Steven and Melvin arrived at the back. They saw a big empty field in front of them, along with a line of trees surrounding the area and the mountain wall surrounding from the left to the front, with the same scenery of the town on the right cliff, but with no sign of John. They walked to the middle of the deserted land.
“What in the? I thought he came here? Where did he go?” Steven looked around.
“SURPRISE!” yelled a voice from behind.
Without warning, water rained down on the two boys without a chance to react, and a steel bucket fell on Melvin’s head.
“ARGH!!! COLD!!!” they yelled.
“Gotcha!”
Steven turned around and saw John standing on the roof.
“And that’s for trolling me at the front!” John pointed a finger. “By the way, you didn’t think I didn’t heard what you said about me inside, did you?”
“Well, first things first, it wasn’t necessary what you did to us just now,” said Steven.
“Yeah, what he said,” added Melvin, who still had the bucket on his head.
“You don’t have to repeat what I just said, Melvin.” Steven turned to Melvin “And you should take that bucket off your head before I do this!”
Steven grabbed a stick off the ground beside him and smacked the bucket with a loud clang. Melvin lost his balance and fell down.
“You know, if that was me down there, I would do what you did to him just now because it’s really tempting” John told Steven.
“Ha ha, very funny!” mocked Melvin. He sat up and took off the bucket, still feeling dizzy from the impact.
“Wait a sec, are those… wings?” Steven could not believe his eyes. True enough, there were a pair of white wings on John’s back.
“Oh, these?” John opened and flapped his wings. “It’s our powers from ‘Three Tribes’. Basically you guys have your own powers from the game as well.”
“And since I’m a swordsman...” thought Steven out loud.
“And I’m a mage...” Melvin added, standing up.
“Yes, just do how your avatar would do: think and focus,” said John. He held out his hands and closed his eyes. Clouds of data flowed to his hands and they turned into light. A second later, they formed a spear as John’s friends gave an amazed look and gasped. John spinned his spear from hand to hand and flew down the house.
He landed in front of them and said: “This place looks perfect for training. Mind going for a round guys?”
“You kidding me? You’re on!” agreed Steven.
“I’m in too!” Melvin added.
Soon, Steven and Melvin closed their eyes and concentrated. Clouds of data began to form on their hands and turned into a giant blade and a rod respectively.
“You ready?” asked John and his friends noded.
In a matter of seconds, the sounds of clanging metals and spells casted were the only things that the boys heard. They fought with every skill they knew their avatar had. However, they can only use basic skills as they were not used to having special powers. Until the evening, they decided to stop. They fought a couple of rounds, but ended up in an even match.
“I’m beefed...” John sighed as he dismissed his powers using the same way he summoned them. His wings and spear turned to light and separated into a cloud of data.
“Me too...” agreed Steven as he dismissed his powers too.
“Me three...” Melvin added, doing the same.
“Come on, let’s head back in...” John walked towards the door as his friends followed.
Back in the house, they were discussing about the fight earlier the day.
“Love this place, you can fight without breaking much sweat.” praised Steven, sitting on the couch.
“Yeah, I usually don’t have much stamina.” agreed John, sitting on the dining chair.
“Too bad you got hit by my spells as soon as you flew up high.” Melvin said to John as he sat on another dining chair across the table.
“Well, it’s a good thing Steven ambushed you before you got to hit me a second time,” said John.
“You’re not so bad yourself, John. You had quick reflexes and agility. I almost can’t keep up.” praised Steven. “But I’m gonna beat you next time ‘cause I got the strength!”
“I think not,” John raised an eyebrow.
“Oh, why is that?” asked Steven.
“Didn’t you noticed our fights were like rock, paper and scissors?” reminded Melvin. “Just like how it was supposed to be in the game?”
“There’s your answer.” John held out a hand.
“Hey, where’s the portal? I wanna go home by now,” asked Melvin.
“Yeah. John, you were the first to woke up, you should know where the portal was until it disappeared.” added Steven.
“To tell the truth… I really don’t know... and something tells me that we need to defeat the final boss before we can go home...” John answered unsure, scratching his head.
“WHAT?!” shouted the other two as Steven continued: “And how are we supposed to find our ‘final boss‘?”
Suddenly, there was a knocked on the front door.
“And that’s something telling us that our adventure is about to start...” said John as he stood up and walked towards the door, with his friends following behind.