The Gamer: Battle Of The Ten Kings

Chapter 3.2

I already knew the layout of the house. I had been to all the rooms when trying to find splinting material and cloth for a sling. The house had two floors with three rooms each. The ground floor had a kitchen, a dining room and a hall. The hall had a big television and a couch.

Two of the rooms on the upper floor were bedrooms. Storm was sleeping in one of the bedrooms, which I assumed was hers. That would make the other bedroom a guest bedroom. Frankly, I would have loved to just go to sleep in there. But, I had work to do. Even before I received the quest, I had been thinking about some important things. Those things included:

1. The safety of my family.
2. Food.
3. The mystery of Dan dating Rachel.
4. Food.

After helping me with the splint and sling, Dan had immediately gone downstairs into the kitchen. I needed to talk to him. It's time to get serious and chew bubble gum. And I am all out of bubble gum.

"EA Sports. It's in the game!" I said aloud. This is how I motivate myself. I get pumped up everytime I say these lines. I don't know, it just gets me in the mood to kick someone's ass at FIFA. (Football video game. If you didn't know this, you live in the stone age. It's Football for us Indians, not Soccer.)

"Map" I said as I turned and faced a wall. I did this so I could see the Holo more clearly with the white background of the walls in this house.
Every game had a map. A map did open up in the form of a Holo. But it was a map of the house. That was not surprising. In most games, when you start a quest and enter the quest area, you can only see the map of that area. It was worth a shot, I thought.

I took out my phone. There was still no service. Me and Dan had both checked our phones immediately when we teleported, with no success. The phone read 3.20 P.M. Hmm. I already knew this was one of the clues for the quest. It was night outside the house we were in.

This meant that we were in a different time zone. We were somewhere in Europe or Asia. I had quickly eliminated Asia after looking at Storm. She had no hint of Asian features on her face. She had spoken a mere few words but I had recognized that she was not a native English speaker.

This was definitely her home. I had no proof, just a gut feeling. I started rummaging through the closets and drawers in Storm's bedroom. It was slow going with one hand. There was not much in them besides tons of clothes. Judging by her clothes, Storm was a tough woman. I came to that conclusion from her clothes and the fact that there was no decor in the house at all. It was so dull and plain.

I chanced upon a drawer which was full of neatly arranged undergarments. I was about to close it quickly but a photograph peeked through. I gently removed it, trying very hard not to disturb anything. It was a photograph of a very young Storm with an ice-cream cone in her hand. I flipped the photo to look at the back.

"Garder le sourire, Lucie." I read out loud.

She is French! We are in France! Aaaaaawwaaaaaarrgghhh! FRANCE!

A Holo appeared and I started pulling my hair with one hand.

Quest Complete

Exp Gained: 20
Special Hidden Item Not Found

 I put the photograph back in its place and ran downstairs as fast as I could. There were sounds coming and they got louder as I reached the bottom of the stairs.

Guess what? Dan was watching T.V.

"What are you doing?" I asked him.
"Nothing. Just watching T.V."
"Yeah. I can see that Captain Obvious. Do you even realize the situation we are in? We are in France. France!" I couldn't stress the word 'France' enough.
"Yeah, I know. I am watching 'Masterchef France'." He gestured towards the screen with the remote.

You've got to be kidding me. This made my quest look like a joke. And I got 20 Exp for that?

"Dan, explain this to me. Why are you watching Masterchef France at a time like this?" I asked him calmly.
"Well all I found in the kitchen was carrots and tomatoes. I don't really like them raw and it's not like I know how to cook up a dish using them either. So I gave up. I thought you would have gone to sleep or something. So, I switched on the T.V. and what do you know, Masterchef France is on. I don't really understand what they are saying. I was hoping they would show a dish made with carrots or tomatoes. But alas, they didn't." He finished explaining.
I just slumped on the other end of the couch Dan was sitting on and pinched the bridge of my nose.

After I didn't say anything for a while, Dan asked "What? We can't leave this house. What else is there to do?"
I got up and brought some tomatoes from the kitchen.
"Here" I threw one to him and started munching on another.
"I had a date tonight with Rachel. It's all ruined now." Dan said out of nowhere.
"When did you set up a date with her anyway?" I asked him.
"On your birthday! In your car! We exchanged numbers right in front of you!" He exclaimed.
"Hey! Don't start with me with that tone... I was pretty zoned out on my birthday." I defended myself. How zoned out was I? I thought.

There was a pause in the conversation where we started with a second round of tomatoes.

"Wait a minute! You have Rachel's number...and she must have Monica's number." I looked at Dan with glee.
"Come on dude. Let her go! You know, she has a boyfriend." Dan said.
"What? No. That's not it. Monica must have Brock's number. I need to contact Brock."
"Why?"
"Because Brock works in a security company and I need him to protect my family. Those chinese guys came after me. What if they come after my family? Brock was level 20. That's pretty high. You are only level 9 and you kicked those guys' asses." I explained.
"That can't be right! Check my level again. I just got my 'Purple Belt' yesterday."
"That's great, Dan! I want a party, bro. You have been a busy guy these past few days." I smiled.
"Thanks." Dan smiled.

I took a look at Dan's Holo.

Daniel Smith
Level : Lvl 11
Karate Purple Belt
Mood: Overall Happy

"Hey! You levelled up. You are now level 11. And I can see your mood now. It says you are 'overall happy'. Hmm. Must be because I levelled up too." I said.
"Cool. It would be difficult for Brock to deal with Sleeveless. Not easy when someone is throwing fire at you. But, I have a feeling Sleeveless is not good at close range combat. He seemed to be hanging around at the back, letting B-B-B-Bat and Bloody Nose do all the work." Dan surmised.
"There must be a phone with Lucie on her somewhere." I thought out loud.
"Who's Lucie?"
"Oh. Her name is Lucie." I pointed my finger upwards.

We started with another round of tomatoes and were munching pretty loudly. That was how Lucie found us, with tomatoes in our mouth, sitting on the couch watching 'Masterchef France'."

"How do you know my name?" She asked with hands on her hips and a furious expression on her face.

She wasn't wearing her sunglasses anymore because they were with her gun on her bedside table. Her blue eyes seemed even more striking.

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Author's Note: Feels like a slow filler chapter to me but it was a necessary build up for the next one. I hope the few humorous moments I included were enough to keep you interested. Although if you have read this far, you have already fallen into my trap. MUAHAHAHAHAHA! Now you can't stop reading this story until it ends. :D :P As always thanks for reading! Vote and Comment! :) - Phenil