The next day, everyone was waking up to a breakfast of fruit and oatmeal provided by the inn. Everyone was grumbling and groggy except Max, focused like a laser on his mission. Even Wally was subdued, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes. So they all jumped when there was a furious pounding on the door, followed by a jiggling knob.

“AlexJamieLinayougottaopenupwe-” The door exploded open, and Father Mayhew found himself flat on his back, -7 as an array of weapons were pointed at his face. “Uh…hi!?”

“Who’re you?” Max demanded, holding a bottle of something that smoked and bubbled, a phosphorent green emanating from the liquid.

“Ah, it is the Priest. Mayhew, correct?” Alex said pleasantly, as though he wasn’t holding a knife to the man’s throat.

“Y-Y-Yeah!” Mayhew squeaked. Everyone grumbled again and let him up, sheathing or putting back their weapons. Mayhew blinked as he saw a tiny girl glare at him. She pointed two fingers at her eyes, then at him. She slunk back into the room.

“Forgive us. It’s been a trying time.” Alex said smoothly, helping him up and dusting him off. “Ve’re all a little high-strung at the moment, infinitely unaided by a raid during breakfast.” he said, flashing a smile. Mayhew swallowed. Well, his teeth were showing, anyway.

“Sorry, my bad.” They all went in and resumed their meals. “But you need to know, and I didn’t have a way to contact you. The Radiant Dawn guys are making a move. Instead of just downloading and taking over people’s brains, they’re somehow controlling the avatars of RFO!”

“We know.” they chorused. Mayhew stared at Max and Wally. “You told them!?” he screamed.

“Relax man. We’re the ones who found out. His girlfriend died, then this guy in a mask hit her with something, and then her avatar took his commands. She was screaming she couldn’t control it. We barely managed to get away, he had some serious skill, and a level 43 Shifter under his control.” Lina explained. Mayhew frowned.

“I see. This man, did he happen to have any cheat abilities or items, like I have? What was his class, his level?”

“Dunno, when I tried to look at his screen it just came up with question marks. But he didn’t seem to be using any gamebreaker skills, I think.” Jamie said.

“Speak for yourself. I couldn’t follow his sword, and he parried every one of our attacks at the same time. His strength and speed’re insane. He’s gotta be cheating somehow.” Lina put in.

“I see.” Mayhew said, frown deepening. “Of course, if it were one of the Radiant Dawn, it’d be a simple matter to gain skills beyond even what Lucien could do. They’ve got control of the game.”

“Then vhy do they simply not instantly put us all in those cages and be done vith it?” Alex asked. Mayhew’s frown tuned into a grin.

“They would if they could, I’m sure. But that would require a great deal more people and programming then they have at the moment, not from a group who’s only had the game a couple months. Creating a few indestructible cages is easy, creating player-seeking cages for everyone at once is a bit harder. They can’t, uh, it’s, um. Think of it this way. They have control over whatever area of the game they’re looking at the time, our code’s too complicated for much else. And I suspect that they only have access and control, they’re not introducing much new code into RFO. They can manipulate what’s already here, and while that’s huge, that’s about it. I wouldn’t expect them to have much in the way of new stuff, and what they’ve patched in already.” He explained.

“And taking control of avatars?” Max said darkly.

“Normally not possible. From what I’ve seen, they couldn’t directly affect players or avatars without the full scan. But once they do have it, I suppose a program that allowed them to bridge the gap between neuron patterns and consciousnesses would be fairly simple to patch in. I thought they would leave us largely alone, but I guess they can use our avatars if they want to.” he said, brain heating up.

“Mmm. Is it possible to free someone?” Max asked.

“Probably.”

“Probably?” Max frowned his froglike face.

“Well yeah, I’m just a programmer! We were given the rundown of how it works, but I don’t know everything!” Mayhew exploded. “The system was designed to leave no lasting effects, so once everyone’s out they should be back to normal, assuming the Radiant Dawn guys don’t upload their program!”

“And that’s the problem. Did they already do it to Theresa?” Lina asked. Mayhew grimaced and looked away, all the answer they needed. Max was trembling, from rage or sorrow not even he could tell.

“Is…can she be cured?” he choked out.

“Well…” Mayhew looked up, tilting his head back and forth, as if to shake out an answer. “Hmm. It’s not so much a cure, because I’m not sure what they did to her avatar, y’know, specifically. But they can only control bodies when your mind and personality aren’t in it, like in a NeWorld game. I’m not sure if we can do anything in-game, but I suppose it’s possible. If she were ejected from RFO before their programming of everyone else is complete, that might do it.” he reasoned, nodding. “It would be best if we could study what they did, maybe I could do something even in here.”

“Okay. Thanks for that.” Max said, meaning every word. His face and resolve hardened, more determined than ever to follow through.

Once breakfast was finished, it was time to head to the Pineapple Brigade’s guildhall in Ares City, and say goodbye to Wally and Max. The trip was a quiet, somber one, each person ruminating on what they had learned this morning. All the energy seemed to be sucked out of each of them, unable to focus on the uneventful trip. No one could break the heavy mood. And then they got to the hall.

The building itself was five stories tall, painted green for the top floor and golden yellow for the rest. Alex blinked at the strangely-colored architecture, then groaned as he got it.

“Vhy…just vhy.”

“They are called the Pineapple Brigade. Tis a silly place.” Jamie said. Alex shot him and the building a dirty look. They went up and Lina rang the doorbell, then realized every single other door in the game had a knocker.

“Wait-”

The door opened and she found herself in front of a seven-foot avatar, covered in leather armor, his face obscured by a dark hood.

“Oh, hello!” he said in a deep, booming bass voice. “You must be the Cygnus Wing guys, right?”

“Err, yeah.” Max said, taken aback.

“Wonderful! Come in, come in! Did you have breakfast yet? We’re making a lovely quiche at the moment, it’ll be done in ten minutes!” the Brigade member said.

“Gundo! Get your *bleep* over here and help me, this thinnnnng’s-yaaaah!” A five-headed ostrich creature ran by the door, bucking and jumping, a guild member holding on for dear life.

“Oh, please excuse me, tee-hee!” the hooded man tittered, then charged at the ostrich thing screaming bloody murder, launching into a furious assault of punches into each head with his meaty fists.

“Oh, not again!” came from an upper floor, and the group saw a red-clad Magus aim a staff from a window, taking aim and throwing fireballs at the ostrich.

“…vell, it’s official. I hate it here.” was Alex’s only comment. Wally hugged his waist.

“Do I really have to stay here?” she pleaded.

“No, ve’re only using these people’s teleport pad get you to the Cygnus Vings. Hey! Vhere is your teleport pad!” he shouted to the man duking it out with the bird.

“Around back, next to the kitchen! Whoa!” The man ducked a peck, and the party headed inside.

The hall was a straight shot to the kitchen, passing a ballroom, a basketball court, and several explosions behind closed doors. Alex hustled them to the room as directed, where several players were whipping up breakfast for the whole guild.

“Pad’s over there.” a black-clad swordsman in an apron said, pointing a thumb to the door behind him. They nodded and hurried by. Alex opened the door to see a large golden circle on the floor, strange symbols and runes engraved into the wood. Max and Wally stepped onto it, and it glowed, panels coming up to select location.

“Well, this is goodbye.” Jamie said sadly.

“I hope, I hope we can get together again!” Wally sniffed, waving.

“Of course we will. We’ll see you later. Good luck with…everything.” Lina said, and Max nodded gravely.

“Don’t worry. I’ll let the guild heads know about the Dawn guys, and have them disseminate the info quietly.” he said, trying to smile, but couldn’t. Father Mayhew perked up.

“What? Hey, I thought that-!” He was cut off by Allocrax’s arm, wrapped around his mouth.

“Goodbye Maximillian, and good fortune.” He turned to the Priest. “Don’t be foolish. The situation has changed. Ve do not have much time left, and ve’re going to need all the help ve can get. I for vun vant a whole army at my side, rather than not. I have a plan.” he said sternly. Mayhew shivered and ceased his arguments and struggling; that tone broke no argument.

“Bye-bye! See you later!” Wally waved as their forms glimmered, fading away.

“Later!” Jamie said, and the two disappeared into the ether. He sighed at a job well done. Alright. Now, Mt. Skyshear.”

“Mt. Skyshear?” Mayhew struggled free from Alex. “Why’re you going there?”

“For me, basically. I lost my armor to that masked guy, need to get something primo to replace it with. Jamie said nothing’s better in the game, so there’s where we go.” Lina said sourly.

“I see. Make sure it doesn’t come back to bite you, good luck. Try to make it quick, and not die.” Mayhew said, trying to run off. Alex grabbed him by the collar and pulled him back.

“Oh no you don’t. Since ve’re trying to help you, you’re going to help out as vell. It vould be most advantageous to have a Priest around to heal us. Understand?” Mayhew’s eyes went wide.

“W-What! Y-You want me to go to Mt. Skyshear!?” he yelped.

“Yes. Vhy? Vhat is wrong? Vhy do you all react like that?” Alex asked. Father Mayhew sighed.

“Mt. Skyshear is home to some of the strongest mobs in Real Fantasy Online. The minimum level there is 60, with swarms of hopping grandmaws and griffons to raid boss level enemies like Pitriev, Scourge of the Waste. Did you see any of the big enemies yet?” Jamie asked Alex.

“There vas that skull-thing vith the hat. He vas like eight feet tall, that’s pretty big.” Alex said, cocking an eyebrow. Jamie shook his head.

“No, the greater ghast was still relatively normal sized. More like the prime mandragora. Raid bosses are typically huge, often twenty, thirty feet tall.” he explained.

“The King of Abaddon was twenty-five feet tall and thick as a brick, with a sword eleven feet long. Lucien killed him, but I remember how high and much he had to jump to even hit a vital spot. The rest of us were literal ankle-biters, chopping at his legs until he kneeled so we could wail on him.” Lina said, punching her palm.

“I see. So? I still don’t see the problem.” Alex said.

“What do you mean, so!? If we go there, I’ll get killed! And in case you forgot, that is a very very bad thing right now!” Mahyew said. Alex stared at his shoulder, looking at the popup of Mayhew’s stats.

“Hmm. Level 40. Vhat level are you at, Jamie?” he said.

“28.”

“32 for me.” Lina added.

“And I,” Alex said, bringing up his own menu “am level tventy-vun.” He was so proud. Mayhew stared in horror at the overconfident vampire.

“Are you insane!? There’s no way you can make it through! Not Mt. Skyshear! Even Lucien has trouble with it, I don’t think he’s made it to the top yet!” he exclaimed.

“Oh, ye of little fortitude. Did you think I vas not avare of this? No, my…deficiencies in this vorld are plain and clear. However, I have three things going for me. Vun, you programmers did your job almost too vell, this game can allow me to do nearly any thing I could in the reality, and several things beside. Vith my cunning mind, I can take full advantage of that.”

“Also his humbleness and humility.” Lina added dryly. Alex ignored her.

“Two. I plan to cheat. Even if ve could meet the challenges head-on, it vould take far too much time. No, this trip vill be necessary for victory.”

“And three. I am not alone. I have companions who vill be of use, a most unusual circumstance I assure you, even if I must forge them into worthy fighters myself. And, most importantly…” He pulled Mayhew’s head down to meet his burning red eyes and grinned, wide and sharp. “Ve vill have vun of the game devs vith us, so ve vill be armed vith foreknowledge and inner vorkings of the virtual system. Get it now?”

“Oh no.” he said in a small voice. “B-But I didn’t work on Mt. Skyshear, I only know so much about it!”

“Oh? So it sounds like you can guide us through some of it, an advantage that ve cannot ignore.” Alex said, still grinning. Mayhew had never seen such an evil sight. “Right?”

“Sounds right to me.” Lina agreed.

“S-Sorry. B-But we really could use help, and a healer.” Jamie apologized. Mayhew moaned.

“You’re despicable.” he muttered. Alex shrugged.

“I said I vould cheat.

--------------------------------------------------------------

From the mansion, Alex had accumulated about 20,000 gold, with 15,000 in trade items. After purchasing cold-weather and mountain-climbing gear for the group, he had roughly 10,000 left.

“Are you sure about this?” Lina asked, tugging on her new black cloak over her thick mossfur coat. Everyone was outfitted in black, much to her consternation. Sure, it went with everything, but he’d wanted to style them like a band of Goths.

“Of course! Anything to help my team!” Alex said irritatingly cheerfully. Lina grumbled. “Silence, voman. This is vhat you vanted, this’s vhat you’re going to get.”

“Me’n my big mouth.” she muttered ruefully.

“Looking sharp, young man! Very hip and stylish! Cat’s pajamas for sure!” he gave a thumbs-up to Jamie, sporting black fur-lined cloak, shirt, and gloves.

“Eh…I feel a little silly, if everyone’s dressed like this…” he said, adjusting his new accoutrements.

“Ve are the victorious Vampires! Ve need solidarity if ve are to be a team.” Alex said.

“Black clothing doesn’t exactly scream ‘uniform.’ A little too simple, and common besides. Check out that guy.” Lina pointed to a man clad all in black leather, a curved sword on his back and his hood up, and unearthly blue aura wafting like steam off his blade, the only thing visible of his face eyes glowing the same color. Alex snorted.

“Pish-posh. Ve are much more vampiric in appearance than that fool.”

“How d’you figure?” she asked.

“Ve have capes or other long, flowing raiment.” He left Lina confused with that and turned to Jamie. “All right. If you vant to learn how to comport yourself like me, the first lesson vill occur vhen ve get out of town. Alright?”

“Alright?” Jamie agreed doubtfully. What did he mean by that? “Why not here though?”

“Patience. All shall be revealed on the road.”

They met up with Father Mayhew on the path outside the Ares City gate, loaded with sacks of supplies. Lina raised an eyebrow.

“Don’t you have an inventory menu?” she said.

“Yes, I do. I also have it filled up with special items, and had to buy potions. This one’s light to full HP, this one’s the MP bag.” he said, holding them up, marked by red and blue crosses.

“And that one?” Jamie pointed to the bag at his feet, twice the size of the other two.

“That one? Single-use spell crystals. I took a look at the spells you guys had available and selected, and well…” He tilted his hand from side to side.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry!” Jamie bawled while Lina scowled.

“I took the best spells I could, not my fault the Knight doesn’t get much.”

“I know, we had to balance them best we could. Still, the Magus and Raider list,”

“-is fine the vay they are. Ve have vhat ve need, and that is all.” Alex said with finality. The Priest shrugged.

“Suit yourself, I spent nearly all the gold I gave myself on these things. We’ll be able to literally hurl high-power spells at enemies. Should be enough to clear the mountain, maybe make a dent in the Tower.”

“Wait-the cheapest spell crystal’s a thousand gold for even a Tanglegrass spell.” Jamie said, eyeing the bag. “H-How many crystals did you get?”

“All the ones the stores had. 873 crystals.” Mayhew said nonchalantly. The Vampires stared at him.

“M-Minimum would b-be 873,000 gold, and t-that’s for cheap stuff. The h-highest level spell’s nearly a million!” Jamie exclaimed.

“Didn’t know you had such deep pockets, moneybags.” Lina marveled.

“Don’t be surprised. I managed to program a couple things for Father Mayhew before I jumped in, and adding six zeroes to the end of my gold amount was trivial.” He held up a card. It was solid black, with RFO’s logo engraved on it.

“A…charge card?” Alex said in disbelief.

“A card given only to those who can afford it. When you get to a high enough level, and start both accumulating and spending thousands upon thousands, instead of digging through all your gold and counting it out every time, just give one of these to the shopkeep and it’s automatically deducted from your inventory. Just another sign of mastery and being an elite in Real Fantasy Online.” he said smugly.

“Another thing you automatically programmed for yourself, you mean.” Lina said, and he deflated.

“Yes, well…anyway! It’s nearly empty now, and thank goodness for that. I’d hoped I wouldn’t have to use it, but I can throw it away now.”

“Huh? Why?” Jamie asked. Mayhew looked away shiftily.

“Erm, ehh…these special items I programmed, I had to make ‘em on the fly so I don’t have many of them, and they’re not exactly kosher here.”

“Huh?”

“Every item that isn’t supposed to be in the game I use, every time, introduces…fluctuations in the code. Not only can the Radiant Dawn guys track those mishaps, but such use can produce glitches. Last time, my avatar froze and rebooted, causing every pillow in a twelve-mile radius to flip over.” The Vampires all tilted their heads at that.

“That honestly doesn’t sound that bad.” Alex said.

“True, I got lucky. But think about this; instead of every pillow flipping over, it was every player.” Mayhew said dryly.

“Ah.”

“A couple should be more reliable, they’re basically scaled-up versions of existing items, like the card. Low chance of failure. But stuff like the Gravity Rod…eh.” The Pries tilted his hand again. “I don’t like to use ‘em unless there’s no other choice.”

“I see, that’s why all the spell crystals.” Lina nodded.

“Yup. Now, I know I have a teleport crystal in here somewhere…” Mayhew trailed off, digging through the bag.

“Indeed. Vhile he’s getting that, I believe I promise da lesson, didn’t I?” Alex said to Jamie, who eagerly nodded.

“Yeah! I don’t know how we’re gonna do this, but I’m ready to-” Alex’s fist smacked into his face, knocking him down. -20.

“Hey!” Lina cried, but Alex held his hands up, eyes never leaving Jamie.

“Vhy are you still on the ground?” The Magus looked up to see the bottom of a boot coming at his face. He cried out and rolled away. “Good, but not good enough. Get up!”

“W-Wha, w-w-why-” Jamie sputtered as he scrambled to his feet.

“Look out!” Alex’s fist hurtled at his face like a meteor again, and Jamie screwed Sahalazar’s eyes shut. The impact never came.

He cracked an eye to see the fist in front of his face, Alex looking up at him sternly. “Vhy did you stop?” he asked calmly.

“B-B-Because you were gonna h-hit me!” Jamie said.

“So…?” Alex said with a raised eyebrow.

“Huh?”

“Just because I am going to hit you, doesn’t mean you can stop moving.” Alex put his fist down and drew himself up. Jamie felt smaller, despite being in a taller body. “I do not hit you because I vant to, I attack because you must learn to deal vith adverse situations.”

“B-But I kinda don’t know how to-”

“I am avare.” Alex cut him off, with a gaze like crimson steel. He sighed and relaxed, helping Jamie to do so. The vampire stared across the sightline of Ares City, ruminating on the soldiers he had trained over the years. “My lad, there is no vun vay to be a man. There is no vun vay to victory. *bleep*, I’m not even sure if there is vun myself! Tell me, vhat does being a man mean to you?” he asked.

Jamie considered the question. He suspected it didn’t mean just being the right age.

“I guess…being a man is being able to stand up for yourself.” he said at last. Alex nodded.

“That is part of it, certainly, physically or not. But allow me to tell you vhat I think is a man. A real man is vun who can be relied upon. By others, by himself. No matter vhat, a man has the capability to handle nearly anything, vhether he has been given the tools or not.” He stared at Jamie with an even gaze, not judging, not condescending. “Can you be relied upon?”

Jamie bit his lip, trembling. He wanted to say yes. But he could only say what he felt to be true, half bitterly, half sadly.

“No. I don’t think so.” He couldn’t meet Alex’s eyes. Suddenly, he felt a slap on his back, -5.

“Hah! That’s the truth. But don’t vorry so, young vun, don’t vorry! You’re vhat, fifteen? NO vun can be exclusively relied upon at such an age, even back in the day! There is time. It is not something you are taught, per say. It is something you learn from experience. And I vill help you.” Alex said, grinning. Jamie gave a small smile back.

“Um, still want me to use this?” Father Mayhew asked, holding up a blue orb. Did these people always attack each other and talk about it afterwards?

“Qvite, yes. Our business is concluded, for now.” Alex said. They gathered around the crystal. Lina nudged Alex.

“I’m impressed. Since when’re you good with kids?” she asked playfully. “Would’a thought an old man like yourself would’ve hated it or been clueless.”

“Don’t be ridiculous. I am good at everything.” he dismissed, but she could detect the hint of pleased pride in his voice, before they were whisked away.