)|Weaken(1) Effects: Enlighten(1) ==============================< Dream Chasers >===============================
DG: You have overcome the dungeon's trials! This run is a success! DG: The party led by Rikku has successfully explored Flight Through the Main Gate!
======================<* Flight Through the Main Gate *>======================
==================<* CHALLENGE - Out Of The Frying Pan... *>==================
|Type: Discovery |Dungeon Ability: Conclusion|Challenge Rating: 1 |
--------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------
With a few last adjustments, the ancient mechanisms whirr to life. Blue
ley-light arcs through the crystalline wiring, collecting in the gimballed
mechanism in the room's center. In the space of a few seconds, the device is
too bright to look at directly. You've done your part--all you need to do is
wait for the others to do the same. As you wait, Juno speaks over the
intercom.
"The Biomass infection has activated the deployment mechanism." Is it just
your imagination, or is there a faint hint of anger in his voice? "Megaman
Trigger, I order you to purge every last one of them. Whether or not you
remember your duty is irrelevant--there is far too much at stake for you to
do otherwise. Please, Trigger. I'm sorry for any distress this causes you,
but it is misplaced. If Mother becomes aware--"
The light erupts in a brilliant flash. Concentric rings of Elw glyphs
encircle each of you, and the world around you vanishes. To some, the
sensation of long-distance teleportation may be familiar, but to others, it
may be strange and frightening--a sense of aimless vertigo, and a lack of
other sensory input.
Then, another flash, and reality comes pouring back. There's sand beneath
your feet, and smoke hangs thick in the air. Screams and gunfire echo in the
distance.
Where are you, and what the hell is happening?
=Dungeon Conditions: Save Point===============================================
<Pose Tracker> Rikku has posed.
With Tidus' directions over the megaphone things get moving right away! Machinery gets moved under his supervisory direction. Wakka and Lulu fit a piece in, that despite their best efforts take a long time adjusting into the space properly. When they do though, something changes. "I think - that did it! It's coming on!"
Eventually though the crystals light up. Ley-light arcs through the crystalline circuitry in the ground. And a brightness more intense than that of the sun fills the chamber from the device itself.
"The Biomass infection has activated the deployment mechanism." "And that confirms it!" Rikku feels confident that the hint of anger means that indeed - they're on the right track of escaping. That this might just get them out of here. Glyphs begin lighting up all around them and if anything the brightness intensifies further. "Megaman Trigger, I order you to purge every last one of them. Whether or not you remember your duty is irrelevant--there is far too much at stake for you to do otherwise. Please, Trigger. I'm sorry for any distress this causes you,but it is misplaced. If Mother becomes aware--"
And then suddenly all sound is blotted out by the sudden brilliance, the feeling of their senses becoming stretched. Caught in a spiral of strange, mechanical transportation.
It ends without fanfare, their senses come back to normal... there's sand beneath their feet.
The glare of the harsh, beating sun...
... and...
DG: A party led by Rikku is now entering The Battle of Home. DG: Party formation is now over. An Entry Challenge will now be drawn and displayed to the party.
===========================<* The Battle of Home *>===========================
====================<* CHALLENGE - ...and Into the Fire *>====================
|Type: Entry |Dungeon Ability: Agility |Challenge Rating: 2 |
--------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------
The air around you shimmers. The lingering visual after effects of
teleportation by Elw technology lingers, though the light blue runes and
circles are hard to see because of how bright it is. You have found yourself
standing in the desert, with the sun beating down on you and an overpowering
dry heat taking effect. There is a mirage-like effect, making a rusty metal
structure in the distance a little hard to look at.
Then, there are explosions. A series of gunshots hurtles in your direction.
Some bullets strike into the sand, puffs of it rising, but others may be
truer to their mark. Cresting the dune behind you, you see a squadron of
Warrior Monks rushing ahead. They are shouting -- and taking aim for another
volley -- and followed by more of them, joined by squadrons of Guado
Guardians.
It seems that you have found yourself in the middle of a battle. With the
Yevonite army coming your way, the safest route seems to be running towards
that structure under attack. The front door has been burst open, already,
and you can hear fighting inside...
=Dungeon Conditions: Hesitate, Injure=========================================
<Pose Tracker> Rikku has posed.
As Rikku touches down on the sands, and sees the glare of the sun. "Everyone..." She suddenly whirls around looking one way, then another. "... okay?" Squinting as if looking through a heat haze in the distance, she looks at the sign. "No way - we're actually..."
Drawing herself up, she's actually about to give her spiel on where they are, and keeping it a secret. She told Yuna once. She swore her to secrecy. She normally wouldn't have told the others, but circumstances demand it with Yuna's kidnapping, "Everyone! I have something to say. We're on Bikanel Island. And - there's a place us Al Bhed call Home nearby... Yunie has to be there. So I need all of you to promise..."
And then the distant sound of gunfire and screams stiffens her back. "...not to..."
One can see Rikku's pupils suddenly dilate, from the intensity of the fear as she turns around towards a large dune, "...tell..."
Suddenly the need for them to promise not to tell is not so pressing as she suddenly rushes up it, her feet scattering sand and her losing a small amount of forward progress for every step she makes in her frantic rush.
Once she gets to the top, she shields her eyes to the sun.
And suddenly her shriek joins chorus of violence and suffering, her hands around her head in that gesture she makes only when she is well and truly panicked, that the other Guardians have seen before, "Aaa-AAAAAAAAAA!" And without even waiting, careens down that dune towards it...
... and what is it? Towering Machina structures ring the desert like the petals of a giant blossom, each topped by an enormous pulley wheel as support that connects to a central structure. One of these petals lists to the side as if its supports had snapped, the distant sight of fiends crawling over its length, inferno fires riddling it.
Thick smoke lists sideways from the the fires as it rises outwards, choking out one's vision of some parts of it. Surrounding it are lines of Yevonite Warrior Monks, bearing Machina weapons, firing volleys. Somewhat apart - but still obviously on the same side are Guado Guardians, some of them hurling spells. Others closing in like they intend to engage any defenders from close quarters.
It might have been a peaceful desert sanctum once, but now it is in the midst of invasion.
And if what Rikku says is true...
... Yuna might just be in the middle of it.
BGM Start: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xNh-HWSdRyE
As Rikku charges in, it seems like she's doing so with a certain tunnel vision. Because, she doesn't seem to notice...
When several of the Warrior-Monks and Guardians turn... and spot her. Which inevitably draws a few of them to break ranks as they try to cut off the party's path.
It seems the race is on... to reach the structure in the distance, before they can intercept.
DG: Rikku has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, ...and Into the Fire.
<Pose Tracker> Lulu has posed.
The glyphs are terribly bright--Lulu has to close her eyes against thm, as she listens to the new of the purge. Her senses shift--once again, Lulu feels the strange movement of the Elw teleporter, and then the heat of the desert...
She opens her eyes. "The Al Bhed Home?" Lulu asks first, but then--gunfire, screams.
Lulu looks with some alarm towards the others as well, and sees the great structures ahead as she hears Rikku's shout. The armies ahead..
"No," Lulu starts, and then begins to rush after Rikku, a Cactuar under her arm ready to supplement her reflexes if any of them get too close.
The things she has learned all at once in the space of these moments--it is too much to process all t once while watching for danger and speaking. Lulu keeps her silence as she rushes, for now, save to--
"We can't let her go alone into this!"
DG: Lulu has used her Tool Swift Cactuar toward her party's challenge, ...and Into the Fire.
<Pose Tracker> Wakka has posed. <SoundTracker> Still https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xNh-HWSdRyE
Wakka REALLY didn't enjoy the teleporter, and if he kicked a little sand over some vomit afterwards, he's hoping nobody noticed. He is immediately struck by the elemental nature of the desert; he feels dry, parched. Stripped bare. It is as wholly opposite his native environs as possible, short of being Macalania glacier.
"...Spira?" he clarifies, when Rikku recognizes where they are. "We're in... Spira?"
They aren't just in Spira. The bottom of that horrible place had a portal leading DIRECTLY TO THE SECRET HEADQUARTERS OF THE AL BHED.
Wakka will take to the grave an ironclad belief that Main Gate is an Al Bhed base, and Megaman Juno and his Reaverbots either Al Bhed machina or an Al Bhed mistake.
He is polite enough not to say this out loud.
And any heat in his face from this momentary, blinding vindication is blasted straight out of him by their descent into a war zone. Drained.
"What? Yuna's down THERE?"
He becomes stone; not exhausted, just pinpoint-focused, determined. Much like Rikku, actually, except that in this moment, the light at the end of their respective tunnels is very different, or at least, not a massively overlapping Venn diagram.
He takes the dune at a quick jog, and when a Guado Guardian gets a little too close, beans him in the head with Tie Breaker without a second thought.
Which is actually kind of surprising, considering that said Guado Guardian was partied up with a Yevonite Warrior-Monk. But no -- no questions, no hesitation.
He's here for one reason, and one reason only.
"Where's Yuna?" he yells towards the nearest Al Bhed, when they're in earshot.
DG: Wakka has used his Tool Tie Breaker toward his party's challenge, ...and Into the Fire.
<Pose Tracker> Lulu has posed.
<SoundTracker> Still https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xNh-HWSdRyE
The glyphs are terribly bright--Lulu has to close her eyes against thm, as she listens to the new of the purge. Her senses shift--once again, Lulu feels the strange movement of the Elw teleporter, and then the heat of the desert...
She opens her eyes. "The Al Bhed Home?" Lulu asks first, but then--gunfire, screams.
Lulu looks with some alarm towards the others as well, and sees the great structures ahead as she hears Rikku's shout. The armies ahead..
She feels the heat sink in at the same time that she sees Rikku rush ahead of them. They are in Spira, Wakka confirms, and more of the information Lulu has just found has sunk in.
It doesn't all make sense yet. She recognizes where Yuna is, but also...
"Rikku!" Lulu calls from behind as she rushes up, relying on the Cactuar under her arm to help push her reflexes and its power in turn makes her faster. She rushes along, dragging a path of sand--
Lulu weaves around a Warrior Monk, swinging her doll outright and knocking him to the ground as she follows.
She has an extremely bad feeling about all of this.
<Pose Tracker> Tidus has posed.
There's something disorienting about the sensation of traveling through space-time, and the fact that this isn't the first time Tidus has done so doesn't help. There's a bit of give underneath his feet as he and his companions land on the sands--they go from air-conditioned cold to bone-dry heat--and he blinks rapidly as the light goes from artificial to natural. The sounds of explosions is still familiar, though.
"What's going on? Did the teleporter thingie not work?" he wonders at first, squinting against the too-bright light. He raises a hand to shield his face, and in that moment smells the smoke... and the salt of a ocean, for this is a desert *island* and the sea is not too far off.
'Everyone! I have something to say. We're on Bikanel Island. And - there's a place us Al Bhed call Home nearby... Yunie has to be there. So I need all of you to promise... not to... tell...'
"We promise already! Where's this place where Yuna's supposed to be?" Tidus prompts. And then Rikku screams, and Tidus's eyes adjust, and he lowers his hand to see the structure that Rikku refers to as Home.
Specifically, he sees it under attack.
"Woah, woah, what the heck's going on?! Yuna's down *there*?!" he utters, echoing Wakka. "We gotta save her!" he shouts. Rikku is already way ahead of all of them, though, and Wakka charges down with her to question an Al Bhed that's fighting--a Guado?
Tidus abruptly has a very, very bad feeling about all this. "You said it!" he tells Lulu. He draws his sword and charges down the dunes after her, and when Lulu knocks down a Warrior Monk and Wakka beans a Guado, Tidus jumps over their fallen forms and follows up with a double-tap with his own blitzball to make sure they stay down--non-lethally, of course. "Geez, if it's not one thing, it's another, huh?!"
DG: Tidus has used his Tool Signed Blitzball toward his party's challenge, ...and Into the Fire.
===========================<* The Battle of Home *>===========================
====================<* CHALLENGE - ...and Into the Fire *>====================
|Type: Entry |Dungeon Ability: Agility |Challenge Rating: 2 |
--------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------
The air around you shimmers. The lingering visual after effects of
teleportation by Elw technology lingers, though the light blue runes and
circles are hard to see because of how bright it is. You have found yourself
standing in the desert, with the sun beating down on you and an overpowering
dry heat taking effect. There is a mirage-like effect, making a rusty metal
structure in the distance a little hard to look at.
Then, there are explosions. A series of gunshots hurtles in your direction.
Some bullets strike into the sand, puffs of it rising, but others may be
truer to their mark. Cresting the dune behind you, you see a squadron of
Warrior Monks rushing ahead. They are shouting -- and taking aim for another
volley -- and followed by more of them, joined by squadrons of Guado
Guardians.
It seems that you have found yourself in the middle of a battle. With the
Yevonite army coming your way, the safest route seems to be running towards
that structure under attack. The front door has been burst open, already,
and you can hear fighting inside...
=Dungeon Conditions: Hesitate, Injure=========================================
======================<* The Battle of Home - Round 1 *>====================== ======================< Results - ...and Into the Fire >====================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Rikku 0 --(8)--> 8 Fail Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Wakka 0 --(8)--> 8 Pass Tie Breaker 2 Agility Effects: Resilient ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Lulu 0 --(8)--> 8 Fail Swift Cactuar 3 Agility Effects: Fanfare ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Tidus 0 --(8)--> 8 Pass Signed Blitzball 2 Agility Effects: Stalwart ----------------------------------< Party >----------------------------------- Leader: Rikku 0 --(20)--> 20 Pass Conditions: Hesitate(2)|Injure(2) Effects: Resilient(1) ==============================< Dream Chasers >===============================
DG: The party led by Rikku has passed this challenge! The party gained 20 exploration! If anyone needs to use party management commands, do so now. Otherwise, the next round's GM may begin the next round with +dungeon/draw. DG: Wakka has drawn a new Challenge.
============================<* The Battle of Home *>============================
===================<* CHALLENGE - Decoding Al Bhed Signage *>===================
|Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Wits |Challenge Rating: 2 |
---------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------
Home is built to be deliberately confusing for outsiders. For one thing, the
Al Bhed modified the machina structure under the assumption that, one day,
they would be attacked. For another, there are few signs. Those that exist
are light on pictures and heavy on text... and the Al Bhed language uses
characters not used in other alphabets. It is hard to make out what the sign
over a Y-split in the tunnels means -- but you hear shouts, and know that
you need to determine that quickly and move.
Or, if you're Rikku or can otherwise read Al Bhed: Brother's handwriting is
that bad.
=Dungeon Conditions: Reckless, Tire===========================================
<Pose Tracker> Rikku has posed.
Rikku trips at some point in her sprint, hurriedly getting up. It's Wakka who saves her when a Guado Guardian nearly spears her back. Lulu manages to knock a Warrior Monk down, but as he goes, he grasps at one of her belts, momentarily staggering her before she breaks free.
Tidus thankfully double taps that one to keep him down.
Rikku remembers the early years of her life. Home didn't exist then. The Al Bhed were wanderers then and she grew up on stories of how Sin destroyed the island they originally lived on. Home was in her estimation, her people's proudest achievement. A place where her people could recover, build, and live apart from the eyes of Yevon.
As a child though, she grew up here as Cid directed it being built... despite it being in the middle of a desert, the Machina they'd salvaged had helped to truly turn it into a place they could flourish in. She played throughout these halls, learned, and lived in them.
How could she not panic upon seeing it in this state?
And as she rushes through the gap in two of the petals, she sees Al Bhed defenders. Most of them are too harried to even pay attention to her - and they don't answer Wakka, too frantic in their defense. Several of them turning to fire on fiends. And others running from fiends, as what few lines remain continually are being backed up by the Guado and Warrior Monks.
And as she rushes towards the central tower, she spies one she recognizes, "Keyakku!"
The moment she calls out, a twin horned fiend gores him in the abdomen, before shaking him off, and moves on in an indiscriminate rampage of chasing down the defenders.
Horrified - seeing someone she grew up with, someone she is probably closer to than his own Brother. Rikku rushes up to him, as he crumples on the ground, clutching the gaping hole in his belly, as she kneels beside him.
"D-Do not move! I will treat you right away!" One hand clutches at his fingers, his fingers barely grasp.
"That bad?" He says hoarsely, as she replies with a shake of her head, trying to mix up something strong with one hand, "N-Nuh-uh!"
He says to her, "I kept her as safe as I could. Promise."
And then he goes utterly limp. His fingers cannot try to grasp.
Rikku chokes back a sob, "I know- I know you did!"
"They're after the Summoner." A strongly built bald-headed man with a tattoo on the right side of his head that some might be able to read as the word LOVE in Al Bhed walks up. His arms are sheathed in blue gauntlets, and he wears a yellow and green suit that doesn't distinguish him obviously from the other Al Bhed.
"F-Father..." Rikku says with a sense of held back tears.
Without another word, he walks up, kneels down, and embraces Keyakku briefly.
Then he stands up, and turns around, "You Rikku's friends? Well just don't stand there! Let's go kick those invaders out of our home!"
And promptly, he runs off to field some other part of the defense, without bothering to stay put for even a second longer to field questions. Rikku... however, still has her eyes on Keyakku, as if in a slight daze.
She once played with him in these halls.
Despite their hard life, she never once... thought that this could have happened... in this place.
<Pose Tracker> Wakka has posed.
Wakka was horrified to see the Guado and Yevonites turning Home into a war zone -- not because of any particular sympathy for the Al Bhed people, but because of an ironclad aversion to WAR. Althena's Guard, and the violence they perpetrated on Spira, maybe prepared him to deal with this a tiny bit.
But even then -- even now -- what's really a gut-punch is seeing the FIENDS. Guado can and do unleash them, an art that is frowned upon by Yevon. Or at least, it's supposed to be. Apparently today is some kind of exception, maybe like how the machina at Mi'ihen were an exception.
Some vague part of his mind, through the gunfire and shouting and blaring alarms, wonders if Yevon is planning to excommunicate the Guado after this, too.
...and were those Warrior-Monks using...forbidden machina...too?
Rikku's scream cuts through his. Cuts through him, as surely as the horned fiend cut through her friend.
He follows her across the battlefield, and waits silently, miraculously patient, a pillar of support behind her. He doesn't ask what they're saying to each other; and when the gruff man with Rikku's features shows up and starts bossing them around, he doesn't argue.
He offers Rikku a hand up and a hug after.
But he doesn't... he doesn't quite know what to say.
His eyes search for Lulu's hopefully. She can fix this. She knows how to talk to girls.
<Pose Tracker> Lulu has posed.
Rikku's panic is obvious to Lulu, though there's little she can do about it from back here--no, there's nothing she can do about it at all. The Guado, their Fiends, and the monks--Tidus helps her out, and she apprecites that, but her focus remains for now on Rikku.
Rikku, and her friend--obviously her friend, as thy reach him. He's crumbled, and seeing his injuries, the way he moves...
Lulu looks impassively at him and knows it isn't long.
She doesn't understand what thy're saying, but she doesn't need to to understand. ...Or to notice that man approaching, the one wh resembles Rikku.
Wakka looks for her eyes, and Lulu meets his in return. She holds them for less than a second, shaking her head and stepping forward.
Lulu cannot fix this, she knows. It's entirely beyond her, and Yuna...
Lulu steps the rest of the way to Rikku, and puts a hand on her shoulder. "Rikku," she says gently. She can give her a moment, at least.
<Pose Tracker> Tidus has posed.
The Guardians charge into Home. A fiend charges towards an Al Bhed. Tidus realizes in a flash he recognizes that Al Bhed as not just one of Yuna's kidnappers that time back on the Moonflow, but also one of his dubious rescuers back on that temple where he thought he'd freeze and/or starve to death. They might not have gotten along the greatest, but he did help him out, so Tidus opens his mouth to shout a warning.
But it's already too late--he sucks in a breath as the man is gored, and the fiend merely runs away. Rikku rushes to his side, speaking to him in quick Al Bhed. Tidus can only catch fragments of it; he's been studying the language, and doing a pretty decent job of it, but they're talking so fast and there's so much chaos and noise. When a bald man shows up, he looks over at him, and bizarrely he finds he can read that word--LOVE--tattooed on his arm, but all he can follow of what he says is 'Summoner,' which is, of course, a loan word and therefore not really Al Bhed anyway. Figures.
Tidus opens his mouth to ask him if he said that Yuna's here, then shuts it. Not the time, not the place. Someone they clearly cared about just died, and their home is going to hell all around them. Then the man speaks in the common language, and before Tidus can process this, he's gone.
"Dammit!!" he utters--over the missed opportunity, over Yuna's continued disappearance, over this senseless death and war, over everything. They got away from one battlefield only to end up in another. When is all of this going to *end*?!
But as angry and helpless as he feels, Rikku must be feeling it ten times--no, a hundred times worse. As Wakka gives Rikku a supporting hug, as Lulu rests a hand on her shoulder, Tidus shuffles over to rest a hand on her others shoulder and squeeze.
"We'll have to give him a proper burial later," he says softly. He's not sure what the Al Bhed tradition is, but... "Once we've gotten rid of the scumbags who're doing this and Yuna's back with us, she can Send him." That much is okay, right?
<Pose Tracker> Rikku has posed.
Rikku starts a little as Wakka hugs her, though then as she recognizes it's him, she leans against him, never taking her eyes off of Keyakku. "He was like... a brother... to me..." She says, sounding somewhat dazed, as if she feels some need to explain, to signify his importance. Otherwise, she'll be alone in feeling like this.
The thought of them not knowing, would be too much.
"...Oh Wakka..." She says quietly, as she leans on him for support. Because no matter how much they might disagree sometimes - he is a Guardian just like her, and she knows he has her back for important things like this.
Lulu's hand upon her shoulder causes her to turn her head, and for a long moment she closes her eyes and inhales through her nose, trying to recompose herself through the offer of quiet support. She knows, she knows that Lulu would never want to wait here with the possibility of Yuna in danger.
And yet, she's giving her this anyway.
And then, another hand on her shoulder. A supportive squeeze.
And Rikku knows that she is anything but alone in her feelings. Because the other Guardians care about her, and what is important to her.
"You're right." She says gently with a whisper, before unlacing herself from Wakka's hug, and putting on the best smile she can manage under the circumstances. It is not fake in the least. It is a smile...
... for them. "You're... You're so right. Let's go find Yuna. It's... it's the best thing we can do."
For Keyakku, for everyone here.
"Okay. I know this place... so everyone follow me."
As they move up to the central structure, an automated door slides up, she starts waving them past the sign down the way which she's certain is the correct route down into the tunnels, "This way!" Though as if rethinking it a moment later she backpeddles, and dips her thumb into a pouch.
And draws an quick, crude arrow of grease in the WRONG direction to the side of Brother's awful handwriting. She doesn't comment on this, not to boast, or say anything happy about it. She just tries to lead them into the depths
DG: Rikku has used her Tool Quickpockets toward her party's challenge, Decoding Al Bhed Signage. DG: Wakka has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Decoding Al Bhed Signage. DG: Lulu has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Decoding Al Bhed Signage. DG: Tidus has used his Tool Megaphone toward his party's challenge, Decoding Al Bhed Signage.
<Pose Tracker> Wakka has posed. <SoundTracker> Alas, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xNh-HWSdRyE
Wakka gives Lulu an approving look. Saying Rikku's name. Yeah. That was good. Good one, Lulu.
He jogs inside miserably.
The embattled, on fire, warped, broken interior of Home does little to make him feel better -- ESPECIALLY about the fact that Yuna is in here somewhere, without them.
"YUNA!" he yells, but even his booming voice is just kind of swallowed up by the chaos. Clearing his throat, he tries again. "Where are you??"
Nothing.
Following Rikku further on and deeper in, he shakes his head at all the wild writing he can't read, and all the invaders he ALSO can't read. Yuna's important, but...
"What in Yevon's name are those Guado thinking?" he curses.
<Pose Tracker> Lulu has posed.
A scene of death and destruction. Lulu knows what it is to lose a home, but not like this. It reminds her of many things, and none are good.
She nods, when Tidus mentions the Sending, but then she looks at Rikku again. She waits through that whisper...
Lulu is not so heartless that she could not give Rikku at least some time. She isn't heartless at all, here; seeing all of it, this ruin...
"All right," Lulu says. "We're right behind you."
She follows along. Wakka calls for Yuna; Lulu looks for signs of doors half-open, of people anywhere at all. She looks back at Wakka, again.
What are these Guado thinking? Lulu simply doesn't know.
============================<* The Battle of Home *>============================
===================<* CHALLENGE - Decoding Al Bhed Signage *>===================
|Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Wits |Challenge Rating: 2 |
---------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------
Home is built to be deliberately confusing for outsiders. For one thing, the
Al Bhed modified the machina structure under the assumption that, one day,
they would be attacked. For another, there are few signs. Those that exist
are light on pictures and heavy on text... and the Al Bhed language uses
characters not used in other alphabets. It is hard to make out what the sign
over a Y-split in the tunnels means -- but you hear shouts, and know that
you need to determine that quickly and move.
Or, if you're Rikku or can otherwise read Al Bhed: Brother's handwriting is
that bad.
=Dungeon Conditions: Reckless, Tire===========================================
=======================<* The Battle of Home - Round 2 *>======================= =====================< Results - Decoding Al Bhed Signage >===================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Rikku 8 --(8)--> 16 Pass Quickpockets 2 Wits Effects: Enlighten -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Wakka 8 --(8)--> 16 Pass Investigate 0 Wits Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Lulu 8 --(8)--> 16 Pass Investigate 0 Wits Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Tidus 8 --(8)--> 16 Pass Megaphone 3 Wits Effects: Fanfare -----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------ Leader: Rikku 20 --(20)--> 40 Pass Conditions: Hesitate(1)|Injure(1)|Reckless(2)|Tire(2) Effects: Enlighten(1) ===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: The party led by Rikku has passed this challenge! The party gained 20 exploration! If anyone needs to use party management commands, do so now. Otherwise, the next round's GM may begin the next round with +dungeon/draw. DG: Lulu has drawn a new Challenge.
============================<* The Battle of Home *>============================
=<* CHALLENGE - Besaid Man Proves That Maybe He Isn't Such a Bad Guy After All *>=
|Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Wits |Challenge Rating: 2 |
---------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------
Your flight through the tunnels of Home leads you to an Al Bhed housing
area. Yevonite Warrior Monks are here, too, with guns aimed -- and there are
fleeing civilians, rushing into an open pathway. Between these unarmed souls
and the Warrior Monks stands one figure:
Guba, the ever-hopeful Besaid Islander in his early forties, who dreams only
of joining the Besaid Aurochs. His Blitzball uniform now has mismatched
pieces of Hyadean armor, a ten-gallon hat on his back, and a coat from
Sielje Academy draped over his shoulders.
He throws his blitzball -- knocking out each Warrior Monk in turn, dropping
them to their feet. "Go, go, go!" he shouts to the Al Bhed. "I'll hold them
off! I'll--MORE INTRUDERS! GUUUUUUUUUBA!"
And then he throws the same blitzball at /your/ faces. Can you convince Guba
to not attack you in time!?
=Dungeon Conditions: Stupify, Secret==========================================
<Pose Tracker> Lulu has posed.
A scene of death and destruction. Lulu knows what it is to lose a home, but not like this. It reminds her of many things, and none are good.
She nods, when Tidus mentions the Sending, but then she looks at Rikku again. She waits through that whisper...
Lulu is not so heartless that she could not give Rikku at least some time. She isn't heartless at all, here; seeing all of it, this ruin...
"All right," Lulu says. "We're right behind you."
She follows along. The path they take leads them further into Home, among fire and ruin. A housing area is next--Yevon Warrior Monks are ahead, ready to fire on fleeing Al Bhed. Lulu stares for an instant, not at the man there, but at the monks. When he shouts, it brings her back to her senses, and that is the last she will allow herself of that weakness here.
"GUUUUBA!" After each warrior monk goes down, Guba shouts his berserker(?) rage, and hefts his hand to start throwing again.
"Guba!" Lulu says his name firmly.
<Pose Tracker> Tidus has posed.
When Rikku smiles, so too does Tidus. Nothing's finished or resolved yet, but he hates to see one of his best friends so depressed. He lingers a moment over Keyakku's body and bows--he'd offer the blitzball sign of victory to him, but considering it's a Yevon prayer in Spira, he doesn't think Keyakku *or* Rikku would appreciate it. Then he's off, following Rikku and the others deeper into Home.
Wakka yells for Yuna. Although it's unlikely she can hear him over all this noise, Tidus approves of the effort and supplies his own: "YUUUUNAAAAA!" Then, remembering the sign they agreed on together, he puts two fingers in his mouth and blows a sharp, *loud* whistle.
...still nothing.
"Yuna..." he murmurs, looking around in worry.
'What in Yevon's name are those Guado thinking?' Wakka curses.
"Probably 'those heathen Al Bhed have it coming' or something like that," Tidus tells him pointedly. "But that's not what's important right now."
Ahead, among the fire and ruin, Yevon Warrior-Monks raise guns on fleeing Al Bhed. "Hey! HEY! DON'T YOU FREAKING DARE!!" he roars at them, putting on speed to try to stop them. However, Guba, the Besaid islander, interferes first. Tidus skids to a halt. "Hey! Right on!"
Then Guba turns towards *them*, wielding that blitzball with deadly intent.
Up comes the megaphone. "DON'T YOU FREAKING DARE, GUBA!!"
DG: Tidus has used his Tool Megaphone toward his party's challenge, Besaid Man Proves That Maybe He Isn't Such a Bad Guy After All.
<Pose Tracker> Rikku has posed.
Wakka asks what the Guado are thinking, and Tidus gives his thoughts...
... she can't say he's wrong there, but she has something she can add to it. An important detail, "Dad said they want the Summoner - he must mean Yunie." Rikku says kinda absently back to the others, and then as if realizing she didn't introduce him.
Though she just made an interesting distinction didn't she? Needing to clarify that it was Yuna. Why would she feel the need to do that? Unless... "That was... him out there. Cid, the leader of the Al Bhed."
And that's when she hears the shouting as Guba... defends the hall.
Rikku recognizing the strangeness of him - including his Aurochs uniform by virtue of the fact that Wakka is nearly always in his.
But she also understands that he's with. Suddenly ducks behind the other Guardians. Letting them try to deescalate, as Lulu firmly shouts his name, and Tidus whistles.
And out of her pockets, pulls out a white rag that she waves like a white flag overhead. "I'm Rikku - Cid's daughter - and I'm with them! Please let us by-!"
Before she adds...
"We... need to get down to the Summoners' Sanctum!"
DG: Rikku has used her Tool Quickpockets toward her party's challenge, Besaid Man Proves That Maybe He Isn't Such a Bad Guy After All.
<Pose Tracker> Wakka has posed.
Wakka has to clean out an ear with a pinky after Tidus whistles, and gives him an odd look. It was certainly LOUD. And it's answering a lowkey mystery of why his little sister has been pursing her lips and blowing a lot. But... why...?
There are more immediate concerns.
"YO!" he shouts at the Warrior-Monks so loudly that he's immediately hoarse -- desperate to draw their attention away from the civilians and towards himself.
But it winds up not mattering.
"Whoa hoa hoa," he tells Guba -- "Nice SHOT! I'm not Cap'n anymore, but when you get back to Besaid, you should go to tryouts one more time, man!"
In the aftermath, he gives Rikku a look, but it isn't a resentful one. It isn't wildly surprising that she's not just Al Bhed but the daughter of their leader. It's just... confirmation of things that are already obvious. Rikku is bold and brave and smart and HIGHLY competent and, although currently rebelling, clearly a major figure among her kind.
"...your dad has sweet ink," he says finally, helplessly.
He had to say SOMETHING. Might as well make it true.
DG: Wakka has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Besaid Man Proves That Maybe He Isn't Such a Bad Guy After All. DG: Lulu has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Besaid Man Proves That Maybe He Isn't Such a Bad Guy After All.
============================<* The Battle of Home *>============================
=<* CHALLENGE - Besaid Man Proves That Maybe He Isn't Such a Bad Guy After All *>=
|Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Wits |Challenge Rating: 2 |
---------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------
Your flight through the tunnels of Home leads you to an Al Bhed housing
area. Yevonite Warrior Monks are here, too, with guns aimed -- and there are
fleeing civilians, rushing into an open pathway. Between these unarmed souls
and the Warrior Monks stands one figure:
Guba, the ever-hopeful Besaid Islander in his early forties, who dreams only
of joining the Besaid Aurochs. His Blitzball uniform now has mismatched
pieces of Hyadean armor, a ten-gallon hat on his back, and a coat from
Sielje Academy draped over his shoulders.
He throws his blitzball -- knocking out each Warrior Monk in turn, dropping
them to their feet. "Go, go, go!" he shouts to the Al Bhed. "I'll hold them
off! I'll--MORE INTRUDERS! GUUUUUUUUUBA!"
And then he throws the same blitzball at /your/ faces. Can you convince Guba
to not attack you in time!?
=Dungeon Conditions: Stupify, Secret==========================================
=======================<* The Battle of Home - Round 3 *>======================= ==< Results - Besaid Man Proves That Maybe He Isn't Such a Bad Guy After All >== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Rikku 16 --(8)--> 24 Pass Quickpockets 2 Wits Effects: Enlighten -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Wakka 16 --(8)--> 24 Pass Investigate 0 Wits Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Lulu 16 --(8)--> 24 Pass Investigate 0 Wits Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Tidus 16 --(8)--> 24 Pass Megaphone 3 Wits Effects: Fanfare -----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------ Leader: Rikku 40 --(20)--> 60 Pass Conditions: Reckless(1)|Secret(2)|Stupify(2)|Tire(1) Effects: Enlighten(1) ===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: The party led by Rikku has passed this challenge! The party gained 20 exploration! If anyone needs to use party management commands, do so now. Otherwise, the next round's GM may begin the next round with +dungeon/draw. DG: Tidus has drawn a new Challenge.
============================<* The Battle of Home *>============================
=======================<* CHALLENGE - Steam Explosion *>========================
|Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Agility |Challenge Rating: 3 |
---------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------
Parts of Home are filled with the ancient machina that make it work.
Pipelines carry fluid, wires with electricity, and other necessary elements
to make its internal workings function. The Guado invading the city care
nothing for such technology. As you hurry along, you see a spark of flame
shoot over your head -- arc up high -- and then slams down into some pipes
ahead.
The pipes burst. Then, a high pressure blast of steam explodes outward,
straight towards you. You need to move /quickly/, lest you take a blast of
steam to the face.
=Dungeon Conditions: Slow, Suffer=============================================
<Pose Tracker> Lulu has posed.
Lulu looks to Tidus at the whistle, too. Just for a moment.
"GUB--" Like any man of Besaid, Guba hears Lulu's angry voice and immediately stops for an instant--but no, he must press on!! He starts to rear back further, not recognizing the group--
The megaphone makes him go -_- against it and he finally starts to lower it, blinking in confusion at Rikku's white flag surrender and then to Wakka--
"Aw, yeah!" he cheers. "All right! You guys keep going, I'll take on more of these jerks! GUUUBAAAA!" He charges off to continue the battle, a one-man army of... sorts.
Lulu is actually surprised enough to hear Wakka complimenting Cid's tattoos that she doesn't say anything. Or maybe it's because of the confirmations about Rikku. Regardless, they can move forwrad, and the civilians can get away... which they have, in all of the confusion, before spotting Rikku.
<Pose Tracker> Tidus has posed.
Tidus heaves a sigh as he puts the megaphone away. "*Finally*, he listens." He looks over at Rikku, Wakka, and Lulu in turn. "So she's gotta be in here somewhere," he interprets. He holds back a snort when Wakka compliments Cid's ink--it's not like he hadn't thought that when they spoke earlier, anyway. If there's anything off about Rikku specifying that Cid must have meant Yuna, Tidus doesn't think about it, any more than he thinks about the Al Bhed Home having a Summoner's Sanctum. What's important is that Yuna must be there.
That, once they get close enough, Yuna will be able to answer his whistle. Just like they practiced.
"Let's keep going. Rikku, you show us the way!" Tidus says firmly. And so onwards they press.
But there's still the matter of the invaders, of course. There's also a lot of technology in Home, some of it more delicate--and dangerous--than others. When a fight on the other side of the building sends a fireball careening towards them, Tidus tenses to dodge. When it instead hits a bunch of pipes, he relaxes--and then something in the pipes sparks, and then there is a BOOM as steam and gas ignite and rupture and explode towards them.
Tidus is already running, half-spinning as he hurls a blitzball at the pipe and hopefully knocks it in another direction so the explosion points *away* from them. "GO GO GO GO!" he urges the others.
DG: Tidus has used his Tool Signed Blitzball toward his party's challenge, Steam Explosion.
<Pose Tracker> Rikku has posed.
Wakka saying that is just about the last thing she expected to say. As he says that, she actually lets out this small quick laugh, in the way that family does about family, before the gravity of the situation sinks back into her.
She always found it a bit embarrassing actually, growing up. But what daughter is not embarrassed by something of their father? If Wakka compliments it, she might as well let her Dad have this.
"Oh you like it? Wait until you meet Brother." She says, as if trying to draw out something positive - anything positive. The other Guardians meeting her family might just be that.
Rikku casts another glance at Guba as they go by, though she does not actually wonder how someone from Besaid ended up here.
It is not an uncommon thing, for people who do not quite fit in, to end up among the Al Bhed.
Rikku responds to Tidus, "Alright! It's not too much further - this way!
And Rikku has to hastily dive to avoid the fireball. However, she notices a disaster in the making as they hit the pipes. 'GO GO GO GO!'
Without time to talk, driven by Tidus' urgency the girl scrambles upwards and takes off in a full on sprint - probably only narrowly avoiding the steam to the face with the intervention of the other Guardians. Part of her wishes Yuna was already with them, then she wouldn't need to fear such a thing as temperature extremes.
As they try to move through the busted pipe gauntlets though... an intercom comes on overhead. And although he's speaking in Al Bhed, it is obviously the same man as earlier - his timing, absolutely terrible perhaps for the situation, "This bites! Rikku! You read me? You go under, too! I am leveling Home! And taking all of the invaders with it!"
"Oh - Oh no! Hurry everyone! We have to get below!" Rikku announces as she attempts to redouble her speed past this so they can get into some of the deepest points of Home...
<Pose Tracker> Wakka has posed. <SoundTracker> Cool Guys Don't Look At Explosions... you wish https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xNh-HWSdRyE
Wakka tucks away the shaky smile Rikku's laugh drew to his lips for a more appropriate time. Yuna. Yuna. He needs to focus on Yuna.
Still, he's glad he said something, now. For a minute he was afraid he'd never hear that rascal's laugh ever again.
EXPLOSIONS!
o` Cool guys don't look at explosions, they just throw blitzballs as they walk away. o`
Or run away. Or vault away, with Lulu tucked under their arm. Tie Breaker isn't a boomerang; he may never see it again, after it ricochets past his now-full hands. But she's more important. This is Kimahri's specialty -- it takes a lot more upper body strength from Wakka because of their relative sizes -- but he can do it.
A thankfully insulated electrical line is dangling and he winds up swinging them like Tarzan and/or Luke Skywalker with it to cross a major gap.
They narrowly miss the wave of fire and flame.
In the aftermath of the architectural carnage, Wakka listens to the creak of failing girders, and gives Rikku a troubled look.
"This place done for," he says quietly. The 'sorry' is silent, but present.
<Pose Tracker> Lulu has posed.
Lulu thinks about the Al Bhed having a Summoner's Sanctum, though. It makes her wonder, makes her link together still more incidents from before, that she's heard about and known...
Guba should catch up with more Al Bhed soon. As for them...
Lulu hears Rikku's instruction and doesn't have to be told twice. Taking the cactuar doll in one hand, Lulu prepares to try to rush it--but there's a gap that's much too distant for her to jump, and she frowns at it, as if simply looking disapprovingly at the wreckage might cause it to change. Wakka to the rescue here; As he comes up, she counts on him to get them across without so much as a joke.
In the aftermath she looks to the othrs, and settles on Rikku too. That clearly wasn't a good message...
"Mm," Lulu vocalizes back to Wakka.
DG: Lulu has used her Tool Swift Cactuar toward her party's challenge, Steam Explosion. DG: Wakka has used his Tool Tie Breaker toward his party's challenge, Steam Explosion. DG: Rikku has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Steam Explosion.
============================<* The Battle of Home *>============================
=======================<* CHALLENGE - Steam Explosion *>========================
|Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Agility |Challenge Rating: 3 |
---------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------
Parts of Home are filled with the ancient machina that make it work.
Pipelines carry fluid, wires with electricity, and other necessary elements
to make its internal workings function. The Guado invading the city care
nothing for such technology. As you hurry along, you see a spark of flame
shoot over your head -- arc up high -- and then slams down into some pipes
ahead.
The pipes burst. Then, a high pressure blast of steam explodes outward,
straight towards you. You need to move /quickly/, lest you take a blast of
steam to the face.
=Dungeon Conditions: Slow, Suffer=============================================
=======================<* The Battle of Home - Round 4 *>======================= =========================< Results - Steam Explosion >========================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Rikku 24 --(22)--> 46 Fail Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Wakka 24 --(22)--> 46 Pass Tie Breaker 2 Agility Effects: Resilient -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Lulu 24 --(22)--> 46 Pass Swift Cactuar 3 Agility Effects: Fanfare -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Tidus 24 --(22)--> 46 Fail Signed Blitzball 2 Agility Effects: Stalwart -----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------ Leader: Rikku 60 --(30)--> 90 Pass Conditions: Secret(1)|Slow(2)|Stupify(1)|Suffer(1) Effects: Resilient(1) ===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: The party led by Rikku has passed this challenge! The party gained 30 exploration! If anyone needs to use party management commands, do so now. Otherwise, the next round's GM may begin the next round with +dungeon/draw. DG: Rikku has drawn a new Challenge.
===========================<* The Battle of Home *>===========================
=================<* CHALLENGE - Opening the Airship Hangar *>=================
|Type: Final |Dungeon Ability: Brute |Challenge Rating: 3 |
--------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------
Your flight through Home has led to a large room, built in the lower levels
of the structure. Before you can get through, though, you find a group of Al
Bhed civilians and a few of their unlikely protectors gathered (for one, you
spy Rin and... Guba?). They have gathered about a large set of doors, which
have been closed automatically -- blast doors, to protect whatever is
through.
Yevonite forces are on the way, but you see Brother and other armed Al Bhed
taking stock. Rin is the one who approaches you; the middle-aged Al Bhed
jogs up, and then claps his hand. "Ah! My friends!" he calls out. "You have
impeccable timing! You see, we have two airships through these doors--and we
are ready to leave. But, these doors are too smart, and have closed on their
own!"
He smiles. "I trust you know what to do?"
=Dungeon Conditions: Weaken, Overzealous======================================
<Pose Tracker> Tidus has posed.
If Wakka and Tidus lose their blitzballs, well, that's just the price of not getting horribly exploded by gas and steam. It's good that they did act as quickly as they did, though; the explosion is turned away so that it doesn't strike them directly, but the building rocks and shakes and debris falls down, blocking off the path they'd come in from. Wakka carries Lulu in bodily while Rikku announces that they have to get below. Kimahri and Auron are presumably here as well, probably in the back ensuring that the group is protected from falling debris.
"I found some stairs! C'mon, let's hurry down!" Tidus calls to the others. He hears a bit of what Cid said over the intercom, and it's just like Wakka said: this place is done for. But they've got to find Yuna first. So if Yuna's below... that's where he'll go.
And when they arrive...
<Pose Tracker> Rikku has posed.
And just like that, the truth sinks in, as she slows down, and then stops at a stairwell, resting a hand on the rail. Wakka doesn't even know what her father said overhead. It's just... intrinsic to the situation. Anyone who looks at this place would know it.
"You're right." There's a tiny crack in her voice. It's not like she's mad. She's certainly not angry at Wakka, just... emotional at the thought of what she's lost. What she's about to lose, "You're right Wakka. We Al Bhed... we weren't always like this. Sin destroyed the island where we all used to live. After that, we were scattered to every corner of Spira. But then, my Dad? He brought the Al Bhed together again. He thought, if we put our minds together and worked together... then we can make a new home. Everyone worked hard, we had our Home back again... but now..."
Rikku just, deeply inhales, like she needs to take a breath. Just one breath, to keep herself from breaking down utterly under the realization of this place being destroyed.
Despite her words - it has a somewhat storylike quality from her lips.
And that's because she doesn't remember the original island home Sin destroyed - she was too young. So she never truly knew what it was like to lose a place like this. Only to grow up on stories of what they lost, but never actually feeling its absence.
Instead she learned what Home truly is from this place. And now like those who survived the loss of their original home... now she'll truly know what it's like to lose a place like this.
She sounds smaller when she speaks again, her gaze dropping, a slight tremor going through her body, "... but now... why did things have to turn out this way?"
<Pose Tracker> Wakka has posed.
Wakka wishes he could say he didn't know; that he knew nothing about the Al Bhed but what he'd been told his whole life. That they were thieves and heretics; vagrants, outcasts who deserved it.
But that hasn't been true for a long time now.
Maybe it's never even been true. Ever, at all.
Listening to Rikku recount her people's recent history, a tiny fragment of her grief finds its way into his gut. HE'S been alive for an island home being leveled by Sin, though Besaid was rebuilt. More than twice, in his lifetime. But he's seen the monster's power up close and extremely personal, now. Rikku didn't say 'destroyed the village'. She said Sin 'destroyed the ISLAND'.
And he believes it.
At least Lulu taught him what to say.
"Rikku," he murmurs, the gentlest her name has ever been on his lips -- the gentlest ANY word has been, perhaps, or at least in strong competition with a few childhood incidents of grief and comfort that currently feel like three or four lifetimes ago.
Home crumbles around them, and Wakka takes his religion's sworn enemy and one of his best friends into his arms and holds her close. She tucks well under his chin, like Yuna does for Kimahri.
"Damn those Guado!" he curses again softly. He repeats, blankly, blackly, into honey-blond hair: "What are they thinking?"
It's Sin that brings this kind of desolation. This utter destruction.
This isn't supposed to be the provenance of Man.
<Pose Tracker> Lulu has posed.
Ther are always prices, after all. Tidus finds stairs, and Lulu, on her feet again, begins to hurry on. Except... Rikku stops. She stops, and she speaks.
She tells a story that is so different and yet so, so terribly familiar. She knows what it is, to lose a home. But not a Home. And this...
Wakka responds sooner than Lulu does, who watches Rikku now. Lulu catches that storyline quality though--she wonders how many Al Bhed would speak in the same way of this Home, wold speak so lovingly of a place that now is ablaze and in ruin. Rikku asks...
Wakka asks.
Lulu steps across the intervening space, sand falling out of some of the belts that make up her skirt as the black garment drags across the ground. She does not walk slowly, but does not hurry. She only reaches Rikku, in time.
She hears that gentleness in Wakka's voice, and it... If she were uncharitable she would say it surprised her, but it wouldn't be the truth. It is perhaps one of the most Wakka things she has seen him do since Macalania.
"I don't know," Lulu answers softly, and it is an admission; for all her learning, for all her understanding and attempts at wisdom, she is as confused and lost in this atrocity as Wakka. She only doesn't show it the same way.
"But I'm sorry."
Is it sympathy? A feeling of complicity, as part of Yevon? Or is it an apology, for the fact that she cannot give Rikku all the time she should rightly have to grieve now?
She reaches out a hand, this time to take one of Rikku's, and if Rikku seems smaller, then Lulu is voluminous, a black and white shape that cuts a substantial figure in the gloom.
She squeezes Rikku's hand, and waits for just a little while longer.
<Pose Tracker> Tidus has posed.
They've all lost homes to Sin--even Tidus. His is seemingly a thousand years in the past, even. But that's been a long time ago now, both on a personal and a factual level, while Rikku's losing a home right here and now--even lost a dear friend, as close as a brother, right before her eyes. At least when Tidus lost Zanarkand, he didn't have to see any of his friends die right in front of him. Not to mention, Rikku's entire people were scattered all over the globe, then gathered in place, only to be scattered again... Tidus can only imagine how hard it would be to finally regain a place where you belong, only to lose it again because Yevon and the Guado are assholes.
...Wait.
Yevon and... the *Guado*?
Tidus shakes his head at his sudden realization. No, it can't be. Yuna's *got* to still be here. And if she's still here, then right now the one who needs him--who needs all of them--is Rikku. Wakka, who's always hated the Al Bhed and blamed and reviled them, is there for her first, even--gives her the hug she needs, curses the Guado again.
Before, Tidus had a snippy answer. This time, he says quietly, "I don't know either," 'But I'm sorry,' Lulu concludes, taking Rikku's hand into her own. By contrast, Tidus clenches a fist. "But we won't take this lying down. We're gonna make those jerks sorry they ever hurt your home and your friends and family, Rikku. I promise."
<Pose Tracker> Rikku has posed.
Rikku right now, in her state of vulnerability, is all too eager to accept comfort from Wakka. Not even because he's a fellow Guardian.
But because he's a good friend. One of her best friends who has made it clear he cares about her pain.
Her forehead only makes it up to midchest, her hands she simply places gently upon his upper chest as he hugs her and she accepts his embrace. There's a sniffle, but she somehow manages to keep it together. Despite the fact that noone, least of all him, would blame her if she couldn't.
He asks a question, she could give an answer to, but his curse, the outrage over this tragedy...
... it makes her feel slightly better, that he understands this place as something worth being outraged over. Something worth mourning.
Lulu though approaches, and answers softly, 'I don't know, But I'm sorry.' It's hard to say if Rikku understands all the things it could be. Sympathy. Complicity. Apology. But to Rikku... she hears, understanding. It may not be intended, but Rikku believes perhaps that she hears an understanding of sorrow, an understanding of loss... and a sharing in it. There is something deep within such gestures, when Lulu offers them.
As Lulu takes her hand, Rikku sniffs again, and it is so easily taken... because she has her complete and full trust.
But Lulu being here rather kick-starts that believe in hope again, because perhaps... things can get better than this.
And because all of them have shown they are here for her, in the worst of times.
Whereas Tidus, offers a clenched fist. And she appreciates the sincerity of the outrage just like she does Wakka's, though in a different way. As sad as she is about this turn of events, she's angry too. Her grief just hasn't receded enough for her to start channeling that anger. And she knows with Tidus, such promises aren't so idly given. If he says he's going to do make them sorry, he means it.
Sucking in one final breath from her nostrils, her smile is such a hesitant thing right now, vulnerable, but still evidence that she is indeed the same Rikku who proclaimed herself the Merriest.
"Thank you... all of you." She swipes a hand over her eyes as she takes a step back from Wakka's grasp, looking up at him, before looking at Lulu while still holding her hand, "This is all just terrible, but friends like you... ah... it makes it a little easier. I don't know how I'd get through this without you."
And then finally, at Tidus and his clenched fist, that hesitant smile is still there, "Let's go get Yunie, and get out of here... then I'll figure out just how much I'm going to hold you to that promise."
<Pose Tracker> Wakka has posed. <SoundTracker> Inexorably, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xNh-HWSdRyE
It turns out that they do not have to get out of here to figure out how much to keep their promise to Rikku, because Guado round the corner and there's a quick, brutal fight. And then another one, around the next corner, with fiends. And then another, not far from the next set of stairs going down, which has Guado AND fiends AND Yevonites.
Wakka dispatches even the Yevonites with a hard face that promises trouble later. He's obviously balling all of his confusion -- which will, inevitably, metastasize into a feeling of terrible betrayal -- into his gut, to be digested later. Now is not the time.
He is particularly circumspect in his efforts to keep these opponents from touching even a single hair on Rikku's head. It's worth the extra bumps and bruises he's collecting -- that his armguard is failing to keep up with.
But that's okay.
Surely Yuna is just a little further away, now.
Just a little further.
The strain in his expression... he really needs a break.
A time-out.
But is isn't the beloved game, and there are no time-outs.
There's just the same voice screaming over the intercom, again and again and again, in a language he doesn't understand, with a message he understands perfectly.
EVACUATE! EVACUATE! EVACUATE!
"Not without Yuna," he mutters under his breath at the phantom voice, in the latest aftermath of the latest fight.
<Pose Tracker> Lulu has posed.
Lulu knows how Rikku trusts her--it is part of the responsibility of being her friend, and it is one she takes seriously. ...But Lulu will not be without anger for this. For now, though--
Before letting go, Lulu squeezes her hand once. "And you don't have to find out, either. Yes, let's go get her."
To collapse forever is not a luxury they are afforded, yet. This becomes all the plainer with the violece that follows.
Lulu does not caution Wakka to be careful this time, not in shielding Rikku. Instead, she blasts more and more foes, magic tearing against Guado, Yevonites, and fiends as she destroys each that touches one of them, each that tries.
She is walking close to Wakka now, and her concern is for Yuna but she has enough to spare for him. He needs a break--she can tell he needs the rest that he won't be getting... and tht he's going to keep going regardless.
After the latest fight Lulu looks him over, and then returns her attention to Rikku. She, too, is worse for wear; calling on elemental forces is not easy, and she's taken her share of hits in these battles, too. But there is something...
"Rikku," she starts. "You mentioned where we were trying to go, a 'Summoner's Sanctum.'" Her voice is calm and steady, revealing none of the exhaustion that her shoulders do.
"What is it?"
<Pose Tracker> Tidus has posed.
In degrees, Rikku recovers from her moment of grief. It's terrible that she won't get to have more than a moment, at least for right now, but Tidus can't be upset about it. He doesn't like to see the people he cares about in pain, and Rikku's one of his best friends. When she says she's going to have to figure out how much to hold him to that promise, he smiles and turns his fist around for a fistbump. "Just say the word and I'll be there for you. We all will," he swears. "You're right, though. Yuna comes first."
He turns towards the so-called Summoner's Sanctum up ahead, down the stairs that they'd found. There's fire and smoke in the air, and electricity sparking from broken machina... The metal stairs arc down at angles, showing a steel door far below. Cid told them, through Rikku, to get underground, and that looks pretty underground to him. If Yuna's there, he'll be so relieved--today's been awful enough.
There is one thing, though. Rikku called it the Summoner's Sanctum, and the meaning behind that is pretty obvious, but the intent? Not so much. He hadn't thought about it earlier, being so intent on finding the girl he cares for so much, but now that she's seemingly dead ahead, he has the mental wherewithal to stop and wonder about certain things. Lulu beats him to the punch in asking what exactly is *up* with the Summoner's Sanctum, but Tidus listens--even if he has to do it while slicing and slashing the enemies in the way, fiend, Yevonite, and Guado alike.
It helps that this is just part of getting back at the people who're even now in the process of destroying the Al Bhed's home--who made Rikku so damn sad. It makes it easier--gives Tidus something to focus on besides worry, for Yuna, for Rikku--and for Wakka, who keeps pushing himself harder and harder, who makes his strain easier and easier to see. Lulu's clearly getting exhausted, too. Kimahri and Auron are covering their backs so the group doesn't get ambushed, but... they're all getting tired.
At least Lulu's question gives an opportunity for Tidus to hand out a few potions. They're no Cura spell, but they'll at least take the edge off.
<Pose Tracker> Rikku has posed.
Rikku fistbumps Tidus lightly after. "I wouldn't doubt that, even for a second." The comment is not as cheerful as is typical for her, but it's not without it. After all, she's telling the truth. No matter what that might mean next, no matter what they're up against... they're there for her.
Rikku does not hesitate to chuck items from her arsenal at the Guado and the fiends, even ones she'd usually hoard. What better scenario is there to throw some of these gems right now than to repel invaders from her Home and rescue Yuna? Some of them might contribute to these battles being extra quick, efficient, brutal.
She's definitely cognizant of the efforts to protect her, which manages to keep that smile of hers going... something that's difficult with the constant buzz of the call to evacuate overhead. Normally she'd be a bit embarrassed but right now it's something she can accept.
She does get concerned though about his out of breath state, but... Lulu is right there, and she feels that her presence is enough of a reminder not to push himself. Instead she gives him a shoulder pat that's appreciative as she offers definitive agreement. "Yeah."
Before stepping on ahead to continue offering direction to the group.
And then, Lulu says that. And Rikku hesitates. She's still looking straight forward, away from them. It's just there's no longer forward movement, her gaze slightly down and to the side.
Lulu knows what she did in Luca.
Perhaps Rikku never said explicitly why the Al Bhed were doing this, but her motive was something that never needed to be questioned once Lulu found out who she was during that session of Girl Talk.
'... Then I understand,'
Lulu had offered her understanding, rather than admonishment - she was gentle, never judgemental about it. There were no hard feelings. She knows of anyone here that Lulu will not begrudge the answer. And yet she feels ashamed anyway to come out with it, because even if she doesn't believe the motive behind it was wrong. ... She knows the act was now.
"The Summoners' Sanctum is where we keep the summoners. We keep them safe there."
She begins, and everyone has the sense that besides simply her guilty posture, she's choosing her words a bit carefully... like a child who was caught doing something wrong, and is forced to come clean.
<Pose Tracker> Wakka has posed.
Wakka's shoulders tighten beneath Lulu's glance. But it's his face that tightens beneath her QUESTION, moments later.
It isn't disapproval or even anger, though it's possible to mistake it as such. She knows better, though.
When things are tough, questions are the last thing Wakka wants to ask. He can barely move right now. And now Lulu is forcing him to THINK.
He steels himself against Rikku's answer.
"You kidnapped them," he grunts in confirmation, his inflection mostly just tired, beaten down. Not 'you KIDNAPPED them??' or 'YOU???! Kidnapped THEM????'. More just a bone-deep sigh.
What happens next probably surprises everyone; him most of all, like as not. Maybe it's the exhaustion talking. Maybe it's the pity -- he's investing a lot of himself in caring about the Al Bhed as anthropormorphic personification in front of him, so that he doesn't have to look too closely at the bigger picture. Rikku's tragedy is easy -- the full story of this massacre, perhaps the hardest thing he's ever had to face.
Even worse than Mi'ihen. Or it will be, once he lets it all in.
But for now, he just lets HER in. And his face softens a little; real understanding flickers in his eyes. A keen, quiet empathy. It isn't a gentle feeling, though his voice itself is gentle.
"I mean, I get why you did it and all, but..."
He almost smiles. He almost laughs. He almost cries.
He does none of these things in the end.
It isn't his sin to forgive, not really, but strangely enough he feels moved to do so anyway.
His own sin is to forget. To forget about the boy who both brilliantly is and isn't his little brother. Tidus -- his mysterious Zanarkand, and the quixotic quest to find it -- is the last thing on his mind right now.
<Pose Tracker> Lulu has posed.
Fire and smoke, electricity in the air--it is terrible that Rikku won't get more time, but it's the case now. She doesn't have to watch Tidus as much, but this isn't out of a lack of concern--it is because she knows he can take care, and, well.
He's holding the potions. She can trust him with that.
Lulu does take one of thse potions when Tidus hands them out, but she doesn't drink it at first. She keeps watching Rikku, and waits. She remembers that conversation well, but she cannot wait for guesses, this time. She has to ask. And indeed--she does not begrudge the answer.
"I see," she answers, answering after Wakka. Indeed Lulu is surprised at his reaction next, despite everything.
Surprised, but... not displeased.
Lulu is tired. Does she forget? No, but...
"I understand."
<Pose Tracker> Tidus has posed.
'I mean, I get why you did it and all, but...'
'I see. I understand.'
"Well, I sure don't, you guys."
Tidus stuffs a potion in Wakka's pocket when his other best friend fails to take one directly, and gives Lulu a Look as if to say 'you better actually DRINK that potion, missy'--but that's just a side action, really. He steps down the metal stairwell, carefully avoiding the corpses of the Al Bhed strewn upon it. It isn't out of disrespect that he avoids looking directly at them; it's just that there's so much going on, and if he adds their deaths to his mental load, he's not going to be able to give Rikku the support she needs--or protect Yuna when *she* needs it. Just focus on one thing at a time.
And right now, that thing is the question of why the Al Bhed would take these measures. He stops next to Rikku and frowns, blond eyebrows furrowed. "They might get hurt on their pilgrimage so you kidnap them? I mean, if the summoners don't do their job, then who will beat Sin?" he says--and while he doesn't want to be rude, especially at a time like now, his incredulousness is clear in his tone... and through it, his ignorance. He softens a bit as he continues, "You want to protect them, I know. But guardians are there for that. If guardians do their job well, summoners will be safe! Right?"
He says it so simply, so straightforwardly, as if trying to re-explain basic math concepts to a stubbornly homework-hating child. Yet, as whenever happens when Tidus broaches this general topic, there is surely a long, awkward silence. Only this time, the punctuation of the blaring sirens and the explosions rocking the outer sanctum from outside Home draw his sudden, keen awareness to that silence. He looks around at the other guardians, searching for someone, anyone, who'll meet his eye. "Right?!"
In the moment that follows, it suddenly strikes Tidus that maybe the one who needs to get basic concepts re-explained is him.
<Pose Tracker> Wakka has posed. <SoundTracker> In just a few lines you're really going to miss https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xNh-HWSdRyE
Wakka is blindsided.
Rikku's truth he was ready for. He's known for a long time, on some level, even if he has preferred not to interrogate that internalization too much. Cid himself, now revealed as Rikku's father, at Macalania. Brother -- LITERAL Brother, obviously, now -- and the Black Wolves, at the Moonflow. And Yevon knows who else in Luca, when he was too busy playing that goddamn game.
On some level, it isn't that surprising the Al Bhed stole Yuna straight out from under them on Filgaia.
What's surprising is that it took them as long as it did.
And this -- this decimation, this utter destruction of their precious Home -- is the price they paid for doing so.
He wasn't ready for Tidus' lie. No, not lie. His innocence -- cruel innocence -- innocence that they've all fostered.
'Right?'
Wakka wants to pinch his nose and close his eyes. But that's how he brushes off something silly. And NOTHING about this is silly.
'Right?!'
He can't look at Tidus right now. He CAN'T. He, just, can't.
He looks straight ahead, his arms folded over his chest.
And a terrible reality lies on the other side of his vision.
"It's quiet," Kimahri -- Kimahri, who has not said a single word since he returned without Yuna, not even one -- growls. It isn't an impatient growl, just a statement of faact, but a growl is the Ronso's baseline. It is loud in the accurately-described quiet; the quiet of the party, but also a greater quiet, which is settling into the still-fracturing bones of this place.
The quiet of a tomb.
<SoundTracker> To Zanarkand https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xLU2xQ4nkk4
"Kimahri goes now," he chuffs, before shouldering his big blue self through the crowd without giving anyone more than the lightest tap.
He carefully steps over the corpses, and, respectfully, does not touch any of them at all, which is harder than it sounds at his size.
There are a lot more Al Bhed than Guado.
Wakka takes this as rebuke, as reminder, and most of all as permission.
Retrieving and uncorking the potion Tidus gave him, he fills his mouth with it instead of with words. But this does not mask either his silence or his sorrow.
He can't do that.
He just can't.
<Pose Tracker> Rikku has posed.
Rikku turns at Wakka's words, and nods - in an acceptance of that responsibility. She won't deny it's kidnapping. No number of corpses on this staircase, lives of her people spent protecting the Summoners changes that fact, or makes it better. She's about to open her lips to offer justification...
... and Wakka tells her he gets it, as he lets her in.
Rikku closes her eyes. Of course Yuna's friends that she grew up with would understand. Perhaps they even considered something similar themselves. Even if it was an intrusive thought, something they'd never actually do...
... they love Yuna, so of course they would. And of course they'd understand her kidnapping them.
And as Lulu reiterates her understanding, it causes her eyes to mist up anew. Even if she won't let herself cry any more right now.
The two of them understand. And it means so much to her that something she was so afraid of, was accepted with weary understanding.
However... she'd forgotten...
Tidus had made it clear earlier, that he didn't really know. Yuna must not have told him. He asks some hard questions in that ignorance.
And Rikku just finds herself staring at him, as he challenges any of them to meet his eye. There's something about her expression, that's not neutral, that's not trying to deceive him or anything. It's just... it's just sad beneath the weight of the horrible truth he doesn't know. Rikku though, doesn't break her silence.
It's like she is desperately wishing that the world were different. That it were a world that was kinder to Tidus right now - kinder to Yuna. That the truth would be one that would be kind to tell him. Instead, right now it feels like cruelty.
She's close to Tidus, he's one of her best friends now.
And she really doesn't want to hurt him. Not while she's hurting like this herself. She'd prefer to wait until they were far away, in a kinder setting, with Yuna back - so that they could break the news to him gently, preferably in a manner of Yuna's choosing. However she knows where those questions will lead. And that he will bein a world of hurt. And thus... she just stares, in silence, unable to do that to him right now.
Kimahri breaks the silence though, and Rikku finds herself relieved for it. It's not kind of her to break her gaze from him abruptly and to start to follow Kimahri down the stairs.
It's cowardly of her.
But perhaps she considers it kinder than answering these hard questions here, and now.
Rikku finds herself looking all of their faces as she walks around them. They all gave their lives to protect summoners from the end result of what they fight for. So that the answer to Tidus' question will not come to pass. They deserve someone to remember them for that.
She knows she will be shedding so many tears for all of them later, but for now... she must move on. She has to.
For Yuna's sake.
<Pose Tracker> Lulu has posed.
Now that the question is asked and answered, Lulu does drink the potion. She sighs, once, as if to allow a little valve for this tired tension. Then... Well.
Tidus asks more questions. She does not have the heart to react like she once might have, considering such obvious questions. They are not obvious. She knows, full well, that he does not know these answers, because part of why he does not know them is that they have not shared.
No, Lulu will not meet Tidus's eyes when he looks to them in that awkward silence.
She has put together the same things. But still, she is not ready either. She lets the air hang, until Kimahri speaks. She looks away, still, unwilling to meet Tidus's eyes a minute after, either.
"..."
She cannot hide the sadness in her eyes if Tidus should turn to look at her, though. She looks only briefly t Rikku, but does not break that silence. She cannot bring herself to 'wish' anything in this moment.
The wound is open. That is ll there is. Lulu lowrs hr head, and begins to walk after Rikku in quiet.
Down the stairs, without looking. In this, she cannot be the one to dispel his ignorance. In this, she has no easy explanation, no simple sets of words to illuminate the realities of Spira.
She has only grief, as she steps down the stairs.
<Pose Tracker> Tidus has posed.
Tidus asks a simple yet difficult question of his friends. Only Kimahri speaks, and only to state that he's going on ahead. Wakka drinks down a potion; Rikku looks at him, then away; Lulu sighs and hangs her head; all of them walk past in silence, without answering.
He watches them go. He hasn't felt this alone in a long, long time. He thought they were all guardians, that he was one of them--but it's becoming rapidly clear to him that he's still an outsider after all. And though the air is stifled with smoke and heat... a chill tingle washes over his skin. It's slow, and then fast, and it steals away all the heat from the surface of his body, leaving behind a cold sweat.
What do they know that he doesn't?
He won't get any answers standing here. Gritting his teeth and steeling himself, he runs down the stairs after them and follows into the Summoner's Sanctum--though, for being named a 'sanctum,' the condition it's in is as bad if not worse as the rest of Home.
After all, this is where the Al Bhed made their stand against Yevon, to protect the summoners from the church that would steal them back and put them back on their pilgrimage to death. Only a few figures remain standing within. Tidus looks around for Yuna, to no avail. There's no need or point in whistling. The room isn't so large that he couldn't spot her if she were here.
So then--where *is* she?
<Pose Tracker> Rikku has posed.
A door slides up, and Rikku rushes into the wide open room. "YUNA! Please be here!"
The room is full of metal, all obviously salvaged, though most hints of oxidation have been worn away. The room is criss-crossed with pipes that run overhead that are now mostly busted, some of them leaking. Many of them on fire. Though the room is not precisely an inferno, each fire comfortably contained, with enough ventilation that the room is not in danger of having all the air choked out of it.
Any comforts of the room that made it a sanctum is obviously ruined.
Debris from the defenses are everywhere - as if crumbled by a great Earthquake of awful violence. And bodies...
There are so many bodies.
There's not a single Al Bhed alive in this room, save Rikku, who just ran in at a heedless pace.
All of them have weapons nearby, or buried in the debris. It is obvious at a single glance, the smell of blood mingling with the smell of metal and smoke
All of them gave their lives to defend this place.
Here and there are other bodies too of the Invaders - both Guado and Warrior Monks, but by and large...
... the Al Bhed suffered terribly trying to keep something - or someone safe.
And the evidence of their results are clear... because as Rikku runs across the room.
... it becomes clear that there is not only death in this room.
<Pose Tracker> Wakka has posed.
Kimahri strides into the carnage and seems unmoved by it. Forgive him. His whole world has shrunk to a single point:
"YUNA!"
And then, as though in answer, a slender woman clad in gorgeous, intricate raiment emerges from the shadows.
Wakka's face falls.
"She's not here," says Dona.
Isaaru is with her. The two of them look well-cared-for, if you subtract the previous hour of violence. And by those standards...
...well, the Al Bhed's results speak for themselves.
There's something simultaneously sacred and profane about the way that, in the midst of this massacre, their robes and ribbons are barely even bloodstained. And how almost none of the blood is theirs.
Isaaru's brothers slash Guardians, tall, dark Maroda and tiny, almost cherubic Pacce, split the difference between them. Maroda's seen combat, and recently; he is silent and tense and it takes him a second, when Yuna's Guardian's storm the room, to unclench a little from a final stand he'd been about to take.
Pacce is untouched, at least physically. Perhaps this is no surprise. After all, Maroda and Isaaru are still alive. But there's nothing they could do to protect him from the wounds of witnessing all this, and he looks shaky at best. He has cried, recently.
There's a tiny, ironic smile in Dona's voice, but it doesn't reach her lips, which are somber, untwisted.
"Hello again," she says. Then, in the manner of a summoner accustomed to commanding Guardians -- in the manner of a woman accustomed to having her own way -- in the manner of a leader and a martyr -- she instructs, very simply, "Wait there, until we have performed the Sending."
Isaaru almost looks worse than Pacce. Something deep within him has been broken by all this carnage, and the way that his shoulders are unbowed, his stride too straight -- he DOES smile -- and it's exactly like Yuna, after Mi'ihen, a terrible smile. His politeness is an atrocity in this place.
"They died... protecting us," he explains, as though he almost can't believe it. "It's not much, but the least we can do is give them a proper Sending."
They drift back into the darkness, summoner and summoner, to set about their work. Maroda will not be leaving a three foot radius around Isaaru for the foreseeable future.
Pacce is happy to see new faces, though, and runs up to Tidus, who winds up the nearest and was always the friendliest. He is very small in this moment -- small in stature, small in voice, small in conviction. His innocence is insulting; Wakka goes back to looking at nothing in an instant, while Kimahri, who is still processing the reveal of his repeated failure, is SEEING nothing at all.
"Hey, um, what's 'sacrificed'?" asks Pacce, obviously hopeful that these acquaintances will answer what his own family would not. "The Al Bhed said summoners were being 'sacrificed'," he explains plaintatively, confused. "That summoners shouldn't have to do a pilgrimage..."
<Pose Tracker> Lulu has posed.
Yuna isn't here.
Something else is. Lulu looks around, seeing the carnage, the awful violnce. So many dead; so many with weapons. Lulu does not call out for Yuna. She suspects immediately what Dona turns out to say.
Lulu looks over the two Summoners, and takes in each detail of their condition. She looks, too, at the other Guardians there.
Lulu does not smile, either. She looks again to Dona, and inclines her head, waiting for th Snding before anything else. But Pacce...
Lulu does not have this answer for Tidus, dear after long bttles and longer time together. Lulu is neither near nor friendly. ...But as she doesn't have an answer for Tidus--
She does not, cannot speak these words to a child Guardian, cannot dispel that particular innocence herself. The pain in her expression is clear, but still she remains silent.
Lulu is unable to move, either, for now. She is tired, but it is not because she is tired.
She stares forward, and without looking at Pacce she sees him.
But she sees Tidus, too. All that time ago--All that time, so long...
'...All we can do is protect her along the way. Until the end.'
Still, she can't say it, and she cannot deny that weakness.
<Pose Tracker> Tidus has posed.
Tidus's gaze settles on Dona, and the first emotion that registers therein is disappointment. He's never liked her--she's always been a rude, arrogant bully, and there's nothing he hates more than those. However, when she speaks now, it's with none of her sneering or sniping; she speaks only with the grim strength of a summoner surrounded by death. That much, Tidus respects. She might be an asshole, but she's not so bad that she fails to respect what the Al Bhed did for her.
The sight of Isaaru and his guardians--his *brothers*--gets a grimace out of Tidus, but a different kind than Dona did. It's clear that they've all been through a lot, emotionally speaking. He can't blame them. All of this is just so... It's just so much.
So when Pacce runs up to him, hope on his far-too-young features, Tidus prepares himself to give him some kind of uplifting comment to try to cheer him up. Rikku's experienced so much loss so rapidly and abruptly; Wakka's been doing his best to support her emotionally and overcome his own prejudices; and Lulu... well, let's just say Lulu lacks a certain bedside care. A poor kid like this must need some comfort and support, and Tidus is prepared to give it as best he can. But then Pacce actually speaks, and...
'Hey, um, what's "sacrificed"?'
Tidus's eyes widen.
Anything he has to say, anything he *could* say, dies in his throat. In a flash, Seymour's voice sears out from his memory through his brain.
'I have traveled to many lands. I have walked among people, before I came to you. In each land, upon every star, I have found the same thing... all are trapped in a spiral of death. You have trapped yourselves in a spiral of death, through the Pillars. You sacrifice one, so that others may prosper and live.'
He hadn't understood at the time what Seymour was talking about. Had initially dismissed it as nonsense. He'd wondered later and asked Lulu about it. But she... she only implied that she agreed it was madness. Just Seymour's delusion. And when she'd said that all they could do was protect Yuna until the end, and he'd wondered what the end was, Lulu had given him an exasperated look and said simply, 'Until she defeats Sin.' And he'd accepted that, hadn't pressed further.
Except...
Except even back then, she couldn't quite look him in the eye. And it's only now that he realizes that.
"Why couldn't they trust guardians to protect the summoners?" he asks aloud, voice low, hands shaking. It's as much a response to Pacce's own innocence as it is a question at large. His voice rises into almost a shout then: "The Al Bhed had no right stopping their pilgrimage!"
So he says. But it's not speculation now; it's no longer ignorance. It's a challenge. A challenge to any of them, all of them, to tell him he's wrong.
To tell him why.
To tell him the truth that none of them, not even Yuna--*especially* not Yuna--could bear to say.
<Pose Tracker> Rikku has posed.
Rikku hurries across the room towards the Summoners, but as Dona answers she screeches to a stop. "She's not here?" Rikku seems crestfallen by that fact as Dona notes that she isn't, "Maybe my Dad got to her first..." She speculates, since he went on ahead. Hopeful despite the carnage around her, her eyes still searching the room despite herself. Though as Isaaru makes his offer, something in her expression just gets so emotional, so much gratitude in her voice, "T-Thank you... we always... whenever one of us passes away..."
It's not hard to understand what they mean. The Al Bhed do not often have a Summoner near enough to perform the Sending. And no matter what she believes of the afterlife, she does not want any of her people to become Fiends. It feels validating that the Summoners themselves can offer that kindness to those that died defending them. Briefly, she has the thought of going to bring Keyakku here... but she tries to have faith, at least in the Summoner, and the Sending. That perhaps some small mercy will allow the ritual to reach him from here - and all of those who died above.
However... Pacce, says something with the innocence of a child and Rikku's head turns just slightly. She both envies and pities the ignorance of a child, going along on his brother's pilgrimage without knowing the end result. In this moment, Tidus and him are so similar, save that Tidus is no child. They simply both care so much for the Summoner they travel with. Her eyes are down low as Tidus responds with that question, aloud, suddenly tense. And then... he offers the inevitable conclusion of this line of thinking.
That the Al Bhed had no right.
That did it. Rikku can't take it any longer. She's not mad at Tidus, but she can't let it stand that her people here died to try to stop something that shouldn't be stopped. Whirling around, she blurts out immediately.
"They have to stop though!" Rikku says as she starts walking his way, suddenly animated, supremely passionate in her belief of this. Like she'd been holding it back for so long. And all that pressure had just been released and burst forth, as she walks towards him. "If they don't, and they get to Zanarkand... they might defeat Sin! Yunie could... but then she..."
There's a hitch in her voice, like there's a certain obstacle to overcome, a barrier for that pressure to move past. It is hard to say. "...Yunie will die!"
Rikku keeps walking up to him, her fists clenched with a passionate sincerity of belief, of grief, her eyes misting up. This day has been awful for her, and she can think of nothing worse than to add Tidus' pain onto this, but... now that it's done. She has to finish. She has to explain so that he understands, "I thought you knew. Summoners journey to get the Final Aeon - with the Final Aeon, she can beat Sin. But then - if she calls it, the Final Aeon's going to kill her! Even if she defeats Sin... it will... it will... it will kill Yunie too, you know!"
Overwhelmed suddenly, Rikku feels weak at the knees, sinking down, and just lets those tears flow free again. This day has brought so many of them for her. Tears that have fallen, tears that are destined to fall later - and tears that fall now, streaming from her face. For Yuna, for her people that died to try and prevent the fate of Summoners from coming to pass. It's all just...
... too much. One sob starts to choke out after another.
There's too much sadness in Spira, and while she tries not to let it overwhelm her, tries to beat it back with hope for a better world...
... for the moment at least, Rikku has been overcome by it, at the thought of her brave and wonderful cousin choosing to sacrifice herself for the sake of Spira. At the knowledge of how much this will hurt Tidus right now to learn of her fate like this. Despite so much uncertainty in her life right now... she is quite certain about one thing.
How much Tidus cares for Yuna is no less than any of them.
<Pose Tracker> Wakka has posed.
Tidus shouts; Rikku sobs.
Dona and Isaaru Send.
Maroda gave Rikku a glance when she speculated as to Yuna's whereabouts, but he will not be so easily separated from this duty. Not now. Not ever again. He's barely even AWARE of Pacce--
--Pacce, who gapes between Tidus and Rikku, struck dumb by the fury and grief he's just ignited within their ranks--
--Pacce, struck dumb by the fury and grief growing inside himself. He has no words for these feelings. He does not try to articulate them--
--Pacce flees, one step at a time. He takes one pace back, then another, as though away from wild animals.
Wakka stays. Kimahri stays. Auron, too, who has been present in his absence from the immediacy of the moment, which is, intentionally or not, perhaps the best, or at least the most accurate, proxy for Jecht he could have been.
Kimahri sniffs the air. His tail twitches at its tip. Something is bringing him back to the present.
Wakka's silence is different. Different from them both.
He's never FELT the surprise and horror at a summoner's fate. He's not like Pacce, or like Tidus -- or like Lulu -- innocent, ignorant of the fate of the one he's sworn to Guard. He doesn't actually remember finding out about summoners. It wasn't some big traumatic revelation to him. They were just... there, a part of Spira, a part of life. They were there, until they were gone.
He remembers the day that they became a part of HIM very clearly indeed, though. The day that it all became so damn personal.
The day he dreamed of kidnapping a summoner.
Every one of Rikku's sobs falls across his shoulders like a lash.
He palpably avoids sharing a look with Lulu.
Wakka's silence is guilty.
<Pose Tracker> Lulu has posed.
Lulu stays, too.
She stays, as Rikku talks of what the Al Bhed do, thanks the Summoners, and speculates about where Yuna might be. She stays, as Pacce asks his innocent, terrible question. And she stays as Tidus finally asks the question that they hav not answered. Lulu... does not tell him.
The woman in black stands there, as Rikku whirls around and strts talking. She feels that same pressure, but for Lulu it is not words or tears that burst forth. To look at her it's nothing at all... But what it feels like is blood.
The blood that will be sacrificed, on the day their Pilgrimage is complete.
Lulu is not certain that she is capable of tears any longer. She isn't sure if she has been for a very long time, now. But Rikku is; sweet, cherful Rikku... who was never innocent of this.
Lulu remembers, in this moment, what it was to be Pacce, or close enough to him. She remembers being Tidus, in a way. Not knowing the truth. Her silence is diferent, too.
She pointedly avoids looking at Wakka in the same way he avoids looking at her.
Of anyone, it was her place to say these words, her place to break that news and perhaps a heart with it. The shame of failing to do it wars with the ache that comes of even thinking of saying those words now.
"..."
Lulu stands amidst tears and death and unfairness, not for the first time, and not, no matter how hard she might wish it, for the last.
<Pose Tracker> Tidus has posed.
Tidus speaks in outrage, and finally, finally someone speaks back. It's no surprise that it's Rikku; he hadn't meant to insult her people, especially not while she has to put her grief on hold to help Yuna. He'd simply said what he thought in that immediate moment. In the same way, of course Rikku speaks what *she* thinks in that immediate moment. This honesty and forthrightness is something Tidus and Rikku have in common, is probably a big reason why they're such good friends. But that's also why tensions flare and emotions ride high. Pacce flees in the wake of it, and Tidus, only a moment ago ready to soothe the child's concern, doesn't even notice.
Because Rikku's saying that the pilgrimages *have* to stop. That if they don't, the summoners will reach Zanarkand. That if they do, they'll summon the Final Aeon and with it, kill Sin. That with it, they too will die.
'I thought you knew,' she says, and that's the worst part of all. Because he didn't. And in not knowing, he said so many things to Yuna--
so many things--
Rikku falls to her knees and starts crying, no doubt overwhelmed. Wakka and Lulu and Kimahri and Auron, they're all silent. They're silent while Pacce retreats. While Marocca watches on. While Isaaru and Dona dance. Just like how Yuna danced, for hours and hours and hours and hours and *hours*, on the shores of Mi'ihen.
"Was I the only one who didn't know?" Tidus asks, low and emotional. He whips around, to Rikku, to Wakka and Lulu, to Auron and Kimahri. This is the horrifying truth that they haven't been telling him. He knows that now, and knowing brings him horror and pain beyond expression. The only thing he can do is *shout*, to lash out, to demand more answers he'd been ignorant of. Because if there is truly any sin that has been committed here among them-- "Tell me why! Why were you hiding it?"
--that sin is his own ignorance.
"WHY DIDN'T I KNOW?!"
The awfulness of it is too enormous. He has to direct it outwards. He faces Lulu, stoic, reliable Lulu, Lulu, who has always answered all his questions, but never answered this, even when he asked it. "LULU! How could you? How *could* you?! Isn't she like a sister to you? I thought you were family!" And speaking of family, he turns next to Wakka--Wakka, who's always helped him out, who's always helped him out and supported him, who gave warnings where Lulu didn't, who nonetheless told him nothing of this either. Lulu might be cold, but Wakka always cares, cares so much that he'd overextend himself without a second thought, deliberately quit a game he loves so he could focus on protecting Yuna with all his strength. So then why--? "Why don't you *do* something, Wakka?!"
<Pose Tracker> Rikku has posed.
It was especially cruel to do this to Pacce, while his brother works so hard to send her people. She feels badly about it.
... not too badly though...
He deserved to know before he set out on this pilgrimage with his brother. She's not mad at Isaaru about it - just as she's not mad at Yuna for not telling Tidus. However, it does not change the fact that she feels they needed to know the truth no matter how painful it is - what awaits the Summoner, if they were going to undertake this pilgrimage.
Rikku however, is bawling into her hands right now.
As Tidus... gives voice to his own feelings on this with his questions. The obvious hurt, and obvious anger doesn't cause her to cringe away or startle or anything like that. She expected it.
Knowing that he didn't know, she thinks he deserves it. The truth of the Summoner's pilgrimage is something she'd always been angry about - but it wasn't until it would fall onto her cousin that it became personal to her. However passionately she believed it before, it doesn't compare to how passionate she was to act the moment it fell upon family.
Turning away from her Father's plan, becoming Yuna's Guardian... because she knows this truth, because she hates it, because she wants to defy it.
Because she was so willing to do something horrible to Yuna just to spare her from it. To accept that it is her choice, and to go with her to the end despite being so against it...
... it was the hardest thing she's ever had to do.
As Tidus asks that question, as he turns his rage on Lulu and Wakka... it's not her place, to answer for them.
But she can answer for one thing. She's been so close to Tidus, that her ignorance of the fact he didn't know, she feels like she needs to apologize, "T-Tidus... I thought... I thought she... I thought, since you didn't know much about Spira... that Yunie told you... I really thought you knew... and that after she made you and me Guardians..."
She says as she frantically wipes away at her eyes her volume dropping, "... I thought... I thought... you found me after the attack so... I thought you knew what I did... in Luca..." It's such a low whisper, "... I'm so sorry."
If she can't apologize for the truth in the world... then she'll apologize for the assumptions that made her complicit in this. She knew better than anyone that Tidus didn't know anything. She was the first person in the Guardians to know him.
And so she blames herself for this, just a little.
DG: Tidus has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Opening the Airship Hangar. DG: Rikku has used her Tool Far Too Many Grenades toward her party's challenge, Opening the Airship Hangar. DG: Wakka has used his Tool Crystal Cup toward his party's challenge, Opening the Airship Hangar. DG: Lulu has used her Tool Power Mog toward her party's challenge, Opening the Airship Hangar.
============================<* The Battle of Home *>============================
==================<* CHALLENGE - Opening the Airship Hangar *>==================
|Type: Final |Dungeon Ability: Brute |Challenge Rating: 3 |
---------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------
Your flight through Home has led to a large room, built in the lower levels
of the structure. Before you can get through, though, you find a group of Al
Bhed civilians and a few of their unlikely protectors gathered (for one, you
spy Rin and... Guba?). They have gathered about a large set of doors, which
have been closed automatically -- blast doors, to protect whatever is
through.
Yevonite forces are on the way, but you see Brother and other armed Al Bhed
taking stock. Rin is the one who approaches you; the middle-aged Al Bhed
jogs up, and then claps his hand. "Ah! My friends!" he calls out. "You have
impeccable timing! You see, we have two airships through these doors--and we
are ready to leave. But, these doors are too smart, and have closed on their
own!"
He smiles. "I trust you know what to do?"
=Dungeon Conditions: Weaken, Overzealous======================================
=======================<* The Battle of Home - Round 5 *>======================= ====================< Results - Opening the Airship Hangar >==================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Rikku 46 --(12)--> 58 Pass Far Too Many Grenades 2 Brute Effects: Strengthen -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Wakka 46 --(12)--> 58 Pass Crystal Cup 3 Brute Effects: Rally -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Lulu 46 --(12)--> 58 Pass Power Mog 3 Brute Effects: Rally -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Tidus 46 --(12)--> 58 Fail Force 0 Brute Effects: BASIC -----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------ Leader: Rikku 90 --(30)--> 120 Pass Conditions: Overzealous(2)|Slow(1)|Weaken(2) Effects: Strengthen(1) ===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: You have overcome the dungeon's trials! This run is a success! DG: The party led by Rikku has successfully explored The Battle of Home!
============================<* The Battle of Home *>============================
===================<* CHALLENGE - Flight on the Fahrenheit *>===================
|Type: Discovery |Dungeon Ability: Conclusion|Challenge Rating: 1 |
---------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------
The blast doors explode inward. There, you see a number of catwalks -- each
leading to two docked ships. One is a sleek, white and gold machina airship
with Al Bhed script on it. The other is a wooden sailing boat, but with ARMs
and a dirigible balloon that has armored plating reminiscent of a dragon. On
the side, Filgaian lettering marks it as the "Fereshte."
Yours leads to the white-and-gold airship. Several Al Bhed are running
ahead, but a middle-aged man with a bald head stands there, shouting orders:
"Ku, ku, ku! Ajanouha uhpuynt huf!"
He glances at Brother -- the mohawked Al Bhed charging, dropping his machina
cannon -- and meets his eyes. "Brother, oui'na eh dra bemud'c cayd!"
"Oayr! Kud ed!" Brother answers.
The bald man looks at your group, thoughtful for a second -- and then he
nods. "Name's Cid! Y'all have some real good timin'! Get onboard the
Fahrenheit, we're takin' off right now!"
Your escape awaits.
=Dungeon Conditions: Secret===================================================
<Pose Tracker> Wakka has posed.
Why didn't he know?
Wakka swallows. He DOESN'T fold his arms defensively. It isn't defensiveness he feels exactly...
"It's not like we were HIDING it!"
It's not like he treasured every single one of Yuna's puppy-love gazes like altar statuary. Treasured her simple happiness -- as inappropriate as it was unexpected, yet -- miraculous for her in a way. Something he never thought she'd have. Or... want. But, mostly, have.
It's not like he loved Tidus INSTEAD of his brother. The way his easy grin, his casual smile, the weight off his shoulders made him so much fun to be around. On his face, hope for the future was awkward, but never offensive. It almost -- almost -- made him believe in the impossible. That this time could be the last time.
The last time, but...
With Yuna, all the same.
Yuna, who they could not dissuade. Could not convince.
Yuna, who did it as much for the two summoners off in the corners of the room as for anyone.
He takes Tidus' verbal punches on the chin, takes them hard.
His voice is soft. Soft like it was when he forgave Rikku. He ignores her tears now, though. He's given her enough. Someone else needs him, now. Someone who he cares about a lot.
He's taller than Tidus, too, and doesn't have to squat to address him, but hunches down a bit anyway, makes himself a little smaller, puts them on the same level.
"Yuna... she knew what she was doing when she chose to become a summoner."
He doesn't remember when he first found out the truth about summoners... but he's not sure Yuna's ever LEFT her own first time. She's stayed there.
And she's stayed there for a reason.
His voice tightens with emotion. With passion. With pride.
With so, so much pain.
"To face Sin, ya? Yuna knew!"
<Pose Tracker> Lulu has posed.
Lulu knew, of course. How could she not? And when Tidus demands his anwers, she finally turns to look at him, and there is something there, somthing in how now at least she does not look away from his anger. She stands, and watches him.
An innocence dies here, and perhaps it should have long ago. No... it definitely should have long ago. Lulu looks haunted, for one of the few times she shows anything like emotion, at his questions. She purses her lips together, and there is something soft in her admission.
"Some things," Lulu says quietly, "Are just too painful to say."
Another belt to bind. Another memory to carry.
But Wakka speaks up before she does, still. It is her place, though, to share in this answer, and so she finally gathers herself, and responds to Tidus's accusation. How could she, he'd ask. Family...
"Do you think we didn't try to stop her?" Lulu asks in that way of hers, spelling out a truth in a question. Her voice is low. "We tried. ...I tried."
"Yuna..." All the love Lulu holds is in her voice for this, though it breaks her own that it is true.
"She follows her heart."
<Pose Tracker> Tidus has posed.
It's easy to lash out. When you're in pain, when part of that pain comes from the people you consider your friends, it's far too easy to lash out, to try to make them feel that same pain. But as Rikku sobbingly apologizes, as Wakka gets totally-not-defensive, as Lulu expresses his sorrow, it dawns on Tidus that they were already in pain. That they've all been bearing up under this pain. That--maybe--only he was the one who was laughing for real.
'... I thought... I thought... you found me after the attack so... I thought you knew what I did... in Luca... I'm so sorry.'
"I knew--I knew what you were trying to do, I just..." Tidus finds himself saying, his anger receding in the face of Rikku's tears. "I didn't understand. I didn't know anything. I'm--*I'm* the one who should be sorry. All those things I said, about going to Zanarkand and beating Sin--"
'Yuna... she knew what she was doing when she chose to become a summoner. To face Sin, ya? Yuna knew!'
"I know!! She's always been so resolved--no matter what else happened, she always said she wanted to continue her journey... I wanted to help her! I wanted to support her!! But I..."
'Some things are just too painful to say. Do you think we didn't try to stop her?'
"I don't... I didn't... how could I have..." His words sputter to a halt. In their place, Tidus sinks to his hands and knees, pounding the metal floor with tears in his eyes. He screams, screams like he didn't think would help last time, with anguish and agony and anger aimed squarely at himself. At how much he must have hurt Yuna, every single time. Over him, the pyreflies whirling about converge, attracted by the high emotions, until it forms a massive field reaching its claws for him to rend him asunder, just as his heart has been.
But then--
"Stand up! There's no need to pity us," Isaaru commands then, striding forward with a new steel in his eyes. "We decided this for ourselves."
"We all live in fear of Sin. You know that," Dona adds, every fall of her heel like a gunshot as she approaches, back straight, shoulders square, without fear.
"A world without Sin... That is the dream of all Yevon's children," Isaaru says. He looks sidelong at his brothers, one grim, one fearful, only one of them familiar with the truths that have just been laid bare. Then he focuses back on the fiend, on the dance to defy it. "And we will use that power, even if it means our lives!"
Dona joins him, arms and legs poetry in motion. Together, they call to the aeons, and together, they summon, the pyreflies converging to form Ifrit and Valefor. At Isaaru's command, Valefor sweeps her wings forward and shoots out a sonic blast to knock the fiend away from Tidus; at Dona's, Ifrit charges to grapple it and push it to the wall until he can burn it to death. Tidus staggers to his feet, scrambling out of the way of the attacks, but finds himself stumbling forward.
"And I've been telling Yuna..." He picks up speed, running across the indoor battlefield, until he hurls himself into Valefor's chest. The aeon croons, looming over him, but with a certain sorrow and gentleness. Even when he beats her chest, she lets him vent his agony. "Let's go to Zanarkand together! Let's beat Sin! I told her all the things we could... we could... And all along, the whole time, I didn't know anything!"
Energy spent, Tidus sinks again to the floor. It's not that he was ignorant. It's not that his friends kept the truth from him. He understands, he *gets* why. That's not the real reason.
"But Yuna, she'd..."
She'd always laughed with him. Always smiled with him. Her hand had been so warm in his. When they'd realized each other's feelings without words, he'd thought she'd distanced herself because it wasn't appropriate. Now he knows: she knew she was going to die. That as long as she kept up her pilgrimage, any romance they shared would end in tragedy. And all the while, he dreamed of a false hope, all because he didn't know the truth. He dreamed, and he forced those dreams on her, never realizing how much they must have hurt. But Yuna never said anything. Yuna always cared about him, despite all this. Yuna would always...
"...just smile."
Tidus hangs his head. This is the reason. Ignorant or not, he can't forgive himself for hurting the one he loves so badly. If there's any sin for which he needs to atone, it's this.
And so:
"I can't let it end like this," he says hoarsely, voice cracking like it hasn't in years under the emotion. "I won't let her die." His fingers curl into his palms, and he shoves himself upright, a new steel searing into him. "I'll find her!!"
With no more hesitation, Tidus charges out of the room to the awaiting airship that will take him and everyone into the skies over Spira. To take them on a search for Yuna.
To take them into a new tomorrow.