“What now? What does the fox say?” Mary celebrated.
Soon after, Ace was jumping over the shore and back to the court, with his usual roller blades back on his feet.
“And Dante’s Chaos masterfully scores their first point! One to zero!” everyone heard when Ace placed the flag at the base’s pedestal. The audience’s uproar grew wilder. Some were chatting excitedly, while others were anxious at the first point having been scored.
The game remained intense. Besides such powerful effects, like the beach created to guard the flag that Ace had captured, the opponents were proving to be much hardier as well. Bobby had to go through the great tree man with his power drill to halt his advances. Kerah shot at the werewolf again and again, but his wounds quickly healed. The fox-woman Mary had eliminated was put back together seconds after being vanquished, and resumed her attack, striking back at her using martial arts.
One of Ace’s team’s flags had been captured as well. In the shape of a ferret, one of the opponents had crept unnoticed through the melee the other players were caught in. When Kerah saw this and tried to shoot at it, it was too late.
Not long after, the score was changed again.
“Two to one! What a beautiful move by Gaea’s Furies!” the play-by-play announcer went on. “After the subtle previous capture, the bear Gorhal brutally tramples his foes, ignores the blue team’s defensive icicles, and manages to bring back another flag down to the red base! Will Dante’s Chaos still stand a chance? They started out very strong, but do they still have enough stability to go on?”
“Let us all charge onwards!” Dante ordered through his Neurolink. “We won’t be able to hold them out for long, so we’ve got to capture their two flags before they snatch our final one!” He stopped talking for an instant, while evading a bite from the werewolf he was still dueling. “Asuka, drop the defense and go get them! Bobby, the tree thing is back! After him! Come on, guys! We can do it!”
Asuka was afraid. She crafted the best defenses she could, with several interposing stone barriers on the tortuous way leading to their final flag, but she knew they wouldn’t last too long without her around to keep them in the game. She activated her magical wings and started advancing.
Ace, Mary, and Bobby went for the central line, after the flag. Dante got rid of the werewolf and went for the right flag together with Asuka and Kerah. Meanwhile, the ferret was advancing as it climbed Asuka’s defenses. The rest of the Gaea’s Furies were standing their ground.
The fox-woman was out for revenge. She focused her attacks exclusively on Mary, whose hair was assuming more and more of a grayish hue. As her initial blows had no effect, she used all her might to try to get through the girl’s force fields. Lightning, meteors, energy balls... They were each wondering just for how long the other’s stability would last.
The game line through which the trio tried to advance was guarded by a forest. That made it much harder for Bobby to face the tree man, who was perfectly camouflaged in that environment. Ace ran from the giant bear that chased after him. To keep his pace, he had to turn his roller blades into anti-gravity skates. He knew this would quickly drain his stability, but he couldn’t think of any other way to avoid being trapped by the forest’s uneven ground and caught by the bear roaring in hot pursuit after him.
Everybody’s stability was swiftly dropping, but the intensity of their attacks and advances remained unabated. Ace figured that, had he gone through such a match on an early access, he’d surely have been zeroed long ago.
Despite all hardships, Ace and Dante managed to grab the remaining red flags, strap them to their backs, and were starting back to the base. As they came near the center of the court, they managed to glimpse on the screens that the ferret had done the same, bringing back the blue team’s final flag in its mouth.
Mary was still under attack, her stability at a mere 10% already. She knew she needed help, but she didn’t want to be a burden on her team. Capturing the flags was all that mattered. She was getting ready to be forcefully logged out when she noticed the attacks against her had ceased.
Ace, while returning to the center of the court, saw that Mary wouldn’t hold out for long under the barrage of her foe’s attacks. Gathering all his might, he tackled the fox-woman. Both of them fell, rolling down the court with the impact, Ace still with the flag strapped to his back. As he got up, he smiled at Mary, who smiled back, before he saw her face contorting in stupefaction.
The ferret had barely spent any of its stability up to that point, so it took advantage of its remaining energy to launch a tremendously powerful attack. It was now leading a multitude of animals in a stampede. Everything, from cats and rabbits to rhinos and elephants, was part of that wave of beasts trampling anything in their path. As they realized the strength of that effect, all the other Gaea’s Furies’ members stepped back.
Ace didn’t know what to do. Almost everyone in his team was now closely packed near the center of the court and they were about to be made into mincemeat by a multitude of hooves, horns, and claws advancing toward them. Asuka was the first one to take action.
“Labyrinth power! Increase the distance between us!” She tossed a card at the advancing stampede. The card’s energy was spreading out the game line between them, transforming a mere few yards into hundreds of them.
Ace’s team took the chance to regroup.
“Bobby! Try to protect us!” Dante yelled, short of breath, holding a bleeding right arm. “Ace, you get the flag I’m carrying and find a way to get back there!”
“Where’s Kerah?” Ace asked while strapping the other flag to his back.
“She was disintegrated! I don’t think she’ll be back before the animals get to us!”
Bobby stepped ahead of the team and positioned himself firmly sticking his feet on the ground. To get to his friends, the stampede would have to go through the metal mass of his heavy armor. Ace tried desperately to think of how he could manage to come back with the flags, but there was no way out of facing the quickly approaching tidal wave of animals.
Asuka was struck by a sharpened branch tossed from afar by the tree-man, being disintegrated soon after. Without the girl’s concentration to keep the labyrinth in the game, the distance between their team and the animals was quickly returning to normal.
“Ace!” Mary’s eyes were fixed on his before she added, “You tell me later how the remainder of the match went.”
The animals were already clashing against Bobby when the girl used what little was left of her stability to create an orange-rimmed portal next to Ace. Through it, he could see his team’s base just a few steps ahead.
Ace barely had time to smile at her in gratitude. He acted fast and jumped through the portal mere tenths of a second before it closed just a few inches from his body. At the same time, Mary’s stability was gone and she was immediately logged out of the Neuralnet.
“What an extraordinary turn of events, ladies and gentlemen!” the sportscaster announced in excitement. “Three to two! A match that was practically over for the blue team ends with a phenomenal victory!”
Ace and his friends gasped in relief when they heard the delicious announcement of “Victory!” echoing through the court, all painted blue. The audience’s outcries grew to deafening proportions, in excitement for the game they had just watched.
The friends gathered at the center of the court and exchanged congratulations. Even Bobby was greatly excited, howling inside his metal armor. Asuka, after popping back into the court, wouldn’t stop hopping and whirling around her friends. Kerah couldn’t hide her amazement. They had beaten their first opponents in the championship!
“I’ve never seen someone make such a perfectly positioned portal, even if only for a few seconds,” the werewolf remarked as he congratulated Dante on their game. “And that while having almost no stability! Congratulations! You really deserved this victory.”
All players who were still inline saluted each other before returning to th
e server. Around their usual table, Ace and his friends reviewed their best moves on the big screen and were excitedly complimenting each other for the victory, keeping that joy lasting for as long as their stability allowed.
Pedro was ecstatic as he came back to reality. He had to hold himself back to keep from screaming for joy. After a few seconds checking on his brothers to see how they were, he allowed himself the inebriation of victory until he fell asleep.
The following day, he was discussing the match with his pals. Daniel and Luiz heard his explanations while viewing the replays on his tablet. The slimmer friend congratulated him profusely, while Luiz left his sullen mood aside to offer commentary on the moves, asking question after question.
“Man, at that time you could have summoned some gelatinous monster to hold the stampede, couldn’t you? Why didn’t Kerah use silver bullets to shoot at the werewolf? Mary must have logged out at almost negative stability, right? How could she create that portal at such a low stability?”
“Dante explained to me you can indeed log out at... let’s say, negative stability”—his friend frowned—“I mean, if you’re at 2% stability, you can perform an effect that would cost 15%, but you’ll be logged out instantly. Mary must have disconnected at a negative 5%. Still, her portal lasted longer than we expected!”
Pedro considered showing off his victory to Letícia, but restrained himself. He didn’t want to bother her mentioning the Neuralnet. He knew his friend would like to get inline if she could, but her dad didn’t allow it. Besides, he didn’t want her to see the way Mary had looked at him before she made the portal for the final move.
That same look was all over him at that night’s practice session, while he thanked her for what she had done. He focused on trying not to be seduced by those beautiful green eyes and said only, “I hope you didn’t wake up with too much of a headache.”
The girl’s red hair was swaying slowly while she said no, moving her head from one side to the other and smiling.
Though he did feel a latent concern for his brothers, Pedro’s days were filled by the liveliness of triumph and the hope they would go on winning the next matches, but only until he received the term’s report card at school.
“D?!” his father raged, pacing back and forth in the small living room, holding the report card on his hands. “A D in history?! And a C-minus in geography and Portuguese!”
“What’s going on, Pedro?” his mother inquired, her arms crossed as she sat in front of her son. “You’ve always been a good student! You’ve almost never been graded below B! And now physics was the only subject you had a good grade!”
Pedro didn’t know what to say. He criticized himself in his mind. The feeling of guilt and regret with which he burdened himself was way heavier than his parents could ever imagine. His mother went on.
“I know you were terrified at what’s going on with your brothers, but you could at least have told us you were having some difficulty.”
Pedro sunk more deeply into his chair. That made it even worse. Of course he was worried about his brothers, but he knew the reason his grades were so awful was the fact he was abusing the Neuralnet and getting very little sleep because of that. How could he explain something like this to his folks? That while they struggled to make ends meet with their company and his brothers were going through an unknown disorder, his grades were getting worse because he was busy playing a little game?
Pedro made a few gestures, showing he didn’t know what to say. The parents sighed.
“Well...” Antônio broke the silence, “you still have time before the year ends, Pedro. A smart boy like you will find a way to get your grades up in no time, right?” Pedro nodded.
“Mom, I... I’ll do something about my grades. I really care a lot about it. I don’t want to give you another thing to worry about”—he was about to break down and cry—“I’m sorry, Dad. I’m sorry, Mom.” They could see in his eyes he was being sincere.
There was no way out. Pedro had to give up his time online gaming with Luiz and Daniel to study and sometimes to get some more hours of sleep. His parents had no trouble accepting their son’s new routine, trusting that he knew what he was doing. They had more on their minds, for they could see how Marcelo and Rodrigo were growing wearier and wearier with every passing day. They anxiously waited for the day the hospital would call bringing news about their disorder.
Chapter 10
In the matches they played on the following weeks, Ace’s team performed just as well as in their first game. Despite the changing schedules for the coming matches, all players were present for every game.
Dante’s Chaos (everybody eventually came to terms with the team’s name) was beating all the opponents they faced, from the Speed Needers, a team based on race cars, to the fighters-only Xboxers. They even finished one of the matches at three to zero. One more victory and they would be qualified for the final!
Everybody was growing more confident. They started to realize they weren’t just fooling around in the game. They were really good at what they did! That by itself made them not only dream of winning the amateur championship, but of maybe even getting a decent ranking at the official league when it began.
One day in school, during break time, Pedro was chatting with his friends.
“Tell us, Daniel!” Pedro asked.
“Yeah, well, we’re always helping you out and now you won’t tell us why you’re so happy overnight?” Luiz remarked.
“All right, all right!” Daniel gave it up. “It’s just that I finally convinced Amanda that it would be better for us to spend some more time together, so I can help her out with some subjects...”
“But are you two dating?” Luiz felt at the same time incredulous and hopeful for his friend.
“No... I mean, not yet! We’re taking it slow...”
“Pedro?”—Letícia interrupted the boys—“Erm, may I talk to you for a while?”
“Sure!” Pedro and the girl drew further from his friends, who giggled at each other.
When they were at a certain distance from them, in an isolated corner at the hallway, Letícia began, “Well, first of all: how are your brothers?”
“Thing is, I don’t even know what to tell you, Le. They’re feeling more beat down than usual, but they haven’t had another serious crisis yet. We’re still waiting for the last tests’ results... My folks are super anxious...”
“You know I’m hoping with all my heart they’ll get well soon, right? Hoping those tests will come out soon and say everything’s fine!” Though he seriously doubted that outcome, Pedro nodded in agreement.
“Well...” the girl began again, looking at the floor, “I needed someone to talk to, Pedro, and you’ve always been my best friend. And this is the kind of talk I know I could never have with Amanda”—she let out a chuckle—“but I don’t want to bother you either. I know you’ve got a lot on your mind, what with your brothers and all...”
“Don’t be silly, Le! You know you can count on me!”
“Oh, thanks...” She pulled back a lock of her brown hair behind her ear. “So... remember that dance rehearsal you went to see?”
“Yeah, I do,” Pedro said, with mixed feelings.
“So, I was chosen for the main performance and—”
“Wow, Le! Awesome! I told you you were going to make it! You killed that day!”
“Yeah, but... the first performance will be here at school”—she gave him an inquisitive glance—“right here at school! And there were so many better places!”
“You think that’s bad?!” Pedro couldn’t understand what it was that made her so upset.
“Do I think that’s bad? I think that’s awful, Pedro! Everyone here will see me!” She went on before he could interrupt her. “If I make the tiniest little mistake, the whole class will make fun of me! In fact, I think they’ll make fun of me regardless, even if I don’t screw it up...”
“Why, Letícia? You have no idea how much you kicked ass at th
at performance! Have some trust in yourself!” He paused before he went on. “You know I do!”
She hopped and embraced him tight.
“Oh, Pedro, if only everyone was as nice as you are...” said Letícia, getting teary-eyed.
Pedro didn’t know what to say. He took the chance to enjoy the feeling of being hugged by the girl whom he liked so much for a while. Then he realized his arms were still raised halfway through his motions to hug her back. He considered finishing the hug, but something held him back: he noticed Thiago was at the end of the hallway watching them.
“What’s the matter?” Letícia asked her friend, slowly stepping back from her hug.
Thiago started going away, leaving the boy’s line of sight.
“Nothing...”—he looked back at her—“I just want you to be fine, Le... If there’s any way I can help you out, you tell me, then, all right? You’re very important to me. I—”
The school bell rang.
“Thanks, Pedro.” She smiled.
Daniel and Luiz noticed the concerned look on their friend’s face when he went back to his seat in the classroom. Pedro knew Thiago would find a way to torment him.
There wasn’t much time to worry about that, though, because in that same afternoon his family was called to the hospital. The results for Marcelo and Rodrigo’s tests were finally out.
The doctor took a deep breath before the consultation, under the attentive look of all five members of the family.
“Well, as you may know, we ran all the tests we could on the boys, and only now did we get to see the results. Unfortunately, I’m afraid I don’t have good news.”
That was the only sentence Pedro’s parents could fully understand. Anything else was nothing but gaps in all the medicalese they heard.
“It’s severe... Yadda yadda yadda... The treatment failed to bring about the expected improvements... Yadda yadda yadda... They should be immediately hospitalized... Yadda yadda yadda... Most patients resist for only a few months... Yadda yadda yadda... It’s a new type of genetically influenced, nonspecific, idiopathic, progressive muscular dystrophy.”
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