The Path I've Chosen

02

The very next morning, 0800 to be exact, the three Avatar's were taken out of their pods, and prepped for the first connection. Casper, Norm and Jake all had to keep pace with the fast walking Grace. Norm walked closest to her, Casper staying by Jake's side.

"So, how much link time have you logged?" Grace asked Norm. the other answering "About 520 hours" 

Grace nodded with satisfaction "That's good" she then walked by a pod, and pointed to one "You're there"

Her gaze then turned to Casper, and before she could even ask her question, the male answered. "I've logged about 600 hours, give or take". The side of her lips slightly lifted in a small smile. She then pointed to a pod, having no more to say. 

Casper nodded, and before Jake could wheel after Grace, the younger grabbed him by the arm. Jake stopped, and turned his head at Casper. He raised his brow, giving Casper the okay to speak. "Good luck out there. Oh, and ignore Grace's rude comments, alright? She's probably just a bit stressed, you know, about the whole Tommy thing..."

Jake chuckled under his breath, patting Casper's hand that still lay on his arm. "Oh she doesn't get to me. Had to deal with meaner bitches back at camp"

Casper snorted at this, and with a final goodbye let go of Jake's arm, seeing him wheel away before he turned to his own pod. A women stood beside him, ready to help him on his first connection. She saw the raven head approaching, and immediately sprung to action. 

"So, uh, you just lay down here, place the grate over you body, and stay relaxed" she listed of, but I knew how this went already. Sure I never connected before, but Norm told him all about it. He could probably press every button needed to be pressed with his eyes closed. He lay down on the very comfortable foam, and placed the grate over his body, already going to close his eyes before the lid got even closed. He listened to the women moving around, and soon it all went silent as his pod got closed.

Surprisingly so, his heart kept up it's even pace, even if his mind was freaking out, just a bit. He took in a deep breath, and breathed it out as he just focused. Focused on his breathing, his heartbeat, the foam, and then he imagined his Avatar. He imagined a red string going over and wrapping around his Avatar, making them one. That is when a bright tunnel appeared in his mind, composed of all different bright colors, and he traveled through it so fast. So...fast...

~~~~~~~~~~

A bright line shone in his eyes, and then figures became visible. A pair of women leaned over him, one of them shining a flashlight into his eyes whilst the other tried to talk to him. "He's good, he's in. Casper, can you hear me? Is everything alright?"

The other women moved her flashlight away, nodding. "Everything seem's good with the pupillary reflexes" 

Casper squinted at the two women, the corner's of his mouth starting to lift. The women who asked him question's earlier snapped her finger's near both of his ears, smiling when she was done. "Pinna response seem's to be normal. How are you feeling, Casper?"

Finally the male found his voice. "I'm fine. Everything is good" his voice remained the same to the surprise of Casper. He thought it would of been pitched, maybe lowered, but no, nothing had changed. He was actually pretty happy with this.

The women smiled at him, and then gestured for him to sit up. He nodded, and leaning onto his arms he slowly sat up from his laying position. The first thing he saw were his blue feet. His gigantic blue feet, covered in darker blue tiger stripes. Then he leaned just a bit forward, freeing one of his hands free so he could look down at them, and surely enough, they too were blue and big. He slightly moved them to the side of one of the women's head, and gasped as he did.