The view before Rex’s eyes was certainly not what he had expected when he hooked himself into the game.

An endless desert. Scorching sands. The blazing sun beating down on him like a heavyweight hammer. And the worst part was that there was no one else with him, not his opponents nor his partner.

“What in the blazes…” the young boy exclaimed, but he didn’t have to stay surprised for long. An ominous shadow flew over his head in a flash, and when Rex was able to detect its presence, a small metal orb had already taken its landing and floated right in front of him.

“Allow me to explain,” the orb spoke, revealing the voice to be none other than AIDE. “This is Extreme Go Fish. The rules are like regular Go Fish but with two major changes. You play in teams – this one you should already know – and the stage set is a multi-climate giant biome consisting of four different types of weather and terrain. The cards will be dealt through me, a personalized version of AIDE meant to assist the players for the current event. You can call me Mini-AIDE.”

“Uh… thanks… Mini-AIDE,” Rex scratched his head in confusion and worry. So, this is what they meant by our strategies not working, the thought ran across his head. Using hand signals was a great idea at first glance, but then it would only work if the partner was anywhere close to your line of sight.

“Shoot, I should have thought of this!” Rex frustratingly punched the sand beneath him. But just as his fist touched the ground, a strange beeping sounded from the Mini-AIDE.

“Throughout the game, players of the same team can play by maintaining contact through me. Of course, any detail on your current dealt hand is prohibited. Would you like to accept the call?”

A window popped up from the orb’s single red “eye”. On the window were two buttons, both in the shape of a phone. The green to accept, and the red to refuse.

“Yeah. Connect with Zain,” Rex pushed the green button on the window, closing it for a brief second before another hologram took its place, this time with only a line to show the other side’s voice signal.

“Tch. We really got screwed over big time, huh?” Zain annoyedly sounded on the other side.

“What now?” Rex asked.

“Well, there are two options right now. The first is to play like this and rely on luck.”

“Which is a terrible idea, yes.”

“The second is to find a way for us to meet together again, and follow the strategy we thought of.”

“How? Are you suggesting that we find a way to transmit images?”

“Of course not! I’m not dumb enough to cheat in plain sight!”

“Then what is it?”

“Listen carefully,” Zain lowered his voice, as if not wanting the conversation to be heard even though they were the only ones around. “Remember how the wardens were such cheapskates that you could change the coding within the training realm to tune the bikes?”

“Yeah, why?”

“What if all of these biomes are artificially connected?”

“I see! Then the matter just becomes crossing over to the other side to inform your partner!”

“But there’s a limited time, though,” Zain continued. “One hour. The game will only go for that much. I’m already on the move, so stay where you are. I’ll head there as fast as I can.”

As the line disconnected, Zain took a deep breath and look around at his surroundings. A pleasant shade of green enveloped the area, blocking out any signs of the sun. Grass and trees dominated the ground, and the humid air mixed within created an earthy smell all around. The trickling sound of a small river cleansing the souls of those nearby. A rainforest biome – the easiest one out of everything that could have spawned.

“Just my luck, I guess…” Zain exclaimed, grabbing onto a branch to swing himself through the trees. Although, whether the words he meant were to express fortune or misfortune was only for him to understand.

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“AIDE…”

“Mini-AIDE,” the small machinery interrupted before Zain could finish his request.

“Whatever. Show me the countdown timer.”

“You sure you don’t want me to just deal the cards?”

“And risk everything on dumb luck? Count me out.”

“But you’re not really going to his location, are you?”

“Heh,” a cunning, yet nervous smile formed on Zain’s face, “busted already, huh?”

“As if I’m not used to your reckless personality,” the Mini-AIDE shook its spherical body in disagreement and concern. “The solution you’re thinking of is even riskier, you know.”

“But it has the best return,” Zain argued. “And against those two, I’ll take every chance I can get.”

The AI went silent. Part of it was because it was built to remain as a neutral party to be the referee of the match, but the other part was that it knew Zain couldn’t be stopped anyway.

The third option… The thought arose inside the young man’s head as he hopped from branches to branches, quickly making his way out of the dense woods in a matter of minutes.

Is to stop the other team from drawing completely.

As Zain arrived at the junction between the four biomes, a godly irritating sense crawled onto him and just wouldn’t let go. On his back was still the cool, humid air of the rain forest, and on his front was the salty taste of the sea breeze. However, to his left was the scorching sun of the desert, and to his right was the freezing cold of a raging blizzard.

“Hey. Which biome are you in?” Opening the call, Zain went straight to the point.

“The desert…” Rex’s voice sounded from the other side. However, his breathing had turned more erratic and discrete, and his volume was clearly weaker than the last time they contacted him.

“You okay?” Zain asked.

“Yeah… Just a little… dehydrated, that’s all,” Rex tried to laugh it off, but the sound of his vocal cord shiver was clear as day. The boy couldn’t handle it much longer.

“Damn it! Keep yourself together, you hear me?” Concerned and frustrated, Zain unconsciously raised his voice into a shout. Immediately cutting off the call, he ordered his personal attendant for the round:

“Score tracker, now!”

Another window popped up, and the score on the board only served to increase the urgency of the matter. As Rex and Zain hadn’t even started their game, their score was still at zero. Meanwhile, on the wardens’ side, Rose and Love had already drawn two books while having two more pairs just ready to be completed.

Turning his attention to the already opened timer, Zain’s stress got even worse as he saw that the halfway point had already passed ten minutes ago, meaning that there would be just a mere twenty minutes left for him to do anything.

“Shit! Neither option is viable now!” Without anything to vent his anger on, Zain punched the ground beneath him with all his might, which resulted in a slight rummaging throughout the junction. “I’d say there’s a perfectly viable solution,” the Mini-AIDE sounded once more, waking Zain up from his self-destructive train of thoughts. “But the only problem left is you.”

“What do you mean, you stupid bucket of bolts?”

“You’re a player, right?” If the AI had a pair of eyebrows, it would raise them in sarcastic doubt. “Figure that out yourself.”

The words echoed in Zain’s head, causing the young man to stop completely and think it all through, even if time was not on his side. “Calm down, Zain,” taking a deep breath, he said to himself out loud. “Assess the situation. What would be the best choice?”

“If I go to where he is and play the games, will we be faster than those wardens? … No, we can’t. They’re leading us by three books in points. It’s a race against time that we can’t be sure that we’d win. But what if I followed my original plan and fight them? Not a choice at this point either, he might not have the strength to keep up. Damn it! Think! Why isn’t there a good option?”

Options, eh? Why would you need to have options in the first place? Why not have it all?

The mysterious voice from the previous game sounded once again in Zain’s head. At this point, it was clear: this person was important to his past, but the role of said strange figure wasn’t what mattered right now.

“Of course. I never had to choose in the first place. But…”

Would he have enough in him to escape the biome on his own and follow me? The question echoed in his head. And almost immediately, another fragment of his memories returned to him just in the nick of time.

You were always alone, right? Well, now you got everyone with you! Sounds good, doesn’t it?

“C’mon, Zain, you can do it,” the young man slapped himself to steel his resolve and mumbled. “Trust yourself, trust your partner. It’s the only thing to do at this moment.”

Immediately, Zain reached for a call again.

“Change of plans; get out of that biome and wait for me at the junction, or rest up in the rainforest one to your right. Can you do it?”

“Yeah… I guess…” Rex tried to give a confident answer, but it only sounded like his situation was akin to a candle in the wind. Zain, seeing the danger in sight, wasted no time turning off communications and rushed straight towards the blizzard lying in wait.

Amidst the howling wind and the pure white snow, the sight of a black suit and a holographic set of cards stuck out like a sore thumb. But even without the difficulty in looking for his target, when Zain arrived to confront his opponent, ten more minutes had already passed, and the leading score was already four to zero.

“Well, well, well,” Rose let out a devious smile as she eyed the young man standing before her. “Took you long enough. I assume you’re here to settle this the uncivilized way?”

“No,” in front of his opponent, with the sharp cold whipping on his skin, Zain still had enough in him to let out a confident grin. “I’m here to win.”