In the past month, the sacred Farplane received a many guest. Some were human, some Al Bhed, perhaps a few Ronso… and yet, the most received were the Guado. In the other tribes, the lives were lost as a result of the wrong place at the wrong time. The Guado, however, their losses were sacrificial… most of them had tossed themselves to the Farplane… in Seymour's name, like sheep blindly following their shepherd.
After Seymour's demise, and long awaited sending, the Guado fell into a state of disarray. Tromell-Guado, Seymour's former advisor, thought that the Guado were doomed without a leader. Navara, one of the Guado youth and captain of the Guado Glories, was striving to become the leader. He patiently waited for Seymour to get out of the way. He wished to become the Lord of Guadosalam.
Tromell did not want the Guado to suffer, appointing a new Lord would remedy much of his people's sorrow, and yet, he and the other elder Guado didn't want a young blitzer to rule. The elder's feared that, should a young Guado become Lord, their ancient tongue would be destroyed, their ancient traditions corrupted… and so on.
Act I: Morning Glory"Do you honestly believe that you can become the leader of our tribe by taking the cup?" Pah asked.
"Of course, it's all in the bag." Nav replied, draping one of his lanky arms over his own lap. Pah looked at his captain with curiosity as he sat across from him on one of the many benches in the locker room. Auda stepped over from his locker and plopped down beside Pah, staring at Nav.
"You know, the elders will look down on you for the rest of their lives." There was a moment of silence, it took the rest of them a while to register what Auda just said. Auda began to snicker, then the others followed suit. The elders didn't have much time left. Noy broke the laughter with a question. He was in the middle of stretching, he always had been the most serious on the team. Well, other than Nav.
"Where are Zazi and Giera? The game will start soon…" Navara turned slightly on his bench to address Noy, "I sent Zazi to register our team at the front desk, and Giera went with him."
"Hum… they should have been back by now." Noy resumed his stretches, but then looked up, "Knowing my brother, he's probably running laps around the docks."
"Yeah, he probably dragged Giera along with him. The fool can't seem to do anything without him." Pah chuckled as he stood to pop his shoulders. The team began to wander toward the doors to the Sphere Pool entrance. Suddenly, the huddle formation was interrupted by Giera and Zazi, as they came through the other door.
"We miss anything important?" Zazi asked, grabbing a near-by towel to dry his sweat dewed forehead.
"Not really, we were just about to think you guys had gotten lost, tsk, almost called the whole game off." Nav replied, casting a suspicious glare at Zazi.
"Are you serious?" Giera squeaked, feeling bad already.
"Just kidding," Nav smirked, he watched relief wash over Giera's features. "What took you guys so long? Are we registered?"
"Yeah, a long time ago. Giera and I were running laps along the docks." Zazi grinned and tossed the towel to Giera. Pah and Noy couldn't help but laugh.
"What's so funny?" Zazi asked, he always had to know everything, whether it was trivial or not. Navara laughed as well and pointed his thumb in their direction.
"Noy and Pah here, know you pretty well." Nav gave a cheesy smile and motioned for Zazi and Giera to join the huddle.
"All right. This is the first game in the league. If we win this whole thing, recognition for all of us. If we lose… well, that's a Fira spell on all your asses!" he smiled and continued, "Now, what are the Guado Glories going to do for the upcoming games in the league?"
"Win!" shouted Noy, Pah, Auda and Giera. Zazi being the difficult team member that he is, shouted. "Lose!" Navara shot Zazi a wicked glare and yelled, "Traitor!! Tack'im, boys." Moments later, the four that had shouted "win", each grabbed one of Zazi's limbs. Navara stood before the detained, difficult, team member, "You do this every time. When will you learn? But… we do know you have the hots for Bickson!" Nav laughed and reached his hand to the top of Zazi's head; he doubled it and pushed out three knuckles. "Ah, you know we love ya, Zaz. Regrettably, you didn't answer my question…" he sighed deeply, as if it were a very serious matter, "What are the Guado Glories going to do?" He proceeded to give Zazi's head, the noogie of its lifetime. Zazi grunted in discomfort but remained all the more stubborn to answer correctly.
"Come on, Zaz, I can't hear you! What are the Guado Glories going to do?" Nav heightened the level of the noogie so that it was painful. The other Guado just stood there, holding Zazi. They all four had shit-eating grins on their faces. Zazi squirmed in their tight grips. Finally, he could take no more ridicule, and began whining.
"Oww! Okay-okay! Win! The Guado Glories are gonna win!!!!?
"Thank you." Navara sneered, discontinuing the treacherous noogie. "We have two minutes, let's get out there and do our magic! Usual game plan, get the ball, give'em a swim workout, and goal. Work together." Nav nodded, his leader qualities and confidence were always to be admired. "When we get on D, Flat-line them. It's all good. Let's go!" He clapped his hands and stepped over to open the door to the lower level of the stadium. He smiled at his players, even though they were the least popular of the Blitz Ball teams, they walked and played with pride. Nothing could take that away. May the best team win.