Dragons vs. Robots

“And now it’s up to you to break her out.”
Uh, what?
“How are we supposed to do that?” I demanded, trying to ignore the fear rising inside. “I mean, it’s not like Dragon Ops, where we had an in with our uncle. And Mech Ops isn’t even out yet. In fact, it’s not due to be released for at least a year!”
“All true,” Yano agreed. “But lucky for you, the company is holding a beta test competition at their headquarters this week. If you can impress them and get them to select you as early players, you will receive a VR gaming rig and a demo of the game to take home and test.” Two of his three mouths grinned. “It’s the perfect gateway to getting into the game and finding our girl.”
Right. I leaned against the Frogger machine, my mind spinning. “But even if we do get selected, how are we supposed to find Ikumi? It’s not like they’re going to just leave their digital prisoner in the demo,” I reasoned. “If anything, they’ve probably got her locked away, deep in the game in a majorly encrypted section we’d never be able to reach, never mind crack.”
“Of course. But you’re forgetting your secret weapon,” Yano pointed out. “The beta will get us through the front door. Once inside, I can hack the game code and access deeper levels, where they’ve most likely stashed her.”
Of course. Yano, like Atreus, was also a pretty intelligent AI. And unlike Atreus, he used his powers for good.
Lilli leaned backed in her chair. “That’s great and all, but we’d have to win a beta competition, right? How are we supposed to do that? We’ve never even seen this game before.”
“No one has,” Yano reminded us. “It’ll be new to everyone. And I have full confidence in you. You’re gamers, after all. The best of the best! No one can even come close to your greatness when it comes to navigating through virtual worlds.”
I raised an eyebrow. “Wow. And here I thought you considered us noobs.” Let’s just say our guide, while sometimes charming, had often been… critical… of our gaming performance in the past. Evidently things change.
Yano’s three heads blushed in sync. “Well, of course. But that was before you beat the almighty Atreus, right? Clearly I’ve reassessed your gaming brilliance.”
I snorted. “Clearly.”
“So what do you say?” the dragon continued. “Are you with me?”
I glanced at Lilli, who was looking back at me. I could tell what she was thinking before she opened her mouth. What choice did we have? Ikumi was trapped again in a video game. We couldn’t just leave her there.
I drew in a breath. “Okay,” I said. “We’ll try out for the beta.”
“That’s the spirit!” Yano chirped. “All right. Assuming you get in, send me your log-in info the second you get home. That will allow me to meet you in the game. And then we’ll take it from there. Saving the world—once more with feeling!”
He cheered loudly, then rose back to the sky. I watched him go, my heart thudding in my chest. What had we just agreed to do?
Lilli closed the laptop. “This is crazy,” she said.
“What’s crazy?”
We turned to see Maddy coming back downstairs. She rubbed her eyes sleepily. “Are you guys almost finished? I really should get some sleep. I’ve got a big art deadline tomorrow.”
“Sorry.” I grabbed the laptop, tucking it under my arms. “Thanks for letting us in. We really appreciate it.”
“Yeah,” Lilli added. “This place is supercool. I’ll have to come back sometime.”
Maddy smiled. “I’m glad I could help. Even if it was just for a Fields of Fantasy fix,” she added teasingly. If only she knew.
I started for the door, then stopped. “Maddy?”
“Yeah?”
“Do you know anything about a Mech Ops beta test competition coming up?”
“Sure,” she said. “I read they’re holding it on Sunday afternoon out at their headquarters in Dripping Springs. Why?”
“Is it open? Like, anyone can try out?”
“I think so. But…”
“What?”
“It’s just…” She shrugged. “I don’t know. It’s, like, sci-fi. Spaceships and robots and stuff. Doesn’t really seem your jam.”
“I like them,” Lilli broke in, saving me. “And I saw this trailer about it? It looks amazing. I want to try it out.”
Maddy walked behind her desk and rummaged around for a moment. Then she held up a flyer with a triumphant grin. “Here we go,” she said. “They dropped it off a week ago and wanted me to hang it up. I forgot all about it until you mentioned it.”
“Awesome,” I said, grabbing the flyer. Maybe since she hadn’t hung it up to publicize the event, there wouldn’t be a lot of people there to compete against. “Thanks again.”
“Anything for my favorite eight-bit gamer,” she teased, ruffling my head like I was some little kid. I groaned. But still, I was more than thankful she’d hooked us up.
We stepped out of the arcade and into the night. It appeared the power had come back on since we’d been inside, and I hoped that meant the Wi-Fi was back, too. I needed to do some serious research about Admiral Appleby and the Mech Ops game before we headed there Sunday to try out. Despite Yano’s confidence in our gaming abilities, I knew this was going to be a serious test.
But we had no choice. Ikumi needed us to step up. Her life was once again at stake. Whatever it took, we had to get her out. Even if it meant playing online games again.
Even if it meant risking running into Atreus.

“Wow! That’s a lot of people.”
I stepped out of the car, my eyes scanning the massive crowd standing in front of Mech Ops HQ. In fact, the parking lot was so packed that Dad had to drop us off at the side of the road. He rolled down his window and handed us the signed waivers for the competition. Because we were under eighteen, we needed parental permission. Thankfully, he was happy to grant it. Even though he