Closing the Gap

John brought down his blade on the final construction drone, its body vanishing before it hit the ground. Vivian rushed into the now cleared room, keys at the ready to claim the door at its far end. Their last three slipped into the door’s keyholes with ease and the redhead quickly turned them, the locks clicking one, two, three before the door faded away.

“Made it,” Vivian breathed out, bracing her hands on her knees as she caught her breath. “I’m glad we got a two minute warning. I’d have hated having those keys and not getting to use them.”

“Welcome to the ‘Must use all limited resources before the event ends’ club,” John said with a laugh.

“I think that needs a shorter name.” Vivian chuckled as she straightened herself. “How do you think the others did?”

“I can see the knights doing well,” Senka chimed in. “Ramirez seems like the sort to meticulously plan things out. That lightning trap thing was a smart move to maintain control of the doors while they searched for keys. I do think things aren’t going to be so good for Teri though.”

“Yeah,” John agreed. “She has to deal with K’mels and doesn’t really have anything that could give them an advantage here. They might just be running around and beating bots, and not getting a lot of keys.”

“That’s not going to make K’mels happy,” Senka pointed out. “Nor would my presence help, so I’m going to disappear for now.”

“I’m not happy that you’re right about that,” John muttered. “And I can’t say the Order would be keen on us being a three person team either.”

“Maybe, but they know you exist,” Vivian pointed out. “And most likely think you’re just an elemental. Most people seem to consider them just an extension of their summoner’s power, sacrificing their own mana for a different skillset.”

“I feel I should start some spirit support group,” Senka remarked in a half serious tone. “I suppose I can work on that in the break between events. And maybe longer if I’m not needed for whatever’s next.”

Before the spirit could retreat into John’s aura, the Gamer reached to her and pulled her close, pressing his lips against hers. It wasn’t a long embrace, but it did linger enough for Vivian to approach, and as John pulled away from Senka, the redhead slid into the space he vacated. Senka, not to be outdone by the spontaneous blitz of affection, was far more aggressive with Vivian than she had been with John, dominating the kiss in a hot tableau, her fingers threading themselves into Vivian’s hair.

“Well, that will make the wait more bearable,” Senka breathed out when she pulled back from Vivian, the redhead’s face bright with a healthy blush. Then she lowered her voice into a husky whisper, “Though, now it makes me want tonight to come all the quicker.”

Senka vanished right as a chime rang out through the halls.

“And that’s the end of round two! Contestants, make your way through the nearest doorway to return to the main plaza!”

The archway back into the hallway shimmered for a second before the stone passage beyond it was replaced by the selection area, the wheel at the center.

“At least we don’t have to walk back to the start,” John said.

“Y-yes, that’s a good bit of convenience,” Vivian stammered a bit as she fixed her hair. John leaned over and pecked her cheek. That earned him a light tap to his chest as she pouted at him. “I don’t think giving the impression that we were fooling around is going to make things go smoothly.”

“Fair,” John acquiesced. “But you look too cute, all flustered like that. I couldn’t resist.”

The praise caused Vivian’s blush to flare slightly as she finished getting her hair back in order. Presentable once more, Vivian made her way to the portal back to the central area, with John following a step behind.

“Welcome back, Team Pruzonia!” Announcer shouted to the audience of no one as they stepped back into the main chamber, the passage behind them closing.

“Guess everyone else wasn’t close to a room,” John mused.

“Yes indeed, it seems they weren’t able to reach a door room before the buzzer sounded, but that doesn’t mean they’ve had a bad showing! And now that they’re back, we can dish out the points!”

From the two other archways, the knights and goblins emerged, looking unharmed by the trials they faced, though Teri and K’mels both bore expressions of weariness that John didn’t think was from fighting the door defenders. Both teams plodded over to them, keeping a fair distance between them.

“And now that we’re all assembled, let’s go over the results!” Announcer declared, a display like before manifesting. “Now, defeating one of the defending constructs nets a point, so even if you didn’t find any keys or open any doors, you aren’t going to be left high and dry. Keys themselves are also worth a point for finding them. Now, each door’s worth is determined by the number of keys needed, so if you went high risk, high reward and pulled it off, congratulations! You might just win big. And of course, there’s the loot behind the doors, but those, along with the drops from your felled enemies, will be doled out at the end. So, without further ado, the results!”

The score board manifested, with each team's current point total noted; Golmerk in the lead with Pruzonia and the Order taking second and third respectively and within spitting distance of each other.

“Let’s start from the top! Team Golmerk defeated an impressive sixteen drones, found seven keys and unlocked three doors, two one keys and one three key, earning them a grand total of forty-eight points!”

The board changed to reflect the change in score, the goblins now sitting at 204. John worked to keep his expression neutral as he glanced over to Teri and K’mels. They looked resigned to their point value and he couldn’t help but wonder what they were thinking.

‘They looked like they were ready to accept a low score when they came back, so they likely knew they didn’t tackle this game as well as they could have,’ John thought.

‘Maybe Teri gave K’mels a dressing down over being an idiot,’ Senka postulated. ‘I can’t think of anything else that would have him look more subdued than angry over that result.’

‘Maybe,’ John replied. ‘We’ll have to see how he reacts to the rest of the scores.’

“Now for the second place entrant, Team Pruzonia! You defeated ten drones, found nine keys and unlocked two one-key doors, two two-key doors and one three-key door. That adds up to sixty-four points!”

Up on the board, their score changed from 137 to 201, putting them just below the goblins. With that small a gap between them, John expected K’mels to have some reaction, but the warrior maintained a stony expression, eyes focused endlessly forward. Teri likewise didn’t react much to the closing of their point values, but she at least shifted her gaze to her teammate for a second to watch his reaction.

“And last, but certainly not least, the lovely knights of the Order! They felled an impressive twenty-one drones, collected eight keys and unlocked five one-key doors and two two-key doors, earning sixty-four points as well!”

The board changed once more, bringing the Order’s point total from 128 to 192, retaining third place but now only twelve points from first. It was clear to John that it was still anyone’s game.

“Two games down, two to go and the prize is still up for grabs!” Announcer declared as the scoreboard faded away. “Now, normally, the winner of the previous round gets the honor of spinning for the next round, but since we have a tie, we need to settle that first.”

John felt himself tense as the announcer let his declaration of a tie breaker round linger. He glanced over at Rowan and Ramirez. The senior knight didn’t look too tired from the prior challenge and Rowan looked even fresher.

‘What sort of thing are they going to have us do for the tie breaker?’ John wondered. ‘It probably won’t be anything time consuming but it could be something weird.’

“So can I get a member of Team Pruzonia and Team Order to step up for a round of Rock, Paper, Scissors!”

“Not what I was expecting, but at least it’s a quick game,” John remarked as he looked over to Vivian. “Want me to put my fist on the line?”

“By all means,” the redhead smiled. “Great feats of strength are more your area of expertise than mine.”

“Ah, but this is more a game of strategy,” John countered, even as he stepped forward. “You sure?”

“I think you're sharp enough for this,” Vivian remarked with a laugh. “Win that spin.”

John snorted. “That sounds like a pretty good slogan. Wonder if the announcer will steal it.”

“I very well might if you don’t hurry up,” Announcer declared in a testy voice and, chided, John hurried his way to meet Ramirez in the center of the room. John was a little surprised to see the senior member of the Order squared up against him in this little game.

‘Could be because you’re the presumptive leader of our motley band,’ Senka remarked.

‘A few weeks ago, I’d have laughed at that idea of me being a leader of anything beyond a raid in some videogame,’ John retorted. ‘Now look at me. A few life-or-**** experiences and I’m considered one of the leaders of a Kingdom.’

‘Talk about moving up in the world.’ Senka laughed as John got into position opposite Ramirez.

“Now, I don’t think I need to explain the rules here and no need to drag things out. First to win gets the spin. Now, on ‘shoot’. One, two, three, shoot!”

John and Ramirez smacked their fist into their open palm in time with the counting and made their selection on the announcer’s final word, John’s scissors to Ramirez’s paper.

“And Pruzonia wins the spin!”

“Not quite a noble spar, but I suppose congratulations are in order,” Ramirez said with a small smile.

“I don’t think a simple game like this is worth anything really,” John remarked with a shrug.

“I suppose it isn’t,” the knight sighed. “Then we’ll have to see if Donnelly and I can surpass you this time.”

“Score as many points as you want. Each one helps,” John said, a little surprised that the knight was basically egging him on. His confusion grew when Ramirez softly smiled at him.

“Now that’s a noble answer,” the knight cryptically remarked before moving to rejoin Rowan.

‘Was she just testing me?’ John asked Senka.

‘It seems like that,’ she responded with a thoughtful hum. ‘Might be that the Order wants to get a read on us from someone more experienced than Moira. Or it’s something she did because she wants to form her own opinion of us.’

John sighed, not wanting to try to surmise Ramirez’s reasons for testing him. Instead, he stepped back as the selection wheel appeared, now evenly split between red and white.

“Two down, two to go and it’s anyone’s game! Go ahead and give it a spin. See what’s next for someone to win!”

‘**** that rhyme there,’ John thought as he grabbed the wheel and pulled. The two colors bled into each other, merging into pink as it spun, only separating slowly as the wheel slowed.

“And it looks like we’re stopping on Red! That means Adventure’s Outfitters is the host. Let’s hope you’re ready for some fashionable enemies. Here are the rules of the game, shoppers. You’ll need to find complete outfits, chosen for you at random when you enter. But it won’t be as easy as just finding things on the racks. Other shoppers will be vying for those sales and they aren’t shy about letting the claws out.”

‘So it’s souped up Black Friday,’ John thought.

‘Guess that means our enemies will be Karens,’ Senka remarked, her smile clear in her tone. ‘Should be fun to fight back against them.’

‘Let’s hope they’re only armed with their handbags,’ John thought back as the announcer resumed his explanation. ‘And they aren’t filled with bricks.’

“Also, be sure to keep a sharp eye out for coupons! You never know just what deals you can find. And lastly, like the previous round, this is a time trial with the same rules. Now, we’ll have a short rest for you to strategize and of course we’ll top you all off before starting. Team Pruzonia, as the winner of the last round, you get a two minute head start.”

John felt his mana restore back to full and the slight tiredness creeping up on him faded as he walked back to Vivian.

“Probably don’t need to split up this time,” he said quietly.

“Maybe not. It would be bad if we get swarmed while separated,” Vivian remarked, tapping her foot in thought. “We at least had the assurance that there wouldn’t be a lot of enemies in the game area before we triggered them. This time, it sounds like some of the stuff we’ll need will be already claimed and we’ll need to beat whatever’s grabbed it.”

“Let’s hope that there’s no way to damage the stuff,” John muttered. “It’s all going to be clothes, so fire’s not going to be a smart idea. Maybe we can have Candle play fetch.”

“A good idea,” Vivian nodded. “Have her sneak around while we distract the enemies. Do you think she’ll count as a team member and have the targets disappear like when we grabbed things before?”

“I get the horrible feeling she won’t count,” John answered. “So let’s plan that she’ll need to bring stuff back to us. Still doable.”

Vivian nodded. “I’m not sure there’s much more we can plan for this. We don’t know just what the arena will look like, but I think it’s likely it’ll be close to looking like an actual store.”

The pair continued to brainstorm until the announcer called for them to be ready.

Thanks again for reading this little story. If you liked the chapter, please hit that thumbs up, and if you want to support my writing, check out my Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/ScrapCrow. Get access to my chapters before they’re published here and join my private Discord.