This story is based on a rated "T" video game for violence and language.
This fan-fiction is based ten years before the events of Final Fantasy X. All material of Final Fantasy X is property of Squaresoft and Square Enix. The ideas and storyline of Final Fantasy: The Precursor of a Legend is property of B.C. Arnoe. All rights reserved.
A/N: For some of you who had read my first two chapters several months ago, I'm sorry for the delay but after dealing with the stress with High School and loss of weight and dire Illness it had put my focus on he story writing on a dormant hold. In return I have re-written the first chapter, and re-working second chapter, so everything is completely different if you have already read it before posting this.
Any of you who don't know what Final Fantasy X is this is a really good start in understanding the storyline of what the entire plot is about based on the game. This story takes place ten years before the events of Final Fantasy X, when Tidus's father, Jecht is sent into a world known to fans as Spira after having a run in with Sin, and is no in this alternate world a thousand years into the future from his home metropolis Zanarkand. He now has to find his way back home, but encounters problems along the way as he joins up with Braska and Auron...and so the journey begins.
What possessed me to write
this was from the events of the Jecht spheres and how their adventure
intertwined with the present of the video game through these spheres.
With the help of several professional fans of the game FFX I was
inspired by help to write you as I progress through the chapters of
their events. I hope you enjoy this story as much as I enjoy it...
Final Fantasy X:
Precorsor of Legend
By: B.C. Arnoe (Chrono Reaper)
Chapter One
"Hey. If you're sitting there, watching this... It means you're stuck in Spira, like me. You might not know when you'll get back home, but you better not be crying! Although, I guess I'd understand. But you know what? There's a time when you have to stop crying and move on. You'll be fine. Remember, you're my son.
And... Well, uh... Never mind. I'm not good at these things. Anyways... I believe in you. Be good. Goodbye." Jecht ends the recording with tears running down his face.
"I'm sorry Jecht," said Auron.
Jecht stands up in front of Auron avoiding to look directly at him as he wiped the tears from his face. "We should go… Braska is waiting…" He replied as they walked out of the woods.
Every story must have an ending… when I started this journey; I never thought it would end up like this. Things were never like this before…
The metropolis city of Zanarkand, the city that never sleeps…rests at the very north part of the world's edge. With the congestion of people trying to find their way through the labyrinth of streets that spanned literally forever in the city, with buildings which seemed to look like mushrooms sprouting from the ground made of polished stone and steel, frozen in time as they looked not a day old from constant erosion of waterfalls running down them. It was a place for someone to get lost in if they didn't know where they were going.
The smell of summer air was invited with a cool mist coming from water sprites in the distance that seem to sprout from the ocean surface and arch in the air as they propelled back down into the sea were they once came. True night disappeared back into daybreak as the city lights illuminated the sky in an orange glow, letting the city come alive once again.
"How much longer do I have to go through this? It's been hell enough for tryouts, but going against the Duggles isn't a walk in the park," asked a blonde haired blitz player with pale skin, leaning against the railing on a bridge floating a hundred feet above Zanarkand, surrounded by buildings with people crossing.
"The problem with a blitz player like you Zanar is you worry too much! I swear I'm starting to think you're not even a member of this team!'" Jecht refrained across from him as he was spinning a blitzball on the edge of his fingertips. "We can handle it, and if it comes to that, a little bone-breaking competition wouldn't kill anyone."
"You seem pretty sure of yourself."
He paused, "Please would I ever stir you the wrong way?"
"Hey, do you know how to get to the Vivi Stone hotel?" A random person asked with glasses holding hands with his girlfriend.
Jecht could of easily said, "I'm sorry I don't know where that is, may you ask another person?" Instead he replied, "What do I look like an information desk!? Get out of my site!" He exclaimed with annoyance.
The couple obviously scared from the tone he had given to them ran off, leaving the expression on Zanar's face and the conversation to continue.
"I wouldn't think of any other reason than the one I see now."
"I never worry, if it wasn't for me, we would've never gotten this far!" Jecht continued. "Sure you're an adversary blitzball player but you're always relying on me to bail you out."
If you ever looked in the dictionary to find ego, you would find Jecht's name in bold lettering. He's a blitz leader of a team known as the "Abes of Zanarkand", which proudly stand out for being one of the best teams in Zanarkand. His physical appearance made him stand out more as their leader. He had dark hair and tanned skin with tattoos of his team logo covering his upper torso. He wore a half orange trench coat with suspenders draping waste down to his scarred legs and a red bandana around his head.
"Has it always been a competition for you Jecht?"
"Life has always been a competition. When you're on the field you have to focus on the game, otherwise you risk loosing it all, and there's no room for second place. It's there on the field bringing home the cup that matters."
"So anything else would be half-ass huh–"
"Zanar!" Their conversation was interrupted by a female voice.
A female figure ran towards both Zanar and Jecht with excitement managing to almost lose her balance taking her and the two blitz player's with her.
"Tatiana… didn't expect you to be here."
"We are expected to have some competition for once… isn't this exciting?" she said jumping up and down radiantly. Her silky blonde hair seemed to flow with the movements of wind blowing against the blue-yellow jumpsuit flushed against her agile body.
"What are the results?" Jecht asked, wondering whom they will be seeded with in tonight's blitzball tournament.
To a person any other sport compared to blitzball is easy. Basically you are in water filled arena for ten minutes with another team. On each opposite side of the field are two goal nets. The object of the game is to rack up as many points as possible before the time runs out. The only thing that's in the way when scoring those points is getting through the teams multiple technicals. In a game of blitzball there is no rule specifically stating an illegal technical, which makes the sport much more competitive and brutal…sometimes even deadly, matching Jecht's personality down to his bare feet. Something that has been Spira's entertainment since the dawn of time to where it seemed like a religion.
"Our first match is up against the Dougles from C South, than our final match for next week will be header against the Moogles of Monsieur."
"Going up against two of the best teams in Zanarkand…" Zanar rubbed his chin, "now this is going to be interesting…you think our Abes will beat 'em?"
"Not think…we WILL win!" Tatiana exclaimed.
"We've better show up, it's almost time." Jecht said in a confident worry.
Tatiana leaned aside in front of Jecht tilting her head. "When have you started to become the worried type-" She cut herself off after reflecting on their previous event that happened that led the controversy of their star player to be forced into early retirement. "…It's good to leave a good impression if we show up early, whatever came over me…" she laughed with guilt, as she crossed herself with one hand holding the back of her head.
Jecht replied, "What are we waiting for I'm spinning my wheels here."
Nothing much happened in the next ten minutes of their discussion as they head towards the stadium for their match against their two teamed opponents. Most of time Jecht pondered if this was ever going to be easy. The Zanarkand Abes were known for being fierce competitors and for their brute force, and had always won.
They were sure they could beat the Moogles. But that wasn't the thing that bothered him. It was the Duggles, Zanarkand's rival. They have been just as competitive and brutal… something Jecht has been admiral about having on his team.
"We have to beat them… we just gotta." Jecht said to himself as they made their way at the entrance with security pushing back the people as they made their way inside.
The large arena sized stadium was brightly lit with neon lights in the background, followed by crowd of thousands of people seating on the concrete rows of stair benches ascending from more than two hundred feet with clerks carrying boxes of refreshments for high prices eagerly waiting for the game to start. On the screen displayed footage from last week's game with the Abes battling their previous matches with other players. From above the stadium's ceiling opened revealing the night sky pierced with millions of stars and nebulae in the infinites. From below, the teams waited from outside in the tunnels which were not connected until the aquatic field was created.
"We're just about ready?" asked one of the blitz players.
"Everyone except for Jecht," replied Tatiana. He's currently in the locker room getting himself in gear… I already sent Zanar to go down and get him."
Tatiana removed the goggles from her eyes looking out from the corridor opening towards the crowd. "He'd better hurry, they're about to start the field any time now."
Inside the room Jecht was standing with a woman in front of him. She was a bit younger than him wearing a yellow sweatshirt and blue jeans. Her short red hair made her blue eyes stand out like two sapphires in a night with a full moon. Yet a small golden ring fitted around her left ring finger symbolized in marriage that this was Jecht's wife.
"Have you had any luck with talking with them?"
"Not yet and they're not going to force me into retirement that easily…"
"Promise"
"Please, would I ever let you down?"
The sound of the crowd was overheard even from inside the locker room getting louder and louder, Jecht new it was his cue and said. "I have to go…"
"We'll talk later," she replied.
"…It's not like I could blame her, I just couldn't tell her… not now anyway… Besides we had a lot more important things to do than worry about my problems…"
Jecht left the room with no reply but with confidence that what he had to do now was more important than worrying what he had to do after, as Jecht put it "You can't think of anything else in a game of Blitz ball 'cause if you do, that's when you loose…when you play blitz ball you play to win."
Jecht walked half way through the tunnel when he encountered Zanar heading towards them.
"Jecht where the hell you've been, the games about to start."
"Just needed to get something…"
They both walked at the end of the tunnel with the rest of the team waiting.
"…People now tuning in we're here broadcasting live from Zanarkand where the Crystal Cup Tournament is about to unfold. Here tonight the three remaining finalist from last week's tournament will end here with only two teams left to fight for the title of champion. In tonight's tournament Zanarkand's Abes from A East, will challenge the Duggles from C south. Then in the final match that will determine the winner Zanarkand will face off in next weeks match with the Moogles of Monsieur. Three teams, two matches, one Championship… who will bring home the Crystal Cup and be crowned this year's champion of blitzball …"
They were welcomed with overwhelming loud noises of a sea of fan-cheering spectators by the thousands, roaring through cheers as the Zanarkand Abes and their opponent the Duggles, headed out onto a hover platform that brought them to a huge metal ring that hovered a hundred feet in the middle of the stadium. The hollowed out field was about to be created as another arena sized ring spinning from outside it generating a ball of electricity. Inside sparks of intensified electric water began to explode like a supernova creating a wind blast surprising and pushing people back from their seats leaving the liquid to form into the shape of a giant sphere. Lights forming gridline patterns began to appear in the aquatic sphere representing field lines. Then a scoreboard made of light appeared at the middle top with logos of the two current blitz teams for the first match.
"Feeling a bit nervous, Jecht?" Asked Tatiana
"Should I?" Jecht replied, "Frankly you're starting to worry me… Are you able to play?"
Tatiana replied, "It's too late to call quits now… After all we went through to get to where we are now."
Jecht and Tatiana were the first ones to enter the sphere feeling a bit of a shock from the static electricity produced from the force field. The rest of the team entered the sphere pool suspended fifty feet above the base of the stadium. The opponents entering from the opposite side of the field looking intimidated to win against their Abes.
With both teams in the sphere they already showed signs of intimidation doing whatever they can to get a clear advantage. They began to get in position to get ready for their first serve. The Duggles team leader crossing over to the other side brushed aside Jecht with little communication to go around inside a field of water, punching him in the kidney with the referee not seeing it as he turned to side.
Jecht returned catching up to him punching him in the back of the neck sending their leader in an awful dizzy spell. Even though the referee didn't catch it, it was clearly caught by the crowd's attention and on camera being shown to the public sphere sets at home who were unfortunate to not join replying boos and hisses for poor sportsmanship from both players.
"They're already starting to go at it folks, they seem pretty intimidated to win… and they don't look like their holding back."
The fight carried on for a few seconds before their teammates pulled them away from each other, Zanarkand's Abes watched two of their members, and Zanar and Tatiana restrained Jecht from hitting any further before it had cost the game. Setting themselves up in formation Jecht was front and center on the left-side of the field, with Tatiana and Zanar front-left and right with the remaining two players forming last with the team forming in a V-like position. Their goalie, put on his leather blue gloves and forming his goalie stance.
Jecht was staring back at the star player front and center flipping the bird and the opponent responding with an evil grin on his face like he had something up his sleeve. Within moments the buzzer rang with the scores reset zero to zero, the game was about to start.
Seconds later, words started to appear on the board saying, "BLITSOFF!" and below them a blitz ball shot up from beneath them at the center of the field. Both team leaders who were closer to the ball than their teammates, reached to receive the ball, but in the end the Duggles leader didn't stand a chance with Jecht's speed through the water and quickly grabbed the ball. The leader quickly tried to put a hold on him but failed miserably with a forceful punch to the face braking away free from him taking it as deep as possible into the opponent's side of the field.
"Jecht passes the ball to Tatiana, and it is a complete pass…"
Immediately after Jecht passed the ball he was pummeled by two guards protecting the goal netting, leaving Tatiana open from above the sphere getting a clear view of the net. With right timing she performed a downward summersault kick on the ball sending it down like a meteor falling out of the sky.
"She shoots… Goooooaaaaaaalllll!!!" replied the sportscaster. "blitz player Tatiana scored the first point for Abes one to nothing against Duggles."
"This sure is the beginning of a good start for a rookie player, with this being Tatiana's first season of Blitzball, I wouldn't be surprised if she brought the team home with the cup."
After scoring the first point, by default it was the Duggles turn to get the ball next, and they had paid no hesitation with replying a comeback. The Abes tried setting themselves with a perimeter center block to prevent their opponents advancing but were surprised to find the person holding was rather difficult to stop as he had high agility moving through the water getting himself close enough to pass the ball back to his left side teammate and drove a shot into their net with their goalie.
"The Duggles make a come-back putting them with Abes one to one."
The two minutes in their next follow through as the Abes got the ball from default, went to waste with both teams keeping it tight in between their timing and defense from getting any further from their goal nets. Zanar swam at the end of the Duggle's side of the field grabbing the loose ball from one of the opponent's fumbling from a hard knee into the stomach.
Zanar inverted his axis upside down while strafing closer to the net and spun around to his side charging his kick. The ball dropped to the tip of his shoe as his leg lunged forward to deliver the kick, when the goalie came up forth at him. Zanar let go from himself from the ball dodging the player elbowing him and performed forward somersaulting over the player with the ball flowing below both of them and kicked of from the players back thrusting him forward grabbing onto the ball, slamming it into the net. Breaking the tie with the Abes in the lead by a point; three seconds before halftime.
"And it's halftime with Abes two to nothing,"
"The Abes are doing great…they might win this match folks."
In the locker room the six players rested on the benches with bruises covering portions of their limbs and body. None of them however complained about it after getting used to playing it hundreds of times. Jecht was standing in front of his team giving his lecture.
"We came here to win… and after beating every team in Zanarkand we have proven ourselves pretty well that we're not going home second place… When we get back on there I want all of you to give them hell, I don't care what you do just do what it takes to win… Do I make myself clear?
The entire team replied, "Cap'n!"
"Let's blitz!"
"HU-AH!" The team went back to the opening of the locker room, which took them back to the sphere.
The beginning of the second half started with the Duggles getting a hold of the ball. In this reaction in Jecht's mind he and his team played defense while is center right and left field players went a head in an attempt to intercept. Both players were bull rushed to the side both in holds while the opposing team leader made a long pass to his right field player who was deep into the Abes's side of the field. As the ball came towards one of their players he performed a backward summersault and kicked the ball making a fast shot into the net with their goalie unable to catch the ball.
"Hold on a minute it seems that the Duggles aren't finished yet, just when we thought the Duggles were goners they pulled a miracle and are still in this evening the score with only a minute and thirty seconds left on the clock.
The struggle of two teams continued with Tatiana intercepting the ball from the player after it was stolen from their left field player. In her field of vision she saw three people guarding the goal and two people heading towards her getting ready to tackle.
Zanar at her left on the other side of the field gave a wave at one of the team members to provide her cover as Jecht came from beneath her heading towards the opponent's field goal. She arched her back with her knee in the air and with the ball in her left hand she made a long pass to Jecht before the two players tackled her.
Jecht knew the ball was coming at him at a high velocity he had to swim faster in order to catch the ball before the Duggles got a hold of it. The opposing leader stole the ball with Jecht from the middle field chased after him. Seeing as if time slowed down Jecht elbowed a hard tackle to the opponent. The force was so powerful the blow forced him out of the sphere falling somewhat ten feet before falling onto some empty seats near the crowd of a few spectators in the east block.
"Ooh, he'll be feeling that in the morning!"
"The Abes are showing some terrific defense in this second half."
Jecht grabbed the ball and swam deep into the enemies' side of the field, along with his entire team.
"What is going on here?! The Abes are going an all-out offensive…"
"This is suicide what does Jecht have up his sleeve?"
The Duggles were frantic and went after Jecht…something that Jecht had expected them to do and sprung his trap. Zanar and Tatiana, Jecht's center left and right field players blocked the first two players. The other two players were surprised and confused swimming upward to avoid the block with the second right and left field players closely chasing after them.
"In some confusion by the Duggles, from Zanarkand's Abes's unpredictable offensive attack made a huge lead."
Jecht was left only with the goalie which left is net charging at him. It was then Jecht was ready to perform one of his famous signature moves. Jecht stopped swimming and kicked the ball hitting the goalie hard in the gut and ricocheting back to him taking the goalie out of the equation. The goal net now open and the blitz ball coming at him he spun around like a top so fast that other players saw him as a blur. The ball now only an arm length away he delivered a powerful spin kick from his motion sending it strait towards the net.
"Unbelievable! Jecht pulled of his signature move; The Sublimely Magnificent Jecht shot Mark III… Just listen the crowd is going wild."
"And with the Abes now in a point lead with only two minutes left on the clock it will take a miracle for the Abes to loose now."
"You can say that again."
Thirty seconds remained on the clock with the score three to two. Obviously the game was in the Abes's favor, but Jecht wasn't going to leave the score like that, In his mind he wanted to dominate them crush them in a humiliating defeat so the next time they play blitz they'll know they were branded in defeat for all of history.
"I'm not finished with them yet… not by a long shot." He said to himself.
As the ball shot up the team was going in on defense knowing full well that they were going to win and attempt to hold the score until the time end. But as soon as Jecht got the ball his team was surprised to find himself going in for another point. In the minds of the other players who were in confusion of what was going on, Jecht was weaving around the players trying to tackle him completely neglecting the managers play through.
"What is Jecht doing… he seems to ignore the play through and attempt at another goal."
"It seems he hasn't had enough and is trying to crush his opposing team in a miserable defeat, whatever the outcome this proves to be one of the most insane moves ever seen in blitz ball."
When he got to the net two players were guarding. Jecht again performed the Jecht shot as the ball was sent hitting both of the players and then ricocheting back as Jecht delivered a fast spin kick with the goalie unable to block it. The fans cheers were getting much louder as their entertainment came to a close with the time rang out leaving The Abes two points ahead from their previous lead leaving the score four to two.
The game ended and people started to leave the stadium. Jecht's team couldn't believe that they had dominated the Duggles, Zanarkand's undefeated champion. It made Jecht almost forget about all the other victories that they've won in the past. What mattered to Jecht was that this outs them in place with the Moogles in next weeks match, which compared to the Duggles is a piece a cake.
That night I've felt closer to winning the Crystal Cup than ever before…so close I could feel the cold piece pressing against the palm of my hand… and everything was going to be fine. It never crossed my mind if anything were to happen to me…
Night was only the beginning of the day in Zanarkand, night was the only time were a lot of people roamed around doing whatever they wanted to do to have fun. Near the shores of Zanarkand Jecht was on the deck of his boathouse alone.
He stared out into the beautiful scene of the city, brightly lit up at night. Even with the pollution of light, the sea of stars was clearly seen along with the many docks and bodies of water surrounding the buildings in a calm mixture of blue and yellow.
"How was the game hun?" asked his wife coming towards Jecht standing at his side wrapping her arm around his.
"Next week we'll be facing off the Moogles in the final match in the tournament."
She nodded in reply, "Of course I have faith that you will beat them."
"See? So I told him what I thought of him, right there!" replied Jecht with a cocky grin over his face.
"Really?"
"'Course!"
"I suppose, but..." she paused and leaned over to kiss Jecht.
"Mommy..." There private conversation was interrupted with the sound of their seven-year-old son with blonde hair, yellow shorts and blue sweatshirt.
"Just a sec, dear."
"I'm hoping I won't have any more problems from the media because of tonight's victory."
"Everything will be fine. Problems seem to solve on their own so long as you leave them alone."
"Your right."
"Mommy..." his son replied once more.
"Just a sec, dear."
"Ah, go to him. He'll cry if you don't." he said in frustration.
Jecht's wife gave him one more kiss and said, "Good night and went back inside to tend to their son.
"Be right there Tidus," Jecht heard her voice muffled from inside of the house.
If I knew this was going to be the last time we were going to talk like this… I would have said something with more closure… I wonder what she is doing now…
The break of morning rose with the sun peaking over the horizon creating a red aura spreading across the blue sky as if it were on fire. The smell of the sea invited the calm waves and tides that made small clashes near the harbor doing little to disturb anything in its early wake.
In his mind Jecht sought this as a perfect way to get some training done for their next match and got out of bed leaving his wife and son to sleep leaving a small note next to his wife's dresser saying, "Training at sea for a while… L8r".
At the edge of the harbor Jecht was doing a few warm ups doing some stretches before performing underwater swimming. He then reflected what had happened last night… why he did what he did in that match… It wasn't because he wanted to he did it to save his career, something he didn't want public.
Some people were very skeptical of what would happen to their star player… a true legend in flesh and blood, were to disappear, or at least that's what he had heard from his family and team players. He knew if he didn't want that to happen, to loose his edge and have him forced to retire, he had to prove them wrong.
When Jecht was finished… he took one look back at the scenery of his life metropolis, and dove into the water, swimming under the current to void the rip tide from pulling him in and there found his peace at sea as he trained promising himself that he wouldn't head back till his arms start to hurt. It was there underwater, under the immense pressure as he dove deeper… the only thing he could think of… was his team. Moments started to pass by and his envision clouded, reflecting back to events that happened during the midst of his career.
In the locker room he saw himself with Tatiana, walking into the room heading towards Jecht who was holding a blitz ball passing the time as he spun it at the edge of his fingertip. He soon stopped to notice the look of her face, pale… and yet petrified. Jecht didn't know what to think of it as he stopped spinning the ball when she had shown her face both having sharp eye contact with each other with deep seriousness.
"This is a Joke right?" she said hysterically trying to hold herself from laughing. "I heard that they are retiring you… What the hell is going on here?
"It's not of any of your business to know more about me than you should…"
"Don't feed me that crap, why are the media saying that you are going to retire…"
"Let them say whatever the hell they want," he replied drinking out of a flask.
Tatiana already knew by the smell of his breath Jecht was drinking. Her eyes were dilated in surprise to see him back drinking again.
"Are…are you…"
The cloud disappeared, and the memory along with it was lost at sea. Jecht stopped for a moment to calm down. Then something in the distance two figures in silhouette seem to appear, coming closer to him. As they got closer they appeared as two dolphins fleeing, passing by him.
"What is going on?" he said to himself.
Then as of some nightmare several aquatic creatures started to appear, which looked more like cocoons with serrated teeth on its back swimming after Jecht, as he tried to flee from them. Jecht had no weapons to fight but the blitz ball he carried with him to train. He saw himself at another battle… except this time it was to the death. With his ball he threw it at these "fiends" that were in his range. The ball ricocheted back to him catching the ball and continuing the barrage of attacks until he had killed them.
A few minutes passed before he had the upper hand of things… then out of nowhere a giant monster jelly fish creature appeared, grabbing him from behind stinging him from the pile of venom being shot to his system.
Jecht was feeling the full grip of his enemy squeezing the life out of him. He couldn't do anything but pray that his prey would soon let go of his victim. Then…strangely enough he saw a bright light appear from above him… he didn't know if this where either the sign of death he was looking upon or the zenith of the bright sun reaching its mid day. But then it got brighter engulfing him to where he was no longer in the grip of his predator, falling unconscious. As of a miracle he escaped with his very life, and fell into his vision of dreams, as he had no clue, not knowing where this light was taking him…
