headset

  goggles

  VIRTUAL REALITY

  Virtual reality is a computer-

  created artificial world that

  players can interact with.

  gloves

  Some virtual reality video

  games require the use of

  goggles with internal screens,

  gloves with special sensors,

  and headsets that feed sounds

  and instructions to the player.

  Players feel like they are

  inside the game!

  “It’s a computer-generated world designed

  to look real,” Doc explained. “With this gear,

  you will feel like you are really inside the

  game. You’ll be in a 3-D environment that

  you can SEE from all angles. You can hear

  noises and even touch things.”

  “What if I make mistakes?” I asked.

  “Benjamin and Thea will go with you,”

  Doc replied. “That is, if they agree. The

  experience will be very intense and could

  even be dangerous.”

  “I’ll do it!” Benjamin squeaked. “I know

  this game like the back of my paw. I

  can guide us through it.”

  “I think it will be FUN,” Thea added,

  putting on her gloves.

  “Doc, how d-d-dangerous will it get?” I

  asked.

  “If you stay calm, you won’t have any

  problems,” Doc replied. “Everything in the

  world is computer-generated, so it can’t

  hurt you. But if you forget that, well . . .

  you could get a very dangerous scare!”

  “I am not very good at staying calm,” I

  admitted. “I think it’s best if I just go home!”

  “Geronimo, don’t you want to get out of

  this MESS?” Thea asked me.

  “Of course!” I said.

  Wow!

  Amazing!

  Will it be dangerous?

  “Then put on your gear,” my sister said

  firmly.

  I knew she was right. I put on my headset,

  goggles, and the gloves.

  And then I panicked! I was suddenly

  transported into a glowing, empty room!

  I didn’t like the feeling one bit.

  I tried to run away, but I forgot that

  the helmet and gloves were attached to lots

  of hanging cables and wires. So I tripped,

  rolled down the stairs, bumped my head,

  and ended up tangled in cables and

  wires!

  How embarrassing!

  It took Doc an hour to untangle me . . .

  DEALING WITH VIRTUAL REALITY!

  1

  The Virtual reality world

  freaked me out, so I

  decided to run away,

  but . . .

  I tripped over my

  own paws . . .

  2

  I rolled down the

  stairs . . .

  3

  4

  and I ended up

  tangled in cables

  and wires!

  LIKE A ZOMBIE

  TOAD . . .

  When she finished, Doc sighed. “Now that

  I’ve untangled Stilton, we can start,”

  she announced.

  “I hope you can keep your cool this

  time, Ger,” Thea said to me. “Don’t try to

  run away again.”

  My furry cheeks turned pink. “I’ll try to

  stay calm, I promise,” I said. “But you know

  me. I can be a totally hopeless scaredy-

  mouse sometimes! I can’t help it!”

  Thea sighed.

  “You’ve got to keep it

  together, Brother. You don’t want to lose

  The Rodent’s Gazette, do you?”

  Thea knew exactly what to say to me.

  Thinking of losing my beloved newspaper

  made me realize that I had to stay calm!

  I could not be the same old scaredy-

  mouse I usually was.

  No, this time I would have to be a different

  kind of rodent: brave, fearless, strong,

  smart, fast . . .

  I had to do it to save The

  Rodent’s Gazette. So I took

  a deep breath and imagined

  myself as a totally different

  mouse.

  Then I heard Doc’s voice

  in my headset. “Benjamin,

  can you explain the rules

  of the game to Thea and

  Geronimo?” she asked.

  “Sure!” Benjamin squeaked. As he read

  the rules aloud, images flashed inside

  my goggles.

  What a fearless

  mouse I am!

  X

  Pirates of the Squeaky Seas

  Rules of the Game

  This is a team game that takes place in a pirate world,

  with traps, attacks, and treasures to be found. The

  object of the game is for each team to reach its own

  treasure island. Each player has nine lives. After the

  ninth life, the player is eliminated. Players lose a life

  every time they are hit. When any of the members of

  a team lose their nine lives, the team is automatically

  eliminated, too. During the game, it is essential to

  stock up on food, weapons, water, and treasures to

  keep going in the game.

  1. Pirates of the Squeaky Seas is a multiplayer online

  game.

  2. Each team is named after a pirate ship. Each player

  can choose his/her own name and choose his/her

  own character.

  3. The game consists of ten levels. Each level has tasks

  of varying difficulties. In order to advance to the next

  level, you have to successfully complete all the tasks.

  LEVEL 1: ROOKIE

  LEVEL 7: RAIDER

  LEVEL 2: MATE

  LEVEL 8: PRIVATEER

  LEVEL 3: CREWMAN

  LEVEL 9: PIRATE ON THE ATTACK

  LEVEL 4: BOATSWAIN

  LEVEL 10: CORSAIR OF THE

  LEVEL 5: WOLF OF THE SEA

  SEVEN SEAS

  LEVEL 6: BUCCANEER

  Only Nick Nobody has reached Level 10. No player has

  ever defeated him.

  “Is everything clear, Uncle Ger?” Benjamin

  asked when he had finished explaining the

  rules. “The first few LEVELS are pretty easy,

  so you should be able to figure it out as you

  go. But first we have to choose the name of

  our pirate ship and create our characters.

  Any suggestions?”

  I pondered this for a bit. “We could

  name our ship Scrolling Surfer, just like

  Doc’s ship. What do you think? And I will

  be Gerry Shivertail.”

  “And I will be Terry the Terrible!” Thea

  announced.

  “And I will be Benny the Buccaneer!”

  Benjamin added.

  Then we got to select eyes, snouts, ears,

  whiskers, noses, clothing, and accessories

  from the screen to create our character

  looks. Here is what we came up with . . .

  Fur

  Whiskers

  Fur

  Bandana

  Fur

  shirt

  Ears

  SHIRT

  PANTS

  We were all very

  happy with our

  characters . . . except for me! I thought

  the GREEN fur I chose for GERRY

  SHIVERTAIL would look cool. But Thea

  took a look at my character and giggled.

  “Well, at least you will scare our enemies!

  You look like a giant toad dressed

  up like a pirate!”

  Croak!

  Doc looked at my character.

  “That color is perfect, in

  my opinion!” she said.

  “It

  looks exactly the way you did,

  Stilton, when you were

  seasick on the ship earlier.”

  Boo!

  “I really like it, Uncle Ger!”

  Benjamin added.

  “You look

  like a zombie toad pirate on

  a ghost ship.”

  “I don’t want to look like a

  zombie toad pirate!” I cried.

  “Sorry, Uncle Ger, but I’ve already

  uploaded our characters,” Benjamin said.

  “Then it’s time to begin our mission,”

  Doc said.

  “Make sure your goggles

  are firmly in place. Remember that there

  are wires attached to your gloves, and

  don’t make any big movements. Now, if

  you’re ready . . . off you go! Good luck,

  everyone!”

  The screen inside my goggles flashed,

  and suddenly everything changed. We were

  inside the Pirates of the Squeaky Seas

  game! It was incredible! It really looked like

  were on board on old pirate ship! The ship

  was anchored off the shore of an island.

  “The first four levels are pretty simple,”

  Benjamin explained.

  “We need to bring

  supplies from the shore onto the ship.”

  We

  quickly advanced through the first

  four levels. We carried chests full of gold

  doubloons on board, and barrels full

  of oily anchovies that we could actually

  smell! (They were very stinky!)

  “You’ll never know what you might need

  in the game,” explained Benja — I mean,

  Benny the Buccaneer. “And now, we can

  set sail!”

  Terry the Terrible

  (my sister, and our

  ship’s captain) hoisted the anchor, and

  we sailed into the blue ocean — and the

  FIFTH LEVEL of the game. Soon we spotted

  a pirate ship sailing toward us with

  black sails,.

  Then . . . boom! The pirate ship fired

  one of its cannons at us!

  “Prepare to be attacked!” Benny

  the Buccaneer shouted.

  IT’S ONLY A VIDEO

  GAME!

  The cannonball splashed in the water just a

  few feet from the ship. The waves rocked,

  and I started to feel seasick.

  Then the wind began to BLOW so

  violently that we were scared it would tear

  apart the sails.

  Boom! A second cannonball flew

  toward us, narrowly missing us again.

  “Quick, lower the sails!” Thea ordered.

  I pulled at the ropes, but they were

  tangled up at the top of the mainmast.

  “Climb up there, Gerry Shivertail!”

  Benjamin called out.

  I gulped. It’s only a video game, I told

  myself, and I climbed up the tall mast.

  Then I made the mistake

  of looking down. The deck

  looked like it was far, far

  below me! I got super

  dizzy! My head began to

  spin like a wheel of cheese!

  Then I heard a gentle voice

  in my ear.

  “It’s only a video game,

  Stilton . . . don’t forget

  that . . . it’s only a video

  game!”

  It was Doc! She was

  WATCHING us on a

  computer screen, so she

  knew everything that was

  happening to us.

  The sound of her voice

  helped to calm me down.

  Argh!

  I took a deep breath and

  untangled

  the ropes. Our ship sailed away from the

  attacking ship . . . and we advanced to the

  sixth level!

  “Way to go, Gerry Shivertail!” Thea cheered.

  But we could not celebrate for long,

  because the pirate ship with the black

  sails pulled up next to us. Terrifying

  pirates waving swords tried to board our

  ship!

  “Uh-oh,” said Benjamin. “We forgot to

  stock up on weapons!”

  “Well, we Stiltons are peaceful mice,”

  Thea said.

  “But what do we do now?” I asked. “How

  will we fight back?”

  Once again we heard Doc’s voice in our

  ears: “It’s only a video game. They can’t

  hurt you.”

  Benjamin was the first to calm down. He

  ran to the galley, took a barrel of the oily

  anchovies, and spilled them on the deck!

  Thea and I did the same and overturned

  two more barrels of the super-stinky,

  oily, and slimy anchovies.

  When the attacking pirates jumped

  on our ship’s deck, they slipped on the

  stinky anchovies. They all fell overboard,

  Yuck!

  Ha, ha!

  splashing right into a school of hungry

  sharks! The sharks chased them away.

  Then we advanced to the SEVENTH LEVEL.

  Levels 7 and 8 were fairly easy. No other

  ships Attacked us. We sailed the seas,

  stocking up on points and chests of gold

  doubloons.

  Nooooo!

  Help!

  Nom-nom!

  I was almost relaxed when we got to the

  NINTH LEVEL. Maybe the video game was

  not as difficult as I thought it would be!

  And then — I got distracted on an island

  and forgot to board the Scrolling Surfer.

  Thea and Benjamin sailed off without me.

  That’s when I got into big trouble. I lost

  seven out of my nine lives!

  I got poked by a sharp sword. (-1 life)

  I fell into a swamp of hungry alligators.

  (-1 life)

  I was captured by the enemy pirates.

  (-1 life)

  The pirates were angry, so they fed me to

  the sharks. (-1 lives)

  Before the sharks could eat me, a whale

  swallowed me. (-1 life)

  The whale hiccupped me back out onto a

  deserted island. (-1 life)

  How I lost seven lives . . .

  1

  2

  I fell into a swamp full of hungry alligators.

  I was poked by a sharp

  (-1 life)

  sword. (-1 life)

  3

  The enemy

  captured me.

  (-1 life)

  4

  5

  They fed me to the

  A whale swallowed

  sharks. (-1 life)

  me. (-1 life)

  6

  7

  The whale hiccupped me back

  I hid behind a bush because my

  out. (-1 life)

  stomach hurt! (-1 life)

  There was nothing to eat there, so I

  chomped on wild berries and had such a

  bad stomachache that I had to hide behind

  the bushes for hours! (-1 life)

  What a disaster. Because of me my team

  was about to get eliminated!

  Then I heard Doc’s voice again. “Remember,

  it’s only a video game!” she said. “You

  don’t really have a stomachache! Use your

  brains and try to find your teammates.”

  Doc’s words calmed me down once

  again. I thought up a plan.

  I wrote a message to my friends and put it

  in an empty bottle that I found. I threw the

  bottle in the ocean.

  I had done the right thing!

  A happy melody started playing:

  BA DA DA BA BA

  BAAAAA!

  I started jumping up and down. I had

  made it to the TENTH LEVEL!

  The game instantly transported me

  to the Scrolling Surfer. Thea had the bottle

  in her paw.

  “We LOOKED for you everywhere!”

  she scolded.

  “Where were you, Gerry

  Shivertail?”

  “Sorry, Captain Terrible, but I got lost,”

  I replied.

  “I had to fight off sharks,

  whales, and alligators!”

  Then I frowned. “I’m so sorry, but I lost

  seven of my nine lives! I have only two left!”

  “Don’t worry, Gerry Shivertail!”

  Benjamin said. “The important thing is that

  we are all back together. We are a team and

  we can win if we stick together. We won’t

  lose you again!”

  That made me feel better.

  “Thanks,

  Benny the Buccaneer!” I said.

  Thea tapped my shoulder and pointed

  off the deck of the ship. “Nick Nobody’s

  island is over there. All we have to do is

  get there, battle him, and win. Is everybody

  ready?”

  “Ready, Captain!” Benjamin and I shouted

  in reply.

  “Then let’s go show that hacker that

  nobody messes with the Stiltons!” Thea

  cheered.

  MY NAME IS NICK

  NOBODY!

  We lowered a small boat in the water

  and ROWED toward the island. Suddenly,

  three boats full of pirates came toward

  us from behind a rocky ridge! Squeak!

  We were in trouble!

  The captain was a scrawny mouse. He

  had parrot on his shoulder, an eye patch,

  and wore a large pirate hat with a gold letter

  N. N for Nick Nobody!

  He looked me up and down. “You, with

  the moldy green–colored fur!” he called

 

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