/*Author's notes

I won't waste much time here.

It's dungeon day.

*/

The large, oaken doors in front of them rumbled open and they waited in anticipation, not knowing what to expect. It was dark. A tunnel was revealed to them.

"Let's go," said Elizabeth, marching in with her bow ready. The others followed suit. Azu-nyan moved to the front.

"The archer shouldn't lead the way." Smiling, she walked forwards, lance first.

Silence. It was a while before anything happened but an arrow suddenly struck Azu-nyan in the arm but her armour took most of the damage. She readied her tiny arm shield, noting the small three per cent damage.

"Top left!" shouted Mio, clicking on an archer goblin that had just attacked them. A fireball was flung down the tunnel, lighting up the area to reveal a small horde of goblins, waiting in ambush. Their night eyes twinkled in the unnatural light as they realised their cover had been blown. They charged.

"Burst!" shouted Elizabeth, sending a cascade of arrows causing their front line to stumble and fall.

Prince Triton moved forwards, halting the enemies' advance. Her shield on her left stopped the goblins from flanking her whilst her sword arm kept the others from sneaking past.

"Sunder!" The Prince stepped backwards, giving her comrade space as she hit the ground, the quake completely stunning the enemy. Giitar took advantage of the slight pause the skill caused, diving into enemy fray with both her kunai in a spinning fury.

"Twister!" Like a child pretending to be a spinning top, the small girl lashed out several times and when she stopped a small wind pushed the enemy away from her. Arrows struck her though before she could retreat behind their guard.

"Mio, take the archers!" shouted Ritsu, sending in a fireball at the main goblins letting her teammates take advantage of the slight healing. Suddenly, a brave group of the monsters jumped past Mugi, making a charge at the defenceless mage.

"Roar!" screamed the guard and the piercing screech bounced off the walls of the tunnel, stunning every enemy and drawing their attention. In the distraction, Mio took out the group with a quick spread shot of her Burst ability. She then took advantage of the buff on the opposing archers.

Again, Azusa used her Sunder skill, decimating the final few goblins. A few enemy archers ran as the front line was killed, retreating into the darkness of the tunnels.

"Come back here!" shouted an enraged Azu-nyan and charged after them.

"Wait!" but the cat girl had already gone. Giitar chased after her. "Come back Azu-nyan!"

Elizabeth sighed. "Let's go!"

The path split up. "Left, right or forwards?" asked Mio. "Which way did you go, Azusa?"

"Don't go forwards," she replied. "It's a trap." There was a steep slope that Azu-nyan slipped on in the darkness. Yui had followed of course, not wanting to leave her Kohai alone. However, it appeared they were stuck at the bottom. "Do you have a rope?" They didn't and Azusa sighed. "There's a door here but it's locked from the other side. Carry on without us, we'll get out of here soon."

Mio nodded. "Okay. Don't do anything dangerous." She chose the left path and let Mugi take lead since she was the Guard. Again, they were in darkness and they squinted, trying to catch the sign for anything about to happen.

"This sucks," said Tainaka. "Out of all the noob like things to do, why was it Azu-nyan?"

"She was just having fun." Elizabeth smiled for once. "Don't you think?"

"Noob, it won't be if she dies."

Ritsu, "Mio, can we slow down. I used up too much mana in that last fight." She had less than forty per cent, only just enough for one fireball.

"Okay, I used quite a lot too." Mugi was fine though, having used only one skill.

"We should be more conservative of our mana," she mentioned as they stopped to have a break. "I don't have many offensive skill so I don't do very much damage." A stray arrow suddenly hit the Prince, causing her to ready a defensive position. They other two stepped behind her, eyes open.

"Don't heal me," said Mugi, stopping Ritsu. "You'll need that for later." Understanding, Ritsu cancelled the action and searched.

"Another set of goblins." With a sigh, Mio began letting loose some arrows. "Burst!"

"This is kind of boring," commented Giitar, pacing around the pit they were in. "I wonder if I can wall run up the walls?" She tried it, almost making it out of the pit but failed. "So close."

"Ugh," sighed Azu-nyan. "This is so annoying. And why did you follow me?" Her friend pouted as though insulted by the remark. The Ninja began pacing around to find anything interesting.

"Nope, nothing." She approached the sitting fighter and waited. Soon, the cat girl looked up, meeting the intense gaze.

"What?"

"This is your fault."

"Ugh. I know." She paused. "And?"

"And it's your job to entertain me." Silence.

"How?"

The brown haired girl placed a finger on her pursed lips. "Kiss me."

Silence. "What?"

"That's how you're going to entertain me, kiss me." She leaned in. "Please?"

Backing away, "No," she replied with a hint of worry. Giitar didn't give up and almost jumped at her.

*Bang* Azu-nyan hit her head on the door behind her and twisted to the side in pain, narrowly missing the girl's kiss. The noise echoed over Giitar's cry of failure at her attack.

"What do you mean 'no'?" cried the little girl with a tear in her eye.

"What do you mean 'what do you mean?'" the smaller girl shouted back. "What the hell are you doing!" Suddenly, she shushed herself as they heard footsteps from the other side of the door. Quickly, the two hid and prepared. The doors opened and some goblins stormed in. They saw nothing. Then, from behind the doors they just opened, the pair attacked.

"Pierce!" shouted Azu-nyan, her new skill striking through the goblin into another behind the first. As the creatures struggled, impaled on the lance, Giitar finished them off with some simple strikes. Before the pair could hold the door, more arrived, pushing them back.

Azusa and Yui were surprised by the sudden attack, unaware of what had transpired.

"Uh oh," said Yui. "There are a lot of them." Goblins kept piling in, all with swords and shields, filling the pit they were in.

Azusa agreed. "We need to hold on until Mio-sempai can save us."

Out of mana, that was the worst thing being a mage. Ritsu ordered her avatar to retreat, taking safety out of sight but she worried about her comrades whilst she rested, sitting round the corner.

"Burst!" shouted Mio, one last time as she picked off some unaware archers. She watched her mana drop as she kept firing arrows afterward. "I'm out of mana as well." She kept shooting arrows, her avatar feeling the strain in her fingers as she continually pulled the string hopelessly back as they were swarmed. Only Mugi's Roar skill stopped the enemy from charging past and slaughtering the two lesser armoured comrades.

"Roar!" she shouted again, watching her health drop as she was fully surrounded, taking hits from all sides. The Prince grunted with each blow she took, particularly feeling the blades strike her back. "Bulwark!" The Prince raised her shield, casting a bubble around her and pushed the goblins away. Their attacks hit the shield, whilst enemy arrows deflected off. All the while, her mana was being sapped away. "Stop shooting Mio," Mugi asked. "I can't use my Roar skill if they start attacking you. Please get your mana back quickly!" The Archer sat down, understanding. Tainaka and Elizabeth sat there, resting their mana gauges. They waited, watching their Prince take a beating as she stood there, holding up her shield valiantly as her mana dropped to zero. Suddenly, a flash of light and a message saying "Level up!" appeared on their screen, granting them a small bonus to health and mana. Surprised, they realised Azusa and Yui must be fighting something.

"Let's go!" they shouted.

"Burst!"

"Fireball!"

Yui stopped fighting for a short moment, flinging a potion at her comrade and healing her. Since they moved away from the door, hordes of the goblins kept piling through and charged with their little shields and swords. Their only saving grace was Azusa's Sunder skill but even that was useless when she was out of mana.

"I have no more mana potions," replied Yui as her character drank another healing item. "This is it!" Her character darted forwards, covering her partner's back as she killed a goblin. The experience allowed them a level up, granting Azusa enough mana for another Sunder skill but she knew it was pointless.

"There are too many of them," shouted Giitar, voice breaking under the pressure as she parried two goblins at once with each of her weapons.

Azu-nyan, "We can do this, don't give up!" Like a commander, she barked words of encouragement, even though she was smaller. "On my pride I won't let you give up so easily!"

Giitar smiled. "And you wouldn't kiss me before." Yui looked at the corner of her screen and saw everyone in the party's health bars decreasing, realising that the other group were also fighting, and losing. "Sorry Azu-nyan," she said.

"What?"

Suddenly, the Ninja grabbed a hold of the Fighter. In one heave, she lifted her up. "Throw!" Yui clicked on the respective skill. Azu-nyan felt herself flying through the air out of the pit. She landed, winded. Before she realised it, the Ninja had disappeared.

"Giitar!" she shouted, after realising what had happened. The little girl had sacrificed herself to send her out of the pit. "I won't forget you…"

"I'm still here you know," said Yui. Azusa jumped in her seat. "I'm using stealth." The kohai looked into the pit, trying to find out where the Ninja was. The goblins seemed really confused, most of them targeted the Fighter but she was out of reach of their short swords. Suddenly, the doors to the pit closed, locking them in. "I don't have any mana left so hurry up!"

Azusa hesitated, not wanting to leave her friend. She bit her tongue. "Yes sempai!"

Mugi stepped back, using up some more healing potions. Out of mana, the goblins were free to target who they liked. Only the Prince's constant moving from side to side stopped the enemy from advancing too quickly as they soldiered towards the Archer and the Mage.

"Heal," Ritsu cried, stopping their Guard from dying. "I can't do anything for a while now, sorry." The mage ran far backwards out of sight.

Mio kept shooting arrows; fully aware her supply was beginning to run low, even though she had stocked to max before she came here. "We should run away Mugi." The Prince was stubborn though, hitting another goblin to draw its attention.

"I'm out of potions," she shouted. Mugi was frantically clicking, her character somehow following all orders in her tired state. Soon, some got through. Mio tried to pick them off, a goblin managing to cause damage to the Archer before she fired arrows directly into its face.

It seemed hopeless.

"Don't give up!" shouted a little voice. Suddenly, Azu-nyan appeared, charging forwards lance first. Prince Triton jumped back, giving the cat girl enough space.

"Sunder!" she shouted, dazing the goblins and sent them sprawling, getting lucky with a critical. The group went on the offensive then, ignoring what little health they had left. Tainaka was back, sending some healing spells to those who needed it. Reinvigorated, they took back the battle, slaying the last few goblins.

"That was close…" said Mio, resting her character. They all simultaneously sat down but Azusa.

"Yui-sempai's still out there, I'm going to look for her." The girl moved onwards, ignoring the protests.

"We should stick together," but they fell on deaf ears. After a few moments, Mio followed suit.

Ritsu, "We levelled up remember, we should allocate our skill points." With a sigh, Mio quickly adjusted them and followed after her kohai.

"I see," said Tainaka out loud. Only the Prince was there so she wasn't expecting a reply. "Ritsu went Cleric. Thinking for the team?" With that, she followed after the team.

"Hey guys!" waved Giitar, sitting in front of a giant pair of doors. "I found the boss room."

"She seems pleased with herself," commented Azu-nyan, "considering we almost died." The girl collapsed to the ground and rested.

"Because of you," cut in Elizabeth. "Running off like that. What happened?"

"Azusa forgot to click off the enemy and sent me off to attack…"

"But there weren't any archers in that pit," replied Giitar. "You just wanted a free kill." The girl didn't reply; talking was too much effort.

They began explaining what had happened to each group, Yui vividly digressing her story into an epic tale. Her throw skill could genuinely be used on anything it seemed, including characters.

"Then, like a ninja, I snuck out and locked them in their own pit. Mwahaha!" It was too cute to be an evil laugh and the others laughed with her.

"Oh Yui." They turned their attention to the boss now. "I don't think we're going to make it," Mio sighed. "We should head back instead."

"But we never know until we try!" inputted Mugi with her excited face. No one could refuse that face, but they knew it was there even though they couldn't see it at the time.

"What could go wrong?" asked Ritsu, confident as ever.

"We could all die," Azusa curtly put in. "And lose half our money."

Ritsu, "We don't have that much anyway so it doesn't matter. If we go back now, we'll have to face all of those monsters again."

Tainaka, "Actually, dying is an incredibly painful experience.

Elizabeth, "It's not something I'd recomend."

Giitar, "I won't be able to run away if it gets bad."

Triton, "…"

Mio, "Lets do this then!"

The avatars groaned.

Similar to the way that the dungeon doors opened, these ones twice the size swayed on their hinges, creaking loudly. The room was dark save for some small lamps. They entered carefully. Soon, the flames burned brighter to reveal the grand corridor they were in. At the end of the passageway they could see a door with two stone guards beside it. Hesitantly, they edged closer but a sudden feeling told them to stop.

The door opened.

Ten-foot tall, malting green skin with lumps the size of footballs and a hideous face to match, a goblin lumbered towards them. On its left arm was a round shield. It was dull and grey, similar to the flat helmet it wore on its head. In its other hand was a wooden club and in true, fantasy game style it was larger than it was. Nails protruded from the club and they could see the rust claiming the iron. The body wore no armour, only a strange leather shirt and trousers held its dignity. Then, all the doors closed.

It stopped, a good distance away from the group. It roared.

"Toblin." Three health bars appeared by its name, filling up to max as it ran forwards. Another health bar appeared by its weapon.

"Defend!" shouted Mugi, the Prince running forwards to meet the attacker and raising her shield. The Toblin raised its weapon high and let it drop, the shockwave of the blow almost knocking the Guard to the ground. Again, it raised its club.

"Burst!" and arrows rained down on the boss. There was little effect and unencumbered it struck down again, pushing the Guard to the floor. As it prepared the third strike, Azu-nyan rushed in.

"Sunder!" she shouted, swinging her lance upwards towards the club. She managed to deflect the blow, giving Mugi enough time to recover. "We can target its weapon," Azusa called out as the weapons health bar dropped a little. It wasn't much though and an arcing swipe of the club forced her backwards. They hadn't moved very far from the door and they could feel the pressure of being forced into a corner. Yui moved in to attack, managing a few swipes with both her kunai before being forced to retreat.

"Aim for the weapon," Mio ordered letting more arrows loose. However, most of the arrows glanced off the shield it suddenly raised, and with his other arm, jabbed at Mugi. She deflected the blows but each hit pushed her backwards.

"Fire!" but it was ineffective against the iron shield. "I need to circle round." The Mage ran forwards, hugging the wall. However, the Toblin didn't want that, aiming his club at the robed one.

"Roar!" shouted Mugi. Nothing happened, ineffective against the boss. Then, the creature lunged forwards, smashing the Mage against the wall. Mio flinched at the sound of crunching bones whilst watching Tainaka evaporate from view and her health bar disappear from her screen. She screamed in pain, the sound inaudible to the players. The avatars heard it though, their faces shocked.

Ritsu sighed. "Well I'm dead." Mio started to panic.

Azusa and Yui attacked the Toblin from behind, using Sunder and Twister respectively. The stunning effect from Sunder didn't work and the creature twisted round and swung the club in a large arc. Yui managed to dodge but Azusa was not so lucky. It caught the girl's none shield side and she crashed into the wall. She waited to be healed, then realised the healer was dead.

"Watch out!" cried out Mugi, protecting her friend from an attack. However, her change in position left Mio in the open.

"B-Burst!" As the Toblin approached the Archer, Mugi was too far away and the club came crashing down on Elizabeth, killing her instantly. They gasped, three of their team left but not even ten per cent of a bar done to the enemy.

Mio, "I'm gone…"

Toblin spun around and charged, swinging the club in an uppercut. Mugi blocked it but the attack sent her into the air. With her out of the way, the boss swung wildly at Azusa. She retreated, attempting to parry the attacks. "Pierce!" and she lunged forwards suddenly. The attack struck the Toblin, knocking it off balance for a few seconds. Giitar was in, jumping onto the creature and slashing madly. But then it punched at her with its shield arm; something that caught her off guard since her eyes were on the club. She felt herself hitting the wall, winded and unable to move.

"Yui-sempai!" Azusa stepped in front of the downed girl, stalling for time as the Toblin continued the assault. Parried once, parried twice. Then the creature held its shield forwards and charged. Azusa dived out the way, hoping the injured would make it out on her own. The Ninja was gone. However, her health bar was still there, meaning she had stealth-ed.

Mugi was back, attacking the boss from behind. Azusa stayed her position, hoping for the Toblin to go after Mugi and reveal a safe opening for her. It didn't, remaining focused on the Fighter.

"Sunder!" she cried, having to use a skill to parry the attack. Then, Azu-nyan cast the skill again, hopping towards the creature and smashing her lance into it. As it stumbled back, she lunged again, following up her attack. It was great, until the creature punched her with its shield arm. As Mugi was being ignored, her attacks doing pitiful damage, the Toblin raised its club over the cat girl.

"Azu-nyan!" cried out Yui. The club fell, ending her life.

Mugi ran. She headed for the entrance where they had entered and banged her hands on the door. Nothing. Nothing happened. She turned and raised her shield only to be knocked down to the floor. And the Toblin kept hammering away, bring the club to full height each time before bringing it down on the Guard. Her high defences and health kept her alive for a long time but she could do nothing and eventually, her health dropped to zero. Prince Triton disappeared into the air. Toblin still had over two and a half bars of health left.

It turned to the other doors. Yui was there, failing to open them.

"U-Um…" she stuttered. The Toblin did nothing, knowing what would happen.

Yui logged out.