Yuuki took in a deep breath, preparing herself mentally for another fight; the third in just one day actually. Come to think of it, since she woke up, fighting was just about all she did. First it was a giant angry crab, and then there was a giant angry tree. All of which was within less than the span of 24 hours. Now, here she was about to fight an even more giant and even more angry thing that was basically a dinosaur. It was exciting, to be sure, but something didn't feel quite right.

She wasn't tired or anything, not yet at least. She still had the energy of someone who got a new lease on life. The fact that she made a new friend as well was another boost to morale. But still, while she couldn't quite put her finger on it, something felt missing.

Looking out at the lip of the lake where the crocodile emerged the first time, Yuuki was in the middle of some exercises. She realized that up until now, she was just jumping headfirst into every situation without a second thought. She really should have at least done some stretches. If she'd pulled a muscle at any point earlier, against either of her previous foes, it would have been over for her in an instant. She didn't want to waste her second chance over something small like that, so at least some prep work was in order.

"Are you ready yet?" Shrimp asked indignantly.

"Al~most." Yuuki replied, lightly pulling on each of her limbs and appendages, making sure they were limber and didn't make a single crack or creak.

"You know, I'm not trying to exaggerate too much, but I feel like I've been standing here waiting for whole months." Shrimp complained.

"I'm… just about … done." Yuuki said with a sudden exhale. She released her hands from each other and equipped her crab claw. "Alright, ready to go."

"Why were you even stretching? I've never heard of a duel avatar getting sore before." Shrimp said, raising an eyebrow that didn't exist on his body.

"Well, I don't want to take any chances with anything going wrong." Yuuki replied casually.

"Right, well, I'll get into position and wait for your move." Shrimp said as he started to walk away.

Yuuki ran over the plan in her head one more time. Shrimp was going to trigger it to rise out of the water and start running towards him. Periodically, Yuuki would also attack it from behind or the side. It was faster than her, but since it would take a moment to change targets according to Shrimp, she could keep up if they juggled its attention. Once it was as far from the water as it could go, they would both hit its eyes and then attack its uvula to kill it.

The timing was going to be crucial. Yuuki was making quite a gamble on Shrimp, who she never worked with before until this moment. If they were out of sync, things would go horrifically for both of them. But he and his "parent" fought the thing before, and he knew how it worked. If there was anyone she could trust to help her face this thing, not that she really had any alternatives, it was without a doubt him.

She also started walking towards the lake. She wouldn't aggro the monster unless she went into the water itself. She reached the edge and looked down into the water. It was almost impossible to see anything beneath the surface, let alone the super-sized dinosaur. She wondered if it was actually in there, or it just spawned when its trigger was set off. A small part of her hoped it was the latter, and more so hoped that it didn't immediately respawn. The waters looked completely calm, meaning that unlike the river that led to it, it was probably safe to swim in. The thought of the chance to do so was reinvigorating for her.

Yuuki noticed at the top of her vision that she received a message. It was from Shrimp, of course.

"Ready to go. Firing in 90 seconds." The message read.

"Got it." Yuuki replied.

In the next minute and a half, Yuuki pondered one last time about whether it was actually a good idea to use the claw. It was her only weapon, but it was also the second largest thing on her body other than her body itself. If only she had so much as just a knife. A sword would definitely be the ideal, but a dagger or a spear, anything that was normally supposed to be a weapon, she would have taken. Even ALO's magic might have been a better option for its variety of options, even though she'd barely even touched it. For the life of her, remembering the incantations was a chore.

But there wasn't any time left to think about it, she heard Shrimp's attack go off, and watched the water in front of her splash from his invisible projectile. A second or two later, the water started to bubble, and Yuuki narrowed her eyes.

The monstrously big creature was emerging, rising in height with each second. It let out a war once its head fully breached the surface, which was almost deafening to be next to. If she had triggered it, it could have swung its head horizontally and swallowed her in one gulp, but luckily, it wasn't her who pissed it off. She wasn't directly in its way, she was just off to the side, so when it started moving, she wasn't trampled over. The ground was shaking with every step it took, and Yuuki almost tripped on the first step. But she was able to keep upright and follow.

She heard Shrimp's next shot hit 5he thing on the snout, and it roared angrily and began to pick up speed. But before it could get away, Yuuki swung her weight into its hind leg, and the lizard skidded to a halt.

Did it work? Yuuki thought.

The monster started to swing its head from side to side, searching for the cause of its disturbance. And then, one its eyes caught sight of the humanoid piece of midnight.

It worked! She frantically exclaimed to herself as the crocodile started to turn around. It moved rather slowly, trying to rotate its entire body to face Yuuki, but it swung its tail at her when it got the chance to. Yuuki tried to stay close enough to its leg that the tail wouldn't flatten her, but when she stayed too close, she saw its shadow move over her. She had to move extra quick as to now let the beast stomp on her; surely an instant kill.

But after a few seconds, Yuuki was saved by the sound of another loud bang. Yet again Shrimp's air cannon struck the crocodile's scaly hide, and it immediately turned its attention to Shrimp. Yuuki took the opportunity to move towards its upper body before it aligned itself and resumed its chase.

They continued to repeat this process. Shrimp made sure to retreat backwards any time Yuuki distracted it, so that he would be able to stand on the very edge of its aggro range. He was almost there, but he was growing concerned; anxious over whether their plan would succeed. The creature was still huge, and hitting its weak point couldn't have just been a one-hit kill or anything easy like that right?

But since it was too late to back out, he stayed where he was. If he stepped out, the enemy would focus solely on Midnight Traveler, and she would definitely get EK'd. He couldn't do that to her, not after already trying to sabotage her, and then after she spared him despite him stealing from her. She did right by him and he needed to repay it as best he could.

The crocodile and Yuuki alike were approaching. It was just about time to start phase 2. The enemy already took a little bit of chip damage from Shrimp's air cannon attack, and he was just about ready to take out its eye. He was always a good shot to boot.

3

He could feel its footsteps shake the ground.

2…

He could hear Midnight Traveler shouting to signal him it was almost time to act.

1…

"NOW!" She screamed as loud as she could, and as she got the crocodile to turn its head halfway between her and him, Shrimp consumed his special gauge.

"Cavitation Cannon!" He shouted, activating his killer move.

A surge of energy rushed through his disproportionately large claw, filling the space between the pincers like the rails of a rail gun. As the upper appendage slammed down, the energy was discharged. It fired out like a stream of fire or ignited oxygen, leaving behind a trail of excess heat while it flew. The front end of the fireball struck its eye and exploded fiercely. The volume of the explosion was surpassed only by the scream of the enemy.

Likewise on the other end, Yuuki had put her strength in her legs, and jumped as high as she could to reach its eye, and when she did, she jammed her claw directly into it.

Their combined attacks destroyed its vision. Both eyes exploded into pixels and digital code, and it roared in pure rage. It was about to shift into its berserk state and its scales were starting to glow red. Its tail rose directly into the air, and then slammed down like a tree falling. Without its eyes it had no way of detecting its surroundings, and instinctual, roared as loud as it could like it was trying to scare away everything around it. But the two critters around it didn't listen. It was their opportunity to strike as it opened its mouth and exposed its uvula; its weak point.

Not that it would make hitting it easy for them. The crocodile thrashed wildly, swinging its open maw from side to side and creating small gusts of wind with its tail.

"I can't get another shot off like this!" Shrimp shouted, but the roar of the enemy was too loud for his voice to reach his partner

Luckily, Yuuki didn't need to hear him say it. She already figured that he used up all he had just a moment ago. It wasn't like he'd ever shot off a big fireball before, for that matter. It was going to be up to her to reach its weak point, even though it was fairly far inside of its mouth.

Luckily for her, hitting its flank repeatedly also built up her own special gauge, meaning she had some time to work with.

"Accelerate!"

The swaying of the beast's head seemed to slow, but in truth, she simply was receiving and processing information much faster, about twice as fast actually.

She quickly lunged into its mouth, above its bottom row of teeth but not hitting its top row. It was a narrow maneuver, but she was successful. Luckily for her, the monster didn't slam its mouth shut the moment she entered. She'd watched a video or two in the past, how crocodiles or alligators would let birds enter their mouths to clean their teeth, and she was definitely grateful that something similar seemed to have been programmed in. That, or it was still just too angry to notice her. Either way, she moved as quickly as she could so she didn't have to find out.

Yuuki pressed onward towards the uvula, her claw open and ready. It was unfortunate that her own body didn't get sped up like her mind did, but something like that would probably be too powerful or unfair.

At the first chance she got, she thrust her arm forward and aligned each pincer between the uvula, and as tightly as she could, she squeezed her hand shut.

Almost immediately, the claw closed shut, easily shredding through whatever digital tissue that made up the uvula like it was tissue paper. She saw it burst into pixels, but thanks to her special ability still being active, she knew not to celebrate just yet. She needed to get out, and then she could bask in victory.

But lo and behold, it's upper jaw was starting to descend. She dashed as quickly as she could with what remained of her special gauge still depleting. It was going down a little too fast for her liking, really.

Go faster! She shouted at herself. What she didn't know or wasn't thinking about, was that she was actually moving quite quickly. The problem was that her claw created a fair bit of drag to her otherwise streamlined form.

She reached the edge of its inner mouth with about a meter of space left between its jaws, and jumped as hard as she could. The window was closing but she was approaching. With half of her body both in and out, there was but a few centimeters of space left before she was bitten in half. She might not have made it, but she wasn't going to take no for an answer.

In a last ditch effort, she swung her arm into position, extending the amount of time she had by a moment. It was enough, as the claw absorbed the weight of its jaw just long enough for the rest of her body to escape.

But no more than that. The weight of its mouth overwhelmed the strength of her claw, and in fact, trapped it in place. Almost instantly after the pressure was first applied to the claw, the entire claw was smashed to pieces and shattered like glass. The same went for the arm that controlled the claw.

There was no way she could have known about it, let alone mentally prepare herself. But nonetheless, the moment her arm up to her elbow was crushed and torn off from the rest of her body, her mind went blank, all except for one thought.

Pain.

"GHAAAAAAAAAAAA"

She fell to the ground beside the crocodile's body, screaming at the top of her lungs in sheer anguish.

It was like her actual arm was torn off, not that she knew what that would feel like. As a matter of fact, it wasn't like anything she'd experienced before in her entire life. Since she was confined to her ICU, she lost the chance to feel a lot of sensations. Full Dive technology allowed her to simulate real experiences again, but it wasn't like pain was a feature in any of the games she played. After all, who would allow that kind of feature to exist in a game accessible to the public anyways?

Well, turns out it did exist, in this world at least. The 5 senses were not the only things that were replicated in this world. Every kind of sensation that existed as a result of those senses did as well, and pain was definitely among them. For someone like Yuuki, it was as if a shut-in that never went out or talked to anyone was suddenly teleported into the middle of a crowded beach on a sunny day. It was unbearably awful. She screamed and gasped for breath, but the pain that lasted only a few seconds felt like an eternity.

"I can't believe it really took one hit in that spot. Good job Mid-" Shrimp started to comment, before he took notice of Yuuki's condition. "Woah! What's wrong?"

He rushed to her side, trying to do anything to help her, but there really was nothing to help. Her body wasn't bleeding and he didn't have anything like a painkiller on him. The pain needed to subside on its own, and it started to after a little while. Yuuki was still clutching what remained of her arm however, squeezing it tightly as if it would do anything. She felt like she was going to throw up, cry, or pass out, or all at the same time, but she did none of them. She was still conscious, and gradually regaining some semblance of composure.

"Traveler, you okay?" Shrimp asked one more time with a worried tone.

"Wh…what… why did that hurt so m-m-much?!" Yuuki asked, panicked and fearful.

"Because… wait, is this your first time in the UNF?"

Yuuki didn't know what UNF stood for. Nobody told her even where she was or what she was. She could only weakly but quickly nod her head, assuming that he was talking about where they were now.

"And your parent isn't here? You gotta be kidding me." Shrimp said, sounding annoyed now on her behalf. "Just take a breather. The pain will disappear in a bit."

It was starting to, thankfully. She still felt the pain, but it was no longer as wailing and piercing as a banshee's scream. As she tried to take his advice and focus on breathing, even that dull but lingering sensation started to disappear as well. She wasn't sure if pain was supposed to subside that easily in the real world or if it was just another feature of this world, but she hadn't felt more thankful than this since… well, what she thought were her last moments.

"Feel any better?" Shrimp asked.

"A… a bit…" Yuuki whimpered. She couldn't tell how much time passed between her injury and now, but it felt like several minutes at least. She was just glad that her body didn't seem to bleed, so she didn't have to worry about blood loss or anything.

"Damn, you really just came here on your own and your parent didn't even warn you about this place? The UNF isn't like the normal duel fields. Pain is fully recreated here… umm, if it makes you feel any better. We beat the croc." Shrimp said, trying to think of any way to cheer up his new friend.

Yuuki looked to her side, where the crocodile's body lay. It was quickly evaporating into pixels and code, as was her severed forearm and claw. Seeing that made her feel horrible, like she just recklessly threw away part of her own life. It wasn't her dominant arm, luckily, but it was still part of her that she just lost. After the monster's body was completely gone, a pair of floating cards was all that remained.

"Hey… you can take both of them." Shrimp said quietly.

"H-huh?" Yuuki blurted out, but she knew the reason he said that. "No way, we… we both worked hard… so you take one."

"No way, you did the hard work, and I still owe you for letting me have the points from the tree. You take both of them. I just wanted to finally see this thing die." Shrimp insisted. He would have felt guilty if he took even one.

Yuuki silently climbed to her feet. Luckily, she was able to do that much without any difficulty. She approached the cards and looked for their information. One of them had a small number engraved on it, 10, meaning ten points for a purpose she knew not. The other didn't have a number, but the word "ITEM" on its face. It must have been something like her crab claw, her former crab claw, that is. With her good arm, she touched the points card first, and absorbed it into her hand. Her points rose from 103 to 113. She felt some tiny satisfaction from watching her points go up, but it hardly mattered to the current her. She picked up the other card next, and it disintegrated into light all the same, and then she turned back towards Shrimp.

"Well, how about we go to a logout portal together? There's one nearby, and it'd probably be for the best to take a break for now, I know I did when I first got hurt here." Shrimp offered, and more so encouraged.

"Oh, umm…" Yuuki started mumbling to herself. Going to a so-called logout portal didn't sound like a smart idea to her, but she didn't know how to say that without sounding strange. If she even tried to logout, what would happen? Would it even work or not, or would it just send her to another world entirely

Because, of course, she was not truly alive.

"I think I'll stay here for a bit longer. Go on and log out before me, I'll be out in a bit too." Yuuki said, waving goodbye.

"You sure? You know you can't logout here without going through the portals right?"

"Yeah, of course I know."

"...Alright then. Just uh, remember that the nearest portal to here is about a ten minute walk this way." Shrimp said, and pointed behind him to the south.

"Got it, thanks." Yuuki replied, offering as much of a smile as she could. Although it's not like he could have seen it anyways. Her face was smooth like metal or porcelain and lacked a visible mouth.

"Well, guess it can't be helped then. Make sure not to spend too much time here alone here or you'll go a little bonkers, and be careful of other players, kay Midnight?"

"Yeah, thanks Shrimp." Yuuki replied back.

And like that, they parted ways. Shrimp eventually got too far for Yuuki to see or hear the footsteps of. She was glad that they added each other to their friends lists, so whenever he returned, they could join us again, but until then, she was playing solo again. Although hopefully he wouldn't only spawn in from the portal he left. It would make a little sense, but it would probably be annoying for their case in particular.

She took in a deep breath, trying to still her rampant thoughts and get her mind off of what just happened. Right now, the best thing she could do was get away from this place.

Can't give up just because of this… right big sis? She asked, but she was alone.

She decided to head north this time. It was as good a direction as any other, after all it wasn't like she had a map or anything. Although for the most part she already knew what was to the east of her anyways. With no company but her own, and little more than clear skies and grassy terrain, she got her feet moving and prepared for a long trek.

Since then, she had been walking for what was probably twenty minutes or so. She didn't have much in the ways of a timer or clock though. However in all of that time she couldn't help but let herself drift back to the fight with the crocodile. It was a hard fought victory that she could be proud to have won, although it wasn't without cost. The pain made her want to meet the creator of this world and give them a double decker knuckle sandwich, but in retrospect, sacrificing her arm and the crab claw to save her life was not too bad of a trade, especially if she only had the one. Having only one arm was still a shame though, unless by some miracle she found someone with healing potions or some health items. In a world like this, where players resembled robots more than living creatures, the idea of healing magic probably didn't make it here. For that matter, her health bar was at about 2/3rds of its maximum.

But if no healing options existed, she was going to have to just deal with it. If nothing else, her sword specialty was one handed swords, not two handed. Though using other weapons like spears and hammers was out of the question, not that she made much use of such weapons to begin with. She just needed to be more careful from now on…

No, it wasn't "just", she absolutely needed to be more careful. She didn't know how this world worked, even if she knew an ability or two. She didn't know if she could respawn, or if she only had one life to live. While it would definitely be nice to know one way or the other, she couldn't just let herself die or be put in a situation to die. She might have been in the world of some game, but games were and always had been her life. Until she knew for sure, she had to treat this new life as her second and only chance.

She stopped walking after arriving near a small collection of stone pillars. She'd walked for probably 40 minutes in total, and for the first time since she received this new body, she felt tired. Just in case any monsters spawned in the area, she did her best to climb up one of the stone pillars. It was a good opportunity for her to practice maneuvering without both arms, and not necessarily in live combat.

It took a few minutes, but she successfully reached the top of the pillars, and laid herself down on top of it. Hopefully nothing would attack her while she was up there, not that she saw anything spawn since the crocodile.

Despite being a mere avatar and a semi-robotic one at that she closed her eyes and somehow she managed to fall asleep. She fell asleep quickly, and right on the border between Yokohama and Kawasaki.