Hunter caught Gameknight as he went limp, catching him before his face hit the floor. His body was rapidly changing between bright colors so much that it was slightly disorienting. If you listened carefully, you could almost hear what sounded like static radiating from his skin.

Hunter wasn't sure she wanted to know what that meant. But she did want to know what had just happened.

One minute, she was lying in the floor, greeting death, the next she was perfectly fine. It obviously had something to do with Gameknight, but she wasn't sure what.

"Idiot." She grumbled as he grabbed his arms and placed him on her back. He probably wasn't waking up soon. And now was not a good time to be unconscious.

A huge beast stood across from them. It only slightly reminded Hunter of the Elder Guardian from way back when just because of its size, but that's where the similarities end. This thing had dark, hard skin, with a blueish metal covering its joins and possible weak areas. It's razor sharp horns would kill someone on contact, and appeared to also be dipped in the strange metal. Stop the terrifying thing was a villager-no, not a villager. It had a robe and blue-tainted skin and carried a bow unlike anything Hunter had ever seen.

And it was aimed straight at them.

Hunter dodged as an arrow flew toward her. The beast growled and ran forward, trying to impale her. Herder grabbed Hunter's arm and started to run, the the beast seemed to match their pace with ease. An arrow struck Herder's shoulder and he cried out, but kept running without relinquishing his grip on Hunter, who was struggling to keep up while carrying Gameknight. When they got through this, they would have to talk about what he ate, 'cuz this was ridiculous.

A bark rang out behind them, followed by a growl. Herder gasped and tried to Turin around, but this time Hunter grabbed his arm and pulled him along. If they went back there, they weren't going to make it.

Angry growls rang out and the beast groaned in pain, but all sounds of combat stopped after a few clicks of a cross-bow could be heard. Herder stifled a sob and mumbled something under his breath, but began to run faster as he tried to get them farther away. Hunter felt bad for the boy, but there wasn't anything they could do.

Not like this at any rate.

The footsteps that had been rattling the ground behind them faded as they neared the village walls. Hunter dropped Gameknight to the floor and gasped, rolling her shoulders and groaning softly at the pain it brought. Herder pulled out a pickaxe to start hammering away at the walls. They had come from the South, so they were at the left wall. Sounds of fighting could be heard from the front gates (or what was left of them) so hopefully there were safe for the moment. Hunter looked around at the landscape-it was almost peaceful. Clouds drifted slowly across the sky and the sun's rays warmed her skin. She signed with malcontentment as she looked away. She was kind of getting sick of this quarrel.

"Hunter?" Herder asked, snapping her out of thought. Hunter looked up, only slightly surprised.

"What do you think is going to happen?" Herder asked quietly as he moved toward Gameknight, grabbing his arms. Hunter sighed and grabbed his ankles. Together, they pulled him through the wall and safely into the village. Herder sealed the wall with cobblestone and moved to grab his arms again.

"Where to?" He asked, peering up at her through his long, curly dark hair. Hunter nodded to the right. "Morgana's place. Hopefully she will have the potion done."

They hauled him to the doorway and practically kicked the door down to throw him inside. They both collapsed to the floor, breathing hard, only to be face to face with a startled witch.

"What in the bloody he-" Hunter held up her hand. "Ma'am there is a child present." She managed. Hunter propped herself up against the wall and stared at the witch while catching her breath. She couldn't help but notice the bright green gem missing from the woman's large, pointed hat. "The potion is done, right?"

Morgana ring her hands and looked away. "Well... Yes, I finished it, but..." she trailed off and glanced at Gameknight who was still, but continued flashing irregular and bright colors. Numbers flickered across him along with the wave of colors, making him seem like one big jumbled mess.

"But..?" Hunter hinted.

"But can he even maintain a potion?" Morgana finished, looking her in the eye. "I haven't even seen the majority of his 'solidity problems'" she explained with her fingers doing air quotes, "and I already have my doubts. Do we even know what he wants to do?"

Hunter glared at her, even though she brought up a good point. Herder stood up and chimmed in, "Well it's better we try it and it doesn't work instead of just hoping something else works."

Morgana sighed, defeated, and tossed something at Gameknight. Hunter nor Herder has time to react as the splash potion hit him in the chest and he sat up very suddenly with a gasp. He folded his arms around himself, making his hands invisible as he squeezed his eyes shut. After a moment he opened them and looked around in confusion before his gaze was met with the trio a few blocks away.

"..."

"Aaaaanyway," Hunter said turning to look at Morgana, "The potion?"

The old weathered woman nodded solemnly and pulled a very dark potion out of her inventory. It kind of looked like a vile of mud, but every now and again you could see flashes of bright white, red, and green. Morgana walked over to Gameknight and held it out. He looked between it and her for a moment before his eye brows furrowed and he pulled a hand from its hiding place and carefully grabbed the vile. Hunter was shocked to notice how transparent his hand was, and the longer it was out, the more wild the numbers and colors came. By the time the bottle was safely in his inventory, Gameknight looked like he had just run a mile. He was sweaty, arms looking heavy, mom's spaghetti, and about to pass out. Hunter locked eyes with him.

"You're not going out there.""Let's go." Hunter and Gameknight said at the exact same time. Hunter stood angrily and stormed over to him.

"Let me get one thing straight-you can't even hold a bottle without dissolving right now and you want to go and fight Null?! What do you think is going to happen?! What even happened when I was taking my last breath on the first floor?!" Hunter spat, hands pulling at her hair. Gameknight looked up at her with wide eyes, as though only just remembering what had happened.

"At least tell me, okay? Can't I have that?" She said, practically whispering the last part. She sat on the crafting table beside him, lookin at the floor.

It was silent a moment.

"Um, I'm just gonna-" And with that Herder backed out the door, out of the scene. He most certainly didn't want to get caught in it. Morgana mumbled some excuse and escaped to the backrooms, leaving to two alone.

"I... Look, I don't really know what happened." Gameknight confessed, looking at the floor as well. "I just... You were hurt, so I tried to do something to help. I might have repaired your code, but I don't know how I did it."

Hunter looked at him, but he kept his gaze cast down. She punched him in the shoulder and only just barely managed to refrain from shuddering when her hand almost went through. "It's okay Gameknight, I just... I just don't want you to go out there and get yourself killed, when it's pretty obvious that what your going to do."

Gameknight looked at her with uncertain eyes. She raised an eye brow at him but didn't say anything else. It was quiet a moment.

Gameknight looked as if he was about to say something-something that was troubling him, when an explosion shook in the distance. The duo kept off of the table and made for the door. When they finally managed to squeeze outside, the were greeted with the sounds of fighting at the front of the village. Off to the side, smoke filled the village. Two ways to go.

"Hunter, I think we gotta-" Gameknight was sharply cut off as someone grabbed him by the front of the shirt and slammed their lips on his. Gameknight's eyes went wide as he stared at Hunter's firmly closed ones. Soft locks of hair splashed his face, and the the bright, curly red pretty much matched the color of his skin. She suddenly let go and stepped away. Before he could say anything, she pulled out a water bucket and raced toward the other side of the village.

Gameknight watched her go. Of course she would do that now. Make it nine times harder for him to do what he had to have done.

With regret, he drew his sword and ran toward the front gates.

A/N: fIgHt MeH mY sHiP wIlL sAiL
Okay so I will try to get the next part out (only two more to go I think) soon, but who honestly knows at this point. Good news: I was taking a coding course and now I actually know what I'm kind of talking about rn XD

I didn't proof read but whatever.
See ya