One by one, Adrian opened the videos and let them play. Raven had captured six videos in all, most of them from the beginner flight it had taken around the house.
“Which one was yours, Emma?” Adrian's mother asked.
“The third one.”
“Was it hard to control?”
“A little.”
“We could've flown it with touchscreen controls, but that's even harder.” Adrian replied as he queued up the videos. “The controller was the easiest option.”
As the videos played, his aunt took hold of the controller. “Is a stick already broken?” she asked.
“Nah, it's supposed to be like that.”
Once the videos were finished, Emma left the room, Adrian's aunt and mother going with her. Raven then asked, “Will This One Have Time To Compete Against Adrian Ritter And Family?”
With the time nearing four p.m., Adrian replied that they still had time, but that finding it would be a challenge. “Emma and her folks are leaving tomorrow, but maybe after dinner?”
“This One Will Practice Until Then, If Adrian Ritter Allows.”
“Why don't we play against each other for a few minutes?”
Raven agreed, and once Adrian set things up, it added itself to the roster of players. Once the game began, though Adrian could only see his avatar's perspective, he soon heard pickup sounds that he didn't cause.
“Raven,” Adrian asked aloud. “What can you see right now?”
“This One Sees Similar Things To Adrian Ritter.” the AI replied.
Good enough for me, Adrian thought. Moments later, he saw Raven's avatar. The AI was much faster on the draw, and hit him before he clicked his fire button. With only a pistol in his options, he retreated out of the room. Raven chased after him, and got him in the back when he hesitated at an intersection.
Right after, he saw, if barely, a rocket launcher on a much higher ledge. The elevator to reach it was down; Raven continued to chase him, ignoring the lift. After running the AI around and through a nearby room, Adrian made a dash for the elevator. Though Raven hit him again, the lift went up too far for the AI to follow him, and he soon had the launcher, along with some armor and health pickups.
Raven, by then, had run off, in the direction of the start of the map. Adrian went the other way, back to the room where he'd run Raven in circles. There was a maze a few rooms away that he knew concealed a powerful weapon.
Once he was inside, he made for the weapon and nearby cell pack. With enough ammo for two shots, he retraced his steps, then took the true exit of the maze, and jumped out the window it lead to. He then heard something being picked up, and headed for the source. What he found was Raven's avatar with the same launcher he'd picked up before.
As Adrian charged his weapon, Raven fired a rocket at him. His armor absorbed some of the splash damage, and as his own shot was fired, he shot into the wall to speed up the next step. As the initial projectile exploded, the second part activated. Raven's avatar was hit with a bright green flash, and was killed, earning Adrian a frag.
“Where Did Adrian Ritter Find That Weapon?” Raven asked via text-to-speech.
“It's behind the blue key door. Look for the toxic pit with steps out. The door's nearby.”
As Raven respawned, Adrian kept up running around the level to refill his health and armor. The next time he saw Raven's avatar, the AI was equipped with the same weapon, and took a shot at him with it. The AI didn't use the wall trick, and the first projectile sailed past his own avatar; the second part took off most of the health and armor he had spent time fortifying. What came next was Raven chasing him again, and peppering Adrian's avatar with bullets until it died.
“That ties us.” Adrian said aloud. Raven didn't respond.
Several more minutes went by as the two exchanged fire, straffed each other, or retreated from each other. Adrian inched Raven out in the end with 3 frags to 2.
“This One Looks Forward To Playing Against Adrian Ritter's Uncle As Well.” Raven said as the match ended.
“He's rustier than me I think, but yeah. That should be fun.”

* * *

Later that night, after dinner was over, Adrian brought the idea to his uncle again. He was outside with his father and brother again, both of whom had some interest in watching.
“I did bring my laptop with me. That should work, right?” his uncle asked.
“Yeah. Raven can play with me inside my desktop.”
“Won't it be able to see where I am, by doing that?”
“This One Has No Desire To Cheat,” Raven replied aloud.
“Alright. I'll take your word.”
When his uncle was ready, Adrian helped install the software he needed to play. Once he knew it was working, he set up a private server and got both machines connected. Raven added itself as a player after a few seconds.
“That should do it,” Adrian said before handing the laptop back to his uncle. “Classic deathmatch first? Ten minutes?” His uncle agreed, and the match began in short order, with Adrian picking a different map.
Within seconds, his uncle ran into Raven's avatar, and attempted shooting at it. Unable to see what was happening, Adrian picked a direction and ran, hoping to find at least a chaingun. He soon wound up outside of the level's main building and grabbed an armor upgrade, along with the chaingun he was looking for.
As he made his way back inside, Raven's avatar ran towards and then past him, making him turn around and let loose. The avatar died faster than he expected, earning him a frag, only for a rocket to directly hit him not long after, stripping most of his armor and health. With his aim now on his uncle's avatar, Adrian eventually misjudged a move and caught the splash damage of another rocket, ending his avatar's first life.
As the match went on, Adrian was the first to reach 5 frags, with Raven close behind. His weapon of choice rarely strayed from the chaingun; his uncle preferred the rocket launcher, much like Raven. The final score had him in the lead by 3 frags, with Raven and his uncle tied for second place. “One more?” he asked of his uncle and Raven; by then, Emma had shown up and was watching as well.
“Sure, one more. Gotta help the wife get our stuff packed after that.”
Adrian nodded and soon began the next match. This time, he picked a map none of them had played on. When the match began, he ran forward, towards the armor he could see in the distance, and ran into Raven's avatar as it rounded a corner. Ignoring it at first, he snagged the armor, backed off, and took a hit from behind. Instead of turning around and taking potshots, he ran for the nearby doors and stairwells, the end of which had an opening to outside the building, and to his weapon of choice.
It wasn't until he had the weapon that he realized Raven had quietly followed him, and the two exchanged fire while zipping around the open arena. This time, and despite his armor, the AI came out on top, and scored the first frag. Adrian let out a small laugh in turn. “You got me.”
His avatar respawned to the sound of a chaingun firing somewhere in the distance; his uncle wasn't doing it. Adrian then moved to where he could find a shotgun, only to hear his uncle's avatar die before he could get it. That's two for Raven... Now watching his sides more than before, he made a dash for another part of the map, and saw Raven's avatar zip out from a hallway he was running past.
Adrian turned and fired at it, only to miss. Raven didn't return fire, instead ducking back into where it had emerged. Seconds later, his uncle's mouse clicked. One of them had seen the other, and the fight was back on. By then, Adrian had found a new weapon and extra ammo. Intent on making up lost ground, he made a dash to where he could hear the fighting. It had spilled into the computer maze part of the level.
As the gunfire continued, Adrian weaved through the darkened hallways, his new weapon at the ready. Several corners were turned before he saw hints of pellet impacts; he fired off a rocket at the wall ahead of him, hoping to hear someone take a bit of splash damage. It didn't happen. Instead, the gunfire seemed to stop. Adrian picked a direction and ran, hoping to spot at least one of them.
After some more running, he spotted Raven's avatar circling a large pillar for some health pickups. He let loose a rocket again, but Raven dodged it and took only light splash damage. The AI then ran towards him, and caught him with a close-range shotgun blast before running for it. “Cheeky move, Raven,” Adrian said aloud.
A moment later, Raven replied “Hahaha” in the in-game text chat. Adrian couldn't hold back a laugh of his own. It's on now.
He turned and ran after Raven, firing another rocket and catching the AI's avatar with more splash damage. Every few corners, he would spot the avatar, but didn't take another shot. When he had the chance, he made for the secret part of the maze, and the weapon it held that would make close-range more dangerous.
The weapon was sitting atop a pillar surrounded by a slime pool; it took several seconds to fully lower, but once Adrian had it, he headed back, and ran into his uncle's avatar. At once, he revved the weapon and tried to get close. His uncle dodged the attack and grabbed the same weapon, going after Adrian once it was ready.
The sawing attempts lasted less than two seconds; Adrian managed to connect and pull his uncle's avatar close to his own, taking melee damage from his uncle using the same weapon, but his uncle's avatar died first. Now less than thirty hit points from dying, he made for a supply closet, but ran into Raven again. The AI took another shot at him, and took the rest of his health away.
“Who's winning?” Emma asked.
Adrian pulled up the scoreboard. “Raven. He's got three already.” When he respawed, he was at the map's single-player start. Right away, he made for the chaingun, making sure to back away as any doors opened to rebuild speed for a run towards and past them. Outside the building, he saw no sign of either Raven or his uncle. There was however a powerup that boosted his health by a hundred points; as soon as he had the chaingun, he ran back inside, made for the stairwell doors, and opened them.
The six minutes that made up the rest of the match went by with two more frags for himself, and one each for Raven and his uncle. “That AI's good,” his uncle said as the match ended.
“This One Appreciates The Compliment. This One Had Fun.”
“Likewise,” Adrian replied.

* * *

December 27th, 2016

“I wish we could stay until after New Year's,” Emma said during breakfast the next morning.
“Because the week's been so exciting?” Adrian asked.
“Yeah.”
“Well, we won't be leaving until this afternoon,” Adrian's aunt said. “There's still time for us to have some last minute fun.”
“How about we fly the drone some more.” Emma suggested.
“Alright, and see how well our moms handle it,” Adrian added. “They didn't get a chance to fly it yet.”
“I'm not good with electronics,” his aunt replied. “I do like the videos it can take, though.”
“It's fun, Mom. You should try it.” Emma said.
Adrian's aunt hummed at that. “I'll think about it.” As it happened, after Adrian, Emma and Ben had put in a few minutes each flying the drone, both she and Adrian's mother came outside to try flying it. The three of them gave her some pointers as she was flying, though the loose altitude stick caused her issues.
“Whoa, back it up some,” Adrian said as she flew the drone a bit close to the trees and branches. “Inch the right stick down.” His aunt did so, but pushed too far and the drone zoomed backwards.
“This is hard,” she said as Adrian got in position to catch the drone.
“Yeah, it will be for some time. Even for me,” Adrian replied.
His aunt flew the drone for a few more minutes before handing the controller over to his mother. She too had difficulty with altitude control, but avoided flying too close to anything solid. Once she was done, the controller was back in Adrian's hands; his mother and aunt went back inside shortly after, though both said they did enjoy flying the drone.
With 35% battery left, Adrian asked Ben and Emma if they wanted to fly it some more.
“Yeah. I wanna fly it high again.” Emma said.
“Me, I want to see how far out it can fly.” Ben said. “It's gotta be far, if it's using GPS.”
“I think ten miles is as far as it can go.” Adrian replied. How quiet Raven had been however got him to ask the AI, “You want to fly this again once we're done?”
“This One Greatly Desires That.”
“Alright, here we go.” Adrian then got the drone's rotors turning, and let it hover above his hand. Emma got the controller next, and as before, pushed the drone up high. This time, she made sure to look around during the ascent, and once the drone reached 250 feet, she held position.
One by one, she, Ben and Adrian got in some more flight time, taking the drone along the road north, watching the traffic at a major stop for a few minutes, then circling back and flying over more of the neighborhood.
The drone returned to the three with just over 10% of its charge left. “Think we should let the battery completely drain?” Ben asked.
“Maybe later,” Adrian replied. He then shut off the drone and switched its battery, telling the AI as it came back on in his palm, “Your turn, Raven.”
Raven waited until the view seemed stable before starting the rotors, then flew up a few feet before holding altitude. It first pivoted the drone to face Adrian, who waved in response. Emma did the same; Ben looked away, at the feed on the phone.
“This One Observed Where Adrian, Emma and Ben Flew. This One Desires To See Other Locations It Could See From High Altitude.”
“Go for it. You're on a full charge, so you've got at least forty minutes.” Adrian replied. “We'll watch from here.”
“This One Will Return Once It Is Satisfied.” Raven said before it turned the drone around, then began to ascend and fly northeast.

======================================

With the situation at the mall handled, and some of his family set to leave the next day, Adrian competes against his uncle and Raven in a game of deathmatch.

This chapter is, for now, the end of Book 1. The story arc feels complete, and the chapter ends on a satisfying note.

Where will Book 2 go? Interesting and satisfactory directions I hope.

======================================

Raven's Voice Lines = https://1drv.ms/f/c/0cc1a5ef5f1d85e.....IsEWc?e=uk39Yc