Prologue Page 1
All was quiet in the dome. All was peaceful. The lights were off and the setting sun in the distance cast a soft glow upon us. Then it started, all with an announcer's beginning words "Here we go folks! The match that everyone has been anticipating all season long! The match between Zanarkand A block and Zanarkand D block is finally here. Who will win in this..."
I looked up with my eyes closed and a small grin across my face. The cold water collecting on the tips of my hair before falling in beads. I listened to the announcer as he went on. This was the big debut match. Everything that I have done in my life has been leading up to this moment. If I won I would join the ranks of the pros in blitz ball...like my father had.
It has been ten years since my father's disappearance and I do not miss him even a little. My grin quickly turned into a scowl as his picture became plastered into my mind. 'No...', I thought, as I shook my head trying to forget his image. I will not let him break my concentration in this game. I will surpass him and become a better player than he ever was.
BZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ
The buzzer sounded and my eyes shot open in shock as the lights quickly turned on one after another filling the stadium as if the setting sun was now rising. My body jerked itself into a sitting position, almost dropping the blitz ball into the ocean beneath us. I took slower breaths and regained my composure, again closing my eyes and smirking. 'This is it', I thought as I took a small step onto the ledge just in front of me. No later than when I placed my first foot forward I heard the crowd scream in adoration of me. I opened my eyes as the lights started focusing on me and waved with one hand while the other one was used to hold the blitz ball against my body.
This was the calm before the storm. Where the blitz ball dome is filled with water by the machina from our city. They shot water from the ocean beneath us, through a cannon of sorts, that was angled in such a way that it looked like it was curving perfectly in the air before speeding back down. But it never re-entered the ocean. Thanks to the field created by the machina surrounding the center of the blitz ball stadium the water merely hit the air and with a loud splashing noise and started to rise. In a short amount of time there was a large, crystal clear, sphere of water in front of me. I took one whiff of the salty ocean below before turning to head to the locker room.
I barged into the room and looked upon my team. 'Everyone is here' I thought, 'good we'll need all the man power we can get'. I gathered the team into a circle around me and started explaining the importance of this game. Everyone nodded as I spoke, letting me know that they too understood and that they would try their best to win. Two of my team mates moved aside so I could become one with the circle. I put my hand in the middle and the rest of the team followed suit. After a quick, moral raising cheer we started walking towards the door, ready to face out enemies in what was sure to be the most exciting match of the season.
On the other side of town a shady character dressed in a long red overcoat and dark concealing glasses, his collar hiding most of his scarred face, slowly and calmly watched the busy city from the top of one of the many sky scrappers. From behind a large ball of water started to crown from the ocean and make it's way towards the simple city of Zanarkand. The mysterious man turned to face this large
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ball of water, which was now more than a third out of the ocean, and held up what looked to be a large flask tied to his waist. After standing in that pose for a few seconds the man lowered his arm and jumped down down from the heavens to the road below. Landing, almost weightlessly on the solid concrete pathway which seemed to defy gravity as it arched above the ominous mist below.
_
BZZZZZZZZZZZ!
"And there goes the buzzer signaling the end of the second half!" The announcer blared just seconds after the buzzer. "What an exciting match! Certainly heated with the desire to win as well as the top players for both teams going at each other constantly to see who, exactly is better than the other. With the game stuck at a solid zero for both sides it's still anybody's game. Now the big question is, will we see Tidus's new and improved sphere shot? Let's hope we find out."
Now this made me laugh a little. My so called 'new' shot was nothing more than an ordinary sphere shot with a bit more control. But I wasn't about to let my fans down just because I can't pull off a shot like my old man could. Oh well. After our break I'll certainly score a goal, and win this one for the team. After this season I'm trying out for the pro's. Then surpass my old man. I just need more time to make this dream a reality.
BZZZZZZZZZZZ!
The second bell rang and I thought to myself, 'Well, better get moving or the second half will start without me.' So I ran and jumped back into the large sphere of water revved up to start the second half and win. As the game started again we quickly got a hold of the ball and attempted to get close to their net. We were having no luck. We were being tackled and blocked and outmaneuvered all around. Then I noticed we no longer had the ball. My heart raced when I realized who had it. I spotted their ace player barreling through our defenses and quickly swam to stop him before he could score. No good. He shot with all he had and it easily went by our goalie. This was not good, they now lead one to zero. I had to take it up a notch.
With the ball now in our possession again we tried to score with constant shooting. Again and again we were shut down by the defense and even if it did go by their goalie was more than capable of stopping the shots. These guys weren't going to let us through. Now that they had the lead they were focusing not on scoring, but completely shutting us down. I knew we had one chance to tie it up again so I signaled my teammate to throw the ball up out of the dome. He understood what I meant and followed my command flawlessly. He threw the ball straight up and it left the water losing no speed. I followed behind it closely and burst through the top of the water sphere and began my signature move, the sphere shot. Not knowing what to happen at that very moment.
This unknown man walked casually down the walkway seeming to have no fear, nor intention, of arriving anywhere in the city. This was not the case. This man indeed has a motive behind his actions and he'll stop at nothing to achieve it. As he walked the big ball of water, which at this point was now floating in mid-air along the side of Zanarkand, seemed to follow him, pulling every object it could towards it's bulbous body. Then, almost without warning. It unleashed a volley of energy shots which
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hit surrounding areas of the city. One of which, nearly killed Tidus.
My eyes widened at the sight of multiple, maybe four or five, balls of light being fired from this large sphere of water almost identical to the one I had just left. I noticed three things in that moment. One, the sphere was much large, probably a good triple the size of the blitz ball water sphere. The second thing was that the blitz ball dome wasn't the only thing that was being targeted. And third...I was falling.