Blitzball Reborn and Reimagined

(After Sin attacks the Al Bhed ship, Link is knocked over-board, and passes out in the water. He awakens a few hours later near Besaid Beach)

Link: Rikku!

[A blitzball hits him in the head.]

Link: What the hell?

[A man on shore yells to him.]

Man: Hey! You okay?

Link: Heeey!

[Link dives in the water and does a sheild bash under the blitzball, knocking the ball out of sight.]

Man: "Whoa-ho!"

[Link swims to the beach.]

Link: heh.. hi there.

Man: You wanna try that move one more time?

Link: (Narration) Finally, things were starting to look up. Its not the same blitzball i remember, but... You know, one would think someone would be asking about my pointy ears or green clothes by now.

[Link does the shield-bash again, this time from land.]

Man: You're not amateur. Who you play for?

Link: Hyrule, Ordona Province.

Man: What team you say again?

Link: yeah, dont worry about it... I got too, uh...close to Sin and my head's all jumbled. So I don't know where this place is. Or even where I came from.

Man: Sin's toxin got to you. But, you're still alive. Praise be to Yevon! All right, back to practice!

[The rest of the men start practicing again.]

Link: ...

Wakka: I'm Wakka, coach and captain of the Besaid Aurochs, brudda. What? You hungry? Okay! Back to the village. I'll get you somethin'!

Link:(Narration) I felt like I could trust this Wakka, so I just had to ask.

Link: Is it true? Hyrule was destroyed, right? A thousand years ago? So it's just a big pile of rubble now, isn't it?

Wakka: Long time ago, there were a whole lot of cities in Spira. Big cities with machina-machines-to run 'em. People played all day and let the machine do the work. And then, well, take a look. Sin came, and destroyed the machina cities. And Hyrule along with 'em. Yeah, that was about a thousand years ago, just like you said. If you ask me, Sin's our punishment for letting things get out of hand. What gets me, though...is we gotta suffer, 'cause of what some goofballs did way back when! 'Course, we must always repent for our sins! That's important! It's just that, it's hard to keep at it sometimes, you know?"

Link:(Narration) It was just as Rikku had said. Wakka and Rikku couldn't both be lying. Why would they?

Wakka: But you from Hyrule's Ordona Province - that was a good one! Hey, I'm not saying the team never existed, ya? But you gotta figure a team livin' in luxury like that'd be pretty soft, eh?"

Link:(Narration) I appreciated the fact that Wakka was trying to cheer me up. But at that time, all I could think about was... everything that happened to me - all of this - started with Sin. Maybe if I could find Sin one more time, I could go home! For now, I'd just live life until that time came. No more worrying about where, or when, I was. Sure it was hard not to think of home. But I started to feel better already. A little better...maybe.

[Link follows Wakka.]

Wakka: Hey! It's this way!

[They come to a cliff.]

Link: Huh? its a dead end...

[Wakka pushes him in and then dives in after.]

Link: What's the big idea?

[Wakka comes up from behind Link and gets him in a headlock.]

Link: Hey! leggo'

Wakka: Got a favor to ask ya.

Link: You want me on your team, right?

Wakka: A major blitz tournament's coming up. All the teams in Spira'll be there! It's so huge, I'm sure someone there will recognize you! Then you can go back to your old team, right? It'll be fun! What do you say, huh? Come on, come on!

Link: Sure thing. Though, i gotta say, this bliztball... not sure its what i remember.

Wakka: Dude! Our team is gonna rock, eh?

Link:(Narration) I thought then that blitzball and Sin were the only two things that Spira and Hyrule had in common. I wasn't too far off, either.

[The two come to a cliff above a village.]

Wakka: This is where I was born. I started blitz when I was five. I joined the Aurochas at thirteen...ten years ago. Ten years... and we never won a game. Well, after last year's tournament, I quit. Time seemed right. So, after quitting, I got this new job, ya? But every time my mind wandered, I thought about the game.

Link: Ten years without a single win'll do that.

Wakka: My first match last year was my big chance. But something else was on my mind. I couldn't focus.

Link: You're kidding, right?

Wakka: Hey, hey!

Link: So you want to win the next tournament - go out with a bang. So, what's our goal?

Wakka: I don't care how we do. Long as we play our best. If we give it our all, I can walk away happy.

Link: Sorry, but that won't cut it. If I say, 'What's our goal?' you say,'Victory!' When you're in a blitzball tournament, you're there to win!

Wakka: Victory? You serious?

[They start walking to the village when a red-haired man calls them. A shorter man is with him.]

Red-haired Man: Ah, the one from the sea!

Short Man: Be on guard. There're fiends on the road today!

Red-haired Man: "After surviving your run-in with Sin, 'twould be a shame if something happened now.

[The men leave.]

Link: Who were those guys?

Wakka: Luzzu and Gatta - Crusaders.

Link: Who-now-whats-it?

Wakka: What, you forgot that, too? Hey, sorry. Don't worry about it. I'll help you out.

Link: Cool. In return, come tournament time, I'll make sure we take the cup!

Wakka: Cool. About the Crusaders, you can ask them yourself. They've got a lodge in the village.

[The two walk through the town gates.]