The Amazing Joni's
CHAPTER 13: THIRTEEN

The weather was clear, the sky was perfect. Occasional gusts of wind caressed the face, teasing. The sun has passed its highest point. The light is still stinging, piercing the skin. That day, after school. Deni and I went back to visit a gaming console subsidiary. Console companies that are branches of the center. They still provide services for the gaming enthusiast on the underground floor.

“This place is actually we open 24 hours nonstop.” The officer who helped us introduce some games when we first got here is back as a guide. Her top clothes are white, bright. Looks very neat. The shoes are shiny, always shined. “But for fear of disrupting the learning schedule of children or teenagers, we only limit it to 18.00 pm.”

We arrived at the room of the most advanced game console provider, the basement. It's not a holiday. There are only three used game consoles, the rest are empty, idle. We chose the same place again.

“Oh, yes. Now as I promised. We have added some new games. But I don't think you guys are gonna try it.” The officer laughed friendly.

True, the game of choice has exceeded three. There are racing games, wrestling, basketball, tennis, even fishing. But there's no football yet.

“For football chances are we will add it next week. There are still issues with sponsors.” The officer continued to happily explain.

“We will keep playing that game, CGA.” I pointed to the game we played last Sunday.

The officer nodded twice. “Of course. Games that are rarely played, maybe never. But I'm sure you guys have your own preoccupations.” The officer again smiled, a typical smile of the promotion section. Although that may not be part of it.

“We've saved it, done saving, Om.” Deni again called the officer as Om.

“Alright, I'll connect it. It might take about a minute. Loading process. Please press the button on your advanced watch when it is finished.” The clerk selects the game, presses the play button, then the continue button. Then we were asked to wait.

“You guys prepare a position. Departure will be made soon. Fasten seat belts.” The officer tried to joke.

A portal appeared, small like Deni's head. A few seconds later, it grew as tall as an adult. We jumped inside. A few seconds later, the portal closed again. The officer returned to the control room. The adventure has just begun.

***

We landed perfectly on the sidelines of a tree with yellow flowers. Deni didn't fall again. He already knew the position of the portal when it appeared in this virtual world would again be hanging.

“Wow.. Acacia!” Deni exclaimed, pointing. Like a child that his father and mother invited to a new place that he had never seen.

As the name implies. This is the Sabana state. Spacious meadows, punctuated by several types of palm and acacia trees. The air temperature in this place is not hot, nor cold. Warm. In this place, the air temperature is almost the same throughout the year. The most perfect sight was when we turned around. The expanse of grassland as far as the eye could see, from a distance the acacia trees were like umbrellas of shelter. Far away at the end of there again, it is clear the mountains stretched in the stomach whether this is a planet or something. Thick clouds wrapped around the sky, not overcast. The clouds did not carry water ammunition. Just as a blue decoration of the roof of the world. I saw some giraffes shelter under the trees that were considered the most shady in this place. They seem to be a family. There are also some buffaloes elsewhere. It is the same size as the one in the real world.

“Hei, Den. Didn't you say you were going to hunt lions.” I cut the uninterrupted view of Deni sweeping around, mesmerized.

“Shutter a moment to enjoy this landscape, Jon.” Deni doesn't care much about what I say.

I actually agree. It's too beautiful to miss.

“Where is Sem?” I asked.

“Sentence, Jon. Maybe he's still in the sand country. Search for the remains of the ruins. Wasn't that shop also destroyed when Was looked mighty? Perhaps there are valuable objects that he can still get, for free.” Deni again grinned.

The breeze whipped our nose. This place is much cooler than the desert.

“D. Is this a coincidence?” I suddenly realized something.

“What?” Deni.

“It looks like the time in this game is the same as our time in the real world. Do you remember last week? The desert is actually early in the morning. It's just, yeah that's the temperature there. Always feeling hot, stinging. Look at the sun here. I knew very well when I saw those shadows. The time is right with the time on this watch.” I raised my hand, showing it to Deni.

Deni nods.

“Yes, I don't think it's too weird, Jon. There are not many games like that. The time in the design is the same as the real world.” Deni stopped sweeping his gaze around. I invited him to shelter under an acacia tree. We sat down with the old tree trunk. The biota savanna. A hunt? We paused for a moment.

Silent. Really cold.

Our advanced watches ring. Someone called.

“Hei, Man. I think the sightseeing time is over. Time to get back to your mission.” The advanced tool on the wrist was emitting a hologram. The officer who guided us before entering the portal was seen wearing headphones. His face was relaxed, friendly.

“Hei, Om. You better be here, too. Look at this sight that cleanses the eyes.” Deni replied, joking.

The officer laughed.

“What can we eat in this place?” I suddenly asked, a question that I had also kept for a long time.

The officer laughed. “Try it.” He answered briefly. “I don't think you guys just want to eat, do you? The portal's not far from you. But I don't know exactly where.” The officer smiled.

“Are you serious about eating that, Om?” Deni asked.

“What is clear is that you guys didn't come here to eat, right? Well, maybe our time is limited. Have fun.” The officer cut off the relationship.

Deni raised his hand, “That's weird right?”

I'm nodding. Like they're hiding something.

When we were stunned. Heads are filled with many questions. Deni grumbled many times. An object fell on his head. Fruit.

“It's an apple, right?” Deni grabbed it, preventing it from rolling away.

I looked up. “Sem!”

“Yo.” Shem was already on top of that tree. I don't know since when. He down. We are complete, three.

“You must know where the portal is, Sem.” Deni stood up, looking confident.

Sem nodded, an answer, “Didn't you want to hunt lions, Den?” Sem asked.

“Yes. But I don't want to buy some equipment like you do. I want to buy food in this city.” Deni bit the apple that hit his head, “God! Is this the apple you stole from our world, Sem?”

“Not. That's the apple of the country after this country. Someone gave it to me.” Sem answered casually, tidying up his arrow rest.

“Country after this?” I asked.

Sem nodded. “Country after this is a tropical rainforest. And happy news again, I also already know the fourth country.”

“Country to four?” I rubbed my face, put on an enthusiastic face.

“Yes, I managed to listen to Sew's conversation with one of Was's men while parting with you at the crossroad to the sand country government building. The bullet he used. The bullet came from the fourth country. Sea Country.”

“Sea? What that means is that the country is really in the water. We have no gills, Sem.” Deni patted his forehead, then held his neck.

“Sentah, Den. I've never been there either.” Sem shrugged his shoulders.

Waited for a moment. The sound of the savannah biota is heard from a distance.

“Joni, you definitely won't believe this. I could feel this apple squirming in my stomach. It's totally real. We can eat at this place, Jon.” Deni soared happily. Sometimes the behavior of his little boy has not gone away.

I stared doubtfully. Really?

“That's right, Jon. You can eat here. But it will only be “kenyang” in this game. If you come out, you'll come back hungry.” Shem answered my doubts.

“Tapi_” words truncated.

“Now what's the plan, Sem?” I asked back.

“We'll have fun for a while.” Shem smiled, moving towards the vastness of the meadow.

“What is_?” I didn't get to ask.

“Follow me!” She cried out from a distance.

“Come, Jon. The kid must have something that's going to drive adrenaline again.” Deni. I'm catching.

The sun is getting smaller. An hour before falling in the western sky. The light starts to dim.

“Where are we?” I'm teaching Sem steps. He walked fast.

“As planned Deni.” Sem manansaid.

“Hunting, Jon. Right, Sem?” Deni put on an enthusiastic face, “We will be rich, Jon.” Deni laughing.

Sem nodded. Smilingly.

Fifteen minute journey. I don't see any more giraffes and buffaloes. Acacia trees are getting bigger. Leafy. Cool. The mountain that stretched from a distance was low, but still visible.

She stopped, staring around. I also saw a few lions. “We simply knocked down three lions, one each. Find a lion that is separated from the herd. The lion itself. The lion that has no family. It will not make his partner hurt.” Sem joking.

Me and Deni nodded. We parted ways, the next ten minutes all had to gather in this place again.

Deni found the lion in question. Raising swords. He chases. The lion was silent. In any world, it is clear that lions are never afraid of humans. The lion turned around to chase him. Deni stopped the move. Anxious feelings hit suddenly. He had never faced a lion in the real world. The lion kept running to meet him. Prepare pouncing. Sharp nails come out like an open knife. His mouth opened wide, his sharp fangs glistening. Deni dodged, the lion pounced on the wind. But their distance was no more than a meter. The lion could have turned his body. Grip suddenly.

The sun was loosening, almost falling in the western sky. The birds had already passed overhead, the sign of the afternoon.

There is no time to think. Deni tightened his fist, a silver sword appearing in his grasp. The lion gripped. Lunging. Deni's body was pushed. Fall off. The front two legs of the lion overlayed his stomach, not feeling because he was blocked by a sturdy armor. The lion was ready to bite his neck. Deni is pale. Cold sweat came out from his neck.

Senejak.

The lion finally disappeared. Before the lion hit, Deni had made his sword stick in the stomach of the king of the forest. Deni breathed a long breath. He glanced towards the advanced watch at the wrist. There are numbers that move fast, the numbers are increasing. Maybe it's cash after knocking down one lion. Can be used for shopping.

Deni joined in the original place.

“You're two minutes late, Den.” I raised my hand.

“Slightly no technical glitches, Jon.” Deni denied expressionlessly.

“It's easy to knock down one lion. I only took one hit.” I raised my hand. Showing Deni, mocking him who was late. Deni put on a face not caring. That was because he was the most enthusiastic about hunting. In fact, he was the most distended about getting a lion.

“Now we will go to that portal.” Sem diverting conversation topics.

Deni hurriedly nodded. He had already escaped the throats of almost losing to a lion.

“That portal was the last I knew where it was. For the next scene, we have to look for it manually.” Shem already leading the walk ahead. We both followed from behind.

Pass through shrubs, shrubs, palm trees, even herds of zebras. We didn't talk much throughout the trip. Prefer to enjoy every inch of savanna scenery. Deni who usually grumbled, just kept quiet.

“It's like savanna in East Africa.” I broke the barrenness.

“Not. It's more like in Tanzania.” Deni. Talk about a place most similar to the place we're going through right now.

“We're here.” She ended two disputes.

In front of the oldest acacia tree in the place, we stopped. The biggest tree I've seen since we set foot in this place.

Deni raised his hand, “At this place?”

Shem nodded, raising her hand. Just like the time he brought up the portal in the Oase area.

A white portal actually appeared. Similar to the first portal in this virtual world. It's white, twisted, moving around. At first it was small, the longer it grew. Sem touched. The portal took out a large screen, containing a few sentences there. A question. A quiz to unlock the portal. Me and Deni don't understand. That's a sentence written in a programming language.

“What's the question, Sem? I looked up, impatient.

Sem was silent for a moment. Thinks.

“It's about addition, Jon. That was his first clue. The year here is no different than the year there. This is not a question, this is a statement. A statement that needs an answer. But obviously we have to answer it with numbers, not with the word.” Sem read that writing.

The three of us were silent. This is harder than the first question.

“Zero! I'm sure of you, Sem.” Deni answered the origin.

“You sure?” Sem ensure.

Deni nodded confidently. Zero plus zero is the same. There's nothing.

“How about said “year” his?” I asked, diluting Deni's conviction.

“That year will start from zero, Jon. Whatever if it's a number it always starts from zero. No different, it makes no difference. Whether it's a year, or something. It always starts from zero.” Deni strengthened his opinion.

Sem nodded, believing him. “Then. We've decided. The answer is zero.” Sem writes zero in one answer box.

I'm still not too sure. Looking at the screen in front. One answer box, years, summations? Hey, Deni forgot the relationship of the three clues.

“Stop, Sem!” I exclaimed, holding back Sem's hand movement that was about to write down an answer.

Shem turned to me, stopping the movement of her hand. Whahuh? Deni also turned his head, his face wrinkled, folded, not understanding.

“Seven, Shem. Seven. Not Zero, but seven.” I said with a confident intonation.

This time it was Sem who was looking at me with a folded face. Questionable. From zero to seven is a long way off.

“Year here is no different from the year there.”

“You remember, what year is it? 2050. The year in this place is no different from the year in the real world. Den, we proved it when I saw time on my wrist. It's afternoon, and in our world it's the same. When we got into this game last week, it was morning, in this world it was morning, right? Look at that stuffing box, there's only one. That means the answer is no more than one number. The initial clue is summation. It turned out easy. We just need to sum each number in a year that is not different in the two worlds, 2050. Two+nol+lima+nol \= seven. I'm pretty sure the answer is seven, Sem.” I raised both palms, folded three fingers, convinced that it was really seven.

“That makes sense.” She finally believed me my explanation. Deni also agreed, nodding.

“Sorry, friend. I think my answer is indeed careless, unreasonable.” Deni patted my shoulder.

“Good. The answer is seven.” Sem wrote the number seven on the fill box. Wait awhile.

The portal's moving. Retain the exposed widescreen. Moving around clockwise, the faster. The portal light is getting brighter. Dazzling. Deni even squinted his eyes. We're still waiting. Sem knows the most about the portal. The light went back down, as before.

“The answer is true. The key of this portal has been opened.” She smiled at me. “We're in now.”

Me, Deni, and Sem jumped in. Our bodies are sucked. A new scene, a new country, a new adventure, and a clear, new enemy.