Chapter 1: School's out

My fingers were drumming nosily against my desk as I waited for the clock to reach 3:00. 2:57…2:57 and 38 seconds…isn't it funny time never goes faster when you want it to? The teacher, who looked to be about as bored as we were, was turning in his swivel chair. 2:58…2:59…Oh by the way, I'm Mya. I'm a medium height 16 year old with shoulder length dark brown hair and brown skin.

"Come on…" I whispered, trying to edge the clock on to 3:00. Then at long last, the bell tore through the halls of the school, releasing us for our long awaited summer vacation.

"So, what are you doing for summer vacay, Mya?" my best friend, Amy asked, as we walked down the sidewalk toward home. She had mid back length dark blonde hair, fair skin, and green eyes.

"The same thing I did last summer: Barricade myself in my room with lots of junk food and Final Fantasy eight through ten. I shall beat all three games before school starts back." I said proudly.

"Again…" Amy replied, "This is like the fourth time you've played them. Don't you have any other games? I mean Kingdom Hearts Two just came out."

"I know but I haven't even played Kingdom Hearts one yet." I hung my head in shame. As a rabid Square Enix fan, I was so embarrassed at not having played Kingdom Hearts One.

"What about you?" I asked her.

"I gotta go visit my Grandmother up in Wisconsin."

"Ohhh the one with the beard?"

"No she shaved it. Now she's the one with the mustache. And her house always smells like she's cooking dirty socks or something."

We had arrived at our apartment complex and Amy headed for the elevator. "I dread this." She said pushing the elevator button.

"Flying or driving?" I asked, my hand on the doorknob leading to my house.

"Flying. I made a fuss but my parents said no. At least when we drove I had a lot of time to kill." The elevator appeared and she stepped inside.

"Have a good summer vacation." I said, as the doors slid close, hiding her from my view.

I stepped inside the apartment and made my way to my room. My Playstation 2 was sitting primed and ready to go. I dropped my book bag on the floor and immediately turned it on. But nothing happened…"What the crud?" I whispered pressing the button again. Yet the TV remained black. My eyes trailed the cord and I realized it wasn't plugged in. "Silly me." I said plugging the cord into the wall. I pressed the button once more and the PS2 activated successfully. "Spira…Here I come." I whispered anxiously, grabbing my controller and plopping down on the floor. However something was wrong…"No junk food. Now that simply will not do." I said running into the kitchen and grabbing an obscenely large bag of chips. I rushed back to my room and settled back on the floor. I was expecting to hear the familiar opening music to Final Fantasy X, but it was weird. I didn't hear anything. I looked up and nearly jumped out of my skin when I discovered a little boy standing in front of me. "Hello…" he said.

He was dressed in purple and I immediately recognized him, "Hey aren't you the Fayth?" I asked.

"Yes." He replied simply.

"But you were in the game…"

He shook his head, "This isn't a game." He said.

"What do mean?"

"Do you want to see?" he asked ignoring my question.

"See what?"

"Follow me and you will find out." The Fayth ran out of my room and down the hall. It seemed like time itself had stopped. My mother and father had just walked through the front door. My mom was in the process of tossing the keys on the counter, but it had stopped in mid-air. "Hey what's going?" I shouted, my voice echoing.

"You want to see it don't you?" the Fayth asked again.

"See what?"

"Don't be afraid." He said touching my arm.

All of a sudden, I felt cold then hot. A bright light flashed in front of me and I was blinded for a moment. When I awoke, I was laying in a trash can in an ally. A dog was barking at me. "Oh go away, mutt." I snapped swatting at the dog with my gloved hand…wait, gloves? I don't remember putting gloves on this morning. I sat up and looked at my hands. Sure enough fingerless gloves were nestled on my hands.

"Hey are you okay?" a voice from the ally entrance called.

I pulled myself up more and looked toward the owner of the voice. A young blonde man stepped forward. He offered his hand to me and pulled me out of the trashcan.

"Thanks…" I said brushing the debris from my clothes. And honestly, I had to admit my new wardrobe was pretty awesome. I was wearing worn blackhip huggerpants with a blue shirt that stopped just above my naval. The word Siry was printed on the back.

"What's your name?" the man asked.

"My…" wait, I was about to give my name to perfect stranger. Well he was a hot perfect stranger, but then again I had seen America's Most Wanted too many times to let my common sense be overruled. "I'm Siry." I said. Siry was my gaming nickname. It was perfect.

"Siry…" The man repeated, "I'm Tidus."

I shook my head. Did I hear correctly? Did he really just say his name was Tidus?

"You're Tidus? THE Tidus?" I asked looking him over. Sure enough, he was an exact replica of the Tidus on the cover of my Final Fantasy X game manual. Or atleasthe was at least a really good impersonator. Could itbe? Was I in Zanarkand?

"I'm the only Tidus I know." He said, "Look I gotta get going. Gotta Blitzball game to win. You're coming to the game, right Siry. If you are, I'll score a goal for ya." He asked me. That confirmed it. I was definitely in Zanarkand.

"Heck yeah." I said but then I remembered, "I don't have any gil." I reached into my empty pockets.

"No problem. Here." He said handing me some of his money, "I'll get plenty more tonight when the Abes win." He shot me a thumbs up sign then disappeared into the city. I stood there staring at the money. I had always wondered what Gil looked like.

"Siry!"

I looked up once more and spotted my favorite character of all time, Auron standing there as if he were waiting for me.

"Are you coming or not?" he asked in his solemn voice. Hearing his voice in the game was one thing. But hearing it in real life made me want to drop what I was doing and hide in a corner. I shoved the money Tidus gave me into my pocket and stepped into the light. I shielded my eyes from the city's bright lights as Auron began walking leisurely toward the Blitzball Stadium, "We don't have much time. Let's go." He said.

Okay so let's recap: The Fayth came out of my TV, he brought me to Zanarkand, the main character of my favorite video is pulling me out of trashcans and giving me money, and now my favorite character was leading medown the street toward what could be my doom. Could this get any weirder? Something told me yes. Yes it can and it was going to.