Two days before the Round of 32.
“You want to learn how to play Gunner?” asked Fox. She had a dumbfounded expression as she looked at the person before her.
Aether earnestly nodded his head.
Taking a few deep breaths to calm her rising tension, Fox asked in confirmation. “Just to confirm. This is not a prank, right? You’re completely serious.”
“Completely serious,” repeated Aether. “I want to learn how to play the Gunner, captain.”
“May I ask, why?”
“Well,” Aether scratched the side of his cheeks. “I tried to do some image training, and it didn’t work out as well as I expected it to. I still lack some concrete understanding of the ‘Gunner’ character.”
Fox stared at the older boy in front of her as if she was staring at a strange alien creature. She then massaged her face, exhaled once again, and asked, “I just want to ask this before we proceed, Aether, but what the hell is ‘image training’?”
This time, it was Aether who looked dumbfounded. “You haven’t heard of ‘image training’?”
“No. I have not,” Fox shook her head. “And frankly, it sounds made up.”
“It’s a very real thing, I’ll have you know!” Aether exclaimed. He acted like a porcupine that had been poked.
“And what do you do in this ‘image training’ of yours?”
“Well, first,” Aether started to explain, “I conjured an image of the opponent that I’m fighting.”
“Conjure? Oh! You mean you summon the practice dummies in the training arena?”
“K-kinda,” Aether stuttered. “But, I don’t actually summon them. Instead, I simply imagine the opponent.”
“What? In your head?” Fox asked, disbelief evident in his eyes
“Right. I imagine them in my mind,” Aether nodded his head. “And then I spar with them.”
“You…” Fox took a moment to gather her words. “You spar with your imagination…?”
“That’s putting it a little too simple, but essentially, yeah.” Aether agreed with her summarization. “But seriously? You have never heard of this before?”
“It still sounds made up to me,” Fox shook her head. “Still, I don’t want to waste time debating the veracity of this ‘training’. I need to get back to my own training.”
“This will just take a few minutes,” urged Aether. “I just want to know about the skills, abilities, and general playstyle of the ‘Gunner’ character.”
“Alright.” Fox waved her hands and summoned a blank screen. She then gestured to Aether to look at the screen while she wrote on it and explained.
“As the name suggests, a ‘Gunner’ uses guns as his main form of combat. There are more than a dozen different guns and almost a hundred different attachments available for use in the game. I will not go through all of them as you can simply look them up.”
Aether nodded his head in understanding.
“At its optimal stat combination, a Gunner has 3 Special Abilities and 1 Ultimate Ability. These abilities can be used irrespective of the weapon, provided that the character has sufficient energy and the skills themselves are off cooldown.”
“Now, the Special Abilities, or Boosts, as the players call them, are as follows; [Buck Shot] with cooldown period of 1 minute; [Gungnir] with cooldown periods of 2 minutes and 10 minutes, more on this later; and [Bullet Time] with a cooldown of 5 minutes.”
Having written down the names and the cooldown periods of the three Special Abilities on the screen, Fox pointed at the first one [Buck Shot] and started her explanation.
“[Buck Shot] is the most commonly used Gunner ability. It is quick, simple, and fatally lethal should you hit the enemy. [Buck Shot] increases the ‘damage rate’ of your next shot by 500%! If the shot lands, most characters, except for the PeaceKeeper, will die!” stressed Fox.
She then shrugged her shoulders and continued, “That said, it is quite easy to notice and dodge the [Buck Shot]. Any decent player should be able to do so. It travels slowly over mid and long distances, making it useful in short-range combat. Still, it depends upon the player to bring out the skill's true potential.”
“Up next, [Gungnir]. This ability makes it so that after activation, the Gunner will be able to land ALL subsequent shots. It lasts for 3 seconds.”
Aether blinked his eyes. “All the shots?”
“All the shots,” Fox nodded in agreement. “Of course, if the opponent is hiding behind cover, then it will not work. However, as long as the enemy is within the Gunner’s sights, the bullets shot during the activation period of this ability will all hit their mark.”
“That makes more sense,” Aether sighed with relief. Hearing that it has such an obvious weakness made it seem fairer.
Then, a thought suddenly struck Aether. “Can it be paired with the Gunner’s other abilities? [Buck Shot] and the Ultimate, for example?”
Fox smiled at his question. “Smart.” She nodded her head in satisfaction. “To answer your question, yes.”
Just as Aether was about to raise another query, Fox quickly continued, “However! Should you pair [Gungnir] with Gunner’s other abilities, the cooldown period for the skills extends up to 10 minutes!”
Aether’s eyes flashed with understanding. Seeing that, Fox continued with her teaching.
“Now, for the final Special Ability. It’s called [Bullet Time]!” A look of unconcealed excitement appeared on Fox’s face as she explained this skill. “[Bullet Time] allows the player to enter a state of accelerated time. The world surrounding you slows down, allowing you to calmly perceive and evaluate everything that is going on inside your perception. It is the coolest skill amongst all the skills available across all characters!”
Her excitement then rapidly receded as she continued speaking its weakness. “Unfortunately, it is also the hardest skill in the game for a player to use. Not mechanically, but because of how much it disorients the player after each use.”
“Players get disoriented after using it?” Aether asked, confused.
“Yeah. I don’t exactly know how this skill works. But, from the information provided and that gathered by players, using this skill activates something called [Thought Acceleration Module] fitted inside the VR pod. This device causes the players’ consciousness to speed up, allowing them to perceive more details about the world in a shorter period. This acceleration enables the Gunner to perceive the world at a slower speed while not actually affecting the pace and speed at which the game is proceeding.”
“Wow. It sounds fancy,” Aether admitted his ignorance. To be honest, only 30% of Fox’s explanation of the ability’s mechanics made sense to him. Lacking a standard education, this was the best he could do.
“I know, right!” Fox agreed with him. “Anyways, it has a cooldown period of 5 minutes. This doesn’t matter, however, as almost all players are only able to use this ability once before going out of commission.”
“I, however,” Fox suddenly thrust her chest out with pride, “can use it twice!” Her face beamed with an expression that said, ‘praise me’.
Aether, of course, played along with her and immediately started clapping in praise of her.
Having filled her daily quota of vain, Fox coughed lightly and continued. “Of course, I also need some time to recover after using it. A minute or two should do fine.”
“I see,” said Aether. He then asked, “Can you tell me about the final ability? The Ultimate?”
“The Ultimate Ability,” Fox’s expression suddenly became serious. “The Gunner’s Ultimate Ability is an odd one. It’s named [And Colt Made Us Equal]. As for what it does…”
Fox explained to him the intricacies of the skill. Hearing it explained, Aether slowly sunk into thought.
---
Match Day.
8 minutes into the final match.
Equipped in a blue helmet, purple armour, and a pair of blue gauntlets, Aether turned a corner on the 66th Floor of Tower A. He had yet to come into contact with his teammates and was currently in the process of seeking them.
Fallen Tower. A stage that consisted of ruined buildings, electrical storms, and a general theme of decrepitness was strangely endearing to Aether. He gave it some thought about why this was so and came to a conclusion.
‘It reminds me of my secret relaxation spot!’ Aether smiled. Fallen Towers gave him the same aura as the ruins at the edge of the city.
“Though, if I had to pick a fault with this map,” Aether muttered to himself. “The storm raging outside is very distracting.”
The constant and awful din, the sudden flashes of lightning followed by empty blackness, the electrification in the air that tickled his skin… all these minor details of realism made it a very distracting experience for Aether.
Listening to another strike of thunder, Aether leapt down a small partition and entered a new corridor. Just as his feet were about to touch the cold, hard floor, goosebumps flashed across Aether’s hands. His intuition for danger screamed at him.
Not caring about the fact that he was wasting a skill, Aether activated the Brawler’s Special Ability [God Hand] and punched at the air in front of him. A small explosion occurred, killing his momentum and flinging him back.
Aether crashed through a collapsed wall and landed heavily inside a decrepit office. His ears rang with a sharp sound while his head spun with dizziness. Unfortunately, however, Aether did not receive a second to regain his bearings
Flowers of light bloomed in the distant corridor following which arrived the roaring echoes of gunshots. Aether, who was disoriented and dazed, reacted out of pure instinct and performed a roll. He rolled out of the dilapidated office just in time to avoid the storm of bullets that arrived.
He continued to roll, moving in the opposite direction of the attack. After gaining a preliminary hold of his dizziness, Aether jumped to his feet. Crouching behind a cover, he asked with a shout. “Come on, junior brother! You have got to give this senior of yours a warning before you start shooting.”
Aether’s voice quietly echoed inside the empty office floor before eventually getting drowned by the ongoing storm. A tense silence shortly followed, after which…
“I’m sorry, senior brother! I’m going to kill you now!” came the reply.
Aether immediately ducked and rolled. A wise decision, for the instant he rolled away, his cover spot was torn to shreds. The rain of bullets, having not found their target, continued to chase after him.
By now, Aether had more or less regained his bearings. He closed his eyes and focused the entirety of his senses on his ears. In this dark atmosphere, his sight would not do him any good. He had to rely on his sense of hearing to avoid the enemy’s bullets whilst simultaneously finding his location.
Fortunately, this was not too difficult a task for Aether. His sense of hearing was very sharp, and tracing out images while relying solely on sound was something that he often did.
“...north-west… 10-12 metres away…” Aether located the enemy Gunner. Having removed the veil of mystery, their engagement now changed from a ‘sudden ambush’ to a ‘one-on-one duel’. And luckily for him, Brawlers trumped Gunner in close-range combat.
…Or so would’ve been the case had his opponent been anyone but the Dancing Gunslinger.
“Ayo! Hello, senior brother!” Oma cheerily greeted Aether, the very instant he caught sight of the Brawler lunging towards him. He turned his guns towards his opponent and smilingly said, “I believe I have some payback to do.” He pulled the triggers.
With less than 5 metres between them, any normal attacker would have succumbed to the Gunner’s onslaught. Aether, however, had a trick up his sleeve. His Special Ability [God Hand] still had 2 seconds left in its activation period.
Punching forward with his fist, Aether caused another miniature explosion in the air and nullified the enemy attack. His action came at the cost of killing his own momentum but it was a small price to pay for safety.
Plus, [God Hand] applied not only to the Brawler’s fists but to every part that could attack. This naturally included his legs and feet.
With one second left on the timer, Aether stomped his feet and flew towards the Gunner. Oma’s surprise was evident by the slight tremble of his hands. However, for some reason, he did not lose the smile on his face.
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On the contrary, his smile grew wider as Aether’s fist reached ever closer to his face. The Dancing Gunslinger tilted his head ever so slightly, revealing a shadowy fist. The fist of shadow met with Aether’s punch, causing the latter to lose out on impact!
Feeling the stronger attack through his fist, Aether immediately let the air claim his body. He stopped himself from resisting the reactive force causing him to be flung backwards like a cut kite.
Crashing through a few cubicles and breaking more than a few tables, Aether’s body finally came to a rest. Shaking off his dizziness he peered at the top corner of his HUD.
[Health: 650/1000]
The exchange had cost him 35% of his total health!
Turning his sight toward the smiling Oma, slowly reloading his pistols, Aether caught sight of the owner of the shadowy fist that attacked him. Naturally, it was Drunken Fist, Lona.
“That hurt,” said Aether.
Lona, who appeared, side by side, with Oma, slowly replied, “Revenge. For the last game.”
Raising himself from the rubble, Aether continued, “Yeah. I probably deserved that.”
Oma chuckled at his joke whilst Lona rolled her eyes. As the former raised his gun and the latter raised her fists, Aether laughed. “The pair of husband and wife are out to get me, huh?”
“Who’s the wife of this despicable bastard,” Lona immediately spat.
Aether forwarded a confused glance at Oma. The latter chuckled bitterly and said, “I’m still working on it.”
‘Ah!’ expressed Aether. “I wish the two of you the very best of luck.” He was sincere in his blessing.
Lona scoffed while Oma shyly scratched his cheek. “Much appreciated, man.”
“Now then.” Their greetings having come to an end, Aether suddenly squatted.
He tensed his leg muscles and raised his back while leaning his upper body forward. His two arms touched the ground, tautly. From an outside glance, Aether currently looked like a cat who had its tail stepped on.
A teasing glint flashed across his eyes while his lips curved up to form a taunting smile. “Shall we begin in earnest?” His tone, which was chock full of amusement, strangely caused the backs of his two opponents to shudder.
Just as the instincts inside Oma’s head warned him to pull the trigger immediately, Aether suddenly disappeared!
The battle between Awakened Aether and the two strongest members of Team Coldplay suddenly began.
-
Bang! Bang! Bang! The sound of gunshots echoed dimly within the sky bridge that connected the two ruined towers.
“Wait!” Vix suddenly stopped and raised his hands. “Do you hear it?”
The tall PeaceKeeper, Cypher, narrowed his eyes and concentrated. A few seconds later, he slowly said, “The gunshots. I hear them vaguely.”
“Tower A?” questioned Vix.
“Tower A.” Cypher nodded his head.
“Judging from the frequency of the gunshots, it seems to be a fierce battle,” Vix analysed.
A look of worry and impatience appeared on Cypher’s face as he asked, “Shouldn’t we hurry then? Aether might be in danger!”
“If it’s just the Dancing Gunner then Aether should have no problem holding on. Heck, he might even come out on top,” Vix calmly answered. His brows then furrowed. “However, our opponent is no fool. He should clearly know this.”
“Then…!” Cypher was quickly interrupted by Vix.
“And after knowing this, if they had still engaged in a fight with Aether… then it could only mean one thing.” Vix’s expression looked extremely severe. “More than one opponent is fighting Aether!”
Cypher’s face paled. “What are we waiting for then? Let’s go!”
It was embarrassing to say but, right now, Aether was Team Fox and Friends’ one and only ace-in-the-hole. Should they lose him, their chances of coming out victorious in this final match were close to nil.
As the team’s strategist, Vix knew of this fact better than anyone else. Just as he was in the midst of nodding his head, he suddenly stiffened. He then suddenly jerked his head and waved the staff in his hands.
“[Darkness Bolt]!” The Cursemaster’s primary attacking spell formed in an instant and flew out. The blackened bolt quietly tore through the air and landed in an obscure corner of the sky bridge.
Just as Cypher turned around and raised his shield in defence, the silent stalker revealed himself.
“Dammit!” the enemy Virtual cursed. He shot a resentful gaze at the duo before turning around and running.
“Hold it right there, ya blue bastard!” Cypher cursed and lunged forward with his shield. He retrieved the folding sword sheathed by his waist and threw it towards the enemy Virtual.
Having noticed the attack, the enemy Virtual quickly dodged the thrown weapon. He turned around and was about to open his mouth to curse when he saw the Cursemaster slam the bottom of his staff on the ground.
“[Wall of Souls!]” A ghoulish energy spread from the staff and suffused into the ground. It effortlessly passed under the running Virtual and amalgamated a few feet in front of him.
The enemy Virtual failed in anticipating the enemy’s reaction and missed the opportunity to activate the Virtual’s prized Special Ability [Digitised Stream]. This mistake resulted in him…
…losing his life.
With his retreat blocked by the tall wall of screaming ghosts, the enemy Virtual faced the combined onslaught of a PeaceKeeper and a Cursemaster. He was only able to stand his ground for less than 10 seconds before succumbing to their attacks.
[Player C0lderpl4y was cursed to death.]
Not rejoicing at the death of one of their opponents, Vix and Cypher immediately turned around and ran. Their expression was desperate and their hearts frantic.
‘Please hold on!’ They wordlessly prayed within their hearts.
-
BANG! BANG! BANG! Oma hungrily squeezed his triggers while continuously moving his two guns. His face was the very picture of seriousness as the smile on his face was nowhere to be seen.
Indeed, Oma’s expression looked very grave.
“10’clock!” He yelled, alerting his lover. His timely alert allowed Lona, who was fighting in the distance, to react in time and avoid the enemy Brawler’s insidious attack.
Clicking his tongue in disappointment, Aether disappeared behind the collapsed wall, avoiding the furious onslaught that followed. He slinked through the ruined battlefield, taking great care to not reveal his location.
Crawling underneath a pile of rubble, Aether checked his HUD while catching his breath.
[Health: 120/1000]
‘This is bad,’ he thought to himself. ‘This is very, very bad.’
He had battled his opponents for nearly ten minutes. He had moved through three different battlefields, gone down four floors, and nearly used every trick in his book, and yet, even after having done his utmost best, victory was nowhere in sight.
‘I knew it would be difficult. But this is just… ridiculous.’ How children, with no real combat experience, exhibited such skill in combat was a topic that recently confounded him. ‘Well, children might be a stretch. The two of them are only a few years younger than me.’
Still, his questions remained. Why were they so good? Why were the Gunner’s shoots so accurate? Why was the Brawler’s instinct so sharp? Wasn’t this only a video game?
Nothing about this engagement made sense to Aether. And so, being as wise as he was, he gave up on trying to understand it. There would be a time later for him to ponder on it. This was not that time.
‘There’s also this!’ Aether waved his hands in great vexation. ‘This damned character of mine isn’t keeping up with my thoughts!’
What infuriated him wasn’t the fact that his opponents were ridiculously talented. It was the fact that his character body, the Brawler, was not moving in the way that Aether wanted it to move. Shortly put, there was a ‘lag’ between his reaction and the character’s reaction.
And this ‘lag’ drove him crazy.
‘Again! Due to this stupid delay, I got hit once again. My health has dropped by another 60 points!’ Oma’s bullets seriously hurt. ‘Two to three more shots, and I’m done.’ Aether sighed.
Defeat was inevitable. It was impossible for him to seize victory. In fact, the only thing that was within his control right now was the ‘when’ in ‘When is he going to lose?’
But he couldn’t lose. Not because it hurt his pride or anything. Aether possessed no such thing in the first place.
He couldn’t lose here because he knew that if he were to die now, his team would stand no chance at victory. And if his team lost here, Aether would lose the god-sent opportunity of sending his sister to school.
‘Unacceptable.’ That outcome was thoroughly unacceptable.
His ears suddenly tingled as he picked up the sound of his opponents approaching in his direction. A few more seconds and he would be found out.
‘I need to move.’ Aether had to move from this hiding spot and go somewhere else. ‘Two to three more shots and I’ll die.’ He couldn’t get hit.
His eyes went out of focus for an instant as a thought suddenly struck him. ‘Should I use that thing?’ Aether suddenly felt conflicted. ‘Would that thing even work here?’
There was still a trump card left in his hands. However, this ‘trump card’ was a double-edged sword. Using it meant Aether would break the taboo that he had placed upon himself.
Moreover, he wasn’t even sure whether this ‘trump card’ of his will even work in the game. Theoretically, it should. However, a glance at this damned body that failed to keep up with the speed of his thoughts caused Aether’s confidence to plummet.
Hearing the sounds get closer, Aether eventually heaved a sigh. ‘Let’s not. Losing this game does not mean the end of this world. I can still send Mei to school. I only have to subject myself to a few dozen years of labour. Wasn’t that my plan in the first place?’ Aether smiled bitterly.
His ‘trump card’ was one that he would hesitate to use even during life-threatening danger. Compared to that, losing a single game was nothing.
‘Welp. Not for the lack of trying. I gave it my best.’
Sadly, this wasn’t a story where the main character could break through his limits at the final moment. This was good, old-fashioned reality. ‘That being said…’ Aether suddenly shot out from his hiding spot.
A frenzied smile hung on his face as he lunged at the surprised-looking Gunner next to him. His fists shone with light as he activated a skill. ‘I might as well take one down with me!’ He punched forward.
However, while surprised, the Dancing Gunslinger had yet to drop his guard. Having caught sight of Aether’s final charge, and knowing that he would not be able to evade it, he immediately reacted in the most optimal way possible.
[Ultimate Ability: And Colt Made Us Equal]
Aether’s and Oma’s figures flickered and disappeared from the stage.
-
Vision returned to Aether’s eyes. He found himself on a narrow, dark street.
Turning his head to look around, he found dark, shadowed buildings lining up on either side of the narrow street. Roughly five metres away from him, Aether found Oma scanning him with a wary gaze.
“You used your Ultimate, huh?” Aether asked his opponent with a smile.
Oma nodded his head. His wariness receded as he spoke with a bitter smile. “You’re ridiculous.”
Hearing that compliment which was not quite a compliment, Aether guffawed. He looked at Oma and replied, “It’s funny. I was just thinking the same thing about you!”
Oma shook his head. He then gazed at Aether with a look of curiosity and asked, “I want to ask. What kind of life do you live?”
“What do you mean?” asked Aether, not quite understanding his question.
“The way you fight. It’s not normal,” explained Oma. “Your movements are methodical. Every one of your actions has a clear meaning. You are calm, steady, and most of all, experienced.”
Pausing for a second, Oma finished heavily. “You’ve been trained to fight before.”
Aether looked at him with a calm smile. He did not say anything and continued to stare at Oma with a teasing glint in his eyes.
Hearing no answer from him, Oma powerlessly chuckled. “I guess that’s a no.” He then retrieved his gun from his holster and said, “It’s been a long day. Let’s finish this.”
Raising his fists, Aether agreed. “I agree. Let’s finish this.”
The two men stared at each other. The distance between them was 5 metres. Neither made the first move.
A few seconds passed and suddenly, as if they had made an agreement beforehand, the two men moved at the same time.
BANG! SLAM!! A full-powered punch and a gunshot both rang at the same time.
The two men, who were within arm’s length of each other, quietly stared into each other's eyes.
“It was a good game,” Oma suddenly said.
Nodding his head, Aether replied, “You played very well.”
The dark space around them shattered and their two figures melted into beams of light.
---
The doors to the VR pod opened and Aether flinched at the sudden onslaught of bright, white light. It took him a few seconds to get used to it. Light returning to his eyes, he saw his teammates gathered before his pod and quietly staring at him.
Aether noticed that Fox’s and Midas’ eyes seemed especially red. It seemed that they had been crying just a few moments ago.
Looking at his teammates gazing at him with complicated expressions in their eyes, Aether chuckled, “Well? Are we celebrating or what?”
The instant he finished speaking, Fox dove into his pod and pulled him into a hug. She buried her face into his shoulder and loudly cried, “God Aether! You will be the only God that I will devote myself to!!”
Aether immediately smacked the back of her head.
[Victory, Team Fox and Friends]
---
Defeated and depressed, Oma left the underground sewers and wandered the streets above ground alone. His teammates, who wanted to accompany their captain, were chased away by him.
As he aimlessly walked within the crowds, the communicator within his ears buzzed. Focus returned to Oma’s eyes and a smile automatically appeared on his face.
Tapping the communicator, Oma asked with a smile. “What is my dear wifey calling me for? Are you missing your husband?”
[...don’t be sad.] a voice quietly replied.
“What was that?” Oma asked, his smile growing brighter.
[You… don’t be sad.] the voice repeated, louder.
“Oh? What’s this? A word of worry from my ever-cold wife?” Oma teased. “Looks like I have to go back and thank that guy for defeating me.”
[...despicable bastard!] the voice fumed before falling silent.
Ignoring her cursing, Oma cheerfully said, “Don’t go tossing on your bed, alright? Stay still. I’ll come back after buying your medicine.”
[Humph!] the voice simply harrumphed before ending the call.
Oma laughed even louder at this reaction. He then quietly remarked, “How cute.”
His depression having melted away after a call from his soon-to-be wife, Oma energetically turned around and decided to head towards the hospital. Just as he was about to take his first step, a tall man in a hat intercepted him.
“Excuse, sir. Are you Oma Falicoux?” The man asked. “The player behind the Dancing Gunslinger?”
Oma’s body immediately stiffened. He turned to stare at the man with bloodlust in his eyes. With a threatening growl, he asked, “Who are you?”
“Nobody,” the man replied with a smile. “Please. There’s no need to be threatened. I don’t come with unkind intentions.”
“Then you should’ve known better than to say my full name,” Oma snarled.
“Was that the case? My bad.” The man removed his hat, held it against his chest, and politely bowed. “I have misspoken.”
He then wore his hat once again and said with a smile. “I once again stress. I have no unkind intentions against you. I have simply come to…”
The smile on the man’s face widened. “... discuss the team that claimed victory against you.”
“Ha!” Oma scoffed. He then stared threateningly and asked, “And if I don’t want to discuss?”
“Oh. That won’t be an issue,” the man replied, confidently. He then lifted the briefcase that he held in his hand and opened it before Oma. “This is an exchange, you see.” The briefcase was neatly packed with a variety of medicines.
Reading the labels on the various vials lining up the interiors of the briefcase, Oma visibly gulped. He then looked at the man in shock before looking back at the contents of the briefcase.
Seemingly having expected this reaction, the man continued with a smile. “So then? Shall we begin our discussion?”
Oma alternated his gaze one last time before nodding his head. Staring at the hatted man with firm eyes, he said, “Yes. We can start our discussion.”