***This is the start of the Alteration remake. ***

"Hup!"

*Thud*

"Hup!"

*Thud**Thud*

A girl and a man were standing in a garden. Continuous blows struck the man's outstretched hands. The man was quite a lot taller than the girl. He stood in a fighting position but the atmosphere around him was calm. It didn't seem like he'd retaliate because of the punches he just received. He just frowned and shouted at the girl.

"Quicker! If you keep at it like that I might just redirect your allowance money into a premature pension fund! Hup!"

Her body momentarily tensed up and her hands flew in the direction of the man.

*Thud* *Thud*

"Ha..."

The man's shirt was thoroughly soaked and drops of sweat slowly dripped from his hair tips. Despite all that he just moved dynamically around her with his hands held upwards and a serious expression on his face that never once shifted away from the girl.

Her movements did follow his, more or less, but they lacked the same spark. Rose’s face was red, her breathing ragged. Each time the man put his hands into position and gave a signal she threw punches at his gloves as fast as she could. If she was too slow...

*Thuk*

She'd get a counter smack by the outstretched glove she had hit too late. The smack wasn't painful due to him wearing focus mitts. Nevertheless the impact disrupted and annoyed her quite much.

"Ow! Come on dad, enough!"

She frowned but didn't let her guard fall as she hid behind her readied fists. Her father just scowled while shaking his head.

"Your guard should have handled that smack easily! Your hands are too low! Come on, up! Up!"

*Thuk**Thuk*

Two more mitt smacks flew towards the girl’s head but she was ready this time and guarded well.

"Easy for you to say, you health addict. My hands feel like they are made from lead. The training seems to have lasted for a small eternity!"

The father suddenly shifted forward and stretched his mitts in the height of his middle torso.

"Hup!"

*Thud**Thud*

His daughter bit her lip and threw two quick jabs at the red, worn-out mitts.

The father shook his head slightly.

"Okay that will be enough for today. Hit the shower."

She let out a deep breath then sat on the grass. It wasn't particularly cultivated with various weeds growing here and there but she liked it that way. The grass tickled pleasantly while she looked at the clear sky. Her relaxation was suddenly interrupted again by her father who just took off his gloves.

"Ah, don't forget to stretch and never bite your lip during training again! That can be very dangerous for obvious reasons."

She frowned.

"Sure dad. But tell me, why the self defense lessons? Until now you were always satisfied with me doing some light exercises and running."

Her dad looked at her seriously and replied after a moment.

"Look, Rose, there is nothing wrong with your previous routine, it's just that I want to teach you guys how to protect yourselves. Avoiding a conflict should always be prioritised but sometimes it's inevitable and I want to make sure that you won't be defenseless when such a time comes."

Rose looked at her father dubiously and carefully asked back.

"Why isn't Blake also here if you wanted to teach us both?"

He waved her question off.

"He already knows plenty. The gym he goes to has a ring so we occasionally go at it when I find some free time during the weekends."

Her brow rose.

"Oh? I didn't know about that, I thought he just worked out on the machines with his friends?"

A troubled smile appeared on the father’s face.

"Well that was true enough at the start... But after a week or two he decided to try out some fighting and joined a group of guys that sparred at the time. One of the guys was quite a veteran and kind enough to show him the ropes. Soon afterwards he sparred more than he exercised on the machines."

The two slowly started walking towards their house and continued talking.

"What about his friends? He didn't ditch them, did he?"

He shook his head.

"Of course not, the opposite would be closer to the truth actually. Most of them had already quit by the time he decided to try something else. He persuaded the remaining one or two to join him."

She cocked her head to the side with a puzzled expression.

"Why the troubled expression then? I'd have thought that this kind of development would make you happy."

They just arrived at the wooden porch and he slowly opened the door while sighing.

"I guess I am... He does exercise without me forcing him to."

Rose urged him to continue.

"But..?

He scratched his head.

"It doesn't seem like he likes the physical exertion part... I think he likes more to figure people out and act accordingly in the ring. Sometimes I worry about him..."

Rose laughed up as she just passed a row of flower pots in full bloom and opened the door.

"Hahaha, figures. I can't imagine him as a brawler, but this? This sounds exactly like something that weirdo would like."

They entered the house and found themselves in a spacious living room. Both walked forward passing the leather couch and went to the kitchen. The father murmured on the way.

"I don't really find that funny. Where did that boy get these questionable traits?"

A smirk appeared on Rose's face.

"Is that a rhetorical question mister hotshot lawyer?"

He scowled lightly and answered jokingly.

"Might I take your talkativeness as a sign that you have enough energy for a bit more training."

Rose gulped down a glass of water and hurriedly replied.

"No! Sorry, I'll be quiet!"

"Now that would be a first..."

A groggy voice was heard and Rose turned towards the staircase. A young man stood there with dark blue pajamas hanging loosely off of him. His blond hair was messy and pointed in every direction. The man slowly walked towards the fridge and rubbed his eyes.

Rose frowned but immediately put up a mocking smile.

"Why good morning to you too Blake. It's regrettable that you hadn't woken up a bit sooner and didn't join our training session."

Blake eyed her suspiciously for a moment and then stopped his father who was just heading towards the shower.

"Dad, how long did you exercise?"

The father took a glance at the clock which was hanging on a nearby wall and answered briefly.

"About forty minutes, not more. Now If you'll excuse me I'll go take a shower."

"Sure."

And with that Blake turned back to his sister with a big smile on his face.

"You are right, it is regrettable. I might just join you next time and make sure you get a nice and thorough training session my dear sister."

The mocking smile didn't disappear from Rose's face not even for a second and she replied with a sure voice while Blake was taking some things out of the fridge.

" Sure, as if you'd give up even a minute sleep just for the sake of messing with me."

"Yeah, that would make me reaaally grumpy and much less friendly, so don't push your luck..."

Rose continued smiling but signs of tension appeared on her face.

"Okay, whatever. It's not your fault I have to workout anyway. By the way, want me to show you Alternation now like we agreed?"

"Sure, sure. Now let me eat. I'll come to your room when I'm done."

****

An hour later the two were sitting in front of a big screen and Rose was actively talking while Blake leaned back in his chair and listened attentively.

"...and that would be the general setting of the world. Did you understand everything? Want me maybe to go into topic more in depth?"

She was totally immersed in explaining things and looked seriously at Blake who slowly nodded.

"Hmm.. I think I understood everything, but I don't think I want you to tell me more. Not yet at least. I want to make my own initial impression."

Rose nodded but looked a bit disheartened with her downcast eyes.

"I see, okay. There really is a lot to explore and discover."

He smiled lightly after seeing his disappointed sister and ruffled her hair.

"Don't worry we'll talk as soon as I find something interesting. Hey, we could sometimes explore together if I also buy the game."

She smacked his hand aside and glared at him.

"Stop it. Also, sure we could do that once you get familiar with it."

Rose said that casually but Blake noticed a glimmer of happiness and continued smiling.

"Okay, I think I'm set now. Start booting up the game."

She got off her chair and leaned towards a machine that was next to the table and proceeded to set things up. Meanwhile Blake looked around her room.

She kept it meticulously clean and everything she had seemed to be in order. Blake smirked lightly while having that thought. He knew very well that his sister was more of the type to hide the mess than to get rid of it. The same knowledge also made him wary of the two big cupboards which could probably bury him instantaneously if he ever opened them.

His gaze wandered back to the table in front of him and he noticed a half opened book that stood in one corner. Blake took it in his hands and curiously turned it over while keeping a thumb on the spot Rose left off. He read the title out loud.

" 'A journey into the long forgotten', huh..? It has a nice ring to it."

Rose stopped for a second but immediately went back to make the finishing adjustments while answering Blake.

"It sounds better than it actually is. The author eased up on the factual part for the sake of entertainment."

He looked over the cover with an absent-minded smile and put it down again.

"How unfortunate."

He noticed that his sister just finished and sat again next to him with some kind of goggles and headset. She handed them to him.

"Here."

Blake took them and looked slightly nervous.

"So... Now I just need to get hypnotised, right? Hah..."

Rose sighed and assured him.

"Look it is harmless, it just induces a light trance. That stuff is heavily inspected, you do know the test period of this was a little bit under a decade even after the actual game was completely finished?"

He put on the goggles and adjusted the headset to his size but he still looked fairly unconvinced.

"And do you know how many decades it took to figure out that cigarettes caused lung-cancer?"

Rose rolled her eyes but nodded.

"Yes. So you are saying that you don't want to play?"

Blake smiled half heartedly and finished putting on the headset.

"I never said that. I just disliked your half-assed argument but never mind. So, how will you join me if it's one person per machine?"

She rolled her eyes and lifted another headset from under the table.

"Well the guest feature allows me to spectate you. Basically, I can see you and you can see me but I can't interact with anything. I have this old headset which will come in handy. I need to constantly hold the cable because the contact is weak, but that won't really be a problem. "

Blake nodded but still looked like he had more to ask.

"What's the other part of the guest feature? I figure that I won't play as your avatar, right?"

She shook her head.

"No, it's some kind of unique temporal guest account. There are some restrictions but if it's just a day or two then you won't even notice."

He nodded again and finally relaxed in his chair. Rose noticed it and inquired:

"Ready at last?"

Blake took a breath.

"Let the games begin."