"Man, that Dona certainly was rude," Ranma said. "And her big muscle-headed guardian didn't even speak."
Kimahri growled. Ranma quickly decided to drop the matter.
"Well, I think you could say: Every world has its Kodachi, right?" Ukyo joked around. Akane had to giggle about that.
They entered a small room with an elevator. "Below are the trials, I think," Akane guessed. "Kimahri, Wakka? Ready?"
"Strength, everyone," Yuna said.
Akane, Wakka, Kimahri and Akane were stepping on the circular platform, and Kasumi and Ukyo were waiting next to the door. Ranma and Tidus also wanted to enter the platform, but Kimahri's mighty paw pushed them back.
"Hey, what gives'" Ranma shouted.
"Hey, you two are no guardians yet," Akane reminded them.
"Um, we'll be back as soon as we can, okay?" Yuna said.
The elevator moved down.
"Oh right, like 'tomorrow' soon I bet!" Tidus yelled after them.
"Well, sorry if our presence is that boring for you," Ukyo huffed.
"Hey hey, I didn't mean it like that," Tidus quickly answered.
Ranma sighed. "Well, I guess we just haveta wait here." He leaned against the wall.
Ukyo was polishing her mini-spatulas, Kasumi was practicing a few dance-steps and Tidus was walking around bored.
Then someone entered the room. It was the same woman they met in the main hall, the dark-skinned summoner Dona and her heavily muscled guardian, Barthello (who looked like he didn't have any brains in his head).
Dona looked around the room. "Where's Yuna?" she asked. Ranma nodded towards the elevator shaft.
"Then why are you here?" she frowned.
"Hey, we are no guardians, so we're not supposed to go in, right?" Tidus said. He really didn't feel like talking to that woman.
"Hmmm, no guardian, you say?" Dona mused. She mentioned with her head. The burly Barthello quickly picked up the smaller Tidus and threw him over his shoulder.
"Hey!" Ranma quickly went into his battle stance.
"What's the big idea?" Ukyo wanted to know. Quickly, she drew her battle spatula. Kasumi took a step back as a precaution.
"Yeowch," Tidus yelled from Barthello's shoulder. "Lemme go!"
"You better let him down right now," Ranma said sternly. Dona looked his way and laughed. Barthello copied her.
"How amusing! Do you really think that a skinny little boy like you can stop my Barthello?"
"Watch me!" Ranma snarled. He quickly grabbed Tidus and put him on the ground, then, in the same motion, grabbed Barthello by his arm and swiftly threw him out of the room. From the main hall there came a loud 'crash' as Barthello landed.
"You have anything more to say?" Ukyo snapped and stepped towards Dona, firmly gripping the handle of her weapon.
Dona paled. "You'll pay for this," she finally hissed and left.
Ukyo put back her spatula while Tidus got up from the ground. "Phew," he said. "I wonder what their problem is!"
"I can tell you their problem," Ukyo growled. "She is a snobby little bi***, and her little friend apparently has no brains."
"Hopefully she learned her lesson," Ranma said while leaning back against the wall.
"Oh my," Kasumi said with a worried look on her face. "I hope Barthello-san is all right..."
Tidus stared. "She... she's kidding, right?" he asked the others quietly.
Ukyo shook her head. "I'm afraid not! Kasumi would probably be worried about a fiend that tripped while attacking her and in the process broke off a few of his claws."
Kasumi pretended not having heard their little conversation.
'They're right, you know?' Lenne mused.
'Quiet, you, or tonight you'll be sleeping on the couch!' Kasumi mocked. Lenne giggled.
----
After several hours of waiting (or so it seemed to Tidus and Ranma), the elevator came back up again. It was Akane... but she was alone.
"What's up?" Tidus asked. "Where are the others?"
Akane grinned towards Ranma. "Yuna asked me to fetch you," she told him. "She said she had a surprise for you!"
"For me?" Ranma asked confused. "What did she mean? And I thought only summoners and guardians could enter."
Akane smiled. "You're a summoner, are you not?"
He shook his head. "No, not really! At least, not in the way Yuna and Dona are summoners."
Akane seemed to lose her patience. "I said you're a summoner, so get your butt on this platform right now!"
Ranma gulped. "Yes, ma'am..."
He followed her. Akane waved to the others. "Just a couple of minutes. We'll be right back!"
----
Ranma followed Akane through the Cloister of Trials. The spheres in the sockets seemed to burn from within, and everywhere they could see stone lanterns with brightly burning fire.
"Yuna said this was the temple of fire," Akane explained. "But as fire and magma flows through the depths of the earth, the secondary function of the temple is the temple of earth. Not many people of Spira know that, though..."
"Aha, and how does she know?"
"Someone told her, what did you think? Ah, here we are!"
They entered the antechamber. Kimahri and Wakka were standing on the left side of the room, while Yuna was waiting for them next to the open door to the Chamber of the Fayth.
Wakka grumbled: "I still say it's a sacrilege that he's here!"
"Shut up, Wakka," Akane told him. "Go on, Ranma, go with Yuna!"
Ranma scratched his head. "With her? But... where?"
Yuna smiled. "Into the Chamber of the Fayth, of course!"
"But... I thought only summoners could enter there!"
"You are a summoner!"
"I'm not," he said.
"Believe me, Ranma, you are one," Yuna explained patiently. "The Fayth told me to invite you. You see, most summoners of our time really have abilities like me... Performing a sending, being able to do White Magic... but that doesn't mean you are no summoner." A summoner is what the word itself says: A person who can summon Aeons! And you are such a person!"
"Um, if you say so..." Ranma still wasn't too sure about that. "But if the Fayth invited me..."
"Yes! So come on, I'll show you!" While the guardians stayed behind, Ranma followed Yuna inside the chamber of the Fayth.
In the middle of the room, on the floor, he could see some sort of stone figure that resembled a mythical beast. Strange voices could be heard, singing a mystical sounding hymn that Ranma hadn't heard before.
"What's that?" he quietly asked and gestured towards the stone figure.
"That's the Fayth," Yuna said. "The fayth are people who gave their lives to battle Sin. Yevon took their souls, willingly given from their still-living bodies. Now they live forever, trapped inside statues. But when a summoner beckons, the souls of the fayth emerge once again. In their death-like trance they came into contact with mysterious beings that possess elemental powers. By conjoining, the fayth and the summoning spirit become one. That's what we call an Aeon!"
"So... Carbuncle is no real Aeon, is he?"
"No!" Yuna shook her head. "He is what is called an Esper! If he had joined with a fayth, he would be an Aeon... But now, let us pray to the fayth, so we can speak to it..."
She knelt down and Ranma copied her movements clumsily. "Just do everything like me," she whispered. She stretched out her hands, moved them around in a circle and brought them together with cupped hands.
Ranma did the movements as well and bowed his head.
Finally, the silhouette of a person appeared above the stone figure. It looked like the body of a man, dressed in medieval garb. He was floating and was transparent, like a ghost.
"Ah, you are Ranma Saotome?" he asked the boy.
"Um, yes, I am," Ranma answered.
"Good, good... I am the fayth of the Kilika Temple, the spiritual partner of Ifrit, the Esper of Fire! And I have a message for you from the Great Gilgamesh!"
'Gilgamesh is the messenger of us Espers,' Carbuncle explained. 'My employer must have send him!'
The fayth continued: "The message is: 'Greetings, young mortal! In every temple of Spira, the fayth will offer you a gift, which will help you to directly summon one of us! This gem will contain the Esper you will be able to summon from now on. Good luck, mortal!'"
The fayth smiled. "That was the complete message. And this..." He opened his hand. "...is the gem he was talking about. Take it! It is yours!"
He handed Ranma a gemstone that looked similar to the ruby in which he found Carbuncle, back in Nerima! But this one wasn't a ruby, it was an opal!
"Ummm... thank you... I guess..."
"In each temple, a different fayth awaits," the spirit continued. "And each one of us will have a different stone which contains an Esper." The fayth lowered his head. "Farewell, Ranma Saotome! May the sacred fire shine your way!"
After these words, the fayth disappeared.
Ranma took a look at Yuna. She smiled. "I'm happy for you, Ranma! That means, you're a full-fledged summoner now, just like me... only without the additional liabilities I have to endure..."
"Great, but also without your extra powers... but that's okay! I'm glad I got another summoning spirit... I mean, Esper!" He hold up the gem to take a closer look at it. Like the first time, he could feel the life force inside the jewel.
'Hey, Carbuncle,' he privately asked his friend. 'What Esper does this opal hold?'
'Well, it is...'
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(Posted Fri, 14 Jul 2006 18:46)
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