New fic
I completely forgot that I had this finished thing on my computer just waiting for me to post. Please read and tell me what you think.
Title: Running In Her Shadow
Author: Nightheart
Summary: Ever have one of those people you can never seem to catch up to?
No matter who you are or how good you get at... well let's just call it the game of love, there's always that one unattainable person, that one girl that's always just out of your reach. In my case it's not so much 'just out of reach' as it was (humiliatingly enough) 'barely acknowledged my existence.' Even growing up, she was nothing short of already well known amoung our people and as a woman she's even more famous.
Heh. But I'm no slouch either now. As one of the three leaders of Spira I'm not exactly someone who can be easily ignored; one could even say that I was someone who was impossible to ignore (and yet she still somehow manages it most of the time). I'm well respected among the Al Bhed, as Leader of the Machine Faction everyone seems to feel that I have a pretty good idea of what I want for the future. Even the Yevonites (who a few years ago would have sooner spat on me and my kind than looked at me) seem to respect me and my Faction... granted the numerous Good Works I have my Faction members doing around Spira are certainly smoothing things over. All part of my strategy.
Being well-known across all of Spira, and not just among the tightly knit Al Bhed, was a heady drink. And let me tell you, notoriety can certainly have its advantages... women just fling themselves at me. Unlike Rin, I don't have a whole lot of Gil to fling around, but that doesn't stop them. It's great, I meet coy looks and inviting smiles almost wherever I go; all I have to do is smile and show the least sign of interest and I have women stroking my ego (among other things)... despite my charm, good looks, notoriety and position of obvious authority among mainland Spira, there's always one girl who manages to stay untouched by it all, and so high above me.
But it's always been like that, even when we were little kids. Growing up at Home mixed in among all of the other Al Bhed children; Rikku barely knew that I existed. When I was a boy I was always in competition with her and she didn't even notice. Brother and I were best friends; being younger than us, you'd think that the dynamic would make Rikku the little tagalong in the group but even then she'd exuded an aura of confidence that kind of made the two of us feel left behind. It didn't help that she'd already beat out our best scores in the training games in her first year of training. When our age-mates were taken out into the sands to teach us the ropes about exploring for machina she'd find parts in the desert so I'd try to find more parts, only to discover that mine were worthless and she had bagged the ones we needed thus earning all of the praise. I'd build a machina only to find that she'd already built a better one, finished just before mine. She was my lab partner in the alchemy workshops; Al bhed didn't really have white mages or black mages, that's more of a Yevonite thing, so we rely on our Alchemy to do the same thing instead of relying on casters. Even at a young age, she had a gift... for blowing things up.
She wasn't like the rest of us kids either; that crazed father of hers just let her and her brother run around doing whatever. In a place where malfunctioning machina and other forms of heavy machinery and sharp jagged bits of metal could be found scattered everywhere, situations where a kid could get into trouble were very very prevalent; still her pops never even seemed to notice that the two of them just ran around getting into things they probably shouldn't. Even if she got into situations where she could have gotten seriously hurt (it wasn't usually even her fault, but inevitably instigated by her following Brother on one of his harebrained schemes) she was never punnished or reprimanded because she'd just bat her eyes and look cute.
That Brother sure is one heck of a flake; I often wonder why it is she let him talk her into doing things that anyone with a lick of common sense could see is incredibly stupid and possibly may kill you. But still, even if they were dangerous, oddly enough a lot of the stupid crazy things that they did as children wound up bringing about the most amazing results. If they pulled it off without injury they were usually praised for thier intrepid bravery rather than censured for thier incredible stupidity. You know what they say about fools dancing where fayth fear to tread I suppose.
I was really envious of her freedom when I was a kid because if I'd done half of the things that Rikku and Brother were allowed to get away with, my old man would have skinned me and left me for the feinds to devour. The worst thing was that no matter what her accomplishments were (and even as a kid she had a gift for machina as well as alchemy) she was never obnoxious about it; she'd brag a little bit at first, but that's just part of being a kid, and then she'd forget about it and assemble a small group to help her figure out a way to make it even better. She was always willing to help somebody out or share tips with the other kids, even me and I was really annoying at that age; I admit it, a real know-it-all. I was more than good enough with machina to earn an early apprenticeship with my father, who was a lead engineer, and because of this I thought I knew everything there was to know about machina. Heh, kids.
The feeling of rivalry (even if it was probably one-sided on my part) continued as we grew up. Rikku still ran around with her brother getting into crazy messes and I continued on excavating, tinkering with and repairing old machina. I liked to experiment around with them to find new ways to make it work or reverse engineer some of the good things from one model to improve the performance of another; a practice I've kept up with to this day and founds the core philosophy of the machine faction. What I've never told anyone (and I will take this to my grave) is that my original motivation for this skill was that rivalry I had with Rikku. That need to prove myself better than her somehow, in some way, never went away... but I never managed to beat her. No matter what I tried my hand at, she always managed to out-do me in some way. I could never seem to catch up, and as a kid that just drove me nuts.
Finally, a year after acheiving adulthood, I found my chance to out-do her at last. There was some kind of new deal between the Al Bhed and the Crusaders; they'd agreed to work together on something called Opperation Mi'ihen. It was some kind of big military mission to defeat Sin once and for all using ancient machina weapons. They had bought a whole pile of restored weapons off us over the past year or so (a good number of which I had found in the desert and repaired myself). Cid was understandably very concerned about what ELSE they might choose to do with those weapons... the Crusaders weren't of the temples but they had no real love for the Al Bhed either. Out cooperation had bought us a way to infiltrate the Crusaders.
He'd obtained a letter of introduction from the temples for a single opperative to join some elite fighting unit called the Crimson Squad. It would be just enough to get them in but there were no guarauntees that the opperative would survive the training, or the upcoming "Opperation Mi'hen" that the Crusaders were buying the weapons for. I volunteered immediately. Cid chose me; I had the best scores on the training courses of all of m agemates and had already proven myself level-headed in battle as well as good with machina. When he debreifed me in private he explained that the Opperation Mi'hen was an attempt by the Crusaders to defeat Sin without the use of Summoners, and I was to aid them in that mission if at all possible.
Here at last was my chance! I'd finally beat her! Not only would I get to go off-island, but when I returned I'd be more than a war hero, I'd be the Al Bhed who defeated Sin! That was pretty much the train of thought running through my head at the time.
There was a large send-off party among my age-mates at Home but when I looked around... Rikku was no-where to be found. I was most put-out, it wasn't like her to miss a party. How was I supposed to enjoy my victory when the one person I wanted to lord it over wasn't there? So I asked around and they said that she and Brother had already left, there were rumors about something involving some long-lost temple and a supposedly great machina discovered near it. the Summoners but no-one knew anything for certain. My feeling of victory was a little diminished by the fact that Rikku had been allowed to leave the island as well, but I shrugged it off. When I got back she'd probably be here and I could gloat about being the one to defeat Sin for the rest of my life. No matter what else she managed to accomplish I'd still have one huge undeniable victory over her.
Well, being in the Crimson Squad was a real eye-opener. First off, I learned that not all Yevonites were anal retentive, bigoted, hatefilled, war-mongers. My training adventures with Nooj, Paine and Baralai taught me that Yevonites, just like Al Bhed, were just people. I forged real bonds of friendship with each of them; Nooj was our dry, sarcastic older brother, the one who always knew what to do in a tough situation. Baralai was our quiet strength, peircing an intelligent but always ready with an easy smile and never harsh or judgemental with any of us. Paine the strange sort of buffer between ou diverse personalities, making our strange little family work somehow. I'm not sure what I brought to the group, maybe some laughs.
The final selection excersize in the Den of Woe was nothing short of something out of your worst screaming nightmare. When we all managed to survive it and retreated to the Mi-hen Highroad we all agreed that something had to be done about that collossus. None of ever suspected that Nooj would betray us. As it turns out it wasn't really him so in my book all is forgiven. I don't really like to dwell on bitter things anyway, I'm not that kind of a guy.
It was a strange coincidence but I actually ran across one of her cousin Yuna's other Guardians out in the Bikanel Desert just before the attack on Home by the Guado. Not the one that "came back" but the other one; a tall, imposing, grizzled old veteran in a red coat with only one eye and an enormous sword. Real solemn fellow; I never got his name. I warned him that the Guado were on a man hunt for Yuna and her Guardians and suggested he might want to lay low for a little while. I was on the run from Yevon too. He apologized in advance for the trouble he was about to stir up and when I expressed surprise that he was going to fight he looked amused. I had to admit that I was damned tired of running from Yevon at that point and said so but then was forced to add that I'd sound like a real jackass for suggesting that we take on the church. I'll always remember what he said to me "Only a jackass can change the world." It was then that I decided I'd fight, in my own way, and who knows perhaps I'd finally surpass the girl after all.
It was irritating however, to attend that huge speech in Luca (I was setting up my shipment lanes for parts for my budding Machine Faction from Bikanel at the time) and to see, standing behind High Summoner Yuna, Defeater of Sin, Destroyer of False Prophets and Bringer of the Eternal Calm... little Rikku.
"Dammit! She did it again!" was my thought at the time. I nearly get killed trying to infiltrate that Yevonite attempt to kill Sin and she goes and helps do it for real. How's a man supposed to compete with that?
It may sound stupid (and probably pretty selfish) but part of me thought, well I still have the Machine Faction I'll just build a great machina to beat Vegnagun; at least that way I'll be tied with her.
Due to the numerous Good Works I'd had my Machine Faction members do for gratis around mainland Spira, projects like recalibrating the lightning towers on the Thunder Plains, setting up machina guards to patrol the Mi'hen Highroad, setting up cheap hover services for safe rides, and so on I was building a good reputation for the Al Bhed people. I was also consolidating my powerbase. It wasn't long before the strength of my Machine Faction rivaled that of the Youth League and New Yevon.
I heard through the Al Bhed grapevine that Rikku olny became a Sphere Hunter with the Gullwings, a group led by Brother(of all people). You'd think she'd learn... but no, she's still letting her brother get her into crazy messes. Niether one of them was ever very good at thinking before they acted when they were kids; Brother would be like "hey, this sounds like a great idea!" (and it wasn't) and Rikku'd just say "okay! Let's do it!"
I was more than a little surprised to see the great High Summoner who defeated Sin walking as casually as you please into my humble abode one day. Okay, okay, shocked would have been closer to the truth. I mean, she defeated Sin and now she want's to dig around in the desert for old machina parts? Go figure. But I guess it takes all kinds, I heard that another former Summoner was currently working for Cid at his little tourist trap in Zanarkand (now there's class for ya, isn't it then?... not). I think I recovered my aplomb rather well. Once I got over my shock and immediately went into full flirt mode I noticed the other two in her party...
Little Rikku wasn't so very little anymore, let me tell you. But I was still older than she was, the one thing I had always had to hold over her, even when she managed to make a better machina than me. She might have actually helped to defeat Sin, but she was still just a kid compared to me... so I ruffled her hair and called her Cid's little girl. Since she graced me with her cutest little pout I decided to do the polite thing and inquired after her family. Paine was the same as ever, a little more serious, and for some reason she didn't want to let on that the two of us knew each other. But, well, that was her business, I guess I could oblige.
The next time she stopped by I thought I'd tease her a little bit; for old times sake. She might be good with machina but if there was one thing I knew about Rikku it was that she got embarrased so very quickly by the least little thing. All it took was for me to imply that we'd been involved once upon a time (a minor exaggeration on my part) and she blushed red as a cherry and tried to shove me into the wall. That's Rikku, always good for a laugh. Still... I was a little miffed that she seemed so dismayed by the implication, but maybe that's just my male pride speaking.
The fight with Vegnagun didn't work out quite like I'd planned. For one thing Baralai got possesed and dragged to the Farplane. Nooj and I went after him to try to take down Vegnagun before that ghost, echo, memory whatever-it-was could wake up the collosus from its centuries long nap. The only problem was the machina I'd been working on in secret wasn't quite ready yet and Nooj and I weren't quite tough enough to beat that thing. Still, we weren't going to give up without giving it our best shot.
And of course who should come strolling up after we're forced to give up and regroup because Vegnagun's just too strong for us and Nooj comes up with his "brilliant" alternate plan? The great High Summoner and little miss I-can-do anything-I-want Rikku (and Paine too, can't forget her). She was gratifyingly concerned for me however, it did my poor bruised ego some good. Enough to get me back in the fight anyway (possibly by reawakening my life-long sense of rivalry with Cid's daughter). I wasn't about to let her win this one all by herself, I'd never get to hear the end of it.
"What's the matter?" I asked when I saw her next. They were talking about whether or not Vegnagun could be taken apart and Rikku seemed to be wavering uncertainly.
"You didn't used to be the think-before-you-act type. What gives?" I admit, I added that in to remind her that we had a history together, and I knew her well.
"Vegnagun can be defeated," I assured them. "Abso-possi-you-better-believe-it. Know why?"
"Because people built it!" she finnished with a cheer. See, it doesn't take much at all to awaken Rikku's enthusiasm. Yuna had the unorthodox idea of defeating Shuyin once and for all with the power of love; I admit I had my misgivings. Hoo boy. But in the end... it worked. And as the Al Bhed say; "if it's stupid and it works, it isn't stupid."
So here we are now; happy endings all around. Nooj, Baralai and I made our speech at Luca Stadium and we're working hard together to create a new Spira that doesn't fight amongst itself. Yuna got her man. Brother has his airship and a new crew for the Gullwings... I hear that they're all cute girls and I wonder how he managed that one because he and his airship both look like they'd attract the tattoos-and-peircings crowd. Paine, I heard, is taking up meditation (of all things) at the temple in Bevelle. I guess she found whatever it was she was looking for too. Our fearless Leader, Cid, wants to build a City of Light for the Al Bhed, a place where we can display our skills as machina builders. I'll admit to being a little curious so I've thrown my support in with it (if only because it means I get official backing for my experiments).
And as for Rikku... she's her usual flighty, ditzy self. It still irritates me that I'm constantly loosing to a woman with the attention span of a butterfly. I was supposed to beat Vegnagun... now I'll never catch up to her. I'll be forever introduced as "That's Gippal, leader of the Machine Faction; he's kind of annoying, but he's alright." It's very irritating when you can attract the attention of every other girl in the room, but the one you really have your eye on barely notices your existance.
:One day,> I promised myself. :I'm going to win against her.>
Title: Running In Her Shadow
Author: Nightheart
Summary: Ever have one of those people you can never seem to catch up to?
No matter who you are or how good you get at... well let's just call it the game of love, there's always that one unattainable person, that one girl that's always just out of your reach. In my case it's not so much 'just out of reach' as it was (humiliatingly enough) 'barely acknowledged my existence.' Even growing up, she was nothing short of already well known amoung our people and as a woman she's even more famous.
Heh. But I'm no slouch either now. As one of the three leaders of Spira I'm not exactly someone who can be easily ignored; one could even say that I was someone who was impossible to ignore (and yet she still somehow manages it most of the time). I'm well respected among the Al Bhed, as Leader of the Machine Faction everyone seems to feel that I have a pretty good idea of what I want for the future. Even the Yevonites (who a few years ago would have sooner spat on me and my kind than looked at me) seem to respect me and my Faction... granted the numerous Good Works I have my Faction members doing around Spira are certainly smoothing things over. All part of my strategy.
Being well-known across all of Spira, and not just among the tightly knit Al Bhed, was a heady drink. And let me tell you, notoriety can certainly have its advantages... women just fling themselves at me. Unlike Rin, I don't have a whole lot of Gil to fling around, but that doesn't stop them. It's great, I meet coy looks and inviting smiles almost wherever I go; all I have to do is smile and show the least sign of interest and I have women stroking my ego (among other things)... despite my charm, good looks, notoriety and position of obvious authority among mainland Spira, there's always one girl who manages to stay untouched by it all, and so high above me.
But it's always been like that, even when we were little kids. Growing up at Home mixed in among all of the other Al Bhed children; Rikku barely knew that I existed. When I was a boy I was always in competition with her and she didn't even notice. Brother and I were best friends; being younger than us, you'd think that the dynamic would make Rikku the little tagalong in the group but even then she'd exuded an aura of confidence that kind of made the two of us feel left behind. It didn't help that she'd already beat out our best scores in the training games in her first year of training. When our age-mates were taken out into the sands to teach us the ropes about exploring for machina she'd find parts in the desert so I'd try to find more parts, only to discover that mine were worthless and she had bagged the ones we needed thus earning all of the praise. I'd build a machina only to find that she'd already built a better one, finished just before mine. She was my lab partner in the alchemy workshops; Al bhed didn't really have white mages or black mages, that's more of a Yevonite thing, so we rely on our Alchemy to do the same thing instead of relying on casters. Even at a young age, she had a gift... for blowing things up.
She wasn't like the rest of us kids either; that crazed father of hers just let her and her brother run around doing whatever. In a place where malfunctioning machina and other forms of heavy machinery and sharp jagged bits of metal could be found scattered everywhere, situations where a kid could get into trouble were very very prevalent; still her pops never even seemed to notice that the two of them just ran around getting into things they probably shouldn't. Even if she got into situations where she could have gotten seriously hurt (it wasn't usually even her fault, but inevitably instigated by her following Brother on one of his harebrained schemes) she was never punnished or reprimanded because she'd just bat her eyes and look cute.
That Brother sure is one heck of a flake; I often wonder why it is she let him talk her into doing things that anyone with a lick of common sense could see is incredibly stupid and possibly may kill you. But still, even if they were dangerous, oddly enough a lot of the stupid crazy things that they did as children wound up bringing about the most amazing results. If they pulled it off without injury they were usually praised for thier intrepid bravery rather than censured for thier incredible stupidity. You know what they say about fools dancing where fayth fear to tread I suppose.
I was really envious of her freedom when I was a kid because if I'd done half of the things that Rikku and Brother were allowed to get away with, my old man would have skinned me and left me for the feinds to devour. The worst thing was that no matter what her accomplishments were (and even as a kid she had a gift for machina as well as alchemy) she was never obnoxious about it; she'd brag a little bit at first, but that's just part of being a kid, and then she'd forget about it and assemble a small group to help her figure out a way to make it even better. She was always willing to help somebody out or share tips with the other kids, even me and I was really annoying at that age; I admit it, a real know-it-all. I was more than good enough with machina to earn an early apprenticeship with my father, who was a lead engineer, and because of this I thought I knew everything there was to know about machina. Heh, kids.
The feeling of rivalry (even if it was probably one-sided on my part) continued as we grew up. Rikku still ran around with her brother getting into crazy messes and I continued on excavating, tinkering with and repairing old machina. I liked to experiment around with them to find new ways to make it work or reverse engineer some of the good things from one model to improve the performance of another; a practice I've kept up with to this day and founds the core philosophy of the machine faction. What I've never told anyone (and I will take this to my grave) is that my original motivation for this skill was that rivalry I had with Rikku. That need to prove myself better than her somehow, in some way, never went away... but I never managed to beat her. No matter what I tried my hand at, she always managed to out-do me in some way. I could never seem to catch up, and as a kid that just drove me nuts.
Finally, a year after acheiving adulthood, I found my chance to out-do her at last. There was some kind of new deal between the Al Bhed and the Crusaders; they'd agreed to work together on something called Opperation Mi'ihen. It was some kind of big military mission to defeat Sin once and for all using ancient machina weapons. They had bought a whole pile of restored weapons off us over the past year or so (a good number of which I had found in the desert and repaired myself). Cid was understandably very concerned about what ELSE they might choose to do with those weapons... the Crusaders weren't of the temples but they had no real love for the Al Bhed either. Out cooperation had bought us a way to infiltrate the Crusaders.
He'd obtained a letter of introduction from the temples for a single opperative to join some elite fighting unit called the Crimson Squad. It would be just enough to get them in but there were no guarauntees that the opperative would survive the training, or the upcoming "Opperation Mi'hen" that the Crusaders were buying the weapons for. I volunteered immediately. Cid chose me; I had the best scores on the training courses of all of m agemates and had already proven myself level-headed in battle as well as good with machina. When he debreifed me in private he explained that the Opperation Mi'hen was an attempt by the Crusaders to defeat Sin without the use of Summoners, and I was to aid them in that mission if at all possible.
Here at last was my chance! I'd finally beat her! Not only would I get to go off-island, but when I returned I'd be more than a war hero, I'd be the Al Bhed who defeated Sin! That was pretty much the train of thought running through my head at the time.
There was a large send-off party among my age-mates at Home but when I looked around... Rikku was no-where to be found. I was most put-out, it wasn't like her to miss a party. How was I supposed to enjoy my victory when the one person I wanted to lord it over wasn't there? So I asked around and they said that she and Brother had already left, there were rumors about something involving some long-lost temple and a supposedly great machina discovered near it. the Summoners but no-one knew anything for certain. My feeling of victory was a little diminished by the fact that Rikku had been allowed to leave the island as well, but I shrugged it off. When I got back she'd probably be here and I could gloat about being the one to defeat Sin for the rest of my life. No matter what else she managed to accomplish I'd still have one huge undeniable victory over her.
Well, being in the Crimson Squad was a real eye-opener. First off, I learned that not all Yevonites were anal retentive, bigoted, hatefilled, war-mongers. My training adventures with Nooj, Paine and Baralai taught me that Yevonites, just like Al Bhed, were just people. I forged real bonds of friendship with each of them; Nooj was our dry, sarcastic older brother, the one who always knew what to do in a tough situation. Baralai was our quiet strength, peircing an intelligent but always ready with an easy smile and never harsh or judgemental with any of us. Paine the strange sort of buffer between ou diverse personalities, making our strange little family work somehow. I'm not sure what I brought to the group, maybe some laughs.
The final selection excersize in the Den of Woe was nothing short of something out of your worst screaming nightmare. When we all managed to survive it and retreated to the Mi-hen Highroad we all agreed that something had to be done about that collossus. None of ever suspected that Nooj would betray us. As it turns out it wasn't really him so in my book all is forgiven. I don't really like to dwell on bitter things anyway, I'm not that kind of a guy.
It was a strange coincidence but I actually ran across one of her cousin Yuna's other Guardians out in the Bikanel Desert just before the attack on Home by the Guado. Not the one that "came back" but the other one; a tall, imposing, grizzled old veteran in a red coat with only one eye and an enormous sword. Real solemn fellow; I never got his name. I warned him that the Guado were on a man hunt for Yuna and her Guardians and suggested he might want to lay low for a little while. I was on the run from Yevon too. He apologized in advance for the trouble he was about to stir up and when I expressed surprise that he was going to fight he looked amused. I had to admit that I was damned tired of running from Yevon at that point and said so but then was forced to add that I'd sound like a real jackass for suggesting that we take on the church. I'll always remember what he said to me "Only a jackass can change the world." It was then that I decided I'd fight, in my own way, and who knows perhaps I'd finally surpass the girl after all.
It was irritating however, to attend that huge speech in Luca (I was setting up my shipment lanes for parts for my budding Machine Faction from Bikanel at the time) and to see, standing behind High Summoner Yuna, Defeater of Sin, Destroyer of False Prophets and Bringer of the Eternal Calm... little Rikku.
"Dammit! She did it again!" was my thought at the time. I nearly get killed trying to infiltrate that Yevonite attempt to kill Sin and she goes and helps do it for real. How's a man supposed to compete with that?
It may sound stupid (and probably pretty selfish) but part of me thought, well I still have the Machine Faction I'll just build a great machina to beat Vegnagun; at least that way I'll be tied with her.
Due to the numerous Good Works I'd had my Machine Faction members do for gratis around mainland Spira, projects like recalibrating the lightning towers on the Thunder Plains, setting up machina guards to patrol the Mi'hen Highroad, setting up cheap hover services for safe rides, and so on I was building a good reputation for the Al Bhed people. I was also consolidating my powerbase. It wasn't long before the strength of my Machine Faction rivaled that of the Youth League and New Yevon.
I heard through the Al Bhed grapevine that Rikku olny became a Sphere Hunter with the Gullwings, a group led by Brother(of all people). You'd think she'd learn... but no, she's still letting her brother get her into crazy messes. Niether one of them was ever very good at thinking before they acted when they were kids; Brother would be like "hey, this sounds like a great idea!" (and it wasn't) and Rikku'd just say "okay! Let's do it!"
I was more than a little surprised to see the great High Summoner who defeated Sin walking as casually as you please into my humble abode one day. Okay, okay, shocked would have been closer to the truth. I mean, she defeated Sin and now she want's to dig around in the desert for old machina parts? Go figure. But I guess it takes all kinds, I heard that another former Summoner was currently working for Cid at his little tourist trap in Zanarkand (now there's class for ya, isn't it then?... not). I think I recovered my aplomb rather well. Once I got over my shock and immediately went into full flirt mode I noticed the other two in her party...
Little Rikku wasn't so very little anymore, let me tell you. But I was still older than she was, the one thing I had always had to hold over her, even when she managed to make a better machina than me. She might have actually helped to defeat Sin, but she was still just a kid compared to me... so I ruffled her hair and called her Cid's little girl. Since she graced me with her cutest little pout I decided to do the polite thing and inquired after her family. Paine was the same as ever, a little more serious, and for some reason she didn't want to let on that the two of us knew each other. But, well, that was her business, I guess I could oblige.
The next time she stopped by I thought I'd tease her a little bit; for old times sake. She might be good with machina but if there was one thing I knew about Rikku it was that she got embarrased so very quickly by the least little thing. All it took was for me to imply that we'd been involved once upon a time (a minor exaggeration on my part) and she blushed red as a cherry and tried to shove me into the wall. That's Rikku, always good for a laugh. Still... I was a little miffed that she seemed so dismayed by the implication, but maybe that's just my male pride speaking.
The fight with Vegnagun didn't work out quite like I'd planned. For one thing Baralai got possesed and dragged to the Farplane. Nooj and I went after him to try to take down Vegnagun before that ghost, echo, memory whatever-it-was could wake up the collosus from its centuries long nap. The only problem was the machina I'd been working on in secret wasn't quite ready yet and Nooj and I weren't quite tough enough to beat that thing. Still, we weren't going to give up without giving it our best shot.
And of course who should come strolling up after we're forced to give up and regroup because Vegnagun's just too strong for us and Nooj comes up with his "brilliant" alternate plan? The great High Summoner and little miss I-can-do anything-I-want Rikku (and Paine too, can't forget her). She was gratifyingly concerned for me however, it did my poor bruised ego some good. Enough to get me back in the fight anyway (possibly by reawakening my life-long sense of rivalry with Cid's daughter). I wasn't about to let her win this one all by herself, I'd never get to hear the end of it.
"What's the matter?" I asked when I saw her next. They were talking about whether or not Vegnagun could be taken apart and Rikku seemed to be wavering uncertainly.
"You didn't used to be the think-before-you-act type. What gives?" I admit, I added that in to remind her that we had a history together, and I knew her well.
"Vegnagun can be defeated," I assured them. "Abso-possi-you-better-believe-it. Know why?"
"Because people built it!" she finnished with a cheer. See, it doesn't take much at all to awaken Rikku's enthusiasm. Yuna had the unorthodox idea of defeating Shuyin once and for all with the power of love; I admit I had my misgivings. Hoo boy. But in the end... it worked. And as the Al Bhed say; "if it's stupid and it works, it isn't stupid."
So here we are now; happy endings all around. Nooj, Baralai and I made our speech at Luca Stadium and we're working hard together to create a new Spira that doesn't fight amongst itself. Yuna got her man. Brother has his airship and a new crew for the Gullwings... I hear that they're all cute girls and I wonder how he managed that one because he and his airship both look like they'd attract the tattoos-and-peircings crowd. Paine, I heard, is taking up meditation (of all things) at the temple in Bevelle. I guess she found whatever it was she was looking for too. Our fearless Leader, Cid, wants to build a City of Light for the Al Bhed, a place where we can display our skills as machina builders. I'll admit to being a little curious so I've thrown my support in with it (if only because it means I get official backing for my experiments).
And as for Rikku... she's her usual flighty, ditzy self. It still irritates me that I'm constantly loosing to a woman with the attention span of a butterfly. I was supposed to beat Vegnagun... now I'll never catch up to her. I'll be forever introduced as "That's Gippal, leader of the Machine Faction; he's kind of annoying, but he's alright." It's very irritating when you can attract the attention of every other girl in the room, but the one you really have your eye on barely notices your existance.
:One day,> I promised myself. :I'm going to win against her.>