The cafe looked more like a medieval tavern with a modern touch, then the gaming cafes Erik frequented. The arcade style business had surged in popularity when VR tech had become common, with most people not having space for the 2nd generation pods, VR Cafes had become common.
This was certainly not that kind of cafe.
A wooden bar stretched the full length of the far wall, with half a dozen dino-men of various species working behind it, serving drinks and food to dozens of patrons. The place was something straight out of a fantasy novel, except it had TVs, electric lighting and music playing from speakers overhead.
Despite the fact there were quite a few people present, the space was so large it actually still felt fairly empty. Clearly it was intended to hold many more people than were present. The three of them walked further in, Marcus leading the way looking totally at ease. Sarah followed after, her avatar drawing the occasional glance, but no one called out to her or stared, which was unusual.
“Hey,” Marcus said to one of the Dino-men working the bar, catching his attention. “We’re here to see the Leaderboard. Where is it at?”
“It’s in the lounge,” the NPC said, his voice gruff and his tone short. He pointed toward an open doorway on the right side of the room.
“Thanks.” Marcus said, and the NPC turned away to prepare a drink for a man sitting in front of him.
The lounge was a spacious, rectangular room with a sunken central floor made of polished wood, evoking the rustic charm of a hunting lodge. Mounted near the ceiling, the preserved heads of predatory dinosaurs added a primal, museum-like grandeur. At the far end, a large fireplace crackled warmly, casting a welcoming glow. Dominating the center of the room was a four-sided holographic display, rotating slowly and commanding attention. Along the edges, sleek touchscreens lined the walls, some already in use by other players, their quiet interaction blending into the lively atmosphere.
Erik looked up and saw on the holographic display, a T-rex fighting off two Ceratosaurus. The battle was taking place in some sort of pine forest, with a light dusting of snow on the ground, which was being kicked up by the scuffle. It was clear that the T-rex was probably an adolescent from the size, and it was holding its own against the two carnivores. It drove one of the Ceras back, pivoting quickly to strike the other with its thick tail, then as it came around it opened its mouth wide and Erik saw that the T-rex had curious bone spurs protruding from either side of its jaw. It’s head snapped forward, almost like it had been seized by a powerful sneeze and a field of green goo flashed forward, splattering over both of the Cerato’s. Smoke began to rise from where the goo had landed, and though there was no audio, he could clearly see the dinosaurs screeching with pain as what had to be acid ate away at them. In moments, they were dead and the Adolescent T-rex moved on, leaving the corpses untouched. Along the bottom of the screen scrolled the text “Skylark Team #2: Rex player: Dilondi”
“Well shit,” Erik muttered upon seeing the name.
“Hey Rik, over here.” Marcus called out, and Erik turned around to find him and Sarah both standing in front of one of the touch screen terminals. He approached to find them looking at the leaderboard.
“What’s that about?” Marcus asked, pointing at the top 10. It read:
#1: [Team Skylark #2]
#2: [Team Skylark #1]
#3: [Team Skylark #3]
#4: [Team Iron Vanguard]
#5: [Team Kek or Bust]
#6: [Team Britches&Prose]
#7: [Team Quantum Flame]
#8: [Team Echo Strikers]
#9: [Team Error 404: Skill Not Found]
#10: [Team Midnight Ascend]
“What the hell is with those Skylark teams?”
“Skylark is a megacorp,” Erik said. “They own all kinds of stuff. Movie studios, soft drink brands, video game developers. I guess it was them that bought the auctioned beta spots.”
“And all three of their teams just so happen to be out front?” Marcus asked, one eyebrow raised. Sarah tapped on the #1 spot and it popped out a roster.
Triceratops Player: Coal
Tyrannosaur Player: Dilondi
Raptor Player: Jei Jon
“Ah hell,” she said, grimacing and Erik couldn’t help but agree.
“Wait, is that the Coal?” Marcus asked, leaning closer, but Sarah was already moving to teams 1 and 3, blowing up their rosters as well and revealing more of the same.
“So some mega-corp bought all three auctioned team spots and stacked them with A-listers?” Marcus asked.
Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.
“Mhmm,” Sarah said, her face looking sour, “you know my team beat a lot of these guys for the World Championship this year.”
“I saw Dilondi’s Rex on the highlight just now,” Erik told them, “He was an adolescent and he spits acid.”
“He- He spits acid?” Marcus asked, looking offended. “What kind of little bitch power is that?”
“You guys just found the lounge today?” A man asked, approaching them. His avatar looked remarkably plain. He was lanky, and he had curly hair. He was wearing a simple yellow T-shirt and some jeans.
“Yeah,” Erik said, “It wasn’t exactly in the tutorial.” The man scoffed, and offered his hand.
“I’m Jeff.” he said. Erik took his hand and shook it. “Did I hear you guys talking about Skylark?”
“Yeah,” Marcus said, “Just commenting on the coincidence of them all holding the top three spots.”
“Oh, it’s no coincidence,” Jeff said, shaking his head. “It’s very much on purpose. They’re all working together.”
“But it’s a battle royale,” Erik said, automatically and Jeff shrugged.
“Yeah, but still. They met up on the first day and have been 9 vs 3 in every fight since then. I know everyone is here to win, but it’s like they’re on a mission to clear as many teams as quickly as possible.” He rubbed the back of his neck, and gave them a nervous smile. “I was actually one of the unlucky ones. They took my whole team out on the first day.”
“That’s rough,” Marcus said, “So what, now y'all just sit around in the Hub?”
“Yeah, and it’s not so bad. It kind of feels like a vacation. There’s all kinds of stuff to do in the market area. So long as you don’t mind not being able to get drunk.” Erik knew teaming up wasn’t against the rules. The game even had ceasefire mechanics and shared loot, but he hadn’t expected to see it abused like this, though perhaps he should have. Gamers were always looking for an edge, though this felt scummier somehow. Buying slots just to load three teams up with the best VR PvPers in the world.
“Do you know where you guys are ranked?” Jeff asked, pointing back to the terminal.
“I know we’re not in the top 10.” Marcus said.
“May I?” Jeff asked, and then when Marcus nodded and stepped away, Jeff stepped forward. “What’s your team name?” He asked.
“Legacy.” Erik supplied, and Jeff opened a search bar on the side and typed it in.
“Oh wow, you guys are #15.” He said, sounding surprised.
“Out of how many teams?” Erik asked.
“2214 teams returned to The Hub today, with about 300 of them being partial teams. So 1 or more dead teammates who will need to be revived”
The number was staggering. They had begun the competition with 3333 teams and they weren’t even on day 5. That was nearly 800 teams cut out of the competition in 4 days.
“It’s a good thing Skylark can only get so many biopoints per day,” Jeff said, “Or else they’d be even further along. They actually had some bad luck today. Team #1 almost got taken out during a boss fight. They all ended up having to retreat.”
“Like a full boss? Not a sub-boss?” Sarah asked.
“Yeah, no one has killed a boss yet, but Skylarks teams have killed a few subs.” Jeff looked back at the monitor again. “And apparently so have you guys, wow. Those things are tough, and you’re not even adolescents yet.”
“You know we’re going to be on these guys radar, right?” Marcus said, and Erik knew exactly what he meant and they both looked at Sarah.
“What?” Jeff asked, looking between them all.
“She’s WhiteRabbit.” Erik said, nodding to Sarah and Jeff looking at her, studying her anthropomorphic bunny avatar.
“She certainly is,” he agreed.
“She’s- you don’t know who she is?”
“Should I?” He asked, bemused.
“I take it you don’t watch much Battle Arena.” Marcus said with a laugh and Jeff shook his head, stepping away from the console.
“No, I’m more of a Landscape Architect Simulator kind of guy.”
“Right, well lets just say that those Skylark teams might have a bone to pick with her.” Marcus said, still chuckling.
“And by extension, us.” Erik added.
“Oh good,” Marcus said, scratching, shifting his cigar to the right side of his mouth and grinning at all of them. “I was starting to think winning this whole thing was going to be too easy.”