from all the heavy lifting, but
filled with excitement. The wind
seemed to whirl and twist with
even more force, the sky a
boiling sea of angry clouds and
electrical energy.
The bright purple stone in the
center of the portal shimmered
and changed, suddenly turning
into a mirrored surface. They
saw themselves for the first
time in what seemed like forever,
179
staring at their reflections, battered,
bruised, standing in the storm.
Mei took a step forward. “Shall we . . . try it
together?”
A smile spread across Rip’s face. “Together,”
he agreed.
He held out his hand and Mei took it firmly.
“Mei . . . ?” Rip said, looking across at his
companion. “You’re a pretty decent gamer.”
Mei grinned, no longer bothered by the
rain. “You’re not so bad yourself.”
Loading . . .
181
Urgh! It’s too white!
There’s nothing to look at!
It’s disorienting!
I think I’m going
to hurl . . .
At least then there’d be
something to look at.
You know, that was pretty fun.
Until we figured out it was real.
Actually, it was still kind of fun.
I’m just glad we made
it out alive. But why
aren’t we home yet?
182
do you wish to
exit? Your
progress will not
be saved.
I think this is just another
loading screen like before.
Except we still have our
backpacks.
183
Mei looked inside her own backpack. “I still
have the medallion,” she said, holding up the
strange bronze object they had pulled from
the mine. “What does it do?”
They both inspected the medallion. It had
some unusual carvings, which made it look
like it connected to a bigger piece.
Rip and Mei were starting to panic a
little. Rip wondered if they would ever
escape this game or if they were lost in it
forever.
Would that be so bad?
Then he thought of the number of times
they’d already both come close to death. He
decided that yes, this was exciting, but he
was ready to go home. Besides, who would
want to play the same game forever, even if
it was great?
“What’s that?” asked Mei, pointing behind
Rip to a small hole hovering in the white.
“There!”
184
They both moved toward the strange hole.
It was just sitting there, not attached to
anything. Mei looked at the medallion, at the
hole, and then to Rip.
CLICK
185
The medallion fit perfectly. Mei turned it
until it locked into place.
CLICK CLICK CLICK
A trumpet fanfare sounded.
“LEVEL ONE: DIG WORLD,
COMPLETE!
Rip and Mei smiled. Maybe it really was
over.
“ENTERING LEVEL TWO !”
There was a loud crack and then they
were falling through the air again. Down and
down they tumbled, the world around them
slowly taking shape as it loaded in. The white
became blue and then dark blue and then
filled with clouds.
“Whoa, these cloud graphics are great!
Look at those textures! So detailed!”
yelled Rip.
Immediately it became very clear that they
were not heading home. Mei took in a sharp
breath.
186
Are . . . are those . . . ?
DRAGONS!
It was an entire army of dragons, soaring
over the land below in magnificent formation.
Mei had always loved the idea of dragons, but
now she was about to have a very close
encounter with one!
They were falling—and fast. Rip realized
this too, and his body tensed to brace for
impact.
THUMP
Rip and Mei crashed onto the back of a
green dragon, both scrambling to grab hold
of it. Rip managed to spread his arms out
over the back of the beast in a terrifying
airborne hug of sorts.
Mei bounced and was able to land her legs
directly on the beast’s long neck. They felt
the dragon’s body flinch in surprise at the
sudden addition of two passengers, and it let
out a mighty, terrifying bellow.
The portal had not taken them home at all.
Rip and Mei were riding a real, fire-
breathing, razor-toothed dragon. They were
moving with intense speed, the rhythmic
beating of the dragon’s wings propelling them
sharply through the air. Rip managed to raise
his head just enough to get a glimpse of
where they were headed.
The wind stung his eyes. Hundreds of tiny
airborne figures dotted the horizon . . . more
dragons ?
There was another, angry bellow—which
was promptly echoed by all the other
dragons in their flying formation.
“Rip! What is happening?!” Mei cried.
Rip’s eyes were fixed on the horizon. Their
army of dragons was about to collide head-
on with another, larger group of black
dragons.
“Oh no . . .” Ripley swallowed, gripping the
green dragon’s back more tightly. “I think
we’re going to war . . . with dragons.”
190
into the
fire
“R
EMEMBER OUR ORDERS! FLY TRUE,
STRIKE FAST, LIVE LONG!” the huge
dragon bellowed. The powerful beast was
soaring through the air so fast, its smooth
green scales were hard for Rip and Mei to
grip.
The nearby dragons flew in a V formation
behind them, and Rip realized they were
getting ready to attack. “Mei! I think this is a
dragon battle!” he yelled.
“Yeah, I kind of guessed that the hundreds
of dragons flying RIGHT NEXT TO US were
getting ready to fight!” Mei shouted, still
clinging tightly to the dragon’s neck, which
was quite warm and seemed to be getting
hotter.
Rip was holding on to the dragon behind
Mei, but could barely hear what she said. The
roar of the wind and the FWAP FWAP FWAP
of the huge beast’s wings was deafening.
“It’s like we’re in the opening scene to an
epic role-playing fantasy game!” Rip yelled
excitedly at the top of his lungs. “We’ve
entered another game or level or something!”
“Hey, Rip, let’s talk about that later . . . we
have to get off this thing or we might, you
know, die!” Mei called back as a bug flew into
her mouth, causing her to cough and splutter.
Then, without warning, the dragon
cor
kscrewed downward, nearly throwing Rip
and Mei off.
Rip vomited.
“GROSS!” Mei grimaced.
“Oops, sorry.”
“HUUUUUUUMAN!” A deep voice rumbled like
thunder, right next to Mei’s head. It was
another green dragon, keeping pace along-
side them and staring right at Mei. The
misshapen fangs in its mouth were long and
sharp, and the eyes were red like fire. Mei
could smell its horrible fishy breath. This was
not like the blocky creatures they had
encountered in the last game. This dragon
looked much scarier.
“FREY!” the dragon called out. “THERE IS A
HUMAN ON YOU!”
“WHAT? GET IT OFF!”
Frey, the dragon Rip and Mei were clinging
to, sounded horrified. She swung her head
back and forth, trying to see them. As she
did, Rip slipped and was spun around Frey’s
neck. He vomited . . . again.
“GET IT OFF! GET IT OFF! EWW!” Frey yelled.
“I DON’T WANT TO TOUCH IT! AHHH! THERE’S
ANOTHER ONE AROUND YOUR NECK TOO!
AHHHHHH!” The other dragon sounded a little
panicked.
Frey broke away from the formation of
dragons, diving and spinning, trying to shake
off Rip and Mei.
“Don’t let go, Rip!” said Mei, glancing at her
full health on her digital wristband. “If we fall
here, we might not survive!”
Rip clung on even tighter, but at the sound
of Mei’s voice, Frey’s flying became more
erratic.
She started
doing barrel
rolls, clearly
desperate to
shake them off.
“Can’t we . . .
uh . . . talk
about this . . .
uh!” Rip tried
to reason with
Frey, as they
were flung left
and right, up and down.
“You can just let us off . . . gently, you
know!”
“DON’T YOU DARE SPEAK TO ME, VILE
HUMAN!” Frey growled with fury.
“I don’t think he likes us!” Rip yelled to Mei.
“AND I AM NOT A HE!” Frey added.
“Sorry!” Rip said. “I’m new to dragons!
And . . . uh . . . BURP . . . flying! Uh-oh, I think
I’m gonna . . .”
“NOOOO! YUCK!” Frey bellowed and dived
straight down. She headed for a thick, dark
part of a forest below. Rip and Mei had
totally lost visuals on the dragon army, but
could hear what sounded like lightning
storms and explosions off in the distance.
“TIME FOR A BATH, DIRTY HUMANS!” Frey
roared.
SPLASH!
Stephanie Bendixsen and Steven O’Donnell
are Australian TV writers and presenters of
video game review shows for gamers, by gamers.
Chris Kennett is an illustrator who has most
recently worked on various Star Wars Little Golden
Books and the TV show The Day My Butt Went Psycho.
But his coolest job to data has been Pixel Raiders.
PIXEL
RAIDERS
BOOK #2
DRAGON LAND
COMING SOON!
Pixel Raiders #1: Dig World Page 10
