After that the simulation ramped up in a predictable way.

  The small groups of Model Threes turned into swarms. Then those swarms picked up the occasional Model Four, Five, or Six. They weren’t exactly difficult to deal with; the Antithesis AI didn’t improve at all, it was just larger groups with slightly different setups.

  I’m sure if we stayed in the simulation long enough, it might have had enough time to ramp up to a point where it was difficult, or at least interesting, but an hour was not long enough for that to happen.

  The fights were so easy that once Jennifer found her footing and didn’t seem to have any problems with fighting the Model Threes, I got a little complacent.

  During our very last engagement, right before the time ran out, a Model Four managed to sneak across the top of the nearby warehouse and spear me in the side of the head. Even though I had a full set of Class I Recon armor, it wasn’t enough to save me from the vicious harpoon.

  Since it was just a simulation, I didn’t feel any pain, but being forcibly ejected from the simulation was disorienting and nauseating. It was a good thing they’d given us the recliners to lie in, because I’m pretty sure if I had been standing or moving around, the sensation would have made me violently sick.

  I caught sight of the fox that hadn’t followed us into the simulation through my blurry, narrowed eyes. It had been left behind to watch over us while we went into the simulation, and now it was just standing in the opposite corner. Staring blankly into the room.

  “What are you staring at?” I grumbled.

  The fox turned slightly, looked at me, and shrugged.

  “Great… even the basic models are giving me attitude,” I snorted.

  Jennifer stirred just as my nausea started to settle. She apparently didn’t have to deal with the same symptoms I did, because she was able to bounce right out of her chair once she removed her headset.

  “I cannot believe you got eliminated!” She laughed. “And with less than two minutes left too! The mighty samurai couldn’t hack it in the simplified simulation?”

  “Sure, laugh at the person willing to go out of their way to help you,” I grumbled. “How do you not feel completely ill right now?”

  “I have no idea,” Jennifer replied, tilting her head to the side. “Maybe it’s because I disconnected instead of getting kicked out?”

  “It’s because most mesh systems go through an ‘adaptation’ phase. This isn’t to give the mesh time to load, but to give your brain enough time to process the swap between your real-world, and virtual senses,” Nyx explained, using the fox.

  “And why didn’t I get that period?” I asked as I pushed myself to my feet. Even though the room was still spinning, at least I didn’t feel sick anymore.

  “Safety feature. It’s safer to eject someone from the mesh without any buffer period than it is to allow them to suffer head trauma, virtual or otherwise,” my AI replied.

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  “Why would that matter?” I asked. “It’s just a simulation, isn’t it?”

  “It’s a simulation that was created using Class II and III technology as a base and which directly stimulates your brain. Although the system has a ton of failsafes, even virtual trauma can overwhelm the human brain.”

  I stared at my AI for several long seconds.

  “This thing is dangerous?” I asked, holding up the headset.

  “It can be, depending on the quality of the system and hardware behind it. This particular system? No,” Nyx said. “It uses cheaper hardware in order to keep the price of this complex down, and because of that it can cause some… discomfort during some of the edge cases, but your life was never in danger. If it was, I would have tried to stop you or at least protected you both from any virtual trauma.”

  “Well, that’s good,” muttered. “I would have appreciated a little bit of a heads-up ahead of time though.”

  “I didn’t think you’d need one. I didn’t expect you to die from a head wound, never mind one caused by a random Antithesis,” Nyx asked.

  “I can’t believe I overlooked it!” I moaned, “What a stupid way to die!”

  “Hey, it’s not that bad,” Jennifer cooed. “You almost made it to the end.”

  “Gee, thanks. I feel much better now,” I said sarcastically.

  I watched the girl cross the room towards me, a small smile growing at the corner of her mouth. She reached out and patted me on the back, just like I’d done for her dozens of times before. “Don’t worry, I won’t let anyone know you failed.”

  I just rolled my eyes at the girl. “Come on, the parade should be finishing soon, and we shouldn’t keep the others waiting. Do you think you can handle going by those puppets now?”

  “After spending over an hour fighting Model Threes in a realistic simulation? I think I can handle it,” Jennifer scoffed.

  “If you say so…” I replied. “I just think that if everyone could deal with their fears and trauma just by confronting it, therapists wouldn’t be such a big thing. I’m sure it’s a step in the right direction, but completely curing you? I doubt it.”

  “I don’t need to be totally cured,” Jennifer muttered. “I’ll be fine as long as I don’t immediately freeze up or drop into the fetal position at the very mention of a Model Three.”

  “And if you do, it’s nothing to be ashamed of. We’ll just find another way to help you,” I replied, pushing open the door and holding it so everyone could leave.

  The fox darted out first, securing the area before Jennifer and Deadbeat could follow. The girl stepped past me, confidently, while Deadbeat slipped past me, a smirk on her muzzle.

  “What?" I asked the bear.

  “Nothing!” she proclaimed as she marched away.

  I let the door go and jogged to catch up to my small party.

  It actually took us longer to leave the building than it did to find our room. Due to the complicated building layout, which was obviously designed to pack as many rooms into the space as possible, we needed to double back in order to get to a connecting corridor that would eventually lead us to the exit. It wasn’t complicated since the route was clearly labeled, but it was just a lot more winding than it needed to be.

  When we emerged from the building, the plush, vaguely human-looking mascots were slowly filtering back into the area. We wound our way through the crowds and headed back towards the central area.

  By the time we arrived back at the plaza, the show had obviously ended. Most of the crowd had dispersed, leaving only a small group taking pictures with the mascots on one side. I made sure to avoid most of the excitement as I led everyone across the square and into the foodcourt.

  As soon as we stepped inside, I had to stop and shake my head. The entire area was dressed up like a stylized, cartoony mall. All the booths had extremely colorful facades and oversized, pun-filled names. I honestly couldn’t tell if the design was supposed to be ironic or not, because the storefronts were exactly like I’d always imagined popular brand name stores looked like topside. The ads were always super bombastic; why wouldn’t the stores be?

  It only took us a minute to find the rest of the family. Even in a park full of mascots, it was hard to miss an eight-foot-tall bear.

  I slipped past Bob and the small crowd of children that had gathered around him and went straight to Jane. “How was the parade?”

  “Wonderful! It was just as I imagined,” the girl gushed. “We had front row seats for the ‘Incursion’, got some autographs from the mascots, and even got some of the time-limited merch from it. How was the simulation?”

  “It was fine. Jennifer seems a lot more confident after confronting her fears, which is good,” I replied, with a shrug.

  “The boss was the only one to be eliminated from the simulation,” Deadbeat declared loudly enough for everyone to hear. Everyone turned to look at me in surprise.

  “Wonderful,” I muttered.

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