Behind the woods, a barren wasteland covered in eternal ice spread as far as the eye could see. Snowy hills rose before the frozen mountains that surrounded the Macalania Temple. In between these hills, a frozen river cut its path through the land, ending in an eternally frozen lake.
Rin has opened another one of his agencies just behind the woods. Here, the travellers that were going to Lady Yuna's and Lord Seymour's wedding were buying all kinds of souvenirs and wares, from Rin's people as well as from a travelling merchant named O'aka XXIII.
The friends passed the agency and followed the snowy path leading to the frozen lake. Auron was still stumbling a little, unfamiliar with her new centre of gravity and supported her steps by poking her big sword into the frozen ground. The others were busy shivering. It seemed that it got colder by every step they got closer to the temple.
Only Kimahri didn't seem to mind the cold. After all, his tribe was used to the cold climate on Mt. Gagazet.
Nabiki sneezed and shuddered. "If this c-c-c-continues, I'll freeze solid in this place. This s-s-suit isn't exactly resistant against cold."
Akane was freezing as well, but she used this opportunity to smirk and say: "Well, at home you are generally known as the 'ice queen' of Furinkan High, right? Looks like you live up to your name."
By now Nabiki was fuming with anger, so much that Ranma swore he could see steam rising from the snow she was walking in.
Suddenly, Tromell Guado arrived before them. The old Guado came from the temple to welcome Lady Yuna and her guardians.
"Lady Yuna," he said. "Nice to see you again! Maester Seymour is waiting for you. Please, come this way..."
He once again wanted to take Yuna's hand, but she pulled away. "Before I go, I want you to know... that I'm planning to continue my pilgrimage after this. Do you think Maester Seymour would let me?"
"But of course," Tromell smiled. "Lord Seymour wishes nothing else, I'm sure. Now, we must follow Guado tradition." He turned to the others. "I'll have to ask you to wait here a little while longer. I'll send someone to escort you."
He went ahead. Yuna looked a little unsure. Auron smiled up to her. "Don't worry. We are all with you. Do as you will."
Ranma whispered into Tidus' ear: "Is it just me, or does Auron show more emotion when he's in this form?"
Yuna followed the elder Guado towards the temple.
Suddenly Rikku remembered something. "Oh no," she shouted.
"What's up?" Akane asked in surprise.
Rikku hit herself on the head. "I'm so stupid. I totally forgot that this is the second place where we were supposed to capture the summoners..."
Nabiki sighed. "Of course! I should have remembered too. Isn't this where Brother and Buddy were supposed to prepare an ambush with Cid's..."
The sound of a loud engine could be heard over Yuna's loud cry of surprise.
"Pops' Crawler..." Rikku nodded. "Come on, we've got to hurry."
----
Several Al Bhed snowmobiles have surrounded Yuna and Tromell and drove them into the middle of the frozen lake. On the top of a snowy hill, a giant machina appeared, provided with an enormous cannon at its front.
On it's left, a small figure could be seen.
Quickly, Ranma, Akane and Tidus drove away the attacking snowmobiles.
"Rikku!" a loud voice called from the hill. "Tuh'd ehdanvana un oui kad drec! Ouin bnaleuic magic yht aeons ina caymat!"
"Oh no!" was Rikku's response.
"Translation?" Ranma quickly asked.
"He's gonna use an anti-magic field on us," Nabiki answered instead.
While the tank slowly rumbled down the snowy slopes, Nabiki felt a surge of panic rising within her heart.
'We have to fight THIS?' she thought. 'It's a total different feeling if I'm on the receiving end of such an attack. Akane was right... What was I thinking? Using such giant machines... it is too dangerous...'
The giant cannon rose slightly, and two machine guns appeared. They aimed for Akane, who was barely able to jump away in time.
Ranma and Yuna tried to summon their Aeons, but the magic forcefield prevented even that. Tidus', Wakka's and Kimahri's attacks just bounced off of the metal hide of the tank. Auron's sword was doing some damage, but she still was tumbling slightly.
Nabiki decided to do something. "Rikku," she said. "How do they create that forcefield?"
Rikku nervously looked around. "There," she said and pointed to a small, floating machina next to the tank. "The Negator! Destroy it and the forcefield will go down."
Nabiki acted instantly. She took out a grenade and some sleeping powder and quickly constructed a Blaster Mine. She took aim and hurled the explosive weapon towards the floating device.
The mine exploded in a spectacular blast and destroyed the Negator instantly! "Now!" Nabiki shouted. "Call your Aeons!"
Ranma raised his hand while Yuna raised her rod.
"Fenrir, beast of the earth, appear!" "Ixion, steed of thunder, appear!"
The two Aeons appeared with a bright flash. Ixion whinnied while Fenrir howled.
Ixion charged up his horn and let loose with a big blast of sparks that shook the mighty craft around.
But then Ranma realized the danger they all were in: The big magic cannon on the Crawler's front almost finished charging up itself. If Ixion was hit by that blast...
"Fenrir," he shouted. "Grab that cannon!"
The earth Aeon formed a stone hand that came out of the ground next to the tank. It grabbed it's cannon and lifted the whole tank from the ground, so the mighty beam only hit empty air. The Crawler's guns destroyed the arm, but Fenrir already formed two new fists on both sides of the tank. They reared back and squashed the vehicle in the middle.
Several Al Bhed were scrambling out of the tank in panic. "Ed'c cuhhy aqbmuta!"
"Down on the ground," Nabiki shouted and dove onto the ice. She slithered even farther and landed head-first into a big pile of snow.
When everyone else took cover, the Crawler tank exploded in a shower of scrap metal.
Nabiki pulled her head out of the snow and went into a sneezing fit. "Damn! I'll surely catch a cold if this continues..."
Brother and Buddy looked at the remains of their mighty weapon. Brother furiously shook his fist. "Rikku! E femm damm Vydran!" ["Rikku! I will tell Father!"]
Rikku stepped forward and shouted at her brother with a determined look on her face. "E ys dra guardian uv Yuna, oui caa? Yuna ec cyva! Fa femm kiynt ran! Cra ec cyva!" ["I am the guardian of Yuna, you see? Yuna is safe! We will guard her! She is safe!"]
Nabiki stepped up next to her. "Oayr, cu kad ouin pidd ouddy rana!" ["Yeah, so get your butt outta here!"]
Brother glared one last time at them and ran away, followed by Buddy and the other Al Bhed. The snowmobiles lay abandoned on the icy surface of the lake.
"Lady Yuna," Tromell asked in a concerned voice. "Are you all right?"
She shook off his hands. "I... think I will go with my friends."
Tromell seemed shocked. "But... but the traditions..."
She shook her head. "I'm sorry, but those are people I trust. I don't want to disappoint their trust in me. So we're going together."
Auron was inspecting the motor sleds. "Rikku, will these work?"
Rikku took a look at them. "We'll be fine. I'm gonna ride with Yunie."
"You... you're going to use these...?" Tromell was so shocked he couldn't say another word.
"Hey, if you don't like them, you can walk," Ranma smirked while boarding a snowmobile with Akane.
Wakka didn't seem too happy with their choice either. "I don't get it. Why do we have to use these... cursed machina? And by the way, you two..." He turned to Nabiki and Rikku. "Where did you learn to speak Al Bhed?"
'Uh-oh,' Nabiki thought. 'This means trouble...'
See other episodes by Shritistrang
(Posted Fri, 28 Jul 2006 14:50)
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