The room was dark and silent. Blaineley slowly regained consciousness but couldn't remember how she ended up here. She attempted to stand up but was unable to. She tried wiggling her arms about to no avail. That's when she realized she was tied up to a chair and began to panic. "H-hello..?" she stammered, trying to look around her but the darkness was too much to see through. "What's happening?"

"So… Ms. O'Holloran…" said a familiar voice. One that chilled the hostess to the bone. "You failed to meet the deadline."

Blaineley's heart nearly stopped as she was finally able to see the silhouette of Elizabeth standing in front of her. "Please… I tried everything I could…" she whined. "Just give me some more time."

"That won't be possible," Elizabeth firmly denied. "If you couldn't handle the responsibilities, you should've called it quits when you had the chance then."

"This can't be happening…" Blaineley whimpered, nearly breaking in tears.

Elizabeth let out a sinister chuckle. "We here at Moogle have our ways to punish those that fail to live up to expectations," she warned.

Blaineley gulped and took a slow, deep breath. "What are you gonna do to me?" she asked shakily.

A sudden flash of light beamed down on something to her left. Blaineley turned to see a wooden crate with labels reading DO NOT DISTURB and HAZARDOUS MATERIAL all over. Elizabeth slowly approached the crate, the light revealing she was wearing a red cloak of sorts. "Are you familiar with this sound?" she asked, before pounding on the crate. Her vicious smile was not the only thing to scare Blaineley now as immediately after the pounding, some muffled growls and thuds shook the crate.

"It… it can't possibly be…" Blaineley shivered.

Elizabeth chuckled again. "You were warned of the consequences, Ms. O'Holloran," she said, taking out a crowbar. "Now you and your career must… die…"

Elizabeth pried the crate lid open, much to the pleading of Blaineley. Immediately after, the head of a greenish disfigured person popped up from the crate. He foamed at the mouth as he snarled, locking eyes onto his prey. Elizabeth let out one more cackle. "She's all yours, Zeke," she said as she disappeared back into the darkness.

Feral Zeke went ballistic as he lunged up and darted straight towards Blaineley. All the helpless lady could do was scream in terror as the beast came charging closer and closer. And when he was near enough, Zeke took one final leap, holding his arms out like claws. Blaineley closed her eyes and accepted her fate.

THUD THUD THUD

Was that her heartbeat, she thought.

THUD THUD THUD

Or was that Ezekiel thrashing her lifeless body about as her spirit went to the afterlife?

THUD THUD THUD

Suddenly, Blaineley jolted awake with a loud gasp. She clenched over her heart and hyperventilated a little. Her hair was a mess, she had dried drool on her cheeks, her dress shirt was partially unbuttoned. Blaineley eventually calmed down. "Whew… just a nightmare…" she huffed. She looked around to see that she was simply in her office. It was barely the crack of dawn as she had seemingly fallen asleep at her desk the night before. Relieved enough, she quickly realized that the thuds came from someone knocking on her door.

Blaineley quickly wiped some drool from her cheek and fixed her hair as best as she could. "Come in," she said, after another set of knocks occured.

Her office door slowly opened and Meghan walked in, holding a coffee cup. "Uhhh… Good morning, boss," she said, a little bit confused to see her here so early. "You weren't at your suite so I thought maybe you'd be here and well… guess I was right."

Blaineley was still a little discombobulated from her nightmare but she carefully took the coffee cup from Meghan. "Thank you," she said breathlessly, taking a big swig.

"Ummm… Are you okay, ma'am?" Meghan asked with some concern.

Blaineley took another sip and nodded her head. "Yeah, yeah, I'm fine…" she assured, stretching her back out as an office chair certainly wasn't the most comfortable thing to sleep in.

Meghan looked down at her boss's desk and could see tons of applications scattered about on top. "Our deadline is tomorrow," she said. "You think we'll be able to finish everything before then?"

Blaineley chugged down the rest of her coffee and then slammed the empty cup onto her desk. "Don't ask me that right now," she scolded as she pulled herself up to her feet and took a deep breath.

"Sorry…" Meghan replied, watching Blaineley stumble her way to the door.

"I need a shower," Blaineley grumbled, wiping away some eye crusties. "Go wake up the others and help me with those stupid fucking applications while I'm gone."

"Understood, ma'am," Meghan obeyed, stuffing her hands into her sweatshirt pockets. Once her boss was gone, she looked around the office and noticed the empty cup. A little smirk grew on her face. "At least she didn't spit it in my face this time."

/

The hot water drizzled down Blaineley's bare body as she stood still, deep in thought. She had taken an extra long shower today, one that she felt she really needed. After eventually turning the faucet off, she took a deep breath and stepped out. The hot steam had fogged up the mirrors with moisture but a simple wipe from Blaineley's hand revealed her staring back at herself, wrapped in one of the many luxurious towels this suite had. She observed her eyes closely, noticing more wrinkles than usual. She simply let out a sigh.

In her room, she heard the phone ringing by her bedside. She knew exactly who it was and picked up. "Elizabeth?" she greeted.

"Good morning, Ms. O'Holloran," replied the voice of her boss. "I'm sure you are aware of why I'm calling you right now."

"Don't worry, we're very close to having a complete cast," Blaineley assured even though she knew it was a lie.

"Well, that's good to hear," Elizabeth replied. "I know that I previously said that you needed twenty-four clients but you'll actually only need twenty-three now."

Blaineley was a little surprised and relieved as she adjusted her phone to the other ear. "Oh, why is that?" she asked, as she opened up her wardrobe to pick out a dress.

"Well, I spoke with John the other day," Elizabeth explained. "I believe you spoke with him beforehand, correct?"

Blaineley paused and raised her eyebrows. "Yes, I did," she affirmed nervously. "What did he tell you?"

"Nothing in particular about you," Elizabeth assured. "He just wanted to discuss casting with me. He had an idea that I thought was brilliant. Blaineley, are you familiar with the musician Kovarius?"

Blaineley clamped the phone with her chin so she could use both hands to pull out a dress. "It sounds vaguely familiar," she said as she analyzed her outfit choice before plopping down on her bed.

"Kovarius has been a rather recent phenomena in the music scene," Elizabeth explained. "John suggested letting them be a part of the show to capitalize on the musician's popularity. They even currently live right here in Santa Barbara, so travel costs would be practically non-existent."

Blaineley was intrigued as she went to a dresser to pull out her make-up supplies. "Interesting," she remarked. "So that's why I only need twenty-three then."

"Exactly," Elizabeth replied. "I spoke with their agent yesterday and he was able to convince them to join. So, I'll be emailing you all the information needed. They're real name is Koda, just so you know, but we recommend referring to them as Kovarius when the camera's rolling."

"Got it," Blaineley said. "Guess I'll take a look and inform the others then."

"Sounds good, Ms. O'Holloran," Elizabeth replied. "Oh, and do be prepared to see me tomorrow morning at 10 AM. I'll hopefully go over all of your selections when I'm there."

"Understood," Blaineley said. "I promise we'll have everything ready by then."

"You're doing a great job, Ms. O'Holloran," Elizabeth assured her, although it almost felt condescending. "I expect to be quite impressed with your ultimate selections. Are you certain that'll be the case?"

"Oh, of course," Blaineley said, immediately feeling a sinking sensation in her stomach. "Totally. I wouldn't want to disappoint you, obviously."

"You know me quite well," Elizabeth said, a bit more stoically. "See you soon, Ms. O'Holloran."

"You too, ma'am and have a great rest of your-" Elizabeth hung up before she could finish. Blaineley slowly lowered the phone to her chest, biting her bottom lip a little. Her eyes lowered to the dress she selected from earlier and she took a deep breath. "Let's get to work."

/

"Ehehe, check this one out," Sam chuckled as he handed one of the many applications left to Frank. The two sat together in the office while Meghan quietly stood by the window, going through some applications by herself. Sam pointed at a certain detail. "This dude likes looking at butts, ehehe."

"I don't think Blaineley would want this Seymour fellow," Frank said as he tossed the app right into the trash. Sam just chuckled some more as Frank peered up at Meghan. "Anything good?"

"Ummm, maybe?" Meghan said as she handed Frank one of her apps.

Before Frank could read it though, it was snatched from his hand from Blaineley. "Hmmm…" she read through before tossing it back to Meghan. "Put this in the pile."

Meghan fumbled a bit with the app but held on to it. She pulled out a bin from under Blaineley's desk and tossed the app inside, where a bunch of other apps were also located. Sam scratched his chin, staring at the bin. "That looks like a lot more than twenty-four, just saying," he said.

"Smart one, are you?" Blaineley said sarcastically, placing her hands on her hips. "We have to make this the best cast possible. So that means going over every single application as thoroughly as we can. Any app that has any potential must be considered, got it?"

"Yes ma'am," Sam replied timidly.

Blaineley eyed around her office, glancing at each one of her interns. "I'm gonna need all of you to put your best effort together," she said. "It's been a stressful couple of weeks, I know. But we can do it."

Sam and Frank both nodded, giving each other high-fives. Meghan simply stood by the desk, fiddling with another application she had. Blaineley and her locked eyes for a second before she held it up. "Um, this one seems good," she said. "Pile?"

Blaineley quietly nodded and walked up to her desk, turning on her computer and taking a seat. She logged onto her email and browsed through, coming across the application for Koda, or Kovarius, that Elizabeth had sent to her. "The good news is that we'll only need to come up with twenty-three now," she said as she printed out the application. She took it from the printer when it was done and showed it to the others. "Elizabeth wanted this person to be on the show."

"Oh, Kovarius? They worked on a couple of video game soundtracks," Sam stated as he took a gander at the applicants' picture. Koda wore a futuristic dark gray bodysuit with neon blue and white lines all over. They also had on some metallic boots and gloves as well as a futuristic single-lens pair of sunglasses. Their skin was bronze in color. Their hair was straight and brown with blue highlights and it reached down to the back of their neck.

"If they're a famous musician, why bother with a show like this?" Frank asked. "It's not like they need the money either."

"Probably because of the VLS," Meghan suggested. "I mean, I'm really excited to see how it works myself. Can't imagine it not being the same with them."

"I could care less why they are here," Blaineley said bluntly, pointing at all of the unchecked applications still on her desk. "Now, we've got more applications to sift through. Let's not waste any time."

Together, the four of them went through as many applications as they could until every single one was read through and categorized. Eventually, Blaineley tossed the last applicant into the pile and took a deep breath. "That's all of them," she said to everyone, who were quite excited but Blaineley was quick to remind them. "We're only halfway done, remember? Now comes the tough part."

"Should we start with these?" Meghan asked, pointing at the section of the pile.

Blaineley shook her head, standing up from her desk. "I think first we should take a small lunch break," she suggested, pointing at the clock. The time was a quarter past one. "At 1:45, I want you all back here."

Sam got up first, nudging Frank in the arm. "Hey, let's go see if Arthur still has those spicy burritos in the cafeteria," he suggested.

Frank got up with a sly smirk. "Just as long as you promise to not accidentally shit yourself this time," he said.

Sam grew red in the face. "Frank! Not in front of the girls, man," he said embarrassingly. He peaked over to see Blaineley rolling her eyes and Meghan looking around awkwardly. "Ehehe, we're just joking around obviously…"

Blaineley and Meghan gave no responses so Sam just awkwardly shuffled out of the office with Frank following behind, chuckling to himself. When it was just her and Blaineley, Meghan nervously rubbed her shoulder. "Do you need me to get you anything?" she offered.

"No, no," Blaineley declined, placing her hands on her hips. "I need to make a call. Go on with them." Meghan nodded and went to go meet up with the others. Blaineley stared at the pile of potential applicants and then at the one for Koda on her desk before dialing up someone on the phone.

/

"Yo, Arthur," called out Frank as the three interns made it to the cafeteria.

Arthur was in the back, wiping off some counters when he heard them. He peeked over the serving station and nodded. "Frank, my man, looking for something to eat?" he asked, quickly heading towards an oven. He pulled out something that smelt amazing from afar and placed it on a large platter. "California thin crust," he said as he pointed at the large pizza pie. "Help yourself."

"Yeah, alright!" Sam cheered, running up to the station and taking a few pieces. Frank followed suit and the two boys sat at a nearby table to eat.

Meghan walked up to the station with her hands in her sweatshirt. Arthur dried off his hands with a towel as he greeted her. "How's it going, miss?"

Meghan shrugged, leaning up against the station a little. "It's going alright, I suppose," she replied.

"Are you picking anything up for Blaineley?" Arthur asked.

"Uh, not this time, actually," Meghan replied, pulling her hand out to take a plate. "She's gotta make a phone call."

"Ah, probably for John," Arthur said, tossing the towel into a nearby sink. "She told me that she called him the other day to ask for help with pretty much everything, haha. She's definitely working really hard for this."

Meghan placed a slice on her plate. "Well, I did find her asleep on her desk this morning," she admitted.

Arthur stuck his tongue in his cheek with a quizzical look on his face. "Poor little thing," he remarked. "Elizabeth definitely did make things quite tight for her. But I know she'll pull through."

Meghan looked back to see her fellow interns, not really as sympathetic for her. She turned back and grabbed her plate. "Well, thanks for the pizza," she said before heading off to eat. She took a seat right next to Frank, who was currently skimming through his phone. "Are you working on any new deals or something?" she asked curiously but Frank just gave her a look. "What?"

"I can't take any extra offers while I'm working here," Frank explained. "Nah, I'm just going through Reddit to read some fan speculations about this season."

"Ooh ooh, are there any about me?" Sam asked hopefully.

Frank stared at him bluntly. "No," he denied. "We're interns, Sam. We're not what the people will be watching the show for."

Sam crossed his arms and looked bummed. "Well you don't have to be so brutal about it," he grumbled.

Frank smirked as he showed something to Meghan. "Check this out," he said. "Apparently some rumors speculate that Elizabeth has quite the history with being terrible to her own employees. If true, it looks like Blaineley is getting a taste of her own medicine."

Meghan tried to smile but she couldn't. "It doesn't make it any better," she explained, massaging the back of her neck. "We're still going to be treated like shit… Me, especially."

Frank shrugged as he returned to his browsing. "Still don't understand why you don't just quit," he stated.

"Because I want a career, you know," Meghan explained, staring at her pizza. "Do you know how credible people in the tech industry are when they have Moogle on their resume? Like, this could be my big break."

"What about the military?" Sam suggested, seeming concerned for her. "Surely, you can just get an internship with them."

"It's a tougher process," Meghan explained with a sigh. "And I just think it'd be rather stupid to blow a free opportunity like this away, okay? I'll tough things out, don't worry. Maybe things will ease up during the season. At least then I can finally work full-time with the VLS. Arthur trained me on it these past few days and it seems cool as heck."

Sam scratched his chin as he stared off in thought. "I really hope they'll let us use it too in some way," he said. "How awesome would it be to be in an entire video game? That's like, every gamers dream."

Frank faced up from his phone to consider something before shaking his head. "I'd rather just be a billionaire," he stated bluntly. "Then I could make my own VLS if I wanted."

"Ehehe, well if you do become a billionaire, could you make one for me too?" Sam asked.

Frank eyed him judgingly before shrugging. "Sure, why not," he agreed.

"Sweet!" Sam said, shaking Frank by the shoulders with excitement. "You're a total bro, man."

Frank just nudged him away. "Just as long as you agree to pay me back for the expenses, that is," he added with a smug grin.

Sam's excitement dropped. "Oh," he mumbled. "Nevermind…"

Meghan couldn't help but giggle. "Yeah, Frank only helps out superheroes for free," she explained.

Frank nonchalantly snapped a finger gun at her. "Bingo," he said.

/

"Yes, hello Mr. Peralta," Blaineley greeted once John had picked up the phone. "How have you been today?"

"Quite well, if I do say," he answered. "I'm assuming you're calling me because you got word from Elizabeth about my little suggestion."

"She sent me that Kovarius person's info and everything this morning," Blaineley affirmed, tapping her fingers on said person's application. "Um, thank you for suggesting that, by the way."

"Well you definitely needed the help, it seemed" John admitted. "I'm pretty sure you nearly broke down on me over the phone the other day."

Blaineley's face flushed with embarrassment and she let out a sigh. "This job really hasn't been what I was expecting, I guess," she explained. "But we're almost done with these stupid applications so hopefully things can be less stressful."

"How many do you have selected?" John asked.

Blaineley stared at Koda's application. "Truthfully? Just one…" she confessed. "But we're gonna spend the rest of the day and night, if we have to, finalizing our cast. We already have a good batch of potential participants."

"I see," John replied. "Well best of luck to you then. And if you need anything else, feel free to call me again."

Blaineley thanked John and then hung up. She checked the clock to see that it was almost 1:45. She decided to get a head start by checking through the potential applicant pile. It wasn't long until she heard a knock on her door. "Come in," she said. It was Arthur, who had some type of food container with him. Blaineley was pleasantly surprised and sat herself up straight. "Oh hey, Artie. What can I do for you?"

Arthur placed the container on her desk. "Just thought I'd save you a few slices," he explained, leaning up against her desk and crossing his arms. "How's everything?"

Blaineley smiled as she brushed some hair behind her ear. "You know, I've actually been quite well today," she answered.

"That's relieving to hear," Arthur said, adjusting himself a little. "If I remember correctly, Meghan mentioned she found you sleeping at your desk this morning."

Blaineley froze a little, clearly not expecting for him to know about that but she managed to awkwardly laugh it all off. "Oh, that was nothing really," she assured, almost blushing a little. "You know how some days at work can be."

Arthur nodded quietly before they both were interrupted by the others arriving. Blaineley smiled and clasped her hands. "Oh great, you guys are finally back," she said, sitting up more straight. "Well, looks like we're ready to get back to work now. Thanks for stopping by, Artie."

"My pleasure," Arthur said, making his leave.

Afterwards, Blaineley cleared her throat and looked at her interns. "Listen closely," she ordered, taking the first app from the pile. "We will separate all of these into three different categories. The 'Yes, they're definitely in's, the 'Most likely to be in's and the 'Maybe if there is room's. Got it?"

"For sure," Sam agreed, taking his seat.

"So do we all just pick our favorites?" Frank asked, taking the seat next to him.

"You could if that helps," Blaineley agreed. "But I will have the final say no matter what." She then handed a clipboard and pen to Meghan. "I've counted how many we have to go through already. Just keep track of the number of apps we put into each category."

"Yes ma'am," Meghan replied, taking the clipboard and her seat.

For the next couple of hours, the four of them breezed through each application and placed them in their respective categories. Most of them landed in the "Maybe"s but they already had a few "Definitely"s decided as well. At some point, Arthur showed up to serve them dinner at their office since he knew they didn't have time for another break. He then agreed to join them for a little but left eventually to go do some other things.

The sun was now setting. Each category was getting bigger and bigger. The "Maybe"s pretty much ended up being the "Rejected" category at this point as the "Most Likely"s and "Definitely"s got more and more apps. The cast was really starting to come together for them. Just a couple dozen more to sift through.

And then, it was finished. Blaineley categorized the final application as everyone else clapped. She eased back into her chair, rubbing her eyes and yawning before peeking over towards Meghan. "How many in each category?" she asked.

Meghan quickly scanned through her clipboard. "Um, we have well over a hundred in the Maybe category," she began. "About 40 in the Most Likely category and very surprisingly, 22 in the Definitely category."

Blaineley stared at the three separate piles before taking the top one of the "Most Likely"s and placing it in the "Definitely"s. "There," she said. "Twenty-three now. Add Koda to them and there's our cast everyone."

"Wow, we did it," Sam gasped, staring at the final selection of applications.

Blaineley rubbed her temples and let out a long deep sigh of relief. "God, I'm so glad this shit is finally over with," she moaned, taking a moment to observe around her office and everyone that was in it before promptly getting up to her feet. She took the apps of the final cast and straightened them up before placing them in one of her drawers. She then shoved all of the remaining applications back into the bin that they came from. "Welp, all that there is left for me to do is to show what we selected to Elizabeth."

"So is that all you need us for tonight?" Frank asked.

Blaineley nodded. "Yep, you may leave. Have a good night, boys," she permitted. However, she quickly stopped Meghan from joining them. "Uh uh, not you, missy."

Meghan gulped and felt her stomach drop as the two boys awkwardly left the office, fearing for whatever may happen to their fellow intern. Once they were gone, Blaineley finally spoke. "Listen… I just want to make things very clear," she began, Meghan clearly feeling extremely nervous as she was being approached. "Don't ever let me catch you talking to Arthur about me ever again."

Meghan tugged on her shirt collar. "You mean about the whole thing with you asleep at your desk?" she asked.

"Yes!" Blaineley affirmed, sternly raising her voice. "You are not here to spread gossip about me. Especially not to my bosses, got it!?"

Meghan fearfully nodded. "I'm very sorry, ma'am," she apologized. "I didn't think it would be that big of an iss-"

"Shhhh! I don't care what your excuse is this time," Blaineley hushed, heading towards the door. She stopped for a moment to say something. "But because I'm in such a good mood and you did your part in helping with everything, I'm only gonna punish you with cleaning up my office. I have a very important meeting with Elizabeth tomorrow so this place must be spotless. Understood?"

"Yes ma'am," Meghan replied, hugging the clipboard to her chest as she scanned around. Papers and pens were everywhere. Crumbs and empty dishes from their dinner remained as well.

Blaineley grew a slight vengeful smile on her face. "Have a good rest of your night, dear," she said before slamming the door behind her shut as she left.

Meghan, now standing alone in the quiet messy office, stared off despondently. She felt some tears welling up in her eyes and sniffed a little, gently wiping them away with the back of her hand. "I'm still not gonna quit," she whispered to herself, taking a slow deep breath. She then got to work.

Due to the cast taking a bit to get finalized, I've decided to release another prologue chapter with some more information/set-up to this season. As you can see, things have been pretty stressful for our crew and in many ways. We also get a sneak peek into our first contestant of this story, Koda (Kovarius). I figured to get my own character out of the way so that the cast reveal can solely focus on everyone else's. Let me know what your thoughts are so far with this. I'm really hoping to have the full cast ready soon so I can begin this thing. It's gonna be loads of fun for sure.

Anyways, thanks for reading. As always, stay hydrated and have a good day!