Just Watch Me Go! Chapt 3

Chapter 3

Evening of Day One (last time I’ll write this thing for a while)

Roxie and Kirito ran for quite a long time, their long legs made the journey go by quickly. They ran over dirt, rock and fallen tree, past many upright trees’ Roxie could care less about what they were pixelated copies of. It was dark when they went into the forest thanks to the leaf cover and soon was darker for the pixel sun had gone down. By then, the two travelers had made it more than halfway to Horunka Village. When it was at last to dark to make safe travel and the two were exhausted, Kirito lead the two to a safe zone, a small-to-medium sized clearing surrounded by trees. 

Kirito and Roxie gathered rocks and wood together then set up the camp, which was really easy and the words ‘set up the camp’ are sort of unneeded, since all they needed to do was to bring the sleeping bags out of their individual Storages and then after the 10-15 second wait they appeared. The two teens placed the two camping-out sleeping bags near the fire pit for warmth. The two worked in silence. It was a little unnerving for both but was mostly because neither knew what to say at that time. But the two, loners alike but unknowing, could sense the others’ want for talk and peace. That alone was enough to make the silence more comfortable then not.

When they finally had nothing to do and knew gathering more wood was unnecessary, they both sat on a pair of logs they rolled over for seats. Simultaneously they opened their Storages and picked something to eat. Roxie picked a store bought chicken sandwich and took a bite to find to her pleasant surprise that it tasted good. It didn't take them long to eat and finally they both laid down on their backs in their sleeping bags, pillows sewn into the head part. Roxie’s wasn't very big, but since she was skinny and didn't really expect to use it so soon, it was OK. 

“Tomorrow we should make to Horunka in an hour and a half, two hours tops. If the layout is the same as before, then we will have to go through a large clearing were the usual low level monster hogs will appear.” Kirito said looking up at the stars then rolled over to face Roxie. He placed his head on a hand holding him up a bit. “Have you fought any monsters before…you know?”

Roxie nodded her head. “Oh course I have. I did a bit while I was looking for a bow and arrows.”

Kirito’s eyes blinked and he looked at Roxie with a look of surprise. “Well, I’m sorry you didn’t know. It’s not a weapon found here and if it was, no one found the shop or quest for it.”

Roxie slowly smiled. “Well then, I’m the first.” She sat up and opened her Storage. She quickly found the bow and it appeared in the air. Roxie caught it and held it out to Kirito, who was looking amazed. “Well, one of the first. The NPC, The Wise One, said one other person found the shop where I got this. He or she might not have gotten a bow but oh well.”

“This is amazing.” Kirito said awed and impressed. After looking over the bow he handed it back to Roxie, who put it away. “Did you practice with it yet?”

Roxie shook her head. “Nope. I had just walked out of the shop for a few minutes when I was teleported to the arena. I fought with my Starting Weapon, this dagger thing.” She explained as she made the dagger-for that is what she was going to call it, since all it said the name was literally Starting Weapon-appear and let Kirito look it over too. “But I don’t want to rely on it; it’s too small for my tastes.”

“What would you rather use?” Kirito asked handing back the dagger and then laying down on his back. 

“Something long; something that doesn’t require me to have to get extremely up close and personal with any target, especially a Boss target or any really strong ones really. Even back home I knew that my fighting style, if I ever needed one, will be one for long distance. Even if my eyes aren’t really the best for that.” Roxie said with a little chuckle at the end. She made a gesture to hint she wore glasses and Kirito nodded in understanding. 

“Well, tomorrow will be the best time to get your feet wet. I’ll watch your back as you try out your bow and we’ll see what happens. But I think now is a good time for us to go to sleep.”

“Shouldn’t one of us stand watch?” 

“No, this is a Safe Area. Not only from my info from the Beta Testing I did; but it says so on the map. We can’t be PK’d, or Player Killed, here or have to worry about monster spawning.”

“Oh, well then that’s perfect. Good night.” Roxie said and lay down as well. After Kirito said good night as well the two partners fell into silence, the only sounds from then were their breathing, the fire, and the wind in the trees. Soon Kirito was fast asleep but sadly the same could not be said for Roxie. She quietly tossed and turned in her bag, trying to tire herself out and go to sleep without waking Kirito. After doing it for a while and it not working, she sighed and sat up and lightly hugged her knees. She stared off into the trees over the fire that still crackled and popped.

Her short black and a bit messed up straight hair freely framed her light brown skin and her light brown eyes. She started playing with her long fingers that could have been piano fingers if the Piano Guys had come out when she was little and then finally sighed.

“Oh brother. I hate it when I’m tired but can’t sleep.” Roxie said to herself. “My mind is too busy thinking over what happened today.” She muttered then stated chewing on a lip just because she could. As she pondered how to clear her mind enough to go to sleep, she mentally looked over her Items in her Storage. Potions, clothes, food, a diary and something to write with-oh! I can write in that!

Roxie quickly swiped at the air and the menu appeared. She opened the Storage and pressed the slot holding her dairy. It appeared in her hand along with the quill pen for it. After closing the menu she opened the book and wrote in the first page

Afterwards she went to the next page, but then stopped when a note popped up. She opened it and read she could put a lock on it for safety. She quickly wrote one in then went to writing, after changing the ink color to blue, with her right hand.

Roxie froze and gasped. “Ethan! I totally forgot about our meeting! Oh no, please let him be alright. Oh, of course he’s alright I mean he has to be.” She told herself. 

After calming herself down Roxie went back to writing; though the worry was very much still there, she pushed it as far back in her mind as she could. 

By now Roxie had just about fully let her emotions out. Her grip had gotten tighter and tighter as she wrote. Her face had started letting the emotions show and tears of anger had started by this point. She didn’t make a sound though, not wanting to wake up Kirito.

Roxie stopped writing to give her hand a rest and to wipe her eyes. The tears had caused her vision to warp a bit, making her hand writing even sadder than normal. The marks were still there from her tears, which a part of her thought was kind of cool. As she rubbed her sore hand, she stared around the clearing. Lost in her thoughts and images of her home, her eye’s landed on the fire. It had dimed over time, but was still nice and comforting. The fire seemed like an igniter, because suddenly the feelings from earlier that evening returned. Slowly at first, they built until she snapped up the quill and started writing again, faster as she went; her eye’s glowing in the light.

I may get out of this place alive.

Calming down, Roxie reread what she wrote and noticed something. 

Roxie put down the quill pen and then closed the diary. Her hand was sore but it was a good kind of sore. Now that she had her delayed breakdown written out, she felt; lighter. It was one of the reasons she loved writing. You can write out your whole being onto the paper or computer and not be judged, unlike with people. Once she was so mad at the trouble she got in with her parents-and it was over a misunderstanding too-she ended up writing a full chapter to a story by just describing her grief. 

Anyway, Roxie put her diary and pen away and turned to the fire. She waved her hand to the right in a short movement and two buttons appeared, one said Dimmer and the other Lighter. After turning down the fire-a concept that was both odd and cool-she laid down and closed her eyes. She didn’t even form a complete thought before she fell asleep.

(.3.)(.3.)(.3.)

The next morning came with sunny skies and the sounds of birds singing. The two partners woke up and after a quick meal headed off again. There wasn’t really a need to run at the same pace as the night before, but they did it anyway for fun, breaking off to walk every once in a while. As they traveled over the ‘time worn’ dirt road that leads to Horunka Village, Kirito told Roxie a lot. From what things could also kill a person in the game, like lethal poison if an antidote is not found and used in time, to the fact you really didn’t need to sleep, since it sadly didn’t help much in the Health Bar department.

It was the hour mark when Kirito said when they made it to the large opening in the forest that, according to Kirito, was a monster spawning ground. The two took out their weapons, Kirtio his sword and Roxie her bow and arrows, and got ready.

“Once we step foot on the grass, they’ll start. Move fast, be careful, and don’t lose track of your target, alright?” Kirito said his face in a determined look that Roxie hadn’t seen yet but liked.

“Got it the first time, bub.” Roxie said brightly, giving him a wink. He smirked a little then the two got serious and walked out of the trees and onto the green grass.

The result was almost instant. Quickly large-well normal sized really just a tad bigger then Roxie had ever seen-greyish blue boars appeared out of a fountain of white light. They had yellow eyes with no pupils, small tucks, and two odd pink beads on each of their tails. They all turned to the two humans and then two charged.

Roxie didn’t think. She just quickly grabbed an arrow from her quiver on her back and awkwardly put it in its place. On the run up Kirito had inadvertently reminded her that she had never actually used or even held a bow-with or without an arrow in place. So she called it out and tried it. It turns out, either her mind was very hard to trick, or there was something different or you just had to experience the realness because she found it very hard to pull the dang thing back, with or without the arrow. So for the hour it took getting to this point she forced herself to pull the string over and over, getting it over time. Now she could at least pull it back enough and hold the arrow straight enough to shoot. Somewhat, anyway.

Note to self. LEARN HOW TO USE THIS DANG BOW. She thought/snapped to herself. At least she figured out how to shoot, mostly, after losing a few arrows at the trees when the two slowed down a bit back on the trail. It was hard; the recluse bow she had didn’t have a –sight-, something that is very helpful to new archers, so she had to just figure out how long to hold her arrow, how to cleanly let it fly, and remember not to move the bow until the arrow was AWAY from it and her hand.

Roxie didn’t lose track of what was happening, and aimed at the boar the best she could. She kept both eyes open as she pulled back the string and arrow with her right hand, the left shakily holding the bow itself as she stopped by her mouth. But her posture was ok at least as she let the arrow go. It flew through the air and went right at the boar. She watched in surprise as it went right into the boar’s mouth and after it froze it disappeared into pixels and a sign popped up to tell her what she won. She smiled at herself.

“Yes!” she cheered for herself. Kirtio looked over his shoulder to look at Roxie and gave her a nod, having dealt with his boar already.

“Good job. Now for the rest.”

The two worked together swimmingly. While Kirito really didn’t need help, Roxie did a little. But overall she dealt with things easily, right up to the last arrow. Now the total number of boars that formed up was 12, leaving 6 for each teen. Roxie, sadly, had only 5 arrows in her quiver. When the last boar angrily ran at her she reached back to find to her sudden horror that she was out. In a rush of pure instinct-or is it adrenaline?-she changed her grip on the bow and held it like a baseball bat or etc. She waited for the boar to come closer then she quickly side stepped out of the way and swung her bow hard. Her hit practically launched the pig into a tree, leaving Roxie just as stunned.

“Daaang! I can’t believe that worked!” she said astonished at herself. Then she stiffened when the boar slowly got to its feet, and Roxie saw its health bar was in the red but not going any lower. “Aw, come on.” 

Roxie reached back but the quiver was still empty and she didn’t know how long it will take for the arrows to appear back in place, she had forgotten to count. So she instead slipped the bow over and across her chest and back and called out her dagger. It appeared in her hand and as the boar started running at her again she moved her hand up, held the dagger like that crazy chick from the Hunger Games movie, and threw it with all her might. She was paying so much attention to aiming the dagger, she almost didn’t notice it glow white. But when she did she smiled and watched it fly. The dagger flew through the air at an incredible speed and stabbed into the boar. It froze for half a second then disappeared.

“Yes! We did it!” Roxie cheered, spinning in the air and landing facing an amused Kirito. He had put his sword away on his back by then and Roxie realized he must have been watching her.

“Great job, Roxie. You figured out the skill flawlessly, and it was amazing to see you to change tactics on the fly like that.” Kirito complemented. He looked both happy for her success and a little uncomfortable. Roxie guessed, with amusement, that he probably wasn’t used to giving young ladies complements. Or, maybe for that matter, give them to people. She and he were pretty alike, which worried a part of her that she hid away for a better time to worry about. 

“Well, it’s all thanks your teachings, Kirito.” Roxie complemented right back. She even put in a flourishing bow to him. She straightened up and laughed outright at his blush. Hearing a small musical tone coming from behind herself, Roxie moved her head enough to see her quiver was full again. “Well, that certainly is convenient. Fills up right after I need it too. Oh well.” Roxie brushed herself off and adjusted her bow, deciding to leave it as it was. “Well then, let us be off! We still have quite a lot of distance to go.”

Kirito lost the blush and just shook his head in bewilderment. “Your right, let’s go.” The two then turned to the path and started running.

(.3.)(.3.)(.3.)

The two partners made it to Horunka Village in more time then Kirito first said but it wasn’t his fault. The roadways had changed, even if just a little. It was on the half hour mark after the second hour when they were finally there. The village was very quiet, but in the peaceful kind of way, not unnerving. The NPC’s (Non Player Characters in case you forgot) were out and about, a few stopped and waved at the two friends. After the two scooped out the village to make sure everything was where it was during the Beta Test days, and giving Roxie the chance to sight-see, something she did in earnest, the two started their quests. And I do mean Quests.

The two spent the next two weeks doing each and every quest in and around the village. Every night they went to bed late but woke up early and filled their days with quest after quest. They broke to eat and to rest but otherwise did nothing but fight and defeat monsters and earn Col (money) and EP (experience points). Roxie did learn the different levels of money, or Col, along the way. 

By the weekend of the second week, Kirito had finished all the quests he wanted to do and was ready to move on. But Roxie had found a quest to do that would help level up her bow some more, so she decided to stay and told Kirito to move on without her. He didn’t want to, but Roxie was adamant and finally he caved when she reminded him she can take care of herself. By this point she could use her bow pretty well, even though the game gave her a little help (she would be seen as an amateur by a pro faster than you could say her name in real life).

After Kirito left, Roxie started to change. Now that she didn’t have a friend she could be herself with anymore; she started to turn back into the girl she had turned into back home. She started by wearing a dark cape she bought whenever she went out, to discourage people from trying to talk to her. She didn’t speak to anyone that wasn’t a NPC and even then hardly at all. The evening after Kirito left she decided to try out an idea she had. To see how long a person can stay awake for in the game before going bonkers, since sleep wasn’t as big a need in the pixel world. She went for almost the next two weeks staying up for as long as she could, going days without even a nap. The fact she could still function after day three surprised her quite a bit. Then again she had stayed up for pretty much the same amount of time once or twice.

And what was she doing all those days and nights awake? Why, hunting of course. Every day and night Roxie would go out and hunt for monsters and animals. She went into the woods, off the paths, and anywhere else they would appear. That helped her level up quite quickly and soon Roxie had passed Level 8, which gave her a new Skill Slot. Now that she had three, she picked three skills to start working on. She chose Tracking, Detection, and Night Vision. She planned on getting the Listening Skill next, since it’ll help quite a bit mixed with everything else. 

One night she was sitting in her room, flipping through her stuff, when she saw her diary. After a moment she took it out and started to write. As she gave her diary a rundown on what had happened; she had a wonderful idea! Even though everything in this world is code, maybe when they are free she could still assess her diary. If so, and if she kept writing in it, she’ll have a complete history of what happens to her in this world. Her idea though, was to write in two diaries. One for personal stuff for her eyes only, and the one she is writing in now. That one she will try to publish to give people on the real world side a look at what life was like. And give her parents something to gasp about, heh heh.

Anyway, it didn’t take her long to finish the quest-it was done by the next day-so Roxie had left for the next town. The walk was long and while Roxie took care to pay attention to the map; at one point she did get lost. On the plus side though, she had found one of the smaller towns on Floor 1. Too bad she did by going left instead of right and not thinking to look at the map in favor of eating an orange. The journey was a bit quicker thanks to a small, dangerous path connecting the road she took and the new one. Why was it dangerous? The whole pathway was wolf territory. Thanks to Roxie’s bow she managed to live but did have a close call when one ended up biting her leg when her mind and eyes were elsewhere. 

After that and a night, she made it to the Village of Peace. But by then Kirito had moved on, leaving her a message at the Peace post office. The sad thing was, Roxie only realized then that not only didn’t she or Kirito Friend each other, they didn’t even think to set up a message system. She only knew from his somewhat rushed letter that he was moving on, that he was fine, and that while he knew they’d see each other again soon thanks to his faith in her, he didn’t want her to chase after him if she didn’t want to. He told her that truthfully being a Solo Player was perfect for him, so he said to find her own way to survive. He told her he’ll hit each town and hopefully find the Dungeon in one. And even if he wasn’t the one to find it, he’ll be there when it’s found.

Well, Roxie was now free. Well, it wasn’t like she wasn’t free already; I mean she now didn’t have to chase after Kirito; she could now do what she wanted. And the first thing she did, was get a room in the inn of the village, take off everything and put on a light t-shirt and pair of shorts, and dropped onto the bed to sleep. She had made it to 13 ½ days with no sleep; a feat she made sure to write down. 

When she woke up she found to her surprise that she had slept for two days. At some point a NPC, she dearly hoped, came into the room and tidied up the place a bit and left a snack and menu for the café. When she woke up she laid in her bed thinking things over. While she still wanted to hunt at night, she really didn’t want to stay up for days on end again. So she slowly stood up and then changed into a somewhat brighter outfit: a light blue t-shirt under her front armor, a matching skirt on top of black skinny jeans, gladiator flats in silver that matched her armor and after brushing her hair she put it into her normal neck ponytail. As she left Roxie decided to leave the cape off for once and headed for the café for some well-earned and needed food.

Roxie sat down in the back by a window that showed the outside village square. A small vase with a pretty white flower was on the table and as she read from the menu on the table she watched as a girl dressed in all black walk into the inn. She was rubbing her gut like she was starving and she looked around the room. Roxie didn’t mean to make eye contact, but when the girl that peeked Roxie’s interest looked her way, she didn’t look away in time. The café was kind of small for an inn and since it was late morning most of the tables were taken. Even the bar area was full of people. Roxie though had managed to score an empty table for two when she appeared and had hoped to be left alone. But when the girl smiled and headed her way, Roxie silently sighed in resignation. She was going to ask to sit with her and Roxie will say yes. No need to be rude just because she didn’t want to be or get close to people.

“Howdy! Mind if I sit here? I’m starving and it’s the only spot left in this dinky place.” The girl asked in a nice polite voice. If she had an accent Roxie didn’t pick it up, and she looked like any normal girl from back home. She had white skin with freckles on each cheek, short orange hair in a Tamora Calhoun style, purple earrings, and bright green eyes. Her neck and face were the only places where Roxie could see skin; everything else was covered from toe to collarbone.

“Sure, go ahead. I’m not holding the seat for anyone.” Roxie said politely, and moved her legs back under her own seat as the girl sat.

“Thank you. Mmm, it smells sooo good in here.” The girl said picking up the menu. She glanced at it before seeming to remember something and held the menu in one hand while holding the other to Roxie. “I’m so sorry, I forgot to introduce myself. My name is Natasha Burns.”

“Roxie Drake.” Roxie said, though she almost said her real first name, Gabrielle. While there was nothing wrong with saying her real name, she liked having a clean slate. With a new name, she could be whoever she wanted to be. She didn’t have to put on an act like back home. She shook Natasha’s hand and after they let go a waitress walked over. Roxie noted that she was actually a normal person and took a light note that she could earn money here.

“Hello and welcome to the Sunrise Café. Would you like to take your order or do you need more time?” she asked. Now she had a light accent but what it was Roxie couldn’t place. Whatever it was, she was speaking English since the little pop up didn’t appear in her vision. The pop up appears to tell her if someone was actually speaking another language, which was pretty cool.

The two ordered their meals and the waitress walked off to the kitchen. That left the two young ladies alone. Roxie knew she should try to strike up a conversation, but she was out of practice and that annoying feeling of shyness took over most of her heart. The left behind part tried to fight for her to speak, but it was losing the battle. It was a lucky thing that Natasha had no such problems.

“So, how has life been for you, Roxie?” Natasha asked with a friendly smile as she started to build a house of sugar packets.

“…Pretty good I guess. Overall anyway.” Roxie shrugged. “How has-.”

“-My life been? Oh it’s been great!” Natasha said cheerfully. She made it to the second level of the sugar packet card house while she spoke. “I was an info gatherer in my last game and it’s helped me a lot since I’ve been stuck in here. It’s amazing how much dough a girl can get with just a little bit of information.”

Roxie looked at her in a slightly new light. “Wait, you’re an information broker?”

“Yep!” Natasha said with a cute face and accidently knocking over the packets. “Aww!”

Roxie silently giggled as the waitress walked over with their meals. After thanking her and she left, the two started eating their food. Roxie had three French toasts with syrup and a Sprite. Natasha had two pancakes; you know the huge ones made in restaurants that make you think ‘dang’, and eggs and milk.

After the two ate for a bit in calm silence, just listening to the people coming in and going out of the café, both looked each other over. Natasha took in Roxie’s reserved body language and how she didn’t talk much. She also didn’t look at her often but when she did it was quick glances. She could tell she was a Solo Player; everyone she has meet so far that was all had an aura of ‘please don’t talk to me, I want to be alone, ok bye’. She wondered if it was just her style or was she doing so for a certain reason.

Roxie had a little less luck in deducing Natasha. She seemed pretty friendly and young or that could be her cheerful attitude that made her seem so. Really; she made her think of Pinkie Pie Pony from MLP:FIM. Or the cheery gal/guy in most anime’s and manga’s. Still, she knew there had to be more and while she wasn’t totally happy to have met her, since she now had an attachment to her, she decided to make the best of it. Besides, an info broker wasn’t typically a fighter; at least as far as she knew. So this dudette had a pretty good chance to live so…

Roxie struck up a conversation as they finished their meal. She asked how was it being an info broker and it broke the ice. It was still a little awkward at points for Roxie, when she didn’t know what to say or have anything to say, but she slowly warmed up to Natasha. By the time their plates were as clear as they were going to get and then taken away the two were friends. In two different ways: in the normal way and then the video game way. They both had a laugh about how, conveniently, they both were each other’s first female friends in this world. They then went their separate ways; Natasha to sleep since she had traveled from right before dawn to get to Peace, and Roxie out to do a little questing.

She enjoyed her time in Peace, but decided to move on after two days. She wandered the paths and when she came to the huge cross roads outside of town she went left then left again. The journey took two days, even with her sleeping for only a few hours each night. Soon she came to the town Aikatsu and stayed there for only a day. But that day was very important and set up something that would help out Roxie for a long time.

(.3.)(.3.)(.3.)

Roxie was impressed with the tall mountains in Aikatsu. The mountains went far and reached all the way to the next village, that one was called Tolbana. Oh wait, it’s a town. Aikatsu had sadly little to offer Roxie, other than pretty landscape the quests there were pretty low on her ‘must do’ list. Most were for sword or ax people and while Roxie still used her saber, it was still too short for comfort. And why didn’t she just buy a longer sword if that was the problem? Simple. She had a habit of saving money, both from the real world and on other games she’s played over the years. It’s better to have enough to by the good stuff and just wait then splurge early and regret it. Besides, while most of the weapons on Floor 1 had the capabilities to evolve with the player, she wanted to see what at least Floor 2 had.

She was selling Snake Venom to an herbalist for a medicine quest when she suddenly heard a musical ping. She turned slightly as the herbalist went to get her prize and opened her menu. She raised her eye lids a bit in surprise at what the ping was. It was a message alert. She opened it and read it then blinked twice.

“Uhhh ok then.” Roxie said then chuckled. The herbalist and her finished their business and Roxie walked out of the nice smelling building that reminded her of that table in the original Jungle Jim’s. She looked to the left, like she had been ordered, and smiled brightly at the sight of Natasha jumping up and down on a bench waving her arms. Shaking her head amused, Roxie walked over. The two hugged, which was a bit uncomfortable for Roxie deep down but she pushed it away. 

The two didn’t speak for long; Natasha had a meeting in Tolbana about the possibility of the dungeon finally being found. But since Natasha noticed that her friend was in the town too, she wanted to see her and have some fun. The two spent a nice few hours together swimming in a lake with a small but still beautiful waterfall by the base of a mountain. Once they cleared all the purple anime like piranha, of course.

Roxie and Natasha said good bye that afternoon and Roxie allowed herself to have a day of play. As she lay in bed that night, she thought over how quickly she had changed her lifestyle. Back home she had adopted a somewhat lazy attitude on her life, mostly because she didn’t get to do much with it. But here she was. Giving up sleep to kill monsters for days on end? Risking her neck doing quests? And going it all alone? It’s crazy how life can change practically overnight.

The next morning Roxie woke up to the sound of two messages, one appearing after the other almost scarily. Roxie slowly rose from her comfortable inn bed and after putting her feet on the ground, sleepily opened her mail box. What she read both shook her to the core and woke her up to boot.

The first message was from Natasha, like she had figured. The writing was a bit sloppy with hast but the meaning came through. Her informant had told the truth. The first dungeon had been found! The second message was more of a news bulletin, like the storm warnings on TV. It was also confirming what she already knew; the dungeon had been found. This was great news!

(.3)(.3)(.3) (<- means change of P.O.V)

I stared out the window in my small room. My mind was full of thoughts, each fighting to be heard in my mind. 

Roxie let her eye’s wander over the outside landscape. The view she had was mostly of the backyard of the inn, but it was very pretty. The trees were full and tall, there were flowers everywhere and people were walking outside, completely unaware of Roxie’s thoughts. This is good, because if they could read her mind then that would be a problem.

She kept going in circles in her mind, two half’s fighting over what to do. Should she go to the dungeon battle or stay out of it? Even though both sides appealed to Roxie, she knew what she would do. She will go to the battle and fight, or at least give the other fighters some cover. She just couldn’t live with herself-no wait she could, like she wouldn’t keep living if she didn’t, but the point is she was going and that was that. So Roxie turned from the window and walked out of the room. Soon she had checked out and was on her way out of the town.

“It’s going to take at least the whole day to make it in time,” Roxie said to herself as she looked at the map. She walked right pasted the transport spot, not even giving it half a thought. It might be faster and safer, but Roxie could hunt and earn points and col wall on foot. She just had to make sure to be to the next village in time for the meeting mentioned in the second message sent. After reaching the edge of the road out of the village and she stepped onto the dirt, she took off running. She had a lot of ground to cover and not a lot of time to cover it.