The family was together.

They were all comfortable, but nobody let down their guard.

Nasa still observed the landscape like a hawk.

Nissa remained as close to Zane as possible, ready to complement whatever weaponry he would call forth.

Emily straightened her body and took a wide stance, fully prepared to go ‘Scorched Earth’ as soon as Zane gave the order.

Jimmy stood behind Emily, prepared to cover for his sister after the inevitable, and rapid, expenditure of her payload.

The formation was set; the battle would soon begin.

Gunners, aka Players, started to trickle into existence as sparse water drops from a leaky faucet.

It would soon be time, and everyone could feel it.

The tension in the air was palpable, unrestrained, and bordering chaotic.

A few Gunners shifted from their assigned positions, drifting a bit to the left or right, but they were rare.

The true gunners, veterans, knew not to drift from their assigned positions; everything was the way it was for a certain reason, and they would patiently wait to find that reason.

Those who strayed would make for easy pickings, contributing credits to those who would expend the majority of their credits as soon as the trial was determined.

Eyes drifted over the field, identifying each other, nodding at those who were recognizable, and frowning at those with new faces.

New faces always got eliminated first.

Zane, like most other Gunners, had a vision that stretched miles at a time, so each new arrival was recorded, stored, and analyzed for later.

Zane could always tell the dangerous ones apart, and of course, they, likewise, could tell him apart.

‘At least a dozen attacks as soon as this begins.’ Zane judged.

Each Gunner had their unique preferences.

Some Gunners wore the green of grass over their bodies, seeking to camouflage themselves early on, but obviously, their gamble had proved futile given the bright flowered field.

Other gunners had weapons already equipped: Data-Bit Guns from the Futuristic category, IX-45 Rifles from the Mundane Category, and even, Walther P38 from the infamous Rambo movie sets.

Each gun had its own advantages, but the true Monster Weapons would only make an appearance when everything went to shit.

The Walther P38 would be a highly inefficient weapon to use, but the wielders had an uncanny ability to shoot randomly at the centre of a battlefield and not die.

Most of the time anyway.

If Zane was the one pulling the trigger, even the special effects of a Walther P38 could do little to protect the Gunner.

Emily extended her hands in front of her body, about to summon her first weapon, but Nissa quickly grabbed her daughter’s hand, shaking her head subtly.

Now was not the time.

There was no need to be hasty, not without the rules established.

“It’s very detailed,” Jimmy spoke up, digging his foot into the ground to displace some of the flowers. “I can count every blade of grass beneath my heel.”

Zane had also noticed.

“It’s hard to believe that the creators of VWFGO were able to build such a detailed world from their imaginations alone,” Nasa commented from her kneeling position, not bothering to turn around.

“Some sources indicate the creators’ got the idea for VWFGO from a very real out-of-body experience,” Zane commented.

Emily snorted “Like heaven?”

“Or Hell,” Nissa joked, but nobody liked the joke.

Jimmy sighed “Very unrighteous tongue, mother.”

Nissa directed a giddy smile at Jimmy in response.

By this time, the previous trickle of appearing Gunners had somehow slowed even further, causing about two Gunners to appear every five minutes.

With the advent of each new Gunner, a star in the milky sky twinkled.

‘One Thousand… Two thousand… Ten Thousand,’ Zane was finding it difficult to keep count, but the number of Gunners had long surprised that which was expected for the tournament.

“Too many people,” Emily stated the obvious, but it needed to be said. “It was supposed to be a thousand at most for this tournament but at this rate, it will become a Targeted Tournament.”

Zane and Nissa frowned; the upcoming battle would be very bloody.

Zane and Nissa, unlike their children, were completely aware of the intricacies of the current tournament, and the fact that losing was not an option.

The nature of the promise made to Zane by the country guaranteed that in the improbable scenario, he won, Zane would be granted access to a very specific project in the AVARAY Research Branch.

Still, anyone with a half-a-sense could tell all the rules had been thrown out the window.

Nissa was half convinced that the plan was to gather all the Gunners at one location and settle things with a decisive Battle Royale.

“Purification flowers.” Nasa retrieved a flower from the field and finally finished with base examinations of the terrain. “This can be used to make Holy Bullets. Super expensive stuff too.”

“They’re going all out for this tournament.” Zane hummed nonchalantly, though the gestures made with his hands were telling signalling his family members something completely different.

This was not sign language, this was something completely different – a neutral language consisting of gestures, and intents born from familial familiarity.

“Should we take these flowers?” Jimmy questioned, surprising his family.

It was not often that Jimmy spoke without stating ‘righteousness’ in every other sentence.

Zane frowned since Jimmy’s lack of enthusiasm meant their situation was truly dire.

More than anything, Zane was particularly proud of this wayward son of his because the boy had keen instincts that even made the Old Soldier envious.

Jimmy could be paranoid about the smallest of things, but later, the reason would be adequately justified.

Zane recalled taking Jimmy to a coffee shop at the age of four – a man needed to be able to handle his coffee after all – but Jimmy refused to bring the coffee brought by the waitress until it was later revealed the waitress had brought tea, and not coffee.

When Zane asked Jimmy about the incident, his son merely replied that the cup didn’t ‘feel’ right.

“You think too much,” Nissa sighed, brushing her fingers under Zane’s chin, greedily fondling his stubble.

Nissa enjoyed feeling the small pricks on her fingers.

“I can feel their gazes lingering on us,” Emily muttered, feeling especially tense.

“We are one of the few Gunners to be grouped together,” Nissa pointed out. “it probably has something to do with our combined skills, so the TRANCE System grouped us together.”

There was a slow, but steady, shift happening in the atmosphere like the sea receding just before a tsunami would scrape across the land.

“Focus on moulding,” Zane instructed. “I will bypass the Knowledge System.”

Nissa, Emily, Nasa, and Jimmy started rubbing their hands together as if moulding clay into the shape they desired, and slowly, pixels started to gather in the palms of their hands.

The rubbing turned into a circular curl, then a gentle arc, and finally, a scraping motion as if trying to rid their hands of mud.

That was when Zane started to bypass the knowledge system.

“[CosRee Vintage Diamond Lenses, arch ratio context. Electromagnetic spectrum alignment, retractable vision pores. Anti-fire elastic bands with shock-resistant cornea protection. Safety Frame, Transparent – Category; Terrain Goggles]”

As soon as Zane was finished bypassing the knowledge system, crystal-clear beads appeared on the tips of his family’s fingers.

The various beads rippled like drops of water before assuming a colour specific to the pixels that were used to mould them.

Emily got red.

Jimmy got blue.

Nasa got green.

And Nissa had two pairs of beds – black and grey.

Nissa tilted her head back, widening her eyes, while also, extending her right hand towards Zane.

Zane casually tapped two fingers onto the pair of grey beads in Nissa’s hands, then applied those beads to her eyes, just above the pupils.

The moment the water-like beads came into contact with Nissa’s eyes, they rippled and formed perfectly curved contact lenses.

Zane tilted his head backwards, and Nissa repeated the process, this time applying the contact lenses to Zane’s eyes.

Jimmy, Nasa, and Emily applied the contact lenses to their own eyes.

Zane and Nissa could not use both hands, but Jimmy and the kids could.

All at once, Zane and his family ran their eyes over the flower field once more, and new information came to light.

Distances were calculated.

Environmental layouts were rendered.

Survivability ratings of different Gunners were highlighted.

Zane and his family could see as much as their minds allowed them to see, and as much as they wanted to see.

“Five seconds,” Nasa reminded, and the family members shifted observations in synch.

Jimmy started to observe the skies.

Nasa paid particular attention to certain flowers on the field.

Nissa and Zane examined the Gunners who shrouded their information through whatever means the TRANCE System offered.

Emily directed her attention at her family members, working on possible combinations.

Zane’s contacts were the first to shatter, followed by Nissa’s, Emily’s Nasa’s, and Jimmy’s.

Bypassing the Knowledge System didn’t come without its penalties, but Zane deemed the information gathered worth the risk.

But the penalty never came, and others started to take notice.

The intensity of observation on Zane’s family doubled and tripled.

Soon, several other Gunners started to whisper to themselves, bypassing the Knowledge System to access varying categories, mostly in the Intelligence Subsection.

Of course, their implements didn’t last as long as Zane’s, but then again, only one out of every thousand veterans could probably bypass the knowledge system for a split second.

“What’s the plan?” Zane inquired.

“We definitely need a different approach,” Nasa acknowledged. “I suggest we focus our efforts on eight o’clock.”

“We can’t. -” Nissa shut down her daughter’s proposal. “-There is a monster of a team in that direction that we can’t contend with.”

“Slight diversion?” Nasa bit her fingernails. “We can try six o’clock.”

“That direction isn’t good either,” Zane stated, then turned to Jimmy “Anything?”

“We have enough draft coming from the north, and with a bout of intense heat, we can divert as much as 3 o’clock,” Jimmy explained, causing Nasa’s eyes to become hopeful once more.

Nissa and Zane shared a look. “Three o’clock is good.”

“Is it sustainable?” Nissa added.

“We need Quadrants 20, 24, 16, 12, and 5,”

“That’s not sustainable,” It was now Jimmy’s turn to bite his fingernails.

“It is-” Emily finally spoke. “It is if we adjust our inclinations to the Fantasy and Sci-Fi Categories. Our usual combinations won’t work this time around.”

“We built our style on Mundane Weaponry because it earns an almost 2000% bonus on achieved objectives. VWFGO is, at its core, a gun-oriented game, and it is more inclined to weapons conceived in the last hundred years.”

“But it won’t work today,” Emily replied strongly, confident in her combination skills. “About 37% of the Gunners here are veterans, and an extra 16% are gun-fanatics. Mundane weaponry will be the trend in this upcoming battle, so we need to shake it up and go Fantasy and Sci-Fi at the beginning.”

“They will be thinking the same thing.”

“They will, then they won’t,” Emily shrugged, smiling brilliantly. “Never underestimate old men who are stuck in their ways.”

“I think it’s workable.” Nissa nodded, supporting the daughter who had legs that put the mother to shame.

“There is only one problem with that plan,” Jimmy noted.

“What?”

“Dad doesn’t watch Fantasy or Sci-Fi genres,” Jimmy clarified. “Dad’s advantage is his experience as a soldier, heightening his affinity with the Knowledge System, and by extension, the Mundane category. His practicality is at a disadvantage with fantasy and sci-fi battles.”

Emily also started to frown, trying to find a workaround.

“No,” Nasa interrupted, a serene smile on her face. “When I was six years old, I forced Dad to join me for an entire day of anime, fantasy movies, and sci-fi series. He stayed with me to watch all of it. That’s actually how I know he loves me more than you guys-”

Emily and Jimmy grimaced, disliking Nasa’s gloating tones, but they couldn’t argue.

After all, it was just how Nasa was – a little fathercon bitch to her core, and there was no time too serious to brag about a young girl’s father.

“Anyways-” Nasa continued unperturbed by her siblings’ toxic gazes. “Dad remembered everything we watched that day. I even saw a couple of Fantasy accesses on the Family Logs – combination GWINs. At first, I thought it was you and Jimmy, but now I think-”

Though the rest was left unsaid, Zane felt a faint blush slowly crawling onto his cheeks, and Nissa’s panicked looks weren’t helping their case.

“cough – cough,” Emily coughed twice, trying to stifle a giggle. “Would Schwi, Halo, Gandr, Third Eye, P-Chan, then Mundane Category be suffice?”

Zane and Nissa blushed a bit more, indicating they were familiar with the combination, further confirming the embarrassing truth that they watched anime, read manga, and even went to online comicon.