Our hands stayed raised for a little while longer before we lowered them.

"I take it I'm being the leader?"

"Yep yep!" Sam nodded while speaking.

"Gotta say" Nicholai scratched her neck "We got a weird crew very fast, mainly the cat"

"I have to agree, a lot has happened in such a short time, resurrection, Kaz, Dave, the vision...I just want a break" I sat down and slouched.

"Oh! apparently we do want a base" Sam had her HUD still open, I noticed that the base of operations section was filled out with an address.

"Uuuuggggh" I sunk even more into the seat. "Please, we'll visit it later"

"And where are you gonna relax?" Nicholai looked down at me.

"Fiiiine, base it is" I grabbed the armrests and pulled myself up. "Where is it"

"Seems it's an extension of Eaxura, oh! There's a warp button!"

"Thank whatever god there is" We all opened up our HUDs and pressed the warp button, instantly, as the name suggests, we were warped to the location in less than a second. My sights were taken over by a decently sized building.

"I take it we're going to have to add stuff to it ourselves" Kenneth was looking through the windows of the building, while I walked to the front, where a hand-scanner was. I placed my hand on it, and a moment later the door opened. I stood beside the doorway and held the door open for everyone as they went in.

"Thanks" I barely heard Nicholai as she went in.

"Thank you" Kenneth nodded with his thanks.

"Thanks Lee!" It was one of those loud whispers, as to not wake up Kaz.

"Thank you sir" I saw Dave tilt slightly as he entered, seeing everyone was in, I headed inside myself, to be greeted by, emptiness, sure, there were a few needed things, there was a fridge, a relaxing area with chairs and a couch with a table in the middle, however, everything else, was up to us.

"Seems like a Sam job" With her hand in her jacket's pockets, she tilted her head towards Sam.

"You're talking like we have money" Though by accident, I mimicked Nicholai's arm crossing.

"Ah, damn, good point"

"We'll make do for now" All of our HUDs popped up with a message from Raymond

'Congrats for making your team (っ＾▿＾)っ. Just so you all know,

the base, you will all have to manual furnish, however your rooms are

already made, it works on the same basis the HUD does'

-Raymond

'So why can't we just band together and have the base

be based on everyone's mind'

-Lee

'We actually don't know, we tried before, but it didn't work,

we tried giving essentials, stuff for cooking, relaxing, and even a

mission briefing area. By the way, we'll have to teach you all how

to dimension travel...the whole point of why we exist.'

-Raymond

'Normally we hold a ceremony for DTs who passed the trials but,

considering the numbers, we can't do that this time, so...think of

yourselves as bonafide DTs'

-Raymond

'Doesn't really feel like it'

-Samᗢ

'Where'd that thing next to your name come from?'

-Nicholai

'If I see a way to have a rose I get it!'

-Samᗢ

'Yeah that's about right'

-Kenneth

"You know we're right next to each other right?" I looked at everyone.

"Oh...Imma be honest I thought we all went our separate ways to our rooms." Kenneth scratched the back of his neck as he spoke.

'Anyways! I'll let you all relax for the rest of the day, we'll continue

things tomorrow, along with trying to get Lee his weapon'

-Raymond

"Hey, how did you all summon your weapons"

"Well, other than the first time, I just felt it in my soul and summoned it, like a prompt" I did my best to follow what Sam said, trying to get some feeling in my soul, I felt a spark of feeling, yet, no matter what I tried it wouldn't appear. I couldn't do anything but sigh, even though nothing came from it, I still felt exhausted.

"Don't go straining yourself, if you can't, you can't." It's not right though...where did the sword come from then? I leaned on it, so it had to be real. My mind tried rationalizing what it was. However, I came to understand Nicholai had a point, if I couldn't now, straining myself would make it worse.

"I don't see a room for the cat" Kenneth's voice was quieter, at first I was confused until I noticed he was farther away, looking around a corner.

"Well, considering the cat took a liking to Sa-"

"I'll take care of her" before finishing what Nicholai was saying, Sam nominated herself.

"Speaking of Kaz, she knew us somehow, we should get to asking how"

"I was thinking the same thing" Kenneth had returned to the group. "Considering what Raymond said though, we really should use the rest of the day to relax.

"Agreed, Lee especially" She probably didn't mean to make it sound like that, but it did sound somewhat mocking.

"I get it, I didn't try to get stabbed and whacked a bunch" My voice clearly sounded irritated.

"So, we're all heading to bed?" Sam, as always, was still beaming with energy, though slightly less than at the start.

"I wonder, if we can watch shows on the HUDs, is it possible to play games?" The question washed over me while we started walking to the area our rooms were.

"Like browser games?" While Nicholai asked, Sam was already checking to see if we could.

"That, but he probably also meant just games in general, the HUD clearly has some processing power, videos, chats, calls, mail, map, it may be a part of our mind, but it's the same look for everyone, so it has to be a part of some greater system." Kenneth had entered some thinking mode, if it was possible he'd probably dissect the HUDs and check how it works.

"We can!" Sam's voice was sounded with joy, her HUD's screen was an old browser game, however, the second she tried to actually play with, it was stuck in eternal loading.

"You went to an online game...to test it, you...remember how the world was when we died right?" Nicholai's voice was more concerned than her usual mockery.

"To be fair, the servers are still up...maybe it's taking it from another version of earth?"

"Don't think so, there would be multiple Eaxuras then, so they wouldn't need us, I think a place is unique to each dimension or Multiverse"

"So there's only one earth? Is that what you're getting at Lee?" We got to where our rooms were, Nicholai leaned on the doorframe while we continued talking.

"One earth in this multiverse, could be wrong, probably am, but it's just a guess"

"Everyone rest well!" Sam spoke to everyone before heading in her room, and with nothing else to say, we all went into our own rooms. When I entered mine, the sword from before was hanging on the wall above my bed, there was also a note by the nightstand, deciding there was no point in questioning things anymore, I walked over to the nightstand, the note was under a coin and a revolver

'We found these on you after you died, figured you may want it back'

-Kai

I flipped the coin before catching it. The coin was scratched up, with the words engraved on it being the most ruined, to the point it couldn't be read anymore. There wasn't anything special about it, just a coin I recalled having for ages wonder what drew me to it I thought as I held up the coin to the light. I put the coin away after yawning, and figuring it was somewhat a hazard, took down the sword, and set it beside the bed instead. Now the revolver. I couldn't think of where to put it, leaving it on the nightstand seemed fine for now. I sat on my bed and took more of a look around my room. There was desk with a PC on it, though, it looked something out of a Sci-fi show, no real keyboard...it would probably appear on starting up the PC, the mouse too, and the screen was off, obviously. On the opposite end was a mirror and workbench, the workbench, had some a few things to hold up stuff, it seemed more like a Kenneth thing...yet, I guess we would have to manual care for our weapons, not everything is gonna be magic. I leaned backwards before I ended up laying on the bed, looking upwards at the ceiling, the light instantly turned off when I wanted it to, I couldn't hear anything from the other three, no walking, no shuffling or anything falling over, I was left to myself. Is this what it's like to be alone? Of course, I didn't know if it was even close, the other three were nearby in their rooms, yet, during the outbreak we could hear each other, and if it was dangerous, sleep in the same room.

'How's your room?'

-Sam

My HUD appeared in my face, I didn't have to check who it was from, the rose icon was enough.

'Nothing special, there's probably

other stuff in here I haven't looked at yet'

-Lee

Sam then messaged a picture of herself holding her camera, winking at whatever took the photo.

'Look what I got back :D'

-Sam

I suspect this is the stuff we couldn't pick up from that package they sent during the trials.

'What'd you get?'

-Sam

'Only my weapons and a coin

I didn't really have much'

-Lee

'Oh, right...I wonder what the other two got'

-Sam

There was a moment of silence until Sam sent another message

'Well, gonna call it a night, see yaaaaa'

-Sam

The icon turned grey and I once more was left to myself. I didn't feel like moving, nor wanted to, I could make myself more comfortable, but then I'd lose the comfort I had right now. By the time I came up with an answer to what I wanted to do, I had already placed my left hand over my eyes, and drifted off to sleep.

There wasn't a dream like before, and yet, I felt as though there was, I felt warm, and the scent was gentle, as though I were laying on the grass, looking upon the gorgeous stars. I reached forward, like I was trying to grab one of the stars, I closed my hands grabbing them, the moment I had, my eyes opened, and my sword was in my hand.

"oh..." Was the only thing I could mutter, I still felt tired, yet, a part of me felt energized, it created a weird feeling. I let go of the sword by instinct without really thinking about where it would go, but instead of falling down and stabbing me, it vanished, and reappeared where I had left it. My hand went back to the top of my head, I gotta get up eventually...Even telling myself that it took a while, but I still managed to get up after a few minutes. I picked up the revolver. Where do I put you now? I couldn't just leave it...I tried thinking about what the others did, how they summoned their weapon and made it vanish completely. I did the motion they did, a swish with my arm before letting go, like the others, it disappeared, making sure, I tried feeling it, the grip and how it was, I motioned my hand as though grabbing something mid-air, and after a few tries, it appeared. There we go...I didn't need it now though, so once more, I made it vanish.

I grabbed the sword and was going to make it vanish until it began moving on its own. I let go of it and shuffled backwards getting ready for anything. The sword flew forwards at me, I was getting ready to move out of the way until the sword moved upwards above me, and went instantly down, I thought I was going to get impaled until I heard a button click. My back felt heavier, I went over to the mirror, on my back was as sword sheath, with the sword holstered in it. "I take it you got some mind of your own?" I tapped the hilt of the sword, it shuffled a bit. "I'll take that as a yes." Did the sword turn out like this because I felt alone? A small grin formed on my face. With a new-found friend, I walked to the door and opened it, Nicholai and Kenneth were leaning on their doorframe, while Sam was stretching and yawning.

"Gooood morning everyone!" Sam looked like the only one who got sleep out of us all. Kaz appeared behind Sam leaping up onto her shoulder

"Gwood Mowning!" Nicholai looked irritated at Kaz, the way she spoke was probably getting to her.

"We need more clothes..." Nicholai sounded incredibly dejected, if it weren't for everyone being quiet, I wouldn't have heard anything.

"Right, sleeping in the same clothes we were fighting with, and bled in" Kenneth looked at me "Is...disgusting"

"We'll nag Raymond about it, for now, let's get goin-" The door to the base was knocked on, even from the distance we were at, it was still loud and easily snuffed out my voice

"Damn, not even a minute." Kenneth half-joked, I could tell he was somewhat annoyed. We all dragged ourselves over to the door, of course, Sam was the exception, simply walking over with energy. I stood beside the door and opened it slighty, Raymond was there, hands behind is back, he looked to the left and saw me.

"Mind letting me in?" With no reason not to, I opened the door. "With you all acting like that, I thought you were doing illegal stuff already" He walked in. "Good morning Bravo 6" I heard Kenneth and Nicholai try to respond, but they were too groggy to actually sound coherent, Sam, although also not giving a response, looked somewhat iffy. "I'll take it as a good morning...I'll take the gamble and hope you can at least understand what I'm telling you"

"Yeah, we can" The others nodded, agreeing with me.

"Good, in that case, we should get going" Raymond looked back at me, noticing the sword. "Ah, well, seems you learned on your own somehow, no reason to question it, maybe you had some dream" Raymond summoned a mace and slashed down at the air, ripping open a portal.

"That...simple?" Sam tilted her head slightly.

"Just gotta know the name of the dimension or world and where you wanna go, otherwise you open a portal to a random spot in that place." Raymond stood beside the portal "You all first" There was a delay in our movement but we eventually started to energize back up and go in the portal. On the other side and where we ended seemed to be a massive arena.

"Oh, you gotta be kidding" A hand patted my shoulder before they walked forward, showing it was Raymond.

"Relax, you can't die remember? And what's a better way to learn?"

"You actually teaching us" Nicholai harshly spoke.

"Nah" The arena began to change, there were highs and lows with the terrain. "We couldn't do the trials, and we don't want you fighting our enemies without prior fighting." On the other side of the arena, another team walked in. "It's newbies against newbies, people with about the same knowledge you do, but instead of hiding in the shadows and striking, it's simply striking" Raymond continued talking, everyone was more or less half listening. I tapped my sword's hilt.

"Hey" The sword hopped out of the sheath a small bit before going back in, showing it heard. "If you can move, does that mean you can fly around and slash people" It moved forward and back twice. "Do it again if that means yes" It did it again "alright."

"There aren't really many rules besides for the obvious, one main one is, if someone taps out, they're out, don't continue attacking them, three taps is a tap out" Raymond continued, I wasn't going to listen to much unless I heard 'rules' or anything about things changing or allowed, or disallowed...While I tried thinking of a strategy, I heard Sam shuffiling over to me.

"Hey...your sword...is it...? I mean, I saw you talking to it...and it moved..."

"Yeah, it's alive, don't really get how, I was planning to have myself distract anyone who goes for me, while the sword attacks them."

"Can it do more than slash?" The sword repeated its way of saying yes, by almost hitting me in the back of the head. "You know I don't mean normal sword stuff right? I meant...you know, weapon changes" Once more, yes. "Oh! Cool"

"Sam, Lee" Raymond got our attention back "I take it you're ready?"

"Always!" Sam had a glint in her eyes, if she could use that as a weapon, it'd probably wipe out the other team instantly. When I looked over at Kenneth and Nicholai, I saw them looking over at the two of us, I took that as a 'We saw the sword being alive' if I'm wrong I'll just explain later. A wall appeared in the middle of the arena.

"Get to whatever spots you want" Raymond vanished after that. Everyone summoned their weapons, while I still had mine sheathed, taking out the revolver instead.

"Ken" He looked over at me. "How do I do that infinite ammo thing?"

"Simply imagine the ammunition you've used before, it's very specific, but, you should know by now" I didn't think of the individual round, that would make reloading this a nightmare, instead, I thought of 6 of them, all in a speedloader. I could tell it was taking a bit longer than just getting the rounds by themselves, yet, it still worked. I reloaded the revolver and readied myself.

"Are Sam's weapons broken?" Nicholai leaned backwards, looking at Sam, we turned our attention to her and looked at it.

"I see" Kenneth walked over and pointed at a little divot in the sickle's hilt. "Something is missing...I could probably come up wi-"

"I don't think so..." I don't typically interrupt Kenneth, or tell him he's wrong when it comes to weapons or how things work, yet, I had this nagging feeling that wasn't it.

"So what is it?"

"I...can't think of anything, it's...I dunno...too big of a hole for something to be missing."

"iiiiif everyone is ready, we can get started!" Raymond's voice came over the intercom, letting his words be heard throughout. "Bravo 6, against the Diamond Dusts"

"If they're dust, doesn't that mean they already got destroyed?" Sam asked it as a genuine question, yet, I could tell no one took it that way. I held my hand up to my mouth to muffle the noise I made while preventing myself from laughing, while Nicholai and Kenneth both chuckled at the comment. "I didn't mean it like thaaat, it was a simple question!" A beep went off.

"Seems w-we're getting a countdown" Nicholai spoke through her smile.

"Alright everyone, let's get ready" Another beep. I reached behind me with my left arm and opened my hand, the sword raised itself, and once I felt the hilt in my hand, I grabbed on and pulled forward. I brought the hilt near side, going sideways while still aiming the sword towards where the team was.

"You act like you've used a sword before" Nicholai dug her scythe's blade in the ground, putting the weight off herself for a while.

"And you act like you've used a scythe before" It was silent for a moment before I gave an actual reply "it's probably because it's our souls...we may not know how to actually use it, but our inner souls do, so, simply follow the flow. Ken, when the next beep goes off, fire an arrow"

"I can do more than one" Kenneth changed his spear into a bow, he primed an arrow, and when the bow started straining on the string, two more arrows appeared, the main arrow looking normal, and the other two looking yellow. The millisecond the beep was heard, Kenneth fired the arrows, it sounded like they cut the air itself. The barrier dropped and a very bright glint aimed towards me was visible. I raised my sword to cut the bullet, but it pierced through my shoulder instead. The force brought me to the ground, I could still hear someone from the opposite team get pissed off as a few arrows hit their mark. A very large blade hooked onto the collar of my outfit before dragging me behind a boulder.

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

"DId you really think you were gonna block a bullet?" NIcholai sounded genuinely bothered.

"I was tryna cut it." Nicholai shook her head.

"Goddamn child" She unhooked her scythe. When I got a look around, all four of us were behind some cover.

"Kenneth! Sam, flank around, Nicholai, and the two of us will handle being a diversion"

"Two of us?" Nicholai looked down at me while pressing her hand near my heart to heal me. The sword left my hand and started flying around. "I...I'm gonna stop questioning things." I got to my feet and grabbed the sword. Sam raised a thumb up before the two started circling around up to the high ground. I took a peek around the corner, the person who shot me was nowhere to be seen, I got back in cover before thinking. The sniper probably went up the hill...Sam and Kenneth are going there too, even if their sniper can change like ours can, it takes time, Sam and Kenneth have advantage

"Sniper isn't a problem, ready?" Nicholai nodded. We both turned the corner, the other three were charging at us as well. I got a dumb idea. I thought about what Sam said, if they're cocky enough to call themselves diamonds...I held the sword in a way the blade was pointing away from the opposite team, but not a reverse grip. Two people went after Nicholai, probably due to the heavy weapon she had. The one going after me pulled their hammer back, about to swing, he looked small, and his expression was intense...way too focused on winning. I brought my sword forward as the hammer swung down at me, it was difficult, but he was clearly too small to use this hammer well...I wouldn't doubt it wasn't his main weapon. "So, losing must be your team's main appeal if you're calling yourself dust"

"What?" They looked more confused than hurt, but I still got somewhat what I wanted, their grip loosened. I ducked down under the hammer, it almost dragged me to the floor as the massive blunt end started pulling down my baggy uniform. I hit them with the blunt end of the sword at their chest while I continued moving forward, causing them to stagger backwards. I waited for them to summon their weapon, but when I saw them raise their fists instead...

"Sword, go and help Nicholai, follow her orders" I opened my hand and the sword instantly flew out of it.

"What kinda crutch is that?" My opponent was very much annoyed, he slowly, yet carefully started approaching, still with his fists raised. About halfway to me, my HUD opened up with a message from Kenneth

'I got it👍'

-Ken

I was going to tell him not to, that it would be dishonorable, yet, about midway through sending the message, the arrow flew and pierced through the person's arm, they recoiled back, but they threw their leg back, preventing them from going as far as before.

"Well, if this is the case" I raised my revolver and shot a round, with no way to react, it pierced through to their heart and knocked them down. A mark appeared above them, signaling that they were out. I turned back towards Nicholai, my sword was up against a two-handed axe. Nicholai seemed to be doing fine with Kenneth's help. Seeing how much power the guy with the axe was using, I quickly thought of something. I resummoned my sword into my hands and threw it at the axe wielder. Not expecting it, the axe slammed into the ground, digging its blade in. The guy looked bothered, but seeing my sword coming towards him, he let go of the axe and moved out of the way, once the sword passed he got back to where he was before, while trying to dig out his axe.

I whistled, hopping the sword took that as a 'slash back' instead, it acted like it meant 'recall' as it started coming back at me with insane speed, the axe-user heard it going through the air and tried ducking under the sword as it passed, even without a way to express itself, I could sense the sword was irritated, it flipped backwards glowing red and stopping its recall, when it was above the axe-user it immediately shot downwards, the user dug their axe out and slashed upwards, knocking the sword away, he then threw his axe at me. that's easy to dodge I thought, sidestepping out of the way, and yet, when the axe was beside me, I saw a static effect, and soon, the person was where the axe was, I was too surprised to act, they almost tackled me, yet we both stayed standing, he got behind me and wrapped his arm around my neck before he started pulling. I raised my arm trying to recall my sword, but that only gave him a chance to wrap his other arm around mine before pulling up.

"No more of that cheap shit" I tried raising my revolver in my other hand, yet felt nothing, my arm had gone numb and I dropped the revolver before I even knew it. I looked down and saw a knife sheath on his leg, I reached down and after a few attempts unclipped it, I went to grab it, but they pulled their leg back and kicked my arm. I looked up at the hill and noticed Kenneth looking for an angle, yet he couldn't find one. With nothing else to do, I slowly raised my hand and was going to tap out. I tapped once...then twice, yet, on the second tap, I felt his hold loosen, I went to tap one more time but stopped short of an inch, it was enough, his hold got weak enough that I threw my head back, hitting into their nose, seeing their arms move forward I ducked down just enough for Kenneth to fire an arrow and hit the person. Without looking back, I fell to my hands and knees while holding my neck, gasping for air. There was a moment of metal clashing before I heard a thud.

"Aaaand Bravo Team wins" I looked back at the guy Kenneth shot, he got surrounded by green and his wounds were healed, he easily got back up and although very annoyed, went back to his team. When all four were together they were loudly arguing. The winner's wounds aren't healed? I thought, but looking back, it was more a lack of oxygen.

"Are you alright?" Sam made it down the hill and crouched beside me, placing her hand on my shoulder.

"He'll live" Nicholai assured Sam...technically.

"Dirty fighter as ever" I looked up at Kenneth, he looked smug, it was rightfully deserved for those shots.

"He tried choking me, course i'm gonna fight dirty...won't work in a real fight though..." I should've come up with a solution that would work in reality as well, but I couldn't, I was far too panicked about losing. Guess I was too focused on winning too. Sam stood up and offered a hand. I took it and stood with everyone.

"Your sword is a pretty handy helper" Nicholai looked at my sword dug in the ground. I did the same whistle as before, it ripped from the ground and began charging at us with immense speed.

"HEY!" Everyone got back, and Sam was even going to pull me back, until the sword raised up at the last second and went back in my sheath. "O-oh..."

"I doubt it would ever hurt us, maybe unless we're in a sparring area...or somewhere we can't die." It was simply an assumption, I had nothing to back it up. Soon, everyone's HUD opened, a new part appeared, it had a dollar sign next to it, and the 0 went to 50,000, a second later, another dollar sign appeared beside the other, only this one had multiple people with it, this one, jumped up to 250,000.

"How was I supposed to know there was a fucking cat with them!? Along with that bullshit sword!?" I heard the sniper genuinely about to blow a fuse.

"Cat?" I looked around, Kaz was nowhere. That was until Kaz appeared out of Sam's jacket pocket

"Hello!:D"

"That explains the extra 50,000 dollars"..."Wait...50,000?" I did a double take on the money, yet it was there. "Wait no, ignoring that for now, when did you get here?"

"I guess she always was, she's really light you know, and a great surprise attack" So that's how Kenneth was able to help me without having to worry about Sam.

"Guess that'll be your role for now Kaz"

"Mh? :>"

"An assassin type of role" Kaz looked slightly sad at my assumption of roles, that was until Nicholai stepped in

"At very least till Kenneth can make you something for those claws, an infection is the last thing we want"

"Owkay! :3"

"I regret this already" After Nicholai's regret set in, Raymond warped to us.

"Good job everyone, you all did very well" Raymond clapped for us "Not only do you have individual money, but money for the team as well"

"What if we just pool it into the team money?"

"I mean...if you wanna be that team focused Lee...be my guest" Everyone, except Raymond of course, was stunned by the money we got, this whole thing was so fast, and only after a few minutes we had 250,000 at minimum.

"Hold on" The joy from the money faded from Nicholai. "How expensive is everything here?"

"Not too bad, but things are a bit more priced here than on earth, like, maybe 25 or 50 percent more depending on what it is.

"Just perfect" And soon we all came to realize that while it was still a lot, that it wasn't that much in the a lot section.

"Anyways" He redirected the topic. "You all can come here whenever you want, the opponents will be depending on how many people, and who those people are, in your team...so just this once, I'll look past the unexpected fighter." He looked at Kaz who had gone on top of Sam's shoulder. "But only because they were a pleasant surprise"

"So, what now?" I asked before anyone else could.

"Do whatever you want for the rest of the day, after all, you have spending money now, the team money is there for equipment, stuff for the base, your own money? Whatever you want I'll handle..." There was still yelling from the other team "The sore losers"

"Well...I can't fully blame them" Sam looked guilty "We brought Kaz...and Lee's sword is like another fighter..."

"Hmhm" Raymond nodded his head. "Even so, only now, I told them that they would be put with the same amount of people, before and during? I never said such a thing, it's their own fault they treated it like such"

"Even s-"

"Stop feeling guilty for their failing, let's go to a restaurant, enjoy something or whatever" Nicholai's voice was deadpan, clearly she was only saying thise for Sam's sake.

"But Lee can co-"

"You know, my shoulder got busted up and my neck still feels a bit bruised" I aided Nicholai, We shouldn't just hold up in the base until we're needed.

"In that case..." Sam looked to the ground, before her guilt turned to a smile, she hopped up in the air a bit before going for the exit "Let's go!" We all began following Sam, it seems she was picking where we went today. Soon everyone got ahead of me, once that was the case I turned around to the axe-user. He warped to me...is it...possible for us too?

"Lee" I rejoined everyone once Kenneth called for me. We exited the arena and once again returned outside to the expansive city of Eaxura, it'd take years to walk across the whole city.

"What places do you think are good?" Sam looked to Nicholai.

"I dunno, pick whatever" After debating to herself, we eventually decided on a place, it had a fancy feeling to it.

"A table for 4?" Seems Kaz didn't count.

"Yes please" Sam knew to keep her voice down.

"A moment if you will" The well dressed and mannered man left his station and went looking around.

"First time I've been in a place like this" Nicholai looked disappointed in herself, I couldn't tell whether it was because she doesn't want to be here, or because she's not wearing anything people would normally regard as normal.

"I went to one before, with Lee and my family"

"Speaking of that...I take it that's your first goal when we get the travel powers?" I leaned my back on the wall.

"Yeah...It'll be much easier to look for them this way" She looked a bit somber.

"Well, we're always here to help" Nicholai had her eyes closed as she spoke, even without seeing that, she sounded genuine.

"Me too" Kaz spoke gently

"I know...and I can't thank you all enough" Sam began to smile again, and with it, the man came back.

"If you would follow me" With that, we went further into the building. The place was mostly lit by candles and fancy looking ceiling lights, most of the people eating here were couples on dates, or people wearing suits on company meals...then there's us. "Please, take a seat" We gently sat down. Sam and I on one side(Technically Kaz with us as well), and Kenneth and Nicholai on the other. "We apologize, due to issues we only have one menu, for the inconvenience, the first wave of drinks shall be on us"

"It's alright, thank you for the compensation" I looked up at the man while I spoke, he leaned forward, doing a short bow before heading off.

"So, we rock, paper, scissors it" Kenneth randomly blurted it out. "Winner gets the menu first."

"You're game" I leaned forward while holding out my hand.

"It's the most fair way" Nicholai did the same, and so did Sam. We all nodded, letting Kenneth know we're ready.

"Rock, papers! and shoot" We all moved our hands in different ways, Me, Sam, and Nicholai did scissors, while Kenneth did paper. "Oi, what is this? Already using the HUD against each other?"

"No, you're just more predictable than Sam i-"

"Again" I spoke over Nicholai.

"Rock, paper, scissors, shoot" Kenneth was still the one to say it, it was a 3 way tie.

"Come on..." Sam was either confused or annoyed.

"Agaaaain"

"Rock paper scissors shoot" For three rounds in a row, I did scissors, Nicholai went to paper, while Sam stuck with scissors as well.

"Last one"

"You know the drill, go!" I went to rock, while Sam went to paper

"Oi, what's that? The time you switch it's for Sam?"

"Don't matter she won" I waved off Nicholai's complaint, handing Sam the menu. At first, she was filled with joy, kicking her legs back and forth, until about 30 seconds in her movement slowed and her face molded into confusion.

"Um..." Kaz was also confused

"I uh...don't think my english is good enough for this" I leaned on the table

"Don't be like that, you can speak and write without mistakes, lemme see" Sam handed me the menu, at first it was all normal until something called Loukoliure appeared. "Sam that's not english at all"

"Figured..." Kenneth and Nicholai stood up and leaned to see the menu before sitting down.

"Beats me" Kenneth leaned back.

"Well, we might as well all give it a go" The three looked at me. Nicholai was going to say something, until her mind changed, saying something else.

"Fine"

"Really?" Kenneth turned to her.

"Why not, clearly it's not from earth, and if we're allergic to it, I'm here"

"We should order a ton of new stuff then!" I patted Sam's shoulder.

"We're not made of money, everything that doesn't seem like it's from earth is expensive"

"It's probably a creature then, that is only born in a certain world" Soon, the man came back.

"If I may take your requests?" We all ordered, not too much though, we weren't trying to go broke. "Understood, I will return with your meals shortly.

"There isn't much for us to do in our downtime is there?" I leaned forward, putting both arms on the table.

"And how'd you get that verdict?" Nicholai took out a book, turning the pages to where the bookmark was.

"Well, when we were humans, we had school, homework, the walks home, parties and all that"

"Parties? Like you go to any?"

"Harsh Nicholai" She rolled her eyes at my reply.

"The same goes to all of you though" Sam's head tilted slightly, pondering as she spoke.

"She's got a point there, she's about the only one who can say she's gone to any" Kenneth was looking around the place, more so the cameras.

"No, I went to one before..."

"Did Sam drag you into it though?" I paused, before responding to Kenneth.

"...yes" I saw Nicholai shake her head.

"Sorry for the wait" Once more, the man returned, he placed our food on the table, along with some drinks, everyone's looked like water, while mine was dark-red. With no self control, I took a sip and almost immediately started coughing it back up

"Why the hell is it so sour..."

"Ah, my apologies, I could not give you food without your drinks, I merely made assumptions that you would be the type to enjoy some of the finest wine."

"Assumptions?" At first I was conflicted on how I look like someone who'd enjoy wine.

"Your hair" I felt Sam grab a piece of my hair and twirl it. "It does sorta make you look older." She then let go and placed her hands back on the table.

"You never really looked young...eh, actually...maybe a bit...but definitely not your age"

"I will get you water to cleanse your palate, once again, sorry for the apologies"

"No, no, I'll be fine" He nodded and left. The food we had was a range of stuff, something that looked like a variant of a steak, yet bigger, and differently shaped. Some style of stew, soup, stuff that looked similar, but different at the same time, they were minor differences, but differences nonetheless. Sam clasped her hands together and mumbled something before she started eating, if her eagerness to continue eating was anything to go by, it was at the very least something that tasted good. I leaned over and grabbed utensils on Sam's side before I began eating myself, the first bite was a mix of different tastes, it was certainly a type of meat, yet trying to discern what type it was just made me confused, it...surprisingly doesn't taste bad.

"I'd eat this everyday after a mission" The other two ate in silence, they probably thought what I did 'it's good'. Sam however spoke out how she felt about it, clearly thinking it tastes good enough to be mentioned.

"So" Nicholai twirled her fork in a circle, aiming down at the food. "What mission do we think we're getting first?"

"I hope it's something simple, we still need time to adju-kah" I let out a few coughs, it burned my throat but mostly passed after some time.

"Go down the wrong side?" Nicholai looked smug.

"I wasn't eating at all" I raised my right hand to my neck, nothing felt off but there was still a sense of burning.

"Could it be because you got hit into a tree?" Kenneth rested his head on his hand while eating.

"His back would be aching then" Nicholai's gaze at Kenneth showed disappointment.

"Could be something relating to corruptors" I gave an answer to myself out loud. "My blood had a little purple...but it went away..." Even with the added part at the end, there were still looks of concern, even everyone in the restaurant looked over at me the second I said 'corruptor'.

"These gazes are starting to get somewhat bothering" What Kenneth said made me worried, how long have they been staring? Later on they began whispering amongst themselves

"Alright, let's take our leave" Nicholai stood up quickly and began ushering Kenneth out the seat too.

"But we-"

"You can take the food Lee, I'm sure for the...inconveniences, they'll have nothing to contest with" Nicholai glared at everyone inside, it stopped their whispering.

"Come on now!" Sam began ushering me out due where I was sitting being on the outer-side.

"What happened to taking the food?"

"It's fiiiine" It eventually got to her taking my arm and leading me out with the others. At the edge of my vision I saw Kaz on Sam's shoulder doing a motion at everyone inside which seemed to make them look at the ground instead of us. "Let's get you something to drink, you're probably coughing because you're dehydrated!" We left the building and Nicholai promptly sighed.

"They started staring the second you coughed like that...along with mentioning you weren't even eating" Kenneth looked at the doors.

"So, two things, either because you weren't eating and they were disgraced, or because you mentioned corruptors...Let's be honest it was most likely the corruptor bit" Nicholai summoned a small needle and pricked herself, which prompted Sam to turn the other way.

"Was that really needed?" Kenneth's voice was dull, no surprise or anything similar. Nicholai's blood slowly dripped out, very clearly the normal color blood is.

"Yes, it shows it's not contagious, meaning if Lee does have something relating to it, there's no reason for them to worry, only us."

"Good point, didn't think of that" Nicholai turned her head to me.

"Yes?"

"If something comes up or happens, you come to me, understand?"

"Got it." Nicholai wiped the blood on the inner side of her sleeve

"You're good Sam" I heard the step on concrete, implying she turned back around.

"So, where do we go no-

"I told you, we gotta get a drink for you"

"We have some at base, that or there's probably something in our HUDs to order stuff" Nicholai looked in the general direction of where our base was.

"I know a place!" Kaz hopped to my shoulder, it caught me off guard, forcing me to recompose my balance. "Forward!" Kaz started tugging my shoulder forward.

"Kaz, go easy on poor Lee" Sam was smiling while she said it, clearly joking...sadly. She was however, right about one thing, Kaz felt weightless, but the momentum she had when she jumped earlier, still proved an issue. Kaz tugging me in a direction was mostly how she led us to where she wanted to go.

"Can't you just say when to turn like a normal person?"

"Nwope"

"Ugh..." After I groaned, Kaz pulled me back.

"It's not here" Kaz leapt off my shoulder onto the floor, she began looking around

"Right, about that" Nicholai crossed her arms and looked down at Kaz. "How do you know us?" Kaz turned around back to us, and slouched down slightly.

"I was told not to say..."

"You're not in any position of power" Nicholai got closer to Kaz, to the point where Kaz was right at her foot. "There's no talking cats on earth"

"Nicholai...it's just a cat...and she helped me and Ken too"

"That's the issue, she's capable of being lethal, she knows us, and won't tell us how"

"I promised I wouldn't say why..." Nicholai started to get more irritated, gritting her teeth.

"How about this" I started tapping my feet, a slow rhythm. "If Kaz poses a threat to us, then we deal with it alright? I doubt a cat could kill all of us"

"I wasn't going to kill any of you!"

"You better hope so...now, what was meant to be here?"

"A coffee shop"

"Sure you didn't just confuse your places with earth?"

"Maybe..." Kaz looked sorrowful, I felt bad, yet understood Nicholai's point of view. All of our HUDs opened up, showing a Crown icon 'Raymond' We all accepted the call.

"Watcha need?" Instead of talking in our heads, Kenneth spoke aloud, and even without the video I could hear grunts of pain.

"God...damnit! Jeez that hurts, please, if you're gonna speak aloud only have one call open" Without asking, everyone shut theirs off while I kept mine on. "Alright...Oh, while we're here, gently move your hand to move your HUD" I did so, and it worked.

"So, what's the call for?" Nicholai leaned slightly to the side.

"Simple, I got a mission for you all, since it's the first one you all are getting, I don't expect you all to go fight an army, it's a party"

"Oh?"

"You're not actually meant to fully attend the party"

"oh..." Sam looked disappointed in herself.

"You're sneaking in to get something, best thing is, it's a party of mostly people your age, meaning, so long as you don't look or do anything out of place, this will be easy"

"If they're people our age why do we need to get something from them?" I placed my hand at my hip.

"It's not from them, but their parents" In the middle of Raymond's explanation I could see Nicholai glancing at Kaz every few moments. "The hosts' parents are retired soldiers of the opposing military. It is formal, so dress accordingly, you should be able to get things from your HUD, as always it's convenient. I'll give you the rest of the info when it's time. For now, take care" My HUD closed as the call ended.

"Well...I nominate we go back to base, I wanted to finish working on Dave"

"Ah, I was wondering where he was." I dropped my hand back to my side.

"Yeah, they messed him up a little, but, I will admit, he's more handy now, he has a self-repair, but only for major damage, I won't ask how it works either...he's also got his own HUD too"

"Cool!" A glint shimmered in Sam's eyes.

"Back to base it is, meet everyone there" I opened my HUD and warped. My mind felt twisted like before, but it passed...like before. What didn't pass, is that afterburn feel in my neck. I'll just hope it goes away on its own. I sat on the couch that had been here, Sam sat down beside me, it took Kenneth a while to sit down, but when he did, he sat at the other end, Kaz laid down on the armrest, and Nicholai stood behind the couch and leaned on it.

"So, I think we can call our first day a successful one" Kenneth was sat up, working on a disabled Dave.

"I wouldn't really call it a full day until we take on a mission" I sat back, slouching into the couch.

"Fighting Diamond Dust was close enough to a mission" I heard Nicholai say above me.

"I guess" There was a bit of silence till Sam found the remote to the TV.

"Fooound it!" I could tell everyone was happy, at the very minimum a little bit. Sam clicked the on button and we were greeted by millions of different channels. "uhm..."

"Makes sense considering where we are, millions of people live here, and we have access to different dimensions..." Kenneth peeked up from Dave to see what Sam was uhming about.

"There are games though!" When Sam pressed the home button to show the different connected devices, there were two related to games.

"Alright, if it's going this way..." Nicholai did an exaggerated motion, getting herself off from leaning on the couch. "You two take care, don't stay up too late" In the corner of my eye I could see her walk to her room. Kenneth picked up Dave.

"You two won't listen to that anyways" He spoke smugly, very clearly knowing well how it is.

"What game are you gonna pway?" Kaz continued sitting at the armrest near my head.

"Do we still have our account?" Sam turned to me, awaiting an answer. Before I gave one though, I looked everywhere for controllers, till I finally figured out there were drawers that were a part of the couch under us. I got two controllers and Sam's eyes glimmered even more. "This is paradise" She stretched her arms out before leaning back.

"Seems our account is still alive"

"LP2 it is!" I don't know if this was the right choice. Playing games when we have a mission the next day...perhaps we thought we could control when we get off...we could...at first. Playing on the hardest difficulty probably was the wrong choice. I started realizing that midway, but by the time I was ready to stop, we all had already fallen asleep.