Chapter 14: Are you ready for some Blitzball?

Luca was already bustling with life, as the Winno pulled into one of the docks. I looked for Gippal as we got off the boat, but I couldn't find him. We could hear an announcer over the PA., introducing the various teams. First the Kilika Beasts. But the cheering died down when the Besaid Aurochs stepped off the boat. "They're a living, breathing, statistical impossibility! I've never seen a team this bad!" Bobba said.

"Geez, those guys are jerks. I mean I know you guys suck eggs but do they have to broadcast it all over Spira?" I whispered to Letty who shot me a dirty look. Was it something I said?

We stepped onto the docks and stood behind some cargo. Tidus looked around, a bit irritated, as the announcers introduced the Luca Goers, singing their praises. "Don't let it get to you... it's like this every year, ya." Wakka said, once again totally unconvincing.

"Well we shouldn't stand for it, should we Siry?" Tidus asked, looking at me.

I shook my head, "No! They've been jerk wads long enough. Show em Tidy!"

He climbed up on a box and took the megaphone resting on top, "You think you're so hot don't ya Goers. Yeah well you won't be once we're done whipping the pants off ya. The Aurochs are taking the cup this year." He then laughed…and if you guessed like an idiot, you win the grand prize. I'm not quite sure what that is but uhh anyway. Wakka pulled Tidus down from the box, "What were you doing up there?" he said.

"We we're on the sphere." Botta said.

Yuna's voice interrupted our chatter, "Maester Mika is here." She said.

"Mika? Maester?" Tidus asked, once again confused. Not surprising.
"Maester Mika is the leader of all the people of Spira. Let' go see him." Yuna explained running toward the dock.

We followed her and found the lavish boat. The blue haired, half Guado half human hottie stepped onto the dock. "Who's that?" Tidus whispered.

"That's Maester Seymour. Isn't he adorable?" I said, sighing. All right so I've got a lot of crushes. Sue me.

Tidus turned his nose up. Yeah I know. He no likey Seymour. Oh well, more for me to love! He turned and bowed to Maester Mika, as the old fogey stepped off the boat. And when I say old…I mean old. I'm talking ancient. I'm talking hair coming out of his ears old! The people gathered around us began performing the prayer. "You two bow your heads." Wakka scolded. Yeah right. I'm not bowing my head to an old guy who probably smells like cheese. Honestly, Maester Mika looks like he would smell like some really old and nasty cheese. And not only that, he was a Grade A bastard. Pardon my language, but he is. I mean really.

"Rise Maester Seymour." He said, "Maester Jyscal Guado departed for the Farplane a fortnight ago. His son, Seymour, has been officially ordained a Maester of Yevon."

Then Seymour went on some spiel about wanting to unite Spira…blah…blah…blah. I was too busy staring at his sexy Guado man chest to care what he was saying. My eyes traveled up his torso and landed on his eyes. He was of course staring at Yuna, giving her that sexy, I'm an evil guy determined to kill you stare. I had to admit I was jealous. Why can't crazed men with wonky blue hair stare at me like that? Oh well. I was going to marry his hair one day anyway. Down in the locker room, Wakka was going over the basics for playing blitzball. Come on Wakka. If the boys haven't gotten it by now, don't you think it's time to get a new blitzball team?

Yuna then burst into the room, "Someone said they saw Sir Auron in the café in town!" She said excitedly.

"Auron!" Tidus and I said in unison.

"That's right. Come on. Let's go look for him." She said.

We got up to follow her when Wakka called out to us, "Whoa, whoa, whoa! The game starts soon and I mean real soon!"

"Don't worry, we'll be back." Tidus said as we ran out the door. Outside the room, were two Al Bhed guys. They were talking about Yuna. "Hey you guys. You're Al Bhed right?" Tidus said, "Well then you must know Rikku…oh um…right they don't understand me." So like an idiot he started talking slower and louder, "If…you…see…Rikku…tell…her…thank…you…for…me!"
He then ran away. Man I don't blame them if they think he's on some kind of drugs or something. I followed him outside. "Hey you guys! Over here!" Yuna called from a statue. A mad rush of people cut between us, and we lost sight of Yuna. "Do you see her anywhere?" Tidus asked, straining to see through the crowd.

"No…"

"I can find her. YUNA!" he shouted then he whistled loudly.

The crowd thinned out and we spotted her. She seemed startled by the whistle. "What was that?" she asked.

Tidus laughed, "Its how we cheer on blitzball players." He said before whistling again, "Jut stick your fingers in your mouth like this and blow."

And of course, Yuna couldn't do it. "If we get separated just whistle and I'll come running. But…maybe we should stick together until you can do it."

"Okay boys and girls. We have a legendary guardian to find." I said, interrupting their moment. Hey he ruined mine! I grabbed their hands began pulling them toward the town square. We stopped again and Tidus looked around, "This place is huge…" he said.

"Luca is the second largest city in Spira." Yuna explained.

"I thought every town in Spira looked like Kilika or Besaid."

"Well towns don't usually get much bigger than that. Because when a lot of people start to gather…"

"Sin…"

"Yeah. Luca is no different. But the stadium is here. So the Crusaders fight to protect it with all of their might. Is Zanarkand like this too?" she asked.

Oh here we go. Come on people, I wanna see Auron!

"Well there are more buildings. Really tall ones that are all squished together."

"Oh they must be soo tall." Yuna commented.

"And no he doesn't get dizzy. Can we please go now?" I demanded.

Yuna looked at me, "How did you know I was going to ask that?" she asked.

"It doesn't matter. I wanna see Auron. Can we please go?" I whined.

Yuna sighed and nodded, "Fine. The café's over here." She led the way, to the café on the other side of the statue. We walked into the café, and unfortunately, Auron was not there. The two big thunder giants, Biran and Yenke immediately recognized Kimahri and began mocking him. Calling him short and making rude comments about his broken horn. Dude he's short? Looking up at him, Kimahri appeared to be like twelve feet tall. At least. Man, he's the tallest short guy I've ever known. "Take em on." Tidus whispered to Kimahri. What is this? Championship Ronso wrestling? Taking Tidy's advice, Kimahri pimp slapped Yenke to the ground, causing the bartender to yell at us. "Take it outside! The game's starting!"

Tidus turned and looked at the sphere screen above the bar. Maester Mika was on giving his patriotic speech about celebrating the winners and something about the defeated. Yeah, yeah, it doesn't matter if you win or lose oh wait…yeah it does! The Aurochs were taking the cup this year. And next year too.

Scuffling feet could be heard as we made a mad scramble for the door. Tidus looked around, as if he was looking for someone. "Hey guys!" he called after Kimahri and me, "Yuna's gone!"

Oh no. Not now. We ran outside where anxious Lulu met us, "Where in Spira have you been?" She demanded, "Yuna's been kidnapped…"

"By the Al Bhed. They want the Aurochs to lose in exchange for her safe return." I said finishing Lulu's statement.

She looked at me hesitantly, "…Yeah. But the Psyches are just blitzball players. So I doubt they'll do anything drastic. Buy we shouldn't take any chances…"

"Forget it Lulu. Yuna's not my responsibility. She didn't want me to be her guardian anyway." I said crossing my arms and turning my back to the black mage.

"You could help us out ya know." Tidus said.

"No way. She didn't ask me to be her guardian. So I ain't guarding."

"Either you help us find her or I'll give you a real shocking experience!" Lulu said, facing me. I could see the thunder magic gathering at her finger tip. Did I ever mention Lulu was real scary when she got mad? "O-okay…"I said, "I'll help."

"I'm glad you changed your mind. Now, their boat's down at the dock. Let's go get her." She turned and ran back toward the docks, with Kimahri and Tidus following closely. I lagged a bit. She had made me mad. But I wasn't about to tell her. Not for her to fry my face with that thunder spell of hers. I caught up with them just as they turned to the wrong way. "No this way is blocked off. I guess I should've told you. Sorry." I said crossing my arms.

Lulu gave me a dirty look. I've been getting those a lot lately. "Let's go the other way." she said.

"Damn it." Tidus swore as he stomped his foot.

We turned around and headed the other way, only to be ambushed by some machina. "What the heck are those things?" Tidus asked, whipping out his sword.

"Ancient machina salvaged by the Al Bhed." I explained.

"It looks like they were expecting us." Lulu concluded. She raised her hand high in the air and a bolt of lighting struck the machina. While Tidus, Kimahri, and I were busy taking care of the other one. Moving on, a few more machina ambushed us. After taking them out, Tidus skidded to a stop under a sphere screen. "What? What is it?" I asked stopping beside him.

"Look!" He said pointing the screen. The score was tied between the Aurochs and the Psyches. "They're doing great!" Tidus said. Just as he said that, an Al Bhed swam up and dropped kicked Wakka in his face. "Yeah. Real great." I said sarcastically, "Come on before Lulu decides to rip us a new one."

The Al Bhed ship began pulling away from the dock just as we caught up to it. "No way! I won't let them take her!" Tidus yelled jumping from the dock to the deck of the ship. Oh no! Not jumping again! "Hey! Wait for us." Lulu said, following suit.

Kimahri looked back at me, as if he were expecting me to jump next. "Hey after you Big Man." I said offering him the free space. He reared back then leapt onto the boat.

"You're running out of time, Siry. Move it!" Lulu yelled.

"Yes ma'am!" I said running and leaping into the air. I landed face first onto the deck of the ship. I don't care if Lulu threatened me within an inch of my life; I am never doing that again! I stood and wiggled my nose with my finger. It hurt like heck but thankfully, it wasn't broken. "Okay, what now?" I asked looking at my party members.

"We search." Tidus said. We began looking around for a sign of Yuna. At the back of the ship, the door leading to the cabin slowly slid open. And a HUGE machina appeared. "Of course!" I said throwing my arms up.

"Siry, let us take care of the machina." Lulu ordered, "You go down below and find Yuna. Hurry, the door is closing."

"Yes ma'am." I said smiling. Well I'd say they're getting the short end of that stick. I slipped behind the door just as it closed completely. I took a few steps forward before I heard several voices. Two sounded like men but the third…that was definitely Yuna. I followed the sound until I reached a small room. Yuna was standing looking back and forth between two Al Bhed men. "I told you, I don't understand." She said shaking her head. Okay, you're not a guardian but if you don't want Lulu to fry your brain you had best get in there, my brain told me. "Hey!" I said stepping forward.

The two Al Bhed turned to me. "Praise be to Yevon." Yuna said, running behind me. "Wait, aren't you a summoner? Why don't you summon an Aeon or something?" I said, turning to her.

"No way, it would cause the ship to capsize. Where are the others?"

"Kimahri, Lulu, and Tidus are up on deck fighting a machina. Wakka's still playing the game."

"Who are you?" one of the men asked.

Thinking quickly, I responded, "I-I'm a friend of Gippal."

"Gippal? That jackass?"

Well that didn't work. "Yuna…when I give you the signal, you run like the wind, got it? You'll know the signal." I whispered looking back at her. She nodded. I put my fists up.

"What are you going to fight?" the man asked.

I narrowed my eyes. I felt kind of like Tifa from Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children. The man who spoke English ran forward to attack. "Run Yuna!" I yelled as I ducked and punched his stomach. Yuna scrambled out of the room, with the other Al Bhed chasing after her. The man quickly recovered and grabbed a gun sitting on the table. He pointed it at my face and smirked. "Oh come on now…that's cheating." I said raising my hands.

"Well when you're Al Bhed, you can't play fair if you want to survive. Your summoner is coming with us."

"Look I know why you are doing what you are doing but really it's not right."

"You don't know anything. You follow Yevon just like all the other zombies out there." He snapped, his finger toying with the trigger.

"I don't follow Yevon." I replied, "I'd rather be eaten by Sinspawn than follow that puddle of lies."

He lowered the gun slightly, "If you do not follow Yevon, then why are you a guardian?"

"I'm not. See this black mage threatened to liquefy my brain if I didn't help find Yuna."

He lowered the gun more. This was my only chance. I cleared my throat, "Cunno." I whispered.

"Sorry for what?" he asked.

"For this!" I pulled back and punched him hard across the jaw. He sank to the floor stunned.

"I really am sorry." I said running out of the room. When I finally made it outside, I found the other Al Bhed lying limply on the deck of the ship. Yuna was surrounded by the others. "Siry!" Yuna cried happily, running over to me, "I thought something had happened to you." she said.

"Is everyone okay?" I asked looking over at the gang.

"Yeah…I'm just a little disappointed. I thought maybe Rikku was on this ship. But it's not the same one." Tidus answered approaching me.

"Was anyone named Cid on that ship?" Yuna asked looking up at him.

"Umm not that I remember. Why?"

"He's my mother's brother. She told me to seek him out if I ever needed any help."

"So wait…you're Al Bhed Yuna?" he asked utterly confused.

"On my mother's side. Yes."

"Tidus, you can't tell Wakka about Yuna's lineage. The thing about Wakka…he never had much love for the Al Bhed." Lulu explained.

"Oh…oh no! I gotta tell Wakka!" Tidus shouted.

"I thought I told you not to tell Wakka!" Lulu scolded.

"Oh the game!" Yuna and I yelled together. We all leapt back onto the dock and began running back toward the stadium. We stopped as soon as we found a sphere screen. Wakka had the ball. The score was tied with just thirty seconds to go…"Come on Wakka!" I heard Tidus whispered as Wakka hurled the ball into the goal and just like clockwork; the ball sailed through the water and into the goal. "The Aurochs win!" Jimma announced proudly.

"We did it! We're in the finals." Yuna and I said together.

Lulu shook her head, "Not the most graceful win. If it were Chappu, he would still be standing."

Tidus turned to her, "Oh come on now. That's being unfair…."
"Besides Chappu is a little on the dead side. I'm sure Wakka wouldn't want…" I added.

Lulu gave me a death glare, "You don't want to finish that sentence." She snapped.

Man, I'd hate to be around when she's got PMS. We continued toward the stadium as Jimma and Bobba announced the two contending teams in the finals. The Besaid Aurochs vs. The Luca Goers. Goers is such a gay name. Where the crud are they going? Loserville!

Author's note: I just set a new record. Five whole pages. Almost 3,000 words. I am so proud of myself.