Visiting the Vet

Ashfire led the party further into town, heading to a shopping street where many players had shops opened up. "She used to be around here, sneaking up on players as they shopped." Going down the road, Ashfire pointed to an empty shop with a sign that said free buffs.

Sitting down at the shop was a dark-skinned elf woman with lavender hair and golden eyes."Did you come for a free buff?" The elf asked with a devilish grin.

Her eyes looked at the three potential customers as Fluffles stood on her tiptoes, hissing at the elf. "Stay back. I am not going to any doctor, vet, or anyone like that!"

"Aww, that's cute." The elf stood up and smiled, making kissy sounds to Fluffles, "here, kitty kitty, here kitty." One hand rubbed her fingers together as the other held a needle behind her back.

"Stop that," Detrix intervened and looked at the name tag, "The x doctor x zero?" she tried to pronounce as the name tag had thexdoctorx0

"Call me The Doctor," The dark elf announced.

Ashfire shook her head, "yea, I'm not doing that. I'm calling you Doctor Zero."

"I want you to call me The Doctor!"

"Ashfire, quit trying to provoke Doctor0," Fluffles intervened.

"Anyway, what can I do for you? I assume you came for free buffs. Take your pick," Doctor0 held out a small case with multiple needles. "I'll even give you multiple if you like," She offered, wearing a twisted smile.

"We came because we need a healer," Fluffles stated, glaring at the elf.

"And you would like me?" Doctor0 asked, surprised by their invitation.

"Honestly, we couldn't think of anyone else to help with the event," Ashfire added.

"So you're wanting me in your party, where I can stab you with needles, and I won't get in trouble," Doctor0 was intrigued by their offer, being threatened with suspension after some people cried about a needle put a damper on her fun. However, if she's in their party, she can have fun again.

"It seems that way," Detrix stated. "Just keep it within reason."

"Good, good. Then let me give a shot to the one acting like a kitten since she looks the most fun. After that, I'll help with whatever you want," Doctor0 smiled.

Fluffles hissed as Detrix walked up behind her and grabbed her shoulders. "Deal, but make it quick."

"Ah, traitor, let me go!" Fluffles frees her arm and tries to swat at Doctor0. "Stay back demon."

Doctor0 grabbed Fluffles' arm and stabbed the needle into her shoulder, "oh, I love seeing people's reactions." Doctor0 smiled a horrid smile that reached ear to ear. A small heart symbol appeared beside Fluffles' name "I added a health regen buff."

"Was it really that bad?" Detrix asked as she released Fluffles.

Fluffles turned her head and faced the traitor with huge sad eyes, "I thought I was gonna die." Fluffles pouted as Detrix started to pet her.

"Since you held up your end of the deal, what did you need my help with?" Doctor0 asked.

"We're planning to take on the event boss that spawned, and we need a healer," Ashfire explained.

"Alright, I'm in. Are we going to head straight there?" Doctor0 asked.

"I think we need one more person," Fluffles stated, starting to purr from her pets as she looked over to Detrix. "How are we gonna get one?"

"Actually, you're the one who has to do it. You're the party leader, so you have to use the UI to select the special event and use the autofill team. That will give us a solo player who needs a team for this event," Detrix pointed out.

"Why didn't we do this before getting the stabby doctor with us," Fluffles pouted as she looked over to Doctor0, who smiled and waved back.

"Because it's unlikely our random ally will be a healer," Ashfire added.

"Don't worry little kitty, I won't let you die," Doctor0 smirked, thinking Fluffles was a roleplay character.

Fluffles shuddered as she felt a chill run up her spine. Ignoring the feeling, she accepted the event and selected the auto-fill team, and when she finished, a bright white light enveloped them.

"Where are we?" Fluffles asked once the light faded and she could see again.

"It seems the holding area for gladiators in a coliseum," Detrix stated as she looked around.

"This isn't a coliseum; it's a theatre. It will be a dramatic performance against whatever creature they throw at us," Ashfire corrected, having been here for a few missions.

Another flash of light appeared as a practical monster appeared before the group. Standing taller than anyone else in the room, she had tentacles for hair that went to her waist with skin that looked like a mixture of rock and scales. Her face looked like a horrid mask, with four golden eyes visible through the stone.

"H-hello," Fluffles mumbles, looking up at the monstrosity.

"Greetings," The voice coming from her was very alien, going through a voice changer to give it a heavy squid-like accent.

"An Eldritch spawn, I never thought I'd see one alone in steampunk," Detrix commented, looking up and down curiously at her.

"I'm Cynthes, an Astral mage from the Eldritch world," She looked over the group, "were you all one party?"

"We are: I'm the leader, a brawler, Detrix is a hunter, Ashfire is a tech...techy, and Doctor0 is our scary healer," Fluffles explained.

"I'm a technician," Ashfire corrected.

"That's such a complicated word," Fluffles whined, refusing to try again.

"What brings you to steampunk?" Detrix asked since players usually leave their starting world to meet with friends.

"I wanted to explore all the worlds. Then this event appeared, so I wanted to give it a try before visiting more worlds," Cynthes explained.

As the gate opens, the group prepares to meet the event boss. However, before anyone could even catch a glimpse of the creature, something strikes the entire entranceway knocking everyone down. That attack took out half of their hp, all it would take is one more blast, and the battle would be lost before it even started.

"Scatter!" Fluffles shouted, running to the left, along with Ashfire and Doctor0. Detrix and Cynthes went to the right as another blast struck where the group had been standing.

Standing in the center of the theatre was a giant automaton, standing three times taller than humans. It had a giant right arm with a large round shield covering most of its body and a smaller left arm with a shotgun attached to it. It would turn and start firing upon Fluffles and the other two, focusing on the larger group.

"Any healing would be nice!" Fluffles panicked while yelling.

"It's difficult to pull out needles and run!" Doctor0 shouted back, scrambling with the needles.

Cynthes would hold out her hand as lightning shoots from it, zapping the machine. The automaton turned around to shoot Cynthes, but Ashifre threw a few grenades at the robot's feet, causing the creature to kneel from the damage.

Using this brief moment, Doctor0 healed Fluffles and Ashfire as Fluffles activated the orb of flames and lept onto the kneeling robot. The orb of flames added fire damage to her attacks as she clawed her way around the head and wrapped her legs around its neck, desperately scratching at its face.

Detrix tried multiple times to close in and attack, but the large shield kept pushing her away, and with Fluffles on the robot, Cynthes and Ashfire couldn't attack without harming her. However, Doctor0 was using this moment to start stacking buffs onto Ashfire.

The automaton's body would surge with electricity, activating an ability similar to the orb of flames, being electricity instead of fire. The electric shock knocked Fluffles off the machine and onto the ground as it pointed the shotgun at the cat's face. A point-blank shot from the gun added to the electricity damage would be enough to kill her.

Cynthes attempted another electric strike, but it did nothing, as the electricity surrounding the automaton absorbed the attack. So she opted for the weaker non-elemental magic and created multiple orbs of energy that she flung at the enemy.

Using the energy as a distraction, Detrix maneuvered around the shield and slashed at the shotgun, pushing it away from Fluffles' face, causing it to fire against a wall.

Fluffles kicked up off the ground and lept away from the machine as Detrix backed away. Ashfire had thrown more grenades at the robot, but these were much stronger with a larger blast radius thanks to the buffs Doctor0 had stacked. Ashfire's entire arm looked like a beehive had attacked with all the shots she took.

The explosions would knock the machine off balance again as Cynthes continued shooting magic at it, and Detrix stabbed into the machine's neck. Fluffles would leap forward at the automaton as her claws shattered the giant red eye, causing the robot to collapse as its health finally hit zero.