A/N: Hey guys, it's me again!! I actually had a dream that started this
story. . .hope it's as fun as my dream was. Oh, and in case you guys were
wondering, I'm not JK Rowling. I don't own Harry Potter, or anything else
you may recognize. Review and tell me what you think!!!
~Sammy Solo
There was one good thing about having a friend who aspired to be a mad scientist: you got to try out all his new inventions. When I got home from school that Friday- late, and in a rather sour mood, I might add- the phone was ringing off the hook. I threw my schoolbag into a corner of the living room and picked up the phone.
"Hello?" I growled into the receiver, almost hoping it was a telemarketer so I would have an excuse to tell someone off. It wasn't.
"Jess? Hey, it's Cole. You won't believe what I did after school today. I. . ."
"Cole, wait," I interrupted him. "I've had a really long and crappy day and I don't want to. . ."
It was his turn to interrupt. "Jess, I finished the game."
"Cole, I. . ." The words froze in my mouth as the weight of what he had said began to sink in. "W-wait," I finally managed to get out. "You mean the game?"
I could hear the smile in his words. "Yup. The game." I was stunned into silence, my chin dropping a few inches. "You wanna come over and try it?" he inquired.
"Do you even have to ask?" I replied. "I'll be right over!" I hung up the phone, grabbed my schoolbag, scribbled a short note to my parents that I was going to Cole's and wasn't sure what time I'd be home, and headed out the door.
* * * *
I knocked on the door labeled:
Warning: Dangerous Area, Enter At Your Own Risk!
"What's the password?" came Cole's voice from behind the wooden door.
"Let me in, Cole," I said, my bad mood starting to creep back. "And don't make me say that stupid thing."
"Can't let you in unless you say the password," he replied in a mimicking voice. "How do I know you're not some government agent trying to steal my research and cool inventions?"
Now I was really getting annoyed. "Cole, if you don't open this door. . ."
". . .Then you don't get to play the game," he finished for me. "And if you don't say the password, then I don't open the door."
I sighed and mumbled the secret password under my breath.
"What was that?" Cole asked, obviously stifling laughter. "I didn't quite hear it."
"Cole is the master of my universe, and the little blue bunnies control my every move." The door finally creaked open to show Cole sitting on the top stair, laughing uncontrollably. His bright blue eyes were filled with tears behind safety goggles and his blonde hair, usually up in small spikes, was matted down by the strap of the goggles. "Ha ha, very funny," I grumbled sarcastically, pushing past him and heading down the steps.
"Wait!" he cried, before I had gotten three steps past him. I spun around, wondering what was wrong. He was staring at me with scorn in his eyes. "You forgot your goggles," he growled, dangling a pair of plastic safety goggles in front of my eyes. I smiled innocently and grabbed the goggles, sliding them over my head as I finished descending the stairs. There was another door at the bottom with another sign:
Warning: No One Without Goggles Allowed Beyond This Point
I reached out and turned the handle of the door to discover that it was locked. "You locked it?" I asked, raising an eyebrow. "If you and I are the only ones home, who's gonna get in?"
"Better safe than sorry," he replied, pulling a key out of his white lab coat and unlocking the door. It creaked open, and he and I stepped in.
Cole had spent any money he made working over the summer transforming the basement of his house into a laboratory. Different colored lights flickered all around the basement, and the humming of electronics echoed off of the walls. With obvious excitement, Cole led me over to the back corner of the room. A small circular section was cut off from the rest with a metal bar coming out from the wall. Beside the circle sat a machine with a small TV resting on top. To the side, three helmets with matching white bodysuits hung next to the machine. I had seen this machine many times- it was Cole's greatest dream, his most crowning achievement.
"Okay, so how does this work?" I asked, examining the equipment with a wary eye.
"Well, the neurotransmitters in your brain will connect to the electrodes produced in the helmet to create a fully psycho. . ."
"Enough!" I stopped him. "Explain it to me like I was four years old."
"Okay, little Jessie," he said in the voice he often used to talk to his younger brother. "The pretty little lights and wires will flash all around and make the game fun."
I gave him my best "I'm-ready-to-kill-you" look and he stopped laughing. "Well," he said in a more serious voice. "Basically the machine will go into your brain and fashion the game based on the things in your mind. Any experiences you've dreamed of having can be yours in this game."
A thousand different scenarios flashed through my mind and the adrenaline started to flow. "Hook me up!" I cried, hurrying over to a body suit and pulling it on over my black swishy pants and white T-shirt. Blushing slightly as he helped me into the suit, Cole explained everything I needed to do.
"I should be able to talk to you the whole time," he said. "With every new adventure, you should receive new inventory items, which you'll be able to access through me." He finished, fastening the last strap on the suit. I nodded my understanding and let him lead me to the small circular area. I ducked under the metal bar and, following Cole's instructions from the other side of the bar, finished hooking the suit and helmet up to the machine. "Okay," he said, when we had double-checked all the wires. "Push the big blue button to your left and that will put you into the game. I'll show you everything else you need to know once you get inside."
Taking a deep breath, I smiled nervously at Cole, then pushed the button. I was suddenly falling into nothingness, the basement and my stomach disappearing above me. I was surrounded by darkness in an instant, and I cried out as I continued to fall. After what seemed to be an eternity that just kept getting darker, I hit something soft and rolled down a small incline. Coming to a stop, I lay there, catching my breath and trying to stop my stomach from churning. I pushed myself up off of the wet... grass? I stood up, confused. Wasn't this supposed to be a game?
"Jess? Are you there?" I spun around as Cole's voice came from beside me. He was nowhere to be seen. "Jess?"
"Cole?" I yelled, still spinning around looking for him. "Where are you?"
"I'm still in the lab," he replied. "And don't yell, you'll kill my ears."
"So I can just talk and you'll hear me?" I asked in a normal voice.
"Yeah, so there's no need to shout. Anyway, take a look around. I should be able to see what you see, but the screen isn't working yet. What does it look like?"
For the first time, I actually examined my surroundings. The incline I had rolled down was a small grassy hill. But it looked so real. . .
"Cole, this is amazing," I said breathlessly. "The grass is wet, and I can even smell it like I was really here. There's no way this is just a game." I glanced at the sky. It was dotted with thousands of stars in various constellations. "Cole, I can't even describe this. You've got to see it."
I heard him gasp. "I am seeing it, Jess. I just got the screen to work. It's. . .wow." I could hear the pride in his voice, and I couldn't help but smile. It had taken Cole so long to achieve this, and I was glad to be the first to be a part of it. He seemed to have shaken off his initial shock when he spoke again. "I can see what you see, but I can't see you. What are you wearing? What does it feel like? C'mon, Jess, tell me everything!"
I took a second to gauge the way the air around me felt. "It's breezy, a little chilly, kinda like an early fall night. The grass is wet, so it's gotta be late night or early morning. I'm wearing. . . what the hell is that?"
"What? What's wrong?" Cole's voice was dripping with concern.
"There's these two. . . bar kind of things floating in front of me."
"Oh, yeah," he said, sounding relieved. "The green one is your health in the game, and the blue one is your energy. When you run out of health, you lose. When you run out of energy, you will have to rest, or you'll move really slow, kinda like a computer with really bad LAG. And you won't be able to fight without any energy."
"Fight?" It was my turn to sound concerned. "What do you mean fight? You didn't say anything about fighting."
"Well, think about it. You have a black belt in martial arts, and any movies or shows or whatever that you like have some form of fighting or violence. If the game reads your thoughts, it'll see at least some of that."
With a sigh, I pushed the worry from my mind and, looking past the health and energy bars, I glanced at my clothes. "I'm wearing exactly what I was wearing in real life. The only difference is I have a black belt on with a bunch of different pouches. What's that for?"
"Oh, umm. . ." he paused for a second, then continued. "I guess that'll be for the inventory items you'll receive. You might not need me to access them after all."
"You guess?" I didn't want to sound paranoid, and I knew Cole was trying his best, but this machine was connected to my brain in the real world.
"You gotta give me a break here, Jess," Cole sounded nervous again. "You are the first person to try this thing. I'm learning all of this stuff for the first time too. If you want, I'll pull you out and I'll go in first."
I sighed. "Sorry, Cole, I understand. Just a little nervous, with this thing attached to my brain and all." There was a short, awkward pause. "So... what do I do now?"
"Play the game," he responded. "Look around for your first adventure. The top of that hill might be a good place to start."
I took a deep breath and started to climb the hill. The grass was squishy under my shoes. I reached the top, and my breath caught in my chest. "Cole, are you seeing this?"
"Yeah, I am." His voice was filled with the same amazement I was feeling. Looming in the distance was a huge castle with spires that looked like they were touching the stars. A path wound down from the castle to a black metal gate, lit with two torches stuck in the ground to either side. The gate lay down the other side of the hill.
"Well," Cole said. "Go on in."
I climbed down to the gate and pushed at it. It opened with a loud creak. As I stepped through, I gasped. A light tingling came over me, as if my whole body had suddenly fallen asleep and was on pins and needles.
"What's wrong?" Cole asked, his voice filled with alarm.
"I dunno," I replied, trying to shake off the feeling as it faded. "Something just happened, and I got kinda tingly all over."
"Check your health and energy bars." I glanced down to see that both bars were completely full. But something else was different. . .
"My clothes changed. That's what it was. Now I'm wearing a long black cloak kind of thing over my original outfit."
"So, you're definitely okay?"
"Yeah," I replied. "What's the big deal?"
"Well, I'm not really sure what'll happen if you get hurt in the game. Maybe I should try it first, just to make sure."
"No!" A little stubbornness crept into my tone. "I'm already here anyway, so I might as well stay in."
He sighed, knowing from experience that once I made up my mind, there was no arguing with me. "Fine. But if something goes wrong, you've got to let me know right away, and we stop the game, no arguments. Deal?"
"You got it." Feeling slightly better knowing that he was watching with a close eye, I started the path towards the castle. As I walked, something dug into my hip. I reached down and pulled an odd stick out of a pouch in my belt. It was round and larger at the base, slightly bent at the middle, then completely straight and thin at the top. It was light in weight, and as I gripped it the base seemed to conform to my hand. "Cole, what is this thing?"
"Uh. . ." I heard some beeping and was about to ask what he was doing when he continued. "Computer says it's made of oak with a. . . phoenix feather inside? That can't be right. Why would they give you an oak stick as an inventory item?"
I heard some more beeping, and suddenly everything made sense. A castle, a stick with a phoenix feather, a long black robe. . . "Cole, I'm at Hogwarts."
"You're where?"
"At Hogwarts. From Harry Potter. Honestly, don't you read?"
"Yeah, I read them because you made me. That still doesn't mean that's where you are. Isn't this a copyright infringement?"
"C'mon, Cole. I'm wearing a long black robe, walking towards a tall castle, and carrying a stick with a phoenix feather inside that could only be a wand. Besides, how are they gonna keep a copyright lock on my brain?"
"Well, I guess. . ." he started, but was cut short as a scream echoed down from the castle. "What was that?" he finished.
"My first adventure, I guess. Here we go!" I started off in a sprint towards the looming castle. I finally got there and pushed at the door, which creaked open to let me in. I stopped to catch my breath in a beautiful entrance hall. Intricate carvings lined the walls and two stairways- one up and one down- led off of the main floor.
"Jess, computer says something changed. Check your bars." Him and that damn computer were getting kind of annoying, but I glanced down at myself.
"The green one- health- is still all the way full. The blue one. . ." Another shriek- this one distinctly female- floated down from the staircase leading up. I started sprinting again, wand still clutched in my hand.
"Jess, how's your energy?"
"Don't worry about it," I responded breathlessly. "Just get me the Harry Potter books. I think I'm gonna need some spells." He told me that he would be right back, and I was alone for the first time in the game. It was just as well that I had been interrupted.
He didn't need to worry that my energy bar was already almost half gone.
~Sammy Solo
There was one good thing about having a friend who aspired to be a mad scientist: you got to try out all his new inventions. When I got home from school that Friday- late, and in a rather sour mood, I might add- the phone was ringing off the hook. I threw my schoolbag into a corner of the living room and picked up the phone.
"Hello?" I growled into the receiver, almost hoping it was a telemarketer so I would have an excuse to tell someone off. It wasn't.
"Jess? Hey, it's Cole. You won't believe what I did after school today. I. . ."
"Cole, wait," I interrupted him. "I've had a really long and crappy day and I don't want to. . ."
It was his turn to interrupt. "Jess, I finished the game."
"Cole, I. . ." The words froze in my mouth as the weight of what he had said began to sink in. "W-wait," I finally managed to get out. "You mean the game?"
I could hear the smile in his words. "Yup. The game." I was stunned into silence, my chin dropping a few inches. "You wanna come over and try it?" he inquired.
"Do you even have to ask?" I replied. "I'll be right over!" I hung up the phone, grabbed my schoolbag, scribbled a short note to my parents that I was going to Cole's and wasn't sure what time I'd be home, and headed out the door.
* * * *
I knocked on the door labeled:
Warning: Dangerous Area, Enter At Your Own Risk!
"What's the password?" came Cole's voice from behind the wooden door.
"Let me in, Cole," I said, my bad mood starting to creep back. "And don't make me say that stupid thing."
"Can't let you in unless you say the password," he replied in a mimicking voice. "How do I know you're not some government agent trying to steal my research and cool inventions?"
Now I was really getting annoyed. "Cole, if you don't open this door. . ."
". . .Then you don't get to play the game," he finished for me. "And if you don't say the password, then I don't open the door."
I sighed and mumbled the secret password under my breath.
"What was that?" Cole asked, obviously stifling laughter. "I didn't quite hear it."
"Cole is the master of my universe, and the little blue bunnies control my every move." The door finally creaked open to show Cole sitting on the top stair, laughing uncontrollably. His bright blue eyes were filled with tears behind safety goggles and his blonde hair, usually up in small spikes, was matted down by the strap of the goggles. "Ha ha, very funny," I grumbled sarcastically, pushing past him and heading down the steps.
"Wait!" he cried, before I had gotten three steps past him. I spun around, wondering what was wrong. He was staring at me with scorn in his eyes. "You forgot your goggles," he growled, dangling a pair of plastic safety goggles in front of my eyes. I smiled innocently and grabbed the goggles, sliding them over my head as I finished descending the stairs. There was another door at the bottom with another sign:
Warning: No One Without Goggles Allowed Beyond This Point
I reached out and turned the handle of the door to discover that it was locked. "You locked it?" I asked, raising an eyebrow. "If you and I are the only ones home, who's gonna get in?"
"Better safe than sorry," he replied, pulling a key out of his white lab coat and unlocking the door. It creaked open, and he and I stepped in.
Cole had spent any money he made working over the summer transforming the basement of his house into a laboratory. Different colored lights flickered all around the basement, and the humming of electronics echoed off of the walls. With obvious excitement, Cole led me over to the back corner of the room. A small circular section was cut off from the rest with a metal bar coming out from the wall. Beside the circle sat a machine with a small TV resting on top. To the side, three helmets with matching white bodysuits hung next to the machine. I had seen this machine many times- it was Cole's greatest dream, his most crowning achievement.
"Okay, so how does this work?" I asked, examining the equipment with a wary eye.
"Well, the neurotransmitters in your brain will connect to the electrodes produced in the helmet to create a fully psycho. . ."
"Enough!" I stopped him. "Explain it to me like I was four years old."
"Okay, little Jessie," he said in the voice he often used to talk to his younger brother. "The pretty little lights and wires will flash all around and make the game fun."
I gave him my best "I'm-ready-to-kill-you" look and he stopped laughing. "Well," he said in a more serious voice. "Basically the machine will go into your brain and fashion the game based on the things in your mind. Any experiences you've dreamed of having can be yours in this game."
A thousand different scenarios flashed through my mind and the adrenaline started to flow. "Hook me up!" I cried, hurrying over to a body suit and pulling it on over my black swishy pants and white T-shirt. Blushing slightly as he helped me into the suit, Cole explained everything I needed to do.
"I should be able to talk to you the whole time," he said. "With every new adventure, you should receive new inventory items, which you'll be able to access through me." He finished, fastening the last strap on the suit. I nodded my understanding and let him lead me to the small circular area. I ducked under the metal bar and, following Cole's instructions from the other side of the bar, finished hooking the suit and helmet up to the machine. "Okay," he said, when we had double-checked all the wires. "Push the big blue button to your left and that will put you into the game. I'll show you everything else you need to know once you get inside."
Taking a deep breath, I smiled nervously at Cole, then pushed the button. I was suddenly falling into nothingness, the basement and my stomach disappearing above me. I was surrounded by darkness in an instant, and I cried out as I continued to fall. After what seemed to be an eternity that just kept getting darker, I hit something soft and rolled down a small incline. Coming to a stop, I lay there, catching my breath and trying to stop my stomach from churning. I pushed myself up off of the wet... grass? I stood up, confused. Wasn't this supposed to be a game?
"Jess? Are you there?" I spun around as Cole's voice came from beside me. He was nowhere to be seen. "Jess?"
"Cole?" I yelled, still spinning around looking for him. "Where are you?"
"I'm still in the lab," he replied. "And don't yell, you'll kill my ears."
"So I can just talk and you'll hear me?" I asked in a normal voice.
"Yeah, so there's no need to shout. Anyway, take a look around. I should be able to see what you see, but the screen isn't working yet. What does it look like?"
For the first time, I actually examined my surroundings. The incline I had rolled down was a small grassy hill. But it looked so real. . .
"Cole, this is amazing," I said breathlessly. "The grass is wet, and I can even smell it like I was really here. There's no way this is just a game." I glanced at the sky. It was dotted with thousands of stars in various constellations. "Cole, I can't even describe this. You've got to see it."
I heard him gasp. "I am seeing it, Jess. I just got the screen to work. It's. . .wow." I could hear the pride in his voice, and I couldn't help but smile. It had taken Cole so long to achieve this, and I was glad to be the first to be a part of it. He seemed to have shaken off his initial shock when he spoke again. "I can see what you see, but I can't see you. What are you wearing? What does it feel like? C'mon, Jess, tell me everything!"
I took a second to gauge the way the air around me felt. "It's breezy, a little chilly, kinda like an early fall night. The grass is wet, so it's gotta be late night or early morning. I'm wearing. . . what the hell is that?"
"What? What's wrong?" Cole's voice was dripping with concern.
"There's these two. . . bar kind of things floating in front of me."
"Oh, yeah," he said, sounding relieved. "The green one is your health in the game, and the blue one is your energy. When you run out of health, you lose. When you run out of energy, you will have to rest, or you'll move really slow, kinda like a computer with really bad LAG. And you won't be able to fight without any energy."
"Fight?" It was my turn to sound concerned. "What do you mean fight? You didn't say anything about fighting."
"Well, think about it. You have a black belt in martial arts, and any movies or shows or whatever that you like have some form of fighting or violence. If the game reads your thoughts, it'll see at least some of that."
With a sigh, I pushed the worry from my mind and, looking past the health and energy bars, I glanced at my clothes. "I'm wearing exactly what I was wearing in real life. The only difference is I have a black belt on with a bunch of different pouches. What's that for?"
"Oh, umm. . ." he paused for a second, then continued. "I guess that'll be for the inventory items you'll receive. You might not need me to access them after all."
"You guess?" I didn't want to sound paranoid, and I knew Cole was trying his best, but this machine was connected to my brain in the real world.
"You gotta give me a break here, Jess," Cole sounded nervous again. "You are the first person to try this thing. I'm learning all of this stuff for the first time too. If you want, I'll pull you out and I'll go in first."
I sighed. "Sorry, Cole, I understand. Just a little nervous, with this thing attached to my brain and all." There was a short, awkward pause. "So... what do I do now?"
"Play the game," he responded. "Look around for your first adventure. The top of that hill might be a good place to start."
I took a deep breath and started to climb the hill. The grass was squishy under my shoes. I reached the top, and my breath caught in my chest. "Cole, are you seeing this?"
"Yeah, I am." His voice was filled with the same amazement I was feeling. Looming in the distance was a huge castle with spires that looked like they were touching the stars. A path wound down from the castle to a black metal gate, lit with two torches stuck in the ground to either side. The gate lay down the other side of the hill.
"Well," Cole said. "Go on in."
I climbed down to the gate and pushed at it. It opened with a loud creak. As I stepped through, I gasped. A light tingling came over me, as if my whole body had suddenly fallen asleep and was on pins and needles.
"What's wrong?" Cole asked, his voice filled with alarm.
"I dunno," I replied, trying to shake off the feeling as it faded. "Something just happened, and I got kinda tingly all over."
"Check your health and energy bars." I glanced down to see that both bars were completely full. But something else was different. . .
"My clothes changed. That's what it was. Now I'm wearing a long black cloak kind of thing over my original outfit."
"So, you're definitely okay?"
"Yeah," I replied. "What's the big deal?"
"Well, I'm not really sure what'll happen if you get hurt in the game. Maybe I should try it first, just to make sure."
"No!" A little stubbornness crept into my tone. "I'm already here anyway, so I might as well stay in."
He sighed, knowing from experience that once I made up my mind, there was no arguing with me. "Fine. But if something goes wrong, you've got to let me know right away, and we stop the game, no arguments. Deal?"
"You got it." Feeling slightly better knowing that he was watching with a close eye, I started the path towards the castle. As I walked, something dug into my hip. I reached down and pulled an odd stick out of a pouch in my belt. It was round and larger at the base, slightly bent at the middle, then completely straight and thin at the top. It was light in weight, and as I gripped it the base seemed to conform to my hand. "Cole, what is this thing?"
"Uh. . ." I heard some beeping and was about to ask what he was doing when he continued. "Computer says it's made of oak with a. . . phoenix feather inside? That can't be right. Why would they give you an oak stick as an inventory item?"
I heard some more beeping, and suddenly everything made sense. A castle, a stick with a phoenix feather, a long black robe. . . "Cole, I'm at Hogwarts."
"You're where?"
"At Hogwarts. From Harry Potter. Honestly, don't you read?"
"Yeah, I read them because you made me. That still doesn't mean that's where you are. Isn't this a copyright infringement?"
"C'mon, Cole. I'm wearing a long black robe, walking towards a tall castle, and carrying a stick with a phoenix feather inside that could only be a wand. Besides, how are they gonna keep a copyright lock on my brain?"
"Well, I guess. . ." he started, but was cut short as a scream echoed down from the castle. "What was that?" he finished.
"My first adventure, I guess. Here we go!" I started off in a sprint towards the looming castle. I finally got there and pushed at the door, which creaked open to let me in. I stopped to catch my breath in a beautiful entrance hall. Intricate carvings lined the walls and two stairways- one up and one down- led off of the main floor.
"Jess, computer says something changed. Check your bars." Him and that damn computer were getting kind of annoying, but I glanced down at myself.
"The green one- health- is still all the way full. The blue one. . ." Another shriek- this one distinctly female- floated down from the staircase leading up. I started sprinting again, wand still clutched in my hand.
"Jess, how's your energy?"
"Don't worry about it," I responded breathlessly. "Just get me the Harry Potter books. I think I'm gonna need some spells." He told me that he would be right back, and I was alone for the first time in the game. It was just as well that I had been interrupted.
He didn't need to worry that my energy bar was already almost half gone.