The Climber, Chapter Three: Learning the Ropes

Posted on July 17, 2020 by Koloway

ALASKA, CP Army Hub Headquarters, Original Stories Office – The third chapter of the Original Story, The Climber, is here.

Chapter One: Did I Just Enjoy Club Penguin?

Chapter Two: Family Forever

Chapter Three: Learning the Ropes

I sigh and smile reading the messages of the people in the chat. Everyone still seems hyped from the event and the chat is flying. I go to turn off my phone and see a familiar name in the corner of my eye. I quickly scroll up to find that one of the people in the chat has the username “Mermaidbri“. I click on her and message her, “Hi, sorry you don’t know me lol. I wanted to tell you I decided to buddy you, in the middle of the event, because I liked your hair.”

I’m shocked when she replies quickly, and very excitedly, “DON’T KNOW YOU?! NAH, YOU ARE MY BESTIE NOW!”

“Because I sent you a buddy request?” I ask, slightly confused about what I did to get her to be so enthusiastic. “Maybe it is just after the event hype still going to her head.” I think.

“Because you are my fellow WATER WALKERRRRR” After reading this message it clicks.

“Y-you were the same person?? Omg I didn’t even notice haha”

“Really?? lol”

“Not at all to be completely honest, I was having too much fun to notice the name”

“That’s so funny to me!! Anyway yeah, we are like best friends now“

I am actually finding myself laughing out loud at our text messages, and my mind eases a bit about whether or not I will fit in here. I made a friend on my first full day there, so how hard can it be to find my place. Bri and I continue chatting about whatever miscellaneous things come up in conversation until I fall asleep with my phone still in my hand.

The Next Day

I am at the store with my mom, and I’m pushing the shopping cart with my headphones on and lofi flowing through me. I feel myself sway slightly to the beat of the music, falling into the rhythm. As soon as I feel myself settling into the music a ping goes off in my ears and I nearly jump out of my skin. I look down at my phone and see it is a message from Bri. A smile spreads across my face as I open my discord and read the message.

“Omg I love that playlist so much!!“

For about half of a second, I am very confused about how she knows what I am listening to, and then I remember during our conversation last night I added my Spotify to my account so that we could listen to music together.

“Lol, me too!! I listen to this all the time tbh”

“I swear it is like we are the same person sometimes, we should VC sometime.“

“Like on discord? Sure, that would be great! Maybe after the event tonight? I can’t rn because I’m with my mom shopping.“

“Sounds like a plan!”

I am so excited to call Bri that I push my headphones down around my neck and start to hurriedly help my mom get everything on the grocery list. I know that rushing her won’t make the event any sooner, but I don’t want to risk not being home in time. We get everything that we need in half the time that it normally takes, and I think about how I should probably start helping out with the groceries more so that we can always get home quicker. We drive home and get there about an hour before the event is set to start, so I go look at what we are supposed to be wearing this time.

First, I check what the event is and find out it is a tactical boot camp training, whatever that means, at 4 pm est. Next, I look at the uniform channel and see a picture of the uniform. I get on CPR and go to the mine to collect coins so that I can afford the uniform all in one go. Setting up my split-screen, I message Bri. “Hey, are you ready for the event?”

After about eleven minutes, she messages me back, “Heck yeah I’m ready! Are you online already?“

“Yep, getting coins at the mine on Crystal so I can get the uniform.“

“Bet. I’m coming“

A few minutes later Bri logs on and she asks me, in-game, “So wanna VC now?“

“YESSS“

Bri and I chill on VC making small talk and she helps me find the uniform pieces once I have collected enough coins; by the time we are finished the server has been announced as Mammoth so we head over there. The guy who recruited me, Max, is leading the tactics for this event, it seems.

He begins telling us we will be trying out some new tactics and tells us that the mods will be in charge of taking event pictures. I ask Bri what event pictures are and she explains that they are pictures of the events that people take and might end up used for posts about the events. About the same time she is done explaining Max instructs us to hit the keys “E” and “L” on 3. He counts down, taking his time to let people prepare and do it together. He does about five more tactics like that, and then says that we will be doing “no countdown tactics”, and then he gives about 5 tactics giving about 2 seconds between each, ending on “EB” and saying to use the emote bar. I spam “EB” as I can’t remember where the emote bar is, and I accidentally say “Goodbye”. Max sends a picture of the people that said “Goodbye” in chat, and I feel a slight blush go to my face. But, I also feel comfort knowing I am not alone. Bri tells me not to worry as most people don’t realize how to do it at first and explains where the emote bar is to me.

Next, we move to the iceberg and get into a form that looks like a tent. It doesn’t take long for us to get into form, especially with a picture of it drawn out for us. We get into a form that Max calls “Double V Formation,” and I am thankful it came with a picture because the formation is two X’s attached. We do a few more tactics and then move to the stadium. Once at the stadium, we get into two lines and practice walking from one side to the other, whilst holding the form. The first time it’s a bit of a fail, but after a few more tries it looks really good and I am finding myself impressed. We do more tactics before finally moving to snow forts to finish up learning tactics.

Finally, we get near the end and he tells us to go back to the iceberg, and get into a plus form. Max informs us that this tactic is going to be extremely hard, even saying “god please send us a miracle”. I think, “Surely it can’t be that hard.”…

Famous last words; Max tells us we are going to move, like a windmill, together. My jaw drops and the people in the game are saying things such as, “ExCUSE me?” and “Are you joking?”, and it makes me laugh a bit as I agree. There is no way a bunch of strangers on the internet, around the world, are going to be able to work in-sync enough to make something like that look good. But, Max assures us that we can do it, and for a second, I believe him completely. Then, we move. He tells us “Not awful for a first try”, but… it is pretty bad. He tells us we are going to try it again and counts us off. It is slightly better, but still not anything to brag on. Max types in the chat “And again…….” and counts us down once again.

Max’s prayer must have been answered because my jaw dropped and I could feel the energy shift as we moved in nearly perfect unison to our next spot. The penguins on my screen started to celebrate and Max exclaimed, “YES” in chat. Once again, I felt that feeling of family that I felt after the first event. To be sure it wasn’t a fluke, we did it twice more before logging off.

The after the event hype is roaring through the chat as people freak out over how amazing the last form looked, and Bri asks me if I want to go to the Relaxed VC to celebrate, and caught up in the hype myself, I agree. Bri introduces me to some friends of hers in the chat as we listen to music and embrace ourselves in the atmosphere. I lose track of time as the sunsets, and my mom finally calls me for dinner. I tell Bri and my other new-found friends goodbye and log off for the day, smiling.