The Plan.

“What the hell, John?” Rave asked, clearly agitated by the events that had just transpired, as they walked back to the train station. The Illusion Barrier left behind they preferred to walk through real space. Rave was still in her disguise, and without Aclysia they didn’t stand out that much. “I demand that ya tell me exactly what is going on in that stupidly wise head of yours!”

John looked closely over the fields to make sure nobody was listening. Well, nobody outside of the Nazi that always was. Better shut out that guy as well. John put up an Illusion Barrier and explained what he was thinking. “I want to save her.” He began, “I want to safe Thana, it was Travolta’s last wish and…” “…How is leaving Aclysia behind going to save her!” “…would you let me finish?” John asked and looked at his girlfriend disapprovingly. They had both just come out of a threatening situation. Rave gestured him to continue.

“What I was going to say is that we need time, and aside from that Aclysia is safe.” “How can you be that sure about it?” Rave interrupted again, “Because she can teleport to me whenever I want.” “LEAD WITH THAT, YA MORON!” Rave shouted at him and pinched him in the side. She followed that up by kissing him. “Geez, making me worry that much.” She giggled, a good deal of tension suddenly gone, “What is our plan then, huh?”

John smiled somewhat apologetically, yeah leading with that would have helped. He shared pretty much everything with Rave all the time, so he sometimes forgot that she didn’t immediately know what he was thinking. “I want to help that girl.” John exclaimed again, “So we need three things. One is we need to get stronger, allies, levels, whatever helps. If we power grind a whole week maybe we can oppose them.” He wasn’t sure about it. Grinding in the past had been either crucially slow or ineffective after a certain threshold; however, the new Floor System should provide them with enough daily progress. “Ya think the Bloodfallen won’t get suspicious tho?” “Oh, they absolutely will.” John smirked, “Which is perfect. They will have a close eye on us and wonder why we are inside Instant Dungeons all the time and when Aclysia suddenly shows back up with us they will probably send out some kind of extermination squad….” “….Which effectively separates their forces making it easier for us to beat them without newfound powers!” Rave hugged her boyfriend’s arm, “Lookadya, being all clever.” She slurred and then asked, “What about the other two things?”

“Well, we need a way to open that door and the way they behave I think the Bloodfallen would rather shred Igor's hands into pieces than give us the ability to **** him to do it. Which is where Aclysia comes into play again.” ‘You can scan the structure of his hand, right?’ John re-affirmed his plan mentally. ‘Affirmative, master. Acquirement 70% complete after exchanging a handshake.’ Came the quick answer. “She will just copy his hand with that shape-shifting of hers.”

“Okay, so far all of that makes sense to me, what is the third thing you need?” Rave asked, and in response, John sighed. “We should get an Apothecary.” He stated, following it up with the reasons, “I have no idea if that container is slowly killing her or keeping her alive. Normal people don’t slowly have their heart rate reduced over the cause of sixty years. It would be best to get some immediate aid by someone who has an idea on the matter.”

Rave nodded again and again eagerly as she listened, “Okay, so TLDR: Step 1: Train alone until Aclysia has the ‘codes’ for the door, in the meanwhile try our bests to find an Apothecary, Step 2: Teleport Aclysia out of there using that bullshit skill of yours, Step 3: Train more with her, Step 4: Defeat the baited in Bloodfallen, Step 5: Go attack their base while they are weakened, taking dat Apothecary with us.” She summarised the whole thing.

“Almost correct, I would put something between Step 3 and 4 though,” John said and looked through the eyes of his bird down on a certain Sniper Girl watching the spot where they had vanished from a distance, crouching between some trees and bushes. Well, he was sitting on one of those trees. She didn’t feel that anything was wrong, maybe he got harder to track as his skills went up? He should test it by possessing Moira’s pants or something. “We have to take care of Victoria.” He ended that train of thought.

They left the Illusion Barrier he had erected and went on their way to the train station, talking about less sensitive topics. “So, is your dad around?” “Nope, gone for the next week or so.” Rave delivered the news, causing John to grumble something disappointed he would have liked to talk him into this. Sure, he would have groaned and complained, but if it was about protecting his daughter, who he knew he couldn’t stop, Regan might have complied. In the training effort at the very least.

“First thing we try then is fulfilling this quest of mine.” John decided and looked at it again. One SEP was super good, 20000 Experience was also very good, and nobody ever said no to Epic Equip. “Ten Floors, right? Hope we don’t stumble over a nympho dragon next time around.” “Very unlikely, I get the feeling that something like Nathalia doesn’t happen all that often. Maybe it had something to do with the Eclipse?” He theorised, “Besides I liked that encounter.” He teased his girlfriend, “I saw, ya perverted nutjob.” She snapped at him and looked him deep into the eyes, “You better not forget what our whole agreement with you sleeping around included.”

“Would never.” He promised and kissed her on the lips. “I take it we skip school for the week then.” She whispered, “I’d say so, yeah.” He whispered back. Foreheads resting on each other they went silent, only the rattling of train wheels over the tracks in the background.

“Is she around?” Rave finally opened her mouth again in a quiet tone. She was referring to Victoria. “Yes. She is not alone.” John answered. Together with her two other members of the Bloodfallen had entered the train. They stayed a few wagons over. They probably thought that there was no need to be that anal in their work. Not surprising.

“They are underestimating us by a long-shot.” John concluded, “I wonder if the Blood of Thana is affecting their judgements even in lower stages, making them more arrogant or something. Either that or they are really bad with money and have decided to not buy the package about me.” He was certain that it was the latter or a combination of both. For a semi-religious cult bent on the slow **** of a girl, they had a lot of unnecessary bling. Who the fuck needed golden skirting?

“Well, let’s rough them up!” Rave exclaimed as the train pulled into the Springfield Central Station. The plan to free Thana was on its way.