Chapter 7—Contact
Sitting inside the cabin of the ship, I'm startled out of my moment of silence by shouts of "Hey, give that back!" Sighing, I walk outside, somewhat hesitant to see what chaos Tidus or Wakka has caused now. Looking around the deck, I don't notice anything out of the ordinary at first, but then I notice Tidus, holding what looks to be a pair of binoculars, who is running from another girl. Guess she owned them. Now, Tidus didn't notice me, as he was too engaged in running away. Ever seen the old shows where someone's thinking about doing something mischievious, and they have the little angel on one shoulder, and devil on the other? That's what was happening to me right now.
By the way, the devil won.
Walking over to the mast of the ship, I hide behind it, as Tidus comes running back around the outside of the cabin. As he gets close, I simply step out from behind it, holding my arm out. Tidus notices just a split second too late, and is abruptly caught in the neck by my arm, causing him to go nowhere but straight down. Standing over his now dazed body, I grin.
"Rule number one. Watch where you're running, no matter what you're running from." I tell him, laughing the whole time. The girl stalks over, and grabs her binoculars back, before walking inside the cabin.
Mean? Who, me? Nah, never.
As Tidus recovers, he stands up, and starts to walk up to Yuna, who I just noticed was surrounded by a group of people. Several other people were nearby, having a conversation amongst themselves.
"Word is that summoner's got noble blood!"
"I heard she's Lord Braska's daughter!"
"Ya don't say?"
Tidus seems confused for a minute. "Lord Braska's...daughter?" he says, before seeming to start to put the pieces together, walking over to Wakka.
"So, is Yuna's father famous or something?"
Giving a nod, Wakka begins to explain again. "She's the daughter of High Summoner Braska! You saw his statue at the temple. Lord Braska defeated Sin ten years ago. Yuna's the heir to a great legacy!" he says, smiling.
Tidus hung his head for a moment, before speaking softly. "It's tough when your father's famous."
"Huh?" Wakka says, Tidus' signature confused look appearing onWakka's face for once.
"Wakka's...a bit lacking in the imagination department." Lulu cut in, smiling slightly.
"Huh?" Wakka says again, causing me to burst out laughing, and Tidus to smile, from my point of view also trying to stifle a laugh.
"Thanks, Lulu. I'll keep that in mind." he says, before starting to walk up to Yuna, who is standing at the front of the boat, the crowd around her now dissipated.
Stretching, Tidus looks out to sea, as Yuna speaks.
"The wind...it's nice."
Tidus agrees, and looks at Yuna for a moment, before the two of them just start laughing, for no apparent reason. Calming down after a moment, Yuna starts to speak once again.
"You're a blitzball player, aren't you? From Zanarkand, right?" Tidus gives Yuna a slightly weird look, before nodding.
"You hear that from Wakka? Wakka doesn't believe me at all." he says, Yuna looking back out to sea.
"But I believe you."
"Huh?" he says, stunned by Yuna's words.
"I've heard in Zanarkand...there is a great stadium, all lit up, even at night! Great blitzball tournaments are held there, and the stands are always full!" she says, somewhat excited sounding.
Tidus seems shocked. "How do you know that?"
Smiling, Yuna explains calmly. "A man named Jecht told me. He was my father's guardian."
Eyes going wide, Tidus' surprised look turns into one of hate, and he turns around, muttering 'Jecht' under his breath.
'Uh oh. Touchy subject...' I think to myself, looking out to sea as well.
Turning back to Yuna, slightly calmer now, Tidus begins to speak again.
"My father...his name is Jecht!"
Gasping in surprise, Yuna quickly does the prayer gesture. "Amazing! You know, our meeting like this must be the blessing of Yevon!"
"Sounds like him, but it can't be him." Tidus says, turning away from Yuna.
"Why not?"
"My old man, he died. Ten years ago, off the coast of Zanarkand." Tidus explains.
Now it's Yuna's turn to turn away from Tidus, bowing her head slightly in reverence. "I'm sorry." she says, voice low.
"He went out to sea for training one day...and never came back. And no one's seen him since then." Tidus says, his voice as level and calm as the ocean. Yuna's head perks up for a moment, as she seemingly remembers something.
"Why, that's the day that Jecht came to Spira." she says, turning back to Tidus, who just stares. "It's true! I first met Jecht ten years and three months ago! I remember, that was the day my father left. The date fits, doesn't it?"
Tidus seems absolutely befuddled now, fumbling for the words that seem to be unable to leave his lips. Finally, he calms down enough again to speak.
"Yeah, but how would he get here?" he says, to which Yuna smiles.
"You're here, are you not?" she says, and I can't contain my laughter any more.
'Tidus, you just asked for that, now didn't you.' I think to myself, laughing all the while, as Tidus and Yuna join in after a moment. Just as we think everything will be fine the rest of the way to Kilika, that hope is shattered by a sharp rumbling, and the boat beginning to shake. Tidus, Yuna, and myself lose our footing, and fall to the deck, the others following suit, as a massive gray fin shoots out of the water, just in front of the ship.
"Sin!" someone cries, as one of the crew members rushes behind what looks like a harpoon gun. Wakka notices this, and yells out to the man.
"What do you think you're doing? Stick a harpoon in him and we'll all get dragged under!" he says, another turning to Yuna as Wakka speaks.
"Sin is going for Kilika! We gotta distract it!"
"Our families are in Kilika! Forgive us, Lady Summoner!" yet another cries, as a second man moves into position behind another of the guns.
"Wait!" Wakka cries, before looking around for something to grab onto. "Oh, boy..."
The harpoons fire, two razor sharp lances of metal blasting towards Sin, lodging themselves into his left fin, gaining a small grunt of pain from the creature. To it, the harpoons are nothing more than a mosquito bite. Still, it turns slightly, dragging the ship with it, and releases a small flurry of scales, which land on the deck of the ship, and immediately unfurl into Sinscales. Suddenly, the boat rocks violently once more, almost sending Yuna over the side as she screams, Tidus holding tightly onto her hand, and holding the mast with the other hand. But looking at the position he's in, I know his grip won't hold much longer. Plus, the Sinscales are moving in on the two of them now.
'Oh, no! He can't hold on much longer, but what can I do?' I think, drawing my sword and rushing the Sinscales, knowing I can't hold them off all by myself. Just as I think I made a stupid mistake, a blitzball flies in from out of nowhere, knocking one of the Sinscales into the ocean.
"Hey, we have to protect Yuna! No matter what!" he says, grabbing his ball and preparing for another attack. Nodding, I turn back to the Sinscales, an expression of pure fury etched on my face.
'You stupid things come in, attack MY friends, try and destroy the ship we're on, and you think I'm going to let you live? Think again...' I think, suddenly smiling evilly.
"Wakka, stand back! These pieces of crap are MINE!" I say, running towards the Sinscales before Wakka can react. You see, the reason I was smiling, is because I just figured out what my Overdrive was. And I know how to use it, too. I'm very familiar with it.
"Renzokuken!"
Bellowing the word that was Squall Leonhart's Limit Break from FF8, I start to glow slightly for a moment, as time seems to slow down for me, the Sinscales moving as if they were moving through molasses. Running right into the thick of the monsters, I turn and slash one completely in half, before spinning back to the way I was and cutting another open. The next tries to shoot its spines at me, but I duck and impale it, the sword going in all the way to the handguard. Ripping the sword free, I jump back, tensing for the only finishing move I know I would have at this point.
"Rough Divide!"
Dropping the katana, I drag it along the deck, cutting a small line into the wooden surface as the blade starts to glow with a small aura. Reaching the final 3 Sinscales, I suddenly jump, leaping easily 3 times as high as a normal person could while bringing the sword upwards, causing the aura to slice upwards as well, straight through the 3 creatures. As all 6 dissipate into pyreflies, Wakka can't help but stare, and I can't help but fall to the ground. Never realized how much something like that would take out of you, but I can't think about that right now. I have to protect Yuna.
Fortunately, while I was disposing of the Sinscales, Tidus has managed to drag Yuna back onto level surface, and they're now running towards the cabin. Tidus yells something to Yuna that I can't quite make out, and Yuna nods, running inside the cabin, while Tidus runs back towards us. As Tidus nears us, Sin suddenly rips the harpoon devices completely off the deck of the ship, giving the ship one final lurch. That lurch happens to make Tidus lose his balance, and he trips, hitting his head slightly on the rail before falling into the ocean depths below.
"Tidus!" Wakka yells, running over to the side and jumping over. Taking a second to shake the cobwebs out of my head from the Overdrive, I run over and follow him off the edge, the whole while thinking how a Cure spell would come in handy right now. Arriving underwater, the first thing I notice is Wakka, who's frantically searching for Tidus. Cursing the fact that I hadn't done more diving, I try to look around as well, but Wakka finally spots him, floating unmoving in the water a few feet from us. Wakka casts a spell on him, some sort of curative magic, I assume, and Tidus wakes up, almost choking before realizing he was underwater.
All of a sudden, something catches my attention, as I notice something heading towards us out of the corner of my eye. Coming towards us is some sort of mutated squid, a bright blue on the top half, and a more baby blue on the bottom. Four long tentacles are what make it seem like a squid or octopus, while the actual bottom part ends with a set of smaller tentacle like objects, resembling that of a jellyfish.
This, is Sinspawn Echuilles.
"Uh, guys? Problem!" I say, turning to the large creature, the others following suit and preparing for battle.
"Let's give 'em all we got!" Tidus says, and suddenly I feel just a little stronger and tougher, the results of his Cheer ability.
"Dark Attack!" Wakka yells, the blitzball taking on a slightly black aura, before Wakka throws it at the Sinspawn, causing it to howl in pain, a black haze covering its eyes now. Swimming up to it, I slash at the creature, making it roar again, and slap me with one of its tentacles, sending me tumbling end over end through the water. Tidus follows my attack with a nice strike across where the haze is, and a loud roar, even louder than the Dark Attack caused, lets the three of us know instantly that the creature is now blind, permanently.
"Stupid thing! Go for the tentacles!" I yell, beginning to hack at one with my katana. Wakka and Tidus hammer away at it as well, and in a moment it falls off, severed completely. Quickly going to work on the other three, another falls off, and the creature begins flailing about wildly, roaring with every hack of a sword, or blitzball impact. Before long, the other 2 are gone, and Tidus decides it's time to end it. Swimming up to the fiend, he drives the sword right into the midsection, and with a massive grunt of effort, splits the fiend up from the middle to the top of the head, and out through what would've been the skull of any other animal. Giving one final howl of anguish, the fiend sinks for a minute, before bursting apart into a pyrefly cloud.
"Back to the ship! Last thing we need is to swim to Kilika, ya?" Wakka says, making a beeline for the ship. As we breach the surface, we're greeted by Yuna, Kimahri, and Lulu, who throw down some ropes for usto use. Climbing back on the ship, I shake myself off furiously for a moment.
"I hate water." I state simply, before gasping, staring towards Kilika. A massive tidal wave just appears out of nowhere, and moves along for a minute, before disappearing, a massive tornado of debris and trees appearing over Sin's current position. There's no doubt in my mind as to what just happened. Sin just destroyed Kilika.
