Chapter Sixteen

A loud metallic thud echoed through the empty room.

"Damn it," Wakka said under his breath.  His hand was still partially impaled in the metal door of a locker.  His knuckles hurt, but he didn't feel any external pain.  All of his pain was inside.  And in many ways, that is the worst kind of pain.

"Why'd it have to happen like this?" he asked the empty locker room.  "Why'd it have to be" he started, gathering himself.  He sniffed really loud, not caring if anyone heard him or not.  "Why'd it have to be Chappu?" he said again.

Suddenly tears streamed down the side of his cheeks, as he couldn't hold them in any longer.  He took his hand, now with a few drops of blood on the knuckles, and covered his face with his palm.

"Wakka?" a soft voice came down through the room.  Immediately Wakka turned away.  Even if it was just his wife, he still wasn't comfortable crying in front of her.  He then heard another set of footsteps behind her.  He quickly wiped the tears from his eyes.

"How'd you know I'd be here?" he asked, his back still turned away.

Lulu let a sigh escape her as she walked up and placed a hand on his shoulder.  "This was the only place that you were truly happy," she said.  "You know, you could have told someone.  You've been gone a day, and Luca is a pretty far way from the island."

"I know," Wakka said as he turned to face his wife.  "I'm sorry."  He immediately looked down when he saw the form of Abel behind her.  Lulu could sense the tension.

"Abel," she started. 

"Yeah," he said in a low tone.

"Tell the others," she ordered.

"Ok," he said.  He grabbed his com as he turned to walk out of the room.

As soon as he was out of the locker room door, Wakka asked: "Why'd he come?"

"Because everyone else was searching elsewhere," she answered.  "Besides, I think he feels guilty for being the one to tell us."

"Damn," Wakka muttered. 

"You know Wakka," Lulu started.  "I know, he meant a lot to you.  But he was our child, yours and mine.  I know this hurts, but it hurts me too.  If you're going to walk away, make sure you take me with you."

"I know," he replied.  "I know.  I'm sorry.  I shouldn't have ya.  But I had to be alone.  But you knew where to find me." 

"I will always know where to find you," Lulu said as she reached in and hugged him.  "Right where your heart is."

When the two came out of the locker room many minutes later, they saw Abel staring up at the large electronic board.   Usually it shows the game live to the viewers that weren't fortunate enough to have a ticket to watch it in the stadium.  However when there's not a match going on, it just shows scores, highlights, news, and the blitz schedule.  Abel was watching intently on the bottom line that scrolls information across the screen.

"Heya," Wakka said waving at the man.

"Hey," Abel said timidly in return.

"Thanks for coming out here for me ya.  I appreciate it," Wakka said, his eyes never meeting Abel's.

"That's ok. You'd do the same for me"

Wakka sat in silence for a moment, pondering if he really would.

"You know," Abel said.  "I don't know if now's the time or you feel up to it, but the Goers season starts tonight.  They're taking on the Psychs at 9:00 under the lights.  I just thought," he said trailing off.  Maybe this isn't such a great idea, he said to himself.

"I think it's a good idea," Lulu said, barely above a whisper.

"Wakka?" Abel asked the former player and coach.

"Sure" he replied, half-heartedly.

"I'll tell Cid to pick us up tonight after the game then," he said reaching for the com.

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The crowd erupted in an orchestra of cheers as the Goers stormed out of the locker room and into the Blitz pool.  Wakka looked around to see most everyone around him on their feet screaming wildly and waving their hands.

"Geesh," he said under his breath.  "Of all the tickets you could have gotten, why'd you have to stick us in the Goers fans section?"

"Sorry man," Abel replied.  "I had no idea where they were located when I got them."

"It'll be alright," Lulu said. 

"And here come the Psychs!!'  The announcer blared over the intercom.

Suddenly the stadium transformed from cheers to jeers.  Except for Wakka.  "Yay!" he said as he started clapping his hands.  Lulu just stared at him, with her mouth gaped open.  "Wha'? he said, still clapping.  "I hate the Goers, so I cheer for whoever they play ya?" 

"Are you sure about that?"  Lulu asked skeptically.

"We'll.  You know I've gotten used to the Al Bhed around.  I mean, uh, the one's we know are cool ya?"  He paused a few seconds before adding: "Let's just watch the game ya?"

"Blitzoff!!" the announcer yelled.

Wakka turned his attention towards the sphere pool in time to see Bickson grab the ball away from the Psychs Eigaar.  The crowd cheered in unison as he passed the ball away to Abus. 

Lulu could tell that Wakka was having mixed emotions being here.  Obviously, his love for the game was showing through.  But the other fact was also obvious:  This was the first game of a season where Wakka wasn't a player, captain, or a coach.  After defeating Sin, Wakka came back to Besaid to coach the Aurochs.  His knowledge, love, and style for the game lead to a championship in his second year as a coach.  He had to do it with a bunch of rookies too, which stacked the odds even farther.  Tidus, of course, was nowhere in Spira.  Letty had put Blitzball behind him in order to be the Besaid representative to the Assembly.  So with a young team, the Aurochs shocked the world last year.  This year, however, Wakka took a leave.  It was time for his son to be born, so he put his priorities together.  Blitzball fell second to family.  However the plan was to return next year, maybe a little beforehand to help with recruiting.  Datto ended up taking over realm of head coach on a temporary basis.

Lulu had never seen him more proud or happier when the Aurochs won the cup last year.  That was, until the day that Chappu was born.

The crowd broke out into cheers again as Judda tried a shot.  The Goers goalie, Raudy easily blocked it back in.  There were many Luca fans that started to taunt the Al Bhed.  "Ya should have got closer before trying a shot like that," she heard Wakka say, obviously to Judda.  The ball fell into Graav's hands.  He started swimming towards the other goal.  Seemingly out of nowhere Zev Ronso came through and plowed Graav as hard as he could.  The ball spun out of his hands as he plummeted out of the sphere pool and into the stands.

"Woah-ho-oah" Wakka said.  "That was one hard hit."  Wakka stood up as he tried to see where Graav ended up.  The crowd started screaming in anger and disgust towards the pool, most of them screaming obscenities.  Wakka just kinda grinned to himself.  "That's a legal hit Goers fan's," he started, well under his breath.  "Zev Ronso has been a good pickup for the Al Bhed ya?" he asked anyone who wanted to listen. 

After a few moments Abel muttered a "Yeah," in response.  After a minute of Goers confusion Mep, the ex-high priest of Kilika temple entered the pool in place of Graav.  Mep ended up putting Yevon behind him, like the rest of Spira after Sin's destruction.  He then turned to his second love, Blitzball.  He's been a pretty stellar reserve, Wakka thought to himself.  He's a little slow but he has good potential.

And the game went on.

The score was 2 to 1 at halftime, with the Goers in the lead.  Even though the Goers were the far superior team, Wakka was not discouraged.  A handful of Goers had to leave the sphere pool at one point or another because of injuries.  There wearin' em' down ya? he thought to himself as the blitzoff to start the second half began.  Bickson set up a pass to Doram, who immediately passed back to Bickson as the was streaking towards the goalie.  He had a clean shot, and wound up and kicked it in for the score.  However he wasn't watching his blindside, where Eigaar was racing towards him.  He gave Bickson a clean hit right to the ribs.  A smirk came across Wakka's face as the rest of the crowd erupted in screams, curses, and other assorted comments.  Yeah, he thought.  They wearin' em down.

Before Wakka knew it, there was only a minute and a half left in the second half.  The score was still conveniently 4-2 with Luca leading.  A few of the fans had already left the stadium, in an attempt to beat the rush home.  Wakka found himself fidgeting, as if he was coaching a losing team.  Abus had the ball and he was just trying to waste as much time as possible.  He was locked up with Zev Ronso, who was trying to steal the ball from him.  Without warning, Nimrook, the Psychs goalie left his position and flanked Abus.  He jabbed the ball out with his left hand and it fell straight into Zev's hands.  The free-agent Ronso then put all of his strength into his right arm and heaved the blue ball down the pool towards Blappa.  He caught the ball mid-stride with two Goers in front of him.  He faked a pass to Judda to the right, which froze Duram.  He then easily went around her and shot the ball over top of Bickson's head.  It went two inches above his outstretched hands.  It spiraled towards Raudy the goalie who appeared to have position.  But at the last moment the ball whizzed by his hands into the net.

Wakka cheered and looked at the game clock simultaneously.  Fifty-three seconds left, he thought to himself.  Not a lot of time.  He looked back towards the pool as the players were getting set up.

"Blitzoff!!" the announcer said.

Berrick and Mep both went up simultaneously for the ball.  Both grabbed it at the same time and tried to wrestle it away from each other.  Both players were wrapping both hands around the ball and spiraling inside the water as they tried to snatch it away from each other.  Finally Mep got frustrated and freed his left hand, only to punch Berrick in the face.  The Al Bhed, shocked by the foul, dropped the ball into Mep's hands. 

"Boo!!" Wakka and Lulu both yelled.  "Where's tha foul ya?" Wakka asked to the top of his lungs.

Mep was smiling to himself as snatched the ball up and turned back towards the Psych's goal.  As he turned around he got form tackled in the ribs by Judda.  A stream of bubbles escaped Mep's mouth as the wind was knocked out of him.  He then turned and fled towards the edge of the sphere pool as fast as he could swim.  Most of Graav's oxygen left his body with that hit and he needed a breath of air fast.

"Go, go, go, now!" Wakka said standing up in anticipation.  "Power play ya!  While they're short-handed."   He instinctively looked at the game clock.  Seventeen seconds left, he thought.

It seemed as if the Psychs heard Wakka, as they started pushing through the pool with their goalie trailing behind.  Duram came up on Judda, but she passed the ball away to Zev who was racing hard.  Two more Goers, Bickson and Abus, came up to guard the Ronso.  Both were completely shocked when Zev decided break through both of them.  He plowed hard into Bickson, causing him to fall into Abus' line of sight.  Zev then pulled right so he could have just enough room to pass.  The ball then trailed through the water into the hands of Blappa, who had position on the goalie.  There was nobody around him, so he placed the ball in front of him, wound up, and kicked it.  It started zooming toward the right, so Raudy followed suit, shifting that way.  The ball then struck the metal rim of the net, and ricochet hard to the left.  The goalie wasn't expecting the change in direction, so the ball went by him harmlessly.

The buzzer sounded indicating the Al Bhed score; with only three seconds to spare.

"Woo-hoo!!" Wakka cheered as he jumped in the air.  "That's how you do it ya?"

There were many people in the stadium who were giving the ex-Auroch evil looks at the same time mumbling under their breath.  Wakka didn't care.  It was now overtime. 

A loud buzzing came from Abel's right pocket immediately after blitzoff.

"Excuse me," he said as he reached in and flipped on the com.  "Hello?"

"Abel, where are you?" he heard Rikku's voice say in a rush. 

"I'm in Luca stadium with Wakka and Lulu," he replied.  "Why?"

"I know, I know.  But WHERE are you?" she asked.

"Ummm…..section 37, East side, row 4D"  he responded, glancing down at his ticket just to be sure.  "What is this?"

"You HAVE to get out of there, right now!!!" she said.

"Why?" Abel replied, growing more and more uncomfortable.

"Because…" Rikku said, tapering off at the end.  "Because Luzzu and the Assembly are going to declare war on the Al Bhed.  And you have to help us!!!"

Lulu noticed the shocked expression on Abel's face as silence overtook him.  "What's wrong?" she asked.

"We have to go now," he replied.

"Meet us out front of the Al Bhed Psychs locker room as fast as you can" Rikku told him.

"Ok," Abel said.  "Let's go"

"Come Wakka," Lulu said as her and Abel rising up in the stands.

"Wha'?"  Wakka said, obviously not wanting to leave the game.  "Wha's goin' on?  Where ya goin'?"

"We've got to go Wakka," Abel said, turning to look at him.  "I'm sorry"

"Blast it," Wakka cursed as he got up.  "Overtime just started.  Whatever this is, it had better be important."

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Authors notes:

1—A couple of things.  One, sorry for the delay.  I kinda went without internet access for about a week.  Also, as everybody pointed out last chapter's flaws, it proves my theory that Chapter Fifteen was my weakest chapter in this endeavor.  I apologize, but for some reason what I saw in my head wasn't accurately reflected in the chapter.  Anyway, here's hoping everything gets stronger from here on. 

2—About this chapter, it was something I hadn't planned on, but Ichabod suggested it, so here it is.  Describing a blitzball game isn't exactly my style, but I tried something different so I can hope to expand out and get a better range.  I think it went okay, but that's up for you guys to decide.  Would anybody want to suggest something else?  I 'll consider it, but no promises.  Things are right on the verge of all Hell breaking out.

3—Thanks to the kids.  Trey loose, NO, Abel is not a self-insertion.  I'm really nothing like the guy.  I kinda modeled him after Reeve, from FFVII.  You know, the good guy caught in a bad position.  Ichabod, here ya go.  I hope it's what you expected.  SG, yeah, Tidus' quote was very OOC, and I really didn't want to do it, but I did it anyway.  I tried to make that a moment where he matures a bit, with all of the emotions swirling about.  Plus the thought of impending war, battle, and maybe never seeing Auron alive (kinda) again.  Just a small thing of character development, but I don't really thing I quite pulled it off.  Thanks for the continued support.  Maths, I'm getting around to your story, I promise.  I had actually read half of it before you even posted the last review.  But as previously mentioned, the no IA knocked out my fic reading, but I'll jump on it soon and give you some feedback/suggestions.  Milkshake, no I don't laugh at you guys.  Ok, maybe a little bit, maybe, not really.  The new kid, Lady T, thanks a lot.  I appreciate your thoughts and support.

5—Squaresoft owns it all, just in case anybody cared.