Flag Race

by Felipe Valente

  “You guys said I could have vanished with the strength of his attack. How does that work?”

  “Oh, come on, you must have played some online game or other before!” Bobby puffed, turning his back to them and starting back to the center of the court, through the uneven path between the thicket made by Asuka.

  Dante shook his head, upset with Bobby’s reactions. He’ s such a good Hitter, though...

  “Well, Ace, you know how it goes when you die on most video games? Your character vanishes and pops back up somewhere else, right? Here, when that happens, we say you were disintegrated. You’re taken out of the game for a while and later put back together on a random spot on your side of the court. If an attack causes your stability to drop to zero, then you’re instantly logged out.”

  “But don’t mind Bobby,” said Asuka, “he’s always kinda rude like this. He’ll stop this silliness soon when you start taking all the flags for our team. He might even congratulate you.”

  “Yeah, but don’t forget to leave some to me, kid!” Dante laughed. Some instants later, he added, “And, speaking of that, your flag is still there. Don’t you want to finish the job?”

  Ace checked his Neurolink again. 30%. He was anxious to continue, but all those stories he’d read online worried him. He didn’t want to be forced to leave at zero stability. Noticing his worries, Asuka tried to calm him down.

  “Ace, he’s leaving you alone from now on! We’ll continue just you and me, and Dante can stay on your side to protect you too, if you want. Please, please, say you will! You were the best candidate we’ve had so far!”

  Ace blushed. Was she telling the truth? He knew he hadn’t done anything that came even close to the countless creations he could have employed to capture the flag, but could it be that even so he was still the best candidate they’d had? He figured other players might have failed at the flaming wave, or maybe they had been zeroed by Bobby’s blow...

  That doesn’t matter! I’ve got to make the best with the time I have here! And it’ll be awesome if I actually get to be part of the team! His Neurolink was showing he still had fifteen minutes before setting off the alarm he’d programmed, taking him back to reality before his mother and his brothers came back home.

  “Let’s do it!” He slid down to the flag and grabbed it.

  “I’ll handle Bobby if he comes near us! Go on!” Dante distanced himself from them with acrobatic leaps.

  With a few thrusts forward, Ace started moving back to the center of the court. His roller blades and sword were still great picks to help him return as fast as he could.

  “Ace! You’ll always need to use your hands! You must find an easier way to hold the flag!” Asuka warned him, again being carried by the plants as she followed him.

  Ace didn’t even slow down while creating a set of sashes to strap the flag onto his back. He followed now with his right hand gripping his sword while keeping his left hand free, raised on high as he waited for the next challenges Asuka would throw at him.

  It didn’t take long for her to pick another card, then shout, “Snow power!”

  Just as swiftly as before, its energy was spreading immediately around them, and they were now both under a large blizzard. Plants still blocked the way, but Ace noticed they weren’t trying to grab him anymore.

  The snow, together with the steep curves remaining on the game line, made it impossible for Ace to move properly. His wheels kept getting stuck, and he was constantly tripping.

  Hey! This is gonna be an easy escape. She’s actually helping me out!

  He willed his roller blades so that they stretched until they became a nice pair of silvery skis. His armor thickened and grew a padded cover, protecting him from the cold. Over his eyes special goggles now shielded his sight. It took him few seconds to begin skiing down in high speeds toward his goal.

  The great amount of snow falling ended up making small ramps on the uneven terrain, which Ace skillfully used to leap several yards ahead, avoiding curves that would force him to slow down. Asuka watched him, growing more and more satisfied.

  Ace focused when he saw he was almost at the center of the court. With a final leap, his skis turned into roller blades again and his armor became like before. His feet touched the ground without needing to slow down. Almost there. The game line down to the blue base was obstacle-free. All he needed was to keep going at the same high speeds in order to place the flag before Asuka could hinder him further.

  “Wing power!” he heard her shout a few feet behind him. He looked back and saw her speeding up above with beautiful angelic wings on her back pushing her forward as she jingled the bells on her outfit.

  He knew he needed more speed, so he focused his mind to propel him faster and faster. It wasn’t like his strength had to come from his legs; it came from his mind!

  He could see one of the pedestals where he was supposed to put the flag, facing the base. So great was his velocity that his feet began trembling. He couldn’t accelerate further with his legs, so he kept them in parallel and lowered his head to speed himself up.

  If he’d had the time to think, he would have understood why that was working. There was no air resistance to speak of to hold him back, so it didn’t make any sense that lowering his head would speed him up. On the other hand, since his mind was already used to seeing that happen, that ended up propelling him further in the virtual world.

  The trembling caused by his wheels on the ground was making his whole body vibrate. He stared again at Asuka, who was still pretty far away. Only a few dozen yards left. He was beginning to worry, thinking of what he would have to do to brake. His fear intensified when he heard Asuka yelling, while still far away.

  “Earth power!”

  A huge rocky mountain began to grow between him and the base, at such a speed there would be no time to avoid it. It would be a full head-on collision. When she realized what she’d done, Asuka worried again. It’s only a practice session! I shouldn’t have played so hard! He’s got less than 30% stability! Oh, no! Come on, Ace! You have to do it!

  Focusing to the max, Ace tried to brake, in vain. What little speed he could lose wouldn’t be enough to make his imminent impact on the mountain ahead any less fatal. He would have to find another way out. And it would have to be something that didn’t eat up what little stability he had left.

  Despite the risks, he decided to go for it.

  As he focused, the environment around him began to change. If he couldn’t dodge the mountain, maybe he could make it dodge him! Recalling Dante’s words, he didn’t try to go against Asuka’s creation, directly altering the mountain, or making it disappear, but maybe he could twist up the court, like Asuka had done.

  Molding the space around him with his mind, he made great gaps at the game line, splitting it in order to isolate the mountain from the rest of the court, so that he ended up with three divisions of the game line: there was the base on one of the pieces, the mountain on another, while he ran on the third.

  He kept focusing to make the mountain island quickly spin upside-down before uniting it back to the rest of the court. His changes made it so that the rock was now growing downward, freeing his path ahead.

  In a few instants, he was already passing above the inverted mountain, on a spot where, were it not so, he should have collided against a stone wall. Asuka was left with her mouth agape while Ace circled the base, slowing down little by little, until he came to one of the pedestals.

  Satisfied, he took the flag off his back and put it on its due place at last. It lost its red coloring, lighting up with a bright shiny blue. A faraway siren echoed and a huge screen appeared above the court, announcing 1-0, followed by a replay of Ace’s move.

  Asuka quickly flew up to him and started excitedly hopping around him. “Yes! I knew you could make it!”

  “Not bad, kid, not bad!” Dante, running, drew nearer, followed by Bobby, who was still in his sulky mood right behind.

  Ace smiled and thanked everyone.
He was ecstatic. And to think that was only a practice session and he’d captured a single flag! He could barely wait to see how a real game would play out! If only his stability weren’t so low... My stability!

  He sighed in relief. 13%. It contented him to see it wasn’t fully exhausted trying to capture the flag. He noticed that, with a bit of creativity, removing a barrier from up ahead wasn’t that stability-consuming.

  “Ace!” Dante called to him. “Kerah was sure when she cast her vote, saying you just had to be part of our team. I’m convinced now you can handle it. Asuka?”

  “No doubt!” she answered, still hopping around. “Stay with us! If we can get our team all set up soon, then we’ll be ready in time to join this year’s championships!”

  “Eh, whatever... Stick him on our team already so we can play for real.”

  Ace liked the answer. It was the best he’d get from Bobby, he figured. Dante went on.

  “That is, of course, only if you want to, Ace. What do you say? Do you want to be our second Runner?”

  Chapter 04

  “Of course I do!”

  “Great! Welcome officially to our team! But come on! We’ve got to celebrate and give you a few more hints.”

  Dante went toward the blue door from which they’d come, touched the door handle for a few moments before opening it again back to the Flag Race central. Movement there was still intense, with the most varied sorts of players, but their table remained vacant. Dante explained that each team always had a table available for them. Server space was something that increased or decreased according to the number of players.

  With a gesture from his hands, Dante made four mugs appear on the table. From the bottom up to the brim they were filled with a thick brown beverage.

  “All that snow really put me in the mood for some hot chocolate!”

  Following his peers, Ace thanked him, grabbed one of the mugs, and tasted it.

  A mixture of flavors overwhelmed him. Though its main features were reminiscent precisely of hot chocolate, he could also taste traces of cappuccino, marshmallow, strawberry, dulce de leche, and even vanilla ice cream with chocolate flakes, though it was still quite hot.

  “What is this?”

  “Oh, Ace, it’s one of the delights of the Neuralnet! Why would I create just an average hot chocolate if I could put all of my favorite flavors (as long as they go well with each other, of course) in a single mug? Any food or drink we create here can have the flavor we want it to have.” Dante turned to Asuka. “You like it, babe? I made it especially for you.”

  Asuka rolled her big eyes, but blushed anyway. Dante winked at her before turning to Ace. “I’m already sending you their contacts as well, so we can all find each other inline. We’ll soon have to get our timetables to match so we can schedule our practice sessions and see how the team is going to work with everybody on court all at once. But we still have time for that. You look like you’re about to ask us something.”

  “Yeah...” Ace agreed, “Asuka, why did you use cards, if you can do everything without them? I didn’t see you use any when you healed me. Should I start using something like that too?”

  “Oh, it’s not necessary!” Asuka laughed. “The thing is, Ace, it’s easier to keep a higher stability if you follow a pattern, you see? There’s this old cartoon I like a lot, in which there’s a girl like me who uses cards to do magic. My brain gets all of this and if I stick to this theme, my stability drops way slower than if I simply created everything out of nowhere!”

  “Yeah, Ace,” Dante followed, “in fact, the more you repeat an action to your brain the more natural it becomes, eating up less of your stability. So, if, on one hand, it’s good to do all sorts of wackiness to catch your foes unawares, sticking to the same tactics allows you to keep a higher stability.”

  Ace sipped the delicious beverage a bit more, while he took in the new information. Dante went on.

  “You’ll see that some of the strongest and most famous teams often focus on the same theme, like, for instance, the Dragon-Riders of Alagossia. Everybody on the team is focused on the same idea: knights that ride dragons, fight with swords, and chant magic words to get their flashier effects, like explosive fireballs. Their defenses are mostly built around and based on medieval castles. That gives the team coherence and everybody manages to keep a high level of stability. The downside is that sometimes they end up running out of options to deal with the challenges some of the more versatile teams can throw at them. I myself prefer the element of surprise. If you ask me, our team is going to be the most versatile one out there, with each player having a different style.

  “Besides, some players like Asuka and I like to keep the same physical shape. But Bobby, for instance”—he nodded toward him, as Bobby kept his huge bovine face hidden behind the mug from which he sipped—“he really likes shapeshifting. By the way, man, this minotaur is one of the coolest shapes you’ve used so far.”

  Bobby shrugged. Ace enjoyed a few more sips of the super chocolate before he asked, “Asuka, when you made the snow, did you make the plants stop on purpose, so it wouldn’t push it too much?”

  “Course not! I just wasn’t focused enough. That’s something you have to get used to, Ace: the more things you create here, the more your attention is scattered and it becomes harder to control each one of them! So, as I was concentrating on the snow, I couldn’t keep my focus on the plants to get them to keep on trying to hold you with all their might. That’s why sometimes it’s best to create a single obstacle to hold your foes than several smaller traps.”

  Ace felt his Neurolink vibrate and ring. It was time to log out. He said farewell to his new friends, as he explained he had to go.

  “See ya, kid,” Dante said, then added, “If at any time you come inline and we’re not around, remember you may come to the server alone and create a court to practice by yourself.”

  Ace thanked him and logged out, feeling one more time as if he were falling backwards. When he woke up, once again it took him a while before he could understand where he was. When he finally felt comfortable back in his body, he got up in excitement and started pacing back and forth, recalling all he had done in the virtual world.

  It was better than he expected. Breaking down the barrier of reality and molding the environment all around him was nothing short of fantastic! And to think he now had a team that could play with him anytime!

  He spent the rest of the day feeding his enthusiasm. He tried to hide it in the presence of his folks so he wouldn’t have to explain it to them. Then he needed all the concentration he could muster to focus on the virtual textbook on his tablet so he could do his homework in time to hand it over the following day.

  Inevitably, he ended up going online every odd minute to read more on Flag Race. He learned that most people needed about twelve hours of rest to return back to full stability. This piece of information made him happy, because he knew that, if it weren’t for this, he would end up going inline again in the same day, despite his family being home.

  At the end of the day, his enthusiasm started to wane. He needed to focus. His home wasn’t in the virtual world. He still had a normal life and there was much to be done offline to keep it going. He didn’t want to abandon his life, his friends, and his studies. He needed to focus back on reality.

  Chapter 05

  The following day, while he was taking his tablet out of his backpack before classes began, Letícia approached him.

  “Hi, Pedro, good morning! Sorry about yesterday, OK? We didn’t get to really talk, did we? How are you liking the Neuralnet?”

  “You have no idea, Le! I’ve made some friends in there already... but seriously, though, it’s a real bummer we can’t meet there. Wish your father would let you come inline.”

  “Oh, you tell me... But what can I do, right? Let it go for now. I’m getting there one day... But I’m glad you’re into it. Just watch out and don’t go around like mad hitting any locus you see. Better to hang around o
n the more normal ones, for chatting, games, and all.” She smiled before she went on, “You’re too much of a great guy to go insane because of any inline nonsense...”

  “Letícia! Hey, Letícia!” Amanda called her. “What are you doing there? You have no idea what happened yesterday! I’ve got to tell you all, come here!”

  Pedro smiled and nodded, telling Letícia she could go. They could talk some other time.

  Amanda then said to Letícia just as she was crossing the classroom after her, “Did I just rescue you or what? What was that nerd bugging you about, anyway?”

  “Hm...” Letícia didn’t know how to phrase it. She was the one who had gone up to him.

  “Oh, for crying out loud! I know you have a bit of a nerdy side, but come on, Le! You’re like me! You can get any boy in this school you want and you’re gonna hang out with him, of all people? What are they going to say about you if you’re always with that dirt-poor weirdo at your side? Did you see the likes of his friends? God help me if I ever find myself between that motley crew.”

  Letícia sighed before answering:

  “Oh, I don’t know, Amanda... I find him co—”

  “Well, whatever, never mind, girlfriend! Look at what I got yesterday!” She took a round little case from her bag. “Nanomakeup!”

  An excited Amanda opened the case. She brushed a minimal amount of a metallic powder on her cheeks using the brush that came inside, then turned the case’s little mirror to Letícia and told her to choose.

  Letícia held the object in her hands and touched the mirror, which also happened to be a touch-sensitive screen. Its menu switched back and forth between countless makeup options. She picked the one she liked the most, which showed a mannequin with eyeliner and some discreet blush on the cheeks. As she clicked “OK,” immediately the small amount of powder still on Amanda’s face started moving and changing color until the makeup on her looked just like the model’s.

  Letícia stood there, mouth agape, growing as excited as her friend. The minutes they had before classes began they spent trying out the several types of possible makeup styles. At each choice, the powder on Amanda’s face changed and perfectly copied the new chosen style.