Round One (2)

I'm awakened by my phone going off the next morning, and I answer the phone to hear my best friend, Daniel, yell at me. "Rei! Dude! Have you played Phantom Fighters yet? This game is insane!"

I groan as I tumble out of bed. "Yes, dude, I've played it. Thanks for waking me up, by the way."

"Oh, go cry yourself a river. Get out here already, man! I've been waiting for forever." The phone clicks as he hangs up and I throw on some clothes. I grab my backpack and throw my prism into it, grabbing an energy bar to eat as I leave the house. Daniel stands outside the patio with his hands crossed, grinning, his blonde hair caught in the winter breeze. "Another 5 minutes and I would have died of boredom."

"Whatever, man." I say, ripping open the energy bar. "So, what weapon did you choose?"

He cocks his head to the side, confused. "What are you talking about?"

"... The reward? For winning your first match?"

"Aw, what? You got a reward for winning that? Some chick totally destroyed me. I couldn't even hit her."

I chuckle as Dan admits to his failure. "Guess you've got a long way to go 'till you can beat me, then."

"Oh yeah? You brought your Prism, right? Let's go. Right now." Daniel says to me as we arrive at the front doors to Blue House High School.

"Aw, come on, Dan. You don't want everyone to watch me wreck you right now." I say as I pull the prism out of my backpack. "But, if you insist..." I activate my prism and it springs to life, creating the menu screen in front of me.

"ACTION NEEDED: INPUT USERNAME" A message pops up as the game boots up. After all the training I did with my staff last night, I hadn't realized the game never asked for a username. I input the same username I always do into the text box- Llamrei, and the now familiar menu returns. Clicking on the "Friends" tab, I add Daniel - LottaLance - and send him a battle challenge. He accepts, and the school fades away. This time, we're in a map known as "The Fishtank," for its underwater theme. A see-through barrier engulfs us, and colorful gravel is created beneath our feet. A picturesque fish house sets the backdrop. Through the "glass" barrier, I can see students gathering to watch the match through the tank.

"Interesting," I chuckle, "So I guess everyone's eager to see you get wrecked."

"Shut up already," Dan says, agitated.

"Llamrei - 3 OF 4 PERKS ENABLED, + 1 ARMOR" a window pops up, indicating that we need to press the "ready" button before the match can start. 

"LottaLance - 0 OF 4 PERKS ENABLED , + 4 ARMOR"

"Aw, what? You even got perks? I saved all my Fervor for a new weapon. Man, this isn't fair." Daniel says, frustrated.

"Maybe you should have won more fights then!" I taunt. In all honesty, though, I forgot fervor could also be used to buy weapons. I had used all of it to buy my perks, and didn't do any other fights last night, as I was busy figuring out which perks I wanted to unlock. I also didn't know open perk slots gave you an armor boost. Well, I'm happy with my bo staff, anyway. I shrug and click the ready button, and my staff materializes in my hand. A couple onlookers gasp. I guess the bo staff is a really unpopular choice. Daniel also readies up and a voice counts down.

"THREE. TWO. ONE. FIGHT!"

Daniel charges at me as soon as the match starts, his short sword held high. However, his eyes betray him and I can easily see where he's going to swing. I duck and counterattack at the same time, swinging my staff at his legs, which knocks him flat on his back. I get a pop up at the edge of my vision telling me that one of my perks has just activated - "Sweep". Sweep gives me a strength and speed bonus for 5 seconds when activated, and I already feel much faster. I give Dan a powerful overhead swing before he can recover, and, checking his health bar, it would appear that I've already taken 35% of his health. He rolls to the side before I can hit him again and stands up. He holds his sword at an angle, a clear defensive stance. I watch my speed and damage buff expire and I can't find an opening in Daniel's defense. Surprisingly, I can't find a way in. Guess he's actually pretty good when he doesn't charge in because I pissed him off. Because I have a staff, I absolutely have the range advantage, so I feel pretty comfortable about poking him from a distance. I jab at his defense and he knocks my staff back. A moment that feels excruciatingly long passes, and I decide to just charge in at him. I prepare a huge swing with my right hand as I leap forward, and he moves his sword to defend. "Gotcha" I chuckle as I land on one foot and pivot as I activate my perk, "Monkey Tactics, which Unsummons my weapon from combat for a moment, before resummoning it in my offhand. As it resummons, I grab the staff with both hands and strike at Daniel's unguarded solar plexus. His health bar drops to half as he stumbles back and the onlookers gasp.

"Hey, what the hell was that!?" He yells

"Just a cool perk." I shrug. "What did you think?" I chuckle mischievously.

"I think it's a load of bull." He says, getting angry.

I point the bo staff at him. "You know you still haven't managed to hit me once, right?" I taunt again, though I know that he only needs a couple strikes to take me out, thanks to my final perk, "Trade off." As the name implies, Trade off increases my strength and speed at the cost of armor and health, by a factor of 1.25 times both ways. If it weren't for that armor buff he got from having no perks, Daniel would probably only have a sliver of health left.

Daniel yells in anger, rushing towards me again. However, he still perfectly telegraphs where he's going to attack, as he refuses to take his eyes off his target. This time, it's my chest. Using Trade Off's strength boost, I jump over Daniel to avoid the attack, and, as it just got off cooldown, I use Monkey tactics to reposition my weapon and deliver a crushing blow to his knees, forcing him on all fours, and reactivating Sweep. This was the deadly combination I concocted last night, rather than playing any more matches. With the damage boost from Sweep activated, I deliver a final blow to Daniel, and the fishtank fades away.

"GAME OVER," says the screen in front of me now, as well as my rewards:

"+5,000 FERVOR. + 5 CROWNS."

"YOU WIN."

Daniel gets a similar screen, however most of it is inversed;

"GAME OVER"

"+2,500 FERVOR. -3 CROWNS."

"YOU LOSE"

I will later gleam that Crowns are how your rank is determined, and you get more from beating higher ranked opponents. I reach my hand out to Daniel.

"Good fight, bro."

He laughs heartily as he shakes it, "Not much of a fight, more like a slaughter. I couldn't touch you."

"You'll get there, man." I say as we walk inside the school, ignoring the onlookers.