GAME JUMPERS

The Convention

That morning had been a flurry of activity, from Jack arriving at the airport to meeting up with Bob and Wade, then the brief confusion over who went where for the signings. 

Then they had the panel, this time minus any cartwheeling attempts. They even had a really nervous couple get engaged, which never failed to brighten their day.

Lunch got delayed by an hour so they could meet as many of the the hundreds of fans as possible, which they were happy to do but by the time the con staff bought them some food they practically inhaled it.

Mark was sure he scared one of the staff members when he all but swallowed a donut whole without pausing for breath.

Bob shook his head when a competition to see who could eat the most broke out, and just grinned smugly when the other gamers were groaning and cursing from the self-inflicted tummy aches.

It was a great day.

They finally had time to have a look around at all the stuff, this convention was fairly new but it had some of the most cutting edge game gear they had ever seen.

"Holy balls, check out that Oculus rift mod!" Jack shouted running over and pressing his face against the screen. The guy testing it smiled and offered to let him try it out, Jack's eyes widened with glee.

The guy had some wires and other things strapped to him so it took a couple of minutes to unhook him and start transferring everything onto Jack.

Jack was so pumped he managed to get the gloves on wrong and his character was just spinning out of control on the screen. Mark, Bob and Wade decided to encourage him, by laughing so hard that a security guard actually came round to see what the fuss was about.

"Hey, it isn't as easy as it looks!" shouted Jack, Mark whipped a tear away and looked at him.

"Yeah, sure it isn't" Jack pulled a face, he was trying to look annoyed but his grin and shimmering eyes betrayed him and soon he too was laughing.

"This is a two player game" Said the guy who'd been re-adjusting Jack's wires.

"Really? Sweet, then I challenge you to a fight!" Jack pointed at Mark.

"Oh no, not that way, you actually need to work together to win" Mark had made his way onto the platform and was being geared up by another staff member.

"Work together?! Ugh" Mark pulled a dramatic face but didn't make any moves to leave the platform.

"Huh" Jack nodded along as the guy showed them the controls, turns out the game was kind of a free runner game crossed with a brawler. Both players had to get through the map but if one of the players fell behind or got caught you both failed.

Each player had an energy bar and the ability to fight, jump or defend.

"Ok we're all set, what level do you want to start on?" asked the young lady, she was over by the big screen set up for people to see what the players saw.

There was a level called 'Welcome to Hell' right at the top, Jack and Mark caught each other's gaze and smirked.

"That one" they pointed.

"You sure? I wasn't kidding when I said you can feel the fighting in this game" the man seemed a bit unsure but Mark was adamant they could do it.

"How bad could it be?" he smiled, Bob and Wade looked at each other, the people running it seemed a tad nervous. But they set the level regardless.

Pulling the headsets over their eyes, before them lay a long rocky corridor.

The platform beneath their feet began to move slowly at first but then sped up, soon enough both men were running, jumping, diving around the platform.

The game started slowly at first, only minor rocks and falling debris blocked their way, if anything got too close they would throw up a shield.

It soon became apparent that Jack could only create shields to protect Mark and Mark could only create shields to protect Jack, which after a few try's they soon mastered.

"They are very good at this" Commented one of the other staff members, Bob glanced at the guy.

"Yeah, they both play games together a lot" The staff member hadn't looked away from the screen.

"Sheila won't like that, she programmed this level and it's meant to be really tricky" Bob looked at the guy again, he was a big guy, Bob wasn't short by any means. But this guy towered over him.

"Is Sheila here?" Bob asked, the guy nodded and was about the say something else when a loud crash caught their attention.

Mark's path had been cut off by several jagged rocks bursting out the ground, Mark faltered and almost tripped.

"Uh oh, uh oh!" Mark flailed about as his side of the platform shook much like a big game controller.

Jack grabbed his arm and pulled him up the wall to his right, around the ceiling and down back onto the ground past the rocks.

The crowd that had gathered cheered, including the big guy.

"Thanks, Jackarooni" said Mark, both were in fairly good shape, but this game was a pretty good work out.

"No problem, Markimoo" The two grinned and pushed on harder.

The staff members were impressed that they had made it this far, especially as neither of them had played this game before and went straight for one of the hardest levels.

Wade watched as the young lady towards the back of the screen started adjusted some of the controls.

"What is she doing-"the screen erupted in light cutting him off, they had reached a boss level.