It had already been 21 years since Spira entered the Eternal Calm. Two years after, Spira was under a great threat of the Colossus Vegnagun which was secretly buried beneath the city of Bevelle. Since then, people have been hesitant towards the use of machina. Many people fear that if we rely too much on them, it might control us, or worse, it may call upon a new Sin. But over the years, there has been no sign of these fears.

Recently, people have been busy with Sphere Break, Blitzball, or Sphere Hunting and over the years a new craze has captured Spira; Chocobo-Racing hosted by the two companies in the Calm Lands. These days, Sphere Hunters are hunting to search for clues on Spira's Past, whoever finds the most interesting Treasure Sphere receives 100 000 Gil as a reward. The Praetor's son, Dario, believes that the only way to truly shape our world is to learn of the past and the mistakes we have made as humans.

One of the events that everyone truly understands most is the use of machina. Although we have entered the Eternal Calm, everyone is being vigilant in case Sin ever showed up or if another machina war would rage on. However everyone lives each day to the fullest and respect each other just as much.

The lights of Zanarkand had already lit up all over the Metropolis, and people started gathering around waiting to cheer on their favourite Blitzball players and teams. The players were arriving at each dock greeting the eager crowd. Girls' ran up to their favourite players, young kids with their Blitzballs were asking for autographs, and reporters with their Sphere Recorders were interviewing selected players. Arriving at Dock 5 were the Zanarkand Abes, who had returned from their training over on Besaid Island. Every year the Aurochs and Zanarkand Abes would train together even though they were opposing teams. This connection however, was created between two men; a young boy from Zanarkand and a man from the Isle of Besaid.

As the players of Zanarkand departed the ship the crowd swarmed around them, they lined up in single file on either side of the ramp and watched in awe as their favourites came walking by. One of the players, a young girl stayed back on the ship avoiding the crowd. She stood in the shadows of the ship, her long black hair blending in, her blue eyes shining in the moonlight, however her yellow uniform stood out on her tanned body. She peered around the wall she was hiding behind and saw that all her team mates had already hopped off the ship, slowly she snuck out. She made her way to the edge of the ship and was about to jump over and onto the dock when a girl in the crowd shouted out and pointed to her.

'Look, there she is!' Heads turned from all directions and focused on this one girl, who was sitting up on the edge of the ship ready to jump off.

A little disappointed that she wasn't able to escape, the girl laughed nervously and jumped onto the dock. Hoards of people came rushing up to her, lining up in single file and asking for her autograph.

A young boy who was about seven years of age was the first in line, he held up his Blitzball to the girl. 'May I have your autograph, Kaida?'

Kaida smiled and took the ball from the boy. 'Of course,' she scribbled her name on the ball and twirled it on her finger and handed it back to the boy. 'Here ya go,' the boy received the ball with a big smile on his face and ran off to his parents.

After a couple of minutes of signing and chatting Kaida and the team headed over to the locker rooms, as she entered the door her team mates were looking at her with a teasing smile. She flinched back giving them a look of "what is it now?" Kaida ignored them and sat down.

A boy who was a couple of years older than her approached her and sat by her side. 'You're starting to get quite popular.' He said in a teasing way.

'So what, who cares?'

The boy smirked. 'Well, for starters, you're the youngest girl in our team, you pull off awesome moves, and you're a Songstress and a Sphere Hunter. You're like, everything.'

The whistle went off and the players headed over to where the game was being held. Kaida took a deep breath before she headed in and wished her team mates good luck.

After the game had finished Kaida quickly snuck away and made for the ship. Here I will be safe from the screaming fans and the noisy crowd, she thought to herself. She walked up to the top most part of the ship and leaned against the rail. She closed her eyes as she felt the ocean breeze sweep on her face.

'There you are, Kaida!'

Kaida opened her eyes and turned around to see her cousin Rukia standing on the stairs. Her long blonde hair that was tide back in a high pony tail shone in the moonlight, and as she approached Kaida, her huge green spiral eyes were sparkling with excitement.

'What is it, Rukia?'

Rukia smiled. 'You're coming with me!' She grabbed Kaida's arm and pulled her away. The two girls headed over to where an enormous machina had been stationed.

Kaida stared in amazement, for it was as big as the famous Celsius Airship, however its features were different, its main colours were blue and green and the ship was sleek and slim and looked swift. 'R-Rukia, what in the world is happening?'

Rukia let go of Kaida's arm and skipped in front of her and turned to face Kaida. She started making gestures with her arms as she spoke. 'You see, Kuniko and Shinra said they found Sphere waves coming from . . . I can't remember, I know you've just finished a big game, but we've gotta get to it before other Sphere Hunter's snatch it from us.' As soon as she finished explaining she ran onto the Airship and Kaida followed.

As Kaida boarded the airship she stared at the broad corridors that yawned before her, she struggled to keep up with Rukia who was almost running through another corridor. 'Rukia, is this a new Airship?'

She nodded her head in response. 'This is the control deck; it's the front of the Airship pretty neat isn't it?' Rukia called over as they entered the room. It was big and two levels. In the middle of the room was a Sphere-Oscillo Finder, different letters and numbers flashed across the screen, however it was in Al Bhed so Kaida couldn't understand it. Up ahead there were three seats, two were occupied and one was vacant, Rukia ran up to Kaida and dragged her over.

As Kaida approached them, she saw that there were two Al Bhed men driving the Airship, the one in the middle was Shinra, the captain of the Airship and the other who would've been the same age as Kaida and Rukia was Kuniko.

'Shinra, I've brought Kaida, where are the sphere waves coming from again?'

'The Sphere waves are coming from the Calm Lands and Besaid, but we're closer to the Calm Lands, so we're heading over there now.'

'Okay, thanks Shinra,'

Kaida walked up to Shinra so that she could see him. 'Um, Shinra, what happened to the other Airship?'

'The other one was only a borrowed Airship while this one was in service. This one's had some upgrades, why you don't like it?'

She shook her head. 'No, it's amazing'

Kaida and Rukia both walked over to Kuniko. Rukia walked up to his side. 'Yna oui lusehk fedr ic drec desa?' she asked as he looked at her expectantly.

He scratched his head nervously. 'Oui ghuf E's clynat uv fiends'

Kaida looked at the two of them with a confused expression.

Rukia smiled. 'I asked him if he was going to come with us this time,'

Kaida looked at Kuniko. 'And?' she asked patiently. 'Will you come with us?' she tilted her head on one side to see if she could somehow persuade Kuniko to come this time.

Kuniko shook his head rapidly.

Rukia laughed. 'He says he's scared of fiends.' She started laughing and Kaida looked at Kuniko with remorse.

'Well, at least he isn't afraid of the Farplane,' Kaida said teasingly. Kuniko looked at Rukia and laughed.

Rukia stopped laughing abruptly and turned her head. 'Yeah well, who wouldn't freak out about seeing the dead every time you think about them?'

'Rukia, we're above the Calm Lands now, does Kaida need a rest?' Shinra called over while fiddling with the screen in front of him.

Rukia turned to Kaida. 'It's ok, you go and rest, you need it.'

Kaida nodded her head in response. She followed Rukia to the cabin.

The rest seemed to almost go by too quickly for Kaida; she was still tired and exhausted from the game.

'Wake up! It's time to hunt some spheres!' Rukia was kneeling beside Kaida's bed, her face lit up with excitement.

Kaida struggled to open her eyes. 'Rukia, did you even go to sleep?'

Rukia jumped up and stretched. 'Of course I did! The same time as you, anyway, you'd better get changed out of those clothes and into something else more "Sphere Hunter" looking,' Rukia headed downstairs from where the beds were and went to the bar to have breakfast. Working there, was a Hypello, these days, Hypello's seem to be doing any sort of jobs, even Sphere Hunting. Kaida laughed at the thought of Hypello's fighting off fiends and collecting spheres. She got changed into dark blue mini shorts, with a white mid-rift paired with a little light blue vest and on the back was the family symbol that was covered by her hood. She paired her whole outfit with dark blue boots that stopped just below the knees and tied her long black hair in a one-sided pony tail up high like Rukia's leaving her fringe lingering about her face.

After Rukia and Kaida had gotten ready, Shinra dropped them off and the two girls landed in the Calm Lands, the lands were slightly crowded, some people were talking about Argent Inc. and their Open Air credits. Kaida smiled and turned to Rukia. 'So where do we begin?'

Rukia shrugged her shoulders. 'All Shinra told me was, "I'll take you to the Calm Lands, but you have to find the sphere yourselves." Not much of a captain is he?' she said in a voice imitating Shinra's.

'I guess we'll just have to ask around then,'

Rukia spun round to Kaida with a stunned expression. 'Kai, we can't do that, I mean, what if some of the people we ask are Sphere Hunter's, and lead us to the wrong place?'

'Well, we'll just have to play it by ear.' Kaida searched the lands and saw two tall blue figures, twice the size of a human. They were Ronso, who lived at Mt. Gagazet, Zanarkand's silent guardian. She smiled as she realised who they were. She indicated to Rukia to follow her. As they approached the two figures the one closest to them turned around and bowed.

'It is an honour, Lady Kaida,'

Kaida smiled. 'It's good to see you Liam, you too Ayde.'

The second Ronso turned around and saw Rukia and Kaida and bowed too.

'What brings you two here?' Rukia asked as she stood next to Kaida.

'Liam and Ayde wished to see the Calm Lands and play the games themselves. Elder allowed Liam and Ayde to come, and now Liam and Ayde are having a good time. What brings Lady Kaida here?' Ayde was the one to answer this time.

'Actually, Rukia and I are searching for a Sphere, have you heard anyone talking about any spheres around the area?'

Liam and Ayde both shook their heads. Ayde pointed in the direction behind Rukia and Kaida. 'Ayde thinks the man over at Agency knows something. But Liam and Ayde know nothing about any spheres.'

Kaida bowed. 'Thank you,'

'Liam and Ayde will let Lady Kaida know when news of sphere is heard.'

Kaida nodded her head in response. 'You two enjoy yourselves here at the Calm Lands, take care'

The two Ronso waved as Rukia and Kaida walked over to the Travel Agency. Rukia started to speed up. 'I'll go on ahead to the Travel Agency, why don't you ask around?'

'But I thought you didn't want to risk being tricked by another sphere hunter?'

Rukia shrugged her shoulders. 'We really have no choice, we're just gonna have to risk it, either get tricked by some sphere hunters, or lose the Treasure Sphere to some other Sphere Hunter.'

Kaida shrugged her shoulders and walked around to the other side of the Agency, as she did she saw a boy about her age sitting by the fence of the Travel Agency. He might know something, she thought to herself. As she got closer the boy looked up, he had blonde hair and brown eyes. He squinted as the sun blinded him.

Worried that she may have woken him up, Kaida started apologising. 'I'm sorry; I didn't know you were asleep.'

The boy just looked at her with a disoriented expression, and then he jumped up and startled Kaida. 'Where am I?' he asked while looking around.

Kaida blinked at him expressionlessly. 'You're in the Calm Lands, are you ok?'

The boy was slightly taller than Kaida; he looked at her with eyes that showed he lacked sleep. He was about to talk when he suddenly collapsed. Kaida ran up to him and caught him before he hit the ground. She cradled him in her arms and tried to wake him. 'Are you ok? Hey, wake up.' It was useless. Kaida looked around for Rukia, luckily she was making her way over to Kaida and as soon as she saw the boy she began to run over.

She knelt beside Kaida observing the boy. 'Ooh, who's this cutie? Is he an Al Bhed?'

Kaida shook her head. 'I don't think so,'

Rukia pointed to his hair. 'But he has blonde hair.'

Kaida looked at her. 'So did my father and he wasn't Al Bhed. But, this guy, he had brown eyes, not green.'

Rukia nodded her head. 'So what happened anyway? Who is he?'

Kaida shrugged her shoulders and stood up while putting the boys arm over her shoulder for support. 'He asked me where he was, he might be lost. I don't think he knows anyone here either, we should take him back to the Airship, that's ok right?'

Rukia was quick to shake her head. 'Of course not, so then, should we call off the Sphere Hunt?'

At that moment Shinra contacted Rukia. 'Rukia, the Sphere waves from the Calm Lands have disappeared, someone's claimed the sphere.'

Rukia groaned. 'Oh well, we've picked up a little something anyway, so we'll be boarding soon.'

'Ok, I'll lower the Airship at the same place where I dropped you off.'

Once Kaida and Rukia were on the Airship they headed straight to the cabins. Shinra and Kuniko gathered beside Rukia and Kaida observing the boy.

Rukia exchanged looks between Shinra and the door that led to the Bridge. 'Uh, Shinra, is it safe for you to leave the Airship like this?'

Shinra nodded his head in response. 'It's on Autopilot,'

Rukia gave him a teasing look. 'You sure you've only just put it on Autopilot? Or were we always flying like this?'

Shinra shook his head. 'I'm not like that asinine uncle of yours who leaves the Airship on Autopilot all the time.'

'Hey, he didn't always leave it on Autopilot!' Rukia was starting to get defensive.

Kaida indicated to the both of them to lower their voices.

Kuniko knelt down beside the boy and gently put his hand to the boy's forehead. After some time he stood up and walked to Rukia. 'Ra'c paah druikr y mud. Fa cruimt mad rel nacd.'

'Dryhg oui, Kuniko'

Kuniko nodded his head and returned to the Bridge of the Airship.

Kaida looked at Rukia waiting for a response.

'Kuniko said that he's been through a lot and that we should just let him rest.'

Kaida nodded her head. 'I hope he's ok,'

Rukia smiled at Kaida. 'I have an idea, why don't you stay here and keep him company in case he wakes up until we get to Besaid?'

Kaida was about to argue but she bit her lip as if to stop herself and nodded her head in response. 'I'll call you if anything happens.'

Rukia nodded and returned with Shinra to the Bridge.

Kaida grabbed a chair and sat by the boy's side. She observed his face while a thousand thoughts went through her mind. Maybe he's lost? She thought to herself. Maybe he's never left his home before, but no matter what the reason is . . . 'I'll stay by your side, I promise.' She said as stroked his forehead. It must be hard, she thought, being lost all by yourself with no one you know, but, where are your parents? Kaida sighed and looked out the window and watched the clouds float by. She turned to face the boy when she heard movement. He struggled to get up, but Kaida pushed him back down. 'Don't push yourself; you've gone without food for a couple of days and your body's weak.'

The boy opened his eyes, his brown eyes locked onto Kaida's, she wanted to look away but she couldn't. The boy sat up disobeying her orders.

He forced a smile. 'I'll be fine,' he said in a composed voice.

She stopped herself from arguing with him and let him awaken properly. He looked at her and Kaida began to speak. 'Do you know where you came from?'

The boy nodded his head. 'My name is Nariko, I'm from Bevelle,'

'I'm Kaida, I grew up in Zanarkand. So, Nariko you've never left Bevelle before?'

He shook his head. 'No I haven't, I was researching on all the places of Spira and deciding where to go to. I took the first exit I saw from Bevelle and must've ended up in the Calm Lands.'

Kaida exclaimed in shock. 'You should be careful, what if a fiend attacks you?'

'I guess I didn't think about that, but I made it to the Calm Lands. It really is what people say, it's very green and peaceful, and people enjoy themselves there. And I saw the games that were spoken of back home. I wanted to join but I must've gotten too tired or something.'

Kaida stood up and held out her hand to him. 'Well Nariko, I'll show you around Spira. But first of all, you better eat something then I'll introduce you to everyone on this Airship.'

Nariko jumped up out of his bed and looked around the cabin. 'Wait, you mean this is an airship? A machina?'

Kaida smiled and nodded as she started to walk downstairs to the bar. 'Yeah, you've never been on one before?'

Nariko followed Kaida downstairs as he spoke. 'The old teachings used to forbid the use of Machina.'

Kaida turned to face him. 'You know, years ago, New Yevon got busted for using Machina, ever heard of the Colossus Vegnagun?'

Nariko nodded his head hesitantly. 'I've heard about it, could you tell me about it?'

'Vegnagun was a Machina that was secretly buried beneath the city of Bevelle. The weapon had enough power to threaten all of Spira, and it was also revealed that Vegnagun was unable to distinguish friend from foe once it was activated. Two Sphere Hunting groups collaborated to investigate the underground areas of Bevelle to destroy the machina before it could be used. However, the two groups, the Gullwings and the Leblanc Syndicate discovered a large hole that was dug into the floor of the weapon's chamber. The hole led to the Farplanes. They realised that Vegnagun had apparently been moved to the Farplane, Spira's core.' She looked at Nariko. 'Are you confused with anything? Just let me know if there's something you want me to explain.'

'Uh, who are the Gullwings and Leblanc Syndicate?'

Kaida looked at him with a surprised expression. How come he doesn't know who they are? She thought to herself. She just shrugged it off and answered him. 'They were the two most famous Sphere Hunting groups in all of Spira, and to this day they still remain as Spira's Legends. If it weren't for them, Spira wouldn't be the way it is. Also, in the Gullwings was a Former Summoner who had brought the Eternal Calm to Spira. I'm sure you know who she is?'

Nariko nodded his head. 'High Summoner Yuna, I've heard about her back home in Bevelle. She was born there too wasn't she?'

Kaida nodded with a proud smile on her face. 'I look up to her, she's my idol.' Kaida sat down at a table and Nariko sat across from her as the Hypello brought over some food to the table.

Nariko smiled at her warm heartedly. 'I also know about the guy from Zanarkand.'

Kaida's expression changed and she just stared at the boy.

He nodded his head and continued talking. 'My parents were telling me the stories of Yevon, and New Yevon. The story I remember is that 21 years ago, a young boy appeared on Besaid Island claiming to have come from Zanarkand. Many people thought that he was only saying these things because he got too close to Sin's toxin.'

Kaida looked at her hands. 'Is that all they told you?'

Nariko nodded his head as he took a slice of bread from the plate in front of him. 'Why, was there some more to it?'

She nodded her head without looking at him. She was still looking at her hands as she spoke. 'When I heard the story, I believed that the man was truly from Zanarkand even though it was in Ruins at the time. And when I heard the full story from my parents, I found out that I was right.'

Nariko sat up straight to show that he was interested. 'What's the rest of the story?' he asked with his mouth half full.

Kaida took a deep breath before finishing her story. 'The boy that claimed to have come from Zanarkand was actually a "dream", a summoned entity similar to Aeons. You know what Aeons are, right?'

Nariko nodded his head. 'Aeons are fierce magical creatures created when people sacrifice their lives to encase their souls within statues, becoming Fayth. And the Fayth granted summoners the ability to summon their individual aeons, right?'

Kaida looked at him and smiled and nodded her head. 'That's right. Well, the boy's city, which was known as Dream Zanarkand, was created one thousand years earlier, when a conflict known as the "Machina War" led to Yevon, Zanarkand's ruler and a powerful summoner, taking desperate measures to preserve its memory. Yevon had his city's surviving people become Fayth so that he could use their memories of Zanarkand to create a new city in its image, far away from the conflict on the Spiran mainland.'

Nariko nodded his head in agreement. 'Sin was also created at that time wasn't he? He was created by Yevon himself to serve as "armour" protecting himself and the Fayth. We got taught that back in Bevelle.' He took another piece off his plate, this time a smaller one.

Kaida nodded her head. 'And also, while continuously summoning Dream Zanarkand, Yevon lost his humanity and became known as "Yu Yevon", a being that existed solely to maintain Dream Zanarkand's existence and over the next one thousand years, Sin had continuously attacked the people of Spira to prevent them from gaining technology to learn of Dream Zanarkand's existence. That is why Yevon didn't really like the Al Bhed, because they were a technologically advanced group. But back to the point, the boy was actually sucked into the creature and when he woke up he found himself alone in the ruins of a deserted temple.'

'So basically, he got sucked out of Dream Zanarkand and was brought to Spira?'

'Yes, that's right. The boy, Tidus, was trying to find a way back home. And later on he found out that his father, Jecht, was Sin.'

The two of them were silent for a while until Kaida began to talk again. 'After Sin was defeated by a forbidden machina airship that was recovered by the Al Bhed, the spirits of all the Fayth of Spira had been freed from their imprisonment inside of Sin, dispersing the aeons, Dream Zanarkand and Tidus.'

Nariko was speechless, he looked at Kaida dumbfounded.

Kaida looked up at him with a faint smile. 'So, do you still believe that it was because of Sin's toxin?' she asked as she looked at him jokingly.

Nariko shook his head rapidly. 'No, it's just, so much to take in. What a sad story, and wasn't he the lover of the High Summoner Yuna?'

'You mean you haven't heard the end of the story?'

Nariko's eyes went big with surprise. 'You mean there's more?'

Kaida laughed. 'Of course! What, did you think that was the end? Don't be silly'

Nariko put down his last piece of bread and waited for Kaida. 'Well, finish it, tell me the rest!'

Kaida had to stop herself from laughing. 'Okay, well, two years later after the beginning of the Eternal Calm, Lady Yuna began a new journey; she became a Sphere Hunter when her Ronso friend, Kimahri had found a sphere with a man in it. It looked like Tidus, so she joined the Gullwings in order to find more sphere's like it.' Kaida stopped on purpose to see how Nariko would react.

He just sat there waiting for her to finish.

Kaida sighed. 'And there was none.'

Nariko's jaw dropped. 'What? That can't be right!'

Kaida poked her tongue out at him. 'Kidding! Well, it turns out that the man she saw in the sphere was not Tidus, but it was Shuyin, a famous Blitzball star who played for Zanarkand over 1000 years ago. But anyway, how Tidus came back to Spira was something that really touched my heart.

'Yuna began a journey only to find him. But along the way, she also ended up saving Spira from Vegnagun. Because of that, the Fayth that was once located in Bevelle thanked Yuna and asked her if she would like to see "him" again. The Fayth then located Tidus' scattered pyreflies and sent them to Besaid where they reformed. Then, when Yuna went home to Besaid . . .' Kaida's voice started to tremble and Nariko went to her side and knelt down so that he was eye level with her and saw that she was about to start crying. He was about to ask her if she was alright, but Kaida looked up at him and finished the story. '. . . She was reunited with Tidus.' Her face lit up with a teary smile.

Nariko smiled and walked over to her. 'That's . . . a very nice story.'

The tears that started welling up in Kaida's eyes rolled down her cheeks. She wiped them away. 'I'm sorry; it's just that, it was such a sweet story. There's more to it but I left out those details and only told you what I thought was important.'

Nariko put his hand on her shoulder trying to comfort her. 'Hey, it's ok. I never would've thought that the High Summoner would've gone through so much for the man she loves.'

Kaida smirked. 'Any girl would go through that, just to be with the one they love.'

Nariko was about to say something when Rukia came running from the bridge. 'We've arrived at Besaid!'

Kaida jumped up with excitement and Nariko stood up and looked at the girls' while scratching his head in confusion.

Kaida walked over to him and held out her hand while wiping away the rest of the tears with her other. 'Come on, I'll show you my second home!'

He took her hand and followed her out of the airship.