The Zone Q lobby was a hub of varying takes on video game heroes. There were numerous takes on fantasy style heroes, with quite a few post-modern takes walking among them, and even more futuristic ones, judging from the sheer quantity of individuals wearing N7 gear. Compared to them, the skateboarders stood out like a sore thumb, yet even they went about their days as if they weren't surrounded by swordsmen and space soldiers. This went doubly for one in particular who just emerged from the Campaign Gate, where these players could play through premade stories for the various franchises that make up the Zone, including the games that predate the world they now call home.

The player walked across the lobby towards the leaderboards, greeting a few other players as they passed. His skater visage dissolved away as he walked, being replaced by his default look; blue jacket, white pants, gray sneakers and a pair of swords mounted on his back. Before he reached the leaderboards, a personal notification popped up in front of him. It read "Incoming call: Admin. Accept?" with "Yes" and "No" buttons beneath it. He sighed and pushed "Yes", causing a headset to materialize on him.

"What is it?" He asked, clearly eager to get this call over with as fast as possible. His agitated expression gave way to confusion as he put a hand to the receiver, "Hold on. She said what?" Then the confusion gave way to shock, "She did what!?" He let out an exasperated sigh, before perking up at what he heard next, "No. No. There's no need to suspend her, I'll handle it… What?" He put his free hand on his hip as he heard the next bit, "Yeah, I'll pay for his therapy… Yeah, just send me his info… Yeah, thanks. Okay, you have a nice day now… okay, bye." He cut the call off and let out a deep sigh, "What am I gonna do with her?"

He then pulled up his parental controls to track the girl in question. He found her exactly where he thought she was; the Red Base on Forge World in Zone B. Confirming her location, he opened his personal chat log and opened a chat with Red Team's second in command.

I'm sending you an address. Take Yami there. The woman there will make sure she doesn't go anywhere until I've completed my prior commitments.

He waited a few moments before receiving a Yes sir in response and sent the address before making a new call.

"Hey mom," he said as soon as the call went through. "Listen, Yami's on her way and she's in… well, let's just say she outdid her aunt. And not in a good way…Hm? Oh, she assaulted a Fortnite player. Brutally. And judging from what she apparently said prior to it, I can probably guess why… Well, according to the incident report, she told the guy "Change your avatar before I give you a spine transplant with this shotgun!"... And the poor fool thought she was bluffing… So, yeah, can you keep an eye on her until I'm done with my previous commitments?... Thanks mom… Yeah, I love you too… Bye." And he cut off the call.

He waited a few moments, rubbing his temples as he tried to remember what he was trying to do before getting the call from Admin. Upon remembering, he reached the leaderboard and pulled up his personal play data to check the latest update.

Online Servers:

Final Fantasy Online: 3 mon. 10 days. 2 hrs. 14 min. Last Played: 10 years.

Fable: Tales of the Guild: 6 years. 8 mon. 17 days. 6 hrs. 32 min. Last Played: 2 mon.

Campaign Servers:

Shining Force: Complete

Dragon Age: Origins: Complete(Human Rogue)

Mass Effect: Complete(Paragon Infiltrator)

Mass Effect 2: Complete(Paragon Soldier)

Mass Effect 3: Complete(Paragon Engineer x3)

Fable: The Lost Chapters: Complete(Good)

Fable 2: Complete(Saint)

Fable 3: Complete(Good)

Tony Hawk's Underground 2: Complete(Story Mode)

"Um, excuse me?" A voice pulled his attention away from the leaderboard and onto a girl no older than 14, and he knew she was 14, "Are you Darkness? My dad said you would help me with my first Campaign."

"Of course I can Sapphron." Darkness answered cheerfully.

"Wait, you know my name?" Sapphron looked at him, bewildered.

"Of course I do. I was there when you were born." Darkness chuckled at her shocked expression and decided to explain, "You see, about 15 years ago, when all this was still in its infancy, your parents decided that the first thing they would test out, inadvertently at least, is whether or not you could get pregnant here. You should've seen the looks on their faces when they discovered that the answer was yes."

"15 years? But that would mean that you're-."

"Shh," Darkness cut her off, signaling to tone it down, "I don't like announcing it." Sapphron nodded her head in understanding and calmed down, allowing him to continue. He walked her to a nearby bench, making sure no one else was listening in, "Now, we all knew that if anyone was gonna test that out, it would be them."

"How did you know?"

"Couple of moderately attractive, hormonal teenagers? Call it a safe hunch. Anyway, your mom was panicking, but not for the reason you might think. She kept calling the doc over and over with the same kind of questions; 'Is my body pregnant?', 'Are you sure my body's not pregnant?', 'It feels like my body should be pregnant!'." Sappron giggled at his impression of her mom, "And every time, he would assure her that it wasn't, and that you were proof that life could not only be sustained here, but created. I don't expect you to remember, but after you were born, we all pitched in to help take care of you, at least until we had to start doing the job we volunteered to do. After that, we all went our own ways. And while most of us haven't seen you or your parents in all that time, we have kept in touch. Which brings us to today."

"Wow," Sapphron let the story sink in, "That means you're like my uncle, right?"

Darkness chuckled, "That's one way to look at it. Now, what game are we playing?"

"Oh. Um, well, my friends and I hang out in Fire Emblem Chronicles, so I wanted to try one of the main games and they told me that Awakening is a good gateway game so-"

"You want help playing through Awakening."

"But I didn't see it on your playlist."

"Just 'cause it's not there doesn't mean I haven't played it. I'm from the outside world after all."

"So you have played it?" Sapphron asked hopefully.

"Yep. And your friends are right. It is a good gateway title. It was mine after all. And you couldn't have picked a better time for it."

"Why?"

"I've been meaning to try the new Co-op Campaign patch. Before Admin made it, most of the Campaigns were Single Player only. Including the one we're about to play." Darkness got up and opened his menu, "Shall we?"

Sapphron eagerly nodded and got up, but then looked at Darkness' open menu, "What are you doing?"

"Two things. First," A Party Request notification popped up in front of Sappron, "We need to Party up so I can be your Player 2, otherwise we'll end up going into separate Campaigns." Sapphron nodded in understanding and accepted the request. "And second," Darkness swapped out his default Avatar for a different one, "Your mom told me the patch coincided with the new Avatar Support patch, which is another one I wanted to try out."

"Didn't you test them?"

"You think it takes all of us to test a patch? They only need about ten of us. Besides, I've been busy."

"Oh. So what does this patch do?"

"Well, you know how the Avatar Marketplace requires you to assign any new Avatars you purchase to a specific game?" Sapphron nodded, "What this patch does is, basically, override that by letting you bring your assigned Avatars into other games."

"Wow. So what's this one?"

"This is my Tales of the Guild Avatar."

"Wow, that looks like it has some cool weapons."

"It does. You should check it out after we're done here. I'm actually in charge of the tutorial for the next batch of new players after this."

"I'll have to think about it. Maybe if you explain it to me during our down time?"

"Consider it done." He made an 'after you' gesture towards the Campaign Gate.

Sappron responded to his gesture with a little curtsy and the two approached the Gate. Once they reached it, Darkness gestured to the command console on the gate, making it clear that Player 1 had to select the game. Sapphron pulled up Fire Emblem Awakening and selected it, where she was then presented with difficulty selection. She looked at Darkness, wondering which one to pick.

"This is your first time, so go with Casual." He stated.

Sapphron nodded and selected her difficulty, prompting the Gate to hum to life. Darkness once again made an 'after you' gesture and the two entered the gate, beginning the game.

...

For those of you wondering why I didn't describe how the Tales of the Guild Avatar looks, or how Sapphron looks, that's simply because that comes later, so be patient.