I messed up . Here's Chapter 2 without all the extra crap.
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Chapter 2: New Game
Stephanie stared down at her own hands. They were different somehow. In length, in texture; they were elegant and gentle somehow. They weren't her hands at all! The clothes that she was wearing, the hair on her head, none of it was hers and yet it was! It was impossible, but then again, flickering worlds wasn't exactly on the plausible list either.
"I…I can't believe it!" Stephanie exclaimed quietly, her voice trembling as she stared up at the city gate. "I can't believe…we're really here!"
Clueless as ever, Bao merely blinked and looked at his love, "Really where?"
Stephanie turned to Bao, giving the group a full view of her new appearance. Her hair was a vivid green, lush as a forest; two sections were tied off in low ponytails in the front, hanging right over her chest, and the rest cascaded down her back. Her eyes were a dark shade of sapphire, but even more interesting was the dress she now wore. It was a dim violet one piece, with a full skirt. Down the left side was a sexy slit that revealed the silky skin of her legs that were covered in a stocking-like material. The shoulders were poofy and large, but not annoyingly so, and the long sleeves flared out into thick, red and gold cuffs. Around her neck hung a cross; Stephanie was now a woman of the church.
"I'm…a priestess," She started, gritting her teeth slightly, looking down at the dew covered grass beneath her shoes, "I'm…Riaru…you…BAKA!"
Another blink came from Bao before he realized he was not wearing his glasses. His vision was…perfect! No blurred shapes and no groping around. His eyes were 20/20, nay, better than that. It was then he realized that he held a bow in one hand and had a quiver of arrows slung around his shoulder. He shook his head and brushed away his new, pale blonde hair from his eyes. Bao couldn't believe it. It wasn't possible. He looked up, searching, and found his faithful falcon circling low over them, as if it were inspecting each person. There was a bobbing pink blob in the distance…
"Naw, I can't hit that…." Bao whispered to himself. Though he said this, he took and arrow from the quiver and drew back his bowstring, aiming carefully. "I can't hit that…"
The arrow flew straight and true, and with a plop! the mysterious pink blob exploded into tiny pink pieces, various items spilling forth from the creature's guts.
Disbelievingly, he stared down at his own hands, then at Steph, "Did I just…?"
The priestess only smiled at the hunter and nodded.
"You did…Kiteru…" she whispered gently.
"Tim's got BALLS!" Robert exclaimed enthusiastically, breaking the magical moment. It wasn't just Steph and Bao; it was all of them. They began where they had left off the game (for those who played, anyway)…They were who they had created.
Tim's hair was short and blue, but more interesting was his outfit. It was big, baggy, white and open, but he had no qualms about it. After all, his in-game chest was pretty well-built. As for Robert's sudden exclamation, it was true, vulgar as it happened to be. There were little spheres of blue energy floating around him lazily, and just as the group was about to ask where the balls came from, Tim just shook his head, not knowing how he got them himself.
"They were just…there," He gave a quick glance to the spheres, "I didn't summon them, but I'm supposed to. This is sooooo….weird."
Stretching out his right arm, he reached out experimentally to prod at one of the energy spheres, then recoiled quickly as a shock went through him.
"OW! That hurt! Stupid spheres, painful AND weird…" Tim mumbled, folding his arms over his chest and keeping them away from the spheres.
"You think THOSE are weird!?" an angry voice yelled from behind some bushes and trees.
"Caroline?" They all asked simultaneously.
"What're you doing over there?" Steph asked, approaching the direction of the voice. "Come on out, I want to see what class you turned out to be!"
"NO! I REFUSE TO COME OUT HERE IN THIS OUTFIT!" Caroline yelled, but she mumbled beneath her breath, "As cute as this outfit is…"
"Come on, Caroline!" Steph pleaded again.
"Yeah, Caroline, it can't be that bad! It'll probably even look good!" Bao tried, hoping that his cheery optimism would help cajole the embarrassed girl out from behind the bushes.
"FINE," Caroline said angrily, poking her head out to glare at Robert, "BUT IF HE EVEN TOUCHES ME, HE'S DEAD!"
Everyone slowly turned to Robert, as if to give him a warning.
"…What?!"
With a quiet sigh, she daintily stepped out from behind the greenery and shocked the entire group. She looked absolutely stunning! Caroline had long, black flowing hair and mysterious cerulean eyes; there was a power that seemed to emit from all around her. Good as she looked, they suddenly understood why she had, at first, refused to come out. Her outfit was nothing but a few sheets of cloth! Her top was merely a brassiere type top with a small coat-like covering that came down to her shoulders. The "shirt" was crimson and had elegant swirls and curves embroidered in gold. Caroline's midsection was bare and her skirt didn't cover much up either. It was simply a long flap of red cloth in the front, and a wider, thicker piece of cloth in the back. Knee-high boots in a crimson color completed the outfit and matched her top. Skimpy, but elegant, it of course called the attention of the males in the group.
"Whoa…" The boys whispered in awe.
"She's a mage!" Steph exclaimed, pointing frantically, "She's going to own us all!"
Tracy blinked, "What the hell?!"
"Hey, before you 'what the hell' MY outfit, you should check out yours!" Caroline shot back, with a bit of a stifled giggle.
Tracy blinked and looked down at herself, then glared at Robert.
"…WHAT?!" Robert cried out in exasperation, "I'm not going to rape them!"
"…Uh…huh," Tracy and Caroline said simultaneously.
Robert just shook his head and plopped down in the shade of a tall tree, grumbling, "You all suck."
"Uhh, what is a mage?" Roger asked, scratching his head.
Bao decided to field this question with as much detail and explanation as possible, "A magic user."
"…Oh. So what's Tracy?"
Steph answered before Bao could, "A thief. She dodges and stabs things with knives!"
"Knives, huh…?" Tracy had a sadistic grin as she eyed Robert.
The spitfire of a girl now had on an outfit no one would (realistically) expect her to wear. With her short, dark red hair, the clothing looked adorable on her. Like Caroline, her top merely consisted of a brassiere-like shirt, but in an ivory color rather than red. However, Tracy had the benefit of a long, light brown leather jacket. Lucky for her, she also had a pair of matching Capri pants. It was something closer to "normal" for the group, but it still carried an air of something completely different and continued to hold them in amazement.
"Oi, I have clothes that look like Tracy's, does that mean I'm a thief too?" Jon called out from underneath the shady tree.
"Yeah," the priestess confirmed his conclusion, "The male and female uniforms for each class resemble each other (usually) so it's easy to tell who's what class."
"So I'm a…" Roger trailed off as he stared quizzically down at his armor and sheathed sword.
"Swordsman. You can be a one handed, two handed, or even a spear swordsman. Or, if you like, you can be a tri-mastery knight!" Steph explained to Roger, "It'll be hard reaching higher levels, but it's well worth it, especially in WoE…"
Tracy, Roger, Jon and Caroline stared at each other, then at Steph, "WoE?"
"As in, 'oh, woe is me'?" Caroline inquired.
"Or WoE as in, 'WHOA!'" Jon questioned as he ran fingers through his shaggy black hair. He wasn't used to having so much hair. "Damn this hair…"
Tim shook his head, "No, no, NO! WoE stands for War of Emperium, DUH!"
"Shut up, Tim!" Tracy shouted.
"FINE!"
"FINE!"
And on and on it went before Stephanie cleared her throat and continued with the Newbie Training Class for the others.
"The War of Emperium is a siege event. Guilds that are formed can take castles by destroying a crystal that is known as an 'Emperium'. Sieges last two hours twice a week, and it can be very hassling," Steph sighed, "Sometimes it isn't any fun at all."
"If Tracy and I are thieves, and Caroline's a mage, then what are you? What's Robert, Bao, and Roger?" Jon asked, scratching his head yet again. The hair was really beginning to irritate him a little.
"Hunter!" Bao exclaimed cheerily, playing with his falcon.
"Priestess," Steph mumbled, distracted by the towering walls.
"Uh…I don't know what I am," Roger responded scratching his head. A moment later he remembered, "Oh! A swordsman."
Robert leapt up and attempted a cool pose as he explained himself, "I am an assassin! I use my dual katars to stalk the night and KILL people!"
He made mock slashing actions at Tracy's neck as he laughed maniacally. With the scraps of cloth wrapped around him and his (newly) long, blond hair, he looked the very part of a night stalker. However…
"Somehow, I don't think he wants to stalk people to kill them," Caroline commented, glancing at the red-haired thief.
"I'm thinking he wants to stalk people to have his way with them," she responded, nudging at the new mage.
They glanced at each other, their eyes widened and let out a cry.
"EWWWW!!"
While the rest of the group were arguing, laughing and just chatting in general, the priestess of the group looked quite distracted. They were quite a whiles away from the city gates, but it was easily seen that people were pouring in and out of the stony gates; after all, Prontera was the capital city in the world of Rune-Midgard. There, everything can be found, for the merchant shopping district was impeccable! Everything from common monster parts to rare equipment could be found amongst the vending merchants, but it was not this that distracted her. A sudden thought had entered Stephanie's mind, and the ramifications worried her.
"Hey guys," she spoke softly, her tone matching her job class, "If…we're here, are we in a game? Or, is this…real?"
They didn't answer her. The carefree attitude and happy chatter was momentarily replaced by deep thought in search of an answer. If this were a game, then they could do everything and more without worrying about harm coming their way; however, if this were a REAL world in which life and death were permanent things, then…
"It has to be a game," grumbled Bao, the qualm clearly showing upon his face. "But there isn't any way for us to find out, is there?"
"Ungggh…" Tim moaned.
"Oh come on guys, this has to be a game! You're acting like other worlds actually exist!" Robert yelled, trying to get them off of the disturbing subject.
"And you're acting like we weren't just transported somewhere else from school!" Caroline hissed, irritation mounting in her voice. "This is a serious situation!"
"Oi…" Jon stood between the assassin and the mage as they were about to go at it, "Break it up you two, we don't have time for this! Maybe we should go to the city and find out?"
Roger agreed as he clapped his hand over Jon's shoulder, "Yeah! Besides, I want to see what it looks like in there…"
"Yeah, it looks sooo….big!" Tracy gasped in awe as the walls grew larger and larger. The castle of King Tristan III rose up in the distance as they walked closer and closer to the city of Prontera.
As they approached the gates, the guards greeted them, tilting their heads in the newcomers' direction.
"Moving NPCs…?" Bao just stared at the quizzically for a moment, then hurried on, but even he couldn't expect how breathtaking the view was.
"WOW!" they gasped, staring at all the people, all the blacksmiths, merchants and alchemists vending their wares, all the different people and classes mingling together to form a raucous air about the city. However, it wasn't anything violent; it was merely loud, but there was a feeling of community, even in such a large city…