Well! I never thought I'd get this done. I've been working on this through Spanish and finals, though having to use the computer at odd times just to get stuff done, to arguing with my sisters (Who hog the the computer). Sure been a long and wild ride, even with the problems I had. It's been really fun writing this, and I hope you had a good time reading it :-) Wanna see the Reference List for this story?
Anyway, there's a few credits I have to mention:
Thanks To:
My brother Jon, for the "bounty system" idea. He once said when FF8 came out that he missed it. When I asked what he meant, he said he always thought that in the other games people paid money/gave items for other people to kill those dangerous monsters--in other words, a bounty. I altered it a little here, but that's where it came from. I admit he also gave me a reason why Cloud spikes his hair too; let's just say that "wings" in boy's hair runs in our family...*laughs*! It's caused by washed curly hair that gets slept on wet by the way--Jon deals with his by stickin' his head in the sink, but my youngest brother Jared spikes his!) Oh, visit Jon's FF page sometime..it's at http://come.to/jfinalfantasy. He's one of the best FF game tips guys out there! Besides, he can use a few hits/help ;-)
Akira Toriyama, for the inspiration for how Trance works. I think Square used DBZ's SSJ for inspiration for it...the mechanism is not the same(in FF9, it has to do with the strength of one's soul/spirit while SSJ has to do more with strength), but the way SSJ and the Trance are both triggered is the same(anger, pain). After all, from what I understand from reading DBZ fansites, DBZ is to Japan like Superman is to us.
Mercedes Lackey, for some of the weapon training ideas. If you're thinking about writing a fic about learning how to use weapons, Do Not Pass Go! Go directly to the bookstore and check out her books, especially By The Sword and her Valdamar Series. You'll be glad you did!
Tamora Pierce, for her Song Of the Lioness Quartet. This series is another must-read if you want to know how people learn how to use weapons :-) And I got a character's name from here--Alanna. Tho my Alanna doesn't share anything with Ms. Pierce's Alanna except the first name--and a name-shortening joke :-) even tho for Ms. Pierce's Alanna it isn't a joke. It's life and death.
Vonda N. McIntyre, for her Star Wars book called The Crystal Star. That gave me the germ of the idea why you don't see Zidane's swordstaff strapped on his back or something, he still has the dagger sheath on his belt even after you get him the Butterfly Sword. One of the major story elements in this book is a lightsaber that can only be turned on via the Force. I _altered_ it here but there you have it: there's another Star Wars ref in that kind of weapon besides the obvious Star Wars : Episode 1 ref. Crystal Star is not the best Star Wars book out there, so I think if you want to read it, you should check it out at the library. It's the kind of book that you either like it or you hate it.
Anne McCaffrey, for her Talent series. I borrowed some of the whys and wherefores of using Talent for magic use in the FF worlds. I'd recommend these :-) The DragonLady outdid herself for most of the books in this series.
A. Tadeo, K. Megura, and Fritz Fraundorf--for their FAQs. A. Tadeo wrote an incredible FF9 FAQ(not on RPGamer at this time--his e-mail is down or I understand TRC would already have his FAQs posted[If you ever see his FAQs on RPGamer, you know what happened!]) K. Megura wrote the best FF7 FAQ out there, and Fritz wrote a very good Tactics FAQ. I used A. Tadeo's FF9 FAQ to help me remember locations/keep ablities/charas straight. I used K. Megura's FF7 FAQ for locations on "Vida"(the ones I couldn't remember how to spell, of course) and to help me keep the spells/summons straight. In the case of Fritz's Tactics FAQ? I used that to figure out what summons FF Tactics and FF7 had in common as well as to help me with Tactics refs(since I actually haven't gotten around to playing that game yet). Thanks guys...keep those FAQs coming! And to K. Megura: Whatever you're doin' now since you quit writing FAQs, I wish you the best of luck!
The authors of a Reader's Digest book called Back to Basics. This is were I found out that wood stoves are really balky("like almost having another child in the family") and that pioneers made a lot of cheese(why? Cheese kept better than milk, especially the way they made it back then! That's why I thought on Gaia, cheese would be more common than milk--they prolly wouldn't have refrigerators)
Viper from the RPGamer boards, for telling me exactly what Zidane said in the weapons shop :-) (He wasn't a staffer when he helped me out) Those two lines have never been put in a game script. Thanks a bunch!
Uncle Pervy and Jonathan Lundback, from the RPGFML list, for helping me keep my grammar and the game references straight and giving me a good "virtual slap" when I needed it up until the third chapter. Thanks guys! And thanks to anyone else on the RPGFML list who helped me that I don't remember your names!
Also, a big thanks to a girl on the boards whose username was the Happy Mask Salesgirl (AKA. Tara) She inspired me to get this thing out of the "eh" bin and get back to work on it, even though I had Spanish and stuff to do.
Not only that, thank you Aquila Hawk and the people on the DSL List for going over the later chapters! Couldn't of kept everything straight and made sure I didn't have any mud on my face without you guys!
Piers Anthony, for inspiring me to get my butt in front of the keyboard. He wrote a autobiography called Bio of An Ogre; I'd recommend that book to anyone who's thinking about writing anything. Especially the boilerplate essays at the end. He really knows his stuff :-)
And a big thanks to a certain Intro to Psych teacher in Texas. I borrowed some of Alanna's speech pattern from her...like "That 'ol dog don't hunt". I can tell you, you were REALLY tired if you slept in her class. Shame I don't remember that red-head teacher/counselor's name...
Last but not least, thanks to Squaresoft, for making these two great games! As well as FF4, FF5, and FF6 (no, I haven't really played FF2, FF8 or FF10 yet)
Anyway, there is a sequel to this story coming I think, since I finally beat FF9 after quite some time (Yay! Don't flame me for bein' slow, it's not that it took me forever, it's just I couldn't play while I was at school, the PS2 was at home. However, I'm the first and only person in the house to kick Ozma's can though! Yay!)
Anyway, if you wish to contact me for flames, complements, whatever, click here to e-mail me, or you can IM me:
ICQ: #65464245 (the nick is White Ninja)
AOL IM: MaryAliceDa
MSN: maryadavies@hotmail.com
Yahoo: maryadavies
Thanks for reading...bye for now!
Mary-Alice Davies
Never give up!! :-)