FEMALE GAMER
CHAPTER ONE
DISCLAIMER: ... not a chance.
I giggled loudly, hugging my new game set tightly, probably receiving more than a few odd looks and glances. I couldn't care less right now. I just spent all the money I got from working a part-time job at Game Stop and Target and full-time cat sitting on the newest gaming console and game, a game so new it just came out today.
My parents,my brother, and possibly my pet turtle think I am the craziest kid out there. All I can say is that this is so totally worth every single penny.
I skipped the rest of the way home. When I reached the door I pushed it open with my shoulder, or at least, that's what I tried to do. I tried again, harder this time. Ouch. I am definitely going to feel that one in the morning. It was locked,of that I was now sure. I kicked the door.
"Dan! Open the dang door! I know it was you!" Dan was my little brother. It was common knowledge I never locked the door, or took keys with me.
" What's in it for me?" I could practically hear his smirk. I growled and kicked the door again.
" Little brat! Open the door, or I won't let you play!" This was a sure-fire way to get the kid to open up, he is almost as game obsessed as I am. It worked, just as I hoped. I ran to my room, eager to play. I sat on my floor and tore into the box.
The game looked normal enough,with standard black headphones, but it had an eye screen and a little light. This was Tru+, the world's first alternate life game. It connected the whole world wirelessly. It is controlled completely with your mind. I was too busy drooling over the game to notice my brother come in, until he snatched it out of my hands.
" How do you turn this thing on?" he asked,carefully inspecting it.
" I was trying to find out, idiot," I grabbed it back. " Why are you even in my room?"
"You said I could play it," Dan shrugged. " You said you would let me play if I let you in. I let you in ,so let me play." He crossed his arms in defiance.
" What I said was I wouldn't let you play if you didn't let me in, I never said anything about if you did let me in, so there!" I stuck my tongue out. He snarled at me.
" Mooom! Amber won't let me play!" Dan hollered.
" AMBER!" That was hitting below the belt. He knew mom would do anything to keep me away from video games, even let the Brat play.
"Daaad! Dan's bugging me!" I called back. Dan gasped in disbelief.
" No fair!"
" An eye for an eye, brother," Dan ran out before dad could come up. Dad's view was the polar opposite of mom's. He thought I could make a living from tournaments if I tried hard enough. I drew my attention back to the game. I pressed a few buttons on the side and inserted the cartridge. I then put the headphones on and pulled the screen down.
. . . G...
" Hello and welcome to Tru+. In this game you will meet actual people from around the world. We ask that you are considerate of others around you. To control your avatar just think the command you want to do. To talk to someone you will have to speak out loud.
When you create your avatar, you will be scanned and your avatar will look just like you. You may buy other clothes at TruStores.
This game runs on real-time and the time cannot be changed."
The scene around me started to swirl and change until I was standing in a forest. I was in what appeared to be a shrine with a small pink pixie.
" Hello, I am Rosetta! I will be your guide through the Prologue! At this point your consciousness is completely in the game, so just walk like you normally do. Did you know you can actually burn calories in real life? This is because you are excersizing your brain! This does not mean that everything you do here is possible out there, so be careful. Walk now." She flew over to where I was supposed to walk.
Rosetta was right, it really was like real life. I stopped when I heard a growl. Rosetta flew over to me. " When you want to fight, say 'rucksack' and choose your weapon."
" Rucksack," I muttered awkwardly, unsure if people in the real world could hear me. It also felt rather odd to talk to myself. Just as promised a screen appeared with one weapon on it. Guess level ones didn't have much of a choice,huh. " Sharp Dagger," When I called its 'name' it glowed then flew to my hand. No sooner had I said this than a huge rodent came barreling at me. The creature rather looked like a rat mixed with a huge rabbit.
I held out my dagger and swung wildly with my eyes squeezed shut. To my embarrassment, when I opened my eyes the monster was still a few feet away staring at me like I was crazy. Sure, I've killed more than my fair share of virtual monsters, most scarier than this one, but to harm something so life-like? Never.
Gathering my courage I charged at the animal, actually aiming to hit something this time. It jumped quickly to the side, evading most of my attack. I managed to nic its tail, though. When I did this a red number appeared above the Rattie's head.
" Stay back,foul beast!" I cried,a little too proud of the hit. " For I am Amber Jones, ruler of rats and master of all beasts!" Rattie glared at me, not too happy about my self-proclaimed royalty. It scraped the ground with its paw like an angry bull. Uh-oh.
"AAAAAAHHH!" I tossed my dagger behind me and headed for the hills. It may have been my imagination, but I thought I could hear Rattie pounding along behind me. I ran until the forest was a few yards away. I was huffing heavily from my mad sprint. All of a sudden I felt a sharp pain in my calf. Rattie was back. I tried to kick at it but only succeeded in falling.
"Ouch! Get off you over-grown gerbil!" I finally was able to kick it in the side. The number over its head went down. That must be its hp. I was going to call for my rucksack but then I remembered that I had chucked my dagger. Soo not my best move. I kicked Rattie again, he only had 30hp left. Kick, 15. Kick,0. Once the number turned to zero, Rattie disappeared in a puff of sparkles that flew to my heart. In Rattie's place was a small sack of money and a vial full of blue liquid labeled ' Hp Restore'.
"You have found Hp Restore. Drink this to fully restore your Hp," a voice said from behind me. I whizzed around and nearly knocked Rosetta out of the air with my hair. She looked unfazed.
I curiously opened the vial and sniffed the liquid. It smelled sweet and slightly floral. I shrugged and drank it. It really didn't have much of a taste. Immediately after drinking it, the pain in my leg vanished. This stuff was AMAZING. Why hadn't someone invented this in real-life? Oh, right, physics.
" Do you wish to move on or would you like to elongate the tutorial?" Rosetta asked.
"Level One please," I answered. I really wanted to know what this game was about!
ScAnnInG . . . ScannInG. . .
Scan complete. Thank you for playing Tru+. Enjoy yourself, but keep in mind that you are playing with real strangers. Be careful who you give your information to.
Once again my surroundings morphed, this time into an old-fashioned town. The roads were cobble-stone and the buildings were a mixture of wood and rock. Everything looked completely real, the production of the graphics must have cost the company millions, and it was definitely money well spent.
With further survey, I noticed that I was in a shrine and standing on a platform. It had a neat design on it, a star with a positive sign in the middle. So this is a save point, huh? Now that I'm here, what do I do next? Just as I was about to start exploring, a small old man approached me.
" Good afternoon, Miss. I am Sir Eesetare. I am to be your escort around town. Please, follow me," Well, he seemed nice enough and I had nothing better to do. Still, was it normal for someone's mustache to be that fluffy?
" In every town you come across there will be a weaponry, a general store, a hospital, and an inn. Once you have formed a team, you will be given a home for all of you to live in. Until then you are assigned apartment number 3314," he turned to face me. " Please, make yourself at home." I only just realized that I had followed him to an apartment. My apartment.
The outside was a dusty red and it had a burgundy door. Not my personal choice, but I suppose it was as good as any.
The inside was an average size with white walls and beige carpet. There was a fair-sized living-room, a small kitchen, a bedroom, and a bathroom. As I explored my new abode, I found a refridgerator stocked with a variety of fruits and veggies. A nice 'welome' present. I half expected to find a Hershey's Kiss on my pillow(and was slightly dissapointed when I found there wasn't one).
Apon entering the bathroom, I was surprised to see my likeness in the mirror. From my brown hair tied back into a ponytail and dark blue eyes to the slight pudge in my cheeks, belly, and thighs. Infact, the only difference I could spot was my outfit. Instead of my every day baggy clothes, I was in combat shorts and a tight, unflattering black tank-top with the Tru+ logo. I sucked in trying to look slimmer. It almost worked, but despite being in an alternate verse, oxygen was still vital for life. At least I knew where the money I earned from the defeat of my first foe was going.
xilix xilix
As I walked through the town, I found the weaponry first. Thinking back, I decided my clothes could wait and buying another dagger would be best. A small bell jingled when I opened the door.
"Welcome!" a voice called from behind the counter. "Don't be shy! Come on up and let me find what you need!" While slowly approaching the front counter, I let my eyes wander around the room. It was AMAZING! Large swords and battle axes adorned the walls. Maybe I'd get one of those!?
The person at the counter turned out to be a young, freckled adult, perhaps around twenty. "Still in your default outfit, huh? Judging on that and the fact that you don't seem to recognize the store, I'll bet you're a level one?"
"Um, yeah," I said. Was it really that obvious? All those years of drama class wasted. Ah, well. " So what will it take to get my hands on that?" I asked pointing to one of the large swords.
"For you? About fifty more levels. Unfortunately, at your level all I can sell you are daggers or a spear".
"Oh," my face fell. I started to leave dejectedly. We've all seen my skill with the dagger, I'd have better luck throwing rocks. Maybe I can find a sling-shot somewhere, or something.
"Wait!" he called after me. He handed me a slip of paper. It was just as old fashioned as the rest of the town, it even had swirly calligraphy scrawled on it. "It's a map of the Easter Forest. There are lots of hidden passages," he leaned over my shoulder and pointed to some squiggles. "I would recommend the blue path, it tends to have more findables. My only warning is anything you find can't be bought, so if you lose them, that's it."
"Well thanks," I smiled. Who knows what kind of treasures I'll find! I'll bet hardly anyone knows about these places! Already this game had the potential to be mucho awesome!
"Don't mention it! Hey, make sure you come back and show off what you find! I'll even up-grade it for free whenever! Just swing by the weaponry and ask for Jordan," Jordan's eyes crinkled when he smiled. I don't know how I didn't notice before, but this guy is kinda cute.
I thanked him once more, before returning to my original route to the clothing store. I've never had much interest in fashion, but I had to admit, this place is pretty cool. There weren't any actual clothing racks, just tablets where you typed in what you were looking for.
In the end I just got a loose purple hoodie and jeans. I seriously contemplated getting a ninja, elf, or worrier outfit, but decided to stick with my comfort zone. I pulled my map out of my rucksack and studied it. Easter Forest was about a mile south of here.
There was a small patch of wilderness between this town and the forest. Hopefully the Gaming Gods or whatever would take pity on me, and not send any monsters my way until I got another weapon. Maybe I should have bought a dagger for emergencies. Nah, I'll be fine. I hope
Authors Note: Hey guys, girls, indiffs! Thanks for taking the time to read my story! If I may just ask for another minute, please feel free to review. The longer the review, the better. I don't have a real update schedule yet, but reviews will help to remind me!
~ The Stranger