Disclaimer: Square-Enix Incorporated owns all copyrighted material this fanfiction may include. All other materials, such as characters, events, dialogue, et cetera, all belong to Zeshin-kun.

Author's Notes: Was I lying about this chapter coming out within a few days? Huh huh?

Spira: The Eternal Discord

Chapter 7: (Part I) The Night Before

Tidus

I can't believe that Shuyin thinks he can out-blitz me. When it comes to something like blitzball, "There's none better than the star of the Zanarkand Abes!"

"Yea, that doesn't mean much this time around. After all, you might be the star of the show, but I was in the spotlight and scoring in all sense of the word way back in REAL version of the city." Well, obviously Shuyin said that. Pff, the guy's got way too much ego.

It was night already and it was decided that tomorrow, we'd all fly in the Celsius to Luca and have ourselves a little exhibition. It was Brother that called in the game to Luca. I think he said it would be the "spectacular flapping fluttering Gullwings and the shadow man from Zanarkand to play the loser Aurochs of Besaid".

Brother had this thing to him, though. It was like he was on my case ever since I got back. He didn't like the idea that Yuna liked me or something. The weird part about it was that he was technically Yuna's cousin so having a crush like that wasn't healthy and… so wasn't gonna happen for him. And he thinks that just because he's got it in for me he can call the Aurochs a bunch of losers? Hmph, tomorrow'll show him who's the losers.

Sleep wasn't really going to happen tonight. I was just too excited about the game. Well, I decided that if I had to lose sleep, I'd make Shuyin lose sleep, too. I went quiet like a ninja and crept up to the Auroch's hut. Yea, Shuyin was still lodged there meaning he probably spent the better part of the night making my team fraternize with the enemy. Well, that won't matter after he ends up exhausted beyond recovery and completely unable to even remember what secrets he learned. Slowly, I inched the rest of the way to where I remembered was Shuyin's bed. The great part about it was that he was right at the back, meaning that to get to him, all I had to do was get under the sheet and crawl a few more inches after that. I got to the spot and began to fiddle with the fabric, but it was sealed pretty well. Hehe, guess those that live in huts know how to keep them up, eh? Well, it took some doing, but soon enough, I managed to pull myself into the hut. Of course, I did also manage to hit the back of my head against a table when I did, but no pain no gain, right? Besides, the noise didn't even stir my snoring victim. If only I could laugh like one of those crazy mad doctors or vampires now.

With a grin, I rubbed my hands together, slowly tip-toeing my way next to the man who the fayth made me from…

"What do you want?" Could I have hung my jaw lower than I did, I'd probably have done it. I thought the guy was asleep, but just as I was about to get him, he just woke up like he knew I was coming.

"But… but… how!"

"You mean, how did I not see your surprise attack?" He said lazily, "Well, it's kinda hard to miss a lunkhead trying to pull a ninja on you. Tell me, did that encounter with the table hurt? Oh, and next time you wanna sneak up on somebody, make sure your route doesn't cause too much of a ruckus? Squeezing yourself under that sheet wasn't exactly the faintest of tactics."

"You-you're just upset that you didn't think of it first!" Yea, I know, really really lame comeback.

Even in the dark, I could distinctly make out Shuyin's eyes blink a couple of times before he finally said, "You know that didn't make sense, right? See, it would've if I was actually bothering to do whatever it was that you were planning. Anyway, now that you've got me up, what do you wanna do? Guess we could head over to the beach and see if we can snag some fiends. Either that or we could just chat, but with all I've been saying around here, I think you'd be bored."

I seriously thought about it for a minute. I mean, on the one hand, I could get him on the beach and beat the tar outta the guy before tomorrow. Wouldn't that be a game plan? Then again, with what happened the first time I tried to fight the guy, he nailed me pretty hard. Then there was the talking. I wasn't really much for idle chitchat. Actually, the only real time I stuck around for long-winded stories was with Yuna, but that was because her long-winded stories kinda applied to me and I could feel where she was going with it. When Rikku was worried about Yuna's safety during the pilgrimage, I had a little more attention focused on her, too. I don't really know, but she always felt like a little sister to me. It was probably her age. Out of all of Yuna's guardians, she'd been the youngest, not to mention the last to join us meaning she was the most out of practice. Now, listening to Shuyin yack could end up like that, but the most likely scenario is… I'm gonna fall asleep in the middle and he's gonna kick me hard.

"Uh, ya know this conversation has two parties involved in it." Shuyin's sarcasm quickly brought my mind back into the hut.

"Oh right. Well, whatever we do, we'd better get out of here before we wake one of the Aurochs." I suggested, moving back to the flap I had crawled in from.

"Okay… but you know you're not sneaking in anymore. The front flap is perfectly usable." With that, Shuyin slowly walked out of the hut.

I quickly got my foot out of the bottom of the sheet and rushed slowly, if it's even possible to do that, out the front of the hut. When I got clear of the hut, I found Shuyin, sitting on the ground, staring carelessly up at the stars of the night sky. "You can see them clearer here than in Zanarakand, huh?"

To that, he kinda lowered his head and I could notice he trembled just a little bit from my mentioning Zanarkand. "Yea… you could always see the stars much better out of those machina cities…"

"… I know I love watching the sunrises of Zanarkand. Did I get that from you, too?" I asked, trying to bring him happy memories of his life because, by the looks of it, like him or hate him, he really had a hard life.

"If you use it to soothe your nerves, then yes. It always calmed me down. It always let me put my life into focus. Actually, the last time I saw Lenne back in the safety of our home was when I was watching the sunrise. She was going to the front that night… My focus became saving Lenne no matter what the cost." After he finished, he sighed and went back to staring at the stars.

"Haha, yea, the first time I told Yuna about the sunrise was when I was trying to get her to quit her pilgrimage in Macalania. I was also kinda thinking of any way I could to keep her safe. Of course, she still went with going after Sin instead of finding a way back to my Zanarkand, but, in the end…"

"In the end, you succeeded where I failed. You're a good guy. I guess I just had too many problems within that kept me from accomplishing what you did."

"Well, I wasn't… It was more the Fayth's idea than mine. He told me that we needed to use the power of the fayth to vanquish Sin and that doing so, it meant the dream would fade… that I would fade."

"Yea, and with that, you still went ahead and fought and faded. You didn't really care what happened to you, did you? It was the same with me. I stormed Bevelle single-handedly with the sole purpose of getting myself killed to keep her safe. Actually, I think it still could've worked… if only she hadn't stopped me. I had and still could have perfect control of Vegnagun. If she was only fighting on the front like I thought she was, those machina would be drawn back to Bevelle once the activation sequence was carried out. I could've taken out Bevelle and…"

"… killed thousands upon millions of innocent lives. You'd be a murderer. Lenne, she definitely knew that and set out to stop you. You know, in that sense, you didn't even fail her. You did what you knew could save her, but she just didn't…" I never got to finish that sentence.

Shuyin got up in a flurry and grabbed me by the neck, lifting me off the ground and clenching tightly, "DON'T YOU TELL ME SHE WANTED TO DIE! NOBODY WANTS TO DIE!"

I struggled, his grip being pretty strong, but I managed to utter the following words: You did.

After hearing that, he quickly let go, falling onto his knees and putting a hand to his forehead. Again, I could see that he was trembling a bit. Just about a couple of seconds later, his right hand punched the ground. That was all I needed to see so I went over to him and put my left hand on his back.

"Hey, a thousand years ago, remember? Yuna told me this was all a thousand years ago. Just think of it the way Yuna, I, and I'm sure Lenne, too, would think of it. You were ready to die for her to save her life. She was ready to sacrifice her life to make sure you didn't lose your humanity. Yuna didn't want me to save her the way I did, but it was more acceptable because it was out of the greater good. What you're talking about was the deaths of many people who didn't even have any part to do with the Machina War. It wouldn't be right and she didn't want to be saved that way."

"Whatever the case, you still succeeded where I failed. Besides, with what Bevelle's done, can there actually be any innocent lives in there?" He asked, taking a deep breath after to recollect himself.

"… Yuna came from Bevelle. Her father, Lord Braska, he came from Bevelle. Auron lived in Bevelle at some point in time to have been Braska's guardian. Just because there's a huge screen of evil doesn't mean there can't be a ray of light hidden in the fog, right?"

Shuyin looked up and looked at me oddly, "… how… poetic of you…"

I laughed and put a hand behind my head, "I've been catching up with the times. A lot of books around here are poetic like that."

"Well, Zanarkand had it fair share of flowery speech, too, but since summoners weren't a part of your Zanarkand, you wouldn't know that. Anyway, Bevelle might be better nowadays, but back then, it was a city full of filth. Believe me, I'm one of the people who would love ever so much never to see the muck that adulterates our world. Unfortunately, Areth destroyed that part of me. In my eyes, Bevelle is scum and nothing more. I don't know if that'll ever change now."

"Well, that can always be discussed later on, but hey, at least you're saying Zanarkand again." I pointed out.

Shuyin smiled slightly, "Like Yuna's told me, like Lenne's said, and like you just added, 'a thousand years ago.' It's probably time I moved on."

The rest of the night was spent just like that: sitting outside the guest hut, staring up at the clear stars of Besaid… Maybe this Shuyin guy isn't so bad after all.

Chapter 7: (Part II) A Game for the Record Books

Tidus

Yesterday night was no sleep. Well, at least my plan did kinda work. Shuyin was up thinking about what he should be doing with his second chance at life and I was just listening to him babble on since, even that boring monologue of a conversation couldn't put me to sleep for this game. I was just thinking too far into this. It was obvious that Shuyin himself really couldn't care less about the game. He was too busy figuring out what to do with himself. It was probably just like how I felt when I first came to Spira. Everything just seemed to fall apart. Must be just the same, especially for a guy who's been dead for those thousand years I thought I had traveled back then.

I was the first to reach the lockers in Luca when we arrived. The ride was very loud. Rikku never stopped talking. She bounced around, psyching her team, and kinda pissed Paine off at that. Shuyin was very busy fending off questions from Cid about what he was gonna do if Yuna or Rikku was about to get pegged. It didn't really help his case when he joked back by telling the guy he'd cringe and go "oooh" and see if they were alright. Cid started with the extreme interrogation then and all the while, Paine kept staring a hole into the guy. She still didn't trust him, probably still hated him for all that stuff he did to her and her friends, and in all likelihood wanted so much to have his head on a pike displayed in her room. Yuna was constantly trying to get away from Rikku to talk to me, but that didn't happen because she'd just stick her tongue out at me and say, "You can't Yunie! That'd be fraternizing with the enemy!" I love that girl.

Anyway, I wasted no time in prepping. I did every stretch I could remember and every warm-up shot I could think of off the top of my head before I went to the book. This game would be tough. I mean, I'm sure I could win, but I'd have to know exactly what I was doing. Shuyin's just as much a blitzer as I was so he'd be highly seasoned. The only edge I probably had on him was that he'd spent a thousand years of death without blitzball and a lot of his life fighting the war with Bevelle. He might be a little rusty from all that time, but for a guy who had the amount of experience I had, he wouldn't be caught off guard for long. My only real strategy would be to either take him out early on, or score at least five goals before the second half. In any case, the strategy was to get ahead while he's still out of it because once he gets back into the game, it'll be very hard to make moves without him intercepting.

The gang showed up pretty soon. Letty and Jassu started hurling a ball as fast as they could to each other and trying to block. Those two were pretty decent defenders for the Aurochs. We had two new guys, now, a Vilucha and Beclem. Vilucha was a pretty decent shot and Beclem was a nice third defender or backup shot. Most of them seemed a little awkward thinking about going against their former captain and coach, but Beclem actually seemed to enjoy that fact. Those two didn't really see eye to eye at times. Yuna told me that during the fight against Shuyin, the Besaid temple was flooded with fiends. Beclem wanted to just burn it down, the fiends with them, but Wakka, being Wakka, decided to go in and fight the fiends all off. They got into an argument about responsibilities that Wakka eventually lost because his primary responsibility nowadays was to be there for his son.

Shuyin

My first game since I died. You hear stories all the time about a blitzer who hadn't played in years and how his game is totaled. Then, you hear other stories about another blitzer who'd stopped for a long while also, but he still got back into shape and led a stunning victory… Wonder how a story about a dead blitzer who'd been smoldering in defeat for a thousand years in a cave and then brought back to life would go. Well, at least this game would show if I still had it.

"Hey, are you alright?" Rikku asked me, putting a hand on my shoulder, "You seem kinda out of it."

Was I? If I was out of it, what was there left for me? I was a blitzer all my life. The only other talent I have is swordsmanship and I can't exactly be a warrior forever. I was given a second chance. The first thing to do is find Lenne. After that, everything's just a huge blur. My life was over a millennium ago and everything's changed since then. If I lost blitzball, there wasn't really much I could say for myself. My second chance at life would wiz by and I'd have nothing to show for it.

"Hey, are you there? Say something Shuyin." Yuna added, waking me from my thoughts of the future.

"Yea… I'm alright… I just… I hope I still remember how to play this game."

That froze both of them for a bit, but Paine walked up very soon afterward. I looked up to meet her face to face and I was expecting some sort of sneer, but instead, she just frowned like she was disappointed and slapped me square across the face.

"Is that the talk of a champion? Is that what's become of the horrific evil that was Shuyin? You were a powerful entity of destruction just a few months ago and now you're sounding like a desperate man clinging to a thin strand of life. What's happened to you?"

Everybody stared at her then. She'd started this off hating me for what I'd done to her; for what I'd done to all her friends. She'd been dreaming of my blood on her sword ever since she found out I was responsible for destroying her life. And now here she was, trying to get me back into shape.

"Paine…"

Again she slapped me. "I don't want to hear excuses! You ruined my life two years ago. I'll never forgive you for that. However, you think I'm just going to let you wallow in self-pity well, I'd kill you first. We helped bring Lenne's words to you so you'd return to the man you once were, not turn into this pathetic heap. If you want to win this game, what do you do? What do you THINK you should do?"

I nodded. She was right. If I wanted to keep my blitzball skills, then the only thing to do is… "Victory…"

With a small smile, she patted me on the cheek a few times, "Just remember, even though we had this lovely moment and you asked me to partake in this game so nicely yesterday, it still doesn't change the fact that I still don't trust or like you."

I smiled back, "Don't worry, when it comes time, you can have your win, too."

Tidus

The Aurochs headed out for the sphere pool and we all jumped right in. On the other side, Yuna, Rikku, Wakka, Shuyin, and the rest of them swam to meet us. Shuyin looked at me with a very serious stare. It meant one thing to anybody who knew blitzball well. He was sizing the team up. He was already figuring out who'd be slower, faster, stronger, weaker, and that meant he didn't really forget anything. The only thing to see now was if he could still play the way he did before.

Together, me and Shuyin took our spots in the center and the blitz off started. We both swam after the ball, but thankfully, I managed to grab it before he did. He was moving a bit slower, which was what I had expected. It'd been too long since his last game and he just didn't have the training in him anymore.

Without any hesitation, I swam toward the goal. Keepa and Vilucha were near me so the tactic was working well. Basically, any one of us had enough skill in scoring to get the point. I doubt Yuna or Rikku really know what they're doing. When I disappeared two years ago, Yuna hadn't even been able to hold her breath for longer than a minute so as far as she'd come, it couldn't have been enough. As I got ever closer to the goal, Shuyin moved in, shooting from side to side. I knew what he was doing. It was a great defensive maneuver that anyone with speed could use. He was throwing me off course. With having to dodge him, he just had to come from the right side to herd me into a good path for him. Of course, I knew how to counter that. Simply said, if he wanted to guide me into an ambush, I'd just take a new course. When he came at me from the left, I sped back the other way, letting his confused self dart right on ahead of me. Then, I passed the ball to Vilucha who immediately went for an invisible shot and our first goal of the game. Buddy wasn't the best at this game, after all.

The next blitz off, Shuyin got the ball. I actually went in slow just to see how much he lost. From what I saw, it wasn't a lot, but still effectively good enough for us to clinch this match. He darted towards our goal with Rikku, Cid, and Brother heading up from behind. Rikku caught up with him pretty soon and Cid and Brother packed it in towards the back for a distance shot. To test out Shuyin, I went in with the same move he pulled on me and tried to herd him. That was a mistake. Unlike me, he didn't even have to move back to lose me. Instead, he slithered all around me and started herding me. Just before he capitalized, I pulled off a back flip to get the ball away from him. Not only did I miss, but right after, Cid tackled me right to the bottom of the pool. Letty and Jassu blocked Brother and Shuyin, but that left Rikku open. Only Beclem was blocking her, but she was too fast for the guy. Shuyin lobbed her an easy one and she went in for the goal. Jassu left Shuyin and went to stop Rikku and ended up playing right into the trap. Rikku hard passed it back to Shuyin who did a sidewinder kick and made the goal. His shots were deadly. Datto didn't stand a chance of blocking.

Shuyin

It was tied, one to one. In other words, it was going perfectly. I hadn't really lost much of anything and with just two blitz offs, I already figured out all their abilities. By the looks of Wakka, he'd figured that out, too. This game wouldn't be overwhelmingly difficult. I swam to Wakka and asked him his prognosis of the game. With his expertise in his own players' abilities, we had a leg up on my "twin". By his judgment, Keepa and Tidus would be their weakest link as they were the top shots. If they wanted to score, chances were that one of them would shoot. As for defense, Jassu and Letty were the prime contenders. So the strategy for the next blitz off was to have the Aurochs get the ball. My "twin" would immediately go for a score and Wakka'd stop him. He'll go for a pass to Keepa or Jassu. That's when Rikku comes in with her speed. She'll snatch the ball right from under their noses, pass it to me, and I'd pretend to go for it. No doubt they'd know I'd be our side's prime shot, but instead, I'd lob it to Cid who'd have the least amount guarding him since they'd never suspect he'd be capable of playing well. He'll be conveniently slacking off somewhere in a corner just as it gets to him and then he'll jet… hopefully. With his strength, his shot should make it through without too much trouble.

Blitz off! I purposely let him have the ball and went into my remora mode, sticking to him as much as possible. Finally, I saw Keepa and left a space wide enough for him to spot. As planned, he passed and the ball went speeding toward his teammate. Rikku hurried and intercepted, got in range and made the pass to me. Unfortunately, that's when our plan started to go downhill. Jassu got behind me just in time and made me fumble, letting the ball drift. Wakka raced at it to recover, but the other Zanarkand Star got in his way and it just kept drifting… until Yuna caught it…

"Pass it here, Yuna!" He screamed out, an obvious ploy. He wanted Yuna to fall for his trap and pass it directly to me, seeing how I was guarded by two players. Letty had moved in on me to replace my duplicate.

She laughed easily and commented on his words, "Not going to fall for it." With a wink, she passed it towards me, making her boyfriend's smirk apparent even as I stared at his backside.

I scanned my options quickly as I didn't want his plan to actually succeed, even with it playing through almost to conclusion. The ball kept coming towards us every second and the two of them readied for an interception. They readied so much that they lightened their guard on my movement slightly. Of course, they had me sandwiched in, but a looser trap so I knew my opening. As the ball came in, Letty grabbed it and the Blitz Ace went towards the goal. Yuna gasped as she realized the trick she'd fallen for, pouting at her boyfriend before going to block against him. It was my chance. I quickly tackled Letty from behind, rolled against his back, hands outstretched, grabbed the ball from in front of him, and kicked him in the chest as I finished the roll over his shoulder to propel me straight at the goal. Their goalie looked on in shock at what I managed to pull off, but I knew I wouldn't be making the shot. Right as I saw him return to defensive position, I faint passed it to Cid, but he wasn't in position anymore so I nodded over to Rikku and she asked her father for a pass. When she had the ball, she quickly went up above the goal and pushed away from the ball, putting her legs toward it. She scrunched and then kicked, nailing the blitz ball straight into the goal, right past their goalie, Datto.

The next blitz off, the both of us egged one another to get the ball, seeing how my strategy had weakened his confidence enough to make him cautious. Finally, when the ball got right in line with the goal, since neither of us had gone to get it, I kicked it straight into him, knocking him for a loop. The ball bounced off him and came back to me and I performed the "Sublimely Magnificent Jecht Shot Mark III" straight into the goal for a third point. The score was three to one in the first half…

Tidus

I slammed a fist into one of the lockers when we all got back to recover for the second half. "Dammit!"

This game was turning out to be very difficult. Shuyin and Wakka were very seasoned and they knew how to use their less effective players properly. Even when Yuna made that rookie mistake, Shuyin saw the weakness in Letty's offensive experience and took advantage. The game was half over and we were already down by two points. It was time to take it up a notch.

When we got back out there, I took the ball immediately on the blitz off. Shuyin headed at me, but I knew that was only to psyche me out. I pulled back a bit and he went off on his merry way, going off to guard Keepa. Wakka took me on and I maneuvered around him without much difficulty. Rikku tried to swoop in and steal the ball, but she wasn't as trained as I was so I saw her coming and dodged. Next up was my Yuna. She tried to pull of the same thing that I did just before the break, putting her arms on my shoulders. She did this really cute face and made me blush, but I knew what she was doing so just before Rikku got behind me, I brought the ball to my chest, gave Yuna a quick peck on the cheek and ducked under both.

At the point both Shuyin and Wakka were headed for me with Cid following from the side. I waited for the right moment and pushed up just before those three sandwiched me in. Cid slammed into Wakka and they effectively took each other out. Finally, I was in line for the shot just as Shuyin swam up in front.

"Hey, Shuyin! Watch this!" I told him, dropping the ball to my feet.

With a wink, I kicked the ball to Shuyin who was smirking. The ball hit his arms when he brought them up to his chest. It knocked him back and popped back to me. Seeing how he wasn't taken out, I performed the Sphere Shot and kicked it hard to him. Unfortunately, that didn't even take him out. Instead, he swung one leg and kicked it hard, cancelling out the speed of my shot. He cringed so I knew it hurt him to pull off that move, but it still didn't stop him from using his good leg to kick it back at me. I blocked like he did before and it bounced back to him. He quickly did a Sphere Shot and hit me square in the chest, taking me out of the round.

When I came to, I noticed that the score was two to three. We scored, but I didn't know how. I got back into place for the next blitz off and managed to get the ball because stopping my Sphere Shot from before had done some damage to Shuyin's leg, making his speed slower than normal. I sped past him and ran into both Yuna and Brother. Brother stood right in front of Yuna with his arms stretched out like he was acting as her shield. The man was taking overprotective to a new level. Yuna stayed behind him and stuck her tongue out at me, scrunching up her nose while she was at it. It looked so cute that I kinda went into a daze from it until Keepa shouted out to me to pass the ball to him. Brother was so into his "protect Yuna" mode that I just had to easy pass it to Keepa without much trouble. Yuna quickly went after Keepa, but Brother having been facing me the whole time, didn't even know Yuna left. I swam past him while he kept facing me, arms still outstretched. He finally understood that Yuna wasn't behind him when he went to check behind him to see if she was alright.

Yuna had Keepa pretty well guarded, something that came as a surprise to me since I've never seen her like this. On her pilgrimage, she was much more reserved. She'd changed. I knew it ever since the day I came back. The outfit was enough of a change already, but she became a lot bolder. Then, when Shuyin came back, she showed a sign of fear and helplessness that I also never saw. Shuyin had a real impact on her. Anyway, she had Keepa pinned so he had no choice but to pass it to Beclem. Cid was guarding, but that wasn't much. Cid's heavy build and age slowed his reaction speed so Beclem got the pass and moved in on the goal. Buddy was good enough to stop his shot, but he passed the ball at the last minute to Botta above him and the quick switcheroo confused Buddy enough to make the point. The game was tied and it was the final minute.

In the blitz off, Shuyin got the ball, but I was on him. It was the last minute and I didn't want to go into overtime. I never understood that part about me. I just always hated to go into overtime. Shuyin quickly passed the ball to Rikku who had done that impressive… whatever shot it was. I knew he probably wanted her to go for a shot if she had the chance so I waved Jassu in to block. She passed the ball to Wakka, who went in at top speed. I quickly got Botta to cover him, but Shuyin took advantage of my distraction and sped off. I tried to catch up and managed to get to him again, but Wakka didn't even try to pass it to him. He tackled Botta hard and moved in closer to the goal. Finally, Letty got the drop on him and stopped him in his tracks, making me think we were out of trouble, but…

Shuyin

Our strategy in the last ten minutes was a risky one, but Wakka was right for calling it. We had to pretend we were desperate for a quick goal since that would be the obvious tactic. I'd get the ball and immediately pass it to Rikku who'd just jet. If anything happened, she'd go for Wakka and he'd jet. This was all a part of the façade to lure the Aurochs into a huge close range defensive and into trouble.

That play from before, when I knocked out dream Zanarkand's top player, had scored them a goal. What happened was that after the ball from my Jecht Shot had bounced off of him, Keepa sped in and grabbed it before I could perform the Jecht Shot v2. Then, he passed it to Beclem who gave it to Letty who put it back to Keepa and before I could save the play, Beclem had the ball and put it in with an invisible shot for the goal.

This time, I wasn't going to screw up. I hated going to overtime ever since meeting Lenne. In that championship game with Bevelle, I tried so hard not to let Areth get the best of me just so I wouldn't go into overtime. All of that started with just wanting to impress Lenne because I loved her so much. She was my motivation for a lot of the amazing things I've done in my life, the most recent being the complete takeover of the Farplane. I wonder if the dream was like that. If he had so many aspects of my personality, yet lacked so many other bits of my personality, I wonder if he has this part. Seeing how it was part of my public personality, he probably should have, but the reasoning behind it was pretty private. It'd be amusing if he had the same desire to beat the overtime, but hadn't any idea why.

In any case, I said I was going to prove I was better than he was and I said I didn't want to go into overtime so the plan was set and staged. Wakka had just been stopped by Letty, but that's when the true goal of the play went into effect. Wakka quickly passed the ball back to Paine and, by this time, all the Aurochs were close to the goal. With the other me following, I quickly pulled a one-eighty and sped back to the center of the pool. Paine swam to me and tossed the ball above me and I torpedoed into it, throwing it up and out of the pool. While it soared, I waited close to the rim of the sphere, biding my time until it reached the correct position. Once it drew down to the final few seconds, the Aurochs were closing in, a maneuver that would prove futile, as well as, even better for my move…

Tidus

We all watched their game plan in shock. Wakka passed it to a completely open Paine towards the other side of the sphere pool. Shuyin quickly darted back there and received the ball completely unguarded. We were expecting a full out rush, but they just wanted to do that so there'd be a perfect opening outside the scoring range. Without any extra time wasted, I got Jassu, Letty, and Keepa to head after Shuyin and stop him from making the Sphere Shot, since the only move that looked like that was that shot and it was one of my best. Also, just in case we didn't make it in time, I left everybody else on the goal to block. Even the Sphere Shot couldn't get through four guys.

Then, something weird happened. The blitz ball went out of the pool, but Shuyin didn't. I didn't understand why he didn't follow it. In any case, we had to get to him before he got to the ball so I got all of them to continue following me.

Shuyin

… Moments later, the blitz ball reached the surface of the pool and I made a forward flip, my leg penetrating the surface of the Sphere Pool. My heel hit the ball hard and, with a trail of white, the blitz ball rocketed straight into the goal, passing all four guards, and through to the wall on the other side. The score was four to three and we had clinched the game.

Tidus

It was unbelievable. Whatever Shuyin did, that shot was amazing! I… I never even knew there was a move like that, but however it was done, it couldn't possibly be defended against. The speed he got on the shot made it practically a missile. Actually, it was just about as fast as the Sphere Shot, but only when I used it in battle where no water could slow its motion. Simply… incredible… If I had to lose, I'm glad it was to that.

Shuyin

The lot of us celebrated in the back, wowing over the victory shot. Wakka had found the ball and it was flattened. We all got a good laugh out of that, especially when he said, "Gee, and the losin' team's supposed ta get this as a partin' gift, ya", and pointed to the deflated piece.

"Shuyin, what was that move you used? I've never seen anybody use it before, not even him." Yuna asked me.

With a smile, I told them about my one on one game with my father in the Farplane. "So, I actually have to thank pops, the captain, for our win." Taking the "ball" from Wakka, I held it high, "Here's to ya, old man."

Everybody got a good laugh out of that and, after an hour or so, we were ready to head on home. With just one game of blitzball, I think I've really started to come alive again. A thousand years dead, but I was slowly returning to the world of the living. Maybe… I had some purpose with this new life. Now, the only thing left to do is find Lenne… I'll find you, my love. I promise. We'll live out the life we lost so very long ago… finally…

Author's Notes: So, Shuyin's got some game, eh? How'd you guys like the return of the Tidal Surge and the Blitz Strike?

In the next chappie, I'm thinking we should finally break up this lovefest and throw in something weird. See ya then!