Victory! The word spelled itself out in Rick’s mind’s eye, accompanied by the sound of an announcer’s voice proclaiming the same.
Alex approached him as he panted. “Impressive. What did you get?”
“What?”
“From the fight,” she said. “What did you get?”
“I don’t…” he began before running out of breath. He pressed his hands into the ground on either side of the defeated enemy, and as he rose, the AI bot’s body disappeared, leaving two boxes in its place.
“There they are.” She pointed at the boxes. “Go ahead.”
Rick stretched his back and took a deep breath. “Go ahead and what?”
Alex squinted and frowned. “Really? I gotta explain all this to you?” She nodded in the direction of the boxes. You got a blue and an orange, which is great luck. It means you got a booster, but you also got a unique skill.”
“How do I—”
The crates opened by themselves and disappeared, revealing two floating icons that matched the colors the boxes had been.
“I don’t know how to—”
The orange icon floated to eye level:
System analyzing…
New user. Initiating tutorial guidance…
Boost Points +2!
Access your menu to apply Boost Points to any of your primary attributes.
Boost Points may not be re-applied once they’ve been determined, so choose carefully…
Boost Points expire at the end of each match. This does not apply to Permanent Boosts. See guidance about Permanent Boosts?
Rick blinked and peered at Alex through the transparent, floating menu screen. “It’s saying something about boosts and permanent boosts.”
Alex nodded. “Yeah. Normally other players can’t see your menus or boosts, but because I’m your trainer, I can see you’ve got two boost points available. You can apply them to speed, stamina, or strength.”
He nodded, waiting for her to explain more.
“Just think the word ‘menu,’ and you should see a new screen.
“Menu—”
“Don’t say it,” Alex said. “Some players are experts at reading lips. I’ve never seen the point of that, but there are players who swear they can learn a lot about their opponents by reading their lips when they’re in menus. Either way, reading them out loud is considered the sure sign of an amateur.”
He nodded again as the menu came up.
Hmm. Strength, speed, or stamina. “Is there any reason I shouldn’t put both points in stamina?” he asked.
The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.
She snorted. “There are two reasons—strength and speed.”
Rick’s attention was drawn to a squirrel that darted onto the path, scrambled down it for fifty feet, then dashed back into the tall grass at the side. He shook his head. “So you’re saying I should apply them evenly?”
“No, not at all.” She sighed. “Everyone does this differently, and there’s no small number of players pretending they have a secret system that gives them an advantage.”
He frowned as he considered his options.
She said, “Can I tell you something, though?”
He nodded.
She smirked and shook her head. “The only secret to the system is that pretending there is a system gets many new players to waste their time trying to find one instead of focusing on becoming better fighters.”
Rick’s opinion of his trainer rose. In his former life, he’d come across many in the real-life fighting world who were also looking for shortcuts. The only shortcut he’d ever found was hard work, and that was only a shortcut because the search for secret techniques added extra miles to the journey to mastery. That Alex wasn’t one of a legion of impatient fighters searching for quick results meant he needed to listen to her.
“Do I need to apply them now?” he asked.
“No, but these aren’t permanent, so the earlier you apply them, the more use you get before everything gets reset before the next match,” she said.
“How do I get permanent boosts?”
She said nothing.
“How do—”
“We’ll get to that. For now, you should decide how to use what you’ve got.”
Rick thought the word ‘menu,’ and, just like she’d said, a new transparent screen hung in the air before him.
Character Menu
Strength: 1
Speed: 1
Stamina: 1
I have to address stamina. He squinted and willed the number to change for the Stamina indicator. It rolled over from one to two. What do I do with the other one? “Are there reasons outside fighting that I might want strength or stamina right away?”
She laughed. “Good to ask. Most don’t, and then they find themselves shit out of luck.” She sighed, as though preparing to give a talk she’d rehearsed. “Other player-fighters and bots aren’t your only obstacles. In normal play—and even in the one-versus-one tournament for which you’re training—the playfield is constantly shrinking. Speed affects all your movements.” She paused to assess whether he’d grasped what she said, then continued. “Likewise, there will be opportunities to take shortcuts to the center of the map, but barriers may require clearing before you can advance. Sometimes, that’s an extra-powerful mini-boss, but as often as not, it’s just a rock blocking a cave or some other obstruction you’ll need strength to remove.”
That’s cheesy, but whatever—I need to win. “Advice?”
“I’m pretty sure you want to put both points in stamina, and I totally get why. You don’t have to worry about the playfield shrinking today, and I’m here if we run across anything that needs extra heft.” She gave him a serious look. “But I want you to keep it in mind for later.”
Rick took that as permission and placed another point in Stamina. “If it’s a mistake, I’ll just have to eat it.”
Alex tilted her head. “That’s a weird phrase.”
He shrugged as the blue icon floated to eye level.
New Skill Acquired!
Stamina-free Cancel Push
Need a little room to breathe? The Stamina-free Cancel Push can be added to any move. Moreover, it can also cancel any part of your combo chain, including the very first move. The Stamina-free Cancel Push has a cooldown of 60 seconds, so make it count!
“Huh,” he said. The look on Alex’s face seemed to indicate there was something special about what the blue box had given him.
Her eyes widened. “That’s an awesome ability. Fuck! I’m sort of jealous. It’s rare. Really rare. It’s like a Roamin’ Cancel, but it doesn’t reset you to a starting position.”
“Okay?”
“No one will think you have it, and it totally fucks up the other player’s rhythm. Imagine you’re about to go in for a guaranteed kill.” Alex raised her hands like she was pantomiming a fight. “You’ve seen the other character has run out of stamina, so they can’t even dodge.” Her pacing got faster and the pitch of her voice went up. “And then”—she punched her fist into her hand—“your enemy initiates a jab because that’s all they have stamina for, but it’s hopeless, right? You’re gonna power right through it—except he cancels into a push, and now you’re either three steps back—so your attack whiffs—or you stumble and land on your ass.”
Whatever Rick might have thought about Alex before now, he hadn’t counted on just how enthusiastic she was about this game. Her passion—along with his own reinvigorated joy at being able to do what he was born to do—swept him up. He couldn’t help it. Her energy transported him a decade and half back to his first fight as a teenager. “What’s next?”
She smiled and said nothing, then turned and continued down the path. He followed.