Chapter 25

"Who are you?" Sidharth asked Michael as he looked at him.

"I'm Michael, Gayatri's friend." Michael said to her with a serious face.

"Her friend?" Sidharth said confused as he looked at Gayatri.

"He's my friend." Gayatri said to him as she glared at him.

"I thought you didn't have friends." Sidharth said to her.

"There was no need for me to tell you about my life." Gayatri said to him with a glare.

Sidharth looked at the two in front of him as they kept their gazes on him.

"Is that so. Well, we can talk after we find out why we have been called here." Sidharth said to her before he walked away from them not even sparing a glance at Michael.

The two watched him walk away as they kept their gazes at him with Gayatri glaring at him all the while.

"You don't like him do you." Michael said to her as he looked at her.

"And you do?" Gayatri asked as she looked at him.

"Touche." Michael said to her in response.

The two were silent after that as the Players around them were looking at them and whispering amongst each other. Many of the guys were looking at Michael with envy and the girls were also doing the same thing with Gayatri as the two felt their gazes.

"Has he been bothering you about becoming his partner?" Michael asked wanting to think about something else.

"Yes. He is very stubborn and arrogant about his fame and the fact that he is a well known Silver Rank Player. I don't like him and I had declined many times but he just doesn't give up and keeps on asking me." Gayatri said to him in an annoyed tone.

"Do you know why he is approaching you? Is it for Arun?" Michael asked her curiously.

"Maybe. I don't know. He never talks about his reasons and I don't want to talk to him anyway." Gayatri said as she shrugged her shoulders.

"I see. Have you told Arun about it?" Michael asked her curiously.

"No. I can take care of that guy. He may be a famous Silver Rank but I am one as well. Not to mention the fact that I have met with some of the other Gold Players as well so if anything suspicious were to happen they would investigate it." Gayatri said to him seriously.

"That's good to hear." Michael said with a small smile on his face.

"Why?" Gayatri asked him at that.

"Because that means you will be protected." Michael said to her with a smile.

"You still care that much about me?" Gayatri asked him surprised.

"Yeah. Even if we have drifted apart, I still can't help but worry for you. Even if you deny it I still consider you someone close to me." Michael said to her with a small smile.

Gayatri's eyed widened at his words before she looked down as she sighed.

"You're still an idiot." Gayatri said to him at that.

"Yeah. I guess I am." Michael said to her with a small laugh as he scratched his head.

Gayatri heard him as she smiled at his words as a faint blush appeared on her face.

'It looks like I still care for you very much huh, big brother.' Gayatri thought to herself as she kept her smile.

After that the two didn't say anything and soon all of the assembled Players were called to go to another room. They went inside and saw many chairs in there as they proceeded to go and sit on them as they looked at the stage in front of them.

Soon four Gold Players walked on the stage as all the Players there looked at them with wide eyes of awe and joy. The Gold Players were Aravind, Shiva, Divya and Kavya as the group of players looked at the vast amount of them in front of them.

Michael looked at Gayatri who is sitting beside him as they had decided to sit beside each other for the meeting as he could see that she has a disappointed look on her face.

'Did she want Arun to be here at the meeting? That might be the case.' Michael thought to himself as he looked at her.

"We thank you all for coming here. I am Aravind Patel, the top ranked Gold Player of India. I have called you all here for a very important purpose." Aravind said to them seriously.

The Players all looked at him with full attention as they wanted to know why they have been summoned by their nations top player. A lot of them were also quite happy that they are able to see him up close like this.

'He looks so cool and handsome!' Many of the girls thought to themselves as they looked at the man and blushed at his handsome face.

"As you all know the duty of us Players is to find and complete Gates to make sure that the monsters do not come out of it. However, we have started to see an increase in the number of high level Gates." Aravind said to them seriously.

This immediately got the attention of the Players there as they have been the ones taking care of the Gates and they were of the thought that they were handling it pretty nicely. But the news about more powerful Gates appearing has got their full attention now.

'More high level gates are appearing? This is bad. That means we have to locate those Gates very quickly and we also need to have fairly powerful Players to take care of it.' Michael thought to himself as he looked at Arvind.

'Are you serious right now? Even if you say that India is still a large nation, sure there are hundreds of Players here right now but even if that's the case finding all those Gates and defeating it is another matter entirely. I doubt we could cover all that land.' Gayatri thought to herself in shock at the revelation.

"I see that this new information has caught your attention. Well, that brings us to the reason for calling you here. As you have just heard the number of high level Gates is increasing and so we have decided to create a group consisting of Players whose skills have been recognised by the association. The reason is of course to allow us to create a force that will be able to cover and take care of the Gates appearing in our nation." Aravind said to them seriously.

This caused the Players to talk amongst themselves as they were shocked and wide eyed at the news. The Gold Players didn't find it surprising as it is a very important piece of news as well. Aravind caught the attention of his audience as he lightly coughed into the mike as they looked at him.

"I know that this is a surprise to all of you. But we want to ensure that the people of our nation will be safe. As Players it is our duty to make sure that the monsters from inside the Gate do not invade out world. However, considering the danger of this profession, we are willing to give you a chance to back out. We won't force any of you to participate in this if you feel like you are not up to the task." Aravind said to them as he gave them a choice.

'What will they do?' Michael and Gayatri thought to themselves as they looked at the Players around them.