Standard disclaimers apply. I do not make any money from this adventure and
the characters included in this story belong to their copyrighted owners
(or in layman's terms their creator's). This is a new concept so please
post and tell me what you think.. good or bad, all comments are welcome.
This story is a multi-fandom crossover of popular written, television and
movie fiction. I know that it takes a while for you to see the Star
Wars Chars but they are there I promise ..so please be patient and keep
reading.
Game Over
Chapter 1:
Standard Warnings Do Not Apply
Dinner was a long drawn out affair and each of her children had fought for attention, one over the other. The phone's constant ringing and the boys arguing over who should talk to their father first did nothing to help the headache that threatened to drum a cadence through the back of her head. She sighed gratefully as the kids took their bath and settled into bed. Every few minutes she heard one of them yell mom and she recognized that it would be while before sleep claimed the little monsters. While she waited for them to finally go to sleep, she stood at the sink, washed the dishes and cleaned up the kitchen. Collapsing into the worn leather chair for an hour of relaxation in front of the computer before going to bed, she decided to check on the story she had been reading for the last month. She had checked her mail before going to work this morning and the next chapter alert was her only good message. Rubbing the sleep from her eyes, she took a sip of cold coffee and grimaced as the CPU dialed up.
While the computer took its sweet time connecting to the internet, she found herself drumming her fingers on the dark wood of her desk. She had promised both the boys and herself she would get a DSL as soon as they could spare the cash. Now with the new special offer from the phone company, she didn't have too much longer to wait. Finally the page loaded and Alexis clicked the link to take her to the book-marked story as she settled in for a good read.
Several hours and three stories later she yawned ready to go to bed for the evening. The only thing that remained was to check her email and empty the Spam folder. She thought it was odd that there was only one email in the new message folder and guessed it was a slow night. The unread message was from one of the lists to which she had subscribed. Trying to decide if the email could wait until morning, she ran her mouse over the message and clicked. It won't hurt to know which stories are updated.
Disappointment showed clearly on her face when she realized that it was nothing more than an ad for new computer game along with a short cryptic note from the list manager. Reading the testimonial of the sender, she became intrigued with the idea of a game that took its material from several of today's best-selling books, TV shows, and movies. Ignoring the time, she clicked on the link provided in the email and waited as the page loaded. Reading all of the rules and accepting the ToS, Alexis began to download the game demo.
While the new program was downloading, Alexis decided this was a good time to get ready for bed because as soon as the computer was finished, she was going to go to sleep. Walking down the short hallway to the master bedroom she thought, after all 5 am comes early. Slipping into a silky pajama set, she walked out to the kitchen and fixed a cup of instant coffee before sitting back down in front of the computer.
Impatiently waiting as the computer dialogue box showed 99 % complete, Alexis decided that it wouldn't hurt to look at the game tonight without the kids peering over her shoulder. Once the pop-up menu appeared on the screen telling her that the program was complete, she followed the directions as the program wizard guided her through the set-up. Grinning, she watched the animated characters of several TV programs hold signs as they danced across the screen crediting the program's writers.
"Wow the graphics are outstanding," she exclaimed as she began the character selection. "This game is so cool. It can take a picture from my web cam and upload it so that my character will look exactly like me." When she finished choosing the rest of her character's physical characteristics, Alexis clicked the ok button. Her curser became an hourglass and she leaned back taking a sip of coffee while waiting for her new page to load. Several minutes later her page had still not refreshed and she tried the reload button. Frowning when that didn't create any change, she tapped the escape button three or four times. Cursing the slow connection speed softly, Alexis decided that the only thing that would fix the error was a soft boot. Without looking down at her fingers she pushed the ctrl +window + delete. A fatal Error appeared and the screen went completely black and then flashed bright white causing Alexis to instinctively cover her eyes.
Slowly lowering her hands and rubbing her eyes, she noticed the difference immediately even through closed eyes. Before she was momentarily blinded, Alexis was in her darkened office. Now she was in a white room sitting on a stainless steel chair. Jumping to her feet in panic, she ran across the room and pushed on the wall trying to find the door. No matter how many times she tried the walls, she found neither seams nor anything that might possibly be a door. Sighing in defeat, she walked back to the stainless steel chair sitting in the middle of the room and slumped into it.
Without warning two manacles snapped over her wrists and two more secured her feet to the legs of the chair. Slowly the walls of the room began to move followed by the ceiling and the floor. Now with the walls being completely white, Alexis barely noticed until the chair in which she was sitting started to spin in the opposite direction from the walls. Minutes passed and she felt as if she was going to be sick when she suddenly felt the chair begin to slow. Closing her eyes as if that alone would reorient her; she heard a door slide open behind her.
"Alexis McSorely, do you know how long we have searched for you?" A disembodied voice asked from behind her.
Trying to reorient her head, she listened to the sound of the voice and the steady sounds of a shuffle and then a tap. shuffle and then a tap. Finally when she thought she could open her eyes without being sick, Alexis peeked out of one eye warily before opening the other. Twisting in her seat as much as she could, she tried to get a look at the person to whom the voice belonged. The high backed chair blocked her view and he continued to hide behind her.
"So this is how you greet the people you are trying to find," Alexis blurted sarcastically, before realizing she should have held her tongue.
There was a gravelly chuckle from behind her and she could tell that her visitor was more amused than angry at her outburst. Logic told her that she was just in her office at home and then this weirdness began. She must have fallen asleep at the computer and this was nothing more than a dream. That gave her courage and she smarted off again, "If you wanted to find me for so long, why are you hiding now?"
"Are you, or are you not Alexis McSorely the fan fiction writer?" All amusement seemed to have disappeared as the voice waited for an answer to his inquiry.
"The Elf to my readers.all three of them," Alexis replied bitterly.
Again the voice chuckled, "You have more readers than three readers. I know because I have read everything you've written and so have many others. It's our form of entertainment. You go to movies, we watch as others live out the writer's ideas and stories. It sounds as if someone is feeling sorry for herself because she doesn't have many reviews."
"It's not as if I'm looking for praise. I just want to know if people like my writing. Wait a minute why are we talking about my stories? I thought you were looking for me," Alexis reminded him struggling to look over her shoulder once more.
Shuffle. tap. shuffle. tap. She could hear the sounds of movement and knew the person was moving closer. The first thing she could see was the wood of a cane and that explained the taping noise. Then a pair of legs covered in gray slacks came into view. Alexis looked up and gasped in surprise. There standing in front of her was none other than Joe Dawson a watcher from the television series Highlander.
"Now I know you're a dream. You are a character from a TV show. That Highlander show . what was your name. Joe something .Joe Dawson. You're not real," she said shaking her head defiantly.
"At your service," Joe replied with a quirky smile. "But as for me not being real. that I will have to argue with you about, you see I am real. Just as real as you are. No, I'm not a dream. I'm your source of information during your journey." He smiled softly and continued, "They figured that since that I'm trained in the art of gathering and distributing information on immortals, then I'm qualified to provide you with any facts you might need to complete your quest."
Alexis was confused. She knew this was a dream but her arms were beginning to ache from cuffs that were too tight. She had bit her tongue while the chair was spinning and now there was a metallic taste of blood left in her mouth. Digging her nails into her palms, she gasped as if there was actual pain involved. This is one convincing dream she thought. This almost sounds like a plot to a story . I'll have to remember it when I wake.
"I just told you that I'm not a dream. You're in a nexus or a gateway if you prefer. You have to complete your quest or all of the stories will disappear. The end of creativity as you know it will vanish." He sighed, leaned forward, and pushed a button on the back of the chair and the cuffs sprang open. Joe stepped back to allow her room to stand if she wanted.
Warily she watched him as she rubbed the circulation back into her hands, "Are you telling me that your fate depends on me completing a quest. Do you know how fake that sounds? I could write a story with a better plot."
"Never-the-less, I have told you the truth. If you choose not to believe me, then there is nothing I can do. But it will be your fault when there are no longer any stories to read or write. If your movie makers have nothing to produce or your actors have nothing to perform in, they have only to look to you for an explanation," Joe told her.
As an avid fan of the TV show, she had memorized the history of each character. Alexis was aware that Joe was beginning to have trouble standing. He had lost his legs in the war and the polite thing to do was to offer him her chair, it didn't matter if he was a dream or not. "Here you take the chair. I have sat in it enough for one night."
As she watched the man awkwardly sit down in the chair she began to pace. Thing were just not adding up. I can see with clarity, smell and touch to the point of causing pain. As much as I want this to be a dream it just isn't. That means it's somebody's idea of a joke. cameras hidden somewhere to catch my reaction. No, that means they would have had to take me out of the house. Information is my best asset so let's see what I can find out. "Let's pretend I believe you. I have several things I want to know. First, why did you choose me or did you? I mean you said that you were looking for me."
"We were.. are. You have knowledge about all the different modules and you have written at least one fic for each level. You might say your quest is set up a lot like a game and the more you know, the better your chance of survival. One more point I thought you might want to be aware of; it's a secret really. Someone wants you to learn something, you can only gain the knowledge here," Joe said quietly and a small smile played across his face.
"Who wants me to learn something? What am I supposed to learn?" Alexis demanded. "Why was I locked into that chair .and what kind of quests must I face?"
Joe rubbed his chin thoughtfully and said, "You were secured in the chair because you tend to write your characters with strong reactions and we were afraid you would respond likewise. While I'm a well built man you have me at a slight disadvantage. We thought it best to err on the side of caution. As for the quest, you will receive one challenge. You will also have to determine which people can best assist you and also decide what materials you may need along the way."
Alexis grew thoughtful for a minute and said, "Ok let's assume that I haven't lost my mind in some huge hallucination and this is real. You want me to save your universe. Explain to me how I can affect the world of make believe . is it as easy as rewriting various events?"
Ignoring her question Joe replied, "I will leave and you will choose one avatar to guide you through your challenge. Once you have completed each level of the quest you will return here and I will have more information I can share with you. Remember that you and your avatar must return to this room. If either one of you dies, the level will not be completed," Joe warned her. "You can call on help from the outside one time per level . perhaps another fan fiction writer you know or someone that you encounter during your journey."
"How do I choose what challenge I have or is it given to me randomly?" Alexis asked innocently.
All of a sudden 6 doors appeared in the once seamless walls. She stared at the open doors and then looked at Joe questioningly. He simply nodded, understanding the unasked question and said, "Yes, just choose a door. The first level is the only one where your guide is chosen for you." With that the chair sank into the floor leaving one very confused writer staring at 6 open doors.
Gathering her courage, she tried to choose a door. One step followed another as she walked around the circular room in an attempt to see what was on the other side of each door. She took a step toward one and hesitated. Then turned to the door next to it and shook her head. Closing her eyes and spinning, she stopped and walked forward with her eyes closed. Passing through the door, she felt the temperature drop drastically and shivered in the blue silk short set. Her next sensation was that of being sucked underwater. Loosing her balance, Alexis stumbled forward and fell face down into a mud puddle.
She lifted her face out of the mud to peer into the sea green eyes of her favorite Padawan and groaned. Wherever the Padawan was, the Master wasn't far behind. To prove the point, the soft cultured voice of the Jedi Master drifted down as he introduced himself.
"I'm Qui-Gon and this is Obi-Wan. We will be your guides on this level.
As he offered his hand to help her rise Obi-Wan said, "Master, I think the first thing she needs is clean clothes."
tbc
Game Over
Chapter 1:
Standard Warnings Do Not Apply
Dinner was a long drawn out affair and each of her children had fought for attention, one over the other. The phone's constant ringing and the boys arguing over who should talk to their father first did nothing to help the headache that threatened to drum a cadence through the back of her head. She sighed gratefully as the kids took their bath and settled into bed. Every few minutes she heard one of them yell mom and she recognized that it would be while before sleep claimed the little monsters. While she waited for them to finally go to sleep, she stood at the sink, washed the dishes and cleaned up the kitchen. Collapsing into the worn leather chair for an hour of relaxation in front of the computer before going to bed, she decided to check on the story she had been reading for the last month. She had checked her mail before going to work this morning and the next chapter alert was her only good message. Rubbing the sleep from her eyes, she took a sip of cold coffee and grimaced as the CPU dialed up.
While the computer took its sweet time connecting to the internet, she found herself drumming her fingers on the dark wood of her desk. She had promised both the boys and herself she would get a DSL as soon as they could spare the cash. Now with the new special offer from the phone company, she didn't have too much longer to wait. Finally the page loaded and Alexis clicked the link to take her to the book-marked story as she settled in for a good read.
Several hours and three stories later she yawned ready to go to bed for the evening. The only thing that remained was to check her email and empty the Spam folder. She thought it was odd that there was only one email in the new message folder and guessed it was a slow night. The unread message was from one of the lists to which she had subscribed. Trying to decide if the email could wait until morning, she ran her mouse over the message and clicked. It won't hurt to know which stories are updated.
Disappointment showed clearly on her face when she realized that it was nothing more than an ad for new computer game along with a short cryptic note from the list manager. Reading the testimonial of the sender, she became intrigued with the idea of a game that took its material from several of today's best-selling books, TV shows, and movies. Ignoring the time, she clicked on the link provided in the email and waited as the page loaded. Reading all of the rules and accepting the ToS, Alexis began to download the game demo.
While the new program was downloading, Alexis decided this was a good time to get ready for bed because as soon as the computer was finished, she was going to go to sleep. Walking down the short hallway to the master bedroom she thought, after all 5 am comes early. Slipping into a silky pajama set, she walked out to the kitchen and fixed a cup of instant coffee before sitting back down in front of the computer.
Impatiently waiting as the computer dialogue box showed 99 % complete, Alexis decided that it wouldn't hurt to look at the game tonight without the kids peering over her shoulder. Once the pop-up menu appeared on the screen telling her that the program was complete, she followed the directions as the program wizard guided her through the set-up. Grinning, she watched the animated characters of several TV programs hold signs as they danced across the screen crediting the program's writers.
"Wow the graphics are outstanding," she exclaimed as she began the character selection. "This game is so cool. It can take a picture from my web cam and upload it so that my character will look exactly like me." When she finished choosing the rest of her character's physical characteristics, Alexis clicked the ok button. Her curser became an hourglass and she leaned back taking a sip of coffee while waiting for her new page to load. Several minutes later her page had still not refreshed and she tried the reload button. Frowning when that didn't create any change, she tapped the escape button three or four times. Cursing the slow connection speed softly, Alexis decided that the only thing that would fix the error was a soft boot. Without looking down at her fingers she pushed the ctrl +window + delete. A fatal Error appeared and the screen went completely black and then flashed bright white causing Alexis to instinctively cover her eyes.
Slowly lowering her hands and rubbing her eyes, she noticed the difference immediately even through closed eyes. Before she was momentarily blinded, Alexis was in her darkened office. Now she was in a white room sitting on a stainless steel chair. Jumping to her feet in panic, she ran across the room and pushed on the wall trying to find the door. No matter how many times she tried the walls, she found neither seams nor anything that might possibly be a door. Sighing in defeat, she walked back to the stainless steel chair sitting in the middle of the room and slumped into it.
Without warning two manacles snapped over her wrists and two more secured her feet to the legs of the chair. Slowly the walls of the room began to move followed by the ceiling and the floor. Now with the walls being completely white, Alexis barely noticed until the chair in which she was sitting started to spin in the opposite direction from the walls. Minutes passed and she felt as if she was going to be sick when she suddenly felt the chair begin to slow. Closing her eyes as if that alone would reorient her; she heard a door slide open behind her.
"Alexis McSorely, do you know how long we have searched for you?" A disembodied voice asked from behind her.
Trying to reorient her head, she listened to the sound of the voice and the steady sounds of a shuffle and then a tap. shuffle and then a tap. Finally when she thought she could open her eyes without being sick, Alexis peeked out of one eye warily before opening the other. Twisting in her seat as much as she could, she tried to get a look at the person to whom the voice belonged. The high backed chair blocked her view and he continued to hide behind her.
"So this is how you greet the people you are trying to find," Alexis blurted sarcastically, before realizing she should have held her tongue.
There was a gravelly chuckle from behind her and she could tell that her visitor was more amused than angry at her outburst. Logic told her that she was just in her office at home and then this weirdness began. She must have fallen asleep at the computer and this was nothing more than a dream. That gave her courage and she smarted off again, "If you wanted to find me for so long, why are you hiding now?"
"Are you, or are you not Alexis McSorely the fan fiction writer?" All amusement seemed to have disappeared as the voice waited for an answer to his inquiry.
"The Elf to my readers.all three of them," Alexis replied bitterly.
Again the voice chuckled, "You have more readers than three readers. I know because I have read everything you've written and so have many others. It's our form of entertainment. You go to movies, we watch as others live out the writer's ideas and stories. It sounds as if someone is feeling sorry for herself because she doesn't have many reviews."
"It's not as if I'm looking for praise. I just want to know if people like my writing. Wait a minute why are we talking about my stories? I thought you were looking for me," Alexis reminded him struggling to look over her shoulder once more.
Shuffle. tap. shuffle. tap. She could hear the sounds of movement and knew the person was moving closer. The first thing she could see was the wood of a cane and that explained the taping noise. Then a pair of legs covered in gray slacks came into view. Alexis looked up and gasped in surprise. There standing in front of her was none other than Joe Dawson a watcher from the television series Highlander.
"Now I know you're a dream. You are a character from a TV show. That Highlander show . what was your name. Joe something .Joe Dawson. You're not real," she said shaking her head defiantly.
"At your service," Joe replied with a quirky smile. "But as for me not being real. that I will have to argue with you about, you see I am real. Just as real as you are. No, I'm not a dream. I'm your source of information during your journey." He smiled softly and continued, "They figured that since that I'm trained in the art of gathering and distributing information on immortals, then I'm qualified to provide you with any facts you might need to complete your quest."
Alexis was confused. She knew this was a dream but her arms were beginning to ache from cuffs that were too tight. She had bit her tongue while the chair was spinning and now there was a metallic taste of blood left in her mouth. Digging her nails into her palms, she gasped as if there was actual pain involved. This is one convincing dream she thought. This almost sounds like a plot to a story . I'll have to remember it when I wake.
"I just told you that I'm not a dream. You're in a nexus or a gateway if you prefer. You have to complete your quest or all of the stories will disappear. The end of creativity as you know it will vanish." He sighed, leaned forward, and pushed a button on the back of the chair and the cuffs sprang open. Joe stepped back to allow her room to stand if she wanted.
Warily she watched him as she rubbed the circulation back into her hands, "Are you telling me that your fate depends on me completing a quest. Do you know how fake that sounds? I could write a story with a better plot."
"Never-the-less, I have told you the truth. If you choose not to believe me, then there is nothing I can do. But it will be your fault when there are no longer any stories to read or write. If your movie makers have nothing to produce or your actors have nothing to perform in, they have only to look to you for an explanation," Joe told her.
As an avid fan of the TV show, she had memorized the history of each character. Alexis was aware that Joe was beginning to have trouble standing. He had lost his legs in the war and the polite thing to do was to offer him her chair, it didn't matter if he was a dream or not. "Here you take the chair. I have sat in it enough for one night."
As she watched the man awkwardly sit down in the chair she began to pace. Thing were just not adding up. I can see with clarity, smell and touch to the point of causing pain. As much as I want this to be a dream it just isn't. That means it's somebody's idea of a joke. cameras hidden somewhere to catch my reaction. No, that means they would have had to take me out of the house. Information is my best asset so let's see what I can find out. "Let's pretend I believe you. I have several things I want to know. First, why did you choose me or did you? I mean you said that you were looking for me."
"We were.. are. You have knowledge about all the different modules and you have written at least one fic for each level. You might say your quest is set up a lot like a game and the more you know, the better your chance of survival. One more point I thought you might want to be aware of; it's a secret really. Someone wants you to learn something, you can only gain the knowledge here," Joe said quietly and a small smile played across his face.
"Who wants me to learn something? What am I supposed to learn?" Alexis demanded. "Why was I locked into that chair .and what kind of quests must I face?"
Joe rubbed his chin thoughtfully and said, "You were secured in the chair because you tend to write your characters with strong reactions and we were afraid you would respond likewise. While I'm a well built man you have me at a slight disadvantage. We thought it best to err on the side of caution. As for the quest, you will receive one challenge. You will also have to determine which people can best assist you and also decide what materials you may need along the way."
Alexis grew thoughtful for a minute and said, "Ok let's assume that I haven't lost my mind in some huge hallucination and this is real. You want me to save your universe. Explain to me how I can affect the world of make believe . is it as easy as rewriting various events?"
Ignoring her question Joe replied, "I will leave and you will choose one avatar to guide you through your challenge. Once you have completed each level of the quest you will return here and I will have more information I can share with you. Remember that you and your avatar must return to this room. If either one of you dies, the level will not be completed," Joe warned her. "You can call on help from the outside one time per level . perhaps another fan fiction writer you know or someone that you encounter during your journey."
"How do I choose what challenge I have or is it given to me randomly?" Alexis asked innocently.
All of a sudden 6 doors appeared in the once seamless walls. She stared at the open doors and then looked at Joe questioningly. He simply nodded, understanding the unasked question and said, "Yes, just choose a door. The first level is the only one where your guide is chosen for you." With that the chair sank into the floor leaving one very confused writer staring at 6 open doors.
Gathering her courage, she tried to choose a door. One step followed another as she walked around the circular room in an attempt to see what was on the other side of each door. She took a step toward one and hesitated. Then turned to the door next to it and shook her head. Closing her eyes and spinning, she stopped and walked forward with her eyes closed. Passing through the door, she felt the temperature drop drastically and shivered in the blue silk short set. Her next sensation was that of being sucked underwater. Loosing her balance, Alexis stumbled forward and fell face down into a mud puddle.
She lifted her face out of the mud to peer into the sea green eyes of her favorite Padawan and groaned. Wherever the Padawan was, the Master wasn't far behind. To prove the point, the soft cultured voice of the Jedi Master drifted down as he introduced himself.
"I'm Qui-Gon and this is Obi-Wan. We will be your guides on this level.
As he offered his hand to help her rise Obi-Wan said, "Master, I think the first thing she needs is clean clothes."
tbc