Here we go again with the next chapter of this story. Real quick, I want to thank all of you for being patient and supporting this fanfiction and especially those of you who have left a review on the previous chapter. It is heartwarming and motivating to see that despite almost nobody else publishing fanfiction for this franchise anymore, there is still a not insignificant amount of interest in this story.
All cards on the table: during the hiatus, I entered and/or got dragged deeper into several franchises and they have influenced how I look at the future of Shining Sunlight. By this I mean that there might be references to these franchises going forward. Which, to be fair, has been something I have incorporated into my writing ever since I first started uploading them. If you're wondering why there is a sudden influx of them now of all times… now you know.
Disclaimer's the same as always. I do not own BanG Dream! Girls Band Party nor do I, in any way, shape, or form, intend to pretend that I do.
"I will be right back, I need to grab a drink," Moca announced to her friends once she could no longer ignore her thirst. Moca would wait long enough to hear an affirmative response from them before putting off her headset and stretching her arms above her head.
It had only been half an hour since Moca and Ran left the café they ran into Ako and Rinko at and the two members of Afterglow hurried back home. After saying goodbye at the familiar intersection, knowing that they would be together again soon, Moca and Ran split ways and headed home. Moca, after making sure to greet her parents on her way in, made a beeline to her room and boot up her computer. Her friends were waiting for her and she did not want to be the last one there. Again.
Moca stood up from her chair and waddled to the kitchen so she could refill her water bottle before returning to her room. Once back in her sanctuary, Moca plopped down on her chair and put her headset back on.
"Sorry to keep everybody waiting," Moca said as she looked around to find her friends waiting patiently for her return. When she realized that she was alone, much to her surprise, Moca had to actively try to keep her voice steady before speaking again, "Um… hello? Where is everybody?"
"Ah, Lotus-chan, we've moved to the first location already, sorry," Tsugumi's voice reached Moca's ears, followed quickly by the voices of Moca's remaining friends. After Moca had reassured them that she didn't mind that they had moved ahead, Tsugumi picked up where she had left off, "It's near that volcano we went to right before the tournament, remember?"
"I will be right there with you. Thankfully, we can teleport to areas like that and not waste our time traveling on foot," Moca commented off-handedly, voicing her inner thoughts to her friends. Much to Moca's surprise, not only did her friends not point out that Moca was complaining again but they seemed to agree with her.
With a renewed sense of self-worth and appreciation, Moca made Lotus head to where the others were waiting for her. As she waited for her avatar to arrive at its destination, Moca decided to fill the silence by voicing the thought that had been on her mind for a while now, "As much fun as we've had playing this together, some of these quest missions are the worst sounding ideas I've heard. And I've heard plenty of Maiden's ideas."
"Yea—hey!" Himari's indignant cry was a welcome sound to Moca's ears who had to muffle her snickering. Before Himari could complain more than she already had, another voice interrupted the bassist.
A bright flash of light was all the indication Moca needed to recognize that she had arrived at her destination. An open area in front of a path that led to a dormant volcano in the distance. There were several craters dotted around the scene and Moca took note of a number of boulders that could be used as effective cover from attacks… but also be used by her enemies to try and avoid being attacked by the avatars of Moca and her friends.
Speaking of Moca's friends, they were all waiting for Moca's arrival right outside the battle area. This was the only part of this area that was safe from enemy attacks. It was here where Moca would find four familiar-looking avatars standing in a circle together.
"All right all right, Maiden, Lotus, let's not spend our time arguing and teasing each other again," Tomoe said in an effort to ease the tension between Himari and Moca. Moca knew better than to say something now and Himari had clearly received the memo on her end, too. After waiting for a few seconds to see if somebody were to respond to her, Tomoe shifted her focus on another member of the group, "Endymion, we're doing your mission today, right? Mind reminding me what exactly we have to do now?"
"It's just clearing this area of wyverns. Again. You'd think the game would run out of rewards to give me for murdering all these wyverns here. Or wyverns for that matter," Ran added that last bit with an audible undertone of annoyance. Moca couldn't help but agree with Ran: some of these missions made little to no sense. Moca had to help an NPC find another way home because the road was blocked. When Lotus arrived at the location to see if she could do something about the blockade she learned that it was a twig laying innocently on the dirt.
Moca's train of thought was interrupted when Ran called out her avatar's name, "Lotus, you're up."
Moca blinked. She then blinked again. Moca would continue to blink as blinking is a natural action for the human body to undertake. But as she was blinking, Moca was trying to think of the reason why Ran might have said that.
It was then that it hit her. On her way back home from the café with Ran, Moca had told her best friend that they could rely on Moca and Lotus for the opening attack during today's session. Now that Moca had remembered this again she cracked her knuckles and got into position.
"Right, sorry to keep everybody waiting, then," Moca said as she took the opportunity to look around her and assess the situation. Four wyverns were crawling out of hiding and approaching the group, and Moca knew that it was only a matter of time before the first attack was launched. The only question remained: who would strike first?
'All right, Lotus, here we go,' Moca thought to herself as she activated Lotus' skill, one that she had yet to use in front of her friends: Fluttering Ripple. As soon as Moca gave the command, her trusted avatar dashed forward and lunged its spear-like right arm into the abdomen of the closest wyvern. The wyvern let out a cry that Moca was sure was to indicate a shriek of pain. The creature then tried to dig its fangs into Lotus' shoulder but, unfortunately for it, Lotus' skill wasn't done yet.
Before the wyvern had the opportunity to strike back, Lotus moved back in one fluid motion back to safety. The wyvern ended up with a mouthful of air instead before the final effect of Lotus' skill activated. Lotus didn't just dash back to safety but the avatar also managed to unleash four more slashes that scored direct hits on the wyvern's abdomen.
As Lotus' movements came to a halt, Moca could finally afford to watch her enemy succumb to her attacks and collapse on the ground. It had been defeated and Moca could let out the breath that she didn't know she was holding. Despite the confident mask she put up in front of her friends, Moca wasn't sure if Fluttering Ripple would have been enough to take out a wyvern. Seeing that she successfully defeated one was a relief for Moca. A big relief for Moca.
"And that is what you get for facing Lotus using Fluttering Ripple," Moca gloated with pride, hoping to receive a response from one of her friends but never would. Masking her disappointment Moca chose to walk to the fallen wyvern to make sure it had been defeated. A quick check was all that she needed to be sure: Fluttering Ripple had been more than enough to win the fight for Moca.
A shriek from another wyvern reminded Moca that this was not a one-on-one fight and that there were multiple enemies for her to defeat. The wyvern managed to close the distance between itself and Lotus in Moca's momentary lapse of focus. Moca's hands shot towards her keyboard in a desperate attempt to retaliate against the attack but deep down Moca knew that she wouldn't be able to make it.
"Lotus, duck!"
These two words were all the warnings that Moca got, but it was enough for her to act. Instead of using an offensive skill to counter the creature's strike, Moca shifted her finger to a different key which resulted in a different command for Lotus. Lotus slid to the left and, as the avatar moved, Moca moved her mouse to watch the bullet of compressed air rocket past her. The attack hit the wyvern in the jaw with enough force to send it flying.
All Moca could think of was how lucky she was that her friend had warned her. Had she been unable to react in time and it might have been Lotus instead who would be severely damaged by that attack. An attack that was fired by a supposed ally, too.
"Thanks, Endymion," Moca voiced her gratitude in a voice that was barely above a whisper, but this was loud enough for her friends to hear. She knew that she would receive an earful from one of her friends had she not been heard. With a clear conscience, Moca activated Fluttering Ripple again to deal the decisive blow to the downed wyvern. As she watched the defeated wyvern collapse never to stand again, Moca let out a soft sigh before directing her attention to her friends, "How many more of these do we need to defeat?"
"We started with four in the area and you've managed to defeat two," Ran pointed out calmly as Moca watched Chaos ensnare and defeat a third wyvern. Ran seemed to notice this as well but refrained from pointing out the obvious.
"I don't like that I can't see the fourth wyvern. Can anyone else find it?" Himari whined as Maiden shifted its position to protect the more vulnerable Endymion and Peace. The three of them had elected to maintain their distance from the wyverns.
Ran and Tsugumi had avatars that were weaker in close-ranged combat while Himari's defense-focused avatar stayed behind in case one of the wyverns managed to break through. This was a precaution that usually was seen as excessive by the group but it might have been necessary to do so today. As Himari had pointed out, the fourth wyvern had seemingly disappeared from their sight, meaning it could appear from anywhere at any moment.
Knowing the dangers of the situation they found themselves in, Moca did something that even surprised her.
"Everybody, get together!" despite knowing that she was the one who said it, the words sounded foreign even to Moca's ears. Ignoring this anomaly, Moca rushed Lotus to where Endymion, Peace, and Maiden were standing. From the corner of her eyes, she saw that Tomoe's Chaos was quickly following suit, so Moca turned back around to scan the area for any sign of their enemy, "Stay close and be careful of any sudden attacks."
"Lotus, aren't you… being a little too serious about this?" Tomoe asked, trying to sound nonchalant so as to not hurt Moca's feelings. Before Moca had the opportunity to respond to the question, Tomoe was already saying something else, "It's just one wyvern, right? What's the worst thing that could happen? All five of us are right here so if we just do things like we always do it should be fine."
Moca's first instinct was to call out Tomoe's reasoning knowing that the five of them were still in danger as they were in an area where enemies spawned. By that very definition, there was no such thing as 'safe' for any of them. But Moca stopped herself from calling out Tomoe for this lack of understanding; Moca was the one who played the most of this game and she was acutely aware of this fact.
Instead, Moca wanted to try and play it off so she could lighten the mood again. She had already thought of something to do so and opened her mouth to share with the group. The words would never reach her friends' ears as it was then when Moca's third worse nightmare came true.
In the corner of her screen, Moca saw movement and she immediately knew what this meant. They had lowered their guard too much and the enemy they came here to defeat was about to land a decisive hit on them. Moca wanted to warn her friends who seemed oblivious to the danger they were about to face but it was already too late.
Before Moca could make any noise the fourth wyvern landed in front of the group with its mouth wide open. In stark contrast to Moca's silence, the other members of Afterglow were a lot less composed in their reactions. Both Himari and Tsugumi screamed and even Tomoe let out a surprised shout as she realized what was happening.
In Moca's shocked state, she couldn't react in time to try and avoid or counter the attack, but she could see the attack coming. The red-hot flames that appeared in the creature's mouth were all the warning that Moca was going to get. The wyvern unleashed its fiery breath at the group and Moca could only cover her eyes to not be blinded by the flash of light and hope that both she and her friends could survive the attack.
Right before the attack would hit her avatar, Moca closed her eyes in anticipation of the damage she would see before her once she opened her eyes again. Two seconds would pass with Moca turning away from the battle, something that she knew she should not have done but could not stop herself from doing so. When Moca finally decided it was safe enough to try and peek at her screen she let out an audible gasp.
Black Lotus was unharmed. All the avatars of Moca's friends were unharmed because something had jumped in front of them and taken the hit. An avatar of a familiar color wearing a metallic-silver kimono-like outfit. Moca might have only seen this avatar a handful of times before but she recognized it immediately.
"I apologize for… being late, everyone," Silver Kite said as the avatar nonchalantly dusted off its body, seemingly unfazed by the flames it was hit by only seconds ago. Almost as if they were aware of the question left unvoiced by the group, they started talking again, "Kite-san… has high resistance to… fire and fire-based attacks… so I am fine."
Without missing a beat, Kite had activated one of their skills as was evidenced by the avatar unsheathing one of its daggers and lunging at the wyvern. It let out a shriek of anger and pain as the dagger was twisted deep into its shoulder. The wyvern then tried to retaliate by striking at Kite's outstretched arm in a desperate attempt to free itself. What Kite would do next both shocked and seemed eerily familiar to Moca who could only stare at Kite fighting the wyvern in front of her.
Before the wyvern's claw could make contact with Kite's arm, Kite jumped back and away from danger. As the silver-based avatar did so, they also unleashed four more slashes that struck the wyvern's neck. This attack caused the wyvern to reel back and collapse on the ground. This swift attack from Kite had successfully dealt the finishing blow on the wyvern who remained unmoving.
After confirming that the wyvern was actually defeated, Kite turned around to face the other five avatars. Although the game didn't allow Moca to see the other players' faces nor were the avatars known for their emotive and expressive facial expressions, Moca could visualize the look on Kite's face. The fact that Moca knew who the player controlling Kite was helped in this regard.
"This wyvern… has been defeated," Kite said before taking a few steps to close the distance between them and the group. When nobody responded to Kite's statement, they seemed to get nervous, "Um… I know that I… am late to our… agreed meeting time… I am really sorry… for being so late… even though I was invited… by everyone to play together…"
"That's… don't worry about that, Kite-san, we understand things can come in at the last second to interrupt your free time," Tsugumi was the first to have found her voice again and, consequently, was the one to try and ease Kite's worries. To put the focus of the conversation on something other than Kite's late entrance, Tsugumi tried asking Kite an innocent-sounding question, "But Kite-san, you managed to defeat the wyvern so easily after being hit by that attack to protect everybody. Are you all right after all of that?"
"Yes, don't worry, Peace-san… Kite-san is… strong against fire-based attacks… so it actually did not… do that much damage," Kite explained to the group and Moca bopped her head slowly as she recalled what she heard earlier that day. Unfortunately for Moca, she wouldn't be given the chance to ponder on what Kite had said as they chose that moment to address the other portion of Tsugumi's questioning, "And thank you, Peace-san… but I think Kite-san and I… just got lucky… that we managed to… managed to successfully… use Fluttering Ripple."
"I'm sorry, Kite-san, I didn't quite catch that. What did you say?" Himari asked sheepishly, almost embarrassed to admit this to the others. Hearing this, Moca would have commented and made fun of Himari but she knew she shouldn't. The game had a feature built which would change the sound of people's voices in the game and this has caused misunderstandings in the past. For someone to ask another player to repeat themselves was something that should not and was not considered a strange or even rude thing to do.
"Ah, um… Fluttering Ripple is what I said, Maiden-san," Kite said, the confusion audible in their voice despite the voice changers provided by the game. Moca didn't even need to focus on listening to what Kite would say next, she already knew what the next few words would be before she would hear them. And, sure enough…
"Fluttering Ripple… is the name of the skill… that Kite-san used… to defeat the wyvern."
And that is all for today's chapter! I hope you enjoyed today's chapter, please leave a review telling me what you thought, and until next time! Take care!