FRACTURED FANTASIES – A fanfic that spreads across much of the main games in the Final Fantasy series
Created by Brandon Cash
Disclaimer: This is a fanfic, which is a piece of literature based on an already established work. This means I am not making any profit off of this, nor am I being paid to write this story for anyone. All characters not created by me are property of Square-Enix.
PROLOGUE – Fire Sale Fantasy
Part 1: When Good Heists Go Bad
It was another slow business day at the old game store known as Keith's Game Replay. People seldom came in anymore, even though the place had a treasure trove of vintage games at the public's disposal. The eponymous owner of the store, Keith Dallas, was dutifully reading a newspaper he often got on Sundays. The headline for that day was detailing the disappearance of an organization called the Villain's Alliance, whom nobody had seen since March, but their disappearance was very welcome and nobody made any real effort to look for them.
A teenager was sitting in the middle of the store, his head practically buried in a cardboard box he was rifling through. Game cases were being tossed around haphazardly, possibly damaging the games further if they weren't already. Keith looked over at the near-adult with annoyance; if there was anything he hated more than having his games busted up, it was having someone throw them around and presenting a risk to other potential customers and himself.
He sighed. "Kids these days are troublesome to the nth degree..." Keith said. Almost as if on cue, he was smacked upside the head by a laserburnt copy of Bubsy 3D. "CONFOUND IT, BRANDON! Will you stop digging through games like you're in a hurry!?" Keith shouted in frustration.
The teen known as Brandon stopped in the middle of his game search binge and looked at the owner, who had a visible knot on the side of his head. He was, understandably, seething with anger. His sheepish expression said it all.
"Um...sorry about that, Keith. Just looking through these games, and all I've found so far are low end titles and broken discs." Brandon said apologetically.
"Well, forgive me if I don't enjoy having nickel-budget disc-based contrabrand tossed at my head. If you want games that don't belong in a bargain bin-"
"Or turns out to be yet another sequel to War World..." Brandon cut in.
"...Or turns out to be yet another sequel to War World, yes," Keith continued upon Brandon's words, "blame LameStop for forcing this crap on me. It was not my fault someone destroyed their stock of games...most of which were quality titles. Whose fault was that again?" Keith said, cocking an eyebrow at Brandon.
"Um...mine?" Brandon hadn't forgotten about that raid, but in hindsight he wish he hadn't gone through with it.
"Exactly," Keith picked back up, then said, "So next time people come to my store, I'll make sure to let them know that the 'Hero of Arcadia' is to blame for making LameStop worse than usual," Keith said before returning to reading his Sunday funnies.
Brandon sighed in exasperation. "And people wonder why I hate to screw up," he said before attempting to sift through the bin again.
Yes, it was shaping up to be the typical calm Arcadian day. Nothing was looking to go wrong today!
As Brandon was about to continue his searching for a good game to play, the door to the storage room burst open. Another teen came out holding another cardboard box in his hands.
"Hey, Brandon!" the bespectacled teen said.
"Morning, Brian. I see you've been trawling around in the back," Brandon said, hardly looking up.
"As usual," Brian replied. "But you gotta check this out!" He set his cardboard box down on the floor next to Brandon and the bargain bin.
"Oh joy. More bargain stuffers," Brandon thought to himself. He averted his attention from the bargain bin to Brian's newfound box, and when he eyes met the inside of the box, he was not at all disappointed. In fact, he was pleasantly surprised.
Sitting inside the box was a bunch of Final Fantasy games. Not just one, not even three or five. Every game that pertained to the main series was in there!
"Wha... Where in the world did you find these, Brian?! I've been looking for a chance to play these games for a while!" Brandon said, dumbstruck. You see, Brandon had just recently gotten into the Final Fantasy series, so you can probably imagine his excitement.
"It wasn't hard, really. I was looking around in the back room and ended up finding a pretty well hidden trapdoor containing this box." Brian said.
"Clearly, it must not have been 'well hidden' enough if you were able to find it," Brandon said, laying the deadpan on thick.
Keith, overhearing the conversation, appeared shocked and angered as his fists clenched around his newspaper. Apparently a chord had been struck this time.
"You...found...WHAT now...?" Keith said, trying to modulate his anger.
Brian feigned surprise, but Brandon was genuinely shocked; never in all the times had he annoyed or frustrated Keith that he had seen him so threateningly angered.
"I found your box full of Final Fantasy games in the storage room..." Brian said slowly, but calmly.
"...We're in trouble, aren't we?" Brandon uncertainly answered. Last time Keith managed to get almost to his breaking point and threatened to have Brandon's ass for dinner if he didn't quit vandalizing various Activeware Arts merchandise (even though he didn't enjoy the company either). Brandon almost thought he was being literal before coming to the conclusion that he was going to have his shorts put into a cast mold and hung on Keith's wall like a hunting trophy. That or he was merely 'joking'.
However, Keith had gotten better with his anger in recent years and took a little bit of time out to calm himself before rejoining the boys.
"...No, I suppose you're not. Still, I have to even wonder how you'd found them or why..." Keith said, modulating himself.
"Blame Brian for that," Brandon said sarcastically.
Ignoring Brandon's remark, Keith continued. "But I've owned a played a lot of those games since I was a child myself. The countless hours I spent on leveling my characters up, blasting through baddies and bosses, finding every last item in the game, and the Gold Saucer...man, I've forgotten how many hours I've logged into that place," Keith said, reminiscing about the good old days.
"But, I want to make something clear here: these games are NOT for sale, okay? They hold a lot of value to me. If you're looking to buy them, I'm afraid you'll have to look else-"
Keith was interrupted by the door to his shop crashing open. In walked in a nerdy looking young man with warts plastered all over his face. His swirly glasses were partially broken and his fly was undone, leaving his underwear on display for everyone unfortunate enough to cross his path to see.
"'Sup, bitches? And yo, Keith! How's it hanging my brother?" the nerd spoke (unsuccessfully) in ebonics.
"Oh, great." Keith groaned.
Every city had its fair share of nerds going for it. Some of them were closet nerds, some were more open, and some were lifestylers. However, nobody quire presided over all of the nerds known to man than this one.
His name was Whiz Kid. And he was looking to raid Keith's Game Replay.
As far as everyone on the planet of Imaginationland knows, they can hardly ever catch a break from the going-ons in the never-ending adventures of the Arcadian Defenders. Wherever you looked, there was almost always something going to happen somewhere. And more often than not, most of the time the problems that arose in the world usually got Brandon involved, to the point that some people would end up getting tired of him entirely. Of course, they were something of a vocal (read: very vocal) minority, so it probably didn't matter to everyone else anyways.
In the months following the disappearance of the Villain's Alliance the planet had seen something of a great peace. No militia raids or rampaging robots, no deadly shadows, no alien invasions, and certainly no 'Burnin' Dancin' competitions' held by one of the villains. Everyone was happy to see that the hectic lifestyle they lead had abandoned them. At least, they were hoping it would abandon them for good this time and not come back in a couple of months.
The stick-up in Keith's Game Replay was just another strange day on the job, but it gave no hint as to what lay ahead for all parties involved. Whiz Kid was looking to wring Keith's stock dry just so he could one day hope to become the world's biggest nerd. Pretty small beans compared to what the Villain's Alliance could do on their best days.
"So, good to see you again, Keith!" Whiz Kid said mock jovially.
"Not likewise..." Keith said, clearly annoyed.
"How's business going, eh? Brandon still giving you a hard time?" Whiz Kid egged on.
"Don't start with me, Retainer Boy. Just get whatever you might of come here for and get out." Keith said. This had become something of a regular occurrence for him, so he stopped trying to make Whiz Kid concede after the forty-seventh time Whiz Kid raided the place.
"Letting me make off with your stock once again, huh? Heh, your loss." Whiz Kid taunted. "All right then...let's see what we've got here..."
Whiz Kid's eyes darted around the room, looking at Keith's wares like a vulture. He didn't seem to see anything worthy of note for a few moments...until his eyes targeted the cardboard box full of Final Fantasy games.
"OH...MY...GOD! Is that..." Whiz Kid said, almost as awestruck as Brandon was minutes ago. He wiped his cracked glasses to make sure he was looking at this correctly. Upon clearer vision...
"IT IS! Every single Final Fantasy game in the main series!" Whiz Kid shouted excitedly as he darted over to the box. "Oh my god... This is amazing! I've found them all right here, in a simple cardboard box!" he continued. Keith was startled; he kept that stash secret for a reason, and now he was about to lose it to the biggest geek on the planet.
"Look, Kid, I know what you're thinking... You're not taking that box with you," Keith said, his tone deadly serious. "I will fight you for it if it comes down to it."
"Big deal, old man! What matters now is the fact that I've found the collection I have clamored for! Hell, crack would probably be cheaper than how much they charge for it out on the market right now! But to find it here...it's been my dream to own all of the games in that series! And it's mine! ALL MI-"
In the middle of his triumphant pose, he finally saw Brandon and Brian sitting at opposite sides of the box, who had been wearing blank, deadpan expressions the entire time Whiz Kid was fangasming over the Final Fantasy Collection. He stopped dead, realizing who he was looking at.
"Uh...h-hi, Brandon! Brian! My brothers from other mothers! How it hanging, G's?" Whiz Kid attempted to diffuse the situation in his usual ebonics.
It didn't help. "Hey, Brandon...do you wanna trash this nerd real quick so we can get on with our lives?" Brian spoke up after a moment of silence.
"Anything to get him to bug off," Brandon nonchalantly replied. The two got up and prepared to punch Whiz Kid's lights out.
Whiz Kid looked about ready to piss himself. He reached back into his coat and...pulled out a walkie talkie.
"I NEED ASSISTANCE NOW, GUYS!" he screamed into the talkie.
The two boys backed up a fair bit, knowing what was next. Rumbling could be heard in the distance, followed by the sound of bricks and concrete being smashed to smithereens and glass shattering by force. A moment later, a small fortress on wheels came barreling to a stop, crashing through the entrance of the store. It was equipped with a couple of extra shields and a cannon on the sides. A battering ram was seen connected to the inside of the fortress. On top of the fortress were two other nerds; one fat and the other one skinny. The two of them were Whiz Kid's cronies, no doubt.
"Now, face the wrath of NERD RAGE with my Nerd Fortress of Solitude!" Whiz Kid said as he ducked inside of the mobile fortress and ran to the top.
Keith was in a daze before shaking out of it and registering that he, his business, and his Final Fantasy collection were in danger. He then looked at the two boys in concern.
"I know it's a rare occurrence for me to ask someone for help...but Whizzy's got us all pinned down right now... I've owned this business for years now, and as troublesome as you've been to me, I don't want to lose all that I've worked for and accomplished with this business. So I want you two to show these punks the old one-two and teach them a lesson for bulling others into giving up their rare games!" Keith pleaded. "I'll offer whatever help I can give you!" Keith dove behind the counter as the nerds initiated combat with Brandon and Brian.
"Look on the bright side, at least it's not Xana attacking the city this time!" Brian said, hardly worried about the conflict.
"Doesn't mean we can't be concerned for the well-being of smaller places, Brian! Let's roll!" Brandon said, pulling out one of his many swords. The fight for Keith's store was on!
[BOSS: Whiz Kid's Nerd Fortress of Solitude]
"All right, boys! Let's show them what happens when a nerd is pushed over the edge. ARE YOU WITH ME?!" Whiz Kid shouted. The two anonymous dorks responded with some ugly cheering as the battle got underway.
Brandon leapt forward and smacked the fortress with a simple sword blow, doing a small amount of damage, with Brian doing much the same immediately afterward. The damage was minimal, and the nerds responded in kind...by running the two over. About 700 damage went out the boys' health count on the attack's conclusion.
"Oh...that smarts..." Brandon said as he got to his feet.
"I don't gotta worry about it," Brian said, apparently unopposed.
"For a week. Then you'll be screaming," Brandon retorted.
"Oh...right," Brian remembered.
Brandon pulled out a pistol and fired three shots into the fortress doing a little bit of damage each shot. Then Brian rushed forward and struck it with several blows with two of his katanas out, dealing moderate damage.
"Hit them with the battering ram!" Whiz Kid ordered. The two nerdy grunts complied and readied the battering ram. It shot forward on a chain and nailed Brandon, knocking him backwards out of the battle for a moment.
Brian used the moment to deal damage to the fortress, hacking it repeatedly and doing quite a bit of damage. He also took the opportunity to slice through the chain and preventing the battering ram from coming under any further usage.
By the time Brian finished with that, Brandon had recovered.
"You alright, Brandon?" Brian asked.
"Yeah, I'm fine," Brandon replied. "Let's finish this thing off quickly."
The two decided to do a duel attack next. They dashed forward, slashed at the fortress in a wild pattern, and then Brandon springboarded Brian up to the top level to nail the nerds for double the damage.
"Whew. Nice teamwork there!" Brandon said to Brian.
The nerds were looking at a pretty one-sided battle now. "This isn't working... What will it take to stop these two bozos?" Whiz Kid pondered.
"Uh, boss? We haven't fired the cannon yet..." Fatty said.
Whiz Kid's mind clicked upon the cannon's mention. "Oh, duh!" He slapped himself on the forehead. "I could have been using that the entire fight and we'd have won! CHARGE THE MAIN CANNON, MY SLAVES!" Whiz Kid commanded. The cannon attached to the fortress surged with energy and began charging.
"Uh oh," Brandon said. "Cannon's charging. It's gonna hurt us badly if we don't destroy this thing quickly!"
"No shit!" Brian replied. The two made quite an effort in trying to prevent the cannon from charging, dishing out damage and abandoning the turn system they were going by for the first half of the fight. Unfortunately for them, despite their best efforts the cannon managed to charge up completely.
"Cannon is charged completely, sir!" Twiggy said.
"Good! Fire at will!" Whiz Kid said.
The cannon unleashed a concentrated ball of energy at the duo, who were both caught up in the blast. 4000 damage was shaved off the two's health bars, leaving them holding on to the rest of it.
"Charge the cannon again, boys! I wanna see these two squirm!" Whiz Kid said with a perverse delight.
The two said nothing and tried to hit the fortress to the best of their abilities, but the nerds had gotten privy to Brandon and Brian's pressure attacks. They started wheeling out of the store and made every effort to subdue the two while the cannon charged up. The nerds kept tossing heavy objects at the boys and faking them out with feint charges. Although the two managed to hit the fortress a few times, the cannon had reached full charge a second time.
"Charge achieved yet again, boss!" Fatty shouted.
"BLOW THEM TO KINGDOM COME!" Whiz Kid cackled. The cannon shot another payload of energy straight at the two, nailing them again with a large blast. That second blast winded Brandon and caused Brian to take a knee. They were about to die.
"Shit... These guys have gotten better since we last saw them..." Brandon breathlessly said.
"I know...but I can't believe were about to lose to a couple of nerds..." Brian muttered.
"Are you two finished yet? Or are you waiting for that hack Keith to come save your butts?" Whiz Kid said. "Well, the truth is, he ain't. He's too scared to die and lose his business...but once we're finished with you, we'll just go on ahead and take what we came fore, hook, line and sinker! Charge that cannon one more time, boys!" Whiz Kid shouted yet again.
The cannon charged rapidly this time, looking to blow the two teens apart at last. In their current state, they wouldn't make it out of another blast in one piece.
"Well...guess this is it..." Brandon said. "Nice knowing you, Brian."
"...Hey, wait a minute, whatever happened to Keith? He said he'd help us!" Brian recalled. Indeed, Keith had vanished as the battle got underway, and he hadn't appeared since then.
"We're about to die, and you're concerned about that? I don't think he's coming back to-"
"Save your sorry hides?" a familiar voice rang out.
Everyone looked towards the source of the voice and, sure enough, there Keith stood decked out in a full body armor and armed to the teeth with weapons. "Don't worry, boys. I'll take it all from here now," Keith said.
"But...I thought you had..." Brandon attempted to say.
"Nah, it's my fault." Keith said. "I should have had him arrested a long time ago. His obsession with games has gone on long enough, and I wouldn't be able to live with myself if he managed to kill you two. Other potential customers have probably fallen to him, but I'm going to help end that tonight."
Keith pulled a grenade from his vest and got into a pitcher's stance, pulling the pin and getting ready to flick the lever.
"No...Keith... Don't do it!" Brandon tried to shout, but he couldn't summon the strength to do so. If Keith had heard him, he probably wouldn't have heard him anyways, or would have been ignored.
The cannon had almost just finished charging. Keith knew he had one shot at this, and needed to do this quickly. He flicked the lever up and tossed the grenade at the fortress. The grenade sailed into the cannon and landed inside as it was still charging.
Perfect.
"Heh. That's gotta be a waste! Fire the cannon!" Whiz Kid said. Big mistake. The cannon prepared to fire, but the grenade managed to beat it by a second and detonated inside the cannon. The built-up energy within the cannon made the ensuing explosion bigger, almost assuredly obliterating the fortress and sending the nerds flying from the top of it.
Keith stood in front of the explosion stoically as the three nerds landed at his feet. The three looked up to see the game store owner menacingly glowering at them. "Oh...oh dear..." Whiz Kid squeaked. Keith wasted no time. He grabbed up Whiz Kid by his coat and threatened him.
"Now, I'm going to make this clear one more time. If I ever...ever see you again around my shop or harassing people for their games, you will only be hurting yourself. I won't kill you and your friends there, but if step out of line again, you are going to go to jail. Got it?" Keith said, not missing a beat. The three terrified boys nodded frantically in unison, and were then dropped on the asphalt. Keith turned back towards Brandon and Brian and made sure they were okay.
"Are you two alright? You took quite a lickin' out there." Keith asked the two.
"I'm alright, but I don't know about Brandon." Brian said in response.
"No, no, I'm fine too..." Brandon said, trying to regain his bearings.
Keith sighed in relief. "Good... I'm sorry I couldn't come out sooner. Preparation definitely sucks," Keith chuckled.
"That's alright... What matters is that you saved us... Thank you, Keith..." Brandon said weakly.
"No need to thank me for anything, boys. Come on, let's get you to the hospital." Keith said as he moved to pick the boys up. He got Brian to his feet, then went to get Brandon.
As Brandon was pulled up by Keith, he tried to get out of his dizzy spell. His vision was blurry, but he could make out three figures. They seemed to be doubles of Keith, but as his vision cleared...
"KEITH, LOOK OUT!" Brandon cried.
Keith turned around too late to find the three nerds nailing him with spare debris from their destroyed fortress.
"You should have let us take your 'pot of gold', old man. Now it's time for your payment." Then they took the opportunity to beat the boys with the same debris. Keith, Brandon, and Brian were being beaten down by nerds of all people. Nerds that were complete and total megalomaniacs and clamored to become the biggest nerds of all time through any means possible, but that's beside the point. Unable to defend themselves at this point, the three couldn't do much else except take the beating full force.
However, the nerds had not considered that there would be witnesses to the fight. An adult man, along with a few other people had phoned in the police and were waiting desperately for them to arrive. The fight had been reduced to nothing more than assault and battery with broken stone and concrete, and the nerds showed little sign of stopping.
A couple of minutes later, the police had pulled into Amityville Street. The nerds heard the sirens coming and dropped their pieces.
"Oh crap! It's the cops!" Fatty said.
"We need to run!" Whiz Kid said. The three began to run, as Brandon began to recover. He saw the three bespectacled bastards running for the hills as he rose.
"Oh no you don't, you creeps... You won't get away this time..." Brandon said. He picked up a good size chunk of debris and whirled his arm around continuously, building up momentum, speed, and power for the throw. A few seconds later, Brandon tossed the chunk of debris at the three nerds running away, in a straight line. Like clockwork, the debris hit Fatty on the head and sent him crashing to the street...right on top of his colleagues!
Shouts of pain were heard after the impact. The nerds had been downed. The cops blocked off the other end of the street in front of the nerds to ensure there was no escape.
Brian had gotten back up and was checking Keith's pulse. Brandon ran over to the two and knelt beside his friend.
"Is he still alive?" Brandon asked Brian worriedly.
"Don't worry. He's still got a pulse, but his head injury's bad. I'm amazed he's still alive after that." Brian was right. Arcadian civilians were nowhere near as durable as Brandon and Brian were, but Keith was a hardy old battleaxe. For a game shop owner, he could definitely take a hit or two.
Brandon was relieved, but he knew it wasn't over yet. "Brian, call an ambulance. Tell them Keith needs his head checked." Brandon told Brian.
"Understood." Brian got up and began to walk to the police, but then stopped when he remembered something. "Couldn't we call Xavier? He'd probably be able to do better than the hospital doctors." Brian said.
"Xavier's out of town for the weekend, remember? He said he'd be back by Monday." Brandon said.
"Right... I'll get an ambulance." Brian fished his cell phone out of his pocket and called up an ambulance.
Ten minutes later, the nerds had been cuffed and the ambulance arrived to take Keith to the hospital. Brandon watched as Keith was put on the stretcher and hauled to the ambulance with a somber expression on his face. As he turned to leave the scene, Keith had regained consciousness.
"Wait, guys..." he told the paramedics. "Give me a moment." The paramedics were stern about wasting precocious time that could be used right now to help him get better, but Keith eventually got them to concede and wait for a moment. Keith had some business to attend to.
"Brandon...come here..." Keith said, still rather dazed. Brandon walked over to him, still concerned for his well-being.
"I-I'm sorry, Keith... About all of this." Brandon apologized.
"There's no need to apologize, Brandon. You didn't instigate the fight. Hell...you've done me a service." Keith said.
"Well...I wouldn't say that..." Brandon said, flattered but not completely accepting the compliment. "But...is there anything I can do to repay you after this?" Brandon asked.
"...Nah." Keith shook his head slowly. "I'd say you've went through enough trouble this evening as it is." He was silent for a moment, deep in thought, before he spoke again. "In fact...I think you need some kind of reward." He whistled to one of the paramedics. "You, go into my store real quick and grab one of those cardboard boxes full of games." The paramedic agreed and ran towards the store. Keith quickly added "Not the one full of bargain stuffers!" as the paramedic drew closer to the store. He wasn't sure if he got the message.
"Um...what are you doing?" Brandon asked Keith, but he didn't answer.
The paramedic brought out the cardboard box. Brandon looked in it...and promptly looked unimpressed.
"Is this some kind of a joke?" Brandon said. Keith looked as confused as Brandon did as he looked into the box...to find that the paramedic had grabbed the wrong one.
"ARE YOU SHITTING ME?! You grabbed the wrong one!" Keith shouted. He lost control of his emotions for a moment, but regained composure. "Fine...I'll grab the thing myself..." Keith said as he rolled off the stretcher.
"Sir, you really shouldn't be..." the paramedic said.
"Don't tell me what I can or can't do, son. I know I'm injured but I don't give a rat's tail at this point. Now I'm gonna give this young man a reward, and if you don't like it you can kiss my war-scarred ass, buster," Keith told off the paramedic in classic grizzled old man fashion. The paramedic said nothing else, sitting there in stunned silence.
Brandon tried supporting Keith all the way into the store, but Keith kept rejecting the help, telling Brandon that he's done enough for the day. They walked towards the remaining box in the wrecked store and both of them knelt in front of it.
"So...what's the deal, Keith? Why all the trouble of doing this?" Brandon said, though he figured he knew the answer anyways.
"I know you've been causing me some level of grief sometimes...but I don't think you've ever saved my store, let alone my ass." He chuckled for a moment. "So...I'm gonna go ahead and give you my prized jewel of my collection...the Final Fantasy games I've played..." Keith said, pushing the box towards Brandon.
"Oh...well...I couldn't take this, Keith... It's an integral part of your childhood... I can't take that away from you..." Brandon said, as he pushed the box back towards Keith.
"Brandon...you don't have to question a gift. You don't have to accept it either...but look back on our history...I've sold you games you wanted for cheap prices, some of them mint condition too... I've repaired your consoles when they were broken down or reading errors on the discs. I suppose you could see you and Brian's battle with the nerds as payment for me...which is why I'm giving you my Final Fantasy games." He started to tear up, but tried to choke back the tears. "I had many great adventures playing these games, Brandon. Parting with them will be difficult for me to do...but they haven't been played in years. I think they'll get more mileage out of you anyhow. Plus, you've been talking about Final Fantasy for some time now, so...I think you'll be pleased."
Brandon looked a bit guilty being offered something someone had treasured for years, but he figured Keith wasn't gonna say no, so he decided to take what he was offered with.
"Thank you, Keith... I'll take good care of them." Brandon said.
"You need to, Brandon. These games were my life. I enjoyed them whenever I could...whenever I could find the time. You take care when you're playing these games, Brandon. Don't make any stupid mistakes, level up when you can, and stay positive about things, no matter what transpires on those adventures." Keith said, with a serious tone.
Brandon was weirded out. Keith was speaking as if he had really been there. "Ooookay... You need to get to the hospital...but thank you for giving me these games. I hope you feel better soon." Brandon said. Keith still refused to be helped to the stretcher, but he ended up making it just fine. Seven minutes with brain trauma didn't seem to affect him too much, but the paramedics made sure the got him to the hospital okay.
After the nerds were taken into custody and Keith was on his way to the hospital, the scene eventually dispersed, leaving Brandon and Brian standing in the middle of a ruined Amityville Street, holding a box full of the Final Fantasy games.
"So...he gave you the games after all, huh?" Brian said, sitting on the curb with Brandon.
"Yep. He said for me to take care of them. I certainly hope he knows I'm not the most responsible person around." Brandon said, again uncertain.
"I wouldn't worry. We're gonna have fun tomorrow morning, alright? We'll play the games one after the other, Keith will recover, and all will be well! And you gotta remember, Xavier's returning tomorrow, so that's another plus, eh?" Brian said, trying to keep Brandon upbeat about everything.
"Right...right..." Brandon said. He cracked a small smile looking into the box again.
Indeed, while today was something of an intense battle, they would put it behind them and look forward to tomorrow.
Tomorrow wouldn't bring forward a true wave of sunshine and daisies The real adventure was about to begin the very next day...
PROLOGUE TO BE CONTINUED IN PART 2
A/N: That's the first chapter out of the way Sorry if this got a little punchy at times, but I often have a lot to get out. Any thoughts on this?
Stay tuned for the next part of the Prologue!
