by Lucas Flint
But then Arachnid folded his arms across his chest and said, “If you two agree to help him, I won’t make you clean up the gym and you won’t have to do your homework for a week.”
Like someone had cast a spell on her, Switch’s expression changed from a surly frown to a beaming smile. “Really? Well, Bait, what are we waiting for? We have a computer girl to save, don’t we?”
Bewildered at Switch’s sudden change in attitude, I looked toward Bait for help, but he just shrugged as if to say, Girls, man. Arachnid, meanwhile, seemed completely undisturbed by her abrupt attitude change. I guess he knew her well enough to expect her abrupt change in attitude, which was probably why he said that.
“Okay,” I said slowly. “I’ll let you two get packed and ready to go. We’ll head out in the evening. For now, I need to return to the Braindome and get myself ready.”
CHAPTER EIGHT
Ten hours later, Bait, Switch, and I materialized just outside the entrance to Vault F in the mountains of Colorado. It was early evening now, with the sun just beginning to dip behind the mountaintops in the distance, though it was getting darker already thanks to the tall trees around us blocking the light from the sun. A cold breeze passed through the trees just then, and above us, the sky was gray with clouds, an indication that it was about to snow. That wouldn’t affect us, seeing as we would be inside the Vault, but I still made a mental note to close the Vault door before it snowed. That way, if we spent more time down there than we expected, we wouldn’t have to worry about our bodies freezing in case it started snowing.
It didn’t take us long to enter Vault F and find the VR chairs and headsets, which were exactly where I left them. As I closed the door behind us, Bait and Switch immediately ran over to the chairs and started inspecting them. They looked a little strange, Bait in his black and purple suit, Switch in her white and blue costume, as they messed with the VR equipment like kids opening presents on Christmas morning.
“Whoa,” said Bait, grabbing one of the headsets and turning it over in his hands, twisting the wires connecting it to the chair as he did so. “This is cool, like something straight out of a sci-fi movie.”
“It looks hideous,” said Switch. She sat down in one of the chairs and immediately relaxed. “On the other hand, these chairs are so comfy. I think I could sleep in this.”
“Hey, you two,” I said, trying not to sound annoyed as I walked up to them. “Don’t start playing with that stuff just yet. I need to talk to Olga and find out if she has any information on Holly’s whereabouts.”
Switch looked at me with a smirk. “You sound just like Arachnid, you know that? Even though you’re only a year older than us.”
“I’m in charge of this mission,” I said. “And I’ve been in leadership positions before. I was the leader of the Young Neos, after all.”
“Whatever,” said Switch. She stretched her arms and legs. “Let’s go. The sooner we save your virtual girlfriend, the sooner we can get back to the Academy and spend the next week doing absolutely nothing at all.”
Bait, who was still inspecting one of the helmets, looked down at Switch in surprise. “But we’re graduating next year. Don’t you think we should take advantage of this time to complete some courses for extra credit?”
Switch rolled her eyes. “Come on, Bait. We have plenty of time to get ready for our final tests. They’re still months away. Just sit back and take it easy for once.”
As Bait and Switch continued to argue over how to spend their week off, I sighed and rubbed my forehead in exasperation. I was now starting to understand why so many of the older superheroes I knew treated teenagers so harshly. I wondered if I had been that stupid when I was their age. And then I wondered if it was weird that I was thinking like an older guy, despite the fact that I was only a year older than those two like Switch said. Maybe I was growing up after all.
Shaking my head, I walked up to Olga’s computer terminal and said, “Olga, I’m back and I’ve brought two friends with me. Are you there?”
No text appeared on the screen at first, and for a moment, I was worried that Holly had somehow gotten to Olga and we were going to be on our own.
Then text finally appeared: YES, BOLT, I AM HERE. I CAN ALSO HEAR YOUR TWO COMPANIONS. THEY SOUND ANGRY. PLEASE ASK THEM NOT TO BE TOO ROUGH WITH THE VR EQUIPMENT. IT IS VERY FRAGILE AND CANNOT BE REPLACED.
I smiled, relieved to read Olga’s message. “Don’t worry, I’ll make sure they know. Can I get back into the game now? Or are my twelve hours still not up?”
YOU HAVE FIVE MINUTES LEFT BEFORE YOU CAN RESUME PLAYING VAULTWORK ONLINE, said Olga. ONCE YOU GET BACK IN, YOU WILL RESPAWN IN THE SAME PLACE YOU WERE KILLED. DO NOT WORRY. HOLLY IS NO LONGER IN THAT PARTICULAR AREA, SO YOU DO NOT HAVE TO WORRY ABOUT HER KILLING YOU AS SOON AS YOU RESPAWN.
“Thanks for the info, Olga,” I said. “Now, have you managed to locate Holly and Valerie yet?”
YES, said Olga. HOLLY HAS TAKEN UP RESIDENCE IN-GAME IN THE TOWER OF THE CURSED. I BELIEVE VALERIE IS ALSO BEING KEPT PRISONER THERE, THOUGH I CANNOT BE SURE.
“Tower of the Cursed, huh?” I said, ignoring Bait and Switch’s increasingly loud argument. “Sounds like a fun place.”
IT IS NORMALLY THE LOCATION OF A POWERFUL BOSS, BUT HOLLY HAS SUBDUED THE CREATURE AND TURNED IT INTO HER SLAVE, said Olga. DO NOT BE FOOLED. THE TOWER OF THE CURSED IS FULL OF HIGH LEVELED ENEMIES WITH HIGH STATS AND POWERFUL ABILITIES. I SUGGEST DOING AS MUCH LEVEL GRINDING AS YOU CAN ON YOUR WAY THERE.
I nodded. “Yeah, I figured as much. I’m no gamer, but even I know that a place called the Tower of the Cursed just has to be home to a powerful boss.”
CORRECT, said Olga. I SUGGEST GETTING YOU AND YOUR FRIENDS READY TO ENTER VAULTWORK ONLINE. YOUR TIME LIMIT IS ALMOST UP AND I KNOW YOU WISH TO JUMP BACK IN AS SOON AS POSSIBLE.
“Sure,” I said. “Thanks for the info, Olga. I’ll see you in VO.”
I turned and walked over to the chairs, where Bait and Switch were still arguing about how they were going to spend their week off from school.
“Let’s compromise,” said Switch. She was standing now, having apparently decided she could argue against Bait better if she wasn’t sitting down. “You can be a good boy who sits inside and does unnecessary extra homework when you don’t have to while I go out and have fun. That way, we both get to do what we want.”
“You’re my sister,” said Bait. “I’m not going to let you fail just because you are too lazy to do extra work that will actually pay off in the long run. Remember, we’re in this together.”
“Oh, come on,” said Switch, “I said it was a compromise. You know, that thing where we both get what we—”
“Hey,” I said, causing Bait and Switch to look at me. “We’re going to enter VO now, so you two need to stop fighting and sit in your chairs. Olga will activate the game once we’re all hooked in and ready to go. Let’s move.”
Luckily for me, Bait and Switch did not argue the point, though Switch continued to mutter under her breath about how unreasonable Bait was acting while Bait just rolled his eyes as if he couldn’t believe that Switch didn’t get the point. Nonetheless, the two of them sat down in their respective chairs. Bait pulled his helmet down over his head immediately, while Switch hesitated a second before pulling her own helmet down over her face. I distinctly heard her sigh in relief, perhaps because she had been worried that the headset might have grease from someone else’s hair on it.
But I didn’t pay much attention to what they were doing, because I sat down in my chair, buckled up, and pulled my helmet over my face. As soon as I did, a timer counting down to something appeared in my vision:
COUNTDOWN TO IMMERSION IN 10 … 9 … 8… 7 … 6 … 5 … 4 … 3 … 2 …1 …
-
Abruptly, I found myself standing in the same meadow from before. It looked almost exactly the same as it did the last time I was here, with fresh green grass underfoot, a crystal clear pond before us, and a beautiful sun shining its rays
down upon us. A soft breeze blew through just then, sending the leaves of the trees rustling. Even the starting weapons—sword, staff, and shield—were still here in exactly the same spots where they had been left before.
The only thing missing was Holly. My eyes darted from side to side as I took in our surroundings, but as far as I could tell, Holly was indeed not here. She was supposedly in the Tower of the Cursed, but I didn’t see any towers nearby, which made me wonder where it was.
As if reading my thoughts, a new notification appeared on my screen:
Bolt,
I have added a marker to your world map indicating the position of the Tower of the Cursed in relation to you and your group. Please check your world map when you get a chance to see where it is.
Olga
I didn’t even know I had a world map, but with a single thought, a large, slightly transparent map suddenly appeared in front of me. It depicted a truly enormous continent, which somewhat resembled North America, although a lot rounder and with more mountains with the name Keoria in the upper right corner. A blinking blue light in the southeast corner indicated me and my party, while a red blinking light closer to the center of the map indicated Holly’s location. The red light was on what looked like a massive tower, dark and demonic in appearance, and when I focused on it more closely, the words Tower of the Cursed appeared in faint lettering upon its surface.
“Impressed?” said Olga, fluttering up in front of me on her tiny wings.
Startled by her sudden appearance, I canceled the map and the notification and said, “Yeah, this map will be really helpful. The Tower looks to be a long distance away from us, though. How do we get there?”
“Right now, you will be forced to walk,” said Olga, “but as you progress through the game, more convenient travel options will open for you. Unfortunately, I am programmed not to delve into these later game travel options so you will have to discover them for yourself.”
I shook my head. Couldn’t say I was surprised to hear that, though. Dad always liked to figure things out for himself, but unfortunately, he had a bad habit of assuming that everyone liked to do that. A part of me wished that Dad could have just programmed Olga to tell us everything about the game ahead of time, but I suppose that was too late now.
“Whoa,” said a voice nearby. “Where did my costume and Blood Gem go?”
I looked over and saw two people standing nearby. One of them was a tall, muscular man with close-cropped brown hair who looked remarkably like Bait, while the other was a stunning young woman with flowing blonde hair who could be none other than Switch. The two of them wore identical brown tunics, although Bait’s resembled a shirt and pants more while Switch’s looked more like a dress.
“And my Blood Gem is missing, too,” said Switch, glancing down at her chest. “On the other hand, I think I like this new body a lot more than my real one. It’s more … developed.”
I bit my lower lip and averted my gaze from Switch, who was now looking down at her new body with considerable interest. I had to remind myself I already had a girlfriend and it wouldn’t be right to stare at another girl. Focus, Bolt.
“Hello, friends of Bolt,” said Olga, flying over to both of them and stopping in front of them. “My name is Olga and I will be your guide on this adventure.”
“We even get a fairy friend?” said Bait in amazement. “Cool. As long as she’s not annoying, anyway.”
“Actually, I am an artificial intelligence designed by Genius to aid him in his inventions and studies,” Olga corrected. “I only look like a fairy because this is the form I have chosen to take in-game to interact with players such as yourself.”
“Aw, she’s absolutely adorable,” said Switch. She looked at me with puppy dog eyes. “Can we keep her? I’ve always wanted my own fairy friend ever since I was little.”
“You can’t—” I shook my head. “Look, can you two just pick your Class so we can get going? We have no idea what Holly might be doing to Val even as we speak.”
“Class?” Switch repeated in confusion.
Olga gestured at the three weapons hovering in front of the pond. “Yes. Before you can do anything else in Vaultwork Online, you must pick one of three Classes as your main one. Your Class determines your character’s growth and play style and even influences the kind of quests you can undertake. Choose wisely.”
Switch grimaced. “Ugh. That fairy isn’t so cute when she starts talking like a nerd.”
Bait laughed. “Well, I’ll go first, then, since you obviously aren’t a nerd.”
Bait walked up to the weapons. He went down each one, carefully inspecting each weapon, no doubt reading the explanatory notifications that I had read when I chose my Class what seemed like an eternity ago.
After a couple of minutes of inspection, Bait looked over at me and said, “Bolt, what’s your Class?”
I drew my Iron Sword and held it high above my head. “Swordsman. Why?”
“I see,” said Bait, stroking his chin. “I was going to pick that, but our team wouldn’t be very balanced if we had two Swordsmen. I don’t like playing as mages in games, so I’m going to choose the shield and become a Defender, ‘cause I figure we’re going to need a tank if we’re going to beat this Holly lady.”
Without hesitation, Bait took the shield. As soon as he did, his whole body glowed yellow briefly and then returned to normal, but there was something different about Bait now. He looked slightly bulkier, his shield strapped securely to his left arm. He hefted the shield high for a moment, inspecting its weight before nodding in satisfaction and stepping away.
I glanced at my Iron Sword suddenly and said, “Wait, why do I still have my sword? Holly broke it the last time I was here.”
“I repaired it for you while you were away,” Olga explained. “I thought you would need it if you were going to fight Holly.”
“Ah,” I said. “Gotcha. Thanks.”
Then I looked at Switch and said, “Your turn.”
Switch sighed in exasperation. “This is so nerdy and lame … but whatever. I’ll just pick the one you guys didn’t, the stick.”
“Staff,” Bait corrected. “It makes you into a mage, so you can be our spell caster to complete the trinity we have going on here.”
“Stick, staff, what’s the difference?” said Switch with a shrug. “They’re both long and pointy and I’m pretty sure some guys carry them to compensate for—”
“Just grab the dang staff so we can get started already,” I said. “Now.”
Switch flinched slightly at my tone, but she shrugged and walked over to the staff casually. She plucked it out of the aura it hovered in and twirled it in her hands briefly before turning away from the weapons. Based on how her bored expression, I could tell she hadn’t even read the notification she got when she gained her Class. I couldn’t believe how casual she was about all of this. It really made me question how she and, to a lesser extent, Bait could have possibly defeated Tsunami.
“There,” said Switch, holding up her staff. “Now all I need is my train ticket to Hogwarts and I’ll be a real witch.”
“Sis, you’ve always been a witch,” said Bait with a smirk.
Switch knocked Bait on the head with her staff, causing Bait to rub the spot where she had hit him.
“Hmm,” said Switch, looking down at her staff with interest as Bait groaned in pain. “Perhaps this staff is more useful than I thought. Too bad I can’t take this with me back to the real world. There are a lot of stupid people I’d like to hit with this thing.”
I sighed in exasperation again. We hadn’t been in the game for more than ten minutes and they were already fighting each other. This mission was looking more and more impossible with every passing second.
“Congratulations on your new Class choices, players,” said Olga, who did not seem to find their antics as exasperating as I did. “Now that all three of you have chosen your respective Classes, it is time for you to begin your first quest.”
&
nbsp; A new notification suddenly appeared in my vision. Based on the startled looks on Bait and Switch’s expressions, I could tell they got the same notification that I did:
QUEST: Save the Girl
The evil sorceress Holly has kidnapped the beautiful young Valerie and taken her away to her dark fortress, the Tower of the Cursed, located in the Red Plains. As the three newest heroes of the Vaultwork, it is your duty to rescue Valerie from her captor and defeat Holly at the same time. The fate of the Vaultwork itself is at stake.
WINNING CONDITIONS: Save Valerie and defeat Holly
LOSING CONDITIONS: Die or allow Valerie to perish at Holly’s hands
REWARDS: 30,000 EXP for all participating players
Y/N?
Though I found the description of the quest a little odd, I did not hesitate to hit the accept button and begin our quest to save Valerie.
CHAPTER NINE
As soon as I accepted the quest, the notification disappeared and Olga said, “Thanks for accepting this quest. You may now begin your long and dangerous trek to the Tower of the Cursed. It will be a difficult quest, but I am sure you three will be more than capable of completing it.”
“Wait, are we going to walk there?” said Switch in horror. She gestured at her feet, which were covered with rough leather shoes that looked about as comfortable as the rest of her outfit. “In these?”
“For now,” said Olga. “Do not worry. Later on, more travel options will open for you. For now, however, you must walk.”
“Great,” said Switch, folding her arms in front of her chest with a sigh. “This game combines two of my least favorite things: Walking and video games.”
“I dunno, sis, I think this will actually be good for us,” said Bait. He looked to the north, a smile on his face. “Walking will give us time to get used to the gameplay, as well as level up from random encounters. We’re all still Level One, so I bet we’re going to need to level up a lot if we’re going to stand a chance against Holly.”
When Bait said that, I thought about my last encounter with Holly when I scanned her form and saw her stats. Every single stat had three question marks in place of digits. Something told me we could level up all the way to whatever the level cap for this game was and still not be strong enough to defeat her. But I pushed such thoughts out of my head for now and didn’t bring them up, because I didn’t want to discourage Bait and Switch, or myself for that matter. We just needed to focus on saving Valerie, which meant heading to the Tower of the Cursed and finding a way in. We would worry about killing Holly when we got there.