Novel Card Hunter

Hello. It's me, your friendly Goblin Scholar. However, I took a hiatus from writing because....I'm me. Sorry. However, I decided to focus on a story that was pretty much influenced by not only every card game I ever played, but also children's cartoons and such...then smacked a college kid into the MC's spot. Good job, me! I don't know if this will be a short story, as I am still writing it, but I am also writing five other stories. Buuuuuuut..........nah. If you happen to be a fan of one of my other novels and want to chew me out, that's fine. Or you know what? Tell me what you think of this story. That would be cool, too.

Synopsis: What happens when a game feels like more than a game? Isn't that stretching the boundaries of reality?

When an evil man from a children's story somehow actually exists and is trying to destroy the entire known universe, one would think that it wouldn't be on the children's shoulders to solve this task. However, a popular kids game, Card Battle, is just that! And our main character, Xavier Lars, a young man who makes money off of this kid's game, must rise to the occasion and save the day!

But will he be too focused on earning money to care?

Genre: Male Protagonist, Money Seeking Protagonist, Action, Comedy, Card Game, Fantasy, Science Fiction


Table of Contents:

Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9

 

Chapter 1:

Xavier rushed to the bus stop as he saw that he was still twenty feet from it. Since the bus was about to leave, he needed to hurry. Thankfully, the driver wasn’t a complete dick and waited for the slightly heavyset young man to stagger onto the bus.

Xavier wasn’t breathing heavy from jogging those last steps, but because he had just jogged from the clear other side of the college campus. His professor kept everyone behind a little bit longer than normal and Xavier really needed to leave.

Unfortunately, he couldn’t stop by the food court and get a sandwich or chips, so the entire way home, his stomach was growling. He kept his mind off of the hunger by playing the amazing game that everyone else played, Card Battle.

It wasn’t a very original name, but then again, it had been around since forever, as long as people had found the entertainment purposes of the mystical Ellonite. It was capable of displaying images like a hologram and added a new dimension to movies, games, and other such promising activities.

He couldn’t afford the brand spanking new smartphones from Ello Co., the communication device that was for playing Card Battle. Instead, he had two smartphones. One was for actual use, such as calling his family or ordering pizza.

And he did the latter quite frequently when he was too lazy to cook.

The smartphone meant for the game was completely rewired and rigged. Instead of focusing on graphics, services, or other gadgets like camera and speakers, Xavier made his device completely for battery life and processing speed.

He paid for the best internet provider for Card Battle, and it allowed him to add on a separate number for free. This worked out well for the dual wielding 22 year old.

He was trying to earn a degree in Computer Hardware, but his time was either dedicated to his pathetic job or to Card Battle.

Many other groups tried to get a piece of the pie, but no one could understand how Ello Co. could program the Ellonite to do what they wanted. For most people, the little green crystals merely enhanced an image to a larger size.

But Ello Co. could alter the images, making them appear realistic and sometimes even opaque.

It was just as mysterious as the Ellonite itself.

But why was Xavier playing an old game meant for kids?

Because it had nostalgia factor, but also because he could earn real money from it!

Ello Co. set many incentives and even funded the Card Games, a yearly global tournament dedicated to Card Battling.

Amazing, right?

Because of his…jury rigging, Xavier was one of the intense players, making it high up in the Regional Ranking. However, he never put in real money, not even spending the little crystals to gain powerful new cards.

No, these crystals were what costed money! Why would he waste money?!

For some reason, each crystal was worth $10 USD in real life! What a crazy ratio! But five of these could get someone a guaranteed 5 Star Card. Just one would ensure a 3 Star, and three would get someone at least 4 Stars.

With these powerful cards, one would be able to earn more crystals, right?

No! These crystals could only be won in battles or obtained from completing difficult achievements! And Xavier was one of these people who searched for these things.

People like Xavier were called Card Hunters.

They would evolve their basic cards to the point that selling them would earn the player crystals as well. For someone who was so intent on making money, wasn’t it an efficient method?

Oops, speaking of efficient, Xavier nearly missed his stop. He got off at an apartment complex and walked up to his small efficiency with a bedroom, bathroom, and living room with a kitchenette on one of the walls.

He would have to go to the main building to clean his clothes, but he pretty much had everything he needed to survive. He was too busy with class, work, and Card Battle, so if he wanted on the internet, he just used his phone.

Other than that, he didn’t even have a TV to watch. He got rid of all his old games long ago to earn more money. His place was actually really clean, but then again, he didn’t have much to make a mess with.

He went to the tiny fridge and pulled out the precooked sausage meat and an egg. He cooked some rice and scrambled the egg, mixing in the sausage.

When the rice was done, he spread the egg concoction over the rice, sprinkled a little salt, and dug in. He challenged some easy beginners, making another crystal which he instantly sold.

After he was done eating, he went outside to go to the main building, since this was where he needed to go to get his mail.

He grabbed the junk mail, noticing several banks wanted him to get a credit card or buy a car or some nonsense like that. He also saw that there was a note of a package being delivered.

He had no idea what it could possibly be since he canceled all his subscriptions to everything.

He walked inside the office, seeing Kelly, the skinny blonde secretary who manned the front counter. She didn’t have piercings or tattoos (that Xavier could see, anyway), and her face wasn’t too bad.

‘Meh, a six as always. Maybe if she removes the make up?’

“Hello, Xavier, what can I help you with?”

“Oh, nothing, I just have a package.”

“Okay, let me get it for you.”

She walked over to the pile of cardboard boxes and had to bend over to reach into the back. Not surprisingly, her long skirt pulled up, letting Xavier see her legs.

‘Oh, look, a rose tattoo. Now you’re a five.’

Even though Xavier never had a girlfriend, he had surprisingly high standards.

Then again, he always imagined he would make a lot of money soon, so he could just pretty much buy a beautiful wife. There were those kind of girls, right?

She quickly found the box, one that was an odd blue and red. It was about the size of someone’s head, but not even as thick as a normal book.

But surprisingly, it was kind of heavy. Not enough to make Xavier almost drop it, but enough that he felt its weight when he grabbed it.

“Alright, have a good day!”

“Ah, you too.”

He quickly left, not wanting to waste his little rest time he had on walking outside.

Once inside his room, he opened the box after verifying it indeed was sent to him. He probably should have checked in the office, but he wanted to quickly leave.

Inside was…a new Ello Co. device?

Smart phones could run the basic app, but these special devices could be used at the Card Games. They would rent them out to the players who didn’t have them, but since it costed money, Xavier never went.

He looked at the smartphone like handheld device and turned it on. Where the front camera was located, a beam shot out and scanned his face. He was so surprised, he nearly dropped it!

“Facial recognition is complete, target has been identified as Xavier Lars. Please provide thumb for scan.”

Wow, so difficult! If Xavier hadn’t known what this was for, he would have been completely flabbergasted!

Ello Co. was having a hard time believing people were only playing their game to earn money. They found the money makers and sent them a device that held the complete installment and provided all the recent updates as well.

They wanted players to play the game in order to have fun, so they sent these devices to Xavier and ninety nine thousand, nine hundred and ninety nine other people.

100,000 people worldwide!

If the player was unsatisfied with the fun of the game, they were free to return the device and go back to playing to earn money.

But for someone like Xavier, why couldn’t he do both? He had the smartphone for earning money and the Ello CO. device for actually playing. It was a win/win situation!

Until he tried to log back in on his smartphone.

“This account has been suspended temporarily by Ello Co. Please contact them for further details.”

So that’s how it was! It was a good thing he had sold every crystal as soon as he earned it!

“Fine, I’ll give it a week. I need to make grocery money, after all.”

He strapped the device to his arm using the special strap, but then realized it had tightened around his arm.

“Hey, what’s going on?!”

“Thank you for playing Card Battle, please wait as the tutorial is loading.”

“I already know how to play the game!”

The device didn’t answer in its robotic gender neutral voice, but a loading bar appeared, displaying the quick progress it was making.

Soon, the bar filled, giving way to a black screen. Then the entire area around Xavier went black as well.

“Hey!”

Then he was in a field, watching as a stampede of monster bipedal lizard creatures known as Scaled Raptors fled from a massive tiger like plant creature grabbed them with vines.

“An Ivy Sabre Tooth!”

This was completely different than what he expected!

A shadow swooped down from above, targeting the tiger. Then, an even bigger creature yanked the large cat with its gigantic talons.

“A Mammoth Sky Beast!”

This was nothing to name the creatures so easily, since he had played every single update and memorized every single card.

Most people would have learned them alphabetically, or by rarity, but Xavier was the kind of person who learned them from cost!

These were all Card Beasts worth several crystals if they were sold!

Soon, the ground seemed to shake. He wasn’t moving, but everything else did. When he looked around, he saw the ground moving towards him!

Out of the ground came a large Carnage Wyrm! Without even having a chance to dodge, the Wyrm had ‘swallowed’ him! He could see the innards of the Wyrm! What kind of processing power did this thing have?!

Everything was moving too fast, filling Xavier with awe. Finally, the Wyrm passed through, heading towards the remnants of the Scale Raptors to eat.

Then, people arrived! Card Heroes! There was the Blade of Light, Leroy! He charged forward, cutting down Raptors and heading towards the Wyrm!

The others, also famous Card Heroes, followed closely behind, backing Leroy up and watching his back.

This took place quite a bit away from Xavier, but the hologram was special. It was like looking at one of those 3D paintings on the street from a specific angle. Outsiders wouldn’t have actually seen a lot, just a shimmering light surrounding him.

Because of this, it was as if the area around him went on for miles.

Xavier watched on, completely shocked from the images. This was even better than most of the movies these days!

Leroy and the others walked over, covered in the blood of the Wyrm.

“Hello, Summoner! Welcome to Gargua! We need your help! Your powers can help us unite against the Evil King Dorminus! Will you help us?”

The image began to fade and Xavier was back in his room. He had already seen this scene several hundreds of times, but never in such an extreme manner. He was back to being a kid again, filled with wonder and excitement.

But then his watch beeped.

“Oops, got work in nine hours, gotta sleep.”

Ignoring the Card Reader that wouldn’t come off, Xavier plopped down on the bed and had a fitful night thanks to the awesome experience.

He couldn’t fall asleep! But then again, he rarely did. He just forced himself to lay in bed until sleep overcame him a couple hours later.

This was the dawn of his adventure, and his world was going to change forever.

 

FIRST!

<(0_0)< >(0_0)> <(0_0)>

 

SEC ON D!

 

Chapter 2:

Xavier woke up to his alarm, got up, and started making breakfast. He hopped into the shower, got dressed, and then finished making his meal. He ate, grabbed his stuff for work, and went to the bus stop.

He was so quick, he completely forgot his Card Battler that was still on his wrist!

“Oh well, at least it’s waterproof.”

He was still nodding off by the time his stop came around. He shuffled over across the street to the store in which he worked and unlocked the building. He brought out the props and signs before returning inside to check over everything from the night before.

Then he waited.

“Wow, when you said you had work, I expected you to be doing something.”

“Who?”

From behind him walked a beautiful brunette with a uniform that looked like it belonged to a flight attendant or a museum guide mixed with an anime like costume.

Frilly and colorful.

“I am Erva, your guide to Gargua.”

‘Well, it’s been a long time since I have seen a girl above an eight, even if she’s a hologram.’

She was definitely a nine, but he had seen better. The main problem was he was supposed to be working.

“What is your job, if you don’t mind my asking?”

“Wow, what an A.I. Well, I work as a telephone retailer. I sell smartphones.”

“…Okay. Is that what is in the display cases over there?”

“You’re an A.I. and don’t know what smartphones are?”

“No, I am an inhabitant from Gargua. It is my job to help you get acclimated to your duty to save us from Dorminus.”

“Wow that is some character they made you become. I guess since the game is like your real world, it would seem like you’re not an A.I. But that makes the immersion too much. What would happen if I can’t tell the difference between fiction and reality?”

“Don’t worry, since they are both reality.”

“Okay then. I have to get back to work.”

“But there’s no one here. Let’s just continue with the tutorial.”

“Don’t need it, since this is like my fourth account.”

“Really? Then all you have to do is the refresher course.”

“Oh, hold on, here comes a family.”

“Oops, my bad.”

Two people walked in, a mom and her son. They were kind of thrown off by the almost empty large room and the high ceiling that made every whisper seem louder than it was. The kid didn’t stray too far from his mother’s back, so he seemed really shy.

‘Good, I can make use of this gizmo.’

“Why hello there! Welcome to E-lo Mobile! We sell the top of the line models for an affordable price! Our service is also flexible, making it easier on your wallet!”

“Thank you, but I already know what I want. Is the switch over thing still going?”

“Are you referring to our ‘Switch to E-lo and receive the same plan for a second phone of equal or lesser value for free?’”

“Yes.”

“We are still doing it!”

The mother immediately went to look for the phone she wanted, leaving the kid without cover momentarily. But he didn’t notice since he was staring at Xavier strangely.

“Mister, why are you glowing?”

“Oh, it must be because of this.”

Xavier held up the Card Battler.

“Is that the new one?!”

“Indeed it is. Cool, isn’t it?”

“Yeah!”

The kid was jumping up and down excitedly as the two began talking about Card Battles.

“Sir, I believe this is the kind of phone we want.”

“Alright then.”

He took a look, but then frowned.

“Is this other phone going to be for Jimmy over here?”

He had learned the name when they were talking.

“Yes, is there a problem with this phone?”

“Not with the phone, but what would your son be doing with his time, for the most part?”

“I don’t know, texting, talking. Maybe searching the internet or playing games.”

“Games…like Card Battle?”

Jimmy’s eyes sparkled as he began jumping again.

“Yes, he does love that game.”

“Indeed. Then I would personally suggest this phone over here. It has a better processer and doesn’t spend all of its energy on camera, audio, or graphics, choosing to instead focus on game speed which allows the player an edge when playing competitive games like Card Battle that rely on quick reaction speed.”

“Oh, thank you.”

“Plus, the phone is actually cheaper, so it helps keep your money in your pocket!”

“Thanks. Alright, I’ll do it.”

‘Sweet, it worked! Although, I probably could have actually sold the more expensive phone twice…oh well, I get a little too into Card Battle.’

The two were happy with their purchase as the mom said she would let Jimmy have a couple of crystals since they saved some money today.

“So that’s your job?”

“Yep.”

“For how long?”

“Until lunch. Then someone else comes in.”

“How much do you get paid for this?”

“Not much. I do get paid hourly, but not much. Most of the money I make come from selling phones or service plans.”

“Hmm…so what are you going to do the rest of the day?”

“Probably travel around and visit the park or such. I usually go find cards to sell or something. Maybe battle some weak little kids who don’t know any better.”

“What a gentleman.”

“Ooh, is that sarcasm I hear? Nice.”

There were several more customers, but most people just looked around or complained about their phones breaking. When lunch came around, a tall, thin man walked in. he and Xavier high fived before Xavier walked into the back.

He pulled out a couple sandwiches and a bag of chips and ate lunch.

“Can we start now?”

“Sure.”

“Okay, the refresher course consists of two parts, the testing portion, and the application portion. There will be chances to earn some crystals”

“Crystals?! Wait, would I be able to get more from the tutorial?”

“No, it is equal in amount.”

“Oh. Sorry, continue.”

“Yes. So, what is this?”

A set of leather armor floated out from Erva’s open hand.

“A set of Common Leather Armor ranked at a single Star. An Equip Card.”

“Umm, correct. What is this?”

A small one handed short sword appeared, brown in color.

“A Common Bronze Short Sword ranked at a Single Star. Also an Equip Card.”

“Okay, how about this?”

A small fire ball appeared, dancing across Xavier’s vision.

“A 1 Star Card Spell called Fireball.”

“…also correct. Let’s move on.”

This time, a little creature jumped out from behind Erva, a little purple cloud with four legs and two beady yellow eyes. On its back was a large spike.

“A 1 Star Card Beast called the Poke Puff.”

“Alright, last question.”

“Lay it on me.”

Then a mousy looking man hopped out of the ground, stumbling onto the floor in a heap.

“Oh, it’s Henry, a 1 Star Card Hero. Most commonly called Casual Henry.”

“Hehehe, my bad.”

“Congratulations, since you not only answered each Card Type perfectly, you even named which specific card they were. You earned one crystal.”

“Yes!”

Xavier took a pose, launching his fist in the air.

“Okay, okay, we’re moving on to the final section.”

“The Card Battle.”

“Yes.”

Three small Dancing Weeds popped up out of the ground, swaying in the nonexistent wind.

“Alright, Puff, try and dodge for now, don’t get hit. Henry, let me back you up first.”

“Alright, boss.”

Henry had no weapons, just a broom. The first thing Xavier did was launch a Fireball at the Dancing Weed in front of Henry. Then, he went over and cut down the Weed coming for him. After cutting it to ribbons, his Fireball was ready to use so he burned the one trying to hit the Poke Puff to embers.

“Wowza, we didn’t even need a minute!”

“Heh, it was nothing.”

“Not really, since you earned another crystal for completing the battle without even suffering any damage. Good job.”

Erva was actually surprised at the battle proficiency of Xavier.

There were rows that the combatants had to keep in mind. Only magic or ranged attacks could reach the next lane or lanes over. And it would take either really strong magic or really amazing weapons to hit two lanes over.

Since only Xavier had a decent weapon, he took care of the Weeds by himself.

Each unit had three bars. HP, MP, and SP. Running out of HP meant the unit would cease to fight in the battle. Running out of MP meant that the unit could not cast Spells. Running out of SP meant the unit could not perform any Skills or Techniques.

Skills and Techniques were things like dodge, block, or attack moves. SP will regenerate if the unit does nothing, but the others would not until the battle was over.

Most people wanted Card Heroes as their units since the Heroes could use Card Spells and Equip Cards just like the player. However, Card Beasts had more powerful stats or abilities.

For example, the defense and speed of the Poke Puff vastly outmatched Henry’s. But it had low HP and MP as a result.

Common Enemies and Beasts had more SP since they would just spam attacks over and over.

“So what’s next?”

“Now that you have officially started the game, you have been gifted five new crystals to start you off.”

“Oh, so I am free to earn achievements? Then let me get a few right now.”

For someone like Xavier, he had easily memorized the quick ways to earn crystals fast. If the Card Battle had not made every account specific to a bank account, he probably would have a lot. Then again, a lot of people would have a lot.

“Alright, got the easy ones out of the way, giving me eight. Hey, that means I can get three things now!”

Erva just stood there with her mouth hanging open. She had never seen so many crystals gathered so quickly! Of course, this was not counting the battles she had seen that staked dozens of crystals at once.

“Cool, let’s begin the Summoning!”

One of the main things a player can do is use the crystals to Summon a random card. This included all manner of things from weapons to Spells.

“Alright, Five Star get!”

A slot machine appeared and Erva slowly put in the five crystals. Once the last one was in, she pulled the lever and the slots started going. Then they stopped on images of cards.

Once the third one fell, the cards changed color, from brown to grey to yellow. It was bronze, silver, and gold!

A card was dispensed from the little dispenser to the side of the lever. Erva pulled it out and her jaw fell once more. She silently handed it to Xavier.

“Oh, a Thunderbolt Spell? Nice.”

“But, it could go up to 8 Stars, which is a really powerful card!”

“That just means it started off as a 3 Star Spell, it’s nothing special. I have seen better.”

She shook her head and placed five more crystals inside. This time, the card was more normal, since it was a fully evolved set of armor at 5 Stars. In fact, it was his original set fully evolved.

“Here, Henry, you can take the 1 Star Armor for yourself. Plus the Fireball Spell.”

“Thanks, boss.”

The last one, however, nearly made Erva faint.

“Ooh, a Mythic Rarity Sword. Hey, if I sold this, I could make $10,000 no problem.”

“DON’T SELL IT!!”

“Whoa, calm down, I can’t. The shop function doesn’t actually exist for me.”

“Oh, whew. This sword can become a 10 Star Sword! Why get rid of it?!”

“Because I would have to spend way too much to level it up to that point. Here, you can also have the low level sword.”

“Cool, now I can actually fight!”

“Yeah, yeah. Good luck.”

“So now we are going to get more cards, right?”

“No, Erva, we need to increase our materials so we can evolve these weaklings. And I know just the place to go.”

 

Chapter 3:

Xavier said bye to his coworker and hopped on the next bus. When he got off, he was in the down town part of the city. There were tall glass buildings and a lot of one way roads. People were walking here and there since it was still lunch time.

He walked a ways away from the crowd, coming across a black top area next to a recreational center. Here, there were many young black men playing basketball. As Xavier walked up, the kids stopped playing, wondering why a fat white guy was walking around here.

However, one of the older guys watching from the sides stood up and welcomed Xavier, leading him to the center.

“Yo, Safe, what’s up?”

“You can never say my name right, can you, DeMarcus?”

“Man, why can’t you just call me Marc like everyone else?”

“Why don’t you call me Xavier like everyone else?”

“Pshahaha!”

“Hehehe!”

The two caught up with each other as they walked into the center. Inside had all sorts of people from all walks of life.

However, most were black.

Seeing Xavier walking in, most people stopped what they were doing and watched. When they saw Marc leading him, most went back to their activities.

“Xavier, why are they staring at us? Can they see me?”

Xavier just chuckled.

“Hey, DeMarcus, do you see anything different about me?”

“Well, you’re walking around wearing a kid’s toy and glowing like a tree at Christmas, but besides that? No.”

Xavier glanced at Erva who was trying to calm herself down.

‘Wow, she seems really realistic.’

“So what brings you here?”

“This kid’s toy that makes me glow.”

“Ah, so Card Battle again, huh? You always did like that stuff, even in high school. Hey, speaking of school, how’s college going?”

“Oh, just about what you’d expect. Just a dumber and harder version of high school without most of the drama.”

“Praise the Lord. No, but seriously, see any of those hot college girls?”

“You watch too much porn.”

“Hehe, nuh uh!”

“Whatever. Where’s Ricky?”

“Oh, he’s in the back. Even if most of these guys don’t know you, that’s only because they’re like me and dropped out of school.”

“I kept telling you that you at least needed to finish the basics. Even if you get in debt, you can just work it off for the rest of your life.”

“Wow, way to kill the mood.”

“What? It’s not like we do anything important with our lives anyway.”

“Geez, I guess you’re right. That just means I don’t actually have to go to school, huh?”

“Hmm…I guess so. But what do you do in your free time?”

“Nothing much, just playing some basketball or hanging out with my friends.”

Xavier stopped and suspiciously stared at his old friend.

“You doing okay, right? If you need a place to stay, I can get a futon and you can crash at my place.”

“Nah, I’m good. But thanks anyway.”

“Okay. Here he is.”

“Ay, it’s X-Man! How’s the phone biz, bro?”

Ricky, born Richard D. Darian, was another Card Hunter that Xavier kept in touch with. Ricky was also one of the recipients of the Card Battler.

“Look, we match! What did you get?”

“Oh, just a Henry and a Puff.”

“No, man, I meant from the crystals! You must have gotten at least one more, right?”

“Hehe, I don’t know what you mean.”

“Come on! Let me see!”

“Then let me have access to some materials.”

“Only if you beat me.”

“Deal.”

“Follow me, I even went and had this place specifically built for Card Battles.”

“Whoa, so this was why we couldn’t come in here! How mean, we don’t play Card Battle anymore!”

“Then play. I even ordered another Battler that can read info from smartphones. Now anyone can play.”

“Nice, I may have to visit more often now.”

The three were led into a room that had a green tint to it.

“Xavier, I sense that this place has some connection to Gargua! I may even be able to manifest here!”

“Hm?”

“Whoa, where’d the babe come from?!”

“Wow, X-Man got a beauty. I just got an old geezer.”

“My apologies, Master.”

“Naw, it’s cool, G.”

“What? Now there’s a butler?! What is this?!”

DeMarcus was a little confused, but he sat over on the bench that ran along the side of the wall. Ricky went to one side, along with his guide Geronimo. Erva and Xavier got ready on the opposite facing side.

They readied their Battlers and the room lit up.

“Xavier, this is where we can set up our ‘Deck’. If you want to change the equipment or units, you can do so here. But before that, make a selection for the reward and the place you want to battle. If your place is selected, that man will start off completely ready first.”

“So the person who doesn’t get their place gets the first attack. Hmm, location or first attack. Not a bad trade off. It’s different from the old battle mechanics.”

“Yes.”

“No change, we’re ready.”

“Xavier, why pick that one?!”

“Hehe, just see,”

Almost as if he had foreseen it, Xavier’s arena selection was picked, changing the room into a hilly area while it was raining in the twilight.

“Heh, making it difficult for me, eh? Too bad! I got myself a 5 Star Beast!”

However, it was just a Dancing Tree, the fully evolved form of a Dancing Weed.

But it was still a 5 Star Card Beast. And he should still have another trick up his sleeve since he should have known the easy ways to get crystals.

“Hehe, and I got a 4 Star Fireball!”

Only 4 Star? Did he not have enough crystals?

“As well as a 3 Star Tamer!”

Oh, so that’s how it was. He didn’t have enough, so he got more units since it would still give him an edge over other beginners.

But that meant nothing to Xavier. Neither one of his units could take on the Beast Tamer Heather, but just one strike of his sword would be enough to defeat her. And he would have to, first since she would buff up any Beast on her side.

This meant he would have to fight a stronger Dancing Tree!

As soon as the match started, with Xavier still glowing from his transition into the arena, he swung outwards, catching Ricky off guard. In that moment, he issued several orders.

“Puff, keep dodging! Henry, stall for time!”

Instead of having the stronger and more equipped Henry stall against the Dancing Tree, he was sent to keep Heather from attacking. Heather didn’t have much, just some leather armor like Henry. It was the basic gear she started with. Her bright red hair whipped around as she also slung her whip at Henry.

He kept her busy by rushing in close to stop her whip’s movements.

Meanwhile, the Poke Puff was jumping all over the place, dodging the Tree’s roots. It was slower, but that meant nothing if its attack succeeded. Waiting for another break, Xavier launched a Thunderbolt at Heather, making her turn into white sparkles.

The cards didn’t die, just lost their power for the remainder of the match.

“What?! Is that a 5 Star Spell and weapon?! What about that armor? You trick!”

“Doesn’t matter, you have a 5 Star Beast.”

“Bullshi….znit! You have three 5 Star Cards!”

“Hehe.”

Ricky tried to launch a Fireball at Xavier, but his armor blocked most of the damage.

Henry was free so he sent some Fireballs at Ricky every now and then. Xavier took this chance to use Thunderbolt on the Dancing Tree several times until his magic was almost up. The Puff’s SP was almost depleted and Henry used his last Fireball to defeat Ricky, so even if the Puff lost, he would win!

‘Dammit! No!'

But that’s not what he wanted. He liked getting complete wins with all of his units alive.

Without even realizing what he was doing, he threw his sword at the Tree, just as it was about to strike the Puff.

With a shrill shriek, the Tree turned into sparkles. The sword flew back into his hands and he remembered what it was.

5 Star Equip Cards and above all had at least one Skill.

The Bonemerang Sword was a boomerang…made of bones. If he used the Throw Skill, it would count as a long range attack.

Oops, he had never personally seen it before, and only thought of selling it. It seems he forgot to read its effects. He knew the armor’s Wall Skill, shielding an ally temporarily, but he made use of it to protect the Puff during the middle of the match to allow it to regenerate its SP.

Oh, he could be an idiot sometimes!

Well, since the Tree had taken several hits from the almighty Thunderbolt, even if it had a type advantage, it was already at low HP. Just that last strike finished it off.

“Damn, you won! Fine, you can visit the garden.”

Xavier hadn’t been here in almost five years, but the garden was a place that seemed to spawn a Dungeon for Card Battlers to gain evolution items and materials.

DeMarcus was stoked, since he saw the entire thing.

“That was awesome! Fuck, you gotta let me play!”

“Hey, watch yo mouth, D!”

“Sorry, Ricky.”

“No problem, why don’t you go watch Xavier beat the garden?”

“Alright.”

The two left the room to go visit the junk heap in the back. It was deemed unsafe for people, but many went back there to salvage stuff to make a quick buck. Back then, Ricky, a son of a wealthy business man, had the place cleaned out.

From then on, Ricky made sure no one went back there. But when Dungeons appeared after one of the new expansions, Ricky had the junk yard leveled and built a pretty garden that people could sit down at.

However, too many kids came by to play around and they dirtied the place up. That was when he limited the amount of people who could enter.

It became something like an area belonging to Ricky even within the game. You had to beat Ricky to enter, and if you didn’t, you had to pay in crystals. Because of this, Ricky was approached by Ello Co.

But instead of getting angry at him, they gave him an official position and paid him to challenge players. Now, they HAD to beat him to enter, and the payment deal was removed. Instead, Ricky got paid by Ello Co. for his troubles.

It was probably because of his history with Ello Co. that he had the Battle Room built.

But the Dungeon wasn’t all that special, besides the rewards. It actually had different levels and was easy for anyone, as long as they chose an easy path.

The perimeter of the garden had a faint green glow and Erva popped up again.

“Alright, our first Dungeon! I can’t wait!”

“Hold on, we need to discuss the plan, right?”

“Oh, oops. I got carried away.”

It was strange for Erva to be riled up, but that was probably from the intense battle that just happened. Because the hologram did not have a limit but Xavier did, the Dungeon appeared to be a top down image of the tunnels, showing Henry and Puff walking around and fighting enemies.

Every time the battle was big, the surroundings changed to include Xavier in the match. He was restricted to his lane and was advised to not move as it would disrupt the gameplay.

After they cleared the first three Dungeon instances with ease, one for 1 Stars, one for 2 Stars, and one for 3 Stars, it was time for Xavier to evolve his units!

He sat down at one of the benches and brought up the Deck Menu. With this, he selected the Poke Puff and chose the lit up word, ‘Evolve’.

 

Chapter 4:

The way cards worked, was that they evolved depending on the instructions issued by the player. It was hard to issue instructions in the mobile app, so only true Battlers could make use of this option.

Because the Puff was mainly dodging, its speed came into play. It was due to this speed that the Poke Puff became a Fast Puff.

It was only 2 Star Rarity, but it looked completely different from what Xavier expected.

The average Poke Puff would evolve into a Sharp Puff. But the Fast Puff had a shorter spike and had longer legs. Its main body was still hidden with the purple fluff.

He then evolved Henry, who used both the sword and magic.

Heroes could take on Jobs, depending on their attacks. This led to Henry becoming a Magic Knight. Sounds amazing, but he was only 2 Stars. The difference in Heroes was their personality, which affected their stat growth, and starter equipment, which forced the Hero to only use equipment that was similar.

Unfortunately, Henry could not wear any heavy armor, which was the Magic Knight’s specialty. But since he had rushed in to fight, his aggressive behavior made it seem as if he was indeed a Knight. The broom allowed Henry to use the sword, as well as any normal straight weapon.

The Short Sword was an exception to most Heroes.

Thanks to this, Henry’s aptitude for magic and sword fighting became better.

Xavier then went on to evolve the equipment and Fireball Spell for Henry, making him practically equal to a special 3 Star unit.

Seeing as how he still had some time, went through the 4 Star Dungeon before realizing it was completely different from the other three. He managed to succeed, but he lost Henry at one point.

During a Dungeon, HP and MP didn’t regenerate completely. It did a little, but not a lot. Because of this, Casual Henry bit the dust.

Thankfully, Puff’s speed and SP was raised, increasing its survivability.

Xavier then focused on evolving Henry another time, as well as his Spell.

After that, he made another run through, noticing that Henry fared a lot better. He didn’t die at least.

Unfortunately, when he went to go for a sixth time, he was blocked. It seemed that he could only enter the same Dungeon five times in one day. He tried the other levels, but they were the same.

Xavier said goodbye and took the bus back home, realizing it was just about dinner time. He fixed some macaroni and cheese with spam, eating his fill and placing the rest in a plastic container for tomorrow’s lunch.

Slightly bored, looked around for Erva but noticed she was gone. He went to sleep.

The next morning, he got up, repeated his process, and then left for work. He only had school two times a week, and still had four more days, counting today, until his next school day. He took school back to back on Friday and Saturday.

Other than that, he opened the store by himself and left at lunch. He wasn’t busy, so he didn’t make a lot, but it was enough to survive. Especially since payday was coming up.

Soon, Erva showed up.

“Had a good sleep?”

“Mm…yeah…”

“Still tired?”

“Well, I have to get used to your time frame, or else I wouldn’t be doing my job.”

“Wow, what an in depth program.”

“It’s not…I keep trying to tell you.”

“Anyway, we are going someplace else today.”

“Hm? Where? The center you visited yesterday was an amazing place.”

“Well, we are going to a place that has several Dungeons, not just one.”

Erva’s eyes widened at the thought of going through fifteen Dungeons in one day.

“Yes! I can’t wait until you get off work!”

“Then what are you going to do?”

“Eh?”

Erva stood completely still, not understanding what Xavier meant.

“Hehe, it’s nothing, just a joke.”

‘Damn, I may just have to raise her to a ten if I’m not careful.’

Indeed, Xavier never spoke to such a pretty woman so often. If he got too used to it, he might actually start to fall in love.

That was partly the reason he kept calling her an A.I. since if she turned out to be one, he would get really upset.

The time passed normally, with one purchase and even more complaints. Well, not completely. Many people had actually come to vent to Xavier since he seemed so nice.

After he was done eating his mac and cheese, he hopped on the bus and headed to the City Park. It was a magnificent place filled with baseball fields, children’s play areas, and even a beautiful pond.

There were actually three Dungeons here!

“First, there is the water Dungeon, focusing on water related cards. That one is located at the pond, just next to the fountain part. The next one is the large monument that stands for the history of this city, it holds a normal material Dungeon like the garden at the rec center. The last one is a weird one, since it is known as Bird Poop Walk. The branches that hang over the sidewalk were meant to be pretty but the birds decided to roost there instead. The sidewalk is permanently stained white. It has a sky Dungeon, focusing on wind type cards.”

“Alright, where to first?”

“Obviously the material Dungeon first. If we can only visit these Dungeons five times, we need to increase the units.”

“Okay.”

There was a nice place to sit on that encircled the monument. Instead of walking around and fighting, he decided to sit down, zapping the enemies instead of clashing with them.

He didn’t want to look like an idiot, after all.

Once he was finished, he evolved the rest of Henry’s gear, placing him equal to a normal 4 Star unit.

Xavier went on to evolve the Puff, who evolved into a Charge Puff. The legs became more developed, similar to a horses. In fact, the spike moved to the front, looking like a horn. Its body was still covered in purple fluff, though.

After that, he went on to try the 5 Star Dungeon.

He failed.

He went back around to the 4 Star Dungeon the last two times, but he could only get enough materials to evolve Henry to a 4 Star level.

Not bad, but he would probably have to visit this place at least twice more to completely evolve his units to the 4 Star level.

Then he went the pond, where he zapped the enemies, resulting in all sorts of new cards.

These cards were Equip Cards, Spell Cards, and low level Beast Cards.

One such example was the Tsunami Shark. It was actually a 3 Star Beast, but was instantly defeated by Puff’s charge.

Water type Beasts focused on MP instead of SP or HP. They used more magic than others.

The total rewards included several cards, but only several were good enough to keep.

The others would be used to train the others.

Training would increase the LVL of the card, increasing its stats. This was a lot better to use with Heroes since their stats were garbage for the most part.

What Xavier kept was a 3 Star Pirate’s Cutlass, which was evolved one time, a See Horse, a seahorse Beast with large eyes and strong magic, and an Icicle Spell, which was the same strength as the Fireball, but used the water element.

Instead of handing the Cutlass to Henry, Xavier decided to keep it and the Icicle Spell in reserve.

But, he would use the See Horse to sub in for him in normal Dungeons. The others were used to Train Henry and his equipment, making him top of the 4 Star level.

But before they went to the Bird Poop Walk, a couple of idiot kids walked by.

“Hey, mister, is that a Battler? Why is an adult playing a game meant for kids, are you retarded?”

They laughed among themselves, but still waited for a reply.

Instead, they were ignored by the very adult Xavier.

“Hey, do you think he can’t hear us?”

“Throw a rock and find out.”

“You do it, you suggested it.”

“You throw that rock and I will call the cops on you brats.”

“Pbbt! No one cares what you say, weirdo!”

The short fat kid picked up a decently sized rock off the ground, tossed it slightly into the air to get a feel for it, and threw it at Xavier who was trying to not whoop these kids’ asses.

He actually caught the rock in midair, placing it on the ground. It was just a rock thrown by a kid, how could it have hurt any?

“Fuck, this guy is strong! I’m calling bro!”

“Huh? But I didn’t do anything? Was I supposed to just get hit?”

The little kids ran off, but in a strange way.

“Oh, so they’re baiting me. Who cares? Not me.”

Xavier kicked the rock back into the gravel area and walked over to the Bird Poop Walk.

He was sitting on a bench, minding his own business, when a big guy walked into his range.

“Xavier, there is someone walking towards you. What do we do?”

“Let me see.”

The images surrounding Xavier, depicting the Dungeon, shrunk into a square off to the side of his vision, just in case he wanted to use it again. But instead of looking up, Xavier kept pretending to use his Battler.

“Hehe, this guy is dumb, if he doesn’t even respond to me walking close. I bet he wouldn’t mind if I just beat him up a little. Hey, don’t get angry at me, it’s your fault you scared my brother and his friends.”

Just as the man reached for Xavier’s collar, the big dude had his face punched. In almost no time at all, the big man was on the ground, his head being sat on by the heavy Xavier.

“Pwease! ‘et me go! I didn’ mean nuhn!”

“Sure, is that why you sent those brats to anger me and lead me right to you so you could beat me up and take my money? You must have thought I was sooo rich because I’m some fat white guy playing a children’s game. Well, joke’s on you, all I have are cards. No cash.”

“No! I plahnd on chawenging you to a Badwe!”

“Oh? A Battle? Sure. Bet all you have.”

“Wha?! No way!”

“Okay, I will just call the cops. I mean, you did try and extort me.”

“Isn’t that what you’re doin’?”

“…I’m sorry?”

“No! My bad! Forgib me!”

“Hmm, then bet all your crystals.”

“Yessir!”

Xavier got up off the big dude who had a tear soaked face.

“To make it easier for you to challenge me, I will also bet all my crystals. I currently have…enough to make your while.”

“Hmmph.”

Actually, he only had four, but that was beside the point. He got them for completing various achievements that dealt with Dungeons.

The big man gestured to the cringing kids nearby and the little fat kid waddled up with an old Battler.

They stood apart from each other and activated the Mobile Battle Field, or the MBF. With this, anybody could see the battle. It wasn’t as awesome as the Battle Room, but it did show a very basic fight.

The big dude had strong units as they were all abve 4 Star. He only had two 5 Star items though, one of which was a weapon, and the other being a Beast. The Beast was a Terror Wing, a flying Beast. The other Unit the big guy used was also a Beast, being a large Aquid, a water squid Beast. It had many tentacles and could be quite an opponent, even though it was only 4 Stars.

Puff was placed across from the Aquid and the Terror Wing went against Henry. Puff used his signature skill of running around to his advantage, getting the Aquid tangled up. The Terror Wing didn’t have the drop on Henry since he could use magic.

That just left Xavier and the large dude. Bare handed weapons were not one of the choices of weaponry, since actual contact between players was forbidden. That being said, the big man’s weapon was the next best thing, a large ball and chain that he could throw around. It counted as a long range weapon, so Xavier had to stop it.

He first zapped the Terror Wing, so Henry could quickly defeat it and help Xavier fight the man. The man wanted to attack Puff, but Xavier placed his Wall there, protecting it at the last moment.

While waiting for the cooldown, Xavier threw the Bonemerang at the Terror Wing, lowering its HP even more. Seeing as how his 5 Star Beast was about to die, he used his weapon’s Skill, Grow, to enlarge the ball, increasing its attack.

He threw the ball at Xavier, who just let it hit, since he had a 5 Star armor. Seeing that he didn’t dodge, the man got too excited. When he saw that Xavier’s HP wasn’t that low, he got angry, which pulled his attention away from another Bonemerang attack to the flying Beast. With one last Fireball, it turned into particles.

Henry turned to the large man and smirked. He just needed to cool down then he could attack again.

Xavier then switched targets to the Aquid and zapped it, dealing large amounts of damage to it. This left Puff with enough of a chance to attack it himself. He charged forward, ramming his horn directly into the main body of the Aquid, where it turned to shimmering dust.

The man didn’t give up, bent on targeting Puff. However, Henry’s Fireball was well timed, knocking the man off balance and forcing him to miss. Even though the game was simulated, the Battler buzzed whenever the player was dealt damage, sending a brief shock to the brain.

It was supposed to add to the realism, but it only made the game harder. Xavier threw the Bonemerang, not wanting to actually get close to the guy in case he went berserk. With this, it was only a matter of time until the man lost, his crystals gone.

All three of them.

Xavier looked at his screen in disappointment.

 

Chapter 5:

Several police officers came to take the big man into custody. Meanwhile the little kids were arguing with Xavier.

“Why did you call the cops? Just because he only had 3 crystals?!”

“Yeah, you’re a liar!”

“Shut up. I called the cops because you guys were performing illegal actions. If you kids were any older, you’d be visiting juvie hall.”

“So? You’re a meanie and a snitch!”

“So? You belong in school right now.”

The kids were also taken away to their parents. They were indeed playing hooky instead of going to classes.

Once the officers had all of his information down, they let him go. He hopped on a bus and returned home.

>>><<<​

“Mr. Andre Gonzales…I can’t believe I was called in for something like this. It’s not even a murder case. But it does have something to do with Card Battles, so I can’t complain.”

The mysterious man sat down in front of the big man, Andre, and placed the old Battler on the table. It was still sealed in its evidence bag, so there was no use taking it out to play a game.

“Hey, do you want power?”

“Huh? Well…I am already really strong…”

“Not that kind of power, you moron. This kind.”

The man jerked his thumb towards Andre’s Battler.

“What good is it going to do me?”

“Well, I happen to have a lot of pull in these kinds of things. All I have to say is there was some sort of misunderstanding and you’d be on your way.”

“Could you have that prick arrested?”

“Why? He wasn’t in the wrong. No, but you could deal with him…with one of these.”

The man tossed a purple and black Battler onto the table, as it slid over to Andre. It had a strange hypnotic feel to it, and gave Andre a chill down his back.

“Keep in mind, whenever you use its MBF, any unit that loses inside will die.”

“What?! As in gone forever?!”

“Yes. Pretty dangerous, huh?”

“Does…does it kill people?”

The man lunged across the table to stare directly into Andre’s face. Then he whispered,

“Do you want it to?”

Before Andre could reply, the locks on his shackles were somehow unlocked and both Battlers were left on the table. The strange man was already out the door.

A strange awkward smile was plastered on Andre’s face, as if he didn’t know whether to laugh or to cry.

<<<>>>​

“So, Xavier, what about tomorrow? Will you be returning to the park?”

“Yeah, I normally go, but I don’t usually space out and stare at nothing with a gigantic plastic toy on my arm.”

“But it’s not plastic, it should be made of Ellonite as well.”

“Ah, yes, thank you Captain Obvious.”

“You’re welcome, although I’m not a Captain.”

“Hah…”

This time, Xavier used the oven to cook some baked parmesan crusted chicken tenders. He also cooked some broccoli, but he wasn’t too happy about that. Once again, he saved some for the next day.

Erva went to sleep and so did Xavier, after texting an old friend of his that he would be coming by tomorrow. He didn’t want to tell Erva that he was actually going to practice some close combat.

If he was going to fight, he needed to actually learn how to move. If he tripped over his legs during a strong fight, then he would be completely embarrassed!

The next day, Xavier completed his morning ritual and left for the store. Nothing amazing happened and he was on the bus again, heading to a taekwondo building his friend worked at.

There, he saw one familiar face and one beautiful face.

His buddy Ron and his sister Rain both ran the dojo with their father who was an amazing martial artist. Because he knew the guy’s son, they had been to several parties. But every time Xavier thought of Ron, he remembered Ron’s hot older sister Rain.

But he couldn’t touch her because she was more into martial arts than even their dad.

It amazed Xavier how people could get so into something that made no difference in the end anyway.

Ron was more of the trainer to the young ones and Rain taught the older ones…at first.

Then, they decided to train similarly leveled students in the same place, regardless of their age. So early belts were all trained by the easygoing Ron and the later belts were taught by the super strict and passionate Rain.

“Hey, Xavier! You came to join the dojo?”

“Nah, just needed to umm…warm up is all.”

He had previously come to train so he could get closer to Rain. In fact, most of Ron’s friends did. But only Xavier seemed to actually show promise in it. When Rain noticed this, she went all out on Xavier, practically scaring him to death.

If Xavier was that much stronger than Andre, then Rain was that much stronger than Xavier by twofold.

It got to the point that their dad felt sorry for Xavier and was full of understanding when he left.

Xavier was the kind of guy who did well no matter what his job was, but he was very strict on how he should work. If it was too long, he didn’t want it. If he was on his feet for too long, he didn’t want it. If there was too much work, he didn’t want it.

To sum it all up, he just wanted an easy job.

It didn’t help that his old attitude made it hard for him to tell others no. Now that he had some experience, he was rather proficient at telling others no. But this was different.

If he had to actually move around to play Card Battle, he needed to be more agile and mobile. So he came here to work out…

For free.

Duh, why pay for a gym when your friend runs a dojo?

Rain was also a nine in Xavier’s book, missing that 10 mark only because of her demonic personality.

“Oh, it’s Xavier! Wow, you do need to warm up. Hehe, you been getting a little pudgy, huh?”

“I actually haven’t changed physique wise at all these past several years. I just lost some muscle mass.”

“Oh well, I know just the regime for you!”

She bounced off as happily as she could.

“Hey, she was down ever since you left. She also started talking about you recently, which was weird.”

“What, is she comparing me to somebody or something?”

“Yeah, to the guy dad wants her to date.”

“Oh…well then…”

“Yeah. Good luck, I haven’t seen her so happy in a long time.”

“Damn.”

“Haha!”

Ron didn’t have to worry about his sister since she was free to do what she wanted. And if some guy broke her heart, then she would just break their face.

However, someone was being negative.

“Hmph. I don’t think you have to train here.”

“Huh? What, you jealous? Hehe.”

“What? No! Not at all! You must be crazy! Why would I ever be”

“You…went too far there. You aren’t really jealous, are you?”

For some reason, Erva actually blushed. It wasn’t that she liked Xavier like that, but she was supposed to be his guide. Since this other girl appeared, Erva almost thought that Rain was going to be the one Xavier listened to.

“Huh? What does body movement have to do with Card Battle? She helps me stay in shape and you help me with Card stuff. Doesn’t that seem right?”

“My bad.”

“Hehe, no worries. I actually thought you were afraid I was not going to like you anymore or something. Haha!”

As Xavier went to the hellish practice, almost puking out his lunch, Erva watched and contemplated her feelings for Xavier.

He was indeed the strongest and wittiest Summoner she had seen, and even though he was fast, he still had a handsome face. It was just a little flabby.

Wait, why was she thinking about his looks? He only thinks about money, why would she be interested in such a guy?

Maybe because in him lies hope for her people. She spends most of her waking life now dedicated to making sure Xavier will go on to save her planet.

The special limited time events that take place in the game are none other than Monster tides being led by Dorminus. Those massive 10 Star Monsters or Villains that people must band together to defeat are the strongest forces of his.

If these players didn’t exist, then Gargua would have already perished!

Earth was the only planet that could interact with the Ellonite and communicate with Gargua. Because of this, the people of humanity were trying their hardest to save another planet.

But no one would believe the far out idea of another planet asking them for help.

‘Cha, dude, sounds like a most radical game, though,’ was all it took to create Card Battle.

But there were people in the world that were good but only focused on earning money! So the Ello Co. tried to incorporate a new plan to make these amazing players become involved and save Gargua.

The month long ban for Xavier’s old account was only a front to help his guide have enough time to convince him about the truth. After that, Ello CO. would give him back his old account and he could have both accounts, increasing his ability to save Gargua.

Ello Co. set up the exchange ratio of 10 to 1 to help advertise the game and promote more people to come and participate. If they didn’t do at least this, Dorminus would already be on his way to attack Earth!

After the workout, Xavier was dry heaving out back.

“Hehe, it looks my sister has found her future husband. I don’t think she goes as hard on anybody except you!”

“Hah…hah…I’ll…hah…kill…hah…you…”

“Sure you will. Anyways, is that the new Battler? I noticed you kept it on during the entire time. Is it all that special?”

“Can’t…take…it…off…”

“Oh. Okay, then.”

Xavier was about to crawl back to the bus stop, but Ron suggested he stay at their place tonight.

Xavier wasn’t going to refuse free food.

Later, everyone was sitting around the dinner table watching the TV on the wall. Suddenly, a local news broadcast interrupted the action series they were watching.

“Please be on the lookout for this man, Andre Gonzales. He is charged for extortion, evasion of the police, breaking and entering, and theft of criminal evidence. He was last known to be at a residential building being rented to a Xavier Lars. If you happen to have any information on the suspect, please call the number now.”

Everyone at the table looked over at Xavier who was frozen in the middle of eating his spaghetti. Unlike her husband or children, Mrs. Schmidt was portly woman who probably ate just as much as the rest of the family but didn’t work any of it off.

She reached for the remote and muted the TV.

“Umm…I guess it’s a good thing I didn’t go home today. And that I have insurance…”

“Is this why you were warming up?”

“Ron, no! I already told you it was for Card Battles!”

“Now, now, what all happened?”

Xavier spilled the beans on what had happened the day before, and the others were all confused. How did this guy leave after he was detained by the police? How did he know where Xavier lived? They had no clue, and were completely worried.

“You can stay in the guest room until this all blows over.”

“Alright, sorry to bug you guys.”

“No! you’re not bugging us at all, sweetie! Why, you’re one of Ron’s friends!”

“Thanks, Mrs. Schmidt.”

“No problem at all.”

“Hehehe, I bet sis is happy about this.”

“Shut up, you brat!”

“Haha!”

Ron had a class in the morning, so he was able to take Xavier to work. The Schmidts did not want Xavier to go on the bus, especially if that guy was still around.

But now Xavier’s routine was messed up. What would happen now?

 

Alright, that's it for tonight.

 

Where can i get more?

 

Soon I will update more. I forgot about this.

 

Chapter 6

After Xavier was dropped off for work, with a huge container of food for lunch thanks to Mrs. Schmidt, he got through his usual routine. However, just as he was about to leave, stomach full from the spaghetti, he was stopped by a tall man with dark brown hair.

He wore a casual outfit, but walked like a cop, something Xavier had seen many times thanks to all his troubles he saw when he was hanging out down town.

“Hello, I am Detective Fulmer. I am wanting to know if you are Xavier Lars.”

“Nope, he just left on his friend’s truck.”

“Well, let him know that I wanted to speak with him.”

“Why? You trying to find him so that man from the news can hunt him down?”

“No, not at all. I am working alongside the police since this regards some…delicate topics. If it gets out, there might be a problem. For example, there might be a problem coming after you, Mr. Lars. I’m not stupid.”

“Alright, let’s go over here.”

“Thank you. Now, have you ever met this man?”

The detective held up an image of a normal looking man about mid 30s with a receding hairline. He could fit in at a parent’s PTA meeting.

“No, should I?”

“He is Roger Selvin. He went missing for weeks and then just popped up again under the alias Victor Kraus. He somehow worked his way into the police department and saw Andre Gonzales long enough to release him from custody and let him have access to private documents. It’s how he found your house.”

“Oh. But besides the obvious conspiracy issues, what else is he in trouble for? If I suddenly meet him in a back alley, I need to know whether to shoot on sight or call the police.”

“Well, we found Roger’s body this morning in a ditch off the side of I80. He had no obvious external wounds and had a mark on his wrist that looked similar to…a Battler.”

“What? That’s oddly specific. What’s that got to do with anything?”

“People with those special new Battlers have been coming up dead or missing. The police and I just wanted to warn you.”

“This…this is a lot of info. What do you want?”

“Well, we wanted to tail you and see if Andre comes after you again.”

“Ah, be the bait, huh? Maybe then you would get the drop on the guy before he attacks again?”

“Yes.”

“Okay, give me a ride to the City Park. It’s where I met Andre in the first place. However, at 2, I need to be at a friend’s so I would hope you don’t intrude on them like you do with me.”

“Understood. I am only being paid to follow you, after all. Why do extra work?”

“Exactly. Come on, I want to visit the Dungeons today.”

“Uhh, okay…”

At the park, Xavier had completed the material Dungeon the five times and managed to evolve Puff to 4 Stars!

This time, there was a head poking out of the fluff! As well as a tail! The face reminded Xavier of a turtle, and its body was pink, compared to the purple fluff cloud. The horn looked sharper and Puff’s gaze seemed to be filled with intensity.

Xavier also leveled up the other Beast as well, the See Horse became a Saw Horse as its large eyes were now closed and its body grew little wings on its back. One could even see little tendrils coming down its side like the legs of a centipede.

Since he only had enough materials for one more, he decided to evolve Henry’s regular sword instead of the cutlass. Now all Henry needed was the armor evolved then he would be about as strong as the weakest 5 Star!

The detective sat off to the side and waited patiently, keeping an eye out on his surroundings. When 2 o’clock came, Ron and Rain both showed up, letting the detective know it was time to leave. But just as he left, a new guy walked over to hit on Rain.

“Hey, why hang out with these losers when you can meet a real man!”

“Jason!”

It was actually a classmate of hers from college. He was teasing on the surface, but Ron leaned in and whispered to Xavier.

“He’s a dick. He’s so stupid, he doesn’t realize sis hates his guts.”

It caused Xavier to chuckle which caused Ron to laugh as well. Somehow, it aggravated Jason who didn’t even know what they were talking about.

“HAHA, hey, what’s up, little bro? You gonna fill me in on the new meat?”

“Er…this is a friend of mine from high school, Xavier.”

“Ah, is that a Battler? I haven’t seen another person with one of those in forever! Hey, it actually looks like mine!”

To this, Rain couldn’t help but tilt her head in confusion.

“You play Card Battle as well?”

“Yeah, I make a quick buck this way, but this new device has been cock blocking me this past week. Hey, Hahveeair, let’s try out our new gear!”

Then he grabbed Xavier and it took every ounce of self-control not to just sock the dude in the throat.

“Hey, you got a thing for Rain, huh? I can tell, you know, that great minds think alike kinda deal? Yeah, so here’s the plan. I win, you don’t ever come back around her again. If I could, I would kick out her annoying brother as well, but whatever. You hear me?”

“Sounds pretty hard, since I’m staying over at their place for…indefinitely.”

“Heh, what a pair of balls. Fine, but if I ever see you again, we might not be dealing with this as gentlemen.”

“How about this, I win, you go drown in the pond for a while.”

“You!”

Jason stood straight up, as tall as he could, which was a good head taller than Xavier, who couldn’t grow past 5 feet, 4 inches for the past eight years.

“You’re on!”

The two separated while Ron and Rain sat off to the side to spectate. The MBF activated and the surroundings switched to a craggy flat piece of land near a cliff. It was situated to be directly behind Xavier.

But, because Jason’s place was selected, Xavier now had the ready advantage. But this also meant that Jason could build his team to situate around his own. Xavier had Puff, Henry, and himself as the usual set up.

But when Jason saw the two 4 Star units, he nearly wet himself.

‘How in the world? Did he get lucky? No, maybe he bought the crystals? No! The shop isn’t open for us! How does he have so many strong units?!’

Most people aren’t as talented as Xavier. They would usually need a full team of 4 Star units to try a 3 Star Dungeon. But because of Xavier’s combat ability, he could easily take on his opponents since they had basic movements.

In all the games, you just need to read the patterns!

Jason finally selected his team set up and chose to be on the side with Puff. But his weapon was an extra-long-range bow! This meant he could hit anyone on the field! It looked to be a 4 Star, so it didn’t have a Skill, but his armor was and it should have a defensive Skill.

The Beast that was across from Xavier was a Mega Star Crab. It was a large crab like Beast with a star shaped shell on its back. Star Card Beasts were a funny creature since they depicted what ranking they were on their star.

You could even see three star shaped indentions in the center of the large star.

The star would rotate, becoming something similar to a circular saw blade.

The last was a Hero named Filch, a Thief with dual daggers. Dual Classes were hard to master since you either had two weapons or two Spells. If he had two daggers, then Henry didn’t have to worry about Spells coming his way, just arrows.

The best thing about arrows was that they didn’t give a lot of damage, especially to armored units. And since Jason was going to deal with literally the fastest unit Xavier had, he was going to have his hands full.

The Battle started and Xavier sent his Puff in at once. Henry launched a Fireball at Filch. Instead of firing at either Jason or the Crab, Xavier also targeted Filch with his Thunderbolt. The sooner Henry had his hands free, the sooner he could help Xavier defeat the Crab.

It worked out well, even stunning Jason momentarily and giving Puff enough time to get back a ways. Filch quickly went down since he was only 4 Star and took two strong hits from Spells then got swiped at by a strong sword.

Now Henry could help Xavier defeat the Crab, but Xavier practically ignored it, sending the rest of his attacks at Jason. When he cooled down, he struck at Jason with Thunderbolt, letting Puff get a few quick hits in.

Then, just as Jason was about to fire an attack at Henry, Xavier would throw the Bonemerang and Puff would complement it with his Charge. The duo strike would make Jason stunned momentarily, letting the Bonemerang return and give Puff another hit in. Seeing that the Crab was nearly dead, Xavier swung his blade, tearing the Beast into dust.

Now it was just Jason. He definitely had some defense, but what was his Skill?

It was regeneration! Xavier noticed that Jason had his MP drop and his HP slowly rise.

So that was the Skill! That was a really good Skill!

But it was only delaying the inevitable. Xavier attacked with both his sword and the Thunderbolt, ignoring the drain on his SP and MP. Puff was also overusing his Charge to whittle Jason down to that last sliver as well as disorient the bow user long enough for Xavier to get some more hits in.

Being completely overwhelmed, Jason had no choice but to lose.

There was no crystals this time, but Xavier felt really good, as if a weight was lifted off of his shoulders. He looked back at Ron and Rain, seeing their awed faces.

“So that is a Card Battle. Xavier, teach me!”

“Hehe, were you trying to impress sis? ‘Cause it worked.”

“Hush, you! Wait, were you fighting over me?”

“Nah, I just told him if I won, he needed to soak his head for a while.”

“Oh, then it’s all good.”

“Huh? Sis, wouldn’t you have felt good to have Xavier stick up for you?”

“Why would I need him to fight my battles? I could have just kicked his ass if I wanted to. Although I almost wanted to.”

“Hurk!”

Jason, hearing that the girl he was crushing on was so open, just left. He had embarrassed himself with a children’s game. He decided it was about time to put this thing away and grow up. If he stayed with this, he might just embarrass himself even more.

>>><<< ​

“I found you, but there’s too many people. Hmm, let’s deal with the straggler…”

Later, Jason was hopping out of his rugged car with peeling paint and fast food cups littering the floorboards and walked over to the dorms located at his college. But, he noticed someone was at his car when he turned around to lock it.

“Hey, who are you?”

“Just a Battler.”

“Look man, I quit. I don’t Battle anymore.”

“Too bad.”

Then, a purple light came from the man’s wrist and enveloped Jason, changing the surroundings to a completely dead wasteland that even had skeletons of large unknown animals everywhere.

“Welcome to the Graveyard. Like it? It shall be yours.”

“What?! What do you mean?!”

Jason felt a tingling in his arm and looked at the Battler. Where the logo was located was a small purple X as if it had the device locked down.

“Come on, let me go!”

“Only if you win.”

“Fine!”

The man called forth three Monsters that all looked like shadow versions of some normal Beasts that Jason had previously seen.

“Monsters? Is that some new update? Hey, this doesn’t seem right! Never has anyone played as Monsters! Those belong to Dorminus!”

“And his followers…”

Jason felt legitimately scared, so he actually used another Beast instead of fighting himself. Plus, long range didn’t work with any of the Monsters the man had.

“Smart, I guess now you get to live.”

“Huh?”


“GO!”

The Monsters all attacked at once, completely decimating all of Jason’s units. However, when they lost, they didn’t turn into particles, their bloody carcasses remained, searing the images of his units into Jason’s mind.

He saw Filch get ripped in half, his organs spilling everywhere and making Jason puke. His Star Crab had its star ripped off and used to cut its legs off, making the upside down Crab beg for its life to be taken. His other Beast, one that was a little weak, had its head popped off like a toy, the spinal cord shining brightly with almost no blood on it.

Jason fell over, and tried to walk away, to remove himself from the nightmare that was the Graveyard. But, the scene never ended. In fact, no matter how far he went, he never hit anything like a wall or another car.

But he was smack dab in the parking lot!

He was not on earth anymore!

Jason collapsed onto the floor and cried. He finally looked up to see the face of the man.

“You! You’re the guy from the news!”

“What are you doing? We’re not finished. You still have units to fight with.”

“NOOO!”

 

Now I remember why I waited. The story took a surprising turn and I was waiting for someone to enjoy the story or give their response...Oh well. Sorry for the twist, but it probably gets more dark, as you might guess. I have two more, and will post them soon.

 

Chapter 7

Xavier and the siblings went back to the dojo where the rest of the day was spent getting Xavier back into shape. He did slightly better today, but he still ended up discharging the contents of his stomach.

Later that night, Rain convinced Xavier to help her learn how to play. However, what she really wanted was that amazing hologram battle, not the mobile game. It was this reason that Xavier said they would visit Ricky tomorrow.

The siblings were actually kind of excited, going to go see an amazing place dedicated to Card Battle. Eventually, everyone went to sleep before Ron took Xavier to work again. But when everyone met up at the park again afterwards, Rain had actually brought a familiar person.

Ron was the first to speak.

“Hey, what happened to you, Jason? You look like you have seen a ghost.”

“W…wor…worse…it was…the Devil…”

Xavier noticed that Jason didn’t have his Battler anymore.

“Hey, what happened there?”

“He, no…IT took it…”

“The Devil?”

Jason slowly nodded his head. The four got back into Ron’s large truck and drove downtown.

“He…found me at my house. When we fought, we went somewhere weird and I couldn’t leave! It was like we teleported!”

As Jason began speaking, instead of breaking down, he actually became more coherent and animated.

“There were three! Three Monsters! They were the Dizzy Tree, the Poison Toad, and the Kraken! The Kraken is actually a 5 Star Monster!”

Unlike Card Beasts, Card Monsters were extremely powerful.

And unavailable.

They were the antagonists of the Card Battle game and set in motion the supposed plot of the story. Normally, these Villains and Monsters were incredibly strong, requiring many people to attack them in a row.

These events could be related to those sudden BOSSes that appear in similar games. But because these BOSSes are tough, many people will invite their friends to help.

But what about in real life?

Xavier was extremely confused, especially since after Elva heard the story, she left. Why? Why would a program be so disastrous? Why would Ello Co. do such a thing to their players?

Unless…it wasn’t Ello Co.’s doing. A rival company! They must be trying to undermine Ello Co.’s products!

Well, not really, but this was how the normal Xavier wished to interpret it.

“In that weird world, it was like the normal rules of Card Battle didn’t apply! I saw the two lower Monsters team up against my Star Crab at the same time! You can’t afford to battle him, he claimed that I would die if I had actually battled!”

This brought Xavier some distress. People like that guy who impersonated a cop who were found dead made the claim of people dying seem almost real, but if a rival company did indeed want to destroy Ello Co.’s popularity, then this was going too far.

Maybe if it was only a threat? Sure, he may have said Jason would have died, but what if that was just another really good hologram.

“Plus, no matter how far I moved, I still couldn’t find anything from the parking lot! And after the battle was over, I was back where I had started! Speaking of, he didn’t let me go until I had run out of units to battle with! If I had one more, I would have been forced to fight him!”

Okay, so it was definitely getting harder for Xavier’s rival company idea to take flight, but he still tried to. Maybe the hologram was so good it messed with Jason’s mind, making him think that he was moving? But…why did he have to fight til the last unit?

“As a reward, he stole my last Beast, making my Battler grow dark and break off! I don’t know what happened after that, though. He made it seem that he was going after Battlers, so I came to warn you.”

“Wow, then thanks. I guess you aren’t a bad guy after all.”

“That is because he’s Andre from the news! He’s after you!”

Everyone stared in shock and Ron nearly hit a car coming from the opposite way. When he swerved, everyone returned to reality and sweated profusely.

What the hell?! How did Andre do this?! Wait, that guy from the detective’s story. Could he have been from the rival company? But why give it to Andre? Why not do it himself?

Why give a psychotic person this power?!

They eventually came across the rec center and got out, heading for the back where Ricky was. Several guys whistled at Rain, but she ignored them…

Until she saw the boxing ring.

“Ooh! I’m going to go spar for a bit! See you later!”

“Wait, I thought you wanted to see Card Battles, sis!”

“Maybe later, after I kick all their butts!”

This made Xavier laugh and Jason tilt his head. Ron decided to stay with his sister and Xavier and Jason were left alone.

“Hey, why did you guys come here?”

“To teach Rain how to Card Battle. But if she wants to actually fight, then we can just wait, it shouldn’t take too long. In fact, I was thinking about going to the garden again since I’m here. Why don’t you follow me?”

Jason was clearly older than Xavier, but he felt incredibly younger than the guy. Now that his Battler was gone, he realized how much fun he was having with the game. Even if all he did was earn money, he actually enjoyed the strange sensation that he was competing with someone like in a cartoon.

However, his dreams were dashed before he even dreamed them.

“Well, there is also the Battle Room here that Ricky watches over. You should check it out once you unlock your previous account. You can use it to fight just like your Battler.”

Jason immediately felt his eyes water for some odd reason. He felt like he had nearly been killed last night and couldn’t fall asleep due to the torture. He looked around the nice garden and made a decision.

He would try harder next time! With this idea, Jason felt a strange feeling exiting his body as sleep overtook him.

Xavier, however, was startled to see a purple gas exit his body. It seemed to chase after Xavier, but the perimeter glowed, sending green streaks at the gas, making it disappear. An alarm sounded that still couldn’t wake up the sleeping Jason.

But it woke up Ricky. He rushed outside to see two people in the garden.

“Sorry, I forgot to ask for permission.”

“Was he playing Card Battle?”

“No? But a strange gas came out of him and some weird light show just happened.”

Ricky’s face paled and then changed into a smile as he grabbed his phone and quickly dialed a number.

Several minutes later, Detective Fulmer appeared.

“Huh? You know this guy, Ricky?”

“Yeah, he’s a member of the Ello Co. staff. He is the one I call if something goes wrong. You could even call him the I.T. guy.”

“Uhh…”

Everything seemed to be going crazy to Xavier, as too many things were happening. First was Andre attacking his house. Next was the weird guy who gave Andre the new Battler. Then Jason’s story. And now there was this mess!

The detective saw both Jason and Xavier, recognizing them both. But when he heard the story from Xavier, of the Battle and the smoke, his face darkened as he led Xavier away. Some men in white lab coats grabbed Jason, following behind.

Ron had actually joined in with Rain to challenge most of the guys in the center. No one was angry, because Rain was too pretty, but they were still aggressive to her brother. They had no idea what was even going on.

Fulmer tilted a framed certificate belonging to Ricky that was in his office. A rectangular indention appeared on the wall, receding and becoming a weird room.

“Uhh, Ricky? When were you a secret spy?”

“Hehehe, trust me, this is going to be awesome.”

Fulmer, Ricky, and Xavier were the only ones to enter the room, the men in white and Jason had to wait. The elevator only had so much room.

Yes, it was an elevator. There were buttons.

Just two, though.

BF and XF.

“Hey, I planned on adding more floors, so the B stands for Base Floor. The X, however, is that ‘X marks the spot’, indicating a treasure! I thought of the idea myself!”

Ricky was a wonderful person, if a little boastful. He was naïve and proud, but he didn’t have a mean bone in his body. He did throw tantrums every now and then. This usually led to him breaking something he liked and crying about it for several days.

Because of his personality, the people at the center mainly just let him be. He funded the place, not ran it. That was left to some capable people that worked for Ricky. Ricky was more of a founder.

After a couple of minutes, the three had reached the bottom floor. They got off and allowed the elevator to return upstairs. It seemed that this was the main way for people to get down here.

Or so Xavier thought. When he looked around, all he saw was a strange large tube that laid in a groove that extended down a long and unending tunnel. The tube had a door that was open, and the three sat inside. They all waited for the others to join them before moving.

The tube seemed to be some sort of transport and they went incredibly fast.

Not even five minutes later, they arrived at their destination. The men in white carted off Jason to a hall that had more men in white. However, Xavier was too busy staring at the place they were at to notice.

It was like a massive terminal that had branching tunnels going in every direction, each leading to a separate location that Ello Co. probably owned. There were many people walking around in strange uniforms and green lights filled everywhere.

“Good, we can finally talk again.”

“Huh? Elva? What’s going on?”

“I had to go to the higher ups and request for you to become in the know. It took a while, but it worked. Now you will know that this isn’t just a game.”

Even though Elva’s words sent a chill down his spine, her face seemed incredibly bright and happy.

“Mr. Lars, this way.”

“Right.”

“Hey, remember me? I’m Ricky, the guy who”

“Yes, yes, I remember. Please leave me alone.”

Ricky had walked over to Elva, making it known that she could be seen by people here just like the Battle Room and the garden. However, she moved away from Ricky and actually reached for Xavier’s arm.

When he felt her body, he jumped in shock!

“You! What?! How?!”

She covered her face in a giggle and grabbed his arm more firmly, not letting him go.

“This place holds more power to connect our worlds than the Battle Room or garden. Here, we can even make contact! Isn’t that swell?”

Xavier blushed, but then remembered something.

“Hold on…”

He looked at his Battler and called out Henry and Puff.

Elva seemed disappointed that Xavier had quickly ignored her, but was happy that he didn’t shrug her off.

“Shit, she’s definitely a ten. Now I have to ask her out. But this is too confusing, I need to wait. But first, a distraction from her boobs that keep rubbing against me…not that I mind…”

“Hmm? Boss, is this?”

Henry had started to walk around, ecstatic that he could interact with things now. Puff walked over and cuddled Xavier’s other hand, nearly stabbing into his arm by accident.

“Great, with this, if those stories are indeed true, we can train better and be prepared.”

Even if Xavier had created some sort of believable story, he still liked the idea of the possibility of things like aliens and other planets with monsters and magic to be real. Thus, he had already made plans on what he would do if he had indeed gotten into a fight with Andre. But now, he could easily prepare his units to fight!

But where were they all going?

 

Chapter 8

“Xavier, this is the true Ello Company. It is actually a group of people dedicated to helping Gargua defeat Dorminus. Thanks to the knowledge Gargua has of the Ellonite, the Ello Company advanced technology by leaps and bounds.

“Thanks to our guidance, we helped the Ello Company create the Battlers, devices that could simulate battles taking place on Gargua. However, Dorminus also sent some servants to Earth in order to stop you from helping us. These are the Beckoners. They entice others to follow with their seductive words.

“We believe one of Dorminus’ followers has corrupted Andre and is using him to attack the new Battlers.”

“Why are these Battlers important?”

“We need the data they hold in order to help train and understand more of the capabilities of the Ellonite contained within. For example, take the location we’re in right now.”

Xavier looked around at the terminal room, seeing the various staff members going places with little Beasts and Heroes following them around. There was even some kids happily playing with them as well.

“Kids?”

“…They are the orphans caused by this war.”

“Huh? They’re from Gargua?”

“No. From Earth. There are people dying because of Dorminus happening around you.”

Xavier began to realize that things weren’t as normal as he had suspected. He now knew he was embroiled in something he had no control over. Even if he wanted to run away and hide, he would still be aware of what was going on.

But he wasn’t the kind of guy to run. Plus, he had nothing to do anyway. All he did was go to school to get a high paying job so he could live leisurely. If he died saving the world, this new life would be worth far more than his old life of earning money for no reason.

“So should I just spend all my money on crystals?”

“No, even if you did, it would not mean anything from now on.”

“Why?”

This time, Detective Fulmer spoke up.

“Because you’re getting an upgrade.”

Ricky’s guide, the butler named Gregory, was walking with them as well. Ricky just called him G, affectionately.

“Master, might I suggest you explain something to Sir Lars?”

“Nah, he’s cool. I bet he can already understand what’s going on.”

“Easy for you to say, you’ve already been through it.”

“Hehe, I still am. Even I still can’t wrap my head around most of this stuff.”

The group walked on, but Xavier noticed that Fulmer didn’t have a guide, much less a Battler.

“So only some people can get Battlers?”

Fulmer looked at Xavier sideways, keeping his head looking forward as he spoke.

“It all depends on your skill. Even if you have money, we won’t just hand you a state of the art Battler. We are running out of resources, after all.”

“So in the game, what are the crystals?”

“Don’t worry, it won’t matter. Like we said, you will be having an upgrade.”

They walked over to a tunnel with many men and women wearing working clothes. Their appearances were dirty and unkempt. Each person seemed to be incredibly tired as if they were the ones who worked the most.

“Welcome to the Workshop. Here, we not only try to incorporate the Ellonite in all manner of technology, but we also build special Garguan tech here.”

A tall rugged and bearded man had walked forward, greeting the crew and bringing them to a strange machine. If Xavier had to describe it, he would have claimed it looked like some strange arcade like contraption that measures punching power.

But instead of a punching bag, there was a platform that Xavier was to use as an arm rest. Once he placed his Battler on the little area, the machine sent a green light, making the Battler come off. The machine grabbed his Battler and removed it.

Xavier felt weird, now that his Battler was off. It was almost like a part of him left with it.

“Don’t worry, we are just going to scan its contents and find suitable units for you.”

The rugged man took it all in stride and happily answered any questions Xavier asked.

“The process scans the information in the Battler and sends it to Gargua. There, they select Beasts that match yours as closely as possible. The same goes for any heroes you have.”

“Huh? But I already have Puff, the Saw Horse, and Henry.”

“Xavier, those are only temporary. They are the programs, the A.I.”

Erva had walked over, draping her arm over Xavier’s shoulder. He still couldn’t get over the fact that she was real and had trouble keeping eye contact.

“So…why are they A.I.s and not you?”

“That’s because I am a guide. With the game, the units you get are actually just part of a game. But now, if you ever get into trouble with Dorminus’ supporters, you can be prepared with stronger units.”

“Oh. Wait, I hope that doesn’t mean you will be fighting.”

“Why is that? Don’t want me to get hurt?”

She giggled, but drew closer in.

“Well, yeah. If you were to die, I would feel really bad. In fact, I would feel really bad that these new units will die if I mess up. I don’t do well with responsibility.”

Erva stopped in surprise, but gently smiled as she patted Xavier’s shoulder. There were times when she thought he was some insurmountable wall, but at times like these, he seemed like a normal person.

At one point, Puff and Henry fizzed away, just like a normal hologram would.

“How come they felt real, even though they weren’t real like you?”

“Because of the Ellonite inside the Battler. It recorded the information of Puff and Henry, making it easy to send them here.”

“Oh.”

The rugged worker spoke up, letting them know the Battler was complete. Before, it was a strange red and blue that looked very American, but now it was green and white. It looked close to Andre’s old Battler, but this looked very…stylized.

“This looks dangerous, why are there so many sharp points?”

It looked like a green triangular shape was raised off of the device, sticking out at obvious points. It even spun, for some odd reason. It reminded Xavier of the Star Crab that Jason used to have.

“Jason! What happened to him?!”

Oops, Xavier forgot about him. It wasn’t that he did on purpose, he just had a lot on his mind.

Fulmer spoke up.

“He was still being messed with by Dorminus. We have found that any who survive an attack from one of his supporters are left broken and defeated. The only way to help them is to first bring them to a sectioned off area like here or the garden at the center.”

Ricky puffed up his chest with pride, even though it wasn’t his creation that saved Jason.

The detective continued.

“Normally, a survivor would need several weeks, maybe even months to recuperate after the procedure to remove the miasma, but this man seemed weird. He had no left over miasma within him and even seemed like he would recover soon! If we can get his help, we may just have a chance to save other survivors!”

Fulmer seemed really excited, so it must have been a personal situation.

Xavier placed the Battler back on his wrist and noticed that his breathing had calmed back down when he did so. If Xavier still had a connection with the Battler during this little moment, then having it be broken would have definitely helped break Jason to pieces.

Xavier started it back up and saw the entire thing glow green from the Ellonite. He took a look at the contents of his deck and was surprised! He had gained another Hero!

Well, a Heroine, this time. Henry had become some extremely enthusiastic guy named David and Puff became a Cloud Horse. There wasn’t a horn, but its body was now covered in a white cloud. Its body was gray, however.

The Saw Horse became an Iridescent Water Flyer, a butterfly that had wings made of multicolored water. Now that it wasn’t some weird bobble head looking anime eye seahorse, Xavier felt a little happy. But he didn’t like the cutesy creatures he had to use.

The new person was a special Job user, just like David’s Magic Knight. Instead of using magic, she dual wielded a blade and a one handed gun. She was a Swashbuckler, a pirate like Job class. Her gun shot off small explosives and her sword was a generic cutlass. Xavier gave her the Pirate’s Cutlass and the Spell, since the gun wasn’t as strong.

Even though she, the mighty and ever stubborn Madam Via, used guns, she was being told to use a Spell?!

“You moron! Even if you are my Summoner, you are taking this too far! Just know that I will not stand for this!”

David walked a little away, not wanting to get hit by all of her spittle flying everywhere.

“Hey, hey, calm down! This is temporary, right, boss? When he gets you an amazing gun, you can use that!”

Xavier looked at David in confusion.

“What did you just call me?”

“Boss? Is there a problem with that?”

“No, it’s just that the program did that, too.”

“Oh, then that’s probably why they selected me! Don’t worry, unlike that game, we Heroes can use anything! So give me some heavy armor! Even if we have some trouble, we can easily prepare and get to use it efficiently.”

Xavier thought of it like his old RPG games he played. Even though they were meant to use something else, they could still level up their skill in other ways. He felt better as he began talking with the Heroes David and Via while petting or feeding the Water Flyer and Cloud Horse.

When they made it back to the terminal, many of the guys in white were acting rowdy, running here and there.

“Mr. Fulmer! He awoke!”

“I’ll be right there! Ricky, take Xavier to the Dungeon back at the center and have him get used to transfers.”

“Okie dokie! See ya later!”

Ricky led Xavier and his units back to the tunnel they had taken to get here and returned to the elevator.

When they left the range of the underground lab, the four units phased back into the Battler. It was almost like they were absorbed inside. Erva remained, but she didn’t seem too happy about not being able to touch Xavier.

The biggest change was that Xavier could now see Gregory without having to be in one of the areas!

“I can see other’s guides?!”

“Yep. Well, only belonging to people who work with Ello Co.”

“Right. So what did that guy mean by transfer?”

The two were walking back outside and noticed it was getting late.

Then, the siblings rounded the corner, both drenched in sweat and laughing at each other.

“Hey, sorry we took so long, these guys didn’t let up. Oh, it’s just about time to go.”

“It’s okay, you guys can go back. I plan on making tomorrow my last day for work. Or at least take a break until this fiasco blows over.”

“Right. Come on, let’s go home and eat some more of mom’s cooking.”

At that time, Ron’s phone started to ring.

“Hey Mom, what’s up?”

Suddenly, his face fell and he rushed to go outside.

“Ron, what happened?!”

“Dad has been in an accident! Some guy that was acting suspicious was asking for Xavier so Dad told him to leave! But then the guy stabbed him! Dad’s alright, but the guy got away!”

Xavier nearly fell over, but he caught himself.

Someone had gotten hurt because of him!

“Wait, we’ll take care of it. I know a few guys. Tell me the hospital and I will send a group to watch over them. You guys stay here tonight and we’ll get acquainted over dinner!”

Ricky didn’t mean to, but he had accidently saw Rain’s midriff when turned around really fast, seeing her well-developed muscles. He may have been staring a little hard, gaining an intense glare from her.

“Hehe, we can teach you how to Card Battle!”

“Ricky, I think you might have gotten into some trouble there. You might want me to take care of this.”

“Yeah, since sis likes Xavier!”

“RON!”

Ricky awkwardly laughed to himself as he rushed to go prepare dinner for his guests.

 

Chapter 9

“Hey, where’s Jason?”

Even though she may have not liked him before, he was going through some difficult times and she still knew him from her everyday life. Luckily, before Xavier could come up with a lie, Detective Fulmer walked in leading a very tired looking Jason. His arm was sporting a red and blue Battler, one that looked very familiar.

Ron and Rain greeted him, but then felt something was off. He was silent and staring at Xavier.

“…Thanks.”

“I didn’t do anything, though.”

“No, thanks to you, I figured out what I wanted to do. And now, I can achieve my dream.”

“Uhh, good for you! But, you are going back to Battling?”

“Yes!”

Jason seemed a lot younger, for some reason. His eyes were practically shining and he had a special air around him that was similar to a kid in an amusement park. Apparently, he had already experienced what else the lab had to offer.

Jason followed the others into the dining room and took a seat next to Xavier, which ticked off Rain, as she was trying to get the seat as well. She ended up sitting across from him, which she didn’t mind now that she thought of it.

The two continued to talk about Card Battle and eventually, Rain broke in.

“Can I join?”

“Sure, have you downloaded the app?”

“Yeah, but…”

“Then just follow the tutorial. After that, I can show you the more advanced methods.”

“…Alright.”

Ron chuckled at the depressed Rain, and even Elva was stifling a smile. Then again, only Ricky and Jason could see her. Speaking of Jason, he had gotten his guide to return. The bookish man stood with Ricky’s butler and the two silently watched.

Ron had ended up joining as well along with Rain and the two helped each other out in the beginning. They ended up getting the crystals they needed to obtain their first special 5 Star Card. Jason had to start over, as he had lost all he had, and managed to get a couple more, meaning he got a second 5 Star card.

Rain actually got a Sun Tiger, a powerful fire type Card Beast. That would help immensely in her future. Ron got a Rogue Ronin, a dark swordsmaster. This meant that the person would have better uses out of swords.

Titled Heroes were more like Bandits or Soldiers, as they didn’t really have too much of a personality. However, because it was on the phone, they didn’t have to worry about that kind of stuff and just play.

Jason, on the other hand, managed to get Dunien, a powerful Undine that was just starting their growth. It had the potential of 10 Stars! Water spells would have a greater effect and grants a special ability that it can cast once every battle. Undines could wash away fatigue and refill all allies’ stamina!

However, this also meant that the Rogue Ronin and Sun Tiger had skills!

Sure enough. The Sun Tiger could roar, dealing fire damage to all enemies across the field. The Rogue Ronin would vanish for a few seconds and then come out of nowhere to attack the target for a massive amount.

But that wasn’t all, as Jason also managed to get a Shield of Courage. This was a maxed out shield, so that was unfortunate, but its skill allowed for one of two skills!

This was a special item, as it had an option to it. There was the choice of either healing an ally or defending an ally. Either way, it was a good gain. However, once it was used, you couldn’t use the other skill even if you wanted to. You would need to wait for the item to cooldown before choosing again.

Everyone had their share of Hero and Card Beast, but no one’s stood out. But that was fine, as they only needed a few to get started. That night, after the rich steak and sides Ricky had (someone else) made, everyone went to the garden to train. It was a good night, as the laughs and voices trailed out into the air and mingled.

Xavier had called his work and told them his circumstances, and they were kind enough to let him go that day. He also called his school to see if he needed to go through hoops, but then there was no legitimate answer. It would seem that he needed to go straight to the campus and clear up any mistakes himself.

However, that required he get out of the watchful eye of the Ello Co.

>>>><<<< ​

The next day, Detective Fulmer and Xavier left for his school. There wasn’t a lot going on, so while waiting, Xavier visited the Dungeons at the various points in the school. One was in the library, one was at the entrance, and one was at the statue of the mascot.

It was just a community college, but they had such a long history that the Ello Co. decided to place some Dungeons here. It also increased the amount of players in the area. But Xavier didn’t realize how much.

He hadn’t even been there an hour when someone challenged him to a battle. It was easy to say no online, but in person, who would say what the other person would do?

The Battle wasn’t that hard, as the person wasn’t that skilled, even though they had nothing but Heroes with powerful items. Nothing was lower than 4 Stars, which caused Xavier to have some extra plans in place.

Instead of using the Battler, he sent David, Via, and Cloud Horse into the duel. Mobile battles were different, as the fight happened in real time, not allowing the player to make a lot of commands. But that made it more simplistic.

Cloud Horse was a lot like the Puff, and it showed. The Cloud Horse dashed around, striking its opponent really fast. It was in the center lane, as both David and Via could use magic. The first to go was the center enemy. After that, Via took out her opponent first, and then David won his. The match was relatively equal, if not for the special leader commands he used.

In a mobile battle, the player can decide who the character targets and when they use their skills. In a true Battle, the units rely on their own training to decide when to fight, but this way, it reduces stress on the player who may be involved in the duel.

“Hmm, it probably would have been better to have Via take up the Vanguard’s position so every lane would have two people attacking a lane at a time.”

“Oh, you are right! Thanks for the tip!”

In truth, Xavier was talking about himself, but the other person did not realize as he was too busy dealing with his easy loss. The surroundings were calm and Xavier went back to Dungeoning.

However, a shady person trailed behind him and finally called out.

“Fight me, Battler.”

There was a nasty tone in the person’s voice, so Xavier actually had the thought to run, thinking it was Andre, but when he turned around, it was someone else entirely. However, his blood turned cold when he saw the purple Battler on the stranger’s wrist.

Was this the one that Jason spoke about?!

Suddenly, the scene changed and they were all in some strange place filled with collapsed buildings.

“Welcome to the Ruin. Just like your life, huh?”

“Don’t worry, Xavier! I am getting help!”

“Too bad, girly. You are separated from your precious Gargua. This is one of the fallen planets we have long since taken over. You serve no purpose here, be gone!”

A wave of sinister aura clashed against Xavier and his team, as he had already brought them out.

“Argh!”

“Ah, Boss! What now?!”

“Looks like we fight.”

However, the scene that should have been three individuals fighting three individuals turned into five individuals fighting three. No, make that four.

“You! Have you no shame!”

“Get lost. You shouldn’t have abducted me.”

Sure enough, Xavier had called out both Cloud Horse and Water Flyer as well as David and Via. He donned his equipment and got ready for the fight.

“Grr, despicable!”

Xavier and his team stood before three massive Monsters. They were all 4 Star Monsters, so that was somewhat of a relief. One was a large rat with three noses, similar to a mole. The other two were flying creatures, one was a large wasp and the other was a gigantic vulture.

“So, a Mole Rat, a Shiverwasp, and a Scroungewing. Not bad.”

Xavier sent Cloud Horse and Water Flyer to deal with the Mole Rat, while David and Via slung Spells at the Shiverwasp. That meant Xavier was all alone while fighting the Scroungewing. However, he felt like he knew what he was doing.

It was good that Via had a Spell, as her gun would have been unable to fire that far away into the sky. David would tank the hits and allow Via to get some extra hits off, so they were doing fine.

Cloud Horse was making the Mole Rat focus on it, drawing the agro and letting the Water Flyer pelt the Monster with many long range water attacks. The type advantage was good, which meant that they were okay as well.

But the one in the most danger was Xavier! He had no way of actually getting closer to the Scroungewing, even if he could fire off the lighting Spell or throw the Bonemerang. And unlike the Shiverwasp that needed to attack up close, the Scroungewing could launch wind blades at him, making it very difficult to just throw attacks!

It took a while, and by the time that the others emptied their stamina, the two Monsters were dead. Their large bodies were odd to see for Xavier, but he couldn’t be unfocused. But since Via and David were both out of Mana, they could not help him just yet.

It was looking bad for a little bit, as the Monster could deal more damage than he could deal, so there was the obvious disadvantage. However, the others could then join in to help alleviate the damage. When their health got too low, Xavier sent them away to stay safe. Eventually, the Scroungewing got too tired to keep flying and casting magic, so it landed!

This was their chance!

However, it was targeting Via! She was knew and still needed better equipment, so she was the first to sit out. This also affected her ability to cohesively help the team. So when she saw the large Monster fly towards her, she assumed the worst. But when a large earth wall appeared and blocked the attack, she stared at Xavier in confusion.

She then ran forward and got a few hits in before the thing got back up.

Why did he save her? Wasn’t his life more important? He was necessary to save Gargua, after all. He should have saved the ability for when he was about to die!

The others rushed the fallen Monster and wiped it out. Everyone looked at each other and relaxed, laughing and congratulating each other. But, it wasn’t over.

“Move it, moron!”

For some reason, Via shoved Xavier down. When he looked up, he saw a dagger was stabbed through Via’s stomach.

“Dammit! Well, I will get you now!”

The stranger shrugged off Via and dove for the fallen Xavier, but several attacks hit him at once. David had struck him, while Cloud Horse had kicked him. Even the Water Flyer had spat a stream of water in his face, ripping off layers of skin.

The person became a corpse, and the ruins began to change back into the school campus. Xavier rushed over to the disappearing Via and held her up. Elva and the others were right behind him with concerned faces.

“Don’t look at me like that. This is my duty…I just…”

Then the world shifted and Via and everyone else was gone. Xavier didn’t know what to say, so he stood up and shook himself. He slapped his face a couple times and then looked over to the corpse of the stranger. He had never seen the person before, but the purple Battler was now in pieces.

“Xavier! What…No…One of Dorminus’ men, huh…”

Xavier silently nodded.

Everything went through and Xavier was given the ok to remove himself from school without incurring the wrath of student loan payments.

But he didn’t really care about that anymore, as his thoughts were tumbling. It was now obvious that his situation was even worse than he thought. There wasn’t only Andre, but several people with the power to kill him. But he didn’t expect someone would just attack him in broad daylight.

When he got back to the rec center, the first thing he did was head down to the lab and summon his allies. There, standing amongst everyone else was Via, good as new. She looked embarrassed and didn’t say a word. However, everyone was just happy to see they were all alright.

“Okay, we have to get stronger. And we also need to become used to our teammates, so we can prepare for any problem.”

The Garguans all nodded and Elva draped a hand on Xavier’s shoulder. There was a lot to do, and to have it all lay in this one person’s hands meant that he would have to shoulder a massive burden, and she was going to help him through it.

 

Ah, it feels like I rushed it...I may need to edit Chapter 9 in the future...

 

Thx for the chapters.Where can i read your other works ,that is if you have any.

 

I have an account on rrl if you truly want to check them out, though they are some of my earlier works and probably still need some touching up. Same name as this one, without the underscore