The next morning, I was woken up by someone jumping on my bed and the sunshine that was visible even in the cabin.
"Riley, wake up! You gotta see this!"
I slowly opened my eyes and saw the shaggy haired blizter jumping up and down, waiting for me to get up.
I groaned and turned over to go back to sleep, but Tidus wasn't allowing that.
"Riley, c'monnnn. We're here and you need to see it!"
I sighed heavily and stood up before Tidus slung me over his shoulder and charged out onto the dock.
"Tidus, I don't even have my shoes on and my hair looks like a rat's nest!"
"This will just take a second, then you can go get ready."
I sighed in defeat as he put me down and pointed out to sea. I gasped at the sight.
There was a giant stadium in the shape of a sphere, and the streets were packed with people of every race. The sky was the perfect shade of blue, with white fluffy clouds floating carelessly. Seagulls were flying around and other boats along with ours were pulling into the many docks.
I looked at Tidus. He had the biggest smile on his face. It was the same look that he had when I first saw him on the TV at my house. It only made me think that he isn't real.
'Stop thinking about that and loosen up, Riley. It's game day!'
I shook my head and listened closely. I could hear the announcers clear from our boat.
"Ah, over there! The ships carrying the players are arriving now! This would be dock number 2."
I realized we were at the dock, so I ran back to my cabin, put on my shoes, some make up and fixed my hair.
I grabbed all my things and walked back onto the dock to see the spectators awaiting us.
"All the way from Kilika, it's the Kilika Beasts! igh Summoner Ohalland used to play for them, a big name to live up to. Their hometown was recently attacked by Sin. Isn't that right, Jimma?"
"Yes, Bobba. They're going to be pulling out all the stops to try and bring back the cup this year."
I chuckled. Jimma and Bobba? How classic.
"Exciting, isn't it, folks? Our next team off the ramp is... Well, well, well! If it isn't the Besaid Aurochs! They're a living, breathing, statistical impossibility! I've never seen a team this bad! That's right! In twenty-three years they've never made it past the first round! Only a few die-hard fans are in the audience today."
"Best of lucky to them, and a safe journey back to Besaid."
"Right, Jimma. Moving right along, our next team is... Here they are, folks! Our very own Luca Goers! They've got power! They've got speed! They've got teamwork! They're an all-around first-class team! And they're back home in Luca!"
I sneered at the sight of Bickson and his cronies. We were so going to pound them into the ground.
Without a doubt, they are the favorite this year, Bobba. And after the way they dominated last year, it'd take a miracle for them to lose today."
"You can say that again, Jimma. Look at the crowd, folks! Look at the crowd! Looks like all of Luca has turned out to cheer the Goers on! They know, I know, and you know, folks! The Luca Goers are number one!"
Okay, out of the two I think Jimma would be my favorite. He doesn't brag so much on how good they are like Bobba does.
Wakka saw that both Tidus and I were pretty mad.
"It's like this every year, ya? Don't let it bother you."
Next thing I knew, Tidus had a megaphone in his hand and was standing on the cargo boxes behind us.
"Stop right there, Goers!"
Everyone froze and stared at Tidus. What was he doing?
"You guys are smilin' now, but not for long! Cause this year, us Aurochs are taking the cup!"
Tidus did some sort of evil laughter and everyone continued on with their day after giving him glares and confusing looks.
I was laughing so hard that I slid down onto the ground and was holding my stomach.
Tidus climbed down and helped me back up after I settled down.
Wakka did a face palm motion, "What in Yevon's name were you doing up there?"
"We sure stood out, though!" Datto said.
"We were on the sphere!" Letty added.
"We were?" Datto asked.
Before anyone could answer, a couple ran by and loudly announced to the entire world that Maester Mike had arrived.
Tidus crossed his arms, "What's up now?"
Yuna got a smile on her face, "Maester Mika has arrived, that's what!"
Tidus was confused as always, "Mika? Maester?"
"Maester Mika is the leader of all the peoples of Spira. He's come all the way from Bevelle. The tournament is being held to honor his fifty years as maester." Lulu explained.
"Fifty years? Shouldn't he be, uh, retired by now?"
Wakka smacked Tidus on the back of the head, "Hey! Mind your mouth, now."
"Let's all go see him!" Yuna suggested.
We all left the dock and went to the next one over to see a huge boat pull in. I tried jumping up and down, but it was no use.
"Can't see a thing!" Tidus and I both said.
Wakka lifted his finger up, "Shhhh!"
Some musicians nearby started playing loud, joyous music, like you'd hear when the king enters the room. Several people started getting off the boat, one of them looked especially weird.
He had strange, blue hair and his entire body was covered in what looked like tattoos.
People in the crowd started whispering among themselves.
"That's a Guado, right?"
"Who could it be?"
"Isn't that... Maester Seymour?"
The man they called Seymour faced the boat, bent down, and did the prayer gesture, as well as everyone else in the crowd but me and Tidus.
An older man with white hair and a hunchback stepped off of the boat and spoke.
"People of Spira, I thank you for your generous welcome. Rise, Maester Seymour. And all of you as well."
Everyone stood up and gazed at their leader.
"I present to you... the son of Maester Jyscal Guado, who departed for the Farplane a fortnight past. As some of you already know, he has been officially ordained a maester of Yevon."
Seymour spoke and his voice gave me chills, "I am Seymour Guado. I am honored to receive the title of maester. In life, my father Jyscal worked to foster friendship between man and Guado. I vow to carry on his legacy, and to fulfill my duties as maester to the best of my abilities."
Everyone bowed again and Wakka nudged Tidus and me.
"You, two! Bow your heads!"
Mika and his followers began to leave, but not before Seymour stared at Yuna. And not just a friendly stare, like a full on creeper stare. I don't like this guy at all, and I just met him 2 minutes ago.
Wakka smiled, "Really psyches you up, ya? All right! Last meeting before the match! Hustle!"
We walked from the docks towards the stadium, our locker rooms were below the stadium along with another door that led directly to the water filled sphere.
People were buying last minute tickets and getting in their seats to see all the action that was occuring in less than an hour.
Tidus and I were outside of the locker room door talking to Yuna and Lulu, until we walked back inside to see the Aurochs waiting in anticipation.
Once we opened the door, they all rushed over to us, but sat back down once they saw that we weren't Wakka.
"Where's Wakka?" I asked.
"At the match-up draws."
"We had to play the Goers in the first match last year." Letty explained.
"The year before that, and the one before that, too!" Jassu said.
Keepa shook his head, "Well, we would've lost to anyone anyway."
I was about to protest whenever the door swung open, revealing Wakka with a huge smile on his face.
"Cap'n Wakka!"
"We're playin' the Al Bhed Psyches first. If we win, we're in the finals!"
No one knew how to respond at first.
"That's right, we got seeded! Two wins and we're the champions!"
We all started cheering and high-fiving each other.
"We so got this, you guys!" I said.
We all started preparing for the game whenever Lulu and Yuna walked into the locker room.
"There you are!" Yuna shouted.
She walked over to Tidus and I and spoke again.
"Someone said they saw Sir Auron in a café!"
Tidus was shocked, "Au-Auron?"
"Yes, Sir Auron! Let's go find him!" She said.
"Yeah! Come with us, Riley!" He looked at me.
How could I say no to that face?
"Okay, let's go!" I declared.
We started walking out the door whenever Wakka stopped us.
"Hey! Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey! The game starts like real soon! C-Come back quick, ya?"
"Hey, we'll be back." Tidus assured him.
Wakka sighed heavily, "Yeah, okay."
Tidus walked in front of him, "Hey, Wakka. You're stiff, man."
Wakka groaned and grabbed his face.
"No, no, not your face. Just breathe out, relax. Like this. Just breathe, yeah!"
We all laughed as Wakka took breaths and Tidus was trying to keep him from grabbing his face.
Yuna, Tidus, Kimahri and I walked out of the locker room and down the hallway.
"Maybe now we can find Sir Jecht." Yuna said.
"Huh? How?" Tidus asked.
"Sir Auron was also my father's guardian. So, he might know where Sir Jecht is. Let's go now!"
I was surprised at how excited Yuna was to see this guy. She ran out of the stadium and out into the streets, Kimahri following close behind.
"Jeez, she's really excited isn't she?" I asked.
Tidus chuckled, "Yeah, she is."
I followed Kimahri out of the stadium, but noticed that Tidus was trying to talk to some other blitz players. They looked Al Bhed, so I just though I'd let him figure out on his own that they can't understand him.
I walked outside and looked at the bright blue sky. The streets were filled with people celebrating and placing bets on the upcoming games.
I found Yuna and Kimahri and looked around to find Tidus.
"It's so packed out here. He probably got lost in the crowd somewhere." I said.
All of a sudden I heard someone yell my name, followed by a loud whistle.
I turned around and saw Tidus running towards me.
"Did you whistle for me?" I asked.
"Yeah! I figured since it's so crowded and all, if we lose each other, just whistle. I'll come running."
I placed my fingers in my mouth to mimic him, "Like this?"
I blew air through my fingers and the high pitched whistle flew out of my mouth and into the air. A lot of people turned and looked at me because of how loud and distracting it was.
Tidus laughed, "Yeah, just like that. But for now, let's try to keep up with Yuna together."
I smiled, "Okay."
We walked down the boardwalk type road, pushing through the crowd and into a big plaza.
"Whoa! This is a pretty big town!" Tidus exclaimed.
"Luca is the second largest city in Spira." Yuna explained.
"I thought every town was little...you know, like Besaid and Kilika."
"Towns don't usually get bigger than that. Because when a lot of people start to gather..."
"Sin?" I asked.
Yuna replied with a nod.
"What about Luca? It's safe here?"
"It's not any different, but the stadium is here. The Crusaders fight to protect it with all their strength."
"They protect the stadium?"
"Blitzball's really the only entertainment that we have. Spira's a little short on fun these days." She said.
Tidus crossed his arms, "Whoa! Talk about pressure!"
"That's right! Are Vegas and Zanarkand like this, too?"
I was shocked that Yuna asked me about Vegas. She usually just wants to know all about Zanarkand.
"Well, there are more buildings. All tall ones and cramped together." Tidus started.
"Vegas is the same way, but with bright, flashing lights and huge water fountains that shoot up into the sky."
"They must be so tall! And with so many bright lights! Don't you ever get dizzy?"
Tidus and I both laughed and she smiled at us.
"Let's go find Sir Auron!"
We walked into a small café in the plaza and looked around inside. Of course I had no idea what Auron looked like, so I let Tidus and Yuna search.
Tidus looked around for a moment, then sighed.
"Auron's not here."
Yuna let out a slight "Hmm" sound, then walked inside to talk to some of the locals. I just stood beside Tidus until a few gasps were heard throughout the room.
We both looked over and saw Kimahri standing in front of two other ronsos. And I thought Kimahri was big! These two others were at least 2 feet taller than him and had more muscle.
One of them had bright yellow hair and dark gray skin, while the other had light purple skin with gray hair to match. Both ronsos had full horns sprouting from their foreheads.
The one with the gray hair spoke to Kimahri in an angry tone.
"Why not talk, Kimahri? Not see Yenke for ten years! Say something! Kimahri forget Yenke? Forget Biran?"
The one I assumed was named Biran spoke next, "Leave Kimahri, Yenke. Kimahri is small Ronso. Kimahri so small can't see Yenke and Biran's faces."
The two kept taunting Kimahri as he simply stood there and took it.
"Kimahri forget Ronso friends? We taught you much at time of horn-molt! Biran taught Kimahri to be strong Ronso."
"Maybe taught too much." Biran said.
Biran gave Kimahri a light shove on the shoulder, and Tidus got in the action.
"Take 'em on!" He urged the blue ronso.
Yenke began to laugh until Kimahri gave him a good punch in the jaw, which sent him tumbling to the floor. All the spectators gasped at what Kimahri had done.
"Take it outside! The tournament's starting, you hear?"
Biran punched Kimahri in defense for his friend, completely ignoring the manager of the café.
Tidus gasped and looked at me, "The game!"
"Oh shit!"
We all looked at the TV and watched as Maester Mika gave a speech to the crowd and players.
"Today, on this glorious day, players from all over Spira have assembled here... to participate on this great contest of bravery, skill, and strength. All of these fine teams, equally renowned, deserve to win the cup today. Such is the nature of this contest. Let us, the spectators, play our role accordingly: Let us sing to the glory of the winners, and applaud equally the valor of the defeated. Contestants, may Yevon be with you."
He did the prayer gesture to the applauding crowd and I crossed my arms.
"Such a good sport." I mumbled.
I looked around for Yuna to see if we could go back to the stadium, but she was nowhere in sight.
"Uh oh..."
"What is it?" Tidus asked.
"Yuna's gone!"
I ran up to Kimahri and pulled him away from his fight.
"Kimahri, Yuna's gone!"
He looked at me in surprise as Biran launched another punch.
"Save it for later, big boy!" I shouted.
The three of us ran outside and looked frantically around for the summoner. We had no luck, but we did find Lulu.
"Where in Spira have you been!" She asked.
"Huh?"
"Yuna's been kidnapped by the Al Bhed Psyches. In exchange for her safe return, they want the Aurochs to lose." She explained.
"What!" Tidus and I both shouted.
"If they're only blitzball players, I doubt they'd do anything drastic. But we shouldn't take chances. Let's go get her."
I stepped forward, "I'm going. It's partly my fault for not watching her and we gotta get her back."
"I'm going too! This will be no problem! They're telling the Aurochs to throw the game, as if they needed to! I mean, how good a team can they be?" Tidus said.
"Wakka said the same thing. He'll take care of the game. We should go get Yuna. The Al Bhed boat is in dock 4. Let's go."
We all ran towards the dock. The game had already started and I was letting my coach down for not being there.
'Hang on, Wakka. We'll get her back in no time.'
