CHAPTER EIGHTY

After defeating the Knight of Friendship, Jason and Stephanie returned to the upper space station and saved their open space exploration progress. Afterwards, Jason went down to the hanger and absorbed the Lance of Friendship with his Red Minerva. Right before the two friends logged off, their status panels buzzed. Danny had sent everyone on the BAG Guild a message.

Rooster7: Hey guys, I was wondering if you guys were free tomorrow morning. It's just under two hours to get to Castle Notoria. I already wanted to get there early, but I think we could probably avoid everyone if we leave at an early time...surely nobody is going to be playing when we go at 4 in the morning.

Stephanie turned to Jason. The artillery pilot was not amused.

"Are you kidding me? Four AM?!?!"

She shook her head.

"You know what? I bet this is Steven's fault. He's just like a dad...he probably told Danny that we had to get to the Castle super early."

Jason laughed.

That definitely sounded like Steven.

A four AM leave time was very early, and Stephanie's comment was definitely accurate - Danny and Steven were acting like the stereotypical parents who were worried about getting to the airport on time. The second round of the Tournament of Assassins didn't start until Sunday - getting there on Saturday was already pretty aggressive. Getting there before the break of dawn on Saturday was even more aggressive.

Of course, Danny and Steven had a point, and both players knew it. Stephanie's expression became even more irritated.

"They've got a point, though..."

Jason nodded.

"Yeah...we should probably do it. It's just eight o'clock anyways. It won't be too bad waking up tomorrow if we get to bed."

Jason didn't feel too bad about waking up early - that'd always been his preference. Arriving at the Castle at a strange time was just another way to game the competition. On the other hand, Stephanie sounded like she hated it.

"This sucks. Wendy says it's a great idea too - she says most of the mercenaries will be snoozing from four to six. She says nobody wants to wake up early for work...if nobody is going to wake up early for work, why would anybody wake up for fun?!"

The skies around Castle Notoria were filled with spies and bounty hunters. Plenty of guilds hired mercenaries like Wendy to shoot down all incoming opposition. The laws of the open space didn't apply to farflung territories like the Castle Notoria. The Illusionists allowed attacks around the space sector, and the neighboring guilds - even ones that shared planets with them - didn't dare to contest their rule.

Players wanted to bump off the competition as soon as possible, and the best way to do so was to kill them before they could register for the Tournament. The descent to the Castle Notoria was dangerous and violent, but the surroundings skies were nearly as bad. Leaving early would allow them to dodge the most aggressive competitors.

At the end, Stephanie and Jason both logged off. The veteran pilot pulled off his Overdrive virtual reality headset, then placed it at the side of his room. He stretched, then headed to the shower.

Twenty minutes later, he was already in bed. It didn't take long before he'd drifted off to sleep. Going to bed - even at strange times - had never been much of a problem for Jason. On the Overdrive server, it felt like his mind was always racing with build ideas and combat tactics. Off of it, his mind felt like it was tied to a switch - he could just turn it on and off at will.

The next day, Jason's alarm rang at 4 AM. He blinked a little in confusion at the complete darkness. Since he lived in the basement, he only got light from a window from the far corner of his room. He'd positioned his bed so that he was facing that window, which meant that he normally woke up with the sun shining on his face. However, the night was still dark, and he caught the moon in the far corner of the black rectangle.

His alarm rang a few more times until he remembered what was happening. He grabbed his phone and flipped it over.

It was 3:30 in the morning.

Right...

They had to reach Castle Notoria and save their progress in the space station. One day later, they'd compete in the Tournament drawing and descend to the Castle. Once they did, they would also automatically register as successful contestants for the Round 2 of the Tournament of Assassins and the Descent to Castle Notoria mission.

Jason crept upstairs to make some cheap coffee before the competition. Every step he took shook off some of his post-sleep haze. He'd gone to bed at a fairly reasonable time, so he wasn't tired, but it was still the middle of the night. The environment itself was telling him to get back to bed.

When he made it back to his room, he turned all the lights on then logged into the Overdrive server. Although it was still a little early, Jason wanted to review his Mech and make sure that all the parts were working properly before the competition. Once again, he loaded his upgraded Red Minerva. There wasn't much of a point in keeping his machine secret anymore. The other competitors would see his Mech tomorrow, during the parachuting phase. Since there was only a day left until the competition, players had to balance between revealing their strongest machines and the risk of getting eliminated.

Jason judged that the second risk was greater - he was much more worried about getting killed and sent back to the central station than he was of giving his opponents an additional day of preparation time. The woman who'd chased him to the Palace of Emotions had already demonstrated the risk of keeping your cards too close to your chest. Jason wanted to reach the Castle as soon as possible with his strongest machine.

He smiled as his powerful Mech loaded in the hangar. The cyborg Red Minerva was covered in red and black Antigone Assault Armor. In addition, the Blazing Avarice gloves were now complete. Save for the Rebound Shield, which Jason was still deliberating replacing, he now had the perfect seven items. In conjunction with his upgraded fighting style, Jason was confident that this machine could contend with the fierce opponents he'd meet in the competition. It was time to show everyone the fruits of his training.

Bzzt.

Bzzt.

Danny and Steven appeared moments later. The two of them seemed just as fresh as Jason. Like him, it seemed like they'd gone to bed early to prepare for the Tournament. The two friends were already joking amongst themselves as they said hi to Jason. To Jason's surprise, Danny was mocking Steven for seeming so fresh and awake. Apparently, the big man had once struggled mightily with stress and nerves before competitions. It'd only been after the College Cup that he'd adapted his new mature and relaxed attitude.

Bzzt.

A fourth player warped into the station. This player avatar was gangly and unusually tall for a woman. Her hair was dark brown with jarring pink highlights. The hot pink strands of hair were matched by a pair of rectangular glasses.

Although Jason hadn't seen her before, he figured out who she was via simple process of elimination. It was the girl with the annoying voice, the one who'd attacked them at the Palace of Emotions. To Jason's surprise, she seemed a little familiar. He could have sworn he'd met her before. He'd seen someone with a similar face and build, but he couldn't quite place where.

Perhaps it was someone in the background at the Good Game Shoppe...

The woman summoned her machine in the hangar before speaking with them. With the loud flap of its many-colored cloak, the machine appeared in the slot next to Jason's. The hunched-over hermit illusionist machine was identical to when Jason last battled it. The Mech hadn't equipped the Partner's Lance even though it'd won the mission yesterday. Like most veteran pilots, the new member of the BAG Guild was already confident in her Mech and didn't want to customize it.

When she finished summoning her Mech, she turned to Jason and introduced herself.

"Hi, I'm Lynn."

Jason shook hands with his virtual avatar. Before long, Lynn introduced herself further, and Jason realized why she looked familiar. He'd never met Lynn before, but he'd seen a picture of her brother in an Overdrive magazine. She'd mentioned a brother when they'd first met, but from the way she'd talked about him, it sounded like he was older - she said that she was getting advice from him. Instead, her brother was much younger - he was even younger than Jason.

Danny walked over, smiling as he slid gracefully into their competition.

"Yo, Jason. I bet you didn't know you beat Overdrive royalty the other day."

Lynn rolled her eyes in an extremely exaggerated manner. The motion was not a very good fit for her excessively squeaky voice - Jason was once again reminded of a cartoonishly annoying younger sister.

"I'd tell him to kick your ass for those jokes, but it's not like he's ever listened to me."

But despite her exceedingly strange voice, the other player otherwise seemed smooth and socially graceful. Even though she'd only met Steven and Danny the other day, she fit into the conversation like she'd known them for a long time.

The pink-haired woman turned to Jason.

"My brother is Castor by the way."

She smiled sardonically

Jason's eyes widened in surprise and recognition.

Wow!

Castor!

Lynn's brother was Castor, one of the most famous players on the server. The boy wunderkind had become one of the most famous mappers on the server at fourteen, and he'd spent the last four years moving from guild to guild as he gradually increased his skill and repute on the server. The ferocious Ace had been a member of the Illusionists until this year. He'd left the guild after being offered a position in the Hive, the guild focused entirely on insectoid Mechs.

Upon a closer look, Lynn and Caster definitely looked similar, but the younger brother had a much rounder face. He wore a pair of large round glasses that magnified his eyes, causing him to look a little bit like a dragonfly. Jason had noticed the funny similarity after he joined the guild, but his Mech didn't fit his appearance. His current unit was a ruthless cyborg spider - the build was a hybrid type similar to the Red Minerva.

She groaned.

"He will not stop making fun of me for getting eliminated in the first round, especially after he used his contacts to get me into the guild in the first place. He'll be playing in the Tournament too. The Hive sent him along with one of their newer members."

Lynn smirked.

"Hopefully, by helping you guys land, I can show the Illusionists what they are missing out on. And, maybe I can show my little brother it wasn't too bad to lose to you guys in the first place. I'm hoping we don't get placed in their Descent Group, but if it comes to it, I give you guys a decent chance if we all work together - contrary to their name, the Hive's biggest weakness has always been their low numbers. Our best bet is to eliminate them before they can even land on the ground. That way, you guys can attack with everyone."

Danny nodded.

"Yeah, I'm sure we can do it, especially with you here."

The Hive was a notorious opponent, yet Danny sounded completely confident.

Jason grinned.

He was still worried, but his teammates' joyous spirits bolstered his courage.

The words felt awkward coming out of his mouth, but working with Stephanie had made him feel a lot more comfortable speaking with others. Even though Lynn had been eliminated from the Tournament, she would still be their teammate for the descent - and maybe even for after the competition.

"Yep - let's do it. We'll land on Castle Notoria together."

Moments later, the rest of the BAG Guild arrived, moaning and groaning about the early wake-up time. But despite their complaints, the other pilots were fresh and ready. Although they were amateurs, the BAG Guild was bonded by their determination to win for each other.

In the dark of night, the team set out together for the final and most important part of their mission.