Walmart Must Die

Link: VII

After Jetta was finished beating me up it wasn't long before we ended up back at my least favorite part of our nightly adventures: the elevator.

"We meet again, my old foe," I said with a glare.

"For the love of—do you have to say that every time?" Jetta groaned.

"Why, yes, yes, I do."

Zero laughed and moved to the front of the group and pressed the elevator call button. "It'll be okay, Link."

"How can you know that? You aren't at least a little freaked out about it?"

"I am, but—"

"It hasn't killed us yet," Neo finished for her.

"Exactly," said Zero just as the elevator made its usual fast approach followed by the ding!

Oh how I dreaded that noise.

Everyone filed in and I grudgingly followed. The doors slid shut and we were locked inside. I went to the nearest corner and sat down in a ball, the best way to combat the scary speed of the elevator.

To my surprise, Zero hunkered down beside me.

"I lied," she said. "It does freak me out quite a bit. Let's stick together, it'll be okay."

In that moment, I think I first realized just how truly great Zero was.

#

The elevator dinged as your group of friends landed on the Electronic's Department floor, still the only option lit up on the controls.

You stand up, wobble a bit from the ride down, and offer your hand to Link where he was still curled in a ball. He takes it, grateful, and you pull him to his feet.

"You two do okay?" Jetta asked, holding back a laugh.

"A'okay," Link said even though he looked like he would throw up. You flashed an 'okay' sign and Jetta's laugh spilled out.

Neo was quick to reign in the cheerful mood. "Okay, Zero, let me explain a bit more how this works. Each section of the store has a certain amount of floors in it. We don't know how many, but there should be at least five. The elevator only takes us to the beginning of a section, the rest of the way we go by stairs. Until we beat the 'boss'—then a new location opens up on the elevator."

You nod, it was a simple enough system just weird, like everything else you'd seen and done in the past few days.

The doors slide open and Neo steps out, drawing his weapons from under his coat.

"They haven't attacked us on a cleared floor before but I'm still unsure that they can't so... keep your eyes open."

All of you raise your weapons and follow him out into the store.

It's quiet but like the other night the ceiling lights are still on, blinding in their intensity.

"Their power bill is probably huge," you remark.

Neo chuckles. "It would be, but like K-Mart, the lower levels are self powering."

"That reminds me... why is it like that? How were we able to use our powers there last night?"

"Once upon a time, K-Mart was the big bad." That was an information bombshell but Neo said it so nonchalantly that you thought maybe you were misunderstanding him.

"Wait, that means that K-Mart is like this underneath?"

"Not anymore!" Link cut in. "Good old Neo vanquished them a long time ago. That arena room is about all that's left."

"What? You took them on alone?" you asked, amazed.

"No. I had help." The way he said it and the looks Jetta and Link gave you made it seem like that was a touchy subject. You decided to resist asking anymore questions about his past team mates, as hard as that was.

"What about other K-Marts, ones that are still open, are they evil?"

"Pfft, K-Mart isn't evil, just out dated," said Link. "In a cool way sometimes. Did you know that they sold Nintendo 64 stuff for waaaay super long? That kind of out dated I can get behind."

Neo ignored Link and answered your question more seriously, "I'm not sure. I haven't been to any to investigate. All I know, is it was evil when it came here. They were on the road to becoming just as bad as Walmart is today. But we beat them. And not too long after that their momentum was stopped and they are a shadow of their former self. I like to think that what we did made all the difference but perhaps there were people like us fighting back all over the country. I have no way of knowing."

You were amazed. No matter which was true, that Neo's fight had done them in on its own, or that there were other groups out there, it still garnered amazement. You don't know which you would prefer it to be. On one hand others would be cool, a huge network of people fighting back. But on the other hand being alone felt more meaningful, made you feel more powerful and the fight super important.

"If there's others out there, how do you think Walmart got to be so strong?" you ask.

"They're losing. I'd imagine that would mean that no one else has won. So, no matter what, we're going to be the first to do it."

Your excitement was reaching crazy levels, you couldn't wait to get started.

By that time, your party had reached the far side of the floor and, sure enough, there was a flight of stairs, leading both up and down. The floor above you must have been where they fought the janitor.

"Ah, finally, now this I can handle!" Link said cheerfully as he ran ahead down the stairs.

"Link, wait!" Neo called after him but he didn't listen. "I swear, sometimes he's just so careless. Come on, let's go."

Neo led the way after him and you and Jetta sped off behind him. The stairs brought you back to the familiar darkness and you didn't see Neo as you crashed into him.

"Whoa!" Jetta exclaimed as she bumped into you. "What's the hold up?"

"Guys," Link said from in front of Neo, gesturing at the new floor. "We just hit the jackpot."