The Challenger

"If you won't back down, then you leave me no choice, kid." Zene said.

"What rules will we use?" Jon replied.

"I prefer standard engagement." Zene answered.

"How do I know you won't cheat, hacker?" Jon retorted.

"I already told you, kid. I'm not a hacker. And the name's Zene, so stop calling me one. It's just rude."

"Yeah, well my name isn't kid. It's Jon. But you can call me the champion, because in a few minutes, I will be. Now, you claim you're not a hacker. But if you aren't how did you get into my cyber-field, huh?"

"I have a friend on the outside. Her name's Jenn. I'm not a hacker, but you're right. I got help entering the field."

"HA! So you are here against the rules!"

"Well, yeah, but I'm here for a reason, kid. You think that Able-Ward is the path to fame? To fortune? To recognition? Well, I've got news for you... Jon. It ain't so simple. If you get the high score here, you're gonna be bringing more trouble your way that you can possibly imagine."

"And if I don't, I'll be giving up my life. I'll be giving up everything I've worked for. I can't just stop here. Not now."

"Yeah, I heard you the first time. Trust me, kid. You're not ready. But if you're determined, I can show you. I'll show you your true lack of power."

"But you could be cheating. You could be hacking, or having what's her name do it for you."

"Nah, I wouldn't do that. But you want proof, I'll give you proof. INTERLINK MODE!"

A window popped up in front of Jon. Join observational interlink? (Observational interlinks do not allow for direct interference.)

Jon selected the 'yes' option. If he was hacking, an interlink wouldn't stop that. So Jon really didn't know what Zene thought he was doing, but he figured he would play along. After all, an observational interlink wouldn't open channels that could be hacked.

Interlink joined... CONNECTED

"Good, glad to see you joined. Now, I'll prove that I'm not going to hack, or let Jenn hack for me. OFFLINE MODE, INTERLINK SUSTAIN!"

Red warning symbols flew around Zene's head. If this doesn't convince that kid, nothing will.
The dialog box confirming his decision warned him of the dangers. But, Zene did not falter. I have to stop this kid before he gets in too far. Once he breaches that threshold, he won't be able to get back.
Zene acknowledged, and closed the dialog boxes. The warning symbols disappeared.

Jon was shocked. The move to offline mode was bold. It was practically like signing out from your body.
Jon received the warning about this change.

Interlink warning: 1 player(s) dependant on interlink to remain connected to session. Please do not disconnect from the network.

"Alright. You're playing fair. I get it." Jon said, "Let's start."

"Wait! Before you do, I want to establish something."

"What? You're going to try to make more rules now?"

"No, no. It's just a warning. The objective is to defeat me, right? Well, I'm not the last objective. Just, remember that if you beat me, you better have the strength left over to finish Round 30's true final objective. And... I'm not trying to stop you for my sake. I'm trying to keep you from making a terrible mistake. One I made a long time ago."

"Whatever! I'll deal with it on my own terms. Custom set 2!" Jon called out.
Jon's armor set swapped out. He was now wearing a heavy armor set that limited his movement speed, but increased his offensive power.

"Alright, have it your way. Custom set 4!" Zene called.
Zene's armor became a medium weight leather set with an over-trenchcoat with slits on the sides.

"Big mistake. Medium armor won't be enough to deflect these attacks!"

"We'll see about that. You might be changing your mind soon."

"Starfall cannon! Chain! Flame ring! Combo! Boost thrust!" Jon commanded.

"Spinning counter! Chain! Rapid charge! Chain! Shadowy embrace!"

Jon's armor digitized two large cannons, mounted one on each shoulder, and they fired two shots above Zene. The shots broke apart, and became hundreds of laser lances, surrounding Zene in a hemisphere of twinkling electric bolts. They began launching themselves at Zene, and as the numbers depleted, the cannons on Jon's armor fired more.

Zene twirled a dagger and a sword, one in each hand, and he began spinning them faster, as the shots came in, his spinning blades knocked the shots away from him. Several  shots exploded onto other shots still suspended midair, but the holes created were soon filled up with replacements.

Jon's cannon shots were expended, and the cannons retracted, digitizing back into his armor. Zene knocked the last of the shots away, and was left unharmed. A word flashed before them both:

CHAIN!

Space contorted around Zene, and he launched himself toward Jon.
Jon's armor let off a blast of flame around it, COMBO! ==Flame ring==> Boost thrust appeared, and using the power from the blast, Jon's armor lifted from the ground, and began to fly.

Zene, moving rapidly toward Jon slid underneath the shockwave of flames, then caught his foot on a rock, reorienting himself vertically with his momentum, and then followed up with a jump toward Jon.

CHAIN!

Zene caught Jon's shoulder, flipped around, and landed on Jon's back. His trenchcoat transformed into black tendrils, and wrapped Jon up, limiting his movements. Zene readied to strike with his sword.

"You've got a bad habit of making my movement difficult. Fine! Custom set 3! Lightning rush! Chain! Sword illusion! Combo! Midnight mirror!"

Just as Zene's sword struck Jon's armor, the chest of the armor opened up, and ejected Jon, wearing a skin-tight pressure suit. Zene's sword embedded itself within the armor, doing nothing to Jon. There was a small beeping which increased in speed. Zene tried to remove himself from the armor, but his own skill, Shadowy embrace, kept him from getting away. The armor exploded, and Zene fell to the ground, hitting it with a hard thump.

Jon ran toward Zene, with the speed of lightning. He was there before Zene could even comprehend what had just happened. Zene brought himself up to his feet, seeing Jon face to face for a second when suddenly, he was taking small, but painful stabs from every direction by a mere blur of Jon.

"Perception acceleration! Chain! Healing aura! Combo! Stance change: dodge!" Zene called in desperation, as he saw clear messages that he was taking damage too rapidly to keep fighting for much longer.
Suddenly, Zene could track every movement Jon was making, although he was unable to avoid the hits, at least he could try to figure out what type of patter Jon was using.

CHAIN!
COMBO!  Midnight mirror || Sword illusion ==> Carnival of dancing blades
CHAIN!
COMBO! Healing Aura || Stance change: dodge ==> Full bulwark

Jon suddenly jumped into a mirror, and it duplicated itself until there were countless mirrors, each holding the image of a long corridor filled with other mirrors, and Jon darting between them.

Zene was surrounded by a green and yellow aura, pulsating and sparkling. His wounds began to heal, but it would be a little time before they finished recovering. He couldn't afford to take damage, which could end the effect prematurely.

Jon began dashing from mirror to mirror, popping out of one, merging with another. Soon, hundreds of afterimages of Jon were swirling around Zene. However, with his accelerated perception, he could see where Jon really was.

Jon lashed out from a mirror, and Zene retreated into his coat, which deflected the blow, allowing Zene to dodge every attack. This happened over and over. Jon thought he could get a hit onto Zene, and then suddenly, Zene seemed to become nothing more than a ripple of fabric. Thinking quickly, Jon decided to improvise. As Jon popped out of a mirror, he threw his blade into the mirror to the right of where he was headed. Zene dodged Jon, but too late, he realized that the sword was missing.

The sword duplicated itself by flying through the mirror illusion, and skewered Zene from several angles.
The healing aura prevented Zene from taking any damage, but the effect ended. The mirrors, however, had also reached the end of their duration.

"Custom set 1! Chain! Lava floor!" Zene called out, knowing that as long as the battle kept going the way it had, he would find it difficult to seize an advantage. Zene's trenchcoat became a pair of wings, and he flew into the air.

CHAIN!

*Warning! The floor is lava!* Appeared before Jon as Zene conjured a bubbling orb of lava from his hands. Throwing it at the ground, the ground became a lava flow. Jon jumped into the air, and landed on a nearby platform. It wouldn't hold him for long, as the lava began to melt the support underneath it.

"I see, so it's like that, huh? Custom set reconfig: flight!" Jon yelled, and the soles of his armor digitized small thrusters to keep him airborne.

"Well, kid. I think it's time we ended this, what do you say?"

"I say, you're going down! GRAVITY!!!!"

"WHAT!?"

A sphere surrounded Zene, and suddenly his wings weren't strong enough to keep him aloft. He began a descent to the ground.

"No! I can't lose to my own skill! I refuse! Sub-zero barrier!" Zene countered. His body became encased in ice so cold, that when he came in contact with the lava, it changed the molten rock into permafrost.

"Finisher! Vector slash!" Jon yelled. Jon flew toward Zene with such speed that his body became a blade of light, which pierced Zene through, dealing so much damage, he became incapacitated.

"No... I've failed." Zene cried, unable to move. "Reconnect."
The interlink reconnected to the session, and initialized the link between Zene's body and his consciousness.

"I'm sorry, but I told you. My only hope is to become recognized. I can't just stop."

"It's my failing. I tried, but in the end, I took too much damage when I got drained. Don't make the same mistake I did, kid. It's not too late. Just, please. Stop."

"NO! I won't stop until I've achieved my dream!"

"You don't understand, Jon! You can't! But trust me!"

"Enough! You are beaten, session complete!"

"WAIT!" Zene called. "If you continue you'll..." Zene was given a forced logout, and was returned to his body.

"Good riddance to bad players. First he thinks he can just hack into my session and get away with it, then he thinks he can beat me? Gotta say, though... 'the floor is lava', huh. Man, never thought I'd hear THAT in game."

Jon received a new objective:
Objective added: Enter X-mode.

"Enter... X-mode? What does that even mean?" Jon asked himself. "Query: mission objectives."

Mission Objectives: (☑) Retrieve Data Orb from Zone A-4
(☑) Deliver Data Orb to Zone C-1
(☑) Enter Trial Chamber in Zone C-3
(☑) Proceed through the correct doorway
(☑) Hit all the specified targets
(☑) Destroy all targets simultaneously, hit nothing else
(☑) Defeat the champion high-score record holder.
(☐) Final Objective: Enter X-mode.

"Well, it is the final objective. If I manage to complete this, then I should get the new high-score. But how do I even do that?" Jon wondered.

"Query: X-mode"

X-mode:
<No Data Found>

"That's odd. I wonder if this is that guy's hacker friend's doing. Hmm. I wonder what could trigger this X-mode thing. Well, I suppose I'll have to just try several possible options, and see if anything works."

Jon landed on the ground, which had returned to normal once Zene had been rendered incapacitated. Guessing at commands might be able to help him complete the final objective, he entered several commands.

"Trigger X-mode!" Nothing happened.
"Activate X-mode!" Nothing happened.
"Enter X-mode!" Yet another time, nothing happened. Jon began feeling frustrated. How the hell do they expect someone to do this if they don't have any information about it out there? I've never even heard of whatever the hell this X-mode thing is supposed to be.

"Begin X-mode!" A dialog box popped up.

X-mode Sequence Compiling...
*Warning: Improper use of X-mode can cause serious side-effects!*

X-mode Executable Ready to Launch.
Continue?

"Run X-mode!" Jon yelled with vigour.
Suddenly, his avatar disappeared. Jon stood in the space, wearing an entirely new outfit unlike his other armors. It was incredible. The feeling of power was overwhelming. Jon suddenly felt as if he had access to abilities that exceeded even level 9.

Cortical Visual Drive Activated...
Command Input Ready.

Jon wondered what he should try to use the features of this new mode.
But, he had no idea what commands he could use in X-mode.
Jon envisioned being able to use a skill which would change the weather, causing simulated rain.

Command Received... Running...

Suddenly, the sky became cloudy and dark, and rain began to fall upon the surroundings.

"Wait, did I do that? This rain simulation seems so real!" Then Jon realized the truth of the matter.
Not only did he see and hear the rain, but he could feel the drops, and they were leaving puddles.
The pools of water, growing in the indentations in the ground, were reflecting things.

"NO WAY! This is AWESOME!" Jon exclaimed, realizing that X-mode allowed him to generate effects by the simple visualization of what the outcome would be.

**WARNING: X-mode processing reaching critical levels.**
**WARNING: Continued X-mode processing could result in dangerous side effects.**

"Dangerous side-effects? Like wh... AHHHHHHHHH!" Jon screamed, as his head suddenly seemed to split open with pain.

*Vital signs critical. Terminating X-mode*

Jon woke up in his bed. He looked at the clock. Apparently, his jump session had lasted about an hour.
But, according to his UI display, he had been unconscious for about three hours after that. It must have been the result of the pain. I guess I went unconscious.

An email alert floated in his peripheral vision. He pulled it in front of him and opened it.
It was a letter of congratulations for having achieved the newest high-score.
He had done it. He'd finally achieved his goal.

There was one other new message, as well. It didn't make him feel nearly as good as the first had.

"Greetings, champ. You've been indoctrinated. Welcome to Able-X.
Your first challengers will be scheduling matches with you soon.

Welcome to the fight. Prepare for the worst."

"What have I gotten myself into?" Jon thought. For once, the things Zene had said were starting to sink in. Perhaps he had made a mistake. Am I really ready for this?

The Master

Close to reaching his high score, Jon didn't want to stop. He was in the zone. It wouldn't be much longer until he reached his goal, if everything kept on the way it was.

The timer counted down, two seconds left until round 30. If he could clear this round, it would be a high score! The first new high score in years. It would earn him the acclaim and respect he felt he needed.

ROUND 30, START!

"Electro-wheel!" Jon shouted, triggering the creation of rapidly spinning discs on the sides of his suit's boots. He zoomed toward zone A-4, where his first objective waited. Wary of the possible enemies, he kept an eye out for any sign of motion.

Nothing was on his minimap overlay. Not a single sign of resistance. Something was wrong.
Realizing what had happened, Jon spun around. "Total guard!"

Jon's shield appeared on all sides just as the barrage started. His shield was being pelted on all sides by projectiles. But as Jon continued to spin, keeping his shield up, he started to feel nervous. How long could he keep his shield up? It wasn't possible to guard forever. He had to find the source of the attack.

"Sight cleanse!" Jon called, refreshing his minimap and removing the debuff he had unknowingly acquired: Dark Solitude. With his minimap now working, he located the blip that indicated the source of the attack.
Taking a risk, he decided to drop the shield and try to end the attack in one shot.

"Explosion lance!" His shield shattered apart, blocking a few projectiles, and formed a lance of fire which shot toward the enemy. The NPC fell, and Jon continued his mad dash for his objective.

Something about that wasn't right. Jon contemplated. Why would I have Dark Solitude? I should have noticed that debuff. I'm slipping. Gotta keep my head in the game, I haven't made the records yet.

Arriving at A-4, Jon located the data orb. Placing it into his gauntlet, the popup showed that this orb's upside was Data Lock. Naturally, the downside was the fact that he had it in his possession, revealing his location to all the enemies in his target zone. Of course, even if his location wasn't a secret, he could still burst his way through.

Jon fired off toward zone C-1, where he was supposed to deliver the orb and find out his next objective. His electro-wheel ability had a few seconds left. More than enough to get a head start on the hunters.

As he reached the halfway point between the zones, the game seemed to freeze for a split second. This was the first time this had ever happened. Jon knew something wasn't right. But his thoughts were elsewhere. The hunters would be showing up any moment.

Anticipate, counter, react. Jon repeated in his head. This motto was how he had reached the 30th round. It was his style of play. Instead of the usual "react, counter, decide" which Jon had seen countless players use, only to fall within the first 5 rounds, Jon adopted a unique style. He would anticipate the enemy locations and strategies, counter whatever was done to him, and then react with his own plan. Most of the new players didn't even counter for their first few tries because they couldn't react in time. Playing Able-Ward required a calm mind and clear thought, as well as a knowledge of what could and couldn't be done.

The first hunter appeared. Green, so his speciality should be...
"Burst lane!" Jon shouted, holding out his hand in the direction of the green hunter.
"Vine wrap!" The hunter yelled. A flow of liquid vines erupted from the ground, and flung themselves toward Jon, but no sooner had the arrived than the whirlwind of flame barrel them down, turning them to ash, and disabling the hunter. Piece of cake.

Two more hunters met him as he turned the corner. Ok, orange, grey.
"Slicer! Chain! Counter-mode!" Jon yelled.
"Marksman!" Orange hunter bellowed.
"Shadowstep!" Grey whispered.

In Jon's hand appeared a silvery blade of reasonable length. Grey hunter faded from view, and Orange hunter pulled out his duel pistols and began firing shots. The ability chain activated, and things seemed to slow down, now Jon could accurately gauge the distance and location of each bullet from Marksman. Rather than wasting an additional skill point on attacking both the hunters, Jon's strategy was simple.

As the bullets got close, Jon deflected them. The first three went toward Orange hunter, and the last one was directed to his right side, under the assumption that Grey hunter may be there. Orange hunter fell to the ground, but Grey hunter did not reappear. Oh, no. I guessed wrong, so that means... Jon stopped, and suddenly the Grey hunter slid into his vision from the left, just in front of him, where Jon would have been had he kept moving. As the Counter-mode chain reached the last tenth of a second, he threw Slicer, and beheaded the Grey hunter.

In a state of euphoria, Jon continued, entering zone C-1 and yelling "Oh, come on! This is child's play! Give me a challenge!"

"Rune prison! Chain! Space impact! Chain! Eroding footwork! Chain! Cursed aura!" came a voice.

"WHAT?" Jon said, but suddenly, runic symbols appeared in the ground around him, and he found himself unable to pass over them. That's not possible! It can't be!

A meteor fell from space, headed straight for Jon. He needed to block it, but Jon wasn't calm anymore. How could he be? But he forced himself to focus.

"Shielding blow!" Wait, what were the other commands he used? "Chain! uh... Floating grace! uh..."
Out of command time, Jon had to deal with what was happening. Not good. I think I missed something.

Pulling out his dagger, Jon threw it at the meteor, and with explosive force, the meteor exploded into somewhat harmless shards, but then the ground beneath him crumbled, leaving a dark and possibly bottomless hole beneath him.

CHAIN! appeared in front of him, and two bright halos appeared around his ankles, holding him afloat.
Here it comes. I don't know what it was. Aww, man.

A man walked out in front of him holding a shotgun in his right hand, and an oversized sword in his left.
The look on his face smouldered, as he became shrouded in a dark, billowing cloud. From that cloud, Jon saw the glint of his assailant's eyes. That was no hunter. No. That was no NPC.

The cloud dissipated, and then suddenly, the man flew toward Jon's side from seemingly nowhere, sword first.

"Reaction flow! Chain! Data lock!" Jon yelled, just in time to begin countering.
Jon managed to avoid the strike, moving in the slightest way, stuck as he was in the rune prison.
The man passed, and when Jon turned to look, he was nowhere to be seen.

Suddenly, the man was falling from above, firing several rounds of his shotgun. The pellets moved too fast for Jon to block, and without a weapon to deflect them, his only option was to take as few hits as possible, and try to make sure they weren't in critical areas.

As he was pelted by the shotgun, a red warning indicated he had taken 20 points of damage. Quickly looking up, the man had landed behind him, and then jumped, but then Jon saw how he had been doing this.
What? A tele-glyph! I see, so that means that his fourth attack was a movement attack ability.

The man appeared in front of him, and to his left. The man appeared in front of him, and to the right.
The man appeared behind him, and to his left. The man appeared behind him, and to his right.
Jon was awestruck. Four of the same person at once? This must be a high level ability... possibly... no way. It couldn't be... is it... a rank 9? Aww, man, how am I going to deal with this!

CHAIN! appeared in front of him. Jon flew out of his body, ejected forcefully, his suit glowed with lines of code wrapping around it. The rune prison disappeared. The four mysterious men flew at the suit with their swords, and when the blades struck the suit, they bounced off, harmlessly.

The man disappeared through four tele-glyphs on the ground, and he reappeared beneath Jon. As Jon fell, and the man rose aiming his shotgun at him, Jon had a feeling he wouldn't be breaking the records with a new high score. Surely, this would be his end.

Before the man could fire, Jon was pulled back into his suit, as the Data Lock expired, and his consciousness' data was returned. The moment he entered, he yelled "Flash step! Combo! Silver clock!"

The man fired his shotgun, but Jon's consciousness, now back in the right place, was unaffected.
Jon floated back, out from over the pit, and then his ability activated. The world became yellow and blue. Jon was now in Flash Time. It took me forever to get this ability. I'm so glad I did.

Using flash time, Jon ran to the objective, placed the data orb into the pedestal, and then waited for the information of his next objective to show up. Flash Time ran out, and the man entered the building.

"Well, well. You're not bad, kid. You know, a few more years, and perhaps you'll be ready to face me."

"Who are you? And why are you here? This is supposed to be a single-player session!"

"Oh, come now! That's no way to address the current high score record holder! I'm the champion of Able-ward! Let's be honest, from me to you: you don't stand a chance. It would be in your best interest to just give up. I won't have to take your abilities then."

"WHAT? NO! I've worked too hard for this! I've come too far! I won't let some hacker just take what I've earned!"

"Just some hacker? Wow, kid. I'm hurt. I'm not a hacker at all! And here you are, accusing me of doing such dastardly deeds. Really. Here I was, making a generous offer, and you treat me like a criminal!"

"Yeah, well, you know that cyber field overriding is illegal. And yet here you are." Jon said, heaving a huge sigh of relief in his head when the new objective popped up.

"I told you already! I'm not the..." The man repled.

"Rewind!" Jon yelled, and COMBO!! ==Silver Clock 'Rewind'==> Flash Step appeared. The world went yellow and blue again. I probably won't be able to use this combination again. I'll have to think of something else if that guy tries to interfere with my session anymore.

Jon arrived at his next objective. Here his task was to pick the correct doorway to reach the inner chamber, and then to destroy a number of targets in a limited time.

Falling out of Flash Time, Jon knew he wouldn't have long until the self-proclaimed champion would show up. The doors he had to choose from were indistinguishable from one another. Great. I hate the puzzles that don't give clues. If only they looked different somehow... wait!

"Scattervision!" Jon yelled, and he watched as the world briefly was rendered in binary.
That was where he saw it. Two of the doors were rendered as a large number of zeroes. One of the doors was rendered in all ones. Of course, two false paths, and one true one. Makes sense to me. And maybe I can use this to distract that hacker.

"Scuff flare" Jon called out, briefly setting the soles of his feet on fire, leaving a trail as he ran to one of the fake doors. "Disengage" Jon whispered, ending the movement speed bonus and flames early. Then he lightly walked to the real door, went inside and closed it behind him carefully.

The chamber he was in was filled with floating symbols. But the ones he needed to hit were marked on his data readout, and he was able to pick them out of the jumble fairly easily.

Objective updated: Destroy all targets simultaneously, hit nothing else.

Huh. I knew there'd be a twist somewhere. Still, that's not too hard. I guess.
Suddenly, Jon heard a loud yell from a few rooms over. Looks like he fell for it.

"Ricochet shot! Combo! Emblem mark! Chain! Bullet catch! "
A pistol appeared in Jon's hand. He fired it at one of the correct symbols. The bullet ricocheted off it to another symbol, and continued to do so until it had hit all the targets. None of the targets were destroyed, but all of them were marked with a seal. Jon stretched out his hand, and caught his bullet, placing it back in the gun.

"Crest of thunder!" Jon said, and with a sizzle of electricity, each of the marks detonated simultaneously.

Jon received a new objective immediately.
"No. NO WAY! Nothing said anything about this! NO! It can't be!"

As Jon opened the door forward and entered the arena on the other side, he stared at the words before him.

Objective added: Defeat the champion high-score holder.

Before him stood the man from before. He looked fine.

"So, kid. You got me good back there. I got hit with a level drain. Now I can't use anything higher than level 8. But that's ok. I got this. Just so you know, the offer's still open. Just walk away and we don't have to do this."

"I told you. I... I can't do that. Too much is riding on this. My whole LIFE is riding on this!"

"Kid, it's a game. You don't have to go through with this. Just leave now, ok?"

"YOU don't get it! This is the ONE thing I've been good at! Without Able-ward, my parents won't even LOOK at me! Maybe to you it's just a game, but to me, it's ALL I HAVE!" Jon yelled.

"Look, I'm sorry kid, but I can't let you take my place. If you want it, you've got to earn it. And you just don't have what it takes to..."

"We'll see about that." Jon said with grim determination and a hard look on his face.