The Search for Snoink

Rosey pointed down a long, rather dark, corridor. "Right through here!"

Dreamer gasped again. "Thanks. It's nasty back there."

"Tell me about it." Rosey rolled her eyes and started walking, soon followed by Demi, JC and Dreamer. "So, Dreamer, what do you think about how Mary and Elizabeth were different? They went under the same circumstances, but they ended up as completely different people!"

Dreamer caught up and was now walking next to Rosey. "It's interesting to see just how close their circumstances were. Both were bastardized, and--"

"What are you even talking about?" JC asked.

Demi rolled her eyes. "Just ignore Not Me and Rosey. They talk about history."

Rosey made a face. "I talk to you about Cats. What's the difference?"

Demi squinted as they went outside. "Well, erm,"

"Can we just focus on finding Snoink?" Dreamer interrupted. "Get some air too?"

Rosey pulled out her pocket computer, which was recently reformatted. "Sure. Let's try to figure out this whole sci-fi web first."

JC stared at Rosey's computer. "It's... It's purple!"

Rosey chuckled. "Only on the bottom. The top is blue. See?" She held the computer at another angle so they could see. "If I start critiquing again, then it will be purple."

"Like mine, but in reverse." Demi held up her pocket computer to show what she meant. "Well? What are you finding?"

Dreamer frowned while looking over Rosey's shoulder. "She's not looking at sci-fi stuff."

Rosey bit her lip. "We need to get to the mod hall now. It looks like we've lost Griff, Dono and Areida. Maybe more."

All the girls jolted to life. "Let's move!"

"But... but... they won't let us in!" JC said. "We're just a bunch of blues-slash-purples."

"Look, we'll figure something out on the way," Demeter said with a frown. "I'd suggest we act now."

The others mumbled agreeingly. Dreamer looked rather suspicious.

"Dreamer! Leave the computer, we got to go," Rosey said frustratedly.

"But, but, there's Tetris in here! Can't I...? Just for a sec?"

Rosey rolled her eyes. "Come on."

Rosey and JC started to make their way out, and Demeter and Dreamer followed them a few steps behind.

"Way to go, Not Me," Demeter whispered. "If you keep on doing that, people will soon think I'm the one distracting them!"

"Aw, zip it, will you. People will soon think I'm the one blaming others!" Dreamer answered angrily.

Rosey turned around. "Would you two stop killing each other? We have work to do here."

Demeter and Dreamer glanced at each other.

"You know, why did we even start a fight?" asked Demeter.

"You mean, why did you start it? I really don't know."

Demeter looked like snapping back, but she managed a smile and said: "You know I wub you. And besides, we'll make such a good spying team!"

"xD Not Me," said Dreamer.

"Alright," Rosey whispered. "Let's be careful, now. We don't want too many people to see us."

She put her hand straight in front of her. JC put hers on Rosey's, and Demeter and Dreamer did the same.

"To the Mod Hall, away!"

Security had already been breached once and this was an emergency so Heather really didn't think she had any option as she passed herself and the entire group through security. There were only AIs on guard because all the moderators were out searching the headquarters and surrounding grounds. The JM quarters were empty and Heather didn't pause as she led everyone on through the next set of gates and security.

The next room was also empty. Heather paused a little, thoughtfully. Nate must be in his office. She put her phone to her ear and moved to the communications system. Jabber stared around, taking in the control system of YWS.

"Nate, I'm going to need the access code to open up communications with whichever ship they've taken," Heather said.

"Look at this control system!" June exclaimed excitedly as Cat tried to take sneaky photos. There was a loud beep from the computer and a metal arm descended from the ceiling, confiscating the camera.

"Cat! This is highly confidential equiptment," Jabber scolded. Heather shot them a glance, the sort that said stay out of trouble, and began pulling switches and tapping on a large keyboard. Nate gave her the code and she hung up, saying she'd be in touch if they managed to make contact. There was a flash as another, smaller screen came on to the right. What sounded like a doorbell echoed through the room.

"I've got it!" Jabs said, recognising this as being very similar to the one in the JM rooms. She pressed a button and said clearly:

"You're through to Jabber Hut, who is this?"

"This is Demeter. We need to speak to a moderator about Griff, Dono and Areida."

"Hey Demi! Are the others with you?" June asked, moving up to the screen. Jabber turned the cameras on and everyone crowded around, calling greetings and shouting news. About ten minutes later, Heather had beeped them through security and they were all standing in Mod Hall.

"So what do we do?" Evi asked, standing very still and keeping her hands firmly away from all buttons. Heather wished the others were doing the same.

"We're going after them," Heather said.

"Do we have co-ordinates?" Jabber asked. Heather shook her head, loading information on the screen.

"No but we know the sector they were in when contact was lost. We'll start there."

"Do we get to wear mod space suits and take a mod ship?" Rosey asked excitedly.

"Even better, we're taking SPEW technology. Let's go board The Abyssal Claw."

Evi stared at the list of guildlines and rules that Heather had handed her, eyes growing wider and wider as she read on.

Rule #1: Do not touch anything in the ship.

She took a quick look at Dreamer and Demeter, who were alternating fighting over an advanced-looking piece of technological equipment in the cockpit, and hugging each other affectionately; Evi dismissed this rule as impossible.

Rule #2: Follow all instructions given to you by myself or Jabber, since we will be the Moderators of the expedition.

Evi heard a high, almost hysterical giggle, and turned to see Jabs digging around the SPEW refrigerator. With a squeal of delight, the JM grabbed an apple juice, opened it, and promptly spilled some on the front of her suit.

Rule #3: Do not go off on your own.

She didn't think that would be a problem for any of them, but the warning made her uncomfortable. What is out there on the fringes of YWS City that they needed to be afraid of? She had wandered the City alone more times than she could count, but times had changed. Snoink wasn't there.

Rule #4: Report to the Moderators everything you find; keep nothing hidden.

"Maybe they don't trust us," whispered Cat, her voice materializing out of nowhere. Evi jumped, then scowled.

"You're being very optimistic," she snapped. After a moment's hesitations, she said, "But what makes you think that?"

Cat shrugged, idly playing with the Reporter's badge on her blouse. "I'm trained to look at situations from every side and every perspective. You have to take in the person's intentions for everything."

Rosey joined the conversation. "Heather has no reason not to trust any of us. It's not like we're n00bs or anything."

Evi laughed along with the other two, but she obviously didn't find it funny; within a moment, her foot connected with Cat's shin. Satisfied with her revenge, she looked on to the list. There was but one rule left.

Rule #5: In emergencies, save youself.

This was met in twenty seconds of silence. Then, everyone started chattering all at once.

"Surely she doesn't mean--"

"But, honestly, there's no way that could happen!"

"Emergencies? What emergencies? Nobody warned me about emergencies!"

"These are just precautionary, of course. Purely hypothetical cases. What could be dangerous in YWS City?"

Just then, June walked up. "What's hypothetical, dear?"

The girls looked at each other, suddenly uneasy, and reluctantly handed over the rule sheet. They watched as June read each rule carefully, her eyes lingering on the final one.

She laughed, although it seemed forced. "Don't worry about it, dears. I could never leave you guys."

And, on that semi-happy note, the girls all followed Heather out of HQ and towards The Abyssal Claw.

*is it too late? It's never too late!*

"Stella Thomas, report for duty, report for duty Stella Thomas this is code alpha-charlie-delta-charlie, repeat, report for duty."

Stella stared mournfully at the slab of Wensleydale with cranberries in front of her. "Do I have to?"

"Yes. All your life you were only waiting for this moment to arrive."

"Okay fine. But I'll have you know that in the town where I was born, lived a man who sailed the sea..."

"Stop with the Beatles, Agent Thomas, and get moving!" The voice toned out.

She sighed. "Time for the suit then," she said, and walked over to her wardrobe. She opened the special compartment to reveal her ultra-cool specially fitted metallic lilac suit. It fitted perfectly. She added a belt, because, you know, you needed to accessorize and went to the mirror to begin fixing her hair.

The voice came through the phone again. "Agent Thomas, this is no time to battle the frizz! The others all started hours ago! Operation Sea Eerie is in action, please report for duty."

Stella gasped. "Operation Sea Eerie? Well, why didn't you say?"

She grabbed her jetpack off the sideboard and flew out of the window. Except-

"Ow. Remember to open it before you do that," she told herself.

She slid the window open and tumbled out a little less gracefully than she would have liked. Next door, her neighbour, Eleanor Rigby, was dancing to "Let it Be." Stella shook her head and continued on her way.

"I really should have brought a map," she murmured, unable to see the Purple HQ- and she flew into the emerald, glittering wall of the Mod HQ.

As she began sliding down the wall, she noticed a flash of purple and blue from inside and shouted "Oi! You aren't mods!" at them, scrabbling for the windowsill.

"Stella?!" Demeter cried. "What...? When...? How...?"

Stella smiled. "You know, I woke up late and procrastinated a little, until someone told me that –", she lowered her voice, "–operation Sea Eerie was in action."

"Wha–? Aaaaah," Demeter said, winking.

Dreamer, Rosey, JC, Evi, Cat, June, Heather, and Jabber (or those of them who weren't too busy to notice) stared at the two, dumbfounded.

Cat shrugged. "Ah, whatever." She turned to others, whispering: "I think they're a little gaoo in the head, don't you?"

Everyone nodded.

"Hi Stella!"

"Stellz, great to see you!"

"Why didn't you come with us in the first place?"

"Well, I got a little distracted on the way," Stella said, "but now I'm here. What's up?"

Evi turned to her dead serious, her eyes wider than a hula hoop.

"We are just about to enter... The Abyssal Claw," she explained theatrically.

*haha! Gaoo in the head? I think we are!*

"Ooh! Abyss! Claws? I'm intrigued. Shall we go in?" Stella said happily.

Evi stared at her. "This is no laughing matter, Stella."

"Oh, okay." She put a finger to her lips and followed the others. The hangar was a few minutes walk from HQ, but due to the top secret nature of Operation Sea Eerie (that meant that, naturally, everybody knew, but nobody understood), they had to skirt the walls, jump ovver rooftops and speak in whispers.

Rosey hung back and hissed at Stella "What took you so long?"

Stella's eyes widened to the size of ten hula hoops (ha! she thought. Take that, Evi!). "It was the cheese," she whispered. "It was talking to me."

"Do you think Snoink could be in the cheese?"

Stella stared off into the distance. "The cheese holds many answers to many questions."

"Sssh," said Heather, and they both stood to attention. "We're nearly there."

They reached the hangar, and Stella breathed a sigh of relief. "That wasn't too bad," she said to Cat, who nodded.

Then, something about knee height bumped into them. "omg im so sry lyk i didnt even c u!!!!" said the small, rat-like creature.

Stella hissed and drew away. "n00b," she said, terrified.

For some reason, Rosey, June and Heather all approached it and went into immediate Greeter mode.

"And once you reach 750 reviews..." June went on. It disappeared into thin air with a puff of smoke.

They returned to the security procedures regarding getting into the hangar.

"By the way," Stella said conversationally. "In one sentence, why exactly are we taking a SPEW ship?"

Okay so this ship doesn't get flown too often (I'm too used to the YWS Highwind) but here's the concept art for it. Thanks Griff, I knew I'd need this some day =)

The main frame: http://www.aerospaceweb.org/aircraft/fi ... pen_11.jpg

The colour and hidden weapons compartments: http://www.gamereplays.org/community/in ... t&id=94793

_________________________________________

The group moved into the preparation room and suited up. Heather insisted that they all wear SPEW guest uniforms so that they had the latest technology and the actual members of SPEW spent some time collecting their gear from the lockers.

"We're taking a SPEW ship because it's the only one I own," Heather said as she fastened her utilery belt and started cramming objects into the pouches. She emptied her whole locker.

"Hey, think we can stop by the drive through on the way?" Jabber asked. "We're out of hot chocolate."

"This is a serious mission," Heather said. Jabber nodded. Fifteen minutes later they were pulling up to the drive through.

"So that's two crates of hot chocolate, one of crisps, one of various sandwiches... anything else?" Exi looked down the list she was making.

"We need waffles."

"Jelly and peanut butter!"

"What happened to the popcorn? Didn't we have toffee and salted down."

"Oh yeah, I forgot. Sorry guys. Pop-corn. There, is that everything?"

"Grif! Wake up! Grif!" Adelaide shouted. Grif opened his eyes. The world was still spinning. A small tree had been obliterated when Grif landed on it.

"What happened?" Grif asked groggily.

"The gate closed on us."

"Great. Where are we again?"

"Fantasy fiction. Don't you even remember your last post?" Adelaide said.

"I've got a bad memory. Where are the others?"

"Unknown."

This got Grif's attention. He sat up. Adelaide would have checked the emergency transponders and all of the more obvious communication equipment.

"Hello Stranger!" a cheerful voice said behind Grif. Grif turned, raising his weapon even as he did so, to come face to face with a fairy. The cross hairs of the weapon were locked on the fairy.

"Oh my, my name is Eibwen," the Fairy said.

"Definitely a fantasy world," Adelaide muttered.

"Where are the other two?" Grif demanded.

"A bunch of elves came after the one in grey and vikings came after the one in black," Eibwen said. Grif frowned. He wasn't sure if he should be happy or insulted.

"Where did they take them?"

"The dwarves live in the city of Qexelcrag and the elves live in Glorfindal."

"How do I get there?" Grif asked.

"Young warrior, you should get more experience before you leave the Isle of Wen."

"What should I do?"

"Vanquish the evil creatures that roam the island to gain experience. Look, there is one now." Eibwen said, pointing to a cute rabbit.

"You sure?" Grif said. The rabbit looked at Grif. It's eyes turned red and large rabbit teeth emerged.

"Positive."

The rabbit leaped at Grif. Grif shouldered his weapon and locked onto the rabbit. He fired, hitting the rabbit with a ball of energy. Rabbit meat covered the surrounding area.

"That's pretty easy," Grif said.

Note: The ending's an introduction any character who wants it.
______________________________________________________

Stumbling out of the room, Meep was back in the darkness again. She groped around blindly for doors, something that would provide her an escape from...from...

Meep shuddered at the memory of Teague, continuing to grasp around, but all she felt was cool, metal walls and strange depressions in them. She wondered if the Blues back at Greeter HQ had noticed her uncharacteristic absence yet.

Suddenly, her hand brushed against something bumpy and round. It sent tiny eletrical signals pulsing up her arm. A button, perhaps! Hesitantly, she pressed it. A bright green glow illuminated the circular button, and a three-dimensional screen appeared in front of it. There were words on them, written in a strange code. Meep realised that it was written backwards.

Meep,
Run. Run while you still can.
You foolish child, you have created more trouble for yourself.
Your life is in great peril.
You should have stayed yesterday.
Escape before its too late.

~S

Meep shivered at the freaky message. Who was 'S'? What great peril was he talking about? How did she know about yesterday?

Yesterday... Meep sighed dreamily at the recollection, all my troubles seemed so far away. Now it looks as though they're here to stay.

Greeter HQ was heaven on Earth. She had been lounging around in her office, sipping on a Pina Colada and watching the monitors flash whenever there was a newbie alert. After greeting seven new members, Meep had called it a day and decided to indulge in the Greeter facilities. She had a work out session in the Gym, to keep her mouth muscles toned for smiling at newbies, and to tone her arm muscles for typing marathons. Some newbies were just so clueless.

Abruptly, the Blues music that had been playing while Meep exercised was cut off and Adnamarine came into her line of sight.

"Meep," Adna stared gravely at her underling, "Snoink's missing. Be on alert of any sightings of her. Griff has declared it a priority Alpha to everyone and sent out a search party."

Meep gaped at Adna in disbelief. "Was she kidnapped?"

"I do not know. We were just informed that she had disappeared, but we should stay put and carry out our normal duties,"

"I can't just sit around and do nothing! I must save Snoink!!!" Meep declared rashly, scurrying out of the Gym before Adna could catch up with her.

Thinking back, Meep regretted not having listened to Adna. The screen had disappeared and Meep sighed wearily at being thrown into pitch black surroundings yet again. She was sick and tired of being blind. Feeling around again, she moved along at a painfully slow pace. The wall was consistently cool metal and gave no indication of doors. Moving her hands to her front, she grabbed around in the air, hoping to find an escape route.

That was when she walked right smack into something squishy...with a heartbeat.

Mars was trying to find a way into the compound when something crashed into her.

"Hey!" the thing exclaimed. "Watch it! Hey, you're not a Greeter!" In the dark, it was easy to see the luminscent cyan uniform, and she recognized Meep(:. Unfortunately, Meep(: had also recognized her.

"Uh, no. Uh, yes, I am. Just accepted. Thought I'd keep the lavender on for awhile to, uh, you know..." Mars trailed off, remembering what a horrid liar she was. Meep(: looked suspicious. "It wasn't like I was trying to gain intelligence for the next Purps v. Blues war, or-or anything..." Obviously, Meep didn't believe her, but she was too busy concentrating on something to push it. "What's up?" Mars asked, changing the subject.

"You know about Snoink, right? I just talked to Adna-"

"No, what's up?"

"Yeah, she took a Magical Mystery Tour, if you know what I mean. Anyway-"

"I don't know what you mean."

"You know, she's back in the USSR. She came in through the bathroom window." Meep was getting annoyed that this Instructor was so ignorant of all the site news. Mars just shook her head, bewildered. "All you need is love!" Meep finally exclaimed. She could not have made it more obvious.

"Oh my God, Snoink is missing? Why didn't you just say so?"

"Because-" Meep shook her head impatiently. "Anyway, I found this strange correspondence and now I've got to go save her! Excuse me!"

"Save her from what?"

"From..." Suddenly, a dark cloud of newbies descended upon Greeters HQ. Meep grabbed Mars. "Come on! Let the others take care of this! We've got to go!" They sprinted out of the compound and into the bright lights of the Welcome Forum. Mars squinted.

"You guys have your own tunnel into the Welcome Forum?" she asked enviously.

"Shh!"

"Where are we going?"

"Shh!"

"Look-" Mars was pointing up. In the clear sky, she could clearly see a silver ship. And she thought she noticed a green cat on one of the wings...Before she could finish telling Meep, something shoved her into the dirt.

Jabber sat down with her hot chocolate and a bowl of popcorn. Not only was the food good, but her SPEW uniform fit wonderful--kind of like her Instructor one. She had never worn it since she was accepted, but now that she has, how could she have ignored it?

"So where's this ship headed?" Evi asked.

"No where. It's stationary," Heather replied, taking a bite of her sandwich. She looked at the controls in front of her. "Maybe we can track them down..."

"Isn't that what we're doing already?" Cat asked.

"I remember when Snoink would teach me Sanctum," Jabber reminisced. "Everything she taught me was almost too obvious for me to figure out..."

June and Evi looked at Heather who only waved it aside. "She does that once in a while, change topic." Jabber kept on talking as the rest of the crew discussed their next plan of action.

"Well then, where are we off to?" June asked.

"I have an idea, no worries," Heather said and started flipping switches.

"What's this idea of yours?" Cat asked. June noticed Cat whip out her notebook and pen, and she lowered the materials to keep Cat from writing anything.

"Well, I'm checking the scanners, and no ships are in view," Heather answered. She continued pressing buttons. "Perhaps we can scout the skies of the forums to check for anything?"

"I remember when Snoink would write emo poems with Teague, and I would post them in my room," Jabber said, tossing a handful of popcorn in her mouth.

___________

[s]*school*[/s]

Beefed! ^_^

*Before the plot runs away without me...*

Rosey thought for a few moments about where Snoink might be. "What about the Fiction boards?"

Evi's face lit up as she got an idea. "Heather, do you know where Griff was headed?"

Heather shook her head. "Sorry. Had to leave before I could hear. I had to tell some blues about what to do..." she trailed off and looked to the blues with one eyebrow raised. Rosey, JC and the other greeters began to whistle innocently.

Rosey grumbled about finding pig-like needles in YWS city haystacks. She pulled out her computer and began searching some random posts, hoping to find a clue.

"Rosey's back on her computer," Demi sighed. "Let's all try to think of something while she works."

"I'm listening," Rosey said half-heartedly. The others rolled there eyes. She made a face. "Well, I am. I just won't show it."

Everybody chuckled and began talking. Rosey checked her favourite forum, Fantasy, just to see if she has missed anything. The unicorns in that aria had become very active after she had joined, and sometimes they would cause trouble.

But there was trouble there without the unicorns.

Rosey tapped a few buttons to bring up a projection screen. "Check this out."

On the display there was a rowdy group of elves, along with a group of vikings. Rosey pointed to the vikings. "They never come out, not unless something huge happens."

Jabs took another handful of popcorn. "What could happen in Fantasy? A vampire escape?"

Rosey rolled her eyes. "They only come out at night, Jabs. What else could cause such an uproar?"

"Look at that!" Evi pointed to a rejoicing island. "What could they be doing? Is anybody here good at fantasy?"

Everybody in the cockpit pointed to Rosey.

She blushed. "If I remember correctly, that island's been plagued by an evil warlord for years. But that story is long dead. I think the evil warlord ended up being a vampire-rabbit."

"So I was right about the vampire thing," Jabs point out.

Rosey sighed. "Alright, it seems you were. But now we have to ask, who has that much power? I hear vampire rabbits are nasty."

The cockpit was silent for a moment, then everybody exclaimed,

"Griff!"

Heather powered up the SPEW jet into high gear. "That's where we're headed then."

Heather pulled the ship over the island as everyone peered out the windows. They could see elves and Vikings, and….Grif?

“There he is!!” Evi yelled as she spotted the mod. “Down there!”

“Where is there?” Heather yelled back as she worked the controls.

“Down by the pond!”

Heather steered the ship to where the pond and landed.

“You know you just landed on a tree?” Demi said. Heather groaned as she turned around in her seat.

“Let’s get moving. Grab some weapons on your way out.”

Everyone walked towards the back of the ship, but Evi and Cat stayed behind.

“Uh, Cat?” Cat turned around to see Evi acting nervous.

“What is it?”

“I’m not sure how you use the weapons. I haven’t had that much training yet…”

“Oh.” Cat smiled reassuringly. “It’s okay. Just follow my lead. It’s okay if you a n00b.”

Evi scowled at Cat as she walked to the back and got a gun.. Cat took the other one and they walked to Heather.

“Let’s go,” she said and they walked out the door.

“Oh my goodness, I’m going to die!” A fairy fluttered in front of them, and fainted. Everyone looked at the fairy, and then looked up to see Grif standing there in shock.

“Hey Grif!” Jabber said as she waved her gun, accidently shooting it. Everyone ducked as the shot echoed throughout the forest.

“Watch it! You don’t need to be handling those weapons if you don’t know how to properly shoot them!” Grif said in annoyance.

“Sorry.” Jabber looked down as Evi stood awkwardly to the side, nervous.

“I think we scared Ebiwen,” Rosey said as she stared at the fairy curiously.

Everyone looked at her strangely. “How did you know that was his name?” June asked.

“Oh, I just do.” Rosey smiled.

"Wait a sec," Grif said. "What are you guys doing here?"

*Cat

Jabs patted Griff on the back. "'Sall good, buddy-boo. We're here to save you." As she said this, she waved her gun carelessly until she shot it again, a slim tree falling over. Everyone looked at her. Jabs bit her lip, nodded her head, and eyed the fallen tree. "Mmm'bad."

"Yes, your bad," Griff said bluntly. He pulled the gun from her hands.

"Oh, hey!" Jabs said as if a light bulb flickered on in her head. "You were on a secret mission thing, weren't ya?" She punched him playfully in the arm. "How'd it go, dude?"

"Cut the talk," Griff said. He turned to Heather, a more respectable mod. "What are you doing here?"

"We traced some strange signals from the Fantasy Forum, so we thought we would check it out," Heather explained. She pulled out her computer pad and read the past diary entries she made during her adventures. "We originally were tracing a YWS Ship which we noticed was gone. I suppose said ship was yours?"

"It very well could be," Griff said with a nod. He examined Heather's crew behind her, excluding Jabber who was jabbing the tiny fairy on the ground. "Good, you brought some extras--"

"Hey, now!" Evi exclaimed, stepping forward. "I'm no extra."

"Yeah, we're here to be here," Cat said.

"Hi, Eibwen!" Jabber said cheerfully, standing up with the blue fairy in hand. "Long time, no see!"

"Oh, no," Eibwen muttered, rubbing her eyes. "Who are you? Jabber? The? Hut? JabberHut?"

"All of the above!" Jabber said.

"Good, good," Eibwen said sarcastically. She crawled onto her feet, brushed herself off, and turned to the new group of travelers. "Welcome to the Isle of Wen, adventurers!"

"Grif, what's going on?" June asked. Cat whipped out her notebook again.

"Dono was taken by a pack of dwarves, and Areida was 'napped by elves," he replied. "Now that you guys are here, we could split up to rescue them both."

Eibwen flitted in front of his face, holding her index finger up. "But before you all can rescue them, you must gain enough experience to travel off the Isle of Wen!"

"I'm almost set to go," Grif said apologetically. Or perhaps not. "A few more rabbits, and I'm off to Sanctum, the capital."

"Ow!" Everyone turned to see Jabber kicking a squirrel with all her might. The creature flew across the clearing into a bunch of bushes. Her body then shook as if she were being tickled and then calmed. Jabber, wide-eyed, looked to her friends, pleased with herself. "I forgot how fun this is!"

"What happened?" Rosey asked.

"I gained a level!"