RTU- Robotic Transfer Universe

by Randy Thao

  The woman didn't have any armor on, just her white suit. Her black hair a bit messy, but wavy. Moving slowly, she looked at each and every one of them. Dee, Bu and Mara had set their weapons on the ground to show that they meant no harm.

  She finally settled down, and her stance was no longer in defensive mode. She nodded her head and pointed at the wooden seats. They all took a seat around the fire.

  "What is your name?" Bu asked. Still, she just looked at him. "Does she not understand English? The translation program should have kicked on for her."

  The woman waved her hands in front of her and pointed to her mouth. Right then, Mara knew what was going on.

  "She's deaf and therefore mute. It's sign language," answered Mara as she also replied back in sign language. "Sorry. We didn't know."

  Now the woman nodded happily and smiled. For once, there was someone else who knew sign language. She made a few more signs.

  "What did she just say?" asked Dee.

  "She said her name is Jessie."

  Chapter 21 - Guild Leader Derma

  The warmth of the fire filled the small area of the cave. The wood cracking and occasionally popping. Smoke rose to the ceiling where a small opening peeped through, barely noticeable. Mara had made communication with Jessie through sign language and also a bit of lip reading. Tim must not have been able to communicate with her because of that reason. She was the key to helping them, and getting everyone else closer to going home.

  "How do you know sign language?" questioned Bu.

  Mara smiled from underneath her mask. "I worked at the hospital for a long time and it was something that I picked up."

  "Mara, can you tell her about our situation, and if, she knows anything about it? Maybe, she can tell us about Derma as well," asked Dee.

  Jessie nodded looking back and forth from Dee to Mara. Mara then gave her the sign to continue. Not only did Jessie use her hands to explain what was happening, she also occasionally went to the walls where she drew pictures to better illustrate what she was talking about. Mara explained while Jessie signed.

  Mara began to explain, "Derma is her friend."

  "A friend!?" exclaimed Bu. "Then this should be simple!"

  "Not so fast," Mara continued. "On earth, Derma is a famous gamer. He played one of the most popular and well known MMORPG out there called Elite Guilds. Hence, the name RTU Elites. "

  "I remember that MMORPG," added Dee. "I've played it before. Very addicting. It was said that the final boss was impossible to beat if you didn't have a good.."

  Bu cut in saying, "Raid group? I mean you can't beat a final boss with just a few good men."

  Dee shook his head. "No, a very good commander and leader. You can have the best people and gear in the game, but how and when to attack bosses with special perks is key."

  Mara continued, "Jessie was second in command as she was with him from the beginning. She communicated by typing, but here, it's different. There is no way for the system to recognize sign language, because everyone does it slightly different. People's hand gestures do not match all the time. Besides, it's a fast pace game with no time to read and react while in battle. Derma was able to overcome this with inhuman multitasking, but not everyone can and so they started to eliminate useless members."

  "Why would he remove you Jessie? Why would be betray a friend who stuck by him the entire time?" Dee asked.

  Jessie shook her head and began to sign again.

  "It wasn't him. It was Gen," Mara continued to translate. "He somehow manipulated Derma to give him more control. Gen removed the weakest of the guild and had them kicked out of BluaNu."

  "That bastard. Well then, who the heck is he?" Bu blurted.

  Jessie balled her fist at his name nodding her head.

  "Gen came from another well-known guild called the Sky-Divers. He was also a very powerful player in that group. He left it to join ours after conflict with the leader of the guild. Derma wanted to use Gen's experience and wisdom of the game to defeat the final boss, therefore raising him higher in rank," translated Mara. "When we entered into RTU, Derma reestablished the rankings as they were in Elite Guild. Gen knew that the only other person standing in his way was me. After we arrived in BluaNu, the guild was created. It only took two days to finish combing through everyone. I removed myself from the guild and ran away. They are still in pursuit of me, because I know his secret. I decided to hide here for now until...until I don't know."

  "Wait, standing in his way of what?" jumped Bu.

  They all looked at Jessie. She paused taking in a breath and spelled out, "Lung Cancer".

  "No wonder why they are robbing people of so much met-coins. Instead of collecting them, they are finding other ways to do it. From what we have seen so far, the more severe the health issue, the more the cost will be. Any idea as to how much he is looking to collect?" asked Dee.

  "She said, 1 million met-coins," Mara replied. "The game does not allow stealing or robbing by force, but they have created a situation in which people will have to give in order to advance."

  "That's just about the same as robbery. Why don't your friend Derma just remove that busta out of the guild? He's the leader of the guild. Does he not know what the heck is going on?" Bu complained.

  Mara continued, "No, he has a severe condition called Xeroderma Pigmentosum or XP. In other words, he cannot be out in the sun. Any exposure will eat his skin away. They were able to move him during the night, but during the day they hid him. Derma needed someone to take care of things he couldn't do. He now sits in the Court of Kings within BluaNu."

  "Well, we need to let him know what is going on. I say let's barge into the city and tell him ourselves!" demanded Bu.

  "We can, but the thing is that even though the city does not allow PVP within its walls, they can still force us out with numbers. As long as we are not losing any hit points, the system will not see it as PVP," assumed Dee.

  Jessie ran to the back wall. She pointed to a mapping of BluaNu. There was an arrow that lead around to the back of the city, a secret path.

  "She says that there's a way in, but the tunnel contains high level monsters. It leads directly to the Court of Kings. There you will also find the quest to the final boss. Isn't that what you are looking for?" Mara translated.

  "That's exactly it! Jessie will you take us?" exclaimed Dee.

  Jessie stepped back to the dark corner where she was hiding under a blanket earlier. She reached in and pulled out dark purple shoulder pads with gold designs and equipped it. It had a small black cape that went down to her waist. She then reached down and grabbed a thin staff made of smooth black wood. She pierced the bottom of the staff into the ground and nodded her head in agreement.

  Dee added Jessie to the group, and they all returned back to South Bend. They waited there until dark to make their move without causing any alarm. On the east side of BluaNu exists a small patch of forest. Jessie led them in a five to ten-minute walk. They came upon two dead tree stumps about three yards apart. Between the stumps, there was a ditch with dead branches laying over an opening. They looked around before they proceeded down to make sure no one was looking. Their white suits lit the area exposing a small flight of stairs descending into a tunnel.

  "Watch your step," Dee whispered with Mara close behind. Bu helped Jessie down from the moss covered steps.

  Jessie tapped Mara on the shoulder. Mara nodded in understanding and then repeated, "Jessie said that this was the same route she took to escape from the city. No one knows about it, because she actually stumbled upon it when trying to warn Derma in the Court of Kings. At that time, the monsters had not yet infested it. That is the reason why I have not return."

  "Good to know. We haven't seen any yet, but let's not let our guards down," encouraged Dee.

  They went for a good ten minutes without any monster encounters, which was odd, but they weren't complaining at all. The tunnel walls were made of red bricks and rather pretty parched. Sand and small pebbles o
f rocks laid the way through the dark tunnel. The walls on both sides went up and arced to the center above them. With only the light coming from their suits, they could only see about a yard in front of them.

  "Is there any chance we can get a more light in here? Can't tell if I'm going to run into something or not," Bu suggested.

  Jessie, being able to slightly read lips, waved to say that she had something. Using her finger, she drew a sign in the air. The sign in the air took on a bright glowing purple. When Jessie completed the sign, it summoned a little yellow round glowing creature that floated in the air. Its long curly tail slowly followed behind it. Jessie pointed for it to go forward. They now had a better field of vision. The tunnel desolateuntil Jessie's little creature stopped dead in its tracks.

  "What's wrong?" Mara asked Jessie. Jessie lifted her hand up to her summoned pet. "What? There's something up ahead? Something big?!"

  The summoned creature was now flustered, so Jessie called it back, but right before it did, a huge silhouette came across fast as one could blink. The summoned creature was gone leaving nothing but sparkling dust that fell to the ground. This made all of them jump back gasping. Jessie wailed then quickly cupped her mouth closed. For all they knew, it could be anywhere.

  "Dang it! We need more light," Bu shouted.

  Angry, Jessie had another thing up her sleeve. She held her hand up drawing another simple shape. From it came a small golden sphere the size of a marble. It started to stretch, pull and contract. It shined brightly now in the shape of a large soap bubble floating before them. She pushed it out to lure the monster, or whatever it was. It went as far as her summoned creature had when all of a sudden, swoosh!

  It came again, but this time was different. As soon as it hit the gold blob, the blob dispersed and like paint, it splattered all over the monster revealing its identity. It stopped to wipe off the glowing gold off of itself, but it spread the more and held on like gum in hair. Bu set focus, the name read "Minotaur: Damned". The Minotaur stood tall with its horns almost reaching the top of the tunnel. In its right hand was a huge dry bone that slammed against the ground, struggling to remove the sticky gold. In the other was an oval shield and in the center of it a silver head of a lion.

  "So, this is the guy that's been cleaning this place out. Stone Skin! Let's go!" announced Bu as he charged into battle.

  "Be careful Bu, it's a Damned monster," warned Dee as he slipped behind the Minotaur. "Cross Slash!"

  Mara boosted them all with protection, but Jessie was on the floor drawing shapes and signs. Mara had no idea what she was doing and tried her best to get Jessie to help out.

  "Jessie, uh we could use you over here to take down the Minotaur," struggled Mara. "Bu, appears that his shield is too strong. We're not doing enough damage to it directly."

  "Though this thing is not strong offensive wise, it definitely can go the distance, which we can't do for long. We have to take it down fast," Dee explained analyzing the situation.

  The Minotaur showed no signs of weakening. Its energy bar still at ninety seven percent. Dee stood at a distance looking for the best opportunity to attack. While still in focus, the Minotaur's energy level went up a percent.

  "Did you guys just see that!?" asked Dee. "Its energy just went up."

  Bu blocked a blow from above. The huge bone smashed into his shield sending echoes down the tunnel.

  "You're saying that it's regaining health?" struggled Bu.

  "That must be a skill of this Damned monster. We have to deal more damage and swiftly. Jessie!" shouted Mara.

  On the ground still drawing away, Jessie had not lift her head since they went into battle. Bu was now taking all the damage. This left Dee to do as he pleased attacking from every direction and avoid getting hit. Mara only needed to focus healing on Bu for now.

  Bu stood firm saying, "It's a standstill, but we might run out of potions and mana to keep this up. I'm gonna lose my shield and go all-out offensive."

  "That may work!" declared Dee.

  With Dee and Bu on offense, the damages dealt were starting to show. The Minotaur was now at ninety-five percent. Its damage done on Bu without a shield was being taken care of by Mara's healing spells.

  "Good, keep going guys," encouraged Mara as she reached for another mana potion. "Eh guys? I'm down to four bottles left."

  "Shoot, at this rate we are cutting about only ten percent for every potion that Mara uses. We won't be able to take it down in time," hesitated Dee.

  With no defense, the Minotaur thrashed violently back and forth with its bone hammer. It sent Bu and Dee flying back against the wall. This left Mara wide open. With Jessie behind her, Mara was defenseless.

  "Mara!" yelled Bu, unable to reach her in time. The Minotaur slammed Mara with its shield.

  "Ahhh! Cough, cough!" choked Mara as she was sent flying above Jessie. "Jessie watch out!"

  The Minotaur rushed in loading up like a baseball player ready to hit a homerun. It would only taken one blow of this much force to perish her instantly. The bone hammer started to glow, powering up as it gained momentum.

  "Ahh

  hh!!" moaned Jessie. The ground burst of an orange glow of the shapes and designs that she was marking during the entire fight. It came off the ground and floated like a painting. Jessie pressed her palm at the center of the circular design and bolts of blazing fire balls came shooting out rapidly hitting the Minotaur at point blank. It was the most amazing thing that any of them have seen so far. Mara's jaw dropped as the fire burnt and charred the massive monster. A fireworks show it was of flashing orange red flames and black smoke.

  The Minotaur dropped to the ground burnt to a crisp. The smoke rose from its limp body. The gold blob still stuck to it exposing the damage done to it. Bu picked up his shield once again and ran in front of it. Dee came from behind and set focus. The Minotaur lay motionless as the health read forty percent.

  "It's not moving. Is it dead?" Bu questioned.

  Jessie shook her head motioning that it was not done yet. Her arm jolted out, and she quickly pointed at it. The Minotaur's eyes suddenly flashed a solid red. It let out a loud cry and dropped its shield revealing another iron sword that was hidden from behind. Slamming the wall in anger, the second half of the fight had begun.

  Chapter 22 - Familiar Faces

  Jessie, weak from using such a powerful spell, stumbled back away from the front lines. Mara helped her on one side to get her out of the way. The walls were starting to crumble. If the Minotaur keeps this up, it will collapse on top of them all. Bu buffed himself for the second half of the fight.

  "Why is it showing its perk already? It usually doesn't until its last 10 to 15 percent," whispered Dee. "It's in berserk mode!"

  Bu's facial expression had changed. Now, it was the Minotaur's turn to go on the offense. As soon as the roar faded into the distance, it charged at Bu and thrashed swinging both arms, sword and bone hammer. Though its attacks were wild and unpredictable, he manage to find an opening. Bu swung his axe delivering a direct blow to its side. Its health dropped twice as much.

  "Everyone! Its defense has dropped, but his attack has gone up. Dee, Mara, Jessie attack now. Don't worry about me. I have enough health to last if you can take him down fast!" shouted Bu.

  From behind, Dee set focus and announced, "Cross slash! And now Meteor Sword Dance!"

  Jessie drew a circular shape in the air, and the blue hues appeared becoming more vivid as her finger added more details. It soon took form and a spinning wheel with ice shards along the outer circumference appeared above her head. She did a throwing motion with her hand, and it went flying forward with great speed.

  Mara healed Bu with all she had to keep him alive, but his health points were dropping quickly as well. The Minotaur was not phased nor did it stumble as it fought relentlessly down to its last hit points.

  "This is it!" shouted Bu letting down his guard.

  "Bu! Watch out! It won't show you any mercy," warned Dee.

>   All of a sudden, the Minotaur swung left then right and quickly following after, it rammed its horns into Bu knocking his shield out of the way. Without a shield, Bu would be finished.

  "I'm done guys!" Bu announcing in defeat. "I'm done."

  Dee ran in front of the Minotaur grabbing its attention. He faced Jessie and called out to her animating his lips for her to see, "Jessie I need fire!"

  She nodded and drew two signs from her fingers. It lit up Dee's swords as he came down announcing, "Fire Sword Cross Slash!"

  The impact sent the Minotaur flying back landing flat onto the ground. It finally took its last breath as a thin flow of smoke rose from its mouth. The Nano-bots came to take it apart perishing back to the ground. Bu sat down and fell on his back. Sweat poured from his face as he took in deep breaths.

  "Level up baby!" Bu exclaimed. He quickly configured his stats as well as everyone else.

  Dee walked over and realized that not everything had perished from the Minotaur. He picked it up and stood over to Bu.

  "I think you deserve this," declared Dee. He handed it to him.

  Bu set focus, and it read, "Heart of the Lion Shield". He put his old one away and equipped the new one. His defense increased significantly, and it even felt lighter.

  After they had some time to recover, they proceeded through the tunnel. It wasn't long after their battle that they came to another set of stairs that led up to a square wooden door above them. Jessie placed her finger on her lips.

  "Jessie says to be quiet. We are now directly under the Court of Kings. This door opens behind a stone statue of a giant gryphon. The hallway leads to the back room where Derma is located. We need to get there as soon as possible. Only those who were looking to escape would ever stumble on something like this," Mara translated.

  Jessie led the way and slowly pushed open the door. She peeped out the two inch opening first before fully pushing it up. One by one, they got out and stood behind the statue. The hallway was clear during this time. After all, it was pretty late and most of the players were probably sleeping or at the pubs. The hallway was elegantly designed with marble carvings in the walls. There were many stone statues that stood guard every ten feet or so apart. It was well lit up and down with bright lights hanging on the walls. The waxed floor reflected their images as they hopped out from behind the statue.