Giitar lay face down on the floor.
Elizabeth, "If you drink any more –Tainaka- you'll get lost on the way back to your computer," the tall girl pointed out. She wasn't fairing any better herself as she downed another shot of straight vodka. Even Azu-nyan seemed to be going all out having a third cocktail (a gose) and not bothering with the taste test. The waiter seemed concerned but said not a word.
"I'm fine dog nabbing bit!" The Mage's slurred speech and incoherent words failed her as she slumped against the table, dropping her mug. The remaining liquid spilled over the floor.
"Even Giitar is depressed." The brown haired girl barely moved away from the spillage as she half rolled away from the table.
"Fourth time in a row…" Azu-nyan pushed her cocktail away with a sigh. "And we still can't beat that thing." The image of the Toblin annihilating them replayed in her eyes, the knock back of that club hitting them to the wall before the murderous onslaught. "And it seemed they've given up…"
"They haven't given up!" shouted Elizabeth. No one was surprised. She had done that several times that evening and each time she spilt something onto the exhausted Giitar. "They're just preparing for the next battle."
"We're broke," retorted Azu-nyan. "In fact, the only things we have are our level ten equipment and the levels we got." In the corner of her eye, the number sixteen flashed at her. "What level should we be able to beat this boss at anyway? The first time was level twelve or something."
Elizabeth moved her arm about, opening up Google chrome. The browser floated in front of her and she typed in what she was searching for. "With a party of five, fifteen. So we aren't that bad."
"Come on now, we suck…" The Fighter's blunt way of putting it made Giitar groan as she rolled around on the floor, mopping up the alcohol. No one bothered to stop her. They had given up since the second day. "And the players haven't played with us in a week."
"They're just planning!" She sighed afterwards, calling the waiter over for some food. A steaming lasagne was placed on the table and she stabbed it with a fork.
"Oh, we're heading out." Azu-nyan closed the message she had just received. "I'll see you guys in death later."
"Take that drunk with you and slap her for me." The cat eared girl dragged the Mage with her and ignored the doorframe letting the drunk's head smack against it.
"Even the Prince didn't hang out with us this time." Elizabeth sighed and picked up Giitar. "Come on little ninja, you get going too." She picked her up like a sack and dropped her out the door, no longer caring where she went. "Sorry waiter, I'll finish that another time." She was referring to the meal and, with that, fell out the door into the Internet.
/*Author's notes
If you've ever faced a boss and lost four times in a row then I think you'll understand the moods the characters are in at the moment.
I don't think I've made this clear but they're all playing this in the university dormitories, similar to the one in the manga (or my other fan fic) so they each have their own room next to each other.
*/
"Yui?" said a voice by the door with a polite knock. "Yui, are you alright?"
"Ui~" The guitarist moaned on the bed, flopping about like a fish on dry land. "I think Giitar is upset…" The Gibson Les Paul guitar rested on its stand. A little sunlight reflected off the cherry sunburst coating tingeing the room a little red. With a sigh, Ui sat next to her sister to comfort her.
"Why do you think Giitar is upset? You were practicing with your guitar all week for the concert." The day before, the Light Music club had performed for their university welcome day. It was a tradition that the club upheld and usually enticed many new students to decide to join their university.
"I meant Illusia Giitar." On the screen of her laptop showed an empty lobby screen, a field of grass. "And now she's run away!"
Ui was unsure how to help. "Maybe she's visiting Elizabeth." Yui yelped out at the thought though.
"She's cheating on me~." She put her face to her pillow and whined a little. "I never noticed…"
Ui sweat dropped. "I'm sure she'll be back soon." She was curious where the avatar had went but Yui was more important at that moment. She patted her on the head. "Don't worry."
Eventually, Yui was soothed. "Why don't you get a computer so you can play too?" It was the only reason why Ui wasn't part of the party- a lack of computer. Whilst Yui had instantly offered her laptop, the younger sibling knew that someone would be left out. Ui didn't want that guilt. "We're kinda stuck in the game and we need help."
Ui couldn't give advice on a game she had never played before so she picked up the instruction booklet. "I'll take a quick look in here." Something caught her eye though as Giitar stumbled onto the screen. "Giitar's back."
"Giitar!" Yui was by her laptop instantly. The avatar mumbled some words and seemed really tired. If they could smell where she had been, she would reek of alcohol- not that she drank anything.
"See, Giitar's upset."
Ui was surprised to see how closely the avatar resembled her sister and, indirectly, her. "I think she just needs some rest. Why don't you take a break from that boss?"
"Okay…"
A message appeared in the corner from Mio, asking what they should do today. Ritsu thought they were really close to beating the boss last time and that they might be able to push through today. Mugi was unsure though and Azusa agreed.
"You could join the MMO game," suggest Ui to them.
"So we've given up," sighed Elizabeth.
"Cheer up," replied Tainaka, fully sober again. "At least we get to go to a new place!" They waited in the lobby area, a field of grass as usual. Soon, the rest of the group appeared.
"What's happening?" asked Giitar in a teary eyed state. She rubbed her face as though she had just woken up. "Who threw me into the internet?"
"Looks like we're going to the MMO world." She looked at Elizabeth and smiled for the first time since they first went into the dungeon.
"Really?" Giitar jumped up and hugged their leader. "Yay!"
Sudden change, thought the Archer.
"But," cut in Elizabeth. "I get the feeling this won't last very long." The giddy girl looked confused. "At least you're back to your old self, dramatic as it is." The Ninja smiled back.
"Well, looks like we're about to start." Their vision glowed white as they were transported onto the MMO server. "See you later."
"Oh, where am I?" asked Mio, uncertain where she would have appeared. "Guys, where are you?"
"Fishover," replied Ritsu. "Where are you?"
The title of the town flashed across the screen. "Port Sailin'." She could hear the frantic clicks of her best friend in her headphones.
"That's the other end of the map!" As the others relayed their positions to the drummer, she found none of them were close to each other. The map appeared slightly different to the RPG world as well. Every territory seemed to have a separate colour; some were blank. Each of the band members was in a separate colour. Then, Ritsu realised what had happened. "Hey Mio, which emotion did you choose?"
"Um..." Mio replied. "Hope/Fear."
Ritsu sighed. "Thought so. It seems we each chose a different emotion and ended up in completely different places."
"Hey, Archer, want to help out with a territory raid?" said a voice at Mio, interrupting her conversation. She jumped in her chair, realising who the message was aimed at. "Come on, it shouldn't take long."
Elizabeth looked at the man that started talking to her. Tall, with long black hair, wields a spear. She didn't say anything, not wanting to talk to a stranger.
"Sorry, I'm new here," Mio replied, typing the message into the keyboard. Elizabeth relayed the message in text rather than speech.
"Ah, excuse me miss. What level are you?" Mio answered quickly, aware her friends were waiting on her. "That's not too low a level for this raid. If you're an archer, you shouldn't get into too much trouble but I'll keep you safe." This guy talks a lot, thought Elizabeth.
"Hey Mio, what's the plan?" called out Ritsu, distracting her.
"Um…" She explained the situation of the stranger to her group, waiting for their opinions.
Ritsu, "Go on a raid, why not?"
Mio, "But…"
Ritsu, "We can meet up later. I want to explore my area a bit. There are loads of people and they seem to be kind of fun."
"Okay then." And suddenly she was on the territory raid. She introduced herself to the person who claimed to be Zack. "My name is Mi- Elizabeth."
"Awesome. I'm going to send you a party message now." It took a while for Mio to disband her original party, apologising to her friends profusely, before she accepted the invite. "Follow me then!"
Elizabeth followed the man but kept getting distracted by the fishing port they were in. There seemed to be a lot of fish about, not surprisingly, but the number of other wares was great. There must be a lot of trade here.
"You don't speak much, do you?" asked Zack to Elizabeth. The avatar said nothing in return. "Or are you non-sentient?" The girl stared back, inquisitively.
"I'm sentient."
"So you can talk!" He laughed heartedly. "I was worried I'd be alone."
"What do you mean non-sentient?"
"Oh, those who don't respond."
Elizabeth thought about Prince Triton. Was she non-sentient? If she was, it would be strange how only her would be the odd one out. However, if she was sentient then why didn't she talk at all?
"Something on your mind?" Elizabeth shook her head and followed him out of the port. Since it was the other side of the island she was used to, her eyes wandered a lot on the surroundings. It wasn't the usual meadows of grass but barren wasteland. The dirt was hard beneath her feet and the monsters around were strong, roughly her level.
"You're level twenty two," she stated at her comrade.
He nodded. "Took a long time too. Levelling in the MMO world is a pain since everyone tends to be a ridiculous level. Most of them take to the tower but you always get some bastard lurking on the island and taking control of all the territories." At the look of Elizabeth's worried face, "Don't worry, the place we're going after has been deserted for a while now. It's controlled by monsters at the moment."
Eventually, they met up with the party –no, army- that waited just outside the territory, blocked out by a red wall. Forty players stood around, waiting for the signal.
"Zack, you're late," called out a grizzled veteran. "We were going to leave you behind." He was an old man with a weathered face. His heavy armour and overly sized shield suggested he was a Guard class.
"Sorry," he replied. "I managed to get someone to help though." Smiling, he introduced Elizabeth.
"Who cares? She's just a newbie." He ignored her and began the mission briefing. It was as though they were about to march to war. "This is a level twenty area zone. We will be liberating 'Weld Wist town.' Stupid name I know but the experience will be worth it. The objective is a wipe out. See an enemy; kill it. Clean and simple. Monsters you are likely to see are the same as the ones you just passed, bugs and worms." Mio shuddered. "They have taken residence in the town. The geography is just flat otherwise bar the odd, dead tree.
"We're going to split into four groups. First group takes the north side, second the west and so on." Then he began splitting the groups. As the veteran neared the new girl, Zack stood by Elizabeth.
"I'm sticking with her." The old man nodded and sent them to the second group. "Zack, you're in charge of group two of course."
After a few brief introductions to her new group, a mixture of everything, they readied their positions. As Elizabeth watched the other teams disappear from sight, she looked at the red wall of the territory. "We'll be fine," said Zack. "Right team. Since we're facing flying bugs and worms, we need to work closely together. Worms can burrow underground so keep an eye out for our less defensive comrades." She was looking at Elizabeth at the time whose face reddened. As the leader, he began sorting out their positions and strategies and he obviously knew what he was doing. Long range units in the centre whilst the close range units take the flanks. At first sight of the enemy they would start shooting. When they get close, the flanking sides will charge and the centre group will support as appropriate. Mio understood, hoping she wouldn't hold back the party since she was under levelled. A party message appeared on all their screens, indicating they were about to start.
"Beginning territory raid in three, two, one."
"March!" he shouted, and they slowly marched forwards.
Ritsu sighed, bored. She had been to Fishover before so there was nothing interesting to see in the barren town. She had lied to Mio so the girl would get out more. Flicking back to the map, she saw that Yui was closest to her. After a few messages, they decided to meet up and plan what to do next. Mugi and Azu-nyan were on opposite sides of the map so they arranged to convene at the capital city, Lota.
"Enemy sighted!" shouted Zack. With a few clicks, Mio targeted some blue buzz bees that were heading towards them.
"Burst!" she shouted, sending a hail of arrows at the enemy, taking a good number of them down to everyone's surprise. "Um, I invested a lot into this skill." From around her, arrows flew and magical blasts exploded towards the enemy. None of the enemy reached the group so they continued to march.
"What Burst skills do you have?" asked Zack.
"Mostly the ones that shoot more arrows." She could shoot seven arrows that would split into seven each. The homing ability had been improved so much that the ones that missed could almost turn full circle for another shot. It was probably unnecessary though.
"A lot of people do that. It's great when combined with the Fireworks skill." With some explanation, it would basically make her Burst skill extremely flashy. It was a fairly bad skill since it could hit allies and the blinding light was distracting. However, when shot into the sky, it would be like shooting real fireworks.
"Next wave." Without hesitation, another Burst shot and a hail of arrows, they sent the enemies to their deaths. However-
"Worms!" They could see tunnels being burrowed towards them.
A mage stepped forwards and flung his arms forwards. "Quake!" he shouted, tearing the land apart to reveal the disgusting creatures. Elizabeth fired some arrows at them whilst Mio recovered from the shock. Wet, slimy tentacle creatures without faces. Their skin was coated in thousands of poisonous barbs. They darted at the centre crowd, angry with the archers and mages.
And the flanks closed in, striking the worms from both sides. Elizabeth retreated, knowing she couldn't shoot without hitting her allies. They won that battle with ease and they returned to their positions.
"What class are you, Zack?"
He smiled back. "I'm a Lancer." He held up his spear with pride. "It takes a Guard and a Fighter to become one. I'm not sure why being a guard is necessary but being able to use a shield is very handy at times." Elizabeth pointed out that he wasn't wearing one. "That's because I like to use two handed skills at the same time. My player equips and un-equips it when I need it."
The village appeared in view. It seemed the main battle had already started as they saw a hail of arrows collide against a swarm of bugs from the west side. They retaliated with their own long-range attacks sending back poisonous blobs of bile.
"Keep in formation," shouted Zack, refusing to charge. "Keep your guard up though." Mio ignored the urge to begin firing and scanned the buildings. Through the windows, she could see some bug nests and she pointed them out. "Thanks Elizabeth," the leader replied. He inhaled deeply. "Long range, draw some of the enemy towards us." Mio complied, setting up her Burst ability and letting the homing feature do the aiming.
"Took your bloody time," shouted a certain veteran. The avatars could hear him from across the field, though to Mio it was a simple party message. "Group four are down and fleeing and group three have charged in. My group are outside but we've lost a lot of good men already."
Zack took in the information. "Order group three to retreat and regroup with group four."
"Done that but they're trapped. Worms got paralysis on them."
Zack ran in. "I'll help them out then, the rest of you keep position."
"You idiot, don't get yourself killed!" As he ran into town, a cleric ran forwards and sent some protective magic after him. Elizabeth waited, taking her time as she shot at the aerial enemies. They kept on appearing though, were they re-spawning?
"The nests," shouted Mio to her party. "We should shoot the nests through the windows." They all agreed, concentrating their fire into the buildings. The close range fighters of their party were getting impatient though.
"Let's go and help out Zack!" they cried and soon they were marching forwards. Mio thought to stop them but it wasn't her place to do so. The others around her did though but were ignored.
"Let's go after them," said the earth mage.
Mio shook her head. "Zack told us to hold position. If worms head towards us, being in an enclosed space won't give us enough time to react." If they were in the enclosed quarters of town, they would get swarmed instantly. "It's too risky."
"Arg!" Mio looked around. The close range members of the group had been caught off guard.
"Idiots!" shouted Zack. "The worms laid out a trap. Get out of here!" There were screams of their comrades dying and ranged units all stood there, holding position. Soon, they gave into temptation and began marching.
"This is not going to end well," said Mio.
"These enemies are really tough," said Tainaka. "The RPG world doesn't have enemies as strong as this." She was ignoring the dungeon boss they failed to defeat four times in a row, which didn't count.
"Well, it's nice to be out and about again," replied Giitar with a smile on her face. "The Prince and Azu-nyan are probably enjoying this too."
"Grahg! Haha, Die!" Tainaka imagined the cat eared girl going crazy on a killing spree against slimes.
"Maybe like that?" Tainaka asked, causing the Ninja to giggle.
"Well, I think it would be more like this." She demonstrated it on a passing boar.
"Sunder!" she shouted, Azu-nyan slamming her Lance into a group of icicle monsters. She spun around bringing the pole arm into an uppercut, driving some of the monsters away. Surrounded, cold, the chill mountain air cutting through her as she faced off the last few ice creatures. With another swing, she knocked one off the side of the cliff face she was fighting on and stepped back, getting away from the edge. Her vision was fogging up and she wiped her new goggles, getting a better view of what she was fighting. "Pierce!" she shouted again, impaling an iceman. Her lance broke through its shield and struck the heart of the creature, killing it. Another half turn, she raised her small shield to deflect some of the shards of ice another things was spitting at her. Stepping forwards, ignoring the blinding cold as a shard scratched her face, she lunged into the mouth of a smaller cuboidal enemy. It fizzled out of existence and she received her experience, levelling up.
"That was close…" but she was smiling anyway. "I missed this."
"Like that!" shouted Giitar.
"That was an elaborate impression," retorted Tainaka with a face full of conflicting emotions on how she felt about it. "At least you got the mountains bit right." She opened her map to see that the Fighter hadn't moved very far. "We probably won't see her for a long time. Well, lets continue to the capital."
Only two of the fighters survived the trap. The earth mage's quake skill freed the pair as the archers picked off the worms with precise aim. "You guys are lucky," shouted the healer, casting her magic. "Unbind!" and they could move again. They thanked the party and they decided to continue.
"Group three have been cleared," shouted the Veteran, meeting up with them suddenly. "Zack has achieved his objective. Now, we clear out the houses. Destroy every nest you find. Watch out for worms." He was off, leading his group of warriors behind him.
There was no time to think. Mio ordered her avatar to search, sending every nest she found to the next world with her Burst skill. It didn't take long before something new happened.
"Everyone to the west side, hurry!" shouted the party message. Elizabeth jumped out the window, landing onto the street.
"Oh, you're still alive," said Zack. "And you've levelled up." She smiled, flexing her muscles. "But," he cut her off, "seems like a boss." He was off, running ahead like before. She followed, drinking a mana potion on the way.
"Arg!" shouted the earth mage, as he was flung over the houses and evaporating at the same time.
"He's dead," someone said impolitely.
The veteran was facing the boss on his own, deflecting attacks with his shield. Elizabeth hesitated.
The boss was of the worm type but much bigger and more disgusting. A great big bug's nest stuck out the ground, more monsters crawling out of it and taking to the sky. From the ground, tentacles lashed out at the attackers as it defended its territory. Three health bars; two of them were filled. "Mother swarm," it was called.
"Burst!" shouted Mio, volleying the smaller monsters. They were really weak being new-borns but their long-range spittle attacks caused really annoying status effects. The healer sent her spells towards their veteran and Zack was soon by his side, lashing out with his spear.
"Watch out!" cried out Mio, a tentacle aiming at his unguarded side. Suddenly, a shield appeared on his arm, allowing him to deflect the blow. Then, he spun around, the shield disappearing again.
"Sunder!" he shouted, slicing the tentacle clean. The boss wailed but received no damage to the main body. The veteran stepped in front of his pupil, deflecting another attack with his mighty shield.
"Don't drop your guard on a measly tentacle or bugs. Concentrate fire on the body!" He ordered that to everyone, Mio listening intently and learning. Her arrows aimed at the nest, sometimes killing off the stray bug and her long-range allies followed suit. Soon though, they were getting weary.
"Arg!" cried a high-pitched squeal from behind. Mio turned to see the healer being sucked into the ground. A back attack; worms were heading for her too. The other archers panicked, shooting at the ground to no avail. The healer's health drained to zero. She disappeared with a scream.
"No!" cried out Zack and rushed back to help. The veteran was holding off the boss on his own now. Then he realised Zack and he were the only close range fighters now.
"Sunder!" shouted Zack, breaking the ground and revealing the worms. Elizabeth was on it, the only one who stayed position. Three of the worms died at the close range Burst attack and Mio quickly replenished her mana with another potion.
"Sunder!" he cried again, freeing some of their comrades and the archers fired down at the worms. A lot of them began drinking potions, realising their healer was gone.
"Not good," cried out Zack, running to the front line and protecting the Veteran.
The archers were back to shooting the boss, one of them keeping an eye on their backs. They watched the second health bar drop below zero.
The boss began to sway as though unstable. The tentacles were sucked into the ground back into the nest as it began to collapse.
"Get back!" shouted the veteran. "Take cover!" They all retreated, hiding behind buildings. However, Zack and the veteran were too slow. The nest exploded, shards of poison splattered the surroundings and began corroding. Mio looked round the corner to see a worm where the boss had been dive into the ground.
"Captain!" shouted Zack. He looked up to see the veteran standing over him, shield in front.
"Take over, Zack." He died, protecting his soldier.
"Damn it." The lancer stood back up, leaning on his spear. "Where did it go?"
/*Author's notes
I've learned a new term- sweat dropping! A lot of the time I always imagined this reaction but never knew how to describe it. Source: Manga Iconography (Wikipedia)
Ui's first appearance! I hope I've got her character right. She'll get to play a bigger role in the second arc of this fan fiction so for now she'll only make infrequent cameos unfortunately, lovely as she is. Jun is at a different university but may appear randomly. I'm worried I'll introduce a load of characters and end up being unable to cope.
Also, in order to not completely disregard my other fan fiction, I have decided to only release chapters in this fic when I release one in the main one. I've decided this because the other one seems more popular (sad face)…
*/