So you are the people that clicked on the FanFic labelled 'The Real Game' huh? Well...WELCOME! This is my very first FFX FanFic and um...(cough) I haven't finished the game yet (cough)...but I'm going to! I will! I WILL! (twitch). Just a little note about the quote before the first chapter as well, I don't know who wrote or said it but I got it off of my mate (on my FanFic known as BW) so...go ask her...

BW: Hey! How come you shove all of your problems over to me!

FB: Because I like to watch you squirm.

BW: Well that's the last time I leave a random piece of paper with a quote on it round your house.

FB: (grumbling) Spoil sport.

FB: (adding as afterthought) But it was a really good quote because it really does work with the story line!

BW: (raises sledge hammer)

Disclaimer: I do not own FFX, FF7, Shadow Hearts, Kingdom Hearts, Star Ocean, Spyro the Dragon, Microsoft Word, this computer, BW, BW's sledge hammer or any other of that stuff. Now...on with the FanFic!

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'Thought is real, it's the physical that's imaginary'

Hunter

"Damnit, damnit, damnit!"

The 'Game Over' screen flashed before me. Tidus lay sprawled out on the floor of Macalania temple, again. My last defender against Seymour.

Black out.

I growled at the screen. Why was he always so smug about the win, he never stopped smiling did he? What did he find so funny? Seymour…

Trying hard not to throw the Playstation controller out of the window in a fit of rage, I slipped off of the bed and walked over to my closet to grab my blue school jumper and navy blazer.

"Beaten again?" My brother, Kane, asked. He stood leaning against the door, arms folded. His face held a cocky, crooked smile. I wanted to hit him.

"Yup." I said, digging around under my bed for my school shoes.

"You know all you have to so is ask and the pro'll-"

"Stop being so up himself? Please!"

Kane snorted indignantly.

He was right about the pro part though. A straight month of obsessive game play and he had finished FFX. He was an expert, I had watched. His hands moved over the controller with lightning reflexes, his eyes held a curious glow as he played. He was born to play games.

I retained the love for games but had skipped out on the gaming gene. Every game I played, I sucked at. FF7, Star Ocean, Shadow Hearts, Kingdom Hearts, heck even Spyro the Dragon and that was for kids!

I thought FFX was the answer. I had picked up the fighting style really easily and when Rikku introduced the sphere grid I was in my element. I don't know if it was the colour coded system or what but something just seemed to click where it should have done for all the other games I'd played. And then Seymour came. I knew he was bad news as soon as I laid eyes on him. And his aeon…Anima…

"Are you done daydreaming? Coz I'd like to leave today y'know," My brother threw at me with a casual roll of the eyes

I didn't merit this with a response, instead, I gripped my bag strap and hauled it onto my shoulder.

"Happy now?" I asked Kane in a blank voice.

His smile broadened, he reached for my hand and pulled me out of my room downstairs.

"Mum, we're going to school!" he barked over his shoulder.

With a gentleness that could only be described as my brother, he chucked my bags in the boot and yanked me into the passenger seat.

I knew what was coming, Kane revved up the engine.

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He had dark black hair that fell over his face like a shadow, his brown eyes radiated fire. He was sitting in the front row discussing the rise of Hitler and the Nazis like he was supposed to, like he was normal.

He wasn't normal.

I gawped at him like an idiot.

Out of the corner of my eye I could see Lorrel leaning in towards me. Carefully I did the same and met her half way.

"He's cute, yeah?"

"Uh…"

"Oh come on, I know you were thinking that he's hot. Your eyes were pretty much popping out of your head you were ogling him so hard!" Lorrel whined.

"Don't you think he looks…I dunno…odd?"

She squinted at him.

"Not really."

I sighed exasperatedly and shook my head. It might've just been me thinking this guy was weird but Lorrel wasn't exactly the best person to ask for affirmation.

She shrugged indifferently beside me and got back on with her work.

My eyes shifted back to him, being pulled by invisible magnets, an irresistible force. I took in every minute detail of the way he moved, how his face was so completely expressionless, how his blazer sat so neatly on his shoulders. Although I think I did a pretty good job in trying to suss him out, he remained an ice-like enigma.

Slowly my eyes slipped down to his school books. I'm not really sure what I was expecting to find there but it certainly wasn't what I saw sitting on top of his history text book.

FFX.

I gasped, shoving back in my seat so violently I thought I would tip over. Acting quickly, Lorrel grabbed my chair and pushed me back down.

"Everything okay Miss Briant?"

"What? Yeah," I said intelligently.

I could feel the pressure of 30 pairs of eyes probing at me. He was in there somewhere, his eyes seemed to cut right through me. Who was he anyway? He obviously wasn't just a new guy.

Mr Levrett cleared his throat loudly, hoping to get everyone's attention again. Snapping out of a daze they all turned back round, except him. His gaze lingered for a moment as though he knew I'd been watching him only moments before.

Again Lorrel leaned in towards me.

"What the hell was that all about?"

"He has a copy of FFX," I said. My voice was high pitched and distant, I shook my head.

"So? Lots of people are into FFX."

Yeah, but why bring it to school? It makes quite a statement to have it on display in a history lesson, don't you think?

This was the civilised argument I had running through my head when Lorrel spoke. Unfortunately, what came out of my mouth was.

"Um…"

Missing brain, anyone found it?

Lorrel opened her mouth to say something else but at that moment the bell sounded.

I should've waited to see what she wanted to say. If I had, things might have been different. I guess it's the same for the pivotal moments in your life…

I shoved her aside and ran forwards through the rowdy school kids. I saw him up ahead in the crowd along the corridor. It was strange, like all the other kids including Lorrel had become shapeless forms. He, on the other hand was the definition of intense colour and angular shapes. It was almost like…he was more real than everyone else. Just who was this guy?

I reached forward, desperately trying to tug his shirt so he'd stop and give me the time of day. My fingers brushed the thick material.

I had barely touched him, he shouldn't even have been able to feel it but he spun round as though I had slapped him. His eyes were sharp and sinister, his mouth was drawn tight.

The sheer look on his face caught me off guard. I stumbled in my school shoes and flung my arms out to steady myself.

"You…walk fast…" I panted.

"Well, I was in the front row when we were let out," his voice was deep and expressionless.

"I just wanted to ask about your FFX."

"Shoot," he said leaning on the wall beside me. For a moment he looked like my brother. What is it with guys and their cool stances? It was weird, when my brother stood like that he looked like a cocky know-it-all but this guy just looked impenetrable.

"How far along are you?"

"Finished," he told me in a bored voice.

I launched straight in.

"So I'm stuck on Seymour, I can beat Anima but then he hits me with a multiple magic attack and-"

"So you're another one with questionable luck," he muttered.

I looked at him then, my face contorted with confusion. What did he mean questionable luck?

"What's your name?" I asked carefully.

There was a slight hesitation before answering as though he was contemplating whether or not I could be trusted with his name. Suddenly, he grinned.

"Call me Hunter."

"I'm Alex," I said by the ways of some sort of an introduction. "So why exactly do you carry your game around with you?"

"In case I need to give it to someone," he explained. No hesitation this time. His eyes bored into me, drilling holes into my gut.

"Alex!" Lorrel waved over to me from outside the history room.

"Hey!" I called, waving back. "Hunter this…is…"

I know someone can't just vanish but there's no other way to describe it. It was a long, doorless corridor and I didn't even turn away for a second. Even if he'd sprinted I would have seen him turn the corner. I blinked in astonishment.

Thinking about him and what he had said, my eyes dropped down. The little white paper glared up at me. I knew it was from him even before I picked it up.

Meet me in the computer rooms after school. Hunter.

Yeah I know what you're thinking, how the hell did he write that in the space of absolutely no time. Best not to think about it if you ask me. Contemplating time defiance is a road leading to brain explosions, just ask the physics teachers.

I pocketed the note.

"You're on." I whispered.

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So at the end of the first chapter we've met the skill challenged Alex, narrator of the FanFic, her cocky brother, he random friend and the mysterious 'Hunter' who is SO cool looking in my mind! Questions? Well, the big question would probably be something like what about the meeting with Hunter after school? What's that all about? or What exactly is so weird about Hunter? What has all this got to do with what was mentioned in the summary? Well sorry for you, you'll have to read chapter 2!

NB: Revised edition of chapter 1 – with improvements to sentence structure etc. Note there will be further improvements added once the story is completed.