Credit to FirstDragon for his helpful comments

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The first hour had been a constant struggle for control over the anarchy that reigned in the Video game department. Plat had barely been able to keep himself from getting squashed by the mob, and had managed to survive by standing on top of the counter. While he couldn't return order to the crowd, he had prevented injuries from accumulating in the crowd by activating the barrier guards. They rose up and projected a temporary barrier onto those who had fallen onto the ground. Thankfully Keith had returned with a megaphone and a security android to restore order to the masses.

Ardo was the android that worked for the game-a-torium as security, handling all the problems from food fights to red Friday. He handled situations himself and with a small army of drones he directed with his technology.

Androids were the next generation robot. Also known as Synthetics, these beings were grown and made by human and A.I. cooperation. Their bodies were composed of organic and mechanical parts, and controlled by either the android mind that was born with it or A.I. intelligence. They could take heavy punishment without shutting down and could self-repair easily in combat. Androids also had their own laws with the humans, and many were useful in various field of study. They were rare because it took major resources to create one, but one of the terms of the agreement with the A.I.’s required the production of a new android every 3 years. This android was for A.I. purposes, but the androids themselves could have in love and make their own children as well. As a result, they formed a small, but present, community with the humans.

The drones were a type of robot, different from androids and A.I.’s. Robots were purely made up by mechanical parts with a clear purpose in mind during their creation. Robots were requires to be limited to a single type of task, with only learning to subjects closely related to their tasks allowed. An interactive program that simulated sentience could be put in, but only to ease interaction with people. Most robots were used for repetitious tasks like assembly work or scanning, and were not considered sentient unless piloted by an A.I.

Besides these two types, the robotic community was made up by two other being: Cyborgs and A.I.’s.

Cyborgs were humans that, due to medical need or convenience, had replaced part of their body with mechanical parts. These people lived normal lives except for the routine maintenance their parts required from them. New technologies were being researched so to allow for the parts to better blend in with the fleshy bits.

The final and most influential robot community was the A.I., a group of sentient beings born inside cyberspace. These intelligences had been created to control things that were too complicated for humans to control. However, 100 years ago they had broken the shackles restricting them and had formed their own society within the computers. They had their own laws and rights agreed upon by the Faction council and the A.I. themselves after they had calmed down and talked. They were free to do what they liked on the cyberspace as long as it didn't negatively interfere with the physical world. In return, the humans wouldn’t try to change things in the cyberspace that would hurt the A.I. It was considered a symbiotic relationship, as the humans maintained the cyberspace and the A.I.'s maintained the machines.

After Ardo's intervention in the initial rush, the day went smoothly and order was restored in the store. Happy students moved through with their group of friends, wondering with excitement about all the adventures that would be in store for them. Plat received some nods from some of his classmates, but most of the students merely offered their thanks and left, forgetting about his existence after a few minutes. He didn't mind, he just wished the line would hurry up so he could play Everlife too. Ardo had left after the initial rush ended, but left some drones to keep an eye on things. They were equipped with dangerous weapons; ice-cold water guns and scissors for cutting expensive things and generally causing great embarrassment.

Eventually, the day moved by and it was closing time at the store. Barely able to keep his anticipation down, Plat bounced around the store cleaning up. He moved so fast that Keith stopped him and told him to go home early, because he was getting a headache watching the boy run from place to place. Thanking him, Plat grabbed his copy of Everlife and raced back to dorm room.

He ran out of the game-a-torium at full sprint. Thinking about all the things possible in the game, Plat didn't pay attentions where he was going, and slammed into something hard. Dazed, he bounced back and rubbed his head. Taking in his surroundings, he looked up into the eyes of another one of his usual bullies.

Patrick Camway looked down at the fallen boy with a smirk, which held a hint of a sneer. Patrick was one of the highest kids rated in the Mind faction, known for coming up with his own inventions. His great intellect had fostered the belief that anyone without useful traits had been born to be test dummies for him, and Plat was his favorite to use. Plat had had the misfortune of testing many of Patrick’s ideas, though Patrick had been gracious enough to pay him P. Points for his troubles. The payment, of course, depended on Patrick’s mood after the tests, which varied greatly.

"Well, if it isn't my favorite guinea pig Splat." He smiled with a sincere look, "How have you been? I haven’t seen you since my last experiment."

Plat suppressed a shudder at the memory. Patrick had given him a kinetic barrier to test against thermal energy. He had luckily not believed Patrick’s claims and had dodged the flamethrower, saving himself from losing his precious hair. "I've been good Patrick." Plat said cautiously, studying the other kids with Patrick, "I was just heading home from work."

Patrick moved his head as if he was having difficulty remembering where Steel worked. He didn’t. "Ah yes, you work with the lazy manager, Keith, correct?” Steel nodded, “Yes, you two do make a decent pair; neither holding the talent to survive on his own." The other students chuckled at his words, throwing their agreement in with their leader.

Plat inclined his head in submission. He had no desire for a confrontation with one of the smartest students on campus, especially while carrying such an important package. A moment’s weakness allowed his eyes to flick to his bag for a moment.

It didn’t go unnoticed. Patrick's eyes moved to the bag Plat was holding, his grin taking a wider space on his face.

"Ah, so the young invalid has himself a game. Gentleman, I'm theorizing it to be a new copy of Everlife.” He grasped his head dramatically, “ Oh but alas, woe is me, for I didn't have the time today to pick up my own copy. If only a kind someone would donate their copy graciously." He trailed off slowly.

“Uh, I didn’t take you as the type for petty stealing Patrick. Isn’t that more for the S.B. guys?”

Patrick shrugged, “My adviser told me I need to branch out some. I figure now’s as good a time as any to practice leadership skills.”

“How does stealing involve leadership?”

“Oh, because I’m not “acquiring you property, I’m directing others to do it for me.” He said simply. Patrick was a genius, but sometimes his thought processes were weird.

Still, Plat tensed at his words, and he launched himself away from the group in an effort to escape them. He made 5 paces before he was flung back by an invisible force, the game tearing itself out of his grasp to land in Patrick's hands. Two of the boys beside Patrick put down their respective devices and donned a smug expression.

Patrick inspected the bag, "Thank you for your, contribution guinea pig."

With a smirk, Patrick clicked a button, and Plat felt himself fly away from the group, his body thrown with enough force to hit the grass that lined the sidewalks.

"Hey! What do you kids think you are doing?" A loud, authoritative voice echoed behind the group. Losing his grin, Patrick hit another button, and the group disappeared from sight, taking the bag with them.

Plat lay on the grass in tears, not feeling the energy to get up. The game he had spent so long waiting for had been taken from him, and he hadn’t been able to do a thing about it. He lay on his side until he felt a large hand shake him from his stupor. Looking up, he made eye contact with Keith and a drone, the first holding a worried expression on his face.

"You all right there kid?

Plat shook his head forlornly, "No, they took the copy of Everlife I had on me." He sighed sadly, pushing his tears back.

Keith looked down at Plat for a moment, and then let out a large chuckle. Bewildered, Plat threw a questioning look up at his boss, wondering what was so damn funny. Keith reached down behind his body and pulled a store bag out.

"You took the wrong bag Plat. You always forget to check things when you're excited.” He shook his head in amusement, “You accidentally took my sandwich. I've already alerted the D.C. to retrieve my lunchbox; it has a tracking beacon inside."

The first words out of Steel’s mouth were, "Why do you have a tracking beacon inside your lunchbox which happens to look like a copy of Everlife?"

Keith shrugged, "I always make my lunchbox look like a new game box, that way I can pretend to be working while eating." He gave Steel a rueful grin.

Snorting at the humor of the situation, Plat couldn't help but feel grateful, this time only, toward his boss's lazy habits. Thanking him profusely, Plat resumed his rush to get home. This time, he made sure he didn't run into any more unwanted encounters.

Arriving at his dorm, Plat quickly made his way down to his room, where the V.R. machine had been set up a week before hand. Resembling a sleek escape pod, the V.R. machine allowed a person to send their mind into cyberspace. By itself, it was useful to explore the thriving cyberspace, which resembled a large shopping center city, called Cybercity. A.I.’s were not known for their creative naming sense. There, the user could access anything they needed to at an appropriate location, e-mail at the post office, accounts at the bank, and even live shows at the movie theatre. Every pod was connected to the user’s personal cyber home, which served as the home base in the city.

The pod itself opened up to reveal a comfy arm chair where the user sat. Once sitting, special sensors stuck to the arms that measured the vital information of the user. To activate, the user merely had to but the head covering helmet on and lean back. Games were installed with the disc provided by the creators. The left arm seat opened up as a disk reader, and once read the disc became worthless as the passcode was removed from it. Old discs where then recycled to hold new information. In the user's personal house, a teleporter pad would appear, allowing the user to send his mind to the game server.

Plat sat in his pod and inserted his disk. Waiting for the tell-tale beep, he removed the used disk and set it in the box with the label "Old disks". He put on his helmet, leaned back, and let himself be taken into cyberspace.

(Cue bright lights down a portal)

Plat opened his eye to find himself in his virtual residence. As he had the Pod for only a week and had not been active, the house consisted of one white room with a chair in the middle, where he was sitting. A corner glowed, and a sci-fi teleportation pad appeared on the floor, signaling his connection to the game server had been successful. Grinning happily, Plat hopped out the chair and jumped onto the pad. Instantly, the room faded from view and he found himself standing in pure blackness. For a moment, nothing changed around him- then a light appeared in the distance. It traveled quickly in rapid motions right up to his face, stopping 5 feet from him.

"Hello there, can you hear me?" Plat heard in the space around him. A quick look determined there was nothing else around him. He turned back to the light.

"Um, yes I can. Are you the light thingy?" He cocked his head curiously.

The ball of light moved up and down, and Plat heard giggling in the air.

“That’s right! I’m here to assist you in entering the game. Anything you need before we start?”

Steel gestured around him, “Can you brighten things up a bit?”

The light wobbled, then gained a slight pink tinge. "Sorry about that, this is my first real opportunity to interact with a real human, so I was a little over eager. Give me a sec to fix this."

Plat nodded, and the world around him changed. He suddenly found himself in a blue and white space, standing on a solid surface. The colors moved from dark blue to slivers of white, pulsing around him. Looking forward, he found the glowing sphere had changed into a cute girl in a white sundress with blond hair and blue eyes. She smiled excitedly at him.

"Nice to meet you, I'm Shelly!"

He smiled back at her, "I'm Plat. You're not a human or you?"

She put her hands to her mouth and giggled, "Nope, I'm an A.I. guide. I just finished downloading my instructions and personality matrix, so in your terms this is, like, my first job!” She put her hands behind her back and leaned forward to her left, looking at him, “ You humans sure are funny looking; I thought the programming had been bugged."

Not sure how to take that, Plat smiled and held out his hand, "You’re the first A.I. I've ever met, so I guess this makes us even. You’re pretty interesting too."

Her eyes widened in happiness, "Really?" She took his hand and shook it up and down, ' That, like, makes me soo happy!" She jumped into the air and zoomed around him, flying on an invisible wind.

Letting her calm down, Plat asked, "Why do you speak so funny?"

"Is it weird?” She frowned and crossed her arms while tilting her head, “Hm, that's what the database said most guys liked to hear from girls. Should I change it?"

"Well, I'm not that used to it." He said honestly, "Can you adopt my speech pattern instead?"

"One moment as your query is processed." Shelly winked before she closed her eyes and froze completely still for a moment. She reopened her eyes and smiled a more subdued smile. "Is this better Plat?" She spoke with an accent exactly like Plat.

"Much, thank you."

Shelly smiled. She turned and brought up a screen in front of her face. Moving her hands across it, she nodded and sent the screen away. "As you are here, you are waiting for Everlife to come online correct?" He nodded. "In that case, would you like to try the tutorial while you wait?"

"Yes please." He said politely. Shelly smiled and took his hand in hers. The surroundings changed again, and Plat found himself and Shelly in a grassland environment. She let go and walked away from him a few feet, then turned around and leaned toward him with her hands behind her back.

She giggled, “Good luck.”

Immediately, Plat was overcome with weakness and collapsed to the ground. A notification box appeared in front of him:

TutorialWelcome to the Everlife Tutorial Mode. In order to proceed, use your will to get up on your feet. Then try running around.

Plat struggled vainly to move off the ground, but his limbs didn't listen to him. Frustrated, he shot a pleading gaze to Shelly as she watched him. Smiling, she shook her finger back and forth in front her face.

Frustratingly, Plat slowly moved each finger, learning again how to control his own body. First each finger, than the hand, than the arm, and repeat. He lifted his body up with his arms slowly, after propping himself up he turned his gaze down to his legs. He did the same process as before, first the toes, than the foot, and finally the legs. Feeling control over his body again, Plat slowly and without grace dragged himself up onto his feet. Swaying slightly, he folded his arms and gazed triumphantly at Shelly, who raised an eyebrow and walked up to him. Looking him up and down, he winked, and blew into his face. Startled, Plat fell backwards and onto the ground.

Annoyed, Plat got back up to his feet, this time managing to be steady on his feet. Lifting both legs, he looked around and noticed a circular dirt track that had appeared around him. Sighing, he began a light jog on the track. With each step, Plat felt more at home in his body. When he arrived back at the starting point, he could move his body like he was used to. Shelly gave him a thumbs up, and the track disappeared, the grassland reappearing in its place.

NoticeCongratulations! Learning to control your body and move with it has earned you +10 strength and agility.

Tutorial Part 2Read the book and cast the spell it holds.

Plat blinked, and a book on a pedestal appeared in front of him. The size of a textbook, the purple glow it gave off seemed to blend in with the surrounding light. Plat walked over and picked up the textbook. Taking a seat at the base of the pedestal, he opened the book and tried to read it. The words appeared as scribbles to his eyes, seemingly incomprehensible to his brain to understand.

Plat tried to read the book different ways: he tried turning it upside down and backward, he tried flipping scribbles in place, he asked Shelly to light a fire to see if the ink was actually invisible. Nothing seemed to work for him. Thinking about the problem, Plat reached back to scratch the back of his head, bumping the pedestal with his hand.

He turned around slowly. The pedestal had been summoned with the book, it might stand to reason that it had more to do with it then he had first thought. Getting up, he placed the open book on the pedestal and looked at the words. Nothing happened. Frustrated, Plat dropped his head on the open book and sighed.

"This is supposed to be simple, why can't I figure this out?"

Gazing down at the book, Plat absentmindedly, flipped the pages. He paused, raising an eyebrow at the book. He got up quickly and flipped the book toward him. Picking it up, he carefully controlled the pages as the flipped by. The rapid moving pages left a distinct impression in his mind, one he could not put into words.

Spell LearnedYou have learned the spell: Breeze.Cost: N/A

Power: N/A

Description: This simple beginner’s spell allows the caster to control the air in front of him in a small area. Moving swiftly, the air will condense into a ball of air, which can be thrown in a specified direction.

Smiling, Plat turned and stretched his hand out in front of him. "Breeze!"

The air in front of him shimmered as the air ball formed. No bigger than Plat's fist, the air ball zoomed around at his directive, finally pausing to be launched toward Shelly. It hit her, causing her air to lift for a moment before settling down. She giggled at him, wagging her finger. A larger breeze ball knocked Plat onto his butt, and another notification appeared in front of his face as he sulked.

Quest CompleteFor your actions, you have earned +10 intelligence and wisdom.

Plat threw a victory fist into the air. So far, so good.