Chapter 1 : Another world?
In the sea close to a small island, just by the shore, a young blond haired man was drifting face down, uncounscious. After everything he went through, it was a miracle he was still alive. As a blitzball player, he was used to stay in water for a long time but actually, he's been there for a while and his lungs started to show signs of need for air which brought him back to his senses. He opened his eyes and coughed then brought his head up to breath. He moved his arms around to stay on the surface and quickly looked around, wondering where he ended up to now when something hit the back of his head, causing it to go underwater again. He quickly looked around and spotted a familiar blue and white ball floating next to him. He grabbed it.
"Blitzball!!" he exclaimed with delight.
Then he looked up to the shore and saw 6 people standing there, apparently all wearing the same yellow colored overalls. He was still a little dizzy from the bump on his head but he could still see a a red headed guy waving at him. He had his hair up in the air.
"Hey! You okay?" he asked in a typical island accent.
"Heeeeey!!" The young man waved back.
He was happy to finally see something friendly and familiar in this place.
He left the ball floating there and dived. Then he swam back to the surface and hit the ball with the top of his head, sending it in the air. Then with a backflip, he kicked it towards the beach at incredible speed. The red headed guy traced it coming with his buddies but something else caught his attention. Something strange was happening right over the young man's head. A hole was opening right in the sky. A strange hole, sending strange energy waves around. It was covered with blue and white strands, waving into different colors, red, purple... The 6 were staring at the strange phenomenon. The blond young man was wondering what they were staring at when suddenly...
"Waaaah!!!" someone screamed.
Six people came out from the hole and into the water right where the young man was.
Splash! Splash!
The shock of being swallowed in that thing whatever it was, was replaced by a need for air. Carole couldn't see anything, just that she was underwater after falling out of nowhere. She only caught a glimpse of other people falling with her, then water and bubbles all around, probably made by other people swimming around and trying to get to the surface.
She felt like she was weighting a ton. Something was dragging her to the bottom and she was afraid she knew what: her gunblade. And her leather clothes weren't helping.
Since she was used to use it for fighting, she wasn't noticing it's weight anymore, but swimming with it was another story. She couldn't just drop it, it was everything to her. She tried her best to swim to the surface but she was moving too slowly. Her lungs were on fire and her head was aching from the lack of oxygen.
I'm gonna die? No! I don't want to! Squall!
She felt soemthing grab her arm and pull her. Realizing someone was trying to help her, she tried to give all the strength she had left to get to the surface. It seemed it would take forever to reach it when she finally felt the coolness of fresh air on her skin. She took a long and deep breath. She never realized air tasted so good until now. She turned her head and saw an unnexpected face but still familiar. And she was glad to see it.
"You alright?" Dave asked.
"Yeah... Thanks, I thought I was a goner!"
"Where the Hell are we?!" Zell's angry voice asked.
"Let's get ashore first!" Carole said seeing five people swimming around her.
She didn't take the time to notice who it was but she still had time to see a lot were missing.
A splashing sound was heard when another head broke the surface, unfamiliar this time.
"Hey, what's the big idea?" the blond headed guy asked.
"Can we talk about this on firm ground?" Rachel plead.
"Right, let's go!"
Seven teenagers swam towards the beach where six people were waiting, curious about this turn of event. First the blond guy floating around, then those people falling out of nowhere.
Once they stepped on the sand, Zell and Rachel collapsed. Carole kneeled down to catch her breath, just like Adam by her side. Dave placed his hands on his knees and a bit aside of them, a little girl Carole was seeing for the first time was shaking the water off her clothes.
"Who are y'all?" the red headed guy asked.
Carole grabbed her long hair and squeezed it from the water, ignoring the question. Then she shook it back.
"Damn! I hate when that happens... Everyone alright?"
She finally took the time to look around.
"I'll live," Rachel said coughing a little.
"I hate water," Zell grumbled.
"I'm okay," Dave commented.
"Alright," Adam added.
"I guess so..." the little girl shyly said.
Six of them... only six... but she was sure they were all in there when it wrapped around them. And she could have sworn Squall held her before everything went black. Where was he? And everyone else?
With fear, she walked to the red headed guy.
"I'm Carole, a SeeD from Balamb Garden."
She introduced her friends who all nodded at their names.
"Where are we?"
"This here's Besaid Island. I'm Wakka, captain of the Besaid Aurochs. What do you mean a 'garden' and 'seed'? You wanna grow flowers or somethin'?"
That was like she feared. She studied a lot of the world and this place was completely new.
"I don't know what happened to us, but this is not our world. I'm confused."
"Hey, you can come with us to Besaid, maybe you can find something you know, ya?"
He seemed like a good guy so she decided to trust him. Then he seemed to get an interest in the blond guy.
"You play blitzball? Which team you play for?"
"The Zanarkand Abes!"
Wakka and his teammates suddenly showed strange faces. Carole wished she knew why.
"What team did you say again?"
"Huh, I mean... forget that! I've been too close to Sin and... my head's all fuzzy like..."
She didn't know why, but that didn't sound honest to her.
The team did some kind of salute at the mention of Sin, whatever it was.
Blitzball? Zanarkand? Besaid? Sin? What was that?? Since they seemed busy in a conversation, she decided to turn to the little girl who seemed to have unwillingly joined their little party. She just had time to hear the blond guy introduce himself as Tidus.
"Hey, you... What's your name?" Carole asked with a warm smile.
Used with her two little brothers, Carole really had it with children. She thought that if she could take her brothers' crazy behaviour, anyone else would be an angel!
The little girl looked shyly at the others. She seemed embarrased.
"I'm Kerry Ann Gornall... I... I just registered in Balamb Garden and... someone pushed me over the fence..."
"I see... Well stay close to me, Kerry!"
Since she was the only one who seemed to care about her, Kerry nodded.
It seemed that they were all as clueless as she was, even that Tidus guy but she was sure she never saw him before. Who was he?
It seemed he was done talking when Wakka asked him to kick the ball he was holding. Tidus hit it with his forehead then backfliped to kick it across the water.
"Whoa!!" Zell exclaimed. "That was awesome!"
"That sure was! Excuse me, Wakka, but have you seen other people that might have fell from the sky like we did? Probably seven more of us?"
"Nope! I've been here practicing with my team and I didn't see anyone, ya?"
His team mates nodded in agreement. Carole sighed and the others did the same.
"Well I guess we're stuck here, then?" Rachel supposed. "What should we do?"
"If you don't have anywhere to go, come to Besaid! It's small but everyone's friendly!"
It seemed like everyone was waiting for an approval from Carole so she nodded. This guy was the only one they knew around here for now so she decided to follow him.
"Alright, lead the way."
"Come on, team! We're going back to Besaid!"
Tidus walked ahead with Wakka, the team following. Carole remained behind a moment with her friends.
"Where did we end up?" Adam asked.
"And where could the others be?" Dave asked along.
"What should we do?" Zell asked.
"I wanna go home," Kerry said in a low voice.
Carole took her head in her hand and frowned.
"Let's just follow them for now and gather information. Maybe we can find the others on the way."
At least I hope so, she thought as she clenched her Griever necklace.
They walked down a small road then Wakka wrapped an arm around Tidus' neck.
"Hey! Let go!" Tidus said trying to free himself.
"I've got a favor ta ask ya."
"You want me on your team, right?" Tidus asked with a grin.
"For the tournament. We never won a game before."
"Wow! Never?"
Wakka released him. He really seemed to like Tidus. The fact is that Tidus reminded him of his lost brother. It was as if he was back to him.
"I'd be happy to!" Tidus answered. "But we're gonna play it my way!"
"Whatever you say!"
They kept walking. Zell turned to Carole.
"What's 'Blitzball?'" he asked.
The others all seemed to wonder the same thing. Why were they asking her? She's never been to this place either, how would she know? She just shrugged.
"We can ask them later."
They were on the edge of a small cliff when they saw a small village spreading down the hill.
"Oh, look at that!" Rachel exclaimed pointing the village.
"It looks nice!" Adam added.
"It still looks nice, thanks to the Crusaders who keep Sin away from it," Wakka commented.
"Cruise of what?" Tidus and Zell asked in the same time.
Both looked at each other with dumb faces then laughed at each other. These guys could almost be twins.
"What is that Sin?" Carole finally asked.
Wakka and his team all looked at her in shock as if she was coming from a distant planet. For a moment, she felt like it was the case.
"Well I guess you're really not from around here... Or maybe the toxin?" Wakka supposed turning to a red head guy.
The guy shrugged, clueless.
"The toxin?" Carole asked.
"Maybe you should all go to the Crusaders' hut and they'll tell you what you need to know."
Carole nodded. She hated being in the dark. She knew from experience since she was blind for 2 months. Her recently recovered hearing was put under pressure with all the noises around, birds chirping, water flowing from a nearby waterfall, waves... It was getting her a bit dizzy.
They kept walking down the hill where a bunch of monsters ambushed them. On instincts, the SeeDs and there friends drew their weapons as well as Tidus. He was wielding a red bladed sword with the tip curving a long way under. Carole shivered thinking what it would feel like to be struck by that blade.
On her hand, she took out her gunblade.
"What is that?" Tidus asked with interest.
"A gunblade. Part gun, part sword to put it simply. You're a good fighter?"
"Why not find out for yourself?" Tidus asked with a challenging smile.
A girl with a blade, that's new, he thought.
There was a small yellow and blue bird flying around and a blue furred dog. Tidus went for the little bird but it avoided the attack. Wakka came in.
"Flyers are my specialty, let me handle them!"
He threw a ball at the bird and hit it, killing it right away. Carole then dashed the dog and slashed it but when she wanted to pull the trigger, it didn't fire so the damage wasn't that big.
"Shit! It must be because of the water!"
"Hey, watch it!"
Tidus slashed the dog before it could attack the girl. Then he turned to her but not with a proud smile as she first thought he would.
"You okay?"
"Yeah, thanks. I'll have to take care of my gunblade quickly or it'll rust. Wakka, you have anything like oil or grease in your village?"
"Think I have somethin'."
"Thanks."
Tidus walked close to Carole, really interested with the weapon.
"How did you call that already?"
"A gunblade."
"Do lots of people have that kind of weapon in your place?"
"Besides me, only two guys have. It's hard to master."
"Really? Then you must be good!"
She wasn't annoyed by him, more exhausted from the recent events. It almost seemed like a dream but she didn't want to think about it. She just wanted to rest and clean her gunblade.
"Where d'you come from?" Tidus asked.
"Balamb Garden where I graduated as a SeeD."
"And where's that?"
"If I can find a map, maybe I could show you."
That is if they're still in the same world...
"What is a SeeD?"
"It's a codename for mercenaries. Garden is the place where they're trained."
"So it's a codename too?"
"Kinda."
Someone seemed to notice her rolling her eyes. She just wanted to be alone for a while.
"Hey, Carole, can you come over here?" Dave asked.
"Sure, sorry Tidus."
"Hey, we can talk again later!"
Carole slowed her pace to make it to the others and thanked Dave.
"He seems like a nice guy," she said. "But he talks too much, too curious. He would definately not be a good SeeD..."
"Well," Dave started pointing Zell who just caught up with Tidus with a thumb.
The two seemed to get along quite well.
"I guess there are exceptions..."
"Hey!" Rachel complained twisting her lips. "Zell's really bright you know!"
"Here we are!" Wakka cut in.
Everyone stopped a moment to admire the small village. On their way, with the warm weather, they had enough time to dry almost completely. Carole was mad at her hair for it was a real mess like everytime it was getting soaked.
"We're far from Esthar," Zell mumbled.
"I miss Garden," Rachel added.
I miss Squall, Carole thought. It would be much easier with him.... Where could he be? And the others? Are they safe?
As they stepped in town, Wakka turned to them while the rest of his team were heading seperate directions.
"You hungry?" he asked.
Tidus' stomach growled like he hasn't eaten for days. The others were hungry too, but didn't want it to be shown. But Wakka wasn't born yesterday.
"I'll try and prepare somethin' for y'all. You can walk around town meanwhile."
He turned to Tidus.
"You could go introduce yourself to the temple summoner."
Summoner? Temple? What was that again?
"You remember the prayer, right?" Wakka asked.
Carole looked at her friends who all shrugged. Tidus seemed just as clueless.
"I'll show you all. People would ask less questions if you know it."
He placed a foot back and spread his arms each side of him. Then he brought his foot back with the other and placed his hands one over the other, palms facing each other's in some kind of a ball then bowed.
"Now you try."
They all did but only Tidus seemed to do well like he knew this despite he said he didn't. The fact is it was like something he knew just that it wasn't called a 'prayer'.
"Not bad, you keep trying," Wakka advised tapping his shoulder.
He pointed a tent in the far back.
"That's the Crusader's hut. You need somethin', you ask them."
At that moment, two guys came behind them. One had dark skin and short black hair and the other pale skin with red hair. The red headed one looked at Wakka with surprise.
"Who did you bring back with you, now?"
"Hey, Luzzu! These here seem completely lost and I think this one had a shot of Sin's toxin. Came from the sea."
The red headed guy bowed in the prayer like he pitited Tidus.
"Let me know if you need something," he said.
"Well, could you hand us a map? I'd like to know where we are geographically," Carole asked.
"Sure, come along."
She turned to her friends.
"I won't be long. Why don't you look around to see if the others are anywhere around here? Try and gather information too, but don't attract attention."
"Okay!"
Zell left with Rachel for a hut while Adam and Dave went for another one. Kerry shyly looked around, not sure what to do.
"You can come with me if you want."
Without a word, Kerry followed Carole after Luzzu. Tidus wondered what to do for a moment then decided to go to the Crusaders' too.
In the hut, Luzzu went to a dresser and handed her a map.
"Where do you people come from?"
"I'm not sure... We fell from the sky into the water, or so Wakka said... It happened so fast I'm not sure."
"That sure is strange. Take your time and come see me if there's anything you need."
"Thanks a lot, Luzzu. I really appreciate it."
"It's one of the Crusaders' duty: to help people in need."
Carole wished there would be something like that in her world. It was hard and rare to come across people like Luzzu.
She went in the back of the tent with Kerry following close while Tidus entered the tent behind them.
"Ah, the one from the sea. What can I do for you?"
"Well, I wondered what are the Crusaders?"
The dark skinned one turned to him with high surprise on his face.
"You're kidding right?"
"Gatta, the toxin."
"Oh yeah..."
"Tell him what we are."
"Okay."
He stood up and placed his arm across his chest. He talked about a man forming the Crusaders long ago which weren't called the Crusaders yet, they were called the Crimson something and had for mission to keep Sin away from towns.
From what she heard, Carole guessed that Sin was some kind of monster and since it seemed impossible to defeat, something really strong and big!
Then Tidus asked about summoners and Carole decided to stop eavesdropping. The only thing that mattered for now was to find the others and go back home. She unrolled the map and took a look at it. After a few seconds, her eyes were wide and her face burning with panic. What was that? All these names, Besaid, Kilika, Luca, Guadosalam, Gagazet, Zanarkand... And the configuration of the world... It was nothing like theirs, that's for sure. Where did they land on to? And how?
Sitting next to her, Kerry looked at her paniced face.
"What's wrong?"
She couldn't take her eyes off the map.
"I think we have a problem."
She got up and went to Luzzu. Tidus was gone and she hasn't even noticed yet.
"Can I borrow this for a while?" she asked.
"Sure, you can even keep it. Was it useful?"
"Unfortunately no, but maybe it will keep us from getting lost even further."
She nodded at Luzzu as thanks and at Gatta as good-bye. Then she left the hut, Kerry quickly coming up to her. They came upon Dave and Adam.
"Any luck?" she asked.
Dave shook his head.
"It seems they didn't get close to here," Adam said.
Rachel and Zell came from another hut.
"They sell things but they're different from our remedies. But they use Gils too so I bought some things. I just don't know if the effects are the same." Rachel said showing a bottle
"And they don't have hotdogs," Zell said sulking.
"Maybe this is too country-like for them to know about the sweet gastronomy that are hot dogs," Carole said sarcastically.
The others giggled and Zell folded his arms.
Then the others saw Carole's concerned face.
"Hey, what did you get?" Zell asked.
She showed them the map and suggested they'd leave the middle of town. They were supposed not to attract attention, not the contrary.
They went to the shadows of a hut and she showed them the map again. All the faces turned the way hers did a while ago.
"What the hell?"
"What's that?" Adam asked.
"Well, whether we were trapped in a time portal and ended up either in the far past or much ahead in the future after a natural disaster or..."
Everyone waited for her to continue.
"Or?" Dave urged her.
"Or we ended up in another world..."
Note: Hi! Chapter one done! Phew, I'm having a real hard time with this fic... With all these people and the main FFX plot... But since the story is mostly around FF8 gang, FFX will be left aside first but once they leave Besaid, they'll all go together and follow the main plan. Did I forget something? I feel like there's something wrong, is there? Wakka didn't push Tidus in the water since they were not alone and they met Luzzu and Gatta after. It's a little twisted after all. I'm trying my best so give me comments please!! Review!! Those are what keep me going!
