Chapter 1: All Stories have a Beginning
A yellow sun sets in the sky as the curtain of night is closed. Everyone's here sitting solemnly around a fire, even him and her, a pair made for all to see. He starts to move and rises slowly from his spot and walks over to her spot and touches her shoulder, she didn't need to turn, she new who it was but she did it anyways; wisp of her hair floating as she turned her head; smiling at him with warmth and a fading hope. He continues in his crescent path to a hill, a hill over looking the stars above a city of ruins swirled with lights of darkness and intrigue, floating around in a rhythmic pattern. This is his story; I'll let him tell it...
"Listen to my story."
"This may be our last chance to hear it."
Away, far from this place, but closer then would be thought there lays a city at rest in the night; Zanarkand, the amazing city of machina. Several people are gathering around, talking to each other, they all sound pretty excited. Believe it or not they where all gathering to see me play. Everyone was calling my name, asking for autographs or photos, the ladies shouted and cheered, the kids sigh and stared with amazement as I approached them, Ironically they where blocking my path so I stopped and listened to them.
"Can you sign this?"
One of the kids had held out a blitzball
"No prob!" I said. After that another small kid held up his blitzball.
"Please!" he said.
Me being the nice guy that I was I said "Alrighty." Strangely it seemed as the more I signed the more I had to sign.
"Me, too!" said another little kid holding out his ball
"Take it easy." I said because they were on the verge of swallowing me. Well I signed the ball and walked off towards a pair of girls holding their own blitzballs' one was in pink the other in blue. Both of them asked me for an autograph and I couldn't refuse, so I said
"Of course!" one hand me her ball and when I finished the other one handed me hers and said
"Good luck tonight!"
"Nothing to worry about!" I replied and I spun the ball on my fingers and gave it back to her, and to impress them I said.
"Oh, if I score a goal...I'll do this!" (I should them some had gesture I made up.)
"That will mean it was for you, okay?" both of them giggled as I asked for their seat.
"East block, in the front row!" they said in unison, "Fifth from the right!"
"Got it!" I responded. I left them after and found myself surrounded by blitzball fans as far as the eye could see, with one kid trying to balance a blitzball on his forehead.
"Well, gotta go! Cheer for me!" I said as I heard one, two, three, in the back ground.
"Teach us how to blitz!" said a pair of kids in unison.
"Hey, I got a game to play!"
"Then teach us after!"
"Maybe tonight...um...well..." I replied as a short mysterious person I think I saw before came from behind me, but strangely I think no one else could see or hear him except for me.
"You can't tonight." Said the stranger
"I mean...tomorrow."
"Promise?"
"Promise!" is what I told those kids.
On the way to the stadium I saw a billboard and I stared at it intently. It was of my old man, he was wearing his usual red bandana. I started running as I heard the commentator begin to talk.
"I was in a coffee shop, running away from home when I heard the news. Our hero, Jecht, gone, vanished into thin air! My dad must have been his biggest fan. I knew how sad he'd be. Heck, we all were that day. Zanar..." I said to myself "What are you thinking? I went running straight back home. We, my mom and I sat up talking 'bout Jecht all night. My dad and I never talked so much. Sorry folks didn't mean to reminisce, well to day is that day, today marks the 10th anniversary of the great blitzballer Jechts' disappearance and the league is holding the Jecht Memorial Cup tournament. There are two teams competing in the finals the Abes from A-East and the Duggles from the C-South."
"I know there are a lot of people out there today to see the star of the Abes!" said the commentator
"In just one year, he's become the team's number one player!"
"He has Jechts blood, and the new hope of blitzball! What kind of a super play will he show us today?"
"Will we see his father's legendary shot? I don't think I'm the only one excited here, folks!"
I approached the blitzball stadium. Tons of screaming fans approach me.
"Make way, make way! Coming through, sorry! Hey, I'm gonna be late! Hey, let go of me!" Some how I managed to run into the stadium.
Well anyways there I sat alone in a pool of water, with my eyes closed. When I opened my eyes I saw a ball of energy in the middle of a demi-circle begins to expand. Flocks of people enter the stadium. I stood up, much to the enjoyment of the fans, as they cheer. I didn't now it at the time but there was a mysterious man on a high rise, it looked like he was calling something, turned out it was a massive tidal wave approaching Zanarkand, while back at the stadium the Blitzball match was starting; much brawling and passing occurred.
The fans were cheering. I had knocked someone of the other team out of the water into the stands. Soon after my team, the Abes, had scored; the score was now 1-0. The fans were cheering even more. The ball was released and everyone rushed towards the loose ball. I jumped into the air, above the sphere of water, as the ball was sent up out of the water towards me by a fellow team-mate. I prepared to do one of my many signature moves, the bicycle kick, when I saw it, the massive tidal wave, it had been pulled into a ball of water and it was being led by the mysterious man.
The mysterious, floating ball of water had sent out dozens of huge mystical energy bullets which cut through all of the building in Zanarkand like butter. Everything was engulfed in smoke, water, and mist. Due to the shock of having a couple of those bullets nearly go through me I had almost fallen to my death when I snapped out of my dream like state and reached out just in time to grab and hang onto a girder above the stadium, as the stadium below was destroyed and engulfed in water. But the strain of holding onto that girder after a tremendous fall was to great, I fell and was lucky enough to land in the residual water from the stadium or I would have died.
There I was lying on the ground stunned from the fall, I was in a state of paralysis as I saw dozens of fans running away for their lives, fleeing the now destroyed, soaking wet stadium. Tidus stood up once I regained feeling and began to run away as well, it was then when I saw a man clothed in red from the corner of my eye, someone mysterious yet familiar, I called out to him.
"Auron! What are you doing here?"
"I was waiting for you." He replied
"What are you talking about?" Auron started to walk away so I followed because it wasn't like I had a better choice. As I followed Auron, moving around aimlessly through the streets, I noticed that everyone was running madly through the streets of Zanarkand, but what I really noticed was that all of a sudden, time itself froze; only I was moving. There I stood looks around frantically, when the short mysterious person from earlier appeared again.
"It begins." He said
"wha?" I replied
"Don't cry." Just then time unfroze and I was there standing as if nothing happened.
"What the...?" I said, "Hey! Wait up Auron! Hey man, we're going the wrong way!"
"Look!" he coolly replied. I did as he said and to my amazement I looked up and saw the large ball of water hovering over Zanarkand, but it was strange, I could see something inside of it, something alive.
"We called it "Sin"."
""Sin?"" I responded in a confused manor.
Just then tentacles smashed out of a nearby building and hundreds of small pods eject from the tentacles scattering everywhere, landing on the ground. Slowly each pod opened and extended their wings and appeared to be some sort of oversized bug creatures which surround Auron and I in a demi- circle. I aimlessly tried to fight them off with my hands, but they were stronger then expected and fell backwards in defeat. Auron helped me up from the ground and gave me something to help my cause.
"Take it." Auron handed me a long red sword with a curved hooked blade on the tip. I took it from him and held it up, but the immense weight caused my arm to buckle and nearly made me fall.
"A gift from Jecht." Auron said
"My old man?"
I moved forward, swinging my new found blade. The bizarre creatures moved backwards and so did I falls
"I hope you know how to use it." Auron said.
We began our battle with the foes but no matter how many we defeated more kept coming and coming, it seemed endless.
"These ones don't matter. We cut through!" we continued to kill more bugs but more kept coming. "Don't bother going after all of them. Cut the ones that matter, and run!" commanded Auron.
We kept cutting and passing by the ones in our way. Only the ones that mattered had been drummed into my skull. We kept fighting but there were too many to beat, they kept coming. Not to much later we heard this loud noise that drew our attention. When we arrived to the epi-centre of the sound, we had come face to face with a gigantic, dark monster with tentacles everywhere. It was surrounded by a few more of the bugs; it appeared that they were coming from the darkened squid. We were surrounded and were forced to battle. Auron and I eventually defeat them all. We both continued running, why it was in the wrong way I had no idea. We had arrived at the billboard of my old man.
"What are you laughing at, old man?" I muttered "Auron! Let's get out of here!"
"We're expected." said Auron as he continued to run off
"Huh? Gimme a break, man!"
I followed him to find that we were being surrounded by more small pods which hatched into the bugs.
"Hmph. This could be bad." Said Auron while surveyed a piece of machinery.
"That--knock it down!" he said
"What?" I replied
"Trust me. You'll see." replied Auron.
We kept hacking away at the machine. The more we hit it, the more it crackled with energy and eventually, it exploded. It fell under the bridge, creating a massive explosion that destroyed all the bugs. The building holding my old mans billboard lost its foundation and fell over destroying a large section of the bridge.
"Go!" commanded Auron
We ran as fast as we could along the up side of the falling building, there was no way out now we were half way across and the building had already started to fall apart. Auron and I made a huge leap and were lucky enough to grab onto the edge of a broken part of the road, which was tilted upward. I hung onto the ledge. While Auron stood above me starring at me while I struggled to pull myself up.
"Auron!"
"Auron!" I called. As I called out to Auron Sin had floated over head of Auron and I, it was so close I could see inside Sins barrier of water very clearly, there appeared to be a large wormhole inside drawing everything around it inside. Strangely Auron just plainly looked up at it and just stared.
"You are sure?" mumbled Auron. He looks back at me.
"This is it." Is what he said as he picked me up by the collar of my shirt.
"This is your story. It all begins here."
"Hey! Hey!" I shouted but Auron seemed to be sucked into the wormhole with everything else, he just left me there screaming, I felt as if was being torn apart limb by limb, stretched pasted my limits. Then everything went white and slowly the color of the world's pallet came into focus. Everything seemed perfectly normal, except for a huge pillar of flame in front of me.
"My...old man?" I said, not knowing why I said it. I floated down slowly in this very surreal version of Zanarkand...
"I thought about a lot of things..."
"like where I was, what I'd got myself into."
"I started to feel light-headed... and then, sleepy." "I think I had a dream."
"A dream of being alone."
"I wanted someone--anyone, beside me..."
"so I didn't have to feel alone anymore."
A yellow sun sets in the sky as the curtain of night is closed. Everyone's here sitting solemnly around a fire, even him and her, a pair made for all to see. He starts to move and rises slowly from his spot and walks over to her spot and touches her shoulder, she didn't need to turn, she new who it was but she did it anyways; wisp of her hair floating as she turned her head; smiling at him with warmth and a fading hope. He continues in his crescent path to a hill, a hill over looking the stars above a city of ruins swirled with lights of darkness and intrigue, floating around in a rhythmic pattern. This is his story; I'll let him tell it...
"Listen to my story."
"This may be our last chance to hear it."
Away, far from this place, but closer then would be thought there lays a city at rest in the night; Zanarkand, the amazing city of machina. Several people are gathering around, talking to each other, they all sound pretty excited. Believe it or not they where all gathering to see me play. Everyone was calling my name, asking for autographs or photos, the ladies shouted and cheered, the kids sigh and stared with amazement as I approached them, Ironically they where blocking my path so I stopped and listened to them.
"Can you sign this?"
One of the kids had held out a blitzball
"No prob!" I said. After that another small kid held up his blitzball.
"Please!" he said.
Me being the nice guy that I was I said "Alrighty." Strangely it seemed as the more I signed the more I had to sign.
"Me, too!" said another little kid holding out his ball
"Take it easy." I said because they were on the verge of swallowing me. Well I signed the ball and walked off towards a pair of girls holding their own blitzballs' one was in pink the other in blue. Both of them asked me for an autograph and I couldn't refuse, so I said
"Of course!" one hand me her ball and when I finished the other one handed me hers and said
"Good luck tonight!"
"Nothing to worry about!" I replied and I spun the ball on my fingers and gave it back to her, and to impress them I said.
"Oh, if I score a goal...I'll do this!" (I should them some had gesture I made up.)
"That will mean it was for you, okay?" both of them giggled as I asked for their seat.
"East block, in the front row!" they said in unison, "Fifth from the right!"
"Got it!" I responded. I left them after and found myself surrounded by blitzball fans as far as the eye could see, with one kid trying to balance a blitzball on his forehead.
"Well, gotta go! Cheer for me!" I said as I heard one, two, three, in the back ground.
"Teach us how to blitz!" said a pair of kids in unison.
"Hey, I got a game to play!"
"Then teach us after!"
"Maybe tonight...um...well..." I replied as a short mysterious person I think I saw before came from behind me, but strangely I think no one else could see or hear him except for me.
"You can't tonight." Said the stranger
"I mean...tomorrow."
"Promise?"
"Promise!" is what I told those kids.
On the way to the stadium I saw a billboard and I stared at it intently. It was of my old man, he was wearing his usual red bandana. I started running as I heard the commentator begin to talk.
"I was in a coffee shop, running away from home when I heard the news. Our hero, Jecht, gone, vanished into thin air! My dad must have been his biggest fan. I knew how sad he'd be. Heck, we all were that day. Zanar..." I said to myself "What are you thinking? I went running straight back home. We, my mom and I sat up talking 'bout Jecht all night. My dad and I never talked so much. Sorry folks didn't mean to reminisce, well to day is that day, today marks the 10th anniversary of the great blitzballer Jechts' disappearance and the league is holding the Jecht Memorial Cup tournament. There are two teams competing in the finals the Abes from A-East and the Duggles from the C-South."
"I know there are a lot of people out there today to see the star of the Abes!" said the commentator
"In just one year, he's become the team's number one player!"
"He has Jechts blood, and the new hope of blitzball! What kind of a super play will he show us today?"
"Will we see his father's legendary shot? I don't think I'm the only one excited here, folks!"
I approached the blitzball stadium. Tons of screaming fans approach me.
"Make way, make way! Coming through, sorry! Hey, I'm gonna be late! Hey, let go of me!" Some how I managed to run into the stadium.
Well anyways there I sat alone in a pool of water, with my eyes closed. When I opened my eyes I saw a ball of energy in the middle of a demi-circle begins to expand. Flocks of people enter the stadium. I stood up, much to the enjoyment of the fans, as they cheer. I didn't now it at the time but there was a mysterious man on a high rise, it looked like he was calling something, turned out it was a massive tidal wave approaching Zanarkand, while back at the stadium the Blitzball match was starting; much brawling and passing occurred.
The fans were cheering. I had knocked someone of the other team out of the water into the stands. Soon after my team, the Abes, had scored; the score was now 1-0. The fans were cheering even more. The ball was released and everyone rushed towards the loose ball. I jumped into the air, above the sphere of water, as the ball was sent up out of the water towards me by a fellow team-mate. I prepared to do one of my many signature moves, the bicycle kick, when I saw it, the massive tidal wave, it had been pulled into a ball of water and it was being led by the mysterious man.
The mysterious, floating ball of water had sent out dozens of huge mystical energy bullets which cut through all of the building in Zanarkand like butter. Everything was engulfed in smoke, water, and mist. Due to the shock of having a couple of those bullets nearly go through me I had almost fallen to my death when I snapped out of my dream like state and reached out just in time to grab and hang onto a girder above the stadium, as the stadium below was destroyed and engulfed in water. But the strain of holding onto that girder after a tremendous fall was to great, I fell and was lucky enough to land in the residual water from the stadium or I would have died.
There I was lying on the ground stunned from the fall, I was in a state of paralysis as I saw dozens of fans running away for their lives, fleeing the now destroyed, soaking wet stadium. Tidus stood up once I regained feeling and began to run away as well, it was then when I saw a man clothed in red from the corner of my eye, someone mysterious yet familiar, I called out to him.
"Auron! What are you doing here?"
"I was waiting for you." He replied
"What are you talking about?" Auron started to walk away so I followed because it wasn't like I had a better choice. As I followed Auron, moving around aimlessly through the streets, I noticed that everyone was running madly through the streets of Zanarkand, but what I really noticed was that all of a sudden, time itself froze; only I was moving. There I stood looks around frantically, when the short mysterious person from earlier appeared again.
"It begins." He said
"wha?" I replied
"Don't cry." Just then time unfroze and I was there standing as if nothing happened.
"What the...?" I said, "Hey! Wait up Auron! Hey man, we're going the wrong way!"
"Look!" he coolly replied. I did as he said and to my amazement I looked up and saw the large ball of water hovering over Zanarkand, but it was strange, I could see something inside of it, something alive.
"We called it "Sin"."
""Sin?"" I responded in a confused manor.
Just then tentacles smashed out of a nearby building and hundreds of small pods eject from the tentacles scattering everywhere, landing on the ground. Slowly each pod opened and extended their wings and appeared to be some sort of oversized bug creatures which surround Auron and I in a demi- circle. I aimlessly tried to fight them off with my hands, but they were stronger then expected and fell backwards in defeat. Auron helped me up from the ground and gave me something to help my cause.
"Take it." Auron handed me a long red sword with a curved hooked blade on the tip. I took it from him and held it up, but the immense weight caused my arm to buckle and nearly made me fall.
"A gift from Jecht." Auron said
"My old man?"
I moved forward, swinging my new found blade. The bizarre creatures moved backwards and so did I falls
"I hope you know how to use it." Auron said.
We began our battle with the foes but no matter how many we defeated more kept coming and coming, it seemed endless.
"These ones don't matter. We cut through!" we continued to kill more bugs but more kept coming. "Don't bother going after all of them. Cut the ones that matter, and run!" commanded Auron.
We kept cutting and passing by the ones in our way. Only the ones that mattered had been drummed into my skull. We kept fighting but there were too many to beat, they kept coming. Not to much later we heard this loud noise that drew our attention. When we arrived to the epi-centre of the sound, we had come face to face with a gigantic, dark monster with tentacles everywhere. It was surrounded by a few more of the bugs; it appeared that they were coming from the darkened squid. We were surrounded and were forced to battle. Auron and I eventually defeat them all. We both continued running, why it was in the wrong way I had no idea. We had arrived at the billboard of my old man.
"What are you laughing at, old man?" I muttered "Auron! Let's get out of here!"
"We're expected." said Auron as he continued to run off
"Huh? Gimme a break, man!"
I followed him to find that we were being surrounded by more small pods which hatched into the bugs.
"Hmph. This could be bad." Said Auron while surveyed a piece of machinery.
"That--knock it down!" he said
"What?" I replied
"Trust me. You'll see." replied Auron.
We kept hacking away at the machine. The more we hit it, the more it crackled with energy and eventually, it exploded. It fell under the bridge, creating a massive explosion that destroyed all the bugs. The building holding my old mans billboard lost its foundation and fell over destroying a large section of the bridge.
"Go!" commanded Auron
We ran as fast as we could along the up side of the falling building, there was no way out now we were half way across and the building had already started to fall apart. Auron and I made a huge leap and were lucky enough to grab onto the edge of a broken part of the road, which was tilted upward. I hung onto the ledge. While Auron stood above me starring at me while I struggled to pull myself up.
"Auron!"
"Auron!" I called. As I called out to Auron Sin had floated over head of Auron and I, it was so close I could see inside Sins barrier of water very clearly, there appeared to be a large wormhole inside drawing everything around it inside. Strangely Auron just plainly looked up at it and just stared.
"You are sure?" mumbled Auron. He looks back at me.
"This is it." Is what he said as he picked me up by the collar of my shirt.
"This is your story. It all begins here."
"Hey! Hey!" I shouted but Auron seemed to be sucked into the wormhole with everything else, he just left me there screaming, I felt as if was being torn apart limb by limb, stretched pasted my limits. Then everything went white and slowly the color of the world's pallet came into focus. Everything seemed perfectly normal, except for a huge pillar of flame in front of me.
"My...old man?" I said, not knowing why I said it. I floated down slowly in this very surreal version of Zanarkand...
"I thought about a lot of things..."
"like where I was, what I'd got myself into."
"I started to feel light-headed... and then, sleepy." "I think I had a dream."
"A dream of being alone."
"I wanted someone--anyone, beside me..."
"so I didn't have to feel alone anymore."