[PT-PP-F10] ~Tawake Chronicles~ The First Fieldtrip

[Shirogane 0]

How long has it been? months? a year? or just a few days. As her back lay on the wooden floor, the girl seemed to be lost in her own thought of what to do. There was that time where they all sort of got caught inside a storm. It felt like a dream to her and it happened while her and a really handsome guy was killing some boars. She turned herself sideways and stared at the window. It looked like it was night time outside but the thing is...

I am in Yomi, what a really gloomy place"

She bolted up and sat slowly, her hair covering one of her eyes. The lanterns of the room gave enough light to show her lilac hair. "I am now living in a room my senpai bought, just above his shop" she thought. After the stormy dream, Shirogane found herself within the ground of Yomi, villagers looked at her with weird eyes, it must've been the thigh highs and armor that made them feel weird. The first thing she did was search for the Night's Watch, a shop owned by her "senpai" a guy who seems to know an awful lot but Shirogane always sees him doing dumb things. Fast forward to the current time, now she's resting inside the comfort of his home just above his house. It had the basic necessities but she felt a bit lonely living alone. 

As she folded her legs and wrapped her arms around it, Shirogane gave it more thought as to what she should do "I should visit Alca and Jeca but they already sent me a message that they're doing fine. Maybe I should look for Plini, he must've fallen somewhere unsafe. I already told senpai of what happened and he told me to stay calm. What should I do-" as Shirogane continued to fall deep into anxiety, she heard a knock from downstairs. "Ah! senpai must've found something about Plini, I should prepare so we can search for him!" 

The quickly changed from her purple kimono into an armor that she wore when she landed on Yomi, she moved as if she was a firefighter wearing gear and it look less than a minute for her to don everything and quickly picked up her spear leaning on a wall and ran down the stairs. To her suprise, there were two person on the table in the shop of her senpai.

"Y-You two...."

 

Edited July 9, 2021 by Shirogane

[Crozeph 0]

"I'm telling you Corezeph! we found him, he was surrounded by faes!"
"She's right, how hard can it be to believe us mister"

Two girls who are basically twins told him, the one with the darker hair acting all tsundere while the one with a teal green hair kept slapping the kotatsu to get her point across. "If that's the case then maybe he's dead" he told them. The girl with the darker hair then gave him a smug look "fortunately we were able to pull him out of there, you should thank us" she told him. The raven-black haired player nodded his head "thank you" he uttered. The girl pouted and turned her back on him "so you saved him, why isn't he here with you?" he asked them.

The girl with the teal green hair began tearing up "he woke up as soon as we got to the safe zone, he said that he was with a cute girl with nice thighs and ran towards a teleportation portal, we weren't able to track him"  she said. 

Things got way more complicated, all he wanted was to find out where his scout was and it seems that he ran off to look for Shirogane before the girls could even relay the message to him "sucks that I don't have him on my friend's list, now how am I supposed to pay you two with this half-finished job?" he told them.

"Mister, you employed our services! we found your guy and that's enough for a payment"
"Ren you shouldn't get mad, he did say we get paid double if we bring him with us"
"He did?"
"Yup"
"Shit"

He waved his hand to interrupt them "I'm just kidding, here's the payment. You did find him and saved him, that's enough for me" he said. The two girls did a high five and began making their way out of his shop "it was nice doing business with you Araragi-san" the girl told him. "My name is Crozeph, not some guy who's into lolis, mature women are superio-" before he could even finish, the two girls dashed in his shop again

"Mister! he's here! your guy!"
"He looked really worried"

A guy wearing some kind of coat and a shirt walked in his shop after taking off his boots. He looked young like he was some sort of college freshman. "Oh, nice. I guess that leaves less worries for our kouhai here" he stood up and began making his way upstairs "Shirogane! Plini is here, get down now to greet him."

 

[Plini 0]

"How could I be so stupid?" 

His thoughts raced on where his companion was and to where his other friend is. It looked liked an Amazing Race: Aincrad when he ran to a teleport plaza and jump to his shop, checking if Ms, Silence was okay. After that he began sending messages to his friend, Orca. It took hours for her to reply and Plini was already pacing back and forth up and down Silence's property that she had to wack him with her feather duster "calm down, you're gonna have a stroke" she told him. Plini gave it a thought "is it possible to have a stroke here?" he asked her. Silence shook her head and went up to her flat "you look like close to having one, calm down" she told him.

Orca: I'm safe, I'm doing undercover as a hot nun somewhere
Plini: I'm glad you're safe, I'll look for my friend who's helping me with a quest
Plini: wait, why are you posing a nun, and do you have to be a hot one?
Orca: of course, I'm not gonna look like someone older than the church building itself
Orca: plus it's easier to get info if they can't resist you
Plini: I hope you burn in holy water

After Orca sent him a reply, Plini felt relieved to know she's safe. He then began grabbing a few things and ran off to the teleport plaza, this time to visit his boss, Crozeph. It was the best course of action for now, his memories are still a bit hazy. One moment he was surrounded by faes ready to dry him up and then all of a sudden two nimble girls pulled him out of the trap. He was confused back then and thinking that they might be enemies too, he ran away as soon as they entered a safe zone and that's when he realized "oh they're not enemies."

Plini reached Yomi and dashed through the streets dodging the villagers inside. "This place is really gloomy" he thought. Took him a few minutes and then he finally saw the sign board. As he was about to enter, two girls walked out of it and upon seeing him, they ran back inside "wait, they're working for boss?" he thought. He took off his boots and saw Crozeph sitting beside a kotatsu

"Boss! I lost Shirogane, we got caught up into some kind of storm made up of piss and shit and then I woke up surrounded by half-naked faes! we need to look for her-" Plini saw Crozeph stood up and called someone upstairs "she's here too now?!"

[Shirogane 0]

She wasn't prepared for it, seeing the two of them safe. At first she felt anxious, Plini was left in her care by Crozeph and then all of a sudden they get separated without knowing what happened to each other. Now her senpai is here making his way back to the kotatsu and pouring tea on his cup while Plini stood by the door holding his boots looking at the two girls who are Crozeph's informants. 

"I'm so glad... I'm so glad you're safe!" Shirogane rushed forward and jumped over Crozeph, she couldn't contain the happiness of knowing that she didn't place someone in the hands of death. Her jump was a bit weak though as her right thigh struck Crozeph slamming his mouth to his tea cup faster than he wanted.

She wrapped her arms around Plini and squeezed him tight "don't worry Plini, your senpai is here. We won't be separated again I promise. I won't watch you fight alone again I-" she looked at Crozeph who was coughing as he choked on his tea "I, um, sorry."

[Crozeph 0]

Crozeph walked back to his table and slowly poured tea on his cup "now that we're all here, we could try to do things together when it comes to looting mobs, finding rumors, or simply hanging out somewh-" he raised his cup, ready to partake of the bland tea he takes pride in making when he felt something soft touch the bck of his head. 

One would say it was bliss, feeling that soft part without even asking for it. If you are not Crozeph then yes but... as soon as he felt it, the body weight of the girl added unnecessary force. Sure it was her thigh but she literally dashed forward as she jumped over him. For Crozeph it wasn't about the soft feeling, it was an honor to get hit by Zettai Ryouiki but his face slammed forward to his tea cup.

It was as if he got drowned in a miniature sea, because as soon as his mind figured out that no oxygen was taken in, he instinctively drank it all in one gulp. Crozeph coughed as the rush of tea triggered his cough reflex. He tapped his chest lightly and tried to cough out the drink "if I was a full retard I'd think that you two were making out instead of killing boars back there."

[Plini 0]

Plini felt two things upon seeing Shirogane, relieved and surprised. For someone like him, he was used to girls acting all concerned. He grew up in a family where males are the minority and his cohabitation with his two older sisters was almost an eternal damnation. Shirogane's reaction made him feel relieved that the player who was supposed to watch over him or help him was safe. She may be the senpai in that quest but they are still responsible for one another.

Plini placed his boots by the doorstep as he saw her dash towards him, not even paying attention to Crozeph causing for her to choke him on his own drink, a feat that only exists in animes whos foundation is fanservice. He felt a warm feeling as Shirogane hugged him, quite similar to how her sisters would hug him if they lost their little brother in a mall (which happened so many times he lost count). 

"Ok Shirogane-senpai settle down, it's all good that we are all safe but it seems boss knows more than us on what happened" he said as he gently pried Shirogane off him and gave her a few pats on the head. He made his way towards the table and eased himself before Crozeph "I wouldn't make out with someone in the open field where boars roam..." he looked at him and Shirogane "what exactly happened boss? a few context can help us understand a few things."

[Shirogane 0]

She liked the pat on her head, it felt weird and nice at the same time. They hardly knew each other  when it comes to who is who but she saw how Crozeph and Plini were sensible enough to actually start a serious conversation. Of course a few weird things would be uttered by her senpai and Plini's blunt and honest remarks would surface but she knew that these two will get things done if needed be.

Shirogane made her way to the table too looking at Crozeph who was coughing after she thigh slammed his face on his own tea. "I-I Shirogane Chosa will facilitate the first meeting of... er, what should we call ourselves?" she asked Crozeph. There were three of them, five if she counts the twin informants of Crozeph. Ren and Rin would pop out from time to time back when Crozeph employed them to look for Plini. 

"This meeting aims to discuss the following" Shirogane did her best to make it sound a little formal "For some reason, Plini and I got pulled in a storm of shadows. It was weird because it looked and felt like a dream yet when all of us woke up-" she looked at Crozeph "we all sort of knew that it was real too and what's more, our stats and skills were reset." 

"So if Plini's hunch was right, then senpai knows more than the two of us. I'll ask the first question now so we can get started. Why does it feel like we all went changes? even senpai returned to his black hair. What did the storm do to the rest of the players? was there casualties?"  she looked at them both and then began to introduce herself.

"M-my name is Shirogane Chosa, I'm built to be a tank with a little mobility, I-I like fluffy creatures."

[Crozeph 0]

Crozeph wiped his lips with the sleeve of his shirt, and saw that the two has already decided to know things, they were a bit off the mark though. He knew things since he woke up in Tartarus but it would be too much to think that it was more than what the two knows. He tipped his glasses and stared at his cup "what do we call ourselves? maybe something weird like weirdos of Yomi or something" he told Shirogane.

"First thing to tell you both, I don't know much" he told them. It wasn't a nice start for a conversation but Crozeph figured a few things out during his escape from Tartarus to find his way back to his shop. "What I do know is that the floor boss, Shadow, made that storm. He said so himself, I had one party member who found out that he couldn't teleport because-" he took a sip from his tea "Shadow made a storm outside the boss room. It was a pretty hectic fight, we did manage to pull off a nice victory thanks to our preparedness for that battle. With that said, I can assure you two that the storm is real. When the battle ended, we all got transported somewhere and I'm guessing those who had homes got teleported back to their beds after the fight. Last thing I remember about the boss battle was that we got washed away by some disgusting shit and next thing I know I was in Tartarus and holding this-" Crozeph brandished Shadow's Malevolence in front of the two and set it on the table "a boss drop, a weapon catered to what I mastered and is actually a nice one."

He said what he can say for now, Plini seems to look like he can put things together to come up with something so Crozeph needs the guy to speak before he could come up with his own conclusion on things. He hasn't told them about the empty sword arts yet so it should be ripe for telling after Plini say something.

[Plini 0]

Plini gave it more thought, sure there would be a few seconds of silence if no one decides to talk before him but he wanted to make sure of many things "does this mean Orca probably got stronger?" he thought to himself. The details that Crozeph laid out for them made a lot of sense yet Plini was surprised a boss was capable of affecting everyone outside the boss room. For all he know the bosses would only impose rules inside their roooms or so he heard but a storm outside while the Frontlines took him on? Plini felt a slight concern for that.

"That is a nice katana boss, looks very omninous though, will you be okay using it even though you know it's from the boss?" he asked Crozeph.  "There was also some kind of changes on the stats, I've seen players in the safe zone get shrunk into a certain level and then another level is shown on their heads. At first I thought it was a job level but it seems that we got placed on the same "base" level and the rest was added somewhere. I had to allocate some skill points too due to some skills becoming less costly."

He noticed it but he wasn't sure what it gave the high level players as incentive, some voiced their complaints while others found it a a way to actually feel more challenge. Crozeph was one of those high-level players but he looks like he doesn't mind about it "I don't know much about him but he's quite laidback when it comes to it, like a cat."

[Shirogane 0]

Shirogane learned a lot of things just from the first exchange of information, it now feels more MMO than before and somehow when Plini mentioned about the skills, she began scrolling to her skills menu and indeed saw some extra skill points available for her "y-you're right! maybe I should reset my points into something-" she looked at the other part of it "Extra skills are limited to tier, does this mean if Plini and I try to get some extra skills in the future we can't use them all?" she asked Crozeph.

As of now, she and Plini hadn't crossed the second tier yet. It was because they got held up by so many things but it should be changed or else they'll get left behind Crozeph. "The two of us don't have those extra levels that Plini talks about so I'm guessing you know what those are senpai." she asked him, she knew little and Plini knew a little more than her based on his observations so Crozeph would likely know more on stuff, he was observant yet he also kept things to himself unless someone asks him.

[Crozeph 0]

"Ah that one, paragon levels" he told them both "I'm guessing it's a way for that asshat Cardinal to create threats equal to all, like a nerf or something. Some players are progressing so fast they can actually shrug off any threat from floor 20 and below. Cardinal might've seen that as a problem in the future and decided to "nerf" it a bit." Crozeph saw it, his level got changed but there was another level shown beside it. Some perks where available and he got freebies but that's it, the health points are what gave him a concern.

"It could pose a threat for glass cannons like me having less HP but nothing the three of us can't handle" he said it as he finished his cup to pour another one. "I'm fortunate to have a wife who is a tank so I got that defense part covered, you two need to figure out how to be durable in battle." He took the katana back from the table and placed it inside his inventory "as for extra skills, yes I only got 4 slots and my healing skill already took 2 of it."

"10 points for who noticed this already, have you looked at yours sword arts?"

[Plini 0]

Plini quickly accessed his menu and looked at the sword art. He has been studying how they work from time to time and he knew that the arts had names and a description of it's basic moment to trigger the skill. He scrolled up and down only to find a few letters, numbers and some conditions to unlock higher level of sword arts "what the hell happened to the sword arts?" he uttered under his breath. It was more suprising to him, Orca must've figured it out already and didn't tell because he didn't "ask"

"Boss, does this mean everything is sort of went on reset? there's no way that skills that we need in combat gets changed like this, it's as if we are being subject to test it out with it being a a clean looking list of skills."  He looked at Shirogane "we're gonna need some huge adjustments for now, these things aren't funny for players like us" he told her.

It would be less threatening for Crozeph, he even trusts that the three of them can handle monsters but that's something Plini isn't fond of testing out.

[Shirogane 0]

"Nothing we can't handle?" Shirogane blurted as if she heard something absurd but then again, Crozeph was always leaning to being absurd. She wasn't sure if it was a good idea to just go out of the shop and swing their weapons like sticks with the new systems. She remembered how freaked out she would be whenever big game patches arrive. Expansions, patches, and DLCs were always enough to make her feel uncomfortable.

She looked at them both, two guys who seem to be close to reaching a conclusion to this conversation. "That's it, even though this is kind of a new thing to me I can still work this out with them tagging along" she thought. Crozeph was already familiar, Plini picks things up fast even though Crozeph's vocabulary was weird. She knew she had to play a role but she wasn't sure what it would be with them.

"I wonder how I could help..."