Notes from the author: Okay the legal mumbo jumbo; I do not own .hack (despite how hard I try) or any of its related companies. I do however own the characters appearing in this chapter. Also please note that I am not a good speller or writer. So please forgive my misuses of "Their" "There" and "They're" amongst other things. Thank you, and enjoy.
It was a Tuesday and raining. The bus pulled over to the side of the rode to let me off. It began to back away and as it did a car, a silver mustang to be precise, came zipping by and soaked me in water. I could hear the kids inside the bus laugh. Sometimes I hate the world. Luckily no one else from school lives on the same street as me. I pulled my jacket tight and hurried towards my house. Third house on the right with faded peach paint with a dark blue roof. Horrible color choice in my opinion. I opened the door and tossed my wet backpack beside the stairs and my jacket on the coat rack.
"I'm home ma."
"Hi. Sorry I can't stay to chat." My mom had just gotten a job as a nurse at the near by hospital. "I should be home before ten. Din-"
I interrupted. "Dinner's in the fridge, microwave for three minuets, and have a nice day. Right?"
"Monotony is our spice of life huh?" She dropped her keys into her purse. "Oh, and you have a package in the mail. It's on the table." Me? A package?
"Who from?" I asked. "Oh, and you'll need the umbrella."
"I think it's from your cousin. He knows your birthday's not for another week. Thanks." Birthday gift early? Maybe this day wasn't so bad.
"Well, drive safely." I said.
"I'll try." She began to open the door. "Dinner's in the frid-"
I placed my hand up to stop here. "We've already been over this."
She shook her head. "Right, well then. Bye. Love you." She opened her umbrella and walked out the door.
"You too." I shut the door and walked into the kitchen and wiped the water off my glasses.
The sound of rain hitting the roof began to echo and fill the house. The kitchen was bare, linoleum title covering the floor, and the dirty white fridge hummed in the corner, a small food/water dish next to it. The package sat on the table in a manila mailer that had obviously been over stuffed. I opened the mailer and slid out a box. It looked like a box you'd keep a computer game in except that it looked like it was crushed, cut, repaired, sat on , fixed, crushed again, used as a chew toy and a fire hydrant to a dog, taped backed up, stuffed into a miler too small, and tossed many times in the mail. And knowing my cousin all of that had happened to it at least twice. All the damage made the box almost unreadable. "OLD Ver. 1.0" was all the cover said.
"OLD?" I asked to no one.
"MEOW!" My cat answered.
I nearly jumped out of my skin. "Oh, hey Boots." I bent down to pet my gray cat. "You need more food?"
"Row!"
"I'll take that as a yes." I opened the pantry and poured some food into her bowl. She began to munch her food.
"I need a snack too." I grabbed a box of Ritz crackers from the pantry, a Coke from the fridge, and took them and OLD up to my room. I opened up the box and found a CD. Even the sticker on it had been scratched off. I turned on my computer on and slid in the disk. The name made sense now. The letters W and R had gone missing from the cover. The game wasn't called "OLD" it was called "THE WORLD". The game began to install it's self onto my computer. "Installation Complete" appeared on the screen as did a new desktop icon.
I doubled clicked the icon and was brought to The World's homepage. I scanned over the message boards.
"Coma? Goblin Tag? Fan Club? Who reads these junk messages?" I left the boards and selected Log In.
Another message appeared on the screen. "Welcome to The World. It appears that you are using an older version of the world. (Ver. 1) Please wait while the necessary patches are installed." The wait time was three hours. I started my geometry homework during the wait, if anything it gave me something to do.
At last it was finished updating! "For a more real experience please connect the FMD goggles to your computer." Goggles? I opened the box back up and turned it upside down. To my surprise there was a pair of goggles in the box! How I didn't notice them before I have no idea. I had seen the goggles most players use for The World but these were different. These look like a pair of sun glasses crossed with a pair of old 3-D glasses and attached to an extension cord.
I plugged them into the computer and more instructions appeared on the screen. WHEN DO I GET TO THE GAME! "Please Enter Your User Key." Now I need a key? Back to the box. It was getting dark so I took a flash light and peered into the box. Then I noticed it. A small piece of paper stuck in the fold of the box. The paper couldn't have been any bigger then what you find inside a fortune cookie. It had a code on one side of it and a message on the other. The message read "For a gift come to Chosen Hopeless Nothingness." As fast as I could I typed in the code, finally I get to play the game!
"Welcome, adventurer, to The World. Please create your character." A list of character types appeared on screen.
"Let's see what we got. Heavy Axeman? Well that's a little sexist. Blade Master? Too ordinary. Archer? Attack from a distance…maybe. Twin Blade? Nah, everyone's been that. Heavy Blade? That looks like that hurts. Wave Master? Magic's not my bag. Scroll User? You don't even get a weapon! Long Arm? Humm…" I clicked the Long Arm icon to get more information.
"Long Arms use Spears and Pole arms for weapons instead of Swords or Staffs. They tend to be faster than most classes rivaling only Twin Blades."
"Now this I like. Cool character designs and I get to make all the rod jokes I want." I selected the Long Arm icon and the character creator appeared. I decided on male, short brown hair, green eyes, a long dark brown jacket that doubled as a cape, bare-chested with no tattoo, and red armored pants with wooden sandals. I clicked the finish button.
"Please enter your character's name." I taped my pencil furiously against the fake wood of my desk. Name, name, name. I need a name! What you call yourself is the most important part of any game. You could be use a phrase and name your self something like WeLoveBeef, you could go the myth path and use names such as Hercules, you could knock off a famous character from a game or book such as Legomyegolas, or you could just toss a munch of letters together. I chose the latter.
"Adoril?" Random but sounds like a name. Finally I was in The World. I appeared in Aqua City Mach Anu in front of the root town's Chaos Gate. I quickly scanned my inventory, a few health potions, some money, and basic armor and weaponry nothing special.
The town was marvelous to the eye. A river divided the town in two. The only way to cross was to take the bridge. Makes sense right? The town had the four basic shops; Weapons, Magic, Items, and a bank. But you probably know this already. I crossed the bridge checking out the other PC's equipment as walked.
"How does this work?" I asked holding up a speed charm. I was browsing the magic shop at the time. The vendor, being an NPC, made no response. A lady with long hair the color of strained peaches and a rather shapely figure approached me. She was quite tall and looked like she was chiseled out of marble. She wore the skimpiest clothing allowed in The World and carried a large sword on her back. Her name was Zelda and spoke with a man's voice that was so deep Barry White looked like an over hyped pop diva. The internet; where men are men, women are men, and where fourth graders can hold the world hostage.
"Go into your items menu then select use. It's really quite simple, hun."
Hun? "Um…er….thanks." I did as he/she said and selected use. A white ring appeared around me and clocks floated and danced around. The strange lady laughed.
"My oh my, hun. You must me new. Those items are supposed to only be used in the field or dungeon." Five minutes into the game and already I'm a laughing stock. If I wanted this to happen I would've gone back to school! And that's when I heard it or rather read it in the chat window.
Wes: SOMEONE HELP ME!
B.O.I.: no 1 comeing to help you newb
Wes: Leave me alone!
DonkeyPorker: no way man! u ow us
Zelda: Boys calm down. Or I'll have to teach you a lesson! ;-)
I looked at Zelda and changed into whisper mode. "So you're going to go help him?"
"Oh heveans no, hun! He should know to pick his battles."
"That's not very lady like of you."
"Perhaps I'm not very much like a lady."
"Well, someone has to help him."
"No we don't."
"What do you mean? You're just going to let this happen!"
"Listen hun. Worst case scenario he loses some data and maybe an item or two. Nothing worth bothering with."
"Fine you be selfish like that. I'm gonna help!"
Adoril: Wes, where are you?
Wes: In the alley! If your gonna do something hurray! I'm running out of potions!
Zelda replied. "Listen hun if you go help him you're just going to get the both of you killed."
I shrugged at her with the emote /shrug. "What do I got to lose?"
I ran to edge of the walk way and turned left down the alley. Luckily the speed charm was still in effect so it took no time to get to him. He was cornered like a wild animal in a hunter's trap. He was up against the stone wall. He had dark skin, yellow eyes, short black hair under his headwear, and wore a blue robe. Not a regular mage's robe but one of those old Japanese robes with the strange hats. He had a book clenched in one arm and held it close to his chest. He had his other arm held out with a scroll that was burning green.
"Good to see you now if you could only do something about these guys while I still have some life left in me."
There stood the enemy. DonkeyPorker was a twin blade dressed like a ninja, and B.O.I. was a heavy axeman in plated armor. They were attacking but the burning scroll was putting up a translucent barrier. I leaped between them and the barrier.
"Stop this now!" I demanded.
"You haven't even bought new equipment! Why should we listen to you?" DonkeyPorker asked. It was obvious he hadn't used the voice changer. He sounded like he couldn't have been older than nine.
"Because…" Wes answered. "This is the greatest player to ever play The World." I was? I quickly whispered Wes.
"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING? THIS IS MY FIRST DAY PLAYING!"
"Relax." He said in a calm voice. "Just cross your fingers, play along, and hope this works."
"Fine. But if we die I'm killing you."
"Believe me; I'd love to see you try." He laughed a little, but this time I wasn't offended. I was too busy thinking of some way to act macho to be offended. I switched out of whisper mode.
"What are you talking about? He's obviously just a noob!" B.O.I. commented. He was maybe a year older than his partner.
"Not quite. You have it the other way around." Wes said /grinning "He's not level one. He's level one hundred and one."
"What you talkin' 'bout?" DonkeyPorker asked.
"You see." I began. "When a player in The World reaches level one hundred and maxes out all their stats, they can upgrade to a better character and start again at level one hundred and one with all there stats carried over."
DonkeyPorker asked. "So that means…?"
I typed /taunt and Adoril spun his staff and posed pointing it at them. "You can't beat me. Even in your wildest dreams." The two bullies looked at each other and signed out. Immediately I sighed relief and /collapsed. Adoril fell backwards and lay on the ground.
"Well my strategy worked. Thanks." Wes whispered me.
"What the hell type of strategy was that?" I asked.
Wes took down his barrier and stepped forwarded. He walked over to me and looked down. "That's what I like to call a high stakes bluff." I laughed and stood up. "How'd you know about the level one hundred up grade thing? Most people don't read the instruction manual."
"I overheard some kids at school talking about it once. So what's so important that you didn't want to die?" I asked him.
"This" He said, holding out the book. At closer glance it appeared to be made out of red leather and had a strange Q like symbol on the cover.
"And what's so important about a book?"
"Well to start it cost me a small fortune. This book keeps track of all my friends and tells me their stats."
"Why would someone buy that? But hey it's your GP, not mine. So how many friends do you have exactly?" A message popped up saying "You now have Wes's member address."
"One now." He laughed.
"What's your book say about me?"
"It says that you've been playing for just over an hour and haven't killed a single thing."
Now I was offended. "This is why I don't read." I looked at my party options. "Says here that you're level twenty three?"
"Yeah so. What about it?"
"Well if you're that strong why need you need me to bluff?"
"Simple, they were level twenty four. And I'm a scroll user."
"Ohhh. That explains the lack of weapons on. Too bad you can't use a staff."
"Correction, I can use a staff, it's just that I blew my whole budget on the book."
"Why hello there sweetie!" It was Zelda again. She ran up to me and gave me a big /hug. "I didn't mean to eavesdrop hun, but I couldn't help myself. After you stood me up I just had to see you in action. Your cooperation was marvelous!"
"Um…thanks?" I said. This guys/girl/whatever was starting to scare me.
"Please," Wes began. "Such wonderful praise from such a fine lady should be used on true heroes, not us neophytes." He /bowed to Zelda. This guys was either deaf, blind, or one hell of an actor. Zelda let me out of her hug and gushed at Wes while I caught my breath.
"Well you certainly know how to treat a lady! And such a handsome boy too. I have the perfect idea. I'll give you two my member address and all you have to give me is some manners and come when I call you?"
Wes gasped like he had just been given season tickets to his favorite sports team or punched in the stomach, it was hard to tell. "Sounds like a fabulous idea!"
"You now have Zelda's member address." Appeared on my screen. Hooray.
"Oh I'm sorry but I've got to go. The package I ordered just arrived." Zelda signed out.
"OH THANK GOD!" Wes said as he /fainted.
"What's with the attitude 180?" I asked.
"I hate it when people cross-play. At anime cons or in The World."
"Then why not just decline her offer? Or should I say his?"
"Like they say never look a gift horse in the mouth."
"Huh?"
Wes stood up and opened his book. "She almost level forty and has a good amount of GP. She'd make a valuable ally."
"So in other words you want to milk her for all she's worth." I took a moment to picture Zelda in real life. "Figuratively speaking of course."
"Pretty much, but you'll benefit too."
"I like the way you think."
"Well, today's been great but I've got to go. My class is about to start."
"I guess I'd better go too." I took off the goggles and looked at the clock. It was almost 7o'clock! "Yikes. I'd better go eat diner."
"Bye, man see you tomorrow."
"Bye." We both signed out.
I collapsed in my chair and hug my arms over the sides. Boots rubbed against my hand. I began to pet him. "My first day in the world and already I'm a level one hundred and one noobie with two friends. Well one friend and one person who makes me feel uncomfortable. Wonder what tomorrow will bring." I walked down stairs back into the kitchen. The rain had stopped and I looked in the fridge at my dinner. Left over mac and cheese.