Land of the Fayth
You’re a real tough cookie with a long history,
Of breaking little hearts like the one in me.
That’s ok; let’s see how you do it.
Put up your dukes, let’s get down to it.
Hit me with your best shot...
Come on and hit me with your best shot.
Hit me with your best shot...
Fire away!
Hit Me with Your Best Shot
Pat Benatar
Landing had been painful.
Looking around him, Sam spat out a mouthful of the golden sand which was spread everywhere. Ani and Nassy’s shield had shattered upon impact with the ground, and they had splayed outwards as they hit the sand. Giving a groan, Sam pushed himself off of his stomach and onto his knees, dusting off his clothing. Looking around for the staff he had been holding, he frowned when he saw it was gone. A few feet over, Nick was coughing, holding his arm. For the most part, they had escaped unscathed.
Getting to his feet shakily, Sam looked around, now that he was at a better vantage point. The beach was small, but covered in golden sand like he’d expect around the equator back in the Pokémon World. There were several plants he had never seen before, but the most interesting thing was the ruins that were overgrown with the plants.
Listening, Sam frowned. There were no birds whistling... No shuffling animals through the underbrush, there was nothing. Just silence.
It was the groan of Nick that pulled him back into the present. Remembering what had happened, he rushed over, kneeling next to Nick. The next few minutes were spent checking his arm for breakages, but in the end, Sam could guess that all he had done had sprained his shoulder.
“We’re lucky.” Sam said quietly. Looking up at Sam, sand covering his face, Nick blinked, before realising what was so lucky about the situation.
“I know. Coming through the atmosphere and hitting the ground at the speed of a comet? I’m surprised your sisters managed to hold it.” Nick replied, getting gingerly up. “You check your sisters out, since you and them are psychic. I’ll check the others.”
“Ok.”
“Healtia, we need you.” Nick yelled, grabbing a Pokéball from his belt and throwing it. The result was a pink ball, with a nurse’s cap on its head. Healtia, the evolved form of Blissey and the last in the four-line evolution. Taking in the situation with the calm, warm eyes of a practiced doctor, Healtia rushed to Josh’s aid, while Nick checked Daniel.
Giving a sigh, Sam walked over to his sisters, who had passed out side-by-side. Kneeling down, he extended his hands, holding them above the two prone forms. Anyone with the ability to see psychic powers would have seen an intense wave of blue fall from Sam’s hand to fall on Ani and Nassy as Sam mentally checked them for damage. Physically, they were unharmed, but their minds and powers were at very low levels, a result of their shielding. His eyes closed, Sam ignored the outside world until the sound of a gunshot rang out. His eyes blinking open, he stood up, pushing out with his psychic powers on instinct more than anything. A woman, brown hair, and in her mid-twenties, flew backwards, guns clattering out of her hands. Looking over, Sam saw a quailing Healtia trembling behind the smaller body of Nick. The look of fury on Nick’s face was one Sam had never seen before, and without a word, Nick marched forward.
“What the hell are you doing?” Nick roared at the woman. Getting up with a speed that implied that she was used to being knocked down, she grabbed her guns, focusing eyes, one a beautiful shade of ocean blue, the other a forest green, Sam was interested to note, on the group. Looking at the guns, Sam bit his lip, extending his hands to show they were empty. At once, his staff appeared again, manifesting in a shower of blue lights. This form was different though. Instead of having an intricate network of metal strands everywhere, this one had a Pokéball with wings stretching out from the top of it. The staff was polished wood again, this one oak. At the bottom was a cap identical to the one on Sam’s last staff.
‘Nirvana, Crest Form.’
Looking around at the whispering air again, Sam rolled his eyes. Extending the staff, he narrowed his eyes on the woman. “Shoot those guns and we’ll see what kinds of elements I can blast back at you.”
Raising her eyebrow, Yuna smirked. The boy was looking to be in his late teens, so she seriously doubted he could do anything much to hurt her. Memory then surged through, reminding her that she herself had destroyed the greatest that Spira had ever faced at the age of seventeen as well. From what she could tell, the fiend behind the blond boy wasn’t doing anything to hurt him, but that didn’t mean anything. Still angling her pistols at the pink creature, she arched an eyebrow in challenge to Sam.
“She wasn’t doing anything to you.” Sam said quietly, Nirvana still levelled at the woman. “Put your pistols down. She isn’t any threat. She’s here to heal us.”
Yuna frowned. “It knows white magic?”
Responding with a frown of his own, Sam looked over to Nick, who shrugged. “Magic is all fakery.” Sam returned. “She heals people by using a highly selective branch of psychic power.”
“And how were you planning to ‘see what kinds of elements you can blast at me?’ Yuna said dully. That froze Sam for a second.
“I’m not sure. I’m still figuring that out.”
Giving a sigh, Yuna shook her head. “It’s ok.” She said. “Look, I’m putting down my guns.” Since she was crouching, she simply dropped them. Relaxing as he felt relief surge through him, Sam knelt, putting Nirvana down between Ani and Nassy.
“I think we need to talk.”
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Sitting on the ground in front of his and Yuna’s tent, their home when they were in Besaid, Tidus basked in the sunlight that was soaking into his bronzed skin. It was very rare that he ever got the chance to relax like this, between playing for the Besaid Aurochs and being one of the infamous Gullwings. It was a good life though, and best of all, he lived it with the woman he loved.
His small musings were broken by the sound of running feet. Opening his eyes, he brushed blond hair from them, looking at the slightly chubby figure of Keepa, his team-mate on the Besaid Aurochs.
“Hey, wazzup?” Tidus asked, yelling in the direction Keepa had gone. Backtracking, Keepa jogged on the spot, red-faced from the effort of running.
“Yuna found a bunch of strange people on the beach, and most of them are knocked out.” Keepa said; his voice relatively light. Blinking, Tidus frowned, getting to his feet. This he had to see.
The path to Besaid Beach was long and winding, going through small, rainforest areas and through one or two waterfalls before it reached a cave which had been sealed until recently; going past that led you to the beach. Depending on how fit you were, it could take anywhere from twenty minutes to an hour to get there, assuming you weren’t attacked by fiends.
Cold steel snaked out, striking at an unnoticed fiend. Jumping, Keepa looked in awe at the blade embedded in the skull of the fiend, who gave a howl of anguish, before exploding into several, glowing orbs which floated off. Pulling Caladbolg back, Tidus looked grimly at the place the fiend had been. Tidus was known for being one of the fastest people in Spira, in the Blitzsphere and out. Oddly, he had only seemed to be getting faster lately, seeming to know the layout of the land better than people who had grown up on the island.
They had only gotten halfway there when they saw a small procession heading their way. Squinting slightly, the sun was in a bad position; Tidus shielded his eyes, attempting to make out who was there.
The brown-haired form near the front of the party had to be Yuna. However, she was dwarfed by the two figures beside her, one blond and one a red-head. In all his travels, Tidus had not met anyone in Spira with red hair, other than Wakka and his offspring. At least, not a red like this. Behind them, some people were supporting some litters which were holding some people, while another two seemed to be floating just behind Yuna, how, Tidus didn’t know. He could see a faint glimmer of blue under the ones behind Yuna, but that was about it. Jogging forward, Tidus met the group face-to-face, Keepa a small distance behind him.
“Hey.” Yuna said, as Tidus came up to her. Giving him a small smile; and a quick peck on the cheek, ignoring the colour he turned, she looked around. “Sam, Nick, this is Tidus.”
“Hi.” The red –head said, waving. “I’m Sam.”
“And I’m Nick.” The blond butted in, hot on the trail of Sam’s words. “Nice sword.”
Looking down at Caladbolg, Tidus gave a small shrug. “Yeah, I guess. Sharp too.” He added a serious look to his face as he looked pointedly at the two.
When Nick blinked, Tidus let out a burst of laughter. “Nah, I’m kidding. It’s great to meet you.” He said; a grin on his face. Looking Nick and Sam up and down, he raised an eyebrow. “You’re not from around here, are you?”
Looking at Tidus, Sam shook his head. Are we THAT obvious? He asked himself sarcastically. Outwardly, he smiled. “No. Um, a weird question, but do you know what Pokémon are?”
Tidus frowned. “Not a clue. Is it Al Bhed or something?”
“Al who?” Nick asked, looking confused.
“I don’t think so.” Sam added. “Here, I’ll show you.” Grabbing a red and white sphere from his belt, he hesitated as his eyes fell on Tidus’s sword again. “Uh, under no circumstances can you attack him, ok? He’s not gonna hurt you.”
Tidus exchanged a look with Yuna, wondering what this kid was on about. When she nodded, he gave a shrug, giving Sam his own nod.
Relaxing, Sam threw the ball up in the air. Following its trail with his eyes, Tidus jumped as the Pokéball suddenly seemed to exploded open, a jet of white energy pouring from the inside of the object. Rushing to form near the ground, it turned into a small blue and orange creature which was standing on its back legs.
Looking down at the creature, Tidus blinked. This was new. He had heard of Fiendtamers, even seen one in action, but never met one who carried the fiends around with him.
Matching Tidus’s stare, the creature looked back at the man, and then focused on his sword. Turning slightly, it turned to Sam, a quizzical look in its eyes.
“Marsh, mar, shtomp, stomp stomp, Marshtomp?” It said in a questioning tone. Looking down at the creature, Sam shook his head.
“No, he’s safe. That shot you heard earlier was from her.” Sam jerked his thumb at Yuna, who grinned sheepishly. “She shot at Healtia; it’s all cleared up now though.” Nodding its head, the creature turned back to Tidus.
“Marshtomp? Marsh, marsh Marshtomp!”
Nick and Sam promptly burst out laugh. Giving Sam a curious look, Tidus frowned when Sam waved his inquiring gaze away.
“Don’t worry. He was just commenting on your clothes.” Sam said.
“You can understand him?” Yuna asked her voice quiet. Looking at her, Sam grinned, moving his hair back to show his right ear, which had a small, blue stud in it.
“This thing. It’s got a special kind of technology in it that translate a Pokémon’s speech, and then passes it into the ear.” Sam explained. Leaning in, Yuna studied it intently for a moment.
“You have a machina?” Yuna asked, frowning as she looked at it.
“Machina?” Nick asked, frowning. “We have machines, but this is fairly low-levelled stuff. With our big machines, we’re capable of healing wounds and stuff almost instantly, as well as giving people psychic powers if they don’t have any.”
Yuna and Tidus shared another look, Yuna’s amazed, Tidus’s excited. “Ok, you need to meet a friend of ours.” Yuna said, taking off at a jog. Looking behind him, Sam shook his head. They still had to get his family to somewhere comfortable. Carefully moving forward, taking care not to jostle Ani or Nassy, he followed in Yuna’s direction, wondering just where they were. Something he hadn’t noticed until he had tried using his powers was the gravity was lower here, he was capable of jumping a lot higher here than he was back in his world. It also made it easy to levitate Ani and Nassy without using much psychic powers at all. Giving a sigh, Sam moved them forward, preferring to have them in front of him rather than behind.
Slowly, they made their way through the island. When they came upon a bluff, Sam gasped quietly. While the small village below wasn’t the largest he had ever seen, it just looked very quaint and seemed to fit in perfectly with the lush landscape of the island.
“Besaid Village.” Tidus said, coming up next to Sam. “The smallest town in Spira, and home to the Grand Summoner.”
“Who’s that?” Sam asked, cocking his head to the side.
“The Grand Summoner is the Summoner who defeated Sin once and for all.” Seeing Sam’s confused look, Tidus grinned. “Sin was a giant monster who ravaged the land, going after machines and machina. For a thousand years, he destroyed cities, towns, generally every place that had a lot of people.”
Sam shivered. “And the Grand Summoner got rid of Sin?”
Tidus nodded. “She, along with six others, found a way to get rid of the thing forever. Before, the only way was to do the Final Summoning, something that killed the user. The thing summoned would then become the next Sin. We found a way to get inside Sin and kill the Aeon that had become Sin.” Tidus’s mouth drew thin, as if he were reliving bad memories.
Sam raised an eyebrow. “We?”
Tidus smiled dreamily, staring off at the ocean from their vantage point. “Caught that, huh? The Grand Summoner is Yuna, and I was one of the six people with her. We were seventeen at the time.”
Sam whistled softly. “That’s how old I am now. Gotta say, the most I’ve done is broken dimensional walls and all that.”
Tidus raised an eyebrow. “Whatever you just said made no sense to me, but anyway. We’re getting left behind.” Leaning backwards, Sam looked down the slope that led to the village. Nick and the others were a fair distance away. Sam could almost hear Nick chuckling evilly. Rolling his eyes, Sam caught Tidus’s eyes.
“Race ya.”
That seemed to be the only sign Tidus was waiting for. He took off at an incredible speed. Waiting until the man was almost in the group; Sam felt a familiar tingling sensation spread throughout his body. A flash of sapphire light, and Sam was among the group, looking back at Tidus. “Wow, Tidus, you’re slow man.” He said innocently. Pulling up short of Keepa, Tidus blinked, looking behind him, then back at Sam.
Giving a laugh, Sam pushed past Nick, racing into the square of the village.