Dragons vs. Robots

down on the slide, looking up at the sky. Heavy clouds had rolled in, darkening the horizon. It looked as if it was going to storm soon. “Yeah,” I said. “Maybe we should talk to Uncle Jack?”
“I was thinking more of doing it ourselves.”
“Oh.” My heart flipped. I tried to keep my expression neutral. “I don’t know…”
“Why not?” Lilli demanded. “I mean, she gave you her Fields of Fantasy contact info, right? In case you needed to get in touch with her? We could send her an in-game message. Let her know what’s going on.” She put her hands on her hips. “We can’t rely on Uncle Jack. What if he doesn’t think it’s a good idea? What if he tells us not to get involved?”
“Then… maybe we shouldn’t get involved?” I squeaked, knowing this was a losing battle. When Lilli got an idea like this, there was no talking her down. “Also, I don’t know if she still checks those messages or even logs in to the game anymore. I mean, she’s not exactly a video game superfan these days, after being trapped in one for two years.”
Even as I said the words, I knew I was just making excuses. The truth was, I was afraid of going back online. Especially into the very game where Atreus had first tracked me down. What if he was still in there, still waiting for me to log back in?
On the other hand, what if Ikumi really was in danger? What if we were the only ones who could warn her before it was too late?
And what if I was too much of a wimp to do it—and something terrible happened because of it?
“Come on, Ian,” Lilli pleaded. “It’s not like we’re going back into you-know-where. We’re just logging on to a regular video game. Sending a message. No big deal.”
I almost said no. I really did. But then my mind flashed back to the final fight in our Dragon Ops game. The moment where we had all but lost. We’d tried, we’d dared, and we’d been defeated. And we were about to become dragon dinner. Game over, forever.
Except not. Because Ikumi had grabbed my sword. Leapt in front of the dragon. Eyes blazing. Mouth set in a determined frown.
You will leave my friends alone! she’d shouted.
She’d been so brave. Now it was time for me to be brave, too. For her.
“Okay,” I said, swallowing down my fear. “Let’s go send the message.”

We didn’t even make it inside before the rain started to come down. A true Texas storm, complete with flashes of lighting streaking the sky and thunder crashing so loud it nearly made me jump out of my skin. Aunt Robin hustled us in, closing the door behind us.
“That came on quick,” she remarked, staring out the window. “It’s not supposed to last.”
As if on cue, the lights flickered.
“Ugh,” Uncle Jack said, walking into the room. “I really hope we don’t lose power. I have a ton of work to get through tonight.” He said it casually, as if he was planning to file his taxes. But I thought I caught a flicker of worry in his eyes. And I wondered if this “work” was trying to track down his boss’s whereabouts.
“Everything okay?” I tried, giving him what I hoped was a meaningful look.
He frowned. “Yeah. Why do you ask, Ian?”
“Um, n-no reason,” I stammered. Lilli poked me in the side.
“Okay,” he said, still looking a little suspicious. “I’d better get started. Good night, all.” And with that, he disappeared into his office. Aunt Robin watched him go, then shrugged, walking back to the kitchen to clean up the dinner mess.
We went and helped her with the dishes; Mom would have murdered us herself if we weren’t good houseguests. There weren’t that many, thankfully, since we’d just eaten ice cream for dinner.
“Do you want to watch a movie or something?” Aunt Robin asked once we had finished.
Lilli and I exchanged looks. “Nah,” my sister said. “I’m pretty beat, actually.”
“Me too!” I agreed, faking a yawn. Not a very good fake, though, judging from the weird look Aunt Robin gave me. But to her credit, she said nothing, hugging us both and saying good night. Then she walked over to the TV and turned it on, settling down on the couch.
Now was our chance. We headed down the hall to the guest bedroom where we were both staying. It had two twin beds side by side and reminded me of a cleaner version of that bedroom we stayed at in Ghost Hollow back in Dragon Ops. As Lilli closed the door, another round of thunder crashed outside. It sounded as if the storm was right on top of us now, and I could feel the electricity prickle my skin, making the hairs on my arms stand up on end.
Lilli glanced out the window. “Let’s hope we don’t lose power like Uncle Jack said.” She frowned. “Or worse, the Wi-Fi goes out.”
“No kidding.” I scrambled onto my bed. “That would be just my luck. I finally decide to go online, and online is like, nah.”
Of course even as I made the joke, I realized deep down I was kind of hoping for just that. A good excuse not to be able to do what we were about to do. Too bad, so sad. Can’t say we didn’t try…
But the lights remained on. And Lilli joined me on the bed, grabbing her laptop and plopping it on my lap.
I swallowed hard, the familiar fear rising to my throat. My heart raced in my chest as I stared down at the log-in screen. My hands shook as they settled on the keyboard.
This was it. There was no turning back now.
“The password’s Atreus-One-Two-Three,” Lilli informed me. I gave her a look. She shrugged sheepishly. “Sorry. Never got around to changing it.”
I slowly typed in the password. Letter by letter. Number by number. With each stroke of a key, my anxiety rose. Higher