Skull took one look at the outfit Fon was wearing, before he about died laughing his ass off.
"What's so funny?" asked Fon confused.
"You... you look like the Monkey King from Journey to the West!" cackled Skull.
"On an unrelated note, did you win a familiar as well?" asked Reborn.
A tiny white monkey that could have been Lichi's double poked it's head from around Fon's shoulder.
"Okay, this is officially weird as hell," said Colonello flatly. "How exactly did all of us win the familiar raffle and get something that could pass as the digital double of our real ones?"
Skull stared at Colonello blankly, as if he was in disbelief someone would have to ask that.
"Isn't it obvious?"
"Care to elaborate lackey?" said Reborn.
"Oh come on... the 'rainbow curse', the fact that anyone who does those special events gets turned into toddlers? And don't get me started on how much those quests are like what we went through before Luce had this curse put on us! I bet they did their research and had our accounts specially flagged when we made them so we were sure to win the raffle and then made sure we got our actual familiars as a special prize because we took an interest in the game!" said Skull as if it were obvious.
Because honestly, after Reborn showed up with a chameleon that was practically a copy of Leon that was the only explanation he could possibly think of that made any sense how they had the special familiars that weren't available anywhere in the game.
Seeing Lichi only confirmed it, in his opinion.
The other three stared at him, before Colonello reluctantly admitted...
"That makes way too much damn sense, actually."
"So where are these arenas you mentioned?"
"You have to quest out of the Noob Fields before you're allowed to do any of the fun stuff," said Colonello. "Even Reborn went through them. More importantly what the hell are you wearing?"
Fon had a slightly sheepish look on his face.
"I noticed a 'special set' when I was in the dressing room and decided to try out the pre-arranged outfit to see what they could come up with."
"Yeah, I tried that too. They're pretty good at historical accuracy when it comes to the 'special suit sets' that they offer. But the only way to get the full thing before you even start the game is to pay for them and it's more fun to earn them," said Skull.
Fon nodded.
"I was pleasantly surprised they got the clothing to be as period accurate as possible... the fact it grants a special bonuses to those who select 'martial artist' as their class was interesting though."
"What sort of weapon did you pick? I was somewhat surprised they let you take what you wanted so long as you passed a basic competency test," said Reborn.
"Considering the outfit, I went with a basic bo staff," admitted Fon. If he was going to 'get into character', so to speak, then he at least wanted to do it properly.
Once Fon had finished 'questing out' of the basic tutorials, he promptly went to the PVP arenas and was unsurprised to find Kyouya already waiting for him.
They spent most of the day fighting, and the others resigned themselves to waiting for a least a day or two before they actually got to do the quest.
Fortunately the thing didn't have any time limits.
"Am I hallucinating, or is that a blond version of Fon and Kyouya?" asked Colonello slowly.
"With period accurate clothing from at least two and a half centuries ago," noted Reborn.
"Holy shit...it's Alaude!" said Lal in shock.
Everyone turned to look at her.
"Alaude, the Cloud guardian of Vongola Primo. I never noticed how much of a resemblance he had to you before Fon," clarified Lal.
They turned to look at the bored looking Cloud doing paperwork, then at Fon and Kyouya.
"That...is more than a little odd," said Fon slowly. Because the man at the desk could have passed for Kyouya's twin, just blond with blue eyes.
"Excuse me... do you know where we're supposed to go?" asked Skull. He was still holding the bunny that he hoped would become his new secondary familiar from earlier.
Though there had been a minor stare off that had Fon very amused between Kyouya and Skull over who got to keep the bunny.
"Alaude", if that was who it was supposed to be, looked at them. Fon twitched when he registered the fact that the Cloud was apparently a smoker and couldn't help the mental image of Kyouya and such a disgusting habit.
What happened next was somewhat brutal, and only made the mental comparisons between Kyouya and the Primo's Cloud Guardian worse...because Alaude attacked them with handcuffs of all things, to which Kyouya responded far too enthusiastically.
After about fifteen minutes, someone burst into the room with an exasperated look on his face.
"No, no, no! I am not filling out the paperwork for you destroying the room again!" said someone who Lal identified as Giotto, the Vongola's Primo.
"Nufufufu... does the Cloud have control issues?" said another, who was quickly identified as Daemon Spade.
"Excuse me... do you know where we're supposed to go next?" asked Skull quickly, before things became even more confusing.
Giotto blinked at that.
"I would like to agree... I would like to finish this quest sometime today," drawled Reborn.
Giotto went to the bookshelf, which miraculously hadn't been destroyed, before pulling off something from near the top.
"Here."
"What's this?"
"In order to understand, one must seek the origin," he said cryptically. "Coincidentally the Princess has a message."
"She does?" said Skull eagerly.
"If you want to be free for real, then you have to keep playing the game. Otherwise she won't help you get the pacifiers off for real," said 'Giotto'. "The more of you that play it, the easier it will be to remove them pacifiers for good."
Dead silence.
"How do we know this is for real?" asked Lal.
Giotto looked right at Lal first.
"When you log off, try removing the pacifier. Since you were only clipped with it, you would have the easiest time attempting it."
The trio disappeared as silence fell upon them.
"Do you think he was telling the truth?" asked Colonello.
"One way to find out. Worst case scenario it's a very poor joke that we can express our annoyance with later," said Reborn.
They all logged out, unaware of the shock that was about to befall them the next time they spoke again.
Lal felt a wave of vertigo from logging out. It was worse than normal, and she had to sit down.
She touched the cursed pacifier around her neck, mostly out of habit...only to pause when she heard something softly thump on the floor.
There was a strange feeling that flowed into her body, and she blacked out completely.
When she woke up, it took her several moments to register something very wrong. The second she saw adult hands, not the small version she had been forced to grow accustomed to, she stared in shock.
She touched her face...before cautiously making her way to the bathroom. Things were vastly different than normal, as she kept tripping over her feet. Also, she was able to see things from a much higher perspective than before.
Staring at her adult face, cursed scar and all, Lal nearly choked back a sob.
As if that wasn't enough, she could feel her Rain flames again. They were weak, sluggish,but they were there.
She went into the room, slowly due to the awkwardness of having longer limbs again, and saw the pacifier. It was laying innocently on the floor, as if it hadn't suddenly detached itself from her.
She couldn't bear to look at the damn thing, and threw something over it.
If this was a joke, it was unbearably cruel.
Once Lal realized no, this wasn't a joke and she was actually free of the curse and in her proper form again, the first thing she did was text Reborn and the others.
She clenched her adult hands, feeling slightly giddy with relief at seeing them instead of the child-sized ones. It was a feeling she doubted she would get tired of.
A few days later...
Fon, Reborn, Verde, Skull, and Colonello stared at the adult Lal Mirch who was still in shock over the entire thing.
Reborn looked at Colonello.
"Didn't that Giotto copy say something about being free for real so long as we continued to play the game?"
Skull blinked, before a triumphant smirk came on his face.
"I told you that the Princess had a way to free us! And you said that the plot point was too convienent to be real!" he crowed.
"Princess?" said Fon confused. Verde was looking at Skull with equal intensity.
"In the game, the Princess supposedly has a way to break the curse that involves the weird halo that floats in the sky. According to the 'plot' when all seven glow and the princess is found and added to one of the party, it becomes a crown and the Curse is broken," said Skull triumphantly.
Colonello wanted to debate it was just a game...except he cast a look at the adult Lal. A strange sense of hope appeared in his chest... was it possible he could be free of this curse too? The Giotto copy that was in the game had said it would be easier to break the curse on Lal because she was only clipped by it.
"Impossible! What are the odds that someone has found a way to break the curse and none of us knew about it?" said Verde. But his eyes kept going back to Lal.
"...About the same odds as Checkerface choosing a child younger than ten over Aria as the next Sky Arcobaleno," said Reborn.
Dead silence. The 'official' Sky Arcobaleno was Aria, though none of them had bothered to stay in contact with her after Luce died. Honestly, it had been a debate on whether to attend Luce's funeral at all after what she did.
In reality, which only Reborn was actually aware of because he had noticed Aria didn't have the pacifier when he went to the funeral and had questioned her about it, the bastard who cursed them had taken the Sky pacifier and given it to a child.
Aria couldn't give any concrete details on what the child looked like, just that they had been very young and a little older than five but younger than ten.
She had still assumed the mantle as Sky Arcobaleno to give Reborn time to locate the real one and to provide some measure of protection for them. Whoever it was, they were staying very quiet or had no idea what they actually carried.
Or worse, were being held hostage for some nefarious means to use against them later.
"Are you sure about that?" asked Lal intently.
"Aria confirmed it when I asked her why she didn't have the pacifier after Luce's funeral. She couldn't find out who it was, just that they were older than five and younger than ten. She suspects they might be Asian, because she saw a few books with characters vaguely similar to something she had seen Fon reading more than once," said Reborn.
"Did she remember any of the characters?" asked Fon, curious.
Reborn took a napkin and quickly scrawled a few that Aria had copied, but the detail was far from perfect.
Fon and Skull both blinked.
"Are you seeing the same thing I am?" asked Skull slowly.
"That looks Japanese, but the picture is off."
"I was thinking the same thing. Besides, this might confirm a suspicion I've had about the creator of the game," said Skull.
"Suspicion?" asked Verde.
"I think whoever made Prometheus Online is Japanese, because I keep seeing references that only someone in Japan would think of, rather than anything European. It also explains why they have a lot of really detailed items from Japan and some from mainland Asia, with a few things thrown in from Italy and the areas around it thrown in for flavor."
Colonello frowned.
"Now that you mention it, there are a lot of references to Japanese mythology and the Troll looks more like an Oni than anything from Europe," he admitted.
"Yeah, besides who outside of someone from Japan would even know what a Yatagarasu is?" asked Skull. "And that raffle for familiars looks exactly like the kind you'd find at shopping centers in Japan during special promotions, with prizes that are really similar!"
"...That explains why the 'special' skill tree that comes with the Son Goku outfit actually fits the character from the story," said Fon slowly. "I thought they would try to go the 'Dragonball' route, but instead it follows more to the official skill set from Journey to the West."
"I wonder if the reference to Greek and Roman mythology was deliberate or on accident," commented Reborn.
The others looked at him.
"Prometheus was one of the 'good' Titans from the Greek/Roman pantheon who stole fire from the gods and brought it to humanity after Zeus hid it. As punishment, Zeus sentenced him to be chained to a rock and have his liver eaten by an eagle every day. He was only freed when Hercules broke the chains as part of his Twelve labors," elaborated Reborn.
"...How exactly did he survive having his liver eaten every day?" asked Skull incredulous.
"He was a Titan, and considered a demi-god of sorts. He was immortal and it grew back by the time the eagle returned to do it all over again," replied Reborn.
"Ew," grimaced Skull.
"Like I said, I've been wondering if the reference was deliberate or a happy coincidence, particularly since flames are actually part of the game. Makes you wonder how they managed to slip this past the Vindice," commented Reborn.
Either way, it wasn't long before Verde signed on to the game to try and investigate how the hell Lal managed to remove the curse after the quest.
Skull's theory that the creator specifically targeted the Arcobaleno for the 'special familiars' was all but confirmed when he walked out with a copy of Kaimen.