JJ and Eros were both transported to the top of the city pond. As soon as they were fully in the RP, physics came into play and the two went cannon-balling into the waters.

 

JJ resurfaced quickly. They looked around but could not find Eros. They dove down and searched. There's Eros! She was being dragged down by a zombie!

 

JJ activated their special ability and turned into Jay. Jay dove down and grabbed onto Eros. With a powerful kick, he kicked at the zombie.

 

The zombie relentlessly held on. At the last moment, it reached up and bit onto Eros's leg, causing her to scream out in pain. Naturally, no sound came out and the young girl inhaled some water.

 

Jay raised his leg up once more and sent another powerful kick at the zombie's head. This time, he was able to knock the zombie away. Jay hugged Eros tightly and swam to the surface.

 

At this point, Eros had swallowed a lot of water and was unconscious. Jay dragged her to the surface and checked her pulse. She was still alive.

 

There's no time to lose. Jay needed to apply CPR. He tilted Eros's head and opened her lips. He pinched her nose and lowered his head. Suddenly, a scream interrupted his concentration.

 

His counterpart, Joy, screeched in his mind and dragged him back into sleep mode. In his place, Joy emerged. The bright young lady glanced at Eros and sighed.

 

"That was close! Almost had Jay molest her, even if it's CPR."

 

Joy lifted the unconscious girl to a sitting position and aimed a palm at her back. With a powerful yet soft slap. Joy channeled her healing capabilities into Eros.

 

Energy circulated within the girl causing the water in her lungs to shoot outwards. Eros spewed out some mouthfuls of water and woke up.

 

"Where am I? Who are you?" Eros inquired as soon as her eyes fluttered open.

 

"Oh, I'm Joy. You may know me sometimes as JJ."

 

"JJ? Didn't you used to refer to yourself as 'we' and 'us'? If you could say 'I' and 'me', why didn't you?"

 

"Ah, it's because I am both genders as JJ. You see, JJ stood for Jay Joy. Jay is the male counterpart while Joy is the female counterpart. It's my ability, so to speak."

 

"Oh."

 

"Enough talking. Don't struggle too much either. You've been bitten. Let me take a look at your wound. Maybe I can cure it."

 

"Okay. Please do. I don't want to become a zombie."

 

"O blessed goddess, hear my prayers...cure!"

 

A flash of golden light appeared from Eros's bite wound. Green pus was extracted from the wound. In a few moments, the trickling green pus became clear. The zombie virus was purged from Eros's body. Joy offered another set of prayers and closed up the laceration.

 

"There, all done. You should be safe now."

 

"Thanks."

 

FLAP! FLAP!

 

Joy, having reverted back to JJ, glanced up and saw two tiny owls gliding towards them. The owls landed on their shoulders and a voice echoed in their minds.

 

"Can you hear me?"

 

"Yes."

 

..........

 

Keyes and Mandy were sitting on a park bench together. They had found each other rather quickly as Keyes saw Mandy's flash of light. Mandy was busy with her ability, where she was communicating with all of the mandrakes she had sent out.

 

With over a hundred mandrakes spread out across the ruined city, Mandy needed a lot of concentration. Keyes stood guard by her side, making sure no zombie came to distract her. After a few minutes, Mandy opened her eyes. Her face drenched with sweat. She wiped herself and sighed.

 

"What happened? Did you find everyone?" Keyes asked worryingly.

 

"I did. They're safe...for now."

 

"For now? What do you mean?"

 

"Squeek is currently in a losing battle with someone who could create towers. I've already sent Arsenal his coordinates. Hopefully, he will be able to save Squeek."

 

"Oh. I'm sure Squeek will be fine. I trust in Arsenal's abilities. Have you heard anything from Arthur?"

 

"Arthur said he could see the center of the city, which is the mayor's office by the way, and judging from the location, Dem and Gem are the closest ones to it. I've already relayed the coordinates to them. They should be heading there now."

 

"That's good."

 

"Also, I found the locations of the enemies...and there are four near us."

 

"Four? Where are they?"

 

"Two of them are in the city pond while another two are just on the opposite side of this forest."

 

"What? What do we do? We can't take them on."

 

"I know. I think we should leave. Let's head over to where Arthur is at."

 

"Okay."

 

..........

 

Squeek was transported to a post office. He searched the premises for zombies. He didn't want to be caught off guard while he searched the building for a weapon. Luckily, the place was small with only four rooms and a restroom.

 

Squeek peeked in through each door and found a zombie in the room down the hallway. The young boy closed the door and barred it with a few shelves, preventing the zombie from escaping.

 

After he had searched everywhere, the young teenager began sifting through the boxed mail for a weapon. Suddenly, a vegetable-like plant plopped out from the ground before him. It was one of Mandy's mandrakes! He could communicate with Mandy via the mandrake.

 

Squeek was just about to notify the girl of his coordinates when the mandrake suddenly screamed. Squeek winced in pain and closed his ears with his hands.

 

The only time Mandy's mandrakes would scream without reason was when there was an enemy. Squeek dove behind the mandrake and looked.

 

As he thought! There was indeed someone behind him. The enemy shot a couple of nails at him. Squeek dodged as fast as he can but one hit him. He quickly rushed down the dark hallway, escaping from the opponent's sight. At the end of the hallway, he activated his ability.

 

"Activate! Mouse Swarm! A thousand mice!"

 

Squeek's ability allowed him to summon a mouse swarm. However, he had to summon at least a hundred mice at a time and at most a thousand. He was unable to summon less than that number which made spying and scouting a hard task for him.

 

Squeek pointed his finger at the opponent, who peered down the hall at them. Having realized something, the enemy turned around and ran. Squeek shrieked a few bursts of high-pitch squeaks and commanded the mouse wave to charge.

 

Hundreds upon hundreds of mice rushed out of the building, heading towards their victim. However, Squeek did not hear the sounds of cruel slaughter.

 

No, instead, he heard splashing and sizzling sounds followed by the squeaks of pain from his mice. Thinking that a thousand mice weren't enough, Squeek activated his ability once more and summoned another thousand mice. Suddenly, he could hear sizzling sounds from above him. What is going on?

 

DRIP! SSSSSSS!

 

A drop of green fluid welled up at the ceiling and dropped onto the floor before Squeek. The small pool bubbled and sizzled as it ate away at the broken floor. Corrosives!

 

Squeek studied the ceiling and located another spot of green welling up behind him. He hurriedly stepped out of the way. Walking to a place where the ceiling was undamaged by poison, Squeek continued to send in more mice. He needed to kill the enemy before the whole building collapsed from the corrosion.

 

Suddenly, a loud bang came from behind him. Squeek turned around to look and gasped in horror. The zombie escaped with the help of the corrosive acid! The zombie, as if blessed with superhuman speed, lunged towards the young teenager and took a huge bite at his throat.

 

Squeek shrieked mostly from panic rather than pain. He struggled to push the zombie off of him, but the weight of the zombie leaning against him dragged him down. Squeek pushed the zombie away with all of his might...and was successful or at least he thought he succeeded in pushing away the zombie.

 

However, what he did not expect was that the zombie had tore a huge chunk of flesh from his gaping throat. Blood squirted out from his wound as he lost his strength at an unbelievable rate. In a matter of seconds, his life ended and he was kicked out of the Roleplay, marking him as the first casualty of the war.

 

SYSTEM: SQUEEK OF THE YOUTH WRITERS HAD PERISHED TO ZOMBIES!

 

..........

 

Arsenal, Homer, and Fan were together from the beginning of the RP. They were transported to a school building. In fact, they were literally transported into the same classroom. Coincidence much? Definitely not!

 

The trio had cheated a slight bit before they arrived to the Grand Stadium. Using his ability, Homer had placed a homing device on his body. Those who stood next to him before the 'connectors' were sent out would naturally home in on him while they were transported.

 

It wasn't even a coincidence for Arsenal and Fan to be the ones to get attached to Homer. After all, they had planned for this to happen. Of course, who knew if they were cheating or not.

 

That's just how a loophole worked. No one knew about it until someone would bring it up. But, then again, who on their side would bring it up?

 

Anyways, the three Writers descended down the building and walked to the front yard. According to Arthur's plan, they should stay put until Mandy's mandrakes contacted them. So, while they waited, Arsenal took out a silenced sniper rifle from his Vault and started picking off nearby zombies one by one.

 

But, they did not have to wait long. After a couple of minutes, a mandrake emerged before them. The mandrake, under the manipulation of Mandy, told the three Writers about Arthur's discovery of the center of the city and Squeek's ensuing battle with an enemy Writer.

 

When Arsenal asked the mandrake if the person Squeek was battling with was Eden, he received a 'no' for an answer. According to the mandrake on site, the enemy was capable of summoning towers to defend and attack.

 

Mandy worried about Squeek's safety and asked them if they could help out. The trio knew about Squeek's ability. Although it was useful for large-scaled attacks, it was rather Creativity-consuming and required a lot of focus to summon each mouse swarm.

 

One disruption could ruin everything and the backlash would deplete any Creativity reserves he would have left. Arsenal agreed to take on the mission of securing Squeek's safety. He told Homer and Fan to stay behind and set up a base of operations. With that said, the young man rushed towards the coordinates provided by Mandy.

 

It wasn't hard for Arsenal to find the place as there was a rather tall, green tower. It was shooting quite a few green balls of some fluid. Each ball would burst open upon impact and the green fluid would splatter all over the mice. It seemed that the green fluid was some sort of highly corrosive acid. Just a simple contact could melt away even bone.

 

Arsenal raised his hand before him and called out. "Activate! Open Vault! Summon GOL-Sniper Magnum!"

 

As a portal appeared before him, Arsenal reached in and pulled out a sniper rifle. He aimed at the tower, waiting for a chance to strike.

 

"Don't worry, Squeek. I'll get you out of here in just a minute."

 

Suddenly....

 

SYSTEM: SQUEEK OF THE YOUTH WRITERS HAD PERISHED TO ZOMBIES!

 

When Arsenal saw that message, he couldn't help but feel a pang in his chest. He had just promised to save Squeek...but why did fate have to be so cruel? With Squeek kicked out of the RP, the mice naturally began to disappear. The enemy saw the disappearing mice and exited from his tower. A clear shot!

 

Arsenal aimed his sniper rifle at the young man. "Don't worry, Squeek. I'll send someone to accompany you real soon."

 

BANG!

 

The enemy jerked his head back from the impact and collapsed onto the ground. Seconds later, he disappeared along with his tower.

 

SYSTEM: GLORY OF THE POCKET WRITERS ASSOCIATION HAD PERISHED TO ARSENAL OF THE YOUTH WRITERS!