Author's Note~ This is a rewrite of my story Tales of the West. I decided to go back and rewrite this story because I first wrote it years ago when I had just started writing. My skill back then was amateur at best. My writing has improved since then and decided that instead of continuing where this story let off, I would write it again and hopefully it will be better this time.
Summary~ Basically it's Final Fantasy X with an old western theme. Their will be saloons, high noon quick draw duels, whores, and whore houses, and all the other good stuff we've seen from great western films like The Quick and the Dead and Wild Wild West.
Disclaimer: No ownership over Final Fantasy X is implied.
Tales of the West
Chapter1: Stranded
The Bikanel Desert was ablaze in the scorching heat of the sun. The heat had dried up what little water was left and trace of wildlife could be seen anywhere. Anyone traveling across the unforgiving desert without a quick mode of transportation would surely perish.
Someone, however, was barely holding on to life. He had tan skin, and dirty blonde hair. He wore a white shirt that was stained from sweat and dirt, brown trousers, and boots that were worn from the walking. His body was slouched over from exhaustion and it took a great amount of effort just to keep his head up. Not he could even see where he was going; his vision was hazy from the heat. He had been wandering the desert for nearly a whole day with nothing to do but keep moving forward and lament on how he winded up in this predicament.
Last night, he was in the city of Zanarkand. He was also winning big playing poker in the local saloon. He had successfully beaten everyone that had challenged him and took all their money. His last opponent, a rather shady looking character, laid down quite a large sum of gil, clearly confident that he would beat the young man. The young man, known as Tidus, had accepted the challenge. In the end, Tidus had beaten his opponent with a Royal Flush, stunning both the challenger and the crowd that had gathered to watch the game. Unfortunately for Tidus, the man didn't take to kindly to losing, especially in front of a crowd. It turned out that the man Tidus had beaten was the leader of one Zanarkand's many gangs and as soon as Tidus left the saloon, the leader and a few of his men jumped him. They bound and gagged him, tied his legs to a chocobo and sent it running off into the desert. The chocobo, of course, died hours after the hot sun had risen over the desert, leaving Tidus stranded.
He didn't even know where he was going. He had never been outside of Zanarkand; he was born and raised there. Despite his young age, Tidus had lived alone in the city. His mother died when he was seven and his father… well, Tidus didn't really care about his father, in fact he absolutely hated him. His father, Jecht, was mean to him as a kid and Tidus couldn't even remember a time when his father had ever once told him he loved him or even that he liked him. Just thinking about him made Tidus angry; angry enough to take his mind off the desert for a little while.
Soon, he noticed that everything started getting fuzzy. He started to feel lightheaded and had a hard time standing up. Finally his legs gave out and he fell to the ground. He tried to get back up but, his body wouldn't respond. He laid there, the hot sun beating down on him. He vision began to fade. Before everything went black he thought he saw a pair of black boots surrounded by red appear in front of him. He thought it was just his eyes playing tricks on him and then closed them.