"And we're back after halftime! The score is still Goers 2, Aurochs 0!"

"It looks like this might be a quick game, Bobba. The Aurochs seem to be going down without a fight."

"You want a fight?" I muttered through clenched teeth. "You're about to get one."

The third blitzoff of the championship match went to an extremely motivated Letty. He cut through the center, counting on me and Tidus to sweep up the sides and stick well within passing range. When Balgerda, Doram, and Graav all closed in on him, he lobbed the pass towards Tidus. Balgerda killed the ball's momentum and Doram grabbed it, but Tidus and I were right there to take her down. Tidus picked the ball up I kept pace with him until they caught us again about ten feet closer to the goal. But with me on his flank to keep Graav off him and Jecht Shot to knock out the two guards, our fearless leader had no problems getting the ball away.

I almost felt bad for Raudy. He knew, before he even reached for it, that there was no way he could stop that shot, but he still had to try. So he dove so far he nearly ran into the side of the goal and had to shoot out both hands to stop himself, but...well, it was a Jecht Shot. From somewhere up in the stands, the loudest, most piercing whistle I've ever heard shot down at us and I could make out the form of the summoner as she leapt to her feet. 2-1.

Next blitzoff, Graav made the stupid mistake of trying to break to rightsphere and get past me. Unlucky for me, it wasn't quite stupid enough to allow me to grab the ball. I launched myself at him with a Nap Tackle, but I was moving too quickly to put enough power ir. As he fired the pass off to Abus, I consoled myself with the fact that he'd definitely have a bruise the next morning where I'd slammed the Golden Arm into his shoulder.

Abus cut down the side of the sphere and ran smack into Botta, who had been waiting for this moment for the entire game and snatched the ball with a look of pure joy. If he'd been on land, the defenseman would have skipped all the way to centersphere, where he was stopped by Doram and Graav, who was still wincing every time he rotated his shoulder. This was probably part of the reason he couldn't do much when Botta, still grinning like a little kid, reluctantly aimed a Venom Pass in Letty's direction. Doram let it go. Must've figured getting poisoned would be worse than letting the ball through.

Balgerda, for her part, was circling close to their goal, occasionally stopping to have a conversation with Raudy or examine her nails, which were manicured. If she still had manicured nails, she obviously hadn't planned on being here. Had they decided to put her in early after seeing how well we'd played?

She was pretty much alone on that side of the sphere - Tidus and I had been kinda sitting around as well up there, but all the Goer opposition was still centersphere. Doram was in Botta's face, Botta was still totally unbothered, and Jassu was darting around behind her so she had to keep looking over her shoulder. Perfect. They were distracting both the Goers and the fans. Just what we needed.

While all this was going on, Letty was approaching Balgerda, still a ways back from the goal. He might have gotten past her with a couple more seconds, but she whirled on him and got ready for a tackle. He got the pass away before she could hit him, but her grab spun it off course so far that I had to lunge hard to recover it. My ribs wailed even through the painkillers.

I slammed a Nap Shot 3 out just for the extra momentum. Raudy jumped and missed. It was really that simple. 2-2.

The Goers were tense. The Aurochs were tense. The announcers were ecstatic. The fans were crazy. I personally wasn't wasting my energy on any more tension than necessary right now. All I had to do now was sink one more shot.

Finally, finally, Graav tried to take the ball in a direction other than his stupid straight-down-the-middle approach, but he'd figured it out too late. Now all five of us were on defense, and he was completely surrounded by Aurochs before ten seconds had passed. The clock was now on 4:03. Another minute to go.

Botta was still in a good mood when he relieved Graav of the blitzball and dribbled it around for a while before finally surrendering it to Bickson, who had spent most of the second half thus far drifting. His presence now meant they were going to try to score.

I caught Tidus' eye, and he signaled for a flat-out defensive block. He, Jassu and I were close enough to try to slam the ball down. I didn't need to risk an injury being too aggressive with the block - shots take up time, which was what we wanted, and the only thing we really had to do was make sure that the ball didn't have enough power left to score when it reached the goal. Keepa's Anti-Nap should do the rest. We hoped.

Jassu couldn't get a hand on it, but Tidus and I each wrapped our fingers around the ball, and it was moving pretty slowly by the time it reached Keepa. Steeling himself, he reached out and grabbed it.

The white spherical shield flared up around him, and he sent the ball whizzing back out into the sphere to Jassu. The Anti-Nap had worked. We were still in the game. Jassu was dribbling when time ran out.

"Annnnnnd the score is still tied at 2-2!" Bobba announced. "That means we're going into overtime, folks!"

"You know what this means, Bobba," Jimma said. He sounded like he'd calmed down significantly. Maybe someone up in the booth had dumped ice water on his head, too. "The game will continue until one team or the other scores. It's really going to come down to the wire here."

He had no idea.

We went back up to the sphere pool long enough only to surface for air, and then we were back in the game for overtime. In a tournament, overtime keeps going until someone scores - or passes out from lack of oxygen. Drowning didn't appeal to me, but winning did. It was time to play for keeps now.

Letty sliced the blitzball from the water cleanly and tucked it under his arm. He made a hard run on one side towards the goal and got slammed by Graav and Doram, who was looking furious now. I couldn't block her as she passed me, but Botta and I caught her when she was halfway into our side of the sphere. My tackle barely phased her; it was Botta who grabbed the ball and cut across our turf to the far left edge of the sphere, where he passed to Jassu. Jassu was already in the middle of the sphere on the far left, and he was looking for an opening to get the ball to Tidus when he ran smack into Balgerda. She took a break from examining her nails long enough to take the ball from him.

You just don't let a guard with a manicure take your blitzball away from you. It isn't right. Immediately, I decided I had to stop her at all costs and propelled myself toward her side of the sphere, but Doram had made it her mission to block me at every turn. This was bad, because it gave Balgerda a chance to get a beautiful pass through to Bickson. This was very bad, because he started making a dash for the goal.

Tidus, Botta, and I all bolted towards Keepa. Doram was still trying to block me, but I finally dove underneath her and shot out behind her back, repeating Rin's instructions for the most efficient way to flutter-kick in my head. Waste as little effort as possible. Get the most power out of every stroke. Just fly.

Doram charged after me, just waiting to take a pass if Bickson got in trouble. I could block her from getting it, but I couldn't get close enough to the captain of the Goers to break his shot. Tidus and Botta were on their own up there. I heard the sharp screech of metal and realized I'd been trying to crack my knuckles inside the Golden Arm, so I had to settle for clenching my fists instead. Come on, come on, come on, guys, you can block it, you gotta block it, come onnnnn...

Of course, Bickson didn't try to go for a pass. He aimed for the side of the goal on the far right of the sphere and slammed a Nap Shot 3 toward it. Botta leapt up and planted a hand firmly on it, but he couldn't stop it. This one was up to Tidus.

The fire flared up in his blue eyes and he threw his whole weight into the block. At first I thought the ball had hit him in the stomach, but when he turned I could see he'd blocked it with the Golden Arm - and grabbed it. Now he was streaking towards me, catching my eye, making sure I was ready to catch the pass.

I got the message and turned back to make my run for the goal. Doram was still right behind me, though. Turning back to Tidus, I made a quick tossing gesture with my left hand and then shook my head so he'd barely be able to see it, desperately hoping he'd get the message: fake a pass.

He got it and drew back his arm to whip out an imaginary pass. I turned my body away from Doram and pretended to catch it. She was watching me, not him, and she immediately lunged right for my damn ribs. I just managed to dance away from her tackle and get by her, and now Tidus and I were running side by side up to the goal.

Doram was still spinning from the momentum of her tackle. Letty was confronting Abus and Balgerda. Graav was blocked by Jassu and Botta. Tidus was coming towards me with the ball. It was now or never.

He passed the ball and I grabbed it, flipping to absorb the impact. I was directly in front of Raudy now and well within shooting range. It looked like I was going to have a clear shot right into the goal.

And then Bickson popped up right in my face. He must have been following Tidus from the opposite goal and now he was floating in defender's stance in front of me. Probably hoping I'd get rattled. He wasn't wrong. But in another few seconds, the other Goers would be right up there and I wouldn't have a chance. This was my only opening.

Not enough energy left for Nap Shot 3. All I could do was rely on my leg.

I shot straight for the goal.

Bickson lunged -

- and missed.

The ball flashed past him, spinning in a wild spiral. The Golden Arm was doing its work. If I had anything to believe in, I would have been praying.

Raudy threw himself at the ball, and I almost screamed as his fingers strained to reach it...

...falling just short as the ball rocked the backboard and went in.

"Ladies and gentlemen," Jimma screamed, "the winners of this season's tournament are the Besaid Aurochs!"

"Hey," I said to Bickson through the ensuing chaos. "Steal that."