Chapter 2: Blitz Boys
"Hang on a sec," Tidus said. "Um, it's true that Zanarkand was destroyed, right? A thousand years ago? So it's just a big pile of rubble now, isn't it?"
I turned around. "Long time ago, there were a whole lot of cities in Spira. Big cities with Machina-machines to run 'em. People played all day and let the machina do the work. And then, well, take a look. Sin came, and destroyed the machina cities. And Zanarkand along with 'em. Yeah, that was about a thousand years ago, just like you said. If you asked me, Sin's our punishment for letting things get out of hand. What gets me, though...is we gotta suffer, 'cause of what some goofballs did way back when! 'Course, we must always repent for our sins! That's important! It's just that, it's hard to keep at it sometimes, you know?"
I laughed. "But you from the Zanarkand Abes, that was a good one! Hey, I'm not saying the team never existed, ya? But you gotta figure, a team livin' in luxury like that'd be pretty soft, eh?" I began to walk to the village, laughing at this new encounter. But then, I remembered the dangers that lied within the waters we'd have to swim through. "Hey, can you defend yourself against fiends, brudda? They're in a lot of places on this island."
"Maybe," Tidus said. "How tough are they? Do they have scales? I hate fiends with scales..."
"Not really, just some piranhas, the occasional wild dog. Anyway, you'll need a weapon. Lemme see," I began sorting through my belongings, looking for another blitzball or perhaps some grenades that Tidus could use.
"No need, man. I got this!" Tidus pulled out a sharp, red sword.
"Whoa, cool. Where'd you get that? Kilika?"
"Um, no; a friend gave it to me."
"All right then. It's this way!" I led Tidus to a small cliff, overseeing a beautiful deep blue stream. Tidus was bewildered by the sight and stopped at the edge to take a look at the scenery.
'This is gonna be so cool,' I thought to myself. I slowly crept up behind my new friend and pushed him into the water.
"Whoa!" Tidus screamed as he fell into the tiny river. He surfaced and said "Hey! What's the big idea?" We then began to swim down the stream, fighting small carnivorous fish as we went along.
"Man, these things are annoying, ya? No matter how many I kill, they always seem to come back," I said. 'Hmm... I wonder if this kid's got what it takes to play blitz wit' us?' I grabbed Tidus from behind.
"Lemme go!"
"Got a favor to ask ya."
"You want me on your team, right?" said Tidus, half-knowingly.
"A major blitz tournament's coming up. All the teams in Spira'll be there! It's so huge, I'm sure someone there will recognize you! Then you can go back to your old team, right? It'll be fun! What do you say, huh? Come on, come on!"
Tidus sighed. "Sure thing."
"Dude, our team is gonna rock, eh?" I was overjoyed. I thought of how much better this whiz kid would make the team; I mean, we needed it. After ten years of losing, I think now's the time for a change.
After swimming through the brook, we came to dry land, and we then started towards my village. However, I then realized that I didn't tell the boy anything about myself yet, ya? So I decided to stop at Chappu's monument to talk.
"This is where I was born. I started blitz when I was five. I joined the Aurochs at thirteen...ten years ago. Ten years...and we never won a game. Well, after last year's tournament, I quit. Time seemed right. So, after quitting, I got this new job, ya? But every time my mind wandered, I thought about the game."
"Ten years without a single win'll do that."
"My first match last year was my big chance. But something else was on my mind. I couldn't focus."
"Nice excuse."
"Hey, hey!" 'C'mon! I bet you'd be occupied if your brudda was killed!' I thought to myself, infuriated.
"So you want to win the next tournament; go out with a bang." I nodded, after calming down from within. "So, what's our goal?" I thought about it for a second.
"I don't care what we do. Long as we play our best. If we give it our all, I can walk away happy. We don't gotta win, we just gotta go down with honor if we don't, ya?"
"No, no, no, no, no. If I say, 'What's our goal?' you say, 'Victory!' When you play in a blitzball tournament, you play to win!" I couldn't believe this kid's enthusiasm.
"Victory? You serious?" 'Man, I gotta stop being so pessimistic. Maybe we can do this! What if we get seeded!? That would be great!! Uh-oh, I'm trailing off. Gotta take Tidus to the village.' So we continued onward towards my home.
A ways down the road, we met up with Luzzu and Gatta. "Ah, the one from the sea!" said Luzzu.
"Be on guard. There're fiends on the road today!" Gatta said.
"After surviving your run-in with Sin, 'twould be a shame if something happened now." After that, they left, and the kid started asking me those toxin-induced inquiries.
"Who were they?" he asked.
"Luzzu and Gatta-Crusaders," I replied.
"Crews of what?"
"What, you forgot that, too?" He looked like a lost puppy after I said that. "Hey, sorry. Don't worry about it. I'll help you out." I'm telling you, this kid needed some professional help; mine!
"Cool. In return, come tournament time, I'll make sure we take the cup!"
"Cool. About the Crusaders, you can ask them yourself. They've got a lodge in the village." We fought our way to my village, and I showed its splendor to the kid. "Here we are, Besaid village!"
"They got any food there?" Oh yeah, I forgot. I brought him here to get some grub.
"We'll get you something over there later. Take a look around first. Let's see... The Crusaders Lodge is over yonder. Luzzu and Gatta are usually there. Hmm, oh, right. Over here!" Even with all he'd forgotten, I'd hoped that he'd at least remember Yevon's prayer, so I brought him behind the nearest hut. "You do remember the prayer, right?"
"Hmm, nope, I guess I've forgotten it," he said.
"Man, that's like the basics of the basics! Here I'll show you." I showed him the prayer. "Go ahead, you try." Tidus did it, albeit sloppily. "Hmph, not bad. Okay, now go present yourself to the temple summoner. I'll go to my house and get lunch started, ya? Oh, and remember to talk to the Crusaders. See you later, man." I proceeded to my hut, a quaint little excursion from blitzball practice. Then, I started on lunch, BLTs! But while I was making lunch, I stopped to think about Tidus. Where exactly did he come from? Why's he here? Did Sin drop him off here for a reason, or something? I guess only Fate knows. After about 5 minutes, Tidus came back. But lunch wasn't done; the bacon was still frying. "Sorry, man. No time for lunch yet. Take a nap! You look bushed." So he did, and I continued cooking, hoping that nothing else unexpected would happen that day.
"Hang on a sec," Tidus said. "Um, it's true that Zanarkand was destroyed, right? A thousand years ago? So it's just a big pile of rubble now, isn't it?"
I turned around. "Long time ago, there were a whole lot of cities in Spira. Big cities with Machina-machines to run 'em. People played all day and let the machina do the work. And then, well, take a look. Sin came, and destroyed the machina cities. And Zanarkand along with 'em. Yeah, that was about a thousand years ago, just like you said. If you asked me, Sin's our punishment for letting things get out of hand. What gets me, though...is we gotta suffer, 'cause of what some goofballs did way back when! 'Course, we must always repent for our sins! That's important! It's just that, it's hard to keep at it sometimes, you know?"
I laughed. "But you from the Zanarkand Abes, that was a good one! Hey, I'm not saying the team never existed, ya? But you gotta figure, a team livin' in luxury like that'd be pretty soft, eh?" I began to walk to the village, laughing at this new encounter. But then, I remembered the dangers that lied within the waters we'd have to swim through. "Hey, can you defend yourself against fiends, brudda? They're in a lot of places on this island."
"Maybe," Tidus said. "How tough are they? Do they have scales? I hate fiends with scales..."
"Not really, just some piranhas, the occasional wild dog. Anyway, you'll need a weapon. Lemme see," I began sorting through my belongings, looking for another blitzball or perhaps some grenades that Tidus could use.
"No need, man. I got this!" Tidus pulled out a sharp, red sword.
"Whoa, cool. Where'd you get that? Kilika?"
"Um, no; a friend gave it to me."
"All right then. It's this way!" I led Tidus to a small cliff, overseeing a beautiful deep blue stream. Tidus was bewildered by the sight and stopped at the edge to take a look at the scenery.
'This is gonna be so cool,' I thought to myself. I slowly crept up behind my new friend and pushed him into the water.
"Whoa!" Tidus screamed as he fell into the tiny river. He surfaced and said "Hey! What's the big idea?" We then began to swim down the stream, fighting small carnivorous fish as we went along.
"Man, these things are annoying, ya? No matter how many I kill, they always seem to come back," I said. 'Hmm... I wonder if this kid's got what it takes to play blitz wit' us?' I grabbed Tidus from behind.
"Lemme go!"
"Got a favor to ask ya."
"You want me on your team, right?" said Tidus, half-knowingly.
"A major blitz tournament's coming up. All the teams in Spira'll be there! It's so huge, I'm sure someone there will recognize you! Then you can go back to your old team, right? It'll be fun! What do you say, huh? Come on, come on!"
Tidus sighed. "Sure thing."
"Dude, our team is gonna rock, eh?" I was overjoyed. I thought of how much better this whiz kid would make the team; I mean, we needed it. After ten years of losing, I think now's the time for a change.
After swimming through the brook, we came to dry land, and we then started towards my village. However, I then realized that I didn't tell the boy anything about myself yet, ya? So I decided to stop at Chappu's monument to talk.
"This is where I was born. I started blitz when I was five. I joined the Aurochs at thirteen...ten years ago. Ten years...and we never won a game. Well, after last year's tournament, I quit. Time seemed right. So, after quitting, I got this new job, ya? But every time my mind wandered, I thought about the game."
"Ten years without a single win'll do that."
"My first match last year was my big chance. But something else was on my mind. I couldn't focus."
"Nice excuse."
"Hey, hey!" 'C'mon! I bet you'd be occupied if your brudda was killed!' I thought to myself, infuriated.
"So you want to win the next tournament; go out with a bang." I nodded, after calming down from within. "So, what's our goal?" I thought about it for a second.
"I don't care what we do. Long as we play our best. If we give it our all, I can walk away happy. We don't gotta win, we just gotta go down with honor if we don't, ya?"
"No, no, no, no, no. If I say, 'What's our goal?' you say, 'Victory!' When you play in a blitzball tournament, you play to win!" I couldn't believe this kid's enthusiasm.
"Victory? You serious?" 'Man, I gotta stop being so pessimistic. Maybe we can do this! What if we get seeded!? That would be great!! Uh-oh, I'm trailing off. Gotta take Tidus to the village.' So we continued onward towards my home.
A ways down the road, we met up with Luzzu and Gatta. "Ah, the one from the sea!" said Luzzu.
"Be on guard. There're fiends on the road today!" Gatta said.
"After surviving your run-in with Sin, 'twould be a shame if something happened now." After that, they left, and the kid started asking me those toxin-induced inquiries.
"Who were they?" he asked.
"Luzzu and Gatta-Crusaders," I replied.
"Crews of what?"
"What, you forgot that, too?" He looked like a lost puppy after I said that. "Hey, sorry. Don't worry about it. I'll help you out." I'm telling you, this kid needed some professional help; mine!
"Cool. In return, come tournament time, I'll make sure we take the cup!"
"Cool. About the Crusaders, you can ask them yourself. They've got a lodge in the village." We fought our way to my village, and I showed its splendor to the kid. "Here we are, Besaid village!"
"They got any food there?" Oh yeah, I forgot. I brought him here to get some grub.
"We'll get you something over there later. Take a look around first. Let's see... The Crusaders Lodge is over yonder. Luzzu and Gatta are usually there. Hmm, oh, right. Over here!" Even with all he'd forgotten, I'd hoped that he'd at least remember Yevon's prayer, so I brought him behind the nearest hut. "You do remember the prayer, right?"
"Hmm, nope, I guess I've forgotten it," he said.
"Man, that's like the basics of the basics! Here I'll show you." I showed him the prayer. "Go ahead, you try." Tidus did it, albeit sloppily. "Hmph, not bad. Okay, now go present yourself to the temple summoner. I'll go to my house and get lunch started, ya? Oh, and remember to talk to the Crusaders. See you later, man." I proceeded to my hut, a quaint little excursion from blitzball practice. Then, I started on lunch, BLTs! But while I was making lunch, I stopped to think about Tidus. Where exactly did he come from? Why's he here? Did Sin drop him off here for a reason, or something? I guess only Fate knows. After about 5 minutes, Tidus came back. But lunch wasn't done; the bacon was still frying. "Sorry, man. No time for lunch yet. Take a nap! You look bushed." So he did, and I continued cooking, hoping that nothing else unexpected would happen that day.