Just wanted to wish everyone a Merry Christmas. Hope everyone is enjoying the holidays. Inspired by some recent events was a rewrite of the original chapter planned. Hope everyone enjoys this chapter, and keep your eyes open I might be hosting two contests soon.
Chapter 12: Gnoman is an Island
“Beep! Beep! BEEP! BEEP!” He groggily sat up as he smacked his alarm clock. 6:30 AM, Mikey found it hard to believe he had already been back in the real world for two days. Swarf’s couch was hardly comfortable but it was that was available given the circumstances, Swarf wouldn’t be up for another hour. Mikey changed his clothes and decided to go for a jog around the neighborhood. Everything seemed so quiet and peaceful in the morning mist as Mikey replayed the last two days in his head.
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“What happened? Where am I?” He repeated as Swarf looked at him.
“You’re back at Gaia HQ, we don’t know why but your interface blew sky high.”
“The others are they…?” Mikey trailed off.
“For a while there their vitals were unstable. They’ve leveled off now. We lost contact as soon as you entered the Phazian Wastes. What happened there Michael?” Mikey tried standing up but vertigo got the better of him. “Careful, you’ve been in a coma-like state for nearly two weeks and you haven’t had a proper meal in that time. Come on.” Swarf helped Mikey to a break room, where he grabbed a bagel and some coffee for Mikey. He placed them on the table in front of Mikey’s seat. “It’ll help. Tell me what happened.”
“Forgive my wariness, but the last time I woke up in the real world it was one of KJ’s illusions.” His nose curled up at the coffee. “I don’t drink that stuff.” He sat down and split open the bagel.
“We both know that Michael. You prefer a black tea with one sugar, half a cream, and just a hint of honey. The coffee was just a check to make sure it was you.” Swarf placed another cup in front of Mikey, he seemed to relax at the familiar scent of tea with honey. The steam from opening the lid fogged up his glasses as he took a few sips.
“The Phantom, whoever he is, knew right where and when to expect us. We were ambushed before we even had our bearings.” He tore off some of the bagel and took a few bites as Swarf caught up scribbling notes. “I bent the physics of the game again, this time to create a barrier against The Phantom’s minions. John mentioned a ring that did something similar. That’d be a nice to have.” He took a few more bites in a similar fashion as he let Swarf speak.
“If we could have we would have outfitted you with a full set of all the rings we added. We also would have given you all the orbs needed to take them to the max charge level. Believe me, we want you to beat him.” Sward nodded that he was ready to continue as Mikey took a large gulp of tea.
“So there we were, hiding behind the barrier. The Phantom gave us the chance to join him and save ourselves. We all refused. He then turned to Kamila and he said to make our deaths as slow and painful as possible. We fought as best we could, but we were severely outmatched. The barrier shattered and the others crumpled into heaps on the ground one by one. I still was conscious somehow. I futilely tried resisting but Kamila began to drain the life out of me with her clawed blood-goo hand.” Mikey tried to imitate the action as he chewed another piece of bagel.
“That was why your vitals became unstable. The way you interface, it interconnects your virtual body and your real body much more intimately than everybody else.” Mikey stared at the half eaten bagel as Swarf spoke. “Your unstable vitals caused a kind of feedback on the interface which led to it crashing and exploding.”
“The others, I could barely see but they were mutating their arms seemed to harden and sprout strange growths. Then the whole world went dark and then I woke up here.” He quickly gulped down the last of the tea as he crammed the bagel into his mouth. “When do I go back in?”
“I’m afraid we can’t get you back in until Saturday.” Came Swarf’s response.
“That’s a whole six days! They need me in there now!”
“We are aware of that, but half the circuits and relays to your interface were fried. And before you ask there are no backups. We only ever had the six interfaces.” Swarf looked back through a window that opened to the interface room.
“So I’m stuck here while god knows what’s happening to my friends?” He looked through the window back into the interface room.
“We’re pulling triple shifts to fix it, but Saturday is the earliest estimate. For now, wherever they are, they’re safe.”
Mikey stood up and gazed out the window. He placed his hand on it before echoing Swarf’s last word, “Safe.”
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His route he was jogging on was still quiet. His watch read 7:00 AM, time to go back and get ready he thought. Mikey wondered what it would be like to be able to use fleet feet in the real world. Suddenly, as if someone had hit fast forward, he was running at an incredible speed. “Okay that’s not normal.” He approached a bush nearby and thought about using fire rain, suddenly, the bush had erupted in flames. He quickly tried to put it out to avoid any suspicious eyes, but it wasn’t going too well. The thought crossed his mind about heavy water ballooning the bush and suddenly it was drenched. The bush was lifeless and blackened but no longer on fire. 7:15 AM, just enough time to shower and dress. He had insisted on staying at Gaia HQ in case the repairs were completed early. Given there was nowhere else for him to stay, Swarf had offered his couch.
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The sound of a nearby river greeted her as Kerri began to stir. She could not believe she was alive, much less anywhere but the Phazian Wastes.
“Aha so after two days you’re finally coming around. Good, good.” A hunched over figure who seemed to be patterned after a short humanoid crossed with an Outlaw Wolf approached her. Kerri guessed the creature before her eyes was a she. The creature carried a staff as tall as her hunched form, the staff appeared to be made of ice and was adorned with snowflake and crystal patterns. “Oh yes introductions are in order. I am Deanna, one of the Anari, and I happen to be the Guardian of Ice.”
Kerri sat up and held out her hand, “I’m Kerri, a player.” She quickly noticed the claw her hand had become, “Or at least I used to be.”
“Hmm, come with me. The others will be glad you are awake.” Deanna led Kerri from a small hut in a walled in garden to a cottage in the middle of the garden. “You may thank McCoy later for use of his Gnoman’s Land home.” As they moved into the cottage they were in a small living room type area with a table. Seated around the table were Henry, Jeremy, Penelope and John. As she looked at each of them Kerri noticed they had also undergone a similar transformation to her own.
“Aren’t we missing someone?” Kerri asked as the others all looked around.
“When we found you there were only five. We searched for a sixth but none was found.” Another of the Anari spoke. This one resembled a humanoid hybrid with a Mask of Death and Rebirth, he carried a staff that seemed dedicated to metal.
“Where are my manners?” Deanna sat Kerri at the table, “Please allow us to introduce ourselves.”
“I am Sisko, Guardian of Metal.” Said the Anari who looked like one of the Otami masks.
“I am Hoshi, Guardian of Lightning.” Said an Anari resembling a Kokeshi Doll-humanoid hybrid. Her staff was adorned with lightning bolts.
“I am Miles, Guardian of the Green.” An Anari with blades jutting out from his wrists, elbows, and knees stepped forward. Kerri could only assume he was a Buzz Saw hybrid. His staff was made of a heavy looking wood and wrapped in vines.
“I am Archer, Guardian of Stone.” An Anari resembling an OMG stepped forward. His staff seemed to be carved from solid rock.
A chill breeze ran through the air as the last Anari stepped forward. He wore a black cloak to hide his features but he pulled it back as he stepped toward the crew. As the hood dropped a Robofish’s lantern hung between his ears, his face on the other hand seemed to be stitched together from a Night Fright and a Big Dog. His necklace resembled the lower jaw of a Robofish and his body and arms seemed to be Night Fright in origin. His legs were those of a Big Dog and he had the tail of a Robofish. As he held a browned staff that seemed to be adorned with bones, the key feature seemed to be a skull at the top with a snake eye in one socket and a red eye in the other. His voice was barely a whisper as he spoke, “I am McCoy. I am the Guardian of Souls.” He took a long rattling breath as Deanna stepped forward.
“And for those who haven’t met me yet, I am Deanna, Guardian of Ice.”
“Tell me, where is Michael Berth? For I much desire to speak with him about the visions I sent to him.” McCoy’s whispering voice seemed to echo off of the walls.
“It was you sending him visions when he was near death?” John seemed shocked.
“I can only send visions to those who are on the brink of entering my domain, or those that have been there and returned. Now, where is he?” The eyes on McCoy’s staff seemed to begin spinning.
Deanna gazed from one member of the crew to the next as if she was reading their minds. “He fell. He fell to Kamila.” Her eyes widened as she stared at Jeremy, “She slowly tortured him and then he vanished. Michael Berth no longer walks among us.” She turned away as the Anari all huddled together and began chattering in a language Kerri did not understand.
“Turang da toop!”
“Nag doro stein.”
“Barooth!” At this McCoy stamped his staff in the ground. “We have to make do with the five we have. The Gnoman’s Land Guard will not hold up much longer.” McCoy ran to Henry and grabbed his mutated arm, “Even numbering five they can fend off Tridra.”
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“Are you serious? You’re able to use ring powers here? It’s got to be your altered brainwaves, your father, Michael Berth senior, theorized it was possible given how you interfaced.” Mikey had spent the car ride to the office explaining to Swarf what had happened on his morning jog. As they stepped from the dark parking garage to the elevator Mikey spoke.
“Swarf there’s got to be something I can do besides sitting on my hands.”
“Well there is the test server and the interface for it. We just can’t get it to connect to The Phantom’s server. You could test out some of the newer rings to get a feel for them.” Swarf led Mikey to a plane room with only a pair of terminals. “This one controls the server side settings, the other is your seat.” He hooked Mikey into an older model neural interface, Mikey felt back at home as he felt the connections through the interface being made.
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“What exactly is a Tridra?” Henry asked as the Anari led the crew through rugged hills. For the Anari it was as simple as short bursts from propeller like appendages on their backs to hop around. Henry was reminded of his scouting days when he would go on backpacking trips in the Colorado foothills as they traversed the terrain.
Archer stopped and met Henry’s gaze, “Tridra is a most ruthless boss tier enemy. He… it is a massive three headed dragon. His scales are jet black and he has electric blue claws when they aren’t bloodstained. His center head is presumed to be the thought center, the other two have shown some intelligence.”
“Why is he such a threat?” Jeremy puffed.
Sisko stopped this time, “Tridra commands the Blade Corps, an army of animated medieval weapons. Our Mushroom Cannons and gnome garrisons at the gates of Gnoman’s Land cannot hold long against them.”
“So we’re in Gnoman’s Land?” Penelope asked.
“Yes, if it wasn’t already obvious. And at this pace it will take us a week to reach the gates. Come on humans!” Hoshi said in an annoyed tone.
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“Some of those rings were awesome Swarf. I liked the Echo Ring especially.” Mikey looked around and found himself alone in the room, “Swarf?” He went to one of the doors and pressed against it. Mikey fell over from the door opening unexpectedly. As he got up and brushed off his knees he saw the room he was in resembled a hospital ward. There were beds lining both walls with at least thirty unconscious victims. He walked up to one he recognized as Syit.
“Amazing, isn’t it?” Mikey turned around shocked to see Qixter standing in the door with his hands in his pockets. As if he read Mikey’s questioning look with his hollow eyes, “Swarf got called away, something about code tests.”
“Who are these people?” Mikey took a more defensive stance as Qixter came into the room. He looked down at three who seemed far worse than the others.
Qixter looked down, but his eyes seemed to remain focused on Mikey, “These are the people Gaia HQ in their divine intelligence sent in before your crew. They’re all lost somewhere in Chapter Two. Those three are the worst though”
“What happened to them Qix?” Mikey shook his head as he had a sudden flash of Qixter strangling him.
“Oh those three? Yes, yes, you know them as Fortunes Fool, YANCY, and Azazes. They say they were the first to meet The Phantom. While the rest of their crew fled, they tried to fight him. Rumor has it he ripped their minds apart.”
“I think, I’m going to be sick.” Mikey ran through the door he had entered through and ran for a restroom. The sensation to puke was overwhelming. He sat there huddled over the toilet bowl just staring into the pool of water for a minute before he spewed out the breakfast bagel he had.
Swarf returned to the rom and gave Qixter a foul look, “He and his crew weren’t supposed to know.”
“I merely answered that which he asked.” Swarf and Qixter found Mikey huddled over the toilet after he had flushed from his initial reaction. “My apologies Mr. Berth, I seem to overstepped the bounds of what was permissible for you to know.”
Mikey wiped the last few chunks off his mouth before answering, “It’s alright, probably would have found out eventually.” Mikey’s memories drifted to the first time he’d used the neural interface.
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“Come forth zOMGaians and join the raffle today! One lucky winner will go head to head against a crowd favorite in zOMG’s first ever PvP match! The zOMG staff is proud to unveil the PvP system testing the new Berthanc Engineering Neural Interface.”
The developers had picked Fortunes Fool as the ‘crowd favorite’ and were raffling off the opponent spot. Mikey waited anxiously as Panagrammic drew the winning ticket number “B64007” Mikey pulled up the PM with his ticket number, B64007. He’d won the spot to compete in zOMG’s first PvP match. He soon realized he was a no-name player competing against someone who always bragged of being first.
“Remember the key to beating someone just as strong as you is to outsmart them. If you can control their actions and your own, you’ll win.” Someone Mikey had asked advice was giving a lecture. Mikey’s codename for him was ‘The Thinker’
“Also remember you’ve got to keep your distance. I know Fool, he’ll want to get in close and smack you around with a good DPS set.” The other friend he had asked advice spoke up, his codename for her was ‘The Fighter.’ Mikey had asked two of his closest friends who went by Berry and Unity for advice before the match.
“Thanks guys.” Mikey took a few deep breaths. It was the day of the match and the devs had expanded it to anyone with a neural interface could watch the PvP match live from the stands. His two friends had left him in the locker room to take their seats in the crowd.
“Hmm control my enemy…” Mikey equipped Iron Will, Scaredy Cat and Divinity. “Keep my distance…” He then equipped Hot Foot, “Defenses and health are musts…” He equipped Meat, Rock Armor, and Bandage. He looked through the ring box for anything else useful before deciding on Hunter’s Bow. He leaned against the heavy wooden door into the Coliseum, he could hear the crowd already cheering loudly. “Here we go.” He whispered to himself as he opened the door.
As he stepped into the Coliseum he could see Fool already waving and shaking his arms as if he’d already won. The thunderous cheering nearly deafened him as the crowd stomped and hollered. “FOOL! FOOL! FOOL FOR-TUNES!” He could barely hear the two people in the front row cheering, “MIKEY! MIKEY! MIKEY!” There was a screen like a jumbo-tron from a sports stadium. On it was readout of character information on both combatants. True to the prediction, Fool was going close range DPS. He had equipped Slash, Mantis, Bump, Hack, Divinity, Meat, Bandage, and Mikey could not believe the insult, Kamila’s Curse.
“At the blue gate our crowd choice Fortunes Fool! And the challenger, the winner of the raffle drawing, in the red corner Mikeswrath007!” Came Swarf’s voice over the announcement system. “May the best zOMGain win!”
“I intend to.” Mikey could hear Fool say.
He took a deep breath as he heard the bell sound to begin. Mikey shot his bow to slow Fool even further as he charged. Mikey took the extra few seconds to buff himself. Just as Fool got close to him, Mikey used Scaredy Cat. It hit its mark and sent Fool into a panic running around the Coliseum. Mikey alternated between hot foot, hunter’s bow and scaredy cat to keep Fool from getting close.
The crowd went silent as scaredy cat missed and Fool chased Mikey. Finally, after a recharge he used a raged cat on Fool. The crowd was deathly quiet as Fool’s health dipped below 200, “Your arrogance is your weakness.”
“I am Fool the first and the best! I can’t… I won’t be beaten by a n00b.” He charged Mikey as his health continued dropping. Mikey merely stood his ground and unleashed a raged hot foot. He waited as Fool continued his approach. Fool’s health had dropped below 50 when Mikey finally spoke.
“You are Fool, the elitist, arrogant b*****d and you are the first… to lose a PvP match. And you can take that to your grave for all I care.” Fool hit Mikey with a single mantis strike before he collapsed dazed. Mikey had won zOMG’s first PvP match. The crowd was speechless a few seconds before erupting in thunderous applause and cheering.
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“So I wasn’t meant to ever see that room, huh?” Mikey had walked back to the break room with Swarf and Qixter. “How soon will the interface be fixed?” He asked.
“Estimates are hopeful that we can test it after lunch.” Swarf said.
“I’ll be back then.” Mikey said as he went for the elevator.
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Kerri and John reached the top of a high hilltop as Deanna landed beside them. “Just ahead is the gnome encampment. Tridra and the Blade Corps already attack them.” As she looked towards the base of the hill she could see trenches dug into the ground. The trenches were filled with lawn gnomes firing primitive looking firearms. Moving toward the trenches was a wall made of animated tower shields, they bore a coat of arms depicting a black crystal upon a field of red. Behind the shield were ranks of great swords and battle axes. Kerri felt a shiver run down her spine as a shadow overhead blocked out the sun for a moment. As she looked up a black dragon with three heads flew back over the medieval assortment.
“That must be Tridra?” She gulped.
“Indeed.” Came John’s simple response. A group of Mushroom Cannons pointed skyward and began shooting at the dragon. It let out a roar before one head shot lightning at the cannons. “CL 12.5 Mushroom Cannons no match for CL 13 Tridra. When we originally programmed him the middle head with the red eyes was to breath fire, the left head with blue eyes breaths ice, and the right head with yellow eyes breaths electricity.” John shrugged as he looked at Kerri.
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Mikey had just dug into his pizza when a short, balding, grey haired man sat across from him at the table. Mikey’s face took on a sour look as the old man took off a pair of rectangular glasses and began cleaning them. “I know we haven’t seen each other in nearly eight years, but there’s a lot to talk about son.”
Mikey put his slice of pizza down before slamming the table with his fists, “You lost the right to call me that after the accident eight years ago!” He glared at the man sitting across from him before adding sarcastically, “Dad.”
“I know I messed up, but I want to make things right.” He tried reaching across the table for Mikey’s hands as Mikey pulled away repulsed.
“What you did, what you said, it’s unforgivable.” Mikey stood up to leave, “I’ve said everything I need to already.”
“Look this phantom thing you’ve got yourself into is bigger than both of us. Like it or not you need my expertise for those interfaces you use. I’m going back to work now.” The old man got up and was approaching the front of the restaurant they were at. Mikey sat back down muttering to himself as he took a bite of the pizza.
“Go back to work! It was all you ever did. Work. Time for Maria or me? Nope, work. Time for mom? Nope, work. So just go back to all you ever had time for, work.”
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“Guys those shields have health regeneration.” Even as Jeremy had singed a shield it seemed to heal the damage he had done.
“Alright new plan…dammit I miss Mikey’s penchant for this… Kerri, John, Jeremy start at the far left of the shield line. Penelope you and I will start at the far right. Break them down one by one.” Henry began barking orders.
A gnome wearing the rank insignia of a general turned to Henry and nodded, “Right then, we’ll go up the middle and try to punch a hole in that line.” Jeremy tried to hold back a snicker, Kerri tilted her head the voice was somehow familiar to her.
“General Mayhem?” She asked the gnome general.
“Nay lassie, his brother, General Disarray.” A Lawn Gnome column began to advance on the middle of the shield line. Kerri, Jeremy and John ran down the trenches to the left as Henry and Penelope ran down the trenches on the right.
“We’ll give you some air support as best we can.” Archer was hovering in the air next to Henry as he spoke. The Anari took to the skies on their propellers. Their staffs glowed as they fired bursts of their elements from them. McCoy seemed uninterested in aerial combat as he landed behind the shield lines and spun his staff before slamming it against the ground. The action created a quake that rattled the nearby ranks of Gr8-swords and created gaps in the Rayz Shields line.
As Tridra saw the Anari buzzing around he moved to try and engage them. Deanna and Hoshi seemed able to hold him back combining their powers until he began spewing fire. “Ahh! He’s tough!” The two Anari began plummeting to the ground. They barely regained control of their propellers before crashing. A line of B@le-Axis approached the two crashed Anari before pillars of stone and metal tore apart the approaching axes.
“We got your backs.” Sisko said as he and Archer zoomed past overhead. He and Archer were caught off guard as Tridra knocked them both into the ground with his massive claws.
“Be gone!” Miles planted his staff into the ground as a web of vines grew from the ground ensnaring Tridra’s legs. The dragon looked down with all three heads before flapping its wings. The force of the updraft freed it from the snare and knocked Miles off his feet. Tridra began inhaling with all three heads as McCoy landed next to his comrades. He pointed his staff at Tridra as it fired a vortex of silvery energy. Tridra exhaled with all three breaths and the forces of the breaths and the vortex seemed to be equal. McCoy however, seemed to be becoming fatigued from the effort as he collapsed. The vortex vanished and Tridra began inhaling again. Lines of blue, purple and green energy struck Tridra’s back and as he turned around the crew had reassembled. The shield line had been broken and the gnomes were fighting the swords and axes with little to no difficulty. The Anari were getting back on their feet as the dragon looked around. Tridra was soon surrounded by the six Anari and five humans. It let off a roar before taking to the sky.
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Mikey ran the entire distance from the restaurant to Gaia HQ, Swarf’s call said he was needed urgently. His lungs were on fire as he slid through the lobby doors. He didn’t stop his mad pace until he had made it to the elevator to the lower levels.
“Michael I see you hurried back.” Swarf said as Mikey stood there huffing and puffing. “We’ve been able to load two items into your inventory that will be able to get through The Phantom’s server filters. One of them is a guide book detailing all of our production notes on Chapter Two material from enemies to elements. The other is a locator, with it you’ll be able to track down where the others are.”
“Swarf, that’s all well and good, but can I get back in there yet?” Mikey looked at where his interface was as he wiped the sweat from his face.
“We wanted to try getting you connected. Mind you we’re still working on parts of it, but we managed to get it up and running.” Swarf led Mikey to the seat. “It might not be as smooth a ride as it was before.”
“Doesn’t matter, get me in there.” Mikey began performing all the pre-connect checks before he turned to Swarf, “What happened to the earliest being Saturday?”
“Your father pulled some strings and got a rush delivery of the essential parts we needed about an hour ago.” Swarf smiled as Mikey looked dumbfounded. “Lean back, ready to connect. Godspeed Mikey.”
As he closed his eyes Mikey felt the surge of energy as his mind began to process information. He was able to connect into the digitalscape of zOMG. As he opened his eyes he found himself lying in the sand of the Phazian Wastes. He looked around, there was no sight of the battle that had happened here previously. He pulled his cloak up as the sand began to blow violently. He ran and found the blue-black crystals which marked an entrance to a Chapter Two Null Chamber. He went into the chamber. As he looked through his count of Shadow Orbs he decided to try upgrading his rings. 30 Shadow Orbs for each 0.1 of charge for each ring, but he was able to upgrade the seven he had equipped to 13.0. He stepped out of the chamber, the sandstorm had become worse. As he brushed sand from his face he pulled up the scarf he wore and covered his eyes with the goggles he had. He reached into a bag that had appeared on his belt and found an odd device that looked like a handheld radar screen. As it made a pinging sound an arrow appeared on the screen pointing him in a direction to his left. The sand was too thick to see anything but he followed the arrow without hesitation.
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All of their attacks seemed useless. Tridra either avoided them altogether with some aerial maneuvers or they bounced harmlessly off of the scales. “Any bright ideas?” Henry shouted as he ducked under Tridra swooping low.
“We’ve got to clip his wings. They should have a separate targeting icon. At least then it will be a ground battle.” John shouted as he avoided being frozen.
“We’re on the Gnoman’s Land – Phazian Wastes border. That sandstorm coming doesn’t look like it will be too friendly.” Hoshi called.
Tridra as if sensing something else sniffed the air. All three heads shook and seemed to argue with one another before the massive dragon flew away further into the Phazian Wastes. “We must give chase. We need to bring down Tridra, he’s one of the twelve generals of The Phantom.” The crew followed as best they could on foot as the Anari flew overhead.
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As he stared at the radar screen on the device Swarf had given him it began to cut in and out with static. “Why do I get the feeling that this is something bad?” He tapped the screen a few times before it completely filled with static. He heard something big coming through the sandstorm, his eyes went wide as he saw the shadow against the bright beige sand. He barely had time to throw himself to the ground as a black, three headed dragon swooped overhead. As it passed him it landed and slowly turned around, the yellow horns protruding from each head seemed to have different formations to distinguish the heads. The center head’s mouth opened.
“So Mikeswrath007, we meet again.”
“He doesn’t recognize you.” Said the blue eyed head.
“Of course he wouldn’t, he last saw you when you were still human.” Said the yellow eyed head.
“I’m afraid I don’t remember meeting any three headed dragons.” Mikey stood back up and took a defensive stance. The dragon he faced flapped its red and black wings and dispelled the sandstorm. Mikey slid his goggles off and stared, his gaze traveled from the clawed feet up to the three heads. The dragon laughed from all three heads.
“We were once humans, weak and limited. But even still we were the gods of zOMG.” Said the red eyed head.
“Yes, elitist some called us but they were jealous.” Said the yellow eyed head.
“But no longer, now we have real power!” Said the blue eyed head.
“Power given to us by the Lord Phantom.” Said the red eyed head.
Mikey looked in shock as he heard the heads speak he began piecing together what really happened to Fool, Azazes and YANCY that caused their real world bodies to be brain dead. “He didn’t tear your minds apart. You took his offer of joining him and he turned you into this!”
“Yes, he made us more than mere humans. Now we are truly gods in the mighty Tridra!” Said the blue eyed head.
“Now, you will meet your end.” Said the yellow eyed head.
“I will rectify the defeat I suffered at your hands all those years ago.” Said the red eyed head.
“You…”
“…cannot…”
“…win!” The red eyed head let loose a stream of fire from its mouth as Tridra began chasing Mikey. Even as he ran the mighty Tridra took to the skies and began to pursue him, each head took turns trying to hit Mikey with its breath. Mikey could see a canyon ahead as he dodged a burst of ice. The ground to his left became a glassy ice patch.
“Nowhere left to run, whelp.” Said the red eyed head as Mikey reached the edge of the canyon. He looked over the edge and it was black as far down as he could see. He looked to his left, all three heads breathed to his left and blew up the cliff side to his left. Before he could even look they did the same to his right. He stood his ground as he turned to face Tridra.
“So it’s like that huh? No retreat, no escape.” He noticed the ground holding his narrow outcropping of rock to the rest of the cliff side was cracking under the weight of Tridra. As Tridra raised one of its monstrous legs to step forward Mikey dashed. He slid like many a baseball player sliding for home plate. As he bent his head back he saw he was behind the massive Tridra. Without getting up he pointed his hand at the beast and fired a mimicked Duct Tape. Silver strands danced up from the rock as they wrapped the dragon’s legs up, upward they climbed binding the arms and heads. Mikey flipped over onto his stomach and mimicked one of the rings Swarf let him test, it was called Bash’n’Smash, his hand enlarged into a massive muscular fist. It was as large as a boulder before he slammed it into the rock outcropping. There was a loud snap as the rock broke apart, down into the black it fell. He laughed and smiled at his luck as he collapsed back on the sand. He heard voices coming from nearby.
“MIKEY!!”
“Oh my god he’s alive!
“Michael!” John took a few steps towards Mikey before stopping and shouting, “Look out!” There was a low bellowing sound as Tridra came flying back up from the depths of the canyon. Mikey couldn’t react before he was encased in a globe of ice. Tridra landed between the rest of the crew, the Anari and Mikey.
“One down, eleven to go.” Tridra lunged at Henry trying to snap him up in the center head’s mouth. Henry seizing the opportunity hacked at the dragon’s snout. The dragon pulled back and snarled as the blade had left a pink mark across the black scales. As the middle head straightened back up, the other two heads snapped at Henry. He managed to hack the yellow eyed head while Penelope slashed at the blue eyed ones, their blades left pink gashes across the skins of the heads as they both recoiled in pain. The globe of ice began to shake and crack as Tridra dueled the Anari and the remaining crew. Jeremy and John who had gone unnoticed began targeting Tridra’s wings. Their attacks were gradually poking holes in the wings rendering Tridra incapable of flight.
“Jeremy we should cut the tail to throw his balance off.” John said to Jeremy as he cut a hole in Tridra’s left wing.
“Right let’s do this.” Jeremy and John began their attack as the ice globe completely exploded.
“You might want to make that twelve again.” Mikey blew away some steam from his Lancer Ring, before jumping on Tridra’s back. As each head tried to reach back to snap at him, Mikey took the chance to slash at the necks. The Anari, Henry, Penelope and Kerri took the opportunity to attack the exposed underbelly.
Tridra began to stumble as Jeremy and John ran out from behind it. A few feet away was the chopped off tail of Tridra. “We cannot…”
“We shall not…”
“We must not…”
“Lose…
“Ahh…” The ice breathing, blue eyed head fell silent as Mikey and Henry were able to sever it from the body.
“Doing good, keep hanging on Mikey.” Henry was slashing at the yellow eyed head as it tried to shoot him with lightning.
“Oh I’m hanging. I’m hanging!” Mikey held on tight to the spines running down the necks and back of Tridra. Mikey plunged his blade into the neck of the yellow eyed head as he was bucked off of the massive dragon’s back, the blade had already begun to vanish as Henry rammed his into the neck from the other side. There was a popping sound followed by a crack as the yellow eyed, lightning breathing head was dismembered.
“I won’t…be…stopped…” Tridra was struggling to stay on his feet as he noticed Mikey lying in the sand nearby. “If…must go…I…take you with me!” The massive creature dashed at Mikey.
“Now or never Echo Ring.” He stood up and began running towards Tridra,. Suddenly four more Mikeys appeared from thin air and spread out. The confused beast let out a roar as its claw disintegrated one of the duplicates. It snapped its head at another and it too became dust. To a third copy Tridra spat a fireball and charred the copy. Two left standing. Tridra picked one up in its massive claws and began squeezing. The Mikey it held merely smiled and waved at the dragon mockingly as it too became dust. Tridra looked down as both Mikey and Henry plunged their blades into its heart. “Hey Fool here’s another first for you, first chapter two boss to be taken down.” As the dragon collapsed Mikey felt a surge of energy in his arm. He stared in horror as it too underwent a similar transformation into a hardened claw.
“So which head was which?” Penelope looked at what remained of the dragon, its green blood had already begun to stain the pale desert sand.
“The center one was Fool. As for the other two, I haven’t the slightest idea.” Mikey walked over to McCoy before bowing his head.
“Ah Michael Berth junior, we meet at last.” Came the simple reply.
“Guardian of Souls we have much to discuss.” A strange glowing came from the hole in Tridra that had been carved by Mikey and Henry’s blades. An object gold in color and adorned with a strange symbol hovered through the air towards Mikey. It seemed to stop in front of him as everyone stared.
“One of the six Great Elemental Amulets! This one calls to you Mikey, take it. It has marked you its bearer.” Deanna walked over to Mikey as he put his hands under the amulet. It hovered a moment before settling into his hands.
………………………………………………………………………………………………………
“They did what?!” The Phantom slammed his fists into his crystal throne, as KJ and Kamila stood in front of him.
“The boy walks among the game again, my lord.” Kamila said hesitantly.
“They were all supposed to be dead by now!” The Phantom rose from his throne and began pacing, “Not only did they defeat Tridra but they acquired one of the Great Element Amulets in the process. I must stop them before they learn to use its powers.” He closed his fist as he spoke.
“My lord, why do you trust such a task to an obviously inferior servant of your will. Please allow me the honor of dispensing with the humans. I promise you won’t regret it.” KJ had risen from her kneeling position.
“Yes, I suppose you should get a turn at it given Kamila’s incompetence. Very well, stop them in the Thenedrana Mountains or don’t bother returning here with the stench of failure.”
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