Jack sat back from his couch, dropping the Rock Band guitar.  Every sing song on the disk in one go, done.<br/>Oh.<br/>My.<br/>Goodness.<br/>My hand will be curled for days.<br/>I'm never doing that again.<br/>OUCH.<br/><br/>After all these thoughts flew through his head the door bell rang.<br/>"Oh what wonderful person is upstairs waiting for me?" Walking out of the basement he opened the door to find only a small box.  It wasn't UPS, it lacked a return address, and it had his name on it.<br/>"Present!"<br/>He took it inside and opened it up on the spot.  The marble was pretty cool, and then the note.<br/><br/>Now, Jack's a gamer, so when he read Beta he knew what they were talking about (ish) so when the letter ended, he picked up the orb and examined it.<br/><br/>So this is a game?<br/>Like VR?<br/>SAO?<br/>"SAO is freaking awesome."  And this will put him in something similar if this thing actually works?<br/>And he can be anybody?<br/>"I know exactly who I'd be, The Joker!"<br/>With these thoughts in mind, Jack squeezed the orb, crushing it.<br/><br/>And reality goes capoot.<br/><br/>When reality finally rebooted he was in a white cylinder.<br/>"Holy crap it worked."<br/>Then a voice came out of nowhere,<br/>"Welcome to the Arcomovani Islands.  Please chose your character."<br/>An image appeared in front of Jack, and his jaw dropped.  It was Jack Spade.  His pet project, his fantasy character, him and his best friends inside joke, the good version of the Joker.  He never even drew the guy, let alone post it online.  The closest thing he did was make him in Rock Band, but this was him in all his realistic glory.  Purple hair, purple trench coat, baseball bat, and knife.<br/>Everything.<br/><br/>"How did you get this character?"  Jack asked the voice.<br/>"It was chosen from your subconscious, original characters are encouraged."  It responded.<br/>"Then give me him."<br/>"Would you like to customize?" The voice asked.<br/>"I thought you took him from my mind? Wouldn't he be exactly as he is there?"<br/>"You must purchase his gadgets, he only comes with the bat and the knife, no amulet attached." The voice explained.<br/>"How can I get the missing pieces?" Jack asked back, becoming upset.<br/>"You can purchase them, you start with 1000 gold."<br/>Relief. "Then I'll get the amulet, and if it's possible the joy buzzer."<br/>"That will leave you with 100 gold."<br/>"Perfect."<br/><br/>"Are you ready?" A button appeared in front of Jack, which he pressed immediately.  He suddenly found himself in field, there was an arch way off in the distance.  A little while off there was three people and a, is that what I think it is?  A Magikoopa from Mario?  Walking closer he noticed that Kuritio from SAO was there too, the Gun Gale version.<br/>"Oh I see their all players." Jack said to himself, not expecting anyone to respond.<br/>"Well better go talk to them."<br/>Jack stopped in place looked around and then stopped to think.<br/><br/>First, who the heck was that and second, why didn't he get scared or startled at all when he heard him?<br/>"You forgot, Jack Spade is a sociopath and mildly psychotic.  He doesn't feel, and I'm the voice in his head.  You made him, you should remember this."<br/>Right, Jack's crazy.  This is going to be fun.<br/><br/>I should probably be worried about how I responded to that.<br/>"Nah."<br/><br/>Jack continued to walk over to the three people and koopa.  "So are any of you Beta players and know what we're supposed to do from here or are you all greenies like me?"  Jack asked when he got to them.