Final Fantasy 9 and company (working title)

Chapter 1: Just an Ordinary Life

Disclaimer: I got tired putting all those disclaimers in my other story so I'll just put it once here and now. I DON'T OWN FINAL FANTASY! ANY OF IT! SQUARESOFT DOES! There. The only I do own are their products and my creativity. I don't really own the characters either since they are based on real people and I don't own the people…well, I do own their fictitious side I suppose…anywho, enjoy the story ^^

            It was an ordinary Friday morning in the U.S.A. when Miranda felt the morning rays stream through her window and down on her face. She slowly blinked her eyes and got up. She sighed as she got ready for school, brushing her long black hair.

            "School…the last place I want to be," Miranda muttered. "At least just one more month left and it's almost the weekend…"

            Miranda Johnson was an above average student, but not a genius. Her high qualities were drawing, reading, video games, and being an all around good girl. Everyone liked her, but she didn't consider herself one of the popular girls in her school. She was in the 9th grade at a small private school. She considered a lone wolf in school most of the time and didn't talk much with the other students. She had friends, but she felt more comfortable on her own. But she had a good nature and helpful to anyone.

            "Hurry up, Miranda! Your dad is waiting in the car!" she heard her mom yell from below.

            "Coming!" she cried back and grabbed her backpack, checking to make sure she had done everything. Seeing that her room was in tip top shape, she ran down the stairs, jumping the last three.

            "Have a nice day at school," her mom told her as she kissed her good-bye.

            "Like I can," Miranda said smiling.

            Her mom smiled back. "Hurry now, or you'll be late."

            Miranda ran to her dad's car and climbed in. They arrived at her school in good time and Miranda kissed her dad good-bye.

            "Good luck with your test," her dad told her.

            "Thanks, Dad," she said, closed the door, and watched her dad pull away. She entered the school and climbed the stairs to her locker. Everyone was crowding around the locker hall cramming for the history test they had today. She smiled at everyone and went straight to her locker to get her books. Her friend, Molly, was nearby unpacking her backpack as well.

            "So looking forward to the weekend?" Molly asked her.

            "Who wouldn't be? Are you going to do anything special for your weekend?"

            "Nothing really."

            Molly heard her name called. "Sorry, Sara's calling me. Cya!" She waved and walked toward Sara.

            "Cya," Miranda called back. Well, better get to home room, she thought and left the locker hall.

The day went by quickly and everyone left the classrooms when the last bell rang. Miranda gave a sigh of relief that the test was over. She had history last so she had plenty of time to check over her notes again to refresh her mind. She felt confident that she at least made a B. History wasn't one of her strong subjects. She went to the lockers to unpack her backpack and packed anything she would need. She was glad that it was the weekend.

            Hm, I guess I should get back to work on my FF7 game, being as I haven't worked on it in awhile, she thought as she walked down the stairs and exited the building.

            "Hey Miranda!"

            Miranda turned around at the sound of her name and wondered who it was. She smiled as she saw the person walk quickly to join her.

            11th grader Kristin Riley smiled at Miranda. "How was the test?"

            "It was hard, but I think I did ok. Mr. Benton can give hard tests!"

            Kristin laughed. "Glad I didn't have him when I was in 9th grade. What are you doing this weekend?"

            Miranda shrugged. "Probably work on my FF7 game. I haven't been playing it in a while. I'm still on Disc 1 about to save Aeris from ShinRa."      

            "What?! You still haven't gotten past that part?!"

            They turned around to see Chris Henson looking incredulously at Miranda.

            Miranda gave a nervous laugh. "Uh…hehe…well, there's school and all and…"

            He waved his arms about as if to dismiss the idea. "That's it! I'm coming over to your house and MAKE you play!"

            "Uh huh…suuuuure," Miranda said smiling. They've had this discussion over the AIM lots of times and knew he wasn't serious. Except now.

            "Give me the directions."

            Kristin gawked at him. "You're serious??"

            He had a determined look in his eye. "This has gone on long enough! You're going to play it even if I have to tie you down and force you to sit in front of the TV!"

            Miranda shook her head laughing and waved her hand. "Fine, fine. Question is how are you going to get there?"

            "I'll get my dad to drive me over."

Miranda nodded. "Alrighty, then," she said as she wrote out the directions to her house on a piece of paper she had taken out of her backpack. "Here are the directions."

He took the piece of paper and nodded. "See you tomorrow, then." He walked away to where his dad was waiting.

            Kristin looked at Miranda then burst out laughing.

            Miranda looked at her puzzled. "What's so funny?"

            "Ahaha…nothing nothing…it's just that I can just picture you…tied to a chair and Chris yelling at you!"

            Miranda shook her head at her smiling. "You're one strange person…"

            Kristin had finally recovered from her laughter and looked at Miranda again, her eyes sparkling. "So…are you and Chris together?"

            Miranda blushed at the idea and hastily shook her head. "We're just friends."

            "Hm…that's not what you said last year. You said he-"

            Miranda covered her mouth and glared at her. "Do you want the whole school to know???"

            Kristin smiled. "So you do like him, eh? Tell me about you two's history."

            Miranda shrugged. "Like I said we're just friends. We have classes together. We have the same class after lunch and we race to see who gets there first." She grinned. "I usually won, though."

            Kristin nodded. "I see. Lets get in the car, being that you don't want to discuss this out here…"

            "Alright," she said as she followed Kristin to her red Ferrari F50 GT.

            The drive was quick and they soon reached Miranda's house. Kristin was still teasing Miranda until she started yelling at her to stop.

            Kristin rolled her eyes. "Fine, fine." They turned into the driveway and Kristin cut the ignition. "Come on! I'm still on Disc 3 and I want to see Kuja again!"

            Miranda groaned. "He's just a CG animated character!"

            Kristin grinned at her as Miranda unlocked the door to her house. "So? He's still cool. I don't like how he dresses though…"

            "Come on. Lets go to my room and then we can play it."

            They climbed the staircase of the homely house. Miranda's room was quite simple with light pink walls covered with Final Fantasy,  anime, and horse posters. Her shelf had some beanie babies (Zodiac ones particularly….), CDs, and one filled with manga.

            "You're lucky to have all this Final Fantasy and anime stuff, Miranda," Kristin said wistfully.

            Miranda smiled. "If Dad can find it cheap he'll get it," she said chuckling.

            "Yeah, he likes Sears, E-bay, Wal-Mart…," Kristin said joining in.

            Miranda sighed looking at the Final Fantasy IX posters. "Too bad I couldn't have a life like that…"(FORESHADOW!!! . hehe, I didn't say that…)

            Kristin looked her. "Being stuck on the wall?"

            Miranda gave a small laugh. "No…nevermind. Lets play." She walked out and into the den where her PlayStation was hooked up. She popped in Disc 3 and started it.

            Miranda yelled at Kristin everything that was to be done and took over sometimes when Kristin got tired of the random battles or wasn't listening to her. Kristin noticed Miranda playing furiously at the random battles and some of the boss battles and thought that she was getting into the game a little too much. She kept the thought to herself and snapped back to reality when Miranda gave a small scream. The PlayStation was starting to smoke and the TV screen started swirling around. The room was disappearing around them and Kristin felt herself lifting up. Luckily saving before this happened, Miranda turned the power off and snapped the lid open. She took out the game and gently laid it on the ground. Everything went back to normal and Kirsten found herself falling a short distance to the ground.

            She rubbed her back and asked, "What the heck happened?!"

            Miranda, still shaking, pointed to the disc. "L-Look!!"

            The disc was glowing an eerie light. The girls stared at it with their mouths open and their eyes wide. The disc glowed a few seconds longer, then returned back to normal. Miranda hesitantly picked it up, looking at it dumbfounded.

            "It seems to be back to normal…"

            Kristin stared at it. "That has never happened before…"

            "That was weird…"

            "And it wasn't our imagination either. I got a bruise on my back from landing on the floor so hard."

            "My dad had gotten it from eBay I think at the end of last school year. I don't think anything happened to it since…"

            "What are you going to do?"

            Miranda shrugged. "I dunno. Maybe it was just a glitch or something."

            "A glitch? That can raise a person into the air? I think not." She thought a moment. "I'd better come by tomorrow in case you try something like that happens while playing your FF7 game."

            Miranda looked at her. "I don't think that's the real reason is it?"

            Kristin looked down guiltily. "Well…you never know!"

            Miranda rolled her eyes. "Uh huh…well I suppose you can."

            Kristin looked at her watch. "Well, hate to run after this event, but I have to be home soon. Luckily we're not that far away."

            Miranda followed her out to her car and waved good-bye as Kristin sped down the road. What did happen just then? she wondered as she went back inside slowly.

            So ended the not so ordinary day after all.

Author's Note: So whatcha think? I'm going to try the novel form instead of the script form like I did in my other story FF9 Meets Tenchi. You should read it! Anyway, the Final Fantasy IX characters will appear hopefully in the next chapter. I know it doesn't seem much now, but don't most stories start boring and then get good? Like I said in the disclaimer, some, note SOME, of this stuff is based on my real life but I changed names to protect their identity. Some, note again SOME, of those characters will be totally different than their real life counterpart, but hey, they wanted it! So I shall continue on shortly so it will be more satisfying. See you there! O and review please!