First off, to reviewer Chris Nguyen. Since I don't do email replies, I'll do it here. I shortened the battle with the "praying mantis" to prevent the battle from being tedious and also because real life fighting wouldn't be turn-based. Believe me, other major battles in the future will be better. Thanks so much for your reviews. Any other reviewers will receive a PM from me as a reply. Now, back to the story.

Chapter 5- Al Bhed Salvage Operation

Tidus sat up out of unconsciousness for the third time. "This is getting ridiculous," he thought as he saw two armed guards walking toward him.

"Ced, lybdeja!" One of them men slammed the butt of his gun into Tidus's chest.

Tidus fell back down onto the cold metal deck of the ship they were on. "Hey! That hurts!" Looking past the men, he saw the top of the ship had several searchlights scanning the water. Tidus wondered what for, worried they would draw Sin back to him.

"Hu sujehk, rayn?" said the second man brandishing his gun as if to hit Tidus again at the slightest breath.

Tidus didn't need to speak their language to know that he couldn't face up against them. Nervously, he sat and waited. For some time, Tidus sat with the cold metal biting him through his pants and the frigid air taking care of the rest of him. The best thing he could think to stop from going crazy was, "At least I'm not alone."

A metal door slid open loudly from behind the men. Tidus looked up slowly, hoping his captors wouldn't brutalize him anymore.

"Caynir res!" said a man who walked out. Beside him stood the girl.

"Right. Whatever," Tidus replied as the two guards approached him again.

"Tu oui hud cbayg?" said the new man to him.

Tidus was aware the question, or what he thought was a question, was directed at him. Pleading, he said, "I-I don't understand!"

The first man made a move as if to strike him. "Ehcumahla!"

The girl rushed up to him. "Fyed!" Turning to Tidus she said, "He said you can stay if you make yourself useful."

Tidus's eyes opened wide. "You understand me?! All right!" A grin spread across his face. "I'll work." At least it was better than being beaten, killed, or tossed back into the ocean.

The girl smiled back at him. "We found some ancient ruins right beneath us. It's not active now, but there should still be some power left. We're gonna go down there and activate it...and then we should be able to salvage the big prize! Okay! Let's get to work!"

"Roger!" Tidus said feeling much better for the first time since Sin's attack. One of the men, handed Tidus his sword. Together, him and the girl dove into the water over the side of the ship and began to follow the anchor line down into the depths. Tidus knew he could hold his breath for a long, long time since it was part of being a blitzplayer, but the girl? Apparently, she'd trained herself to do the same, or maybe she was a blitzplayer, too. Either way, if she choked, he'd be ready to scoop her up and take her back to the surface. Maybe she'd think he was a knight in shining armor or something. She was a cute little number, after all and only a little younger. As the water pressure increased and they swam deeper, Tidus began to see the outline of a building. He looked over at the girl whose face wasn't hiding her excitement. Maybe they were going to get rich off this salvage, or maybe they were going to find something really awesome, Tidus wasn't sure, but her thrill was slowly taking hold of him, too.

At the bottom, with the lights of the ship above only barely visible at all, they entered the broken down little building. Its walls were metal, but algae and moss clung to them making them slimy and discolored. The girl swam ahead and Tidus followed. She seemed to know where she was going. Tidus figured this was why she'd trained herself to hold her breath for so long, so she could work. Her experience was evident. They passed hallways and went through rooms each void of anything, but metal and algae. No life stirred beyond themselves simply passing through. Tidus wondered how a whole building could sink under the water. Soon, they came to a large round room with a chandelier type device in the middle of the ceiling. The girl swam to it while Tidus watched. "Why do I even need to be here?" he thought. "She seems to have things covered pretty well all by herself.

The power in the room clicked on as red lights flickered to life around them on the walls and on the device itself. The girl swam back down to him and motioned back the way they came. They passed down a hallway which might had been an enclosed walk around the building. The elaborate metal decorated screens went across the entire perimeter. Tidus hadn't paid much attention before, but now the corridor was lit with the same red emergency lights as the other room. Spotting a huge hole in one panel, he motioned to the girl. She simply shook her head and pointed the way they had come. Tidus internally scoffed at her not wanting to get lost. The anchor was close by and they might get up to the ship quicker that way, but he didn't want more abuse back up top, so he followed the girl. Finally, they entered the last room before the anchor up. Swimming side by side, they began to move around the giant glass cylinder of unknown use that was in the middle of the room from floor to ceiling. The girl stopped suddenly and grabbed his ankle. Tidus looked around and saw what she wanted him to. A large dark shape was coming from the direction of the anchor. Staying put, they waited. A huge squid-like creature came into focus and immediately came toward them. The girl kept calm and swam at it. Colliding head-on, Tidus nervously watched as the girl punched it in the face.

As she drew back her hand, he saw a silver flash. The girl was wearing metal knuckles with a claw attachment. The squid seem perturbed for a moment, then swam after her. She swam back to Tidus's side making it apparent that he was to help. Sticking his blade out like a lance, he skillfully raced to face the monster using the speed he'd acquired during his time as a blitzer. The squid stopped abruptly to Tidus's surprise. A tentacle shot out at Tidus's side. Only barely did it miss him. The second one didn't. He let out a small, drowned cry of pain as he was struck in the leg. The girl swam up to the monster and pulled out a grenade. Pulling the pin, she lobbed it as best as she could and swam away. Tidus looked at her like she was crazy, thinking the powder in the grenade would be too soaked to go off. She pointed to the squid a second before a small explosion tore a chunk out of one of the tentacles. Tidus saw the squid hesitate for a moment, then took advantage of the pause to swim up and hack at the face.

The squid shot a tentacle out. Tidus dodged the first and was ready for the second. He moved just under the second. The squid was obviously hurt and angry. It moved around to the back of the cylinder, still blocking the exit. Tidus looked over to the girl who was looking back at him. Before either could react, the squid dashed with immense speed around the cylinder and into the two of them. The squid's face slammed into Tidus while the girl was snatched up by a tentacle. Tidus was projectiled into a wall and looked over his shoulder to see the girl thrown against the floor. He was hurting, but in one piece. The girl looked all there, too. Together they met up and Tidus pointed to the left. The squid was behind the cylinder again trying to take advantage of the attack that was successful before. The girl swam around to its face and Tidus pincered it from behind. It had nowhere to go, but through them. The girl lobbed another grenade. It went off in the creature's face. Furiously, it tried to swim the opposite way. Tidus awaited and in while the creature was still shocked and somewhat blinded, he jabbed straight out. It made contact with the center of the crown of the head. It thrashed and struck out with its tentacles randomly hoping to hit something. The girl shot up behind it, then from above shot down and punched it where Tidus had wounded it. This monster had been a viable, real creature as it bled into the water and floated to the top of the room where it bounced off the ceiling dead.

Together him and the girl followed the anchor out of the next hall and up to the ship. Behind them, lights began to come on one by one revealing what looked like some sort of airship. Once they broke the surface, a man let down a rope ladder for them to climb up.

"Fa vuiht dra airship!" said one of the two who had guarded Tidus came out from inside the ship. "Dra naluntc fana nekrd," said the other. The man who'd helped them aboard spoke next, "Huf, ruf du tnyk ed ib?"

The three men and the girl made way for the door. Tidus moved to follow. One of the men stopped and taking the gun from his back put his arm out, nearly clothes-lining Tidus in the neck. "Oui, uidceta!"

"Hey," Tidus protested, "I helped out, didn't I?" The man entered the ship, ignoring and not understanding him. The door slammed down behind him. Tidus forlornly ambled over to a pile of crates covered in a tarp. Laying down, he tried to sleep. He couldn't. "Uhh…. Hungry…." As if his wishes could come true, the girl reappeared with a tray of food. "Whoa! Right on!" Without a second of indecision, he took the tray from her hands and began to scarf the food loudly. Quickly, this became a problem. Tidus began to choke on a bite that had been too big. The girl presented a canteen of water which Tidus quickly snatched and chugged.

The girl smiled. "It's 'cause you eat too fast."

Tidus stood up, feeling untterly refreshed. "Hello there. What's your name?"

The girl raised an eyebrow at his strange new energy. "Rikku."

Tidus's glee was uncontainable. "Whoa! You really do understand! Why didn't you say so earlier?!"

"I didn't get a chance to," she replied. "They thought oui were a fiend."

"Uhh….. 'we?'"

The girl nodded. "Oh, 'oui' means 'you.'"

Tidus nodded, not really understanding at all, but feeling it was better left alone. "What are you guys anyways?"

"We're Al Bhed! Can't you tell?" She gave him a confused glance, then stopped. Carefully, she continued on. "Wait…. You're not an Al Bhed-hater…. Are you?"

Tidus laughed. "I don't even know what an 'Al Bhed' is."

The girl's eye opened wide. "Where are you from?"

Proudly Tidus said, "Zanarkand! I'm a blitzball player!" Adding to the end he said, "Star player of the Zanarkand Abes!"

Rikku's look was skeptical. "You hit your head or something?"

Tidus didn't know what she was expecting for an answer or why she was even asking. "Um…. You guys hit me."

"Oh right!" She gave a small apologetic look, then asked, "Do you remember anything before that?"

Tidus began to tell her everything. He told her about Zanarkand, life there, blitzball, and finally Sin's attack when him and Auron were engulfed in light. Silence met the end of his story. "Did I say something funny?"

"You were near Sin. Don't worry, you'll be better in no time. They say your head gets funny when Sin is near. Maybe you just had some kind of dream?"

Tidus felt panicked. "You mean I'm sick?"

Rikku nonchalantly said, "Because of Sin's toxin, yeah."

"Y-you sure?"

"Yeah, there is no Zanarkand anymore. Sin destroyed it a thousand years ago. So...no one plays blitzball there."

"What do you mean, a thousand years ago? But I saw Sin attack Zanarkand! You're saying that happened a thousand years ago? No way!"

Rikku thought of something to say. "You said... You play blitzball? You know, you should go to Luca. Someone might know who you are, or you might find someone you recognize."

Tidus had no idea what to think. Zanarkand, destroyed 1,000 years ago? Impossible. It had happened today, yesterday at the most! Still, he didn't think this was a lie. "Luca?" he finally said.

Rikku brightened. Tidus wondered if she thought that him repeating the name meant he was familiar with it. "Okay, leave it to me! I'll get you to Luca, promise! You'd rather stay here? Okay. I'll go tell the others. Wait here. Oh, and one thing. Don't tell anyone you're from Zanarkand, okay? Yevon says it's a holy place. You might upset someone."

Tidus thought to himself, "My Zanarkand a holy place? Yeah right. Since when? Yevon? Sin? Luca? Sin has just taken me to some faraway place, I can go back in a day or two. But a thousand years into the future? No way!" Tidus kicked a crate out of frustration. At that instant, the ship began to rumble and sway. A huge pillar of water shot into the sky, then with a splash fell back down. The door of the ship opened and the three men flew out the door.

All of them were shouting something about Sin in Al Bhed. Tidus knew for sure, not just because he heard the word clearly, but because he could see it rising out of the sea. The next instant he was in the dark ocean with swirling crushing water all around him. Tidus felt weak and then again blacked out. His last thought was, "Not again…"