Desert

by Caiden Walker

  There were a lot of pros and cons involved in making the dwarf a permanent member of their group. But then, he could keep Tyler company, she thought.

  Nika was just starting to mount up when the entire desert suddenly changed. A wave of energy passed through the entire area and everything it touched changed. Not so much that she would have noticed if she hadn't actually seen it happen, but changed all the same.

  What the hell?

  She was still trying to figure out what had happened when she heard Louella gasp and then immediately start laughing. "You guys put Meekapu into your game? That's awesome!"

  Whirling, she tried to catch sight of what the pixie was talking about, but all she caught was a brief flash of yellow as it disappeared behind the sand dune. She looked over at Evan to see if he had any clue what had just happened, but he was standing absolutely still, staring off toward the dune. Obviously, he'd seen the thing too.

  Nika went to stand beside him. "What did you guys see?"

  Evan swallowed, then finally dragged his eyes to hers. "A Meekapu," he said. Then he hesitated. "Or something very like it."

  Her heart leaped to her throat. "Please tell me that it was put in here by one of those programmers with a unique sense of humor," she said. But she knew it hadn't been. Someone, most likely Cora, had forced an update into the game. That must have been the energy wave Nika had seen.

  Evan answered with a shake of his head, turning his eyes back to the dune to see if the creature had reappeared. It hadn't.

  "Guys?" Louella asked. "What's going on?"

  "Did either of you see that wave of energy just now?" Nika asked.

  Evan's eyes snapped back to her in an instant. "What?"

  "Right before that creature that the two of you saw," Nika said. "There was a wave of energy that swept through the desert. It only lasted a couple of seconds, and I guess I only saw it because I was looking out at the desert at the time it happened." She paused. "Neither of you noticed it?"

  They both shook their heads.

  Then Evan roughly rubbed his face in agitation "The bitch pushed through an update."

  Nika nodded. "Yeah, that's what I think too."

  Now all their game knowledge was moot. From here out they could be facing anything. Not to mention the very rules of the game might just have changed.

  A Meekapu?

  CHAPTER SEVEN: Parental Warning

  When Louella had first seen the tiny, cute little creature, she had been delighted. The Meekapu was a key character in an older game that had been designed after an archived version of Pokemon. The designers had changed just enough to keep from violating any copyright laws or trademarks, but the general idea was the same.

  Catch cute little monsters, help them grow up and get stronger, then use them in battle against other monsters. She had played the game a lot growing up. Come to think of it, she remembered reading that VirTech had bought out the rights to the small game from the designers not too long ago. Rumor had it they were planning to update the old game and re-release it to the public.

  If VirTech owned those rights, then they could easily put the collectible creatures into Gaia to mess with them. This might not be such a great thing after all. Especially judging from Nika and Evan's reactions.

  The three (plus one) headed back to town at a gallop, and Louella was very grateful for the additional mounts. Right now, nothing was going to slow Nika down from getting to that terminal, and she wouldn't have wanted to overwork Sunshine. He had attitude out the wazoo, but she liked him. He seemed to like her too, which made it doubly nice.

  They got back to Waterton before the other party returned, so they hit the save point and then went back to the mayor's house to grab a snack. Not that Nika actually ate anything. She was far too busy pacing about.

  At least until the Mayor found them.

  "Ah, there are my new guests," he said. New? They'd been there for a while, Louella thought. "I've been looking for you. The contest is about to start."

  "The contest?" Nika's voice was filled with dread.

  "Of course," the Mayor laughed. "After all, that's why you all are here, right? To see who will become the number one master recruiter? It will be a grueling trial for sure, but the rewards for the one with the strongest and most loyal team at the end will be plentiful."

  Nika looked at Evan and then at Louella. This was so not what they needed right now.

  "Is this a contest for parties like ours?” Louella asked. “Or do players... I mean contestants... have to go it alone?"

  The mayor frowned. "Well, it is true that most recruiters are entering the contest singly, but there isn't anything in the rules that say you can't enter as a team."

  Louella nodded. "Good. Then we'll need to wait for the rest of our party to get here before we start. Is there somewhere we can go to learn the contest rules before we enter?"

  The mayor's face cleared into a smile. "Of course. My office is going to be command central for the competition, and there is a bulletin board where rules and information regarding the game will be posted throughout the contest." He paused. "We can hold off the start until your party arrives, but I do hope they won't be long."

  "They won't be," Louella said. Once he had left, she turned to Nika. "I've played the Trials of Meekapu before. If that is what this is, or something really close to it, I know what's involved. But I want a look at those rules to be sure."

  Nika nodded her agreement. "Evan and I will go to the save fountain and see if Ash and Dean are back yet. If so, we'll give them a head's up as to what is going on. Then we'll meet back in the cellar and you can fill us in on the rules of the new game."

  With a plan in hand, Nika and Evan left, and Louella made her way to the bulletin board. As promised, the rules were clearly posted. The teams would be judged in three categories. The first category was strength and strategy of your monster team. The main rule was to always have monsters in your party of different elements so you would have strong fighters no matter what element type your opposing party consisted of.

  The second category was how well the team filled out their monster inventory. There were a total of forty monsters in the game. But according to the sheet, only twenty-two could be found in this desert area. The others would be back in Forest. Louella really hoped they didn't have to backtrack to go forward. That would not be a good thing at all.

  The third and final category was how far one made it through the battle colosseum once one reached it. In truth, that was the only one that truly mattered. The others just aided you in that last, final set of battles.

  Of course, if she remembered the game, reaching that final confrontation was the problem. There would be almost constant invitations to battle. Some you could ignore and walk away from. Others you had to win just to advance in the game.

  Louella was afraid that meant that the team didn't have a choice as to whether or not to join the contest. They simply wouldn't be able to advance and get close to Gaia unless they had a monster team that could win them past the roadblocks.

  Nika was not going to be happy. They didn't have time for this.

  Hopefully, once Ash got here with the terminal, they would be able to change things. An update should be able to be reversed.

  She started to jot down notes for the others, then saw that there were copies of the rules and instructions in little scrolls to take with you. Louella grabbed a scroll for every party member and went to wait for the others in the cellar.

  On the way, she made sure to stuff her backpack with apples and sugar cubes from the supply closet. Sunshine had pretty much depleted her stock today and he wouldn't be happy if she forgot to refill her inventory when she had the chance.

  As she came out of the supply room, she saw the others entering the main hall. She met them in the middle and handed them each a scroll.

  "Ash and Dean have both played the Trials game, too," Nika said. "So at least we'll have a slight advantage if we can't get this stupid update reversed." />
  They headed down the stairs to their cellar room and Ash handed Louella the terminal. Before the Pixie could get a grasp on it, Evan whisked it away.

  "Sorry, Pix," he said. "You might be the better hacker in the group, but I'd bet me and Nika have you beaten on programming experience."

  Louella considered, then nodded. He was probably right. After all, they were much older than she was and had been at it for much longer. It only made sense. Besides, she had mostly concentrated on getting into places she wasn't supposed to, not actually changing things once she got there. With a few notable exceptions, of course.

  "Let me know when you need my account information and password," she said.

  He looked at her oddly, then sighed. "Crap, for a minute I'd forgotten they wiped our accounts. I hope yours has the authority to do what I need to do,"

  Louella lifted a shoulder. "We won't know until we try," she said.

  In seconds, Evan was at the Gaia login screen. He pushed the terminal across the small table to her and she quickly entered her account information and pushed it back. Then she thought about the file with the super big icon on the home page.

  Oh well, it couldn't be helped. If he noticed it and opened it, her secret would be out. Not much she could do about it at this stage besides grabbing the computer and running with it. And she knew she was going to have to tell them sooner or later, anyway. She was just really hoping for later. Much later.

  After a few minutes of flying fingers, Evan gave a small shout. "Ha! I found it."

  Louella's shoulders relaxed. She had been afraid with her minimal access that they wouldn't be able to find the changes.

  Seconds later, he was cursing. "Damn it, your account isn't a high enough level to completely back it out." His fingers kept up their pace. "But I just might be able to... What the hell?"

  "What?" Louella stood and moved over behind him, to stand next to Nika who was already there. The screen before them said, "Got you! Good luck accessing the programming again anytime soon. Love, Cora"

  "It was a trap," Nika said. "Somehow, they found out that we had made some changes to the programming and they couldn't find which account was the guilty party."

  "I hid it pretty well," Louella said quietly. "But by doing something they knew we would try to access and change..."

  "They could isolate the account in question and shut it down." Nika gave the girl a small smile. "I don't suppose you have another Gaia account access?"

  Louella shook her head. "Sorry. Just the one."

  "Well, it was fun while it lasted," Nika said.

  Evan shut the terminal and turned to stare at Nika. "Why are you taking this so well?"

  Nika laughed. "Would you rather I rant and rave like a lunatic? That wouldn't change anything would it?" She shook her head. "VirTech wins this round, but that doesn't mean I'm conceding the war." Looking over at the rest of the team she said, "Now tell me everything I need to know about the Trials of Meekapu. But the Cliff Notes version, please."

  So they did. It played like most other monster collection type games. You had to buy traps to catch the monsters and weaken them enough to catch them in it. Once you caught them, they joined your team, presumably talked into it by your lead monster which you got to pick out of three possible choices.

  Then you simply grew them, strengthened them, and battled them throughout the game.

  "So, will the Gaia game play still be in effect too?" Dean asked. "Or has the game changed over to this?" He paused. "You know, I think we could have a better shot at this one."

  "Not really," Louella said. "Some of the creatures we might need to win are back in Forest. We don't have time to backtrack to get them."

  "No, we don't," Nika agreed. “I'm betting the main game will still be Gaia, but to keep advancing, we'll have to play along with the Meekapu game too. I'm hoping it doesn't mean we have to win it to get to Gaia's caverns."

  "Oh, the map!" Louella said, pulling out her scroll. The desert area was plainly divided into three separate areas, with different monsters to be found in each section. "This is great," she said. "It looks like we can totally ignore one of the three sections of the map, and that one is the final battle coliseum. I think we can get to Gaia's cavern just by going through the other two." She looked up to find Nika staring at her. She'd obviously never played the game before. "That means we don't have to win the Meekapu game to get to Gaia. But our monsters will have to be strong enough to get us through those first two stages."

  "Can we do this?" Nika was looking back and forth between Louella, Ash, and Dean. Her new resident game experts.

  Ash nodded slowly. "I think so." She paused. "We've done good today with separate teams. Maybe we should keep that up and one team play through the Meekapu game and the other concentrate on Gaia's Rebirth."

  "As long as the Meekapu game lets us change our party members when we need to, that should work," Dean agreed.

  "So, do we go and enter the contest?" Louella asked.

  "Already?" Blake had kept quiet during this whole fiasco. "Aren't you guys tired?" He did look like he was ready to drop any second, and as he was already sitting on his bed, he wouldn't have far to fall.

  "As much as I hate to admit it," Evan said. "Blake does have a point. I'd say maybe we should call it a night and get a fresh start in the morning."

  They went downstairs to grab dinner and ate a simple meal of ham—which was oh so much better than the beef in the game—and potatoes then took turns in the restroom before lying down. Once again, Evan laid his pallet down in front of the door to the stairs.

  "Really?" Blake asked. "Where the hell do you think I'm going to go? If I could get the hell out of this game, I'd already be long gone by now."

  "Maybe," Evan said. "But I've been burned by you once before. Ain't gonna happen again."

  Blake just shook his head and threw himself onto his bed. Everyone else followed soon after.

  But try as she might, Louella simply couldn't fall asleep. She waited until the others were out before quietly getting up and moving over to the terminal that was still sitting on the small table. Hopefully, her parents had answered her messages by now. While she understood them having to tend her dying body, they should realize that they were also wasting time they could be spending with her here in the game. At least they could still talk. Even better than when she was back in her real body. The pain medication didn't seem to affect her here, which had been a decided plus.

  It meant she could still function. Hell, who was she kidding here? It meant she could truly function well for the first time in her life. What she was doing in the outside world couldn't really be called living. She knew that now. Funny that she had to enter a gamescape to discover what life was actually supposed to be about.

  Flipping open the computer, and making sure that its screen was facing the opposite direction from the beds and her sleeping party, she logged into the messaging service. There was a message from her father waiting for her.

  Her breath quickened as her finger hovered over the button to read it. Did she really want to know? Then she berated herself for being silly. Whether she knew the facts or not, it wouldn't change things. And she needed to be prepared. If it was time to warn her friends, then she needed to know. No matter how much she dreaded it.

  She clicked the button and the message that awaited her was nothing that she had expected.

  "To whomever has been sending us messages using our daughter's email account: We have contacted our lawyers and if you do not cease and desist your activity on this account, we will not hesitate to press any and all charges available to us to the full potential the law will allow. To play such an insensitive joke on a family grieving for their late daughter is simply unforgivable. You will pay for this. If not in this life, then in the one beyond. Message us again, and we will find you and prosecute you."

  It was signed by her father.

  She was dead? Louella glanced down at her body. Then she corrected herself. It was
only a virtual body. Apparently, the real one outside had ceased to exist.

  How was that possible?

  Louella had spent her entire life dreading that actual moment of death. Not because of going on to another place. That didn't bother her.

  What bothered her was leaving her loved ones. And if she was totally honest with herself, what bothered her most of all was the fear of the pain involved. If her life had been totally revolved around pain, how painful must death be?

  Now it seemed that her entire lifetime of worry had been for nothing. She was dead, and she hadn't felt a damn thing. A flood of relief flowed through her body.

  Best yet, she was still alive and enjoying herself. Who could ask for more than that?

  Wasn't she supposed to go to heaven? Or was she already there and just didn't know it because her brain was here?

  Yet again, how was that possible when her brain was dead?

  Too many questions flowed through her mind which, dead or not, was still highly functioning. One thought rose to the top of the heap.

  What happened if she were to reboot within the game?

  Louella swallowed and shivered thinking about it. She was pretty sure that would mean endgame for her. After all, how do you reboot a character that is no longer alive in the outside world? The short answer: you don't.

  So now, at least to her, dying in the game wasn't something she could take in stride, knowing that the game would continue. It might not. It probably wouldn't, anyway. Eventually, she would find out, but she wanted that moment to come as far in the future as possible. Just in case.

  She closed the terminal and just sat there, thinking of all her options. The towns here were safe zones, meaning no monsters. Why couldn't she simply stop playing the game and become an NPC of sorts? As long as she stayed in town, there shouldn't be any danger of rebooting. The people here seemed nice enough. Room and board were even free here.

  It was an option, but not one she wanted to take. She owed her new friends more than that. Their lives, which they still had, hopefully, were still in danger. Her strength and abilities helped them. They needed her.