Standard Issue Disclaimer: Final Fantasy IX is the property of Squaresoft/SquareENIX. All characters, locations, and concepts except for original creations belong to them.

[AN Warning: This fic has a low update rate. The chapter updates will be few and far between once all the current chapters I've written so far are on the site but it might be more. Depends on if I have major writers block on my other stories, or if one particular story is finished. You have been warned.]

Chapter 1: A Newcomer in Gaia

I just had the most fucked up day in my life. For those of you reading this, my life is probably sugar-coated compared to yours, but, what the hell. I'm normally a very easy going guy, but even I have my limits. Going from getting up late due to studying into the early morning, failing the exam that you were studying for, then be late for work, again, and getting fired because of it and then realising you have to go back to government benefits again to try and find work again. Then coming back to realise that you needed to take back several videos that were a few days overdue and you are too broke to catch a bus to the store. Then you spot the internet and the electric bill in your mailbox that need to be paid by the end of the week and its Friday. That sums up my day. Go on, say it. My day is one of the worst.

Of course Naruto has had it worse than me so it's hard to feel sorry for myself. And all the kids more unfortunate than me in the world makes it almost impossible for me. But somehow I manage. I lay on my bed, feeling sorry for myself. Yeah, call me selfish asshole and all the rest. At that moment those words would fall on deaf ears.

Deciding that it would be better to remove said anguish at the moment, I sit up on my bed and look at my 46 inch LCD TV. I know I should sell it, but I bought it for gaming and so that is what I'll be using it for. I know what you're thinking. You're probably thinking 'Where'd he get the money for that?' Well I got some inheritage money awhile back worth to about ten grand. So I used said money to buy the TV, PS2, PS3, X-Box 360 and a nice pile of anime, mostly Dragon Ball Z, Naruto and Pokémon.

Well I guess I should introduce myself. My name's Josh Ryu Kitsune. My second and last name used to be Cade Anthony but I never really liked those names. After I got the money I changed them to the Japanese translations of my favourite animals; foxes and dragons.

My likes are to listen to music, hang out with my friends, foxes, dragons, anime, good food and travelling. Thanks to the second last one I'm slightly chubby. My dislikes are people who disrespect my friends, spiders, snakes, pumpkin and arrogant people. My hobbies are sword fighting, enjoying sunsets and thunderstorms, and playing video games. And my dream for the future is to become a rare sword collector.

Now, back to what I'm doing; relieving stress. Wait, that's not right; if I wanted to relieve stress I would play Burnout: Paradise. No, this was more a need to 'escape reality without using your imagination much' and 'I need to experience a story because I feel very lonely'. Books require you to use your imagination a little more than when you are playing an RPG or Role Playing Game. Not that I don't like reading, not at all. I just feel lazy right now. Anyways, who cares! And since I don't have a girlfriend I can hold on to so the hole in my heart will disappear, I have to go with alternative ways of patching up the hole for a few seconds. Yeah, I sound pathetic, but being alone changes you. Especially when you know what it was like to have someone to love. I did. Least that's what I thought at the time. But I'm getting off track.

I reached for my PS2, it was the old bulky version, and opened the disk drawer. Seeing something that I didn't want to play, an earlier version of Burnout, I removed the disk and fumbled in my bookshelf for the cover. Finding it I started the task of choosing what to play. 'Something in the good old Final Fantasy series,' I thought as I sorted through all the games to pick out all the FF games I had. I had VII, VIII, IX, X, X-2, XII, XIII, the recently released XIII-2 and Dirge of Cerberus. I wasn't a fan of either XI or XIV; MMORPGs weren't my thing. Except for Star Wars: The Old Republic. That was different. That actually had a good story. Good old BioWare.

I decided to go with something I hadn't played in a while. Final Fantasy IX it is then! I opened the case and popped the first disk into the drive and closed the lid. I then turned on the TV and set it to the right channel. "Ah, my PlayStation 2, my dear electronic friend that provides me with many hours of entertainment," I said as I turned on the PlayStation 2. I enjoyed the opening FMV before the New Game/Load Game screen. The music was relaxing.

I watched the Squaresoft title appear before me. Then see the cargo ship dock into Lindbulm. The scene changed to the giant statue of the Burmecian king at Burmecia. Then the great Lifa tree, where the mist is spawned from. I then saw the Prima Vista gliding over the mist. The screen went black for a moment to show the dismissal of Odin, followed by the summoning of Alexandria. The unmasking of Cleyra and then a beautiful overview of the city of Alexandria. But then the whole place darkened. Not just the screen, but my whole room darkened to black.

At first I thought it was just a blackout but two reasons stamped that out. The first reason was that the room had darkened gradually. A blackout doesn't do that. And second was that the music was still playing. Since I couldn't see anything, I relied on my hearing. It felt that the music was slowly being wrapped around me. 'That's weird,' I thought. Then I felt myself float, yes that's right, float, out of my bed.

"Oh shit! What the fuck is going on?" I shouted out into the black void that was in front of me, for it looked like that. Then I saw a huge blue shining crystal surrounded by those rings that are found around globes of the world, fly over my head and settle on the left side of my vision. I couldn't help but feel that I had seen that same crystal before.

Then it happened. Words formed out of the darkness.

FINAL FANTASY IX

"…Holy Shit…" I breathed as the words 'New Game' appeared under the main title. The music then softened until it disappeared. What replaced it was a soft musical humming. There appeared to be no 'Load Game' included but that thought didn't last in my mind. "Am I… inside the game?" I asked out loud. As soon as the words left my mouth a rectangular semi transparent shape roughly the size of my TV materialised in front of me. In bold letters, words were formed.

…Yes, you are.

"What the?" I said, confused. The words then were wiped to be replaced with more.

…No, you are not dreaming.

I gasped slightly as that was what I was just thinking about. "So… who are you?" I asked.

…That is difficult to explain.

"Well, then try to put it simply," I offered, trying to be polite despite the circumstances.

…Very well. I am your PlayStation 2.

Silence.

"Wh… Wha… WHAT?"

…A normal reaction in this scenario. However I cannot hold this portal open forever so I will send you through now.

"What are you talking about?" is what I wanted to say but the floor opening up didn't give me a chance to do so. Instead I just screamed as I fell into the dark depths. The black void then changed to a blinding white and I felt myself hitting something that felt like glass. How I knew is that the object I smashed into broke into a thousand pieces and I felt a massive amount of information being forced into my mind. That was when the whole world blacked out.

I woke up, feeling like I slept on a pile of rocks. I certainly knew that my bed was a soft one so I was confused. But the sharp smell of urine, smoke, and booze entered my nose. I wrinkled it, and pinched my nose. I didn't feel skin upon skin. I felt leather upon skin, which made me realize that my hands were covered.

I knew that laying there would simply be a stupid thing to do, so I pushed myself up from where I had supposedly laid. I couldn't see anything, my surroundings strangely dark. I found that I was lying on a pile of rocks. Well, more like broken cobblestone.

I looked back and forth. This was just unfamiliar. I scratched my head, feeling really stupid at the moment.

"Where the hell am I?"

I looked down, shocked to see that my clothes were gone, replaced by these… new clothes.

A grey shirt that prominently showed my buff form; something that I knew I didn't have before. A pair of timberwolf grey cargo pants which had a multitude of pockets. On my feet was a pair of boots that looked like Cloud's boots from Advent Children. I also had tight and thin black leather gloves on my hands. A black leather trench coat was over the shirt. And attached to my back was a friggin Cleaver sword. I grasped the handle and drew the blade to get a closer look at it. It was roughly 60 inches long and surprisingly light; about as heavy as a normal Katana. The design was almost an exact replica of Clouds Buster sword. The only few differences were that there were no materia holes; the hilt wasn't gold and didn't have a fancy design; and that the handle was a carbon copy of the handle of Zabuza's Kubikiri Houchou. Oh and that the blade was ebony black. I swung the sword, realising that I knew how to handle the blade really well. I slung the pitch black sword into its original spot, on my back, and ran a hand through my spiky hair. Wait a minute… I don't have spiky hair…

I ran both my hands through my hair this time and realized that it was in a completely different style than before. The top, sides and fringe were short and spiky, while the back was very long and straight. I grabbed a few locks of the long pony tail at the back and saw that there were red streaks through it. Awesome. I look into a window only to see exotic red eyes looking back at me. Double awesome. And to top off the bad ass image, a pair of orange/yellow sunrise lenses Teashade glasses were resting on my forehead. I took off the glasses and studied them closely. I had always wanted a pair after watching Trigun and seeing Vash's. In fact, these glasses looked exactly like his, even the 'W' bend arms were the same. I pushed the glasses back onto my face. I then realised that, despite the orange tint the teashades had, I could still see the world without any orange tint over it. That was a good thing.

I sighed, wondering where I was. An alleyway or something. While I breathed, I felt myself becoming sick from the mixture of disgusting scents, and I knew immediately that I needed some fresh air. So with slight trepidation, I allowed my feet to take me out of that alleyway, and right into the street.

The world suddenly got a whole lot brighter and, even though my sunglasses filtered out most of the glare, the sudden change made me bring up a hand to shade my eyes. But everything became clearer as my eyes immediately adjusted to the brightness.

Did I journey back in time or something?

I stepped forward in awe, looking at everything around me. I was in a street, but not the concrete and car-riddled streets that I was used to. No, this one was of cobblestone, where earthen rocks decorated the ground beneath me. In between cobblestone crevices were dirt and sand, while weeds grew in the cracks and spaces. Old quaint houses lined the street, with ancient looking signs and structures. And the people, the people! There weren't just humans… there were… there were… animals?

No, no, that wasn't it. They were like humans, but they had animal attributes. Anthropomorphic beings is the word I was looking for. But… it was so odd, seeing them wearing clothes that I knew would never exist in my time, or where I came from.

Where I came from… this definitely was not where I came from. This definitely was not my home. This place was a lot more crowded than my home, and my home's a major city! And… this was definitely no place I've been to before, and definitely a place that I'll never find on… Earth.

WTF?

"Toto, I don't think we're in Australia anymore…" I softly said beneath my breath, despite not having a dog called Toto. "In fact… I might as well chuck Earth into that statement."

As I was backing away in pure shock and slowly gathering the information I needed to realize my destination, I bumped right into someone. I heard a childish yelp and saw someone collapse, which meant the person was a tiny thing. I hadn't budged at all. "Oh, shit, sorry bout that!" I reached to help him up, only to find a small piece of paper fall near my feet. My helping hand went to snatch the thing up, and my red eyes involuntarily read its contents.

Seeing what it read made my heart stop.

On it said, 'I Want to Be Your Crow.'

No… way… My hand began to shake, an action of surprise and shock, while my heartbeat began to quicken in panic. Everything clicked, everything fit, and the puzzle of my whereabouts was solved. Yet, doubt was rising in me, that this was in fact a dream, and when I saw all this, I'd wake up to my normal room, sitting in front of my TV.

"Ahh…" My attention drew back on the person in front of me. I slowly looked down and saw him adjusting what appeared to be… an old mage hat. He wore a second-hand overcoat of basic blue, which looked to be swimming over him. The green-white pinstriped trousers looked to be 3 sizes wider and was held up by a single belt. And then… he looked up towards the sky, and I saw it. The perpetual black shroud that covered his head, while yellow orbs glowed in shrouded blackness.

Oh god.

It's Vivi.

The little black mage stood up, when voices erupted from all around us.

"It's the Prima Vista!"

"Tantalus is here!"

"Hooray!"

The cheers made me gasp as I looked straight up with wide eyes. Right above me, high above me, was the Prima Vista itself. Its massive body cast an enormous shadow over us, blocking the sun in its entirety. I watched in awe as the ship soared through the air and towards its destination, Alexandria, the castle that housed… Princess Garnet.

I stood there, frozen in shock. I stared at the ship as it flew towards the castle, not caring if I was blocking any busy pedestrian around me. I was attempting to bring forth some sort of logical explanation for this, but I could not. This was either happening, or this was a realistic dream of the video game version of the opening. I have no clue, or it could be that my mind's playing tricks on me.

And if it was real… it couldn't be. It couldn't be possible… and yet… everything around me felt real. The smells, the sights, the sensations and sounds, everything was working. All my senses were captivated by everything, and everything was happening without further distraction. There were no sudden shifts or changes like dreams had, nor did it have things that made any sense… for now. Then I remembered the scene that happened before I got knocked out. My conversation with someone claiming to be my PS2. At this point I felt that, for the moment, I would accept what was going on. Not that I have a clue what is going on.

So… here I stand… on Gaia.

In Alexandria.

Right next to Vivi, with the Prima Vista now exiting my sights.

I was in Final Fantasy 9.

Holy shit… How is this possible? I thought.

'You're here because I made it possible,' said a male voice I didn't recognise. And it made matters worse that it was inside my head.

Who… who are you? I asked.

'I'm the PS2, remember?'

Riiiight… the PS2….

'We'll talk later. Right now you'd better get Vivi to the show.'

"…Wow."

I looked down as a voice broke my confusing conversation, and I found Vivi still staring at the span of air that the airship once flew through. Perhaps he was taking in the moment, remembering the sensation that he probably experienced upon the sight of the airship. He looked like how he'd look in the game, except one thing, he really did look real. He didn't look at all cartoon-y or how he looked in the game, he looked real. Real clothes, the real hat, and I could even see the shape of his head despite the darkness that was his skin. The clothes themselves swamped him and he definitely had a thin body. I was glad that leather belt kept that overcoat of his from falling off, and I have no idea how those pants didn't fall. Heck, even his boots looked 2 sizes too large for him, I reckon people thought he was either too poor to get clothes his size, or was just some kid whose parents didn't even consider whether it'd fit him or not.

I say it was the parent, or whoever raised him who gave him those huge clothes. Yep, that Qu was definitely big, and Vivi was probably stuck with clothes that only the Qus could have fitted at the time. As for my comment, he had clothes that'd better suit a clown. But that'd be a horrible thing to say, the kid was Vivi, the character I always sympathized and liked. Plus when his skills with Black Magic grow he'll become a walking, talking weapon of mass destruction. And who doesn't love to blow things up?

I realised that I'm still holding the fake ticket. I kneeled down so I would look less threatening, pushed up my teashades to my forehead and leaned forward so that my kick ass sword didn't scrape the pavement. He noticed the movement and looked at me. I smiled warmly and handed him the ticket.

"This yours, kiddo?" I asked, even though I already knew it was.

He hesitated for a moment, his hand floating just before the ticket, quivering with obvious nervousness. But with tiny fingers, he grasped the far end of the ticket. "Um… thanks." Geez, the guy was scared senseless, did I look THAT intimidating or something? I decided to smile again and did so. "No problem."

Vivi seemed to relax a bit, which I'm thankful for. Didn't want to scare the kid any more. He then started to walk away when I called to him. "You goin' to the play?" He nodded. I should tell him about the ticket.

"You're going to have a hard time getting in cause it's a fake." I said, feeling horrible that I had to spill the beans. He looked confused. "How do you know?" he asked, a small amount of disbelief in his voice. I didn't blame him for not believing me. Would you if a random guy came up to you in the street and said that the earth was round and not flat back in the dark ages?

"Well, take a look at the title, what's it say?" I had to clue him in on that. I mean, he'd find out later, so might as well let him know now.

"It says I Want to be Your…" His orbish eyes widened. Ding! Congratulations kiddo! You now realise that you were swindled. Welcome to real life. "CROW? But I paid so much for it…"

I feel so bad for him. Well I'll just help him with that.

"You can still see the play." I said.

Now that got his attention. He perked up immediately. Wait, I can't say perked, but he looked hopeful. "Really?"

"Yeah! Just follow me. I'll get ya there." I said enthusiastically as I stood back up and pushed my teashades back over my eyes. "Shall we go?" Vivi nodded and we both moved to the main plaza.

[AN: Tell me what you think guys. That means review!]