First Blood

A few minutes earlier...

{It feels lonely, now that we had to say goodbye...}

"Yeah, I know what you mean..."

Ryker trekked through the heavily forested Red Viper Mountains, shuffling his feet and kicking at rocks on the ground as he went.

[Incidentally, why did you feel it necessary to tell Meiling about the Friend System?] Mini C asked, to which Bestie concurred loudly.

{Yeah! If you were the actual host, that'd be grounds for immediate withdrawal!}

Ryker chewed the bottom of his lip as he thought, eventually shrugging his shoulders before he answered.

"I dunno, it just... didn't feel right?" he said, "I didn't want us to be friends just because of the system, you know?"

{Mmm... I guess I can understand that, a little...}

Bestie popped up with a tiny, chibi-style avatar, barely as tall as Ryker's head, using the holo projectors around his body to create a hologram of herself.