Chapter 1: Janus' gift
Somewhere in some location known only to him, Janus reflected on recent events. Being a god of change can be hard to do if the powers that be keep interfering in your plans. However they wouldn't be bothersome this time. Janis had recently defeated them in a contest of cunning and skill with the wager that if they lost, Janis could empower a human without any interference. The question was which human. In the city of New Gotham, Janus would find the answer.
Josh Stein [no relation to Josh Stein in my other stories] was standing in a strange location. The scenery was indistinct but the figure in front of him was even harder to see. "I am giving you a powerful gift," It said, its voice sounding as if it was directly in his head. "Your fictional favorites can now be you. Think and you will become." Josh was confused but he nodded anyway. Then he heard a loud beeping noise.
Author's note: This is not a Buffy the Vampire Slayer crossover beyond the above, I just needed something to get it started.
Josh woke with a start when his alarm went off. He quickly got ready for school. This would be only his second week at New Gotham High. Josh's parents had recently moved to New Gotham since the cost of living was cheaper than where they lived before. Josh's parents were both hardworking money smart people, but sadly Josh's grandfather had passed away with a large amount of unpaid gambling debt so money was still an issue until they paid it off. Josh said good bye to his mother and stated walking to school. He was careful to stay alert since some parts of New Gotham had a relatively high crime rate. It was partly because New Gotham was close to Gotham city thus criminals that Batman had scared away found new residence there.
As Josh walked between classrooms at school, he saw a poster for the New Gotham high Halloween Party & Costume Contest. Since Josh knew the event was today he sighed, he wanted to attend, but since he had neither the time nor money for a good costume and didn't know anyone who did he decided not to bother. Josh was interrupted from his thoughts by a rude sounding voice behind him. "Thinking of trying to enter the contest, geek?" the voice said. Josh turned around and came face to face with the captain of the school football team, Bradley Andrews. "Don't bother trying to win the contest" Bradley continued, "I had a costume hand made for this so you won't win, I will". Josh knew Bradley wasn't bluffing. Bradley had very rich parents who apparently spoiled him to no end. That combined with his football skills made him an very arrogant jerk. Josh wished he had some kind of retort, but he couldn't think of one so he just walked away. "Where are you going?" Bradley taunted, "Off to see your imaginary friends? Since you don't have any real ones!"
After school that day, Josh thought bitterly about Bradley's words as he sat in his rickety desk chair in his room. It was true that he didn't have any friends yet. Two weeks wasn't enough time to make them and he'd left his old friends behind when he moved. He decided to look up online in the school newspaper archives who had won the costume contest previously, and what they had dressed up as. Last year's story was titled, "New Football team captain Sweeps contest as Master Chief". Josh read the rest of the story and sighed again, Why couldn't classic characters ever make the top 3? The winners were Bradley as Master Chief of course, some girl from the anime club dressed as something with a spiked mace called Dokuro-chan, and someone dressed as a teacher from some high school related anime. Josh just wished he had a good costume. He contemplated who he'd dress up as given the choice and decided on Tails. He could just picture the party. Walking into the room and taking the contest by storm. Sure the rest of the guests would need an introduction, but he'd gladly give to them.
Josh was just imaging about the look on Bradley's face when he got beat by Tails when he started to feel strange. His body became enveloped in pure white light and he saw the world around him growing. The light faded and he looked at his reflection in his miniature TV set. Tails looked back at him. "What just happened?" Josh asked aloud, and then got another shock when he heard Tail's voice coming from his mouth. It was enough of a shock that he fell out of his desk chair and landed on his namesake tails. "Ow", he said quietly, "my tails hurt." Then he realized what he's said and that he could feel his tails like they were a part of his body. "Everything ok up there?" Josh's mother asked from downstairs.
Josh didn't want to answer since he didn't sound like himself. His mother started to walk up the stairs to his room. "What am I going to do?" Josh though, "How do I explain this?" He frantically thought about how he could turn back. There was more white light, and he did. Josh's mother opened the door and Josh came up with a quick excuse: "I was resting but now I'm fine" he said. Josh's mother left and Josh suddenly remembered the dream he had. "Your fictional favorites can now be you. Think and you will become." he muttered to himself. That dream had seemed like it had meant something. He thought of being Tails again, and it happened. After changing back into himself once again, Josh went downstairs and told his mother he was going to the school Halloween party just to see who would win. In his head though, he had bigger plans.
Josh excitedly walked back to school and shape shifted into Tails right before he reached the gymnasium. He pushed the door open and saw the crowd of people, some of which were in costumes and couldn't help but smile, since this was a dream come true. He asked a girl who dressed as Sailor Moon where to sign up for the costume contest and she directed him to a table in the corner. Josh walked up to the table and said "Excuse me, I'd like to sign up for the costume contest." One of the students running the table looked at him funny and said "Its only open to New Gotham High Students, you look a little small for that." Josh quickly came up with an excuse: "I'm a midget underneath this." he said, pretending to sound sheepish. The student running the table still didn't look convinced. Another student walked over and said "Just let him enter Bob, it's clear he put a lot of work into his costume." Bob looked like agreed with that statement. "Your name?" he said. Josh realized that he couldn't give his real name since his human form was too big so he said "Miles Prower" instead. Bob wrote it down and then asked, "What are you dressed as again?". "Tails, from Sonic the Hedgehog" Josh said proudly. "Just wait for the judges to call your name on the intercom for examination." Bob told him. "Yes!" Josh exclaimed and swished his tails in excitement. "Did your tails just move?" Bob asked. Josh replied "Uh, yeah. They're animatronics." and walked away before Bob could question him anymore.
While he was waiting for the judges to call him, Josh noticed a girl talking to someone dressed as Duke Nukem. Upoen closer inspection the 'Duke Nukem' turned out to be Bradley Andrews. His costume did look professionally done like he'd just walked out of a movie set. The girl looked bored. Josh walked over and caught a bit of their conversation. "Not bad competition this year, but I'm still going to win, right Alexia?" Bradley said arrogantly. "Right" Alexia responded, but her tone sounded like she was saying "Shut up about it already" instead. Alexia turned and saw Josh. She walked over to him and said "Cute. What are you dressed up as?" Josh responded "Tails, from Sonic the Hedgehog." Alexia studied what she thought was a costume and said "It looks so real, may I touch it?". Josh nodded. Alexia touched Josh's fur and said "This feel like real fur." "Alexia!" Bradley said, his voice dripping with rudeness, "Your supposed to be admiring MY costume." Alexia had had enough, she turned around to face Bradley, her eyes livid and shouted "I've had more than enough of you. Just because your captain of the football team doesn't give you an excuse to act like a jerk! Your officially dumped and I hope you lose the costume contest!" Bradley's frustration showed on his face but he managed to retort "I'm going to win and when I do I'll publicly humiliate you for doubting me." before he stormed off. Alexia looked like she was about to start petting Josh's fur when the intercom announced "Miles Prower please report to the judges stand for costume examination." Josh said, "That's me." and started to walk off. Alexia gave him a thumbs up and said "Good Luck".
The examination went very well. The judges were surprised at how good Josh's 'costume' was. They particularly liked his 'animatronics'. Josh left the judges stand thinking he'd at least made the top 3. He looked around and spotted Bradley talking to some other athletes when the intercom sounded again. "We will now announce the winners of today's costume contest." All the chatter in the room stopped. "In third place, Usagi Tsukino... uh I mean Serena Avalon, as Sailor Moon! In second place, Bradley Andrews as Duke Nukem!" Bradley looked very angry. "In first place, by a large marigin I might add, is Miles Prower as Tails!" Bradley grabbed one of his teammates by the collar and said "How could I lose to someone I've never heard of! I was supposed to win this contest!" he said far too loudly. The athlete knew better then to respond so Bradley added "I'm going to have a word with those judges." and started to walk off. An older man who seemed to have been listening in said to him "My, how unsporting of our team captain." Bradley looked even angrier, he started to turned around as he said, "I don't care about being sporting. That's for losers who can't win, I spent hundreds on this costume so I should be in first place!" he stopped suddenly when he realized who had spoken to him. Sheepishly he said "Oh, hi Coach..". The Coach, who Josh recognized as also being school the gym teacher looked like was ready to punch Bradley in the face. "Your off the team and after how you treated your girlfriend be glad that's all I'm taking from you" he said sternly. "But my parents paid for.." Bradley started to respond, "Another word and I'll give you detention for a month, now get out of this party!" the coach finished. Josh noticed Alexia sporting a "Take that" kind of smirk, and then she started to scan the crowd. Josh figured what she was doing and decided to leave before he got asked too many questions.