Bitzball Luca Goers vs. Al Bhed Psyches

<all spots taken>

Players:
Luca Goers:
Marinus
Rosco
Gatre


Al Bhed Psyches:
Baligaar
Keke
Jonas
-------Quick Note-------------------

Who ever is shooting the goal has to play as the goalie (just for that shot), so make it fair when it comes to the shot (not everyone can be like Jecht).

The comentators are just for the first post (to spice up my introduction to the game)
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As the gates to the stadium opened, the crowd flooded in by the hundreds. Everyone had come to see the epic grudge match between the Luca Goers and the Al Bhed Psyches for the final spot in the Blitzball Tournament finals. The day had been very sunny, with no clouds in the sky, making for the perfect match to be unleashed.

The cannons below the centre of the stadium suddenly shot water into the sphere. The crowd watched as the sphere filled up with water and the commentators gave a pre match speech about the teams.

Wedge: And here we are with a beautiful day for Blitzball.

Biggs: That's right Wedge, and today we have two of the best teams in Spira. Our very own Luca Goers, who will hopefully win this years Tournament, and the Al Bhed Psyches. Who know how to put up a great fight and make any game seem like a walk in the park.

Wedge: Yes, and on the Goers team we have Marinus, the legendary team captain and midfielder and Rosco, probably one of the best defenders the Luca Goers have ever had. There's also a late change to the team. With the almost invincible Gatre joining the Goers. He has his super ability dubbed "Plan B" where he sacrifices himself just to get a goal. What a remarkable man, to go to such lengths!

Biggs: And on the Al Bhed Psyches, we have Baligaar, one known for his spin passes which will confuse almost anyone, even those watching! Jonas, who is probably Spira's fastest swimmer and one deadly shot.

Wedge: There is also a new fella called Keke, who looks promising as a defender. He's abilities include his elite defence, which allows him to intercept a pass from far away.

Biggs: Yes, this will be one of the greatest matches in Spira's history. With this lot of legends, I guarantee that this will be one epic match.

The Goers and the Psyches swam out into the middle of the sphere, face by face. Both the captains, Marinus and Baligaar stared each other in the face. Baligaar put out his hand, as a sign to keep the game clean. Marinus hesitated for a second, then decided to shake anyways, to show that he would try to keep the game clean.

The teams went back to their starting grids, waiting for the Blitzball to be released from it's starting platform. The crowd went silent as the count-down started. Three, Two, One. The Blitzball shot up into to water, as both Marinus and Baligaar swam straight for the ball.

The Al Bhed were always taught not to be nervous before a blitzball game of any magnitude. It was their duty to go out and win, and typically, they always received a metal, but they were just not the best team all the time. Baaligar knew that he shouldn't be nervous, but he was. He was up against Marinus today, and that was always a tough assignment for him. He had a lot of respect for him, and always gave an extra effort when pitted against him. He did have Jonas though, and Jonas was a brilliant scorer, so if he made a mistake it would be fine. He made up his mind to just go out and be aggressive. If he just made Marinus work hard for everything that he got, Baaligar could be satisfied with his performance.

Baaligar walked side by side with Jonas, the leading assist to goal combo in all of Spira. They were up against it today, and the two knew that as they came out of the tunnel and swam into the sphere. They gave each other a head nod, and Baaligar turned to the rest of the team with a grin, hoping to give them a bit of confidence.

After a short meeting with Marinus mid sphere, the two men respectfully shook hands and parted for the beginning of the game. As the countdown rang out, and the crowd went absolutely wild, the sphere itself began to rattle a bit. Baaligar felt as if he was going to vomit, the same feeling he always got before the jump, but when that horn sounded, and the ball was released, it was if he was set free from the pressure, it was just the game now.

He sprang off of his legs and got a perfect jump on the ball, not even allowing it to get to the top before grabbing the ball away from Marinus. He kicked Marinus with both legs to get some seperation and allow some time to let his forwards get down the field. As Marinus gave chase to him, Baaligar swam to the right of the sphere, drawing the other forward and right defender. It was three against one, and Baaligar gave up a little bit of ground. He saw the left defender caught defending both forwards, and this gave Jonas an opening. Baaligar stopped where he was and gave his patenented spin pass, the ball swirving through the three defenders, curving along the wall and straight at Jonas.

The game was under way, and Baaligar was off to another great start.

Marinus had a set look of determination on his face. He didn’t want to lose this match, or let the Al Bhed even get ahead in the points. This was his time to be the hasty one form the starting block. He had to get the ball first, before Baligaar snatched and got another goal again.

The countdown started again, and this time it was Marinus who obtained the ball first. He took a sharp turn to the right to avoid Baligaar, who was coming straight for him. He was now ahead of Baligaar, but had more problems ahead of him. Keke was right in front of him, the only way around was to take a direct hit, or to pass to someone else.

Marinus stood his ground, as Keke came flying into him with a kick to his chest. This knocked Marinus back a bit, but he held on tightly to the ball, so it didn't become in possession of the opponents. But things were getting worse for marinus, as Baligaar had caught up to him. There was only one way to get around this ball snatcher.

Marinus Threw the ball into the direction of Rosco, hoping that Baligaar would miss the ball, and that Rosco would be able to catch it from that distance.

Rosco swam at the ball that was coming in his direction, he easily caught it but there was a new problem, what could he do with the ball when he was defender in his own end of the sphere, as he started swimming at the opposition he thought if he could draw away his opponents he could create a diversion for Marinus to possibly get the ball and score, so he started swimming as fast as his legs would move him and swam around to the left of the sphere and indicated to Marinus to move up the right side of the sphere.

Rosco now had 2 of the Al Bhed Psyches after him and the other two where thinking about chasing him. He looked back and saw he had Baaligarr and Keke after him both swimming alot faster them himself. Jonas was taking chase after Marinus as he seemed to be the only one who saw what Rosco was doing. Keke amazingly caught up a lot faster then he had hoped and got infront of him slowing down Rosco.

They all where about three quarters into the Al bhed's side and this was far enough for Rosco as he needed to get back to his own end, Keke still infront of him preparing to tackle Rosco, Keke attacked with a kick aimed at Rosco's stomach and had his arm out ready to take the ball. Rosco span over Keke's head and landed on his back and pushed himself further to the goal and dropped the ball and aimed a kick at Marinus. He kicked the ball with all his might and the pass was amazingly accurate. All rosco could do now was hope that Marinus got to the ball before Jonas and managed to get a shoot in, But Rosco was already heading back to his place as the defender.

As Marinus swam into position to receive the ball, he saw Jonas following him. He knew that this would be a tough time to get a goal, so he had to come up with a new plan. He thought to himself, while Rosco was still swimming to his position. The only way around Jonas would be to beat him at his own game.

Without warming, Marinus swam towards Rosco, who kicked the ball into the direction of Marinus. He was side by side with Jonas, who had caught up quickly. Marinus slowed down Jonas by swimming in front of him, but this wasn't hard for Jonas to recover from. They both scrambled to the ball, shoving each other, trying to get rid of the other.

Marinus managed to push Jonas out of the way just in time, as he caught the ball that was about to whiz past them both. He made a quick attempt to get near the goals, but was cut off by Keke. He now had two Al Bhed on him, and the third one was closing in.

Marinus decided to try and withstand two of the opponent's tackles and shoot past the last one. He braced himself for the first hit, WHAM!! Keke delivered a painful head butt to Marinus, but he was able to recover from it. Just as he was sitting up from the blow, Baligaar came in for a side kick. BAM!!! He hit Marinus in the stomach, leaving him more wounded than he expected, but still, Marinus got up from Baligaar's hit.

He aimed carefully at the goals, so that the ball would go in, but at the same time dodge Jonas' block. He kicked as hard as he could, and watched as the ball went hurdling off towards the goals. Jonas went for the grab, but couldn't quite get to it, as it just missed him by fingernail's length.

The goalie was prepared for it, waiting for the ball. He reached out, as the Blitzball came hurtling towards him. He just managed to tap the ball out of the way, just before it went in.

Unlucky for him, Marinus was waiting. He knew the ball wouldn't go in from such a distance. In the time it took for the ball to reach the goalie, Marinus had swam up to the goals, ready for him to send it straight back. Marinus thought this would be a great time to show off. When the ball came straight back to him, he delivered a round house kick to the ball, sending it straight back into the goals.

The goalie had suspected this and leapt for the ball. Only missing it by an arm's length. The crowd cheered as the ball hit the back of the net. Marinus was happy with this outcome, evening out the score early in the game. He just needed to get more goals in order to win this game for the Luca Goers.

Gatre swam past Marinus and high fived him happily.The pressure had been alleviated now that the score was even...and with an abundance of time left the possibilities for this game were endless.

He grinned at the Psyches and swam back into his original position, waiting for the ball to be put back in play.

Baaligar was certainly upset that his kick wasn't enough to shake the ball free from Marinus, even after a powerful attack from his best defender. What started out as such a promising start had been erased and it was up to Baaligar to get his team back on track in the last minute of the half. This is where Baaligar thrived, in last minute, clutch situations.

The ball sprang up and Baaligar grabbed it before Marinus could even come down from his emotional high after scoring his impressive goal. Baaligar was so quick to get the ball that Marinus was still trying to swim up without realizing that it was gone. As Baaligar moved past him, he pushed the bottom of Marinus' boot to keep him going up and not deal with him.

Continuing on, he was already too far up field to deal with their attackers, and only the two defenders were remaining. Rosco was obviously the one that he had to worry about, and Baaligar took a note of that.

He and Jonas already knew what the plan was when time was running short. It was Baaligar's job to get past the midfielder, and step one was out the way. Jonas was on an all out fly towards the goal, and his defender was running with him. Rosco was closing in on Baaligar, finally deciding to leave his man open. When Jonas' defender decided to go after the now open forward.

Before Rosco could get to him, Baaligar stopped, and took a deep shot, well out of his scoring range. He put a lot of force behind the ball, but cared not about accuracy. As the ball whizzed through the sphere and didn't even get on goal. What it did was draw the goalie to his right and put him in a bad spot. He would have to get well off his post to retrieve the ball, or stay put and let him and Jonas be one on one. As he hesitated, he got stuck sticking to the right post, and the ball was headed right for Jonas. Baaligar didn't mind shooting without accuracy, he had the best volley shot in Spira on his team.

Jonas saw the rebound, but he also realized the defender he got behind was hot on his tail and he didn't have much space to make a play. He saw the ball heading straight towards him and didn't lose any speed to risk being caught.

When the ball finally reached Jonas he unleashed a wicked one timer to the top shelf. The shot was so hard and so high on the net the goalie did not have time to catch the ball. He made the save with his left arm, but he didn't control the desparation rebound and the ball bounced right to Baaligar.

The rebound shot out to far for Jonas to have another crack at the rebound, so he stayed in front of the net screening the Goers goalie waiting to see if Baaligar could get another shot to the net.

Maybe in his younger days Baaligar would have been prone to let this opportunity be a failed attempt. Young players all went through their watching phase at some point. Being satisfied with your own effort and then assuming that everything was in the net from that point was not a sin, but it definitely could be the deciding factor in a game with such low scores.

Rosco made this mistake, knowing that Jonas had a nice opportunity and that only seven seconds remain on the clock, so he turned to hope that he would miss. Of course, Rosco was right, and just before he could smile that he missed the goal, he must have felt tiny when he saw another Al Bhed player slam into him, essentially setting a back pick for Baaligar to race towards the goal without contest.

Baaligar wasn't exactly the prettiest goal scorer, or even close, and he didn't really come into any game expecting to score. He was a veteran though, and he knew that at any point in the game, the other team would disrespect the little scoring ability that he did have. He may not be a wicked phenom of a scorer like Jonas and Gatre who were in the sphere today, but this was just a gift from machina heaven with three seconds remaining and the ball spinning sideways towards him.

Baaligar took a quick swim upwards and dove down on top of the ball, pounding it back down towards the nets and sent it straight in to the bottom left portion with a strong header that left nothing to be desired. The lights around the sphere flashed with just one second left on the clock and the first half pretty much over. 2-1 Psyches.

After a quick hand slap to Jonas and Keke, both teams agreed to leave the sphere and call it a half. As the team rested and regathered there energy, no talks of strategy were made. The team ad been together for a while now and they were satisfied with their first half, hoping to see more of that in the second. When the time was up, the Psyches were the first team back in the sphere and ready to start the second half.

Marinus wasn't pleased with the outcome. He knew if he lost this match, there was very little hope of holding the tournament trophy. All he could do at the time was watch from a distance as the Al Bhed scored within the last few seconds. He knew that if they could pull off a stunt like that, it would be no problem for him and his team to pull of something way more better.

As the team entered the locker rooms for a bit of a break, Marinus gathered them around for a word. People could tell by the look on his face that he was annoyed at the current score, and all knew what Marinus was like if the situation was turned against him.

"Alright! We have to change our mood if we wanna win. We have to be the offending team, not the one's getting our asses kicked. If you want to even hold that tournament trophy, you will have to score more and make sure they don't score at all!"

Marinus' little speech had given the Goers just what they needed. Just that little bit more encouragement so they could actually have what it takes to beat down these Al Bhed.

The Luca Goers swam back in to the sphere pool, with Marinus' words ringing in their heads they were ready for the second half. They knew that they could take down these bulldozers and take home the trophy. They swam into position, waiting for the countdown to begin.

So much for an easy going game...my first day with the Goers and it's already looking bleak.I mean, why in yevon's name would they stick a rookie like me in a tournament game?Meh, no use complaining...at least it'll give me the chance to make a name for myself.It'll ring throughout the ears of every pub-goer in Spira!Gatre, the greatest forward of all time!

Only time will tell...and before that can happen they have to win this game first.He wasn't worried though...just so long as they remained purely offensive they still had a very good shot at taking this game.And should worse come to worse...there was always Plan B.

He swam into position and stared at the ball in center field...awaiting the Blitzoff with obvious anticipation.He would make a goal, and no longer would he be stuck in the shadow of his idol Jonas.To play against him was a treat in itself...but beating him at his own game?That would be priceless.And after this, he'll even attempt to get his autograph.Today was gonna be a good day...if they won that is.

Marinus's speech had filled him with hope though, and he was positive that the outcome would be a grand one.Marinus WILL be holding that trophy, even if he had to sacrifice life and limb for it.Marinus was the only reason he was on the team, and he owed him for it.And what better way to show your appreciation than earning them the grand centerpiece of blitzball...

Jonas was very pleased the way the first half played out. His team was ahead 2-1 and he scored a goal and assisted on another along with providing a screen on that same goal.

The speedy winger he was showed some signs of fatigue at the half. The break couldn't have come at a better time for him. He sat by himself around his locker pumping in some fluids to get ready for the next half.

When Jonas entered in the sphere pool he drifted around for a bit back by his goalie making sure he was in the right state of mind to make any save he needed to. After that he floated casually over to the wing position for the blitzoff where he saw Gatre.

"You and I have absolutely nothing to do with each other after the blitzoff is over. Good luck, I'll see you back here after I score another one."

Jonas was impressed with the rookie, but beating him at his own game? Never happen. The Psyches won't need to play well defensively after Jonas gets a couple shots on net and a breakaway or two.

BLITZ OFF!!!

The ball shot off hurtling towards the top of the sphere pool. Both Marinus and Baligaar went straight for the ball, but this time Marinus was the quick one, grabbing the ball before Baligaar did. Marinus quickly checked his surroundings to see the positions of everyone. After spotting an open in the Psyches' defence, he swam for it.

His tactic payed off. He was only blocked by the defender Keke, avoiding Jonas completely. Keke took a shot at his chest, trying to grab the ball as he collided, but Marinus held on tightly to the ball. He swam towards the goals, only to be met by Jonas, who had the time to swim out in front of Marinus. This time, Jonas gave an all out kick aimed at Marinus’ head. The end results of the devastating kick disorientated Marinus, but he managed to keep hold of the ball. He knew that it was now or never that he needed to reach the goals, since Baligaar, Jonas and Keke were closing in at an alarming rate.

Marinus gave the ball a mighty kick, sending it hurtling towards the goals. Since it was from close range, the goalie had little chance of catching the ball. The goalie still tried to catch it, but it was no use, the goalie was too slow to react to the ball that shot straight into the top left corner of the goal box (or is it a triangle?).

This payed off well for Marinus. He had brought the Goers score up to match the Al Bhed’s score. The game was a tight one, two all at the start of the second half, and the best was yet to come.

Everyone set themselves back intro their starting positions. The Goers ready to pounce on the ball and the Psyches ready to cause mayhem. The countdown once again started and this time, the Psyches made sure to cover the gap in their defense. Three Two One, Blitz Off!

This time, Marinus an Baligaar were evenly match, jumping off their starting blocks at the same time, both gliding towards the ball at the same level. One mistake and either team could loose the ball straight away...

The mistake would be Baaligar's this time, coming from an attempt to be aggressive. He was always in an attacking mode whenever the opposing team scored, and he perhaps tried to do more than he was capable of at once. He grabbed Marinus with his left hand and swung him around while reaching out for the ball to get an amazing boost into the offensive zone. Sadly, he moved too fast, and his right hand missed gripping the ball and he ended up merely slapping it back towards his own goal. He was falling away into the opposite direction and could only watch as Marinus was being propelled towards the loose ball thanks to his own doing.

It was an ugly mistake, and in a tied game, he hoped it wouldn't come back to bite them in the butt. When his momentum stopped, he was a good distance away from Marinus, and could really do nothing to stop him. He watched as his defenders shifted positions to stop the ball, and that left a young rookie wide open. Baaligar was trying desperately to go and stop him, but it didn't seem like he would have a chance.

Marinus got a sudden shock from the grab, he was concentrating so much on the ball he forgot there was someone right in front of him. When he looked up he saw Baligaar tap the ball into his direction, Marinus laughed at this mistake. He gave Baligaar a thumbs up just before he grabbed the ball.

He was now intent on getting to the goals any way possible, he saw both Jonas and Keke on the defence again, and this time it looked like he would have to try to get the ball in. Marinus gave Gatre a quick signal to follow his lead. Marinus swam to the far left of the sphere pool to distract both Jonas and Keke, so Gatre could get into position.

He was again confronted by Jonas, but Keke decided this time to stay back, if Jonas wasn’t able to take the ball of him. Jonas delivered a powerful punch to Marinus’ stomach, which almost made him hurl from the blow, but he managed to hang on to the ball. He swung his arm back and swooped it forward, putting as much power in to the pass as he could. His only hope now was that Gatre was able to grab the ball and shoot before the other team got to him.

It was another goal for the Goers. Marinus couldn't believe that the ball actually glided into the goal without anyone behind it. This was a first he had seen, and it amused him to the time.

Everyone once again returned to their positions as the countdown once again started...

Blitz Off!

Marinus was quick to catch the ball and he swam to the far right this time. Baligaar had taken note of his last mistake and was trying to make up for it. Every time Marinus went to pass back to Gatre, Baligaar got in the way, and his attacks were taking a toll on Marinus.

As he swam closer to the goals to try and shoot from there, he had more trouble than expected. Keke once again was on defence, Baligaar also. Marinus was tired and had foolishly let them both tackle him, he lost control of the ball as it left his hand. He could feel time slowing down as he struggled to get the ball back in his hand, but it was too late for that, Baligaar had swam past and grabbed the ball in one quick swoop.

Marinus was left at the wrong end of the sphere as Baligaar sped towards the Goers goals, with Rosco approaching him. Even with the odds of the moment, Marinus was not going to let the opposition get away with a cheap goal, he was too determined to have that trophy.

Marinus swam as fast as he could towards Baligaar, but couldn’t reach him in time. Jonas was near the Baligaar as well, so there was a chance that Baligaar could pass it. This was Marinus’ chance at defending, he quickly swam towards Jonas, incase if what he thought would happen.