Final Fantasy X

Chapter 1 – Zanarkand

This was it. It was the day of the big blitzball tournament. The entire city had been talking about nothing else for weeks.

I had come a long way in the last year. I joined the blitz team, the Zanarkand Abes at the age of sixteen and now, nearly eleven months later, I was their star player.

Looking out of the window, I could see the fans waiting. That made me feel good. Fame wasn't a feeling I'd gotten used to and I was still making the most of it, though Auron had often warned me about becoming too wrapped up in myself.

He had come by earlier, under the pretence of seeing if I was ready for the game, but I knew he wanted to see how well I was holding it together, on the anniversary of my old man's death.

Auron didn't really care much for blitzball. In fact, he didn't really seem to care much about anything. Still, I was glad he stopped by. Despite his brusque attitude, I really think he cared, in his own way.

But he wasn't here now and had told me that he probably wouldn't be at the game either. He had an old friend he wanted to catch up with, he said.

After checking my hair one last time in the mirror, I headed for the door. Better give the fans what they wanted!

I stepped off of my houseboat and headed towards the group of blitzball fans that had gathered at the end of the pier.

The lights of the city illuminated the surrounding sky. Zanarkand had a kind of strange beauty about it, considering how industrialized it was. I had found the tall buildings and general chaotic busyness of the city intimidating when I was younger and as a result, I didn't like to be left alone much – a fact that had annoyed my old man greatly. A crybaby, he used to call me. Well, I'd be a better blitzball player than he ever was!

I turned my attention back to the fans.

"Can I have your autograph?" one girl asked, excitedly, thrusting a blitzball into my hands.

"Of course!" I took the ball and signed with the signature that I'd practiced privately, until it was perfect: Tidus. I smiled as I handed the ball back to her.

"Good luck, tonight!" the girl next to her added, almost jumping up and down with excitement. She was kinda cute.

"Nothing to worry about." I replied with confidence. "Oh, and if I score a goal… I'll do this!" I pumped my fist into the air. "That will mean it was for you. What seat?"

"East block, in the front row. Fifth from the right!" She had the decency to blush.

"Got it!" Maybe I'd take her out after the game. There were sure to be a number of parties we could choose from.

After signing a few more autographs – and generally acting like a star - I figured it was time to leave for the game but three young boys had other ideas.

"Two, three… Teach us how to blitz!" They shouted together.

"Hey, I got a game to play!" I replied, laughing.

The boys grin back at me. "Then teach us after!"

"Maybe tonight…" But what about that girl? "Uh… well..."

"You can't tonight."

Exactly! I turn to see who had spoken. A strange looking kid, stood slightly behind the others. He was dressed strangely in a long tunic with a hood. I hadn't noticed him standing there before.

I turn back to the boys, flustered. "Maybe tomorrow?"

After the boys had made me promise to meet them the next day at noon, I headed into the heart of the city and towards the blitzball stadium. Thankfully, the streets were fairly quiet. Everybody must be at the game already.

I couldn't help staring at the picture of Jecht – my old man – on a billboard as I passed it. He had been a star blitz player, until he went missing ten years ago. Well, I was as good as him. And I'd done it without his help! I often wondered if the people of Zanarkand would look up to him quite so much if they knew he was a drunk. The blitz game tonight was even in honour of him – The Jecht Memorial Cup Tournament. What a joke!

The usual congestion of the city was considerably less tonight, and I was glad. It didn't take me long as usual to reach the stadium. Inside, I met up with my team mates in the locker room, where we had a brief team meeting. It was agreed that, if the opportunity arose, I should do the Jecht shot. Of course, they wanted me to do it because it was the Jecht Memorial Cup, but I wanted to do to prove to everyone I was just as good as him.

For a moment, I wished Auron could've been there.

As we left the locker room and took our positions inside the sphere, my head was filled with nothing but the assurance that we would win tonight. The Zanarkand Abes would be victorious!

I took up my position as center forward, and waited for the sphere to fill with water. As soon as the water started flowing, the crowd sent up an enormous cheer. My heart raced as the adrenaline started pumping through my body. I lived for this feeling!

Soon the sphere was full and the blitzball was set in place on its launching pad. The whistle sounded, signaling the beginning of the game.

The game started well. We won most of the tackles and I had set up two shots that had only narrowly missed the goal. As play continued, I began to seek opportunities to perform the Jecht Shot. Soon, one appeared.

I swam up through the water and broke the surface with a huge thrust, following the ball high into the air. As I swiveled my body and went into a spin before my foot connected with the ball to execute the much anticipated shot, I could hear the crowd go wild at what I was about to do, but my eye caught something, as I turned.

All I could make out was a huge sphere of water, almost as big as Zanarkand itself, towering over the outskirts of the city. What was it??

Before I had time to even let out a cry of alarm, objects broke off and started hurling themselves towards the city. The crowd's cheers turned into screams of confusion and terror, as buildings and structures began to collapse around them from the impact.

I plunged back into the water of the blitz sphere and swam down towards the entrance and the locker rooms, hoping it would be safer there. All I could think of was what the hell was going on? Other players obviously had the same idea, as they all swam frantically towards the exit. Finally I managed to push my way through.

I needed to get to my house. It was on the water's edge, and I hoped it wasn't completely destroyed. As I left the blitzball stadium, I saw a familiar face waiting there.

"Auron! What are you doing here?" I shouted, running up to him.

Surprisingly, Auron didn't seem at all concerned with what was going on around him. "I was waiting for you." Was all he said.

Waiting for me? How did he know I'd come out this way? "What are you talking about?" I asked, but Auron had already turned and was walking away, quickly.

I ran after him. He obviously had a plan. Or, at the very least, knew of somewhere that was safe. You had to hand it to him; he always seemed to have every situation under his control.

I followed Auron onto the highway. People were running passed me. Where was he going? We were heading towards the giant sphere of water.

Before I could warn him, a boy appeared in front of me. It was the strange kid from before. And he wasn't running. I looked around as a hush fell over us.

Everything had stopped. It was as if time was standing still. People around me were frozen in mid-run, the look of fear, clear on their still faces. I turned back to the boy.

"It begins. Don't cry."

What??? But he disappeared and the chaos started up again. Before I had time to try figure out what that was about, I spotted Auron ahead of me.

"Hey, not this way!" Did he realize he was heading straight for the monster sphere?

"Look." Auron told me, as I finally caught up with him. He was motioning towards the sphere of water. "We called it "Sin"'

"Sin?" What sort of a name was that? But before I could question him further, what can only be described as "fiends" began to land on the highway, in front of us. I felt the panic begin to rise in my chest.

"Take it." Auron says, handing me a sword. "A gift from Jecht."

Jecht?

"My old man?" I took the sword.

I didn't know what he was expecting from me. It was so heavy, I could hardly hold it. I noticed Auron had drawn his own sword.

"I hope you know how to use it."

Oh brother!

The monsters began to surround us. I swung my sword towards one of them. It dodged, easily.

"These ones don't matter! We cut through!" No sooner were the words out of Auron's mouth, than he'd killed two of them with one swing of his sword. We both dashed through the gap he'd made, but we didn't seem to get very far before we were surrounded, once more.

"Don't bother going after all of them. Cut the ones that matter and run!" Again, Auron swung his sword and took out two more.

I tried to copy him, and was surprised to see one of the fiends fall. Hey, maybe this wasn't so hard, after all!

We managed to break through again, but the highway seemed to be on the verge of collapse, up ahead of us. The road had split and the furthest edge was rising higher than the section we were standing on.

"Go!" Auron shouted, running towards the ever widening gap.

I ran as fast as I could, but the highway was collapsing beneath me. With a final burst of strength, I took a flying leap and managed to grab the ledge.

As I hung there, I stared up at the vortex that seemed to be trying to suck up all of the contents of the city. Auron was standing over me, and I called out to him to pull me up.

Auron looked over his shoulder at the sphere of water. "You're sure?" he seemed to be asking it, before he turned back to me. He reached down and grabbed my arm, pulling me up.

"This is it. This is your story. It all begins here." As he said this, Auron was sucked up into the vortex. I tried to release his grip on my arm, but couldn't. I began to scream as I too was pulled in. Thousands of lights surrounded me as I left behind the devastated city, Zanarkand.