Inside The Game

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Dunruffle

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A digital figure flickered occasionally as it floated in front of a variety of screens. Each screen showed a different person as if viewed from their computer or TV. "hrmmm...yes..they should fit the bill." the faceless figure waved his hand and the screens all disappeared. A window appeared in the wall and the figure floated over to view the sprawling metropolis outside. Buildings flashed with wall sized ads that looked like the typical spam you see on normal websites. Things like, "Best Makeup tips", "Top 10 fruits you did not know were bad for you", etc. There were vendors selling tutorial pamphlets for different vehicles and animal mounts as shoppers looked in through windows at the latest trendy DLC clothes that had just been released. Tapping the red icon in the corner of the window, the figure walked away as the window closed. Going over to the middle of the room, the figure took out a spell book from his inventory and flipped through it. "Ah, here we go." The figure began chanting and the book started to glow. Thunder rumbled and a portal of light opened up in the ceiling.

Erik was sitting in his dorm room playing through the campaign of the new FPS blockbuster that had just been released when his screen started to glow. Blinking in surprise, Erik paused his game and looked closer at the strange glow. Suddenly he was sucked into his computer, leaving only his controller behind. A couple hundred miles away, Antonio was working on his music game when his screen started to glow as well. Pausing the music on his headphones, Antonio stepped back in confusion. Suddenly, the screen turned all white and Antonio was dragged across his room towards the screen. Crying out in surprise, Antonio grabbed onto the edge of his bed and tried to escape the invisible force. But it was too strong, soon Antonio lost his grip on his bed and was sucked into his screen as well.

As Erik fell screaming through the void, he was suddenly ejected from a portal into a blank white room. Sitting up with a groan, Erik went to run a hand through his hair. But when he ran his hand over his head, all he felt was thick cloth and leather. Looking at his hand, Erik yelped in surprise when he realized his hands were inside thick combat gloves. Looking down at himself, Erik realized he was now dressed in something completely different than what he had been wearing a few seconds earlier. He had on combat armor, a tactical holster rig, combat pants with knee pads, and sturdy combat boots. Touching his face, Erik felt the full face mask complete with night vision goggles. Desperately, Erik tried to pull off his new clothing. But it firmly stayed attached to his body. Beginning to panic, Erik then realized that it still felt like he was wearing his normal clothes. Even though his head was fully encased in a mask, it felt like nothing was there at all. Confused but curious, Erik wondered what exactly had just happened.

In another room. Antonio was ejected from his portal and landed on his knees. Wincing as he stood up, Antonio looked around the blank white room. After seeing nothing, Antonio looked down at himself in surprise. He was wearing dark grey sweatpants, flashy red skater shoes, a black sweatshirt and red t-shirt. Suddenly reaching up to wear his headphones should be, Antonio felt large headphones on his head. Putting a hand up to his face, he felt his skin and sighed in relief. But what he didn't realize was that while his face felt human to him. His face was actually a bare skull.
 
Alexander was in the middle of a tournament when his screen lit up. Sighing he turned the brightness down with a quick command and continued, though after a few moments being pulled through it was disorienting. While a professional gamer he kept himself active and had found a love for athletics and climbing, righting himself mid fall he landed in a rough crouch after rolling the most of the impact off. looking over himself he looked somewhat confused, struggling to take the helm off he blinked a few times and checked himself over. He FELT normal but he looked like some kind of dark warrior or something. He looked round the room pacing its extents and pushing against surfaces, even attempting to drive his blade through them a few times just out of curiosity. "Ok....So where in the seven hells am I?" He asked thin air.
 
Kyrie had been playing old RPG games on a handheld in her room when the screen to her TV began to glow. Knowing that she'd turned it off moments ago, she sat up in her bed to look over at it. She found that the glow was real, and lifted herself off of her bed to inspect it. The closer she got the more she felt she was doing the wrong thing, like an idiot teenager in some half-cocked horror film. As soon as she was in front of the TV, however, Kyrie felt herself being pulled through. Any attempt to struggle against the invisible force was useless, and in no time, she was sent screaming down some sort of long tunnel of white. Falling like this had surprised, she had begun spinning for a moment, before somehow ending up in a sort of spider crawl on her hands and knees. Kyrie was immediately alerted to something being wrong when looking at her hands and arms outstretched before her. Metal gloves and brown clothe over her arms certainly weren't the shorts in hoodie she went to bed with. The more she looked, there were other inconsistencies. Sitting up somewhat, looking around the entirely white room, she wondered what exactly had gone wrong for this to happen. "...maybe I should've left the t.v. on."
 
Suddenly a screen appeared in each of the rooms showing the faceless visage of the digital man. "Hello! Welcome to the digital world! My name is Mod182 or just Mod. Please exit your rooms through the door tht will open." As the screens dissappeared, a door opened in each of the rooms. Once they left their room, the gamers would be in a large circular room where Mod would be waiting.

As the door opened, Erik hesitantly stepped out into the large room. He first saw the floating figure of mod who waved happily at him. "Hello Erik! Or should i say FaZe." A small namebar appeared over Erik's head that labeled him as FaZe. As Antonio stepped out of his room, Erik looked over and tilted his head. "Woah, are you some kind of undead DJ or something?" Antonio looked at Erik and tilted his head in confusion. "What do you mean?" Mod laughed and suddenly a mirror appeared in front of Antonio. Antonio flinched as he saw his fleshless face then began experimentally feeling his face. "Yo this is weird. I feel like my face is the same but it looks like a skull." Like with Erik, a namebar appeared over Antonio's head that labeled him as RemiX. Looking back at Mod, Erik gestured to their surroundings. "So where are we exactly?" Mod chuckled and held out a placating hand. "Just wait for a moment. We have two more gamers to introduce."
 
Alexander walked out, looking round, cautious and worried. "What in the seven hells is this place?" He said glancing up and seeing his own name tag reading Tacticus. he sighed and rolled his eyes. "Why not just go for Caesar or Overlord, stupid naming system." He said and waved his hand through the nametag as if he could wipe it out or remove it. "Next think you know we'll be getting health bars and abilities and shit." he grumbled as he looked at the Mod. "so what, you're the evil overmind who dragged us here? I was in the middle of a bloody tournament. You could have atleast let me finish the match and then step back for a few hours." He complained and looked round. "And the exit is where?"
 
As Kyrie stepped out of the room as told, and walked in front of the others. the mysterious Mod included, she looked a little underwhelmed. "Oh wow...This keeps getting more and more trips..." she muttered. She looked around at the others, wincing. "...real uh, sausage fest here." she hoped that wasn't as loud as she thought. It was just a comment, nothing more, but she didn't want to make any rude comments. She just met these people, granted, the circumstances of this meeting were a little strange. " Despite the other three men in the room with her, she had to admit to herself that Mod was the most suspicious of them all. Someone to keep an eye out for, to be sure.
 
Mod clapped to get everyones attention as kyrie entered the room. "Welcome everyone to the digital world. I know you may have questions but let me get introductions out of the way." He gestured to Erik, "meet FaZe, he will be your dps damage dealer." Erik looked up at mod, "i will?" Mod shushed him and gestured to antonio. "RemiX here will be your healer," Antonio waved to everyone hesitantly as mod pointed at alexander and kyrie. "Tacticus will be your support and Leoda will be your tank. Now that everyone knows each other lets get down to why you are here." Mod floated over to a wall as a window appeared on it, revealing the bustling city below. "Welcome to digitropolis. It is a nexus between various game worlds and realms. Each of you have been selected to help save digitropolis from those that are planning to destroy it. There are those who despise the order that digitropolis represents, and thus they want to destroy it so anarchy can reign over the game universe. Each of you have a specific set of skills that will benefit both yourself and others." Turning back to the group, Mod closed the window. "Any questions?"
 
"Just a few." Alexander sighed. "Why was I given some stupid as all hell name rather than my normal screen name? or my normal name?" He asked as he looked himself over again. "Two, could you have not waited say....4 or so hours?" He paused as he lent on the wall "Three, can we just say screw you and go home? Four, if I'm support, why the hell am I dressed like a god dam tank? and Five, why should we bother, beside the ominious and vauge threats about universal chaos and such, and if you say 'because I will kill you otherwise I'm going to look at you like you are total bloody lunatic."
 
Kyrie could only nod, many of the one called Tacticus' questions, were very relevant. Even if they were worded harshly. And all of this so that four random strangers could save a "digital world" not a single one of them knew about? Why? The notion itself was more than fantastical. But even more fantastical was he alternative, that four strangers were sharing the same dream somehow. However, as...unrealistic as it all seemed, Kyrie did have some questions to pose herself. "...Umm..And if you don't mind, what exactly are we saving the world from? And how are we supposed to do that?...What exactly is Digitropolis?" Kyrie looked herself over again, obviously, there was an element she was missing here. And she was hoping to find out what that was before they got pulled deeper into this proverbial rabbit hole.
 
Antonio just shrugged as Erik nodded along with the questions. "yeah what they said." Mod simply chuckled and shook his head. "You don't seem to understand. What happens in this world also affects the real world you live in. If digitropolis falls, something along the lines of the entire internet being free game for hackers and malware happens. Nothing will be safe. Personal information will be available to anyone, any sort of monetary transaction will either be stolen or rerouted. Basically, you would have to rebuild the internet while constantly being assaulted by hackers and malware. It would be like a dam breaking and trying to build a town while it is still flooding. Do you get the picture now?" Mod huffed and crossed his arms. "Also if that doesn't convince you, there will be a monetary reward as well. Plus what kind of gamer doesn't dream of an immersive virtual world they can experience?" Turning to Alexander, Mod laughed. "I didn't give you your new username, the internet did. Based on your play style, daily habits, and browsing history, the internet decided it was the best name for you. Now if you are upset because you win loss ratio is out of balance i can simply change it for you. But if you reaaally don't want to participate, i am sure we can find a more willing replacement." Giving Alexander a moment to stew, Mod turned to Kyrie and smiled. "You will be fighting digital threats in physical form. A virus might take on the form of an ogre, or a hacker might be a necromancer. The variety is endless! It is quite exciting is it not? As i said earlier, Digitropolis is a nexus between many digital worlds. Here you will find many of the most popular software around. Like Mr. Google, DJ iTunes, or Pro Gamer Steam. Digitropolis is the bastion that protects the rest of the digital realms from harm." Erik stroked his chin and shrugged. "Well...I mean I guess i could give it a try. Like you said, this is a once in a lifetime experience. Plus saving the world and getting paid for it doesn't sound too bad. Antonio sighed and nodded his head. "might as well give it a shot, its not like we can die or anything." Mod turned to Antonio and laughed. "Death? Of course not! Only some possible brain damage is all."
 
"So, Save the world, get paid, and have my next few games rigged?" He shrugged. "I don't like the idea of rigged games, but a few favorable match ups wouldn't go amiss." He said as he glanced round. "Ok, so now the big question, DPS over there has his rifle, tank girl has her shield and ilk. but what in the seven hells am I and healer boy over there are supposed to do our job?" He asked as he stretched. "And as an example. what would happen if lets say we killed someone we wern't meant to? Like say steam, or google?" He asked as he made yet another attempt to pull his helm off. "and this bloody thing is REALLY bugging me. and can we at least have a Hud, this is the digital world right?" He asked and then paused. "And what happens if say...we let a virus through? just one."
 
As Tacticus mentioned it, Kyrie looked at her own gear. Seemed all and well enough. And she was pretty efficiently geared. She, like Tacticus didn't really see the point in rigged games, but she did share teethe excitement over the monetary reward. And did Mod say something about brain damage? She was worried about injury as it was brought up. And mistakes. The way she played games, sometimes people died, important people. Heck, even she died sometimes. And she was supposed to protect not only herself, but these other people, and a whole freaking world? That was probably the example next to the word "stressful" in the dictionary! Honestly, she was glad that Tacticus asked as many questions as he did. She was pretty sold at the save this new world, plot point, and without his helpful skepticism, she might've walked straight into some trap, blind. And seriously, was no one going to mention the brain damage? She didn't want to go back home and have to end up in a wheel chair!!

Somehow, she ended up talking about the first thing that reappeared in her head though. "....Maybe," she tried to speak louder than before, hoping to capture the attention of the others, "maybe... Mod expects you to have magical abilities, or smaller weapons, given your status. Or you have to buy your weapons, or get them in a later quest, or-" Kyrie stopped herself rambling, "...God, I'm sorry.
 
Mod nodded and held out his hands placatingly. "your outfits are bound to you, so you cannot take them off. Plus if anyone saw your real faces they would be able to find your real life identity, then they would probably kill you. Now onto your abilities and weapons." With a snap of his fingers, they were all transported to a large firing range. "your enemies will be marked in red. Anyone not in red you can only injure, not kill. So dont worry about killing someone by accident. Now for your abilities. In combat your hud will activate, like so." Mod pushed a red button and several robots began marching around at the end of the firing range. Suddenly, each player had a health bar, nametage, party chat, and ability/weapon tutorial pop up. "go ahead and complete your personalized combat tutorials."

Erik looked at his hud in amazement and stepped up to the firing line. Pausing for a moment, he pressed one of the weapon icons on the table in front of him. Suddenly a pistol appeared in his hands. "sweet!" Erik aimed at the bots and fired off a few shots, causing a bot to fall into pieces. Meanwhile, Antonio had activated his music station and put on some heavy metal, causing erik's next few shots to explode on impact. "yo man thats sick as fuck!" Erik nodded at Antonio and gave a thumbs up.
 
Alexander sighed and shook his head. "Yeah, but still the comical over-sized armour and such is very annoying." He said as he looked at the HUD, casting his eyes over it he started to work, "This makes sense." he said as he flicked his hands out, buildings erupting from the ground and even a few on the walls. "Lets see...Defensive turrets..." He said as several small turret like structures started to be built along the edge of a rapidly forming base. within moments there were small squads of units moving out from the base, "Its a RTS. that's all. a game." He chuckled as he made a gesture and the minions swarmed forwards, "This is going to take some getting used to and reading, but I think I have the basics." he said as he set up a few patrols and support positions as well as several defensive lines before finding somewhere to sit and read the detailed information on each unit.
 
"...that explains why my face is so...different." Kyrie murmured, noting that while she didn't have a mask, she had to look ten times better than her real self. Pulling a sword rom her side, with more ease than she would have thought possible had this not been a game, she tried to give a few practice swings, stepping from her teammates for space as she did so. Kyrie looked at the others' health bars, she had quite a bit of health on her. That seemed all fine and good until she managed to get a peek at her abilities. "Risk or Reward system..." she murmured. still swinging the sword nonchalantly. It was then that she was alerted to a tutorial about weapons on her back, dual blades. Dual-wielding was difficult, mostly because you couldn't dodge. Kyrie thought back to her history of reckless fighting until she died, over and over.....it didn't bother her much anymore after that.
 
As they practiced, Antonio put on some dubstep. It increased everyone's attack speed which caused Erik's rifle to fire at twice the speed, turned Kyrie's swings into swift blurs, and caused Alexander's units to run around at twice their normal speed. After a few minutes of letting everyone experiment, Mod pushed a button to turn off the test bots. "okay everyone, now it is time to brief you on your first assignment." Snapping his fingers, Mod transported them all to a conference room with a large screen. "Your first assignment will be an easy one. Stop the hacker from creating more malware. He is currently in the metro realm, which means your environment will be similar to what your society was like in the real world. The hacker is in the form of a gang leader and his malware are in the form of gangbangers. The local antivirus software (in the form of the police) is having trouble containing the threat. You will go in and neutralize the target and any malware you come across. Once the hacker is taken care of the malware will quickly disappear. Any questions?"
 
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