He knew that they were in for a race. 

Within seconds he could hear the sound of others zoning into the area, making Darah quickly recast his speed spell on Frogs. 

"Just keep going. I'll hold off the ones who catch up," he said, his voice brooking no argument whatsoever. 

Frogs immediately darted ahead, using the extra burst of speed to disappear around a corner in a blur! Several monsters began following him, but he was plenty fast enough to outrun them for now. 

Bronko: What is the guild leader of Chapters doing out here all alone? 

Dammit all. The guild leader came in first. 

Of course, he already had two people flanking him, too, so a one-on-one fight wasn't even a possibility. 

"I'm getting close to the first zone on the map," Frogs said a few moments later, making Darah grin. 

"Good. Once you zone into the deeper area use a silencing tincture and then cast invisible on yourself. Make your way to I-8 on the map, then turn left and follow that tunnel," Darah replied as he had his character start casting several shield spells. 

He'd intended to run after him, but he needed his magic points to regenerate before he could recast his speed spell. 

Hmm, I do have one other spell I could use. Though it only works between a single zone. 

If Frogs zoned into an even further area, it would be useless. 

"Once you're near the zone for the second area, stop there and let me know." 

"Got it boss!" Frogs replied. 

Alright. Now to distract them and hope they haven't called in anymore guys yet. 

Darah: Just helping a new guildmate out with their weapon quest. We won't bother your raid. 

Bronko: You won't? Did your friend just not zone all of the monsters that we were intending to kill? 

Darah felt his eyebrow twitch. 

They respawn in five fucking minutes and you guys weren't even ready to go yet!

As much as he wanted to type that out in all caps, he knew that it would make no difference. 

Darah: Our mistake. I just wanted him to get through this first area quickly so I told him to just run to the zone. We'll be more careful from now on. 

Bronko stepped forward and pulled the giant great-axe off of his back. 

Bronko: He certainly should be more careful, because he won't have you looking after him anymore!

Darah tensed right as Bronko lunged for him, forcing him to dodge to the side as his giant axe swung down!

"Shit!" 

He was barely able to regain his footing before Bronko's two guys were on him, both swinging daggers!

"This is ridiculous!" Darah hissed as he quickly dodged the first person, then used his staff to deflect the other's hit!

Bronko: Not bad... you're going to be fun to play with!

Clenching his jaw, Darah put all of his focus into dodging the three assholes coming at him. Thankfully, they were too high level to aggro any of the monsters that were going to begin respawning soon. 

"I'll be at the zone entrance in two minutes, boss," Frogs said, earning a nod from Darah as he used an energy shield to block Bronko's massive great-axe. 

W-what?!

His shield shattered in an instant, allowing Bronko's axe to cut up a decent chunk of his hit points as it swiped across his character's chest! 

"H-how the hell?!"

He just-barely managed to stumble out of the way as the guy's two henchmen took their own swings. 

"You okay, boss?" Frogs asked worriedly. 

"Just get to the zone!" Darah growled as he glared at the tiny dwarf hiding behind Bronko. 

He buffed his great-axe with an attack spell right before Bronko swung it. Cheap bastards. 

Bronko: I must say. I'm envious of your gear, guild leader Darah. That must have taken you quite some time to accumulate. That new chest piece, however... I remember seeing a notice on the game's chat boards about the amazing Chapter's guild leader obtaining the Dragon God's Surcoat. It's such a rare piece for mages... you sure were lucky. 

Were, huh? 

The equipment wasn't yet bound to his character, since it took a considerable amount of time to acclimate the piece. That was how Bombardment stole equipment. They'd check players who crossed their path to see what equipment they had gotten recently, then attack if there was enough to warrant the effort. 

It was also extremely hard to change gear when engaged in combat, so you either had to figure out a way to escape, or somehow defeat whoever was attacking you. 

Since he was on his healer, and facing four opponents, defeating Bronko clearly was out of the question. He might be able to take out his supporters, but there was no way he could kill the leader, too. 

Even if I cast a resurrection spell on myself, they'll just kill me as soon as I revive. 

"Ten seconds, boss! I just need to get past this last group of monsters!" 

Narrowing his eyes, Darah licked his lips and smirked. 

Darah: It really is a nice piece of equipment. The defense is amazing for a healing job, and the attack boost is unheard of for my specific class. 

He dodged another round of attacks right as he finished typing that, but thankfully, Bronko seemed distracted and wasn't among his assailants. 

He's typing then. At least I'm stalling the worst of them. 

With their leader distracted, his two cronies, even being buffed by the hiding dwarf, were easy enough to manage. Of course, he wasn't really trying to knock them out, though, since that much aggression would probably give away his plan to stall. 

He just kept up his dodging and shield triggers, and even spared a moment to cast a regeneration spell to slowly begin recovering the damage he'd already taken. 

"Ready boss!" 

Bronko: Tell you what. How about you hand me that one surcoat as recompense for zoning all of our monsters and we'll call it even? I think it's a fair deal, since I could kill you without batting an eyelash right now. 

Darah put up several shields as Bronko's two attackers slowed slightly, likely reading what their leader had just said. 

Bronko: Well? What'll it be? Your coat, or all the items I can rip from your corpse after I crush you? 

How about none of the above? 

Sticking his tongue out slightly at the screen, Darah triggered his teleportation spell right as he typed one single word. 

Darah: Bye! 

In the blink of an eye, a bright light exploded around them, blinding the entire area before his screen went dark!

"Hell yeah, eat that!" He cheered as his character was teleported to Ilickfrogs, an entire zone away!

We are eating now? 

Darah chuckled and absentmindedly pressed a kiss to the top of Kit's soft hair. 

"We'll have something right after I'm done with this, okay? What are you in the mood for?" He asked as he zoned to the next area with Frogs. 

The other guy was snickering into his headset, having realized exactly what he'd done. 

"Wait, are you talking to your new ferret?" Frogs asked, realizing that the question made no sense for him. 

Darah grinned as he cast his speed spell on Frogs. 

"Yeah, we're choosing what we want for a late breakfast." 

Frogs was silent for a moment as he recast invisible on himself, not needing the silencing tincture for the next area, then hurried forward. 

"Wait, you can communicate with him already?" 

Darah gave a hum of acknowledgement as he cast his own invisible spell, then followed behind Frogs at a slower pace. 

Bronko: You think you can get away with such a simple trick?!

Darah rolled his eyes at the whisper and continued onward, giving Frogs directions for the shortest route. As they chatted, he finished healing himself, then got up as many barriers as he could cast. 

He didn't expect Bronko to be able to catch him so quickly, but he knew that the guy had those two thief classes with him. They were able to wear gear that improved their movement speed, and also had job abilities that increased it exponentially for several seconds at a time, too. 

Just as he'd expected, he saw a player approaching on his radar from the zone entrance. 

"Keep running. I'll hold them off."

Since Frogs was a good distance away, Darah did cut off his speed spell, though. He was going to need his magic points in order to fend off the two thieves quickly approaching him. 

"Think I've got everything done that can be done," he mused aloud as he pressed the 9 button on his keyboard again, adding one final quick barrier to his front. 

He noticed Kit leaning forward as he did so, examining the button before looking up at the screen. 

"It creates a shield so that the mean people trying to steal my stuff can't do so as easily," he explained as simply as he could. 

He didn't think Kit was dumb, at all, but he was quite naive, especially when it came to technology, it seemed. 

Why would they take your things? That's not nice. 

"You're right, it's not nice, but some people just aren't very nice." 

Frogs understood that, again, he wasn't speaking to him. 

"Can you say hi to your friend for me? What's his name?" He asked instead, clearly curious. 

"I've named him Kit. He's actually in his human form right now but prefers to talk through thought," Darah replied as he began to deflect attacks from the two thieves lunging at him. 

"That's such a cute name. Can I see him?" 

Darah used a blinding spell to distract the thieves as he rushed in, then cast a paralysis spell. It was limited by distance, but it was also much stronger than a normal paralyze. It was worth the risk. 

"Sorry, but no. I don't want to put him on camera without his approval and understanding."

"Ah, that totally makes sense. Well, when he does want to share, I'd love to see him. He sounds adorable," Frogs said before getting back to business. 

To Darah's surprise, he was already zoning into the last area. It was a relief, and meant that he only had to play with the thieves for a few more moments before Frogs should be in the clear. 

Bronko: There you are!

Darah winced as his character was suddenly thrown backwards against a far wall, the impact breaking two of his shields in an instant! Before his character could even get back to its feet, Bronko and his two thieves were on him!

Shit, he must have removed my paralysis spell on them!

His shields broke in rapid succession as he tried to free himself from the onslaught, but each time he tried to cast a blinding or reflection spell, it would be interrupted by a critical hit from one of the thieves!

"Dammit, they might actually get me," he ground out as his fingers flew across the keyboard, trying to trigger as many abilities as he could in order to keep himself alive. 

"Warp out! I'll be fine!" Frogs shouted, spurring Darah into a frenzy. 

I can't keep up with three damn people!

His magic points were almost drained, too. He wouldn't be able to warp out soon if he couldn't find a time where he wasn't hit for at least three full seconds. 

It sounded like it would be easy to get three seconds without being hit, but with the thieves wielding fast-attacking daggers and Bronko spamming him with constant abilities on top of his great-axe swings, he could barely keep himself alive, let alone get a three second reprieve!

He was just bracing for another flurry of hits, his heart sinking into the pit of his stomach, when a magic barrier suddenly appeared in front of his character! 

Without even thinking, Darah slammed his teleportation spell as the shield took the hits that had been destined for him, then shattered!

He could practically hear Bronko screaming as Darah's character was engulfed in a bright purple light, then suddenly vanished! 

"Hell yeah!" He shouted as he raised his hands above his head and fell back into his chair, heaving out a relieved sigh. 

"That was amazing, boss! I got my item and just warped out, too, so they can't mess with us again!" Frogs said enthusiastically. 

Darah nodded as he closed his eyes and felt Kit settle down against his chest. Now that he could relax and think things through, he could have sworn that he hadn't pressed his shield trigger again. He'd been too busy trying to get a cure off to be able to reach the number 9 key. 

Slowly blinking open his eyes a few moments later, he stared down at the young man settled against him. 

"Hey Kit?" 

Kit looked up at him, a smile on his face. 

"Did you happen to push a button during the last part of that fight?" 

He didn't think that Kit would have understood the situation much, and especially not enough to catch on to what buttons he was using to make his character do certain things. 

Yes sir. 

He was taken aback. 

I guess I did explain what that button did, but did he really remember and realize that I needed him to hit it right at that second? 

"How did you know that I needed to press that button?" He questioned, his voice filled with restrained awe. 

Kit seemed a little nervous as he blushed faintly and tucked his head. 

You kept hitting it before, making the shiny thing show up to block their attacks. I didn't want them to take your things. 

"Did Kit do something while you were fighting?" Frogs asked as he headed off to turn in his quest and retrieve his weapon. 

Darah reached up and gently pet Kit's soft hair. 

"He did. He saved me from Bronko's group right in the nick of time. He remembered the key I explained that generated one of my fast shields, and while I was busy trying to heal myself, he hit it, giving me just enough time to teleport away."

Frogs squealed. 

"Dude, that's amazing!" 

Darah grinned and hugged Kit, earning a content hum in response. 

"He is amazing. I'm going to afk for a while and go make him something yummy for saving me. I'll be back in a bit."

Frogs said his goodbyes, as well as another thanks, then they both hopped off voice chat. 

"Alright, ready for some food?" He asked with a big smile. 

Kit immediately shifted back to his ferret form and hopped off Darah's lap. 

He sailed through the air, then high-tailed it to the bedroom door before spinning back around and squeaking with a little front-footed hop!

He was definitely ready, it seemed. 

Turning his chair, Darah stood up at the same time he heard a whisper chime, drawing his gaze back towards the screen. 

Jeez. 

Bronko had evidently written him a book about how shitty a player he was and how he must have cheated and was now being reported if he didn't immediately send him his surcoat. 

Loser. 

Ignoring the message, he turned and hurried after Kit, much more interested in spoiling his sweet ferret over reading Bronko's nonsense.