Hey guys. It's me again. In case you were wondering in the past two weeks, no I have not chapter 21. This is long because I can't plan fight scenes properly. Thank you Hayasaka Shion for betaing once again, I hope more people think you are wonderful like I do.

Disclaimer: This awesome series
isn't owned by GPS
/pterodactyl screech

Haiku are easy
Japanese plurals don't require a "s" at the back and don't you forget it because they're written the same way as singulars are so when referring to multiple "animes" please keep in mind it is actually "anime" my friends annoy me with this no punctuation woot yeah.
This isn't a haiku I tricked you I'm sorry.

Chapter 21: Cards & Peach

Sunday: May 6, 2038. 9:34 P.M.

By now, night had fallen both in and out of the game, clearing the skies of their previous red and orange hues and replacing them with deep midnight blues and hazy violet undertones.

The majority of the GoM waited patiently inside their stronghold for the arrival of their two missing members. Strangely enough, it wasn't Haizaki, Aomine, or Kise absent for once–though Haizaki didn't show up half the time anyways, Aomine was usually a couple minutes off, and Kise was quite busy despite how much time he spent here–but Kuroko and Momoi who, as of now, were precisely thirty-four minutes off the clock.

Earlier this night, a bored Aomine had pulled out a deck of virtual cards and somehow convinced the rest of them (minus Murasakibara who claimed he didn't know how) to play a few games of Texas Hold'em Poker with ladomi as a wager. Akashi had quit halfway after winning every single round nine times straight, leaving the rest of them fighting uninhibitedly for the winner's crown as he watched.

It was mostly the tan-skinned or silver-haired men who claimed first, though Kise got lucky once or twice by pulling out a nice full house or flush. Sadly, Midorima did not win a single game that night.

"This is pointless", he had sighed to himself as he put out another hand of junk, "Cancers were eleventh in the rankings today and you're all in the top five."

"Don't be a sore loser and hand over the dough."

Honoring the game's rules they'd put down, he obliged and materialized a bag of the shining golden pieces. Begrudgingly, he handed them to Haizaki, who'd beaten them out during the thirty-fifth round with a superb four-of-a-kind made up of kings and a jack.

A few seconds later, Murasakibara made a small apathetic comment toward the group, and although it was only an innocent observation, it managed to set loose hell, "Hai-chin, you have something sticking out of your sleeve."

"Shit! Really!?" the Thief panicked as the others narrowed their eyes.

Before he could react, Kise held him down and Midorima dug into his sleeve to reveal cards that had the exact same pattern as the set Aomine had pulled out earlier.

"Aaaah! Haizakicchi, you cheater! Give me back my money!" the blonde yelled, impulsively knocking the other to the floor, chair and all. They began to tussle, rolling around and knocking into their recently-bought furniture while trying to get the other to submit. Midorima got hit by a stray kick and fell into the fray–he'd been trying to separate them before they strangled each other, but now he was just trying to escape the confusing tangle of limbs. Aomine's dark-skinned hand reached up and covered his face; he then said in a disappointed tone, "I expected better from you", before turning away and shaking his head.

The gray-head growled then smirked. "You're one to talk!" he snarled, grabbing a hold of Aomine's left arm to reveal his deception. When his sleeve rolled back, just like with Haizaki earlier, a myriad of cards cascaded down and tumbled to the ground in a messy heap, as if they'd just been playing Fifty-two Pick-up and not Poker. The Thief looked up toward Aomine, whose jaw had dropped in disbelief that he'd been caught. "You thought I didn't know? A true gambler can tell when others are cheating too!" he said with a smug expression that was practically almost begging to be hit; at least to him.

"Don't be proud of that!" Midorima chastised, taking back his coins and finally separating him and the blonde.

Somewhere in the next three seconds, Kise had removed himself from the stone tiles on the floor and climbed onto their table before jumping off and giving Aomine a flying tackle that sent them both crashing into the wall. A large, gaping hole was left in it for everyone to see.

But for now, neither was paying attention to that.

"Aominecchi, you traitor! Is this why you were wearing long sleeves today!?" he yelled into the other's ear.

"Cut it out, and quit pulling my hair! What are you, a girl?"

"You barely have any hair anywa–GaaAHH! DID YOU REALLY JUST BITE ME!?"

"All's fair in", he paused slightly, "cards and war, Kise!" was the rebuttal offered. Pushing off the ground with his hands, he rocketed off the floor and nailed the blonde in the stomach with both feet. The victim of this attack ended up hitting the ceiling, landing on their crystal chandelier (something which Kuroko had somehow gotten his hands on and was adamant on using), and unintentionally breaking off a couple pieces of it.

As Kise shook himself off and slid off the hanging light source, Akashi, now sufficiently irked, decided the quarrel would not be resolved on its own and stood up. The Sorcerer surveyed the damage; several chairs were in shambles, the table was teetering on three legs, and the walls were full of openings. Not to mention all the random objects and weapons thrown around that Akashi hadn't even known were hidden in this building. Perhaps being burnt alive would be a befitting punishment for the two.

With a couple orders to Murasakibara, he started to advance toward the two, but stopped when he noticed a flash of pink, as well as a subtle, faded blue, near the door.

Switching to another perspective, Kuroko and Momoi had just walked through the entryway to witness a flailing Midorima being lifted and thrown as a human weapon, Murasakibara holding Haizaki in place with an iron grip, and Akashi walking toward their resident idiots with a sizzling sense of hostility radiating off his being. Momoi sighed heavily, and the taller of the two in the doorway took note of his now-cracked chandelier and joined the redhead in his pool of animosity. It was less about him liking the chandelier (though he did, and very much so) and more about the fact that it had been a gift.

The new arrivals took a second to slowly turn to look at each other before giving small, agreeing nods.

Momoi ran up one wall and then the other to give herself a good angle; she then did a side-ways somersault before dropping her platform-boot covered heel right onto the side of Aomine's face, which let off a satisfying thump and crack. He had seen her and was almost able to dodge, but she still had caught the side of his jaw as he attempted to shift away. As you may know by now, limbs can't be dismembered in this game, but things like teeth and hair are free game, and so a snow-white molar fell from the Paladin's mouth. It wasn't too much to worry about; the empty space would soon fill with a new, fully-formed tooth in around an hour or so.

Kise froze, feeling pity for the blue-haired man along with an intense fear that he would be next to receive that death-blow. "Momocchi… is he breathing?" he finally asked after a few good moments of silence.

"Well, I don't know, Ki-chan" she whistled out, "You should probably worry more about yourself right now."

"Huh? What do you me-"

That sentence was left unfinished when a giant, swirling orb of destruction plummeted into his right side and sent him flying once more–this time, he landed with his stomach catching onto the railings that led to their second floor.

Now that the petty dispute was finally "settled", Akashi took the time to greet the Elf and pinkette, and the same was done to him in return.

"So why were you late?" he questioned, going over how much they'd need to fix everything caused by the two semiconscious idiots. He'd probably make them replace everything considering they were the ones that did the most damage, though that didn't mean Haizaki would get off free either. He would make sure they'd all have some very, well… sad punishments.

With a final glance around, Momoi began to answer his question by summarizing these following events–ones which had occurred about an hour before she and Kuroko had arrived here:

Let's flashback, shall we?

Sunday: May 6, 2038. 8:29 P.M.

Right on time, Momoi had leveled up and finished getting all the items she needed for a quest. She smiled at the blue-haired man next to her, who had been helping her with her item-gathering for the past hour.

"Have you finished?" Kuroko asked her, and she looked up and replied with a happy, "yes~! Shall we go back now?"

Ahh, Tetsu-kun is so handsome.

They began to slowly make their way toward the town; from this distance, Momoi estimated it'd take around ten minutes to be able to get into range where they could use their Return-to-Town items. If she was calculating correctly, she could turn in her quest stuff and then they could make it back to the guild with just a minute or two to spare.

Most of the conversation made between this pair was about small things–mostly unrelated to game-play. The peach-haired Spy was excited to be able to learn about the other as most of the stuff she knew about him was second-hand information passed down from Aomine.

Two pairs of feet quietly thumped onto the soft soil underneath, and it wasn't long before they reached a distance suitable for item usage.

Both players pulled out translucent orbs from their inventories. In most games, there were items just like this that worked like Akashi's travel spells to allow non-Mage players to get around more quickly. Some allowed a character to teleport to the nearest town, others to things like specific destinations or even other islands (though those were insanely expensive).

The ones Kuroko and Momoi were using were some of the easiest to obtain–the kind that had to be replenished each time they were used that allowed a person to teleport to the nearest town. These types could be earned through repeatable quests on every island from the third on, or bought from other players. Once Kuroko and Momoi got back to Caldina, they would use special "Warp-Orbs", as they've been called, that only worked in certain towns to transport them back to their guild. This type was reusable and would not disappear unless that person either left the guild or threw it away.

These items are the only thing that lets a person be transferred to their guild, and though it can't be given away, there is a way someone outside that guild can obtain and use it.

It hasn't been said yet, but there are three main types of PVP in this game. One is an official arena type; these are fought for Duel Points and are the most effective in upping a character in an official ranking. Another kind is battle outside an arena that both sides agree on; this type allows two sides to set up wagers like items or ladomi. It's only available for one-on-one and only gives about half as many Duel Points to the winner.

The last type is a nonconsensual fight. These are usually perpetrated by PKers in order to steal items from their unsuspecting victims. When someone kills someone else in a spontaneous battle like this, the winner gets thirty percent of their currency and several items random from their inventory (though the rarer an item is, the less likely the winner will obtain it).

This type of fight is the only way a person can get the guild Warp-Orbs from another player, but if they succeed in killing their target, the drop-rate for the orbs is usually seventy percent. Using this, that person and three others (at max) that are within a certain range can be teleported to the loser of the fight's guild, where they can attack and attempt to take over.

If the invading faction succeeds, they automatically receive a certain amount of ladomi, Guild Tokens, and will be able to implement a few other rules on that guild for a week's amount of time.

It would be at this moment, right before the peach-head and blue-haired man could use their Return-to-Town orbs, that they would experience this third type of fight for the first time.

The first knives came, and they would've sliced through Momoi's neck if she hadn't been walking with Kuroko. It wasn't that he protected her or anything, but if she were with one of her noisier comrades–Kise being the primary example–she wouldn't have been able to hear the weapons whizzing through the stagnant air and dodged the majority of them.

After that, the two were put on alert and stood back-to-back, watching for any movements in the bushes or trees surrounding them.

Whoever it was that was ambushing them now, Momoi could not yet tell if they had planned this attack or not.

Besides being the furthest possible spot away from town to use a Warp-orb, this area had particularly thick plant-life all around the pathway. It was a terrible situation for the pinkette, who was primarily a contact-fighter when she needed to do heavy damage. Also, there were definitely multiple enemies judging from how many knives had come at her–at least three–who were probably around her level. They seemed practiced in player hunting and had good aim as well, and if they tried to run, it was more than likely they'd get pinned in the back.

Behind her, Kuroko whispered out, "I will cover you, so can you find them?" before getting a defensive spell ready. She took a breath and nodded, and then put her focus into completing an area-scan skill. If the enemies were still in perimeter, she'd be able to gauge their situation and come up with a plan on how to defeat them or escape.

Another knife flew straight for her face, and she almost abandoned her casting to dodge until two white prisms in the shape of hexagons appeared and blocked it.

Several other weapons came from all around, but were all deflected by the shields that the Cleric rarely ever needed to use. The assailants still hadn't come out of the trees, perhaps for reason that Momoi had a chance of beating them at close-ranged combat or that they were wondering about the mysterious floating barrier around her.

Momoi was close to finishing her spell. The short concentration part was done (there were no actual words to this spell), and now all she needed was to do some simple hand motions before she could use it. One hand rested on the other, interlocked where the index finger met thumb. She slid them apart until the tips of those fingers met on both hands and created a rectangle before stretching the edges apart. In the box appeared a screen which grew as her hands pulled apart.

The finished product was a levitating panel that moved with Momoi as she turned to survey the area. By the way, this wasn't the only scanning spell she had, but it was one of the fastest she had to use.

She counted the hiding shapes–three in total; two were up in the trees and one on the ground, all from different directions. After ascertaining that they weren't about to make another move until she did, she mumbles their coordinates to Kuroko, along with a short-term plan.

The bluenette followed her lead as she materialized one of her best throwing stars and threw it toward the nearest shape, sending a Magic Ball at their head soon after.

Though the enemy caught the weapon, he was hit by the blast of darkness a half-second later, resulting in a painful tumble to the ground a few meters down. The other two tried to take advantage of their turned backs and bombarded them with various projectiles, but Momoi had made a show of kicking up a curtain of dirt to obscure them as they ran.

Since the thick woods would cloak them, they sped past the disoriented, fallen player into a plain with fewer places for their pursuers to hide. There was a good chance they'd still be followed, so our Spy got ready with one of her usual daggers and Kuroko chanted out the words to an AOE. By now, the Cleric's misdirection was starting to run out, but it seemed the enemy only knew he was there and couldn't pinpoint him.

The first two men emerged from the trees: one was a raven-haired man decked out in gray, black, and green with a large Bowie knife in hand. His equipment indicated the Rogue class–specifically Thieves as they were the only ones who could equip the type of footgear he had. The other was the same type of class as the last. He was slightly shorter with disheveled, dirty-blonde locks that fell over his eyes and seemed to be chewing on something.

Where's the last one?

They were still hidden from sight, but the pinkette was sure they'd strike again soon; they were probably just hiding, waiting until their partners could create a window of opportunity for them. The tall rocks a couple of meters away were probably where they'd most likely charge from once the two who were in the open caused a diversion of some sort.

But for once, she was wrong.

The ground underneath her feet shook and cracked, and an arm popped out to grab one of her legs, causing her to drop her weapon as a figure emerged from the earth and caught her in a tight hold. She wasn't sure how her opponents were reading them so well, but now she was sure this was definitely a planned attack. The tunnel in the ground had to have been dug up beforehand, otherwise it would've made more noise and she could've avoided this easily.

The enemy had set this all up.

A burning sensation made its way up both of her arms, which were held down by the man behind her. This electric stunning spell took some of the feelings from her hands, so for now she couldn't even handle her knives with accuracy even if she could equip them. With some kind of rope, her wrists were bound together in a tight knot, meaning that it'd be impossible for her to do the correct motion for summoning a weapon unless she escaped them. In addition to that, her ankles were tied together.

Ah, it's kinda loose. Maybe I can escape while they aren't looking or something. But I need a distraction first…

The men from earlier sauntered over with grins lining both their faces.

"You wanna take over now?" the brown-haired man who'd captured Momoi asked. The blonde one smiled and ran his fingers through Momoi's locks.

Creepy…

He snickered, "Hmm, I didn't expect it would be that easy defeating someone from the so-called Generation of Miracles. Shinji-san was right about you being the weakest member". He pulled Momoi's face a bit closer to his. "So where's that little friend of yours? We thought we got lucky just getting you, but we didn't think he was here too. We were told a little about him, but he doesn't look very strong at all". He shrugged lightly. "Maybe he knew that and ran away."

Momoi grit her teeth. There was no way Kuroko would've just left her here alone; he just wasn't that type of person. Surely he had some kind of plan. Another side of her mind raced with thoughts occupied by the other words just spoken to her. Apparently, these people knew about their guild, had studied them thoroughly, and specifically targeted Momoi alone due to the fact she wasn't as strong as the rest of them. And who was this "Shinji" that was mentioned? Regardless, she memorized all this information for future reference.

Several minutes of waiting passed by, but still no sign of Kuroko came.

"Should we just kill her already?" one of the men finally said, tired of waiting. "I don't think the other guy is coming back. Too bad I don't get to get him back for nailing me in the face earlier."

Mid-phrase, Momoi had finally managed to wriggle out of the ropes around her hands. Earlier, she'd done the simple trick of pulling her wrists apart when they were tied, leaving just enough space for this to be possible. If she pulled out a weapon right now, it'd be too conspicuous, and though the one she'd dropped earlier was still there, it was too far away for her to just reach over. While the three men discussed what course of action to take, she began to undo the knot on her ankles with her fingers.

It seemed one the three men was all for killing her and getting this over with, but the others thought there was still a chance Kuroko would come back and try to save her. Pinks eyes darted around the area, searching for a familiar shock of light blue hair.

That was when she felt it; a very slight rumbling, just enough so that she could feel it but the three who were standing couldn't. It felt strangely familiar, and her intuition set in. The small quakes began to grow larger, and the trio became a bit startled and confused as they finally realized something was happening.

She felt a hand cover her mouth and immediately panicked, involuntarily gasping and shifting away from it. This was it, wasn't it? They were really about to kill her.

But when she glanced upward, she was relieved to find out that it was not one of the trio trying to silence any oncoming scream–just Kuroko who was holding a digit to his mouth in a shushing gesture. Then as soon as he'd appeared and as soon as the ropes around her ankles were cut, he disappeared once more with only a murmur of, "get ready".

One of the men–the darkest haired one–turned around, heaved Momoi up in an uncomfortable hold over the shoulder, and warned the other two that they should start running. Not too far away, a massive herd of various monsters were stampeding toward them, leaving the land underfoot trembling from their frenzied steps. For the pinkette, it was lucky that the day had long since turned to night. Thanks to that, the cover of the darkness hid the fact that her arms and legs were no longer bound together.

The horde coming toward them made them panicked, and though they could've easily dealt with her now, they were choosing to move locations instead.

"Damn. This was probably done by that brat from earlier", the brunette seethed as he and his partners ran toward the rocky slopes. He was unsure of whether the monsters would reach them first though. "Hey, Sakana. If we're gonna die anyways, just kill her so that we can at least get her orb."

The raven nodded, his blank eyes showing no pity or hesitation of what he was about to do as he materialized a trench knife and lifted it to her neck. He cursed when the weapon was struck by a random burst of energy, and ended up being knocked to the ground instead of embedded in Momoi's trachea.

The monsters were close to trampling the four, but somehow, they still had enough time to quickly jump from ridge to ridge on the large rocky structure nearby, and finally stopped on a high ledge. The beasts followed, but due to the difference in terrain and the fact that they weren't programmed to do so, they couldn't climb past the first few meters. While Momoi was thankful that she wouldn't be the chew toy of multiple monsters, this mountain was one of the most terrible places for her to fight on.

"Ping!" the chime of a PM greeted her just as she was taken up on one of the rocky mountain's ridges.

Momoi took this as a sign, and from her position, she twisted around the man's shoulder and bent the back of her knee around his neck while simultaneously pinning down his arms. She clenched her thigh and calf muscles so as to hopefully suffocate him and effectively forced him to the ground.

"You bitch!" the brown-haired man from earlier yelled, charging at her with some kind of short sword in each hand.

The pinkette could only smile when he was pushed off the cliff by her blue-haired companion into the sea of aggroed monsters below.

"Sakana" managed to find the strength to shake her hold free, lift his arm, and materialize another weapon. Thrusting a dual-sided blade in Momoi's direction forced her to release her neck lock and leap back.

On the other side of the thin stone slab they were on, Kuroko was dealing with the enemy blonde who was currently bombarding him with several different types of elemental skills. The bluenette was at an obvious disadvantage; his speed was far less than that of his foe and it was difficult to attack when he was having so much trouble even dodging. As of now, several lacerations had appeared all over his arms and he was beginning to feel a bit numb.

He'd have to use it now–his intentional misdirection. In the usual guild fights, he didn't have to because his team mates were so eye-catching and matches usually only lasted up to a few minutes in length. Akashi had also warned him that once he used it once, it became significantly easier for others to figure out the method behind it, so if he didn't finish the fight quickly, it'd mean trouble. He probably couldn't win on a head-to-head battle, that wasn't how misdirection worked in the first place; a strategic bout would be the way to go.

With his staff, he partially blocked his opponent's next jab (though part of his left arm was sacrificed as a result) and set off a quick spell toward him. This type was of the Light variety and was called, "Flash", and it should be pretty self-explanatory as to what it does. For half a second, the Thief was blinded, but it was all Kuroko needed land a direct strike on his stomach. The other didn't fall, but judging from the groan he let out, it must've been at least painful enough to significantly weaken him.

"You're not as bad as I thought", the blonde laughed, opening his eyes and realizing Kuroko had disappeared from his peripheral vision. "Watch out, I don't know where that Mage went. You might be pushed off the edge like Kai", was the warning he sent to his black-haired companion.

"Hmm…" Sakana hummed. Currently, he and Momoi were exchanging blows. She was faster than him, but he was a better fighter and left very few openings for her to attack, and so far, it seemed she was losing. It wasn't only that these guys had information on them; they were also stronger than your average player, and what set them apart the most is that they didn't hesitate to fight dirty or make their attacks as physically agonizing as humanely possible. She was shown no mercy, and because it was currently a losing battle, she contemplated whether or not to just jump into the pit of monsters and avoid getting her items stolen.

The raven in front of her slowly approached, and switched his weapon to a larger, more jaggedly-edged hunting dagger. He charged a spell as he did so, and Momoi could tell he was going for one final strike to end it. The blonde finally stopped looking for Kuroko and was now cautiously approaching Momoi as well, and together, he and his friend backed the pinkette to the edge of the cliff.

"You're probably thinking about jumping, aren't you?" one of them said. At this point, she wasn't paying attention to which one. "Even if you do, we'll just jump after you and kill you while you fall."

Judging from the looks they gave, she knew they were seriously and that they had the means to do so. Her foot instinctively shifted back a few centimeters, knocking a few pebbles down. If she took one more step back, she'd fall. It was unlikely she'd be able to slip past these guys if she went forward though, and her usual style of fighting–jumping from enemy to enemy–probably wouldn't work on these two. Thanks to Kuroko, however, they were advancing gingerly so as to be ready in case a surprise attack was launched.

Behind the two remaining assailants, a dark cloud seemed to have formed.

And Momoi recognized it, though from the size she assumed it'd been there for quite a while.

It pulsated with dark fumes, building up magic energy the longer the seconds went by in order for the spell to be completed. She'd seen Kuroko use this spell many times, though most of those were on a smaller scale and were technically a whole different thing altogether.

"Final Judgment."

A variant off the first Judgment spell. It takes much longer to cast, but the potency matches up to that time. The main downside is that it doesn't automatically lock-on to enemies, and if a person wanted to use it, they pick one spot in the beginning and can't change it until the person dispels it or finishes casting.

The Cleric became visible to Momoi behind the men's turned backs once more, this time close to the base of the rock ledge.

His eyes flared and bore into Momoi's, compelling her to trust the single word he shouted before he unleashed his spell:

"Jump!"

It might've been a crazy thing to do, but she trusted those words. Either way, if she was gonna die anyways though, it might as well not be to these guys and rather to the beasts. Her knees bent, and at the moment Kuroko's Judgment hit the rock, she sprung off high into the air, as far away from the two Rogues on the rock as her legs would take her, and resigned herself to falling into the awaiting oblivion below.

It was a pretty good run. I can't believe I've even gotten this far without dying even once. Ahh, too bad it'll be on the record. It seems pretty painful though.

The stone footing underneath the two Rogues broke off where the column of darkness hit it, and one of them toppled over and fell head-first, unable to grab onto any of the other rocky platforms. The other, however, was faster than his unfortunate companion and had plunged after Momoi a moment after she jumped off. Both stayed in the air a bit longer due to the fact they used Burst; if you remember that skill, I commend you. If not, it is simply a burst of air that propels the user in any direction they want for a short amount of time.

The blonde (the one of the trio who'd survived) fell faster than her, and in a few moments, he'd be close enough to be able to deal damage.

And suddenly, he passed her by.

Underneath that layer of hair, his eyes grew wide as Kuroko's hand caught the falling pinkette's, and the two were carried away by some kind of creature that resembled a griffin.

The Spy watched from above as the blonde fell into the lurking monsters below, and cringed at the way they swarmed him, thinking it could've been her being gnawed on and clawed at down there instead. The thought itself was less than welcome in her mind, so she attempted to block out any gory, bite-mark filled images she might've thought conjured up.

The griffin creature flew the two back to the ridge, and Kuroko gave her a small smile which she took a mental picture of to keep forever. "I'm glad you're safe", he told her, taking her hands in his so that he could relieve the numbness with one of his spells.

A pink blush and her brain exploding overtook her at the combination of that perfect face, those words, and that action. Though he caught her, his shaky legs ended up giving out and they fell harmlessly to the ground.

On their way back (by Griffin and not orb so that he had time to heal both of them on the way), Kuroko explained that the first time he'd disappeared that night, he had gone and used Pandora's Box on the first flying monster he could find–luckily it was the only flying monster he found because others would have definitely ruined his plan. It had almost died, but the spell still took effect even though it only had a few hundreds of HP left. The Cleric had used it to aggro a bunch of other monsters and flew to the ridges near the plain, making sure the lead the monsters in a way that they'd force their foes toward that direction.

He followed when they went up the cliffs, at this point no longer using the creature as it was too noticeable and instead climbing up by hand. The rest, the parts with stalling for time and breaking off the chunk of rock, Momoi knew. The pinkette was amazed Kuroko had been able to think this up in such a short amount of time, as well as embarrassed that she barely got to do anything in return. She didn't want to be a burden, and so it was now that she made up a firm resolution–not only for her guild, but for herself as well, because along with the rest of the egoists in their troupe (most of them were, though in their own rights), she too had some serious qualms about her pride and losing.

A little bit of extra training wouldn't hurt, after all.

But first, it was time for her to log into the game's main website.

Kuroko joined her in looking at the screen as she typed "Sakana" into the search bar. There were two players with that exact name and a couple of spinoffs, but none of the profiles matched the man with the blank, empty eyes from earlier. Next she tried "Kai" but all that came up were plenty of results and no matches once again. Finally, she pressed the keys for "Shinji".

She became frustrated–undoubtedly annoyed by all of this. Neither of the first two names she'd heard came up with any faces to match, and there were at least six-hundred people with "Shinji" in their username. Was it possible that they were all using pseudonyms? That was highly plausible. Or perhaps they'd used spells to disguise themselves; it was all a total mystery to the peach-haired Spy. Someone was targeting them, and she didn't know why, how they had the means to do so, or when they'd strike next.

Kuroko agreed with her sentiments that the smartest move would be first to get back to their guild and consult their comrades (or specifically, Akashi, Midorima, and perhaps Kise) so they could make plans.

She groaned seeing the image of the clock face she had summoned. She and Kuroko were late, about a half hour after their set meeting time. They landed near the town and entered through one of the main gates. The monster couldn't enter, so Kuroko had to leave it to disappear once it's time limit ran out. Momoi hastily turned in her quest items and the duo was finally able to pull out their orbs and finally return to their guild.

And the first thing they saw when they walked in was total carnage.

After running up the wall, the peach-haired woman made sure to put some extra force into inverting Aomine's face with her foot. That somersault really did the trick.

But anyways, now we are brought back to our current situation.

"What should we do, Akashi-kun?" Kuroko asked, righting a fallen side table then crouching down next to Aomine. Together with Midorima, he collected the Paladin from the floor and the blonde from the banister and placed them onto their semi-ruined couch. They had gained back some more of their consciousness and were both groaning from the wounds they'd just received, so Akashi called them all to attention.

"Like you said, judging from the situation, it would be safe to assume we are being targeted for unknown reasons. What's more, our enemies are bound to be more cautious after having fought Kuroko already. His misdirection wouldn't be as effective in another fight, especially on ground where they could execute their skills at full potential. We do not know how many they have on their side, or any other information about them for that matter, but they seem to have studied about us rather thoroughly."

He paused to let out a light puff of air and to rub his temples, seemingly stressed about this situation. Momoi noticed his eyes were a bit… off. They were widened and the pupils of each seemed smaller than usual, giving him a slightly crazed look that was similar to that time he'd attacked Kagami. As if reading Momoi's mind, Midorima decided to snap him out of it and break a bit of the tense atmosphere by continuing the conversation.

"And so what should our course of action be?"

"If possible, I'd like at least groups of three at a time at least but it's difficult to make our schedules coincide like today. Two is alright, but under no circumstances should any of us be isolated, and that includes you, Shougo". The silver-haired man let out a small "tch" in response, but otherwise no more defiance was voiced.

"I'll infer that the guild which attacked Momoi-san today have already placed bugs on her–perhaps on all of us save for Tetsuya considering that they waited until she was by herself. The main problem is that we don't have any skills to counteract mechanical-type trackers, so this will continue to persist". The Sorcerer then informed, "I'm fairly certain none of you three have any high-level removal techniques, am I correct? The next time we run into a Mechanic or Scout class, make sure you copy one of their skills, Ryouta."

The usually-princely man could only lazily nod once or twice before falling over to a position that was a cross between sitting, laying, and curling into a loose ball.

Momoi-san checked her watched once more. 9:45.

"Akashi-kun, I think we should get on the ferry to the next island. The last one for the day leaves at around 10:30, so we should discuss on the way there instead."

The redhead nodded. He turned toward Murasakibara (who still hadn't let go of Haizaki) and asked him to carry Aomine and Kise on their way to the harbor.

The tan-skinned bluenette forced himself to his feet. His, "I'm fine, I'll walk by myself", didn't sound or look that convincing with his face swollen like that. His legs were alright though, so he shouldn't have much trouble unless he bumped into things in his blind spot. Apparently he felt around his mouth with his tongue because the next thing he said was, "Oh god Satsuki, am I missing a tooth!?"

The pinkette laughed at this. "Serves you right", she taunted, sticking out her tongue and making a small "blegh" sound.

"I can walk too!" Kise said, erecting himself but falling right back onto his seat with a comically pained expression etched onto his face. Kuroko couldn't blame him. Kise was a Rogue type with little defense toward magic, he'd hit him with a high-level spell at point-blank range, and it was in an area with little-to-no armor protecting it.

The Bandit was surprised when the other man slipped under his arm and supported him as he stood again. Beside of the size he was, Kuroko was an effective crutch.

"Ahh~h,*'.:'*. Tetsu-kun is so kind and wonderful~ '*.'S2 '.*.S2 *.", Momoi thought. And yes, the hearts and sparkles were included.

After filing out into town, Akashi finished chanting another of his transportation spells. They all stepped into the dimensional gate one-by-one, and on the other side appeared a rather large beach harbor that smelled of salt water, fish, and cold sand.

The next ship would come set out in just a couple of minutes, so the group paid for their tickets and quickly boarded onto the deck, letting a chilly night wind blow past. Soon enough, the horn sounded and an anchor was raised, and the ship set forth with a slow, steady lurch. It was unlikely that the entire guild would ever need to return to the third island, especially because the resources on the next were much better. The fourth branched out into several smaller islands, all themed to fit certain types of players or to have certain types of quests and monsters for adventurers to experience, and instead of ship, most of them were available by warp-gates or orbs.

In truth, Momoi had already been there once–a bit less than two weeks ago. Since she hadn't wanted to wait, she went in advance without her guild and got her class upgraded from Scout to Spy (most level-four class upgrades requires a trip there). Haizaki had gone there before too, as well as Akashi. The latter claimed he'd been getting items to create a new pair of gloves and the former was, apparently, chasing after some girl or something. The pinkette had been informed on the details of neither story but she let it slide since neither seemed all that important.

Fuchsia orbs made their way around each of the guild's members, and she automatically smiled at their usual antics and facial expressions that each of them exhibited. It astounded her how much each and every single one of them had grown on her. Even Haizaki–the flirty, rude, and obtrusive pervert–who'd left a terrible first impression was getting to be a bit more familiar with her (in a friendly connotation, I mean), and they could now hold a conversation without him staring at her enviable bosom.

"This is going to be fun~ I'm gonna aim for the top this time!"

"Momoi-san, why are you raising your fist like that?" Kuroko asked from behind the pinkette. She hadn't even noticed it and quickly pulled it back down, feeling slightly shy that she'd accidently mimicked one of Aomine's past gestures. She was pretty sure he had just copied it from an old anime they used to watch as kids though–the generic kind with a crime-fighting hero and almost loveable recycled villains.

The bluenette was silent for a second before adding, "It reminds me of the first boat we were on together, doesn't it?" He propped his arms over the railing. "I'm really glad to have met Aomine-kun and you", he added as an afterthought.

Her heart thumped wildly, her jelly knees buckled again, and god damn, Kuroko was looking especially radiant and shining and too wonderful to describe in just words–at least to Momoi. How is it even possible for there to be such a perfect human being!?

If she didn't reach the top like she said, it might be because she'd have died of blood loss from staring at this beautiful, oblivious creature. This time, before she fell off the ship, she had to be caught by Murasakibara.

Next stop: Kiseki World Online's fourth island, Kuadoryvm.

This site doesn't allow less than/greater than signs so I couldn't make nicer hearts. We finally have a chapter with more Momoi, so now we have everyone in the guild down (minus Kuroko because the majority are Kuroko centric)

Also, I've been waiting for a long time to be able to say these words: MY SHIP. IS ON A SHIP. Now just gotta wait for the... relationSHIP. God I suck at puns.

Thank you all for reading, I hope you've enjoyed.

Your feedback is appreciated through any form, so feel free to drop a review or send a pm asking, commenting, or criticizing. Bai for now~