Simple Days

"Alice! Get Kimmy to fox form!" Ileanna shouted when she was on top of the tall wall. From where she stood, she could see players and NPCs down below fighting off the skeleton army.

"B..but it's safer up here!" Alice replied.

Ileanna jumped on top of the flying carp. "Don't worry. I'll cover us from attacks." She reloaded her guns and handed Alice a gun too. "Let's go! Shoot like you're playing a game of Underwatch!"

Kimmy transformed into a giant white fox. The two girls shot as many enemies as they could. Ileanna used a shield she borrowed from Li Yuan to deflect attacks aimed at both of them.

"Crud! Sorry!" Alice repeated every time she took down an enemy.

Dragons flew right above them clearing out the mobs and spawner portals that produced more skeleton soldiers. The battlefield scene was chaotic.

"We need to get close to Wen and cover him when he attacks Cecil," said Ileanna.

"I see him!" Alice pointed. "Let's go, Kimmy!"

The two girls dodged incoming attacks from skeleton soldiers and maneuvered towards where Wen, Garth, and Tank were exchanging destructive spells with Cecil. Skeleton soldiers rushed towards them as if they were drawn to some force. Alice and Ileanna struggled to keep them away from their friends. Just when they were about to be overwhelmed by their number, dragon fire covered the area and burned their enemies to a crisp.

Alice and Ileanna looked up. It was Pio on a dragon.

"I'll cover you!" Pio shouted and continued blasting dragon fire around them.

"Thanks!"

Suddenly, Pio's dragon was shot by some random projectile that came out of nowhere, causing it to crash down below. As Pio slowly got himself up and recovered from the collision, he saw a familiar pair of legs step forward and stand right in front of him.

"Hello, my cute student Pio." Yaya giggled.

"Yaya!?" Pio turned to the voice of his teacher.

"Long time no see. I didn't think I would see you again."

"Yaya, why are you siding with them?"

She paused before answering. "I have no choice. Cecil is... someone I have to protect. No matter what road he walks on, I need to follow behind him."

"I see. Even if it means fighting against your own friends?"

"It is unfortunate that it has to come to that." Yaya did a battle stance. "I won't let you lay a hand on him."

"Trust me. We don't really want to hurt him. We just want the cube back and this world back in order." Pio held up both his hands. "It would really help if you could convince him to hand it over to us."

"Oh, Pio. Things are not so simple, my cute student," replied Yaya while attempting to immobilize him with earth spells. Pio made sure to dodge the incoming attacks below him.

"Is it bad to hope for the simple days again?"

"It's not a bad thing, but you're only causing yourself more pain thinking about something that might not return." Yaya continued attacking him.

"Perhaps you're right, Yaya. I'll just make way for the future then... filled with new memories." Pio continued to dodge without attacking. He only healed himself whenever he accidentally got himself scratched.

Yaya giggled. "That's very positive of you."

"Didn't you used to tell me that the party's priests must stay positive to keep the group morale up?"

"I did say something like that, didn't I?" Yaya still went on hurling assorted spells at her student. "You'll never beat me dodging like that."

"I'll beat you in my own way." Pio ordered three dragons to barrage Cecil with dragon fire. Seeing this brought out a strong reaction from Yaya.

"NO!" Yaya shouted. While she was distracted, Pio immobilized her body with an earth spell. He immediately removed her hacks with his menu tablet, a new feature Elris installed into his tablet. It required the target to be still for a while, especially when removing large amounts of illegal code like in Yaya's case.

"I'm sorry, Yaya. I don't really want to fight you, but I don't want to see this world get destroyed by Cecil. So stay put for a while," Pio apologized before taking off to help the others in the main fight.

Yaya struggled to get out, but it was no use. "Pio! Let me out of here!" She shouted his name over and over.

Pio ran and didn't look back. For now, he had other priorities.

"Fear not, citizens of Aries! I, Dick Gaylord, savior of this world, shall lend my aid in defeating the antagonist Cecil! The protagonist is me, of course, in case you didn't know." Gaylord made his dramatic announcement in the middle of the battlefield where he was ignored by both the skeleton soldiers and his own allies. "I will lead us to victory!"

Nobody replied to Gaylord. They were much too busy engaged in fighting. He stood still posing for about a minute.

"Hello? Hellooo?" Gaylord looked around him.

Cecil and Wen clashed with their swords. Every bolt or magic projectile Garth threw at him was deflected by an invisible barrier. It seemed physical attacks were the only way to go.

"You're a fool to try and fight against me," said Cecil.

He raised his hand and summoned a rain of metal swords from the sky. The dragons were quick to move in and deflect them with their wind while the people down below were occupied with their own opponents. Tank raised his shield when they were bombarded with consecutive high-energy light spells from Cecil.

"He's too strong..." Tank said when he noticed his shield cracking under the pressure. "I don't know how long my shield can hold up."

Wen reloaded his gun. "I hope the girls find the reset mechanism."