wince Sorry again for the LONG delay, was drawing a lot, most inspirational at the moment for it. ; Plus the fact I went to Asia….and no access to these files since I couldn't e-mail it to myself since my monitor killed itself before I went… then finally now got a replacement and the typity type type. Hopefully the chapter would still be enjoyable.

Disclaimer: I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh!, Final Fantasy X, Teletubbies( for sure), and anything else copyrighted or so on, so forth.

FFX: Duelists' Fate

Chapter 10: Bleh, Bad Day…

By KokoroHikaru

Finding out they were playing the Al Bhed Psyches first, all of the Aurochs were cheery. Only Malik and Bakura seem dreary of the whole thing, that and with Tidus trying to explain the game. Finally, the tomb robber had enough. "Listen here, Te-dus, I don't care about these rules. It's amazing I'm even playing…" He ponders a moment, confused. "How the heck did I get into this?!?!?"

"Ahem, we kinda injured the players…" Malik pointed out.

"Oh. But why repent, that's not MY job."

The Egyptian boy pushed him. "Che, you're not getting away… you know how Tsuki will get back. Plus I'm not gonna do this alone!"

"Well, I'm not following the damn rules! I'll steal that ball and peg it at someone pass the goal for all I care."

Tidus looks funny at them, doing a little sweatdrop. "Actually, that's allowed. You can tackle the person for it, your opponent that is…"

His eyes sparked with new interest. "Really, eh? So we have quite a lot of privileges in this?" He turned to Malik, who gave him an acknowledging smirk; oh, the possibilities! Readers should know what these two are up to; if they were dragged into something, there should be so fun, ne?

Suddenly the door opens and Yuna and Lulu pop in. The summoner went first in quickly. "There you are! Someone said they saw Sir Auron in a café!"

Tidus looks blankly at her in confusion. "Au-Auron?"

"Yes, Sir Auron! Let's go find him." She drags him out. A bit brisky for Yuna, possibly happy at the thought of seeing one of her father's guardians again.

That was when Wakka yelled out. "Hey! Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey! The game starts like real soon! C-Come back quick, ya?"

"Of course! Hey, I'll be back!"

"Yeah, see ya, leave us with the stressed-out red-head…" Malik grumbles, waving bye.

Wakka turns to him. "What?!"

"Relax, yeesh! Stressing out won't let us win."

"See ya!" Yugi yelled. "I'm going with them."

Tidus looks at him. "Uh huh… The more, the merrier I guess… let's go!"

Leaving out the door, they began their search… with Tidus thinking back a bit… It didn't even occur to me to think that the Auron Yuna was talking about... and the one that I knew from Zanarkand could be two different people. I don't know why, but I knew it was the same guy. I knew it was the same Auron.

Tidus runs to catch up, but sees two Al Bhed next to him along the way. They were talking among themselves. "Y myto summoner! Fa sicd nabund."

"Hey! Al Bhed Psyches, right? Some Al Bhed saved me the other day, and... This girl Rikku gave me food and... Tidus said, but they remain silent. "Uh... You don't understand me, do you?" More silence... you could almost hear the crickets chirp, if there were any in Luca in the middle of the day. "Uh, anyway... If you meet Rikku, tell her thanks for me. Oh, and as for the first game? May the best team win!"

Reaching outside, Yuna was having difficulties going through the crowd, when at last escaping, the summoner peered around. "I hope we don't get separated…"

"Nah, I'm sure we won't, but maybe some kind of signal?" Yugi suggest, slightly brooding over the fact he might get lost from his height.

Tidus catches their attention. "I know!" He puts his finger in his mouth and whistles.

She looks at him perplexed. "What was that?"

"In Zanarkand, we do this to cheer on blitz players." He whistles again to show her. "You try it, too! But your fingers in your mouth like this." Tidus shows how to.

Yugi watches silently as Yuna tries. She looks somewhat confused again. "Like… this?"

"Uh-uh, not like that, like this." He shows her how again. "Then, you just blow. C'mon." The summoness tries, but fails twice, except accomplishing a raspberry.

She frowns. "It's not working…"

"Practice!" Yugi and Tidus kind of do a unison.

"Hey, use that if we get separated. Then I'll come running, okay?" He looks around. "Well, guess we should just stick together, then, till you can do it?"

Entering into the city, they gazed around. The pharaoh's hikari looks wide-eyed at the scene, where flags wavered in the sky and people walked busily around town, though acted very relaxed yet excited. "Wow, this place is so huge and cool!"

"Yea… but I thought all towns were small—you know, like Besaid and Kilika." The blitz player looked around, enjoying the site.

"Well, Luca is the second largest city in Spira, but no city really is bigger than this… that's because when people gather… Sin appears…"

Yugi cocked his head. "So does that mean Luca is safe somehow?"

"No… just protected because Blitzball is here, and that is the only thing that let us escape this reality, something that gets us away, you know. Spira is short on fun these days. Well, is Zanarkand like this, too?"

He thinks a moment. "There're buildings, all tall and cramped together."

"They must be so tall, don't you get dizzy?!"

"Hahahhah, let's go find Auron!" After searching around and ending up in their last hope place (the café), he sighs in disappointment. "He's not here."

"Dahhh…" The little star-head boy sat down at the nearby stool, frustrated at the long search. He pouted, for once was hoping to explore the city in relaxation. Not a moment's peace… Nonetheless, Yami had engaged him in a mind link conversation over tactics to get through Spira, even though he didn't know the layout. Either way, the pharaoh had some ideas, which Yugi were surprise, they could actually work! Maybe it's Yugi's game knowledge he benefits from or the reason of his worth of title as King of Games. Nonetheless… Wow, he must be REALLY bored…

Feeling a slightly intense glare at him somehow, Yugi knew what had happened. I heard that, Aibou…

Heheh. Yugi is struck out of his thoughts by the gruff sounds right of him. Glancing over, the small duelist sees Kimahri stand next to two other Ronso's who were gray and much bigger than him along with complete horns. They seem to be bullying the blue Ronso. Yenke and Biran push him, asking why he wasn't talking.

Tidus came in mid way. "Give them one, Kimahri!"

Yugi too interfered, soon getting a questioning look fro the Ronsos. "Eh? What is this thing (referring to Yugi, probably due to his height. The sad short jokes…I apologize)?"

"Hey! I'm about 15 here! Don't treat me like a kid!!" He pouts, hearing Yami chuckle from the repetitive phrases.

Well, either way, Yenke chuckled which called upon him an uppercut from Kimahri. People gasped; Tidus and Yugi gave a cheer, though the waitress wasn't too pleased. "Take it outside, ya hear? The game's starting!"

"Dah, the game!" Tidus yells as Kimahri gets a punch from Biran. People had turn to the screen of which the Blitz game was viewed on. The master, Mika, is on there, about to speak when Kimahri and Biran still give one another a stare down with Yenke still on the ground. "Today, on this glorious day, players from all over Spira have assembled here... to participate on this great contest of bravery, skill, and strength." Seymour comes into view on the crystal television on Mika's left. "These entire fine teams, equally renowned, deserve to win the cup today. Such is the nature of this contest. Let us, the spectators, play our role accordingly. Let us sing to the glory of the winners, and applaud equally the valor of the defeated. Contestants, may Yevon be with you." With a prayer gesture, the stadium field ball begins to fill with water. The Auroches and Al Bhed Psyches get positioned.

As gatherers cheered on, Yugi had looked around the bar sensing something wrong. Yami felt it to, like impending calamity just waiting to happen. Turning to his blitz friend, Yugi tugged his sleeve. "Hey, don't you feel like we're missing someone, Tidus?"

The thought struck at him like a bolt. In a dash he screamed. "Kimahri! Yuna's gone!" The Ronso turned, then got caught unaware by his opponent. But either way, the three rushed outside the café. They looked about frantically for her.

Lulu comes out, looking freaked out. "Where in Spira have you been?!"

Tidus jumps back with an "EH?"

"Yuna's been kidnapped by the Al Bhed Psyches. In exchange for her safe return, they want the Auroches to lose."

"What?!"

"If they're only blitzball players, I doubt they'd do anything drastic. But we shouldn't take chances. Let's go get her." Lulu takes a step, but stops and faces Yugi. "Your friends… they said something interesting too… we don't know much about you four, but ….. eh, nevermind, this isn't the time…"

"I'm going too! This will be no problem! They're telling the Aurochs to throw the game, as if they needed to! I mean, how good a team can they be?"

"Wakka said the same thing. He'll take care of the game. We should go get Yuna. The Al Bhed boat is in dock 4. Let's go."

Arriving at that dock, mechanical creatures jumped forth, blocking the passage. Yugi sighs. "Oh, great…"

Meanwhile in the Sphere Bowl….

Malik's eye caught sight of the swirly-colored ball in the hands of a green clad player who was at least 20 feet away from him. Aw, great… Besides the feeling of being thoroughly soaked from head to toe, his lungs burnt numbly from long extension on lack of air and his target was that far from him! In a try, the Egyptian made a swift drive towards the opposition and at same time wasting not a single worthless movement.

One of the Aurochs tackled hard at the ball holder, and this had given Malik a chance because of the stall. In a water dash of the blind, he collided in with his target or so he thought. It was a painful thump, and he gave a tug, hoping it was the ball. But it was stringy… stringy like hair.

After hearing a small gurgle, Malik opened his eyes and once again hoped for the best. White hair. It was white hair… long white hair and that meant one thing: I'm dead…There was a tap on his shoulder, Malik turn to see Bakura was there glaring. The thief's eyes burnt with pure malice giving a light vivid glow of red. His lips changed to a snarl with hand nursing bruising head… as if the collision didn't do enough damage.

Bakura made a lunge at Malik with full force, despite the fact that he managed to dodge unscathed. This made the Ring holder even madder and people aware of the matter at hand. The game stopped with the announcers crack jokes and taunting the Besaid players of the certain two players' behavior. Then a certain curiosity-attracting cloud began to form in the water, getting more attention and doubt from watchers. Wakka immediately called a timeout, and before Bakura did any real damage, the blonde boy managed to drag him out into the locker room.

Well, imaginable it is to visualize the 'conversation' between Malik and Bakura with the taunting and refusal… Well, at least to a point enough that Wakka so bravely stopped them. Though amazing enough Bakura didn't rip off someone's head at that point, yet he did caution Malik pretty kindly about something after the tournament.

Yami gave a brief sigh, they had gotten past the mechanical pesks. Now peering up at the screen, they review the current game. The game had commenced once again, managing now to a score of 2-2. One of the announcer, Bobba kept up-to-date news on the Blitzing. "The Aurochs are keeping the score tied with some excellent defense, folks!" Wakka catches the ball, but three oppositions dives at him in his position, forcing him to drop the ball. One of the new Aurochs, Malik to be more accurate, swept right beneath capturing the ball. "Ow! He'll feel that one in the morning! But the newbie Malik here has pulled an excellent stunt!"

Jimma, the other announcer, jumps up and retorts. "the referee doesn't call the foul! Wakka's taking a real beating out there."

Back with the rescue team, Tidus cheers on. "Still in there!"

The black mage glares at the screen. "He won't last. Wakka's like that."

"Ouch."

"Um… I think we should get going." Looking out past them to the boat, the pharaoh pointed towards there. Moving to it, the four stepped onto the deck and now a weird gigantic metal…er, thingy is placed right in front (something apparently ancient salvaged by the Al Bhed, the Obliterator). Position themselves ready for battle, Yami eyes the odd machinery on his right, which resembled a large grappling machina. Hm…wonder what this does? Truth be told, he was tired. Tired from summoning creature after creature, plus dodging direct attacks from those blasted mechs. Dah, I need another weapon…

While Tidus tries to fend of the metallic monster with his sword and Lulu casts lightning magic at it, Yami skims over to the grappling machine. It seemed to have some other purpose useful to this battle. I mean A GRAPPLING MACHINE. "Lulu?"

"Er…what?" In a way to say, a bad time to really ask questions when fighting a boss, but Lulu simple dodged an attack giving some stall time to answer it.

"How do you work this thing?" Yami points at the contraption.

"Um….. I don't know!" Snapping at him with impatience while fending off the giant walking UFO with a spell and avoiding it before it squashed her.

Tidus gives a wave, catching the pharaoh's attention. "A switch!"

"Ah." The spiky-head dark searched quickly for a switch. There it was, right on the panel, touch screen apparently. Half confused he solved it by pressing bunches of buttons and later an 'ON' button. But the crane just gave a sputter and died. Yami tries it again, but no luck just a sputter. Getting mad, he does what he sees Yugi and the guys do, slam on it and kicks it… yet forgets about the terrible foot pain it caused for the others. Nursing his own foot, he brings out a Kuriboh. He commands it to get Lulu's attention again as he trips past and evade the Obliterator when it targets him.

Contently destroying the machine piece by piece, but the long delayful fight makes her ever impatient due to the fact they need to rescue Yuna. All of a sudden, a tap from behind. An ambush?! The black sorceress tosses her stuffed moogle head-on with the assailant, tackling the creature down. Though the 'assailant was a poor furry brown thing. Kuriboh lies on the ground, dazed with Yami looking agasped. "Heh, oops."

"HEY! What's that for?! Attacking my monster?! It's on our side!"

"Well, it shouldn't have come from behind!! Now why is it there anyway?!"

"I wanted it to ask you if you could help!! I can't turn it on!!"

Tidus growled. "Will you two stop fighting each other and fight this thing here?!?!?!? We're in the middle of a BATTLE!!!"

"Fine…" Lulu gave a small scoff and sends a bolt at the gantry which sparked a bit at Yami's feet.

"Are you trying to challenge me, Lulu?!" All he receive was an unfriendly gesture from her mog. Grumbling h was the machine as it sparked too but slightly back to life… it moved a bit… like electricity. Electricity to power its engine. Ah, I see! Sorry Kuriboh, but sacrificing you for Summon Skull! "You know what to do, give that contraption a Lightning Strike!"

The crane gave another sputter with Yami frowning at it. It should work, shouldn't it? Lulu helped with another lightning bolt, but just another sputter. Yami growled. "Dammit!" He kicks the machine. Again nursing his foot, the grappling mech burst to life with a sputter and now roar of a running engine. "Oh my God… it's working!! Er… now what do I do?" Pressing random button, the intrigued pharaoh administered the crane to catch onto the Obliterator. Interesting… this thing can hold up the whole machine enemy! At least it did until the bottom half of the Obliterator fell down and Yami dumped the top half into the sea. "Oops…"

"Hahahaha… well Yugi, at least you did pretty good damage to it." Tidus slaps him on the back.

"Um… watch out."

"Eh?" Yami ducked down, dragging Tidus with him as a metal piece flew right over where the blitz player's head was. The door swung open as Kimahri dealt the final blow, and Yuna stepped out. The Al Bhed watch guard slumps down unconscious.

Lulu ruffled her dress, a small spark of relief washed over her. "I hope you hurt them."

"A little." Yuna smiles innocently, turning her head to glance at Tidus who looks around the boat. "What is it?"

He rubs his head thoughtfully. "There were these Al Bhed that saved my life when I first came to Spira. They took me on their ship, even gave me food. I was kinda hoping this was the same ship. But it's not. I wonder if they're all gone…"

"What happened?" Yuna asked, interest growing.

"Sin came up near us. I made it out okay, but I don't know what happened to their ship."

"Um, was there anyone called Cid on that ship?"

He shrugs, eyeing Yuna. Why all the questions… "I don't know. They were all speaking that Al Bhed language."

"I see..." She hangs her head a bit.

"So who's Cid?"

"He's my uncle, but I've never actually met him."

"Wait. That means you're Al Bhed, too, Yuna?"

"On my mother's side, yes. Cid is my mother's brother. He became distant after my mother married. But she told me to seek him out if I ever needed help."

"You're worried he was...?"

Yami gave a wave of hands. "Wait, wait. What's so surprising with Al Bheds?"

"Don't tell Wakka about Yuna's lineage. The thing about Wakka--he never had much love for the Al Bhed." Lulu pressured, giving them a stern look.

"Why?" He gives her I-use-to-be-pharaoh glare.

Tidus looks wide-eyed. "Whoa! I gotta tell Wakka!"

Lulu gave an even sterner glare, almost ready to tear their heads off. "I thought I told you not to tell Wakka!"

Yuna jumps in, looking worried. "The game!"

"OH!" She casts a fire spell into the sky, sending a bright light into the sky. This catches Wakka's attention during the last half of the game.

Wakka gave a gesture with the announcer Bobba looking on intently. "Thirty seconds left... The Aurochs are launching an all-out offensive! A long pass from Letty to Wakka! ...It goes through! ...He shoots! …Gooooooal! And only two secs to spare! Unbelievable! The Aurochs win the match, 3-2!"

Tidus jumps up, eyes still on the screen. "We won!!"

"We did it! We're in the finals!!" Yuna shouted.

"Can't believe they actually won with Malik and the baka thief in there…" Yami sniggered.

"Not the most...graceful win. If it was Chappu, he'd still be standing." Lulu huffed.

Tidus turns to her. "Hey, aren't you being a little unfair?"

"Excuse me?" The dark mage cocked her brows, eyes blazed like fire.

"I know I could never take Chappu's place. You're the one who told Wakka that, right, Lulu? And I don't think Wakka would ever try to take Chappu's pl—."

"You don't want to finish that sentence." She narrowed her eyes then turned.

Arriving at the locker rooms, the Aurochs gather around their injured coach. Muttering and wondering, they talk to him, seeing if he was up for the next game against the Goers. Wakka picks up the ball, but immediately drops it and falls back onto the bench, lying down.

The door opens, with a familiar figure stopping the ball with his foot and pops it into the air. "Miss me?" Tidus passes the projectile to Datto. The rest came in.

Datto and Letty cheered happily with Yuna back. Yuna continued apologizing, feeling guilty about Wakka being injured. Wakka sighed. "How could you let some Al Bhed kidnap you?"

Tidus pats him on the shoulder. "Hey, let it go."

Malik cracks up laughing silently. "Like he could after that pummel they gave him…" More snickering from him, and a punch from Yami.

"Don't go near Al Bhed any more, okay? They're trouble." Wakka said. "Now… game starts soon…"

Swiftly and without warning, Yugi had taken control. He looked around nervously. "Huh, where's Tsuki? It's about to be the final round, but she's not here…"

Malik grimaced. "Yeah……. Where the hell is she? Is she having fun without us?!"

"Maybe she's kidnapped too… good riddance." Bakura laugh lightly, not his usually insane one.

Yugi frowned. "That's not a nice thing to say, she could be in trouble. PLUS, she knows the game, remember?"

"Good point shorty, seems like you're good for something besides a host. She'd better not die yet, that Tsuki." He frowned.

The little hikaru glared at him, pushing aside the shorty comment again. "And besides…. I have some kind of terrible feeling something unexpected is about to happen…"

The Egyptian boy gave a funny look. "Those things? Well, can't be good… neeeeehh…." Probably Bakura gonna kill this next game, man am I tired.

-End of Chapter 10-

Shifting waters…and souls of the restless

An unknown figure appears, changing the course of the game

Could the appearances of these Duelists change the written Fate?

Chapter 11: Ambush! Unexpected Foe!