Yellow sparks gather around the orc’s hammer as the chirping of lightning gets louder and the orc holds the hammer over his head and…
A guard steps in the middle of the orc and Paan, he is wearing pitch black armor with a sword on his hip and a silver clock symbol on the chest plate.
‘As one of the city guards, if this continues, I will have to intervene….’
The guard trails off when he makes eye contact with Paan, ‘P…P….PAAN!!! The Great Summoner can I get your autograph?’
The guard frantically looks for something to get signed.
Paan looks slightly upset, but smiles, ‘Wait til I win the Gauntlet then I’ll sign. But can you get us inside the city? I need to start training with my new party members.’
Zen looks up, confused at Paan, ‘Members? As in more than me?’
Paan walks over and puts his arm around the orc, ‘I like his tenacity.’
The guard sighs as he leads the group of 3 past the long line at the gate, there are shouts and boos coming from the line.
The group arrives to the gate as the guard shouts, ‘Open it!’
The iron gates swing open to show the bright lights of Midnight City with building towering Zen and people walking, talking, drinking, and laughing.
The vibe reminds Zen of his school and makes him forget for a second the hectic time he has had since coming to this world.
Paan, with the orc still around his arm, works his way through the crowd as Zen barely keeps up with everyone bumping into him.
The giant cliff looms over the whole city which is less ominous than it would seem with no one even looking up at it.
After what seemed like 10 minutes, Zen, Paan, and the orc arrives at a large building that is secluded from the other buildings with only a simple light illuminating the whole structure.
The sign on the building reads: ‘Summoners Gym: Paan Only’ in very sloppily written green paint.
Paan kicked open the door showing a giant empty room that is bareboned with scuff marks everywhere and looks like it has been abandoned for years.
Zen clears his throat, ‘I really do like this empty restaurant you got going on, but what’s with our new teammate? I kinda thought we had something special.’
Zen tries to fake cry
‘Shut up NP- I mean Kurama.’ Paan throws the surprisingly obedient orc on the floor, ‘I already have an idiot with too much strength for his own good why do I need two?’
‘What?’ The orc and Zen ask in unison
The orc stands up waving his hands frantically, ‘Dude I don’t even know you guys, you don’t even know my name. Just let me go.’
Yawning and stretching Paan entertains the idea, ‘You’re right, what is your name?’
The orc looks happy, ‘My name is…. SHADOW STEP!’
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The Orc’s shadow gets darker and swirls in the shape of a circle as a lady step out of the shadow like it was a staircase.
The lady strikes the orc’s neck as he falls over unconscious.
Paan laughs, ‘Kasumi your work is getting sloppy I could see you hiding in his shadow before he even spoke.’
The lady, who Zen guesses is Kasumi, smiles, ‘It’s been a while Paan I’m really feeling the Gauntlet this month. Did you find another member after…’
*AHEEEMMM*
Paan clears his throat loudly and points to Zen, ‘I got one.’
Kasumi walks up to Zen looking down, ‘A dwarf huh nice choice.’
Zen, who is at Kasumi’s shoulders (Height wise), corrects her, ‘I’m actually a human, it’ll be nice working with you.’
Kasumi scoffs as she walks over to Paan.
Kasumi is a fair skinned elf with long light pink hair that reaches her back, her right eye is of a pink color that matches with her hair and her left eye is white. She wears a gold and black samurai kimono with two dagger sheaths on each hip. She wears wooden sandals making her look more like a samurai than anything else.
‘So, a Wizard who summons, a barbarian and a samurai?’ Zen holds up three fingers, ‘Usually it’s better to have two magic users when in any party set up.
Kasumi rolls her eyes, ‘First of all I’m a rogue well an assassin to be clear. Secondly, your logic is lacking at best, sure usually the more magic users the better offensive and healing abilities but that depends on the composition.’
Kasumi points to Paan, ‘He has a great versatility with summoning that boosts both defense and offense, it also adds more bodies on the floor. And I am quicker than you know, not to brag but I can hold my own against a small army. Together we could probably win the Gauntlet.’
Zen raises his hand, ‘What about me? I’m pretty strong and a self-proclaimed quick thinker so I’m pretty useful.’
‘Sure kid.’ Kasumi rolls her eyes
‘Is this really the party I’m stuck with?’ Zen rubs his eyes, ‘But the Dragon Gauntlet is such a big event someone will have to recognize my username maybe even Tsuna.’
‘I’m going to go out and explore the area.’ Zen slowly goes to the door, ‘If I’m going to be here for at least a month I better get to know the place.’
Kasumi and Paan start to say something, but Zen closes the door quickly.
Zen immediately pulls out his Traveler’s Stone and starts pressing letters as he walks towards the bustling crowd.
‘Person Not Found’
‘Hey, watch where you’re going!’ A tall man wearing sunglasses and a blue three-piece suit, with one girl on each of his arms, turns to avoid running into Zen.
‘Sorry.’
‘Person Not Found’
‘Person Not Found’
Zen looks up and notices that he has walked a fair distance away from Paan’s gym and is a bit lost in the sea of people.
He looks at buildings and market stands around him and is shocked to see that
He can’t read any of the signs.
Zen double and triple checks, but he is not mistaken the letters and words all around him are foreign.
Thinking back Zen has only read the blue screen that appears and the sign that Paan made, ‘A different language? The fact that everyone I have met spoke English means that this language is English or some form of it.’
‘Or does everyone hear that language when I talk?’
‘Or do people here have two primary languages? Talking about language does Midnight City have its own set of laws? What if I do something illegal…. HOW WOULD I KNOW IF I CAN’T READ!!’
As Zen’s mind races people around look at him in concern as they walk around him and avoid getting close.
A moment later a familiar robotic voice comes from Zen’s hand:
‘Sunny0133 is trying to contact you. Do you accept?’
Zen’s head turns so quickly that his neck made a loud *POP* as he shouts, ‘I ACCEPT! I ACCEPT!’
The sound of static hums through the as a deep and raspy voice speaks up, ‘Zen are you there?’
Tears start filling his eyes, ‘Tsuna, I’m here. Where are you are you ok?’
Tsuna laughs weakly, ‘It’s been such a long time. You know how hard it was to get a Traveler’s Stone?’
Zen thinks, ‘Since people have cell phones no one in-game uses the Traveler’s Stone and Tsuna probably sold it a while ago for gold.’
Zen starts to talk, ‘Well where are you we have to meet up. I’ve been trying all day to get a hold of you this is great.’
Tsuna sounds confused, ‘All day? But I’ve been camped near Midnight City in the Cave of Fire and Ice. The dragons don’t attack people below a certain level I think it’s like 80 or something.’
When Tsuna says that a deafening roar comes through the phone and Zen hears it from where he’s standing.
The people of Midnight City barely even react to the noise.
Zen sighs as he starts making his way towards the giant cliff that covers the city, following the source of the sound.