Spice: Hello, ladies and gentlemen, Spiceracksargent001 here, with the newest episode of Yu-Gi-Oh Virtual: Enter the Element Reavers.
ELFI: Spiceracksargent001 claims no ownership of the Yu-Gi-Oh Franchise, nor of the storyworld this story takes place in.
Spice: Yeah, once more, props to Phoenix Champion and his Yu-Gi-Oh Virtual: Alpha Gear Chronicles for inspiring this work. Anyway, in this chapter, Cloud and Diana begin their Night Run, but not all is fun and games for them this night. You'll have to find out what I mean for yourselves, so now, on to the story!
[Diana's PoV]
After we finished eating, Cloud and I left the cafe and started just walking around, looking around the village for the Warp Gate. Wynn was practically glued to Cloud's side as she held his hand, and I'd honestly think the Wind Charmer was his little sister instead of his second Monster if I didn't know any better. Dance Princess was at my side idly twirling one of her shields around her index finger and Harpie's Brother was walking behind and to the left of Cloud, like a bodyguard or something.
"Don't they look so precious together?" Dance Princess coos softly. "They're like brother and sister with little Wynn so close to him."
"I know what you mean," I whisper back. "I'm have a hard time keeping myself from fawning over how cute they look."
"You two do realize Wynn and I can hear you, right?" Cloud asks suddenly, startling Dance Princess and me as we look at him raising an eyebrow at us from over his shoulder while Wynn seemed to be clinging to his side a bit more tightly, probably out of embarrassment. The mage/archer was also petting the Wind Charmer's hair to try and calm her down. The entire scene made me avert my eyes and shrink into myself a bit as I felt my cheeks beginning to heat up, which wasn't helped by the way I could hear Harpie's Brother snickering at me and Dance Princess, since I somehow knew she had a similar reaction to me.
'Get a hold of yourself, Diana,' I mentally scold myself as I try to reign myself in. 'You're supposed to be his traveling partner, not some hormonal school girl.'
~A few minutes later~
After a few more minutes of walking, we finally found the Warp Gate, basically the Quick Travel system that lets players go from one place to the next. I don't know about Cloud, but I wanted to be rested for our night run, and while we can access our rooms directly from our Bracers, I figured it'd be a good idea to know where the Warp Gate here is for future reference. I know we at least had the same thoughts on that last one, since he's been the one in front this entire time.
Or maybe he didn't want me to start dragging him around again. Could go either way, I suppose…
"Alright, well, here's the Warp Gate," Cloud says, drawing me from my thoughts as he looks at me. "When did you want to meet up so we can do this night run?"
"Hmm…" I hum, thinking about it. "How does 8 o'clock sound?"
"Works for me," Cloud says as he heads to the Warp Gate. "I'll see you then, I guess." With that, he enters the Warp Gate and vanishes. Seeing as this is the only settlement we've been to, there really was no question that he was going to his room and not another settlement.
"Well, time to get some rest, then," I say before stretching a bit, then copying Cloud and heading to my room via the Warp Gate.
My room was… rather empty, to say the least. It was a decently large room with nothing in it but a Double-size bed with blue sheets on it, a chest for storing weapons, a wardrobe for clothing and armor storage, a table with a metal card case for storing extra cards, and… that's it, basically. If I still had money, I'd bet 3 coins that Cloud's room was the exact same layout as mine, but with green sheets on the bed instead of blue.
"Guess I'll have to go furniture shopping at some point," I muse before looking at Dance Princess. "I'll see you in the evening, Dance Princess. You're dismissed for now." With a nod and a smile from her, I take Dance Princess' card off its Monster slot and into my Bracer's empty deck holder before taking it off and putting it on the table next to the card case after setting an alarm before putting my Scythe in the chest and my Starter Uniform and Leather Bodysuit into my wardrobe before jumping into bed to rest up for mine and Cloud's night run.
Yes, I like to sleep naked whenever possible. Moving on.
~later that evening~
I wake up with a yawn as my Bracer's alarm went off. Sitting up with a much more drawn-out yawn, I stretch a little before shutting off the alarm. "Note to self: see if there's any way to change the alarm ringtone to something other than that incessant beeping," I grumble before making my way to my wardrobe to change back into my Leather Bodysuit.
~A few minutes later~
Dance Princess and I were leaning against one side of the Warp Gate following me getting dressed in my armor, grabbing my Scythe, and putting on my Bracer since as I'm not allowed out of my room without it. Cloud came out of the Gate a few seconds later, Harpie's Brother at his side, his bow slung around his shoulder running parallel to his quiver of arrows and… carrying a half-asleep Wynn in his arms…?
"She didn't want her card taken off the Bracer since she wanted to sleep with me," he explains, apparently anticipating the question that I was about a second away from asking.
"Ah," I utter in understanding before looking around. Sure enough, night is basically here, as the sky is dark with a fully simulated night sky, complete with stars and a moon hanging overhead. Most of the windows of the buildings around us are shut, with a few open and fewer still illuminated with candlelight. In fact, just about the main source of light in the immediate area is the swirl of the Warp Gate.
"Well, since we're basically ready, I think we should head out," Cloud says, gently shaking Wynn awake. It took a lot of willpower to stop myself from fawning over the Wind Charmer again as she mumbles incoherently and rubs her eyes sleepily. There should be a law against the amount of adorableness that little girl is emitting, dammit! "You're the one who suggested this little excursion, Diana, so where to?"
"Well…" I trail off, having honestly not given that a whole lot of thought 'til just now.
~10 minutes later, in Beginner's Forest~
"Back here again, I guess," Cloud comments as he looks around.
"This place does have fairly low-level spawns," Harpie's Brother comments, looking at Wynn, who was still fading in and out of consciousness in Cloud's arms. "If we're lucky, we may even be able to find a Petit Dragon for Wynn."
"That's right, according to the lore, Petit Dragon is her Familiar," Cloud muses, looking at Wynn as well, "and in this place, a Charmer can merge with a monster of matching Attribute to go Familiar-Possessed. I imagine that it'd be a pretty safe wager that asking a Familiar to do the whole merging thing would be a hell of a lot easier than trying to get any other Monster to merge with a Charmer."
"Well, I'm gonna stick with you just in case," I reply as I look to him. "Safety in numbers and all."
"Sounds good," Cloud replies as he looks to Harpie's Brother, the two sharing a nod before the Winged-Beast takes flight. He then looks to me. "He'll be scouting for any Petit Dragons that may be out late tonight. In the meantime, we are free to do whatever."
I can't help the mischievous smirk that crept onto my face as he says this. "Well then, let's go!" I call as I grab his hand and start pushing him, making the Spellcaster stumble. "I wanna see if we can find any loot boxes!"
"Woah!" He calls out in surprise, trying to keep a hold of Wynn so that she doesn't fall to the ground. "I can walk just fine, Diana!"
-Same time, no P.o.V.-
At the same time as the two began trekking deeper into the Starter Forest, a slender figure drops onto the lowest branch of a nearby tree, landing on its feet. Heterochromic eyes - one a beautiful shade of violet; the other a vibrant crimson - narrow fiercely as the figure watches them walk off, waiting for them to disappear from sight before jumping down to ground level before stepping out of the tree's shadow, allowing the moonlight to reveal their appearance.
It was a woman garbed in a cloth robe that was as black as a starless night with midnight blue - almost black - hair flowing down to the small of her back, and parted by a pair of black fox ears atop her head. Sheathed across the small of her back, and partially concealed by her hair, was a iron shortsword, while a pair of iron daggers rested in sheathes that were strapped to her forearms and concealed by the sleeves of her robe. Going off her appearance, the woman was around 20 years of age. On her right forearm was her Bracer, black as night and shaped like a white-tipped fox tail coming from a shield that served as her deck holder.
Drawing the two cards in her deck, the woman placed them on her Bracer's summoning slots, calling forth her monsters: a Command Knight and Silver Fang. "Track the Sky Scout," she instructs, turning first to the wolf before looking to the knight at her side. "They are looking for a Petit Dragon, and I saw a Wind Charmer in the bowman's arms. We will ambush them while the Charmer is acquiring her Familiar."
"Yes, ma'am," the Command Knight replies with a salute before she turns to watch the Silver Fang, who quietly barks and affirmative before walking over to where Cloud and Diana were previously, sniffing around for the scent of Harpie's Brother, picking it up after about 10 seconds before leading the two women through the woods.
"We will have to exercise some caution," she advises as the three get underway. "It is night, so the Vampiress may be more powerful than she would be during the day."
-10 minutes later, Diana's P.o.V.-
Ugh, I am so bored! It's been ten minutes since we started walking through this forest. Thankfully Wynn was on her feet now, so Cloud had his bow drawn and an arrow in his right hand, ready to knock it for a shot or stab something with it. "Okay, not that I'm complaining, but I wish something would happen already!"
It was, of course, at that moment that we were set upon by a swarm of eight Meda Bats, prompting Cloud and Dance Princess to look at me. "You just had to say it, didn't you?" they ask simultaneously before returning their attention to the Fiends staring us down. Beside Cloud, Wynn tightened her grip on her staff as he knocked the arrow he'd drawn.
"Looks like eight of these things," Cloud observes, apparently doing something to his arrow as I saw the winds begin to stir and enter the arrow. "Let's divide and conquer. Wynn and I will take the four on the right, you and Dance Princess get the ones on the left."
Deciding to figure out what the Spellcaster was up to with the arrow later, I nodded and looked to Dance Princess, who nodded before erecting a wall of ice right in the middle of the swarm, startling the Meda Bats and forcing them to split into two groups of four. I was still able to see Cloud and Wynn, though, so I took the bats' surprise to do some quick scans.
[Meda Bat: Dark/Fiend. Lvl 2. HP: 200, ATK: 80, DEF: 40 (20 passive)]
[Dance Princess of the Ice Barrier: Water/Spellcaster. Lvl 4. HP: 400, ATK: 170, DEF: 90 (45 passive]
[Wynn the Wind Charmer: Wind/Spellcaster. Lvl 3. HP: 300, ATK: 50, DEF: 150 (75 passive)]
[Cloud Skywind: Wind/Spellcaster. Lvl 2. XP: 20/200. HP: 600, ATK: 80, DEF: 100.
Spells: Gust lvl 1 (Attribute Spell, PWR = ATK+10), Mend lvl 1 (Healing Spell, PWR: 50)]
[Diana Dust: Water/Zombie. Lvl 2. XP: 20/200. HP: 600, ATK: 80 (100), DEF: 80.
Abilities: Vampire's Bite (Heal by biting, must beat full DEF), Midnight's Boon (+20 ATK at night)]
Nodding at the information I'd gotten, I smirked a bit as I drew my Scythe, putting my fangs on full display for the flying eyeballs. These bats clearly didn't know who they were messing with. Ever since I'd stepped out of the Warp Gate, I could feel the effects of Midnight's Boon filling my body. I felt light on my feet and I could feel newfound strength flowing through me as I basked in the moon's silver glow. "Come on, then," I coo maliciously as I spin the scythe around in my hand. "Let's dance~"
That seemed to get the Meda Bats back into action as they started shooting beams of dark energy from their eyes at Dance Princess and me. We both pirouette out of the way before charging in at the same time I see Cloud start to shoot - and holy hell did that arrow fly. Second he released the thing, damn arrow as out of sight so fast I think it may have started approaching the sound barrier, and he was drawing another arrow, and already doing whatever he did to the first one.
Focusing back on my own targets, I jumped up with my new strength and slammed my scythe into two of the Meda Bats at once, dealing 80 damage to both and knocking them to the ground while Dance Princess fired ice shards at the other two, freezing them over and dealing 150 damage before they fell to the ground, the ice shattering, but leaving them protected from potential fall damage at the cost of dazing them. I finished them off with a sweep of my scythe while Dance Princess finished off the other two with a spinning slash from a pair of literal ice skates on her boots as she ballet twirled in place with the two Meda Bats within leg's reach. The entire thing had netted us a total of 80 XP, 8 Coins, and two Meda Bats. When the Ice barrier came down, I was treated to the sight of Wynn finishing off the last of the Meda Bats she and Cloud were dealing with.
"So, get anything from those Meda Bats?" I ask, slipping the two cards I'd gotten into my deck holder and began collecting the eight coins I'd gotten.
"Just XP for Wynn and myself and eight coins," he replies before ruffling Wynn's hair with a smile on his face, making the Charmer giggle happily at doing well in her first battle. He then used Gust to bring all of his money to him before pocketing it. "Though, I suggest we start sweeping this area. If there was a Meda Bat swarm, then there may be something good nearby."
I nod as Dance Princess and I start looking around while Cloud does the same with Wynn. I hope Cloud's right about there being something here…
-5 minutes later-
"I found something!" Wynn calls out, getting our attention. Sure enough, when all of us gathered by her to look, we saw a wooden Loot Box hidden behind a bush.
"Jackpot," Cloud says before looking to Wynn and rubbing her head with a smile. "Nice job, Wynn. That was pretty good of you."
I swear, that girl could kill someone with how cute she is, the Wind Charmer was positively beaming at Cloud's praise. "Thank you, big brother," she purrs with a smile that could rival the cuteness of a kitten.
"Who cares?! Treasure!" Dance Princess cries out excitedly, her eyes sparkling at the thought of the Coins hidden inside the Loot Box. "Let's split it, 70/30."
"Nice try, Dance Princess, 50/50," Cloud retorts coolly, making her pout before he cracks it open. It was only, like, 36 Coins, which we'd split evenly, so we were both 18 Coins richer. Not long after, Harpie's Brother dropped down from the tree line.
"I miss anything?" he asks, looking between us.
"Just a small horde of Meda Bats, nothing serious," Cloud replies with a wave of his hands. "Did get a Loot Box out of it, though, so Diana and I are each a collective 26 coins richer now."
"Yeah, speaking of those Meda Bats," I reply looking at Cloud. "What was that you did back there with that arrow? It went way faster than any arrow I've ever seen shot."
"Tried pumping magic into my arrow to see what would happen," Cloud explained. "Got an arrow that not only went faster than normal; it hit for my Attack plus the power of my Gust, and looked like it even got Piercing. Last Meda Bat Wynn and I got was blocking after it saw what I'd done to its buddies, and I did about as much damage against it that the arrow would've done normally."
"Huh," I reply before we both look to Harpie's Brother.
"Interesting. Either way, I've found a Petit Dragon," he reports, making Wynn perk up instantly. "Follow me, I'll take you to where I found it. It's also sleeping right now, Wynn; you may want to be a little careful with waking it."
The Wind Charmer nodded as we began following Harpie's Brother. The forest was rather quiet now, so our trek was fairly peaceful, not that I'd be vocally complaining this time after that Meda Bat swarm. After about seven minutes, we were looking at the bush where we could barely make out a tiny, curled up little Dragon, if only because its lighter shade of green stood out from within the green of the bushes. Wynn immediately got this huge smile on her face as she made her way to the bushes, switching her staff from her left hand to her right as she began carefully and methodically moving the bushes out of the way so she could get a clearer look at the Petit Dragon.
-No P.o.V.-
It had taken at least 15 minutes of waiting as the Beast-Warrior was waiting for the archer and Vampiress to be brought here by the Sky Scout. Now they were here, and it was time for her to strike. Drawing her Daggers from their sheaths as quietly as she could, the woman then did a scan of her opposition.
[Diana Dust: Water/Zombie, Lvl 2. XP: 100/200. LP: 600, ATK: 80 (100), DEF: 80]
[Cloud Skywind: Wind/Spellcaster, Lvl 2. XP: 100/200. LP: 600, ATK: 80, DEF: 100]
[Harpie's Brother: Wind/Winged-Beast, Lvl 4. LP: 400, ATK: 180, DEF: 60]
[Dance Princess of the Ice Barrier: Water/Spellcaster, Lvl 4. LP: 400, ATK: 170, DEF: 90]
[Wynn the Wind Charmer: Wind/Spellcaster, Lvl 3. LP: 300, ATK: 50, DEF: 150]
The readout got the woman to blink. 'Wait, he's a Spellcaster, and has one of the original English releases of Sky Scout?' She questions mentally before shaking her head. 'Won't matter in this battle.'
Seeing Wynn go off to move the bushes, she began lining up her throws, aiming for Cloud and Diana before activating Armor Crush. Once she had her beads, she crossed her arms before throwing her Daggers, sending them flying at her targets. By her side, Command Knight and Silver Fang tensed, ready to pounce on her word…
-Diana's P.o.V.-
I watched as Wynn started to do her thing. Cloud had a smile on his face as well, but it faded as he started looking around for whatever reason. Soon enough, I heard what sounded like something being thrown…
That was about all the warning I got before I felt something stab me in the back earning a cry of shock and pain from me, before a quick glance at Cloud confirmed that he'd been hit too as I saw an Iron Dagger had stabbed him in his left arm before it just… vanished. I was confused, but that quickly gave way to alarm when I saw a pop-up appear before me.
[You've been afflicted with Armor Break! While this status is active, your DEF is reduced by a set amount. Warrior and Beast-Warrior type Players are capable of inflicting this status.]
"Big Brother!" Wynn cried out in surprise as she saw that we'd been attacked.
"Just do your thing, Wynn, we can handle whoever's attacking us while you do so," Cloud reassures, though I could tell he was hurt a bit by the fact the dagger had dug into his bow-holding arm. Bringing his right hand up to the wound, I could make out the glow of magic as he healed himself of the LP damage before doing the same for me.
The rustle of the underbrush caused us to turn around and see a woman step out from the shadows. She had on a black Cloth Robe, midnight blue hair parted by a pair of black fox ears, and the Bracer on her arm meant that she was a Beast-Warrior. What was worse, was that there was a Command Knight and a Silver Fang at her side.
Cloud and I glanced at each other, and I could tell we were both thinking the same thing.
'This could be a problem…'
Spice: And that's Chapter. Who could our enigmatic Beast-Warrior be? Find out in the next chapter!
ELFI: The captain would like it mentioned before anyone complains, that this cliffhanger was quite intentional.
Spice: Hey, haven't really done one of these before, gotta figure out how to make one at some point. Anyway, next time we switch to a third-person perspective as we watch Cloud and Diana battle their mysterious new foe. Until then, folks, this is Spiceracksargent001: signing out!