It's quite a beautiful day in Planeptune as I stroll down the sidewalk. I was on my way to the Greenhill Academy that taught skills we would need to know to get into the game industry, medical field or security field. It was a nice place, and I had been there for ten years now. It supplied dorm rooms that were on the other side of the campus, but I had made a quick grocery stop on the way. Checking my bags, I found a few containers of pudding. They were heavily promoted by Purple Heart. 5 credits a cup. I found the bag of corn nuts I had bought for a friend. I also spotted my personal console I customized to play Planeptune games and surf the web. I walked into the boy's dorms and checked into my room. Placing the groceries down and grabbing three bags of corn nuts, I continued to walk to my classes. Once again stepping into the warm crisp morning air, I breathed in the smell of… very strong perfume. I turned to see a familiar face. Heather Kikimora, the Almighty was staring me down. Her hair was in a braid, and she wore the female school uniform- purple uniform with a dark colored skirt. She added purple thigh highs, a staple to the popular girl. Her eyes narrowed and she held out her hand. "Corn nuts?" I sheepishly held out the bag. She snatched it and grinned. "Thanks, Sensei." Her friends swarmed me. One was Heather Kazoku. She was loaded. Her dad was the CEO of Basilicom. The other was Heather Azuki. No discernable personas, but her dad did pay for implants. I gave both bags of Corn Nuts up to them. They all walked off. Continuing the walk to my classes, I realized I had five minutes to make it to Programming. I took off, running in the direction of said building. A girl rounded the corner. Unable to stop, I slammed right into her.

It took me a second, but when I did recover, I discovered that one of my hands was fully latched onto the student council president's chest. I had five seconds to explain myself, otherwise I would be slapped out of existence. "I-I-It's not what it looks like!" I winced, bracing myself. She softly giggled. "You are so cute when you're embarrassed." She replied. I let out a sigh of relief. We got up and walked to the programming room. When we got in, I was startled to see one of my idols- Histoire. Her hair was a light purple, and she wore something identical to the teacher uniform, but she had a necklace with the letter N etched into it. As I sat down, I was prepared. For me, listening to one of her lectures was soothing, especially if it was about programming. I always understood what she said. Her voice always seemed to melt away all the anxiety and stress. It must feel awesome when you are face-to—face with the Oracle herself. Histoire circled the room as she began- "Welcome. For those who do not know me, I am Histoire, the oracle of Planeptune. She went on. "For our first lesson together, we will be going through a virtual reality course. It will take a good five hours, and I am sure you will enjoy it." She flipped the rotating chalkboard revealing what looked like a battle plan. She looked at us. "We will be playing an example game. It is about an alien attack…." As she went on, I heard somebody behind me. He said, "Would it be legal if I took a picture under her skirt?" I was not in the mood. "Be quiet, dude. Histoire's trying, okay?" I snapped. Said girl stopped and calmly asked, "Is there something you want to add, Mr. Kenji?" I shook my head. "No, ma'am. Just a little anxious to get up here and whoop ET's ass, that's all." I heard snickering. Even Histoire giggled a bit. "You will get your chance. I can guarantee that." She responded. "Everyone put on your headsets. I'll boot up the program." I put them on. I waited for the screen to say, READY PLAYER ONE. When it did, I leaned back, closed my eyes and said, "Link start!"

I was immersed in the world of Virtual Reality almost immediately. I was in the cockpit of an F-16 Advanced. I looked around and saw multiple fighter jets flying by each side of me. I heard Histoire over the radio. "An alien warship has descended over Planeptune! Fire at will." I nodded. "Roger." I checked who I was. Words on the window read Eagle 1. So therefore, I said, "Eagle One, fox one." I fired a missile at the warship. I heard a hubbub as other pilots followed suit. The missiles exploded, but I saw waves of energy spreading out from where each missile hit. The radar reported, Negative Impact. I got on the radio. "That is an NI. Negative impact." I switched to energy weapons. I hit the ship with a storm of energy bullets. Explosions blossomed on the surface of the ship. "Direct hit! All fighters, switch to energy weapons." I ordered. One of the leaders said, "No activity from the enemy so far." I shook my head. "Be careful of what you wish for. "I replied. Another said, "We are in range! Bombers, prepare to launch photon rays!" Immediately guns started popping up on the enemy ship. "You just HAD to jinx us!" I yelled. Immediately the sky turned into hell. Three bombers were automatically hit by laser fire. Distorted screams hit the radio as I watched the bombers drop like flies. I saw a few hundred alien fighters pop out of the alien mothership. I began hitting the fighters with blaster bolts, two bolts were enough to put down each one. I continued to fly towards the enemy mothership. My crew protected me as I flew towards the enemy ship. "Three minutes left." I reported. If we ran out of time, Planeptune would probably burst into flame. Suddenly the mothership was not taking any damage from energy weapons. Soon I was the only bomber left. I tried again with the missiles. "Eagle one, fox two."

This time, the missile hit its target. "Switch to normal weapons!" I ordered again. "Eagle One, Dropping bombs." I clicked the bomb release button. The radar reported, Malfunction! I repeated. "Eagle One, Dropping bombs." No dice. "It's stuck." I heard groans over the radio. "It won't drop!" I looked at the screen. "Well, I will say the words of my great-grandfather…" I slammed hard onto the fusion drive as I screamed, "LEROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOY JENKENS!" I heard one of the Heathers. "What is he doing?" I flew up to the opening main weapon of the alien ship and before I slammed into the core, I said, "Hello boys. I'm BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACK- "The screen cut to black, and it reported, You Are Dead. I was switched to Spectator Mode. The mothership seemed to shudder. Suddenly it burst into a huge fireball. The screen reported, Congratulations! I heard cheering as the screen popped up. The simulation cut out. I took off the headset and grinned. It was quite a surprise when I realized I was face-to-face with Purple Heart. "Nice save." She said. Histoire growled. "Get out of here! This is my class!" Purple Heart kissed me on the cheek and frowned. "Aw, you're no fun, Histy." Purple Heart winked at me and pranced out. "Daaaaamn, dude!" The boy behind me was open mouthed. Histoire pointed to the screen. "This is the program you will use to code your very own game. Take care not to…" Histy went on with her lecture.