The Grind

by Dante Doom

  They had been Grinding for several hours, scoring points and trading them in for weapons and armor. For the most part, they were all wearing starter gear, but Timon and Hem had pitched in their points to get Savannah better armor. She had 200 hit points now. The rest of her own points would go into getting her special skill cards. She had bought three already: Overdrive, Status Clear, and Adrenaline Rush. They were all crappy without upgrades, but thanks to her father’s strategy, they would soon have enough points to load all three of those skills up to a level where they could mean life or death for her.

  “Yeah, most people leave after they defeat the giant Mother Spider, but guess what? The purple door is this way,” Hem said as he walked over to the large gash where the spider had crawled from.

  “That knowledge will come in handy in the future,” Timon said.

  “As if I’m ever going back into the Grind after this,” Savannah chuckled. “Either way, if I succeed or fail, I’m never going to have to deal with this place again.”

  “Every citizen should do their part if they want to see humanity restored to prosperity,” Timon replied. “No exceptions.”

  “Don’t argue with your future wife,” Hem said as he hoisted himself down the hole. “You’ll never win.”

  Timon blushed at the word ‘wife’ and Savannah laughed. “He’s right—you won’t win,” she said as she leapt down the hole after her father.

  She landed in a large, volcanic cavern with a river of lava running behind her and casting a series of shadows against the wall. The announcement You have Discovered a Secret Area hovered above her head.

  “This place is so cool! I can’t believe I never knew about it,” Savannah said as Timon landed next to her.

  “No time to admire the decor,” Hem said. He pointed to a purple door sticking out of the side of the cavern wall. “We gotta move.”

  “What can we expect in there?” Savannah asked as she readied her shotgun.

  “It’s going to be a real turkey shoot, to be honest,” Hem answered. He pulled out the key and tapped it against the door. “At least until the end. The final boss is a real pain, but there’s a rhythm to fighting against him.”

  “We should save before we go in,” Timon said. “That way, if we die, we’ll pop up back here.”

  “Oh… right,” Savannah said as she pulled up the menu from her UI. The idea of saving her stats was still foreign to her. She was used to having to risk everything in order to advance in the game. Now she could click a button, when outside of combat, to save her progress. There was no more risk to anything. Of course, if the programmers had designed the game to be a mere motivating factor in keeping the Grind clear of Virals, they wouldn’t want progress to be deleted. Saving, as foreign as it was, made far more sense than the all-or-nothing system she had lived off of since she’d first entered the game.

  “What’s the plan?” Timon asked once he finished saving.

  “Shoot anything that comes shrieking at you wildly,” Hem said as he placed the key inside the keyhole. The key shimmered for a moment with brilliant blue light. The door flashed for a split second, and then it was gone, leaving nothing but a swirling purple portal.

  “Here we go!” Savannah said as she stretched out to hold Timon’s hand. They didn’t have to hold hands, but she sure as hell wanted to. The portal activated then, and they were quickly transported to another realm.

  “Well, this place looks like a hassle,” Timon groaned once he realized that he was standing on a small floating stone. A massive lavafall was before them, pouring thousands of gallons of molten lava on the ground beneath them. There were eight stones in the air, each only large enough to hold one person at a time. “So, I’m guessing we have to jump around from platform to platform?”

  “You catch on quick,” Hem said. “Ready up! Don’t bother dodging the first few waves, either; a single blast should take care of them!”

  Before Savannah could reply with some kind of witty remark, a dozen bat creatures began to materialize in the air. They shrieked as they darted towards the nearest player. Above their heads hovered the label: Firebats.

  “Get blasting!” Savannah shouted as she let loose a torrent of green energy from her shotgun. The creatures were clumped together closely and the spread from her gun easily tore through them. Each shot said 50 damage and the phrase Lethal Blow quickly followed after the various damage reports. The bats were appearing by the hundreds, though, and shooting blasts of flames out of their mouths, but true to Hem’s word, they died faster than they could aim.

  “This isn’t going so bad, although I’d say the points are somewhat lacking,” Timon commented as the words 10 points hovered above his head. A few more points trickled to the rest of the group as they held their ground, firing at the swarms.

  “Wait for the bat god or whatever,” Savannah said. “There is going to be a bat god, right?”

  “Savannah, there’s always a bat god at the end of these things,” Hem replied as he paused to reload his gun. He popped the energy core out of his rifle’s under-barrel and threw it to the ground. Savannah had never known why her dad preferred ammunition based weapons, but it was working out well for him thus far. Watching him, she felt a stab of pain rush through her as she realized that, win or lose, this was the last time she’d be in the Grind with her father. He would probably end up in some position of authority in the new order, and she was planning on keeping her vow never to enter this world again. Most of their relationship had been fostered inside of the Grind.

  “Over there!” Timon yelled as a large half-man-half-bat emerged from the lava. The word Cama hovered above his head in purple. He had the torso and legs of a regular man, but the head and wings of a bat. He screeched in a fiery rage at the three of them, beat his wings, and began to fly towards Savannah.

  “Dodge!” Hem instructed them. “You do not want to be hit with his kick attack; it’ll throw you right into the lava.”

  Savannah nodded and crouched down, waiting for the right time. She sprang to the right as Cama swooped towards her. The words Your Jumping Skill has Increased by 1 hovered above her head as she landed on another floating stone. She fired a few blasts, but Cama was moving too quickly. The bat beast continued its charge in a straight line, now moving towards Timon, who had been behind her.

  Timon was swift enough to jump out of the way of the attack, though, and well before the bat could react.

  “It doesn’t seem to be able to change its flight path when charging,” Timon shouted as he knelt down and fired a few shots from his Sniper Rifle. Most of the blasts went wide, but one hit the back of the beast’s wings. The words 100 damage hovered above its head as its health dropped from 1000 to 900.

  “The wings are the weak spots,” Hem said. He jumped from rock to rock until he was on the stone in the center. “I’ll draw Aggro—get to the sides and light it up as it flies at me.”

  Savannah and Timon complied, flanking Hem as Cama turned around and began to fly towards him. Savannah noticed that the Viral attacked whoever was closest to it. That knowledge would come in handy in the future.

  The bat wings were stretched wide and its legs were drawn back to its chest, readying for a powerful kick. Savannah waited until it was within range and fired a few shots from her shotgun. The spread of the weapon was wide enough to hit both the wings and the torso of the creature. The announcements 50 damage and 100 damage hovered above it, dropping it down to 700 points as Timon also fired from its other side.

  “Nice work!” Hem shouted as he ducked low to avoid the strafing run of the bat monster. He didn’t move from the stone that he was standing on, however, and instead turned his gun upwards, firing at the wings from beneath the creature. The words 125 damage hovered above its head.

  “Your dad has some insane moves,” Timon said. “He’s even better than Elanor!”

  “He’s been playing this game for a long, long time,” Savannah said as she watched her father reload.

  “I wis
h it were him going in there instead of you,” Timon muttered. He paused then, realizing that he had spoken aloud what he’d been thinking.

  “Gee, thanks for the vote of confidence,” Savannah replied.

  “You know why I said that,” Timon said.

  Savannah ignored him and readied for Cama’s last attack. With the kind of damage output they were slinging, she knew it would be easy to slaughter this bat god with their next shots. It was almost a disappointment, how easy the Viral would be killed.

  “Incoming!” Hem said as he readied his rifle again. The monster shrieked loudly, causing waves of disorienting energy to course across Hem’s head. The word Dazed hovered above her father as he dropped his rifle and stood in place, wobbling back and forth.

  “Crap!” Savannah shouted. She leapt from rock to rock, firing at the monster. It was no use, however, because Cama seemed oblivious to the attacks. A few hits together dealt 150 damage, but the creature wasn’t dissuaded. It kicked hard at Hem, knocking him backwards.

  “I’m on it!” Timon cried. He had been hopping from platform to platform, and was just able to grab onto Hem right before the man fell to his death.

  “Ugh, that sucked,” Hem said as he recovered from his daze.

  The bat monster was flying above them now, beating its wings in a violent frenzy and shrieking in some unknown tongue. “I forgot about the daze attack. It’s been a while since I’ve done this cake run.”

  “I would hardly call you almost falling into lava a cake run,” Timon chuckled as he hoisted Hem back to his feet.

  “Bah, I have a grappling…” Hem trailed off. “Right, forgot about the character wipes. Ha, that would have sucked.”

  “At least we don’t lose everything when we die now,” Savannah said.

  Cama shrieked again and dive-bombed down towards them, its entire body bursting into flames as it flew.

  “Hold position and fire!” Timon yelled. They all raised their weapons high and fired a dozen shots at the creature. It didn’t stand a chance under their combined fire, and was torn to pieces from the energy fire. The words Lethal Damage hovered above its head as its health dropped to zero. It faded away before it could reach them.

  “Well, as far as bat gods go, that was rather tame,” Savannah said as she slung her shotgun over her back. A few thousand points rushed to her, bringing her up to 15,000.

  “Oh, that wasn’t the bat god,” Hem calmly stated as he turned to face the lava fall. “That is.” A gigantic bat’s head emerged from the lava, screaming in a bloody rage. Above its head was the word Zotz in red letters.

  “Ah crap! That thing is huge!” Timon shouted. “I mean, look at the detail on that thing—it’s like a real bat.”

  “You got a fear of bats, too?” Savannah asked.

  “No, no, I just… it’s unsettling to see something that ugly be so big,” Timon replied. It truly was ginormous. The head was like a mountain looming over the three of them, hissing and snapping.

  “Where’s the rest of it?” Savannah asked as the three of them hopped a few rocks away from it. As dangerous as Zotz looked, it wasn’t doing anything yet.

  “We only fight the head,” Hem said. “Pay attention and learn the pattern. It’ll spit lava at us—left to right, then right to left. After that, we’ll have a blast come straight from the middle. It’s easy to dodge, but if you make one mistake, it’ll probably instagib you. So don’t get hit.”

  The bat began to inhale deeply. Savannah could feel the wind flowing through her hair as the air around them rushed into the enormous creature’s mouth.

  “Figure out which direction…” Hem said as he took a knee and leaned his head forward, craning his neck to figure out where the bat would be moving its head first. Savannah gripped her gun and realized that shooting it would be a problem. Her shotgun didn’t have the kind of range necessary to shoot all the way from this far back. She had no other weapons in her inventory, either. This wasn’t good.

  “It’s going left to right—follow my lead!” Hem yelled as he began to hop all the way to the rocks on the far right. Timon and Savannah followed suit and hopped from stone to stone. A long arc of lava spewed through the air from the bat’s mouth, moving after them at a surprisingly fast rate. Thanks to Hem’s heads-up, however, the three were perfectly safe.

  “When do we shoot?” Timon yelled out as he followed Hem all the way back to the far left and the wind picked up again. The bat prepared another volley of lava, but this time they were well out of the beast’s range by the time the lava reached their side. The spew ceased right before it hit the final row of stones, sparing them from the attack.

  “Now hold,” Hem said. “We’ll attack once it gets fatigued.”

  The bat released a shorter blast of lava in three bursts, but it was targeting only the center stones.

  “This seems easy,” Savannah mused as she waited for her father’s signal to attack.

  “It gets faster each time,” Hem said. “And it randomizes which direction it’ll blast each time. Definitely a high octane sport here.”

  “I think it’s done!” Timon yelled. The bat head ceased attacking and merely tilted its head down, gasping for air.

  “Go!” Hem yelled as the three hopped as close as they could to the beast. All weapons had damage drop-off, even Sniper Rifles, so being able to shoot at the creature at near point blank range would severely increase their damage output.

  Savannah grinned as she watched the words 100 damage hover above Zotz’s head. Its health dropped from 2,000 to 1,650 as they blasted away at it. The bat’s head began to shake a little then as it roused from its comatose state.

  “That’s our cue!” Savannah cried as she hopped away. The other two followed after her, making their way to the center.

  “Nice instincts,” Hem said as they waited for an indication of where Zotz was going to spray next. Just as her father had said, the bat began to spew out more lava at a faster rate. They dodged to the left this time, narrowly avoiding the molten liquid that splashed across the floating stones.

  “How many times does this happen, total?” Timon asked as they hurried to the other side, only to discover at the last minute that it was spraying lava in the same pattern, already restarting all over again. Savannah activated her speed boost to help her get across the rocks in time and Hem reacted much faster than Timon. A burst of lava splashed across the Noble’s back, but he wasn’t hit with the full spray. The words 75 damage hovered above his head, though, dropping Timon’s health down to 25 points.

  “Ahhhh!” Timon shouted. “That stings!”

  “Try to focus more and talk less,” Hem said. “You’re lucky you weren’t hit directly.”

  “Here comes the center attack!” Savannah shouted as she turned her attention back to the bat beast. Once the lava finished spewing, the creature grew fatigued and they took the opportunity to light it up with more gunfire. Once its health dropped down to 1,000 points, the creature began to twist and writhe.

  “Something’s happening!” Hem cried. “I don’t remember this being in the mission last time!”

  The lavafall around the beast’s head began to shift and warp, as well, slowly forming two long arms made out of burning hot lava. Stones collected at the front of the arms, creating fingertips of obsidian.

  “Well, this is going to suck a lot more than I originally anticipated,” Savanah said as she watched the bat creature raise its new lava arms high into the sky. It let out a sonic roar that caused the three players to cover their ears in absolute agony. The right arm came crashing down towards Timon then, but the Noble was much faster this time around. He leapt out of the way and landed on the same stone as Savannah.

  “Hey, watch it!” Savannah yelled out as she struggled to stay balanced. He was pushing against her tightly, though, as the stones weren’t really big enough for two people to occupy at the same time.

  “Sorry!” Timon said. Savannah was forced to jump to another stone before she fell off the sid
e, and she landed on one leg, inches away from the edge. The announcement Your Balance Skill has Increased by 1 hovered above her head as she let out a sigh of relief.

  “Incoming!” Hem yelled as the other bat arm swept across the stones. It was low enough to where they could leap up to avoid getting hit by the lava-soaked limb, but not by a lot.

  The bat let out another scream then, causing Savannah to cover her ears again. “Gah, this is getting ridiculous,” she cried out as a fist of obsidian came crashing towards her. She fired a shot at the fist, but the word Deflected hovered above it. She gritted her teeth as she leapt to the right, but the fist suddenly opened and grabbed ahold of her.

  “Crap! It’s got her!” Timon yelled. He was firing a few blasts of energy at the bat head now, but a thin wall of fire was deflecting everything that was coming towards the creature.

  “I’m on it!” Hem said. “I hope!” He hopped across three stones to reach Savannah. The words You are Being Crushed hovered above her head as her health bar began to slowly decrease from 200 to 178. She hated taking damage outside of the tens bracket; taking damage in tens was so much easier to keep track of. Now she had no idea how much damage the creature could do per second.

  “Use your Status Clear…. now!” Hem yelled as he leapt underneath the fist. Savannah activated her Status Clear ability. The fist was forced open and she fell into her father’s arms as he landed on the other side of the stone.

  “Nice thinking, Dad!” Savannah exclaimed as she slid from his arms and leapt onto the platform to the left of him. She staggered for a moment and then regained her balance.

  “Don’t thank me yet; I can’t seem to figure out how to kill this thing,” Hem said. “Hands are immune to damage, limbs don’t even say deflected, and the fire shield is protecting the head. This is one of those stupid puzzles.”

  “Maybe it’s another waiting game?” Timon asked as he leapt from stone to stone, avoiding both hands as they swung outward and grabbed at him. The brilliant arcs of bright yellow lava would almost have been beautiful, if the creature hadn’t been trying to kill them.