Chapter 4: Besaid Island
Charlene finally awoke several hours later and realized that she was lying facedown in the water. She quickly pulled her head above the surface and looked around, frantically searching for some sign of life or land. "Hello! Is there anybody out there?" she called, cupping her hands around her mouth like a megaphone.
Suddenly, something hard whacked her in the back of the head, causing the world to spin, but she managed to stay conscious as she turned around and found what hit her. A large, bumpy, blue and white ball roughly the size of a basketball floated serenely in the water and Charlie picked it up and stared at it. "Hey, this is like those balls they had in Zanarkand!"
"Hey, are you okay?" called a strangely accented male voice, effectively snapping her out of her reverie.
The confused girl started at the source of the voice and saw several men in yellow uniforms standing on the beach. "Hi, how are you?" she cried, happy to finally see someone who wasn't pointing a gun at her.
Charlie then experimentally hefted the strange ball a couple of times and chucked it as hard as she could. The blue and white sphere speedily rocketed across the distance, past the heads of the men in yellow, and eventually rolled to a stop in the sparkling ivory sand. "Holy shit! I can't believe I just did that!" she whispered, amazed at how far she threw the ball. "How in the world did I do that?"
Deciding to wait until later to figure it out, she started to swim toward the shore, but suddenly stopped when she felt a tugging sensation in her soul. "What the hell is that?" she wondered as the strange feeling started up again.
Following the pull, she changed course toward a small, secluded area, and the voice from earlier shouted, "Hey, where're you going?"
"Just give me a moment," she replied, "I just need to check something out."
Charlene found an old chest lying in the hidden area, and when she opened it, a mysterious silver disc lay inside. Engraved on its surface were several pictures of the moon in its different phases, and some tiny writing along the edge. Squinting at the small letters, she was barely able to make out the word "Yareach", and when she picked it up and put it in her pouch, the peculiar feeling vanished. "Maybe one of those dudes over there knows what this thing is," she muttered as she left the little nook and swam to the beach.
Upon arriving at the shore, the yellow uniformed men approached Charlie, and she found herself staring at one in particular. He was tall and muscular, with dark skin, friendly brown eyes, and the craziest orange hair she'd seen in her life. It looked like he could snap the crest off and use it as a weapon! Trying not to laugh, Charlene smiled at Carrot-Top and said, "Hi!"
"That was a nice pass you made back there," Carrot-Top replied, impressed by her throw. "Who you play for?"
"Play? What are you talking about?"
"The Cap'n wants to know what blitzball team you play for, ya?" a scarred redhead replied.
Charlie looked blank for a moment, but finally said, "Are you talking about that game they were playing in Zanarkand?"
As soon as the words came out of her mouth, she knew she had just said the wrong thing. Carrot-Top and his friends just stared at her, their expressions looking as if someone smacked them in the backs of their heads with a board. The orange haired man looked at her closely and said, "Say that again."
"Uh…never mind. I got too close to Sin, so now everything is all screwed up. About the only thing I'm sure of right now is my name, so I'm sorry if I freaked you guys out." Charlie hoped that the excuse would work, because she didn't think she could come up with a better one on short notice.
Apparently, it was a good excuse, because Carrot-Top gave her a relieved look and said, "Sin's toxin got to you, but you're still alive." He and his gang simultaneously performed the same odd gesture as the kids in Zanarkand. "Praise be to Yevon," he intoned.
"Okay…" the bewildered teen thought as they completed their little ritual, "This is just really strange."
Once they were finished, Carrot-Top turned to his group, and barked, "All right, back to practice!" Then, he turned back to Charlie and said, "I'm Wakka, coach and captain of the Besaid Aurochs."
"I'm Charlie…and I have absolutely no idea where I am or how I got here," she replied, not really knowing what else to say.
"Charlie, eh? What kind of name is that?"
"What kind of name is Wakka?" she irritably snapped, but then sighed, "I'm sorry. I've just had a really bad time of it recently, and I shouldn't take it out on you."
"Hey, no problem," he smiled. "You'll probably feel better once we go back to the village and get you somethin' to eat, ya?"
The two of them started to leave the beach, but then Charlie stopped and said, "Hey Wakka, can I ask you something?"
"Sure."
"Well, actually I want to ask you a lot of stuff, but I think I'd better start with that," she said, pointing at the well of blue light flowing out of the sand nearby. It was identical to the ones she saw in Zanarkand and in the temple.
"That's a Life Spring, ya?" When the blitz captain saw her blank stare, he said, "Life Springs are places of healing that can be found all over Spira, and the teachings say that they are the blessing of Yevon. Hey, maybe you can see if it will heal your toxin sickness!"
Charlie started to say that she didn't have any toxin sickness, but upon seeing Wakka's hopeful expression, she changed her mind and touched the Life Spring anyway. After the usual surge of strength rushed through her, she turned and shook her head. "Sorry, but it didn't do anything besides make me feel a little stronger." When she saw his crestfallen look, she patted him on the shoulder and said, "Hey, I really appreciate the thought, though. Thank you."
The blitzer grinned, and the two of them continued their journey up the path to the village, with him answering her questions as they walked. He told her about how people used to overuse machina and play all the time, that Sin came and destroyed all the cities as punishment, and that everyone had to repent for their sins. Charlene thought it was kind of stupid, but she kept her opinions to herself. Finally, they arrived at a cliff overlooking a lagoon and she scratched her head and said, "Wakka are you sure this is the right way?"
Instead of answering, he pushed her off the edge, and she let out a shriek as she landed in the water with an enormous splash. Quickly resurfacing, she yelled, "What the hell is wrong with you? I didn't say I wanted to swim to the village, damn it!"
Wakka grinned down at her, and then dove off the cliff, splashing her upon landing and soaking her all over again. "This is a shortcut, ya?" he replied once he surfaced. "We'll reach the village much faster this way."
The blitzer swam off, and Charlie shook her head and sighed, but followed him anyway. Despite the occasional attack by small schools of piranha-like fish, the dark haired girl found herself drifting into her own thoughts. "Wakka seems like a really nice guy…except for the whole pushing me off a cliff thing. I feel like I can trust him, but…"
Suddenly, she realized that Wakka was missing, but before she could look for him, something came out of the water behind her and grabbed her shoulder. Shrieking and groping for her sword, Charlie turned to face her attacker. "Jesus Christ, Wakka! You scared the hell out of me!" she hissed when she saw who it was.
"Hey, I'm sorry, ya? I didn't know you'd react like that," he replied, startled by her vehemence.
"Just…don't do it again, okay?" she sighed, "I've seen a lot of monsters lately, so I'm a little paranoid, and I might hurt you on accident."
Wakka looked doubtful, but he shrugged and said, "I just wanted to ask you if you'd join my team."
"Join your team? Wakka, I've never played blitzball before in my life! Why in God's name would you want me on your team?"
"That pass you made back on the beach was pretty good for someone who's never played before. Besides, there's a major tournament coming up, and all the teams in Spira will be there!"
"Spira? Is that the world, or something?"
"Yeah! Anyway, it's so huge, so I'm sure someone will recognize you!"
Charlie just gaped at him. He wanted her to play a sport that didn't even exist on her world, at a tournament, in front of God and everyone! He had to be joking or something. "Hey, it's your funeral, man," she replied before swimming away.
"Is that a 'yes'?" he asked, looking hopeful.
"Personally, I think you've lost your mind, but yeah, I'll play."
"Woohoo! We're gonna rock, eh?"
…
Eventually, Charlie and Wakka got out of the lagoon, and ended up on a path overlooking yet another cliff. "Heights…I really hate heights!" she grumbled before staring at the tiny village below. "This is where I was born," Wakka told her as they continued to look down at the little town. "I started blitz when I was five, and joined the Aurochs when I was thirteen…ten years ago."
"You started kind of early, didn't you?"
He sighed, and instead of answering her question, said, "Ten years…and we never won a game."
Charlie just stared at the blitzer in utter amazement, but his back was to her, so he didn't notice. "No wonder he wants me on his team…he's completely and totally desperate!"
"Well, I quit after last year's tournament…the time seemed right. Anyway, after quitting, I got this new job, ya? But every time my mind wandered, I started thinking about the game."
"I can imagine…" Charlene vaguely replied, still stunned by how awful his team had to be.
"My first match last year was my big chance, but something else was on my mind. I couldn't focus," he finished, turning back to her.
"I see…" she said, trying to keep from saying something rude. "So you want to win this big tournament and go out in style?"
Wakka nodded, and she continued to speak. "So, do you have a team goal, or what?"
He shrugged. "I don't care how we do, long as we play our best. If we give it our all, then I can walk away happy."
"What the hell? Wakka, when someone asks you that, you're supposed to say 'victory'! When you play anything, you play to win, whether it's this big tournament of yours or a game of tiddlywinks!"
"What's tiddlywinks?"
"What? That's not the point! The point is that you have to believe that YOU WILL WIN! You understand?" Charlie was trying very hard to keep from shaking him in exasperation.
Wakka thought about it for a moment, and said, "You serious?"
She nodded and the two of them continued walking toward the village, until they ran into two men on the road. One was a handsome redhead in green and blue, and the other was a dark skinned boy in green and beige who looked even younger than Charlie did. The handsome one looked at Charlie and smiled, "Ah, you're the one from the sea."
"How did you know about that?" she wanted to know.
"I told them about you while you were off beyond the cliff at the beach," Wakka explained.
"Oh."
"Be on guard because there are fiends on the road today," said the dark skinned boy, sounding quite bored.
Then the redhead spoke up again, and said, "After surviving your run-in with Sin, 'twould be a shame if something happened now."
Finished with their warning, the two of them ran off, leaving Wakka and Charlene standing in the path. "So…who were they?" she asked, looking confused.
"Luzzu and Gatta. They're Crusaders," he replied as if it explained everything.
Suddenly, Charlie got this weird mental picture of the religious Crusades she learned about in school, but shook her head and said, "Oh…okay…"
"What, did you forget that, too?" Wakka asked, but when she gave him an unhappy look, he said, "Hey, I'm sorry. I'll help you out, so don't worry."
"Thank you."
"Anyway, the Crusaders have a lodge in the village, so you can ask them yourself." He started to walk off again, but stopped and said, "Hey, what were you doing out at the beach anyway?"
"Oh, well I saw this old chest out in this secluded spot, and I went to go see what was inside," she replied, pulling out the mysterious silver object and handing it to Wakka. "I found that, but I don't really know what it is."
The blitzer studied it for a few moments, but in the end, handed it back to her and said, "I don't know what it is, either, but it looks like its missing something, ya?"
She put it back in her pouch, but then pulled out one of the little bottles and a couple of the strange coins. "Well, maybe you can tell me what the rest of this stuff is, then?"
…
A little while later, after a lesson on Potions and Gil, the two of them arrived in the village, and now that they were close, the strangeness of the architecture made itself apparent. "Wow, the houses all look like puffball mushrooms!" Charlie mentally snickered as she walked through the entrance.
"This is Besaid Village," Wakka proudly announced.
"So, is there anyplace I can crash at around here?" Charlie wanted to know.
He pointed at a house on the right, and said, "You can stay over there, later, but you should really take a look around, first." Then, pointing at a place on the left, he said, "The Crusader's Lodge is over yonder, and Luzzu and Gatta are usually there, if you want to ask them anything."
Suddenly, Wakka walked to the side of one of the houses, where no one could see him, and motioned for Charlie to come over. "What's wrong?" she asked.
"You do remember the prayer, right?"
"Uh…no?"
He stared at her for a moment, completely astonished, but then recovered and said, "All right, I'll show you." He used the same pose he and the Aurochs had used on the beach: right arm over left, as if he were holding a ball, and a bow. "Go on, now you try it."
Charlie copied him, but he stopped her and said, "Nah, you've got your arms reversed."
"I'm left-handed, but whatever," she replied, trying the prayer again and getting it right.
"Okay, now go present yourself to the temple summoner," Wakka told her, satisfied that she did the prayer properly.
"It's just my luck that I'd end up in some place with strict religious rules," she thought as she explored the village. There wasn't much to explore, however, since the town mostly consisted of people's houses and she did want to invade anyone's privacy. Eventually, Charlie walked into the Crusader's Lodge, where she found Gatta and Luzzu sitting at the nearby table. The dark skinned boy, Gatta, if she correctly remembered, looked up at her and said, "Hey, you! You were recently attacked by Sin, right?"
"Yeah, I think it was pretty recent…why?"
"Then…Sin can't be far away! You aren't hiding anything, are you?"
The boy's tone was accusing, and Charlie didn't like it one bit. "Why in friggin' hell would I hide something like that?" she demanded.
"If Sin is nearby, then it'll attack the island for sure," Luzzu explained, but his expression was troubled. "I wonder why it hasn't."
"I'm sorry I can't help you, but I really don't know anything. Hell, I don't even know what the Crusaders are."
Gatta stared at her as if she'd just sprouted an extra head and said, "You're kidding, right?"
Luzzu gave the "sick" girl the same startled look, and said, "Sin! The toxin's affected you, hasn't it?" Then he turned to his young charge and said, "Gatta, tell her who we are!"
"Yes, sir!" Gatta jumped to his feet, made a militaristic salute, and went into a long litany about the Crusader's fight against Sin, and their formation by the Great Hero, Mi'ihen, around eight hundred years ago.
"Wait a minute! You guys have been fighting Sin for eight hundred years, and you STILL haven't beaten it?"
Gatta sputtered some unintelligible response and sat down, as Luzzu said, "Well, we've managed to steer Sin away from towns many times! That's all we can do, because no one's ever been able to defeat it. Our mission as Crusaders is to protect the temples, towns, villages, and people of Spira."
"Well, if it's not your job to defeat it, then whose is it?" Charlie wanted to know.
"Sir…is Sin's toxin really this bad?" Gatta asked
"It does seem rather bad…" Then he turned to Charlie, gave her a kind smile, and said, "We could just tell you, but I think it better for you to try to remember. Go pray at the temple and perhaps Yevon will help you regain your memory."
…
Charlene entered the temple and looked around. There were life-sized statues of priests and priestesses everywhere, but most of the people prayed at one of the four huge statues that dominated the room. Finally, one figure caught her attention and she walked over to it. It was a statue of a man in voluminous robes, with a belt and headdress of peculiar design, and a staff in his right hand. Despite the stern attire, the man's face seemed very kind, but sad. "Ten years have passed since Lord Braska became High Summoner," a man said from directly behind her, nearly startling her out of her wits.
Charlie whipped around, thinking, "I swear to God I'm gonna end up knocking someone on their ass if people don't quit sneaking up on me!"
She opened her mouth to tell off whoever it was, but stopped when she saw that the man was a priest in orange, blue, and white robes. He stood next to her, and said, "Ten years…and now we finally have a statue for our temple."
"Right, well, I hate to be a buzz-kill, but what's a High Summoner?"
Everyone in the temple stopped and gave Charlie that thunderstruck look she was growing so tired of. "I…got too close to Sin's toxin," she explained, all the while thinking, "Stupid, stupid. I shouldn't have to explain myself to these idiots! This is just pathetic!"
Then, everyone made the prayer gesture, and the priest said, "The summoners are practitioners of a sacred art, and are sworn to protect the people of Yevon. Only a chosen few can become summoners, who call forth entities of great power...the aeons. The aeons hear our prayers and come down to us. They are the blessing of Yevon."
"Thanks for explaining it to me," she replied, before turning around and leaving the temple. "So, I guess that Yevon is supposed to be God, the High Summoner is like a saint, and the aeon-things…I don't really know WHAT the hell those are supposed to be!"
Charlie walked into Wakka's hut, and muttered, "All of this is really making my head hurt."
The blitzer looked up at her and said, "Charlie, you just say somethin'?" When she shook her head, he frowned and said, "Why don't you take a nap? You look bushed!"
She nodded and smiled gratefully at him, stretched out across the bed, and shut her eyes. "Maybe I'll wake up and all of this will just have been a dream," she thought as she started to doze off.
Charlene wasn't quite asleep yet when she heard someone else come inside. "You could at least go see how they are doing." Judging by the voice, it was the priest from earlier.
She heard Wakka get up, and he replied, "We can't interfere; it's a rule."
"But it's been nearly…" Then, they walked out of the hut, and sleep overcame Charlie, bringing dreams along with it.