Chapter Two: Within the Lost World
The brunette woman's eyes light up hearing her husband's name, " You know my husband Jecht? Is he alright?" Auron looks at her and then glances to the child before replying, " In a sense... Jecht is not dead. But I regret to inform you that he has no way out of where we used to be." Little Tidus stares up at the bewildered monk and speaks, " Then how did YOU get here?"
Auron smirks and sits up straight hanging his legs over the edge of the bed beginning to address the child's question, " Well you must be Tidus, Jecht always talked about you a lot, and it's more than obvious after metting you that some of his brashness rubbed off on you." Tidus just grimaces and looks away, " I'm not like him..." Auron smiles and faces Jecht's wife, " So this is Zanarkand right? I think I will walk around for a while. Should I find myself to an Inn while I'm walking around town?" Jecht's wife shakes her head and smiles brightly, " Of course not, you are more than welcome here. Not to mention I would love for you to tell me stories of my husband, where you were, and what you both did because taken from your accessories and a few wounds that are still healing, it seems like weren't just another one of his blitzing friends."
Auron stands up ties his red coat around his waist and wedges his katana between the coat and his waist while just pushing his jar underneath the bed cause it seems as though the belt attached to his sheath and jar snapped at some point. So after stretching a little Auron walks up to Tidus and places his hand on the child's shoulder, " Can you show me where the Blitzball stadium is Tidus?" Tidus looks up over his shoulder and shrugs, " Sure I guess I can... I don't really like Blitzball though." As they begin walking Auron smirks thinking he knows why, " Is it because you don't like your father so you dislike anything he liked?" Tidus nods, " Plus he never really paid attention to me... he was always going off to Blitz, or drink or show off for his fans. I hate him so much..."
As soon as the get outside of Tidus' house Auron stops the child and bends a knee so he is at eye level with the kid, " But wouldn't you like to be better than your father? He always wanted you to become a blitzer... he just thought you were too scrawny." Tidus narrows his eyes and shouts; " I'm better than most kids my age!" Auron raises a brow and smirks, " I thought you didn't play?" Tidus glances away and mumbles a little under his breath before he finally refers to the question, " Well, I hate him... and I hate what he did for the game... but you're right, I'll be bigger than he ever was!"
-10 years later-
A now much taller and more mature Tidus stretches in his room to get ready for the big championship game between his Zanarkand Abes and the Luckies. After finishing his little warm ups he walks into the kitchen and gives his mother a hug, " Hey mom, so what do you think the score'll be?" Tidus' mother just rolls her eyes and shakes her head, " I'd like this one to be close sweetheart. This is the finals, they're supposed to be talented too son. So I'd like to see it be about 4 - 1, that work for you sweety?" Tidus shrugs, " I guess so... I just hope dad can be there." Tidus' mom smiles as she looks off to the living room, " He's in the other room watching TV, he's been paying a lot of attention to the Blitz games this year." Tidus nods and smiles, " I know... but ya know he always has time for us, and he helped the Abes scout some pretty good players." From the living room Tidus hears his step father's voice, " Hurry up kid, you're gonna be late for the game in you stay in there and keep talking to your mother." With that Auron walks into the kitchen and gives his wife a kiss and looks at his stepson, " I hope your ready for what's in store for you today. Machete is the Luckies' captain and lead scorer, that guy is probably the only Blitzer that can go toe to toe with you."
Tidus rolls his eyes, " Come on, I'll swim circles around the chump. He's got nothin on me." Auron laughs and looks at the steps as a little girl comes walking down the steps, " Sheril... what are you doing awake?" The eight-year-old smiles and pulls a Zanarkand Abes hat out from behind her back along with a shirt with Tidus' face on it, " I wanna go cheer for big brother!"
The happy family just stands there smiling as they decide they should all get going to watch the game. The little girl jumps in the air grinning from ear to ear, " Big brother is gonna make those Luckies UnLuckies!" Auron smiles and Tidus just shakes his head, " You big dork... that was funny... but you should really leave the banter to us pros." Auron looks over at Tidus and smirks, " You're going to use that one... I know you will, cause you're a bigger dork than your sister." Tidus just sighs and then laughs full well knowing he was going to use that insult at some point during the game.
So after the pre-game joking and all around fun is over Auron, Tidus' mom and Sheril take their seats in the stands. Sheril is decked out in her Tidus t-shirt and Abes hat, Tidus' mother wearing a Zanarkand Abes t-shirt with blue and yellow paint on her face and even Auron got into the spirit by taking off his long sleeved red coat and putting on a bright yellow sports jacket that says " Go Abes" on the back of it. Getting a look at his family from a window in the locker room before the game begins Tidus laughing to himself at all of them, especially Auron who is usually very serious, walking around in something like that.
Tidus finishes tying his shoes and walks out into the hallway just to run into a cocky and smirking man. He stands about 6'4", short brown hair, green eyes and a bit of a goatee on his face as he starts talking, " So Tidus, you think your Abes are going to win do you? We'll see about that you big wimp... I can't wait to body check you through the sphere and right into Auron's lap." The sly grin does nothing more then piss off Tidus as he snaps back, " OH YA! Well you smartass I'll make sure to wipe the sphere with your team myself. They'll have to change your name from the Luckies to the UnLuckies." The man just grins and cocks his head to the side, " Did your little sister come up with that one Tidus? Because it sounds even dumber than what I would expect from you." Tidus grits his teeth, " Shove it Machete... no one asked your opinion about my insults. Now I will see you in the sphere you jackass." With that Tidus walks off towards the sphere as Machete just stands there grinning, " Yes Tidus...yes you will." As Machete then waltzes off towards the sphere he starts singing, " Go now if you want it..."
So moments later the two teams are facing off in the sphere, Tidus the Captain of the Abes and Machete the Captain of the Luckies take their positions in the center of the sphere pool for the blitz off. Machete just grins at his blonde counterpart and then looks up awaiting the horn while Tidus seems oddly focused never glancing at Machete, just waiting to get the ball and score quickly to take the wind out of the Machete's sails.
The horn sounds shortly after they get into position and the two men jump up quickly with the initial blitz off being recovered by Machete. He quickly passes it off to the left wing Nicholai and he then swims down towards the goalie. Tidus manages to catch up to Nicholai and goes to tackle him but Nicholai manages to dodge most of it and throw the ball towards Machete. Realizing he's out of position to stop this Tidus gets pissed off and just hopes that the goalie can stop the shot. While during Tidus' mistake Machete swims up towards the ball and tumbles forward and hits the ball with the heel of his foot sending it blazing through the water, past the defenders and into the top left corner of the net. Machete just grins and poses a little after his fabulous shot while Tidus just curses him out under his breath and heads back to the center for the next blitz off.
The game continues to go the Luckies' way for the most part, no one else scores for the entire first half of the game, and the second half continues to be a great defensive showing from the Luckies as the score stays 1 - 0 in favor of Machete's Luckies. With time winding down Tidus finally gets exasperated with losing and sees Nicholai with the ball again and this time, Tidus doesn't miss. Tidus hits Nicholai so hard he goes flying out of the sphere pool and he snatches the blitzball and pulls off a really fast sphere shot that squeezes by the Luckies goalie and ties the game at one.
Nicholai limps back into the sphere pool as the next blitz off happens and Machete tosses it over to a defender attempting to run down the time for either last second heroics or overtime. Tidus on the other hand anticipated Machete to pass it, so he intercepts the pass and as soon as he catches it he throws the ball up out of the sphere pool trying to end the game in an Abes victory and of course in flashy style. But just as the ball gets tossed up towards the sky Auron notices Sin off in the distance and he removes his Abes jacket and places his red coat back over his shoulders and situates his katana and his jar. " Sheril... why don't you and mommy go to the store and buy a cake to celebrate the Abes victory." The little girl looks up at her father with big curious eyes, " Why daddy? I want to watch the ball go in for the win." Auron doesn't know how to explain the situation to a child who has never seen a fiend in her life so out of desperation he just glances over to his wife... Jecht's ex-wife... and looks at her with a sense of urgency hoping she takes the subtle hint.
Thank the heavens that Jecht picked a smart one, cause as soon as he looks at her she bends down and takes Sheril's hand quickly and smiles, " Just think... if we get him a cake he can describe it to you afterwards... and maybe if your lucky he'll blitz with you to show you exactly how he did it." The little girl smiles and her eyes light up, " REALLY? You think he'd play Blitzball with me? OKAY! I wanna get a chocolate carrot cake shaped like a blitzball... is that okay?" Auron nods and smiles," That's wonderful... now get going... I love you both very much." With that Auron gives his daughter a kiss on her forehead and kisses his wife on the lips. " Bye bye, see you later." Auron manages to choke out as he waves goodbye to his wife and daughter as he looks out to the horizon, " Jecht has returned home... I kept your family safe and together just like you wanted me to my friend..." Auron then starts looks towards the horizon slowly begins walking down the steps to avoid the better portion of the forthcoming destruction and to help guide Tidus to a safer area.
The ball then breaks the top of the sphere pool with Tidus followed closely afterward. As he begins his back flip to bring his feet down towards the ball he sees a creature in the distance fire off a bright blue crescent shaped wave of energy causing the young blitz star to falter and reach out hoping to grab on to something hanging off of the stadium.
Tidus lunges and manages to grab onto a ledge by his fingertips. But just as he does, more energy waves are shot at the stadium and pieces begin flying everywhere and a piece of scaffolding comes down and breaks off the ledge Tidus was holding on to and he begins to plummet.
The young star hits the ground and blacks out momentarily until Auron's familiar voice jars him back into consciousness. " Hey kid, come on… you don't want to die laying on your back do you?" The blonde boy stumbles to his feet and looks around, " The stadium is rubble… Auron, what is going on?" Auron laughs a little and hands the boy a sword, " A gift from Jecht." Tidus looks at the sword and then back at Auron, " From my old man? Tell me Auron… what the hell is going on?"
Tidus slowly takes the sword still unsure of anything at the moment as Auron looks off into the distance and answers, " This is Sin, what Jecht, Braska and myself defeated ten years ago. It has returned… and it calls to us Tidus. We must go…" Tidus still confused as to how you can defeat something but it still exists but he nods regardless and follows Auron away from the stadium.
" Where is my mother and Sheril dad?" Auron continues walking as he replies, " They're find… but we won't be seeing them ever again." Tidus unsure of how to respond to that doesn't even get a chance to attempt as they bump into Machete and Nicholai. Machete still wearing his blitz uniform but now brandishing a halberd along with his smug grin and Nicholai also still adorned in his blitz uniform but with a pistol in each hand.
" So they call it Sin do they Auron? Well that is easily the largest fiend I have ever laid eyes on… you fought one of them before?" Auron gazes at the two blitzers turned soldiers and just smirks, " Yes, it is the biggest fiend there is… and it would be ill advised to try and attack it." Just as Auron says that, Sin launches a sin spawn pod out onto the walkway and small bug like creatures begin to scatter and surround the four warriors.
" I hope you can use that sword more accurately then you tackle Tidus." Nicholai quips as he spins around taking one out with every shot. Tidus just grits his teeth and charges the bugs, " Ya watch this Nicholai!" Tidus rushes into a swarm of the bugs and without stopping he spins his entire body and his sword around taking out about a dozen of them in one rather large swoop. " See, how was that one Nicholai?" Tidus says with a cocky smirk on his face, but instead of a reply from Nicholai he gets one from Auron, " Don't waste your energy on the insignificant ones! Just attack the ones in our way and we'll mow through them!"
The other two just chuckle at Tidus' idiocy as they all start working together making their way to the original pod that suddenly springs tentacles out of it's sides and begins attacking them all. "Well this is a little unexpected…" Machete says in a rather bland and almost amused sort of way as Auron just smiles, " This is nothing… just guard against the little ones and dodge the tentacles."
Under Auron's direction the four warriors manage to take out the pod by getting a nearby crane to explode and take out the section of the walkway where the pod was, in turn causing it to fall down to it's demise.
As the group watches the creature fall to it's death the void to the other world begins to swirl as they all glance up and notice this can't be good. Tidus is the first one to start freaking out, " WHAT THE HELL IS THAT AURON?" Auron smiles and looks at the three boys standing before him, " That is our gateway… Sin has opened it for us… and I think it's time we crossed the threshold." Machete just grins and rests the halberd on his shoulder, " Well this should be interesting, and Auron people say you're not from here so we're going to your world now right?" Auron nods and then Nicholai asks, " Do they have Blitzball where you come from?" Auron grins, " Blitzball is what Spira thrives on." Machete and Nicholai both exchange glances as they say at the same time, " I'm in."
Tidus on the other hand is still as reluctant as ever but Auron makes up his mind for him, " If you ever want to find out what happened to Jecht… you will come with us." Tidus looks up really quick at Auron as his head begins to nod slowly just as his head is nodding the void sucks all four of them up and spits them back out somewhere in Spira.
When Tidus starts coming to, he finds himself aboard a boat and the first thing he sees is Machete, "Morning sleeping stupid." Before Tidus can say anything in response he notices a cute little blonde girl, with a nice figure and the most beautiful green eyes he's ever seen. The girl notices that he has come to and walks over closer allowing him a better view of her beauty, but instead of being cordial she seems more formal, " Rammu pmuhta puo, E ruba oui lyh cfes."
To Be Continued…