Lifecode Zero: When the Game Becomes Reality

Chapter 6: Reality Check

Joey would sit on the park bench, sitting patiently for his friends. I can't believe what's happening...he thought to himself, If I'm supposedly stuck here, what about my friends? What about the other players? What about Evey when she joins the game?

His friends would eventually approach Joey. Jr touched his shoulder, "Dude, you okay?" He asked him, seeing how tense and scared he looked, "You sounded really scared when you called us. What did you want to tell us?"

Joey stood up from the bench and took a deep breath, "You guys probably won't believe this, but...I think we are stuck in the game." He looked at the three to see how they would react. As expected, they were surprised, as well as confused.

"Stuck? The hell do you mean stuck? Didn't seem stuck to me when I hopped off of the game to grab a soda," Zane looked at him, not believing what he said. Joey looked at Zane, "It's true!" He said defensively, "I-i don't know how, but the stuff back at my house was weird! My family wasn't acting themselves, and I think I saw some type of code in their eyes!"

"Whoa whoa, calm down, Joey," Jr reassured Joey, "What do you mean by weird? And you saw code? Like the typical 0101 code?" Joey nodded his head, "Yeah, like that weird shit from The Matrix or something. And my dad wasn't talking about work. And my sister was eating her veggies. My bag was hung. There was so much shit there, a-and I knew that this wasn't the place I knew.."

Jr looked down a bit and began to think, "Now that you mention something like that, my mom and siblings was strangely calm when she was making dinner," He pointed it out, "They always argue over the dumbest things while mom makes dinner."

"Yeah, my sister was also acting weird," Dallas came in after Jr, "Usually she would throw a fit when I tell her no to anything. But when I told her no when she asked if she could use my phone, she just said 'okay,' then just walked away as if nothing happened."

Zane looked at the group as they listened to their stories, "I think it was the same for me also," He said, "My dad would usually watch football as he drunk his life away with a few cans of beer. But when I went to grab something to drink, I caught a glimpse of my mom and dad watching TV together. And it wasn't football or some dumb show like American Idol, which is something they would usually watch, whether if they were together or not."

The group looked down as they eventually came into the same solution: their original lives had somehow became a simulation. After a few seconds of silence, Zane smiled and cheered for a bit, "That's so fucking cool, dude!"

Jr looked at Zane, baffled by what he said, "What? No, this isn't cool!" He said to him, "That means that our lives had been taken away! We probably can't go back to our old lives!"

Zane shrugged it off and sat down on the bench, "Sure, we might be stuck, but that doesn't mean that this isn't cool. I mean, the fact that we can do cool shit like fight thugs while doing flips and have superpowers, and that we can live here and do this stuff. You gotta admit, it's kinda cool."

Dallas looked at the two, "I mean...Zane isn't entirely wrong about what he's saying.." He said, to which Joey looked at Dallas, "Dallas!"

"Yeah, it's kinda scary that we could spend our whole lives here with no way out, but at least we can spend our lives as some kind of heroes. Aside, this is kind of like SOA.

Jr sighed, "You two are unbelievable..." He turned to Joey, "So, what do you think we should do? Cause we can't go back to our fake homes."

Joey began to think on what to do. He wasn't entirely sure on what to do, but he knew that he had one thing in mind: to escape this game. He looked at him, "I think we should find some players in Kimura City. Ask them if they know what's going on and if they know a way to get out."

"That's a good idea," Jr said, liking the ideas, "Let's go try and find some players and see if they are going through the same problem as us."

The group unanimously nod their heads as they began to look around for players running around the district. As they begun exploring, a hooded figure was perched on a rooftop not far from them, with the group oblivious of her watching them.

He turned around and tapped on her wristband, to where a digital Avatar would appear. "I found them," she reported, to which the Avatar acknowledged her success on finding them.

"Good. Continue to shadow them, but do not make your presence known yet. We need them on our side. Watch for any opportunities to approach and recruit them to our cause. The fight against SUMMIT requires allies, and they have potential."

The Hooded Girl nodded, her resolve firm. "Understood. I will remain vigilant and seek the right moment to make contact."

With that, the Hooded Girl vanished into the shadows once more, her mission clear as she continued to track the group, her thoughts focused on the looming challenges ahead and the crucial role these players could play in the unfolding saga.

FUN FACTS:

SUMMIT- SUMMIT is a video game company founded by Micah's grandfather, Elias. The company started making platformer games similar to Super Mario around the late 80s. They would've really hit it off with a game called Eclipse Odessey, a 3D platformer that captivated the imagination of gamers all around the world. After dominating in the gaming industry for a while, Elias eventually passed the role to his son, Warrick. However, Warrick had other ambitions for the company.

As Elias cared about creating games that came his incredible mind, Warrick cared about money. He began to experiment on many VR prototypes before they eventually got a hit in the early 2010s. Warrick remains as the current CEO to this day, with his son Micah to take his place someday to continue SUMMIT's legacy as the primary company in the video game industry.

(I'll go deeper into Micah and Warrick's motives later on in the story)