FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

I sat quietly in the inn, it had taken everything I had to move into this building and find some where to sit, I was feeling drained as I sat here wondering what was going to happen, I was stuck here and couldn't leave. . . back to . . . home. My mind began to wonder what I really had back in the real world , I had a loving mother that was probably loosing her mind by now, if what the creator said was ture then he broadcasted something to the world, but then again how was he able to do something like that, how was he able to keep us here in the first place?

My mind raced with thoughts before I took a deep breath and began considering what benefits came with being here. "Well. . I can walk and be out and about with out worrying of injuring myself. . .i can make friends. . . that probably won't kill me. . Maybe." I thought and shook my head again going into the whys of what was going on. "Enough!" I shouted to myself, causing a few NPCs to jump in surprise and an elven waiter walked over. "Sir. . .if you're not going to order and stay quiet then I'm going to request that you leave." he said firmly before taking my pawed hand and pulling me out of my seat. I didn't fight as I walked "Hey. . al. . Alright I'm leaving!" I said quietly as I pulled my hand away from him and walked out looking around and seeing a lot of people just sitting against walls or walking with their heads down

I was about to join them when I heard some one yell "Yeah well FUCK you too you piece of shit" The tall male walked down the road as a small spherical probe followed him circling around to get a shot of his face, which had a scar running over the left eye. He was wearing normal clothing, a blue tee with a logo on it which were two White M's and a Crown with opals in it on the left hump of the upper M, For pants he was wearing Black Jeans and Blue shoes, his hair was Brown with the bangs being bleach blond "If you look to the left" he said as the probe looked to his left "You see depressing pieces of shit, and if you look up, you see a never ending virtual sky, and down. . .you see the ground. . Where I'm going to be lying..." He said as he plopped on to the stone road. "Yeah anyways, this has been Maximum-Matthew, See you guys later" The probe vanished as his recording stopped,

I knew who he was just from the logo and hair, he was a top tier youtuber, I mean I didn't watch most of his stuff but he was none the less known. Walking over to him I raised my eyebrow and one of my ears. "Hey. . You're Max Right?" I asked quietly as he opened one of his eyes looking at me. "Yeah. . And you are?" He asked seeming to be in a bad mood, but with what was going on I couldn't really blame him. "Uh, just a fellow player, so you were recording for your channel, pretty cool that you're here though, so uh... who were you yelling at?" I asked as Max looked at me, I could now tell his character has some elf in him but for the most part he looked like he normally did in real life

"Hmm, oh some npc was trying sell me something and he wasn't to happy I told him to fuck off." He said as he laughed slightly but then sighed. "So what are you doing in the town? To scared to leave the Safe Zone too?" He asked as I looked away, "Well. . . uh. . .Yeah, I don't know if it'd be smart to just head out there alone, and you really can't get far in any game with out leaving then spawn area." I said as he got up and looked around "Well we could try to form a party or something, but fuck I don't know if we can even trust each other" he said as I looked at him thinking "Well I don't think party members can harm one another." I said as the guide popped up on my hub and I began checking as I read through the text. He watched at me, already knowing what I was doing "So?" he asked as I nodded "Yeah you can't harm party members, you'd have to leave the party to attack them and even so , if you left the others would become suspicious of what you were doing, so if some one drops out unexpectedly, just. . . uh ask them to go away and if the worst comes... kn. ." I was cut off by Max "So Kill them and continue on with the party. . Got it" he said bluntly "Alright sure, seen the invite " he said before I looked through the hub, sending him the invite to a party and he accepted. "Hmm there... well then where should we start for looking?" I asked quietly before looking at the people sitting around. "Hmm well not with these fuck wads... If they've already given up then they aren't useful" he said as he began walking away. To an extent I some what agreed with him and followed behind him. I noticed a bar in the upper left with his name, and health, my own was just above it. "Hmm so want to split up and keep looking?" I asked quietly as he just contained walking "Yeah what ever" watching him leave I raised a brow , wondering how people liked his personality, maybe people just like over the top people.

Walking through the plaza it was hard not to feel . . gloomy, with the people crying, some trying to comfort others, and not to mention some low lives picking on the down people. Continuing on my way I tried to steer clear of anyone, as to not bump into them, and I wouldn't of bumped into any one if some one hadn't ran into me. Stumbling forward I heard separate laughter, looking back I saw two players, one was a greatsword wielding Pale looking female human, wearing a nice looking green robe and black boots, the other was agile looking Hyena Humanoid , wearing ragged leather armor, it mainly focused on his chest and arms, with little protecting his thighs, but under the armor was beige linen clothing, "Well then seems we have our next target bro " she said before stepping onto my right footpaw, the pain was less then a sting but I noticed my own health bar lower ever so slightly. Text flowed in front of me *Combat Engaged, Safe area Detected, Weapons locked *

The hyena smiled he kicked at me, I was slightly stunned at the suddenness of it but I found myself quickly grabbing his foot. The female spoke up "Hey. . .Look make this easy on yourself and we will leave you with just a hurt foot, just hand over your stuff" looking at her as the male ripped his foot from my grip and was about to send another kick my way before something whizzed past me and slammed into him, he now laid on the ground with a broken barrel surrounding him. The robed figure was distracted looking for the person that threw it to find two females walking with each other, one seemed pissed. She was wearing a brown leather duster, black Cargo pants and a black tee shirt. A pair of knee high Brown boots, she seemed to be human but had feline aspects, her short shoulder length hair was a dark crimson and it seemed to match her mood, because she looked like she was out for blood , the second was hiding behind the first, she was wearing a short blue and white dress with purple ribbon streaming from it, elbow length gloves and knee high boots, both matching the dress's color and ribbons, her hair a lighter red then the first and went to her lower back.

The first was the first to speak, "So. . .Who's the asshat that decided to mess with Serafina?" she asked loudly as her feline tail thrashed about under her duster. Serafina looked past her friend to see the Robed female and the Hyena before moving back behind her "The. . They did it Crimson, I. . it looks like they are picking on that guy now" she said quietly, her tone much softer then Crimson's.

The robed figure smiled "Yeah I. . . ." she never got to finish the sentence as Crimson seemed to move to quickly for my eyes to notice before sending a powerful fist into the other girl's face, she tumbled into the ground and came to a halt next to the Hyena. She began cracking her knuckles "So then... you're the ones that ambushed my best friend? You're going to regret that choice for the rest of the time we're all trapped in this game" She Yelled as the two were trying to scramble up to their feet but Crimson quickly kick the humanoid hyena into the robed chick "where are you going?" she asked smiling wickedly as the two were quick to their feet this time , the seemed confused about rather if they could fight back, they decided to flee but before Crimson could give chase Serafina grabbed her arm "I. . I don't think they will come back Crim" she said nervously as Crimson's expression changed to a softer one. "Yeah well they better not, because if they do I will drag them out of the safe zone and make them wish they hadn't " Crimson looked my way and her ears perked.

I was getting up slowly as I watched them "uh. . w. . Thanks, Crimson is it? I... uh. . Thanks so much" I said glad that I had been saved. She looked me over "Yeah . . . but I was just trying to get even for them ambushing my friend, you just lucky" she said a bit coldly as her kinder tone left when she addressed me. It was Serafina that spoke up next and seemed to be cheerful "Hey, so why were you out here, thought most people were trying to get to the next town, we were stocking up before. . Those two showed up" she smiled warmly and I smiled back.

"Uh. . Well I was looking for people to join my party . . . safety in numbers and all... and. . . as you can guess it's probably a requirement if you even want to get to the next town." I said unsure of what was outside the town, and what kind of people might be waiting to ambush unwary travelers. Looking at the two they seemed to be thinking it over before Crimson sighed "Yeah. . . sure we will join. . . if you betray us though. ." I cleared my throat cutting her off "I can assure you. . . I. . wouldn't dare, not after what you just did" she glared at me but nodded before I sent them a invite and both of them joined.

"So. . Where is this Maximum-Matthew person in our group?" Serafina asked as I shrugged "Uh. . No clue , hopefully he's having an easier time getting people to join and. . " I watched as two more names appeared "Xross, and Alex, yeah I'm not surprised he found some people to join us" I said as all three of us got a party message form Maximum-Matthew.

"Hey, get your asses to the Plaza so we can head out, Got some goods from . . . places" after reading it I began to question how morally right he was but then again. . He probably did what ever he did for his viewers.

Once we got to the Plaza we were greeted with two other players, one was of a deeply tanned male, standing at about 5'10 and wearing modern clothing, from the gray tee with a golden whale on it and brown pants, his hair was blond with some black streaks running through it, his eyes a bright navy blue but seemed feral. At first glance, one might have thought that he was human... but they'd be wrong! Two Black feline like ears poked from his head and a long black feline tail. On his shoulder was fluffy pink mouse with sky blue eyes. He smiled and waved as he mouse cheeped "Sup, I'm Alex" he said in a slow almost monotone voice.

The other was a bit shorter and seemed to be a cross between a bunny and cat, he was wearing a black vest, black hardened cloth pants and a green silk belt. On his arms were black cloth wrappings, his tail swayed side to side at his long ears were pushed behind his shoulders and his fur was a dark gray, his daggers above his tail and a small bag to his left, his hair was a was white like the fur on his exposed belly and chest . He smiled brightly "Hello, guess we're the whole team?" he asked as Matthew shrugged

" yeah for now. . . since we're such a big group I doubt we will be attacked when we leave but be on guard any ways, other then that, the rest is kind of up to Mike over here, since he's the one that started the group and I don't feel like bossing people around right now. Not to mention, I'm not streaming right now so I can probably learn how to play this game" he said with a smile.

I felt eyes on me before I looked at the others "Well. . I guess we head out, every one should have starter items?" I said as I looked through my inventory as I saw some food and a few potions "So if we use it wisely and use our skills, we could probably gather some selling loot and levels before we get to the next city and worry about getting upgrades to our gear then. . . so . . who can heal?" I asked as I looked at them

Every one else brought up their Skills, at least I thought they did as only they could see them

" Uh. . .I have a ten in First-aid and Medicine" Serafina said softly before Matthew smiled "Yeah well I have a fifteen in First-Aid." he said smugly as Alex looked at all of us " I have twenty one" he muttered in a monotone voice. All eyes on him a bit shocked,

"Right then. . . uh I guess you guys will be our healers, you should be able to use your potions and get better healing from them" I said assuming that's how it would work, looking at the group for a second I pulled up my own skill list as we were heading towards the town exit, there were people waiting around there, some yelling about safety in numbers, and looking to join a group, while others were selling stuff. We walked past them and onto the dirt road leading into the forest.

"So. . You guys nervous?" Xross asked looking around as he was scanning the tree line " I mean people probably left and entered these woods just to level up and attack the people just entering" he stated as we entered the woods, a message flashed before everyone telling them they had left the Safe Zone. The others seemed nervous but Crimson smiled

"Heh, I'd love to see them try, besides if we just stay in the city we'd never get anywhere, we have to take this chance to advance our levels and gear before the exp here is mined up" she said as she looked around "And trust me when I say. . . We will be alright" she said looking over at Serafina who up till now had been nervous,

I was looking around as I noticed a few plants were glowing slightly "uh. . What is . . .Hey does any one else see the glowing plants over there?" I asked as I rubbed my eyes slightly

Xross seemed to be the only one that nodded. We both walked over to it as a small window opened by it

* Herbs are common out in the wild, most can be used to make medicines or poisons *

Picking the plant it vanished as a new item appeared in my Inventory, which just seemed to be named herb with a few question marks near it "Hmm maybe we can sell some of this stuff?" I asked as Xross nodded and was off picking some as well

Crimson and Matthew watched before Crimson began walking "Come on guys, we have a lot more plants we can pick, we can't stay in one area for long" she said as the others began walking, looking at them the Cabbit and I caught up.

Walking for what felt like quite some time we stopped as A few of the others were looking around "hey. . .What's the matter?" I asked as Crimson, and Alex stopped.

"Uh One of our skills activated, it's . . . saying game is close by" Alex said as his mouse on his shoulder was pointing towards our left

"Yeah same here, seem our Hunting skill is Active " Crimson said as she unclasped her Double barrel shot gun and headed that way leaving the rest of us behind

Looking at her I sighed as I began following her, a blue circle appearing around her as I followed, we left the road and into the denser trees as we followed the shotgun wielding neko , and she was fast, the blue circle fading and reappearing every time she got out of range.

A loud booming sound was heard and shortly after an animalistic cry as what ever she had been after fell to the ground, getting over to her we saw her standing over what looked to be a large dear like reptile, with fur running down it's back all the way to it's tail " Heheh, Yeah That thing didn't see it coming, wonder how much this thing will get m. . us" she said smiling as her tail thrashed slightly. Leaving us to look at the large game she had brought down, it was clear to see she shot it in the head and neck area as there was a sizable chunk missing for the creature.

She got off the beast and pulled out a knife from her boot about to cut it when it began to brake down into data before leaving behind three large cube like things on the ground. Touching them that vanished into her inventory and smiled "Seem we got some Raw. . .Malk. . Melcium meat. . And Melcium Hide . . .Cool" she said before turning to us as a few of us looked confused

"Hey.. . I wanted to see what it was tracking. " She said in her defense before walking towards us and place her gun back into it's holster and headed towards the road "Besides. . We were out her to gather stuff weren't we?" she asked smiling

"We were. . But you said" I started before she looked back at me

"I said we had a lot more plants to pick but not to stay in one place , it's not my fault you can't walk and pick stuff up" she said as I looked over at Xross for some help but he was over by a tree looking at a mushroom before picking it, looking over at me as he shrugged

"Hey. . .I've been picking things up while we were walking" he said as he began to follow the other as we walked back towards the Dirt path that lead to the next city.

We walked for some time, Xross continuing to gather up things he saw on the ground and on trees, I looked around before stopping. Xross and Serafina both told us to stop as they looked forwards, the air wavered for a bit before two large Wolfs appeared, every one seemed to freeze except for Xross and Serafina as the drew out their Weapons.

Serafina unsheathed her seemingly Traditional blade, the guard wrapping around her hand, Xross quickly drew his Curved daggers and charged forward

It was Crimson that jumped into action the quickest though as she already had her guns out and aiming at the large beast, she blasted once and the slugs zipped past Xross and hit one of the Wolfs as it's Gauge appeared showing it's level and hp, the creatures seemed to be level Seven, she froze seeming to be amazed as the hp on the gauge barely moved

"Serafina Get Back!" she yelled as she feared for her friends safety,

Being distracted Serafina looked back at Crimson before looking back as she was swatted into a tree as one of the Dire wolfs swiped at her, her Hp dropping to down below half

Crimson growled as she shot the wolf again, taking slivers off it's health, Xross looked at the us before he threw one of his daggers at the wolf as it looked his way before lunging at him and pinned him to the ground, his health drastically fell.

Looking onward I rushed forward pulled the trench knifes from their sheaths and went to punch the wolf's head as it took some damage, it's attention drawn towards me now it slowly got off of Xross as I backed off,

The other one nearing Serafina as Crimson Watched on before opening up something, and she seemed to be typing, Xross had done the same as both of the wolf began glitching up before they were replaced with what looked to be smaller wolf, their level the same but the HP was reduced, neither wasted time and attacked the Hostile creatures before they dematerialized back into Data. The team was given Exp for the kill but we were left with a few questions.

Crimson went over to Serafina and helped her up, her Hp was back to full after the battle do to leveling up twice as did Matthew and Crimson, while Xross, Alex, and I only leveled up once, a window appeared before all of us

"Congratulation, you've leveled up, you're innate abilities and powers have been unlocked, Please enjoy the game" the message confused us for a second before we looked at each other

"How did they know" I muttered as the others seemed ask the same thing before my mind shot back to reading the update "Th. . The scans" I muttered quietly.

Serafina got up as the claw marks on her arm was healing "I. . .So. . . Crim. . . does that mean yours. . .works too?" she asked before looking at her own hands as they glowed before catching on fire and we watched as Crimson grabbed her arms "Ca. . Careful not. . Here Ser."

Matthew interrupted them "So. . You guys could do this kind of stuff IRL as well?" he asked as seemed to be vibrating before he appeared by Serafina , his hands covered in frost "I've. . . always been fast . . and able to control Ice but I'm wondering why my Element is Air . . though not complaining. . . so about you guys?" he asked looking around.

Alex shrugged before opening his Menu " Well I've always been able to summon fire on will, but it seems in here . . I can still do that and. . Summon things. . . kind of lame since my class is summoner, kind of makes it pointless" he seemed fine with that fact.

Xross looked around as his power tied into what had happened, he looked at Crimson "So. . . you're a Hacker as well, because I only had one of those canine's hit for my program" he sighed slightly as he looked at the group, knowing that we now knew. He had been wanting to see how the game ticked but after what the person had announced about hackers, he had become worried he'd become a target "My Power is . . Data Manipulation, I've always been able to connect to Electronics and make them work to my will . . kind of, I'm not sure if I'll be able to help but if my hacking program still works I guess It could be done" he said before looking at Crimson "What about you?"

She Stood there with Serafina Close to her before moving away from Matthew "Yeah. . . I'm Also a hacker but. . . my power doesn't tie into it, They are . . .Reality Manipulation, Weapon Conjuration, and. . . Rapid Healing" she said unsure if she could trust the group but didn't want to leave the group, not before the next town "So. . Are we cool with the fact that there's two hackers in this team?" she asked

Looking at the others I nodded "Yeah. . . I mean. . It's an advantage in this game, and don't worry. . . I don't tell a soul about you two, but keep the hacking to a minimum . . most games have some kind of protections, and considering how this one is built. . . I don't want to see what it does." I said laughing slightly, a bit nervous about sharing mine, as I felt it was a bit lack luster in comparison to theirs, I opened my character screen , knowing what mine was in the real world but as Matthew pointed out some things were different. Looking over it I was surprised "Uh. . Telekinesis and Metal Manipulation" I said as the second one was new.

Serafina opened her screen "Mine. . . is about the same, as my Real life abilities . . . but a bit different, I can still manipulate fire, and Heal extremely quickly, but it seems I'm Energy Resistant as well." she said looking at her shoulder seeing her dress needed repairs "Can. . Can we get to the town please," she asked as We all seemed that would be for the best as it was already later into the day.

As we began walking Crimson took off her jacket and placed it onto Serafina "here. . You need it more then I do right now " she said looked forward "And don't get to trusting of these guys." she whispered as we walked for a few hours before a large gate could be see,

As the others and I got closer, the gates opened, and the two guards looked at us "Welcome to Limina, The Tree City to Other worlds, please travelers, enjoy your stay" They said in Unison as we all walked through.

Walking into the town I was surprised how the buildings seemed to interact with the trees around, past the large tree like gates sprawled the large city and in the distance there was a massive tree that seemed to reach the clouds, the place seemed very, peaceful, almost as if it was made to calm people.

Crimson Smiled quietly as Serafina went ahead, "Wow. . This place is . . beautiful, who. . Who knew this game had places like this" Serafina Said as she picked a purple flower with red in the middle of it.

Crimson looked back at us "Hmm, Me and Serafina are going to go our own way, but. . I think we should add each other as friends, just in case we need to be in contact" she said as she waved her hand and everyone in the party got a friend request from her , Serafina did the same, as they both dropped out of the party

I accepted it as the rest of the members of the party did the same

Matthew smiled "Hmm, we'll probably see each other again soon, besides this town is so huge so we could probably stay here a few days, maybe there's some odd jobs or somethings" he said as he walked off as he too dropped out of the party.

Alex Looked at Matthew and nodded "Yeah. . Maybe I could find some kind of gloves or brawler weapons" he said as it dawned on me that he was a Summoner. .. That punched things.

I stood there as the others went their separate ways but Xross had stayed behind, he was the only one that was still in the party

"So. . .Aren't you going to go your own way too?" I asked as he looked at me as his ears lowered slightly as he rubbed the back of his head

"Nope. . . Well with my status and all, I'd be better for me to stick around, I mean Crimson has Serafina to help her if some player tries to attack her, Besides, this town is giant , might be more fun to explore it with another person" he said smiling.

We walked deeper into the town , it seemed not a lot of players were here as the people seemed to be matching with the area, but the deeper we went we saw more people were heading towards the Massive tree

"Dude did you hear, that Tree is like some kind of portal?" my ear's perked as some girl was asking her friend who laughed

"Yeah, Some people say that it even connect to different planets, though I doubt that it's true, I mean I know this game is massive but it can't been that big. . Right?" the guy said as I looked at Xross "Hmm think we should go and check the tree out?"

Xross shook his head "Nah, we should try to find some kind of job or quest in this town, but first let's go and try to sell our stuff, I'm sure we gathered quiet a bit of Herbs. . Well I know I did, not sure how you missed so much"

Looking away I wasn't quiet sure how much I'd gather but I was sure he got more then me "Hmm Fine with me and yeah. . Maybe your skill is just higher then mine" I said as I brought up my screen checking over my skills "Hmm my herbalism skill was four when we left the starting town but. . Now it's five, what about you?" I asked looking over at him

"Hmm it's six now, but it was four when I left as well. . . I think you just weren't paying attention" he said stifling a laugh "Alright uh. . . hmm this looks like a plaza . . so uh. . There maybe , the plants there seem to be like some of the ones we found" he said as he walked over to what was little more then a Stand with all kind of plants on them, some of them glowed.

Welcome to my shop, might I interest you in some tonics, they will bring out the best in you, and I have quite a stock" The anthromorphic black feathered bird chirped in an almost singsong tone.

"Well, me and my companion were looking to sell our herbs if you'd be interested?" Xross said as I tailed behind him, the bird looked over us as he seemed a bit annoyed

"Hmm depends, last person that asked to do that didn't have a single herb and was trying to sell me some grass" the Bird merchant said looking at us hoping we didn't think of pulling something.

We both emptied our inventories of the herbs and he looked them over "hmm, Seems you two do know your plants, To be honest I was running low on most of these, hmm I can however only pay you half what I normally I would but. . I have a request, if you'd help me I'd be willing to pay you two more, you see my last assistants, are probably dead so I'm looking for some fresh workers and you two seem to know your herbs, as a bonus, you get a cut of my sells and paid for the quality , and might learn a thing or two if you do well, so how is that?" The bird asked with a smile at the edges of his beak as he handed us what he could spare which was three gold each, in our inventories the currency changed into three hundred credits .

Looking at Xross then the bird "Yeah. . Uh sure, not sure we had anything planned so sure, what about you Xross?" I asked as he shrugged

"I mean Yeah, we were looking for a bit of work to help us out before we head out so yeah, besides if I heard right, I think he said he'd teach us a thing or two about these plants. . Right?" he asked looking at the bird who seemed relieved to have some new workers, but nodded

"I'd guess it'd only be fair for you to learn about what these plants are good for, so sure I could set aside some teachings, but only after your first restock, hmm one sec" he said as I knelt down and got something out of his stand and handed us a scrolled up paper "hmm we will be needing to restock on these" he said before he waved us off "Now then off with you two. . We need them as soon as possible so make haste"

We began walking as Xross pulled out the paper and allowed me to see is as we read over it " Sage,Buck Bush, Mint,Red Clover, and. . Lavender" I muttered reading them aloud "Hmm any clue what they are used for?" I asked as he rolled the paper up

"Yeah no clue. . I'm not very good with plants to be honest" he said before laughing as we headed back towards the entrance we had came in from to find the plants listed.

We had been out for a few hours and already night was closing in over the forest, we had a good stock of everything but the red clovers.

"Hey. . .Xross, think we should be heading back to the city or try to finish this fetch quest. . . I mean . . I'm not even sure if this place is safe at night?" I softly whispered over toward his direction

"Hey!!! Found Some" He yelled over at me as I nearly lost my balance. Recovering and gaining my footing I looked at at him as he was smiling and laughing "Heheh, you should of seen your face Mike."

"You . . You just scared the crap out of me Xross, for fucks sake . . . I thought we were suppose to be quiet" I said between my teeth as my chest pounded.

"Well yeah but I found these stupid plants, now we can finally go back to the town, So then . . let's get going this forest doesn't feel as . . welcoming at night as it did during the day." he said as we heard something move through the trees before a figure dropped and dashed towards us. It's seeped was quick, and we both barely dodged.

The figure struck the tree that had been behind us, looking at it Xross had already drawn his weapons as my hand rested in my trench knife and on Steam powered pistol, there with it's fist against the tree was another person, both of us knew it had to be a player only do to the modern clothing.

"Hmm you two are quick on your feet, seems killing you might be a bit tricky. . . but hey. . I'm up for a challenge , already killed two other players, this shouldn't be too hard." he said turning towards us, he looked to be an average human, wearing a green tee and black pants, clearly a brawler class do to him using his fist.

"Hey. . Come on , there's no reason to fight us. . . We're not even past . ." Xross began as the player rushed towards us to attack, I had drawn my pistol shooting at him , barely missing him as he had been going towards Xross. The human had jumped high over Xross, I was trying to get a aim on him before he landed against a tree trunk and pushed off of it as he hurled towards me. Things seemed to slow down, instinctively I threw up my arms in front of my face. I felt a familiar energy flowing through me, and the next thing I heard was a thwack sound.

Looking beyond my arms I saw the male pinned to a tree, my eyes went to him and then I noticed I was feeling weaker as my Energy was depleting, I let up as the man fell to the tree a bit confused, My energy quickly recovering as the man getting up and dusted himself off as his Hp gauge showed up, it seemed he had taken some damage but he was recovering.

"Well that was new. . . Are you a hacker?" he asked smiling as he walked forwards "If that's the case. . . seems I might be getting quite the reward for killing you" he said before he threw his hand out as a root shot from the ground and lunged as us as, I jumped into the air to get out of the way.

"Mike, Watch out" Xross Yelled as I looked around before the other player appeared in front of me, with no time to react all I felt was a pressure in my chest before I rocketed to the ground , tumbling. Skidding across the the ground I slowly came to a stop, noticing my hp was more the half way gone. I slowly staggered to my feet noticing my pistol had been dropped and a timer on it's return appearing on my statuses .

I looked around for our attacker before spotting him dashing towards me. I readied my trench knife, but before I had time to block Cross tackled me out of the way and and held up a tower shield , the man punched it and the shield shattered into pieces of data.

Looking at the male I growled slightly as I went over my next plan of attack. This guy was far to strong, he must have been farming monsters before killing the two players that he had mentioned, "Xross. . we. . We need to run" I said quietly as my Hp had only just now gotten back to half full.

Xross looked at me "Yeah. . But I don't think we will be able to, can you keep him busy for a bit?" he asked as I watched the man as he shook his hand slightly, the shield must of hurt his hand from punching the shield.

"Uh. . .Y. . Yeah maybe" I muttered nervously as I got back up and Xross picked up a stick and clenched it tightly as it glowed slightly, I wasn't sure what he was doing but I had trust in him. The Male charged again and this time was a bit more ready, two skill already responding to the threat, Melee weapons and Elemental affinity, I didn't even notice as my hands began to coat themselves in the same type of metal my trench knife was made of.

He threw a punch aimed for my chest which I side stepped and I went to cut along his arm but he countered by quickly grabbing my wrist and pulled me close before sending a knee into my stomach. Coughing I pulled out my other trench knife and sliced against his stomach and chest, connecting this time. He let got of my hand jumping back as the cut appeared only as a red line before fading.

"Seems I'm getting sloppy " he said as he could still feel the pain from the cut. While his health was still in the green mine was in the red. I put away the second knife and pulled out my pistol which had finally returned to it's holster, after being lost. I felt a hand on my back as Xross grabbed me and the area around us turned blue before we found ourselves back in town, in Xross' hand was a Town portal that began to crumble.

"How. . How did you do that?" I asked feeling the pain of the fight slowly die down as we were both disengaged from combat, and in the safety of the town.

"Well like I said, my power is to alter data, though in here it's a lot harder to do, more so when it's tied to your energy, but yeah all I did was alter the data in the stick to something that could get us out of there, and this was the only thing I could find in the little bit of time we had" he said quietly as he smiled.

I was amazed, not to mention thankful that he saved our skins "Dude. . You rock. . . Let's. . . let's go rest, maybe we can go and find an inn or something?" I said quietly as we both went off in search of a place to crash.