Sorry for the delay- I think I've recently made the choice to really dig into this story for a while! Hopefully my updates will be more frequent over the summer (grad school grind gets busy!). Enjoy!
It was very late by the time our freighter spotted Luca on the horizon, but the city was lit up like a beacon. I knew the parties would be raging all through the night. The trouble would be locating Tidus in the drunken mess that would be Luca. That, and getting past Cid with my limbs still attached.
The freighter wasn't able to dock because of the volume of ships that had arrived for the games. Brother got in a zodiac dinghy with me and we started towards shore.
"Oui yna cina oui fyhd du tu drec?" Brother asked me over the roar of the machinated raft. I nodded somberly. I looked ahead to the docks and let out deep breath. I knew that, wherever we tied in, Cid would somehow be waiting there to give me hell. Brother turned off the engine as we grew close to the end of dock 4. A large, regal ship was there, all lit up and loud with revelry. It was probably some rich people from Bevelle. I climbed up the rope ladder that hung off the end of the dock and gained my footing. As I looked up, my suspicions were confirmed. My eyes met Cid's in a silent lock and I froze. After a long moment, he let out a small chortle, then started to laugh. I smiled back at him and started to laugh, too, glad he wasn't yelling at me. In a moment, he raised his hands and pushed me backwards. I flew back and landed in the water just beside the dinghy.
"Hey!" I yelled angrily up at him as I emerged from the water.
"That's for disobeying your orders!" he grumbled. "You're lucky you got off easy!" I pushed the dinghy out of the way and grabbed back on to the rope ladder, grappling back up to the top.
"Ryja oui vuiht Yuna?" Brother asked up to Cid.
"Hud oad," Cid regretfully answered.
"When did she leave?" I asked, as I pulled my sopping self onto the dock and away from Cid's pushing radius.
"Like I'm tellin' you," he growled back at me. "I told you, we've got a plan. And you're not in it."
"Well too bad! I'm going after her anyways!" I said, starting to storm off. My wet suit squished with every step I took. I stopped angrily and started pulling the submersible suit off of me.
"Rikku, we can handle this. Why do you gotta meddle?" Cid shouted at me.
"Because I've got a right!" I spat back at him as I stumbled out of my suit. I threw the wet mess on the ground in front of him. "She's my cousin! I never got to meet her either, and she's my family too! I didn't get to have a mom, and you're too busy playing 'leader of the Al Bhed' to be my dad. I'm going to get my cousin before she's gone, too." I turned and started to storm off.
"Rikku!" one more shout came from behind me. I stopped and turned back to look at him one more time. "Be careful," he muttered. I softened a little- perhaps I was too mean. But it was true, and I wasn't going to let him stop me now.
"You too, pops," I responded softly. I turned and hurried off before he could stop me again, and I didn't look back. Step one of my plan was in play: it was time to find Tidus. Hopefully, he was still hanging around Luca, either partying with the Aurochs or some other team he knew from before he was hit with Sin's toxin. I hurried into the stadium and glanced around. Not too many people were still hanging around there- it was mostly just a few drunk employees celebrating a decent day on the job.
"You did not!" one female employee shouted at a guy hitting on her.
"I did! Before Lord Seymour performed the summoning, I took down one of those Garudas all on my own," he said.
"There is no way," another employee said.
"Hey, did you hear that Auron was here? That guardian of Lord Braska?" the first employee mumbled.
"Yeah, there's something I don't believe..."
Rather than hang around and listen to their gossip, I left the stadium towards the shops and cinema. I decided I'd try towards the cinema first- it was lit up brightly, probably playing highlight reels from the games. The room was crowded, and there was certainly a lot of imbibing going on. Any other time, I would have loved to join in- but I was on a tight schedule. I pushed my way through the crowd to get to the front desk.
"Hi there, how can I help?" a pleasant woman with brown hair asked.
"Yeah, hi… can you tell me, are there any Blitzball teams around here? Like, the players?" I asked.
"Oh, looking for autographs?" she grinned with clasped hands.
"No, I… actually, yes," I said, deciding it was easier to lie than give her the full story.
"Well, the Goers are in Hall C! They're not really giving out autographs anymore, but they're kind of just partying with everyone!" she excitedly reported.
"Oh, okay… just the Goers then? No one from the Aurochs?" I asked. She waved off my request.
"Oh, they just got lucky this year. I hear someone assaulted a group of the Goers in their locker room just before the tournament! Isn't that crazy?" she expressed. I decided to breeze right past that rumor and move on.
"Wow, yeah… so no Aurochs?" I clarified.
"No, I hear they're partying somewhere downtown tonight… maybe at the café near the Highroad?" she speculated.
"Great, thank you!" I said, patting my hand on the desk and rushing away. Squeezing through the crowd, I could feel people bumping into me- and I'm pretty sure someone tried to grab my butt- but I kept moving. Once out of the cinema, I ran into the center of town. The town square was a mess of people everywhere. It was going to be near impossible to make it into the café.
Soon, I realized I didn't have to. Over in the corner of the square, I could see a group of people yelling loudly and bent over someone. After a loud yell and a spilled drink, someone was hoisted into the air. He wore the yellow overalls of an Auroch. He had tan skin and bright blonde hair, and he looked absolutely drunk. But he was still someone on the team I was searching for, so he'd have to do. I pushed through the crowd, making my way to the group.
"Jassu! Jassu!" I heard them chanting as I grew closer.
"Put me down!" he shouted back at them, hitting some of them on the head. He shakily was lowered back to the ground and I tried to snake my way closer. Several of the players were in this corner, drinking around the trophy they all prized so much. But none of them was Tidus.
"Hey, Jassu!" I called out the name that was chanted. The blond man turned around to me with a smile that grew larger as we made eye contact.
"'ey! You made it!" he shouted. Everyone around him cheered at his excitement as he rushed forward and hugged me. I felt some of his drink slosh onto my back, but figured that was unavoidable at some point. I feigned excitement in return, not really sure how he thought he knew me, since I definitely didn't know him.
"Uh, hey!" I forced a smile. "Great game today!"
"We DID OUR BEST!" Jassu shouted. The crowd rose up in a loud, drunken chorus behind him and yelled versions of what he'd just said.
"Yeah! Great! Jassu," I called, trying to keep his attention, "where's Tidus?"
"Ha!" he laughed loudly in my face, "you and every otha gyal round here! 'Where's Tidus?' It was a team effort, ya?" The team rose up in cheers around him, sipping their drinks.
"No, I… we're old friends! I wanted to congratulate him!" I tried to explain. Jassu waved his hand in front of his face.
"He's not around, gyal, he left after da game," Jassu said before swigging his beer.
"Left? With who?" I asked, trying to keep his eyes and attention on me.
"With Lady Yuna," a quieter voice came from behind Jassu. He was a skinny young man with a shaved head and a green sweatband. "Da Cap'n is one of Lady Yuna's guardians- Tidus was close to Wakka, so they took him when they left." Tidus was with Yuna already? That was somehow perfect… but also a big wrench in my plan. I wasn't with them.
"When did they leave?" I pushed past Jassu and to this other man's side.
"After we won da cup… and all that craziness with da fiends in da sphere pool," he shook his head.
"Fiends in the… never mind," I stopped myself from asking about what he meant. This conversation was difficult enough with all these drunk people. I had my answer: Tidus wasn't here, he was with Yuna. If I caught up to Yuna, I'd catch up to Tidus. Problem solved! "Thank you!" I shouted, leaning forward and kissing the young man on his shaved head. When I pulled away, his face was pink with embarrassment. I hurried off as his team mates teased him and shouted after me. I pushed through the crowd to the opposite end of the courtyard. Again, I could feel people constantly bumping into me- sometimes on accident, and sometimes not. It was when someone forcefully grabbed my arm that I was really angry and stopped to yell at them. But I couldn't be mad; not when I saw who it was.
"Cid mad oui ku?" Keyakku shouted.
"What are you doing here?!" I hugged him. "I haven't seen you in ages!"
"Ed'c uhmo paah y vaf suhdrc," he shrugged, "not… too… long?"
"Wow, you're coming along great!" I gave him a small punch on the shoulder.
"Frana yna oui kuehk?" he asked.
"I'm going down the Highroad… my cousin Yuna is that way…"
"E ghuf," he interrupted me. "E's dygehk y days yvdan ran eh dra sunhehk."
"Well, I'm not waiting to go with your team," I said. "I've got to catch up to her as soon as I can… I'm going to talk her out of taking her pilgrimage."
"Talk?" Keyakku laughed. "Dryd fuh'd fung."
"It might work," I said. "And it's better than staying and getting drunk with everyone here." He shrugged, looking with admiration around the party.
"Lusa fedr ic eh dra sunhehk. Fa'ja ymnayto knyppat uha cissuhan, ramb ic knyp dra haqd," he appealed to me.
"You've already grabbed a summoner?" I shouted. He made a shushing gesture at me.
"Oac... cusa ybbnahdela dnyjamehk fedr rec feva. Yuna luimt pa haqd, ev oui ramb," he offered.
"It sounds like you're doing just fine on your own," I said, refusing to join his group. "Sorry, Keyakku. Pa cyva duhekrd."
"You too," he stammered. I smiled back at him, then hurried up the stairs from the courtyard and towards the Mi'ihen Highroad. It would be a long, hard night on the road, but I couldn't wait if I wanted to catch up to Yuna.
