Gamers%20Challenge%20final%2019%20May.pdf

27: Charging Up 

The Ultimate Gamer let go of the joystick. His sheen had faded and his colour darkened with patches of grey and black.

Are you okay?’ called Zyra.

‘No,’ answered the Ultimate Gamer. ‘The antivirus program is stronger than I had anticipated.’

‘The IDD,’ said Tark, glaring at the professor.

The professor cringed, but as Tark looked away, his face brightened. ‘Of course! Yes, yes, yes. That is it!’

‘It is more than that,’ said the Ultimate Gamer. ‘Itis different from the last time I encountered it. It has learned to play. It is ... enjoying the game.’

Unnoticed, the professor edged his way across the common room and slipped out towards his workshop.

On the screen, the dragon was grinding its foot intothe ground. It swung its body around and lumbered across the light grid, throwing its bulk against the perimeter. The grid crackled with energy, snaking tendrils of green coursing through the dragon. push. The Outers that had gathered around the grid shrank back.

The Ultimate Gamer took hold of the joystick.

‘Resume play.’

Looking up at the screen, Zyra and the others saw pinpricks of light forming into a new shape - a dragon, albeit a smaller one. The larger dragon stepped back from the grid perimeter and charged its new opponent.

As the dragons on the screen reared up andgrappled with each other, claws slashing, mouths spewing fire, Professor Palimpsest came rushing back into the common room, the newly charged IDD clutched in his arms.

‘This is it. This is it. This is it!’ He scurried towards the Ultimate Gamer’s podium.

‘Stop him!’ shouted Tee.

Tark and Zyra ran at the professor. As Tark wrestled the IDD from his hands, Zyra pinned the professor’s arms behind his back.

‘No, no, no,’ the professor cried. ‘I’m trying to help! Yes!’

Zyra gave his arm a twist, making him yelp.

‘Yeah, sure ya is,’ said Tark, levelling the IDD at the professor’s chest. ‘Wonder wots would ‘appen if I gaves ya a burst o’ this?’

The professor shook his head frantically.

An agonised wail brought their attention back to the screen. The Ultimate Gamer’s dragon was on the ground. The larger dragon ripped it apart with its claws, literally wrenching off one of its arms.

Hope looked away from the screen, sickened.

‘There must be something we can do to help!’

With a shudder, the Ultimate Gamer released the joystick and slumped back in his chair. Growing patches of black spread through his body like oil spills.

‘I can help!’ yelled the professor.

Zyra tightened her grip on his arms.

‘The IDD gave the power of the Interface to the antivirus program. Yes.’ The professor struggled against his captor as he spoke. ‘The Ultimate Gamer could, perhaps, also tap into this power.’

‘Possibly.’ The gamer lifted a feeble hand and tapped a key. A panel slid back on the side of the podium. ‘Connect it.’

The professor tried to get free, but Zyra held him fast. ‘Please, please, please. You’ve got -’

A piercing scream cut the professor off.

On the screen, the static dragon was pressed up against the grid’s perimeter. One of its clawed feet had broken through and was clutching the leg of an Outer, dragging him towards the grid. Several Outers held onto his arms, pulling, trying to save him.

‘That’s Chuck.’ Zyra’s voice was barely a whisper.

‘Let him go,’ called Tee, pointing at the professor. Palimpsest grabbed the IDD from Tark and scurried to the podium. He examined it quickly then stuck the end of the device into a connection port.

‘Hope, hope, hope,’ he said, squeezing the trigger.

The Ultimate Gamer sat bolt upright as static zipped around the gold loops that encircled him.

On the screen, the dragon had won the deadlytug-o-war. It yanked Chuck into the grid, bellowed a victory roar, and snapped its jaws on him. Chuck exploded in a burst of dissipating pixels. The dragon then thrust its claws back through the grid’s perimeter.

The Ultimate Gamer’s hand shot forward and grasped the joystick. ‘I’m back,’ he said, in Bobby’s voice. ‘And I’m charged.’