GEOVRU: IV

Chapter 5

It was almost midnight so you would expect some people to be asleep, but that's prime time for gamers like us. With every class well ended and plenty of stuff to do, Forman Online was at its most trafficking part of the day. With all the bustling going on, you'd expect the Charred Frein to be packed full of students drinking away at their virtual liquor, but for this occasion. I asked for the bar to be empty just for tonight or at least for a few hours. Sitting around the large fire in the middle of the tavern were five guys, including myself. Though I suppose you could say four guys and one girl, since I still hadn't gotten my male avatar back. I was sitting on a wooden bench that was only big enough for one person. Kriakorous was leaning up against one of the support pillars to my left. Adjacent to me on my right side was a guy in a long red coat with really messy hair. He had a large two handed sword on his back, it didn't look like a rare drop, but his level was clearly high. Next to him was a guy in assassin attire, he wore black and white robes from head to toe and had a kunai clearly visible hanging from his calf, and with two one handed katanas on his back, this guy was clearly trying to be a ninja. Across from the two of them to my left was Halit in his massive bulky armor. He sat with his hands crossed looking directly at me. I opened up my menu and delivered a drink to each of their inventories.

I waited for them each to take out the drinks before I began. "Thanks for coming." I quickly said to them all. "I appreciate you all coming here, regardless of the dangers."

"We're all sick of PRAT's crap, Caedes." Halit said. "We all want them gone, so anything we can do to piss them off we're gonna do."

I smiled. "Alright... I guess I'll cut to the chase." I stood up from my stool and crossed my arms. "My girlfriend has been captured by PRAT. She's being held hostage somewhere and it's up to us to get her back."

It didn't even take a second for the guy in the ninja outfit to raise his hand. If I remembered who all I had messaged, I believed this guy was Sajison. "Uh, yeah... who are you exactly? Don't tell me this is some crappy RP you're throwing together and we're the only ones stupid enough to actually show up."

I looked over at cry, who was staring blankly at the guy with a face of disbelief. "You're... you're kidding right?" Cry asked, taking a few steps closer to the guy who was sitting on the opposite side of the fire from him. "This isn't some RP, we're dead serious."

"So why did you ask us to help you instead of going to the police?" Sajison asked.

"Do you seriously think going to the police would be a good idea?" I asked him. "PRAT has me in their sights, they'd know if I go to the police, and I'm not gonna take any big risks while they have Krystal."

"Wait Krystal?" the man in the red coat spoke. His name was Daimain. "As in Shading the Lines, Krystal?" he continued. I nodded to answer his question. "She's been kidnapped?" he asks.

"Yeah. PRAT kidnapped her, and now I'm trying to get her back."

"Wait a second you're dating her? So she's gay? Dang, there goes my chance."

"I'm a guy you idiot!" I screamed at him. "Also, that's my girlfriend you're talking about."

He raised his hands in the air. "Right, forgot you're a guy behind all that. Hey man nineteen years of gaming with clear cut guys and girls gets thrown for a loop when this stuff happens. Now you've got hackers and modders screwing with the system trying to copy you. The guy to girl ratio now is thrown off and dang is that confusing."

"Can we get back to the point now?" Cry mumbles, asking the whole audience but only audible to me.

"I mean, can you imagine walking up to some attractive girl in VR asking for a date just to find out it's a guy and that you've just been totally catfished? Jesus man what is wrong is people that is just a crime..."