The Trade - Do You Want to Play? | ✔️

Part 1 of 5

*If you're reading this story anywhere other than W A T T P A D, you should know it's been stolen from me and you are at risk of a malware attack. REPORT IMMEDIATELY!

The air is crisp, and the midnight sky as black as the neighbor's cat crossing your path. The frightened feline recedes behind a bush, its leaves humbled and worn from the constant thrashing of autumn wind. You suck in a breath and fill your lungs with hazy residue from the fire-pit in the backyard, the one Dad snuffed out just before going to bed.    

Finally, the coast is clear. If your parents found out you've been sneaking out of the house over the past two months, they would ground you for life.

You're not the kind of person who makes a habit of breaking obvious rules, but the risk would be well worth the deception when you finally caught your Loknes, the rarest of all monsters in Monsuta GO, a virtual reality game based on a popular Japanese anime series you downloaded to your phone at the beginning of summer.

It's not like you were the only one obsessed with the mobile app. When it first released, gamers from across the world could be found using their GPS to locate and capture one hundred and fifty different simulated creatures to complete their creepy collections; like a new-age scavenger hunt for the masses. Depending on how interactive they wanted to make it, the players could even meet at specialized locations and use their conquests to train and fight opponents. The idea is genius. The perfect escape from the endless Netflix marathons you'd become all too comfortable with.

You've been a hardcore fan since day one, aggressively adding as many species as possible to your electronic catalog of defeats. And your competitive nature has paid off. One hundred and forty-nine spaces occupied and only one vacancy left.

But the developers weren't about to make this final catch an easy one. In fact, they'd made the last monster so difficult to acquire, the game had lost nearly all of its players — including all of your friends — despite the company's efforts to lure them back to the game with extraordinary bonuses and promised perks.

Quitters. That's what they were. But you're no quitter. Filling that last void is a matter of principal — even if you end up the only die-hard gamer still playing.

According to your research, the countless hours spent scrolling through various websites on Google, a Loknes is most likely to appear in the wild at night, unless you were lucky enough to hatch one from a 10K egg collected at a Monsuta Stop. But those kinds of gifts are few and far between. Every time you spin that luminous blue globe you end up with weak Monsuta Balls and healing potions you may never use. Or worse, less impressive eggs containing creatures you already own.

But tonight's the night. You can feel it in your bones. There's a Loknes nearby, you just have to find it.

You turn up the collar of your charcoal gray jacket and steal one final glance over your shoulder, making sure no one heard you creep from the house. All of the windows remain dark, reassuring you everyone is tucked tight beneath the covers, dreaming the kinds of dreams bestowed upon those with a clear conscience, not ones weighted with the responsibility of ridding the world of make-believe monsters. With your phone in hand, you tuck your chin low and walk into the wind, stuffing your free hand into the warmth of your pocket.

At first, the usual Monsuta appear: a handful of Goblyns, a couple of Banchees and Sfinx, and even a Unihorn makes an appearance. You stop to capture the one-horned horse as it's not something you see every day.

A coyote screams in the distance as a frigid gust lashes at your cheeks. You raise your hood, pulling it over your stinging ears. The night is exceptionally cold, and for a moment you debate turning around, your thoughts drifting to the toasty warm bed waiting for you at home. Maybe you'll only take one lap around the neighborhood; it's just too chilly to contemplate more. You march forward, determined to finish the loop.