"Awesome, thanks!" Julia said, giving a small salute to the bored looking man behind the counter of the frozen yogurt shop as she walked out, cone in hand. If she didn't get this job, at least she still had the free cone today. She zipped up her jacket to protect her from the chill wind, stuck her hands in her pocket and continued down the street and past the crowds of kids wandering town now that school was out. She passed pizza parlors and candy shops and her stomach grumbled. If only she had money for a quick bite on the way home, but she needed to hold onto what little she did have for the Duelist's next adventure. "Hey, Jules!" someone called out behind her. She turned around to see a boy around her age was jogging down the street and stopped a little bit away from her. "Hey, wassup?" He asked and blew his wild brown hair out of the way. "Hey Pete," Julia said, turning around and continuing. Pete moved beside her and walked in step. "It's good, just heading down to the arcade before I head home," she shrugged. "Cool, I was gonna head down there myself. You played Ultimate Horizon yet, or are you still playing that stupid Deep Dark Dungeons thing?" he asked. Julia twitched. "It's not [i]stupid[/i], you just aren't any good at it. Just wailing on everything with an axe won't solve every fight. It takes [i]skill[/i]," she replied. "It's all about timing, dodge, block, counter. Use your enemies weaknesses to your advantage. Don't just swing wildly, Mr. Barbarian." She gave Pete a pointed look. She'd reached the top of the cone and ate the edges to get the ice cream inside. "Hey, I wasn't even playing a barbarian." "That doesn't help your case." Pete harrumphed and Julia chuckled. They approached the arcade, which to be honest looked pretty ugly from the outside. The pair entered, mentally preparing themselves for the barrage of lights and colors that awaited them inside. The place smelt like a combination of pizza crusts, sugar, and sweat. The pair immediately made their way upstairs where they kept all the VR gear and Julia leaned against the railing behind all the VR machines, watching the people inside the cockpits play whatever games they were playing. Mostly Ultimate Horizon, as usual, but a few were playing Deep Dark Dungeons and another game she wasn't familiar with. On one players screen, a heavily armored warrior held a massive shield in front of him as a demonic creature wailed away at him while right next to it a pilot did dizzying stunts as he avoided laser fire from all directions. Julia felt a hand in her pocket and she turned around, about to lash out but it was just Pete standing there. "It's on me," he grinned. Julia raised and eyebrow and dug into her pocket, pulling out a handful of bills. Just enough for an hour of gameplay. "You know, you [i]did[/i] owe me from that time you forgot your lunch money." Julia smiled and punched him in the shoulder before scanning the room. A few machines we open and she slid into ones, making sure to untie and remove her boots before she lied down. Pete grabbed the machine next to her and did the same. "But, you gotta try Ultimate Horizon this time," he said right before the cockpit closed down on him. Julia rolled her eyes before the cockpit closed and slid her card into the slot before she grabbed onto the handles, entering the virtual world. --- The Ultimate Horizons title spread out before her on a screen and she found herself sitting in a lobby of sorts, complete with couch and a futuristic looking coffee table. Signs pointed her too a door at the far end of the room, so she followed and began the character set up process. A list of possible jobs presented themselves to her and she scrolled through them. A soft pinging sound seemed to come from everywhere, signaling that another player was trying to contact her. Pete, of course. She patched him in and his face filled a small box in her vision. She dismissed it so it was just audio. "I see you're in 'Lazarus'. Where you at?" he asked. The sounds of a ship's engine warming up came from his end of the call. "I'm still picking a job." she said. [i]Miner, Smuggler, Pirate, Bounty Hunter, Marine...[/i] She stopped. Marine could be fun. She read the description. Specialized in ship-board combat, though could still fly a fighter. She selected it and her avatar was soon decorated with a military-esque uniform with armor plating. A faint shimmering appeared in front of her and the game notified her that a selection of weapons and a suit of armor was added to her ship storage along with the normal starting gear. Another door opened up ahead, prompting her to continue to the hanger. She did. On the otherside of the door sat a sleek, aerodynamic looking jet. "So this is my starter ship? Nice." She said, approaching it. "Get in and I'll teach you the ropes. Just follow the tutorial and meet me outside." --- Julia was floating lazily through space behind a larger gunship outfitted with swiveling turrets looking in all directions. She checked her ships inventory and looked at her selection of weapons. "Here, I'm gonna jump and you should automatically follow me. I've got a place where we can do some practice, I'll even grab one of my old fighters. and we can have a dog fight." Julia just nodded and kept looking, barely noticing when her ship entered FTL and popped out in an empty (well, emptier than usual) stretch of space. Two large ships were floating opposite to each other and Julia looked out the cockpit of her ship curiously. "Thought you said that no one would be here," she said. Pete shrugged. "So did I. You know, I bet they're gonna fight. Those are both command ships, they're not the biggest in the game but they're way bigger than ours. They've got hangers and stuff in them so you can move a bunch of ships around. Must be two clans about to fight. Or they're just talking, but I doubt that. Let's sit back and watch, eh?"