Games are the great equalizer, Starr had said. And she was right.
“Grandpa!” Josh cried happily, running over and throwing his arms around the admiral. Appleby smiled and patted his grandson’s head.
“Not bad,” he said. “We’ll make a gamer out of you yet.”
Josh scowled, pulling away from the hug. “Let’s not go that far.”
I stared at Atreus. The dragon blinked happily. “How did you find him?” I asked Admiral Appleby.
“He found me,” the admiral admitted. “When I finally managed to slip by the DoS attack and get back in the game, I found this old lug at the starting area, pacing around the place. He seemed very concerned with finding you and winning some kind of game?” He shrugged. “And since you took my spaceship, I was in need of a ride.” He slapped the dragon’s hide affectionately. “Turns out, he makes a nice robot killer, too.”
“Wow,” I said. I smiled at Atreus, reaching out to scratch him under his chin. “Thanks, old boy.”
Atreus snorted, snuffing his snout into my palm until it tickled. I laughed, feeling a sense of freedom I hadn’t felt in months. All this time I’d been afraid he’d destroy me. Instead, he saved my life.
Did we win the game? Atreus’s voice whispered through my head.
We absolutely did, I telegraphed back, a smile stretching across my face. Thanks to you.
I could feel Admiral Appleby watching me. My face turned a bit red as I realized we had some explaining to do. I turned to him.
“Look, I’m really sorry—”
But the admiral only waved me off with a smile. “No need to explain,” he said. “Josh told me everything. You were only trying to help. Just… next time, maybe make sure you’re helping the good guys?”
“I can’t believe it was the Camelot’s Honor people again,” Lilli remarked. “I mean, you’d think they’d learned their lesson after the whole Dragon Ops thing.”
“You would think,” Admiral Appleby agreed. “But greed is a powerful force. Once they discovered Ikumi’s existence, they recognized how valuable she could be. They figured if they could backward engineer her tech, they could figure out the secret of eternal life. To sell to the highest bidder, of course.”
I scowled. “I can’t believe we fell for it,” I said. “I feel like an idiot.”
“You shouldn’t. You acted with your heart. And you acted bravely. No one would ever fault you for that. Least of all me.”
“Thank you,” I said honestly. “You’re being way nicer than you should be.”
He grinned. “Well, my grandson seems to have a high opinion of you. And I trust his judgment.”
“Wait,” Lilli interjected. “There’s something I still don’t understand.”
Appleby cocked his head. “What’s that, my dear?”
“Where’s Hiro? I get why his daughter was hidden in your game. But where is he?”
“Hiro’s been taking some time off to work at my lab,” Admiral Appleby explained. “We’ve been doing some deep experimentation that required ultimate secrecy. We didn’t mean to alarm anyone. He actually had put an away message on his computer, but somehow it didn’t activate.”
“Wow. Crazy.”
“Want to know what his experiment is?” Ikumi asked, stepping forward, eyes shining.
“Um—isn’t it top secret?” I stammered.
“I trust you to keep a secret.” She leaned over and whispered in my ear. “I’m getting a new body!”
“What?” I stared at her, confused. “You mean like a new avatar?”
“Nope. A real body. Well, not real, real. I’d be… a robot… I guess? But my brain would be inside. I could control the body just like a human can. I mean, not that I’m not human.” She laughed. “It’s all very complicated. But the bottom line is—I’ll get to live in the outside world again! In a body that’s not sick. That’s not diseased. I can go places. I can go to school, even. Or on vacation. The sky’s the limit! No more being stuck online. Hiding out in games!”
“Aren’t you worried you might be kidnapped in real life?” I couldn’t help but ask. “I mean, there are clearly still a lot of people out there who want your dad’s tech for themselves and are willing to do just about anything to get it.”
“And now they can have it,” a new voice declared. We whirled around. Hiro was standing there, grinning broadly. “From this point forward, I plan to share all of my data and breakthroughs online to the public. Anyone who wants to learn or expand on my research can do so—for free. This way, we’ll never have one company try to capitalize on it for their own gain.”
“But that’s billion-dollar research!” I cried, shocked. “Maybe more.”
“It’s priceless, actually, if it keeps my daughter safe.” He smiled at Ikumi. She grinned back at him. They’d had their issues in the past, but they’d clearly moved past them and were a father-daughter team once again.
“Wow!” I cried. “That’s awesome! I’m so happy for you!” I paused, shuffling from foot to foot, suddenly feeling a little nervous. “Maybe we could… you know, even hang out sometime? I mean, if you’re not too busy.” My heart fluttered a little in my chest at the idea. Imagine! Hanging with Ikumi in real life! Who would have thought it possible?
Ikumi grinned. “I can’t think of anything I’d like more.”
The goalie was smaller than I remembered. Last time I faced him? I swore he was a giant, a big hulk of a kid with a dragon’s face, blocking nearly the entire goal.
But that was before I faced down a giant robot. Befriended a dragon. And practiced a gazillion hours with my new friend Josh in his grandpa’s virtual soccer simulation field in his Fortress of Solitude. Which was really cool, by the way.
But would it lead to real-life success?
I had to try. The clock was ticking away. We were tied, one to one. No one else was close enough to pass to. And the other team’s defenders were bearing down. One wrong move, and it would be game over.
“You can do it, Ian!”
My eyes shot to my
