CHAPTER ONE: The World Before

ZANARKAND SPRUNG TO LIFE at night. Dazzling colors lunged out from every direction. Even if it was nighttime, Zanarkand's radiance gave the impression of the midday. Tonight, however, the people of Zanarkand were more excited than usual, like an already hyperactive two-year-old on a sugar rush. Tonight was one of the greatest events to ever occur in Zanarkand and no one was going to be left out.

Several fans were standing around in the middle of nowhere, making small talk to one another, until a greatly-appreciated busybody approached the groups and spread his announcement from one cluster to the next.

His message brought about a chorus of giggles from the teenaged girls dressed appropriately for the special occasion. Thrilled to the point that they could no longer contain their enthusiasm, the girls and guys dashed off until no one was left and they had all abandoned where they once stood and chatted pointlessly.

From this place of loneliness, a figure materialized out of the thin air, wearing a black hood over his small head, concealing everything but his tanned arms and legs and feet. He followed silently, but briskly, behind the fleeing admirers, before he dissolved into the air from whence he had come.

***

Showtime, Tidus thought with a grin curling the corners of his rosy lips and medium-plump mouth. He had been through this exact scenario a thousand times before, but no matter how routine it got, it still felt like the "first time."

His heart thudded in his exposed six-pack abs. It hammered against his golden skin so vigorously that he could look down and see his silver triple-knot pendant suspended from the matching chain quivering with the rapid pulsations.

Keep your cool, Tidus, he told himself for the sixteenth time in the last thirty seconds. They all love you and adore you. Just gotta stay calm.

The second his heavy yellow boots hit the platform of the steel ship, the ladies commenced their screaming and cheering. They seemed to have radar for detecting his presence. He had hardly made a sound coming on board to the vessel.

Taking a deep breath before moving on, Tidus drew near to a group of small kids, no older than nine or ten.

Immediately, he was flocked with requests.

"Can you sign this?" one of the kids pleaded eagerly, holding out a blitzball for Tidus.

He took it from him, replying, "No prob!" and signed his celebrated name onto the surface of the equally well-known blitzball.

The instant he was finished with his first autograph, another one of his young male admirers lifted up his own blitzball and cried out, "Please!"

"Alrighty." With a soft chuckle under his breath, Tidus signed his second blitzball and another one. Hearing the plea of a child, "Me, too!" Tidus's only answer was, "Take it easy." It was what he had been telling himself all night.

He finished his third signature and advanced to two girls holding blitzballs. Not bad looking, Tidus mused. He surveyed both of them, one of the girls in a bright pink top and the other in the kind of funky blue outfit one would come to expect in a fast-paced city like Zanarkand.

"Can I have your autograph?"

He immediately traced the voice back to the girl in the blinding pink top and he heard her nasal voice and he attempted to mask his displeasure.

"Of course!" Tidus chirped, taking her blitzball, signing and then giving it back to her. The other girl, the one wearing the blue, proceeded to hand him her blitzball.

Before he even finished signing the second of the pair's blitzball, he heard the words, "Good luck tonight!"

He grinned. "Nothing to worry about!" he promised them. He spun the blitzball he was signing on his finger and returned it to its proper owner.

One thing he always loved was making each and everyone of his fans feel special or unique, different from the others in some way or another. He had probably ten thousand legions of adorers and he knew he couldn't remember every single name, but he tried his best when he could to make someone feel special. For some odd reason, he liked these two girls.

"Oh, if I score a goal . . ." Tidus started, pausing to think for a moment. And then, he raised his arms in the air in a victorious gesture and continued, "That will mean it was for you, okay? What seat?"

Before the girls responded, they giggled acutely. "East block, in the front row!" one of them yelled.

"Fifth from the right!" the other added with a lot more tranquility and easiness in her voice.

"Got it!"

Tidus flashed them one of his best, pearl-white smiles and his round blue eyes shone with merriment. Before he knew it, he was surrounded by dozens of blitzball fans, all vying for his attention, for Tidus, the pro Blitzball player, to look them in the eye.

To achieve his attention, one of the little kids emerged from the crowd and balanced a blitzball on his forehead and tottered awkwardly in front of Tidus. That certainly got his attention. He didn't have to look at the time to know, however, that it was certainly time to leave. The Blitzball Tournament was starting up soon. Sadly, he had to take his farewell.

"Well, gotta go! Cheer for me!" Tidus tried to always sound cheery, even if the moments he experienced weren't always happy. It was something he had picked up a long time ago, as a child. Besides, he was confident. He was, after all, the greatest pro Blitzball player since . . . since . . .

Suddenly, the group of kids whose blitzballs Tidus had signed earlier, shouted in unison, ". . . two, three! Teach us how to blitz!"

Their enthusiasm made Tidus want to stay and miss the game, just to show the group of potentials the ropes of Blitzball. Unfortunately, this particular game was too damn important to miss. "Hey, I got a game to play!" he said, having it sound whinier than he had first intended.

"Then teach us after!" one of the wannabe-Blitzball players persisted.

Tidus pondered it for a moment. "Maybe tonight . . . um . . . well . . ." He stammered, uncertain if he had the time.

A mysterious voice came from behind Tidus. "You can't tonight," the soft and eerie voice told him. No one else around Tidus seemed to be able to hear or see him.

Tidus reconsidered his previous answer. "I mean . . . tomorrow," he restated.

"Promise?" They sounded so hopeful and they would be so devastated if he didn't keep his word. Luckily, Tidus was one of the rare breed that could.

"Promise!" he reassured them firmly.

Graciously, the three kids in front of him made a series of gesticulations out of respect and then bowed to Tidus.

Now, he was off to crush his Blitzball opponents.
***
In Zanarkand, it was believed that one could touch the sky, for indeed, even the buildings seemed they could.

In spite of the fact that the lights were small, there were several of them, all shining down on the path that Tidus took to get to his desired—not to mention required—destination.

He glanced around at his surroundings. He had walked down this same lane dozens of times before, but he had never taken the time to admire the scenery. The skyscrapers did not just scrape the sky; they exceeded the atmosphere.

His favorite parts of Zanarkand, his much beloved home, were the waterfalls that gushed down the sides of the high-rise buildings. There was no other city that was as technological as Zanarkand. No other place, as far as Tidus was concerned, could come close to his home.

The aroma of hot, spicy foods awakened the hunger inside of Tidus as he sprinted to the smooth surface of a cement bridge that also doubled for a street. He looked up to his left to see one of Zanarkand's enormous buildings with an equally massive billboard on its side. His eyes met the glare of a man long dead, a man he still resented for as long he would live.

Tidus stared at it intently, like a game of who-blinks-first. Only, of course, Tidus would not allow even the man in the billboard with the red bandana to out blink him. But the man would never move; he would remain as stubborn today as he was ten years ago. Nothing would ever change that.

I have better things to do, old man, Tidus snapped angrily, years of frustration beginning to emerge on the surface. Like upstaging you at your own game. Blitzball is my sport now. It's my name they cheer for, not yours.

Giving up, Tidus smirked and started dashing off for the stadium where he would make his presence felt once again. As he headed for his destination, he listened to the sound of the blitzball announcer's voice booming out even past where the stadium was.

"I was in a coffee shop, running away from home when I heard the news. Our hero, Jecht, gone, vanished into thin air!"

Hero? Yeah right, Tidus differed.

"My dad must have been his biggest fan. I knew how sad he'd be. Heck, we all were that day. 'Zanar,' I says to myself, 'What are you thinking?' I went running straight back home. We sat up talking 'bout Jecht all night. My dad and I never talked so much."

I could say the same thing, Tidus reminisced, nearing the stadium.

As if realizing his mistake, the announcer apologized. "Whoa . . . Didn't mean to reminisce, folks. Anyways . . . Ten years later, the Jecht Memorial Cup tournament is today! The two teams that had won through the finals are . . . of course, the Abes from A-East and the Duggles from C-South. I know there's a lot of people out there today to see the star of the Abes! In just one year, he's become the team's number one player! He's Jecht's blood, and the new hope of blitzball! What kind of super play will he show us today? Will we see his father's legendary shot? I don't think I'm the only one excited here, folks!"

You're sure not.
***
Finally, he was there. As he approached the blitzball stadium however, tons of screaming fans surrounded him like a pack of hyenas to their prey.

"Make way, make way!" Tidus called out to them. "Coming through, sorry!" he yelled as he gently pushed through the rabid crowd. "Hey, I'm gonna be late! Hey, let go of me!"

He found an opening and tore right through, managing to make it through the soaring archway entrance of the stadium in one piece.