Tidus wore horrible coffee coloured overalls with the top half folded down by his waist showing off his muscular torso. He was immensely hot and dripping with sweat. He slumped down onto the torn, dirty and cock-roach infested mattress in the corner of his cell and rest his back upon the hard and gritty surface of the prison wall.

His stomach moaned loudly. He was so hungry. Prison food came in poor quality and small portions. He was not used to eating such a minimum amount of food. In his blitz ball days he would eat anything and everything, as back then he needed the energy for his sport. But now times had changed, he was no longer a blitz ball star and he would probably never play blitz ball again. He had been charged with racketeering or 'point-shaving' as most people called it and was banned from blitz ball and now doing a five year sentence in jail.

The blazing sun forced its way through the metallic bars of the cell window and onto Tidus' face, forcing him to squint and move into the shadows. Then came heavy footsteps from outside his cell and a horrible high pitched clang and Tidus instantly knew it was Drika, the overweight guard who loved to hit his truncheon against the cell bars just to piss off all the prisoners.

Drika was not only well known for his size but also his bushy, grey handle bar moustache and his oddly coloured eyes – one green, the other red. His skin was rosy pink and covered in freckles. He was short and fat; he ate vast quantities and seemed to get bigger everyday as his black uniform trousers and cream shirt always just looked that little bit tighter with each new day you saw him. There was always a low groan from the inmates every time Drika was around – nobody liked him.

Drika passed Tidus' cell slowly, having a leisurely and rather nosy look in. Tidus pretended not to notice – he did not want to see that ugly face. Drika hit his truncheon against the bars and yelled, "Tidus! Put your goddamn overalls on properly! Stop showing off your abs, you're making us all feel fat!"

Tidus glared at the fat man, but reluctantly did as he was told. The guard smiled smugly to himself and then continued his journey along the corridor and began whistling some tuneless song. He had to stop every now and then to catch his breath, as walking and whistling at the same time was an intense workout for him.

Tidus sighed and slid his back down the wall and onto the grotty mattress. He undid his overalls once again, "Ty!" a camp voice whispered from the opposite cell. "Ty! Can you hear me?"

Tidus lifted his head from the mattress. "What is it Lenny?"

Lenny was a handsome black man with skin that shone like ebony. He was effeminate and quite obviously homosexual. His body was short yet athletic and was not a dissimilar build to Tidus. His hair was a short buzz cut and he had a faint goatee gradually appearing on his face. Drika had clearly not spotted that Lenny was just in his boxers when he had passed the cells.

"Come here," gently whispered Lenny.

Tidus dragged himself out of his bed and approached the bars of his cell door. It was only when he rested his head against the bars to get a proper look into Lenny's cell did he realise his handsome inmate was only in his underwear.

"Lenny!" Tidus chuckled. "Put some clothes on for God's sake!"

Lenny smugly smiled. "Oh come on Ty, you're loving it really."

Tidus smirked. "Suppose so."

"When we are on a break, do you wanna hit the laundry room again?" asked Lenny with a twinkle in his eye.

Tidus half smiled. "Maybe not this time Len…I've got stuff on my mind. I just need some time to myself."

Lenny looked disappointed. "Well…do you at least wanna talk about it?"

"No…don't worry Len, I'll be alright," replied Tidus as he gradually stumbled back onto his bed.

Lenny still held onto the bars of his cell door and squeezed his small head through the gap. "Remember, no matter what people say, I'm still gonna love your point shaving ass!"

Tidus yawned, he was all of a sudden sleepy. "Thank you Lenny, I appreciate your support…but please don't call me that again."

Lenny pulled his head back through the bars. "Sorry Ty."

"Now quit bothering me!" Tidus replied in a playful tone.

Later, in the evening at about ten o'clock, the guards came by the cells to do the standard routine of calling, "Lights out," and ordering all prisoners to get into their beds. As he did every night, Tidus got into his filthy bed and pulled the rugged duvet over him. However, this time he made sure he did not get comfortable, he wanted to be wide awake, as tonight he was planning to escape. A couple of hours had passed and still Tidus' eyes were wide open; he glanced at this watch and saw that it was exactly midnight. It was time to move.

For the passed year and a half of being stuck in jail, Tidus had been slyly dislodging several bricks on his wall with a broken bit of sword he had managed to smuggle in with him. Now, finally he dislodged enough bricks to make a small gap which he could fit through, which would lead him to the outside. Of course, breaking free from his cell and into the outside was one thing but escaping off the island was another thing entirely.

The prison was located on the small island of Invercott, which was approximately 70 miles north east from the coast of Zanarkand. All that was there on the island was the prison and the only people that came to and left from it were either prisoners or the guards. It was a lonely and isolated place to be locked up and Tidus hated it.

He poked his head through the bars of his cell door to have one last check of the dark, gloomy corridor. The coast was clear, so very carefully he started to remove the loose bricks from the wall, trying to be as quiet as possible. He heard Lenny stir in the opposite cell, which startled Tidus slightly and he stopped what he was doing. He waited for a few minutes just staring into the blackness of Lenny's cell, but he did not appear, all was silent.

Tidus let out a small sigh of relief and went back to the bricks; only two more to remove. He took out the final bricks with ease and there before him was a little square shaped gap in the wall for him to squeeze through.

"You little bastard!" spat a low, raspy voice.

Tidus' heart skipped a beat and he turned to see the horrible guard, Drika standing outside his cell. Tidus yelped and without further hesitation, dived head and shoulders first into the gap. The gap was rather small and Tidus had to wriggle quite violently to get himself through. He heard Drika unlocking the door and charging into his cell and then felt the guard's rough, sweaty hand tug at his leg.

Tidus had managed to get his upper body through the gap, but now it was just Drika who was holding him back. He kicked his legs furiously making it hard for the guard to keep his grip. Tidus growled in frustration and with all his might located Drika's face and gave it one huge kick, triggering the guard to release his grip and sending Tidus flying through the gap and rolling down a steep rocky hill.

Tidus was being flung about all over the place as he hit rock after rock. He was going too fast that he could not stop himself, he just hoped that soon he would be at the bottom. However the hill was a high one and Tidus had still quite a way to go, but what he had not realised was the line of thorn bushes about half way down the hill, which Tidus went crashing into, bringing him to a halt.

The prisoner wailed in pain. He was covered in blood from head to toe, but he knew he had to somehow get up and keep on going. He looked up towards the top of the hill and now the prison was just a black splodge from where he was. Slowly and steadily, he got himself to his feet, placing a hand on the ground to support his balance on the steep hill. Cautiously, he started to shuffle his way down.

"Oh bollocks!" a voice cursed. Tidus darted his focus back up the hill, where the voice had come from. It was hard to see in the dark, but Tidus could just make out that fat Drika had tried to force his way through the small gap in the wall and had got himself stuck.

Tidus burst into quiet laughter. "Ahh, I do love karma," he chuckled to himself.

He glanced towards the bottom of the hill to see a tiny beach of pebbles, which joined up with the calm sea. He was extremely thankful for the placidity of the water tonight; this would make it easier for him to swim. However, the waters around Invercott were full of all sorts of dangerous creatures, which Tidus knew fully well, but this was a risk he was willing to take. He continued shuffling his way down the hill and his determination to escape and the adrenaline racing around his body blocked out the immense pain his body was in.

When finally reaching the bottom he clambered onto the pebbles making a bit of a din. "Hey, stop right there you brute!" a voice yelled.

Tidus panicked and looked up; he saw the silhouette of a guard rapidly making his way down the hill with a huge shotgun in hand. Tidus guessed that the guard heard the entire racket he made when rolling down the hill and crashing into the thorn bushes. The guard also probably bumped into Drika, still corked tight in the wall's tiny gap, who told him that Tidus was on the run.

Without further hesitation, Tidus dashed into the sea and began swimming as fast as he could. He heard the thunderous shots of the guard's gun, a bullet scraped passed his back viciously ripping a bit of skin. Tidus let out a cry, but it did not stop him swimming. The guard made another shot, but this one missed by a few feet sending a huge splash all over Tidus.

As he swam further away from the island, it made it harder for the guard to make a hit and soon as there were no more shots to be heard, Tidus figured he had given up. He slowed his pace a little, but was still moving at a relative speed. He knew he was being incredibly optimistic to think he could make the 70 mile stretch to Zanarkand, but where else was there for him to go?

Suddenly he felt something pull at his leg from underwater, he tried to shake it free, but its grip tightened. Some sort of tentacle was wrapping fast around his leg and before he knew it, he was yanked underwater. He struggled and struggled but it was no use, he was being pulled deeper and soon felt the pressure on his ears. His eyes were open and although the water made his vision blurry, he could make out that his attacker was a giant black octopus.

Another tentacle whipped around his chest and slowly began to crush him. Tidus thought his time was up, there was surely no way he could escape this one alive. He wearily looked up and noticed how far away the water's surface was, he must have been at least forty metres deep. He then noticed a curious grey blob hovering about twenty metres above him, it was about the size of a shark, but it certainly did not move like one. Before he could think about it any more, another monstrous tentacle drove into his head, knocking Tidus completely out.


Everything was black. The last thing Tidus saw was a huge octopus tentacle coming right for him. Was he alive? Or was he right now in the afterlife? He began to hear faint voices, he began to feel something soft beneath him. Feeling returned to his body and his eyes wanted to open.

The voices became clearer. "Captain! Captain! He's waking up!" a nasal voice chirped excitedly.

Tidus heard the rushing of heavy footsteps beside him and his eyes gradually opened. He was lying on a bed under a thick blanket with two figures leaning over him, "Hello, did you have a nice sleep?" the nasal voice asked. This voice came from a man on Tidus' right, who was a muscular figure with pale white skin. His eyes were bright blue and he had a very shiny bald head. He wore a tight fitting black vest top, with torn and rugged looking burgundy trousers. He was not exactly the most handsome of fellows Tidus had ever seen.

The figure on Tidus' left was a man dressed as a pirate; with a white shirt, black open waist coat, baggy trousers, sturdy black boots and a rather impressive pirate hat on his head. His skin was slightly darker than the other man's and he had a neat little goatee on his face. He was a slightly stocky build, but it seemed to suit him.

"Welcome back sleepy head," the pirate said. He had a surprisingly feminine voice – it was slightly higher than Tidus expected.

"Where am I?" a weary Tidus asked. "And who are you?" He reached his right hand up to rub his face, but a simple move like that sent waves of pain down his body, he was bruised all over.

"No time for conversation," said the pirate firmly. "You need some more rest…you're bloody lucky your point shaving ass is alive!"