/*Author's noted (10th February 2014)
This is great fun! I used to write a lot of fight scenes and the like so this changing back to this style feels liberating. The avatars were just chilling with each other at Mio's bar. I wish I could have gone into more detail about the bar itself but I didn't want to drone on in an after chapter scene. Not sure why Mio would have a bar in her computer since I can't imagine Mio being an alcoholic. That would be interesting though… Hm…
I wonder what goes on in other people's computers?
I forgot to mention that the whole party grew up two levels from all those slimes but it's a bit late now :P
Oh, I know that Prince Triton doesn't speak very much. Just assume he's there and has some awesome internal monologue so epic it could write a book three times greater than this one… Or something like that…
I realised why I'm finding it difficult the ship characters together (Mio and Ritsu in particular- that's just standard). It's because the people themselves are in different rooms and playing rather than in the same room. Note: the avatars are very different from who they look like respectively- except Giitar…
*/
Mio sat down, her hands automatically booting up the game and setting up the party. The instant everyone was online, they were being transported to the world of Illusia.
"Hey guys," shouted Giitar, gathering everyone into a group hug. "Long time no see!" They grumbled something in reply, their moods unimproved since the last time they met. After the slime incident, things did pick up until they decided to fight something that wasn't slime like. The players were still noobs, charging into the enemy, drawing them all together and accidentally getting swarmed. Mio's trick wasn't working anymore, as Azu-nyan and Prince Tritan were too slow compared to the boars they tried to hunt which ended up in their deaths. During Mio's shock, Elizabeth was killed due to her inaction whilst Yui and Ritsu managed to get away safely.
"I think we need a change of plan," cried out Mio as they ran away from pigs for the third time that day. "Why do we keep drawing in so many monsters?" Having heard that, all the avatars turned towards Tainaka (who turned around), something even Yui couldn't miss.
"That was weird," commented Azusa but that wasn't the issue at the moment.
Mio, "Ritsu, what are you doing?" It was amazing they hadn't figured it out earlier, triggering Elizabeth to sigh. A few days ago, they were cheering her master's name yet she failed to notice her best friend wander off to try and smite some lonely pigs.
Ritsu, "Um… I just don't want to hit you guys, that's all."
Mio, "So instead you get an army of swine's to do the job for you?" Yui and Giitar laughed at the image of their mage riding a boar in their heads. "We need to get supplies again," she said, causing Azu-nyan to sigh. The avatar barely used potions because she was fairly slow and every moment spent shopping was a moment lost killing.
After conversing with the quest giver, the one that was asking for boar meat, the NPC sighed and shooed them away. It took a while to get back to hunting and when they did get back, they struggled to fight them off. Tainaka tried, she really did. However, due to the way Ritsu had allocated her skills, her wide range fire skills raised the ground and their Prince.
"Ritsu!" cried Mugi as she ordered the Prince to retreat. Mio applied potions to save time as Azu-nyan and Giitar took the brunt of the attack.
"Sorry!" shouted Ritsu, disheartened. Tainaka looked up at the sky towards her controller and sighed, feeling for her. It wasn't a surprise that Ritsu wasn't going to attack anything for a while.
"Tainaka, I'm sorry," comforted Giitar.
"Get off me," she replied. "Noob…"
"We have enough boar meat now," said Mio. "Let's go turn in the quest." Elizabeth headed towards the town and Giitar was ordered to run off. Tainaka stayed where she was.
"Hey, we don't all need to go to town," said Ritsu, coming up with an excuse. "I'll stay here and train a bit, okay?"
"But it's dangerous alone," replied Mio. "And you'll miss out on the quest dialogue."
"I don't mind. I've read it before anyway."
After a pause, the tall girl nodded, appreciating her friend wanted some space. "Oh, okay."
"It's your own fault," shouted Elizabeth as she walked off to town so Tainaka could hear clearly. "Get some better aim." Giitar heard that.
"Elizabeth, that was mean!" she shouted back and watched the lack of reaction. Azu-nyan marched towards town as well. Prince Triton stayed behind however.
"Um, I'm going to keep Ritsu company," Mugi said. "You can tell me about the quest later."
Mio, "Sure Mugi. Take care you two."
There was an awkward silence as Tainaka waited for orders. She idly summoned a fireball in her hands and looked up towards Ritsu. "Yeah, I know how you feel too." She turned to the Prince that sat next to her inaudibly. "What are you going to do? Cheer me up?" Like a doll, she simply just sat there. "Are you a mute?"
Ritsu sighed after switching off her microphone. "This sucks…" A small message popped up in the corner of her screen, causing her eyes to wander off towards it.
Mugi, "How are you feeling?" it said.
Great, Mugi is concerned. It didn't surprise her but being comforted wasn't something she was used to. "Fine," she replied to the message. "Sorry for setting you on fire before."
"I don't mind." (The Prince's face said otherwise, Tainaka raising an eyebrow) "But you should be more careful."
"That's why I was shooting away from everyone before."
Mugi thought about it, trying to think of a way round the situation rather than rudely pointing out Tainaka was the cause of their deaths every single time. "Do you have any other skills?"
"No, I put it all into this fire skill. I wanted a really powerful skill but I guess I chose the wrong one for being in a party."
"What are you doing?" asked Tainaka. In front of her, Prince Triton was shifting through some menus. "Don't you ever talk?" Eventually, the Prince displayed the menu, sending it to Ritsu.
"You could invest in the homing skill," Mugi replied. "It might help with accuracy."
Ritsu looked at the skill and began reading. "Thanks Mugi but it can also home on allies. It locks onto the closest targetable object." They both began checking through the skills.
Meanwhile, The Prince found something interesting and sent it to Tainaka. "Well, she'd never be able to find this skill," the mage commented. "I guess you aren't a mute after all." The Prince looked back inquisitively, as though she, a child, had been asked an interesting question. Laughing, the mage sent the information to Ritsu who jumped back, startled at her screen suddenly changing.
"What the," she said out loud as she stared into the clerics skill tree. "Wait a second…" She began typing, sending a message to Mugi. "Look at the third branch of the cleric skill tree. Dove's Kiss."
"Oh, that's perfect!" Dove's Kiss: reduces the damage dealt to allies. When invested enough, it will heal allies instead. "How long will it take to get there?"
Ritsu counted in her head. "Two levels before I can get a point in it. It changes by twenty per cent per point which is amazing."
"We're back!" shouted Yui, Giitar pouncing onto the mage.
"Oh, hey guys," replied Ritsu. It took her a while to realise her mike was off.
"Have you solved the problem?" asked Giitar, handing Tainaka some potions that they had just bought. As she passed the Prince's share, her eye caught the highlighted skill on the menu. "Wow, that's a great skill! It sounds so lovely too."
Yui's opinion was the same as she was commenting on grabbing the skill for herself. "Why shouldn't I get the skill?" she answered Mio who doubted the idea.
"Well, it won't be very useful since you don't attack teammates."
"Oh yeah… But I might do in the future." They imagined her performing an evil laugh.
"Ritsu-sempai," called out Azusa and her character approached the mage. "Please take this." A gift item appeared in Ritsu's item menu and she double clicked on it. Inside was revealed to be a new wand.
"Heat Tree's Branch?" she asked, curiously. She read the description as the item claimed to be from a special tree with roots diving deep into the earth for precious minerals but so deep that they touch lava hence the name 'Heat Tree.'
"Twenty per cent bonus to fire damage!" Tainaka shouted, equipping the wand before Ritsu could do it for her. "Wow!"
"But won't that mean I do more damage to you guys?" Ritsu asked over her avatar's joyful outburst.
"If you keep on reading…"
Ritsu did so. "Thirty per cent less damage to allies? Amazing!" It didn't sound like much but considering the power behind her fireball attack, it would definitely be noticeable in the worse case scenario. There was also an affinity drop in regards to the water element, causing her to take more damage to that element but Ritsu ignored it, overjoyed. "Thanks guys! But why did you buy this for me? How much was it?"
Yui was told before hand not to mention how much it cost. In fact, they wouldn't have been able to buy it before turning in their last quest. However, a random person online was having a sale and they took the opportunity as soon as they saw it.
"It was so you wouldn't set us on fire so much!" shouted Elizabeth. "Seriously, it really burns."
Tainaka was going to respond how she would shoot them with arrows but that would have been a lie, it only happened because Mio was aiming. Besides, the mage was admiring the wand she had just been given. "Too bad it doesn't have a casting speed bonus like my old one." Before Elizabeth could scold her to be more grateful, the mage said something else. "Thanks guys."
Elizabeth turned her head away, blushing. "You should thank Mio. She was the one that thought up the whole thing. Besides, if you just quit on us like that and don't even do anything then we'll lose our strongest attacker." She stormed off, though the computer didn't let her move very far since Mio was currently idle.
"So what's our next quest?" asked Mugi. She began sorting through her equipment, sighing as she realised she her character still wore the beginner's equipment.
"Territory raid!" Mio claimed, confident now that her best friend would be in high spirits for this battle.
The world of Illusia is a giant island with an excessively large tower at the centre. At the base of the tower is the capital city, Lota, which consists of a single territory. The island is split up into many of these territories that are under the control of a leader. The leader can be simple AI, neutral, controlled by an 'Emotion' or guild.
"Hey Ritsu, what's a territory raid like?" asked Yui, inquisitively as their party headed to their destination.
"I've never been on one."
"Eh? I thought you played this game before though."
"Yeah but this quest said we should have a party of at least six people. And when I was playing, I only had one, me."
"Then it must be really hard then!" Giitar giggled in excitement, much to Elizabeth's annoyance.
"Concentrate," she snapped. "This will be our hardest battle yet and we aren't even very good."
"I'm going to enjoy this," smiled Azu-nyan, licking her lips. "Can't wait…"
"What is she so happy about?" asked Tainaka. "We only got to level six."
Elizabeth shrugged when they received no reply. "Let's just concentrate on the mission."
"Did anyone read the instruction manual?" asked Mio into the microphone. The silence on the other end told her no. With a sigh, Mio decided to explain. "A territory raid is where we try to take over an area. In our case, the quest was to clear out the town of Fishover that has been taken over by goblins." This would be their first fight against those monsters so they had no idea what to expect. "Once we begin the mission, we have an hour to go in and clear out all the monsters."
"An hour!" cried Yui. "But I'll get hungry in an hour."
Giita agreed, her belly already rumbling. "At least Yui will be able to eat something whilst she's playing."
Elizabeth, "We've just been to town and Yui treated you to cake. How can you be hungry?"
Giitar, "Yui left the pacing skill on again…"
Elizabeth nodded, as though she understood. "Wait- That skill helps reduce mana usage and we're walking. It shouldn't even be doing anything!"
Giitar, "Oh yeah." She smiled back. "I forgot."
Elizabeth, "What's wrong with this child…"
They waited just outside the territory area. A slightly transparent red wall separated the zone from theirs showing that it was a hostile area inside.
Mio, "Right, has everyone checked the map thoroughly?" Everyone nodded. Being in different rooms, Mio couldn't know this but she began anyway. Her avatar pressed her hand on the wall, displaying a message to Mio.
"Do you want to begin territory raid of Fishover?"
Mio clicked the okay button. "Mission start!"
They all stepped through the wall together, a timer appearing in the corner of the screen as they headed to the fishing village.
"Be on your guard," said Mio. She kept moving the camera, hoping to catch sight of the enemy in case they were suddenly attacked. Mio didn't like surprises.
It wasn't long before they reached the village and some goblin guards stood by the only path that led to inside. The group hid behind a single tree, planning their assault. If the guards bothered looking around, they'd have found a comedic group of five struggling to remain hidden.
"What's the plan Mio?" asked Yui, excited.
After a few moments of thought, Mio decided on their course of action. "Ritsu and I will attack the guards from far away whilst the rest of you move in close. Then we come in after you."
Doesn't seem that bad, thought Elizabeth. It's a bit risky to send in all the troops but it was their first territory raid so what could happen?
"Ready Tainaka?" asked Elizabeth.
She nodded back. "Ready." Simultaneously, they jumped out of hiding and began their assault.
Elizabeth, "I've got the left one, you take the right." She fired an arrow, getting a critical shot and a surprise attack. On her right, she saw a fireball arc towards the wooden gates. "Overkill." The fireball also got a critical on the right goblin but the explosion set everything in the vicinity ablaze, the left goblin and the wall.
"Don't you have any other skills Ritsu?" shouted Mio. "That was unnecessary."
"I only have one skill," replied Ritsu. "That and I can heal a little." Not bothering to reply, Mio gave the signal for the others charge.
"Bring it!" shouted Azu-nyan just behind Giitar. The prince lagged behind as the slowest of the group.
Suddenly, a volley of arrows rose from behind the walls, arcing towards the charging group.
Azu-nyan, "What the…"
Giitar turned around before Yui could react, running back towards their Prince. "Take cover!" she shouted, diving behind the armoured guard. Azu-nyan was too slow and she knew it. However, Azusa tried to move her off to the side. Thankfully, most of the shots glanced off the armour she recently bought but she still took a lot of damage.
"Sixty per cent health left." Yui's avatar ran up to her comrade at full sprint, ready to apply a healing item.
"Here comes another volley!" Mio shouted. Mugi was already on it though, raising her shield to protect the party members. Arrows were deflected harmlessly to the side.
The three marched slowly now towards the gates. The fire from the mage had long blown itself out leaving the walls black and crispy and the two guards like charcoal. "Let's go!" The three entered.
"Let's go," said Mio to Ritsu. The two headed after their allies but were halted by more arrows. "How many of them are there?" She was hoping that the enemy goblins would be distracted enough by their allies so that they could make it through but apparently not.
"We can make it in between the shots, can't we?" They ran in, not wanting to hold up their friends any longer. Another hail of arrows that they could not dodge.
"Arg!" screamed Elizabeth, stepping in front of Tainaka to take some of the arrows. Unlike Azu-nyan, she was barely armoured save for the beginner's leather padding over her sweatshirt. At the sight of her crippled partner, less than thirty per cent, Tainaka began casting some healing magic.
"Come on!" she shouted, quickly casting the spell before they both raced on. Mio activated the sprint ability, diving behind the doors of the gate.
"Come on Tainaka, you can make it." Three arrows hit her before she collapsed next to Elizabeth. The mage was even less armoured and her health struggled above ten per cent. As Tainaka began healing herself, her partner looked round the door. "We need to help out." She ran in, bow ready as she analysed the situation. Tainaka was crippled outside whilst she herself was only just above half health. In the cramped village, Giitar was much too low on mana and could no longer keep running. Azu-nyan had already expended her energy whilst the Prince stayed her ground, acting as a bulwark for her two comrades. Even though outnumbered, she kept them at bay by constantly pacing from side to side and taking all the blows. Her health was much too low though, flashing red indicating it was below twenty per cent.
"Burst!" shouted Mio as her character ran forwards and leapt up, drawing three arrows at the same time. She fired, down onto the opposing goblins, the arrows splitting before they hit their target. But some of the goblins were armoured, shrugging off the assault with ease.
"How is this possible?" questioned Mio as she realised how outnumbered they were. There were ten archers behind the main force of the goblins that blocked the road. Elizabeth kept firing, making the most of her Burst buff. She changed her target as she saw the enemy archers preparing their next volley.
A chief goblin screeched in an unintelligible dialect to his troops, waving his sword and ordering his minions about. With a roar, pointed its sword forwards. Ten arrows flew into the air- no thirty. They had the splitting ability too.
Suddenly, Azusa dived behind a building dragging Yui with her. Mugi still kept the enemy at bay, stopping the enemy from advancing. Mio followed suit, taking cover.
"Heal!" shouted Ritsu, finally recovered. A warm breath of fresh air revitalised the guard, bringing her back from red health.
"Thanks Ritsu," replied Mugi as she lashed out at a brave goblin. Mio fired an arrow at it, managing a hit before it slunk back.
"Come on, think of something," thought Mio to herself. She took in her surroundings. There was more than one way around a village. "Yui, Azusa, go round and attack the archers. I'll go round this way. Ritsu, keep Mugi alive." And then Mio followed the path round the building she was hiding behind. She was surprised, expecting to be suddenly ambushed but no such thing happened.
"Good thinking Mio," said Elizabeth to herself, "but you should be more careful." Mio charged her through the empty streets. As she made her way to flank the enemy, Elizabeth kept an eye on the windows, checking for anything. It was clear though and Mio halted having found the archer's were perfectly vulnerable from behind.
"Azusa, Yui, do you see them?"
"We're in position!" cried out Yui, happily as ever. "But I'm out of mana so I don't think I'll be much help."
"Mio sempai," replied Azusa, "I'm ready when you are. I just used a mana potion"
"On three. One, two,
"Three!"
"Burst!" Glowing, arrows were fired, striking the archers from behind, causing them to turn, distracted. From the other side, Azu-nyan appeared with her great, two-handed sword glowing white.
"Sunder!" she screamed with a small hop, then smashing the sword from overhead down onto the archers. The white aura exploded, causing an area attack and finished them off, leaving only the chieftain to regroup with the soldiers.
Meanwhile, Mugi retreated, giving Ritsu a clear shot at the clustered enemy. "Fire!" she called out warning her comrades. With a flick of her wand, a fireball shot out at the enemy, engulfing them all in red, hot flames. After a few moments, Mio picked off some of the final stragglers. Eventually, the chieftain was left. In a mad dash, it charged.
"Ritsu!" Mio called out. Mugi stepped in front of the mage; shield raised and blocked the attack. With her sword, she thrust upwards, killing the goblin with the headshot.
There was a brief pause before a message appeared before them. "You have liberated Fishover!"
/*Author's notes
Think of the territories like in the board game called 'Risk.' I was planning on having them fail that territorial capture but I failed in making them fail- probably to push the story along faster. I think with too many characters it gets difficult to follow everyone at the same time whilst keeping a fast paced battle bursting with action. What do you think of the battle scenes? Are they good? How does the pacing work in these territorial battles? Of course, like in most MMOs (though this one not yet) there will be ridiculous dungeons, raid bosses and the like teaming with player versus monsters, more than I'll be able to handle. Please review so I can write better fight scenes!
The characters probably grew up a level or two just then, making them level eight (if I can count or remember correctly) so they're nearly level ten. Which is always a level something gets unlocked.
Also, you get good stuff for liberating an area like money, cheaper items and stuff. In the RPG part of the game, you keep the area permanently unless attacked, sold, bartered etc. In the MMO, there are differing factors. I know I haven't explained the RPG and MMO elements of this game but I'll cut this section short now. I hope you enjoyed reading and please review!
*/
Tainaka slammed the glass of beer on the wooden table. Her face was rosy red from the binary alcohol in her imaginary system. "I can't thank you enough guys!" she yelled at the top of her voice. "It's as if you guys love me!" In her drunken state, the rest of the group were glad she didn't bring the Heat Tree's branch with her. A drunk with a flaming, magic wand didn't seem like a good idea. The waiter placed another cocktail in front of Azu-nyan. She said something before her taste test.
"What do you think of my new skill?" she asked, keeping her eye on the faces as she brought the purple liquid to her lips.
"It was earth shatteringly good," the drunken mage answered and showed off Ritsu's trademark grin, laughing at the pun she just made. The Sunder skill did split the earth.
"It is really good at hitting groups," cut in Elizabeth. "I definitely couldn't take on all of those archers on my own. We were lucky to have you and that skill."
Azu-nyan smiled at the praise she was receiving. Again, she swirled the cocktail around her mouth before swallowing. Her eyes trailed off, analysing the rest of their group. The Prince didn't react, saying not a word. Was she a mute? Giitar wasn't there with them, which was the strangest thing. A certain drunk covered up the silence left by her in her place.
"Hey, what about my amazing ability? It wiped out all of those goblins in one hit!" She neglected to mention it also used up forty per cent of her mana since her skill points were lacking in many other areas such as in classes. However, training up on the cleric side was giving her a larger mana pool so she wasn't too worried about it for the moment.
"Yes, true," replied their leader. Elizabeth called for a coke and vodka. "But it could also wipe us out. I hope your master learns how to use you properly." The drink was placed into her outstretched hand and she sipped it, mimicking Azu-nyan in her strange drinking ways. She didn't like it.
"I'm back!" shouted Giitar, bursting through the door. "I got this!" She placed a massive cake on the middle of the table. "Happy birthday!"
"Whose birthday is it?" asked Azu-nyan sarcastically.
"Mine!" she shouted.
"You were born last week."
"It's my birth week?"
"No."
"Aw…"
"We can still eat cake though," cut in Elizabeth, realsing she hadn't ever had cake before. It suddenly occurred to the others as well and they all were about to dive in when-
"Oh no!" shouted Giitar. "Yui's about to turn off her computer!" She grabbed the cake. "I'll see you guys next time, okay?" With that, she jumped out the door and was whisked away on the Internet.
"She's crazy," though Tainaka out loud, downing another beer.
"Cake…" said Elizabeth and Azu-nyan, simultaneously.