Chapter 3: Temporary Alliance
Tidus hurried back to the stadium with the feeling he forgot something, that there was something wrong. He past by the ticket counter and climbed the stairs to the intersection of stairs, one going up to the seats, two each side of these stairs going down to the players lockers.
As he headed left to his locker, he heard voices coming from the right side.
"Kidnapped? Are you sure?"
Tidus recognize Wakka's voice and from the concern he detected in his voice, he figured it must have been bad so he silently went that way to listen. He paid attention not to be noticed.
"That's how it is," a worried girl voice replied.
"Why would the Al Behd Psyches kidnap Yuna?"
Tidus widened his eyes on his corner of the wall. Yuna... Could it be the same Yuna he talked with in the café?
"They said they'll let her go if you lose the game."
"Like they need to ask me to lose on purpose... Damn those Al Behd!"
Wakka kicked the wall by his side.
"What was Kimahri doing? I thought he was with her?"
"He came upon two of his tribe and they nearly started a fight so I guess it happened while he was busy."
"What do we do?"
"YOU worry about your game. If your best can let you win, do it. I'll go with Kimahri look for Yuna. Once we have her into safety, I'll send you a signal."
"What will it be?"
"You'll know when you see it."
Tidus hurried to his locker room. He slammed open the door, startling everyone. Bickson got up with a sigh of relief as he smiled to his friend.
"For a while, I was afraid you changed your mind again! Hurry we start soon."
"The Aurochs are playing the Psyches first, right?" Tidus asked apparently in a hurry.
"Yeah, so?" Bickson asked with a frown of curiosity.
"I've got something to do before the game... I promise I'll be back, either for the next, or at least the finals... If you make it..."
The last part of his sentence was said in a teasing tone.
"What do you mean 'if'? Of course we'll make it! But what is so urgent?"
"Someone's in trouble. A girl..."
Balgerda walked up to him and frowned, her fists on her hips.
"Wanna have some fun before the big game? You could have that from me, no need to go very far!"
"Come on! That's not it! She's in trouble and I want to help her!"
His eyes were nearly pleeding. Bickson then took a threatening face on.
"You're lucky you're a good player... If you don't come back in time, I swear I'll tear you apart! We need you, got it?"
Tidus raised a thumb up and smiled.
"I willl come back at least for the finals. And I got something up my sleeve to impress everyone."
The whole team stared at him with surprise. Something up his sleeve?
"Huh? What?"
"I'll come back to show you, to show everyone!"
He walked to a locker with his name and took something in. His father's sword. Then he hurried to the door but before he left, he turned to his team.
"I'll come back, I swear!"
And he left, leaving everyone hanging. Bickson shook his head and turned to his team.
"Come on Goers! It's not the time to get nervous! We must concentrate on the game with the Ronso Fangs! We're gonna kick their asses!"
"Yeah!!!"
Tidus hurried up the stairs and hoped in silence he didn't miss them. He spotted the Ronso with the broken horn near the counter walking away with a girl in a leather dress. He hurried to them.
"Wait, Kimahri!"
The Ronso froze and turned around along with the girl. Both didn't seemed really happy but that was just their normal behavior. When he was close enough to see them better, he stared at the girl.... Especially at one place: her chest. Then he understood what the guys meant... Whooo!
"Why are you carrying that sword around? It's dangerous."
Then she frowned.
"You're a Goer?" she asked looking at him from head to toe. "I don't remember seeing you play..."
"I usually call out before the tournament..."
"How do you know Kimahri's name?"
She looked at her Ronso friend and he gave her a look probably only a friend of his would be able to understand.
"Oh, so you were the one talking with Yuna in the café?"
"That's right!" Tidus said with a nod.
"Go away," the girl (rather woman) said roughly. "We're in a hurry."
"I know Yuna's been kidnapped!" Tidus reavealed while they were walking away.
Both froze then the woman came back to him and looked at him straight in the eyes. She was so close to him he had to make a step backward and try real hard to keep his eyes from venturing where they didn't belong.
"How come?"
"Well, I overheard you talk about it..." he said nervously scratching the back of his head. "I want to help you save her."
"We don't need any help from a Goer."
"But you could! I've heard rumors Al Behd are using Machina. I know where their ship's docked. I can fight, honest I think you should take me along."
Kimahri folded his arms and placed a glance on Tidus he prefered to avoid. His female companion looked at Tidus a suspicious way.
"Why do you care?"
"Why shouldn't I?" he asked in a tone he wanted to be convincing.
But he was very bad at this. They looked at him even more suspiciously.
"Alright, there's something I need to ask her! She talked about a man named Auron, and it happens that I was raised by a man called Auron so I wanted to know if we were talking about the same guy! I haven't seen him for a while and I wonder what happened to him. If she holds any information, I want to know! But I think we're wasting our time, come on already! The game's only ten minutes long!"
"...... Alright, I take the risk to trust you... If you try anything funny..."
Kimahri showed a nasty looking spear that Tidus then wanted to see anywhere but close to him.
"My black magic could burn you to a crisp. I'm Lulu. You already know Kimahri..."
"And I'm Tidus. Nice to meet you."
"This alliance is only temporary. Since you know where the Al Behd ship is docked, it will save us the trouble of looking for it. Lead the way!"
"All right!"
They ran to the docks.
As they were passing the different docks and approaching their destination, they came upon mechanical machines. Small machines with gunarms.
"What? Machina here?" Lulu said in surprise.
"Ha! Those Al Behd!" Tidus stated.
One of the three Machina attacked him with one of its metallic arms.
"Ouch!" Tidus said. "Damn you!"
He stuck with his long sword, taking the arm out. By his side, Lulu raised an arm, the other holding a moogle plush, then brought it down, realeasing a thunder spell on one of the machinas. It couldn't resist.
"Wow! You're good!" Tidus exclaimed in admiration.
Lulu kept silent while Kimahri was attacked by the other machina. He counter-attacked and brought it down.
"Eyaah!" Tidus screamed as he attacked the remaining machina.
With the Machinas out of their way, they looked at each other then nodded and Tidus lead them further. Over their head, a screen was displaying the match in progress: the Besaid Aurochs vs the Al Behd Psyches. One of the players hit Wakka real bad, leaving him barely counscious. Tidus clenched his teeth knowing it was painful.
"Ouch, that's gotta hurt!"
"He always does that," Lulu said with a sigh. "Now with the Al Behd holding Yuna hostage..."
"Let's hurry up, then!"
They met two more machinas by the dock where the Al Behd ship was docked.
"Man, how much of these things they have?"
"Let's take them down as well." Lulu invited.
"Of course!"
Not long after, the Machinas were brought down and they ran to the docks.
"The ship!" Lulu exclaimed. "It's departing!"
"But it's not gone yet!" Tidus said with a wide smile. "Come on!"
He ran as fast as he could, the others close behind and jumped over to get on the ship's deck. Kimahri used his spear to give himself a longer shot, but with her high heels, it wasn't that simple for Lulu. Tidus turned to her and oustretched his hand.
"Come on!" he called.
She frowned at first but then nodded. She took a few steps backward then ran and jumped. Her jump was too short, she wouldn't make it. Tidus tried to extend his arm the furthest he could and was barely able to catch her hand. He nearly lost his balance but Kimahri caught him and pulled them both on the deck. Lulu rested her palms on her knees and tried to catch her breath.
"Whew!" Tidus breathed out. "That was close!"
"I guess I have to say thank you," Lulu said. "But it's not reason enough for me to trust you!"
"Gee, you're grumpy! Don't you ever smile?"
He never received an answer. Kimahri stood in fighting stance and growled to attract the others' attention. Tidus turned around and had a move backward as he saw a huge machina standing in front of them, blocking the way inside the ship.
"What is that thing?"
It attacked them and Tidus jumped aside to avoid the blow.
"Woah! I guess we don't have a choice!"
"It's too big!" Lulu objected. "If we could dismantle it, it would be much easier. Over there! Use that crane!"
Tidus turned aside and saw the crane in question. He tried to get it to work but it wouldn't start.
"Damn, there's no power!"
"Leave it to me!"
As Tidus and Kimahri were holding up the machina, Lulu was stricking the crane with thunder to power it up. After a few shots, it started.
"Alright!"
He operated it and moved it to the top of the machina. The crane grabbed the top of it and lifted it up. The weight of the Machina was too big, it broke apart, causing some serious damage. The the crane was moved to drop to useless part into the sea. Lulu nodded at Tidus, thinking he wasn't bad at all.
With part of it broken, the Machina was soon brought down. When it stopped functionning, the gang hurried to the door which opened before they touched it and the girl Tidus saw in the café came out, a guard knocked out inside.
"Are you hurt?" Lulu asked with concern.
"No. I was hoping maybe Cid was on this ship."
"Cid?" Tidus asked.
"Oh, hi again. Cid is my uncle, my mother's brother."
"An Al Behd's your uncle? Then you're Al Behd too?"
"Only from my mother's side."
Lulu looked at Tidus with a serious face.
"Whatever you do, you must never tell anyone about this!"
"Yeah, I know not much people like the Al Behd."
"Especially Wakka," Yuna said.
"I'll keep it secret, I promise."
Yuna bent her head aside and looked at Tidus a curious way.
"Weren't you supposed to play today?"
"The game!" he said slapping his forehead.
"Oh!" Lulu said walking away.
She formed a fireball in her hand and threw it up in the sky where it exploded.
In the stadium, Wakka saw the signal. He smiled then turned to his comrade who had the ball. He was thrown a pass and caught it. Then he started swimming towards the goal. One of the opposite players came at him but he managed to pass over him and shoot. It was a pretty long shot but it made it.
"Goal!" the referee exclaimed in the mic. "The Aurochs win this match 2 to 1 and that qualifies them for the finals!"
Wakka had a proud smile and released the tension he had.
Bickson was getting nervous.
"Damn! He better show up!"
"He promised he'd be there, right?" Abus said.
"Yeah... I don't get how Wakka managed to score! Nimrook's the best goaler of the league!"
"Hey!" Raudy exclaimed offended.
"What? It's true!" Bickson said with a smile. "You never have much work to do since we're always hanging around the goal... Besides we have a strong defense so if someone ever manages to get past both Doram and Balgerda, you never have trouble catching the ball!"
"Hmph!"
The game was about to start and still no sign of Tidus. Bickson knew they could win without him, but having him would be a plus they would enjoy having. It was their last game before the finals. They had to do their best against the Ronsos because they were ferocious players. For this one, they would play without him but for the finals... he had to be there!
Chapter done! How did I do? I'm confused sometimes because I'm writing some fics at a time and reading too but it's funny, I never mix them together! Please review!