This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental.
Copyright © 2021 by Marianne Mancusi Beach
Cover art copyright © 2021 by Owen Richardson. Dragon icon © V_Craftmen/Shutterstock.com. Cover design by Jenny Kimura.
Cover copyright © 2021 by Hachette Book Group, Inc.
Hachette Book Group supports the right to free expression and the value of copyright. The purpose of copyright is to encourage writers and artists to produce the creative works that enrich our culture.
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Mancusi, Mari, author.
Title: Dragon Ops : dragons vs. robots / Mari Mancusi.
Other titles: Dragons vs. robots
Description: First edition. | New York : Little, Brown and Company, 2021. | Series: Dragon Ops ; 2 | Audience: Ages 8-12 | Summary: “When their friend Ikumi goes missing, Ian and Lilli must enter another dangerous digital world to save her and defeat Atreus”—Provided by publisher.
Identifiers: LCCN 2020048432 | ISBN 9780759555181 (hardcover) | ISBN 9780759555174 (ebook) | ISBN 9780759555198 (ebook)
Subjects: CYAC: Adventure and adventurers—Fiction. | Virtual reality—Fiction. | Video games—Fiction. | Dragons—Fiction.
Classification: LCC PZ7.M312178 Drg 2021 | DDC [Fic]—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020048432
ISBNs: 978-0-7595-5518-1 (hardcover), 978-0-7595-5517-4 (ebook)
E3-20210512-JV-NF-ORI
Contents
COVER
TITLE PAGE
COPYRIGHT
DEDICATION
THE BLACK CARNIVAL: CHAT ROOM 143254
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER NINE
CHAPTER TEN
CHAPTER ELEVEN
CHAPTER TWELVE
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
CHAPTER NINETEEN
CHAPTER TWENTY
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
CHAPTER THIRTY
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN
CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT
CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE
CHAPTER FORTY
CHAPTER FORTY-ONE
CHAPTER FORTY-TWO
CHAPTER FORTY-THREE
CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR
CHAPTER FORTY-FIVE
CHAPTER FORTY-SIX
CHAPTER FORTY-SEVEN
EPILOGUE
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
To Peral and Rubystar and the rest of the BPA guild. For the transmog!!!
THE BLACK CARNIVAL CHAT ROOM 143254
DragonOpzRumors:
Hey gamers! Check it out! I’ve got a NEW SCOOP straight from the vault. Something HUGE that the mainstream media is COMPLETELY IGNORING!
WhateverSauce:
This oughta be good.
DragonOpzRumors:
You know how the world’s very first video game theme park, Dragon Ops, was supposed to open a month ago and never did?
DragonOpzRumors:
Well… I found out the REAL REASON it’s kept its doors locked.
FieldsOfFantasyForever:
Uh, everyone knows that. They had technical difficulties. Couldn’t get things to smell right.
WhateverSauce:
!!!
DragonOpzRumors:
YEAH. That’s what THEY want you to think. But do you really believe they’d delay the opening of the biggest, most advanced, most EXPENSIVE mixed-reality theme park EVER built for SIX MONTHS because of some silly smell?
DragonOpzRumors:
It’s WAY bigger than that. Like super conspiracy level big!
WhateverSauce:
FieldsOfFantasyForever:
So what then?
DragonOpzRumors:
Turns out, they got sabotaged! By the Camelot’s Honor game company.
WhateverSauce:
DragonOpzRumors:
You know Camelot’s Honor is making a similar gaming park, right? But they’re way behind. So they got one of their guys to pretend to be a Dragon Ops employee. He hacked the game and trapped three kids inside—all alone!
GamingIsLife:
Trapped in a video game? What a dream come true!
DragonOpzRumors:
More like a nightmare! The only way out was for these kids to play through the entire game and beat the final boss—this crazy, artificially intelligent, super powered-up dragon. And if they didn’t? They’d die. Like real life die.
FieldsOfFantasyForever:
Wait, DRAGON? Was it Atreus? The big bad guy in the original Fields of Fantasy game? PLEASE tell me it was Atreus!
DragonOpzRumors:
Yup. And he almost killed them, too! THAT’S why they had to delay the park opening. LITERAL ALMOST MURDER of their very first players!
WhateverSauce:
I’m not sure literal almost murder is a thing…
FieldsOfFantasyForever:
Why don’t I literally almost murder you to find out?
WhateverSauce:
I’d LITERALLY almost like to see you try.
GamingIsLife:
So wait! Who are these kids? Did they kill the dragon? Did they make it out alive? Where are they now?
GamingIsLife:
SO MANY QUESTIONS!!!
DragonOpzRumors:
Who knows? They totally disappeared off the face of the earth. Clearly they were paid off to keep their story quiet. Otherwise no one would EVER go to Dragon Ops when it finally DOES open.
FieldsOfFantasyForever:
I would go. Anything to see Atreus in real life. Well, virtual real life anyway.
DragonOpzRumors:
Yeah, but you wouldn’t. That’s the craziest part!
FieldsOfFantasyForever:
DragonOpzRumors:
Atreus escaped, too.
GamingIsLife:
WHAT?
DragonOpzRumors:
Yup. And they have NO IDEA where he went.
FieldsOfFantasyForever:
ATREUS IS OUT THERE? WHERE WE COULD MEET HIM? FOR FREE?
WhateverSauce:
DragonOpzRumors:
It’s not funny, dude. That thing is powerful. One of the most advanced AIs ever built. And now he’s wandering the cloud. Who knows what he could do????
FieldsOfFantasyForever:
OMG! What if he tries to go after those kids who killed him! Like, REVENGE OF THE AI!
WhateverSauce:
GamingIsLife:
Please. That’s not going to happen. He’s not a real bad guy. He’s just a computer program. Computer programs don’t have emotions. They don’t seek revenge.
DragonOpzRumors:
But they DO follow their programming…
GamingIsLife:
What’s that supposed to mean?
DragonOpzRumors:
What if Atreus still thinks he’s playing—but now out here in real life? What if he’s wandering the cloud, still looking for those kids?
DragonOpzRumors:
What if he won’t stop… until he defeats them? This time in real life?
WhateverSauce:
The goalie was bigger than I remembered.
That was my first thought as I approached the net, dribbling the soccer ball between my feet. He stood there blocking my shot, looking fierce and mean and taller than any twelve-year-old kid had any right to be. His face was twisted into an ugly scowl, and his beady eyes locked on me. As if to say, Just try
