Chương 423: Besaid Island

"Welcome to Besaid Island!" Yuna declared excitedly as they stepped off the wooden docks onto the white sandy beach, the Celsius roaring subtly behind them as it got further and further away.

Agreeing to act as Alex's guides, the trio of Gullwings had decided to start his tour of Spira in the same place Yuna began her pilgrimage two years prior, and the place she called home. Despite her excitement though, it fairly obvious to Alex and the others that Yuna was pretty nervous.

It wasn't too hard to guess why though considering she had essentially ran away from home, and was understandably feeling anxious about suddenly returning. So Rikku went up to Yuna's side and placed a comforting hand on her shoulder before saying,

"Don't worry Yunie, I'm sure everyone will be excited to see you!" Looking at her, Yuna nodded in agreement and said,

"Yeah, let's go!" Yuna then led the way to the tropical forest at the edge of the beach, leading further into the island's interior. Along the way both Alex and Sun couldn't help but to admire the sights around them, as the trail Yuna led them onto took them around the base of a cliff, and even onto a bridge right below a waterfall, though unfortunately the mist from the falls wasn't enough to give Alex the same wondrous view he received earlier.

All around them though, along with the natural beauty of Besaid Island, were numerous ruins that showed the remains of some long-lost civilization, a testament to how much destruction had wracked Spira's landscape, and it's people.

After nearly half an hour of walking, they finally they reached a hill overlooking Besaid village, a collection of tents set up behind a wall and outside one of Yevon's temples. Seeing this, Yuna looked relieved despite her earlier anxiety, as she performed a wide sweeping gesture and said,

"I present to you, Besaid Village!" Everyone took a moment to pause as they admired the view below them, from the village to the rest of the island that they could see, and even the endless waves that sparkled in the sunlight clear to the horizon.

"It's beautiful." Sun said, reveling in the sun on her skin, the wind on her face, and smell of the ocean in the distance. Alex nodded in agreement as he took in the sights, with looked especially amazing with four beautiful women in the foreground.

Their admiration of the village and the surrounding landscape was cut short though, as some of the nearby vegetation began to rustle violently before a large creature showed itself.

"Count on a fiend to ruin a moment." Paine said as her outfit began to shimmer, while she, Yuna and Rikku prepared to fight. With all three women's glowing from their swift uniform changes, Alex and Sun watched as they used some of the new Dresspheres Alex gave them for the first time.

Paine's outfit changed from black leather straps and shorts to serrated black armor with fins on the head and shoulders, while her sword transitioned to one with several wavy serrations as well. Rikku went from her bikini top and skirt to what appeared to be a schoolgirls sailer uniform, with a white long-sleeve top, an incredibly short green skirt, brown boots that went up to her calves, and dark techno looking shades to cover her eyes. Meanwhile Yuna was suddenly adorned in a long purple dress that had large gashes open on her shoulders, hips, thighs, and calves, and left the center of her belly and chest open to reveal the black spade now printed on her sternum.

They were the 'Dark Knight', 'Psychic', and 'Lady Luck' Dresspheres accordingly, the first one which granted excessively powerful offensive attacks and the ability to sap health from the opponents, while also being able to deliver powerful attacks at the expense of the users own health. The 'Psychic' Dressphere however granted one telekinetic abilities, like how Rikku started hovering the moment she transitioned to it, and was now able to use abilities like Teleportation. The 'Lady Luck' Dressphere on the other hand allowed Yuna to summon giant slots to make their attacks completely unpredictable, or use abilities like Tantalize to dazzle and stun her opponents before her deadly playing cards struck.

As each girl finished their transformation the fiend that was approaching stepped out of the bushes to reveal its giant form, a large carnivorous looking plant with a gaping mouth filled with teeth, and numerous long vines ending in giant hooks.

"It's an Ochu!" Paine said in warning, as each of the hooks on the long vines were not only deadly if they impaled you, but can also drag its victims into its waiting maw, or even inflict a debilitating toxin with just a scratch that could either kill you, or cause hallucinations that made the victim unable to distinguish friend from foe(confusion).

Alex and Sun stood back and watched as the three ladies then sprung into action, having already decided that they'd do most of the fighting while traveling with him. Paine ran directly up towards the Ochu with her sword ready at the side, unflinching as its tentacle-like vines whipped viciously at her. Before any of them could sink their venom-laced hooks into her though, they were suddenly severed by small flying objects that rushed right back to their owner.

"Are you feeling lucky?" Yuna asked playfully as a deck of cards swirled around her in a razor sharp twister, whipping up a minor gust as they did so that ruffled her hair and dress. As the Ochu then fried to focus on her while several of its remaining vines tried to occupy Paine, Rikku suddenly teleported right behind it and cried out,

"Over here~!" She then fired off a laser from her hands that pierced the body of the Ochu, but apparently only pissed it off since it barely seemed affected by it.

"Oh poopie!" Rikku swore when she realized her attack didn't do as much damage as she hoped, but then again it was a new Dressphere. She didn't have long to dwell on it though, as the bushes rustling once more behind her drew her attention to several more fiends that had appeared, except these were the 'weaker' coyotes.

"You're bothering me!" She cried out as she once again drew on her psychic powers, and forcibly teleported the entire pack of coyotes away.

While Rikku was dealing with the smaller fiends, Yuna and Paine were both busy taking down the Ochu. Yuna was using her cards to keep the seemingly endless supply of vines busy to they wouldn't bother Paine, while Paine was still making her way to the main body of the Ochu through the few vines Yuna couldn't occupy.

"This armor is too heavy and bulky..." Paine grumbled as she struggled to dodge the hooks vines, before she finally got fed up and summoned a wave of Darkness that not only assaulted the vines attacking her, but also the main body of the Ochu itself.

Unlike Rikku's previous attack though, it was obvious that her attack did quite a bit of damage to the fiend as it no longer had the strength to attack them with its vines, before Paine immediately cut into its body with her sword to deal the finishing blow.

As the Ochu's body dissolved into Pyreflies, Paine, Yuna, and Rikku took a step back as they thought back on their first battle with the new Dresspheres.

"I like this 'Psychic' Dressphere, but I think I have to use it a bit more before I can actually do some real damage with it..." Rikku complained as she recalled the shallow attack she dealt to the Ochu, to which Yuna nodded as she added,

"It's the same with the 'Lady Luck' as well. The cards were really useful for dealing with all of the vines, but I think they would've been useless if I tried to attack the main body. Plus I was hesitant to use the slots as well." As Yuna said, if she had bad luck when trying to use the slots to attack, and got a bust, then she could end up hurting herself or her teammates more than she would the enemy.

When Paine changed back to her usual 'Warrior' outfit though, both Rikku and Yuna became concerned when they saw her wipe a trickle of blood from the corner of her mouth.

"What happened Paine?!" Yuna cried out in concern while Rikku tried to check Paine's body for injuries.

"It's nothing, just the result of using that Darkness attack from earlier." As she said, several abilities of the 'Dark Knight' Dressphere would cause a backlash on Paine herself in return for their high damage output, which would have to be something she'd have to get used to if she was going to use it.

What surprised them though was when Paine was suddenly enveloped in a magical light, and any pain she was in suddenly vanished as Alex healed her.

"I think you all did well for using those Dresspheres for the first time. After all you'll only become stronger with them from here." With Sun nodding in agreement and also giving them encouragement, Rikku and Yuna adopted shy yet happy looks while Paine looked away pointedly, until a new voice piped up,

"I'll say. Those outfits sure were surprising!" They all turned to see a tanned man approaching them from the direction of the village.

He had reddish-orange hair that was sticking up with the bangs up in a plume, held in place with a blue bandana, an orange vest, yellow pants with sandals, and blue and yellow pads on his left arm and shoulder. As he approached the man directed a stern look at Yuna and said,

"You caused quite a fuss around here young lady, suddenly taking off like that!" Despite his stern tone though, the man's eyes were kind as his lips curled up into a smile. Going up and giving him a hug, Yuna said,

"It's nice to see you too Wakka." Wakka gently hugged her back as he said,

"Eh, it is what it is. Welcome home." In an instant the anxiety Yuna had about returning melted away into nothing as she hugged the man who had been like an older brother to her, and had been by her side as she marched into battle to end Sin once and for all. When they separated though, Rikku immediately ran up and said,

"Hey! What about me!" Wakka laughed as he released Yuna and pulled Rikku into his embrace, even as he playfully said,

"I don't know, you're the reason Yuna ran off to begin with, ya?" Rikku only chuckled awkwardly since Wakka did have a point, and she'd even felt like a kidnapper at certain points after Yuna joined them.

It was only at this point that Wakka directed his attention to Alex, Sun, and Paine, and asked,

"Who's all this?" Yuna immediately realized that introductions had yet been made, and quickly introduced them all.

"It's a pleasure to meet one of the people responsible for the destruction of Sin." Alex said as he shook Wakka's hand, to which he laughed awkwardly this time before saying,

"Thanks I guess. It was really Yuna that did most of the heavy lifting, I was just mostly along for the ride." Alex cocked a brow at this as, regardless of his actual contributions, Wakka had been one of the group that directly defeated the colossal beast, and should be proud of such a thing.

The topic was immediately changed though as Rikku excitedly asked,

"So how's Lulu with the baby?!" Wakka immediately perked up at the mention of his soon-to-be-born baby, as he eagerly said,

"Lu's good, she should be due any day now. If anything it's almost too soon since I'm not sure I'm ready yet to be a father..." As he trailed off Wakka thought back to his own parents, who had both been killed by Sin when he and his little brother, Chappu, had been kids.

"I just wish I had something to go off of..." He added, missing them more now than he had in years with his own impending parenthood. Surprising him though, Alex clapped a hand on Wakka's non-padded shoulder as he said,

"A little advice, nothing you say or do will prepare you for that moment. The second you hold that little bundle in your arms, everything will change." His words made Wakka and the others look at him curiously, before Yuna asked,

"Do you have kids?" Alex nodded as he pulled out what appeared to be a wallet, but was filled entirely with pictures of every single one of his children. With the entire stack unfolding, all four of them went wide eyed at the sheer number of children Alex had, with the newest addition at the very bottom of the line being an infant girl with a little tuft of green hair, Jade.

"These are all your children?!" Rikku exclaimed in shock, to which Alex nodded and said,

"Yeah, one of the benefits of having a harem."

"H-h-h-h-h-Harem!?!?!?!?" Yuna cried out in shock, her face turning beet red at the thought, to which Alex nodded nonchalantly as he said,

"Of course, polygamy is pretty common for people of power and authority in most of the places I've been to. As an emperor who rules over all of them, it's practically expected that I'd also have numerous wives. Not to mention that every single one of my peerage members are one of my wives as well." While Wakka was wondering what a peerage was, Yuna, Rikku, and even Paine went red in the cheeks as they recalled the actual number of Evil Pieces he had told them there was in a set.

Meanwhile Sun was almost tempted to remark about how big Alex's harem actually was, but decided not to for the moment. With everyone now silent as they tried to digest such information, Wakka awkwardly coughed before saying,

"Anyways, let's head down to the village Yuna, everyone saw that flashy airship of yours arrive and they're eager to see you." Nodding slowly, Yuna followed Wakka despite looking like she was in a daze as the word 'harem' reverberated within her skull.

She quickly recovered though when they finally arrived at the village, and everyone swarmed them to greet her and meet the new arrivals.

"Welcome home Yuna!"

"Yuna! It's great to see you!"

"Come play with us Yuna!"

All around them people happily greeted Yuna, asked how she was doing, and the children even begged her to play with them. It was obvious how much she was loved here in Besaid where she grew up, at least compared to other places that only saw her as the High Summoner.

Of course Rikku got her fair share of love too, as Yuna's cousin and one of her closest friends, while everyone was also interested in learning who Paine, Alex, and Sun all were. After meeting the majority of the village though, someone else that Alex actually wanted to meet alongside Wakka appeared.

"Look who came home." Said a certain woman as she approached, her voice oozing with sensuality.

She had pale skin with red eyes, and long black hair that was mostly tied up into braids, while a large portion of her bangs covered her face. Meanwhile a long black dress covered most of her body while leaving a large amount of her cleavage exposed, and several black belts were laced and crossed over the front to cover her legs. She was a remarkably beautiful woman, but the most eye catching thing about her was her swollen belly that stretched her dress out.

"Hello Lulu, are you sure you should be out and about?" Yuna greeted her and asked with concern, to which Lulu laughed with a smirk as she replied,

"I'm sure I'm better than whatever Wakka told you, and I can use the exercise." When he heard that Wakka made a face and said,

"Hey! I'm not that bad Lu!" Lulu giggled at that and said to him,

"Yesterday you tried to make sure I never got on my feet all day, even to use the toilet." When they heard this several of the people around them snickered and chuckled at Wakka's expense, making him groan as he recalled the talking to she gave him.

Lulu then walked out of the village with Yuna, Rikku, and Paine trailing behind her, as well as Sun after Alex sent her to keep an eye on them, and any fiends in the area. Alex meanwhile clapped a hand on Wakka's shoulder and led him into the village, while saying,

"Relax, she'll be fine, lets go talk ourselves." With no choice but to be dragged along by Alex's ridiculous strength, Wakka followed along until until they arrived outside the largest tent of the dozens that made up Besaid village, where he and Lulu made their home together.

Within was several rugs with only a few pieces of furniture, including a sofa, a short table, a dresser, and a futon to sleep on. With Wakka plopping down on the sofa, Alex conjured a chair across from him before also placing several drinks on the table between them.

"What was that!?" Wakka exclaimed in surprise at the things Alex conjured, to which he explained,

"The magic used outside of Spira is rather unique. Consider these a gift from me to you and Lulu, though I'm sure that Lulu will probably get more use out of them." Alex waved his hand and once again numerous items appeared out of midair, except this time it was a stack of numerous books and scrolls detailing some of the types of magics used in Asora.

With Lulu being a Mage Alex was pretty sure she would appreciate being able to learn about magics from other worlds, though wether or not she would was a different story altogether since she'd be taking care of a baby soon. Though, academic curiosity would probably get the better of her eventually.

As he poured Wakka a drink Alex then said once again to him,

"You really should loosen up Wakka. I told you before, no matter how much you try to prepare, nothing will make you ready for that big moment." Wakka was silent for a moment before he finally said,

"You said that before, but my own parents died when I was so young I barely even remember them. I...just wish I had something to go by, ya know?" Alex smiled wryly as they made a complete circle in their argument, so he held out his hand and showed Wakka another example of his magic.

Crimson swirling energy filled the room as Wakka watched on in awe, before it began to condense into Alex's open hand to form a spherical shape. Once the process was finished he was holding a single Crimson sphere in his hand, which he offered to Wakka.

"Take it, see what's on it." Alex told him as Wakka gingerly accepted the sphere, which he then activated.

"WAAAAA! WAAAAAA!" The sound of a baby wailing filled their ears as the clearest image Wakka had ever seen on a sphere came into view, showing a little baby with a tuft of reddish orange hair on his head, and the woman who held him in her arms.

"Aren't you going to hold him?" She then asked someone nearby, her voice filled with exhaustion and pain from just giving birth, but also endless love and affection. When she handed the baby off though, it showed a man who gaped disbelievingly at the small bundle in his arms.

The man looked almost identical to the one sitting across from Alex now, matching his looks almost to the letter as he cradled the newborn baby in his arms.

"Have you thought of a a name yet?" The woman asked her still dumbstruck husband, who didn't even look away as he said,

"How about Wakka, ya?" The woman smiled beautifully as she repeated,

"Wakka... I love it."

As he watched the scene play out before him the current Wakka began to tear up as he threatened to start sobbing violently, his eyes transfixed on his father and mother. All he had of them since they died was memories, or a memory of a memory, never once having been able to see what they looked like until now.

"...thank you...." He muttered finally, to which Alex just silently nodded as the scene shifted, once again to the woman having just given birth, except this time an older Wakka was at their side as his little brother was born, Chappu.

...

While Wakka was able to see his family once more for the first time in decades, the girls had arrived at the top of the same hill where they had defeated the Ochu earlier. This time however there curiously wasn't a single fiend in sight, though none of the other girls seemed to notice Sun occasionally whistle once or twice in a high pitched tone.

When they finally reached the top of the hill, Lulu then asked Yuna,

"So, can I see this sphere that made you leave?" Though she was hesitant after already learning the truth, Yuna still held out the sphere for one of her closest friends to view.

As the same scene she showed Alex and Sun earlier played out, Lulu was completely silent until the entire thing had finished playing before saying,

"Well, it certainly does look like him." Yuna nodded slowly at her comment, before saying,

"Yes, but I've already learned that it isn't him." Lulu's only visible brow arched when she heard that, and she asked curiously,

"Oh? How'd you find that out already?" Yuna then repeated everything she had learned from Alex earlier, and it was only once she finished that Lulu glanced at Sun before asking,

"And are you sure you can trust him? He's not trying to use you for anything, is he?" Yuna slowly shook her head as she responded,

"I don't think so, or at least he hasn't mentioned anything other than showing him and Sun around Spira." As she said this Yuna and the other three looked at Sun pointedly until the siren said,

"I can't think of anything Alex would want to 'use' Yuna for, except for maybe eventually inviting her into his peerage at some point." Though Lulu wanted to ask what a peerage was, Yuna, Rikku, and Paine all reacted as the blond exclaimed,

"Wait! Would he actually ask her to join him?!" Sun however just shrugged as she responded,

"I'm not sure to be honest, or at least he hasn't mentioned anything about it to me. All I know for sure is that Alex seems drawn to women with strong ties to 'fate', and in this world that appears to be Yuna, or maybe even you Rikku."

As Sun said Rikku had been with Yuna when they defeated Sin, and would have been the only one from the original 'party' to be with her this time when they would have gone to fight Vegnagun. If she had to single anyone out in this world that Alex might invite to his peerage it would be the two of them, something she had next to no doubts about considering they were both beautiful women with good potential, even if they were a little weak right now.

However they seemed to have the wrong idea as Rikku suddenly exclaimed,

"Does that mean he'll also try to draft us into this harem of his?! I don't know if I'm ready to join a harem of all things!" As the two girls began to fret, and Lulu looked at Sun pointedly since this was the first she'd heard of a harem, Sun fought the increasing urge to sigh as she explained,

"Don't worry, Alex doesn't force anyone to do anything. If he did ask you'd be able to turn him down and he'd respect your wishes, like he did when he asked me originally and I did just that." Paine then spoke up for the first time as she countered,

"But you joined anyways, didn't you?" Sun nodded before saying,

"Yes I did, but I originally refused because I feared he was just another person who merely wanted to abuse my abilities. After hearing and seeing everything Alex had done up until that point though, I decided to join him because I concluded he was a good person who wouldn't abuse my powers, even if he himself won't admit it."

As she said that Sun flashed a warm smile as she recalled the way Alex tried to refute her claims that he was a 'good person', even though almost everything he'd done since they met had proved her right time and again. In fact, the only 'bad' thing she could think of off the top of her head that he'd done was going to war with the other factions in the DXD world, but even that had been orchestrated by the higher ups of those very same factions to prove the strength and skills of Alex and his people.

Seeing her like this, the other four women were momentarily at a loss for words as Sun's expression could only be described as a 'maiden in love', something that made Rikku groan as she recalled her own failed relationship, while Yuna appeared envious as she had started her journey to find the man she had fallen for. Paine meanwhile appeared indifferent since she wasn't interested in matters of love, while Lulu grew curious about this Alex since they hadn't really had a chance to talk earlier, and decided to learn more about him if he was going to be spending more time around Yuna.

The usually cool expression on her face faltered though, as a disturbance in her body caught her attention as she held her belly tenderly.

"Oh, he just kicked." She exclaimed softly, drawing everyone's attention as Rikku ran over and asked,

"Oh oh oh! Can I feel?!"

They then took turns feeling Lulu's belly as the baby within continued to kick energetically, making Lulu giggle as she thought of how much her baby would be like its father in the future. Soon they then began the trek back towards the village, with Lulu asking Yuna if they had any plans to stay the night.

(A.N. For everyone saying wait until Dragon Ball for the last Evil Piece, there's already several stupidly strong martial artist types in Alex's peerage starting with even Alex himself, Shia, Moka, and even Lala. There's no need to add ANOTHER person who's entire move set with either punching and kicking, or powerful energy blasts.)