Ch. 1 Training

-Murloc_Rampage Office-

Murloc_Rampage is seen typing on his 3ds, which is how he types, until another person barges into the room, "What the fuck is this!?" He demands.

Murloc_Rampage barely looks at it, "At first glance, it looks like a shopping list."

The man is taken aback, "Wait, what?" He examines it before shoving it into his pocket.

Murloc_Rampage continues to ignore his presence but still says, "You know I'm busy, correct?"

The man groans, "I'm here because of this bullshit." He slams a file on the desk, "You're posting chapter 1 of Purgatory, why!? Don't you see what kind of hypocrite that'll make you!?"

Murloc_Rampage shrugs, "It's a reward for the 9 reviews and all other support its gotten. Nothing wrong with that, besides, what will one more chapter do?"

The man slams his hands on the desk, "It'll get more people hyped. What if you get 9 more reviews, all for this chapter?"

Murloc_Rampage snickered, "Then I'll make another chapter. Big whoop. 9 reviews is a big deal to me, and I like rewarding my readers for reviewing."

The man grabs his head groaning, "What if they keep doing that?"

Murloc_Rampage laughed, "They won't, fanfiction is far too inconsistent, not only that, but 9 people reviewing is unheard-of for my stories. We barely get 3 reviews a chapter."

The man shook his head, "I don't know man. You may be biting off more than you can chew."

Murloc_Rampage smiled at him, "Whatever you say, the door is right there. Don't let it hurt you on the ass, on your way out.

(In all seriousness, thank you so much guys for the support. As a show of appreciation, I decided to give you guys chapter 1. Enjoy. Please Favorite, follow and/or review to support this story.)

{Rui's Point of View}

[Status of the game so far]

Top Player of The Current Chapter: JustinThePokemonMaster

Gender: Male

Age: 22 years old

Level: 12

Class: Pokemon Tamer

Main Pokemon: Beedrill Lv. 15

Weapon: N/A

Skills: 0

Guild: N/A

Quests Completed: 27

Players Left in the Game: 2.58 million.

Players that have died: 2,547

Highest Floor reached: 1st

Floor Bosses defeated: 0

-2 weeks later-

I woke up in an alley, looking around drowsily. I yawned, stretching from the uncomfortable living conditions. When the game first started, I left quickly to try to gain some quests for exp, instead, the veteran players already got to all of them before I did. The only thing left for me to do is to grind and do small errands for the NPCs. Sadly, the errands only gifts the player 10 gold and only 100 exp. I've done at least 30 errands and spent 16 hours a day, for the past two weeks, grinding. Not many players have realized there's a style set system in the game. The game calls it Expertise, it revolves around fighting styles. I use a one handed sword style with no shield. It's called One handed, obviously, and, like all the others, has 20 ranks. The twentieth rank is achieved through 10,000 hours of battle with one handed swords. It takes 500 hours to reach the next rank. Even with all the hours I've spent training, I only reached about halfway to the first rank.

I stared at my weapon, it's the same one I've had since the prologue, "Two weeks... and I've only reached level 5 and have no gold to spend.

I only had about 567 gold from all the battles, errands, and money spent of food and drink. The best thing I could buy is 1 health potion, which costs about 350 gold. With all the players on the same floor, there weren't enough rooms to house everyone. That meant only the top players got to stay in the inns.

Once I got out of the alley, I noticed a male player walking with a female NPC. They held each other's hand gently, smiling as if nothing was wrong. I frowned, watching them walk as I began to realize what's going on. The game's AI is far beyond its time, gaining a realistic personality. Even I've felt as if they're a real person at times. NPC merchants can be reasoned with, they spread gossip and rumors, some even try to approach you for dates.

I whispered to myself, "Why did he make it seem like they're real?"

Someone called out to me, "Hey Rui!"

I looked over my shoulder to see Jay running towards me, he was only level 2, "Have you heard?" he looked concerned.

I turned my body to face him, "Heard what?"

He pointed over his shoulder with a thumb, "There's a big meeting in town square. All the top players asked everyone to be there."

Derek showed up behind Jay, "Hey, it's time to go. Anthony is waiting for us."

Derek is 15 years old, not only is he the oldest of us four, he's also the tallest. When standing tall, Derek is easily 5 foot 10, maybe taller. Like me and Jay, he has white skin but it's a bit lighter than ours. Before he cut and dyed his hair, it used to be brown but even in the game, it's different. The short hair is a light green with gold piercings in his earlobes. One of his coldest features, is his gray eyes that just seem to stare through you. I sometimes joke that he stares at people's souls this way. His nose is crooked with a normal length and slightly pointed tip with thin lips like mine.

Since he stood behind Jay, I couldn't see what he was wearing. On the other hand, I can guess it's the exact same gear every rookie wears. Light leather armor that only covers your chest, with a T-shirt underneath. Derek might be wearing shorts, maybe pants... who knows.

Jay looked at him, "Alright Derek. Say, what do you think about training around the starting town?"

Derek shrugged, "We won't get much exp but... It's also the safest."

I waved at Derek, "Hi."

Derek smiled, "What's up?"

I cracked my neck, "Sleeping in Alleyways."

Derek nodded a bit, "Cool."

An idea popped in my head, "Speaking of training, you guys should do errands in that town. Players usually avoid them but they're an easy 100 exp and 10 gold each."

Jay and Derek both bumped fists with me, "Thanks man. Will do. Cone on, let's see what the elites want."

I followed them, "Elites? They're not the best yet."

Jay shook his head, shrugging, "They're the best so far."

[1st Floor-Sepulva(Town Square)]

When we arrived at the town Square, about 700,000 players were huddled around the top players. We couldn't get any closer to hear what's going on but Anthony ran over to us.

Anthony looked happy, "You guys made it."

Anthony is 14 years old with short light brown hair, kind of like Derek's original hair. His white skin is the same pigment as mine with bright green eyes. His lips are bigger than mine but not by much. He stands at 4 foot 10, making me the shortest, sadly, however, that doesn't bother me. He wore the Leather armor but had a white shirt underneath with white shorts. His shoes are exactly like mine, pure black sneakers.

I smiled, giving Anthony a handshake, "How have you been?" I asked kindly.

Anthony kept his smile, "I've been great."

Derek got Anthony in a headlock, gently grinding his knuckles on Anthony's head, "This guy is an expert marksman already."

Anthony tried to push Derek, "Ow! Stop it Derek."

Jay and I laughed as Derek let him go. Our laughter is cut short as our menus started to appear. The players began to broadcast to everyone, that way, everyone could hear them.

"Everyone, it's been 2 weeks since we've been stuck in this game. 2000 people have died already, and it's been decided what we should do. The best players are joining up into the same Clan and leaving all of you."

Everyone began to murmur but another player spoke, "We've been stuck in this town because the road is too treacherous to go alone. All the enemies between this town and the next is lvl 8 or higher. We have to group up in order to stay safe. On the bright side, all of you will be able to leave up from quests with our absence."

More murmurs erupted, most positive and other negative. I looked at my friends to see them looking pretty neutral.

Another top player began to speak, "Like most of you, I want to go back to the real world. I want to see my daughter again before she goes to school, not after. There are still millions of us and if we work hard, most of us can escape alive. I think that's what's important, getting most of us back home. Goodbye everyone."

Our menus collapsed as the murmurs died down from those around us. Derek did his best to see and told us that the top players were leaving. Only 4000 players were leaving and I had to check the leaderboards. I was ranked 2,134,913 out of 2.8 million players. I hung my head, thinking about how hard I've been training.

A voice interrupted my thoughts, "Hey, level 5 guy!"

I turned to see a player, who's level 6, approach me. He wore the standard leather gear like the rest of us but had tanned skin and long blonde hair. His eyes are blue and has a short bow strapped along his back with a quiver. He towered over me, standing a 6 foot 3 and looked about 17 years old.

His voice is a bit deeper than mine, "I'm currently stuck on a quest and I'm gathering a party to complete it. If you help, I'll give you access to it. You'll get 2500 exp but you'll only get a shared amount of 500 or less gold. How does that sound?"

I immediately agreed, "Of course!"

The level 6 player smiled, "That's great! I'll gather two more players. Here, I'll friend you and send over the quest now."

I accepted both, "Thank you... Klink?"

Klink grinned, "Alright, I'll meet you at the East exit of town in about 1 hour. See you there."

I waved my goodbyes as he left before turning to my friends. They looked excited for me, quickly saying their farewells. The crowd began dispersing quickly as I decided to use 10 gold in order to get something to eat. It was a piece of bread with butter but I needed to eat and drink something at least once a day. The game included hunger and thirst to increase its realism.

Once an hour passed, I waited for my party to show up, which, they did.

Klink greeted me first, "Yo! Glad you made it, I'll introduce you. This young girl is Carly and the older gentleman is Gary."

The girl looked about 15 years old with a very positive attitude. She visibly bounced with either joy or just plain energy. Her blonde hair matched Klink's but extended past her waistline. Her eyes are a beautiful shade of scarlet but added a strangely crazy tone to them. Sadly, she was taller than me, standing tall at 4 foot 11, almost 5 feet even and she's flat chested. She wore a loose white tank top that had no sleeves and the collar stretch down as a V cut. Underneath it, a black sports bra keep her breasts in check. Other than that, she wore no set of armor to cover her torso. Black short shorts with a long red and black speckled skirt over it. Next to her name, which is actually Neko451, her level is displayed as level 8.

I smiled at her, "Hello Carly."

She bounced happily, "I'll so ready to do this quest!"

I looked at Gary to seem him look pretty neutral, "Not excited?"

Gary looks about 23 years old with short red hair and brown eyes. His skin pigment matched mine but his body is extremely muscular. The red t-shirt and leather armor he wore looked tight on him. Bluish grey shorts covered most of his legs with a battle ax in his right hand. Gary is the same height as Klink, making me feel self conscious. Gary's account name is Be4UDie, his level, 7.

Gary walked by me, "Let's get this over with."

I looked at Klink, "I guess he's impatient."

Klink shrugged, "I don't know, but with the four of us, this'll be a cakewalk."

I wasn't sure but Carly gave me a gentle shove, "You going or not?" she asked rather rudely.

I frowned a bit, "Alright, I'm moving."

As Carly moved ahead, she bounced with energy. Gary and Klink walked side by side but didn't speak a word. I didn't trust any of these people, but I needed to work with them. The enemies will be a higher level than normal and the quest gives us a large sum of exp. It's a necessary risk but I have a teleportation crystal in my inventory. I got one as an enemy drop, which is pretty rare in general.

We followed a dirt road through a meadow of pink and yellow flowers. Floettes flew from flower to flower, trying to drink the virtual nectar. The smells seems so real and the air is almost too fresh. Sometimes I wonder what the creators really made, a game or a real world. I remembered back to that player who's dating an NPC. Did he give up hope or did he forget that this world isn't real.

I started thinking to myself bitterly, 'I never got a chance to date or kiss a girl in real life. Now I'm stuck here with no chance to make it home with the next year. I wonder how my family is taking this.'

Carly walked beside me, leaning over while walking, "You are lost in thought... are you thinking about me!?"

I blushed hard, snapping out of my thoughts, "What!? No!"

Carly grinned, "I'm just teasing you."

I looked ahead, "How can you be so positive while we're stuck in this game?"

Carly smiled, "Simple. What's the point in moping when we have so much to do. If we want to live and see the sun again, we need to focus on winning. Not crying about life being unfair."

I picked up my head in surprise before looking at her smiling face, "You're right. Thank you Carly."

Carly crossed her arms behind her head as she walked, "You must be a solo player."

I was a bit shocked but I didn't want to question how, "Yes. That's why I'm level 5, despite never talking a quest."

Carly grinned, "Since I'm a girl, hundreds of guys ask me out on dates, or share quests with me. As a boy, you'll never get such a privilege I'm afraid."

I shrugged, "It's fine. There were only 100,000 quests available a day. There's over 2.5 million players playing on the only server this game has. Once we get to the higher floors, more and more players will be able to get quests."

Carly glanced at me, "So, what will you do, hypothetically, when you reach the higher floors?"

I shrugged again, "I don't know. It depends on my training and level at the time."

Carly ran ahead, pretending to be a plane with fake plane noises. Gary snickered a bit but shook his head disapprovingly. I walked a bit faster, getting closer to Klink.

I asked him, "What will the quest enemies be like?"

Klink tilted his head in wonder, "I'm not sure. All I know is this, the required level is 5 or higher and there's a missing NPC involved."

I sighed, "Rescue mission. There might be a boss pokemon at a higher level than the nearby encounters."

Gary joined in, "You're probably right, but it could be a swarm as well. There are places with higher level pokemon who act and think on their own. Well... that's what I've been told anyways."

I was intrigued, "Who told you that?"

Gary sighed in defeat, "I... I don't know. It could have been a player or an NPC. There's so much traffic, knowing who you've met is a daunting task."

I hung my head, "Yeah. Lately, player company has started to get worse. Thief classes are started to use their abilities on sleeping players with nowhere to go."

Gary grunted, "That happened to me a weak ago."

I looked through my menu until I found a new list, "Hey, I found the talent skills."

All three of them looked interested, "Talent skills?" Klink asked.

I scrolled through it, "Yeah, it's the list of skills that includes cooking, detection, eavesdropping, etc."

Gary pointed at my detection skill, "That one is pretty high. Level 15, not bad."

I smiled a bit, "Thanks."

Carly jumped onto Gary's back, "Go brave stead! Mush!"

Gary yelled, "I'm not a dog or a horse!"

Carly giggled, "But you're big and strong like a horse!"

Gary groaned, "That doesn't mean I'm a horse."

Carly cheered, "Yay! You said you're a horse!"

They started arguing, causing me to block my ears with a sigh. We still had a hour of walking ahead of us to the Beginner's Forest. I've been there once while I was exploring for my map. It's filled with level 6 and 7 pokemon, so I retreated. Excited swelled inside me, I wanted to explore this place, and now I finally get the chance. The trees were a mixture of large and small. Some seemed to be the size of skyscrapers with a large bundle of leaves. I noticed Combee buzzing about before heading deeper into the forest.

Carly ran ahead, "Wow! They're so big!"

I immediately ran forward and killed a Weedle trying to fall on top of Carly, "Be careful!" I yelled.

She looked into my eyes for a moment before registering what I said, "R-Right! Sorry about that."

I put my sword away, "No harm, no foul. Come on."

Carly jumped a bit, "I'm with you!"

-20 minutes later-

We started getting closer to the quest point, but pokemon began to appear more frequently. Carly kept a watchful eye out, but stayed close to me. I admit, her close company was comforting, but it was also offsetting. If she stays near me, I might end up thinking a Pokemon is her instead.

"Um..." She tugged on my shoulder.

I glanced at her, "What is it?"

Carly blushed, "Thanks for... you know... saving me. If I got poisoned, I'd be dead for sure."

I waved it off, "Don't mention it."

Carly pushed the issue, "Can you friend me? You saved my life. I want to repay that debt. Like I've said, I get asked out a lot, and if I do, I want you beside me during those quests."

I shook my head, "I'm a solo player."

Carly smiled, "Then why are you with us?"

I bit my lip, "I... needed the exp."

Carly gave me a endearing look, "Then let me help you. I won't get a quest right away, but when I do, I'll contact you."

I watched her open up her menu and began pressing buttons. She didn't give me time to answer her at all either. My menu opened up, asking me if I want to accept her friend request. With a sigh, I pressed the check mark and accepted her request.

"Your welcome." I muttered.

Carly grinned, "I look forward to our time together... Murloc_Rampage?"

I shook my head, "Call me Rui."

Carly bounced excitedly, "Okay Rui!"

I looked ahead, trying to ignore her happy yips, but I found myself smiling. It's very lonely when you're a solo player, like me, but I can call Jay whenever I want.

Our travels came to an end when we finally found our objective. Sitting on a rock, two boys are tied up with 8 NPCs around them. All eight of them were human, male, wearing a makeshift fur/leather armor. Some weilded daggers, a battle ax, or a Scimitar. Their leader is an enemy called Bandit Captain. He was level 8 with a tanned pigment of skin and bulky muscles. His head is completely devoid of hair as he glared at us with a scowl. With his ax in hand, he killed one of the boys before grinning at us.

I glared at him, "I'll take the captain."

Gary placed his hand on my shoulder, "You can't do that, the Captain is level 8, you're only level 5."

I glanced at my status bar to see I was still level 5 with 950 hp and 2,574 exp out of 2,800 needed for the level up. I knew it'd be a bad idea to fight him one on one but...

I hung my head, "I need to fight him."

Gary whispered, "It's just an NPC."

I was going to argue but then I realized Gary was right, "Sorry. I shouldn't have gotten mad, but I hate seeing a child die like that."

The Bandit Captain pointed at us, "Kill them!" He yelled.

The rest of the bandits are level 5-7 and outnumbered us almost 2 to 1. Gary's strength helped even the odds by physically pushing back some of the bandits. I used my speed to quickly slash and hack some of the smaller bandits. When I killed one, the Bandit Captain jumped towards me, screaming with a Battle Ax over his head. I jumped back, catching myself on one hand and pushing to land on my feet.

I saw my level just ding to level 6 and my HP increased by 150. My stats increased as well, giving me a much needed confidence boost.

The Bandit Captain didn't like that as he tried to hit me with a vertical slice. I sidestepped it and kicked his hands. He looked at me, only to get an upwards slash from my sword. Next, I slashed an X across his chest before spinning quickly to hit him with a baseball swing. He grunted in pain, flying back, and dragged on the dirt with his heaoth bar decreasing. It only went down by 25% and allowed him to get up. I was too focused on him and ended up getting stabbed in the back by a smaller bandit.

I glanced at him to see a grin, "You sneaky scrub."

I smashed my elbow into his nose, causing him to let go of the dagger and hold his nose. It didn't bleed of course, but it gave me the time to grab him. I tossed him into the Bandit Captain before ripping out the dagger. I threw it with shaky accuracy into the Smaller bandits stomach.

I watched the smaller bandit shatter, "Another one down."

The Captain ran at me but I'm too quick and agile to get hit by his clumsy attacks. The Captain picked up his Ax and tried to slam it on me but I stood my ground. I held up my sword and blocked it, thinking I was superior. Then my sword snapped in two and the ax cut me down my stomach. I fell onto my back in pain, holding my stomach as the polygons restitched themselves.

"You're dead!" The Captain yelled until a dagger stabbed into his neck.

He staggered a bit until Carly jumped onto him and started stabbing the hell out of him. The Captain started screaming in pain as his health began to drop to 30%. He grabs Carly by her hair and threw her onto the ground, making her bounce slightly. When she slid to a halt, I ran over to check on Captain loomed over me, grabbing me by my head and picked me up.

He bean to squeeze, making my health bar drop quickly as he said, "You're dead. Ahg!"

I saw Gary pull back, his ax in hand, "Let go of him you cretin!"

The Captain's health dropped to 15% as he let go of my head. I slumped to the ground, feeling a headache form as my health reached down to 5%. I sat up and watched Gary take on the Captain with ease. After another attack, the Captain was defeated and we gained a shared amount of 200 exp. Gary walked over to me and helped me up.

I panted a bit, "Thanks."

Gary nodded, "Don't mention it."

I walked over to Carly and checked on her. She was unconscious but she is still breathing. I gently shook her and got her to wake up. She immediately grabbed her head in pain before sitting up. I looked around and saw Klink free the boy. A small menu screen appeared in front of us all, earning each of us 2500 exp and 300 gold. My exp bar went up to about 3/4, needing 800 exp to get level 7.

Klink looked at us, "Good job guys. Let's head back home."

As he said that, I could have sworn I saw something in the bushes behind him.

(That's it for chapter 1. More to come in June. Thank you everyone for the support.)