Gun Gale Online: Precision Strike
Chapter I
"Link start," a voice said.
A solid white screen is flooded with a vibrant rainbow of colors as the system calibrates for the users five senses. Once calibrated, the ground and surrounding areas formed the terrain around the user. He looked up at the top left corner of his vision to find his status bar. Hovering above him was a green status bar, representing his maximum health, his chosen screen name and his level.
He wore a black hooded cloak that hung down past his waist over a tight black shirt and a pair of black cargo pants. He was one of the few players to cover their face though he did not wear the typical gas mask or goggles; he wore a black metal plate that shielded his mouth and neck. His dark combat boots were worn out and their durability was about to give out, but he didn't care. All he cared about was the next mission, and that was all. His long white hair flowed out of his hood and his pale green eyes showed determination only a hardened veteran would recognize. He had a large sleek black sniper rifle on his back and an automatic handgun concealed in his cloak.
His name was Fox, a level 51 sniper user in the American online game «Gun Gale Online» and a solo pro player. He started playing the game about a year ago on a free trial and has been making a fare living off it. Even with the 3000 yen connection fee each month he is able to afford an apartment, food, and decent clothes will a bit of spare coin for himself.
Fox looked around at the desolate wasteland around him and scoffed at the lack on mobs. He shouldered his «Zastava M93 Black Arrow» sniper rifle and set off back to the central refuge of «Gurokken», a space battle cruiser that now served as a hub for all the players in «GGO». As he walked, he thought aloud to himself.
"I wonder if Sinon is going to be in the next «BoB» this time. She and that one girl, or guy rather, won it last time together, but I think I could take them on this year. All I have to do is—"
"That's a great idea, just go ahead and blab your strategies out loud so everyone knows it."
The voice from behind startled him enough to make him jump. He spun around pulling out his «MAC-11» and aiming it at the girl behind him but was surprised to see who it was.
"S-sinon?! What are you…"
"Doing out here? Same as you, hunting for mobs. The new expansion pack came out so you are able to exit the city into the wastelands to hunt for stronger mobs."
The petite young sniper jumped down from the rock she was perched atop and landed a few feet away finishing his sentence. Her messy teal blue hair and slit pupils made her look more like a cat than a girl. She wore her normal tight green outfit and her «Hecate» was shouldered on her back.
Fox lowered his weapon and took a second to repose himself. He took a seat on a dusty boulder and cracked his neck.
"So what do you want? Came to spy on me before the fifth «BoB», didn't you?"
"No not really. Honestly I don't know who you are but I noticed your weapon. A Black Arrow, S-Classed sniper rifle. A rare find indeed, but nothing compared to Hecate. Well, I'll be seeing you around, Fox. Hopefully we meet in the next «Bullet of Bullets»."
She gave a sly catlike grin and walked off towards the city. It was late sunset by the time she was out of site and Fox knew he had better get back before it got too late. He had done no hunting and gathered no news or items; today had been a bust. On the plus side, he did meet Sinon, his eternal rival. He walked back to town and pulled up his status menu. He scrolled through the options down to the bottom and hit the button to log out. Then everything went dark and black.
Lucas awoke in his dark room just as he had left it. He had only been only for about an hour but it felt like a lot longer. He sat up on his bed and sighed long and loud. He hated how she did that to him. Every time he had met with that pompous blue-haired feline of a girl she had treated him like some newbie that just learned to fire a gun. Well no longer; come next «BoB» competition, he was going to mop the floor with her.
Lucas slid out of bed and stretched his arms and neck. He had been wearing a white tee and a pair of shorts while online. He yawned and scratched his head before going downstairs to cook dinner. He walked into the kitchen where little sister Sarah was writing in her notebook.
"Hey munchkin, did you finish your homework?"
She nodded to him barely looking up from her work. Lucas opened the fridge and pulled out a couple of cokes. He walked over to the table and sat in the seat next to her. He slid one of the cokes to her and opened his own taking a big gulp and swallowing with a loud sigh of satisfaction.
"So what are you working on?"
"Math. We are currently learning matrices, but I'm having a bit of trouble multiplying them."
"Oh, need some help?"
She shrugged and slid the notebook to him. He looked over the problem and her work so far and slid it back to her. He pointed to a part of the problem with her pencil and said,
"Take another look at this part here. The columns here and here don't match up."
Her brow furrowed as she stared at the problem focusing on what where he said. She finally relaxed and blushed a bit before fixing her problem. Lucas smiled at her smugly and she narrowed her eyes at him blushing more.
"Thank you."
She grinded her teeth and put her notebook away. Her stomach growled and she grabbed it blushing a bit.
"Wow. Hungry much?"
"No~…"
She puffed out her cheeks and pouted at him. He laughed and said,
"What do you want for dinner? I think we got some left over spaghetti. I'll go heat it up."
As Lucas prepared dinner, Sarah went to go take a shower. After Lucas finished cooking and their plates were served, he went up to see what was taking so long. Strangely, the bathroom door was open and his bedroom door was closed though he was sure he left it open. When he went in, he found something that made him both proud and annoyed. His little sister was lying on his bed wrapped in a towel with his Nervegear on her head.
A Nervegear is a helmet-shaped device that, when used, could connect a person's subconscious to that of a virtual world. In this case, she was connected to his game «Gun Gale Online», but she had not signed into his account. She had started her own under the user «Katia» though that's all he could tell from his monitor. He sighed to himself and said,
"Well, there's nothing I can do but wait for her to get out."
He sat down next to her on the bed and waited.
Hours later around midnight, Sarah finally awoke from her virtual slumber. She sat up in bed and noticed that her towel had come a little loose. She tried to sit up but found it impossible because of her brother's tired limp body lying beside her with his arms around her. She blushed a dark red and tried to get up with her towel, but Lucas was clutching it in his hands. She made a quick decision and slowly slid out of the towel. She kept whispering to herself,
"This is wrong. This is wrong."
Once free, she shivered at the cold air blowing on her pale bare skin from the air conditioner. She tiptoed to Lucas's closet and slid it open silently. She browsed through the clothes and found a light jacket that looked long enough to cover her. She tried to pull it out, but it was stuck. She tugged a little harder and it came loose taking a few hangars with it as she fell backwards onto the floor with a loud thud. Lucas stirred behind her and sat up yawning.
"Oh your back…did you have fun?"
He yawned as he talked but she could still tell his voice was laced with sarcasm. Sarah stood up clutching his jacket in front of her just enough to cover anything too explicit. Lucas looked at her pale body and down at the towel in his hands then back at her again.
"Hey, Sarah? Are you na—?"
He couldn't finished before she slapped his cheek hard and ran off to her room yelling back at him,
"Stupid perverted big brother!"
Lucas rubbed his sore cheek and looked back at the door thinking to himself.
What did I do? She was the one who came into my room in a towel and started playing my game.
He sighed and rolled over falling back to sleep.
The next morning Lucas awoke to the smell of eggs and bacon. He got up and walked down to the kitchen still in a hazy sleepy state. Downstairs, Sarah had been cooking for about half an hour. She had made pancakes, eggs, bacon, sausage, and biscuits. Lucas sat down in his normal seat and smirked as Sarah poured a glass of milk and set it down beside him. Her face was blushed a bit and her eyes looked full of guilt. She sat down across from him and started to fix her plate.
"I wanted to make breakfast to make up for slapping you last night. Sorry about that and sorry for playing your game without permission. I won't do it ever again, I promise."
Lucas snickered at her and bit into a piece of bacon. She looked at him with a flustered look. He couldn't tell if she was angry or embarrassed. She spoke to him in a slightly annoyed yet shy tone.
"What's so funny?"
"Nothing, I promise. But I have to ask…did you like playing «Gun Gale Online»? That's the name of the game you full dived into. Did you like it? You were under for a few hours so I guess you couldn't figure out how to. Even so, you must have learned the basics right? Probably leveled up a bit too? What level did you get to? What kind of equipment do you have?"
Sarah felt overwhelmed by all of her brother's pestering questions and answered with a snide remark then said,
"I did think the…game I'd guess you'd say…fun and I enjoyed it. As for my level and equipment, I am level 14 and I use a «Saiga-12» shotgun as my primary and a «B23R» handgun as my secondary."
"So how bout it? Do you wanna play «GGO» with me? We can go buy an Amusphere for you so you don't have to use my old Nervegear. We could make a squadron, be partners. So what do you say?"
Lucas held out hand to her and smiled so hard it hurt her face just looking at him. She sighed and reached out taking his hand over their breakfast and shaking it.
"You know I'm only gonna slow you down, right?"
He gave her his usual sly and impish smirk and said,
"I'm counting on it…"
