Chapter 2: Besaid
Thankfully our hero is a Blitzball which means he has intrinsic magic that lets him breathe underwater so he doesn't die. Instead, he wakes up near an island, and is immediately hit in the head by, well, a Blitzball ball, accidentally shot by
a few people practising on the beach. He does Star Player Of The Zanarkand Abes magic with the ball (not really magic, he's just really good at gaining momentum out of nowhere and shooting a ball) (well there actually
is some magic involved) and shoots it back at them. When he reaches the beach, one of the technically-not-shirtless guys,
Wakka, asks him if he can do that move one more time. He does, and Wakka says he's not an amateur, and asks who he plays for. Tidus, ever-so-helpfully, says "The Zanarkand Abes." The people on the beach start whispering to each other and Wakka asks him to repeat that, and he confesses having been near Sin and fibs about his head being foggy. Wakka says at least he's still alive, "Praise be to Yevon," doing a gesture Tidus knows as the good-luck gesture for Blitzball games.
Wakka introduces as Wakka, coach and captain of the Besaid Aurochs, and invites Tidus to come with him back to the village for some food. He goes with, and on the way asks Wakka if it's really true Zanarkand was destroyed a thousand years in the past. He explains that a long time ago there were many big cities with machines to run them in Spira; people played all day and left all the work to machina. He gestures at the
ruins around them and explains that one day Sin came and destroyed the machina cities, and opines that Sin's humanity's punishment for letting things get out of hand.
Tidus follows Wakka, who leads him to
a road ending in a cliff and then pushes him down into the water. They swim along, and on the way Wakka asks him to join his team for the tournament in Luca, where someone's bound to recognise him, and Tidus humorlessly assents to this. He confesses that the Aurochs never won a game since he joined the team, ten years ago when he was thirteen, and that he quit last year after the tournament, and found a new job. But he says he couldn't stop thinking about the game, and that he wants to go out with a bang this year. He says his goal is to give his best, and that's enough to walk away happy, but Tidus says that's not good enough, and his goal should be Victory!
They continue on their way to the village and run into
two people who tell them to be careful of fiends on the road. Wakka says they're Luzzu and Gatta, Crusaders, and that Tidus can find their lodge in the village to ask them what they are. They reach it, and Wakka asks Tidus if he knows the prayer. Tidus never prayed in his life, but the gesture is
the same one he uses for luck so he knows it. He tells Tidus to go present himself to the temple summoner, and walks off.
Tidus goes talk to the Crusaders, who say they are sworn to battle Sin, having chapters throughout Spira and accepting any who wish to help. The hero Mi'ihen formed the Crusaders eight hundred years ago, when they were known as the Crimson Blades. Tidus is surprised they haven't beat Sin in eight hundred years, and they say they've steered Sin away from towns countless times, and that's all they can do, as no one's been able to defeat it. He asks whose job it is to defeat Sin if not theirs, and they are baffled by how bad the toxin is and tell him he should pray at the temple to recover his memories. He
does, and once there realises just how different Spira is from Zanarkand. He examines a statue, and a priest tells him Lord Braska became high summoner ten years ago. He asks what a high summoner is, and when people gasp, explains he got too close to Sin's toxin, and the priest explains that summoners protect the people of Yevon by calling forth aeons, beings of great power and the blessing of Yevon.
He goes to Wakka's lodge and takes a nap to wait for lunch, dreaming of the day his father disappeared and of telling his mother he hated his father. He wakes up and, not seeing Wakka in the lodge, goes looking for him, and finds him at the temple arguing with the priest. Wakka says the apprentice summoner hasn't returned from the trial, and explains that summoners pray in a room beyond the Cloister of Trials to become real summoners. He says the summoner's been there for a day, and that it can sometimes be dangerous, but they can't help because there are already guardians in there, and it's forbidden. Tidus climbs the steps into the Cloister in spite of this, saying the summoner could die.
He solves the puzzles in the Cloister of Trials, and Wakka catches up to him, explaining that only summoners, apprentice summoners, and their guardians can enter, and says he's a guardian. He explains that summoners go on a pilgrimage to pray at every temple in Spira, and the guardians protect them. They reach
the antechamber, where
two people are waiting. The woman - Lulu - asks why they interrupted, and who Tidus was, but before they can answer
the summoner comes out of the Chamber of the Fayth and announces her success, and Tidus is very surprised she's not some old geezer.
Tidus comes out of the temple, and
everyone watches the summoner summon for the first time. That evening, Wakka introduces Tidus officially to the rest of the Besaid Aurochs, and Wakka gives them a pep talk. Tidus walks up to the summoner, and the people she's talking to call him a heathen and a bad man, and tell him to stay away from her. She stands up and goes talk to him, introducing herself as Yuna, and thanks him for his help. She asks him if he thinks she could become high summoner, he tells her he thinks so, and she's very happy. She tells him they'll be going on the same boat the following day, and she hopes he'll tell her everything about Zanarkand then.
He goes to bed, has weird dreams, wakes up in the middle of the night and hears a conversation between Lulu and Wakka outside, where Lulu says "he" does look like Chappu but Chappu is dead and Wakka should stop making excuses. When Wakka walks into the lodge, he explains to Tidus Chappu's his little brother, who was a Crusader and was killed by Sin last year. Wakka says he heard it the day of the tournament, and Tidus realises that's why they lost, and he explains he became a guardian to fight Sin and avenge Chappu. He promises to become a guardian full-time after the tournament, and Tidus thanks him for all the help.
The next day, Wakka gives Tidus Chappu's old sword. He says Yuna came to Besaid ten years ago, when the last Calm started, and that she was like a little sister to him and Lulu. She had the talent to become a summoner, and became one yesterday, so now Lulu says they should wait for her so they'll leave together. She leaves the temple carrying a box of gifts for the temples, but leaves it behind because "This isn't a vacation, Yuna." As they climb the hill high enough to see the village from a distance, Lulu tells Yuna to take her time, and Wakka tells Tidus they'll wait for her. Tidus is confused about what that was all about, and then watches Wakka, Lulu, and Yuna pray at a shrine, and they move on.
They continue walking away when the blue horned lion-person who was with Yuna at the temple suddenly attacks Tidus. Wakka asks him to cut it out, and Lulu explains he's Kimahri Ronso of the Ronso tribe, and has learnt the fiends' way of fighting. Wakka says he's one of Yuna's guardians, and she tells Tidus she doesn't really understand him but he's protected her since she was a child.
They go on to the beach, catch the boat, and leave the Isle of Besaid.
