What shall we do? : Part 3

TAYO
I would like a mission please.

INT. CONFERENCE ROOM, MONSRA - DAY
Rowen, Marie and two other soldiers are waiting as Hiro and Charles carry something covered into the room.
Charles removes the cloth covering it revealing a crystal cube, like the one Gotar used to send a message at the beginning. Marie picks it up and hands it over to her grandfather. The cube glows once Rowen touches it.

MARIE
Are we calling all gamers?
ROWEN
No. Only those who are level 15 and above.
MARIE
Including Frank's group?
ROWEN
They'll find out anyways. Item Activate. Message: To Warrior Class Gamers

The cube changes it's hue.

INT. INN, MONSRA - DAY
Henry is discussing with other gamers when they hear a beep like that of a phone sounding from each other. Henry reaches for the side of his neck.

EXT. FARMLAND, RAINIT - DAY
Some monsters, grotesque birds are flying away from a field of crops as Taiyo shoots them down from afar. He hears the beep also. He stops. He taps his neck and reads the message on his dashboard.

ROWEN
(text message)
My name is General Rowen. Three days from now we'll be meeting at Monsra to discuss how to proceed in this world --

The message continues further down, before Tayo can scroll lower, a regular human approaches him.

HUNTER
Thank you so much for your help. Please accept this as a token of our gratitude.

The NPC human hands Tayo a scroll.

TAYO
Thanks.

Tayo opens it up. It's a map. He takes a look at the lay of the land it describes.

INT. SHED, FOREST OF JEL - DAY
In what looks like a lab we see a dark and grotesque bird being examined by Naori one of the NPCs that was at the opening ceremony. On the table we see vials containing a blood red liquid.
He uses a pair of tweezers to remove a metallic shard from a bottle. It's the same shard that Yugen gave Gotar. He then picks up the bottle and pours the bright liquid within on the bird.
At first the dark spots on the bird start to disintegrate and Naori looks hopeful but then it starts to rock its cage violently, behaving erratic, then finally the bird disintegrates.
Naori heaves a sigh of great disappointment. Whatever is infecting the animals won't be so easy to get rid off. A goblin enters the shed.

GOBLIN 1
Naori, the boss requires your presence.

INT. CAVE, FOREST OF JEL - LATER
It's way too dark considering it's day time outside. We see different kilobons dragging weapons around, some are placing them carefully in boxes, while some are arming themselves and testing their weapons.
On a table, one of the kilobons is arranging some vials. He picks one up and places it in his pouch.
In another corner of the cave, we see Gotar inspecting a new sword. Another of his subjects, a goblin stands in front of him. Gotar's body is scarred with dark patterns.
Naori approaches with a cloth in his hand. Gotar gestures the goblin to stop talking and step aside.

NAORI
Gotar.

He opens the cloth showing the shard within to Gotar and hands it over to him.

GOTAR
(deep and growling)
Any success?
NAORI
Not yet.

Naori withdraws. He leans against a wall. Gotar places the shard in his pocket.

GOTAR
(in Beast Speech)
Continue.

The goblin continues in Beast talk.

GOBLIN 2
So unfortunately we were able to find only one teleport item. We also procured 11 magic swords and 5 emerald potions. Unfortunately there were no emerald rings.
GOTAR
Did you find the sword?
GOBLIN 2
(stuttering)
No, no, no my lord. It wasn't there.
GOTAR
Have you found Ea?
GOBLIN 2
No, my lord. It may be that Yugen has already claimed it.

A draft of air pulls in the goblin and Gotar catches it by the neck. Gotar begins to choke it.
Everyone in the cave starts feeling short of breath, some begin to breath heavily and deeply while some other begin to cough. Gotar switch to the common tongue.

GOTAR
Yugen doesn't have it yet. You find Ea and you find the sword.

Gotar lets go of the goblin. Everyone begins to breath normally again.

GOTAR
Can you do that Naori?
NAORI
I can. I'll find it.

INT. MEETING VENUE, MONSRA - DAY
Tayo walks into the venue. It is basically a lecture hall. 
The general Rowen, Marie, Charles, Hiro and several other gamers are in attendance. Two gamers walk in their names are FRANK and EVAN. Marie spots Frank and Evan.

MARIE
(to Charles)
Great. The brats came.

Henry is already in and is seated. He sights Tayo coming over.

HENRY
Good to see you.
TAYO
You too. How have you been?

Tayo takes a seat next to Henry. He notices few people are in attendance.

HENRY
Nothing much. Seems most people are playing it safe. You look alright. How's Jim doing?
TAYO
He's fine. He sends his regards. He's doing very fine in fact. He's found a girlfriend.
HENRY
That was quick. Real or fake?

Tayo chuckles a bit at the comment.
The general along with Marie walk up onto the stage.

ROWEN
Good day everyone. I'd like to thank you all for coming today. As we should all have realized by now we are in a grave predicament and help is not coming.
EVAN
(shouting)
And what makes you certain of that?
ROWEN
The AI wants to be connected to our world. I do not believe authorities would risk billions of lives over the few hundred thousand that are in here. We ourselves must do what we can. 
Which means our only option is to find the portal and key to the next dimension. I know we shouldn't trust the word of our jailer but by opening up new realms we open up new possibilities for escape. But first of all, we'd like to know, are any of you actual testers?

At this point Tayo shifts nervously and looks around the hall. Henry notices.
The attendees glance at each other too. Hiro spots a gamer that has a cloak like hers. Marie takes the stage from her grand dad.

MARIE
Let us know, if not now then later. We need all the information we can get.

She pauses for a response.

FRANK
In case you didn't know they weren't allowed to enter. Can we please move on.
MARIE
As my... the general said we have to find the portal and the key. To do that, we soldiers have decided to create a guild type organization and we would like to invite you all to join.

At this point several people raise their hands. Marie points at Henry.

HENRY
Are there any criteria?
MARIE
You've already met the first by virtue of your level and the second is a small membership fee.
FRANK
(loudly)
If I'm not mistaken the general will be our boss, right?
MARIE
Yes

Frank gets up in order to be seen by everyone.

FRANK
And why should we agree to this? The military contributed to this game's creation.
ROWEN
Yes. The military was involved. But no soldier here was. We were simply guests at the opening.
FRANK
That still doesn't fill me with confidence. You must be 80 or 90 years old.

A couple of the audience members chuckle lightly.

FRANK
Just because you were a general doesn't mean you can be our boss in here. We are skilled gamers.

Marie is about to respond but the general speaks instead.

ROWEN
Frank, right? This must be the first time you've been useful in your life.

Frank is taken aback by the statement.

ROWEN
Know your place child and sit down.
FRANK
Fuck you!
ROWEN
This is no longer a game.

Frank is about to boil over but Evan holds him back and Henry quickly interjects.

HENRY
I think we can create several guilds instead of just one and then share information among one another.
MARIE
Or compete against one another? We can't afford that, factions and all. In this case one is good--.
FRANK
Or that might be the whole point. What if we are actually supposed to compete against one another?
MARIE
Would you please be quiet?

Suddenly Frank draws his sword and steps towards Marie but Evan and some others hold him back to try to speak sense into him.

FRANK
(shouting)
Is it a fight you want? I'll destroy you.

Henry, Evan and another gamer are talking to Frank to calm him. Meanwhile Taiyo is raising his hand up.

MARIE
(to the general)
Can I kick him out?

Marie grips her sword. Rowen observes Frank to see if he would escalate things further.

TAYO
Excuse me. Excuse me!

Finally Evan gets Frank to sheath his sword and sit down.

MARIE
Please go ahead.

Marie lets go of her sword. Taiyo, looking a bit nervous, rises to speak.

TAYO
I don't think we should form guilds at all, at least not yet. My suggestion is to encourage the formation of small independent teams first, with gamers who aren't active. On my way here I passed towns in which there were many undone missions. If we go straight to guild formation with all of us here; the gamers who join later might not feel the need to improve and will simply be dependent on us.
ROWEN
You've made some valid points Mr. ...
TAYO
Ray.
ROWEN
Ray. We will focus on creating teams, certainly, and assigning missions, after the formation of a guild. The guild structure we propose will allow us to drop the number of casualties we are currently seeing.

Tayo sits down. Marie points at a gamer. His name is Anew.

ANEW
Will Tourist Class gamers be allowed to join?

Tayo puts his hand up again, he forgot to mention something.

MARIE
Definitely, but they won't be required to engage in battle, Mr. Ray?
TAYO
I have another suggestion. I believe the first thing we should focus on, before anything else, even before the portal and key, is finding Ea.