Disclaimer: Final Fantasy X, Spira, blitzball, and all related characters and locations are owned by Squaresoft, with the exception of a few original characters who will be noted as such. This is a work of fanfiction, meaning that it is both created by a fan for no purpose other than entertainment, and it is fiction, meaning that all characters and events are purely fictonal and any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental.

Also, I just spent the last of my money buying a Tidus doll, so please don't sue me. ^_^;;

Author's Note: The narrator of this story is Al Bhed, and some dialogue and idiomatic phrases have not been translated into English. Translations of all Al Bhed phrases can be found at the end of the chapter in which they appear.

Hey, Green Eyes

by flame mage

blitzoff 1: Tackle Slip

**********

The brilliant, jewel-like lights of Macalania Temple danced in my eyes. The snow, which up until then had been searing my exposed skin, suddenly felt like a warm feather quilt. I looked up, dreamily, and realized the sky had never looked so blue.

I was actually getting sappy enough to think crap like that as I sat down carefully on the steps of the temple, wrapped my arms around my knees, and waited to die.

Let me tell you: I was not in good shape here. I was freezing my butt off. Al Bhed aren't used to cold anyway-c'mon, our Home's in the desert; who needs sub-zero temperatures in a tropical oasis?-and I was wearing this skimpy blitzball uniform. Plus I was starving and irritated and starting to think that maybe this whole kidnapping-the-summoner thing wasn't such a hot idea, after all.

I was *really* irritated by the time they showed up, because the dying thing wasn't working out for me either. I'd been through several interesting shades of blue and my stomach hurt like a bitch, but I had yet to croak or even come close. So when the blond guy with the entourage showed up and interrupted the traditional flashing of my life before my eyes, I snapped grouchily in Al Bhed, "E's rihkno."

If the rest of the group had been there, I probably would have gotten to go back to kicking the bucket, but as it turned out, Blondie was the only one who approached me. He started to say something in halting Al Bhed, but right then a familiar voice piped up from the group, "Rana!" and a chunk of bread hurtled through the air and hit me on the head.

I stared at it for maybe a millisecond or two, ignoring the bread crumbs in my hair, then crammed the whole thing in my mouth and scarfed it down.

When I'd eaten every single crumb, I looked up through my slightly frosty goggles to see who owned the voice and found Aniki's little sister, Rikku, standing there.

"Linnie!" she yelped, throwing her arms around me in that enthusiastic way of hers that tended to grate on my already-short nerves. "Fryd yna oui tuehk rana?"

"Cdynjehk," I replied, disentangling myself. "E lysa uid rana du veht *ran,*" I jerked my thumb at the summoner, who was engaged in an animated discussion with Fuzzbrain Ronso and Madame Goth, "yht frah dryd cdibet pnudran uv ouinc pyemat uid, E kud rubamaccmo mucd. Yht *druca* kioc," here a thumb-jerk at the temple, "yna cu funneat ypuid yh esbina Al Bhed tavemehk draen nydruma uv y dasbma drao fuh'd ajah mad sa ehceta."

"Ur, hu, dryd'c dannepma!" Rikku cried in Al Bhed, instantly concerned for my plight. I cringed. Bubbly-type cheerleaderish girls like Rikku have always driven me up the wall, and I could tell she was ready to either burst into sympathetic tears or go beat up whoever had stranded me here. Aside from the fact that it was all her brother's fault, it wouldn't have been a bad idea-I had a sinking feeling that I wasn't going to see my money anytime soon.

"Hey," Blondie said behind her, "Yna oui bynahdc frana? Femm drao ryja lusa du muug vun oui?"

He was talking in textbook Al Bhed, but he was conjugating verbs like the kid who sleeps in the back of the room. I got the point, so I stood up and faced him. "Do I look like a little kid to you?" I demanded, hands on hips, letting him take in the bloody skintight blitzball uniform. "My parents aren't coming for me."

"Oh," he said in English.

I ignored him and turned to Rikku. "Is Wondergirl coming to pray at the temple?" I asked.

"Yes," she answered. "I am Yunie's guardian."

"Great." I rubbed my arms, trying to get the circulation back, then shoved my gloved hands in my armpits to keep them warm. "More power to her. Damn if I'm gonna get myself Popsicled just to convince her she's a moron."

"Don't say that!" Rikku cried. "Yunie-she thinks she can really stop Sin! And-she's my cousin!"

"If you really think that this chick getting herself fried will stop Sin, you're as stupid as she is. If she's your cousin and you think that's justification for you to get killed along with her, hey, go for it. But do you really think she can succeed where our machina have failed?" I asked.

"Fine! If you think that, you can be the first one to die when Sin comes back!" she yelled.

"Sin always comes back! It killed my parents, it'll probably kill me too. And there's nothing a little girl with a stick can do about it. Don't you get it? Sin always comes back!"

She didn't have a comeback. We were just standing there glaring at each other. "Fine," I spat afer a while. "Do what you want. Thanks for the food, but let's call it even for my advice. And tell that brother of yours that he's a self-righteous idiot, and the whole thing would've worked just fine if he hadn't turned and fled like a complete pansy!"

There was an awkward silence as I turned to go-don't ask me where, I guess I figured that the stupid dinner roll had given me enough energy to hike through a blizzard or something-but then I heard a voice behind me. In the same halting Al Bhed, Blondie said, "Ouin lmudrehk."

"What about it?" I asked wearily, in English. *I* stayed awake in language classes.

Gratefully, he switched to English. "It looks like a blitzball uniform. You blitz?"

"Yeah." I sighed. "Who doesn't, these days?"

"It's not regulation, though." He was studying the boots and the short, tailored bodysuit. "What team do you play for?"

I slouched against the wall-when a blitzer wants to talk game, you know you're not going anywhere for a while. "I'm a free agent. Forward."

"Are you any good?" he asked bluntly.

I raised an eyebrow at him. "My trademark move is Nap Shot 3, babe."

He gave a low whistle. "I've gotta see this."

"You got a ball?" I asked.

"Hey, Wakka," he called to a red-haired guy standing in the entourage, "lemme see the ball for a second."

"For what?" the guy asked. Belatedly, I picked up on the Besaid Aurochs uniform. Oh, shoot, I knew this guy. He was that old Aurochs captain who retired after the last tournament.

Blondie gestured at me. "She's gonna show me something."

Shrugging, Wakka tossed him the ball. I took my right hand out of my armpit, blew on it, and caught the ball neatly in one glove when Blondie threw it to me. "It's cold, ain't it?" I muttered. "Ugyo, ev E tu drec, oui'mm mad sa ku, nekrd?" He nodded. I lowered the ball in my right hand, closed my eyes for an instant to focus the black cloud of whatever-it-is that adds nap to a shot-don't ask me what it is; I have no clue-on the ball, and kicked it so that it went sailing halfway into the stratosphere.

"Whoa," Blondie and Wakka breathed as one.

"You think that's cool?" As I said it, the ball zipped straight back down into my waiting glove. I spun it on one finger, and bounced it off my heel back to Blondie, who caught it mechanically, still watching me.

"Linnie, that was amazing!" Rikku burst out, too excited to remember she was supposed to be mad at me.

"Who is this girl?" Wakka asked in Besaid-accented English.

Blondie bowed to me in the blitzer's salute. "She's the new forward for the Besaid Aurochs."

**********

Translations:

"E's rihkno." - "I'm hungry."

"Rana!" - "Here!"

"Fryd yna oui tuehk rana?" - "What are you doing here?"

"E lysa uid rana du veht *ran,* yht frah dryd cdibet pnudran uv ouinc pyemat uid, E kud rubamaccmo mucd. Yht *druca* kioc, yna cu funneat ypuid yh esbina Al Bhed tavemehk draen nydruma uv y dasbma drao fuh'd ajah mad sa ehceta." - "I came out here to find *her,* and when that stupid brother of yours bailed out, I got hopelessly lost. And *those* guys are so worried about an impure Al Bhed defiling their rathole of a temple they won't even let me inside."

"Ur, hu, dryd'c dannepma!" - "Oh, no, that's terrible!"

"Yna oui bynahdc frana? Femm drao ryja lusa du muug vun oui?" - "Are you parents where? Will they have come to look for you?"

"Ouin lmudrehk." - "Your clothing."

"Ugyo, ev E tu drec, oui'mm mad sa ku, nekrd?" - "Okay, if I do this, you'll let me go, right?"