𝐇𝐎𝐍𝐎𝐔𝐑 𝐀𝐌𝐎𝐍𝐆𝐒𝐓 𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐒 || ready player one [DISCONTINUED]

0006 - Fr13nd5

Over the next two days, I do nothing but gather as much information as I can on the five other avatars at the top of the Scoreboard. Obviously I have already heard of Art3mis, having followed her for years now. And gathering intel on the others was far easier than I expected, particularly since they've became the most famous avatars in the OASIS over the course of a few days.

It has also come to my attention the benefits of becoming friends with them, purely in the digital sense, of course; to know their location at any given time, to make the tracking of their movements easier, and perhaps just to have another gunter to chat with.

Parzival is the first to send me a friend request, which doesn't surprise me in the slightest. I pity him for having lost his home and his remaining family, but the boy gives off a dreadfully naïve energy, which is more than likely to get him into trouble. Art3mis is the last; another shocker.

It takes a bit of digging (and a few hours, less than legally, scanning the OASIS servers), but I do find a way to contact both Daito and Shoto. The younger would definitely be easy to sway, but if Daito were to find out about it before I could talk to him, he'd make sure I'd never speak to either of them again. You don't need to be in the room with the guy for more than a few minutes to figure that out, so you can imagine my surprise that, when I send him a short message, he actually replies.

Ak3l4 – Hello, Mr Samurai

Daito – Hello, Pirate

Ak3l4 – Hey, about when you left the other day, I don't think they meant anything by it.

Daito – Really? Because it felt very much like they were saying that we couldn't reach the Egg by ourselves.

Ak3l4 – If you can get the Cooper Key, then you can get the Egg.

When he doesn't reply for a good few minutes, I realise that he didn't, in fact, get to the Copper Key without any help.

Ak3l4 – We wouldn't be banding together to get the Egg, just to stop the Sixers.

Daito – 'We'? Are you counting yourself with them now? What other plans did you make with them after me and my brother left?

Ak3l4 – No!

Ak3l4 – I left just after you did.

Ak3l4 – No, I'm not with them at all. I was just saying...

Daito – Out of everyone, I didn't think you'd clan up.

Ak3l4 – I'm not clanning up with them! But this is different.

Daito – Shoto and I don't need any help.

Ak3l4 – You've said.

Ak3l4 – It was just an offer.

Daito – How can I even trust you. You've killed many avatars for your own personal gain. You're a pirate and pirates have no honour.

Ak3l4 – You're right. We don't. But if this is what I get for trying, I won't bother next time.

I huff. Logging out, I toss my headset onto the bed. It's people like Daito who make me want to do bad things, just to upset them even more. But I know now that I have to be more careful than ever about the actions that I take. After what happened to Parzival, its clear that IOI don't take kindly to not getting what they want.

☠

It's a few days later that I wake up to something in my inbox. Something that almost causes me to fall out of bed. I throw off the covers and rush down to the kitchen to find my mother and father making to leave.

"You will never guess what I've just received!"

"Can you tell us quickly?" my father smiles. "We're already running late."

"I have been invited to Ogden Morrow's birthday party at the Distracted Globe!" I articulate, reining in my excitement with every breath in the silence that follows. "You do know who Ogden Morrow is, don't you?"

"Of course we know who he is. But how on earth did you manage to get invited? We haven't contacted him," my mother frowns.

"It doesn't have anything to do with that Egg Hunt now, does it, dear?" Father asks.

"Gunting! I thought you were over that phase!"

Then it hits me. I know my parents too well to miss the glimmer of opportunity in the look that passes between them. There is no way that I am going to give them the slightest hope that I am any closer to getting control of the OASIS than I ever have been before.

"He has access to everyone's information, I think, so he must know my username," I shrug. "I was probably invited so you'd keep him in your good books." It's the best that I can come up with on the spot.

"Well, dear, I'm very happy for you." My mother does her best to hide her disappointment and she would have succeeded with anybody outside of this room. But I can see that her hope is yet to fade completely. It looks as though the OASIS isn't the only place where I'll have to watch my step.

My phone beeps again, just as my parents close the door behind them. It's a instant message from Aech.

Aech – Hey, you going to the party?

Ak3l4 – Ogden Morrow's party?

Aech – What other party is there?

Ak3l4 – Fair. How did you know I was invited?

Aech – All six of us were.

Ak3l4 – Are you going?

Aech – No! I'm not an idiot!

Aech – So /are/ you going?

Aech – If you are, I take back what I said about it being stupid.

Ak3l4 – Hahahahaha, don't worry. I'm not going to come after you.

Ak3l4 – I know who /will/ be going though. And both of them are idiots.

Aech – Yeah, I'm a little worried about them.

Ak3l4 – I'll keep an eye on them for you.

Aech – So you are going? Aren't you afraid of getting caught?

Ak3l4 – Oh, but you forget, my dear. No one know what I actually look like!

Aech and I message back and forth for the rest of the day. Though we don't have a great deal in common, except for our appreciation for James Halliday, I find it very easy to talk to him. He would have made an excellent addition to my crew, back in the day. Actually, he would have made an excellent replacement for my crew.

We stay away from the subject of the Egg Hunt, sticking to 80s trivia, though at one point it ventures into a heated argument as to whether or not Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines should have ever happened. Nothing that would get too personal. Despite that, it was nice. It was like actually making a friend. So much so that, when Aech said he had to sign off for the night, I felt a little bit sad.