Chapter 5 - Blitzball Time
Tara and Gian had made their way through the residential section of Luca and found nothing out of the ordinary and decided to return to the blitzball stadium.
"Summoners disappearing?" Gian asked, looking troubled. "This isn't by accident. Someone's behind this."
"But who could it be?" Tara responded. "There has to be a reason."
"It doesn't matter to me what the reason is. If someone thinks they're going to mess with you, they'll have me to deal with." The guardian was not happy with the prospect of an anti-summoner conspiracy.
"I really don't know," Tara replied. "Let's just continue about our business and take things as they come."
Gian agreed, but was clearly not happy with this most recent development. The pair had made their way back to the pier area, headed towards the blitzball stadium, when they found themselves surrounded by several machina robots.
"What are these things?" the summoner asked.
"Machina. Robots." Gian answered, then paused, struck with an idea. "Use water. Short them out."
Tara cast a couple of water spells and the magic had its desired effect. Gian cut down the remainder of the robots with precision sword work. When the next wave of machina robots appeared, they were dealt with in the same manner. The third wave of machina, however, seemed to be new and improved versions, and they were proving to be more difficult to dispatch. Gian attempted to cut one of them down, and he felt a powerful shock run through his body as his sword made contact with the robot.
"Okay, that's not going to work!" he exclaimed, shaking off the effects of the jolt.
A few more robots entered the picture and the pair was completely surrounded.
"Oh, this is ridiculous!" the summoner exclaimed as the robots continued their attack.
She began the summoning ritual and the shining silver bird-like aeon Valefor emerged from a flash from high up in the sky. Valefor floated above the pier and cast her energy beam, frying all of the machina in the area. The resulting explosion was very loud and its force threw Gian against the wall of the blitzball stadium. After reorienting himself, he turned to look for Tara, but she was nowhere to be found.
"Tara? Tara! Where are you?" he shouted as he ran down the length of the pier, looking for his summoner. He heard explosions at the far end, and made his way towards the disturbance.
Gian was shocked at what he saw. A gigantic robot with a large clear spherical object for a head – with Tara trapped inside it. The huge machina advanced toward the guardian, swinging a large arm down on top of him. Gian rolled out of the way just in time to avoid being crushed. He looked up to see the other arm headed his way, and rolled again to escape the blow. Come on, Gian, think of something! He noticed several power lines running up the back of the machine. He knew he couldn't cut them – having remembered the shock he received from the last robot he tried to cut down. He suspected that the answer might be in the elements.
The guardian only had a few gems of any variety left as he had given many of them to Rayann, so the girl would have the means to protect herself. He was wishing that he had a few more of them left, when an idea struck. He hurled one of the fire gems directly at the wall behind the robot. The fire gem bounced off the wall and landed directly at the back of the robot's feet. He knew that fire would not damage the machine itself, but it might melt the power lines. His gamble paid off as the machine froze in place.
Sword work took care of the now-inert machine. It fell to its knees and then face down upon the pier. The round sphere had rolled off the machine's shoulders and disintegrated upon contact with the ground, freeing Tara who was shaken by the impact, but otherwise unharmed.
After making sure that Tara was okay, Gian hugged his summoner tightly, relieved.
"Tara, who did this to you?" the guardian asked.
"It was…" she replied, still disoriented from her fall. "It was...the Al Bhed!"
If Gian was angry before, he was really angry now. While he had never had any great love for the Al Bhed, he often angered the Yevon clergy with his defense of the people that he viewed as having been treated unfairly because of their beliefs.
"Let's go," he implored, taking Tara's hand.
"Where are we going?" she asked.
"To get some answers."
"Gian, please… don't do anything rash!" The summoner was now very fearful – for the Al Bhed blitz players.
The guardian stopped and looked directly into Tara's eyes.
"Tara, these people kidnapped you. For what reason, I don't know. Who knows what they would have done had I not been here? They did this and I want to know why."
The pair made their way to the locker room of the Al Bhed Psyches. Gian went straight for the team captain, hurling him up against the locker room wall – with his forearm on the man's throat.
"Why was my summoner taken? You'd better answer me right now or you'll never blitz again, I promise you."
One of the other team members came up behind the guardian. Gian struck back with his elbow, knocking the man onto the floor.
"I'm waiting!" the guardian implored, turning his attention back to the blitz captain.
"Bmayca!" the Al Bhed captain stammered, "E ghuf hudrehk! E's zicd y pmedwan!"
"Gian!" a voice spoke from the other end of the locker room. He turned to see the face of Rin, an Al Bhed merchant he had befriended months earlier.
"What did he just say, Rin?" the guardian asked.
"He says he knows nothing. He's just a blitz player. Please, Gian…let him go. He's been here all day and I very much doubt he's had anything to do with anything"
Gian turned back to the blitzer, his forearm still on the man's throat.
"You send a message to your people. If anybody even thinks about messing with the summoner Tara, I promise you, I'll be back. You think I'm in a bad mood now, you just try me." He then released the blitzer, who ran from the room with his teammates behind him.
Gian turned to the merchant. "Rin, what the hell is going on here?"
"I can only speculate," the merchant stated. "I cannot say for sure. I have not been amongst my people for quite some time. But I get the impression that things are not quite what they appear to be. I'm truly sorry, I wish I could tell you more."
"Thanks Rin." The guardian was starting to calm down. "Tara, this is Rin. He's a merchant that I met several months ago. Anything I buy, I buy from him."
Tara shook hands with the merchant. "It's nice to meet you, Mr. Rin."
"Equally nice to meet you as well, Lady Tara. Please, just call me Rin."
"This has been quite the experience." Tara was relieved that the situation didn't escalate out of control. "Perhaps we can enjoy the games now, and things will return to normal?"
"Yes," the guardian spoke, "we should probably get to the stadium. We've probably missed the first game already. We'll see you later, Rin. We'll need to stock up before we leave Luca."
"I look forward to it," the merchant replied as he shook hands with both guardian and summoner.
As the pair made their way to the blitz arena, they were stopped by a young girl working the ticket booth.
"Excuse me, are you Gian by chance?"
"Yes," the guardian stated. "Is there a problem?"
"No, no problem. Here are your tickets. The woman who purchased them left them here for you. She described you and…well…you kinda look like what she described."
Tara smiled at the girl. "Thank you so much, we were afraid we'd have to buy more tickets to get in!"
"Oh it's no trouble at all. Enjoy the games!"
"Thank you," the guardian offered, then turned to his summoner. "Well, what else can happen today? The day isn't over yet, you know."
"Blitzball, I hope - and nothing else. I'm not sure I could handle any more excitement today!"
Tara and Gian made their way up to their seats where Rayann and Lana were waiting.
"What took you so long?" Lana asked.
Tara smiled and replied "A little…shall we say…unexpected excitement."
"And I missed it?" Rayann seemed disappointed.
"You don't need any more excitement," the guardian teased. "How are the games going?"
"As you already knew, the Goers got a first round bye, because they won the championship last year," Lana explained, "But you'll also be pleased to know that your Kilika Beasts also drew a first round bye. They'll play the winners of the Al Bhed vs. Ronso matchup"
"The Aurochs lost…" mumbled a dejected Rayann.
"Yes, you missed that game," remarked Lana. "They lost to the Guado team 5-2."
The tournament progressed with the Luca Goers defeating the Guado Glories, which earned Luca a trip to the championship round. On the other side of the bracket, the Ronso Fangs defeated the Al Bhed Psyches in the opening round. The Kilika Beasts went on to defeat the Ronso Fangs, setting up the championship match between the Kilika Beasts and the Luca Goers.
"Go Beasts!" Rayann shouted, while standing on her seat.
Gian looked over towards Rayann. "Oh, now you come around!" he teased - his previous anger clearly having subsided.
"Since my Aurochs didn't win, I want the Goers to lose!"
The stadium was packed for the championship game. Luca fielded what was easily the most skilled team in Spira, but the Beasts played with heart that had never been seen before. Halftime came with neither team having scored.
The crowd was buzzing because nobody had ever seen the Luca Goers held scoreless for an entire half. The Beasts had put on a defensive display that was unparalleled, and they were starting to win over many members of the hometown crowd. Tara was almost shaking with anticipation at the start of the second half.
"They might actually do it!" she exclaimed. "They might actually win!"
It did not take long for the Goers to draw first blood in the second half. But before the crowd energy could subside, Kilika fired back, tying the score at one. The entire crowd was on their feet with a minute left to play. Lanzo, the Beasts forward, intercepted the ball from the Luca captain and executed a long forward pass to team captain Darno, who found himself quickly surrounded. Seeing his opening, Darno faked out the Goers captain and passed back to Lanzo, who put everything he had into what would end up being the final shot of the game. The crowd noise was deafening, as the ball sailed past the fingers of the Luca goalie as time expired. The Kilika Beasts had won 2-1, and they were now champions for the first time in club history.
There was no time to celebrate though, as the sphere pool drained and the stadium became overrun with fiends. The shrieks from the crowd were deafening and people were pushing past one another, trying to exit the stadium.
"What the hell?" Tara exclaimed.
"I'll give you two guesses…" the guardian dryly remarked. "Stick close to me!"
Gian began to cut down as many fiends as he could. Tara summoned Valefor who, once again, took many of the fiends out with her energy beam. Still, it was not enough. The guardian heard a voice behind him.
"Looks like you could use a little help maybe?"
The guardian turned around to see the smiling face of Darno, the Beasts captain, who had cobbled together many of the members of the Kilika, Besaid, Guado, Ronso, and Luca teams. Each had a spiked blitzball, and they were ready to fight.
"Well, what are we waiting for?" Darno shouted. "Let's blitz!"
"Let's blitz!" came the roar from the very large and formidable blitzball squad.
Fighting as a full-fledged team, the fiends were taken out in fairly short order. Even Rayann was tossing gems from the stands and she had taken a couple of fiends out as well. Many of the fans who were previously trying to escape the blitzball stadium changed their mind, and they stayed behind to watch the battle. Loud cheers were heard throughout the fight, and even louder cheers were heard once the fiends were finally dispatched.
Brazek, the Luca captain, high-fived Darno, exclaiming, "Hell, this was more fun than the game!"
"You guys were awesome!" replied the Kilika captain. "Thanks for helping out! Great game, too!"
"Agreed, and congratulations," Brazek offered. "You guys were the better team today and you deserved to win."
"Thanks again, for everything!" The two blitzers hugged, sharing a bond that transcended any in-game rivalries.
Tara laid her head upon Gian's shoulder, admiring the sportsmanship between the two blitz captains.
Afterwards, Gian and Darno shook hands once again.
"Thanks for the help. And congratulations to you, as well," the guardian offered. "That was one hell of a game. I've never seen anything like it. You guys are champions now!
Darno was gushing. "And it feels damn good too!"
"I knew you could do it! Tara exclaimed as she hugged the blitz captain. "You kept your part of the deal, so count on us to keep ours!"
"I look forward to it, Lady Tara, truly!" Darno looked at the guardian once again. "So what was all that about anyway? Where did all those fiends come from?"
"It was the Al Bhed. They're after Tara. We don't know why, though."
"Well, that's not very bright of them. I'm glad the two of you are on our side!" laughed the blitzer. "I can't promise anything, but I'll poke around some. If I learn anything, I'll let you know."
"Thank you, Darno." The guardian and blitzer shook hands once again. "So what's next for you?"
"Well, we'll keep practicing and playing." Darno replied. "We have a dynasty to build here. The two of you have taught us that anything is possible if you have heart and you work hard enough for it! What about you?"
"We'll continue our journey," the guardian replied. "The Mi'ihen Highroad is just outside of Luca. We'll travel that way towards Djose. I hear there's another aeon there. It's worth checking out at least."
"I wish you luck. And watch out for those Al Bhed!"
"Take care of yourself, Darno," Tara spoke as she hugged the blitzer once more.
"And you too. Both of you, be safe!"
The pair made their way back to the dock to see Lana and Rayann off, on their trip back to Besaid.
"Well, that was quite a day, wasn't it?" Gian remarked. "I hope you enjoyed the tournament, and the post-game show."
Lana chuckled. "I think we've had more than enough excitement to last us for a while. But it was a fun tournament. And I'm glad everything worked out okay. So you will continue on your journey?"
"Yes," Tara replied. "We have a long road ahead of us. We've only just gotten started."
Tears fell from Rayann's eyes. "I'm gonna miss you, Tara, promise me you'll come back?" the girl asked as she hugged the summoner.
"You better believe it!" Tara responded, as Rayann's tears were replaced by a huge smile. "We're gonna be around for a long, long time!"
"Be good, and don't wander off anymore." spoke the guardian, as the little girl hugged him.
"I won't, I promise. I'll miss you, Gian!"
"I'll miss you too. Have a safe trip and be good!"
After all the hugs and goodbyes where exchanged, Lana and Rayann walked up the ramp to board their ship. The guardian called out to the little girl once more.
The child turned around and the guardian tossed her another small pouch of gems. Rayann's smile was from ear to ear.
At the entrance to the Mi'ihen Highroad, Tara remarked, "That was quite a day, wasn't it, Gian?"
"It sure was! I could use a little peace and quiet - and some coffee!"
"Let's go," the summoner replied. "The sooner we get down the road, the sooner we can get that coffee. I can't believe you've gotten me addicted to that stuff too!"
"There are worse addictions out there."
Both summoner and guardian shared a laugh. Together, hand in hand, they began to make their way down the Mi'ihen Highroad.