Prodigies: Virtual Defenders

Chapters

Chapter 1: Preparations
Chapter 2: A New World
Chapter 3: Powers And Training Grounds
Chapter 4: Visitors
Chapter 5: The Adventure Begins
Chapter 6: Back To School
Chapter 7: Welcoming Match
Chapter 8: First Day
Chapter 9b: Cute Animals, Anonymous Creation
Prologue: Group Work
Chapter 9a: Apple Assistance, Mysterious Meeting

Chapter 1: Preparations

“So… what are we suppose to do now?” asked Steven. “As a matter of fact, what ARE we doing?”

“Ever wished you can go to a fantasy world? Fight crimes, save the world and such? Just as playing a fantasy game, but experience it firsthand?” John replied with a question.

“Well, travelling to a fantasy world sounds fun.” Melvin tapped a finger on his chin. “Is that what you’re building over there?”

Melvin pointed a finger to a computer, connected to a slideshow projector, both screwed to a huge metal table. The table was stuck to a metal base to increase stability, with some cables and wires lying on the floor between this and the power supply.

“Indeed, though it might be impossible...”

“Waitwaitwait… so you’re sayin’ than we’re gonna make a portal to a fantasy land?” asked Steven, looking puzzled, his arms crossed.

“Yup, based on our favourite fantasy games, which were created by my parents’ company,” John boasted, but with a modest tone.

“Your parents’ company made the best games around,” praised Melvin with a smile.

“Same goes here,” added Steven, raising a hand.

“Thanks! But I take no credit.” John scratched his head.

“Don’t be so modest. Anyway, it wouldn’t hurt to try, right?” said Melvin.

“Then, what are we waiting for? Let’s get started! ...or in this case, let’s continue, since John has done most it...” said Steven.

Time flies as the boys worked together discussing and adjusting on the setup, settings, programs, and softwares for their near impossible project. Two hours have passed and it was almost noon.

“Man, I’m hungry.” Melvin rubbed at his tummy.

“Yeah, me too… you got some grub here, John?” asked Steven.

“I’m hungry too, I can call for my chef to whip us a dish if you like,” suggested John.

“I rather have street food,” said Melvin.

“I can call for pizza, if you want.” John took out his phone from his pocket.

“No thanks, I just remembered I brought my own food,” said Melvin, reaching out for his sling bag beside him.

“Me too.” Steven got up from his chair and grabbed his backpack by the door.

“I think I’ll make my own lunch downstairs. Let’s have half an hour for lunch break.” John got up and reached for the door.

After having their lunch, they gathered and continued their work. Despite multiple failures that almost blew up the attic, they never gave up. Even if they did, they will foreshadowed their teacher, Miss Godie, who would go rage-mode bananas on her students who did not hand in their works, which almost turned the whole class upside down.

An hour more had passed, and their doubt had taken a wide turn.

“Hey, John! I need to lower the current!” Steven shouted, since John could not hear a thing while he was listening to the loud heavy metal music on his earphones.

“What? Power the current? You got it!”

“No! He said ‘LOWER’ not ’POWER’!” shouted Melvin.

But it was too late, John connected the two cables together and...

BOOM!

The attic was suddenly filled with smoke and dust. Apparently, the projector exploded because it could not take too much current. The three teenagers coughed and rushed towards every window they could find and opened them. John made his way to the only door and opened it.

“Young Master, are you alright?” Wallace looked up the stairs, concerned. “I heard a loud bang and… is that smoke I see?”

“It’s okay, everything is under control, don’t worry!”

“Um… John... you better see this…” Melvin walked over and tapped John on the back.

John turned around slowly and saw Melvin looked horrified, Steven sitting at the corner of the room looking pale, like he saw a ghost, or he looked like one.

“Are you guys... alright?”

“L-look!” Steven pointed, his arm shaking.

John turned towards where Steven had pointed. To his surprise, that was the direction where their project was located. He gasped.

The projector was emitting a beam of light, which then lead to something resembling a dark purple wormhole.

“Whoa… my… god...” John’s jaw dropped. “I-it seems our project WORKS! YEAH!”

“B-but, is that possible?” said Melvin in a trembling voice. “We saw you connected the cables and the projector blew up. Shouldn’t it be not working?”

“You got a point there,” said John. “Although… that might not have been an explosion.”

John walked closely to the projector, observing.

“If my hunch is right… BINGO!”

“What is it?” Steven got up on his feet and the stood beside John along with Melvin.

“That wasn’t an explosion,” said John. “In fact, that was a really enormous vibration.”

“But how?” asked Melvin, crossing his arms.

“You see, the projector did not blow a fuse. It was actually releasing the energy stored to create this might-be portal,” explained John.

“So… what now?” asked Steven.

“We... walk in!”

Chapter 2: A New World

“NO WAY!”

“Come on now, Steven. We worked on this for so long, and now you’re quitting?” asked John.

“But is it safe?” asked Steven, taking a few steps back.

“Yeah, what if something goes wrong?” added Melvin.

“Everything has its risks… hey, we wouldn’t know unless we try, right?” said John.

“I’m not stepping into that thing, that’s for sure!” Steven raised his voice.

“Oh, come on! Don’t tell me you guys are scared?”

“Scared? Ha! You kidding? Fine then, let’s go!” said Steven.

“No way I’m scared when you guys are not!” said Melvin.

“Hey, we’re in this together, man. Chillax...” John tried to calm his friends. “Look, if something goes wrong, I will hold full responsibilities. Besides, I had preparations for this if our project succeeded. One: Time will stop here once we enter the portal. And two, anything could happen in a fantasy world. However, it will be quite random there because with our mix-match of the games used for programming earlier, I’m not quite sure what will happen.”

The boys stood silent in a line, facing the portal for a moment, taking a deep breath.

“Ready guys?” John asked his friends and they nodded. “On the count of three...”

“One… two… THREE!” the teenagers counted.

Without further ado, they rushed recklessly and without hesitation into the portal.

“Whoa...” Steven gasped as they floated through the purple void.

“Look!” Melvin shouted and pointed a finger when he saw a bright light heading towards them.

“Get ready, this may hurt a little...” said John.

“Wait, what do you mean, hurt a little?” asked Steven.

However, Steven never got his question answered as the light grew brighter towards them. Soon, everything went blank…

John woke up. He sat up, and noticed that he was greeted by the filth of dirt, forming a path down a valley straight to a town. He looked around, observing the area, and saw his friends lying nearby in front of a decent everyday house, still out cold. He got up, patted the dirt off himself and walked towards them, checked their pulses, and was relieved they were still alive. He raised his head and saw the house, a line of white wooden fence on the right that goes along the cliff from the house down the valley, and the scenery of the town.

“Wow!” John gasped. He never seen a town as beautiful and clean. He walked towards the door of the house while still admiring the scenery. When he reached the door, he was surprised to see words written on the door.

The Prodigies:

Javelin Lightspear, Saberblade Excalibur, Magistrike Kinesis

Stay out if you’re not one of them, unless you have an invite!

“These are...” he gasped.

“Uh… John...” John heard one of his friends moaned. It was Steven’s voice.

“Glad you didn’t die,” John joked.

“Well duh! I assured you that we would not die so easily in a fantasy world!” Steven got up and patted himself.

“Yeah, right. Like you’re really assuring!” mocked Melvin, also awaken.

“Put a sock in it, Melvin!”

“Guys, before you go on a rampage together, check this out!” John pointed a finger and told his friends to join him.

They walked along eyeing to each other.

Gee, I hope that they don’t turn the whole place into a battlezone… John thought.

“So, what’s this you’re gonna show us? A house?” asked Steven.

“No, look at the door!” said Melvin, pointing at the door.

“What in the world? These are the names from our gaming accounts! And ‘The Prodigies’ is the name of our gaming clan!” Steven raised his voice.

“Yeah, all of them are from ‘Three Tribes’.” John added.

“John, did you do this?” asked Melvin, unsured.

“To be honest, I have no idea… Like I said, anything might happen. For example, THIS!”

“You know guys, something tells me that we should use those names. “Cause I think that the peeps who live here don’t have ‘proper’ names like us,” Steven scratched his chin.

“You know, you may be on to something, Steven.” said John. “However, let’s wait ‘till there’s actually someone to introduce themselves to us. If they actually used a funny name, let’s go will your suggestion, Steven.”

“Yes, Javelin!” said Steven and Melvin, trying to tick him off.

“I said WAIT, you buffoons!” John raged.

“Looks like we struck a nerve there.” Steven turned to Melvin.

“Agreed.”

“I don’t know what to say...” John became pissed. He turned the doorknob and walked into the house. “Come on, this house’s built for us!”

Without hesitation, Steven and Melvin followed in.

The interior of the house was just as the boys expected. A living room, a kitchen, a dining table with some chairs, three bedrooms, an empty room, probably as a work area, two washrooms and a door to the back.

“Ah… feels like home...” Steven lied on the couch.

“We should sleep in this room,” John suggested the largest bedroom with a triple decker bed.

“What do you mean ‘we’?” asked Steven.

“Yeah, that’s gross!” saided Melvin in disgust. “Are you gay?”

“Yes, Steven. I meant ‘WE’! And Melvin, I’M NOT GAY!”

Steven and Melvin laughed.

“No, seriously. Are you gay?” Melvin repeated the question.

“I’m not going to answer that...”

“Hey, John. Why us in a room?”

“We sleep in one room, one will be a guest room and another for drastic measures.” John rubbed his hands evilly when he mentioned ‘drastic measures’.

“Steven, I don’t like his face...” Melvin whispered.

“I know, same here” he replied softly.

“Hm, what was that?” John asked.

“Oh, nothing. We were just saying that we should check the back,” lied Steven.

“Good idea. I’ll go first.” said John, heading to the back.

“Nice lie,” praised Melvin.

“Thanks, let’s catch up with John.” Steven got up and went to the back with Melvin.

Chapter 3: Powers And Training Grounds

Steven and Melvin arrived at the back. They saw a big empty field in front of them, along with a line of trees surrounding the area and the mountain wall surrounding from the left to the front, with the same scenery of the town on the right cliff, but with no sign of John. They walked to the middle of the deserted land.

“What in the? I thought he came here? Where did he go?” Steven looked around.

“SURPRISE!” yelled a voice from behind.

Without warning, water rained down on the two boys without a chance to react, and a steel bucket fell on Melvin’s head.

“ARGH!!! COLD!!!” they yelled.

“Gotcha!”

Steven turned around and saw John standing on the roof.

“And that’s for trolling me at the front!” John pointed a finger. “By the way, you didn’t think I didn’t heard what you said about me inside, did you?”

“Well, first things first, it wasn’t necessary what you did to us just now,” said Steven.

“Yeah, what he said,” added Melvin, who still had the bucket on his head.

“You don’t have to repeat what I just said, Melvin.” Steven turned to Melvin “And you should take that bucket off your head before I do this!”

Steven grabbed a stick off the ground beside him and smacked the bucket with a loud clang. Melvin lost his balance and fell down.

“You know, if that was me down there, I would do what you did to him just now because it’s really tempting” John told Steven.

“Ha ha, very funny!” mocked Melvin. He sat up and took off the bucket, still feeling dizzy from the impact.

“Wait a sec, are those… wings?” Steven could not believe his eyes. True enough, there were a pair of white wings on John’s back.

“Oh, these?” John opened and flapped his wings. “It’s our powers from ‘Three Tribes’. Basically you guys have your own powers from the game as well.”

“And since I’m a swordsman...” thought Steven out loud.

“And I’m a mage...” Melvin added, standing up.

“Yes, just do how your avatar would do: think and focus,” said John. He held out his hands and closed his eyes. Clouds of data flowed to his hands and they turned into light. A second later, they formed a spear as John’s friends gave an amazed look and gasped. John spinned his spear from hand to hand and flew down the house.

He landed in front of them and said: “This place looks perfect for training. Mind going for a round guys?”

“You kidding me? You’re on!” agreed Steven.

“I’m in too!” Melvin added.

Soon, Steven and Melvin closed their eyes and concentrated. Clouds of data began to form on their hands and turned into a giant blade and a rod respectively.

“You ready?” asked John and his friends noded.

In a matter of seconds, the sounds of clanging metals and spells casted were the only things that the boys heard. They fought with every skill they knew their avatar had. However, they can only use basic skills as they were not used to having special powers. Until the evening, they decided to stop. They fought a couple of rounds, but ended up in an even match.

“I’m beefed...” John sighed as he dismissed his powers using the same way he summoned them. His wings and spear turned to light and separated into a cloud of data.

“Me too...” agreed Steven as he dismissed his powers too.

“Me three...” Melvin added, doing the same.

“Come on, let’s head back in...” John walked towards the door as his friends followed.

Back in the house, they were discussing about the fight earlier the day.

“Love this place, you can fight without breaking much sweat.” praised Steven, sitting on the couch.

“Yeah, I usually don’t have much stamina.” agreed John, sitting on the dining chair.

“Too bad you got hit by my spells as soon as you flew up high.” Melvin said to John as he sat on another dining chair across the table.

“Well, it’s a good thing Steven ambushed you before you got to hit me a second time,” said John.

“You’re not so bad yourself, John. You had quick reflexes and agility. I almost can’t keep up.” praised Steven. “But I’m gonna beat you next time ‘cause I got the strength!”

“I think not,” John raised an eyebrow.

“Oh, why is that?” asked Steven.

“Didn’t you noticed our fights were like rock, paper and scissors?” reminded Melvin. “Just like how it was supposed to be in the game?”

“There’s your answer.” John held out a hand.

“Hey, where’s the portal? I wanna go home by now,” asked Melvin.

“Yeah. John, you were the first to woke up, you should know where the portal was until it disappeared.” added Steven.

“To tell the truth… I really don’t know... and something tells me that we need to defeat the final boss before we can go home...” John answered unsure, scratching his head.

“WHAT?!” shouted the other two as Steven continued: “And how are we supposed to find our ‘final boss‘?”

Suddenly, there was a knocked on the front door.

“And that’s something telling us that our adventure is about to start...” said John as he stood up and walked towards the door, with his friends following behind.

Chapter 4: Visitors

John opened the door without looking at the peephole first. In their surprise, the boys saw two teenage girls about their age in front of them. One of them had pink fluffy hair while the other had rainbow-colored hair.

“Hello there, are you lost?” said John, acting nicely.

“Um, not exactly. We were just checking on this abandoned house that has been abandoned for some days to see if someone had unabandoned this abandoned house.” said the girl in the pink hair.

“Abandoned?” John turned back to his friends, they just shrugged.

“Yeah, someone moved out and abandoning this place,” she sighed. “But thanks to you, this place is unabandoned again!”

Unabandoned? Is that even a word? The boys looked at each other.

“Well, since you three ‘prodigies’ live here now, I suppose we have no reason to come here anymore.” said the rainbow-haired girl. “Come on, Pinkie.”

Pinkie? Is that a real name? The boys looked at each other again. Then, Steven whispered: ”I told you we should use our gaming names...”

“Oh, don’t be a spoilsport Rainbow Dash! They’re new here and they need a WELCOME PARTY!” said Pinkie.

Rainbow Dash, huh? The boys thought.

“Told you...” whispered Steven.

“Fine then… from now on we will use our gaming names...” John whispered.

“So… what do you think? Need a PARTAY?” asked Pinkie.

“We don’t need that, right guys?” asked John. His friends nodded.

“Aww… I really want to hold a party...” Pinkie sighed. “I’m Pinkie Pie and this is my friend, Rainbow Dash.”

“Pinkie, I don’t think we should introduce ourselves to strangers...” whispered Rainbow.

“It’s okay, Dashie. They’re new here and about our age. What’re your names?”

“I’m Javelin.” John played along.

“Saberblade,” followed Steven.

“Name’s Magistrike.” Melvin raised a hand.

“Nice to meet you three!” greeted Pinkie. “Hey, since you’re new around here, why don’t you enroll to Canterlot. Hey, I’ll get you tomorrow! I bet you don’t know where it is!”

“This is ridiculous, I’m going home,” said Rainbow as she turned around and ran down the valley. “See ya, Pinkie!”

“Okay, Rainbow! See ya tomorrow!” Pinkie waved at her from a distance.

She turned around and continued: “So, wanna enroll to Canterlot High?”

“Uh, sure… I suppose...” replied Javelin.

“Great! You’re gonna love Canterlot! We have great facilities with great classes with great labs and with great teachers and OOH… not to mention...”

Javelin closed the door slowly and softly, leaving the girl blabbering outside.

“Man, will she ever stop?” exclaimed Javelin. ”Well, we do know where we will go next.”

“Yeah, but what about money?” asked Magistrike.

“Easy, we go find jobs!” suggested Saberblade. “But where to find one?”

“I bet the pink-haired girl might know where we could find one. What was her name again? Pinkie Pie?” said Javelin.

“She still out there?” asked Magistrike.

Javelin went to look at the peephole. He turned around and replied: “Nope, she’s gone.”

“Well, we ask her tomorrow then,” suggested Saberblade.

“I guess that’s all we could do...” said Javelin. “Let’s have dinner and call it a day. I found some instant noodles in the shelf earlier.”

“Gee, I hope they’re spicy,” said Saberblade.

“I wish they’re chicken flavored,” said Magistrike.

“I just hope they aren’t expired.” said Javelin.

After that, they had the noodles for dinner and prepared for the next day.

Chapter 5: The Adventure Begins

Morning had come, the teenagers got up early ~~because it was their first time living together, like a permanent sleepover,~~ and prepared for school, despite the fact that school in their world would not re-open for a few more days.

“You know, Javelin.” called Magistrike.

“Yeah?”

“We could build another portal back home, can’t we?”

“Why do you ask?” asked Saberblade.

“We made a portal here, why not we make a portal back?”

Javelin stood for a second, putting his bag which he brought from the world of reality on the floor.

“It’s near impossible… but I’ll try...” he said softly.

Magistrike became puzzled as he heard the first sentence of Javelin’s reply. He asked: “Why near impossible?”

“The portal we made was meant to lead us to a fantasy world. So, if we made another portal, despite trying to reroute it back home, we might end up in another fantasy world inside a fantasy world.” explained Javelin. “Besides, the portal we made at the mansion was BARELY successful, and we came here with a chance of risk dying.”

The house became silent. The boys sat on their seats respectively without saying a word until a knock on the door broke the silence. Javelin went to look at the peephole and saw Pinkie Pie slowly closing her left eye on the other side of the peephole.

“She’s here, let’s go.”

“There you guys are!” she exclaimed. “Thought you’d never open the door!”

“So? Where is this Camelot High?” asked Javelin.

“It’s Canterlot.” Pinkie corrected Javelin. “Just follow me and we’ll be there in no time!”

The boys followed the lively girl skipping in front of them. On the way, Magistrike suggested that they should not use their powers because he thought that the people here are just normal people and they might scare them.

“All of them?” asked Javelin.

“Well, just our weapons and your wings, Javelin.” Magistrike answered. “We can still use our physical abilities like your speed and Saberblade’s strength. Just don’t use it at full potential.”

“Then, what’s yours?” asked Saberblade.

“Mine are kinda balanced… with precise aim.”

As the teenagers walked along the sidewalk, they heard a high-pitch scream, followed by the sound of glass broke and an alarm going off. Suddenly, three masked men rushed out of a store just in front of them. Two of them were armed, one with a pistol, and the other with a machete.

“OH MY SUGARS! A ROBBERY!” Pinkie screamed and ran into a thin alley between two buildings. “This way! We’ll be safe to school through here!”

The teenagers did not seem to listen to Pinkie’s advice.

“Well... guess the town wasn’t as peaceful as it seemed. You thinking what I’m thinking?” Javelin asked his friends.

“Yeah!” agreed Saberblade.

“Let’s kick some butt!” said Magistrike, wearing his hood.

“LET’S GO!” the boys chased after the burglar with their bags still on them.

It was not long for Magistrike to take down the only unarmed burglar by tackling him. However, it was another story for Javelin and Saberblade, who chased the two burglars to a dead end.

“Javelin, take down the gunner!” said Saberblade.

“Right!”

“Leave this one to me!” Saberblade cracked his knuckles.

“What’re we gonna do?” said the guy with the machete.

“What do you think, fool? Fight back!” said the other with the gun. “These kids don’t stand a chance.”

“Kids? You don’t know who you’re messin’ with!” Javelin rushed forward. The gunner raised his gun and opened fire. Amazingly, Javelin dodged every single bullet and ran up for a few steps on the wall before taking down the robber with an eagle spin kick.

On the other hand, Saberblade was parrying every slash thrown at him with his forearms. Finally, he caught the blade on the sides with his bare hands and kicked the burglar on the crotch, making him kneel and cry in pain.

“Yeah man! That’s how you do it!” said Saberblade.

“Nice one, Saberblade,” Javelin complimented and they high-fived.

“There you guys are!” a voice shouted from behind.

“Magistrike!”

“The police are here!” Magistrike announced as police officers came and took the burglars away. “It took us long enough to find you guys.”

“Nice job, boys!” praised one of the police officers. “How can the community ever repay you?”

“Well, we could use a ride to school,” Magistrike raised a finger.

“Sure, where to?”

“It’s Canterlot High, sir,” replied Javelin.

“Okay, you’ll be there in no time! Hop on!”

And with that, a free fast police ride to school. Along the way they saw buildings, the buildings became trees, and the trees became houses as they moved along.

“Never seen you boys before, I assume that you are new here?” asked the police officer.

“Uh… yeah… we just moved here,” replied Javelin, who sat next to the officer.

“I see. Well, everyone in this town lives happily in harmony, so you don’t need to worry about mostly anything. Uh… except, of course, the incident that happened earlier… but you guys took ‘em down with no sweat, so I guess you won’t be having any problems adjusting to your new environment. Your parents must be proud of you!”

The car went silent. Then Magistrike, who sat behind Javelin, spoke.

“What do you know about Canterlot High, sir?”

“Canterlot? What can I say? It’s a great school. To be honest, I actually graduated there!”

“That makes you our senior,” said Saberblade.

“Well, when you put it that way, I guess so. Haha!”

A couple minutes later, they arrived in front of Canterlot High.

“I’ll go on and have a word with the principal about what you did earlier. You guys take your time and catch up,” the officer told the boys and went on ahead.

The boys left the car and stood in front of the enormous school. Saberblade walked a few steps up to a horse statue in front of the school.

“Guess we know where the school got his name, huh?” he turned around and pointed to the statue with his thumb.

The other two catched up to Saberblade, and Javelin made a sign to huddle.

“Something tells me that our adventure is just getting started.” Javelin whispered to his friends.

Chapter 6: Back To School

The boys walked slowly towards the huge school, admiring it at every angle, and walked up some steps before going through the glass doors. It seemed that class had not started yet because there were still students hanging out by their lockers in the hallways. As soon as they saw the boys walking in, they began whispering to their friends and glare at them.

“Um… we do something wrong?” asked Javelin.

“Beats me! Let’s look for the principal’s office.” said Magistrike.

“He’s right. Let’s go,” agreed Saberblade.

As they walked along the corridor and passed the students, they overheard some chatter.

“I heard that they’re the ones who intercepted the burglary earlier...”

“I remember earlier today when Pinkie screamed running here about three teenage boys that she was supposed to take here went to stop a robbery...”

“Hey… you’d think it’s them?”

“I think I saw one of them dodging bullets, and the other parrying sword slashes with his fists… is that even possible?”

“I don’t like where this is going...” Javelin turned to his friends and he got two nods in reply.

As they walked along, ignoring every possible rumor ~~or true facts~~ about them involving the robbery or not, they finally found the police officer who brought them here coming out of a room, which they assumed was the principal’s office.

“Just in time. The principal is waiting to see you,” said the officer as he saw the boys. “And if you don’t mind, I’ll be going back on patrol.”

Javelin knocked on the door as the officer left the hallway.

“Come in,” said a voice inside.

Javelin opened the door and the boys went in. In the room was woman in bright-colored clothes sitting at her desk.

“Good morning, boys.” she said in a pleasant voice. “Allow me to introduce myself, I am Principal Celestia. You must be the new transfer students, a police officer who came in earlier just told me that.”

“Uh, duh. Who else might be transferring at the same time?” joked Saberblade in a whispered voice.

His friends giggled.

“I heard that...” Celestia raised an eyebrow, her arms folded. The boys scratched their heads. “Anyway, you are?”

“Javelin, Saberblade, Magistrike,” Javelin introduced themselves briefly.

“Okay,” Celestia memorized the names. “Before you can enroll to Canterlot High, I need to see your grades from your previous school.”

John and Saberblade turned to each other. They did not seem to have brought along their academic results for the trip. However, Magistrike did. He took them out from his bag and gave them to the principal.

“Here they are!”

“When did you bring your results with you, not even mentioning ours as well?” asked Saberblade.

“Yeah, and more importantly, why did you even bring them?” added Javelin.

“Uh… safety measures?” Magistrike replied unsure.

“Hmm… Bellbright High? Never heard of this school before...” Celestia put a hand on her chin, which was normal considering that the school doesn’t exist in this fantasy realm.

“Uh… yeah… our school is not so well-known...” Javelin lied.

“However, your grades aren’t so bad… Therefore, you three can enroll here. Welcome to Canterlot High!”

“Well, that was easy!” said Saberblade.

“Indeed. But since you’re just new here today, I haven’t arranged the classes for you to take yet. So you may wander and discover your way around the school, get used to the new environment, or just take the day off. You may start your lessons tomorrow, so come and see me before class starts to receive your timetables.”

“Okay, thanks principal!” thanked Magistrike.

“If you have any trouble, my door is always open.” Celestia finished, as she got up and sent the boys out of her office.

Chapter 7: Welcoming Match

The three teenagers walked along the corridor, discovering their way around the school. The hallways had become more silent, since classes already started.

“Man, this place’s HUGE!” exclaimed Saberblade. “It’s as big as your place, Jav.”

“Mine is much bigger than this,” said Javelin.

“Well, someone’s boastful!” mocked Saberblade.

“Well, one thing is for sure, this school’s much bigger than ours,” said Magistrike.

Just then, a voice spoke from behind.

“Well well well, if it isn’t the ‘Prodigies’!”

The boys turned around, and saw a familiar girl with long rainbow hair holding a soccer ball by her side.

“Rainbow Dash, is it?” asked Javelin.

“That’s me! Pinkie told me that you’re the ones who went and stopped the robbery!” said Rainbow.

“Yeah, that was us… why?” asked Saberblade.

“I want to see if you’re truly that awesome at stopping robberies.”

“And what do you mean by that?” asked Magistrike.

“Well, since I’m having P.E. right now, let’s have a friendly.” Rainbow spun the soccer ball with a finger and pointed with the other. “Me versus one of you!”

“Okay, against which one of us?” asked Javelin.

“You look like an athlete, Javelin, I’ll choose you,” said Rainbow.

“Fine by me.”

“Jav… I think you should go easy on her...” whispered Saberblade.

“Got it, Saber. If she’s really good, then I take it up a notch with my speed.”

“Just don’t get overpowered, okay?” asked Magistrike.

“Noted.”

The boys followed Rainbow to the soccer field. Javelin and Rainbow went into the field while Saberblade and Magistrike went to sit at the bleachers with some other students.

“A freshman against Rainbow? No way!” said one of the students with a country accent.

“Applejack, haven’t you heard? He’s the one who dodged the bullets!” said another sitting beside the country girl.

“Well, Rarity. I’m not believin’ ‘till I see this myself!”

“She has no idea what she’s talking about...” whispered Saberblade.

“You said it...” agreed Magistrike. “You said it...”

“Ready?” asked Javelin.

“I’m always ready!” replied Rainbow. “Just so you know, I’m going to win, and you’re going down!”

“We’ll see about that.”

“First to three goals wins!”

“No complaints!”

The match began with Rainbow Dash, who easily scored a goal as soon as she got the ball.

“Man, you’re good!” praised Javelin.

“I told you, I’m going to win!” reminded Rainbow.

“Told you he doesn’t have a chance.” said Applejack.

“Just wait and see...” muttered Saberblade.

“You’re right, this is just getting started…” whispered Magistrike.

The match continued with another goal by Rainbow Dash, who quickly snatched the ball from Javelin’s feet without letting him get a chance to act. After the second goal, Javelin smiled.

“I admit, I’m pretty impressed... Too bad it’s gonna end like this...”

“You’re right! You’re gonna lose!” Rainbow winked.

“Actually, it’s kinda opposite!”

After Javelin finished his sentence, he took the ball and ran across the field. Rainbow tried to chase him down, but somehow he became extremely fast. When Javelin reached the penalty box, he shot and scored.

“How did...” Rainbow blurted out, surprised. Javelin ran back to his side of the field and made a taunting sign, asking her to go on the offence.

Rainbow took the ball and ran towards Javelin, trying to get past him. Javelin just stood still.

“Now what’s he up to?” asked Applejack.

As soon as Rainbow got close to Javelin, he snatched the ball from her and scored another goal for himself, making most of the students’ jaws drop.

“Quite a comeback, Javelin!” praised Rainbow.

Javelin walked into the penalty box and stood in front of the net.

“Come on!” he taunted again.

Without hesitation, Rainbow charged towards Javelin with the ball. A second later, Javelin ran towards Rainbow and cleared the ball high up to her side of the field. The ball landed just in front of the net.

“Well, this could be interesting...” said Magistrike. Saberblade nodded.

Without further ado, both players rushed towards the ball with Rainbow taking the lead. The match just became a race. If one of them got the ball, it might be a game over for the other. Surprisingly, Javelin outran Rainbow from behind and reached the ball first. He made a backheel, scored, and won the match. Rainbow knelt and said: “I lost...” The crowd applauded and cheered a second later.

“That’s game!” said Javelin. “Let’s play again sometime!”

Javelin held out a hand, and helped Rainbow up. She shook his hand with hers and said: “Yeah, we should. Only difference, I’ll win for sure! You’re so AWESOME! Hey, how about you join the Wondercolts as our new star player?”

Javelin thought for a moment. He looked at his friends, who were running towards him now. Right at that moment, all he could think about was getting home with his friends as soon as possible.

“Sorry, I got bigger things to worry about. But maybe I’ll reconsider.”

“Well, if you changed your mind, you know who to find!” Rainbow pointed a thumb at herself.

“Javelin!” Saberblade and Magistrike waved.

“Hey, it’s nice playing with you. See ya.” Javelin waved and headed home with his friends.

Rainbow stood for a second. The students continued their P.E., and Applejack and Rarity went down the field and catch up with her.

“That guy’s really good, huh?” asked Applejack.

“Hey, what’s wrong, dear?” asked Rarity. “Look, darling. You’ll have a chance to beat him next time.”

“It’s not about the match...” said Rainbow, picking up the ball. “I think something’s fishy about him...”

Back in town, the boys talked while they walked along the sidewalk.

“Earlier today we intercepted a robbery, right? So why don’t we play heroes and protect this place?” asked Magistrike.

“Yeah, I agree. The ‘Prodigies’ save the day!” supported Saberblade.

“However, we can’t protect everyone, right? Sooner or later someone’s gonna suspect us.” said Javelin. “Look, we deal with the major crimes while we leave the minors ones to the cops, okay?”

Saberblade and Magistrike had no complaints.

“Hey, when do we get jobs?” asked Saberblade.

Just then, Javelin remembered that he forgot to ask someone about where to find jobs ~~and exclaimed some bad words. Luckily nobody else was nearby and heard that~~.

“DAMN!” he scowled.

“I guess we’ll just have to ask tomorrow...” said Magistrike.

“I suppose...” muttered Javelin.

Luckily, the house was not far out from Canterlot, so they reached home without tiring.

“You know, Magi here could teleport us back here, right?” asked Saberblade.

“Yeah, why didn’t we think of that? That saves loads of time,” agreed Javelin.

“I’m with you, but we need to choose the right time for me to cast it. If anyone saw us vanish they’ll freak out.”

“Well, we still have some time left...” said Javelin. “Either we train, try to make another portal back home or have some free time for the day.”

And so, each of them used up their time doing the things they seem pleasant with. Javelin told Magistrike to poof up a basement so he could start working on the portal going home. After that, Magistrike himself went to poof some target boards and began training his accuracy, while Saberblade sat on the couch and watched TV.

Chapter 8: First Day

The next day, the boys woke up early and prepared for their first day at school. Instead of going to on foot or by a vehicle, they teleported there with Magistrike’s spell, and appeared in one of the restrooms of the school. They got out and ran towards Principal Celestia’s office. Magistrike knocked on the door.

“Come in,” said the principal. The boys walked in.

“Morning boys,” greeted Celestia. “I hope you’re prepared for your first day here?”

“Yeah… sure… school sounds fun,” Saberblade was not amused, but he was elbowed by Magistrike.

“Well, here are the lessons I had arranged for you to take, and the number of your lockers,” Celestia handed a timetable to the boys. “Good news is you three will be taking classes together. I understand that most transfer students won’t last long without their friends with them.”

“Well, thanks… I suppose...” said Javelin.

“Well, as before, if you have any questions, my door’s always open.” said the principal.

The boys walked out Celestia’s office and looked at the timetable. Nothing was a big difference even in a fantasy world. All classes in Canterlot High were just like Bellbright High in their world.

Javelin gave a sigh. At least Canterlot gave him the opportunity to be in the same classes as his friends.

“Well… let’s put our stuff in our lockers and head to class,” said Magistrike.

Classes were just the same, as if they were at their real school. However, they also kept seeing some familiar faces in every class they’re in. And if that is not coincidentally enough, their lockers were also next to each other. When it is lunch time, they took their lunch from their respective lockers and went to the cafeteria.

“Ugh… you even need to study in a fantasy realm...” sighed Saberblade.

“Well, we’ll just have to live with it, for now...” said Javelin.

When they entered the cafeteria, everything was still the same: they could tell that the students were sitting with their own kind, just like in their school. They scanned the area for an empty table, but with no luck.

“You know, I think you should sit with the athletes, Javelin,” suggested Saberblade.

“But what about you guys?” asked Javelin.

“We’ll be fine, we’ll find some other places to sit,” said Magistrike.

“Well, I’m not sitting anywhere without my friends,” Javelin put his arms on his friends’ shoulders.

“Hey! Prodigies!” a voice yelled. The boys turned to the source and saw Rainbow Dash waving at them. “Come join us!”

“Come on,” said Javelin. Magistrike and Saberblade followed.

“Hey, Jav, I don’t think that she’s sitting with the athletes,” said Magistrike. True enough, Rainbow Dash was sitting with a bunch of students from different kinds.

The boys settled down on the table. Javelin sat beside Rainbow while his two friends sat across him. As soon as they sat down, Saberblade could not help but notice the girl beside him shift slightly to the right.

“Hey, what’s wrong with you?” asked Saberblade. The girl ignored him.

“Uh… hello?”

“You have to excuse her, dear,” said another girl with a very fancy accent. “She’s not used to strangers.”

“Hm… I see...” said Saberblade.

“Javelin, Saberblade, Magistrike, allow me to introduce them,” said Rainbow. “The girl in the black jacket is Sunset Shimmer, the girl with the hat is Applejack, this lady here is Rarity, you might remember Pinkie here, and this is Fluttershy.”

“Nice to meet you,” greeted Sunset.

“Howdy, y’all,” Applejack tipped her hat.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you,” said Rarity.

“HIYA!” greeted Pinkie.

“Um… hi...” muttered Fluttershy.

“Hey,” the boys greeted, and nibbled on their food.

“Boys… are more interested in their food...” whispered Sunset.

“You know, Sunset Shimmer... Never interfere a guy with his lunch...” said Applejack.

“You know, they are quite charming,” said Rarity.

“To be honest, indeed they are,” said Applejack.

The boys overheard what Rarity and Applejack said and looked at them. ~~Javelin had a piece of lettuce hanging of his mouth.~~

“Did we say that out loud?” asked Rarity. The boys gave a slow nod ~~and it is funny how the lettuce dangled along as Javelin nodded~~. The two girls only blushed.

After lunch, everyone went back to class. When school was over, the boys packed up, huddled at the back of the class and waited for a teleport when everyone completely left class. However, the girls they met earlier had different plans for them.

“Hey, mind if we tag along?” asked Rainbow Dash, her friends standing behind her.

From the brain, they could not decline a request from a new friend. However, their hearts told a different option: decline, so they can teleport back to their house. In the end, they decided to accept their friends’ request.

The nine students left school and headed towards town on their way home. When they reached the Prodigies’ house, Javelin remembered something.

“Well, here’s our stop… Uh… hey, do you girls know where could we find weekend jobs?” he asked.

They paused for a moment. Then, Applejack began.

“Well, I could use some help in movin’ ma family’s apple products.”

“I could use some assistance in my boutique,” said Rarity.

“Um… I could use some help in the pet store,” muttered Fluttershy.

“Well, three jobs for three persons.” said Saberblade. “What now?”

“Easy, we each take a job!” suggested Magistrike.

“Not a bad idea, though I hate getting separated with my best friends...” said Javelin.

“Well, if that’s the case,” said Saberblade. “I’ll help you, Applejack.”

“I’d be happy to help, Rarity.” said Magistrike.

“Well, that leaves me to you, Fluttershy.” said Javelin. “Now that’s settled, we’d best be going back home now.”

The boys waved goodbye as they walked up the valley, the girls waving back in return.

Chapter 9b: Cute Animals, Anonymous Creation

Javelin summoned his pair of white wings and took off. To avoid being seen from the ground, or an aeroplane if one ever flew by, he flew as high as possible and hid within the fluffy clouds.

A day before, Javelin asked Fluttershy for the name and address of the pet shop that she worked at. After school, he went to the school library without his friends’ company to search for a bird’s-eye view of the shop from the satellite maps.

He recalled the coordinates of the pet shop and tried to search for it despite the thick clouds blocking his view. Luckily, he barely found it. He stayed within the clouds, waiting for the right time to land without getting caught.

Back on the ground, Fluttershy was dusting the animal cages of the pet store that was just opened up for business. She shrieked when she heard a loud crash that seemed to be coming from the alley beside the store. She told the store manager about the loud sound and headed for the alley. She saw Javelin lying face down, with trash cans that seemed to be knocked over and garbage all over the place.

“Ugh...” Javelin moaned. Fluttershy went up to check on him, but he got up slowly by himself.

“Oh... my... what happened?” she asked.

“Uh... I was lost and came here running, but I hit the trash cans because I went too fast.” Javelin lied because he would not dare to tell her the embarrassing yet exposing truth.

A few minutes earlier…

“Okay, I’ll land in that alley there as fast as possible so nobody could see me.” Javelin flashbacked to where he was monologuing in the clouds.

“Alright. 3, 2, 1… GO!” Javelin swooped down towards the alley as quick as lightning. However, because of his inexperience with his powers, he went too fast and was unable to slow down.

“Can’t brake! CAN’T BRAKE! Mayday! MAYDAY! Oh, wait. NO ONE COULD HEAR ME FROM UP HERE!” He crash-landed into the trash cans, knocking them over. He was lucky enough that he did not fall into the larger garbage bin besides that was left opened, although it would broke his fall. But then again, he would smell really bad if he fell in there.

“Although… it’s nearly… impossible… to die here… ” he monologued. “I-it… still… hurts a lot… ugh…”

“Oh my, your cheek, it’s bruised,” said Fluttershy.

Javelin ran a hand on his face softly. His left cheek twitched when his fingers ran onto it. He felt the slight pain of what may be the bruise on his face.

“Don’t touch it!” Fluttershy grabbed hold of Javelin’s hand before he had the chance to press on his bruise, torturing himself. “You might make it worse and get an infection. Come on, let’s head inside, I’ll patch it up for you.”

They went on inside the store while Fluttershy still had hold of Javelin’s hand. Javelin could not help but blush a little, because it was his first time a girl ever held his hand besides his mother when his was a child. In addition, when he was back in Bellbright where all the students were boys, Javelin would act weird whenever he was alone with girls. If his friends were with him, he would act more naturally.

That’s what happened if you studied in a boys’ school. Javelin thought. Interacting with boys for too long makes you feel strange when you encounter a girl. It’s kinda like a phobia. Studying in a school filled with the same gender will kinda make some of the students… homo…

Javelin was seated on a stool while Fluttershy went to fetch the first aid kit from the shelf. She came back with the kit and sat beside him, and took out a small piece of cotton with a small bottle filled with yellow ointment.

“Hold still...” She began to clean the wound carefully. After a couple of seconds, she patched some cotton onto his cheek. “There, all better. You should be more careful next time.”

“Oh, okay. Thanks, Fluttershy.” Javelin forced out a smile.

“Glad I could help!” she smiled back, making him blush again.

“Well, now that everything’s settled, I assume you two can start working now?” said the store manager who was sitting at a cashier counter nearby. The two teenagers replied with a nod.

The store was not that big. An hour before noon, Javelin and Fluttershy had fed the pets and cleaned most of the cages there. Business was also quite slow that day, with most of the customers just window shopping like the pet store was just like a mini petting zoo, or just bought a bag of pet food and left the store immediately. This allowed the two students to know more about each other.

“You sure like animals, huh?” Javelin rested his back on the wall, his hands in his pockets.

“Oh, yes. I like almost every one of them here.” Fluttershy sat down a stool beside Javelin and brushed off a crease on her skirt gently.

“I assume you have pets at home too?” Javelin walked towards one of the dog’s cage and knelt down. He slid his finger through a narrow space between the bars of the cage and wiggled his finger. A small white puppy pomeranian in the cage got up from its nap and walked towards his finger, wagging its tail. It took a few sniffs of Javelin’s scent before it licked his finger.

“Yes, I do. Um, to be honest, they’re in my backpack.”

“Uh, what?”

She got up and reached for her backpack on top of the shelf. Javelin sworn that he saw the bag moved a little as she took the bag down the shelf. She opened the bag, and a rabbit and a cat jumped out of the bag.

“They just get so lonely when I’m working here all day.” Fluttershy cuddled her two animals.

“Oh… kay…”

Fluttershy stuffed her rabbit and cat back into her backpack to avoid being caught by the manager for bringing her own pets to work. She zipped her bag but left a small opening for them to breath inside.

“I could hardly imagine the stench from your backpack,” mocked Javelin.

“Well, at least it’s better than the smell you had when you’re lying near some trash, right?” she countered his mockery while putting her bag back on the top of the shelf. She tiptoed for extra height so she could put her bag easily away.

They both giggled.

During lunch hours, Fluttershy and the manager decided to get some food at a nearby cafe while Javelin stayed back and watch the store.

“What do you what for lunch, Javelin?” asked Fluttershy.

“Anything works for me.” Javelin raised a hand.

“We’ll be back as soon as possible,” said the manager. “Try not to mess things up.”

“Oh, kay, see you later.” Javelin waved and headed back into the store. He sat on the counter.

That Fluttershy… I had never met a girl as shy as her before… so calm, nice, kind… and kinda cute too… her looks… her actions… her voice… but is it possible for me to date a virtual? Well… guess not… The hell I’m thinking? We need to find a way to get home, pronto!

“Love’s in the air, isn’t it?”

“What? Who’s there?” Javelin got up as he heard the anonymous voice. He looked around as his visions slowly turned black until he was standing in an endless room. A person shrouded in black appear before Javelin as he walked for a few steps in the room.

“I assume that you’re the bad guy?” Javelin cocked an eyebrow.

“Very good, Javelin. Now I assume that you know what happens next?” said the person.

“Uh… we fight, or we talk. But I really prefer we talk.”

“Glad to know that we’re on the same page,” the guy chuckled. “Mind if I introduce myself? I am Necromancer, which you ‘gamers’ like to refer to me as the ‘final boss’.”

“Hmm… that’s quite an unusual introduction, most won’t mention who they are so obviously… and you’re gonna tell me what to do here?”

“Indeed I am, very good. I heard your thoughts that you have an interest to a girl here?”

“Perhaps? I guess? Too bad she’s a virtual… just like any other pretty female characters in games… Ooh, how I would like to actually date a cute female character of a game!”

“Do you wanna hear a plot twist? This world is actually real, so your wish may come true.”

“Yeah? What do you know about it? You think this world is real because you’re a virtual character in a virtual world!” Javelin narrowed his eyes.

“Me, a virtual? True. But the world here? It’s real boy.”

“Just what makes you say that?” Javelin folded his arms, raising an eyebrow.

“Your two other friends will have the explanation to your question. I can still tell you this, all your programmings, modifies and creations only made the powers you have... and… me...”

Javelin paused for a moment, then he spoke: “You expect me to believe all this?”

“That choice’s for you to make. I’d best be going now, we both have a lot things to prepare for our upcoming meeting.” Necromancer turned around and walked, blending into the darkness of the pitch black room.

“Wait!” Javelin held up a hand and chased after the fading Necromancer, but instead hit an invisible object, fell and passed out.

…

“Javelin... Javelin? Javelin, are you okay?”

“Ugh… wha?”

Javelin woke up. He realized that he was sitting with his back against the wall. He rubbed his eyes, his visions slowly became clear from blur. He rolled his eyeballs to the left and saw Fluttershy kneeling beside him, holding a bag of ice.

“Oh, you’re awake. You must had hit your head really hard back there.”

“Uh… what happened? ARGH!” Javelin grasped his forehead with a hand as someone hit it with a sledgehammer. He felt a lump on his head.

“Oh, you rammed the wall there and passed out. What were you trying to do? The manager and I were shocked when we saw that.”

“I had really no idea what’s going on...” Javelin lied, moaning. In reality, he knew that Necromancer casted an illusionary spell on him but he forgot and ran into the wall, “Oh, god. It hurts so bad now...”

“Get some rest, Javelin. It’s been a slow day anyways.” Fluttershy put the bag of ice on Javelin’s lump.

“Yeah… guess so...”

It took some time until evening, and Javelin collected his pay and went home. When the coast was clear, he summoned his wings and took off.

“This world is real? Was he just joking, or was he for real? Guess time will tell the answer.” Javelin monologued. Then, he flew back to the house at full speed.

Prologue: Group Work

It had been days into the mid-year holiday, a teenage human boy was working on his technical class’s group work in a mansion’s dusty attic. He was screwing off a bolt when the doorbell rang.

“Wallace, would you mind answering the door?” the teenager shouted, despite the fact that he knew that the wooden door of the attic was closed. Strangely, a guy heard him and replied: “Sure thing, Young Master Lewis.”

Just outside the mansion, there were two other teenage boys waiting. One of them is a blonde with a natural spiky hair, wearing a white button-up silk shirt, black baggy shorts and sneakers. The other is a redhead with an undercut hairstyle, wearing a similar white button-up silk shirt with a red necktie just hanging loose around his neck, a brown long-sleeved jacket with a hood behind, long blue slacks and sneakers.

“I know that John’s family is rich, but I didn’t knew he was THIS rich!” the redhead gasped as he stared into the courtyard of the mansion. Within the metallic, yet well-designed gate was a cobblestone path which lead straight to the mansion, along with bushes of flowers blooming on each side.

“Well duh! What did you expect?” said the blonde. “He IS the richest person in class, you know? And to top it all off, his parents are the owners of a famous fantasy gaming company!”

“Yeah… that makes sense, Steven. But I thought that his parents were just doctors, not some business owners. I guess business owners earn more than doctors, which depends on the number of products your customers buy everyday.”

“Indeed, Melvin,” said Steven. “Hey, don’t you feel hot dressing like that?”

Melvin stood silent, as a sign of ignoring. At this moment, the steel gate of the mansion opened as a sign for teens to come in. As they walked along the path towards the mansion, the big wooden doors of the mansion opened and a guy in a suit walked out.

“Friends of Young Master John Lewis, I presume? Steven Earnings and Melvin Kingston, right?” asked the man in a formal accent. The boys nodded. “Well, do come in. I’m his personal butler, Wallace.”

As the boys walked in, Wallace continued: “The Young Master is expecting you two. He’s up in the attic. I’ll take you there.”

Without a word the two boys followed the butler up into the attic while admiring the decorations in the mansion along the way. When they reached the top of the stairs, Wallace knocked on the door while the two boys were lying on the floor, panting because of the large climb.

“Who’s there?” asked a voice from inside.

“It’s me, Wallace. Your friends have arrived,” said the butler.

For merely a couple of seconds, there was silence besides the two teenagers panting. Later, the sound of the doorknob being turned was heard and the door opened, a blacked-haired teenager walking out.

“Took you long enough to get here, I’m almost done!” He folded his arms.

“Easy for you to say, John! How do you get around the mansion without getting tired? Especially getting up here?” Steven asked aggressively while still panting.

“Yeah, don’t you have a basement here? It’ll be much easier...” said Melvin, lying on the floor with his limbs stretched out.

“Meh, you’ll get used to it. Same went for me when I was little.” He walked towards his exhausted friends, helping them to get on their feet. ”Besides, it’s easier to get down than come up.”

He turned around, walking back to the room for a few steps, continuing his dialogue: ”A basement eh, Melvin? Not a bad suggestion! I’ll remember to ask for a renovation if I can...” His words surprised both of his friends, Melvin almost went falling down the stairs.

“Boy, this guy’s REALLY rich,” said Melvin.

“You don’t say?” agreed Steven.

“...but then again...”

“Huh?”

“...You’ll need to do the stairs concept vice versa, and that’s makes no difference, but it would instead make it much more complicated...” He opened his hands wide. “Besides, it’s quite brighter in the attic, thanks to the natural light given by the sun!”

“There he goes again, explaining physics again...” muttered Melvin.

“The Young Master is more a techie than a scientist,” said Wallace, almost ignored.

“You’re right, especially computer class,” agreed Steven.

“...and having a basement can sometimes be quite dark and... I’m afraid of ghosts...” he muttered but, with luck, nobody heard that. He told his friends to come in.

“Young Master, if you have no more requests, I’ll be downstairs,” said Wallace.

“Sure thing, Wallace. And close the door.”

Wallace took a bow and walked out of the attic, closing the door behind.

Chapter 9a: Apple Assistance, Mysterious Meeting

Time flied, and the weekend was here. With the help from Magistrike, Saberblade was teleported near Applejack’s house. He took a piece of paper from his baggy pants, on which Applejack had written her address. Despite the fact that every house looked almost the same, it didn’t take too long to find Applejack’s red house.

“There ya are,” Applejack walked out and down the steps. “Thought ya never show up.”

“Well, I’m here, right?” asked Saberblade, spreading his arms.

“Well… come with me,” said Applejack, heading to the back with Saberblade following behind. They walked for some time along the dirt path under the morning sun. When they reached a huge orchard filled with apple trees, Saberblade was already sweating when he reached there. There was also another guy in the orchard.

“Big Mac! Our assistance’s here!” Applejack called, waving. “Saberblade, that’s my elder brother Big Macintosh. Big Mac, this here fellow’s my classmate, Saberblade. Why don’t you show him what to do here?”

“Eeyup!” Big Macintosh walked towards one of the apple trees, and gave it a hard kick. A few ripe apples fell from the tree.

“I assume ya know what to do?” asked Applejack.

“Too easy.” Saberblade folded his arms.

“Just hope ya won’t get too exhausted!” Applejack chuckled.

“I won’t.”

Using his fantasy powers, Saberblade used his strength to jump a meter high and spin-kicked a nearby tree. Around ten of apples fell.

“What in tarnations?” Applejack gasped. “How’d you do that?”

“Do what?” Saberblade turned around and asked.

“How’d you jump like that?”

“Uh… I used to be a school representative for the high jump competition… and… I’m… uh… used to be a karate expert too...” lied Saberblade, scratching his head when realized that he overused his powers.

Applejack nodded. “Well, just take it easy there, Saberblade. The last thing our family needs is our orchard filled with fallen apple trees.”

“Haha… okay!”

Without a second to waste, they began collecting the ripe apples from the trees and putting them in baskets around the orchard. Around an hour past noon, Applejack decided it was time to rest. She threw an apple to Saberblade.

“Take a break, sugarcube. You’ve earn it.”

“Thanks, but I prefer to do this!” Saberblade put the apple in the basket beside him and jumped high. He plucked an apple from the lowest branch of the tree he was standing under and took a bite of the apple.

“Well, after this, we’ll need to deliver these to the stores ‘round town.”

“Got it.”

Saberblade took another bite from the apple looked up to the sky.

I hope we’ll get back soon enough… Saberblade thought. Suddenly, his visions slowly turned black.

“Uh… hello?” he asked. “If this was a joke it wasn’t meant to funny right now! Whoever’s doing this piece of junk illusion, show yourself!”

He looked around in what he thought was a black endless room, until a person shrouded in black slowly became visible in front of him.

“What the?” Saberblade almost choked.

“Don’t be alarmed…” said the shrouded person. “I am not here to fight you...”

“Oh… kay… then… why the illusions?” asked Saberblade.

“I am here to tell you your purpose here,” said the guy, which Saberblade assumed that he was by his voice. “I am Necromancer, which so called ‘gamers’ like you and your two other friends like to refer me as the ‘final boss’.”

Saberblade became surprised, his jaw dropped and lost grip of the apple, letting it fell. He summoned his weapon.

“Final boss?” he recalled. “What are you doing here so early at this part of ‘this game’?”

“Calm yourself,” said Necromancer. “I told you, I am not here to fight you.”

“Yeah, you said that to calm me so that you can get the first hit! That’s what all villains are about, right? All tricks and mind games!”

“If you insist on fighting, I’ll let you give the first hit.”

“With pleasure!” Saberblade ran towards Necromancer, dragging his blade over the ground which made sparks and a loud noise, due to the friction with the ground. He jumped high halfway his charge, attempting to cleave Necromancer from the sky. However, his blade just went through him and hit the floor.

“WHAT?!” he exclaimed.

“For the last time, I am not here to fight you.” said Necromancer. “Now, I assume you believe me now?”

“Let me guess, you’re an illusion too… Well, fine then...” Saberblade retracted his blade and put it on his back. He jumped about two metres away from Necromancer and dismiss his weapon. “You still haven’t answered me, what are you doing here appearing so early at this point? Don’t final bosses came out at the last minute?”

“Well, I thought you wanted to go home as early as possible?” said Necromancer. Saberblade became speechless. “Well, I’m here to tell you how to go home. However, there’s a catch.”

“Okay… what is this ‘catch’?” asked Saberblade.

“You see, you, your friends and I were a link to a legendary tale based on ancient times of this world.”

“Okay, I’m confused… I get that every place whether it’s a fantasy or not has it own legend,” said Saberblade. “Don’t know about you, but how can someone from a reality world, like my friends and I, be part of a tale in a fantasy world?”

“Your friends will have the other pieces of the puzzle.” said Necromancer. “My other illusions are giving your friends their pieces as we speak. As for your piece of the puzzle: For every thirty moons, a door opens for days of three, an alternate dimension awaits, new elements given to bear.”

“Oh… kay… what does that mean?” asked Saberblade.

“That’s for you to figure out yourselves,” Necromancer turned around. “But one thing is for sure, even if you decided not to come here in the first place, the legends of this world will not change and you will eventually be here sooner or later…”

That was the final words before Necromancer disappears. Soon, everything went back to normal, Saberblade was standing below the tree that he was before.

“Saberblade!” He felt that someone was shaking his shoulder, calling his name. “Saberblade! Wake up!”

Saberblade came to his senses. He looked around and saw Applejack right in front of him.

“Huh? What happened?” he asked. He started to feel dizzy, assuming that it was from the illusion earlier. He put a hand on his head and shook slightly.

“What happened? You were talking to a piece of nothing like a hooligan, that’s what happened!” said Applejack.

Damn! Does that mean she saw my powers? Because I just summoned my blade to cleave that illusion of Necromancer.

“So… you saw me cleave ‘nothing’ with my blade?” asked Saberblade.

“A real one? Not really,” said Applejack. “An imaginary one? Yeah, I saw you jumping into the air cleaving that piece of nothing with your blade made of air!”

“Erm...” Saberblade scratched his head. He was relieved that his powers were not exposed.

“The sun must have got to you, sugarcube. My brother and I were shocked of what you’re doing and thought you have gone nuts.”

“Well… I’m not used to work under the sun...” he lied. Suddenly, Applejack noticed his cheeks turning red.

“What’s wrong, sugarcube?” she asked. “Your face looks as ripe for the picking.”

“Uh...” Saberblade looked at his shoulders. Applejack then realized that she was still putting her hands on his shoulders. She pulled back her arms quickly and apologized. They laughed.

“Well, time to deliver these apples ‘round town.” said Applejack. “After that, you may enjoy dinner with ma family, if you like.”

“Sure, I guess,” Saberblade accepted Applejack’s offer, because all he had back in the house on the valley were just plain bread, butter and lettuce enough to make a decent sandwich with some instant noodles.

They began loading a truck with crates filled with apples. After that, they rolled out with Big Macintosh on the wheel. Delivery was not as tiring as picking apples for Saberblade. All he had to do was to sit in the truck, waiting to arrive at a destination and just move some crates into the stores. Then, he sat back in the truck to replenish his energy and repeat the whole process.

Around six o’ clock in the evening, Saberblade had dinner with the Apple family back in their house. He was not disappointed, although every single dish on the table had included an apple in it.

“That’s a pretty fine young man you brought over, Applejack.” said an elderly lady, who Saberblade recognized her as the cafeteria lady at school. “You may call me Granny Smith, sonny.”

“Uh… okay...” Saberblade put a spoonful of apple pie in his mouth and started chewing.

“Say, big sister?” said a girl sitting across her, who Saberblade also recognized as a student in school.

“Yeah, Applebloom?” Applejack replied.

“Are you going to marry Mr Saberblade there?”

The moment that those words came out of Applebloom’s made Applejack spat whatever she was chewing directly onto her sister’s face. Saberblade who sat beside her did the same onto Big Macintosh’s face in front of him at the same time.

“Is it Apple Spitting Day already?” asked Granny Smith.

“Nope.” replied Big Macintosh.

Saberblade and Applejack wiped their mouth respectively. Then, Applejack spoke.

“Well, Saberblade’s just a friend...”

“Yeah, what your sister said.” Saberblade agreed awkwardly.

After dinner, Saberblade collected his first payment, left the Apple family and headed back to his house. Along the way, he could not stop thinking of what Necromancer said.

“Links with a legend? Thirty moons? New elements to bear in an alternate dimension and a door that opens for three days?” he monologued. “Well, the only way to know is to catch up with my friends back home...”

After that, he picked up his pace and ran home.