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“Harry? what are you doing here”
“I just now got here Ken. How are you?”
“However I may be, how does it matter to you. ”
“I know you are angry at me Ken, but listen to me first.”
“Sorry. I don’t have time to waste on betrayers like you. Now go away we have nothing to do with each other.”
“Listen Ken. I’m sorry for leaving you alone. I know that I betrayed you and you have all right to be angry at me, but listen to me once Ken. ”
“Speak!” with the same cold eyes as usual, Ken prompted
“Okay! So Satoshi offered me half of the prize money and said that you are a loser and I should join him instead. He said that he sees me as an ally and want me on his team and on his side.
I rejected him at first but when I saw you lying helpless on the ground, I thought that you’ll never go to make it and hence I changed my mind and joined him. I was scared Ken. I thought that I’ll never get the money and I never knew when you’ll move me out of your way. I thought that atleast by this way I’ll get something. I became greedy Ken. I’m sorry” tears rolled down his eyes as he completed his explanation.
Ken moved forwards, hugged Harry and whispered “Did he gave you your money?”
“Yes? why”
“Good!<moving apart> now get your ass out of here and never ever come back to meet me. I trusted you and you let me down. It’s fine. It was your call and this is mine. Get lost and never come back”
Ken opened his door and without any second words, he banged the door on Harry’s face and moved inside.
Harry walked out of there with a heavy heart as Ken went straight to his laptop, opened the VALDRO’s website and confirmed his participation in the rematch with Satoshi.
The date was scheduled after a weak as Ken called up Ayako, Ak, Marvin and Ellie and tell them about the dates. With open arms, everyone welcomed his decision although Ayako raised some concerns about his health.
“I’ll be alright miss, don’t worry”
“ok! ok! Fine. By the way Ken, you sound more lively and cheerful these days. Did something happened ?”
“Yes! Something good and beautiful has happened to me” <Looking at Ellie’s photo in a group photograph which he kept on his table>.
The game Porticon ended with Satoshi and Harry, both being declared as the winner of the super popular game which fetched the VALDRO corporation millions of dollars. The company’s CEO and the other staff were highly impressed by the input they got from the crowd and following the success of the initial competition, they announced the second game in making which was going to be released in summer, following year.
In an interview, when the head of the VALDRO corp was asked about the competition he said that he didn’t expect Ken and Satoshi to be the combined winners of their game and if the situation permits he would like to see a face-off between the two.
And months after this statement the day finally came when Ken and Satoshi both were ready to go head to head with each other. The gaming rules were same as before but the only change which the gaming company made was to shrink the map into a confined space. So it was similar to an enclosed arena, the only difference was of the size.
Like the previous time, the company promoted this event also and huge banners and advertisements were put up everywhere in the town. It was an event which was going to be held in San Diego and in Tokyo and both cities were flooded with the announcements of the game everywhere.
“Good luck Ken!” Ak and Marvin wished Ken was about to go inside the capsule.
“Best of luck Ken and make sure to win” Ellie spoke softly as Ken was jumping up and down preparing for the bout.
“Now I would like to welcome our champion, Ken Koshi!” a round of applause followed as the full house crowd clapped in unison.
“It’s your turn Ken.”
“Ellie, be prepared to change your name from Ellie to Mrs. Ellie cause when I come out of that capsule I am making you mine, forever” kissing her, he showed her a beautiful diamond ring. Ellie stood shell-shocked for a moment but eventually came to senses as Ken kept it back in his pocket and moved onto the front stage as Ellie shouted, “I’ll be waiting for you Ken!”
Ken walked between the action-packed crowd as Ken walked ahead to the capsule and wearing the VR gear, he closed the capsule from the top and waited for the game to start.
“This time, I’ll make sure to overcome my past and start a new life with Ellie and others.”
Taking a deep breath, Ken closed his eyes and opened them into a new world. With was dark everywhere except the center part where white light came from above. It was like a confined prison where sunlight came from a single slit and dispersed into the whole room partially.
Ken looked around to get adapted to his surroundings. With the exact same attire as the last time, Ken went Into the battle.
“…………..” sounds of footsteps approached Ken as he looked around to find no one around him.
“Ken! O Ken. I have never seen an idiot like you. You were defeated by me once and like a clown you stand here once again. Don’t you learn? I expected wisdom from my big brother but who knew that he will be a bastard and an idiot.” Satoshi laughed as he came out from the shadows and addressed Ken. Satoshi also had the same attire as before but this time he had an extra sword attached to his waist.
“Well I have a reputation of being stubborn so ya, I don’t learn.”
A burst of laughter followed as Satoshi continued ”Oh! God this competition is turning out to be a comedy show I must say. By the way I heard that you were unconscious for nearly a month. Ouch! I didn’t know that I have hurt you so much. ”
“Well yes, I wasn’t conscious for a very long time. I was a loser that time and I still am. But you know I’ve learned one thing that those who win, never learn. Their progress is only limited to one area and one channel but those who lose learn to explore new channels and they aren’t afraid to try new thing. So you know, loosing once won’t hurt”
“I suggest that you leave the town and open a channel or a peace giving center or something like that. Because the only thing you are good at is to give nonsensical lectures like these.”
“Did you ever wonder Ken why this game didn’t showed your NIXp or how come you never came to find our your powers. Well its because you are a bug in this system Ken. You emotion didn’t match their database. You are a trash,a mistake and I’m here to eliminate this mistake”.
Ken took a momentarily pause and prompted “To be frank, if I’m a bug that like a good bug I’ll make sure to make this system malfunction because you know what go fuck with your rules because I don’t give a damn. ”
Satoshi’s face changed from being happy to really angry as he rushed towards Ken with both his swords whirling in his hands.
Ken wasted no time and seeing Satoshi he too dashed forward. Shouting fiercely, both of them inched closer and closer as right before the collision Ken anchored his sword on the ground and using it as a pole he jumped over Satoshi’s head and from above he fired a series of firebolts and owing to his brilliance, all of the firebolts hit Satoshi head on.
Landing on his feet, Ken quickly picked up his sword and rushed towards the other side, away from Satoshi and waited for him to attack.
Meanwhile the series of firebolts left dense black smoke all around as Satoshi coughed due to the smoke. “Well! You really surprised me there, Ken. Well done”. Satoshi shouted as he emerged from the dense cloud of smoke.
“Thanks! Little brother”
Pushing the ground backwards, Ken and Satoshi again came close for the second round as this time Ken didn’t play any fancy tricks and “Clang! Clang! Clang!” put his blade against his. Both of them displayed a superfluous display of swordsmanship as they held nothing back and attacked each other with their full might.
Both of them stood apart as they ran short of breath and gasped. Meanwhile, the crowd in the stadium were going wild with the display that the two were putting infront of them, infact the whole world.
“You can do it Ken!” Ak shouted from the crowd as Ellie said “I hope Ayako-san was also here. She would have also cheered him with us here.”
“She is busy there in Japan with her duties but I’m sure that she must be supporting Ken in her heart” said Marvin who along with the two {Ellie and Ak} watched the competition.
Suddenly a roar came from the crowd as their conversation was interrupted. It was Satoshi who had managed to get a hit on Ken this time as he combined agility along with some awesome footwork and got Ken’s overcoat into two half’s from the behind.
“Well Done! Satoshi” Ken said as he threw the torn overcoat into the darkness on his left.
“Let’s have a fight of magical spell? Satoshi”
“Go ahead I have no problems.”
Ken fired a firebolt in the air above Satoshi’s head as he watched the firebolt dropping onto him. He was about to laugh at Ken’s foolishness but at the end time, Ken launched a water-cannon towards Satoshi as he ducked and avoided the hit. But Ken’s target wasn’t Satoshi. From the very beginning it was the firebolt and as the cannon hit its target, dense white smoke was created all-around as the hot fire met the cold water.
Wasting no time, Ken fired a series of demolition rays in the smoke as he danced around all over the place to ensure that no area is left untouched.
But to his surprise Satoshi jumped over the white smoke and as Ken saw him coming down, Satoshi fired a ball of black energy towards Ken. The ball of energy looked like a Firebolt but it radiated black aura and traces of lightning from it.
“what the…” Ken exclaimed as he ran away from the ball but unfortunately the ball followed him. He jumped left, right, above and over but still he couldn’t shrug off the round danger that was following him.
Seeing Satoshi landing on his feet, Ken immediately thought of a plan and changing his direction immediately he started to run towards Satoshi. Ken summoned a fire circle around Satoshi as Satoshi stood in his place and watched Ken at work.
As Ken inched closer, he sensed that something was wrong as Satoshi showed no response to his attacks. He thought that Satoshi had already read his move and as such at the very last second, Ken threw his sword towards Satoshi, which was fused with firebolt.
Satoshi jumped over the blade as the Ken slid past right between Ken’s legs as Satoshi landed on his feet.
“Nice try dumb-ass!” Ken was aiming for a direct hit between the energy ball and Satoshi but as Ken slid past his feet, Satoshi took the incoming mass onto his hand and turning around quickly he punched the energy ball right into Ken’s face as he was half-way through between Satoshi’s legs.
“BOOM!” loud sound of explosion echoed in the arena as a yellow flash blinded the crowd in the stadium and from the explosion emerged Satoshi, standing on his two legs while ken lay wounded on the ground.
“Oye! Wake up champ. I was just getting started.”
Moving slowly, Ken prompted “And so as I”. As Ken finished an explosion took place all over the arena as black smoke once again enveloped the area. Both Ken and Satoshi lay on the ground as the area cleared out.
“Wake up Ken!” Ellie shouted among the crowd as Ken showed some signs of life as his hand moved.
Meanwhile, Satoshi also showed some movement as slowly and steadily both of them got up on their feet. “How could you be so stupid Ken? You used the ‘circle explosion’ knowing that it will hurt you too.”
“When I read its description it seemed quite interesting to me. Like how come a circle of fire is so vibrant that it goes on increasing its diameter and leaves behind gunpowder as its soot. And that to the soot explodes automatically as the fire goes out. Like seriously that’s insane”
“Are you a child or what?. if you did that too make me angry then congratulations I’m really pissed off now.”
Finishing off, Satoshi rushed once again towards Ken as he Ken stood helplessly without his blade which lay aside in one corner. As Satoshi was inching closer Ken knew that he had to do something quick and so he used a lightning strike to stop the fire-bolting Satoshi.
Crouching ahead and rolling forward, Ken grabbed his sword and stood up instantly. Holding his posture, Satoshi again rushed towards Ken as blades met once again and metals embraced each other. Satoshi attacked ken with both his blades simultaneously as Ken moved his blade vertically and horizontally and parried off his attacks.
Moving apart Satoshi knew that he had to do something different. So something evil came to his mind. He kept his blades inside and started clapping.
As blood dripped from Ken’s face, he stood confused about the sudden change of events that took place infront of his eyes.
“You might be confused why am I clapping right. Well, to be honest, I really want to appreciate you for getting me so worked up and pissed at someone. You did a great job, Ken. but now it’s time to go home brother.”
Finishing off, Satoshi opened the player’s storage as took out a chain from there. Swirling around, Satoshi moved towards Ken as he stood frozen once again like the previous time. With his eyes wide opened, Ken tried to move his hands or his feet but his body just refused to listen to his brain.
Satoshi also knew that it was Ken’s weakness or rather trauma and so he walked slowly towards him and wrapped his neck with the chain. Tightening the grip slowly and steadily, Satoshi started to whisper something to Ken about his past. But Ken’s ears were too numb to hear to that.
The only thought that came to Ken’s mind were the times when he tried to protect himself from the dog.
Ken knew that he couldn’t help it. He was a failure and like always he let everyone down who was attached to him.
But suddenly a note came to Ken’s ears. “You are a bloody bastard and trust me after you pass out like last time, I’ll come to you in the real world and I’ll take your girlfriend with me and I’ll make sure to let her moan my name when I …….”
Before Satoshi could finish his statement, Ken slit past his blade right through Satoshi’s stomach as blood oozed out of his mouth and he left his grip off the chain.
Removing the chain from his neck, Ken turned around and delivered a solid punch on Satoshi’s face as Satoshi fell on the ground.
“Don’t ever take out her name of your damn mouth or else” summoning a firebolt, Ken sat on Satoshi’s chest and opening his mouth he placed the firebolt right into it.
“Or else I’ll burn you to death, alive”
Satoshi shouted in pain and fury as he drank a healing potion from his pocket to cultivate some of his health back.
But the attack was too much for Satoshi to handle as he still screamed in pain and agony as his health bar fickled.
“Wake up! Kid. Let me show you how elder people teach their juniors some manner”
“You bastard. You’ll pay for it. I’ll make sure that you don’t go alive from here. You were admitted once and this time I’ll make sure that this time I leave scars that won’t go off your memories ”
“What do you mean?”
“what I mean not worth understanding to you.”
“Death’s trident”
As Satoshi finished, a huge semi-sphere of white and yellow color originated from Satoshi, being the center and it moved progressively outwards destroying everything which came in contact with it.
Seeing the intensity of it, Ken knew that he won’t survive if this thing strikes him. But he had nowhere to go. The semi-sphere covered all three dimensions and Ken was left helpless.
At the back of his mind Ken knew that he won’t survive in real life as well as the intensity of the attack would be so much that it’ll definitely affect his brain and considering his mental health and the doctor’s previous warnings, Ken could do nothing but pray and pray until this situation ends.
As the sphere moved towards him, Ken checked his health bar, his NIXp counter and murmured “I ‘m sorry Ellie if I don’t survive. I could quit this game also but if I do so, I won’t be able to face myself in real life.”
Shouting In thin air, Ken continued “Listen to Ellie. If I don’t survive this attack and end up dead, find someone who cares more about you than me but if I came back alive and unconscious, then wait for me. I’ll sure make you my bride.”
Tears rolled down Ellie’s eyes as she hoped and pray that his lover would come out alive.
“Enforced protection”
“Lybrinth cutter”
“Healing armor”
Ken used a series of spells to ensure that he won’t die so easily. Taking in deep breaths, Ken ran towards the sphere and pointing his blade towards the sphere, he made contact with the high energy sphere.
Cutting through the sphere, Ken moved some distance Inside but at the same time his health began to drop quickly. His overcoat and t-shirt melted as he shouted with pain but yet he held his strength together and pushed through the sphere.
Slowly and steadily, he moved towards the core as Satoshi was completely exhausted and was near to collapsing. “You don’t know how to back down? Don’t you”
“Unfortunately, I don’t and I won’t until I teach you a lesson”
Laughing happily Satoshi replied “Then come and get me Ken. You have earned it and I’ll be happy to die from your hands. You are the one who truly deserves to be the winner”
Screaming loudly, Ken pushed once again as he reached the core and punched his blade right through Satoshi’s heart.
The blaze and the flash of the sphere ended as Ken stood with his sword in his hand and blood oozing out from his mouth.
He waved his blade in the air as crowd in the stadium cheered for him.
“l love you Ellie and thank you everyone for supporting me.”
As Ken finished, he collapsed on the ground as the game ended with Ken overcoming Satoshi and his past. Ken was badly injured and was taken to the hospital immediately. Meanwhile, Satoshi was arrested in Japan for threatening Ken but eventually he was released after mild warnings.
5 years later
<in a hospital somewhere in San Diego>
Ellie sitting on the chair near the bed in the room in the hospital when suddenly,
A small four-year-old child came running inside the room “ Mom! Mom!”.
“Stacy! Come here baby, come to me.” Ellie said happily as she stretched her arms towards her.
“how’s daddy mom?”
“Daddy is fine as usual and he is very happy to see you here. ”.
“Mom! Shall we go. I’m hungry.”
“Yes! Why not. But first let me change the flowers in the vase here near daddy……<giving the final touch to flowers> its’s done. Let’s go beautiful”
Ellie walked out of room with Stacy as the sparkled off Ellie’s diamond ring. A butterfly came flying from the window outside and sat on the fresh flowers which were kept in the vase near Ken as the machines echoed in the room.
***********************
The End
Thank you for reading