Zoners
Life is just another game.
1 First you play it, then it's over – whether you reach the end or not!
Hey, so I had the weirdest day today. We were trying to get this object out of the futuristic zone but some of us were caught. All our equipment was placed in the room that had the object we were looking for – some kind of magical stone that was taken from King Dante from a colony on the far side of the medieval zone. Luckily we found a lock-picking card, the only problem is that are tech guy is one of the only people NOT to get caught. So we needed to send a message to Shawn but our communication gear was with the rest of our stuff. So we had ourselves a paradox. We had to break out of our cell long enough to get our communication gear, contact Shawn and tell him to get caught so that he can get the lock pick card. Then we can break out of prison, get our stuff and the stone and then get across to the colony. So I… just realised that you have no idea what I'm talking about. Maybe I should start from the beginning, the very beginning. My friends call me Scott, and this is my story.
Ever since I could remember, I have loved computer games. I've owned several different consoles, and I still own a few of them now. I have every different type of game boy! I have played arcade games since before I could remember (at least believing what my mom says) and have played most of them that exist. My mom is actually glad that I spend lots of money on arcade games and new console games. Every time my dad complains that I'm wasting my money, my mom says "At least he doesn't waste it on sweets, drink, cigarette or drugs." My dad doesn't understand that playing computer games all these years have given me skills useful to life that you don't really learn in school. Well you may do, but you don't do it as well. You see I have good puzzle solving skills, fast reaction rates and excellent hand-eye co-ordination. I also have a 93% accuracy rate with a gun and that's definitely something you defiantly don't learn in school! It's safe to say I like computer games. I just didn't realise that the computer games liked me. Did I tell you this was a weird story?
I believe this story starts on a nice, hot summer's day.
"Man, it's so cold out there that a polar bear is gonna get frostbite!" That's Samantha Hunt, Sam for short. We've been good friends for years. Although I can't remember why.
"Yeah. You know when I signed up for the school trip, I didn't know that we were going to the North Pole!" that was me trying to be witty. Me and Sam are known for our sarcastic comments. Actually I should say Sam and I, after all we are about to start our English class.
"Ok, Miss Walls is about to walk in and Shawn is late." Sam panicked talking about another of my friends, Shawn Williams.
"Oh I wouldn't worry about him, he's almost acing this class. Unlike me, who will be lucky to pass." I'm on that boundary between pass and fail, unfortunately I've had more fails than passes in the exams I've taken. English is not my best subject, fortunately it's not my worst either. That's the next lesson!
Luckily, Shawn did show up before Miss Walls by about 5 seconds. We spent the lesson analysing some poem. I hate finding out the 'meaning of the words, and the feeling that it give the reader.' I find that stuff ruins the poem or the story. I just like to read it and like it. I don't care why the lead guy was named Jim and not James, or why the bad guy wore black, it's just ridiculous. When we left the lesson, I was very happy and I got to speak to Shawn, something Sam nor I (damn English) could do at the start of the lesson.
"So why were you late?" Sam asked. She beat me to it!
"Err…" Shawn thought for a few seconds, obviously trying to come up with some lie, sorry - excuse, to tell us. Me and Sam just looked at each other.
"He was makin' out!" we both said to each other. We all knew Shawn had a girlfriend. Unfortunately, Shawn wasn't willing to lend us information on the subject. Obviously the mysterious women made him late this morning.
"Come on, just a name" Sam begged.
"I don't know what you're talking about." That's the problem with Shawn. He's in a constant state of denial. I'm surprised he doesn't deny his own name.
"Your girlfriend!" I stated. I knew what was coming next, and today I was prepared for it.
"I don't have a girlfriend" Shawn shot back. I managed to stop Sam from her usual 'then who were you making out with' bit.
"Ok, then just give us the name of the guy you were making out with." I calmly said.
"She is not a guy!" Bingo, he fell into my trap. I was hoping for a name, but this is better than anything. This then led me to nice and calmly say.
"Oh, so you were making out with someone then." This left Shawn lost for words. Since I had got to my next class I had to leave them. I walked in and took my seat. Told you I was prepared!
"Hey!" in walked another of my friends (yes I have a lot of friends) Robert Campbell. "You ready for this lesson?"
"Am I ever? Damn I hate French. I think it has something to do with the teacher, I cant understand a word he's saying!" I really do hate French. I know that's its my worse subject. My exam results on the other hand say that I'm doing all right in this class.
"Bonjour class." Allow me to translate, hello class. "Ca-va?" and how are you. At this point he points at a few people. Then he points to me.
"Err… come-see come-ca" that's Ok, to you and me. You never want to say that your anything less than ok, cause he then asks you why and you have to answer in French, or you fail today's lesson. This is how the teacher operates, he gives you a grade per lesson and then averages them at the end of the year to give you an overall class grade, then you have the exam grades and… This all gets confusing and doesn't actually relate to this story, so I'll skip all this and go straight to lunch.
So me and Rob were walking to the lunchroom talking about some stuff. Actually he was telling me about some new gadget that has been invented. Rob is a real Tech head when it comes to computers. He knows all about the newest gadgets and interesting things being invented. He may know more about computers than Bill Gates AND the rest of Microsoft, but it can't be confirmed – yet!
In the lunchroom, while I was buying lunch, Rob was trying to help Sam understand her IT work, but doing it in a very complicated matter. Shawn looked less than enthusiastic at the last of our 'posse' Christy Johnson. I don't know why or when this started, but she thinks that she is a witch or something. She thinks she can do magic and that she is a psychic. I keep saying that she's psychotic but I usually get a dead arm for my troubles.
"Morning people!" this is how I usually great people. Either that or just 'Mornin' it depends on how I'm feeling that day, and today I was surprisingly cheerful.
"Actually it's 1 o'clock Post Midday. Which means that it is no longer morning." And that's the reply I usually get from Rob, unless it is the morning. I sat at the table and noticed Shawn pushing around a meatball around his plate.
"Ah, I see we have the meatballs of doom today." I said pointing his plate, of course he wasn't paying attention to anything.
"Huh?" He replied, finally snapping back to reality. Unfortunately…
"YOU WEREN'T LISTENING TO ME?" Christy yelled at the top of her voice so that the entire School, no the entire city could hear how angry she was. Now apparently she had been talking to him for the last half an hour, so I think she had every right to be angry. So now Shawn had been made a little bit of a fool of, we felt that it was time for a little pay back, and it was Sam who had the plan. She figured that we would test Christy's telekinetic powers!
"You see, Sam has confidence in me" Christy said proudly, after Sam told her she should show her powers.
"Ok, why don't you lift this pencil with your mind!" I said, standing behind her and placing a pencil in front of her. I moved there to get a better look with Shawn.
"Ok, I will!" She said, and then she stared and the pencil, concentrating on it. Suddenly it lifted in the air and floated in front of her face. Rob was the first to speak at this feat, unable to take his eyes off the pencil.
"My god, she did it!"
"Yeah, she did" Sam said, looking at me. All the smiles dropped when the pencil fell to the table and rolled off the edge.
"What happened?" Shawn asked.
"I don't know!" Christy said, puzzled at what happened. But then she had to look up. She saw my hand hanging above her head, held towards the middle of the table. She grabbed the air under my hand and pulled down, my hand went with it. She stared into my eyes, with a psychotic look in her eyes. She asked the question that was just asked to her with a little bit of anger in her voice. "What happened?" I just couldn't lie!
"I guess the string broke." I said. I managed to move before her fist hit my face (see, fast reactions!). "Hey don't hit me, it was her idea!" I said, pointing at Sam. The bell, of course, saved Sam, our next class. So we headed towards most people hatred but not mine, Maths. Yes I know, I actually like maths. It has to do with two things, we have a cool teacher and I do well in maths. Anyway, you don't need to know about the rest of the school day. I know that this story has been a little slow so far, but it's been about introducing the guys who are very important to this story. So now we will step it up.
Ok, this is when the weirdness of this story starts to happen (yes, I'm a little ashamed to say that this is a normal day for us!). Both Sam and myself were walking home in the cold, it had warmed up slightly but not a lot. I don't remember a lot that happened, but we were about 20 minutes from home when some light blinded me and I fell forward or up or down. I know I fell, I just don't know which way I fell. (Hey - I was blinded by the light!) The next thing I remember was being thrown into some cell and sliding across the floor.
"Are you all right?" Sam asked me, or at least I think it was Sam.
"Ow" was my answer.
"What did they do they do to you?" She asked again. I had no idea what she was talking about but still…
"Ow" again, my answer simple in communicating my pain. Sam then though she could be crafty.
"What is a word you say when you're in pain?" unfortunately I wasn't playing with her
"Sam?" I ask, finally recognising my friend.
"Typical. We step into the twilight Zone and you, Michael Darren Scott, still can fail a pop quiz." She used my full name. I both loved and hated it when she did that, but I'm not sure why.
"When did our class room get a face lift?" I remarked, finally looking around at my surroundings and thinking Sam was serious when she said we had a pop quiz. I was a little out of it – can you tell?
"Man he's out of it." obviously somebody could, and I think it may have been Shawn
"They probably drugged him." And that sounded like Christy.
"I hope he'll be ok." Sam sounded very concerned at someone. Hey it couldn't have been me, I said she was very concerned! It wasn't long after this I fell unconscious - again.
I managed to wake eventually, with Sam lying next to me on the cold floor. She sounded like she was asleep, so I just quietly looked around the room. I noticed the rest of the guys were all here, along with about ten other people. Most people were asleep, so I assumed it was night-time. Looked at our surroundings. Futuristic is definitely one word I'd use to describe them. All metal with in built lighting system, air ventilation system, which were on the very high ceilings, automatic key card door. Laser Gatling guns at all corners aimed at the door, probably in case someone tried to make a run for it. Sam then woke up and looked at me.
"Finally!" She sleepily said. I looked at her. She was rubbing her eyes trying to wake up fully and focus. "I thought you'd never wake up."
"How long was I out?" I asked
"Couple of days." I couldn't believe this, couple of days? "You've been in and out of consciousness since you came back into the cell, but you haven't been anything like this."
"Back to the cell?" I asked, I had no idea we were in some kind of prison. I mean it does look high security, but it's not exactly steel bars.
"Yeah, don't you remember? We got abducted and put in this cell, they take someone now and then but nobody knows why. They come back unconscious and when they wake, they don't remember what happened to them while they were away." While they were away? I couldn't remember being abducted.
"So who's holding us captive." Someone else in the room answered my question, apparently he had been listing to our conversation and he was about to explain what has happened, and what we can do about it!
"Forces commanded by a high ranking general named, Mobius. He's often found hanging around the Futuristic Zone, might be due to his need for the technology here." Anybody else understand that – nope neither did me or Sam.
"Do you know what's going on?" Sam asked this new man. In fact he wasn't new, he was probably about 90 odd or something. Christy, Shawn and Rob, who had barely woken up themselves, gathered round.
"Unfortunately I do. My name is Nissam (AN: pronounced Niss – am) and I'm the guardian of this realm. Allow me to welcome you to the Game Zones. This entire land is made up of computer data, taken from video games. Usually around here you find Duke Nukem trying to chat up Joanna Dark, and not getting very far."
"Joanna Dark?" Christy asked.
"Err… yeah, N64 game Perfect dark set about 2023. She's basically Rare's version of Lara Croft." I started to explain – see told you I like computer games.
"Ah, you have a lot of knowledge there." He complimented before going back to his story. "Unfortunately, someone has been able to change the data in this land, gone are all the hero's and villains have been created. Landscapes have also been changed. Only the basics of this world remain."
It was when he started to go on into all some boring stuff that I tuned out, thinking he was a crackpot. That's when I noticed…
"Hey, looks like there's a card of some sorts over there." I interrupted. Opps! I walk over to the card and pick it up, in fact there was more than one. "Mega sword – fighter" I started to read on the first one, a blue card. I flipped to the next one, a yellow one "shotgun – futuristic, realistic, monster. Man what a wired game." I pointed, little did I know.
"Ah, the prophecy!" the old man said excitedly.
"Sorry?" Sam asked. Hey – someone else who didn't know what was going on.
"An ancient prophecy…" of course, they're all ancient "States that 5 people of the analogue would help save this land, when no other could. Since you can find and hold the cards then you must be the ones." Ok, so I'm one of the ones! "Allow me to explain how you can help. Each one of you has a special quality that will be discovered momentarily. The cards are items and abilities that help in fighting these beasts. The colour codes relates to the type of cards. The blue cards are person specific, meaning that the sword card you have can only be unlocked and used by the fighter. A yellow card is zone specific, like the shotgun card. These cards can be used by anyone, but only in the zones they state. Green cards are both zone and user specific and white cards are universal. White cards are usually medical packs." Hey is anyone getting this? Good – could I borrow your notes later?
"Now I will determine your status, and explain what that means." Ok, so he started to do this wired flashy light show, kinda cool. Each light touched us, but it didn't hurt. The light started to change colour, but I can't remember what they were – hey what do you expect, this was a little while ago. Anyway, he pointed to Christy first "You are the magician. You will be the one who can do most of the spells, there are some that can be performed by others" Typical, she IS a witch! She was also a little bit too smug when Nissam said that. "You are the technical person, in charge of the gadgets." That was Shawn surprising, I thought that would be Rob. "Ah, you will be the dialler." He said to Rob "You wont be in the zones with the rest of them, your job will be to help them to get in and out of the zones, direct them on maps and give them items that they have been unlocked. Allow me to give you this disk. Upload the program to your PC and attach this to it, and you will be able to dial the rest in and out." Next was Sam. "You are the vehicle expert. You will be in charge of vehicles and upgrades. And it helps if you keep checking that they're in working in order. And you…" he points to me "You are the fighter, and the leader. Your knowledge of games will help and your fighting expertise will also help" fighting expertise? What fighting expertise!
Well he finally finished he's speech, but just as I was about to try to organise the cards as to whose was who's, in walked in some guards, with guns! Some very large guards with some very large guns.
"Take this, it will help you get out of this world, then load the program and dial the rest in so that they can help the rest of your people trapped here." I heard Nissam say to Rob, but this didn't help with the guards.
"Hey, quiet down!" one of them yelled. He was large in a black uniform with lots of metal part around his body. I would assume that he was a cyborg, but it's just a guess
"Hey, leave him alone, he's old man!" I tried to stick up for him. Of course me and my big mouth. He slammed the butt of his gun into my stomach, I fell to my knees. Now, before you think 'wimp' lets put this into perspective. The butt of his gun is about the size of brick. And with the force it slammed into my stomach, it felt like several bricks! The guard pointed his gun at me. My eyes were locked onto his trigger finger, watching it squeeze the trigger to just before the point of firing.
"This will teach all of you." I heard him say. And he pulled the trigger. You could here the shot throughout the building the last words I heard was from Sam
"NOOOOOOOOOO!" and then I blanked out… Again!
To be continued…
Please review – maybe with any ideas you may have! And I don't care what you say about this.
AN: Couple of things – all names are fictional. Any resemblance to any person their history or events are purely coincidental. Duke Nukem is a trademark of Gt interactive and is used without permission. Joanna Dark, Perfect Dark and Rare are trademarked and copyrighted to Rare and again used without permission. There are also a number of other slight references to other games and television shows all of which I don't own (well I may own a copy of the games, but I don't own the rights!)
All spellings are UK English – sorry, it's just where I'm based. I don't wont hundreds of people saying you've spelt something wrong! Believe me this goes through a spellchecker and a proof reader. Anything (like hart instead of heart) that is spelt right and is missed (does happen) I apologise for now.
Again I ask that you review. Any ideas or feedback you do have will be greatly accepted. Also you can email me (found in my bio) preferably with the subject 'fanfiction feedback'
Life is just another game.
1 First you play it, then it's over – whether you reach the end or not!
Hey, so I had the weirdest day today. We were trying to get this object out of the futuristic zone but some of us were caught. All our equipment was placed in the room that had the object we were looking for – some kind of magical stone that was taken from King Dante from a colony on the far side of the medieval zone. Luckily we found a lock-picking card, the only problem is that are tech guy is one of the only people NOT to get caught. So we needed to send a message to Shawn but our communication gear was with the rest of our stuff. So we had ourselves a paradox. We had to break out of our cell long enough to get our communication gear, contact Shawn and tell him to get caught so that he can get the lock pick card. Then we can break out of prison, get our stuff and the stone and then get across to the colony. So I… just realised that you have no idea what I'm talking about. Maybe I should start from the beginning, the very beginning. My friends call me Scott, and this is my story.
Ever since I could remember, I have loved computer games. I've owned several different consoles, and I still own a few of them now. I have every different type of game boy! I have played arcade games since before I could remember (at least believing what my mom says) and have played most of them that exist. My mom is actually glad that I spend lots of money on arcade games and new console games. Every time my dad complains that I'm wasting my money, my mom says "At least he doesn't waste it on sweets, drink, cigarette or drugs." My dad doesn't understand that playing computer games all these years have given me skills useful to life that you don't really learn in school. Well you may do, but you don't do it as well. You see I have good puzzle solving skills, fast reaction rates and excellent hand-eye co-ordination. I also have a 93% accuracy rate with a gun and that's definitely something you defiantly don't learn in school! It's safe to say I like computer games. I just didn't realise that the computer games liked me. Did I tell you this was a weird story?
I believe this story starts on a nice, hot summer's day.
"Man, it's so cold out there that a polar bear is gonna get frostbite!" That's Samantha Hunt, Sam for short. We've been good friends for years. Although I can't remember why.
"Yeah. You know when I signed up for the school trip, I didn't know that we were going to the North Pole!" that was me trying to be witty. Me and Sam are known for our sarcastic comments. Actually I should say Sam and I, after all we are about to start our English class.
"Ok, Miss Walls is about to walk in and Shawn is late." Sam panicked talking about another of my friends, Shawn Williams.
"Oh I wouldn't worry about him, he's almost acing this class. Unlike me, who will be lucky to pass." I'm on that boundary between pass and fail, unfortunately I've had more fails than passes in the exams I've taken. English is not my best subject, fortunately it's not my worst either. That's the next lesson!
Luckily, Shawn did show up before Miss Walls by about 5 seconds. We spent the lesson analysing some poem. I hate finding out the 'meaning of the words, and the feeling that it give the reader.' I find that stuff ruins the poem or the story. I just like to read it and like it. I don't care why the lead guy was named Jim and not James, or why the bad guy wore black, it's just ridiculous. When we left the lesson, I was very happy and I got to speak to Shawn, something Sam nor I (damn English) could do at the start of the lesson.
"So why were you late?" Sam asked. She beat me to it!
"Err…" Shawn thought for a few seconds, obviously trying to come up with some lie, sorry - excuse, to tell us. Me and Sam just looked at each other.
"He was makin' out!" we both said to each other. We all knew Shawn had a girlfriend. Unfortunately, Shawn wasn't willing to lend us information on the subject. Obviously the mysterious women made him late this morning.
"Come on, just a name" Sam begged.
"I don't know what you're talking about." That's the problem with Shawn. He's in a constant state of denial. I'm surprised he doesn't deny his own name.
"Your girlfriend!" I stated. I knew what was coming next, and today I was prepared for it.
"I don't have a girlfriend" Shawn shot back. I managed to stop Sam from her usual 'then who were you making out with' bit.
"Ok, then just give us the name of the guy you were making out with." I calmly said.
"She is not a guy!" Bingo, he fell into my trap. I was hoping for a name, but this is better than anything. This then led me to nice and calmly say.
"Oh, so you were making out with someone then." This left Shawn lost for words. Since I had got to my next class I had to leave them. I walked in and took my seat. Told you I was prepared!
"Hey!" in walked another of my friends (yes I have a lot of friends) Robert Campbell. "You ready for this lesson?"
"Am I ever? Damn I hate French. I think it has something to do with the teacher, I cant understand a word he's saying!" I really do hate French. I know that's its my worse subject. My exam results on the other hand say that I'm doing all right in this class.
"Bonjour class." Allow me to translate, hello class. "Ca-va?" and how are you. At this point he points at a few people. Then he points to me.
"Err… come-see come-ca" that's Ok, to you and me. You never want to say that your anything less than ok, cause he then asks you why and you have to answer in French, or you fail today's lesson. This is how the teacher operates, he gives you a grade per lesson and then averages them at the end of the year to give you an overall class grade, then you have the exam grades and… This all gets confusing and doesn't actually relate to this story, so I'll skip all this and go straight to lunch.
So me and Rob were walking to the lunchroom talking about some stuff. Actually he was telling me about some new gadget that has been invented. Rob is a real Tech head when it comes to computers. He knows all about the newest gadgets and interesting things being invented. He may know more about computers than Bill Gates AND the rest of Microsoft, but it can't be confirmed – yet!
In the lunchroom, while I was buying lunch, Rob was trying to help Sam understand her IT work, but doing it in a very complicated matter. Shawn looked less than enthusiastic at the last of our 'posse' Christy Johnson. I don't know why or when this started, but she thinks that she is a witch or something. She thinks she can do magic and that she is a psychic. I keep saying that she's psychotic but I usually get a dead arm for my troubles.
"Morning people!" this is how I usually great people. Either that or just 'Mornin' it depends on how I'm feeling that day, and today I was surprisingly cheerful.
"Actually it's 1 o'clock Post Midday. Which means that it is no longer morning." And that's the reply I usually get from Rob, unless it is the morning. I sat at the table and noticed Shawn pushing around a meatball around his plate.
"Ah, I see we have the meatballs of doom today." I said pointing his plate, of course he wasn't paying attention to anything.
"Huh?" He replied, finally snapping back to reality. Unfortunately…
"YOU WEREN'T LISTENING TO ME?" Christy yelled at the top of her voice so that the entire School, no the entire city could hear how angry she was. Now apparently she had been talking to him for the last half an hour, so I think she had every right to be angry. So now Shawn had been made a little bit of a fool of, we felt that it was time for a little pay back, and it was Sam who had the plan. She figured that we would test Christy's telekinetic powers!
"You see, Sam has confidence in me" Christy said proudly, after Sam told her she should show her powers.
"Ok, why don't you lift this pencil with your mind!" I said, standing behind her and placing a pencil in front of her. I moved there to get a better look with Shawn.
"Ok, I will!" She said, and then she stared and the pencil, concentrating on it. Suddenly it lifted in the air and floated in front of her face. Rob was the first to speak at this feat, unable to take his eyes off the pencil.
"My god, she did it!"
"Yeah, she did" Sam said, looking at me. All the smiles dropped when the pencil fell to the table and rolled off the edge.
"What happened?" Shawn asked.
"I don't know!" Christy said, puzzled at what happened. But then she had to look up. She saw my hand hanging above her head, held towards the middle of the table. She grabbed the air under my hand and pulled down, my hand went with it. She stared into my eyes, with a psychotic look in her eyes. She asked the question that was just asked to her with a little bit of anger in her voice. "What happened?" I just couldn't lie!
"I guess the string broke." I said. I managed to move before her fist hit my face (see, fast reactions!). "Hey don't hit me, it was her idea!" I said, pointing at Sam. The bell, of course, saved Sam, our next class. So we headed towards most people hatred but not mine, Maths. Yes I know, I actually like maths. It has to do with two things, we have a cool teacher and I do well in maths. Anyway, you don't need to know about the rest of the school day. I know that this story has been a little slow so far, but it's been about introducing the guys who are very important to this story. So now we will step it up.
Ok, this is when the weirdness of this story starts to happen (yes, I'm a little ashamed to say that this is a normal day for us!). Both Sam and myself were walking home in the cold, it had warmed up slightly but not a lot. I don't remember a lot that happened, but we were about 20 minutes from home when some light blinded me and I fell forward or up or down. I know I fell, I just don't know which way I fell. (Hey - I was blinded by the light!) The next thing I remember was being thrown into some cell and sliding across the floor.
"Are you all right?" Sam asked me, or at least I think it was Sam.
"Ow" was my answer.
"What did they do they do to you?" She asked again. I had no idea what she was talking about but still…
"Ow" again, my answer simple in communicating my pain. Sam then though she could be crafty.
"What is a word you say when you're in pain?" unfortunately I wasn't playing with her
"Sam?" I ask, finally recognising my friend.
"Typical. We step into the twilight Zone and you, Michael Darren Scott, still can fail a pop quiz." She used my full name. I both loved and hated it when she did that, but I'm not sure why.
"When did our class room get a face lift?" I remarked, finally looking around at my surroundings and thinking Sam was serious when she said we had a pop quiz. I was a little out of it – can you tell?
"Man he's out of it." obviously somebody could, and I think it may have been Shawn
"They probably drugged him." And that sounded like Christy.
"I hope he'll be ok." Sam sounded very concerned at someone. Hey it couldn't have been me, I said she was very concerned! It wasn't long after this I fell unconscious - again.
I managed to wake eventually, with Sam lying next to me on the cold floor. She sounded like she was asleep, so I just quietly looked around the room. I noticed the rest of the guys were all here, along with about ten other people. Most people were asleep, so I assumed it was night-time. Looked at our surroundings. Futuristic is definitely one word I'd use to describe them. All metal with in built lighting system, air ventilation system, which were on the very high ceilings, automatic key card door. Laser Gatling guns at all corners aimed at the door, probably in case someone tried to make a run for it. Sam then woke up and looked at me.
"Finally!" She sleepily said. I looked at her. She was rubbing her eyes trying to wake up fully and focus. "I thought you'd never wake up."
"How long was I out?" I asked
"Couple of days." I couldn't believe this, couple of days? "You've been in and out of consciousness since you came back into the cell, but you haven't been anything like this."
"Back to the cell?" I asked, I had no idea we were in some kind of prison. I mean it does look high security, but it's not exactly steel bars.
"Yeah, don't you remember? We got abducted and put in this cell, they take someone now and then but nobody knows why. They come back unconscious and when they wake, they don't remember what happened to them while they were away." While they were away? I couldn't remember being abducted.
"So who's holding us captive." Someone else in the room answered my question, apparently he had been listing to our conversation and he was about to explain what has happened, and what we can do about it!
"Forces commanded by a high ranking general named, Mobius. He's often found hanging around the Futuristic Zone, might be due to his need for the technology here." Anybody else understand that – nope neither did me or Sam.
"Do you know what's going on?" Sam asked this new man. In fact he wasn't new, he was probably about 90 odd or something. Christy, Shawn and Rob, who had barely woken up themselves, gathered round.
"Unfortunately I do. My name is Nissam (AN: pronounced Niss – am) and I'm the guardian of this realm. Allow me to welcome you to the Game Zones. This entire land is made up of computer data, taken from video games. Usually around here you find Duke Nukem trying to chat up Joanna Dark, and not getting very far."
"Joanna Dark?" Christy asked.
"Err… yeah, N64 game Perfect dark set about 2023. She's basically Rare's version of Lara Croft." I started to explain – see told you I like computer games.
"Ah, you have a lot of knowledge there." He complimented before going back to his story. "Unfortunately, someone has been able to change the data in this land, gone are all the hero's and villains have been created. Landscapes have also been changed. Only the basics of this world remain."
It was when he started to go on into all some boring stuff that I tuned out, thinking he was a crackpot. That's when I noticed…
"Hey, looks like there's a card of some sorts over there." I interrupted. Opps! I walk over to the card and pick it up, in fact there was more than one. "Mega sword – fighter" I started to read on the first one, a blue card. I flipped to the next one, a yellow one "shotgun – futuristic, realistic, monster. Man what a wired game." I pointed, little did I know.
"Ah, the prophecy!" the old man said excitedly.
"Sorry?" Sam asked. Hey – someone else who didn't know what was going on.
"An ancient prophecy…" of course, they're all ancient "States that 5 people of the analogue would help save this land, when no other could. Since you can find and hold the cards then you must be the ones." Ok, so I'm one of the ones! "Allow me to explain how you can help. Each one of you has a special quality that will be discovered momentarily. The cards are items and abilities that help in fighting these beasts. The colour codes relates to the type of cards. The blue cards are person specific, meaning that the sword card you have can only be unlocked and used by the fighter. A yellow card is zone specific, like the shotgun card. These cards can be used by anyone, but only in the zones they state. Green cards are both zone and user specific and white cards are universal. White cards are usually medical packs." Hey is anyone getting this? Good – could I borrow your notes later?
"Now I will determine your status, and explain what that means." Ok, so he started to do this wired flashy light show, kinda cool. Each light touched us, but it didn't hurt. The light started to change colour, but I can't remember what they were – hey what do you expect, this was a little while ago. Anyway, he pointed to Christy first "You are the magician. You will be the one who can do most of the spells, there are some that can be performed by others" Typical, she IS a witch! She was also a little bit too smug when Nissam said that. "You are the technical person, in charge of the gadgets." That was Shawn surprising, I thought that would be Rob. "Ah, you will be the dialler." He said to Rob "You wont be in the zones with the rest of them, your job will be to help them to get in and out of the zones, direct them on maps and give them items that they have been unlocked. Allow me to give you this disk. Upload the program to your PC and attach this to it, and you will be able to dial the rest in and out." Next was Sam. "You are the vehicle expert. You will be in charge of vehicles and upgrades. And it helps if you keep checking that they're in working in order. And you…" he points to me "You are the fighter, and the leader. Your knowledge of games will help and your fighting expertise will also help" fighting expertise? What fighting expertise!
Well he finally finished he's speech, but just as I was about to try to organise the cards as to whose was who's, in walked in some guards, with guns! Some very large guards with some very large guns.
"Take this, it will help you get out of this world, then load the program and dial the rest in so that they can help the rest of your people trapped here." I heard Nissam say to Rob, but this didn't help with the guards.
"Hey, quiet down!" one of them yelled. He was large in a black uniform with lots of metal part around his body. I would assume that he was a cyborg, but it's just a guess
"Hey, leave him alone, he's old man!" I tried to stick up for him. Of course me and my big mouth. He slammed the butt of his gun into my stomach, I fell to my knees. Now, before you think 'wimp' lets put this into perspective. The butt of his gun is about the size of brick. And with the force it slammed into my stomach, it felt like several bricks! The guard pointed his gun at me. My eyes were locked onto his trigger finger, watching it squeeze the trigger to just before the point of firing.
"This will teach all of you." I heard him say. And he pulled the trigger. You could here the shot throughout the building the last words I heard was from Sam
"NOOOOOOOOOO!" and then I blanked out… Again!
To be continued…
Please review – maybe with any ideas you may have! And I don't care what you say about this.
AN: Couple of things – all names are fictional. Any resemblance to any person their history or events are purely coincidental. Duke Nukem is a trademark of Gt interactive and is used without permission. Joanna Dark, Perfect Dark and Rare are trademarked and copyrighted to Rare and again used without permission. There are also a number of other slight references to other games and television shows all of which I don't own (well I may own a copy of the games, but I don't own the rights!)
All spellings are UK English – sorry, it's just where I'm based. I don't wont hundreds of people saying you've spelt something wrong! Believe me this goes through a spellchecker and a proof reader. Anything (like hart instead of heart) that is spelt right and is missed (does happen) I apologise for now.
Again I ask that you review. Any ideas or feedback you do have will be greatly accepted. Also you can email me (found in my bio) preferably with the subject 'fanfiction feedback'