Chapter 2: New Game Orientation

Meanwhile, inside of the Activist's Quest game, some of the game characters were laying down on the ground with their eyes closed. One of the game characters slowly opened his eyes to see that he was laying down on the ground. He quickly got up and looked at his surroundings to see that he was standing in a jungle.

"Did we get plugged in?" the man wondered.

The man's name was Jake Oakes, and he was one of the protagonists of the game. He was a 22 year old man that had pale skin, brown eyes, and brown hair, and he wore a green shirt, a red jacket, blue pants, and brown boots. Jake looked back at the others.

"Guys, wake up! We're plugged in!" Jake shouted.

The other game characters started to wake up. The first game character was a woman by the name of Silvia Thompson. She was a 21 year old woman that had pale skin, blue eyes, and red hair that was rearranged into a ponytail, and she wore a white labcoat, a white shirt, black pants, and brown boots. She also happened to be Jake's girlfriend.

The second character that woke up was a man by the name of Sean Lysiak. He was a 22 year old man that had pale skin, red hair, green eyes, and freckles, and he wore a dark green vest, a dark green shirt, brown pants, and brown boots.

The third character that woke up was a woman by the name of Dr. Jinny Everheart. She was a 20 year old woman that had brown skin, brown eyes, and black hair that was rearranged into a braid, and she wore a white jacket, a white shirt, brown pants, and brown boots.

The fourth person that woke up was a man by the name of Joel Ohara. He was a 21 year old man that pale skin, blue eyes, blonde hair, and glasses, and he wore a dark green captain's army uniform.

The fifth person that woke up was a man by the name of Sabor. He was a 35 year old man that had tan skin, brown eyes, and brown hair, and he wore a green shirt, brown shorts, and brown sandals.

And the sixth person that woke up was a man by the name of Ali Sephiroth, but he preferred to be called Sephiroth. He was a 40 year old man that had tan skin, brown eyes, and black hair, and he wore a fancy black outfit.

Jake, Silvia, Sean, Jinny, Joel, and Sabor were the heroes of the game, while Sephiroth was the villain of the game. In the game, Sephiroth, who came from Iran, was the leader of a group of illegal loggers that traveled to a jungle somewhere in South America in order to clear it out so they could make money. However, as the game progresses, Jake, Silvia, Sean, Jinny, Joel, and Sabor team up and fight the loggers as a team. Jake was the team's leader, Silvia was the team's activist and expert on plants and animals, Sean was the team's camouflage specialist, Jinny was the team's geologist, Joel was the team's weapons specialist and a former captain in the US army, and Sabor was the team's guide and a local from a nearby village.

"What do we do now?" Jinny asked.

Jake thought about it.

"I don't know." Jake replied.

Before they could think about it anymore, a small train appeared, along with tracks and a tunnel. Sylvia turned to Jake.

"What should we do, Jake?" Sylvia asked.

"Well, there's only one way to find out. We're going to see where it takes us." Jake replied.

Jake walked over to the train and sat in one of it's carts. Eventually, Silvia, Sean, Jinny, Joel, Sabor, and Sephiroth got into some of the other carts. The train then headed into the tunnel, and after two minutes of traveling, the train stopped. The characters then exited the tunnel and entered Game Central Station.

"Welcome to Game Central Station, the hub world for all arcade games." an announcement system greeted.

"Wow. This place is awesome." Sean said as he took in his surroundings.

Jake, Silvia, Sean, Jinny, Joel, Sabor, and Sephiroth attempted to explore Game Central Station, but before they could leave their game portal, an alarm sounded. A second later, Surge Protector materialized in front of them, holding a clipboard.

"Excuse me, I need you folks to stay here for a moment so I can get some details. Names?" Surge Protector asked.

"Jake Oakes." Jake replied.

"Sylvia Thompson." Sylvia replied.

"Sean Lysiak." Sean replied.

"Dr. Jinny Everheart." Jinny replied.

"Joel Ohara." Joel replied.

"Sabor." Sabor replied.

"Ali Sephiroth, but please just call me Sephiroth." Sephiroth replied.

Sabor looked at Surge Protector in confusion.

"What is your name?" Sean asked.

"I am Surge Protector, sir, and I'm just doing my job." Surge Protector replied. He then asked "Where are you coming from?".

"Activist's Quest." Joel replied.

"Hmm... Activist's Quest. I need one quick minute to calibrate my intel." Surge Protector said.

Surge Protector disappeared for a minute, and then he rematerialized.

"Okay, I am going to need you guys to report to Pac-Man as soon as possible." Surge Protector announced.

"What for?" Sylvia asked.

"That is where you will be taking part in the New Game Orientation." Surge Protector replied.

Surge Protector then disappeared.

"I guess we better get going." Sabor said.

Jinny looked around for a minute before spotting Pac-Man.

"It seems that Pac-Man is down towards the left, next to that game that's called Hero's Duty." Jinny said.

"Then let's go." Jake ordered.

The Activist's Quest characters then headed towards Pac-Man. Once they arrived, they went through the Pac-Man game portal and got onto a train. The train then took them into Pac-Man, and once they got in, they got off of the train and walked through the maze. Eventually, the group made it into the center of the maze, where they entered the room that was usually reserved for the Bad-Anon meetings. They saw a few tables and seats, with a whiteboard on the wall that had the words 'New game orientation!' written on them.

"I guess this is where we sit." Sephiroth said.

The Activist's Quest characters sat down and waited. After a few minutes went by, the door opened and Felix entered the room. He stood at the front of the whiteboard with the others looking at him.

"Well hello there, Activist Questians. Welcome to New Game Orientation. My name is Fix-It Felix Junior." Felix greeted. He then asked "Okay, so you guys are from a game that is called Activist's Quest. What is it about?".

"It's sort of a fighting game where we have to fight loggers, who happen to work for Sephiroth." Joel replied.

Felix nodded.

"Okay. Well, we have a few rules about the arcade. Rule one: the arcade opens at 10 AM, and closes at 9 PM from Monday to Friday, with Saturday and Sunday being the time that the arcade is closed. During that time, we encourage all of you to stay inside your games. After closing time, you are all allowed to travel around the whole arcade and visit whatever game you want. Rule two: when travelling to different games, be careful. You see, when you die in your games, you can regenerate in said game. Unfortunately, the same can't be said about what happens in other games. And rule three: do not, I repeat, do not go Turbo." Felix explained.

"Go what now?" Sephiroth asked in confusion.

"Going Turbo is a term that we use when a character decides to jump from one active game to another. One hundred and twenty years ago, a character named Turbo from a game called Turbotime jumped from his game to another game called RoadBlasters, and caused both games to be unplugged for the next twenty five years. This also happened ninety six years ago with one of my friends when he jumped to another game called Hero's Duty. But fortunately, no games were unplugged." Felix explained. He then asked "Okay then, that is all of the rules. Any questions?".

None of the Activist's Quest characters had any questions.

"Okay then. Well, that wraps up the New Game Orientation. You are all now free to explore the rest of the arcade." Felix said.

The Activist's Quest characters then left Pac-Man, and a few minutes later, they were back in Game Central Station.

"Alright then, guys, let's all go check out our new neighborhood. But remember to be back in Activist's Quest by 10 AM." Jake ordered.

The rest of the Activist's Quest characters nodded, and they went their own separate ways in order to explore the rest of the arcade. Jake headed to Fix-It Felix Jr., Sean and Jinny headed to BurgerTime, Joel headed to Hero's Duty, Sabor headed to Street Fighters, and Sephiroth headed to Super Mario 81. However, Silvia stayed where she was. She decided to go to a bar, but she didn't know which game had a bar, so she decided to get suggestions. She spotted Sonic among the crowds of game characters and ran over to him.

"Excuse me?" Silvia asked.

Sonic turned to her.

"Yes?" Sonic asked.

"Is there a good bar anywhere?" Silvia asked.

Sonic nodded.

"Uh, yeah. There's one in the game that's called Tapper's." Sonic replied.

Sylvia smiled.

"Okay, thank you." Sylvia said.

Sylvia then started making her way to Tapper's.