July 07, 2022

Word Count: 1,493

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"Benji?!"

All five of us gasp in different ways—surprise, shock, or groans of annoyance.

"Benji, my slave!" Lorraine exclaims. The two of them have a strange relationship that I choose not to look into. "You're here! No wonder you haven't been talking to me!"

Benji stares at Lorraine, or 'Millie', for a while before it finally clicks in his head. "My Queen!" He lifts his hands and does an exaggerated bow. "I am honored to be in your presence. Oh my god, you have turned into such a goddess!"

Lorraine flicks her thick, curly hair and smirks. "I am always a goddess."

"Yes, yes, indeed you are." Benji nods vigorously. "But you're extra dark now. Goddess with a richer flavor. But you are beautiful no matter what."

"Get me out of here!" Ayah grumbles.

Gabby is pinching her nose bridge in frustration while Kitty's face is contorted with disgust.

Meanwhile, I am just happy to see an old friend. "Benji, I cannot believe you are here." Seeing his confused expression, I add, "I'm Nia!"

Benji blinks. "Nia? Wait, this is so cool! You're a dude now, and I'm a woman! We both switched genders. How awesome is that?"

"Not at all," I deadpan. "I fucking hate this thing."

Benji laughs before scratching his silver hair and grimacing. "Okay, yeah, honestly, it was cool at first, but after so many weeks, I just want to go back to my body now."

"Weeks?" I frown. Looking around me, I see that everyone has the same puzzled expression as I do. "Benji, what do you mean, weeks? How long have you been here?"

"I don't know, bro!" Benji pulls at his head. Every time a strand of hair comes out of place, it magically returns to its neatly braided spot. "I think I've been here for weeks? Or months? God, I hope it hasn't been years. I just can't complete my stupid mission! I don't understand it! I haven't read the stupid book!"

I ignore the insult for now and focus on the biggest problem. "What's your mission?"

Benji opens up his settings page and shows his quest to me.

'Invade the QA headquarters'.

"What the fuck is the QA?" Benji whines again, pulling out more of his hair only for them to fly back in place.

"The Quester's Association," Kitty says.

"The what now?"

"The worst organization ever," I clarify.

I cannot believe this is Benji's—or Sybil's—quest. The book has never mentioned this, but then again, the book is from Lyn's perspective. Of course Sybil the Witch's mission is to destroy the QA. That's honestly amazing. Fuck the QA. I know we are stuck in this game and we need to get back home, but this quest resonates with me on a personal level.

Kitty yelps next to me and I spin around to face her.

"What's wrong?" I ask.

"My quest changed." She swipes at the floating screen in front of her.

"Oh that's right, you've found Sybil the Witch. You technically completed your previous quest. What is it now?"

"Help Sybil with her quest," recites Kitty.

That seals it. We are invading the QA.

"Heck yeah, let's fight the QA!" I cheer.

My excitement seems to be contagious. Gabby and Lorraine high-five each other, while Ayah pumps a ball of fire into the air. Seth—I almost forgot he was here—yells at that as his tail catches on fire. He promptly puts it out, but his health bar is almost zero now.

"Maybe we should take some time to heal first," Kitty suggests with a small chuckle.

As it turns out, only Ayah and Seth need to heal. As the two of them watch their hour-long advertisements, the rest of the group gathers around Benji.

"Tell us more about this quest, Benji," Lorraine asks—or rather, from the tone of her voice, orders.

"My Queen! How much I've missed you ordering me aro—"

"Stop simping and tell us!" Gabby yells in exasperation.

"Okay, okay," Benji says with a wry smile. "But the truth is, I don't really know. I spent hours trying to ask the NPCs around me, and then one day I accidentally talked to a cop NPC and was arrested for no reason. Something about me being a witch? I have no idea, man. Anyway, I found out that they locked me up in the QA headquarters, and I was like, sweet! Perfect for my quest. But there were too many people and I couldn't win against them, and then they killed me and I respawned here."

"Oh, you will be respawned when dead?" I let out a small sigh of relief. At least this place is not like in Sword Art Online. That's one weight lifted off my mind.

"Yeah, but I can't log off, dude! And I can't move on with the quest. My powers are sick but I can't defeat so many people myself! This is the worst game ever."

"Hey, at least you have us now. Together, we can help you complete your quest." I wave around at my party proudly. "There's lightning and fire mages here, as well as the best fighter ever. And also Lorraine can summon things like Doraemon."

As if trying to show off her skills, Lorraine conjures up a small rose and hands it to Benji.

Benji squeals like an idiot. "My Queen gave me a rose, oh thank you, Queen Lorraine, I will serve you for eter—"

"Oh shut the hell up!" Gabby yells again.

"Okay, okay, sorry, sorry."

"First thing first, Benji," I ask, "why the hell are you here? Did Wei also send you the game?"

Benji groans. "Yes! She messaged me one day asking if I were interested in a free game. I don't know what it's about but I don't turn down free things. Anyway, I just chose the hottest character and pressed start, and here I am."

"Honestly? You have taste," I point out.

"Thank you! I love MILFs, and this Sybil person is MILF as fuck!"

Ayah and Seth return to the group at this point so I say, "Alright, let's change the topic back to PG-13. And let's get back on track. Let's help our boy complete his mission."

Benji grins. "Alright! Follow me!"

Following his lead, we teleport out of the cave and into a random town. Benji gives us a thumbs-up before approaching a tall man in uniform.

"Hey bro," he says. "Guess who I am."

It takes the NPC a while to react, but when he does, it is dramatic. "Oh my god! Sybil Dalman!" He flails his arms around as he rushes into the building behind him.

"Dang, he's really scared," Ayah says.

Benji turns back to us. "Works every time. And now we wait for the entire police force to be here."

There is a slight pause before I repeat the ridiculous statement, "The entire police force?"

"Yeah, like about a thousand people."

"A thousand?"

And indeed, an army of uniformed men swarm out of the building, each carrying varying sizes of guns. They aim their weapon at us, and I do not even have time to mumble a "Shit" before they start shooting.

"Attack!" Ayah screams. For the first time, I appreciate her insane fires, as they blast away all of the onslaughts from the guns.

Everyone else is energized by Ayah's outburst. Gabby and Kitty start to fight, zapping with lightning and slashing with swords. Benji raises his hand and puts a dozen people to sleep. Even Lorraine conjures a giant ax to hack away at the oncoming officers. Seth tries to climb on me for safety, but I throw him at a guy. Seth has no choice but to do what he does best—biting the hell out of the police officer. Honestly, I am so proud of him.

I may be the most useless character in the whole book, but I refuse to be useless at this critical moment. Swiping at my encyclopedia of useless knowledge, I find a few potions that are meant to 'cause sleepiness', 'numb the body', or 'induce gag reflex'. I grab them out of my backpack and throw them at the NPCs. One-by-one, I watch as officers faint on the floor or kneel over and puke their lunch out. The sight is satisfyingly disgusting.

I don't know how many people we defeat, or how many more we need to defeat, but we roar as we continue the invasion for fifteen whole minutes. We are all sweating and huffing and panting, and our health bars are all dangerously low, but we press on. We have to win this. We have to complete this stupid quest. We have to get home after this.

The world glitches in front of us. We pause our fiery attacks and look around in dismay as the town begins to disappear.

The next thing we know, we are transported to an empty white room. In front of us is yet another new person.

My eyes widen as I recognize her face.

"Wei?" I exclaim.

The Asian woman scowls and folds her arms. Unlike us, she is just herself in this game, not a character.

Tilting her head to one side, she snaps, "Yo, can you all play normally? What the fuck was that?"

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To be continued...