(A/N: I would like to thank Ultimate Black Ace and realcasually for being awesome chums. Their humorous reviews and helpful feedback motivated me enough (AFTER A YEAR) to pull this fic out of development hell. I may or may not regret committing to this arc. But…THE SHOW MUST GO ON!)
Makoto and Mukuro walked west along the map towards the Castle of Anker-Hill in the distance.
"So, do you think our first mission flag is all the way at Anker-Hill?" Makoto asked her.
"I have no idea," Mukuro responded, "I'm good at following directions. Anything game related is best left to your discretion."
"Oh, right," Makoto said, almost letting out a nervous chuckle. "I forgot you haven't played video games before, except when I showed you the arcade cabinets on the plane."
Mukuro went quiet for a bit before saying. "I'm…sorry I'm not a more normal person. I…suppose you'd rather have Sayaka here."
"What?! No! I didn't say that. I mean…now that you mention it, I am a bit worried about her, but…don't think that doesn't mean I'm not grateful you're here, Mukuro." He smiled. "I feel safe knowing you have my back."
Mukuro blushed hard and lowered her head. "I will protect you with everything I have," she said, trying her best not to deliver the line in an embarrassed mewl…and somehow succeeding.
The pair walked towards Anker-Hill, approaching a river. However, before Makoto took another step, Mukuro grabbed his shoulder. "Hold," she said.
"Huh? What's the matter?" Makoto asked.
Mukuro pointed to one, how the sun was lowering on the horizon and two, a rising billowing of smoke far to the southeast—back and to the left of the duo. "Smoke signal," Mukuro stated.
"Oh! Good eye!" Makoto exclaimed. "But…wait, what if they're unfriendly?"
"…We're armed," Mukuro pointed.
"Ah…good…point," Makoto stated, realizing that he and Mukuro had monsters to fight with. "I just hope if it's an unfriendly NPC they're not overleveled."
"If you want, I'll go first," Mukuro said.
"Uh, sure, if you want," Makoto stated. "But I'll be right behind you."
Shifting from blushing high school girl to sour soldier mode, Mukuro led the trek up the mountainside and towards the smoke signal. Neither she nor Makoto expected what they found.
"Ah! That's Joey!" Makoto exclaimed. "Is he all right?"
Indeed, Joey Wheeler was laying on the ground in a crumpled heap. Makoto was worried he was injured, or worse.
Mukuro jogged over to him and was going to put a pair of fingers to his neck to check his pulse…only for Joey to snore extremely loudly.
She stood up straight. "He appears to be fine." She looked up at the night sky. "And it appears this is the best location for us. Who knows how dangerous this world can be at night? A warm campfire is the best location when visibility is cut."
"Wow, your talent's really going to come in handy," Makoto said. "I should teach you how to play real time strategy games."
Mukuro blushed hard. "Ah, no that's not…strictly necessary, but I…I would really enjoy that."
Joey snored again, prompting Mukuro to tap his shoulder with the tip of her foot. When that didn't rouse him, she just hard pressed the sole of her foot onto his shoulder.
"Ah! I'm awake! Don't step on me! I'm not food!" Joey shouted, bolting upright.
"Hey, Joey," Makoto said with a smile.
"Oh, Makoto! Good to see a friendly face," Joey said. "But wait, if you're over there."
Mukuro traipsed from outside Joey's vision and sat down next to the fire.
"Mukuro?"
The girl nodded.
"Jeez, you really know how to wake a guy up, huh?" Joey asked sarcastically.
Mukuro had been around Junko long enough to recognize sarcasm and did not reply.
"So, you guys trapped in here too?" Joey asked. "I swear, when I get my hands on that Roland guy, I'm gonna—"
"Getting upset at a man oblivious to the danger and just doing his job is a waste of energy. We should devote all brain and manpower to devising a strategy of escape," Mukuro stated.
"Uh…yeah…wow, that's…a good point," Joey said, his adrenaline deflating like a balloon.
"Mukuro's right," Makoto said. "Mukuro, do you mind giving Joey the instructions you gave me?"
Mukuro nodded and brought Joey quickly up to speed.
"Okay, that sounds pretty simple," Joey said. "So uh…why's it dark out?"
"It's nighttime," Mukuro said.
"…" Joey felt like a moron for a brief second at the simple explanation. He thought it best to just navigate the menu. "Hey! Check it out! I'm on the same team as you guys, the Black Dragon Squad! Boo-yah! And it looks like I'm the leader too!"
"If you're our leader then you should be able to raise mission flags," Makoto said with a smile.
"What makes you say that?" Mukuro asked.
"Just intuition," Makoto replied.
"How do I check for that?" Joey asked.
Makoto thought about it. "Hmm, try navigating the menu. I'll help."
After a few minutes of menu navigation, the boys finally hatched on something. "Hey! Check it out!" Makoto exclaimed. "I found it!"
Joey looked at his menu and followed Makoto's lead. "Ah, sweet! So, how do we start it?"
Mukuro caught up with the boys. "It looks like if we go back to Sunny-Plane, this Nephel character will arrive to retrieve his supplies at Twin-Rivers."
"Conquer Twin-Rivers and the mission is a success. If Team Joey is wiped out, the mission is lost. If Sunny-Plane falls to the enemy, the mission is lost." Makoto pointed out.
"Sounds like a plan," Joey said. "I say we go for it!"
With day breaking in-game during the trek back to Sunny-Plane, Joey, Mukuro and Makoto got into position.
"Mukuro any more information you can give about the combat?" Makoto asked.
Mukuro shook her head. "I only know the combat actions."
"No sweat, we'll figure it out," Joey said.
Makoto then noticed that a new interface had sprouted, one pertaining to the mission itself, showing off the locations within the mission's confines as well as enemy data for each opposing team.
"We have two enemy soldiers and one enemy officer advancing on our position," Makoto said.
"If we wait here, we have home field advantage," Mukuro said. "Fighting within a stronghold when you know the terrain is always advantageous."
"I say we take the fight straight to 'em!" Joey declared. "Come on! It's the tutorial level! The game ain't gonna spawn stuff like reinforcements or unexpected mission twists this early."
"Ah, that's a good point," Makoto said. He looked at other menu options. "There's no difficulty level, so we would have to assume that the game is designed like a normal role-playing game. All of our monsters are level one, so unless SIC designed the game to be brutally unfair, I think we can use conventional gameplaying wisdom here."
"So, we advance on the enemy?" Mukuro asked, her tone of voice and expression shifting back into Kill Mode.
"We advance on the enemy," Makoto told her.
"Understood," Mukuro said. Interfacing with the menu, Aloof Lupine was summoned to represent her team and Mukuro found herself floating above her team, passing through the world map like a passenger riding in a car.
"Oh, that's cool!" Makoto said and gave his interface the same navigation, finding himself moving faster than Mukuro given Divine Dragon Ragnarok was a flying unit. "Oh, whoa! A bit fast! Mukuro!"
Mukuro had to side step her team to let Makoto pass by her. Same side team members couldn't occupy the same space when deployed.
Joey shrugged and summoned his three-monster team of Axe Raider, Alligator's Sword and Rocket Warrior, represented by the gator himself.
Traveling along the map didn't require much time. It was still bright and sunny out as the generic enemies came into view. Makoto and Mukuro broke off to flank the enemies behind one in front of the formation as Joey stood his ground and prepared to engage the enemy.
The game detected the collision of the hit boxes of Joey's Alligator Sword collided with the enemy Ryu-Kishin Powered. Joey now found himself facing off against 2 Cyber Soldiers, giant round machines with grabber claws and one Ryu-Kishin Powered, an underknown iconic 4-star monster from Duel Monsters' earliest days.
Joey barely had time to think when Ryu-Kishin Powered was already firing a beam of fiery energy directly at Alligator Sword.
"Agh! Wait! What do I even do?"
Joey noticed Alligator Sword get hit in the chest with the attack and stumble back as if in pain. 159 points were deducted from its health bar of close to 800.
"Oh, whew," Joey said, wiping his brow. "That looked dangerous."
He looked around. The overworld had suddenly gotten much more zoomed in. He couldn't see Mukuro or Makoto even though they'd been not that far from him a moment ago. He then noticed the enemy's Cyber Soldier breathe hot, intense flame across Joey's formation to hit Rocket Warrior, dealing the same approximate 159 damage.
"Hey! Come on! Ain't this the tutorial level! Gimme a break here!"
Suddenly a screen popped up in front of him. Makoto's face reflected on it like a video chat. "Guys! I figured it out!" Makoto shouted. "It's Real-Time Strategy!"
"Real-Time Strategy?" Mukuro asked, her face appearing in another screen.
"Oh. Right. You don't know gamer lingo," Makoto said, sweating. "Uh, think of yourself like a field commander. Have you ever led troops before?"
"No. I've always been led," Mukuro said, shaking her head.
"Oh, well, um…perfect time to learn?" Makoto asked.
"Like a field commander, huh?" Joey asked. "Okay, I think I get it. Axe Raider! Attack the Cyber Soldier on the right."
Axe Raider did not move.
"Hey! What gives?"
"You have to use command inputs," Mukuro said. "There's an interface, remember?"
"Huh? Oh yeah!" Joey exclaimed. "Thanks for reminding me!" Joey pulled up the menu and saw the options to select his monsters and hit the icon for Axe Raider. He then selected the attack option and drew a line from Axe Raider's position in formation to the Cyber Soldier diagonal from it.
With a mighty leap, Axe Raider leapt forward and slammed into the enemy Cyber Soldier, dealing 172 damage.
"H-hey! Check it out! Bullseye!" Joey exclaimed, making a confident fist. "This is gonna be cake!"
"Don't forget to watch your monsters' action points!" Makoto exclaimed in concern. "If they run out, you'll be forced to retreat if your opponent also runs out of actions."
"Is dodging possible?" Mukuro asked.
"I…I don't know," Makoto stated.
"Figure it out as we go!" Joey shouted and hit the icon on Alligator Sword and drew a line for the attack option straight into Ryu-Kishin Powered. The flying fiend flew higher into the air and avoided the attack entirely. "Up, yeah, you can dodge."
For her part, Mukuro was up against the exact same team. Using both hands, she selected Pitch-Black Warwolf and Giga Tech Wolf as attack initiators. Directing one with each hand, she directed both her monsters to attack the same Cyber Soldier. Giga-Tech Wolf leapt forward and sheered his claws straight across the Cyber Soldier while Pitch-Black Warwolf leapt and slammed its hefty blade into the monster's face, dealing a total of 287 damage.
"It's possible to command multiple monsters at once," Mukuro said. "It may even be possible to chain commands together as long as you have the AP."
"AP?" Makoto questioned. "Oh! Action Points. Heh, I suppose a soldier would know how to invent quick, easy to understand jargon."
Mukuro blushed fanning herself. "Er, ah, no. That's not—"
Joey rolled up his short sleeve, clenching his fist and winding his arm. "So it's a three on three brawl, huh? My kinda game! Let's do this!"
Directing Rocket Warrior to Attack, Joey sent it after Ryu-Kishin Powered, but the flying nemesis dodged and then fired a beam of energy at Rocket Warrior, hitting it dead on. Joey directed Axe Raider to slash at it with its axe mid-attack, scoring a direct hit, only for both Cyber Soldiers to turn and breathe hot flames into Axe Raider's back, dropping its health dangerously low as one of them scored a critical hit.
"Gehhhhh!" Joey exclaimed, nervous from the sudden damage.
"What happened?" Makoto asked.
"Enemy critical. Jeez! Guess you gotta be careful with your monsters' positioning too," Joey stated.
"Good to know, thanks Joey," Makoto communicated. "I'm almost wrapped up here. How are you two doing?"
"Uhhhh, I still got all three monsters staring me down, why?" Joey asked.
"Hmm, once you're down, retreat south towards Anker-Hill. You can't miss it. It's a huge castle. Locations in this game can recover your health so you can restore the damage you took there. Mukuro, you take, Shadow-Forest and hold your position."
"Roger that," Mukuro responded.
"What are you gonna do?" Joey asked.
"I'm going to camp out behind the enemy's base and lie in wait for an ambush. Mukuro will attack Twin-Rivers first and I'll jump in to finish what she started. The enemy will be in their base, so they'll have an advantage so I doubt we can defeat their team in one battle like we are with these tutorial enemies," Makoto stated.
"Be safe," Mukuro told him.
"Uh…yeah, thanks," Makoto said, surprised at the sudden declaration.
Focusing his efforts back on the fight in front of him, realizing that the flying enemy was going to be a pain, Joey began focusing his attacks on the large targets the enemy had so kindly lined up for him to smack around. Joey watched the first Cyber Soldier fall and fade out of existence as Axe Raider sliced the last of its HP away.
It's just like a street brawl, Joey thought. You focus down one guy first and gang up on him. He turned his monster's attention to the other Cyber Soldier, pausing his attack orders to give Rocket Warrior a guard command to block an incoming blast of flame from the machine. With your enemy's fighting power reduced, you can take out the weaker goons gettin' in your way…
Alligator's Sword sliced into the other Cyber Soldier, deleting it from existence.
Joey then gazed straight at the mostly untouched Ryu-Kishin Powered.
And then focus all your efforts on the big guy giving you problems.
Joey directed Alligator's Sword to attack first. The hopping, horizontal slash was, predictably met with failure against the fast moving, flying Ryu-Kishin Powered. However, Joey was prepared for this and, reacting quickly, directed Axe Raider to slice into the beast just as his first attack was missing. Axe Raider leapt into the air, reared its axe back and brought the weapon down into the enemy monster's wing with a masculine grunt.
The enemy fiend breathed a deadly beam towards Axe Raider. Joey went to direct his monster…but the box was grayed out. And when he clicked on it, all he got was a 0 AP and a star symbol, indicating his monster was out of Action Points.
"What? Aw, no!"
Joey watched his monster come down below 100 HP.
Crud! Axe Raider has 200 more attack than Rocket Warrior and Alligator's Sword, I should've figured it would've had fewer action points.
"Joey, what's wrong?" Makoto asked.
"I made a dumb mistake," Joey stated.
"Do you need to retreat?" Makoto asked. "I can bail you out, I'll be right there. My fight's already over!"
"No way! I can do this myself!"
"Overconfidence is tactical suicide," Mukuro remarked.
"Mukuro's right, Joey, remember the mission conditions," Makoto told him.
"Conditions Shmissions. I got this!" Joey exclaimed. He looked at the remaining AP of Rocket Warrior and Alligator's Sword. He then looked at the remaining HP of his opponent's monster and then noticed something: it only had 2 AP left. "Heyyyyy now," Joey stated. "That'll help." Chuckling while smirking like a jackass, Joey directed Rocket Warrior, who had a surplus of AP, to attack two more times and forced Ryu-Kishin Powered to run out of AP by dodging both attacks.
"Take this you overgrown house fly!" Joey shouted and directed Alligator's Sword to use its remaining AP to slice and dice Ryu-Kishin Powered from three different directions, reducing its HP below nothing. The word "WIN" in blue letters appeared over all of Joey's monsters.
"Awrite! That's the way we do it! Joey Wheeler One, Ugly worthless bad guys zero!"
Joey watched his monsters gain experience, which included a couple levels each, sans Axe Raider who only gained one. He then zoomed back out from the battlefield to the original size of the overworld.
"Good job, Joey," Makoto called to him, waving from far to the northwest, but using the communication feature to talk. "Go take a rest. Mukuro and I should be able to handle the next phases from here. Oh, but if we need help, feel free to jump in."
"No problem. Good luck, guys," Joey told them.
Makoto nodded with a smile. Satisfied with his own victory, and his monsters bumped up in levels themselves, Makoto traversed through the forest below Twin-Rivers, a town to the north and the mission objective, and instead of turning north and confronting the enemy boss, a man named Nephel, Makoto instead took the scenic route around the enemy base and into the mountains to the northwest behind it.
Makoto made sure to position himself in between two peaks inside the mountains with a clear line of sight towards Twin-Rivers.
Whew, this should be far enough, Makoto thought.
Mukuro suddenly contacted him. "I'm in position and my squadron is currently recovering. Orders, sir?"
"Er, no, Mukuro…this isn't…" Makoto stammered, only to sigh. "You're supposed to follow Joey's orders, he's the leader."
"Sir!" Mukuro saluted and closed comms, likely to contact Joey.
Makoto laughed. I honestly think she's having fun, even if she's getting too into it, but that might be a good thing. It means she's comfortable with the situation.
Makoto waited while Joey continued south towards Anker-Hill to take control of it in the name of the Black Dragon Squad. Makoto was waiting for so long that night had fallen on the horizon. He could hear owls hooting, despite being nowhere near a forest.
This game really is in its beta, huh? He thought.
Eventually, Joey opened the comms. "Anker-Hill now belongs to the Black Dragon Squad!" He exclaimed.
Makoto nodded. "Okay, just hang tight for a minute and let your monsters rest up. Your team took a pretty bad hit, right?"
Joey nodded. "Yeah, My Axe Raider's almost outta HP."
Makoto laughed chipperly. "Just hang tight and let Mukuro and I handle the boss then."
Joey nodded and closed the comms.
Mukuro opened them not long after. "When do I strike?" she asked.
"Whenever you think you're ready," Makoto told her.
"Understood," Mukuro responded.
She led her team towards Twin-Rivers, fully healed from letting her monsters rest in Shadow-Forest. She proceeded west.
As soon as Aloof Lupine's map icon touched the edge of the town, Mukuro was transported into Twin-Rivers. Her arrival triggered a barrier to go up around the town as a big flashing arrow directed her towards the Acropolis in the center of town. Long before she got there, however, she was met head on by the arrival of Nephel in his red-hooded Bedouin-looking best.
The man spoke using quite fair voice acting for a game still in beta. "You stinking, lousy thieves! You'll pay for this!"
Nephel's team consisted of Winged Dragon The Guardian of the Fortress, Neck Hunter, and Kanan the Swordmistress.
As the battle began, Nephel wasted no time ordering Neck Hunter onto the offensive with a silent gesture. As the pink monster leapt with its massive scythe, Mukuro was already making herself acutely aware of its target: Her Giga Tech Wolf. Using AP, she had it dodge out of the way, leaving Neck Hunter open to an attack from her Aloof Lupine. However, although the attack connected, Winged Dragon unleashed a barrage of small fireballs that took advantage of Lupine's flank being exposed.
Mukuro found her central monster then pincered by Neck Hunter pulling its scythe out of the ground and swinging out wide. Her monster was quickly badly damaged. However, this had left Neck Hunter exposed to her Giga Tech Wolf, which scored a critical hit by hitting the monster in the back. She then intuitively ordered Aloof Lupine and Giga Tech Wolf to dodge, expecting incoming enemy attacks. Kanan, for the most part, remained still.
Mukuro directed her Pitch-Black Warwolf to attack Neck Hunter, the weapons clashing. However, Neck Hunter's won out, overpowering Mukuro's monster and dealing damage. Her monster was then hit by a fireball from Winged Dragon.
Frontal attacks are a poor decision then.
She set her Pitch-Black Warwolf to defend, drawing another attack from Winged Dragon and an additional one from Neck Hunter. Unfortunately, Winged Dragon enacted a guard break due to its attack being higher than Mukuro's monster's defense, which left Pitch-Black Warwolf defenseless against Neck Hunter.
Her monster was still alive, but barely.
Not good, Mukuro thought. She reassessed the situation. At present, Kanan still had all of her action points, Neck Hunter was running out and Winged Dragon still had quite a few. But, Neck Hunter was also low on HP. While two of Mukuro's monsters were injured, her Giga Tech Wolf still had all of its HP and most of its action points.
Flanking Neck Hunter, she scored another critical hit on the monster. Then, with a swift attack from Aloof Lupine, Neck Hunter was destroyed, fading out of existence.
However, that was when Kanan chose to strike, scoring a critical hit on Mukuro's poor Giga Tech Wolf and Winged Dragon releasing a fireball, worsening the damage.
Low on health, Mukuro thought it would be best to retreat soon. Her monsters were badly crippled. Best to retreat before she lost one. Unfortunately, that meant using the Escape command.
An Escape is not an automatic retreat and costs all of a monster's AP, Mukuro thought, remembering the statement she'd learned from the NPC. I can't use it carelessly.
Winged Dragon's assault snapped her from her doldroms and she instantly had Aloof Lupine dodge to one side. With a command, she ordered her Giga Tech Wolf to strike from a distance, directing an attack…at Kanan.
That monster has too much AP to leave it idle for too long. It has to attack in Melee range. I just need to watch my positioning and avoid fireballs when they're released.
And that was exactly what Mukuro did. Giga Tech Wolf had just enough defense to guard and take minimal damage from Kanan's attacks. However, the same could not be said for the paltry defenses of her other two monsters. And, with such low HP. She had no choice but to whittle down Kanan's AP rather than its HP. Fortunately, Mukuro was used to such things on the battlefield. Using Giga Tech Wolf to draw fire and watching carefully for incoming attacks, Mukuro managed to empty her opponent of his AP entirely while she still had plenty.
With neither a smirk nor a sigh of relief, Mukuro commanded her monsters on an all out assault, cutting the HP of Nephel's forces in half. However, all of her monsters, had barely any HP left. Fortunately, her monsters had all leveled up. They were now level 3.
Mukuro was forcibly ejected from the town since the battle had not reached a proper conclusion. Additionally, she had been considered to have the "advantage" so she did not suffer an immobilization penalty. She halted her monster's advance and opened the comms. "This is as far as I go this mission," she said. "Makoto, the rest is up to you."
Makoto opened the menu. "Whoa, nice going, Mukuro. I've got a really good advantage now."
Mukuro smiled, blushing. "D-don't mention it."
Somebody get these two a room. It's painful to watch, Joey thought.
All right, here I go, Makoto thought. He directed his team forward.
Unfortunately, that was when disaster struck.
Suddenly a big WARNING flashed on Makoto's screen in a red text box with multiple exclamation marks. "Eh?"
"Makoto, what's wrong?" Mukuro asked.
Makoto watched as a monster flew in from across the sky and landed in front of his monsters: Serpent Night Dragon. And, as a forced battle started, it wasn't alone. It had brought the monsters Archfiend Soldier and Swordstalker along for the ride.
"A random encounter?!" Makoto questioned.
"Games like this usually do have them. But jeez louise, what the heck? Those monsters have way higher stats den ours. How are we supposed ta beat em?" Joey asked.
Makoto took a deep breath. "Joey, you're going to have to take out Nephel. This is probably going to require all of my skill to handle."
"Are you crazy?! Get outta there!" Joey exclaimed.
Makoto looked at his interface. "My Escape command is grayed out. That's not happening."
"Nnnngh," Joey groaned.
"It's fine," Mukuro said. "HP recovers slowly. And it doesn't look like defeated monsters can come back by passive recovery. By the time you get to Nephel's base, his two two monsters shouldn't have more than seventy percent of your health. Your victory doesn't have to be glamorous, Joey. It just has to be absolute."
"Ungh, got it," Joey groaned. He directed his team towards Twin-Rivers. He had no choice.
Meanwhile, Makoto prepared his team for what felt like a Superboss on the tutorial level.
Serpent Night Dragon was already on the offensive, blazing down Makoto's team with powerful sonic lightning blasts. Makoto could do little more than spam the guard button. Unfortunately, Serpent Night Dragon's attacks were so powerful that they easily blew past Makoto's guard attempts. However, eventually, the lightning blasts ceased. Makoto checked the UI. Serpent Night Dragon had blown through all of its AP in the first wave of the battle to score early damage. Now that Makoto had weathered through the storm, it was a sitting duck as long as he could navigate around the other two monsters.
Nodding, Makoto directed Divine Dragon Ragnarok to attack Swordstalker for a proper hit as Swordstalker swung in with its massive blade. It missed thanks to Divine Dragon's flying movement and decent agility. And that was exactly what Makoto was hoping for. He immediately had Lady of Dragons blast Swordstalker in the side as he moved Divine Dragon Ragnarok to attack the now motionless Serpent Night Dragon.
Archfiend Soldier leapt to action, but, because of how monsters were position, its only viable target was Lady of Dragons.
"Gotcha!" Makoto exclaimed with a knowing smirk. He positioned Divine Dragon Ragnarok to use all of its AP to attack Serpent Night Dragon from behind, scoring critical hit after critical hit. He then continued to have Lady of Dragons use Guard to weather the blows from Swordstalker and Archfiend Soldier. Meanwhile, this let Koumouri Dragon attack with its hellish flames into Swordstalker's back repeatedly as the monster was hyper focused on Makoto's Lady of Dragons. It actually didn't matter what Swordstalker did since abouting face to attack Koumouri Dragon would leave it wide open to Lady of Dragons' attacks from behind.
When all monsters had exhausted their AP, Serpent Night Dragon had been defeated, Lady of Dragons was hanging on by a thread, and Swordstalker was badly damaged. However, it was enough to give the victory to Makoto. The encounter ended as all of the red monster icons in front of Makoto…immediately changed to blue.
"Huh?"
Then, the two still living monsters converted into teal soul-like orbs as the position where Serpent Night Dragon had been floating also became a soul-like teal orb. All three orbs then dove into Makoto's avatar as three distinct messages popped up.
ARCHFIEND SOLDIER HAS JOINED YOUR ARMY
SWORDSTALKER HAS JOINED YOUR ARMY
SERPENT NIGHT DRAGON HAS JOINED YOUR ARMY
"Guys! I think I figured out why you can't run from random encounters!" Makoto exclaimed. "You can recruit monsters this way!"
"What?! Get outta here!" Joey exclaimed excited. "Those monsters are on our side now?"
"Yup!" Makoto exclaimed.
"Then let's worry about it after we finish the mission," Mukuro said. "Makoto, how's your team?"
"If Joey doesn't outright defeat Nephel, I can finish him off," Makoto said. "Two of my monsters didn't even get touched."
"Sounds like we're both in the same camp then," Joey said, looking at the stats of all monsters between him and Makoto.
"Yeah, but you need the experience points," Makoto said.
"Fair enough," Joey remarked. "Awrite, you red veiled slimeball. Here comes Joey Wheeler!"
Like Mukuro before him, Joey squared up on Nephel, the NPC Boss summoning his team with more health than Mukuro had left them with. Joey's Axe Raider was still in a real bad bind, with less than half its HP bar, but his other monsters had over 70% of their health.
"Kanan likes to attack from behind and Winged Dragon is an opportunist," Mukuro warned Joey. "Be careful."
"No sweat," Joey said. "I got—"
Kanan immediately attacked straight into Alligator Sword and pressed the attack on it.
"…This."
"You should pay better attention," Mukuro said calmly.
"I can see that!" Joey exclaimed, freaking out. He immediately shifted Alligator Sword to a guard command before its health got too low. He then directed Axe Raider and Rocket Warrior to hit Kanan's flanks. Winged Dragon then unleashed fireballs at both, hitting those monsters in their flanks.
Directing Axe Raider forward, Joey pressed the attack on Kanan as Rocket Warrior drew fire from Winged Dragon. Like with Ryu-Kishin Powered, Joey learned quickly that attempting to attack a flying monster with a monster that could only attack with a melee weapon was difficult. So, he simply had Rocket Warrior stand there and defend while Kanan clashed her blade headlong against Axe Raider. Hits were exchanged repeatedly as Axe Blade and sword met armor and steel. Unfortunately, Kanan was much much faster and managed to score a critical hit despite Axe Raider's front facing posture.
"Hngnk! Okay! So that's a thing!" Joey exclaimed, watching Axe Raider's health get dangerously low. He motioned to have his monster act…but it was out of AP.
"Uh oh," Joey remarked as Kanan finished off his monster. And, she still had some AP left, taking the opportunity to attack Rocket Warrior from behind, crippling it.
"Aw no you don't!" Joey exclaimed.
In a flash, Alligator Sword charged in, taking out Kanan with a well-placed critical hit. Unfortunately, Winged Dragon wiped out Rocket Warrior with its next fireball.
"Gotta be kidding me," Joey remarked, sweating. Things looked dicey. Alligator Sword didn't have much health left. In fact, a fully powered attack from Winged Dragon Guardian of the Fortress could easily knock it out. Fortunately, Nephel's monster was almost out of AP.
Steeling himself, Joey set his Alligator Sword to guard as a fireball came in. A paltry 21 damage was dealt, but Alligator Sword now had less than 160 HP remaining. And, here came the second and last fireball.
"JOEY!" Makoto exclaimed as Alligator Sword took the direct hit, unable to guard in time due to the Guard Break.
…It survived with 3 HP.
"Heh heh, awrite! Talk about skin of your teeth luck!" Joey exclaimed. "All right, Alligator Sword, it's cleaning up time! Take out that fire spitting annoyance!"
With almost all of its AP still available, Alligator Sword was more than capable of wiping out Winged Dragon.
Victory.
"That was too damn close," Joey said, dropping to his posterior as he clenched his ankles.
An alert appeared on Joey's interface MISSION COMPLETE! In a bright green box with little sparkle effects on the screen. Additionally, items and money were acquired.
"Hey! Yeah! Check it out! Items and gold!" Joey exclaimed. "There's enough here for everyone!"
Joey then saw an alert on his world map. The flashing icon resembled a house. "Jeez, that's kinda far from here, ain't it?" He asked scratching his head.
"That must be our home base," Makoto said. "I just got the same alert. Although…" he said a bit dejected. "It doesn't appear we can fast travel."
"No sweat. Game's still in beta. Worst we might run into is a dumb glitch," Joey remarked, chuckling. "Black Dragon Squadron! Move out!"
After resupplying and regrouping, Joey, Makoto and Mukuro decided what to do with their teams now that they had acquired three new monsters.
"I'm not really good at this strategy stuff," Joey said. "Makoto, you call the shots on that. You're smarter than I am."
"Oh! Uh, okay," Makoto said. He looked at the options regarding his teammates and their newly acquired monsters. With a little bit of finagling, he swapped Joey's Alligator Sword with Swordstalker, Mukuro's Giga Tech Wolf with Archfiend Soldier and his own Divine Dragon Ragnarok with Serpent Night Dragon. "This should do it!" He declared, finalizing the decisions. "Oh and you guys should give an item to one of your monsters."
"Red Medicine. Blue Medicine. Monster Reborn," Mukuro said, looking at their inventory. "Looking at the effects, it seems Monster Reborn is the only item that can revive a dead monster."
"You should take the Monster Reborn and give it to your Archfiend Soldier, Mukuro," Makoto told her. "Your other monsters aren't very good at guarding and it can take a pretty good hit."
Mukuro nodded, following Makoto's suggestion.
"I'll take the Blue Medicine since my monsters are pretty balanced. Joey, give Red Medicine to Rocket Warrior. You want Swordstalker on offense and Axe Raider's frail enough with its HP stat that it might die before it can use it," Makoto recommended.
"You got it," Joey said, making the adjustments.
"What do we do now?" Mukuro asked.
"I guess we see what our next mission is," Makoto said.
Joey pulled up his Mission interface. "Lessee here," he said, scrolling through the options. "Oh hey, there's some news."
"News?" Makoto asked.
Joey opened the menu. "Oh, hey, it's some kind of story update because of our victory."
"What's it say?" Makoto asked.
Joey looked it over. "Says rebellions are poppin' up all over the globe cause of our victory back dere. Uh oh, looks like we made the Empire a bit mad," Joey said laughing.
"What's our objective then?" Mukuro asked.
Joey closed the lore and opened the missions. "Looks like we got a buncha revolts we gotta go aid," he said.
Makoto looked at all of the mission options himself. "This one here in Maryah-Denn looks pretty simple."
Mukuro also took a look at it. "Hmm. The enemy commander appears around our level compared to the other revolts," she said, looking at missions requiring monsters in the teens of levels. "Maryah-Denn is also a land with a lot of Imperial influence. Aiding rebellion there could greatly help our cause."
"Guess we know what we're doin then," Joey said.
"Lead the way, Joey," Makoto said with a smile.
"You got it!" Joey exclaimed.
The trek north to the Maryah-Denn province was rather uneventful. Additionally, since a mission was not in progress, monsters could not be summoned. That meant a long, on foot walk along a beautiful, but empty landscape.
Makoto laughed. "Boy, you can really tell they haven't finished the game."
"What do you mean?" Mukuro asked him.
"This map is so empty. I bet if it was finished, the landscape would be teeming with monsters and wildlife," Makoto stated.
"Yeah, probably," Joey remarked. He sat on the ground and held his ankles. "Can we take a break? My feet are killing me."
The group wasn't even halfway through the rocky canyon of Gyuron, with the Maryah-Denn region still quite the trek away.
"If you want, I could carry you," Mukuro said without a hint of sarcasm…or any emotion really.
"I'm good," Joey said.
"…So you'd rather sit here?" Mukuro asked.
"Well I…" Joey said, only to realize he was being lifted up. "What the—Hey! Pumme down!"
Mukuro hoisted Joey up over her shoulders like she was a rescue worker carrying a civilian.
Makoto laughed, but not at Joey's expense. "I can see our motor skills haven't diminished. Empty world aside," he said, walking alongside Mukuro, "It seems the VR system works really well."
"I'll walk! I'll walk!" Joey complained. "Just pumme down!"
Mukuro did not comply. "What do you mean?" she asked Makoto, far more interested in what he had to say.
Joey groaned, eyes half-closing in annoyance.
"Well, I mean…you're so strong, Mukuro. It's good to see that even in a game like this you can still use that strength."
Mukuro blushed, accelerating her pace, forcing Makoto to jog to keep up with her. "Yes, well…I'm glad that you're glad!" she declared awkwardly.
Makoto just laughed. "Being locked in Virtual Reality aside, this is kinda fun."
"Speak for yourself," Joey said. "Can ya put me down now?"
When the trio arrived in the Maryah-Denn region, it was getting close to dark. Their mission objective required them to start the battle by going to Riz-Phonn to the west of the region. However, while the area was almost completely under imperial control, for a region supposedly awash with rebellion…everything seemed pretty peaceful.
Makoto, yet again, chalked it up to the game not quite being finished.
"You should make a list of everythin' you want them to improve on," Joey chuckled.
"Yeah, I should," Makoto said, laughing. "Number one would be don't lock your players in the game."
Joey laughed, almost so hard it became hard to breathe.
"The town dead ahead, Seiaruna, we can take shelter there instead of setting up camp, probably safer. I could go out at night, see if I can learn anything from…NPCs you called them?" Mukuro stated.
"Yeah, Non-Player Characters," Makoto stated.
Mukuro nodded, comprehending the acronym.
The trio found a shelter—just an old abandoned house with beds—to take refuge in as Mukuro skulked out in the village for a little while.
Makoto worked to clean up the place and make it a bit more hospitable even figuring out how cooking worked in-game to make some virtual food. He plated for three and went to go bring Joey some…only to find the blond sitting with one knee raised up on the bed, arm resting over it, gazing out the moonlit window.
Makoto took a guess as to what was on Joey's mind, "Thinking of Serenity?" he asked, handing Joey a plated Chicken leg with some warmed raspberries.
Joey sighed, taking the plate from Makoto. "It doesn't feel complete, ya know?" Joey asked. "We…we should all be on this trip tagether." He took a bite of the chicken, chewed and swallowed. "Dang, that's some good chicken for this bein' a game."
"Kaiba Corp-based technology for you," Makoto said laughing.
Joey nodded and then sighed again. "But…at the same time, I'm kinda glad she ain't here. If she was, and we got separated, I'd be worried sick about her."
"I get what you mean," Makoto said. "I know how I felt when Komaru and I were separated when we were dealing with Noah."
Joey took a very deep breath. "Jeez, don't remind me. That was a nightmare."
Makoto nodded. "Yeah, it was pretty crazy. But…we'll get through this nightmare too, Joey."
Joey smiled. "Yeah, thanks Makoto. Let's kick some bad guy butt tomorrow, aight?"
Makoto nodded. "Well, relative to the game's internal clock anyway."
Joey laughed more. "Yeah, like, what? A year in the game, a day outside?"
Makoto laughed. "Something like that maybe."
Mukuro had returned when both boys were asleep, leading her to simply hunker down and wait to share her information in the morning. Shortly before dawn, however, the group was already on the move northwest to the town of Riz-Phonn.
"Supposedly, once the mission starts," Makoto said, going over the mission objectives. "All positions besides ours will become hostile."
"Cool, so we split up, divide and conquer," Joey said. "I'll cut through da forest for the bad guy. You and Mukuro take the battles on either side of me. If ya finish before me, come back me up."
"You got it!" Makoto said, just as the group set foot in Riz-Phonn. And, as soon as they did, he, Joey and Mukuro suddenly got a red, flaring alert.
WARNING: ENEMY REINFORCEMENTS!
The map suddenly sprouted three additional enemy units.
"Huh?" Makoto questioned.
"Welp. That's not good," Joey remarked.
"They're coming in quickly," Mukuro said. "Joey, build equipment!"
"Equipment?" Joey asked, scratching his head.
"I learned about it last night. Perfect time to put it into practice. Open the town menu and select Equipment, then select an option. Be quick about it."
"If you're so good at it, you do it!" Joey shouted at her.
"Fine," Mukuro remarked. Swiping at the air, she opened the menu, selected the Anti-Ground Cannon and installed them at Riz-Phonn. Suddenly, a wall of Catapult Turtles surrounded the town.
"The cannons will fire on the first enemy to get too close. Then, they have a long recharge period."
"Does that mean an enemy will be defeated?" Makoto asked.
Mukuro shook her head. "No, the enemy will have half of their HP remaining," she remarked. Mukuro looked to Makoto. He was their appointed tactician after all. She wanted to know who was doing what.
Makoto thought about it. "Serpent Night Dragon's attacks should be able to do some real damage to a weakened enemy, but that also means your teams will have a tougher time with the enemies at full strength."
"Got any military advice you can flex on us, soldier girl?" Joey asked Mukuro.
Mukuro thought about it. "…We tag out."
"Tag out?" Joey asked.
"Oh! I think I get it!" Makoto exclaimed. "After one of us finishes fighting, we swap who's next. That lets the person that just fought rest while the enemy has to fight a much stronger team."
Mukuro nodded.
"I'll go first then, like we discussed. Mukuro, you go second."
"And I'll bring up the rear, got it," Joey stated.
"Here they come," Mukuro asked.
Makoto watched the cannons fire off, badly damaging the incoming first team. He stood at the edge of Riz-Phonn, waiting for the enemy team to arrive. We might be outnumbered, but we won't be outfought!
"Okay," Makoto said. "HERE I GO!"
TO BE CONTINUED…
(A/N: Sorry to leave you all on a cliffhanger like that, but I kind of want to do one chapter one battle kinda thing, replicating the game itself. It's…it's good to be back, hope everyone is enjoying my attempt to replicate this game. If you think there's stuff I can improve upon for the arc, please let me know. This is all trial and error to me.
SIDE NOTE: Yes, I know that the original FBK is turned based, but having to remember stats, action points and keep track of everything like it's a damn DND campaign is too much for my brain to handle for a story I'm not getting paid to write.
SECOND SIDE NOTE: Yes, the monsters in this game are different than the ones in the original FBK. It would just be…to restrictive given how many additional characters there are to work with.
Anyway, that's all for now. I hope to have a new chapter up within a week if I can help it. Now that I've gotten a grasp on how I'm going to do the battle scenes, I shouldn't have a problem with updates as much as I was this past year plus. So, as always, from all of me, to all of you, let your hearts stay human and your wrath draconic. Ja ne!)