It was then that I remembered I also looked totally different from when she’d seen me last. I’d looked like myself then. Now I was Lord Wildhammer.
“It’s me! Ian!” I exclaimed, patting my chest. “Remember? We met at Dragonshire after I got smashed up by that troll.”
Her eyes lit up behind her mask, the familiar glitter spinning in her pupils. “Ian!” she cried, sounding overjoyed. “What are you doing here? I mean, I know what you’re doing here. It’s just—wow, you came a long way! How are you already here? This really isn’t a beginner’s town.…”
“It’s a long story,” I told her. “But basically we came here to find you. We need your help.”
She gave me a wary look. “It’s not that I’m not happy to see you,” she said, lowering her voice. “It’s just… like I told you, I’m really not supposed to play with guests.”
“I know! But this is an emergency,” I pleaded. “At least let me explain.”
Her eyes roved the tavern. “All right,” she said. “But not here. There are too many possible spies. Meet me out back in five minutes.”
And with that, she went back to playing her guitar, this time switching to an old Zelda tune. I headed over to my sister, who was still waiting by the door.
“Was that her?” she asked as I reached her. “Is she going to help us?”
I quickly explained what Ikumi had told me, careful to keep my voice down. Though—spies? What did that even mean? And why was she not supposed to play with other guests? It didn’t make any sense. Maybe she’d explain when we met up with her.
We headed out of the tavern. The party was still rocking, and there were even some fireworks going off in the air. It was beautiful and festive, and all I wanted to do was hang out and have fun. I mean, this was a game, right? And we were technically inside a freaking theme park. We could have been having such a good time if Atreus hadn’t gone rogue.
Man, I hated that dragon.
We walked around the tavern until we got to the back. Ikumi was already there when we arrived, sitting on a bale of hay, her mask removed.
“You must be the sister,” she said to Lilli.
“Yeah, nice to meet you. I’m Lilli.”
Ikumi nodded. “You, too. Didn’t you say there was a cousin with you?” she asked me. “And where’s your guide?”
“Um, he’s getting a little snack,” Lilli said. “As for Derek… well, that’s why we’re here.”
Ikumi listened as we told her the story about Eugene, Derek, and Atreus. When we had finished, she let out a low whistle.
“Wow,” she said. “That doesn’t sound like the Atreus I know at all. He’s always been so gentle. He wouldn’t hurt a fly!”
“Yeah, well, that was before his upgrade of evil,” I replied grimly. “Now he’s broken free of his programming and is out for revenge. And if we don’t do his quest, he’s going to kill Derek. And we’ll be stuck in the game forever!”
A flicker of terror crossed Ikumi’s face before she shook it away. “Are you sure this isn’t just some quest line they gave you?” she asked. “To make the game more thrilling?”
“No way,” I said. “For one thing, our SensSuits are all messed up. When we get hurt in the game, it really hurts. And when we tried to go back to the front gates? They weren’t there anymore—at least as far as we could see.”
“Also, we can’t call for help,” Lilli added. She looked beseechingly at Ikumi. “Can you?”
Ikumi frowned. She blinked a few times, accessing her menu. A moment later, the color drained from her face. She sat up straighter.
“This is really strange,” she said. “All my call features are blocked.”
Lilli and I exchanged a doomed look. So much for that plan.
Ikumi slipped off the bale of hay and began pacing behind the tavern. “This has never happened before,” she mused, scrunching up the mask in her hand. She looked up at us. “I need to check on some things. See if I can find out what’s going on. Can you wait for a bit?”
“Actually, we’re kind of under a tight schedule,” I said. “If we don’t reach Derek in two days—”
She held up a hand. “I promise I won’t be long. Besides, it will be dark soon and not safe to travel. Get yourselves a room for the night. And some supplies and new armor—it looks like you need it. I’ll meet you first thing in the morning.”
“And join our party?” I asked, hope rising in my chest. “Because honestly? We’re never going to be able to do this without you.”
She pursed her lips. “Maybe. We’ll see.”
And with that, she walked over to the back door of the tavern, pulled it open, and disappeared inside. Lilli gave me a skeptical look.
“She’s going to join us,” I said, determined to stay glass-half-full. “You’ll see.”
“I hope you’re right,” she replied. “’Cuz I don’t know what we’re supposed to do if she doesn’t.”
“Come on,” I said. “Let’s go gear up. Whether Ikumi joins us or not, we need to be prepared.”
“Really? They call this armor?”
Lilli held up a leather crop top, making a disgusted face. “How on earth are you supposed to fight in this? It doesn’t even cover your belly!”
Yano swooped down and plucked the top from Lilli’s hands, dropping it onto a nearby bench. “Lucky for you, you’re a mage,” he reminded her. “Which means you get to wear a robe.” He flew over to a garment rack and plucked out a dark-blue floor-length dress, accented by glowing stars. Lilli reluctantly took it from his talons.
“This is even worse,” she groaned. “I might as well be wearing tissue paper on the battlefield. Who decided mages shouldn’t wear armor, anyway? It’s seriously the dumbest idea ever.”
“Agreed,” I said with sympathy. “But that’s just the way it’s always been.”
After parting with Ikumi, we’d combed the town, locating the armor shop at the far end. For its small size, it had a ton of cool stuff, though most of it was way higher level than we were. And super expensive, too. In addition to armor there were also crazy hairstyles and upgraded facial features you could buy to make your character look even cooler. I wanted to get one of the awesome glow-in-the-dark eyes sets, similar to what Ikumi wore, but they were more money than the two of us had combined—and, as Lilli added, not at all practical. We needed core gear, not add-ons.
“Don’t worry, Lills,” I declared, patting her on the back. “You don’t need armor. Not when you’ve got Lord Wildhammer and his fancy Tank Gear O’ Awesome at your side!” I pounded my new chest plate. “With this bad boy, I’ll have four hundred fifty armor points. I could get hit by a truck and barely feel it.”
“Congratulations,” Lilli replied, rolling her eyes. “Meanwhile, I’m pretty sure a mosquito could bite through this thing and kill me with malaria.”
“Yeah, but look at its stats! Your AoE will be through the roof!” I pointed out.
AoE was short for “area of effect.” It allowed Lilli to cast a large spell on a ton of creatures at one time instead of targeting each of them individually. For example, a storm mage might conjure up a lightning storm. Or a fire mage might set a section of ground on fire.
Lilli picked up a sleeve, examining the embroidery. “True,” she agreed. “That would have been useful with those draconites in the forest.”
I nodded, then wandered to the back of the store to see all the other awesome but unaffordable stuff they had to offer. On the very back wall, I found a flashy red suit of armor with spiked shoulders—supercool looking, much lighter than the one I’d picked out, and made of chain mail instead of plates. The advertised armor rating was only about half of what my new suit was—it definitely wouldn’t stand up to a truck. But it had a plus forty to damage dealt and a plus five to speed, which was pretty awesome.
“Hey, check this out,” I called to my sister and Yano. “I think it’s wrath armor.”
A Wrath Warrior didn’t fight like a normal
warrior did. Instead of keeping the monsters busy so the rest of the party could bring them down, Wrath Warriors could get into the action themselves and pound the bad guys into oblivion. As a trade-off, they also got hurt easier and died quicker. And they were no good at keeping other members of a party—like a mage, for example—safe from harm.
But still! How cool would it be to be able to kick some serious monster butt for once?
“I think I’ll take it,” I declared.
Lilli gave me a skeptical look. “Why? What are you going to use it for?”
“I don’t know. Could come in handy, though.”
She picked up the price tag and squinted at it. “So could the twenty thousand gold pieces you’re about to spend on it.”
I groaned. “I forgot what a cheapskate you are in these games.”
“I think the word you’re looking for is ‘practical.’”
“Yes.” I beamed at her. “Because this armor is practically perfect.”
I grabbed the armor off the wall and saw it even came with a matching cape! I would be the Lando Calrissian of Dragon Ops every time I wore it!
Not that I was going to wear it, of course. It was for emergencies only. And maybe walking through town? What could it hurt to wear it walking through town?
Done shopping, I headed to the merchant, laying out my items on the counter. It was then that I noticed three blocks of a strange white substance under the display case.
“What are those?” I asked curiously.
“Salt blocks,” the merchant replied. “Used to salt a stew. Some adventurer left them here the other day and never came back for them. I’ll probably throw them away.”
“No!” I cried. Excitement rose in my chest. Salt blocks! Like what the bartender had wanted in exchange for the Ghost Goop recipe! I could buy these and turn them in without having to waste time on the side quest. Surely even my sister couldn’t have a problem with that!
I glanced over at Lilli, who was still arguing with Yano about mages and armor. I lowered my voice. “How much?”
The merchant frowned. “They’re not for sale.”
“Come on,” I begged. “Everything’s for sale, right?”
“Fine. Twenty thousand gold.”
“Twenty thousand?” I cried, then glanced at my sister and lowered my voice again. “You were going to throw them away.”
The merchant looked at me blankly.
I groaned, looking down at my wrath armor, then at the salt. “How about thirty thousand for everything? That’s all I’ve got.” Lilli was seriously going to kill me.
The merchant looked over the goods. “Thirty-five thousand,” he agreed.
Argh. This was going to completely wipe me out. But still! Wrath armor! Ghost Goop!
“Fine,” I said. “Now can I have my salt?”
“Ian, are you done?” Lilli started to come over.
The merchant pulled the salt from the display case. I grabbed it quickly, stuffing it in my pocket before she reached me. If she found out I’d just spent fifteen thousand gold pieces on salt…
“What’s wrong?” she asked suspiciously. “You look guilty.”
My face warmed. “Well, I know you don’t approve of my new armor.”
She laughed. “It’s fine,” she said, patting me on the back. “If you think it’ll help us, then you should go for it.”
“Oh yeah!” I declared, grabbing the helmet and tucking it under my arm. “This armor is going to save our lives someday. You wait and see.”
And the Ghost Goop, I thought to myself as we headed out of the store. Maybe not life-saving. But it’s gonna be fun!
We’d originally hoped to book a room at the local inn for the night. But it turned out to be super expensive, and I was super broke thanks to my secret purchase at the armory earlier. Lilli was not pleased by this—she assumed I had wasted all my cash on the wrath armor—and kept mumbling about how it “better come in handy someday.” I assured her, once again, that it would, then started searching the town for somewhere else to sleep. Because if my sister found out she was sleeping on the ground because I wanted Ghost Goop, well, let’s just say I might need that wrath armor to protect myself from her wrath.
Thankfully, we came across a small, abandoned house to make ours for the night. The front door was half hanging off its hinges, and several windows were smashed through. But there was a roof and four walls and two twin beds in the bedroom, complete with pillows and blankets. Which made it slightly better than that time my dad forced me to go camping with the Cub Scouts and I had to sleep on the ground in a tent.
I brushed off the kitchen table to make room for dinner. I wasn’t super excited about eating protein bars—my kingdom for a taco—but I told myself that at least it was real food and would really fill us up. But when I reached into my pack to pull them out, I was shocked to find they no longer looked like protein bars at all. Instead they looked like huge, colorful gummy bears. How cool was that?
Grinning, I grabbed a yellow bear out of the pack and handed it to my sister, choosing a red one for myself. They had to be at least the one-pound size I’d seen sold at Christmastime that my mom would never let us get because of the crazy sugar content. Would these taste like the real thing? Or the protein bars they were in real life? This was definitely one time I wouldn’t mind the game playing tricks on my brain.
“Surrender, Sir Gummy!” I commanded my bear. “For you are no match for Lord Wildhammer’s stomach!” I chomped off the bear’s arm, savoring the burst of almost sickly sweetness. Yes! Trick my brain, gummy bear! Trick it good!
My sister regarded her own gummy with solemn eyes. “I am terribly sorry, m’lady,” she said, hopping on board. “But sacrifices must be made for the good of the realm.” She stuffed half the bear in her mouth at once, then started laughing so hard she could barely chew.
We were both chewing and laughing when a familiar red light started flashing at the corner of my eye. Another incoming call. I accepted it, trying to say hello with a mouthful of gummy, which didn’t sound much like hello at all.
The video stream came to life.
“Gummy bears?” Derek burst out, staring out at us from his cage of bones, a flabbergasted look on his face. “I’m trapped in a freaking cage with a crazy dragon ready to dismember me and you guys are hanging out, eating gummy bears?”
Oops.
“They’re actually protein bars in real life, if that makes it any better,” my sister told him.
“I don’t care if they’re steaming dragon turds! You are having fun. I am in dragon jail. And my fingers are practically falling off my hands from playing so many songs, trying to keep this ugly dragon from making me a midnight snack.” He grunted with annoyance. “Also, this place stinks. And not only because I had to use the corner of the cage as a bathroom.”
“Ugh, I’m so sorry!” I said, feeling suddenly terrible for having any sort of fun. All this time we’d been adventuring, Derek had been stuck in that awful cage.
“Have you heard from my dad? Hiro? When they are going to fix this mess?”
I let out a breath. “We can’t get in touch with them. But we did find someone who might be able to help. She’s trapped in the game, too. But she’s been playing for two years, so she’s really high-level. We’re hoping she’ll join our party.”
“Tell her she doesn’t have a choice!” Derek shot back. “You got me in this mess! You better get me out!”
“Come on, Derek. We’re doing the best we can,” I protested, starting to get annoyed. “Just chill out already, okay?”
Derek stared at me, a shocked look on his face. Not surprising, I supposed. He was the one usually yelling at me, not the other way around.
“Sorry,” I said, immediately feeling bad. “I didn’t mean—”
Derek waved me off. He walked to his harp and picked it up, strumming it half-heartedly. “Look, I know sometimes I can be a jerk,” he said slowly, staring at the wall behind him, not
looking at us.
Lilli gave a quiet snort. Sometimes? she mouthed at me, rolling her eyes.
“And I know you probably don’t like me very much,” he continued.
“That’s not true!” I protested. Though of course it was.
He turned back to us, his face pale and pleading. “Just… please don’t leave me in here. I’ll do whatever you want. I’ll never call you a geek again. In fact I’m glad you’re a geek, ’cuz only a geek could save me now!”
“Derek, we’re going to get you out, okay? One way or another. I promise.”
“I promise, too!” Lilli chimed in. “Even if you are a jerk. You still don’t deserve to be eaten by a dragon.”
He nodded slowly. “Thanks,” he said. “And… be careful, okay? This Atreus guy? He’s not messing around. He really wants to win this. And he’s going to do whatever it takes.”
A chill tripped down my spine. “Thanks, Derek. We’ll see you soon. I promise.”
And with that, we ended the chat. My sister set down her gummy bear. “I really hope Ikumi can help,” she said. “Because otherwise? I don’t know what we’re going to do.”
“No kidding,” I said, setting down my own gummy bear, no longer hungry. I rose to my feet and walked over to the bedroom. I stared down at the grimy-looking bed, hoping it wasn’t as dirty in real life as it looked in the game. I tried to think of the beloved Mario sheets I had on my bed back home. The ones my mom was always trying to get me to throw out because they were so old and faded. Derek had made fun of those sheets the first time he’d seen them, saying I was a baby for still having video-game sheets.
Bet he would give anything to have those sheets now.…
I crawled under the ratty blanket and stared up at the ceiling. Lilli followed suit in the next bed, puffing up the pillow to try to make it softer. “Ugh,” she said, giving up and plopping her head down. “Luckily I’m so tired I could sleep on a rock right now.”
“I wonder what time it is,” I thought out loud, looking out the window at the night sky. “Like, real-life time. Do you think we’ve been gone a whole day? Or only an hour or two?”
Dragon Ops Page 13
