Akane wiped her brow. "Maaaan... this heat... I can't stand it."
She tiredly shuffled alongside Yuna through the dusty dunes. The sun was burning down and nearly baking their skins.
"Can you... make it a little cooler, Shiva?" Yuna gasped.
'I'm sorry, Yuna,' the ice Aeon said in an apologetic voice. 'But I fear that I couldn't stand these temperatures out there for very long. In a battle, I could use my powers for a short time... but only if I'm sent away afterwards.'
"Shiva would melt into a puddle on the floor in this heat," Akane said. "I think we should search for an oasis... or some shade at least."
They slowly walked up the next dune. Suddenly, Akane heard something. "What the...? Sounds like... machines! But here, in the desert? I think the heat is playing tricks on my mind."
"No, I hear it too," Yuna replied. "I... I think I know where we are, Akane..." They ran up the sandy hill.
Then, they looked down of the enormous complex of machinery that was laying in the middle of a big sand pit.
"What... IS this?" Akane mumbled.
Yuna stepped forward. "I think I know... This must be my mother's birthplace... Home!"
----
With a final wave of Mia's hands, the last of the pyreflies was sucked into the little clay pot in her hands. "That was it, Shampoo! I'm finished!"
Shampoo looked down at her arms. "No... fur." She felt behind her back. "No tail. Are my ears...?"
Kasumi smiled and held up the small mirror. Shampoo took it and looked inside. Back at her smiled the face she was familiar with, without any traces of fur or cat ears.
"Shampoo... is back to normal? Oh, thank you, thank you, Mia!" And she gave the Guado Healer a hug that almost had the properties of an Amazon Glomp.
"I'm glad I could help you, Shampoo," Mia smiled and returned the hug. "And I have to thank you as well. With the work on your curse, I was able to uncover several secrets of the pyreflies that until now where totally unknown even to us Guado."
Shampoo let her go and grinned. "Now Shampoo ready to help Airen... Ranma and Akane battle Sin. But... where are they now?"
Kasumi pondered. "They wanted to cross the Thunder Plains... I'll guess by now, they must have reached the Macalania Temple. And perhaps they've already moved on."
"We'll catch up with them," Mia smiled. "The three of us will make it in time, even before they reach the Calm Lands. Trust me."
"You're coming too, Mia-san?" Kasumi wondered.
Mia nodded. "Yes, I won't let the two of you walk this long route all by yourselves. I can take care of myself, and I know several black magic spells. Also, like every Guado, I can summon fiends that can help us in battle."
Shampoo smiled. "What are we waiting for then? Let's go!"
----
('What the heck is Rikku thinking') Brother cursed in his native language, while he and his men were walking back to the coast. ('Father will be very angry with her... and with me, too. I was responsible for her. I shouldn't have left her behind at the moonflow, only with that Nabiki girl. I swear it, I knew she would be trouble.')
('Hey, Nabiki's not that bad,') Buddy responded. ('And I think they have their reasons. Think about it: Yuna is her cousin - yours too, for that matter - of course she wants to help her. And I still say it was a bad move attacking Yuna with the Crawler. Now Cid will be angry about both the Crawler AND the Extractor.')
('Bah! You only defend Nabiki because you have the hots for her. Aren't I right?') Brother snapped. Buddy grumbled an angry response.
"Hey," a voice speaking the normal language of Spira called. "Have you seen a large group of travellers? One of them has a black pig-tail, and one girl is wearing summoner's robes."
The two Al Bhed men looked up. In front of them, four people were blocking the way. One man and three women, together with two chocobos. And they were wearing... crusader's armor.
('What did they say?') Brother asked in confusion.
('Sshhh! Let me handle this.') And in the normal language, he said to the crusaders: "Well, we did see that group you're talking about... Why? Did they do something wrong?"
The girl wearing a strange weapon on her back shook her head. "No, sugar. But they're my friends, and I was just wondering how they were doing."
"Well, we saw them entering the temple of Macalania, but by now, I believe they must have left already."
('What are you saying to them? Can we just go on?') Brother shouted impatiently.
Suddenly, another voice called from behind the crusaders: "Ukyo?"
----
Ukyo was just talking to the only Al Bhed of the group that seemed to understand her language, when suddenly, someone called out her name. She turned around and saw Shampoo, Kasumi and some Guado girl running up to them. She smiled. "Shampoo! Kasumi! Hey, how're you doing?"
"Great," Shampoo beamed happily. "Look, Shampoo healed! Has no longer tail or fur! All thanks to Mia." She gestured towards the Guado girl.
"It was a pleasure helping your friend, Ukyo," the young healer said while bowing.
"Hey," the Al Bhed said. "Do you need anything else or can we just continue our way?"
Kasumi frowned when she saw the man. "Excuse me, aren't you one of the Al Bhed that pulled Yuna off the shoopuf when we were crossing the moonflow?"
Buddy got suddenly extremely nervous. "Umm... okay, I'm sorry. We have to go now."
Shampoo drew out her bonbori. "Goggle-boy go nowhere. Have attacked Yuna, who is Shampoo friend. Can smash him up now, yes?"
('Do something,') Buddy hissed towards Brother, who was standing behind him.
('What do you mean? I didn't understand a single word.')
"Excuse me, kupo! Can you let me through? You're all standing in my way."
They all turned around and saw a small, tiger-striped moogle trying to get past all the Al Bhed, chocobos and crusaders.
"What... are you?" Elma muttered.
"Just a moogle that is trying to find his way home, kupo," Stiltzkin answered. "But I guess I'm stuck in this weird country for good. I thought this strange, blob-like monster would swallow me, but I barely avoided death. Then some bloodthirsty cactuar wanted to bite me, and afterwards, I fell into the ocean. Then, this giant sea serpent came swimming out of nowhere, and nearly ran me over. Seriously, kupo, you would think if that many people were sitting on its back, they could have seen a poor moogle that was swimming out in the ocean, right? And what a bunch of strange people... A blue cat-man, a pig-tailed girl, a girl with a fur bikini, and a man that had a BALL as weapon. I mean, seriously..."
"WHAT?" Ukyo, Shampoo and Kasumi screamed at once. "Where was that?" Ukyo quickly added.
"Ow! My poor ears. You don't need to yell, kupo! They were going in that direction." He pointed westwards. "Now, if you would excuse me, I still have some wares to sell..." And he continued, unaware of the dangers of the Thunder Plains that were ahead.
"Hey, that's the direction of Bikanel island," Buddy realized. "That's where we're coming from... oh no!"
Shampoo looked at him with a predatory smile. "Oh, reeaaaally? How did you get here from island?"
Buddy sweated. "Um... with our ship?"
"Oh, then I suppose it won't be a problem for you to take three girls along with you that are in desperate need of a ride?" Ukyo asked in her sweetest voice.
Buddy sighed. "No, I guess not..."
Brother looked from one face to another. ('What? What? What did they say?')
----
Kasumi and Shampoo hugged Mia as farewell. "Thank you again for everything," Kasumi said. "And good luck on your research."
"You make sure she reaches Guadosalam safe, yes?" Shampoo asked the three Chocobo Knights. Elma nodded. "Don't worry, we'll take care of her. Crusader's honor."
"And you surely will come back, Ukyo?" Clasko asked in a sad voice. Ukyo smiled reassuringly at him. "Don't you worry, Clas-chan. I just have the feeling that something bad happened to Ranchan, and I guess it's up to me to help him out. Take care, okay?"
And while the crusaders and Mia walked away towards Guadosalam, the three Nerimians followed the Al Bhed to their ship.
Buddy looked at the bag that was hanging from Kasumi's shoulder. "Hey, those spheres... they look exactly like Shinra's dresspheres!"
"Oh, really?" Kasumi asked. "Nabiki and Rikku told me they got them from this nice boy, whose name was also Shinra."
"You know Rikku?" Buddy asked in a surprised voice. Kasumi nodded. "Oh, yes! Such a sweet girl. Always cheerful and nice. I'm looking forward to see her again."
Ukyo glanced into the bag. "Dresspheres, eh? Those are what gave you, Akane and Nabiki these new abilities, right?"
Shampoo grinned. "I think Shampoo just got great idea..."
Unbeknownst to them, one of the dresspheres gleamed in an eery light. And within it, a restless soul was screaming for revenge.
'Soon, Lenne... very soon Vegnagun will be under my control..."
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(Posted Sat, 29 Jul 2006 22:56)
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