INFINITE POSSIBILITIES

"It's not funny!"

Yusuke glared at his friend over the table, his chopsticks poised in the air between them. His companion's quiet chuckle grew louder.

"It kind of is," Kuwabara said, his left hand hesitantly raising to point at the third member of the group, who was sitting on the table, a noodle dangling from his yellow beak.

"Shut up," Yusuke snapped, his glare as hot as his meal. "Yours is boring, anyway. I could buy a better sword than that."

Kuwabara glanced down at the red crest on the back of his left hand. It currently contained his own embryo, the giant sword Futsunushi.

"You're just jealous," Kuwabara returned, brandishing his own chopsticks in the air. "Mine is actually useful."

"Hey. Without Puu, we would have been screwed," Yusuke retorted. "That demon's attack would have taken us out for sure."

Kuwabara wilted, lowering his chopsticks. That was true. Yusuke's strange little embryo, Puu, had created a barrier around them that had stopped the demon's ultimate attack and enabled the two inexperienced masters to survive and go on to defeat the creature.

Puu didn't look very impressive. He appeared to be some sort of strange cross-breeding experiment between a rabbit and a chicken, though Yusuke didn't know of any rabbit or chicken that was blue. Puu had a tuft of black hair on his head and large, sleepy eyes. His wings were more like rabbit ears, though Yusuke and Kuwabara had witnessed Puu use them to hover in the air.

All in all, Puu definitely wasn't what Yusuke had expected his embryo to hatch into. He wasn't pleased by the rabbit or chicken comparisons. Neither represented him, as far as he was concerned.

"I wonder what embryo Shuichi got?" Kuwabara asked.

"Yeah. Speaking of, where is he, anyway? He's never late," Yusuke muttered.

"Never late in the real world," Kuwabara reminded him. "Maybe he got lost? It's his first day, too."

Their real-world friend Minamino Shuichi was supposed to meet them at this ramen shop an hour earlier. The spot was a popular meeting place for new players, as it was close to the starting point for this country. At least, according to Shuichi, that was the case. Yusuke couldn't help but roll his eyes when Shuichi had told him that. He'd been ready to jump right into the game feet first without looking, but Shuichi had been perusing the game's wiki for days before allowing them to log on for the first time.

He'd had a lot of material available. Infinite Dendrogram had been out for a year and a half now and the players had built up an extensive database detailing the mechanics of the game. Yet Shuichi had looked slightly perplexed as he'd been explaining them to Yusuke.

"It seems as though there are certain aspects of the game, such as the embryo system, that cannot be fully understood," he'd said, his pretty face scrunched up in consternation.

"I doubt he got lost. Maybe he got caught up in a quest like we did," Yusuke guessed. "Seriously, I told you to forget about that kitten…"

"How was I supposed to know it was actually a demon?" Kuwabara rebutted.

His friend's stare was as flat as the table they sat at. "It's a kitten. In a game. A virtual game. It's not real, Kuwabara."

"Don't be such an asshole, Urameshi," Kuwabara snapped.

"And could you not use my last name here?" Yusuke demanded. "No one else knows it."

Kuwabara shrugged. He resumed eating his ramen. He couldn't get over how real it tasted. It was good ramen, too.

Yusuke had gone with just using his first name for his in-game avatar. His appearance had changed slightly, however. His black hair, usually short and slicked back in the real world, was long and unkempt in-game, though his facial features were the same. Tattoos lined his arms and torso, though they were mostly hidden by his clothes, which were traditional Japanese kimono and hakama, appropriate for the country they'd chosen.

Yusuke didn't need the tattoos to look tough. Kuwabara was well aware that the muscular form hidden beneath Yusuke's clothes was no visual trick. Both he and Yusuke were fit as they had spent years brawling with each other in the streets and alleys of their neighbourhood. Neither had anything to be ashamed of when it came to their physique.

Kuwabara had gone with his last name instead of his first for his avatar and not bothered to alter his appearance at all. He'd met Yusuke's incredulous expression with, "I don't care if anyone recognises me."

It was likely that anyone who knew Kuwabara in real life would recognise him even from a distance as his dyed orange pompadour was very unique, especially considering their current location. Most of the NPCs — the Tians — had black or brown hair.

"Excuse me."

Yusuke and Kuwabara glanced up, as did Puu.

"Puu?" the embryo inquired.

Beside them stood a tall, silver-haired man with… were those dog ears? Yusuke craned his neck to get a better look at the appendages. Yep, those definitely looked like furry dog ears sticking up out of the silver hair.

"Yusuke?" the stranger inquired, golden eyes focused curiously on him.

"Yeah. Who're you?" Yusuke asked.

"Minamino," was the response.

"Huh?" both Yusuke and Kuwabara exclaimed at the same time.

"My name is Kurama here, if you want to get technical," Shuichi explained. "May I join you?"

"Ah, yeah." Now that Yusuke looked closely, he could see that, despite the inhuman characteristics and unnatural colouring, Kurama's face was that of his real-world friend, Shuichi. Shuichi must have used his own body as a template as Yusuke had.

"Okay. Why the dog ears, man?" Kuwabara inquired.

Puu waddled over to inspect the newcomer. Kurama tolerantly petted the embryo. Yusuke's eyes were drawn to Kurama's own left hand. What kind of embryo did Kurama have? Had it even hatched yet? It appeared to still be in its egg form.

"They are fox ears, actually," Kurama corrected him.

Kuwabara looked as if he wanted to comment further, but he bit his lip instead and looked away from the ears.

"Where 'ya been?" Yusuke asked Kurama. "We've been waiting here for ages."

"I apologise," Kurama said serenely. "I got sidetracked."

"Sidetracked?" Yusuke asked.

Kurama looked slightly sheepish, his fox ears moving back and forth. Yusuke stared at them, fascinated by their strangeness. They seemed oddly expressive, which was in sharp contrast to his friend's usual pleasant, static mask.

"I helped a young healer harvest some rare herbs," Kurama said. "Who is this creature?" He gestured to Puu, who was cooing contentedly.

"That's Yusuke's embryo, Puu," Kuwabara explained with malicious cheer. He ignored Yusuke's murderous glare.

"Embryo?" Kurama inquired, looking slightly bothered. "I had not considered that they might come in such a… strange form."

"It doesn't mean anything!" Yusuke snapped.

"But embryos are supposed to be based on the player's play style and mentality," Kurama responded. "Which means that—"

He was cut off abruptly as Yusuke yanked on one of his fox ears. "Ow!" he exclaimed, raising one hand to fend Yusuke off. Yusuke retracted his hand, his expression unapologetic.

"Those are sensitive, huh?" he said, a wicked grin on his face.

Kurama rubbed the abused appendage, frowning. "It seems so," he said, sounding less-than-pleased by that fact. "I should check my configurations…"

"They weren't kidding about the 'reality' part of the virtual reality, huh?" Yusuke observed.

"I know. This food is awesome," Kuwabara agreed as he finished the last bite from his plate.

"Puu seems to think so, too," Kurama murmured.

Yusuke swiped at the embryo, who was stealing another noodle from his plate. "Hey, you're eating all of it," he complained. "I paid for this, y'know."

The embryo gave an offended squawk and waddled off the table and into Kuwabara's lap. Kuwabara yelped and pushed his chair back. He shoved the embryo across the table back at Yusuke. "Here," he said.

Yusuke glowered, but he took the creature back from Kuwabara. "I'm not too sure about this game…" he muttered.

"You can't chicken out just because you got an embryo you don't like!" Kuwabara said.

Kurama hid his mouth behind his hand, his shoulders shaking. Yusuke's glare turned to him.

"What's so funny, Shu?" he demanded.

"Chicken," Kurama explained, uncovering his mouth to point at Puu. Kuwabara guffawed, his angular face lighting up.

"Fuck you, Shu," Yusuke snapped. He crossed his arms over his chest and leaned back, brown eyes smouldering. "You're both pissing me off. I'm gonna log off."

He disappeared. Puu did likewise, with a startled squawk.

"Oh, that's a shame…" Kurama said.

Kuwabara leaned his elbows on the table. "He'll be back," he said confidently. "He won't be able to handle the thought of my level being higher than his."

Kurama nodded at Kuwabara's smug expression. "That is an accurate assessment," he agreed. "Now, have you chosen a job yet…?"