[Steve Says Confirmation Required]

  Steve would like to turn the air in and around the Singing City into laughing gas that inflicts the Giggles.

  Do you wish to proceed?

  YES — NO

  “He’s very persistent,” Panda said as I clicked ‘No’ for the 30th time in the last few minutes.

  Samantha and Camilla had both stopped squirming around by the time a massive three-legged fox-racoon hybrid had tried to forcefully cuddle us. It was doubtful they would’ve been able to escape it on their own, since both lacked movement skills and items, and they had clearly realized the same, hence their sudden cooperation.

  “Did either of you pick up the raincoat from Matthew Twine’s body?” I asked them.

  Samantha frowned. “I didn’t think of that.”

  “I just got our weapons back,” Camilla said.

  Bee floated down next to me. “I got it.”

  “Good,” I told her. “You should give it to Cooper.”

  “I want it,” Samantha said.

  “Yeah, I don’t think so,” I told her.

  “Maybe we can give it to Camilla,” Bee suggested.

  I thought about it for a bit, while skating sideways along a round bulb of a building. It was clear only my board and I could defy gravity, because Samantha and Camilla both wailed incessantly about being on the verge of falling, even though my grip was as strong as ever.

  “We do deserve something in return for giving you our monstrosity material,” Samantha argued. “But still, you should give the raincoat to me.”

  “Nope,” I told her. “Either Camilla gets it, or it’s no deal.”

  “Why me?” Camilla asked.

  Bee and I shared a look.

  “What?” Samantha asked.

  “How do I put this?” I started, not knowing whether my words would be taken in the right way or cause our tenuous relationship to fracture.

  “I think I get it,” Camilla said after a moment.

  “What?” Samantha asked, clearly wanting to know.

  “Ma’am, they’re likely implying that you’re reckless and that giving you the ability to fly will be a mistake,” Camilla explained.

  I tilted my head slightly. “I wouldn’t have used that word, but sure, let’s go with that.”

  Bee and I both knew that if given the power of flight, Samantha’s idiotic self-sacrifice-for-the-Greater-Good complex would have no limiters, whereas Camilla at least seemed more analytical and thoughtful, which was an important balancer that’d been missing when we first met Samantha in our original dimension.

  I landed on the ground a few hundred meters from the wall of the Singing City and continued zooming ahead, not slowing down for a second, because the city was rapidly filling with more and more dangerous entities. Not to mention, we only had about an hour before the Crafting Phase would end, thanks to Steve’s ability.

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  [Steve Says Confirmation Required]

  Steve would like to teleport Player ‘Gambit’ to his location.

  Do you wish to proceed?

  YES — NO

  I declined.

  “Now he’s trying to teleport you,” Panda remarked. “I’m surprised he didn’t try to teleport himself.”

  I shrugged. “What does it matter?”

  Bee floated down and grabbed my shoulders, just as we reached one of the holes in the city wall.

  “What material are we getting from you?” she asked Camilla. “Is it the scale of Slissiler that was mentioned in the announcement?”

  “Sure, you can have that,” Camilla replied.

  “What!?” Samantha exclaimed. “You can’t just give that away!”

  I skidded to a halt in the ash, spraying a cloud of it ahead of us, and set down the two women. “This is the final stop of the Gambit Express,” I told them.

  Both of them stretched their limbs and corrected their wind-blown hairstyles.

  “That was extremely unpleasant,” Samantha commented.

  Bee landed and handed Camilla the yellow raincoat with wings that Matthew had worn. She immediately equipped it, but it was way too big for her, which made her look kind of creepy somehow, since it completely shaded her face in darkness within the hood.

  “Yellow doesn’t suit you,” Samantha commented.

  “I’ll go with you to get the scale,” Bee told them.

  “So, what, am I supposed to just run on foot?” Samantha commented.

  “I can try and carry you,” Camilla said, though she didn’t sound confident in her own strength.

  “Or you could give me the raincoat and I could carry you,” Samantha replied.

  “Ma’am, with all due respect, I’m not giving you the raincoat.”

  [Steve Says Confirmation Required]

  Steve would like to urgently teleport Player ‘Gambit’ to his location to deal with the big scary lady.

  Do you wish to proceed?

  YES — NO

  “Big scary lady?” Panda commented. “I wonder who that is.”

  “Bee, how long does your slime thing last?” I asked. “You know, the one you put on Steve?”

  “Like 2 or 3 days?” she replied.

  “Uhh,” Panda muttered. “You may have just consigned him to his death.”

  [Steve Says Confirmation Required]

  Steve would like to very urgently teleport Player ‘Gambit’ to his location to deal with Miranda, Demon Duchess of Throbbing Excitement.

  Do you wish to proceed?

  YES — NO

  “Ah, shit,” I muttered. “Miranda is here and she’s using Steve as a hostage.”

  Bee looked at me. “Are we going to fight her?”

  “I’ll go alone,” I said. “Worst case scenario, I can just stall until the next phase. But you’ve got a job to do, don’t you?”

  Bee nodded. “If you kill her, try and bring her materials back. We’re still missing a bit for Lordie’s mech.”

  “You can’t go!” Panda exclaimed. “She’s a Demon Duchess, which is many times stronger than Gargalob!”

  “You guys are making a mech?” Samantha asked, unable to hear Panda’s protests.

  “Who’s Miranda?” Camilla asked.

  “A lust demon who is obsessed with Gambit,” Bee said. “She tried to turn him into a demon before by giving him a dog collar.”

  “It wasn’t a dog collar,” I protested.

  “She also gave him the underwear he’s wearing,” she explained.

  “Why do you know what his underwear looks like?” Samantha asked, giving me a suspicious stare.

  I immediately accepted the teleport summons to get out of the awkward situation.

  “You idiot!” Panda exclaimed disapprovingly.

  Everything went black for a moment, but then I landed on a soft velvet-covered floor within a mansion-like building with dark wooden walls and lots of bizarre things scattered around the room. A window nearby showed a forest with dark trees from which hung pink-glowing fruits.

  Next to me was Steve, locked into the slime prison from earlier, but now his head had a tiny purple-pink imp sitting atop it, forcefully pulling his eyelids open with its claws.

  I punted the imp away with my right fist, making Brock squeal excitedly as it struck a wall and exploded like a water balloon.

  “Gambit!” Steve yelled in relief.

  “At last, we come face to face,” said a deeply-familiar voice.

  I turned to see a couch up against a wall and atop of which lounged a voluptuous woman whose full lips dripped with blood. She had bright-purple hair, pink skin, purple-glowing eyes, and a sadistic expression curling the corner of her mouth. She wore a black corset with a business suit jacket around it and a short skirt, and she had a purple tie that ran from her neck and down into her cleavage. In her right hand, where the fingers were tipped with long pointy nails was a wine glass full of blood.

  “Gambit!” Panda exclaimed. “We’re no longer in the Singing City! Miranda brought you to her domain!”