So now what? The former minotaur asked.

Now.. Just a moment, keep heading toward the Chaos Gate. Asai commanded.

Yes master. Arcion obeyed as he took control and the avatar hunched over from the alteration. Asai chuckled, glad that his mental companion still had humor to spare if he was making a crack like that.

Deciding he needed a bit of musical assistance, he flipped off the game's visor and dropped it to the computer desk.

Returning in a moment with his mobile music, he tucked the headphones into his ears and replaced the visor over his eyes, leaving room for the band of the headphones.

There. He said, hitting 'play' to get the player started. Thanks. He said, taking control back from the tiger-stance and standing up fully.

You're welcome. The AI answered, disgruntled that control had been taken from him before he could start any trouble. He mumbled something and then moved into the background of Asai's mind.

There's the gate, should I send out any invites to join me on a quest? He questioned as he approached, and the song playing took a moment to switch.

Kiara again? Another quest with the wolf-cub? He considered, opening the window to send out flashmails. He listened for a moment and frowned. 'Movin' On'. You don't have to be that blunt Arcion. He reached out to touch the mobile ring of the Chaos Gate, cancling out the window for his buddy-list while the tri-lists of words came up. So then, where to? A set of words seemed to be calling to him, so he set them to input.

Darkness field, level 15. Sounds good. He hummed the bar about 'facing his demons' as the rings did their work at transporting him into the field with a slight grin on his face.

*****

Great, it's raining here. He spotted and headed for the near copse of trees, turning the Goblin Knight that decided to attack him along the way into a pincushion of arrows with the Burning Star Crossbow, though not calling on the elemental aptitude of the bow itself yet.

Reaching the stand of trees, he turned up the collar of the armor coat to keep the rain from getting in. Looking around he spotted what appeared to be a stereotypical haunted house. That's probably the dungeon entrance. Head for it at least, better protection from the rain at the very least. He decided, following his own instruction as a drop from the leaves above found it's way through his hair and sending a shiver down his spine.

Water. He shivered. Cold. He chose to comment mentally as he ducked his head into the warmth of the coat and plowed on through the light mist with bow in hand as the song changed.

Arcion sighed and lowered his bow towards the pair of opponents he'd stumbled across from a monster portal hidden in the trees of another copse where he couldn't see.

The monsters themselves were easy to spot in the dim light. Shining Eyes, though darkness enshrouded the field because of the cloud cover, shone like Lantern Archons from the old D&D game, at least their eyes did.

It did help his concentration on them that his music player, while beginning to annoy him, was playing Ly's theme 'Can't Fight the Moonlight' and the blades the monsters carried gave them an almost mocking attempt at mimicry of the fighter of the moonlight and leader of the fallen pack and her own sword of the moonlight.

Though the 'kiss' of those blades would be a shallow mockery of the actual one she carried, it would be no less deadly, and so, while loading a bolt into his newly acquired crossbow, he took steps back to avoid close-combat with these creatures.

He wasn't expecting them to hold out barely visible hands and attack him with spells though, somehow sensing the circle of power barely moments before it activated, he threw himself to the side to try and avoid the blast.

His dive did manage to get him out of the range of the blast of darkness that came from the trees and faded away.

Arrow of the Burning Stars. He shouted, firing the bolt off at the nearer target, hoping it was enough to kill the creature and negate the spell he hadn't dodged yet, though he wasn't sure which of the monsters had fired off the spell he had just dodged.

The second spell hit, despite his attempt to evade or disperse it before it's realization, though he did glimpse the words of 'Elemental Hit' appear before his vision was blocked momentarily by darkness.

Another bolt fired after the spots had faded from his vision killed the closer monster.

Now what? The voice in his head echoed, interrupting his planning of the next strike.

Quiet. He snapped at the voice in return. First you irritate me through my favorite medium of music, and then you interrupt me thinking while I try to plan. I'd almost think you were on their side and not mine.

Hey, I did used to be one of them.. sorta. The AI taunted back, but he did as he was told, fading into the background noise of the player's mind once again.

Arrow of the Red Dragon. He shouted as he fired at the remaining monster while stepping back as the creature tried to close the gap between the player and itself.

The avatar stumbled into a tree while his attention was focused on reloading the weapon. "I'm really having trouble seeing these things as weapons of combat." He grumbled, finally firing a second non-elemental shot into the creature and struggling to reload the crossbow for another shot.

Both creatures of the World managed to have their shots lined up, and while Arcion's crossbow bolt to the shining left eye of the Shining Eyes was enough to finally kill it, the monsters simultaneous blow to the avatar's right knee wasn't enough to do the same.

Deciding that the inflicted wound wasn't enough to worry about yet despite, or perhaps because of, the blood mixed with rain-water, he carried on towards his target of the suspected 'dungeon-house' after reloading and firming his grip on the light crossbow of a weapon.

Arcion grinned, listening to music was really the perfect accompaniment to a solo quest when his AI wasn't willing to talk or there was nothing he especially wanted to discuss. The music even made him almost forget about the rain falling, only the wind that froze his legs and made him duck his head into his coat collar kept reminding him of that.

Even the tiger making the player do it's rounds of songs that reminded him of his former clan and it's leader didn't dampen his mood anymore, like it normally would. He would openly admit to slight blushing when it came to certain lines of the fox-woman's primary singer, 'Shikira's songs and he was glad his mental camera never seemed to have film loaded at her bluntness with the lyrics.

He thought the memory of mental abilities was more attractive anyway, and that went for all of his allies within the FR ranks. He still had problems understanding why the outside world was so caught up in physical appearance. Staring at someone's breasts and you got a reputation of being a pervert, but stare into their eyes while you conversed with that person and you not only got you a better perspective of the person inside, but there was no stigma attached to it.

As he dodged around another portal placed out in the middle of the field, a song that he hadn't quite gotten memorized fully started, though he had most of it down, some parts were just evading his lips in the timing.

His head bobbed to the percussive beats as the song started. "You walk in and my strength walks, out the door." He sang along, fitting the lyrics to a coupling. It almost amazed him how well the song fit for them, based on what he had heard about it, but when the song got to the chorus, and he tried to fit that to them, he got the classic image of the cartoon character against a motor-vehicle, first crashing into the windshield with a silly expression and then sliding off as the force pushed it away.

It really made him feel good to hear and see that, before he'd been uneasy about the relationship as he heard it, but to 'see' his own mind rejecting the unease like that put a spring in his step, at least until the wind made another pass and reminded him to hurry along to shelter, even as he kept up singing along.

Still springing along as he took the first step on the porch of the darkened house he'd been heading along to. "Not the dungeon entrance I'd been expecting." He commented, looking around for the tell-tale torches of the entrance.

As he stepped back into the rain, in the direction he hoped the entrance lay, two sounds assulted his ears, the first being the howl of a monster on his trail and the second being a new song starting up.

"I will kill you for this Arcion." Asai growled as he connected the lyrics to the opening chords of the song. They had gotten into a few mental scraps over the implications the AI had placed over this song, and subsquently other songs he'd heard by the same artist.

His grip on the unloaded bolt tightened as he reached over in the real world and skipped the rest of the song, only to have another song by the same artist start up. Asai manually switched out the crossbow for the longer and easier to grasp arrows of the more accurate weapon as he moved towards the in-game howls that followed him, choosing to let out the agression he was starting to feel for the tiger within his mind on the beasts instead of injuring himself while attempting to attack part of his own mind.

The Vak Don attack it unleashed on him only fueled the fire that was starting up as the Archer approached the Sled Dogs and slashed across one of the canine heads, causing it to tumble over and overturn the attached sled and it's driver, who wisely ran as soon as it regained it's feet.

"I most certainly will not, Arcion." He growled as he dodged the other canine's head as it tried to attack him physically.

"I'm more than happy to consider her a friend." He told the AI in a voice that seemed to indicate that it wasn't the first time he'd made such a comment. He tossed the arrow towards the first head as it snapped under his assult on the second and drew another into a slash that ended up being enough to finish the monster off, returning it to data while he stomped off, the bow still unused hanging over one shoulder.

He didn't even notice that his stomping was causing the water the soil had collected to splash up and soak his socks until the second song finished.

I guess you don't have as much control of the player as you thought. Asai taunted his mental companion when he recognised the following song.

Either that, or I'm just letting you hear what you want. The tiger responded cheekily.

Deciding to just let that particular argument die before it got too heated, he calmed down enough to have the avatar quit splashing himself as he looked for the real entrance to the dungeon.

Give me back the crossbow I was using. He ordered, though he prefered using the 'straight' bows, the crossbow was more powerful elementally on this field.

"I was fine before you walked into my life." He sang, mood lifting along with the weather it seemed.

At least now you have about a thousand more songs before it'll let you replay those. He thought almost joyfully.

Who next? Asai grumbled, irritated at the tiger for seeming to play songs that connected seemingly perfectly with friends he had made in recent years.

It threw him for a loop when, seemingly in response, the next song was his own.

"Each night I ask, the stars up above, 'Why must I be a teenager in love?'" He smiled a bit as he sang with the oldie that easily formed the basis for why he never thought it would be possible to think of himself as anything but a teenager anymore, even though by the world's standards he was plenty past that stage into the world of being a young adult.

He hummed the bars as the song faded out, swinging wide to avoid a monster portal in the open while he looked for the dungeon entrance. The rain hadn't stopped, his hair and Winter Coat were soaked, but it didn't seem like the rain was deepening, so he guessed that was a good sign, just making him wetter and a little more irritated. There wasn't much wind to go along with the rain, so it wasn't like he was freezing, in fact, it was almost enjoyable, now that he'd gotten used to the downpour.

It did irritate him though, when the next song was one that he'd loosely begun to associate with one of his friends. "Great," He mumbled to himself, sighing to let his mental companion know what he thought of it.

"Ah well, she had to come up sometime while you're in control of what plays, Eh Arcion?'"

You would expect differently? The AI agreed, seeming to be chuckling to himself. Just wait, it'll get worse. He promised.

Sounds like it's time to get into a battle. He responded. At least then I won't be able to concentrate fully on the songs you decide to send my way. Based on the chuckle he got in response, he wasn't sure if that wasn't exactly what the tiger-AI wanted, but still, he turned his focus towards a nearby portal.

The portal released a single monster, a snakey-bodied beasty that carried a spear as a weapon, which he dove to the wet ground to dodge, and then rolled backwards to get out of it's range. While the Lamia tried to move up to strike at him again, Arcion took careful steps back to stay out of range and load up his crossbow.

"Arrow of the Burning Stars!" He shouted, firing the bolt of light into the quickly approaching creature and the flash of lightening from the clouds, seeming to invalidate his belief that the storm wasn't getting any worse. To provide him even more amusement, the words "Skill Drain" danced over the monster's head as the Archer's SP was refilled from the drain of using the skill.

"Well, that was next to useless." He laughed aloud, knowing that he had plenty of SP to weather this battle even without such an effect.

He dodged a few more spear thrusts, and the monster tried casting it's skill on him a few times, but he apparently had enough evasion and the beast and spell didn't have enough accuracy to affect him. Deciding that he rather liked to be able to see, he chose to finish the creature off with normal bolts, he just wished that the crossbow was quicker to load, and maybe that the monster was a little less avid about taking off his head.

As the snake-like monster returned to the data it was made from, Asai noticed that the song had changed without his noticing. Now it was a familiar movie song, though not the movie version of such, and notably focused on the same person, along with her lover. It made him happy to know that those he thought of as friends had others who cared about them.

*****

He was beginning to feel like he'd walked the entire field and hadn't seen any sight of the torch-light indicating the dungeon entrances, though he knew that he'd barely covered a small area, the 'haunted' house he'd headed for at first had been visible from the moment he'd gated into the field, and was still visible when he looked over his shoulder. Plus the songs acted as a kind of 'time-gauge' letting him know he really hadn't spent that much time here, and the rain-fall had kept his movement slow.

He had picked up an egg-like object that Arcion had called a Snakey Cactus and told him to keep for his 'pet pig', reminding Asai that he even had such a pet, and made a mental note to visit her once he was done with this quest.

The song that he was humming to indicated both himself and the other, with a little bit of twisting, alongside it's primary focus, and, while a slow and melancholy song in itself, gave a 'light in the darkness' feel of hope in it's lyrics.

As that one faded out and the next one started up, his grin widened. Though it seemed that all the women of the FR could use the ego boost the song provided, the essence of the song was the essence of the legendary Phoenix, and so it had attached itself more strongly to the one who had the Phoenix anima.

He stepped up his pace through the rain, humming along to the country lyrics until it came to the bridge.

"Every time you get up, and get back in the race, One more small piece of you starts to fall into place." He sang out over the sound of the falling rain with a grin. The sound of such a loud voice would probably bring every monster within hearing distance down on him, but he liked the song and being able to sing outwardly always made him happy.

"Oi!" He complained when a burst of water sprung up from beneath him, causing him to stumble and fall on his face in the mud. "That wasn't very nice." He protested to the Water Witch floating on her broom nearby as if it wasn't raining.

"Arrow of the Red Dragon!" He called out in retaliation, taking the moment of her crying out over the elemental hit to regain his feet and load another bolt into his crossbow.

"Arrow of the Red Dragon." He called out again. "It's not very polite to attack someone from behind." He commented, shrugging off the Rue Kruz She fired off at him.

"Arrow of the Red Dragon!" He called out a third time, ending the Water Witch's spectacle of life in this place.

Being completely soaked now, from the rain and the water element spells, left him in a foul mood, despite the song, so he was only to glad to hear it changing. And the song it changed to restored and caused the grin on his face to reappear.

Just 'cause I'm small, I thought you were all. He sang mentally, the rest of the lyrics washing over him as he spotted what appeared to be the flickering flames of the dungeon entrance. He turned in that direction and headed off, humming the lines of the rest of the song with a smile.

"Finally," Arcion sighed, ducking into the alcove of the dungeon entrance. "Protection from the rain."

He was in a good mood, just after the Phoenixes' song had come another that made him think of the Unicorn which made him grin, and at the same time reminded him how intertwined the two mythical creatures' representatives really were, and finally finding the entrance to the dungeon only empathized the mood he was left in.

So caught up in the mood of the songs, he was in the middle of the four 'greeting' portals before he even really noticed them.

My turn. The tiger said, seeming to know what was going on, and Asai was only too happy to step aside in favor of letting the AI take control for a while and seemed all to ready for a turn.

The crossbow faded from his grasp in favor of one of his bows forming over his chest and the tiger pulled an arrow from the quiver for each hand, activating all four portals at once while the song changed.

"La Repth." Asai called out before the last vestige of control was wrested from him, something was telling him that having a mostly full HP bar would be more important for this round against the monsters. Probably having something to do with recognizing the opening of the song.

Each of the portals spawned a pair of Goblin Nights and Asai wondered how the tiger-AI was going to deal with them all, and then the lyrics reminded him. When do we start killing? He chuckled and watched as the former minotaur exploded into action, using the arrows he'd created like daggers against the armored forms of the goblins.

The howls are sending chills down my spine. Time is running out now, They're comin' down the hills from behind. He sang mentally. I'll have to remember to thank her for introducing me to this song. He joked.

Deciding that attempting to watch the AI move from first-person view was causing him to develop a headache, Asai decided to raise the visor and watch the computer try to keep up with the movements and concentrate on the song.

Very nice. Asai complimented his mental companion as all eight monsters lay in a pile of discarded data. Was that fun? He asked, taking back control and calling on the healing power of his Raccoon Earcap to rejuvenate the avatar's HP.

Very much. He responded, discarding the arrows he'd been using as daggers before losing complete control. Arrows are a little less pliable than I'd hoped, broke quite a few during that, took a dangerous few seconds to replace them. He added, switching out the bow he hadn't used for the crossbow his partner had been tending to use in the field.

"Though they can be used like that, they're intended to be fired from the various bows." Arcion answered, finding the avatar drained and wanting to take a rest in action after that burst of activity.

"Archers are mostly a missile class, but sometimes it is fun to get into the melee like that."

As he journeyed through the first level of the dungeon, he found himself confronted with various monsters of the field's level, hardly worth the time it took to take them down almost, while various songs filtered though the headphones.

Comedy songs, country, oldies, pop, and other songs that made him think of various members of his clan, mostly members that had fallen away from the group as 'real life' took over their lives, but they were still part of the family in his thinking.

He smiled as he entered another room, a trio of monster portals greeting him and the FR 'theme song' entering his ears. He fitted a bolt into the crossbow he carried and shot it through them, activating all three at once.

"Water Witch." He stated, choosing to list the monsters vocally, just for fun, since there wasn't anyone with him, it wasn't like there was anyone to annoy. "And a bunch of Scorpion Tanks." He added with a raised eyebrow. "A bit short of the field's level for this encounter." He questioned.

The tanks reminded him of an enemy in an old console game, the trick there was to stay at mid range so they used a different spell that was easier to dodge than their longer range spell.

Just for kicks, he decided to leave the witch floating around while he dealt with her 'minions' first. "Dek Ruem." He called, taunting the witch further by lowering her strongest element with the bracelet he wore around his ankle.

He darted around then, taking a shot or two at each of the scorpions while dodging around the water spells of the caster. He healed himself with a La Repth and then went around the tanks again, turning them back to data with his shots. Occasionally the caster-opponent's Rue Kruz caused his bolts to miss their mark, but they were moving slowly enough that he only needed to shoot another to make up the difference.

Finally the only ones left were the Water Witch and himself. With a mental order to Arcion, the crossbow he held disappeared and the Singing Spring fell into position across his chest.

"Time for some real taunting." He grinned, touching his anklet again to recast the Dek Ruem on her, and then drawing an arrow from his quiver.

"Arrow of the Maelstrom Sea." He called as he loosed the arrow towards her. "Rue Rom, Rue Zot." He added, calling on his coat and bracer, adding further to the storm of water springing up around the creature. He grinned as the monster gave a scream, but guessed that her HP really wasn't falling that far, water was her element after all, he was annoying her more than damaging, and that was pulling the sides of his mouth into more and more of a grin.

After another triple water spout, he decided that he'd taunted enough, even though it wasn't his strongest bow, it only took two more non-elementally charged arrows to finish her off from there.

Was there a reason for all that taunting? Arcion questioned, switching the bow back for the crossbow the avatar'd been holding onto before.

Sometimes it's just fun to taunt them. He answered, sitting down a moment to let his SP rejuvenate a while.

You have fun at least? The tiger responded, the tone implying that if he had eyebrows, one of them would be arched at his mental companion.

Lots of fun. He answered. You got your chance at it, why not me.

"What makes you different.." He sang, rounding the corner of the stairs to the second floor. Unlike the first floor, the entrance to this one was empty, somewhat disappointing him. "Well, it's a good respite." Despite the music putting him in a good mood with songs that were making him think of his friends, it was also slightly worrying to him for all their songs to be playing now.

He was a big believer that songs played in order had meaning to them, forming a kind of prophesy about them. And that feeling of cold still hadn't left him, even though he was sure he had completely dried off now.

"Now what?" He asked himself, as he entered the next room after a long corridor.

The song it answered with sent a chill up his spine. 'One Way Ticket'. He thought, spotting the portal. Learning to love again..

The monster formed, and Arcion chuckled. They've made it into the World, taking over one mind after another.

The squid-headed demon strengthened itself before attempting to approach and take out his brains, but Arcion moved fast enough to keep ahead of it and managing to take it's life away slowly as he did so

"Still coming after me." He breathed. "Need something stronger."

"Arrow of the Burning Stars." The Archer called. Isn't the creature's weakness, but it should definitely put more of a dent into it's HP than a normal arrow. He considered, calling out the skill a second time as he dodged it's charge for him and ignored the song as it finished up.

Asai flinched for a moment, pausing his player until he had more time to think before turning back to the battle and throwing himself to the ground to his left as the creature tried again.

While on the floor, he noticed that the monster's spell had worn off, but that still didn't mean much when he was only lightly armored.

"Rue Zot." He tried, mixing up the elements to try and confuse the monster long enough for him to regain his feet.

"Oops." The tiger said to himself as he realized he had effectively cornered himself, and judging by the expression on the squid-face, his opponent knew it too. "Here goes nothing then." He muttered, firing the new bolt before it closed in for the kill.

Apparently, all of his attacks had finally amounted to something, as the demon took the bolt to the face, and then fell at the Archer's feet.

Ok, no more close calls like that. He joked, shaking his head and loading a new bolt into the machine and keeping a second in-hand for the next battle as he regained his feet.