November 21st (Inside the game: Sword of Destiny)

(May's POV)

When the glowing light disappeared, I looked down to see that my outfit had changed. When I looked up at the girls, I saw them having strange looks on their faces.

"What?" I asked confused.

"Uhh......you have Skitty ears and a tail," Leaf said as she pointed to my head.

I reached to touch my head and such enough, I had ears. I put my hand behind me and felt a tail, "That friggin' asshole," I muttered under my breath as I swiped my hand down to access my avatar panel.

I looked at my character's profile and my avatar was named Creatura: magical princess who communicates with beasts and creatures.

"The friggin asshole!" I said louder as I twitched in fury.

"Ah.....May? You okay?" Leaf asked.

"No, the asshole made me a friggin' magical princess," I screeched in annoyance.

The girls then snickered trying to hold in their laughter, "It's not that bad," Misty said in attempts to pacify me.

"He named me Creatura," I deadpanned.

The girls then burst out laughing, "Come on, it's not funny!" I said as I stomped my foot.

"Relax May.....you can....redo your avatar.....later," Leaf said as she tried to catch her breath.

I sighed, "Just swipe your hand down to activate the white panel. Then place your scroll near it to be absorbed."

The girls did as I asked and they began to glow. The glow faded and they were dressed in their characters clothes and breastplates.

Dawn had black hair in a messy bun at the base of her neck with a few strands curled that framed her face. She wore a strapless black corset-like top with short flowy sleeves that weren't attached to her top, a sleeveless, cropped black jacket with dark silver trim, and dark silver leggings. She also wore black calf length boots black fingerless gloves that went up her fore arms. For armor and weapons, she had a few knives and she wore a breast plate.

Misty had light blue hair and wore a dark blue cropped tanktop and short black shorts. She also had fingerless arm gloves that reached all the way to her upper arms, calf length laced up boots, and wore a light blue sleeveless jacket that had holes on the sides and reached 6 inches above her knees. She didn't have any weapons on her at the moment and only wore a partial breast plate.

Leaf had dark green hair and wore a green tanktop and short khaki shorts. Like Misty, she wore fingerless gloves that went up to her upper arms, but were dark green. She also wore a sleeveless jacket that was also dark green, but hers reached the back of her calves. For armor and weapons, she had a breast plate like Dawn's and she carried a bow and a quiver of arrows with a few knives on hand.

"Cool! This is like our avatars, but better!" Dawn said super excited.

"Ditto, I think we got upgraded with these," Leaf added.

"Well whoop-de-doo for you," I said sarcastically.

"We should add you to our party for now," Misty said as I saw an invite appear in front of me.

"Diabolic Renegades?" I asked as I accepted their invite.

The girl's shrugged their shoulders, "It was the best thing we could pick at the time," Leaf explained.

I then noticed a list of people out of the corner of my eye and guessed that it was the girl's avatar names, RagingMyst, PoisonIvy, and IcyTaiga.

"Why did you pick those names for your avatar?" I asked.

"Had to pick something that was gender neutral. We can't be too obvious," Dawn explained.

"Speaking of gender, we should probably use that illusion potion to conceal ourselves," Leaf pointed out.

"Do you seriously have to conceal your identity?" I asked bluntly.

Leaf gave me a hard look, "I don't want him to know."

I sighed, "If Leaf doesn't want herself to be known, we'll follow her lead," Misty said.

"Plus, the guys will be pissed if they find out we play this game especially since we dived in using technology that hasn't even been approved," Dawn added.

I sighed again, "I guess you do have a point, but it's best if I stay as myself because someone is going to have to be the middle man between you and the guys especially since you've gotten them to hate your guts."

"Fine," Leaf agreed as she and the others drank the potion.

"How long will it last?" I asked once the girls finished glowing and their avatars turned male.

"Usually it lasts a day," Leaf explained.

"I guess the next question is figuring out my avatar and how to play since I've never done it before," I muttered as I swiped my hand down to bring up my panel.

"What you have is simple actually. You just chant spells to attack and heal," Leaf explained.

"But how do I know the spells?" I asked.

"There should be a list. I'm able to access mine when I played IRL so the list must be on our panel somewhere," she said as she swiped her hand down to bring up her panel.

"I found it," I called as I looked at the names of the spells I could cast.

"Wow! You have a lot of spells, especially different kinds," Dawn said surprised.

"Different kinds?" I asked.

"Normally a wizard can only use spells that are under his element category besides a few spells in enhancing certain skills like spying," Leaf explained. "From what I can see on your list, you have healing spells, attack spells that cover all categories and then some."

"Obliviously the person who made your avatar wanted to make you powerful enough to match our level," Misty said aloud in thought.

I continued to scroll through the list til I found a spell titled "Weapon Creation", wonder why he added this spell.

"Okay, I guess the next step is to find the guys, but how are we going to do that?" I wondered as I closed my panel.

"Hopefully they wouldn't be stupid to go fight a monster in their state," Misty muttered.

"Why would they?" I asked.

"For money and sometimes for weapon drops," Dawn explained.

"You said you stalked the guys...."

"Observed," Leaf inserted.

"Okay oobbsserrvvedd the guys, don't you have a way of tracking them?" I asked.

"They'd have to be using their avatar," Misty explained.

"I guess, I'll just have to use my contact," I said as I opened up a text box to send him a message.

A few seconds later, I got a reply.

"There in the Hager's Gorge and we need to step on it," I said as I closed the window.

"Let me guess, those idiots are fighting a monster," Leaf guessed in disgust.

I gave her a worried look, "Worse, they're surrounded by player killers."

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

(Drew's POV)

"What do you want with us? We don't have anything valuable," I argued.

"Give us what you've got," a player demanded.

"I've told you, we don't have anything," I protested angrily.

"Oh boss, can we play a game with them?" a player asked eagerly.

"Why not, we haven't had any fun all day?" the boss agreed with a sly grin before turning to face us. "Guess you gentlemen are lucky. You get to live a little longer than usual."

"You get to run like rats and we get to chase ya down and kill ya," the eager player said excitedly.

"You get three minutes," another player said. "Starting now."

We booked it, "How are we going to get away from these guys?" Ash asked. "We can't outrun them."

"We're gonna have to. We have to make it to a safe zone so these guys can't kill us," Gary panted.

"But where the hell is a town?" Ash protested.

"We'll just have to go back to Oredig," Paul answered.

"But that's miles away!" Ash protested again.

"We don't have a choice," I snapped tiredly.

"We've found you," a voice called childishly.

"Shit," Paul muttered as we tried to pick up our pace.

The player kills then began to shoot spells and projectiles at us making it harder for us to run. We were able to avoid some of them, but we still got hit.

"We need weapons," Gary said tiredly.

"No, we need a miracle," Ash said as we screeched to a halt at the edge of a ledge.

"Looks like you've got nowhere else to run," the eager player said excitedly as they surrounded us.

Suddenly some arrows and knives pierced the player killers causing them to cry out.

"Might want to rethink that!" a familiar voice shouted causing me to look up in shock.

Suddenly the player killers were getting hit with attacks causing their avatars to turn into flames. When the dust settled, I saw a bunch of flames waiting to respawn and two familiar faces that caused the guys to frown.

"Drew! Thank Mew you're okay!" the familiar voice shouted as they attacked me with hug as the flame disappeared.

It wasn't quite the real deal, but after everything that's happened today, I took it and hugged them back tightly.

"What are you doing here May? How are you here? Please tell me you didn't dive in after us," I slight begged as I pulled awhile slightly, but kept her at arm's length.

"Okay, I didn't," she said.

"Now is not the time for jokes May, did you dive in?" I asked more sternly.

May sighed, "Yes," she said causing me to groan. "I had no choice, I was already at the headquarters where the dive tech was being created and this was the fastest way to help you."

"But how, I thought there weren't a lot of headset prototypes yet?" Gary asked.

"There isn't, I kinda took a dangerous route to get here which I'll solve later," May said cutting me off from scolding her.

"Define dangerous?" I asked angrily.

May groaned, "Now's not the time! We've got other issues to worry about."

"May. Explain. Now," I said sternly as I crossed my arms.

May sighed, "The rig I was used wasn't known to the doctor I was helping out. When he was taking a call, I followed another doctor who said there was one available that I could dive in and access an avatar."

"Speaking off," Ash said as he grabbed May's tail making her spasm.

"Do that again and I'll kill you when we're IRL!" May snapped.

"What's with the Skitty look?" Gary asked.

"I didn't have an account when I dived in and when I did dive in, I wasn't able to access anything to create one so someone I know created one for me. They decided to make me that motherfucking princess of creatures hence my appearance," May explained with slight annoyance.

"Your avatar must have come with the latest game update," Paul guessed.

"Still though, it seems to fit you nicely," I teased as I rubbed her head.

"If you want quality time with me when we're IRL, you better stop," she threatened.

"Good luck with that," I smirked as I pecked her lips.

"So what's the story with them?" Gary asked slightly annoyed as he gestured to Misty, Leaf, and Dawn.

"We can't escape from here without some help since you guys are practically powerless and I'm a newb so I asked for some help. Now suck it up because they're the only chance we got," May said with a slight snap.

"But how do we get out of here? It's not like we can beat the game, it's not how it's designed," Ash said tiredly.

"You kill the top player," PoisonIvy said.

We looked at her in surprise, even May raised her eyebrows, "How do you figure that?"

"While you reuniting with your lover," he said causing May to look pissed. "We did some digging. Apparently, there's been a really powerful player that's been giving the game grief. The game masters have created a quest to beat him claiming you'll win the game though it's not like you really beat the game."

"That just made no sense," Ash whined in trying to process what was just said.

"A quest was just giving to be the game/most powerful player. You do it, you win," RagingMyst said with a slight snap.

"It's not like we have any other ideas," I sighed. "Okay, where's this player."

"Gilgory Mountain," Icy Taiga answered.

We looked at him stunned, "But that's the most monster ridden place in this game!" Ash complained.

"Suck it up, you want out?" PoisonIvy asked.

The guys didn't answer, "Just so we're clear. After this is over, we're back to being enemies," Gary said sternly.

"Not a problem," PoisonIvy said gruffly as she gave some potions to us before we started walking, "Drink this as we walk, it'll heal your HP."

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

(May's POV)

We've been walking for a while with Drew and I bringing up the end, "Can you please stop patting my head and touching my ears," I whispered in a whine.

"Can't help it, you look too cute," he teased.

I sighed, "I will be so happy when we are IRL."

"True, it isn't the same kissing and hugging you in the game," Drew admitted.

"Probably cause of the sensors that dull the senses, but you're right, it isn't the same," I agreed as I held Drew's hand.

Drew smiled as he pulled me close and kissed my head making my ears twitch.

"Oi, love birds, we're stopping for a couple hours," Gary hollered.

I rolled my eyes as we caught up with everyone where they began making a makeshift camp site.

"How far are we from the mountain?" I asked.

"Hard to say, about six hours," Misty said as she pulled up the map.

"Seriously? And we've already been walking for four hours already," I whined.

"Can't do anything about it, the map in this game is huge," PoisonIvy answered.

I sighed, "Hey May, do the girls know what's going on?" Ash asked causing Paul to look at me with slight concern.

"I'm not sure," I said slightly lying. "I was already at the gaming tech headquarters when I learned where you were and I dived right in. They probably assume you're gaming since that's all you seem to have been doing for the last couple of weeks."

"What's wrong with that?" Ash asked.

I sighed, it was pointless. Drew was never really in it cause he was busy in dealing with me, bless him, and Paul was able to finally see the light before this whole thing happened. It's gonna take a lot more to shake Ash and Gary, especially Gary. Both he and Leaf were getting obsessed with this game and it was wrecking their relationship.

I mentally sighed, something I seemed to be doing a lot lately, "I'll be back you guys, I'm going to find some more firewood."

"I'll go with you," Drew said as I stood up.

We then walked into the woods, "Okay, what's wrong?" Drew asked.

"What gives you the impression something's wrong?" I asked.

"May, I know you and I don't have to read your aura right now to know something's wrong," he said gently as he lightly tugged my arm to stop me from walking further and turned me to face him.

I gave a small chuckle as a small grin appeared on my face, "I should know that by now, especially after everything we went through," I admitted as I raised my hand and moved some of his hair behind his ear before letting my hand rest on the side of his face.

We then kissed before we continued walking and began to gather firewood, "I guess what concerns me is Ash and Gary being completely absorbed in this game and what it's going to do with their relationship with Misty and Leaf."

"What about Paul?" Drew asked.

A small smile appeared on my face, "Thankfully he was able to see the light before this happened and he and Dawn have made amends. and I wasn't really concerned about him because I knew he would have enough common sense to know that what he was doing was hurting Dawn."

"May, when you said that the girls didn't know, were you lying?" Drew asked.

I said nothing as I couldn't break the confidence the girls trusted me with.

"Let me put it this way, twitch your ears twice if you were lying earlier," he said.

I twitched my ears twice causing him to sigh, "What are the girls doing?" he asked.

I stayed silently, "Are the girls playing the game?" Drew asked.

I twitched my ears twice, "I wonder if they even know how to play?" Drew wondered aloud.

Again I twitched my ears twice causing Drew to look at me in surprise, "Have they been playing for a while?"

Once again, I twitched my ears twice, "Well that gives me some hope, maybe they can help us," he said in thought. "Hopefully they don't know about the in dive tech in attempts to pull us out."

I froze and sighed, "Wait a minute, they dived in too?!" he asked surprised.

"What do you expect? We love you guys too much to have you in harm's way. Mew knows how many times you risked your ass to save mine and it's time I returned the favor," I said slightly defensive.

Drew sighed as he hugged me, "I have no doubt that nothing would have stopped you, but I still don't like the circumstances surrounding you diving using tech that hasn't even been tested."

"I don't either, but I had no choice. I'd do anything to save you. Besides, we still have a lot of dates to make up for," I teased as I kissed him.

He kissed me back before we continued to gather more wood, "Back to the girls, are they nearby?" Drew asked.

I twitched my ears twice, "Have I met them?" he asked slightly suspicious.

Again, I twitched my ears twice causing Drew's eyes to widen, "Are we traveling with them?"

I looked at him and he sighed knowing from looking at me that the answer was yes.

"This whole time, that's who they were?! Really?" Drew asked surprised.

"They were going for the whole revenge by kicking-your-ass sorta theme and it backfired which is why they haven't played in a while. They were/are very paranoid about being caught which is why when they are near you guys, they use a gender changing potion to disguise themselves. This whole thing makes me worried about Gary, Ash, Misty, and Leaf, especially Leaf and Gary. This could break them apart," I said worried causing me to hug the wood I collected to my chest.

Drew came up to me and pulled me into a side hug while kissing my forehead, "I don't think that'll be the case."

"You don't understand Drew. Leaf is so torn up inside by all of this because she feels that Gary no longer knows she exists. Hell, it's her birthday damn it. She even bet everything that Gary wouldn't even remember," I ranted.

"Maybe they need this to shock their relationship, especially for Gary to appreciate what he will lose if he doesn't snap out of it," Drew said. "Our relationship had that shock a few months."

I slumped a little in remembering the painful memory, "But you were aware of me constantly and we loved each other and still do. Their situation is different and I'm afraid it's going to blow up disastrously."

Drew hugged me close, "Everything will turn out alright in the end. Remember, not all relationships aren't perfect. It just doesn't work that way."

I nodded, "Thanks for that, I just hope you're right."

I could sense Drew smirking, "You know I'm right."

"Hey Drew, ever since you've been in the game, have you been able to use any spells or fighting skills?" I asked.

He shook his head, "We've tried everything, but I guess since we aren't logged in a player, we don't have access to do anything."

I nodded as I saw a boulder nearby and placed my twigs on the ground. Guess it's time to put that spell to use.

"Ral hail sih il fiet cee kul rain fil sig fih," I chanted as I shot my magic into the boulder.

It glowed and rumbled a little before the light faded and a crevice was made.

"Go and look," I said as I gathered my wood.

Drew walked over and stuck his hand in a crack that was made. He then pulled out a sword.

As Drew pulled it out, a popup appeared before me describing the sword I created, "Its name is Lover's Spellblade, a unique sword forged by me. It has the ability Ethereal Shift which allows your sword to phase through any weapon or shield that tries to block your attack. Now I know you don't have any skills accessible to you, but all that training we've done has to count for something, shouldn't it?" I teased slightly as Drew read the info about the sword.

"I don't think I've ever come across a sword this good," he said surprised.

I snorted lightly, "I doubt that. I just feel more comfortable if you had something to protect you."

"I don't care, this sword means a lot. Hopefully, I can keep it after we get out of here," Drew said as he attached it to his side. "Don't you have a weapon?"

I sighed, "Unfortunately no. My avatar doesn't have fighting skills only healing and magic, not to mention what I'm wearing is highly inappropriate for combat which pisses me off," I said slightly annoyed as Drew picked up his wood and walked over to me.

"Then I'll make sure to fight for the both of us. Plus, a princess is supposed to have a protector," he teased.

"I guess you'll have to do," I responded playful with a smirk before smiling sincerely. "But I wouldn't have it any other way."

Drew smiled as we kissed for the umpteenth time. We started to make out when a message showed up in my field of vision.

"It's Leaf threatening to kill us both if we don't come back soon," I said with a sigh.

"We should get back anyway, we need to try and get some rest before we continue traveling," Drew pointed out.

"Hey Drew," I said as continued to walk back. "Can you not tell the guys what I didn't tell you? I don't want to break my promise to the girls in not telling."

"What did you tell me?" Drew asked playfully causing me to laugh as we made it back to camp.

"What took you so long?" Gary asked.

"I had to talk to Drew about some things," I explained as Ash's eyes widened when looking at Drew's sword.

"Dude, where did you get that?!" he asked.

"May made it," he explained.

"Oh come on, how come you get to fight with a weapon and we can't?" Ash complained.

"Because I know how to fight with one, May and I have been training with au....." Drew started to explain before I kicked his leg to stop him. He couldn't say aura because it give the guys the impression the girls would ask questions.

"You train with what?" Misty asked.

"Authentic like weapons, but most of the time we train with wooden replicas," I said covering for Drew.

"Really, why?" Dawn asked playing along.

"We're kinda martial art enthusiasts, me more than him," I explained.

"That's cool. Anyway, you guys should get some rest, we'll keep watch," Leaf said.

We nodded and laid down on the ground to sleep. After a while, we began trekking to Gilgory Mountain.

"Why do I get the feeling this powerful player likes the dark side?" I muttered as we began to walk through a creepy looking forest.

"Cause he placed his hideout in such a creepy place," Ash answered.

"I know that, but I'm getting this vibe that's giving me the creeps," I shivered.

I then sensed movement, "We've got incoming monsters," I called.

The girls then looked alive and got out their weapons, "Drew, protect Creatura and the others," Leaf shouted as she and the girls rushed to attack the monsters that come into view.

Drew pulled out Spellblade and held it out ready to attack if anything came close. Feeling slightly nervous, I started to chant for a protective shield.

"Don't use you magic May, conserve it for later. I can handle this," Drew said a monster came out.

He then rushed forward and began to slash at it. After a couple hits, the monster was killed and disappeared.

After that, we didn't see anymore and the girls came back, "We're fine at the moment so we should keep moving," Leaf said.

Drew sheathed Spellblade and we began walking again coming across more monsters the further we walked.

"Hopefully that's the last of them before we hit this player," Drew muttered.

I hoped Drew was right, "I don't get it. How can this player take residence here without having to worry about being attacked by monsters."

"Because they are under my control," a voice chuckled evilly.

We looked up to see on the cliff side a figure clad in fancy medieval clothing, "I take it you're the powerful player everyone keeps talking about?" Leaf asked.

"Yes and I must say that it is amazing to have this much power and finally claim that status so I've made myself Lord of the Netherworld," he proclaimed egotistically.

"Great, a moron who's full of himself," Dawn sweatdropped.

"I'd love to stay and chat, but I have better things to do," he said. "I'll leave my minions for you to play with."

He then turned and left and monsters began to appear, "Great," Paul muttered.

"Stay to that corner, we'll handle them," Leaf directed as she began to shot arrows with enchantments attached.

Drew also joined the fray leaving me to defend the others. I chanted for a shield and then began focusing on magical attacks.

After a while, I began to notice the girl's avatars to shift to their original ones.

"Ivy, I thought the potion we took was supposed to last a day!" Dawn shouted.

"It is, it must have been diluted making it less effective," Leaf shouted back.

"What are you talking about?" Gary shouted as the girls got pushed back into a corner with us.

They didn't say anything til their avatars reverted back to normal causing the guys excluding Drew to look at them in shock.

"Icy, use your trump card," Leaf shouted.

"Are you kidding me?! I don't have enough magic to do it!" she snapped as she continued to throw knives.

"We don't have a choice. Icy, start chanting. Myst, start healing us. Creatura, drop your shield and chant the support magic spell with me and aim it at Icy!" Leaf ordered.

I dropped the shield and began chanting along with Leaf as Dawn chanted her spell. Her form then changed to make her look like a huge two footed monster with a snout, horns, and a tail.

"Holy Shit!" Ash shouted as Dawn roared and began to attack the monsters by swiping, stomping, and eating 'em.

After a minute or two, the monsters were gone and Dawn reverted to her original form.

"What form did I take this time?" she asked.

"A Satyr with a tail and you ate people this time," Leaf reported.

"Lovely, then again, I haven't eaten anything since breakfast," Dawn remembered.

I noticed the guys still gawking, "Y.....you were those guys, the whole time?!" Ash spluttered.

Leaf and Misty rolled their eyes, "Well we had to come up with some way to get back at you assholes for ignoring us," Leaf spat.

"Excuse me?!" Gary shouted.

"Enough!" I shouted stepping in-between, "We don't have time to argue. We need to focus on the game."

"No, I want to talk about this now!" Gary said angrily. "What the hell Leafy?! How could you do that to us?"

Leaf frowned, "I had to find some way of kicking your ass since you've been acting as if I don't exist."

"Come on Leafy, you had no right to do that," he argued.

"Really? Last time I checked, I could do whatever I wanted in my free time," she pointed out.

"Yes, but not backstab me with this game," he said angrily. "Come on, you knew this game was important to me."

Leaf gave a mocking laugh, "Of course I did, you spent so much time with it, you don't even notice me anymore."

"Really? Leaf you should have said something. Hell, if I knew you played, we could have done more gaming," Gary offered.

"No, you wouldn't have. Remember when you would looking for people to be in your party that one time, you told me you didn't need my help because I wouldn't know how to play. It wasn't about me, it was about this stupid game. You became so obsessed with this game that it's taken over your life even after PoisonIvy stopped appearing," Leaf said angrily.

"No it hasn't, I just wish you'd quit being bitchy and get off my back about it. I don't even know why you bothered to jump in to here if hate the game so much!" Gary shouted.

"Because I love you and I wanted to save your stupid ass, but apparently I was mistaken. Since I'm a nuisance to you, I can assume that our relationship doesn't matter as this game takes more precedence. Well, you don't have to worry anymore about choosing between me and the game," Leaf answered stiffly.

"Leaf, what are you saying?" Gary asked slightly suspicious and worried.

Leaf gave him an expressionless look, "Because we're done."

I looked at her in shock as well as everyone else, "You can't be serious?" Gary said stunned.

"I am," she answered seriously.

"Leaf...." Gary started saying, but I cut him off.

"I've been thinking about it for a week now. It's pains me to say this Gary because I've been one of your best friends since we were kids and you were the first one I fell for, but if you can't treat me right, I can't stay in a relationship with you. We're done and since you don't have any annoyances, you can spend your time on the game when we get out," she stated as she looked at the rest of us. "We should get moving. We need to take this guy out."

She then chanted a spell to propel herself to a nearby cliff ledge making her way in the direction the player went.

"Drew...." I murmured as he came up and squeezed my hand in comfort.

"I didn't expect that, but I can understand why she did," he said sympathetically.