A notification brought me from my dumbfounded stare. A message. Frank had finally gotten home and was ready for our scouting mission.

I took a deep breath, released a long sigh, and typed a reply to him. I stared at the screen for a few more moments, before I closed the website I had been reading through.

Somehow, finding out more about the topic made me feel even more confused. The diversity among the LGBTQ+ community was huge. I could definitely see myself in several of the labels. But then again, it was hard to imagine anyone not seeing themselves in at least one of the categories.

But enough of that.

I logged into RLO, and walked my character into the Golden Woods again. This time, there was someone waiting for me.

“Heyo, you’re here!”

“Frank…? Did you change your true form?”

I looked him up and down and realized it was exactly like the true form of his real self.

“Yup! The old one was cool and all, but it can’t beat this! Now I look exactly as I do in real life!”

It made me smile. Of course, he was transformed in real life as well.

“Alright, give me a second, I’ll get over here.”

“Hmm? What do you mean?”

I opened up my inventory and placed some items on the ground.

“Wait, what are you doing?”

I stood up from the computer, walked to the portal, and ripped it open. I hopped through it, and a moment later, I came up to the pathway.

“Oh…” Frank said upon spotting me. “I was wondering why you came from that direction… and why you weren’t wearing your trademarked suspicious outfit.”

“I’m not gonna wear that anymore… There are people who might recognize me because of it, actually.”

“Riiight…” He looked between me and my in-game avatar as I picked up the items I’d dropped. “Man, you look like twins. Are you sure she’s not your secret sister?”

“No… Well, I’m pretty sure the avatars are not sentient… or alive, even.”

“Huh… Really? Weird,” he said whilst poking my avatar with a finger.

“Yeah, anyway, give me a moment to change.”

I ran behind a tree with the items feeling oddly excited. The items included the same equipment my avatar was sporting at the moment. A katana, some knives, and most importantly, the gorgeous blue battle dress I’d always liked so much.

Wearing something like this in my normal form would look dumb, but when looking like a foxgirl? That was a lot more fitting.

I spent a good few minutes trying to figure out how to get into the dress, finding the right spot for my tail, and whatnot, but once I finally did, a wave of euphoria washed over me. I did a little spin, liking the way the dress flowed.

I left casual clothes on the ground for the time being and walked into sight again. Frank could only stare.

“Ok, now you’re just fucking with me! Even your getup is identical!”

I grinned at him.

“Wait, do you even know how to use that thing?” He pointed at the katana on my hip.

I turned my head and touched the handle. “This? Yeah, apparently I can. Using blades is like second nature to me when I’m in this form.”

“Huh… But you never actually used swords in real life before this, did you?”

“Nope.”

He continued staring for a moment before shrugging. “Welp. Magic, I guess. Are we ready to go, then?”

“Oh, wait. Gotta log out with her.”

I quickly ran back, picking up my casual clothes along the way, hopped through the portal, tossed the clothes on my bed, and logged out from RLO. Once done, I hopped back into the game world, closed the portal behind me, and met back up with Frank.

“Alright then! Ready?”

“Well…”

I took a deep breath. Despite feeling so euphoric a second ago, I couldn’t help but feel anxious now. After all, up until now, I’d always stayed in safe areas and only ever fought the wood dolls who couldn’t even harm me. This was the first time I would be putting myself in actual danger.

It made me anxious… but also even more excited than before, I realized.

“Yeah, let’s go!” I yelled with a grin on my face.

”Alright! Our first official mission as the shadowy conspiracy organization begins!”

I rolled my eyes as per tradition, but the grin on my face still refused to disappear.

Without having to say anything, we both pulled out the blue withered teleport flower and held it over our heads.

A gray flash of light enveloped us and I felt a momentary chill go down my spine. I couldn’t help but yelp at the sudden sensation. Before I could react in any other way though, the feeling had vanished and we found ourselves standing in a very different place.

We were surrounded by crumbling buildings on all sides whilst an eerie fog permeated the air. The only sounds were the wind and the distant clattering of bones.

Frank raised an eyebrow at me. “Whatcha yelling about?”

“It… felt really weird. Like a creepy chill.” I shook my head. “You don’t feel that in VR.”

“Huh… Fair enough, I guess.” He cleared his throat before saluting at me. “Anyway… Colonel meat shield at your service, ma'am!”

He then conjured up a large battleaxe from his inventory.

“Yeah, yeah. Just make sure to keep the bulk of them away from us. I can probably handle a skeleton or two.”

“Got it, general!” Another salute, this time with his axe. “So… Can you already tell if there’s a portal?”

“Well…” I focused on the portals and glanced around until that familiar feeling poked my brain, and I pointed in a direction. “Yeah, there’s one somewhere in that direction.”

“Aaand, that’s exactly where the new area is, according to my trusty minimap.”

“Well, that doesn’t mean anything yet, but we’ll see.”

“Right… Well, Let’s go.”

With that, we set off toward where I sensed the portal.

“Oh yeah, by the way, what should our organization name be? It’s a bit mouthful to say shadowy conspiracy organization every time.”

An eye roll was my reply. “How far are you gonna take this joke, Frank? We’re just a group of teenagers trying to figure out this world.”

“Well, sure. We’re just a group of teenagers for now. But people might join our cause! Like Elyssa! Or maybe one of the evil devs we defeat will convert over to the side of good and join the party! You never know!”

I sighed.

“Fine, we can come up with a name when Casey is with us, how about that?”

“Perfect!” He grinned.

We kept on walking.

The eerie clattering began getting closer, prompting me to draw my katana. Frank similarly went quiet and held his axe in front of him, waiting for monsters to appear.

Similar to the wood spirits back in Trevor’s hillside, the monsters here were supposedly controlled by spirits according to the lore. Unlike the Wood spirits, though, these were actually dangerous.

As I thought of the ways I could dispatch all the types of enemies in this area, a group appeared in front of us. Three human-sized skeletons with shortswords and wooden shields, along with one bigger hunched over skeleton, with spikes growing out of its spine. This one was holding a massive mace in its hands.

“Oh, it’s a dreadnought! Alright, bring it on, clanker!” Frank shouted before charging at the mini-boss.