CHAPTER 18 - GAMER CENTRAL
The next day, Jonesy dropped Chaz and Michaelah off at The Meowson Box Grazing, a massive convention center located in the middle of the city. When Michaelah asked Chaz why they called it that he said he didn’t know and that, “Everyone calls it Gamer Central anyway.” When they got out of the car the building was so big Michaelah could not see around it. It was weird because it was one of the only buildings in the entire city that were wider than they were tall.
“I like this fat building,”said Michaelah, making Chaz laugh.
They walked through the front doors, a set amongst a row of many, where a couple of others were also entering Gamer Central. It was still pretty early. Chaz wanted to get a head start. His parents had no problem dropping him off so early. They rarely saw him this enthusiastic about anything. Michaelah was also happy to abide. It was all so exciting, Michaelah barely had time to feel tired.
After walking through the outer doors of the convention center, the true enormity of the building set in for Michaelah. The ceiling was made of glass, showing the sky above, giving the building an outside effect.
Michaelah was in awe at the size of the banners hanging from the glass ceiling. Two massive banners, draped in the non-existent wind, one red, one blue. In between the two banners was a stellar sign. Michaelah had learned just enough from Chaz to get an idea of the tournament. It centered around a video game called “Infinitesimal Gateways.”
Basically, the player had to run through a series of floors until they found the right door that led them to the next level. The trick was some of the “gateways” were not doors at all. If the player chose incorrectly the gateway would then become an enemy, a curse, or even a power up. In fact, there were no telling how many different types of gateways there were, hence the name of the game. The one thing every player did know was to stay away from the three bosses who haunted the higher levels. Barrage, Invader, and Conquer.
Once you reached level 25, there was a 25% chance you would run into Barrage. He was fast and could fly through walls, but practically blind. If you didn’t move you could get around him. Once you reached level 50, there was a 100% chance you would run into Barrage, if you hadnt already.
Once you reached level 75, there was a 25% chance you would run into Invader. This evil gateway mini-boss could not phase through walls like Barrage and was not nearly as fast but could see and hear very well. If either of these entities caught the player they would return to level 1.
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Once you reached level 100, the chance to come across Conquer was unlocked. The chances of running into him are kept secret by the game developer. The moment you see Conquer its game over. Its not automatic but no player has ever been able to see Conquer and still survive to the Final Gateway. The problem is Conquer’s paralysis. If his eyes make contact with the player’s eyes, the player freezes. Conquer is slow, like a blob of molasses. He crawls up over the player and devours them. The player wakes up at level 50.
Chaz had already explained most of this to Michaelah. The truth was there wasn’t much to the game. She didn’t have to learn the controls or how the gameplay was unique. You just run down a hallway, choose doors, and know when to hide. Michaelah might actually be good at this game. Unfortunately, she was not allowed to play in the tournament, merely aid Chaz, who had placed amongst the finalists.
The difference between the finals and the rest of the tournament leading up to this point was that the players went through Infinitesimal Gateways alone. Today, they would all be entered into the game together. The floors were expanded to accommodate the occasion and so were the enemies.
After walking past the banners, they entered into the main room, where all of the finalist’s player pods were set up. Along with awesome illustrations of the game, different levels and the mini-bosses, along the walls, there were also vendors in between the player pods, selling merchandise and refreshments. It was almost like a carnival. There was video game music and mascots walking around. Michaelah actively avoided the Conquer mascots, they were ugly and low key terrifying to her.
She stuck close to Chaz who found his pod. He jumped in and put his helmet and gloves on. Although he was still standing, his feet were elevated by a treadmill track appearing below him. He looked over at Michaelah with the helmet on, and right before he slid the goggles off the top and put them on, he said, “They give us top of the line equipment for the tourney.”
“I was going to say. This looks a lot fancier than your room.”
They both laughed. After Chaz put the goggles on his player pod lit up below the treadmill at his feet. Lines of light traced around the pod and up into a screen. The screen turned on and there was Chaz’s player booting up. He looked exactly like Chaz, a marble colored cat kid, but this version of him had on really nice looking sunglasses and boots with lightning bolts coming off them like wings.
“Watch this,” Chaz said, both out loud and in the game. He tapped his boots in the game and in real life. On the screen, Michaelah watched Chaz’s player replicate the same action. The player’s lightning boots charged up and released two bolts of violet lightning that wrapped around his player and then froze. “Its a lightning shield.” He said proudly.
Chaz showed Michaelah all the other abilities in his player’s arsenal as they prepared for the starting bell. His player looked really cool. Michaelah had a good feeling about Chaz’s chances. The only problem was she had no idea what kind of competition he stood against. This was going to be an interesting show.
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