She made a face as she realized I was repeating her own words back to her. “Yeah, yeah,” she muttered before she began to climb up on the trash pile, her crossbow raised and ready. I watched from below, a little nervous. Joking and phobias aside, this was going to be quite a battle. There were only two of us. And at least five of them. Not great odds. Especially since we’d basically flown over the entire beginner section where a normal player would have spent time leveling up and scoring better gear. Trapping cyber-rats and all that fun stuff.
Instead, we had relied on Yano. And now Yano was gone.
Lilli fired her crossbow. “Die, you giant insect!” she cried. I was going to mention that technically spiders were arachnids, not insects, but decided it didn’t matter when her arrow hit its mark, piercing the spider’s armor. Black oil exploded from the wound, and the spider crashed to the ground, squealing and smoking.
“Sweet!” I cried. “Nice shot!”
She grinned. Then her gaze snapped back to the field. “Watch out,” she warned. “One’s coming around the side. I can’t get a good shot. You’ll have to take him.”
I nodded grimly, crouching low, my whole body vibrating with electricity as I waited for the creature to appear. I could hear him before I could see him—his feet clacking against the ground. I raised my sword, ready to take that first strike.
Wait for it. Wait for it…
Suddenly we were face-to-face. The creature was even scarier up close and personal. Laser red eyes, metal fangs dripping with oil. Sharp spikes on the ends of its legs. My heart pounded in my chest. How was I supposed to kill something like this?
The spider lunged, fangs bared. I met it with my sword, slashing down and slicing off one of its legs with my laser blade. It teetered for a moment, thrown off balance. Then it recovered, charging again. I swung a second time, somehow managing to lop off another leg. Which was great, until you considered it had six more to go and seemed perfectly capable of getting around with two missing limbs.
It drew closer, snapping its jaws. I staggered backward until I hit a wall of trash, stopping me in my tracks. I slashed at the spider, trying to ward him off until I could come up with a plan. One that didn’t land me in the closest graveyard, which, given our position on top of the trash mountain, wouldn’t likely be very close at all. And without Yano’s flying powers, we would never get back up here. Never find our hole in the world.
“Ahhhh!”
With a great cry, Lilli leapt down onto the spider’s back. She had dropped her crossbow and picked up a giant hunk of metal from the pile and was slamming it against the spider’s head with all her might.
Bang! Bang! BANG!
“Squash already, you mutant metal monster!” she screamed.
Sadly, the spider didn’t obey. However, she had effectively distracted it, and its attention was on her now, not me. Which gave me another chance to act. I dropped down, scurrying underneath its body, using the gaps in the missing legs to squeeze through. Once in place, I thrust my sword up, straight into his belly.
“Take that, you annoying arachnid!” (See, Lilli wasn’t the only one who could call out cool catchphrases.)
The spider roared in rage, sparking and smoking and gushing oil. I dove out from under it to avoid getting squashed as its legs buckled. It took one last staggering step, then dropped like a stone, Lilli still straddled on its back.
She gave a cheer, leaping onto the ground. “Nice one!” she declared, holding up her hand for a high five. I started to return it, then stopped midslap as I saw a new spider rise up behind my sister. It was bigger than the others. A boss, maybe? And covered with glittering purple scales.
“Lilli!” I cried. “Watch out!”
Lilli whirled around, but it was too late. The spider grabbed her, tangling her in its legs, dragging her closer to its vile fanged mouth. She screamed, trying to fight her way free, but it was no use. The creature was too strong. And I couldn’t get a clean swipe at it. Not without risking slicing my sister in the process. I watched, helpless, as the creature opened its mouth wide.
Zoom!
Suddenly, out of nowhere, a silver star flew through the air, straight at the spider’s head. It connected with a loud crunch, embedding itself into the metal scales. The spider’s head popped open, gears and circuits flying everywhere as it smoked and buzzed and spouted oil. Its legs retracted, dropping Lilli in the process. My sister crashed to the ground.
“Argh!” she cried, clutching her knee. “Stupid spider!”
“Don’t worry, he’s not going to be bothering you anymore,” came a new voice behind us.
I whirled around, stunned to see none other than Starr herself standing there smiling at us. She was dressed in the same silver armor with wings combo she’d had during the beta test, the Rocky the Robot insignia emblazoned on her chest.
“Starr!” I cried, overjoyed to see her. “What are you doing here?”
“Saving your lives, evidently,” she replied. “You’re welcome, by the way.”
“Thank you!” Lilli and I cried in unison.
“I thought I was bug breakfast,” Lilli added.
“You were about to be,” Starr agreed. “But it’s all good. I took out the two others as well. Where did your dragon go?” She peered around the trash pile. “He ditch you already?”
Wow. She’d seen Yano? I wasn’t quite sure what to think about that. “Um, I’m not sure?” I said. “He sort of just took off.” No need to mention he possibly got booted because he didn’t belong in-game. Didn’t want Starr to get suspicious of us. “I’m sure he’ll be back.”
Starr put a hand to her forehead, shielding her vision as she looked out over the horizon. “Where did you get him?” she asked. “I don’t
