“What did you do?” Josh cried, reaching me out of breath. “Why did you stop in the middle of the field? We totally had them!” His face shone with annoyance and disappointment, just as it had on the soccer field.
I turned, heart in my throat, searching for the dragon again. But the street was empty. If he had been there, he was now long gone.
I felt like I was going to puke. What had I done? Had I just cost us the game?
Josh gave me another disgusted look, then dashed down the street toward the enemy base, shooting arrows from his crossbow without pause. The guy with the orb put his hand up in a rude gesture, easily dodging each blow. Josh was fast, but the guy had a big head start.
And the sentries were moving again.
Oh no. No, no, no!
They started to turn, their laser eyes locking onto Josh. I could hear them warming up. Readying their strikes.
“No!” I cried. “Josh, watch out!”
On instinct, I jumped into the sentries’ path. Their sensors caught the sudden movement and whirled around, locking onto me instead. I tensed my body, waiting for the blow.
BOOM!
Back at the graveyard once again. Awesome.
I thrummed my fingers against my armor, chomping at the bit for the timer to tick down. Hopefully my sacrifice hadn’t been in vain and Josh got the orb and was now running it back to the base. I wanted to scream as I thought of how I’d frozen out there, just like I had in the soccer game.
Had Atreus even been there at all? Or had it all been in my head? The other players hadn’t seen him—they would have at least reacted if they had, right? But was it possible he only appeared to me? In real life that would be impossible. But in a game…
The timer dinged and the bars came down. I bolted from our base just in time to see Josh sprinting through the gate. He was panting heavily, and the other team was right behind him, ready to pounce. Starr and Lilli ran to intercept, but they were too far away. Josh wasn’t going to make it.
Unless…
“Kick it!” I yelled as loud as I could. “Kick it to me, Josh!”
Josh looked up in surprise. For a moment, doubt crossed his face—probably remembering our fateful soccer game. Or, you know, me choking just a few moments before. But in the end, he dropped the orb to the ground, wound up, and kicked it hard in my direction milliseconds before the other team took him out and he disappeared into the graveyard.
I watched, breathless, as the orb arced through the air, then dropped inches from my feet. I scooped it up and ran to the pedestal, triumphantly placing it on the platform.
The game world blinked. The sky outside exploded with fireworks. The other team vanished from the map. The word Winner flashed across my field of vision.
And then everything went black.
I felt hands at the sides of my head. A moment later, my headset was pulled away. I blinked, my vision still super blurry as my eyes attempted to readjust to real-life mode again. Thankfully, I didn’t feel like I was going to puke like I did when I left Dragon Ops.
Once I could see again, I looked around. We were back in the launch room, sitting in our chairs. Lilli was pulling off her own helmet. Josh was rubbing his eyes. Starr was shaking her head in amazement, a big grin spread across her face.
“So,” our mission commander said with a smile. “What did you think?”
“It was amazing,” I blurted out before I could remind myself to play it cool. “I’ve never played anything like it.”
“It felt so real,” Lilli added, still looking a little dazed. “Not like regular VR. I felt as if I was really inside the game.”
The mission commander smiled. “Very good,” he said. “That’s exactly how it’s supposed to feel. As if you’re entering an extended dream. As far as your brain is concerned, it’s real.”
“Except you don’t really croak,” Josh pointed out. “So, not really real.”
“Of course not!” The mission commander barked out a laugh. “Who would play a game where you could die?”
Lilli and I exchanged glances, remembering Dragon Ops. Who indeed?
“You did well, my friends,” proclaimed a new voice.
We looked up as the door opened and a strange little old man hobbled through. He was dressed much like the mission commander, in a space uniform, but his was bright purple, matching Josh’s armor in the game.
“Whoa,” Starr whispered. “Admiral Appleby!”
My heart practically stopped. It was all I could do to not let my jaw fall to the floor. Admiral Appleby. The Admiral Appleby? Standing here, in our game room?
I glanced over at Lilli, my heart racing. Was this the evil man who had stolen away our friend? Trapped her in a video game for some nefarious purpose yet to be discovered? Did he know why we were here? Did he suspect we knew about Ikumi?
But no. That was impossible. Right?
“I see my reputation proceeds me,” Admiral Appleby said, turning to Starr. His watery blue eyes seemed to shine with an inner fire. “Yes. I am your admiral. I have just warped in from the Zeta Quadrant to congratulate you on your recent victory in the city of Empire. You fought bravely against a mighty foe.”
I blinked in surprise. Whoa. He role-played? The evil game designer role-played?
Josh groaned. “Seriously, Grandpa?” he demanded. “You’re really going to do this now? In front of my friends?”
The admiral turned to his grandson, giving him a solemn look. “Ah, yes, young Crash Zero,” he said. “I am happy to see you have returned in one piece. I fear every time you so valiantly go forth and
