VBL

Inside VBL, the cosmically deep silence that exists on the Infinite bridge map is now being interrupted by the sounds of battle. Nora steps back after being hit by a direct “Titan Hammer” from Javier. Javier has a smug smile while he rushes in for the follow up attack, but Nora isn’t planning to let that happen, as she lifts her weapon (The dragon sword) in a way that suggests that she is about to unleash a “Dragon slash.” Javier observes this and side steps around Nora. Nora keeps her eyes on him, as she holds her arms above her head. Prolonging the attack until Javier tries to blitz behind her. Nora suddenly jumps in the air. Catching a bird eyes view of Javier. Finally, she –

“Dragon slash!” Nora yells.

She slashes the blade downward toward the bridge and Javier.

**

In the training room, Faith is watching the match from the large monitor on the wall. Anxiously clutching her phone.

Faith inner thoughts: Nora was able to predict Javier’s movements, but can she capitalize on it?

**

“Wall” Javier yells. Causing the blue checkered wall to appear right above him and completing the dragon slash. As the Dragon continues to smash into the wall, Javier takes a breath.

Javier inner thoughts: That was close. She’s beginning to learn some of my movements a lot quicker than I thought it would take. I don’t know if that’s because she’s that fast of a learner or if I’m just that predictable. Either way, I must step my game up before she passes me. Which gives me an idea.

Javier stands in place behind his wall. Waiting. Nora begins to fall back down to the bridge when she notices that Javier isn’t moving.

Nora inner thoughts: what is he-

**

Faith inner thoughts: What is he thinking?

**

When Nora finally lands on the bridge, she takes her time to assess the situation.

Nora inner thoughts: Okay so my health is around 25 percent. Which is fine, I can live with that. But his health is still close to 50 percent. He’s been good at dodging my attacks, but he’s used his wall ability, so he doesn’t have any more last-minute saves. If I keep my distance from him, this match should be mine!

Nora quickly scraps her sword against the bridge, kicking up debris that flies toward Javier.

“Earth Dragon Slash!”

Javier inner thoughts: Oh shit!

Because of the angle of his wall ability, the debris can still hit Javier. After he realizes this, he jumps up and grabs ahold of the wall. Allowing most of the debris to fly underneath him.

“That wall can’t protect you forever!” Nora yells out.

“Just so long as it protects me right now!” Javier yells back.

“Then how about from this?! Dragon slash!” Nora calls out.

Nora unleashes and directs another dragon slash right at Javier. Javier stares down at the energy dragon that’s rampaging toward him. Although Javier can feel the wall beginning to disappear, he jumps off, flinging himself to Nora. Which places him leaping over the energy dragon. Nora lets out noise of pure shock and terror. Admittedly letting herself get caught up in the moment.

“Titan hammer!” Javier yells.

Javier lands a titan hammer dead on, as Nora catches the full blow of the attack, her avatar explodes from the impact.

**

Nora and Javier’s pod doors open. Both teenagers look up to Faith who is there to welcome them.

“Great match you two.” Faith says.

“Yeah, maybe for one of us.” Nora exclaims.

“Hey, I can’t help how good I am. You want my advice. Get better.” Javier teases.

“You know for a second I thought you was going to give me real helpful advice.” Nora retorts.

“You should know better by know.” Faith says to Nora.

Both girls smile at each other.

“Yeah, whatever, maybe you’re not smart enough to understand my expert advice.” Javier says.

“Wow, just doubling down now, are you?” Nora teases.

“You two leave me no choice. You two make me feel outnumbered. Makes me wish Ren were here.” Javier admits.

“Where is he?” Faith asks.

“Studying. Plus, Ren isn’t that big into VBL. If he’s here, it’s because I’m here.” Javier explains.

“Sounds like a good friend.” Nora chimes in.

“He is, he helped me through some rough times.” Javier verbalizes.

The three teenagers’ phones suddenly vibrate. As they all grab for their phones, they can’t help but see that they all got the same notification.

“The three of us receiving a notification. It must be related to VBL.” Faith mentions.

The three teenagers look at their phones. What they see shocks them. Javier looks excitedly from his phone at his two friends. The notification reads “Announcement! The Spring tournament livestream in 30 minutes.”

“The spring tournament is starting!” Javier yells.

“You mean THE spring tournament? Faith asks.

“What’s the big deal? Isn’t it a tournament like any other?” Nora asks.

“NO! VBL only has two tournaments a year. The spring tournament and the fall tournament. Each one has its own prize pool and the creator of VBL usually blesses the winner with a rare item. As well as allowing the winner to try out any new weapons the creator is testing before anyone else.” Javier explains.

“It’s usually in an expedition match after the tournament and the winner picks their opponent.” Faith adds on.

“That sounds fun.” Nora claims.

“That’s not even the best part. The reason the creator only does two official tournaments a year is because she usually releases a huge update to VBL right before each tournament. So, the game meta is fresh enough for rookies like you to pick up.” Javier further explains.

Nora inner thoughts: Do you have to single me out like that?

“They usually livestream the announcements on the big monitors in the lobby. You two want to head out now and get a good spot?” Javier asks.

“Is there any rush? How packed could it be?” Nora asks.

**

A large, mixed crowd of kids, teens, and adults surround Nora, Javier, and Faith in the lobby. For Nora, the once spacious and air-conditioned lobby suddenly feels humid and claustrophobic. Faith is also struggling to create her own boundary amongst all the bodies. Not to mention there seems to be a consistent flow of new people flocking inside the building. While Javier is in his element as he moves with the wave of the crowd. Eventually flowing back to his friends.

“I’m sorry for ever doubting you.” Nora says to Javier.

“As you should be.” Javier says.

After a few minutes all the monitors in the lobby simultaneously turn to the same stream.

**

Inside of a random classroom at a random school in Strand city.

A student is quietly watching the stream under his desk, while the teacher is giving his lecture. As soon as the teacher turns their back on the class to write on the chalkboard, several students pull out their phones and hide them under their desks. All of them are watching the VBL stream.

**

Brian Nyx (The true king) is sitting inside his cubicle at his office job. It’s a quiet office space, with the usual sounds of multiple fingers hitting the keyboard, and someone using the printer. Brian is on his phone, tuned into the VBL livestream, with his headphones in. He peaks his head to make sure none of his supervisors are currently walking around. The coast is clear.

**

Back at the VBL HQ. Javier, Nora, and Faith are still standing together. The stream is simply showing an empty chair at first. Until the women with messy and large rimmed glasses comes into frame and sits down. (The same women from the dark room in chapter 16)

“Who’s that?” Nora asks but Javier didn’t hear her over the noise of the crowd.

“What?” Javier asks.

“Who is that woman?” Nora asks again. This time Nora asks loudly enough that Faith hears the question as well.

“That woman?! Nora that’s the creator of VBL! Akamai Kane!” Faith informs Nora.

“Seriously, I always forget how ignorant you can be, Nora.” Javier chimes in.

“Hey, I’m Nora. I moved here not even a month ago. So how the hell am I supposed to just know these things?” Nora says defensively.

“You looked up VBL right?” Javier asks.

“Of course,” Nora confirms.

“And the creator of the game never came up?” Javier says to Nora.

“Do you know the creator of every game you like?!” Nora asks Javier.

“VBL isn’t every other game.” Javier counters.

“You two, quiet. Akamai is talking.” Faith directs.

**

In a non-disclosed location, Akamai Kane (the woman with messy hair and large rimmed glasses.) settles herself, sits in the chair and begins to play with her hair. Her hair is a slightly messy but still naturally curly. (Akamai is Hawaiian)

“Sorry about the wait. I set my camera on auto record at a certain time, and I was in the bathroom… Right. You’re not here to hear about my bathroom habits. Hello everyone! I’m Akamai Kane, the creator of VBL. Now things have been looking great for VBL lately. More people have signed up for memberships to use the VBL HQ, and all the forums have been growing substantially. For that, I thank all of you. Seriously. When I started VBL it was a simple dream I had of making the fighting game that I always wanted to play. Now in my opinion VBL is great, but it’s not there yet. In fact, the only way it can get there is with your help. So please let my staff know if you come across any bugs or glitches while you play. It really goes a long way and helps me to make VBL into the game I want it to be someday. Now getting into the announcement you’re all here for. The SPRING TOURNAMENT is coming. The official date for the tournament is May 18th. The tournament will be a double elimination tournament, meaning if you lose, you’ll be transferred to the loser’s bracket. From there you can either fight your way up the ladder for another shot at the championship or be kicked out the tournament entirely.”

Akamai briefly stops as she flips through some of the papers laid in front of her.

“Ahh, here we go. Next on the chopping block, these are the updates that will go into effect starting tomorrow. All gauntlet-based weapons will receive a 20% damage boost.”

**

Back in the VBL HQ an excited Javier yells in excitement. Nora and Faith embarrassingly blush and don’t look at Javier.

**

Akamai continues.

“The speed boost ability will maintain 2 charges but the boost itself will be 10% faster. Snipers will now have the option to fire bullets that ricochet. There will be four new weapons. The sniper, white death. The momentum dagger, you can guess what that is ha ha. A new sword called the leviathan saber. There will also be a new weapon type making its debut in VBL. A railgun called the Railroad Way. I have a special video coming out tomorrow that properly shows off all the abilities and benefits of the Railroad way. So, stay tuned for that… Umm was that all?”

A feminine hand suddenly reaches into the frame and flips one of the sheets of paper in front of Akamai. Then just as fast as it appeared, the hand retreats away.

“Oh! Of course. Thank you. So… The wall ability will also be changing. So now when you summon the “wall’ it will no longer be stationary. Meaning you can finally move the “wall” wherever you want, so long as you are touching it. So, the wall can be utilized for both defensive and offensive situations. This will however not prolong the duration of the wall. Now to end things for the stream, I have one more announcement. The prize pot will also be increased to a record breaking $100,000.00. The biggest prize pot in VBL’s history! Okay so I think that’s everything this time. Thank you all for supporting VBL and I hope to see you at the spring tournament. Goodbye!”

**

Everyone in the crowd back in the VBL HQ is speechless. The fidgety crowd that was once rustling around is now frozen in their own tracks with their mouths open, including Javier, Nora and even Faith. All at once everyone is thinking the same thing, until it’s blurted out.

“WHAT!” everyone yells in unison.