In Game Name; A Resistance Love Story of Quirky Romance
A work of fiction by jplolo
Warning: story incl. implied profanities & light hearted slurs
I'm not sure what to do with myself lately. I mean, I keep going to school, reading their books, taking their tests. But, what's the point? Why do I care about any of this?
Just about the only thing that really matters anymore is my all time favorite game, Ingress. The rest of the world can suck it.
Every morning, when I walk into my first class, if I sit in the back left corner closest to the window by the stacks of Life Hack magazines, I can just about reach the Pantheon Mural portal using GPS drift. It's typically grey from splash damage or is at least nearing ****.
I capture it for my team, "Viva la Resistance!", and begin deploying mods to beef it up, then hack it every 4 minutes during class for gear in between the cool-down.
I don't know why I choose to favor my Aegis Nova sheilds, the best shields available. Within minutes of me placing them, an Enlightened agent who calls himself @CantTouchThis is already flipping it, making it impossible for me to take it back before the bell rings.
I still haven't figured out who the hell @CantTouchThis is, but his username is ridonculous! What a pretentious f&*! Battling him and @midswig69 every morning has become routine though, and we all benefit from the Action Points.
Once in a while, he'll send me a snide tid bit on all-comms, reminding me of how glad I am that I've successfully avoided meeting anyone in person.
Actually, why do I assume he's a he? Really, it could be anyone.
"Joan, is this seat taken?"
"F&* off, Mike".
That's Mike. He's a ****. He's only asking me to sit here because he's made some bet with his brrrahhh's (a.k.a. dumb jock morons) that he could get me to look up from my phone long enough to notice his sorry attempt at flirting.
"Ah, come on, Joan. I just wanna chat. You're always sitting alone."
"Nice observation, smarty. Is that the line you're hoping will get you into my pants?"
"Jesus Christ! Relax... Alright, fine. I, uh.. well, okay. I guess I'll see you later. Have fun with your... game."
Shiz, I spent so much time organizing my inventory I forgot to check the scanner to make sure the John Frank Plaque portal hadn't been attacked.
"Who the f&*"!?
I look up bashfully, realizing I had yelled that out loud. The entire cafeteria is looking at me. Mrs. Miskis warns me with her over inflated blue eyelids. Being invisible would be so much easier.
Returning to the game, I am aware I really f&*ed up this time. My team asked me to protect this portal during lunch. They are depending on me. Stupid distractions! I'm gonna **** Mike.
There is no way he did that on purpose, right? He doesn't know shiz about this game. What if he had looked over my shoulder while I was organizing my coveted Very Rare Link Amp inventory for optimal duping within my Magnus Capsule? What if he is @CantTouchThis?? God, what was I thinking?
Ok, enough of this. Focus.
I grab one my lubes (slang for L-Power Cubes... I know, it's hilarious because I came up with it)... pop that on, and start blasting the shiz out of the portal with my Level 8 XMP.
I gotta get this portal blue for the Resistance in the next town over or they're gonna have me demoted, or worse excommunicated! It may already be too late if our local frogs have noticed my suspicious behavior. Nah, they're dumb. There's no way they know.
I look at the time. It's two minutes till checkpoint. I can do this. I get up to run for the core so I can use my Utra Strikes in hopes of stealing the portal back. I have plenty of those.
Booking it, I'm in a full on panic. "Get out of my way! There is less than a minute left"!
Pushing past a sea of indolence to race outside is the last thing I remember before blackness.
When I wake up, my head is pounding and Mike is standing over me in the nurse's office.
"Mike? What happened?" I try to move.
"Don't sit up. They're not sure if you have a concussion."
"Oh f&*! The Plaque!"
"You ran right into the glass door of the cafeteria," he tells me with a smirk.
"Where's my phone?" I shout.
"Joan, I finally got you away from your phone," he says, now laughing.
My cheeks heat up. "Mike, you don't understand! I was defending humanity from the Shapers! I might have f&*ed things up for my entire cell!"
He stared at me, unmoving. Suddenly, I'm embarrassed. The boy has no idea what I'm talking about.
"Don't worry. I got it for you."
"What?" He's making no sense.
"When I saw you knock yourself out, I grabbed my scanner and finished the job. I innoculated, killed, then capped the Plaque, deployed as fast as I could, modded and stood over the core to make sure no one else could try and Ultra Strike before we hit Checkpoint. The link came in and we got the field up just in time. 10 layers over half the state!"
I lay there, nearly ready to pass out, again. The words coming out of him were alian. Not because I didn't understand them but because they were coming out of his mouth.
"Who are you?"
"Agent Crazy88. Pleasure to meet you."
"I.. I..." I am in so much shock I can't even remember where I recognize his username. Searching my memories for logs, lore, email updates, YouTube vids, decoding chats, global chats, Enlightened and Resistance newsfeeds, Sitreps, I hone in...
"Wait, are you that guy that took the kayak out into the middle of the river last year? You borrowed a boat from the Ranger's shed, your uncle, in the dead of winter, to take out that green link. It ended up squashing the frog's six month international Operation right before the end of the Cycle".
"That's me". Suddenly, I find myself feeling hot in ways I had not previously thought possible. He is a god.
"You are a god!"
With a chuckle, he says, "No, no. I wouldn't go that far. But, now that I have your attention, I was wondering if you wouldn't mind going on a date with me? A dinner date? We can hit the frog farm afterwards. It's much easier making them hop with the two of us instead of just one."
"Hell yeah! I'm in." And, with that I can't help myself. I grab his face. This is gonna be an fun ride.