4 Playtime!

Four playtime. THE THREE FRIENDS stepped into Zeke's room. Wow, it looks similar to my room, Harris thought. They all sat down on a couch. "Want to play a game?" Zeke asked.

He pressed a button under the couch, and a large screen blazed to life on the ceiling. The three of them looked up at the screen, and Harris's jaw dropped. "I thought you didn't have video games in Tragas," said Harris.

"Well, not like the ones we played at your house," Zeke said. I've never seen a screen like that!" Roxy said. That's because it's alien technology! Harris thought. "We have a lot of high-tech stuff in Tragas. This game is called Monster Mania. You battle all kinds of monsters. But here's the coolest part." Instead of giving Harris and Roxy hand-held controllers, Zeke placed a helmet onto each of their heads, and then placed one on himself.

"You create and control your avatar onscreen with your mind, not your fingers!" said Zeke. "And the monsters you battle also come from your own mind." Zeke's avatar was a giant bird. When a fire-breathing, three-headed dragon appeared, Zeke controlled his bird with his mind and defeated the dragon.

Roxy's avatar was a warrior with a sword, shield, and armor. She battled a T. rex, but the dinosaur quickly clobbered her. "This is hard!" she said. "Keep playing. You'll get the hang of it," said Zeke. Harris's avatar was a superhero with bulging muscles and a long cape. He fought a cyclops who swung a big wooden club. Despite his superpowers, Harris's avatar was overcome.

An army of trolls soon rushed at the three avatars. "Work together!" said Zeke. "If we focus our thoughts on each others' avatars, we can defeat these trolls as a team!"