Kilika

"Chocobos!?" The last thing Cloud was expecting to see on this ship was a chocobo, let alone several of them. They were all running around inside each of their own individual wheels, similar to how a hamster would run in its cage.

"What's so strange about chocobo power?" A woman asked him, Cloud assumed she was the engineer.

"I, uh," Cloud shook his head and quickly recomposed himself, "it's nothing. Forget I said anything."

As Cloud made his way up to the deck of the ship, he noticed Yuna was surrounded by a few of the passengers. He didn't recognise any of them, they couldn't have come from Besaid. Cloud wondered whether this had anything to do with her father, he was a high summoner after all. Wakka, Tidus and Lulu all appeared to be having a conversation, while Kimahri was watching Yuna from a distance.

Cloud moved to the side of the ship, where he rested his elbows on the rail and looked out at the horizon. He had heard that looking at the horizon helped with motion sickness and right now he needed that help. The effects of the tranquiliser he took before they set off had finally started wearing off.

"Are you okay, Cloud? You look pale." Yuna asked as she approached Cloud, it looked like she had managed to slip away from the crowd.

"It's just motion sickness."

"Maybe I can help with that!" Yuna took a step back and started to cast a spell. Almost immediately, Cloud felt normal again. He recognised this kind of magic, it was esuna. That spell had helped Cloud more than once back on Gaea when he was on a long journey.

"You're a life saver, you know?"

"Is it really that bad?"

"Well, it was a lot worse when I was younger. I've got more control over it now, I'm fine on most forms of transportation. Trains, motorbikes, chocobos, everything apart from sea travel for some reason." Cloud explained.

"Chocobos? You're telling me that you've ridden a chocobo before?"

"That's right, I was actually a little surprised to find a few in the engine room. I didn't think Spira would have any." Before they could continue their conversation, Tidus had decided to stroll up to the pair.

"Hey, what'cha up to?" The young blitzball player asked.

"We were just talking about chocobos." Yuna replied.

"Chocobos?" Tidus had moved to the rail and sat upon it.

"Oh, that's right! You're a blitzball player from Zanarkand, aren't you? You've probably never heard of them before."

"You hear that from Wakka? Wakka… he doesn't believe me at all, I bet Bubby over there doesn't either," Cloud glared at him, "I mean, uh! I bet Cloud doesn't either! Yeah, Cloud, that's right, not Bubby."

"I've heard, in Zanarkand there is a great stadium, all lit up even at night! Great blitzball tournaments are held there and the stand are always full!" Yuna was trying to ease off the tension a bit.

"How do you know that!?"

"A man named Jecht told me."

"Your father's guardian, right?" Cloud asked to which Yuna nodded in reply. Tidus looked like he had just seen a ghost. He kept mumbling Jecht's name under his breath.

"My father, his name is Jecht." Tidus went on to explain that his father went missing 10 years ago, apparently off the coast of Zanarkand. Yuna told him that her Jecht appeared on Spira 10 years ago.

"The date fits, doesn't it?"

"Yeah, but how would he get here?"

"You're here, aren't you? It can't be impossible if that's the case." Cloud stated, giving Tidus his opinion.

"Wait, does that mean you actually do believe-" Tidus was interrupted by the sudden turbulence of the ship. Waves crashed into the side of the ship; something was emerging from the water. Cloud quickly grabbed Yuna's arm to stop her from falling and pulled her close to his body.

"Sin!" One of the crew members shouted as a gigantic fin broke through the water surface. Cloud noticed some of the crew were heading for the harpoon guns.

"Hey, what do you think you're doing!? You can't use that, ya!" Wakka exclaimed, he must've spotted them as well.

"He's right. If you hit Sin with that we're done for. When it goes under, we go under." Cloud added, he had also moved in between one of the crew members and the harpoon.

"But Sin is going for Kilika! Our families are in Kilika! We have to distract it!" Cloud couldn't object, if his family was there, he would be doing the same thing. Hesitantly, he moved out of the way and allowed them to man the harpoon guns.

"Oh, boy!" Wakka didn't seem best pleased.

The harpoons were fired and pierced straight through Sin's fin. In retaliation, Sin fired fiends towards the ship. Lulu was sending passengers below deck, while Tidus, Wakka and Kimahri were fighting off the fiends. Cloud quickly realised fighting the fiends was pointless, Sin just kept sending more in after one wave had been cleared. If they wanted to end this fight, they needed to target Sin itself.

"Yuna summon Valefor, I have an idea." As soon as the winged beast appeared, Cloud jumped on top of it. He pointed towards Sin and Yuna nodded in understanding. She ordered Valefor to fly towards the fin and when they were close enough, Cloud jumped off and prepared to strike. The sound of metal striking against metal could be heard, Cloud's attack had been blocked by a sword. He recognised this sword.

"Good to see you, Cloud" Cloud's entire body shivered, the cold voice that had just spoken echoed in his mind. Green eyes of pure evil stared back into his and pierced through his soul. There was no doubt about it, it was him.

"Sephiroth?" Before Cloud had any time to gather his thoughts, he was forced to block two incoming strikes. Cloud tried to counter with a few strikes of his own, but he just started falling towards the ocean. Quickly, he lodged the Buster Sword into Sin's fin and stood on it.

"You don't seem happy to see me, that's a shame." Sephiroth was hovering just above Cloud, his single black-feathered wing spread out. They were on the other side of the fin; Cloud couldn't see the ship and he assumed they couldn't see him.

"How are you here? I killed you!" Sephiroth just chuckled at Cloud's confusion.

"Before I diffused into the lifestream, I found something. I found the connection between this world and ours, the pyreflies. Using their energy, I travelled here. I've been using the energy of the pyreflies to cheat death and recover from our previous battle. With the power of mako and pyreflies, you won't stop me this time. Now, let's have some fun, shall we?"

"What are you-" Cloud didn't get a chance to speak, Sephiroth had already started to act. With one swipe of his sword, Masamune, he released Sin from the harpoon severing the connection between it and the ship. With Sin now released, it moved at great pace towards Kilika. The Buster Sword had broken itself loose from Sin and Cloud fell towards the sea, only to be caught by Valefor.

They had lost. Sin sent a path of destruction towards Kilika. Huts were destroyed, bridges collapsed, lives were lost. Blood stained the ocean, the unforgiving destructive force of Sin reduced Kilika to nothing but ruins. So this was the power of Sin?

As Cloud arrived back on the ship, he was met by nothing but horror. Passengers were injured, the crew was injured, nobody could escape the wrath of Sin. Everyone was working to treat the injured, that's all they could do. Cloud noticed Tidus, dripping wet, slumped against the hull of the ship. He was bleeding from the arm. Cloud made his way over and tied a bandage around Tidus's arm, who winced in pain.

"Don't cry." Cloud mumbled.

"I'm not crying!" Tidus exclaimed, again wincing as Cloud tightened the bandage.

"This is what happens when you charge in blindly," Cloud sighed, "be smarter."

"But you charge in like that all the time!"

"The difference is, I have experience. You're just a beginner. If you try and do what I do, you'll get killed," Cloud had finished with Tidus's wound and stood up, "now, man up and help us with the other passengers."

After the ship had docked at Kilika, Yuna was the first to get off. She ran down the pier, seemingly being escorted by some of the locals. They were saying something about a sending. Cloud and the others quickly followed suit.

Wakka and the Aurochs had gone to try and help the people of Kilika, while Cloud, Lulu and Tidus stood together at another part of the dock. Kimahri was also there, though he was much closer to Yuna. They were waiting for her to perform a 'sending', that's what all the locals were calling it anyway.

"Uh, what's a sending? Are we going somewhere?" Cloud sighed at Tidus's ignorance, as did Lulu.

"You truly are clueless. Are you sure it's just your memory that's the problem? The dead need guidance. Filled with grief over their own death, they refuse to face their fate. They yearn to live on and resent those still alive. They envy the living and in time, that envy turns to anger, even hate," Lulu explained as she turned to look at Yuna, "Should these souls remain in Spira, they become fiends that prey on the living. The sending takes them to the Farplane, where they may rest in peace."

Cloud also turned to face Yuna. She began approaching the water and to Cloud's surprise, she continued to stay aloft on the water's surface. Ripples formed with each step she took. With her staff in hand, she began to dance. Pyreflies spiralled underneath her, under the water's surface. The more she danced, the more pyreflies would gather. A beautiful scenery, yet it had such a sad intention.

"I hope… I hope I did okay." Yuna said as she stumbled into Lulu's arms.

"I'm sure they're resting comfortably with their families. No more tears. Next time will be easier."

!~!

"Cloud? Can you hear me?" Aerith's voice echoed through Cloud's mind. Once again, he stood in the field of flowers.

"Why didn't you tell me? Why didn't you tell me my nightmare wasn't over?"

"I wanted to tell you about Sephiroth but-" Aerith was interrupted by a voice, it was familiar to Cloud.

"Truth is, she couldn't," It was Zack, "if she told you then things could've gone another way, an unfavourable way."

"I don't know how you expect me to kill that thing. I couldn't even get close to Sin with Sephiroth around."

"Just keeping going, you'll find a way eventually." Zack told Cloud.

"But how am I-"

!~!

"Cloud? Cloud!?" Yuna's shouting pulled Cloud away from his meeting with his two friends, "Wake up, sleepyhead! Everyone's waiting, we're heading for the temple."

"Wait for me outside, I won't be long." Cloud replied as he sat up, his voice blunt and uninviting.

Just as Yuna had said, the group was waiting for him. They were just past the docks, where the path to the temple began.

"Hurry up, Bubby! You're late!" Wakka teased upon Cloud's arrival.

"Don't call me that." Cloud said, rather coldly. He wasn't in the mood for jokes, not after what he had just learnt. Sephiroth was all Cloud could think about.

"Before we go, I need to say something," Yuna informed that group, "I would like Tidus to become my guardian."

"What?" Lulu hissed; she wasn't happy. Perhaps it was because of how similar Tidus looked to Chappu, or could it be she thought they were trying to replace him, "You hardly know him, yet you want him as a guardian?"

"Lu's right, Yuna. He may be a Wizkid when it comes to Blitzball, but when it comes to fighting fiends; he's a newbie, ya?"

"Then, not a guardian. I just want him nearby. I want my journey to be full of laughter."

"What do you make of this, Cloud?" Lulu sighed.

"Isn't it Yuna's choice?" Cloud shrugged.

"But we don't even know-"

"Look, this is a one-time gig. When it's done, we're done. I don't really care who joins us. And for that matter, I don't care about Spira or its people. As soon as I get the chance, I'm out of here." Cloud heard shouts for him to come back as he walked into the forest, leaving the group. All he could think about was Sephiroth. He needed to blow off some steam.

"What on earth has gotten into him?" Lulu questioned.

"I wonder whether something happened?" Yuna's voice was shaky. That wasn't the Cloud that she knew, he was so cold towards them. Was it something she had done? Or, was it something else?

"We should wait a bit, let him cool off. If he doesn't come back in an hour, we'll go look for him, then we'll head to the temple, ya?" The group all agreed to Wakka's proposal. They couldn't go to the temple a guardian down, nor could they take Cloud to a temple in his current state.

The one-hour time limit was up and still there was no sign of Cloud. There was a unanimous decision to split up, they would be able to cover more ground that way. Everyone went off in their own direction, bar Kimahri who stayed by Yuna's side and helped her search.

Wakka followed a narrow path that took him deeper into the forest. Groups of pyreplies could be seen along the way, they increased in number the further Wakka followed it. Eventually, just as he expected, Cloud could be seen. He was cutting down every fiend in his path.

"Cloud, you okay brudda?" Wakka's only response was a glance in his direction as Cloud cut down another fiend, "Hey, if it's about the whole Tidus thing then, you don't have anything to worry about! Yuna doesn't like Tidus like that, ya? I can tell."

"It's not that, Wakka."

"I mean, she only wants him around for the positive energy! She doesn't like him in that way whatsoever, in fact-"

"Wakka! I told you, that's not the reason!" Cloud sighed as Wakka continued to babble on, though he felt calmer after hearing him say those things about Yuna not being interested in Tidus romantically. Cloud didn't really know why.

"So, what's got you all worked up?" Cloud paused as he contemplated whether he should tell them about Sephiroth or not. He had to tell them; they'd find out eventually anyway.

"I'll explain when we meet up with everyone else, they need to hear it too."

As Wakka led Cloud to the meeting point, where the two found the party fighting. They were all but defeated by a giant ochu, if it wasn't for two crusader's they would've been done for. Cloud rushed in and blocked an attack the pair of crusaders failed to see.

"You, you're Cloud, right!?" The brunette crusader was short and wore a green tunic with two white shoulder pads, he didn't seem to be any older than 16, "I heard about what you did in Besaid, I can't wait to see what you can do in person!"

"Focus, Gatta. You're in the middle of a battle." The other had spoken up, he had red hair, his pants were a bright purple and he wore brown shoulder pads. Cloud wondered whether the shoulder pads indicated their rank.

"Luzzu, Gatta! We owe you one! Now let's show that thing who's boss, ya!?"

"Let's just get this over with." Cloud sighed as he rested the Buster Sword on his shoulder, "Distract it, leave the rest to me."

Wakka opened with one of his elemental ball attacks. Fire enveloped his ball and he volleyed it straight at the beast. Its attempts to swat the ball away were denied with the help of Luzzu and Gatta. The pair were able to slice its tentacle vines off before it made contact with the ball. A direct hit to the face caused the ochu to screech in pain and gave Cloud the opening he needed. Quickly, he lunged at the fiend and performed cross-slash. Cloud's attack was too much for the ochu to handle and it quickly dissolved into pyreflies.

"Jheez! You didn't disappoint! What move was that!?"

"Gatta, we don't have time to stick around and talk. We still have orders to follow." Luzzu said, he appeared to be a higher rank out of the two. Cloud could tell by the way he followed orders to the letter as well as by how much more skilled he was in combat compared to Gatta.

"Come on, we need to heal the others up." Cloud said as he turned to Wakka while the two crusaders joined a larger group that was waiting for them. Once everyone was back on their feet, Cloud was bombarded with questions, just as he expected. Some, mainly Yuna, were asking him whether he was alright, while most of the others were demanding an explanation, "First off, I want you all to know I didn't mean any of those things I said before. I wasn't thinking straight."

"What could've possibly made you so angry, Cloud?" Lulu questioned.

"Back on Gaea, there was a man named Sephiroth…" Cloud proceeded to tell them about all the terrible things Sephiroth had done, about the Nibelheim incident, Aerith's death, the Meteor crisis, everything.

"Why are you telling us this? He's got nothing to do with us. What's the point in taking your anger out on us over something to do with your past?" Tidus was actually making sense for once, but of course he still spoke too soon.

"You're right, there was no point and I shouldn't have. But it's not about the past, this is about the present. Back when we fought Sin, I saw him, I spoke to him. He stopped me from attacking Sin and he's the one that let Sin loose onto Kilika. Sephiroth is on Spira." Silence followed. For a moment, it seemed like they had all given up.

"How are we meant to fight someone like that?" Wakka sounded almost depressed as he spoke.

"You aren't. Sephiroth is my problem, I'm gonna fight him alone."

"If you're fighting him, then so am I," Cloud was surprised to see Yuna speak up against him, "I can't stand by while I watch someone I care about, risk their life for me."

"Yuna's right, ya! We'll be fighting too!"

"We have your back." Lulu seemed just as fired up as Wakka and Yuna.

"There's no I in team, right?" Tidus was punching the air and jogging on the spot.

"Kimahir fight too." Even Kimahri had spoken up to stand by Cloud.

"You see? If you fight, we fight." Yuna said as she and the others stood in front of Cloud, their faces full of determination. Cloud sighed and scratched the back of his head.

"You guys are a pain in the ass, you know that?" A smirk forced itself onto Cloud's face as he started walking down the path, "come on, let's get moving."

The group moved deeper into the forest, towards the temple. Lulu had been trying to teach Tidus how to use magic, though it didn't seem to be going well. Cloud had tried to give him his materia to help, but Tidus couldn't even figure out how to use that. Yuna laughed as Cloud sighed at another failed attempt by Tidus. Yuna nudged into Cloud who stood with his hands on his hips as he watched the young blitzballer.

"It's good to see you back to normal, Cloud." Yuna smiled at him.

"Only thanks to you," Cloud replied as he continued to watch on, "Your words early cheered me up."

"So, you think he'll ever figure it out?" Yuna gestured in Tidus's direction.

"It's not impossible, but at this rate we'll never get you that aeon. Not even Barret had this much trouble with materia," Cloud sighed and hung his head, "This is too painful to watch."

Cloud made his way over to Tidus and tried to explain the basics again, to no avail of course. Yuna stood and watched the blond mercenary. She found herself drawn to Cloud's every action, she wanted to know where he was and what he was doing at all times. She wanted to be with him all the time, what was this feeling? It felt; good.

"Yuna, watch out!" Cloud shouted out to her as he picked her up and jumped out of the way of an attack. While she had been daydreaming, an ochu had crept up on her. This one seemed different from the other. Its skin looked thicker and rather than the usual purple and green colour, it was a scaly grey. Lulu shot a fire spell at it, the ochu didn't even seem bothered.

"Ochus are meant to be weak to fire! Why didn't it work!?" Lulu couldn't comprehend why the ochu was still standing without a single scratch on it.

"It's got a fire-resistant layer of skin," Cloud lunged in and swung his blade at the fiend, however it only bounced off, "Looks like physical attacks are a no go, too."

"What do we do, Bubby?" Wakka's ball was easily swatted away.

"We need to pierce through that skin. Lightning magic." Cloud looked over to Lulu and Tidus. Lulu had already used a lot of mana which concerned Cloud. If she had ran out then it was on Tidus, who struggled to even use materia.

"It's up to you, Tidus. I only had enough mana left for that fire spell." Just as Cloud suspected, Lulu had no mana. Despite this, they would have to fight on. Cloud and Kimahri engaged in melee combat to try and draw the attention of the ochu onto them. All they could do was defend, neither Kimahri nor Cloud could pierce through that skin.

"Alright! Time to teach you a lesson! Go, thunder!" Tidus shot his arm out expecting a bolt of lightning to hit the ochu, yet nothing happened.

"Didn't I tell you to use magic!?" Cloud said as he rolled out of the way of a vine tentacle.

"It's not working! Come on you piece of junk!" Tidus proceeded to hit the bangle on his arm where the materia was stored. Wakka was trying to support Cloud and Kimahri the best he could with his elemental ball attacks, but the ochu just kept swatting it away before it even got close.

"Hello? Lightning magic? Have you still not figured out how to use materia!?" Cloud had just sliced through a tentacle heading straight for Tidus.

"I'm trying! Urgh, thunder! Go, thunder!" Suddenly a bolt of lightning shot down from the sky and pierced straight through the ochu, "Yeah! I did it!"

"Sorry, that was me." Yuna had summoned Valefor and ordered it to cast a lightning spell on the ochu. Cloud noticed it took some time for the second spell to come in, it seemed as though Valefor wasn't trained up enough to continuously cast spells. They weren't going to get anywhere at this rate. Cloud jumped back and began to call a summon.

"Come, God of Lightning, Ramuh!" Bolts of lightning began hitting the same spot on the ground just behind Cloud as the sky above darkened. The ground began to rise up and after another flash of lightning an old man, dressed all in white with a long beard of the same colour, appeared atop the newly formed mound of land. Ramuh raised his staff into the air. All of the lightning bolts were drawn towards the rod; however, they didn't linger for long. Ramuh pointed the staff in the direction of the ochu. It screamed in pain as bolt after bolt pierced through its skin until it eventually began to dissipate into pyreflies.

"What the heck was that, ya!? Since when was Bubby a summoner!?"

"Since never." Cloud responded.

"Then how the hell did you do that, ya? You haven't prayed to any of the fayth, not to mention I've never even seen that aeon before."

"He used his materia." Yuna explained to Wakka as she took Cloud's left arm and lifted it up, revealing the glowing red master summon materia in his bangle.

"Some of those summons are even the same as our aeons," Lulu further elaborated, "By the way, Cloud. You mentioned you were having problems with those ones in particular; did you ever figure it out?"

"No, for some reason I can't sense their spirits inside the materia. I still don't really know why."

"Fascinating, but more importantly I want to know why that ochu was so strong. I've never seen one that had a fire-resistant layer of skin before."

"I agree, Lulu, and I think I have the answer." Cloud pointed to a crevice in the ground that he had eyed up, glowing green liquid was oozing out of it.

"Hey! It's the same as before, ya!" Cloud nodded at Wakka's observation.

"A mako fountain," Cloud knelt down beside it, "There was one in Besaid too, like you said. It seems like the fiends are bathing in the mako, causing their strength to increase."

"But how is the blood of your planet appearing on Spira?" Yuna asked.

"I'm not sure. My guess is it has something to do with Sephiroth," Cloud turned to face Lulu and threw an ether to her, "Can you plug this up with your ice magic?"

"Of course, but will it be alright to leave it?"

"It should be fine. When mako is crystallised, it turns into materia. The volume of the crystallised mako determines the strength of that newly formed materia. With such a small amount here, it'll be nothing more than a glowing rock." Cloud explained as Lulu necked the small bottle of ether, replenishing her mana stocks. She approached the mako fountain and froze it almost instantly.

Continuing on towards the temple, Yuna insisted that she wanted to be on the front line. She was saying that she wanted to get stronger and increase her aeon's strength. Cloud didn't like the idea, but she some how got her way. Kimahri and Lulu both joined her as a part of the vanguard, leaving Cloud with Wakka and Tidus.

"Hey, Wakka. How come you all believe Cloud about being from a different world, but not me!?"

"Well for a start, Bubby has proof, ya? I ain't ever seen anything like that materia. When you get proof, maybe I'll change my mind." Wakka teased.

"Tch, it doesn't even work anyway." Tidus complained.

"That's because you're using it wrong," Cloud sighed, "How many times do I have to tell you? You're thinking about the wrong thing. You keep shouting 'thunder or 'blizzard' when I've already told you, it's bolt and ice."

"That's the same thing!" Again, Cloud sighed at Tidus's comment.

"Maybe you should just stick to your sword. Magic obviously isn't for you."

At last, the group had arrived at the base of the temple. A large set of stone stairs was presented before them. Cloud looked up and sighed at the miniature mountain they were about to climb.

"Is this really necessary?"

"Hey, these stone steps have a history, you know. Yep, Lord Ohalland trained here at his peak." Cloud had heard of this Lord Ohalland that Wakka had mentioned, he read about him in Besaid temple's library. Ohalland was a high summoner, he also used to play blitzball before his pilgrimage began. Apparently, he was pretty good.

"A race, huh? Think you can beat me?" Cloud and Wakka overheard Tidus say to the Aurochs. They appeared to be snickering and started lining up at the bottom of the stairs. Wakka had said that they were going to the temple to pray for victory.

"Ha! I don't think, I know I can beat you! I can beat Bubby over there too, ya?" Wakka joined them and lined up at the bottom. Cloud sighed and remained where he was, arms folded, "What's wrong, Bubby? You scared of getting beat?"

"He must be, otherwise he would join in!" Yuna teased.

"Huh? Whose side are you on, Yuna?" Cloud replied as he placed his hands on his hips.

"If he's refusing to race, then there's no other explanation."

"You too, Lulu?" Cloud pinched the bridge of his nose then joined the line, "Fine, only to shut you all up."

"Heh, heh. Yuna, if you would?" Wakka asked, gesturing for her to count them in.

"Ready!?" Yuna raised her arm in the air. Suddenly, before she shouted go, Yuna dashed up the stairs and took a head start. Cloud and Wakka both glanced at each other and shot up the stairs in pursuit, leaving Tidus and the Aurochs behind in a daze.

It didn't take long for Cloud to lose Wakka, he also had Yuna in his sights. Yuna tripped on the edge of one of the steps, she would've fallen face first onto the floor if it wasn't for Cloud catching her at the last second. He hoisted her up over his shoulder and continued running.

"Hey, no fair! Put me down!" Yuna was struggling to get her words out in between all of her laughter, it seemed Cloud had cracked a smirk as well.

"Alright, alright." Cloud stopped running and lowered Yuna down. He wanted to speak, but his words wouldn't come out. All he could do was stare at the summoner as she laughed away. Her blue and green eyes had put Cloud into a trance-like state, they were truly amazing. Yuna had stopped laughing, as she too was lost in Cloud's glowing blue eyes.

"Um, Cloud?" Her cheeks had turned bright red. Cloud turned his back on Yuna.

"Sorry, it's nothing." Cloud ever so slightly glanced back at her, "Your eyes, they're… pretty."

"L-Look out!" Screams could be heard from below, Cloud and Yuna both ran down the steps to find the others fighting off a fiend.

"Everyone, quick! Sinspawn!" Wakka exclaimed as he threw his ball at the creature. The sinspawn had planted two of its tentacles into the ground which had surfaced behind the party leaving them surrounded.

"If we want to defeat this thing, we need to get rid of that shell and the only way we're gonna do that is by using magic. Tidus, now would be a good time to figure out how to use that materia." Cloud suggested as he cut one of the tentacles in half.

Lulu had already started casting away. Wakka also used his elemental ball attacks to try and support her, though they weren't as effective as the actual spells. Cloud and Kimahri were fending off the tentacles, allowing their party members to cast spells freely, while Yuna had started performing the ritual to summon Valefor.

"Bolt!" Cloud glanced behind him and saw a bolt of lightning hit the sinspawn, Tidus was punching the air in delight, "Alright! I did it!"

"Don't let up! Give it everything you've got!" Cloud encouraged as he and Kimahri continued to hack away at the tentacles.

Eventually, the sinspawn's defences had been penetrated and the shell had been dealt with. Yuna wasted no time and commanded Valefor to perform Energy Ray. All that remained was the faint glow of pyreflies, spiralling up towards the sky. Everyone celebrated in triumph of their swift victory over the sinspawn.

"Nice job." Cloud patted Yuna's head once as he walked by her, on his way to join the rest of the group.

"Did you see that shit!?" Tidus exclaimed, his fists punching through the air.

"I did, it looks like you managed to grow a few brain cells." Cloud teased.

"Huh!?"

"Hahahahaha! That was a good one Bubby!" Wakka had burst out laughing at Cloud's comment and wrapped his arms round Tidus's head, putting him in a headlock. Even Lulu cracked a little smirk.

"So, what are these 'sinspawn' anyway?" Tidus asked, hoping to change the topic of conversation.

"Fiends. They fall from Sin's body and are left behind in its wake." Lulu explained before continuing on up the stairs.

"Leave 'em alone and Sin comes back for 'em. You gotta be quick!" Wakka finished as he too, along with the rest of the group, followed Lulu up towards the temple.

Cloud was at the rear of the group when they reached the temple. The temple itself had a very odd design. In a way, it reminded Cloud of the guard scorpion he had faced with Barret all that time ago on his first mission with AVALANCHE.

Despite the motto of respect that seemed to correlate between all temples, a group of people exited looking not so respectful. They were all dressed in a purple outfit, Cloud assumed it was another blitzball team. The one in the middle had dark red hair and matching tattoos on both shoulders that looked like they had been painted on. To the left was a darker skinned man with black hair, two ponytails could be seen sticking out from the back of his head. Finally, the one on the right sported blond hair and had a slightly darker complexion than the red head.

The group dressed in purple walked up the stairs and through the temple patio, barging past people who were in their way. It seemed like they had stopped to say a few things to the Aurochs. Words were exchanged and the heads of the Aurochs had dropped, while the other group were laughing and snickering to each other.

"This time, we play to win!" Cloud heard Tidus say as he got closer to the encounter.

"Oooo! Play away! Just remember, even kids can play, boys." The red head stated as he and his minions walked past the group. As Cloud crossed paths with him, he tried to barge Cloud out of the way. Unfortunately for him, Cloud didn't budge and instead it was the red head who began to stumble. Cloud glanced behind him as they walked away.

"Pathetic," Cloud walked past Wakka as he made his way to the temple, "You better not lose."

Inside the temple, Cloud stood to one side with his arms folded while the others prayed at each of the high summoner statues. He noticed two people exit from the chamber of the fayth. One was a dark-skinned woman with hazel eyes and black hair, the other light-skinned with a muscular frame and brown hair.

"A summoner, are you?" The woman questioned Yuna as she descended the staircase.

"My name is Yuna, I'm from the Isle of Besaid."

"Dona." Cloud moved to Yuna's side as she spoke to her fellow summoner, "So, you're High Summoner Braska's daughter? That's quite the name to live up to. My, my, my and all these people are your guardians? My, what a rabble! As I recall, Lord Braska had only two guardians. Quality over quantity, my dear. Whatever were you thinking?"

"By the looks of things, I'd say you have neither." Cloud had noticed the others getting down by Dona's comments and couldn't stay quiet any longer, "All you have is an obedient dog leashed to your side without a brain to think for himself."

"What was that, frizzy hair?" Dona got right up in Cloud's face. He just sighed and moved her out of the way.

"People like you are all the same. No skill, no heart, no dignity. You're all talk."

"Please! Barthello and I would run straight through you all. You must be a pathetic group if it takes this many of you to protect a single summoner!"

"I only have as many guardians as there are people I can trust!" Yuna had found the courage to speak up and positioned herself between Cloud and Dona, speaking directly to her, "I trust them all with my life. To have so many guardians is a joy and an honour! Even more so than being my father's daughter. Of course, I would never think of questioning your ways, either. So, Lady Dona, I ask of you: leave us in peace."

Cloud was impressed by Yuna's little speech, the others also seemed to be in heightened spirits. Dona could only let out a grunt of annoyance as she stormed off and exited the temple, her lapdog guardian following suit. With no more distractions, the group made their way up the stairs and towards the chamber of the fayth. Soon enough, they would be one step closer to their goal.