The beach finds him first, though, or at least something does. The something is a blitz ball to the face, and its angular momentum makes it bounce up into the air then fall back onto the water with a soft splash.

He rubs his forehead and treads over to where the ball is to make sure it doesn't escape to sea. From the direction the ball came from also comes a shout of "Hey! You okay?" from one of a small group of—probably players? They're all wearing nearly-identical yellow uniforms with sandals, looking out at him.

This is a much nicer place for Sin to have taken him to than the previous one.

...also he wants to prove to himself that he really is a blitzball player and didn't make that memory up.

Tōkan sinks down into the water, getting entirely submerged and leaving the blitz ball floating lazily above his head. Then he propels himself up with enough force that the ball is shot even farther up, and as his whole body emerges from the water he twists midair so his back is to the beach and then flips upside down with enough force to—

—yeah, kick the blitz ball all the way back to the beach and then some, he calculated it right and there's no way he has that kind of muscle memory if he isn't a blitzball player.

He falls back down into the water and starts swimming towards the shore, where the other players are all making extremely surprised and impressed faces at his shot.

Okay, he wanted to show off a little bit, sue him.

"Hey!" greets the one who's most likely the captain of the team once Tōkan is close enough. "You wanna show us that move again?"

Tōkan laughs and shakes his head. "Sure." One of the players had already grabbed the ball from where it landed. Once Tōkan takes it back, he starts spinning it vertically in his hands, faster and faster, until he throws it up and jumps, nine, ten feet into the air, twisting around and turning just in time to shoot the ball back towards the beach.

He finishes rotating in the air and lands on his feet with a grin.

The captain whistles while the other players cheer and clap. "I've never seen anything like that. Who'd you play for and how can we poach you?"

Aaand gone is the smile. "Uh—complicated—I guess the short answer is I got exposed to Sin's toxin when it decided it was going to take me along for a ride so now I have no idea... where I'm from or where we are, right now. I do know I'm a blitzball player."

The players all sober up at that, and the captain says, "At least you're still alive, praise be to Yevon." He extends his arms out to both sides then pulls them back into his chest, making a gesture with one hand above the other as if he's holding a sphere between them, and he bows slightly. The other players mimic his gesture half a second later.

That... is the "good luck" gesture people use (used?) in Zanarkand before blitzball games.

So, Zanarkand is a holy place and actually this gesture is some sort of symbol related to someone who is and also is not a person called Yevon.

What the fuck ever.

"This is the isle of Besaid," the guy continues, "and I am Wakka, coach and captain of the Besaid Aurochs. These are Letty, Jassu, Keepa, Datto, and Botta," he says, gesturing at each of the other players in turn. "Now boys, back to practice! I'll help 'im out."

The others mumble and mutter about having to practice even when the coach isn't there to watch but an order is an order.

"I'm Tōkan," he introduces himself. "A pleasure to meet you."

"Come on, I'll show ya the way," he says, and starts leading the way further into the island, in between two smooth rock formations twice as tall as they are.

Tōkan follows, taking this moment to properly look around at the beach and island. It seems to also have some ruined constructions here and there—but only a few, the ones tall enough that they haven't gotten completely engulfed by the sea and the sand over the past thousand years. Who knows what they all are, but Tōkan is starting to feel like ruins of ancient tech will be the norm, here.

He's right, for what it's worth. The tropical jungle that the sand gives way to is peppered with pieces of things that are probably manmade, although the ones that are visible are all covered in moss and overgrowth and probably much less well-preserved than the ruins Rikku and the other Al Bhed found. They're practically petrified by the time, a natural part of the scenery that doesn't even stand out, if you're not looking for it.

Wakka leads Tōkan all the way to the top of a short fall into a river, and says, "Look over there," pointing at the water.

Tōkan knows where this is going, but he walks closer to the edge of the rock to look at something that certainly does not exist.

Wakka takes a surreptitious step back and...

...claps Tōkan's back, pushing him into the water.

Yyyyep.

He points his feet down to break the fall and iiiinto the river he goes. It's a very slow-moving river, and he has no trouble staying in place while he waits for Wakka to dive after him. When Wakka emerges from the water, he raises a questioning eyebrow, but he's grinning.

Wakka laughs. "Faster this way, if you can swim. The walk's long." He nods ahead. "Up river."

Up river!

The various ruins don't stop existing, here, and also decorate both the surroundings and the body of the river itself. Probably most of this island shifted over time—who knows how weather patterns and whatnot could have changed over a thousand years.

They swim in silence for a bit, not rushing or trying to be extra fast or anything. It's relaxing.

After a few minutes Wakka speaks up again. "So, there's a blitzball tournament soon, in Luca. The Aurochs will be competing—most teams in Spira will be there. Ya wanna come with us?"

Tōkan looks at Wakka out the corner of his eyes. "That sounds like a good idea." Something tells him he should not mention the Al Bhed right now, or the way Rikku offered to do the same for him before Sin showed up again. "If it's that big a tournament maybe I'll find someone who knows me."

"Yeah!" Pause. "'Specially if you play. Then you'll show up on the screen up there for eeeeveryone to see."

"Uh huh. If only I had a team to join so that I could show up there."

Rather than responding to that, Wakka swims up to Tōkan and grabs him in a headlock. "Come ooooon. You know you want it."

Tōkan laughs as he tries to stay afloat and escape from Wakka's grip. "Fine, fine. You could've just asked."

"I'm askin'!" But he lets go of Tōkan's head with a grin on his face and dives down into the water to lead the way into an underwater tunnel.