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[break][break]Dropping down to the floor on one knee, Hilbrand looked around as he had seemingly been teleported elsewhere. Mere moments ago, he had been at home, aiming to add the finishing touches to his Boeuf Bourguignon. Today was one of those days where he would dine with his parents, a monthly evening they had planned in ever since he had left his parental house to go life on his own. Given how he still brought over laundry every once in a while so he wouldn’t have to do it himself, going all out on cooking an expensive meal for the three of them was the least he could do. But now he was here, standing in the center of what seemed like a massive sandbox. As a European man, the desert was not a place he had ever found himself in before, nor was it a place he had written down on his bucket list as a “place to visit before I die” type of thing.

[break][break]Feeling a buzzing in his pocket, the young man took out his phone, spotting a message that simply explained to him how he had been taken into the “Desert” and that his goal was to find an oasis. Not quite sure why he would be put here of all places, the statement regarding how failure would result in his death did not sound altogether appealing in the slightest. He wasn’t a fan of heat, as anything above 24 degrees Celsius felt like being stuck in an oven, with the addition of all that coarse sand just making things that much worse. Already feeling how it managed to get into his shoes and between his toes, a near instant urge to cuss out the next person he saw momentarily washed over him. Funnily enough, that was also the moment when he actually saw that he wasn’t alone in this hellscape.

[break][break]“Hey you, are you some kind of program or are you an actual person?”

[break][break]Opening his right hand, his trusty Louisville Slugger appeared as his fingers closed around the handle. With it, he had managed to hit plenty of balls out of the park, as well as scared the living daylights out of several hoodlums around his home town. Surely in this weird and otherworldly setting, his weapon of choice was likely going to be capable of a whole lot more. Putting his bat up and resting it on top of his shoulders, Hilbrand looked just about ready to get to the swinging part at any given time, should this individual turn out to be a threat to his being.

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[break][break]“Hmm… fair enough. And yeah, I guess I did. I didn’t pay a whole lot of attention to it since I was busy cooking at the time, though I vaguely remember the term “Bruiser”, as well as my trusty bat here.”

[break][break]Figuring this person was likely an ‘actual’ person such as himself, there was really no way of knowing whether this was some kind of elaborate NPC or not, as them having seen their birth certificate and remembering their past life did not mean anything to him personally. That said, he figured the same could be said about him, as he had those same memories, but had no recollection of ever having been in a desert before. All in all, he did feel a lot stronger than he did before, as well as more resilient and less easily tired, which was a strange sensation. It was like experiencing several years-worth of exercise, batting-practice and eating responsibly all at once. And honestly, it felt really good.

[break][break]“Ornithologist? What does that mean? That you have intricate knowledge on which birds might be found within the area? Did that come with goggles for spotting?”

[break][break]Asking in a joking manner, he knew that choosing his own ‘class’ had come along with a rather useful weapon, the Louisville Slugger. And not just any slugger, but the very same that had once been used by Babe Ruth himself. Normally within a game setting, named objects were often worth more than your regular equipment, which meant that he had likely done something right when coming here against his will. Or at least, that was what he wanted to be true in his own head canon. At the same time, it made him wonder how something like having knowledge of birds would end up being useful in a world such as this. As he pondered on the matter for a bit, he felt a shift in the sand that forced him to shift his own footing, followed by the girl calling out to him.

[break][break]When the warning came, the fact that his slugger was already out meant that there was no time wasted in responding to the threat. Turning his body as his left hand moved towards the bat, pushed against his right hand as both held onto the handle, Hilbrand swung the piece of wood against the head of the strange worm. With a loud thump, the bat redirected the worm as it got smacked against the sand. As if in a focused state of fury, the black-haired man brought his bat up and slammed it down on top of the monster several times, making sure that whatever breath was left inside of it got pushed out with the last beat of its heart. With green goo still stuck to his bat, Hilbrand tried using sand to get it off, though it just ended up making a bigger mess.

[break][break]“What in the bloody fuck was that?”

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[break][break]Believing the girl to be right about how they had overstayed their welcome, part of him wouldn’t even mind batting some more of those things to death. While he truly enjoyed animals, these things weren’t animals, they were monsters, and not the kind of monsters that just wanted to be left alone. These were clearly the kind of monsters that wanted to feed, not caring whether they fed on an animal, another monster or a person. And since he hadn’t been plopped into a desert just to become worm food, it was time for them to get moving towards whatever damned oasis they were supposed to find.

[break][break]Thinking for two seconds as he looked around, only to find that the desert stretched out in all directions without a damned thing in sight aside from more sand, Hilbrand sighed deeply before he took a deep breath and began marching into a random direction. If finding this oasis was as important as it was made to be, they would likely have been given the means to figure out the general direction to head into. But as he had been given no such knowledge, he just ventured into the direction the worm attack had come from. Come to think of it, maybe that meant that the direction he had picked was perhaps not as random as he initially thought it would be.

[break][break]For as he pondered on the matter, even these worms would need some sort of moisture to survive, as every living being did. Believing they might do so in the deep underground reaches of the desert where the moisture would not outright evaporate due to the burning sun, it stood to reason that the place where the most moisture would be was going to be near where there was still water on the surface too. Going off of that idea, it would make sense that he was going to be going into the right direction. Striding through the hot sand, Hilbrand wondered about two things in particular. The first being the manner in which these worms hunted, and whether they could sense them as they moved above. The other being one he would not need to ponder on long, as he could just ask.

[break][break]“When you say that you can capture birds and stuff, does that mean you could also somehow summon them like I can summon my bat? Would be pretty useful right now to have eyes in the sky to help figure out where to go.”

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[break][break]As it were, it turned out that there was still some logic behind the madness, as the girl with the bird related skill did in fact have some ability to call forth such a scout. Whether it should have or not, the fact that the bird she managed to bring out seemed to also be capable of communicating with its summoner likely made it that much more useful to her. And him in this case. Scouting out the area and letting them know which way they needed to head into, Hilbrand didn’t mind acting as vanguard, as his ability to use a baseball bat meant he was at the very least good for that much. Scouting however had never truly been his thing, so leaving that in the hands of another worked out in everyone’s favor.

[break][break]Continuing to make their way towards this oasis, it bothered him that this “something” that was going about claiming the oasis as its own while killing any who would dare set foot in it, could not be described in a better manner. Was it something like the worm that he had just killed, was it the big daddy or mommy of said worms, or was it an altogether different kind of threat. All in all, “some creature” was not exactly the kind of description that would be all that helpful to either of them, aside from the initial warning that they could not just wander straight into the place and call it a day. And that was in and of itself quite helpful, so it wasn’t all bad at least.

[break][break]“Once the fighting starts, what kind of support will you be able to offer if it turns out to in fact be a larger version of that worm, or something worse.”

[break][break]Asking the only question that mattered right now, Hilbrand felt he needed to get right to the point as the oasis itself drew near. If things were to pop off the moment they got any closer than they did, him and his slugger were going to get to swinging, that much was for certain. His body wouldn’t be added to those that perished in the oasis, though any kind of aid would be helpful at this point.

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Aliyah breathed out a sigh of relief as the punk guy landed another hit on the plant cat, knocking it into the air with a yowl before it was sent crashing back down to the earth from a tackle from Orion.[break][break]

"This is almost over." she thought as Orion banked back over to her side. The cat slowly rose to its feet, broken thorns littering the ground around it and blood leaking from its various wounds. "Just stay down or run away. There's no point in throwing your life away." she muttered.[break][break]

Surprisingly, it actually does just that. Taking off toward the east as fast as it could. "...wasn't expecting that" [break][break]
Just before her companion could deal a final blow to the feline, a sudden storm blew in; bringing with it a cloud of sand that quickly engulfed all four of them.[break][break]

Aliyah immediately shut her eyes and hunkered down low on the ground, trying to avoid getting sand in her eyes while calling out to her surroundings.[break][break]

"Orion! Where are you!?"

She attempted to listen out for his familiar squawk but couldn't hear anything but the howl of the wind and for some reason what seemed to be thunder and lightning though there hadn't been any clouds in the sky.[break][break]

When the dust and debris settled, Aliyah looked around and noted that she seemed to be alone; no sign of Orion, her partner, the cat nor what caused the storm. Another closer glance let Aliyah see some steam rising up from behind a cropping of rocks and a quick glance revealed it to be the body of the cat being feasted upon by a strange bird species she couldn't identify. [break][break]

Upon being noticed, Aliyah managed to hear it say something about food thieves before it began to posture in a threatening manner, sparks dancing along its feathers.

"I'm not a food thief. I'm just trying to find my friend and get out of here. Can you help me?" she asked nervously, keeping her hands visible and non-threatening.[break][break]

"Well shit. she muttered while dodging out of the way of a much bigger lightning bolt as her opponent rose into the air, the sparks now visibly jumping across its body as it glared angrily at her.[break][break]

Deciever!" "Aliyah, look out!"[break][break]

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The moment that she saw the hawk rise into the air, lightning dancing across its feathers, Aliyah had already lept to the side, narrowly avoiding the cone of static wind that destroyed the hem of her jacket.

"Holy shit...I could have fucking died." she muttered under her breath, as she kept her gaze locked on the hawk. In the previous battle against the cat, Aliyah hadn't really been all that concerned. But now with the very real threat of death staring at her, she was beginning to take things more seriously while also realizing that she was perhaps in over her head.[break][break]

"This thing is strong. I think the only hope that I have is my ability allowing me to capture it but it doesn't tell me how that'd work. Do I have to touch it? Is it just an automatic thing? Like what am I supposed to do!?" she mentally cried as she watched the hawk climb higher into the air.[break][break]

"I don't think he's going to just back off. What do you want to do Aliyah?" Orion asked her, not breaking eye contact as the hawk reached its peak and began to gather lighting to itself. "Not much of a choice, we'll have to fight. See if you can hold it down and I'll see if I can tame him." Aliyah stated before activating her tengu skill.[break][break]

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Immediately Aliyah felt a pressure slamming into her mind; one full of anger, rage and had a static feel to it. "3 guesses as to who that is." she thought while gritting her teeth. "If you think you'll out stubborn me, then you've got another thing coming!"[break][break]

Locked in a mental battle with the hawk for what felt like minutes, Aliyah eventually pulled out ahead, succeeding in subjugating the hawk and adding it to her roost. Ignoring the congratulations screen, she instead turned to Orion and check on him before turning back to the hawk. "Have you calmed down now? And what is your name?"[break][break]

"...yeah. Sorry about that. Thought you were trying to steal my meal. I tend to get a bit hotheaded" the hawk stated, rubbing the back of his head with his wing before tilting its head. "What's a name?"[break][break]

"A name is sort of like a title that you are given that sets you as an individual amongst your species. My name is Aliyah and this is Orion." she said, pointing a thumb at the tengu man looming over her shoulder, glaring at the hawk.[break][break]

"Say do you happen to know where the oasis is in this place? It's basically a big amount of water." she decided to ask, figuring it wouldn't hurt. "Huh? Oh yeah, I know where that is. I can take you there." the hawk stated, flying over to the dead cat and picking it up in his talons before flying off to the west.[break][break]

Thankfully they didn't run into any more creatures as they made their way to the oasis and over the few hours it took to get there, Aliyah managed to come up with a name that the hawk agreed to; that being Aquila for the eagle that had carried Jupiter's thunderbolts in mythology. She had even got him to agree to come with her, based on the promise of free food.[break][break]

"Congratulations on completing your tutorial!"

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