I'm sorry this is so short seeing how much freaking time I spent on it. I just really want to get on with the actual story. I want to start working on chapter 3, so I have to get through with this first. I have to say, this is kind of a junk chapter… I really know what I'm gonna' be working with from here on out, so just hang on, alright?

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I later found that the desert had the weirdest creatures. I met gillians, grucens, senstens, jocos, rassils, lodins, gleetens, roblets, and desert chocobos. Each one was just as freaky as the last.

Rikku would lead me- on foot- through the scorching dunes to where each one lived. I had never had much contact with nature in Zanarkand, and I found I liked these little outings. Plus the animals brought out a quiet side of Rikku I'd never seen before.

She would sit there with one on her lap, gently explaining how it lived. When I asked her what was so amazing about them, she would just smile and tell me patiently, "They have the life all of us Al Bhed want. They get along with each other, just going about living, while we struggle to protect Yevonites who want us all dead."

Rikku mentioned "Yevonites" a lot. I supposed they were just people like me- not Al Bhed. I wondered why we needed protection.

I was curious as to what the rest of the world might look like. After all, I'd never left Zanarkand before. After a few weeks, I decided to ask Rikku something that'd been bothering me.

I cautiously rapped on her door and waited. After a moment she admitted me, puzzled by the look on my face.

"What's up?" She sounded worried, letting me in. I took a deep breath before I answered her.

"Remember…" I began. "When you… found me?" Was there a reason this was so hard to say? "Why… did you think I was…" There was a long pause before I finished "Sick?" She looked almost horrified.

"I thought Kipple healed you!" She fretted. "Do you still think you're from Zanarkand?" She looked a bit crazed.

"I am from Zanarkand!" I assured her. "What's so weird about that?" She gaped at me. "Tell me!" I demanded. "Why-"

"There is no Zanarkand anymore." She whispered, staring at me. "Sin destroyed it a thousand years ago."

I stumbled a bit. "W-what?" I gasped. "What do you mean… a thousand years ago? But I saw Sin attack Zanarkand!" I was starting to think Rikku was insane, too. I seem to run into a lot of people like that. I lived in Zanarkand. So either I'd been totally nuts for the past 17 years and Rikku was telling the truth, or she was lying to me. Which, face it, she wouldn't do, but I couldn't get myself to believe her.

"Sin's toxins are probably just messing with your mind." She gave me a sympathetic pat on the back and left the room, leaving me confused and alone.

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Rikku found me staring blankly at the endless sand dunes the next morning. She tapped me on the shoulder. When I didn't respond, she tugged on my hair- well, yanked.

"You play blitzball, right?" She asked after she pulled my head backwards. Somehow I managed to nod. She released me and led me back to Home.

Boy, was I glad to see that blitz sphere. I hated not being in water, which was the only element I felt comfortable in. Dry desert sand isn't exactly my thing. "Why didn't you tell me about this before?" I demanded as we made our way to the Al Bhed's blitz team. Rikku just shrugged.

"Rao, kioc, drec ec Tidus. Ra'c y pmedw bmyoan. Oui haat y haf vunfynt, nekrd? Ra lmyesc ra'c naymmo kuut." Rikku explained, nodding at me. Hey, guys, this is Tidus. He's a blitz player. You need a new forward, right? He claims he's really good.

The others narrowed their eyes. "Rikku, ra ec hud uha uv ic." One of them snarled. Rikku, he is not one of us.

Rikku let out an exasperated sigh. "Tu oui fyhd du kad ouin piddc gelgat po dra Aurochs ykyeh?" I have to say, I was completely lost. Do you want to get your butts kicked by the Aurochs again? They all seemed to consider whatever she had said.

"Fa'mm drehg ypuid ed." The largest said grumpily. We'll think about it.