Ice Flower

Chapter 13

"This is it."

Playmaker, Soulburner, and Blue Maiden looked at the ginormous maze in front of them. It was misty, and the virtual sun was hidden behind clouds, making it hard to see, but even so, they could tell one thing.

"This place is spooky," Soulburner commented, saying what they were all thinking. He poked at the dark green ivy that coated medieval-looking rock walls. "Are there ghosts in here or something?"

"Don't know. I actually found this place just a few hours ago. I haven't had the chance to enter yet." Glacier shrugged. 

When the others began to enter, she motioned for them to stop.

"What is it?" Playmaker asked, his voice tense. He didn't sense any traps around, but that didn't mean that there weren't.

"I'm waiting for someone. She should be here soon."

"Who?" Blue Maiden asked.

"Glacier!" A voice called.

They all looked over to see a girl of about twelve or thirteen years old running over to them. She had short white hair with pink highlights, and wore cloths matching to Glacier's except with pink leggings instead of blue.

"Everyone, this is Snow," Glacier introduced. "Snow, this is Playmaker, Soulburner, and Blue Maiden."

Snow's warm brown eyes light up. "Wow! It's such an honor to meet you guys!"

"It green to meet you, too." Blue Maiden smiled and held out her hand, which Snow eagerly shook. The others did the same.

"Snow is probably the only reason you guys haven't found out my real world identity yet," Glacier added. "She's quite the tech genius, even though she-"

"No I'm not!" Snow's checks flushed red.

"-likes to downplay it," Glacier finished. "If it wasn't for her, I'd be hopeless."

"It makes sense that you would have someone else working with you," Soulburner noted. "Was she the one who erases your duels for you?"

"Actually, I created a program that does that." Snow smiled. "I make sure that people can't track her login information. It's harder than it used to be though, what with the Knights of Hanoi, you all, and SOL Tech on our tail."

"That's a lot for one person," Playmaker said.

"I guess I can just type fast."

"Now that the introductions are over, let's get the show on the road." Glacier clapped her hands. "Snow?"

"Right!" Snow jumped. A screen appeared above her duel disk. It seemed to be the newest model, unlike Glacier's. "So according to what I've come up with so far, there are two routs through the maze. Each one has four trials that we need to finish, and the trials are different for each rout. Both routs take an equal amount of time and are equally difficult, so it doesn't really matter which we take, though most of us will be better at some than others."

"Do you know what kind of trials are in each rout?" Blue Maiden asked.

"No. The only people who know that are probably the people who work here. It also doesn't say how to find the paths or what directions that we need to take. They probably just have to memorize that." Snow shut off her screen. 

"Thanks." Glacier smiled. "Oh, and Playmaker? You won't be able to contact the person who helps you from the outside world when we enter, so I suggest that you let him know that. You too, Blue Maiden."

Blue Maiden gasped. "How did you-?"

Playmaker's eyes narrowed at Snow, who promptly looked away.

"Sorry," the girl squeaked. "G wanted to know who you all were in the real world, so I might have done some hacking and pulled a few strings... I couldn't find out who you really were, but I did discover that you all live somewhere in Den City and both have people who occasionally help you."

Blue Maiden frowned but didn't comment. She and Playmaker sent messages to Akira and Kolter, telling them that they wouldn't be able to contact them for a while. Both got answers that included some variation of 'be careful'.

That finished, they entered the maze.