22 Challenged

The streets of this planet were not what I would call clean. The planet's climate wasn't that bad, but the spaceport was definitely the mainstay of the current area. In the distance, you could see large Factories, smaller factories, and transport cargo trucks along with lorries moving around. This was a manufacturing world, to my understanding, and the populace was located away from the Spaceport, it seemed.

Ura motioned me over to a skimmer and hopped inside while I took my time following her in. "To the entertainment sector," Ura said as she leaned back in her seat, and I got in. "We are looking to go to the Eight Light Bar there." Ura finished.

"Are you sure of your choice?" The car suddenly asked as I sat in my seat. "The bar you are asking for is rated two out of ten stars and is not recommended as a travel destination."

"I am sure," Ura said.

"On my way," The car replied, and moments later, the skimmer was on the move after I closed the door.

I turned to Ura, who shook her head, and so we waited in silence as the car drove through the streets of this industrial world. Factories stood tall, and very few other buildings or any plant life were visible for now. I couldn't see a spec of green or plants among the factories as loud noises came from them. It seemed that this world wasn't like the Hextars and was more like Pervona.

Watching out the windows, we eventually broke out from the Factories that surrounded the spaceport. Now blues, greens, and purples of a forest were not too far away from the factories with a road moving through them. Side rails on the road cut off the forest from the road for a distance, and I didn't see a plant get within three meters of the road as we drove through the forest.

Speculating, I could only guess that there was something that was stopping the flora from closing that last bit of distance. After driving several miles and many other skimmers and other vehicles moving on the road with us both heading towards our area and back towards the factory, we reached a town. None of the buildings were over five floors, and you could tell the taller buildings were habitats for those working in this world.

Without even realizing it, the air started to feel better too. It was even better than the starships air, and once again, I was stunned to realize how amazing this VRMMO game was. I had never felt a game reach this level of authenticity, and I knew already that Gabin Corp outdid themselves, but this was insane. I wondered if I went to a volcanic region if the air would have the smell of sulfur in the air.

My mind froze, and a grin came up over my face as I realized more about this. I could make grenades with chemicals in them that could affect air quality. Tear gas and other things like Mustard gas could be used in this game if Air quality mattered. This opened up a whole new range of dangerous traps that I couldn't use in the spaceship but out in these worlds as I collected bounties. All bets were off if they were wanted dead or alive. I could use various chemicals to render them unconscious or simply dead with a mix of grenades.

The car started to slow as I felt myself realize all the possibilities and traps I could set in this game world. If I got to go pro, I would be a scourge in the first pro league, at least. Usually, the tournament holder got to make the rules, and there was a rule from Gabin Corporation that once that tournament's rules were set, you couldn't change them.

It was an old rule from their earlier games, but they had been swift in dealing with people who broke the rule. A tournament organizer had once tried to use it to rig the games in their favor after the tournament started. Gabin Corporation withdrew their rights to use their property and everything, and the tournament organizer has never been allowed to host tournaments with their games since then. It was a swift and strong punishment that meant no one would break the rule.

Or at least not if they wanted to continue their business with Gabin Corporation games.

That meant I thought that I could get away with legit war crimes if I wanted to at the start of tournaments. I doubt there wouldn't be a Tournament setup for a game as realistic as this. Gabin Corporation has too much history with Esports events. They helped create and fund them with every game they released. I couldn't wait!

Without me realizing it, the skimmer came to a stop, and the AI asked if we wanted it to stick around. "Please Keep around for at least two hours," Ura said, paying the Ai.

"Please be careful," The Skimmers AI said.

I stepped out and looked around. There was vegetation in the background and a couple of trees around the entrance of this place. The building in front of us had a simple sign with the name of the bar, and it looked old and uncared for. Several Skimmers were parked, and there were no buildings behind it but the forest with those unique colors. To be fair, though, I didn't know what was unique in this game. As I looked around, I noticed no other buildings close by except another warehouse-looking building a couple of hundred meters away. Other than that, this place was clearly on a side road and meant to be off the path.

This spoke of a gang gathering place, and the Warehouse was probably a place to either store stuff for those activities or a place for those activities. Either way, this bar was not meant for tourists. I turned to Ura, who stretched and looked at me. "Ready?" she asked me with a smile.

"Sure," I replied, not truly feeling it. We were headed into the dragon's den to do business, and I doubted I could win a fight in the middle of an entire gang. Ura walked confidently forward, and I followed.

Quickly I followed after Ura, who walked confidently towards the bar. We walked quickly, and I felt my tail swish around behind me. It didn't take us long to cross what could only be a parking lot in this world with no one else to see. As soon as the door opened, that changed, and you could hear noise coming from it. My senses jumped as I realized that the soundproofing in this place was exceptional.

Inside I could see a brown wood bar across a large area with many containers that were of various shapes and labels. Some were see-through, others were not, and beings sat along the bar. Each had arms, and I could see a human among them and a male-looking elf with long ears that protruded behind him an inch or so. I saw a Hextar with his foud legs dangling in the air under him as he sat at the bar drinking. It seemed that two blue women that were Ura's species sat on the far side, and three men with four arms and two legs that were completely black like the pitch of the night stood around the table.

Ura turned to the black men around a table that I quickly realized was a pool table as I noticed the feel. The black man carried pool cues in one hand while another was looking over the table seriously. The last one seemed to be smoking something as he watched. Looking around, most barely paid attention to us, and I heard noise from somewhere coming from another room. It seemed that this part of the bar was only one area where people were, and there were more in another room.

If something bad happened, this would be a death run. I don't think I could get Ura out along with myself. I wasn't even sure if I could get my amazing ass out of this so diplomacy would be the best bet every time. The person who did notice us was the black four-limbed person smoking by the pool table. "Ah, Ura, Correct?" The man yelled over, and he motioned to us with a spare hand. "Over here, we can discuss details." He called out, and Ura walked over, and I joined her.

"Hello, you Uppo?" Ura asked as she crossed the room.

"In this spot!" Uppo replied cheerfully.

"Good, I have a slight bone to pick with you that I am sure you understand," Ura said, surprising Uppo. "My bodyguard here was about to show me a really good time when you called. You could have waited an extra thirty minutes while I got my rocks off before we started to head over. I am sure that you would enjoy the same?" Ura complained.

I looked at her, stunned as she outed me as a Futanari, and Uppo looked at her, stunned in spot for a moment with whatever he was smoking in his hand. A moment later, he began to laugh, and the other two guys playing pool stopped to laugh.

Ura looked at them seriously, and I watched them carefully for their reactions. A moment later, Uppo calmed down while the other two were still chuckling. "I like you, Ura," Uppo said, pointing with that smoking thing in his hand. It didn't smell like tobacco or marijuana. He brought it to his mouth and took a long pull of it, and I saw it burn back a little before he took the thing out and breathed out. "Sorry about that, Ura." He said and sounded sincere, "If I knew, I wouldn't have called. Our mutual contact didn't know you had backup or a lover, to be honest." He said, "Not their business anyways." Uppo then turned to me and looked me up and down with only a raised eyebrow. "You got yourself a Cat? Damn, Ura, you know how spicy the Rish can be. Those cats have a screw loose but good protection," he paused and looked at me further.

"Sleepy Wonder saved my ass more than once," Ura said. "Saved me from becoming permanently retired in a way I wouldn't have liked to. So this Rish is good and has a good head on her. Some might be downright insane, but" Ura shrugged.

The racism I felt at this moment was pretty strong, but there was a reason they gave this species greater difficulty. I wondered when I could find out all the so-called buffs that go along with it.

"That is good to hear." Uppo replied, turning to Ura, "This a special package going to the Pirate space station Two-bit."

Ura shook her head, "Who named that station?" She asked, shaking her head.

"I don't know some two-bit criminal without a mind?" Uppo said with a smile. He took another long puff, "I doubt that Yallow over there will steal from our delivery person or me, but it better to have a gun and not need it than need a gun and not have it." Uppo said. He tapped his fingers and looked at me for a while longer, then smiled with extremely sharp teeth that I hadn't noticed. They were almost serrated, too, it looked like, as he smiled at me. "I got an Idea." Uppo suddenly said, "I want you to show my crew some skills, Cat," He continued a moment later, "If you do it, I will give you our gang's vouch for being a certified badass. If not, we will keep it under wraps."

Uppo turned to Ura, "I like you, and our contact likes you, so I want to see what type of gun you have protecting you. I don't want others to think you are easy pickings, especially if I have you moving merchandise in the future. So I want to give your Rish here a vouch from us. But I cannot have her ruining our rep." He turned to me again. He looked me up and down and nodded to himself, "I know you Cats are not the hand-to-hand types. Guns all the way, preferably with propellent of some type in the cartridge. So I am thinking of a rubber bullet one on one with one of my best. He is called Ricky, and we will provide you with rubber bullets. You go ahead and put them in that sniper pistol, and I think we should call off the shotgun. I want to see skill, not luck. Then have a shoot out between you and Ricky in the warehouse over there," He said, pointing with one of his four thumbs in the direction of the warehouse. "First to get shot losses. If you win, then you get our vouch. If you lose, nothing happens but," Uppo shrugged, "You would lose some rep with everyone here."

I couldn't help but smile in return as I realized that I got to have some fun now. I didn't mind a one-on-one challenge with an NPC. However, I would probably say that I had my work cut out for me. But there was much more to gain than lose, and I shrugged. "Challenge accepted," I told him with a grin.

"Excellent!" Uppo said and yelled out a moment later, "Entertainment, Everyone! This Cat versus Ricky!" Cheers erupted, and I could hear the catcalling a second later.

It seemed this was going to be a popular match.

I turned to Ura, who was looking slightly worried, and I wrapped my arm around her shoulder. "Don't worry about it," I said simply with a grin. I was looking forward to this.

----

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