Game Breaker Page 7

  “Back off, Rosy Q. He’s with me,” Black Jack said. Minx shoved her avatar between the girl and Breccan.

  Rosy Q lifted her hands away, but winked at Breccan. “If you get tired of mixed company, come find me.”

  “He won’t have time,” Bullshark told her. “He’s got ECs burning a hole in his wrist, so to speak, and people to spend them on.” The avatar grabbed Breccan’s arm. “Come on, Game Breaker. Let’s get you out of here.”

  Breccan let his friends haul him away in a daze. The crowd who had watched the match followed. Breccan could hear recounts of the fight. Newcomers who hadn’t watched it but joined in to find out what all the commotion was about were quickly told the reason. Hands slapped his shoulders and jostled him until his friends formed a protective barrier around him. Breccan was grateful for their interference until the reason became clear.

  As they walked, Bullshark turned his wrist over and then whistled. “Look at all the ECs!”

  Rage Machine stared. “Anything in the Edge could be bought with that kind of credit.”

  Bullshark danced in a circle, which looked ridiculous. “I could buy a square in Topton! No, a drake racer! No, a globe in the Aquasphere!” He laughed. “Who am I kidding? I hate water! This is going to take some thinking.”

  “You could buy a gynoid to go in your Topton mansion,” Rage Machine suggested.

  Black Jack punched his shoulder. “Don’t be a lout.”

  “Sorry,” Rage Machine said. He rubbed where he had been hit with an embarrassed expression. “It was just a thought. I mean he could use her to be his maid. Those mansions get dirty.”

  “They clean at the push of a button,” Black Jack replied in Minx’s full voice as if she was disgusted enough not to disguise it.

  “Don’t worry. I’m sure we’ll—” Bullshark’s voice cut off when his arm started glowing. He looked from it to Breccan and the others. “I almost forgot I have another fight!”

  “Good luck,” Black Jack said.

  “Give Tumbler my regards,” Rage Machine echoed with a grin.

  Bullshark smirked when Rage Machine’s arm lit up as well. “And give mine to Bronxination. I beat him last week and earned a quarter cen of ECs. But he has a tendency to dismember you. I’d choose something other than swords.”

  Rage Machine made a rude gesture before disappearing through the crowd.

  Bullshark turned in the other direction and stormed through the cages.

  Breccan glanced at Black Jack. “What should I do?”

  The pirate avatar looked at the crowd that was still following them and whispering. Out of the corner of his eye, Breccan saw several pointing at him. Black Jack pulled Breccan closer and whispered, “You should get away from your admirers and watch Bullshark fight. It’ll be entertaining. I’ve got a final match I’m probably not going to win, but if I do, I’ll meet up with you guys in the Luz Café.”

  At his blank look, she explained, “It’s on the level called Gorge Thyself. We usually meet up there after the Hedron.” Her arm flashed brighter. “I’ve got to go. I’ll find you later!”

  The moment Black Jack took off, the crowd surged forward.

  “How did you beat the Battle Boss?” an avatar with fish gills asked with awe.

  “Tell us, please!” an older woman with green hair begged.

  “I-I don’t know,” Breccan replied. He stepped back and the crowd followed. “I just acted. It wasn’t on purpose.”

  A man glared at him with four sets of eyes. “You didn’t beat a Battle Boss by accident. How stupid do you think we are?”

  Breccan’s chest tightened at the anger in the man’s voice. He lifted his hands in defense against their pushing. His gaze flickered to the green band around his arm. “I’m new here, see? I don’t really know what I’m doing. I just did it by reflex!”

  “You acted marvelously,” a woman with massive and barely concealed breasts replied with a flirtatious grin. “That was the best thing I’ve seen at the Edge.”

  “Me, too!” the rail-thin man with blue skin and pink hair at her side said.

  Breccan smiled in relief. “Thanks.”

  The woman’s grin widened. “He’s adorable. Can we take him home, Marxy?”

  “Of course, poppet,” the man replied.

  The woman reached for him with both arms, but Breccan ducked out from under them and backed away.

  “Uh, thanks for the invitation, I think, but I, uh, need to pass.” He looked around quickly. “What was that?” He turned back to the woman and the others and shrugged. “I’ve got to go. My friends are calling.”

  A group of avatars with glowing wrists rushed past. Breccan fell in step with them and lost sight of his eager admirers. He cut through a throng of women who were nearly double his height and made his way down another set of cages toward the number he had seen on Jonny’s card. He caught a glimpse of two men pointing at him and ducked until he reached the next row.

  He found the cage C Three in time to see Bullshark parry a blow from what looked like a trident, duck under a red-skinned man’s arm, spin, and then be impaled before his own trident could stab into the man’s chest. Bullshark’s eyes widened. He looked down at the trident, then his knees gave out. He fell to the floor with a gurgle.

  The man with the red skin lifted a scaled fist in the air and yelled in triumph.

  The waiting Techsec announced, “Tumbler defeated Bullshark Venom.”

  A cheer went up from several in the crowd. They rushed forward to congratulate Tumbler when he left the cage. Those who looked happiest made their way to the Techsec and held up their wrists. He scanned them with the device he held. Breccan looked from their triumphant grins to where Bullshark’s body lay impaled and forgotten. It felt wrong that they would just leave him there.

  Before Breccan could figure out what to do, Bullshark’s body began to shimmer. The edges lost their solidity, his colors faded, and in a few seconds, the entire body was gone along with the trident. Breccan blinked, but it didn’t matter. His cousin’s avatar had vanished.

  “Lose a few credits?”

  Breccan glanced back to see a man with a grizzled, tentacled face and a monocle over one eye.

  “I, uh, yeah,” he went with because it was easier.

  “Tough luck,” the man replied. “Win some and lose some.” He winked with the eye that didn’t have the monocle. “The trick is to not bet more than you can spare.”

  “Thanks for the advice,” Breccan said. He couldn’t help the lost tone to his voice. With Jonny’s avatar gone, he had no idea what he was supposed to do in the Edge. He hadn’t thought to ask that far ahead.

  Mistaking his expression, the man gave Breccan a kindly smile and held up his wrist. “I can spare a few if you’re really hurting.”

  Breccan turned his arm over numbly. “I-I think I’m fine.”

  When the man looked at the numbers that glowed from Breccan’s levels panel, his eyes widened to the point that his monocle fell from his eye and dangled at the end of the chain that connected to his gold thread-stitched vest.

  “I guess you are,” he said in a surprised tone. “Good for you.”

  “Thanks,” Breccan replied. He looked around, then back at the man. It wasn’t in his nature to trust a stranger, but with Jonny and the others gone and the horde of admirers from his fight lurking around, the man with the tentacles was the closest thing to a friend he had at the moment. That was a sobering thought. “Actually, it’s my first time here and my friend was just killed.” He indicated the empty cage. “I’m not quite sure what to do now.”

  The man nodded in understanding. “While it’s a moot point to ask where you received so many ECs, I’m inclined to suggest that you really enjoy your first night.”

  “Doing what?” Breccan asked.

  The man smiled, showing strange, rounded teeth. “With that many ECs? Anything you want.”

  Breccan glanced toward the elevator. The man followed his gaze. “Want a suggestion?”


  Relief filled Breccan. “I would love one.”

  The man’s eyes creased at the corners. “Avoid the body levels. They may be fun in the moment, but I’ve seen many a youth owe the rest of their days repaying the debt they’ve accrued.” He replaced his monocle and turned his head to look at Breccan through it. “You can’t go wrong with the cosmos. There’s nothing like a walk through the stars to remind us how insignificant our problems are.”

  He turned as if to leave, then spun back and held out a hand. “I’m Doctor Squid Squimish, by the way.” Kindness showed in his gaze when he said, “Sometimes it’s nice to know a friendly face in a place like this.”

  Gratitude filled Breccan as he shook the man’s hand. “Brec—uh, I mean, Game Breaker.”

  “Pleased to meet you, Mr. Breaker,” the man said. “I hope you have a pleasant first day.”

  “Thank you, sir,” Breccan replied.

  He watched the man weave his way through the crowd. It struck him how much truth there was to Dr. Squid’s words. With Jonny gone and Murphy and Minx little more than strangers, it did help to know that at least someone in the Edge was kind enough to have a normal conversation.

  Breccan caught himself grinning at the thought that talking to a man with tentacles who called himself Dr. Squid felt normal. He shook his head. The Edge was truly something different.

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  Breccan rode the elevator up to level seventy-nine which the listing on the elevator door proclaimed it to be Gorge Thyself. The floors they passed showed so many diverse levels Breccan could only stare. Several avatars with gills put their hands to the side of the elevator as a level filled with water, waving algae, starfish that clung to the glass, and what he swore was a shark in the murky depths came into view.

  To Breccan’s amazement, even though the salty, seaweed scent of the ocean drifted in, the water stayed in a solid wall on the other side of the door. He watched the gilled avatars step through the wall into the liquid beyond. As soon as they were immersed, they pushed away from the door and swam, their webbed fingers and toes propelling them through the water with a graceful beauty.

  “Don’t have to hold my breath anymore,” a short, rotund woman with curly hair and long, pointed ears said once the doors had closed again. She shook her head. “I can’t stand nautics. They always smell like fish.”

  “I thought it was trolls you didn’t like,” the short, identical-appearing man next to her said.

  The woman wrinkled her nose. “Trolls are even worse. Whoever chooses an avatar that’s barely clad, stinky, and spends their time rolling around in the mud definitely has issues.”

  The man closest to Breccan literally bristled. Quills poked through his suit and rose to a menacing height. “Take that back. My wife’s a troll.”

  The small man and woman didn’t look at all intimidated by the spikey avatar. The woman looked him up and down and then gave a dismissive sniff. “She would be.”

  The avatars who still filled the elevator backed off to the edges. Breccan realized that this time, there wasn’t a Techsec to calm the quarrel. He stood back with the others and watched the fight begin.

  “Did you just call my wife a troll?” the quilled man demanded.

  “You called her a troll,” the woman replied. “I only agreed that a man who chooses to interrupt a conversation he isn’t even a part of had to have troll in his family.”

  The man bent down until he was nearly nose to nose with the woman. It looked rather ridiculous, but with the tension that filled the elevator, nobody dared to so much as breathe loudly.

  “Since when did the Edge tolerate prejudice?” the man demanded. “You should be suspended.”

  The woman’s eyes narrowed. “You should be suspended for your smell.” She waved a hand in front of her nose. “Spend a few ECs and take a bath why don’t you? There’s no shame in avatar care.”

  Someone from the other side of the elevator giggled.

  Surprise and embarrassment showed on the man’s face. “I, uh, I didn’t know.” He straightened and glanced around.

  “You know what they say,” the woman told the man next to her loudly. “The avatar reflects the man. Do you suppose he grew up with pigs for parents?”

  Someone else laughed while others looked around with wide eyes as if they hoped a Techsec would suddenly appear.

  “Take that back,” the man growled.

  He grabbed the woman by the throat and lifted her high into the air.

  Breccan couldn’t stand it anymore. He shoved to the front of the small crowd and said, “Put her down.”

  Every eye turned to him. Breccan wondered if his avatar showed his embarrassment at the inadvertent attention. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the initials on his right hand turn dark pink. He was truly beginning to regret getting the tattoo in mood changing ink.

  “And you are?” the man asked. His eyes narrowed and he looked just as ready to punch Breccan as the woman he was choking.

  “Game Breaker,” Breccan replied. He took another step forward. “Let her go or you’re not going to need a Techsec.”

  The man’s bushy eyebrows rose and his quills followed. “I’ve heard your name.” His glance took in the green armband Breccan still wore. “You’re the one who beat the Battle Boss.”

  Breccan didn’t know why that mattered, but he nodded. “I did.”

  The man set the woman down. “My apologies,” he said to her. “I did say my wife was a troll. I can’t change the way you feel about them.”

  She straightened her small shirt and glared at him. “I’d like to have a word with her about your actions.”

  To Breccan’s surprise, the man nodded. “I have a feeling the two of you will see eye to eye.”

  The woman’s mouth fell open. Laughter burst from the short man behind her. Soon, everyone was laughing.

  “I didn’t really mean that to be a short joke,” the porcupine man said, wiping his eyes. “I forgot that you both would be about the same size.”

  The woman grinned and wiped the tears of laughter from her cheeks as well. “I guess I should have known I’d have so much in common with trolls. Perhaps I’d better rethink my opinions.”

  The man smiled. “I’m sure my wife would help with that. She has enough opinions for the both of us.”

  The woman nodded. “I think we’ll get along.”

  The man turned to Breccan and held out a hand. “Thanks for interfering. Sometimes I’m a little rash.”

  Breccan shook the man’s hand. The initials below his fingers had changed to dark blue. He lifted a shoulder in a shrug and said, “I honestly don’t know what I planned to do. It was a weak threat.”

  “But effective,” the man replied. He smiled. “I’m The Greatest Winston.”

  “The Greatest Winston?” Breccan repeated.

  The man nodded. “There were already a few Winstons when I created my avatar, so I figured, why not be the greatest?”

  “I can’t argue there,” Breccan replied.

  “And I am Mrs. Diamond Tycoon,” the woman said.

  Breccan shook the bejeweled hand she held up. Shaking hands with his right one was still a new experience. Or really, it was an old one he was getting used to being able to do again. If it didn’t transfer to real life, does that mean it was a fake experience?

  The woman mistook his troubled expression for amusement and said, “Hey, if I’m a Diamond Tycoon in the Edge, maybe it’ll come true in real life.”

  “I think that’s sound logic,” Breccan replied with a straight face.

  The woman turned to the man at her side. “See, Jerry. He agrees with me.”

  “You’re not supposed to use my real name,” the man grumbled.

  Mrs. Diamond Tycoon put a hand to her mouth. “I keep forgetting. I’m sorry, honey.” She rose onto her tiptoes and kissed him on the cheek.

  A smile reached his eyes and he grinned at Breccan and The Greatest Winston. “How can I stay mad at her when she doe
s that?”

  The doors opened and so many scents bombarded the elevator that Breccan forgot what they had been talking about. Pasta, steak, seafood, seasonings, and so many other aromas he had never smelled before made Breccan’s stomach growl. His mouth watered; all other thoughts besides eating vanished as the name next to the level proclaimed ‘Gorge Thyself’.

  “We should get out here,” Mr. Diamond Tycoon suggested.

  “Let’s change our plans,” a woman behind Breccan said.

  “All that arguing and making up put me in the mood for dinner.” The Greatest Winston shot Breccan a searching look. “Want to catch a bite?”

  Breccan was about to nod, but caught himself. “I’m supposed to meet some people here, but thanks for the invitation.”

  The Greatest Winston nodded. “Another time, then.” He pretended to tip an invisible hat at Breccan. “It’s been a pleasure, Game Breaker. I wish you as much luck tomorrow as you’ve had today.”

  He stepped out of the elevator along with half of the group inside. By the snippets of conversation Breccan caught, it seemed many had changed their plans for the night at the smell of the food. Breccan couldn’t blame them. He was pretty sure he had never smelled anything as appetizing in his entire life.

  As he trailed at the back of the group, he couldn’t help gawking at his surroundings like the newbie he was. They followed a flagstone path that wound through a narrow street with walls so high they seemed to touch the sunset sky above. Ornate pictures made out of contrasting bricks stretched far above him with smiling faces and reaching hands that beckoned them forward. The enormity of the artwork was awe-inspiring, and as Breccan watched, the bricks that made up an old woman with a kindly smile shifted slightly so that her hand motioned for them to walk through the opening in the wall near where she stood.

  It was magical and all-encompassing. Every detail, from the feeling of the flagstones beneath his feet to the breath of air that carried the tantalizing scent of garlic bread felt so real Breccan found himself second-guessing the fact that he experienced it all from a chair in a dark, rundown building. He tried to remind himself that they had just stepped out of an elevator onto another level of the Edge, but the thought warred with the expanse of sky and the apparently endless reach of the flagstone walkway. It felt surreal, yet was tangible in every way he could think of. No wonder all that the students at Jonny’s school talked about was what they did at the Edge. He finally understood.