Chapter 3: Attack of the Sea Dragon
"Ooh", Tidus groaned as his eyes fluttered open. "Huh?" he said quietly as he started to feel something moving on his stomach. "Ah!" Tidus screamed as he shook off an odd looking creature that had crawled on top of him with sharp legs. Getting a closer look, he laughed at himself when he realized that it was just a crab. Sitting up, Tidus suddenly shut his eyes as they burned with pain that was caused from the brightness of the light of the sun that reflected off the surface of the clear blue water. He finally opened them again, carefully this time, squinting to see where he was. He looked up to find a tiny island that rested in a sea of blueness. Light waves rolled onto the white sand, making him feel a sense of familiarity.
It can't be… Tidus thought as he searched his mind to remember where he had once seen this body of water. Finally, he remembered one of the dreams that he had dreamt of not too long ago. He had been up in the air with nothing to see but shadows that lie deep in every corner that had surrounded him. Unexpectedly, the dark hole beneath him had opened up to reveal a blue sea, just like the one he was staring at, and was dropped into it while he was still in a state of unconsciousness. He landed hard into the water, and miraculously, drifted onto the shore of the island in which he had woken up. He knew that he did not have psychic abilities, yet how was it possible for him to have a dreamt about a future for himself that he had not expected to happen?
Tidus stood up quickly, which he soon regretted doing when he began to sway from side to side. Blood rushed to his head, causing him to feel dizzy. When his eyesight was clear of the spotted colors that temporarily blinded his vision, he looked at his surroundings to find barely anything there. The island was small, with a diameter of about half a mile long. There were no signs of any inhabitants living on what appears to be a deserted island, and not a single piece of food was in sight. The only things that existed on the island were short grass areas with tall, but thin, trees. Only a single leaf, the color of a rotten apple, was left lingering on a dead branch.
With nothing else to do, Tidus began to walk around the island, looking to see if there was any possible way to survive for at least one night on the lonesome island. All that was seen were the things he already saw on the other side of the island: dead grass and trees. After searching every corner of the island, he finally spotted a miniature oasis that had clean water. Grateful to find fresh water he could drink, he leaned over to take handful scoops of the cool water that slid down his dry throat and instantly felt rejuvenated.
The impossibility of being able to stay on the island for long had begun to set in when Tidus decided to try finding another place he could possibly go to. Peering over the long stretches of seawater all that could be seen around the island was the body of water that seemed to reach endlessly outward without a thing to see. The sun was shining even brighter in the sky now and was reflecting over the surface of the sea, which prevented him from seeing anything without being blinded from the intensity of its burning light. Thinking there was nothing in that direction anyway, he frowned as he thought all was hopeless and gave up on trying to search anymore than he could. Dammit, what am I gonna do now? Tidus thought worriedly.
After hours went by, Tidus was found sitting by the oasis, which he drank the water from every now and then to keep him from dehydrating. All he could do was wait to see if there was a chance that he could find a way to get off the island, but could not. How could he if there was nowhere to go? His stomach was beginning to growl with famine. Without food, he was not able to satisfy his hunger, but drank more water in place of it. The sun was beginning to set now and he knew that he needed to find a way to stay warm for the night when he began to feel cool gusts blowing gently against his tanned skin. He started to get up when all of the sudden, his eyes widened with astonishment when he discovered that there was actually land across the sea.
Why didn't I see that earlier! Tidus asked questioningly when he remembered that he was blinded from the sunlight that reflected in the same direction where the large piece of land stands. Calculating the distance, he was disappointed to see that the swim would be pretty far. Hmm… beats staying here, Tidus shrugged. But how am I gonna make it all the way over there?
"Ok, Ti, just think of it this way: you just lost a game and Coach is now torturing you with anger management problems", even after giving himself a pep talk, it did not help with the uncertainty that he felt in his gut. He had been put through difficult training that was involved with water exercises along with all his games and practices, but this was different. This swim did not guarantee his safety and was a risky move to carry out, especially when nightfall was coming close.
He shook his head with disappointment. What are you scared of Ti! Tidus thought angrily. This is nothin'. You can do this! His past experiences of accepting challenges from his fellow teammates and friends had given him a reputation of being fearless. He never stepped out of a dare; he had never left a challenge undefeated.
"Well", Tidus said with a sigh, "Here goes nothin'." After feeling confident about his plan of swimming to the land on the other side of the sea, he stretched himself out to warm up for the long swim. Finally, he was ready to go. The sun was beginning to touch the faraway edge of the sea as Tidus walked into the water. It felt cool as it soaked through his clothes, giving him a little chill. When the water was shallow enough, he began to swim, kicking his long legs up and down while stroking his strong arms into the sea. With the water being so deep, he looked down to the bottom of the sea floor as he moved forward while watching a multicolored school of fish swimming together like synchronized swimmers. He swam and swam for about an hour and a half when he stopped for a break. While bobbing at the surface of the water, he discovered that he still had more than half way to go.
"Ah! The hell…?" Tidus hollered surprised when he suddenly felt something graze his left leg. He searched the water looking for what he had just come across. Having the sun dimly lit since it was halfway set made it hard to see what was beneath him. With his heart pumping fast, he became fully aware of the fact that he might not be alone in the sea, not including the fish that swam below him. Maybe it was just a fish, Tidus hoped as he began to swim on cautiously. He swam for another half hour when he thought he saw something swim at the sea floor.
"Jeez! What was that?" Tidus exclaimed. Stopping, he looked at the mysterious figure that caught his eye. He could not get a good look at it since it was so far under the water, but he knew that it was not something he would want to mess with. He swam on praying that it did not see him. He tried desperately to escape from the mysterious figure that stayed near the bottom of the sea, but failed when he saw that a dark shadow was swimming straight towards him!
"Dammit!" Tidus yelled as he started to swim as fast as he could. No matter how hard he swam, he was not able to beat the swift speed of the mysterious figure. It headed straight toward Tidus, knocking the air out of his lungs as he was shot about twenty feet into the air. Flying a large distance away from the creature that had just made him air born, Tidus landed back in the water with a big splash as he swam upward gasping for air. Tidus finally got the chance to get a good look at the monster and figured that what he saw was a sea creature, a dragon of some sort that screeched with anger. It was a sea dragon about three times his size. It had silver coating with hints of purple gills that flapped slowly against its cheeks. Its bony arms had thick black claws on its fingers and wide wings that revealed its ability to fly in the air as well as to swim in the water. It was all Tidus was able to see before he saw the sea dragon reversing its direction to head towards him again.
"Hey! What did I do to you!" Tidus asked when it crossed his mind that there was a possibility that the creature was thinking that he was an enemy that was trying to invade its territory. It sure is acting protective over it! Tidus thought as he discovered that because of the painful throw of the sea dragon, he was saved the trouble of swimming for another hour when he saw that the shore of the land was closer than it had been before his confrontation with the territorial monster. Good I only got less than half way to go, Tidus thought thankfully.
The sea dragon was finally spotted again when its head sprung out of the water's surface in curved movements. It was not going to let an unknown enemy off the hook that easily. When Tidus saw that it was on its way to slam into him again, he knew that this time he was going to end up breaking something. All right, if you wanna have it your way, Tidus thought getting into position. Then bring it on.
The sea dragon was about to resurface to knock him up into the air again, but then Tidus swiftly rolled to the side causing it miss its target. When he was in training for the championship games, he had to be able to move in the water in rapid movements for agility. The sea dragon rose over the water again, revealing something that Tidus had not noticed from his description from before: the sea dragon had a red symbol on its abdomen that looked like a unique spiral inside a triangle. Turning around to go after Tidus, the sea dragon went even faster in speed. "Woah!" Tidus yelled when the high-speed monster nearly hit him.
The now frustrated sea dragon had come to realization that this new enemy was more skilled then it had thought he would be. It let out a cry when it went to attack Tidus. Waiting for the right moment, Tidus tumbled just in the nick of time to get on the back of the dragon. He held onto the short spikes that were attached to the back of the monster as it swam through the top of the water surface. The splashing of the water that was caused by the rapid movements of the sea dragon hurt when they hit his face making it feel numb afterward when the sea dragon dove under without warning.
Tidus held his breath as long as he could. In blitz ball, there were no oxygen tanks to assist the players in breathing under water. They had to make sure that their breath was held for long periods of time before they are allowed to resurface again. Only those that are specially trained are able to do such a thing without causing permanent damage to them in their body and brain. The sea dragon struggled to get its enemy off its back but was unable to. It swam around tumbling in circles, upside down, and side-to-side. It got aggressive when it began to slam into the walls of the sea floor in attempt to get him off. Tidus, who still held on for dear life was starting to run low on air. They had been underwater for a long time now and he knew that he would have to resurface in the next couple of minutes.
Using all of his strength, he steered the sea dragon upward only to fail. A forceful whip of its body made Tidus loose his strong held grip as he was slammed into one of the rocky walls that were green from the seaweed that grew in between the cracks of it. "Oomph!" Tidus's air supply was now low and he needed air fast. The pressure was getting to him as he let out air through his mouth and nose. Air bubbles blocked his sight on showing him where the surface of the water was. He kicked his legs feeling a cramp form deep in his calve muscles. "Ugh!" the muffled sound of him was let out the second time for he had been strike by the sea dragon. He accidentally swallowed a huge gulp of sea water caused from the impact of the sea dragon. He had no oxygen in his lungs now and was struggling to keep himself from drowning.
He tried to keep full control of himself and kept swimming upward. His heart rate was slowing down; his lungs burned with dryness; he could not breathe. I need air! Tidus heard his mind say as he concentrated on getting to the surface. "Aahh!" he screamed as he swallowed deep gulps of air. He could feel his heartbeats quicken and the functioning in his body return back to its normal rate. He continued to take sharp gasps when he felt a wave of water rush toward him again. Jeez, does this thing ever give up? Tidus thought as he pulled out his sword. He was not thinking about killing it, but there was no other way he could escape from the violent creature. He waited as the sea dragon made its way through the blue water as Tidus went not sideways, but downward this time. It took the monster by surprise when Tidus took his sword and drove it up into the dragon causing a massive slit to open from its neck to its lower abdomen. The dragon, now in panicked pain, was swimming uncontrollably as it made no attempt to calm itself down.
"Yes! Here's my chance!" Tidus said gladly as he swam away from the trail of blood cleanly left by the injured sea dragon. The shore was close now, which saved Tidus half the time it would have taken for him to swim straight there without any detours. He put his sword back into its hilt as he swam up to shore with difficulty. His legs were really cramping now, making him swim slowly. Oh no, Tidus thought when he saw the dragon was recovered from its frantic panicking.
"Crap", he said silently as he tried to swim fast to shore. The sea floor was not yet shallow, but he could almost be able to walk on it. Because of the injury, the sea dragon appeared to not be able to swim nearly as fast as it had when it first attacked Tidus. He tried to dive down in hope that it would help delay the dragon from finding its target any sooner than it would. It worked, just barely. Tidus swam on, hidden under the water until he was able to make contact with the sanded floor of the sea. He kept on running until he was out of the water. Collapsing with exhaustion, he breathed heavily while being fully aware that the sea dragon might still be after him.
"I'm not in your territory any more!" Tidus screamed at the monster, "Leave me alone!"
But it would not. He had just scarred the dragon with a painful slash and it was not going to leave without getting its revenge. "Oh com'on!" Tidus complained. He made a run for the tree brush area that stood tall by the shore of the land and hid behind one of the tree trunks. He was in no condition to fight with a big monster like that, not alone. The sea dragon's head was waving in the curvy motion like it had once before, but now it spread its wings. Bid droplets of water dripped from it from being soaked with seawater as it flocked making the dragon fly into the air. Flying towards the tree that Tidus hid under, the sea dragon flew past it, cutting it with its razor sharp wings.
Tidus escaped from his former hiding spot and brought out his sword once again. "Want me? Come an' get me!" he yelled to the creature as it circulated back to go into battle with its enemy. Tidus somersaulted forward just before getting decapitated. "Wow, close one!" Tidus said while getting up into his attack stance. The returning dragon was in for yet another surprise when Tidus struck it in the face. As a reaction, the sea dragon was whip lashing all over the place. Its spiky tail waved widely as it hit Tidus in the hand, making his sword fly away from him and land in the sand. "Damn!" he exclaimed running for his sword. "Oh no!" the creature's wings flapped slowly as it landed on the ground in front of sword before Tidus could retrieved it.
