“That’s it?” Daniel audibly exclaimed, his voice echoing in the darkness. What happened to shooting fireballs, or doing the spinning kick through the air? He could’ve even gotten a badass sword, but after being scared half to death, this was all he got?

Next to the name of his counter special move, an illustration showed a small figure with his hands at his side. Daniel tapped it, and a new window opened showing him doing the pose. He tried to follow the guide. Chest puffed out, hands in fists at his side — he was leaving himself open, wasn’t he?

That was the point. If he timed it wrong, the pose left him so open that he’d be smacked in the face. But, if he timed it right, nullifying the attack and gaining a second of invincibility could be really useful.

Daniel pressed the X, hiding the demonstration window and closing his menu. When he looked back at the System’s white menu box, a new option appeared. “View demonstration?” the button said.

He pressed it, and two figures appeared a few feet in front of him. One was a white dummy, its skin soft and plushy like a mattress. The other was him. It looked just like him, even down to his messy black dreads — seeing them in the mirror like this made it clear he needed a hat. He tried to walk forward, but the air itself formed a wall, keeping him several feet away from the demonstration.

A new menu box began the explanation. “You are skilled at identifying weaknesses and taking advantage of opportunities. As such, you have been given a Counter that can nullify all attacks with perfect timing,” it said.

Daniel pressed the “next” button. The dummy suddenly sprinted towards the dummy Daniel, lunging in with a punch. Just before his fist drew close, Dummy Daniel hit the counter pose — chest out, fists at his side — and shimmered blue when he should’ve been punched. He took no damage and instantly struck the dummy with a punch of his own.

“‘Counter’ works on Normals,” the box said. “Counter your enemy’s normals and strike while they’re still recovering from their attack.”

When Daniel pressed the next button, both the dummy and Dummy Daniel instantly returned to their previous positions. The dummy drew its hands to its side, gathering blue fire in its palms before releasing a fireball. Dummy Daniel countered the Fireball, shimmering blue, and stepped past the attack.

“‘Counter works on special moves, too. Deal with Zoners by countering their projectiles and using your temporary invincibility to close the distance.”

“Oh wow! That'll be great to use,” he said, hitting the next button.

The dummies returned to their starting position. The white dummy charged another fireball, but the blue flames intensified to a scarlet blaze. It thrust its palms, and a massive fireball shot towards Dummy Daniel, so scorching hot that Daniel felt the heat from here. Dummy Daniel countered, but the blazing fireball remained in place.

And then, he did it again. Dummy Daniel countered five times, back to back, once every second, until the super Fireball fizzled out in the air. Daniel’s jaw dropped. He would be able to do that? This wasn’t a joke moveset at all — this was amazing, and it looked like it was easy! It required perfect timing, but if the dummy could get it, so could he.

The explanation continued. “‘Counter’ works on any attack, even while airborne. But, practice caution. An unsuccessful Counter will leave you wide open to receiving the full damage of an attack you could have simply blocked.”

The dummy fired another super massive Fireball. Dummy Daniel countered, but he countered a breath too early. The gigantic fireball swallowed him in crimson light, bursting into an explosion that made Daniel’s dreads flap behind him. When the smoke cleared, Dummy Daniel was nowhere to be seen.

Daniel gulped. If it was that easy to screw it up, maybe it wasn’t as amazing as he thought. He shook it off. All he had to do was time it right; how hard could that be?

He pressed the next button, and luckily, Dummy Daniel returned in the blink of an eye.

“‘Hard Punch’ is your Level 1 Super,” the box read. “Empower your fist with Meter and punch with all your strength. Hold your fist back for longer to charge more Meter.”

Next to it, it had an assortment of directional arrows with a punch icon at the end. Daniel knit his eyebrows. Forward, down, forward, back, forward, punch? How was he physically supposed to do that?

As he struggled to even conceive it, Dummy Daniel did it in a flash. He lunged forward, crouched and shot back up, went forward, stepped back, and stepped forward with a punch. When he drew his fist back, blue energy gleamed around his palm. The energy intensified with every passing second as Dummy Daniel charged the Hard Punch further and further. With a burst of speed, he flew towards the dummy, striking his jaw and knocking him far into the infinite darkness.

Daniel gasped. Did that defeat the dummy in one hit? How much Meter did he need to do that?

And what the heck was Meter, anyway?

“Demonstration over,” the box said. “Please enter your Fighter Alias. Leave it blank to use your real first and last name.”

After a moment of brainstorming, he tapped the empty box and entered his new Fighter name. Chase. He smiled. Rolled right off the tongue, and it was easy to remember.

“Fighter Alias registered,” the box read. “At any time, use your Self menu to change your registered name. Are you ready to return?”

Daniel rubbed his hands in anticipation. Carmen would go crazy when she saw how powerful his counter could be. His moveset was small, but it was probably better than hers! He imagined the defeated look on her face after he’d beat her in a 1v1, and chuckled to himself. Soon, that would be a reality.

Daniel pressed confirm.

“Returning to the real world…”

The white menu box disappeared, along with the mysterious spotlight, leaving him in a neverending void. He lost track of when he did or didn’t have his eyes open, and soon realized that his eyes were closed. Since when? Daniel opened his eyes, finding himself back in the large testing room, sitting at the same white fold-out table. The sky streamed through the windows as brightly and happily as it did before. He checked his phone, and only two minutes had passed.

Daniel gasped. That’s what they meant by time dilation! It felt like he’d been gone for twenty minutes, fighting for his life against the fish and learning his moves, but it had only been two.

Once the proctor noticed he was back, he approached with a smile. “How do you feel?”

“Like a million bucks,” Daniel said, returning a smile.

The proctor laughed. “I understand what you mean. Seeing how excited people are when they finish their test is the best part of my job. What kind of moves did you get?”

“Nothing but a counter and a super move!” Daniel cheered.

“Excuse me?”

“Seriously. Look.” Daniel swiped open his wrist menu and opened his moveset list from the Self tab.

The proctor studied his extremely brief moves list, stroking his chin. “Interesting. I’ve never heard of a moveset this small. The counter must become stronger if you Break your stats.”

“If I what?”

“Oh, yes, that’s what I’m supposed to tell you about,” the proctor said. “Did you notice how you have the same amount of strong stat points as weak stat points?”

Daniel looked at the chart.

“Every stat you raise sacrifices another in exchange. The system gave you high Speed, high Damage, and high Close-Range potential in exchange for low Health, Combo Potential, and Long-Range capabilities, but you can return to raise and lower those stats even further. You can raise your Damage to a Broken level of Damage in exchange for, say, non-existent Combo Potential, to become a master at one-hit KO's. A few weeks ago, a man exchanged all of his Speed for Long-Range potential. He had to be carried out, but he’s probably an amazing Zoner.”

“He gave up the ability to move? Why would anyone do that?”

The proctor shrugged. “He must’ve loved the zoning fighting style that much.”

Daniel nodded slowly. Sacrificing something to gain more power — a simple concept. “I’ll remember that,” he said.

“Good to know. What is your Fighter name?”

“Chase!” Daniel pointed a thumb at himself.

“Well, Chase, congratulations on becoming an official Fighter. I think your friend will be returning soon.”

A few seconds later, Carmen reappeared in a flash of white, placed in the same seat as before.

“You may leave from that door when you’re ready,” the proctor said, pointing to a door on the other side of the room. “I must help her.”

Daniel rose and pushed in his seat, but instead followed the proctor over to Carmen. She spotted Daniel and the proctor approaching, and her face brightened.

“How do you feel?” the proctor asked her.

“Electric,” Carmen said. “Daniel, you won’t believe the kind of things I can do. I’m a Rushdown Puppet Fighter!”

“A what?”

Carmen laughed. “I’ll show you in training.”

The proctor nodded. “Interesting combination! I haven’t heard of an archetype mix like that. What’s your Fighter name?”

“Eléctrica,” Carmen recited, Mexican accent thick in her tone.

“Amazing. You seem more familiar with the system than your friend. Are you aware of Breaking stats?”

“Making one stat OP in exchange for making another terrible. We just have to come back here to do that, right?”

The proctor clapped. “Then, there’s nothing more I need to tell you. Exit from that door, and you can enter training. Good luck on your journey, you two.”

The proctor went to go help another patron who returned from their simulated test, repeating the same question as he did for them. Daniel and Carmen made their way towards the door.

“What moves did you get, man?” she whispered.

“You won’t believe it. I got a counter that works on everything!”

“What else?”

“That’s it. I got a super move where I punch really hard, but it’s just those two.”

Carmen knit her eyebrows. “That’s it?”

“Don’t worry,” Daniel said, smiling. “It’s better than you think.”

“I’ll find out soon. We have to go into training. Come on.”

They left the testing room to the same hallway as before, passing the chairs where others waited to become Fighters, too. Daniel followed Carmen into the double doors across the hall, greeted by the largest gym he’d ever seen. Fighters! Fighters were everywhere — benching dumbbells thicker than him, sprinting down treadmills, even striking yoga poses on a set of mats.

A line snaked up to a counter right by the door, and they took their place to wait. Daniel looked ahead. Everyone who spoke to the woman behind the counter opened their menu afterward and disappeared in a flash of white. Was this “training” just like the simulated test they survived?

“Hi!” The woman at the counter greeted them once they were up. “Would you like to open a training lobby?”

“Yes, please,” Carmen answered. “Training lobby for two.”

“Okay…” The woman pressed a few buttons on the menu she had open. “Here’s the code. Can you remember this?” She pinched her screen at the corners, rotating it to show a set of lowercase and uppercase letters.

Carmen opened her menu, tapping the fist icon for the Fighter section, navigating to a menu that prompted her to enter a training room code. “There. Thank you!”

Her actions replayed in his mind, and Daniel found his way to the same prompt. “That’s the code, right?” he said, entering it as they walked away from the counter. “Done. Ready?”

“On three. One, two, three!”

Daniel hit the button at the same time, and the world plunged into darkness. At this point, his mind was accustomed to the process. Everything would go dark, he’d feel that his eyes were closed, and he’d open them to find himself in a new setting. A blue grid pattern covered the training room's black floor and black walls, with inexplicable light shining down from above.

Carmen threw her arms up. “We’re here! I’ve always wanted to see what these are like.”

“Whoa…” Daniel’s head was on a swivel, taking in every identical inch of the wide room. “This is a training lobby? Why do they bother with the gym if this exists?”

“Because you can’t fire off special moves in a gym. Gyms are for exercise, but here, Fighters can practice combos and stuff alone in a safe place. In our menu, we can change the gravity, spawn dummies, change the terrain, anything!”

“Wow! How about we go train on Mount Everest, then?”

“You mean Mount Apex? No, no. I didn’t say I knew how to change the training room. That’s just what the ads say,” Carmen said.

“Dang. I was looking forward to freezing to death,” Daniel chuckled, adjusting his jacket. “So, am I gonna show you my move list? It might be too long.”

Carmen shook her head. “Don’t tell me. Show me. I challenge you to a Fight, Chase!”

Her voice echoed throughout the training room, and a white menu blinked in front of Daniel’s face. “You have been challenged to a fight by Eléctrica,” it said. “Accept?”