Episode 1: New Two On the Scene (part 1)
DGAFECB, those were the letter's that Haley Fischer was currently staring at on her laptop. It had been a couple of hours since she had gotten the cryptic message on her Chaotic account and she still hadn't figured out what it was supposed to mean.
She leaned back in her chair, sighing a little as she stretched her arms towards the ceiling and let out a yawn. Maybe her brother would know about this.
Linus had been playing Chaotic for about 2 years longer than she had, having helped her set up an account and teach her the rules a week after they had moved to Crescent Hills, Michigan. She had always thought the game was kind of stupid before that (a fact Linus took every chance he could to tease her about) but that was a month back, and since then Haley had managed to rack up a pretty solid number of wins for a new player, both online and offline.
She got up from her chair and walked out of her room to the other side of the hallway to his, rapping her knuckles against his door.
"Linus" she called out, "do you mind looking at something?"
The door promptly swung open, revealing the perpetually dishevelled looking 16-year-old she called her twin. Fittingly enough the two did look kind of similar. Tall with pale white skin, sharp features and bright blue eyes. The similarities stopped there however as Haley had the same chestnut brown hair as their parent's that she had grown out to reach just below her shoulders and wore mostly smart looking clothes that were usually pastel coloured.
Linus on the other hand always looked like he had been freshly yanked out of a mosh pit, with wild hair he had dyed black with white streaks and pulled back into a short spiky ponytail. His clothes we're also primarily black, usually band t shirts for death metal groups, torn up cargo pants, combat boots and a pair of spiked bracelets.
"what's up Hales?" he asked absentmindedly.
"I got this weird message on my Chaotic account today, figured you'd know what it means".
Linus eyes widen slightly at that statement.
"Like a whole bunch of random letters in all caps?"
"How did you know that?"
"I got the same email today" he explained as they walked back to her room. "It popped up after I had beaten Kenny for the umpteenth time".
Haley couldn't help but roll her eyes at that statement. Since they had moved, she and Linus had befriended some of the other kids in town who played Chaotic and Linus recent undefeated streak was starting to go to his head.
"So, you have no idea what it is either?"
"Not a clue" he replied as he slumped down on her bed. "I asked around online and no body seemed to have heard about anything like it"
"Maybe it's a promo code for something" Haley offered. "Like a reward since we've both been winning a lot of games lately"
Linus pondered this for a moment before shrugging and taking out his scanner.
"What are you doing?"
"what's it look like, I'm going to type it in and see what happens"
"I said it might be a promo code, it could also be a virus"
"Only one way to find out" he replied nonchalantly.
"Have you lost it?"
"Look if it messes with my scanner, I'll fix it" Linus stated as he started typing it in.
"Wait" groaned Haley, earning a scowl from her brother.
"What now".
"I'll enter mine in too" she replied as she grabbed her scanner off her desk. "Can't let you be a glorified guinea pig"
Linus smiled a little at that statement, "thanks Hales"
"Yeah, well. If it does break your scanner you'd probably just go crying to mom and get me in trouble"
"Whatever, on three?"
The two typed in the rest of their code's, their fingers hovering over the confirm button on their scanners.
"one" Linus began.
"two" Haley continued.
"THREE"
Simultaneously, they entered the code, only for their screens to go black.
"Well, that was anti-climactic" Linus stated.
"mine's not turning back on" Haley said, panic beginning to form in her voice.
"Same here"
Haley then looked at her laptop. "I'm locked out of my online deck too"
"Guess it was a virus".
"No, no, no, no"
"Whoa, easy Haley, calm down"
"But our decks"
"Look, it's late and tomorrow's Saturday. Let's go to bed and will have the whole weekend to sort this out"
"okay"
Linus made his way to her door and looked back with concern.
"Try not to stress yourself out about this, good night, Haley"
"Good night" she responded.
Quickly she changed into her pyjamas and got into bed, giving her scanner one last glance before turning off the lights.
"What was that code" she thought to herself as she closed her eyes.
Haley wasn't exactly sure what would happen after she entered those letters into her Scanner, she had hoped for some free card's or something, maybe something from a soon to be released expansion.
A rather cynical voice in her thought it would just be a virus, a little part of her that kept assuming the worst-case scenario and had only gotten louder since what happened with dad and how well that had turned out.
The one thing she hadn't expected was to suddenly be transported from her room into some sort strange pristine looking building.
"AHHHHHH" she screamed, earning a sideways glance from some nearby kids who just snickered amongst themselves.
"Where am I?" She asked, frantically.
"Haley?"
She quickly turned to see an equally surprised Linus staring at her.
"Linus!" she cheered and rushed over to him.
"I think we can scratch that code being a virus off the list"
"Agreed she replied as she looked around, "question is, where has it sent us?"
"I don't know, Narnia?"
"Not quite"
The sibling looked over to see someone approaching them, a blonde guy about their age with slicked back hair and a kind smile. He was dressed in some sort of school uniform like the one Haley had to wear but most noticeable was the large and quite high-tech looking wheel chair he was sitting in.
"You must be some of the new players we're getting today" he continued, the twins now noticing his British accent.
"New players?"
"Yes, I was told my opponent today would be competing in their first match so I popped down here to meet them"
"okay" Haley replied "follow up question, WHERE ON EARTH ARE WE?"
"Oh gosh, I'm terribly sorry. This must be quite confusing, your in Chaotic"
The siblings stared at him for a few seconds in confusion before Linus broke the silence.
"Going to need more context here"
"I'm afraid it is kind of hard to explain but don't worry, you are perfectly safe and can leave at any time"
Haley breathed a sigh of relief at that and then took another glance at her surroundings. It seemed nice enough and there were plenty of other kids around her age just hanging out. Then she noticed the robot making a beeline for her.
"Whoa"
"Really" the robot said in an irritated voice. "can none of you new players think of anything better to say than Whoa"
"How about supercalifragilisticexpialidocious?" Linus responded with a smirk.
"Charming, now miss Athena07?"
"yes" Haley said, slightly caught of guard being addressed by her screen name.
"Your first match is to be held in the Imthor Drome against Reggie one"
"Ah so you're my opponent" the blonde boy said in delight.
"I guess, My name's Haley by the way"
"Reginald Terrington, shall we"
"So, where's my first match" Linus asked.
"let's see" the robot stated as lights flashed across his screen. "Creepshow, your match is at Battle Drome Tirasis in five minutes"
"Great, wish me luck sis" Linus Cheered as he ran out the nearest exit.
"he's going the wrong way isn't he?" Haley asked.
"yes" the increasingly beleaguered robot replied "nonetheless, welcome to Chaotic".
