Heroes Of Spira
Chapter Two: Luca
"So," Irvine began to talk, "where exactly are we headed to?" Being unfamiliar with his surroundings, he felt almost like a tourist in Esthar. Since this world was new to him, he wanted to do a lot of exploring. He figured that once he found his friends, they could explore a little and then try to find a way back home… That is if it was possible for them to get back. The thought of never returning home distraught Irvine as he began to think about the places he was already missing.
"We're headed off to Luca," Wakka replied. "That's where the Blitzball tournament is being held, ya!" The afternoon sun had now reached its peak in the sky. Blitzball? Irvine had never heard of such a thing, but it sounded interesting.
"What exactly is Blitzball?" Irvine asked as he tilted his head to one side. There was so much he had to learn about this world and it made him feel slightly alienated. He didn't mind if he stood out like a sore thumb as it would make it easier for his friends to spot him, but he couldn't help but feel just a little strange.
"You're kidding, ya?" Wakka stopped in his track, very surprised at the question. "Where have you been? Blitzball is only Spira's favourite sport! Everyone knows what it is!" Wakka shook his head and added, "Sin's toxin really did get you… Pretty bad too, ya?" Irvine shrugged. His mind began to dish out handfuls of questions such as What if I really am from this world, and all of my supposed memories are made up? It couldn't possibly be true though… Selphie…
The group continued down the huge set of stone stairs and at the foot of them was a path continuing through a forest. Along the path, they encountered what Irvine thought looked eerily similar to an Ochu. This one, however, seemed to be slightly bigger than he remembered them to be.
"Watch out!" Tidus yelled as the giant monster moved towards them. Before they could get away though, they found themselves in a battle against the giant Ochu.
Irvine stood off to one side and waited for the others to take their turns before going himself. Kimahri started by casting Scan on the Ochu, finding Fire spells to be its weakness. Lulu followed by casting one of her Fire spells, causing the monster to flinch. Irvine took his turn next and shot the monster which paralyzed one of its tentacles. Furious, the monster took it's turn to knock everyone down with its remaining tentacles.
The battle went on for quite a while as everyone took turns to attack. Irvine noticed that his new found friends all seemed to have an area of expertise: Yuna was a Healer, Tidus a Swordsman, Lulu a Black Mage, Wakka was an Attacker with his Blitzball allowing him long range attacks, and Kimahri… well, he had a Lance.
Eventually, the battle ended and the Ochu was beaten. It was a tiring battle, but they continued on through the forest and to the docks. As Irvine looked around, he noticed that the small village on the water looked as though it had been destroyed. Several men were carrying large planks of wood around, while others had hammers and nails, trying to repair some of the damage.
"What happened here?" Irvine asked curiously. The group fell deadly silent for a moment. Both Yuna and Wakka looked towards the planks below their feet.
"It was Sin," Lulu answered. Feeling slightly awkward for asking the question, Irvine decided not to ask anymore questions along the way. They made their way through the pieces of debris left in Sin's wake, and eventually came upon a decent sized boat. After boarding, Irvine decided to split away from the group and take a moment for himself to think.
"Need… food… ugh…" Irvine heard a familiar voice moan. Irvine walked a little up deck to find a familiar looking boy mopping away at the floor. At first Irvine didn't believe what he was seeing, and as he got closer, he knew who it was. "I need hot dogs!" the blonde boy yelled. Irvine knew it! It was his friend Zell! The blonde boy sighed and looked up at the sky while wiping his forehead of sweat. He then looked over towards Irvine and immediately dropped the mop and bucket in disbelief. "IRVINE!"
"ZELL!" Irvine hollered back and waved his arms. "Oh man, I am so glad I ran into you!" Irvine told Zell.
"You won't believe what I've been through!" Zell hastily said. "Okay, I woke up on this ship and ever since I've been mopping the decks for Gil! It's insane!" Zell huffed. "You gotta get me off of this ship, man." Irvine nodded. "Oh! There's so much I need to tell you!"
"Yeah, and there's a lot I need to tell you too," Irvine added. They both sat down at the end of the ship and began to tell their stories as the afternoon carried on.
"I'll start," Irvine insisted. "Okay, I woke up in this forest earlier today, and having no idea what was going on, I began to walk around and eventually I found some people who were about to be monster food. I helped them out, and they were nice enough to let me tag along until I found my friends. I also met this guy, Tidus, who says he came from Zanarkand. I've never heard of the place, but I think he believes my story. Surely you must have also figured this out as well; we got caught in Ultimecia's Time Compression and were carried thousands of years into the future. I assume it's only been recently that the Time Compression finally settled and it left us here in time."
"Yeah man, I kind of thought there was something wrong here. It's been a few weeks though since I woke up, and when I did, I was on this boat. I tried to explain myself to the captain and crew, but they just gave me strange looks, saying that I got too close to 'Sin's toxin' or something," Zell sighed. "I told them that my friends might be around somewhere, and they offered to let me travel with them, but only if I did some work around here. Now that I've found you though, I can get the hell off of this ship. They don't pay me enough for what I do!" Zell threw a few punches into the air before continuing, "Oh! Have you heard of Blitzball? It's gotta be the coolest sport I've ever heard of! Just a while ago, this amazing team of Blitzball players gave me some pointers on my technique. They're from Luca, where this ship is headed to. They're a pretty popular team there for sure, I've seen them play before on one of our stops there." Irvine remembered the team from the temple, though they didn't seem all too amazing to him.
"The Luca Losers, you mean?" Irvine laughed, remembering what Wakka had said back in front of the temple.
"Luca Goers!" Zell corrected him. "What, have you met them before or something?"
"They happened to bump into us back in Kilika, literally," Irvine told his friend the story of the Luca Goers mocking Wakka's team.
"Tch, you make them sound like jerks," Zell said. Irvine rolled his eyes and shook his head.
"Anyway, if you like Blitzball, you have to meet Wakka!" Irvine said excitedly. "He's the captain of another team. I didn't catch the name though. Maybe he can draft you into his team!" Zell's face lit up. Anyone would know this look; it's the expression he made whenever he got a hot dog from the cafeteria back at Balamb Garden, or whenever he won a battle.
Eventually, they made their way over to the other side of the boat where Yuna was talking to the team members of the Luca Goers. Tidus seemed to be arguing with them.
"Hey Wakka!" Irvine yelled for Wakka's attention. "There's someone I'd like you to meet." Zell followed Irvine over to a tall man with hair that was almost quite similar to Zell's. Wakka grinned as he imagined the lively young boy was probably a good Blitzer. "This is one of my friends I was telling you about, this is Zell," Irvine introduced him. "Zell, this is Wakka." They shook hands and began to talk.
"You play Blitz, kid?" Wakka asked.
"Well, uh…" Zell stuttered. "Yeah! Actually I've been practicing a lot lately!"
"That's great, ya!" Wakka replied. "Maybe after the tournament in Luca we'll draft you onto our team!" Zell's face lit up.
"That'd be awesome!" Zell cheered excitedly. He had never actually played a game of Blitzball since waking up in Spira. The closest he came was practicing during the couple of weeks he had been in Spira. On one trip to Luca, the captain of the S.S. Winno invited him to watch a Blitzball game. Zell had never seen any sport like it before and was a fan of it almost immediately.
As the afternoon carried on, so did the boat ride. It was going to be about a day before they would reach Luca. Irvine introduced Zell to the rest of the group and after some chatting, the two of them retreated to the back of the boat. Irvine leaned on the railing and stared out to the ocean and thought for a moment. The ocean was calm but with a sense of destruction laying below. He sighed and turned to face his friend Zell.
"So," Zell said, "thinking about everyone?" Irvine nodded. "Well, if you and me are here, everyone else should be here as well, somewhere. We just have to find them, I'm sure we will." Again, Irvine nodded in agreement. He was looking forward to regrouping with everyone, but how long was it going to be until they found Selphie? Irvine anxiously wanted to see her again. It seemed like it had been years since the last time they saw each other. Irvine grinned and remembered that it had probably been a few thousand years since the last time they saw each other. He stared back out into the ocean and continued to think.
Zell eventually left Irvine and went to talk to Wakka. The two of them talked for a while about Blitzball before Wakka regrouped his team for a bit of practice. Zell was having a blast practicing with the Besaid Aurochs and was getting excited for the tournament.
Like Irvine, Zell constantly thought about his friends. How long would it be until they all regrouped? He was anxious, too, about seeing the others and hoped that everyone had made it safely to Spira unharmed. For a moment he thought of the possibility that only Irvine and himself might had made it. I woke up weeks ago, while Irvine woke up earlier today… What if we're the first two? Or what if the others woke up years ago? Hundreds of years ago? Or maybe it won't be until hundreds of years from now when they wake up… Zell cringed at the thought. Luckily everyone had their GF's for protection.
After that thought he quickly checked to see if his GF's were there. He sat down for a moment and concentrated as hard as he could. He still had all of his magic, and it seemed surprisingly stronger than before, however, there were no signs of his GF's. Ifrit, Leviathan and Bahamut were gone. How could this be? Did they not exist in this world? After not finding his GF's, Zell hurried back over to Irvine.
"Irvine," Zell quivered, "I don't have my Guardian Forces anymore!" A shocked look fell upon Irvine's face. Quickly, he checked to see if his GF's were still with him.
Irvine's hope quickly turned to sorrow when he found none of his GF's. "What's going on?" he questioned. "I know I had them during that last battle with Ultimecia, I know I did!" He checked one more time just to make sure he wasn't over looking them in his mind. Again, he could not find them. How did he have magic junctioned though? Without a GF, he couldn't junction any sort of magic.
"The system must have changed then…" Zell pondered. Over the thousands of years that passed, the mental system in which one used to gain experience and magic must have dramatically changed. There were no longer Guardian Force's anymore. They must have disappeared from existence a long time ago and since then, the system had evolved.
"Well," Irvine sighed, " at least we still have our magic." Zell nodded slightly. They both sighed and looked towards the ocean. Evening was now falling upon them. The sun was setting, and the ocean glittered with the rays of light. The clouds glowed an ominous red and the sea began to churn. The evening carried on into night and Irvine and Zell decided to get some rest in the cabins below the deck. They slept in beds across from each other and talked for a few moments before drifting off to sleep.
They awoke to the sounds of a cheering crowd above deck. Before they could rub the sleep out of their eyes, they hurried themselves to the deck, where the others were. Lots of people crowded the streets of the large city while people flocked toward the large stadium where Blitzball was played. Zell was excited as he walked toward the front of the boat. Irvine followed behind him.
Minutes later, the boat had docked, and everyone was getting off. After getting off the boat, Irvine looked around in amazement. Zell smiled, remembering the first time he had been to Luca. Soon they found themselves devoured in a crowd of people flocking towards one of the other docks. "Why is everyone crowding around here?" Zell asked curiously.
"To witness the arrival of Grand Maester Mika," Lulu replied. Though it didn't seem like it, she wondered about the two strange boys who were tagging along. She wasn't sure if she believed their story because it seemed too farfetched to be true. Zell seemed pretty energetic, and almost looked like Wakka in a way, except for the blond hair and the tattoo. His clothes resembled what Tidus was wearing, yet they didn't look exactly alike. Lulu wasn't familiar with Irvine's style of clothing though. She had never seen a man walking around in a long coat and a hat like that. The two of them share the same memories, so could their story possibly be true? Lulu pondered to herself as the boat arrived.
Maester? What the hell is a Maester? Zell thought. He couldn't remember anyone ever mentioning a Maester to him, but figured it must be an important person of some sort. They waited as the boat docked and some music was played. Soon, an odd looking man announced the arrival of the Maester and an old man walked forward and looked down upon the crowd of people. Soon after, they announced another Maester: Seymour. Right when Irvine's eyes met his, he knew Seymour was going to be trouble. There was something about him that just made Irvine's stomach turn, the way he looked at Irvine, and his eerily calm voice. As Maester Seymour began to address the crowd, Irvine turned to Zell.
"There's something about this guy that I don't like," Irvine whispered to Zell. "There's just something about him that really creeps me out." Zell looked towards the Maester, who in turn, looked back at him and grinned a seemingly malevolent grin. It was as if he knew what they were just talking about.
"Yeah," Zell agreed turning back to Irvine, "there's definitely something about him I don't like…" They continued to listen to him babble about stuff they didn't know or even care about. Soon after, the Maesters had left for the stadium. A few players from the Blitzball teams still remained on the dock when an argument heated up between Wakka's Blitzball team and the Luca Goers. Suddenly, Tidus grabbed a megaphone and jumped on top of a few large crates.
"This year the Besaid Aurochs are going to win!" Tidus yelled over the crowd. "You hear that? Yeah that's right! We're going to win this year!" He continued on making a fool of himself and embarrassing Wakka, before eventually hopping down off of the large crates.
"What were you thinking, ya?" Wakka asked impatiently while the Luca Goers laughed, walking away towards the stadium. Irvine and Zell both shook their heads.
Eventually, they had made it over to the stadium and to the Aurochs locker room. Irvine and Zell decided to stay in the locker room the watch the game; it was too cluttered in the stadium bleachers. Irvine leaned against one of the cold metal lockers as he listened to Wakka talk to his team.
"Okay you guys," Wakka began, "we are playing the Luca Goers again." He stopped to hear the moans and groans from his team. They all looked hopeless. "But, this time we are starting the second round!" His team seemed to lighten up a little after hearing the news. "This means, if we win this game, we go on to the finals!" The team began to cheer. After some more words of encouragement, Yuna burst in through the door.
"Auron," Yuna said between gasps of air, "someone said they saw Sir Auron in the Luca Café!" Tidus looked up immediately.
"Auron?!" Tidus repeated. "Sorry Wakka, I've gotta go find Auron." With that, Tidus left with Yuna in search of this 'Sir Auron' guy. Irvine and Zell both looked at each other and shrugged.
Wakka went over the game plan several times and made sure everyone read through the rules again once more before the game. They had only about 10 minutes to prepare before their game was going to start. Zell leaned against the lockers next to Irvine and looked up at the monitor above. It was almost time to Blitz and Wakka gave some last words of encouragement before the game began.
"Remember to have fun. It's not always about winning, ya," Wakka stated. "This year we want to try our hardest, and this time beat those Luca Goers!" The team cheered once more and Wakka added with a bit of sadness in his voice, "After this game, whether we win or lose, I am retiring from Blitzball."
