New Story! In collaboration with my friend, we give you: The High Aces! Reviews and Critiques are appreciated.

Disclaimer: I do not own 1/2 Prince or Second Life.

I quickly ripped off the wrapping of the box, eager to find out what my brother sent me for my birthday. As I peeled off the last of the decorative paper, I grinned as I saw the title on the box. SECOND LIFE. The game that had overtaken the gaming community in its 99% realistic gaming experience had finally come to America only 3 months after its release in Taiwan, and was scheduled to release its global servers today at 8:30. "8:29…" I thought as I looked at the clock and slipped on the newly designed visor console. I lay down on my bed. "Hope it's not too early to try to get on," I thought.

All around me was black, I could feel something under my feet, but couldn't hear, see, smell or feel anything. Suddenly, a bright light flashed and both the ground and ceiling revealed a checkered pattern. "Greetings, welcome to Second Life!" announced a voice. I looked up and saw a boy, around my age, sitting it this weird hover chair. "Congratulations, you are our first player that has signed on via the Global Version of our Second Life helmets! Please wait one moment as we scan your physical features as well as vocal waves." "A NPC? Or a GM? I've heard accounts where a player was led through character creation by a GM instead of a NPC." I thought as two orbs floated next to me and began to scan. I studied the boy; he had short black hair, a surprisingly thin waist, and looked to be around 5 foot 5."Okay, you are now ready to create your character! Remember, you have only one chance to design a character," he said. I nodded my head in understanding as he waved his hand.

Suddenly, another bright light shone and I was surrounded by many types of characters, each a different race. "First, choose a race you like. They are divided into humans, elves, dark elves, dwarfs, celestials, elementals, and beasts," announced the boy. I looked at the various classes. "May I please see myself as a human, dark elf, and angel?" The boy nodded his head and the avatars disappeared from around me, only to be replaced with the three choices I had made standing in front of me.
My human avatar looked exactly like me. Short, black hair with silver highlights and light brown, almost gold, eyes. She also had my black tribal looking tattoo that extended from my wrist to just below my elbow. Did I mention just how much I hate how I practically had no chest, even in-game? It just made me look even more like a guy, which I AM NOT. I sighed as I looked at the dark elf. "Man, I really do look like a guy, and a pretty decent one at that!" I thought as my eyes scanned over the elf. It had dark skin and jet black hair along with pointed ears. When I took a glance at the angel, I noticed that her hair was pure silver, and not just highlighted. Other than that, they looked almost identical.

I pondered as I couldn't make up my mind from the three. "Please remove the human," I said, and the human version of me disappeared. Suddenly, I had a grand idea. "Would it be possible for me to combine the angel and dark elf into one? Since your game boasts about realism, wouldn't it be possible for an angel to breed with a dark elf?" I looked up at the boy who had a curious look. "Definitely a GM." I thought as he raised an eyebrow. "I think it would be possible. I will contact my superiors with your suggestion and reasoning. Please wait a moment." After a few minutes, the boy spoke again. "Congratulations, since you are our first global player, Second Life has decided to grant your request. You will be the one and only half-angel half- dark elf character in Second Life!" I smiled as a new avatar began to form from the two in front of me. As soon as the formation was complete, I grinned.

What stood before me was a figure with jet black wings, pointed ears, dark skin, and silver hair with black streaks. It had glowing orange eyes and a sharp face structure. The new avatar also retained my tattoo design, something that I probably would have argued about for hours if it wasn't there. "One question. Do I have the ability to hide my wings?" I asked the boy. He smiled, "Of course, since your character is not a full angel, we have developed a special skill that allows you to temporarily store the wings inside your body. However, you can only hide them for a specific amount of time depending on you skill rank, and needs to recharge." I nodded and announced, "Ok, I think that's good. I would like my name to be: BlackShadow. Also, I would like to start out in the Central Continent." The boy nodded and with another wave of his hand, I began to get pulled towards my avatar, falling into another black void.

When I woke up, I found myself sitting in an alley. I stood up and noticed that my new-found wings were getting in the way a bit. "System," I called out. The display popped out in front of me and I looked at my skills. Hidden Wings: When activated, wings will disappear, being stored in the body. Current Level: 1 MP Cost: 0 Time of Effect: 10 Minutes Cooldown: 5 Minutes I smiled as I closed the system menu. "Hidden Wings" I announced, and in a a flurry of feathers, my wings disappeared into my body. On my wrist was a clock shaped tattoo, and the needle was slowly moving.

I looked to my left and saw that the alley was just on the outskirts of the beginner town, next to the forest. I made my way through the alley and noticed a few slimes. I grinned as some began to notice me. "Time for some blobs to roll," I said as I quickly dashed toward them, delivering a sharp punch to the nearest one. I easily killed it, and it dropped a pouch and a knife. I quickly picked them up as I turned around and slashed at another slime that tried to sneak behind me with my new knife. Surprisingly, the next slime dropped another knife as well. I picked it up with my other hand and held them in a reverse grip. "Cool," I thought as another wave of slimes rushed towards me. I dashed forward to the closest one and slashed at it with both of my knives in an X-shape. The slime was sent flying back and landed dead. System Notice: Player BlackShadow has learned new skill: Twin Slash.

I quickly killed the rest of the slimes for another few minutes. After I had gathered the loot, I went back to the alley I arrived at and sat down ."System," I said. I looked over my stats. I was currently level 10, and my Twin Slashed had leveled up to 5. "Time for job selection, and I know just the one," I mumbled to myself as I stepped out of the alley into town. "KYAAA BISHIEEE!" yelled a girl as she ran towards me. Suddenly, a huge mob of girls began to run towards me as well. Confused and scared, I ran away. After the first few steps I glanced at my wrist and noticed that the tattoo was beginning to fade. "Perfect timing," I thought as my wings began to appear.
I leaped off the ground and willed my wings to flap, sending me into the air. I heard gasps and screams of girls as I flew away, in the direction of my job advancement quest starter. I landed in a nearby alley and noticed that a red tattoo of a clock was now on my wrist. It was only three quarters of the way till my cooldown was finished, but I wanted to get my job as soon as possible. I peeked from the alley and saw that noone was in the streets, probably trying to calm the spazzing fangirls. "*Sigh* Sometimes I curse my own looks," I thought as I walked into the Thief's Guild.

I quickly accepted the quest from the NPC. "Ten snake skins, pretty easy," I thought as I headed over to the cave where snakes were supposed to spawn. After around half an hour of killing, I managed to get the ten snake skins and got my job. I even managed to level twice, increase my Hidden Wings to level three, and get my Twin Slash to level 8. System Message: BlackShadow has advanced to Theif. New Skills Obtained: Stealth, Dagger Throw, and Wind Step. "System," I announced, looking up the descriptions of my new skills.

Stealth: Makes player hidden from target(s) Only works on monsters. Time of Effect: 3 Minutes Cooldown: 30 Seconds

Dagger Throw: Throws dagger at target. Player needs to retrieve item afterwards.

Wind Step: Boosts Speed and Agility temporarily. MP Cost: 20 Time of Effect: 10 Minutes Cooldown: 30 Seconds

I closed the menu and looked into my pouch. I had received a chance item from the job NPC, that was supposed to give me a random item for my class. I reached into it an pulled out...gauntlets? "Wire Blades," I read as I slipped them on and examined their stats and appearance. I noticed that they had large spools embedded in the wrist portion and was also a growing weapon! Score! I made a mental note to look into them a bit more when I had a chance.

I snuck over to the nearest general store to sell some of the spare loot I had found while hunting and noticed that the NPC also sold masks. I had a sudden idea and bought a black mask that hid the top half of my face. I also bought a silver earring and a necklace that was in the shape of a sword. I equipped all of my new accessories. I walked toward the weapons shop this time, and tried to act natural. Luckily, no fangirls ravaged me this time and I continued to buy more equipment that I needed. First, I bought a belt to hold all of my pouches. I also bought a new set of daggers and strapped them to either side of my belt. You can never be too prepared. Lastly, I bought a travel cape as I don't really like hanging around towns for too long and found it to be another way to hide myself.

After I had finished restocking my potions, I checked the time. It was 6:30 AM in the real world, and time for me to get up. I logged out and woke up in my bed. I slipped off the visor and started to get ready for school. I combed my hair to make it cover my face, and wore some fake glasses. I always knew I had a boyish face, correction, a hot boyish face, and that I acted like a guy. It wasn't on purpose, it was just who I was. However, in an attempt to avoid annoying girls and to live a semi-girly life, I became the quiet, smart, yet easy to talk to girl of our class. Only a few people knew about my real personality. As I walked out of my apartment, I heard a familiar voice call me.

"Yo, Jess!" I turned around and saw my friend Alex jogging up to me. "Sup Alex, did ya get Second Life yet?" I asked, he nodded his head. " Just finished getting my job last night" "Me too." Alex was one of my friends that knew my real personality. I first knew him because he had trained alongside me in boxing and Muay Thai for about two years. Afterwards, we had coincidentally enrolled in the same high school. He has helped me retain my girly facade for almost three years, secretly supporting me from behind. "What's your username?" he asked, walking alongside me. "BlackShadow. Yours?" I replied. "Yuuki. Add me tonight, I'll get some of the others to join us and we can create a party." We arrived at the school and went out separate ways. After school, I met up with my other close friend, Andy. He was sitting on the front steps of the school, drinking some cans of soda.

"Hey Andy, did you get Second Life yet?" I asked, snatching one of his sodas. "Ya, but I still need one more level until I get my job." He tried to take the soda back. "What are you going to be?" I replied, moving the soda away from his reach as I opened it a chugged it down. "Priest..." he said dejectedly, sulking because I took one of his sodas. Alex came up from behind us and asked, "Whats your username?" I tossed Andy a bag of chips as repayment. He immediately brightened up and held up the bag of chips with his right arm. He then got up and posed in a really exaggerated epic pose. "Andy." he declared. Both me and Alex sweat-dropped. "Andy as in your name?" I questioned. "NO!" He turned to us with a serious face and held up three fingers. "It has 3 A's." Alex and I collapsed onto the ground. After a few seconds, I stood up and smacked Andy in the head. "You are an idiot, you know that?" He smiled brightly and replied, "I know."

Later that night, I logged onto Second Life. System Notice: You have 2 friend requests from: Yuuki and Aaandy. I accepted both requests, and received a PM from Yuuki. "Meet us outside the Adventurer's Guild." I sent my "Ok" and leaped off the ground, beginning to fly in the direction of the guild. Before I reached the guild, I quickly dove into a nearby alley and hid my wings. I left the alley and started to walk towards the building, careful to hide my face. In front of the colossal structure, stood two tall males. One was a dark elf who had grey, almost dark silver, skin. His eyes were a glowing yellow and his white hair was cut short, barely reaching his shoulders. There was one long strand that was distinguished from the rest. It was tied in a ponytail, flowing over his shoulder and touching the bottom of his chest. The other was a human priest. With jet black hair that was spiked up, he stood very tall, almost 6 feet. He had coal black eyes and wore a pair of black-rimmed glasses. In his hand, he had a staff with rings attached to it. He wore a heavy robe that was adorned in steel studs and chains. I immediately recognized them as Alex and Andy. They were surrounded by many girls, most of them crowding around the dark elf.

Suddenly, the crowd literally exploded and people were sent flying followed by a loud yell. "ARGGGH!" System Notice: Player Yuuki has killed players: ... A list of about 10 names came up. Yuuki has lost 100 Fame. A tick mark appeared on my forehead. "What the hell are you doing!" I yelled as I ran at Yuuki and delivered a sharp kick to the side of his head. "-50HP" read a small display as Yuuki fell to the ground. "OW! Who the..." He looked up at me. "Who the hell are you?" He pointed at me. Another tick mark appeared on my head, but I held back as I crouched in front of him. I lifted my mask a little so that only he could see my face. "Who else but me, idiot?" I said. I replaced my mask and stood up. "Now, would you please add me to the party?"