433 The Ronso

As the morning sun rose up over the Calm Lands a certain group of girls were getting ready for the day, or rather one was while the other two were staring at her in awe.

"Hmmm hmmmm-" Yuna hummed lightly to herself as she slowly brushed out the entire length of her hair, which she briefly freed from the usual braided cord for the moment.

"Doctor P, any thoughts on the current situation?" Rikku asked Paine as the duo observed Yuna as if she were a strange creature. Paine however just shook her head as if stumped as she played along,

"I'm not sure. It appears to be a matter of the heart, which are the hardest to observe." The duo nodded sagely in agreement as Yuna continued to ignore them, instead her head was filled with thoughts of the night before.

Despite the very slight dull throbbing ache that persisted in her lower abdomen, Yuna found herself in a daze for most of the morning ever since she woke up, and summoned her status again to confirm that the previous night's events weren't a dream. She repeatedly found herself gently brushing her lips with her fingers, recalling the feeling of Alex's lips against them, before then recalling the feel of his hands on 'other' parts of her body. Then finally she'd turn slightly red as she recalled the feeling of him being inside her.

As such she barely noticed the antics of Rikku and Paine, who couldn't help but to gawk at their friend as they wondered what exactly happened after they separated from her the night before.

When they finally left their room shortly after the sun had fully risen, the trio found Alex waiting for them just outside the Travel Agency, where some people were making a show of grilling food.

"Morning!" Alex called out when he saw them, before taking a bit of the piping hot food in his hand. Unlike the typical food that was on a plate to be eaten with utensils, he was eating something that had been rolled up into a cone so no eating implements were needed.

""Morning!"" Rikku and Paine called back as they approached him, while Yuna turned red and said quietly, but still loud enough that Alex could hear her,

"Good morning..." Both Rikku and Paine noticed this even as they acquired their own breakfast, which Rikku handed over to Yuna as they discussed their travel plans for the day.

Though Rikku and Paine wanted to continue playing some of the games around them, as apparently they did fairly well with the help of their Lady Luck Dresspheres the night before, it was decided that they would travel to Mount Gagazet.

The mountain was, and still is in the eyes of the Ronso, one of the most sacred places on all of Spira, with its peaks shrouded in mists and numerous powerful fiends prowling its crags and cliffs. It was also the homeland of the Ronso themselves, where the vast majority of their remaining tribesmen now resided after the slaughter at the hands of Seymour Guado. The mountain was also once the only way into the holy city that was Zanarkand, where Summoners would travel to perform the Final Summoning.

Though the mists that shrouded the peaks had faded and there was significantly more traffic through the mountain now due to Sphere Hunters, Gagazet was still important to the Ronso as their homeland. So, Alex and the girls decided they would focus on reaching the mountain and the Ronso village, where the final living member of Yuna's Guardians resided, Kimari.

Once that had been decided Yuna looked notably excited as they finished their meal, in fact she was so excited to see Kimari again that they ended up taking one of the Al Bhed Machina to the edge of the Calm Lands. With the actual sheer size of the Calm Lands, and the amount of people they needed to maneuver around, it still took them several hours to reach the edge, where towering cliffs rose up above them while a scarily deep chasm dropped down not far from their position.

After saying goodbye to the Al Bhed driving the Machina, the group continued on foot through the numerous mountain passes until the area around them opened up once more. Ahead was bridge that led to the entrance of Mount Gagazet, while off to the right was another crowd of people who were chatting excitedly.

Immediately Yuna's good mood evaporated as a creeping suspicion filled her, and she veered directly towards the crowd to see what was going on.

"What's everyone waiting here for?" Yuna asked one of the bystanders at random, a young woman who appeared just as excited as everyone else as she told them,

"There's a new attraction opening up soon! It's called 'The Cavern of the Stolen Fayth!' Apparently there's a Fayth that was stolen from the Temples ages ago that was stashed there, and it was recently discovered when Open Air and Argent Inc sent surveyors to search for places to expand for the games in the Calm Lands!"

As the woman grew even more excited and animated, she didn't notice Yuna gritting her teeth or clenching her fists at the thought of such a place being treated as a mere tourist attraction.(A.N. If this gives you an idea of how much this pissed Yuna off, when the tourists get attacked by fiends in there later in the game, she seriously considered leaving the stragglers in there as 'just desserts')

The tension in Yuna's body continued rising until Alex gently placed an arm around her shoulders, pulling her in closer as he began to lead her away. His actions made both Paine and Rikku cock a brow, but both of them decided this wasn't the time or place to say anything as they just silently followed them.

Slowly the tension in her body faded from Alex's touch until Yuna finally said,

"It's like no one truly respects anything anymore..." Alex nodded slowly to her concerns before saying,

"Don't worry, I'll add this to the list of places to 'protect' once our journey's over." Though Alex could respect people's desire to see new and exciting things, he couldn't help but be amazed at the lack of care the group's leading these attractions were showing. It was to be somewhat expected since they didn't have as many regulations in terms of respectful showing and viewing, but if things continued in this way then the very things that made Spira so beautiful and mysterious would be completely destroyed in a few short years.

Making a mental note to discuss this matter with Anne later, the group continued across the bridge as they headed towards a series of pillars that led up to the foot of Mount Gagazet. Thankfully though the Ronso lived close to the foot of the mountain, so their destination for the day shouldn't be much further after they started up the trail.

For the most part the hike was quiet except for when Rikku and Paine tried to find something to help Yuna recover her previous cheerful mood, such as mentioning Kimahri and how happy he'll be to see Yuna again. It seemed to do the trick for the most part since Kimahri had been her guardian long before she even began her apprenticeship as a Summoner.

As her mood improved Yuna then explained to Alex about how Kimahri had always been bullied in his youth due him being smaller than the other Ronso, which led to his horn being broken and his exile from Mount Gagazet. However he then discovered the dying figure of Auron, one of the Guardians of Yuna's father, Braska.

Auron had asked Kimahri to keep a promise he made to Yuna's father in his stead, which had been to take her to Besaid to live in peace. Desperate for meaning in his life, Kimahri accepted and escorted Yuna across the length of Spira to the distant and small island, where he then chose to stay alongside her with Yuna's protection being his greatest concern from that moment on. Once she began her apprenticeship to become a Summoner, Kimahri then became her first official Guardian.

It was only a year after the defeat of Sin that Kimahri left Yuna's side, and returned to Mount Gagazet where he became the Elder of his people. Then, a year after he became their Elder, Kimahri discovered the sphere on Gagazet that sparked Yuna's new journey.

By the time she got Alex all caught up on her relationship with Kimahri, Yuna's mood had brightened considerably as she practically began skipping up the mountain's trial, despite the increasing cold and snow that began to appear around them.

As was the usual around Spira, once the mood finally improved a screech caught the attention of everyone, which was quickly followed by dozens more. Looking up, Alex and the girls saw several dozen flying figures that were swiftly approaching them from the skies.

"On your guard!" Paine cried out as she and the other two prepared for battle, however Alex surprised them when he held up his hand, and said,

"I think Yuna should handle this one." Needless to say Rikku and Paine were surprised at they glanced at each other, then Yuna to see what she had to say.

Though Yuna herself was surprised at Alex's sudden decision, one look at Alex was all it took for her to get his meaning in her being the one to fight the approaching fiends, he wanted her to test her newfound strength after obtaining her new powers.

"I'm on it!" Yuna declared confidently as her dual pistols appeared in her hands, which she then pointed directly at the fiends.

They were a type of fiend family known as Evil Eyes, large bat-like fiends that had wide mouths filled with teeth, and a large singular eye that took up most of their body. The group however appeared to be made up of the numerous different type of Evil Eyes, like the Ahriman, Fly Eye, Vertigo, and then the strongest of them, the Grim Gaze.

Rather than letting her opponents intimidate her though, Yuna took in a deep breath as she calmed herself. As the Evil Eyes got closer, Yuna felt as if time itself began to slow around her as she raised her pistols and took aim.

*BANGBANGBANGBANGBANGBANGBANGBANGBANGBANGBANGBANGBANGBANGBANGBANG*

Without pause Yuna fired dozens of shots within seconds from her seemingly endless clips as she rained bullets onto the unfortunate fiends, many of which pierced their unfortunately oversized eye and sent them plummeting to the ground, only to turn into Pyreflies on the way down. If the Evil Eyes weren't targeting them before they were now, but even if they tried to send their own attacks at Yuna to defend themselves, it didn't do them much good as they too ended up plummeting to the ground before firing them at her.

Before anyone knew it the skies had been cleared of fiends as Yuna slowly lowered her pistols, the mountain now deathly silent in the wake of the barrage of gunfire.

"Wow Yunie...." Rikku began in awe as she broke the silence, before crying out excitedly,

"THAT WAS AMAZING!" Rikku then rushed Yuna as she put away her guns, while Paine approached her as well as she asked,

"When'd you learn to shoot like that?" With Rikku also staring at her cousin pointedly for answers, Yuna just chuckled nervously as she said,

"I'm not sure, it just came to me..." Though she knew she'd have to tell them eventually, Yuna was still a little hesitant to tell her two best friends that she joined Alex's peerage.

Glancing over at him though, Yuna saw pride in Alex's eyes at her performance, a look that promised that this was just the tip of an impossibly large iceberg. Before they could get too excited though, there was a slight rumble as something large and heavy approached them.

"Get ready!" Paine exclaimed as the three of them immediately got into their battle stances, right as the next fiend appeared. Unlike the Evil Eyes though, this one was in an entirely different category.

It stood nearly ten feet tall and was covered in dark purple fur, while its face possessed ape-like features with a mouth full of wicked looking fangs. A second pair of arms extended from it's shoulders right above the first, each one thick and rippling with muscle under it's fur, while each of the fingers and toes on it's four hands and two feet were tipped with lethal looking claws. Curiously however the fiend appeared to covered with a shimmering blue energy, while what looked like Pyreflies surrounded it.

"Damn. It's Oversouled." Paine swore as the fiend began to square up to them, making Alex cock his head as he asked in confusion, "Oversoul?"

Rikku nodded as she tensely explained,

"Some fiends will Oversoul if certain conditions are met, meaning that they become several times stronger while also gaining entirely new skills and abilities in some cases." As they explained what an Oversoul meant Alex vaguely recalled something about it from the game, and looked at the fiend as he seriously considered taking this fight himself.

This particular fiend was known as a Gug, something Lucy had been showing him during one of the recent nights he spent in Asora after the girls went to bed. It was the strongest fiend of its type in Spira, and the fact that it was Oversouled made it even more powerful if the energy that Alex felt it gathering in it hands was anything to go by.

However, just as he was about to step in himself, something caught Alex's attention that made the edge of his lips curl upwards as he suddenly said,

"Stand down, someone else has this." Though the girls looked at him in confusion at first, Alex pointed in a certain direction and when they followed it with their gaze they saw a certain figure standing on a large rock nearby.

Immediately Yuna and Rikku's faces broke out into massive grins, right as the newcomer released a mighty roar that even made their surroundings shake and rumble.

"ROAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAR!"

Covered head to toe in blue fur, the figure stood a little bit taller than Alex and possessed about as much muscle as him, as a mane of white braided hair flowed down his back. Extending from his forehead was the bottom half of a shattered horn, but on each of his fingers was his own set of lethal looking claws, while a feline looking tail extended from his backside.

With his challenging roar echoing through the mountain side, the Ronso was immediately the Gug's focus as it released the energy it had been gathering in it's hands towards him, which took the form of a massive ball of fire. The attack was a tier three magic spell, the strongest spell of the fire branch known as Firaga.

Rather than appearing intimidated by it though, the Ronso snarled in contempt as he swatted the magic attack away with his bare hands, causing it to explode against a nearby cliff.

*KABOOOOOOM!*

Instantly a tidal ave of fire washed over the surface of rock, clearing after a moment to reveal molten slag in its place that began running down the cliff face. Instead of paying it any attention though, the Ronso braced himself, before launching himself forward at such speeds that he shattered the ground beneath his feet.

*CRASH!*

One of the Ronso's fist collided with the Gug's, causing a crater to form beneath their feet before the Gug slowly began to be pushed back. It's eyes widened in surprise at it's strength failing it in front of this opponent, while the Ronso's yellow feline-like eyes narrowed.

Then he did something that would've made no sense to anyone who didn't know how Ronso fight, and opened his mouth. The next thing Alex and the girls knew there was a mighty torrent of white-hot flame that billowed from the Ronso's mouth, and washed over the stunned Gug.

"GRAHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!" The Gug screamed in pain as it was set aflame by a fire more powerful than what it conjured earlier, however no matter how much it struggled it could not escape the grip of the Ronso that it foolishly challenged as he burned it to death.

Each second that passed as the Gug screamed felt like an eternity, until it's cries eventually began to die down, and then all that was left was the roar of the flames. That too began to slowly die down as the Ronso closed his mouth, allowing the flames to disappear to reveal that the Gug had been completely reduced to ash before those too dissolved into Pyreflies.

For a beat no one said or did anything, before Yuna suddenly rushed forward and cried out as she wrapped her arms around the Ronso,

"Kimahri! I'm so happy to see you!" As she embraced him the Ronso, Kimahri, flashed his own fangs as he smiled, and used one of his hands to pat Yuna's back as he replied,

"Kimahri is happy to see Yuna too."

***

After Yuna and Kimahri's reunion the Ronso Elder then began to lead them back up the mountain as he visited with Yuna, saying little as Yuna told him of the adventures she'd had since they last saw each other. Rikku was beside her as she too told Kimahri about everything that had happened ever since he gave her the sphere that prompted Yuna's journey, while Paine also threw in the odd word, having met Kimahri when Rikku came to see him last.

The only odd one out was Alex as he trailed behind the group, and Kimahri ignored him entirely. That was too be expected though, as the Ronso spoke rarely and not at all to those he didn't know or trust. From what Yuna told him earlier, Kimahri didn't even say a single word to Tidus until after they had been traveling together for several weeks.

After a while of walking and talking, Kimahri finally led them through the entrance of the Ronso village, where Alex saw several dozen Ronso walking around.

Though Kimahri already stood taller than him, Alex couldn't help but to note just how tall the Ronso were in general as almost every single one that he saw had at least almost a foot on Kimahri, even the females.

Naturally the moment they entered the village with Kimahri all of the surrounding Ronso centered their attention on them, while several performed gestures of respect and admiration towards Yuna.

Not only were the Ronso a warrior race that idolized strength, but they were fiercely loyal and honorable, to the point that when they arrived at Mount Gagazet during Yuna's pilgrimage Kimahri engaged in a life or death battle with the Ronso who broke his horn in order to regain his honor. Naturally Yuna was one of the people the Ronso respected the most due to her being the High Summoner that defeated Sin for good.

As Alex used his 'Domain' to explore the Ronso village and the network of tunnels they used to live in and get around, Yuna explained their intentions to Kimahri about crossing Gagazet once again in their journey to show Alex Spira.

For the first time Kimahri glanced at Alex very briefly, before looking back to Yuna and saying,

"Kimahri trust Yuna, Yuna respect Sacred Mountain." Yuna looked happy at the praise and said,

"Thank you Kimahri, can we stay here with you tonight and leave in the morning?" Kimahri immediately nodded and replied,

"Yes, Yuna very welcome to Ronso." As he said that numerous other Ronso around them uttered their agreement, while several immediately left to prepare a small feast for them, mostly of meat of course.

However not all of the Ronso were respectful or appreciative of Yuna's presence, as a Ronso with shorted black hair that was tied back in a ponytail approach them, and angrily declared,

"Ronso filled with vengeance and Elder welcomes guests!? Kimahri not fit to be Elder, not fit to lead Ronso in battle!" As he declared that a small group of Ronso that arrived with him shouted their agreements, before the leader stormed off with them following behind him.

"Garik filled with much hate." One of the other Ronso muttered, to which many of those around them nodded and voiced their agreements.

"D-did we do something wrong Kimahri?" Yuna asked hesitantly, to which Kimahri sighed as he explained to her,

"Garik and other Ronso youth filled with hatred and vengeance, wish to wage war with remaining Guado over many deaths of Ronso." Though many of the Ronso around them also growled or looked angry as they recalled the slaughter that killed so many of their people, they did not react like Garik. Kimahri then continued,

"Kimahri have no answer for Garik and other youth. Garik now believe Kimahri unfit for role of Elder.....maybe Garik right." As Kimahri began to doubt himself Yuna placed her hand on his arm to comfort him, but didn't say anything.

She knew that even if she tried to intervene Kimahri would refuse, insisting that this was his problem to figure out and that he shouldn't get help from her. So, in order to change the discussion, Yuna decided to use this moment to gesture Alex over to them.

Curious about what she intended, Alex approached Yuna so that he too was standing before Kimahri, making the Ronso Elder look directly at him for the first time. His eyes were filled with suspicion and distrust, even as Yuna said,

"Kimahri this is Alex, the Dragon Emperor." As she introduced him Alex extended a hand and said,

"Nice to meet you Kimahri. I'm Alex, though you can just call me Yuna's mate." If there'd been a record playing Alex was sure it would've scratched at the moment as every single Ronso stared at him in awe, while Kimahri just glared down at him menacingly.

Of course equally stunned were Yuna, Rikku and Paine, though the latter two more at how Yuna didn't even try to deny Alex's claims, and only appeared shy as he wrapped an arm around her and pulled her close. The entire time Kimahri didn't say a single thing, until a sole word escaped his lips.

"Come."

Then, without another single word, Kimahri turned and stormed away, leaving Alex and Yuna to follow behind him as he entered a tunnel that led into the mountain.

For several minutes Alex and Yuna followed Kimahri through the tunnels, with Rikku and Paine following them, and the rest of the Ronso following after them as they all flocked to see what Kimahri was going to do. Yuna meanwhile felt her mind racing as she tried to figure out what was happening, not at all expecting to Alex to suddenly introduce himself as her 'mate', something that gave her a giddy feeling mixed with intense worry.

When they finally exited the tunnels though they came upon an open area with racks of weapons and a few Ronso who were sparring.

"Leave." Kimahri growled at them, making them immediately clear the area as none of them had ever seen their Elder act like this.

"SPEAR!" Kimahri roared, making a few of the Ronso race as they quickly left, only to return seconds later with a brilliant looking spear that they then handed to their Elder. Kimahri then pointed the spear at Alex and declared in a loud voice,

"Kimahri will test Alex now, test if Alex worthy of being Yuna mate!"