Seeing the inside of this walled town felt both nostalgic and new at the same time. It resembled what you would have imagined a medieval town from the thirteenth century to have looked like. You had your blacksmiths, bakers, apothecaries, and much more. What you didn’t have in the medieval times of Earth, however, were tailors specifically for mice, entertainment districts—again, just for mice—and also the execution gallows—this was for both mice and men.

The townspeople were also an unusual sight. Almost all the humans had a mouse fastened to their shoulders. The exceptions included beings of other races. I noticed several green lizardmen, a few cat-eared demi-humans, and occasionally a cobalt or two. I really was in some kind of RPG world.

And that got me thinking….

Life in this new world was strange. Back in my previous life, I hadn’t appreciated the smaller details, like the taste of coffee, the feel of a hot shower following an intense workout, or even the annoyingly rude behavior of people cutting a queue. The only tangible object or person still connecting me to my old life was Dave. And even that was wrong. He was a mouse now.

In the past, I hated Dave. I blamed him for everything wrong in my life. The loss of my promotion and the sour end to my relationship with Steph. He was the root of all that was wrong in my life. Him. The single entity that was my downfall- not just off the balcony of course!

Yet, thinking about it now, I don’t think I ever really got to know Dave. We said hello or gave passing nods, but we never actually engaged in an actual conversation. I didn’t know anything about the man…. I mean mouse. For all I know, we could have been friends, had things been a little different of course.

Was my hate warranted or was it a misguided attempt to deflect from my shortcomings?

This realization guided me back to the present. Our old lives were over. My job no longer mattered and neither did Steph. We were in a new world with endless possibilities. Endless new experiences and the best thing about it was that we were not alone. We were bonded and had each other. Dave, although unfunny, was kind of bearable now that I was getting to know him a little better.

I smiled at the sudden realization, and I felt genuinely happy for doing so. This was the first time that I was actually happy in a very long time. The stress of the old world was no longer mine to carry. The weight finally began lifting off my shoulders. Well not literally, as Dave was still sitting on them, figuratively. I was excited for all the future had in store.

‘’You done daydreaming?’’

‘’Huh?’’

‘’You might want to duck.’’

I reacted too late. A large boulder-sized hand came barreling into my face to knock me clean to the floor. The fall was hard, and the impact on my nose was even harder.

A large bear of a man loomed over me. I struggled to make out his features as he stood with the Sun to his back. ‘’Why were you ogling my woman.’’ Said a voice. The voice though, didn’t sound like it came from the monstrous human figure. It was too squeaky and quiet. It was a shrill and mousy voice. At first, I thought I had been goofily smiling at the man’s wife or girlfriend while in my head, daydreaming. However, the evidence now seemed to be pointing at something else entirely.

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Dave hid behind my raggedy shirt collar, holding on tightly.

‘’Hey!’’ I turned and whispered over my shoulder. ‘’I didn’t know you were into mice?’’

‘’Well, I didn’t know either. I was just staring out of curiosity and then suddenly my tail started wagging and circling excitedly. I had no idea what was going on. I’m still new to this body.’’

Before I could get back up, the brute of the man lunged for me. I quickly rolled out of the way and got to my feet.

I felt Dave poking and tapping around. He must have opened his interface because I immediately felt a surge of power. My body rippled as my muscles began to reverberate with power. My vision grew sharper and my instincts deadlier. I felt ready to take on the world.

I turned to face the brute. Feeling overly confident, I gave him a warning. ‘It’s not too late to back down.’

The square-jawed brute spat at the floor. The mouse on his shoulder seemed unperturbed too. He sat on his throne and twirled the hair of his walrus moustache while smirking.

‘’My honor has been besmirched. Your little mouse friend was blowing kisses at my sweet Delores and made her feel most uncomfortable.’’ He voiced while pointing to the crowd.

I looked over and noticed a human woman shouldering a rather large feminine mouse, with teeth twice the size of my fingernails. She fashioned a polka dot dress, and hid behind her familiar, blushing.

‘’I’m sure we ca….’’ before I could finish my sentence my body started to move of its own accord.

I threw several punches into the air and a few kicks. The rhythm and movement seemed off. I was hitting nothing but empty space.

The brute and his mouse just looked at me in confusion as I didn’t seem to be heading in their direction.

‘’you ok there, Dave?’’ I glanced at the little guy on my shoulder who seemed to have some type of controller in his hand, but he didn’t seem to have any clue of what he was doing.

Suddenly my body started to move towards the crowd that had been gathering. Kick, punch, kick punch.

‘’Dave, you need to do something quick.’’

We got closer and closer. The crowd began to panic and scream. Several women and their mice fainted.

‘’Help. Save us!’’ cried voices from the fast-dispersing crowd. ‘’His tail, I saw it. Save the women!’’

‘’Not to fear.’’ Said a familiar voice. It was the mouse. ‘’I shall defend you all and my honor.’’

********

I’m guessing that I must have been knocked out because the next thing I knew, me and Dave were in the stocks.

‘’Damn you, Dave! I thought you had it under control.’’ I shouted while trying to turn my head in the tiny hole so he could see my angry side eye.

‘’Uhhhhh, Liam. I don’t know how to tell you this, but I’ve never played a video game in my life. And that controller is kind of alien to me.’’

‘’What do you mean you’ve never played a game before.’’

‘’Well yeah, who would have time? I was a lady's man back then, and I’m a lady's mouse now. That and work kind of kept me busy.’’

Before I could say anything further, a rotten tomato sailed and smacked me just above my eye. And then another. And another. Occasionally, a potato which was uncalled for. Soon it was a non-stop barrage of mouldy fruit and vegetables.

I guess Dave was getting pummeled quite badly too because this was the longest time that he had gone without saying anything.

The assault of angry chants, booing, and pelting lasted an hour until we were finally released by a guard. Fortunately, it wasn’t the one that had helped us earlier. We would most likely have lost our beds for the night.

Soaked in rotten fruit and thoroughly exhausted, I picked up a soggy Dave by the tail and splashed him onto my shoulder.

‘’To the whiskers inn?’’ I asked.

‘’To the Whiskers Inn.’’ He replied.