Safely inside the cave, Jon stopped for a moment to catch her breath. Not that she was physically tired, but the utter shock was causing her to hyperventilate. Once she'd calmed herself down for the moment, she had a look around. There wasn't really much to see, though; there were a few stashed animal components, none of which looked particularily appetizing, and there was a hole in the floor that looked like it served as a toilet, but otherwise it was pretty much just a hole in the cliff face.
She sat down and winced, her tail feathers clamped uncomfortably under her. Leaning forward, she reluctantly experimented until she managed to point them upwards, away from the floor. Sitting back down, she considered her situation. Had she really wound up in the game? If that were the case, why was this world so convincing? Surely something from the mid-80s wouldn't be like this. Or had it teleported her into another world? Oh, it was all too nuts to believe, but there didn't seem to be a better explanation.
The bigger question was, what could she do about it? She didn't have the stone; she didn't even remember if she'd brought it with to the mall. Maybe if this was a fantasy world, there might be some kind of magic something or other that could send her home? But that would be down where there were other people, not up here in a hole in a mountain. Could she even get down safely? Climbing would be difficult, since she had no hands to grab onto handholds with. She was clearly built for flying, but did she need to know how to do it? If it weren't instinctive, trying to soar off the cliffs would be even more dangerous than climbing down.
And even if she did get down safely, what about the people? What kind of society was there? How would they treat a wild mountain harpy, all alone and naked? She had no idea whatsoever, but...there wasn't much chance of getting home if she just stayed here...
Faced with the enormity of her situation, Jon began to freak out again. This couldn't be real! She tried not to cry, but found herself stifling sobs anyway. Hunching down, she did her best to wrap herself in her own wings for comfort. It couldn't be real...but it so very clearly was.
Karyn returned from the ladies' room to find the arcade busy as usual, but Jon was nowhere in sight. She looked for a few minutes, but there was no sign of him. She went to the counter to talk to old Mr. Cooper, the proprietor, but he just shrugged.
"I don't really know," he said. "He was going to check out the new game in the back, but I haven't seen him since."
Karyn went to the back for a look at the game. She wasn't as into this kind of thing as Jon, but she did have admire the detail in the case art; obviously, someone put a lot of care into the thing. As she lookedit up and down, she noticed something on the floor, by the base. Bending down to inspect, she found that it was the stone! Had Jon dropped it? Lucky she had found it, and not someone else! She had half a mind to chew him out for even bringing it, but she still had no idea where he was...oh, duh!
"I wish I knew where Jon was," she whispered, clenching the stone. Nothing.
"I wish I knew what happened to Jon," she said, and suddenly she knew; the game had transported him somewhere beyond the stone's range limit!
Karyn looked over the game. Maybe it had warped him into the game, or something along those lines? There was a character with Jon listed as the player, a harpy brawler/martial artist-type class. She tried wishing for him to return, but as he was outside the range limit, nothing happened.
Well, maybe she would just have to go in after him. She tried wishing to know if using the game would transport her to where Jon was, but this was similarily foiled. Well, there wouldn't be any harm in trying if that weren't the case, but would she be stuck there with him? She wished to know if they could get back from wherever the game sent him, but the only answer she got was that the game was capable of serving as a two-way portal; no information could be obtained on the method for doing this, again because of the range limit.
Karyn thought for a minute, but the choice was obvious. Jon was her best friend, and she was willing to risk a lot more than this for him. She clenched the stone tight. "I wish that nobody will notice that Jon and I were gone until we return," she said. "Also, I wish that this stone would remain locked safely inside my jewelry box until we get back."
The stone winked away, and for once she was glad her aunt had given her the box, gaudy though it was. Karyn plunked a quarter into the machine, and set about creating a character. She knew Jon was set to be the team fighter, so she probably ought to create a suitably complementary character, but there looked to be so many different options...
