Chapter 3: Return to Adventure (written by Michael Keens/ Exodus) That Friday afternoon, James went to the local cafe near the college. “Hi James.” said the owner Mr Burton politely, he had large ginger hair on top and all over his head and face, and a lot of weight concealed behind a dirty apron. “Hi, Mr Burton... I’ll have the usual.” It took a couple of minutes to prepare the coffee and jam doughnut. As Mr Burton handed them over, James had a thought, “If I’m going to play that game for so long at a time, I’ll need to pay for the phone bill...” “Um, Mr Burton, are there any job vacancies here?” he asked aloud. “What?... Busy James Dane has enough time for a job?” chuckled Burton. “I’m not That busy. How about it?” “Well, I’ve known you for a while and you are polite and responsible. I guess we could use a new waiter. Since my old one quit, Amy’s been a little overworked... You know what, I’ll go for it, I’ll give you a trial run. Come in tomorrow at ten with casual clothes and I’ll show you the ropes.” “Thanks, Mr Burton.” He picked up the coffee and doughnut and prepared to sit in a single booth when he saw a familiar face. “Beverly?” “Jim, what a surprise.” “I always come here when I’m not working...” James said making conversation. “And doctors are unsure about the comatose victims that-” The television switched off suddenly. “Damn workers, first the phones, now the TV!” said Mr Burton storming out the cafe. James wasn’t sure what to talk about, there was the game... or school, and that seemed a little boring to talk about. “Beverly, you ever heard of a DataGate?” “Those new headset things. My brother has one but he hasn’t used it yet cos of his work. Why? You played one? What’s it like?...” “Well...” After a nice talk with Beverly, James had finally felt a connection and could very well call her a friend now. It was nice to have someone to be there for you when you needed them. Carmen tried, but James and her were two different people and she seemed only interested in dating him, and to be honest, James didn’t think she was his type. The two friends exchanged numbers before they parted ways, Beverly was new, and James didn’t have many friends, so an immediate friendship between the two wasn’t a bad idea. James returned home shortly after and back to his room. Turning the computer on, James checked the phone cable, the internet cable was in. “Either I forgot to plug in the phone or Kyla’s made a quick trip here.” James didn’t wonder too much about his parents, they had very busy lives and James constantly worked in his room, so he could go in and out of the house for days without seeing them. “Welcome back, Player: Excel.” said the female computer voice. He was back where he had left it, in Keslak, next to the academy, although the flames had been put out. The game worked on a real-time basis, rather than one that paused things when a Player left, as it would complicate things when groups of Players were together. “The Admiral said something about a base to the north. In his name, I shall check it out and make things right.” Excel departed towards the north. Outside of the city was pretty much an empty wasteland, very desolate and without life, almost. “Let go of me!” cried a female voice from afar. “Give us all yer money!” said a very dirty and disgusting bandit. He was missing an eye, many teeth and his stench was close to unbearable. He had two friends, as equally sickening as he, and he was holding up a lady with caramel skin and blue hair, dressed in bright white robes with gold strips over the hood, shoulders, wrists and legs. A glowing orb fell from her pockets and clattered to the floor. “Dis oughta fetch a pretty price!” “No, you can’t! I need that!” protested the woman. “Dats too bad, but just so yer not totally disappointed, we’ll give ya a kiss in return...” He was looking at her in a sinister way and the lady was filled with a different kind of fear. “Who the heck put people like this in a video game?!” screamed the lady aloud, “I can’t get to my helmet. How realistic were the creators aiming to be when they designed these sickos!!!” “Unfortunately, realistic enough.” replied Excel flying forward and tackling the main bandit. “And who are you?” questioned the female. “Name’s Excel. You’re dressed strangely for this area, let me guess, a Player?” “Uh huh.” she replied retrieving her orb and immediately flinging an energy ring at the second bandit. The third came at Excel with a dagger but he elbowed him in the stomach and blasted him with the pulse rifle on a low setting. The bandits made a run for it, realising the impossibility of winning. “You okay?” inquired Excel. “Sure, I can take care of myself, most of the time, I’ve been here a couple of times, done some small tasks.” she answered casually. “But you want a little more adventure?” grinned Excel lightly. “Of course, why? You got something to interest me?” said the lady with a snide mischievous grin. “I’m heading to a base north of here to take on a large group of terrorists, I wouldn’t mind an ally.” “Great.” she said extending a hand, Excel raised his also, it was slightly bulky with the gloves and metallic defensive pieces but she managed to shake it reasonably normally. “My name is Oracle, I’m a seer and a psychic.” “Excel, Advanced Ranger.” “Well Excel, shall we be on our way?” The two walked through the barren wasteland, a large crashed futuristic ship their destination. “So, er, you play this often? Where are you from?” Excel tried to converse. “I’m not here to find a boyfriend, I’m here to enjoy myself, okay?” she answered firmly. “I didn’t mean anything by that, I’m sorry!” apologised Excel loudly. “My, you’re nothing like you’ve made yourself out to be, big tough ranger like you apologising as if you’ve committed a crime...” teased the lady before asking “So, have you done anything else on this game?” “Kinda, battled a couple of pilots... and my ‘home’ got destroyed by a strange woman called Turbine.” “Drag, I just ended up out here, probably cos I wanted my character to be a loner, and this place is about as lonely as it gets, but seriously, its nice to meet you Excel.” “You too, so-” Excel was cut off by the rumbling shifting of sands, and three huge robot suits rose up from the ground, and pointed a variety of huge cannons at the two Players. Turbine rose from the hatch of the centre one, arms crossed and an almost emotionless frown on her face. “You just had to come after me, didn’t you?” “I came for the one who’s building a destructive weapon, I didn’t come here because of what you did to the Academy, even though you should be ashamed.” “That admiral drove me to this, he always looked upon you as his number one, well I will be, when I take over the city.” “That’s not going to happen.” “Excel, are you totally blind?” The robots pointed their guns forward some more, expressing Turbine’s point, in reply, Excel sighed, and put his hands up. “Excel, why? Surely we can take them on, its only a game-” “That I treat as reality, do you want to have to go through another registration process?...” Oracle sighed, and Turbine frowned, “So, That’s who you turned me away for?... Lock her in the prison, and bring Excel to me...” she ordered the other pilots. Shortly afterwards, Oracle stood in a metallic cell, with steel gates serving as the measure of keeping her inside. “Its so weird how Excel treats this whole thing like a reality.” thought Oracle, partly thinking of ways to escape, the armoured soldiers had confiscated her orb, her source of power, as far as she knew. “I could just exit the game here, but Excel’s counting on me to save his butt.” she smiled, “Now how do heroes escape prisons in cartoons?...” She didn’t watch a whole lot of cartoons so she didn’t have many ideas, except her profile. “Data, I need you.” she called, and straight away, the humanoid female android appeared in front of her. “Is your query game-related or technical?” “Game-related, I need you to run by all of my powers, I’m unsure of them.” “According to your records, with your orb you can unleash psychic energy spheres among other shapes of your imagining, without it, all you have are limited suggestive mind abilities. Will that be all?” “Yes.” answered Oracle, and Data disappeared, but she wasn’t alone, a guard immediately opened the cell holding a futuristic rifle. “Who are you talking to?!” “Suggestive?...” pondered Oracle, before speaking directly into the soldier’s subconscious. “Turbine’s not the most easy going of bosses, is she? You want out of this deal, don’t you? I can help you...” The man stared strangely at her, before easing into an understanding expression, that he felt what Oracle had told him, and was reacting to it. “Yes, I do want out...” Oracle shut her eyes as he suddenly fired the rifle... and she slowly crept around the soldier sadly, “Sorry about that, I honestly meant that you should escape with me, not the other meaning...” Turbine had Excel tied up to a tall thin support pole, she had been rattling on about how he’d cost her so much, and drove her to be as heartless as she was, she did make further offers for Excel to love her and join her in her conquest, but Excel hadn’t changed his mind. “You’re pathetic, you don’t understand your place in this world...” “No Turbine, its the other way around.” answered Excel, spitting a little blood from his cracked lip, he actually felt the pain from Turbine’s crazed punches and was afraid of what else the game could replicate. “You don’t get it, nothing can happen between us, because you’re not real.” “What?!” “Your feelings for me, your whole life even, its all a lie, you exist only in fiction, while I live in reality.” “Rubbish, you’re as real as I am.” “No Turbine, I’m not really Excel, he’s a part of my imagination and dreams, I’m only here for pleasure and excitement.” “Prove it, tell me who you are and where you really come from without any hesitation.” “My name is James Dane, I’m a student of Kerraton College in Caras City.” “... No, you’re still lying! You’ve obviously been dreaming, because I remember all the years we were together, that you ignored me to be as great as you are.” “And yet, you’re questioning your existence, I can tell.” “Grrrr!!! Soldiers, activate the Annihilator! You can’t hurt me and get away with it, I was merciful when I left you at the Academy, I gave you a chance of survival because I believed you loved me deep down and would make the right decision in time, but it appears you’re just as pathetic as the admiral.” The Annihilator was a massive machine, it couldn’t really be classified as a real world machine, more like a tall mobile base made of three large silver spheres, with every weapon imaginable mounted onto it, and the smallest weapons that were locking onto Excel would be enough to end the game. “Oh well...” Excel said, “I guess my first try will be short lived.” He wasn’t too scared of the next moment to come, since he would only be ejected from the game. Suddenly, two energy rings, like before, flew down and damaged the guns, bending them and causing them to aim higher than Excel’s position. The bullets sprayed into the tall metal girder and dug into it with every one of its piercing rounds and blasting a huge chunk out of it, leaving a big gap in the pole. The roof above started to rumble, and Excel heard Oracle shout to him from behind, “Excel! Move! The support’s about to come down!” Excel had barely enough time to squirm up the lower part of the pole, using his feet to climb up, since his back and arms were so firmly tied to it, but not enough to stop him moving upwards. The ranger pulled his arms away from the pole by pulling them through the hole as the rest of the support was shook loose from the roof and crashed down, first falling directly down on Excel’s previous position, and giving into gravity. “No, the Annihilator, got to get it moving!” shouted Turbine, desperately activating the weapon to go on the move, but it was too late for that, the girder fell and crashed through the cockpit on top, and ploughed down the mobile weapon, cutting it in half and rendering what weaponry was left on it useless. “Boss!” shouted one of the soldiers commanding the giant metal suits, “Get the troublemakers!” As Excel and Oracle dodged the thundering of bullets, and retaliated with psychic blasts and laser shots, someone watched them from above the dome base, its purple cape was thrown around in the air by the desert winds. A purple humanoid figure floated and watched, “Those two, they might just have what it takes to stop him...” Excel rolled and somersaulted towards Oracle’s cover and fell over to finish. “What was with that girl?” questioned Oracle, before lightly gasping in surprise, “You haven’t been using this game to get involved with fictional computer characters, have you?” “Of, of course not! What do you take me for?!” asked Excel a little shocked. “Okay, I suppose that cut on your lip is enough punishment for if you did try anything.” “But I-” They were interrupted by the final two soldiers in wide mech suits punching through the support that protected the two, Excel dived sideways in the air and took a precise shot at the first, Oracle distracted the second by making him think everything was peaceful by infiltrating his mind and implanting false visions, and Excel brought him back to reality by activating his laser sword and raising it to cut a long hole in his armour that caused some small flames to ignite that erupted into an explosion. “That’s all of them I guess, we should leave, I think we’ve very much successfully completed this mission.” smiled Excel. “Have you now?!” screamed Turbine, rising from the burning monstrosity and pointing her gun at the two, “You’ve done nothing, do you think you’ve changed anything by defeating me? You haven’t saved Keslak, you’ve doomed it. With me in charge, the city would have rose to new heights, without me, it’ll soon be destroyed by the greater evil up north.” “Greater evils?” “You’ll never know how powerful the leader of the desert area is, because you’re going to die here!” With that, Turbine activated the rocket packs connected to her suit and rose into the air. “Oracle, hide, I can handle her on her own.” called Excel. “How can you tell?” she questioned. “Just do it.” Excel activated his own jets and met Turbine’s height, she held the gun back for a moment, knowing how good she was in the air. “So Excel, or Dane, or whoever you think you are, if you’re so sure of this other life you lead, why do you fight with so much concern for your well being, and of your friend? It must be because its possible for you to die here.” “That's not it at all, it only means I treat this virtual reality as if it were real.” “Real or not, I’m going to enjoy defeating you, if there was one thing I bettered you at, its always been flying!” With that, she fired, Excel instinctively bent his body so that the small rounded laser blast flew harmlessly by, but when it contacted with a support pole, the small projectile exploded, causing more instability to the entire complex. “I don’t care about my own life, without the Annihilator to conquer Keslak, I have nothing!” screamed Turbine. Excel fired the pulse rifle, but she managed to dodge the blast as he had, but with far more confidence. “You got lucky, but its going to take true skill to avoid this.” Excel panicked for a moment as parts of Turbine’s gun opened at both sides to reveal a couple of extra chambers, and three projectiles were fired at once. They exploded in front of Excel, but no damage was dealt to him, in the moment, he turned back to Oracle, who was holding her orb and outstretching her other hand. “Or a partner.” she called to Turbine. A transparent shield had blocked the projectiles, and the explosion, of which the range was big and caught up to Turbine. With a painful scream, Turbine plummeted, dropping her weapon to cover her face, she fell through the hole in the Annihilator, and damage from the battle caused the last of the support poles to crash down and crush the remnants of her precious machine. Excel dived down and snatched up Oracle in flight, heading upwards and crashing through the glass dome as the base was buried by its own walls and roof... Excel and Oracle panted a little, before staring up at each other, smiling and bursting into laughter. “Oh man, that was unreal!” “You sure know where the best parties are held.” commented Oracle, “At first I thought you were just some big showoff, but you’re just a regular decent guy.” “Oh come on, don’t you have anything to say about my skills?” questioned Excel pleasantly. “They’re so-so, but remember that you borrowed them from the game, still, I’m proud of you, and I’d sure like to do this again sometime.” grinned Oracle. “Sure, how about I give you my number so you can call me and we can arrange to meet up?” asked Excel. “My, you’re a fast mover.” smirked Oracle again. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean like that, I meant meeting up on the game.” “I know, I just like messing with you.” Excel activated the game menu before leaving and sent his contact details to Oracle’s computer, Players in close proximity could trade details in order to plan the times in which to play together. The two said their goodbyes, and James removed the DataGate from his head, and turned off the computer. It had sure been a better game than yesterday’s failure, and playing alongside a human ally had made it all the more special, with the new job to finance all the playing he’d probably be doing, James was looking forward to- No sooner had he plugged in the phone, it started ringing. “Hello?” asked James upon picking it up. “Yeah, hi.” said a female, instantly recognised as Beverly, “I was just calling about what you said earlier.” “You mean about studying together Beverly?” smiled James, “Well sure, I know we don’t actually take classes together, but you can always come over so we can-” “You what? How do you know my name?” “Bev’, its me, James, your friend?” inquired James, confused by her surprised expression. “James... Dane?” questioned Beverly. Now James was confused, never in the conversation had his second name come up, and then he realised what was happening, and then both of the students spoke at the same time. “You’re...” And then they both burst into laughter. “It Was you, wasn’t it?” giggled Beverly, “Now I know you didn’t try anything with Turbine, its not in your nature.” James smiled as he placed the two identities together, but then felt a small pain in his lips, the cut from earlier wasn’t there, but a little pain still remained in reality, and that meant, if he had been wounded, or killed, then perhaps... “Beverly, I know this is already strange enough, but this is really going to weird you out...” And so, the two talked into the night, and through to morning about the experiences, joys... and fears of the events that had just happened. The game had brought them closer together, but it raised a lot of important issues, about just how dangerously accurate the experiences had affected them, mentally... and physically... End of Chapter 3 Chapter 2 Chapter 4 Back to the Beyond Existence Page Back to the Dream Archive