Jim's PoV

The other nights encounter with the intruder troubled Jim. He was obviously not there looking for stuff to steal. It smacked of corporate espionage. Looking sadly at his home he figured it was time to go back to a hotel. It sucked. He just got back home!

Jim packed the usual stuff along with his computer things. Thinking for a second he tried to recall if there was anything in his house that had information on what he could do. He didn't think so. Shrugging he went off to his car. Not too much time later he was sitting in yet another hotel. Before he left to the other world he sent Charlotte a brief text saying "Someone broke into my house. Probably looking for information on where the potions come from. I don't think I like this Mr. Montgomery fellow."

After that he had a moment of brilliance. He dragged his phone over to his in game inventory and smiled when he saw "Jim's Phone x 1."

He was totally going to get some selfies. Maybe just some in game shots too? Should be fun! Looking at his computer he shrugged and tossed that in his inventory as well. Sitting down he logged into the game world.

Davis' PoV

Davis was looking at his sister skeptically when she showed up with Maria. As soon as Forrest got him word that Jim arrived he had started gathering everyone up,

Arching an eyebrow he asked "What's going on Gwen?"

Gwen said quietly "We are coming."

The wolf named Fluffy had just arrived with Forrest when Maria bolted away and started playing with the large pup. Davis looked back at Gwen and raised an eyebrow questioningly.

Gwen said apologetically "Maria wanted to come."

In a lower voice she said "I think she was planning to run away. Maria was heartbroken when she first heard Jim was going. The wolves you know."

Davis said "And then she asked to go and you said ok? Really?"

Affronted she said "Of course not! I said no. But.. but then I peeked in on her a bit later and saw her packing a bag."

Flatly Davis said "It's going to be dangerous Gwen."

She nodded and said "Davis the only way I was going to stop her was if I tied her up. I just... I can't do it."

Davis sighed and said "Those dogs should keep her safe, just stick next to her. Have you been practicing at all these past years?"

Gwen rolled her eyes and then a flame appeared on her palm. She said crossly "I used this everyday. Although my practice more runs along the lines of keeping the same temperature. It works wonders for cooking."

Davis laughed and said "Really? All this time you used your fire magic for cooking?"

With a devious smile Gwen said "Why do you think my food always tastes better?"

Davis wasn't too sure about this development, but at least they would be eating good on the road.

Not much long after everyone was gathered. The party of Jim, Davis, Forrest, Gwen, Maria, Scarlet, Princess, Fluffy and the two prisoners started making their way out of town.

Scarlet's PoV

God she hated wearing these dorky hoods. But Forrest insisted until they got out of town. The ugly brown robe and cowl made her look like a monk. She hated monks.

Scarlet glanced back and finally noticed they could not see the town anymore and she took off the cowl. Then she started to run to Jim and said with a big smile "I did the job! You were not disturbed! What do I get?"

The group paused and she looked at him with her best doe eyes. Jim looked at her in thought and then started waving his hand around and then started pointing to people.

Jim asked the group "Wonder how this works. Need your permission to get you into the party it says. Can yall say "Accept Invite"?"

Slowly everyone started to say the phrase except for the two now former prisoners.

Jim whooped. Yes! That was probably good for her.

Then Jim said "For you let's get some more defensive stuff. Sorry but once I trust you a little more maybe I'll give you some offensive gear. First for everyone I am going to give these travel boots. They make you walk faster. Then for you Scarlet I'll give you this leather set that has some massive dodge bonuses. Also Do you really want another reflect dagger? I have one that is as good but has added parry chance. Would you like that one instead?"

Thinking about it for a second she said "Having two reflect daggers is probably overkill. I'll take the parry one!"

Jim started waving his hands around and then for some reason she felt a lot cooler all of the sudden. She looked down and grinned. It was crimson leather, a bit darker red than her namesake. Still it fit, she liked it.

Glancing over to Forrest she could see he liked it too. The armor fit very snug to her body. She crouched down to where his eyes were at and their gazes met. Then he went red as a tomato. She giggled.

As Scarlet was feeling how the leather bent and moved Jim continued to hand out gear. Davis got some heavy armor, a short sword and shield. Finally Forrest got a set of green leather armor with camouflage bonuses with a bow. Scarlet had red armor, Forrest had green armor, and Davis's shield had an embellished D on the front of it. Was this some sort of humor?

He glanced at Maria and Gwen and asked "What do you two want? I can just give you something defensive if you are not planning on fighting."

Maria immediately asked "Do you have anything that would help a healer?"

Jim blinked and said "Sure! Just one second."

After some more hand waving Maria was wearing a white robe and had an intricately carved staff."

Then Jim said "That is so Kawaii! I need a picture!"

Jim pulled out some kind of flat black rock and said "Here! Pose like this and smile!"

Curious Scarlet walked up behind Jim and was surprised to see that the rock had a window that was showing what was in front of it. Was this a scrying pool? Don't those need water? What kind of magic was this?"

As Scarlet was inspecting the object she watched Maria try to mimic the actions of Jim and then the picture started flashing. A few seconds later he said "That was great, thanks!"

Then she watched Jim manipulate the pictures and was fascinated. Scarlet had seen paintings before but this was nothing like that.

Finally Jim turned to Gwen and asked "What can I get for you?"

Shyly Gwen said "I have a fire spell. Do you have anything that can help?"

Jim shouted "Yes! My party rocks! I got a tank, healer, hunter, mage and assassin! Awesome party composition!"

The Gwen woman didn't seem to know what to say to that. But a few hand waves later she was sporting a menacing black staff and flowing black robes.

Scarlet was close to Jim and she heard him mumble "Mahou Shoujo.."

Jim started using the magical rock again. Scarlet was annoyed! Why didn't he use the magical rock on her!

Scarlet went up to Gwen and pulled her into a hug while smiling towards the magical rock.

Gwen tensed up but Scarlet paid her no mind. Then Jim dreamily said "This is perfect! I know just the site to post this at! It's going to get so many views!"

Scarlet had no idea what that was, but looking over at Forrest she saw him now peeking behind Jim. As he realized what was happening a look of jealousy appeared on his face. Good, good. Always had to keep them chasing.

After a couple seconds later Gwen started struggling from her grip and said "What? What are you doing?"

Jim walked up and showed Gwen the power of the black rock. Gwen murmured "Wow... how is that possible?"

Jim cheerily said "Magic!"

Scarlet rolled her eyes. Obviously that was what it was.

Jim finally walked up to the former prisoners and said "Here, at the very least take these boots to keep up"

After passing out the last of the loot Jim pronounced "Lets go! The adventure starts now!"

Mr. Montgomery's PoV

Charles had just left the room after finishing his report. He had held in his anger but finally lost it and slammed his fist on the desk.

The FDA had done what they were told and had given the substance their rubber stamp. But first thing in the morning his lawyer informed him that they were breaking off negotiations.

His PI had screwed up. There could be little confusion when someone came snooping around Charlotte's supplier right after a delivery. They can't have known for certain but with how hard he had been pushing to make this more than a one time deal, it wouldn't take a lot of brain power to guess who was breaking in.

He had gone to his doctor after taking the dose of the so called weaker drug. They were shocked to find how healthy he was, at least relatively. Before they had given him only six months to live. Now their figure jumped to two years. And so far they couldn't find any side effects.

Mr. Montgomery had to have this drug. One way or another, he would control its flow, His mind went darker as he remembered a time when he first started out in business. Back then, business was done more often with fist than words. But the man named Jim had rabbeted and was nowhere to be found, but Charlotte was still around.

He would try things the nice way first. But if things would not progress soon, he would have to return to another time. A time when he had not been known as a nice old man.

Jim's PoV

"Are we there yet?"

No.

"Will we be there soon?"

"Probably another two days at this pace."

"Really?"

"Yes"

Jim pouted. This adventure sucked so far. Five hours of walking and nothing. No encounters with evil wildlife or bandits. No damsels in distress. Nothing. Just walking.

Jim asked again "Will we be there soon now?"

Forrest answered dully "No."

Jim looked to Forrest and asked "Is this normal? For it to be this peaceful?"

Forrest glanced to Gwen and Maria and reluctantly said "Actually no. It's very odd. Generally the only time it is this quiet is if a large predator is around, but if that was the case they would have attacked us by now."

Jim perked up and asked "Large predator? Like what?"

Forrest responded "Around here, probably the big cats are the most common. They can get up to four times the size of humans, but there are other things to be worried about. There are tales of some demons around, but no one has seen them in the past twenty years. Also in legends there were rock giants, but it's been over a couple hundred years since the last one was reported to have been seen."

Confused Jim asked "Rock giants eat animals?"

Forrest shrugged and said "No one knows. The only people to have seen them were far away. General knowledge says if you are close enough to see one in detail, you're probably about to die."

Jim mumbled to himself "I wish I could have a rock giant mount. That would be awesome."

Trying to keep his mind occupied Jim scanned his inventory list. For some reason he had "Helmet x 119."

Weird. Why did he have over 99 of them? Pulling one out he examined it. Just a normal crappy low tier helmet. Shrugging Jim tossed it away.

After a few minutes past Jim was still bored. "Are we there yet?"

"No"

Scarlet's PoV

They had settled down for the night and Scarlet saw the two former prisoners wander off, so she followed them stealthily. Not too far away she found shelter behind a tree and listened to their conversation.

A female voice said excitedly "Can you believe our luck! Scarlet is traveling to Jacksberg! We can still make it out of this with our heads if we play this straight!"

The man irritably said "Keep your voice down. And yes we can salvage our lives, but our reputation will be ruined! Why did we risk this much just for this girl? This is crazy."

The female said agreeably "Yea. But the boss wants her dead. Word is that someone paid a lot of money. And you know Aaron, everything is for sale for the right price."

The man sighed and said "Evil bastard, but he is our evil bastard. This should have been an easy job! How did she find out about our man on the inside so quickly? There is no way she could have found out ."

The woman said tiredly "Sometimes some people just have way too much luck."

The man made some agreeable noises and then said "We need to get back to camp before someone starts looking for us. Just be on your guard to make an accident happen. You still have those poison roots or whatever you call them?"

The woman said "Yea. Next time we settle down for a meal I'll try to help out with the cooking. Just be ready."

"Got it."

Aaron is it? Scarlet almost wanted to laugh. She was right! Looks like she really pissed someone off. Wonder who though. There were so many!