Chapter 96: The Gap
Jim stood there, frowning at the canyon, flexing his hands, long enough for me to conclude I’d said the wrong thing.
Which was pretty bad, since it hadn’t been his reaction that worried me.
“No offense,” he said at last, “but I think that amounts to the same thing as us letting you collect everything.”
I chuckled. “None taken. If you haven’t tried Third Eye PVP before, you’re probably right that you wouldn’t stand a chance against Lena or I. Not always by our choice, but we’ve ended up practicing often enough.”
“You get invaded a lot up in Denver?”
“A lot more than I wish.”
He sucked in a breath and shook his head.
“Most of the community is great,” I said, “but when there’s a lot of players around, ‘most’ isn’t the same as ‘all.’”
He rubbed his chin. “Guess not.”
“Point is,” I said, “I’d offer some PVP tips if you or Britt wanted, but I wouldn’t offer a challenge. That would be an even shittier thing to do than just taking the resources from your park, since you’d lose XP from it.”
“What are you saying we should do, then?”
“We’re actually traveling with some friends,” I said, “including some other players. One of them has never been in a real PVP match, and she only started practicing with us during the trip.”
Jim looked around. He didn’t raise his phone, though, so he didn’t immediately lock on to Erin and Michelle. “Me winning a match with one of your friends would be enough for you and Ashbird to turn the park over to us?”
I shrugged. “I told you, we’d stand aside if you just asked. This way, win or lose, one of our friends will get some experience.”
Jim furrowed his brow. “Thought you only got XP for winning.”
“I don’t mean experience as a game currency,” I said. “Think of it as experience...”
I started to say “in a real fight,” but managed to swallow that.
Near as I could tell, Britt and Jim were playing way below the level where Mask would think to threaten them. They were following the advice from the Ashbird videos to the letter, which included lots of cautions about PVP and scouting in dangerous places.
Their way of playing Third Eye was already as safe as we knew how to make it.
Did I have an obligation to tell them more?
Even if it stopped them playing?
Even if it stopped them watching?
I had to end my sentence one way or another, before my hesitation got too weird.
“... playing PVP with something on the line,” I finished.
It sounded lame in my head, but Jim nodded like it made sense.
“How much HP have you got?” I asked.
“Three forty,” he said. “Can’t tell if that’s high or low. Britt’s only got a hundred and twenty five. Neither of us have lost more than one or two along the way, that we noticed. Being honest, we’re not real sure how that happened.”
“Pretty high,” I said, and it didn’t sound like my teeth were audibly gritted. Almost every max HP value seemed high to me. I knew from the wiki some players had single-digit totals, even lower than mine. I didn’t know if any of them had stuck with the game, though, and even now, I hadn’t met anyone in that situation.
“Really?” He brightened. “Great!”
“I ask,” I said, “because I don’t want anyone to lose XP. I’d like to set up a match with the same rules you saw when Ashbird played CannibalHalfling.”
Jim grinned. “The Earth episode!”
He got busy reminiscing, so I didn’t think he caught how I looked away when I mentioned Matt’s username.
I told myself this match could, in some small way, get us closer to rescuing Matt and Gerry.
“I don’t know how much I can manage,” Jim said, “but I’m happy to give it a shot.”
I plastered on a smile. “Cool.”
I gestured to the Yukon and we walked that way.
Erin touched her glasses, leaving her hand up to cover her mouth. She doubled down on surveying the canyon.
Michelle shifted behind Donica’s wheelchair, frowning at Jim and especially at me. Did she know what I was up to? I didn’t like being “up to” anything. Schemes were Lena’s bag. This one wasn’t much of a scheme, though, right?
Donica locked gazes with me and flashed a hint of a smile. She definitely knew, and approved. She stood up. Either her ankle felt better or she’d gone full agent and refused to let the pain show. “Cameron. Are you going to introduce us to every fan we run into until we start to believe that you and Lena really are famous?”
“You’re the friend?” Jim’s gaze slid to the wheelchair. “If you’re hurt, I just couldn’t –”
“‘Friend’ is a strong word,” Donica said. “I prefer colleague. Anyway, Cameron knows better than to rope me into another of his schemes.”
“‘Schemes’ is a strong word,” I said.
Neither of us laughed, even though I thought Erin, Michelle, and Jim’s expressions were all pretty funny.
Despite the fact I had, on some level, gotten Donica hurt, and despite what she might say about our friendship, I’d found myself getting along better with her since the start of the trip. We both did our share of looking out for the younger members of the team.
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I made introductions, looping Britt and Zealia in when Lena dragged them and Zhizhi over, then explained what Jim and I had discussed about PVP.
“I don’t see why we can’t share,” Erin said.
Michelle, who had hardly looked away from me the whole time, nodded. “Yeah, that would be way better.”
Donica shook her head. “If you want to share, then offer to after you’ve won. Don’t you think that’s more in keeping with the spirit of the game?”
She didn’t invoke Matt’s name, but Erin, in particular, obviously thought of him. Nobody we knew cared more about the incentives a game’s rules created. Erin hugged her arms.
“I don’t want to push nobody,” Jim said. “It’d be a real thrill to get the chance to play you if you’ve trained with Ashbird and OldCampaigner, though.”
Michelle squeezed her eyes shut. She swallowed. “I’ll do it.”
I didn’t give her a thumbs up because I worried she might take it as patronizing.
Donica did, and when Michelle opened her eyes, she stared at Donica’s thumb for a long time. Frankly, it left me feeling I’d been right to worry.
“Why don’t you set up over there.” Zhizhi pointed to a flat stretch of ground – no shortage of that – to one side of the trailhead. “You want to ref again, Cam?”
Before I could answer, Britt grabbed Jim’s shoulders. “It’s just like in the video!” They bounced back and forth.
Which didn’t leave me much choice.
Britt left Zealia with Jim while she ran over and backed their pickup into a parking space abutting the play area. Erin turned the Yukon the same direction. We opened the gates of both vehicles to form a little tailgate party, with Donica in her wheelchair next to Zhizhi and Erin, who took up position on the back of the Yukon.
Jim lifted Zealia up to Britt in the bed of their pickup. All three of them looked to Lena. She spread her arms and flashed a magnificent streamer-mode smile. “You guys would let me sit with you? I’m honored!”
Her fans for life bounced even more.
“I’ll do it, obvs,” Lena said. “One thing, though. You’ve got to agree to a sneak preview.”
Zealia grabbed her mom’s arm. “What’s that?”
“I don’t know, darlin’,” Britt said. Her wide eyes spoke volumes about how much she wanted to find out.
Lena dashed to the Yukon and retrieved Bernie from the back seat. “An introduction to Daimons!”
I was vaguely aware of Zealia first hiding behind her mom, then, gradually, inching her way around until she was giggling and hugging Bernie. Lena waved Bernie’s plushie form around enough that I didn’t think Britt or Jim would notice him moving under his own power outside of the Third Eye filter. Not that they were looking at anything outside the filter. Lena chattered away, extolling the virtues of her favorite feature of Third Eye.
When was the last time she’d spoken this much to people she’d just met? Much less while maintaining the relentless good cheer of The Magnificent Ashbird?
God. She was going to be spent in the evening.
For once, though, I couldn’t pay attention to her.
I had a match to referee.
I waved Michelle and Jim close. “You’ve both seen the episode, right?”
It only then occurred to me that I didn’t know if the former had. Thankfully, she nodded.
“Cool,” I said. “Just a quick refresher on the rules, then. Three rounds, and we call each at fifty damage.”
“In the episode, it was a hundred,” Jim said.
“Yeah,” I said, “but both players you saw in the episode had a lot of PVP experience.”
Besides, Michelle ‘only’ had two hundred and thirty max HP. She could theoretically run out if we used the same format Lena and Matt had.
It didn’t take me long to realize I needn’t have worried.
We took our starting positions and I formed a sphere of Wood to mark the beginning of the round. Another benefit of Earth: I didn’t have to use my workaround of Water and Iron to get a round object! I switched to Air and raised the signal.
Michelle immediately went defensive, conjuring an Iron plate and waving it around fast enough I knew she had to be using at least two units of Air, probably three.
Jim took a long time thumbing through his options and ended up with Iron as well. He stretched it into something like an oversized sword, so clearly, he was using Earth.
If Michelle had attacked, I was pretty sure she could have taken fifty HP off him in the time it took him to decide on what to conjure, much less to finish shaping his weapon. Instead, she waited for him to step forward and make a chopping motion. She sidestepped the attack, not even bothering to block it.
I kept my expression as neutral as I could. No need for anything else. Michelle was already frowning at the sight of Jim’s crude sword sticking out of the dirt next to her.
“Come on, hon,” Britt called.
Jim turned away from the match to wave to his family and Lena.
Michelle glanced at me.
I raised an eyebrow.
She averted her eyes, but her hunched shoulders told me I’d annoyed her.
Jim tried another swing, and this one, she did at least bother to block. The alternative would have been to jump it. Both slabs of Iron rang in the cool, moist air.
That was apparently enough to push Michelle into at least trying offense. She snapped her Iron up and forward, fast enough my phone lost track of it. I knew when it hit because Jim grunted and stepped back.
“Damn,” he said. “It all looks so real, I’ve gone and convinced myself that hurt.”
Only the need to hold my phone in one hand and my orb overhead with the other kept me from running my fingers through my hair. “Third Eye will do that,” I said. “How are your HP?”
He checked. “I took thirty nine damage.”
He’d lost selection on his Iron when he touched his phone. Even though it wasn’t exactly a ref’s job, I stepped forward and showed him how I curled my fingers to keep my Wood under control. He conjured another Iron sheet and matched my gesture.
“No tips for me, coach?” Michelle asked.
I shifted on my feet. “Did Donica put you up to calling me that? Don’t. Please. Anyway, do you feel like you need tips right now?”
She looked like she was trying to frown. The corners of her lips quirked up despite her best efforts. “I guess I’m good.”
They reset to their starting positions, which wasn’t actually part of the rules Lena and Matt had fought under. It didn’t matter. As soon as Jim brought his Iron up, before he even started to shift for an attack, Michelle flicked hers forward and grazed his shoulder. A very tight move, controlled, no more or less force than needed.
“That takes me up to fifty even,” Jim said. This time, he didn’t lose his selection.
“Michelle wins round one,” I said.
It was obvious to all of us that at this rate, the match would not go to a third round.
“I don’t feel good about this,” Michelle said.
“Aw, it’s fine,” Jim said. “I knew going in I was gonna be out of my depth. Gotta learn.”
“Cool,” Michelle said, “but the fact you’re being cool about it just makes me feel worse. How about we change things up for the next round?”
“How?” I asked.
“Does Britt have any Reactants yet?” Michelle asked.
Jim nodded. “I’ve had Earth for a couple weeks, and she got Air. She just picked up Fire on the way down here, too. We were hoping to fill out our supply some.”
The word Fire made Michelle’s shoulders tighten, but she shook them loose. “Just so you know, if I do end up winning this, you’re still welcome to tag along and collect stuff with us. I want to finish out the match either way, though, and this sounds perfect. Everybody can learn.”
She waved to Britt. I didn’t catch the conversation in the bed of the pickup, but it ended with Britt hopping down and Zealia snuggling Bernie. Lena sat beside them, unable to hide her wide eyes and nervous smile. Left in charge of a kid, she didn’t need to pretend to be honored.
Britt joined her husband and faced Michelle. “Like this? You want to take us both on at once?”
“Is that okay?” Michelle looked back and forth between them. “I’m not trying to be a jerk, I’ve just had a little more experience than you, so this seems fairer.”
“I’m game if you are, hon,” Jim said.
“Course!” Britt rubbed her hands. “I’ve been hoping all along we’d get to team up proper-like.”
Michelle turned to me. “That’s cool with you, right, Cam?”
“If it’s agreeable to all the players, how could I complain?” I did my damnedest to look the part of the impartial referee. I cast my gaze toward the horizon and pitched my tone calm and distant.
It helped that Donica was doing the grinning for me.