CLASH! CLASH! BOOM! BANG!
Two players soared in sync above the hordes that attacked them. The FYBER glow around bodies provided the only light in huge cavern where they fought. Thousands of menacing glares and fangs reflected this light as the sound of growls, snarls and mighty snaps filled this chamber of the cavern.
"I've never seen this many in one place before!" The gun-wielding player in the cowboy hat exclaimed.
He and his lance-wielding landed and perched on a platform near the roof of the cavern.
"My guide... she's disappeared!" the lancer mumbled through pants.
"What?!...Now that you mention it..." The cowboy's jaw slowly dropped as his eyes grew larger.
"Doody! Respond!" He yelled.
"What the heck, dude? You call your guide Doody?!" Said the lancer with a look of disgust.
"Not now, Jason!" The cowboy interjected before continuing to yell...
"DOODY!! GET BACK HERE RIGHT NOW! THIS ISN'T FUNNY!"
The monsters down below grew more agitated in response to the cowboy's yells.
Jason grabbed his struggling partner in a choke-hold and covered his mouth to stop him from causing more commotion.
"What is wrong with you? Calm down! " He chided in a whisper.
"You're drawing more attention to us. Other monsters might notice us! We don't know how many of them there are!" He continued.
Just then, the wall behind them burst open. Both men quickly spun around and pointed their weapons at whatever was approaching them. Bright blue flames surrounded the tiny frame of the girl that stepped out of the dark cavity. She was barefooted and had on a long tattered brown cloak that blended very well with her skin color. A darker brown cloth band was wrapped around her forehead, covering her left eye. Her onyx-colored curly hair puffed out from the back of her head. Both men flinched when her right eye's vicious gaze fell on them.
"A player?" Carl whispered to Jason.
"Crap... We can't see her stats because our guides have disappeared. " Jason whispered back.
"Who... or what are you? Are you a lost player like us?" Carl, the cowboy, asked the girl as he pointed two pistols at her.
The girl remained silent.
"If she's player, she looks like she's been living here this whole time." Jason thought.
"Careful, Carl. She's may look like a little girl, but I sense some really fierce FYBER coming from her." Jason warned.
"If she has survived in this environment, it only makes that she would be this strong." Jason contemplated while swallowing hard.
The girl slid her right leg forward and bent her knees.
"She's attacking!" Carl yelled.
BANG! BANG! BANG! The girl had disappeared in the blink of an eye.
"She's fast!" Carl exclaimed.
Carl's accurate shots at her in three different positions, only met leftover blue electric sparks from her FYBER. Suddenly, her sienna-colored hand gripped Carl's face and slammed his head to the ground. Jason, who had jumped out of the way, aimed his lance at the back of her head while in mid-air.
"I blind spot! This is my chance!" He mused with a swift thrust of his lance towards her head.
AOTL GUILD BASE:
An enormous white circular cabin stood at the snowy summit of mountain that rose above the clouds. In large round room within, three columns of white light shot out of the ground. As they faded away, Ari, Fayaboi, and Abs with a passed-out Himari slumped over her shoulder, appeared in their place. Ari, who was seated on the floor, gagged coughed and gasped. Fayaboi on the other hand, was wiping tears while he laughed.
"FRESH AIR!" Ari exhaled after taking in a long deep breath.
"Hahahaha a... I can't!... This is the most humiliating defeat ever...! " Fayaboi blurted out.
"HMPH!" was all Ari said after looking the other way and pouting.
He started expelling quick blasts of air from his nostrils, to get rid of the lingering stench of Himari's Fatal F gas.
"Bro... Broooo!! Ari Bro! Look at me! Or are you too embarrassed?" Fayaboi taunted.
"Stop it, Elias." Abs calmly ordered Fayaboi.
"Serves him right. I warned him." Elias, the Fayaboi, answered.
"I know you did. But you don't need to rub it in. He has had more than enough punishment." Abs responded.
"I let him have it, Pig-squeak here let him have it, but the most disappointing part of it all for him was the fact that he endured all this for nothing. There was no pork." She chuckled.
Ari slammed his fist to the ground, causing Abs and Elias to bounce briefly.
Abs reached out and yanked off a few strands of fur from his hand.
"OW! OVABOSS!" He screamed as he jerked his arm away from Abs and stared at her with eyes bulging out.
Just then, Himari stirred. Abs put out her palm, a translucent tab appeared before her. After tapping one of the many options displayed before her, a ring of water encircled them and washed over them. They all appeared good as new after the light vanished. The sleeves and stomach area of Abs' hoodie was now restored. The thick layers of mud and dust that previously covered her had now been washed off, revealing her tawny colored skin and beautiful silver hair with a single french braid.
Himari started rubbing her forehead as Abs gently seated her on the ground. When she opened her eyes, she noticed the silver-haired beauty smiling down at hair.
"A-are you...the abs... statue...ranker lady?" She stammered to Abs.
"Just call me Abs." Abs chuckled.
"It's actually short for Abigail." She continued.
"And she has a weird fixation with her own abs as well. So, just calling her Abs is befitting in more ways than one." Voice chipped from the still opened tab in front of Abs.
"Dad? Is that you?" Himari asked.
"BOSSDAD! IS BOSS THERE?!" Ari shot up and yelled.
"Hey Ari. Loud as ever. She was here just a moment ago." The voice responded.
"She's Chibilamb's daughter? How come we never knew Chibilamb had another daughter?" Elias asked Abs, pointing to Himari.
"I knew." Abs answered.
"And I intended introduce her to you as our new guild member." The voice continued, now identified as Chibilamb, continued.
"So... Just how many more daughters do you have? Just curious." Elias asked with a serious pensive look as he rubbed his chin with his thumb.
"Good job, Elias. You just talked yourself into a PvP with me. I gladly look forward to that." Chibilamb responded.
"No... please, I take it back, Sir. Anything but that." Elias pleaded with lightning speed, almost biting his tongue.
"I'm beginning to notice an unpleasant trend here." Himari thought as she stared pitifully at Elias.
"BWAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAA FAYABOI JUST BECAME SPARKYBOI! MAN UP, SPARKYBOI!!" Ari boomed with laughter, smacking Elias from behind. Elias flew out of the open window and landed head-first inthe snow.
"WELP, GOOD THING WE KEPT THE WINDOW OPEN." Ari added.
"Yup. Definitely too many disturbing trends here." Himari mused.
"Dad, did you say just guild member?" Himari asked Chibilamb with a worried look.
"Yeah that was the plan all along. Try to keep up, Pig-squeak." Abs responded.
"Hey! You promised!" Himari asserted with a frown.
"I know I did. But I didn't tell you when exactly I would stop, did I, Pig-squeak?" Abs asked with a grin that screamed mischief.
"That's not fair!" Himari protested.
"Abs, could you quit calling her by that weird name? Honestly, how do you come up with this stuff?" Chibilamb asked.
"Ha! I'm not taking that from you! But I think it's cute how you're defending your daughter. So, can you at least let me enjoy this till she logs out?" Abs responded.
Chibilamb sighed on the other end of the line. "Fine."
"What? Dad!" Himari cried out.
"Sorry Kiddo, she's got dirt on me." Chibilamb responded, resigned. Just then, the sound of a door sliding open could be heard from his end.
"Oh... that reminds me. Hurry up and log out. Your sister has been worried sick about you." Chibilamb added.
"Yikes..." Himari whispered to herself.
"No I wasn't. You were more worried than I was " An older girl's voice seemed to argue from a distance on Chibilamb's end of the line.
"Zion?" Elias' snowy head popped into the window frame.
"BOSS!" Ari pounced forward but was stopped by Abs' hand to his face.
"Hey there kitty! I missed you!" The girl's voice called out to Ari.
"OI MIPHHH YOOU PHOOO VOPHH!" Ari's mumbled through Abs' grip his lips.
"What's this about you both getting worried? Just what kind of monster do you think I am? Fight me! Both of you! At once! When you log in!" Abs declared.
"No, thank you." Chibilamb quickly responded.
"Gladly. But I'll take you on by myself. That's what Dad meant too." The girl responded.
"That's the spirit, Naa. I'll hold you to your word. You too, Chibilamb. Even though you're being all Tsundere about it, I know you want to beat me." Abs grinned.
"Whatever, Abs'. We'll have our match. We both know it has nothing to do with finding out who's stronger." Chibilamb answered.
Abs chuckled, then turned back to Himari.
"Alright, Himari. You've seen Ari and Elias. The only ones who aren't here apart from your dad and your sister are May and Archie." She smiled.
"Welcome to our guild, Armies of the Lamb. We'll be seeing more of each other from now on." Abs continued.
Himari's eyes glimmered as they widened. It seemed, something more than just the meaning of the letters on their hoodies had dawned on her.
"Himari." Naa called out from the other end of the line.
"Right!" Himari snapped out of her thoughts.
A translucent tab appeared in front of her just as she put out her palm. She quickly tapped the open-door icon she saw on the bottom right corner.
"See you all soon." Himari waved at them with a smile, as she disappeared with the dancing rays of light that surrounded her.
REAL LIFE-HIMARI'S BEDROOM:
Himari opened her eyes and rose out of bed. She snapped off the full-dive collar from her neck and turns to notice a stout well-built middle aged black man seated beside her bed. A pretty petite, stout, black teenage girl with a big puffy afro and a slightly lighter skin one stood beside him, smiling at Himari.
"Hey." Himari muttered.
"Welcome back. And kudos!" Naa, the black girl cheered.
"So, no more sparring for today?" Himari asked.
"Oh come on, that was more than enough for you. Don't you think?" Naa responded as she drew closer and sat at the foot of Himari's bed.
Himari smiled back at her.
"I knew you had a human side. Or is it because Dad is here?" Himari asked.
Naa slapped her foot in response.
The man, who was obviously Chibilamb, chuckled at the girls' banter.
Himari then turned to him with a serious look.
"Dad. You know, don't you?"
"Know what?" Chibilamb asked.
"About my sister."
Chibilamb turned to Naa with his eyebrows raised. Her hands shot up as she responded...
"Don't look at me! I didn't say a word!"
Chibilamb turned back to Himari, dropping only one eyebrow.
"So it's true you both know Hikari is alive. And you're trying help me find her." Himari muttered through sobs as she smiled.