The cave gave Rick no problems, and unlike previous runs, they also presented him with no enemies, bot or otherwise.
Once he left the cave and headed into the swamps, however, it was a different story. Though he was wary, the dense flora gave would-be attackers plenty of places to hide, though no player worth a damn would consider it. A Wild One would get you before another player ever happened by. Rick had typically stumbled upon another player here when they were farming boosts and moves from bots or Wild Ones. Getting to the ring got a player dibs on the cache that awaited them there, but Wild Ones gave great loot, and you didn’t need to be the first of a hundred to lay claim to them. All you had to do was beat them, and though that was daunting, a player could strategize and practice techniques for beating the various types one found.
In Ruckus Online, the paths always changed, but the direction toward victory remained the same. Stream viewers rarely wanted to watch players get lost just for the hell of it. The lightning wall was there to urge players forward, but watching someone ring-out was the essence of anticlimactic. His many frustrating practice attempts had taught Rick more than he’d realized.
In his practice sessions before the change of implant, he had gone toe-to-toe against many of the Wild Ones. He’d been successful at one-at-a-time fights.
The problem with the swamps was the sheer density of enemies meant a fight with one enemy might force you into the alert zone of other enemies. Many times already, Rick had been right at the edge of a win with a formidable opponent—say a crocodile Wild One—only to be wiped out by a bot he didn’t know he’d alerted. Live players only compounded the danger.
Which is exactly what had happened.
Rick had already taken a few hits and successfully summoned his empty mind, but the frog-like Wild One he’d engaged had, through successive leaps, dragged Rick across the length of a football field, which had alerted a strange, half-naked bot in what appeared at a glance to be Celtic face and body paint.
The frog-man now limped, as Rick had broken one of its legs and dislocated its left shoulder, but Bodypaint was fresh, and limber besides.
Rick tracked the labored croaking of the frog-man by hearing alone as he ducked a wild and unexpectedly high barefoot kick from Bodypaint. He tried to sweep the bot’s remaining leg, but Bodypaint jumped it like it had been a rope, then slammed its other leg—the one that had kicked high—savagely down on Rick’s collarbone. The force was nearly enough to crack it, but Rick sighed with relief when he rolled and found it wasn’t.
Unfortunately, he’d rolled into frog-man’s strike range, and though the weakened beast could only kick him from an oblique angle, Froggy’s legs were strong beyond reason. The blow caught him across the back of his head, nearly putting him out cold as he scrambled away. He used the ground as a sensory anchor to keep him oriented, as his visual field narrowed and a high-pitched ringing blotted out all other sounds for a few precious seconds.
Rick stood and swayed, then punched wildly outward before firing off Roamin’ Cancel, resulting in a feint that was far quicker than he’d have been able to do otherwise. It worked; Bodypaint reached out to grasp the space where Rick’s arm and fist would have been. Rick turned the tables, grasping the man’s arm and swinging him in the direction of Froggy’s croaking, which he didn’t see, but heard. It almost wiped his stamina out completely, but Rick rolled out of the melee with the last sliver, then stood and assessed the result.
Froggy had attacked Bodypaint, and the two were engaged in a tit-for-tat handsie-footsie game of bot versus bot. Rick’s chest heaved as he tried to catch his breath and let his stamina gauge refill, but that was when his empty mind faltered and the reCon took over.
Rick crouched low to the ground, grasping it with both hands to keep his equilibrium as he frantically tried to rekindle his third chakra.
The sounds of the two bots fighting washed over him in indecipherable waves of noise. Rick tried to use the ground and the noise as an anchor. He closed his eyes and imagined his body as an unmoving sculpture and with his imagination, superimposed the chakras over it.
It’s not working! He panicked when the pace and volume of the noise dropped precipitously. Opening one eye, he further panicked at the sight that greeted him.
Bodypaint had eliminated Froggy and turned its attention to him.
**********************************
Furiously, Rick imagined the yellow light, creating an egg-yolk orb he imagined growing. He stood and suppressed the spasms in his stomach, spreading his legs, desperately trying to keep the entire world from bucking him off it.
Close your eyes, Rick. Ditto’s voice was in his head.
Huh?
Close your eyes and I’ll guide you. Move left! Now! the bot commanded.
Rick juked left and the wind from bodypaint’s fist breezed against his skin. Where are you?
Ditto’s voice echoed in his head again. I can’t get to you. There’s a new protocol that will detect me if I try to enter the match as a player. Keep your eyes closed! the bot commanded when Rick tried to open his eyes. Three steps back… and… Now!
Rick stepped back three steps and heard the whoosh of Bodypaint’s foot. He focused on the yellow light at his solar plexus until it eclipsed all else.
Open your eyes.
Rick opened them.
Left hook incoming, Ditto said.
Rick executed a sloppy left block that Bodypaint’s fist glanced off before it knocked him in the head, causing him to stumble backward.
Down now, backward somersault!
Rick tumbled back again and crouched. Exactly then, empty mind reasserted itself, allowing him to stand.
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His stamina is drained. I have to terminate communication before the cheat protocol detects me. Are you good?
Rick had bridged the gap; he was good. Yeah.
Good luck.
Bodypaint’s chest heaved. Rick contemplated using Iron Fist again, but he’d already witnessed the warpaint-covered bot recover quickly from a stamina drain earlier in the fight. Not fast enough. Instead, he delivered an angled front kick, trying to hook into Bodypaint’s thigh.
Bodypaint leapt away, then panted again. Rick shot out a right straight, but used Roamin’ Cancel. As he’d suspected, the bot had only been trying to fake him out. Bodypaint dodged and launched an airborne knee that missed Rick due to the Roamin’ Cancel reset. He twisted around the bot and slammed a hammer fist down on its head with enough force that it dropped cold.
Victory!
Three boxes turned into one of each color icon—orange, blue, and yellow.
Boost Points +1
Passive Skill Acquired!
Jammin’: Link two active skills together without lag and for reduced total stamina cost. Note: additional occurrences of this skill can be stacked, e.g., two occurrences of Jammin’ will let you link three skills and further reduce stamina cost. Stacking limit of four occurrences of Jammin’, which will allow you to link five skills without any standard delay between skills.
Hmm… that looks handy. Rick would take that with him if he qualified.
Cosmetic Item Acquired!
Floral Tattoo: Stop and smell the flowers! Perfect for female avatars or manly men who want to express a softer side of themselves.
He chucked the tattoo into his cosmetics inventory without a second glance. Someday I’ll sort through them. Maybe there’s something I can sell.
Ahead of him, four more boxes floated where Froggy had fallen. He must have missed the victory announcement, since he’d been struggling with the reCon and Bodypaint had delivered the killing blow. The icons were two orange and two blue. Maybe it was the competitive play, but he was getting far fewer cosmetic items than when he started.
Boost Points +2
Rick placed another point in speed and the second of the two in strength.
Strength: 3
Speed: 5
Stamina: 2
Active Skill Acquired!
Trip-Elbow: Kick that causes opponent to stumble, followed by downward elbow. If both hits connect, the skill has a high chance of grounding opponent. Three-minute cooldown.
Active Skill Acquired!
Monkeyshine: Drop into a split and punch the jewels! Thirty second cooldown.
Rick glanced at his toolset tab and the descriptions superimposed themselves over the lush scene before him. He memorized the new moves, then tried Monkeyshine to see how it felt with a speed spec of five. The empty mind wore off before he could try Trip-Elbow, so he waited until his heart rate dropped. Practicing the move wouldn’t trigger his reCon if there was no opponent. Satisfied he could use the new skills effectively, he dismissed the skill tab and bounded back down the path, fatigued by so many switched from reCon to empty mind and back again. He hoped he wouldn’t collapse before he made it to the top ten.
**********************************
He didn’t wait long before the next enemy appeared, though it was another Wild One this time.
He hadn’t come across many bird-based Wild Ones, so the humanoid egret hybrid puzzled him at first. Looks like an alien space-chicken.
He began cultivating the yellow light as soon as he saw the weird bird-man, long before it noticed him. He stopped before he entered the beast’s alert range. Concentrating had gotten more difficult with every additional fight. He clenched his eyes shut and tried to make his entire world yellow. He’d need to clear up his—what had Ditto called it? Internal contradiction? You’re a liar, Rick. But was he a liar with a cause that extended beyond himself?
Yellow light. Determination. Focus. He breathed deeply and opened his eyes, but he left his eyelids half-closed. That let him see without getting overwhelmed by the simulated game world that swirled around him. Random memory invaded his mind. The brunette with the hot sauce. He shook his head, re-centered his mind, and slowly stepped forward.
The egret hybrid had a shorter beak than would have been entirely proportional to its much larger size. White feathers fluffed up at its shoulders made it look like a football linebacker, and its thin, orange, webbed feet rose to its knees. Bulky, feathered thighs took over from there, but from the waist, its feathers became so fine they looked like hair, and the musculature beneath them was visible, displaying rippled abs. Odd, feathered breasts complete with orange nipples adorned its chest.
The Wild One glanced at him, then did a double take. It made a croaking sound, like that of a güiro, changing its pitch to something more shrill as Rick approached. Small, likely non-functional wings rose behind it.
The yellow chakra was as large as Rick had ever made it, though still unbalanced and flickering, despite his attempt to funnel energy from the other chakras. Egret? Egretta? Rick stuck with Egretta. He tried to ignore his rising pulse as it pounded in his ears.
The bird-man—or bird-woman, as was the case—charged. Rick ducked low as it got in range, touching the ground to keep balance before leaping up with an uppercut Egretta simply ignored. Rick’s fist bounced off the creature’s beak, and it bowled him over.
On the ground, he roiled, flailing with what felt like bed spins after getting too drunk. Egretta turned and leapt for him, but he rolled away before it could pin him. Rising woozily to his feet, he missed the opportunity to attack the beast while it was still on the ground, but as it rose, he jammed his elbow down against its arm when it grabbed him, breaking Egretta’s attempted hold.
He dodged out of the way of the bird-woman’s other hand, but lost his balance and turned his falling into a roll. He landed at a strange angle and flopped, then over-corrected when he stood, which landed him on his ass again. He’d gotten back up to a sitting position when Egretta tackled him, making the strange percussive sound with its beak again as it pressed its face against his ear.
Rick vomited, but wrested as much momentum as he could from her tackle to swing the bird-woman up and over. Egretta clung to him, dragging him over so he came to a rest atop her.
The Wild One screeched and Rick vomited more colored block all over its face and chest while the bird shot an outraged look at him. He grimaced and made the yellow light stronger, and like passing through a veil, the noise within him dropped and he was in empty mind.
With both hands clasped, he smashed the bot’s beaked face, ignoring its guttural trill and trying to avoid the sharp edges of its open maw. Rick lost his balance again, but not from dizziness. The bird-woman’s wings weren’t as vestigial as he’d assumed, and Egretta used them to raise its body from the ground and push Rick backward. He grabbed its long neck as Egretta bucked him; his grip allowed him to keep riding, though. He switched arms to smash it with his dominant right fist, but it got its muscular arms between his own and violently tossed him back, dislodging him from his position. He turned it into a backward roll, thankful for Stamina Camel’s preservation of his stamina.
Rick and the Wild One jumped up at the same time. Rick fired off Flying Kick, then Roamin’ Cancel to fake the creature out, then Flying Kick again once Egretta had committed to a hard right elbow that left its face open.
The kick knocked Egretta down anew. Rick followed it to the ground, slamming its head against a rock conveniently placed on the path behind it. The Wild One went limp.
Victory!
The empty mind ended before Rick had a chance to stand. The boxes rose up through him like ghosts and he crawled away to get a better look. He retched again, but he was empty. He clenched, hung up on the movement until his stomach relented.
So… tired…
He wiped his mouth, though there was nothing there that needed it. He stood.
Three orange icons glowed a few feet above the ground.
Boost Points +3
The speed had helped him end fights faster. He’d failed to finish the frog Wild One in time, but he’d made it to the end of his tussle with Egretta in the nick of time. He contemplated dumping a point into each stat, but Stamina Camel had made stamina a far less consuming problem. He put two in strength and one in speed.
Strength: 5
Speed: 6
Stamina: 2
Though the reCon lost its hold more quickly this time, fatigue made it hard for him to stay alert. Only willpower got him out of the swamp into the meadowlands that led to the ashy center of the map.