Title: The Excitement Begins

Hey everyone! I'm back with another chapter! It's a little longer than before. I hope it's up to standards.

Chapter 3: Introduced to "Greener Pastures"

Disclaimer: I don't own Final Fantasy; I just own a copy for my consoles. And I own the OC btw!

Edit: This chapter has been edited like the other chapter, heavily edited! Now, onto the story!

-*Start Chapter*-

After we decided to look to Alleyway Jack, we headed to the alleyway where we were supposed to meet the guy and someone very annoying, that is until Vivi got distracted. I looked over where he was looking, low and behold! He was looking at the little girls playing jump rope with each other. It looked like this was his first time to see three little girls play jump rope, or maybe the first time to see the jump rope game itself. From what he said earlier, he was a traveller. So he must have not seen it in his travels. Also, he was from Treno if I was not mistaken. That city was full to the brim of nobles and high economy shit in the game...probably. But then I remembered that it was not my business to do background checks.

The little girls saw Vivi looking at them. The girls smiled and giggled at each other. Vivi started stammering, as usual. They motioned for him to come. He looked at me, like he was asking for permission from me.

"Don't let me stop you. Go on," I said. He approached the girls, who had smiles on their face, happy that they had someone new to play with.

"H-hello," he greeted with a stutter, waving his gloved hand at them in a nice gesture.

"Do you want to try?" I heard one of them ask. The middle girl stepped outside away from the jump rope, encouraging the black mage to play. He nodded and approached the rope in the middle. They gave the signal and the game started.

Watching Vivi play jump rope was like looking back at my childhood, playing games with your friends. Remember the days when you were so naive that you didn't have a care in the world? Only you, your game and your friends were the only thing important. Ah, so nostalgic, wasn't it? Couldn't get enough of it, I suppose. At least this was kinda fun at the start. Not until we were going to face some monsters and carnivorous plants at the Evil Forest, next the ice Cave, which I remembered with a shiver, and those Black Waltzes... Darn, maybe I shouldn't have thought of that part. It was making me nervous.

"Hey mister!" The call snapped me out of my head and back to the so called "reality". I looked at the girls; one of them helped Vivi to his feet. From that, I was guessing he was done.

"Yes?" I asked, tipping my cap to them like a cowboy does in the telly...What, I've seen those before and they do do it.

"Do you wanna try?" The girls looked at me. Even Vivi looked at me. Wait, did I have something on my face? Not that I remembered.

I shook my head, "No, thank you."

"Aw, c'mon mister! Its fun!" said one of the girls.

"Uh, sorry. I'm too old for jump rope."

"Please!" the other two girls begged. Both even had the puppy dog eyes. Not the puppy dog eyes! Must...resist...dreaded puppy dog eyes!

I turned my head and saw Vivi looking at me. He had his hands clasped together and his eyes looked softer than before. "Please..." he muttered, over and over again. Oh, come on! Not you too, Vivi!

I sighed in surrender. "Oh, alright! Just because you girls asked nicely." The girls jumped in happiness and Vivi's eyes were full of joy. Sigh, the things you do for progress...

The two girls pulled me into the jump rope and started to prepare as I stood in the middle. Vivi and the other girl watched at the side. In a suprise, I only lasted for eleven jumps. I blamed my height, I'm so tall I had to hold my cap, duck the rope, jump and repeat. I bet Vivi did better than me.

"Would you like to try some more?" she asked.

I shook my head. "No thank you. We have a play to get to." And with that, we waved goodbye to the little girls and headed down the alley.

"Wasn't that fun, Vivi?" I asked the black mage.

"Yeah, it was fun," he replied, "Brings back a lot of -" although he was going to say something more, he was typically interrupted by his trip to the ground. Almost after he tripped, I looked up to see someone hammering a broken sign.

"Blast it!" Dante the Signmaker, the large hippo-man on top of the ladder, yelled in frustration as the sign fell off. He climbed down from the ladder. "Hey! You made me miss, you little klutz!" he yelled at Vivi.

I stepped forward and defended the mage. "Don't blame him, you jerk!" I told the hippo with a fist waving in the air. Vivi stood up and fixed his hat. Dante flinched. He recovered and grumbled words under his breath as he climbed back up the ladder and fixed the sign.

"Whew! That should do it," he said and went down the ladder. "Well, it's been a long day." he stretched his arms and walked away, not before eying both of us. Right on cue, a familiar rat prince arrived on the scene. He looked behind him and then ran to us.

"Hey, you! Shrimps!" he called to us. Vivi jumped in surprise while I only raised my brow at the rat.

"Excuse me?" I interrupted him, "Have you seen yourself in the mirror lately? You're not exactly the tallest guy in this alley."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever kid," he dismissed my words with a wave of his hand as I growled under my breath. Control yourself, Eliot. As much as I want to strangle that rat, I want to avoid any complications with the Burmecian people. Also I didn't want to screw this up, which was my own specialty, being given of an opportunity and screwing up said opportunity.

"So, you're the one with the phony ticket. I saw the guy tell you it was fake." he continued the conversation, pointing to Vivi.

"Y-yeah," he admitted innocently, "It's a fake." Puck chuckled at the mage.

The Burmecian prince turned to me and said, "How bout you smallfry? I didn't see ya give the Ticketmaster a ticket."

I balled my hand into a fist but quickly hid it behind me. Calm, calm, I am calm. I could kill you any day after the "incident" in Burmecia. My lips formed a fake smile and replied, "That's because I don't have one."

My lips twitched and Puck managed to see this. "Man, you're weird," he said. It was my eye's' turn to twitch. If you weren't needed for this, I would have terminated you already.

Puck looked at me. "What did you say?" the Burmecian prince asked.

Shit, I must have done it again!

"Um, I said why are you here?"

"LIAR!" he accused me. Excuse me? I've been accused of many things. Narcissistic, yes, obnoxious, yes, thief, sometimes, cheater, only once when I was absent for one day and the next day we had a surprise test, but not once I have been called a liar.

"Moving on," I tried to change the subject. ""Why are you here?"

"I could get ya guys in the play," he said. Vivi's attention was full on concentrated on the prince. He wanted to see the play, and he would do anything. I, on the other hand, already knew how to get in. Maybe I could have shown this to him, but this would ruin the first friendship that he would have in the game. So I decided to let the plot take its course and not change it.

"B-but how?" Vivi asked.

"I'll let you see the show if you become my slaves."

Alright, that is it! I am not going to stand there and accept an offer to be a slave! "I will not-"

"Alright," Vivi said before I was able to finish my objection.

"But-" I tried to say something to Vivi. But apparently, it was already decided.

"Great!" Puck exclaimed, happy he was with the new slaves he just 'acquired', "For your first assignment, you two go stand over there and see if someone's comin'!"

Vivi meekly followed while I begrudgingly slouched and followed the black mage at the end, searching for the nothing that would come in this alley.

"All clear?"

"Yeah, it's clear!" I answered, not really caring for what we were doing. But, for the sake of progress, I will do it.

"Awesome! Engaging according to mission parameters!" That would have been cool, if it was coming from a guy who worked as a spy. Beggars can't be choosers, and at the moment, I didn't have a choice. The three of us huddled up near the ladder once again after the quick inspection. Puck picked up the ladder and ran to the side of the alley he had come from. I'd always imagined how a boy that small could carry a ladder three times larger than him. As I was about to follow the monkey prince, I saw Vivi turn around and go the other way.

"Vivi, Puck's going this way!" I called, pointing to the other direction. But the black mage just continued until a man in an orange coat and a red hat had walked in the alley.

"Umm, excuse me," Vivi said to the man, "but is your name Alleyway Jack?"

The man blinked at Vivi, surprised that his identity has been compromised without giving a single clue to who he was. Also I might want to add that I didn't forget that was Alleyway Jack, it was just I hated the card game in this game, therefore hating him. It was very straightforward for me so don't make me explain. Yes I knew it was for spending time and it "is fun" as I was told by the Final Fantasy diehards at my school, but they didn't know that I already played this part and it made no such sense to have a card game inside a Final Fantasy game. You might as well not call it Final Fantasy, might as well call it Yu-Gi-Oh Final Fantasy minus the magic and trap cards, but instead you get to capture other cards as your own cards. I'm feeling the hate already.

"Huh? How did you know my name?" he questioned the black mage. Then he a smirk appeared on his face. "If you know who I am, you probably want to challenge me to a card game, huh?"

Vivi shook his head at Alleyway Jack. The man, in surprise, dropped the smirk on his face and replaced it with a confused look. Then an idea had struck the man.

"What? You don't know how to play?" Vivi nodded his head at him. "And you want me to teach you?" The mage then nodded again.

"Well," the man seemed to have hesitated, but he relented, "Why not? I already finished one job anyway. Follow me, kid!"

Alleyway Jack started leaving with Vivi following him. I was about to stop him, but then I remembered that this was part of the game...somehow, not really a major part, but a tutorial of sorts. There was no harm in doing this, but it would be one long tutorial on my part, since they'll be playing in a round, in which I hope not to happen. So instead of stopping him, I found myself joining Vivi.

We followed Alleyway Jack into the Tavern we passed on the way to the Ticket Master. Both of us took a seat as the man got himself a drink. I turned to Vivi and asked him, "You really want to learn this game, Viv?" He nodded in reply. "They say i-its fun. And I don't want t-the cards the Ticket Master gave me go to w-waste." He said with less stutter than before.

"Oh, it's fun," I encouraged him, although I hated the whole thing. But as someone had said to others before myself, from whoever said that. "I know from seeing these card games, they are really fun. It's a great game to play to let time tick away." I smiled to keep this sincere enough. My guts were kinda boiling from this lie I was spewing. But Vivi needed this more than me. He was a good kid. Better than me in this moment.

"Okay, let's start with the basics..." Alleyway Jack started.

I raised my finger to the bartender, "Do you have milk or lemonade?"

"Coming right up, sir!" the blonde bartender said as he fetched a glass for me. Might as well drink something while we're here.

-*FF*- -*FF*- -*FF*-

"...oh damn..." I groaned as I lifted my head. That was a bad move, as a searing headache found itself embedded in my head. My hand shot up to my head, grabbing it in pain. "Shit..." I muttered groggily. I tried to shake the headache away, another bad move in my part as it became more painful than before. And for some reason, my mouth tastes like damaged carpet from the garbage. Don't ask why I know this. I clutched my cap wearing head as the pain continued.

The bartender walked in front of me. He gave me a glass of water and another glass of green liquid.

"What the hell is this?" I groggily asked him.

"Its water and some mouth wash," he replied, wiping his hands with a clean cloth from his pocket. I eyed him wearily as I took the glass of water and drank it with one gulp. The mouthwash was the next to enter my mouth. The minty taste of the mouthwash was slowly sticking in my mouth as I let the liquid flow in my mouth. For about half a minute, I gargled as long as I wanted. The bartender gave me a small bucket, which is where I had spitted the minty mouthwash.

"Thanks for that."

"No problem. Just doing my job. Nice doing business with you" he said, leaving me to converse with another customer at the other side of the bar. I looked to my side, seeing Vivi and Alleyway Jack still in tutorial mode. I hope that it was nearing its end.

"Do you understand?" he asked, signalling the end of the tutorial. Thank the lords, which I didn't know if it existed. Finally the tutorial was almost over! Now we could finally leave and... uh oh. I forgot that we had a plan with Puck. We better make this fast.

Vivi nodded, "I think I understand."

"This is the only town where I'm called Alleyway Jack," he said, "I go by other names elsewhere. They're also aliases, of course. You want to know my real name? I'll tell you when you get better."

Heh, I wonder what kind of reaction he would have if I yelled out his real name? It would be interesting to see what I would be able to see. Should I? But then that would spoil Vivi and some other card playing people in the Tavern. Also that could start a riot that would defend Alleyway Jack and get revenge because I spoiled it to them. Okay, after thinking about that, I won't spoil it. I don't want to die in the hands of a card player, another awful death in this place.

Hmm, I wonder what the bartender meant by business? What the hell happened? I didn't remember falling asleep. Last thing I remembered was ordering my drink. Ordering...my...drink...Oh son of a bitch!

I raised my hand, calling the bartender. He approached me while wiping a glass in his hand. "Yes, sir?"

"What the hell?" I yelled, so loud that it surprised the bartender, stopped every gulp that was being made and interrupted Alleyway Jack. Vivi looked at me with worry in his eyes. Embarrassed, I chuckled and said, "N-nothing's going on here. Sorry for the interruption." With that, everything continued as it had before, which was weird for me to see it before my eyes. It looked like one of that cartoons-wait a minute! Enough of this for a moment!

"What did you serve me?" I demanded the bartender, who was strangely calm about this situation.

"Tequila," he replied nonchalantly. My eyes widened.

"You served an under aged boy, not just a glass of tequila, but NINE glasses of tequila! What the fuck is wrong with you!" I told him, in a hushed manner to avoid any more unneeded interruptions. "I asked for milk OR lemonade, goddammit!"

"Eliot," Vivi called me, making me stop my 'talk' with the bartender. "I'm gonna wait outside."

"O-okay," I said, "I'll just finish up here."

Vivi nodded and he stood up, leaving the Tavern. Where was I? Oh yeah! I grabbed the bartender by the collar, earning me looks from the other patrons.

"You know, you should keep in mind that you should give what the costumer had asked," I said to the blonde bartender.

"I did." He replied, still calm as I held his collar tighter, wishing it was his neck instead.

I narrowed my eyes at the bartender. "I asked for milk or lemonade." I growled.

"That's what I call my tequila in this Tavern."

I slapped my forehead in disbelief. That sounded sick to me. I was not gonna give myself further indemnification so I followed Vivi outside the Tavern.

"Have a nice day!" Yeah, nice day my introduced-to-liquor-and-still-drunk ass! It was a good thing that a kid was waiting outside! If there weren't, I could have beaten your ass to a bloody pulp.

"I'd like to see you try, kid!" the bartender yelled with a smirk on his face. I left the Tavern, with thoughts of cold murder. This is a teen game. There is no reason to turn it into a Rated-R game. Now how am I supposed to lead a straight edge life? I already raised my right hand and recited the pledge.

Vivi and I decided to return to Puck and his ladder, well not really his. We just hoped that he didn't mind us learning a few things. One, card games and two, avoid ordering milk or lemonade.

-*End of Chapter*-

Tell me what you think in the reviews. If I missed a grammatical error, changed POVs, anything, tell me in the reviews.

I still accept criticism, not flames.

Wyxlan_Lonestar out!