Chapter 9 – Part of the Team

AUTHOR'S NOTE: This chapter is mostly just filler; sorry! Please Read and Review anyway!

This chapter is dedicated to blue1bear, Joey 066 and xAyameBlackstarx.

DISCLAIMER: Final Fantasy X, its characters, locations and plotlines are owned by Square Enix. I do not claim to own any of these. However, I do own my original character Sakura, also known as Suki. If you wish to use her in any form of media then please ask my permission first.

The next morning I was up well before Tidus. I was making my bed up when he sat up.

"Mornin'," he muttered sleepily.

I smiled, "Hey. You sleep okay?"

He nodded, "Yeah, not bad thanks. You?"

"Good thanks. At least you didn't wake up screaming again."

Tidus looked embarrassed, and I sat down on his bed.

"What was that all about anyway?" I asked.

He sighed, "Just a stupid dream about my old man."

"Ah", I said, "That explains why you yelled 'I hate you' at the top of your lungs."

He looked rather sheepish, and I grinned.

A few minutes later we both walked out of the hut, and the first thing we saw was Wakka and Lulu standing in the centre of the village, looking at us. I gulped.

"Uh oh..." I mumbled, and Tidus nodded in agreement.

"Guess we'd better go see what they want," he said, starting to walk towards them, leaving me to catch up.

"Hey sleepyheads!" Wakka called as we got closer.

I spotted that Wakka was holding something behind his back, but all I could see of it was a light brown handle.

"Something I wanna give ya," Wakka smiled at Tidus, and held it out.

"Whoa!" Tidus cried, and I whistled in approval.

It was a beautiful sword. It was blue and long, with the short, light brown handle I'd seen already. It was the same shade as the sea; parts of it almost looked like it was made out of bubbles.

"You're giving this to me?" Tidus checked as Wakka handed it to him.

"Ya. Use it well," Wakka told him.

Tidus grinned widely and tried a few practise swings.

"That's the sword you gave Chappu."

Tidus and I whipped our heads round to face Lulu. This had been Wakka's brother's sword?

"Well…he never used it," Wakka said not turning around.

After a few rather awkward moments of silence, Wakka asked, "Where's Yuna?"

Tidus' ears pricked up. "We're taking the same boat as Yuna, right?" he asked before Lulu could answer Wakka. "Why do we gotta wait here?"

I tried and failed to hide a giggle at his obvious eagerness, and he glared at me.

"Yuna came to this village ten years ago, when the last Calm started" Wakka started to explain.

"The Calm?" Tidus asked.

Wakka ignored the question. "Since then, she's been like a little sister to me and Lulu. But she had the talent. She became an apprentice. Now, today, she leaves as a summoner."

"This is our journey," Lulu continued. "We should leave together."

We heard a loud 'clunk' and we all turned our heads towards the temple. Yuna was dragging a large suitcase behind her at the top of the temple stairs.

"You really don't need all that luggage!" Lulu called as Yuna stood up straight.

"Ah…they're not really my things," Yuna replied in her defence, "They're gifts for the temples we're to visit."

"This isn't a vacation you know," Wakka said, sounding very serious.

"I guess…I guess you're right," Yuna said rather sadly.

I sighed quietly as Yuna walked towards us, leaving her suitcase on the temple steps. As much as Yuna seemed to be excited about being a summoner, sometimes she did seem pretty sad about it.

"Okay, off we go!" Wakka said as Yuna came up to us, and the five of us headed out of the village. Well, four of us did. Yuna stopped and turned to face the temple. I stopped and waited for her as she bowed to the temple. She stood back up straight and looked at the temple for a few more moments before turning back towards the rest of us. She stopped next to me and tried to smile, a few tears sparkling in her eyes.

"Saying goodbye?" I asked, and she nodded silently, wiping her hand over her eyes.

I gave her a hug and she smiled bravely. "Right, let's go."

We walked quickly to catch up to the others. When we did, Tidus pulled me back.

"What's up?" I asked.

He pulled out his red and silver sword. "I want you to have this," he said, holding the handle out towards me.

My eyes widened. "But…I thought it was a gift from your dad," I said.

He shook his head and pressed the handle into my hand. "Take it," he said determinedly.

I reached out tentatively and took hold of the sword. Tidus smiled.

"Let's be honest, Brother would hate me even more that he already does if I don't help you out from time to time," he grinned.

I smiled back at him. "Thanks Tidus."

While walking towards the dock we got ambushed by fiends more than once.

Tidus and Wakka took on the first one, a weird large cat-like creature.

"Here comes one now!" Wakka called when he spotted it.

He turned to Tidus and grinned, "Hey, how 'bout you try out that sword I gave ya?"

Tidus grinned back and turned to face the fiend. He whipped out the blue sword and Wakka got out his blitzball. Lulu, Yuna and I stayed back, letting boys be boys. Tidus jumped forward and slashed down on the fiend, causing it to vanish immediately, the only remnants remaining being the small white lights that flew up into the sky before disappearing.

"No problem!" Tidus boasted.

"Not too shabby!" Wakka agreed. "You kept up with him pretty well. You might make a good guardian some day!"

Before he could say anything another fiend appeared, this time a bird-like one with a round blue body and pale orange wings.

"A flier!" Wakka exclaimed. "My kind of customer!"

He lobbed his ball at it and it too disappeared.

"Nice one you guys!" I called out, and they both turned and smiled.

It wasn't long before we were ambushed again, this time by a small blue blobby thing.

"That…looks like trouble," Wakka muttered.

"Ha! Watch this!" Tidus called out, cocky.

Lulu shook her head pityingly as Tidus attempted to slash at the fiend. His sword pretty much bounced off the blue blob.

"Told ya!" Wakka said. "Only magic can beat that thing. If ya can't beat them down, you gotta use magic of the element they don't like."

"Magic? Element?"

Apparently they didn't use magic in Tidus' Zanarkand.

"Let's have our black mage show you what I mean," Wakka said, nodding to Lulu. "Lu, you're up!" he called to her, and she walked over.

"Clueless, aren't you?" she sighed, a moogle doll appearing in her hand. "Good thing I'm here."

"What's with the moogle?" I whispered to Yuna.

"It channels her magic when she casts really powerful spells," she answered.

"Spells of ice work well against fire fiends," Lulu was explaining, "and ice fiends are weak against fire magic. You follow?"

"I get fire and ice," Tidus nodded.

"You get lightning and water though?" I called to him.

He immediately looked confused. "Lightning and water?"

"Lightning and water are opposed, just like fire and ice," Lulu explained, amazingly patient. "This one here is a water fiend, which means…"

She lifted her left arm above her head, and the air around her started to glow blue. She brought her arm quickly down, and a lightning spell blasted the fiend, destroying it.

Yuna and I clapped. "Nice one Lu!" Wakka grinned, and Lulu tried and failed to hide a small smile.

It wasn't long after that that we reached the hill that Wakka, Tidus and I had stood on when Wakka had told us about the Blitzball team. Lulu stopped and looked down at the village. Yuna walked over to join her.

"Take your time," Lulu said quietly.

Yuna looked over at her and smiled her thanks, before turning her head back towards the village.

"Let's get going, man!" Tidus called, and I kicked him in the shin.

"Ouch! What was that for?"

"Give them a few minutes, idiot," I hissed.

Wakka nodded in agreement. "We're gonna wait," he said quietly.

"Huh?" Tidus said, confused.

Just then, Yuna walked back over to us.

"Are…you ready?" Wakka asked.

"Hm," Yuna nodded, walking past us silently. Tidus stared after her.

Lulu walked over, and she and Wakka nodded to each other before following Yuna.

"What's…going on?" Tidus asked, still confused.

"Think, guy," I answered. "Yuna's lived her for as long as she can remember. She'll want to say goodbye to the place."

Tidus frowned. Clearly he didn't understand what Yuna was going through. Then again…

"If you could've said goodbye to Zanarkand, wouldn't you have?" I asked.

He sighed quietly. "Yeah, I guess you're right," he admitted.

I clapped him on the shoulder. "Come on, let's go," I said. He nodded and we followed the other three.

On the other side of the hill-top was a kind of shrine; a tall metal structure which looked kind of like parts of the ruins of the ancient city that we'd seen scattered on the cliffs at the beach.

Wakka was kneeling down at the base of the shrine. Tidus and I walked over. Wakka saw us out of the corner of his eye.

"It's an ancient custom," Wakka explained without us having to ask anything. "People leaving the island pray here for a safe trip. Chappu…didn't pray that day. Said he'd miss his boat."

I bit my lip. Poor Wakka…

I heard footsteps behind us, and I turned to see Lulu standing behind us, with Yuna on her knees a little further back from the shrine, praying.

Tidus looked slightly uncomfortable, like he was trying to decide whether to pray or not. I nudged him and nodded, smiling. He nodded back, but still looked a little unsure. I did the bow of the prayer first and Tidus followed my lead. Once we were finished and had stood up straight, Wakka stood back up.

"That should do it," he said, and we all headed back down the other side of the hill.

Soon after that we were walking under some of the ruins a little further down the road. Suddenly, an incredibly loud roar filled the air. I looked up quickly and saw a flash of dark blue before Kimahri Ronso landed right in front of Tidus, causing him to leap backwards. Kimahri growled before roaring right at Tidus, a large spear appearing in his giant paws. Tidus pulled out his sword and they clashed violently. I started to run forward to help, but Wakka held me back.

It didn't last long, as when Tidus looked on his last legs, Wakka called out, "That's enough!"

He walked over to Tidus, patting Kimahri on the shoulder as he passed. Kimahri turned and walked off.

"What's with that guy?" Tidus asked angrily.

"Kimahri Ronso," Lulu told him. "Of the Ronso tribe. He's learned the fiend's way of fighting."

"That's not what I meant," Tidus rolled his eyes.

"He's another of Yuna's guardians," Wakka explained.

Yuna laughed. "Sometimes we don't understand him either," she admitted. "Kimahri doesn't talk much anyway."

Wakka nodded in agreement as Yuna walked over to him and Tidus. "But, he has protected me since I was a child."

"Hmm…" Tidus mumbled thoughtfully.

"You already knew about Kimahri," Lulu said quietly to me, not asking.

"Yeah," I agreed. "Yuna told me yesterday."

She nodded and walked off in the same direction as Kimahri. I waited for Wakka, Yuna and Tidus to catch up and we followed them.

"Again, what the heck was that about?" Tidus asked me.

I smiled. "I guess he wanted to make sure you're strong enough to protect Yuna."

Soon after that, another fiend appeared. This time another flying one with huge wings and a head like a snake.

"A flier! That's your department, right?" I asked Wakka.

"True, true," Wakka mused, "but...why don't we let our summoner show us what she's made of?"

Yuna grinned and ran forward.

"Your first real battle," Wakka said proudly. "Let's see some style!"

"Show us what your training has taught you, Yuna," Lulu chipped in.

"Okay," Yuna smiled, looking confident.

She spread her arms out and looked up to the sky as the rest of us stepped back. The ground started to glow and the same balls of light as before shot up into the air before colliding to reveal Valefor. Yuna stroked her beak before patting her gently to tell her to hover in front of the fiend and to attack it. Valefor beat it down in only a few blasts of her sonic wings, where she gathered up power in her wings before beating them harshly towards the fiend. She looked pretty proud of herself after beating the fiend, and Yuna laughed happily.

"Well done!" Wakka cheered as Valefor flew back up into the sky.

The next fiend that appeared looked the same as the last one.

"Another one of those…" Wakka sighed.

Tidus smirked. "Don't worry, we'll handle it!" He turned his head towards me. "Suki, you game?"

I grinned and ran forward, my new sword appearing in my hand. "Always!" I answered. "Say goodnight, birdy."

We both nodded at each other and ran forwards at the same time, slashing down on the fiend together. Wakka and Yuna clapped and I thought I saw a glimpse of a smile on Lulu's face. Tidus and I high-fived and I laughed out loud. I now felt like part of the team.