Collide Gamer

Chapter 14 – An Old Arcade

John looked around. They were in the better part of town. To be more exact: they were in the newest part of town. Just ten years ago this entire area had been a run-down shithole. His mom had made it very clear that he was to stay away from it as far as possible. John was able to see this district slowly change over the course of the past few years. Nowadays there were only a few construction sites remaining. Everything else had been bought up, torn down, replaced with modern housing units, and then sold to the highest bidder. Now it was a secondary centre of commerce and living in the city. It was clean, neat, and very public. Everything that he would describe as the opposite of what he had expected of Collide’s headquarters.

“We’re almost there.” Rave grinned at him, clearly eager for his reaction. With the brown hair and the school uniform she looked so plain, yet the fact that a girl smiled at him made John smile back instinctively. It really didn’t take much for his heart to beat a little fast.

“Didn’t expect you to have a house in such… a nice area,” John managed to get out, almost without a stammer.

“Oh, MY house is ultra-nice but Collide’s HQ is special.” Rave responded and they entered an alleyway between two buildings. “Brace for impact!”

The warning came a bit late as John made one step and the alleyway suddenly disappeared. The buildings on each side of him were gone, replaced by a rusty fence that surrounded a run-down house. It was two stories high, the walls were large and made from wood, and ancient graffiti covered much of them. Around it was a wild lawn, trampled paths going through it here and there.

You have entered the Illusion Barrier ‘Collide HQ – The Old Arcade’

‘Yeah, thanks, I got that.’ John thought and tapped away the message. At his side Rave stretched, arms raised high. The motion pulled her shirt up just enough to get a view of her flat stomach. Rarely had he seen a midriff that erotic. Just enough fat to take the hard definition away from her athletic shape.

While she relaxed from the stretch, her hair curled. Strands went left and right, running criss-cross. The colour shifted from plain brown to the bright pink he was used to. Simultaneously, her face lost the nudges and changes that made her appear average and revealed the true bombshell that had always been underneath. “Way better.”

John was stunned.

‘A little more effort than Clark Kent and his glasses,’ John thought and watched the light mage roll her shoulders. ‘She’s thirty times more attractive like this.’

“Come on, let’s get inside,” she pulled at her skirt. “I wanna change.”

The inside of the building was, as the message had said, an old arcade. One big room made up almost all of the first floor. The ceiling was high, white tube lights would have provided illumination if needed. The walls were black at the base and had been sprayed over by local artists of the last generation. Arcade machines stood along the wall right from the entrance, then turned in an L-shape. Effectively, they walled off the back quarter of that side. Among the arcade machines stood two PCs on a single, large table.

Left of the entrance was a large conference table. On it was a half-filled ashtray and playing cards. At the table sat Travolta together with a bored looking guy in his early twenties, both of them holding a hand of the same cards. He had short black hair, only visible at the back of his head. The rest was hidden under a washed out red cap. He wore a red t-shirt and black pants. Even blacker spots covered the fabric, some shimmering like paint, others seeming to be machine oil.

Between the table and arcade machines was a huge amount of empty space. At the back of the room was a metal staircase that spiralled up to the second level. Rave was heading for those stairs as John used Observe on the guy he didn’t know.

Jim ‘Jimmie’ Johnson, Level 12

Arcano-Tech Dreamer

Mechanic of Collide. A guy who constantly runs late because he needs to buy more cigarettes, otherwise reliable though. An earnest soul who complains a lot. Ran into the Abyss by accident due to an Innate Ability that lets him work with Illusion Barriers better than most.

Relation: 0

Emotions: Bored, Wondering

“Ey, guys, brought the new guy.” Rave just said as she headed up the stairs. “Play nice.”

““Shut up Rave.”” Travolta and Jimmie said as one in a bored tone. The mechanic grabbed a card and tossed it onto the pile.

Travolta looked up from his hand for long enough to ask, “You decided to stick with us then, Gamer?”

Guild Invite: Collide

Accept                        Decline

John clicked the button at the same time as he answered “Yes,” causing a new window to pop-up.

“Great. Here are the rules: Don’t tell anybody where we are located and help the members when they are in trouble.”

John raised an eyebrow. “That’s… that’s all?”

“That’s all, we are a pretty loose bunch. Well, I guess you also shouldn’t do any shit that’s too shady. We make trouble for ourselves, not some random assholes. If you need money, be careful who you take it from.” Travolta made a throwaway gesture. “If you can steal stuff from people that deserve it, steal the stuff, if you can make stuff, make stuff, I don’t fucking care. We just want to find something interesting to do with these weird powers we have.”

The sound of footsteps of metal echoing through the room announced Rave’s return. She was back in her previous outfit and John finally got a view of her ass in yoga pants.

He had never seen a bubble butt as perfect. Two spheres of symmetrical roundness, jiggling with every move, like firm jelly. There was no unevenness to its shape. It was neither too obscenely large, nor did it compromise on any of its roundness. If John hadn’t been an ass-man before, he was now.

“Looking stunning as always, Rave.” Jimmie complimented.

“Stinking like tobacco as always, Jimmie. How did ya manage to run out of cigarettes EXACTLY when they attacked, huh?” Rave shot him down as she pulled back a chair.

John scratched the back of his head. “So, I will be on my way then?” He said, prompting a slew of suspicious looks.

“Where ya going?” Rave wanted to know. It dawned on him that this looked like he was ready to go to Moira with extra intel.

The truth, therefore – not that he would have withheld this answer. “The forest outside town, I want to try and get more Experience Points.”

The pink-haired girl pondered for a second while looking into his eyes. Light danced around her iris, mesmerizing him with just how gorgeous it was. A spark of pink surrounded by an ocean of bright hair. He was feeling that dangerous pull at his heartstrings that he had denied himself for a while. Would she be different?

“Sounds more interesting than the card game. Imma tag along.” She walked the few steps over to him and whispered into his ear. “Ya won’t deny little me, right?”

John was all too aware of the tightness in his pants.. “Yeah, yeah of course you can come with me!” he said, too loudly, too enthusiastically.