The arena was silent after Yuna's rather brutal victory over Kratos. Everyone was stunned speechless at what they had seen. Kratos, a rather competent Godlike fighter, with a weapon specifically geared to kill humans, was beaten in a physical slugging match by a summoner.
And into this silence, Yuna spoke, "Anyone else want to tell me I wouldn't be in Godlike without my Aeons?"
The silence that followed that challenge was broken by the slow and steady clapping of one man, Jade, the mightiest of the Dark Dragons. Standing up so that all could see him, he smiled down at the angry woman in the ring, "Bravo my dear, bravo. You've proven that you can beat a...low...Godlike without the aid of your pets. But don't let that swell your head too much, your path to the finals won't all be against such opponents."
Leveling a stare at Jade's mocking tone, Yuna crossed her arms in annoyance, "If you have something to say bug, say it."
Jade only smiled wider, "Simply that being able to beat the weakest Godlikes around, those who should have never been in this division in the first place, is not something you should be boasting about. It's not as if you could manage to beat any high Godlike without your Aeons."
Narrowing her eyes, Yuna knew she was about to walk right into Jade's setup, but was a bit past caring by this point, "Oh, like...you? Care to bet on that, bug?"
The crowd gasped, and a murmer started. She couldn't be serious, intending to take on the likes of Jade without her Aeons to back her up. But Jade simply kept smiling, "What manner of bet did you have in mind? And make it something interesting, mere money has no meaning to one such as myself."
Now it was Yuna's turn to smile, "If I can beat you, no Aeons at all, you have to serve me for the next 3 seasons. Doing absolutely anything I tell you to."
Jade's smile began to dissapear. He served none but Myria herself. But he saw an opportunity here that he couldn't turn away from, and was confident in his victory regardless, "Very well, woman. And when, excuse me, if I beat you, you, and all of your pets, will serve the Goddess as my direct underlings for the same period."
"Done. See you in a week then, bug. No backing down now."
Jade could only laugh. Imagine, HIM being the one backing down. The nerve.
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Back in the FFX locker room, Lulu stormed over to Yuna, "Are you insane, Yuna? Jade is a monster, you can't be serious about this."
Yuna shook her head, "I'm dead serious, Lulu. I'm tired of people always whining about how I don't fight fair, how I'm not a real godlike, how I can only win fights because of my Aeons. I'm sick of it Lulu. I've got to prove that I'm strong even without them."
Lulu sighed in frustration, but Tidus just nodded and sat down, "Alright then, we better come up with a plan. First we head out to the Thunder Plains and get you a Protect Ring to null out that BoltX, then.."
"No."
Tidus blinked, "What?"
Yuna shook her head, "No. I'm not going to win like that. Then people will just complain about me spoiling him. It won't solve anything."
Now Tidus was the one sighing, "Oooookay. You're still using the Nirvana, right?"
"Of course. That's no different then Orlandu winning matches with the Excalibur, afterall."
Glad that she wasn't insisting on giving up all of her advantages, Tidus leaned forward and began sketching out a plan, "Alright then. You can run circles around this guy, so we'll work that angle here. Here's what you're gonna do..."
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Myria was giggling in the stands as Yuna healed herself up from another Shell-reduced BoltX and then followed up by throwing yet another Holy right across Jade's face, staggering the massive bug.
Sitting next to Myria, Hrist looked down and cocked an eyebrow at her mistress's mirth, "Ah, Jade is losing this fight, m'lady. What is there to find amusing in that?"
Smiling up at Hrist, Myria posed a question, "Could you beat Yuna, Hrist? Just Yuna, not her monsters."
Pausing to think for a moment, Hrist could only shake her head in response, "No, I do not believe I could, m'lady."
Nodding Myria turned her attention back to the fight, which was going even further downhill for her servant, "Neither can Jade, which he's learning the hard way right now. He has been my most powerful servant for so long that he began to see himself as mightier then anything and everything besides myself. This defeat, and this servitude to Yuna, will teach him some much needed humility. And I can deal with the loss of his service for a short while. You, Arngrim and Teepo are more then capable of taking care of anything I need done for now. Besides," looking up, Myria flashed Hrist a mischievous grin, "If I know Jade at all, he's going to do something to get himself in very hot water with his new mistress very soon. And the fallout from that should be quite a bit of fun to see."
Hrist simply blinked and nodded, keeping silent. But resolved to never let arrogance run away with her as it had with Jade.
