26 Rise

Under the moon, the team walked towards their inn for the night. It wasn't like they had any great ideas nor any leads. Even Logan was still depressed about God knows what.

Smoke was seen in the distance. Logan figured it came from the police station.

Vanessa spoke up in an enlightened tone, "Aaahh, they are Indians. Aaand need to rid of The Perrgon Sisters".

Her face grew brighter, "So when the girls were coming after us, they save us to geeet the girls arrested. But they is Indians pretending to be cops".

Her words stretched as she spoke with her strong Italian accent, "Aahh, oki. Aaand now they attacking the tooowwwn to make Indiiiaaans in charge".

Vanessa's face then came down, almost looking like she was going to cry, "That is so sad".

She jumped, playing with her hands, "But it is also kinda like that imposter game how they were, 'impostering'? I think that is how you say that. Buuut, they were not killing. Theeey did stuff. And then killing".

Jaivva gasped, "I love that game. I have been playing nonstop ever since I got a smartphone".

Logan complimented Vanessa on figuring out the plot just as Jeff hailed down Chad who was passing by. It was perfect timing that he was also coming to stop the fire.

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Chad raced past the people running. But as he got closer to the fire, the crowd got denser. Even though most were CPU, he couldn't just run them over. He had to make the decision to finish traveling on foot.

Running out of the carriage, Chad and Jeff agreed to a plan. Jeff was to take his team to stop El Chales while Chad and Iku took out the fire. A solid plan, given that various bird skinwalkers were attacking the people. Not to mention the fire was spreading.

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The Wild Bunch reached the town square near the police station. Indian prisoners were attacking the civilians of town.

Standing on the gallows was Mike. He wore tight black jeans that hanged off of his hip with a giant fur coat.

"Hey, there friends," he called.

Jeff called for Mike to end it. Despite being in moral conflict, Andres held ready for a fight.

Mike smirked at Jeff's threat. It was funny that some low rate leader threatened him. A mere clap of his hands was all that was needed for the dirt under the gallows to erupt.

A giant grey claw reached out. A wolf type skinwalker emerged. It stood on its hind legs and let out a howl.

Mike jumped behind the gallows to run away whereas the skinwalker attacked Jeff.

Unlike before, they were ready. Andres shielded Jeff from the creature's attack while the rest of the team flanked the skinwalker and pierced its sides with their melee weapons.

Jeff shot at the skinwalker's forehead, stunning it for just enough time for everybody to get back.

The wolf beast swung its powerless arms in hopes to hit something. Once it realized it will die soon, the skinwalker reached into its leg to pull out a bomb.

Andres jumped on top of Jeff, taking the full explosion for himself. Jeff's face was in the dirt when the blast went off.

The skinwalker was dead, but at the cost of Andres spazzing out in the dirt. He was kicking his chest up, and rolling around like a fish on dry land. His skin was burnt to different colors. His voice couldn't even escape.

Despite the efforts everybody was making to help him, Logan shot Andres in the head.

"Why?" asked Vanessa.

"It's a game," answered Logan, "And to be quite frank, this game can cause a lot of pain that the player cannot bear. Andres for example was panicking beyond the norm which means he was not able to cope with his injuries. Thus I put him out of his misery. But no worries. You will see him again soon enough".

Jaivva stared up at Logan and said, "But still. That is pretty harsh".

"Mike got away," said Hakim.

Logan made the command during Jeff's silence, that they needed to hurry up before more were summoned. Vanessa, Jeff, and Jaivva were in shock which agitated him further. Hakim and Dani managed to snap everyone to their senses to continue the game.

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Once near the police station, The Wild Bunch saw Chad and Iku fighting off Indians. Many cowboys and cops were fighting as well. But the fire was still spreading. Jeff ordered his team to surround Chad and Iku to protect them.

Chad thanked Jeff for the help and managed to connect the hose to the fire hydrant. Iku sprayed the police station down with water. The flames were going out when a giant bear, standing at 20 feet, emerged from the police station.

Chad stared and shouting, "What the bloody hell. We lost"?

At this point, there was barely any light and the water was past their ankles. Logan noted they were in a bowl and the water was really rising.

Mike laughed from a balcony on top to catch their attention.

"You guys ready for this one," asked Mike as he rose his right hand.

There was a rapid movement coming towards them in the waist deep water. Surely it was a skinwalker they thought, but nobody could see it.

Jeff panicked, "What is-"?

A giant creature bit into Jeff and took him underwater. Chad and Logan quickly jumped onto the otter formed skinwalker and tried to stab into it. Their blades didn't dig deep.

The skinwalker swam away from the main group. Jaivva and Vanessa heard the squeals of the skinwalker and quickly swam towards it. Everyone else wasn't fast enough to keep up but still made their way.

The skinwalker threw Jeff's now dead body into the air to land back in the water while Chad and Logan were still on its back. It took another dive and slammed both Logan and Chad onto the floor to knock them off.

Chad and Logan swam to the surface where they made eye contact. They tried to swim to dry land when the otter threw Logan up from his back.

Chad quickly sprang up from the water and tried to stab the skinwalker in the neck. But it had spun around and sliced its claws into him.

The second Logan landed back into the water, the otter dived into him. He stabbed the skinwalker in the eyes to blind it.

The otter swam into the two girls, allowing them to stab its neck. It rose out the water squealing.

Logan stabbed the otter's throat and droves it down for a fatal kill.

The skinwalker began spewing its blood everywhere. Chad came and helped swim Logan away from the now flailing skinwalker to prevent further injury. But they knew it was not over.

"Wow," said Mike from the balcony.

Everybody had caught up to the rest of the crew. The water was now more than 15 feet deep and just perfect for Mike's next plan of action.

Mike grabbed a huge battery and threw it out into the water. Upon impact, the battery's power surged through the water and electrocuted everybody in the water.

The water was going up through their noses. It was a burning sting that felt as though their skin was ripping apart. Many wanted to scream, but could only spew the same water which was suffocating them.

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After what felt like a whopping 15 minutes, Vanessa was dragged out of the water by a man in a lifeguard suit. She was coughing just like everybody else was. The lifeguard reassured her that everything was going to be okay.

He carried her out like a child without interfering with the game. Vanessa looked around, watching the players run away from robots. Weird looking blue and grey buildings stood up with nothing on them. A giant robot who Vanessa recognized as the one simulating the bear continued to lift other robots to its mouth. There was no sand as they saw while playing. But the ground was curved like a bowl with the water filling it up.

Vanessa continued to cough as she was brought to the on-site emergency room. She was wrapped in a towel and placed in a wheelchair just like everybody else.

Andres stood up against a wall smiling and said, "Well it's a good thing Logan killed me. I did not want to get electrocuted. And I'm black, so I can't swim".

It didn't take long for a man in an all-black suit to walk in. He was tall with muscles that were seen through his suit. His hair was freshly cut and had small purples sunglasses on.

As if the man were a god, Logan instructed everybody to be quiet.

The man, known as Director Larz, spoke as a father, making sure everybody was okay. It was the Director who was in charge of the Miami Stadium. He assured them that they were in no real danger.

Though he couldn't help but chuckle at Vanessa's pitiful pout. She insisted that she was simply wet and cold. But Director Larz only teased that she will be alright.

Finished with his teasing, the director wrapped up his meeting by letting them know they will be featured in the anime for the month. It would only be a minor role. But it was a start. He ended with letting them know that if they continued their work, they should make it to pro in June.

Everybody was cheering as Director Larz left.

Dani stood up on a chair to make an announcement saying, "And as a celebration, I will be hosting an all-girls slumber party to introduce Vanessa and Jaivva to Isekai Girls of Miami".

Jeff angrily said, "No"!

But all the girls began screaming, "Yes"!