Level up, p.6
Level Up, page 6
“Probably?” I repeated. My hands had completely disappeared now and the rest of me was going the same way. “Mum, tell us – what else could happen? Quickly!”
“Well, if you don’t jump out of Star Smasher,” she said, “then I suppose it’s possible the game could just reset with you in it.”
Max let out a moan. “You mean we might have to do this all over again?”
Mum didn’t look convinced. “It’s possible, though I doubt it,” she said. “But something that does concern me slightly is that this game was launched inside a Game Library application.”
“G-Locker,” I said. “It stores all my games.”
Mum nodded. “Yes, and while I think it quite unlikely, there is the chance that instead of simply jumping out of this game, you might in fact jump into—”
Mum’s voice cut out abruptly as the entire world turned black. All I could see was Max next to me … and there, in front of us, in giant neon green letters, the words:
I woke up with a jolt. I tried to look around but the room was in total darkness. I was definitely in bed. My bed? Was this my room? Why did my head feel so heavy?
Everything started coming back to me. Mum’s device, entering the video game with Max, the tanks, the spaceships, Rhett ‘the Red Ghost’ Hodges, Gary and his dad the Emperor.
Had it all been a dream?
I let out a groan. Of course it had been a dream. You can’t get sucked into a video game. It had seemed so real at the time, but dreams always do, don’t they? And then you wake up and they quickly fade from your mind.
I couldn’t help feeling a little cheated.
Although it had to be said, this dream didn’t seem to be fading that quickly.
“Flo? Are you there?”
It was Max. I tried to remember if Max had been allowed to stay over last night, and couldn’t. “Max?” I said. “Where are you?”
“Um, in bed, I guess,” he said. “My head feels like a brick, by the way. It’s like I’ve still got that space armour on.”
“Space … armour?” I repeated. Before I could ask him anything else there came a knock on the door.
“Who’s that?” asked Max.
“It must be Mum,” I said, pulling myself out of bed. My legs felt weird, almost like they’d been encased in cement. In fact, my entire body did.
“I can’t see anything,” said Max. “Can you put on the light?”
“Er … yeah, sure,” I said, slowly moving towards the place where the knocking sound had come from and trying not to trip over anything in the process.
“OW!” I shouted.
“What is it?” asked Max.
“I just walked into the wall,” I said. I ran my hands over it and found something small sticking out. “On the plus side, I think I’ve found the light switch.”
I clicked the switch and let out a scream that was immediately echoed by Max. Or something that looked kind of like Max, except…
“You’re made of bricks!” I screamed.
“So are you!” he yelled back.
That was when I realized this wasn’t my bedroom. We were in some kind of cabin made from wooden-looking blocks. Without thinking, I opened the front door. Standing outside in the moonlight was a green, scaly, tentacled monster made entirely from bricks.
Max and I looked at each other.
“ARRRRRRGHHHHHHHHH!”
To be continued…
STRIPES PUBLISHING LIMITED
An imprint of The Little Tiger Group
1 Coda Studios, 189 Munster Road,
London SW6 6AW
First published as an ebook by Stripes Publishing Limited in 2019
Text copyright © Tom Nicoll, 2019
Illustrations copyright © Anjan Sarkar, 2019
eISBN: 978–1–78895–137–1
The right of Tom Nicoll and Anjan Sarkar to be identified as the author and illustrator of this work respectively has been asserted by them in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988.
All rights reserved.
Apart from any use permitted under UK copyright law, this publication may only be reproduced, stored, or transmitted, in any forms, or by any means, with prior permission in writing of the publishers or, in the case of reprographic production, in accordance with the terms of licences issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency.
A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
www.littletiger.co.uk
Tom Nicoll, Level Up
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“Well, if you don’t jump out of Star Smasher,” she said, “then I suppose it’s possible the game could just reset with you in it.”
Max let out a moan. “You mean we might have to do this all over again?”
Mum didn’t look convinced. “It’s possible, though I doubt it,” she said. “But something that does concern me slightly is that this game was launched inside a Game Library application.”
“G-Locker,” I said. “It stores all my games.”
Mum nodded. “Yes, and while I think it quite unlikely, there is the chance that instead of simply jumping out of this game, you might in fact jump into—”
Mum’s voice cut out abruptly as the entire world turned black. All I could see was Max next to me … and there, in front of us, in giant neon green letters, the words:
I woke up with a jolt. I tried to look around but the room was in total darkness. I was definitely in bed. My bed? Was this my room? Why did my head feel so heavy?
Everything started coming back to me. Mum’s device, entering the video game with Max, the tanks, the spaceships, Rhett ‘the Red Ghost’ Hodges, Gary and his dad the Emperor.
Had it all been a dream?
I let out a groan. Of course it had been a dream. You can’t get sucked into a video game. It had seemed so real at the time, but dreams always do, don’t they? And then you wake up and they quickly fade from your mind.
I couldn’t help feeling a little cheated.
Although it had to be said, this dream didn’t seem to be fading that quickly.
“Flo? Are you there?”
It was Max. I tried to remember if Max had been allowed to stay over last night, and couldn’t. “Max?” I said. “Where are you?”
“Um, in bed, I guess,” he said. “My head feels like a brick, by the way. It’s like I’ve still got that space armour on.”
“Space … armour?” I repeated. Before I could ask him anything else there came a knock on the door.
“Who’s that?” asked Max.
“It must be Mum,” I said, pulling myself out of bed. My legs felt weird, almost like they’d been encased in cement. In fact, my entire body did.
“I can’t see anything,” said Max. “Can you put on the light?”
“Er … yeah, sure,” I said, slowly moving towards the place where the knocking sound had come from and trying not to trip over anything in the process.
“OW!” I shouted.
“What is it?” asked Max.
“I just walked into the wall,” I said. I ran my hands over it and found something small sticking out. “On the plus side, I think I’ve found the light switch.”
I clicked the switch and let out a scream that was immediately echoed by Max. Or something that looked kind of like Max, except…
“You’re made of bricks!” I screamed.
“So are you!” he yelled back.
That was when I realized this wasn’t my bedroom. We were in some kind of cabin made from wooden-looking blocks. Without thinking, I opened the front door. Standing outside in the moonlight was a green, scaly, tentacled monster made entirely from bricks.
Max and I looked at each other.
“ARRRRRRGHHHHHHHHH!”
To be continued…
STRIPES PUBLISHING LIMITED
An imprint of The Little Tiger Group
1 Coda Studios, 189 Munster Road,
London SW6 6AW
First published as an ebook by Stripes Publishing Limited in 2019
Text copyright © Tom Nicoll, 2019
Illustrations copyright © Anjan Sarkar, 2019
eISBN: 978–1–78895–137–1
The right of Tom Nicoll and Anjan Sarkar to be identified as the author and illustrator of this work respectively has been asserted by them in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988.
All rights reserved.
Apart from any use permitted under UK copyright law, this publication may only be reproduced, stored, or transmitted, in any forms, or by any means, with prior permission in writing of the publishers or, in the case of reprographic production, in accordance with the terms of licences issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency.
A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
www.littletiger.co.uk
Tom Nicoll, Level Up
