OFFLINE:\Philippines\Makati City\Tejeros BLISS Garden>
In the middle of the late morning heat, Ren, his friends, and other guests gathered at Mang Mario's puny internet cafe. Droplets of sweat flowed down to their chests as they waited for the internet cafe's opening.
He looked at their sweat-soaked faces. Seriously, why it felt like a noontime game show audition? Probably for the TALA Online Rank-Up Friday, or some other online game events.
Mang Mario opened his cafe's poster-covered glass door, and they came inside with wide smile on their faces.
Inside, other guests glared at Ren and Derek, like campers in most shooting games. “Renato! Why did you bring that cheater here?” The curly-haired gamer screamed at his face. Their eyebrows creased in rage, as they remembered the cheating incident last year.
A young gamer in tattered clothes glanced at the curly-haired gamer, “What a miracle! Ren forgave that cheater already?”
“Finally, that little gay boy showed up!” the brown-skinned stubby gamer cracked his knuckles. “That twat's dead today!”
“Now what, let's pawn this shit for real?” the topless teenage gamer took off his black belt.
Ren's chin trembled as he peeked at their reddened faces. Oh c'mon, they haven't moved on? Ynes glanced at Derek and Ren, “Leave these shit to me!”
Derek and Ren nodded, then they led Roy and Ann to a row of computers for their party.
Ynes pushed the curly-haired gamer off from the internet cafe. “Take it back, fucker!”
“Nope!” the curly-haired gamer recovered from the fall, “I can't believe Ren anymore! Why did he forgive that cheater!”
“Because you don't know shit!” Ynes slapped his left cheek. “If you're really friends with Ren, you should give a shit about it!”
His friends shoved Ynes to the concrete ground. “What the fuck, gamer girl?” the topless gamer lashed her butt with the belt buckle. “You don't have the right to command us like that!”
Other gamers in the internet cafe, and the early bystanders outside were stunned at Ynes' situation. One tough girl versus four of Ren's teammates? She'll be ganked at this rate.
She rolled away from Ren's angry teammates, and dragged the angry gamer down with its belt buckle. “You're not my daddy to do that!”
“Like if we give a damn!” the curly-haired Tejeros Triggers member threw an uppercut on Ynes' belly.
Ren, Roy, and Ann heard Ynes' painful scream and they strode outside. The angered members of Tejeros Triggers lashed her back once again. One of them struck her buttocks once again, others landed at her spine, or at her head.
“Hey, stop it!” Ren yelled at them, as he approached his battered girl friend. “I forgave him because his mother's sick, and he needed the money!”
Armando Katigbak, that topless gamer, wore his belt back to his denim pants. He gazed at Ren, “Fuck! Did a fucking teleseryeteach you how to forgive bad rivals?”
He gazed back at his former teammate, “You could say that, but I can't hold it anymore, like bullshit!”
“You suck, Ren!” Armando spat on their faces, and led the Tejeros Triggers away from them, “You're banned from the group, Ren!”
As they walked away, Ren brought her up from the ground, “I'm an unkillable weed.” She smiled at him, “Don't worry too much about me, Ren.”
He peeked at her dirty face, and her bruises in her body, “You're not goin' to treat them, Ynes?”
She pinched his sides, as he brought her back inside the internet cafe. “I'm used to these shit, I endured papa's beating, some cat fights, being beaten by the boys.”
“So, you're fine being a punching doll, Ynes?”
“Each time you sympathize, you're peeling away my toughness!” she pouted at him. “Yea, and again... I'm used to this shit. Let's play, Ren!”
Ren and his friends went back to their rented computer terminals, and enjoyed NOAH like nothing happened. Save for Ynes' uppercut-induced stomachache though.
IN-GAME:\NOAH Online\Freedom's Cradle Star System\Briarwelt Moon\Miyamoto Rainforest>
Rennin's and Alyas Pugito's party merged into one, as they entered the dark rainforest. The gun-totting avatars in their combined party shot down every monster in their way, regardless of their loot. It'd be a waste of morning gaming time if they split up for the loot while they sprinted toward the Hatchery.
As they reached the wide and gooey cavern, Rennin noticed Masshu, Castor Aarth, and Pollux's party headed to the same instance dungeon as well.
Alyas Pugito laughed hard as he saw his party grew in size. “Well Ren, seems that we're meant to be gathered for a big war!”
“Pugito, mind if we join the raid?” Masshu asked. Alyas Pugito popped out a large party management window, and added their group into his party. “Okay, we're 15!”
While they prepared their gears, and filled their shortcut keys with potions and skills, Hatsya phoned him via telepathy, “Rennin, wait for us!”.
They heard warping sounds from behind, and alas: the Kanlaon siblings materialized from the blue-greenish rays of light. Moments later, Eizien, Hotaruu, and FranZetta joined the party. The colorful raiding party stepped inside the cavern, and slew the beasts inside. Usual targets: treemps, miner monkeys, and the dreaded Crikheis.
“Ren! We'll hold them off for you guys!” Alyas Pugito yelled at Rennin's party as their group fended angry monsters off. Rennin's combined party heard battle cries, explosions, and wails of dying crocodile-wolves. They dashed deeper in the Hatchery, only encountered large green blobs, and spiraling crystals that served as columns of the hatchery.
“Check for traps, Hatsya, Masshu, Rennin, Sirius, FranZetta!” Saiph commanded the party. Hotaruu, Castor Aarth, and Bellatrix blessed the five members with «Wind Walk», «Night Vision» and «True Sight».
OFFLINE:\Philippines\Parañaque City\Hatsumi's Residence>
Hatsumi noticed three icons appeared at the upper left of her screen. Her computer screen brightened up, and saw the cavern well-lit thanks to the «Night Vision» buff. She also noticed yellowish silhouettes of the «Newborn Crikheis» moved inside the alien eggs through the «True Sight» buff.
"All right! All we have to do is either we pop 'em out from a distance? or we'll risk ourselves head-on?""
She heard a lot of clashing responses from her party members, as she bit her loaf of peanut butter sandwich, .She noticed her screen filled with green holographic spheres from the alien eggs, How come we're given this kind of feature? Is this supposed to be for developers?
Masshu lowered her headset's microphone, "Guys! Check your screens."
"Do you see something moving inside those eggs?" she moved Masshu back to the ledge.
"Yea, and it might attack us anytime" Ynes, Altynes's player, said on the other end.
She noticed Hatsya, Rennin, and Sirius parted ways to cover more area. What are these three shotas thinking? She sipped her glass of cold sugary coffee. "Stay alive out there, okay?"
Mikhail, Eizien's player, clicked his tongue, "Seems that we'd be better off shooting them, then?"
IN-GAME:\NOAH Online\Freedom's Cradle Star System\Briarwelt Moon\Miyamoto Rainforest>
Masshu nodded at Eizien, "However, we can't start that until we got the whole area covered."
Alyas Pugito and his party of armored gunners saw them in the second floor of the hatchery dungeon. "You could have cleared this area with your numbers alone, kids" Alyas Pugito laughed at them.
Masshu brought out her pick hammer and bared her teeth at Pugito's team. Hitomi cleared her throat, "Easier said than done, dude"
She checked her inventory. She noticed a pair of legendary-grade purple «Toha Velocity sports shorts F» and a common-grade «Laser Cannon», "Anyway, this gun's for the boss itself, not on eggs, Pugito"
At the west side of the cavern, Rennin found another group of Crikhei eggs. "This isn't good"
He walked away from the eggs, until he found an abandoned futuristic, laser cannon tank. He went inside and tried to start the vehicle. A female AI spoke to him while inside the laser tank, "Unable to operate, energy reserves empty. Find power sources."
"Guys, I found a tank but we'll have to find the power source!" Rennin said to Masshu via telepathy.
Meanwhile, Hatsya came across a large opening at the northern part of the area. However, a yellowish 5-storey alien egg blocked the way. It moved like a beating heart, and thanks to the «True Sight ability», he saw a gigantic creature moved inside the large egg.
"I found something big on the way, guys!" Hatsya called Masshu and others through mass telepathy message.