‘We might have stopped Kody this time,’ said Ant. ‘But from what he said to me, he’s determined to get Operation Wipeout working, if not in Ray-Chay then in some other game.’
He paused, working up the nerve to tell them his idea. Would they think it was stupid?
‘I’ve been thinking. Why don’t we start a proper detective agency? The cover story would be, we’d be helping out players with problems in games, like if they’d got super-stuck on a level, for example, and finding out what was wrong. We could call ourselves “Games Detectives”. It’d pay us a bit of pocket money and we could do it round my sister’s flat on weekends.’
‘Yeah,’ said Griff, jumping about. ‘We could get advertising cards made and hand them out round school. They could say something like:
Something weird in your game?
Something you just can’t explain?
Don’t give up cos it’s a pain –
Call the Games Detectives!’
‘That’s amazing!’ said Rubie. ‘But that’s just the cover story?’
‘Yes,’ said Ant. ‘It would mean we’d get to hear about odd things in games, especially Crunch Hut ones. If something weird happens in someone’s game, like a hint of a rareio, we get in and look for clues. It’d be one way of keeping tabs on what Kody Crunch is up to.’
They all smiled. It felt good to have a plan.
Ant, Rubie and Griff stayed watching Kody and the others arguing until everyone was told they could go back into the hotel.
22
Kismet Heaven
The next day, Griff and Rubie came to Ant’s flat at teatime and they watched that morning’s Crunch Hut press conference online. Kody sat on his own behind the long table, looking really glum, while tech journalists from all over the world asked him questions. The huge announcement was Ray-Chay would not be coming back. Not ever. An especially destructive virus had spread from the game to the server and all the game files had been lost. Ant swallowed. So the stealth ember had actually been a virus? Wasn’t that a strange item for a game?
Kody went on to say that of course, this would be a massive blow to all Ray-Chay players around the world. He promised not only to buy back all the suits but to give every player a voucher to spend on the next new Crunch Hut game, which would be even better. ‘It’s the least I can do,’ they watched him say, through gritted teeth.
The three kids jumped around, laughing and celebrating wildly. When Lance walked in, he wondered what was happening.
‘Haven’t you lot heard about Ray-Chay?’ he said.
‘Errr … yes!’ said Ant. ‘Just now.’
‘Well, we’re in for a busy time at the shop.’ Lance whistled through his teeth. ‘Think of all those suits being returned. It’s going to cost Kody Crunch a pretty penny, I can tell you.’
‘He’s just got to be bigger than the game,’ said Ant.
Again, Lance wondered why the three of them fell about laughing.
It was time to return to Kismet Cosmos.
Tarn was finally coming to the end of his time on Zoberne, the ninety-ninth planet. He had located all the keys by following the puzzle paths and defeating the rotgoblins. He had unlocked the lava mantle chest with the rubyate key and the oceanic mantle chest with the sapphira key, and only had the earth mantle chest left to find. Once he found it, he would be able to open it with the emarala key which was tucked into the girdle of his dragonskin armour.
Pradahl’s golden coat was now tough enough for Tarn to be able to ride on her back. He clung to his dragon as she swooped around the violent, violet skies. Tarn was going to miss this strange prehistoric planet with its belching volcanos and tidal swamps. It wasn’t the prettiest in the cosmos but it was where he’d found Pradahl again and he’d never forget it.
Far below, nordeaters scuffled in the mud, creating swirling mazes and making strange crying sounds when they got stuck up dead ends. Lava flowers exploded on the sides of the volcanos like cannons firing pollen bombs. Lumogrubs flitted here and there with tiny torches rotating on their backs like mini-lighthouses.
Tarn spotted the earth mantle chest. It was sitting in the shade of a hundred-eye tree. All the eyes focused upon Pradahl and followed her course as she glided to the ground, her wings outspread.
Tarn fitted the emarala key into the lock and turned it. The lid sprang open and out popped a flagon of health. With the flagons of strength and wisdom from the other two chests, this would be enough to fuel their flight to the next planet: level up, in other words. Pradahl didn’t need to shed her skin because she already had.
Tarn and Pradahl drank from the three flagons. This was always a part of the game Tarn looked forward to most, because you never knew what surprises the next planet might hold. He climbed on to Pradahl’s back and held on to the ridged scales on her shoulders. Pradahl rose on her hind legs and her wings grew bigger and wider as she prepared for take-off.
Something stopped her. Pradahl’s wings dropped to the floor. Both she and Tarn could feel something unusual.
The whole planet was rotating faster and faster. Ant was worried – was this the end of Kismet Cosmos? Was he about to discover what waited at the end of the universe? He didn’t want this to be the end.
But surely the ninety-ninth planet was a weird place to finish? Couldn’t he have just one planet more? Planet 100, please?
Tarn clung on to Pradahl as Zoberne went whizzing round like a drunken carousel. The rushing wind was deafening. Lava spilling from the volcanos seemed to be forming shaky words in the sky. It
