R/N: .... Okay, I'm going to make this note short and easy to understand. If you don't like he character roles I've assigned, review your complaint and I'll e-mail a dragon's weight of reasons I placed these characters as they are.

If you're a a newb to Final Fantasy games, enjoy this, and only review if you feel like you should. If you're a NOOB to Final Fantasy.... I will personally feed you to my Writer's Block if you attack me with questions about the game itself.

Finally, I HAVE to put in most, if not all, of Alpha's OC's in this fic to fill in the minor roles that are still imperative to the story. If you're a fan of Alpha's/My stories, and like the OCs, then there's not really a problem, is there?

Disclaimer: I do not own any characters that appear in this story that you see {or will see} in the anime. I also do not own the storyline, or scenarios such as Blitzball and Chocobos. I also do not own a single original character that will appear in later chapters. Although to tell you would be a spoiler, she belongs to Gema J. Gall. I do, however, own all other original characters.

{text} = Flashback thoughts.

And so, without further adieu.....

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As the small clouds dispersed, an assortment of weaopns could be seen, placed upon a stone across from the small gathering. Seven figures sat around a flame, their eyes straight forward, but their hearts and minds looking back. Back on the journey they had shared; the times that history would forget.

One of them stood, though the action was unrecognized by the others. He turned, walking a short distance away from the un-warming fire, before becausing.

The girl he had stoppd near briefly glance at him as he placed a hand on her shoulder, then looked down morosely as he climbed the small ruin across from them.

As though he hadn't seen it enough, he once more looked at the decrepit remains of what had once been his whole world; the city, though mostly buried within the mountain, stretched for miles.

{Listen .... to my story.} He thought, almost hoping someone could hear him. {This may be... our last chance.}

As the swirling lights that filled the area passed his face. Vivid memories erupted, and a saddening, un-finished tale played out; one only the lights could see.............

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Anime Fantasy X.

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Zanarkand. For centuries it had been a beautiful city; even before technology allowed nature-defying sights to dwell within it. Humongous lakes and propelled pillars of water decorated it's brides, and reflected the city's beautiful lights in shimmering patterns every night.

Beyond the country-sized, skyscraped filled portion of this titanic town were a small number of boat-like homes, which had , in a sense, were still part of the main city anyway, givin the fact that that could move through the canals.

However, the main attraction at this time was leaving one of these homes, half-groaning, half-grinning, as he saw a small crowd in front of him.

He was of average height, which was something, considering his size merely three years before, and his gold, black, and red hair was a like a pit of spikes. His violet eyes held a look of confidence, which looked strange with his still mostly innocent face.

He wore what could be described as a blue soccer uniform: If it wasn't split in the middle and having a metallic guard on one arm.

"Could you sign this?" a kid roughly his former height asked, holding up a large, blue ball, that had both a rubbery and metallic appearance.

"Sure." He said, his still youthful voice ringing clear. Grabbing the pin handed to him, he quickly wrote the word "Yugi" in a proffessional handwriting.

"Me too!" Another kid asked. Yugi grinned. As he signed this one, a third was held up to him, but with a different question to it." Can you teach us to blitz?"

Yugi's smile turned into a slight grimace as the little girl looked up expectantly." I'm sorry, but I'm kinda busy tonight."

"Um, after the game then?" She asked.

Yugi's grin returned. "I don't see-"

"You won't be able too tonight."

Yugi and the crowd turned heads as one to see a tall, pale-skinned, platinum-haired woman, he head toward the ground, unseen. Her blue robes had an ancient look to them.

Slightly confused, Yugi somehow felt she was right, for some reason. Shaking cobwebs from his mind, he started running across the dock, realizing WHAT time it was.

He had barely made it into Zanarkand's main areas when the sphereboards on buildings lit up. Almost every pne of them had what appeared to be his face on them, except the man in them was older, his expression darker, red-eyed, with a very high-and-mighty smirk firmly stapled on his face. Yugi couldn't help an expression of anger as he beheld his lookalike, and quickened his pace considerably.

"I was on the streets, running away from home, when I heard about it." The anouncer said, his voice filling the city as Yugi ran." Yami, the Dark Blitzer, our hero, gone! Right away I knew that where I should've been was back at home. My dad had heard about it too; In fact, we were so torn up, we forgave each other immediately, just so we could go ahead and talk about him. I'll never forget that... well, anyway, today's the day of the first game of the first ever Yami Memorial Blitzball Tournament! Our fave team, the Zanarkand Mages, are going head to head with our old rivals, the Bevelle Behemoths! And, of course, we've got Yugi, kid brother to the tournament's namesake, leading our team; the first guy since his bro to become an MVP in only one season! Though I doubt we'll see his sibling's legendary shot, we're all behind him, all the way!"

('Legendary'? Yeah, right.)

Finally, the huge coliseum came into view. And with it, the hordes of fans. After several moments of pulling, surrounding, and overall headache-inducing events, he finally made it into the arena's waiting area. Hearing the roar of the crowd, adrenaline began to fill him, and he raced to his position.

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He walked slowly across the top of the building, as if the height ans the narrow platform meant nothing to him. His shaded eyes seemed to glare at the sight before him, and he used his only available hand to pull a white jug from his side. Chugging the sake gratefully, he seemed almost humored to see the immense wave slowly moving in his direction.

Meanwhile, less than a mile away, a wave of a different sort erupted within the waterlogged colloseum. Yugi grinned, just for a moment, before bursting through the giant sphere of water like a torpedo. It was amazing that anyone outside the pseudo-pool could make sense of the insides, with all the movement, passing, punching, grabbing....

The ball dropped from the Behemoth's head player as he suddenly hurdled out of the water, crashing into several ringside Abes fans, who acted in a less than grateful way. The tri-haired boy grinned again as the water and glass re-formed itself, and took swam fiercly in the opposite direction. Noticing the other four members suddenly charging him, he gave a spinning pass over their heads. Though each in turn tried to grab it, it sailed staight over, quickly grabbed and kicked by another Mage behind them. The Behemoth's goalie tried to block... and failed spectacuraly.

As the screams of '1-0 Mages!' filled the stadium, plain screams filled the outside. Paying no heed to the citizens running away, the red-clothed stranger continued forward, not surprised to see the wave change it's trajectory by a degree. Instead of taking them all, this section would be spared... the stadium, however...

The flurry came back, and with another round of speedy movements and blow,s the ball suddenly bounced... high. Both Yugi and the right forward of the Behemoth's kicked up, quickening as the ball exited the sphere through the cieling.

Yugi made it out, doing so at an angle that perfectly cut off his rival. He started into his own trademark shot, and time seemed to slow as he did a half spin in mid-air, his foot poised to kick...

His eyes widened as the wave struck. For a few seconds, mind-numbing pressure blocked everything to him, but he soon felt his hand grasping tightly around a revealed, dead wire from what had once been a street.

Feeling sick, he looked down. In split-seconds, the time it would have taken to score, the stadium had vanished beneath more water than he'd ever been in. Almost in a trance, he carefully pulled himself up, gasping as he reached the slick pavement.

"What's... going on..." He tried to say, exhaustion making his speech ragged. With some irony he realized he'd been blown to the entrance of the colloseum. He ran out, and for once no fans swamped him down. Instead, the people ran straight past him, for some reason hurrying into the back of the flooded dome.

His head turned frantically, searching for a familier face that he may have forgotten didn't exist... and he succeeded.

"Bakura!" He said, dashing over to his guardian. " What're you doing here?"

The man called Bakura was only a few inches taller than Yugi, but his hair ws even more outragiously spiked. Though not many colored, his albine-shaded locks were like the back of a porcupine, if said porcupine has been bent to an unnatural angle. This brown shades covered his also brown eyes, and a chronic dark look came with his face. He wore an old, samurai-like suit, without the armor or helmet, colored a bright red. A long katana was in his right hand, arched over his back. His left hand was, for some reason, furled into the open center of his red coat, looking useless. It was always eerie in that way, for the other sleeve still existed, and flapped in the night's hypocritically calm wind.

"If you want to know, follow me." His rough, slightly accented voice answered, and he suddenly dashed away... across the road.

"Hey, wait! You're going the wrong way!" Yugi yelled, chasing after him. He barely remembered the man who had briefly watched over him when his brother left, and his mother dies, but he could perfectly recall one thing; He had never been the one to talk like a sage, he had always told the harsh facts even in pleasant situations.

As he moved to keep up with the older man's strangely superior pace, he suddenly felt a strange feeling. Looking around, he realized that was he saw around him was... frozen. A pair of teenagers, running toward the stadium, were in continuous sprinting form. Even Bakura, several yards away, had stopped running, his long strides in mid-movement.

"It begins..." a familier voice said. He turned to see, with shock, the same girl from before, her robes shining their azure glare, reflecting the ice-like scene.

"What? Who are you?" He asked, his mind already boiling with un-answered questions.

The girl only gave what could be a smirk, had her eyes been visible to suggest it. "Don't cry."

As the echoing voice faded, the confused teen saw her vanish, instantly. Desperately praying that this was a dream, he continued his chase.

He had caught up, but suddenly wasn't as sure as he had been about such a decision. An army of pods faced him, and many were opening up to reveal dog-sized insects, like mutated flies. In front of them were thousands, THOUSANDS, of fiends... actual fiends...

"I didn't think this many fiends existed..." He said, voice shaking again. Suddenly, a heavy object found itself in his arms. As his rump connected to the steel driveway, he realized that it was a sword; a strangely shaped, purplish-red shaded sword.

" Call it a souveneir from your sibling." The ronin said, a frightening smirk coming onto his face. As the younger one lifted himself, struggling with the blade, his eyes were narrowed. " My brother?"

"Hold it at your side like a ball." He inturrupted. "Balance it, and then strike at your enemy as if you were throwing, but don't let go. If you let go... THEY score."

He stood still, still confused and un-believing, but before his eyes, an insect charge. It met a one-hand-weilded katana, and split in two with so much force it's juices bounced on the sideway. Yugi decided that if Bakura, of all people, could do that, he should at least TRY...

He was surprised yet again to feel how easy the heavy blade waited in place, like Bakura said, and as another bug charged, he reacted nearly on impulse, and jumped back on impulse, too, missing any parts. Amazed at his own strength, he could barely snap out of it to hear "Attack the ones straight ahead that are hatched. Don't waste time with the eggs or side-line foes, just keep going straight ahead."

They did. Yugi was dumbfounded with the skill he had in slicing the sickening creatures up. and although he obeyed Bakura's advice, he noticed a creature just behind his sudden mentor rear back, it's wings flickering dimly.

He cut through it, but missed his teacher's chuckle." You're a fast learner. Now, we finally get to the exam. Look."

A sphere of water, even larger than the one that the game had been played in, floated in mid-air above them. Yugi could just barely register a golden sillouette behind it, before something burst out. Though much smaller than whatever the other was, something that looked like a giant, thin jellyfish with flashing lights landed in front of them.

"What is that thing?" he asked, barely lifting his hand up to the larger one, keeping his sight on the new one.

There was no chuckle this time. " We called it 'Ra'... because it was supposed to bring us light."

"Ra?"

"Nevermind... now, I want you to concentrate your anger." Bakura said abruptly as several more insects landed near the jellyfish. "Focus it from your mind into your body, use your rage, embody it as energy, and let your instincts take over. Watch me, first."

For a moment, Bakura's body seemed to glow with a brief, flickering orange light. "Some can't wait to die!" He yelled, and leaped into the air. "Dragon Fang!"

His blade connected with the sidewalk. The five creatures suddenly connected with a similar energy, only mush greater in comparison, from beneath their feet. The four smaller ones were incinerated instantly; one of the jelly's tentacles burned as well, and a light went out.

"Okay." The youth answered, no longer confused but merely following orders. He'd wring it out of Bakura later, but right now.... the images of his friends, his fans... the stadium, his house.................. his mother-"

"GET OUT OF MY TOWN!" He suddenly screamed, as if he had intended it. Without any sort of mental warning, his body did several complex somersaults, and his blade struck the creature with a much fiercer impact. A few more tentacles fell to the wayside.

The remaining lights around the beast flickered, and a purple ball of energy appeared above them. As it crashed down into them, Yugi expected more pain, but instead of a searing death, a very sore, very strong pull seemed to come from the ground.

"This is a Demi spell." Bakura said through grit teeth." It can only damage you to a small degree, thanks to your current strength. Continue hacking normally."

He complied again, and the two visciously struck repeatedly, though Yugi's body seemed to be getting heavier with each second. Finally, as the last tentacle and light vanished, the creature exploded into hundreds of rainbow-colored lights that quickly vanished.

"Congratulations. Take this." Bakura said, tossing him a small Potion. He drank it eagerly as the other did so with another bottle, and both felt the magically created drink's healing effects." Good. Let's continue."

The two ran forward again, and the questions seemed to rise up in the gold-banged boy's mind again. What was happening? Why was it? What was Bakura doing?

Another wave of pods, these opening more quickly, appeared before them. Before they could turn back, another wave emerged from the giant water sphere, and opened nearly as soon as they landed.

"This could be a problem." The shade-oting one admitted, his unseen eyes suddenly landing on an old energy generator. "Strike that."

"What!? But that'll-"

"It's the only way, do it!" Bakura ordered, charging to the flammable machine. Yugi quickly decided that crazier things had been done tonight, and if those fiends couldn't kill him, there was a high chance this wouldn't. Both struck their blades at the exact same time. And both felt the explosion that sent them backwards. The fiends, much less fireproof than the already drenched blitzer and the heavily cloaked warrior, burnt much like their earlier brothers.

After several tense, eye-closed seconds, the MVP felt his hand clench around yet another long wire, and suddenly opened his eyes. Above him were two things; a large, golden sphere, which was sucking everything around it into a portal at it's bottom, and Bakura, standing inches from where he held on for dear life, simply gazing at it.

"Are you sure? You want this done?" He asked of the air. A roar met this, long and unearthly. The white-spiked one leaned down, and lifted Yugi not by his arm, but by the collor of his uniform.

"Hey, what are you doing!?" He yelled, panic taking over once more.

Bakura only stared. "This is it..." He said, as if it were the most important thing in the universe. Yugi was lifted higher; the portal was almost on him..." this... is your story."

Somehow, the image of his guardian was pulled away before him. And then, screaming, the now dropped teen was suddenly pulled from all sides, and a searing white light surrounded everything.

And then, from the center of a void, another voice called. "wake up... Wake Up... WAKE UP!"

His eyes obeyed, realizing he was again underwater. Somehow, in a modified version of the stadium, a fire raged behind him in a symbol that he vaguely remembered... and man that looked like him called from the center...

(Yami?) he wondered, the thought half angry, half relieved. His limbs moved on their own, but as they did, the shape changed... from a stronger, more intimidating version of himself... to an innocent, short, multi-colored boy...

{ I thought about a lot of things... where in the world was I? What was going on? I started to feel sleepy, not just from the lack of oxygen.. I dreamt I was all alone, in a cold dark place. All I really wanted was somebody beside me.... someone to stop my loneliness... then I awoke... and found out it wasn't a dream.}

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