Demetrius kicked the soccer ball around the feild half-heartedly. He tried to kick it towards the goal, but he hit the rim of the goal and the ball bounced back towards him. He picked it up and tried to spin it on his finger like a basketball player. He dropped the ball and went to kick it again, but stopped before his foot met the abll. He sighed and picked the ball up, observing the many hexagons on the ball. He sighed and started to walk back to his dorm. It was no use; his mind was miles away from soccer. He hadn't been to hardly any of the practices and he knew if it weren't for the fact that he was one of the only good players on the team, the coach would've kicked him off by now. He just couldn't get his head in the game. He entered his dorm building and decided against going into his room just yet. His friends had not exactly been kind towards his new apathetic attitude. As understanding as Demetrius was, sometimes he just got sick and tired of dealing with crap like that. He plopped onto one of the couches and began to watch the news, since it was what wa son the TV at the moment. Last time he fiddled with the channels, he broke the knob off of the TV (the romote had been lost a long time ago) which is why they TV was stuck on the news channel until someone fixed it. He wasn't really paying attention to the TV until he heard something that caught his ear. He sat up and glance dat the screen, then gasped when he recognized it as a screen cap of the online Pokemon game he was into and even more surprising, the cap was of Twilmer! "That's right, the beloved online game has become infested with glitches. One of the larger glitches has turned Admin Twila Ramirez into a creature known as a Pichu. While it is unknown what caused this, the fact that this game uses the most advanced computer system in the world is cause for concern. It appears this glitch has Twila unable to log off," at this, Demetrius made a noise. Yeah, THAT'S what was preventing her from logging off. He rolled his eyes at how the news programs really had no idea what was going on. "Other glitches have been confirmed and it seems as if it's causing some problems for the managers of the system. As this same technology is being adopted and adapted by the government, they are concerned that the same glitches will affect that technology. We’ll have more on this situation later. In other news..." Demetrius turned the TV off and got up. He had to tell Twilmer. When he got to his room, Jason and Ben looked over at him. "What?" he asked with a shrug. "Where have you been?" Jason asked with scowl. "Practicing for the game on Saturday," Demetrius answered half turthfully. "Oh, alright then," Jason said and went back to being his old Cassonova self. "So Ben, did you score using the moves I taught you?" "Ben, did you join the team?" Demetrius asked, disbelief apparent in his voice. "If you ever came to practices, you would know." Jason shook his head. "No, I'm talking about Ben scoring with his new girlfriend. That was awesome my friend!" Jason high-fived Ben who looked quite pleased with himself. "Ah, smell you two later. I have to go see a woman about a pizza." With a wave, Jason disappeared out of the door. "Don't even start with me, Demetrius," Ben glared at him. Demetrius simply sighed and flopped onto his bed. "I wasn't going to. It's your decision. I won't high-five you over it, but I'm not going to say anything." After all, what could he say? "Really?" Ben looked over at him surprised and then shrank back. "Can you keep a secret?" He asked. "I can. Let me guess, you didn't really do it." Demetrius looked over at Ben with a knowing look. "How'd you know?" Ben asked with wide eyes. "Ben, you're one of my best friends and you have to ask how I know you?" Demetrisu smiled out of relief and then sat up when he remembered what he came up here for. "Where's my lap top?" Demetrius asked, looking around when he noticed it wasn't on his desk where he left it. "Oh that...umm...I took it to the library since mine is in the shop, however I left it there and they closed it early today since the librarian had a family emergency. You can use mine." "Yours doesn't have Pokémon World Online uploaded onto it and that could take hours," Demetrius groaned. "The support staff should all have their numbers on the main site if you want to call that girl you've been harping over," Ben suggested. "You're right!" Demetrius quickly accessed the site on Ben's laptop and found Twilmer under the support staff. Then he felt a fluttering in his chest. "I can't call her." "Yes you can! I've seen you make impossible shots on the field. Calling some girl can't be as hard as that." Ben was right. Demetrius thanked him and went outside, dialing the number on his cell phone. ooo Pokémon World Online Part 17: Real Life Online Disclaimer: I do not own anything except my characters. Yada yada, blah blah. Anyways, had a weird idea for this part after I saw something about World of War craft on the news. PWO is supposed to be a famous online game, so why shouldn't it be on the news? So yeah...anyways...on with the show! And a warning, (glaaaares at Drix) I’ve been listening to the theme from Zero no Tsukaima “First Kiss” waaay too much whilst writing this, so…yeah…blame the real Drix for this. ooo Twilmer lugged along, using Quick Attack occasionally to keep up with the group. Her main form of transportation hadn't logged on today, so she was left trudging along. She refused to ride on Emily23's shoulder and didn't dare ask Drix or Aura for a ride. Victoria loved her partner, but she really didn't want to lug her around everywhere. Twilmer figured that it was time for her to learn to use her Pichu body as it appeared she wouldn’t be rid of it any time soon. “I wonder where Helium is,” Emily23 wondered aloud. She had changed back into her other Bunneary outfit and Twilmer was far from approving, but she kept her mouth shut. “He’s probably got real life to attend to,” Aura shrugged. “Unlike a certain admin,” Drix added. “What did you say?” Twilmer used agility to get right in front of him, cheeks sparking dangerously. “Knock it off you two,” Aura said. She was very annoyed with the proceedings and was still irked at Drix for tying with her again. A loud ringing suddenly sounded from Twilmer. Emily23 jumped and Aura drew her twin katanas faster than the eye could see. Drix merely looked confused. “Sorry, that must be my phone. Geoffrey should have it up to me in no time.” Twilmer removed the microphone from her mouth and looked over at Geoffrey, who was entering the door. She had been walking on the treadmill in her room to make the game seem more realistic and stepped off as Geoffrey handed her the phone. “Hello?” “Hi, um, is this Twilmer…I mean Twila?” A familiar voice met Twila’s ears. “Helium?” Twila was surprised to hear her party member calling her and was also a bit flattered. She felt her cheeks becoming stained red and felt her voice temporarily leave. Talking to someone on the computer was one thing, but talking to them on the phone was something completely different. “You don’t have to call when you’re not going to be on, you know. We can manage well enough without a simple herbalist.” That was the Twilmer Demetrius knew. “Um, I just wanted to call to ask if you had seen the news. By the way, you can call me Demetrius if you want since we aren’t, you know, online currently.” Demetrius sounded as nervous as Twila was. She hadn’t felt this way in such a long time. “Oh, okay then.” Twila mentally kicked herself. Why was she being so self conscious? This was the same person that she used as transportation daily. “No, Demetrius, I have not seen the news. I gave up on the current status of the world when I stopped actually caring about it.” “Well,” Demetrius found it easier to talk to Twila not that she was acting like the feisty, self-centered girl he knew and loved. Loved? Demetrius blushed and cleared his throat, “There was a news report on the numerous glitches in PWO. They also mentioned that the glitch has you unable to log out.” “What? Did they mention me by name?” Twila asked, surprised. “Yeah, and that’s not the half of it. I assume that since they mentioned this on TV, then the glitches must be getting pretty serious.” “PWO Corp has mentioned anything to the admins that I am aware of and nothing has been posted to the players. This can’t be good. Why would they keep something like this secret?” Twila pondered this fact. Why would they keep this from their top admin; the admin that was involved in the biggest glitch investigation. “This also had me thinking of how Ken Sugimori attacked us. Didn’t you saw that he was one of Satoshi’s top ten?” “Yeah, he is. I just figured it was a hack or something. This is really weird.” Twilmer furrowed her brows. “Then we’ve got to double our efforts. I want us to get to Mount Firewall as soon as possible. It shouldn’t take that long if we use some short cuts…” Twilmer trailed off, surprised at her line of thinking. “You don’t mean hacking, do you?” Demetrius sounded shocked. Twilmer, who was about as big a supporter of PWO as there could be was, talking of hacking? “Of course not. Well, I suppose that’s where my thoughts were headed, but I know my way around. I may not be much of a grace master at the moment, but that doesn’t mean I don’t know my way around.” “Of course it doesn’t. I won’t be able to get online today because my roommate is a forgetful moron, but I’ll be on call if you need me.” “Well, okay. Umm, you know that you don’t have to just call me about games. You can call me any time.” What was she saying? “I mean I’m pretty busy being an admin and all, so I’d probably not have time for your call, but you know, if you want. Thanks for the info.” Demetrius caught the meaning and smiled. “You’re welcome. Bye.” “Bye,” Twila pushed the button that hung up the phone, her face still red, “Please take this back for me, Geoffrey.” She handed the phone to her butler, who had been waiting patiently for her to finish the call. He bowed before leaving the room. Twila fixed the microphone back on her face. Ooo “I’m back, guys.” Twilmer looked up at her party. “What was that all about?” Drix asked, running a hand through his purple hair. “That was Deme-I mean Helium. There was a bit on the news about the PWO glitches…and about me.” Twilmer looked up at the three of them. “Oh, Miss Pichu and Helium are in love!” Emily23 gushed girlishly. She clasped her hands in front of her and a dreamy look crossed her face. “WHAT?!” An unmistakable crossed Twilmer’s pink cheeks making them turn many shades darker. Sparks flew agitatedly from them. “Oh, so was that your daily phone sex call or something?” Drix smirked. Twilmer let him know just how much she didn’t appreciate that comment by letting loose a flurry of spark attacks on the warrior. “You little b” Drix pulled his sword out and pointed it at the little admin, who just looked up at him furiously and did not back down one inch. “Break it up you two! Twilmer’s love life is her own business.” Aura glared at the two of them. Drix put his sword back into his sheath and was about to say a snide remark, however a glare from Aura told him to keep his mouth shut. “Anyways,” Twilmer cleared her throat and regained her composure, “we need to double our pace. If the glitch is on the news, then this can’t be good.” “Hmm, it seems things are moving along faster than we first thought. What are we supposed to do now?” Aura asked, looking at Twilmer. “Well, I was going to suggest going to Firewall Mountain, but now that I think about it, it’d probably be best to go to PWO Corp and get some information first. Then Firewall is only a little ways away. We can probably get to PWO Corp by the end of the day if we hurry. We’ve actually been keeping a good pace,” Twilmer remarked. With that, the group took off at a run. Twilmer was surprised that she was able to keep up, using agility whenever she fell behind. Being a Pichu wasn’t so bad. Well, it was, but there were worse things she could’ve turned into. For one, a Slowpoke. Luckily the Slowpoke that was with them would reappear whenever Emily23 logged back on so that they didn’t worry about him falling behind. They were able to reach PWO Corp headquarters at the end of the day, just as Twilmer had predicted. Twilmer looked up at her place of employment with a small grin on her face. This was the one place she felt she could call home. Twilmer had all the information concerning her mission with her, however if what Demetrius had said was correct, than new leads had evolved and they had not been given to her. She had never known PWO Corp to mistrust her before, so why would they start now? “Alright guys, we did very well. Everyone can log off for the night and then we can ask PWO Corp all the questions we’d like when they open in the morning.” Twilmer commanded. “Ladies first,” Drix smirked at Twilmer, who glared at him. “Then please, by all means, be my guest,” Twilmer bowed low to Drix with an evil grin on her face. Aura and Victoria laughed as Drix scowled and logged out. “See you tomorrow, Miss Pichu!” Emily23 logged out soon after leaving only Aura and Twilmer. “What are you waiting for?” Twilmer asked. “Twilmer, do you know why I left the top ten?” Aura asked suddenly. Twilmer looked up at her and shrugged. “PWO Corp isn’t the almighty and good power you think they are. The people who run it are human. They may be persuaded to act irrationally just as other humans may be.” Twilmer simply looked up at Aura. “You don’t know anything about PWO Corp. They are the best corporation in the world and they only work for the good of the players and mankind. I will not hear anyone insult their good name.” “And it’s people like you that make me realize how mind-washing PWO Corp can be.” With that, Aura signed out leaving a disgruntled Twilmer behind her. OoO Twila growled slightly as the phone rang. She had been busy shocking small Tailow to gain some cheap experience. She was surprised that her level could still rise as a Pichu. It seemed as if she had truly become a “real” Pokémon. “What?” Twila demanded as she picked up the phone. “Oh, umm, is this a bad time?” Demetrius’ voice met Twila’s ears. She relaxed slightly and cleared her throat. “No, I’m just irritated. I’m always irritated, so that’s nothing new.” Twila smiled as Demetrius laughed. “Anything wrong with the game?” “No, I just called to, umm, you know, talk.” Twila smiled and her night became a lot less lonely. For the first time in months, she didn’t spend it alone finding ways to pass time in the virtual world.