The Return Read online

  Clockwork:

  The Return

  Volume 2

  Copyright © 2019 by Nata Valerio.

  All Rights Reserved.

  COPYRIGHT

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

  Table of Contents

  CHAPTER 1 Virtual Space

  CHAPTER 2 Rising Nation

  CHAPTER 3 The Second Awakening

  CHAPTER 4 Return

  CHAPTER 5 Return Part 2

  CHAPTER 6 Payback

  CHAPTER 7 Wrecking

  CHAPTER 8 Body Building

  CHAPTER 9 Sky Whale Base

  CHAPTER 10 Dungeon Theory

  CHAPTER 11 The Clockwork’s Wrath

  CHAPTER 12 Crushing Pride

  CHAPTER 13 Sky War

  CHAPTER 14 Childish ChitChat

  CHAPTER 15 Game Masters

  CHAPTER 16 Willpower

  CHAPTER 17 The Real Boss

  CHAPTER 18 The Deadliest Weapon, Innocence

  CHAPTER 19 Fame

  CHAPTER 20 Air Assault

  CHAPTER 21 Pirate Genocide

  CHAPTER 22 The Patch

  CHAPTER 23 Home Sweet Home

  CHAPTER 1 Virtual Space

  Nathaniel PoV

  We were finally out of the game and in our special virtual space.

  Normally the place would have a single living room kitchen, a bedroom and small bathroom for me but that kind of changed with Sasha (Nova) here.

  We were given a special option to more freely design the place. I was given a limit by points I could use to make my space, but Sasha has nearly four times the points to use.

  I first set up the three basic rooms and two bathrooms which were all free since they were basic needs. Living room was bland with a simple three-seater sofa and a small 30-inch TV. Near the door was a counter which separated the kitchen and living room and acted like a table for us. The kitchen had several shelves, a small stove, an oven and a microwave. There were a few ornaments to spruce the place up, but it was still bland.

  My room was the same, single bed that looked somewhat comfortable but still had a kind of military feel. The room also had a simple desk with a laptop. Next to that were a few books on a bookshelf.

  The bookshelf held books that range from fantasy novels to high school workbooks.

  It was all the stuff I missed because of that bitch sending me to jail.

  We moved on to Sasha's room. It was much more decorated. A pale pink color on one of the walls while the others are peach, the room was decorated for an 8-year-old.

  A large single bed with a few stuffed animal pillows, which had her jumping moments after entering the room.

  Her room also had bookshelves and a desk. Hers held child stories and elementary school workbooks.

  Besides that, cabinets that had lots of clothes. I remember my room had one, but it was all simple clothes.

  She was happy to have such a childish room.

  Now, about those points I talked about. It seemed they were the special prize we got. Sasha probably would already had some, but not me. I had100 points and she had 400 points.

  The points were consumed depending on the cost of items.

  The first thing I bought was an ‘outside.’ This virtual space didn't have that, but the option existed. Because it also came with a children’s playground, I bought it using Sasha's points since she would use it more. I found out things that were hers would change over time to match her age. It cost 70 points to get a grassy outdoors with all the elements and feeling.

  I then added some color to the bland living room. Wooden floors and new painted walls which were peach colored.

  The improvements to this room cost 10 points for both, but they were shared between us.

  I added windows which were missing from the room, they cost another five points for me. Then I went to my room and did the same. 25 points remaking the floors, walls and adding windows, then 30 points to get a new bed which looked much better and less military like.

  With the last remaining 30 points, I upgraded the laptop to something newer, 15 points, and upgraded the bookshelves to include books about mechanics and basic to advanced level programming with the other 15.

  With my points capped, I went to Sasha's room and added the windows, curtains and new floorings for 25 of her points.

  10 points for some toys which appeared in a box. 10 for new storybooks and study books up to middle school and 50 points to connect both of our bookshelves into the game which allowed me to see the books in a window, in game.

  All this totaled 150 points.

  Thinking about the extra points I shrugged it off, thinking it best to save them for the future.

  Oh, I did make sure to make the kitchen a bit bigger using another 20 points of hers and added a fridge. Though we didn't need food, after spending four months in game without needing to eat, the desire for it rose greatly.

  I'm not some pro so I went for simple white rice, beans and some cooked chicken. Something we always ate. I called Sasha who was covered in dirt outside. I made her take a bath before we ate.

  The feeling of real food was nice and even though the food was made by someone who doesn't cook much, it came out well enough. The lack of taste stimulation left us sensitive, so the taste appeared more, but it was good all the same.

  Happy to finally get some rest I turned the TV on. A notice appeared saying time was still warped and most of what we could watch was from about a month earlier.

  It began playing news, talk shows and cartoons. We had a few channels to watch but most were for Sasha. Only news and talk shows were left for me, and TNT so at least I could watch a movie or two while she played or when she began doing the homework, I planned to make for her.

  Now that I had the resources, I could keep my promise to mom and dad and properly educate her.

  We watched some cartoons together for a few hours before I left her and entered her room. I grabbed several books on all elementary school subjects before taking them to my room.

  I laid them down on the desk and sat. It was surprised to see an option appear just like in the game.

  Detected the presence of schoolwork below your age grade. Due to having a younger sibling you have the option of quick learning this material and make a test or learn yourself and make a test.

  If first option is done, the system will do something known as cycle learning. This is where it will feel like you have gone through several classes with the material present while only several minutes have passed. The speed is much more rapid so more than three subjects are not advised.

  To make the test, you have the option of using paper or a computer. With the computer you can print the test, or you can give the test on the computer.

  What kind of learning method do you want to use?

  Slow method

  Fast method

  What do you want to use to make the test?

  Make on computer and print

  Write on blank paper

  I blinked a few times and re-read the message then started chuckling. It was obvious, I pressed ‘Fast method’ and ‘Make on computer and print’.

  Suddenly my vision goes black and I find myself in a classroom. In front of me is one of my old teachers.

  After that I spent what felt like weeks in that classroom studying math, science and literature. Once I had everything in all the books in my head I woke up and blinked several times. I looked around and saw nothing different. Walking out of the room I looked at Sasha who was watching Ed, Edd and Eddy from the cartoon network channel and laughing h
ysterically.

  I looked at the clock and saw that only five minutes had passed since I went into my room. It was also then that I noticed a slight headache most likely caused by the rapid speed classes I went through. My brain was probably on overdrive already as it processed the information. I think it wasn’t as bad because it was all elementary school stuff, but it still hurt a bit.

  I let myself calm down before making my sister's homework. She will hate it, but it wasn’t something I was going to let her tantrums overpower me in since I promised mom and dad.

  I drank some water just for the sake of it since it helped calm the mind when doing something you're familiar with.

  It helped stop the throbbing so I headed to my laptop in my room and looked through the forums and my email that had been left alone for three years since I went to jail so a lot had piled up but mostly junk mail.

  The forums held a lot of expectations. The players from the races that succeeded were telling about the races, traits, race skills or about the starting location at the time. I didn’t care much for it, so I switched to Word. Using the textbooks and what I learned from them, I made a packet for each subject with 50 questions each, all easy questions but they would make Sasha think a bit. I would obviously help her, but I wasn’t going to do it for her.

  As I finished the last one after four long hours of searching and typing Sasha walked in.

  “Hey bro, there is an old police guy at the door,” Sasha shouted.

  I looked at her curiously and got up and walked out of the room. Poking my head out I looked to the open door and see my juvenile detention center’s warden standing at the door.

  “Nathaniel.” The warden nodded.

  I nodded back to him. I waved, calling him inside, to which he naturally did.

  “First off the techs from the company said that in the menu there is a notepad window option. It was made for notes, but in your case it can be used for texting and talking with others like you did in the game. I must say, you sure got a lot of fame with the company employees. They really love the Clockwork Crew who were even able to fight the magma golem with only four clockwork and three elementals.”

  I listened to him talk while I brought up the menu and opened the notepad.

  “Sir, did you come to simply congratulate us?” I asked.

  “To get a reply from you sure is nice even though it's from a text. No, it wasn’t just congratulating you and your sister for the great job you did. We noticed that simply dropping everyone into a game world and leaving you all there isn’t enough to integrate you back into society properly since the game's setting isn’t the same as ours. That’s why we made something like a small town. It’s connected to all the special spaces of all the juvenile convicts. You can learn and interact with each other and various NPCs around it. The NPCs are very free, and each one is a different AI, so they are like any living being. I just came to tell you about it. Oh, you can’t invite other convicts to your space, each space is like the inside of each capsule so it won’t let them in. Well I think that’s all, me and many of the guards at the center have access and we are patrolling the town, if you need anything just look for our badge. Good day you two.” He nodded and walked back out. We followed him out and saw a large door in the middle of the outside area. He opened it and we could see some houses and streets that weren’t there in our space.

  “Wow that’s cool. Did you see, it’s like another world on the other side,” Sasha said with shining eyes filled with childish glee.

  “Yeah, we will go later,” I said.

  “Kay!” She ran back in and hopped onto the sofa and continued watching the cartoons.

  I returned and finished the homework and printed. The next moment, a printer appeared, and the pages rapidly rolled through. Once the first packet was done it was stapled by the system. With it done, I picked up the books I used and took them out to the living room and put them down on the table. It grabbed Sasha’s attention.

  “What’s that?” Sasha asked.

  I walk up to her and pick her up like I did when she was smaller and liked being held by mom, dad or me.

  “Homework, yours,” I said.

  “Eh?” She tilted her head while looking with her large clear brown eyes directly into mine. “What homework?”

  “The homeschooling homework I made for you. I promised mom and dad I would continue homeschooling you so…” I sat her down on the chair which was right in front of the packets and books and grabbed another chair. After grabbing one of my own books I wanted to study I sat next to her. “I will be tutoring you even when we are in the game. You aren’t going to escape this even if you beg, cry, hit, or anything,” I said.

  Her mouth opened and closed as she tried to find some words or excuse but as soon as she turned to the TV, I shut it off and disconnected it before making it vanish as I stored it away using the menus which only I have control over.

  “Give up, the game is one thing, a promise to mom and dad is another.” I say.

  “Muu!” She sat down pouting, which I thought was cute, and looks at the books.

  I put the math packet and book in front of her and opened to the first chapter. I began schooling her until I noticed it had gotten too boring and she was spacing out.

  Giving up, I gave her time to watch some TV and play outside before getting back to work. All the while, I read about basic level software programming and worked on some of it on my laptop. When it got too boring, I finally decided to go outside. I changed my clothes to something a bit more social, plain green shirt and jeans with some normal shoes, and helped choose some clothes for Sasha, which she changed into, knee length jean shorts and a short sleeve pink shirt.

  We finally left the virtual space prepared for us and entered the town made for the convicts.

  It was rather large. As soon as we walked out the door, we found ourselves in a residential area with a number of small houses, all of them just like the one behind us which held our virtual space.

  There were two name plates on the door after I closed it. The town was quiet but as we moved towards the urban area of the central space where things were sold or events took place it became much noisier. Most people I saw were kids or young adults that were probably not over 18 yet. I also saw quite a number of military police officers and normal police walking about and talking with the kids.

  In many streets we could find stores with various utilities and lot, and I mean a lot, of lunch trailers making fresh food for the guests. You actually had to pay for it. Seemed we had money there, I opened my menu and looked a bit before I found it.

  In the corner I found $4000 dollars and next to it was an exclamation mark [!] shining. I pressed it and a window appeared.

  The money you have is what you earned for your good actions during the game. Once per real month all juvenile convicts will be allowed a break where they get money for their actions or are penalized for them.

  By completing your race quest almost alone $1,000

  For saving the dwarves, goblin, gnome and elf races $2000

  For getting rid of evil humans after properly finding proof of their deeds. $500

  For taking gnomes to dwarves and further mixing the race techniques with clockwork and dwarven technology $500

  For more money you can create/find game items/loot and auction them off on the company LIFE’s main site.

  Well that was convenient. I also think that most of the money was doubled because of Sasha being there and helping me through it, mainly because of the ‘almost alone’ part in the first one.

  Well who was I to complain.

  I went to a less packed lunch truck. I bought a large sandwich and split it down the middle passing half to Sasha.

  As we talked with each other and enjoyed the good food, I suddenly felt someone looking at me and look up.

  “Nathaniel,” a voice called.

  Standing there was the biggest bitch I knew. Looking somewhat skinnier and less bright than before but still t
he same person who sent me to jail, Bianca Castel.

  Slowly my hate, resentment and rage began to boil and without knowing it, I began squeezing my lunch in my hand as I ground my teeth.

  Suddenly two police appeared next to me and each put on hand on each shoulder. The touch momentarily startled me out of my focused rage.

  “Calm down. It’s best to return to your virtual space. Cool down a bit, take a bath and just wash, relax. If you do anything you will regret it will only end worse for you,” he said.

  I breathed deeply a few times as adrenaline pumped in my body but slowly it returned to normal. I glared at the bitch before getting up and nodding at the police.

  “I’ll leave it to you then,” I wrote to the police. “Let’s go Sasha, we can finish on the way or back home,” I said.

  “Something wrong bro?” she asked.

  I frowned but tried to hide it. “Bro... isn’t feeling good.”

  She nodded and followed after me after we got a few plastic bags to carry the lunch.

  “Wai…” Bianca tried to call out but was stopped by the cops.

  “Sorry but as you might have seen, just seeing you almost made him attack. Give him time, you heard it right, at least with his sister he talks. Let him slowly reopen himself,” he said.

  “I… understand… sir.” Her head dropped as she turned the other way and walked off.

  When we returned home, we finished the lunches, and had Sasha go take a bath. Once she was in, I began to let my rage loose as I stomped and almost punched the wall. I opened the menu and the room spaces. There were two rooms I wanted, but I picked one of them and bought it with 25 of Sasha’s points, it was shameful but who really thinks when they are angry.

  I bought a training room. Punching bags were hanging and other equipment was lined up. I ran at the punching bag after locking the door and began screaming in rage while punching the bag.

  After five minutes of discharging my rage, I collapsed and soon after tears began falling. So much emotion I bottled up burst open in rage and sadness one after the other. Every so often I would get up and another fit of rage happened which I took out on the bag before more tears fell.