Challenge

Hearing Aether’s inquisitive tone, the bony youth felt shocked. “No way you asked me that question, man! You’ve never heard of Pathfinders Ascent?”

“Nope. Never,” replied Aether honestly. As a person whose life consisted only of working, Aether had a frightful lack of pleasures outside of work.

“Do you live under a rock or something, man?” The bony youth asked with utmost seriousness.

“Well, I live in a concrete building, so… technically, I suppose?” Aether replied in kind. Seeing the bony youth’s lost gaze, he explained, “That was a joke.”

“It was? How?” asked the bony youth with childish innocence.

“Uhh, never mind.” This time, it was Aether’s turn to become speechless. He faintly felt sadness from having his killer joke go unnoticed. He then recalled how Mei always mocked his jokes, calling them outdated and unfunny.

“Aww~ I really wanted to understand it though,” replied the youth, visibly disappointed. He then quickly got over his disappointment and regained his previous excitement. “Anyways, how about I explain to you what Pathfinders Ascent is, while we make our way to my boss’ shop? Will that be okay, man?”

“Certainly,” Aether immediately agreed. At the same time, his confidence in the entire venture grew bolstered by just a little. He started to think that this challenge might even be legit and not some low-effort scam.

“Follow me!” Saying so, the bony youth walked ahead. Aether followed behind.

As he followed the bony youth, Aether began to notice more things about the youth. The bony youth was around 175cm tall, a head shorter than Aether. His hair was dyed in bright neon green and was in the form of a crew cut.

His figure was lean and bony while the clothes he wore consisted of a sleeveless shirt and jacket, and knee-length pants. This is where things got exciting. On all the areas that were uncovered by his clothes, Aether saw exquisitely designed tattoos inked onto his skin! Moreover, the youth’s right arm seemed to be a cybernetic prosthetic arm!

“Is that a mechanical arm?” asked Aether, growing curious.

“This? Yeah, man!” The bony youth replied while showing off his beautifully inked and sleek mechanical arm. “I lost my natural arm while working in a metal printing factory when I was twelve. Ever since then, I’ve been using this old thing. It looks sick, right? It’s even better than the real thing!”

“It certainly does leave an impression,” Aether honestly replied. As for the youth’s comment on it being better than a natural arm, he felt no surprise.

Body Modification was a very accessible, affordable, and effective surgery in District 4. If one were to look at the city’s stats, they’d find that almost 40% of the entire population had undergone some sort of Body Modification; be it arms, legs, eyes, or even their heart! Some have the surgery done due to the necessity of losing a limb while others do it for improving their natural advantages.

“How about it, man? Do you want to have some part of your body modified? I know a guy who can do a real good job for you! I can even tattoo it for you later!!” the bony youth asked.

“You’re a tattoo artist?”

“Hell yeah, I am!” The bony youth replied with undisguised pride. “A damn good one too. All these tattoos, man, I did them all myself.”

“Wow. That’s really interesting!” replied Aether, fascinated.

The two of them engaged in some casual conversation for a few minutes before they returned to the matter at hand.

“So, about Pathfinders Ascent. I still can’t believe you know nothing about it, man. Like, everyone knows about it! Have you never heard about the Ascenders Cup? It's this really famous tournament that happens every year.”

“Nope. Never heard of it.”

“Aww, man! You are MISSING OUT! It’s like the greatest thing ever!” the bony youth shook his head, pitying Aether. He then explained, “So, like, Pathfinders Ascent is this Full-Immersion VR game where you like– fight other people in these awesome battles! Well, it’s not only fighting. The base game is totally different with exploring, hunting, doing quests, and shit like that taking the centre stage. It’s also awesome, but not as awesome as fighting other people! That is supremely awesome!”

“Wait, wait, wait, you’re speaking too fast and saying a lot of words,” Aether quickly urged the bony youth to slow down. “So it’s a VR game? The type that you sit inside a pod and play?”

While Aether was certainly unfamiliar with the game Pathfinders Ascent, he wasn’t unfamiliar with the concept of Full-Immersion VR Fighting Games. He had played a few of those in his youth as well!

“Exactly! Man, thank the heavens that you know what those are! I thought I had to explain that also to you,” the bony youth sighed in relief. “So yeah, it’s an RPG-type game where you create a character, level it, choose classes and shit and then fight other people. There are like six different character types! There’s the Brawler, the PeaceKeeper, the Virtual, the Gunner, the Modder, I play that by the way, and the Cursemaster.”

“These names… they are the different classes?” asked Aether, barely wrapping his head around the concept.

“Yeah, yeah, yeah! You got it. Each one has its set of unique abilities and stuff. The Brawler has the ‘Eye for an Eye’, the…” the bony youth launched into a long explanation of each character's class and their different abilities. At this point, Aether had already lost track of the stream of information entering his ears.

It wasn’t that he found all this information to be utterly foreign; Aether wasn’t that out of touch with present-day entertainment. It was just that the way the bony youth delivered this information was so utterly disorganised and random that no one, not to mention Aether, would be able to construct an understanding around it.

After waiting for the bony youth’s explanation to come to an end, Aether directly asked, “So this challenge is to fight this boss of yours in this game?”

“Exactly! Exactly!” the bony youth rapidly nodded his head. “But don’t expect it to be too easy. My boss is a Pro-level player! She plays a Gunner, and she’s superbly awesome at it!”

“I see. I see,” Aether replied while rubbing the bottom of his masked chin. He ignored the last part of the bony youth’s warning, taking them as empty boasts.

“So, who’s this boss of yours? How old are they?”

“Boss is called Fox! She’s seventeen years old! She’s a superb genius at the game!”

Aether’s footsteps suddenly came to a pause. “Wait?” He asked in disbelief. “Your boss is a young girl called Fox and she’s only seventeen?”

“Yeah, man!” the bony youth rapidly nodded his head.

A few seconds of speechlessness later, Aether mumbled to himself in a low voice, “So I’ve only got to beat a little girl in a game to receive 5000 credits?”

Just as he was about to ask the bony youth once more whether this entire venture was a scam or not, he heard him announce, “We’re here! Boss’ shop is right before us!”

Before he knew it, Aether had arrived at his destination. A little corner shop nestled at the end of a packed street. A shop called ‘Owl’s Old Repository’.

At first glance, it seemed to be a small electronic rental shop.

Seeing this, Aether felt his bolstered confidence drop. He felt like he had walked into a scam. However, before he could speak up, the bony youth pushed aside the glass door and entered the shop.

Chime! The hanging bell at the entrance chimed at the door’s opening. Sighing to himself, Aether followed behind the excited youth. He figured that he might as well take a look at the proceedings inside, having come this far.

“This is our boss’ shop and the place where we all gather!” The bony youth passionately introduced. “Have a look around, man.”

Having worked a multitude of odd jobs, Aether was no stranger to small shops like this. Taking a look around, he saw shelves upon shelves neatly stacked with small knick-knacks and electronic gizmos. The sighting of a few obscure items caused him to grow interested, prompting him to take a closer look.

Unlike other electronic shops that were lit brightly with all sorts of neon colours, Old Owl’s Repository was quite dimly lit. However, this dim lighting caused the shop to permeate with a mysterious atmosphere which tied in nicely with the odd-looking items that littered its shelves.

‘Odd’, that is how Aether would describe this shop’s wares if he was to describe it in a single word. There was nothing exceptionally valuable or rare amongst its wares, however, each and every single item had something unique about it.

“Oh my! Is this a VEGA Handheld console!? I remember playing with one of these a long time back!” Aether exclaimed in excitement as he spotted an old toy from the past. “Is this thing functional?” he asked, as he took the item in his hand.

“You bet, man! Most of everything that the boss sells in this shop is functional and unique,” the bony youth answered with pride.

“Is this thing for sale? How much is it?” Seeing the small digital monitor blink to life, nostalgia and fondness filled Aether’s heart. The small piece of hardware reminded him of a time when life was much simpler. If possible, he wanted to take it home with him and introduce it to Mei.

“I’m not too sure. Why don’t you take a look at its back? That’s where the boss usually puts the price tag on.” The bony youth’s instruction was promptly followed by Aether.

[Cost: 14,000 credits]

Aether immediately and carefully placed the console back on the shelf. He then turned around and walked away to another part of the shop.

Arriving in an area filled with counters displaying old chips, motherboards, and other mechanical wonders belonging to a bygone era, Aether’s eyes landed on the highlight of the area.

“Wow! This doll’s craftsmanship is exquisite. What’s it made out of? Plastic?” said Aether, pointing at the still figure of an old, wrinkled man wearing a silver-coloured mask.

Hearing his question, the bony youth looked over before breaking out into laughter.

“Man! That isn’t a statue! That’s a real, living person!” He then walked over to where Aether was, stood before the ‘statue’ that apparently was a real person and cheerfully greeted, “Sup! How’re you doing, Gramps?”

The old man did not respond or react in the slightest. His dead eyes continued to lifelessly stare at the holographic screen displaying some muted show at the corner of the shop.

The bony youth, however, seemed used to this reaction and didn’t look surprised. Meeting Aether’s baffled gaze, he snickered and explained, “That gramps is Old Owl. This is his shop. He’s always like this.”

“Didn’t you say that this shop was your boss’?” Aether asked in doubt.

“Well, it is! Man, how do I say this?” The bony youth scratched his head. He then suddenly clapped his hands and exclaimed, “Aha!”

“You see, this old gramps is the boss’ guardian. Sorta. He took the boss in and raised her from a young age. So, the boss now takes care of the store’s business as a sort of repayment.”

“Oh. Sorry for asking about that,” Aether apologised. He knew that it was bad manners to ask about somebody else’s life without their knowledge.

“Ah, it’s fine, man! The boss is a very kind person!” He waved off Aether’s apology. “Now then! Let’s take you to see the boss.” Announcing as such, the bony youth marched away into the store. Aether quickly followed.

A short march past the door that read ‘Employees Only’, Aether arrived in the part of the store that customers rarely get to visit. Immediately, he was hit by the glaring difference within.

If the storefront outside could be described as ‘Quaint’ and ‘Mysterious’, then the back could only be described as ‘Bright’ and ‘Loud’. Very loud.

The bright lights and flashing screens blanketed Aether’s vision for an instant while the speaking blasting at full volume drowned the sound of his thoughts. It took him a moment to get adjusted to the atmosphere, only after which was he able to survey the insides.

Immediately, Aether caught sight of the five, egg-shaped white-coloured pods that were essential for playing the new generation of games. A dozen or more screens spread sporadically throughout the room either played videos, flashed with numbers, or seemed to be analysing something. Multitudes of wires crawled across the entirety of the ground, seemingly connecting everything to everything else. A table and a few chairs were placed in the rear corner of the room behind which was a closed metal door.

It seemed that apart from the bony youth and himself, both of whom had only just entered, there were already a few people inside. The immediate standout was the tall, masked youth with navy blue-coloured hair, a sight that reminded Aether of someone else. He had his arms followed and brows furrowed as he stared at the screen in front of him which displayed a battle.

Apart from him, there was a forty-something-year-old man with prosthetic legs, an auntie who was constantly conversing with the former in a loud voice, and a seven or eight-year-old boy who seemed to be too young to be there. From what Aether could infer from this situation, these people appeared to be the others who had accepted the challenge.

Releasing a sigh, he was more or less certain that his time had been wasted. Just like he had thought, this challenge was a scam and nothing substantial. Still, he did not leave immediately but waited around as he wanted to confirm something.

“Say, is that guy–” before Aether could voice his question, he saw the youth in question turn towards him and walk over.

“Hey, Vix! Look who I brought over! This is…” the bony youth suddenly paused. Only then did he realise that he never learnt of the latter’s name. Looking at him awkwardly, he asked, “Man, what is your name?”

Showing half an amused smile –which of course was hidden underneath his mask– Aether introduced himself, “My name is Aether.”

“Right!” The bony youth turned around and introduced, “Vix, this is Aether. Aether, this is Vix! He’s the boss’ right-hand man!”

“I’m not! Stop introducing me to other people like that!” Vix barked at the bony youth. He then turned towards Aether and scanned him head-to-toe with a cold gaze. “You’re here for the challenge?”

“I… believe so?” Aether replied, unsure. Once again, he was struck with the question of whether this thing was a scam or not. Reason told him that it was indeed a scam, however, if his guesses about the identity of this teenager before him were true… it had a chance of being real.

“You believe so?” Vix immediately disliked Aether’s wishy-washy reply. However, he did not say anything further and walked away while beckoning the bony youth. “Midas, come over here.”

“Okey!” Midas, the bony youth, replied with an exaggerated salute. He then turned Aether and said, “Wait here, man. You’ll be called up when your turn comes. Good luck!” After giving him a dual thumbs-up, he walked away.

Aether felt nothing but amused at the bony youth’s positivity. Shaking his head, he quietly muttered, “A good kid,” before looking at the ongoing battle on the holographic screen with interest.

Since he had come this far, he decided to give this challenge a solid try.

---

After walking a good distance away from the newcomer, Vix turned around and stared down at Midas with a penetrating gaze, “Midas.”

“Man, didn’t I tell you I would bring you a challenger? Look! I succeeded!” Midas seemed completely unbothered by Vix’s penetrating stare and proudly announced his achievements.

“And where did you find this ‘challenger’ of yours?” questioned the navy-blue-haired youth.

“In front of the monorail station,” replied Midas. A thoughtful expression then appeared on his face as he slowly continued, “Well, thinking about it, he found me first. Dude was a scary guy. He hoisted me into the air in one motion.” He recalled the scene of their meeting and reenacted it with his hands.

“Am I too light, Vix?” Midas asked with concern.

The navy-blue-haired youth, however, did not reply to his query immediately. He scanned Mida’s body with an anxious glance before asking, “Did he hurt you?”

“Who? Aether? No, man! He’s a really chill guy. We had a very nice talk on our way over.”

At Midas’ reply, Vix felt very confused. “Didn’t you just say that he was scary? That he hoisted you into the air?”

“Yeah, and he did! But that was nothing. He just got a little too excited at the mention of the challenge.” Midas’ explanation led Vix no further in understanding the situation. If anything, it only made him more confused.

“Wait, tell me what happened from the instant that you met this guy,” asked Vix. Midas begrudgingly complied.

After a conversation that lasted five minutes or so, Vix grabbed his head and started furiously massaging his forehead. Streams of thick, white air whizzed out of his mask symbolising his inner turmoil.

“So, you’re telling me, that this guy you’ve brought with you to undertake Fox’s challenge is someone who has NEVER played this game or even HEARD of it before?”

“That’s right,” Midas proudly nodded his head.

“Don’t you think there might be a problem with that?”

“Like what?”

“Well, where do I begin? Ah, this might be a good place to start. How about the fact that HE’S NEVER PLAYED IT BEFORE!?!”

“Why would that be a problem?” asked Midas, tilting his head in confusion.

“GOD! This numbskull,” Vix massaged his forehead even harder while he descended into a state of hyperventilation. “First Fox, and now you… I swear this team is going to be the death of me one day!”

“You shouldn’t joke about death like that, Vix. I’m sure you will live a long life,” Midas unexpectedly advised with complete seriousness. He then pointed behind Vix and said, “Besides, look. Isn’t he entering the pod right now? He doesn’t look like he has any troubles.”

Turning around, Vix caught sight of Aether entering the egg-shaped pod.

---

Two of the egg-shaped pods before Aether opened up, following which a young boy in his mid-teenage years exited with a huff. “Arh! I was so close! If only I hadn’t stepped into that landfall, I would’ve beat you!”

“Yeah, dream on, kiddo! I could’ve still beaten you in that situation if I had played with my eyes closed,” An energetic young female voice followed the little brat's complaints.

“Whatever, I’m still going to beat you one day,” The boy waved off her mockings and coolly walked off.

“Yeah, it’s going to be the day that you wake up dreaming,” the female voice immediately rebutted.

“Alright, who’s next!” Following her question, Aether saw a vivacious teenage girl with a head full of pink hair and wearing a fox-shaped mask, pop out from the egg-shaped capsule and scan the surroundings with interest.

Almost instantly, her eyes met with Aether’s causing her to speak, “How about you? Would you like to go next, mister?”

“It’s Aether,” Aether introduced himself. “And sure.”

“Great! Which character do you main, Aether?” the girl immediately asked.

“Main? Oh, do you mean ‘use’?” While he didn’t get the exact meaning of her phrase, Aether still managed to understand it from context. Recalling the haphazard introduction given to him previously by Midas, Aether spoke out the first name that he remembered.

“Brawler.”

“Ooh~ A Brawler Main, huh? Fantastic! I don’t have to replace the cartridge inside this machine.” She then pointed at the pod from which the teenage boy had exited a few moments ago and said, “You can enter this one, Aether. That brat from before was also a Brawler main.”

“How coincidental,” he remarked and moved to enter the pod. Arriving in front of it, Aether noticed its sleek, white interiors which allowed him to recall the insides of those high-end luxury cars that he had seen pictures of. “Looks expensive…” Aether quietly remarked.

Stepping into the narrow pod, Aether seated himself on the white seat and rested his head against the orb-like headrest provided. This was not his first time using a Full-Immersion VR Pod for he had some history with it in the past. However, this was the first time that he was using the latest model, especially one that looked and felt this fancy.

Recalling something, he looked at the beautiful, pink-haired girl and asked, “Should I say something for it to start? ‘Link Start’ maybe?”

“No, no, no, you’re thinking of a different game,” Fox corrected him with a cute little laugh. “Just close your eyes and imagine yourself falling. That should do it.”

Nodding his head, Aether followed her instruction. Resting his head against the headrest, he imagined himself falling. The doors to the pod closed and he felt himself become consumed in darkness.

Seeing the pod successfully start, Fox entered the game herself, just in time to miss Vix say, “Fox, wait!!”

Alas, he was too late as both players had entered the game.