VBL

Two blocks away Faith finally stops running. Out of breath and gasping for air. The sounds of the city helped drown out her panting.

Faith inner thoughts: Why did I run? Why did I just leave her there? It was that announcer’s fault. He should’ve told me earlier the match was gonna be livestreamed…

Faith looks around, she's alone. The sounds of the city begin to simmer down. She looks back at the distance she traveled. Then shamefully at her own feet.

A pair of girls walk by, while Faith is still staring at her feet. Blocking out the world around her. The pair of girls quickly look at Faith but move on further down the street.

Faith inner thoughts: … no… It was me. It was my fault.

Faith pulls her phone out and opens the VBL app. She quickly scrolls through the recent streams until she sees a video with the title “A rookie challenges the champion.” The stream started 10 minutes ago.

She clicks the video.

“LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, YOU HEARD RIGHT, THE PERSON CHALLENGING THE CHAMPION HAS NEVER PLAYED THE GAME BEFORE! Luckily, Takeshi has graciously decided to show her the basics, before starting the real match. I’ve never seen something like this at VBL… what if she actually beats the champion?!”

Faith inner thoughts: She’s going through with it?! Takeshi is a 2-time champion! And one of the fastest players in the VBL community right now! What is she thinking?

**

-Back at the VBL HQ-

While the crowd continues to cheer, both VBL pods open revealing a cushioned seat, and slick, white metal walls covered in leather inside the pods. Takeshi steps inside the pod on the left, allowing his body to relax while the doors close. Nora follows his lead and climbs into the opposite pod. The announcer, Derrick, walks over to Nora.

“Now you're going to hear a slight buzzing noise. Just relax your body and the pods will take it from there.” Derrick says.

Derrick then closes the pod door for Nora, leaving her to skeptically observe her surroundings.

“I thought when you said pods, it was just the chair we’d be sitting in while they give us some special controller.” Nora says.

Through the pod door window Derrick motions Nora to close her eyes. The pod door closes with a cushioned thud, followed by the buzzing noise near Nora’s ears that faintly sounds like white noise.

“Right, relax.” Nora tells herself.

Nora closes her eyes and takes a deep breath. Seconds go by and the sound of the crowd begins to fade away. The pod quietly simmers. In an instant, Nora is bombarded with a fury of lights passing by her. Although instead of flashing, all the different colored lights create a tunnel, leading Nora effortlessly through. She takes another deep breath. In the blink of an eye, Nora seems to have been teleported to a new location entirely.

A wide blue sky shines down on the large hovering bridge where Nora and Takeshi stand. Each end of the bridge connects two independent towers. Each tower is color coordinated and two stories tall. The tower behind Takeshi is red, and the tower behind Nora is blue.

Nora looks around flabbergasted. She walks over to the edge of the bridge but doesn’t see the bottom. Instead, she sees a never-ending abyss that carries most of the light from the sky above, but towards the bottom, grows darker and darker.

“That’s the stage limit. If You fall, instant KO.” Takeshi explains.

“We talking Mortal Kombat style?” Nora clarifies.

“Exactly. Except no spikes. If you’re already introduced to fighting games, then this is gonna be easier to explain than I originally thought,” Takeshi says. “Anyway. Now think about moving your body. Like how you would in the real world.”

“I’m in a pod, how would I do that?” Nora asks.

“First think about it, then just do it. Trust me, you’re overthinking it.”

Nora looks at her feet. Then walks in a circle. Before Takeshi could say anything else, she starts running in circles.

“Are you telling me I can simply think about my movements?” Nora asks.

“It’s not simply thinking about it. You must feel it. The clearer the image, the faster the process. The sensors inside of the pod read your brainwaves and interpret that into what you do in the game.”

Nora jumps up and down a few times.

“This is amazing!” Nora exclaims.

“Isn’t it? So now let’s move on to weapons. For this match I just copied and pasted my current load out to you. So, your weapon is the Dragon Sword.” Takeshi explains.

A customized katana materializes in Takeshi’s left hand. The dragon sword has a dragon design on its hilt. Takeshi holds the sword up, presenting it to Nora. She looks at her hand, and in an instant the sword appears in her right hand. She quickly gazes over the entire blade, amazed by physics. She can almost feel the weight of the sword. Almost like a phantom pain. She can even see her reflection in the blade.

“Look at me,” Takeshi commands.

Nora follows his direction.

“If you look at the left corner of your own vision you can see your health. In the top right corner, you can see your energy bar. If you look right at me, you’ll see my health.” Takeshi explains.

“Can I see your energy?” Nora asks.

“No, but once you get used to move sets and special attacks, you’ll get used to guessing where it might be. Can you see a block icon in the lower right?” Takeshi asks.

“Yeah.” Nora confirms.

“That’s your “wall” ability. Everyone gets one. If you say WALL, a checkered wall will appear where you’re looking. It’s indestructible, and stays around for exactly 10 seconds, and you only get one per match.”

“A last resort?” Nora asks.

“Or a first, depending on what sort of player you are and if you can win without it.”

“Can you move the wall?”

“No, its stationery. Listen – “

Nora inner thoughts: I was listening.

“You have an ability. That should be the lower center of your vision. You get one ability, but it does recover after 10 seconds of usage. Since you’re on my loadout then your ability is speed boost. I'm sure you can guess what it does.”

“What other abilities are there?” Nora asks.

“You gotta figure that out for yourself after the match.” Takeshi reveals.

“Thank you, I appreciate you giving the quick basics.” Nora says.

“Sweetie, I’m not even finished. Your weapons also have a separate ability. These have no limits, but they drain your energy every time you use it. All right, that concludes your little champion grade tutorial. Now… are you ready?” Takeshi checks.

A mix of emotions build up in Nora. Anxiety, nervousness but above all, excitement. Nora smiles back at Takeshi.

“Ready.” Nora says.

Takeshi inner thoughts: This girl is staring me down, despite me being champion. Despite her never playing this game. Despite it all… She’s smiling. And I love it!

The two combatants ready their swords and we -