Turquoise and Haruka woke up ready to continue the quest while Lemon was still asleep. Haruka tried to wake up Lemon but she did not budge.

“Who knew Lemon was a heavy sleeper,” Haruka said.

“She isn't, I think climbing all those stairs tired her out,” Turquoise said. While Lemon was tossing and turning she grabbed onto Brigid’s tails and cuddled with them calling them fluffy fluff. Brigid did not like having her tails touched and unleashed some very cold air from her body causing Lemon to jolt right out of bed.

“Jesus Criest what was that for Brigid were you trying to put me into cryogenic sleep?” Lemon asked.

“You tried to cuddle with her fluffy fluff and she did not like it but glad to see you awake,” Turquoise replied while quoting the fluffy fluff part. The girls all left the Inn and went to explore Lycan. Haruka found a blacksmith shop that sold armor which the girls were glad to find. As soon as they entered they were greeted by a pink haired wolf girl wearing a blacksmith’s apron with her shop’s logo on it.

“Welcome to my humble shop ladies here for some armor?” The wolf girl asked.

“We sure are,” Lemon said.

“You girls are in luck. I just finished making some armor from my latest batch of Earth Dragon Excrement,” The Wolf Girl said before the armor appeared before them. Turquoise and Haruka bought some and equipped it, transforming the armored parts of their outfits into black metal that was slightly heavier. “You girls have a nice day and may the goddess bless you.

Meanwhile back in the real world. Bullet and the other parents were quite worried since it's already been two days now.

“Hey Bullet? Where did you say Turquoise put that exit?” Michael asked.

“Floor four,” Bullet asked.

“Ok but they are on floor two now, is there a faster way to get there?” Michael asked.

“I wish I knew but Turquoise designed this world so you are going to have to ask her,” Bullet said.

“They need to hurry, look at their bodies,” Ruby said, referring to how the girls looked slightly skinnier than two days ago.

“What is happening to them?” Micheal asked.

“Fasting, Haruka’s mom said.

“What is that?” Bullet asked.

“It's when the body becomes devoid of nutrients from lack of consumption and as a result begins eating away at itself to maintain energy,” Haruka’s mom said.

“Ok but is it a bad thing?” Bullet asked.

“Not really but it is unhealthy and often leads to vomiting,” Haruka’s mom said.

“But that’s not our only concern, " Haruka's dad said.

“What else is there?” Bullet asked.

“It has to do with the power supply for the nerve gear, if it runs out our girls might die,” Haruka’s Dad said.

“Let’s just hope they can make it out before then,” Ruby said.

Meanwhile back in the game Turquoise and her group arrived in front of a stairway leading up a tall mountain.

“Are you kidding me more stairs?” Lemon whined.

“Quit whining Lemon,” Haruka said.

I’m not whining, I'm complaining,” Lemon retorted.

“Either way we need to keep moving. It's already been two days and I fear if we don't get to the exit before the power runs out we may die,” Turquoise said. After hearing the urgency of the situation the group started climbing the stairs. After what felt like an hour of climbing stairs the girls arrived at a Japanese temple with the kanji for fire above the gate. As soon as the girls entered the temple the temperature rose by thirty degrees. Despite the rise in heat, the girls were just fine.

“How are we not burning up from this sweltering climate?” Lemon asked.

“It’s the armor we just bought it was made to withstand temperatures below 2000 degrees so as long as we keep it on we should be fine but we must hurry right now the temperature is at 130 degrees and if it exceeds 2000 our armor will melt and we will lose all our health instantly,” Turquoise pointed out. The girls fought their way through many fire monsters and as soon as they reached the halfway point inside the temple a giant phoenix appeared and unleashed a mighty screech before firing flaming feathers at them like they were knives. After dodging them Lemon fired a water spell at the Phoenix causing a small amount of damage.

“That was a water attack it should have done more damage than that,” Lemon said frantically.

“It's this intense heat, the room is built like a giant oven designed to trap the heat inside. As long as we are in this room all damage from water attacks is cut in half,” Turquoise pointed out.

“Let me guess because of the air being too hot to gather moisture from it?” Haruka asked.

“Exactly, normally water beats fire but if the air is too hot the water just fizzles out,” Turquoise further explained. As soon as the girls reached the halfway mark on the Phoenix’s health bar it switched from its wing attack to a fireball attack. The girls dodged most of the fireballs but some of them landed and reduced them to ten percent health except for Haruka who was focusing her energy. The Phoenix unleashed a massive fireball and launched it at the girls. Just when it looked like it was about to be over Haruka unleashed her power and sent the fireball back at the Phoenix causing it to reduce to ash.

“You did it Haruka, you beat the mini boss,” Lemon said joyfully. Just as the girls were about to leave the ashes began to form into a ball and out of the ball came a red and orange bird the size of a hawk wearing a ruby necklace. Haruka then got a notification asking if she wanted to bond with the bird.

“Should I do it, love?” Haruka asked Turquoise.

“It was you who delivered the decisive blow so it's all yours,” Turquoise said. Haruka hit yes and placed her hand on the bird's head thus bonding with it. As soon as the name screen appeared Haruka typed the name Taka and completed the contract now giving Haruka a Spirit Pet of her own.

“What does your new friend do?” Lemon asked. Haruka pulled out her menu and looked at Taka’s stats.

“Taka is a Fire Elemental with some impressive attack stats,” Haruka said. The girls pressed on and after many monsters arrived in a room where the boss key was but the catch for this one was it was in pieces and needed to be reassembled.

“You couldn't just leave the key in one piece? “Lemon asked.

“This is the fire temple plus this kind of puzzle makes it more challenging,” Turquoise said as she picked up the first piece which was the back part. The girls searched the room and as soon as they found the other two pieces placed them in the mold. Haruka instantly picked up on what they had to do.

“I see now, we have to reforge the key,” Haruka said.

“How do you know that?” Lemon asked.

“My great grandfather was a blacksmith, so I recognize the tools of his trade,” Haruka said before pouring magma into the mold. Sometime later the magma drained, and a new boss key was forged. Once the girls had the key it was time to keep moving. They arrived back in the main room of the temple but this time a new passageway opened up for them. Once they reached the end of it, they arrived at the boss door. Haruka used this opportunity to equip Taka before they unlocked the door. Once they entered the boss room the door closed. The inside looked like decayed ruins littered with bones and a huge pile of gold and diamonds in the center. Suddenly the sound of wings flapping echoed through the room and descending from the opening above was a dragon with red scales and green eyes who unleashed a mighty roar. The girls began by attacking it but its thick scales lessened the damage. Turquoise decided to try one of Brigid's elemental attacks.

“Bridgid, unleash Diamond Blizzard,” Turquoise commanded. Bridgid began channeling her power before the room was suddenly filled with a powerful blizzard that managed to affect the dragon. Unfortunately, Bridgid’s power was not powerful enough to do much damage as indicated by the scales being cracked instead of shattering.

“Now’s our chance, “Haruka said before the girls focused their attacks on the cracked areas. This time the dragon took more damage. The fight continued until Haruka and Taka delivered the final blow which resulted in the dragon crashing into the mountain of gold before exploding. The gold began to come tumbling down before revealing the Celestial Key of Fire.

“The dragon had the key buried under there the whole time?” Lemon asked in shock.

“Exactly, you know you can’t have it until you defeat the boss,” Turquoise said.

“Well, we got the first key for this floor, What’s next?” Haruka asked.

“We return to the village and decide on the next dungeon,” Turquoise said.

“Don’t tell me we have to go back down those stairs again?” Lemon asked.

“I’m afraid so,” Turquoise said, which Lemon was not looking forward to.

Meanwhile back in the real world. Twilight was typing away on her laptop working on something when Rainbow Dash spoke to her.

“So, what’s the resident egghead working on this time?” Rainbow asked.

“Tracking software,” Twilight said nonchalantly.

“What far?” Rainbow asked.

“To help my brother, “Twilight said. “He told me the case involving Turquoise and her friend went cold due to the prime suspect fleeing the country so I'm working on something that will help track them down.

“Ok but even if you find them how will you bring them here, you’re not going to just reach out and pull them into the computer are you?” Rainbow asked.

“Of course not, that is scientifically impossible and unrealistic,” Twilight said.

“I was kidding, sheesh you eggheads really need to learn how to take a joke,” Rainbow said. Suddenly the rest of their friends came into the room.

“What are you working on Twilight?” Sunset asked.

“Tracking software to help my brother find this Nathan guy,” Twilight said.

“And just how in tarnation will you accomplish that?” Applejack asked.

“By tracking the source of that backdoor Vicky installed, Nathan has to have the file for it in his laptop or something, “Twilight said as she finished her program.

“Even if you find them, how are you going to bring them here?” Sunset asked.

“I’m not, that is the police department's job, I'm just the tracker,” Twilight said as she plugged the flash drive that was confiscated from Vicky into her laptop.

“Uh are you sure that’s a wise idea? Won’t someone access your computer?” Fluttershy asked.

“A door in is also a door out so I'm using my program to follow that door back to its source,” Twilight said. Sometime later the program managed to find Nathan's location and when it came up, she was shocked. “Big brother, come quick. Shining ran into the room fast.

“What is it Twily? You sound like you found something huge, “Shining said.

“You're not far off,” Twilight said before showing Shining her results.

“Nice work Twily, unfortunately we still can’t do anything,” Shining said.

“And why not?” Rainbow asked.

“The Nefarious Five are now in a foreign country which means they are now out of our jurisdiction,” Shining said.

“Nefarious five?” Fluttershy asked.

“That’s the nickname Bullet gave his board of directors,” Shining said.

“There has to be something we can do?” Rainbow said.

“Unless those five are either deported back here or come back willingly, it’s out of our hands, “Shining said before he left.

“There must be something we can do?” Sunset asked.

“Maybe not here but luckily I know someone in Japan,” Twilight said.

“Who?” Sunset asked.

“My pen pal Kimiko, “Twilight said.

“Did you say Pen pal?” Sunset asked.

“For my international studies class back at Crystal Prep, we hit it off quite nicely over zoom, Luckily I can still reach her,” Twilight said before doing so. A bit later a girl dressed in a school uniform appeared on Twilight’s screen.

“Konichiwa Twilight-Chan,” The girl said.

“Long time no see Kimiko,” Twilight said.

“What have you been up to lately?” Kimiko asked.

“Right now, helping my brother with a cold case involving five gentlemen and another friend of mine, “Twilight said. She showed Kimiko the pictures of the nefarious five which caught Kimiko’s attention.

“I saw those five at my parents' resort,” Kimiko said.

“That’s great, now we need to bring them back to our country to face justice,” Twilight said.

“I will see what I can do and inform you should something happen, it was nice seeing you again Twilight, Sayonara, “Kimiko said before ending the video call.

“Hopefully we can end this nightmare soon,” Twilight said.

Author's Note

In the original this was where the fenos arc ended but now i'm expanding it. I may cut out a few boss fights but i don't think all of you want to see chapters about entire dungeons.