Sigh. First RO fic. First for everything, I suppose.

Chapter One: Unlikely Trio

It was dawn. The city of Prontera was half asleep as the general population woke up to the sounds of picky chirps and wolf barks. The bell tolled 6 AM.

In the town square, ther are several young kids lying on the benches, wide awake and captured by severe lethargy. One of these kids is known as Garouga, a navy-blue-haired novice who, despite all attempts to have it forced on him, flat out refused to wear the novice eggshell given to him on his first day here. Another of these kids is a novice known as Gulcasa, with long red hair and an even longer body. His eyes are closed, basking in the rising sun's rays, taking in the heat with grim pleasure. The last of these kids is Granado, a smiling young buck with short pink hair, wearing a little pink bow on his head, something he solidly claims to have found lying on the ground. The most relaxed of the group, and possibly the most physically deprived, this novice would rather cheer his friends on rather than tackle a giant challenge himself.

These three kids were known as the unlikely trio, mostly because you'd never think you'd see them together in any one place at any given time. So different, yet so inseperable, people would be hard-pressed to find a closer group of three than this.

Garouga leapt up and stretched his arms out, reviving his circulation. "Heh. Well it's been two hours and I still don't know what I want for breakfast."

"Maybe some strawberries?" Granado suggested. "Those spores don't look too hard to kill."

"Spores freakin' suck, man." Gulcasa retorted. "If anyone can explain to me why a walking mushroom would carry around strawberries, then I'll gladly go kill one for you."

Garouga cricked his neck and stretched his back. "Gull. They eat them."

Gulcasa snorted. "Okay, okay, fine. They eat them. But where do they get them from? Trees? There ain't no strawberry that grows on a tree."

"New guys like you and me, Gull." Garouga jumped down from the bench and pulled his long-haired friend up off the ground. "Apparently kids like us don't bother eating our fruits an vegetables."

"Not so with me, I'm afraid." Granado spoke proudly, rising from his makeshift bed made out of tree logs. "I find them rather delicious. Well, maybe not the veggies so much."

Gulcasa groaned. "I'm allergic, man. That sucks a lot harder than getting beat up by fabres." He turned to look at his blue-haired friend, hunger clearly written on his face. "So what's on the menu for today? Pet food? Or perhaps some jellopy? How about a sword, we haven't eaten those in a long time-"

"Oh, shut up, Gull, we aren't that far gone. In fact," Garouga pointed to the east. "I have a feeling that we'll find our fortune to the east!"

Granado looked up, excited at the idea of travel. "The east? I've no idea where that goes."

With an air of sarcasm, Gulcasa said "Well, Granny, they say that the streets are paved with gold and honey and milk flow from all fountains!"

Granado was ecstatic. "What!? Really? I must see it!"

"Don't listen to him Granado, it's not really that flashy." Garouga sniffed the air disapprovingly. "Although if I had a budget like Prontera's I think I'd do that anyway. Pave the streets with gold and name it the Promised Land."

Patting a rather disappointed Granado on the back, Gulcasa spoke. "Yeah, well, we keep dreamin' about it, but it's never gonna happen. As long as the government's in charge, the people'll never change."

"Yeah."Garouga stared off into the distance in the direction in which he had pointed. "Yeah."
After a minute, the moment passed and the subject was shoved away. "So...breakfast. I think we'll have to go hunting again."

Grinning, Gulcasa flexed his fingers and cracked his knuckles. "That's okay. I'm itching to kill a spore right about now."

Granado looked slightly less happy. "Um...okay. Just give me a couple stones, I can pick em off from far away."

Garouga comforted his physically unfit friend. "You don't have to fight if you don't want to, Granado. It'll be me and Gull at the frontline anyway, so don't worry about it, okay?"

Granado hesitated, that stood up with the rest of his friends, smiling brightly. "Well, alright."

End chapter one.