Step One: Rendez-Vous [c]

The fourteen year old boy known as Pendulum was unsure of exactly where he was going. It felt like he was exploring the woods and glaves near his home... or homes, at it was, but he was quite comfortable just slipping his way through the field. The guides and various signs had told him that this was a great spot for starters to fight low level monsters and do small quests, but for right now, other than seeing the occasional player, he wasn't really seeing much of anything that was too interesting. It was probably for the best, since he still had no equipment and very little idea of how the combat would work. He was the kind of kid who had always outsmarted his bullies rather than taken them head on... throwing punches was not in his skill set, as far as he knew. Pen had worked out how to check messages though, so when he felt a little buzz like a phone getting a text in his hand, he opened his menu and tapped to his messages.

He still hadn't deleted the first PM everyone had gotten... the one that nobody really knew who sent, proclaiming that challenge. Beat the game. Pendulum knew that's what he wanted to do. Not being able to log out was not too much of an issue for him, other than being worried that his body might start to starve, so he was going to enjoy what was available. While other might have been scared that they couldn't return home, the young man hardly cared. The people that mattered to him... were here, in this game.He would try to help them go back if they wanted, but there was a deep desire to rise to that challenge.

Oh, but he had opened it because he had a message. From... King? The boy's face cracked into a bright grin as he tapped his screen and read the PM. Oh, he was in this very field, was he? Pendulum started to move forward, deeper into the grasslands, looking for his friend. He had never really... seen King before, but from how the Aussie described himself on occasion, he wouldn't be that hard to find. Although... there really was a lot more ground to cover than a normal video game, wasn't there? It definitely felt different from moving your avatar around with a joystick rather than actually using your own legs... or your mind's legs... digital legs... ah, whatever. The point was that Pen felt like this field could go on forever and he wasn't about to search the entire place. Maybe... he could just see if he could get King to respond to him. He took a deep breath and cupped his hands around his mouth, "OH, YOUR MAAAJESTYYYY!" He bellowed, not sure if King would recognize his voice or not.

After Pen had given his call, he wasn't quite sure whether King had actually heard him or not... He had an odd feeling that shouting too much could draw a lot of monsters or players who were intent on trolling, but it was probably going to be better than messaging each other over and over, saying what blade of grass they were next to or whatnot while trying to pinpoint one another. He was about to pipe up again when he heard the Australian accent carry across the plain and he laughed, just kind of amazed at the way technology was making this possible. Their real bodies were thousands of miles away but in their heads, they would be able to feel like they were in the same room. He moved towards the voice, but couldn't quite see anyone yet. But for sure, that voice was King. Nobody else would be so headstrong as to call themselves somebody's king right off the bat.

His ears perked up again, straining to listen to the orders coming from across the grasses. He chewed on his lip as he put together the pieces of what he could hear, but once it had become clear to him, he laughed, "Right! I mean, how big can this place be?" He cried again, trying to let King hear him. Although, to be fair, he supposed the designers had been going for a big expansive area. King could still be anywhere, even if his voice was audible. Pendulum cupped his hands around his mouth, "Marco!" He called as he wandered forward.


It was only a minute more of calling back Marco, probably, but the anticipation of meeting his friend made it seem like it was forever. Well… it seemed like they could mostly hear each other now… but King hadn’t caught on to who he was trying to find, it seemed. Pen placed a knuckle to his lips for just a moment before a lightbulb turned on over his head. They could at least start a conversation like this, couldn’t they? At least enough to get King on the right track as to who he was talking to. Pen raised his voice once more, ”So, did you expect me to… swing by?” He shouted across the plain, squinting his eyes to see if that boy was coming or not.

As the voice shouting “Polo” got nearer and a bit clearer, Pen was getting more and more antsy to actually find his forum friend and actually properly meet him… as well as one could in this digital world. After he made his little joke and got King’s response, he scoffed in a jesting manner, ”Ah, c’mon, King. You know you thought it was funny.” And besides, it probably wouldn’t have been nice to keep a guessing game going when Pen already knew King’s identity. He didn’t get a response to that though, and the dark-haired boy felt his brow furrow a touch. What was with the silence all of a sudden, ”Uh… Marco?” He tried, a little unsure of what was happening at first, though in a second or two it dawned on him that King might be trying to play a little trick on him by sneaking up on him and scaring him. Ha! Well, two could play at that game.

Pen slowed his breathing to quiet it down and really listened to what was out here in this field. He could hear birds chirping a bit, feel the warmth of the sun, the occasional flit of a grasshopper. It wasn’t until a few moments later that he heard a little rustle in the grass. Pen planted his feet lightly and worked his way towards the little noises, getting right up next to it until he pounced! He tossed himself through the tall grass and nearly stepped on a little rabbit. The terrified little creature bounded away into a thicket, leaving Pendulum slightly confused and a bit intrigued as to what other kind of fauna was out here. He was panting just a little bit from his dashing tackle, but he knew he had to go back to being quieter soon or else the game would be lost to him… if it wasn’t already.

As his panting slowed to being silent again, and Pen concentrated on taking breaths through his nose, he heard the slight skid of feet leaving ground and soon after that the nigh battle cry of his name as a dark-skinned, white-haired mass of muscle and sinew bowled him over. Pen felt the air come out of him for a moment, his back suddenly colliding with grass and ground. But as his mind caught up to where his body was, a snerk dissolved into laughter and he pressed the back of his hand to his forehead. His gaze slid over to the Aussie as he admonished him to not be caught unawares, ”Pshh… You were lucky that bunny distracted me.” He said with a grin, not quite able to let King have his win completely. He turned his face back up to the clear skies and closed his eyes for a moment. It was amazing how real this all felt… and still it was all in their heads.

When King spoke again, his eyes flicked back over and he gave a soft little sigh, ”No… No messages from them either. Maybe… some of them heard about… things and aren’t logging in. I mean, there has to be a way to get messages out into the real world from inside the game, right? Unless it’s been disabled too…” He frowned a bit at that, and that little scowl only got a bit more dark as King asked about the message. Pen nodded and let King go through all the questions he himself had been pondering about for the entire time since he had gotten the message. ”There was… that person too. That appeared in the first town. It told everyone if they died here they would die outside in real life… after five minutes or something. I… I don’t know if we’re supposed to think that’s true or not but… I mean… “ Pendulum sat up, suddenly very sober, ”I can’t believe that this is all coincidence. And I don’t think it would just single out certain players. Somebody has to be behind this. A glitch wouldn’t be this… weird.”

Pendulum gave a little chuckle, his solemnity breaking for a moment as his friend laid out what he had wanted to do all along. They were certainly going to get to the bottom of this. And if any of the other kids from their forum were out there… they would have help. Pen was led away from that train of thought by King looking him over. ”You could have just Skyped me.” He said, curling up and resting his chin on his hands and his elbows on his knees. He tilted his head, but smirked at his friend’s comment, ”You’re a bit shorter than I thought you’d be. And I didn’t know your hair would be so… white.” He looked at it, ”Or is that the game doing that?”

The young man rubbed the back of his neck, ”To be honest, I haven’t played too many MMOs. Just the retro ones like WoW and stuff, ‘cause they were cheap.” He had played some console games, old stuff and things he found on emulators, and he had most of his gaming experience from those. Hopefully this wouldn’t be too different. He would hate for that weird death threat to be true and die from lack of knowledge of MMOs. ”But I think that this logging out thing isn’t a mistake. Something that fundamental in the coding… I think someone had to change it. The message said to beat the game…” Pen tapped his chin for a little bit, ”But I mean… what if that’s what they want us to do?” He let himself fall back into the grass, ”We have to get stronger to survive but… I wonder if there’s… another way. If we do what the message wants… there’s no guarantee that it’ll let us go.”