The Dating Sim

"Why are you asking? Of course I do!" Somnis pouts a bit, her feelings hurt by Tab questioning the validity of her relationship.

Tab nods, listening quietly to Somnis's answer. "...As I thought. I apologize, Somnis. I didn't mean it that way. Me and Mattea noticed it ourselves on Friday. All those memories you shared with Lisa. It's just...

...It seems that if, with all the unknowns behind this other world, one of us were to... well... love... someone... it'd..." Tab seems to struggle getting the words out.

"...I just don't want to have to do something like that again. We may not escape with our lives next time. And I'm not sure if... loving someone is the right thing to do right now. Ah, I've already said too much..." Tab looks at his feet dejectedly.

A. "Is something wrong?"
B. "Oh, you like someone?"
C. "Stop being so whiney..."
D. "Are you hiding something?"
E. "...Poke."
F. "Dogachu...do something." (Expression)

I should get in the habit of voting. Like I said I would. So C. Because that's exactly what Lyon would say too, just not as nicely.

The investigation team all get a together at Julia's house, gathering around in the main room. It looks like Somnis and her friends are here as well, although Lisa is glaring at Morgan and watching over Somnis carefully. The two of them are a bit distanced from the group. Although Somnis waves at Morgan and smiles. Buttons stands next to them, acting like he's not paying attention. Dogachu sits in Somnis' lap with his tail wagging.

The others mostly gather around in a main group together. Fox stands, leaning on the table and supporting his head with both hands and Raine sits quietly next to him. Lance sits at the head of the table with his hands folded together in thought with Avel on one side of him, quietly watching everything and Mattea on the other side, leaning over the table and resting her head on one hand. Tom leans against a wall, watching over everyone and Laura stands behind Raine.

Tom is the first to speak. "Alright, everyone. There's something you should probably know. Karl was caught by the police yesterday and questioned. They're suspecting that he's involved with Zack's disappearance. This is bad to say the least. We need to be careful from now on about being spotted going to and leaving the other world. We especially need to be careful with the cops. Of course, telling them about the other world would make us look crazy, but they'd probably think we were hiding something about the murders. So if they ask you any questions, try to keep your answers vague. They'll probably know if you're lying. And selling us out is definitely going to get us nowhere. Remember, only we can do anything about this other world business. If we're caught, it's game over."

Lance nods and continues with his own plans. "Alright, now that we all know about that, I may have a plan on how we can rescue Zack." Lance looks over at Avel and he takes out what looks like a hand drawn map of the volcano. It's not necessarily accurate and he obviously doesn't know all that much about the different rooms, but it's a good visual aid. "So here's the plan. Instead of just busting in there, we take a more stealthy approach. We'll need to send in different groups to sneak past their defenses. The first issue is the alarm. Avel and I did a little snooping around when we first got there and we may have found where the main power source for the volcano is. We need to send a group in to take that out. Then, once the power is out, we only have a limited amount of time to get in, get Zack, and get out before they repair it. We'll need a fast team to sneak past the guards and do that. Finally, we need to steal the Fire Soul. Laura and Tom found out it's hidden in the throne room by listening in on some of the enemy's conversations. So in total, that's three groups for a stealth based plan. We'll have to be pretty careful. So, thoughts?"

Well i think this would be the perfect time to go on a double date. Somnis x Lisa and Julia x Morgan can be the second team to go in there and free Zack.

Nothing says I love you like breaking into a palace full of guards to rescue your Zackie poo. Oh and beating up shadows guards and the palace owner.

You know who would be great on the rescue team? That one guy who can transform into Estark- Oh wait.

Somnis tries to speak across the room to the group. "Hey, my mom's a detective. I think her current case is involved with the other world. She's investigating the murders and disappearances."

Mattea sighs. "We're supposed to be avoiding the people trying to arrest us and you're directly connected to them?"

"She's not trying to arrest us, she's trying to arrest the bad guys."

Tom speaks up. "This might not be such a bad thing. Somnis knows what the police are going to be up to with her mom and can check how their progress is."

"Well, I was going to say that someone has been manipulating the data in the police department. There's some deleted files about this case. I don't know who, but they must have a connection to the police to access their files."

Lisa is thinking. "Or they're a skilled hacker..."

"Huh?"

"Whoever is working with the enemies must be skilled with machines. I mean, just look at how complex the Soul Keys are. I wouldn't find it hard to believe that they'd be able to get into the police files."

Fox seems to be paying little attention to this and is still thinking about infiltrating the volcano. "Hey...I'm kinda like a fox ninja in the other world. I bet I'm good at stealth."

Somnis then responds to him. "Oh. Right! So I think Dogachu and Buttons should be on our Zack rescue team. And Lisa should be on the alarm team. I bet she could take out the power really easily with her skills."

The group meets back up in the other world at their small camp in Blaze Volcano.

Fox looks around. "Now's the time to prepare! Once we start this mission, we won't have time to stop."

Avel looks through his materials. "Putting together new equipment may not be a bad idea..."

Tom begins working on putting items together. "Creating some sort of blinding device would be helpful..."

Somnis considers what she should make for herself and Dogachu.

A. Weapons
B. Armor
C. Items
D. Dishes

(Reminder: you need 10 materials base for equipment, but items and dishes can be made with any number of materials.)

How about... 10 fire pelts and 3 sturdy bones to make a Flame... um... what're those outfits called? Like, uh... Ayla in Chronotrigger?
...For Somnis.

And 10x sturdy bones and 3x fire pelts to make Dogachu some Happy Hound Armor.