The Player Blackout

by Lucas Flint

  May the best Team win!

  CHAPTER FORTY-ONE

  Before I could ask Funky what that notification meant, Atmosfear raised a hand, grinned evilly, and snapped his fingers.

  Immediately, I felt a sucking force around me and found myself unable to breathe. Gasping for breath, my Teammates and I all fell to the floor, trying and failing to breathe as another notification appeared in the corner of my vision:

  [Villain Atmosfear] used Vacuum!

  Debuff added: Choking. -2 HP/1 second. Duration: Ten minutes or until victims die.

  Oh, no. I realized that this was the same attack Atmosfear had used on that girl in Brawn’s video. I hadn’t realized it could target multiple enemies at once. Or maybe it was an area of effect attack, although based on the way Team Atmosfear pointed and laughed at us, I guess they must have been outside its range or were maybe immune due to being on Atmosfear’s Team.

  Didn’t matter. I needed to find a way to stop Atmosfear quickly. Even poor Lennox was struggling to breathe, having fallen off of Funky’s shoulder and lying on the floor with a panicked expression on its reptilian features.

  Thinking quickly, I thrust a hand out and fired Ice Beam at Atmosfear. Luckily, the attack hit Atmosfear dead on, making him stagger backward from the blow. As soon as Atmosfear was hit, I could suddenly breathe again and a new notification appeared in my vision:

  You are no longer Choking!

  I didn’t spend any time celebrating that, however, because Atmosfear wasn’t down yet. He didn’t even seem to have taken a lot of damage. He took a step forward and, pointing at us, shouted, “Kill every last one of ‘em! Except Nyle. Leave him to me.”

  Team Atmosfear roared like a bunch of bloodthirsty beasts and rushed toward us. I could only guess that Team Atmosfear was made up of psychopaths like Atmosfear, which explained why they were all so eager to obey his commands.

  “Everyone, scatter!” I snapped. “Don’t let Atmosfear get us like that again! Recover and Hop, stay back and Heal the rest of us while we fight.”

  Without looking to see if Recover and Hop were listening, I rushed toward the mob of Villains, with Funky, Dillo, Cy, and Brawn by my side.

  Our two Teams met in the middle, right in front of the black water fountain. When we crashed into each other, total chaos reigned for a moment. Fists, claws, swords, knives, and other weapons and appendages went flying, crashing into armor, latex, or flesh as our Teams brawled. Even I had no idea what was going on for a moment until a blast to the chest sent me flying out of the clash and onto the ground a few feet away.

  Shaking my head, I looked up to see a man wearing what looked like a giant cartoon-style bomb over his body approached me, a long unlit fuse sticking out of his head. His fists were covered with boxing gloves that also resembled bombs and his nametag read [VILLAIN BIG BLAST], which I thought was an oddly appropriate name given his appearance.

  “Don’t care what the boss said,” said Big Blast. His voice was deep and rumbling, although a bit slow. “I just want to kill someone and I’m gonna kill you.”

  Scrambling to my feet, I Dodged another punch from Big Blast, which hit the edge of the fountain and caused a small explosion upon impact. The explosion, however, did not seem to affect Big Blast, who turned to face me with a snarl on his face.

  Despite the situation, I nonetheless Scanned Big Blast and got this information:

  NAME: Big Blast

  LEVEL: 20

  HEALTH: 150/150

  ALIGNMENT: Villain

  CLASS: Bruiser [Defense-Oriented]

  WEAK POINT: Knees

  Villain players exist to cause trouble in the world of Capes Online. Despite this, it is estimated that they are a very popular Alignment, with close to 25% of active players choosing to be Villains. Their lack of trust among Civilians, however, makes it hard for players to play during the day, forcing Villain players to play at night or in the grungiest parts of Adventure City if they wish to play.

  Huh. This was the first time I Scanned a player, which explained why I didn’t get a specific flavor text for Big Blast. If I had to guess, players were too individualized to allow for specific descriptions of each character. I bet if I Scanned a Hero player, I would probably see similar generic flavor text except for Heroes.

  In any case, I was glad I could see that his knees were his Weak Point. They were definitely not as well-protected as the rest of his body, but before I could do anything, Big Blast rushed toward me with surprising speed, his bomb-shaped boxing gloves flying as he drew closer to me.

  I once again activated Dodge and jumped away from Big Blast just as he brought his bomb-shaped boxing gloves onto the floor where I’d been standing. The resulting explosion left a small hole in the floor, which smoked as Big Blast stood up to his full height again.

  “Stop Dodging,” said Big Blast with a grunt. “Annoying little flea.”

  “Fine,” I said. “Then take this!”

  I fired an Ice Beam at Big Blast, striking him in the chest and shaving off about thirty points of Health. That took even me by surprise, but before I could do anything else, a compartment in Big Blast’s chest opened and three small bombs fired out at me.

  The bombs landed on the floor around me and immediately exploded. The blasts sent me flying into the air head over heels until I hit the floor hard enough to scramble my senses. Shaking my head, I glanced at my Health bar and saw that that attack had shaved over half of my Health off. Holy crud. I knew I was weaker than Big Blast, but that was ridiculous.

  Scrambling to my feet, I looked over just in time to see Big Blast rushing toward me, his fists swinging. He came too fast for me to dodge, so I raised my hands above my head and brought them down on the floor. I activated Freezing Touch and a thin sheet of ice shot out from my hands toward Big Blast.

  Although Big Blast tried to come to a stop, he ended up running right into the frozen section of the floor anyway and fell flat on his face. He slid uncontrollably on the ice toward me and, when he got close enough, I kicked him in the jaw. The blow sent Big Blast spinning away into the fountain, which he crashed into hard enough to cause it to crack.

  I didn’t wait for him to get back up, however. I raised my Energy Cannon and fired three quick shots at Big Blast. The sensation of my Energy being drained from my body and then being shot out of the Cannon was weird, but I liked the results when I saw the Energy blasts take out most of the remnant of Big Blast’s Health, leaving him with only a tiny sliver of Health.

  Despite the hits Big Blast had taken, he nonetheless got to his feet, but I rushed toward him and, when I got close enough, slammed my hands on his chest and activated Freezing Touch. Ice exploded out all over Big Blast’s body, making him cry out in pain and shock as the joints of his armor froze together. He fell to his knees, unable to move, while I took a step back and looked down upon him with a triumphant grin on my face.

  “Who’s the annoying little flea now?” I asked with a big grin on my face.

  Big Blast looked up at me, his red eyes glowing with rage. “You are.”

  Suddenly, the fuse on Big Blast’s head lit and rapidly began going down. I had no idea what was going on, but knowing that it couldn’t be any good, I activated Dodge and jumped backward just as the fuse reached the bottom.

  Then Big Blast’s entire body exploded, sending flames, shrapnel, and chunks of stone from the fountain flying everywhere. Dodge allowed me to avoid most of it, but I got pelted in the chest by a particularly big and fast chunk of marble that knocked me onto the floor. Luckily, it only took a couple of HP off my bar, but it still left me dazed for a moment until I shook my head and looked at the aftermath of the attack.

  Big Blast was nowhere to be seen. The only remains of his that existed were a twisted chunk of blackened metal that might have been his helmet, but it was so burned and twisted by the explosion that it could have been anything. His explosion left a large crater where he’d been standing and the fountain was now leaking water out onto the f
loor, which steamed against the residual heat from his blast.

  That was when I noticed a notification pop up in my view:

  [Villain Big Blast] used Self-Destruct! [Villain Big Blast] is defeated! +500 EXP! Due to the effects of Self-Destruct, you get only half of the experience you normally would get. Accumulated experience from Team Battles are distributed at the end of the match.

  Number of players remaining on each Team: Team Atmosfear 5/6. Team Winter 4/4.

  Whew. So far, it looked like Team Atmosfear had lost one Teammate, while we hadn’t lost anyone yet. Having been so caught up in my battle with Big Blast, I looked over to see how my Teammates were faring.

  It looked like a nearly even match. Dillo was tanking two Villains and their Sidekicks, occasionally digging into the floor and popping up to surprise attack them, while Brawn was currently wrestling with what looked like Big Blast’s Sidekick. Funky was also dealing with two Villains and their Sidekicks, using a weird gun-like sword as he weaved in and out of them, while Lennox flew overhead, occasionally spitting fire or swooping down and chomping on the unprotected heads of Funky’s enemies. Even Cy, to his credit, was helping Funky, doing a quick hit-and-run tactics against another Bruiser that looked similarly defensive-oriented like Big Blast was. Recover and Hop stayed away from the battle itself, but their hands would occasionally glow and then the Health bars of my Teammates would rise whenever they got too low.

  I was pleased with how the battle was going, but at the same time, knew we had to end it quickly. Given how I had already taken out one of Team Atmosfear’s members, I figured we should have the rest of this in the bag. I quickly downed a Health Drink, which nearly refilled my Health bar, and then tossed it aside, ready to jump back into the battle and help my Teammates.

  But then my Hero Sense suddenly tingled and I sensed a Villain behind me. I whirled around just in time to feel a sharp blade slam into my stomach. Gasping in pain, I looked down and saw Giggles—Atmosfear’s Assassin and Sidekick—standing in front of me with a smirk poking out from underneath his Assassin’s hood.

  “Shouldn’t have stopped and looked,” said Giggles with a slight giggle. “Boss is right. You really are a dumb pig.”

  Giggles wrenched his blade out of my stomach and I immediately collapsed onto the floor. Pain surged through my whole body as yet another notification popped up in my vision:

  Debuff added: Poisonous paralysis. Agility -100%. -4 HP/1 second. Duration: 3 minutes.

  My eyes widened when I read that notification, but then a hand grabbed my neck and threw me aside.

  Hitting the floor, I didn’t have time to react before a foot slammed down onto my chest, making me gasp in pain as I looked up at the figure pinning me to the floor.

  It was Atmosfear. He stood above me like a god, his eyes glowing with malice, while his fingers twitched with obvious excitement as if he couldn’t wait to strangle me.

  “Aw, don’t look so afraid, donut,” said Atmosfear, his wolfish grin becoming more and more feral with each passing second. “You won’t really die. You’ll just respawn in your dumb dump of a Base in an hour. Doesn’t mean I won’t make every last second of your death excruciatingly painful, though, because I’m just nice like that.”

  CHAPTER FORTY-TWO

  Atmosfear pointed a finger at me. Suddenly I was without air and struggled to breathe, but then he snapped his fingers and I could breathe again, only for him to snap his fingers yet again and make me suffocate. Every time he did so, a notification popped up in my view:

  You are Suffocating! 10% drop in Stamina every 1 second and 10% drop in Health every 2 seconds.

  My eyes widened whenever I read that notification. I now saw Atmosfear’s game. Between Giggles’ Paralysis Poison and Atmsofear’s own Suffocation Powers, he really was determined to make the last moments of my life the most painful, especially on my lungs. My lungs burned every time I suffocated, only to feel relieved when air returned through them, and then to start burning and straining again when the air left. The Paralysis Poison filled my body with so much pain that I couldn’t think straight. All I could do was lie there and take it, watching as my Health bar dropped lower and lower until it was but a mere sliver of what it normally was.

  At that point, Atmosfear stopped inflicting Suffocation on me and bent down closer so that I could see his wicked grin better.

  “Tell me, donut, how does that feel?” asked Atmosfear. “Do you feel like you’re about to die? Do you want to die? Everyone has their limits. I learned that when I tortured that neighbor’s cat all the way back when I was a brat. Poor little thing was mewing for mercy, but I never granted it until I decided to. You want to know why?”

  “Because … you’re … psychotic …” I said, barely able to speak through my damaged vocal cords.

  Atmosfear laughed. “Because it’s fun. But really, torturing animals isn’t anywhere near as fun as torturing humans. I can just imagine the thoughts scrolling through your mind, the absolute helplessness you must feel as I control your fate, as I determine whether you live or die. It’s the closest thing to being God a human being can possibly achieve on this green Earth.”

  “You’re not a god,” I said weakly. “Just a crazy man.”

  Atmosfear’s smile was replaced by a scowl. “That’s what you don’t understand, donut. In the real world, I was just an aging man whose best years were behind him. Here, though? Here … Godhood is within my grasp.”

  Before I could ask him what he meant, a powerful gust of wind came rushing out of nowhere. The wind struck Atmosfear and Giggles at the same time. Giggles was actually knocked over by the wind, which also flipped his robes onto his head and made it impossible for him to see anything, while Atmosfear was just blown back across the floor several feet away from me. He staggered for a moment before regaining his balance and saying, “What the heck was—”

  A green blur came out of nowhere and kicked Atmosfear in the head. A loud thunk echoed as a boot smashed into Atmosfear’s helmet, who staggered off to the side from the blow. At the same time, my body glowed yellow and a new notification appeared in my view:

  [Hero Recover] used Distant Healing on you! All negative Status Effects dispelled and Health restored 100%!

  Startled, I suddenly realized that I actually could move my body again, and not only that, but I felt as good as new. I jumped to my feet and looked over at Recover, who was looking at me with concerned eyes, and said, “Thanks for the save!”

  Recover didn’t respond. She just nodded with a smile on her face and turned her attention to the others, which she and Hop took turns Healing. It seemed odd to me that Team Atmosfear apparently did not have a Healer—not one that I could see anyway—but that thought was struck from my mind when something slammed into me and a familiar voice said, “Boss! You’re okay!”

  Looking down, I saw Cy was hugging me fiercely, his spindly arms wrapped so tightly around my body that I found I could barely breathe.

  “Cy?” I said in a strained voice. “Did you save me?”

  Cy looked up at me with a big smile on his face. “Yeah! I used Gust to send both Atmosfear and Giggles staggering, after I took out Big Blast’s Sidekick and noticed you were in trouble of course. Glad I wasn’t too late.”

  I shoved Cy off me and said, “Thanks for the save, Cy. I didn’t expect you to do that.”

  “Why wouldn’t I help you?” asked Cy in disbelief. “I’m your Sidekick! That’s what Sidekicks do. It’s in our job description. It’s—”

  “The reason why I’m going to kill both of you as slowly and painfully as possible,” said Atmosfear.

  I looked over to see Atmosfear had recovered from Cy’s attack. There was a visible dent in his helmet from where Cy’s boot had struck and I could sense the anger radiating off of him like heat from a furnace. Giggles, however, still sat on the floor beside him trying to untangle his robes, although he quickly managed to untangle himself and stand next to his Villain, his blade drawn and a scowl on his lips.


  “Now, normally I don’t give a darn about you Sidekicks …” said Atmosfear slowly. He rubbed the dent in his helmet. “But for landing that hit on me, I’m going to give you the Atmosfear Surprise.”

  “The Atmosfear Surprise?” asked Cy in a timid voice. I noticed he had taken a step back. “What’s that?”

  Atmosfear’s grin became absolutely psychotic. “It’s the one where I cut off your fingers and feed them to you one at a time.”

  “Uh, that doesn’t sound very fun,” said Cy.

  Atmosfear laughed. “Oh, trust me. There’s nothing more fun than force-feeding a man his own fingers. Ask my brother.”

  Atmosfear suddenly thrust out his hands. I thought he was going to try to induce Suffocation again, but instead, a blast of wind exploded out from his hands toward us. Cy and I jumped out of the way at the last second, and when the wind struck the floor where we’d been standing, it shattered it, leaving a big hole where we’d been standing mere moments previously.

  “Like that?” Atmosfear asked. “I can store wind in my hands and unleash it later on! Cool, huh?”

  I gritted my teeth as I got up to my feet. Atmosfear was too powerful. It was clear to me that he had done a lot more level-grinding than me, even though I didn’t quite know his level yet. I doubted either Cy or me could take him out, especially with Giggles acting as support. We needed to find a way to defeat him now, because the more time we spent fighting him, the less time we had to defeat Dark Kosmos. But how could we defeat both Atmosfear and Giggles in one hit?

  A thought suddenly occurred to me. It was a risky plan that might not pay off, but it was also our best bet at not just defeating Atmosfear, but ending this battle entirely.

  I sent Cy a Team chat that read thus:

  Me: Cy, I need you to use Gust again, only make it as strong as possible. Focus it on Atmosfear and Giggles and don’t let up until I say so. I’ll handle the rest.