"Just, one more thing: the people and the friends that we have lost, or the dreams that have faded… Never forget them."
The sphere's sound cut out and it turned back to its normal display, which was an endlessly looping pattern of blue waves. A tall black-haired woman with her hair tied back who wore a blue shirt and black skirt walked towards the sphere, pulling it out of the receptacle which had projected the sphere into a hologram. A sharp static sound echoed through the room as the sphere's hologram faded. She placed it in one of the drawers on a nearby desk.
"Now," She said, turning around to face the class. "which one of you can tell me why I chose to show this sphere?"
A girl in the back row couldn't help but blurt out, "Today's the birthday of the High Summoner Yuna!"
"Correct, Elina." The woman pushed her glasses up. "As you can see, Lady Yuna did NOT have a horn." There were a few scattered chuckles from the crowd of students. "That is a common misconception that young children often make, produced by the statue that the Ronsos created of her." In the distance, faint trumpet music had started. She looked towards the clock. "Speaking of which, everyone that will be participating in the parade this year may be dismissed."
Elina and the girl sitting next to her, Yuna, got up from their seats along with a few of the other students. "So, you're going to play the summoner in the play this year..." Elina said to Yuna. "It's almost like destiny. Are you excited?"
Yuna nodded. "Excited, and a little nervous." She walked out into the school's central room, which was large and dome-shaped with a few doors leading to classrooms and a staircase leading up into even more hallways full of classrooms and lockers. Yuna walked up the stairs with Elina towards the hallway that had their lockers. When she was close to her locker, she opened it and threw her books in.
"The parade is starting soon!" Elina said gleefully. "Let's go!" She grabbed Yuna's hand and ran down the stairs, dragging Yuna along.
"W-wait!" Yuna cried, "Slow down!"
"We're already late enough as it is. If we don't hurry, we might miss it." Elina replied.
"We're fine, the music still sounds far-off."
"I guess you're right" Elina said. "I got a little carried away."
They reached the main entrance to the school and Yuna opened one of the large wooden doors, gazing across the colorful city of Luca.
My name is Yuna, and this is my story. I suppose I owe you a bit of an explanation, huh? Hundreds of years ago, High Summoner Yuna and her guardians defeated Sin for good, bringing about the eternal calm.
Anyway, every year there is a festival held in her honor on her birthday. Remembering and honoring her was the least us Spirans could do for her after she brought about the eternal calm. The parade and festival begin in Luca every year, where the parade floats are made, and then advances to Besaid, following the path that she and her guardians took until it reaches the end of New Zanarkand.
Along with the parade, there is a travelling play that is performed, telling their story. This year is the first year that I am to play the part of Yuna.
Yuna was walking along the street with Elina, when she heard a voice behind her call her name. "Yunaaaaaa!" the man yelled. She turned around and was greeted with the sight of a panting man that had just finished his sprint to her.
"Wow, Oswyn, you're really out of shape!" Elina said, giggling.
"Shutup Elina," Oswyn heaved, then remembered why he had approached them in the first place. "Oh, Yuna, I needed to give you this." He reached into a small pouch and produced a tiny sphere. "It's your dressphere, for the play. You forgot it in class."
"Oh! It must have fallen out of my grid somehow." Yuna said, alarmed that she had been so careless. "Thank you so much! I'm going to change into it right now, actually."
She grabbed the dressphere from his hand and took a sphere grid (A small tablet-shaped grid with multiple sphere-holes in it) out of her pocket. She placed the sphere into an empty hole on the grid, and then lightly pushed it down with her finger. The clothes she was wearing began to glow and shimmer, and shifted until they were in their new shape. Then, the glow faded and Yuna was now wearing a dress that looked to be an exact replica of High Summoner Yuna's from so long ago.
"Whoa!" Elina said, "It's an exact replica!"
"That's strange," Oswyn said, sounding confused. "Usually with dresspheres like these, the outfits are off by a few details, and those details are always different depending on who wears it. But yours… It's spot-on."
"It is weird, but there's not a lot of time to wonder why it happened," Yuna said as the trumpet music grew closer, "The parade is almost here!"
Elina and Oswyn took out their sphere grids. Elina pressed her finger down gently on one of the spheres. The sphere was pushed deeper into the receptacle and the sphere which represented the outfit she was currently wearing rose to the top. Oswyn did the same. Their clothes started shining like Yuna's had moments before and then shimmered, forming new shapes on their bodies.
Elina was now wearing short green shorts with an orange belt, an orange sweater with the sleeves off, leather boots, goggles hanging by her neck, gloves, and a blue scarf.
Oswyn's new outfit consisted of an old-style Besaid Aurochs blitzball uniform, with a pauldron on his left shoulder and a handkerchief tied around his head.
The parade floats started passing by them. The first display that passed them was the stage that the play would be performed on. They opened a door near the bottom of the float as it was still moving, and stepped up into a hidden room where they would stay until they got to Besaid, where the parade would start.
The stage was set up like this: There was a hidden room below the actual stage, where the actors would prepare for the play, sort of like a dressing room. A hole would open up in the center of the stage, and a platform would rise, which would deliver them to the stage.
A man came from one end of the room. "Yuna! Oswyn! Elina! You're late!" He said, almost shouting. "This play could have ended up being a disaster!"
"Calm down, Gryffen." Another man said. "They're here now, that's all that matters."
Gryffen, the play director, sighed. "You're right, Reginald. At least we have most of our main cast now. But… where the hell is my Lulu?"
While the others were talking, Yuna couldn't help but bring her attention to a nearby board that listed the cast members' names.
To Zanarkand: High Summoner Yuna's Story
Directed by Gryffen Ross
Main Cast List:
Yuna - Yuna Vafrixat
Tidus - Osric Warf
Rikku - Elina Storme
Wakka - Oswyn Singer
Auron - Reginald Carpenter
Kimahri - Ogmund Ronso
Yuna's eyes widened in surprise as her eyes skimmed the last line of text on the list.
Lulu - Astrid Fury
"Sorry I'm late," A woman's voice broke through Yuna's thoughts. "I had to finish up class." It was Astrid Fury, the teacher of Elina, Yuna, and Oswyn.
"Ms. Fury?!" Yuna asked, shocked. "What are you doing here?"
Astrid blinked. "Didn't I tell you? I'm playing Lulu this year." She said. "Oh, and I still need my dressphere." Gryffen grumbled as he opened the drawer on a nearby vanity table. He dug around until he found a small black sphere and handed it to Astrid.
"Here you go." He said.
"Ah yes, many thanks." Astrid said. She placed it into her sphere grid and changed into her Lulu costume, which was a gothic-looking dress with many belts making up the front and fur making up the collar.
Yuna wandered to the side of the room and stared out the window. She could see the city of Luca passing slowly before her eyes.
"We're at the warp pad!" Gryffen said loudly. "It's showtime! And remember people, if you don't remember your lines exactly, it's okay to improvise as long as you stay within the basic plot."
A blinding flash of light enveloped the window, making Yuna close her eyes. When she opened them up again, she could see that they were now on Besaid Island. The village of Besaid hadn't grown up much at all in the past few hundred years. In fact it was largely the same.
She stepped on a platform in the center of the room with the others, which rose up onto the stage. She could hear cheers of the excited crowd around the parade float. Gryffen briefly introduced the play.
"Tidus has arrived on Besaid, meeting Wakka and the others…" He continued on. "... and now, he has entered the temple. Let us see what happens next!" The audience clapped as the actors got in their places.
The play went on as planned. At one point, Astrid sighed at Osric. "You're not supposed to be here." She said. A door opened on the stage and Yuna came into the room, the other six staring straight at her. "I… I did it…" She said, smiling. She looked like she was about to faint, and her steps seemed very unsteady.
Later, all seven of them gathered around as Yuna's character was about to perform her first summoning. She waved the oak staff around in the air, fancy lights and glyphs around her glowing. Halfway through the summoning dance, she felt like she couldn't control herself anymore. She felt like she was watching a movie: someone else was controlling her actions. Suddenly, the staff started to shine, and her eyes showed genuine surprise. The staff shone much like the dressphere clothes did before, and then reshaped itself into a new form: The same exact staff that the High Summoner Yuna had used hundreds of years before. She stared at it in disbelief as she waved it around. This was not part of the act.