Luca is the second biggest town in all of Spira. Each year Blitzball Teams from all over Spira gather to play in a tournament. It was four years ago, when Tidus played for the Besaid Aurochs and helped them on to victory. He then became a well known Blitzball Scout, scouting out team Members for the team and led the team to even further victory. Yet there were other members from other teams who did not like him, nor did they like his claims of comming from Zanarkand, which to the entire populace of Spira was a City that was destroyed, by the Machina war.

One such member, was Bikson. He openly scoffed Tidus for his wild claims. Yet Tidus in the first half of the match in the Luca Blitzball stadium showed his worth and played his best, giving the team that Margin of hope, that for once, the Besaid Aurochs would win. With that chance, he left the sphere pool. Encouraged Wakka to give his all, and Wakka won the game, bringing to Besaid the Blitzball cup.

Yet Bickson, still scoffed at Tidus. To this day the Captain of the Luca Goers has never forgotten his teams defeat.

Now I, four years later, have been given Tidus’s spot on the Besaid Aurochs team. There are high expectations for me. To recap, my name is Tina. I, like Tidus and his father before him, have a love for Blitzball, and believe that when you play Blitzball, you play to win.

There’s an hour wait for the tournament to start, and the expectations of me, make me feel awkward. Wakka isn’t here, in fact it is I who am giving the speech, and the male members of the team all look at me with hope in their eyes. Wakka has told them that my skills in Blitzball Match those that belonged to Tidus. Yet, even though I have practiced, and have offered tips and hints to the members, I only see a slight margin of improvement.

"Okay Guys, this is it. Wakka’s at home taking care of his son, and Tidus isn’t here. It’s my job to make sure you all play and that you all play well. Wakka states that you should do your best, yet I know we have the capabilities to be even better. I know we can win. You’ve been practicing real hard since I came to Besaid Island. Now we’re here at Luca, and we’re going to face the Luca Goers. Save your strength, pass to your other team mates, and Mark those who have techs that you do not know. Just make sure that you have enough in you to learn the techs." I said firmly as I looked first at Keepa, then Leffty, and the others. They nodded their heads. Looking at these men, I knew that they wanted to get the first place in all of the tournament. Expectations were high.

"Where I come from, the sign for Blitzball Victory is the movements people here used as a way of paying respect to those of the Yevon, and New Yevon Religion, I also know that you use it from time to time to greet the Summoners. People say that the movemnets have no meaning, but it’s not true. It is a sign of Victory!"

Having said that I did the movements of my own accord and the team as a whole did me the same courtesy. They looked motivated. We then huddled around the benches and decided on our plan of stragety.

I would be in center. The team felt that this was the best position for me, considering my strength and speed in swimming. The others then took their respective slots and we all filed out of the locker room and into the sphere pool.

Swimming in the water, and feeling weightless, hearing the muted crowds cheering, I focused on the Captain of the Luca Goers. It was Bickson, and already he was taunting the team. I steeled myself against him and took my place, and waited. The ball shot in the air and I shot up with it, catching the ball. The Game had started.

As a whole we did what we were good at, we passed, we set eachother up for our moves, and we were the first to score a goal. Only then did I realize that Bickson had me marked, and when I had been set up to shoot again for the second time, did I get tackled in the worst way. He had decided to use the poision tackle, and I took it badly. In the end he had the ball and his team were making a mockery of all our practice. Knowing that with each move I made, I would have my health decreased, I floated off to the side.

Hoping against hope that Leffty would be able to retrieve the ball, or that Keepa would at least be able to use his Suprer Goalie tech to stop the shooter from getting the score. It proved to be futile. They scored to us three times, and the goal was now 3 to 1. The odds were not in our favor. We needed to regroup and re think our stragity. Yet there was still two minuites of game play. Throwing caution to the wind, I called for an all out attack by waving my arms, and met Bickson at the center.

Bickson glared at me, and I glared back. The ball shot upwards and we both knived through the water to reach the ball. Bickson took a diffrent tactic with me that time, using a burst of speed he shot higher then myself and grabbed the ball and passed to another team member, who went straight for the outter part of the Sphere and passed it back to Bickson who had only moved a slight way away from myself. I swam to meet up with him. I was the only defender, it was a one man break through, and I knew I didn't have that much left to even be remotely effective. It was all on the hope that he would try to pass.

He didn’t.

I tackled, and he was sucessful in keeping the ball. He then shot forward, swimming with all his might, and I gave chase, knowing that I needed to get the poison ailment off me or I would end up losing my strength as a player and hinder the team.

They were toying with us. Bickson had this look of complete sheer hilarity, as he taunted me. I shook my head. There was no way, I'd lose to this self centered prick, and I was hell bent on at least trying to give the team back it's edge.

Crossing my arms infront of my face, I leveled myself out and swam as fast as I could. My whole mind, concentrating on getting that ball. I rammed him right in the gut, and smirked as the ball came away from Bickson in my hands. I Fliped in the water and swam over his head and started to swim towards the goal, looking for any clear path to pass to a team mate. At that moment, I wasn't keeping track of Bickson like I should have, and was met with a tackle for the ball from the side, which caused something to snap, and an intense pain filled my left side where my ribs were, I squirmed and my head hit his chin.

Feeling dizzy and weak I let go of the ball and watched as Bickson swam for it, then kept swimming after he grabbed it. Everything was distorted. The muted roar of the cheering crowd deafend my ears. My head pounded, and my eyelids grew heavey behind my goggles.

I saw white spots, and knew that I needed to get out of there, but I didn't know up from down. I then felt hands on my body, gently touching and probing. My mind was so focused on wanting to sleep that I paied no attention to it.

I blacked out, listening to the muffled sounds of the commentators.

One thought on my mind.

I had failed.

"Yunie... This so does not look good." Said Rikku as her voice filtered into my head. Yet I found I could not open my eyes. Nor could I move. I felt, as if I were paralized.

"At least the medics were able to use a Curaga spell to heal her injuries, and they did use the Esuna spell to remove the poison in her system, but the ribs will take some extra time to heal." Paine said as I heard the sound of her high heeld boots step across the floor to my right.

"But why won’t she wake up?" Rikku said. "I’m really worried." All the while I felt a cool hand on my forhead.

"She doesn’t seem to have a fever. Perhaps she’s just over exerted herself." Yuna said.

I wanted to sit up, and tell them I was fine, but I couldn’t move. My voice seemed to be gone. I had suffered a defeat. It was my fault that the team had lost. Something like that had never happened before, and something like this had never happened before either.

The girls kept talking while my mind wandered.

"Has Tidus been contacted about this?" Yuna asked as the hand left my forehead and was replaced by a cool cloth.

"Yeah, I contacted brother on the airship and gave him the news, and he said he’d pick him up right away. Oh, and Shawna was on the airship too, I guess she wanted to go pick him up or something. Anyways, they should be here shortly..."

At that moment I heard the door to the locker room bang open.

"Oh gods..." Said a female voice. "Will she be okay?" My mind gave a snap and I felt a wave of anger. It was Shawna.

"She better be okay!" Tidus growled as I heard the blitzball player punch his fist into a wooden door to a locker. "When I get my hands on Bickson..."

"Tidus! Calm down. Your friend is ill. We need to make sure that she’ll get through this." Yuna said in a motherly tone, almost as if she were scolding a child.

"But Yuna! Bickson is the one who did this to her! I’ll make him pay."

"That’s all fine and dandy Tidus." Paine said in her serious voice, "But before you go and get yourself into a fight with that basterd, we need to find a way to wake Tina up."

"I know! It’s just that..." Then everything went silent.

I was floating, drifting. I felt alone.

"You’re not alone. You have us with you. Valefore at this moment is using her energy to heal you." It was the voice of a man. A man who sounded wise and caring. I didn’t say anything. I simply floated, and listened to the voices.

"Do you know why you are unable to move?" Said the voice of a young female girl I recognized from when Tidus had first disapeared so long ago. I Shook my head.

"I see. It seems that a dorment part of you made you like this, so that we could talk to you. It is important that you listen to us. A great evil has been unleashed. She is an unsent, and her ties to the land of Spira have something to do with you. We do not know what yet, but please be careful on your quest for answers."

"It is also very urgent that you pay close attention to who is around you. You will need someone to bond with, if not things might not go as we plan. Your story is scattered all over Spira. It will be a long and difficult journey. You have found Two of us at temples. If you follow the paths of a Pilgramage you will find the others, but one will be hard to find. Her Temple is lost. Good luck." Said the Male voice as the darkness turned bright, and a slit of white light opened before me.

"Now. It is time you woke up. Your friends need you."

I woke up to an empty room. The girls and Tidus were gone, and I was met with a unreal silence.

"Heck." I muttered, as I got up and opened the door leading out into the hallway of the locker room. No one was around, which to me wasn’t a good sign that things were well. Something, felt off.

I walked down the hallway and turned to hurry up the steps leading out to the central outside of the Luca Stadium Docks, when I was met with the sounds of Scuffling. I followed the source and turned down the curved walkway on the right, only to be faced with a rough and tumble fight.

It was to be expected, Tidus while growing up, was known to get into fights a whole lot, and that was usually when he thought he had been greatly wronged in some way, in this case, he was pissed off at Bickson, and blamed him for my own short comings.

"Get him Tidus." Rikku screeched as she bent forward and pumped her left fist into the air, "He deserves it for being such a Caosuna!"

"I could go for a little hurt time myself, you know. I may not look like it, but I’m thinking giving Bickson a few poundings could be really fun." Paine said as she too looked ready to jump in on the rough and tumble fight. Only Yuna seemed like she was trying to stop them.

"Tidus! Do you really have to fight him? Seriously, fighting never solved anything." She said trying to get the two blitzball rivials apart, and failing badly. Yet both were much more concerned in trying to land punches on each others faces.

Standing there I watched, as they fought.

"You take that back Bickson. You take it back, or I’ll make you eat those words." Tidus growled at Bickson, as the two rolled over and over on the cement trying to pin the other down, in a ever constant war of masculine domination.

"Why should I? She was a bad choice for the team. She’s obviously a bad player like the rest of the them. It’s as things should be. The Aurochs are more well known for never winning any games. Why bother keeping up to the high expectation of that one solitary win? It’s not like she’s a Star player for the Zanarkand Abes..." Bickson said as he managed to stand up, and rub his left cheek. Tidus too was standing, hands gripped at his sides.

"Why you..." Tidus said as he raised both his fists, ready to land a much deserved blow to Bicksons abdomen, and anywhere else he saw fit. "Rikku’s right, you really do deserve a good thrashing."

"STOP IT!" I found myself yelling as I ran in between the two men. "This is stupid. Is this the kind of Sportsmanship that Jecht has taught us Tidus? Is this how we treat a fellow blitzer?" I said looking at Tidus, just wanting the whole thing to stop. "Is this really how we should act? I made a bad call, okay? It’s done and over with. I can live with my own mistakes. So let’s just drop it."

Tidus looked at me asking the first thing that popped into his mind. "When did you wake up?"

To which I quicky replied, while shaking my head,. "Never mind that." He looked at me standing infront of hin then shook his head, then and only then did he lower his fists. "You’re right. He isn’t worth it. Lets go, we have a long road ahead of us." He said turnning and walking away.

Greatfully I smiled and started to step away, when Bicksons voice whispered in my ear. "What, you don’t think you’re from Zanarkand too do you? You have to be kidding me, Zanarkand is nothing but a bunch of ruins. Seriously, where does Wakka find you people? Or does the whole team think they’re from Zanarkand? As for the great Guardian Jecht knowing the two of yo...."

I didn’t let him finish what he was saying, I had heard enough. I spun, my right hand curling into a fist, my arm swinging upwards and in, connecting with his face.

"Bickson." I said as he looked at me, shock registering on his face. " Just. Shut up." I said turning and walking away. "It’ll do you more good, to keep your arrogant mind on being better at sportsmanship then insulting people." I never even looked back. I kept walking forward, my head held high.

"Wow. That felt refreshing." I said as I joined the others.

"Not to mention very hypocritical of you, after the speech you gave me." Tidus said as he walked along with his hands behind his head. "Why did you hit him anyways?" He asked.

"He, he said some bad things about Jecht." I said as I rubbed the back of my neck and rotated my shoulders trying to get them to feel normal after having played such an intense game of blitz ball. "He said he didn’t believe that he knew us."

"Heh, I wouldn’t have claimed to know him here anyways. Never did like him anyways." Tidus said looking at him. "Thing is, you were the only one who actually paid any attention to him out of the two of us when we were kids."

I didn’t say anything. I knew the subject of his father was touchey, it was best to avoid it so taking my chance at the silence between us I decided to go ahead and move onto other topics of interest.

"Hey Rikku, what’s a Caosuna?" I asked as I ran to catch up to her.

"Huh? Oh! Caosuna, is actually an Albhed word for someone I used to know." Rikku said as she walked with me, as the others and Tidus followed behind.

"Caosuna," Paine said. "Rikku, you called Bickson Seymore?" Paine asked as she walked behind us.

"Yeah, Seymore was a real annoying unsent that plauged us from Macalania and on. Right up till we got inside Sin.

"Rikku, wasn’t Seymore the new Mayster for the Guado though?" Paine asked with a look of confusion.

"Well yeah, he was, but he killed his father to get that position. Yuna wanted to set things right, but then well..." Rikku paused. "It’s really a long story. Short Story, he was evil, we killed him, he became an unsent, and bugged us. We fought him three times when he was an unsent, after the last battle he was weak enough for Yuna to send him."

"I see." Paine said, as we turned up one of the Docks. "Anyways, the tournaments done, so what’s the plan now?"

"Oh. We’re going to take an Albhed Ship out to Baaj Temple. There’s some wreckage there, around where we found Tina. Want to investigate it." Rikku said as she stopped infront of a large ship with a crane on it. "Oh, and before you ask, we would have taken the airship, except Buddy wants to do some engine repairs, thats why we opted for the Albhed Ship."

"Well, at least we’re going." I said as I breezed past her and onto the deck of the ship. "I’m interested in the wreackage of that ship myself. I’m hoping I can find some answers there."

"What kind of answers?" Paine asked as she too followed me onto the deck, leaving Tidus, Yuna, and Rikku to talk. "Just, answers to help me sort out a few things." I said as I leaned against the rail.

"So, you’re looking for answers to personal questions." Paine said. "I can understand that. You and I have a few things in common."

"Oh really, like what?" I asked as the ships engine turned on and I felt the movement of the ship glide on the water.

"Well, for example, you don’t smile all that much. Not to mention you keep to yourself a whole lot." Paine said as she leaned against the railing as well. "You’re very secretive. Like I was two years ago."

"I have my resons." I said.

"As did I, but after a while, I learned to open up. It’ll be the same for you as well. It’s what we call change." She said as she turned to go below deck. "Just watch, you’ll open up more, and you won’t even know it."

"Yeah sure. Whatever." I said as I let the wind brush across my face. "I doubt it." I looked at the waters as we left dock four of the Luca Stadium, leaving behind the world of Blitzball, contnuing on our journey.

A Journey to find answers. Answers I desperatly need to know.