Back in the Game

by Christopher Keene

  Come on. I have to get a least one of them on my side.

  She stepped closer to me and looked down. “I want to.”

  I knew I would have to do this. I used my finger to tip her chin up so she was looking into my eyes. Then, for the first time, I kissed her.

  Keri and I may have once had some chemistry between us, but that had passed, and after I realized that Sue was really dead, I had no reason to hold back anymore. Chloe’s body seemed to tense, but then relax as I pulled her into an embrace.

  When she pulled away and whispered, “Okay,” I knew I had her.

  “Alright, now we just need to convince Keri and we’ll be good to go.”

  Chloe looked back down, as though understanding that this would be an inevitable complication in my plan. “Let me talk to Keri. I know her better than you, I'll be able to convince her more easily.”

  I smiled down at her, realizing this would make the process a whole lot easier. “Alright . . .” I then shouted as loud as I could so that whoever was watching could hear me. “You hear that? Chloe is going to be on my team, so take away her monster status!”

  I knew that if nothing happened I might end up looking like a complete idiot, but thankfully as Chloe passed over my vision again she had returned to having the blue ally status. This made it so if I could convince the others. I wouldn’t have to defeat them to complete the dungeon.

  This left me with only one question: Who will be the friend on floor number five?

  While we ascended the stairs, I made sure that our views were in line. We had to make sure our stories were straight if we were to run into Keri and convince her to team up with us as well. We had several things that we clearly agreed upon.

  We both thought that a confirmation that Sue’s killers would be arrested was far better than the weak hope that Wona would be held responsible for the death of every beta tester that overdosed. We both thought that Brock was risking too much in breaking his contract to get the information out to the public. Most importantly, we were both clear in our desire to work for Wona and be paid to play the game.

  “And I think I can convince Keri of the same!” She walked closer beside me. “She’s decided for herself to spend her time in this game, so that’s a given. If we can just get her to see that what Brock is doing is hopeless, we might be able to . . .” She trailed off and looked down.

  “What’s wrong?”

  “Keri has always been a helpless romantic. If she finds out about us . . .”

  I frowned and nodded in agreement. “Best not to bring that up yet. No need to make things more complicated than they already are.”

  Chapter 32: The Moral Good

  With the situation as complicated as it was, I wanted to make a good first impression with Keri. Despite this, she seemed startled by our sudden appearance when we arrived on the dusty floorboards. Panting after climbing the massive stairwell and running out onto the fifth floor, she turned to us with a frightened jump.

  “Chloe!” she called, as though happy to see a familiar face. “When you and the others vanished, everything was shaking! I couldn’t get the Color Blade before a light surrounded me and I showed up here!”

  “It’s okay, Keri. Everything’s fine,” Chloe said as she rushed over to calm her.

  Keri looked at me in puzzlement. “N-Noah, why are you here? You weren’t with us in the Calandor Ruins.”

  Chloe stepped forward. “I found him here. Listen Keri, there’s something we have to tell you.”

  Keri’s brow furrowed, her voice concerned. “What is it?”

  “Brock’s been lying to us. Turns out even if we did get the evidence of the videos out to the public, it wouldn’t do anything to Wona because the beta testers signed a consent waiver so that Wona wouldn’t be responsible for whatever happened to them.”

  Maybe it was because I had been Brock’s friend for a while, or maybe it was because Chloe had more practice at being like this, but I hadn’t even thought of explaining myself by attacking his position first.

  Keri covered her mouth with her hands. “But the videos . . . they would allow people to know what Wona did, wouldn’t they?”

  “That’s true,” Chloe said, sounding consoling. “But if we did that, Brock would have broken the law. He signed a confidentiality agreement, and by showing people the videos, he would have shared private information.”

  Keri shook her head. “But he told us it didn’t matter, that he was fine being on the run as long as the information was out there.” Keri looked from me to her. “But you two already knew all this so . . . why are you saying this now?”

  Her expression slowly changed as she took in my long red coat and Siena’s Ruby Edge. What Chloe was saying then seemed to dawn on her.

  “Are you planning on giving them the videos like Brock said?”

  Chloe looked to me in a sudden panic and I pinched the bridge of my nose, realizing that I would have to tell her what we were getting out of it.

  “Wona’s promised to put the ones who killed Sue in jail if I work for them.”

  Keri took a step back from us, looking like she had just seen a ghost. “Have you given them the videos yet?”

  I shook my head. “They want me to get to the top of this dungeon first.”

  Keri ran forward and grabbed my wrist. “Don’t do it, please! After what Brock’s sacrificed, wouldn’t it be better to wait and see how the public will react to them so we can hold the company accountable for what they did to his friends?”

  Oh no! David must have told her everything during their time in Diamond Hollow.

  “Why are you saying this?” Chloe asked, her voice rising in pitch. “You love the game! Why would you want to do something that could possibly shut it down?”

  “I do . . . but even so . . .” Keri looked down, her lip trembling. “I think they should confess to what they did. Even if they did find a way to get away with it, everyone should still know that people’s lives were sacrificed to make the game we love! Otherwise, what does it even mean?”

  “Keri!” Chloe pleaded. “We have a chance to play this game and get paid to do it! You can be included in on the deal! Don’t you want that?”

  Keri shook her head. “What’s the difference between that and being paid to keep quiet? I’m sorry, you guys, but even if Noah’s girlfriend is avenged by having her killers brought to justice, the people that were coerced into signing those waivers won’t get their justice if we don’t show everyone those videos!”

  “Alright, that’s enough!” I raised my palms. “I can’t complete this dungeon unless I defeat everyone on each floor of this dungeon, okay?”

  “So you’ll have to kill me?” she asked, her voice high with emotion. “Just so you can give in to Wona?”

  I shook my head. “Either that, or you join us. They’re the only two options that are available to us at the moment.”

  Keri sniffed, as though she would be crying in real life, and raised her hand. Her white Spellcaster staff appeared in her grip, ready to defend herself.

  “Alright, I’ll fight you two, if that’s what you want!” she exclaimed but without looking at all happy about it.

  Chloe shook her head. “Why are you being so stubborn? It’s either confirmed arrests for a murder, or an incredibly unlikely arrest for many. The odds are completely against us!”

  “Even so . . .” Keri bit her lip with an expression that if it wasn’t anger then it was its nearest cousin. “The latter is the greatest moral good! And if we’re not going to at least try to do what’s morally good, what are we but evil?”

  “Reasonable compromise is evil now?” I asked, my hackles rising from this absolutist mumbo jumbo. It reminded me of one of Sue’s bad arguments. “Damn, but did I bet on the wrong horse when we first met.”

  “That’s enough, Noah!” Chloe put her hand out, as though to prevent me from saying anything more that would hurt Keri. “I’ll deal with her on my own.”

  I eyed Chloe’s new gunsling
er guise, her face expressing her annoyance. “You know what it will mean if you can’t—”

  “I know, I know, get going!” She waved me toward the staircase at the back of the hall. “I’ll either convince her to come with us, or I’ll kill her before I leave. Either way, no enemies will be left, alright?”

  I shifted my gaze from the fearful expression on Keri’s face to the determined expression on Chloe’s and nodded. I knew which one I would put my money on. Chloe was a feisty Range fighter who had saved my butt on more than one occasion, while Keri was only a supporting Spellcaster.

  However, as I began my climb to the sixth floor, I couldn't help but watch their fight with interest. Keri began by raising a shield spell as Chloe shot at her with her revolvers. The shield was being chipped away at while Keri reinforced her protective defense and spun her wrist like pouring a bottle to cast the Toxin spell.

  Oh crap! When did she learn the level two poison spell?

  I recalled having that spell used on me by Bitcon’s Spellcaster when he was asking me to hand over the Transfer Orb. I knew how effective it could be.

  Chloe used an item to increase her speed and began fanning one of her pistols at Keri. Both of their health bars began to descend below the two thirds mark. Keri was casting another spell that looked like time magic to slow Chloe down just as I passed under the ceiling of the fifth floor and emerged onto the sixth.

  Finally, I’ve reach the top floor. Which means my last fight will be with . . .

  Waiting for me there was someone I’d once thought of as my best friend. Now he was the one thing stopping me from completing the dungeon. Brock stood there, glaring at me. However, the weapon he was wielding told me more than any words he might have spoken could have.

  Grasped in his hand was the Sapphire Edge, Data’s blue Color Blade. It seemed to take me joining Wona for Brock and Data to finally forgive each other and work together. Work together to stop me, that is.

  Chapter 33: Splitting Waves

  We stood there, our red and blue Color Blades glowing in the dim light like two opposing lightsabers. We were going to fight; that was inevitable. Unlike the others, I knew I wouldn’t be able to talk my way out of this. Our goals were not just different, but opposing. One of us couldn’t succeed without the other failing.

  “I see you and Data have made amends,” I said.

  “He apologized to me for being wrong. He was telling me what was going on before I appeared here. We continued messaging each other and he sent me this as a file.” He raised the Sapphire Edge. “I’m to use it to stop you from completing this dungeon.”

  Data’s found a way to try and stop me without even being here. So . . . Brock represents his desires as well. But it’s not the first time I’ve felt betrayed by him.

  “Now we both have one.” I grinned and raised my Ruby Edge. “It’s nice to know good things are already coming from me joining Wona.”

  “Stop kidding around!” Brock shouted. “I get that a part of the reason why you’re doing this is to protect me. Don’t bother, I can take care of myself. As for Sue, she would have achieved her goal if these videos are received by the public. Wona will be taken down in the way that she had wanted.”

  I shook my head. “There’s a problem with that, though. If my plan fails, you can still try to take down Wona. But if your plan fails, everything fails.”

  “What?” Brock’s eyes became fierce. “Why?”

  “Unlike you, I read their contract before signing it.” I ground my teeth. “They have Double Jeopardy Clauses in their contracts! Do you know what that means?”

  Brock shook his head, obviously clueless.

  “It means that once the entire company is pulled up on charges and gets away with it, which it will because of the consent waivers you and your friends signed, no one in that company can be held up on the same charges. That means no one, not Bitcon, not Colban, no one, will be arrested for what they did to Sue!” I poked a thumb at my chest. “But I’m not going for Wona! I’m just going for those who killed Sue, and Wona is helping me to do that! Until then, all you’re doing is guaranteeing that they’ll get away with what they did!”

  I may have been stretching the truth of what a Double Jeopardy Clause could do, but I could see from Brock’s shaking composure that it was definitely having the effect I had been hoping for. It seemed the little research I did into law terminology before signing on with Wona really turned out to be useful.

  However, Brock’s shocked expression then became a smirk. “Only a couple of hours with Wona and you’re already arguing like a businessman.”

  I was flabbergasted that he didn’t register what I was saying. “What do you mean?”

  Did he see through my lie or is he just being stubborn?

  “You care way too much about the law and contractual agreements. What about when public opinion turns on them?” Brock smiled in his conviction. “If nothing else, that alone will destroy their business!”

  “You have too much faith in people.”

  “And you have too little!” he spat back.

  I sighed and said coldly, “I see there’s no getting through to you. I only have one thing left to say:” I lined up my Ruby Edge with his head. “Get out of my way.”

  “No.”

  Brock charged at me. I stepped in and struck at him in turn. He parried and countered, but I managed to catch it on my Ruby Edge, swinging out with all my strength, knowing from experience that the Color Blades could not break.

  Brock leapt back from my swing and rushed in again. Neither of us were Warriors equipped for a melee. That being said, having trained myself as a battlemage, I’d had more practice at swordplay. This was shown as we clashed and I managed to force him backward, slashing at him with quick strikes. Yet I could see from him keeping up with me that the Range Niche obviously had more base speed than Spellcasters.

  I cast the second level of Speed Amp, Rush, on myself. This gave me much more of an edge over Brock as I dashed at him, swerving around his downward strikes and spinning into a wide slash. Brock ducked but wasn’t quick enough to dodge as I launched a Plasma Beam at him, sending him flying and taking down his Hit Points by a quarter.

  With my new spells, I’ve pretty much won this already.

  However, as Brock recovered from my beam, he spun to his feet and raised the Sapphire Edge. It began to glow a bright blue and I gasped when realizing that he knew about the Shockwave ability.

  He’s a Range fighter just like Dice! Of course he would know about an ability for his own Niche!

  He launched the Shockwave and the arc of energy shot toward me. Still sped up by my spell, I managed to dodge it, but with it came two more that I was only just lucky enough to evade. My thoughts rushed in an attempt to think of how I could counter these attacks. Then an epiphany hit me. I had bought every ability possible while in Heaven’s Synth Square.

  I cast an Ice Wall spell, hoping that it would hold out against his Shockwave onslaught while I brought up my full screen menu and searched my abilities for it. My assumption that it was just an ability for Range and Warriors was proven wrong when I found it among the many abilities I had accumulated.

  There was a crash and my ice wall crumbled, ice flying at my back. I quickly used my finger to drag the Shockwave ability into my Key Triggers, then rolled to the side as I noticed another blue arc rushing at me in my peripheral vision. It missed, but only just.

  Okay, let's see how this ability holds up against itself!

  Brock sent yet another Shockwave my way, but before the horizontal arc could reach me, I selected the ability and swung out. My own arc of red energy shot forth and parted the blue one heading my way. Instead of hitting me, the wave separated and shook the rock walls on either side of me.

  Brock cut my own wave in two with one of his own and we continued to trade blows, striking out at each other’s waves. The rock walls trembled and dust rose from the floor just like in the fight between Siena and Dice. Being the top flo
or, there wasn’t as much dust to create cover, but it still distracted me from what was occurring in the corner of my vision as we continued to go Shockwave for Shockwave.

  It wasn’t until the blue Mana bar in the corner of my screen started going red that I realized my mistake. Shockwaves may have been a ranged attack, but like my Ice Regeneration and Instant Reforge ability, it took a small bit of Mana each time it was used. Because I had used three level two spells in the course of the fight, my Mana had already been low before I’d even discovered the Shockwave ability.

  I’m going to run out, and then I’ll be a sitting duck! I should have used Graviton when I had the chance!

  I cast another Ice Wall, hoping Brock using his Shockwaves against it might lower his Mana enough to make us even, but it was to no avail as he simply used one of his Mana regeneration arrows on himself. As I sat there behind the wall, something about seeing the Shockwaves cut through each other triggered a memory of when I had asked Data if the Color Blades needed maintenance.

  “No, it’s one of the few qualities that makes it so handy.”

  If they don’t break, they should be able to cut through the Shockwaves as well, shouldn’t they?

  Although I was acting on very little evidence, I figured it was better than just waiting for my Mana to run out. I stood and slowly walked out from behind the scarred wall of ice.

  “Finally stopped trying to delay the inevitable, huh? I’ve always been looking out for you . . . every time you did a Tertiatier dungeon . . .” Brock raised the Sapphire Edge. “But no more.” The blue glow roared to life inside the blade before he swung it down in a rippling arc. “No more!”

  I bared my teeth, and as soon as the Shockwave was about to hit me, I slashed through it with my blade. The wave parted and went around me, hitting the wall behind me. It had worked. I glared at Brock and started to walk toward him.

  “What?” Brock’s eyes widened. “No!”

  He launched another blue arc of energy my way. Raising the Ruby Edge, I cut through it and continued walking. Brock knew once I got him into close quarters the fight would be over, and he desperately attempted to fire another Shockwave to the same effect. I cut it in half and sped up my advance, casting Madness on myself to increase both my speed and strength.