~Chapter 4~
It was quite warm. Feeling heat against his back and cold against his chest, Tidus woke with a start. He was again in the ocean, but it was crystal clear water, like out of a picture of the Hawaiian Islands.
And suddenly, something hit him in the head.
"Ouch!" Tidus yelled, falling back into the water. He whirled around and stood up, and was facing a beach maybe 50 yards away. There were five people standing there, four of them stretching, and the other watching Tidus. He was a tall man, with sun-tanned skin. Suspender-like belts held up his baggy pants. His red hair was spiked, and in the front, it rose higher than his other hair, and flipped backwards. He was wearing a stylized bandana, a strange 'tank top' kind of shirt, and he had on an arm guard for some kind of sport or the other. His name was Wakka.
"Hey! You OK?" he called to Tidus, a Jamaican accent in his voice.
"HEEEEY!" Tidus cheerfully called back. Tidus then spotted an oddly shaped ball floating near him, and, judging from the size and weight, determined that that was what had hit him. He grabbed this, and was about to swim back with it when he noticed the little gathering of huts around the beach. When he was only ankle deep, he noticed a ring that had a fish hanging on it outside one of the huts. Taking aim, Tidus put the strange ball up, and it went into the ring flawlessly.
The five men were speechless. They gathered around him, with Wakka stepping forward. "You no amateur. Who you play for?"
"Uh. The. um." Tidus worked hard to remember that word that Rikku had told him Chicago meant, and finally.
"The Zanarkand Abes," he said proudly.
At this, the men all gasped and started whispering to one another. "Who. You say, again?" Wakka asked.
"I mean. Forget that. I was to close to Sin, and my head's all funny- like."
"You were close to Sin. And you're still alive, too. Praise be to Yevon," Wakka said.
The other men around him bowed and did this funky hand thing. Wakka then gave them a command.
"OK, back to work!" He turned to Tidus.
"I'm Wakka: captain and coach of the Besaid Aurochs, brudda."
To make the introduction even more uneasy, Tidus' stomach growled.
"What, you hungry?" Wakka asked in an amused voice. "C'mon. We got plenty o' food in the village. It's this way."
"Wait. I'd like to ask you something."
"Sure. Go ahead," Wakka said, putting his hands behind his head and closing his eyes.
"Is it true that. Zanarkand. was really destroyed? A thousand years ago?"
Wakka nodded. "Mmm-hmm. 'Used to be big cities, all over Spira. They were powered by machina, and people would play all day, and let the machina do the work. And then, Sin came, and destroyed the machina cities and Zanarkand along 'wit 'em. Yep, that was about 1,000 years ago. But, what gets me is, we gotta suffer because of what some goof-balls did way back when! But we must always repent for our sins. That is important."
Tidus was now thoroughly bummed. But, to his surprise, Wakka burst out laughing.
"You, from Zanarkand. That's a good one, eh?"
The way back to Wakka's village was a long route by water. While they were swimming, Tidus asked Wakka questions, which he gladly answered.
"Hey, Wakka," Tidus called.
"Yah?"
"What's Blitzball?"
Wakka stopped dead. He turned to face Tidus.
"You don't remember Blitz?! Oh, it's the greatest game in the world! It's played in a huge sphere of water, and you have six guys on your team, one goalie and the rest are players, and it's two halves, four quarters, and you can tackle, and kick, and throw, and when you score a goal, you can laugh and hoot and holler at the other guys because-"
"OK, Wakka," Tidus said, laughing lightly. "I get the picture."
The two continued on talking about Blitz, when Tidus mentioned, as a passing comment, that he would like to learn how to Blitz. This also made Wakka stop dead.
"You-wanna Blitz?"
"Well, why not?" Tidus asked reasonably. "I'm pretty good at basket ball-"
"What?" Wakka asked.
Tidus chose to ignore this. "Teach me. C'mon, I'll be a good student."
Wakka crossed his arms. "All right," he said after some time. "I'll teach you how to Blitz. But we have to get you some equipment-it's no problem. We gotta shop at the village. But, there's a catch, of course."
"What..?"
"You gotta help us win da cup, brudda! You gotta help us bring the Crystal Cup back to Besaid Island!"
Tidus and Wakka finally emerged on dry land. They were on somewhat of a mountain, on a cliff that overlooked a small village of closely gathered huts. "Besiad Village," Wakka said. "I started Blitz when I was five. Joined the team when I was 13. Yeah, that was ten years ago. Ten years, and not a single win. Well, anyway."
Tidus could feel for Wakka. He knew what it was like to not win at something you'd been doing all your life. Wakka continued.
"I quit. Time seemed right. I got this new job and all, but still my mind kept wandering back to the game. We entered the tournament last year, but something else was on my mind."
"Nice excuse!" Tidus said.
"Hey, hey!" Wakka protested.
"So, what's our goal?" Tidus asked, waiting for the cue.
Wakka blew it. "I don't care how we do, just so long as we give it our all. Then I can walk away happy."
"No, no, no, no," Tidus said, waving his hands. "If I say, 'what's our goal?', you say, 'victory!'"
This idea appealed to Wakka. "Victory? You serious?"
"Deadly," Tidus responded.
Wakka crossed his arms. "Never did ask: What's your name?"
"Zachary Scott. Call me Tidus. Everyone else does."
Wakka grinned. "OK," he said, "Victory!"
"Here we are! This is where we live."
"They got any food there?" Tidus asked, his stomach uncomfortably growling.
"Ahh, we'll get you something later over there. C'mon, I'll show you around."
Right as Wakka started to lead Tidus into the village, two characters appeared off from the path. The first wore baggy pants, held up by suspenders with lots of rings in it. His hair was flame orange. The other had tan shorts, slick black hair, a green muscle shirt of some kind, and the air of being a learner.
"Ah, the one from the sea! Be careful-the road is swarming with fiends. T'would be a shame to lose you now."
With that, they turned and left.
"Who're they?" Tidus asked.
"Luzzu and Gatta-Crusaders."
"Crews of what?" Tidus asked.
Wakka shook his head. "It might help if you ask them yourself. You might remember something."
"Sure thing," Tidus said glumly.
Wakka started to walk away, but then he stopped, and turned back around. "Come here," he whispered to Tidus, leading outside the gates.
"Now what?" Tidus asked when they got to the gates.
"Tidus-you remember the prayer, right?"
Tidus drew a blank. "What prayer?"
Wakka winced. Recovering, he said "You musta forgot or something. Here, I'll show you."
Stepping back with his right leg, Wakka brought his hands up over his head. In one motion, he stood back up, bringing his hands down to his stomach, both curved, one above the other, like a circle, and to finish, he bowed. He looked up at Tidus.
"OK, now you try it."
Tidus skipped the leg part, and instead, simply put his hands in place and bowed. Wakka nodded.
"Hmmph. Not bad. Now, you should go present yourself to the temple. Here, I'll show ya."
Stepping back into the village, Wakka led Tidus to a large building near the edge of the village. "Besaid Temple," Wakka murmured. He led Tidus down a short hallway, until they emerged into a large round chamber.
"Wow," Tidus muttered.
The sanctuary was round, with a domed ceiling. It had pews, arranged like risers, all around the outside walls. Up near what was probably the front, there stood many tall statues, and a tall set of stairs leading up to a door with a heavy lock. The place was flame lit, giving it a surreal look, and making Tidus wander if he would ever get back to Chicago.
"Go present yourself. I'll wait outside," Wakka said. And with that, he left.
Tidus looked around, until a particular statue caught his eye. He slowly walked over to it, observing that it was obviously some great man, in a red robe, and holding a large staff.
.with his father's trade-mark "J" etched into his robe!
Tidus took a step back. A priest, who saw this, mistook his surprise for awe, and crossed over to him.
"Ten years have gone past since High Summoner Braska defeated Sin, and finally, we receive a statue for our temple," he explained.
"What's a Summoner?" Tidus asked.
Gasps erupted from the people in the temple like a volcano in Tahiti. Tidus quickly said, "I got too close to Sin."
"Praise be to Yevon," the priest said. "With Yevon's help, you will regain your lost memory.
"The Summoners are practitioners of an ancient art. The pray to the gods, and they hear the prayer, and come to aid the Summoner in the form of Aeons. With these Aeons, a Summoner journeys to defeat Sin, Spira's sorrow. To receive the Aeon, they must pray to the Fayth," the priest said, indicating the door at the top of the stairs.
"Mmm-hmm. So there's a Summoner in there right now?" Tidus asked.
"Yes. An apprentice Summoner is praying to the Fayth right now."
"Huh. Thanks," Tidus said although the priest wasn't much help. He ventured back out into the village, stretched, and yawned, suddenly tired. He made his way towards Wakka, who was casually conversing with a village elder.
"Hey, Wakka," Tidus said, by way of introduction.
"You back already? Well, not time for food yet."
Tidus yawned yet again. Wakka raised an eyebrow.
"Take a nap! You look bushed," he said.
Tidus nodded, and Wakka led him to his hut. After Tidus had lain down, Wakka sat at his table, and started to peel potatoes. Suddenly, a priest appeared at the door, looking quite concerned.
"Shouldn't you go check on them?" he asked with a troubled voice.
"Can't interfere. It's a rule," Wakka said standing. The priest started to lead him out into the village, his voice trailing.
"But, it's been nearly."
Somehow, Tidus had heard what the priest said, and it shifted his dreams to the day that his father had been declared missing. As he, 7 at the time, and his mother stood outside the apartment complex, a gaggle of people stood around the stoop and were calling to them:
"But, it's been nearly 3 days now!"
"We're still looking for him, ma'am."
"Where's Jecht? Where's Jecht?!"
"That's not even his real name!" Tidus lashed out. "His name is John. Jecht is a nickname!"
But no one cared. They kept crying about their hero, until Tidus yelled again:
"Who cares if he comes back?"
The crowd fell silent.
"But he could die!" his mother said, crouching down to be on level with him.
"Fine, let him!" Tidus shot back.
"Zachary. Do you hate him so?"
Tidus nodded.
"But, if he dies. you'll never be able to tell him how much you hate him," his mother said.
"Oh well. It's not like he'd listen to me anyway," Tidus said.
Tidus awoke quite suddenly. He expected to see his poster of Reggie Miller above him, but then he realized he wasn't in Chicago. Standing up, and looking around the small hut, he was pretty sure Wakka wasn't there.
Tidus stepped out into the village, just in time to see Wakka's back retreat into the temple. Tidus ran the distance to the temple's sanctuary, meeting Wakka near the stairs. "What's up?"
"The Summoner hasn't come outta there yet," Wakka said.
"Well, what are you waiting for?" Tidus asked, running up the stairs. "What if the Summoner's hurt? What if. He's dead?"
"All precepts must be obeyed!" the priest called.
"Like I care," Tidus said, turning and opening the door. He then dashed in, leaving Wakka, the priest, and the temple behind.
After he was inside, Tidus wasn't so sure that rushing to the rescue was the right idea. Nevertheless, he was there, and he would try to find the Summoner.
Upon entering a stone corridor, Tidus took a left and went down a spiral flight of stairs. After reaching the bottom, Tidus noticed that there was a split in the hallway, right or left. Choosing right, he sped down the long hall just to meet a dead end. Backtracking and doing the opposite lead him to a strange, circular room. Standing in the center, Tidus looked around when he heard something behind him.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa!" Wakka said, stepping up from behind. "What are you thinkin'? Only Summoners and Guardians can come down here!"
"Well, what about you?" Tidus asked skeptically.
"Me? I'm a Guardian," Wakka said, a hint of pride in his voice.
Suddenly, the floor beneath the two men shook. Next, it started to lower, like an elevator!
"Gotta warn ya," Wakka said on the way down, "there's already Guardians down there. One o' dem's gotta real short fuse, and who knows what the other one's thinkin'."
The elevator stopped. "Well, we've come this far." Wakka said.
The two walked into a chamber ahead of them, where two people sat. The first was a woman, a rather busty and flashy woman, who sat clad in all black. The top of her dress was like a leather jacket with the fur lace, and it ended just below her collarbone and right above her chest line. The bottom half was comprised of thousands of leather belts with heavy buckles, all woven around like a funnel shape. The second person. if you could call it a person. looked like a blue lion standing upright. It was wearing battle armor-like apparel, with a long and sharp looking lance slung over his back. His muscles looked like small mountains all over his arms and chest.
"What do you want?" the woman asked, standing up. "Didn't think we could handle this?"
"Don't look at me," Wakka said, indicating Tidus. The woman looked at him, with shock written all over her face.
"Who. are you?" she asked slowly.
"Is the Summoner OK?" Tidus asked.
Suddenly, the far wall creaked, and rose up into the ceiling, revealing a small set of stairs, followed by a passage of some sort. Out of this passage, another woman emerged.
She was simply beautiful. Short brown hair complimented her face, and she was clad in a Japanese-looking silk dress. It was white at the top, the belt was yellow, and the bottom was blue. Tidus also noticed something odd: her left eye was green, but her right eye was blue.
She tried to make her way down the stairs, but stumbled; she was exhausted. Before she fell, the lion had dashed up the stairs and caught her. Making sure she was strong enough, the lion let go, letting her stand on her own. She turned and faced the others.
"I've done it," she said. "I have become a Summoner."
It was quite warm. Feeling heat against his back and cold against his chest, Tidus woke with a start. He was again in the ocean, but it was crystal clear water, like out of a picture of the Hawaiian Islands.
And suddenly, something hit him in the head.
"Ouch!" Tidus yelled, falling back into the water. He whirled around and stood up, and was facing a beach maybe 50 yards away. There were five people standing there, four of them stretching, and the other watching Tidus. He was a tall man, with sun-tanned skin. Suspender-like belts held up his baggy pants. His red hair was spiked, and in the front, it rose higher than his other hair, and flipped backwards. He was wearing a stylized bandana, a strange 'tank top' kind of shirt, and he had on an arm guard for some kind of sport or the other. His name was Wakka.
"Hey! You OK?" he called to Tidus, a Jamaican accent in his voice.
"HEEEEY!" Tidus cheerfully called back. Tidus then spotted an oddly shaped ball floating near him, and, judging from the size and weight, determined that that was what had hit him. He grabbed this, and was about to swim back with it when he noticed the little gathering of huts around the beach. When he was only ankle deep, he noticed a ring that had a fish hanging on it outside one of the huts. Taking aim, Tidus put the strange ball up, and it went into the ring flawlessly.
The five men were speechless. They gathered around him, with Wakka stepping forward. "You no amateur. Who you play for?"
"Uh. The. um." Tidus worked hard to remember that word that Rikku had told him Chicago meant, and finally.
"The Zanarkand Abes," he said proudly.
At this, the men all gasped and started whispering to one another. "Who. You say, again?" Wakka asked.
"I mean. Forget that. I was to close to Sin, and my head's all funny- like."
"You were close to Sin. And you're still alive, too. Praise be to Yevon," Wakka said.
The other men around him bowed and did this funky hand thing. Wakka then gave them a command.
"OK, back to work!" He turned to Tidus.
"I'm Wakka: captain and coach of the Besaid Aurochs, brudda."
To make the introduction even more uneasy, Tidus' stomach growled.
"What, you hungry?" Wakka asked in an amused voice. "C'mon. We got plenty o' food in the village. It's this way."
"Wait. I'd like to ask you something."
"Sure. Go ahead," Wakka said, putting his hands behind his head and closing his eyes.
"Is it true that. Zanarkand. was really destroyed? A thousand years ago?"
Wakka nodded. "Mmm-hmm. 'Used to be big cities, all over Spira. They were powered by machina, and people would play all day, and let the machina do the work. And then, Sin came, and destroyed the machina cities and Zanarkand along 'wit 'em. Yep, that was about 1,000 years ago. But, what gets me is, we gotta suffer because of what some goof-balls did way back when! But we must always repent for our sins. That is important."
Tidus was now thoroughly bummed. But, to his surprise, Wakka burst out laughing.
"You, from Zanarkand. That's a good one, eh?"
The way back to Wakka's village was a long route by water. While they were swimming, Tidus asked Wakka questions, which he gladly answered.
"Hey, Wakka," Tidus called.
"Yah?"
"What's Blitzball?"
Wakka stopped dead. He turned to face Tidus.
"You don't remember Blitz?! Oh, it's the greatest game in the world! It's played in a huge sphere of water, and you have six guys on your team, one goalie and the rest are players, and it's two halves, four quarters, and you can tackle, and kick, and throw, and when you score a goal, you can laugh and hoot and holler at the other guys because-"
"OK, Wakka," Tidus said, laughing lightly. "I get the picture."
The two continued on talking about Blitz, when Tidus mentioned, as a passing comment, that he would like to learn how to Blitz. This also made Wakka stop dead.
"You-wanna Blitz?"
"Well, why not?" Tidus asked reasonably. "I'm pretty good at basket ball-"
"What?" Wakka asked.
Tidus chose to ignore this. "Teach me. C'mon, I'll be a good student."
Wakka crossed his arms. "All right," he said after some time. "I'll teach you how to Blitz. But we have to get you some equipment-it's no problem. We gotta shop at the village. But, there's a catch, of course."
"What..?"
"You gotta help us win da cup, brudda! You gotta help us bring the Crystal Cup back to Besaid Island!"
Tidus and Wakka finally emerged on dry land. They were on somewhat of a mountain, on a cliff that overlooked a small village of closely gathered huts. "Besiad Village," Wakka said. "I started Blitz when I was five. Joined the team when I was 13. Yeah, that was ten years ago. Ten years, and not a single win. Well, anyway."
Tidus could feel for Wakka. He knew what it was like to not win at something you'd been doing all your life. Wakka continued.
"I quit. Time seemed right. I got this new job and all, but still my mind kept wandering back to the game. We entered the tournament last year, but something else was on my mind."
"Nice excuse!" Tidus said.
"Hey, hey!" Wakka protested.
"So, what's our goal?" Tidus asked, waiting for the cue.
Wakka blew it. "I don't care how we do, just so long as we give it our all. Then I can walk away happy."
"No, no, no, no," Tidus said, waving his hands. "If I say, 'what's our goal?', you say, 'victory!'"
This idea appealed to Wakka. "Victory? You serious?"
"Deadly," Tidus responded.
Wakka crossed his arms. "Never did ask: What's your name?"
"Zachary Scott. Call me Tidus. Everyone else does."
Wakka grinned. "OK," he said, "Victory!"
"Here we are! This is where we live."
"They got any food there?" Tidus asked, his stomach uncomfortably growling.
"Ahh, we'll get you something later over there. C'mon, I'll show you around."
Right as Wakka started to lead Tidus into the village, two characters appeared off from the path. The first wore baggy pants, held up by suspenders with lots of rings in it. His hair was flame orange. The other had tan shorts, slick black hair, a green muscle shirt of some kind, and the air of being a learner.
"Ah, the one from the sea! Be careful-the road is swarming with fiends. T'would be a shame to lose you now."
With that, they turned and left.
"Who're they?" Tidus asked.
"Luzzu and Gatta-Crusaders."
"Crews of what?" Tidus asked.
Wakka shook his head. "It might help if you ask them yourself. You might remember something."
"Sure thing," Tidus said glumly.
Wakka started to walk away, but then he stopped, and turned back around. "Come here," he whispered to Tidus, leading outside the gates.
"Now what?" Tidus asked when they got to the gates.
"Tidus-you remember the prayer, right?"
Tidus drew a blank. "What prayer?"
Wakka winced. Recovering, he said "You musta forgot or something. Here, I'll show you."
Stepping back with his right leg, Wakka brought his hands up over his head. In one motion, he stood back up, bringing his hands down to his stomach, both curved, one above the other, like a circle, and to finish, he bowed. He looked up at Tidus.
"OK, now you try it."
Tidus skipped the leg part, and instead, simply put his hands in place and bowed. Wakka nodded.
"Hmmph. Not bad. Now, you should go present yourself to the temple. Here, I'll show ya."
Stepping back into the village, Wakka led Tidus to a large building near the edge of the village. "Besaid Temple," Wakka murmured. He led Tidus down a short hallway, until they emerged into a large round chamber.
"Wow," Tidus muttered.
The sanctuary was round, with a domed ceiling. It had pews, arranged like risers, all around the outside walls. Up near what was probably the front, there stood many tall statues, and a tall set of stairs leading up to a door with a heavy lock. The place was flame lit, giving it a surreal look, and making Tidus wander if he would ever get back to Chicago.
"Go present yourself. I'll wait outside," Wakka said. And with that, he left.
Tidus looked around, until a particular statue caught his eye. He slowly walked over to it, observing that it was obviously some great man, in a red robe, and holding a large staff.
.with his father's trade-mark "J" etched into his robe!
Tidus took a step back. A priest, who saw this, mistook his surprise for awe, and crossed over to him.
"Ten years have gone past since High Summoner Braska defeated Sin, and finally, we receive a statue for our temple," he explained.
"What's a Summoner?" Tidus asked.
Gasps erupted from the people in the temple like a volcano in Tahiti. Tidus quickly said, "I got too close to Sin."
"Praise be to Yevon," the priest said. "With Yevon's help, you will regain your lost memory.
"The Summoners are practitioners of an ancient art. The pray to the gods, and they hear the prayer, and come to aid the Summoner in the form of Aeons. With these Aeons, a Summoner journeys to defeat Sin, Spira's sorrow. To receive the Aeon, they must pray to the Fayth," the priest said, indicating the door at the top of the stairs.
"Mmm-hmm. So there's a Summoner in there right now?" Tidus asked.
"Yes. An apprentice Summoner is praying to the Fayth right now."
"Huh. Thanks," Tidus said although the priest wasn't much help. He ventured back out into the village, stretched, and yawned, suddenly tired. He made his way towards Wakka, who was casually conversing with a village elder.
"Hey, Wakka," Tidus said, by way of introduction.
"You back already? Well, not time for food yet."
Tidus yawned yet again. Wakka raised an eyebrow.
"Take a nap! You look bushed," he said.
Tidus nodded, and Wakka led him to his hut. After Tidus had lain down, Wakka sat at his table, and started to peel potatoes. Suddenly, a priest appeared at the door, looking quite concerned.
"Shouldn't you go check on them?" he asked with a troubled voice.
"Can't interfere. It's a rule," Wakka said standing. The priest started to lead him out into the village, his voice trailing.
"But, it's been nearly."
Somehow, Tidus had heard what the priest said, and it shifted his dreams to the day that his father had been declared missing. As he, 7 at the time, and his mother stood outside the apartment complex, a gaggle of people stood around the stoop and were calling to them:
"But, it's been nearly 3 days now!"
"We're still looking for him, ma'am."
"Where's Jecht? Where's Jecht?!"
"That's not even his real name!" Tidus lashed out. "His name is John. Jecht is a nickname!"
But no one cared. They kept crying about their hero, until Tidus yelled again:
"Who cares if he comes back?"
The crowd fell silent.
"But he could die!" his mother said, crouching down to be on level with him.
"Fine, let him!" Tidus shot back.
"Zachary. Do you hate him so?"
Tidus nodded.
"But, if he dies. you'll never be able to tell him how much you hate him," his mother said.
"Oh well. It's not like he'd listen to me anyway," Tidus said.
Tidus awoke quite suddenly. He expected to see his poster of Reggie Miller above him, but then he realized he wasn't in Chicago. Standing up, and looking around the small hut, he was pretty sure Wakka wasn't there.
Tidus stepped out into the village, just in time to see Wakka's back retreat into the temple. Tidus ran the distance to the temple's sanctuary, meeting Wakka near the stairs. "What's up?"
"The Summoner hasn't come outta there yet," Wakka said.
"Well, what are you waiting for?" Tidus asked, running up the stairs. "What if the Summoner's hurt? What if. He's dead?"
"All precepts must be obeyed!" the priest called.
"Like I care," Tidus said, turning and opening the door. He then dashed in, leaving Wakka, the priest, and the temple behind.
After he was inside, Tidus wasn't so sure that rushing to the rescue was the right idea. Nevertheless, he was there, and he would try to find the Summoner.
Upon entering a stone corridor, Tidus took a left and went down a spiral flight of stairs. After reaching the bottom, Tidus noticed that there was a split in the hallway, right or left. Choosing right, he sped down the long hall just to meet a dead end. Backtracking and doing the opposite lead him to a strange, circular room. Standing in the center, Tidus looked around when he heard something behind him.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa!" Wakka said, stepping up from behind. "What are you thinkin'? Only Summoners and Guardians can come down here!"
"Well, what about you?" Tidus asked skeptically.
"Me? I'm a Guardian," Wakka said, a hint of pride in his voice.
Suddenly, the floor beneath the two men shook. Next, it started to lower, like an elevator!
"Gotta warn ya," Wakka said on the way down, "there's already Guardians down there. One o' dem's gotta real short fuse, and who knows what the other one's thinkin'."
The elevator stopped. "Well, we've come this far." Wakka said.
The two walked into a chamber ahead of them, where two people sat. The first was a woman, a rather busty and flashy woman, who sat clad in all black. The top of her dress was like a leather jacket with the fur lace, and it ended just below her collarbone and right above her chest line. The bottom half was comprised of thousands of leather belts with heavy buckles, all woven around like a funnel shape. The second person. if you could call it a person. looked like a blue lion standing upright. It was wearing battle armor-like apparel, with a long and sharp looking lance slung over his back. His muscles looked like small mountains all over his arms and chest.
"What do you want?" the woman asked, standing up. "Didn't think we could handle this?"
"Don't look at me," Wakka said, indicating Tidus. The woman looked at him, with shock written all over her face.
"Who. are you?" she asked slowly.
"Is the Summoner OK?" Tidus asked.
Suddenly, the far wall creaked, and rose up into the ceiling, revealing a small set of stairs, followed by a passage of some sort. Out of this passage, another woman emerged.
She was simply beautiful. Short brown hair complimented her face, and she was clad in a Japanese-looking silk dress. It was white at the top, the belt was yellow, and the bottom was blue. Tidus also noticed something odd: her left eye was green, but her right eye was blue.
She tried to make her way down the stairs, but stumbled; she was exhausted. Before she fell, the lion had dashed up the stairs and caught her. Making sure she was strong enough, the lion let go, letting her stand on her own. She turned and faced the others.
"I've done it," she said. "I have become a Summoner."