”EEE I wasn’t expecting someone in here!” Seeing a woman jump and hide at Rory’s sudden entrance, the man couldn’t help but do the same! He jumped back, glanced around for something to hide behind, but ultimately just ended up standing there awkwardly.

After seeing that the woman wasn’t some kind of weird monster (hopefully), the man let his shoulders drop as he relaxed. ”Phewww. Panya, hi; I’m Rory.” He waved his hand in the form of an introduction, still too shaken to do anything more. As the woman continued to talk, however, his mood instantly skyrocketed.

”Oh, you're also trying to get inside? Hehehe, I think you and I had much the same idea then!” He paused for a moment, slapping himself in the face. ”Oh, actually, yeah OF COURSE that’s why there’d be someone else in here, that makes so much sense.” The embarrassing realization aside, Rory glanced up high to the Air Vent that Panya was pointing at.

”Ohhh, I’m glad we met, Panya! I think you’re onto something there…” He made his way over to the vent, trying unsuccessfully to jump up towards it a couple times, but ultimately all Rory managed to do was belly flop into the wall. ”Y-yeah, uh, that’s up there alright.”

Rory stepped back, rubbing his fingers on his chin as he thought. They might be able to lift each other up there, but uh… well, despite his recent level ups, his [PWR] was still tied as his weakest stat. ”What’s your [PWR] stat at? I’m, um, only at E Rank…. Lifting someone might be out of the question for me, oops.”

He stared up at the vent for a few moments, before an idea hit him. With a snap of his fingers, Rory reached a hand out to open his inventory. ”Wait! I think I have something for this actually! SUMMON, ACTIVATE!” The “summon” was just a simple removal of his new Mini Cooper Convertible that he recently bought in Paris. He technically couldn’t drive it, but that didn’t mean it was useless here. Instead of summoning it out on the road, Rory took his Cooper out right up against the wall under the Air vent.

”There we go! It is still kinda small–don’t laugh–but with the added height, I’m sure I could boost you up much easier. Wanna give it a go?”

panya

”Yo! Nice car!” Rory had the roof his of his Piss-Green Mini Cooper Convertible down, slowly rolling through the street of the [Urban Start]. This place was an absolute PARADISE. He stood, letting his I <3 Paris t-shirt bellow in the wind as he waved at a parade coming through. Car after Car, Mini Cooper after Mini Cooper, i <3 Paris shirt after I <3 Paris shirt- it seemed like there was a sudden influx to this zone thanks to all the people winning cars in Paris recently. Boy, did Rory love seeing such a thing.

Even better than the cars themselves, he knew what the influx actually meant. Sitting back down, he pressed the “Roof Up” button next to his [Start Button] that he had gotten and used on the car when he first entered the Zone. It was frustrating that the car didn’t work elsewhere, but hey- at least he could use it somewhere. The roof took an entire one minute to reform itself, during which time Rory fiddled with the radio. Every channel sounded like something out of a racing game… which actually made sense now that he thought about it.



With the hood raised and the windows up, Rory finally looked over to his passenger. ”Okay okay okay I know I dragged you along like super suddenly but I mean, hey… just look at this. Isn’t it gorgeous?” He waved his hand toward the countless identical people and cars. ”You see what I see you don’t you? hehehehe” A wicked grin crossed the man’s face as he let his true intentions here known.

”Look, there’s our chance!” Pointing ahead to a pop-up area for an upcoming race, Rory put his car in gear to join. ”This is what we were waiting for!” A wicked grin still on his face, he clutched his steering wheel as they entered the zone. ”So here’s the plan: all these people in this mini coopers like mine… they JUST got their cars, right? YOU KNOW WHAT THAT MEANS…”

”HAHAHA! THEY DON’T KNOW WHAT THEY’RE DOING YET! I SMELL EASY PICKIN’S!”

A queue bar had appeared once they entered the area, but it was able to fill almost instantly, causing a new pop-up to appear.

[Race Beginning! Randomizing Track…]

”All right, here we go!” As a screen appeared scrolling quickly through a series of tracks, it began to slow before landing on one called [Dragonspine Pass]. ”What’s your SPD at, by the way? Mine’s still E, so uh, hehe, maybe you should take the wheel here..?”

Noelle

CAR STATS: Petite Cooper

[PWR: E (D Collision)] [DEF: C] [SPD: C] [MAG: A] [VIT: E] [WIL: B] [LUK: 0]
[Size: Medium][Damage Taken: None] [Refuel TImer: 1 Post]




[/b]

With the monsters getting closer and closer, Rory hopped down and began to run towards the glowing light as it came within sprinting distance. "NONONONONONO AHHHHAHAHHHHH!" He closed his eyes, pressed his head forward, and dashed straight through as tears flew off his face.

The light was blindingly bright, and lasted a moment before finally fading with a sound similar to an elevator chime. Slowly, the man blinked his eyes open, only to see... Wh-what the hell?!" All around him, people were walking around. Smiling laughing, joking around. Some had modern day clothes like him, while others were wearing fancy armor and fantasy weapons similar to what Tali had used. Speaking of... "Nyke? Tali?" Looking around him frantically, The two friends were nowhere to be seen. They'd gone through a literal hell together, but now, even being in the middle of a bustling town, he was alone. A sudden pop-up drew his attention.

[Tutorial Complete! Congratulations on not dying! We'll see how long it lasts]

So they did beat it after all... he let out a sigh of relief; at least this wasn't another layer of hell to travel through. It looked like people were able to relax here, at least, so maybe the world wasn't in shambles entirely. This place might be to hang out at for a while... or maybe forever, if it meant not dying. But where exactly was here..?

[Zone Transfer Complete: Welcome to the Hub! DON'T STAY IN THE SAFE ZONE TOO LONG THATS BORING GO RISK YOUR LIFE SOME MORE!]

"Wh-what?! How did you know what I was thinking?! Who in the hell keeps sending these anyway?! I don't want to go to a new Zone!"

[Voice Command: "Go to a New Zone" recognized. Randomizing Warp...]

"WHAT? YOU KNOW DAMN WELL THAT'S NOT WHAT I SAID!!! STOP! CANCEL! DON'T GO!"

[Voice Command: "Go" recognized. Expediating Warp... Have a nice trip! ]

"NOOOOO YOU PIECE OF SHI-" Before he could even finish his sentence, another flash of light surrounded the man and teleported him away.

[EXIT]

Rory had made his way back into Unison Central, and found himself perusing shops once again. He was being decently stingy with his money recently, but… well, you needed to spend money to make money sometimes! Though he didn’t really like the idea of it, he did have an idea to at least ease the burden.

Finding his way back to a shop he had visited before, “Kitty’s Novel Idea”, Rory already knew where he was heading when he entered. At least, he thought he would. The shop seemed to have undergone some renovations since the last time, and now included a pretty spooky witch’ Cauldron of all things. ”Huh. Nothin’ wrong with diversifying I suppose.”

While Kitty’s Shop was a quaint little place, he was actually here for something else. Making his way back to the Mini-Market where he had (embarrassingly) bought some scraps, Rory looked for the little girl in charge.

”If I’m remembering right… you said you had some good deals, yeah? Really good? Like REALLLY really good? Like, how good are we talkin’ here?” He listened to whatever the girl had to say, trying to picture it in his head as she spoke. Some kind of repeat-customer deal… so in theory, the more he spent here, the more value he was getting! …Right?

He held his hand to his chin in thought before finally slamming his hand down on the table with a wad of cash. ”I’LLL TAKE IT!” He stood in silence for a moment before realizing he hadn’t selected anything to buy yet. ”Oh. Ahem, right. Uhh….” Looking at the various wares, they.. Actually seemed pretty on brand for a child’s shop. Was this really somewhere he should be shopping? Random scrap, broken boxes and gears, toys–what would he parents think?!--but of it all, there was at least something that had seriously caught Rory’s eye.

Picking up the bright Red stamp, it too looked like just another random object at a glance. Thanks to this strange world they lived in with wild effects, however, it was more than just that. ”This actually, yeah! I’ll take it!” Rory felt his soul shrivel up a little bit from the price, but with the added bonus going towards his future shopping at the Mini-Market… it had to be worth it!

…R-right?

Jeanne-Marie

PURCHASING [Overdraft Notice] for 135 Points!

”B-Both of us?!” With the state both Tali and himself were here, Rory was thankfully for Nyke’s offer. But still, could he really carry them both?” ”Are you sure? We-”

A sudden screech and cracking of woods from behind them caused Rory to jump and turn to see what had happened. The Ogre was still trying to push through into their thicker forest, but the bird woman had actually flown down near it. It seemed as though the two had gotten into a fight, with the Ogre smashing a tree while swinging wildly at the bird, and the woman slashing the Boss’ torso with her sharp talons. Rory was about to cheer that the monsters were finally fighting each other and not chasing them… when the bird woman threw a slew of feathers at the Ogre.

The Ogre stopped fighting against her after that, and while it might not have been obvious to most…. Rory’s Passive, [Scoping the Odds], let him see the [Charmed] Debuff that now afflicted the Boss. ”Uhoh. She charmed him… UH OH!” Now that she had the massive Ogre under her command, the Strix used him to haphazardly snap the trees that blocked her sight of the party. The bird herself was now RUNNING at them along the ground, comedically moving like a chicken–a massive chicken with bloody talons and fangs!

”On second thought, time to RUNNN NYKE!” Since the man had offered, Rory tried to hop up on his back. He didn’t want to hog, of course, and tried to make the space as accommodating as possible for Tali. While they ran, he activated the shield from his Coin Flipper once more, this time directly behind them to prevent the Strix from throwing any of those nasty feathers at any of them.




Try Hard dantalion

”GYAHAHAHAH! TAKE THAT! AND THIS! AND THAT TOO! HAVE SOME MORE!” Rory had been pressing the little button on his wooden tower over and over, causing many little D6’s to shoot out and slam into a zombie’s face. It was a cartoonish creature, one that moved slowly enough to not be a threat. It must’ve only been level one, making it the perfect test target for his new “weapon”. It wasn’t the strongest thing, sure, but at least it served its purpose.

Suddenly, Rory felt a chill up his back. His eyes widened as an aura of something nearby got his attention. Putting his tower away, Rory held a hand up to the monster. ”Alright, thanks Frank, but something else needs me now…” The zombie shrugged and burrowed back into the ground as Rory turned with his nose in the air, sniffing his way through the mists. It wasn’t the rust of machinery nor rot of the undead that caught his attention, no. This scent was…

”I SMELL AN OPPORTUNITY FOR TREASURE!”

Following his intuition through the mists, Rory found himself on the other side of an old wall. There was a boarded up door here, and he could hear some faint sounds coming from within. His wicked grin covered his face as he kicked in the door and burst into the room.

”ALRIGHT! COME TO PA- oh.” Instead of a chest, pile of loot, or group of monsters, Rory found… ”Hi Noelle! Funny seeing you here!” The white-haired, umbrella toting woman was someone who Rory had met a few times already, and it was always nice to see a familiar face in this world. He was disappointed that he didn’t find any treasure, but he knew that by working together with a group, he could find something much more valuable than he ever could alone.

”Ooh, going on a little expedition, huh? Don’t mind if I tag along, I’m sure!” Sending a party invite to the woman, Rory’s excitement was starting to build again at the thoughts of what they might find hidden in the mists.

Noelle