One week later...
Samanthus's ship entered Chanterelle at cruising speed. It shooed away the clouds, and it felt the angry glare of the sun. The blocky landscape, once destroyed by aliens, was whole again. Persica's Castle 2 and its robust village were reestablished and undamaged.
The ship landed and its central platform raised up. Persica and Lord Shellie emerged first. Persica expressed her graceful sexiness with a pink stripe bikini top and a matching pink cloth skirt. The crease of the skirt revealed the side of her hip and lots of leg. Lord Shellie stomped forward with might.
"Gamer spoke the truth," Persica double-checked her observations. What made it all real were how, little by little, shroomans emerged from the village and castle.
Lord Shellie noted, "It seems none of the others survived the bombardment. This is a great loss to the kingdom. We'll have to reach out to all corners of Chanterelle to recover correctly."
"There were plenty of shellies, yosauri, and others elsewhere. We'll rebuild," Persica rubbed her husband's arm.
Lord Shellie scooped Persica up and jumped down. The king and queen greeted the survivors with hopes and dreams. The babas and Queen Yaga, who avoided annihilation, popped up and joined the welcome party. Even a few yosauri, who darted away during the invasion, returned.
Gamer and Samanthus rose up out of the ship next. Gamer adjusted to the brightness of the sun, which contrasted the dark, emptiness they lived in for the past week. His eyes sizzled like cooked eggs, "Boy, I'm glad my eyes aren't real."
"I thought perhaps you were joking when you said the other universe could fix Chanterelle. To think it reverted to its stage before the alien attack. It boggles lesser minds," Sam stared up at the skies.
"I kind of did, too. The Game Masters said they wanted to fix the mess Chad forced them to do. I guess I have to give that Nathaniel guy his props. There aren't even any signs of Andreas or the aliens," Gamer glanced about.
"Does that include those who perished?" Sam had Minnie in mind.
"I asked, but they said due to legal reasons, respawning NPCs without a restart wouldn't be viable."
"Legal reasons?" Sam raised an eyebrow.
"They want to avoid abuse of a system. In case players could spam the setting and respawn a boss over and over again with traps set up to instakill them. There's a bunch of other reasons, but I'm also certain they want to prevent Samira from respawning me."
"How unfortunate," Sam bowed her head.
"Aside from that, restarting causes NPCs to forget all that's happened. That includes you, Lord Shellie, and all the assholes we've fought to this point. I'd rather honor Minnie's sacrifice and live the life she saved."
"Respectable. I suppose that includes the mollies and your children."
"Hmm? Who?" Gamer purposely stared out at the landscape, and turned as if he hadn't been paying attention. Sam dropped it with an added eye roll.
The central platform lowered once more, and this time it brought up Asterion and Sonia. The bull man wore his default attire, while the blue blur sported her usual workout outfit. They were in the middle of talking about restaurant chains when the mean sun hit their eyes. They winced and complained similar to Gamer. They glanced about at the village and castle, surprised by its rejuvenation.
"I guess not all developers are bad. Chanterelle's are weird, but good," Sonia commented.
Asterion turned to Gamer, "You really going to call this place home? I feel like you'd go mad."
"Actually, I've been speaking with Sam here. I'll be travelling to other planets and galactic locations. Whenever I kick the bucket, I want it to be in the stars!" Gamer fanned his hands out towards the great beyond.
"Since this is your reality now, I'm not surprised. Take advantage of every horizon's dawn," Sonia agreed.
"It's going to be weird when you die. A permanent loss to a fictional world..." Asterion ruminated on the foreboding melancholy.
"I died once. I can do it again," Gamer grinned.
৻( •̀ ᗜ •́ ৻) "I'll have something to say about that!"
A myriad of pixels assembled just behind Samira's text box. Within moments, a body of a young female formed and revealed to everybody the sister's avatar. Thinly, with a morbid beauty, and wearing a dark, modest tunic and bamboo palazzo pants. She wore a yellow head scarf that she also wrapped around her head like a hood. When she opened her eyes, they were like brilliant topazes. She waved, "Hi, everyone!"
"Samira!" Gamer shoved her text box aside and embraced his sister in a hug. She teared up and buried her face in his shoulders.
"Hajimemashite," Sonia greeted. "So you're the thorn Gamer stabs in my side. I got a bone to pick with you."
Samira giggled and winked. Soon thereafter, a bunch of fireworks filled Sonia's screen, and the text 'YOU CAN'T CATCH ME' appeared. Samira stuck her tongue out, "I can be as sharp as a rose."
Sonia bumbled around blinded by gifs. Asterion stepped forward with a hand over his heart. He bowed gentlemanly, "Nice to meet you, Samira."
After what felt like it should have gone on hours longer, Gamer pulled away from the hug and let Samira breathe. She greeted Asterion, "Hello! Thank you for all the help. How's Dimitri?"
"He's well – the birthday is this weekend."
"Nice!" Samira pirouetted and stopped with a thumbs up position.
Gamer could barely contain his excitement, "This is awesome! How's the equipment? It doesn't bother you, does it?"
"It's a bit tight, and a little uncomfortable, but I think I have to break it in," Samira moved her hands over her head as if she had a helmet. She wiggled, "Oh, but who cares? I can finally be here in person with you, and not worry about the G-men breathing down my neck. I don't feel like I'm about to collapse, either. The new medicine is doing its job."
"For somebody with your condition, I bet this feels liberating," the siblings' joy started to affect Asterion.
"It does! VR gaming usually takes a lot out of me, but I think I'm good for this. You're a lot bigger in person," Samira used a hand to gauge the height difference. Asterion glanced over at Gamer with a glint in his eye, but the brother already had his zapper pulled and mouthed obscene threats at the minotaur to stay away from her.
Sonia X'd out of the last firework effect and put her hands on her hips, "Tsugi ya! Sounds like you need an obstacle course. Take your rig for a test run."
"I'm ready!" Samira showed her determination. "Now that bro made his wish, we should totally get Sonia to her wish!"
The suggestion shocked Sonia, and made her blush, "You'd really help me with that?"
"I mean, it won't be as meteoric as getting my high score up, since the Game Masters and council threw everything and the kitchen sink at me. But at least let us get you back to where you were previously," Gamer sided with his sister.
"You were unfairly fired from Marathon. Like you said before, the benefits of an association is all about connections and resources. Let's team up," Asterion agreed.
Sonia covered her mouth with how emotional she became. She turned bashful, "You guys...quit being so nice."
"My ship is always available," Sam reminded everyone.
"Is that Gamer's sister?" Persica called from below. Lord Shellie and her were free from the shrooman hoard and were gesturing to them, "Come hither! We would love to meet you."
"Bah! New people! This must be my first objective; socialize," Samira teased her own insecurity.
"We'll be here," Asterion patted her on the back. Sam and him jumped down together and landed in a chorus of mushroom noises.
"Ni pukha, ni pera," Sonia did her own tease, with a wink and a hop.
The feel good vibes kept rolling. Samira opened up the music player, and started an extended mix of Jump by Madonna; Samira's favorite song.
Gamer and Samira watched the mingling down below. Persica and Sam danced amongst the shroomans, while Lord Shellie stomped his foot and clapped his hands. The nearby village denizens ran away from his small display of terrifying power. Asterion hoisted the shroomans up and allowed them to hang from him. Sonia's eyes widened to adorable levels as she picked the little guys up and cuddled their alien bodies to her face.
Gamer and Samira took in the sea of celebration. The weight of their struggle no longer bore upon them. A sense of freedom renewed their hearts. Samira giggled, "It's almost a little cheesy; cringe, one might say..."
"What's that?" Gamer awkwardly smiled for the 'cringe'.
"I just want to say...thank you for giving me an extra life," Samira's eyes were full of appreciation.
"You deserve it."
"You know, we could always try and find a way to turn you into an electrical device or an app. It might be tricky, but we could have you live forever," Samira summoned a representation of her headgear. Windows of text and math filled her vision, "I'd love to save you, if I can."
"Sounds super illegal..." Gamer liked to fight the power, but didn't like the idea of Samira getting caught.
"Totes illegal. Like, shoot first, ask questions later kind of illegal," Samira joked. She closed her set and said, "I just don't like that you're still going to be redacted and omitted from all media and documentation in the real world. Plenty of people see you as a terrible criminal, and the council is already besmirching you. It's bullshit! And...if you die..."
"I'm done running the gauntlet, and I don't want you in jeopardy. Do what you want, but I'm okay," Gamer shrugged.
"You're really okay with it?" it hurt to hear, but there was peace in his tone.
"Of course. I already got what I wanted," Gamer grinned. "I don't care what the world thinks. I'm a cold-blooded cheater."
Sonia called up from all the noise, "Gamer! They're gonna make us cake, and then we're going to bone the queen! C'mon!"
"You can join us, Samira," Asterion shouted next to Sam. They were uninterested in the sexual ventures, "We can learn how to fly a spaceship together!"
"You definitely need it," Sam booty bumped Asterion, who blushed in shame.
Excitement hyped Gamer up and he cartwheeled off the ship. He fell towards the shroomans, who would break his fall with their tiny, soft, invulnerable bodies.
However, that's when Lord Shellie added, "The yosauri will be joining us this time."
"What the fuck?! No, no, no, no!" Gamer landed on the shrooman squeakies in a panic. Four sticky, long yosauri tongues latched on and pulled him in different directions. He cried out in absolute terror, "Goddammit, Herbert!"
Samira couldn't help but laugh. Her contagious laugh spread to everybody else. Even Gamer, after his initial panic, busted out laughing.
The bird left the darkened cave, flew through the air, and joined everyone for some fun and games.
٩( ᐖ ) The End ( ᐛ )و