UnderLove

4: Introductions to self-defense

The walls of the new room were somewhat duller than the others. This room contained three training dummies, one on the ground in pieces, another burned to the ground, and the last one standing perfectly fine. Shima directed you to the standing dummy, "My brothers and sisters and I want all humans who fall down here to know how to protect themselves, but not harm."

The dummy stood in place, ready for any attack like the other two destroyed dummies had experienced. "Have some sort of shield, it might be very handy because even I don't know what they might do." You stood in place like the dummy, not knowing what to do. Should you pull out the pocket knife, or follow her rules? Whose rules should you follow? 

The glass barrier surrounded you now, indicating you were going to enter a DUEL. The vertical menu popped up in front of you, giving you options of what to do. ATTACK was at the top, PURSUE, THING and REFUSE at the bottom. *Here's the Dummy.

Shima walked up right next to the dummy, "If you have something threatening, equip yourself with it, but I don't  recommended you to use it, saying that would attract attention to yourself." You obeyed her words, you went to THING and you saw POCKET KNIFE as the only thing in your menu. *You are equipped with the POCKET KNIFE. The words disappeared and you were attacked by the dummy with.... nothing.

The dummy stayed where it was, doing nothing, but it looked like it had a slight blush on its face from some embarrassment of having nothing to harm you with. *The Dummy seems to be embarrassed. "Use your social skills to stall so I can come and save you." Shima said to you,awkwardly, "Yes, I will be supervising you while you are here." She finished. The DUEL ended and the glass box vanished along with your menu.

Shima walked to you, "Is there anything you're confused with down here?" You had options, *Other humans *Monsters *Getting home *The group *The fall *Cancel. You were confused about all of these, You started with the first question, Other humans. "There has only been one other human to ever come down here, they looked so sad all the time. But when they exited the Amethyst District....." You kept staring at her for an answer, "They burned up!" Shima erupted into tears, bawling her eyes out, then she stopped and asked, "Anything else?" *Monsters.

"They could sneak up on you any time, but seeing your first defense mechanism, your box will help you. There are all sorts of monsters, like me. Some monsters may appear as something you recognize, but assume it's a monster if your first defense mechanism starts up." *Getting home

"... The first human who fell down here was so confused, that when they first saw my brother, Leister, they started climbing up The Hole of Light, but then fell. I'm afraid you will be staying here until you... cease." You kept you gaze on her until she continued, "There is a barrier, but it's extremely hard to get past to The World Above. You could be ended in the process of escaping this place." Well, that was pleasant, *The group.

"The group I participate in is called The Institute of Shielding Humans, or 'TISH'. TISH was first started because of the human who fell down here just in the last quad-year. The group only consists of me and my siblings and we are still finding humans to shield and other recruits for TISH." *The fall.

"None of us know, but that falling distance could have ended a life of any creature. You are fortunate, as was the previous human, that you survived." You now had all the information that could be considered useful of this moment. "Anything else?" *Cancel.

Shima led you through the hall, sometimes strolling by some monsters who looked homeless. One hobo monster held out a jar to you and Shima saying weakly, "Any food, drink, or even a speci? Any could help." You knew in the pop-up menu you found a minute ago with random finger movements, strangely had one "SPECI" at the bottom of the menu. *Give SPECI to hobo? *Yes *No. You chose Yes and dropped a Speci into the jar, *You gave 1 SPECI to Hobo Monster. "May Arial River Person have mercy on you."

You and Shima passed the monster to find four doors, none with a doorknob. The first door was the same shade of purple the walls were, the second, white, the third, a dark teal and the fourth was red. The doors were basic and each had a gemstone that matched the color of the door it was on. Shima chanted something and held up her paw to the purple door, it opened with a groan. "I must leave you now, so please, take care of yourself and remember what I have taught you."

You were about to take another step, when Shima asked, "Do you have a texent?" You shook you head no to Shima, "Oh, I did have another I was going to give one earlier, but I forgot to." She handed you a small, thin, black rectangle box. Of what you examined, it had no numbers or letters, or even a power button. *You think you won't learn to get this box to work. "I can talk to you through this, but in words you read, not hear. Farewell, small innocent one." You stored the black rectangle in your pocket. Shima walked away from you, leaving you to walk through the new passageway by yourself.