Final Fantasy X-3

The Mystery of Zanarkand Chapter 1

If one were to follow the oceans of Spira for long enough, they would a small tropical island. Only a very select few know of this isolated paradise, and most of those select few never returned from it after they travelled there. No one speaks of them, no one speaks of their adventures, nor do they speak of why this island is never visited.

The beaches of an island were bathed in sunlight. However only the native tree’s and vegetation to enjoy the suns embracing warmth and its royal yet innocent light. One can immediately take note of the centre of this island, as there stood one of the tallest mountains in Spira. It has no name; it is simply there for all to see, to admire and to fear.

Inside it, there is a labyrinth of caves and tunnels. Even the most skilled of navigators could end up lost and alone within this network. But to those few who enter, it is the drive of curiosity and adventure that compels them to search.

Deep within this maze of rock, a young man was leaping between ledges and rock faces. He was slender, lean and athletic in build. He hit a flat rock platform, then propelled himself to one beyond it. He landed in a crouched pose, and then stood up straight, surveying his surroundings. He held a sheathed katana in his left hand, the saya held in a reverse grip. The man was wearing dark jeans, with black boots, a dark red shirt and red knuckle gloves. He was around 21 years of age and his short, dark brown hair fluttering slightly, as a gust of wind, his arcane green eyes narrowed slightly as he pondered, Kai was his name, a sphere hunter and former guardian. Kai turned round gazing down into the abyss below him, then looked back up to the many rock faces and platforms that he had traversed, a sighed. He felt a presence not to far off, a turned round to see a young man join him on the platform.

The second man was the same build as Kai, around 20 years of age and slightly shorter than the latter. He had golden blond hair, and ocean blue eyes. He was dressed in a dark muscle shirt, dark blue jeans and black boots, with black knuckle gloves. On his back was strapped a blue sword known as brotherhood, and on his belt hung two handguns. This was Tidus, another sphere hunter and former guardian like Kai.

“Find anything”? Kai inquired.

“Nothing, I’m not even sure there’s a sphere here” Tidus walked to the edge of the platform “you sure Shinra said it was here?”

“Yeah, little guy seemed quite sure of himself, then again he always is, even if he is just a kid” Tidus chuckled at Kai’s comment. Then a small beeping and whirring sound caused him to tense. He whipped out one of his guns, as Kai took hold of the hilt of his katana. A small machina hovered around them and it also seem to be staring at them, as it flew around they’re heads, then floated in front of them.

“You boys seem to be having fun” The cheerful and upbeat voice of Rikku came through the machina. She had obviously just woken up, judging by her somewhat annoyed and hoarse tone. She’d sleep all day if she could.

“Oh yeah I’m having blast Rikku” Tidus replied, “You know leaping over seemingly bottomless abyss’s does at lot for ya” they distinctly heard Rikku giggle and both shook their heads.

“Shinra, you sure the sphere is inside the mountain?” Kai waited patiently until the voice, of whiz kid Al Bhed answered, while trying to ignore the voice of Brother in the background.

“100, sphere waves are very strong from within the mountain, ” Shinra was typing on the keys of his terminal, as he and Rikku observed the image of Kai and Tidus through his communication machina, he called it a com-drone “How’s the search coming?”

“Haven’t found anything,” Tidus reported, his image moving away to the edge of the rock platform they were standing on, and looked down over the edge.

“What readings are there in terms of fiend activity?” Kai asked they hadn’t run into any fiends while searching, something that troubled Kai.

“Next to none” Kai folded his arms, and cocked his head to one side as him stared at the com-drone in front of him

“Isn’t that just a little bit strange” Kai unfolded his arms and took a step towards the drone “A place like this should crawling with fiends” Before Shinra could reply, a torrent of Al bhed, boomed in Kai’s ears.

“Brother says to focus less on talking and more on the job” Rikku said, Kai could almost hear the laughter in her voice.

“ That’s easy for him to say, why don’t you tell him to get off his lazy…”

“Hey Kai, come and have a look at this” Kai looked over to Tidus. His partner’s eyes were peering down, narrowed as he tried to make out something in the darkness below him. Kai moved over to him and followed his gaze down. At little below their position was a wide ledge, and just beyond that was a small passage way.

“Well it’s about time we struck gold” Kai muttered then looked down “Er? Just how far down do you think this goes?” Tidus shrugged and took a step back “Right figures, well alright here goes nothing” Kai followed suit, then in unison they dropped down from they’re perch. They rocketed down, until they reached the small ledge. They both landed, dropping to one knee and catching themselves on their hands. Kai stood first, followed closely by Tidus. It was in fact, not a ledge, but instead the bottom of the mountain, the walls of which were far smoother and shiny, as crystals seemed to be imbedded within them. Also there were pryeflies dancing around the two the sphere hunters, giving a dim glow to the surroundings.

“Pryeflies mean fiends” Tidus took two steps forwards and observed the doorway within the wall, it was wide and inside was filled with more pryeflies “Which also means the sphere must be near by” Tidus looked at Kai, and then entered the newly discovered passage.

“I guess, but I’ve got a bad feeling about this” Kai took a deep breath and followed behind Tidus as the pryeflies seemed to lead they’re way. For what seemed like an hour, the two navigated the passage, until they reached the end of it. A massive door, stood in front of them. It looked ancient and had many long forgotten texts and symbols engraved on it.

“You’ve got to be kidding me!” Kai exclaimed “ A door all the way down here?!” Kai growled in frustration as Tidus smirked. Seeing Kai frustrated was both rare and amusing.

“Calm down Lancelot, its only a door” The drone had followed them down and now it was Paine talking, the sound of amusement edging her voice.

“News flash princess, you’re not the one whose been searching for this sphere for the better part of the morning” Kai spoke with a growl, he heard giggling in the background; Rikku was obviously loving this.

“It could be worse Kai” Paine retorted. As if on cue a deep, rumbling roar echoed down the passage, both Kai and Tidus whirled round to face the passage way.

“Oh I think it just got worse,” Tidus said, edging back towards the door.

“So much for no fiend activity eh Shinra?” Kai muttered, waiting for the kids trademark reply, and sure enough.

“I’m just a kid…” Both Tidus and Kai shook their heads with groans and then they could hear Brother saying something in the background, but couldn’t make it out.

“So what do you reckon? What kind of fiend do you think it is?” Tidus asked.

“I don’t know, a Drake possibly, maybe even a behemoth, but one things certain, we can’t fight it in here, quarters are too tight” Kai looked at the door, and then braced himself against. “Give me a hand” Tidus came and pressed his shoulder to the door and got ready to push.

“The Gullwings never run from a fight!” Brother had abandoned speaking Al bhed “As leader I order you to stand and fight that fiend!”

“Brother do us all a favour and shut up!” Kai yelled back, now really not in the mood for Brother’s “orders”.

“Mutiny! How dare you-” On Shinra’s end of the drone, the screen cut out and went black and all sound was lost from Kai and Tidus.

“What happened?” Worry was obvious in Rikku’s voice, as Paine glanced at Shinra, then back at the screen.

“Probably a malfunction, I don’t think we’ll get communications back now, too many pryeflies can interfere with machina and they’re programming” What Shinra and the others couldn’t hear on the other side were Tidus and Kai.

“Much better” Tidus commented, as the drone clattered to the ground sparking, Kai’s lighting spell having destroyed all its circuits.

“I don’t know why I didn’t think of that earlier” Kai began pushing on the door, as did Tidus. Both groaned from the strain of pushing the massive goliath, but slowly and surely, the door began to edge open. Eventually the door was open wide enough for them to enter, then again the Celsius could have fit through the open door now. Cautiously they entered the room behind the door.

It looked similar to where the Gullwings had found the sphere in Zanarkand, four pillars in the centre of the room, and the walls surrounding the them, adorned with symbols and writing neither of them could translate, however what drew they’re attention was the small golden-orange sphere standing on a pedestal at the back of room.

“Finally, it’s a taken us three hours to find this, it had better be worth it.” Kai muttered. He and Tidus both began to move towards. Behind them, a large shadow stalked the two, its many hungry eye’s taking in the view of the tasty looking prey. It quietly moved behind them emerging from the darkness off the pillars.

Kai and Tidus by this point, stood in front of the sphere, Kai reached forward to take it. All of a sudden Tidus’s head whipped around at a sudden slithering sound. The beast attacked, with speed almost impossible to see.

“Watch out!” Kai looked up, and quickly leapt away to the left of the beast, Tidus rolling to right and whipping out his guns and both blanched at the sight that greeted them.

It was a Malboro. A huge, disgusting monstrosity with a tentacle like body and many stalk-like eyes. They had encountered many of them during the pilgrimage 3 years ago; this one however, was different. It was much bigger than any ordinary Malboro and even the monstrous Great Malboro’s. It had great deal more tentacles and was a dark blood red colour, as it whipped and swatted the air with its many arms.

“Just when you think these things can’t get any uglier, the mother of them all shows up,” Tidus muttered.

“Be careful, this is no ordinary Malboro” Kai pointed out “the fact it was able to follow us for so long without us realising… this could be a challenge, but I sure as hell won’t be this things breakfast” The demon seemed to be deciding which one to try and eat first, its eye’s dancing between the sphere hunters, then it made up its mind.

Kai crouched to avoid the huge whip swung at him, then rolled to his side as it came back down where he would have been, he quickly got to his feet, and back flipped away as it swung again. As Kai landed in crouched position, about four of the tentacles flew at him, he remained still, calm and calculating, his head lowered and his dark green eye’s watching as the things approached, narrowed slightly. In a flash, the sound of steel slashing through flesh echoed throughout the room, the Malboro screeched, as its four tentacle’s crashed to the ground, thrashing and writhing around and then disappeared in a swarm of pryeflies, Kai stood, his katana held in his right hand, his left holding the saya, as he stared down the obstacle between him and his goal.

If it wasn’t angry before, it was now. The Beast readied its other weapons, but then felt stings on its back and whipped around. Tidus stood unloading his guns at it, for the all the good they did, it seemed immune to the gunfire. It charged and Tidus quickly propelled himself over the monster, firing his guns again, he was able to blind a few of its many eyes, spinning in mid-air, he landed beside Kai facing the Malboro.

It began flailing its log-like whips and roared defiantly as it glared at the two. Kai and Tidus both took a step back.

“I think we’re just pissing it off” Tidus said, as Kai dropped his saya and took a two-handed grip of his katana, Tidus holstered his guns, and unsheathed brotherhood from his back. “Still, it’s going down, I didn’t come all this way, just to have the big, the bad and the ugly stop us from getting that sphere”.

“Let’s take this thing down” the two quickly rolled away from a falling tentacle and, both attacked. Kai slashed and hacked at the fiends front, taking off more than a few of its weapons before being forced back with a blow to the chest, he struck the ground but quickly sprang to his feet, Tidus slashed its side, and trying to maim the great beast in any way possible, he quickly jumped up over a tentacle, only to have a second hit him with an impossible amount of force in mid-air, sending him several feet back. Tidus hit the ground with a thunderous crash and slid on his right side. He stood gingerly, his right shoulder grazed and stinging but he quickly resumed a fighting posture and smirked. It had made a fatal mistake now it had Kai on one side, him on the other this fight was over.

Simultaneously the two shot forwards, brotherhood scrapping the ground causing sparks to fly, Kai’s katana held in one hand to the right side. Both reached the Malboro on both sides. Kai swung his sword out bringing his left hand to support the attack; Tidus did the same on its left side his blade tearing into the beast’s body. As the two finished they’re attack, the stood both hold the swords in two-handed grips, and for a moment nothing happened.

The Malboro began to screech and roar as its body began to give way underneath it, as it writhed its top half fell to the ground and both it and what remained of its body exploded into pryeflies. Kai took a deep breath and went to retrieve his saya, cleaning the gunk off the blade before sheathing the sword and securing it to his waist. As he did so, Tidus sheathed brotherhood and took a small bottle of potion from a pouch on his waist. Uncorking it, he downed the contents and grimaced as the bitter tasting liquid cascaded down his throat, and its magic properties began healing the graze on his shoulder and the pain embed a bit.

“That was harder than I expected” Tidus muttered. Kai nodded in agreement, taking a potion from his pocket and drinking, and just like Tidus grimaced at its taste, but it got the job done. “Lets hope it was worth it” Tidus moved towards the sphere. When he reached it, he stood for a moment or two as if debating to himself whether or not he should take it then he slowly, perhaps hesitantly reached out to claim the sphere….