Watching the others go first left Johan dry mouthed and shifting nervously every half second. He kept stepping on his toes waiting for them to finish downloading into the game. Did no one ask him if he wanted to go first? Just because he looked like a clueless twit! So by the time the woman motioned for him to go to sleep in another pod, he half way tripped just walking to it. Sleep...sleep...sleep. Easier said than done. Johan had a lot of experience sleeping in situations that were less than sleep worthy though so in another minute, he saw the blackness that he now floated through.

Download Processing. Download Complete. Please choose a username.

Johan said the first thing that came to mind. "Hummingbird!"

"Username Hummingbird. If this is correct, say 'correct'. If this is incorrect, say 'fix'."

"Correct." Wait no. Why did he say hummingbird? He really needed to think things through. The others probably had cool names.

Please design your avatar.

This was the part Johan had no difficulty with. He whizzed through the design choices, picking things mostly by instinct not thought. He didn't deliberate on any of his choices or try to follow some kind of logic. He didn't need to try to make an avatar look like himself when his instincts did that naturally, with just a few shifts. By the time he was done, he wore a black body suit with chain cufflinks and combat boots with rainbow laces. Only his hair differed by having rainbow streaks down the left side instead of just blue and since he was a hummingbird, might as well add a colorful line of them going down his arms where they couldn't be seen.

The program shifted to picking a weapon. He was a bit pissed that he had to choose from pre-existing material. It would be fun to make up his own thing, but Johan picked out a chain like energy whip and a pair of goggles that would let him analyze the scene in more than the usual human ways. He wasn't one much for defense anyway.

Done

What felt like seconds later, he found himself standing beside Mobius and Adria. He waved a hand wildly at them. The whip handles stuck out from a utility belt, for now without the energy beam. "This is so cool! You guys look just like...you guys. What do you think we do now?" he asked as he looked around the place. Wherever they were wasn't all blackness, but the landscape was empty except the light that allowed them to see a paved ground that went as far as he could see.

Adria stood looking out at the empty expanse. It was nothing like reality as she knew it. The paved ground echoed her footsteps. She didn't take more than a few. Hearing a rustling noise, she turned and jumped. There was finely dressed man in black and white standing there looking slightly disoriented but quickly balanced. She slowly ventured a guess, "Mobius?" Her voice didn't seem to travel far, at least not further than she could see. It took her back a moment.

Then another person appeared out of thin air. The rainbow trim to his entire look caused a giggle to burst out of her. "Let me guess... Johan?" Remembering the usernames, she reintroduced herself to them. "I'm going by my last name in here, Orici. Call me either for all I care. What did you two choose?" She was just so grateful to see someone else, that it was a shock how much easier it was to breathe now. Taking a step towards them reminded her of the crossbow on her back. Pausing she glanced back at it, wondering how it worked and why it didn't appear to come with arrows. Maybe it was electronic?

And he was disoriented. But, Mobius had figured that would come with the territory. After a moment, he stood up a little straighter and tugged at his vest, righting it. He felt a little too tall, but he could deal with that. Maybe he should have opted for a hat...perhaps they'll be able to adjust things as they move through the simulation.

It was a simulation, right?

With a jolt, he side-stepped as the rainbow bright of man appeared beside him. It made the corner of his mouth lift up, vaguely amused. Johan. Then Adria spoke, or rather, Orici. It was a little hard for him to recall her actual name. He probably guessed it came wih the program.

"That would be me. I'm Antiquity," he offered with a bit of a flourish, his curling ponytail drifting over his shoulder as he swept a bow. The phaser-rifle glittered, white and chrome against the vintage of his outfit. He looked back up at her, then over at Johan when he inquired about their objective. "I imagine they'll put us through some sort of training. Maybe we have to find it? Or it could just be and endless world for us to get used to the physics."

As if prompted, way off to their right spontaneously appeared what looked like a cattle ring, set up with specialized practice dummies for things like their ranged weapon choices, and Johan's electro-whips. The sudden appearance made Mobius jump a bit.

The environment should have been spooky, but to Johan, it was just a wonderland waiting to be filled. If he were any good with paint, he would have loved empty canvases, but worlds like this were the closest he got to art. Waving one hand so that the chain cuffs clinked, he introduced himself to the others using his new name. "I'm Hummingbird. And don't ask me why. You guys have so much better names than me," he added with a pout. Johan didn't have long to dwell on it though. He jumped slightly when something appeared out of the corner of his eye right when he considered going to explore.

"That's nifty," he said as he walked over to inspect the training ring. Walking up to a dummy, he poked it with a finger. For a simulation, it was pretty good. Touching the thing felt real. He supposed it would be the same with things that hit him too. He pulled out the two batons that were the base of his whip. "I wonder how this works...." Before he could finish wondering though, orange electricity arched between the two batons. The sizzle looked seriously dangerous, possibly to him as well. "Holy Tesla, this is cool!!"

Grinning at Johan's excitement, Adria pulled off her crossbow from her back. "Hummingbird, step aside." A smirk on her face, she leveled the crossbow at the same dummy's head and aimed. A sense of power filled her entire body, energizing her mind. Feeling her eyes and brain focus, she wondered momentarily if she was even a mere human anymore. The thought passed and she pulled the trigger. An impulse wave reverberated from the crossbow, sending up an illusion of dust from before her as a powerful electrified arrow materialized as it sped towards the dummy's head. The shockwave lifted her hair and trenchcoat back behind her with a whip like motion, a mere half a second later the dummy's head exploded. Nothing remained above the shoulders but flames and burnt edges.

Adria stared in shock at what her "simple" crossbow had done. Weapons here were way cooler than the historical stuff she saw in museums or in her games. Mouth went from an "O" shape to a large grin. She whooped and fist pumped the air. "Take that sadistic dummy!" Turning to look at Johan and Mobius, she said, "I could get used to this."

The sheer impulse power of Adria's cross bow made Mobius lift his hands, desperate to hide his face from the dust that didn't actually blow up into the air. The sudden combustion of the dummy's head was immense, and he was struck by how totally her weapon had incinerated. The crackling from Johan's whips, took drew his attention. They sparkled and glittered with power, and he wondered idly if he'd made a decent choice.

"Fascinating," he offered, twisting to pull the rifle from his back. Rather than a standing stance, he settled down on his knee, a careful crouch as he lifted the rifle onto his shoulder and peered through its site. The mechanics within the program were nothing like what he imagined they'd be, his researched had provided so little. He took aim at a much more distant dummy, the rifle designed for snipe shots.

It was almost entirely silent when he pulled the trigger, a quite, almost air-soft like 'pop' rather than a rifle shot. A small, violet-coloured orb sailed through the air. When it made contact with the distant dummy's chest, rather than an explosion, it seemed to collapse into itself. A hole was left the size of a melon, perfectly cut from the center, no trace of the piece of the dummy the 'bullet' had consumed. Anti-matter? A condensed sort of black hole, temporary but effective. He turned his eyes to the rifle, holding it away from his body.

Excellent. He looked up at his team mates, usually timid smile spreading into a pleased, toothy grin.

"I think I could get used to it as well," He stood from his crouch, slid the rifle back against his back until it clicked into it's holster. "Do you think this appeared because we thought about it?"

Johan stepped back when Adria took out her crossbow to aim at the dummy. A few seconds later he wished he had taken another five steps back. He was standing close by when the things head just blew clear off. The sight was something intense. He found himself looking down at his weapon and almost wishing he had chosen a cool crossbow like that. Mobius taking a chunk out of his target sure was nice too. Just to make himself feel better, he walked over to another dummy and swung the whip at it. The electricity beam cut through the dummy with ease, leaving a few sparks jumping on the cut edges. Yep, that definitely made him feel cooler.

"Dunno. Maybe they want us to train. Maybe we want to kick dummy booty. Does it matter?" he said to answer Mobius' question. Johan help his weapon in front of him and inspected it. "What I want to know is if we can hurt ourselves with our own weapons." He held a finger toward the electricity beam, but didn't quite put his finger in it. "What, it's a legit question!" he added, already knowing he was playing the role of the idiot again. Because normally injuring yourself while trying to attack someone else was left for the idiots.

Giggling at Hummingbird's antics, she suggested, "Let's not and say we did." It felt pretty awesome to be able to be in here. She could feel it, almost like a refreshing spring filling her mind and senses. Who knew what else they could do. "My aim is pretty good at this range. I'm going to back up." Turning, she walked further away across the empty expanse. Stopping when she was twice as far as before, she turned and announced, "Battle time!"

Immediately, a white drone dropped down from above out of nowhere. It landed on the sidelines of the practice arena. "Judge Bot has arrived. This appears to be a practice session. Would you like training instructions?"

Staring at it, Adria hesitantly said, "Erm, yes?"

The white drone, without moving or turning, addressed her. "Orici. Are you the attempting to learn to use the weapon in your hands." She looked down at it and back up blankly. "Please raise the crossbow, aim at the dummy at the far end of the training area, and pull the trigger. Do you need help with any of the terminology just used." She about choked. "Very well, proceed."

Adria aimed and fired a shot. Despite the added distance, she still hit the dummy's head and it exploded in a ball of power. The drone cautioned, "As this is your first time, please aim longer." Then it offered advice, "You were off-center to the left two inches. Please re aim and try again."

Gulping at the sudden realization she wasn't perfect, she aimed again and fired. She couldn't tell if she improved, and looked at the drone for a hint of what was to happen. What she saw confused her. Part of the white drone had a patch of it's smooth metal skin flicker grayish for a moment. Then it went back to white. Was it trying to turn black? She looked at the others wondering if they saw.

Mobius hadn't noticed, busy eyeing the rifle in his hands. He was curious about it's fire mechanism, as he hadn't lost a shell and hadn't seen anything dispel. The double-shot from Orici made him look up though, and her concerned expression made him follow her gaze. What he saw was just...the robot. It had dropped out of nowhere earlier and hadn't seemed inclined to move, so Mobius hadn't much bothered with it. Well, until now.

He glanced over at Hummingbird before looking over at Oirici again and cocked a brow. "Something wrong, Orici?" He stood from his crouch and shoved his rifle back over his shoulder into his holster. "If it doesn't say anything, does that mean you're on target?"

But then, if that was the case, she had no reason to be concerned. Just as a safety precaution, he gave the robot a wide berth as he made his way over to her. Maybe she saw something from her vantage point that he couldn't from his own. Nothing seemed amiss, though, so in the end he just sent another confused look at Hummingbird before crossed his arms.

Johan really was about to stick his finger in his his whips energy beam despite what Adria said, but he got distracted before he could finish the action. He noticed the robot the second it showed up and he started sidling up close to it. He wasn't paying attention to what it was telling Orici so much as he was curious about it. His first thought was to whine about wanting training help himself, but then...

He tilted his head to the side. A flicker? He didn't see it but for a second and not well enough to see what it was, but the hacker half of his brain was setting off serious alarms. Flickers meant problems in the code. This program was supposed to be safe wasn't it? Johan's normally giggly mood dissipated even though he skipped up to Adria and Mobius. Behind his smile, his mind was calculating.

"Hey Mr. Bot, can you help me train next?" He didn't think three of them were the only things that needed an assessment.

Adria glanced uncertainly at Antiquity. "I'm not sure." As he walked towards her, she wondered if she was possibly losing it. If no one else saw it, then maybe a medical team needed to check her over and make sure she was responding okay to the program. "Do we need medical check ups by any chance Antiquity? I thought I saw something but now am not so sure." Putting her crossbow back on her back, just in case she was losing it, she crossed her arms with a look of concern.

Turning as Butterfly skipped up to them, Adria... er... Orici smiled automatically. It was Butterfly's smile that did that. She couldn't help herself. "It will take more than a little help from the drone to help you," she said jokingly. Though she did glance at Antiquity with a shadow of doubt on her face. "You didn't see anything? On the drone?" she whispered.

The fact that Orici also saw something made him feel encouraged. There really was something going on. Johan forgot his mission for a second though when she teased him so overtly. His mouth fell open in an expression of dismay. "You think I'm a crappy fighter? You both think that. Just because I don't look the type!" He placed his hands on his hips and tilted them in a sassy way. Lifting one arm, he flexed his muscles which kinda sorta existed. "I'll have you know I'm a very scrappy fighter. I did grow up with three older boys!"

Johan turned away with a flounce. He focused on the drone instead send jabbed a finger at it. "Now train me!"

The robot rotated to face him. "Hummingbird, first adjust your grip. Hold your thumb going up the handle and the weapon away from your body." Johan did that, flushing pink as he did so. It didn't look like anything was up with the robot so his sucpicions got forgotten.