As the roar of the engines became louder, Alex looked up to see what could only be described as a very 'unique' airship.
Looking like some sort of hot rod, the airship was bright red with numerous blue flame-like decals decorating it. The front two thrusters looked like the wheels and engines from a motorcycle with two similar wheels in the back that were more angled on their side, while numerous exhaust pipes put out a constant stream of flames in the back.
As it closed in on them Sun watched the airships approach with undisguised awe, while Rikku made a trumpeting noise before declaring,
"Introooooooducing the home, headquarters, and transportation of the super awesome sphere hunter group, the Gullwings. THE CELSIUS!" As if to punctuate her declaration, the Celsius then crashed down into the surf next to the dock they were on, sending up a giant wave of water splashed over all of them.
"KYAAAAA!"
"WAHOOOOOO!"
Yuna and Rikku both cried out in different ways to the sudden rush of water, while Paine appeared indifferent to suddenly getting soaked and Sun simply enjoyed the feeling of the seawater on her skin due to her disposition as a siren. Alex meanwhile, after shaking out the seawater from his hair and red fur, had his eye drawn to something else aside from the eye-catching Celsius entirely.
After being splashed with water Sun's sundress was clinging to her body perfectly, outlining the faint curves of her petite figure, while the dark circles of her nipples also showed through the thin fabric. It wasn't just Sun though, who had eventually gotten used to being seen by Alex after bathing together so much.
Despite the fact that she supposed to be the 'pure' and 'innocent' one of the group, Alex could also perfectly make out Yuna's breasts through her now see-through white top. And when she also tried to wring out the half-skirt hanging from her waist with her back turned towards him, Alex concluded there was nothing 'innocent' about that ass in such tight and short shorts. Especially as they began to wedge into her ass and crotch.
And while neither one were similarly see-through, Rikku's nipples were definitely distinctive through her yellow bikini top, while Paine's black leather shorts also began wedge into her ass and crotch like Yuna's were. In all, Alex felt exceptionally thankful to be able to witness such a sight.
Of course Alex quickly adjusted his focus elsewhere when one of the girls looked his way, as ogling them when they were in such a compromising position probably wouldn't make the best first impression. Instead he placed his focus on the still unconscious goons and machine-gun vipers, before realization hit him.
With a wave of his hand, Alex swept all of the machine-gun vipers into a sub-space to give to Lucy later, while Sun used her magic to finally fix her and the other's compromising looks. Pretending to be none the wiser once everyone was again dry and proper, Alex finally joined them and introduced himself,
"It's a bit late, but I am Alexander Morningstar, and this is Sun Otonashi. You all can just call me Alex though" With Sun also properly greeting the trio of girls as they waited for the Celsius to settle, Yuna said in a proper tone,
"It's nice to meet you Alex and Sun. My name is Yuna." The words were barely out of her mouth before the ever energetic Rikku practically shouted,
"And I'm Rikku!" After Rikku introduced herself everyone looked towards the final person, who just glanced up at them and uttered,
"Paine."
With the first round of introductions out of the way, Yuna turned towards the Celsius and said into her communicator,
"Yuna here, coming aboard with some visitors Brother!" Immediately an energetic voice boomed out of the speakers on the Celsius' exterior,
"ROGEEEEEER!" Then immediately after the voice began to singing,
"Yuna is coming~! Yuna is coming~! Yuna is coming ~! YAY YAY YAY-"
"The mike is still on Brother!" A new voice suddenly cut him off, before the feed from the interior of the airship suddenly went dark completely. Outside though Rikku started shaking her head while Paine groaned, and Yuna giggled at the situation. Rikku then turned back towards Alex and Sun before saying,
"That, unfortunately, was our captain, my brother, Brother." Though Alex knew about Brother and didn't find anything Rikku just told them strange, Sun couldn't help but to ask,
"His name is 'Brother'?" Rikku nodded and said,
"Yep it is. Why?" While Rikku was curious about Sun's interest in her brother's name, Alex quickly said,
"It's just a rather unusual name where we come from." Hearing this Rikku nodded quickly in understanding, before she realized something.
"Are you somewhere aside from Spira?" Immediately both Paine and Yuna looked up at this, as the only place that could be considered 'outside' of Spira was the Bikanel island. The island however was entirely desert, and it was the home of the Al Bhed, which Alex and Sun obviously weren't.
With Alex and Sun simply nodding slowly to Rikku's question, more and more questions began forming in their heads regarding their sudden new acquaintances. Instead of immediately asking them though, the three girls led the way onto the airship as Alex and Sun followed, deciding to ask them once they were properly inside.
Of course the interior of the Celsius was just as outrageous at the outside, with glowing rainbow light strips and other similar decorations everywhere within. Seeing it, Alex was immediately reminded of the fads from the 90s and early 2000s.
As the automatic door to the Bridge opened though, Alex's attention was automatically on three guys lined up before him.
On the left was a dark skinned man with buzzed short blonde hair, goggles covering his eyes, and a sleeveless purple shirt with blue pants. On the right was undoubtedly a kid based on their stature, but nothing else could be gleaned about them due to the full body suit and mask that prevented any of his bodily features from being seen.
Then in the center was the most noticeable of the three, a man with a blonde Mohawk, numerous earrings in his ears, dressed only in pants held up by suspenders and bracers, while his arms, stomach, and chest were all covered in blue or purple flame tattoos.
"Rikku! Fru ec drec cicbeleuic bancuh fred Yuna?!"(Who is this suspicious person with Yuna?!) The one in the center demanded once he saw Alex, to which Rikku angrily retorted,
"Tuhd pa nita Brother!"(Don't be rude Brother) Brother however just snorted and asked Alex directly as he approached him,
"Who are you to be walking with Yuna!" Rather than being annoyed by Brother's attitude though, Alex just smiled warmly and said,
"I'm the Dragon Emperor, Alexander Morningstar. And I'd heard about Yuna's 'quest', so I thought I'd share what I knew with her." This immediately caught everyone's attention, for one because they had never heard of an emperor in Spira before, and secondly because Alex apparently knew of Yuna's quest.
Immediately Yuna grabbed Alex's hand with both of hers as she desperately asked,
"Do you really know something about 'him'?!" Knowing she was asking about the protagonist from the original Final Fantasy ten game, Tidus, Alex nodded his head and told her,
"Yes, but it isn't necessarily the news you'd want to hear." Though Yuna's expression fell somewhat, she nodded slowly before saying,
"I expected as much, but after seeing him in a sphere I had to be certain..." Alex nodded in understanding as Yuna pulled out a sphere she had somewhere on her body, which swirled and sparkled in the light. She then played the recording that was left on it, showing them the staticky scene of a man that had been imprisoned.
Though the image meant nothing to Sun, Alex clearly recognized the man as the main antagonist that Yuna, Rikku, and Paine would've had to fight without his interference, who was also the spitting image of Tidus. Shaking his head lightly, Alex explained,
"That may look like him, but this man's name is Shuyin."
"Shuyin?" Rikku parroted the moment the name left Alex's lips, to which he nodded and continued,
"Yes, Shuyin. Tidus' existence was the result of a 'dream' of the Fayth, and so when the dream ended he too faded away. However all of the dreams of the Fayth were based off of real people or places, and I believe that Shuyin was the template they used for the creation of Tidus."
For a moment no one said anything as they digested this information, which, unfortunately for Yuna, made much more sense than anything else she'd been able to think of ever since she first watched the sphere. There was however one doubt in everyone's minds, which Brother immediately voiced as he asked,
"And how are we knowing that what you say is correct?" Paine nodded as she added,
"True, is there any evidence to support your story? And why go out of your way to tell us this to begin with?" With Paine making a decent point since Alex didn't even know any of them to begin with, they all looked at him questioningly. Alex however shrugged and replied,
"Evidence or no, that doesn't make what I have to say any less true. As for why I'd tell you, it's because of what would happen if you continued blindly pursuing Shuyin." Yuna this time narrowed her eyes as she asked him,
"What would've happened?" With Alex's fingers shimmering with Regeneration magic, he started,
"A little history first. You're all aware of the history behind the creation of Sin and the fate of Zanarkand, right?" With everyone nodding in affirmation, as nearly everyone in Spira knew the truth by now, Alex continued,
"Well Shuyin had a lover a thousand years ago, a Songstress named Lenne. Unfortunately though Lenne was also a very skilled summoner, and when the war between Zanarkand and Bevelle broke out she was sent to the front lines, even though she knew she would most likely never return. Desperate to save her, Shuyin attempted to use one of Bevelle's most powerful, and dangerous weapons against them, Vegnagun."
At this point Alex used Regeneration magic to show them the figure of Shuyin approaching a giant demonic looking figure, a massive Machina that had a skull-like face, with gargantuan tusks jutting out from either side of it. As several members of the Gullwings gulped at the image, Alex continued,
"Vegnagun was a Machina powerful enough that it was said to be able to destroy all of Spira, but was unable to differentiate between friend or foe, so it was stored away deep under Bevelle. And there it sat until Shuyin tried to turn it on, resulting only in the execution of himself and Lenne. However even after death Shuyin never found peace. His anger and resentment has festered over the last thousand years, and he awaits the moment that he would believe that Vegnugun is needed once more."
For a moment no one said anything as they digested what Alex told them, until Paine said,
"So you're saying that by investigating Shuyin, we might also awaken him and Vegnugun?" Alex nodded slowly as he explained,
"Vegnugun is very sensitive, just thinking of doing it harm is enough to activate it so it can preserve its own existence. Though what doesn't help is Spira's current state of affairs and how close it is to seeing war once again. That would definitely set Shuyin off." Again everyone was silent as they absorbed what Alex said, and thought about the very real events taking place across Spira.
Originally there had been three major factions in Spira when Sin was terrorizing them, Yevon, who more or less ruled all of Spira through the religion and temples, the Al Bhed, who were mostly ostracized and outcasts due to their reliance on Machina when the teachings of Yevon strictly forbade it, and then the Crusaders, a militant group of volunteers that were determined to protect the people of Spira from Sin.
However, during what was called Operation Mihan, the Crusaders were excommunicated from Yevon due to their partnering with Al Bhed, and were almost destroyed during their confrontation with Sin. Shortly after Yuna and her companions, her Guardians, discovered and revealed the deceit and corruption of Yevon, leading to it too being reformed after the destruction of Sin.
Now there was New Yevon, and the remnants of the Crusaders who formed a group known as the Youth League who were very antagonistic towards each other. On top of that was the rapidly deteriorating situation involving the Guado and Ronso.
Two years ago they were both affiliates of Yevon, but when the Ronso learned of the truth behind them, they splintered away from Yevon's control. As a result, the then leader of the Guado, Seymour Guado, ended up slaughtering so many of the Ronso he claimed they had gone extinct, except for Yuna's Guardian Kimari.
Thankfully though there were still a number of Ronso scattered across Spira, who Kimari had been bringing together to recover from the slaughter, but they hadn't forgotten the suffering of their people at Seymour's hands. Though he had been dead for several years, many of the Ronso still wanted revenge. And they were more than willing to go after the remaining Guado who supported Seymour to get it.
There was also the Machine Faction, named so in order to allow people to get used to Machina without calling them such, but they weren't antagonistic towards anyone. But, with so many groups ready to go to war with each other, Yuna muttered,
"So what you're saying, is that Shuyin and Vegnagun are both going to wake up soon?" Surprisingly, Alex shook his head as he replied,
"No, I've sent people to subdue Shuyin and Vegnagun, so they should be harmless soon, if not already."
***
While Alex was talking with the Gullwings in Spira, Grayfia, Kuroka, and Erza were all currently back in Asora as they delivered their prize to Azazel and Hajime.
"What did you do to it?!" Hajime wailed as he beheld the pathetic appearance of the once great Machina.
Once insectoid in appearance, Vegnagun was now in pieces and completely in-operational as Grayfia and Kuroka dropped it on the ground before them. In response to his despair at the state of it though, Kuroka smirked as she said,
"You can thank miss maid for that, she's the one who totaled that thing when we were asked to bring it in intact~Nya." Grayfia directed a look of incredulity at Kuroka and remarked,
"Well maybe if you hadn't been wasting time and helped me disable its power supply, we would've been able to deliver it intact!" Kuroka however snorted as she responded,
"I had to purify that annoying man, Shityun or something~Nya." This time it was Grayfia who smirked as she muttered,
"So it takes you so long just to purify one spirit, huh? Pretty bad for the Dragon Emperor's 'Queen' if you ask me." When she heard that Kuroka's expression twisted as black swirling flames appeared in her hands,
"Maybe I should 'purify' you to show you how strong I am~Nya?" In response to the threat Grayfia's expression also grew fierce as her entire body began to radiate demonic power.
"I'd like to see you try, cat." With the two monsters preparing to trade blows, Hajime and Azazel stopped complaining about the state Vegnagun arrived in as they suddenly busied themselves with studying it, while Erza muttered quietly,
"I could've sworn we had other things to do though..."
***
"Haaaaa..." Yuna sighed as she sat on one of the stools at the bar within the Celsius, her mind still swimming with everything Alex told them previously as she took a sip of the drink before her. On one hand she was glad to get the answers to her questions so soon, but on the other she didn't know where to go from here since she had practically run away from home to find those answers after Rikku showed her the sphere.
"Anotter drink mish Yuuna?" Their barkeeper, a Hypello they called Barkeep, asked as she emptied her glass. Yuna nodded slowly as the blue skinned Hypello refilled her glass with fruity non-alcoholic drink she liked. Seated next to her were of course Rikku, Paine, and even Alex's companion, Sun.
"So what are you going to do now? You're not just going to go home, right?" Rikku asked worriedly, as she enjoyed having Yuna around as they hunted spheres. Yuna however just shook her head as she replied,
"I'm not sure just yet..." As she thought about the answer to that question, a new voice asked,
"Why don't you stick with us for a while?" The four girls looked up to see Alex approaching them, who had stayed on the bridge after they left to talk to Brother and the other two, Buddy and Shinra. Rikku narrowed her eyes at Alex's approach, and asked,
"Why would we stick with you instead of the Gullwings?" Before answering Alex took his own seat and asked Barkeep for a drink, and then he finally said,
"I'm not planning on keeping my focus in Spira for long, so I'd like to tour as much of it as possible before we leave. I was hoping that while Brother, Buddy, and Shinra worked on the projects I gave them, you three would act as out guides since you've been all over Spira." Alex's words immediately caught their attention as Yuna asked with interest,
"What kind of projects did you give them?" Before answering Alex produced a compass from midair, and explained,
"This is a magic compass that shows you where anything you want is. Using it, I located numerous ancient airships that they could excavate and collect, while I also used another item I have to quickly find and collect a number of spheres that could be used as Dresspheres for Shinra to analyze. In return for the new airships and large amount of spheres, I asked for Shinra to pass on to me the way to create Dresspheres, and my pick of one airship from the ones Brother and Buddy excavate for my people to examine and study."
His words caused a stir of excite the amongst the girls as Rikku demanded,
"So we're going to get more airships soon?!" As an Al Bhed who grew up while researching Machina and helping to locate and recover things like the airship her father owned, Rikku was especially excited at the idea of having more airships to fly around on, she just hoped that these ones wouldn't be as dangerous to find as the Celsius.
Alex nodded to her excitement as he said,
"Yep, I located about a dozen more airships that could be salvaged and repaired for them, and gave Shinra over twenty more spheres that can turned into Dresspheres. So he promised me that he'd give me the data that we'd need to replicate them and produce them ourselves once he's done analyzing them."
This surprised the girls even more as, at the moment, they only had four Dresspheres to choose from with the fifth being worked on. Currently they only had Rikku's 'Thief', Paine's 'Warrior', Yuna's 'Gunner', the 'Songstress', and Shinra was currently making another based off of Brother called the 'Festivalist'.
They weren't the only ones though, as Alex knew he had produced more spheres than what were used in the game. Including the five aforementioned spheres, there were also the 'Black Mage', 'White Mage', 'Gun Mage', 'Alchemist', 'Dark Knight', 'Samurai', 'Lady Luck', 'Berserker', 'Trainer', 'Mascot', and 'Psychic' Dresspheres from the original game, all with their own unique skills and abilities. On top of that though, Alex had also apparently found extra Dresspheres like the 'Sentinel', 'Lancer', and several others. (A.N. Feel free to add ideas for new Dresspheres if you want.)
As he finished listing the majority of the spheres he found, Paine finally spoke up as she asked,
"What do you need Dresspheres for?" With both Rikku and Yuna looking at him curiously at her question, Alex replied,
"Because in my homeland, Asora, strength is one of the things people idolize and desire the most. Even our Academy encourages its students to try and push their limits, though we have no intention of forcing anyone onto a battlefield or anything.
"The problem though is that some people are born with natural gifts, skills, and abilities for growing stronger and fighting, while others aren't. I want to use the Dresspheres as a sort of 'equalizer' for them, allowing those who have no skills or talents to developers their own with them. They would also compliment our Peerage system fairly well as well." Yuna cocked her head cutely when she heard that and asked,
"Peerages?" Alex nodded and continued,
"Peerages are a system developed by one of the nations in my empire, elite soldiers under a single commander, or 'King', to fight instead of entire armies. They're based off of a game system we have called chess, and each piece can be given to recipients to increase their base physical abilities, such as strength, defense, speed, and magic power." Alex then spent the next several minutes detailing the Evil Pieces and how they were used, the different types and effects.
Ending his explanation, Alex pulled his own final remaining Evil Piece, and said,
"This is my own last piece, a 'Pawn'. I just need to find a decent candidate to give it to, and then I'll have a full peerage." As he said that Alex glanced at Yuna and Rikku meaningfully, though neither one seemed to notice this.
(A.N. Already had one in mind, but I'm curious who you guys want for Alex's final peerage member. I'll comment Yuna and Rikku's name below, and give a like to whichever one you want to join him. The other will probably end up becoming Ingvild's 'Queen".)