Dragon Ops

by Dragon Ops (retail) (epub)

  But don’t you see, tiny human? he purred. I already have.

  And with that, he opened his mouth and blasted me full-on with his fire.

  “Ian! Ian! Wake up and drink this!!!”

  I coughed, opening my eyes, but my vision was blurred. My whole body ached, as if I had been run over by a truck. When my eyes finally did clear, I was shocked to find Ikumi leaning over me, her eyes filled with concern, a vial of the red Gatorade-like stuff pressed to my lips.

  I gulped it down greedily. Not that I wasn’t still mad at her. But healing was healing.

  “Don’t try to move,” she said. “I promise you’ll feel better in a moment.”

  I frowned, struggling to sit up. I felt the rush of blood to my head and almost passed out from the effort. Once I was up, I glared at her, anger boiling inside me, as hot as Atreus’s fire.

  “What are you doing here?” I demanded. We were still in the dragon’s lair, surrounded by treasure. But the dragon himself was long gone. A few feet away I saw my sister passed out on the ground. “Lilli!” Horrified, I crawled over to her. Her skin was as red as a lobster’s—she must have gotten caught in the cross fire. “Do you have any more of that stuff?”

  Ikumi joined me at Lilli’s side. She pulled another potion from her pack. Plucking out the stopper, she put the bottle to Lilli’s lips while I jostled her, trying to rouse her so she could drink.

  “Wake up, Lilli,” Ikumi urged.

  “Don’t you even talk to her,” I growled.

  “I suppose I deserve that,” Ikumi said softly.

  “You deserve a lot more than that,” I shot back. “You put a spell on us. You stole our stones. You handed them over to a monster! And now our cousin is going to be eaten by a dragon! And we’ll be stuck here. Forever!”

  Her face crumpled. “I know! And I’m sorry. I’m so sorry,” she cried. “It’s just… you don’t understand. I didn’t have a choice!”

  “Why?” Lilli’s voice was ice. She’d drank the medicine and was now sitting up, thank goodness. “Because you’re one of them?”

  Ikumi’s jaw dropped. “What are you talking about?”

  But I wouldn’t let her trick us again. “Who are you, Ikumi? Who are you really?”

  “I told you. I’m Hiro’s daughter.”

  Lilli choked on a bitter laugh. “Are you, though? Or is that just another quest line? Trick the dumb humans into following you, then betray them at the last minute. Sure does up the game’s tension, doesn’t it?”

  “What? No! That’s not how it was at all!” Ikumi protested. “I told you the truth. I’m stuck in the game like you. I’ve been stuck in the game for two years.” Her voice cracked. “You have no idea what it’s been like. I’ve been so… lonely.”

  “And here I thought computer programs couldn’t get lonely,” Lilli shot back. Her skin had gone back to its normal color, and she looked as if she was going to be okay. “Yeah, that’s right,” she added when Ikumi shot her a tortured look. “We know all about you. Atreus told us you’re one of them. That’s why you’re stuck in the game.”

  A horrifying thought struck me. What if Ikumi didn’t know she was AI? What if she thought she was human all along, but was only now realizing that this wasn’t the case?

  But what did it matter? Human or computer, she had betrayed us. She had destroyed our one chance to get out of the game. And no healing magic was going to make that better.

  Ikumi drew in a shaky breath. “Look,” she said. “This isn’t easy. But I can explain. If you’ll listen for five seconds—”

  “I think we’ve heard enough,” Lilli snapped, struggling to her feet.

  I opened my mouth to agree, but then I caught Ikumi’s expression. The pure sadness I saw welling in her eyes. Something uncomfortable squirmed in my stomach. I sighed.

  “Fine,” I said. “But make it quick.”

  Ikumi’s shoulders sagged. “Right,” she said. “Thank you. Um…” She gave a small, nervous laugh. “This isn’t easy.”

  “Just tell the truth,” I encouraged. “That’s all we want.” I could feel my sister giving me a skeptical look, but I ignored it.

  Ikumi folded her hands in her lap. “It’s true I am Hiro’s daughter,” she said slowly. “And it’s true I was born with a rare genetic condition, which forced me to live my entire life in a sterile chamber so as not to get sick. In fact, the doctors never expected me to live past the age of five.”

  Her voice wobbled as she spoke and something odd began to tingle at the back of my neck. The way she was telling the story. Almost as if she was speaking in the past tense…

  She continued, “When I was twelve, I got really sick. The doctors did all they could, but in the end, they told me I had two months to live.

  “My father was devastated. He’d just lost my mom. Now he was going to lose his only child, too. And, well, in the end he decided he couldn’t lose me. That he wouldn’t. And so he did something about it.” She paused, looking up, meeting my eyes with her own. “Have you ever heard of WBE? Whole brain emulation?”

  I shook my head. “I don’t think so.”

  “It’s a new technology,” Ikumi explained. “Very experimental. The idea is that you scan and map someone’s mind, then upload it to a computer for safekeeping. This way the person’s body can die while their brain lives on. Online.”

  I stared at her, my jaw dropping. “Are you trying to tell me your father uploaded you to the cloud?”

  “No.” She looked directly at me. “He uploaded me to the game.”

  “Oh my gosh,” I whispered. “Are you serious?”

  Suddenly everything started to fall into place. She’d said she’d been in the game for two years. Which meant she’d been dead for two years. And yet still living somehow—trapped in a world filled with monsters all by herself. I couldn’t even imagine what that must have been like.

  Ikumi lowered her eyes. “I begged him to upload me to the cloud. To set me free to explore the online world. But I guess he thought I was too young. Or that he’d miss me too much. I don’t know. So instead of letting me wander the World Wide Web, he’s trapped me in this closed server. I’m forced to live here, in the game, forever.”

  “Oh, Ikumi,” my sister broke in. “I’m so sorry. We had no idea.”

  “At first it was okay,” she said. “I’d never gotten to do anything in real life, so it was kind of thrilling to experience another world. One where I could be outside, doing all the things I’d never been able to do. But after a while? I got so lonely being by myself all the time. Sometimes my dad would come visit, but he’s gotten really busy the closer they’ve gotten to launch. So when you found me in Ghost Hollow and told me your quest? I thought maybe I’d have a chance to escape the game, too! That maybe Atreus would set me free as well.”

  She shrugged miserably. “But then you decided to go against the new quest. To fight Atreus instead of handing over the stones, and I panicked. I thought I’d lose my one chance for freedom. But I should have known better.” She gave a barking laugh. “I never had a chance at all.”

  Her voice was so sad, so void of hope. My heart ached at the sound of it. I couldn’t even imagine what it must have been like for her these past two years, stuck in this game, with no hope of ever getting out. What had she been doing this whole time? With no books to read or TV to watch or video games to play. Well, besides the one all around her. And no one to hang out with. No wonder she’d been so excited when I called her my friend.

  And no wonder she’d been so willing to do anything to escape this world.

  “Look,” Ikumi said. “I’m sorry for what I did. It was selfish and wrong. And I want to make it right—whatever I have to do. And while I know it’ll be tough now that Atreus has the Elemental Stones, if you’re up for trying, I’d be honored to fight at your side. Maybe I’ll never get out of the game, but if I can help you escape… well, that would be something, at least. The chance to be a real friend.” She peered at me, her eyes
filled with a mixture of desperation and hope. “Please, Ian and Lilli? Will you give me that chance?”

  I glanced at Lilli, even though I already knew the answer. “We can use all the help we can get. And we’d be honored to have you fight at our side.”

  SNIFF!

  “So touching! So very, very touching! Forget Ralph Breaks the Internet! You guys are like Infinity War–level tearjerkers!”

  I looked up, shocked to see Yano flying into the chamber, chomping on a grisly-looking bone. My sister shook her head.

  “Nice of you to join us,” she remarked wryly. “Hope you had a pleasant snack time while we nearly got burned to a crisp.”

  “Hey! Don’t judge! A guide gets hungry!” Yano protested, landing on my head. “Also, I found something really interesting while I was foraging for food.”

  I raised an eyebrow. “A fried porg sandwich?”

  “Better,” Yano declared. “Your cousin.”

  Yano led us through a dark stone passageway off of Atreus’s lair and down a wide set of crumbling stone steps. At the bottom we found a large, round room filled with strange, misshapen cages that appeared to be made of sun-bleached bone. They were all empty—except for one.

  “Derek!” I cried, excitement raging through me. He was curled up in a ball on the floor, sound asleep. “Wake up! We’re here to rescue you!”

  Derek shifted, blinking sleepily. As his eyes fell on us, he let out a huge, rip-roaring burp. “Finally!” he exclaimed, scrambling to his feet. “What took you so long?”

  “You’re welcome,” Lilli muttered under her breath.

  “Are you okay?” I asked, looking him over. He was still wearing his bard robes and his harp lay at his feet, but I didn’t see any injuries.

  “I’ll be a lot better once I’ve eaten an entire pizza,” Derek replied. “Extra cheese, extra sausage. Extra everything, really.”

  “May I suggest extra porg?” Yano chirped in. “Gives it such a lovely crunch.”

  Derek’s eyes locked on the draconite. “What’s with the rat with wings?”

  “A rat?” Yano sputtered. “I am not a rat! I am not even a rat dragon!”

  “Whatever, Ratty.” Derek gripped the bars of his cage. “So are you going to get me out of this thing or what?”

  Yano huffed loudly, landing on my shoulder. “You sure you don’t want to just keep him in there?” he whispered. I stifled a laugh.

  Lilli stepped forward while Ikumi and I hung back. “I’ll do the honors,” she said, gesturing for us to stand aside as she worked her magic. Soon the lock began to glow. A moment later, it shattered and the cage sprung open.

  Derek whooped loudly. He reached down, scooping up his harp and attaching it to his belt before stepping out of the cage and into freedom. “Now let’s get out of here!”

  “So about that,” I said uneasily. I’d almost forgotten, in my excitement over finding him, that we were still trapped. “That might not be so easy.”

  “What do you mean?” He scowled. “You gave the stones to Atreus, right? So he’s going to let us out?”

  “No,” I said. “I mean, yes, he has the stones. But he’s changed his mind about letting us free.”

  “What? That jerk! After all the music I played for him? I even made up some songs. Do you know how hard it is to make up songs when you’re sitting in a cage, afraid for your life?”

  “Trust me. We’re not exactly happy about this, either,” Lilli broke in. “You’ve been stuck in a cage this whole time, but we’ve been fighting for our lives.”

  “And the only way out now is to defeat Atreus,” I added.

  “No freaking way. I am not going up against that crazy robot thing.” Derek crossed his arms over his chest. “Look. Thanks for the rescue. But I am so done with this stupid game. I’m going straight to the front gate and demanding they let me out. Or I’ll totally sue them for kidnapping. They can’t get away with this, you know! I have rights!”

  I felt a stirring of pity as I watched him pace the room. Even though he was ranting angrily, I could hear a strong undercurrent of fear in his voice. He’d clearly been terrified in his cage, even if he’d never admit it to us. Suddenly I had the nearly overwhelming urge to hug him and tell him everything would be okay—that we were all scared. But I was pretty sure he’d punch me in the face if I tried something like that.

  “Come on,” Ikumi urged. “At least let’s get out of Atreus’s lair. Then we can regroup and figure out what to do. It’s not safe here and we don’t know when he’ll be back.”

  Derek seemed to notice her for the first time. “Who’s this?” he demanded. “Is she real? Or is she just another part of this sick game like Ratty here?”

  Ikumi’s expression faltered. I found myself stepping protectively in front of her. “She’s real,” I declared. Out of the corner of my eye I could see my sister shooting me a look, but I ignored her. “And Yano saved your life,” I added. “So maybe a little gratitude? I know it’s not really your thing, but—”

  Derek snorted. “True.” He looked up at the draconite. “And thanks, Ratty. I guess I owe you one or whatever. That cage stunk worse than Ian’s soccer skills.”

  I sighed. “That’s better. I think.…”

  Lilli made a move toward the door. “Now come on,” she said. “Let’s get out of here.”

  We headed out of the temple and climbed back through Mount Fearless. The trip was oddly quiet—without even a single trash mob to slow us down. It wasn’t until we stepped out of the cave and back into the outside world that we realized why.

  “Whoa,” Lilli breathed.

  From this vantage point we could see almost the entire island, and everywhere we looked there were fires and ice storms, landslides and floods. Entire towns had been buried in rubble. Giant trees had been pulled up by their roots and fields had been scorched. Total world apocalypse, as far as the eye could see.

  “Atreus,” I whispered. “He didn’t waste any time, did he?”

  Ikumi stepped up beside me, her eyes roving the virtual apocalypse spread before us. “What have I done?” she whispered. “This is all my fault.”

  “You didn’t know,” I reminded her, placing a hand on her arm.

  “But you did.” She scowled, yanking her arm away. “And you tried to warn me, but I didn’t listen. I was only thinking of myself.” She squeezed her eyes shut. “This is why my father trapped me here. I don’t deserve to leave the game.” She retreated to a small rocky outcropping and sank to her knees, covering her face with her hands.

  I joined her there, crouching down next to her. “Come on,” I said. “Don’t freak out. It looks bad, yes. But I’m sure once your dad takes control of the game back from Atreus he can fix everything. Roll it all back to a past save point. It’ll be like none of this ever happened.”

  She looked over at me. “Yes,” she said. “But that will mean I’ll need to be rolled back, too. Which means I won’t remember any of this.” Her eyes blurred with tears and her bottom lip wobbled. “Which means I won’t remember you.”

  She was right. If they did roll back the game, Ikumi would lose all her memories of our time together. She would be alone, just like before, and she’d have no idea she’d ever had a real friend. My heart constricted. It wasn’t fair. There had to be another way!

  “No,” I declared. “We won’t let them roll you back. We’ll play through this game. Defeat Atreus, finish our quest. And then he’ll have to let us out. All of us… even you. No matter what, we won’t leave you behind!”

  Ikumi gave me a hopeful smile. “Really?”

  “Of course! What are friends for?” I said, grinning.

  She bowed her head. “You really are a good friend, you know that, Ian? The best friend I’ve ever had. Well, the only one,” she said with a small laugh. “But I can’t imagine anyone better.”

  “You’re pretty great, too,” I assured her, reaching over to give her a hug.

  “Not to interrupt this magical moment,�
� Lilli broke in. “But this whole fighting and beating Atreus thing? Not gonna happen. He’s way too powerful. And we’re not nearly high enough level.”

  “Speak for yourself!” Derek protested. “I’m level eighty. I don’t think you can get any higher than that.”

  “What?” I demanded. “How is that even possible? You’ve been in a cage this whole time!”

  “You told me to play music,” he reminded me. “So I did. And every time I played a song, it would start casting de-buffs on all the worms and rats in the cave.” He made a face. “Which I guess helps you level up or whatever.”

  “So… wait, you’ve been buffing bugs this whole time?” I asked in wonder. And here he hadn’t wanted to trap ten rats.

  “I played music,” Derek corrected. “Which happened to buff bugs. Which gave me experience points. And levels.” He shrugged as if it were no big deal.

  “That’s actually pretty amazing,” Lilli exclaimed. “Here we were trying to avoid beginner quests so we could level faster and you literally grinded your way up to the top level while sitting in a cage.” She held up a hand. “Way to go, dude!”

  Derek reluctantly slapped her hand. “Whatever. It’s not a big deal.” But I could tell from a flash in his eyes that he was pleased. Who knew? Maybe we’d make a gamer out of our cousin yet.

  “It doesn’t matter,” Yano broke in, dampening the mood. “You could all be level eighty and still not be able to defeat Atreus. Especially with him being in possession of the Elemental Stones.”

  “Ratty is right,” Derek declared. “That dragon is bad news. It’s like he knows our moves before we even make them.”

  “Bard boy is also right,” Yano agreed, shooting Derek a look. “Atreus has complete access to all the game data. In fact, that was part of his original design. To learn each player’s style and study their techniques from old Fields of Fantasy fights. So at this point he’s already learned our strengths and weaknesses. And in the next fight, he’ll use them to defeat us.”

  Derek rolled his eyes. “Well that’s just great,” he muttered. “So even if we were good enough, we wouldn’t have a chance.”