Chapter 6

Character Growth: RelicPetals


Disclaimer of the day: I do not own any of the Gakuen Alice characters. Nor any game references made. Enjoy!


Several hours later Natsume completed the last of the side requests. He managed to get an additional net value of two thousand gold, adding to a total of seven thousand five hundred and fifty gold pieces, give or take. He meandered his way into the Inn with his tail flicking left and right happily.

Something about completing quests made him feel better on the inside. Or maybe it was the one hundred percent completionist in him.

"Have fun?" EagleEye questioned as he secured the last satchel of stuff for each person to carry in the party. Each person would be responsible for their own specific items, give or take when they entered dungeons. Everything was fair game in dungeons.

"Yeah, finished all the side quests while I was out. Made some more money for us. Here." He tossed the purse over to the male. "Divide it however you please. I would hate for a pickpocket to take our money all at once."

EagleEye nodded. "No problem."

He began to siphon the coins into equal piles, giving the most of the coins to Cool_Blue_Sky. The least amount of coins went to RelicPetals, but again it was for a good reason.

"The girl's up yet?" Natsume noticed Cool_Blue_Sky's bed had been made, but RelicPetals was still out like a light. The soft, subtle breathing could be heard at the front of the room.

"Sky went to get breakfast for herself. She said she had the strange cravings for crab brains. Too bad they don't have that here." The avian male with blond hair finished the packs of money and put them away in a zipped up compartment. He then took his entire satchel and made it disappear into his wrist console. "I never understood how RPGs played with characters carrying over thousands of different materials and objects. Now I know how it was possible. Dimensional pockets."

He earned a chuckled from Natsume who went to RelicPetals' bed to sit on one side. "Game logistics." He reached over and tugged on one of her twitching whiskers. "And time for this one to wake up. We should finish our main quest so that we can be done in Mydalr."

"Five more minutes." Complained RelicPetals and attempted to roll away from the ruby eyed Halfling. Natsume took this as a challenge. He leaned his head over, just where her feline ears were and whispered something into her ear. His reflexes were amazing, especially as a Halfing feline, and immediately pulled himself away as RelicPetals jerked up from her sleeping position.

Her face as bright as a red tomato, she clutched her cover and pillow as if it were her sword and shield. EagleEye watched this strange phenomena with interest before asking what exactly Natsume had said to the girl.

Natsume started to laugh at her disheveled appearance, which only made her more embarrassed.

"What on Earth did you say to Petals?" The Blonde avian gave up trying to guess, and went with the direct approach.

"Well, you see Petals and I—" For a cleric with poor physical reflexes and dexterity, she jumped so fast, he had to stop to think about what had happened. She had all but silenced the black haired boy with her pillow in hand, while grasping his back with her talon claws. Her legs and tail hung delicately on the bed while preventing Natsume from saying anything more than necessary. The male had to yank the pillow from his face so that he could properly breathe.

"Jesus Christ, Mikan you could learn to take a joke." Natsume stopped addressing her by her online name, mostly because his face hurt from the pillow. His HP reflected that total with a negative 1 damage counter against him as well. "I wasn't going to say anything."

"Moeee Natsume, you can't joke around like that!"

EagleEye closed his azure eyes before he himself said something that would instigate a pillow to his own face. "Well—while you two duke it out with pillows, I'm going down for breakfast."

Natsume cringed, still angry at the pillow to the face. "I'm going too, Petals needs time to change."

"Ah, wait Nat—Kuro I didn't mean…" The door closed behind the two boys leaving the auburn feline to collapse into a mess on the floor. Natsume could hear her in the hall still thanks to his heightened hearing. "Damnit all."


The group gathered together after breakfast ended. Mikan was the last of the group to arrive, her auburn hair still in the same jumbled mess as it had been when she first woke up. Kuroneko and EagleEye were preparing the Earth Gemstone, the tusks, and the hide for Vormud when she announced herself.

"RelicPetals reporting for duty!" She saluted, hoping the small trifle from that morning was long since forgotten. Kuroneko didn't acknowledge her, but EagleEye and Cool_Blue_Sky had.

"We're all here, so what are we waiting for?" Mikan attempted to rouse the somber and quiet member of their group, but nothing seemed to work.

"Vormud will be happy to not have to worry about gathering the materials." Cool_Blue_Sky replied, her amethyst eyes trained on Kuroneko who appeared to be moody. "Let's hope we get the irregularity solved and then move on. This wood and brimstone era is getting boring."

EagleEye smirked at the Dream Indie game creator. "You're bored of almost everything, except maybe the solution of Harold's case."

Cool_Blue_Sky perked at the mention of her game. "Of course I'd be thrilled about Harold. He is my baby."

"Yet you killed his wife." Kuroneko finally replied, and a ghost of a smile appeared on his face. "You monster."

"It had to happen." She reasoned and crossed her arms to nod her head.

"You look like you're trying to convince yourself." EagleEye observed, and got a severe cold and dark leer from the game inventor.

"Sometimes death is a life change that is pivotal for character growth and success. Leave Harold's dead wife alone." Cool_Blue_Sky replied almost instantly.

Mikan chuckled despite her feeling uncomfortable. The group seemed to be focused in on the conversation about ReSolve than about completing the quest. The auburn haired lass offered an alternative for their group so that they didn't need to stop chatting. "Since I initiated the quest, I should probably follow through with it. You guys don't need to worry yourselves."

She gathered the materials while Cool_Blue_Sky and EagleEye merely shrugged. "It doesn't matter either way. We could all go now." The inventor said as she stood up from her chair. EagleEye followed suit but Kuroneko pulled him back down.

"Why don't you two hold down the table. I'll go with Petals to complete the Quest." He went to his menu console and proceeded to open up his messenger. Locking it on, he gave him a thumbs up. "I'll be on messenger if you need us."

EagleEye understood why he really wanted to go, since he witnessed that small trivial thing that morning, and directed Cool_Blue_Sky back to the previous conversation. "But why would killing his wife prove anything? Couldn't he had aspired to become a detective without the killing of his wife. I call Shenanigans."

Kuroneko gave a silent thank you to the blonde before grasping Mikan by her elbow. "Let's hurry up."

The girl wanted to raise a complaint but was led away just as Cool_Bllue_Sky began her long tirade of why it was important for his wife to die. Everyone in their group of friends knew how long she could talk about ReSolve, so it wasn't odd to see this small conversation carry her away.

The two feline Halflings made it outside of the Inn with no problems after that. Mikan held on the objects like they were her lifeline, while Kuroneko walked in front. The store was mere steps away before he stopped short of reaching for the door.

"You're not pushing yourself because of this morning, right? If you are, don't. It was over something stupid after all "

"It isn't stupid!" She retorted, and stopped herself from being escalated. It was then that he realized that she was pushing herself.

"Why are you hiding it in the first place? There's no need to be embarrassed about something like that." He huffed, mostly out of annoyance than anything else.

The question caught her completely off guard. It was obvious that she was rattled by what happened that morning, but she didn't mean to take things too far. "I'm—I'm not pushing myself. I'm fine, really. I made things more difficult than it needed to be. Sorry."

She bent at the waist to complete a proper bow to him in apology. "I'm really sorry for this morning. I just didn't want him to know." She blushed suddenly remembering the whisper in her ear. They twitched at the memory.

"Of what?" Kuroneko paused dramatically, and turned to face her. He gave her a ghost of a smile and she could tell he was being mischievous once again.

"That my smut and yaoi collection is way too damn big for my own good." She mumbled. While she wasn't one for hiding her manga and watching the atypical anime, she did have a sinful batch of yaoi that he happened to come across in her room one day. By sheer coincidence she just happened to forget he was coming over to fix her Orange laptop when it stopped running her otome games. Then he discovered the stash when he pulled her laptop out from under her bed.

Needless to say, it was terrible.

"You can just admit you like to read smutty stuff. It's not the worst thing on the planet."

"Shut up, you will never understand a girl's mind frame!" She yelled, and started to move around him to the shop. She hoped this conversation was over with.

"Glad we settled that." He called over to her as she slammed open the accessory shop's door.

"Good morning!" She talked slightly over Kuroneko's shout out as she entered. She might have startled Vormud who dropped a crate of materials he carried. "Ah! I'm sorry!" She exclaimed, rushing over to help. Kuroneko came in to see the aftermath of Mikan's over exuberant yelp.

"Ahh, the young feline from the other day. How can I help you?" He stammered once his materials were back in the crate. Mikan smiled and gestured by to Kuroneko holding the three items that he needed. "We brought you the materials that you wanted! Now you don't have to worry about being threatened anymore!"

Vormud's brown eyes became saucers. "You—you—actually did that for me!?"

Mikan happily nodded. "Yup!"

Kuroneko placed the materials on the counter for him to inspect. As the goldsmith checked it, he breathed a huge sigh of relief. "Thank you, thank you. I don't know what I would have done if these materials weren't collected. It must have been difficult."

Kuroneko interceded this time. "No, it was fairly easy and it needed to be done."

Vormud smiled. "I can't thank you enough, wait I know!" He rushed over to the glass case and pulled out two pieces of accessories. "I know it's not enough but please accept this garnet bracelet and amulet. It's the least I can do to pay you!"

Mikan smiled when she recognized the slight bent amulet that had been reformed. The garnet bracelet was also the one he repaired as well. "Thank you sir!"

The goldsmith merely waved them off. "I can finish that ring order and that man can finally leave town. Thank the gods. Please, if you excuse me." He gathered the materials Kuroneko put on the counter and brought it into the back of the shop where his workshop was.

Both of their wrist console's buzzed and a notification popped up.

Main Quest 1: Wait for Vormud to create the Ring of Allocated Time.

You have successfully delivered the materials over to Vormud. He is excited to start the ring he was threatened to make. You are concerned about how the transaction will go, so you wait until the ring is completed.

Mikan and Kuroneko read the prompt before turning to one another. Could this be the irregularity? Mikan thought. She closed the notification and almost felt her jaw drop. Beneath the notification happened to be the messenger, and while she didn't have hers locked on…Kuroneko had.

She read in horror the long sentences of Kuroneko's avatar basically retelling the whole ordeal, in words, to her best friends sitting in the Inn.

"Why meeeee!" She yelled aloud, while Kuroneko raised his wrist console.

"I said it would be locked on messenger earlier. Well, now you don't have to worry." He scrolled to the bottom of the script to see Cool_Blue_Sky's and EagleEye's responses.

Kuroneko: "That my smut and Yaoi collection is way too damn big for my own good."

Kuroneko: "You can just admit you like to read smutty stuff. It's not the worst thing on the planet."

EagleEye: "Whelp, that answered my question without having asked the question."

Kuroneko: "Shut up, you will never understand a girl's mind frame!"

Cool_Blue_Sky: "Her web browser history is probably worse. Maybe I should hack into her computer and see for myself."

Kuroneko: "Glad we settled tha-GOOOOD MORNING! Ahhhh I'm sorry"

EagleEye: "Is it just me, or is it weird seeing Kuro's avatar have such a personality change. I know it's different people talking, but still."

Cool_Blue_Sky: "I think it's hilarious. It's like seeing someone with multiple personalities at once"

EagleEye: "I think they made it to the accessory shop."

Kuroneko: "Ahh, the young feline from the other day. How can I help you?"

Kuroneko: "We brought you the materials that you wanted! Now you don't have to worry about being threatened anymore!"

Kuroneko: "You—you—actually did that for me!?"

Kuroneko: "Yup!"

EagleEye: "He sounds so shocked that we actually did it."

Cool_Blue_Sky: "Or maybe he thought a cleric became a BAMF adventurer with a swashbuckler and killed the beasts herself."

Cool_Blue_Sky: "That's nice how the system recognized BAMF."

EagleEye: "Woah, could you imagine a buffed up Petals. She'd blast the place sky high."

Kuroneko: "Thank you, thank you. I don't know what I would have done if these materials weren't collected. It must have been difficult."

Kuroneko: "No, it was fairly easy and it needed to be done."

Kuroneko: "I can't thank you enough, wait I know! I know it's not enough but please accept this garnet bracelet and amulet. It's the least I can do to pay you!"

Cool_Blue_Sky: "Dibs on amulet."

Kuroneko: "Thank you sir!"

Kuroneko: "I can finish that ring order and that man can finally leave town. Thank the gods. Please, if you excuse me."

EagleEye: "So after reading the quest update, what should we do?"

Cool_Blue_Sky: "Discuss Petals favorite boy on boy collection. Obviously."

EagleEye: "I wonder what she'd do if she realized their entire conversation had been recorded."

Cool_Blue_Sky: "Well, we'll find out in a moment. I bet she'll scream."

Kuroneko: "Why meeeeee!"

Kuroneko: "I said it would be locked on messenger earlier. Well, now you don't have to worry."

Cool_Blue_Sky: "Wow, her voice echoed all the way into the Inn."

EagleEye: "Good thing I didn't agree to that bet."


T.K. here, thank you very much for all the reviews and comments for this story! I know I didn't respond to several of them last time, so I will take the opportunity to answer some of them now! I started a new position recently as well, so my updates may get a bit sporadic as I try to hone in times to conjure, create, and flesh out this story. We're coming up to the end of this first arc! How exciting, it's almost like a dungeons and dragons compaign but the GM is everyone haha. Alright here's to everyone's comments!

Wind of SilentBell: Yes cooking should be very inventive as we continue with the group through the quests. I imagine Ruka will be pleased to go back to his vegetarian diet when he learns the cooking skills. We'll probably have a short bit on that sooner or later haha. :) Now to answer some of your questions:Will their main quest change depending on where they are going and who they meet? And what's the goal of this game again? Yes! It'll be explained a bit more in the new quest, and it should also answer you question about the goal of the game. Although I do not mind discussing the goal again, when they were brought in to beta testing in the first chapter, the company leaders Luna and Kouji did not elaborate on the game plot. They basically let Yuu Tobita explain what the story is during the tutorial.

Your objective is to collect these broken pieces of time and return it to Chronos, the God of Time. He has pre-selected you as his champions to complete his mission. There are many enemies that will try to manipulate the time, but it is your duty to collect the time pieces back. This will restore time back to normal in that world and you will travel to another set location.

It should become clear in this next chapter, along with other things as well! As for the parallel world comment... Hrmmmmm, I wonder... =D

How much time has past in the real world... That is a tough question to answer right now, seeing as it could spoil the future parts of the story. I hope you will continue to read the rest of the story! It should be revealed at the near end of the story though!

Gemini-Naps-Dragon-At-Heart5: Thank you very much for all of your reviews so far! I was extremely appreciative of all of your comments and suggestions! I actually started this story based on two points: to focus and hone in on descriptions (Its not my strongest suit) and because I really liked the concept of the new Jumanji film. I will definitely try my best to describe the setting of the towns and areas better. I wanted to focus on that particularly in this story. The cards do have a significant importance to the story, which should be explained soon. And I know for sure Koko and Sumire will have an opportunity to get involved with our group of adventurers! The aliases that I came up with have some tie-in to their characters in the Gakuen Alice setting. Ruka's was because of the Eagle he had in the very first manga volume, but the poor eagle never really showed back up. I figured a 24-25 year old guy would use Eagle's instead of bunnies as an alias. Haha I'm positive Hotaru used this against him numerous times. There should be a switch up between there aliases and real names soon, it'll probably happen within the next two arcs or so. Tsubasa and Tono-huuuuueeehh, yeah that's a story that will get explained soon as well. If anything, they did get the short end of the stick in this event.

SunBabyBoss: My inspiration came from lots of different things-I came up with VRGE sitting (more like laying/bumming) off my best friends couch. I was running away from a lot of things going on in my personal life so the idea of getting trapped in a video game seemed like a good escape to write about. The concept for the first quest came from playing DnD with my group of friends. But it's completely different story plot than what we participated in. Haha, recently I've been indulging in LoadingReadyRun's Dice Friends, which gives me great ideas for future stories-or just get the creative juices flowing. I also wrote this story as a means of improving my writing skills.

I'm happy to have read each and every one of your reviews! Thank you for all your guidance and support! I hope you enjoyed this recent chapter!

T.K. Signing out.