AN: El is the last name i'm making for Firion, Leon, and Maria because I don't know their real last name. Since Firionel is his japanese name and Firion is his english name I'll use the El as the last name. Does that make sense? I hope so.

AN2: I made Tidus' last name Jecht. Let's just got on a far fetched limb and say Jecht is referred by his last name xD. he is a professional blitzball player so it's not too hard to believe they would call Jecht his last name.

AN3: just kidding. enjoy the story.

Chapter 4

Hana was so nervous she was trembling from head to toe. She was standing in front of the Blitzball coach's office, rooted to the spot, and too afraid to press on. What new things would await her in her position? Would the team even like her or merely find her an annoyance? Did she know enough about Blitzball to even do proper reporting on a team such as Dissidia's? They did have a good reputation as far as that sport went.

Hana really wished Bicky would hurry from her little errand with Firion. If the other girl was here Hana knew that would settle her nerves a bit.

Taking a deep breath Hana decided it was now or nothing. She didn't wakeup at 6am to chicken out and run from her assignment. No, she would be a sport journalist and she would be damn good at it. With that Hana raised her hand to knock on the door, and that's when it opened.

"Woah! I didn't see you there, ya. Are you lost?"

"A,actually," Hana said, looking up at the man. "I'm with the school paper. I was assigned to report on the team this season."

Hana flashed her club badge for emphasis and the couch eyed it before nodding and smiling happily.

"Well welcome aboard, Miss… uh what was your name?"

"Hana Latacia, sir," she replied.

"Ok. I'm the Coach Wakka. You can just call me Wakka, no need for any titles. Let's go to the pool now, ya. Practice is almost starting."

"Ok, thank you, Wakka sir!" Hana beamed.

She really liked the coach already. He seemed friendly and his accent was nice to listen to. If she wasn't mistaken it was a Besaid accent. She followed him as they headed out of the gymnasium office are.

"Are you from Besaid, sir?" Hana asked as they headed out the double doors leading to the outside.

"You don't follow Blitzball much do you?" Wakka asked with a laugh. "I was Forward for the Besaid Aurochs."

Hana blushed in embarrassment. She really didn't know much about the Blitzball professional league and now here she was talking to a pro. Only a real no one wouldn't know who he was. He was probably wondering why the paper would give the story to such an amateur.

"Hey you don't need to look so embarrassed, ya," Wakka said. "We're not that good of a team so I'm not surprised that many fans don't bother learning our members."

"Sorry, sir… I mean Wakka. But you're still really good since you're professional and all." She wanted to make him feel better since he seemed kind of bummed over his team not being so good.

"Yeah, well here we are. It's the pool." Wakka looked at his watch. "The kids should be coming out soon. I'll introduce them to you then."

"Thank you. Since today I'll be gathering information for the first article, I think I would like to interview each starting member," Hana said. "That way the school can get to know their players better."

"That's fine with me. You can go around once they start with their warm up exercises."

"Thank you so much," Hana beamed.

"You can have a seat in this chair," Wakka said. "I'm going to fetch a copy of our play schedule so you can post that in the paper too! If the boys come out don't worry, they won't bother you and if they do just tell me and I'll make them swim laps for days."

Wakka chuckled as he walked off and Hana sat where he directed. Finally alone at the pool, Hana's nervousness came back, hitting harder than before. She had to clutch the arms of the chair to keep from shaking.

Right then, a door slammed open to her right. Hana looked and it was the door leading to the boy's pool locker room. Immediately, the boys began to file out.

She recognized most of them by face, and one of the boys, Ingus, was in her class. But other than that he was the only one she knew by name.

"Hey Ingus!" she greeted. She wasn't particularly close to him but he knew Luneth and Arc pretty well and he was dating that girl Sara who was on the tennis team.

"Oh hi Hana. What are you doing here?" he asked.

"I'm the correspondent from the school paper assigned to the team," Hana replied. "I didn't know you played Blitzball."

"Well, they don't let me do much since I'm a first year. I'm stuck 'learning the basics'," Ingus replied with a frown.

"I bet you'll get your time soon. Where's the captain?" Hana asked, although she hoped he wouldn't show up at all.

Ingus' frown deepened at the mention of his captain, which Hana mentally noted. At least she wasn't the only one who despised the guy.

"He's still in the locker room. He should be out any minute so I should probably start my warm up before he blows my head off if he sees me idly chatting."

Ingus scampered off to join some of the other boys in stretching and that's when Tidus and the Emperor exited the locker room.

Tidus was hopping from foot to foot, chatting happily beside the older teen, who seemed to be barely listening.

"So I think that we should have pizza if we win our first game," Tidus finished, as they came into Hana's listening range.

They didn't seem to notice her sitting on the chair and she wasn't sure if that was good or not, but she figured it'd be better to get it over with.

"G,good morning," Hana greeted with a stutter.

Tidus and Mateus stopped walking and both turned their heads to regard her. The looks on their faces were of pleasant surprise and mild annoyance, respectively.

"It's you!" Tidus exclaimed.

"What are you doing here?" the Emperor asked. "This is a closed practice."

"Um… I'm with the journalism club and I was assigned your team for the season," Hana explained, shrinking back a little in her seat.

The Emperor was looking at her in such a condescending manner that she felt like running away right then and there, and demanding Firion take back his sports section. Did this guy know how demeaning that look on his face was. It was a face that said, "Pitiful Insect, you dare bring yourself in my presence?"

Hana didn't like it one bit, but she wouldn't break eye contact. That would mean she lost and she would refuse to give that arrogant fool the pleasure.

So instead she squirmed. So much for dignity.

"Mateus!" Tidus said. "She's my friend so it's ok."

Hana snapped her attention from Mateus to Tidus and felt her heart beat quicken but before she could say anything two loud voices headed their way. It was Zidane Tribal and Bartz Klauser

"Hey what's a girl doing here!" the blonde with a skinny ponytail asked.

"Hey Zidane," Tidus greeted. "She's going to be following us for the paper."

"Sweet we get a girl this time!" Zidane cheered. "Are you by any chance single?"

Hana laughed.

"Don't worry about him, he's just joking," Tidus said to her.

"No I'm not. I'm serious."

"Zidane you're going to scare her off and then we're going to be reassigned Firion!" Bartz said nudging him in the ribs.

"Why aren't you two warming up?" Mateus asked.

"Coach isn't here yet. Technically, practice hasn't started, right?" Bartz asked light heartedly.

One glare from Mateus later and Bartz and Zidane scampered off to join their teammates in the morning exercise.

"Well, It's great to be working with you uh… uhm I don't think I got your name," Tidus said, scratching the back of his neck.

"It's--" Hana began.

"Hana Latacia," Mateus finished.

Hana looked up at him with wide eyes. How did he know her name? He didn't seem phased by her questioning glance.

"Well pleased to formally meet you, Hana. I'm Tidus, the assistant captain, and this is Mateus he's the captain."

Hana nodded.

"Well I see you all are getting along well," Wakka said, finally coming back with a paper in his hand.

"Sorry, Hana," he apologized. "It was hidden under so many papers. I guess I have to clean my desk."

The emperor crossed his arms and looked at Wakka, "Very well. I'll have the first years clean it during the lunch hour."

"That's not necessa--" Wakka stopped however when the Emperor simply walked away to sit down on the chair beside Hana's.

"Anyway, Tidus gather the starters around. I want you guys to meet Hana formally," Wakka said.

"Yes sir!" Tidus hopped away.

As Tidus did as told, Hana began to look over the paper she was handed. The first game was a week from today against Lix High School.

"We're all here," Tidus announced, coming back.

"Very well, will you do the honors," the Emperor said.

"I was thinking we could all introduce ourselves and our favorite colors," Tidus replied.

"No," was the emperor's simple reply.

"Ok… well you already know me. I'm Tidus Jecht the assistant captain and Forward. He's Mateus Palamecia our captain, and is our goalie. Our left forward is Bartz Klauser."

Bartz waved.

"Zidane Tribal is our mid fielder. Squall Leonhart and Noah von Ronsenburg--" a glare was sent Tidus' way. "I mean Gabranth both serve as our defensive. That leaves Zell Dincht and Leon El as our subs."

"Pleased to meet all of you," Hana beamed.

"Ok, so you know us but who are you?" Zell asked, hopping from foot to foot much the same way as Tidus was doing earlier. It seemed half of the Blitzball team were a bit hyper.

"I'm Hana Latacia and I'm the Blitzball correspondent this year. I hope we get along fine," Hana introduced.

"What about Firion?" Leon asked. "He's not going to cover us this semester?"

"Firion hates Blitzball but Hana loves it so she's going to be the best," Tidus beamed.

Leon nodded, "That's fine with me."

"Well if you gentlemen are finished with your tea party, I think I would like to formally start practice now," Mateus cut in.

"Actually," Hana spoke up. "Wakka said I could interview each of you separately during practice."

"Hmmm, fine. One player a day for 10 minutes, starting with the subs and working your way up to the others," replied the captain. "Bartz go help the other with their exercises, Tidus you lead the starters with their drills."

He waved his hand in a dismissing manner, an the way he did so reminded Hana of a monarch on his throne sending away his vessels. The players all turned to walk away.

"Leon," Mateus called.

Leon turned, "Yes, Captain?"

"She's starting with you. 10 minutes. Go."

"Yes, Captain."

"You guys can use my office," Wakka offered.

"Thanks!" Hana said.

She stood and she and Leon followed Wakka back towards the gymnasium. As they slipped back inside, Hana took one last look at the pool behind her. Everything looked to be running smoothly. Bartz was leading Ingus and the other non starter members in some basic ball dribbling while Tidus was swimming laps with the others in the pool. Sitting high above them in the lifeguards chair, legs crossed, supervising the scene was Mateus, like an Emperor on his throne.

-to be continued-

For those that didn't catch that:

Tidus - right forward and asst captain. really good all around player and probably the best on the team much to someone's resentment

bartz - left forward

gabranth - defense

squall - defense

zidane - midfielder (they gotta be fast and zidane is the fastest next to onion knight and tidus right?)

emperor - goalie (i chose goalie for emperor because he's not a physical person. he's not fast or strong. but... he's a thinker. so this was the safest place to put him and make it realistic) and captain. like i said he's a thinker so he is the tactician of the team.

zell & leon - they fill in when someone can't play. i kind of see Leon (based on his role in FFII) filling in as goalie a lot while the emperor sits on sidelines minipulating his team like the pawns they are (it's all in his mind. remember mateus there's no "i" in team)

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Leon - FFII

Ingus, Sara - FFIII

Bartz - FFV

Squall, Zell - FFVIII

Wakka - FFX

Gabranth - FFXII

thanks for reading. please review. as always i accept crits and comments.