"Fresh Start Fever" {YouTube AU} -#Wattys2015-

Chapter Eight: Birb

The group had no idea what was going on but no matter what it was, they were prepared. They had to be, none of them wanted to die so early on. The competition was starting to slim down little by little so that made things easier. This new challenge though... that was a mystery. What was it? Was it like a tougher boss than Carborus? Or was it supposed to be a final boss, a prototype of a final boss even? Everything was rather confusing to each member of the group but they had to press on on their adventure otherwise they wouldn't make it in this cruel and unforgiving realm.

They pushed the events of earlier to the back of their minds to focus on the matter at hand; surviving. They were all rather hungry and low on health and magic and they had no means of replenishing. They hoped that alone the way, they would find a stray Mage or Sorcerer and soon their prayers were answered in the form of a small pink haired girl who had a bird perched upon her shoulder.

"Holly? Holly!" Ross exclaimed happily as he ran toward his wife. Holly hugged Ross tightly and the bird that was perched on Holly's shoulder flew upwards and fluttered around them both.

"I'm so glad to see you're okay. I joined the game because I was worried when I heard the news..." Holly shook her head and looked behind Ross, "I see you found the other Grumps and some other people?"

"Yeah, just by luck though. Anyway this is Mando, Nate, Ian and Anthony," Ross said as he gestured to each person when he said their names, "and you know, you're the best person we could've met right now."

"Oh really? Why?" Holly asked as she tilted her head to the side. Ross laughed and smiled for once, "You're a Mage and we need a Mage!"

"But those two are Mages as well, right? And you also have a Magician?" Holly said.

"Yeah but we can't heal or do that stuff. We're built for battle, not for medicinal purposes." Nate replied.

"Oh I see. Well then, I suppose I best stick with you guys in case anything bad happens to any of you! I'm not great in battle but if you need help in battle, my birb here will alert me and I'll help you!" Holly exclaimed as her bird tweeted happily and landed back down on her shoulder.

"Birb?" Mando asked, "What on earth is a--" Ross interrupted Mando and silently whispered, "Just go with it, okay?" to him. Mando nodded and blinked his eyes in disbelief.

Holly healed the team back to full strength and soon they were back on the road again, stronger than ever. Every so often a sign would flash up in the sky to signal that another player had sadly fallen. Sometimes three or four people would die at once but it was mainly one at a time. Some of the usernames seen on the screen belonged to people the group had saw earlier back in the centre of town. Too bad none of them managed to survive for too long.

Suddenly the ground below the team began to shake viciously, knocking them each for two. They all scrambled for something to hold onto until the tremors passed. Eventually the harsh tremors stopped and left the team shaken up.

"Are you guys okay?" Danny asked as he grabbed his head, he had a vicious headache from being shaken back and forth like a rag doll.

Everyone replied with a weak "Yeah" and one by one, each managed to get themselves back up off the ground. What was that? Why would something like that happen so early on in the game? Could it be linked to the "New Challenge"?

Whatever it was, the team knew that this was getting serious. They would have to step up their game if they wanted to survive and make it through the game together. No more messing around, now it's real.

{hey hey guess who's back to writing. this person. hey. im sorry for leaving you for so long I've just been dealing with shit lately and ahh stuff. writing is sorta hard for me rn but I'll try my best anyway!!!! yep.}