A/N: Hey, TF here. I have been thinking about a Tales self-insert for a while now, though I wanted to change it up from the usual. No one is going to be sucked into GameCubes or anything. Or Wii's either, since you can totally play ToS on that too. But you'll have to see what I mean by a 'change' whenever I start it up. Now I'm not really good at these author's notes...I'll probably wait until I have something more to say. So, disclaimer and then I'll start.
Disclaimer: This will be in effect throughout the whole story, so do not go looking for it in every single chapter. I do not own Tales of Symphonia or the general storyline - I just own any plot twists, extra characters not in the game, and my own imagination that made this story possible.
It was a pretty standard day, at least in my book. It started out just like it always did, with my alarm blaring annoyingly loudly in my ear. With a groan, I pulled my hand out of the mess of blankets piled on my bed and slammed it down on the snooze button. Ten more minutes of sleep wouldn't hurt. It's not like I would miss school just by sleeping ten extra minutes, since the sleep was dearly needed. Staying up until one in the morning playing the PlayStation2 was not the smartest choice in the world, quite honestly.
However, those ten minutes were not to be. My younger sister barged into the room, and I winced as the door slammed into the wall. There was already a hole there from the doorknob breaking through the plaster; she was just making it bigger. "Fish, time to get up. Mom says so!" she sang. I closed my eyes tight and drew the blankets above my head. Lizzy jumped onto the bed and started bouncing, which made it very difficult to ignore the fact that she was there.
"Elizabeth, get off my bed," I griped, and the bouncing stopped when she realized I was at least awake enough to talk. The pressure on my bed lifted, and for a moment I thought she had left my room. But of course she didn't. When I drew back the fleece blanket to see if she was still there, I noticed a ten-year-old girl pretty much in my face. Needless to say, that startled me. I shot up straight with a yelp, while scrambling backward. She was in my personal space, and it was very unnerving.
Lizzy just grinned and skipped out of the room calling, "Fisher's up!" Grumbling to myself, I flung the remaining covers off of me, where they landed in a heap by my bed, and got up. Without even really seeing what I was putting on, I got dressed and shook my head quickly to get my hair to lie flat. Unlike most of the other boys at school, my hair was short enough that it did whatever I wanted it to, whether that be lay down or be spiky, and that I didn't look like a girl.
Once I was sure I had everything I needed for school (having had to grab my math homework off the floor; it looked like my cat had slept on it last night), I left my room and pulled the door closed behind me. The plaque of a fish hit the door. Something my youngest sister had gotten me for Christmas.
Downstairs, my three siblings and parents were getting ready to go. Lizzy was watching SpongeBob SquarePants and had the remote hidden obviously behind her back, hoping that none of us would try and change the channel. I think she forgets that we can control the channels with the television. Anyway, Mom was helping six-year-old Anna to get some cereal, since she was so small that it was hard for her to reach the bowls and food and stuff. My dad was lacing up his shoes, always the first to leave. I was actually surprised he was still here. And my older brother, Drazon (eighteen; two years my senior), was busy eating breakfast at the kitchen table.
"Morning," I said. Lizzy just glanced at me, Dad smiled before hurrying out the door (obviously late for work), Mom returned my greeting, Anna grinned and almost spilled cereal all over the counter but Mom helped her, and Drazon raised his spoon in greeting. I quickly got myself a bowl of Lucky Charms and sat down at the table. Glancing at the clock, I was pleased to see that there was still fifteen minutes until Drazon and I had to leave to go to the local high school which was an easy walking distance from our house.
"Fisher, don't forget about coming down to the elementary school to watch your sister's soccer game," Mom said. If my mouth weren't full of food, I would have asked why she didn't tell Drazon. "Your brother will meet up with us afterwards." Wondering why, I shot Draz a questioning look and he just made a face, which made me raise my eyebrow. When he frowned down at his now empty bowl, I nodded. Apparently he'd recieved some more make-up work from being 'sick' recently.
"Mommy, come on!" Anna called from the front door, before clopping over to us. She liked making noise with her shoes, since she thought that the noise was what caused them to light up in all different colors. She had her coat and backpack on, and I assumed that Elizabeth was still watching TV, but she was probably ready to go too. Mom nodded and, snatching her keys from the counter, left the house with a quick 'bye', pulling the two elementary-school-goers with her.
For a moment the house was silent, except for me finishing up my breakfast. "You ready to go, Fish?" Drazon asked, grinning down at me and making me feel short like normal. He was about half a head taller than me, so I had to look up slightly to look him straight in the eye.
"You bet. I'm totally ready to go get random, meaningless stuff hammered into my head," I said with fake enthusiasm, and Draz laughed as we left the house, locking the door after us. It was quiet while we walked, but it wasn't uncomfortable. The both of us were perfectly fine with not saying anything, unlike our little sisters. Silence was a lot better than a lot of noise smothering someone, in my opinion.
The school was just a couple blocks away, and across a busy street. We stopped at the stop light, waiting for the 'cross' symbol to flash up so we could join the other teenagers crowding around the high school, milling around and just avoiding going inside to their classes. Once the light came on, we stepped across, Drazon leading the way. Suddenly, a car horn drew my attention and I froze on reflex, looking for the source. A car was zooming quickly toward me, the driver obviously distracted. A little late, he spotted me and I saw fear flicker across his face as the tires squealed, the brakes having been slammed on. I just heard Drazon shout, "Fisher!" before there was pain and I instantly blacked out.
A/N: Okay, I didn't like the ending very much, but it gets the point across, right? Well, anyway, please review. Tell me if it was good, bad, whatever it might be. I don't care, just so long as you don't flame me. Thanks!