D'jose Temple~

Mana: *laughs* Well, if Rikku was twelve, how old were you, Gippal?

*Gippal speaks with a straight face*
Gippal: 28~
*Rikku screams and shoves Gippal so hard he falls to the ground*
Rikku: DON'T SAY THAT STUFF! IT'S WEIRD AND NOT TRUE!
*She kicks him whilst he's down and crosses her arms*
Rikku: He was 13!
Paine: Probably as mature.
*Gippal stands back up, dusting off his clothes*
Gippal: Relentless...

Mana: *laughs* You were asking for it.

Gippal: Hey, don't turn against me too...
*Gippal looks at the group and counts on his fingers*
Gippal: Hey, speaking of which, what happened to that wolf kid?
Sugar: Howl?
Yuna: He didn't come this time, I suppose.
Gippal: That's too bad. He still owes me for my machine, after all~
Paine: If I remember correctly, you attacked him.
Gippal: For a good cause though~
Paine: Which was...
*Gippal scratches the back of his head*
Gippal: So, you guys wanna come see the tram then?
Rikku: You're not gonna ask about Mana's mission?
Gippal: Nah, I'm not that curious~
*Gippal turns and starts walking*
Gippal: Besides, every time I ask about what you're doing, you girls drag me into some world-saving scheme and let me tell ya', it's only fun until your first machine gets wrecked.

*Sugar tugs on Mana's jacket, which, coincidentally, no longer has a use in this warmer atmosphere, and speaks quietly enough so that only she can hear*
Sugar: M-Mana?

Mana: *turns around and looks at Sugar curiously and lowers her tone to match Sugar's* Yes, Sugar?

Sugar: ....We-we've forgotten Whip.

Mana: *blinks, and looks back at the direction they came* Oh poop, we did... *stares in contemplation before looking back to Sugar* Any suggestions?

Sugar: W-well...

Paine: --If it's so good, then why are you hiding it from us?
Gippal: I'm not hiding, I'm just not sure I remember where I hid it~
Paine: You don't know where you hid a tram system.
Gippal: I bet I could remember it with a little motivation~
Rikku: IN YOUR DREAMS! WE'LL WALK!
*Rikku starts charging the other way. Gippal shakes his head*
Gippal: You got me, I give. I'll show you guys~
*Gippal winks at Rikku*
Gippal: I bet you'll love it though~
*Rikku puffs out her cheeks and, in her frustration, snatches Mana's arm*
Rikku: LET'S GO MANA, WE'VE GOT A TRAM TO SCORN!
*Rikku drags Mana into the temple, and Yuna and Paine both shakes their heads and follow along*
Sugar: A-ah....

Mana: *calls out to Sugar despite her slowly quieting voice* I'm sure he'll be fine by himself...!

*Sugar smiles exasperatedly as Mana is dragged away*
Sugar: R-right...

*Inside the temple, Rikku drops Mana in the center of the room, where, all around them, bits of machines and mechanical parts lie, either destroyed or waiting for future use*
Rikku: They never let up, huh?

Mana: *hasn't stood up from Rikku dropping her* Who's "they"? Your dragging?

Rikku:
:We are the Machine Faction.
*[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] through the stairs that lead up into a higher level of the temple carrying more scrap metal, and she tosses it onto the floor in a heap*
: And we've got enough work here as is. What do you want?
Rikku: We wanted to see the tram-
: Oh, don't get me started on the railways! We've had to give up all of our pending projects just to work on that stupid system! Look at this!
*She kicks parts out of the pile*
: We've been scraping so much metal, we'll have to melt it all down to get any use out of it!

Mana: *sits up looking around* Do you need to melt it to mold it or something?

: Yes, A lot of it!
*She glares at Mana annoyedly*
: And who are you? I remember Cid's girl-
Rikku: I have a name!
: But you're a stranger.

Mana: *her hat magically pops onto her head in a small shower of sprinkles and she takes it off as she goes for an elegant bow, her outfit changing to her normal one* Mana the Cat Magician, at your service~

*During the short transformation, she'd already begun walking away*
:The last thing we need is more mages. I've got work to do!

Mana: *looks completely heartbroken and mortified, before finding a nice little corner to sulk in* That's the first time I did that and no one liked it....

*Rikku scratches her cheek nervously*
Rikku: H-hey Nhadala, don't be so harsh on her. She's fragile. ^v^;
Nhadala: Well unless she can help me process a ton of metal into more rail parts and tram sectors, I don't have time for it! I'm sorry!

Mana: *is suddenly next to Nhaldala with a renewed passion* How do I help?

*Nhadala flinches from Mana's sudden appearance*
Nhadala: Huh?! Look, I already told you-
Rikku: But Mana's a mage! She can help out!
Nhadala: ...Well, if you think you can help, then follow me. We'll see what you're good for.
*Nhadala travels back up into the back room above the stairs. Rikku flashes Mana a thumbs up*

Mana: *returns Rikku's vote of confidence by flashing a peace sign with a smile before following Nhadala*

*Inside the back room, what looks like it used to be a large labyrinth seems to have been knocked down in favour of an enormous tunnel that trails endlessly into the ground. Many Al Bhed workers can be seen performing various tasks, messing with large pieces of gears and metal*
Nhadala: Look at this. Gippal was so excited about his Spiran Transport System that he had us all start working on it all at once. Our furthest tunnel hasn't even reached Luca yet!
*Nhadala puts her hand to her forehead*
Nhadala: Anyways, at this rate, we'll be working on this stupid system for years. That's where you can help~
*Nhadala turns to Mana*
Nhadala: How are you with inciting internal combustion through plasmatic kinesis?

Mana: *crosses her arms and tilts her head from side to side in thought* I think that's a specialty of mine, really. My magic is pure energy, so I can manipulate it to whatever which way, including exciting electrons to a high amount of energy in whatever way it takes to get past the threshold of potential to kinetic energy. *looks at Nhadala curiously* How controlled does the magic have to be? Because I imagine too much energy might cause a devastating reaction of the sort, possibly decomposing any chemical work you've done thus far.

*Nhadala scoffs*
Nhadala: As if we've been able to get any chemical work done! Look at this.
*Nhadala leads Mana to a large machine with an enormous drill on the front of it, off to the side and away from the tunnel's opening*
Nhadala: This is a machina we dug up in the Sanubia Deserts. It's really complex, but we have a feeling that if we can start up it's engine, we could get it to run. The only thing is, it won't accept any of our battery charges, and we can't get the thing open to drive the engine alive manually.
*She crosses her arms in frustration*
Nhadala: If we could get some kind of combustion to start up inside it... But any thunder spell a Black Mage throws at it would just damage the outer shell.

Mana: *thinks deeply and moves to the drill, placing her hand in it as her eyes begin to glow* Hmm...