After taking a much needed hiatus, I believe I’m ready now to write this story better than before. Thank you Evanlicious for the constructive criticism! I needed someone to tell me what was wrong.
Ivan’s going back to his normal personality since he’s opened up a bit but, being the goober I am, he’s still a furry. Cripola. I’ll try to slow the story down a bit too, but it’s hard writing in 1st person so…I’ll try. I might end up switching point of views on you guys though. I know you want to hear out of character bastard Isaac’s rants but, bear with me here. It’s easier to describe people without personal thoughts mixed in, ya?
Hopefully, despite my obsession with the Tales of series, this’ll go well.

Another note, I’ve finally beaten Final Fantasy 10. Whoo! Go me! Onward! Oh yeah, point of view change to third person begins here. Sorry everyone!!
Ah yes, Karst and Agatio WILL make an appearance with an extra character to fill in for the character’s 2nd guardian. Bet you can’t tell who they are.

Djose Temple was nothing but amazing. Lightning caused the rock to circle the building. Isaac stared in awe as Felix chuckled to himself. He didn’t understand why but, being away from Saturos, Mendardi and the fate of his home, it helped him unwind and fell better. He frowned at the thought. He didn’t want to admit it but, he valued the ten years he was here. And when he went back, he’d be stressed out again and pushed to his limits.

Isaac looked to Felix. An aura of distrust still surrounded the teen but, he could almost feel Felix’s worry. Maybe that was their connection as venus adepts. He turned to the others. Garet and Jenna were discussing something, and Ivan was keeping an eye on the giddy Mia. She seemed so, full of energy and life. It almost made him uncomfortable.

“Well, should we get going? Sin isn’t going to wait forever.” Mia said turning to face the group. Her aqua eyes were full of happiness. Why though? Jenna smiled and nodded.

“Yes, let’s be going.” She said and Mia led the way to the temple of lightning. Isaac had a bad feeling about this; he just didn’t want to admit it. Truth was, that spirit guy worried him greatly. What did he want with him and why did he say that they would meet soon?

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POV Change – Isaac
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As the others climbed the steps to the chamber, I stopped short, causing the others to turn to me.

“What’s the matter?” Garet asked as he came back toward me. “Somethin’ wrong?” I looked down and found the boots very interesting.

“I…I just want to sit this temple out. I need some time to think.” I said looking away. I heard a sigh, it was Felix’s.

“I’ll stay with him. I think I know what his problem is.” I heard him say. There were no more voices, only footsteps. I looked up and saw Felix smile back. Not the smile he showed nowadays, the smile from a long time ago. I sighed and sat down on the stairs.

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POV Change – Normal
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Felix plopped down ungracefully next to the fretting Venus adept. No words were exchanged for a time, until Felix got sick of the silence and spoke up.

“Alright, what’s wrong? You’re worried.” Felix said quickly. Isaac tensed. Felix lifted his good eyebrow at the younger teen. “Hey, you ain’t dead there, are ya?” He gently shook the boy and jerked back when he heard the boy laugh.

“I guess I must be so much of a mess to have my enemy worried about me.” Isaac said from out of nowhere to the temple ceiling. His smile quickly turned into a frown in an instant.

“Dude, you’ve finally cracked. And hey, I’m not your enemy. I’m still your friend. We…we just see things differently now.” Felix said looking away. Isaac tensed up again. “That’s not what you’re worried about. I can tell, you know I always have been able too.”

Silence filled the temple except the cackling of lightning and the faint sounds of breathing.

“I’ve been having these odd dreams lately.” Isaac finally said. It was now or never. Felix would find out eventually. “This, spirit person I’ve never seen before has been contacting me recently. He knows my name and says I know so little about what’s happening in both worlds. And…he’s right. I don’t know anything.” Felix frowned. That’s what this was all about?

“I tried to tell you earlier about my situation but, you decided to be a jackass and not listen to me.” Felix said with a cocky grin. The remark earned him a dagger filled glare from the younger adept. Felix laughed. “Tell you what, you actually LISTEN to me this time, and I’ll tell you what I know. Deal?”

Isaac really didn’t want to hear yet another lecture but, considering his circumstance, this was probably the better idea.
“Deal. Spill it, what’s going on.” Isaac said, smiling a little.

“Alright, so, here’s the deal…” he began. Isaac listened better than he had before. Felix’s story was way different from what he had heard before. Now Isaac had a new problem: who was right? The guardian of the elemental stars that is gods know how old? Or his best friend who betrayed his own village?

“You know, you don’t have to trust me. Its fine but, I’m sure you’ll understand someday.” Felix said as he stood up and stretched his arms. He held his hand out to Isaac who took it and was helped up by his friend. The two shook on a new beginning and Jenna burst out of the chamber doors, panting. She had obviously run quite a ways. Wait, where were the others?

“Hurry! You have to help!” she said panicked. Felix’s look grew serious and dark.

“What happened? Where’s Mia?” Isaac’s heart sank at the sound of Mia’s name.

“She was captured. By the Al Bhed. Right after receiving…the Aeon.” She said trying to catch her breath. If you heart could sink any deeper, then Isaac’s just hit rock bottom. “Hurry, to the Moonflow! The others have already left.” Felix went to her aid and shot Isaac a look. He knew what that meant.

“Right. I’m on it. I’ll be back with her, I promise.” He said and hurried out of the temple doors.

As Isaac rushed out of the temple, two sets of eyes stared intently on him. The woman smiled. This would be quite a fun encounter. The third person, only looked away with saddness. How did he get messed up in this?

Isaac was out of breath by the time he reached the Moonflow. He was relieved to see Garet and Ivan fighting off a giant machine with Mia visible in the glass chamber atop the machine. Ivan’s lance jammed itself in the thing’s arm and it attempted to toss him into the river. He landed on all fours and growled. Garet looked back and hurried Isaac over.

“Good. So Jenna did make it in time…” Garet said as he tossed his blitzball at the machine, causing to stagger a little.

“Yeah, glad I made it.” He said as he pulled out the Brotherhood. “Let’s save Mia and meet Felix and Jenna back at Djose. Alright?” Garet nodded quickly before back stepping another blow from the machine. Isaac rushed forward and knocked Ivan’s spear free and was forcefully slammed into the water. The machine stepped back and Isaac staggered to his feet.

“Dammit. This thing’s tough.” Isaac said dodging another one of its attacks.

“Attack its blind spot!” Ivan said. Wait, Ivan!? “Attack where my spear hit it, that should cause some decent damage!” Isaac smiled. Leave it to Ivan to plan a strategy. Garet tossed his ball at the arm and Isaac rushed forward, slashing the arm and causing it to fall off. The trio silently celebrated.

“Allow me to help.” A soft voice said as a large force of water hit the machine. Isaac looked back and his eye practically popped out of their sockets. It was dream-spirit-boy! (What, he didn’t know his name!) “Please allow me to offer my assistance to Lady Mia and her guardians.” His voice was solemn and lacked any anger or negative emotion. Isaac nodded quickly and focused back onto the machine. Mia was still unconscious inside the glass chamber.

“What do you think we should do?” Garet asked no one in particular. “We can’t send the thing sky high! And that glass is nigh unbreakable!”

“I know some spells that could short circuit the machine but the side effect is that it could explode with the lady summoner still inside.” The mysterious blue haired man said, his yellow eyes fixed on the enemy before them.

A thought hit Ivan.
“Um, how about we use this guy’s spells? If the enemy wanted Mia hurt, it wouldn’t have had such unbreakable glass. It might try to keep her safe. Plus, if it’s unbreakable, the explosion won’t hurt Lady Mia if the bottom is covered as well.” Isaac wanted to hit himself so hard. He hadn’t thought of that.

“It’s worth a shot.” He said as the blue haired man smiled.

“Give me sometime. I’ll need a little while to cast, keep it busy until then.” He said as he closed his eyes, concentrating the elemental energies into his hands. Isaac and Ivan charged the thing while Garet stood back and supported with his ball.

“Forces of water, heed my call. Send mine enemies to the darkened waters. Waterga!” the man cried and a great surge of water burst from above him and into the machine, making it topple over and begin sparking. Ivan jumped into the air and thrust once more into the heart of the machine. Isaac swore he heard a muffled ‘oww’ but shoved the thought aside as he hurried away from the thing.

It was just as Ivan had predicted. The machina began to short circuit and into the air went what looked like an escape pod and the glass orb detached from the machine as it exploded, sending shards of metal and burst of water into the air. Mia’s guardians hurried to the orb to free the summoner as the man watched, amused.

Finally, the orb was opened and Mia opened her eyes. She noticed quite a few different things. One, she was soaking wet. Two, she wasn’t in the temple anymore. Three, Garet and Ivan looked super worried. And four: she was being held up in Isaac’s arms, bridal style. She blushed, three different shades of red, and Isaac chuckled.

“I’m glad you’re okay Mia. I was worried when Jenna told us what happened.“ He said happily and let her down on the Moonflow’s banks. He turned to the mysterious man. “And you. Thank you for helping us save Mia but, just who are you?”

The man in question cocked his head to the side and smiled.
“I’m just a traveling mage.” He said simply, avoiding the main issue.

“That’s not what I was asking.”

“Oh, my name is Picard.” He said with narrowed yellow eyes. Garet and Ivan looked at his oddly. Why was Isaac so unfriendly with him? “However, shouldn’t you be more concerned about getting back to your friends in Djose? I’m sure they must be very worried.” Isaac opened his mouth to speak but was interrupted by Mia.

“Thank you so much for saving me. Please, come with us back to Djose. I’m sure Felix and Jenna would like to thank your personally.” Mia said grabbing one of his hands. Picard blinked, confused by her upbeat attitude but then choked when he heard Felix’s name. He didn’t let it show though. He only smiled again.

“Sure. Thank you for the offer.” He said and Mia led him ahead of the group. Ivan and Garet followed after, leaving the fuming Isaac. He followed too, of course, but it didn’t stop him from mentally choking that Picard himself.

He was casually chatting with Mia ahead of the rest of them. Isaac was in the back, studying him. He had seen some odd people but, now that he got a closer look, this man was the weirdest. He had long blue hair, the same color as Mia’s, which was tied into a lose ponytail near the bottom and beast-like yellow eyes. He wore some sort of headdress that rested along his back under his hair. The large part was aqua as well and was decorated with a yellow pattern along the bottom.

Isaac had gotten a good look at his headband. It was dark blue with yellow patterns like the rest of the headdress. He wore blue shorts under an aqua tunic with even more yellow patterns. And over that was a, again blue, coat that almost went down to his knees. It was tied up with a brown belt. And, finally, a red ribbon was tied around his right arm. And Isaac though Jenna had a lot of clothing.

His thoughts of horribly murdering the man stopped when Mia exclaimed happily that they were back at the temple and Felix called them over. Isaac watched Picard but saw no reaction and decided to leave it at that. He’d get nowhere right now, he was too exhausted.

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Later that night…
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“Heard you had fun back there.” Felix said taking a seat next to his friend who stared blankly at the wall.

“Oh yeah, loads.” Came the reply. Felix rolled his eyes.

“Something else is bothering you now. Is it Picard?” Felix inquired. A slight twitch was Felix’s answer.

“Hey, whatever it is about him, I don’t think there’s anything to worry about. We leave for the Moonflow tomorrow morning. Be sure to get some rest.” Felix said. When he got no response, he sighed and stood up. He headed back the way he came, leaving Isaac to his thoughts.

Isaac looked back as his friend disappeared into the shadows of the night. He gritted his teeth and punched the ground.

Seeing the spectacle before him, Picard smiled. He felt horrible for doing this but, it had to be done.

“So, you know where they’re heading next?” asked a woman’s voice. Picard only nodded, he spoke soon after.

“To the Moonflow. From there, I can assume Guadosalam.” He said. “Karst, what, do you plan to do?”

The woman in question only smiled. Picard saddened as she walked away. Why? Why did things have to be this way.

If you know the Japanese names, then you know who Picard is. If you’ve played Final Fantasy X, you know what his real role is. Ivan is reverting to his usual attitude. He stayed quiet due to minor distrust so now he’s emerging form the shell. I know why I’m having him a furry and no, it’s not because he’s supposed to be a Ronso. You’ll find out at Mt. Gagazet waay later from now.