The Search Begins
Dragon's Lair: Chapter 4 (Continuation of the short story)
The boys started looking at every game they could. The first games they checked were different variants of Pac-Man and Mrs Pac-Man; then next to them were other seated games. None of them had any kind of treasure or any characters that were human or human-like.
“Mike said,” Josh started.
“Bob,” Kenny interrupted.
“Right, Bob said that we should look for extra characters, but does that mean that the characters have to be humans or could they be bears or something else?” Josh asked Kenny.
“I don’t know, but he seemed to think we would know when we saw extra characters and then we should get him,” Kenny said.
“Ok,” Josh said, continuing the search.
Once the boys had finished looking at the sit-down games, they looked up at the games that ringed them. Most of those games were popular, and they had so many kids surrounding them they couldn’t get close enough to see the screen.
“Let’s go check some of the others,” Greg said.
“Yeah, that’s a good idea,” Josh said, following Greg.
Kenny stood, looking at the different games, thinking about how to find the boys.
“Hey guys,” Kenny said to Josh and Greg’s backs.
“Yeah, Kenny?” Josh said after he stopped and turned.
“What if the game with the boys is broken?” Kenny said.
“Yeah,” Josh said, then looked at the games he could see. None of them had an out-of-order sign. “Wait, didn’t that guy tell Mike that a game wasn’t working?”
“Yeah, he did,” Kenny said. “That’s probably the machine we’re looking for.”
Since it was the first day being opened, all the machines had someone playing them, even the kindergarten games, so having an out-of-order sign would make it a lot easier to find.
The boys headed to the first ring of games searching for one with no one in front. Finally, after going about a third of the way around, they found a game that no one was playing. On either side of it were popular games, so even though no one was playing it, there was still a large crowd blocking it from both sides. Spider was leaning against the empty game while he watched one of his new friends playing one of the other games.
“Hey Spider,” Kenny said when he saw him.
“Hey,” Spider said without taking his eyes away from the game his friend was playing.
“Can I look at that game?” Kenny asked.
“It’s out of order,” Spider said not moving.
“Ok, but can I look at it?” Kenny asked,
“Go away, I’m watching the new kid play,” Spider said.
“Ok,” Kenny said.
“How come you’re not playing?” Greg asked.
“I lost after a kid bumped me and made me miss a punch,” Spider said, looking at Greg.
“I’m going to go get Mike,” Kenny whispered to Josh.
“Ok,” Josh whispered back to him. “That must have been a pretty cool game,” He said to Spider.
“Yeah, it was. I was doing all the cool moves like the super jump with the elbow slam,” Spider said and then showed how his character slammed down onto the boss. “Just like that. Then I did a whirlwind kick where my guy flew up spinning almost off the screen, and when he hit the boss, he went flying and landed in a huge dust cloud. It was so cool.” Then Spider went on to tell how his character was punching so fast you couldn’t see his fists. He continued to tell about all the moves his character made while he tried to demonstrate them. After one very complicated jumping-kicking-punching move, he knocked himself over and was sitting on the ground trying to catch his breath.
“Those are some pretty cool moves, for a scrawny barbarian,” Mike said.
“Hey, I’m not scrawny,” Spider responded to Mike and then to Kenny, “Who’s the old dude?”
“He’s Mike,” Kenny said.
“Oh, funny, he has the same name as the fake dragon you drew,” Spider said.
“This is that Mike,” Josh said.
“Yeah, right, he’s a make-believe dragon,” Josh snorted.
Mike breathed in and then let out a breath of steam and smoke smelling like rotten eggs and burning metal. The smoke surrounded Spider like a blanket, not spreading out like smoke usually does.
“That’s a cool trick, mister,” one of the boys said, who had been near Spider watching his antics.
Kenny looked alarmed that someone had seen Mike breathe magic. “Uhm Mike, I mean Bob, should you do that around other people?” Kenny asked.
“It doesn’t matter. He’ll only remember that I was smoking a cigar and blew smoke rings tomorrow. Most people tend to forget magic, unless they are wizards,” Mike said.
“Then how come I remembered you?” Kenny asked.
“You’ll figure it out,” Mike said as he winked at Kenny. “Now why did you drag me over here?”
“We think we’ve figured out where the boys are,” Josh said.
“Ok, which game do you think they got stuck in?” Mike asked.
“This one, Jungle Adventure,” Kenny said.
“And why do you think that?” Mike asked.
“Because it’s out of order,” Josh said.
“Hmm, there are a few games from before that are out of order. Why do you think this one has the boys in it?” Mike asked.
“Oh, we didn’t realize that there were others,” Kenny said.
“Well, you might be right on this one. There is treasure in this one, and this may be a portal.” Mike said. “Let’s see if you’re right.” Mike stepped up to the game.
“How will we know if there are any extra players or…oh,” Greg started to say when he stepped up behind Mike. On the screen was a room full of gold. Gold statues of Mayan gods, gold coins, cups, plates, and other golden things. Sitting in the center was a boy eating some soup out of a golden bowl with a gold spoon. After a few spoonfuls, a beetle the size of a dog jumped up onto a low golden table next to the boy. The boy didn’t jump or act scared; he just kept eating. The beetle touched the boy’s shoulder with an antenna. A word bubble appeared above the boy with the words “stop begging; you have your own food. The beetle scooted back and sat.
“Well, you found one of the boys,” Mike said. “Good job.”
“What are you going to do to get him out of there?” Josh asked.
“I’m not,” Mike said.
“What!?!” Greg exclaimed. “You can’t just leave him there!”
“I can’t go there,” Mike said.
“What do you mean you can’t go there?” Josh asked.
Kenny, already knowing what Mike was going to say, took off his backpack and started looking through it.
“I can’t go there. I’m only sort of here, and I can’t go to another world from here.” Mike said.
“Oh,” Josh said, not really understanding what Mike said.
“Can I put some of this stuff in your office?” Kenny asked, pulling out some school books from his backpack.
“Yes. Then you all should go next door to the quickie mart to stock up,” Mike said.
“What? What are you talking about, Kenny?” Greg demanded.
“We’ll need some supplies,” Kenny said.
“Supplies? What are you talking about? Supplies for what?” Greg asked.
“Where are you going?” Spider spoke up, finally recovered from the spell Mike cast to return his memory.
“Into the game?” Josh asked.
“Yep, we’re the only ones that can save him and his friends,” Kenny said.
Josh, Greg, and Spider just stood there looking at Kenny.
“Are you guys going to help?” Kenny asked when they didn’t move or say anything.
“Yes,” Josh was the first to speak up.
“Yeah,” Greg said.
“I think you’re crazy, but I’ll help… my little brother,” Spider said.
***
The boys pooled their money and bought enough snacks to keep them fed for a couple of meals. Just before they paid, Spider saw some rope that he threw on the pile of supplies. “You never know when you’ll need a rope,” he said as he set it down.
When they got outside, they divided up the food and loaded up their backpacks. When all the food was divided and packed, the rope was sitting there. After a moment, Spider insisted on taking it.
With all their supplies packed, the boys headed back into the arcade and into Mike’s office.
“We’re all packed,” Kenny said after pushing each other, trying to get a place to stand in the small area in front of the desk. The boys were getting excited for the adventure and a little scared. They were all shifting and shuffling their feet because of the nervous energy.
Mike was sitting in his chair with a pile of stuffed things on the desk.”I have a few things that might help you in your quest,” he said as he reached for the first of the items. “First for the barbarian,” Mike said, picking up a plushie sword. “You will need a weapon in the jungle.” He said and handed the toy to Spider.
“What am I going to do with this? It’s just a soft fake sword that babies hit each other with,” Spider said, looking at the stuffed sword.
“And for our thief, a crossbow,” Mike said, handing Greg a stuffed crossbow.
“I’m not a thief,” Greg said.
“Alright, Ninja,” Mike said.
“Gee thanks,” Greg said, taking it and just looking at it.
Spider started playing with his sword, swinging it at Greg, striking the crossbow. There was a sound of metal hitting wood. Spider stopped and just stared at the stuffed toy sword.
“Things are not always what they seem,” Mike said, hearing the clunk sound.
“For our paladin, a shield to protect the weaker,” Mike handed Josh a small stuffed shield.
Josh took it and held it, already realizing that Mike’s gifts were not all they seemed.
“Finally, for the wizard, a box,” Mike handed Kenny a bright blue stuffed box.
“Thank you,” Kenny said, taking it very carefully, then turning it over to see all the sides were blank.
“Now that you boys are properly equipped, it’s time to get in the game,” Mike said, then got up to head out.
The boys stuffed their gifts into their backpacks and then followed Mike out.
***
“When you arrive in the jungle adventure world, you will be facing the obstacles that you would if you were playing the game here. The first thing you will be facing…” Mike started when Spider interrupted him.
“We’ll have to jump over snakes and dodge spiders; we know we’ve played the game before,” Spider said.
“Well then I guess the only thing I can tell you is be careful,” Mike said and then breathed in a huge breath and then blew a cloud of smoke over the boys.