This place it was an escape a game to lose yourself in. Walter had ordered a private to use VR pod just for Amor, in order to force him to take more time off, and not work himself to the bone so much. The problem is that Amor didn't game very much, and so he had little to no clue on what he was doing. What he did know is that he had somehow wandered in an area that even he could tell was far above him in terms of difficulty. Everything was in the early to mid forties in level, and he was level one....

Was it a bug? Amor didn't know, all he did know was that he was currently running for his life away from the random mobs in this particular place. In newbie gear it was obvious that he was out of place, and soon a large beast that was like a rhino impaled him, and instantly killed him. It sent him back to the town of Lojan, and he saw all the durability damage that his gear had taken, and he frowned. Everything in this world was infuriatingly difficult. Though there were no shortcuts, he had checked to see if there was a quick way to boost his level, but found none.

So he walked into the gathering hall, the "Recently Revived" debuff hovering above him marking him out as someone who had just been sufficiently murdered. So he sat down, and began to review the map of the area since he had somehow gotten lost. So consumed in his thoughts that he didn't even realize that he had sat down at the same table as someone else. Grumbling in frustration to himself he took note of all the quests that were suppose to be around his level, and figured he would have to start there.

Looking up he found himself face to face with a character that was obviously some kind of knight class.

"Ah my apologies, I didn't see you there." He explained to the stranger with an easy smile.

Josh Devlin

Amor's stats
Level 1 Samurai
Skills: Slash

What Josh failed to notice was the instance he had signed up for was the normal difficulty rather than the Extreme difficulty that was better suited for his current level; he had wondered why the instance was filling up so fast. Unsurprisingly, the instance filled incredibly quickly, including with Amor Rose 's character. With them were Jenna, a young spellcaster wearing purple-and-red robes, and Alex, an agile fighter of some kind. No healer at all. Fun. It wasn't impossible by any stretch of the imagine, not without a full stock of potions for out-of-battle healing, but mid-battle heals would be incredibly limited.

"DUTY WILL COMMENCE IN FIVE MINUTES" flashed on the virt displays of all four characters as Josh sat down to greet the front-line fighter. "Yikes," he commented on the warrior's recent revival. "Happens to the best of us, though. Name's Josh, Knight of Thunder. What about yours?" he asked as their companions gave their names. Amor may have recognized his play partner by not only his voice, which was almost identical to his own in the real world, but his choice of steed. The electric cat purred, though the game world's stimulus limit made it much less intense than being astride the real thing. He knew.

Midway through their conversation, Josh realized his mistake, and it was too late to back out. "Hold on, let me get appropriately de-geared." After a minute or two, the knight's model flickered, showing him in newbie gear, as well. While he still held an electric sword in his hand, it was the first one available in the game. Definitely not level-ten gear like the instance called for, but it was the closest he would get.

DUTY COMMENCED.

With that, the vision of the four faded to white as they were whisked to a forest meadow, a cutscene compelling the quartet into a large temple with a natural, grass-filled floor. Two tall, dead trees stood out as places for Alex to hide behind. Jenna looked excited, her specialty in fire likely going to be useful against all the forest-themed enemies to come. "Until you get a few levels from the mobs, I would stay behind," the party leader advised as he observed the room. "If you're a good climber, try climbing the ivy over there," he pointed to the east side of the room.

Regardless of Amor's decision, Josh would step forward, two creatures that resembled feral versions of Mightyena leaping from behind bushes and ambushing him. Their scratches and bites seemingly bounced off him; even with initial gear, his raw hit point count prevented them from being a threat. With level being a factor in damage calculation, one slash of his electric blade took the first out in a single hit. The other got past Josh and lunged at Jenna. Not even the Beast's speed was enough to prevent her from being knocked over, though a quick casting of AGI was enough to get the now-burning predator off her. It wasn't dead yet, though, and seemed angry at whoever was closest to it!

This person seemed quite knowledgeable about this game or whatever it was, and so when one of the other party members got attacked, Amor was the closest one to it, and he quickly parried the blow with his katana, and he frowned. The monster was fairly weak, if he read his skill right he should be able to defeat the monster in a single blow. So he activated the skill, and in one measured strike he Slashed the target causing hefty damage, and watching the monsters body fade into particles of light. He saw a number appear in front of him followed by 'exp' and he figured that was the metric in which this game used to level people up.

Though it had given him a bit after a few more he would probably hit the next level, but he was still incredibly weak compared to the others. The thought didn't bring him much satisfaction, but at the very least he would gain strength so that when they next saw each other he would be able to pull his own weight. There was nothing more that Amor hated more than having to own someone. However this was new terrain, and he needed to learn first.

"Hmmm this is not so different than real life I suppose." He spoke mostly to himself, but the others could probably pick up on it if they cared to listen. After all he looked nothing like himself in this place. Long black hair, a crimson robe, with a black sash tied around it, and a simple scabbard with a simple katana in it were all the adorned the level one samurai character. Perhaps one day he would get a bunch of neat looking gear like hte higher level player accompanying them.

"Oh I forgot to introduce myself....Er my name is Ryu." Though it was right there by his health bar if they wanted to check it.

On such short notice of being forced to play this game, Amor just named his character after one of the characters from a popular fighting game that his Pikachu, Adontis, liked to play occasionally. He was also told that it meant dragon so that worked in his favor at least.

Josh Devlin

Jenna's casting of AGI was effective enough to leave the black wolf on its last legs, Ryu's follow-up SLASH the killing blow. The second was quick to perish to a slice-and-dice from Josh's electric blade. Jenna and Alex stared in disbelief at the damage the Gym Leader inflicted even while de-geared. Was raw level really making that big a difference? Either way, it would help Ryu immensely, thanks to experience being evenly split among the four party members. A glow of the color Amor associated with Ryu would surround him as a brief fanfare became the herald to the swordsman growing stronger.

Ryu reaches level 3.

"Great to meet you, Ryu," Josh replied, offering a handshake to the new player. "You'll level up real quick in here. Just try to stay out of combat until you think you're ready."

With the entry chamber peaceful for the time being, Josh took the initiative and had a look around. Dismounting from the electric tiger, he began climbing the ivy he pointed to before. He was grateful for the virtual environment enabling him to perform such a feat; in the real world, he lacked the upper body strength needed to make the climb. Carefully maneuvering to the top, then to the side, he let go, landing on top of one of the two large trees in the entrance chamber. Hidden atop it was a small, wooden chest. He opened it, a creaking noise a sign to the rest of the group that he had found something hidden. While it wasn't treasure, it was something they would likely need to progress: a SMALL KEY.

You obtained a SMALL KEY! This key will opened any one lock. You can use it only in this dungeon.

The electric knight carefully climbed down and reunited with his feline mount, leading the way through a fairly narrow passage and into the temple's main hall. He could feel the game turning his gaze toward four different-colored torches and a large elevator in the center of the hall. A cutscene played out where the four torches' flames disappeared. Four phantoms, each one matching the color of those flames, had made the fires their own. While they were obviously Pokémon of some kind, it was difficult to identify exactly what they were due to a blurring effect added to them mid-scene. The ghosts floated in different directions, two toward the west and east, and the others to the northwest and northeast. They sounded mischievous cackles before phasing through the walls, the elevator receding into the ground and preventing the adventurers from going to the basement.

"Guess we're going to have to track them down if we want to take the elevator downstairs," Josh mused as he took a look around. The highly elevated east door would be impossible for the group to reach, even with a running leap from the big cat. That left four entrances to search, one of which was under lock and chain. Thankfully, the lock would not be a problem, thanks to the Gym Leader's previous thorough search. "We'll probably have to go all four ways eventually, so I'm down to go wherever you'd like," he deferred to Ryu, the grass and stone environment contrasting with mystique rarely found in the real world.