Unchosen Champion

The interior of the offshore oil platform was nearly shrouded in shadow as the fading sunlight struggled to illuminate through overlapping pipes and metal grates. The day’s light fled the emptied structure and Coop was prepared to do the same. It was the end of a long day in a series of long days, but Coop had successfully completed his quest. He was ready to return to Ghost Reef and upgrade the settlement.

The Endless Empire’s challenge to his ownership of the civilization shard remained, so he needed to get back and defend his position as Champion. Coop eyed the timer as it ticked down; there were still over 70 hours left. The idea of letting the timer expire so that he could just focus entirely on his own progression didn’t even cross his mind. He’d already internalized his responsibilities to the settlement and its residents.

Coop approached the edge of the fifth level of the platform to confirm that the ship was still there waiting for him. The sun was setting in the distance, streaks of red and orange covered the western sky like the withering flames of a dying bonfire. Coop leaned over the railing and found the ship rolling gently with the ocean swells in the dimming light. He knew Charlie and Camila wouldn’t leave without him, they’d already come this far to help him when they believed he needed to be rescued from the island, so he saw no reason to doubt either of them.

However, it didn’t seem like he would have the luxury of enjoying the sunset with his reliable friends this evening. The crew of the ship were all gathered on the upper deck where they appeared to be reaching the conclusion of a conflict.

The Outrider was crouched low on the balls of her feet, dual wielding daggers, and positioned defensively in front of the prone Honorguard and his discarded shield. She was facing the sneering Puppeteer who stood confidently upright with both of his arms spread. Both of his hands were extended toward the Outrider with all five fingers splayed out like he was controlling a marionette, though the threads were invisible.

Further behind the Outrider and her Honorguard partner was Camila. She was also knocked down, with her back leaning heavily against the wall of the elevated rear deck. Her legs extended forward, flat against the aged planks, with her ankles locked together by the invisible threads of the Puppeteer. She had a swollen knot on her otherwise unblemished forehead where she had clearly received a heavy blow.

Coop identified Charlie by process of elimination as there was one more figure that had been completely wrapped up in so much thread it formed a white cocoon. She was suspended against the wall next to Camila, and even though she kicked and struggled to free herself, she was completely bound from head to toe.

On the oil platform, Coop was hundreds of feet above the ship, but he was more or less directly above. It wouldn't take a very long spear throw to target the deck, bypassing the stairs and ladders down to the platform and saving plenty of time. He dismissed his sword and summoned his ethereal spear, keeping his shield.

Leaning precariously over the side he tested the wind, gauging how he would join the party. Coop would keep everyone in front of him until he was sure of the situation, so he would aim to land directly behind the Puppeteer. It was clear that Camila and Charlie hadn’t been a part of any plot to kill him or steal the settlement, but he couldn’t be certain of the rest.

Since Coop was fashionably late and would be making a dramatic entrance, he took a moment to change his armor’s color scheme while he lined up a shot. The armor went from his standard dull gray metal and earthy brown leather to shiny gold and bronze. His shield and spear matched, interwoven with swirls of gold in the shield’s round surface and bands of gold and bronze along the spear. He let his spear fly and the gold tips caught the remnants of the smoldering sunset.

The spear whistled through the air until it smashed into the wooden deck. It landed closer to the Puppeteer than Coop had meant to, but it wasn’t like he was making a stealthy approach anyway. The spear impacted the deck like a meteor. The wooden planks of the carrack buckled, throwing shards of wood into the air, pausing the fight, and drawing everyone’s attention.

The Puppeteer spun around, eyes wide, startled by the sudden explosion in his blind spot. He turned fast enough to see Coop materialize out of the mist like he was an avenging golden angel, descended from the heavens, just casually stepping through a doorway. His expression warped into one of bewilderment as Coop leveled his spear. The Puppeteer opened his mouth to speak, but Coop didn’t show him any mercy and stabbed him through the neck, killing him instantly. He was the only one Coop was sure he needed to kill, so he didn’t hesitate.

As the Puppeteer’s body fell lifelessly backwards, Coop raised his shield and pointed his spear at the Outrider. She gaped at the ornate gold, bronze, and metallic speartip, dripping with blood, as it was revealed behind the Puppeteer’s falling body, aimed at her. The Honorguard remained on the ground behind her while Camila and Charlie were both even further behind. Camila watched Coop while Charlie continued to struggle against her restraints with renewed effort after hearing his crashing entrance.

The Outrider dropped her twin daggers and lifted her hands, palms out, and yelled, “Wait!” Her daggers clattered against the deck.

Coop waited, but didn’t lower his weapon. Hunched as he was behind his shield he only kept his eyes above the edge, watching her carefully. Even though she looked like she was surrendering, people could cast spells nowadays. For all he knew she was lining up an attack while attempting to lower his guard by appearing to surrender.

“We’re not with them! We didn’t know about their plan!” The Outrider tried to make her position clear. Coop could at least recognize that she really didn’t intend to fight him, so he finally relaxed, standing back up and aiming his spear at the darkening sky.

Coop stepped forward to release Camila and Charlie from their bindings. As he moved he was immediately accosted by stringy, sticky threads, like he was walking through a series of spiderwebs. The lines were everywhere, hanging from the sails to the railings and all along the deck of the ship. He waved his hand in front of him and shook it to get the annoying webs off.

“Don’t move!” The Outrider exclaimed, shocked by his lack of caution. “The ship is full of traps, the threads are like… razors…” Her warning grew fainter as she watched Coop walk through the traps, oblivious to their danger, but also unharmed. Coop’s magic defense was way too high to be affected by the Puppeteer’s feeble strings. Of the many advantages Coop was developing, the one he was most confident in was his magic defense.

For her part she was covered with scratches, it looked like she had run through a forest of thistles, but she was the only one that still stood against the Puppeteer. The Honorguard was also bloodied from scrapes. Camila was less harmed, but she had obviously been battered and she was firmly bound by the threads.

Coop continued past the Outrider and stepped around the rousing Honorguard to reach Charlie’s suspended position. He carefully cut her loose with the edge of his spear and caught her when she fell. Once she was freed she sat down, gasping. While she caught her breath and watched Coop with wide eyes, he moved on to cut the lines that wrapped up Camila’s legs.

“Coop.. what happened to you?” Charlie asked timidly once she had recovered.

Coop followed her gaze and realized he was still completely covered in dried blood and grime from the days of fighting. It had ruined the dramatic entrance he was going for with his shiny armor, instead he looked a lot more like his class, a Revenant back from the dead and on a mission for vengeance.

“Ah, well, there were zombies.. A bunch of them.” Coop started. “Actually, why don’t you tell me what happened here first.” Coop gestured around the boat, toward the Outrider and Camila. “You all seem to be in worse shape.”

Charlie gathered the Outrider and Honorguard and conjured her gentle healing rain for the group. Camila leaned on Charlie while they recuperated, and gave Coop a sheepish smile. He got the impression she didn’t like needing to be saved and it was already the second time she needed Coop to do so on this trip.

Coop turned to the two strangers who had gathered with the girls, noting that they kept a healthy distance from him. "So, who are you?"

"I'm Amanda," The Outrider started, "and this is Mikey B." She placed her hand on the Honorguard's shoulder and gently massaged.

"Ugh, I feel like I'm comin' down from the worst bender of my life." Mikey announced, groggily, as he pressed his fingers into his temples. Amanda slid a little closer to affectionately wrap her arms around the Honorguard. He stopped rubbing his temples and smiled at her sweetly.

Coop shook his head at the public display and turned back to Camila and Charlie. "What happened?"

Camila answered first. "While we were waiting for you, we all separated into our own groups." Coop nodded, remembering when he observed the separation himself while climbing the floors of the oil platform. Camila pointed at the Puppeteer's body. "He'd been setting up elaborate traps with his web magic while he and Eric, Richard, and Parker were waiting to enact the Empire's plan."

“When we heard the explosions we wanted to make sure you were alright, but they convinced us to make a plan first and had us gather inside the captain’s cabin.” Coop followed along, remembering how he had worried that the Zombie Captain’s flame spells would have been heard on the ship.

“We figured we’d need to rehash the whole ‘who can sail the boat’ thing again and decide who was staying and who was going, but they just locked us inside, promising that they’d bring you back one way or another. When I kicked through the door, I stepped right into the snare traps and got flung around. Charlie tried to help, but once he got her hands tied she couldn’t cut through the strings anymore.” Coop was scowling as he imagined the Puppeteer’s ambush. It seemed like he had a formidable class if he had time to set his traps up.

Mikey spoke up, observing Coop’s expression. “Hey man, I know it looks bad, but we had no idea all that was gonna go down. Kevin just sent us to the boat ‘cause we were the only other people awake when you were ready to head out. We were just supposed to make sure you didn’t try to steal the ship.” Amanda nodded along, confirming Mikey’s story.

“We tried to help once we realized what was going on. When he started talkin’ about putting the girls in their place, how they didn’t deserve special treatment, and he was going to be the one to rightfully bring them down a few pegs, we tried to stop him, but those traps were nasty.” He looked at Amanda and smiled before he nodded appreciatively at Coop. “Lucky you got here in time to take care of business.”

Coop thought it sounded like the entire operation had been a last minute idea from Kevin’s party. They were originally against taking Coop anywhere on the ship, but after they had some time to think about it they decided to try and create an opportunity to steal the settlement for the Empire. They tried to keep Coop and Jones separate to have an easier time taking the civilization shard by force. They still believed Jones was the Champion, so he’d be vulnerable while he lacked Coop as backup and bodyguard.

Coop believed Amanda and Mikey had been roped into the trip without the details of the plot. He didn’t get the impression that they wanted to do anything other than spend time with each other.

“Alright,” Coop checked on Charlie, “When you’re ready, we need to head back. I got a message that Kevin was trying to take ownership of the settlement.” Charlie bobbed her head causing her bangs to bounce, then she eased herself onto her feet.

Amanda’s eyebrows went up as she realized Coop was the Champion if he was getting challenge messages like that and Coop smiled at her.

“What about those other dudes?” Mikey wondered about Eric, Richard, and Parker.

“They tried to assassinate me, but they’re dead now.” Coop explained to mixed reactions from the group. Coop may have been the most disgusted with his actions out of all of them, but even he’d moved towards acceptance.

Mikey took the declaration in stride, “Ah, I guess that’s why you came in so hot, huh?”

“Pretty much.” Coop confirmed with a shrug.

Mikey nodded distractedly, like he was putting a puzzle together. “You’re really strong aren’t ya?”

“I guess I’m getting there. Can’t you see my level?”

“Nah, it’s just question marks. Whatever aura skill you took is a nice one. We’ve just been assuming you were 25.”

Coop thought he’d need to play around with the nuances of his aura. “What about the leaderboards?” He asked as he glanced around the others’ faces. Charlie’s eyes were like saucers and Camila gasped in surprise as they obviously checked for the first time since he appeared.

“What’s your name again?” Mikey asked innocently.

Coop laughed. After he told Amanda and Mikey, it took them a minute for the knowledge that he wasn’t just a factionless person abandoned on an isolated island to settle in. He got to watch them go through various stages of emotion, starting with believing he was playing a trick on them, denial, then shock until they finally accepted it.

Coop had his fun, so he left them to disconnect the ship from the cleats that anchored it to the platform and enable Charlie to get the ship moving. He also dumped the Puppeteer’s body into the ocean for the waiting sharks to take care of, not wanting to haul it back with them.

It would take them longer to get back because Charlie needed to take it slow to keep her regeneration skill running simultaneously, and they were traveling on a curved path to try and get around the mutated seaweed that they were trapped by on the way. Coop would still have plenty of time to take care of the rest.

Mikey B and Amanda took the opportunity to approach Coop. “Yo, is it cool if we stay in your settlement? We didn’t even realize you were the Champion and we were gonna ask the old man when we got back.”

“You okay with quitting the Endless Empire?” Coop prompted.

“Hell yes, especially for views like this.” Mikey B gestured toward the horizon, impressive even in the dark. Only a tiny sliver of orange light hinted at the previous sunset. Coop gazed out and couldn’t blame them. “We were gonna split anyway. Mandy wanted to wait for the right opportunity. Me, I was ready to bounce from the jump. Those aliens rubbed me the wrong way.” Mikey made a face like he was grossed out. “Bossy.”

The couple met each other during the faction’s training and it was a love at first sight situation. Coop was happy for them, it seemed like quite the serendipitous meeting as before the apocalypse they lived in completely different worlds.

Mikey B was a dropout that worked as a gas station clerk. He was exactly the type of character you would expect to find behind the counter. He was able to roll with the punches, take charge if necessary, and was mostly just understanding of people’s vibes. He had the kind of social intelligence that wasn’t taught. Amanda on the other hand was a literal astronaut candidate. She had a doctorate in some advanced mathematics, a master’s in physics, and a general desire to explore, hence her class choice. Apparently, Outrider was a class that encouraged pioneering.

Coop thought they would both be interesting additions to the settlement and suggested giving them responsibilities once everything was stable again. He could have them explore the nearby areas and generally update and reconstruct their maps since Earth had changed. They were both onboard with the idea. Coop left the couple to discuss their futures together. They were like newlyweds on their honeymoon despite an apocalypse being the catalyst for their relationship.

Coop rejoined Charlie and Camila on the upper deck to let them know he was going to rinse off. He dismissed his shiny golden armor and found a bucket on the main deck. He took a seat with his legs through the gaps in the railing and hauled seawater up and started scrubbing. The ocean twinkled with stars reflected from the night sky. Coop let himself enjoy the calm moments, content with completing a major task even with others on the horizon.

He was surprised when he felt gentle hands on his back. Camila had knelt down behind him to help, pulling one of his buckets to her side.

“Thanks for the save… again…” Camila muttered in appreciation, sounding disappointed in herself.

Coop chuckled, “No worries.” He didn’t need to be told she didn’t like needing a rescue, strong as she was.

He washed his face before refilling another bucket. Camila wiped his back with a clean cloth and squeezed it out. Coop felt like he really lucked out with Charlie and Camila coming to the island. They had already put themselves in the middle of a conflict between their faction and another settlement on his behalf. He felt guilty about having them stuck on this boat while he was completing his quest.

Coop apologized, “Sorry, I wasn’t back sooner. I had some stuff to deal with…” He explained, vaguely, not really wanting to bring up all the people he killed.

“They had it coming.” Camila firmly stated, quickly understanding. “I woulda done it myself.” She confidently declared, not letting him interrupt.

Coop looked back at her with his eyebrows up at the homicidal proclamation.

Camila rolled her eyes and lightly shoved his back. “You saw them. Figured I’d need to get it done after we quit the Empire. I woulda wrung that stringy bastard’s neck too if I got my hands on him.” She affirmed, referring to the Puppeteer that Coop had also killed.

“It was a bad matchup for you.” Coop sympathized.

“You don’t need to console me, just shut up and give me more water. You’re filthy.” Camila responded. “There’s only so much you can do without soap.” He refilled the bucket while she kept talking. “We all have lines that can’t be crossed. Yours seems pretty generous since you’re thoughtful and kind. Me? All it takes is them looking at Charlie funny.”

Coop thought about what she said and kept scrubbing and refilling buckets while Camila graciously assisted. The grime slowly came off, but he wouldn’t be fully cleansed without a more thorough cleaning. Camila even rinsed the blood from his hair. Coop let his guard down and enjoyed the attention.

“Hah! It was true!” Camila suddenly teased.

“What?” Coop yelped in surprise as he was pulled out of his thoughts, realizing how familiar they were being and feeling self-conscious.

“Maeve told us you hummed when she ran her fingers on your scalp! And it was totally true!” Camila couldn’t hold back her laughter. “I woulda called it a purr!” She declared between chuckles.

“What? There’s no way I made any sounds. Why would she even tell you that?” Coop tried to defend himself.

He felt Camila pat him on the shoulder, “Girls talk.”

“How would that even be a topic?” Coop pouted.

Camila giggled, “Turns out you’re not the only one. Charlie and I… Well, Maeve thought it was her magic touch, but I have my own ideas.”

“Oh?” Coop couldn’t suppress his curiosity for what ‘Maeve’s magic touch’ was.

Camila dumped the rest of the bucket over his head. “C’mon, Champion, let’s get back to Charlie.” Camila left him sputtering.

When they returned to the upper deck, Charlie was still diligently steering the ship through the darkness. It was a calm, cloudless night where the ocean was as smooth as glass. The stars were bright and there was no wind outside of Charlie’s controlled breeze filling the sails. The only sound was the ship’s bow cutting through the water at a slow but steady pace. It was peaceful enough to forget about any troubles.

Camila bounced up and embraced Charlie from behind. Charlie squeaked in surprise at the sudden attention. Camila wasn’t done. She reached out and grabbed Coop and yanked him into a group hug where she squeezed them all together. Coop succumbed to Camila’s effort and wrapped his arms around both of the girls.

“This is nice.” Charlie conceded with a sigh.

Camila hummed in agreement, “We’ll stick together, watch each other’s backs, won’t we?”

“We still need to get my parents.” Charlie reminded her.

“Of course. We’re a team, we can trust each other.” Camila established, with her forehead against Charlie’s.

“I’ll make sure Ghost Reef is ready for you.” Coop promised. “But if we’re gonna be a team, we need a team name.” Coop stated with complete seriousness, derailing their shared moment. Both girls looked at him like he was nuts, but Coop was undeterred.

“I nominate Charlie’s Angels.” He declared with exaggerated pageantry. Both girls groaned at his idea like it somehow personally offended both of them.

Camila was the first to refuse, “No way. That is totally trademarked. You’ll get in trouble for that idea.”

It was Coop’s turn to look like he heard something crazy. “Trademarks? After the apocalypse? It’s gotta be fair game now.” He argued.

“I wouldn’t risk it, you don’t know about intellectual property laws. You should go back to the drawing board and come up with something original.” Camila advised while sounding a lot like a legal representative.

Charlie just laughed at the two before making it clear she was siding with Camila. The majority was against Coop. They continued to playfully argue and shoot each other’s progressively worse ideas down while the ship carried them back to Ghost Reef.

Between the girls and the residents back home, Coop wouldn’t be facing challenges alone. He would have people to rely on no matter what came in the future. He wanted to be someone they could rely on as well. Coop was determined to work hard and be ready for whatever came next.