A rumbling sound coming from underneath the ground approach their direction making the road tremble like an earthquake. The streets that are made of glass and the building walls made with LCD screens dance along with the vehicles around them. It seemed like a start of chaos.
Some participants equipped themselves with what they have with their watches by activating their skill sets. They stood their ground and looked around, raising their guards. But some ran away and went into hiding, trembling in fear.
Hachiro tried to hide himself as well, trying not to be noticed by anyone after the GM announced his identity to the whole city. So, he went to the nearest alley and guarded his ground.
"Ne, Shi-chan, how was it?" he muttered.
His watch glowed and turned into a 3D image of a black 10-inch fairy that appeared in front of him, yawning. Its pointy ears extended higher than its head; its hair was glimmering black with opal ornaments dangling like a kid's accessory; its wings were glowing silver with unusual patterns as butterflies; its black coat with silver highlights was shining in the middle of the day and its physic looked exactly like a little Hachiro version which made the real Hachiro feel somehow awkward.
"I'm sorry, Ha-chan..." the fairy replied with a face as long as a fiddle, "...he disappeared too fast that I was not able to catch up on him." he buried his face between his palms.
"Ahh.. soo...That can't be helped." Hachiro gazed far from their position looking for something he can use for escape. "He's in his home ground and he got different places to hide from so it's not surprising if we lose him. All we have to do is do the chasing. He can never hide forever, and besides, the game has just already started."
"You're right. I'll do my best." Shichiro replied.
"Anyway, you look good in that avatar, Shi-chan." Hachiro smirked.
"Really?!" Shichiro exclaimed. He flew looping around Hachiro, filled with glee. "It took me time to customize this avatar though, haha.."
"But seriously, how did you do that? How are you even out from the VR?" Hachiro raised his brow.
"Lemme explain it, Ha-chan..." Shichiro took 3 backspin in the air. "I am here because we're in the Artificial Reality, right? Given the fact that I am an artificial intelligence myself, created from a single program, aka the Phantom Algorithm, I can project myself in this world as an object or anything I wanted, in this case, I am in a figure of a fairy...why do you ask? Don't you like it?"
"Ahh, no... I'm just curious. I haven't seen a fairy 'Me' in all these years.."
"I can change into something else, too!" Shichiro exclaimed!
"What do you mean?"
Shichiro glowed and he turned fast. In an instant, his face and physic turned into Cassandra's.
"You should stop that!!" Hachiro exclaimed, blushing, trying to catch his fairy.
Shichiro laughed and flew higher to get out of his reach. "I thought you'll be glad to have a fairy Cassandra.. Isn't she cute?!"
Hachiro blushed giving up on catching his fairy. He turned away and looked gloomy.
"I'm sorry, Ha-chan..." Shichiro flew low and sat on Hachiro's shoulder, knowing he upset his master. He turned back to being the little Hachiro. "I can change to this form if you just want..." he turned into a little black fox, more like a vixen, with silver eyes, still at the same size.
"Never mind, just...I like that form better." Hachiro replied in a poker face and a dry smile, staring at his watch. "Anyway, we really have to get to where he is...that is our last resort." He scanned the area using the icon "the Eye of Horus" in his holographic watch.
"You think he's really there? I mean, he can hide somewhere else..." Shichiro flipped the images using his little paw and a miniature of a huge facility surrounded by a big wall appeared in front of him engulfing the width of the dark alley.
"Hai... there is no other place he will hide but to where these things were accessed. That's why we need to get to the Scorpio." Hachiro replied. "The building where all the connections and programs are being controlled."
"I guess you're right. But first, we have to get through these bunch of...."
"CHICKENS," Hachiro exclaimed.
.....
Andi shivered in the nightmare he's having in front of his eyes. He can't believe that the Game Master just announced their 'death sentence' out of nowhere. He can hardly breathe from the cramped space they are hiding and because the GM announced it as a simple trigonometry quiz, he's now having a cold sweat.
"Can you move a little bit, Andra?" he whispered in complaint, pushing slowly his cousin to the edge of where they're hiding.
"Shut it up, Andi.. do you want them to see us?!" Andra replied in her brat attitude. "Don't push me anymore, I'm already at the edge of this bin."
"No, but..." he took a deep breath "...your butt is on my face.."
"Shut up...As if you don't have a butt." Andra replied with her cheeks starting to turn hot. "Anyway...you think Tori's fine?" changing the topic.
"Dunno, she rushed outside the bus the moment the lights turned off.." Andi replied. "Haven't seen her since then,, or maybe because you're just blocking my sight and we're running in a different direction.."
"Shut up! Shut up!" she poked Andi a lot of times. "But I still can't believe the Game immediately started just like that.."
"Ahhh... I agree. It happened so fast."
"It's just, I was surprised. I know Mr. Louige had warned us about this but.."
"I know...this bed of Scorpions looked nasty... they run from one direction coming towards us made me shiver in disgust. You know that feeling of bugs.."
"They are not bugs, Andi.." Andra rolled her eyes.
"I know but,,, I'm just giving examples..."
"Okay.. whatever!"
"Bugs.. 'swarming towards you, trying to cover your whole body. How does that feel? Will they drain your blood? Eeww.. that's disgusting."
"But can that happen? I mean, we're just in a computer system. They're really aren't real." Andi said.
"But the GM said what happens on us here will cause a huge damage outside the city. That means this is our reality now." Andra explained, "That's what I've understood from what he's said."
"Then those scorpions will literally..."
"They will immediately suck your blood out or you die in poison if we're in the real world. But, as what the GM said a while ago and what Louige said long before at the ship, our body won't die but our brains will. Both still mean death."
"Ahh... that's why I'm scared."
"There is no time to be scared. We've done quite a lot of drills like this, right? We just have to believe that they will send help as soon as they can and we need to contact the others..." doing something in her watch.
"I know, but how can we do that when we're here inside this bin? We can't just walk through the street because of the Android guards roaming around.."
"But those Androids looked identical with the ones we fought at that game before, don't you think?"
"Ahh...I wonder if those were real people running around too, as their original version."
"I hope not, it will be hard to go all out on real people and get them hurt."
"It's unusual for you to say some witty stuff, Andi. But, I agree with you..." Andra said. She fell silent trying to hear the noise outside their place and assess the situation. "It'll be bad if we hurt more innocent people."
"So, how can we get out here?" Andi asked. "We need to regroup with the others so we can fight with this whole situation we're in."
"Shhh." Andra threw her hand on Andi, slapping her cousin somewhere she don't even know. "I'm trying to listen if we're in danger."
"Oh, sorry."
She slowly pushed the bin cover and peeked her head to see the outside. When she didn't feel endangered, they got out of their hiding place and ran down the subway road.
"Don't look back, Andi." Andra screamed and kept running.
"Why?"
"Don't ask! Just keep running!"
They saw a dark alley ahead and immediately took a turn towards that place.
"I thought we're going straight out from gthe tunnel." Andi asked
"There are Androids up ahead, we need to catch out breath here if we want to outrun them." Andra explained.
"I kinda feel like puking."
"Silence.." Andra said while covering her cousin's mouth.
A sudden tap on the shoulder shocked Andi that made him jump from his cramped position.
"What was that?!" He exclaimed.
"Shut up! They might find us, idiot!" Andra muttered. She threw her palms on Andi's face to cover his mouth she can't see.
"It's me!" the voice replied.
"You? Who?" Andi asked.
"Tori! Who else?!"
Andra slowly turned towards the voice's direction.
"Thank God you're alright!" Tori exclaimed while wrapping them in a hug.
"How did you get here? I mean, where have you been?" Andra asked. She slowly stood from her position and went out of the bin.
Androids still walking back and forth in the main subway street, holding machine guns and rifles, like high-end guards of the White House. They encirlced the bus that was stranded in the dark nowhere.
"I'll explain my side later. Anyway, we have to get outta here. This place is swarming with Scorpions and Androids..." Tori replied.
"I know... but, do we have somewhere else to go?" Andi asked. He stood from his difficult position inside the bin that when he got out, his knees are still bent, throbbing, and somehow swelling.
"Outside, of course... just hurry up and follow me.." Tori replied.
Andra helped her cousin take a step quicker. She grabbed his right arm and dragged him to keep Tori's pace. They took a turn to the left side of the wall and they found a small entrance where drainage is connected.
"We're going in there?" Andi asked, pointing at a shallow entrance on a wall with nasty water dripping from it.
"Yes, and if you're asking if there is another way out, go find your own." Tori rudely said. "Don't be picky you silly head."
"I'm just asking... I mean..." Andi sighed.
"It's just water, Andi. Your mouth is even nastier than this one." Andra smirked.
"What did you say?" Andi's nose smoked.
"Anyway, there is no other way out.." Tori stepped inside the entrance.
"You're just afraid of cramped spaces..." Andra muttered as she followed Tori's lead.
"Who do you think I am?" Andi pouted.
They took every step cautiously forward. It took them a few left and right turns until they arrived at the air vent leading the way out.
"Get yourself going, Andi..." Tori commanded, pointing inside the dark, cramped space.
"A more cramped space.." Andi complained. He took a deep breath and went inside the air vent enough to fit a person.
"Our way out..." Andra whispered.
They all went up and the light blinded their sight.
.....
"Read the instructions carefully. It may help you survive in the midst of the battle.." the GM exclaimed. "As I've mentioned, you are already inside the AR, which means, anything here can harm you any way I want. And, if you want to survive, defeat the bosses of every palace I've set and get their treasure. Once you have those, you can exchange them with your freedom."
Jayson knew what he had to do and that is to keep Alex from his cool. The Game Master just exclaimed a piece of very nasty information about someone that made Alex tremble in anger.
"HACHIRO..." Alex muttered repeatedly, forming fists that are ready to launch.
"Alex..."Jayson said ".. at this rate, we need to gather our thoughts and make a plan. We can't fight without knowing where we are going. Thus, we need to keep our cool and--" Jayson exclaimed.
"Keep my cool?! Damn that bastard, damn that Louige! He knew all this time that he's the evil hacker and yet he's still walking with us? Not to mention he showed his face on me like nothing had happened. I'll burn him to death or bury him alive if I see him again..." Alex was dressed in anger. "No, I must find him and kill him myself."
"That's enough, Alex.. we don't know the real story behind it. Let's just assume he's still a company."
"I'll kill him the first time I saw him."
"Alex..." Jayson said.
He scanned the area where they are all stuck in. They happen to stop in the uptown part of Argon overlooking the downtown city. Their bus stopped working on the road near a cliff going to the observatory. That is where their first station should be held, unfortunately, the game started out of nowhere. He had a bunch of things making his hand full: there is Alex raging in anger, the game started without further instructions, the Circa was scattered, the rest of the participants are panicking, and many other thoughts linger in his brain.
Sandra saw Jayson's expression being sucked into the abyss.
"Hey, Jay.." she managed to say.
Jayson stared at her trying to gather his thoughts. He was the smartest in GS High, but he doesn't have experience. Being confronted by the real scenario made him freeze on his ground.
"Sandra.." he replied hesitantly.
"It's alright, Jay. Let's start from scratch.."
Talking to Sandra made him calm at least. He started to gain his normal self and his thoughts became clearer.
"Ahh, I'm sorry I got lost for a sec.."
"We all did.." she replied.
All this time Sandra did not say a word. She held her emotions inside trying hard not to let her tears fall from what people say about Hachiro. She knew many people resented her friend, that many people wanted to get revenge but she can't do a thing to defend him right now. 'I need to find him' That's what she thought. She tried to talk to Jayson about it because she knew he would listen because he's an objective type of person. He won't act hastily due to mere rumors without even knowing the other side of the coin. But she didn't have the opportunity, Jayson immediately went to 'Leader' mode and started doing something on his watch.
"Jay?" She asked.
"I'll contact the others.. we need to regroup," Jayson replied.
"I know.. but how about Alex? Will he be fine?" Sandra felt empty. She was ready to reason but she wasn't given a chance.
"I dunno... I'll just have to make sure he's still at hand. Anyway, we need to get out of this situation." He flashed the 3D map from his watch. "We're here, still far from the port. The city seemed to be on fire, chaos might have broken out. I just hope no one was hurt. We, the Circa at least, need to regroup where it all started and besides, that is the nearest way out."
"You're right.." Sandra replied. "But, would the others follow our lead?"
"We need them to follow us if we need to follow what Mr. Louige asked about, minimal number of casualties."
"I know... then we have to have our ground."
"Ahh.." his eyes glared at the forest behind them. "And we have to make it fast, something is approaching."
"What do you mean?" Sandra asked.
"Take a look at the forest behind.." Jayson replied.
She turned around and saw the darkness of the deep forest engulfing the roadside of the cliff. She shivered from the sight of unusual figures glaring at them with red eyes and an intent to kill.
"Holy crap.." she whispered, taking a step back with a cold sweat on her temple.
.....
"Chickens.." he exclaimed when he looked up to see what Shichiro is trying to warn him about.
It was the first time he chickened out from chickens.
A Human-sized chicken stared at him with its googly eyes and constantly flicking its neck about two feet away from him. Its beak almost reaches his nose so he did not move an inch. He tried to see what Shichiro had done at the moment but when he looked down, moving his eyes, his silver fox lay on the ground, not moving.
"Hey, Shi-chan? What are you doing?!" he asked in a whispered but urging voice.
"Shhh.." Shichiro replied. "This is play dead." He casually replied.
"Play dead? Like seriously?" he said twitching his eyebrows.
"Yeah,, it works to most of the species everywhere, I've read that on the internet. When they see you not moving, they won't pay any attention at all. And I guess that's what you've been doing as well.."
"Yeah, right.." Hachiro held his breath.
An earthquake trembled the ground making him lose his footing but he managed to regain it, though in a different position like he's doing a stop dance game at a children's party. Shichiro, on the other hand, lay still on the ground. The chicken was startled and wobbled his feet.
"What was that?" Hachiro asked in a whisper.
Shichiro scanned the area and send the data directly to Hachiro's brain. Though he materialized in the AR, he is still connected to Hachiro's brain thru his watch. Hachiro saw the data and was surprised at what he saw.
"Is that a barn sprouting from the ground?" he exclaimed.
"I think so... this is a marketplace where meats and other wet products are sold anyway... at least before the AR was activated," Shichiro replied.
He looked at the chicken's googly eyes still not knowing what to do. Luckily, the chicken moved from his position when a whistle from somewhere caught its attention. It looked back and started to move towards the sound.
"Great.." Hachiro sighed in relief, "They might have been called to gather."
Shichiro immediately stand from his lying position and sniffed the place where the chicken stood.
"He smells like the marks left by the hacker."
"Then it is confirmed that they were sent by him.."
"So, what do we do now?"
Hachiro took a deep breath. He loaded his rifle and take a step forward, scanning the area. "Frontal Assault, of course.." he said.
The Chickens gathered around the barn he saw a hundred meters away from the alley he went into hiding.
"Frontal Assault? They are a big number, you sure about it?" Shichiro asked.
"Yeah..." Hachiro said confidently. "Let's start with those bunch.
He pointed at the right side of the gathering seeing a bunch of chickens as small as basketballs to the normal size of a chick.
"Okay, then... I'm with you."
They moved slowly and took cover on the road debris lying around. He saw their bus a few meters away south of the Barn and noticed that some participants are still inside.
"What should we do with them?" Shichiro asked.
"Leave them be..."He replied. "It's their choice to stay inside to keep themselves safe. They might have lost all their hope to fight." He said with a straight face. "If they tried to help us, they might just hinder our plan."
"You're quite rude, Ha-chan." Shichiro said on the emotionless Hachiro.