Alex stepped through the portal and into a world that seemed to have been drawn by a child. The sky was a single shade of blue, the sun was a smiley face, and the grass was a solid green with black lines that formed smiling faces. Even the trees were drawn, with solid green leaves and black smiley faces on their trunks. Alex walked around, touching the trees and grass to make sure they were real. He found some mushrooms with dirt in the middle, and he crouched down to smell the dirt. It smelled like soil, but with a sweet scent. Alex had never smelled dirt like that before, but he didn't mind it.

 

He continued walking, looking for real plants and animals, but all he saw were cartoon-like birds, rabbits, and chipmunks. He wasn't Snow White, so he couldn't approach wild animals without fear. He began to wonder if everything he saw was just a figment of his imagination. Or maybe he had been brought here by a mad god as part of a twisted training exercise. If this dungeon was tailored to him, what did that mean? How would he know? What if he was supposed to learn something from it? Would it still work if he didn't? What if he died and his body was left here? Would the portal bring him back? He wished he had asked Luna or Fufi about the consequences of failing one of these rifts. It would have been helpful to know before stepping through one. He could always come back, but if he left, would the rift close and would that be the same as failing the trial? The portal was still open in the same spot where he had arrived. He could try going back. If he did, would it lead him here again? How would he know? He could see the basement where he had come from on the other side of the portal, though it looked like he was seeing through water. Maybe there was nothing wrong with this place at all. Perhaps there were no consequences for failure here and it was simply a game.

He thought about it for a while longer but eventually decided that if he was supposed to do something then it was probably best to just get it over with as quickly as possible. He walked away from the portal to survey the area further. There were hills and small mountains on either side of him but in front of him there was an enormous hill that went up into a large smiling cloud that had a half rainbow on top of it like an enormous hat. He figured that must be a good thing.

 

He looked down at the grass he was walking on and shook his head. This place was so weird there was no way he could get used to it. He wasn't even sure if he should be trying to get used to it. He had stepped into some weird place and needed to complete the trial. To level up he needed to defeat monsters. Was he supposed to defeat monsters here? All he had seen so far was cute forest stuff out of a children's picture book. Were there any monsters out there? Would he just encounter them naturally? Or would they come out to greet him? How would he know? How would he ever know how to defeat them? Or what he was supposed to do? "Calm down Alex," he told himself, "Just keep putting one foot in front of the other and take things as they come."

 

Alex ventured into the grass in search of monsters. He came across a few objects that resembled eggs or mushrooms, but they all appeared to be harmless, so he ignored them and continued on his way. The eggs looked like Easter eggs, so he licked one to see what it tasted like. It was sweet, like a candy egg. He wasn't brave enough to eat the unknown mushrooms, so he put them in his robe pocket for later.

Alex walked towards the tall grass hill, hoping that the monsters were not hiding in it to ambush him. The hill was not too steep, and eventually the grass gave way to denser trees. Alex saw something glinting in the bushes and went to inspect it. It was a pastel purple treasure chest with a smile emoji on it. Alex kicked it lightly a few times and jumped back when the emoji twitched and winked at him.

Alex said, "Hello?"

 

The chest said nothing back.

 

Alex said, "I am a traveler who has stepped through this rift in hopes of finding out how to defeat my enemies and become stronger."

 

The smile emoji chest said . . . nothing. It stayed silent, looking at him like he was stupid or something.

 

Alex said, "What? You don't say anything? Of course you don't say anything you are a chest. Am I supposed to check you for traps or risk it and just open you?"

 

The smiley chest said nothing and stood there staring at him blankly.

 

Alex sighed and said, "are you even locked?" Alex found a long stick and tried to open the chest's lid from a distance. The stick wouldn't budge though. Alex tried to pry it open and the stick snapped in half.

 

Alex sighed and said, "Well then that is just perfect. Well at least it didn't set off any traps." Since the chest didn't do anything from being pushed around a bit by a stick it looked like moving it wouldn't trigger a trap. Alex picked up the chest and carried it down the hill back to the portal.

 

After a short walk, he tossed the chest through the portal to see if it could be moved outside the rift. The chest landed with a thud on the other side of the portal. Glancing through the portal showed that the chest was on the other side but instead of looking like a cartoon chest it looked like a normal chest. If nothing else it was better than those crates he was using that were in not great shape. If it had a treasure in it he could get it later after he left the rift.

 

Alex walked to the end of the hill and found a path that led down to a small pond. He could hear splashing, so he thought there might be fish or frogs in the water. He saw a human-sized stuffed bear with short arms and legs waddling out of the pond. The bear had a cartoon-like fish in its mouth. After coming to land, the bear shook itself dry and then sat down and swayed softly, still holding the fish in its mouth. It seemed to be humming a tune that only it could hear.

Alex walked over and said, "Hello?"

 

The bear gave a few more shakes to get the last of the water from the pond off of himself. He tilts his head and regards Alex for a moment before downing the fish in with a slurp.

 

The bear said, "Kuma?"

 

Alex slowly asked, "Can you understand me, mister bear?"

 

Bear said, "Kuma kuma."

 

It was at that moment his phone chimed in, {Encounter Begin: Defeat Huggle Bear.}

 

Alex hopped up and down and cheered. "Yes! Yes! I am ready for this!"

 

The bear looked startled and exclaimed, "Kuma!"

 

Alex felt a little guilty that his first step to leveling up would be to battle a completely harmless stuffed animal.

 

Bear said, "Kuma, ku, kuma!"

 

Alex walked closer and said, "Are you ready?  A dungeon monster should always be ready to fight."

 

Bear shook itself again and said, "Kuma kuma!"

 

"You are a cute little guy aren't you? Don't expect me to go easy on you just because of that," Alex regarded the bear with conviction.

 

Bear chuffed and said, "Ku, kuma."

 

Alex formed his hands into fists and took a boxer's pose, stating, "Let us begin!"

 

The bear shivered in fear at Alex's face turning red with anger and put his cute stuffed paws on his muzzle.

 

The battle was on! Alex's heart pounded in his chest. He took on his first challenge for leveling up. It didn't feel real yet because it was only a stuffed animal and not a real monster but that didn't matter as much as he had to start somewhere.

 

Alex striked first with a right cross to the bear's nose, knocking it over and rolling it across the ground before coming back to its feet.

The bear let out a yelp, "Kuuuuuma!" 

Punches didn't seem to do much to him because his body was made out of cloth and stuffing. Oddly, Alex's phone decided to narrate the fight on its own.

 

{Alex used fist, it is ineffective}

 

"Kuma. . . " The bear said, sounding like it was about to cry as it stared at Alex with big forlorn eyes. Alex felt his heart sink. He was a terrible person for inflicting violence on an innocent forest creature.

 

{Huggle Bear used Stare, it is super effective}

 

The bear slowly waddled over to Alex with its arms up like it wanted a hug. Alex stared back at it, uncertain how to proceed but not wanting to be hurtful so he reached out and wrapped his hand around the bear giving it a hug. The bear hugged him back with a forgiving expression in its eyes.

 

{Friendship +1}

 

The bear made some snuffling sounds while holding onto Alex.

 

"Kuma."

 

The hug continued until Alex started to cry with guilt. How could he be so cruel to something so cute? But the bear seemed to accept him so he held onto it for a bit longer. The bear made more cute sounds as they both cried together and got it all out.

 

{Friendship +10}

 

Eventually, they broke their hug and Alex wiped his tears. Alex smiled at the bear and the bear smiled back with his silly cloth teeth. The two of them walkd together hand in paw back down to the pond.

 

{Friendship +20}

 

The two of them continued down the trail hand in paw together until they came across some more stuffed animals like the one they just fought. The bears and rabbits and other creatures all smiled at Alex and greeted him with friendly calls of their own.

 

"Ku, kuma, kuma!"

 

"Kuma kuma!"

 

"Ku, kuma, kuma!"

 

Alex stood in awe of these adorable little creatures approaching him with welcoming smiles. He didn’ have the heart to fight them or the energy to go any further so he decided to just stop here and enjoy them all for a moment.

 

Alex said, "Oh my gosh I've never seen so many of these before! Let's all be friends!"

 

{Friendship +30}

 

The little creatures cheered and  surrounded him and started tugging on his robe. Alex stood there amazed.  He was embraced by dozens of small huggable friends and felt like a new man.

 

He said, "I don't know what you are all doing but I am not sure if I am ready for that."

 

A single teddy bear walked up and looked down at Alex with big sad eyes. It slowly took out a stuffed bunny from its pocket and handed it to Alex.

 

"Kuma kuma."

 

Alex knelt down to be face to face with the bear and took the stuffed bunny from it and gave it a hug. 

The stuffed rabbit said in a cheerful voice, "Usagi!"

 

"Ku, kuma."

 

"Kuma, kuma."

 

"Usagi!"

 

The bear said, "Ku!"

 

Alex stroked the bunny lovingly and said, "Thank you so much! You have made me so happy!"

 

{Friendship at 100, You have been defeated}

 

All around him reality started to warp as if this space was collapsing in on itself. 'Oh no, I was defeated and this is a temporary dungeon. Does that mean it is going to vanish from reality with me in it?' Alex gulped. He messed up. He messed up badly. He should have just killed the bear in the beginning and avoided the whole situation. How was he supposed to know this would happen? He tried to kill the bear but couldn't even get that right.

 

The stuffed forest creatures all ran around holding their paws up in fright. That was the last thing Alex saw before a pink enveloped him blocking out his vision. The world went pink for a few seconds. He appeared back where he started from with the same glowing pink light hovering over him. He could hear the screams of all the creatures as they disappeared. He heard his own voice say, "What the heck just happened?"

 

Fufi was there, her pink stone glowing brightly with powerful magic. She walked up to Alex and placed her wing on his shoulder.

 

She said, "It looks like you failed the rift dungeon. But I used our bond to summon you back before you vanished along with the temporary space."

 

Alex felt sudden nausea. "Oh no," was all he could say before throwing up on the stone floor.

 

Fufi said carefully, "Teleportation magic can really turn your stomach if you are not used to it. Sorry."

 

Alex wiped his mouth and said, "No need to apologize. I really messed this up though."

 

Alex felt another wave of nausea. He felt dizzy and his head hurt. He felt like he was going to be sick again. Fufi's soft feathers felt like heaven against his clammy cheek.

 

Fufi said gently, "Are you okay? Maybe you should go rest for a while"

 

Alex closed his eyes and breathed deeply as if that might help settle his stomach but instead it only makes things worse. His head was spinning and he felt nauseous again but he tried to stay calm and focus on not throwing up again.

 

Alex opened his eyes and looked up at Fufi as she was staring down at him concerned. He felt himself wanting to smile at her but couldn't manage it with his face feeling so queasy.

 

Fufi said with concern, "Just lay down. I'll go get the rug and the clothing and bring them back in a couple minutes."

 

Alex nodded his head weakly and lied down on his side as Fufi stood and flew away.

 

The flamingo took to the skies. "I will be right back."

 

Alex rolled onto his other side and lay still until he felt his stomach calm down. He still felt like he might throw up again at any moment so he closed his eyes and focused on his breathing. After a while he felt like he could try opening his eyes again so he slowly opened them to find that Fufi was standing beside him looking worried. He sat up and said, "I'm alright now."

 

Fufi looked relieved and asked, "Are you sure?"

 

"Yeah," Alex said, trying to stand up but his vision darked and his head swam. He laid his head back down in the girlie clothes that Fufi had placed under his head earlier. "Well maybe not, I feel so drained. I just need to rest a little."

 

Fufi knelt down next to Alex and said, "You can sleep here if you want to."

 

Alex said, "Yeah, I think I need to get some sleep if I'm going to keep fighting through these dungeons." Alex fell asleep immediately and had a strange dream about a cute magical girl skipping through the forest with stuffed animals, performing an elaborate dance as if it were a musical. While it was well-choreographed, the whole thing was rather disturbing given his recent defeat. But after a while, he finally fell into a peaceful slumber.

Upon waking, he found that he had slept through the day and night. Dawn light shone through the opening at the top of the stairs leading out of the basement. He moved his head and felt loose hair in his face. He blew it out of his mouth, realizing it must have gotten there while he was sleeping. He also noticed that his beard was gone, his face completely smooth. He didn't remember shaving before falling asleep, and he didn't have a razor or knife to do so. As he sat up, he noticed that he had lost weight as well. He stood up and went upstairs to get a better look at himself.

Alex was taken aback when he saw his reflection in the light. He shook his head, and beard hair fell out. Alex had always been proud of his thick black beard, so it was a shock to see it gone. He also noticed that his body was not as muscular as it had been. His stomach was softer and flatter, and his shoulders were still broad but not as defined as they had been when he was working out regularly. His arms and legs were also thinner. He estimated that he had lost about 10 pounds. These changes were shocking to him, as he couldn't imagine how someone could transform so much in just one day.

Alex found a shard of a broken mirror on the floor. He was looking at his reflection when Fufi, the bird, flew down to check on him. She looked him over carefully and asked, "How are you feeling?"

Alex looked at himself in the mirror and said, "I guess I signed up for a diet plan that made me lose 10 pounds in a day, grow my hair longer, and soften my complexion as a bonus."

"You're still handsome," Fufi said with a smile. "Maybe even a little cuter than before."

Alex ran his hand through his hair and confirmed that it had grown about an inch while he slept. He couldn't be sure, but he thought he might also be slightly shorter.