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Chapter 15
"I'm tellin' ya, I'm so lucky in the game! I've got two wives!"
"You liar! What race are you?!"
"A beast. In addition to hiding your face, your endurance and attack power is strong!"
"Crap! I chose the wrong race!"
Hearing two guys' conversation as I passed by them on my way out of my classroom, causing my brain to kick-start at their words as I remembered what Gui had told me before in Second Life concerning a certain beastman named Ugly Wolf.
'Oh, yeah. Gui said that Wolf-bro was the clinic nurse here. I'm gonna go see him.' I thought before I headed for the Health Clinic, not even noticing a familiar person gaping at me in surprise as I went right by him, too distracted by my own thoughts to recongizing him at that moment.
Getting there, I stood in the doorway, trying to decide what I wanted to do when I did see Wolf-bro.
"Excuse me...Do you need something?" I heard a voice say behind me and turning slightly to look over my shoulder, I suddenly found a face right in mine.
"WAHHHH!"
POW!
-line-
"I am deeply sorry!" I apologized once again as I handed Wolf-bro an ice pack which he placed over his right eye where I had socked him.
"That's ok." Wolf-bro said with a smile as he gingerly placed the ice pack on his eye. "Ow-ow! I shouldn't have come up behind you like that."
"Still..." I said as I peeked under the ice pack at the already forming black eye, before grimacing as I put the ice pack back down on Wolf-bro's eye. "You're going to have a nice shiner later."
"It's fine if I hold this here for a while." Wolf-bro said as he waved his hand at me before asking, "So what did you come here for?"
"Oh, a friend of mine wanted me to come here for him and say hi for him." I said quickly, literally thinking on the spot.
"Oh? What's his name?" Wolf-bro asked, curiously.
"He told me to tell you, 'Prince says hi'." I said slowly, pretending like I was remembering the message.
I sneakily glanced at Wolf-bro to see him looking at me in surprise as he asked me, "So you know Prince?"
"Well, yeah," I said truthfully, smiling in amusement. "We've been friends for years!"
"Anyway, I've got to go. Later!" I said as I got to my feet and waved to Wolf-bro.
"Please, wait!" he said quickly and I turned to look at him, curious.
"Huh?"
"Even if you were just visiting, it's still better to sign in your name." He said as he handed me the sign-in sheet.
"Oh, ok!" I said with a laugh before I signed it quickly handed it back before waving good-bye distractedly over my shoulder. "Later, Wolf-bro!"
'Wolf-bro…? Only members of the Odd Squad call me that.' Lang thought before he looked down at the clipboard.
"Hmm...Yun Yin Min..." Lang read out loud slowly before a sudden image of Prince and Yun standing side by side, both grinning wickedly the same way. "Hmm...I wonder..."
"Wolf-bro, that looked like one of my student," Gui said as he entered the Health Clinic, looking after Yun who had past him in the hall. "Was he injured?"
"No, he came to see me." Lang said as he put the clipboard down, his back to Gui. "Apparently a friend of his asked him to pass on a message to me."
"A message?" Gui asked curiously. "What kind of message?"
"That 'Prince says hi'." Lang said easily as he glanced over at Gui with amusement.
"PRINCE?!" Gui repeated, gaping at Lang before he whirled towards the door and was just about to take off after his own student when Lang's voice hadn't stopped him mid-step.
"Oh yeah," Lang said before he asked randomly, "What's the relationship between Feng Yang Ming and Yun Yin Min?"
"Practically strangers, going by how much they interact with each other in class…Why?" Gui asked, looking at Lang curiously.
"Never mind," Lang said shrugging, brushing the thought from before away as he turned around to look at Gui. "It's probably nothing."
"What happened to your face!?" Gui asked in shock as Lang took the melted ice pack away from his face.
"Oh, I startled Min and he got me in the face." Lang said shrugging as he replaced the melted ice pack with a fresh one.
-line-
"That was fun! Well, other than me socking poor Wolf-bro in the face, that is…" I said with a laugh as I started to head to my motorcycle. "What should I cook for dinner tonight? Pork or potato soup...?"
'Wait…oh, yeah, I have go to meet up with Mei and Huan again, great...' I thought with a grimaced as I paused to check the time on my watch when a familiar person passed in front of me.
"Huh?" I asked and I looked up at the person and just about choked on my own spit.
'Isn't that...'ROSE'?!' I asked myself dumbfounded before I quickly made the decision to leave my bike where it was at and take the bus to the Cafe where Mei and Huan were waiting. So, somehow, I ended up following after 'Rose' only for us to end up in the same place-the bus stop. That was when I noticed a familiar person standing next to 'Rose'.
'Huh? Wait...that guy looks so familiar! He looks-Wicked-Zhuo-?!' I grimaced as I slid close to them and waited for the bus to show up, all the while avoiding eye contact.
'Shoot, am I going to be meeting everyone I know in Second Life in real life now?!' I asked myself as the bus came and with both of my fellow Second Life players, I got on the bus.
'Relax, Cloud, relax.' I coached myself as I fixed my gaze out the window in front of me as 'Rose' and 'Wicked' had somehow themselves placed on either side of me, like they had purposely caged me. It was a couple stops later that I finally got some relief.
'Ah. 'Rose' just got off. Hmm,' I thought as I watched her move away from me and off the bus before I dismissed her with a shrug as the bus moved on and came to my next stop.
I hopped off the bus in my usual way, hands in my pockets before I started heading to the Café when I felt someone following me. Glancing slightly behind me, I found 'Wicked' following me with a look of confusion on his face.
'Oh,' I thought to myself, more then a little sheepish. 'I forgot about him. Though I wonder if he still remembers me...'
I turned slightly towards him with raised an eyebrow back at him as I stopped in place as I wanted to know.
"Was there something you needed?"
"Cloud...You're Cloud, right?" Zhuo asked as he pointed at me causing both of my eyebrows to shoot up in shock.
"...Did you really forget about me, Zee-Zee?" I asked as I looked at him in surprise and slightly hurt as we had been good friends when we were younger...even if it has been over 8 years since we had last seen each other. I was positive that I hadn't changed that much.
"You mean you still remember me?" Zhuo asked as he looked back at me, also just surprise, but more shocked then surprised.
"Dude, it hasn't been that so long that I'd forget about my own old next door neighbor." I scoffed as I laughed at him.
"Holy Cow! Small world, no?" Zhuo asked with a smile as he came closer and I nodded, grinning.
"Yeah, wanna to come with me?" I asked as I pulled a hand out of one pocket to gestured to my right. "I was just heading to the Cafe to meet up with Mei and Huan."
"Sure!"
At the Cafe...
"I wasn't sure she was Cloud earlier and I also wasn't too sure about the way to the Café; whether it had been closed down or something, I mean. Such a coincidence! And I also didn't think I'd see Cloud at the University either!" Zhuo said with a laugh after Mei and Huan greeted him while I ordered for us all.
"Ha-ha... That's too much of a coincidence!" Huan laughed as he pointed towards Zhuo.
"Yeah."
'Didn't think that Zhuo would be studying at the same school as me…' I thought in surprise as I hadn't really seen him anywhere in the University. 'I haven't seen him in 8 years! He's really grown! Heck, even I have grown! I'm not 12 anymore...I hope he realizes this fact.'
As usually, I ignored my group's chattering till Zhuo's voice brought me back to the present conversation.
"Have you been playing Second Life, Cloud?" Zhuo asked as he turned towards me.
"Of course," I said with a grin before I grimaced as Huan let the cat out of the bag.
"Cloud is a trans in the game!" He said as he grinned teasingly over at me.
"Trans?" Zhuo repeated before he looked back over at me to make sure Huan wasn't joking and I nodded to him before I kicked Huan hard from under the table.
"Huan!" I growled angrily, but all Huan did was smile cheekily at me in response as he rubbed his sore shinbone.
"That's odd. Second Life shouldn't allow that..." Zhuo said as he looked at Huan who grinned back before once again opening his mouth...
'Then those moronic friends of mine proceeded to tell Zhuo the whole bloomin' story...Good thing my idiot of friends only knew that I'm a trans and not my player name...'
"So that's it..." Zhuo said slowly as he looked over at me.
"Hmm..." I hummed in agreement as I sipped my chocolate.
"Don't worry! I won't tell..." Zhuo was quick to reassure me which caused me to slowly raise one eyebrow before I decided to tease him. Leaning across the table towards him, I gave him a sly grin.
"Ri~ght, Zee-Zee!" I told him and I watched his face go red slightly as he tried to cover it up by quickly getting to his feet.
"It's late now, I should get going. I have a battle tonight! Hopefully, I'll see you guys in Second Life?" Zhuo said as he looked towards Mei and Huan.
"Yeah!" They said as they both gave him the thumbs up, grinning widely.
"I need to go too, so I'll see you off." I said as I placed my empty tea cup down and got to my feet as well.
"Thanks." Zhuo said with a happy smile before we started heading down the sidewalk after waving good-bye to Huan and Mei.
"You know, Cloud?" Zhuo said conversationally as we walked.
"Yeah?" I asked as I glanced over at him.
"I hope we meet in Second Life."
"Oh, yeah…?" I asked before I laughed slightly. "Me too, Zee-Zee, me too..."
"Oh, yeah, I heard your class's teacher is Gui from Odd Squad." Zhuo said suddenly as I looked over at him surprised.
"Hmm? Oh, yeah, he is." I agreed, nodding.
"I'm really interested in the Odd Squad." Zhuo said conversationally as we came to the bus stop. "I'll find a day to come see you there. I'm sure your Professor will be surprised."
We both chuckled at that.
"Sure, tell me when you do." I said as the bus showed up and pulled to a stop behind Zhou. "I'll have my friends save you a good seat."
"Oh?" Zhuo asked before he smiled at me and moved towards the bus. "I'd much rather sit next to you. Bye!
"...Later." I said as I waved till he was out of view before letting my hand drop as well as my smile.
I knew something that Zhuo probably didn't know that I knew about. I knew that Zhuo had a huge crush on me, heck, this certain crush of Zhuo's has apparently lasted for almost 8 years now! He had liked me before he had moved and from what I could see, meeting up with him again, his feelings for me hasn't changed…not one bit!
I sighed as I turned away from the bus stop and head home, head down.
'But I'm so cruel…if someone doesn't tell me their feelings to me stright out and to my face…I pointedly ignore them…' I thought as the wind blew my short hair into my face slightly. 'I protect myself that way so that I don't have to worry needlessly about things that I don't need to think and worry about…'
Chapter 16
In the game...
"Everyone's here? Then I'll say it now!" Loli said once the team was seated at our favorite tavern. "According to the announcement, the battle today has been canceled."
"Why?!" The group (minus me) asked in shock, gaping over at Loli who explained.
"It's been postponed a week. Then they're going to hold a giant mixed battle. This'll finally decide the winning team."
"Why would they suddenly change the contest?" Wolf-bro asked, frowning in confusion.
"I heard its cause there were too many teams, so the event's been dragged on for too long." Loli said and I silently translated that to-"she was told directly" as she was a hidden GM. "It's really affecting the normal game-play. So the heads decided on a one-time decisive match! They decide to make it all the teams fight each other in a huge chaotic mess, and you can't use Pets. The last one standing determines the winning team."
"Nothing special..." Doll said with an easy shrug.
"Nothing special?" Loli repeated in shock before shaking her head as she explained. "There's a total of 100 hundred teams. This is a huge battle with more than 600 competitors!"
"...To survive with 600 people all trying to kill each other?" I said slowly as I looked up dazedly. "I find that very attractive..."
I pointedly ignored the weird looks that I received from my team mates at my comments before they continued on with their conversation, ignoring me.
As for me, my thoughts turned to what Zhuo, or as he was called in Second Life: Wicked, was doing at the very moment, having at this very moment learning about this certain announcement of the change in the tournament.
'Girly will probably be very ticked off about it.' I thought with amusement as I sipped my cup once again before I turned my attention back to the conversation at hand.
"-form a coalition with Dark Phantom!" Loli said she stood a ways from the group, smiling smugly.
"'Coalition with Dark Phantom'..." Wolf-bro repeated in surprise.
"Yes, coalition!" Loli repeated before saying, "To win all the teams have already started forming their own circles."
"But the teams may also drag you down!" Wolf-bro pointed out, logically and Loli countered.
"So!? It all depends on trust!"
"I remember being rivals with them!" Gui angrily added his two cents in the conversation.
"Let's take a vote then!" Loli said back and Gui turned away, folding his arms.
"I refuse!"
"One vote for yes!" Loli said as she pointed to herself.
"I'll guess I accept..." Wolf-bro said slowly as he thought it over carefully. Gui meanwhile in the background was loudly protesting his opinion.
"Whatever Wolf says." Yulian said easily and Loli smiled.
"Wah! More than half now!" She said before she pointed to Doll who said instantly, "Doll is neutral!"
"Prince, you?" Loli asked me, pointed to me as I slowly looked up at the group.
"...Sounds fun." I said before grinning wickedly, eyes glinting in eagerness which had accidently succeeded in distracting Gui.
"Then it's decided then!" Loli said happily before turning away from us to PM the Dark Phantom team. (Wicked, right? We want to talk. We'll meet up with you. The location will be at…)
-line-
So after deciding to train with Dark Phantom, it was declared that, that weekend we would meet up...
"Long time no see, Prince." Wicked said in greeting when our teams met up and I nodded back.
"...Afternoon." I said easily.
"Humph!" Girly said as he turned his head away from me and I saw an opening I wouldn't resist.
"Hello to you too, Girly." I snickered and Girly lunged at me while his team yanked him back.
"YOU-!?"
I snickered at him, winking at him playfully as a familiar voice said, "Hello, Professor."
I, as well as Gui, turned to see my classmate. The very same one that Gui had stupidly mistaken me (as Prince) for.
"Feng Yang Ming?!" Gui asked in shock before he looked from me to my supposedly 'doppelganger' in real life. "Wh...What's going on?"
"Ha-ha! Teach! You didn't think I'd be part of Dark Phantom, did ya?" Ming asked as he laughed, not even noticing poor Gui's confusion as Gui looked from me to the student and back again.
"You...you're really Fen Yang Ming?" Gui asked to make sure.
"Yeah!" Ming said beaming and Gui collapsed to the ground holding his head like he was having a huge headache…and I was enjoying every minute of it.
'This is too funny.' I thought, snickering down at Gui on the ground.
"Great to work with you," I said towards Wicked, grinning. "Let's hope we can last till the end."
"Let us hope so." Wicked said back, nodding.
"Don't blame us for defeating you in the end!" Girly scoffed, trying to make me mad, but it only let me have another opening to tease him.
"Keep dreaming, Girly." I said casually as I smirked over at him. "It might actually get you somewhere."
"Now, now," Wolf-bro said quickly as Dark Phantom had to once again hold back Girly. "Let's push all the unrelated contest matters away for now. The most important is the contest next week!"
-line-
The largest problem is survival in a place with many enemies. Thus our two groups decided to train in places with many monsters…With me taking them all there, of course.
"Prince...w-we'll turn to w-white light if we f-fight here..." Loli said stuttering as she gulped slowly in fear as everyone gaped down at the hordes of monsters below.
"No pain, no gain. And we can't allow our levels to decrease either, right?" I said with a bright grin at everyone. "So it's perfect!"
"BE BAIT THAN!" My team demanded pointing at me.
"Tch!...Cowards." I said pouting, but I sighed in agreement and drew my sword before I carefully headed down to where they were.
'Alright...' I thought to myself even as I heard my team holding Gui back from following me with him protesting all the while.
I stealthily sneaked up behind one and I slammed my sword down as hard as I could, killing it easily before I took off running as fast as I could towards the others, knowing the now enraged monsters would be on my heels.
"Wolf-bro!" I shouted as I ran. "Here they come!"
"WAAAHHHHH!" Everyone screamed as they saw the monsters chasing me before they all turned tail and, "RUN FOR IT!"
Laughing my head off, I zoomed past them all getting ahead of everyone before I realized something.
'Wait a minute...we're here to train and they're all running away?!'
Now furious, I ran up a tree and back flipped over my fleeing team and right into the stampede, killing as many as monsters that were around me. Dark Phantom, seeing that I was attacking on my own, turned around and joined in the mob fight followed by the rest of the Odd Squad.
Once the fight was over, I plopped down on the ground ticked off…and my team knew it.
"Prince, come eat something to restore your health..." Wolf-bro said uneasily as he held out some bread.
"Drink some water..." Loli added as she shakedly held a container out towards me.
"Prince~..." Gui whined as he tugged at my sleeve.
"Don't be mad..." Yulian pleaded with Doll nodding in agreement as she too tugged gently on my opposite sleeve.
Furious beyond belief, I slowly turned my enraged gaze to my team who all leaped back in fear even Dark Phantom paled slightly at my expression.
-For the reader's safety, we have censored the loathing gaze that Prince turned on "his" fellow team mates. Thank you for your cooperation.-
"WAHHH! Prince is ticked!"
"DUDE, DON'T LOOK THIS WAY!"
-line-
Training in places with many monsters definitely saved a ton of time; however… potions were used up extremely fast, increasing the possibility of the team being completely demolished. Wolf-bro figured out that since I had the most chance of surviving...I was to help the other team mates escape, to protect their precious levels.
"Prince, there are too many monsters! Lead some of them away!"
So I got used to this fighting method. It did increase my agility greatly; but...this method caused even more problems for me.
"A cliff?! G** d*** it!" I swore heavily as I skidded to a halt to look down over the edge before I whirled around only to see that I was trapped. 'I'll definitely die at this height if I jumped!'
(Wolf-bro, just how many monsters are left?! Where you are?) I asked Wolf-bro by PMing him.
(I'm still with the others. I think we can clear them up in half an hour!) I heard Wolf-bro answer which wasn't too pleasing to hear considering my current circumstances.
'Half an hour?! I won't even have bones left by then!' I thought in horror before I tightened my resolve and my grip on my sword. 'Well, I don't care! Even if I die, I'm gonna drag as many as these puppies as I can down with me!'
"AAAARRRRRGGGGHHHH!"
-line-
"Hah-hah...Finally...done..." Loli panted as she leaned over with her hands on her knees before she looked around. "Everyone's alive?"
"Come...repair...heath..." Gui panted as he collapsed on his back, exhausted.
"Mm...Dark Phantom's still here." Wolf-bro wheezed as he hobbled over to Gui. "Prince still not back yet? Call him on the team channel."
(Prince! Where are you? We're finished, so come back!) Loli PMed loudly before she waited for a response.
But none came.
"No reply..." Loli said as she looked at the other Odd Squad members in confusion.
"How could this be?!" Gui shrieked as he bolted up right, not tired anymore before he started crying. "Did Prince die?! Prince~!"
"Shut up! It's not confirmed yet!" Loli yelled before turning back to Wolf-bro, looking confused.
"Try the Whispering Channel," Wolf-bro suggested as he healed Doll up.
**Prince…Prince...?**
"Odd, he's online, but he's not replying." Loli told the others in worry.
"Prince!" Gui sobbed as he ran around literally in circles.
"Could he pissed?" Wicked asked, looking from one Odd Squad member to another. "We did tell him to lure away so many monsters..."
"That guy accepted his Fate long ago!" The Odd Squad said as a whole except Gui who was still sobbing for his Prince.
"Yeah...right..." Wicked said slowly, apparently not believing them.
Meanwhile...
'Did I die? I can't move at all...' I thought weakly to myself as I slowly came awake to find myself sprawled out on the ground unable to move.
Back up on the cliff, I had been winning the huge fight when a monster decided to do a sneak attack on me, knocking me backwards where I then fell off the cliff, but I had hit some trees, knocking myself out on the way down.
'...my bones...are sticking out there...my blood is leaking like a faucet...' I thought as I tried to stay awake because I knew that if I closed my eyes, I might not be able to live through this experience...and I wanted to live that's for sure.
**Heh...so this is worse than death? Completely alone and dying...? Somebody… help me…** I whispered softly to myself…or I thought I did.
**Prince?!** Wolf-bro asked, shocked as the entire Odd Sqad group heard my cry of pain.
**Prince, where are you?! ** Gui screamed as he took off running.
**Prince, hold on! We're coming!** Loli shouted as Wolf-bro gave out orders instantly.
"Everyone, quick, split up! Contact me immediately when you find him!"
"OK!" They said before they all took off running in different directions.
"We'll help look too." Wicked said as he turned to his team who all crossed their arms, glaring, apparently not wanting to do so, but Wicked glared pointedly at them all till they finally complied, reluctantly.
-line-
"...it hurts..." I whimpered as I tried to move.
Upon hearing my team mates' yells and calls for me, I tried to get into view, but I found that I couldn't even move since even the slightest bit of movement put me into excruciating pain.
'...Ugh...why aren't I dying? Is this some kind of glitch or something!? Why isn't anyone coming to save me!?' I asked as I fought my exhaustion with all the will power that I could summon.
'Footsteps...who...?' I thought tiredly, fighting the tiredness of my eyes as I saw out of the corner of my eye, a shadow coming towards me where I laid in my own blood.
"Found you!" I heard someone say as they came closer.
"Wolf-bro...?" I whispered hopefully.
"No, I'm Wicked," Wicked said, shaking his head, looking behind him before he turned back to me. "I don't have any red potions left. We'll need to bring you back."
"Ah..." I said before laughed dryly. "So it's Zee-Zee..."
My eyes finally won the battle as they slowly drifted close making me completely missed the look of shock and horror that filled Wicked's face as he realized who I really was.
"Cloud?!"
A/N Tell me what you think! R&R! :D
To Angel368- Thanks for pointing out those language "mistakes" out. :D I've been watching/reading too many animes/manga. So much so that it came out automatically. I went back and fixed them-so thanks for pointing it out to me! :D I'm really glad that someone like you actually reads my fanfic and gives advice. :D Thanks all for reading!
