Ready Player One: Adventures of Jack
Chapter 2
GoldDragonZ: So I'm enjoying writing this story so I will continue. If you want me to stop, please tell me. If you hate this story, feel free to tell me. If you like the story please let me know that as well. Here's to another adventure.
Mark had already told Tom and John about his interaction with Art3mis before shutting down his console for the day. They were elated that they would be meeting such a famous person from the OASIS. Unfortunately, Justin was out of the loop because he did not know anything about the OASIS since he did not have the gaming console to jack into the world.
"I don't see the importance of meeting someone online as being comparable to meeting them face to face." He had told Mark, Tom and John. "I mean, would you not want to meet the actual person behind the fake avatar that they have online?"
"Fuck off Justin." Tom said. "You don't understand. We're going to meet one of the most bad ass ladies ever known."
"Did you ever consider that she might be a he?" Justin said. "You don't know about people these days."
"It doesn't matter." Mark interjected. "We are going to meet the High Five!"
"You guys are hopeless." Justin said, rolling his eyes.
"Hey, maybe we can ask them for a console for you, Justin." John said. "Then you could join us playing the game and doing homework together."
"You're a noob John." Tom said. "Who the fuck does homework on the OASIS?"
"Two years ago, schools were virtual because the OASIS made it possible for people to stay at home and learn." Mark said. "The High Five reversed this because they believed that it was better if we interacted in person."
"We all know that." John said. "They want us to interact with each other in real life."
"Yeah." Mark said. "They changed things, forever."
"Hey, what time did they want to meet tomorrow?" Tom asked.
"About Five o'clock," Mark replied. "So are you guys interested or what?"
"No shit we're interested." Tom said.
"Did you want to play Capture the Flag before?"
"Yeah we can play." John replied.
"Yeah we can play." Tom also replied.
"Good luck, guys." Justin said.
It was 3:20 pm. Mark had eaten something and changed from his uniform to something more comfortable. He went to his dining room where his piano and OASIS console were placed. He started playing the piano, going over the classical pieces that his teacher needed him to practice as he had lessons on Saturday. He played for about forty minutes and then decided it was time for Capture the Flag.
He jacked into the OASIS. He spawned aboard his ship, the Tensa Zangetsu. He searched for Tom_001 and Gadanza and found them on a world with other players who were battling each other. They were standing on the edge of a gorge watching two sides; blue and red fight each other. Red team had a flag and was trying to get it to their base on one side of the gorge. It was against the rules to interfere.
"Open up a portal to Gadanza's position." Jack_100292402 commanded his computer on the Tensa Zangetsu.
The portal opened up beside his friends. Jack walked through it and was among his friends.
"Yo what's up?" He asked Tom and Gadanza.
"Red team is about to score." Gadanza said.
"That's what your mom said." Tom laughed.
"No Tom, that's what I did to you sister last night." Gadanza said, and Tom swatted at him.
"Asshole." Tom said.
"Retard." Gadanza responded.
"Guys relax." Jack said. "Save it for the other team we're going to be facing."
"There's something wrong with that though." Gadanza said.
"Yeah." Tom said. "We're not part of a clan. We need ten players to join the Capture the Flag game."
"Shit." Jack swore. "Let's go over the roster of people who want to play next."
Jack updated his Heads up Display. He looked and saw that there were five people waiting in line who wanted to play Capture the Flag who were not part of a clan. There were also three clans already ready for the next bout.
"I see that there are five people wanting to play next." Jack told his friends. "That means we need two more players. Any ideas?"
"Hey Tom," Gadanza said. "What's your brother doing?"
"He's working right now." Tom said. "He wouldn't be interested in playing games with us anyways."
"What about your brother or sister, Mark?" Gadanza asked. "I mean Jack."
"I think my bro's out with his friends talking." Jack said. "And my sister does not play shooter games."
"Shit." Gadanza said. "My brothers and sister might want to play. Just wait, let me ask them."
Gadanza reached up and took his console headset off, and his Avatar disappeared. Tom and Jack waited, watching the match that was still going on. Red team had not scored yet. They were fighting hard to do it, but Blue team was making it really difficult. Explosions rang out as blue team had two members firing rocket launchers at Red team. Other members were laying suppressive fire, trying to pin down their enemies. Two members combined together and used coins to use an AT-ST from Star Wars. They fired at the enemy who had the Blue Flag. Red laser bolts rained down on the Red Team members as they tried to combat the behemoth. They fired off a few shots from machine guns. They threw hand grenades that had spikes on them. They attached to the AT-ST's legs and exploded. Unfortunately the behemoth stood steadfast on its two legs. It continued firing and was successful in killing the person who held the flag. One of his comrades picked it up and used a temporary spell to make a bubble force shield over them. Suddenly, something began growing inside the bubble.
"No way." Jack said.
The bubble shield disappeared and a T-Rex took its place. Laser bolts lanced out and struck the dinosaur on his jaw. It roared loudly and bit the AT-ST right where the turret for the lasers were and broke it off. This left the AT-ST useless, however someone from inside opened the top hatch and began firing using assault rifle right at the dinosaur, who turned around as fast as it could, using its tail to trip up the AT-ST. The gunner from the hatch fell out. The T-Rex bent down and picked up the Avatar, and swung its head back and forth, killing the Avatar as coins erupted from the body of the Avatar. He then walked forward and transformed into his 'human' form. He took the flag and dashed for the base. Victory was his as he entered the base. And then there was a trumpet sound, signalling the Red Team Scoring and ending the game.
"Game Over." The announcement rang out. "Ready for next game shortly."
There was a shifting in the OASIS as everything was reset in the gorge. The flags reappeared in their homes, the Red Flag in the Blue Base, and the Blue Flag in the Red Base. The AT-ST disappeared and any residue from the battles like scorch marks, broken items, or other things disappeared. Just then, Gadanza returned.
"We're out of luck." He said. "No one wants to play with us."
"Shit." Jack said
Gadanza opened a communication channel to the five other people who were not part of Clans. They spoke to each other briefly about playing together and then they chose the blue side. And then, something lucky happened. One of the Blue players decided to get a few other people to play. Blue markers appeared above their heads as they teleported to their base. A ten-person clan appeared across from them at the red side.
"This is really lucky." Jack said to Gadanza and Tom.
"No kidding." Tom said. "So what's the plan?"
"We open a channel to our teammates." And with that, Jack looked at the other Avatars that were playing with him.
One was the Nemesis from Resident Evil. They had a double rocket launcher on one arm and a mini-gun on the other arm. One was Master Chief from the Halo franchise and held an assault rifle. One was wearing black armour that read SWAT on the back and they held an assault rifle with a grenade launcher and shotgun outfitted to it. One was a soldier from Mass Effect wearing blue armour and they had various weapons strapped to their back and had a laser-assault rifle as well. One was a Black Garbed Ninja who had two Mac Tens, one per each hand. One was an Avatar that they made to resemble a Spartan from 300. He held a rocket launcher with a sword strapped to his left hip. On his head he wore a helmet with a visor attached to it. One was Selene from the Underworld franchise and she had Andúril also called the Flame of the West from Lord of the Rings strapped to her back and she was holding a double barrelled shotgun. Gadanza held onto a machine gun which had a knife attached to the barrel. Tom was holding an AA-12 Shot Gun. Jack pulled out a sniping rifle. He had played Capture the Flag before on this map so knew where key places were.
"Game will commence in one minute." The computer said.
"Okay guys, here's the plan." Jack told the nine other players. "We need to place mines at the four doorways to our base. I will take a position in a cave on one of the walls on the side of the gorge. Tom, you use your motorcycle to get to the Red Base as fast as you can. Nemesis, you take a position in front of our base as a goalie. Everyone else, take it to the middle of the map. Lay down suppressive fire to stall the others while Tom tries to get the flag."
"Sounds like a plan." Gadanza said.
They placed mines at each of the openings to the base so if anyone slipped passed Nemesis they would meet with a fiery end. Tom pulled out his Ghost Rider Motorcycle and started the engine. Jack went along one of the walls until he met a cave a few meters up in the air. He used a jet pack and flew into the cave. He put the Jet Pack away and lay down with his sniper rifle out. He looked to the red base and watched the other team. They had pulled out two different mechanical beasts which were similar in construct to the Mantis from Halo. It was a clan of similar Avatars wearing similar armour. They were reminiscent of Mjolnir Powered Assault Armor from Halo. Two players held Rocket Launchers. One had a 12 gage shot gun. The others had assault rifles with different mods on them. Four were piloting the mechanical beasts which had a mini-gun on one arm, and a rocket launcher on the other. The sound for the beginning of the game sounded off. The teams went into motion.
"Shit," Jack swore. "Tom might not make it because of those two Mantises. It looks like they are hanging back though, so I have to concentrate on the others who are coming towards us."
Jack scoped out the field. There were several hills that made sniping difficult. He then saw movement. Without hesitating, he fired. A shield erupted as the cloaking ability fell away. A decloaked Spartan appeared, however they were not dead. Jack fired again, killing his enemy. He then looked for others. In the meantime, Tom quickly drove forward, towards the Red Base to retrieve their flag. The Mantises watched and primed their rocket launchers. They fired heat seeking rockets at Tom, who launched flaming chains forward. They glowed blue, and were hotter than the motorcycle that he rode. The rockets collided with the chains and exploded. Tom drove fast and then leapt off his motorcycle as two more rockets collided with his bike.
"Oh damn it." Jack swore as he looked to where Tom was.
He was surrounded behind enemy lines. Jack made haste and fired at one of the Mantises that was closest to where he was perched. Blue team moved forward over the hills. Red team were trying to get to Tom, who was firing at them with his Shot gun. He had placed a force field up behind him and was firing at the others.
"Damn it Tom." Jack swore.
Jack summoned Iron Man's Hulk Buster Armour and put it on. He flew up to the closest Mantis and blasted away one of the arms. Several of the Red Team looked to Jack and started firing their weapons at him. Tom summoned his motorcycle again, which was slightly damaged but still driveable, and drove quickly to the red base and found that they had not placed mines or anything to protect the flag from the opposing team. Tom grabbed the Flag and ran away from the base. As he was holding the flag, he could not drive his motorcycle. Jack ripped off the mini-gun from the Mantis he was fighting against. Tom ran on the side closest to Jack. Jack aimed one of his repulsor beams at the Mantis cockpit and destroyed it, killing the occupant and they turned into coins that Jack collected. Jack then flew towards Tom. He fired several missiles at the others. Just then, the rest of Blue Team came up and started firing at Red Team. Three fired at the Mantis that was left. Tom climbed aboard Jack's Hulk Buster and they flew back to their base. Tom entered it and they scored. Anyone who died respawned and they started the game again. This time, Jack took point and flew across the field with his Hulk Buster armour. However there were several members of his team already almost half way across the field. One of the Mantises was still operational.
"I gotta take it out." Jack said to himself.
One of the members of Jack's team transformed into the Tumbler from Batman Begins. They drove forward to the opposing team's base and fired at the closest opening to make sure there were no mines set. The Mantis aimed and fired at the Tumbler with its Rocket launcher. The Tumbler flipped onto its roof. It blew open a compartment which turned the Tumbler over. It started firing its primary weapon at the Mantis. The Mantis returned fire with its main Gatling gun and rocket launcher. The Tumbler roared forward, dodging explosions caused by the rockets. It used its booster to propel itself forward. It launched a grapnel around one of the legs of the Mantis. It drove passed the Mantis, which tried to swivel and track the Tumbler as it went by. The Tumbler drove around the Mantis twice and tied up the Mantis' legs. The Mantis fell and stopped moving. The Mantis disappeared and a single soldier came out of it, using an assault rifle to battle the Tumbler. The two teams were also battling each other to get to the flags.
Suddenly, there was a shift as one of the players at the opposing team summoned King Kong. The gorge rumbled as the beast roared. Jack summoned all of his missiles within his Hulk-Buster armour and fired them all at King Kong. The beast roared back and started running as fast as it could on its four limbs to try and swat at Jack. Jack used his repulsor beams on his legs to soar into the sky. No matter how much the King Kong tried, it could not touch Jack. Jack fired lasers from his wrist launchers which slammed into the beast's face, blinding the animal. Jack looked up and watched. His team was losing as there was no communication. The opposing team seemed to be making headway. Two members were already fighting Nemesis. Nemesis was firing at one opponent with his mini-gun while the other used a scoped assault rifle to try and blind the monster by shooting out his eyes. He ended up killing the one enemy however the other one succeeded in destroying his eyes. Nemesis roared and started firing at random. The enemy bolted for an entrance into their base, which was behind Nemesis.
KAPOOM! The first landmine went off, killing the enemy instantly. Jack concentrated. He could not help Nemesis so he needed to concentrate on the enemy in front of him. He opened up with his wrist cannon and started firing tank missiles at the huge ape. King Kong roared angrily. Jack started firing his repulsor beams at the massive ape.
Jack went right to the beast and held up King Kong's arms with his own arms. Jack aimed his unibeam chest projector right at King Kong's chest. The animal realized what was about to happen and tried to resist. Jack activated the unibeam, boring right through the animal. It collapsed and transformed to the player that was within it. He died and left coins behind. The Hulk-buster armour ran out of energy and transformed back into Jack's avatar. He pulled out his sniper rifle and looked out towards the terrain. There were battles raging all around him. He ran up one of the largest hills and looked around. It seemed that five of the enemy clan were destroyed. However, six of Jack's team were killed, including Tom.
"Tom, what happened?" He asked.
"Shit got real is what happened." Tom said. "I have to wait to respawn when someone scores."
"Damn it, what about the rest of you?" Jack said, opening up his communication device to include all of the people he was playing with.
"Eyes are shot." Nemesis said.
"I'm taking two of these guys on." Selene said.
"I'm out." The SWAT specialist said.
"I'm taking on one of the Spartans." Gadanza replied.
"Okay." Jack said, disregarding anyone else. "I'm going for the flag."
"Go for it." One of his teammates said.
Jack ran forward. He pulled out a motion tracker and found out where all of his enemies were. One was getting closer to his base. Others were fighting with his team members. Jack ran along the edge of the gorge and pulled out a black motorcycle. He revved the engine and was off, going as quickly as he could to the opposing base. He was spotted by one of the enemies who were fighting one of Jack's comrades. He aimed a rocket launcher; however Jack's teammate took the time to fight against the enemy. The rocket shot forth, and went above Jack. Jack drove as there was an explosion that destroyed some of the wall of the gorge. Jack used his motorcycle to jump over a hill. There were explosions happening elsewhere in the gorge. Jack scanned the base in front of him. He tried to see if there were any mines or any booby traps. So far, there was nothing to indicate that there were mines or anything that could destroy him. So he entered the base and found the flag. He then grabbed it and dashed out of the base. He ran to the left where no one was fighting. He then took off.
"Damn," He said, breathlessly. "I need to run more."
He opened up a channel to talk to the other players on his team.
"Hey guys, I have the flag." He told them. "Keep the other team preoccupied so that I can get it done."
"Guys," Nemesis said. "I have bad news."
"They got passed you?"
"Yeah, I heard them and saw them through the radar but I could not shoot them."
"Gadanza, you're up." Jack said. "Take him out!"
"I'm a little busy." Gadanza said. "I'm facing one of the Spartans and they are not giving up. I'm already out of ammo for my machine gun."
"Use a grenade or something." Tom said.
Tom was watching the match but could not help do anything else but comment on what happened.
"I'm using a pistol right now." Gadanza said.
"Here, take some ammo." Jack said, transferring 200 bullets to Gadanza.
"Nice!" Gadanza pulled out his assault rifle one more time and started firing at will.
Jack pulled out his two Desert Eagle Hand Guns and looked around while running as fast as he could. Then, a Spartan from the other team came into view. Jack started firing his weapons. His shots rang out but did not find purchase on his enemy. He put away his pistols as soon as he could, and then did a somersault as the enemy fired at him using a carbine. They missed him as well, and then Jack pulled out his sniper rifle. He aimed and fired. The shield around his enemy flared up and went out. Jack pulled out a small machine gun and fired at his enemy.
Coins erupted from the enemy's body. Jack put away his weapon and pulled out the black sword that was on his back next to the flag. He slashed at the enemy, who leapt back. Jack put away his sword and pulled out the sniper rifle once more. He held his breath, aimed and fired, making the enemy's head explode with coins. The body transformed into coins, which Jack collected. Jack activated a cloaking spell and he was invisible to the other players, including his own team. He ran as fast as he could, trying to use this precious time that he had. He only had thirty seconds until time on his cloaking spell ran out. He ran until he was one third of the gorge away from his base. He took out a hunting rifle of his own design that he modified to be very precise over a long distance. He saw Nemesis and ran towards him. Then there was an explosion. Jack fell to the ground, letting go of the flag. There appeared a counter over the flag marking that if no one picked up the flag in thirty seconds, it would respawn back at the other base. Jack felt his right arm go numb as coins fell out. Someone had succeeded in wounding him. He found that he could not move his right arm. He pulled out a desert eagle pistol with his left hand and made his way to the flag, and the counter continued counting down. He picked it up and put it on his back. Three Spartans made their way to Jack. There was no one on his team there to help him. Nemesis was close, but without the ability to see, he was useless. Jack sucked in air as dread filled him.
"I'm going to enjoy tea-bagging your ass." One of the Spartans said.
Jack opened up his Heads-up Display, looking for spells or technology that could give him an advantage in this instance. He pulled out a small device from his belt and threw it down. A bright light blinded his enemies. Jack grabbed the knife from his left boot and ran up to the closest Spartan, and slammed his blade into the Spartan's neck, he forced the Spartan to go down, and he opened fire with the Spartan's own Assault Rifle on the other two Spartans. One of their shields went down. Jack threw his knife at the Spartan who took it in the right eye, or rather where their eye would have been. They exploded into coins. Jack grasped the Spartan he was on top of and reached into his throat, and ripped it from the Spartan, who exploded into coins as well. The last Spartan aimed his assault rifle at Jack. All of a sudden, there was a guttural roar as a metal panther roared. He launched at the Spartan, taking him down. The Panther mauled the Spartan.
Wasting no time thanking his teammate, Jack made sure he was still holding his flag. He made his way to his base with the flag.
Incoming Communication. The words appeared in Jack's heads up Display.
"Go for Jack 100292402." Jack said, saying his name one word and then one number at a time.
"Hey Jack." Art3mis said. "We're ready early, and wondered if you guys would be interested in meeting now."
"Shit," Jack said. "We are in the middle of a game, but I'll ask my friends about what they think."
"Go ahead." Art3mis said.
Jack muted the communication to Art3mis and then opened a channel to Tom and Gadanza.
"Guys, Artemis is wondering if we are ready to meet the High Five now." He told them. "What do you think? Should we end this game?"
"It's going to cost us." Gadanza said.
"Don't worry." Jack said. "I'll pay both the people who are playing on our side and the other team."
"Do you have enough coins for that?" Tom asked.
"Yeah don't worry." Jack replied, and then he opened up a channel to all of the players of the Capture the Flag game that they were all playing.
"Hey everyone." He began. "Something has come up and we need to stop playing."
"That means your team forfeits the match." One of the Spartans said. "We win the prize."
The prize was one million coins for the winning team. This made them really happy.
"What the hell man?" The team member who was wearing SWAT armour asked Jack, running up to the man.
"Here, I'll pay all of you one hundred thousand coins each." Jack replied. "That's as much as we would get if we won."
"That's good, but we were doing so awesomely." The player in the Nemesis skin also said.
Jack looked at his inventory on his Heads Up Display and paid out 100, 000 coins to his seven co-players.
"So what, you're not going to pay us?" Tom mused.
"Hey I didn't tell the others that we are meeting with the High Five." Jack said sternly. "That should be a treat in itself."
"Yeah, so where are we meeting them?" Gadanza asked.
"Aech has a chat room called The Garage, also known as The Basement." Jack said, having been invited to the chat room by Art3mis. "They gave us access to the chat room. We need to get to the Tensa Zangetsu first."
Jack opened a portal. He and his two friends walked through the portal. They were on board the ship that was Jack's personal home on the OASIS. Usually, the team would download weapons on the ship and then go play games. The Tensa Zangetsu would charge weapons that needed replenishing in energy. The spaceship also spent Jack's coins in order to get ammunition. He shared it willingly with his friends. He looked for an extra arc generator and placed it within his Hulk Buster armour to power it up. His friend stocked up on ammunition.
"Did you guys have clothes you wanted to change into?" Jack asked his friends.
"What's wrong with what I have on?" Tom asked.
"Dude," Gadanza said. "We're about to meet the best players in the world. Have a little respect."
Gadanza changed his clothing to appear like a detective wearing a suit underneath a trench coat and fedora that matched the colour of his coat. Tom refused to change. Jack looked through the clothing and gear that he had amassed and pulled out a suit that he liked. It was a black dress shoes, black dress pants, a white tunic, a black blazer and a red bow tie. His combed out his hair and summoned his knife in its holster along his left leg. He pulled out a pistol and put it in a holster that was underneath his blazer. He picked out sunglasses that suited the look and he looked at his avatar from different vantage points. He then returned to first person mode. He looked like an Indian Gangster.
"Okay, let's go." He told his friends as he opened a portal to Aech's chat room, The Basement.
They walked through the portal and found that they were in a huge room. In the middle was The Iron Giant which was in two huge pieces. The hips and legs were one piece while the abdomen, head and arms were another piece. There were five Avatars waiting for them.
"Hey." Jack said, waving. "My name is Jack."
"Hey, welcome to The Basement." Aech, a tall orc-cyborg said. "If you need anything to be fixed, I can do it here for a charge of course. This is my home, where we come to chat and do other awesome things."
"These are my friends, Tom and Gadanza." Jack introduced his friends.
"Hello." Parzival said, rising to meet the guests of The Basement. "I take it you all have questions about what Artemis has been doing on the racing circuits."
"Yeah," Jack said. "She keeps kicking ass. Is there a reason, or is she just trying to make more money even though she has a lot already?"
"The High Five does not really come to the OASIS anymore." Shoto said, as he introduced himself to the new friends. "You are right to question our motives, but you are not in any position to order us around. The reason you are here is because Artemis wants more comrades. For some time, we were looking to expand our clan to take up more players. We want to know more about you. Jack 100292402, your name is all over the OASIS. You fix things like Aech aboard your spaceship."
"Yes." Jack said.
"I believe you can help Aech build something special." Art3mis said. "We are after one player in particular. He is a hacker who has bypassed much of the games that were originally created by Halliday and Morrow. His Avatar name is Lynx. I believe he is after another Easter egg that Halliday had created but wanted only the best players to find. He's not from America. I believe he's racing for another egg so I'm racing to find out more about him and find the egg before he does. This time, there are no rules. There are no scoreboards. This egg is something else entirely."
"But you guys have everything." Tom said. "Why would Halliday make another Easter egg and not tell anyone about it?"
"The same reason why people started leaving Easter Eggs in the first place." Aech said.
"What are you guys doing about it?" Jack asked Aech, Parzival, Shoto, and Daito. "Are you racing as well?"
"Yes, we are." Shoto said. "I'm racing spaceships."
"I'm racing on foot." Daito said.
"I'm modifying our vehicles." Aech said.
"I'm doing research at Anorak's virtual archives to see if there are any clues," Parzival said.
"What would you have us do?" Jack asked. "Why did you invite me here?"
"We need your ship." Parzival said. "People who you helped in the past have told us that you can track people, is that true?"
"I can only track people who have won games." Jack replied. "Are you saying you want to track this Lynx person?"
"And build a special item." Aech replied. "We need your help. Your friends can also race with us as well."
"Sounds like fun." Tom said.
"We do have another friend who does not have console to get onto the OASIS." Gadanza said. "He might be a good help to us if he was to get one."
"Yeah, but then he would have to start playing ASAP." Parzival said. "He would begin at level one where we are all above that."
"That's the price you guys need to pay in order for us to help you." Jack replied. "Let our friend get a console and we help find this Lynx person."
"What about the Easter Egg?" Art3mis asked. "You don't want a share in that?"
"Our friend joining us is more important." Jack said.
"Now hold on Jack," Gadanza said. "Let's not be too excited. I want Justin to play with us as well, but what if this Easter egg is something better?"
"Halliday had left everything to The High Five." Jack responded, and then turned to the High Five. "Maybe we should think about things then get back to you."
"The Basement will be open to you guys." Aech said. "You can come here to find us whenever you want."
"Alright thanks." Jack said. "Just to let you guys know it's crazy for you to invite us here. You guys are awesome. Thank you for doing that for us."
"You guys are awesome as well." Parzival said.
"We will see you soon." Jack said, and then he, Tom and Gadanza entered a portal and left The Basement.
GoldDragonZ: I don't know about you guys, but I like writing this story. If you enjoy the story, that's just bonus for me. If you find something wrong, please tell me.
