Vriska awoke the next morning well rested, she looked over at the other side of the bed were a sleeping Freya lay, the sun shone through the window telling her it was morning, Vriska thought it best to wake Freya up with the smell of pancakes this morning, so she got out of the bed as quietly as she could as not to wake Freya, her ninja skills kicking into high gear. When Vriska was out of the bed, she realized that she was naked, remembering the nights events she went downstairs to the bathroom where her PJ's still lay, she got dressed into them and picked up Freya's as well, Vriska went back upstairs and quietly placed Freya's PJ's on the side of the bed that was now empty so that she could find them when she woke up.
Vriska spent the morning making pancakes and soon the whole house smelled like them, she was so busy humming to herself and making food that she didn't hear Freya walk down the stairs and into the kitchen doorway. When she spun around to place more finished pancakes on the table, she caught Freya just standing there "Good morning" Vriska said warmly.
"V…" Freya trailed off.
"What's up?" Asked Vriska going back to her pancake making.
"About last night..." Freya trailed off again for a second, Vriska glanced over her shoulder "Don't take it the wrong way ok" Freya continued "I just wanted to help you out is all, we'll find you a potion to turn you back into a guy, in the meantime, please don't hide anything like that from me again ok?"
Vriska turned around to face Freya "I promise" She said holding up two fingers "If I need any help being a girl I'll ask you right away" Freya giggled a little at Vriska, she seemed happy to hear it, it was clear by that talk that Freya wasn't still one hundred percent on board with Vriska being a cat girl but was warming up to the idea. The two girls sat down and ate together, not much was said between them yet the atmosphere was fine, there was no awkwardness between them after that night.
Just as they were about to finish up Vriska got a ringing in her ear, it took her a second to realize that it was the linkpearl that Y'shtola showed her how to use the day before. Vriska lifted up two fingers up to where her right ear would be if she was still human, even on a miqo'te this would trigger the linkpearl, Freya gave her a strange look, she had forgotten to tell Freya about the linkpearl, Vriska held out a finger to signal to Freya that she'd explain in a second.
Vriska heard a females voice loud and clear but couldn't quite place where she had heard it before "Vriska, this is Lyse" Vriska knew Lyse and was a bit surprised that she would contact her "Y'shtola has informed me of your situation, I had an idea last night, can you meet me outside the Temple of the Fist?" Lyse asked, Vriska knew this dungeon well, she had run it so many times when it was a part of the expert roulette.
"Can do Lyse, should I bring some friends along?" Vriska asked, since she knew it was a high-level dungeon, Vriska thought it best that others should join in.
"That's a good idea, bring who you think will be necessary for the trip" Lyse replied.
Vriska could only think of two people who were up for the challenge. Lyse hung up the linkpearl before Vriska could ask any more questions, she explained to Freya what the linkpearl was and what Lyse was planning.
Freya had agreed to stay back with Vriska's friends, who were planning another day of hunting and questing, she had to convince Freya that the dungeon was too high level for her and therefore dangerous, lucky for Vriska, Ganek was there to back her up.
Now Vriska stood near the Rhalgr's Reach aetheryte with Ganek, the only tank she could trust, Ganek had been the one to get her to play FFXIV back in the day, the other friends had been off and on over the years but her and Ganek were the two who had stuck with it the most, he was a tank by trade, having played and mastered all three jobs within the role, right now he was a paladin, his strongest in terms of know-how, once Ganek started to pull aggro as a paladin, it was very hard for someone else to get it off him, this was why she trusted him so much.
"So, if Lyse is going to be the other DPS and I'm the tank, who did you invite as the healer?" Ganek asked as they stood there.
"To be honest, I don't have many other people I can trust for a dungeon this high" Vriska replied, Ganek gave her a questioning look.
"So, who did you invite in that case?" He asked again, it was clear he was trying to think of other healers outside of Abyss and Kazamir, Vriska sighed, she knew if she told Ganek who she invited he'd want to bail, at least seeing who it was once they were here would stop that. Vriska's sigh must have been a giveaway, as it looked like Ganek was about to shit himself.
"You didn't" He said with a shocked look, right as he spoke someone teleported in.
A small Au Ra female with blond hair done up in a ponytail stood before them, she turned around and smiled "Silver!" she exclaimed as she dove forward, her hands reached out and made groping motions, Vriska wasn't able to dodge in time and Ely got a hold of her breasts "Just as soft as I remember them" Ely said, Vriska smacked Ely on the back of the neck to make her stop, she let go and fell to the ground, Ganek was not surprised by the way Ely acted.
"I see you've changed your hair" Vriska said as Ely picked herself off the ground.
"Yup, I was getting sick of the short hair, wanted to try something longer" Ely said with a smile.
"How?" Asked Ganek "Hair doesn't grow that fast" he added.
"The Aesthetician" Ely said "He can make your hair longer, he's amazing!" she exclaimed.
"That seems impossible" Ganek said, confusion on his face.
"Black magic" Vriska chimed in, that joke was now a lot funnier, now that they were in the FFXIV world, Vriska saw a smile cross Ely's face while Ganek just looked at her with that 'are you serious face'.
"That's not important right now, we better not make Lyse wait any longer" Vriska said.
The trio headed off to the temples entrance, where they were meet by Lyse, she smiled as the trio approached her.
"It's good to see you Vriska" Lyse said "And Ganek too, been a while since I've seen you" Lyse added as she shook Ganek's hand.
"It's nice to meet you too" Ganek said, Lyse either didn't hear what Ganek said or choose to ignore it.
"Your other friend I've yet to meet" Lyse said as she held out a hand, Ely shook it.
"I'm Elysande, my friends call me Ely" she said with a smile.
"Nice to meet you Ely" Lyse smiled back at the Au Ra.
"So, what's the plan here Lyse?" Vriska asked, eager to know what Lyse had come up with about the 'situation'.
"Well you see, the Temple of the Fist was used to bring out the fighting spirit of monks, Vriska and Ganek used it back just after we kicked the empire out of Ala Mhigo to improve their fighting spirits as warriors, my idea is to have you go through it again and maybe bring out the real Vriska" Lyse said "And Ganek too" She quickly added.
"But I've been in here before too" piped up Ely.
"Yes, we opened the gates to the Adventures after Vriska and her party had gone through, you may have been one of them" Lyse said
"And what will happen to us?" Asked Ganek.
"You'll be pushed back to your world hopefully" A voice said from behind them, the trio spun around to see Y'shtola standing behind them "I wish to come along and see the results for myself" She said as she walked up to the group.
"We'd be glad to have you come along Y'shtola" Lyse said "The more the merrier as the saying goes" Lyse finished. Vriska was nervous about the plan but it was too late to back out now, she wanted to go home back the other players would be left behind.
"If this works, what are we going to do about the other players?" asked Vriska "Not all of them will be able to get through the temple" Thinking back to Freya who was only a level sixty Warrior.
"I am hoping to learn what sends you home, from that I'll be able to mimic the effects for the other players" Y'shtola said "I give you my word as a Scion I'll do whatever it takes to get everyone else home too"
Vriska felt better hearing those words she knew Y'shtola meant every one of them.
"If that's settled, let's head off" Lyse said, she turned around and opened the doorway to the path that lead up to the Temple of the Fist and the group headed out.
Much like Toto-Rak, there was very little in the way of mobs, the group found it relatively easy to make it up the mountain path, however, once they were at the doorstep of the Temple it was clear the defenses that were destroyed last time were back, the group had to fight their way past Arbuda again, Vriska found fighting him a lot easier then when she just played the game, being there in person seem to help a lot more, Ganek would block and parry him, all the while keeping his attention, Ely and Y'shtola kept the party feeling healthy while Lyse and Vriska danced around his failing arms, dealing damage. The fight was over in a matter of minutes and the group continued forward.
Inside the temple, they found it a lot harder to keep up the pace they had been moving at outside, all the mobs from last time were back, including the exploding balls of light, that hurt a lot more than Vriska thought it would. Once they had beaten all the mobs, they sat just outside the final boss room to take a break and get their breaths back.
"Well this has been a fun experience" Y'shtola spoke up 'I'm surprised that Vriska and Ganek were able to beat this with such ease"
"Trust me, it was painful the first time running this dungeon" Vriska said "There was way more mobs to deal with, plus those two coeurls at the start" Vriska looked at Ganek.
"Yeah, had to kill the pair at the same time, took me a while to figure that one out" Ganek added.
"It's still strange to me, that you lot know so much about us and this world despite being here just over a week" Lyse said "Our world just being a game for you, it just doesn't sit right with me" she added.
"It was more than just some game, to some of us, it was a way of living" Vriska said "We may not have been born here, but to us it's our home too" The words left Vriska's mouth before she even thought about it, but deep down she knew it was the truth.
"We loved coming here" Ely chimed in "It was a way for us to escape our boring lives" Vriska and Ganek nodded in agreement.
"I see" said Lyse, she got up and started heading into the final room "I'd hate to send you home so soon then"
"We understand Lyse, you want your worlds people back" Vriska said it was Ely and Ganek's turn to nod in agreement. The group entered the final room, after a few seconds of nothing, Ivon Coeurfist's spirit showed up, the group went to work on it right away.
Once the fight started, Vriska felt a surge of energy run through her body, this was like nothing she had felt before during a fight, most fights up to this point had been simple dodge and attack, even the fight with Arbuda didn't feel like this, but her body was reacting differently now, it was like it was waiting for this fight, Vriska felt like she could take on Ivon by herself.
Vriska fought using both her ninja and monk skills, moving around Ivon's attacks with ease, Ganek and Ely fought just as hard but Lyse and Y'shtola on the other hand, looked like they were having some trouble with it. Ely picked up for Y'shtola's lack of healing power while Vriska had to deal most of the damage to make up for Lyse. Ganek had it easy, holding the aggro of Ivon was easy for him, Vriska could see he was concentrating but it just looked like paladin came so easy to him, without missing a beat he'd switch from tank stance to DPS stance and back again, his rotations were perfect.
Near the end of the fight, the energy Vriska had felt was at its peak, it only took her a few seconds for her to figure out what it was, she focused all the energy in her body to her hands and a giant, red glowing sword appeared, she leapt into the air and unleashed a flurry of blows, ending it all by cutting Ivon right down the middle. This was the fishing blow, Ivon's sprite split in two before disintegrating into nothing, Vriska had just used her first Limit Break two.
When the fight was over, Lyse lay on the group panting, Y'shtola lent on her cane also out of breath, Vriska was still buzzing from the Limit Break. Y'shtola was the first to speak up.
"So, how do the three of you feel?" She asked, Vriska thought about it for a moment, she was still 'herself'.
"I'm still me" Vriska replied.
"Same here" Ganek added.
"Me too" Ely chimed in.
"Can't say this was a complete waste of time" Y'shtola said "I was a little jealous that the adventures got to come in here but now I know what they went through" She walked over to Lyse and offered a hand to help her up.
"I'm sorry Y'shtola, and to the three of you" Lyse bowed "This was a waste of time" Vriska felt bad for her.
"At least you tried Lyse, it's better than doing nothing" Vriska said in the hopes of bringing up Lyse's spirit.
"Thank you Vriska" Lyse bowed again.
The group departed the Temple of the Fist together, once they were back in Rhalgr's Reach, lyse headed of back to Ala Mhigo and Y'shtola left for the Scions headquarters, Ely gave Vriska a hug before departing and then tried to go for a feel, Vriska was ready this time and pushed Ely away who just laughed. Vriska and Ganek used the Aetheryte to head home, leaving the laughing Ely in Rhalgr's Reach.