The sun shone down on a vast plain, a slight breeze brushing the brown hair of a small girl. A soft groan escaped her as she began to wake. She was dressed in a pink sweater and red skirt, both showing clear signs of wear and tear. 

Madotsuki woke up blearily, already aware that something wasn’t right. Rather than her comfortable if worn bed and sheets, there was nothing over her, and whatever she was laying on seemed a lot less soft than usual. She brushed her pigtails out of her face as she sat up. The short girl heard an odd noise behind her, then a man’s deep voice- “Say pal, you don't look so good. You better find something to eat before night comes!” His voice sounded concerned, but he couldn't stop a hint of glee from escaping.

Madotsuki bolted upright, but by the time her eyes were open, the speaker was gone. What she did see was that this definitely wasn’t her bedroom. Instead, she seemed to be in some sort of grassy plain. This wasn’t like anywhere she had ever been; there wasn’t a sign of civilization anywhere. Looking up at the sky, she couldn’t tell exactly what time it was, but it seemed to be early. She sighed, and hoped this is just another strange dream, even though part of her knew her dreams were never quite like this.

She started to walk, deciding that there’s no reason to stay put. There were odd tufts of tall grass here and there, the occasional tree, and she could hear birds here and there. Some may have enjoyed this pretty picture of nature, but not her, not now. She didn’t like being outside at the best of times, and now that she was seemingly stuck here, far from home…

Out of place. That’s exactly the issue. She didn't belong here. And sooner or later, this place would oust her, one way or another. She gripped her knife tighter, swearing to herself that if something does try to eat her, she would not go down without a-

She pauses, realizing she is holding her Knife Effect, one of the many special items from her dreams. She didn’t have it on her person before, yet here it is. It looked like a normal kitchen knife, but she knew it was perfectly sharp enough to kill. She tried to access her inventory, like in her usual dreams, and sure enough it appeared, a flat black screen. To her dismay, the Knife was the only effect she seemed to have, even though she knew she had quite a few last night. She also seemed to have a purple blanket with her, which she supposed would be useful when night falls. That plus her sweater should keep her warm hopefully.

Her musings were interrupted by the sound of something moving behind her. Spinning around, she saw that it was just a frog, but a very strange looking one- it had horns along its brow, and its eyes seemed to be glowing. She backed away from the creature, but it had already seen her. Croaking, the giant amphibian hopped after her, and lashed out with its tongue.

She was too slow to avoid it, and was hit by the sticky appendage, with enough force to knock her on her back. She scrambled onto all fours and tries to get away, before turning to face it, pulling out her knife from her inventory again- though she noticed the blanket was somehow missing. There was no time to ponder this, though, as the frog was already hopping in for another attack. Madotsuki gripped her knife tightly and ran in to slash it, burying the blade into its brow. The beast struggled, briefly, before pulling off her knife to try and hit her again. This time she was ready for the tongue and dodged to her right, before closing in again and stabbing, pushing the blade in deep.

This time the frog was too hurt to continue, and it collapsed. Madotsuki was panting a little from the exertion, but felt triumphant in her victory. If the beasts here could be slain, then she could certainly survive. To her very slight surprise, the corpse vanished from sight, just like the creatures from her dream. But not without leaving behind both her blanket, which it had somehow pilfered, and what seemed to be raw frog legs.

Madotsuki had heard those were a delicacy in Europe, but had never been interested in trying it. Now though, she may not have a choice. Even if this is a dream, it seemed very different from her normal ones… and that voice did say she would need food. Taking both items, she started walking forward once more.

                                                      

Another girl was sleeping far off, this one dressed much more neatly in a white blouse and long red skirt, slightly crumbled from the girl's exertions but still clean.

The first thing Ib was aware of was sunshine, which instantly woke her up. How long had it been since she felt that? Days, surely. She looks around, not sure how she ended up in what seemed to be a neverending sea of grass, taller than her head. She slowly got up, uncertain. Where was she now? How did she get out of that cursed gallery?  What happened to Garry? She knew her friend was sleeping last time she saw him too, but he isn’t here, for sure…

She shook her head. Sitting around wouldn’t solve anything. She stood up, checking herself over. Her buttoned shirt and skirt seemed the same, no changes, nothing missing. Deciding Garry may he elsewhere, she worked her way out of the grass, finding herself in a wide open prairie. What looked a bit like rabbits seemed to be wandering around ahead, though the pictures she had seen didn't seem to have glowing eyes, or antennae.

Before she could get closer, a man suddenly appeared out of nowhere, making her jump. He was tall, dressed in a black suit, holding a cigar. He takes a drag from it and gives her an eerie stare, a vicious grin forming on his face. “Say girl, you don't look so good. You better find something to eat before night comes!” His eyes slide over to the rabbits for a moment, then back to her.

Before she could say anything, he vanished as suddenly as he came. Ib shakes her head. Was she imagining that? No, impossible… and he had wanted her to eat those cute little rabbits? She shivered at the idea. True, it had been a while she had eaten anything, but she was sure she could find something else.

The rabbits seemed naturally skittish in any case, and fled into their holes as Ib’s walked forward. Out in this open space, she got a better view of her surroundings. Aside from the tall grass now behind her, she could see many trees nearby, a small forest, and… berry bushes!

Smiling, Ib ran over to pick them, soon collecting quite a few. She ate some now, and stored the rest away in her pockets with the candy Garry had given her... and her rose. She pulled it out, looking at it. Even in this strange place, the rose still seemed unnaturally beautiful. 

She supposed that made sense- she had found it in that gallery, so it could have been some sort of magical art like everything else. And it was missing a couple of petals, courtesy of those monsters that had attacked her before she fell asleep. Now that she thought of it, she did feel a little pain from that still. She supposed the wounds wouldn’t get better until she restored the rose, but she couldn’t see any water to heal it with around here.

She put the rose away again, and decided to take a look in the forest, not really sure what to do now that she had fed herself. Interspersed throughout the large evergreens were small saplings, the occasional bird landing or taking off, marking the spot with seeds, which Ib quickly gathered. She also saw a strange burrowing creature tunneling underground, making a visible line as the ground was disturbed. Whatever it was, she gave it a wide berth.

However, as she wandered about, she saw a patch of forest that seemed different, the ground darker. It wasn’t til she had reached the area itself that she saw why; the ground was covered in a vast web, centered around what seemed to be a giant cocoon or egg. Her instincts, honed from her time avoiding danger in the gallery, were screaming at her to flee. As if she needed encouragement, given some beast behind the cocoon was shrieking.

Ib was about to leave, when she heard a very human shout of pain. Someone was fighting whatever was over there, and they were hurt! She ran over, noticing that the webbing was clinging to her feet and slowing her down, but she nevertheless made it around the giant cocoon to see… her.

Mary. The blonde hair and green dress were unmistakable. Ib couldn’t help but gasp at the sight of the girl, having already slain two massive spiders bigger than she was with her palette knife, and pinned to the webbed ground by a third. The spider looked to be about to finish its opponent off, but Ib’s approach grabbed its attention. The spider turned towards this new intruder for the briefest of seconds, but that was all Mary needed to lodge her blade into one of the beast’s eyes.

The spider screeched shrilly before stumbling backwards and falling over, legs curling up as it died. Its body then faded away, leaving behind what looked to be some sort of black meat. Mary got up, dusting herself off, and picked it up- before spotting Ib and dropping it instantly in surprise. “...Ib?” She turns to Ib and a smile crosses her face. “Ib, you’re really-”

She paused as Ib backs away, eyes glued firmly on Mary’s knife, trembling as she remembers the last time she had seen that knife. But now Garry wasn’t here to save her. Now Mary was free to use it and-

Her thoughts were interrupted as more spider screams emanated from the cocoon, and more of them started to spill out. Mary’s expression hardened, and before Ib could so much as blink the girl had grabbed her arm and was pulling her away. “Come on!” Forced to follow, Ib ran with Mary, deeper into the woods and away from the spiders.

“Say pal, you don’t-” The man’s speech cut off as the figure he assumed was asleep leaped up and swung a baseball bat at him. The man vanished into smoke, a shocked expression written on his face. He had even dropped his cigar. The Batter’s own expression was flat and unemotional as his picked up the cigar dropped by what he assumed to be a spectre. It seemed entirely ordinary, and useless. He dropped the worthless item and scanned his surroundings. He himself was dressed in his normal baseball uniform, his skin almost as white as it is, giving a almost ghost-like impression.

He seemed to be in the middle of a swamp of some sort, filled with scraggly trees, and, off a ways, what almost looked like a small hut. He proceeded towards it. If this place had some sort of people in it, he could find out where he is. However, what came out on his approach seemed to be yet another spectre, this time in the shape of a grotesque fish-like humanoid.

Batter charged forward without hesitation, smashing it across the face with his bat. It collapsed, dazed, but soon got back up as Batter hit it again, swiping at him with a claw. Batter simply kept attacking, ignoring whatever injuries the creature made, until it finally stopped resisting and lay still. The body faded away, leaving behind a fish. Batter stored away the item, noting an odd sensation in his chest as he did. He did not know this was what is called ‘hunger’, nor did he care. He could see more of the creatures nearby, and ran into battle once more.