Zackory shifted around lazily. He noticed that his bed wasn’t his usual bed and his clothes weren’t in the closet; something was up. He tossed and turned around until he found his face pointed at the sun. He took a quick whiff of his surrounding environments, eyes still closed, and rolled back over lazily.

Eh, it’s only noon. I can probably sleep a few more hours; Maybe I’ll get back to that dream with that weird glass dimension and the mall...Then again it is almost post-noon, I can probably get some bacon if I get to it fast enough.

Zackory turned over again and began to think some more, Wait, how’d I get on the ground? Eh, must’ve just fallen out my bed. I probably just passed out before I could take anything off...Then again I don’t remember my floor feeling like this

Zackory opened his eyes and quickly squinted them at the bright sun. A gust of wind blew past his ears to break the silence of his thoughts. Zackory shrugged and shut his eyes again,

Meh, must’ve fallen out my window. I guess I should get back home…

Zackory slowly crawled up and stretched himself before shaking himself down and sighing. He was on a large hill that was higher than the forest it was surrounded by, with a small pond in a crevice within the mound. At the end of the pond Zackory found everyone else, still asleep.

Zackory was currently wearing a dark green cloak with a white undershirt. A pair of rustic boots were snuggly tied on him, and a belt ran across on of his shoulders down to his waist. Everyone else, save for Jake and Aerith, were seemingly dressed in the exact same wear. Zackory slid down the hill close to the rest of them and sat down.

Ah jeez, that wasn’t a dream was it? Well, since no one’s around to stop me I guess I can do this to em’

….

Jake quickly jolted up out of the water and and coughed anything that made its way into his lungs. He shot up at Zackory with an angry glare and frowned,

“What the HECK was that for..!” Jake shouted, “Wait...am I…”. Jake pushed Zackory out of the way and tested his voice a few more times, “Okay...thank god...I’m back to normal me”. Jake sighed with relief and let himself relax on the ground, “Wait. This isn’t...how come everything’s green...and…”

“Oh you have GOT to be kidding me!” Stephanie whined, “First I get stabbed by a demon, then I get taken away to another world without ANY of my clothes, and I’ve been transported here with my ex, and now I’m soaking wet!”

Apparently Layali was awake too, because another groan could be heard now.

“Oh you wanna travel down that road now don’t you? I’m sorry, but we’ve been transported here by a magic dear! The rules of our society don’t apply here, if you’re so worried about how we’ll look together maybe you should think about how we’re the only humans in the area!”

“Oh I’m sorry, honey! Why don’t you try getting stabbed by a demon, then you can ride that high horse all you want!”

“Hey guys, maybe we shou—“

“DIE IN A FIRE ZACKORY!” They shouted at the same time. Zackory only looked down at the floor blankly.

“Why...Why did you scream that too, Jake?” He asked solemnly. Though his question wasn’t answered, Jake’s pen gave him a light tap on the shoulder to show some semblance of compassion.

“Well then...looks like my time has come…” Aerith proclaimed, she stood up dramatically and covered her only visible eye with her hand just enough to show the glowing, dark red. Her staff materialized just besides her in the air and Aerith caught it just before it dropped. Jakes pen immediately hopped out to watch, excitedly bouncing.

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“Now then, my tender sheep present themselves before me, the Shepard. I shall take you across this land, protecting you from all wolves that may come our way. Elegant in nature but destructive in power, I shall lay waste to this land if need be. Be it Volcano Dragon or the most epic of kings, they will know famine, drought, and death. I shall conquer this world as all heroes do, even in the hour of my death”

Stephanie sighed and crossed her arms. “Okay...Jake, who is she exactly and why is she doing this?”

Jake laughed causally, “Oh that? She’s my lil’ sis. She’s been my sister for about 15 years now”

“Wait she’s adopted!?” Stephanie suddenly registered, “That makes so much sense in retrospect”

“Nooo silly! She came out my dad just like all kids do” Jake smiled

Stephanie remained silent for a few moments, “I...are you being serious—?”

Aerith’s voice became loud enough to block out their conversation now. It was clear at this point that Nadene was just pretending to sleep to try and avoid talking to anyone.

“And they shall all chant my name! The name of Aerith Greindsworthia Silvagies Tremporia! Now behold! A small taste of my power! Think of it like a free sample, of DESTRUCTION”

Several yellow glowing blobs all shot behind Aerith and bounced forwards deep into the forest. Each one attached themselves to the other until the form grew past the size of the trees. The orb slowly blossomed out into a large figure, it’s two black lines for eyes gazing up at the sky, desperate for a command.

“Now, I beseech thee...burst”

The blob let out a nightmarish scream, growing a mouth and disgustingly stretching it out as it began to implode on itself before letting out a huge amount of energy. It exploded out with a blast radius that demolished the trees all around it, just before it reached them Jake’s pen shot out of the sky and spun around blindingly. A series of various materials were created and destroyed almost at the the same time, with the pen just barely able to defend itself. Various spires and cubes of steel and wood forced themselves outside the pen to try and prevent any damage. Wind furiously ran across all of them until the wind finally subsided moments later.

When the pen stopped spinning and went back into Jake’s pocket the dust cleared. Faint smoke emitted from the pen now. The forest had been completely flattened and a large crater around the size of a small stadium was all that remained of the blob. Aerith exhaustingly laughed at the damage,

“Oh man...I didn’t even know I was capable of that, holy cow!”

Everyone else only stared forwards and gaped at the smoke that was still rising. Nadene finally got up now and currently lay on the hill,

“Wow, we’ve been here for god knows how long and you’ve already leveled a forest without any concern for the local wildlife and ecosystem, or if there were any people there…Really showing off that responsibility with your power”

“Hey! I didn’t mean to do THAT...I wanted to make a firework! I must’ve been too excited or something” Aerith pondered. She eyed her staff curiously and turned over to Jake,

“Go fix it, you still have that pen don’t you?”

Jake’s pen bolted towards Aerith in response. Slowly, it rotated itself to imply a no. Aerith tilted her head and pointed at it with a quizzical glance,

“Is it...talking to me?”. Jake only nodded in response, the pen agreed, shaking up and down.

“Uh, okay...Can you fix the thing I did?” Aerith asked. The pen shook no in response.

“Is it because you’re...mad at me?” Aerith continued. The pen shook no and pointed at Aerith’s staff while continuously shaking its head.

“Guess it can’t repair damage done by the staff then” Nadene finished, “Great...Alright then...”

“I’m gonna go out on a whim and assume you know this stuff” Stephanie chimed in, pulling her hair and wringing it dry, “Y’know, different worlds and all that stuff. Isn’t there always some old town nearby or something?”

Aerith snapped out of her conversation with the sentient pen and put a finger to her chin in thought, “Oh yeah huh, there’s always a starting town nearby in games I’ve played, though you normally just spawn there…I guess we should just pick a route and stick with it”

“Can’t we like...draw an airship or something and take that?” Nadene sighed, “Honestly you guys have every tool you could possibly imagine at your disposal and you wanna walk through a forest…”

Jake felt a light bulb appear over his head, “How about we take go-karts? I’ve always wanted to drive one of those out in the open”

“Jake…” Layalli groaned, “Go karts aren’t built to go on grass and dirt, they’re barely meant to go on the road they were built for, you can’t ju--”

“Ah, hover Go Karts” Jake corrected. Layalli stopped mid sentence and gave in, “Go for it…But you’re giving me new clothes after this...”

Jake smiled and took his pen out, “Alright pen, spawn me a hover Go-kart with enough seats for all of us”. The pen whirled around in the open space of the field and ran across, creating a futuristic car as it did. Four cushioned seats were in the center, with two small extensions on either side with a seat of their own. The wheels were nonexistent, and the dashboard only had a steering wheel with two pedals and a gear stick. The whole car was a garish bright yellow with stripes on the hood.

“Actually...I think I might just walk aimlessly in the forest and get eaten by wolves later…” Layali decided

Jake jumped in his new car and giggled like a child, “Oh come on! It’ll be fun. Say. Where’s the key go in this thing?” Jake trailed off. The pen sprung to life and shoved itself in a holder next to the wheel. The car’s ignition stirred up and a burning blue light emitted, outlining the bottom of the kart. Small traces of dust were cast away from the constant wind, and a vacuum like sound started to whir lightly in the background.

“Aerith, you’ll get in right?” Jake asked. Aerith suddenly came to attention, shaken. She nodded and and trotted off into the seat behind Jake. Zackory silently hopped into the seat next to Aerith, and Nadene stretched before she sat in the to the right of Jake. Stephanie groaned and shuddered as she forced herself into one of the extensions. Layalli eventually got in too, only because of everyone else.

“Well it’s not like you have any obstacles in the way anymore” Nadene sighed, “Just go in any direction and we’ll see where it takes us”