• The Meeting

    ***Derek's House***



    Knock, knock, knock. Derek walked out of the bathroom tightening his belt and throwing his towel over his shoulders and walked down the hall to the door, unlatching it, Derek opened the door and saw Mychel, Alex, and Kyle, "Hey Derek."

    "Hey, what are you all doing over here?"

    Alex pushed his way through the door, "We decided to get together, but the girls couldn't have anyone over, and my grandparents are in town." Mychel and Kyle followed Alex,

    "My mom's sick..." Mychel replied,

    "My dad's got some friends over." Kyle said scratching his head.

    Alex walked to Derek and put his arm around his shoulder, "So we decided to meet here, your parents are always at work and you always watch your house during the day..."

    Mychel looked at Alex and said, "We have something we all need to talk about."

    "...Alright, but you could have called first I just got out of the shower." Derek called out to the guys down the hall.

    Kyle leaned out Derek's bedroom door, "Oh yea, the girls are going to be here soon."

    ‘By girls, I hope he only means Tracie, Jamie, and Lacy he ducked in the room and closed the door when another set of knocking started.

    Once again Derek opened the door. Jamie walked in followed by Lacy and Tracie, Rachel adverted her eyes and walked in slowly. "Hey Derek, are the guys here yet... and why don’t you have a shirt on?"

    Derek looked back down the hall saw Alex's head floating outside his door, turning back, "Their here, and I just got out of the shower when they knocked."

    Jamie looked confused, "Alex said he was going to call you..."

    Derek laughed, "If him calling is knocking on the door, then he did."

    Jamie frowned, "Don’t be mad at him, his intentions were good... or so I think."


    As Derek stepped to the side and opened the door Jamie, Lacy, Tracie and Rachel walked into the house and down the hall. Derek closed the door and followed them back Why did Rachel have to come. It would have been easier for me if she didn't...

    Jamie stopped before the door, while Tracie and Lacy walked into the room with Rachel inside, "I’m sorry about Rachel being here, it's just she was with me when Alex called me, I know the two of you broke up and that you said some hurtful things to the poor girl. I just wish you guys would make up with each other. It’s almost unbearable to be in the same place when you two are in the same vicinity." She said as she walked into his room.

    Derek entered his room and walked across it, ignoring the looks he was getting, trying his hardest to keep from looking at Rachel. Picking up a shirt, as he turned he pulled the shirt on, "Ok what is this thing you wanted to talk about."

    "Derek, have you heard about the new ragnarok game?” Mychel asked.

    "Yea I've heard of it, so what?" Derek looked up trying to figure out why they were talking about the game he helped design.

    "Well we all started last week, but were stuck. Can..." Mychel started before he was cut off.

    "...I help you?" Derek spoke knowing where this was going.

    "Yea, how did you know?" Mychel started before Tracie cut him off.

    Tracie started to laugh, "Mychel, you always ask him to help when ever we start a new server or game." everyone started to laugh.

    Derek looked at everyone, “Alright I’ll help, Lets meet up on the first, it’s next Saturday.” everyone nodded.



    ***One week later***

    Adventure Begins




    Beep, beep, beep. Beep, beep, beep. Vann pulled his cell from his pocket, the screen displayed 10:45 P.M., he sat up and pulled on a shirt, "It's time already?!" he scratched the back of his head I need to head out before it's time to meet everyone. Derek opened his window and jumped out, feeling the warm night breeze on his face.

    "Psst, Derek over here." he turned his head and saw Kyle.

    He walked to the fence and jumped over, "You know MY head will roll if I get caught." Derek said

    "Don't worry, everyone will be in their beds before 3:00 A.M.” said Kyle as they walked towards the meeting point.

    They were going to play the latest Ragnarok game, Derek first heard about the game play, about two weeks ago from Alex and Jamie, "It's like you are the character, you want to eat food and drink, you even get tired while playing, you are going to have a blast playing." they looked at each other.

    Jamie whispered to Derek, "I know you don’t want Rachel to go, but since she knows the planes it‘s going to be heard to stop her."

    Derek was at the meeting place, it was 11:15 P.M., five minutes till they had to meet. ‘How much longer are they going to be!? I cant wait all night.’

    Kyle looked at Derek, "What's wrong? You cold?"

    "How can I be cold when it is seventy-five out, I had only slept for fifteen minutes before we met up." Derek yawned.

    "Everyone was told to sleep at six but you just couldn't listen..." Kyle started to rant.

    Derek interrupted Kyle, "Hey it's not my fault that I have insomnia. Everyone knows it, and I had to cook dinner for my family, so give me a break." Derek opened the bottle of water he had and dumped in on his head, from behind he could hear some one calling to him.

    "Derek!!!" he turned his head and saw Alex, Jamie, and Rachel, ‘so, she came along, the only girl that I have feelings for but cant be with.’ Derek sighed, ‘if only I said no…’ "Hey." Derek said while drying his face.

    "We only have to wait for three more now, Lacy, Tracie and Mychel." Alex said,

    "Great, you know how long that is going to take, we might as well go back to our homes and sleep." Kyle remarked, everyone knew that Mychel and Tracie were going out with each other, but didn't want to let on that they knew.

    Derek's phone went off, This is just great, I just met everyone and I got caught, im screwed now. He looked at the screen, it was Mychel, opening the phone, "Hey what's up?"

    "Tracie and I are already at the shop hurry before they open, I want us to be the first to log in tonight Lacy’s already here, besides you and Rachel both have to make accounts. See you all here." before Derek could reply, Mychel hung up.

    Everyone looked at Derek, "It was Mychel, he, Tracie and Lacy are at the shop, lets go." Derek started off towards the shop.

    ‘Gravity inc. they have been developing a new way to play ragnarok, everyone, besides Rachel and myself, have made accounts and were already playing, they only asked me to join because I know the best area's to level at.’ Alex walked right next to Derek whispering "Hey, tonight could you act as if Rachel and you never had that argument. As it stands now it‘s not going to end up ruining tonight"

    "Alex, you are the only one that knows the ’True’ reason why I broke up with her. Just be glade I got us this opening." Derek was tired of the same discussion every day, "If, and only if I feel it‘s safe, I‘ll try to talk to her. You know How much it hurt when I had to say those things. It‘s one of the main reasons I‘m unable to sleep most nights."

    Alex slowed his pace a bit to talk to Jamie, "He said he will try to talk with her. But only is he feels it‘s safe." Alex said motioning towards Derek, who kept moving his slightly to the sides looking for things that were not there.

    "I know, it just hurts to see them like that. You told me the reason why, but it still hurts." Jamie smiled sadly at Alex, "Rachel, can you come here for a second?"

    Rachel looked back and walked to Jamie, “What is it?”

    “I know it hurts to see him and not be able to talk to him, just trust me. He truly didn’t mean what he said. Don’t ask, just trust me.”

    Jamie looked at Rachel who was confused, "I trust you. Can you tell me the best way to help Derek in game? I never really played this game before." Jamie sighed.

    “Alright.“ Jamie smiled “Everyone starts out as a novice, then after you hit job level ten you can change into six different classes, you could be an Acolyte, like Kyle, an Archer, like Tracie, a Mage, like myself, a Merchant, like Mychel, a Swordsman, like Alex, or a Thief, like lacy. I think you would be suited as an Acolyte, because of their support abilities." Jamie Smiled at Rachel.

    "What class do you think Derek will be? I want to be the one to support him." Rachel looked at Jamie hoping she would tell her,

    "I don’t know, on every server we have played Derek has changed his main class, even his personality changes with his character. It's impossible to tell." Jamie knew the class that Derek would be, he was best suited to be a thief. When ever he had played a thief class he was past everyone else’s level in a matter of minutes, and with everyone's level higher he would catch up and pass them before they left.

    "Hey everyone! Over here!" Mychel was waving his arms in the air, Tracie was standing next to him, "They just turned on the lights and opened the door, lets go in and play. Lacy is already logged in. She’s waiting in Morroc."

    Tracie smiled at everyone. Derek walked into the store, "You guys log in first, I'll help Rachel make her account." Derek walked to the counter and started to register his account and character name, "My name will be the same in game as in real life." Derek walked to the scanner’s, "We need to hurry."

    Rachel looked at Derek trying to think of a name to use, "What name should I pick?"

    Derek walked back to the counter and typed in Rena, "There your name is picked." they both walked to the scanner’s.

    The operator stood waiting, "Account names and character names please." they both gave the girl their information, "Please enter."



    Brave New World



    Derek walked into the scanner, "Hurry the others are waiting for us."

    Rachel was a little shocked that she would be in such close quarters’ with Derek, she stepped in, as soon as she was it closed and the whole place felt like it was spinning. Rachel opened her eyes and saw that her clothes were disappearing, so were Derek's, but they were replaced by a white light. She closed them out of surprise.

    Derek was standing in an open field, trees were scattered around the place providing shade to the creatures and humans alike. Rachel still had her eyes closed, "Rena open your eyes."

    She heard Derek's voice and her eyes opened at once, she was amazed at the sight of everything, "Hey Derek, what should we do first?" Rachel questioned trying to hold a conversation with him.

    "First thing we do is kill a few things, follow my lead." Derek slid down the small hill and found a pupa, "First we attack it." with in a few seconds the pupa was no more,

    Rachel looked at Derek, "What stat's should I put if I want to be an acolyte?"

    Derek laughed, "What made you choose that class?"

    Rachel smiled at the question, "I know that were no longer together, but I still want to be with you, to support you." She blushed a bit but held a sad look in her eyes.

    "I see." He said as he walked forward a few steps, “Well if your going to be an acolyte, put it into int and dex. That‘s if your going full support.” With in A few hours Derek and Rachel had reached job level ten.

    "Derek, over here." Derek turned and saw a swordsman running over to them, "Where have you two been? We have been looking for you both for the past four hours."

    Derek looked at him for a second, realizing it was Alex, "She is ready to change class, take her to the church, I'll go become my class."

    "Wait Derek, where do you think your going, you don’t even know where we are to meet..." Alex shouted as Derek walked forward.

    "We should meet at Anthell, it will be good training for Rena." Derek said before running off towards the desert Before Alex could stop him,
    "Damn it Derek, I was going to ask what class he would be." Alex let out a heavy sigh, "Oh well, lets go to the church."

    "But where did Derek go? I want him to be there when I change." Rachel looked like she was going to cry,

    "It's ok Well go to Anthell after you change class, to tell you the truth, we all just change jobs, I'll send a message to everyone to meet at Anthell." :Hey guys change in plans, Derek went off on his own, he wants us to meet him in Anthell. I‘ve got Rachel were heading to the church now. He's gonna send a message once he has changed.: "Alright lets go." Alex and Rachel started off towards Prontera.



    Pick Your Poison



    After what seemed like hours of running, Derek finally arrived at the gates of Morroc.
    As he walked through the city of he kept looking over his shoulder ‘I’m just being paranoid I doubt those kind of guys would bother with a game like this.’. As he reached the northwest exit of the city, he looked out over the desert, ‘If I want to change before night fall, im gonna have to run‘, he started to sprint out into the desert, keeping an eye on the pyramid rising over the horizon.


    *** Ally of Morocco ***

    “You think he saw us?” asked a man wrapped in a cloak a serpent logo on the back of it.

    “I doubt it. He’s the one the boss wants gone.” Spoke a dark skinned man “Remember you have till midnight to make the strike. After you upload the package you got to log out with in the next thirty seconds or your going to be screwed.”

    “Yea yea I know.” said the cloaked figure before he vanished into thin air.


    *** Outside the Pyramid ***


    When Derek reached the pyramid the sun was setting behind his back, Guess I wont see the sky for a while. Derek walked into the darkened entrance, "Aaahhh!" ‘Where did that come from?’ Derek ran inside through the maze that made up the first floor of the pyramid and saw a girl sitting on the ground rubbing her head, "You alright?" Derek walked over to the girl,

    “Yeah, just tripped on a poporing.” she looked up at Derek, “You look familiar…” she looked at his name on the chat-log, “Are you Derek? It’s me lacy.”

    Derek laughed, “I kind of figured that by your name. and that Mychel said you were going to be a thief.”

    “Yeah, I wanted to see if I could keep up with you.” Lacy pushed her self up and turned towards Derek, “Lets go register and take the thieves test.” Derek nodded and they started off towards the stairs.


    *** Inside the city of Prontera ***


    Alex and Rachel walked through the streets of Prontera, “Everything looks so real, I cant believe it’s just a game.” she said looking at the buildings and the people,

    “It’s the newest tech on the market, it’s supposed to be able to mimic the real life, you can eat drink sleep, but you don’t really need to since it’s all data.” Alex pointed over towards the church in the north-eastern corner of the city, “That is our destination, we’ll be there in a few minuets.”

    Rachel looked at the church then back at Alex, “Wow, I wish Derek could see this.” she said as they entered the church.

    “Actually, Derek already has. He helped set up most of the buildings, and built most of the city’s in the game. That’s why we’re playing for free.” Alex smiled then walked further into the church.