Knock knock knock—
A rap at the office door.
Zoey Parker, slouched in the boss chair, sniffled, took a deep breath, and blinked hard.
"Come in?" she said softly.
Click. Gus Harper stepped in, clutching a color-printed flyer, and sat across from Zoey.
He opened his mouth to speak but paused, noticing her red eyes. "You good?"
Sniff— Zoey rubbed her eyes. "Nah, just read a game review. Was about to hunt you down."
She spun her all-in-one PC's screen, showing Gus the IndieVibe review page.
"This player, SuperCat… it's rough," she said, voice shaky. "Anything we can do?"
Right before Gus knocked, Zoey had been checking Peak Nation's rep and sales, brainstorming derivative projects to tank for that sweet rebate. With a 100x multiplier and a 21-day + 90-day rebate period, Peak Nation was a guaranteed cash cow—$101M cost, $127M breakeven (3.175M copies at $40), $5 Peak Eight fee (Chapter 277). No chance of a loss. Her only shot was to fumble the follow-ups.
But then SuperCat's review hit her like a truck. Emotional as she was, Zoey's eyes welled up. Even though SuperCat was gone, she wanted to do something for him.
"Like a small cosmetic, maybe? Or a bio like Octane's?" she asked Gus.
Gus smiled, relieved, and slid the flyer to her. "That's why I'm here…"
Three days later, in an info-saturated world, SuperCat's story didn't catch mainstream media. But players? They latched on.
In just three days, SuperCat's tale spread like wildfire through Peak Nation's community. Players crafted a signature move in his honor: hands on head, mimicking cat ears with a rock gesture.
"Cat Salute."
Octane, streaming as usual, did the move before hopping into his IndieVibe X2 cabin. Then he noticed Peak Nation had a small update—no patch notes, no map changes.
"Bug fix or what?" Octane muttered, frowning.
Ding. Update done. He loaded in.
But—bam! In his private locker room, a new stunt reward popped up on the UI.
"What the…?" Octane blinked.
New stunts usually required conquering maps or leveling up. He'd done nothing but log in.
Chat was lost—
"Bug?"
"Updates fix bugs, not add 'em, right?"
"Octane's got backdoor dev perks, I'm calling it!"
"LMAO…"
"Unlock Action: Tree Slayer?"
"Tree Slayer, lol, what's that?"
"What's this move even do?"
Urged by chat, Octane opened the stunt details—
[Stunt: Cat Salute]
[Description: Usable in any sport. Form a rock gesture with both hands, hold above head like cat ears. Grants +230 special stunt points.]
Chat went dead silent for three seconds. Then—boom.
"Yo, Gus put the Cat Salute in the game!"
"This is a legit stunt?!"
"Cat ears before every run, let's go!"
"Gus, you legend!"
"So that's the update!"
"Damn, I'm choked up."
"This is what devs who vibe with players do."
"Gus Harper, my guy!"
But wait—ding! Another reward popped up.
"What?!" Octane gasped. "There's more?"
He clicked, revealing a black woolen hat with cat ears on the UI.
[Helmet Appearance: SuperCat's Cat Hat]
[Note: Replaces helmet cosmetic. Clear a Peak Eight challenge with this equipped to unlock a server-wide ultimate reward.]
Boom— Chat exploded.
"WHAAAT?!"
"SuperCat's hat! Server-wide reward?!"
"WindyPeak made a global prize for SuperCat!"
"No way, for real?"
"Gus! Zoey! Y'all wild for this!"
"I'm dropping $40 for the game and $5 for the Peak Eight ticket right now!"
"Scared of heights, but I'm in!"
"Yo, squad, server-wide reward! Let's run it for SuperCat!"
The Peak Nation community lost it. Players thought SuperCat's tribute would stay grassroots, but WindyPeak coded the Cat Salute as a stunt and added his hat as a cosmetic.
For a dev to do this for one player? That hit deep. But WindyPeak went harder, teasing a mysterious Eight Ultimate Reward. Clear a Peak Eight first, and you'd snag the $5 ticket pool and a server-wide prize.
Octane adjusted SuperCat's hat on his avatar, a strange warmth in his chest. His own prosthetic legs gave him a sliver of connection to SuperCat's struggle. He knew the grit it took to stay sunny and drop that review in the face of death.
Death could take SuperCat's body, but not his radiant soul.
Now, after endless practice, Octane stood at the Ice Solidification start line—the Alps, SuperCat's dream. The avalanche downhill race, SSS-tier difficulty.
He tweaked the cat hat, took a deep breath. "We're here together, SuperCat. I'm taking you down this death slope, and we'll clown on death at the finish."
Crunch. He yanked his ski poles, legs angling inward, body low. A 70-degree snow trail stretched through a dense coniferous forest to a tiny finish arch.
Octane had never run this slope. The forest was a death trap. Every section was a nightmare other maps couldn't touch.
One shot. Like life.
"Huff—" Under thousands of viewers' eyes, Octane raised his hands, flashed the Cat Salute. [+230 stunt points] blinked on the UI.
Swish— He launched like a rocket.
130 km/h off the rip.
He didn't slow—slammed his poles harder, pushing for speed. An avalanche was coming.
Rumble—BOOM! Thunder roared atop the Alps. Through the Peak Eight's spectator cam, a tsunami of snow surged behind Octane, dwarfing him like an ant.
Chat freaked—
"This is avalanche skiing? Not just fast-as-hell skiing?"
"Terrifying!"
"That avalanche's moving! It's on Octane's tail!"
"Chill, there's a jump point soon. He can outrun it…"
"Here it comes!"
Swish— Octane hit the jump, soaring like an eagle in his green Power Boy suit. The avalanche roared behind, a wall of snow.
Unfazed, he leaned back, pulling a cat-like arc, a full spin, and another Cat Salute mid-air before diving back to the slope.
"OHHHHH—!"
"Stunts in an avalanche?!"
"Power Boy's awake!"
"He's the Power Boy!"
"Octane's on fire!"
"Under the stars, I'm unstoppable!"
"Lit! Lit!"
"Go, Power Boy!"
Avalanche: a tidal wave. Octane: an arrow.
At 253.8 km/h—past the IRL record—he plunged into the forest. Cedar branches blurred, his dodges pure instinct. At this speed, his brain couldn't keep up—reactions under 0.1 seconds, every move perfect, or he'd slam a tree and get buried.
Adrenaline spiked. Heart rate hit 160. His pounding heart sang courage.
Boom— He burst from the forest, snow trailing like wings. The steepest slope loomed, a 4.5-second air window. The avalanche would stall behind the ridge.
Octane was ready. He slid backward, charging the final slope.
Chat gasped—
"Oh no…"
"255 km/h backward?"
"That's insane…"
"He unlocked this on the hardest slope."
"Horizontal pirouette, aerial grab, twisting somersault?"
"What even is that?!"
"Humanly possible?"
"Yo…"
Crunch— Snow sprayed. The avalanche roared nature's symphony behind Octane's soaring form.
He hit the Cat Salute, grabbed his board, spun like a dancer—elegant arcs, twists, flips. In the Alps, his broken body found itself, carrying SuperCat's soul.
Their unyielding spirits outshone the sun, their courage louder than the avalanche.
[+12855 points]
The score blazed, lagging the stream. Chat's barrage outdid the avalanche.
"W—T—F—!"
"OHHHHHHH—!"
"What?!"
"1620-degree twist?!"
"Hell yeah!"
Octane slid to the finish, kneeling as the avalanche stalled. His scream mixed joy and tears, shaking the stream.
Even the avalanche bowed.
A server-wide alert flashed—
[World's First Ice Solidification Cleared!]
Octane raised his hand, cat-ear gesture high, tears streaming. "SuperCat—! We did it—!"