Following Gill's instructions, the next morning, Luke headed to the meeting point that was decided at the end of last day's dinner, a certain street close from his home, to meet group B head, Laura.
"What was Gill saying there again?" Asked Laura with a sleepy face, while walking on the sidewalk, addressing Luke who was beside her, looking all confused and disappointed by her question.
"Did you not listen to our whole reunion discussion? Why did you even came if you were willing to just sleep over it?" Replied Luke in an angry tone.
"I can't help iiiit, i don't sleep much, i spent the last night slaying demons and goblins, i even slayed a dragon, it took me a whole 6 hours to beat them."
An puzzled expression appeared on Luke's face 'What the hell is she talking about?! I know about demons, but goblins and dragons?! Is she right in the head?!'
Luke ignored her at first, and told her about the details of her mission, and the fact that he is supposed to join her group in chasing the demon, she nodded, clearing that she understood it well, which Luke had high doubts about.
As Luke wanted to ask her about the weird stuff she blurted out, Laura stopped by the glass doors of a two story building. "Finally i'm here, now i can finish what i started last night, i need an energy drink first, i'll get it from the counter." She pushed the doors and entered.
The building had a big board above the glass doors,with big letters that are supposed to be the building name and joysticks logos shining with blue and yellow neon lights.
-DOVE CITY ARCADE CENTER-
'Did she take me here to play!?, is she this irresponsible?! We have a damn killer demon wondering around and she don't seem to understand the situation we're in, how is she even a group head!?'
Luke followed Laura into the building, and found a long hall with every kind of console games and arcade booths, it was crowded, people shouting and playing fighting games at a corner, people focused on fps games on the other, some even wore some VR headsets and looked like they were immersed in some kind of slashing games, the arcade center was lively, all kind of lights and colors illuminated the hall.
This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.
"Hey Laura, you didn't come here yesterday, all good?" Asked a guy behind a counter near the enterance, he seemed like the manager of the place, behind him were shelves of snacks and fridges with energy drinks, and posters of upcoming gaming tournaments, some local and some even international.
"Hey Jack, yes yes i'm aaall good, can i have my usual energy drink, i'm going to the backroom, and the guy here will go with me."
"Oh, so you're going there, here, take the keys, i cleaned the room yesterday when you weren't here."
"Thanks Jack!"
"Anything for you Laura, your simple presence here made my arcade center as crowded as you can see, everyone coming to play at the arcade center where the gaming prodigy Laura Spark be passing her time, so it's only fair that you can get some freebies and special treatement here."
"Oh jack, stop iiit, i just like to play that's alll."
After the brief exchange, Laura walked to the far back of the hall and used the keys to open a secluded room, Luke followed her.
The room was dark at first, Laura turned the light on, and what appeared were some gaming chairs and the most futuristic set of HD screens facing it, and all kind of joysticks, even a VR set was there.
Behind the set there was a closet, full of many trophies and medals , they seemed like rewards of some gaming tournaments of various genres, all having Laura's name engraved on them.
"Laura, you seem quite known here, but you know it's not the right time to play, even if i have to admit your gaming set is so fancy."
"Nah, i didn't come to play, here, take a seat beside me, and watch."
Still perplexed, Luke took a seat.
Laura turned the screens on, and held some joysticks that looked like the type you control aerial engines with.
On the screen, a footage showing Dove city from above appeared, it reminded Luke of the sight he saw when he first met Leo at the top of Dove city central tower, a simplified map filled the corner of the screen too.
"Is this a camera footage?"asked Luke.
"Yup, but look at this."Laura manipulated the joystick, and camera footage moved."it's a drone camera footage, now it's right above this building, and this room is from where i control it."
Laura opened the energy drink can and took some gulps. "This isn't only a simple drone, it's an S-item drone! unlike normal cams that can't capture pics of ghosts and demons, this one can send images of them clearly, it even have a radar that can detect close specter activity in a radius of 2km! Ghosts will give blue signals and demons will give red signals! Gill gave this great toy to me! He said that it's the best way to combine my ghost seeing ability and my gaming skills! And it's the best thing ever!! With it i can hover above Dove city and look for our wanted demon or any suspicious supernatural activity, then i'll report it to my group members so they can chase him after i give them the exact location! Now time to play!"
Luke was impressed , he thought 'Now that's a way to use technology!'