2)2,876 words

First Encounter

Everfree Trail
3rd Person POV

The four players walked in silence as they traveled through the Everfree. The forest had many roads that spidered out towards key landmarks and unique areas, most of which Gray knew from passing knowledge and Blitz had on his map thanks to the in-game books he read. Although, many of these places were public knowledge already.

Ever since they had been trapped in the game, dozens of players had worked together to map out the forest for any signs of the first Element of Harmony. Since a week had now passed, the pathways and unique areas were the first things explored. This meant that the party wouldn't run into other players unless they were heading to or from the graveyard as well. Which was unlikely.

However, the path they had to take was thin, flanked by thick treelines that walled the group in tighter. Maybe three ponies could walk from shoulder to shoulder if they wanted but the group held a tighter formation.

Gray was at the front of the group, leading the way with her hood off so she could keep an eye out. She had to keep her daggers sheathed under her cloak so she could walk freely, or run, if necessary. Behind her was Fleur and Chill as they walked together.

Chill was able to keep his wand drawn and levitating beside him but the same could not be said of Fleur and her bow. Her telepathy skill wasn’t high enough to carry something for the entire trip so it stayed slung across her back so she too could walk freely.

Finally, in the back of the group was Blitz. He was the weakest in terms of levels and HP but he was the only melee fighter the group had. He was set up in the back because Timberwolves preferred to ambush their prey. Although Blitz could stop anything that came from behind with the tonfa and warclub resting on his back.

Or at least, that was the plan.

The day before, Blitz had the others give him their stats and skills to go over. He and his father played MMOs before, with his father even managing raiding parties and guilds. However, Blitz never did any of those things himself. He only watched. But even then, that was all on paper or a computer screen. Even if this was a game, it was real enough. After Blitz and Gray combined what they knew about Timberwolves, from how they fought to any kind of weaknesses they had, this wasn't a matter of numbers.

Blitz, as well as the others, all had this feeling of dread looming above them. In any of his other games, you would lose, die, then respawn and try again. But trial and error was out of the question. It was only ‘git gud’ and ‘don’t die.’

Die...

Don’t. Die. Even if Blitz tried to count up numbers or think of some sort of trick to help in a fight, his mind kept repeating: Don't. Die. It was a mantra. He would want to come up with a distraction but then realize he can't distract himself because he needed to keep watching like the others. And in that silent focus, Don't. Die. would come back. And then get louder, and faster, and harder to ignore as the mantra forced his mind to imagine just what could go wrong either to him or the others or Joey or—

“Stop.”

The group stopped. So did the mantra.

Then the group turned to the one who spoke; Fleur. Last night, Blitz and Fleur had another language lesson. But that time, he went over a handful of words she needed to know for a fight.

Fleur didn’t take her eyes off the trees near her as she carefully took out her bow.

“Back,” Blitz called out. As one, the group began backing away from the left side of the path.

...rustle-rustle...

“Stop.” Not a moment later, they stopped moving as, from the opposite wall of trees, Blitz heard more movement.

“Close.”

The group tightened their formation further in the direct center of the path, forming a shell.

“It’s a pack,” Gray pointed out, drawing an Iron Dagger from her cloak. She had five equipped on her, ready to throw or stab when needed.

Blitz kept watching the trees where he heard movement. “How long does Dark Blend stay active?”

Gray looked to the sky. “Still daylight. Twelve seconds. Twenty second cooldown.”

Then Blitz looked to Fleur and Chill. Chill’s wand was pulled back, ready to fire and Fleur was slowly pulling a specialty arrow from the quiver. Before she could, Blitz put a hoof on her shoulder, nearly making her jump as high as the trees.

“No,” he told her. “Normal. Arrow.”

Fleur took a second to calm down and try to understnad what Blitz said. After a moment, she nodded and put the bomb arrow back, pulling out a regular one instead and setting it in the bow. Blitz assumed that when that arrow hit the wolf, the explosion would hit the group too. He would have been right.

“I see one,” Chill announced. He didn’t realize how loud he was until a chorus of shushing and wolf growling made him tremble.

“...I see one,” he retried in a stage whisper, pointing out a third one that was stepping out from the treeline back down the path.

There were now three. Two from within the brush on either side were closest to Chill and Fleur and the third behind them was a small distance but closest to Blitz.

“Is that all of them?” Chill asked, still stage whispering.

“...Yeah.” Gray nodded.

Blitz took a second to steady his breathing and looked at the health bars in his vision.

E1ectric_B1itz: 89/89
Light_Chill: 90/90 *
F1eur_de_7is: 114/114 *
GrayMatt3rsxxx: 130/130 *

Then Blitz looked to the only exposed one. A Timberwolf’s HP could range between 40-70. That wolf’s HP bar read 50/50.

“Gray. One behind us. Chill? On her.” Blitz commanded.

Chill readied his wand towards that wolf as Gray placed the dagger’s hilt between her teeth, freeing her hooves to run.

“Fleur? Ready.” Fleur notched the arrow and drew it back, her magic dealing with the strain.

Blitz drew his tonfa and took one last breath. “Now.”

“Dark Blend,” Gray called out, vanishing in an instant. Only her teammates saw her outline rush past them and towards the wolf behind.

When the wolves saw her disappear, they took that as a challenge and broke cover for a pincer attack. One on Fleur. One on Chill.

“FIRE!” As Blitz shouted. The three acted.

Blitz used his wings to fly up, giving Chill a clear shot of the wolf charging from behind as Fleur aimed her arrow. Simultaneously, they fired.

Fleur’s arrow struck the wolf directly in the eye, making it rear back as the numbers 62/62 vanished along with a third of his HP bar.

Chill’s magic bolt sailed down the path, bending like a curveball as it struck the wolf’s face. The HP bar dropped to a third as well.

The wolf lunging at Chill from the trees failed. From his side, Blitz collided against it from midair and they tumbled across the trail.

Looking up at his HP bar, Blitz was chipped to 86/89 while the wolf only had a sliver of health gone.

Finally, Gray closed in on the wolf Chill shot. As the wolf brushed off the blast, Gray leapt and, taking the dagger in her hoof, carved the wolf’s stomach open.

The wolf let out a painful bark as his blue code escaped his stomach, HP tanking until it was nearing the red.

Out of desperation, it swung wildly at Gray as she became visible but the claws met air. Gray had already jumped away, placing another dagger in her teeth as she readied the one in her hoof.

“We’re. We’re doing it!” Now more confident, Joey started to laugh. “We’re doing it!”

Blitz jumped back on two hooves, using his wings to balance himself as he took up a fighting pose. “Joey! Cheer later,” he shouted.

“R-Right.” Chill quickly noticed the two wolves surrounding them and got serious.

Fleur’s wolf recovered first, clawing at the arrow to get it out of its eye socket. As it did, it spotted Fleur nocking a new arrow despite the proximity.

Before she could draw the arrow back, the wolf went for the offensive. Fleur ended up ditched the bow and ducked to the right. But the wolf was too close.

It’s first claw missed, swiping her mane, but the second claw reached further and caught her hind leg, ripping into it and knocking her over.

Fleur eyed her HP but the wolf wasn't done. It noticed Blitz on the defensive against his wolf, dodging and parrying claws. However, his back was exposed.

Distracted, the wolf trampled over the archer, dealing more damage, and lunged for the pegasus.

“ALEX!” Chill screamed, distracting Gray at the wrong moment as the wolf cut its claws against her neck, followed by another one down her foreleg.

Blitz tried to look back at his brother only for Fleur’s wolf to smash into his back and sink its splintered teeth into the nape of his neck while its claws pierced his shoulders.

As Blitz screeched in pain, the wolf he attacked took its chance and raked a claw across his stomach.

Blitz was brought to the ground as the two wolves continued mauling him.

In Chill’s display, this was everyone’s HP bars:

Light_Chill: 90/90 *
E1ectric_B1itz: 46/89
F1eur_de_7is: 87/114 *
GrayMatt3rsxxx: 104/130

“Fleur! Chill!” From down the road, Gray shook her hoof to help with the pain. “Your abilities! A-bil-i-ty!”

“A-bil-i..." Fleur took a moment before she stood up and with her magic drew the shortsword she had at her hip. Then let out a sharp whistle.

The wolf that crushed, unwedged its teeth from Blitz’s neck and turned to see Fleur charging at it, sword raised by levitation.

“Amour Maladie,” she shouted, her blade glowing with a dark pink hue.

“Ice Age,” Chill cried simultaneously, the dirt and grass around him coated in a sudden sheet of frost.

Like Gray, Chill and Fleur had gained their abilities when they leveled up. Fleur’s ability was Amour Maladie, which was the game’s translation for Love Sickness. The ability was something Fleur could put into her attacks.

Before the wolf could springboard off of Blitz, the sword thrust forward and stabbed into its shoulder blade, letting the dark pink aura spread across the wolf’s body like a virus.

Fleur kept her eyes intently locked on the creature as its glowing eye sockets turned bright pink. When Fleur noticed this, she began slowly backing away with the wolf following in a heavy trance.

Then it was Chill’s turn.

Like Amour Maladie, Ice Age made the magic around the wand grow in intensity as frost formed at the end. Chill wound the wand back, firing three concentrated blasts of magical ice in rapid fire.

The blasts were twice the size of his regular attacks and they traveled slower as the air around them became visible from the cold.

But even with the close proximity, the wolf was fast enough to react and jumped for the trees to avoid them. Or rather, it would have if Blitz wasn’t holding its forelegs in a bear hug.

The wolf glanced down at the pegasus for a moment, whose body had gash marks with blue code evaporating from them. But even then, Blitz grinned evily at the creature.

All three blasts shattered across the wolf, encasing it more and more ice until the last blast reduced it to 0 HP.

But rather than burst into code like normal, the Timberwolf was encased in ice, becoming a sculpture in the middle of the road.

“Nice,” Blitz complimented, standing up and turning around to the pink glowing wolf that gazed at Fleur in a daze.

Rolling his shoulder to dispel the pain, Blitz took up his tonfa and flew upwards about a dozen feet before diving into the center of the wolf’s back, smashing both weapons into it as Blitz pinned it to the ground.

The moment its HP bar went down, the pink aura popped like a bubble and the wolf looked ready to go into a frenzy against Fleur who simply returned a cocky smile.

But before the wolf could make good on its threat Blitz started to pummel the creature, slamming tonfa into the back of its wooden skull repeatedly until, by the fourth slam, the wolf erupted into a sea of blue code.

Through the blue, Blitz watched a message box appear.

Enemies Defeated
3 Timberwolves
Team Rewards
15 Bits
75 XP
Your Share
Bits Obtained: 4
20 XP

“Okay,” Blitz breathed. “Then. That means…?"

He, Fleur, and Chill, who was still surrounded by frost, turned to spot Gray sitting there and giving a polite applause.

“Very impressive,” she said through the dagger still between her teeth. She had new bite marks on her front leg but aside from that she was fine.

Blitz glanced up at the HP bars in his sight once again.

Light_Chill: 90/90 9 sec(s)
E1ectric_B1itz: 38/89
F1eur_de_7is: 87/114
GrayMatt3rsxxx: 87/130

“We...We’re okay.” Alex nearly slumped to the ground as he started breathing again.

“We did it,” Joey cheered, amplifying what Alex felt. “We took down the wolves. We won!”

Gwen watched as the three children ahead of her congratulated themselves. As they did, Gwen shook the bittersweet feeling from her mind and tried to be more subdued. “You all did great. Really,” she started. “But remember, we’re only twenty minutes out of town.”

Rachelle and Alex dialed it back but the smiles were still there. Joey on the other hand, all of them could hear his heart crack. “Twenty? But. But we used everything on these wolves!”

As if to emphasize this, the timer beside Joey’s HP bar hit 0, meaning Ice Age finished. The frost around him melted away and the frozen Timberwolf statue broke apart, becoming a melted puddle in the middle of the road.

“Which only means we need to get a little more used to it,” Alex told them. “Timberwolves travel in packs of 3-5. This was the smallest pack there was.”

“So it gets harder?” Joey’s face fell even further.

“The further we get from town, yeah,” Alex confirmed. “That’s a video game for ya.”

Joey groaned, sliding onto the ground in frustration.

“I don’t know why you’re complaining, we’re the ones who got attacked,” Gwen pointed out. “By the way. Alex, do you have a potion?”

“No.” He shook his head. “Most of our money went to upgrading the weapons. Which, glad we did.” He nodded to Rachelle who took a second to watch her sword spin thanks to her magic before sheathing it like an action movie star.

“Besides, we heal gradually as long as we’re not in a fight.” Alex pointed up at his health bar as it read 41/89.

42/89.

“See?” He smiled weakly.

Then a message popped up in front of him.

GrayMatt3rsxxx sends a gift!
(2 Weak Healing Potions)
Do you accept?
-Yes
-No

“They heal 50 HP,” she explained. “I have two more. Take ‘em.”

“Don’t these cost, like, 100 Bits each?” Alex still pressed the ‘Yes’ button.

“Yes. Or, information I sell about the tomb costs 1 potion. However you want to look at that.” Gray shrugged, glancing at her 95/130 HP and the little * appearing beside it.

Gwen’s ability was ready again and Rachelle’s had less than a minute. Although Joey’s ability would take another half hour to recharge.

The team took a few minutes to let their HP come back as they brainstormed more ideas for how to clean up their fighting. When Alex’s HP was almost full. The group fell back into formation and started down the road again with a little more confidence than before.

Author's Note:

I wanted to go over abilities in this Auther Note for anyone interested.

Every player in the game has a unique ability created for them when they make their avatar. These abilities can then be split into three categories; elemental, physical, and other.

Joey's ability, Ice Age, is an Elemental ability where he controls fire...Alright, fine, it's ice. Just testing you. These elemental abilities can do a handful of things, but it's up to the player to experiment with them to find out all its benefits. Normally, players first find out they can deal elemental damage but it's not so limited.

With Gwen, we have Dark Blend. A Physical ability. Physical abilities are something that alter or enhance only the player, not anyone else. These abilities can boost strength or speed, make someone invisible, make someone grow in size or shrink. Basically superpowers. They typically have a standard mode and an amplified mode as well.

Finally, with Rachelle, she has Amour Maladie (Love Poison). This is an Other ability where it's not based around an element and either effects something other than herself OR does something that can interact with other things. However, whereas Elemental requires the user to experiment and Physical has an amplified mode, Other abilities grow with the player and shape themselves depending on how the player will use them. Sometimes changing drastically.

As for Alex...Well, players don't start out with an ability. They gain their abilities anywhere between from lvl 4 to lvl 7. Alex is only level 3 so his ability isn't there yet.

I know this is a really long author's note but since abilities are only now coming up, I wanted to explain them in better detail here. It's not important to know all of this but I figured, meh. It's in my brain and maybe some people are interested to know them.

That said, I've been wanting to write a fight scene for a while and this was more to get back into writing them. And it won't be the only one. We got a whole graveyard to mess with. And then a dungeon not too far away.

I hope you're all enjoying the story! I've been finding more inspiration to keep writing chapters and I've wanted to keep them short like this so I can focus on each scene as I need.

If anyone has any criticism, I always love reading comments!

Happy Holidays everyone,
-Zeke

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