Sudden Decompression
================

Silently I approach the apartment door, burdened with many things, and 
unable to fully manipulate any of it, including the door in front of 
me.  Keys gingle in my hand before I drop everything in a huff and hunt 
for the right key.

"I didn't ask for this life.  Hell, I didn't even ask to be born."

Kicking the door open to my apartment I throw my backpack on a chair 
near the door.  Holding the door open with my foot I shift my burden into 
the apartment and heave a sigh as the door rocks shut.  Grunting I hear 
the door sticking open as the knob refuses to turn enough to let the 
door close.

"Bloody Hell."

Kicking the door once again it shuts with a resounding bang and soon 
enough my shoes are flying across the apartment.  One smacks a wall and 
leaves a faint footprint to match many others, some half scrubbed off, 
as it hits.  The other is luckier and lands with a plop in a cardboard 
box left sitting against the wall of the living room.

"Two points!" I yell with a muffled exhuberance and shuck his coat with 
a touch more grace and hang it up in the closet before moving into the 
apartment proper.  Looking around and seeing nothing else to do I turn 
to the TV.  Perched just above the TV in the entertainment center is my 
Playstation2 and the case for my Final Fantasy IX game.  Without much 
of a pause I punch the power and the TV flashes to life, paused in the 
game just about to start Disc 3, greatly anticipating the return to the 
free and open play I have missed since first restarting this journey 
(my 3rd or 4th) through the game.

"Now to start working on those side quests I've been unable to persue," 
I say with a slight grin as I watches Zidane mope in the tavern on the 
screen.

Ruby 
"We ain't seen each other in ages! Why the sour puss, partner?" 

Marcus 
"What happened?" 

I laugh to myself reading along with the story.  Always more into the 
story than the fighting part of RPGs, not that its stopped me when 
things got tough, I'm relieved when finally control is given through Vivi, 
who I've cutely named Bater for this playthrough of the game, in honour 
of Steiner's quirk of calling Vivi "Master Vivi".  Immediately I head 
east to race with Hippaul.  Apparently he has quite a few cards that 
Vivi... ahem, Bater can earn by racing him.  This is of course though one 
of the many things I find difficult with the game, all the minigames 
with the ridiculous restrictions and demands of my clumsy fingers.

"Christ if I was in there racing Hippaul myself I'd be kicking his ass 
and making him eat my dust every race!"

With that another race is lost and, in a spark of rage and a snap of my 
wrist, I smack the TV with my controller, and notice a flicker.

"Crap, better be more careful..." I think and continues to race.  

Unfortunately there is no better success to be found and my temper gets 
the better of me once again.  Without even thinking about the 
consequences I slam the controller hard against the TV and a loud crack is 
heard.  The screen buckles but in the most unexpected way.  It ripples 
inward briefly then billows outward, exploding in a shatter of glass before 
the whole world around me sucks inward and goes black.

==========

The young boy stood at the start line, looking over briefly at the 
hippo standing next to him, thinking nothing of it and wondering idly just 
how fast the young Hippaul was getting from their feverish racing.  
This was not their first race.  This was not even their 100th race, and 
for the life of him he couldn't understand what was compelling him to 
keep racing.  Rubbing the Nova Dragon card for luck that had been just 
recently stuffed in his pocket, he waits for the girl to mark the start of 
the race.  All he knew was that it was fun and Hippaul's mother was 
being very generous for his help so far.

"Ready? .... GO!!"

The young boy jumped ahead quickly, running as fast as his short legs 
would move him.  He could heard Hippaul at his heels, and continued to 
run as quick as he could.  Suddenly his legs faltered, and he tripped 
slightly.  Hippaul was now neck and neck with him and he was running out 
of breath.

"Why is it I do that almost every time?  I didn't see anything in the 
dirt..." he thinks as picks up the pace trying to beat the thick legged 
hippo.

Lost in the haze of his exertion, he only half hears the crackling of 
energy over the houses over on the left, and turns his head just in time 
to see a young man crash against the roof of a nearby house and slide 
off and down into a pile of boards and shingles next to the finish line.  
The boy rears up, losing another race and walking over to the tangled 
mass of limbs in the wreckage.

"Where... where am I?" I think, my thoughts clouded, my head pounding.

"A-are you okay??" a voice reaches out to me, my head still foggy.

"Where am I?" I get out before opening my eyes.

What I see takes a few moments to process.  The yellow ovals that stare 
back at me with a quiet intelligence speak again.

"You took a nasty fall, wherever y-you came from..." Bater says, 
leaning over me his pointy hat blocking out the sun.

Suddenly it hits me, and my attention is suddenly at full, looking up 
truly for the first time into the eyes of Vivi, and my jaw goes slack.

"But you're... you're ... Vivi..." I manage to get out, my eyes wide in 
shock.

"I-I'm not sure who Vivi is, but my name is Bater." he says, reaching 
out in an attempt to help me up.

"Hi Bater pleased to meet you..." I manage to get out with a rather 
goofy look on my face before my eyes roll up in my head and I pass out.