[Gabriel - Start]

The sound of steel slamming against steel echoed throughout the garage, with loud rap music blaring from a tiny radio on a shelf. A large and muscular dark skinned man sat in the seat of a leg press placed at the back of the garage. He was shirtless wearing shorts and running shoes, pumping his legs using the weights on the machine while sweat dripped off of his muscles.

“10, 11, 12.” He let out a big breath with the last, releasing the weight carefully and breathing heavily. He stood up from the machine and stepped onto a mat, stretching his legs a bit while counting to 30 in a whisper. He had a shaved head, only black hair 1mm in length on it, and had a silver ball piercing in his left ear. As he turned and prepared to get back on the machine, the garage house door swung open to reveal a little boy.

“Gabriel!?” He called in to the Garage, locking eyes with his older brother. “Oh there you are. Mendez is here.”

“Mendez? What the hell’s he want?” Gabriel replied in his deep voice.

“How should I know? You ask him.” The boy shrugged, running from the doorway into the house. Gabriel let out a frustrated sigh and turned off the music, then stepped through the door and walked down a straight hall to the front of his house. He swung the door open to be met by a skinny tall man wearing oversized clothes.

“What?” Gabriel said angrily.

“I know I promised to leave you out of our business, cause you out, right?” Mendez asked, nervously glancing around like he was scared of something.

“I’m out.” Gabriel affirmed him.

“So you know I wouldn’t come here, ‘less it was somethin’ serious, right?” Mendez continued.

“Get lost.” Gabriel replied, shutting the door. The door was stopped though by Mendez as he desperately reached out and pushed it with his hand.

“Wai wai wai wai wai wait, hang on a sec, just a sec just hear me out, I just need advice. I swear, advice man.” Mendez pleaded. Gabriel paused for a moment, hesitating, then decided to open the door reluctantly.

“What is it?” Gabriel asked impatiently.

“It’s Tai’s boys.” Mendez said.

“That Chinese gang from Wash Town?” Gabriel asked.

“Yeah, those are the ones. They took out Jamal’s crew last week, completely wiped em all out, using the turf like it was nothin’ now man.” Mendez said.

“So what’s that got to do with you?” Gabriel asked.

“People are talkin’ man, sayin they used some freaky swords to take out Jamal’s crew, not guns. Some weird samurai shit or something. They’re also sayin they’re aimin to take over this whole area, that means we’re next.”

“You really think that tiny group of guys Tai’s got following him around are stupid enough to step into this part of town?” Gabriel sighed.

“Yo we aint got the same presence we had when you were with us.” Mendez replied nervously.

“So send ‘em a message. Let em know you’re not to be tested.” Gabriel said.

“What kinda message?” Mendez asked.

“Be creative.” Gabriel shrugged.

“You mean like... Take one of ‘em out?” Mendez asked.

“Nah man, you don’t have to kill them to send a message, just let em know who they’d be messing with if they keep overstepping their bounds. Don’t wait for them to just start moving in.

“Alright, I hear ya, got it.” Mendez nodded nervously, scratching the back of his head. “You sure you can’t come back, just for this once? I could really use you man.” Mendez asked.

“I’ll see you around.” Gabriel replied dismissively. He started to close the door but was stopped as a woman’s voice called out.

“Mendez, is that you?” An older woman’s voice called as her hand grabbed the door past Gabriel and swung it back open.

“Mrs. Estrada, oh it’s great to see you again!” Mendez said as he changed his way of speaking. He leaned in to meet Mrs. Estrada’s arms for a big hug.

“How have you been, it’s been so long! Come, come in.” She insisted. “We’re about to eat, come join us.” She pulled his arm in, as Mendez and Gabriel locked eyes and Gabriel just shrugged. “How is your mother doing?”

“She’s doing good.”

“David, come to the table, we’re eating now.” Mrs. Estrada shouted through the house, her call was met by footsteps running across the house to the dinner table, and the table was already covered with food that filled the noses of Gabriel, his little brother David, and Mendez. The four of them sat down at the table and they all closed their eyes and put their heads down while Mrs. Estrada said a short prayer in Spanish.

“Amen.” Gabriel and the other boys said after she had finished.

“Now eat up, there’s plenty of food.” Mrs. Estrada said as she started taking some of the food off the center plates and putting it onto the plates of the three boys.

“Thank you, Mrs. Estrada.”

“Oh it's no problem dear, you look skinny, have you been eating enough?” She asked him.

“I’ve been eating plenty, just doing a lot of exercise.” Mendez replied politely.

“Oh, just like Gabriel, you two are were always so much alike.” She commented.

“I heard you guys used to roll together, is that true?” David asked excitedly, but was kicked by Gabriel under the table. “Ow...” David replied, glaring at his older brother.

“Yeah, me and Gabriel were tight.” Mendez said with a smile.

“So what happened?” David asked, glancing between them.

“Your big bro got done with the game. You workin now, right?” Mendez said to Gabriel.

“Yeah.” Gabriel said as he took a bite of the meal, clearly not interested in the direction the conversation was taking.

“Where you workin’ at, downtown somewhere right? Post Office I think?” Mendez asked.

“Yeah.” Gabriel replied.

“How much you makin’ there? 12 an hour? 14?” Mendez asked.

“Somethin’ like that.” He replied coldly, staring Mendez in the eyes briefly.

“You remember what we used to make when we worked together?” Mendez asked him.

“Yeah.” Gabriel replied.

“How much did you guys make?” David asked excitedly.

“More than you can imagine.” Mendez said, smiling at David.

“Enough to buy a laptop?” David asked.

“We made so much you could buy a new laptop for everyday of the week.” Mendez chuckled at him, watching his face light up with excitement.

“Why’d you stop rollin’ with him, Gabe? That sounds sick!” David shouted excitedly.

“Well, your bro here wanted to-” He was interrupted by Gabriel slamming his fists on the table, shocking everyone.

“Didn’t you have somewhere to be right now?” Gabriel asked, glaring at Mendez. Their eyes met and it went silent for a moment.

“Oh no, Mendez just got here! At least let him finish eating.” Mrs. Estrada insisted..

“Naw, Gabriel’s right, I forgot I had something to do.” Mendez said as he stood up from the table. “Thank you for the delicious food Mrs. Estrada.” Mendez said as he leaned to kiss her on the cheek. “Pound it!” Mendez said as he held his fist out across the table to David, who hit it with his own fist. “Nice. I’ll catch you later then.” He turned and headed out of the house, but before he left he stopped one last time to look at Gabriel and whisper in his ear.

“Remember what I said man, we could use you.” He said, then walked out of the house, shutting the door behind him.

“Oh what a nice boy.” Mrs. Estrada said, while David looked at Gabriel with disappointment. Gabriel however just silently continued eating.

[Darith - Home]

Darith wobbled home carefully, barefoot wearing Ryan’s pants that barely fit, and with every step he regretted not asking for at least a pair of socks. As he arrived at the front door to his house he could only hope his mom wouldn’t notice him walking in without shoes on. He got to the door and opened it as quietly as he possibly could, the game’s overhead display still in his peripheral vision showing his health, mana and energy bar, but he was getting used to it now.

With the door open he touched his toes down on the mat inside and closed the door behind him as slowly and quietly as possible.

“Where’ve you been?” His mom asked, poking her head around the corner of the kitchen and startling Darith before he even finished shutting the door.

“Uh, I was at Ryan’s house playing.” Darith replied nervously.

“But you came home first to take off your shoes and backpack?” She asked, eyebrows raised as she crossed her arms. Darith was momentarily distracted by his mother's name and level displayed above her head. Kristen, Lvl 6. He made an impressed expression for a moment as he saw her level, causing his mom to give him a strange look, which shook him back to the conversation.

“Yeah! I swear, you can even call his mom! She was going to make dinner so I came back.”

“Uh huh.” Kristen replied, making no attempt to hide her doubt. “And the shoes? Why’d you decide to leave them here?”

“I uh, they were wet! I stepped in a big puddle.” Darith replied nervously, to which his mom bent down and touched her finger to the bottom of his shoes.

“They seem dry to me.” She responded.

“Well of course, I left them here to dry.” Darith said.

“How’d you find a puddle when it hasn’t rained in a week?” Liana called from the living room. Kristen responded by lifting her index finger upward pointing slightly towards Liana and nodding her head.

“Well, uh, it must’ve been from someones sprinkler, you know, on their lawn.”

“You don’t sound too sure.” Kristen said.

“Why would I lie?! Why else would I go to Ryan’s without any shoes on?” Darith said defensively.

“You know what, I really don’t know, but whatever happened, you better clean up that mess you left in your room.” Kristen replied, then turned back to the kitchen where Darith could smell delicious food cooking.

“Going to my room.” He said, and quickly ran up the stairs.

“Dinner’s ready in about 15, you’re eating with us.” Kristen called up to him as he closed his bedroom door, leaning against the back of it and letting out a long sigh. He quickly changed into his own shorts with underwear and put on a pair of socks, getting messages of clothing being equipped and unequipped with blue transparent messages in front of his face as he did. He made sure to move his cell phone into his new pocket, then looked around his room and spotted his food from earlier with the drink open, and walked to his bed to relax and finish eating it. As he picked up the drink he saw a message appear in front of him.

Name: Soft Drink

Type: Consumable

Quality: Low

Effect: Restores 5mp

Description: Mass produced canned beverage, mainly made up of sugar and water.

“Huh, that’s interesting...” He then turned to grab the bag of chips.

Name: Bag of Chips

Type: Consumable

Quality: Low

Effect: Restores 2hp

Description: Mass produced fried potatoes with seasoning

He then picked up the microwaveable dinner.

Name: Pre-cooked Meal

Type: Consumable

Quality: Low

Effect: Restores 5hp

Description: A meal that has been prepared, cooked, frozen, then reheated for consumption

“So that’s one way to restore my mana and health, but I’d have to eat and drink a lot of this stuff to get it fully restored. There’s probably better foods and drinks for this.” Darith said, looking down at his legs and hands again to see it was back to normal. He was back to being heavy and chubby with extra fat on his body everywhere he looked. He moved his fingers in front of his face and clenched them into a fist, comparing it in his mind to his Nemothyne body. He let out an elongated sigh as he stretched his shirt down again to make it less tight around his large stomach, then took a drink of his cola.

“This game is really something else.” He said, his eyes staring off as he went deep into thought of all the things he wanted to try. It quickly felt as though he was wasting time doing nothing, falling behind if he wasn’t making himself stronger. An idea popped into his head and he got up from the bed, dropping down to his hands and feet on his carpeted floor in push-up position.

He then bent his arms down to do a push-up, but they began to wobble intensely from his weight and his lack of muscle. He squinted his eyes and held in his breath as he got as low to the ground as his arms would allow, then pushed himself back up while releasing a loud puff of air. It was tough, but he knew he could do more and seeing the energy bar drop from the push-up motivated him further, he knew the game was tracking his actions.

He went down a second time, shaking more but moving faster to put less stress on them. His Energy bar dropped again, but that wasn’t his goal, so he tried again, and again, and after 5 push-ups his energy bar was already half empty. As he went for the 6th push-up he calculated in his head he was using 5 energy per push up. Coming up from the 6th and going on his 7th he thought about boys in his gym class that could do 50 push-ups easily, but his energy bar would let him only do 10. Finishing the 7th push-up now, going on the 8th very slowly, he felt frustration, he tilted his head downward to see down his baggy shirt, seeing his fat hanging off his body towards the ground.

On the ninth push-up he was sweating around his forehead, tiny droplets began to accumulate, and after the tenth he collapsed to the ground, seeing a sweat-drop icon appear beside his health bar with a 5minute timer next to it counting down. He knew it was the exhaustion effect from letting his energy hit 0.

Laying on his stomach, he dazed off with his face turned to look under his bed. There he saw some messy clothes, empty chip bags and chocolate bar wrappers with empty soda cans and bottles.

“Those basic stats weren’t just made up, huh... The game was just being honest.” He said, feeling angry at himself slightly, ashamed of all the junk under his bed. “I’m weak, all I’ve got is high intelligence from playing games.” he then tried to roll up onto his arms again, still sitting at 0 energy with his exhausted effect on. “That’s not enough this time.” He groaned as he struggled to raise himself up on his arms. Sitting in a push-up position, he began bending his arms down to do another push-up, but he collapsed after not long.

“This can’t be all I can do.” He groaned out in pain as he pushed back up, his arms feeling slightly numb and so weak they could barely sustain the weight of his body. Still, he attempted another push-up. He got all the way down without falling this time, but collapsed on his way back up.

“Twelve, come on we can do 15!” He said, accepting his half push ups as whole ones now just to prove the game wrong, to prove he was stronger than that Energy bar was saying he was. He forced himself back up, wobbling terribly, this time he couldn’t even get back to the starting position of the push up. “13!” He shouted with his cheek planted on his carpet floor. He hadn’t noticed at this point, but his bedroom door had been opened slightly, and Kristen was looking inside the room to see what he was groaning about. He lifted himself up on his arms again.

“Grrrraaaaaah!” He said, holding steady as best he could as he went down on the 14th push up, his arms feeling completely numb now, but he knew he had to do just one more. He ignored the pain and exhaustion to push himself up and down to start the 15th fast, then up as fast as he could before his arms gave out and he fell flat on his stomach, letting out a huge sigh of relief as he gasped for air, his arms and forehead covered in droplets of sweat.

“15, not bad.” Kristen said as she revealed herself fully.

“It’s- hard when - your energy bar- is empty.” Darith replied to her between breaths.

“I’m sure it is. You’re doing push-ups now?” She asked.

“I have to - get stronger.” Darith replied.

“Is there something you’re not telling me? Is someone bullying you at school?”

“No - no bullies.”

“Honey you know you can talk to me about anything right?”

“No bullies mom - need to get stronger.” He said, his breathing relaxing a bit now.

“Is it a girl?” She asked.

“No!” Darith replied overly defensive. Kristen showed a look of disappointment to this, but he didn’t notice.

“Alright, well I guess it’s good you’re trying something other than a video game. Dinner’s ready, and remember to clean your room a bit.” Kristen replied, leaving the room. What she said caused a slight grin to grow over his face, both from her words and a notification that appeared on his screen.

Skill Gained: Through the Pain (?)

Attribute Up!: +1 End

Seeing the pop up message, Darith lazily reached out his finger in front of his face to tap the (?).

Through the Pain - Rank 1

Allows the use of Energy beyond the normal limit, delaying the effects of exhaustion temporarily but extending its duration exponentially

Effect 1: Delays Exhaustion for 1m

Effect 2: Exhaustion Duration Increased by: 2 x (Current Exhaustion Duration) per 5 Energy spent while Through the Pain is active.

“Wow, wait a second, that means...” Darith turned to look at his exhaustion effect and saw 5 minutes changed to 2h 40m. “Oh maaaan” Darith sighed. “But this game really let’s you push anything, I shouldn’t think of following the game rules as much as I should let it follow the rules of real life, all it’s doing is putting numbers and skill names to every day things... Well, minus the spell part. And the mana, and the inventory that makes stuff vanish into a floating menu that only I can see... Okay nevermind, I don’t quite have this all figured out yet.” Darith said, then groaned as he rolled into a sitting position.

“You coming to eat or what?” Kristen called up.

“I’m coming!” Darith shouted back, standing up on his feet and starting to feel the effects of the status. He felt it odd that though he only used his arms, the game was making his entire body feel tired rather than just making his arms sore. He couldn’t decide just then if it was better or worse.

He wobbled down the stairs to the kitchen table where Liana had her wheelchair pulled up and Kristen was sitting beside her, with an open chair across the table. Darith sat down to a plate of steaming rice with chicken and curry mixed in.

He couldn’t help but look at the game’s information on the meal, reading that it was labelled as a Warm Homecooked Meal that restored 20 Health. He made another impressed expression which Kristen noticed as he sat down.

“First time I’ve seen you make that face, you a fan of my curry now?”

“Well, it looks good is all.” Darith shrugged, remembering that his mom never missed anything he did. Almost anytime he’d tried to hide something from his mom, she always seemed to know, sometimes noticing even before he knew himself.

“Wait till you try it!” Liana said, eating slowly with her mobile hand, taking only tiny spoon fulls at a time. Darith took a bite, and like with most food, he loved it and started digging in.

“So, are we going to finish the game tonight?” Liana asked excitedly.

“First you’ll have to ask if he’s done all his homework.” Kristen responded.

“Did you?” Liana asked.

“I didn’t get any today.” Darith shrugged.

“Hrm, High school’s gotten easier since I went.” Kristen replied after watching Darith to make sure he wasn’t trying to lie.

“So we can finish the game?” Liana asked.

“I guess, but we're going to have a movie night soon, you two are hogging the tv too much lately.”

“Then we’ll have to make sure we beat it as soon as possible!” Darith replied with an enthusiastic expression, meant mainly to show Liana his interest, but as he said this he was still thinking about the game all around him.

“Don’t take that as permission to stay up all night.” Kristen replied to the two.

“It won’t be that late, we’re almost finished!” Liana said to assure Kristen.

“You sure? I don’t think that Gargonar is the real mastermind. I’ve got a feeling there’s still someone else pulling the strings.” Darith said while trying to show some excitement in his eyes, which Liana bit onto immediately.

“Really? Who?!” She asked, losing interest in eating completely.

“Hey now, finish eating my delicious meal before you go off into your game world.” Kristen interrupted them to get Liana to continue eating.

“Right! Gotta eat fast.” She said as she began eating as quickly as her body would allow, Darith just smiling at her.

As they finished, Darith considered coming up with an excuse to get away and train himself more, but the status icon beside his health bar was a reminder that he had a lot of time to kill before he’d be able to do anything useful, so without any reluctance he started up the game in the living room with Liana at his side. Kristen didn’t stick around and went up to her room, and despite her warnings the two ended up staying up for several hours.

Darith lost track of his status effect as Liana egged him on to finish the game, he got so into beating it that he forgot he wanted to train more. Through several boss battles and puzzles, 3 hours later they finally got to the ending credits.

“How’d you know Gargonar wasn’t the real bad guy, that it was Shin?” Liana asked excitedly.

“Well, I didn’t know it was Shin, but Gargonar didn’t seem evil enough to be doing all those bad things. Remember he tried to help us before?” Darith said.

“Hmm, that’s true, but you never know, some people can be really evil without you noticing. Just cause they do nice things doesn’t mean they’re good.” Liana said.

“That’s pretty deep, but we’re talking about game characters here.” Darith replied, as a sudden pop-up appeared in front of his screen.

Attribute Up!: +1 Int

Seeing this message made Darith both sad and happy, first happy about the bonus attribute from beating the game, but sad that he forgot about training and it was now past midnight.

“Well, what should we play next?” Liana asked as they watched the credits roll on the tv in their dimly lit living room.

“Well...” Darith said, then got a sudden idea. He thought about how Broken Realm had changed him into a Nemothyne and wondered what effect it would have on Liana’s body, who was stuck in a wheelchair. His face suddenly lit up as Liana watched him.

“You know another really good one?” She asked with a smile.

“Y-yeah, I think so! I’m not sure if it will work though... How’d you like to play it, you want to try playing a game with me?”

“What do you mean? You know I can’t hold a controller.” She replied, a frown growing over her face.

“Well, you don’t really play this game with a controller...” Darith said, his mind then racing over a few things.

“How do I play then?” She replied, very curious now.

“Can you wait until tomorrow? I’ll try and... I’ll try and get the game after school from a friend, then we can try it, okay?” Darith replied, making something up as fast as his wit allowed.

“Okay.” Liana nodded, looking curious and excited.

“We should go to bed though, before mom finds out we’re up so late. I’ll take you to your room okay?” Darith said, and she nodded. He pushed her chair into a side room just off the living room, it was small with only a bed and a dresser with a few dolls and stuffed animals from when she was younger, before her accident. With the chair pulled up to the bed Darith carefully lifted her out of the chair and helped her lay down in her bed, lifting her legs up over the side for her as well, and then tucking her in under her covers.

“You really have a game you think I can play?” She said as he started to leave the room.

“Yup, just wait!” He replied, and took a step out the door.

“Wait, Darith!” She stopped him.

“Whats up?” He turned back to her.

“Thanks for doing stuff with me, it’s probably really boring right? I mean you have more fun playing games with your other friends.” She replied, and he could hear guilt in her voice.

“Nah, they all suck, if you could use both your hands you’d probably own them. I have plenty of fun playing with you, so don’t worry about it!” He smiled back, turning the light off. “Good night.”

“Good night.” She smiled as he closed her door. Excitement filled up Darith at the thought of letting Liana walk around, and he wondered how good she’d really be at this game. He imagined her strength and endurance would be just as bad as his starting out, and played out in his head how they’d have to do push ups together. Thinking of that when he got to his room he noted that his Energy bar had refilled while they were playing so long, and now his body felt perfectly normal and full of energy.

He dropped on all fours and started doing more push ups, this time able to do 11 before hitting exhaustion thanks to his gained endurance from his last set of 15. Once he hit exhaustion he stopped and got a notification.

Attribute Up!: +1 Str

“Nice, push-ups are giving me strength and endurance, seems like a good way to train! I’ll have to try some other stuff tomorrow then.” He said to himself as he rolled up onto his bed. He took a long time to sleep as his mind kept racing over different ways he could power himself up, also about what having a party member was going to be like.