Alisa King
Chapter 2 - 2nd Attempt
2nd attempt - 2
“WAAA..Wah wah wah Waaaa!!”
The angry voice screamed from my smartphone, which lay on the bedside table. I still don’t know why I chose this song as my alarm, but the tune did the job. After all, I had somewhat of an unhealthy obsession with those cute creatures (my favorite was the light blue one, hands down). I picked up my phone and glanced at the clock: 11:15 am. No new messages from my imaginary friends, no new updates, no nothing. My smartphone was probably the saddest phone in the world.
The blue dragons decorating my sheets seemed to glare at me, imploring me to get my lazy ass into gear. As if in response, I threw the sheets off and spun myself to the side of the bed. I wiped my eyes gently and ruffled my jet-black hair. I, Maggie Mayuko King, was not going to die to Amasarok today. No, I worked my ass off to get to the monster. I…
“Maggie-chan!! Breakfast is ready!!” my mom called from downstairs.
I cringed when I heard the “chan” after my name. I told mom to stop calling me that, but I guess there are some things Japanese mothers can’t stop.
I stood up in my dragon egg themed pajamas (yeah, yeah I’m obsessed with dragons) and ran down the stairs as the smell of bacon guided my nostrils. At the table, two large plates full of bacon and fluffy scrambled eggs awaited my stomach. Mom turned towards me from the fridge and smiled as she pulled out a bottle of orange juice. Ever since I told my mom how much I loved bacon she refuses to serve anything else for breakfast. I’m totally okay with that.
“Morning hun. What do you have planned for today?”
“Same as yesterday. Gonna *munch* play some more games,” I answered while stuffing my mouth with bacon.
Mom gave me a disapproving scowl and started twiddling her thumbs.
I stabbed the eggs with my fork and shoveled more food into my mouth, oblivious to mom’s death glare.
Sigh
Uh-oh. A sigh from mom usually meant a long lecture was coming.
“Maggie, I’m worried about you. You shut yourself in that room playing games and I never hear so much as a peep from you. Why don’t you hang out with your friends? What were their names? Sam and Gloria?”
“Glenda, mom,” I corrected.
She did not like that response.
“Whatever, you get my point. Point is, you need to go outside more, get some sun, you know?” she implored.
“I’m not a freaking vampire mom,” I snapped.
“Don’t swear Maggie!”
“Mom, I said freaking not fu-“
RING RING RINGRING
Ahhhh saved by the bell…
Mom held up a finger as if to say she wasn’t done with me yet, but I was. I finished off the cold eggs, took a quick swig of the orange juice, pecked my mom on the cheek, and climbed the stairs towards my bedroom. I could hear my mom mumbling some Japanese into her cellphone as I left the kitchen. She was probably bad-mouthing me to all of her sisters: about how I am a disappointment and not a straight-A student heading to Medical school like she had hoped. Oh well, traditions are meant to be broken right? I mean, could you imagine the life of a dying patient resting in my incapable hands? No thank you, I’ll stick to my video games.
I took a peek into my closest, which looked like the aftermath of a F-3 tornado, and attempted to pick out an outfit for the day. If I looked halfway decent, maybe the video game gods will smile down on me and let me defeat Amasarok. After pondering for a few minutes, I chose a blue V-neck shirt with a dragon design and some jean shorts. Now that the boring part was out of the way, I made my way to the PlaySphere and pressed the power button. The controller I had thrown out of frustration last night was still on the floor, along with an empty chips bag, three pennies, a chewed-up piece of gum (eww), and dirty socks. The screen came to life as my user profile, azndragonslayer87, popped up across the screen. I found Scales of Time: The Land of the Scorched and took a deep breath as the theme song blared through the speakers. As I hit continue, I began to relive the waning moments before Ganko’s fall, a bead of sweat trickling down my face. No, today was going to be different, Maggie. I. Will. Defeat. Amasarok.
Once again, Amasarok loomed from the back of his cave, a mighty shadow cast over the entire arena. I maneuvered the right joystick to study Ganko’s surroundings, but the cave was unchanged from last night. Looking at Ganko’s equipment, I decided to make a last-minute change and replaced the Twilight robes with the Raging Ember robes. I figured increasing my fire resistance by 10% would help nullify Amasarok’s fiery breath. As for the tail sweep that came out of left field? I combed through my mind and called upon all of my video gaming experiences and knowledge, only to arrive at a dead end. I guess I’ll cross that bridge when I get there.
With Ganko ready, I pushed on the left joystick and listened as Amasarok’s roar fill the room once more. What was Amasarok’s first attack again? Was it the stomp attack or the bite? Too late. I heard Ganko grunt as the dwarf landed on the ground, his health bar decreasing as a result. Amasarok drew back its giant, pointy head, fangs at the ready, and slammed its jaws onto Ganko’s still body. Shit shit shit!
“Maggie, get it together!” I exclaimed.
At that moment, there was more empty space occupying the health bar than green. I maybe had what, 40-50% of my health left?
I tapped the X button repeatedly like my life depended on this final clash while yelling at Ganko to “move his ass” (as if Ganko could hear me through the screen). As soon as Ganko regained his footing, Amasarok reared up and snarled at Ganko. For a brief period, I marveled at Amasarok’s size, the maroon-tinted scales glistening against the spurting lava nearby. The dragon aimed towards Ganko’s position and landed its front legs just after Ganko roll-dodged to the right. Next, Amasarok was going to unleash its fire breath and possibly the tail sweep that caught me by surprise last time. I thought about using a Mega Elixir to bring my health to a comfortable level, but decided against it out of pride. If I was to defeat Amasarok, I was going to without any external buffs.
The piercing, yellow eyes changed shape as Amasarok withdrew and widened its jaws, a bright light emerging from the back of the throat. This was Ganko’s chance to cast his Ice Blades spell. I waited patiently for Amasarok to spew fire at Ganko, but then I noticed something strange dash in front of Ganko. Before I knew it the dark blur vanished from view. Weird I thought to myself. I shifted focus to Amasarok and clicked the joystick forward to move Ganko towards Amasarok’s underbelly. However, Ganko didn’t budge no matter how many times I moved the joystick around. Oh crap, mom’s going to kill me if she found out I broke another controller! When I looked to the screen, Ganko wasn’t the only character frozen in place. Amasarok remained still, jaws pried open with jagged teeth, and eyes fixated on Ganko. At that point I knew the game had frozen (why me?) and that there weren’t any magical powers powerful enough to save me now.
“Maggie-chan!! Your friends are here!” Mom beckoned from downstairs.
Being an introvert, I dreaded social interactions with people, even my friends, and this was no different. To me, a perfect Saturday involved a date with my video games, an escape into the virtual world where slaying beasts was a commonality. The stupid game had frozen anyways so I had nothing better to do. Besides, I didn’t want my tiger mom to think I was a hikikomori (“reclusive adolescent” in Japanese).
I checked the mirror and looked for any imperfections before heading down the stairs to face my friends. At the table, Sam peered up at me from a thick book, glasses hanging off the edge of his freckled nose, and smiled. Meanwhile, Glenda was assembling a turkey sandwich while humming some pop song I didn’t care about. She turned around as soon as she heard me, brown curls bouncing, and grinned from ear to ear.
“Maggie you’re alive!” she squealed as she walked over to me.
“Of course I’m alive silly,” I replied.
Mom left the kitchen and plopped herself in front of the giant flat screen in the living room, pretending not to eavesdrop on our conversation.
“What you been up to Maggs? More of that dragon game?” Sam piped up.
“First of all, who invited you fools to my house? And second, the game is called Scales of Time: The Land of the Scorched,” I retorted.
“Woah chill Maggie. We just thought, you know, we’d stop by since we were in the neighborhood.”
“You should thank us for getting you out of that room,” Glenda chimed in.
“Oh, did you tell Maggs about our gift?” Sam interjected.
My eyes widened and asked Glenda to explain herself.
“We nabbed a little somethin’ somethin’ that should help you win.”
“Win what?” I questioned.
Glenda crossed her skinny arms and frowned at me. But that frown transformed into a smirk.
“Does big, bad, fiery dragon ring any bells?”