Game V.S. Gamer (A Choose-Your-Own-Adventure Story) *ON HOLD*

Chapter 5: And So It Begins...

(Y/n) looked to Karin and Emmet, then to the young boy laying on the forest floor. "Don't worry, we'll help you get back to Celestia Village."

"But isn't that dangerous?" Emmet asked, looking around anxiously, "I mean, there are monsters roaming about, and they stand more of a chance of attacking us if we bring him with."

"Emmet's right. He'll slow us down. Do you think we're really ready to fight?" Karin asked.

"Fighting is...actually what we kinda need right about now," (y/n) confessed, carefully picking up the injured child to his feet and helping him walk. "You forget that we're really low-level. Fighting off monsters is the best way to gain EXP and level up."

"It feels so real, here, though..." Karin admitted, picking up a flower nearby and smelling it.

"What are you talking about? This is real..." The boy they were attempting to rescue seemed understandably confused about the entire scenario.

"Um... We're asleep. And we came here..." Emmet stated calmly. He wasn't lying, but he wasn't quite willing to bring himself to tell the child he wasn't real, either. "It happens somewhat often in our world..."

The boy's expression changed to one of excitement. "You guys are Dreamwalkers?! Wow! I've always wanted to meet you!! What are your names? Mine's Jaden!"

The young swordswoman responded by introducing herself along with her party members, and continued the conversation with the boy as they began walking along to his village. Along the way, she gained important information about the game world that she and her friends willingly thrust themselves into. Apparently, the backstory programmed into just about every character they would come across was that every player was designated as a 'Dreamwalker' - an individual from another world who would travel to other worlds and help them through their dreams. It wasn't far from the truth, considering they really were unconscious throughout this entire ordeal, and (y/n) mentally praised the originality of the game's creators for coming up with such a logical explanation for their sudden appearance in the world. But, of course, that praise could just as easily turn to criticism. Especially when faced with one's first encounter with a monster.

It happened so quickly, there was little time for anyone in the party to react. The most (y/n) could think to do was unsheathe her blade and prepare for the inevitable as everything around her became pixelated, then flashed to the battle area. As with every place else in this game world, the open clearing in the middle of the woods seemed real enough, but there was an obvious-looking clear dome around the area, indicating that there was little chance for escape this particular battle. "Karin! Emmet! You guys okay?!"

"Yeah, we're alright. Not injured or anything, lucky for us..." Emmet said with a sigh.

"Where is this place? It's not like the forest we were at before!" Karin exclaimed, looking around anxiously for Jaden, the boy being nowhere in sight. "And what's worse, I can't find Jaden!"

"Calm down, Karin. This is just a battle area. Jaden's safe for now. As long as there's at least one party member left alive, we should be fine," (y/n) responded, refusing to let the others know about the issue with their entire party having only one life. She scanned the area a second time, noting the three wolves in front of them, growling deeply and eager for their fangs to pierce human flesh. "Alright. Which of us is up first?"

As if in response to her question, a small yellow ring appeared around Karin's feet. The young beast tamer yelped in surprise at seeing this, then calmed down when (y/n) explained that the ring simply meant it was time for her to take action. Unsure of what would happen, Karin dashed up, hit one of the wolves with her training staff, then backed up.

"Did anything happen?" Emmet asked, wanting to know if there was any new information to be gained from his girlfriend's action.

"Not really. Aside from it crying in pain from me hitting it like that, nothing really changed."

"Dang. I was really banking on being able to see our opponent's Life Point counters..." (y/n) trailed off, annoyed that doing battle strategy would be more difficult than she'd initially thought.

"(y/n), look out!" Emmet shouted, seeing one of the wolves charging at her and getting ready to strike. He tried moving to defend her, but his feet seemed rooted to the spot, keeping him from making a single step in any direction.

(y/n) had heard the warning and reacted just in time, bringing her blade up to meet the fangs of the vicious wolf that had attempted to bite her shoulder. She was slightly surprised when a series of silver letters popped up nearby, spelling 'Parry' before the wolf left her and returned to its pack. "Kay. So you can block attacks... Good to know."

"What happens if we lose Life Points? Will we feel pain like those wolves did?" Karin asked.

"Doubt it. But we won't know until it happens," Emmet admitted, albeit reluctantly as he prepared himself to cast his first spell.

The battle went on like that for several turns or so, until (y/n) and her party wound up victorious and all the wolves laid dead on the ground. Each of them gained sufficient Exp. but not enough to Level themselves and get stronger. Although, they were rather happy to find a pouch with some money in it, along with a small square piece of wolf fur and an Herb before being teleported back to where they'd been before. Jaden seemed excited, as though he'd witnessed the entire battle take place without being there to watch it happen.

"You're okay, right, Jaden?" (y/n) asked, a little out of breath from all her actions in the previous fight.

"Yeah. But I'm worried about you. You got hurt, didn't you?" Jaden asked, giving her a concerned look.

"I'm fine. This is minor compared to other things..." (y/n) assured the child in a gentle voice.

"Hey, look! I think those are the village gates!" Emmet declared, pointing off in the distance.

And he was, indeed, telling the truth. They were quickly approaching Celestia village, but the gates were closing as the sky was beginning to darken, and turn to nightfall. At this point, Karin had run up ahead of the others, asking the guards to hold the gate open until (y/n), Emmet, and Jaden could pass through. In a few minutes, everyone was safely inside the village and were helping Jaden find his parents. At first, the two were understandably concerned for their son, but then turned to his rescuers and offered up their thanks.

"How can we ever repay you?" Jaden's mother asked, hugging her son close.

"Not much thanks is really needed. We were there, we saw he was in trouble, and so we helped him," Emmet admitted, "'Nuff said."

"Surely there's something we can do for you..." Jaden's father stated in a somewhat worried tone.

"Sorry, but we have to keep moving. We're looking for a friend of ours who might have gotten lost around here," Karin added.

"Mom. Dad. We should have them stay here tonight, with us," Jaden offered, looking to his parents. "I mean, there are more monsters that roam around at night, and they could talk to Chief about their friend in the morning!"

"Well, we do have a spare room up in the attic, and I suppose the girls could share your room..." the boy's mother spoke next, thinking aloud.

"But, again, the decision is yours." Her husband added.

IF (Y/N) CHOOSES TO...

--> ...spend the night in Celestia village with Jaden and his family, proceed to Chapter 9

--> ...venture back out into the forest with your party, proceed to Chapter 10