Game Over

The floor was a breeze from then on. Serah had an eye for the tricks here- mostly because there were only so many. A dead end filled with monsters there, a sticky trap there. Only reason they’d never gotten past this floor was how it ended.

In the long hike to the boss room, Frankie had plenty of time to sneak in some work.

“Uh…” She recalled one of the more memorable questions. “Have any of you guys been to a… funeral here?”

Serah held her sides tightly as she started to laugh.

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Just… wondering…” She had to get this one out of the way at some point, she hadn’t been looking forward to it. “Like… if you have, was it… “good?” She struggled.

“Funerals… aren’t good.” Rocco decided.

“Funerals here are as good as anywhere else, they’re… fine. I didn’t know as a kid that having your great grandma buried in a promotional dragon coffin was like, considered disrespectful in other places.”

“Funerals usually suck...” Katie reminisced.

“You don’t even live here!” She yelled at her dense sister.

“I like the funerals here.” Percy decided, contrarian he was.

“Have you even been to one?” Meek though he was, Greg sure did seem to get pissed off every once in a while when it came to his ridiculous guildmates. “I’d rather have a funeral anywhere else, I’m so tired of Dove Mages pretending to send my elderly family members to the afterworld.”

“We’re here, kids.” Serah joked as the boss room finally stood in front of them. After the first one, the Americans weren’t too afraid, but the party who’d lost to this monster time and time again were already grappling with their imminent park-sanctioned demise.

“Okay. So- let’s break this down.” Gregory made sure to stop everyone this time, getting ready to explain the beast. “Ylissia the Fell Wolf has brought us to an early grave many times now, but we know her combat patterns. First of all, the attacks come slow. You’ll have time to chip in some damage, but the second you see her revving up for a strike you’ll need to stop everything and run around like a madman lest she hits you. Her main attack is a pounce, but she can also…” Frankie really was listening for a while, but not long after Katie stopped hearing the boy, she checked out too. “…Got all that?”

The sisters nodded once they realized he was done.

“Okay! Let’s see our boss.”

They walked into the room faster than someone normally might on their first time around, and she immediately jumped out from a hole that opened in the ceiling- a massive animatronic wolf with hints of gold in her artificial fur.

“This is the run!” Percival recklessly declared, charging forward with the others to get in a hit on her before she started the first attack. To everyone but the sister’s surprise, she immediately pounced and took out Rocco within less than a second of the fight beginning.