Yugioh Card Maker: The Game - Chapter 4 - Boss Fight

[iCherry]

You all lost it. And with that title, I'm going to be using that joke as much as possible.
First, let me explain. Black and I were having a convo one night, and we had looked at an RP. Stuff happened, and eventually, I got this hilarious idea about making YCM a MMORPG. Mind you, this is mainly for laughs. Most of it shouldn't be taken seriously. Like the Prologue for example.
I would post a chapter, but... there's a complete lack of characters to use.
That's where you come in. YCM, put yourselves in the game.

Oh, and pardon the bad quality of most of this. As I've mentioned in previous fics I've tried to make and keep alive... I'm not a good writer, and I'm extremely lazy.

[center][spoiler=Prologue]In the beginning, there was a dude. A dude who played a Children's Card Game called Yu-Gi-Oh! No one knows the true reasons for these actions. Everyone assumed that, maybe this guy thought: "It'd be so awesome if people could make their own Custom Cards without downloading some program". Thus, under the username YCMaker, he made Yu-Gi-Oh Card Maker. Some site for Yu-Gi-Oh lovers to come together. Oddly enough, half of the site doesn't even like or play the game. Even so, over the years, it grew and grew until it was like, one of the best sites ever. Full of morons, trolls, and mods everyone liked or wanted to stab repeatedly.

BUT THEN

For some totally unexplained reason, YCMaker had a brilliant idea. So brilliant, that it would likely force everyone's minds to explode. He made a Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game out of a Yugioh Website. Best part is, the game isn't even some online dueling program. That's right, no defeating people with Card Games. You can either punch, stab, blow up, or kill someone any other way you can think of. Of course, most people on the Forum spammed "Do Want" at this idea. So, YCMaker somehow gathered up a whole lot of cash and developed some kind of Virtual Reality gear for everyone to play as if they were literally IN the game.

Now everyone goes to spend like, two hundred dollars for all of the equipment.

Have fun.
Because you may never go back to the Real World again.[/spoiler][/center]
[center][spoiler=Chapter 1][/center][center]1
Access Granted[/center]

Around the world, the Virtual Reality Gear had been released to the public. Everyone from the Yugioh Card Maker Forums were excited to try this out, because this was going to be better than playing stuff like Yugioh Virtual Desktop or Duel Monsters Genesis. Since it was Summer, players could spend [i]all[/i] of their time on this thing. When they have to go back to school, it's likely that several people will drop out because of their obsession over the game. ... Wait, would people actually do something that stupid?

Anyway, during the day of the game's release, three siblings were getting ready to go to store and buy their copies of the game and the equipment needed to play. Well... two of them were, both of the sisters in the house. The brother, however, was laying in his bed and still sleeping. Suddenly, to disrupt his peace, the oldest sibling barged in. She almost used enough force to kick the door down...

"Minato! Get up!"

"No... just buy my stuff for me and bring it back..." the boy responded to her shouting, turning over to the opposite side of his bed. He groaned as he heard her walking towards him.

"We're not getting it for you if you don't come. Get up, you need fresh air anyway. Take in the sunshine, get active!"

"Sunshine is overrated." he spoke his opinion, not wanting to leave the house. His sister pulled him up by his arm, now irritated.

"Get. Dressed." she commanded, now prepared to use force to get him dressed if necessary. Minato knew to do what he's told when she starts giving out orders.

"Alright, alright!" and with that, he had no choice but to go to the store with his relatives. Putting on a blue and white t-shirt with blue jeans, he grabbed an iPod and put some headphones on. He figured that he wouldn't have to listen to his sisters when they're talking. When he's listening to music on it, it's as if the rest of the world has decided to shut up. Which was basically Heaven for him. Minato moved his hand through his blue hair to scratch his head. [i]Why do I have to go outside...[/i]

Getting up and coming out of the room, he first made his way to the kitchen. "Hey, no one ate the last bit of cereal, did they?" the boy shouted out of the door.

"I told you I did, remember?" a female voice responded.

"Remember? I listen to what you say?" Minato asked himself.

"I heard that!"

"How?!"

"Don't start you two, just hurry up." the older sister broke up the yelling before insults started flying back and forth in the house. Mainly, Minato would usually argue with the youngest sibling, his little sister, [i]alot[/i]. The eldest sibling wanted nothing but peace between them. Sadly... it wasn't going to happen. While he was going through the fridge, a girl with brown hair, a yellow sweater, and a brown skirt. Her brother closed the fridge and turned around with a carton of juice.

"...You're not drinking the last of that, are you?"

"So what if I am?"

"No, let me have it."

"Hell no, I'm thirsty."

"Give me the juice!"

"No!" both of them started fighting over it, attempting to pull it away from the other person. Hearing this, a woman with a white top that has a small tie and a skirt with black leggings came running.

"Damn it, both of you cut it out!"

"She started it!"

"He wasn't gonna share the last bit of juice!"

"I don't have to share! You can wait until we buy more!"

"I'm thirsty [i]now[/i]!" the other girl yelled as they continued. The oldest sister moaned as she walked over to the bickering siblings and took the carton.

"Sis!"

"No one gets it. We'll buy more, then someone can have the rest."

"Nice work, Jaelin. Ya know, with breaking up a fight that'll start again later today, regardless of your solution." Minato praised with sarcasm, knowing that nothing will change. However, she wasn't in the mood for his usual routine of jokes, so she shot a piercing glare that could strike fear into even the bravest of men. Seeing this, he took several steps backwards. "I'll shut up."

"Okay, other than this... you both look ready."

"We are! Come on, let's go!" the young girl replied, quickly making her way to the front door.

"It's just a game. Christ." her brother said, wishing that his little sister would just sit down and wait.

"Just let Casey be excited."

"If I'm nowhere near her, she can be a giddy schoolgirl all the time for all I care."

[i]Sometime later...[/i]

The three got to the store and saw a large stock of a boxes with the name: "Yugioh Card Maker: Virtual Reality Gear" on them. It had a picture of a futuristic-designed visor and several other machines needed to play the game.

"Really? That's the name? These guys are so smart." Minato gave another one of his sarcastic remarks. Jaelin somewhat agreed with him, and Casey was just excitedly examining a box. "Yes Casey. It IS cardboard."

"Shut up." she responded as the boy smirked, feeling satisfied with calling her excitement stupid and unnecessary. Then, they all saw the price tag. Two Hundred Dollars, exactly.

"We have six hundred bucks?" the brother asked his older sister, who was counting up some money.

"I have enough for my own and half of one of your's."

"Feh, pay for Casey's then. I can pay for my own in full."

"...I only have fifty." the youngest sibling informed them both.

"...Got an extra fifty, Minato?"

"Nope."

"Stop lying."

"...Fine, sis. I'll pay for the rest of her's."

-

[i]With that, we got the crappy game my little sister was so jumpy about. The beginning was pretty easy, seeing as the game wouldn't let you die until the end of the first month, so everyone can have a decent start without getting PK'd. Seeing as how I don't go outside as much as both of my sisters, I leveled up pretty fast on my own. Everyone registered their guilds and whatnot, so basically, it was like the Forums, only it's now a Video Game. Oddly enough, even though this has no reason at all, it was turning out to be some fun.[/i]

-

[i]A month after the game's release...[/i]

A Player stood within a small room that had several screens, for watching others on a battlefield that was shown. Other was a leaderboard with a long list of usernames. The person standing wore ragged black clothes and a hairstyle that matched the look of his attire. He went by "Zeonark". Suddenly, he heard something like a ringtone.

"...Who Emailed me?" he asked, as a monitor appeared before him. A message titled "Where are you?" was new. "Oh God, Cherry." the player dreaded, not really wanting to respond or see her at all. So, he replied: "Some place".

"Match involving 'Zeonark' will begin shortly." a computer voice informed him, showing a screen with his picture on it.

"Good, now I don't have reply when she-" Zeonark was cut off by the same beeping from before. "Screw it, no time, aw well." he quickly told himself, ignoring the sent message and stepping onto a device on the floor. His body became nothing but a data code as he was teleported to a different location. The player appeared on an arena underneath a beautiful sunset, and around the battleground was a very loud audience surrounding it. [i]Voice chat shouldn't be allowed for the audience. No one knows how to be quiet...[/i]

"Are you ready for the first wave?" an NPC asked Zeonark while floating around on a platform.

"Nah, but just bring 'em anyway." he replied, trying to be his usual snarky self. Fulfilling the player's wish, several other player characters appeared before him on the stage. Many of them were equipped with ridiculous amounts of armor and gigantic weapons. Some had little to no armor, and smaller weapons to fight with. Zeonark was concerned with who looked more pathetic. People who needed heavy equipment to fight, or those who barely had anything at all.

"Ready to hurt, little man?" one of the bigger ones asked him, with a huge axe in hand.

"Not really. I'll be getting through the day unharmed, thanks."

"Youse think youse a wise guy, eh?"

"Well, I know for a [i]fact[/i] that I'm smarter than you."

"Now you've done it!" the big one shouted charging at him first. He attempted to slice the PC's head in half, but Zeonark simply stepped to the side and let him miss. Then, reached his hand out behind the player's back. A black long sword formed out of dark energy, and from where his hand was, it's arrival stabbed through his attacker. Lifting his sword up through him, a small black wave of energy was shot out that slashed his arm off. As a player within the first wave, that's all it took to deplete his life gauge. With that, his body became a large data code, and then disappeared.

"Seeing as you're all players that decided to volunteer for the first wave, your stats have been set pretty low. Even so, a regular player would have trouble against every single one of you. ...However, ever since the game's release, I've been grinding almost non-stop. So, this is child's play." Zeonark explained to his foes, letting them know that they have absolutely no chance of defeating him. Even knowing this, their orders were to attack a player that entered a challenge held in the arena. As such, they all charged, regardless of what he said. Sighing, he began one-handedly swinging his blade left and right, hitting the smaller players in front. When a larger one got behind him and tried to attack with a broadsword, Zeonark disappeared, and with this miss, the guy hit some of his allies, knocking them out of the fight with his brutal strength. The player reappeared on the other side of the arena.

"This is why I say the big ones are always the dumbest. No such thing as being huge AND smart."

"You little..."

"Funny how you can't hit a 'little man', like your friend described me as."

"I'll send you pack-" Zeonark interrupted him by flinging another black wave of energy out, defeating quite a bit of the first wave in one attack. Hours went by as one could only hear insults returned to an offender and cries of many others whom fell to this player's sword. The goal was to survive three waves, but he basically ripped through all of them without breaking a sweat. This was due to his overleveling, as he stated before.

"Next." he said with all of them defeated. The announcing NPC descended next to him to explain the last part of this challenge.

"Congratulations on surviving all three waves!"

[i]Surviving? I didn't even-[/i]

"Now, you will be facing another Player Character who has done as well as you have."

"Right, who's the one guy who'd get through three waves of morons without being touched at all?" the player sarcastically asked, calling all of those players in the waves incredibly weak. Really, he expected everyone there with [i]some[/i] skills to do as well as he did. Eventually, after some waiting, a player did appear before him. The newcomer was a male designed blonde hair and purple glasses, along with a bartender suit.

[center][i]Match:
Zeonark vs NoBeginning[/i][/center]

"So you're my-"

"Yes, dumbass. I'm your opponent. Thanks for telling the entire server the obvious." Zeonark interrupted his adversary's repeating of what was just shown in large text to [i]everyone[/i].

"Oh sorry, I was repeating in case you had an IQ of fifty."

"...I don't like you."

"And I don't like you. Now we can be a big happy family."

"This won't end well." a player said in the audience, seeing as this'll either be a battle of insults or a battle of swords. The former seemed like what was most likely to happen at the moment. Zeonark's and NoBeginning's eyes had a stream of data flash within them as they scanned the other. The newcomer had more of a Life Gauge, however Zeonark surpassed him in base attack power.

"So, even though you have a higher power stat, I should be able to last out more than you." the blonde one informed his enemy, who seemed like he wasn't interested in what NoBeginning had to say. "You don't look that tough other than that, so I'll just go for the good ol' bat-" he quickly sidestepped as his opposer launched a black wave of energy at him, still managing to hit his hand and deplete his life gauge by a small amount.

"Stop talking already."

"...Okay, I was wrong. You're not like one of those punks I faced in the three waves."

"They pit players who did as well as another against each other. If I got put up against you, what the hell makes you think I'd-"

"Hey, shut up. Your nonsense is interrupting my train of thought." he told Zeonark, who was now irritated with him. [i]I'll just skip it all and head straight to the sword. He isn't powerful enough for-[/i]

"Don't stand there!" Zeonark advised as he began charging and then quickly disappeared. He reappeared before his enemy and attempted to strike him down, but NoBeginning had drawn a sword that he used to stop his opponent's attack.

[i]Sh[b][/b]it, he's fast.[/i]

"Nice timing, almost sliced your PC'd head off."

"I see that I can't waste time here." Beginning said moving his sword, and in turn, Zeo quickly tried again at another beheading attack, but his foe once again used his own weapon to stop it. Gaining speed in his assault, the black haired PC kept going for him while he blocked each move. "Damn it."

"Stop defending, that's boring!" Zeo shouted waving his sword out and letting black energy fly out at his target.

[i]Screw it.[/i] NoBeginning spoke in his head as a bullet tore through the dark wave. Zeo moved to dodge it, but a second one hit his arm, causing his Life Gauge to drop down a bit. "Okay, so just messing around with a sword won't do anything. Guess I gotta go straight to the Revolvers. Gettin' these babies for my PC was a hell of a chore but it's nice to get serious and use them against a strong enemy."

"So you admit that I'm strong enough for guns? Wow."

"Can it, or I'm gonna pop a cap in your ass. ...Wait, was already gonna do that." he warned snarkingly and began firing at Zeo, who jumped into the air and started flying through the sky, avoiding the bullets. The ragged designed player winded his arm with his sword back, and then fired a black wave at the gunman. Using the first revolver, the adversary shot through it, but his opponent had disappeared, then reappeared behind him. NoBeginning used the second revolver to guard himself. Zeonark charged dark energy into his sword, but that didn't damage the weapon in the slightest.

"The hell?!"

"The stuff I carry with me is indestructible, man! No matter how much force you use, they won't break at all!" he informed him about his revolvers as he fired a bullet from the first one into Zeo's arm, inflicting more damage. But, after taking the blow, he spun around and blasted him away with a black energy wave, returning the fire. "Can't you do anything else?!"

[i]Not really. The game designers didn't give me much to work with.[/i] he responded in his mind, wishing not to speak out loud.

"...I'm gonna see if you [i]can[/i] do something else." NoBeginning said as both of his revolvers began glowing with light. His enemy heard a noise as if he was reloading bullets. "All-Center Skyfire."

"All what?" Zeo asked as his foe fired out red colored bullets into the sky, which suddenly began stopping in mid-air somewhere in place, eventually surrounding him in a dome of ammo. The gunman snapped his fingers as they all closed in on their target. Before they could all hit him, Zeo's hand glew with a black aura as he rapidly moved his blade around him in a sphere formation, deflecting just about every single attack. Even though he still took some hits, he didn't show it. After flinging each one anyway, he launched another dark wave that soared above the ground. Nobeginning used his first Revolver in his left hand to protect himself from it. When he did this, Zeonark appeared before him almost instantly and slashed him away with great force, dealing a decent amount of damage to him.

"...You're like, the fastest guy I've come across so far. Others usually use barriers or something, but you just used your sword and waved it around like a madman." NoBeginning told him of how he was the first to swat almost every bullet away with a sword.

"I don't entirely care for defense. I'm more of a Offensive Speed type." Zeonark replied, taking a moment to catch his breath. He realized that if his enemy did that again, the player wouldn't be able to react quickly enough and would have a large amount of his HP taken out. Knowing this, he decided that the best move would be to strike before he could perform All-Center Skyfire again. So, Zeo charged and slid his blade against the ground, then swung it upwards to let out a wave of energy. However, his opponent jumped into the air and began hovering to dodge it. "Oh come on."

"Got my Tournament Copy Ability."

"What?"

"You didn't know? In matches like these, you can select a option to where you can copy an ability from your opponent. You're fast as hell and you can pretty much fly. So I picked that."

"So weak you can't use your own powers?"

"Nah, I'm just usin' what I can. Nothing weak about it." NoBeginning finished explaining and then replied to his adversary's insult. Zeonark immediately took for the skies as the gunman started flying upward himself. The swordsman caught up with him in no time at all and began trying to cut him down, but his enemy avoided each attempt. Even still, Zeo kept trying, swinging his blade with black energy flowing from it.

"You couldn't hit the broad side of a barn!" the gunman shouted as he got a good distance away from his target and started firing both of his revolvers. Each shot missed as the opposing player advanced.

"Neither could you!" he responded as he once again launched a dark wave at his attacker. NoBeginning used his second Revolver to block it.

[i]Gotcha.[/i]

"Sh[b][/b]it." Zeo cursed as his opponent fired a charged shot that pierced through his body, taking out a huge chuck of his Life. He began falling out of the sky while the blonde haired player started descending. The victim of the bullet's life gauge kept decreasing, going into a critical state. [i]Way to make a fool out of yourself, Minato. Forgetting that his friggin' weapons are indestructible and everything...[/i]

“Haha! I win!” NoBeginning yelled and laughed while he was flying down. As Zeonark fell, he was suddenly engulfed by a yellow data stream.

[center]Start Program[/center]

Minato Suzumi, the blue haired male that bought the game at the store with both of his sisters appeared within a white data space. Codes made up of Zeros, Ones, and other letters were flowing all around him. When he attempted to reach out to one and see what happens, he realized that his Virtual Reality Equipment was gone. Yet, if he was surrounded by data... did he enter the game himself? Not as Zeonark, but as Minato?

"The hell?" he asked himself, wondering why he entered this place.

"[i]Do not be confused. This place should not be new to you.[/i]" a computerized male voice spoke to the lost player.

"Riiiight. Me entering the game as myself is familiar. Really."

"[i]You are within yourself.[/i]"

"Oh god."

"[i]This will mark the beginning of the program.[/i]"

"...What program?" Minato questioned, now more concerned about this 'program' instead of where he was. When he asked, the japanese black sword from his Player Character appeared before him.

"[i]Take your sword, and you will be granted access.[/i]" the voice informed him of how to run the program. The boy grabbed the sword and felt a large amount of energy surge through him.

-

Back within the arena grounds, Zeonark stopped falling and began to float in the air. A yellow infinity shaped mark appeared on his body and then disappeared. He closed his eyes and held his sword with both hands. "Infinity Access: Granted."

"What the hell-"

"Getsuga Tenshou." Zeo named his attack as he waved his blade out and fired an enormous wave of dark energy at NoBeginning, who quickly held up both of his revolvers to guard himself. It made contact and began pushing the target back, and he could barely resist against the immense force of the attack. After only seconds, the left revolver, the first, started cracking.

"What?!"

"Thought those things were indestructible." the swordsman shouted in a mocking tone, and then advanced while the gunman was still blocking. NoBeginning used his copied ability to release his guard and skyrocket himself upwards to avoid taking the hit. However, his opponent appeared behind him and slashed the enemy player away. He wasn't giving him a chance to react either, as he flew at him at insane speeds.

"How the hell did you get this ridiculously strong and fast?!"

"Hell if I know."

"...You don't know?!" NoBeginning asked as the black haired Player Character was flying above him.

"Getsuga Tenshou!" Zeo shouted again as the large energy wave was launched from his sword at point blank range. Striking the target without fail, it took out a surprisingly large amount of his Life Gauge. As he was falling from the sky after the hit, the player with the advantage continued to mercilessly charge at him. The gunman held up his second revolver, but that cracked the instant his foe struck it with his blade. Quickly acting, he used the first revolvver to shoot at him. Zeonark took damage, but showed no signs of pain.

"You cheating bastard!"

"Cheat? Nah, I'm just usin' what I can." the black haired Player mockingly replied, using almost the exact same line NoBeginning gave about using his Tournament Copy Ability. Even though he honestly has no clue what he used himself. Holding up one of the damage revolvers, he aimed just above Zeo.

"All-Center Skyfire!" Nobeginning shouted as the red bullets from earlier started being fired out again. His opponent stopped to look around as the shots all surrounded him.

[i]...Now I get it.[/i] Zeo finally understood something about his foe. The gunman snapped his fingers and the bullets all went for the swordsman, but he started flying downwards for an instant and then disappeared.

"What...?!" NoBeginning was shocked at how easily he dodged it via teleportation, as Zeonark reappeared out of range and all of the bullets hit each other, doing absolutely nothing.

"I understand now, that those things only have the power of regular revolvers. I found it strange, because they fire as if they were machine guns. However, that's just it. You're like me, Offensive Speed. Powerful Bullets, rapid fire attacks." Zeo explained as he was going down towards his weakened enemy. "Only way to beat you in this state... is to be faster than you."

"...Sh[b][/b]it."

"Getsuga Tenshou." he said one last time, launching a huge dark blast at NoBeginning that took down his life to a tiny bit over nothing. Though, when he finally hit the ground, it depleted the rest of his Life Gauge. "I win."

[center][i]Match Decided
Winner
Zeonark[/i][/center]

The audience began roaring with cheers for Zeo as his defeated adversary's body became a datacode and transported him out of the arena. He sighed a bit just before looking out towards the crowd and lifting his arm up to wave while still airbone.

[i]No point in questioning what the hell happened. Honestly, I should've lost. ...I'm grateful to have won though.[/i][/spoiler]
[center][spoiler=Chapter 2][/center][center]2
Cherry[/center]

Zeonark walked before a large teleporting platform, after leaving the BattleGrounds when his victory was declared throughout the game. He stood in silence for a moment, somewhat exhausted. It wasn't anything that happened after the fight, as he got to leave without a new fan or whatnot get in his way. Rather, it was the ridiculous fight with NoBeginning. Adding onto that was how much the "Program" drained out of him.

"...Don't bother questioning it..." the player told himself, knowing that with random stuff like this, he would get no early answers. He placed his hand onto a blue sphere in front of him to set his destination. After that was done, Zeonark's body became a datacode and then disappeared.

[center][i]Now Entering... Absolute Powerforce Server...[/i][/center]

Minato's Player Character appeared within a ridiculously large hall of a castle filled with statues in the shapes of Vice Dragons and Dark Resonators. The Guild: Absolute Powerforce was based on a monster from Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's. Jack Atlas' Ace Monster, Red Daemons Dragon. Zeo hated the very sight of these though, but he didn't really have a say in it, since he would only be stabbed if he didn't just let them make the statues. The other leader of the Guild wanted to make the server look like something fitting for a royal family. So, Absolute Powerforce's Server is a gigantic castle.

"Jesus Christ, I think this place got bigger." he said to himself, looking around at all the Duel Monsters. He groaned and started walking forward, to check up on things.

"Zzzzzzeeeeeeoooooo...!" a female voice yelled from far away, that sounded like it was getting closer and closer.

"Oh God." the player facepalmed from hearing this, he knew exactly who was coming. For a moment, Zeo actually expected a hug for his victory in the opening Tournament. Instead, a pink haired female player ran up and delivered a swift kick to the face, knocking him into a Dark Resonator Statue.

"OW! God damn it!"

"You jerk! Where the hell were you? I PM'd you like, seven times and haven't gotten any responses! I was waiting on someone for hours since sis wouldn't get on!" she shouted at him while he was getting up. In view, she had a pink colored serafuku with yellow ribbons. She also had orange eyes and a thin hairband that could barely be seen.

"I was-"

"Yeah, in the tourney thing, whatever, congrats."

"...Thanks..."

"Sis said not to leave me alone."

"What are you, five? You don't need me watching you."

"But it's an or-"

"Don't care." Zeonark left the discussion at that and began walking away from her.

"Zeo, what happened in that fight?" the girl asked, getting his attention and making him stop. "I felt something weird."

"Weird how?"

"Like... something activated. It was connected to you..."

"...Cherry, don't worry about it." he responded, remembering when the "Program" was ran in his battle against NoBeginning.

[i]"Take your sword, and you will be granted access."[/i] words from the voice that guided him to victory still rang in his head. Again, he knew questioning it would probably get him no answer. He knew how most stories went, with a unknown entity shrouded in mystery. Of course, [i]no one[/i] knows who it is until some late point in the story.

"Well, where is everyone else? I'm bored." Cherry quickly changed the topic, as if it was nothing serious in the slightest.

"Black and others should be at RP 820. For anyone else... Mushroom Kingdom or any other Guild I could give a damn less about." Zeo answered in an uncaring tone, scratching his head a bit while he was trying to think.

"Can we go see them?"

"You can. I'm too lazy to go, I just got here."

"Lazy bum."

"If it uses 'Lazy', it's a compliment." the man brushed off the insult and took it as a kind thought from her. However, when an insult doesn't work, she just kicks him in the gut, like she did now. "Ow! Damn it!"

"Prick."

"Idiot." he returned the scandalous remark while still wincing in pain. "'When is Clair gonna get on and do something about you? It's better than me watching-"

"Minato! Come here for a minute!" the voice of their older sister called out from the real world.

"Speak of the devil. Be right back." Zeo said as his eyes widened and he just stood there, motionless. In the Real World, Minato took off the equipment connecting him to the game. The motionless stance of his Player Character meant that he was away from keyboard or his gear. He walked into the kitchen where Jaelin was. "Needed something?"

"Yeaaah... um..."

"...Why the 'um...'?"

"Trying to figure out how to ask, since I know you won't want to do this."

"Sis, you know I'd do whatever I'm told if the order is from you."

"...Okay then, I need you to stay with Casey in the game for the rest of the day."

"...Except that. Bye." Minato responded, not keeping his word about taking orders and began walking back to his room.

"Come on, I need you to do this since I'm gonna be gone most of the day."

"Where the hell are you- never mind. Why do I have to watch her? She's not a baby, and even if she is, she has more people than her older brother to hold her hand." he explained, not wanting to spend his time with Cherry at all. To him, Casey is that one annoying sibling you don't want to be around, yet for some odd reason, you're almost always with her.

"Because you know that she needs one of her older siblings around."

"It's my fault she has some stupid attachment to us? Besides, with you it's not just family-related attachment. It's-" the male suddenly shut his mouth when his sister shot another one of her glares at him.

"Watch. Casey."

"Okay."

"Good, I'll be back later tonight."

"Yeah, yeah."

"...Thanks for-"

"Don't." Minato didn't even want to hear her words of gratitude. If he was stuck babysitting, he didn't care. Jaelin sighed as he walked back into his room. The boy groaned as he started putting his equipment back on. In the game, Zeonark blinked as he regained his composure in front of his sister, who looked like she was waiting in the same place the whole time.

"What did sis say?"

"...She's going out, so I have to spend the day with you."

"...Why did she pick you..." Cherry asked, facepalming. She acts like she doesn't want to be around him, but if that's the case, why did she wait for him?

"I don't know, because I'm the Big Brother?"

"So? I'd rather have a rat take care of me."

"Trust me, so would I. Life would be easier if we could hire one."

"Enough with your damn jokes."

"...I was joking this time?" Zeonark said, just before being kicked into a Vice Dragon statue.

"Don't joke like that you prick!"

"What the hell are you so mad about?! I'm agreeing with you!" he shouted from under the rubble, not understanding the reason for the attack. Is she just crazy or something?

"Well, what do we do? I'm bored."

"I don't know. I really don't want to be bothered with everyone else."

"But they like you."

"I hate being around everyone though. Someone usually makes me... ugh... do something that requires more work than it should."

"Would it kill you to not be lazy?"

"Yes. It would kill me. You want me to die from a lack of lazing around?"

"How can someone-"

"I thought so. Now come on, let's go find something to do. Like a Quest, if one is open."

"Hey damn it, I wasn't finished!" Cherry shouted while Zeo started walking away from her. She hated when Zeo made some stupid joke or something of the like and then left her alone for some time. Both of them found a Teleporting Platform and had themselves transported to another location. Which appeared to be a large room with several NPCs behind desks. There were many shops, Guild Application Desks, Quest Management, etc. In addition to this, both of the siblings saw a blue and gray dog with a strap and chain on his body. He also had a pipe carried in his mouth. Seeing this, Zeo's expression changed, getting prepared for another annoying scene.

"Oh hell."

"Hello there, you two."

"Doggie!" Cherry called out as she ran up and hugged the dog. "Hi Doggie!"

"My day just got worse." Zeo dreaded, while turning around to head over to the Quest Management Desk, hoping to avoid this.

"Why's that? Because of me? If so-"

"No Andx, not you. Her. When you're here, she gets crazy."

"Well, you can't help your little sister's obsession with the Tales Series."

"Obsession with the Tales Series? More like her obsession of both Repede and you."

"Hey! It's like he said, you can't help my obsession!"

"Shut up, damn it!"

"No! You!" the girl responded by jumping up and rapidly kicking Zeonark in the face. Then, delivered a final strike that flung him straight into the wall. The dog sighed at the sight of the siblings fighting and Cherry once again ended the argument with violence. Zeo was just laying on the ground, sobbing.

"Why God? Why was I cursed with a crazy-as-hell sister?" he asked, still crying.

"Where's Black?" the female player questioned, mentioning a friend's name.

"He should be here, actually. We were going to go on a Quest."

"Then we-"

"Zeo and I can go with you! Sis said he had to do something like go with me on a Quest anyway!" Cherry interrupted her brother, who didn't even really want to go into one to begin with. He cared about the friends they both had, sure. But being around them in all of the things that happen annoy the hell out of him. More people to deal with while babysitting his little sister? Not fun.

"Damn it! No!"

"Yes!" she shouted, kicking him into the wall again.

"...You know what? I think I want to go on that Quest now." Zeonark gave in, seeing as he was going to go with them one way or another. With his PC intact or not. Hearing this, Cherry happily ran off to the Quest Desk. The black haired Player managed to get himself out of the wall.

"You okay?"

"Yeah Andx. Surprisingly, I somehow live through all of Cherry's assaults. Even in Real Life." Zeo replied, boasting about how he stays alive. After saying this, the both of them waited in silence as Cherry was accepting the Quest. Although, while standing there, Minato in the Real World could feel three large amounts of power by them. A very tall player in a red cape and black clothes with a gun in hand was one of them. Another was a man of average height with a black school uniform and a red tie. The third one was, like the others, in black clothes. However, this one had two pistols in his hands. They were all walking along as they all glared at Zeonark. [i]...W-What the hell is this overwhelming pressure coming from them all?[/i]

[i]This is the man that defeated NoBeginning?[/i] the one in the cape thought, not even minding the other two.

[i]Zeonark, huh? I remember him. The way the other two are looking at him, I think they want the same thing I do.[/i] the third player said to himself within his own head, while his yellow eyes gazed at each one of them.

[i]This is Black's friend... the one that suddenly made a ridiculous come back during that little event... Interesting.[/i] the second one realized who he was, because he knew one of their friends. The one mentioned earlier, Black. Zeonark's eyes showed a flow from a green data stream as he scanned each of them. They were all on the exact same level as him.

"...Sh[b][/b]it." Zeo said to himself. Even though they all looked at him for about a minute, it feel like they were never going to take his eyes off of him. He figured they were all ready to strike with no warning all at once. Thankfully, after that minute, all of them directed their attention to whatever they originally came for and went their separate ways.

"Zeo? I believe Cherry should be finished registering all of us." Andx informed him, not have paid any attention to the three players that passed by. He did see that he was somewhat shook up by something. "...Zeo?"

"Huh? O-oh. I heard ya, Bud. C-come on." the man tried to quickly regain his composure as he started walking over to where his sister was. He couldn't fool Andx, though. But he figured that he'd let this blow over and not question it. "Hey, you finished?"

"Yep. Got all of us and Black in. So all we have to do is wait for him." Cherry happily replied, not even noticing her brother's change in attitude. Zeo blinked twice, knowing that making Cherry worry was the last thing he'd want to do right now. He didn't need her getting involved, if those three killed her, it's on him. So, he quickly shook his head and tried to act like nothing happened.

"Gah, where is he? I want to get this out of the way. Maybe I can leave you with Black and Bud here afterwards."

"Don't leave."

"Don't worry. I won't. Otherwise, sis will skin me alive."

"...Right. Because of what sis would do..." Cherry sounded a little depressed after hearing Zeo's reason for staying. The three of them walked over to the teleport platform to wait, but at the same time, a player in black clothes and a black hat came before them.

"Senpai?"

"Oh christ. Hi Black."

"Hey Senpai, I didn't even know you'd be here."

"I'm babysitting."

"You sound annoyed."

"I'm BABYSITTING. How the hell am I [i]not[/i] annoyed?"

"Hello there, Black. Cherry and Zeo will be joining us on that Quest." Andx spoke up next to Cherry. Informing him of why they're both there.

"...What is the 'Ghost Hound' Quest anyway?" Cherry asked the three of them, not really knowing anything about the Quest she signed them up for.

"Apparently, there's a undead creature causing all-hell for some NPC village and the party that accepts the Quest has to find and get rid of it." Zeonark explained to her, basically saying that it was a 'Find and Kill Boss' mission.

"That sounds easy. How come they said be careful?" the little sister further questioned.

"Because NPCs are automated idiots." Zeo answered, insulting all Non-Player Characters. Cherry somewhat giggled at his joke.

"Senpai, do you have to-"

"Yes Black, I have to call every little irritating thing 'Stupid'." the player interrupted him to respond. Black sighed, seeing as he won't be able to brighten Zeo's mood. ...Then again, he was normally irritated with everything.

"Gah. Enough. Let's go! Let's go!" Cherry excitedly said, running up to the platform and being transported to the quest area. Black quickly followed. Zeonark stood still while the dog began walking up to it. However, he stopped to talk with his friend.

"Zeo, how come your attitude suddenly changed earlier?"

"Huh? It didn't."

"You know we've been friends long enough for me to see through your obvious lies, right?" Andx told him. He knew that he was one to not mention a reason for a change in mood unless it was being annoyed with something.

"...Bud, don't say anything."

"What was it?"

"Three players walked by us. All of them were glaring straight at me. Worst part is that, like me, they're people that played the game longer than they should've."

"How do you know?"

"Because they're the exact same level as me, and I'm overleveled."

"...I see. What do you plan to do?"

"...Avoid confrontation."

"That sounds best. Especially since it sounded like they all wanted to pick a fight."

"Remember, don't say word."

"You have my word."

"Thanks, Bud. Now, let's get this damn Quest done." Zeonark finished his conversation with the dog as he petted him, then used the teleporter with him to go to the Quest Area.

[i]Everything else except that random staring seems normal, right?
Nope. Hell keeps coming my way, I swear.[/i][/spoiler]
[center][spoiler=Chapter 3][/center][center]3
Ghost[/center]

The players all appeared within a town that seemed more like just houses that were forcefully built upon a barren wasteland. The trees were dead, only small pairs of crows flocked together on several of those trees. The sky was filled with dark gray clouds, not dark enough for a warning to a Thunderstorm. Rather, enough to show that the area had no hope. There wasn't even any grass there.

"...I was expecting a welcoming party." Zeonark sarcastically told his friends, sounding disappointed because no one came to greet them.

"Senpai, in case you haven't noticed, I don't even think there's enough NPCs for a small party." Black responded, and Zeo couldn't even come up with a joke for that. It was [i]that[/i] bad.

"I suggest we get started." the blue dog said and both of the men nodded. Zeo looked at his little sister, who seemed to be frozen in place. She was more used to populated areas of the game, so being in a quiet and eerie place like this...

"...Boo!" Zeonark surprised his sister from behind. She screamed and quickly jumped up to kick her brother with a ridiculous amount of unnecessary force. "Ow!"

"Y-You jerk! Don't scare me like that, I was ready to kill you!" Cherry shakily yelled at him. While enduring the pain, he was laughing.

"It was worth it." the big brother said, making his way back over to them. "Okay, okay... what do we do, Cherry?"

"H-Huh?"

"You registered us for the Quest, so they should've given you the Starting Suggestions." Andx told her, meaning that they should have given her directions about what they could do first. Just now figuring this out, Cherry opened up a small green window in front of her, like a mini computer screen.

"It says that we should get the story about what happened here from the NPCs."

"So we're supposed to listen to automated messages for hints?" Zeo questioned, not liking the idea of trusting NPCs for information. NPCs aren't useful, that's why he disliked them entirely.

"It's better than wandering around aimlessly." Black said to him, but the player still groaned in irritation.

"Come on, let's get started!" Cherry ordered them all, closing the window and happily running into town, forgetting that her big brother scared her.

"Seems her fear was quickly compressed by her-"

"Excitable and Hyperactive nature?" Zeonark said, finishing Andx's sentence for him. He had already guessed what Andx was going to say.

I was going to say 'Eagerness to begin', but that works." the canine player responded. The three then walked into town together, following the excited Cherry. Zeo gets irritated whenever she becomes stupidly cheery in an instant when it comes to some kind of adventure. Not only that, but he's still annoyed with NPCs and sometimes being around his friends, so he went his own way. The others went around, getting info from the very small amount of NPC residents. Of course, they got little to no useful information. Zeo himself had went outside of the town for clues, and found something of interest.

"Hello... what's this?" he questioned, examining a gigantic footprint left in the ground, most likely by a huge, wild animal. It wasn't in the shape of a human foot, so a stupidly large human Boss was out of the question. Finding a clue, he decided to go back and get his friends and sister instead of immediately following any other footprints. When he got back, all three of them approached him, and Cherry still seemed the most excited.

"Bro! We figured out good stuff!"

"What? But the script said that you guys got no useful inf-"

"Apparently, there are large footprints outside of town we can follow." Black cut off his Senpai, who just laughed.

"Yeah, I know. I found one of them." Zeonark said.

"Huh?" Cherry was surprised and a little disappointed, because she had wanted to be the one to find something out before him.

"Also, I've heard that said footprints lead to a ghost infested forest, where wandering spirits live." Andx gave more information to the unofficially appointed leader, who was out of town.

"...Ghost NPCs? Ghost Enemies? Oh man, that is so original." Zeonark responded with his usual sarcastic tone.

"This probably says that the boss of the quest is a ghost." Black deduced, which made the leader and the dog nod in agreement. Cherry... not so much. Whether it be virtual or in reality, she was afraid of ghosts. Which her brother found laughable. She was facing the other way so he wouldn't see her face and make fun of her.

"Well then, shall we go to said forest?" Andx suggested as the three males started walking off. Zeo stopped and looked back at the motionless Cherry.

"Oy, Cherry." Zeo called out to her, and she responded by turning her head back. "Let's go! You wanna get out of this quick, don't ya?"

"...Y-Yeah..." she hesitated before replying and running to her brother. He knew she was scared, and instead of being cruel and making fun of that fear, he decided to finish this quest as quickly as possible for her.

-
[center][i]Welcome to the Spirit Forest[/i][/center]

After what seemed like hours of following the trail of large footsteps, they all walked into a forest that was surrounded by blue flames. Without stopping to pause and gaze at it in wonder, they all entered it, seeing as the fire didn't bring their journey to a halt. Inside was completely different from where they came from. It actually had live vegetation, but it was all grey. They were all actually surprised at the sight of this. Why did a ghost infested forest have more life than a village, that was in a situation so bad, every tree was dead and they had no grass?

"...The hell?" Zeo questioned, confused at this. Black and Andx were also dumbfounded by the looks of the area, while Cherry was tightly clutching onto her brother's clothes, watching out for any ghosts.

"Why..." Black couldn't come up with anything either. Especially seeing as if the one responsible was here, why the hell is the forest intact?

"Hello!" a white spirit NPC greeted, appearing before the party. Cherry held in a scream when it appeared. "Welcome to the Spir-"

"Look. I have some questions and no time for your automatic greeting bullsh[b][/b]it. Why is this place in amazing condition and- ...Why am I even asking? It's automatic, they can't answer me." Zeo wanted to ask the question they were all baffled about, but there was no point, the NPC couldn't answer him.

"Are you here to join us in the Afterlife?"

"...Come again?" Black asked, as they were all worried about what it said.

"You [i]are[/i] here to join us! That's [i]gReAt[/i]!" the NPC's voice suddenly became distorted as several spirits in an orb form and eventually, the single ghost immediately transformed into a large cat-like creature.

"Is this the boss?" Cherry asked as they all got into a prepared stance. Zeo got a look at it's ghostly foot and compared it to the one he found that he remembered.

"It doesn't fit! That's not our target!" Zeo informed them all as he summoned his black long sword out of dark energy that appeared before him. Cherry summoned a silver and black katana out of light, Black drew a standard katana with a green handle emitting green energy, and finally, Andx drew a knife that he held within his mouth. Zeonark's hand glew with a black aura and it appeared on all of their weapons. "You should be able to damage that thing now."

"DoNt ReSiSt! JoIn Us!" the cat ghost yelled and lifted up it's claw. It attempted to hit them all at once, but each one of them dodged it, going in different directions. Andx and Black separated from the group while Zeo took Cherry with him. The ghost extended it's other claw out in the siblings' direction. It began to get smaller as several of the spiritual orbs flew at them. Acting on impulse, Zeo quickly struck everything that was in range in front of him, batting the spawned ghosts away. Seeing as the mini-boss was busy attacking them, Andx and Black took this chance to strike.

"Go!" the leader commanded the two of them. The dog's body flashed for an instant as he then jumped to execute the arte "Phantom Glacier", which made a glacier come out of the ground. It made contact with the ghost, causing it to stagger and stop it's assault on the siblings. All of the detached spirits began returning to it's claw. Before all of the spirits gathered together once more and it could retaliate, Black had jumped into the air and let out a green wave of energy out of his sword. It flew out and severed the recently reconnected spirits from the ghost's body. Then the wave sliced through several trees and made a round trip back, cutting off the rest of the arm completely. It let out a wail as Zeo launched out a black wave of energy at all of the lost spirits that came out of it's arm and destroyed them all.

"Don't mess with fu[b][/b]cking Ghostbusters!" Zeo shouted while no one even dared to ask how he [i]destroyed[/i] the wandering spirits. Nor why he just referred to them all as Ghostbusters. It seemed though, after seeing part of it's body completely destroyed, it actually began to retreat. They didn't bother to continue attacking it as it left.

"Why is it leaving?" Black asked while they were all watching.

"Ghosts tend to care when fellow spirits are gone for good. Probably going to cry about it and it's lost arm." Zeo mocked the way the undead treated each other and how it was going to mourn over it's lost limb. He seemed a little... heartless, towards the spirits. They didn't say anything about his attitude towards them though. "Seeing as that was a horrible mini-boss. We should be fine the rest of the way."

"Sorry, Zeo..." Cherry apologized as they all look confused.

"Sorry for what?"

"You pulled me away to protect me from that claw attack. Then I couldn't even fire a shot because I reacted slower than everyone else..."

"So? I'm just worried about your safety. Could give a damn less if you fought or not." Zeonark told his sister, not caring if she did anything to help or just stood there.

"...Sorry, anyway."

"Stop apologizing you idiot."

"I'm not an idiot! You're a jerk!"

"There we go. She's back to normal." Andx and Black said together. Countering one of her brother's insults meant that she was fine.

"That's my little idiot! Let's go!" Zeo ordered them to march forward, however his little sister delivered one of her usual kicks to his head. She growled a bit and starting walking off.

"You okay, Senpai?"

"No. But I'll live." he replied to Black, getting up and brushing some dust off. The three followed the little girl, like three bodyguards. For awhile, the quest seemed harmless after the random mini-boss appearing for no reason. The enemies they encountered were randomly spawned ghosts that they all quickly took care of. With every battle in the forest, the dog seemed to grow more worried.

"Another one rests in peace? I dunno, Zeo, come up with something witty, like you always do." Cherry said when a spiritual orb disappeared before her. Her brother destroyed several at once with two dark waves. He then turned his attention to Cherry.

"...Uhh... I dunno. I used Ghostbusters already." he responded, making his way over towards her.

"Oh come on, you usually come up with the jokes."

"My brain's dead, little sis. Area full of ghouls and fiends are affecting it. Seems to be amplified by your contagious stupidity. Sorry." Zeonark insulted, spending a little too much time coming up with that. Cherry giggled at the joke, knowing that he tried just for her.

"Like that! See?"

"Yeah but I-"

"Now for my usual response."

"What-" Cherry immediately kicked her brother so hard, that he went flying into Black and they both fell onto a spawned enemy that died upon the impact.

"Jerk."

"Horse." Zeo countered by calling her an animal that matched her kicking skills. Black and his Senpai both helped each other up and Andx returned from destroying a few enemies himself.

"Have any of you noticed yet?" the dog asked and in turn, they had no clue what he meant.

"Noticed what, doggie?" Cherry questioned.

"That this seems more or less endless. We're getting nowhere." Andx responded.

"Now that you mention it..." Black began scanning their surroundings, to see if the area is similar to a place they've been to already. If it was, they have been walking around in circles. "Area looks kinda different..."

"No. Black, you have the right idea. And I can tell you now, we HAVE been going in circles. We've been here." Zeonark told him, seeing what he was thinking. He then pointed to a tree with a large cut in it. "See that? I marked that tree the second time we came here. We've gone around this place three times."

"How the hell do we get out?!" Cherry asked, and her tone let them all know she wanted to leave as soon as possible. Especially since she didn't want to come to a ghost-infested forest to begin with.

"I believe it's related to our cat friend." Andx answered and the leader nodded in agreement.

"Basically, we think that nothing's gonna change unless that thing finally gets sent to virtual Hell." Zeo explained to them all, still believing that Virtual Ghosts was a stupid idea. "Not only that, but the real boss will probably show up too."

"So, how the hell do we find a ghost cat?" Black asked, not really understanding how they would.

"...Good question." Andx responded, not really knowing how either.

"You're a dog. Can't you find it?" Zeo questioned, seeing as Dogs chased cats, so...

"Dogs don't have magical senses for finding cats." Andx said.

"Or do they?" Zeonark asked, attempting to raise suspicion.

"Not now, Zeo." Cherry said to him, not letting him make any further jokes.

"Again, how are we-" Black was interrupted by the meowing of a cat with an echoing and ghastly tone.

"That's how." the leader responded as they all followed him when he began running off towards the direction it came from. Thankfully enough, it sounded close, so they were in luck. When they finally saw the ghost, it was floating around with an arm missing. They were all ready to strike, but suddenly... "Wait, WAIT."

"What?" Cherry asked, wondering why Zeo looked so panicked.

"Open your eyes, idiot. Look!" he pointed to the ground underneth their feline adversary, There was a large footprint. At first, the rest of them didn't get it. [i]Then[/i], it hit them.

"...Isn't that..." Andx remembered the large footprint Zeo had showed everyone before they made their way to the forest.

"The real boss is invisible?" Black kinda stated the obvious with his own question.

"Not only is the damn thing invisible, but it's right there with our mini-boss." Zeonark replied, telling them all the problem. There was no way in hell they could handle both of them. However, the leader did notice something while they were both moving. The invisible creature seemed to be going ahead, while the cat already looked like it knew they were there and stopped moving. [i]...Wait, it isn't going to help?[/i]

"So what do we-" Cherry was interrupted when Zeo snapped his fingers and quickly rushed towards the mini-boss. The rest of the party was surprised, because it looked like he charged in without really thinking. Which was unlike him, especially seeing as he always came up with plans before doing anything. "What the hell is he doing?!"

"He's going straight for both of them?" Andx questioned, wondering why he would, seeing as he was the one who mentioned it was a problem.

"Wait, Senpai has a plan. Just trust him, he isn't the type to make stupid mistakes." Black realized his thinking, and defended his intellect. The ghost cat turned around and attempted to hit him with its lone claw, but he disappeared before the strike could connect. He quickly reappeared behind the enemy, and prepared to fired from the back.

"Attack! Now!" he commanded the others as he launched a wave of darkness at it. The others immediately moved in to do as told. Black and Cherry fired waves of green and white energy while Andx jumped into the air and fired a fireball at the mini-boss. [i]Now it-[/i] Zeo's train of thought was interrupted as the cat split itself up into manly different spiritual orbs. They each quickly flew away as all the attacks connected with each other and caused an explosion, blowing them all back. Zeo hit a tree and landed in some bushes, the others just hit the ground.

"...Everyone alright?" Andx asked them all as they were getting up. The leader stuck his head out of the bushes.

"Huh. My bad, that was a stupid mistake on my end."

"Mistake?! I just got done telling the dog and your sister that you don't make stupid mistakes!" Black yelled.

"Why the hell did you say that?"

"Because-! ...Forget it." Black stopped, seeing as defending his false tactical genius was a stupid idea in the first place. The spirits all started gathering together again, however, a portion of them did not come back. Cherry was scratched from behind as the claw appeared, detached from the body. Black quickly fired a green wave at it, but it separated, dodging the entire attack. He went over to help Cherry stand up. Zeo flew into the air, going for the ghosts that formed the claw. The player let out a black wave of energy, but they avoided it by reforming. However, he expected them to do this. The shot curved around and flew at the cat.

"I knew you guys were gonna just form or separate even more from each other to avoid me, but I figured if I fired a curve shot, I'd still hit something." he explained, even though he knew that the thing couldn't respond to him anyway. The merged ghost split up once more into many different orbs. "Okay, now hit as many as you can!"

"Right!" they all accepted the order as they jumped up and started attacking each one. The dog's body flashed blue for a moment, then he began spinning like a wheel, slashing everything he came across using the Burst Arte "Divine Dog". Black summoned many green energy bats and commanded them all to go out and strike. They each flew into a ghost orb and exploded on contact. Cherry began teleporting and cutting every one in the path she was going in. Most of the ghosts were getting completely destroyed. Zeo calmly watched as the ones left started gathering together, but into a smaller cat.

"Gotcha." the leader said with a devilish smirk. It couldn't immediately split up and merge over and over, meaning that at the time it does either of those, there's an opening. This is why Zeo had them all attack when it separated, so they could take advantage of the time they spent trying to confuse them with their large numbers. He decided to be the one to strike when they merge. Whatever the cat attempted, he had found a way to strike him down and eventually win. They all just now realized the full plan in detail.

"Zeo! Behind you!" Cherry warned as Zeonark looked back and saw another claw.

"It reformed?!" he asked in shock at the appearance of the second claw. Black and Andx quickly covered him, but it was after Zeo himself launched an attack at it. The cat was preparing to strike them all with the distraction. The little sister saw this and decided to make herself useful. Before it could charge at the three, she fired a abnormally large white wave at it. It was actually similar to one of the bigger attacks Zeo uses. It sliced the ghost cat in two, forcing only half of the spirits to escape. The other half wasn't as fortunate and were completely destroyed. The three males quickly got rid of the second claw with no trouble. They each looked up to see the spirits leaving.

"...Did Cherry do that?" Andx asked as Zeo landed next to the both of them.

"I did...?" she responded, not really knowing what she just did. "I just swung my sword down and tried to launch a wave at it."

[i]...That's not right. When Cherry attacked... it felt like... it activated inside of me...[/i] Zeonark said in his mind, now worried about what she did.

"...Zeo?" she said his name, kind of hoping for a "Good Job" or something.

"Good job. Hell, [i]Great[/i] job. You just pretty much wiped out the mini-boss while we were having trouble. I only wish you had done that before I made myself think."

"You act like it's killing you."

"Silly Cherry. You know that anything requiring effort starts killing me inside."

"Lazy bum." she insulted him for always being like this again. Zeo chuckled a bit, as it really didn't affect him and he usually laughed off her jabs anyway.

"I would like to step into this conversation before Cherry lands another kick." the dog entered their little discussion before she got mad about her offense not working on Zeo, [i]again[/i].

"Right, we need to focus and find those other ghosts." the leader told them all about the spirits that escaped.

"...I'm not the only one who found that a bit too easy, right?" Black asked the party before they started the search. "Once we figured out the weakness with the timing, it wasn't hard. And when we first met it, it retreated."

"Seems more like this whole thing just got rushed." Zeo replied, actually expecting this to take longer. They just kinda randomly found the mini-boss after it ran and got rid of it. All of them except Cherry didn't even get hit by it.

"It's not too much of a problem if it gets done quicker, is it?" Andx questioned, sounding like he thought it wasn't really a bad thing. However, he was worried about it, regardless.

"Bud's right, who gives a damn? Let's just finish." Zeonark said, beginning to walk off. Cherry ran to catch up and stay behind her big brother. He looked back, still concerned about the attack she used, but didn't say anything outloud. It's not like any of them knew about the program anyway. Black stood in wonder for a bit.

"Coming, Black?" the dog got his attention, letting him know that they were about to leave him behind.

"...Yeah, here I come." he responded, as they both started catching up with the two siblings. It seemed like there wasn't anything left. No randomly spawned enemies in sight, nor did they see any spiritual orbs that made up the mini-boss they faced. They all assumed that everything was about done here. All that was left was to find the boss. Thankfully, they were able to follow it's footprints left behind. They seemed to have turned in about every direction though, so it took them awhile to find it where it was.

"Where is it?!" Cherry asked, now impatient as they've been walking around for about an hour.

"These big ass footprints... how does some huge creature avoid us for this lo-" Zeo stopped talking when they all noticed a single ghost orb wandering down a certain path that had a trail of the footprints. Instead of attacking it, they began to follow it. Eventually being led to a small circular area in the forest. Some survivor ghosts were lingering around in that place for some reason...

"Seems that our enemy is here." Andx informed the party, but...

"...Where is it?" Cherry asked her earlier question, not really understanding the dog. Yeah, they got led here, and the footprints stopped here. However, there was no giant creature to be found.

"This is probably one of those points in a quest where the Player and/or Party has to go back to town, report stuff that happened, and find some NPC to help us see the thing." Zeo told them all, seeing this as any other random quest inside of a video game, he figured one of the usual paths would work. Instead of finding it on there on, there's some magical character that can see it with no problem. So, they decided to turn back. Though, Zeo felt something react in his body, which must of made something else respond, as they all heard something big begin to move. The party turned around to see a large wolf made up of nothing but bones and covered in blue fire become visible to their sight. "...Oh sh[b][/b]it."

"That must be the Ghost Hound. Luckily enough, it woke up without us having to waste time going back." Andx spoke as the party got prepared for the boss battle. It let out a ridiculously loud howl as a battle cry.

[i]...Why'd it wake up? Was it because of me?[/i][/spoiler]
[center][Spoiler=Chapter 4][/center][center]4
Ghost Hound[/center]

"Oh, this is lovely. Our boss is a huge mutt." Zeonark insulted the boss as it readied itself.

"Zeo..."

"Oh, sorry Bud." he apologized to him, because 'mutt' was an offense to dogs. "Okay, since this thing is big, we should probably separate We can hit all the sides and it can't hit us all at once that way."

"Sounds good." Black agreed and the other two nodded, doing the same. The three of them began to walk away from their leader as he stared at the Ghost Hound.

[i]I'll get the first strike in...[/i] Zeo decided as he charged at the boss. However, before he could land a blow, the enemy immediately lifted up one of it's legs and smacked him away with immense force. At the same time he was hit, in the real world, he coughed up blood.

"Senpai!"

"Don't worry about me, just attack, or hell, do something!" he gave them the order to attack freely. Minato wiped the blood away from his mouth onto his hand. [i]How in the hell...?! I actually felt that in reality![/i] he stopped to think, but knew that with the boss fight going on, he couldn't stay like that for too long. Seeing as how most stuff went, like with the program, he decided to ask questions later. Zeo quickly flew at the Ghost Hound again, joining the others in their assault. It response to Zeonark coming back, it let out some kind of loud roar that pushed them all back.

"What's going on...? It didn't do that while we were going for it... but why would it be after Senpai...?" Black was confused at the adversary's actions. It's not like bosses are programmed to only go after leaders, that'd be stupid. Zeonark seemed slower with his reaction time. After landing, he stopped for longer than was normal. Odd, especially since he was usually the fastest on recoveries and counter attacks in the group. The giant boss began to run straight towards Zeo.

"Sh[b][/b]it!" he cursed as he forced himself to get up and start moving. "What the hell are you guys waiting for?! Attack I said! Attack!"

"...Why's that thing after him?" Cherry asked the question Black had asked himself.

"Don't know really. But we can't let it deplete his life gauge, come on!" Black replied as the three went on with the original plan, to hit the Ghost Hound from each direction. While they were going for it, Black began to create a green energy bat in front of him. It was bigger than ones he used before. Big enough for him to hang onto and ride as it flew towards it's target. He let go when it made contact with the Ghost Hound's side and exploded, which threw it off balance.

"Nice!" Zeo gave praise to his ally for saving him. Then quickly let out a black wave, which further blew it back when it was hit. [i]Okay, so if you throw it off balance, attacks become more effective...[/i]

"You got the same idea I did?" Black asked his Senpai.

"Hell yeah I did, get another one of those ready."

"What are they talking about...?" Cherry asked the dog, not understanding them.

"...Don't worry about it, you'll see their plan in a minute." Andx replied, easily seeing the plan himself. Those two continued to attack the boss. Executing the Arte "Light Spear", Andx leaped into the air and spun around, and continuously slashed it's side. Cherry used an Arte, just like he did. She used "Heavenly Tempest" to spin in the air like a wheel and repeatedly strike it's side.

"...How long is it gonna be before this thing dies anyway?" Black questioned as a data stream went through his eyes, scanning it. He was surprised because it had over Six Thousand HP. Normal Bosses don't even have half of that in the level of Difficulty this quest is. The Ghost Hound had it's eyes flash blue for a moment, then it quickly rammed it's head into Cherry, inflicting way too much damage. Her brother flew up and caught her.

"Damn mutt." Cherry pouted as Zeo put her back on the ground. He fired a large black wave at the boss, hoping to knock it off balance again. However, blue flames appeared in front of it and guarded the creature from the attack.

"Oh not this 'Random Shield' sh[b][/b]it again." he knew [i]exactly[/i] how this stuff with the shields went. "Black-"

"I know, one of you distracts it while I fire." Black knew how this went too. The shield around the enemy can usually endure alot of attacks, but it can only block attacks from one direction. So, the obvious plan is to have someone attack, then Black attack from the other side. This plan, Cherry figured out quickly on her own and decided to launch a white wave at the adversary before her brother. Just as they predicted, the fire stopped it.

"Now!" Zeo gave the order as his subordinate. Black, instead of going with it, commanded the bat to fly off on it's own. Before the Ghost Hound could even realize it was coming, it made contact with it's back and exploded. Andx ran under it before it fell down and immediately used "Cyclone Shot", shooting himself up and striking it's underbelly, inflicting more damage to it.

"This is going more smoothly than I thought." the dog said when he landed and made his way over to the siblings.

"We all know how this stuff goes down, so it's easy to find ways to get around it." Black replied. Andx knew this stuff, Black did, and Zeo is basically writing a book on how to counter the obvious. Cherry was still kinda lost when it came to most of this though. The leader gave a hand signal to his sister and the dog, telling them to separate from him.

[i]Okay, that thing's probably getting back up soon, so-[/i] Zeo was coming up with a quick plan to continue to hit it while it's down. However, his train of thought was stopped when he heard his little sister scream. They all looked back and saw her in the grip of a ghost claw. "What the hell?!"

"Senpai, that's the claw from the cat!" Black reminded him, and then it became clear to the three of them.

"Of course! That's why those damned smaller ghosts are here!" Zeonark shouted as he and the dog went over to Cherry and struck the claw. Several ghosts screamed in pain as they dispersed. Black was preparing another explosive bat when the Ghost Hound would stand back up. However, a second claw appeared and attacked him, causing the bat to prematurely self-destruct.

"Damn it!"

"This son of a bi[b][/b]tch is trying to throw us off while he recovers..." the leader said to himself, seeing through it's plans. He took a moment to try to think of what to do next, seeing as if they just went out to attack, they would be stopped. ...However... [i]Wait, those things didn't bother when the Ghost Hound was up. So we can label them as no problem while it's active. Waiting for it to get back up isn't going to help us though... maybe...[/i]

"What do you want us to do, bro?" Cherry asked, waiting for an order.

"Andx, go over there and get rid of the claw with Black. Cherry, you're coming with me." Zeo responded, they both nodded in agreement, accepting their commands. Andx ran off while Cherry and her brother both charged forward. On the way, the ghosts that the dog and the leader attacked reformed into the first claw. Zeonark let Cherry go to the side and he attacked the ghosts. She saw his plan, leaving it to her for the attack while it was down. The girl's sword began glowing brightly as Minato felt the same power activate inside of him that activated when she attacked the ghost cat. The Ghost Hound responded to this and quickly jumped back up.

"Uh oh..." Cherry hesitated to fire when it recovered.

"Damn it, Cherry, fire it now! Don't bother stopping!" Zeo shouted at her, causing the girl to choke up a bit before letting out another abnormally large white wave of energy. Unfortunately, it dodged by running off to the side. The claw that was holding Black down and was being attacked by Andx disappeared, now that the boss was back on it's feet. The same thing happened with the claw Zeo had distracted.

"Oh man... I screwed up..." Cherry dreaded on her mistake. Zeo made his way over to her, in case the Ghost Hound attempted to come at her.

"So much for the separation plan. We're fighting in pairs."

"Zeo-"

"Look, that doesn't matter. There wasn't anyway to say that it would've be a guaranteed hit. Don't worry about it." he interrupted Cherry before she started apologizing. She still felt bad for hesitating, regardless. The Ghost Hound began to let blue flames pour out of his mouth. Instead of it coming for them, it covered the entire area in it. They each lost sight of one another. Sometime after just standing there, seeing as he couldn't do anything at the moment, he heard one of his allies yell out in pain. "Black?!" after calling out his name, he heard a dog start whining. "Bud?!"

"Zeo? Where are you...?" he heard Cherry's voice somewhere closeby. Being lost, she must've walked in the opposite direction Zeo was in.

"Cherry, where in the hell-" Zeonark was cut off by hearing his sister scream. He growled in anger, mad at himself for not being able to help out his comrades. He then heard something quickly approaching him. Zeo knew exactly what it was, and knew that the same thing was about to happen. But unlike the others, he noticed it coming. For some reason, his body moved on its own and put his sword up to block an attack. The Ghost Hound lifted up and then thrusted one of it's claws down on the blade. However, an Infinity shaped mark flashed on his sword for a moment and endured the attack. "...The program..."

[i]Why do you wish to use these powers?[/i]

[i]...Why else? I wanna win![/i] Zeo responded to the voice that spoke to him in his mind as he made a dark wave come out of his sword and push the enemy back. This made the fire covering the area disappear. There was a circle of fire now around the battlefield, but he didn't bother to take note of it. His allies were all down, leaving only him to fight. The Ghost Hound charged at Zeo immediately. He fired a black wave at it and then quickly turned around and started running. There was no chance in hell that he could take it on by himself. "Damn it! You all just [i]HAD[/i] to get ambushed, didn't you?!"

"Zeo..." Cherry weakly called out her brother's name as he flew past her. The creature let out a huge blue fire ball from it's mouth.

"Oh when the hell could it do that?!" Zeo questioned as he teleported to dodge it. When he reappeared in the sky, he noticed that the fireball stopped where the circle of fire was. Then, he got a fun idea. He soared down and went past the enemy, who followed him immediately. "That's right! Follow and don't take your eyes offa me!"

"What is Senpai doing?" Black asked as he started to slowly get back up. Zeonark was straight towards the other end of the wall of fire. Then it pretty much became obvious. He landed on his feet while the huge monster was running at him as fast as it could. It prepared to pounce, but Zeo shot his body under the Ghost Hounds and let it run straight into it's own flame wall. It roared in pain as its target landed on his feet.

"Ha! I guess you really are that damn stupid!" Zeo mocked, using one of the oldest tricks in the book. Letting a monster ram straight into a wall. He was laughing at how easily that plan worked. The dog and Black were both back up and ready to fight. Cherry was just now trying to stand up.

"He seems to be enjoying himself." Andx said to Black about how proud Zeo was of his predictable plan.

"It's Senpai. He's happy about the boss being stupid."

"...Okay, now I better go help Cherry up." Zeo said to himself turning around and beginning to walk towards his sister, who was still struggling to get up. While he was going, the Ghost Hound's eyes were still open, and they centered in on Cherry.

[center][i]Program Detected, Deleting[/i][/center]

The two ghost claws appeared and both grabbed Zeonark, preventing him from going any further.

"What the hell?!" Zeo questioned why both claws got him this time, but then he immediately saw the Ghost Hound run right past him. Meaning that the two would disappear in a minute, but he saw through the boss' plan.

"Andx! Black! Get over there, that thing's after Cherry!"

"We see that!" Black responded as they both started to race over to her. She noticed the Ghost Hound running towards her and froze in place. On the way, Black managed to create an explosive bat and let it fly at the enemy. With its self-destruction, the creature stopped in its place. Andx stopped by it, prepared to attack when it stood back up. Black got by Cherry to guard her. [i]What made it switch targets?[/i]

"Hey! Bud! Aim for it's legs and feet!" Zeo ordered as he started making his way over to the fallen opponent. "If we can slow this thing down, I think we'll have more advantage. Plus, this won't happen again."

"Good idea." the dog replied, accepting the task. The Ghost Hound quickly got up after that.

[i]...Is it me, or is this thing recovering faster and faster?[/i] the leader questioned in his mind from seeing it's reaction time. He and Andx started running around it as fast as possible, striking it's legs and feet. While they were doing this, Black was preparing another explosive bat. Cherry put her katana up to the bat, which started absorbing the green energy.

"...Oh, nice plan. Fling it straight at the thing with increased force." Black said, realizing what she was doing. To be honest, she didn't really know until he said it though. The girl was just acting on impulse. Cherry swung her sword, firing the green wave at the boss and causing an explosion when it made contact with it's head, dealing a good amount of damage to it.

"Why the hell didn't you two try somethin' like that earlier?!" Zeo asked, seeing as the attack was more effective than most of what they were trying.

"...I dunno." Cherry replied. Zeonark and Andx jumped back after leaving a large amount of wounds on the Hound's legs. Since it couldn't move all that well, it couldn't counterattack, giving them an opening.

"Hit it!" the leader commanded as he let out a dark wave. Following him, the dog used the arte "Hell Hound" to fling a fireball at it, Black released a swarm of small green bats at it, and Cherry fired out several white blasts. All that hit the boss at once. After hearing the Ghost Hound whine in pain, they were all happy with their direct hits. If it wasn't down by now, it was close. This battle was coming to an end...

"If it gets back up, we're all ready to strike once more?" Andx asked them all, and they each nodded in response. Zeo figured that if it [i]did[/i] get up, they'll just hit it again, like the dog said. Wanting to be sure that the next attacks would be the last, he decided to scan the Ghost Hound's current Life Gauge. At the same time, it was already up.

"Huh? How'd it get up that fast?" Cherry questioned. At that moment, Zeonark saw the problem. The wounds on it's legs had just now fully healed themselves.

"Sh[b][/b]it! That's why this thing's recovery time is like it was in the beginning! It's regenerating!" their leader informed them, which shocked the party.

"Wait, so basically-"

"Yeah Cherry, pretty much [i]everything[/i] we did is getting erased as we speak. It's Life Gauge is being refilled at a stupidly fast rate."

"So, Senpai, what do we do? If we just stand here..."

"Black, if we attack, it's not like we'll do anything." Zeo responded to him. The battle just pretty much became impossible. Every blow, it would just heal itself. It will just go on until their Life Gauges are empty. Seeing as nothing else is going to work, Zeo figured that starting the program was his last resort. But he knew that alone wouldn't be enough to take it down before it recovered. Then, he remembered that he felt it respond to Cherry's attacks a few times. [i]...Maybe... just maybe... Cherry can amplify the strength of the attack. If Black and Bud strike it hard and fast... maybe... just... MAYBE, it'll go down before he can regenerate.[/i]

"Formulating a new plan?" Andx asked Zeo while they stood there in silence.

"Yeah... I think. I have no actual clue if it'll work or not, but hell, it's better than nothing."

"Tell us what to do then." Cherry said, wanting to hear his plan and receive orders.

"You, little miss crazy, are coming with me."

"Huh?"

"You two are gonna strike from any direction you want. As long as you hit something."

"Can we ask what you have planned, exactly?" Black saw that his Senpai was desperate here, but if he still came up with anything, he wanted to know.

"A One-Shot thing. You'll know when you see it." Zeo told him, letting them all know that this was their last chance. If this failed, they're screwed. He took his sister's hand and flew into the sky. Black prepared another explosive bat and let it carry him in the air. Andx prepared to strike it's underbelly from the ground.

"Zeo, tell me what you're gonna do..."

"...You know that thing I did on NoBeginning?"

"You mean that 'Getsuga Tenshou' everyone is on about? How the heck did you-"

"Yeah, I don't really know how myself, but I think if I can pull that off and you can increase it's power, with those two attacking along with it..."

"It might be enough damage?"

"Bingo." he replied, then starting moving towards it's head. He planned to get a direct blow to connect with it's face. Black started to see part of his plan. He figured that they would want to make sure it went down regardless if their attack didn't work, so he began to prepare another energy bat on the side. The Ghost Hound looked up at the two airborne siblings, snarling.

"Cherry!" Black called out, getting her attention as he threw the second bat at them. She held her sword up to absorb it's power. The katana glew with a bright green light, and it's wielder had a devilish smile. She slammed her sword down on the boss' head. At that moment, Minato pulled something up with the question: 'Would you like to start this Program?'.

"Run Program!" his Player Character and his Real World self both said as he slammed a bigger than average black wave at the Ghost Hound, but it wasn't the Getsuga Tenshou. [i]What?![/i]

"Huh?" Cherry was confused, she looked back at her panicked brother. She didn't understand why he was like that either, both attacks connected. The other two, however, noticed what was wrong, and didn't attack like they were ordered to. The Ghost Hound's eyes suddenly flashed red. It then roared, letting out soundwaves under both of them, but then the soundwaves bounced off of the flame wall behind them.

"Wait, the flame wall was part of his plan this time? Oh, you ghastly bastard." Zeo insulted, seeing how the Ghost Hound took advantage of the wall, like Zeo did when he had it ram into it. Both of the siblings were blasted away by the soundwaves. It quickly recovered from the attacks as well and knocked the other two away while they were still shocked about the attack not working. The two of them flew into a wall. Zeo quickly got his balance back and caught Cherry. He sat her on the ground. At the same time he did this, the monster was headed straight for them. With the program nearly being activated, it was after it's original target again. The Player took for the skies and led it away from his sister. "Haha! Try to get me from-"

"Zeo!" Cherry called out as he looked back. It actually jumped up above him.

"Oh come on! What the hell?!" he yelled out, seeing as that was just ridiculous. An Infinity Shaped Light appeared on his back right before one of it's feet pounded down on him and smashed the leader into the ground. More blood spewed out of Minato's mouth. Honestly, that would've killed him in reality had that light not came and acted as a shield.

"Senpai!" Black shouted. The Ghost Hound took his foot off of his body. The light disappeared and Zeo's body laid motionless. "Get up damn it! Get up!"

"It's no use, his Life Gauge is near empty now." Andx told his friend about their leader's condition. With that one out of the way, the monster turned it's attention over to Cherry.

"...Uh oh..." Cherry knew she was dead now. Black and Andx were too far away to get to her in time, and Zeonark was still down. However, he still was conscious.

[i]Damn it! Move, move![/i] Minato mentally yelled at his PC, commanding him to get up and save her.

[i]Why do you wish to stand?[/i]

[i]You...?! You bastard, I asked for the powers, and you didn't give me a damn thing![/i]

[i]Answer my question. Do you still wish to 'win'?[/i]

[i]Screw that now, I just wanna save my sister![/i] with that thought, Minato appeared within the dataspace he was in before. It was the same as last time, Zeonark's sword was in front of him. "...Oh, so you just wanted a selfless reason? That's totally not cliche and unoriginal. ...Damn it, I don't care about how stupid this is right now though. I need that damn Infinity Power!"

"Start Program?" the system asked.

"Yes damn it! Start it now!" Minato demanded the power of it as he grabbed the sword. Zeonark's body flashed with the exact same Infinity Light that appeared on him several times in this fight.

"...Senpai?"

"Hey! Dog Breath, get the hell away from my sister!" the revived player shouted as his sword was engulfed in black and red energy. "Getsuga Tenshou!" he called out the name of the attack, launching out an enormous attack at the boss, which made contact and started pushing it away from Cherry. The party was awestruck as Black scanned it's Life Gauge and saw that it was rapidly depleting.

"Amazing... this is the Getsuga Tenshou that wiped out NoBeginning?" Black questioned.

"Hey, what the hell are you all doing?! Attack!" Zeo ordered while the blast was still going. "It won't be enough to take it down on it's own. So you all need to strike along with it!"

"Oh, right!" Cherry tightened her grip on her katana and let out a white wave that had it's size and force amplified by the Infinity Access Program. Black threw the explosive bat at it that was still lingering alongside it's summoner. Andx howled as his body caught on fire. He jumped into the air and executed the Burst Arte "Divine Dog - Blaze", which made him spin like a wheel, similar to the first Burst Arte, but he was completely engulfed in fire and inflicted more damage with this. The three extra attacks all hit the Ghost Hound along with Zeo's attack, with enough force to fling it into the flame wall.

"Don't stop, keep hitting the damage thing before it starts regenerating!" the leader yelled at them all. The dog continued whirling around in the air. Black summoned a swarm of smaller bats to go out and explode. Zeo got by his sister while she was charging up another white wave. He grabbed her Katana and enhanced the strength of her next attack. "Fire!" he commanded as he let out a Getsuga Tenshou at the same time she launched another wave out. Andx saw that he'd best move, and did such as everything hit the boss and caused a huge explosion. The bats did that on their own, but with both of the attacks from the two siblings, it drastically increased the amount of damage dealt. Enough to basically wipe out it's entire Life Gauge. They all heard a ghastly howl as a large spiritual orb ascended up, probably going to heaven. When the smoke cleared, all the party saw was a small seed on the ground.

"...What?" Cherry asked with a dumbfounded tone. Zeo walked over and picked it up.

"This is what we get for all of our hard work? A goddamn SEED? What, we gonna plant a tree as a job well done?!" Zeonark was furious. After going through all that hell, they get a little seed in return.

"This may possibly be something we bring back to the town as proof. The Ghost Hound is gone, and this could be the start of-" Andx was cut off.

"Bud, I don't really care."

"...Right then, let's just head back."

-

"Thank you ever so much for defeating the ghosts!" the mayor NPC gave the party his words of gratitude. Zeo already started making his way to a teleporter, since they were done. While Black and Andx were listening to the automated dialogue, she followed her brother outside of town.

"Hey, Zeo."

"Yeah?" her brother turned around when he heard her. She was fidgeting...

"Um... thanks."

"For what?"

"For saving me all the times you did, dummy. What else?"

"Stupid. You don't have to thank me for that. I'm your brother." he responded. No matter how much he disliked her, he was still the older brother. Though, she just walked up and poked him.

"Noooo. You just don't want sis to chew you out."

"That too. If Clair knew that you got hurt or something, you'd whine about it, and it'd be my ass. ...Mainly because I'm the older brother though."

"Of course." she replied with a sarcastic tone, like he usually did.

"Don't try to copy me." Zeo said, poking her back. She giggled at that while the other two were coming back.

"Senpai, be happy."

"I'm never happy. What is it?" he cracked another one of his usual jokes as he turned to see Black carrying a yellow container with 'EXP' on it in green letters.

"The seed was something to actually help the vegetation here, so-"

"It's an NPC Village. I don't care."

"NPCs could have feelings though." Cherry was now just trying to act like Zeo.

"If they do, I'm not apologizing."

"Break the damn Experience Box." Black ordered, now getting irritated with the NPC jokes. Especially seeing Cherry trying to get in on it too. Zeo slashed the box in half, causing it to blow up and yellow sparkles rained down on the four. 'LEVEL UP' appeared on each member of the party.

"Now then, let's call it a day." Zeo suggested while going towards the teleporter platform. They all nodded in agreement and gave a sigh of relief as they followed him.

[i]I didn't bother to say anything about the Infinity Access, or me actually feeling pain. Not like they can do anything about it. Yeah sure, I could've just stopped playing the game, but eeeeh...
...It's a fanfiction, there's supposed to be some kind of logical flaw.[/i][/spoiler]
[center][spoiler=Application]Send me this via PM so we don't clutter the thread with Applications. Same with the Guild App.

Real Name: (Doesn't have to be your actual real name. Just your Real World name.)
Username:
Age:
Gender:
Member Group: (Regular Member, Mod, etc)
Position: (Only if in a Club. Member, Leader, Co-Leader, etc.) (Oh, and please list the MAIN one you're always with.)
Personality:
Real World Appearance: (No, you don't need to put what you actually look like. Just give yourself an appearance in the outside world.)

Avatar: (You pick a Video Game or Anime character, and make it your appearance in-game. Don't worry if you find someone else you want to be. Sometime later in the fic, you can change. You don't have to be one btw. You can make one up. Pics or descriptions work.)
Weapon:
Powers: (If you have Video Game/Anime Powers, link to said person's list of abilities or something. If you want to be original, just list some stuff and don't be godmoddish with them. Note: Your Powers don't have to be from the person your Avatar is.)

Bio: (You don't need to explain your whole YCM life up to this point. Just explain important things. Like, how you got into a club/made one, how you met some of your friends, etc.)

Anything Else I need to Care about: [/spoiler]
[spoiler=Guild Application(Clubs, basically.)]Club Name:
Leaders:
Members:
Affiliations: (Other Clubs)
Enemies: (Other Clubs) [/spoiler]
Don't get something in the apps?
No prob, I got examples.

[spoiler=Zeonark]Real Name: Minato Suzumi
Username: Zeonark, usually referred to as Zeo
Age: 18
Gender: Male
Member Group: Member
Position: Leader of Absolute Powerforce (Co-Leader to Mushroom Kingdom)
Personality: In real life and in-game, Zeo can be quite the Deadpan Snarker, especially to his little sister, Cherry. She annoys the hell out of him, so in response, he teases, mocks, and insults her whenever she starts doing it to him or when she starts whining. Even though she's irritating, Zeo still loves her and worries about her. He also looks up to his older sister, Clair. However, he doesn't tend to show it much like Cherry. Rather, he just follows and attempts to work with her whenever he can. Other than that, Zeonark is usually lazy and always trying to relax. In-game, he does love to fight. It puts [i]some[/i] excitement in his life.
Real World Appearance: He looks like [url=http://megamitensei.wikia.com/wiki/Protagonist_(Persona_3)]Minato Arisato[/url] in his Summer Clothes. Which would be a blue-and-white t-shirt and jeans.

Avatar: The appearance of Tensa Zangetsu from Bleach, the spirit. He has long ragged black hair. He is dressed in a tattered, black hooded cloak that flares out into ragged ends.
Weapon: Black Daito (Japanese Long Sword)
Powers: [url=http://bleach.wikia.com/wiki/Ichigo_Kurosaki#Zanpakut.C5.8D]Tensa Zangetsu[/url] (...What? Ichigo was on my mind. Sue me.)

Bio: In the beginning, Minato started simple by making cards and posting them in the Realistic Cards Section. Eventually, he was invited into a club and started to make friends. As time went by, he joined more and more clubs until the first one he was in died, due to the Club Leader's banning. However, by that time, he made Absolute Powerforce, because he wanted to make a club and everyone he knew was saying they'd join. Along the way, he met a girl whom he began to consider as a sister, Clair. Also, an alter-ego named Cherry was created, solely as a joke. Eventually, it got out of hand and he further went with it by saying that their bodies seperated. Now, he has a very annoying little sister and an older one he admires. Taking care of the Guild as one of the two Leaders of Absolute Powerforce, Zeo continues to attempt to be as lazy with his life as possible.

Anything Else I need to Care about: It's about myself. I listed all of that already.[/spoiler]
[spoiler=Cherry]Real Name: Casey Suzumi
Username: Cherry
Age: 15
Gender: Female
Member Group: Regular Member
Position: Leader of Absolute Powerforce (Co-Leader to Mushroom Kingdom)
Personality: Young, hyperactive, annoying, etc. These are some words Zeo uses to describe Cherry. She has far too much energy, The girl has an obsession over her older sister, Clair. To the point of smelling her clothes on a daily basis. She is also madly in love with her. Her relationship with her older brother however... is complicated. Cherry acts as if she [i]loathes[/i] his very being. Always going out of her way to insult him and keep Clair from him. Though, sometimes, Zeo isn't even affected by most of this. Which infuriates her, because annoying her brother has become a everyday thing for her. Even if they both act like they hate each other, she still loves him. She'd never admit that though.
Real World Appearance: http://i53.tinypic.com/2rxe6gz.jpg - minus the scarf.

Avatar: http://i54.tinypic.com/2wr2o91.jpg
Weapon: A long black and silver colored katana.
Powers: Similar powers to her brother. They seemed more light-based, compared to his Dark Elemental Attacks, however. She can also used a multitude of [url=http://aselia.wikia.com/wiki/ToS_-_Genis_Sage:_Artes#Novice_Spells_.28.E5.88.9D.E7.B4.9A.E8.A1.93_-_Shokyuujutsu_-_.22Novice_Tier_Spells.22.29]Spells[/url].

Bio: "It's for the lulz", is the line used for Cherry's original creation purpose. Zeonark formed an alter ego and showed it off as a joke to all of his friends. He actually got used to having her around though, acting irritated with her, screaming at her, and both having wars within his own mind. He was putting on a ridiculous act of having a sibling whom he speaks to in his head, and/or alternates between bodies with her. Eventually, he just said that their bodies seperated, so she could live without just being known as an ego. Rather, her own being. Now, she's busy leading Powerforce with her brother and obsessing over Clair.

Anything Else I need to Care about: I'm cute. :[b][/b]D[/spoiler]
[spoiler=Absolute Powerforce]Club Name: Absolute Powerfoce
Leaders: Zeonark(Supreme Leader), Cherry(Secondary Leader)
Members: Check the incomplete list in the Powerforce Thread.
Affiliations: RP820 and The Mushroom Kingdom
Enemies: None... yet.[/spoiler]

For the record, know that these apps can change at any time.[/center]

Alright, now come on YCM. I know the Prologue is short, but give me people to work with? Please? xD

Oh, here's the current list of characters to prevent repeat Avatars.
I'm not having 60 Ichigos or 70 something else.
[center][spoiler=Characters]Username/Avatar
PM me if you're not on this list.

Zeonark - Tensa Zangetsu
Cherry - Hinagiku
Clair - Black Rock Shooter
Marsuvees Black - Kurodo Akabane/Ulquiorra(Will be explained)
Andx - Repede
Fusion XD - Luigi
BlindMonkey - Evil Monkey
Coyote Starrk - Miku
Techi - Vincent
Ice - Sissel
Shion Kaito - Shion Kaito
NoBeginning - Shizuo Heiwajima
Aesir - Brother Warth
Jake The Sage - ...Random Anime Guy? Not sure who that was.
King - Death the Kidd[/spoiler][/center]

[Blake]

You already know my thoughts thus far =3

[Jake the Sage]

*facepalm*

Oh God . . . oh God no . . . a YCM Life rpg C X

This could get chaotic

[Kazooie]

Jake, there's no need to try so hard man. Go with the flow and enjoy it.~

Can't wait to see chapter one Cherry.~

[Ice.]

I loooooooove how I was thinking of doing something like this a few days ago.

AND THEN BOOM ZEO GOES IN FOR THE STEAL.

Good luck, Zeo.

[iCherry]

[quote name='Jake the Sage' timestamp='1298429554' post='5028027']
*facepalm*

Oh God . . . oh God no . . . a YCM Life rpg C X

This could get chaotic
[/quote]

"Could"?
It WILL be chaotic. xD

[quote name='Nastasia' timestamp='1298429971' post='5028039']
Jake, there's no need to try so hard man. Go with the flow and enjoy it.~

Can't wait to see chapter one Cherry.~
[/quote]

Chapter One should be up in a few days, depending on how many people send apps.

[quote name='Wind Sorcerer Vaati' timestamp='1298432366' post='5028103']
I loooooooove how I was thinking of doing something like this a few days ago.

AND THEN BOOM ZEO GOES IN FOR THE STEAL.

Good luck, Zeo.
[/quote]

It's like I keep telling Andx.
BEST TIMING FOR [i]EVERYTHING[/i].

Thanks. I'll probably need it.

[Desu the Blue Nerd]

I'll be looking forward to this.

By the way I had an app for me almost done but my stupid computer froze on me. Expect one in tomorrow. DX

[Anbu-of-Sand]

Wait, I'm confused. So is this a Fan Fic, a Roleplay, or both? Either way, I'll most likely PM you an application when I find the time.

[iCherry]

[quote name='NoBeginning' timestamp='1298433623' post='5028148']
I'll be looking forward to this.

By the way I had an app for me almost done but my stupid computer froze on me. Expect one in tomorrow. DX
[/quote]

Don't you just hate when that happens? ><"
Take your time with it.

[quote name='Anbu-of-Sand' timestamp='1298435045' post='5028183']
Wait, I'm confused. So is this a Fan Fic, a Roleplay, or both? Either way, I'll most likely PM you an application when I find the time.
[/quote]

It's a fic.

[DARKPLANT RISING]

AHH IM COMIN

Real Name: Kenta
Username: The F***Er
Age: 13
Gender: Male
Member Group: Member
Position: TCG Troll
Personality: Overall trollish. You could take a look at the Failtroll Legacy for a more vivid explanation.
Real World Appearance: Normal Japanese kid.
Avatar: Is it OK to pick Mystic Tomato?
Weapon: No visible ones
Powers: Summon a large tomato out of the ground and have it attack the opponent, as though that's even fairly logical. Yeah right hell yes.
Bio: I joined in March 2009. After a noobish half-year, I left in August due to middle school entry exams, and returned. At around 2010 March I finally realized I sucked at the internet and started to actually stop failtrolling. Then, at around November I started to troll. I've built a pinned tut about noobishness, and otherwise nothing is really special about me.

[Aesirson]

Posting an app later today!

I'm Aesir, btw

[Toffee.]

IMA BE PART OF THIS, FOR TEH LULZ

[iCherry]

[quote name='Darkplant' timestamp='1298454931' post='5028522']
AHH IM COMIN

Real Name: Kenta
Username: The F***Er
Age: 13
Gender: Male
Member Group: Member
Position: TCG Troll
Personality: Overall trollish. You could take a look at the Failtroll Legacy for a more vivid explanation.
Real World Appearance: Normal Japanese kid.
Avatar: Is it OK to pick Mystic Tomato?
Weapon: No visible ones
Powers: Summon a large tomato out of the ground and have it attack the opponent, as though that's even fairly logical. Yeah right hell yes.
Bio: I joined in March 2009. After a noobish half-year, I left in August due to middle school entry exams, and returned. At around 2010 March I finally realized I sucked at the internet and started to actually stop failtrolling. Then, at around November I started to troll. I've built a pinned tut about noobishness, and otherwise nothing is really special about me.
[/quote]

You were supposed to PM this and I need a different Username.
Wait, Mystic Tomato? A Tomato that summons a larger Tomato to attack? o_O

[quote name='Ba'al' timestamp='1298462599' post='5028627']
Posting an app later today!

I'm Aesir, btw
[/quote]

AESIR
WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN

[DARKPLANT RISING]

[quote name='~Cherry~' timestamp='1298512417' post='5030393']
You were supposed to PM this and I need a different Username.[/quote]

Oh, whatever. Then old plain Darkplant.

[Aesirson]

[quote name='~Cherry~' timestamp='1298512417' post='5030393']
AESIR
WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN
[/quote]Gone! I've missed you and everyone else!

Sending my app via PM.

[Jake the Sage]

I sent my app in 83

[Desu the Blue Nerd]

When will the first chapter be out? Or is there still more you need until you do?

[Super Chaos Sonic]

I might as well join in...sent my two apps for ya.

[iCherry]

[quote name='NoBeginning' timestamp='1298853329' post='5039833']
When will the first chapter be out? Or is there still more you need until you do?
[/quote]

It should be this week.
I'm just having trouble writing it, is all. I'll get it done.

[Desu the Blue Nerd]

Well we'll be waiting. And by waiting I mean watching you from your window as you type it up.

[Shadow Zero]

.......A fan fic? This is set up more like an rp, and should be one in my opinion. Yeah, let's make an rp out of this. It could work. :3

[iCherry]

Chapter 1 posted on the first post under Prologue.
To the person used, forgive me if I got your personality wrong or something. Also, sorry for taking so long with posting this to begin with.

[Desu the Blue Nerd]

That was absolutely amazing Cherri. I love how it takes a godmod (I think icwutudidthar) to kill me.

It just makes me wonder though that since I was the first beaten if it makes me weak. <---Following how most manga and anime work.

Nah, it was still awesome. No. Incredible. No. Incredisome...azing...endous. Yes. It was incredisomeazingendous. I can't wait for chapter 2.

[Super Chaos Sonic]

An exciting first chapter

The fight between Zeo and NB was pretty awesome....but I found one spelling error that could be corrected.

[quote]"I'm thirsty now!" the other girl yelled as they continued. The oldest sister moaned as she walked over to the bickering siblings and took the [b]cartoon[/b].[/quote]

The word in bold text should be having 1 less "o" to make it "carton".

Other than that...this is a pretty awesome fic. ^^

[That and I did PMd you a app for this fic, if you didn't already see it..]

[iCherry]

[quote name='NoBeginning' timestamp='1299717857' post='5063467']
That was absolutely amazing Cherri. I love how it takes a godmod (I think icwutudidthar) to kill me.

It just makes me wonder though that since I was the first beaten if it makes me weak. <---Following how most manga and anime work.

Nah, it was still awesome. No. Incredible. No. Incredisome...azing...endous. Yes. It was incredisomeazingendous. I can't wait for chapter 2.
[/quote]

It was? Lol. I wanted to make you the super strong first enemy.

...Nah. Zeo said he was overleveled, if you fought like that against him, means your character is on par with him. Not weak.

I don't think it was that good. xD
Thanks.

[quote name='Chaos Sonic' timestamp='1299717893' post='5063470']
An exciting first chapter

The fight between Zeo and NB was pretty awesome....but I found one spelling error that could be corrected.

The word in bold text should be having 1 less "o" to make it "carton".

Other than that...this is a pretty awesome fic. ^^

[That and I did PMd you a app for this fic, if you didn't already see it..]
[/quote]

Fixed, thanks.
Didn't even notice it.

Here I am thinking the fight was badly written out.

I got your app. I need to add you to the first post list.