《Wreckless Abandon (Dungeon Driving, Vehicle Based LitRPG)》


 Chapter 1-Tutorial

    ¡°I would sell my soul to get my driver¡¯s license.¡±


    My mother had laughed when I said it. It was just one of those stupid things a teenager would say when they really wanted something. And I did really want my driver¡¯s license. If I had passed my test, my mother promised me that I would be able to use the car whenever I wanted, and in high school having your own car immediately put you in a different league than those who didn¡¯t.


    The only possible downside was that it wasn¡¯t the most stylish car. It was a dark blue VW beetle with a faded yellow smiley face sticker on the bumper and a dent in the hood. Even from far away, you could tell that the car was old, but I didn¡¯t care. If I somehow managed to get a girlfriend or a date to one of the many dances our school hosted, it would be less embarrassing to show up in the beetle than it would be to get dropped off by your mother.


    So there I was, sitting in the car that the DMV provided for my test, and tapping my fingers nervously on the steering wheel. I had already adjusted my seat so that my knees didn¡¯t hit the bottom of the wheel, angled my mirrors so I could see everything behind me and cleaned off my glasses so no streaks or glares blocked my vision. Despite my heavy breathing and stomach turning itself inside out, I was ready, and I was going to pass.


    I jumped as the door opened and the test proctor sat in the car. He was short and fat with a deep tan and wore an ugly brown polo shirt, black pants and reflective aviator sunglasses. The man closed the door, buckled up and looked down at his clipboard.


    ¡°You Milo Walker?¡±


    ¡°Y-yes,¡± I stammered.


    The man nodded and flipped over the paper. He pulled out a pen and handed both to me. ¡°Sign here please.¡± The signature line was the only thing on the page. I signed my name in the only cursive I knew and handed it back. The man looked at it and then put the clipboard in the pocket of the door. ¡°Alright, just take it forward and do as the voice tells you.¡±


    ¡°Voice?¡± I asked. ¡°Like those smart cars.¡±


    The man shrugged. ¡°Not really. Now please begin.¡±


    I put the car into gear, looked in each mirror twice for good measure and then lightly placed my foot on the gas pedal. The engine hummed, and the car moved forward. I drove the car through the large parking lot until we began to approach the curb.


    ¡°Do you want me to turn left or right?¡± I didn¡¯t dare take my eyes off the road as I asked.


    ¡°Like I said, just keep going forward.¡±


    Was this part of the test? If I kept going the car was going to hit the curb and dent the bumper. But what would happen if I didn¡¯t listen to him? I decided it was better not to damage the car and was about to turn the wheel when everything outside changed.


    What was once a breezy partly cloudy afternoon had somehow changed into a dark red sky with swirling clouds. The abruptness of it made me jerk the wheel far to the left. As I did, words appeared on the windshield.


    Please Note: The Vehicle Cannot Change Direction During the Tutorial.


    I turned to the man. ¡°What is going on?¡±


    ¡°Please continue forward. All will be explained once you have completed the tutorial. If you decide not to complete the tutorial, you will be ejected from this vehicle and permanently erased.¡± Before I could ask what he meant, a female voice came out of the radio.


    ¡°Welcome Milo Walker. My name is Tooty. I will be your guide. I have noticed that your foot is currently not on the gas pedal. Please place your foot on the pedal so we can proceed. And please do not worry about falling into the lava river below. For now it is only for show.¡±


    I looked back out and saw a long stone bridge that was barely big enough for a single vehicle. As the voice had said, there was a lava flow that went underneath the bridge.


    ¡°Mr. Walker please place your foot on the pedal,¡± Tooty repeated.


    Deciding that somehow my nerves were forcing me to hallucinate my driving test as some dangerous hell trip, I pushed the gas and the car began to move again.The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.


    ¡°First thing¡¯s first,¡± Tooty said. ¡°Please direct your attention to the gauges right in front of you. In most vehicles, this indicates your mileage, your fuel, and any other information you might need. Our vehicles function the same way, only with added menus that will be crucial to your adventures down here.¡± I looked where Tooty told me to and sure enough, there were all the normal things I had seen while learning to drive. ¡°To continue, press the down button located on the left side of your steering wheel.¡±


    On both sides of the wheel were controls like one would see on an old video game controller. The left side had a directional pack and the right had an A and B button. I pressed the down arrow with my thumb. The gauges were replaced with a menu.


    ¡°This is your main menu.¡± Tooty continued. ¡°As she spoke, each option became highlighted.


    ¡°First is Diagnostics. This is where you can monitor the health of your vehicle.


    Next is Loadout. This menu functions as your armory. While you need to be at a garage zone to equip weapons, this menu is used to load your ammunition. This isn¡¯t an action movie, you have to reload at some point.


    Moving on to Inventory. This is where you store everything that isn¡¯t in immediate use.


    Next menu is Navigation. It helps to know where you¡¯re going, and this is the menu for that. If you get lost, it¡¯s your own fault.


    Now on to Social. It can get lonely being in a vehicle all the time, so make some friends so you can chat it up.


    We won¡¯t be going over the individual menus now. That¡¯s for you to do on your own time, once you acquire your very own vehicle. You¡¯ll even be able to put your favorite options on your main screen. But that¡¯s for later. Please continue forward. If you have any questions about the menus please ask your proctor now.¡±


    In all this confusion I had almost forgotten that I wasn¡¯t alone. I turned to the man beside me and yelled. ¡°What the hell is going on?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry,¡± he said, continuing to look straight ahead. ¡°I can only answer questions about the menu system at this time. All other questions must wait.¡±


    I took my hands off the steering wheel and tried to grab at the man, but they passed right through him. The car then lurched to a stop and words flashed onto the windshield.


    Place Hands Back on the Steering Wheel to Continue the Tutorial.


    ¡°Do you wish to stop the tutorial here?¡± The man asked. ¡°If you do, you will be ejected from the vehicle and erased.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯ll kill me?¡±


    ¡°Correct.¡± The man said it with such a flat tone that I knew it was less of a threat and more a statement of fact. Like, the weather George Washington was the first U.S. President and if you don¡¯t complete the tutorial you will be killed.


    After a tense moment, I put my hands back on the wheel. The words on the windshield disappeared and the car began to move again. Even though we were moving, the bridge was so impossibly long that it was hard to tell if we were making any progress. It was like one of those nightmares where you keep running down a hallway but you never reach the end. I looked in the rearview mirror to see if I could tell how far the starting point was, but it had disappeared. Looking down the lava flow, which had looked like a river before, now spread out in every direction like an ocean.


    I remembered learning in school that lava was supposed to be loud, but all I could hear was the engine. In fact lava was also supposed to be scorching hot, but the inside of the car was cool. I looked to see if there was an a/c control control console and there was, but it wasn¡¯t turned on.


    ¡°Basic environmental controls can be adjusted in the vehicle¡¯s Diagnostics menu,¡± the man said unprompted. ¡°Advanced options will have to be purchased.¡±


    ¡°Oh yeah, that¡¯s cool,¡± I said sarcastically. ¡°Does it come with a radio too?¡±


    ¡°The radio menu can be found under Social. Every vehicle comes automatically equipped with the default station WRKS. More stations can become available with purchase.¡±


    The car stopped. For a second I was worried I had done something wrong, but then Tooty¡¯s voice came on. ¡°We will now go over the next part of the tutorial.¡± Tooty chimed in. ¡°Combat.¡±


    Outside on the bridge a run down go kart materialized in front of us. As I looked at it a name appeared over it in blue lettering.


    Tutorial Kart: Enemy: Combat Danger:0


    ¡°All enemies, players and non-combatant characters will have a nifty little indicator like this over them whenever they are in close proximity to you,¡± Tooty said. ¡°In order you will always see their name and species name, what kind of character they are, and their combat danger. Combat danger is graded on a scale of 1 to 10. Non-combatant characters are always graded as a 0. Now check this out.¡±


    There was a thud on the top of the roof and the car shook like something had fallen on top of it. Then a control column, like those used to steer an airplane, appeared next to the steering wheel.


    ¡°Please grab the control. You may take your hands off the wheel for this part.¡± My hand barely fit around the joystick looking mechanism. ¡°Now, a targeting reticle has appeared on your windshield. I want you to move the control until it lines up with the kart in front of you, and then I want you to press the big red button.¡±


    A crosshair appeared on the far right of the windshield. I pulled the control and it resisted against me. I pulled harder and the crosshair slowly moved across the window. It missed the kart on its first pass so I had to pull back. It took a couple more tries before I managed to get the crosshair just on the edge of the kart. I pressed the red button with my thumb and a small rocket launched from the top of the car, the force of which forced the vehicle back a few inches and shook my seat. The kart exploded sending fire and shrapnel in every direction, some of which harmlessly bounced off the car.


    ¡°Good job,¡± Tooty cheered. ¡°You have destroyed your first enemy. Of course the other ones won¡¯t just sit there and wait for you to blow them to hell. Also did you know that there are other ways to defeat your enemies? You¡¯ll be able to figure all that out as you progress. And with that, congratulations, you have completed the tutorial. Now please place your hands back on the wheel.¡±


    Sighing, I did as was told, and the car moved forward again. We had only moved a few feet when a stone portcullis appeared in front of us and opened. As we moved through it words again appeared on the windshield. They said ¡°Welcome to Wreckless Abandon.¡±

 Chapter 2-Tutorial Part 2

    Everything around me went dark. I didn¡¯t faint or anything, all the lights had gone out. After a few seconds the roof light inside the car clicked on and the proctor now stared at me. The light shadowed his face in a way that made it seem like he was about to tell a scary story. Instead he handed me the clipboard.


    ¡°Please exit the vehicle and proceed forward.¡±


    ¡°I thought you said I would die if I did.¡±


    After I took the clipboard the man turned back in his seat and stared forward once more. ¡°You are only allowed to exit the vehicle in a garage zone. Any other time and you will be erased.¡±


    I gripped the handle of the door and gulped. I opened it slowly expecting something to come out of the dark and drag me away, but nothing did. Opening it up further, I placed one foot out and was relieved when it hit solid ground. When I was all the way out, the door pulled itself from my grasp and slammed itself shut. The light from the car then turned off leaving me in pitch blackness. I reached for the door again, but my hand hit nothing. Taking a couple steps forward, I came into contact with nothing. The car was no longer there.


    ¡°What the hell is going on?¡± I yelled.


    My voice echoed but there was no answer in return. With nothing else, I walked forward. I took my time walking, testing each step as if I was walking on a frozen lake that threatened to crack and send me to my death.


    ¡°Mr. Walker, will you please speed it up? I have many other appointments to keep today.¡± The new voice made me jump and drop the clipboard. I bent down to pick it up when the voice spoke again. ¡°Just leave it Mr. Walker. I have a copy on my desk.¡± The voice sounded annoyed and out of breath. It reminded me of my mom after she came home from a long day of work.


    ¡°Who are you? Where are you?¡± I asked into the darkness.


    ¡°Over here Mr. Walker.¡± A light clicked on to my right revealing a small office set up, minus the walls. There was a wooden desk, with a lamp on one side and a potted fern on the other. Behind the desk sat a man similar to the proctor, except his polo shirt was bright red. He had a baseball cap with devil horns on it and wore the same kind of reflective sunglasses as the proctor. ¡°Please, sit.¡± The man gestured to the empty chair in front of the desk.


    As I sat, the man folded his hands on the desk and leaned forward. ¡°My name is Solomon. I am in charge of briefing the Earthers who enter this realm.¡± Before I could ask any question, Solomon raised his hand. ¡°I ask that you don¡¯t interrupt me while I give you the rundown. It will make things go smoother on my end and will make sure that you are given the necessary information. Agreed?¡± I nodded.


    ¡°Good. Now it should be obvious that you are no longer on Earth. You are in the realm known as Nova. Think of it as another dimension outside of your own. You are here because you have agreed to give us your soul in exchange for,¡± Solomon looked at the paper on his desk, ¡°your driver¡¯s license.¡± He paused and then shrugged. ¡°Well, others have been brought here for less I suppose.¡±


    ¡°I didn¡¯t agree to sell you my soul,¡± I blurted out.


    Solomon flipped the paper over and slid the one under it to me. ¡°Is this your signature?¡±The author''s narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.


    I looked at it. It was the paper that the proctor had me sign when he entered the car. ¡°Yes, but that¡¯s not what I thought I signed. I thought it was for the driver¡¯s test.¡±


    ¡°Do you have a habit of signing contracts that you did not read?¡±


    ¡°No, but how did you even know about that? It was just a joke I told my mother.¡±


    Solomon took the paper back. ¡°Our methods do not concern you, the fact of the matter is that you signed the paper which clearly states the terms of the contract. You will receive a copy once our business is concluded.¡±


    A thought popped into my head. ¡°I¡¯m under 18, and I¡¯m not allowed to sign contracts without my mother¡¯s express permission.¡±


    Solomon threw his head back with laughter, almost knocking the hat off. ¡°I just told you that we are no longer on your planet. Did you think that Earth laws applied here?¡± He took off the sunglasses and wiped away tears before putting them back on. ¡°Nothing beats a good laugh. Now to explain how Nova works.¡±


    ¡°I thought it was called Wreckless Abandon. That¡¯s what it said when¡­¡±


    ¡°This is why I say don¡¯t interrupt me. Now,¡± Solomon paused. ¡°Damn it, you made me lose track. Fine we¡¯ll do this the quick way so we can move on. The realm is called Nova. There are nine floors. Complete all the floors you win. Get it. Got it. Good. Wreckless Abandon is just the name of the game itself. It makes it easy to differentiate the two when discussed. Do you understand?¡± I nodded again.


    ¡°Good now for the rules. Every player gets a basic vehicle to start. Each one is based on a design from their respective world and you do not get to choose what it is. Our system will give you one based on factors I don¡¯t understand, nor do I care to. This vehicle will be everything to you. It will be your home and your lifeline. If it is destroyed, you are erased. If your entire body is placed outside of the vehicle, except in designated garage zones, you will be erased. On that note, any modifications done to your vehicle can only be done in garage zones. Do you understand this as well?¡±


    ¡°Yes,¡± I said, shaking at all the new information being shotgunned at me.


    ¡°Good. Other specialized rules will be explained when needed.¡± Solomon smiled. ¡°Now. It is time. For the best part.¡± Solomon spoke like a game show host trying to build suspense. ¡°Let¡¯s see your new car.¡±


    From the side a spotlight turned on and illuminated a frilly red curtain. From the darkness came a drum roll. Solomon joined in banging his hands on the desk. He looked at me expectantly as if wanting me to join in as well, but I just sat there and stared. Eventually the drumroll reached its crescendo, the curtains opened up and the music gave a loud da-da, all to reveal an ugly rusted out VW Beetle that looked like it had been fished out of a junkyard.


    After a few moments of silence, Solomon sighed loudly. ¡°Why do I even bother? Tooty, just tell him about the car.¡±


    ¡°Yes sir,¡± Tooty said. ¡°Milo Walker, you are now the proud owner of a VW Beetle. It may not look like much, but throw on some paint and give it a machine gun or two and you¡¯ve got yourself a death machine. What the basic model lacks in defenses and makes up for in speed. It even comes equipped with the ability Nitro 1. This gives you a three second burst of speed and can be used once every six hours. It also holds 14.5 gallons of gasoline, and gets almost 500 miles to the tank. Please be aware that use of the Nitro 1 ability takes up a quarter of your tank. But don¡¯t worry, your car has already been filled, which should be more than enough to get you to the first major garage zone. Good luck.¡±


    ¡°I believe that concludes our business together.¡± Solomon stood up from his chair.


    ¡°Wait,¡± I said. ¡°What happens now?¡±


    ¡°Get in the car and drive. Get to the first garage zone and you¡¯ll be given instructions on how to make it off this floor. If you make it that far, we may meet again. Until that time, farewell.¡± Solomon clapped his hands twice and he and everything, including the desk, the chairs and lights disappeared.


    With the chair gone, I fell and landed on my butt. The only thing left was the beetle which I was still somehow able to see even though the spotlight above it had disappeared. I didn¡¯t get up right away. I sat there and thought of my mother. How she must¡¯ve been freaking out and yelling at the poor DMV receptionist, neither of whom had any idea that I had been whisked away to another dimension. I knew that it wouldn¡¯t take long for the police to be called, and that it wouldn¡¯t make a lick of difference. At that moment all I could do was get up, get into that crappy car, and face whatever was waiting for me.

 Chapter 3-Losing the Training Wheels

    Despite what the outside of the beetle looked like, the inside was, well it wasn¡¯t great, but it was better than I expected. What I had extended to find was the car gutted out and empty with holes in the floor and roof. But surprisingly, everything was in there, even if the faux leather on the seats had been peeled away in large strips. The floors were also intact, but the mats were muddy and looked like they should¡¯ve been replaced years ago. The only thing that didn¡¯t look outdated was the dashboard and console. They didn¡¯t look brand new, but the matte black finish was solid, if not a little dusty.


    It wasn¡¯t until I had gotten into the car that I realized it was missing two things. The first were seatbelts. The second was car keys. I thought maybe the car had one of those buttons that started the car, but no, it was the standard ignition. In a panic I checked the back seat, the glove compartment, the pockets in the doors and underneath the front seats, which I regretted immediately when my hand came back dusty and wet. Finally, I remembered something I had seen in movies. I flipped down the sun visor and sure enough a key fell into my lap.


    As I turned the key there was a whine from the engine, and I was worried that it wouldn¡¯t turn over, but after a couple seconds the engine started and I let out a relieved breath. The dashboard lit up and the menu appeared on the console screen. The highlighted cursor was already on Diagnostics. I selected the option and a myriad of meters appeared ranging from the normal things such as the speedometer and fuel gauge to a wire frame representation of the beetle with percentages placed on the sides and front as well each tire. Thanks to some of the video games I played I realized that this must¡¯ve been my car''s health meter.


    I backed out of that menu and selected Navigation next. A compass and a GPS came up. The compass was pointed southwest. The GPS map only showed me with a small faded circle around it and a blinking diamond at the top. Again, with my prior game knowledge, I figured that this was the one of those kinds of maps where you could only reveal what was around you by traveling.


    ¡°Mr. Walker.¡± Tooty¡¯s sudden voice made me jump. ¡°The door will be opening in thirty seconds. When it opens any monsters or mobs nearby will be able to enter the facility.¡±


    ¡°I thought the garages were safe,¡± I said, staring at the radio. I assumed that¡¯s where the voice came from.


    ¡°Garage zones are safe, however this facility does not count as a standard zone. And remember once you leave, you will be unable to exit your car. If you do¡­¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ll get erased, I get it already.¡± I gripped the steering wheel.


    There was a pause before Tooty continued. ¡°I¡¯m glad you understand, but there is no need for rudeness Mr. Walker.¡±


    The last few seconds felt like they took an eternity. While I didn¡¯t know much about this place, the only thing I was sure of was that I had to get to that blinking diamond. If I knew video games, then it would probably be that first garage zone they were talking about earlier. But like with other games, they weren¡¯t just going to let me get there without a fight and with no weapons there was no way I was going to be able to make a stand. Realizing that it might be best to have it on hand instead of trying to fumble for it like a person trying to text their friends, I selected the Loadout menu, which brought up several other options. I selected abilities and the cursor hovered on Nitro 1.


    ¡°Opening the door now.¡± Tooty said.


    With a loud grinding the door slid open. The light from the outside did nothing to penetrate the darkness around me. It was as if the darkness was a wall. Outside I saw the same red lit sky from the bridge tutorial. There was no bridge this time however. It was a wide open area that stretched far. It was flat with no landmarks. Far into the horizon was a mountain range.


    ¡°Time to leave.¡±


    ¡°What happens if I don¡¯t leave?¡± I asked Tooty.


    ¡°Then you will be returned to your world.¡±


    ¡°Really?¡±


    Tooty laughed. ¡°Of course not. Now get moving.¡±


    I sighed and lightly pressed the gas pedal. The car moved slowly and exited the facility. When I was all the way out I checked my rearview mirror. The door closed and blended into a stone wall making it look like there wasn¡¯t anything there before. The wall itself stretched on in both directions.


    I drove forward and decided to keep the speed at an even 45 miles per hour. This is what I had practiced and it was the most comfortable for me. Of course my mother did have me practice with higher speeds on the highway, but I tended to get nervous if a driver got within a hundred yards behind me. More than once I had to pull over to the side to let the cars pass so I could continue unabated. That would only last for about five or so minutes before another car showed up. Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.


    I glanced down at my map to make sure I was still going in the right direction, when I noticed something new on my map. Three red dots were clustered together and were moving on the edge. According to my map, they were to my left so I looked out my driver''s side window. It didn¡¯t take long for me to see them.


    There were three short vehicles that looked like a combination of a dune buggy and a formula 1 race car headed in my direction with a cloud of dust blowing behind them. As they got closer the name indicator appeared above them.


    Goblin Buggy: Enemy: Combat Danger:2


    I pushed on the gas and the engine whined as it struggled to click into gear. When it finally responded the Goblin Buggys reached me and sped past behind me. All three of them then turned around and drove towards me. Each of them had roll cages on the top of the car which allowed me to see their wrinkly green skin and pointed ears. Close up I could also see that each of their cars had bones and ripped sheets of fabric waving off like flags.


    ¡°Tooty,¡± I called.


    ¡°Yes, Mr. Walker.¡±


    ¡°How far until my destination.¡±


    ¡°Your ETA is approximately two minutes and fifteen seconds.¡±


    Two of the goblins pulled up to the sides of my car and began to close in while the third one stayed back a few yards.


    ¡°I meant distance.¡± I said pressing the pedal farther down.


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry, but if you want more specialized information, you need to purchase them at a garage.¡±


    I cursed, something my mother would¡¯ve punished me for. Even at sixteen she still made me eat a bar of soap for even thinking of the f word.


    I tried to gain more speed, but the car seemed to top out at seventy five, which really wasn¡¯t that fast, especially since the goblins seemed to have no trouble keeping up with me. The one on the right jerked their wheel and slammed into my car. The force pushed me into the other one who also slammed into me. The sudden change of direction almost made me spin out but I was able to keep my hands on the steering wheel and keep the beetle somewhat straight.


    Both goblins cackled with laughter and came at me again. I slammed my foot on the break. The goblins barely missed and hit each other instead. The one behind me fell out of position to avoid rear ending me. Unfortunately, none of this made them crash. With a surprising amount of grace the two goblins that were now ahead of me managed to unstick themselves and turn wide to meet their partner and begin following me again as I tried to pick up speed.


    They did not move to overtake me again. Instead they spread out in an inverted V. From their hoods, small mounted machine guns sprouted up and fired. I let go of the steering wheel and ducked down just as a chorus of pings hit my car. When it stopped and sat up and grabbed the wheel to straighten the car, thankful that it had only veered slightly off course. I looked in my rear view mirror. The bullets had only managed to crack the back window.


    ¡°Are the windows bullet proof?¡± I asked, taking in a deep breath.


    ¡°No,¡± Tooty said. ¡°Each part of your vehicle has its own damage rating. When that rating reaches zero, then it breaks and must be repaired by a mechanic at a garage zone, or a roadside assistance kit.¡±


    ¡°So what is my windows current damage rating?¡±


    ¡°At this time, that information can only be accessed from the Diagnostics menu. An upgrade must be purchased for me to be able to tell you.¡±


    ¡°Oh yeah?¡± I said sarcastically, ¡°and can I buy a different voice for you as well.¡±


    There was a pause before Tooty responded, ¡°Yes.¡±


    Another quick round of gunfire pelted the car, cracking the window even more. It thankfully held, but the spider webs that had formed in the cracks made it almost impossible to see through.


    ¡°I guess they have to reload after each burst,¡± I mused out loud.


    ¡°Correct,¡± Tooty said. ¡°Because the size of the gun on the Goblin Buggy is relatively small, they must replenish ammunition more frequently.¡±


    ¡°Wait, you can give me information about the enemy?¡± I knew it was a stupid question as soon as I asked.


    Tooty laughed. ¡°Of course not. That¡¯s not how it works. You need to figure things out on your own, which makes it more rewarding when you do. All I can do is confirm if the information is correct.¡±


    ¡°This is insane.¡± I slammed my fist on the steering wheel.


    ¡°Yes it is. But this is what you agreed to Mr. Walker. ¡°


    ¡°Just tell me how long until I reach the garage.¡±


    ¡°Approximately 43 seconds.


    Since I could only guess when the next round of fire would hit, I said screw it and finally selected the Nitro. The words Nitro 1 appeared on the windshield along with a three second countdown. As soon as it reached zero, several things happened. The first was that the force of the car launching itself forward pushed me deep into my seat making me feel like an astronaut going through centrifuge training. We moved so fast that everything outside of the car became a blur.


    The second thing that happened was that the back window had shattered and glass rained inside the car. Bullets flew into the now open hole and tore through the headrests and embedded themselves into the windshield. One of the bullets whipped through my loose hair strands, missing my skull by millimeters.


    It wasn¡¯t until the Ntro wore off and the rear of the car tilted that I realized that the goblins had also managed to shoot out my back left tire. My first instinct was to slam on the brakes, but somewhere in my rattled brain I remembered that doing that would make the brakes lock up and it could cause a wreck. So instead I kept my foot on the gas and pushed down hard.


    ¡°Mr. Walker,¡± Tooty said. ¡°I have some good and bad news. The good news is that you¡¯ve managed to reduce your ETA from 43 seconds to 4. The bad new is,¡± I saw it before she said it, ¡°that at your trajectory, you are going to crash into the garage zone door before it can fully open to you.¡±


    And that is exactly what happened.

 Chapter 4-Harvey

    ¡°Holy Torque kid, what did you do to my garage door?¡±


    The deep snarling voice coaxed me into opening my eyes. A bull-like face hovered above me. I yelped and tried to scramble away, but I couldn¡¯t get far because my body was half way through the windshield. As I tried to move, sharp blades of glass poked at my stomach and legs, but with no pain or blood.


    ¡°Cool it kid, I ain¡¯t gonna hurt you.¡±


    I stopped and stared at the thing talking to me. The bull head sat on a body bulging with veiny muscles and swathes of dark red hair, except for its bald head. It wore faded gray overalls with black splotches all over it. The ring in its nose was gold plated which matched the tips of its horns.


    ¡°Are you a minotaur?¡± I asked.


    The bull man stood up straight. ¡°Mechanitaur. I fix cars. And from what I see, your car will be a real project. But first, let¡¯s get you standin¡¯.¡± He grabbed me and effortlessly dragged me off the car.


    ¡°Wait,¡± I protested. ¡°Shouldn¡¯t you be careful. I could have internal injuries or something. You might kill me.¡±


    The bull man stood me up then laughed. ¡°You can¡¯t die in a garage. Hell, you can barely get hurt. Your body heals as soon as you cross that boundary.¡± He thumbed towards the bay door which was folded up on itself with the beetle wedged into it.


    ¡°Oh,¡± I said quietly looking down. I was about to apologize when I noticed all my clothes were shredded. I grabbed my shirt and stretched it out. ¡°Dammit, this was my favorite t-shirt too.¡±


    Bending down, the Mechanitaur examined my shirt. ¡°Hmm, Poison Amy. Can¡¯t say I¡¯ve heard of them.¡±


    ¡°Well duh, she¡¯s a singer from my world.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ve heard plenty of your music. Got me a radio that gets all the stations. I¡¯m really into that rap music. It¡¯s kinda like the siren poets from Aques, only with more rhythm.¡± The bull man shook his shoulders slightly as he spoke.


    ¡°Right.¡±


    Since I had nothing good to contribute to the topic or rap music I looked around. The room was your standard workshop that you would see in a car repair garage. In the middle was a car lift which was currently suspended in the air with a vehicle that looked similar to the carriage that Cinderella took to the ball, only made of a deep brown wood and with heavy duty truck tires. On the far wall was a cluttered workbench sandwiched in between two tanks of a green bubbling liquid. There were no words on them, only a crude picture of someone drinking from a cup with a line drawn through it. And then of course there was my car inside the door.


    ¡°Um sorry about that.¡±


    The Mechanitaur looked at it and gave a half shrug. ¡°It can be fixed. Not cheaply, but then again nothing ever is.¡± He turned back to me. ¡°Anyway, names Harvey. It¡¯s short for Horvax, but don¡¯t call me that.¡± He held out his hand.The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.


    ¡°Milo,¡± I said, shaking it. His hand felt like worn leather.


    ¡°Well Milo, welcome to Harvey¡¯s House. Or as it¡¯s properly known, Garage Zone 1 Dash E Point V3. Best remember that because it¡¯s not listed as Harvey¡¯s House on the map. But that don¡¯t matter for now because until you are allowed to take on the main quest of this floor, Harvey¡¯s will be the only garage you can access. We have food, beds and entertainment, which is all free, within reason. Questions?¡±


    ¡°What¡¯s the main quest?¡±


    Harvey shook his head. ¡°Can¡¯t tell ya¡¯. Least not yet.¡±


    ¡°How long will it take to fix the beetle?¡±


    ¡°Hard to say. I gotta fix that baby first,¡± he gestured up at the pumpkin car, ¡°then I gotta assess the damage. For now just head through the door and if you have more questions, you can bother the other Harvey about it.¡± Before I could ask anything more, Harvey turned his back to me and shooed me away.


    From the workshop I walked into a tiled floor atrium that looked like one of those rest areas that could¡¯ve also passed for a mini mall. Three restaurants lined one side each with a different look to it. One looked like a bar with only a counter and stool seats. Next to that was a fast food joint with scattered tables and chairs and small booths. And the last one had the look of a fancy restaurant with a carpet, two chairs across from each other at each table and a lit candle on each of them. Like with a rest area, there were no doors, only open walls that opened up the restaurant like a display.


    On the other side of the atrium were a series of doors. Each of them had drawings much like the one on the tanks in the workshop, but these were heads with different features. For example one had horns and gills, while another one looked more like a dog. At the very end of the line was a door that had nothing on it.


    But in the middle of it all, in the center of the atrium was an information desk. It was a circular counter with an empty chair in the middle and I knew what it was, because on top of it was a sign that read, ¡°Information Desk.¡±


    ¡°Are you going to stand there gawking all day, or will you allow me to return to my seat.¡±


    I turned to see a woman looking down at me, quite literally. She was at least eight feet tall with a flower patterned dress so long that it could¡¯ve been able to be used as a sheet for at least three king sized beds. Her green hair, which I at first thought were dreadlocks until I realized they were actually tree vines, hung down over her face making her look like a movie monster. She had her arms crossed and held a long stick in one hand that spouted out smoke.


    I moved out of her way and she strided past me. With two steps she reached the desk and stepped over it. Even sitting down she still towered over me. She took a long drag from the stick and the end lit up. After a couple of seconds she blew out a puff of smoke.


    ¡°Welcome to Harvey¡¯s House. My name is Havarti.¡±


    I shook my head quickly to regain my senses. ¡°You mean like¡­¡±


    ¡°Yes, like the cheese,¡± she snapped. ¡°My father was a cook and had a thing for that disgusting food. You humans all ask the same questions. And speaking of questions. Food. Bed. Entertainment.¡± Havarti pointed to the restaurants, then the doors with the heads and then to the blank door. You can only eat at one place per meal per day. Don¡¯t ask me why, that¡¯s just how it is. You can use the bedrooms whenever you want, each symbol refers to the type of creature it is made for.


    I looked at the doors and frowned. ¡°I don¡¯t see one for humans.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s because there isn¡¯t one specifically made for you. You seem to be able to fall asleep anywhere, so they decided to just not make one for you.¡±


    ¡°Who is they?¡±


    ¡°What¡¯s with all the questions?¡± Havarti took another drag from the stick. It didn¡¯t seem to shrink even though it was clearly burning. ¡°Humans always have questions. Who cares who they are. Any more questions, or can I get back to my job.¡±


    This whole world was weird, and with everything that had happened, I needed to get my mind off of it, even if for a little while. I could¡¯ve asked more about the bedrooms and gotten some sleep, but I didn¡¯t feel tired at the moment. So I looked at the last door.


    ¡°What kind of entertainment do you have?¡±


    Havarti shrugged. ¡°Don¡¯t know. It changes from time to time and I haven¡¯t gone in there in a while. Find out for yourself and give me some peace.¡±

 Chapter 5-Grinny

    I should¡¯ve been wearing a leather jacket with a motorcycle helmet held in my hand. At least that¡¯s how I felt when I entered the entertainment room. It was a full blown biker bar. There was a counter with stools that stretched the far length of the room and had bottles upon bottles on shelves behind it. Televisions hung from the ceiling at regular intervals, although none of them were on. On the other walls were biker memorabilia from street signs to license plates as well as different kinds of art depicting highways and canyons and eagles and anything else that might¡¯ve signified freedom. There was also a random pinball machine tucked away in a corner. And of course, just like every biker bar in movies and on tv, there were several pool tables near each other with low lighting. The only thing that the bar didn¡¯t have was people, except for a cloaked figure behind the bar, and a woman at one of the pool tables.


    The woman looked mostly human except for the pointed ears which were easy to see from her tied back hair. The lighting in the room made it hard to see what color exactly. She was lining up her next shot when she saw me staring. I expected her to say something, but all she did was nod before hitting the cue ball and sinking one of the other balls into the pocket.


    I nodded back and walked over to the bar. As I got closer the cloak turned around and revealed nothing. It was a floating cloak, but there was nothing wearing it. No head, no eyes, no body of any kind.


    ¡°What can I get for you?¡± the cloak asked. The voice was wispy and echoed.


    ¡°Um what do you have?¡±


    ¡°Anything. I can make any drink from any realm.¡±


    I looked at some of the bottles. They were all different colors but none of them had anything written on them. Did this place have something against words or did they not know how to read?


    ¡°Like alcoholic drinks?¡±


    ¡°If you wish.¡±


    ¡°Do you require an ID?¡± I smiled as I said it.


    ¡°No.¡±


    My mother was strictly against alcohol in the house and if she had ever caught me drinking it, she would¡¯ve slapped me straight to the moon. But I was in high school and some of my friends bragged about how their parents didn¡¯t have a problem with them drinking from time to time. Like all people my age, it was something I wanted to try.


    ¡°How about a beer then.¡±


    ¡°What kind?¡± The cloak asked.


    I shrugged and said the first brand I could think of. ¡°Budweiser.¡±


    The cloak bounced once in what I thought was a nod and waved part of itself on the counter. A brown bottle appeared on the bar with the lid already twisted off. Bubbles formed at the top and threatened to spill over.


    I grabbed the bottle and gestured to the cloak. ¡°Cheers.¡±


    I gulped the beer as if it was a bottle of water on a hot afternoon and choked as I tried to keep it down. It was so bitter that it made me want to rip out my own tongue from the taste alone. After I managed to swallow it, I slammed the bottle back on the counter and spent the next minute gagging and breathing hard.


    ¡°Would you like something else?¡± the cloak asked after I had regained my composure.


    ¡°Sweet tea. Cold.¡±


    ¡°Of course.¡± The cloak took the beer away and replaced it with a clear glass of amber liquid. A lemon wedge was stuck to the top.


    I took a smaller careful sip this time. The sweetness of the drink pushed away the taste of the alcohol. I took a longer sip and gave a satisfied sigh as I put it down.


    ¡°Little worm can¡¯t handle the hard stuff.¡± The woman who had been playing pool took a seat next to me and knocked on the bar. ¡°How about some Saprolin Wine? Fresh from the Berry Oak.¡± The cloak waved itself across the bar and a strange triangular glass appeared filled with a drink that glowed with different vibrant colors. She took it and drank it down with three long gulps. ¡°Ah, just like home.¡± The woman then looked at me and clapped me on the back. ¡°Names Venomgrin.¡±This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.


    ¡°I¡¯m Milo.¡±


    ¡°Milo. Milo.¡± Venomgrin repeated my name as if it was the first time sounding it out. ¡°Doesn¡¯t sound like a name that would suit you. Now Gloomspire. That¡¯d fit you. I could call you Gloomy for short.¡±


    ¡°Milo¡¯s just fine.¡±


    Venomgrin smiled, showing a row of sharpened teeth. ¡°Alright. You can call me Grinny for short though. I know my full name is a mouthful.¡±


    I nodded and took a sip of my tea. ¡°So where are you from?¡±


    Grinny tilted her head towards me. ¡°An odd first question. Most others skip all that and go straight to asking me if I want to go jump in the bed with them.¡± I spit out my sip of tea and felt my cheeks go warm. Grinny howled with laughter. ¡°You really are a little worm. I¡¯m only joking with you Milo.¡± She wiped a tear from her eye. ¡°How about this? You know how to play billiards. I heard it''s an Earth game.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ve played a little.¡± My friend Eric had a pool table in his basement. Whenever we played the games took forever because he always tried to pull off a trick shot he had no business attempting. Needless to say, I won most of those games thanks to the bold strategy of playing the game normally.


    Grinny stood up. ¡°Let¡¯s play, and then you can ask me all the questions you want. Better yet, let¡¯s make a game out of that too. Every time one of us gets a ball in the hole, we can ask the other a question. This is the kind of thing we did back home as well. We loved our games.¡±


    I agreed and stood up as well.


    ¡°Here.¡± The cloak said. He produced a pool stick. It was red and white with a candy cane pattern on it. I took it and thanked him.


    Grinny racked up the balls and removed the triangle. ¡°You want to go first?¡± I shook my head. ¡°Alright.¡±


    Grinny leaned in low and with a practiced grace struck the cue ball. It rocketed towards the rack and broke up the triangle with a loud crack. All the balls spreaded out in a random pattern and clacked into each other. The nine ball went into one of the center pockets almost followed by the eight ball which would¡¯ve been an instant victory for me. Once the balls settled Grinny let out a breath. ¡°That was close. First question. What deal did you make to end up here?¡±


    My cheeks went warm again. ¡°I uh, sold my soul for my driver¡¯s license.¡±


    Grinny took the chalk square and rubbed it on the end of her stick. ¡°What¡¯s a driver¡¯s license?¡±


    ¡°Oh, it¡¯s a document, that gives you permission to drive a car?¡±


    ¡°A car? You mean like the vehicles we¡¯re given to traverse this place?¡±


    ¡°Yeah, exactly. Don¡¯t they have something similar where you¡¯re from?¡±


    Leaning down, Grinny lined up behind the cue ball. ¡°No. We have ways of traveling, but nothing compared to those things.¡± She struck the ball towards the twelve and missed it by an inch hitting the two ball instead. ¡°As for me I¡¯m here because I wanted to save my sister¡¯s life and they promised me a cure.¡±


    ¡°I thought we were playing for answers.¡±


    Grinny smiled and stood up. ¡°We are, but I figured if we shared answers to the same question, it would save time repeating each other.¡±


    ¡°That makes sense.¡± I moved around the table and leaned down to hit the cue ball towards the two ball which was moved closer to the hole thanks to Grinny. I didn¡¯t hit it as hard as I wanted, but I managed to sink the ball in. I smiled. ¡°So where are you from?¡±


    ¡°We call my realm Solara-Solarem. It means Day Sun and Night Sun in my language. On the Day Sun side, it is all forests. The Night Sun side has endless desserts. I was born on the Night Sun side.¡±


    I leaned down and aimed for the four ball. ¡°My planet is called Earth. It¡¯s a mix of a lot of things. Forests, deserts, oceans, large cities and lots of people.¡± I missed and the cue ball ended up in the corner pocket.


    Grinny picked the cue ball up and placed it behind the nine. ¡°Sounds like an interesting place. Especially if they have games like this.¡±


    For the next hour we played a mediocre game of pool, missing almost every other shot. But in that time I did learn a fair bit about Venomgrin. She was the second oldest of three brothers and six sisters. The sister she had mentioned earlier was named Pestigrin and she was infected with a disease that hardened her skin. I tried to give her condolences, but she waved them off saying that actions were the only thing her sister needed. And as far as she knew, her sister was already cured thanks to the deal she made. To me that seemed a little unfair since according to Solomon I needed to completely make it through Nova to earn my license, but I didn¡¯t say anything because it sounded petty.


    In return I told her about my mother, and how she and my father had divorced shortly after I was born. According to my mother, there was no hate, they just realized they weren¡¯t in love with each other anymore.


    Throughout our game, I even tried some of the Saprolin wine at Grinny¡¯s behest. It was thick and sweet like a fruit smoothie. It only took a couple sips from the wine to make me feel light headed so she finished the drink and I went back to the sweet tea. She also ended up winning the game thanks to sinking the thirteen ball followed by the eight ball, all in one lucky stroke.


    I was about to ask if she wanted to play another round when Harvey the Mechanitaur entered the bar. He had to enter sideways to get through the door. ¡°There you are Venomgrin. Your vehicle is tip top and ready to go.¡± He dropped a set of keys on the edge of the pool table.


    Grinny picked them up and spun them on her finger. ¡°How much do I owe you?¡±


    ¡°One thirty one.¡±


    ¡°Less than I thought. I may be able to afford that shield upgrade.¡± She laid her pool stick on the table and turned to me. ¡°Thanks for the game little worm. I hope we see each other again. I¡¯ll get you into some real fun. Oh and don¡¯t worry about cleaning up. Cloaky over there said he¡¯ll get them once we leave the bar.¡± Grinny then took her index and middle finger and poked me in the forehead.


    ¡°What was that for?¡± I asked.


    ¡°It¡¯s a farewell greeting. Stay alive, okay.¡±


    I nodded as she walked out the door.


    ¡°Hey kid,¡± Harvey said. ¡°Get some sleep. We¡¯ll talk about your vehicle in the morning.¡±

 Chapter 6-Debts to Be Paid

    With no clocks or windows to the outside it was impossible to tell what time it was. I asked the cloak if he knew, but he just spouted off some information about how time flows differently in Nova compared to Earth. So with nothing else to do, I just divided my time between playing pool, ordering a few non-alcoholic drinks from the bar and playing the pinball machine which was in a language I didn¡¯t understand.


    When my eyes finally started to feel heavy I thanked the cloak and headed out to the atrium. I wanted to ask Havarti which one of the rooms would have something close to a normal bed, but she wasn¡¯t at her desk. Looking up at the pictures of heads, I decided to go with the dog person looking one. I mean dogs liked comfy spots to rest so maybe it would be similar.


    I entered the room and realized I was completely wrong. The entire room was nothing but a square room with grass. It looked like an indoor soccer field minus the chalk lines. No way was I going to just lie on the floor, so I went into the next room without even looking at the picture above it. This one was a bit better. It was a forest with giant orange leaves and vines that curled into each other to form huge nest-like beds. Each one was situated in between a wall of small trees.


    Part of me wanted to try the next room, but a long drawn out yawn told me to just lie down and get over it. I chose one a couple rooms down from the door and climbed in. The next bounced lightly as I settled in. I felt like I had just slid into a soup bowl. Vines began to cover me which caused me to panic for a moment before I realized they acted as a kind of cocoon sleeping bag. It was snug, but loose enough that I could still move around, and with one more yawn, I passed out.


    ¡ª


    ¡°Get up.¡± My nest bed bounced. ¡°You just had to fall asleep in my room.¡± The bed bounced more forcefully. ¡°Get up.¡±


    I opened my eyes to see Havarti standing over me. Her vine hair was rolled up like an old woman with curlers and she was wearing something close to moomoo. The sight made me recoil and yell.


    ¡°Real funny boy.¡± She pointed towards the back of the room. ¡°Every room has facilities for cleaning up and other things. Hurry up and go, then go get breakfast. Harvey will be waiting for you.¡±


    I rubbed the sleep from my eyes and the vines that covered me reeled back. ¡°I¡¯m sorry. I didn¡¯t know which¡­¡±


    Havarti interrupted me with a sigh. ¡°It¡¯s fine. Just get ready so I can get ready. I hate when I have to share with others. Oh and here.¡± She threw a bag at me which I barely caught. ¡°It¡¯s complimentary clothing. Everyone who makes it to the first garage gets them as a gift.¡±


    I looked in the bag and found a black long sleeve shirt, a pair of cargo shorts and flip flops. ¡°Thank you. But why didn¡¯t you give these to me before?¡±


    Havarti didn¡¯t answer. She narrowed her eyes at me and walked away.


    The back room was a bathtub large enough for royalty to gracefully walk in and out of. Spouts on the side of dispensed what I hoped were soap and shampoo.


    After some experimenting and enjoying the warm water, I got out and air dried before putting on the new clothes and dumping the old ones into what looked like a trash can. I held a small moment of silence for my Poison Amy t-shirt before finally leaving.


    Harvey was already sitting at one of the tables in the fancy restaurant when I came out. He had a pile of food in front of him. A slab of meat hung from his fork as he gingerly nibbled on it like a rabbit. The sight of it all made my stomach lion roar. When he saw me, he placed the fork down and dabbed his mouth with a napkin and gestured to the chair in front of him.


    As soon as I did, another cloak appeared next to the table. This one wore an apron with a spatula on it. ¡°What can I get for you?¡± It was a woman¡¯s voice this time. This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.


    ¡°Can you make anything?¡± I asked.


    ¡°I can.¡±


    I wanted to test out how far I could go and ordered something a little complicated. ¡°Could I please get a scrambled egg bowl with green peppers, ham, white rice and smothered in ketchup?¡±


    Harvey gave me a quizzical look, but the cloak waved itself and the bowl appeared in front of me. ¡°If you need anything else, just call me.¡±


    ¡°Holy Torque kid, what did you order?¡±


    I looked at the red, yellow and green concoction and smiled. The first time my mother had ever let me cook breakfast, this is what I had made. I thought it tasted delicious, but looking back I know she didn¡¯t think so, but she ate it anyway and praised me.


    ¡°Just something from my childhood,¡± I said before chowing down.


    When we both finished eating Harvey didn¡¯t waste any time getting down to business. ¡°So the good news is, I fixed your vehicle. It wasn¡¯t as bad as I thought..¡±


    ¡°What about the door?¡± I asked.


    ¡°I managed to get it closed enough. I¡¯ll fix that on my own time. I won¡¯t charge you for that.¡±


    ¡°Charge, I thought things here were free.¡±


    Harvey covered his mouth and let out a small burp. ¡°I said within reason. Vehicle repairs and upgrades are not free. And while we¡¯re on the subject, food, drink and entertainment will no longer be free once you¡¯ve begun the main quest of this floor.¡±


    I began to tap my finger nervously. ¡°What happens if I can¡¯t pay?¡±


    ¡°Then we keep your vehicle. And if you stay at a garage for more than three days, you get thrown out.¡± I gulped. ¡°But lucky for you, we have another way you can pay. It¡¯ll be your first side quest. Follow me.¡±


    Harvey led me through the workshop and to a door I hadn¡¯t noticed before. It was another garage that looked exactly the same as the other. The beetle sat in front of the garage door and looked just as new as when Solomon gave it to me, which is to say it was still ugly as sin, but at least the windows and tires had been replaced.


    Walking over to the car Harvey opened the door for me like a valet and handed me the keys. When I got in, I had to adjust the seats to fit me again.


    ¡°Alright,¡± Harvey said, poking his head into the window. ¡°When you turn on the vehicle, you¡¯ll notice a new menu.¡± The menu wasn¡¯t hard to notice. It sat right underneath Diagnostics. It was Quests. ¡°Tooty, can you explain quests, please?¡±


    ¡°Of course Harvey. Mr. Walker, quests are tasks that are given to you by different non-combatant people or the floor itself. Each one you collect will be stored here in the quests menu. Every quest including the floor one, must be programmed by a quest giver. Please select the Quest menu now and then select the quest.¡± I scrolled down and selected it. The only quest there read ¡®Paying My Debts: Harvey.¡¯


    ¡°Looks like you have no money and you must pay if you wish to continue on your merry way. Never fear for Harvey has a way for you to pay him back for his hard work and dedication. All you must do is traverse the Mimic¡¯s Dirt Track and retrieve a pair Mimiccycle¡¯s Teeth. And just so you know it¡¯s pronounced Mimic Cycle. If you don¡¯t pronounce the k sound, no one will know what you''re talking about. Back to you Harvey.¡±


    ¡°Thank you Tooty.¡± Harvey said. ¡°So are you ready?¡±


    ¡°No,¡± I said quickly. ¡°What should I expect? How¡­¡±


    Harvey put his hand up. ¡°Sorry, can¡¯t help ya¡¯. Need to figure things out on your own. All I want is the teeth. Anything else is yours. Good luck.¡±


    As soon as that garage door had closed and I looked out to the landscape in front of me, that was the first time the realization of everything hit me. I knew I was in a different world, and that chances were I would probably never make it back home, but the day before had been filled with confusion and a bombardment of just everything. And although it¡¯s a little embarrassing to admit, for a long while I did not move from that spot, and I cried. It wasn¡¯t loud booger filled sobbing, but a more quiet acceptance that things were really fucked up.


    When I finally managed to push away some of the tears I looked at the radio. ¡°Tooty,¡± I said quietly. ¡°What kind of music does that default station play?¡±


    ¡°You mean WRKS? It is different for every race, but for humans it is what you call Classical.¡±


    I scrolled to the Social menu and selected the radio station. Soft violins began to play. I closed my eyes and allowed the music to surround me. Honestly, I was never into classical music, but somehow having this piece of Earth, even if it was just a small piece, allowed me to put the beetle into gear and put my foot on the gas pedal.

 Chapter 7-The Dragons Highway

    I had only made it a few feet from the garage when the windows of my car suddenly darkened and shut out any of the outside light. The car also stopped in place and refused to move despite my incessant push of the gas pedal. A line appeared on the windshield and began to draw a medieval style map, complete with faded edges and gray coloring. More lines appeared and shaped themselves into roads on the map.


    When they were finished the words ¡°Welcome to the Dragon¡¯s Highway,¡± flashed on the window and then everything faded away revealing that I was actually on a highway. Just like the ones on Earth it was made of Asphalt and had a dashed yellow line going down the center. On the sides were rusted out guard rails that looked as if they would fall apart with a light breeze. The terrain off the highway was rocky and mountainous with dead trees sprinkled everywhere. It reminded me of a dystopian movie.


    ¡°Mr. Walker,¡± Tooty said, interrupting the soft stringed music. ¡°You have unlocked the Perpetual Quest for this floor?¡±


    ¡°The what?¡± I asked.


    Tooty paused and then audibly sighed. ¡°Please stop interrupting me when I¡¯m trying to explain world mechanics to you. Especially when it''s important information. Now, each floor contains a Perpetual Quest, which is a quest that begins when you enter the main road of the floor and ends when you have completed the main quest, which of course you have not unlocked yet. The Perpetual Quest of the Dragon¡¯s Highway is called ¡®Escape from the Dragon¡¯s Minions.¡¯ The objective is as follows:


    On a highway of dread you must speed,


    Where dragon¡¯s minions drive with great heed,


    Dodge, swerve, and outpace,


    Through their furious chase,


    One mistake, and your fate they¡¯ll concede!¡±


    It took me a minute to decipher the limerick, but once I did it was pretty simple. I had to avoid getting captured and killed by the enemy.


    ¡°So when do the minions start chasing me?¡± I asked Tooty.


    ¡°Oh, they already have. They knew your exact location the moment you left Harvey¡¯s House. Of course you can¡¯t see them yet, because your GPS radar range is too short.


    I looked at my GPS and the only thing I could see was the white circle around me representing what I had explored on this part of the map, and the blinking destination diamond, which thankfully had a line going from it to me. That was one thing I wouldn¡¯t have to purchase later on. So I sped away in that direction.


    It hadn¡¯t been thirty seconds from when I took off that I heard a distant whistling sound that grew progressively louder. I looked in my driver¡¯s side mirror and saw a fireball fall from the sky and hit the road right behind me. It exploded in a flash of light which momentarily blinded me and forced me into one of the guard rails. My body was flung to the side with the impact, but the rail held and pushed me back onto the road.


    As I regained my sight, I was able to steady the beetle and set it straight again. I looked in my rear mirror and saw a plume of smoke covering the highway far behind me, but headed in my direction. The whistling began again as two more fireballs appeared out of the smoke and arced towards me. This time I was ready and managed to look away as the fireballs hit the road behind me again. While I wasn¡¯t blinded, the impact of both fireballs shook the car. Whatever these dragon minions were, their aim wasn¡¯t terrible and it was only a matter of time before they hit me. I looked down at my GPS. I couldn¡¯t tell how far off Mimic¡¯s Dirt Track was, and in my panicked state, I didn¡¯t think to ask Tooty.


    More whistling and more fireballs rained down as I raced down the highway. I weaved back and forth as best as I could to avoid them but they got closer to me with each hit causing small cracks to appear on the side windows. I wanted to move to the Diagnostics menu to see what heath they were at, but the controls were just too damn awkward. In my mother¡¯s car, you could access the dashboard and the radio with buttons that were easily accesible to either one of your thumbs, but in the beetle they were centered on the steering wheel which meant I would¡¯ve had to drive one handed, and I hadn¡¯t been driving long enough to do that comfortably. If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement.


    The first turn of the highway came up and unlike a regular road, it angled itself upwards like a racetrack in a video game. I knew that the best way to take such turns was to angle the car in a way that you were essentially turning and going forward at the same time. My friends had mastered that technique in all the kart racing games they played, but when I tried it I usually slammed into the walls and spun out. I didn¡¯t dare try that here, so I slowed down a bit and took the turn at the lowest possible point. The good news was that it worked and I was able to successfully navigate the turn. The bad news was that due to my concentration, and the fact that it was in one of my car¡¯s blindspots, I did not notice the fireball.


    With a deafening bang the fireball smashed into the front of the beetle destroying the front end in a wave of melted metal and shattered glass. The impact stopped the car dead and forced me to slam my face right into the steering wheel making me as though I was swallowing an intense burning sensation that vibrated through my skull and into my body. Swathes of colors burst into my vision making it almost impossible to see.


    When the initial burst of pain and colors faded a bit, I could see that the shell of the front end of the car was gone revealing nothing but the engine that despite being blackened by the impact was still completely intact and was still running.


    ¡°That should have destroyed everything,¡± I said, spraying out blood with my words.


    ¡°Engines have a higher health rating than other parts of the vehicle,¡± Tooty said. ¡°Plus the chassis took the brunt of the damage.¡±


    I groaned at the throbbing pain in my head. ¡°I can¡¯t do this. I¡¯m going to die here.¡±


    ¡°Perhaps you should go back to Harvey¡¯s House.¡±


    ¡°And do what?¡± I snapped. More blood sprayed from my mouth. ¡°I already owe him for the repairs.¡±


    ¡°Try negotiating. Mechanitaurs are always looking for supplies and can¡¯t leave their garage which is why they rely on drivers to complete quests for them.¡±


    I stared at the radio for a long moment. ¡°How come you can give me answers like this, but you can¡¯t do other things unless I pay for them?¡± I wasn¡¯t able to give Tooty the chance to answer because the red dots of the dragon¡¯s minions finally popped up onto my GPS. The six dots were clumped together almost making them look like one big one. The plume of smoke had closed the distance quickly. ¡°Can you at least change the destination to Harvey¡¯s House?¡±


    ¡°I cannot as that is not the proper designation of the garage.¡±


    ¡°Oh, for heaven¡¯s sake. Garage Zone 1 Dash E Point V3.¡± Even in my rattled state I remembered the name perfectly. When it came to phone numbers or random numbered information I had the gift of memory, but it usually wasn¡¯t a very useful talent most times.


    ¡°Changing destination.¡± Tooty said. The line leading to the dirt track flipped and now led off to the way I had come. Now all I had to do was get through the wall of whatever was in that smoke. Luckily I had a single way to do it, even if it was stupid to try.


    After switching menus I turned the beetle around and sped towards the smoke cloud. I was surprised to see tha the smoke was not coming from the vehicles. In fact it obscured them like a wall which made it impossible to identify what they were or what they looked like. This also meant that there was no identifier above their cars. Hopefully their combat level was low enough that I could get through them and survive.


    Timing it as best as I could, I selected Nitro 1 and waited for the three second countdown. When it finished the car lurched forward and everything outside the car blurred. I expected an impact similar to the fireball that would destroy more of the car and my body, but there was only a bit of a shake followed by a quick grinding sound. It felt like running over a speed bump a little too aggressively, but nothing worse than that.


    As soon as the Nitro wore off I hit the brakes. The car screeched and threatened to spin out as I tried my best to keep it steady. When the car finally stopped I let out a breath and looked behind me. The highway now had a fresh pair of black lines leading to my car with light trails of smoke coming off of them. Far off in the distance I could see the plume of smoke, but it didn¡¯t seem to be moving anymore.


    ¡°Tooty,¡± I asked. ¡°How far away are we from Harvey¡¯s House?¡±


    ¡°Less than a minute. Surprisingly, you did not over shoot it with your Nitro 1 boost.¡±

 Chapter 8-Harvey Again

    Harvey was already waiting for me when I pulled into the garage. He was leaning up against the car lift with a smug look on his face. After I parked, I closed my eyes and waited for my pain and injuries to go away. As soon as they did, I got out of the car and slammed the door shut.


    ¡°You lasted longer than I thought,¡± Harvey said, clapping his hands.


    ¡°Were you expecting me to come back?¡±


    ¡°¡®Course I was. No way you¡¯d survive out there without some kind of weapon.¡± He eyed the beetle. ¡°Truth be told, I expected the damage to be worse.¡±


    ¡°I hate this place,¡± I said under my breath. ¡°Tooty said I could negotiate with you about upgrades.¡±


    ¡°You can.¡±


    ¡°So what do you want?¡± I asked.


    Harvey shrugged. ¡°Depends on what you want?¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t know. Something to defend myself. Something that¡¯ll help me make it more than ten feet without being blown up.¡±


    ¡°Technically speaking,¡± Tooty said, ¡°You traveled over a mile before you¡­¡±


    ¡°Shut up,¡± I yelled at her.


    ¡°Hey.¡± Harvey put up his hands in a calming gesture. ¡°She¡¯s only trying to help. Now, I got a question for you. Did ya¡¯ manage to take out any of the minions while you were out there?¡±


    I shrugged.


    Harvey opened the car door and sat inside. He pressed a few buttons on the console controls before waving me over. ¡°As I thought. Look here at your Social menu.¡± He pointed at the screen where a new menu icon had appeared. Achievements. Harvey selected it and a list popped up on the screen with Tooty narrating each one.


    ¡°Achievement: First Blood.


    You have managed to defeat your first enemy.


    Your reward is: Standard Red Car Paint.


    This paints your car red. It can only be applied at a garage zone.


    Achievement: Three¡¯s a Crowd.


    You have managed to defeat at least three enemies at one time.


    Your reward is: Three gold.


    Gold is money. It pays for things.


    Achievement: Head On Collision


    You defeated an enemy by ramming into them.


    Your reward is: Rusty Steel Cowcatcher.


    You know those fender looking things on trains. That¡¯s exactly what this is. It helps push things out your way as you ram into them. This only works on enemies that have a combat danger of 2 or less. Any more and it¡¯s like crashing into a brick wall. This can only be applied at a garage zone.


    Achievement: Death by Nitro


    You defeated an enemy using your car¡¯s Nitro 1 ability.


    Your reward is: Reduced Recast Timer.


    One hour is reduced from your recast timer meaning you can now reuse Nitro 1 every five hours.¡±


    Harvey whistled. ¡°Four achievements. Not bad. And that cowcatcher¡­¡±Stolen story; please report.


    ¡°I have a question,¡± I interrupted. Harvey looked annoyed but nodded. ¡°If this world has different races from different worlds, how come all the references Tooty makes are earth based?¡±


    ¡°Wow.¡±


    ¡°What?¡±


    Harvey smiled. ¡°Not many people notice. It¡¯s just kinda funny. Anyway, everyone gets a different version of Tooty. Whichever realm you are from is which version you get. It¡¯s like a personalized license plate.¡±


    ¡°Oh.¡± I had to admit, that was actually kind of cool.


    ¡°Now as I was saying. That cowcatcher can be pretty useful. ¡®Specially with Nitro 1. I can install it for you for free. And the red paint so your car don¡¯t look like a dumpster no more. Well more of one. Still, you probably want a bit more than that.¡± Harvey looked over at the corner of the room. ¡°I happen to have something. It ain¡¯t much, but it¡¯ll do the trick for now.¡±


    ¡°What is it?¡±


    ¡°Let it be a surprise kid. And I¡¯ll tell you my price once I¡¯m done. Lucky for you, it¡¯s in the same place as the teeth I need.¡±


    The whole process took a few hours. During that time I got myself some food from the fast food looking restaurant and spent time in the biker bar entertainment room playing the pinball machine. When Harvey was done he came and found me and brought me back to the garage.


    ¡°Ta-da.¡± Harvey outstretched his arms and bowed. The beetle was now red with a rusted out cow catcher on the front and a god damn rocket launcher on the top. It was a miniature version of those square ones you see on ships with six holes that each held its own rocket. Harvey saw my stunned face and smiled. ¡°Tooty, please give the kid the rundown on his new artillery.¡±


    ¡°Of course. Mr Walker, what Harvey has installed onto your vehicle is known as the Basic Six Rocket Rocket Launcher. The rockets are non-homing which means you need to aim well. To continue the explanation, please enter the car and take hold of the column.¡±


    I did as I was told. Next to the steering wheel was a control column similar to the one that I had used during the tutorial. I grasped it and Tooty continued.


    ¡°As you can see there is now an aiming recticle on your windshield. Your new Basic Six Rocket Rocket Launcher can move in a full 360 degree pattern. Please move your reticle past the edges of your windshield.¡± I did and as soon as the crosshairs passed the edge a second screen appeared on the corner of the windshield.


    ¡°When not aiming from the front, a window will appear on your, well window, and allow you to see around you. You can only fire each rocket one at a time with a thirty second cool down between each launch. A single rocket will reload every two minutes. ¡±


    I steered the rocket launcher up and down and side to side, careful not to press the red firing trigger on the front of it. I didn¡¯t want to mess up another one of Harvey¡¯s doors.


    Harvey appeared at the passenger side window and bent down. ¡°I take it you like it.¡± I nodded. ¡°Good, now here¡¯s my price. Before I only needed you to get me a single pair of the Mimic¡¯s Teeth, which would¡¯ve been pretty easy. But now, you owe me double. And no that don¡¯t mean two pairs of teeth. Now you need to complete the whole track and bring the Queen Mimiccycle¡¯s Loot Chest. That usually has some goodies in it. You bring that and the teeth, and we¡¯re square. The quest has been updated in your menu. Questions?¡±


    ¡°No.¡± I gripped the steering wheel. ¡°Let¡¯s just get this over with.¡±


    This time I was ready for when the Dragon¡¯s Minions showed up. As soon as Harvey opened the garage door, I sped out of there and headed straight for the Mimic¡¯s Dirt Track. As I drove, I kept one hand on the rocket launcher column and kept my eyes on the road as well as the screen waiting for any signs of danger. It was awkward and I kept having to adjust the beetle so it didn¡¯t run into the guard rails, but I was as ready as I could be to face the minions down. Except they never showed up.


    I looked everywhere with the launcher screen, making sure I went slow so as to not miss anything, but there was no sign of the minions. No cars, no smoke and definitely no whistling fireballs. In fact, the crash site from my earlier fight wasn¡¯t there either.


    ¡°Tooty, where are the enemies?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Do you mean the ones you defeated earlier, or the Dragon¡¯s Minions?¡±


    ¡°Both.¡±


    ¡°Well, after you defeat an enemy the, for lack of a better term, corpse and wreckage are cleared away soon after you leave the area. That makes it so they don¡¯t become an unnecessary hazard for the next driver. As for the minions, it¡¯s as I said before, they know exactly where you are at all times. There just isn¡¯t a mob of them near you at this time, but if you stopped your vehicle and waited they would eventually catch up to you.¡±


    I pressed a little harder on the gas pedal and the engine roared a little louder in response. ¡°Yeah, let¡¯s not do that.¡±


    According to Tooty, the entire trip from Harvey¡¯s House to the Mimic¡¯s Dirt Track was about twenty minutes. In that time I continued looking out for any of the minions, though none showed up. I had Tooty turn on the classical radio station to help make the time go by faster and calm my nerves. There was just something about the soft strings that allowed me to breathe a little easier.


    ¡ª


    ¡°We¡¯re here Mr. Walker.¡±


    Tooty¡¯s voice knocked me out of tunnel vision and made me hit the brakes to slow down. The tires screeched as we came to stop.


    ¡°There is such a thing as slowly coming to a stop,¡± Tooty chided.


    I looked around and saw nothing that would indicate we had arrived anywhere. The GPS also indicated that we had arrived, but there was no door or exit road of any kind.


    ¡°You¡¯re just messing with me aren¡¯t you?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Of course not. Look ahead of you. Do you see it?¡± On the road was a blue plus sign drawn into the asphalt. I had noticed a couple of them earlier, but paid them no mind. ¡°That is a dungeon opening. They can only be accessed if you have the dungeon key, which was programmed by Harvey. Please pull forward so that the right front tire is on top of it.¡±


    I drove forward a few feet and stopped. At first nothing happened but then the road in front of me dropped out and formed a ramp. The words ¡°Mimic¡¯s Dirt Track,¡± displayed themselves on the windshield and faded away.


    ¡°Oh,¡± I said awkwardly. ¡°Thank you I guess.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re welcome Mr. Walker. Now please proceed forward.¡±

 Chapter 9-The Mimic鈥檚 Dirt Track

    At the bottom of the ramp, I was greeted by a sign that welcomed me to the Mimic¡¯s Dirt Track, much like a sign on a state border would. Underneath the words was a map of the track. It had the shape of a smiling mouth with a large arc to represent the bottom lip and two arcs at the top with a smaller one in the middle that I think represented the groove of the lip that went under your nose. At the very bottom of the sign was an arrow with the words, ¡°Starting Line This Way.¡±


    I turned down the road that the arrow pointed to and was greeted by the outside wall of an arena which curved out in either direction with a tunnel that was just big enough for the beetle to drive into. On the other side was, unsurprisingly, a dirt bike track, much like the ones used in motocross. The arena surrounded the entire track with empty stadium seats in a wide oval making it look like a smaller version of a football stadium.


    The starting line was not too far from the entrance tunnel. From what I could tell, the line was at the point where the bottom and top lips met on the left cheek of the smile shape. I drove up to the checkered banner that hung itself over the line and stopped. I wasn¡¯t sure what I was supposed to do, but with it being a race track, this was hopefully the right move. As soon as I stopped a voice boomed in the area.


    ¡°Well well well, it looks like we have a new challenger.¡±


    The voice echoed, but was then drowned out by cheering and crowd noise. The arena seats then became populated with, well they weren¡¯t people. They were flat cardboard like approximations of people. None of them moved except for the jerky up and down motions of their arms. It reminded me of old sports video games where they would use simple polygons to give the illusion of a cheering crowd.


    ¡°Tell me challenger, are you here just to race or are you here for the queen.¡±


    It took me a moment to realize he was talking to me. ¡°Uh, the queen.¡± I had no idea how anyone heard my answer, but when I said it the crowd¡¯s cheering grew louder.


    ¡°That¡¯s what we like to hear,¡± the voice said.


    ¡°Who are you?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Me? I am the announcer. Who else would I be? Now here is what you need to do to take on the queen.¡±


    Several motorbikes drove up to the starting line and stopped next to me. Each of them were bright colors with numbers painted on the side, and everyone one of them had a mouth where the seat should have been. The closest one to me had rows of jagged teeth and a long slimy tongue that hung out to the side like a panting dog. On my windshield six identical sets of the enemy data appeared on either edge with arrows pointing to the side.


    Mimiccyle: Enemy: Combat Danger: 1


    ¡°Beside you now are six Mimiccycles. While racing around the track, you must kill each one and collect their teeth. Once you¡¯ve done so you will be able to summon and challenge the queen. But here¡¯s the catch. If you don¡¯t kill them all within three laps, you will be fed to the queen as a sacrifice. Now, get ready.¡± All six of the mimiccyles spun their wheels kicking up dust, and growled similar to an engine revving up. ¡°Get set.¡± I gripped the steering wheel with one hand and the rocket launcher control with the other aiming it down the track, but in the path of the mimiccycle on the far left. ¡°Go!¡±


    A thick cloud of dirt blocked my view as the mimiccycles took off. I pressed the gas pedal, fired my rocket and hoped for the best. I came out of the cloud just in time to see the rocket clipped the front of one of the mimiccycles and sent it careening into the air. The explosion from the rocket was small compared to the column of fire that spouted out as the motorcycle monster disintegrated. The force of the explosion pushed the beetle to the side as I passed by it.


    ¡°Holy hell, how flammable are these things?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Very,¡± Tooty answered.


    ¡°And how do I collect the teeth?¡±


    ¡°Why are you always asking dumb questions Mr. Walker? You drive through them and they go into your inventory.¡±


    I wanted to retort, but I felt like it was better to concentrate on the race. Especially when the other five mimiccycles had a good headstart on me. I stomped on the gas pedal and the engine protested before kicking into the next gear and speeding forward. As I raced down the arc track a thought struck me, and I cursed myself for not asking about it earlier.


    ¡°Does this car ever need gas?¡±


    ¡°No Mr. Walker, now concentrate on the race.¡±Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.


    The track curved down and connected with the next curve via a dirt ramp. The mimiccycles launched through the air with practiced ease. Had there been a rider on those bikes, I could easily see them doing tricks to entertain the crowd. I fired my next rocket. It sailed right over the bikes as they lost altitude and disappeared behind the ramp.


    I approached the ramp, and while the beetle was lighter than most cars, it was not light enough to take the ramp the same way as the bikes, especially with the added weight of the rocket launcher. The engine whined as it went up, but thanks to the heaviness I was able to descend faster. Unfortunately, the mimiccycles were already near the end of the upper curve with the lead one about to turn the corner.


    For a moment I had the urge to use my Nitro 1 boost. It was already queued up on my console and I could¡¯ve probably taken out a couple of the bikes like I did the dragon¡¯s minions, but there¡¯s no way I would¡¯ve been able to steer properly. Instead I aimed the launcher at the other side of the track right after the turn and fired. The rocket fired slower than I would¡¯ve liked and the first three bikes managed to speed past it. The fourth one wasn¡¯t so lucky and the rocket caught it center mass.


    The explosion engulfed the mimiccycle and the fifth place one as it tried to pass increasing the size of the firestorm. I had to look away to avoid being blinded by the bright flash of light from the explosion. I made a mental note to see if they had any sunglasses in this world that would help with that.


    As I approached the fireball the smoke dissipated enough that I could see two pairs of floating teeth where the cycles had been before. They looked like large plastic vampire fangs except that every tooth was sharpened to a point. I drove through them and they dissolved into nothing. A doorbell-like chime came through the radio as I did.


    ¡°Congratulations,¡± Tooty cheered. ¡°You have completed one of your objectives for your quest, ¡®Paying My Debts: Harvey.¡¯¡±


    The other three mimiccycles were now farther down the track, and were rounding the curve that made up the bottom part of the elongated smile. With three of them down it allowed me to concentrate on trying to cover some of the distance I lost. I gunned the engine and shot down the track, doing my best to keep the car steady. The dirt was compact enough that I could drive on it well enough, but it was still dirt so the beetle did slide a bit. It was almost like hydroplaning while driving during a rainstorm.


    Cresting the bottom of the curve, I pressed down harder on the gas pedal. The two lead cycles turned the corner with expert ease and pulled forward without losing any speed. The third one behind them wasn¡¯t as smooth and steered themselves off the track almost hitting the arena wall. They were the weakest of the three and like a lion going after an antelope I made that one my target.


    I passed through the starting line and the announcer proclaimed the results of the first lap which was followed by another roar from the crowd. I also collected the next set of teeth from the first mimiccycle that I had blown up. As I turned the corner onto the top part of the track there was a click and the beetle momentarily vibrated.


    ¡°What was that?¡± I asked Tooty.


    ¡°That was one of your rockets being reloaded.¡±


    That meant that it had only been two minutes since I fired that first rocket. I didn¡¯t realize I had been traveling that fast. Since my menu was set up so I could access Nitro 1 when I needed, I wasn¡¯t able to check my speed.


    The third place mimiccycle was getting ready to take the hill when I decided to fire the next rocket. It missed but managed to put a hole into the front of the hill. The cycle was unable to avoid it in time and fell into the hole causing it to flip forward and bounce over. As I approached the hill I did not see the cycle drive away.


    I approached the hill with a greater amount of speed than last time and managed to fling myself somewhat into the air. Looking out my side windows I couldn¡¯t see the mimiccyle anywhere and it wasn¡¯t until I started to descend that the realization came to me.


    My teeth and bones rattled as the beetle slammed into the ground and I was engulfed in a fireball. I expected the windows to be blown in or the car explode in some way, but it didn¡¯t. Instead the inside heated up in an instant burning every part of my body that was touching the surface of the car and I screamed in pain. It felt like being cooked inside a cast iron skillet. As I drove out of the fire the heat quickly dissipated and I was left sweating and breathing heavily.


    By the time I reached the next corner the two remaining mimiccycles were already past the bottom curve of the mouth. I realized then that no matter what I did I would not be able to catch up to them. There was no way I could win this race. Slamming my fist on the steering wheel I wallowed in my eventual defeat and almost began to cry again.


    However, before I could shed one tear something struck me about what the announcer had said at the beginning. He had called this a race, but the object wasn¡¯t to be first place, it was to be the last one standing, and I had to do it in three laps. Smiling, I jerked the car around and headed back to the hill.


    ¡°Mr. Walker, you¡¯re going backwards.¡±


    Ignoring Tooty I drove to the top of the hill, parked and aimed the rocket launcher at the corner. I only had one shot at this, maybe two if I was able to turn the launcher fast enough to aim at the other corner if they passed me, but that was a theory I didn¡¯t want to test out.


    As I waited another rocket reloaded itself which threw off the crosshairs and forced me to reposition them. I was glad to see that both mimiccycles were still near each other as they raced down. It was like they were having their own competition to see who was faster and they kept overtaking each other by inches.


    I held my breath and fired the rocket as they approached the turn. I aimed low to try and hit them as they drifted. Both mimiccyles turned together, mirroring each other''s movements with ballerina-like grace and came out of the turn straight into the rocket.

 Chapter 10-The Queen

    I didn¡¯t go to pick up the teeth from the two mimiccycles right away. There was no way I was going to be caught off guard when the queen was summoned, so I drove around the track slowly and waited for my rocket launcher to reload itself. I considered it my victory lap even though there was no cheering from the audience. They only seemed to make noise every time the announcer said something.


    ¡°Tooty, did I earn any achievements for that race?¡±


    ¡°Sorry Mr. Walker, any achievements you earn won¡¯t be visible until you enter a garage zone.¡±


    I sighed. ¡°Do you have to call me Mr. Walker?¡±


    ¡°No. You can change your designated name at any time.¡±


    I turned onto the bottom part of the track. ¡°So if I ask you to call me Milo, would you?¡±


    ¡°Yes.¡±


    ¡°What about Banana Sandwich?¡±


    ¡°If you desire.¡±


    I thought about the time years earlier when I was obsessed with pro wrestling and had come up with my own name. ¡°What about Dra-Gun?¡±


    ¡°I should tell you that you can only change your designated name once.¡±


    ¡°Is there an item I have to buy to do it more?¡± I asked sarcastically.


    ¡°No. Once you change it, it¡¯s permanent. Think of it like a username.¡±


    ¡°Oh. Then Milo is fine.¡±


    A chime came through the radio. ¡°Milo it is.¡±


    As soon as I rounded the corner and drove through the last two pairs of floating teeth the announcer came back on. ¡°Our challenger has done it. He has defeated the mimiccycles and collected their teeth like a demented bone collector.¡± The crowd roared. ¡°Now,¡± the announcer paused, giving an air of anticipation. ¡°It is time. For the main event. Presenting. The. Queen. Mimiccycle.¡±


    A bolt of lightning struck the middle of the arena and the queen appeared. Unsurprisingly, it was a dirt bike, but unlike the previous ones, this one was huge. Big enough that Godzilla could ride it. Its seat was magenta colored with the letter Q emblazoned on either side. And also just like its children, a long slimy tongue came out of the top of the seat and hung to the side, settling on the ground and pulsing like a heart. It¡¯s name appeared on my windshield.


    Stolen story; please report.


    Queen Mimiccycle: Enemy: Combat Danger: Boss


    The queen revved her engine. It was a deep guttural sound that vibrated the car windows. She raised her front tire into the air and sped towards me, kicking clouds of dirt up behind her. I drove out of her path and fired a rocket into what would be considered her underbelly. It was a direct hit, but the rocket exploded harmlessly against her. She slammed her front tire down causing the entire arena to quake and making the beetle fly up a few inches off the ground.


    I turned the car around and fired another rocket, this time aiming at the queen¡¯s tires. The tongue moved like a striking snake and grabbed the rocket out of the air, flinging it towards the arena stands. She then spun around and drove towards me again.


    The queen was fast and I tried to get out of the way again, but her tongue intercepted me and slapped down on the front of my car, flipping it. Luckily, the car landed on its tires but the momentum made me slam my face into the steering wheel. It wasn¡¯t as hard as it was with the dragon¡¯s minions, but I could taste the metal-tinged blood that dripped from my nose. I threw the beetle into reverse and just managed to dodge the tongue as it came down again.


    ¡°Eat this,¡± I yelled as I fired a rocket at the tongue. It blew off the appendage at the halfway point and blood spurted like a firehose staining the arena with dark red puddles. I drove away from the queen as its engine whined in a scream of pain. When I was far enough away I turned around and fired another rocket at its front tire. As the rocket approached, the tongue began to regenerate, the raw flesh knitting itself back together. ¡°Oh, you¡¯ve got to be kidding me.¡± The tongue intercepted the rocket and threw it out of the arena.


    I had fired four rockets, but because of the two minute load time, I knew that I had three left. But with that tongue there was no way I could get a rocket close enough, and if I tried to get in close I would get crushed. While I had nothing to back this up, my guess was that its main weakness was its mouth.


    So the question became, how would I get high enough into the air to fire a rocket into its mouth. I looked at the hill on the track part of the arena, but immediately squashed that. The beetle could barely get any hang time with all of its weight.


    The queen charged at me again, whipping its tongue in the air like a lasso. That was it, the tongue was the answer. So far it had only tried to smash me with it, but if I could stay underneath it, perhaps it would try to grab me with it.


    I drove towards the queen and dodged out of the way of the tire. I quickly spun the car on the spot, throwing myself to the side as I did and blasted towards the underbelly of the queen. Before I could reach it, the tongue intercepted me and wrapped itself around the car like a constricting snake. The tongue covered up all the windows leaving me with no way to see outside except for the rocket launcher.


    As it lifted me up, I let go of the steering wheel and grabbed the column with both hands to keep my aim steady. The queen lifted me higher until I was above its gaping maw and rows upon rows of sharp teeth. I squeezed the trigger and the rocket went straight down the queen¡¯s throat.


    For a tense moment nothing happened, but then fire erupted from the mouth. Parts of her body exploded outward in fountains of fire. The tongue let go of me and the beetle dropped to the ground in a bone jarring crash. I was prepared this time so my face didn¡¯t ricochet off the steering wheel once more.


    As soon as I got my bearings, I drove the beetle to the outer edge of the arena in the hopes of staying as far from the inevitable explosion as I could get. But the queen did not explode. She continued to spout fire from her body as she collapsed and her engine died. And so I sat there, admiring it like it was a fireworks show.


    When the fountain of fire finally did die down the announcer came back on. ¡°That was amazing. The queen has been defeated.¡± The crowd cheered again, and I think they may have been chanting my name, but it was hard to be certain. ¡°With the queen dead, you now have the right to claim the Queen Mimiccycles Loot Chest.


    A locked wooden chest came out of one of the queen¡¯s new holes and landed in front of the metal corpse.


    I smiled and looked at the radio. ¡°Do I have to drive into it to pick it up?¡±


    ¡°Milo,¡± Tooty said, ¡°what did I say about asking stupid questions?¡±

 Chapter 11-To the Spoils

    ¡°Achievement: Baby''s First Quest


    Look at you, you''ve completed your first quest.


    Your reward is: Fifty gold.


    It''s more money.


    Achievement: Like a Boss


    You showed a boss who''s boss.


    Your reward is: ¡®Like a Boss¡¯ Bumper Sticker Decal


    Put this on the back of your vehicle to show others you are not someone to be screwed with.


    Achievement: Double the Pleasure


    You managed to kill two enemies with one rocket.


    Your reward is: Reduced reload time on rocket launchers.


    When a rocket launcher is equipped to your vehicle, its reload time is automatically reduced by ten seconds.¡±


    I stared at the menu screen as Tooty read out each achievement. ¡°Wow. Those are all kind of lame considering what I had to do.¡±


    Harvey took the chest out of my trunk and placed it on his workbench. Apparently when I drove over items, they were automatically stored in my trunk and could only be accessed at a garage. ¡°Yeah well, that''s how it is kid. When you start doin¡¯ more impressive stuff, you''ll get better rewards.¡±


    Opening the chest and looking side, Harvey¡¯s eyes grew wide. ¡°Holy Torque. You got yourself a good haul here.¡± He reached in and pulled out a thick brown sack that jingled as he placed it on the bench. ¡°That is a fair bit of gold.¡±


    ¡°Enough to pay you back?¡± I shut the door and walked over to the bench.


    ¡°We¡¯ll see.¡± He reached in again. ¡°Nice, haven''t seen one of these in a while.¡± Out came a metal spool with a long slimy rope wrapped around it. As Harvey held it up some of the slime dozed off of it. ¡°This is a Mimic Tongue Hook. Latches onto your target and is almost impossible to shake loose. I can definitely sell that.¡±


    ¡°For how much?¡± I asked.


    Harvey shrugged. ¡°Two thousand easily.¡± He put the rope next to the bag and reached in again. This time he pulled out a gatling gun that was at least twice the size of the chest, but he pulled it out easily and placed it on the ground. ¡°Standard gun. Useful but not worth much. I''d give this to you but it''s too heavy for you. Ah, but this you can have.¡± He reached in again and pulled out a thin white box, the same kind that shirts and dresses came in when unwrapped on Christmas, and handed it to me.


    ¡°What is it?¡± I tried to peek into the box but Harvey put his hand on the top.


    ¡°Sometimes bosses drop items like this. It makes you look cool.¡±


    ¡°Why would I care about looking cool?¡± This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.


    Harvey shrugged and then pushed me towards the door. ¡°Just do it kid. I''ll sort through the rest here.¡±


    I walked into the atrium where Havarti was sitting at her desk with a book in one hand and her burning stick in the other.


    Havarti looked up from her book and caught me staring at her. ¡°Yes?¡±


    ¡°Harvey wanted me to change into this.¡± I held up the box. ¡°Which uh room did I use last night?¡±


    Havarti glared at me and then took a long drag from her stick. ¡°The Dryad Room.¡± She gestured up at the line of heads above the doors and pointed at the one that sort of looked like a Medusa-head. I thanked her and scurried away.


    Inside the box was a jumpsuit similar to what race car drivers wore, only in the ugliest of colors. It was pale yellow with bright pink stripes spiraling down the arm and leg sleeves. If you looked up the word tacky in the dictionary, this jumpsuit would be the picture next to it. That being said, the material was soft and lightweight. I put it on along with a pair of matching racing gloves and looked at myself in the mirror.


    It was while looking in that mirror that I realized a couple things. The first was how baggy the jumpsuit was. It made my lanky frame look like I packed on weight on random parts of my body. The second was that I wasn''t wearing my glasses. How long had that been? I definitely had them on when I entered this godforsaken place, but I never even noticed their absence, especially since I could still see perfectly. Wherever they ended up, it didn''t make a difference. With my baggy jumpsuit that crinkled everytime I moved and unbrushed red hair, I was far from the definition of cool.


    Havarti intercepted me as I tried to walk back to the garage. ¡°Harvey said to eat first. Better make it a good meal, cause it''s the last free one you''ll get.¡±


    I looked around and finally asked a question that had been pestering me. ¡°Where is everyone?¡±


    Havarti glanced at me over the book. ¡°It''s a starter zone. You''re lucky you got to chat with that girl the other night.¡± She went back to reading as if that was a satisfactory answer.


    When I had finished I entered the garage and saw that Harvey had the beetle suspended in the air and he was tinkering with something towards the front of the car. He turned his head as the door shut behind me. ¡°Damn kid, I wanted to surprise you.¡± His eyes darted up and down taking in my new outfit. ¡°That don''t look bad on you. Bound to get you noticed.¡±


    ¡°Noticed by who?¡± I asked.


    Harvey waved his hand dismissively. ¡°Nevermind. Just give me a few more minutes here.¡±


    Even on Earth, watching mechanics do whatever they did to a car was like watching a magician. Harvey''s hands glided across the undercarriage of the beetle with a grace that you wouldn''t expect from a bull-man. As he worked, he began singing to himself. I recognized it as a rap song from when I was in middle school. It was one of those ones that had a censored version on the radio, but when the dj played it at the school dance we''d all yell the expletive version much to the teachers'' anger. My friends and I quickly learned that it was better to be in the middle of the crowd when we yelled, so we couldn''t be singled out by the teachers.


    When Harvey finished he pressed a button on the life and lowered the car. He then motioned me to the front. ¡°Another gift, " he said pointing to the bottom of the cowcatcher. I shook my head not seeing anything. ¡°Exactly, your enemies won''t see it coming. I installed two basic semi-automatic rifles into the bottom of your car. Each one fires five shots before you have to reload. Get in your vehicle and I''ll show you.¡±


    I got in and Harvey ducked down by the door and pointed ¡°There''s a switch now on the back of your control column. First position, rockets. Flip the switch down and you can fire the rifles. To reload push the button underneath the trigger. You got that kid?¡±


    I nodded and practiced flipping the switch back and forth.


    ¡°You can pull the trigger too?¡± Harvey said. ¡°Guns don''t fire in a garage zone. Now about your debt to me.¡± I was about to say something about how the quest was supposed to be payment when he handed me the brown bag of gold coins from before. It was noticeably emptier, but still had some good weight. ¡°Put that in your glove compartment. That there acts like a bank and stores your money. I already put it to your menu so you can see how much you have.¡±


    Altogether, after what Harvey gave me and what I earned from my achievementsI had 353 gold. Part of me wondered how much that was worth in Earth money, but I knew it didn''t matter since I wouldn''t be able to bring it with me if I ever escaped from here anyway.


    ¡°Now, without any more distractions, I think it''s time to explain to you the main quest of the floor.¡±


    ¡°Actually,¡± I interjected, ¡°I need to know how to arrange these menus on my console so I don''t risk killing myself trying to do it later on.¡±

 Chapter 12-Well That Was Random

    With Harvey''s help, not only was I able to bring the things up I needed onto my main menu, but now they were all displayed on my windshield like one of those see-through strategy maps they used in military movies. The right side of my windshield displayed the GPS map on the bottom right corner with information related to the new rifles and the rocket launcher displayed right above it. The beetle¡¯s abilities, which was still only Nitro 1, was displayed on the left. I still had my cursor on it in case I needed to activate the ability.


    ¡°Alright,¡± Harvey said. He was still leaning into the car and pressing buttons on my console. ¡°Now it''s time for the main event, kid. I''d pay attention if I were you.¡± hoisted himself out of the car just as the windshield began to fade to black.


    ¡°Congratulations Milo,¡± Tooty said excitedly. ¡°You have unlocked the main quest of the Dragon''s Highway, The Sword Slayeth the Dragon.¡± A silver sword with a green jewel in the hilt appeared on the windshield and unsheathed itself.


    Tooty then changed her voice to match a town crier in a medieval village. ¡°Here ye, here ye mighty warrior. Your quest is to collect the four pieces of the Slayer Sword. They are the Blade. The Hilt. The Scabbard and the Jeweled Eye. When you have collected these four, the sword you will be granted the privilege of facing the Dragon. But be wary, once you enter the Dragon''s Domain you will be unable to return. You must either prove yourself victorious and proceed to the next floor, or not. I mean it''s pretty obvious what will happen if you lose.¡± When she finished the sword disappeared and black screen faded away.


    I gulped and looked at Harvey. ¡°So is the dragon, like an actual dragon or¡­¡±


    Harvey raised his hand to interrupt me. ¡°Can''t tell ya¡¯.¡±


    ¡°Anything you can tell me?¡±


    Harvey shrugged. ¡°You can pick which one to go after.¡±


    ¡°Really?¡±


    ¡°That''s correct Milo,¡± Tooty said. ¡°Which one would you like to try and retrieve first?¡±


    Since neither of them could or would give me any extra information I just shrugged. ¡°Pick a random one I guess.¡±


    ¡°As you wish.¡± Tooty paused. ¡°You have chosen the Scabbard.¡±


    Harvey walked over to the garage door and hit a button causing it to open. ¡°Alright kid, time for you to get going. Get outta here.¡±


    I shut the door to the beetle. ¡°That''s a heck of a goodbye.¡±


    ¡°I don''t do goodbyes.¡±


    ¡°Well, thanks for everything Harvey. And thank Havarti for me too.¡±


    ¡ª


    The quest line on my GPS pointed the opposite way that the one for the Mimiccycle quest did. According to it, and Tooty, the place I needed to go was about 43 miles away. A trip that would take about an hour. To alleviate the boredom of the trip I clicked on the radio and let the sound of the strings relax me, but something was strange about the song. It was the exact same one I had listened to when I first left Harvey¡¯s Garage. This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.


    ¡°Do they play this same song on loop?¡± I asked Tooty.


    ¡°To be honest Milo, yes. None of you humans really listen to this radio station so they decided that it wasn¡¯t worth it to include more music.¡±


    ¡°And who is they?¡±


    ¡°That is not an answer I can provide. You will however be able to purchase a selection of radio stations at many different garages.¡±


    I turned the radio off. ¡°Yes you¡¯ve told me that.¡±


    ¡°I wasn¡¯t finished Milo. Stop interrupting me.¡± Tooty paused as if trying to compose herself. ¡°In addition to music stations, there are other stations you can purchase that act like podcasts or NPR.¡± I was about to ask what kinds of things they talk about but I held my tongue and let her continue. ¡°Each one is about different cultures of others worlds or other things of that nature.¡±


    I waited a few seconds after she finished before asking my next question. ¡°So, they don¡¯t talk about Nova?¡±


    ¡°No, that would be granting drivers an unfair advantage.¡±


    ¡°Of course, can¡¯t have that.¡±


    I looked at my GPS map. Thanks to Harvey, I had also learned how to zoom out. Most of the map was still dark, but the quest line cut through it, twisting and turning until it ended at my destination. I tried to look out to the horizon to see if I could scope out the other parts of the highway, but it was no use. I could see rocky terrain and the swathes of dead trees littering it, but there was no sign of the road. Part of me wondered if there was some sort of barrier or bubble that only allowed me to see what was in my immediate vicinity.


    After about fifteen minutes into the drive a loud bell like one from a clock tower rang, making me jump and jerk the wheel to the side which made the car slide into the other lane.


    ¡°What the hell was that?¡± I yelled.


    In response the outside world dissolved away and was replaced by a circular stone wall with a portcullis embedded into it. I hit the brake only to realize that the car had already stopped.


    ¡°Milo, you have encountered a, well, a random encounter. While on the Dragon¡¯s Highway and other main roads you may be transported to a temporary area to do battle with a random enemy.¡±


    ¡°What about the Dragon¡¯s Minions?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Those are part of the perpetual quest of this floor. Random encounters are different. You do get rewards for victory, but just like achievements, you can¡­¡±


    ¡°Can only access them in a garage zone,¡± I said mockingly. ¡°I get it. Just like almost everything else, it¡¯s like a damn video game. You¡¯d think with all the worlds they supposedly have access too, they could try and be a bit more original. If this is so much like a game, is there an option to run away?¡±


    ¡°No.¡± Tooty said simply.


    The portcullis gate lifted up and a dune buggy with a cage on top drove out slowly. Inside it was a green little monster with pointed ears. I didn¡¯t have to look at the description to know exactly what it was.


    Goblin Buggy: Enemy: Combat Danger: 2


    This enemy was just like the ones I had faced when I first entered this dungeon. Last time there were three of them and they were able to get the jump on me. They were also the reason I had to face down and fight a herd of dirt bikes with teeth and their queen. But this time was different. This time I was armed to the teeth, and I had a score to settle. And it was trapped in here with me.


    I took the rocket launcher controller, aimed directly at the buggy and fired. I expected the goblin to either drive towards me or fire its gun at me in response, but it did neither of those things. Instead, the rocket hit it and it exploded in a ball of molten metal and fire. And then all at once the word ¡°Victory,¡± appeared and faded away from my windshield and the world turned back to the highway with me sitting right in the middle of the dividing line.


    ¡°Oh,¡± I said, stunned, and more than a little bummed out. ¡°That was anticlimactic.¡±


    ¡°It was your first random encounter Milo, you weren¡¯t expecting a god level boss were you?¡±


    ¡°Well no, but I¡­¡± My words were cut short as I saw a plume of smoke coming from the direction I was trying to go. How fortunate. It was the Dragon¡¯s Minions, who were the other reason that I had to face that damned mimic queen. Smiling, I gripped the steering wheel and pressed on the gas. ¡°Time to let off some steam.¡±

 Chapter 13-The Dragon鈥檚 Mall

    I was never good at the game of chicken. You know, that one game where two people run, or drive, or ride their bikes directly at each other and the first one to bail loses. Every time I was challenged I talked a big game, but when the chips were down and the game began I was always the first to steer away. It was never close either. I would always give up a few seconds into the game because I just didn¡¯t want to get hurt.


    Yeah my friends would call me names like wussy and baby, but the joke was on them when inevitably they were all too stubborn to bail and they crashed into each other. Most of the time they would only walk away with a few scrapes and bruises, but there was the one time when Eric, the same one I played pool with, wasn¡¯t wearing a helmet and ended up in the hospital with a broken arm and a concussion. When he finally returned to school with a cast over his arm, it was finally my turn to call him names, like idiot and dumb ass. But just like in the game of chicken, I bailed.


    I wondered what he would think of me if he found out that I drove straight into a cloud of fireball spitting monsters. He probably wouldn¡¯t believe it. And I wouldn¡¯t blame him because part of me didn¡¯t believe that I was doing something that insane. But it was also in that moment that I knew playing this game the way I used to would only get me killed. And so it was that in my second encounter with the Dragon¡¯s Minions, I was speeding down the highway in a VW Beetle with two guns and a rocket launcher, and for some reason screaming in some half lame attempt at a war cry.


    Several fireballs rained down on me, making me speed up and jerk the wheel side to side to avoid the explosions. I didn¡¯t dare look in any of my mirror¡¯s at the risk of being blinded by the flash¡¯s after fireballs blew up. I fired a rocket into the lower part of the cloud hoping I would hit one of them, but the smoke was so thick I was unable to tell if I hit anything.


    More fireballs were launched towards me, but they arced so far above and away from me that I didn¡¯t have to attempt to dodge them. I thought that was kind of weird as I approached the edge of the smoke cloud and fired my twin rifles.


    Like an airplane entering a rain cloud, my car was fully engulfed in the smoke for a few seconds and my entire view was obscured. Despite my newfound bravery, part of me was worried that I would crash right into the minions and I would have to make a trip right back to Harvey¡¯s. But as I made it to the center of the tower of smoke, I realized that not only was the worry unfounded, but my bullets had completely missed.


    For the few seconds I was in that eye-of-the-hurricane-like clearing in the center of the smoke, what I saw was pretty strange, which was saying something considering all that I had seen so far. I had expected something similar to the goblin buggies, but instead I was greeted by four vehicles that resembled parade floats.


    Each one of them was a flat platform on the same kind of wheels you¡¯d see on construction vehicles, and each one of them were decorated with colorful dragon¡¯s that looked like they were made from rainbow colored paper mache and wood. The smoke spewed from their mouths and into the cloud, while their tails had catapults embedded into them. None of them appeared on my windshield long enough for their name and info to be displayed.This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source.


    As I passed through the other side of the cloud I laughed, hard. So hard that it threatened to break my ribs. I laughed at the absurdity of it all. Of Nova, of everything I¡¯ve experienced so far and of course of the dragons that looked like they belonged in a renaissance faire.


    ¡°This doesn''t seem like the best time for laughing,¡± Tooty said with an air of concern.


    I ignored her and pressed on the gas before pulling the steering wheel fully to the left and hitting the brake. The tires squealed and the engine whined as I turned the beetle 180 degrees. It wasn''t as smooth as I had hoped, and I ended up clipping the guard rails which bent my passenger side mirror in. The damage screen, which was now on the dashboard screen next to my odometer, ticked down from 100% down to 98% on the left side of the car indicator.


    Staying to the one side of the highway I fired my rifles straight ahead and fired a rocket to the side of my target. While I couldn''t see the full explosions, the resulting fire peeked out of the cloud confirming their destruction. I cheered and moved to the other side of the road, following the other two dragons like a hunter after their prey. To my surprise the dragons made no attempt to turn around or attack me. To confirm my suspicions I told Tooty what I thought. If I was correct she was allowed to tell me.


    ¡°Yes, Milo. The Dragon''s Minions only move in one direction.¡±


    I let out a breath. All the hype I had built up for this fight deflated out of me like a balloon. It was surprising how disappointed I was considering all the times I had almost died over the past couple days. Once the cooldown for the rocket launcher and the reload time for the rifles expired, I unloaded onto both remaining dragons and they too exploded and burned away. The cloud of smoke also disappeared along with their bodies leaving no evidence that they had ever been there. With nothing else, I turned the beetle around and continued to my destination.


    ¡ª


    ¡°We¡¯re here Milo,¡± Tooty said. Her telling me this was pretty redundant since the GPS had told me as much.


    A yellow diamond was painted onto the road in a similar fashion to the blue cross that allowed me access to the dirt track. I parked on the diamond and a garage door similar to Harvey¡¯s opened up in front of me. As I passed through it the highway transformed into the concrete interior of a parking garage.


    The door closed behind me and I pulled up to a glass security box with a drop down barricade that blocked my path. A window slid open to reveal a dryad woman who looked similar to Havarti, only with shorter hair and wearing a light blue security guard shirt. I rolled down my window as she spoke.


    ¡°Welcome to Garage Zone 1 Dash 5 Point E06 nicknamed the Dragon¡¯s Mall. My name is Lira. Will you be needing repairs during your stay here?¡± The woman did not look at me while she spoke.


    ¡°No,¡± I said. That 2% damage I had gotten earlier didn¡¯t seem like it would be worth the hassle.


    Lira pressed a button on the keyboard in front of her. ¡°Will you be purchasing any upgrades?¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t know. Maybe.¡±


    Lira nodded and pressed a few more buttons. A small piece of paper printed. Lira ripped it out and handed it to me. ¡°This is your parking pass. Proceed to the designated location and leave this on your dashboard. If the patrol sees your vehicle without a parking pass, they will have it towed and thrown away, and you will be ejected from the zone. Do you understand?¡±


    I took the paper and nodded slowly.


    ¡°I need a verbal affirmation please.¡±


    ¡°Yes, I understand.¡±


    Lira nodded. ¡°Please enjoy your stay.¡± She closed the window and the barricade lifted.

 Chapter 14-Lindel

    The number on the parking pass was 312A. The numbers were similar to how a hotel worked with the first number being the floor and the other numbers being the exact space. Unlike a hotel however, the letter referred to either side of the parking garage. As I drove past the barricade and turned onto the ramp, the path split into opposite directions. A was on the left side, so that¡¯s the way I turned.


    Vehicles of different types from trucks and sports cars to strange ones that looked like they came from a fantasy movie filled every single space. It was like driving through a parking garage in the middle of a big city like New York or Los Angeles. How was it that so many of them were here, when the only other driver I had seen was Grinny? With this many vehicles how was it that I had seen nobody else on the Dragon¡¯s Highway? I asked Tooty about it and she actually gave me a straight answer.


    ¡°Milo, the best way to describe it is like a video game server. Each version of the Dragon¡¯s Highway is a perfect match to the other, but it is a separate place. Garage zones act as a central point for all drivers to congregate. When you return to the highway, it may not be the same ¡°server¡± that you were on before, so you may find more drivers the next time you embark.¡±


    I turned onto the second level. ¡°Can I be attacked by other drivers?¡±


    ¡°Not on the Dragon¡¯s Highway. However, once you reach the other floors DVD is allowed.¡±


    ¡°DVD?¡±


    ¡°Driver versus Driver.¡±


    ¡°Of course.¡±


    I arrived on the third floor and parked the beetle at the end of the line of vehicles. The numbers 312A were painted in blocky yellow font on the ground and the wall. Before I turned off the car, I looked over my menu to see if I had any achievements. To my dismay there was only one.


    ¡°Achievement: Well That Was Random


    You have survived your first random encounter.


    Your reward is: A ¡°Look at Me I¡¯m Random¡± Bumper Sticker


    This is your first enchanted bumper sticker. Unlike regular bumper stickers, this one provides your vehicle with an added benefit. This particular sticker will give your car a randomized but small benefit when applied. Note: This item can only be applied at a garage zone, but you do not need a Mechanitaur to do it. It¡¯s one you can apply yourself.¡±


    This was the second bumper sticker I had earned so far. The first I had received after defeating the queen I gave to Harvey because there was no reason to keep it. It made me wonder why that one wasn¡¯t enchanted when it had come from a much harder challenge. It was probably something I would never understand, so I pushed it out of my mind. The last thing I did before I left was access my inventory menu which then allowed me to open my glove compartment and take out all my gold. The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.


    My footsteps echoed as I walked from the beetle to the nearest staircase which was helpfully pointed to by a sign on the roof. The entrance to the stairwell was an open archway without a door, however the stairs themselves were the same rusted metal ones you would see at a normal parking garage with railings that looked like they hadn¡¯t been cleaned in many years. I walked down four flights of stairs until I came to a green door with a push handle on it.


    I opened it and entered a place that could only be described as an actual mall. A concourse hallway stretched out before me and each took a 90 degree turn forward. On the outer wall were rows of store fronts with glass windows that had displays of different items. One window had a sleeker version of the rocket launcher I had on my car. It was smaller and had four launch cylinders instead of six. Another one had several different mannequins that wore outfits ranging from the same kind of racing suit I wore, to leather armor that resembled a baseball umpire. The mannequins themselves weren¡¯t human. Their heads had extra things like horns or pointed ears and the body types varied tall to short and muscular to skinnier than a supermodel. Much like the rooms in Harvey¡¯s House, these stores did not have words above them, but used pictures to describe themselves with the clothing store using a t-shirt symbol and the one with the rocket launcher using, well, a rocket.


    Directly in front of me was an information desk with another dryad woman sitting there. This one had her vine hair done tied into an amazonian-like braid and wore a blue, yellow and pink tye-dye button down shirt. The top two buttons were undone in a way that I had to force my eyes to keep looking straight ahead. The dryad woman had her feet on the desk and was rapidly moving a pencil inside a dark notebook.


    As I walked up to the desk, the dryad shut her notebook and looked up at me. For a moment I thought she was going to have the same cantankerous attitude as Havarti, but the woman smiled wide at me and spoke in a bubbly tone.


    ¡°Welcome to the Dragon¡¯s Mall. I¡¯m Lindel. To your left and right you will find many shops to equip your vehicle. Behind me are the sleeping quarter.¡± Lindel pointed her pencil behind her towards a door. ¡°If you continue down either side you will find the eating area. We have five places, each with their own specialties. You will also find the Mechanitaur reception area and on either of the far corners of the mall you will find our entertainment rooms. Do you have any questions?¡±


    Lindel sprang so much information at me at once that it took a moment for me to process everything she said. ¡°Um, do your entertainment rooms change too?¡±


    The dryad chuckled. ¡°No, that only happens with the starting garage zones. Since they don¡¯t see that many drivers, the change tries to stave off boredom for them. Here we have a museum, which is free to enter, and a casino.¡±


    ¡°A casino?¡±


    ¡°Yep, a good place to try and earn more gold so you can do more shopping.¡±


    That was another place I know my mother would never let me enter, but I had to admit it did sound enticing. Maybe I would check it out later, but first there was the quest. ¡°I do have one more question. How do I get the scabbard for the Slayer Sword?¡±


    ¡°Visit the museum.¡±


    I waited for Lindel to say more, but she didn¡¯t. ¡°Anything else?¡±


    Lindel shrugged. ¡°Visit the museum. That¡¯s all I can say.¡±


    ¡°Thanks,¡± I said, sighing.


    ¡°Anytime.¡± Lindel opened her notebook and continued her rapid pencil movements. I wondered if she was drawing something. ¡°If you need anything else, let me know.¡±

 Chapter 15-A Friend and a Meal

    I was tempted to go straight to the museum. Getting a jump start on the quest was the smart thing to do, but much like a child out shopping with their mother during the holidays, I was easily distracted by the things displayed in the other store windows. There were a few more weapon shops and it seemed like each of them specialized in a different type of armament. One store had a plethora of large barreled rifles that sat on racks, while the store right next to it hung out grappling hooks and spears. I imagined putting one of those on the beetle and trying to reel in something with it. Then I imagine the beetle getting dragged down the highway because of how small and light the car was. A thought that actually made me chuckle.


    ¡°Find something you like, Little Worm?¡±


    The voice made me jump and knock my head against the glass window. I rubbed my head and turned to a woman with pointed ears and long brown hair cackling at me. With the zipped up leather jacket and matching pants she looked like an elven biker chick.


    ¡°Hello Venomgrin,¡± I said, recognizing the woman.


    ¡°Well, well. Glad you remember me.¡±


    ¡°Why wouldn¡¯t I? It¡¯s only been a couple of days since we met.¡±


    Grinny shrugged. ¡°Feels longer. So, since you''re here, I take it you¡¯re on the slayer quest.¡±


    I nodded. ¡°I was on my way to the museum.¡±


    ¡°Just came from there myself.¡± Grinny glanced down the concourse. ¡°Dull place. I was about to go into the gambling room when I saw you. Figured I could have some fun and ask for some help since that¡¯s where everyone is.¡±


    I looked around. ¡°I wondered why it was so empty in here.¡±


    ¡°According to the information woman, everyone spends most of their time in the gambling room. Only when it closes for the night does everyone come out to buy things, sleep and eat.¡±


    My stomach gurgled. ¡°Speaking of food.¡±


    Grinny cackled again. ¡°I¡¯m hungry myself. Let¡¯s eat and then see if we can¡¯t figure out this quest.¡±


    We walked down the concourse and ended up in a food court. Five counters were set up in the wall each with a different color and theme. The one to the most left I recognized as a pizza place with its red walls and the silver circular pans that sat on the other side of the counter windows. The pans were of course empty.


    Grinny walked past that one and led me over to the center counter. It was beige and brown and looked like it was carved out of the same stone they used to build the pyramids. This one did not have any glass windows. Several deep holes were dug into the counter and covered with pieces of cloth.


    ¡°This one is like the road stalls we have on the Night Sun side of Solara-Solarem.¡± Grinny said.


    As we approached, one of the disembodied floating cloaks appeared on the other side of the stall. ¡°What would you like?¡±Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit.


    ¡°A full stinger kebab.¡±


    The hood of the cloak nodded then turned to me. ¡°And you?¡±


    ¡°I..uh,¡±


    ¡°You should try one,¡± Grinny suggested. ¡°One of these and it¡¯ll fill you right up.¡±


    As a younger kid, my mother was always trying to get me to try new foods. Whenever she cooked something I had never tried before, she would put a small amount of it on my plate and insist that I eat it. She called it a ¡°thank you helping.¡±


    I shrugged. ¡°Alright, I¡¯ll try it.¡±


    The cloak produced two curved sticks larger than my hand. On them were cuts of thick browned meat patterned with orange and green vegetables. The smell that came off of the kebabs reminded me of over-steamed broccoli.


    ¡°That will be two gold a piece,¡± the cloak said.


    I pulled out the bag of coins from my race suit pocket, which was surprisingly roomy, and put four coins on the counter.


    Grinny tilted her head. ¡°You sure?¡±


    ¡°Consider it a thanks for the other day. It was fun.¡± Grinny slapped me on the back, grabbed both of the kebabs and guided us towards one of the tables that was set up in the area.


    After we sat down Grinny wasted no time digging into her food. She ripped off a piece of the meat with her teeth and noisily chewed it. I had to admit, the display was a little sickening, but I wasn¡¯t going to say anything. Instead, I took a bite. The kebab wasn¡¯t bad, but it tasted, burnt. Like a burger that had been on the grill a little too long. The vegetables on the other hand were juicy and crunchy and made my mouth water as I ate them. And Grinny was right. By the time I had finished eating it, I felt more full than after a thanksgiving dinner.


    I put the now empty stick down and the table and accidentally let out a loud burp that echoed off the walls. Embarrassed, I tried to apologize but it was drowned out by Grinny¡¯s louder and more deliberate belch.


    ¡°That¡¯s how you know it¡¯s made well.¡± She said letting out another one.


    ¡°Solarem¡¯s and Humans have no manners whatsoever.¡± I turned to see a short pig-like creature sitting at a table by themselves. Their snout was flat against their head and they had small tusks protruding out of the corner of their mouth. They were spooning something out of a bowl and quietly drinking it.


    I was going to apologize when Grinny stopped me. ¡°Ignore them. They are upset because they also couldn¡¯t figure out the puzzle.¡±


    The pig person snorted. ¡°Unlike you, I only need the scabbard to complete the slayer sword.¡± Grinny rolled her eyes.


    ¡°How hard is it to get the other parts for the sword,¡± I asked. The pig ignored me and went back to their food.


    Grinny burped again and then eyed me. ¡°I¡¯ve been wondering. Did you buy those clothes on purpose?¡±


    I looked down at my race suit. The clashing pattern of the pale yellow and pink stripes didn¡¯t look any better from a top down view. ¡°I got it from a treasure chest on a quest I did for Harvey. It¡¯s surprisingly comfortable.¡±


    ¡°If you say so. Perhaps while you¡¯re here, you might want to buy some better clothes, Little Worm.¡±


    I shrugged. ¡°It¡¯s not that important. Anyway, tell me about the museum.¡±


    ¡°I can¡¯t.¡±


    ¡°Why not?¡±


    ¡°No manners and an idiot,¡± the pig snapped. ¡°You can¡¯t discuss the specific details of the puzzle or the quest out in the open. If you do, bad things will happen.¡±


    ¡°Oh yeah,¡± I said challengingly. ¡°What kind of bad things?¡±


    The pig stared at me with a serious expression. One that told me they very well knew what happened. A shiver went down my spine.


    ¡°They¡¯re right,¡± Grinny said, standing up. ¡°Talking about it out here might give an unfair advantage to anyone listening. We have to figure it out ourselves. Shall we go?¡±


    I nodded.

 Chapter 16-The Museum

    As we entered the museum we were greeted by a silver banner that hung from the roof. It read, ¡°Welcome to the Museum of History of the Tunnel Digger Worms.¡± Underneath the words was a long snake-like thing that looked like those medical cameras doctors shoved down your throat to check the inside of your body, except the end of it had a drill, not a camera.


    We proceeded forward and turned down a short hallway which led into a massive planetary sized room. The room was circular and slanted down to a hologram of a brown planet with orange splotches in random places. Along the wall were various paintings, sculptures, vases and other types of art. It was hard to make out exact details in the low light, but it was safe to assume that they were all dedicated to this worm species.


    ¡°This is kind of cool,¡± I said, stepping into the room.


    ¡°Down here.¡± Grinny led me down to the hologram. Up close I could see that the planet was a rocky desolate place with no oceans to speak of. The orange splotches turned out to be massive craters on the surface of the planet. ¡°Hold out your hand.¡±


    I did as I was told and a small tingling ran through my fingers. A screen popped up above the planet. It read, ¡°The History of the Tunnel Diggers is written in the stars.¡±


    ¡°Huh.¡± I lowered my hand and the message disappeared. ¡°I thought it would be more cryptic than that. ¡°


    Grinny crossed her arms. ¡°Oh?¡±


    ¡°Yeah, it¡¯s pretty obvious what needs to be done to solve the puzzle.¡± Grinny looked at me expectantly. We need to search these art pieces for stars and then, um¡­¡±


    ¡°And then what?¡±


    ¡°And then, I don¡¯t know. Let¡¯s just find the stars first.¡±


    Grinny motioned with her hand. ¡°Search away.¡± I gave her a quizzical look, but then shrugged and walked up to the nearest painting.


    In my freshman year of high school, I had decided to take an art history class to fill out one of my elective slots because after my first two choices, nothing else really interested me. On the first day, the art teacher, Mrs. Fletcher stood in front of the class and proclaimed that there was no such thing as ugly art. She went on to say that every piece was beautiful in its own wasy and it was our duty to see that beauty. Had she been standing next to me and looking at the painting as I was, I¡¯m pretty sure she would¡¯ve changed her opinion.


    The picture was called ¡°Life. Life. Crawler,¡± and it depicted a pink tape worm looking thing tied together with an elongated green slug. One could only assume what those two things were doing. What made it worse is that whatever material was used to paint this made the whole picture look wet and slimy. It was almost enough to make me upchuck the kebab I had just eaten. But despite its appearance, there was no sign of any stars.


    I moved down the wall to a series of gray stone busts of worm heads, each of them sitting on top of a black marble pedestal. Each one of them had bladed pincers. Above them was a plaque that labeled them as the, ¡°Lineage of the Undergrand Elders.¡± This seemed promising, so I examined each head more carefully, including the pedestals and the wall. Again, I found nothing. I even tried to pick up the heads to see if anything was underneath, but they were too heavy to move. Frustrated, I looked to Grinny who just stood there staring at me with her arms crossed.


    For the next while I checked every inch of every art piece in that museum. About halfway through my search, I had given up hope on finding anything, but at that point I was too stubborn to stop. When I had finished with the last painting, which was a moon with a worm coiled around it, I awkwardly walked back to Grinny and half-heartedly shrugged. A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.


    ¡°Did you really think I hadn¡¯t tried that already, Little Worm?¡± In this place, that term of endearment almost sounded like an insult.


    I threw my hands up in the air. ¡°I don¡¯t know, I just thought, I don¡¯t know okay.¡±


    Grinny laughed. ¡°It¡¯s alright. I actually wanted to see if you would¡¯ve found anything new.¡±


    ¡°Well, I didn¡¯t. We¡¯re obviously missing something.¡± I stood there for a moment fuming, before an idea came to me.


    I walked back over to the hologram planet and raised my hand towards it. The clue popped up again. I then tried swiping my hand back and forth but nothing happened. Then I tried swiping my hands up and down, and then diagonally and then every other way I could think of. Unsurprisingly, the planet did nothing.


    ¡°What are you doing?¡± Grinny asked with a bit of amusement in her voice.


    ¡°You know how in science fiction movies, characters can move holograms by interacting with them?¡±


    ¡°What are you talking about?¡±


    It took me a moment to remember that Grinny wasn¡¯t from Earth. ¡°Never mind. I was just trying to see if I could get the planet to rotate.¡±


    ¡°That won¡¯t work,¡± a voice snorted. The pig person from before stood in the entrance of the room. Brown leather straps covered their body in a weird amalgamation of a bathing suit and a BDSM outfit. ¡°I tried that earlier.¡±


    ¡°What do you want?¡± Grinny asked.


    The pig person walked up to us and stood in front of me. ¡°The same thing you do. I was hoping you¡¯d have figured something else out, but I know better than to rely on humans.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s pretty dumb,¡± I said. ¡°What about solving things on your own.¡±


    The pig snorted again. ¡°I said you couldn¡¯t say things out in the open. And we¡¯re not out there anymore.¡±


    ¡°Whatever.¡± I yawned. ¡°I think I need a nap. Maybe we can figure this out later after I¡¯m refreshed.¡± I went to walk back up to the entrance but the pig person stood in my way.


    ¡°No. We¡¯re figuring this out now. I want that sword.¡±


    ¡°Then figure it out yourself.¡± I tried to walk past them, but they stepped in my way. I tried going around them the other way, but they kept blocking me. ¡°Leave me alone.¡± I tried to fake out the pig by going one way then the other, but they were able to step in front of me and push me back. As they did, I stumbled and fell backward into the planet.


    ¡°What the hell is wrong with you porky? If you¡¯re so smart¡­¡± I stopped as I got up and looked around. The room had disappeared and had been replaced with a series of lights surrounding me. These lights formed lines and shapes that looked like a connect the dot puzzle. ¡°Grinny, where are you?¡±


    ¡°What do you mean? I¡¯m here.¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t see you.¡±


    Before she could respond, the pig person appeared beside me and snorted with surprise. ¡°Well, looks like humans aren¡¯t so useless after all.¡± They did a full 360 before smiling. ¡°These are constellations.¡±


    ¡°I can see that, but¡­¡±


    The pig raised their hand. ¡°Quiet.¡± They looked around again. ¡°I know the answer.¡±


    ¡°What is going on?¡± Grinny asked. ¡°What are you two looking at?¡±


    ¡°Be quiet Solarem. And be thankful that you have me here.¡± The pig raised their hands in front of them and began moving the constellations around, lining them up against each other. After a few seconds every single one of them were connected. ¡°It¡¯s a map of the Dragon¡¯s Highway,¡± the pig pointed at a particularly bright star where several of the constellations intersected.


    Words appeared over it. ¡°The Tunnels of the Tunnel Diggers.¡±


    ¡°That,¡± the pig said, ¡°is where the scabbard is.¡± Without another word, they ran out and disappeared leaving me staring at the stars and wondering how the hell they figured that out so quickly.

 Chapter 17-On the Road Again.

    For dinner, Grinny and I shared a large stuffed crust supreme pizza with lots of extra cheese. Part of me expected her to hate it, but she quickly devoured two pieces. She belched and remarked about how lucky I was to enjoy something like this on Earth. In response I told her that she should try it for breakfast after it was refrigerated. That earned me a curious look before she bit down into her next piece.


    During our dinner we decided that we would party up for a bit and tackle the tunnels together. In order to do that we would have to leave the garage at the same time to make sure that we were put in the same version of the highway.


    Before we headed to the sleeping rooms, I was tempted to check out the casino, but Grinny talked me out of it. I pouted about it, but then realized it was for the best since I only had a fair bit of gold to my name at the moment and I would need it to repair any damages to the beetle. I didn¡¯t want to be doing anymore debt quests for people. When we finally did go to bed we split off into separate areas, with Grinny going to the one specified for Solarems and me going to the Dryad room again. I rather enjoyed the springiness of the nest beds there.


    The next day the first thing I did before getting into the beetle was open the trunk and pull out the bumper sticker. It was green with black cursive lettering that said, ¡°Look at Me. I¡¯m So Random.¡± The two O¡¯s in ¡®look¡¯ were made to look like googly eyes staring off into opposite directions. I peeled away the backing from the sticker and placed it on the left side of my bumper.


    As soon as I started the engine, Tooty¡¯s voice came over the radio. ¡°Milo, I see you have equipped the ¡®Look at Me I¡¯m Random,¡¯ Bumper Sticker. It grants you¡­one percent damage reduction on the left rear window. I also see that you have discovered the location of the scabbard. I have heard that a lot of humans find worms creepy. Do you?¡±


    I thought back to science class and the time we dissected worms and shrugged. ¡°Not really.¡±


    Scrolling through my menus, I brought up Social and put in Grinny¡¯s ID number. Thanks to the information dryad, I was able to learn how to do this. She was also able to look up my number and give it to me. The dryad had found it in a ledger book that she had hoisted out from under her desk. Typing in the ID number, which was a pain thanks to having no keyboard, was a lot like sending a friend request to someone. As soon as they accepted, communication was now possible through the radio like a phone call.


    As I pulled the beetle out of the parking spot, a loud rhythmic ringing came out of the speakers and drilled itself into my skull, nearly making me side swipe the vehicle next to me.


    ¡°What¡¯s happening?¡± I yelled over the sound.


    ¡°You are receiving a call from Driver Venomgrin,¡± Tooty said back.


    ¡°Well, answer it.¡±


    The ringing thankfully stopped, but it was replaced by Grinny¡¯s voice who rattled the windows as she spoke.


    ¡°Hello.¡±


    ¡°I can hear you,¡± I said over the ringing in my ears. ¡°Give me a moment.¡± I turned down the knob on the radio. ¡°Okay, now we can speak.¡±


    ¡°What are we¡­?¡± I covered my ears. Grinny¡¯s voice had not gone down at all.


    ¡°Tooty! Is my speaker broken? Why didn¡¯t the volume go down?¡±This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.


    ¡°Because Milo, you turned down your radio volume.¡± There was a hint of annoyance in Tooty¡¯s response.


    ¡°Well, how do I turn down the call volume?¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s in your Social menu.¡±


    I growled under my breath as I navigated the menu. The volume was set to 65. I clicked the down button until it was set to 25.


    ¡°Okay,¡± I said, covering my ears. ¡°Let¡¯s try this again.¡±


    There was a pause before Grinny spoke again. ¡°Everything good, little worm?¡±


    I breathed a sigh of relief. ¡°Yes, I¡¯m fine now. Where are you?¡± The GPS didn¡¯t work inside the garage.


    ¡°At the entrance.¡±


    As I drove down the ramp I was passed by a couple of different vehicles. One looked like an oversized toy race car while the other was a literal glass box on wheels. I looked to see who was driving them, but all of their windows were tinted. I rounded the final corner and caught sight of Griny¡¯s Cinderella-carriage-pumpkin-car. Its color had changed from brown to an acid green color. Due to its truck wheels, it towered over the beetle, even with the rocket launcher on top.


    ¡°How does that thing not collapse under its own weight?¡± Grinny asked.


    ¡°The real question is how can you see out of that thing?¡± There were no visible windows anywhere on the vehicle.


    Grinny laughed. ¡°That¡¯s my secret, for now at least.¡± She drove up to the guard box and opened the door, leaning out to give the dryad guard her parking pass and some gold coins.


    ¡°Are you two leaving together?¡± I heard the guard ask Grinny through the radio.


    ¡°Okay then as the door opens please do not leave the doorway or you may be put in a different instance of the highway. Understood?¡± Grinny nodded and then shut the door.


    I rolled down my window and drove up to the guard box as Grinny made room. Lira, the same dryad from when I entered, sat in the booth. She held out her hand. ¡°Parking pass please.¡± I gave it to her and she quickly glanced at it before tearing it in half and laying it on her desk. You stayed one night. Two gold pieces please.¡±


    I gave her the coins and she ushered me through. Following Grinny, we both ended up on the highway next to each other. In my rear mirror I could see the garage door close and then disappear like it had never existed.


    ¡°That¡¯s good,¡± Grinny said. ¡°Seems our destination isn¡¯t too far to travel to.¡±


    I looked at my map. The Tunnels of the Tunnel Digger Worms, as the place was called, was only a couple miles away, which equated to only about two or three minutes travel time.


    ¡°Do you see any of the Dragon¡¯s Minions?¡± I asked. I figured Grinny¡¯s height advantage could give us a heads up.


    ¡°Looks clear to me.¡±


    That was good. A short travel time and nothing on the horizon meant that there was little chance of anything happening between here and there. Unfortunately, the odds were not in our favor. We had only traveled for no more than thirty seconds when a bell rang and the world dissolved around us. It was another random encounter.


    The world came back into focus and both of us were now in a roman style arena with a metal fence blocking off the center. It looked similar to a horse track. While there was nobody in the seats, there was still the roar of a crowd followed by an announcer¡¯s voice.


    ¡°Welcome to the Chariot Death Race.¡± It was the same announcer from the dirt bike track. ¡°Your goal is to race around the track and defeat Ratanus the Gold. And by defeat we mean, obliterate.¡±


    From behind an engine roared. The kind you would hear from a sports car with a heavy duty engine. The kind that a middle aged man would buy to try and impress women ten years younger than him. In between Grinny and I a long vehicle pulled up and stopped. It had the thin front of a stretch limousine with the back of a wide hummer. And as the name suggested, the entire car was gold except for the windows and the tires.


    The windows were not-tinted so I could see the driver, which was a rat man wearing a toga, with dozens of gold piercings in his ear. He turned to me and flashed me a grin before looking over to Grinny¡¯s vehicle and revving his engine again.


    ¡°What an ugly thing,¡± Grinny said.


    ¡°On your marks,¡± the announcer called. ¡°Get set. And Go.¡±

 Chapter 18-Ratanus the Gold

    As soon as the announcer had said ¡®Go,¡¯ Ratanus sped forward, kicking up a cloud of dust behind him. I tried to send a rocket towards his vehicle, but I missed by a long shot.


    ¡°Come on,¡± Grinny said as she too drove forward.


    I didn¡¯t move. I thought back to my strategy with the Mimiccycles. The announcer didn¡¯t say there was a time limit or some kind of race element to this encounter. All they had said was that we had to defeat Ratanus while racing around. So all I needed was one good hit on him. However, that strategy was stopped dead when a few metallic pings came from my hood. I looked out and saw that there were now several small holes.


    ¡°Move,¡± Grinny called.


    I sighed and pushed down on the pedal, joining the race. It didn¡¯t take me long to catch up to them. As far as speed was concerned, they weren¡¯t going very fast. At least no faster than you would go on the main road in the city.


    Ratanus''s trunk had opened and a small gatling gun was inside, currently aimed at me. I swerved to the side as the gun barrel turned and another barrage of bullets came flying at me. They missed, striking the ground and kicking up clouds of dust.


    I aimed and fired another rocket at the rat¡¯s car. We were on a straightaway, so my aim was perfect. At the last possible moment, the car swerved to the right and the rocket sailed past and collided with the wall. I slammed my fist on the steering wheel out of frustration.


    ¡°Nice try little worm,¡± Grinny said. ¡°But let¡¯s try this.¡±


    A hole slid open in the front of her pumpkin car and a claw attached to a chain shot out towards the gun. It grabbed on to the base and began to retract. Ratanus''s car veered backwards and the front of the car popped up, like a motorcyclist doing a wheelie. The engine whined as it fought to retain its speed, which is surprisingly did considering its current predicament.


    For a few moments there was a tug of war between the two vehicles with no sides giving an inch. The fact they were both still driving at a brisk pace was impressive.


    ¡°Come on you damn thing,¡± Grinny said through what sounded like gritted teeth.


    The front window to Ratanus¡¯s car rolled down and he popped his head out. ¡°Might be best if you let go babe,¡± the rat man yelled. Obviously since Grinny was in her car, she couldn¡¯t answer him. ¡°I warned you.¡±


    There was a loud click and the gatling gun suddenly dislodged itself sending both vehicles off in opposite directions. Ratanus''s car bounced a couple times before settling and speeding off. The gatling gun just barely missed Grinny¡¯s car as it was released from the claw and it too bounced away on the road. The claw quickly retracted back into its compartment.


    ¡°Not a bad try,¡± I said consolingly.


    ¡°Either way, it¡¯s one problem down. We¡¯re lucky his back didn¡¯t close. He can¡¯t summon another one unless it is.¡±Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation.


    ¡°How do you know that?¡±


    ¡°Harvey told me.¡± Grinny paused. ¡°Now what other weapons do you have on that thing?¡±


    ¡°I have two guns under my car, and a speed boost.¡± In that moment I had an idea. I hit the brakes and spun the beetle around. The movement made me feel like an action hero and I wondered if I should buy some rock music for the radio next time I was at a garage so I could have a soundtrack for these fights.


    ¡°What are you doing?¡± Grinny asked.


    ¡°I¡¯m going to intercept him.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s dangerous and stupid. But I like it. I¡¯ll hit him with my grappler and see if I can¡¯t slow him down for you.¡±


    Holy crap, that was a brilliant plan. I wanted to kick myself for not thinking of that part, but I needed to concentrate on the race. I sped down the straightaway and past the curve we had started at and gripped my firing column as I came out of the turn.


    Meanwhile, Grinny was gaining on Ratanus. When she was close enough she fired her grapple and hooked it on the edge of the trunk and bumper. Through the radio I could hear her brakes rumble as she hit them and pulled on the rat man¡¯s car. Another tug of war began between them as they continued to drive.


    I came upon them fast, aimed my reticle at Ratanus, making sure his head was within my circle and fired. As I did, the rat jerked his wheel to the left and pulled a u turn much like I had done moments before. Horror flooded me as he used the momentum to whip Grinny right into the path of my rocket. She screamed as it hit.


    The explosion broke the chain and sent Grinny¡¯s car flying backwards. It bounced and rolled several times before hitting the wall and settling upright. I stopped the beetle and stared at the wreckage.


    ¡°Grinny?¡± I asked. There was no answer. I called her name again but there was nothing. Tears started to sting my eyes. ¡°Holy shit Tooty. I think I killed her.¡±


    ¡°Not quite,¡± Grinny coughed. ¡°Gave it hell of a shot though.¡±


    ¡°Are you okay?¡± My voice was louder and more high pitched than I meant to be. It was a mix of relief and amazement.


    ¡°Maybe. Fair bit of blood, but nothing we can¡¯t fix I don¡¯t think.¡±


    I was about to say something else when Ratanus pulled up and stopped next to me. He stuck his head out the window and laughed maniacally. ¡°That was amazing. I dare you to try and come at me again.¡±


    ¡°With pleasure,¡± I said seething. I stepped on the gas.


    Ratanus¡¯s grin grew and he sped off again. I closed in on him as we took the turn. His trunk was still open and flapped up and down with every bump. I switched from the rockets to the rifles under my car and fired. The bullets hit the bumper and the inside of the trunk leaving coin sized holes.


    The rat stuck out his hand and flipped me off. Normally I would¡¯ve been surprised by the fact that a rat had enough fingers to do that, but in that moment I was pissed and this rat was the only thing I could take out my anger on. This encounter needed to end so I could get on with this damn quest.


    I looked at my menu and stared at the Nitro 1 ability. I could use it to splat this rat all over the road. But it was a big risk. I could just as easily crash into the wall. But then again, I hadn¡¯t made it this far, which admittedly wasn¡¯t that far at all, by playing it safe. And I was angry at what had just happened. So I said to heck with it all and as soon as we turned out of the curve and into the straightaway, I pressed Nitro 1.


    Even though it was stupid, I still had a plan. Everything blurred and when I felt the force of the other car as I slammed into it, I jerked my steering wheel sideways. The goal was to steer away from the wall and try to pull off a donut until the speed boost wore off.


    I spun fast, like one of those rides at an amusement park that stuck you to the wall, only faster. My stomach, my heart and my bones were all squished together inside my body due to the sheer force of it all. As I spun I began to lose consciousness and I did my best to hold on.


    Finally after several agonizing seconds, I felt the Nitro fade away and I pulled the beetle out of the donut and tried to get my bearings, just as I crashed right into Grinny and everything went black.

 Chapter 19-Aftermath

    ¡°Congratulations. You have defeated Ratanus the Gold.¡±


    I jerked back into consciousness at the sound of the announcer. Everything hurt, which was becoming a familiar sensation. Luckily, I didn¡¯t see or feel any blood. After the announcer finished speaking, the arena transformed back into the Dragon¡¯s Highway leaving both Grinny¡¯s pumpkin car and my beetle wedged together in the middle of the road.


    ¡°Are you okay Little Worm?¡± Grinny groaned.


    ¡°As okay as I can be. What about you? I¡¯m sorry I crashed into you. And shot you.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ll forgive you, if you buy me dinner again, and maybe a strong enough drink to help me forget.¡± Grinny half coughed half laughed.


    ¡°Maybe we should worry about getting unstuck first.¡± The front end of my car had been shoved right underneath Grinny¡¯s wheels. My windshield was cracked in a spiderweb patter and the dashboard was folded in on itself.


    ¡°No need to worry there. My beacon activated when we were dumped out here.¡±


    ¡°What beacon?¡±


    ¡°A beacon, Milo, is a tool used to send a signal to have somebody drag your vehicle back to the last garage you have visited. It is something you can have installed into your vehicle at a garage.¡± Tooty¡¯s voice sounded low and more robotic, like a talking teddy bear whose battery was dying.


    ¡°So you mean, a tow truck?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Exactly. The idea is to not get stranded.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s probably something I should buy when we make it back to the garage. Grinny, what is the beacon¡¯s ETA?¡±


    ¡°What the hell does that mean?¡±


    I sighed. ¡°How long until help arrives?¡±


    ¡°Oh. About an hour.¡±


    Placing my head against the window, I closed my eyes and tried to ignore the pain. ¡°Well then I guess we wait.¡±


    ¡ª


    Within the first few minutes of waiting I nearly had a panic attack. I hadn¡¯t thought about the Dragon¡¯s Minions and what would happen if they came across us. Thankfully Tooty was able to put those concerns mostly to bed.


    ¡°When a beacon is active, it shrouds everyone in the immediate area. All enemies and other drivers will pass right through you and will not become aware of your existence. It¡¯s all done in the essence of fairness. It wouldn¡¯t be as fun to have you die in such an anticlimactic way.¡±This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source.


    I shivered at that last part.


    While none of the minions came around to verify the truth of what Tooty said, we were passed by a few other drivers and none of them seemed to notice us. In face one of them did go right through us as if we were ghosts, and there was no indication that they knew they had done so. It was definitely a weird moment seeing a pair of tires go right through your back seat and the rest of the vehicle pass through my body, even if I didn¡¯t feel anything when it happened.


    ¡ª


    We heard the siren long before we even saw the tow truck. It was like hearing the ice cream man far off in the distance and listening as it came closer, anticipating when it would finally turn down your street. As the vehicle approached, I had to twist my body to see it which transformed the dull pain of my injuries to fresh stinging pain.


    The vehicle that pulled up was a metal square on wheels and resembled the cab area seen on a lot of industrial equipment, only with smaller windows. On top of it was a crane that carried one of those circular magnets that picked up large chunks of metal in a scrap yard. After the truck stopped the siren went silent and there was an electrical pop before a voice boomed out.


    ¡°Are you the driver Venomgrin?¡±


    ¡°Yes,¡± Grinny answered.


    ¡°And you are aware that your beacon service only applies to you, correct? Any extra services provided will be added to your final bill.¡±


    ¡°Yes,¡± Grinny repeated.


    Without another word, the magnet swung over and attached itself to the top of both cars with a loud kachunk. A moment later we were jerked up into the air and dragged back to the Dragon¡¯s Mall Garage.


    ¡ª


    ¡°This can¡¯t keep happening,¡± I said as I was dragged headfirst out of the beetle by a Mechanitaur. This one was named Jori and had gray fur with random splotches of red. He wore similar overalls to Harvey, but had no nose piercing and was missing the tip of his left horn.


    Grinny dusted off her clothes and looked up. ¡°What do you mean?¡±


    The Mechanitaur placed me on my feet and walked away to examine the vehicles. ¡°It seems I keep crashing and getting hurt right after I start a quest. I think it''s time to go shopping for some upgrades for the beetle.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯ll cost some coin,¡± Jori said, not taking his eyes off the vehicles. ¡°If you need some, you can always take some quests from the information dryad.¡±


    ¡°Ooh, that would be fun,¡± Grinny said. ¡°¡®Course we can¡¯t do much in our current situation. How much do you think it¡¯ll take to fix all of this?¡± She gestured to the vehicles.


    Jori scratched the back of his head. ¡°Hard to tell. At least ten thousand gold.¡±


    ¡°Ten thousand?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Ten thousand each. This is pretty extensive damage. Not to mention the extra service of bringing you here. That''s another hundred.¡±


    ¡°We were right down the road.¡±


    Jori looked up. ¡°A hundred is the base cost. After fifteen miles the price escalates per mile.


    Grinny shook her head. ¡°That''s all more than even I have.¡±


    ¡°How exactly are we supposed to get that much gold? If we can¡¯t pay you, we won''t get our cars back, right?¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s right,¡± Jori said.


    ¡°Well then we can¡¯t go out on quests. Unless you can give me a quest to pay off the debt.¡±


    Jori shook his head. ¡°Nope sorry kid. I only take gold. Been burnt too many times with uncompleted debt quests.¡±


    ¡°Well then what are we supposed to do?¡± The realization hit me and I looked at Grinny who smiled as the same idea came to her. I shrugged. ¡°I hope lady luck is on our side.¡±

 Chapter 20-The Casino

    The only thing I knew about casinos or gambling dens was what I saw in movies. It was either a large multistory building full of slot machines and card tables, with everyone trying to become a millionaire overnight, and pretty ladies in bikinis and feather hats giving free drinks to people or a smoky underground basement where shady dice games were played and a fighting ring was set up in the corner, either for people or for animals. This one however was an actual arcade. Like the game cabinets and skeeball kind of arcade.


    Grinny and I walked into the casino room and were greeted by the symphony of electronic beeps and boos. Right inside was a receptionist dryad dressed in a polyester uniform that resembled a fast food restaurant worker. She stood behind a podium and wore a nametag that identified her as Livery.


    ¡°Hello and welcome to the Dragon¡¯s Mall Casino. Here you can play games to earn coins and maybe even some real prizes. Can I get your names please so we can give you your game cards.¡± Livery wore a fake smile and spoke with the same kind of voice an overworked drive-thru worker would.


    ¡°Venomgrin,¡± Grinny said.


    Livery wrote the name down on a piece of paper then looked up to me. ¡°And you?¡±


    ¡°Milo. Milo Walker.¡±


    ¡°Fantastic. Please give me one moment.¡± Livery walked over to a large printer machine and began pressing buttons. After a few seconds it whirled to life and spit out two plastic cards. She grabbed them and handed them both to us. Mine was silver and had the words ¡®Milo Milo Walker,¡¯ written on it.


    ¡°As a gift,¡± Livery continued, ¡°we have given you 50 gold credits to begin with. To add more to the card, you will need to visit one of our coin collectors which are placed throughout the casino. In fact there¡¯s one right there.¡± She pointed at a square kiosk with a metal tray and a screen. ¡°You can also trade in gold credits for prizes at the prize counter in the back, or cash out your credits for gold. Please be aware you cannot use the gold credits we gave you. Are there any questions?¡±


    I looked around. Even though there were several rows of arcade cabinets, there were only a couple of people playing them. ¡°Where is everyone? I thought this place would be full.¡±


    Livery fake laughed. ¡°That¡¯s because this floor is our low stakes floor. The payout for each game is very low so they like to occupy the bottom two floors in the hopes of striking it big. Of course, most of them go bankrupt just trying.¡±


    ¡°What happens then?¡± Grinny asked.


    ¡°Usually they take quests from the information dryad to earn more coins so they can try it all again.¡±


    ¡°They don¡¯t try to beat the main quest? Aren¡¯t there rules against that?¡±


    Livery shrugged. ¡°Some people don¡¯t want to try. As long as you are not at a garage longer than two days, you don¡¯t suffer any punishment. Some just go out and drive around for a little bit and come back. Others, well they don¡¯t come back.¡±


    ¡°So there¡¯s no limit to how long you can stay on the floor?¡±Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.


    ¡°Well, at least this floor. When it comes to the casino, I think the person who¡¯s been here the longest is Motero. If I recall, they¡¯ve been here for at least 724 Earth years. But that¡¯s enough of the questions. Go and have fun in our casino.¡± Liver continued to smile at us expectantly until Grinny and I awkwardly walked away.


    ¡°I ain¡¯t never seen a place like this,¡± Grinny said as we strolled down the first rows of games.


    Even from the first few games alone, I could tell they had a good variety. There were fighting games, platformers, a couple shooters accompanied by the plastic guns sticking out of the holsters and just a bunch more. Unlike a regular arcade, there didn¡¯t seem to be any real organization to where the games were positioned, just that they were lined up next to each other.


    ¡°We have a lot of places like this on Earth. It¡¯s usually meant for children and family.¡± I walked over to a random cabinet. It was green with a picture of squid like aliens holding ray guns. According to the top of the cabinet it was called ¡®Alien Takeover.¡¯ The game graphics reminded me of the old game consoles my mother would brag about playing when she was a kid. The gameplay preview showed a blocky alien squid flying around on a jetpack and blasting humans in a city.


    ¡°You want to try it out?¡± Grinny asked.


    I shook my head. ¡°Maybe later. Right now we need to get real money and the best way is downstairs.¡± Grinny agreed and we made our way to the stairs.


    The second floor was more like what I expected a casino to look like except everything was electrical like the arcade part. There were rows of slot machines, video poker machines and other types of gambling games. Each one of them had a stool in front of them and pretty much every stool was filled with different creatures and humanoid¡­things. They were all glued to the screens and the only parts of their bodies that moved were their hands when touching the screen or pulling down a slot lever.


    We wandered down the line until we found an empty slot machine called ¡®Goblin¡¯s Gamble.¡¯ It had a flashing green interface with ugly little goblins digging into a mountain of gold and throwing it into a large cauldron. The goal was simple, all we had to do was match three symbols to win. According to the machine if you matched three goblins you would earn your credits back. If you matched three pairs of goblins you would win double, and the same was true for if you matched three trios of goblins. But in order to win the jackpot, you had to match the symbols of a goblin sticking their head out of a cauldron full of gold.


    I shrugged, ¡°I guess this one is as good as any. We should start small, I don¡¯t want to dig into the little bit of gold I actually have.¡±


    ¡°Small ain¡¯t my style little worm? Show me how this works.¡±


    The largest bet we could put in was ten gold credits. I tried to convince Grinny we should pace ourselves but she put in the max bet and pulled the lever. The goblins spun into motion and the first two rows stopped on the jackpot goblins. My pulse quickened as the third one began to slow down. It stopped on the third jackpot goblin before quickly switching over to the pair of goblins. The screen was then replaced with a laughing goblin and the word ¡®loser.¡¯


    ¡°Wow,¡± Grinny said excitedly. ¡°Did you see how close we were to winning? We should do that again.¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t think we were close,¡± I said. ¡°These things are usually rigged in some way.¡±


    It only took a few minutes before Grinny had blown through her 50 gift credits. She did win a couple times but they were only the single goblins who gave you back what you put in.


    Grinny got down off the stool. ¡°That was fun. Now your turn.¡±


    I took her place and put my card in the machine. Before I could even put in my bet the goblin face appeared on the screen and cackled. ¡°Congratulations Milo Milo Walker, you have been chosen to take on the King Goblin in a race. All of your current gold will be put up, but if you succeed, not only will you win the jackpot, but you will receive a prize for both you and your partner there.¡±


    For a moment I was speechless, then I turned to Grinny and back to the machine. ¡°You can see her?¡±


    ¡°Of course I can. Now do you accept the challenge?¡±


    ¡°I guess. I mean it¡¯s not like I¡¯m really losing any gold.¡±


    The goblin face laughed again. ¡°You seemed to have misunderstood. When we say all of your gold, we mean your credits and your actual gold.¡±


    I grabbed the machine. ¡°How?¡±


    ¡°That doesn¡¯t matter, it¡¯s time to begin the game.¡±

 Chapter 21-The Goblin Hoard Race (Part 1)

    ¡°Here are the rules.¡± Both heads spoke at the same time giving off a horror movie vibe. ¡°The race will be determined solely by luck. You and the Goblin King will continuously activate the slots on your machine and depending on your results you will either go forward, stay in place or move back. If you make it to the hoard before the king, you win. If you don¡¯t, you lose. Simple enough. Are you ready?¡± I was about to answer before the heads interrupted me. ¡°It doesn¡¯t matter. On your mark, get set, PULL.¡±


    Jumping at the sudden yell from both heads, I clutched the slot machine handle and pulled as hard as I could. The slot machine under my digital head spun. They spun so fast I wasn¡¯t able to tell what any of the symbols were. The Goblin King¡¯s roulette spun as well but it stopped almost immediately matching up three of the number 2. His slot machine rocketed forward and the slots began to spin again. By the time his had stopped and matched up three number 1s, my slots had only begun to slow down.


    ¡°Hey that¡¯s unfair,¡± I yelled at the machine.


    ¡°Unfair?¡± the machine said back. ¡°This isn¡¯t a game of skill, it¡¯s a game of luck. Speaking of.¡± My slots finally stopped and none of them matched up. ¡°Man, that¡¯s some rotten luck. Better hurry and spin again.¡±


    I growled and pulled the lever down again. This time the slots stopped quickly and matched up three 1¡¯s. My machine moved forward. It wasn¡¯t much but it was a start. I pulled again and matched up three 1¡¯s again. As I pulled a third time, I looked up to the Goblin King who hadn¡¯t made it super far ahead of me, which allowed me to calm a little. A feeling that was short lived when the numbers I matched up were all -5. My character zoomed backwards removing all the little bit of progress I had made.


    ¡°I hate this,¡± I said as I pulled the lever. ¡°How did Aunt Erin ever enjoy this so much?¡±


    After an excruciatingly long moment of the spinning slots, I matched up three 20s and my slot machine rocketed forward, even passing the Goblin King. A burst of adrenaline and joy shot through my body making me jump up and cheer.


    ¡°That was amazing.¡±


    The next few matches inched me forward with a couple of them sending me back and even one making me sit still for one spin. The Goblin King slowly caught up to me and we were now almost neck and neck.


    As we both approached a wooden bridge the machine spoke again. ¡°You¡¯ve approached a road hazard, The Gruff¡¯s Bridge. Underneath is a Goat-Troll. It¡¯s exactly what it sounds like. It waits underneath the bridge in the hopes that you drive into one of its holes so it can eat you as you fall. Here¡¯s the really fun part, we won¡¯t tell you where the holes are. Good luck.¡±If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it.


    ¡°Oh, that¡¯s fun,¡± I said sarcastically, as I pulled the lever.


    I matched up a trio of 3s and made my first movement onto the bridge. Thankfully nothing happened.  The Goblin King made his way onto the bridge as well a few paces ahead of me and unfortunately did not fall.


    Inch by inch and number by number I moved over the bridge, each movement making me wince as I expected to fall through the hole. Both the Goblin King and I made it over the bridge without incident, but before we could move further the screen turned to face the bridge and a monstrous figure broke through it and landed in front of us. It had the ugly and fat pale gray body of a troll and the head of a mountain goat with twisting horns. It wore only a loincloth and carried a wooden club in its hand.


    ¡°That¡¯s now how this works,¡± the Goat-Troll roared. ¡°I was promised one of you and one of you I will have.¡±


    ¡°Uh, oh,¡± the machine said. ¡°Looks like even though you crossed the bridge safely, you can¡¯t escape the clutches of the Goat-Troll. The fact of the matter is that either you or the king is going to be taken by this monster. You must roll to see who the victim will be. A pair of dice appeared on screen. Whoever has the highest number will continue on. Now roll.¡±


    ¡°Um how?¡± I asked out loud.


    ¡°Press the screen stupid.¡± The voice came from my left. I turned thinking it was Grinny, but instead it was a brown hairy person who resembled Bigfoot. Besides them a group of people had gathered around me.


    ¡°Why is everyone watching me?¡±


    ¡°Because,¡± the Bigfoot person said, ¡°this is a rare game. Now hurry up or the timer will run out and you¡¯ll lose by default.¡±


    I turned my attention back to the machine and touched where the dice were. They were tossed into the air and bounced a couple of times before landing on a five and a six.


    ¡°Hell yeah, eleven,¡± I said, pumping my fist. There was a murmur of excitement from the crowd of people behind me.


    A new pair of dice flew from the Goblin King and landed in front of mine, coming to rest on two six¡¯s.


    ¡°What?¡± I yelled, slapping the machine.


    The Goat-Troll laughed. ¡°Been a while since I¡¯ve had human.¡± The troll walked over and picked up my machine before jumping back through the destroyed bridge and making the screen go black.


    I stared at the screen as the realization hit me. Everything was over. I had no car, no money and no means of getting out of here. ¡°I¡¯m sorry Grinny,¡± I said quietly. ¡°I lost.¡±


    ¡°Hey, who the hell said anything about losing,¡± the machine yelled at me. ¡°The game isn¡¯t over yet.¡± The screen turned to a scene inside an underground tunnel with a small stream of water. My machine was sitting in the middle of it while the Goat-Troll towered over me. ¡°You have encountered a bonus challenge. Ever play that game Dragon¡¯s Lair? The one where you have to hit buttons in the right sequence to escape the traps and rescue the princess. This challenge is a lot like that. If you manage to escape the Goat-Troll, you will be placed ahead of the Goblin King in this race. However, if you don¡¯t, well then it really will be game over.¡± Four arrows pointing up, down, left and right appeared on the screen. ¡°Bonus game, start.¡±


    The camera angle of the screen changed again until it was behind the digital me again and the machine began moving forward just as the Goat-Troll roared, shaking the walls of the tunnel and causing three stalactites to fall right in front of me.

 Chapter 22-The Goblin Hoard Race (Part 2)

    The stalactites were as thick as trees and embedded themselves into the ground. Two of them were grouped together on the right hand side leaving a gap between them and the third. Before I could hit them the gap blinked red for a quick second and I was prompted to hit the one of the correct arrows. I tapped the left one and my slot machine vehicle swerved just in time to avoid crashing into the stalactites.


    There was another roar from the Goat-Troll and more stalactites fell. This time the gap was in the center. As soon as the gap blinked red I hit the right arrow and the machine swerved back, putting me back in the middle of the cave. I readied myself for the next round of stalactites but there was no roar and none fell. Instead there was a blink of red directly behind the machine.


    It was almost too late as I hit the down arrow. As I did, my character braked hard and a boulder fell right in front of him followed by a blinking light from either side. I hit the left arrow and swerved past the boulder slightly clipping it with the machine. For a second I thought I lost, but the slot machine kept going and the game did not end.


    ¡°Good moves little worm,¡± Grinny said into my ear. ¡°You can do this.¡±


    I wanted to respond but the camera angle changed again. It moved in front of me and showed the Goat-Troll chasing me with its club raised in the air.


    ¡°That was the easy part,¡± the slot machine voice said. ¡°Now comes the real fun. The troll will swing his club at the ground and you must continue to avoid it, but there will be no indicators to show you which is the right way to move. And before you complain about fairness again, we are giving you three lives to do this.¡± At the bottom of the screen three icons of my head popped up in a row. ¡°Okay, are you ready, Go!¡±


    As soon as the voice said Go, the Goat-Troll roared and brought its club down. I quickly pressed the right button to dodge it but my car didn¡¯t move. The club smashed into my vehicle and pushed my head down inside it like a game of whack-a-mole. One of my lives popped away leaving two more. The club raised up again and my head popped out of the slot machine.


    ¡°What the hell happened?¡± I cried. ¡°I hit the button.¡±


    ¡°Your left became your right,¡± Grinny said. She was right and I wanted to slap myself. When the camera had changed angles so had the directions.


    The club raised again and as it came down I hit the left arrow this time. I actually pressed it twice to make sure that the machine registered it. My character slid over two spots and the club hit empty ground. The next few swings were easy to dodge. The Goat-Troll was slow so I could wait until the top of its swing before moving over. With every miss it roared which caused more stalactites to fall around us. Thankfully, they only fell outside of the track and weren¡¯t part of the current game. All in all, this part of the game was pretty easy which gave me a twinge of foreboding.


    ¡°So it¡¯s as I thought,¡± the Bigfoot person said. ¡°Even the difficulty of this game is based on luck.¡±


    ¡°What do you mean?¡± I asked, dodging another swing.


    ¡°I¡¯ve been in this place a while kid. I know almost everything there is to know about these machines. I get very few chances to study this bonus game of yours so any time someone plays it, I get to see if my predictions are right, and it seems they are.¡±


    I remembered back to what Livery the receptionist at the entrance said. ¡°Are you Motero?¡±Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site.


    The bigfoot man smiled. ¡°I am. But that don¡¯t matter now. Keep concentrating and you might win. Only seen one other win and that was a long time ago.¡±


    After one last dodge both my slot machine character and the Goat-Troll stopped as the machine voice spoke again. ¡°Good job in making it this far. You are nearly at the exit, but now you must dodge the troll one more time, but this time you won¡¯t know where it''s going to hit. You must choose one of the three spots to place your character and then the Goat-Troll will smash the spot it has already randomly chosen. Now choose 1, 2, or 3.¡± The three numbers popped up on the screen.


    I turned to Grinny. ¡°Which one should I pick?¡±


    ¡°You want me to choose?¡± Grinny gave me an unsure look. I nodded. ¡°Alright, 3, since that¡¯s where you already are.¡±


    I pressed the number 3 and held my breath as everything unpaused. Without any preamble the Goat-Troll slammed down and hit the number 2 spot. I let out a relieved sigh.


    ¡°Ha,¡± Motero said. ¡°Good thing you didn¡¯t ask me. I would¡¯ve chosen that one.¡±


    The machine congratulated me and my character drove out through the cave entrance and back onto the track. Not too far away was a pedestal with a mountain of gold with something big on top that was covered up with a red curtain.


    ¡°Looks like you¡¯re almost there,¡± the machine said excitedly. ¡°The good news is that you are far ahead of the Goblin King. The bad news is that in this final stretch the stakes are much higher. You only have three more paces to go, but you will not be playing the slots for movement anymore. You will be playing to not be sent all the way back to the start. And let me tell you, there will be no chance to catch up if that happens since the bridge was destroyed. So let¡¯s go.¡±


    I pulled the lever of my machine and the slots on my vehicle spun. The first one landed on ¡°Back to Start,¡± while the other two landed on random numbers. My character moved up one space. From behind me I could feel the quietness and tension of the crowd that had gathered. The anticipation was like seeing a basketball player make a free throw that would win them the game. I pulled the lever again and when the slots stopped they all displayed numbers. My character moved up again.


    Before I pulled the lever again I looked to Grinny. ¡°Let¡¯s do this one together.¡±


    ¡°Why?¡±


    I shrugged. ¡°They said that if I win the prize goes to both of us. So we either succeed together or fail together.¡±


    She smiled as we both put our hands on the lever and pulled. The anticipation of the entire crowd grew almost suffocating me as the first spinner stopped on ¡°Back to Start.¡± I held my breath again as the second one also stopped on ¡°Back to Start.¡± The third one began to slow down and Grinny squeezed my hand. The slot stopped on ¡°Back to Start¡± for a long second before clicking over to the number 0.


    Me, Grinny, Motero and the entire crowd cheered as my character drove into the pile of gold and the machine itself began to ring and flash with colors. It was an explosion of sound that threatened to blow through the upper floor and take out the roof of the casino.


    ¡°Congratulations,¡± the machine said, ¡°you have not only won 100,000 gold, but a brand new vehicle built for two drivers.¡± The curtain lifted off the top of the gold pile revealing a huge hummer-like car, but in the shape, off all things, a VW Beetle with monster truck wheels. ¡°This is the Rhino Beetle. With its armored plating it is built to withstand a crap ton of punishment. I guarantee you that the Goat-Troll would never be able to penetrate it no matter how many times or how hard it swung its club. But that¡¯s not all.¡±


    A panel opened up on the passenger side of the roof and a dome magically appeared and a gatling machine gun poked its way out of it.


    ¡°No longer will you have to concentrate on both driving and shooting as those duties will be split between each of you. And what¡¯s best is that two other guns can be equipped to the dome, but you must choose which one before activation.¡±


    After the machine finished speaking, the screen faded to black and returned to its normal slot machine mode. It then spit out a piece of paper that had a barcode on it and said, ¡°Present this to the Prize Counter to receive rewards.¡±

 No Chapters This Week, Please Read

    I hate doing this but a few days ago I got hit with a huge anxiety attack and haven''t been able to do much. Had to take a few days off from my normal job as well. I''m doing okay at the moment, but I need to talk to my doctor to improve the medication I already take. I was unable to write, but chapters will resume next Thursday. I apologize for this, but I do appreciate those who have read Wreckless Abandon and have enjoyed it so far.


    (The rest of the words are so I can fill out he word count to post this update.


    I pulled the lever of my machine and the slots on my vehicle spun. The first one landed on ¡°Back to Start,¡± while the other two landed on random numbers. My character moved up one space. From behind me I could feel the quietness and tension of the crowd that had gathered. The anticipation was like seeing a basketball player make a free throw that would win them the game. I pulled the lever again and when the slots stopped they all displayed numbers. My character moved up again.


    Before I pulled the lever again I looked to Grinny. ¡°Let¡¯s do this one together.¡±


    ¡°Why?¡±


    I shrugged. ¡°They said that if I win the prize goes to both of us. So we either succeed together or fail together.¡±


    The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.


    She smiled as we both put our hands on the lever and pulled. The anticipation of the entire crowd grew almost suffocating me as the first spinner stopped on ¡°Back to Start.¡± I held my breath again as the second one also stopped on ¡°Back to Start.¡± The third one began to slow down and Grinny squeezed my hand. The slot stopped on ¡°Back to Start¡± for a long second before clicking over to the number 0.


    Me, Grinny, Motero and the entire crowd cheered as my character drove into the pile of gold and the machine itself began to ring and flash with colors. It was an explosion of sound that threatened to blow through the upper floor and take out the roof of the casino.


    ¡°Congratulations,¡± the machine said, ¡°you have not only won 100,000 gold, but a brand new vehicle built for two drivers.¡± The curtain lifted off the top of the gold pile revealing a huge hummer-like car, but in the shape, off all things, a VW Beetle with monster truck wheels. ¡°This is the Rhino Beetle. With its armored plating it is built to withstand a crap ton of punishment. I guarantee you that the Goat-Troll would never be able to penetrate it no matter how many times or how hard it swung its club. But that¡¯s not all.¡±


    A panel opened up on the passenger side of the roof and a dome magically appeared and a gatling machine gun poked its way out of it.


    ¡°No longer will you have to concentrate on both driving and shooting as those duties will be split between each of you. And what¡¯s best is that two other guns can be equipped to the dome, but you must choose which one before activation.¡±


    After the machine finished speaking, the screen faded to black and returned to its normal slot machine mode. It then spit out a piece of paper that had a barcode on it and said, ¡°Present this to the Prize Counter to receive rewards.¡±

 Hiatus is Over

    I apologize about the long wait. I had to figure a few things out, but now I am ready and able to write again. While there will be no chapters this week, I am working on the next two as we speak for next week. The adventures of Milo and Grinny will begin when they receive their new two person beetle of death. Life gets in the way sometimes, but as long as we take that next step it wasn''t for nothing. Thank you for those who stuck around and again I am sorry.


    The rest of the words are so I can fill out he word count to post this update.


    I pulled the lever of my machine and the slots on my vehicle spun. The first one landed on ¡°Back to Start,¡± while the other two landed on random numbers. My character moved up one space. From behind me I could feel the quietness and tension of the crowd that had gathered. The anticipation was like seeing a basketball player make a free throw that would win them the game. I pulled the lever again and when the slots stopped they all displayed numbers. My character moved up again.


    Before I pulled the lever again I looked to Grinny. ¡°Let¡¯s do this one together.¡±


    ¡°Why?¡±


    I shrugged. ¡°They said that if I win the prize goes to both of us. So we either succeed together or fail together.¡±


    You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.


    She smiled as we both put our hands on the lever and pulled. The anticipation of the entire crowd grew almost suffocating me as the first spinner stopped on ¡°Back to Start.¡± I held my breath again as the second one also stopped on ¡°Back to Start.¡± The third one began to slow down and Grinny squeezed my hand. The slot stopped on ¡°Back to Start¡± for a long second before clicking over to the number 0.


    Me, Grinny, Motero and the entire crowd cheered as my character drove into the pile of gold and the machine itself began to ring and flash with colors. It was an explosion of sound that threatened to blow through the upper floor and take out the roof of the casino.


    ¡°Congratulations,¡± the machine said, ¡°you have not only won 100,000 gold, but a brand new vehicle built for two drivers.¡± The curtain lifted off the top of the gold pile revealing a huge hummer-like car, but in the shape, off all things, a VW Beetle with monster truck wheels. ¡°This is the Rhino Beetle. With its armored plating it is built to withstand a crap ton of punishment. I guarantee you that the Goat-Troll would never be able to penetrate it no matter how many times or how hard it swung its club. But that¡¯s not all.¡±


    A panel opened up on the passenger side of the roof and a dome magically appeared and a gatling machine gun poked its way out of it.


    ¡°No longer will you have to concentrate on both driving and shooting as those duties will be split between each of you. And what¡¯s best is that two other guns can be equipped to the dome, but you must choose which one before activation.¡±


    After the machine finished speaking, the screen faded to black and returned to its normal slot machine mode. It then spit out a piece of paper that had a barcode on it and said, ¡°Present this to the Prize Counter to receive rewards.¡±