Pete hurried over to Zoey, kneeling next to her, using one of his hands to take her hand. He used his other hand to support her shoulder. “Zoey, are you okay?”
“Pete?” She blinked confusion from her eyes as he helped her to her feet, her eyes taking in the whole of the room. “Where are we?”
“It’s hard to explain…harder to believe.” Pete began. “I’ll try to explain. There is this cat named Max—I’m not sure if he’s good or bad—and he…”
“I know about Max.” Zoey interrupted. Then she crossed her wrists before spreading her arms apart with her palms up. “I mean, where are we? What is this place?”
“Oh…” Pete’s eyes widened. “Wait…you know about Max? How?”
“Well, he ran in front of my car one night, and I climbed the tree to save him.” She sighed.
“And he jumped at your face, and you fell.” Pete frowned. “It was the same trick he used on me.”
“What?” Zoey began to giggle. “No, that’s not it at all. I mean, he tried to make me fall, jumped at my face and everything. I kept my balance and got him down. You fell?” Her giggles became laughter.
“Yeah…” Pete snickered. “I guess I did. If you didn’t fall, how did you get here?”
Zoey began to regain her composure. “I’m not sure. I remember handing the cat to the lady at the bottom of the tree. She seemed confused like she wasn’t sure what to do next. It was like she wanted me to fall.”
Zoey pursed her lips, stared into space, and shuddered before continuing. “Then that woman got this creepy smile. She had these sharp teeth…” Zoey refocused her eyes on Pete. “Next thing I knew, I was in a Pizza and Games talking to Max in human form. After I beat him in air hockey, he sent me here.”
“Air hockey?” Pete thought about what she had said. Zoey beat everyone in air hockey. She had the reflexes of… He stopped mid-thought, staring at Zoey with hopeful eyes. “Tell me you won.”
Zoey nodded that she had.
Pete burst out laughing, crossing his arms over his stomach. Laughter continued to erupt; he couldn’t help it. He stepped back, using one hand to support himself on the table, the other hand moving to his hip.
Zoey rolled her eyes at how ridiculous Pete looked. “I don’t get it. What’s so funny?”
“I’d say…you have the reflexes…of a cat.” Pete choked out between the laughter, his face beginning to turn red. “But that doesn’t work. You have…the reflexes…of a more than a cat…HA! HA! HA! HA!”
“It isn’t that funny,” Zoey flicked his hat off his head before smiling. “It’s good to see you, Pete. When you didn’t log on or come to work, you had me worried.”
“Hey,” he admonished, offering her a disapproving sneer. Then he bent over, picked up his hat, stood up, and repositioned it on his head, smiling and saying. “It’s good to see you, too.”
The pair stared at each other for a few more seconds, both incredulous of the situation in which they found themselves. Yet there they were, long time video game partners in crime, ready to experience a new world together.
But this time, it wasn’t a video game. When they realized they were staring into each other’s eyes, they both let shyness get the better of them and blushed. Then they hurried to avert their eyes.
To change the subject, Zoey moved to a bread display. She lifted a roll, tossing it in the air and asking. “So…why do you have a name and level seven above your head? Also, let’s get back to my first question. Where is this place?”
With a clearer head than before, she took in the room for a second time. Her eyes stopped on the doughballs and slapped crusts on the counter. Her eyes darted back to Pete. “Tell me you didn’t.”
“I did. I turned the town’s bakery into a pizza joint.” He lifted his eyes back to her and shrugged. “I like pizza and this world—the world is called Round, by the way—it didn’t have pizza. Someone had to make it. Not to mention, my job on my status screen is pizzaman. “All the quests I get center around making pizza and helping the owner of this bakery. In the process of doing quests, we’ve turned his bakery into a pizzeria slash bakery thingy. As far as my name and level go… When you focus on someone or something—like the tomato plant monsters outside of town—their name and level appears above their head. I’ve noticed the colors change so that you can always read them against the background. It’s cool.”
Zoey’s eyes widened with excitement. “Say that again.”
Confused, Pete repeated. “I invented pizza here and established the first pizzeria?”
Her excited expression became a glare. “The other part.”
“I like pizza?” He guessed.
“The other part.” The intensity of her scowl increased, annoyance filling her voice.
“Names and levels? Colors change?”
“No,” She growled.
“Status screen?”
“YES!” Her voice cracked as she bounded over to Pete. Max had mentioned closing prompts before. Zoey had come to understand what the cat meant. “That. You have a job? You have status screens? When are we going to go leveling? Can we form a party? Do you have spells and magic? Do I have magic? What’s my job? Tell me how to use everything. I need to know. This is,” she inhaled a deep breath and let it out as she said the last word, “aawwweesooomme.”
“I was about to apologize for getting you involved in all this,” Pete told her. “Does this mean I don’t have to apologize?”
She held up the pointer finger of her right hand. “One, this wasn’t your fault. Max did it to us.” She held up a second finger. “Two, this is the coolest thing ever. Instead of watching isekai, we are isekai.” She held up a third finger. “Three, you better answer my question. How do I get to my status screen? Don’t make me flick your hat off again.”
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“You think about it,” Pete explained. “When you will it to be, it appears in front of your face.”
“That’s it?” She leaned toward him. “You sure there isn’t anything else to it?”
“One hundred percent sure, Zoey.” He confirmed. “Try it.”
“Okay,” she moved her head to each side to stretch her neck. Then rolled her shoulders. Then she moved her arms back and forth in unison. It was like she was getting ready for a P.E. class. “Here goes. Status screen, appear!” She held out her hand as if summoning a spell from her fingertips. Then she lurched her head back like it was about to slam into something. “Whoa! There it is. This is so cool.”
Before she had a chance to look at all of it, the door to the restaurant opened. Mod moved into the doorway and stopped, his eyes fixating on Zoey. “Pete, did you know there is a person in here with you?”
“I did know that,” Pete answered as Zoey turned her eyes to the side so she could see Mod around the prompt blocking her vision. She couldn’t figure out how to close it. “This is Zoey. She’s one of my friends, and she makes a better pizza than I do. When the pixies start this afternoon, she’ll be a great help with teaching them. That is. If she’s up for it?”
“I’m up for it.” She gave a thumbs up.
Pete directed his next sentence at Zoey. “This is Mod. He owns this bakery.”
Still looking at Mod with her eyes pointed to the side, she told him. “It’s nice to meet you.”
“It’s nice to meet you, too,” Mod responded. When he saw how she looked at him, he wrinkled his forehead. “Are you okay? Is something the matter?”
Pete realized what was going on and stifled a giggle.
“Nothing’s the matter,” Zoey answered. “I’m stretching my neck. It’s a little stiff from my journey here.”
“Journey?” Mod began toward an empty space on the counter and began to materialize cheese, vegetables, and meats over its surface. “Cool. You must have come a long way. Where do you hail from?”
“Cheyenne,” She replied, “Same as Pete.”
While Mod’s back was to them, Pete leaned his mouth to Zoey’s ear, whispering in her ear how to close the prompt. She did as told, and the prompt dissolved out of existence.
“Pete never told me where he was from,” Mod explained, looking back at her as he continued materializing toppings. “What is Cheyenne like?”
“Some people like it.” She looked straight at Mod this time. “Some people think it's boring. It’s like anywhere…I guess. It has its positives and its negatives. It's all about what a person wants. Ya know?”
A smile crept across Mod’s face. “That is so true. Sometimes I think about leaving here, but everything I know is here. I love it most days and long for something greater other days. I understand exactly what you are saying.”
As Mod and Zoey continued to speak, Pete moved over to look at the toppings on the counter. The meats included sausage, ground beef, Canadian bacon, real bacon, and thin slices of steak. With the turkey pepperoni they already had, Nick was getting his all meat pizza. I hope you like it, old man.
Angel zipped through the open window, followed by the triplets, followed by four other pixies whom Pete hadn’t met. With military precision, they formed a line facing mod, hovering at face level and saluting. As Mod, Zoey, and Pete looked at the pixies, Angel said. “The new recruits are here and ready to work, Mod. Tell us what to do.”
“I’ll defer to Pete and his friend Zoey,” Mod nodded toward Zoey. “They are the pizza experts. I’m still learning myself.”
“Zoey,” Angel turned toward Zoey. “Nice to meet you. I’m Angel.”
“Nice to meet you.” Zoey smiled. “I always wanted to meet a pixie.”
“You’ve never met a pixie before?” Angel’s jaw dropped; the respective jaws of the other pixies dropped, too.
Zoey forced a soft reverence into her voice. “Nope, I come from a place where only humans live. Meeting amazing people like you and your friends is one of the reasons I’m glad I came here.”
Angel smiled. “Swag. I’m glad you’re here. Let me introduce you to the others. The triplets are Skye, Hope, and Tornado.” Angel pointed to each in order. When she said Tornado, Tornado spun in a circle, repeating his name. “This is Rice and Tice.” Angel nodded at the two tallest pixies. “They’re brothers.” Angel moved her eyes to the next pixie over, a girl with dark hairs and black wings. “This is Shy. She wants to be an actress someday.”
“Cool,” Zoey said, “me too; that’s awesome.”
True to her name, Shy broke eye contact, looking at the ground and leaning her upper body away. “Cool.”
Angel pointed at the last pixie. “This is Nolan…”
“That’s not my name.” Nolan continued to stare straight ahead with his green eyes. He had a stern expression on his face, bangs from his full red hair hanging in front of his eyes.
“Right, right, right,” Angel said. “I forgot. He wants you to call him Guitar-man.”
“That’s right,” Nolan confirmed, keeping the stern expression while lifting his arms to play an air guitar. After three seconds, he snapped his arms back to his side.”
“It’s nice to meet each of you,” Mod told them. “I look forward to us working together.”
“They look forward to working for you, too,” Angel spoke for them. “Right, guys? From stonks to riches right here.”
Pete, Zoey, and Mod didn’t know what stonks were, but they appreciated the sentiment.
The pixie’s responses came in unison: Nolan air guitared, Tornado jumped and spun, Hope danced. She swung her arms from front to back while twisting the ball of her foot on the floor. It was like combining the floss with the mashed potato. Skye dabbed to one side then the other. Shy blushed. Tice and Rice high fived.
“Awesome,” Zoey told them. “Let’s learn how to run a pizza restaurant.”
Zoey and Pete moved to the counter and began to show the pixies how to prep each topping. At Pizza Place, they kept toppings in tubs. At Mod’s, they could keep the toppings in each of their individual inventories.
They didn’t worry about teaching the pixies how to slap the dough or saucing a pizza because the pixies weren’t big enough to do those things. Instead, they trained the pixies in customer service. The pixies learned how to greet, take an order, and assign an order for delivery.
“Tonight,” Pete explained, “Tell all the customers about how we will offer delivery. If they ask what delivery is, tell them it means they can call any of your communication boxes during our pizza hours. Those hours are from three to seven at night. Tell them that they can order food that way, and we will bring it to their house.”
“I have a question.” The pixie named Nolan raised his hand. “Why aren’t we open longer or at lunchtime?”
“At the moment,” Pete told him, “We haven’t figured everything out yet. When we get more comfortable, we will start to do more hours.”
“Any other questions?” Zoey asked.
No one had any.
“Good,” Mod said. “Thank you for your hard work. I have one more rule before we start…” he looked at Pete, “what was the phrase, again?”
“Slinging pies,” Pete replied.
Mod nodded, “One more rule before we start slinging pies.” The pixies remained attentive; their eyes fixed on him. “That rule is to have fun. I want this to be the best place to work in Greenlake.”
“Swag,” all the pixies said in unison, and the afternoon’s work began in earnest as the customers started to pour in. Some of the customers were returning; some were new.
Pete didn’t think the pixies were big enough to slap dough. He hadn’t realized their creativity would allow them a way to learn on their own. He discovered this when the pixies sent Shy up to him during the last three minutes before the store closed. The others stood behind her with hopeful faces.
She held out a pixie sized pizza, holding it out for Pete.
“That is adorable,” Zoey said. “I didn’t know pizza could be cute… But that is one cute pizza.”
“Do you want me to bake it?” Pete asked.
Shy nodded while keeping her eyes adverted downward.
“We can do that,” Mod told her. “Did you have any other questions; did you need anything else?”
Shy shook her head no, turning to flutter back to the other pixies who spun, air guitared, and high-fived each other.
As they celebrated, a customer pushed through the door. He was a type of raccoon humanoid, a species Pete hadn’t come across, no taller than three feet. The customer wore a brown leather cloak, stereotypical of thieves in roleplaying games. On instinct—as a pizzaman—Pete distrusted raccoons, but he tried to work past his instincts. To do this, Pete stepped up to the counter. “Welcome to M and P’s. How can…”
The raccoon brandished a dagger. “I want everything that dropped from Turkey Titan, and every len you earned tonight. If you give me that, no one gets hurt.”
Pete realized he should have trusted his instincts. Nonetheless, a raccoon had already stolen from him once in his life. He wasn’t going to let it happen again. He activated Slap’m Silly, lifted his hand, and swung it across the would-be thief’s face.
The raccoon creature fell in a slump.