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
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