Chapter 3: Quest for the Ultimate Treasure

"Oh my god... This is it!" Kageichi drooled in excitement, after yesterday's Alpha Wolf quest he returned to the Sengoku Era. He had found the player who owned a little food shop from before; his character was a rabbit chef with an apron around his waist with an even smaller rabbit on it. The panda drooled as his plate was filled with a friend bun. "Oh god I can't believe I get to eat a curry bun for the first time, and with the neuro-synchronization I can actually taste it too!"

"Hehe, it is a good thing with this game. I'm happy you like my food." The rabbit said.

Ichi smiled taking his first bite of the curry bun, his cheeks turned red as he smiled with a bit of curry under his chin. "Ahh, the crunchy bread on the outside with the delicious curry on the inside is simply to die for! Thanks again, Lappy. If I didn't have you on my friend list I'd definitely put you in there now."

"Aw thanks, so what are you gonna do now?" Lappy asked.

"Oh I don't know, I got to level 22 now but my big bro has work so he couldn't get on." He sighed. "Man why does he always have to be busy?"

"Well he does have a job, don't you?"

"Oh yeah, if I didn't I couldn't pay for my college dorm." The panda said. "Though it makes it easier with my roommate paying half of it, he's a great guy and everything... but enough IRL stuff what are you gonna do today?"

"Oh that's right, well I was going to check out this one quest." Lappy chuckled to himself. "It's been up for a while, I wanted to do it too but I've been a bit nervous since I don't have much of skills besides cooking and my only other class is a scout so I don't have much fighting skills. I still want that ultimate treasure though."

"Whoa wait a sec ultimate treasure?" Ichi said with food still in his mouth. "Watcha talking about Lappy!?"

"You don't know there's this treasure for a rare item." He explained. "It's in a dungeon in the future era, no one has got it yet and it's supposed to have a great EXP bonus too. I've wanted to do it since I'm at a good enough level to go through it; you have to at least be a level 20-25."

"Awesome, so why don't you do it?" The panda asked.

"Well it's just that I wouldn't be able to survive, I'm just a cook after all. And with my scouting class I wouldn't be able to do much but check surroundings for traps." Lappy sighed. "I don't think I could do it on my own."

"Well I've got an idea, why don't I join you?" Ichi suggested. "I've got nothing to do, I'd love to join for the extra EXP and you can have the rare item for yourself how about that?"

"Huh, you don't mind?"

"Not at all, let's totally do it!"

"Well thanks Ichi, alright let's do it." Lappy smiled and walked out of his shop from the other side. "Alright, let's head to the middle of town and open the Time Dial."

The party of two had made their jump through time and soon found themselves in the new era. Kotarou Arishima, the creator of the game's idea of the future was that of the singularity theory; the city somehow blended with its own reality and another virtual reality, players could create stairs; build their own houses and shops with verbal commands. Kageichi was astounded by every minute of it. "Wow, if this is what the future will really look like one day then I can't wait for it!"

"But you know, when it does we might end up old or dead." Lappy chuckled nervously. "Well anyway, how about we go accept that quest now?" The rabbit chef snapped his fingers as the quest board appeared in front of them and opened the quest description, but he suddenly noticed that another player's name was next to it. "Oh no, a player already took the quest five minutes ago."

"Huh, is that such a big deal?" Ichi asked. "I mean once they get the treasure the game will just create another copy of it."

"That's only for normal items, but a rare item is only there once and once it's taken no one else can get it." He explained. "If we don't hurry and get there first we'll be too late."

"Then what the hell are we standing here for let's go!" The panda grabbed Lappy's paw and quickly made a dash for the outskirts of town. "Quick, tell me which way the dungeon is."

"W-Wait a second Ichi, I can get us there-huh?"

"No time for "huh", we gotta hurry because...huh?"

He finally stopped and looked at what the rabbit was looking at; it was another player battling a group of chimeras by themselves. The player was a gorilla in black space marine armor, his armored fists charged in electricity as he punched and destroyed each monster, as one lunged at him with its claws he dodged only getting grazed minimizing the damage before he chopped its head off with a quick swing of his massive hand. He lowered his guard without noticing the last chimera that jumped into the air and dove down with its claws ready to attack.

"Slash!" Kageichi dashed out as his sword glowed in energy, unsheathing it quickly he swung cutting the chimera in half and landed just as it disappeared above the Gorillas head. He sheathed his sword while he turned and said. "Whew, I almost thought I wouldn't make that. Hey, you ok dude?"

"Yeah thanks, I didn't even notice that monster." He smiled. "My name's Alphonse C. Williams, nice to meet ya."

"I'm Kageichi Kagi." He replied.

"And I'm Lappy." The chef made his way to the others. "We were just about to go to a dungeon for a quest before we saw you."

"So what were you doing here, Al?" Ichi asked.

"Oh well um... I was doing a quest too but I figured I'd try leveling up to level 25 first." Al answered. "I guess being 24 is fine, where are you guy going?"

"We're going to the scar of time dungeon as part of our quest." Lappy explained.

"No kidding? I'm heading there too to get the ultimate treasure item."

"Wait... that's what we're doing." Ichi said. "So you're the one that took the quest!"

"You took it too huh?" Al asked. "It looks like it's every player for them self."

"Wait a second; we really don't have to make a race for it." Lappy assured. "I know what we can do, we can party up and work together for the item. Then we can split the EXP so no problems right?"

"But that would lead to the problem with the treasure, I do want it." Alphonse replied.

"Alright then, how about we make it a race then?" The panda suggested. "We can see who gets there first and get the treasure before the other."

"Well I guess it does make it better, alright we can do that." Lappy said smiling.

"Well may the best man win."

Alphonse held his hand out to shake; Ichi smiled and accepted the handshake, but was unaware that the gorillas other hand was charging electricity. Al swung his fist into Kageichi's stomach discharging a shockwave all over his body. He fell to the ground writhing in pain, twitching from the electricity he was shot with. "Sorry, but I figured I'd get a head start."

"K-Kageichi are you ok-gah!?" Lappy was hit in the back of his head with a chop by Alphonse.

"Sorry again, but like you said may the best man win." Alphonse said. "Don't worry my stun gauntlets puts my enemies on paralysis for thirty seconds. Thanks again for the head start, see you later!"

"Hey wait, you can't just leave us here ya jerk!" Ichi yelled out as the Gorilla had already disappeared in the trees. "Dammit, I swear I'm gonna kick that giant monkey's ass when I can move again!"

Meanwhile, Spike sighed as he sat around in the gate hackers' headquarters. It was a large living room with a small bar right next to it. Sebastian was cleaning a few dishes to pass the time, noticing the hedgehog lazing about he sighed and said, "You should do something if you're going to sit around all day."

"Shut it old man, come talk to me when you have more hair on your head!" He knew talking about the bald spot on the lions head was sensitive. He didn't show it but Sebastian was hurt. "I'm still pretty pissed about yesterday, what the GM said about that hacker who stopped my hack?"

"It was an unknown, we couldn't locate the trace of the counter-hack or where the player who made it was." Sebastian answered brushing his bald spot. "Whoever it was is a skilled hacker, we may need to watch ourselves in the future."

"Would guys like a little help?" A deep voice asked the two turned to the door as a large brown bear came in the room. He appeared in leather S&M gear, an opened leather jacket that showed both his muscular arms and chest though he still had a round gut that hung over his leather pants. The bear had leather straps that made an X on his chest also as well, with a black hat to finish his ensemble. He smiled with a big cigar still in his mouth. "Papa loves to give his cubs a helping hand."

"Oh god why are you here Trucker?" Spike jumped out of his seat and moved away from the bear. "I thought you weren't gonna be on for another month."

"So you missed papa huh?" He smirked blowing some smoke at Spike's direction. "If you like we can have a little fun later."

"Stay the hell away from me weirdo!" The hedgehog summoned a large war hammer into his hands. "I remember the last time you caught me with that smoke of yours. I still get nightmares about that day even when I'm offline."

Trucker smirked; he took one step and was right beside spike in an instant. "That just means you liked it... and want more." A streak of light flashed as the bear noticed his cigar cut multiple times. "Now why must you always ruin my fun, Sebastian?"

"Master Trucker, need I remind you the rules of this game?" The old lion held his paws out, wires extended from the fingertips of his gloves. "You hacked your character to add your own... ideas to it. That is one of the reasons the guild master asked let you join, but you must remember that this game is not adult oriented."

"E-Exactly you S&M freak no back off!" Spike included, he tried not to move on the account of the wires around them. Though he didn't want to admit it, Sebastian's garrote wires which could cut through any weapon or armor were very powerful.

"Though there is marriage that you can consider. Perhaps you two can make a nice couple." Sebastian smiled.

"What, no way in hell!" The hedgehog should've expected the old butler get payback for his bald joke; he just wished it was something a little less scarring.

After recovering from their paralysis ailment, Kageichi and Lappy made their way to the scar of time dungeon. The dungeon was made to be the ruins of the old city and show how far the future city had progressed. "Alright where is that monkey, I'm gonna whoop his ass for that trick of his!"

"You really should calm down Ichi; after all it is every man for themselves." Lappy shrugged. "We need to hurry though, he's probably already inside."

"Then let's get going!" Kageichi dashed off further into the dungeon without noticing he stepped onto a trap.

"Jump back now!"

The rabbits command caught Ichi's ears just in the nick of time as spears shot out into the ground; he back flipped out of the way as more shot out and he jumped back to Lappy's side. "Whew, thanks Lappy."

"This dungeon has a few traps like that including simple obstacles like parts of buildings falling on us." The rabbit sighed. "But knowing the traps are pretty much all I can do to help, I'm not much of a fighter you know?"

"That doesn't matter dude, besides there's other ways to help." Ichi smiled. "Who knows if we find a monster maybe you can cook it or hit it with a frying pan, slapstick comedy violence always work in situations like this."

"Hehe, well besides cooking I do have my Scout class."

"Then scout the surroundings, you noticed the trap right?" He asked.

"Well that is part of the job of a scout class." Lappy answered.

"Then use your scouting skills, you go on ahead telling me where traps are and where there might be a hidden short cut." The panda told.

"Alright, don't do anything until I say so ok." The rabbit showed more determination as he dashed down into the dungeon, passing through the last trap and noticing a wire above him. "Kageichi follow me, make sure to duck under this wire or you'll trigger another trap."

"That's more like it, lead the way bunny dude."

Alphonse made it to the end of the dungeon; he used his space marine helmet to scan through the area in search of traps and finding a safe way through the dungeon. He found a large tree sitting at the end of the dungeon, besides the monsters that he found the tree must have been the last sign of life in the old ruins of the old city. The gorilla smiled as he saw a large treasure chest next to the tree. "Good, looks like I got here first."

"In your dreams monkey boy!" Alphonse jumped as his helmet scanned the area finding two figures walking towards him from behind the tree, it was Kageichi and Lappy. "I'm not letting you get away with our treasure!"

"I searched for hidden passages on my way here, how did you find one?" He asked.

"Don't underestimate the scout class." Lappy said proudly.

"It seems we got here at the same time, the only possible outcome is to fight for the ultimate treasure." The Gorilla summoned a machine gun into his hands and targeted them.

"Damn, just had to have a gun." Ichi readied his sword. "Lappy stay back, I'll fight him."

"His armor looks pretty strong, and a space marine have more than long range weapons."

"Right, here I go!"

As the samurai panda charged, Alphonse fired his gun continuously. Kageichi dodged left and write while deflecting with his sword, he dashed taking a few bullets until he jumped into the air and attacked. The gorilla guarded with his gun holding the sword from making contact, but he didn't react in time as Ichi kneed him in the gut. "Quartet Slash!" Kageichi's blade charged in energy as he struck Alphonse on all sides, from his front, his back, and his sides in a 4 hit attack. The gorilla grabbed a device on his side which transformed into a plasma blade, he swung landing a hit on Ichi's back before he dodged his next swing.

"Tch." Ichi grunted in pain getting back into his sword stance, he saw his health bar lowering to about fifty five percent while Alphonse's health bar only fell by eighty three. 'Damn, that armor is stronger than I thought...'

"That was impressive, taking the bullets to get close like that." Al charged slashing down with his blade, the panda blocking with his sword just in time. "This armor has high defense power; it'll take a while to damage me with weak attacks like that."

The two crossed swords again, clashing and making sparks fly with each attack. Alphonse swung upwards making the panda lose his grip on his sword, but Ichi smirked as his fist charged in electricity. "You're not the only one who can pack a thousand volts: Lightning Combo!" He thrusts his palm at his stomach discharging electricity and shocking him, he stuck again with a knee to his ribs, gave a double palm thrust shocking him again and finishing him off with a drop kick to his face that flew him to a wall. It made critical damage knocking his health down to sixty percent. "Yeah, choke on that monkey boy!"

Alphonse removed his broken helmet from his head and smiled. "Alright you caught me off guard; I didn't think you were also a martial artist. This'll make it just as fun." He raised his fists as he went into a martial arts stance. "Round two, let's go!"

"With pleasure!" Ichi retorted.

"Um guys I think there's something wrong here." Lappy called looking through the mission description again. "I just checked the quest description again and it seems there's a boss we have to beat that's guarding the treasure."

"There was a boss for this dungeon?" Alphonse asked.

"Hang on let me see." The panda opened a holographic screen to see the description again. "It says there's a boss called... Toxicweaver? If that's the case then where..." He felt something breathing on them. "Is..." He turned around and found a monster in front of him, a large spider drooling a toxic substance on the floor that made holes in the ground. Ichi was stunned in fear, his hands trembling as it moved closer to him. "It..."

"Move out of the way!" Before the Toxicweaver struck, Alphonse tackled Ichi out of the way but the spider spat out its acid on his back. He winced in pain but quickly moved him and the panda to a safe distance. "Kageichi hey, are you ok? Wake up already!"

"Uh... Um I..." Kageichi slowly returned his senses as he saw Al wince in pain. "Al you're poisoned. You need a panacea or your health will go down gradually."

"Don't worry my armor still minimizes the damage." He smirked. "So from that reaction I'm guessing you're afraid of spiders."

"No... just giant bugs." Ichi admitted. "I got stunned by it is all, I should've figured I'd see an insect monster in this game. Don't worry, now that I've seen it I won't freak out like that again."

"Good, I'll need you to have my back." Alphonse smiled, he looked back to see Lappy running away from the Toxicweaver distracting it from them.

"Guys help, hurry!" The rabbit pleaded

"You up for this?" The gorilla took out his gun again and readied to fire. "Get your sword I'll cover you."

Kageichi nodded and made a dash for it, Alphonse fired his gun distracting the Toxicweaver while dealing damage to it. The spider fired more of its poison, striking his armor but the damage was small enough to take without worrying; Ichi saw his sword stabbed into the ground and made a grab for it, but as he held it in his hands he saw his legs being tied up in webs and was pulled away the spider. "Dammit, let go of me!"

"Break yourself loose!" Al grabbed his plasma blade and cut the web pulling the panda. "Hurry, once you're free cut off its legs."

Ichi cut the web on his legs with his sword and quickly dashed to the spider's side, Alphonse did the same and the two attacked cutting off six of the Toxicweaver's legs leaving it helpless and unable to move with the smaller legs on the back. "Heh, this'll make an easy win. Hey Al, how about the one who kills it first gets the treasure?"

"That sounds good to me." He smiled reading his plasma blade to attack.

The spider hissed at them and fired its web around its body, weaving it around until it made a new pair of legs for it. It weaved its web again and threw a large fist at the two. "Alphonse, look out!" Kageichi pushed the space marine out of the way before the fist made contact and took the full brunt of the attack, he fell to the ground writhing in pain as his health went down to thirty percent.

"Kageichi!" Al rushed back to the panda with a potion in his hands. "What were you thinking; I could've taken the attack myself."

"Y-Yeah, but along with being poisoned you might be worse off than I am right now." He chuckled nervously taking the potion and restoring his health back to fifty five percent. "But now what do we do, if we cut its legs off it'll make new ones with its webs."

"I don't know but here it comes again."

The Toxicweaver charged toward them at an alarming rate, but just as it did a blur of white dashed between the two players; Lappy charged at blinding speed, jumping into the air with a frying pan in hand he attacked the monster's head landing a critical hit that slammed it to the ground. The force made a large crater that surprised the two players. "Holy crap, is he really just a chef?"

"Lappy that was awesome, how did you do that?" Ichi asked.

"No time for that, look at the monster." The rabbit pointed out, the spider's health now at forty percent. "One more critical and we'll beat him."

"Then we'll work together." Alphonse said. "Kageichi, do you have that martial art skill I'm thinking of?"

"If it's the one I think you're thinking of then let's do it." He smirked sheathing his sword. "Lappy, launch him in the air for us!"

"Okay!" Lappy charged again, the Toxicweaver was still staggering from the last attack which gave him the chance to strike with his frying pan again launching it into the air. "Now!"

Al and Ichi ran under it until they were right under the spider's belly, clenching their fists as it started to fall. "Critical Break!" With it close, the two attacked with a double uppercut that unleashed a large burst of energy inside the monster, the Toxicweaver began to expand until it exploded in data. The two smiled and gave each other a congratulatory high five as the three all leveled up from the EXP bonus.

"We did it, we won!" Lappy exclaimed.

"Yeah, thanks to you buddy." Ichi smirked.

"I've never seen anyone at your level with such strength, especially a chef." Alphonse included.

"Well it wasn't really my strength per say." He blushed taking out a blue vile from his inventory. "Over the game I've gotten lots of these vitality boost items, I never used it till now."

"That's right; vitality boost heals you a little but also increases your strength for a few seconds." The marine replied. "You took a lot to increase your strength exponentially."

"Well aren't you the smart bunny." Ichi laughed. "I think for saving our butts like that, I declare that Lappy should get the treasure."

"I agree."

"Thanks guys." Lappy smiled and looked over to the treasure chest under the tree. "You guys can have a look too."

The three walked over to the treasure chest, as Lappy slowly opened it the two were surprised to see that the item inside was a large book. "This is it, the ultimate treasure."

"A book, that's what the rare item is?" The panda asked.

"It could have a powerful spell, or maybe a special skill no one else could use." Alphonse suggested. "What's the name of the item anyway?"

"W-Well its..." Lappy chuckled nervously as he opened the description on the item.

"The Ultimate Chef's Cookbook," Alphonse read aloud. "The legendary book which allows anyone to gain master cooking skills and cook foods from around the world... is this for real?"

"We did all of this... for a freaking cookbook!?" Kageichi exclaimed and glared at the chef. "Lappy, did you know what it really was?"

"W-Well I um... might've known." Lappy answered embarrassed at how bad a liar he was. "I'm sorry, but I just wanted to get it before anyone else. I'll let you guys read it too if it'll help you forgive me."

"Oh no, you have to do more than that... right Al?" He asked.

"Damn right he does." The two smirked as the rabbit grew all the more nervous.

"W-What do you want me to do?"

After returning to town, the three went to Lappy's shop in the future era. The bunny chef sighed as the two chowed down on a huge batch of pigs in a blanket. "Um guys, how long are you two gonna eat? This is your third helping you know?"

"Did someone forget our deal now?" Alphonse asked. "Ichi, would you remind him please?"

"As for not mentioning that the rare item was a cookbook, not only do you have to let us read it..." He took another mini hot dog in his mouth and smiled. "But you also have to cook for us for three weeks."

"But for free?" Lappy whined.

"No use fussing if you already agreed to it." The two chuckled and ate to their hearts content.