/*Author's notes (10th February 2014)
Originally, Azusa, Jun and Ui weren't going to be here. However, because I didn't want to have only four people playing, I dragged Azusa into it. Not sure how this relates to 'K-ON! Continued!' since it that were true then Ui should be there too and Yui wouldn't have her sister missing out.
*/
As soon as she hung up, Mio burst out laughing when she registered how Ritsu's avatar looked. It seemed the drummer had also chosen to create a like image of herself for her character. The two avatars on screen seemed to be talking to each other, Ritsu's face showing off her trademark grin and her yellow headband held her hair back so her face could be shown in its full glory. That tomboyish attitude and shining grin did not suit the robe she wore. The light, brown hair clashed with the dark robe that was so wrapped around her she could appear as a floating head. Unlike most mages that would wield giant staves of oak that curled around some jewel, Ritsu's avatar held a small wand that seemed like a twig picked up off the ground in the field they were in.
"What's so funny!" shouted Ritsu, bursting through the door of Mio's room, causing the girl to fall out of her chair in a mixture of shock and laughter.
"It doesn't suit you at all," she managed to spurt out between her intakes of breath. "Why are you a mage? I thought you would be a knight in shining armour?" Eventually she cooled down.
"My first character was a fighter but since I'm starting a new game I may as well go for something different. And what could be more different than a fighter but a mage?" It made sense, thought Mio but the sight of the ridiculous avatar made her giggle.
"Why do you have such a small wand?" she asked, stifling her laughter.
Because I'm not a man, thought Ritsu but didn't say it out loud. "The helper person suggested it for speed since I used to be a barbarian which can be very fast. Wands are faster but not as strong as the staves."
"Oh, Yui's finished." A like image of Yui appeared on the screen shrouded in a cloak. Somehow, the game had captured her personality as her avatar bobbed up and down with glee and suddenly pounced on the other two avatars in a big, group hug, almost pulling them to the grass.
Suddenly, there was a huge burst of laughter from Yui's room. "She's three doors down and we can still hear her!" shouted Ritsu down the corridor, aiming it a the small girl.
"It's your fault for looking so ridiculous," responded Mio. "Oh, hi Yui." The young girl's face appeared on the screen via video call. "Yeah, I see you too." Ritsu leaned in but regretted it as the two girls burst out laughing. "I know, Ritsu does look silly, doesn't she?" Ritsu pouted and turned her head away.
"I'm going to check on Mugi," and she stomped off.
"So what class are you Yui?" asked Mio, uncertain of what the cloak was hiding. It was army camouflaged and it appeared Yui could fade in and out of sight.
"I'm a thief!" She said that with too much glee to be appropriate. "Look, I can turn invisible!" So that was what she was doing, using a skill. Eventually though, Yui's avatar ended up looking very tired from the repeated action. "Woops."
"How did you use your skills?" asked Mio, curious on her own abilities. As Yui began to explain, Mio began to get a little excited. After setting up her three abilities into the hotkeys, one, two and three, she clicked on one of them.
"Burst!" she shouted, unsure whether it was the avatar or the person. Elizabeth raised the bow in her right hand and simultaneously drew an arrow from the quiver on her back. In a second, the arrow was flying through the air coated in a brilliant blue aura. It was calming to see the shot fly over the plain and fizzle out of sight.
"Wow!" shouted Yui, having seen the ability as well. In the top corner, Mio noticed some of her mana drop and a small status effect appeared by her health bar.
"It takes up five per cent of my mana." Hovering the mouse over the skill, she began reading it. "Fires a shot infused with mana for more power and grants the burst buff for ten seconds (+skill level). Burst buff strengthens the next shots whilst expending mana in the given time frame. Extra effects can be added." Mio searched through the other skills, finding some elemental and status effects, homing shots, multi shots, splitting, explosions, and the like. There were so many skills. It also seemed you could have more than one effect in the burst skill and she toyed with the idea of having all the skills in the burst shot. 'Fireworks' was another skill that caught her eye.
"Hey guys, I'm back." Ritsu's avatar began testing out some abilities too. "Fire!" And then there was fire. Somehow, the avatars knew which way to aim their skills as they didn't hit each other. "Mugi is still taking her time but Azusa is almost ready." Just then, the tiny Azusa appeared in some light armour. Another like-image of the real person.
"Azu-nyan is a fighter!"
"Yui-sempai, get off me!" Yui's avatar was hugging Azu-nyan.
"She even has cat ears!" It was true. Just in front of her two long ponytails were cat ears.
"Hey Azu-nyan, say nyan!"
"Nyan!" The avatar did the nyan motion.
"What is going on?" thought Mio as Yui played with their little kohai. "Why do you have cat ears?"
"Oh… I couldn't think of a username so I chose Azu-nyan…" The little girl knew she was going to regret the decision but she didn't realise how soon.
"Ha, ha," Ritsu laughed; glad they were picking on someone other than her. It was short lived.
Azusa, "Why does Ritsu-sempai look so weird?"
Ritsu, "Sh-shut up!"
Azusa decided to try out some skills with the others. Mio found that aim was simply first person shooting that fired a homing arrow. As she was trying out sprinting, Ritsu's laughter distracted her.
"That looks just as ridiculous." Azusa was wielding a two handed sword. Being so small, the sword reached her shoulder height.
"Could be worse," replied Mio at her friend. "Floating head."
"Aren't you afraid Mio?" Ritsu's avatar drew closer to Elizabeth and made some spooky noises. Elizabeth backed away and jumped when Yui's invisible character pounced onto the taller girl from behind.
"No, I'm not." She paused for a moment. "Hey, what are your character names anyway? Mine's Elizabeth."
"Eh!" shouted Yui, forcing Mio to turn down the volume. "You name yours after you instrument. I did that too!"
"So Giita and Elizabeth," said Ritsu. "Azu-nyan too."
"What about you Ritsu?"
She paused, for dramatic effect.
"Me? I. Am. Spartan!"
Mio was ready for the screaming and already had the volume all the way down. "Really?"
"No, I'm actually Tainaka."
"But that's your name."
"Ah, but they won't suspect it's me if I'm using my own name."
Mio face palmed.
"Why is Mugi taking so long?" asked Yui, left out. "I'm going to go see her!" In the distance, Mio could hear a door open and footsteps towards her friend's room. Not wanting to be left out, Mio followed suit.
"Sorry, I'll be done soon," came a voice through the door, obviously having heard the entire ruckus.
"I can't wait, we're coming in!" shouted Yui. They could hear Mugi's protests to entering her room but it was too late, Yui was in. Ritsu and Azusa were peeping in too.
"Wow!"
"I'm sorry!" shouted Mugi. There was nothing wrong with her room. In fact, it was perfectly ordinary, which would have displeased Yui if she wasn't looking at Mugi's screen.
"Mugi?"
"I'm sorry!" Apologising again, she ducked her head.
"Did you make three characters?" The first character was a very tall, slim and busty elf like mage. The second was male, to everyone's surprise, and had a very masculine outlook with his great two hander sword on his shoulders. The last was plainly Mugi's cute face squashed inside a helmet; the guard class no less.
"I was having fun so I kept making characters but in the end I didn't know which one to choose."
"Hey Azu-nyan, that's how a real two handed swordsman is supposed to look." Azusa puffed up her cheeks.
"I'll prove you wrong and show you how awesome little people can be, sempai."
Whilst the two argued, Mio tried to help Mugi decide, explaining everyone else's characters.
"Okay then," Mugi replied with a smile. After a few clicks, she was brought to the field where all the avatars were. They were all sleeping having been left alone for a while. Mugi clicked on Mio's avatar, bringing up an information panel. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Elizabeth. My name is Prince Triton." (Taken from the type of keyboard she has- source- k-on wiki)
Mio placed the headphones over her head again, setting up a party for everyone. She sighed.
Mio, "Why am I the leader? Ritsu should be the leader…"
Ritsu, "Well, I don't want to be the leader."
Mio, "You have the most experience playing this game."
Ritsu, "I don't want to spoil it for you."
Mio, "Then why not Azusa?"
Azusa, "You will always be my sempai, never the other way round."
Mio, "Mugi would make a great leader."
Mugi, "I don't know the first thing about games."
Mio, "Neither do I!"
Yui, "Why not me?"
Ritsu, "You chose a thief to make lots of money for cake, even though you can't eat the cake."
Yui, "But Giitar can. He's never had Mugi's cake before."
Mio, "Wait, but he has had cake before?"
Ritsu, "We're getting off topic. Mio, have you made the party yet?"
After some clicking on Mio's side, the other four screens got a message. "Would you like to accept Elizabeth's party invitation?"
"Yes!"
Mio sighed, wondering about how the whole thing is going to be like. At the top left, below her own status bar, four others appeared representing her party. "Are you ready?" said a message.
"Yes," replied Mio.
Elizabeth looked up at the sky, awaiting orders. Her party was in a field under the blue sky above. There was little wind, perfect for archers and gunners alike. She patiently waited, hoping for a competent user.
"Ritsu," shouted Mio, "Where do we go?" Elizabeth sighed. Subtly, she idly walked towards the nearest town.
Ritsu, "There's a town south of here which is a good start. We should go there." As Mio was getting to grips with the camera and the movement system, Tainaka seemed very amused watching Elizabeth being sent round in circles.
"Noob," she said. Mio's avatar looked annoyed but soon she was walking straight.
"Ah, I think I've got it!"
"Look, look at the sky!" shouted Yui and her character pointed up like a child seeing a bird for the first time. Each player tilted their camera upwards to see a flock of them passing by.
Azusa's avatar didn't look up though, instead tapping her sword on the ground. "I'm so bored…"
"Hey Mio, can you shoot one of those birds?" called out Ritsu. "Just click on a bird and try attacking it."
"Um… Which one?" asked Mio, causing her avatar to face palm, as it didn't matter. She drew an arrow and bow anyway and awaited the command. "Burst shot? Really?" she thought out loud as Mio pressed the respective keys. "Doesn't matter, that mana will heal back." Suddenly, she felt her aim get pulled upwards, even though she had set it on target herself. "Oh great, she's aiming."
Tainaka was laughing. "If you miss, you're treating us tonight."
"If I hit, I'll end up treating anyway since that'll be my bird." Mio fired, the burst arrow flying too high and the homing trigger didn't even activate.
"Oh, I missed…" said Mio with a hint of sadness.
"Never mind, there's always next time."
"Please don't waste my arrows," thought Elizabeth.
"I'm so bored…" Azu-nyan said again. She had found stump and sat on it. The real Azusa didn't know how that happened.
"Um, should we head to the town now?"
"Race you!" shouted Yui and Giitar simultaneously and sprinted off.
"Hey, wait up Yui!" Mio called after her, even though they had headphones. She clicked her sprint ability and chased afterwards. They were finally moving onwards.
"I wish we never came here…" said Azu-nyan the avatar. "Why the hell are we shopping?"
"Look! I got cake!"
"Yui-sempai!" shouted Azusa. "Don't waste your money like that."
"But Giitar looked so hungry…" How or why she thought that, no one bothered asking. Mio decided to stock up on some arrows, something Elizabeth was grateful for and soon they were hunting for quests.
"How about this one?" shouted Yui, running to each quest she could find. All that running was probably what caused the hunger in the first place. There wasn't enough time to answer as the girl accepted the quest anyway and hurried on. It turned out that they could accept multiple quests at once and deal with them in their own time and before long Yui had collected all the quests for them. Afterwards, they grouped together and looked towards their leader to choose their first quest.
"How long does it take to go and kill something?"
"Azu-nyan is agitated," responded Giitar happily with another cake. "This will cheer you up!" Before she could pass the cake along, they were heading off back to the fields.
"Finally…" said Azu-nyan, hiding her disappointment for not receiving cake.
"Noobs," said Tainaka, scorching a few level one slimes in the vicinity. Ritsu was rather enjoying being a mage but she took care to aim away from her teammates.
"Sorry!" shouted Mio as she accidentally shot Azusa with her aim skill. Friendly fire was permanently on and soon the kohai had to retreat.
"Can anyone heal?" asked Azusa, watching her character's two per cent health turn to three. "That was a really close call." The slimes moved after her but Yui's swift attacks distracted them from her party member.
"That aim ability should really not be used by a beginner," commented Elizabeth. "Who thought it was a good idea to recommend it?" Soon, Mio was running her character away from the approaching slimes after Yui had taken cover behind her.
"Sorry," said Mugi, charging in to distract them from attacking the archer. "Bash!" she called, striking one of them with her shield and stunning it. Now, all the slimes were onto her and even through her thick armour, she was taking lots of damage, fifty per cent and dropping. Yui was back helping, striking swiftly from behind then running out of harms way. However, her infrequent attacks were due to the intense running Giitar was being put through and soon she was out of mana, reducing her character to a sluggish crawl.
"I'm out of cake!"
"Mugi, get out of there," shouted Ritsu; letting Tainaka to draw away some of the slimes with fire.
"This is your fault Tainaka," said Azu-nyan, wiping sweat off her brow.
"I don't see you doing anything," she retorted, circling round and avoided getting surrounded.
"You drew all those slimes to the five of us. Whenever we were taking care of two slimes together, you would find and hit three more together.
"Now there are thirteen of them." Thirteen damaged slimes chased after their party.
Mio panicked, fearing being taken over by slimes. "Burst!" she shouted and turned off the aim skill. Elizabeth turned around to face the slimes and smiled. Now she could face them on her own. As Mio let her avatar do her job, she tried to grasp the situation they were in, pivoting the camera angle to view the field. It looked like they had drawn every slime in the field together and sent them marching after Tainaka and Prince Triton. Suddenly, three slimes disappeared as Elizabeth's burst shot pierced them.
"Guys, we're nearly there," shouted Mio, her words of encouragement reaching everyone. "All the slimes are really low on health so we can do this. Mugi, Ritsu, try and get the slimes together."
Ritsu smiled inwardly when she heard Mio taking lead, moving her mouse to move her character towards Mugi and Mugi likewise. Together, they ran as the slimes lined up neatly behind them.
"Yui, strike the ones after Ritsu and then follow Mugi. Azusa, follow Yui's lead and do the same. Ritsu, when you're safe, move off to the side." Yui saluted, chasing after the slimes and struck them, turning the slimes away from Ritsu and towards Yui. Azusa tried the same, almost getting knocked out in the process but managed to get to the same speed as Mugi whilst avoiding death.
"Now Ritsu," and she turned off. Two slimes followed her but Elizabeth picked them off easily.
"Now that they're all together, Ritsu, hit them with all you've got!"
"Got it!" Tainaka cried, summoning the mana within her into her wand. With one last spell, she cast a fireball into the horde of slimes, silencing them all.
"We did it!" they all shouted. If they were next to each other, they would have made a group hug. Instead, Yui's character was jumping in joy as the rest lay on the grass to rest.
"That was crap," shouted Azu-nyan, her ears twitching in annoyance. "Almost killed by slimes, I'll never live this down…"
"But," cut in Elizabeth. "Thanks to my master's leadership, we managed it."
"Noobs," said Tainaka, "If I had my way then there would have been no problem."
Elizabeth sighed. "And you would have fried your team mates."
"Prince Tritan?" called Giitar, waling towards the blonde. "How are you feeling?" The prince said nothing, waiting for her health to recover back to full.
"That was really fun," said Yui, appearing in Mio's room and surprised her with a sudden hug. "You were great Mio!" The girl blushed a deep red; thankful she was facing the screen rather than Yui. However, with the webcam on, Ritsu burst out laughing.
"Aw, is our Mio getting embarrassed?" she cooed. "That was some quick thinking, leader."
"Awesome Mio," said Mugi down the microphone. "I can't wait for next time!"
"Mio-sempai, thank you for not letting me die!"
Mio said something inaudible sounded something like 'thank you.' She looked at the screen, the avatars staring back up at her with a smile that surprised her. She smiled back but almost gasped when she though Elizabeth gave her a wink and mouthed something. "Good job."
"Mio, what is it?" asked Yui.
"Um…" she paused. Maybe she was going crazy. "You can get off me now…"
/*Author's notes
The avatars' having their own characters was completely by accident. Seriously, I was typing away and then they started talking- true story.
I think I need to define their characters better since that was all just suddenly on the fly. They just seem to be pissed off for having noobs as their players. I'm enjoying this though but I feel that the fight scenes have too many characters for me to handle at once. I can't wait to develop these characters. Oh the irony when I said I needed more players…
I'm also very sorry about the bad names I have given them. In particular Prince Triton who looks like Mugi in heavy armour. I keep trying to call her 'he.'
Also note I haven't given you which 'emotion' each person has chosen. I have decided who chose what though.
Something that you may be wondering is why I called this an MMO when it clearly isn't an MMO. Here's a clue- can't wait for level ten.
I hope you enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it!
*/
"Give me another one!" shouted Tainaka, and a beer was placed in front of her and she was downing it before the waiter had even left. "The bar is definitely the best place to be," she said to no one. Azu-nyan sipped on her cocktail, a simple martini, rolling the taste around her mouth before swallowing.
"Let's drink away our sorrows after what happened today," she replied, the slime attacks still fresh in her memory. "I am shamed."
"Don't worry about it," shouted Yui, her loud voice in the empty bar echoed. "It happens to all of us!"
"Only to noobs," cut in Tainaka as she grabbed another drink. "But I guess we owe it to Mio for getting us out of that one." She threw a pint to Elizabeth who caught it without spilling a drop. "And also for having a nice bar on her computer."
Laughing, Elizabeth raised the pint into the air. "For Mio and her bar then," she called out. Each in turn, they raised their drinks and called Mio's name as though they had been comrades for a very long time.
"For Mio."
