Chapter 35: Get Real
Day was turning into dusk when Auron rolled up the cuffs of his pants and waded into the ocean, leaving his coat, boots, and sword on the sand at the beach. "Jecht ..." The sea looked empty, but the law of convention in this illusory world was based upon what one wanted to see ... to shape that vision by summoning particles of magic. Auron was not a Fayth or a summoner. He could only express what he desired. "Jecht, if you can hear me—if you're able—please answer. We need to talk." There was no need to yell. Sound was an illusion here, too.
An enormous mirage solidified on the horizon of the ocean, and a faint apparition appeared before it, striding toward him. Jecht's spirit was thinner than before, and his mood seemed more somber—evidence that his resistance to Yevon's possession was taking a toll. "Long time, no see, old friend."
Auron smiled and held out a memory sphere.
"What's this?" Jecht tried to accept, but his hands passed through it.
Saddened to see his friend so consumed by another being, the warrior monk brushed his thumb against the activation button for him. The discussion with Tidus about his disappointing date began to play.
Jecht stared at the sphere, speechless for a moment before finding his voice again. "Is that … him?"
Auron nodded.
With a dry smirk and a subdued mood, Jecht commented, "He's so much taller now. I wouldn't have recognized him if he didn't look so much like his mother." He tried again to take hold of the sphere but became frustrated when his fingers couldn't grasp it. Giving up, he sniffled away a trace of moisture burning his eyes. "Why are you feeding my kid that poison of yours?" he angrily demanded. "It took me fifteen years and force-fed shoopuff milk to stop drinking."
Jecht's scolding, though more typical, was obviously a cover for the sense of loss he was feeling, so Auron responded in a reassuring tone. "I don't think we have to worry about his drinking habits. Girls are another matter." He tapped the sphere.
"Oh, I already talked to him about that as soon as he was old enough to ask questions."
"Well, I had to talk to him about it again," Auron unhappily reported. "Sometimes he doesn't listen the first time ... just like someone else I know."
Jecht chuckled low, guilty as charged. "How old is he now?"
"Seventeen, and ... it's time."
The blitzball player's amusement softened to a small, somber nod.
"There's something you should know, though. Tidus has had dreams of himself turning into the Final Aeon—a sea serpent of some kind. But the fact that he can dream at all … The Fayth believe he somehow fashioned Shuyin's soul into his own unique conscience. Tidus is ... alive, in a sense. He's more than a memory following a revised script."
Jecht made a face. "You mean … I really do have two sons now?"
"Yes … and no. The Fayth say he's fundamentally the same kid, but they admit there's something very different about this one. I never knew your son before any of this, so I can't offer my opinion on that. But I've been around Tidus long enough now to say that his thoughts and feelings are every bit as human as our own."
Jecht looked down at the image in the sphere. "Does he know he's just an illusion?"
Auron shook his head. "If he's going to do this, he needs to learn about Spira first. Then, we'll tell him about you ... and himself."
Jecht seemed to understand the reasoning behind that decision.
"There is one more thing you should know. The summoner that the Fayth chose to help ... It's Yuna."
"Braska's Yuna?"
"She's training in Besaid."
Jecht turned away and stared at the shell of the large aeon he had become. "I don't want to hurt them."
"Then don't."
"It's the only way."
"He's your son."
Jecht faced him with stern remorse. "If we can't break the cycle, Yevon will claim his soul after I'm released. If we can't break the cycle, little Yuna will end up like her father, though he gave his life to save her. If we fail, she won't get a second chance."
Auron reluctantly agreed. "Then, you need to take him to Besaid. Can you do that?"
"I'll try, but my days as captain of this 'ship' are numbered. Time slips through my fingers now, and I have no memories of where it goes."
The warrior monk didn't know what to say.
"Don't forget to give the boy my sword."
"I'll be sure he gets it, although I'm not sure he'll know how to use it. The Fayth are betting that Shuyin's skills as a former guardian will surface, but Tidus never met Shuyin's girlfriend, so he never experienced those memories."
"Then maybe we should train the boy first," Jecht suggested with a bittersweet smile.
))((
"Braska's daughter has completed her apprenticeship." At the summit of Mt. Gagazet, overlooking the ruins, Valefor stood before all of the gathered Fayth. "Lady Yuna is almost ready to attempt her first summoning, but people have spotted Sin moving south toward Bikanel Island. I hear their prayers at the temple. They're begging to be spared this time and renewing their vows to Yevon in hopes that this time the Calm will be eternal." She paused, disheartened. The other Fayth stationed at the other temples nodded and mumbled in agreement. Their villagers were beginning to fear the inevitable, too. Valefor faced Bahamut. "If the illusion is to be of any help, we must send him to her now."
"How is the illusion progressing?" Ixion asked. "Is it ready?"
"Tidus," Kaila brusquely corrected. "His name is Tidus."
Bahamut flashed Kaila a frown from within the shadows of his hood, reminding her not to take their impersonal comments so personally. The rest of the Fayth didn't know Tidus the way they did. "We've patched together seventeen years of experiences, based on Shuyin's memories, in a manner that will hopefully avoid the mistakes that ended his life and are keeping him unsent. Tidus feels resentment toward his father, and that should help him defeat Sin. But there is one thing we didn't plan on: he says he can dream. Memories can't dream new dreams. But … maybe old souls with new experiences can. We think Tidus has somehow developed his own consciousness apart from Shuyin's. It's almost as if he's ... real."
"An illusion can never be real, Bahamut," Shiva reminded him. "Regardless of appearances, he is still just particles of magic bonded to a dead soul and blinded by lies."
"Are flesh and blood the only things that determine what's real?" Kaila challenged. "We don't have real bodies anymore, but we're real. Rocks and trees are real, but they don't express thoughts and feelings. If Tidus believes he is real, maybe that's all that really matters."
Shiva smiled apologetically. "That he turned out so well is a testimony to your dedication and his will. But what I meant is ... his true composition is what matters toward his purpose."
"But it's not his purpose," Kaila argued. "It's ours. And if he's a real soul, should we be using him this way against his knowledge? Isn't that what Yevon did to us?"
"Does Jecht know?" Ifrit asked.
"Auron told him," Bahamut answered.
"What did he say?"
Bahamut looked to Kaila, sharing her uncertainty. "Jecht said to go ahead."
"Then, I agree with Jecht. The cycle must be broken. But no ordinary sacrifice, human or spirit, is strong enough to cast off Yevon's possession. If Tidus's unique composition can resist that spell, then he, like his father before him, is our best option for saving current and future generations. We can't force him to become the Fayth of the next Final Aeon. But if he understands what will happen without his sacrifice, maybe he can be persuaded to make our purpose his own."
Bahamut saddened but could not argue with Ifrit's reasoning.
Kaila started to cry.
Another Fayth moved from the back of the gathering to the front. "It sounds like you've done an exceptional job creating this illusion. You've invested so much of yourselves in the attention to small details, it's understandable you would think of your creation as a real person. It hurts to give him up like this, even if this is the reason you made him."
Kaila looked up in surprise. "Lord Zaon? I thought …"
The golden guardian acknowledged her with a gentle smile. "You thought correctly. I am at rest now, so I cannot leave the Farplane for long. But Ixion visited the Fayth at rest to let us know what was happening. You see, some of us still have a stake in this pilgrimage. I miss my wife. She is unsent like Shuyin. But where he became bitter, she is now cold. Both cling to people they've loved and lost. But if they cannot learn to let go of that pain, they will never find peace. Yunalesca must be made to rest, or she will feed her father's hunger for revenge forever. She is as much a part of the cycle as Sin and Lord Yevon. Your illusion will have to slay more than one unsent soul infected with grief before he is done. He will have to slay my wife."
Neither Bahamut nor Kaila—nor any other Fayth present—considered how Zaon might feel about their end game. The famous guardian's unexpected appearance silenced those around him.
"Your illusion needs to believe he is real so that he can experience real life and value it. He must learn to value the people trapped in this never-ending spiral of death, so that when the time comes, he can let go and do what's necessary to free them."
"Then …" Bahamut wiped away a tear that trickled down his cheek. "Will you help us give him the extra pyreflies needed to make him feel real outside the dream?"
"I will do all that I can. We all will. Where is he now?"
"Practicing on the beach for the upcoming tournament."
"Hm …" Zaon rubbed his chin. "Bevelle attacked Zanarkand during that tournament. Lord Yevon would never allow those memories to be replayed here, would he?"
Bahamut smiled in a soft, sly manner as the Fayth headed down the mountain to summon more pyreflies for Tidus while he slept. "Bevelle won't be attacking Zanarkand this time. Jecht will."
))((
The night of the Jecht Cup Memorial Tournament, Tidus donned his uniform with black shorts and a yellow hoodie, then stuffed some street clothes into his duffle bag for the post-game celebration. But when he exited his boathouse, a small crowd of blitzball fans were already waiting for him on the pier. He'd never had fans waiting outside of his house before. At first, he didn't know what to think of it. Then, he decided he liked it. No more heavy silence.
He signed a few blitzballs and flirted with a few girls, but then tried to go on his way when some of the children in the crowd begged him to teach them his famous game shots. "Hey, I got a game to play," he tried to excuse himself.
"Then teach us after!" one insisted.
"Maybe tonight ...um ...well..." He cast a glance back toward the two girls he had flirted with earlier. This choice was a no-brainer. He just had to make up an excuse to ditch the kids for the girls.
Before he could open his mouth again, Bahamut came forward from the back of the crowd and materialized before him. "You can't tonight."
Tidus blinked at the boy for a mute minute. Was he real this time? Or was he imagining him again? "I mean ... tomorrow," he told the children, trying not to let the questions popping into his mind show in his confident expression.
"Promise?"
"Promise."
The kids gave him a blitzball salute, and he laughed and waved as he walked away. Tidus looked for the hooded boy again, but he was already gone. Bothered, but not frustrated, the blitzball player shrugged it off and continued on his way.
He paused under one of the high-rises to look up at the electronic billboard with his father's picture on it. Then, he gave it a cynical snort and ran toward the stadium. People from all over Zanarkand had come to see the tournament, and as he approached the front gate, hundreds of screaming fans swarmed him. He had never seen so many!
"Make way, make way! Coming through! Sorry! Hey, I'm gonna be late!" His shirt was snagged by multiple hands as he tried to squeeze past. "Hey, let go of me!" he half-laughed, enjoying every minute of the event's big turnout.
At the force field gate, he flashed an identification card that allowed him to pass through before it solidified again. Safely inside the stadium, he shook out his unruly blond hair, drew a breath, and headed down into the locker room. Going straight to his locker, he hung his duffle bag on the door and dug out his street clothes and sneakers, placing them on the shelf. "That crowd out there is nuts," he commented to Naya. "Why did they lock them out? I could barely reach the gate."
"Well, apparently they were trying to sneak into places they had no business sneaking into—like back here. Half of those fangirls didn't come to watch the game. They just want to see our poster boy wiggle his little ass when he makes a goal."
He acted mildly offended. "Are you mocking me?"
"Oh, please," Kyril commented from her locker. "You enjoy the attention, or you'd complain about it." She and Naya laughed as they imitated his trademark victory dance.
Tidus laughed it off. Okay, so maybe he did enjoy the attention ... just a little.
"Toma! He's here!" Naya called toward the back stairs.
"It's about time," Toma called from the top of the stairs where he was recording the pre-game activities near the sphere pool. "Hey, Jecht Jr., since it's your first time up for the Jecht Cup, they've decided you're the one greeting the fans and throwing the ball into the sphere pool tonight—to honor your dad, and all that."
"Yeah, be careful not to throw out an arm giving that ball a toss, or we might just have to bench you," Kiryl sarcastically added from the stairs.
The other players chuckled.
"Well, in that case, I'll throw it in some sissy underhanded manner like you would." Tidus smirked as he checked his blitz gloves and shoes.
More laughter and a few "ooohs" came from his teammates as they kidded each other out of their pre-game jitters.
When he was done checking his uniform, Tidus checked his gameplay notebook and shoved it back in his locker, along with the empty duffle bag. Then he locked the door and inspected his shoulder guard to be sure it was strapped on tight. With only a few minutes to go, he went to one of the shower stalls and stood under a stream of cold water for a few seconds, hoping the temperature shock would help him focus.
As soon as he stepped out, his coach approached and passed the blitzball to him, giving his back a proud slap. "No daredevil stunts up on the axis this time. Keep it clean and safe. You'll have plenty of opportunity for stunts in the pool." He paused before walking away. "Oh, um … you didn't happen to work on that little trick that we talked about, did you?"
"I can't do it," Tidus told him again.
"Okay, no problem." His coach smiled, understanding. "Just thought that would be a cool surprise to show off for the Jecht Cup finals."
Tidus left his coach, climbed the stairs, and waded through the calf-high water of the sphere pool's central axis to sit on the support bridge with a sigh. Tucking the ball between his feet and under the seat, he took one look at the distant signs of life surrounding him in the dark, enormous stadium, then he leaned his head back against the wall of the axis and closed his eyes to wait.
"Are you nervous?" Toma asked, still recording.
"Nah, just thinking of what I'm going to rename that cup once it's ours."
Toma chuckled and headed back to the stairs to leave their star player alone with his pre-game thoughts and join the team huddle.
The noise of the crowd fell silent to Tidus's ears until the only thing he heard was the beating of his own heart. Tonight, his game had to be flawless. Tonight, he had to be Jecht's son, just for one night. No ... His eyes opened as the axis machina started to hum. Tonight belongs to me. I own this pool now, Old Man, and I can win this thing if you stay out of it. That's the only thing that matters tonight—a win."
The lights flashed on, and the music started, letting everyone know that it was time for the game to begin. The crowd roared as a water spell was generated in the center of the bowl-shaped arena floor. The vertical axis ring lifted as the cybernet activated, and the stadium dome split, unfolding and opening to the stars. On cue, Jecht Jr. stood from his resting place on the central axis and stepped up on one of the small, raised platforms within the machina ring. Blitzball tucked underhand, he was the center of attention to thousands of adoring fans.
The water spell finished forming with dramatic flare, the laser lines blinked on inside the pool, and the scoreboard lit up. His introduction to the crowd was drowned out, but everyone knew who he was anyway, so it didn't matter.
))((
Auron took the lift to the roof of one of the tallest buildings on the eastern outskirts of the city. There, he paced, waiting until a swell of ocean rose behind him. Lifting his jug of nog in greeting, he drank a toast to their effort. Then, he headed back down to the streets.
The warrior monk walked calmly toward the stadium, though fans of the game ran toward it with excitement. Nobody noticed that behind them, the spires of the city were elongating and twisting in a surreal manner. As buildings were sucked into the vortex between reality and the realm of magic, nobody noticed the massive ball of water drawing the tide from the sea into the sky.
))((
The ball was already in play. Tidus broke free from a tackle and punched another player with such force that he sent him right through the cyber-net that held the water of the pool in its spherical shape. His opponent hit the concrete buffer between the balcony and the row below it, then dropped head-first onto the laps of the people beneath him. The Abes scored the first point of the game.
Back in play, the ball was passed multiple times before someone shot it high into the air above the water dome. Tidus swam toward the surface and broke through like a leaping dolphin. Soaring high, he arched back in one fluid movement to kick it back in, but before he could complete the impossible shot, his upside-down view of the night sky revealed the surprise arrival of a monstrous sphere of water floating in the sky. It fired multiple missiles, and explosions ripped through the city's horizon.
Seconds later, all of the foundations of the floating islands on the waterfront were hit. The force of the explosions sent a tidal wave crashing down over Zanarkand, demolishing everything in its path, including the stadium. Towers erupted in one explosion after another until the enormous tidal wave formed by the attack crashed down on the city in a macabre attempt to put out the flames with a flood.
The sphere pool collapsed while Tidus was still above it, but when he started to fall, he caught hold of the vertical axis high above the open arena. As he struggled to hang on, Zanarkand began to crumble and wash away right before his eyes. The stadium swayed as it began to sink, and when a second explosion rocked the building, his fingers slipped. The blitzball player fell into the dark, cold seawater filling the flooded arena below. Fear and confusion rushed through Tidus's mind as he tried to figure out what was happening. He could see that the stands were littered with the bodies of the drowned or otherwise injured victims, but strangely, all of their bodies floated away in puffs of colored light.
He left the grisly scene toward the crowded exit where people were pushing and shoving to get out before their lung capacity failed. Tidus tried to weave his way to the front. He intended to help them reach the surface if they would just let him through, but they, too, began to disperse into sparkles of colored light. Panicked, he made his way to the exit and climbed up on the sinking platform.
Finally, he stumbled through the broken gate while it was still above the water and headed down the steps. There, he spotted a familiar face a short distance away. "Auron! What are you doing here?"
"I was waiting for you."
Tidus couldn't believe the man stood there so calmly when all hell was breaking loose around them. "What are you talking about?" Tidus watched Auron walk away from the stadium. Not quite knowing what else to do, he followed.
People raced past them, frantic to escape the destruction. The city continued to ignite and collapse into the ocean.
Tidus had a hard time keeping an eye on Auron in all the madness. Then, suddenly, everything stopped—everything except him. A fear even greater than what he felt hanging high above the stadium crept over him, sending shivers up his spine as he looked around, trying to make sense of the stop-motion blur.
"It begins," someone spoke behind him.
Tidus turned around. Sure enough, it was the kid from his dream—his nightmare. "Wha—"
"Don't cry," Bahamut apologetically encouraged before unfreezing the time flow and disappearing again.
Tidus's heart raced as the world fell apart in chaos around him. "What the ...? Hey! Wait!" He spotted Auron again and ran down the highway to meet him. Auron was heading straight toward the worst of the destruction, toward the ocean. "Hey, not this way!"
"Look." Auron guided Tidus's eyes up toward the large ball of water hanging over the city. "We called it Sin."
Tidus stepped back in wide-eyed awe. Whatever it was, it looked like it was made of the same magical water that made up the arches that rose above the city to mark the entrance to the port. "Sin?" As he watched, it ejected a large black squid-like fiend and hundreds of small clam-like spawn all around it, and they rushed to take over the city. Attention drawn from one monstrosity to another, Tidus's breath caught in his throat as he was quickly surrounded by the large, insect-like things. He tried fighting them off with his bare hands as they snapped and jumped at him, but then he fell back and was nearly stampeded.
"Take it." Auron offered a sword.
Tidus hesitantly accepted and gazed at its beauty for a moment, raising it high before its weight nearly pulled him back down to the ground.
"A gift from Jecht," the warrior monk added.
"My old man?" Tidus couldn't picture his father training with a sword. He attempted to use the blade against one of the Sin spawn and promptly fell backward again, but he pushed himself back up with determination.
"I hope you know how to use it."
Tidus tried again with a short hop and slammed the sword through the fiend. Its body disappeared into a swarm of pyre flies. But as soon as he took one creature out, another dropped into its place.
"These ones don't matter. We cut through!" Auron instructed. "Don't bother going after all of them. Cut the ones that matter, and run!"
Once they sliced their way through the barricade of smaller Sin spawn, they ran toward the larger fiend producing them. Tidus wondered why Auron was leading him toward these things instead of running away from them. It didn't make sense. None of this did. But at least the sword became easier to manage the more he swung it. Frustrated at not getting past the large fiend, he sprang forward in a cartwheel flip to put extra strength behind his strike and was surprised by the move's success and the kill. As the body dissipated, the path opened for them to keep running.
He couldn't help but look up at the billboard once more when they ran past it. "What are you laughing at, old man?" Was it how he fought? Or was it the fact that he was trying to use a sword at all? "Auron! Let's get out of here!"
Still ridiculously calm, Auron looked around. "We're expected."
"Huh?"
The warrior monk ran toward the worst of the chaos again.
"Gimme a break, man!" Tidus complained. But he continued to follow.
More spawn landed in front of them and behind them, sandwiching them between an impossible number of fiends.
"Hmph. This could be bad." Auron spotted a wrecked, machina fuel drum on the side of the highway and pointed to it. "That—knock it down!"
"What?"
"Trust me. You'll see."
Though he wasn't sure why the warrior monk wanted him to target the fuel drum instead, Tidus hit the line that kept it hooked on the side rail. Spines flew from the flickering wings of the creatures, spraying into his arms and legs like large needles. Gasping at the pain, he continued hacking through the fuel chain. When the line between the barrels was finally severed, he jumped back just in time to avoid a nasty explosion. The combustible contraption fell from the bridge and hit the bottom supports, blowing up the fiends, the bridge, and the building next to it.
"Go!" Auron shouted, running as the bridge collapsed beneath them.
When the warrior monk pointed up, Tidus lifted his gaze and jumped with a leap meant for sphere shots. His fingers caught part of a broken road that had been torn and twisted toward the sky. But as he hung there, struggling to pull himself further up, he wondered how in the world Auron thought this would save them? They were trapped now with nowhere else to go.
Auron climbed the side of the broken road and crossed the top toward Tidus, but he didn't immediately offer assistance.
"Auron!" Tidus's fingers and arms ached, but his position was at too much of a disadvantage to pull himself up. "Auron!"
Behind them, Zanarkand was disappearing into the sphere of water. Chunks of roads, buildings, and statues were ripped out of the ground and pulled into Sin.
))((
Auron looked over his shoulder. "You are sure?"
No longer able to break away from confinement, Jecht stood a few feet away amid the chaos swirling inside of Sin. Stray chunks of the dream that had been sucked inside the magical armor became solid, forming a surreal, damaged version of Zanarkand behind him. He folded his arms across his chest and looked as if he wanted to protest, but he made himself nod in confirmation of their plan to hijack his kid out of Yevon's dreamworld.
Auron looked back down at Tidus. "This is it." He snatched the collar of the vest. "This is your story. It all begins here." Auron jerked the young man up with one incredibly strong tug, and Sin's toxin did the rest, bending and twisting the weave of magic, making every inch of Tidus's body even more solid than it already was.
Tidus cried out as the magic that made up his body was forced into reality. Inside Sin, he had just enough time to look around, confused, before he lost consciousness.
Auron knelt over his charge's form and looked back to Jecht. "Sleep spell?"
Jecht drew near and knelt beside Auron. Hesitantly, he placed a hand on Tidus's golden-blond head. "We've got to get him out of here before ..." With a grimace, he suddenly withdrew and stepped back.
"We're at Bikanel, right? How long will it take you to swim to Besaid from here?"
Jecht shook his head, and his crimson eyes began to darken. "No time!" he warned in an unnaturally gruff voice.
"Jecht!" Auron rose and grabbed his shoulders. "Shake it off! We've got to get to Besaid!"
"I can't!" He was trying but failing to resist transformation. Yevon was aware of their presence and summoning Braska's Final Aeon to fight. "Get him out of here! Get him away from me! He's not ready to face us yet!"
Knowing it was too late for the father, Auron grabbed the son and heaved him over his shoulder before making a hasty retreat toward Sin's mouth. Jecht's aeon roared at them and drew his flaming sword from within his chest, but he resisted Yevon's command to strike long enough to let them escape.
In reality, Sin had never left the ocean to fly above the dream. So, as Sin opened its mouth, Auron ran into the oncoming water and fought to hang onto Tidus as the waves cast them about. Sin's thrashing threatened to push them under. When the warrior monk surfaced, he pushed Tidus up onto a clump of rocks in the middle of some washed-out ruins. "Baaj? Damn it, Jecht! You've stranded us in the middle of nowhere!" he shouted back toward the monster. The warrior monk knew it couldn't be helped, but it frustrated him all the same.
Ducking back under the water, Auron drew his sword and slashed as hard as he could across Sin's shell. With Yevon in control now, Auron couldn't hesitate to defend himself and his charge.
Sin took the bait and turned on the warrior monk.
With Sin bearing down on him, Auron swam toward the tiny string of islands west of the sunken ruins. He would try to find refuge there. The unsent guardian felt no cold, no fatigue, and no fear. So he would do whatever it took to keep Yevon away from Tidus until the boy was able and ready to fight back.
))((
Back in the dream, everything had returned to normal. The buildings stood tall, the stars shone brightly, and the waves were peaceful once more. It was pleasant. But Dream Zanarkand felt empty now. On the verge of tears, Kaila sat on the deck of the houseboat and stared at the seemingly endless sky beyond the calm horizon. Beside her, Bahamut shared her melancholy. "We can't do anything more. It's up to them now."
))((
When Tidus woke, he found himself on some rocks, surrounded by water. It was cold and stormy, and a colorful bird was the only living thing in sight. "Anybody there? Auron?" He was alone, frightened, and had no idea how he came to be here. "Heeeeeeey!" he shouted at the top of his lungs, but his voice only echoed off of the dark, foreboding tower in the distance ahead. There was nowhere else to go, so he left the safety of the rocks and swam toward it.
He was nearly eaten by a giant water fiend along the way, but when Tidus made it inside the tower ruins, the first thing he did was search for items to build a fire. Cold, wet, and hungry, he flopped on the floor with exhaustion, but then sat up and drew his knees to himself, trying to keep warm. He heard every unidentifiable noise the creepy place had to offer until he started nodding off.
When his fire began to die out, he looked about for fresh kindling but found himself facing yet another fiend. The lizard-like thing raced with incredible speed along the wall around him, then dropped to the floor to challenge him. This strange place had entirely too many monsters!
Drawing his father's sword, he tried to rid himself of the threat but was surprised when some strangers came to his aid. He couldn't understand a word they said, but he thought he had been rescued … until the girl leading the group punched him in the stomach, and her male cohorts dragged him away.
))((
That evening, as Jecht slowly regained control of his own mind, he gave up trying to find Auron and went back for Tidus. He returned to Baaj just in time to see him being taken onto the Al Bhed ship. Following them south a short distance, he lurked under the waters, watching them attempt to retrieve a sunken airship. As much as he hated to do it, he attacked the ship to get his son back. Washing Tidus overboard and swallowing him as he had before, Jecht cast more sleep magic on him and finished carrying him all the way to the coast of Besaid. By daybreak, Jecht carefully pushed Tidus back into the water, trusting the kid's blitzball skills to help him swim ashore. Then, he turned away and left before he was tempted to attack once more.
))((
The cold, clear water of Besaid's beach soon awakened Tidus, but when he surfaced, he had no idea where he was. He had learned from Rikku, the girl on the Al Bhed ship, that Zanarkand had been destroyed a thousand years ago. That couldn't be right. If that was true, how was he still alive? And how could he ever go home? This beach didn't look anything like Zanarkand.
A blitzball thumping the back of his head snapped his attention to some people on the shore. Civilization at last! "Hey!" He waved to get their attention. Was he ever glad to see them! Ducking under the water, he head-butted the ball high into the air, then flipped into a sphere shot to send the ball back to them.
A big man with carrot-colored hair started to catch the ball but then side-stepped the incredibly wild shot that went way over their heads. "Woah-ho-ho!"
Clearly, someone was a blitzball fan.
))((
A grown man now, Wakka made no connection between the stranger in the water and the stranger that stunned him with a similar shot when he was a kid. But he knew a good draft pick when he saw one. Wakka introduced himself and strategically offered to get Tidus some food before recruiting him for his team's upcoming tournament. Since he thought Sin's toxin was responsible for making Tidus forget even the simple things about where and how they lived, Wakka patiently answered any questions his new friend had. He promised that if they took Tidus to Luca for the tournament, someone was bound to know him there and be able to help him find his way home.
Grateful to simply be among friendly people in this savage new world, Tidus accepted both of Wakka's invitations and followed him back to his village.
Behind them on the beach, Valefor folded her hands behind her back and smiled. Now came the tricky part: getting Tidus and Yuna together.