Mission Start~!, Yet another Sphere Hunt

[Squall]

Tidus stayed in the position he landed, merely shifting his feet to be on the ready. Holding his left hand out toward the incoming enemy, Tidus drew Brotherhood and held it behind him ready to strike, "How could something that big just be left around a place like this?"

"Want me to show this meanie who's boss or can I?"

Tidus gave a slight thumbs up with his left hand, "Go for it, Rikku! Just try to save some for us!"

[Yuna]

Yuna's reply was to immediately rush to the left of Rikku and begin unloading her Machina weapons as fast as she could. She made sure to aim for the head and shoulders; something about the way the bullets hit those areas made bigger fiends likely to topple over. After unloading round after round, she seemed to reach some success.

The knight kept approaching, but slowly; the bullets were obviously having an effect on his speed. Then she stopped firing for a moment, holding her gun as she charged up a special shot. "Here we go!" She said as her finger landed on the trigger. A large boom emitted from the end of her small pistol, shaking the air as a large magical bullet launched itself into the Knight. It vanished through the armor, causing the knight to shake and rock violently.

"It's all yours!" Yuna said, having done as much damage as she believed she could. She kept a constant cover fire to keep distance between the Fiend and her friends. Though the bullets weren't dealing any damage, the fiend was having a hard time getting close.

[Porom]

As Yuna kept the fiend at bay with her bullets, Rikku had begun weaving around its side, slinking to an optimal position to strike. After so much time fighting together, working together to take down an enemy just came naturally. She waited for the final shot before giving a thumbs up, grinning. "We got you now!"

Dashing in, Rikku slipped underneath its sword, darting up with a flash of her knives. Hooking the blades underneath one of the plates in its armor, she quickly braced a foot on its chest, kicking off into a backwards leap and taking off a plate of its armor along with her. It wasn't much of a prize, compared to what she hoped to steal, but it did leave a weak spot in the fiend's guard.

Holding up the small plate like a prize, Rikku dance stepped back and forth cheerfully on each foot. "Alright! It's up to you now!" she called out to Tidus.

[Squall]

"Yeah!" Tidus knelt for a moment, then lurched forward in a full sprint. As he approached the fiend swung out its sword to cleave him at the waist.

"Ha! Ha! Too slow!" Tidus dove over the sword, pushing through the heavy winds it brought with it. The impact with the ground was awkward, but he managed to roll forward. When his feet came back in contact with the ground, Tidus jumped out at the fiend and jammed Brotherhood into the exposed section of its flesh.

Tidus twisted the blade and kicked off hard, withdrawing Brotherhood as he went sailing through the air. Landing on the ground next to Yuna, Tidus watched as the fiend dropped to one knee. For a moment it seemed like it would stand again, but it released hold on its sword, beginning to dissolve into pyreflies.

"How's that?" Tidus smiled at Yuna, "I've been working hard to catch up with you guys."

[Yuna]

Yuna gave out a cheer as the fiend fell, twisting her guns in a victory pose. She dropped them back into their holsters as she turned to Tidus, giggling. "It looks like it." She smiled to him before looking to Rikku, nodding as she darted off past the fiend's falling corpse. She leaped over what was left of the monster, taking off at a run to enter the castle through one of the turrets on the side.

She approached the door to the turret, and looked at it curiously; it was pretty old, but there didn't seem to be a way to open it. She looked around curiously. Eventually, she realized that the door had no handle and there was no mechanism(at least none nearby) that would allow her to proceed. Frustrated, she banged the door with her fist- rather hard too.

Much to her surprise, the door punched back. Yuna flew backwards, landing on her back as she looked up to see that it was no door- it was a fiend! The large metallic creature appeared to be a door, but with eyes, a mouth, and two fists that protruded from it. If the group stayed at a distance, then they wouldn't be in any harm... but then they wouldn't be able to proceed, either.

[Porom]

"Yunie! Are you okay?" Rikku called out in concern, running over. "What did that meanie... door...? Do to you...?"

Her voice trailed off as she realized how weird that question was - and how weird it was that it actually happened. She had seen alot of different kinds of Fiends, but this one definitely had to take the cake. She kept staring at it as she helped Yuna up, then started to advance slowly on the door as though she could surprise it. It immediately looked at her and lashed out angrily, sending her stumbling back onto her behind.

"Owwie... Fryd geht uv veaht ec drec?" she muttered, getting back up. It was clear from the way she was pacing back and forth in front of the door, watching how its eyes followed her that she wasn't taking this monster seriously at all. Her voice was like a little girl inspecting a horror house mirror. "Eerie..."

[Squall]

"W-woah!" Tidus pointed, his face full of shock. He'd seen a lot of crazy things in Spira, but this was a first for him, "How... How are we supposed to fight a door?"

"No way," He shook both of his hands in disbelief, "It has to be some kind of trick right?"

Then, as if to test its realism for himself, he started reaching out for it. Suddenly he stopped, turning one-hundred eighty and shaking his hands again, "No way, right?"

Tidus thought for a moment, scratching the back of his head, "Maybe you should just shoot it down."

[Yuna]

Yuna looked at the door curiously. Could it be as simple as shooting it down? She held her guns forward and decided, if nothing else, it was worth a try. She took a few minutes to perfect her aim before she sudden bursts unleashed themselves from the machina in her hands. A steady stream continued for a minute, bullet after bullet landing on the door, causing smoke to rise and obscure the fiend from sight.

Finally, she stopped shooting, and waited for the smoke to clear, feeling quite confident that the door must be gone now. A small breeze blew through, knocking the dust out of the way to reveal... the fiend door, standing there and looking quite dumbfounded that it wasn't dead itself.

Yuna seemed absolutely frustrated. Holstering her guns she 'hmphed.' "What are we supposed to do?!" She shouted, looking at the creature angrily. She'd fire more if she thought it would do any good. She looked to Rikku and Tidus before turning around. She stomped a few steps before tripping over a fairly large rock that was in the middle of the path. When her foot collided with it, it made a mechanical clicking noise in response. She stumbled to the ground, and suddenly the floor started shaking.

"Huh?" She muttered, pushing herself back onto her feet. The ground really was shaking! A few seconds later and the door slammed up into the roof, disappearing from sight. The High Summoner sighed heavily with a downcast look.

"You have got to be kidding me."

[Porom]

Rikku watched slack-jawed as the door retreated out of sight, wavings her arms up and down as she gaped. It was hard to tell if she was more surprised that they hadn't had to fight it or that Yuna had stumbled across it by getting angry the way she had. She had to slap her cheek just to convince herself it really happened.

She giggled as Yuna sighed, running back over and peeking inside the now open doorway before hopping back to wait for the others. "It could have been worse," she suggested, patting her cousin on the shoulder with a silly smile. "What if you had to say pretty please?"

[Squall]

Tidus was trying not to laugh, but as Rikku started to giggle he couldn't hold back anymore. He put his hands on Yuna's shoulders, smiling wide, "Rikku's right, you know. At least you got the door open for us."

Tidus rushed over to the door, standing next to Rikku, "Now let's see what's in here!"

[Yuna]

Yuna held her hands on her hips as the two ran off, pouting with an angry, determined look on her face... before she broke into giggles herself. "I guess you're right!" As the two ran inside, Yuna followed suit. She held her Machina guns close, just in case.

As the three entered the room, it appeared to be made entirely of crystal. Everything shone brilliantly and the chamber had this illuminated blue glow. As they stepped closer, Yuna realized that this room was built out the same kind of trees that glow in Macalania. "That's... wierd." She said, touching the illuminated walls. The room lead down to an arced corridor, where the stairs descended into a courtyard below. From here, they could see the place where they had landed above.

"It's kinda small." Yuna said finally, looking around. It was true. The place was no bigger than the mansion in Guadosalam(Chateu Le'blanc). "I wonder where that sphere is." She took another look around, before finally looking to Rikku to lead the way. She's the one that had heard about the sphere in the first place, after all.