"Emily, honey, you've been spending way too much time on that game lately. 
Everyday after band camp, you run home to get on that thing. I think you should 
take a break for the rest of the week," EMily's mom suggested as she stirred the 
noodles she was cooking on the stove. The spicey arouma of spaghetti sauce 
filled the air.

Emily looked at her and placed a hand on her hip. She flipped her long, blonde 
hair back and huffed. "You can't do that! I finally got the hang of the game and 
have joined a halfway decent party. If I miss a day of play, who knows what I'll 
miss? Besides, I've really been limiting my times and it doesn't interfere with 
my social life, so don't worry about it."

"If you say so, but I'm going to discuss this with your father." Emily's mother 
taste-tested the sauce. She added some more spices and began to stir the sauce.

"What's he going to do about it? He never does anything! All he does is sit in 
that chair of his and watch tv. He can't even come to any of our band 
competitions or even the football games that we play at." Emily looked 
exasperatedly at her mother.

"Your father works all day, honey. He's just trying to support us since I'm out 
of work now."

"You always stick up for him!" Angry tears came to Emily's eyes. Perhaps she was 
being a bit unfair to her father, after all he did work in one of the best 
offices in New York City, but he always had to work whenever she needed him and 
on his days off, he was so worn out that he didn't have time for her. 
"Whatever," EMily stomped up to her room and slammed the door. She picked up the 
virtual reality helmet and placed it on her head. She flipped on the power and 
waited for Pokemon World Online to load. When it had, she picked up the 
controller and entered her password, ready to begin another adventure.

ooo

Pokemon World Online

Login 6: To Be a Pokemon

discalimer: Yes, I'm trying to make Emily23 more likeable. I realize that she's 
a n00b, but...yeah... Anyways, I don't own pokemon or the inspiration for this 
fic (.hack legend of the twilight) either. Sorry for the spelling mistakes too. 
I'll fix those as soon as my dad re-uploads spell checker (a virus wiped it 
out). Like Twilmer, I have no life outside my PC and am trying to give you guys 
a part at least once every two days ;

ooo

"Your late," Twilmer announced as Emily23 appeared on the trail where Ontaro, 
Helium, and their pokemon were waiting. "I bet you're not late to band 
practice."

"I had an arguement with my mother. They think I've been spending too much time 
online," Emily23 grumbled.

"My room mate and my friend Jason think I've been spending too much time online. 
It's not true though, I study just as much as I'm on here." Helium looked up at 
Emily23, brushing a bit of dirt from his pink robes.

"Studying? You sound like oodles of fun in real life," Twilmer commented as she 
stood up and walked to the center of the group. "Okay, as an admin and most 
important member of this party, I think that we should try the Gandrum Valley 
Town to search for some attacking party members. The town is only about a days 
walk from here."

"What? There's a town on the mountain crest that we could go to and it's only 
about twenty minutes away," Ontaro looked at her incredulously.

"There are only defenders and grace masters up here and we already have one of 
each. There are bound to be swordsman in the valley, so we head that way. Now I 
suggest you never argue with me again if you don't want your warning level 
upped." Twilmer glared at him.

"We have a grace master?" Ontaro looked down at the little Pichu who would have 
been giving him a murderous look if she didn't have such an adorable face.

"Miss Pichu is a grace master!" Emily23 exclaimed. "She keeps it real."

"How many times do I have to tell you not to call me Miss Pichu? If you insist 
on giving me a nickname, then you can call me 'Miss-better-than-me-Twilmer. I 
actually like the sound of that..." Twilmer got a pensive look in her eyes. 
"Also, don't say 'keeps it real.' because you are not cool enough to use that 
phrase."

"I'm cool in real life," Emily23 pouted.

"Maybe so, but here you are just a n00b. Anyways, if we don't have any other 
objections, then lets..."

"BRB," Helium interupted, "I need a quick bathroom break."

"Hurry up," Twilmer grumped. Helium's charcter disappeared and a standby message 
was floating in the air where he had once been. Helium soon returned and smiled 
with a blush. "Alright party, forward march!" Twilmer pointed to the path ahead. 
Ontaro grumbled as Twilmer climbed up Helium's arm and perched on his shoulder.

"Hey Twilmer," Helium whispered to the admin-turned Pichu sitting on his 
shoulder. She looked over at him with a raised eyebrow. "If you haven't logged 
out in eight months, then how do you...you know...use the bathroom and eat and 
stuff like that?"

"First of all, you have no proof that I haven't logged out in eight months other 
than that odd little thought that won't leave your hard head. Second, I'm well 
paid because of my admin status and employment at PWO Corp, so I have a butler 
for the rare occasions, and I do mean rare, do NOT give me that skeptical look, 
where I pull all nighters. He brings me food and I eat while playing. Also, I 
have modified the virtual reality helmet I'm wearing so that it has a camera on 
it and can show me my surroundings if I look around. I have a personal bathroom 
in my room, so I just use the camera to help locate the bathroom. The helmet is 
water proof so I can shower with it on, if I had to, but I don't, so don't look 
at me like that." Twilmer explained, refusing to look at Helium. He shrugged and 
din't ask her anything else as they made their way out of the mountains.

“Oh wow! The PWO programmers have really out done themselves this time,” Twilmer 
commented as they entered the valley. It was true, the valley was graphically 
stunning and if it weren’t for the players having controllers in their hands and 
virtual reality helmets on their heads, they would have felt as if they were in 
a real valley. The wind blew along the grass lazily. There were flowers of every 
kind dotting the lush green grass that carpeted the entire area. The valley was 
surrounded by purple mountain majesty on either side and the snowcapped 
mountains enhanced the natural beauty of the place. At the far end, a town could 
barely be made out from the rocks that were scattered about the place from rock 
slides. A few trees dotted the gently sloping valley that were blossoming with 
red flower buds.

“Look at all the different plants,” Helium gasped as he looked about. Twilmer 
slid off of his shoulder, not wanting to be involved with plants in anyway, and 
climbed onto Victoria’s head. Victoria allowed Twilmer to climb aboard, but 
looked very irritated at the situation.

Suddenly, the sky flashed purple and a ringing sound was heard. It stopped and 
each party member received a PWO mail. “Looks like we triggered a special event-
I wonder if it’s one I designed,” Twilmer pondered as she opened her PWO mail. 
“Congratulations, you have triggered the special event Honey Run. In this event, 
it is your mission to get past the swarm of Beedrill and make it to their hive. 
There you will find a special reward. Good luck gamers. The event will start as 
soon as you close this email. This is an event designed by Twilmer and can only 
be activated when there is an herbalist and a tamer in your party.”

“Beedrill?” Helium looked around warily. “Do we have to do this event?”

“Yes because it’s a great event designed by the best admin this game has ever 
seen. If you don’t do this event, I will take it as a great insult. Also I will 
personally raise all of your warning levels.” Twilmer glared at Helium. “Are you 
afraid of bees?”

“No, of course not! Why would I be afraid of bugs…with stingers…and antenna…and 
poison…and painful…” Helium rambled.

“Whatever, let’s just start this event. I forgot what I designed as the prize,” 
Twilmer pondered as she closed her PWO mail with a sound of protest from Helium. 
As soon as she had closed the mail, a faint buzzing sound could be heard. “Here 
they come,” Helium grinned from Victoria’s head. Victoria made a noise and 
Twilmer slid off her head.

The Beedrill were upon them in a matter of seconds and the bugs didn’t look too 
happy at being disturbed. “Run!” Helium shouted and began to run away from the 
bees.

“Wrong way flower child, you have to run through them!” Twilmer shouted over the 
deafening hum of a hundred Beedrill wings. Helium stopped and looked at the 
bees, whimpering slightly.

“Yah!” Emily23 cried out as she slapped at the Beedrill with the broad end of 
her pole. Max yawned as he made his way slowly through the Beedrill, who didn’t 
seem to be bothered by the Slowpoke. Ontaro used his shield to charge through 
the Beedrill without getting stung. Victoria slashed at them and Twilmer just 
ran straight forward. She was small enough that none of the pokemon bothered 
her.

“We’re almost there! It’s the first tree if I remember correctly!” Twilmer 
shouted, she turned to make sure that all of her party members were following 
her and discovered that Helium was standing in one spot, cowering as the 
Beedrill dived at him. “No! If our whole party doesn’t get there, the prize 
isn’t as great. Stupid herbalist!” Twilmer turned and ran back to Helium.

“Just go on without me,” Helium whimpered as he cowered.

“Idiot, I can’t or we won’t get the best prize for completing this event.” 
Twilmer pulled on his robes, but he wouldn’t budge. Twilmer grumbled under her 
breath as the Beedrill began to dive bomb the two. Helium and she were 
completely open for an attack and if their hp reached zero…Twilmer didn’t want 
to think about it. “What do I do?” she wondered to herself, and then smacked her 
forehead. “Duh, I’m a pokemon. I can attack them.”

Twilmer concentrated and let out a small static spark of static. The Beedrill 
stopped for a second and then continued forward. “Okay, I have to concentrate. 
Victoria makes attacking look so easy,” Twilmer mused as she concentrated on the 
energy levels in her body. She released them as the Beedrill were about to 
strike and hit them all. The Beedrill fell to the ground around her, stunned. 
“Let’s go!” she shouted at Helium. She climbed on his shoulder as he gathered up 
his courage and ran forward.

He met the others and they all reached the tree. A chiming sound signaled that 
they had passed the event. “Alright now, lets see what the prize is!” Emily23 
walked over to the chest that appeared and opened it to find…

“Are you kidding me? A plushie of your character? Twilmer, what were you 
thinking?” Ontaro complained as he held up the prize.

“It’s the best prize ever. Much better than the Twilmer button and whatever the 
other prize was. Who wouldn’t be dying to have it?” the party all looked at 
Twilmer with raised eyebrows. “What?”

“I’ll take it and put it in my inventory, if you don’t want it,” Helium 
suggested, holding out his hands to Ontaro. Ontaro gave him a look like he was 
crazy and handed him the plushie.

“Alright then, let’s continue our way to town. That event took more time than I 
thought, so we might not be able to make it by tomorrow, but that’s okay because 
it was worth it for the Twilmer plushie.” Twilmer beamed as she admired the 
plushie of herself.

“With a crazed Pichu like her, we don’t need a swordsman or any other attacking 
party member,” Ontaro grumbled under his breath. Meanwhile, Victoria was 
congratulating Twilmer and giving her tips for her next battle.

ooo

Emily signed off and turned the computer off. Dinner was ready and she had 
always loved spaghetti. She ate her fill and went back to her room to practice a 
bit of the drill she had learned at band camp that day. As she twirled the flag, 
the spaghetti she had eaten weighed heavily in her stomach. She felt bloated and 
fat.

“I have been eating too much lately. At this rate, I’m going to be fatter than 
the band director,” she whined. Emily set her flag down and went to the 
bathroom. She had only done this twice before and didn’t want to make a habit of 
it, but she wanted her color guard uniform to fit perfectly and this was the 
only solution she could think of.

She kneeled in front of the toilet and stuck her finger to the back of her 
throat, gagging. “Honey, are you okay?” her mother asked as she heard the sounds 
of her daughter vomiting.

“I’m fine, just go away,” Emily called, embarrassed to be found like this.

“Well, I don’t want you going to band tomorrow. You sound ill and that sun will 
do you no good.” Emily tried to protest, but her mother was firm. Emily huffed 
and stomped to her room, slamming the door behind her.