“No!” Josh cried. “Don’t touch that!”
But it was too late. “Rain Forest Simulation terminated,” stated a voice that sounded remarkably like Rocky the Robot. “Loading: Simulation Space.”
In an instant, the rain forest fell away. Like someone had flicked a switch. No more jungle, no more birds, no more sparkling pools and waterfalls.
Instead, we were floating in a vast vacuum of space. Mr. Donkey Kong flailed his arms, looking panicked. “ARR!” he croaked. “Space bad! Go back!”
“Agreed,” Josh said, cradling the chimp protectively in his arms. “You mind switching us back? It’s going to be super hard to find our key while we’re stuck in zero G.”
“Sorry!” Starr called from inside the hut. (Yes, the hut was still there, though now it looked more like a space pod.) “I’ve got you!” She tapped on the keyboard again.
We dropped like stones, no longer in zero gravity. I hit the ground hard—butt first, though, so thankfully it didn’t hurt. Mr. Donkey Kong squawked more disapproval. He clearly wasn’t impressed.
“No more messing with the computer,” I scolded Starr as I scrambled to my feet. I rubbed my eyes, then looked around, expecting to be back in the rain forest.
But we weren’t. Not even close.
“Oh my gosh,” Lilli whispered beside me. Her eyes were as huge as mine probably were. “Ian? Are you seeing what I’m seeing?”
I didn’t answer at first. Couldn’t answer. My heart pounded in my chest as I looked around, taking in all the familiar sights. The pub. The inn. The thatch-roofed cottages and cobblestone streets. Shops packed with adventuring supplies and weapons. A bakery on the corner overflowing with crusty breads and pink and purple unicorn cakes.
“What is this place?” Starr asked, wandering out from the hut, which had now been transformed into a magical potions shop.
“It’s Dragon Ops,” Lilli said, her voice awed. “Admiral Appleby has recreated Dragon Ops!”
She was right. I couldn’t believe it, but she was right. The world was an exact replica of Dragonshire, the starting village in the game. I could see the Dragon’s Yawn Inn. The blacksmith shop where the troll had chased me after I accidentally dropped one of his swords. And on the hill in the distance, towering wooden fences rose, meeting at a central gate made of two iron plates and finished with something that looked almost—but not quite—like the Dragon Ops seal, along with the all-too-familiar words: HIC SUNT DRACONES.
Here be dragons.
“Why on earth is this here?” Lilli asked, walking down the street and back again, touching everything. “Did Appleby steal the design from Hiro?”
“What are you talking about?” Josh asked, looking genuinely puzzled. “This is Dragon World. My grandpa designed this. It’s based on an old role-playing game he used to run back in college. Way before Dragon Ops, or even the first Fields of Fantasy.”
“But it looks just like Dragon Ops,” I argued, walking over and grabbing a unicorn cake from the bakery and turning it over in my hands.
“Well, maybe they stole the idea off my grandpa,” Josh shot back. “Because I promise you, this was first. He used to take me in here when I was a little kid. I’m not lying!” he added, catching my face.
“We know,” Lilli assured him. Because of course she was on his side. “It’s just weird is all. This village—that gate. Everything’s almost exactly the same.”
“Hey! Maybe that’s what started this whole thing,” Starr interjected. “Like, maybe Hiro Takanama stole Admiral Appleby’s design when creating Dragon Ops. And then Admiral Appleby found out, and he retaliated by kidnapping Hiro’s daughter!”
Josh stopped short. He turned around, staring at Starr, his face awash with confusion.
“Kidnapped?” he repeated slowly. “What do you mean, kidnapped?”
Starr glanced nervously at me. “Um…”
“Also, Hiro’s daughter?” Josh continued in a deadly serious voice. “You mean Mirai? She’s dead. She died, like, almost three years ago.”
Fear thrummed through my heart. I glanced over at Lilli. Her face had gone stark white.
Oh no.
“Excuse us for a moment,” Lilli said. She grabbed me by the arm, dragging me out of earshot. “What did you tell Starr?” she hissed at me once we were away from the others.
“Um, just… everything?” I sputtered. “But you told Josh first!” I added. I mean, didn’t she? Oh man. This was not good. Not good at all.
Josh stormed over to the two of us. “She told me someone named Ikumi was missing,” he spit out. “That she’d gotten lost in the game and had stumbled into an area she couldn’t get out of.” His frown deepened. “She never said anything about kidnapping. Or Mirai.”
“O-oh.” Starr stammered. “I think I misunderstood? I meant—”
“You meant what you said,” Josh interrupted, whirling to face her. “You think my poor grandfather—the nicest man you’ll ever meet in your life—kidnapped Hiro’s dead daughter? That doesn’t even make any sense!”
I cringed. No. It didn’t. Not without us explaining what Ikumi really was. Would he even believe us if we tried? Either way, he wasn’t going to buy the fact that his precious grandfather was actually an evil kidnapper who wanted to steal the technology so he could gain eternal life.
“Josh—” Lilli tried.
But he cut her off. “No. I’m not going to listen to this anymore. I’m out of here. And I’m going to go tell my grandpa exactly what you’re up to. So you’d better log out now and never log back in. Or you’ll wish you never heard the name Mech Ops.”
I watched as he waved his hands in the air, conjuring up a big blue sphere. Above the sphere read the command SAVE GAME AND LOG OUT. He clicked on the sphere, and it burst into a big white flame. Then it… and Josh… disappeared.
“Well, doesn’t he have all the cool toys,” Starr muttered.
Lilli stared at the spot where he’d disappeared. She gave out a small moan. “What are we going to do?”
“See? I told you not
