Her eyes beheld the silent void
The Maple Mother shed a tear
For though her Light had been deployed
No sign of Life had yet appeared.
--Maple History Book, volume one
Prologue – A Hero Is Registered (SHOKI)
"It's called MapleStory. You'll like it, I swear you will."
I sighed heavily. I wasn't very keen on trying this weird-looking MMORPG, but Theo always has had his way of convincing me. I guess it's hard for me to say no to him. Still, step one of the ritual dance was always to play stubborn.
"I dunno. It doesn't really look like my kinda thing. Too kiddish."
Step two was a logical retort.
"C'mon, you know that an MMO game isn't defined by its art style. It's the people who play it."
Step three was a weakening resolve.
"Er… well… still, I don't…"
And step four was a blatant appeal to emotion.
"And besides, don't you want to be able to hang out and have fun with me after I move away?"
I always fell for it at step four.
So, there I was. Playing this game that my best friend since grade school had convinced me to play. Who knows, I thought. It could be fun. And it certainly wouldn't hurt to spend more time with him now that he was moving away.
I'd always worried that his graduation would make us grow apart, but I hadn't counted on him growing as far apart as New York. Some elite college, I hadn't bothered to memorize the name yet. All that really mattered to me was that my best friend would be on the other side of the country, while I'd be enduring another year of high school. Maybe this game wasn't such a bad thing after all.
I logged in and picked a server. Bera, that was the one that Theo told me to go to. How could anyone tell the difference? Each one had its own name and emblem, but they all seemed the same to me.
The next step was to make my character. Blond, disheveled hair, like mine in real life. Well, really, it's more of a dirty blond, but the selection wasn't exactly impressive. Theo had told me that equipment wasn't as important, because I wouldn't be sticking with it for long. So, I went with a gray shirt, cotton shorts, sandals, and a sword.
Last element was the name. I typed in the name that I had come up with in advance and given to Theo.
"Shoki."
Thankfully, the name wasn't taken. I rolled my stats, then began the game.
The first area of Maple Island was fairly unremarkable in and of itself; a grassy area, a few platformer-style ledges, and a generic NPC standing on a raised platform. I waited for a moment, and then a line of green text appeared in the chat box.
TedXIII)) Todd? That you?
Right on time. I tried to remember his instructions. Press H, then hit "OK"…
TedXIII(( Theo?
TedXIII)) Good, took you long enough. So, what do you think so far?
TedXIII(( It's okay, I guess. But I haven't actually PLAYED any yet.
TedXIII)) Right, sorry. I'll meet you in Lith Harbor. Take your time.
TedXIII)) But try and be at least level 8 before you leave Maple Island.
Level 8. Seemed simple enough. So, I started with the tutorial.
I found I was having a little fun with the game, in spite of myself. The beginner's quests were a bit dull, but I loved that satisfying feeling that came with leveling up.
It was in the middle of the hunt for the elusive Orange Mushroom that things really started getting interesting, though. I was in a hidden map, looking for more of the things to fight. I engaged one of them, tossing snail shells at it to whittle down its HP.
However, I'd made a minor miscalculation.
"Crap. Out of snail shells."
Not a problem, I thought. I'll just fight the thing. Couldn't be that tough.
It wasn't long before it had me out of potions and cornered on a rope.
I'd die if I dropped down, but the rope didn't lead anywhere. So, really, I was screwed. I started typing a message to Theo again. "Theo, I think I've got a little prob--"
Suddenly, a red shell flew from off-screen and struck the mushroom, killing it.
"You looked like you could use a little help."
The owner of the shell, and the one who had addressed me, was a character called "EllaKnight". She had a head of messy black hair, squinty eyes, a standard beginner outfit, and a hand-axe for a weapon. I noticed that she was wearing a red headband too, lucky thing.
"Thanks," I said. "I was out of potions."
"Oh, here," she said. She dropped some red potions and smiled. It was a facial expression mapped to the F2 key, a big, anime-styled smile that generally exuded an aura of friendliness and warm-heartedness. Not that I needed a facial expression to tell that I was dealing with a very friendly individual.
I picked them up and returned the smile. "Thanks. You're a life-saver, seriously."
"No problem," she said, F2ing again. "So, I take it you're doing the Orange Mushroom quest for Mai?"
"Yeah. I've got six left."
"Three. Maybe I'll hang out here in case you need saving again."
"Har har, aren't you hilarious."
Once we finished, we made our way back to the NPC Mai together. "So, what do you think of the game so far?" Ella asked me.
"It's pretty fun, I guess."
"I think so too," she said, F2ing. "So, how did you hear about the game?"
"From my friend Theo. He's moving to New York next month, and he wanted us to have a way to hang out and stuff. I'm meeting him in some place called Lith Harbor once I get off this island."
"Oh, that's the first town you see in Victoria. You can't miss it," she said. "I started playing because my boyfriend's a geek for this game. I've watched him play it a lot, so I know quite a bit about the game already." Cool. So, we both had experts to help us on our way. I guess we were a lot luckier than most.
Once all the quests were finished, it was time for us to head on our way. We payed the 150-meso fare, and took the ship to Victoria.
"Nice," I said as I surveyed the area. Lith Harbor was a very clean, pretty port town with a picturesque ocean backdrop and soft, relaxing background music. Beginners and high-levels alike wandered around, and it was filled with typical sailor/pirate NPCs.
"Oh, looks like I have to go," Ella said. "It was nice meeting you, Shoki."
"Yeah, you too."
A musical little sound effect went off and an alert appeared on the bottom of the screen. "Buddy request from EllaKnight." I accepted it.
"See ya." We exchanged F2s, and she left.
OK, with that, it was time to look for Theo. I called up Whisper mode again and typed a message.
TedXIII(( OK, I'm here. Where are you?
His reply was almost instant.
TedXIII)) Oh, sweet. Meet me by the NPC called "Mr. Kim."
After a little bit of wandering, I found him. His avatar was impressive, to say the least. He wore a brown bucket hat, a black hooded vest, and a pair of khaki cargo pants. There was also a pair of earrings that looked like skulls, some unidentified gloves, and what looked like a tiger's tail. But the most impressive thing about him was the weapon he wielded. It was a huge spear with a wavy red blade at the end (I later found out that it was called "Serpent's Tongue"). His character's name was, of course, TedXIII.
He F2ed when he saw me. "Dude, you made it!"
Another alert appeared. "Buddy request from TedXIII." Theo never was one to waste time. I accepted, naturally.
"So, out with it! What do you think?"
"It's… pretty fun. I think I can stand playing this game."
He F2ed. "Awesome. So, have you decided on a job yet?"
That was a bit of a tougher question. "Um… I'm thinking Magician."
"Sweet. You ought to head to Ellinia then. C'mon, I'll escort you there personally." Such a gentleman, that guy. We both F2ed.
"Oh, by the way," he said. "Check the Cash Shop. There's a little present for you."
I checked. It seemed there was a small amount of NX cash on my account.
"Thought you could use a little head start. Use it to get a hair coupon or something, you deserve it."
And then we set off for Ellinia in high spirits. And so began my seemingly innocent career on MapleStory.
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Author's note: I had to use parentheses for the whisper text because this site is weird and won't let me use greater than and less than entities. Bah.
Also, you can visit my website under the "notebook" section to see character info and such.
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