Dragons vs. Robots

Jack and Aunt Robin are going to let us go out on our own at night.”
I nodded, wrinkling my nose. She wasn’t wrong. But still, what if Aunt Robin came to check on us again and we weren’t there? She would totally freak. Uncle Jack would probably call out the National Guard. After all, he’d almost lost us once already in a video game theme park.
“We’ll leave a note,” I decided aloud. “In case anyone comes to check on us. They’ll be mad, but at least they’ll know where we are and that we’re safe.”
“Good idea,” Lilli agreed, flicking on her flashlight and digging in the nightstand drawer for paper and pen. I watched as she scribbled an explanation, then set it down on her pillow.
Something inside me squirmed. No turning back now.
Thankfully, the bedroom was on the first floor, which meant we could easily pop out the screen and slip out the window. I felt a little like I was in a real-life video game as we climbed out into the dark night as quietly as we could, Lilli’s laptop safely in a messenger bag. A real-life sneak mission that, while never one of my favorites in the game world, was actually kind of cool in real life.
Once outside and away from the house, I looked around, shining my flashlight onto the quiet street. Every house on the block was dark, completely without power. Even the streetlights were unlit. Kind of giving the normally safe suburban neighborhood a distinct horror movie vibe. I suddenly pictured a large man in a hockey mask lurking behind a hedge, ready to strike—
Something rustled in the bushes. I let out a small shriek, leaping back. Until I realized it was nothing more than a black cat, peering up at me with obvious disdain. As if to say, And here they call me a scaredy cat…
“You okay?” Lilli asked, raising an eyebrow.
I laughed uneasily. “Trash mob. What are you going to do?”
She giggled. “It does feel a little like a video game, doesn’t it?” she remarked, shining her flashlight down the dark street. She switched to a movie-announcer voice. “Can our brave heroes make their way down the forbidden Oak Street? Past the dastardly mailboxes of doom?”
“Will they brave the terrible traffic lights?” I continued, joining the game. “Will they make it past the Petersons’ puppies of peril?”
“And what will await them at the end… in the Epic Fun Play dungeon of doom? Will they find Wi-Fi? Or will they find death?”
We both broke out laughing so hard we could barely walk. Lilli kept telling me to shush—no need to alert the neighbors to our secret quest—they might call Aunt Robin. A truly terrifying boss mob we definitely didn’t want to have to face alone.
I pushed down my laughter as we continued to our destination. Still, I couldn’t help feeling a little excited about the secret mission. It’d been a while since I’d done something even remotely daring. I had to admit, it felt pretty good.
It took longer than it would have if we’d had our bikes—our usual mode of transportation—but we made it to the arcade about fifteen minutes later. I let out a breath of relief as my eyes caught the familiar neon sign above, lit up like daylight. The first light we’d seen since the power had gone out. Like a literal light at the end of the tunnel.
“We made it!” I declared. “Quest complete.”
But when I grabbed the door handle? It was locked.
“Or… maybe not,” Lilli said with a sigh.

I groaned, banging my fist against the door in frustration. So much for an easy quest. I leaned against the nearby brick wall, staring out into the dark night. “If only you had real-life lock-picking abilities,” I remarked to Lilli, remembering her epic skills back from our Dragon Ops days.
She snorted. “Right? Though—real-life breaking and entering might lead to a very bad game over. As in go directly to jail. Do not pass go. Do not collect two hundred dollars.”
“Good point.”
I turned back to the door, then looked up. Was that a faint light I saw in the upstairs window? Maybe Maddy was up there working on her art. Maybe if we knocked, she’d hear us and let us in, even though she was technically closed. It was an emergency, after all. Or it might be, anyway. We still weren’t quite sure.
My mind flashed back to Ikumi’s message.
Help.
I rang the doorbell, then knocked with my fist, just in case. “Maddy?” I called out. “Are you there? It’s me—Ian Rivera!”
We waited, for a moment hearing nothing. Then my ears caught a rummaging beyond the door. There was the click of a lock, and the door swung open. Maddy stood there, dressed in a big fluffy bathrobe with a weird array of cats wearing space helmets plastered all over it. She rubbed her eyes with her fists, then blinked back at us.
“Hey, Ian,” she said. “What are you doing here so late?”
“It’s not that late,” I pointed out. “It’s only eight thirty.”
She glanced at her wrist as if expecting to see a watch there. Then she laughed. “Oh, right. Sorry. I’m still on Tokyo time.”
“You went to Tokyo?” I asked, impressed.
“I wish. I was just on a Zoom call with my publisher over there,” she explained. “They need three more chapters of artwork by the end of the month to stay on schedule, and we were going over the text to make sure I got it right.”
“Cool,” I exclaimed. And I meant it, too. Imagine drawing manga for a living! That was almost as good as being a video game programmer like Uncle Jack!
“Sorry,” Lilli broke in. “I’m Ian’s sister, Lilli. And we didn’t mean to wake you. It’s just… the power’s gone out everywhere, and we knew you had a generator.”
“And… you needed a late-night video game fix?” Maddy raised an eyebrow.
“Your Wi-Fi, actually,” I explained.
The eyebrow went higher. “You want to use Wi-Fi?” she asked. She made a