109 Treasure Bandits

Rango, the ex-military soldier turned crafter's guild top combatant was running on the surface of the water in Dome City.....it has been a few years since he left the Crafter's and joined the Adventurers. The Crafters still exist but, they are solely focused on Minecraft and thus have grown smaller over time...

Many of their original members have moved on except for the leader and vice-guild leader who continue to enjoy their time in the MC world, building to their heart's content.

After Rango received the invitation to join the adventures, he was promised little oversight and restriction and only needed to aid the guild in times of crisis. Thus, he accepted the invitation and is now a top combatant in the largest guild currently operating in Raven Oscar's multiverse...

Now, we find Rango running towards the nearest antlion pit as he took the guild assignment to explore the newest world, Parallel.

After diving head-first into the vortex with no hesitation, he was prompted to choose a destination. He chose Parallel and watched the trailer quickly...after the introduction, his journey began.

...

In a large-sized two-story house located in a suburban neighborhood, Ian Archer just opened his eyes. Earlier today, he chose to take a short nap after being kicked out of his high school for getting into yet another fight..... he stuck up for a friend who was getting bullied, and expulsion was the result.

With a sigh of exhaustion, Ian's foggy eyes gained their usual clarity before he sat up on the bed. This time, however, his eyes had an extra edge to them....testifying to the fact that something has changed.

He (Rango/Ian) looked around the room and through his memories.....he noticed at first glance that this world seemed quite similar to Blue Star. A few things stuck out such as the dinosaur equipment on the nearby desk known as a computer...

Ian hopped off the bed a stood near the window, he closed his eyes with his fingers rubbing his temples...he processed the memories received silently before, and after a couple of minutes, his shoulders relax and he thought...

'This kid was a good man.....brave, resourceful, talented. However, he seems to have fast reflexes.....unnaturally fast, as if he can predict the future. Even I, who was an accomplished member of the special forces can't compare...he's never told anyone about this? I suppose he assumed everyone is the same...'

Rango didn't have much time to ruminate on how he will perform in the body of Ian Archer as he was brought out of his thoughts by Ian's angry father calling from downstairs...

"IAN! CAN YOU COME DOWN HERE PLEASE!?..."

Ian sighed and made his way downstairs, he passed by his father without looking him in the eye. The new Ian agreed with the old one, that bully needed to be confronted and he wouldn't have changed a thing if he could go back.

"How many times have we warned you, Ian? How many times?....yet you still start fights..." Ian's disregard for his father's judgmental stare made the man even angrier at his son. Once they reached the dinner table, it was all the father could do not to yell even louder, but the calming eyes of his wife stopped him from escalating the argument.

The mother looked at her son and reprimanded..."Ian, sweety, another fight? Why do you always have to charge in swinging when someone is being bullied?..."

Ian sat down and began eating but finally, he responded..." the guy needed some hel--"

"IAN, you tell a teacher or you tell us...you don't fight!" the father interjected when he saw that his son was trying to justify his actions.

"Are you two asking me to change who I am? I can't help it when I see them being bullied..." this sentence caught his father off guard but his mother was quick to respond.

"Sweety, you haven't even begun to realize who you are..."

....

After a long stent of reprimanding and discussion, Ian Archer finally retreated to his room. The new Ian was curious about this new world because, in his memories, he sees many differences between this world and Blue Star....one of which is something called MMORPG's, the old Ian's favorite pastime outside of martial arts...

Thus, after entering the room, Ian booted up the computer and logged in to Treasure Bandits (the MMORPG popular nowadays), sporting the wonderful handle of "Slayer86".

After a period of adjustment, Ian started to have fun with this familiar yet unfamiliar game and controller, smiling and laughing when he got the hang of it...

Just as he was entering a boss fight, a new player popped up nearby and on the chat function...

"WOW Slayer, you got skills..." came the delicate and sweet voice of a woman, who had the username 'Whisper 119'.

"Thanks...uh, Whisper 119, haven't seen you on here before..."

"...well, not everyone sees a Whisper Ian..."

Alarm bells rang in Rango's (now Ian's) ears but he kept his calm before inquiring..."How do you know my name? Do you go to my school?..."

"....hmm, maybe....I'll catch you around Ian..."

Hoping that his assumption is correct and this person went to his school, Ian wrote the creepiness off and replied in a casual manner...

*Sigh*

" I'll be here....every night..."

".....why so sad about that?"

Ian knew of his body's hopes and dreams and being stuck playing video games in this small town was not in his future plans...." what? being stuck in jerk-water suburbia? My only physical outlet is online fantasy games...What gave you that idea?..."

"....Things change Ian."

"Yeah, well not soon enough for me..."

At that moment, Whisper 119 disappeared from the game without giving Ian a chance to respond.

*scoff*

"Well, see you around Whisper..." after thinking for a moment, Ian decided to try the music in this new world and thus, reached over to turn on his speakers and music player. A loud hip-hop song began blaring through the room and house...

"IAN! PUT ON SOME HEADPHONES NOW!..." called the father causing Ian to roll his eyes before putting on the earphones, he wanted to experience new things and music was always integral to culture.

However, Rango found something strange....within the music, Rango heard a crackling sound slowly gaining volume...

He played with the knobs a little but it did nothing to stop the dreadful noise. Putting the headphones back on again to listen once more....the static noise blared loudly in his ears, this time completely overshadowing the music.

The eyes of the recent Transmigrator dilated before he fell back after dropping the headphones...everything stilled as Ian fell towards his bed.

As soon as his back made contact with the bed, however, he hopped up to find himself in an unfamiliar room. Surrounded by three other young men who were dressed in all red, white, and black colored uniforms with a "T" logo on every article of clothing...

".....Who are you?... WHERE AM I? HOW DID I GET HERE?..."