Gage awoke to find himself in some kind of sleeping bag. It took him a few seconds, but he eventually realized what it really was: a sock. Heaving a deep sigh, he dragged himself up and took stock of his situation. From what he could tell, he was in Charis’s room on a table. Her room had a simple but futuristic look to it: all curves and clear surfaces with the occasional neon border. He had always scoffed at the idea of buying property in Perfect Dimension, but now that this was his permanent residence, he should probably –

Without warning, the door slid open, and Charis trudged into the room with a worn expression. That expression swiftly changed when she spotted him. “Gage!” she practically pranced over to him. “You’re up!” She bent down so that her enormous face could come down to his level.

“Thanks for letting me know,” he replied drily.

“Hey I don’t appreciate your sarcasm,” she said with one eyebrow arched. “Now tell me what the hell happened to you.”

“You remember when we got attacked?” he began. Charis listened intently as he related his experiences to her since his initial shrinking. She didn’t interrupt a single time, although Gage could tell that she wanted to her. She gasped and frowned at several parts, and somewhere in the middle she took a seat and placed her chin on the table.

“So how did you get here instead of…” Charis trailed off, clearly uncomfortable.

“Dying?” Gage finished. “I honestly don’t know. It definitely wasn’t a respawn, or else I would’ve been back to full health and at a respawn zone. Plus, I don’t even know if I’m even able to respawn.”

“Well whatever happened, let’s not take any more chances with it again,” she said firmly. “We can just chalk it up to yet another thing we don’t understand since you got hacked. In the meantime, it looks like I’m gonna be protecting you for once.”

Gage nodded with a rueful smile – nothing had changed. He would never characterize their relationship as romantic, but their level of trust was implicit. “Where were you just now?” he asked.

Her face turned serious, and she rose from the chair and began pacing. “I was out trying to find the person who did your procedure.”

“No luck, huh?”

“It’s like they just vanished.” She threw her hands up despondently.

“They were always a slippery bunch,” mused Gage. “But they would definitely know if you were trying to find them; so that just means they don’t want to talk to us. It looks like we won’t be able to count on them for anything.”

Charis stopped pacing and turned to face him. She gave him a long look. “I don’t like it,” she said in response to the unspoken.

“Can you think of anything else?”

“But she scared me,” Charis protested.

“The fact of the matter is I’m something of a criminal in this game now. That wouldn’t be a problem if I was fully-powered, but either way we can’t go to the Admins about this problem.”

Charis sat back down in the chair and put her face even with his. “Fine – but we’re bolting at the first sign of trouble. Let me grab some Escape Charms and we’ll go.”

Gage nodded and then turned his thoughts inward. Going back to the instance he had been initially shrunk was a risk, but he really couldn’t think of anything else. The fact that Charis agreed with him was all the proof he needed that this was the best plan of action. With that resolved, his mind inevitably returned to his near-death experience. Picturing that girl’s sandal over his head made him shudder. He still had no idea how he had ended up in front of Charis at the last moment, but Gage couldn’t shake the feeling that something very significant had occurred.

“You ready?” asked Charis, dispelling his thoughts. She extended a hand down to the table, palm up.

“Yeah, let’s do it.” He clambered up onto her hand, and she placed him onto an amulet that she had apparently adorned just for this purpose.

“I had to dig out this old shield amulet for you,” she said offhandedly. “It looks hideous, but this’ll give you a place to ride. I had to de-equip my good amulet, so be thankful.”

“You’re the best,” said Gage with a hint of sarcasm that only Charis would notice. Without warning, she snatched him from his perch and kissed his entire body, her lips engulfing him in a slightly sticky embrace.

Then she put him back without saying a word.

…

Charis and Gage emerged from the portal into a gigantic, gloomy forest for the second time today. Only this time, Gage clung to an amulet around her neck, one that clashed terribly with the rest of her silvery body suit. On a more practical level, when she had de-equipped her old amulet, it split up the Item Set that she wore, depriving her of the Set’s bonus stats. She would be appreciably weaker, and Gage could only hope that it wouldn’t come into play. At level 97, Charis technically didn’t belong on this level, but she had over twenty Escape Charms just for that reason.

“So you think that witch player is just gonna show up and turn you back?” whispered Charis. Her eyes scanned the gigantic trees surrounding them. From Gage’s perspective, they looked monolithic.

“I don’t know – maybe we’ll run into another 100-plus character.”

“Yeah, sounds swell.”

The pair traveled in silence. Admittedly, Gage could see the questionable nature of their plan – but they really didn’t have any other options. He could remain in relative obscurity without too much trouble, but at a cost: he would be stuck at this size indefinitely. Notifying Admins or making bulletins would lead to him getting caught, so the only way to get out would be to go down, deeper into the rabbit hole his procedure had opened.

“Well, well, well.” A menacing voice rang through the forest. “What have we here?”

Charis spun around to face the voice, her dual pistols drawn and raised. The movement flung the amulet around her neck, but Gage managed to hold on tightly enough to avoid falling to the ground. When the necklace settled, he followed the aim of her pistols and spotted two level 99 players. They clearly meant trouble.

“Not good,” muttered Charis.

“Use the Escape Charm,” urged Gage.

“Can’t,” she said through gritted teeth. “I’ve been Silenced.”

“Shit,” he spat. “Okay – I’m getting off. You’ll respawn and you can come get me afterwards.”

“No!” Charis shouted – but Gage had already let go. He fell to the ground and landed in a crouch. But he had hardly taken a step when her tremendous hand snatched him up and stuffed him into the top of her boot. “I’m not letting you out of my sight again!” she hissed fiercely. “And sorry, but this is the only place I can put you where I know you won’t try to bail.”

“Hey what the fuck are you doing over there?” Evidently, her seemingly strange behavior had bewildered their assailants enough to buy them a few seconds.

“Fuck off,” Charis fired back. She stamped her foot three times, each impact rattling Gage further and further down. He wrinkled his nose involuntarily – once again, he found himself in close proximity with a woman’s smelly foot.

He had just a moment to dwell on this latest indignity before his whole world exploded into motion. While he couldn’t hope to match the movements he experienced with what he presumed were her strides, Gage could definitely hear the sound of gunfire. The fight had started.