VBL

Nora gazes on the building she thought would be small. When you hear the HQ of a small local game in your local city you don’t expect to see what Nora saw. More likely you’d walk into a small building or office with a handful of people scattered around doing their own thing. Instead, Nora saw a large building with a huge front yard. Students and adults alike were scattered across the yard. Conversating about VBL matches they either saw or had. While other people scroll on their phones, watching VBL videos. Faith observes the shocked look on Nora’s face and can’t help but smile.

Nora inner thought: Whoa. This was not at all what I was expecting. Look at all these people!

Nora’s eyes spot a large monitor hanging on the top right corner of the building. It’s livestreaming a match. Faith tracks her eyes and sees the same monitor. There’s a small crowd surrounding the wall of different monitors. The girls walk over to the wall of monitors.

“Who’s fighting?” Faith asks a random student.

“Brian Nyx, and Javier King. Javier challenged Brian.” One student reveals.

“Again.” Another student chimes in.

“Shut up she was asking me.” the first student replies.

“Then give context, you jerk.” the second student retorts.

Faith leans back over toward Nora, who is completely enthralled in the current match. Analyzing it like a hungry hawk.

**

In the heat of the match Javier rushes toward Brain, gauntlets ready. (Javier is wearing the Titan gauntlets – On the right hand is an eye insignia that’s glowing red, while the left hand has a hammer insignia, that’s glowing blue) Brian stands calmly, eyes stoically half shut, and gently placing his hand on the hilt of his customized short sword. (Brians short sword has a black aura around the blade, fur around the hilt and a small skull and crossbones keychain hanging on the bottom) Javier starts throwing hail Mary’s toward Brian, but he effortlessly dodges each upcoming strike. Until he slashes upward, directly at Javier’s face. Javier back steps, barely dodging the oncoming blade. Brian takes the opportunity to rush step Javier, placing himself right in front of him. Brian delivering another slash of his blade this time horizontally. Hitting Javier and sending him flying back a few yards. Until Javier regains his balance and stands himself up.

“Lucky shot,” Javier claims.

“Is it lucky if I can do it again?” Brain asks. Immediately rushing towards Javier again. This time Javier braces himself, hunkers down and waits. In the blink of an eye Brian is right in front of him again. Javier remains calm. Brian swipes his sword horizontally once more. Javier jumps high above the slash, this time delivering a kick to Brians face.

“You’re crazy for trying the same thing twice in a row bendejo.” Javier taunts.

“I wanted to make sure you’re awake. I’ve been moping the floor with you this whole match. Now that I have your attention. I’m ending this.” Brian states.

Try it!” Javier yells while running toward Brian. Brian smirking, he clenches his blade and drags it against the ground. Digging the blade into the level’s ground and creating debris that goes flying towards Javier.

“Gaia dragon slash!” Brian calls out.

“Wall!” Javier yells in response.

A large blue wall suddenly appears in front of Javier, blocking the attack. The blue wall is about seven feet tall, and five feet wide. Javier breathes a sigh of relief, until he realizes Brian is right behind him. In the milliseconds it takes for Javier to turn his head, Brian fires up another attack.

“Dragon slash!”

A large dragon made of pure energy appears from the slash Brian made and completely engulfs Javier. Destroying him and ending the match.

**

Back outside in the crowd that has gathered, Nora looks completely mesmerized. She’s never seen fighting like this before. It was like both people were really fighting with weapons, special moves and complete freedom in the strategies they carried out.

“How do we play?” Nora asks generally out loud.

“Inside they have pods you can rent to play or train. We can – “, Faith is cut off by the sound of someone ringing a loud bell.

DING DING.

The crowd that gathered looks over to a short man standing on a makeshift wooden stand. Besides his feet is a small bucket of sheets of numbered paper.

“All right Kings, Queens and in betweens! It’s time for the VBL raffle! For those who need a refresher, we will call out a random number. Whoever is called will then have the chance to battle the VBL special guest. Today we have a special treat for you. The contender is none other than the defending champion himself – “, The small announcer yells.

A tall Japanese man walks up to the stand. He’s wearing glasses, a buttoned pink shirt with black shorts. He flicks his hair back and is immediately met with applause. This is Takeshi Fujimoto.

“Takeshi Fujimoto! “Make some noise for your reigning champion!” the small announcer yells. The applause from the people around Nora and Faith grew louder. The crowd bum rushes the announcers stand, taking Nora and Faith with them. One by one people reach into the bowl and grab a single piece of paper. When Nora and Faith are finally at the front of the line, they look at each other with a ‘oh well’ expression and reach in. They both look at their numbers. Nora’s number is thirty-one, while Faith’s number is twenty-nine. Once everyone grabs a number from the bowl, the announcer starts again.

“Alright everyone let’s not keep the champion waiting! I’m going to use this randomizer on my phone to figure out which one of you lucky people will get to challenge the champion on a livestreamed match!” the small announcer yells.

Faith inner thoughts: Wait, did he say “livestreamed” match?

The Announcer presses a button on his phone. A number is immediately selected.

“Alright! So, the lucky number is twenty-nine! Will the person with the number 29 please step up!”

Faith’s face goes pale as she looks straight ahead. Nora looks down at her number to confirm she didn’t win. She looks over to Faith who seems to be caught in a trance.

“Faith, you, okay?” Nora asks.

Faith inner thoughts: Shit, Shit, Shit! How did I win? I wasn’t supposed to win! He definitely said this match would be livestreamed! Damn it! If anyone at school watches the livestream, they’ll all think I’m some closeted gamer or Otaku. I’ll lose everything I built so far at this school! I’m finally popular!

Faith suddenly hands her ticket to Nora. Nora grabs it confusingly, right before Faith turns and sprints in the opposite direction. Forcing her way through the crowd. Not looking back.

“Faith, wait! Where are you going?!” Nora calls out.

“Number 29! “Does anyone have number 29?” the announcer asks again.

A random person standing next to Nora spots her holding Faith’s old ticket.

“We have number 29 right here!” The random person yells while pointing at Nora.

The crowd around Nora breaks into another cheer, just as someone pushes Nora up to the announcers stand. She catches herself from falling. For a brief moment she looks over to Takeshi, who is already looking into her eyes. She isn’t intimidated by his stare, but instead intrigued. He isn’t trying to psyche her out, but almost as if he’s simply analyzing her from an objective standpoint. Without passing judgment.

“Ladies and Gentlemen! We have our lucky winner!”

“Wait, what?!” Nora yells.