Last chapter, the first round of the ticket to Dalkan event began- with it being a massive multiple-round game of blackjack in-of-itself. Thanks to Elio staying out of the round and using his "I'm the Controller" ability to send "messages"  to some digital watches the crew wore and bought in advance- Seric, Quilline, and Amandeath were able to win their respective rounds of blackjack. More specifically, because Elio was able to see what card value the robot card dealer had stored in his memory before the crew played their turn- which he was able to send to the crew VIA lighting up specific pixels on the watches screen.

After their win, the crew relaxed in their private room- but the calm atmosphere changed quickly after Amandeath unintentionally angered Quilline, which made Quilline start attacking her. Metallic quickly put an end to her attack due to her new body being much weaker than her normal body, and he asked the crew if they should get rid of her- but due to them still needing her for multiple reasons, most of them voted to continue to spare her for now as planned.

Seric's P.O.V.

30 minutes later...

"Ok ok, I'm sowwieeeee- I won't turn on you all again like that. Amelia just really pissed me off is all, she brought up a touchy subject. You can stop nagging at me now. Plus don't forget- I can still get my revenge when I'm eventually back to my normal self. So don't get too far on my bad side~" Quilline says with a pout after Metallic's long speech- and warnings, about what she did to Amandeath not being acceptable. Me and Karia have been sitting at the rowdy bar next to them as well during Metallic's scolding.

Metallic huffs, "You had BETTER not. I'm not afraid of you. Just ask Katelyn how serious I am about dealing with people who hurt those I lov-"

"Matteo. That isn't something to be proud of, so don't talk about it please- you'll start a fight." I nudge his shoulder to shut him up- and it seems like I was right to, since Karia just slammed her glass of water down just as I finished talking. And yeah, she obviously looks pissed now.

"...OK." Metallic says with a sigh, and thankfully Karia just shakes her head and leaves things there.

"And Queta. When Matteo was punching you- I stopped him, and we all agreed to spare you. So I really hope you don't feel the need to get "revenge" on us- we just acted in self-defense, and stopped fighting you when things were safe. After Matteo knocked you out, I mean." I tell Quilline.

"You stopped Matteo in particular, hm? Interesting. I'll keep that in mind." Quilline says with a hum.

I nod, then continue, "Also. Amelia was going to say "no offense" after talking about the person who liked you, so I don't think she was trying to be snar-"

"Nuh-uh, not talking about that. Sensitive topic, in the chance you're stupid enough to not know that by now." Quilline interrupts me as she clicks her nails on the counter.

"...Ok then. Anyways. Sorry for whatever happened." I try to be nice in the hopes that I can get on her good side.

"Wow, so kind and caring- you're totally not just saying that to kiss up to me. Anyhow- we should talk about our plans for round two, while the two "lOVebIRds" are doing their thing in our room. You three remember what we're doing for this round, yes?" Queta says.

"Yeah." I reply, and Metallic and Karia also respond in the affirmative too.

"Good. Would be disappointed if not, since the "plans" we have are extremely simple for this one- oh! Hiya Emilis." Quilline stops mid-sentence as Elio emerges from the swarm of people surrounding the bar, and sits at the open seat next to Metallic.

"...You don't look as happy as I thought you would. Did Amelia do something you didn't like?" Metallic asks with a frown.

"Getting played with in my sleep isn't exactly my kink, especially with someone who lied about being willing to help me." Elio scoffs which makes me cringe, even if I don't think she really lied about that- since we still need Quilline for now.

"She didn't even wake you up? What the fuck? She said she wanted some privacy with you which is why we left you guys alone but, I didn't think she'd go that far... damn. Sorry." Karia says with a surprising amount of empathy, for her at least. Really hope that doesn't mean Karia went through something similar in the past... anyways.

"Yeah. Amelia tried to justify it by saying that "every guy she's been with loved it", and that "it was meant to be a fun surprise"- but ugh. Guess she lied about wanting to be a better person too... damn. Screw all of this. Buy me a drink, Queta? I'll do you a favor when I'm your minion, or whatever you want to call me." Elio says which is... really depressing, considering he seemed so desperate to get away from working for Quilline before.

"Haha. Cute. Sure, you've charmed me my dear henchman. I assure you, there won't be any drama when you work for me." Quilline says happily as she leans her short self forward, to tap a black button that's to the left of her on the bar's counter. Pressing it causes a digital version of the bar's drink menu to get projected onto the wooden counter right in front of her, as she sits back down on her seat again.

While Quilline's busy tapping the projected menu a few times to pick out and order the drinks, Elio speaks again, "That stuff aside. I overheard a bit of you guys talking about our plans for round 2. It's the VR game stuff right? Other than the vague plans I came up with that we can talk about back in our room, yeah- it'll be pretty straight forward. Amelia should do well in it, hopefully you too Kate... shit what was it again?"

"Katelyn. And yeah, I'd sure hope so since my last job drilled gun-skills into me. Might be a little bit rustier by now though." Karia scoffs as she finishes off her glass of water.

"Likewise. Well, minus the last part." Quilline says with a snicker as she finishes tapping the projected drink menu, and it disappears a second later after I assume she sends the order to the bartender.

"Not like what she's done counts as a job either though. Or could it be called self-employed since she technically got rich off of her crimes?" I think to myself- ha... OK no, I shouldn't find that funny.

I snap back to reality and look ahead past the counter we're sitting at, to see the drinks Quilline ordered being made by long robotic arms that are hanging from the ceiling.

...

"Hey. How much cheaper do you think it is for them to use those robot limbs, than to just have actual robots making the drinks for us Emilis? Just wondering, since they have an actual robot working at the other side of the bar- and they look a lot more friendly than these metal tentacles that are hanging from the ceiling on our side." Karia asks as I watch the robotic limb start shaking up some drinks it just made, that are sealed up in metal cups for now.

"The hanging limbs are a lot cheaper, yeah. Full-body robot's are more expensive right off the bat, and maintenance for them cost way more too. My guess is that this bar's in the process of either repairing the full-body robot who used to be stationed on this side, or the robot working on the other side is just brand new." Elio explains as the robotic limb starts pouring out the drinks into two different glasses after it finishes shaking them in sealed containers.

A second later it picks the glasses up, then drops them down on our counter. It slides one to Elio, then one to... Metallic? Huh. Wonder how it knew who to give the drinks to actually, maybe it screwed up here.

Metallic seems confused as well, "Is this for me? If so, I'm not in the mood for your gifts Queta-"

"SHUT. Just try it. Consider it my "apology" for causing a fight, but honestly I really just want to see you get a bit tipsy now that you're wearing your new 'clothes'." Quilline says as she rests her face on her palm, with her leaning against the table and staring at Metallic.

"...I don't know. Serreno? Does this sound like a good idea to you? You're undoubtedly wiser than I am when it comes to these things." He looks at me with a nervous smile... hm.

"Uh. I don't know. In my opinion- I guess I'd say eat first, then go for it if you want. It's just one glass, so it should be fine. Might taste bad though, just as a warning." I say, which makes Metallic grin.

30 minutes of planning, and 10 minutes of dining later, back in the crews private room...

🍺🍺🍺

"D.E.L.I.C.I.O.U.S.! I-I never thought these sensations would feel so- so wonderful. I- does my food taste like this too, Serreno?" Metallic sobs as he continues to shove more of the heavily-seasoned cheese fries he ordered into his mouth. Thankfully this counts as one of our free meals as a contestant, so he doesn't owe Quilline anything for the food at least.

"No," I reply with a fake smile as I bite into the wrap, I ordered which makes Metallic frown. After swallowing I continue, "Your food tastes way better than this cheap stuff." He smiles back at me and scruffles my hair- and I gasp in disgust at first since his hands are covered in grease, but I just close my eyes and hold back from saying anything. Don't want to be a buzzkill, I'll rinse it off later.

"I'm so glad that my skills- that they were put to good use. To someone who truly loves me for who I am!" Metallic slurs as he swings his second glass of whatever fruity cocktail Quilline ordered him into the air, and takes another big chug of it.

"Yo, maybe stop drinking for now yeah Matteo? Got the next round in a couple hours." Amandeath says as she's slouched over one of the chairs at the back of the room while using her vape, with Elio sitting on the chair that's next to her. She said sorry which seemed to help keep the peace between the two, but Elio still hasn't been talking with her much regardless...

Drama aside though Quilline replies to Amandeath, "Oh please- Matteo'll be fine, wouldn't have ordered him the drinks otherwise. He can just swap back to his old metal "clothes" for a bit, then go back to using his current human "clothes" before the next round. Snagging the mannequin that's holding his old appearance from the storage-room that my pouch leads to will be relatively easy-peasy. And so, that quick swap should be like a biological factory reset since the mannequins can't store drunkenness- and thus he'll be as sober as a tree! Done!"

"Yes! What she said. I can certainly get used to these funny drinks, they make me feel GREAT!" Metallic exclaims as he springs up and tries to skip for some reason- only problem is that he skips right into the table in front of him and falls over it, smashing some glasses that were on it in the process.

Quilline's the only one laughing while everyone else is either concerned or annoyed- but I smile a bit after hearing Metallic belly laughing as well, despite the awkward position he's in as his legs are still hanging off of the table.

"O.U.C.H.- ow ow, HAHA- I can finally say ow and truly mean it now!" He says as he starts crying and laughing at the same time... no clue how some of the crew can still be so relaxed, considering we're going to be in a life or death situation VERY soon.

But hey, good for them.

2 hours later...

***

Karia's P.O.V.

"Alright competitors! We're running late- so listen up because we're only going to explain this once, and not with the amount of enthusiasm Domino is giving to the spectators right now either. The seats you're in will be temporarily transferring part of your "consciousness", for simplicity's sake, into a digital world we've created for this round. You'll be able to move around in the digital world just like you would in the real world, and keep in mind that you'll be able to feel the five senses as well. That includes feeling pain, even if you'll feel much less pain from any "injuries" than you would in the real world." A short girl shouts in an overly stern voice as I pull down the safety bar over my chest, and down to my lap. The fuckload of other competitors around me in this dark room filled with green neon lights do the same thing, as we're all sitting next to each other on giant chairs.

"Reminds me of when Aora was my instructor in the army... fuck. I really hope that bitch Quilline's plan to take Aora out works, fighting her would be a nightmare. Even if Quilline could just constantly teleport her away from us..." I stupidly think to myself which freaks me out a bit, so I take a few deep breaths to calm myself back down. Don't think any of the crew are in this round of the game with me though actually, which I guess is for the better since teaming up isn't allowed.

Either way the overly dramatic instructor woman continues, "The goal of this game is simple! Once your consciousness is loaded into the simulation- you start by picking your gun of choice, and you try to eliminate as many other players as possible with your gun of choice once the game starts. The more eliminations you get, the higher score you get. However you can also get less points for shooting someone's non-vital areas, like their arms and legs. These injuries will NOT carry over into the real world, so don't hold back. On that note, if you DO hold back in a suspicious manner- you may be disqualified under suspicion of unlawful teaming."

After a few seconds another one of those robot tentacle arms swoop down, adjust my neck- and place the giant dome that's been hovering over me on top of my head and face. If I'm remembering right it'll apparently transfer our "consciousness" into the digital world. I think Elio said it transfers part of our soul into it as well. Or maybe not? Didn't care much about the tech sides of things when he was talking about it, so not sure.

Anyways, a few seconds pass with me staring into darkness an-

...

"Whoa." Suddenly I'm standing in a giant bright and shining light blue room by myself- with a big green menu screen being projected in front of me, with a big list of weapons being on it to choose from.

"Rifle, rifle... damn this thing's hard to use." I think to myself while trying to tap the floating menu, but my finger just keeps fazing through it and does nothing.

Some robotic voice starts nagging from above me, "Player 'Katelyn', please use your voice-"

"Could've said that it's voice activated earlie- oh..." I stop mid-sentence as I glance down and see the instructions at the bottom of the screen. Whatever... weird placement anyways.

I start following the instructions and saying some commands to get me to the "long ranged" weapon section, and stop when I find a laser rifle that looks pretty close to what I trained with a little bit in the Hopian Army. The scope, length, and general shape of it do at least.

"One shot per second, and 20 shots per magazine before it needs to be 'reloaded'? Sheesh, better than what I used back during my training actually... I should be able to get used to it though. The couple laser rifles I used before never felt too different from the traditional rifles I used most of the time. Yeah yeah, I'll be fine..." I think to myself as I get some flashbacks to my time in the army... ugh.

"How the hell am I ever supposed to make up for all the people I betrayed? The Hopian Army DID have it coming though after what they did to the Red Fists... but still, the soldiers I hurt or killed during my escape with Seric probably had nothing to do with that. Almost wish they did so I wouldn't have to feel so shitty." I think to myself, then shake my head and say "Finished" to confirm my weapon choice, and-

...

...

"Ah! Jeez those random jumps are annoying." I think to myself as I "wake up" again, and suddenly I'm standing with my arms at my sides in the... middle of a lobby of an empty building? Or maybe a hotel? Seems like a fancy old school hotel lobby at least like what I saw on TV as a kid. More specifically  with some giant candles surrounded by glass being on the floor- which are just barely lighting the gray granite floored room I'm standing in. I also spot two open doorways ahead of me to my left and right, which I'm guessing lead to other rooms and maybe different floors as well. Don't see any other people though, even at the receptionist's desk.

I smirk, "Couldn't afford to make a more unique "arena" than this for a gunfight? ...Oh wait. Wasn't there a meeting I attended years back when I was an Officer, about trying to get the public accustomed with more realistic city-based combat? Huh. So this is probably propaganda then, considering this whole competition is sponsored by the Hopian Army. Great- I'm part of an ad now."

I shake my head and try to walk forward- but faceplant into an invisible wall. I step back, look down, and of course- a countdown that's at "30" is floating down at my LEGS for some reason. Stupid ass developers.

Ahem. There's also instructions that say to hold my hands out for my rifle to be be "spawned in"- and so I do that, and a second later the thing falls into my hands-

"Whoa!" I think to myself as I almost drop the rifle. Shit- didn't think about how much weaker I am without my cybernetics in this new body.

So I spend the next few seconds practicing holding the thing upright, then aiming it forward. Going to have to be smart about how long I aim for since my arms get tired pretty fast, but whatever- could always use a counter, a table, or even the floor as a support to lie my gun on if I needed to.

"5 seconds remaining until match start. Prepare yourselves." A robotic voice echoes throughout the room... and after 5 seconds and a loud beep, I quickly look around the lobby again to be completely sure I'm the only one here- then start to speed walk towards one of the exits of the lobby with my gun held down in front of me.

"Right, guess this may be like back when I trained for clearing rooms... shit- I only ever trained for that in groups didn't I? Fuck it, I can still probably use some of that training here- even solo." I think to myself as I walk up to the side of the exit on my right, hold my gun up, and lean to peak down the hall...

Empty. But filled with a bunch of open rooms on either side of the hall. Fantastic... plus I can't fully see down the other doorway that's across the lobby to my right because of the dim light. But hopefully that means that no one down there would be able to see me easily either.

I'll have to get through this left hall ASAP regardless.

"Let's hope my skills are as good as they used to be, right Sariel? Wish me luck." I whisper with a smile, hope he's watching this from inside my soul at least. Not like I care about impressing the other asshole in there though, and I doubt Bersia cares about this at all either.