Write 2 Rank 2023: Knightmare Games

Round 4, Green Belt: Sci-fi and Action

Three years ago, Ralph's Gaming Arcade was the last failing business in a desolate strip mall. Always on the verge of being condemned, the place was a dying remnant of the arcade craze of the late 70s and early 80s. Ralph's was the first place in town to try out the new Knightmare Games VR suite. It had been a smash hit, taking the county and then the state by storm. As Knightmare Games swept the globe as the future of gaming, Ralph's experienced a renaissance. The influx of cash allowed Ralph Jr. to purchase the entire strip mall and fashion it into a huge gaming facility.

People came in droves to play the VR hit, but stayed and played the wide collection of retro games in the area dubbed Ralph's Gaming Archives.

Anne Diaz-Davids came in through the archives entrance to avoid the vloggers and eSports reporters camped outside of the main entrance. The prelims were big news as was her inability to make the qualifiers. She seethed as she shouldered her way through the throng of old-school enthusiasts and newbies getting their first taste of the retro experience. She saw a few familiar faces, but didn't acknowledge them. She was on a mission.

Stepping out of the dim lighting of The Archives, she was bathed in the neon strobes and booming surround sound. All vendors of the Knightmare Games VR experience were obligated to fashion their stores like something out of the Tron movie franchise. Anne had always found it like entering a new and exhilarating world. That day it was like standing outside the pearly gates, but with no way to enter.

She inquired with one of the staffers and found the rigs reserved for The Rude Harpies. They were each labeled.

Bad Fish- Player

Killshot- Player

Calico- Coach

Anne wanted to cry.

"How are you holding up, Calico?"

Anne whorled around, angrily wipping the tear from the corner of her eye.

"I'm good, Ryan," she said, putting on a fake smile.

Ryan was Ralph Jr.'s daughter, and heir to the family gaming arcade.

"You don't look good." She smiled and handed Anne a printout. "That was a real dirty move Magpie pulled on you, but don't look at it as the end of the world."

"I'm out."

"You still get to coach your guild, and, if you guys make it to the finals, you're entitled to prize money and merch."

"I don't want any of that. I want to win, with my team."

"I get that. with the new coach role, you still can... kinda."

Anne glanced over the handout.

"So I'll be a ghost?"

"No. A fairy. You won't be able to interact with the environment, but you'll be inside with the others providing info and direction."

Anne looked longingly at her rig.

To Shannon Krill it felt like her brain was being scooped out by a red hot spatula and dumped into a room too bright, too hot, and too loud. She screamed out of pain as much as sensory overload. It took a few minutes for her mind to settle in her virtual body and then, in a sudden rush, it was all gone and she was back to herself. She blinked watery eyes and flexed her fingers. Feeling like she could move around without puking up her lunch, she reached forward.

"Player is ready for her knightmare," she shouted to the launch agent.

The game's interface recognized her launch phrase and a door materialized in thin air. She grabbed the door knob and the system loaded her into the preliminaries.

Stepping out onto a blasted beach, she dove aside as an artillery round hit the surf with a thunderous explosion.

"Took you long enough, Bad Fish," Killshot said in her silky smooth voice as she pulled her out of the sand.

"It's the scramble. They say it happens to five percent of all players. It has something to do with my brain chemistry and the rig's neural circuitry." They both duck as bullets whizz overhead. "What the heck is going on!"

"Looks like we have to storm a Kerg Fey stronghold, Normandy style!" Killshot shouted over the bark of gunfire.

A blue ball of light with gossamer wings swoops down and lands on Bad Fish's shoulder. It spoke with Calico's voice.

"You have until nightfall to lower the Kerg Fey flag on that rooftop."

"Sounds easy enough," Killshot chuckled.

"You good, Anne?" Bad Fish asked.

"Why does everyone keep asking me that?"

"Because–"

"No. I'm not good, but I'm here and I'm determined to get my Harpies to the finals."

"That's what I like to hear," Killshot hooted. "Incoming!"

They ran and dove as a mortar exploded dangerously close to their last position. Bad Fish pushed up off the ground, spitting grains of sand out of her mouth. Back in her rig, Shannon could taste it as if she were actually there eating dirt.

"This way, there are some barrier rocks up the beach that can give us some cover," Calico chirped, buzzing off in a hurry.

The others followed close behind her running in ragged zigzags to make themselves harder targets. Bullets tore up the beach, sending up geysers of sand. They reach the barrier rock a moment before a mortar shell. The explosive strikes the stone block with no effect. Barrier rocks were permanent stage elements that could not be destroyed. A place where they could safely catch their breaths.

"Quickly, check your inventories," Calico ordered. "It looks like they started you with the outfits you wore when you qualified."

Bad Fish looked down at her armor. In her mad dash across the beach she hadn't bothered to notice. She still had on her hot pink lacquered samurai armor. It was also still providing the parry bonus. Killshot wore a hodgepodge of disparate armor pieces that combined to give them the Eclectic Perk which provided a +1 bonus to Luck.

"I have all my equipment," they confirmed.

Bad Fish brought up her inventory and the bright light triggered the scramble. Her senses exploded, putting her in a blind prison of flaring agony. Over the chaos she heard one of the live GMs calling her name. Calico and Killshot were doing the same, but neither Shannon Krill nor Bad Fish could answer. She could feel the rig's electrodes burning into her flesh and the sounds of the distant explosions blasting her ears. It was unbearable and seemingly over as abruptly as it had started.

Bad Fish looked up from the sand at Killshot and Calico, trying her best to ignore the concern written on her partner's face.

"Are you okay, Shannon?"

"I'm fine," she lied. "Must have been some feedback or a power surge."

Calico buzzed around her head. "The GM says they can pause the mission so you can go to the nurse's station."

"No."

"It might be–"

"No!" Bad Fish rises to her feet. "We're Rude Harpies and we've got shit to do."

"We're not talking about the game right now, Shannon. We're talking about your life."

"I thought your motto was "gaming is life", Killshot?"

"It is, but that doesn't mean I want to watch you glitch yourself into a coma."

Bad Fish chuckled.

"Seriously, guys. I'm okay."

She doesn't tell them about her condition or that this might be her last tournament. The mission was the most important thing.