"Who to quest with next?" The archer asked himself. With no new defensive measures in his class he was still unable to enter fields and clear them to the Gott on his own, so he needed a partner. Wandering to the clan ship, the tiger's eyes caught sight of an Iron Spear, the starting weapon of the longarms, in the window of the Pawn Shop.

It seemed that the conversion of items wasn't happening as planned, but seeing the weapon reminded him of his class before archer. He had wanted to take all the longarms of the clan, which numbered three at the time, on a quest. At the time, everyone was disorganized enough that the idea never came to fruition. He could still make the quest work though, there were some longarms still in the deterierating clan, he'd just have to grab them. As a former longarm he could join, mostly because he was the only one of his class in the World, so he couldn't do a quest like that.

Duo was the highest leveled longarm, so the now archer sent him a PM. He opened up the window to send another to the other longarms, then stopped. The others wouldn't be able, or at least as willing, to go to Theta server. Duo was a decent level to travel there. Closing the window, he loaded his bow across his chest from inventory and strode to the ship of his clan. They could meet there and travel to Theta without running into trouble from the admins.

He arrived and set all but his eyes into running meaningless circles around the ship while his eyes scanned a list of keywords to determine where they would go.

"Chatting Passionate Lyric Poet" He decided. As a white tiger he was partial to water fields, but they could get a bit boring if it was too often quested on. Having decided, and his muscles asking for rest, the tiger trotted the rest of the circle to the ship porthole and lay down, as you expect a house cat to, to await Duo's arrival.

Fragments of water jet-streamed from the spaces of Duo’s fingers and into the air, slowly ascending into the air before crashing back down into the water. The lifeless arm hung from the Long Arm’s shoulder and off of the edge of Mac Anu’s Riviera. His fingers slightly touched the surface of the water. There he laid, his stomach pressed down against the hard, stone tablet floor of Mac Anu. His tail, stripped dark and light green, flailed around from left to right, swinging around like a pendulum – or one of those grandfather clocks-. His jaw balanced his head on the very edge of the Riviera, revealing his ear to the river.

The sounds of the water, slowly rushing between the walls of the Riviera, reminded him of the ocean. The water gradually rising from its usual surface, the waves hitting the ocean floor beneath it, sending a rush of water to the shore of a beach. It all sounded the same. This is so relaxing… Duo thought. Sure he loved killing monsters and gaining levels, but for once in a while he would like to rest. Relax, a word that hasn’t been in Duo’s vocabulary for a while. School was slowly grabbing him by the wrists and ankles and dragging him down until he was nothing more than a brain-dead. Thank God Mac Anu was virtually empty…for now.

The chings and chimes of his VR speakers rung into his ears, informing the Long Arm that he had a new Flash Mail in his inbox. While he still laid on his stomach, Duo opened his inbox window. The window’s light blue background synthesized with the blue of the rushing waters under it. Still, the white letters stood-out enough for Duo to comprehend them.

****Flash Mail****

From: Arcion
To: Duo0017

Meet me at the ship…

****End Flash Mail****

By “The ship”, Arcion meant the Figment Raider’s ship, a common hide-out for the guild. Fortunately, the ship was near Duo, no less than ten foot-paces away. Wonder what Arcion wants with me… He thought. After the agony of the last recruitment quest, Duo would think that Arc resting. “Better not ask questions,” He murmured, slowly getting to his feet as he did so. The Long Arm paced, or really dragged his feet, toward the ship.

As Duo boarded the ship, a hint of white came from the corner of his eye. His eyes scanned to his side, noting the fur-covered, Tiger-looking avatar known as Arcion. The corner of the lizard man’s lip curved upward. A question still plagued his mind: What would he do if scratched his ears…? But Duo snapped out of his state of preoccupation. The Long Arm pressed the tip of his finger on the middle part of his bifocals, pushing the glasses downward.

“What’s up?” He simply said, giving the feline Raider a light nod.

"What's up?" the tiger asked, raising his eyebrows, though he wasn't sure if the skin would show the change, he'd studdied the behavior, but not the mechanics of his animal. 'What's up' was surfer lingo where he lived in CA, and he rather disliked his area's slang, to the point of actually twitching if anyone tried to speak 'valley girl'. It was a good thing that none of the Figment Raiders did so, or they'd be less one Raider, either him or the speaker.

"Theta server." Arcion answered, standing up and stretching as a cat did, then pulling the elvish bow from his inventory and began walking towards the center of Mac Anu, where the Chaos Gate lay. Recently the tiger had only used it for transport between events CC put on, to get to the Theta server, or to get back to the clan ship when he started in Theta server.

At the rings a few groups of players logged into and out of this servers fields. He and Duo wouldn't be joining them, instead traveling to the next level server and start a quest there.

The other server was much less crowded when the pair warped in, few players stayed interested in the World long enough to make it to the level 15 requirement for this server. Technically Duo was too weak to be here, and the players around looked at him couriously, but partnered with Arcion the game allowed the travel.

The cat hadn't been totally idle while he waited for Duo to recieve his message and join him, he'd been searching out keywords for a field for them to travel to and had found a set that he liked. Snow fields felt like his home, less so than the clan sip, but even they would get boring after a while. He'd chosen a desert field this time and with the cold-blooded animal hack of his partner, they'd have fun here.

"Chatting Passionate Lyric Poet." He spoke and watched the rings encircle the longarm to take them to the field.

"Theta server.” Arcion said. A brow, which was hiding behind his dark shades, arched upward. Theta was new territory to Duo, it was new territory to a lot of people. Only the high leveled players, or as Duo liked to call them the “big boys”, were allowed to go to Theta server. He was almost at the level acceptance. This was rather exciting to the Long Arm, but he detained his jump of joy to himself.

The tiger got to his feet and stretched like any cat would do. Duo observed this, a painful facial expression flashed across his face. Even though the iguana was a track athlete –in the real world, of course-, he was still enable to pull off such complex maneuvers. It was maybe Arcion’s feline hack (Duo did have cold-blooded cells because of his hack, you know).

Arcion and Duo stood at the eternally spinning transport gate that was widely used in The World. He gazed upon the transparent, inner core that the Chaos Gate encircled. Never has he tried to stick an arm or leg through blue, gel-like surface, but he had speculated whatever he stuck in there it would go through. A plague of shade slowly crept towards Duo; apparently the sun was descending. He turned around to watch the sun set, a rare thing to see in Atlanta. The bright orange ball slowly fell down into the unique margin of buildings. The sky morphed from a light blue to a bright orange sea of colors as the sun was slowly being engulfed in the background. The virtual viewing was rather beautiful, but all things end sooner or later. And then he was submerged in darkness.

Three, golden rings descended from the sky, carrying Duo’s avatar to the ground. The sound of wind cutting through blades of grass was evident, even before he was completely loaded onto the map. The sounds made Duo guess that this root town was a peaceful place, a place where people were not as rushed –unlike Mac Anu-. The black around him slowly faded away and he see his surroundings.

“So this is Theta Server,” He said, scanning the area around him. Dun Loireag was quite different than Mac Anu. The sky was not only around him, it was below him. The Highland City was a floating fort. Oddly enough, there were no buildings covering every square inch of land. Tall patches of grass covered the area. Instead of tall, concrete buildings for shops, Dun Loireag had nothing but mere shacks. Surprising as it was, the weather was mild. Duo thought that since he was at such a high altitude, it would be cold, but nobody said his Physics teacher was always right.

The area, though not complete filled, had quite a few players walking about. A lot of the players seemed to know each other, since most of the people he saw were conversing with one another. It was obvious that this was the land of the highly skilled, highly leveled players. The weapons that each player wielded was enough to tell that Duo was way out of his league. Man I wish I could trade with someone over here… Yet something was out of place… It was him. As the Long Arm observed the area, he noticed many players observing him. Most of the avatars staring directly at the lizard man either had a cocked brow or a jaw hanging away from their upper-lip. This wasn’t, that much of a, a problem though, he was used to being the minority in the real world.

"Chatting Passionate Lyric Poet." Arcion said. Duo glanced over at a wavemistress and gave her a light wave. “Konnichiwa,” he said with a smile, and then he vanished.

Duo’s character data was quickly loaded onto the field. The usual triplet of rings dropped off two bodies at the desert tundra. The sandy utopia was a flat, desert-like land that stretched on for miles into the horizon. A rather dull place compared to the many other fields Duo had ventured in. Not a hint of wind was felt, which would become a problem in the long run, especially for his furry companion. The sun’s rays beat down on anything and everything that was not covered by shade. A thing that’s great when you’re under shade…. Unfortunately for them, there weren’t.

From afar, he saw no portals, neither did he see a dungeon. The only visible thing in front of him were the slithering lines of heat waves and sand. “Well that’s just great. We’re stuck here in the desert with nothing to fight and nowhere to go,” he said, sighing afterwards. It wasn’t a sigh of aggravation, it was a sigh more appropriate of being ready.

The Long Arm turned around to face Arcion. He was going to say something, yet something was bothering him. An arched, yellow beam of light shown itself from the side of Arcion. It glided away, then game back again. A portal… The way his mind said that almost made him sound like one of those nature show host experts.

Cue the cheesy, Australian accent. “And here we are coming closer and closer to one of the most beautiful, yet dangerous, specimens in the world… the portal. See how its very nice, circumscribed shape and yellow color shimmers where ever it’s at. Oh that’s a beauty, but don’t get too close or it’ll surprise ya!”

Duo would snicker at his own inner joke, but the mood was a bit more serious. The portal behind the tiger flashed open, revealing a Thousand Trees behind Arcion. The beast stood behind the feline, one of its branch hands lifted up in the air, ready to swipe down at the archer. The lizard man took his lance and pointed it at the monster. “Gan Don!” Escaped his lips as he summoned the spell.

There was a long pause before the spell took affect. One boulder, not exceptionally huge in size, fell from the sky, landing upon the Thousand Trees’ head. Another prevailed after the first one. “That’s it?!” Duo bellowed. Four more boulders, a little larger than the first two, came down on the Thousand Trees’ head with crushing force. The ground quivered as the rocks bounced off of the beast’s head and onto the ground. The attack did some considerable damage, but it may have not been the best attack to use. What if he didn’t move…? Surely his companion would be crushed, but hopefully his cat instincts would tell him to run.

The Thousand Trees paced near Duo, its face grimaced evilly at the Long Arm as it got closer and closer to him. One arm elevated in the air, the claws that extended from its end spread outward. Duo grabbed the shaft of his lance. If the monster’s wood was weak and if his spear’s blade was sharp enough, Duo could cut right through the Trees’ arm. If all else fails, he could always try to evade whatever the Thousand Trees’ attack was.

A Thousand Tree, that seemed a little weak for the level, but it was causing problems still. Duo's spell had allowed his near feline reflexes to dodge and he now lay on his side, aiming at the monster's eye to possibly stop it's attack, then spotted another remnant of the portal. He quickly switched his target to the Goblin Wizard before it attacked though it's fellow. Duo seemed to be in control of the fight with the tree, so he launched his arrow at the Goblin. Each had their own target, Duo was the tree's level, so he shouldn't have much trouble with it, as the wizard was the archers'. The Steel Dragon Bow wouldn't raise his fire element, to resist the monster's spells, but neither would the Arrow of the Maelstrom Sea help the tiger defeat his opponent. Just regular arrows I guess. He spotted Duo charging the Thousand Tree as he rolled away from the Goblin's attack on him and changed bows while in the roll. "'Ja like some help Duo?" He called and fired a fire charged arrow at the base of the tree.

The Goblin Wiz hit him with it's spell, and Arcion flinched. "I'm too easily frightened for you to do that." He growled at the goblin. He charged at the thing, grinning at it's startled expression, then created an arrow and fired at point blank range.

Scratching an itch on his arm, he sighed. "I didn't think I'd shed here. Oh well, one more thing to distract me." The tiger looked to his lizard companion. "Ready?"

When is he going to attack…? Such an enemy of its mass would make Duo think it would deliver its attack slowly, but looks were deceiving. The Thousand Trees’ teeth shown as it grimaced down at the lizard man; its claw fingers stretched apart as it readied to attack. Yet something delayed the beast. A blur flashed in Duo’s eyes. He first thought it was a figment of his imagination, but evidently, the monster saw it as well. The Trees’ eyes rolled to the side, peering over at its left side. A branch was amputated from its trunk, tumbling between the twigs and other branches before hitting the sand floor. The beast’s eyes glanced over at Duo, then its branch, its eyes wide and mouth open.

What am I doing…?! He asked himself. The Long Arm just stood there, his mind in somewhat of an amazement of what just happened. Others would take opportunities to attack, yet Duo just stood there. Fortunenately, the monster was still concentrating on what had just happened, leaving its trunk wide open for attack. He grabbed the pole of his lance with both hands and positioned his weapon at the side of his body. His foot elevated off of the ground, staying at a standstill in mid-air. Not wanting to stay in this position for long, Duo summoned his preferred skill. “Juk Repulse!” Duo took a hard step forward –with the foot that was once in the air-, thrusting his lance forward simultaneously. The spear penetrated deep in the, surprisingly, weak wood of the Thousand Trees. A huge explosion followed after the attack, breaking open the back of the beast, sending hundreds of wood splinters flying from the beast’s backside.

…Too bad for him such an attack that looked so powerful didn’t take that much damage…

Even though the monster’s Hp was drained quite a bit, it was nothing considerable. The attack was still a wood-based weapon skill, and the monster was still a wood-based creature. But Duo couldn’t worry about that right now, he had a much more complicated situation to get out of. His lance, still dug deep in the Tree’s base, was wedged between a small gap in the monster’s trunk. Duo pulled, but the lance did nothing but stay there. The lizard man glanced up, a wooden claw engulfed everything in his site. “I’m screwed…” He said, his eyes clinching tightly before taking the blow. It was weird how people would close their eyes tight before getting hit; it was like not seeing what was before you would ease the pain. The truth was it didn’t, yet the psychological concept of it made everyone do it. It was something that Duo always questioned.

The Long Arm flew fast to the side, his body smacking the ground with a clap rather than a thud. His body wildly rolled and tumbled before halting to stop. 'Ja like some help Duo?" Arcion said from afar. He got back to his feet, a waterfall of sand leaking from the sleeves of his shirt and pants, and turned around. The Thousand Trees was already nearing the Long Arm, its claw-like hand was above its head once again, ready to strike down on him. “Think you can pick on me…?” At the corner of his eye, Duo saw an arrow, this time it was lit on fire, fly at the base of the beast’s trunk. The flame settled on the Trees’ bark skin, slowly growing and radiating around the bottom of its trunk. The tips of the flames touched other parts of the beast’s bark and, like bunnies, quickly reproduced. It wasn’t long until the whole monster’s body was embedded with flames, except for its arms, which were flailing to the side frantically, as if the momentum that its arms carried would send wind towards its direction to blow out the flames. “Well…rathers well just finish this off quickly. Gan Don!” He called out. This time, instead of small boulders, one, huge boulder fell upon the Thousand Trees, crushing its weight onto the monster’s body. The Trees slowly fell to its side and dematerialized in the blue sky.

“My lance!” Duo said; he had forgotten that it was still wedged in the Trees’ body. Duo ran over at the remains of his opponent, nothing more than a pile of ash now, and searched for anything remotely close to looking like a weapon. The reflection of light bounced off a small portion of the rubble. The Long Arm grabbed whatever this thing was and pulled. It was his lance, still perfect in shape with no signs of burn or melting points. A sigh of relief escaped his lips. He then looked up at his feline partner and walked to him. The tiger seemed to be annoyed by something, but Duo didn’t bother to ask. "I didn't think I'd shed here. Oh well, one more thing to distract me." He said. Well at least your shedding looks natural… Duo thought. A lizard sheds its skin, not its fur, which looks weird either way, but the image of skin peeling away from your body isn’t the most pleasant thing to think about.

“Ready?” Arcion asked, looking up at Duo. “Y-yea. Lets head out,” Duo said, nodding.

Both players slowly trotted through the desert tundra, going at a speed higher than a jog, but nothing too considerably fast. The sun’s rays still shined down upon both players, and it seemed as if more sun was purposely coming to them. Damn scams… If it weren’t for the humidity, then the field would be half descent to… do anything. One thing that Duo noticed was the lack of portals on the field. But that was before they ran into one. A golden discus laid in front of a tall, stone pillar, its unique markings spun around randomly before opening. A single Mu Guardian hovered over the ground. “This thing looks different,” Duo said. It was true, it did look different, but that was due to him never fighting such a monster before.

The enemy did not hesitate to attack, its hovering, hollow body quickly floated toward the group. Duo yelled out a common fraise used by his Long Arm buddy Senna, “Lets dance!” The Mu Guardian was faster than Duo had speculated, it was already attacking. He barely evaded a slash by leaning his body back. This ultimately knocked Duo off of his balance and left the opponent with an open attack. The tip of a steel sword impaled through his skin, digging through some part of the muscle in his gut. Before the sword could go complete through him, Duo stepped back, dropping to one knee on his last step. One hand attended his gash, the other still held onto his lance. His adversary rushed at him, its sword swung at a diagonal slash once it neared the Long Arm. The lizard man knocked the attack away with his lance, followed by another slash that the Mu Guardian had delivered.

The beast came on top of Duo, bring its blade down at the Long Arm. The loud, clang noise of two swords clashing together radiated throughout the field. He was able to hold off the Guardian’s sword for right now, but how long could he keep it up? His arm was already beginning to struggle, the details of the veins in his arms bulged from his skin. His grip was gradually weakening and the convulsions in his arm wasn’t helping at all. Duo fell to his back, letting his opponent force more weight down on him. He pressed the soles of his feet against the chest of the monster and pushed up, sending the beast flying into the air. Hopefully Arcion could get some target practice from there.

Duo slowly picked himself up and was soon on his feet. He glanced down at the crimson stained vest and jacket and then back at his adversary. His breathing was heavy, but his HP gauge said that he needed no healing, yet. The Long Arm’s left hand, the hand that was holding his womb, lifted up in the air. His blood soaked fingers curled inward, telling the Mu Guardian to attack.

Meat shield dying. One of the several voices in his head told him. Not meat shield, fellow player. That was one of the annoying things about being crazy, voices occasionally told you the wrong thing.

Duo's getting attacked. The tiger checked that no other monsters had escaped the data stream through the portal, then loaded and fired the bow. Archers are support characters. Support characters need meat shields. Arcion growled at the voice, shooting the guardian again to distract it from it's attack. Support characters need Friends, meat shields are usless. He responded. He considered using La Repth on the longarm to heal the wound, as it was slowing the battle down and giving the Mu Guardian more opportunities for attack, and the archer wasn't dexterious enough to shoot enough arrows to distract the creature from all of it's attacks.

Meat shield needs help. This time the tiger swiped at the area the person were standing if the voice had had a body. Less distraction He yelled at the voice, 'glaring' at the other voices within his head.

He trusted Duo would have enough sence to heal himself if it was needed, and so concentrated on disarming the monster, not literally, but if that ended up the case even better for the pair on Figment Raiders.

For a moment the player wished he hadn't made the class change, then he could be up with Duo, flanking the monster, it'd probably be finished right now. The two levels he had lost with the change would have placed him tied for highest level in the clan. Still, he liked the change, even if it did make him depentant on his party.

What am I doing? I should attack… I should pounce… I should… destroy… Yet Duo stood there, the Mu Gaurdian still in his field of site, doing the same thing that he was doing. Both polygonized figures were at a standstill, one waiting for another’s next move. It was a patience game, like chess, except it was more like a life or death situation. And still they stood there, staring deep at each other.

Now Duo began to question is adversary’s methods. Why isn’t it attacking… It should be doing what all monsters in this game do… kill… He could not comprehend the concept of his opponent’s tactics. The Mu Gaurdian slightly moved forward, but it did not glide; it leaned forward more than glided. The monster jerked forward two more times and then fell to the ground, a cloud of sand and smoke surrounded its hollow body. The lizard man cocked a brow, his index finger grabbed the middle rim of his bifocals and pushed his glass down. “I-is it dead?” He asked, more to himself than to anyone else. Duo gazed back at Arcion, a small pile of fur covered a perimeter of the ground around him, and said, “Shall we continue?”

The tiger-lizard duo marched onward in the desert tundra. In the sand, a trail of footsteps followed the every movement of the two, which was a case of an evil foreshadowing (according to Duo’s mind). He still walked on, not really paying attention to where Arcion was. Duo’s fur companion could have been firing rounds into his cranium, and the Long Arm couldn’t have cared, or really noticed; he was too preoccupied with other things. Half of his brain was concentrating on surviving the intense heat. Duo’s cold-bloodedness could only take so much. The other half, probably the dysfunctional side, was contemplating on where they were going. I think we’re going the right way… No, we’re not… Well, maybe… Possibly… The Long Arm’s paces paused. Am I talking to myself…?

A finger tapped the bicep muscle of the Long Arm to the beat of one of his favorite songs, Jimi Hendrix’s I Don’t Live Today. He softly spoke the lyrics to himself.

“Will I live tomorrow?
Well I just can’t say
Will I live tomorrow?
Well I just can’t say
But I know for sure
I don’t live today.

No sun coming through my windows
Feel like I’m sitting at the bottom of a grave.
No sun coming through my windows
Feel like I’m sitting at the bottom of a grave.

I wish you’d hurry up ‘n rescue me
So I can be on my mis’rable way…”

The rest of the lyrics faded away as the group walked up at, what he guessed, was the dungeon entrance. The building was made of stone, it jutted out from the ground and stood a fair eight stories up from the ground. It was a simple design, the small cavity indicated that it was the entrance, while the rest of the structure was secured by nothing but pure rock. Duo neither had to ask nor did he have to signal if Arcion was ready to go. He just paced onward, jogging down the flight of stairs and into the dungeon.

The sound of a small droplet of water periodically falling to a larger, possibly a sea, mass of water rang in Duo’s head. He could imagine this, water running down the edge of an ice sickle, its liquid form changing into a sphere type shape as it reached the tip of the sickle. After balancing on the sickle’s tip, the droplet would fall into a puddle of water, maybe. The pong type sound that this action made was soothing, especially when it was repeated. Others would find it annoying, yet Duo found this relaxing. The black filled, VR screen slowly faded the dungeon’s first room into sight. The setting was, just like its field, bland. It was a four-sided room, complete with your usual tablets of concrete and chandelier for light. A portal sat stationary, yet still spun round and round in its point, in the middle of the room. It triggered a few seconds after the two had entered the room.

The bright, golden light dimmed, revealing a Dalaigon. “Holy crap,” Duo said; he was amazed by the size of the beast. The Dalaigon was dragon, simple as that, but its size was the main intimidating characteristic. A beast at its mass was certainly a hard thing to defeat. One of the its four legs elevated off of the ground and came back down with crushing force. Duo thought this would be an appropriate time to heal himself, along with Arcion. “La repth,” he said softly, his eyes still wide and staring hard at his opponent.

Arcion was reprimanding the voice in his head as the duo walked towards the dungeon and it closed his mind from noticing much of the terrain around him. The fact that the heat so hard on his cold-blooded companion, didn't even feel like it was touching him somehow lingered around while he spoke in his head. The tiger was content walking behind Duo, something he couldn't pick out was saying he was supposed to and he figured it was the same voice.

He bearly managed to stop himself running into the lizard-longarm when he came to a sudden stop and the shape of his ears and his unusual (at least to him) ability to multi-task when it came to music picked up the lizard singing to himself. He started walking again and Arcion tried to recognise the song, to try and sing along, but it wasn't anything he knew so he contented himself with listening while the lizard sang.

The lyrics stopped and the tiger took a look around to notice the slab of stone in front of them. "Dungeon" He said to himself and followed after Duo into the crevasse.

"Don't entry rooms usually not have a monster portal?" He asked, not really listening for an answer. He nocked his bow, readying an arrow to hit the monster in the.. foot? Big monster He reaimed the shot and fired before looking to Duo and nodding thanks for the healing.

The creature didn't simply have a name that resembled a dragon, it looked like one and Arcion wouldn't be suprised if it could breathe fire in the form of one of the Vak spells. Longarms and Archers are pretty decent for dodging, but if it catches me with one of those spells, he'll probably take me out. All of a single elemental armor tended to be a bad thing when you were this level and fighting monsters of the opposite element, but something like that also turned slightly into an advantage, even greater considering his weapon had a strong water spell.

The archer drew the bowstring back and began to charge it with his element, but the arrow loosed unexpectedly, falling short of the monster, and the bow dropped to the ground. "Duo?" he managed to ask before his thoughts were clouded for a moment.

When they cleared, it seemed that he was watching his avatar's actions rather than directing them like he should. As if in confirmation, the decidedly more feline avatar leapt at the monster. "Attacking directly is dangerious for me!" He shouted, but no sound came from his mouth. What's going on here? I've been freed. The voice that had talked to him earlier answered.

The Dalaigon swatted Arcion away as if he was a fly and the tiger crashed back into a corner, but whatever had taken control of his avatar didn't give up and leapt for the monster again, this time gaining purchase on it's wing and flipping him around to land on it's back and dug it's claws in.

It roared and reared, working to dislodge the irritant from it's back, and giving Duo a good opening to strike at the creature. Unfortunately for him, he hadn't managed to get in that 'hard to reach' spot and the Dalaigon threw him against the wall again. I'm not hurting it, but it's nearly killed me with two attacks Duo was probably hurt enough for a decent spending for the dual healing, he hated to waste SP. He tried, but nothing happened to his avatar other than launching itself at the dragon again.

Duo, finish this dragon so we can figure out what happened to me.

As the shade of baby blue gradually faded away, Duo had seen the blurred image of an arrow flying across the chamber. Now… He thought. The Long Arm charged at the beast, somewhat following bellow Arcion’s arrow. As Duo neared the beast he yelled out, “Double Sweep!” Both of his hands grasped the mid-shaft of his lance as he readied to swing his spear in a baseball style fashion. Yet one thing kept him from attacking, the silence of the monster in front of him. What happened to the arrow hitting the Dalaigon in the eye? His skill canceled out and he turned around, the sight of an arrow penetrated through the ground behind him laid there. Duo’s jaw dropped and his eyes widened.

Duo turned back around, a slight nervous smile was on his face as he looked up at the Dalaigon. The adam’s apple in the dragon’s throat enlargened and glided up in the monster’s esophagus. “And now I’m screwed,” He mumbled to himself. A rush of fire escaped the dragon’s mouth, flying down toward the Long Arm. Duo quickly crouched and dashed, or really jumped, forward. The horizontal position of his body and the way his arms stretched out in front of him made Duo look like a spiky haired Super Man while he flew through the air. Upon landed, the lizard man tucked his body inward. He tumble rolled forward, catching his balance once he rolled onto his feet.

“Duo,” Arcion said, breaking Duo’s state of concentration for split second. Duo responded, “Yea?!” It was at that moment when a claw, almost the size of the Long Arm, swung across the corner of his eye. Duo knew that the attack was coming, he knew that it was going to hit him, but all he could do was stand there. Nostalgia kicked in at the moment. Another situation like this had already happened. It was the human thing to do, stand there and make a dumb face (and hopefully freeze up to take the shock of a blow) before being knocked into the middle of next week….

…And that was what Duo did…

The claw of the dragon slapped the lizard man across the room, its claws cut deep into his chest before sending him flying. Duo’s shoulder broke his fall, even though that didn’t help at all. His body tumbled wildly against the stone ground before bouncing up and crashing against the nearest wall. The force of his body knocked his head back into the concrete wall. The Long Arm’s body, rather than just falling off, rebounded off of the wall and landed on the ground with a hard thud. His grip of his weapon was lost once contacting the floor, for the second time.

“I gotta protect… the… archer…” Duo said while getting out of his state of concussion. He was able to get to his hands and knees. “That sound… It’s… the water that I hear… whenever I’m loading into… a dungeon,” He softly said to himself. But he was wrong. It was not water, it was a different liquid substance, a crimson colored liquid substances. Duo glanced down at the puddle bellow him, a small sea of blood stood below him, growing slowly drop per drop. “Oh no…”

Lance already gripped in hand, Duo got to his feet, with the assistance of a nearby wall. He waited until the outlines of the many images that he saw matched one another. “Arcion? Arcion?” He asked. His fur covered companion flew into the wall near him. This caught Duo’s attention quickly. “Arcion!” He said, kneeling down to the tiger. “Hey man you….” It was a dumb question to ask; of course he wasn’t alright. Duo took out a Health Drink and set it next to Arcion. Hopefully the tiger had the strength to drink the potion.

Duo looked back up at the Dalaigon, his eyes stared deep and hard at the dragon. The beast took a step forward, the lump in its throat expanded outward. “Not again! Rai Rom!” No clouds formed above the thing’s head, no thunder rumbled beneath the ground; just a quick flash of lightning struck the dragon, giving off a bright light which spread around the room. Duo’s eyelids squinted together, even through the glasses the light was painful to his eyes. As the light dimmed, the shadow of a claw, a little to close for Duo’s comfort, revealed itself. The Long Arm was shoved backwards. He was able to back-pace a few steps, but his balance could only withstand so much. His feet tripped over one another, causing him to fall on his back. Two claws slammed into the ground beside the lizard man, which set Duo in a submissive position.

The Dalaigon’s eyes met with his own as the beast’s cranium neared Duo’s. The dragon took a deep breath in, readying itself up for another fire attack. I’m screwed… He thought as his pupils dilated. Duo’s right hand blindly searched for something to grasp to. The tip of his fingers felt the edge of the shaft of his lance. The Long Arm’s eyes widened when the monster’s head cocked back, stage two of the fire attack. Duo snatched his lance and silently glided it towards his body. The dragon threw its head forward and opened its mouth, letting the first wave of flames escape his mouth. Instantly, he to his lance and penetrated it through the beast’s throat, ultimately canceling out its attack.

It was silent, the only evidence of life was Duo’s heavy breathing. The dragon, surprisingly, did not bellow, nor did it move; it only stood at a standstill. The ball of fire inside the Dalaigon’s throat bounced back, entering into the monster’s esophagus (What else was supposed to happen? Was the thing supposed to swallow the fire and take it like a man?). A deafening explosion violently shook the room. The dislodged muscle and skins parts rained from the ceiling, followed by a shower of purple blood.

“Holy crap!” Duo said. He glanced at the mess that he had created, rather surprised and disgusted at the same time of what had happened. The dragon’s neck virtually disappeared from its body, along with part of its head. Most of the beast’s mass, its body, still stood up straight. “Please don’t move,” He prayed. The body was then shaded with a color of gray, falling at its side before its polygons flew away from the dungeon room.

“Arc,” Duo said, looking over at his tiger companion. He quickly got to his feet and, stumbling rather than smoothly doing so, jogged to Arcion. The Long Arm kneeled down at the tiger. A hand lightly slapped the cheek of Arcion, attempting to slap the tiger back into a state of reality. “What happened to you? How did you get so hurt?” It didn’t matter though, chances are he couldn’t hear him. “La repth,” Duo said, his Sp gauge had to be pretty low by now. The green bar above Arcion’s head slowly refilled up to about an acceptable amount. What in the hell was that all about…? Duo could not comprehend Arcion’s actions. Duo decided to sit across from the tiger until he was able to move again.

The first thing Asai did as his mind reconnected with the World after being thrown by the monster, was to put his hand on his head. He jumped when he realized he actually had motor control. Looking up he saw Duo sitting waiting for him and he waved.

"I think I'm ok." He told the longarm, "Maybe not" he finished as he tried to stand up. "Lost my head there." The archer tried to chuckle, but doing so just hurt. "La Repth" He muttered, even though Duo had already healed them some. "Even with full health I still ache." a moment after he had stood and immediately fallen.

He lay down on the floor as if he had intended to fall, though his statment had disproved that, and explained what he knew to his fellow Figment Raider. "I somehow lost control of my avatar. I was still there, I just couldn't control it. I talked to a voice while it tried to kill me and I think it was happy." He paused a moment and looked at the lizard player. "Did anything strange happen to you?"

He turned back to his thoughts, storing the answer in the back of his mind. "Maybe I'll get some answers from the voice. You be careful for yourself, don't think you have to protect me, I'll either keep myself safe or die."

The tiger stood, swayed for a moment and started walking down the hallway deeper into the dungeon, stumbling over anything rough in the corridor.

"Lets get to the Gott and get outta here," He half-ordered the lizard as he leaned up against the doorframe to a room which held another monster portal. "and hope that my voice doesn't take over again."

Duo’s eyebrows perked up as he saw Arcion get to his feet. “I think I’m ok,” He said, trying to get up, but failing anyway. The tiger summoned another La Repth upon himself and Duo. “Even at full health I still ache,” He said. Arcion attempted to get to his feet, this time succeeding, but his victory succumbed to his tiredness as he hit the ground once again. Man… he’s in really bad shape… Duo thought while reviewing his partner’s movements and facial expressions. As Arc lay on his back, he explained why he was in such a bad condition, “"I somehow lost control of my avatar. I was still there, I just couldn't control it. I talked to a voice while it tried to kill me and I think it was happy." He paused and then continued, "Did anything strange happen to you?" Duo shook his head, answering no.

"Maybe I'll get some answers from the voice. You be careful for yourself, don't think you have to protect me, I'll either keep myself safe or die." He said, getting on his feet afterwards. The tiger, using the wall near him for help, walked down the long hallway of the dungeon chamber. Duo hesitated to help the other Raider; he could at least have lent Arc a shoulder to lean on. "Lets get to the Gott and get outta here," the tiger ordered. Duo nodded, his objective was the same as well. Arcion’s paces slowed down to a halt as he reached the doorframe of the next room. "and hope that my voice doesn't take over again." The lizard passed him and entered the room.

The chamber that he had entered had a portal in it, but it spread open once Duo had set foot into the room. Duo, rather calmly, drew his lance, but there was no need to do that. A treasure chest was the result of the portal. It was an ordinary chest, except for the fact that it was shaded with navy blue. The Long Arm contemplated on opening it, mainly to see if his gamble would give him something good to equip, but he decided not to. He prevailed, going left into the west door and the next room. A flight of stairs awaited them. Duo looked back at Arcion and then down the stairs. He walked down them slowly, giving Arcion a chance to (somewhat) catch up.

The bottom of the steps led to another room with another portal infinitely spinning in one spot. Unlike many of the other portals, this one seemed to implode then explode its golden, bright light throughout the room. The light faded quickly and the trio of Goblins charged at the Raider duo.

Acting hastily, Duo charged at the trio, quickly thinking about a different strategy for every step he took. Once he was near the triple threat, the lizard made up his mind. Using his left hand, Duo slashed horizontally at the Goblin nearest to his left. The slash did a little more than graze the monster, but it still sent the Gob to the ground. Instantly, Duo jumped in the air and turned his body ninety degrees, counter clock-wise. His tail, thick and pretty hard, smacked the face of the middle Goblin, knocking it down on its back.

The last Goblin was the only one sacrificed; it still ran not at Duo, but at Arcion. A hand stretched out in front of him, “Gan do-“ But his words were halted as he remembered what his partner had said. I’ll have to trust that he’ll stay alive… He thought. The Long Arm turned around to face the two adversaries, who were still getting to their feet. “Let’s do it.”

(OOC: Sorry that this post was so short, I'm sure you already know that I'm leaving until Saturday.))

"Goblins? On Theta server." He watched all three as they attacked and Duo made his move. He wondered why the two goblins hadn't turned to data at the attacks. His mind came back to the events as the remaining goblin drove its dagger into his side and the pain allowed the tiger in his mind to snatch control for a moment and backhand the monster.

Asai pulled an arrow from the quiver at his hip, just below where the dagger sat sunk deeply into both his skins. Suprisingly, the wound hurt less than the rest of his body from his temporary takeover. The creature stood and turned, leering at his dagger and undoubtedly was thinking, in some corner of the World, about how to increase the damage.

The tiger didn't let it think too long before raising his bow and shooting for the dead center of the monster's face. Normally that would kill something instantly, but the goblin kept fighting until another volly of arrows restricted it's limbs completely, and even then it didn't fade for a few moments.

He turned an nocked a final arrow towards Duo, having heard the sounds of battle continuing, but the lizard was done as well.

"'s cooler in here." He commented, noticing the temperature difference once. Probably adrenelin kept him heated during the battles and he had been concentrating on his mental state between them. Arcion chuckled and walked towards the door. "This time 's good for something." Pointing to the wall with his bow.

He felt at the hilt of his bow and grinned, now the bow carving was crossed by a spear, probably the Spear of Spell that he had used in his last levels as a Longarm.

Duo glanced down to the Goblin nearest to him, the beast still lay on his back defenseless. The Long Arm took his lance and turned it around, so that the blade would be facing the ground. He did not cock the lance back, nor did he add a lot of forward motion to his thrust, he just let the lance fall into the Goblin’s chest. The blade penetrated deep into his adversary’s chest. Before the other Goblin could get up, Duo decided to cast his only lightning spell in his magic inventory. “Rai Rom!” He bellowed, the echoes of his voice were soon followed by two, violent strikes of lightning and then silence.

"'s cooler in here." Arcion said. Duo grabbed the shaft of his lance and attempted to yank his spear out of the Goblin’s chest plate. The blade was wedged between the split bone rather well, forcing Duo to wiggle the lance back and forth to try and slide the weapon out. He carried on the conversation while shimmying the lance, “I think it’s because we’re lower in elevation.” He paused and contemplated about what he had just said. At first he did not know if temperature lowered the lower you got in elevation, but then he thought about his setting; a game. Duo shook his head, “I can’t feel it –that much-.” The moment of silence afterward was interrupted by the sounds of bone slowly being carved into. Duo gave the lance another tug, this time it went out. “There, “he mumbled to himself.

Three doors, three paths, one leads to the Ghott Statue, the others lead to certain death. (Cue the slick and creative camera shots and announcer with a deep voice to add suspense.) Duo smirked at his little idea. He loved reality television commercials and how they tried to get viewers to watch their horrendous shows by using flashy screen-texts and expensive announcers. His ideas weren’t trying to compare his- or really their- situation. In fact, it was quite the opposite. His situation was actual reality, while shows like “Fear Factor” blow reality out of proportion. “I hate reality T.V.,” Duo said, not really directly at someone or himself.

They always say Westside is the best side..Duo… The lizard man thought, and then he shook his head. Was I just speaking to myself in third person…? Maybe the Figments Raider’s notorious, crazy ways were literal. It was probably a figment of his imagination.

Duo listened to his inner voice and went west. I was right… or it was right, whatever… There was only one path to go, north, and that was the direction that they headed. A portal instantly opened when both raiders entered the next room. Duo grabbed the neck of his lance, the part of the shaft where the blade and shaft met, and readied for battle. Duo’s eyes squinted together as the golden light shinned in his retinas. His sight was blurred a bit, but the shadow of his enemy could still be seen. The shape of the beast was odd. The light dimmed and Duo took haste to attack. “Double Sw-“ But he stopped after seeing what he was about to attack. A treasure chest, tinted purple, stood there, ready for some idiot to open it. “Oh.”

The room was like every room before it, except for the red carpet that bent in a ninety degree angle along with the room. Along the walls were skeletons, their wrists still bonded together with wrist locks and chains. This is a nice sight…

The next room was square shaped, the inner core of its borders was covered in lava. The humidity rose quickly, along with the heat, which wasn’t a pretty combination. The air thickened, making breathing quite difficult. His skin began to sweat, something he wasn’t used to in a few months. Duo thought about Arcion’s situation, he must have been going through hell right about now. They had to get out of the room hastily, but there was one obstacle in their way.

A portal spun at a standstill from the other side of the room. Duo thought about turning around, maybe to go back, yet the door behind him, and the doors around the room, were gated off. “Let’s get outta here,” he half ordered.

Arcion paused a moment beside Duo at the three doors. The tiger was only here to have fun so it didn't matter which path actually led to the Gott, but he didn't have enough experience in his class to venture out on his own, thus the main reason he was questing with Duo at the moment.

He saw Duo shake his head and momentarily feared that the lizard was being attacked by the animal voice that had previously been in his head. He followed the Figment Raider into another room and had bearly nocked his arrow before he heard the longarm cut his attack short.

"Purple is?" He asked before the answer came to him. "Trapped." He hadn't gotten any fortune wires and it seemed that the lizard had none either so the treasure sat safe in it's box while the raiders moved to the next room.

As he stepped through the doorway, Arcion was struck with overwhelming dampness. "Is there such thing as a 'wet cat smell'?" He joked before spotting the portal between them and the doors out. No, we're clean animals. The dogs are the ones that smell when wet. Asai shook his head outside the game, trying to clear the voice from his headset, and it went quiet.

"Let's get outta here." Duo called to him.

Arcion rubbed his paws together. "Sure, lets see if we can make the battle more comfortable." He nocked and aimed an arrow at the ceiling in front of the pair and charged it with water element. "Arrow of the Maelstrom Sea. Let's see if we can make it rain in here." The arrow burst before it could strike the ceiling, adding more moisture to the air of the room.

Before Duo could say anything, he loaded another arrow and shot the portal to release the monsters. As they were created by the World's programs, the air slowly grew drier and everything seemed to take on a slick gleam. "Careful not to slip."

"Careful not to slip." Was the last thing that Duo heard. The last few dozen droplets of water descended from the ceiling and onto the concrete floor. Duo was not bothered by the intense heat, for now at least, but whatever makes things easier was fine by him. It was quite a weird predicament, the area that he was in that is; A square shaped room with lava for the ground where ever concrete was not. It was as if the game had made this field just for something to happen; something bad to happen.

As the Long Arm turned the last corner, he began to wonder the enemies that he encountered. Yet then he thought the number of monsters that he would face. But all of that was insignificant, since he was nearing the portal. “Time to face my fate,” he said as the gate opened. As the blinding light engulfed his body he let out a sigh.

Three Mu Guardians hovered before him, all of them rubbing their duo swords together, creating some type of friction between the two that created small sparks. Duo’s grip of his lance tightened. He began to think of a strategy to fight. The only logical thing to do was let Arcion fire from afar while the Long Arm kept the trio busy. But it wasn’t the Long Arm keeping the monsters busy, it was rather the other way around. The three Mu Guardians took haste and began to rush Duo.

Duo brought his spear horizontal to his chest and waited for the first attack to be brought. A quick slash, from a direction that he could not follow, came from one of the three monsters. Duo stepped back, yet the Guardian was able to create a gash on his chest. He stumbled back, almost slipping on the wet ground under him. Before he could obtain his balance he was already being delivered with more slashes, this time they were coming from all directions. To the left, to the right, below him, above him, in a large quantity of angles. Name the direction and that’s where they attacked. Duo’s eyes could not follow such speed of attacks, each sword slash had trails behind him, creating somewhat of a strobe affect with his sight. All Duo could do was swing his spear around, hopefully deflecting some attacks.

Duo stepped away from the storm of attacks; his body was cut and scratched all over. His breathing was deep. He guessed that the humidity of the area was still affecting his breathing patterns. He felt weak, he was weak. All of the blood loss from his arm, and his whole body, was slowly draining him of energy. The Guardian nearest to him slashed. Duo evaded the attack, crouching down to let the blade flow above him. The lizard man dropped his lance, grabbed his attacking adversary and pushed it to the side. Once he got up, Duo grabbed his lance again and summoned an attack. “Double sweep!”

Both of his hands grabbed the shaft of his weapon. Duo then stepped forward, almost instantly after he grabbed the lance, and thrusted his lance in front of him. The blade got in contact with the Mu Guardian, pushing it to the side and into the fiery abyss. Before Duo could celebrate in victory, he was stabbed in the cut. The blade impaled him quietly and quickly, leaving little time to groan in pain. Duo took his hit and knelt down to one knee, keeping his moans and groans to himself. In his mind he stayed persistent to keep on fighting, yet his body would not move. He began to feel something that he rarely felt; a certain feeling that he only encountered when he was near death.

Fear struck through him almost instantly. Duo looked up at the remaining monsters. His eyes widened in fright and weakness. In his head he wanted to fight, he wanted to slay the enemy, yet his body refused to move. Sweat ran down his skin like waterfalls, it was beginning to soak his clothes. Tears ran down the cuts and details of his face. “I… I don’t want to die!” He yelped. The Mu Guardians hovered a bit closer to Duo. The Long Arm shuffled back, falling over himself and onto his behind. He threw his lance behind him and began to shuffle backwards, frantically. His hands shook violently in fear, along with his body.

Duo pondered on why he could not move and why he could not control his body and human emotions. All he could do was grasp his arm with the opposite hand and cower in his own fear. His opponent slowly came towards him. “Get away! Stay back!” He yelled out. The beast raised one sword up and stabbed it at his body. The blade penetrated through his body, crashing into the wall behind him once it had complete gone through him. The Guardian took the blade out quickly and Duo fell to the side. The monsters thought that he was dead, yet they were wrong, but pretty damn close. That’s the problem about A.I, it presumes too much. Any, intelligent, human being would check for a pulse, or at least poke at it a few times to make sure the thing is dead.

Duo lay there barely breathing; his eyes were dilated and his body remained motionless. His vision was fading away slowly. Duo wanted to cast a repth but he did not have the air in his lungs to do so. Rathers well die here… I guess…

(OOC: Sorry about the wait. I'm pretty sure you've already read the MIA thread.))

Delaying one of the monsters wasn't helping Duo much, and he released a growl at the monsters and then again at the tiger in his head. As soon as the sound registered the second time, Arcion knew it was the wrong thing to do.

In haste to attempt at least one of the pair surviving he shot an arrow at Duo before healing him, then turned and shot at the guardians until the tiger mind took over. "Don't kill me." He ordered it, then retreated.

He wandered back into the 'mind' or whatever it was he was pushed into when the tiger took over his body. There was a mannequin seemingly designed to hold the armors of The World. He touched the left hand and suddenly he felt he was in control of his avatar's hand, or rather paw. Touching the head he could see through the eyes of his avatar, and found that he could almost speak, except that the tiger didn't have the vocal mechanisms of a human.

He removed his hand from the mannequin and turned what he thought was back the way he came and imagined the other voice, it had been wearing armor. Maybe the armor had something to do with the changes.

The non-tigered Arcion considered finding the tiger in his mind and wrestling the armors away from it, but if the monsters weren't already finished off, it was likely that they had defeated him and the longarm, and if they were control would be returning to himself soon.

(OOC: This is a method of intrepretation I came up with to explain the changes we're encountering in this plot. The helmet is control of the mind, the gloves are dexterity or control of the weapon, the boots control of movement, the body armor control of form. Eventually we will encounter someone willing to help us 'retain pieces of the armor')

Through the tinted glass of his glasses, Duo could see the remaining Mu Guardians at a halt. They seemed to think both Arcion and Duo were dead, which was almost accurate. Duo's eyes observed the rest of the room; they set upon a body laying on the ground, lifeless and motionless like its controller had just simply walked away. Don't tell me he's dead... Duo thought to himself. He then began to wonder why he was laying on the ground, lifeless, motionless. Maybe it was karma; Arcion went through pain, now Duo had to go through the same. Yet it did not make sense. One minute everything was fine, but the next he was on the ground, begging for his life. It was like the true characteristics of a lizard (cowerig, always running away from danger) came over him.

Duo's hearing slowly faded into existence, the constant beeping of a low health gauge awaited him. He glanced down at the bar. Only a minute, green spec was left of the gauge. He looked down at the number, below the gauge, it read the number thirty-six.

How am I alive…? He asked himself. At that same moment his sense of feeling came back, which was bad rather than good. Duo groaned in pain and soon his hand covered the gash in his gut. His legs, arms and head began to throb in a pain not measured to anything he had felt before. For once, he prayed that something would kill him; anything was better than suffering until death.

“O-ola,” He whispered, half-calling the healing spell. His body could give the energy to call the remaining spell. The Long Arm’s soft words echoed in the square shaped room. The remaining Mu Guardians turned around after hearing Duo. Both beasts slowly made their way towards the lizard man; both of their swords were high in the air, ready to strike the last blow. Duo peered up at the sword tips of the monster duo and then began to speak. “Rai Rom,” he said as loud as he could.

From the ceiling came three bolts of lightning. All three of the bolts descended to the raised swords of the Mu Guardians, striking on contact and sending its electrical impulses throughout their bodies. Both Guardians seemed to have an epileptic seizure as the electricity traveled through their bodies. After the storm was done, both adversaries fell to the ground tinted in a dull gray.

Both of Duo’s hands scaled the area around him, feeling on the surface of the ground and walls near him. He didn’t know where he was. More importantly, he didn’t know where his lance was. He soon, with enough energy and motivation, was able to balance on one knee. One hand pressed against the wall nearest to him for assistance. That same hand crept up the detailed cracks and bumps of that wall, feeling for some type of ledge or jut to grip on, but he could not find one. He had to resort to doing things without help.

Duo strained while lifting his body up with his legs. It reminded him of squatting heavy weights back when he began working out. Another groan of pain escaped his mouth as he fell against the wall, and then another when he attempted to step forward. Ignoring the pain, or at least trying to, he prevailed his steps one at a time. For every pace he took there was a limp to his step. One of his knees could not bend that far, forcing Duo to walk like he had a prosthetic leg. His arm was also paralyzed; it was constantly flailing around as he walked, not really choosing a particular direction to fly in. Duo was a mess. His clothes were soaked in his own blood. They were ripped and torn at all places, so bad that some fragments of clothe were hanging on by a near thread. Streams of blood ran down his face and arms and legs. To finish it off, his bifocals were broken and bent.

As he neared Arcion, Duo summoned the Ola Repth spell to heal the both of them. Duo still knew that his tiger companion was still alive; the blue aura that surrounded him was his key hint. “I guess he blacked out,” Duo said. He decided to wait until Arcion was out of his dilemma. Hopefully it wouldn’t be too long. For now, all he could do was lean against the wall and wait.

Arcion recovered control of his avatar and looked around for the monsters, they were gone which meant that Duo had managed to defeat them somehow. Both lizard and tiger had full life totals and neither of their SP bars was low.

The tiger stood up, shaking his head in his almost neck-snapping shiver and looked for the doorway. "Lets get out of here, the longer we stay here the better chance that thing'll take me over again and we might not survive." He waited till the longarm stood and walked over to the doorway before following.

"We have to finish this quickly, and without much injury." Injury was a problem, the field was higher level than Duo and he still wasn't sure how to use his class the the best of his abilities. Duo slowed for a moment and the tiger moved ahead of him, pacing slowly and keeping a close eye for more monster portals.

At the end of the corridor he backtracked to an empty room so they would avoid fighting. He located the stairs and paused for Duo to lead down them. There would be more battles, but hopefully they could avoid unneccessary ones. He'd wait until getting back to town before figuring out the armor in his head.

After Arcion was up on his feet, and the same with Duo, they both paced to the last room of the floor. The opening to the flight of stairs rested in front of the two players, the upper rim of the doorframe was shaped in an upside-down U, as if it were frowning upon the two avatars. Must be some type of a sign… Duo ignored this and walked down the path of stairs.

The next room had a weird, quadrilateral shape to it. It was almost shaped like a diamond, maybe a parallelogram. I really need to get out of geometry Duo thought, just now figuring out that his contemplations were rather sad. The area around them, except for the corners and sides of the room, was well lit by a lone chandelier, even though the chandelier looked like it was about to fall off of its hooks. The lamp looked rather old. The chains that held certain corners of the lamp together were rusted and chipping apart. A large quantity of glass, or diamond, from the chandelier had already fallen off from their original hanging points. The candles, which still amazingly brought light to such a large room, were melted down to the point of blowing themselves out. The chandelier looked like a piece of art that you might see depressant’s art scrap folder.

Duo chuckled at the sight and decided to move on, it was about time the two of them left the dungeon, yet he could not decided which way to go. A front door was non-existent, yet two side doors, one on each side, were. The Long Arm turned left and headed toward the east door. He walked into the darkness after pacing past the doorframe above him.

‘The World’ loading icon flashed on and off at the top right, corner of Duo’s VR screen. While the area was loading, Brandon decided to take off his VR goggles. His eyes needed a rest, and he could tell this by the look of everything outside of virtual reality. His room, for example, was bent out of proportion, walls curved to the side and posters jutted out towards him. Brandon rubbed his eyes and then slipped his VR goggles back on.

The next room was long but slender. Down the middle of the hallway laid a red carpet, which stretched out from one door to the other. Duo knew that the carpet lead to the next pair of stairs, but one obstacle was in his way. “Portal,” He said dully, almost miserably. Fighting a potentially deadly enemy was the last thing on the lizard’s mind. The sound waves of his voice were all that was needed to trigger the portal. It opened, shinning a light, which blinded both players.

The ground quaked beneath Duo’s feet. “Not good.” Another rumble shook the ground, a few pieces of rock from the ceiling fell as well. “Definitely not good,” He said. The light began to fade away, and the shadow of two large feet, followed by an even larger body, began to emerge. Dalaigon…You guys are so screwed… His inner thought said.

The dragon took one step forward, its huge feet clawed through the cement floor, dislodging pieces of rubble and leaving small craters of footprints. Its head whipped back and a loud roar escaped its mouth. After doing its bellow of intimidation, the Dalaigon looked back down at the two players. Its read eyes, burning with fury and rage stared down at them. “Got any plans Arcion?” He asked, hoping that the tiger had some type of strategy to beating the beast.

Should I have a plan for defeating a monster that's levels above us combined? He said nothing out loud though. After a few moments of thinking he nocked an arrow, "We've defeated one of them before. We can try to push it back to the wall, limit it's movement." The slim corridors were generally helpful to battles he had found, the size of the corridor allowed enough room for the weapons to be applied while weakening larger monsters like the one they were facing.

Something had figured out a plan of attack while he was thinking about the clan and he launched into it without another thought. "Duo, I need you to taunt the Dalaigon." He said as he ran towards the thing. The lizard probably thought he was crazy, worse than normal, but hopefully would listen. Arcion dropped his Dragon Bow, leaving him unarmed and as the dragon moved to swipe at him, he dove and slid underneath the creature. Safe from the Dalaigon's claws he replaced his dropped bow with the other, nocked and charged the arrow. "Arrow of the Maelstrom Sea." Finding a rock from the creature's appearance the tiger crawled the rest of the way underneath the monster. "Now it has to choose." He called to Duo while nocking another arrow.

While the plan allowed one of them to attack the creature unmolested now, it left the tiger open to attack should the Dalaigon choose to face him. "Lets take this thing out." He said firing both a Dek Ruem and a Rue Rom at the creature.

“Duo, I need you to taunt the Dalaigon,” Arc said. Duo’s head turned at the tiger. He looked at his feline friend with a dropped jaw and slanted eyes. It was the type of expression that said “Are you crazy… or just dumb?”. “You’ve got to be kiddin’ me, “ Duo said as he switched hand armor. His alternate for the silver bracer were the silver gloves. The lizard needed the extra defense to guarantee he’d live for an extra five minutes in battle.

The Dalaigon turned at the tiger almost instantly after approaching the group. It figured that a light armor class would be easiest to take out, and it was half right. To provoke the beast, and hopefully help out his fellow Raider, Duo summoned one of the few, and probably his only, scroll that he obtained. “Dark Night!” He yelled, pulling out the small, folded piece of paper at the beast. An indigo emblem appeared in front of the dragon. The symbol, to Duo, acted as some type of targeting system; all he had to do was aim and then fire. His arm punched out at the symbol, which triggered the spell upon the beast. The pits of hell opened beneath the monster’s feet, a dark vortex of forever damnation and torture awaited below the dragon. Out of this corona came a series of sharp, curved claws. The claws penetrated the Dalaigon’s skin, digging deep into its flesh and insides, trying to grip whatever Hp it could take out of the beast. The claws slowly came out of the dragon and back down into the black hole. The hole closed up and Duo had to think of something new provide Arcion more time.

Yet it was not needed, the Raider was already on the other side of the dragon, firing arrows and spells at the beast. Duo’s brow quivered at the tiger’s tactics. Arcion’s plan was simple, but rather effective. The Long Arm decided to take advantage of his certain position.

Grabbing the upper-shaft of his lance, Duo walked up to the dragon’s backside. He raised the lance across his body and over his shoulder, as if he was ready to hack and slash away with a scythe. His spear came down on the Dalaigon’s back ankle, knocking it off balance. His adversary peaked back at him. A quick swipe of its tail knocked Duo to the side. Even though it did not take considerable damage, the attack was still able to open up Duo’s gash again. Blood slowly crept out of the wound and soaked onto his vest. He let out a slight groan but continued to fight.

The Long Arm noticed the tail of the beast. It did not move unless the dragon was to take a step or two in any direction. Besides that, it laid there, unless it was going to attack. “Put the enemy at a stand still and then attack,” he said while flipping his lance over to its other side. He walked up to the tail and raised his spear upward with both hands. Duo had to aim for the center, hopefully it wouldn’t move, and thrust hard enough to make sure it stuck all the way through.

“Juk Repulse!” He yelled out. Duo shoved the blade downward, impaling the thick tail once the spear’s blade had reached it. That should limit his movement even more… He thought. Weaponless, Duo had to resort to magic now, which wasn’t exactly a bad thing (he just didn’t like using magic very often). “Gan Don!” He summoned. Instantly, the boulder crashed down upon the monster, rumbling the ground as they bounced off the adversary’s head and onto the ground. Duo switched back to his Silver bracer and called forth another spell, “Rai Rom!” The thick clouds darkened the room and bellowed as thunder rumbled inside of them. Zeus’ bolt descended from the clouds and onto the Dalaigon, followed by two more.

As the clouds slowly dematerialized, Duo thought about how many more spells he would have to call. He was about half way, and surely the magic was doing some damage, even though not much. “I just gotta keep this up until this thing is dead. I’m about half way through my Sp… Rai Rom!”

Arcion +1lv. +Dark Forest Bow +2 Speed Charms +Restorative
Duo +3lvs. +Fiend Spear +Mage's Soul +Antidote