Chapter. 15

Vincent drove through the city at high speeds, faster then he would normally go. When he returned to Rebecca's home, The one he came to see ran out the front door to greet him. "Welcome back Vincent!"

"Sorry about that, hop on." Rebecca took the second helmet and climbed on the bike behind Vincent. "So what do you want for lunch? What's you guilty pleasure?"

"Burgers?" Vincent revved his engine and drove off.

After a few minutes the two arrived outside a wooden building with peeling white paint. Rebecca climbed off the bike and looked at the sign over the door way. "Retro Burgers?"

"The last place in the city to get a real burger, and I really mean a real one." Vincent held out his hand to the door. "After you." The two entered the dinner and Rebecca was with hit with a strong sent of meat and gravy. "Strong, isn't it?" Rebecca nods. "Come on, this way." Vincent lead her to a booth and then took a seat across from her.

Rebecca looked around the dinner, the walls were a light green with black and white pictures on them. Large fans hung from the roof to fight against the heat as people ate and talked, the voices blurred together making it impossible to understand them.

"Hello!" A waiter greeting the two pulled Rebecca out of her thoughts. "Welcome to Retro Burgers! You two ready to order?"

Vincent claps his hands. "Yes. I'll take the double and an older one for Rebecca here."

"Alright, be back in a bit!" The waiter tapped a spots in the air and walked away.

Rebecca turns to Vincent. "What's an older one?"

"A really good burger. It's your first time here so you gotta have the best for a first impression." Vincent glanced around to spot the cameras in each corner. "Okay. While we wait let's go over something with Brain Burst."

"What is it?"

"Why everyone is so keen on getting points." Vincent holds up three fingers. "On my command say burst link and you'll see."

"Okay." Rebecca watched Vincent's fingers go down one after the other. "Burst link." The color of the world around them took on a blue tint, Rebecca saw her body next to her then glanced to Vincent who also sat next to his body as well.

"Weird, isn't it?" Vincent pointed to the people in the dinner. Rebecca saw that no one moved. "This is what Brain Burst can do." Vincent stood up and waved for Rebecca to follow. The game can use the cameras to create a 3D world for us to walk in. Study what's happening and plan your next action."

"What about things that aren't in the cameras?" Rebecca looked under a table to see only darkness. "This is so strange."

"Just be careful with it. A point is used up each time it's used." The two returned to their seats as time moved once again. "What do you think?"

Rebecca patted her chest. "It's unsettling with how it works. Though I see the benefits in it now."

"It's that kind-" The world turned blue once again and began to break apart then reformed. The two looked at each other to find they were in there avatar forms.

"What happening?!"

Vincent ran outside to see that a large storm brewed overhead and rain seemingly poured down endlessly. "We got a fight." Vincent drew his sword. "Stay here." Vincent ran back inside and hid.

"Vinc-" Rebecca stopped herself. "Right, no real names." She drew her gun and knife and watched the arrow as her foe drew closer.

Two red avatars closed in on Rebecca. One had a rifle resting on their shoulder, the other carried a two handguns. "Now that's a cool looking avatar."

"Th-thank you?"

"You nervous? This your first time playing?" The two avatars drew closer and Rebecca held up her gun. "Careful there girl, you might hurt someone." The red avatar with the rifle raised their gun, pointed at Rebecca. "How about you put that gun down and tell us your name."

"Vincent..." As if hearing her Vincent burst out from the building and sliced the avatar in half.

"Charge Shot!" Vincent held out his blaster to incinerate the avatar. He then turned to the remaining avatar, slowly and silently walking towards them.

"Oh shit... Eminence Tyrant!" The avatar dropped their rifle and held out their hands. "Listen man, we didn't know-"

"Oh you did know? Did you not look at the top of your fucking sight to see the name? Do you have tunnel vision that bad?"

"Listen. We didn't mean anything, we had only the best intentions-" Vincent raised his blaster and shot the avatar in the leg causing them to scream.

"Sorry did I break you concentration? I didn't mean to do that." Vincent shot the avatar in the arm. "Please continue, you were say something about 'beat intentions' right?" The avatar stayed silent. "You were finished? Well allow me to retort." Vincent shot the avatar until his blaster overheated. The avatar still had health left so Vincent plunged his sword into their head.

The battle was over and the two returned to the real world. "Well, that was something." Vincent reached his hand out to hold Rebecca's hand. "You okay?"

"Yes. Thank you Vincent."

"You want to do another one?"

"How do I do that?"

"Open the game and go to the matchmaking list and pick a name."

"Okay." Rebecca did as she was told and started another fight.

The world was reshaped and the building they were in changed into a cave. The pair exited the cave to see they were in a decaying forest. Vincent checked the names of their enemies. "A red and blue. Which do you want?"

A missile rose into the sky and started to turn towards the two Vincent grabbed onto Rebecca and spun her around to the incoming missile. "Green!"

"Prism Shift Green!" Rebecca's body shined a bright green as it changed its shape. Two shields formed on both of her arms and a large turtle shell appeared on her back. The missile crashed into Rebecca's back, barely denting her health.

A blue avatar burst out of the trees with a pair of axes and missile launcher wielding red behind them. The red avatar fired another at Rebecca, striking her back and still doing minimal damage. "Get the red, keep your guard up!" Vincent ran out from Rebecca's cover and fired on the blue avatar.

When the two got closer the avatar jumped at Vincent with their axes raised. Vincent held up his sword to catch the axes then kicked the avatar in the chest.

Rebecca ran towards the red avatar. The red loaded another missile and fired at Rebecca. She held up her arms to block the attack. The missile's force stopped Rebecca momentary but not long enough to load another missile and swung their weapon at her.

Rebecca batted away the missile launcher with her shield then followed with a punch to the face. The red staggered back into a tree as Rebecca kept punching. The avatar caught Rebecca's fist and threw a punch of their own. Rebecca held up her shield to block the punch and shoved the shield against the avatar's head.

Staggered again Rebecca stepped back. "Prism Shift Blue!" Rebecca's body changed its color to blue as her shields disappear and her limps grew three times bigger. After seeing the transformation the avatar tired to run away, Rebecca grabbed the avatar with one hand and held them up, punching their head clean off.

With the red down Rebecca turned to Vincent seeing he was backing away from the blue avatar as he blocked the axe strikes. Rebecca rushed to the blue avatar's back and grabbed them by their legs. She slammed them into the ground and hurled them into a tree.

"Charge Shot!" Vincent fired a large beam to finish the foe. The fight was over and the two returned to the dinner once again. Vincent smiled widely at Rebecca. "Look at you. Taking people down in your first real fight. Proud of you Rebecca."

"Really?" Rebecca lowers her gaze and she brushes her hair back. "Thank you Vincent."

"Hey. Call me V."

"Okay." Rebecca smiled but kept her gaze down.

"You okay?"

"Yes, I..." Rebecca raised her head. "It was, actually fun."

"Told you, ripping someone's head off is very therapeutic."

Rebecca gasped. "That avatar! I, I punched his head off! The, the phantom pain!"

"Rebecca!" Vincent grabbed her hand again. "It's fine. This pain is just apart of the game. They knew what it means to fight and you saw what were fighting for. Getting points to get to higher levels and to spend them on bursting."

"Levels?"

"Since you've just started you're level one. I'm three."

"Still..."

Vincent patted her hand. "Don't think about it, okay? If anything you gave him or her a splitting head for the day."

"How is this game kept a secret?"

Vincent shrugged as he leaned back. "No idea. I looked online almost every night for two weeks. It's like fight club, everyone took a vow of silents."

"Fight club?"

Vincent leaned forward again. "You don't know fight club?" Rebecca shook her head. "That is unacceptable. When we get back we're watching it."

"Okay." Rebecca nods and the waiter came back with their food.

! #$%^! #$%^&*()_+

Please review, it keeps us writers going. Till next time, CG out. PEACE!