Here is a Final Fantasy nine story, brought to you by the Duelist of Dawn! (I really need a name change don't I?)
After reading so many Self-Insert stories, I had to start wondering what would happen if I were in the game with the good people of Final Fantasy 9!
Well, like the game is broken into four discs, the entire story itself will be broken into four stories!
Also, I'll have some elements inspired by some authors of the other Final Fantasy stories to spice it up a bit.
So here are my fighter stats and things he'll use before continuing to story:
Name: Ronald Harris
Age: 21
Job class: Monk
Weapon of choice: Martial Arts (Think Tifa Lockheart and Zell Dincht), gloves, knuckles.
Skills: (Normal) Fighter Art (Abbreviation: Fght Art) [At the end of the chapter my OC uses it, it will be displayed on the bottom]
Skills: (Trance) Aura
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Disclamer: I don't own Final Fantasy 9, Square-Enix does.
Claimer: I do own Ronald Harris, the OC or SI.
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To begin, I had to ask myself: Why did this happen? I get sucked into my game, forced into fighting for my survival, and worse; I could be killed at any time, never to see my home or family again! I mean can a guy have a normal life for God's sake!?
Sorry, let me start over by introducing myself: My name is Ronald Harris, a 21-year college student who loves to play video games. 5'9", Black hair that has been cut, an African-American and personality that says: "I need a hobby!" Yeah, I know I need other things to do, but after working during summer season and doing college work, I need some down time. I'm also pretty decent fighter; decent enough to walk out living, but that was before being transported into the Final Fantasy game of the PlayStation One! You know what? Let me show you how, I got there and maybe it will all make sense of why I'm worried about being killed or never going home…...
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(Ronald's house)
"Well, another day wasted filing job applications." I said lying on my bed. "I've got a good resume, I've never been fired and I get the job done no matter what, why is getting a job much harder than the job itself!?"
Yeah, I was in a slump; I had to make some money but job searching's not what it used to be anymore, even if the job is within walking distance….
"Sigh…Nothing left to do but play some video games to end the day!" I exclaimed, getting up to my PlayStation 2. "A good Final Fantasy game should get me excited again!"
I went to my shelf and checked out my stash of PS1 and PS2 video games. I hardly ever play them; only when I'm bored out of my mind, I'll bring them out for old time's sake. I finally settled on one game in particular….
"Well, I haven't played Final Fantasy 9 in a long while so why not?" I said to myself.
I inserted the game into his PS2 System and turned it on. After the game finished loading, and selected 'New Game,' the opening sequence came in: A woman and a little girl, probably her daughter, were riding on a boat through a dangerous storm. Next, Princess Garnet wakes up from her dream and she looks out her window to the glorious kingdom of Alexandria. After that, the game goes on a static rampage then the television starts flashing white and black… wait a second…
"Huh, what's going on!?" I was shocked and angry at the same time seeing one of my favorite games being fried with electricity.
Suddenly, a voice comes from the television…..
"This is the ultimate game." The voice says in a dark, monotone voice.
"What!?" I questioned, since this wasn't in the game, obviously.
"This is a game of where your life is on the line and death will mean termination of your real self." The voice continues.
"Okay…. " I say, not understanding the voice's message. "But what's this about my life on the line and death of my 'real self,' it's just a game!?"
"Now's not the time to question, human." The voice answers. "
Just then, a syringe filled with red liquid floats out of the television and hovers in front of me, spooking me at the same time.
"If you accept," The voice explained, "You'll be injected with this substance that increases your chances of survival. If not, you'll be stuck in this dream state I have placed you in."
'Oh crap, when did this happen!?' I thought in fear for a few seconds. 'Okay, calm down. Whatever this thing is, basically has my life in some sort of a sleeping limbo, if that exists. On one hand, I'll be doing something with my life, but on the other hand, if I'm not careful, I'll be returning home in a coffin. Oh well, what have I got to lose!'
"I'll do it!" I said confidently.
"Are you sure?" The voice asked. "Once you accept the game, there's no…
"Look, you come out into my room and say that I can't go back to my world without playing a video game. You then try to ask me if I'm sure!? There's no way around it, I'm going and that's final!" I angrily interrupted the voice.
"Then the game starts, NOW!" The voice said.
As soon as the mysterious voice finished speaking, the syringe that has been floating in front of me during the conversation, struck me in my left forearm.
I screamed at the top of his lungs as the liquid was injected within me and the veins inside my skin seem to glow bright red.
"Why….is….this….so……pain…ful?" I asked fighting through the pain.
The syringe unhooked itself from me, drained of all the red substance, leaving me passed out on the floor.
As I slipped into unconsciousness, I heard, "Begin."
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(???)
It's dark around me now. That injection knocked me out in a bad way. I've never felt so helpless in my entire life.
"Um, excuse me mister, are you alright?" I heard another voice calling out to me, but this one sounded like a young child. I also felt something push up against my right shoulder, must have been the child doing that, too.
"Uhhh, man I feel like I went 10 rounds against my father." I groaned still laid out on the ground. "Wait, the kid that just shook me, where did he go?"
"I'm still here." The young voice answered.
I turned my head in the direction of the voice, and I saw something unbelievable……the kid that woke me up was wearing a tattered blue coat, a pair of brown pants, a brown hat that has its top flopping downward, brown gloves and a face…well you couldn't see much of his face, just bright yellow eyes from a dark shroud. It was Vivi, the black mage!
"Whoa!" I ended up jumping to my feet in surprise.
"Are you OK?" The black mage asked me.
"Yeah." I replied, still not understanding how I got here. "Where are we?"
"You're in Alexandria, of course!" Was Vivi's answer.
My eyes widened at the news, how did this happen? Am I dreaming this? Did whoever it was that injected me with that strange, red liquid bring me here?
I double checked myself; I was wearing a white muscle shirt, ever since I started working out three years ago, I found myself wearing them a lot. I also had a pair of blue jeans and my black gym shoes.
'OK, I'm not naked' I thought to myself in relief. 'That's a good sign, wait a sec!'
I gave myself another once over, and saw that I was ripped. My muscles became more defined; I flexed my arms to get a feeling for both of them, then I checked my legs and found that they went through the same treatment my arms got. Then, I lifted up my shirt a bit and saw I had a defined six-pack!
'Was this because of that red liquid?' I asked myself.
But then, I thought I would worry about that later.
Last order of business, I checked out my surroundings: nothing but stores, houses and slightly large buildings that was either stores or maybe an inn.
"Hey, where's my ticket?" I was brought out of my thoughts, to find Vivi looking for his ticket around the street.
I helped look for it, by peering into an alley, nothing but trash and darkness in their. As soon as I turned around, I found the ticket, turns out it was right under the spot where I woke up. I picked it up a called out to Vivi.
"Hey, is this it kid?" I shouted to him, being careful that I don't reveal that I know his name, so I can avoid being bombarded with questions.
By the way he was rushing toward me, he must have been very happy to see that he didn't lose his ticket.
"Thank you, mister!" He exclaimed with glee.
"Hey, you don't have to call me mister, OK?" I decided to introduce myself, so I'll be able to call him properly. "My name is Ronald, but you can call me Ron." I offer my hand in greeting as well.
"M-My name is Vivi, nice to meet you." He shook my hand in return.
"No need to be shy all of sudden, Vivi." I told him. "Just being the friendly guy that I am!"
"I understand." Vivi said while adjusting his big hat.
"So, what's the ticket for?" I asked striking up a conversation. "You're gonna see a show?"
"Yes, it's called 'I Want to Be Your Canary!'" He jumped up a bit as he said that.
"A play?" I asked again.
"Yeah, and I heard it's a very good one!" I notice that Vivi was warming up to me, yet we've only just met. I remember in the game, he was a shy individual up until he found the Black Mage Village.
"Hm, interesting…." I muttered. "I'll join you!"
"Great, but do you have a ticket?" Vivi stopped to ask. "You won't be able to get into the castle without one."
"Oh yeah." I said looking downcast. I needed a ticket stamped to get inside the castle gates, in order to view it, but there was another way if I recall……
"On second thought, I'll just accompany until you get inside, don't want to lose your ticket again, do we?" I said.
"Oh……. okay. But are you sure?" Vivi pondered.
"Sure I'm sure! Trust me!" I said trying to convince him.
"Okay! Let's go!" Vivi said.
Vivi and I began to walk down the streets of Alexandria on our way to the ticket booth to get Vivi's ticket stamped for the play. We saw many people closing up shop, locking up their homes and lots of children running past us; probably going to see the play I thought to myself.
We were almost out of the first part of the street, until….
WHAM!!
Something hit me and Vivi from behind, making us both fall flat on our faces.
"Uhh, Vivi you alright?" I groaned rubbing the bruise on my forehead.
"Yeah." He groaned as well, rubbing his left arm. "What hit us just now?"
"HEY!!!!" Another little kid voice shouted at us. And it wasn't friendly or polite either.
Vivi and I got up, dusted ourselves off and turned around to find….
"Why don't you two get outta my way!" A rat kid with dark orange overalls and a hat shouted at us like we were preventing him from something.
The rat kid ran off leaving Vivi and I puzzled.
"He must be in a hurry." Vivi said curiously.
'Puck.' I thought. 'Crazy little rat.'
"Come on, Ron, we're going to be late!" Vivi snapped me out of my mind; he was already near the ticket booth.
"Hey, wait up!" I shouted back, running towards him.
We reached the ticket booth inside the main square, I saw an inn and a weapons/synthesis shop on both sides of the booth, behind it was the gate to Alexandria Castle.
"I'll go get my ticket stamped now, OK?" Vivi asked.
"Alrighty, I'll wait outside here." I replied back.
Vivi nodded and went inside the booth.
'Hmm, what to do before he gets back?' I thought. Since I was stuck here, I wondered how I was going to affect the original storyline. I've read some fictional stories on how the main guy/girl was sent into a Final Fantasy by either sucked into their game systems or TV, their dreams sent them there or they were simply invited to do so. I guess I can put myself in a new category called 'I offered myself to the job, got injected with red stuff, knocked out, then woke up' if you can call it that.
"NOOOOOO!!" I heard Vivi cry out in a depressing tone.
"Huh?" I asked, then it hit me…..
"Oh man, I totally forgot the fact that his ticket was a fake!" I realized running into the ticket booth.
Inside, I found Vivi hanging his head down while the person in the booth was trying to console him.
"Vivi, what's wrong?" I asked, knowing full well what the answer is.
"M-my ticket w-was a fake." He answered in between sobs.
"Now, now, don't cry." The ticketmaster replied. "Here, you can have these as an apology!"
Vivi looked up and saw the ticketmaster holding out what appeared to be three cards.
"Find someone who knows the card game to learn more about them!" The ticketmaster said.
"Okay." Vivi said still down about his fake ticket.
Vivi and I left the booth and sat down near the inn where three little girls were playing jump rope.
"What are these cards?" Vivi asked.
"Here, let me see." I said
"Sure." Vivi gave me the three cards, it had pictures of wolf –looking creature with dark fur, a skeleton with a dagger, and a goblin who was also holding a dagger. All the cards had arrows pointing away from the monster's picture on the outer edges of the cards. Plus, they had the same picture on the back except the front had a blue background and the back had a red background. I thought it be best to show him the game.
"Oh, these are Tetra Master game cards!" I said, looking surprised.
"What's Tetra Master?" Vivi asked me.
"It's a card game that needs at least five of these monster cards." I explained. "People play these and battle with others, when you win you can take one of the loser's cards.
"That doesn't sound fun to me." Vivi said taking back his three cards. "I'd rather keep mine."
"Okay, I figured you want to just collect them and not play them." I said, smiling.
"But now how are we going to see the play, I spent 3,000 gil for it." Vivi said sadly.
"3,000 gil!" I yelled, and then kept my voice down due to every person in range of my outburst giving me strange looks. "Someone just swindled you big time, kid!"
Vivi sighed and looked down at his feet.
'Wrong choice of words, genius!' I scolded myself. Then, I just remembered a way to get into the castle and see the play!
"Hey, Vivi!" I said to him, grinning.
"Y-Yes?" He asked, startled by my change of emotions
"Let's go, we're going to see that play!" I grabbed his hand and ran through a nearby alley.
"H-How?" He asked shakily, probably because of me running while dragging him.
"Trust me!" I replied.
As we ran through the alley, well I ran with me dragging him, I came to an abrupt stop with Vivi crashing into me and falling on his butt. That event caused a nearby worker to miss hammering down a sign.
"Hey, you made me miss you klutz!" He yelled at me.
"Wasn't my fault you weren't paying attention to your job!" I argued back.
He just grumbled something and then fixed up the sign perfectly.
"Well all done!" He said cheerfully as he climbed down the ladder he was on and left.
'Mood swing much.' I thought with an annoyed look on my face watching him leave the way me and Vivi came in.
"Ron?" Vivi asked still sitting.
I looked down at him and pulled him to his feet.
"Sorry, Vivi." I said sheepishly rubbing my head with my left hand.
"It's okay." Vivi said adjusting his hat. "But look over there!"
I turned around to find the same rat kid who bumped into us early. He was looking suspicious because he started looking every where like something was going to happen at any moment. He then, settled his eye on the both of us.
"Hey, you're the guys with the phony ticket, ain't ya?" He asked us smirking.
Before Vivi's response, I said: "And you're the one who ran into us in the street aren't ya?"
"So what, at least I know a way into castle without a ticket!" He said in a cocky tone
Vivi was perked up at the statement. "You do!"
'Oh boy' I thought, knowing where this is heading.
The rat kid suddenly got a devious look on his face and grinned.
"I'll let both of ya in on it, if you become my slaves." He told us both.
"A-Alright!" Vivi blurted out, beating into the answer.
"W-WHAT!!?" I shouted stunned at Vivi.
The rat just laughed at me. "Too late, now ya gotta listen to every, little, word, I, say!" Need I say he enunciated those last words in a sinister tone?
"Stupid little rodent." I muttered under my breath.
"Now both of you watch that side for intruders!" The rat kid ordered, pointing to the alley opening.
Vivi eager to see the play ran over to the spot with me walking behind. As we searched for some 'people who won't be showing up' as I call it, I had to question Vivi.
"Vivi, why'd you go volunteer us for this?" I told him.
"W-Well, we both wanted to see the play, and we had no way to go in so…" He started to say but I held my hand up.
"It's okay, I understand, just warn me the next time you do that." I told him.
"Okay." He said.
"Hey, is anybody coming!?" The rat kid shouted behind us.
"No!" I shouted back at him, irritated.
"Awesome! Engage according to mission parameters!" He said walking towards the ladder that the worker had climbed down earlier.
Vivi and I looked at each other, then back at the little rat and said: "What?"
"The rat groaned and said "Just follow me!" And with that he took the ladder and ran further down the alley.
"Come on, we gotta catch up!" I told Vivi. We ran after the rat, passing several houses.
"Into the steeple!" We saw the rat running inside the mentioned place, with us coming in after.
The inside didn't look like much, although it had an arch with a ladder leading up to the bell tower above.
"Alright, once we get up there it's just moments away from the castle!" The rat kid proclaimed. But then, he backed up a little. "It's a little dangerous, you guys go first."
"Coward." I muttered, smirking at him.
"What was that!?" He yelled at me.
"Nothing." I said feigning ignorance.
I started to climb up the ladder until something white ad soft hit me.
"Whoa!" I cried out when that something blinded me and caused me to fall of the ladder. Lucky for me, I didn't climb far. I could hear that little rat laughing hysterically at me after my ordeal. I picked up whatever hit me in the face and saw that it was indeed a small, white animal. It had small wings, closed eyes, and a red pom-pom-looking thing on his head attached to a long white hair strand.
"I'm sorry, kupo!" It said flying out of my hands, it sounded like a small chlid.
"It's alright; I didn't know you were there." I groaned, getting to my feet.
Vivi ran up to me and asked "Are you okay?"
"I've been hurt worse than this." I answered with a smile.
He nodded at me and we turned to rat kid who was standing near the flying animal.
"This is Kupo, he's a moogle!" He introduced us to the moogle who replied with a 'kupo!'
"I'm Ron, this is Vivi." I introduced myself and the black mage who gave a small hello.
"Okay, now that we're all acquainted, time for some upward mobility!" The rat kid climbed up the steeple ladder with the ladder from the alley with just one free hand. As soon as he reached the top he said, "Okay, slaves come on up!"
I hated the fact he use that slave term with me and Vivi, I can't wait until we get to play so we can get off this servitude shtick.
"Hey, Kupo, you here?" Another voice similar to Kupo's, except it sounded more of an adult tone. Vivi, Kupo and I turned to see another moogle in gold armor with a bag of notes on his back walking towards us.
"Are leaving now, Stiltzkin, kupo?" Kupo asked.
"Yeah, it might be a long time before I come back." Stiltzkin said.
Kupo looked sad at that fact. "I'll miss you, kupo."
"Now don't worry, I'll be sure to write to you and the other moogles." He reassured Kupo.
"Okay!" Kupo beamed at the armored moogle.
Stlitzkin nodded. "Well, I'm off. Say hi to Mosh at the castle for me!" And with that, the adventure bound moogle left.
"Was that a friend of yours?" Vivi asked Kupo.
"A very special friend, kupo!" Kupo said in happiness
"He seemed liked a brother to me." I said to no one in particular.
"Hey slaves, I thought ordered you both up here! We're gonna missed the play!" The rat kid shouted from the tower.
"Let's go Vivi, before he pops a blood vessel." I said causing Vivi to chuckle a bit.
Vivi climbed first, followed by me. The rat kid ran up ahead across the rooftops, with me and Vivi trailing behind. As soon as we reached where a piece of plywood separated two rooftops together, Vivi suddenly froze.
"You feeling alright, Vivi?" I asked feeling concerned for him.
"Let me guess, fear of heights?" The rat kid teased Vivi. He was already across the roof, still holding the ladder over his head.
I glared at the rat, which sent a chill down his spine.
"H-Hey I was just playing around, heh heh." He stated nervously, and then turned to Vivi and said "Don't worry just pretend you're on the ground."
I nodded an approval at the kid, for being supportive for once.
Vivi approached the plywood, and slowly walked across the wood with no difficulty.
He breathed a slight reprieve afterwards, and then looked to me as I came over to him over plywood no problem either.
But to tell you the truth, I was scared falling as well.
"Okay, let's hurry!" The rat kid told us and then ran off again, we hurried as far as we can to find ourselves in the same predicament that we had a few seconds ago.
"Come on, kid it won't fall, it'll be just like last time!" The rat kid said, somewhat irritated at Vivi's fear of heights. Vivi started to cross again only to have the wood give away. But instead of the game having him jump at the last minute to save himself, he was going to actually fall off the plywood!
"VIVI!" I rushed over with surprisingly incredible speed and grabbed him, while tucking and rolling safely to the other side with our self-proclaimed master.
Both Vivi and I were panting harshly as tried to sink in all that occurred in the last five seconds.
"T-thank…. you, Ron." Vivi said hugging me while catching his breath.
"No…problem" I said patting him on the head, while catching my own breath.
"Okay, enough with mushy stuff, we gotta play to see!" The rat kid said in an unimpressed tone.
"Right, can you stand Vivi?" I asked rising to my feet.
"Y-Yeah." He got up dusting himself off.
We all ran near to where we need to get when the rat kid stopped to state something.
"Y'know, in all of this madness, we don't know each others names!" He said.
'He's kidding right!? He's freaking dense!" I shouted in my head. I then decided not to worry about it.
"My name's Ron." I said trying not to sound angry.
"I'm Vivi." He said.
"Ron and Vivi, weird names!" The rat kid chuckled. "I'm Puck, pleased ta meet ya!"
"And Puck's not a weird name?" I asked, look at him like he was crazy. 'His name makes me wanna hit him with a hockey stick.' I added as an afterthought.
"It's a great name!" Puck yelled in defense.
"Okay." I said not looking impressed, Vivi looking on laughing.
"Whatever, man!" Puck said throwing the ladder to make a bridge inside the castle walls. "Let's just get inside before the play starts!"
We all ran inside the castle getting ready for the start of the play. But I couldn't shake my sudden burst of speed I gained when I saved Vivi, was that some kind of power from that syringe?
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Whew, I finally got my story off the ground, hope I can keep it in the air!
Be sure to write and review, folks!
Also a special thanks to Galbatorix 0wnz and Katherine the Black Rose for looking over the chapter and noticing some errors, good looking out and I hope I fixed, if not please leave a message on my page.
Next chapter: The play begins, and so does the adventure!