I apologize in advance for not continuing "One little Oversight" as I said I would. I have half a chapter ready but just can't seem to get into my plot anymore. However, CG just won't let me go and slapped me with this fic idea (literally have been having trouble concentrating at work because of this story idea). So now that I've caved in and started writing I hope I can catch a few peoples interest at least. On to the story!
Edit 1: re entered the e-mail adresses For Lulu and Rivalz that removed without me noticing.
I do not own Code Geass or any of its characters.
CG, Gaming is addictive
Chapter I.
The heavy thudding made the slender girl jump slightly in her seat before the principals desk. She managed to recover as the aging but still handsome blonde shuffled a small stack of paperwork he had just stamped together. His hands gently lifted a stapler and pinned the documents together before sliding it across the varnished rosewood towards his newest student.
"Your transfer is complete, Miss Stadtfeld, I've informed the student council and they should be sending a representative to give you a quick tour of the academy any minute now." Ruben Ashford stated quietly, "I hope you enjoy your time here, and I'm very glad you decided to grace Ashford academy for the remainder of your high-school career." nodding the girl picked up the small packet and rose to leave.
Lightly shutting the door behind her Kallen leaned back against the smooth wood and tried to calm her breathing. A slight flush covered her delicate features, only slightly hidden behind her straight, shoulder-length hair. Pale fingers lightly plucked the top button of the Ashford academy's creamy yellow blazer free and she sighed as breathing became slightly easier. Pushing off the door she took several steps to the side and lowered herself into one of the chairs that lined the wall immediately before the principals office.
Kallen had always been a sickly child, she spent more time at the hospital in a few months then most did in years. Her diagnosis was complicated but could be summarized as a weak heart and respiratory system, leaving her prone to loss of breath or fainting under even slight amounts of stress. Trembling hands gently flipped through the pages of her transfer paper-work while she waited patiently for her escort. Soon enough the door against the far wall swung open and a black-haired boy with piercing violet eyes and beautiful, almost feminine features strode in.
"Miss Stadtfeld?" he inquired in a rich baritone, holding out his hand.
"Yes." she replied, taking the offered hand in one of her own, his hand was cool but gripped hers firmly.
"Very good. I'm Lelouch Lamperouge, the Vice president of the student council and your escort for the day." he stated, assisting Kallen to her feet and turning towards the door. "We'll be covering the grounds, visiting your classrooms, and deciding what club you'll join before your free for the day."
"I have to join a club?" Kallen asked, her health problems jumping to the front of her mind.
"All students attending Ashford are required to join at least one club, but there is no lack of them. All your sports, even unusual ones like juggling or checkers, are available. There are also a large number of cooking clubs, each focused on a slightly different cuisine or culture. Academics clubs have been formed as well, such as biology, chemistry, and theoretical physics for example. And finally you could also apply for the student council, though you'd need a recommendation from a current member." Lelouch had begun walking even as he explained, holding the door open to let her pass through before taking the lead again. Relieved Kallen pondered what kind of club she would like to join for a moment as her escort guided her into the sunny summer sun and around a small portion of the academy grounds.
Ashford was a beautiful school. Lush fields and a variety of different foliage covered the sprawling grounds. Tasteful paths, of several different designs, granted the students easy access to almost all of the campus. The buildings were kept immaculate and gave off an air of comfort and peace. The interiors, once Lelouch began to show her to her classrooms, were decorated with just as much enthusiasm. Many of the public areas, like the library, were carpeted and contained at least several couches, love-seats, or benches for the students convenience.
"And finally this is the gym. Ashford boasts a swimming pool, tennis court, and a half-mile track. Are you alright?" his last question lost the 'tour guide' tone as Kallen began to sway.
"J-just a... little out of breath." she stuttered, the hot summer sun had drained her meager strength faster then usual.
"Here, we'll take a quick break in the AC." he replied, one hand lightly grasping her arm above the elbow and leading her into the gymnasium. Kallen could only struggle to keep her feet underneath her as the hot, humid air gave way to a cool breeze as Lelouch opened the door and escorted her to the bleachers. After helping Kallen take a seat Lelouch walked quickly over to a nearby vending machine and a moment later there was a cheerful jingle followed by a small thump.
"Here." Lelouch said, holding out a bottle of cold water to the panting red-head.
"Thank you." she mumbled, hanging her head slightly to avoid looking him in the eye.
"It's unseasonably warm out today." he stated, leaning back on the bench while watching the currently in session gym class playing basketball. Not knowing what to say Kallen merely nodded and uncapped the water bottle he had given her.
"So do you know what kind of club you'd like to join?" Lelouch asked a few moments later.
"Not really." Kallen replied, truthfully she had been focused on remembering the location of her classes and the major facilities that made up the vast Ashford campus.
"Hmmm..." slender fingers splayed over his chin as Lelouch adopted a thinking pose. "What kind of hobbies do you have?" Kallen flushed slightly before mumbling something that couldn't be heard over the sudden whistle that blew, signifying one of the teams had scored.
"What was that?" Lelouch pressed gently.
"Gaming." instantly dropping her head Kallen tried to hide from the look of disgust Lelouch was most likely wearing.
"What kind? Role-playing, First or third person shooters, puzzle, you gotta give me a little more then that to go off of Kallen." looking over in shock Kallen saw Lelouchs eyes were still soft and his tone hadn't changed.
"Uh... All of the above?" she stumbled over her words, not expecting the vice-president of the student council for such a prestigious school to have a healthy respect for gaming.
"Kallen." he replied, "That's not making it any easier." a playful smirk twitching into place over his face.
"Ummm... Fighting games are probably my favorite. Side scrolling or three dimensional doesn't matter." she stated after her blush had faded. She always loved the feeling that she could fight, or run, or just be normal (maybe a little more then normal.).
"Interesting." Lelouch said quietly, his eyes losing focus for a minute. "How about we have a match?"
"Wha?" his smirk was on in full force now as Kallen stared at him open-mouthed.
"I'm pretty good." he warned, rising to his feet and offering a hand to her.
"Well so am I." Kallen retorted, ignoring his hand and crossing her arms over her chest.
"I certainly hope so. I got a console in the student council room so we'll head there. Rivalz has been trying to beat me for a couple weeks in 'Furious Fighter 6', you mind if we play that?" he said over his shoulder while leading Kallen back out into the oppressive heat.
"That's fine, I've played that one before." she lied, trying to ignore the light trembles in her legs.
Kallen focused on Lelouch's back for the majority of the trip, though she did mark the building in her mind, it never hurt to know where the student council was located. A few hallways later Lelouch stopped at a fairly inconspicuous door and opened it.
"GUTS!" Kallen almost face-planted as the overly cheerful tone exploded out the now open portal.
"I suppose the deadline for the budget has come out?" Lelouch, unfazed, waltzed into the large room without missing a beat as Kallen scrambled to catch up.
A large rectangular table took up the middle of the room, with several seats pulled up to it. Occupying some of the seats were several students who immediately rose to their feet as Kallen came through the door.
"Oooo! I didn't know you were planning on bringing her here, Lulu." a curvy blonde squealed, practically teleporting across the room to hug the startled new comer. "I'm Milly! I hope our dear Lulu has been taking good care of you? Of course not, he's a total idiot about women."
"Who is she?" a orange haired, busty girl with a soft face, green eyes, and long legs asked, somewhat accusingly.
"Oh? Is our dear Shirley worried about Lulu cheating on her?" Milly was gone as quickly as she came, appearing behind the other girl and whispering, loudly, into her ear. Shirley immediately flushed red and began struggling in the other girls grasp while squeaking out denials and excuses.
"Lulu?" Kallen asked Milly with a confused look.
"She's talking about Lelouch. I'm Rivalz!" a blue-haired boy stated as he stepped forward to shake her hand like a normal person. He was short, even shorter then herself Kallen noticed, but had a good-natured face. Kallen accepted his hand-shake while trying to hold back a snicker at Lelouch's pet name.
"That's Nina in the back." Lelouch mentioned, pointing to a nerdy green-haired girl who was still engrossed in her laptop. "Now we better escape before-"
"Nooooooo!" Milly shrieked, diving to grab the violet eyed boys arm. "You need to get to work on the budget! It has to be turned in tomorrow!" Lelouch actually froze and Kallen got a nice shot of his face in a state of complete disbelief before he slowly turned to face Milly.
"President." his words were sharp and precise. "How long have you known about this budget deadline?"
"Oh... a couple days?" the revealed president replied, twirling one finger in her hair while gazing innocently at her underling.
"Why didn't you inform us earlier?" Lelouch didn't seem the type to get upset, his tone hadn't changed, but right now Kallen was wondering if she would get to see him explode.
"Well there was just so much else to do!" Milly defended, throwing her hands up in the air.
"Trying to stuff me in a cat suit and take pictures for a fundraiser? How about trying to get that giant pizza made, the same one you've never finished in all three years I've been here? Or organizing a school-wide hunt for my notebook when I mentioned it was missing? Those are more important then our budget?" Lelouch's voice was slowly rising the whole speech, his hands spreading and beginning to wave back and forth.
"Yes?" the president, almost hesitantly, stated. Lelouch went perfectly rigid for a breath before one hand splayed over his face.
"Milly! What the... how the... why." the normally articulate council member seemed unable to find words to describe his feelings.
"Right! So we all need to get to work! Don't forget, GUTS!" Milly, taking her chance as Lelouch fumbled for words, shouted while practically throwing Rivalz back into his chair.
"I'm always pumped up after your 'guts' cheer, president!" Shirley stated, heading back to her chair as well.
"That stupid 'guts' spell won't work in this situation!" Lelouch roared in frustration.
"Of course it will!" the president retaliated, suddenly standing next to Kallen with a Cheshire smile locked in place. "You'll be helping out of course won't you?"
"Uh." caught flat-footed Kallen could only watch in horror as she was swiftly seated at the table and a pile of paper-work materialized before her.
"NO!" Lelouch shouted, "Don't try and snare another innocent student in your web, infernal woman."
"Awww, isn't that cute, Rivalz? Lulu is trying to save her." Milly cackled while Shirley sent some less then loving looks at Kallen.
"Lelouch, you know we need all the help we can get." Rivalz added, "If we don't get the budget worked out the polo club might come crashing through the window. I can't take that again!" Defeated the slender boy finally gave up and slunk into the seat next to Kallen.
"If you wanna get out of here I can take care of... that." Lelouch whispered to Kallen, looking pointedly at the pile of records, requests, and receipts piled in front of her. She was tempted for a moment, until she realized knowing the student council personally could, theoretically, be very helpful to a new student.
"I don't mind." Kallen finally said. Truthfully she didn't have any plans for the rest of the evening, besides returning home and playing some games. That had been her favorite activity to do with her brother before he left for college and she still found the fantasy of gaming attractive.
"Right, well if you have questions then I'm right here." Lelouch stated, giving Kallen a quick run-down of how to organize the... mess, in front of her.
An hour later Kallen stretched and gently slid the now organized pile over to Lelouch, who was neatly recording and calculating the organized piles from the rest of the council members. Leaning back into her chair Kallen noted that Rivalz had broken out a console and was hooking it up to a T.V he pulled out of a closet. Milly was pestering Nina and Shirley was organizing her portion for the third time after dropping it once she got within a foot of Lelouch.
"Aren't they going to help you consolidate the forms?" Kallen inquired quietly, the boy looked up with a brief flash of irritation quickly smothered by a confident smirk.
"I can't trust them to do it right." he whispered, looking pointedly at Shirley and Milly. "So it just slows down the process if I let them help at this stage."
"Oh." Kallen replied, looking down at the table. It didn't seem fair that Lelouch ended up stuck with the lions share of the budget balancing act. An idea hit her suddenly and Kallen watched the growing column of numbers in Lelouchs hands for a while.
After getting the basics worked out she snagged Shirley's stack before her obvious attraction to the black-haired boy caused it to spill over the floor yet again. As an A+ student herself Kallen felt a small sort of awe as she realized just how much data Lelouch was taking in and sorting almost as fast as the rest of them had been able to decide what pile to put a slip in. Firming her resolution Kallen set about trying to copy her companion. Lelouch looked up for a moment, but didn't say anything.
Two hours later Kallen laid down her pen in exhaustion, but pleased as the stack of papers she had acquired had been finished. Looking over she felt a flash of jealousy at Lelouch's slightly taller stack of papers, but it faded as he paused to look over her work.
"Hmmm..." with a small rumble the boy finished his inspection and wordlessly dove back into the much depleted pile of papers left for him to do.
"Go kick Rivalz ass, his been using the same combo for half an hour now." he mentioned when Kallen hadn't moved a few minutes later. "And thank you. Your work is flawless." he remarked nonchalantly as she rose to head over to the TV.
Unable to hide her satisfaction Kallen took a new seat next to the blue-haired boy as he pounded on the controller in his hands. Once again Lelouch was proved right, as Kallen picked up on the sequence Rivalz continued to hammer his opponent with.
"Did you wanna play?" he asked, still focusing on the tiny figures that blasted each other with fists and feet.
"If you don't mind." Kallen remarked, picking up the second controller and waiting for Rivalz to finish his match. Soon enough they had both picked fresh characters and the match was starting.
"I'll take it easy on you." he promised with a goofy grin. Glaring slightly Kallen merely sniffed before turning back as the game announced the beginning of the fight.
Rivalz immediately surged forward with his favorite combo and Kallen had to retreat while making sure she remembered the buttons correctly. She hadn't played 'Furious Fighter 6', but she had played 3, 4, and 5 with Naoto. Finding the scheme almost the exact same Kallen began to slowly work out how to defeat Rivalz onslaught.
"Almost.." Rivalz muttered after she almost missed a block. "Just need one good hit."
He never got the chance as Kallen's character suddenly blasted a punch into her opponents ribs. A follow up combo sent him flying across the screen and Kallen took a gamble and punched in a combo from 'Furious Fighter 5'. As a bright wave of energy shot across the screen, followed by an exaggerated "K-O!". Kallen had to crack a smile at Rivalz stunned look.
"How did you do that?" he asked, trying not to sound hurt.
"Each character has a secret combo, my brother showed me that one." Kallen replied.
"Cool! I'm not really good at these kind of games anyway. Do you play any other games?" her former opponent queried.
"A little bit of everything." she explained for the second time that day.
"Sweet, do you play 'Fantasy's Call'?" he asked, practically vibrating in his chair.
"What is 'Fantasy's Call'?" Kallen asked in return, not recalling the title.
"It's a really awesome MMO! You get this head-set thing and it lets you control your character like it's you! The classes are pretty diverse as well. Best thing is your levels and gear aren't everything, if your good you can fight monsters way tougher then normal without breaking a sweat!" the cork had popped and Rivalz was gushing fanboy all over Kallen's shoes.
"Sounds... interesting." she hesitantly replied.
"It really is, I'll send you an invite if you wanna try it out, just let me get your e-mail. I think Lelouch has an extra head-set as well." a pen and paper somehow found their way into Kallen's hands.
"Lelouch plays too?" suddenly interested Kallen leaned forward slightly.
"Nah." Rivalz replied, deflating a little. "He hasn't been online in a while. Just decided one day he was done."
"Why?" Kallen pressed.
"He hasn't told me yet. Though it must be something personal, he isn't the type to get all raged out and quit over something small." the blue-haired boy explained. "Maybe if both of us ask he'll start back up, I know he likes helping out new players."
"Why not." scratching down one of her e-mail accounts Kallen handed the pad back to Rivalz.
"Why not what?" Lelouch's voice suddenly queried from behind the gamers.
"Lelouch! Uh... well, you see..." Rivalz started to squirm under the other boys gaze.
"I was wondering if you would be interested in playing 'Fantasy's Call' with us. Rivalz mentioned it and I was interested" Kallen stepped in softly, sparing Rivalz the obvious discomfort.
There was a pregnant pause as Lelouch seemed to reappraise her. Slowly one hand crept up to cup his chin while the other crossed his chest. Kallen started to feel a crick developing in her neck from craning it to meet his eyes before Lelouch dropped his hands and smiled.
"I suppose I could hop on."
"YES!" Rivalz cheered, "Can you lend Kallen a head-set? I'll handle sending the free-bee account."
"Sure, I'll be right back." the taller boy replied, striding out of the room after dumping his finished paper-work in Milly's lap.
"Soooo. What do you think of Lulu?" the president, after realizing the work was done, had now managed to sneak up on Kallen yet again.
"I, I don't really think anything of him." Kallen quickly replied. Sure he seemed fairly nice and helpful, but she had only known him for a few hours.
"Really? Cause, just between us, you might be his type." Milly whispered conspiratorially to her.
"WHAT!" Kallen shouted, almost falling over the back of her chair. "But I'm... I'm... not healthy." she muttered painfully.
"Ask him to let you meet his sister after you get to know each other a little better." the ninja-like president stated, quickly moving back across the room as the door opened to reveal Lelouch walking in with a helmet-like head-piece.
"It's not quite top of the line anymore." he mentioned, setting the mask in Kallen's lap. "But it's definitely one of the better ones available, full visual and audio as well as reaction time. I can let you use that one till you get one of your own."
Gently lifting the head-piece Kallen gazed into the dark violet, mirror like glass that covered the front of it. Overall the mask was shaped something like a tulip, or maybe a king from a chess board. Turning it over Kallen saw a microphone and speakers, as well as several other outlets or inlets she couldn't place a use for.
"Here's a manual as well, I'd spend a little time with it before you log in. It will help." the boy promised. "And the president just called me, your father is out front and waiting to take you home. From what I gathered he seemed slightly upset."
"Oh my god!" Kallen screamed, snatching up her transfer packet, gently dropping the controller into her now vacated chair, and heading for the door. "I forgot to call him."
"I'll walk you out." Lelouch said, opening the door and once again taking his seemingly natural place just in front and to the right of her.
"Thank you." she replied, waving good-bye to the rest of the council.
The walk was over almost immediately and Kallen saw her fathers car sitting just out the main gates. Lelouch opened her door for her and bowed slightly as she entered the vehicle. As she was buckling up under her fathers inquisitive gaze she heard a light rap on the window. Seeing Lelouch still standing there she rolled the glass down.
"Miss Stadtfeld, on the subject of you joining a club, the mandatory one, I would like you to know you have my recommendation if you chose to join the student council. We would be very pleased to work with you again." he said with a smirk before waving goodbye and heading back into the school.
"Anything you want to talk about?" her father asked quietly as he pulled them away from the curb and into the street.
"Not really." she replied, still watching her new school fade from sight.
'Fantasy's Call' was categorized as a massive-multiplayer-online (MMO) game, one where people could play with anyone in the world who had an internet connection. The game was based around old-school role-playing games and had several different classes for the players to choose from as well as the option to mix and match some skills between classes to create unique characters. Kallen was excited to try playing a 'Fighter' or perhaps a 'Thief', both excelled at close combat and would let the physically weak girl pretend she wasn't so sickly.
The player would be granted an online 'Avatar' that looked almost exactly like they did in real life (some minor cosmetic changes could be made with the avatars hair, skin tone, and weight.) letting friends recognize each other immediately so they could play together. The game was played through a head-piece that aligned with the users nervous system to let them control their avatar as if it were their own body. The games world was seen through images directed into the users eyes and heard through a set of high-quality headphones. Lelouch's old headset was one of the best from the games original release.
Kallen hadn't payed to much attention to many of the other base-line classes after seeing the 'Fighter'. Being a fighter was like stepping into the shoes of a medieval knight, they could use almost any weapon or type of armor in the game. Their biggest advantage was physical strength and stamina, they would either decimate their foes with powerful strikes or slowly weather away opponents health while relying on their own immense amount of hit points to be the last one standing.
Leaning back on her mattress after going over the basics of the manual Kallen let the mask-like head-piece fall over her face and logged into 'Fantasy's Call' for the first time. She had actually gotten her 'Free-bee' account from "LLamprouge [at] Ashford. net," nothing even remotely related to Rivalz had come in (unless he was "Presidentluver [at] hopeless .net"). There was a quite whirring as the screen flickered to life before her.
Enter Player Name:
The bright letters hung before her eyes and Kallen quickly filled in the block.
Pick Starting Class:
After a half-second pause Kallen selected the 'Fighter' class. The screen blurred for a moment and the final part of the creation process flickered to life before her eyes.
Pick Race:
There were several of the races Kallen had considered, but in the end she had made up her mind and typed in 'Half-elf'. The Half-elf was one of the races with few drawbacks, though its ability to see in the dark and sense hidden doors weren't as keen as a full blooded elf or dwarf (a race she hadn't even considered from the start), nor could they gain access to some of the 'Human only' abilities.
Creating Character.
…..
…
..
Entering 'Fantasy's Call' as Kallen.
Her vision when completely white for a moment and then Kallen began to see. Images flashed by of heroic Elves, Dwarfs, Humans, Half-elves, Gnomes, even a few Half-Orcs and Halflings. A deep, powerful voice soon echoed into her ears. Her eyes suddenly barraged with images as the intro began.
"Kallen. You have answered the call of a world in peril. Brigands run unrestrained along roads, pillaging as they leave naught but ash and blood in their wake. Dark horrors rise from the depths of the earth and descend from the tallest peaks to torment and lay waste to those in their path. Ancient histories and treasures wait to be salvaged from the brutish hordes that hide and covet them. The people have called for a hero, and now you have taken up the call! Raise you head and go forth knowing that the fate of this realm rests in your hands."
As the voice faded Kallen found herself standing in the shadow of a large monastery set on a hill-top dressed in an old set of chain-mail complete with gloves and thick leather boots. Before she could inspect the surroundings more closely the double-doors burst open and a withered old man hobbled his way towards her.
"Kallen!" he shouted waving a brittle hand in greeting and beckoning her forward. "Come quickly child. The spell was a success and we managed to bring you back from the dead!"
"I was dead?" Kallen replied in confusion.
"Yes, I guess the spell must not have been able to restore your memories. It doesn't matter right now, you must get inside before the wolves return." the old man dithered, lightly taking Kallen's hand as he pulled her towards the waiting doorway.
"Such a strong girl, you were taken in your prime. I knew you were going to be important though, knew we would need your help. You have the blood of a hero, Kallen, and this world will need every hero it can get to restore some semblance of safety." letting the old man drag her along Kallen reveled in the way her body felt weightless, how easily she was able to breath and how she didn't even feel the chain-mail armor that would have dragged her real self to the ground.
"I kept them, through the years." her escort continued as he let go of her hands before the alter and began to push on the lip of the stone. Seeing his frail form trembling from exertion Kallen quickly stepped forward and pushed as well. Expecting some resistance she was flabbergasted as the heavy slab slid easily off it's lower half and crashed to the floor.
"Ah, thank you Kallen." puffing and red-faced the man dipped his hands into the revealed hollow in the alter and pulled free a pair of swords. Both were of simple design, good steel blades, crosspieces and leather-wrapped hilts. The biggest difference being that one was almost as long as Kallen was tall while the other was the length of her arm.
"Do you walk the path of the protector? Or that of the slayer?" the man inquired softly, resting the swords on the ground to each side of himself.
"That of the Slayer." Kallen said without hesitation. She was never a protector, even when playing with friends Kallen almost always chose a damaging or controlling type character. Her brother had always picked up the slack, but she tried not to feel the small stab of longing to play with him again the memory invoked.
"As I suspected." smiling the old man dropped the one-handed sword to shatter on the stone floor as he presented the gleaming length of steel in the other hand to her. "Know that your path is never set, and what you choose today may not be what you use tomorrow. Return here and I will endeavor to grant you the choice again."
Kallen let her hands drift over the deadly metal before her, enjoying the smoothness, its slight chill and the glittering edge that promised pain and death to any who got in its way. Fixing her hand around the hilt Kallen lifted the sword like a feather, unable to hold back the smile that made its way onto her face. She could move, she could dance, she could fight!
Laughing all the while Kallen did all three. Swinging the two-handed sword about with ease as she swayed among the benches and faced off against imaginary nightmare after nightmare. The old man merely watched with a smile on his own face until she collapsed in a still giggling heap. Her hair had lost its shape and now hung in low spikes that were streaked with sweat and dust, she could feel the burn of imaginary muscles and revel in the sensation.
"Now I must show you the first of your powers." the man said after a moment, waving the ecstatic girl over. "As a fighter in the truest of senses you will always meet your foe face-to-face. To bring this about as quickly as possible you must close the distance immediately before they can shoot arrows, bullets, or spells at you. The only remnant of your power that still exists is this." with that the old man suddenly blurred, his body moving faster then Kallen could track. There was a Crack from the far side of the room and Kallen finally pinned the wizened man standing at the doorway.
"Now its your turn." he said simply.
Flickering her eyes around Kallen found a flashing icon that she mentally 'clicked'. A brief set of instructions scrolled across her vision, explaining how to initiate the Fighter ability 'Charge'. Reading it twice to make sure she understood completely Kallen removed the hint window and crouched, lifting the massive weapon with one hand at the hilt and the other lightly touching the flat of the blade half-way down it's length.
Breathing deeply she forced her body forward, the world blurring as she dug into her avatars magical reserves of power to break what would be a normal persons limits. Almost instantly she was standing before the old man, her left hand extended as her blow swung the heavy doors of the monastery open.
"You are as ready as I can make you." he intoned, lifting a hand towards the open portal. "I suggest you seek out Tohdoh in Halshore. He will be able to provide you with work and instruct you further in your powers. I wish you luck, Kallen."
"Thank you." she replied, knowing it was unnecessary to converse any further with the Non-player-character (NPC) but feeling too good not to thank him.
Striding confidently from the safety of the monastery Kallen caught sight of a road-sign and made a beeline to it. Several cities were listed but she managed to pick out 'Halshore', that particular sign pointed along the beaten path to her right.
"Hey, Kallen! I can't believe your actually on! I'll be by to pick you up soon OK?" Rivalz voice echoed quietly in her ear.
Startled Kallen looked around for a minute before realizing her classmate was using the 'Whisper' function, essentially talking to her alone and directly despite any distance or persons between them.
"I'm just outside the Monastery." she whispered back.
"Yup, I'll be there before you know it!" he cheerfully replied.
A feral growl from the tall grass a few feet from the path caused Kallen to shift uncomfortably. That soon gave way to outright nervousness as a trio of wolves slunk out from the cover of the grass and began to circle her.
"Rivalz... Any way you could hurry up?"
Chapter I End.
So this came out of my urge to play WoW or DnD (I don't dare open that can of worms while out of country. I'll never sleep and won't be able to work as I'll be spending all my brain-power to plot out my online time.) and reading 'Yureka' (A good manga that focuses on... kids playing an MMO!). I liked the way I can still portray Lelouch and Kallen's Double lives (in the game they can be something completely different.) in this story but get all medieval, something thing I've been aching to write about. The best part is I now have the freedom to write almost anything that comes to mind, some chapters will be about the adventures of the student council in the real world, some will be people creating connections and friendships through a game, and of course there will be plenty of dungeon crawling and grinding for those pesky levels!
Code Geass has a great cast and I'll be including most if not all of them. I also will be trying to keep them fairly close to their cannon counterparts but still somewhat unique to my story.
I'll reveal a little more of the plot as well as a good fight scene in the next chapter.
I really hope you'll drop a review (I know it's tedious, but if you got time to hit the favorites you can spare a moment to throw out an "Interesting" or "I like it", if only to keep my enthusiasm up.) and let me hear your thoughts and critiques. I accept well-meaing critisism, but please don't just bash/flame for no other reason then you don't like the story idea or pairing (Eventual KxL, though there may be some flirting around from both throughout.). I constantly want to improve my story from chapter to chapter and your reviews are vital for that.
I still respond to every reviewer, I think thats only fair since you did take the time to let me hear your thoughts I should make the effort to thank you personally.
Thank you for reading, next chapter will be up in a few days.
~SimplyWaters~