Chapter Four: Do Your Best!

As Tidus rubs his face he looks in front of him at a floating blitzball and smiles, " BLITZBALL!" Off in the distance the same man who asked for the ball back is waving his hand and hollering, " Yo, brudda... could ya pass dat back ta us?" Tidus smirks and tosses the ball up in the air and screams, " COMING BACK AT YOU!"

Shortly after his exclamation Tidus' foot comes around connecting with the ball causing it to go soaring back towards the island and well over where the men were standing. As the ball quickly passes over the talkative man's head he just laughs a little and waves Tidus forward to come to the island and talk.

Tidus smiles thinking to himself, 'Finally something I can affiliate with Zanarkand.' Mere moments later he hits the shore gets ambushed by five over excited island blitzers all shouting at him at the same time.

" WHOA MAN! Dat was an amazin kick!"

" Show me how ta do dat one, ya?"

"You on a team mon?"

As he does his best to try and address the questions he's being asked, the talkative red haired man comes walking through the crowd and his presence alone manages to quiet the others down. Once he is standing in front of Tidus the team simmers down and the man looks Tidus with a big smile on his face and speaks, " I'm Wakka, Captan of da Besaid Aurochs. You ain't no amateur are ya boy?" Tidus smiles and shakes his head quickly, " Nope, I was the star play of the Zanarkand Abes!"

A low murmur begins to generate as the Aurochs start grumbling about how he must be crazy while Wakka tries to figure this whole thing out, " Umm... did you hit your head or sumthin? Nobody lives in Zanarkand mon." Tidus laughs nervously and scratches his head, " I got umm, to close to Sin and his toxin..." Wakka's eyes widen as he nods his head and does the blitzball sign for victory, " Praise be to Yevon that you be alive mon."

Tidus nods and starts looking around until his stomach starts to growl and he grins, " Ha.. umm... long time floating in the middle of nowhere works up an appetite ya know?" Wakka smiles and nods, " Come back to da village wit me mon, I'll be cookin you up something good." Tidus' eyes light up as he nods quickly in a goofy overly excited sort of way, " AWESOME! Do you guys have turkey?"

Wakka looks at him funny and shrugs, " Maybe... I'm not really sure what you be callin turkey, so we gonna find out." Tidus grins stupidly as he starts looking around for the village, " So which way is it?" Wakka starts walking along the beach to a small path that that cuts past a little cliff side " Follow me brudda..."

Tidus follows hurriedly due to the promise of food but as they continue walking Wakka leads him to a dead end. " Hey Wakka... what's the deal?" Just as he gets that question out of his mouth Wakka pushes him into the water and dives in after Tidus' body made a nice big splash in the water.

" Wakka! What was that for?" Wakka just smiles foolishly and dunks Tidus' head under water, " I got a favor to ask ya." Tidus surfaces and keeps a little distance between Wakka and himself, " You want me to join your team, right?" Wakka sighs and nods, " Dere's a huge blitz tournament in Luca... ya might meet someone ya know if you go dere. And ya might as well play if ya can, so how abou it mon?" Tidus starts wading around in the water acting like he's contemplating it until he finally answers, " Sure, why not... I haven't blitzed in a while, be nice to see what you guys can do." With that Tidus grins and splashes water in Wakka's face and starts swimming away. Wakka smiles and then hollers right before he starts chasing him, " YA BETTER BE A FAST SWIMMER BRUDDA!"

So after playing around in the water a bit and taking out a few fish fiends they finally reach the beach and Tidus groans, " I really hate those little piranha things..." Wakka just laughs at him and starts walking, " Da village is dis way." He points up a slight incline and they start walking again to Tidus' dismay.

After a few minutes of walking they wind up at a little make shift shrine and Tidus decides to ask, " What the hell is this thing?" Wakka punches Tidus in the shoulder and gives him a look, " Dis is da Besaid shrine for safe travel. Dose people leavin da island pray for safe passage right here." Tidus yawns a little and shrugs, " What's Yevon anyway? I mean what did that guy do that's so damn special?"

Wakka looks at Tidus' eyes really fast and searches for the right words, " Okay, you're not a stinkin Al Behd... but you are just as clueless as one. Sin's toxin is really dat bad mon?" Tidus looks down embarrassed that he's so out of place, " Sorry..."

Now feeling bad Wakka places his hand on Tidus shoulder and explains, " Yevon is our god, it is said dat back in da day he was an elite summoner. And it was thanks to him, Lord Zaon and Lady Yunalesca that Sin was driven away from Zanarkand and stopped from continuing it's rampage. Ya, it got da best of Zanarkand... but dey saved da rest o'Spira... so Yevon is based aroun Sin, summonings and dose ancient stories dat only summoners dat make it to Zanarkand know if dey are true or not."

Tidus quirks a brow and seems very skeptical, " So it's just a bunch of stories and a thing that doesn't die?" Wakka shakes his head, " It's said that Sin will leave when we have fully atoned for our sins." Tidus nods and thinks for a second, " That whole machina deal right?"

Wakka nods and does the blitzball sign for victory, but since they aren't blitzing Tidus inquires, " Why do you keep doing that?" Wakka takes a step back and can't believe her forgot that, " Dat's da way we pray to Yevon, mon, your head really is like all messed up ain't it?"

Tidus laughs and waves his hand dismissively, " Of course I know that... I was just pulling your leg." Wakka laughs and puts him in a headlock, " Don't say stupid tings ya know? Dat can get ya in trouble if you say it to da wrong person." Tidus nods and they both decide it's best to stop messing around and continue towards the village.

It takes a while but the two men eventually make it to the village and as soon as Tidus walks in a bunch of people just stop and stare at him as Wakka just looks at them and smiles, " It's okay, he's... he's the newest member of da Besaid Aurochs!" One of the villagers walks up to them and smirks, " But is he any good at blitz mon?"

Always one to take the opportunity to gloat Tidus borrows a blitz ball from one of the little kids in the village and balances the ball on his nose, " Hey Wakka... I want you to hit this back at me..." After his statement Tidus bounces the ball up in the air, and begins to break dance a little, he keeps his hands on the ground while he twists his body around keeping the ball bouncing around and in between his legs as he pushes his body up with his arms and kicks the ball directly at Wakka. Seeing the ball heading directly for him, Wakka clenches his fist and punches the ball back to the energetic blonde boy as Tidus lands on his feet at the moment the ball starts coming right back at him.

And a split second before he kicks it he says, " HEY GUY! CATCH!" and with that Tidus swings his left leg around and makes direct contact with the blitzball, sending it screaming towards the loud mouth and hitting him square in the stomach causing him to double over in pain and curl up into the fetal position.

Tidus lets out a loud bellowing laugh as he walks up to the man and stands over him smirking, " So, do you think I can play?" The man just lies there whining in pain as Wakka just claps his hands, " Dat was an amazing shot... what do ya call it?" Tidus just shrugs and smiles, " Not sure, I just came up with it now. Seemed like a good way to show off, you know?" Tidus laughs a little as Wakka points over to his hut, " Dat's my place over yonder, you can walk around and get acquainted wit da village... I'll go start makin some food."

Tidus waves as Wakka goes off to cook while he just stands there for a moment taking in the sites, " Nice little place, it's no Zanarkand... but it'll do for now." As he starts to walk from hut to hut he thinks to himself, ' I'm the new player for the Besaid Aurochs? I guess that could be cool... Wakka seems like a nice guy.' So with that thought he walks into the Inn tent and looks at these two oddly dressed guys and raises a brow.

Almost as if he knew Tidus was gonna say something Gatta exclaims, " HEY! You're that new blitzball player? Heard you were really close to Sin." Tidus nods, " Ya I was on a ship when he attacked... this girl and an acquaintance of mine were on the ship... and I have no clue where they are." Luzzu smiles and does the little prayer stance thing, " Praise be to Yevon that you are alive and still able to perform such amazing blitz moves."

Tidus smiles never being one to shy away from compliments as he asks, " Hey, what do you guys do?" Luzzu grins and responds in a rather straight forward manner, " We're Crusaders... can't you tell?" Tidus scratches his chin, " Umm... crews of what?" Gatta looks awestruck as he can't help but speak, " WHAT! How can you not know who the Crusaders are?"

Tidus realizes he said something dumb again and laughs while scratching his cheek, " You see... Sin's toxin... things are all foggy like..." Gatta turns to Luzzu and inquires, " Is Sin's toxin really this bad sir?" Luzzu shrugs slightly before responding, " It does seem unusually bad... but tell him anyway."

Gatta grins and stands up straight and begins reciting the Crusader's Oath, " We Crusaders are Spira's last defense against Sin when summoner's fail. We are the knights of the common folk; we fight Sin with all that we are for pride, for loved ones and for Spira." Tidus yawns a little, " That's nice... Sin doesn't die though... so isn't it pointless?" Gatta is very taken aback by Tidus' brash answer, so as he searches for something to say Luzzu takes the question, " Perhaps it would be best for you to figure that out yourself blitzball player."

Tidus decides it's best for him to leave and stop slamming his foot down his throat. So he waves to the two men and walks off towards Wakka's hut.

When he walks through Wakka's doorway he lets out a very large yawn and looks at Wakka, " So when's the food gonna be ready?" Wakka smiles, " In a few brudda... why don't ya take a nap. I'll wake ya when the food is done." Tidus stretches and nods as he plops down on the cot and in no time he is out like a light.

The last thing he hears before finally falling asleep is;

" She's been in there for an entire day."

" So? If something was wrong er guardians woulda done sumthin."

" Do you want her to die?"

To be continued...