Through the Looking Glass (Into a Magical Girl setting)

[X] Check the other building, what lies ahead is unknown.

Uh, you had forgotten about the fact that there were 2 buildings, though to be fair there was no reason to think of the other one. May as well check it out.

"Alright, we're gonna see what's there. Ready Verde? Let's keep up what we've been doing so far"

"Yes, Master."

Taking into acount the last bridge this time you don't look down while you walk. This may be lower than the previous one. By 5 floors. But you are still 5 floors above ground. There's a ligh breeze but it doesn't bother you. Making your way past the middle of it you can see that the bulding is, indeed, dark. Really dark. You can see a bit past th wall that is broken making an entrance but aside from that there is practically no light.

Once you and verde make your way across you take a look around. It's hard but you think you can make out shapes...? Like some desks and maybe a doorway. You don't have any type of ligh source, and you doubt Verde has one either. Maye you'l find a flashligh or something? Doubtful, maybe you should make a torch or something.

"Any idea of how to navigate here Verde?"

After being silent for a moment Verde places their hands fowards and a literal ball of light appears in them. It illuminates both of you and a it of the area around you, just enough to make sure you don't trip on anything though.

"What's that?"

"My database indicates this item is called a [magic lantern]" They say and push the ball upwards. It settles between the both of you. "This, along a number of other common use items were granted to me once my user model was completed. The item will work as a light source for both of us, the range is quite small unfortunately, which reduces our movement."

"Uh, that's useful. At least we're not going in all blind in here."

With a ligh source at hand both you and Verde take a slow look around. Verde was right, you can barely see ahead even with the ligh, so you have to take it slow as you walk and look around. The placec looks even more of a wreck than the other building, which is kind of impressive. There's rubble all around, some books which you pick only for them to become dust the second you pick them. A closet has the only item in the whole room that doesn't become dust to the touch. A phone. Actually a cellphone, since there are the other kind of phones scattered around here and there. You're sure it is a cellphonE, and it appears to be in pretty okay condition, aside from the whole layer of dust over it. You have no idea how to turn it on or if it even has energy for that.

"The device looks quite well preserved Master."

"It does. No idea how to make it work though, if it is possible."

As you both turn around to start going foward you see a group of tiny creatures moving around in the shadows.

"Verde, can you send the light a bit fowards?"

"Understood."

Verde does so, and the screams of rage are heard. Seems to be some kind of... mole? Rat? No idea, but they hiss at you as soon as they reaize you've seen them, then they back off into the darkness.

"Be careful Master, the enemies are using the darkness in the area to their advantage."

"I noticed."As you turn around the ligh seems to scare some of them keeping them at bay, but you can tell that it won't last long. "How many are there?"

"Current number of hostiles unknown. Based on the number of individual screams it seems to be around 10."

"Well, let's hope they aren't too hard to beat..."

--------------

Enemies: ~10
Skills: all available
Health: Angel FULL
Verde FULL

Strategy
[] Offensive
[] Defensive
[] Write in

Use skills?
[] Yes (which)
[] No

---

Alright, I made things more streamlined. I made an info post about battles and I'll try to follow it as much as possible. The character profiles info has the skills with their info.

[X] Offensive
[X] Yes (Charm Song, Support song: Attack, Lunge)

For this update I'll go along and explain what the action plan does and what dices do. It'll be short since it is quite simple. I'll put my explanations under spoiler boxes.

---

Well not much to do here but try to bust your way through. Assuming they are as strong as everything else you've encountered they should be simple to dela with. Hopefuly you won't take too many hits.

Tactics
The main three tactics I will use here are: Offense, defense, and custom. They are pretty self explanatory. Your tactic dictates what type of approach you'll do. Offensive is mostly go and attack while defensive will prioritice defense and taking hits over dealing damage. Custom tactics will consist of 3 actions maximum per character but they let you go more in detail or depth about what you wish someone to do.
Here we went on he offensive, so rather than wait it out and take the punishment and wait for an opportunity Angel and Verde will try to punch, claw, etc a few things and advance.

Click to expand...

Click to shrink...

"Verde, I'll try something, then we'll go and hit them as hard as we can."
"Understood."

You let your body work by itself as you choose to try and do something that's been in the back of your mind ever since arriving here. You select a song, inhale, and then sing.

"La~ lalala~..."

Your voice comes out on its own, the speakers on your legs turning to face the monsters and spreading your automated singing through the whole room. Despite the feminine tone it has you keep willing your body to sing. In fact you get a little into it after a bit, singing along with your voice for so saying. Despite the calm nature of the music you can feel a certain fire to it. The beggining of a journey, the first oddysey... You keep the music going until it ends and automatically switch over to another track.



The music starts and you look around, eyes widening at the scene. They are in complete chaos, fighint each other without caring what they attack. No, thats wrong, despite how frantic it is you can tell that a number of these things are circling you and hissing at the others in a protective manner. One tries to rush at you only to be smashed against a wall by one of the ones "protecting" you. Seeing the rat thing eyes they look weird, as in they are heart shaped. Thats... Oh...

Oh.

OOHHHH!

Well... seems like your idea worked a bit too well.

Skills
So charm is your default messing with enemies spell/skill. Basically it... charms enemies. It's based on luck but you nailed it with a nat d20 so... yeah, you charmed half of them. Charmed enemies will not attack you, and will attack others. Also may jump in to protect you if the charm is too good. You're lucky. Some skill have dice rolls, other don't. For example a basic healing spell woulnd't use a dice.

Click to expand...

Click to shrink...

Not letting this chance slip away you move your head to yell at Verde to attack, only to find them already doing so. Seems like they are aiming for the non-charmed rats, and they manage to land two solid hits on one, but they can't seem to land a last good hit.

You shake your head and move then. This should be easy now, taking a look at what rats seem to be actively hostile towards you what you do is wait till they attack, wait for one of the charmed ones to stop them, and then use your claws to hit them good.

Overall, your plan works okay, and you and Verde manage to take down the non-charmed half of the rats. Then Verde goes and stab a bunh of the charmed ones while they do nothing.

It's quite eerie seeing these things with heart in their eyes be stabbed one by one as they just... look at you, as if waiting for something. After a while the last one is dead and silence reigns.

Explanation to Actions.
So what goes on is that every time you face an enemy or something, each character will have 3 actions that they will follow before the next vote. In this case Angel's actions were:

1. Sing/charm (nat d20)
2. Attack (73 - 66 VS rats 30-10 charmed)

While Verde's actions were mostly:

1. Attack. (55, 82, 36 VS 30 -10)

If the action requires it they will have a dice roll. Attack action will have a dice roll if the enemy is not way too weak for you. To see how well you do as the battle goes. Since verde had no special commands beside just attacking the 3 action rolls were used on that, attacking. Angel had 1 action be the use of Charm, which take a dice of its own, and 2 for attacking.
If an encounter is too easy, like just 1 random lvl 1 mook or something then you will just skip the dice rolls. Enemies will only have dice rolls if they are special.

Click to expand...

Click to shrink...

After a bit all the rat corpses dissapear in a poof of smoke, leaving you and Verde alone in the dark. Aside from the little ball you have for a lantern there is no light in the whole place. So when you hear a random voice saying. "Well hey there." from behind, you understandably jump back a bit.

Also do a small eeep type of sound, not gonna lie to yourself about making them now.

"Whoa, sorry for scaring you. Didn't expect anyone to be around, most newbies stand away from this area and then forget about it once they are done with the dungeon, so I normally don't run into anyone here. Kinda surprised me with the all the singing and music I heard from the floor below. That was you right? You're a bard?"

Your mouth opens and closes as you find yourself unable to muster a word. You can barely see the shape of a body a few feets away from you, and step back a bit from the direction of the voice. Verde notices your distress and moves in front of you not saying a word.

The figure seems to move its arms in a apologectic manner. "Oh, oops. Guess I shouldn't just stay here in the dark uh? I kind of forget not everyone has a night vision perk. Hehe..."

You hear some steps go from the direction of the voice towards the open hole from which you and Verde came from, and you can see the figure clearly now as they go a few steps into the makeshift bridge of a tree.

Purple robes cover a sligh part of their uppper body while a grey skinsuit seems to cover most of their figure. They seem to have clawed boots and fingerless gauntlets, as well as some basic but sleek looking armor. Their posture and the fact they have a tail gives you in that they aren't a human, at least in character in here. Theeir head seems to be that of a jackal you believe was their name. Dark blue, almost black fur covering their face which has soe red lines markings going around their eyes and sides of their jaw. They are wearing what seems like a witch hat, with holes for their ears. It is a pointy hat that drops a bit at the end. All in all they make you think of that egyptian dog, Anubis. They look like what some videogames make of the deity in their characters.

"Well now you should be able to see me better. My name is Dingo by the way, nice to meet you!"

They smile and give a tooty grin, closing their eyes. Their tone of voice as well as posture seems to indicate a laid back jovial type of guy if you were to guess.

"Umm.. I'm Angel. This is Verde a-oh." You realize that you're still in the dark room so you move to the bridge as well. Guy seems harmless enough. Verde just follows you. Oncec you reach the beggining of it and lights illuminates your figures again you start once more. "Hello, my name is Angel, this is Verde. Ummm...."

You're out of ideas of what to say.

"Right, Angel and Verde, got it! Nice to meet you both! So! Since I'm assuming you're both newbies, why don't I accompany you on a trek back to the main hub of this place? I'm kind of done with bussines here."

They give a happy smile and wait for your answer. You could accept their offer and get out of here, and most probably easily get to a city or another hub like area to go around. You could also decline and explore arond more on your own, though you feel you'd be missing on something.

[] Accept
-[] If so, want to ask them something on the way? (write in 3 questions max)
[] Decline

---

Sorry for being so late with an update. Lots of things took my attention, and then I just plainly forgot about this. Just an easy choice here to end this bit I think.

[X] Accept

"Uh, sure, thanks for the offer." You decide to accept his offer. As you three start to walk down the bulding, no enemies in sign for some reason, you start making some talk with Dingo.

"It's no problem." Dingo says, giving another tooty grin. "I like helping newbies when I have the time. So! How's the game for you so far!"

"Oh, uh, well I've just started todady so... can't say for sure. Seems pretty neat I guess."

"Mmmhmmm, I see I see!" Dingo places a hand below his muzzle and nods. "It is a really neat game yeah. In fact, it is an amazing game if you ask me. A whole new world out there for us to explore and experience. It's amazing, like the stuff from fantasy!"

"Hehehe... yeah..." Hopefully this one isn't dangerous for players. "So... how did you know that we were new?"

"Mmm? Oh that? 2 reasons mostly. You both didn't seem like you had that much experience, the second is that neither of you seem to be using a weapon."

"A weapon?"

"Yep!" He turns around to face you both as he says that. "Sure you can use your own bodies as weapons, like claws, legs, fists, etc. But not all classes are great for that. Assuming you're a bard, you should have some kind of instrument to use for attacks, but..." He looks you up and down. "Not sure how it'd be for you, you have a pretty unique PC, not everyone bothers making heavily custom ones."

"Uh this is umm nevermind. Anyways, you're right about me being a bard, kinda getting the hang of it at the moment. So, how am I supposed to fight with an instrument? Do I bash monsters in the head with it?" The image of hitting a mole with an oversized electric guitar comes to mind and you can't help but let out a chuckle.

"Ha! That's one way sure! But from what I've heard it's kind of special. Like normally bards have some kind of harp or other instrument with them, and they just play something like woosh, just one sweep, and then musical notes come out of the instrument and hurt the monsters." He said all that while moving his arms around trying to explain how apparently bards work. You kind of get the idea though? Just playing some notes and that somehow hurts monsters.

Somehow.

"Your partner there seems to have legs made specifically for fighting so they're fine just using them, though maybe they can figure out other ways of attacking. This game gives you a lot of freedom for buids and the like."

"So, I get myself some instrument and try to play it and see what happens?"

"Pretty much. What about those speakers?"

You point to your face. "I kind of doubt I can use these to fight."

"No no, the other ones, the ones besides your legs. They seem to be floating so maybe you can use them someway."

You look down and sure enough, there are 2 speakers besides your legs. They are circular and look futuristic. Have they always been there? "I... guess I can try." So you just pick one. It comes off easily, given that it was just floating in the air. You try waving it around, knocking it, sweaping your claw over it, and nothing happens. Letting it go you drop your arms and feel a sudden click on the back of your right hand. Looking at it you see that the speaker is now hovering above your hand.

"Oh neat, they are like magnets or something!"

They could be... but how do you use them now? Once again you move your hand around, how do you make this play a sound? Maybe f you just think of it... nope, thinking of sound doesn't works. But maybe...

You swipe your hand while thinking of a simple short melody like a sweeping of piano keys- *SLAP* - uh?

"..."

"..."

"..."

"... well, you figured out how to use those speakers!" Despite having a very red mark on their face, Dingo is still smiling and givng you a thumbs up.

If you could look at your face, you would see that it is very red as well, albeit for different reasons. Realizing what happened you lash out an apology. "I'm sorry I didn't mean it I mean I had no idea that would happen and I was just messing around I didn't mean to hit you did it hurt oh geez your face is red I'm sorry!"

"Hey hey it's fine! Really! It didn't hurt at all, although I hope that mark leaves soon... eh, it's no problem anyways." Dingo just waves it off and just smiles at you. Well, it was an accident and it didn't hurt, also he doesn't mind so it's probably okay. "More importantly, it seems that those speakers are your instrument eh? Congrats on figuring it out! Pretty neat idea for a weapon don't you think?"

"Uhh... I guess, yeah. Gonna have to be more careful but this gives me a bit more range..." You wave your arm again thinking of music and see as the melodies come out of the speaker as if they were claw swipes. They look like pieces of music sheets, albeit more futuristic and technological in look rather than the typical look.

"Glad to hear it! Anyways, let's go, we're almost at the entrance."

As it happens, you were just a few rooms away from the entrance. You didn't realize you had moved 5 floors while talking. You idn't even payed attention to the place for something of interest. You make a mental note to check this place later when you have time to play for yourself.

As you cross the gate of the building you are greeted by a lot of green and grey. Worn down buildings with plants growing all over them, makeshift roads made of eitherp plants or rubble, flowers, trees, animals and birds of the like you've never seen before. The distance between buildings isn't small which makes the area seem like an open field but it isn't so big as to be called one.

"We have to cross over that bridge over that lake to get to the city." Dingo says pointing at a worn down but still standing strogn bridge past some buildings. There is indeed a lake there from what you can barely see over the distance. "It shouldn't take long, and the view will probably show you a few places of interest for you to check out."

You nod an start walking with him. Verde following close behind you in complete silence.

As you pass over some rubble you see a few rabbit things quickly jop away, which reminds you that you had a few things you'd like to ask.

"Hey, Dingo?" You call out and he tilts his head towards you, one of his ears twitching a bit when you say his name. "Ummm... do you happen to have any advice for new players? I admit that I had no idea what I was doing back there and I rather not make a mess of things later so..."

"Sure! I'll be happy to help! And don't worry, everyone messes up, even the pros of this game do from time to time!" Pros? He probably means players at maximum level or something like that. "So my first advice is to take it small, baby steps. Don't rush into places just because you can reach them and don't try everything at once. This game gives lots of options for what to do, for example classes, and that can be overwhelming. Since you're a bard I'd say to stay on that class and try it out and see if you like it. Your class levels up separatedly from your own level, and it is considered 'mastered' at 15 levels but you can get to 30 with them. Just try things out, see if you like it, and don't try every class as soon as you can."

Well you probably won't have to worry about that last bit, you doubt you can change your class from bard to something else, and to be fair... is kind of interesting so far what you have been able to do by technically being one. You'd take the fist part to heart though, just because you can do somethng like go over a new place doesn't mean you should head there as soon as you can. Not just here, but on the wonderlands as well. You need to know these places better, both the one you can acces at your house and the one you can get to from your shop.

"My second advice... I'd say to settle down."

"Huh?"

"Well this game allows anyone to get a place of their own as a sort of home base. It's optional, but it really helps in the long run to have a place you can come back to anytime no worries. I could explain all the systems of it but... basicaly it is just a place that gives you some quality of life options I'd say."

You're not sure if you understood that fuly but you'll give it a look later. Again, when you have more time of your own for this.

"Can't think of much more to say, other than, just have fun! Games are meant to be enjoyed, and I cannot really tell you how to have fun so yeah!"

You nod, then decide to ask your next question.

"So... what's around this place? I mean, I can see the bunch of buildings and ruins, but aside from that what's of interest here?"

"That's an easy one! Some of these tall buildings are mini-dungeons. Some are small labyrinth like areas, and some places are real dungeons, like the library over to the west of here. There's also the whole underground." Underground? "Some buildings that act as mini dungeons have these secret passages that link them to other buildings, and said places have ways to go underground. The big place we were in before? That's one such place. That's the more straight up one in regards to how to get underground. Though as you start to go lower the monsters get real dangerous, so I wouldn't advice it to newbies! I can barely make it to ground level on that dark place from before and I've only seen the entrance to the underground myself but I heard it's quite the place!"

"Oh wow, guess it's a good thing we went back. Don't wanna fight some lvl 100 monster or something." If someone like Dingo, who seems to know their way around and be experieced, has problems with those places then it's a good idea to stay away from them.

"Yeaaah... about that... I'm only lvl 47. I'm not a high level player at all! I actually very rarely go to dungeons to grind or kill monsters, I rather just walk around and take in the sights so I don't level up that much that fast. I don't mind though, I enjoy discovering things here and I have fun!"

"Well, you're still way above our levels so it's pretty much the same. I thought you were a high level guy that soloed dungons by himself."

"Nah, I'm not into those type of challenges. I mean, I can solo a few starting dungeons, but again, I'm lvl 47. Also my class is the last one in my class line so, that helps too."

"Class lines?" You tilt your head as you ask that. You know he said there's tons of different classes, but what's this about class lines?

"Oh right! I completely forgot to explain that! Let's see..." Dingo walks a bit then sits down on a nearby rock. Looking around you realize that you've reached the bidge he mentioned before. Once again you didn't pay attention to your suroundings. Also why have no monsters appeared? "So, there's a bunch of classes yeah? Some of them have this advanced versions of them. Mostly classic stuff like fighters, monks, thiefs, mages, healers, the like. There's unique classes like gunslingers and ninjas and those don't have advanced classes yet, but they are really unique. My class is called Apsaras, it's the last evolution of the dragoon class. Normally you wouldn't have it at my level but... I just happened to get it in a different way." He looks to the side, his expression seems as if the subjet is a bit uncomfortable for some reason.

You decide to not ask him about that.

*CLAP* "ANYWAYS! Bards! From what I've gathered they have advanced classes, the strongest one called an Elysian I think? No idea but you can advance classes if you want to go down that road. Just keep playing with the class and the game will let you know when you can advance." You nod and store that information for later.

You seem to be close to the city Dingo mentioned, you can see a sort of gate over the distance and all kind of beings, human and non-humans, walk in and out of it. They're probably players. Time for a last questions you guess.

"So, if you don't mind me asking, what were those bussiness you had back there when you fond us?" You say pointing to yourself and Verde. They've been really quiet, but they remain close so you're reminded of their presence. You have no idea what they may be thinking.

"Ah, that? Nothing important. I was doing a bit of gathering. See lots of people tend to ignore that area. Either because they're not strong enough for it, like starting players, or they forget about it after leveling a lot and leave for other places. I was just gathering some mushrooms, monsters parts, plants, etc that prefer dark places. Since that area is connected to the underground there seem to be special drops there, but I was just gathering the basics for some repeatable collection quest. The reward is potions, which I always find useful so I tend to do it now and then. Speaking of..." He proceeds to do some gestures in the air and suddenly a couple vials or blue and green liquid appear in his hands. "Here, these are some basic healing potions and anti-toxins as well." He practically shoves them into your hands before you can answer.

"Is this okay? I mean..."

He just waves you off and gives a big smile that don't show teeths. "Don't sweat it. I like helping newbies. Next time you drop into a random dungeon be sure to, well, not do it if possible but if you want to at least be prepared. As much as you can when you end up in a place you know nothing about after all."

Your eyes widens a bit after he says that. How did he...

"If you wanna know it's your face. You were looking everywhere as if it was the first time you saw it, which I see it is. Seriously, dropping into random dungeons may seem fun but it can get dangerous. Try not to do that again okay?" That's not... no, you're not gonna clarify that. Better to leave him thinking that, not like you understand your situation at all either. So you simply give a small nod and take the potions. They dissapear as soon as you think you accept them, which makes you jump in surprise and makes Dingo laugh.

"Hahaha! Seriously, try not to let others take advantage of you because you're new. Some nasty guys tend ot try and do that, so be careful. We're almost at the town already so I guess this is it. Nice meeting you both, Angel, Verde." He smiles a warm smile and starts walking towards the gate.

You're still thinking about what to do when a speed-waling Dingo comes back less than a minute later.

"So I just though of it... wanna become friends? I mean, as in game friends! I mean adding ourselves to each other friend list here!" He waves his hands before sighing and dropping his head a bit. "Geez, that was lame. So yeah, wanna become friends? You seem like a nice fellow!" They close their eyes, keep on smiling, and then click the air.

*PING*

Inmediately you see a notification box appear in front of you.

[User Dingo has sent a friend requets. Accept?]
-[] Yes
-[] No

Now that you've gotten into this city, what will you do?

[] Log out and see how Mapple is doing. How long have you been playing? You're kinda worried.
[] Explore the city a bit. See the sights, walk around, get aquanticed wit hthe place.

---

Man, this was long. I ended up writing more than I expected to. Hopefully it doesn't seem off. Anyways a choice, two actually. Aside from that not much to say. If you need a mental image of Dingo think of someone making an player character odeled after the kind of animal Anubis is, which name I can't remember.

[X] Yes
[X] Log out and see how Mapple is doing. How long have you been playing? You're kinda worried.

---

After adding each other to your respective friend lists you parted ways with Dingo and stayed in the bridge for a bit, thinking about what to do. You could explore this place some more, look around, basically play some more. But you don't have that luxury now do you? You wonder how long you've been playing, an hour, two, more? No idea. You decide to log out and check on Mapple, and on Lupin to and see how they are doing.

...

Oh fuck you forgot about Lupin! How are they doing? You hope you didn't scare them or something. It should be fine thogh, they're quite literally your shadow back home, they can't just jump out and appear right?

...

Right, you'll log out as soon as you can and run damage control if necessary.

Turning to Verde you reprimand yourself for forgetting about yet another person that you've been with lately. To be fair, they have been completely silent this whole time so you didn't notice them, but still.

"Verde?"

"Yes Master?"

"Are you okay?"

"This unit is running at optimal parameters."

"That's not what... I mean, you were silent the whole time Dingo was around. Is there any reason for that?" You could have the wrong idea but...

"This unit did not have permission to talk to the player known as Dingo. Therefore this unit remained silent through the duration of the travel."

"Wait, you can't talk to anyone other than me? Also... what do you think of them? Dingo I mean..."

"Correct, this unit hasn't been authorized for communication with other players beside Master. As for the inquiry, this unit doesn't fully understand the question. The player designated as 'Dingo' seemed to be an experienced player and helped Master get accostumed to this place in ways I wasn't able to. For that this unit is grateful. Is there any other inquiries, Master?"

Seems you had the wrong idea after all, which is good. Regardless, there's an issue to deal with right now. "Verde, you have permission to speak to anyone you deem fit you know. You don't need to ask my permission. Unless, say, it is an important matter or person. That doesn't mean that you should talk freely to anyone though. I'd rather keep the whole thing of how I'm experiencing things differently to everyone else a secret. Also if you may simply choose to not to speak to someone if you want."

"Acknowleged. Communications ruleset updated." Good, hopefully you set things well. "Master, this unit has an inquiry."

"Yes?"

"In what type of situations should this unit deem fit to not speak to another?"

"Uhhh... when you don't wish to speak to someone basically. Simply when you don't wish to speak?"

"... this unit cannot fully comprehend the parameters, Master."

Mmmm... how to solve this? You thought Verde was more autonomous but apparently they are like a program, just following certain orders. But if that's the case...

"Alright, let's set up some rules about conversation okay?" At this Verde gives you full attention. "First, don't reveal that I'm not a standard player of this game to others. Second, don't reveal that you were part of the system of this game to others either. We will keep that information to ourselves for the foresable future." What next... oh yeah. "Now, if someone ask you a question directly, answer to them as you seem fir, but don't go revealing information that isn't neccesary and don't violate the first two rules. Next, if you desire to aquire knowledge of a subject or something... feel free to ask other players. Be polite about it. That's the basics of it."

That should work, you think. Hopefully. Verde seems to have taken these 'rules' to memory.

"Acknowleged, parameters set"

Well that's that. Now to log out... oh right. "Verde... what will happen to you after I log out?"

"... this unit lacks the answer to that question, Master." They lowere their head slightly, as if it were their fault to not know. Haaa, it's not really their fault, and you doubt anything important will happen.

"Don't worry about it. We'll find out by the next time I log in. See you later then, Verde." You say as you open the menu mentally and click on the log out option.

[ARE YOU SURE YOU WANT TO LOG OUT? Y/N]

"This unit will be awaiting your return, Master." They bow a bit as they say so. And with that, you click on yes.

Everything goes black, for less than a second you're floating in nothingness. Then your senses are returnd to you slowly as you feel the tight helmet on your head and the chair on your butt.

[...!] 'Ah... hey there Lupin... sorry, I guess I worried you a bit.' [...!!] 'I'm fine! I'm fine! See, I was simply dreaming a bit on this thing.' [...] 'I'm sorry, didn't want to worry you that way. But I'm fine, not going anywhere.' [...] '... what do you mean like Mapple?' [...] 'What!? Okay gotta take this thing off, can't believe she left already!' [...] 'What do you mean with...'

And then you understood. As soon as you took the helmet off you understood something was going on. The whole place felt... off, weird. Not to mention it looked as if it was a negative of a photo. The TV was left on, but only static was showing on the screen. No sign of Mapple whatsoever. Looking at your hands, they were normal. Your everyday human hands. So, this wasn't another world, or rather one of those Wonderlands, still no idea why that name.

The whole place was silent, way too much. Going out of the break room you saw no one.

"Hello?" You called out. "Leona? Mapple? Anyone?" You checked the cafe quicly but found nothing. The place was empty. Going outside showed that it wasn't just the cafe that was weird.

The whole place was like that. Negative colors, static coming out of any TV or radio, the sky was the weirdest though. It seemed as if waves of bright colors were clashing against each other.

"Hellooo? Anyone thereee?" No answer. Darn this was starting to get creepy.

[...?] 'I'm fine, just... didn't expect this. What happened?' [...] 'Everything just changed?' [...] 'And then Mapple looked shocked and bolted out just like that... that's weird.' [...?] 'I don't know... she may be more that she looks like. I doubt any normal kid reaction would be to run away. She may know something or maybe was scared. Gotta find her first.' [...] 'Yeah... she's not a bad person, doesn't feels that way. Let's focus on finding here okay?' [...!]

With that, you and Lupin in your shadow sent off to search for Mapple. She must be somewhere around... and she may know a thing or two.

---

After going around for a block or two, you found out that you can't get out of the mall. You can't even reach the entrance! The thing on the sky seems to be a dome of sorts and no matter what you tried, nothing came out of it. Seems like the centre was to the cafe, given how soon you found out the wall after you went south of it. Meanwhile in terms of people there's not a single soul in sight. Doors don't seem locked, but everywhere is empty. TVs just givve static when turned on, your phone does the same when you try to call any number. No internet access either.

[... ] 'It's okay, we'll find a way out.' If worst come to it, you may be able to leave for this place's Wonderland through your shop. The mirror should still be there, hopefully whatever happened here hasn't to do with it.

[...!] Huh?

You look over where Lupin told you to and, to your surprise, you see the silouhette of a young girl.

Inediately you run towards her, hoping that it is the girl you're searching for.

"Mapple!!"

Moving through the alleys between shops you reach the figure and... this... what is this?

Sitting on the floor is a white haired girl with a black dress. She's looking at you with wide red eyes full of fear. Along her face and hands you see scars, as if she had been hit or cut all over. Just, what is this!?

[...!] 'I know... just... what is going on...'

Slowly, you crouch down to be on eye level with the girl. In the most soft voice you can muster, you adress her and try to calm her down.

"Hey." She flinch. You gulp and stop your thoughts before they start. "I'm Angel, are you okay?" No response. "Do you know where you are? Are you alone?"

The girl does nothing but stare at you. You curse inwards and try to think of what to do. Thinking while kneeling isn't a good idea so you sit down in a crosslegged position, some space away from the girl to give her some space. You close your eyes, put your hand on your mouth and think. There are two, no three big problems here.

One, this girl. You need to calm her down.

Two, Mapple may be missing in here. You gotta find her.

Three, this dome thing. You're sure it isn't good, and you need to get out sooner rather than later. Not before helping this girl though.

"...el?"​

Huh?

You open your eyes and see the girl flinch a bit before edging closer.

"... are... are you an angel mister?"​

What. Why would she, oh crud you introduced yourself with the wrong name!!

"Are... are you here to take me away...?"​

That simple sentence freeze you n place. Why does she-

"T-the monster l-left after the other g-girl... I..."​

"I... am... am I dead?"

Slowly, you move over the girl and give her a soft but firm hug.

"No, you're not dead. You're just hurt. I'll make sure you stay safe okay? I won't let any monster hurt you."

The little girl froze at first but after you finished speaking, with trembling hands she grabbed you by your clothes and started bawling her eyes out.

"I... I was so scared...! It hurt so much and I screamed but no one came and...!"

"I know, you're fine now."

The picture is a bit more clear now. This defintely isn't normal. There's a monster of some sorts going around. You won't doubt that. Not after what you've seen, both today and in the Wonderlands.

There's a problem though. If your guess is right, then the other girl she mentioned is Mapple. She's indeed here too, and is in danger. You don't know what you can do, but, you gotta do something. Get both her and this girl to safety.

[... ]

Lupin wants to help this girl too. They have been using your shadow to try and give the girl a small hug of sorts, though they can't do much more than move a few small tendrils to keep her close to you. You'll ask later how they're doing that, and what else they can do.

"Mister..." The girl seems more calm now, although still shaky, and from the looks of it the scars on her still hurt. Strange, that she got injured but there are no wounds.

"Yeah?" You smile a small smile and help her stand up. Her legs shake a bit but she seems to be able to stand with your help. She seems young, around 10-11 you'd say.

"... Are you my guardian angel?"

Ehhh... what?

How do you respond to this?
[] Write in.

Afterwards you'll have to go and look for Mapple. You won't leave this girl alone though, and she seems to stil be hurting but otherwise can stand so...

How are you gonna approach this?
[] Carry her.
[] Walk with her.

---

Here's an update. I had a lot of trouble writing through that last bit but it is done. Fun fact: I wrote Angel instead of Michael out of habit and instead of changing it I decided to go with it. Fun mistake.

Anyways yeah, that's the update. Hope it was an okay one. Also Merry Christmas everyone! Or Happy Holidays if you celebrate anything else! Have a good day and a good week!