A/N: I created a short Anime-ish opening to go with this chapter, but I haven't uploaded it. If you'd like to see it, then please say so. I will post a link to it on the next chapter. Anyway, this isn't that long of a chapter as we have a Monika chapter next. She hasn't gotten any solo-time with Tridon since Yuri stumbled on their living alone lesson earlier in the story. She'll get her chapter after this one, but for now, enjoy this one. See all of ya' in the next chapter!
"Now that we've recovered from Yuri's world," Monika began, "we can now focus on a world that seems a little more forgiving."
"Next up," Tridon continued, "is Natsuki and her world of fantasy!"
"Yes!" Natsuki cheered to herself, "Tridon, if you would be so kind as to create said world."
"No problem." Tridon snapped his fingers and they were transported to bustling marketplace that had a fantasy vibe to it, "Nice." Tridon chuckled and walked off.
"Wait Tridon." Natsuki followed, "We have to follow the story."
"Uh." Tridon looked at the girls who all had fantasy like armor and weapons, "Wait. So Monika is an archer. Sayori is a fighter. Yuri is a mage. I'm a..." Tridon looked at himself and his back before sighed, "Why am I a rogue?"
"Because it fits you." Natsuki answered with a smile.
"So why are you a paladin?" Natsuki brought her sword to Tridon's neck and he stared down at her, "I see." He pushed her sword down and turned to the other 3, "So what about you 3?"
"I don't have a problem with it." Monika checked her outfit out and smiled brightly, "Do you like it Tridon?"
"To be honest, I like Sayori's outfit better." Tridon gave Sayori a thumbs up and winked ,"Much respect Sayori."
"Hehe." Sayori chuckled, "Well, you did conjure this up. So I guess you had some work on this."
"You are my best childhood friend." Tridon laughed, "That doesn't mean I can't have fun too."
"Oh you..."
Monika and Yuri held blank expressions as Natsuki said, "Well, let's get going. We have to go accept a quest."
"Is this a game or a story?" Tridon asked as the 3 walked off.
"Oh shut up you idiot." Natsuki responded.
Monika and Yuri huddled together and whispered to one another, "Yuri," Monika started, "when did those two get closer than before?"
"Well," She responded, "they've always been close since they're childhood friends, but I get what you're saying. She seems a little more flirtatious towards his comments."
"Do you think she's realizing her feelings?"
"Probably..."
"Hey!" Tridon called out, "Are you two gonna keep huddling up, or do we have to leave you two again?!"
"We're coming!" They respond in unison.
Natsuki and Tridon looked through over a bulletin board, "In the story," Natsuki started, "we take the quest to save the princess from a group of bandits."
"Okay." Tridon looked around and nodded, "Here it is." Tridon ripped the paper from the bulletin. The two turned around and Tridon walked into someone, sending them to the ground, "Did you see something?"
"Hm?" Natsuki asked.
"Oh nothing."
"Hey!" The person Tridon knocked over yelled, "What makes you think you can knock me down and not apologize?!"
"Wow." Natsuki commented in shock, "People who respond to us. That's new Tridon."
"None of our stories has had that so far." Tridon responded, "But this guy is someone I wanted to add. See if you tell if he resembles someone."
"Okay." Natsuki responded with a cheeky smile.
They both slowly turned around to see someone who resembled the same guy that tried to fight Tridon at the baking event. Tridon and Natsuki bumped fists behind their backs while the person confronted them.
"I'm waiting!"
"Waiting for what?" Tridon sarcastically asked.
"My apology!" The person exclaimed, "I am Sir Buckshank III and I will not be disrespected in such a manner."
"Sir Buckshank?" Natsuki whispered to Tridon.
"I could'a went with something else, but I saved myself the trouble." He responded. Tridon laughed and stepped up, "I'm so very sorry that my attire was ruined by you."
"You dare?!" Sir Buckshank breathed in shock, "You'll beg for mercy once I'm done with you!"
"Yeah can we do that after our quest?" Natsuki questioned, "After that, my good friend here can kick you ass then."
"Yeah." Tridon stepped up and growled, "Unless you'd like your ass kicked now?"
"I-I will get my vengeance on you!" The man walked away obviously peeved off while Tridon and Natsuki laughed wholeheartedly.
"Oh man..." Natsuki said in between laughs, "That dude is such a tool!"
"I know right?!" Tridon laughed as well while the other 3 watched on.
"When did they get so close?!" Monika wondered to herself, "Well, I haven't had an alone chapter with him yet. Oh no! I'm getting the Game Treatment!" Sweat trickled from the back of her neck and while biting her fingernails, "I gotta get my own chapter, Writer! By myself and nobody else!"
Alright fine.
Monika smiled brightly just as Tridon and Natsuki joined with them, "What the hell is up with you Monika?" Monika snapped out of her trance while Tridon asked, "Are you okay?"
"Never better!" She quickly responded.
"Alright." Tridon slowly turned to the others and held up the piece of paper, "Alright, so nearby, a princess was kidnapped by a group of bandits. They're holding her hostage until they get their ransom money."
"I don't know about all of you," Natsuki continued, "but I've seen enough... ahem... off-brand anime to know what happens when a princess is captured by a group of bandits."
"No Natsuki." Sayori stopped her and shook her head, "I don't want to think about that."
"Right." Natsuki nodded, "So where does this quest take us?"
"I'll let you do the honor Ms. Paladin." Tridon handed Natsuki the piece of paper and stretched his legs and arms while saying, "I'll just make my way through the trees."
"Alright then." Natsuki read it through and ushered everyone to follow her, "So in the story, we make our way through a dense forest."
They traveled until they approached a massive forest area, "So is this it?" Yuri questioned, "It's quite dense."
"Yeah." Natsuki responded, "The bandits brought her to this dense forest so that they could ambush the heroes." Natsuki turned to Tridon who was already in a tree, "But our monkey here will recon for us."
"The 'monkey' won't do it if you use that nickname again." Tridon respond as he threw an acorn at her head.
"Fine. Tridon. We'll need you to be slightly farther in front of us so you can scope it out for us." Tridon saluted and was on his way.
"Let's push on girls." Natsuki ordered, "We have a princess to save!"
The group made their way through forest. They traveled for quite sometime before Tridon whistled to them, "I sense movement in the trees." He called out, "Wait until I give the signal." Tridon moved through the trees while the girls waited.
"So," Yuri started, "we have that winter dance at the end of the semester."
"Oh yeah." Sayori laughed, "Tridon and I always skip out on that thing every year to goof off. We hate doing those stupid dances."
"I think it would be neat." Yuri retorted, "Dressing in elegant dresses and more importantly," Yuri fiddled with her hair and blushed, "dancing with a certain club member." The girls all stiffened up as soon as Yuri said this, "I was hoping that I would be that one person to dance with Tridon."
"W-What about me?" Monika intervened, "I think Tridon and me would be the power couple of the night."
"I'm his best childhood friend." Sayori retorted, "I'll be the one to dance with him if anything."
"You just said you two don't like stuff like this." Natsuki scowled, "Unlike all of you, I won't need to try hard. The both of us are usually on the same page. All I gotta do is ask and he'll be mine to dance with."
"Girls." Tridon called out from behind them, "Path is cleared."
They turned around to see Tridon standing there with his hood down. Behind him, people strung by their feet upside down from the trees.
"Oh..."
"Let's go." Tridon leaped back into the tree with the girls nodding at one another.
They moved through the forest a little longer until Tridon whistled again. They looked up to see him pointing ahead of them. He placed his finger on his mouth while he moved ahead. He approached a campsite where a group of armed men guarded a tent.
Tridon closed his eyes and listened in, "Has nobody gotten to her?"
"No. Nobody wants their..."
"Okay," Tridon interrupted, "let me translate that into something more 'T' rated." Tridon cleared his throat and said, "They don't want a certain someone to bite their... twinkie off." Tridon shook his head and made his way back.
However, while trying to get back, one of the branches he hopped on broke and he fell to the ground with a loud thud.
"Huh?" The armed men wondered.
"Damn it!" One of them growled, "Go check it out! Secure the perimeter!"
"Oh no." Tridon ran up a tree and kicked off it. Once in the air, he took out some throwing knifes and threw them at the 3 closest people, killing them instantly. Tridon turned around and whistled loudly.
Natsuki heard it and ran ahead, "That's our queue! Let's go!" The others followed behind her to help Tridon take on the bandits.
Tridon stabbed a bandit and jumped away when the girls arrived, "I'll go for the tent to get the princess." He called back, "Hold them off." Tridon leaped ahead while the girls stayed behind.
"I wonder who the princess is." Sayori wondered while roundhouse kicking a bandit, "It looks like he only makes them people he knows."
"He doesn't know many people." Natsuki commented, "It shouldn't be too hard to think about it."
"Apart from the 4 of us," Yuri added while firing a lightning bolt at a bandit, "who else does he know?"
Monika, who fired a volley of arrows at a group of bandits, wiped her forehead before answering, "Well, we have Tiff, his sister, and that's about it."
"Do you think it could be one of those 3?" Sayori wondered.
"Wait," Yuri interrupted, "there's one more..." An arrow was shot past Yuri that went straight through a bandit, "Oh god..."
"You're welcome Yuri."
Tridon approached the tent and was about to open it, but an axe flew towards him from inside. It narrowly missed him and he backed up while readying his weapon, "Okay..." A larger man stepped out wielding multiple axes. Tridon stepped back and stretched his neck, "Big hoss..."
"Do you think you can disrupt our business?!" The man yelled.
"Kinda." Tridon sarcastically answered, "It's my job."
"Your job will get you killed!" The man swung his axe at Tridon, but dodged and flipped over the man. Before the man could react, he was shot in both knees multiple times by arrows fired by Monika.
Sayori followed it up by multiple roundhouse kicks before ending it with a stiff super kick to his face. The man stumbled onto his knees and looked up to see Yuri now holding two emei piercers. She stabbed the man in his chest and smiled devilishly before twisting them ever so quickly, stunning the man.
She stepped away to allow Natsuki to charge him full force with her shield. She drove him into the ground and continued doing so until she got to Tridon. Tridon looked down at him and rubbed the blade of his weapon.
"This was all too easy." Tridon stabbed the man in the face and smirked, "And that's how it's done girls."
"Whoo!" The girls cheered.
"That was insane." Tridon stretched and sighed, "Now let's see who that princess is." Tridon and the dokis stood in front of the tent and nodded to one another. He slowly opened the tent and inside, Tridon's expression changed. He shook his head and ran off. The dokis, confused, looked inside the tent and instantly knew. The princess looked exactly like Erica.
The setting changed back to their school and the dokis all looked at each other, "I guess we know now." Natsuki commented, "What do we do?"
"We find him." Sayori answered.
In front of his house, Tridon sat outside while staring at his phone. He scrolled through pictures of himself and Erica when they dated. He looked up to see the girls all staring at him. He avoided their gazes and stared at the ground.
"Tridon," Sayori started, "did you put her there for a reason?"
"Not really. When I make those worlds of ours stories, everything is almost randomly generated. I can mess with certain parts like making certain appear, but there's a limitation to that."
"So Erica showing up was complete unintentional?" Yuri asked inciting a nod from him, "She's still on your mind huh?"
"A little." Tridon stood up and walked towards his door, "Uh, I'm just gonna lay down for a bit. I had a great time. I loved the story Natsuki." Tridon opened the door and waved to them, "Other than that, I'll see all of you tomorrow."
The girls all stared at one another before walking off. Sayori stared at the door and then to her phone. She shook her head and frowned, "I'm going to talk to you," She stared at his house and added, "and you." She turned around and made her way to her house.
