Chapter 25

Mission… Complete?

Back at the writing nook. About twice as tired as before and ten times more defeated.

“We failed,” Stephen said.

I unequipped my helmet and fell back into my signature spot in the booth, facing the door even though no one would ever come through it without our permission. Funny how deep anxiety ran.

“What do you think our punishment will be for failing a homework assignment?” I asked.

“Probably nothing good. Or nothing at all. He doesn’t seem the type to dish out punishments.”

“Yeah, but I don’t know if I can handle disappointing a teacher and father figure,” I said as I melted deeper into the booth.

“You already consider him a father figure?” Stephen asked, gearing up for some laughter.

“It doesn’t take much. I’ve never had one. If you were a little older I would have felt it from you.”

We both laughed at that and for a moment it seemed like we were in good spirits again. But then the laughter stopped and our smiles wained and we were back to dwelling on our failure.

I sighed and sunk so low my head was under the table.

[ You’ve got a message! ]

I ignored it, thinking it was from our teacher, wanting a status update on how we did. I sighed even bigger.

“Darcy, did you just get a message, too?” Stephen asked.

“Yeah. So it is the teacher, huh?” I sighed extra super dramatically. “Don’t tell me what he said.”

“Darce,” Stephen looked at me from above the table. “It’s not from him.”

Even in my misery I heard the excitement in his voice. I pulled up the message. It was a reply to our first hail mary the other day.

[ Hello! I got this message earlier and just didn’t know what to say. But, from your handles, I think you may have saved me from under a tree today? I just wanted to say thank you! I know it didn’t work out in the end, but you guys tried. Thanks :) ]

I shot up, hitting my head on the table so hard I almost flipped it over. “Stephen!! We… is this… a friend?”

“Not yet, but it's a start. Do you think we should invite her… here?”

“You have to!” I clutched his arm. “We have a shot now!”

“Okay.” He brought up his menu so I could see it. “What should I say?”

“Uhhhh… shit, I don’t know. Ask her to be our friend.”

“No! I can’t do that, that’s embarrassing.”

“Ask her if she will PLEASE be our friend.”

I started grabbing at his menu and he tried to wrestle it out of my hands. In the midst of our tussle a great mistake was made.

“Shit!” Stephen exclaimed and I immediately let go of his menu.

“What?”

“We accidently sent her an invite to the room.”

My eyes went huge. “No. Are you serious? With no message?”

He shook his head.

“Fuck! We ruined everything! What kind of person accepts an invite to a strange shithole from two strangers??”

“Me!” a small voice said as the girl from under the tree materialized inside the doorway. “At least when they tried to save me from being killed by a monster!”

My eyes got even bigger which probably wasn’t the best view to see when entering the room. I tried to smile normally but I think I just made it creepier.

“Uh, hi!” I said.

“Hi.” She smiled comically huge and waved.

Stephen was just staring at her blankly. I shoved him a little. “Oh! Uh, welcome! To…”

“His writing nook!” I finished for him. His nervousness made me nervous for him so I was entering that fun state where I could do the thing so that my friend didn’t have to. That had to have had an official term, right? Whatever it was, I was internally grateful for that mode. “Sorry it’s a little… crappy?”

"It isn't crappy!” Stephen retorted. “And I really didn't appreciate you calling it a shithole a second ago either.”

“Come on, you have to admit it’s a little bit… empty. And old.”

“That’s what writers like!”

The girl laughed, startling the hell out of me. I’d forgotten she was there in the midst of our argument.

“How long have you guys been together? You’re arguing like an old married couple.” She slid into the booth on the other side of the table from us, still smiling.

“Oh, uh, we aren’t–” Stephen stammered.

“We just met like three days ago,” I said.

“Wow, really? That’s super surprsing. You guys act like you’ve known each other all your lives. I’ve never had something like that before.”

Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author's consent. Report any sightings.

My first thought was, ‘wow, kind of an over share,’ and I immediately regretted that. Sharing was an important step to friendship. We were so close to accomplishing our homework quest!

“Yeah, me too, before this weirdo. Don’t really know what makes him different.” I play shoved him again. “Do you not have a lot of friends?”

She put her finger on her chin, like she was thinking. “I mean… I do. But am I close to any of them? That’s the real question. And the answer is… hell no. Everyone always treats me like a little kid.”

“Well…” Stephen said and I gave him a look that hopefully told him to tread carefully. “Your avatar is really… kid like.”

“Yeah, I’m cursed with childlike wonder.” She said in a singsong voice.

“I think what he means…” This time Stephen gave me a stern look. “Is why don’t you change it?”

“Can’t, I’m really a kid. My parents are strict on body mods. Hey, you guys got anything to eat here?”

Stephen showed her how to order something and she scoured through the menu.

I just watched her, as if seeing her for the first time. A kid? Does this count as making a friend if she is like half our age? But, I mean, she was one of the ‘strugglers’ as our teacher put it. Maybe it didn’t matter.

She must have found something cause her eyes focused again and she was just staring at me.

"By the way, I'm Angelia. What's your names?"

We introduced ourselves and she nodded.

“I’m glad you guys invited me," Angelia said. "I've never been to something like this. Is this a bar?”

“Uhh, no. More like a coffee shop,” Stephen said.

“There was alcohol on the menu.”

“Old school writers have a reputation for being alcoholics," I said and Stephen glared at me.

“Oh, okay.” Back to staring.

“Do your parents know you’re here? Do they know you’re fighting in the battle royale game?”

“Nah. They don’t pay any attention to me. I can do whatever I want.” As if cementing her point, her order arrived, a massive pink drink full of whipped cream and sprinkles that looked like it would explode your teeth if you dared drink it. She started guzzling it down.

“I didn’t even know they had something like that here…” Stephen whispered, more to himself than anyone else.

“It’s goo’d!” She said with her mouth extremely full while flashing a peace sign for some reason.

I motioned for Stephen to come closer. He put his ear close to me so I could whisper, “I don’t know about this, dude. She’s a kid.”

“She’s going to be fighting for the next six days no matter what. If she can’t help us we at least gotta help her.”

Yeah, okay, that made sense.

“And besides,” he whispered. “Kids aren’t like how they used to be. On Earth, and even from when we were kids. They are focused and determined and can be little masters of whatever their Starter Skill decided for them.”

He was right. She may be a kid, but that might mean she was already an expert on something. She actually could be a huge asset and not just someone to protect. We just had to figure out what her focus was…

“So what’s you guys’s Starter Skill?” Angelia asked, still slurping her drink.

Whoa, that was easy. We were in! But now we had to share our Skill… I looked at Stephen. He wasn’t going first. I sighed.

“We both, uh, were given bad ones,” I said.

“Ohh, I’ve heard of that. Never met anyone like that though. So what are they?”

“I am cursed to have a boost in every skill.”

“Why is that bad?”

“It’s only a +1 boost.”

“Oh. I see. Yikes. And yours?” She eyed Stephen over her quickly emptying drink.

“I have a +10 boost. To sitting.”

She almost choked on her drink. “That’s uh, really rough man.”

“Yeah.” Stephen sunk into the booth. I pat him on the shoulder but all that did was push him more under the table.

I decided to try and move the conversation away from us and toward our goal: “What about you? Let’s hear what an actual good Starter Skill looks like.”

She slurped the rest of the drink, wiped her mouth, and belched. It was so strong that my hair actually moved, like in a cartoon.

She blushed. “Excuse me. Um, anyway, so, my Starter Skill? It’s not thaaaat great.”

I just stared at her, waiting for her to elaborate.

“Basically… I’m… really persuasive? My social Stats all got some mad boosts.”

“Is that why you talk like you’re a lot older?” I asked.

“Yeah, probably has something to do with it. It’s kind of a curse though. Not like you guys, I guess, but still not great.”

“How the heck is godly social skills a drawback?” Stephen spoke up and returned from the depths of the booth.

“Well… it’s like, people naturally like me, right? They are drawn to me. I can win them over real quick. But… I dunno. Nothing really means anything. I don’t make friends. I make acquaintances, allies… lackeys, more like. They just kind of follow me. They don’t know me.”

“That’s kind of just the way a lot of people are nowadays,” I said. “I don’t think it necessarily has anything to do with you.”

“Maybe. Cause you guys don’t seem like that. We are having a conversation, you aren’t just flocking to me cause of my abilities. But why?”

“I mean, honestly… we don’t normally talk this much to anyone. We are the first friends we’ve made in decades. Maybe your skills are working on us, getting us talking,” I said.

“So I help bring you out of your shell, huh?” She said with a grin. “Doesn’t seem to be working too well on him.”

Stephen sat up all the way. “Maybe I’m immune. Maybe I’m just that anti-social.”

“Or maybe you are just reeling from my reaction to your Starter Skill and have got to warm up to me all over again. Yes, I am also cursed with keen social awareness. I also know that I’m sounding quite full of myself. Yet that’s just how it is.”

“That doesn’t sound like a curse to me. You know when you messed up and know how to fix it, right?” I asked.

“Yes, but not everyone wants to let you fix it. And more often than not I see problems that the other person has and, well, some people are just assholes and don’t even want to meet me in the middle and come to an understanding. So, I either get mindless pawns or people who want nothing to do with me, and I know I’ve done nothing wrong, but there’s nothing I can do about it. So…”

“Curse.” I finished for her. She flashed a grin.

“But still a blessing, too.” Stephen spoke up. “You could help us accomplish our goal.”

“What goal is that? I mean, I see the obvious goal, beat the monster girl. But I don’t think I can sweet talk it. She is very much in the asshole column.”

“That’s our larger goal,” Stephen said. “We have this teacher who is helping us learn how to…”

“Fight better,” I supplied, not wanting to give anything away that we weren’t supposed to talk about.

Stephen gave me a look of gratitude. “Right. But he is also helping us strategize. He thinks that, even if we learned everything he had to teach, that we still couldn’t take her on on our own. We need everyone.”

Angelia spun her hair around her finger, appearing distracted, but I knew she was listening and considering every word. “Okay, I gotya. I see how that could be beneficial. You think I can help you unite the other Users in the match?”

I nodded. “Your Skills are perfect for the job! We are both, uhhh, introverted to the extreme. We have no hope of doing it on our own. But with your help we could bring everyone together!” My speech sped up as my excitement grew with every word.

She released the hair curl and it spun around her finger and flew off, jutting out from her hair at an odd angle. “Okay. I’m in! …on one condition.”

Shit. My smile fizzled. What could she possibly want? She gave off the impression of being quite rich, if she wanted money, there was no way we could meet any of her demands, even if we pooled everything we had.

She wagged her finger. “Don’t go getting all worried. It’s an easy request. I want to help you both. I’ll be the voice of the operation… but I want you two to be the face.”

I instinctively looked over at Stephen for his explanation but he was as lost as me.

“What does that mean, exactly?” He asked.

“I tell you what to do and say, but I stay in the background.”

I breathed a little easier. That didn’t seem outright impossible.

“Why don’t you want to be the one to unite everyone?” Stephen asked. Which was a damn good question.

“I’ve wanted for a long time to stop being in the spotlight. I’ve wanted to find someone I could share my knowledge with and give them a chance at greatness. And then maybe people wouldn’t be so annoying about my appearance and actually look at me as–well, not look at me at all. I like you two. I can tell you’re good people and I want to help you.”

[ Relationship level up! Calculating… ]