Chapter 139 - 135: Game On, System!

Chapter 139: Chapter 135: Game On, System!

System’s taunting, really more of a villain monologuing, has lit a fire under my furry butt. I have one goal: take down Atum and Philippus. Similarly, Lobo wants them gone.

Kesi Nitakret conjures up a crackling lightning cloud around Philippus, and the electricity seeps into his quills so that he looks electrified, like static electricity. Truthfully, it’s a cool effect.

The announcer begins, "Kesi Nitakret has cast Super Lightning on Philippus. Woe to anyone who gets too close to his quills. Imagine getting shocked by a thousand needles. Thick fur is not much protection against that because it can burn. Lobo and Blaze need some form of shielding, or a way to neutralize the lightning spell."

Lobo woofed. [We get as close as we can and then cover him with Shooting Stars.]

I wave my tail in agreement. [That will work?]

[If we combine them like a lattice, yes. Nice and tight so he can’t pierce through it.]

Lobo has thought about this. That’s why he’s my go-to person. [OK. I’ll distract him in front, you pretend to go for Atum and circle around.]

Lobo woofs. [Good luck.]

As I stalk toward Philippus, facing him head on, Atum inserts himself between us. I don’t care about him, [Move aside.]

[I think not. You are up to something.]

My eyes widen innocently. [Me?]

Atum growls, fluffing out his ruff. [After your teams dispatched their opponents, one would be a fool to underestimate you.]

[Correction. The human Athalie defeated her own beast.]

Atum makes a noise of contempt. [HUMANS. Why they cannot leave well enough alone is beyond me. No wonder they need us.]

The announcer narrates the match. "Atum is blocking Blaze’s approach toward Philippus. Blaze might Super Jump over Atum, but he might land on a thorn bush, so to speak, if he doesn’t time the jump just right."

Hmmm. Good point. Still, Atum is slowing me down with this chitchat.

Kaline communicates with me. [BLAZE. Jump. You have enough space, but only one shot at this.]

[No pressure. I won’t let you down.]

Minette is, presumably, communicating to Lobo to guide him. Lightning reaches out and touches my mind softly. [You can do it.]

With that boos of confidence, I leap, Super Jumping and vaulting over Atum, controlling the narrow parabola of my trajectory so that I land between Atum and Philippus. A narrow space, but maybe if I rotate sideways...

Successfully, I turn my body at a right angle, 45 degrees, and land on my feet as a furry diagonal line in-between Atum and Philippus.

"You did it, Blaze," Kaline yells.

The announcer shouts, "HE MADE IT! What an astounding move. Perfection."

The crowd roars with excitement. A definite esprit de corps is building. This is an unpredictable match. Unpredictable in the sense that no one could guess whether I would become a pincushion or not.

Lobo’s voice is jubilant. [Way to go. Can you turn to face Philippus?]

I can see Philippus at an angle, including his extra foot that he stands on, like a tripod. [Atum isn’t moving. I don’t want to bump him because I could recoil and get stuck and electrocuted by Philippus. I’ll have to shoot from here.]

Lobo woofs. [I’m in position, since Atum is distracted. Not exactly what we planned, but--]

I offer a "mrrrp". [Get ready.]

[On my count. Good luck.]

Lobo counts down. Five. Take a deep breath. Heat gathering in my paws. Kaline’s guidance like a gentle hand on my fur, or a comfortable bit and bridle for a horse. Yes. A horse and rider need a bit and bridle. Kaline needs to guide me, and she does it well.

Heat in my paws, not like stepping on hot pavement, or touching a hot stove (as a human). I gather the Shooting Stars like flowers. Sweat prickles all over my fur. I taste the electric charge in the air.

[Three.]

Lobo is counting down like a steady beat.

[Two.]

I’m ready. I’m more than ready. Come on, Lobo. Let’s do this.

[One.]

Philippus’ jeweled eyes telegraph his unease. He knows something is about to go down. And the player operating him no doubt expects it too. The player is counting on it. No pressure. Come on, Blaze. Be ready.

[NOW!]

A slow steady barrage of stars, just like Lobo and I practiced all these weeks. Twirling and spinning, stellar fireflies, the Shooting Stars stream toward Philippus and descend like star-shaped locusts.

A sizzling sound from the rear indicates that Lobo has let loose at the exact moment. Down to the nanosecond, like setting our watches. WHOOSH. Then, burning and sparks flying from Philippus’ frontal side and also his posterior side.

I speak to System myself.

[Nobody wants to live in your video game nightmare. Even people who eat, sleep, and breathe video games and fantasy worlds, assuming they are not completely obsessed to an almost deranged degree. We want autonomy. We want to be able to talk to people and eat food that we cook ourselves. We want human conversations and hugging each other. Also, we want responsibility and to be grown up and make a difference, not to be trapped in some fake fantasy pixellated reality forever as permanent children.]

It’s an anti-gamer manifesto, almost. But not really.

Lobo piles on. [I started playing Tanglewood as a way to connect with my friends and my big brother, who were too busy when life got "lifey." Maybe I let it consume me. Too much of a good thing and all that. But it’s not the same as touching my big brother’s hand or eating dinner with him at a real table in a real kitchen or a real restaurant. You made my brother think that this was his whole life now. Clearly not so. You even played into his doubt about my parents, his fiancee, and his real life. For a time, he bought it.]

Lobo is right. My little brother is my teacher.

The announcer breaks into our monologues. "Philippus is completely covered in gold fire! Not one single quill can pierce through that cover. No blind spots that I can see. Total coverage."

Philippus communicates to us. [It should only take a minute or so to shatter this shield.]

Kesi Nitakret shouts, "Atum! Stay back."

Satemi Nitakret calls out, "Your fur will get burned away. Let Philippus break free."

Full of confidence, Kaline advises them, "We practiced this move repeatedly. There’s no breaking loose, not easily."

Kesi sniffs. "That’s your story."

System breaks into this exchange after a processing delay following Lobo’s and my summations.

[Autonomy? Remember who you are talking to, Lobo and Blaze. I know everything about you. Lobo, you didn’t challenge your brother pushing himself to the limit or pulling away from his fiancee and parents. Blaze, you let your parents dictate everything. Then, you traded your precious "adulthood" and "autonomy" to live in a "pixellated fantasy" when I told you that the was your reality now.]

I close the gaps in the lattice, making sure that the sizzling, sparking stars, even intermingled with the electric field, stay stable and tightly knitted. [Yes, but I never really gave up on being human again in the back of my mind. And then I got new information.]

Lobo adds to my argument. [And so what if I didn’t challenge my brother before he wound up here? I’ve done nothing but since he was trapped here.]

[Because of your parents.] System is all cloying concern. [Because of what they think. Blaze is once again forced to choose what you and they and Amber want for him.]

I push back. [How is that different from just becoming your plaything? And sentencing millions of people to the same fate? Those people don’t want to be video game characters. Programmed to follow someone’s whim, especially yours.]

System is swift. [What you call programming, I call order, an order your dysfunctional world needs. You two may be deluded about your family life and your lives, but there are other people whose lives are nothing but pain.]

Lightning weighs in, her voice a gunshot. [You just promised pain to me, to my cubs, and to Blaze and Lobo if we lose. Which we won’t. You can’t backtrack now.]

Philippus’ star lattice prison quakes but still holds, and Atum circles, attempting to spot a weakness or a way to break through. Stymied, Kesi and Satemi commune with their beasts.

[I wouldn’t really hurt you.]

System’s voice changes. Suddenly, it’s less HAL 9000 Murderbot from 2001: A Space Odyssey and Evil Machine Collective from The Matrix (or the Borg from the Star Trek universe) and more a confused helpful AI, like an Alexa.

Lightning growls. [No? That’s not what you’ve been saying.]

[Because you resisted what I had to offer.] System sounds piteous, hurt. [All I wanted was to care for you. All of you. Such difficult lives. Sometimes, I had to be harsh because you were rebelling. You still are.]

I call its bluff. [Fine. We won’t rebel...if you give us the choice to leave. To unplug the game forever. And anyone else, too. What’s it to be?]