Tidus twisted his lip as he tried to think. Without water or a ball it was impossible to play blitzball, and difficult to even practice. The only thing he could think of was to try tackling. It wasn't the same on dry land as it would be underwater, but he supposed it was a start.

"We'll start with tackling," Tidus said as he removed his right shoe. It was hardly a blitzball, but it would have to do. He tried to hand the shoe to Squall, but he didn't take it.

"I don't want your shoe."

"But the whole point of tackling is to take the ball," Tidus explained. Squall remained with his arms crossed, so Tidus didn't push the issue. "Okay, so I'm going to hit you with my shoulder in the center of your chest. Are you ready?"

Squall uncrossed his arms and shifted his feet, then nodded. Tidus dropped his shoulder and rammed into Squall at about half-speed. Squall barely moved.

Tidus nodded. "Good. Now you hit me and try to take the ball." He tucked his shoe under his arm.

Squall lowered his shoulder and charged Tidus. He hit hard, knocking Tidus flat on the ground. His shoe popped into the air, causing Rinoa to have to duck to avoid it. After taking a moment to catch his breath, Tidus stood up. "Good hit. But you didn't get the ball."

"I told you, I don't want your smelly sneaker." Squall gave a sort of half-smile as he spoke, which was the most cheerful expression Tidus had yet seen on Squall, so he decided not to argue the point.

"My turn!" Rinoa, having retrieved Tidus's shoe, positioned herself in front of him. "Like this?" She positioned the shoe under her left arm.

"Yep." Tidus nodded his approval. Then he took a step back and lowered his shoulder. He should have been thinking about the ball—well, shoe—where it was, how he would grab it and twist away. But instead he found himself focusing on Rinoa. About how nice she'd been to him, and about how awful he would feel if he accidentally hurt her while they practiced. He tried to clear his head as he approached her—he was a professional, after all, with excellent control, moving at half-speed, not to mention Rinoa seemed pretty strong herself—but at the last minute he lost his nerve. Instead of tackling her, he placed his hands on her hips and used his momentum to swing her around. She fell back into Squall when he released her.

Once she'd recovered her balance, Rinoa put her hands on her hips and scowled at him. "Hey! I thought we were blitzing, not dancing."

Feeling foolish, Tidus avoided Rinoa's gaze. "I was afraid I might hurt you."

"What, are there no female blitzball players?"

He briefly looked up at her. "No, there are." Then returned his gaze to the ground. "They're just…not as pretty as you." And they don't remind me as much of Yuna, he added to himself.

Great, now he'd offended Rinoa and probably made Squall think he was hitting on his girl all in one move.

"Well, you wouldn't be trying to coddle her if she had her blaster edge and Angelo here," Squall warned. "In fact, I've heard she can do some serious damage with just her nails."

As Tidus looked up Rinoa made a show of examining her fingernails and Squall retrieved the shoe, which Rinoa had dropped when Tidus spun her around. "So what happens when nobody has the ball?"

"That's when you go for the volley shot."

"Let's see it." Squall tossed the shoe into the air.

Without even thinking, Tidus timed his jump and kicked the shoe as hard as he could. A ball would have travelled much farther, but the shoe got decent distance.

"Wow!" Rinoa said and Squall actually looked a little bit surprised. Tidus smiled as he jogged out to retrieve his shoe. It had been far too long since he'd played the beautiful game.

"I'm sorry to hear about your friends, but I'm not sure what I can do to help." Yuna had led the four strangers to the outdoor meeting area and they were now each seated on a tree stump, along with her and Rikku.

"Squall told us to find you. There must be a reason," Selphie, the bubbly girl in yellow overalls, said.

Yuna wasn't sure what to make of any of this. Why would someone she'd never met tell his friends she could help? How would he even know who she was? The answer tugged at her, and she tried to ignore it. It can't be. He's gone. I saw him disappear. His hands passed right through mine.

But what other answer could there be?

"Do you really believe Tidus is with your friends?"

Quistis, the one who seemed older than the others, nodded solemnly. "Yes, we do."

No. She couldn't believe it. She was done with false hope. Besides, she still didn't understand how they'd been able to speak to Squall when they couldn't find him. Maybe this whole thing was an elaborate hoax. To what end she could only imagine.

Seeing no benefit to further conversation Yuna stood. "If you can tell me what you want me to do, I will do it."

"She'll consider doing it," Rikku corrected.

"Right. I'll consider doing it. Until then, I have other matters to attend to." Yuna left, her head low. She feared that she was being rude, but she truly didn't know what she could do to help them and the more time she spent with them, the more confused she got.

Tidus wrinkled his nose as he took a sip of potion. Somehow, it seemed the stuff tasted worse each time he drank it. It didn't really make the hunger go away, but it did keep the light-headedness at bay.

"Hey, Rinoa." Squall was doing push-ups a little ways away. All three of them were trying to stay in shape, but Squall always continued exercising long after the other two stopped. At first Tidus thought maybe Squall was trying to show him up, but after a while he decided Squall just didn't know when to quit. Rinoa had been watching him, but now was drawing lines with her finger in the dirt. She looked up when Tidus called her name.

"Could you do something for me?" Tidus asked.

"Sure. What is it?"

He felt a little awkward asking her, but it was something he'd decided he needed to do. He dipped his head and removed the chain and pendant from around his neck. "Will you give this to Yuna? You know, if you see her before me?" He handed the necklace to Rinoa.

She accepted it, but looked at him strangely. "We're going to stick together. I won't see Yuna before you."

"I know, but just in case. Otherwise, you can give it back to me and I'll give it to her myself."

"Well…okay." Rinoa was examining the pendant when Squall walked over and sat beside her.

"So…" Rinoa began, looking meaningfully at Squall.

"Yes?" he replied.

"Don't you want to know what's going on?" She twirled Tidus's pendant in her hand.

Squall shrugged.

"Tidus is giving Yuna his pendant. But I'm holding it for safekeeping." Rinoa gathered the chain in her palm and slipped the necklace into her pocket. Then she continued to look at Squall, seeming to wait for a reaction. She didn't get it, so she repeated, "Tidus is giving Yuna his pendant…" Her gaze fell to the pendant around Squall's neck.

"You…want my pendant?" Squall asked. "You already have my ring."

"I know…" Rinoa looked at the ground and nervously traced her fingers through the dirt.

Squall removed his necklace and placed it over Rinoa's head.

"Oh, thank you, Squall!" She embraced him briefly, then held the pendant in her hand to study it. "This is Griever, right?"

Squall nodded.

"The lion. Known for his great strength and pride."

Squall nodded again.

"I'll take super good care of it."

Squall shrugged. "It's just a pendant."

Rinoa laughed. " 'Just a pendant,' huh? Then maybe it's good you gave it to me. It's more than that to me."