The Isekai Game

The Trials

Logan halted everybody in the middles of the bamboo forest, asking Jaivva if she studied the dispel spell. She walked past him, clearly seeing the reality. a simple weave of hand seals, followed by a clap, dispelled the illusion.

The natural beauty of green bamboo was now filled with green snakes ready to snap if anybody got too close. A tiled pathway led to an earth shrine with an oversized monkey on top.

"Why have you come?" asked the monkey.

"Oh, so we have to talk to him to get the animal spirits?" asked Jaivva.

The monkey hissed towards them until Logan came in its way.

"We come to make a pact for Jaivva and Vanessa. That's all," said Logan, calming the beastly monkey.

Mimi called out to the two girls, "Hey, yall two need to be careful what you say here. Let Logan do the talking".

"What pact must you seek?" asked the monkey.

Logan first turned towards Jaivva, "What animal do you want as your spirit animal"?

In a high-pitched voice, Jaivva responded, "I didn't know we could pick. Oh my God. Let me think".

"Vanessa, what about you?" asked Logan.

Vanessa twirled her hair and looked in every direction except Logan. Her oblivious behavior amused everybody except Jaivva who wasn't paying attention.

"Take your time girl," said Kiki.

Logan shouted, "Noooo! Let's get this going. How about a feral cat? I know you love cats".

"I dooo," said Vanessa, "Buuuuuu-".

"Okay, so I'm stuck between a dog and a panda," said Jaivva.

"How about a bear," suggested Logan, "They're pretty strong and durable. It would really balance your skills".

"I don't want a bear though. I want a panda," said Jaivva.

Kiki pointed out there were enough dogs in the community. It would be nice having a panda around. The deal was sealed and Jaivva wanted a Panda. Logan bickered that it wasn't sensible to exclude herself from the rest of the bears.

Vanessa stared up with a finger on her lips and said, "I mean, I do like cats".

Dani budded in, "I mean, it's okay if you want to be a cat. I'm a cougar and Mimi is a tiger. But, what do you really want"?

Arguing with Jaivva ended with Logan requesting the panda trials for her. The monkey beast began evaluating her. Shaking from the unexpected evaluation, Jaivva jumped when the monkey approved her for the panda trials.

After giving a thumbs up, Logan looked towards Vanessa. She was fighting a forceful smile. Logan wished for a decent answer. But God the look on her face was that of a mentally ill. Cheeks reddened as though she was n***d in front of the isekai community.

He dared to ask after a sigh, "Vanessa. Please tell me your answer".

Her lips moved without sound. It could've been that she needed to use the bathroom when her body squirmed. Logan knew she was just as weird as he was. But damn was she being extra at this moment. He questioned her a few times over, noticing the other three girls were also giggling.

"Dear God," he said, "It better not be anything stupid like a uni-".

Vanessa cleared her throat and stood straight upright to say, "A hamster".

Logan froze in thought, "A unicorn would've been better. At least they had flight and strength".

Before he could argue, Vanessa affirmed her decision with the monkey itself. Logan panicked for her not to choose such a worthless animal, asking why she would choose a hamster pact for battle?

"They are so cccuute," said Vanessa hugging her clasped hands.

As the beast approved her for the pact, Logan yelled in denial of a hamster being her spirit animal.

"You must bring along at least three friends," friends said the beast.

Vanessa looked over at her three girlfriends ready to run into hamster battles with her. She further taunted Logan if he was going to come to help his teammate obtain her spirit animal. After all, the monkey never said a limit to how many friends must come.

The pain in Logan's a*s grew to a migraine caused only by his ego to reject certain animals as being worthy. He stepped alongside Vanessa towards their trial area.

"Wait, what about me?" asked Jaivva, "Do I get help".

"No," said Logan, "Most pacts don't require help. I never got help from mine".

Before anybody took a step, the monkey slapped its legs and clapped its hands. A tingling change was felt in everybody.

"Oh, I completely forgot there were typically limitations. What are they?" asked Mimi.

The monkey explained that Jaivva will no longer have access to magic for the trial period. Vanessa and her crew will have greatly reduced physical and magical ability. She turned towards her team to assure them that it was okay because they had each other.

Jaivva gave a heavy sigh before walking off into the bamboo forest alone. Getting deep, she found a set of panda tracks that excited her into running through the bamboo.

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Meanwhile, Vanessa led her team towards a mountain. Nothing appeared odd at first. At least until Logan began cursing. The mountain got closer at a rapid rate. It was much larger than it appeared from afar. The girls were debating on whether the mountain grew or something.

"We shrunk," said Logan.

They each took a look at the bamboo around them, noticing the increase in size. Vanessa began touching the bamboo out of excitement of being shrunken to the size of a hamster. Not a second went by that Logan didn't remind her of the dangers of being small. Except, they weren't small, but rather "smol" in the words of Vanessa.

Her giggling ended when a skitterish cry rang their ears. Pleas came from the team to shut it up. However, Vanessa was concerned with protecting the scared creature. She looked around, spotting a baby hamster running for its life.

Dani fired at the large fox chasing it, but her g*n did nearly no damage. Her second shot struck the fox's head, gaining its attention.