"Welcome to the Realm of Flames!" said the woman. "Please follow me to fill your your registration forms!"
Reborn didn't know why he was even doing this. It was just a stupid game, but the lackey and Colonello wouldn't shut up about it.
It took Reborn a few moments to figure out how to fill the registration form, but when he did he noticed an immediate difference once it went through.
He had gone from "toddler" to something scarily similar to his original form before the curse.
Suddenly he understood why those two idiots wouldn't shut up about it.
He was also only in boxers.
"Where are my clothes?"
"Avatar customization right through this way!" said the far too chipper NPC.
It was a massive closet. There were all sorts of clothes, each with helpful labels to tell idiots what each door had behind it.
There was even a mirror to customize facial features, hair and eyes, and for some inane reason he didn't want to contemplate, skin tone that had some rather...odd...choices.
Seriously, who would want to give their avatar blue or orange colored skin that practically glowed in the dark?!
He selected something far more similar to what he would normally wear and was surprised and very pleased to find he could give himself the familiar side-burns. It just wouldn't feel right to walk around without them.
Adjusting the tie, Reborn looked at himself with satisfaction.
He almost went to exit the door he entered, until he spotted a new door with the words "Exit" in bright red colors that went by whatever language had been chosen at the start. For him it was in Italian.
"Welcome to the armory! Please pick your free starter weapon! At the end of the process you will be entered to win a free prize! Lucky users can win a familiar that suits their personality based on the initial questionnaires! Please note these familiars are not available for sale until after they pass first twenty levels!"
Reborn blinked, but went and picked up a handgun that he was relatively familiar with.
"Please note that any weapons chosen by the user also come with a basic competency test! Multiple weapons are allowed!" said the NPC.
Reborn smirked at that, and swiftly picked up some of the other guns, including a sniper rifle and a mid-sized dagger.
The gun range was rather boring, but once he hit the required bull's eyes he was allowed to walk out with enough weapons to make even him happy.
"Welcome to the lottery! As a special promotion to all new users, you have a chance to win a useful familiar to help you gain EXP and loot! Give it a spin!"
Reborn took the handle, noting that it looked like one of those Japanese raffles where people turned the crank until a colored ball fell out.
He blamed Skull for recognizing what it was.
He swiftly turned the crank seven times, before removing his hand...and a gold colored ball fell out.
"Congratulations! You won a special familiar!" said the NPC.
She handed him an egg, which glowed a bright sunny color before hatching...to reveal a chameleon that bore a disturbing resemblance to Leon in the real world.
"Would you like to name your new animal companion?"
"Leon," he said simply. To further add to the surreal nature of the moment, the chameleon blinked just like Leon would before calmly walking onto his fedora when he lifted it up high enough. It settled into a familiar weight on his head.
The NPC lead him to the final exit for registration.
"Welcome, (Reborn), to the Realm of Flames in Prometheus Online!"
Reborn had to wonder if the creator of the game had made that reference to Greek/Roman mythology when they named it "Prometheus" or not.
He blinked for a moment as he exited the building, and looked up in the sky.
There was a bright sun glowing overhead...as well as an odd halo made of seven different, yet distinct colors that were connected by the orange. Flying above were birds that appeared to be crows of some sort.
"Yo, Reborn! Looks like you finally decided to join us, kora!" shouted Colonello.
He looked a lot like he would have as an adult, except he had a longbow slung across his back and some arrows. Next to him was a thief who had the familiar appearance of Skull.
"It's...different."
Skull looked at the chameleon on his hat and stared in disbelief.
"It happened to you too?!"
"What?"
"Your first familiar turned into something that looks waaay too much like your real-life animal companion!" said Skull. He pulled out an octopus from behind his back that bore a strange resemblance to Oodako.
Colonello whistled sharply, and a bird that looked far too much like Falco easily flew out of the clouds and landed on his shoulder.
Reborn blinked.
"So what exactly is this game about anyway?"
Skull grinned and was about to go into detail before Colonello stopped him.
"He enjoys the game plot a bit too much. The basic gist is pretty similar to most RPG's. Go out, complete quests, join a guild...whatever. However in order to progress in the main plot you have to work towards locating the 'Princess' and breaking the curse on the land."
"Seriously?" said Reborn, raising an eyebrow.
"Pretty much. In order to get the really good shit you have to do the plot quests, which surprisingly are well thought out and pretty fun once you learn to accept that weird shit is going to happen and there is nothing you can do about it but make the best of the situation..." admitted Colonello. He also glared at Skull. "This jackass just enjoys doing them because he enjoys the plot, not the loot we get out of it, but at least whoever made this place is 'nice' enough to give out loot that we can actually use almost right away...and if not then the 'special' stock is priced high enough to make it worth selling to another player for a really big payday."
"What do the familiars do?"
"Depends on what you get. Once Falco leveled up to twenty I was able to make him grow big enough to fly with, though I'm usually on his back and I have a 'linked sense' skill that allows me to see what he's seeing."
"Oodako is awesome! Their suckers allow me to cling to damn near anything and climb buildings without leaving a trace behind...and when it hit twenty it can turn into 'giant' size and follow commands like the real one can!" said Skull enthusiastically. "She also has the skill to hold extra items during raids like heal potions and extra ammo for Colonello."
"So they become extra useful at twenty?" asked Reborn.
"More like by the time they hit that point, you'll have upgraded their skills and unlocked new ones to make them too useful to actually sell."
"...Which means by the time you can sell them, you have invested too much time and effort to make you willing to sell them in the first place. Sneaky," said Reborn in approval.
"Or you forget you can sell them in the first place," agreed Colonello. "I had to check I wasn't seeing things when I realized Falco had a price on him after he hit twenty-one when I was selling crap."
Not that he would. He had grown very attached to his buddy.
"So what's with the odd halo above us?"
"It's part of the curse on the land!" said Skull, who was grinning widely.
Colonello shut him up quickly by covering Skull's mouth before he went into far too much detail.
"Someone took the whole 'Arcobaleno' curse and turned it into a 'plot line' for the game. Whenever you do the events you basically turn into a fake Arcobaleno for the duration before switching back. Or you can chose to become one from the start, but most people don't bother with it because it takes for freaking ever just to get anywhere and a lot of the civvies who play have no idea what it's actually about. There was a lot of confusion about that before someone figured out why people kept turning into toddlers during those events," he said bluntly.
Reborn blinked. Twice.
"Then what's this about breaking the curse?"
"I never got the full story on that, but you know the halo above us? Supposedly when all the lights glow with equal strength then it becomes a crown, breaking the curse permanently. Skull likes the princess plot, so I wasn't able to get much detail on the curse one as I would like."
"...Why would a game need two major story plots to follow?"
"Because they're tied together!" said Skull.
"Oh come on! I told you before if someone knew the way to break the curse we would have found out about it before now!" said Colonello irate.
"Lackey, explain."
"The missing Princess has the solution to the curse of the rainbow! If you can find her and get her to permanently join your party, then she will lead you to the secret text that breaks the curse and creates the crown that will free the land!" said Skull eagerly.
Seeing his confusion, Colonello elaborated.
"The 'missing princess' is a Sky, basically you have to harmonize with her or 'resonate' with her in order for the girl to join your party and reveal the text. Which is why I don't really get into the main plot that much to begin with. I prefer the curse missions more," he said, before pointing at the halo. "There's a persistent rumor that the 'orange' part of the halo is directly connected to her, or at least the part that isn't glowing with the rest."
"And the crows?"
"Messengers of the missing princess, and they're not normal crows! They're Yatagarasu!" said Skull cheerfully.
"What's the difference?"
"Yatagarasu are like minor kami with heavy ties to the Sun goddess Amaterasu. They provide guidance and act as symbols for rebirth and regeneration. Though since they're crows they like to play tricks, and they have three legs instead of the normal two."
"Basically they're the Japanese ayakashi equivalent of you as a three-legged crow," clarified Colonello bluntly. "And I still don't know how the hell you know they're not normal crows. Even Falco can't get near the stupid things!"
"Because one flew to me once!" said Skull.
"I call bullshit. Those things never come down. And the guns don't have the range to hit them!"
This was clearly a long-standing argument between them.
"So how does one do 'quests'?" asked Reborn, interrupting them.
Skull grinned and would have explained, but Colonello stopped him again.
"I'll take you to the 'Noob Fields'," said Colonello.
"'Noob Fields'?"
Skull snickered.
"The game creator has a really funny sense of humor. They literally named the area for newbies to get their feet wet the 'noob fields'. It has all the standard quests for people who want to learn the basics until they reach a sufficient level of understanding that they won't die in the plot quests, and the other areas have a special lock on them to keep people from accessing areas waaay above their skill or ability level. A lot of parents loved that bit, because it kept their kids from getting trolled by assholes who just intend to use them as meat shields while playing," said Skull.
"Don't forget the troll and 'gamer' filters," snickered Colonello.
"The what?" said Reborn.
"'The Troll' forces people who deliberately harass or target other players specifically for the purpose of being an asshole because they can into fighting an actual troll that is at least twenty levels higher than them with the skill and abilities of a mid-level Boss monster. If they want to keep being a dick, then they have to beat the troll before they're allowed to bother the other player again. A lot of people were pissed off at that one, but then again the majority of them were assholes who buy games just to tear people down for their own sick amusement anyway."
"...And the 'gamer' filter?"
"Basically allows you to ignore messages automatically that have the really, really stupid 'nerd speak' from moronic mouth breathers who think 'LMAO' is how French people laugh. Believe me, a lot of the serious gamers were beyond happy they didn't have to read or hear that crap when they found out it was an option," said Colonello.
"I bet you anything they watch SAO Abridged," said Skull. "Because it sounds like something Kirito would have shelled out some serious cash in order to have!"
(A/N: double reference to SAO Abridged: episode 2!)
Colonello snickered. That was a hilarious series.
"Remember that one quest where the NPC ditches you, and then you're allowed a subquest to hunt the asshole down even if he's with another player in order to make him suffer and his death slow and painful?"
"I know! That's why I said they have to be fans of the Abridged series, since they even named that NPC Gary!"
Reborn...was completely lost.
On the plus side thanks to his natural skills he was able to 'level out' of the Noob Fields and allowed into the actual quests by the end of the day. They were all so basic he would have left them much earlier if he was actually familiar with games.
Either way he sold everything he got out of those fields the first chance he had and joined the 'party' of Skull and Colonello, which meant they could give him some actual armor and decent weapons until he was able to acquire something better himself.
Reborn was about to do a quest solo when he saw it. An odd black bird sitting on a tree.
Normally he would dismiss it as part of the scenery...except it had three legs. And he remembered what Skull had said about the 'birds' being a special sort of messenger.
The bird took note of his interest, because it cawed at him.
If he didn't know any better he would swear the thing just said "chaos" instead of a normal bird's call.
"Chaos," he said calmly.
The bird's eyes gleamed...before dropping something on the ground and flying back upwards until it vanished with the rest of the flock.
Blinking, Reborn picked up the item.
It was a scroll, one that had a sub-quest attached to it.
When he showed it to Skull and Colonello, the two of them gaped at him.
"No way... you got a limited edition sub-quest from one of the crows?!"
"I told you those things weren't normal crows!" said Skull triumphantly, after Reborn commented on the three legs.
"According to this we'll need at least four or five people if we want to accept it," said Reborn.
"I can get Lal. She comes in all the time to vent her frustration over her boss and see things explode," said Skull. Seeing the look on their faces, Skull chuckled nervously. "She comes in at really weird hours and she has your character 'flagged' so she doesn't have to run into you."
Colonello pouted. He had no idea Lal was in the game too.
"I don't feel like dealing with Verde and Viper has been missing for a while... anyone know where Fon is?" asked Colonello.
"I can contact him and see if he's interested. If nothing else he should have fun wandering around as an adult for a while and we can see if he gets his familiar at the start too," said Reborn.
It took only a few days before Fon agreed to give it a try...once they mention the special PVP arenas that would allow him to fight his grandson as an adult, which would make the rather prickly Cloud very happy even if he had to play a game to do it.