Plat's eyes slowly opened to a world of white. He gazed up at the ceiling and, finding that he couldn't move his head, moved his to observe his surroundings. He was lying on a bed in a white room, a window to his left letting in a pleasant breeze, the drapes moving in concert with the air. He felt a tube in his throat, and a monitor beeped in pace with his heart. He couldn't feel his body, though just as well because he was in a large cast from neck to foot.

He couldn't speak, so he contented himself by watching the drapes move, back and forth, back and forth. The door opened with a whoosh, and a nurse in a pretty white and pink outfit stepped in. She walked up to him, and put her hand on his head, pursing her lips.

"Temperature normal." She commented, then looked down to find his eye staring into her own. Gasping a bit, she pulled a penlight out of her pocket and waved in back and forth across his face. His pupils dilated as they followed the light.

The nurse backed up slowly, "Stay here."She ordered before rushing to the door. Pausing before leaving, she turned back with a frown and said, "Sorry, that came out wrong." She left the room, but Plat could hear her calling for a doctor in the hallway before the door closed. He waited a few moments, before the door opened again. A man in a white coat and stethoscope bustled in with the nurse.

He swiftly came over over and took quick notes of what the monitors were saying, then looked down at Plat and repeated the penlight trick. Seeing Plat's eyes dilate and move, he smiled in relief.

"Hello there young Platinum, you've given us quite the scare." He pulled a chair out of Plat's blind spot and sat down. He looked Plat in the eye, "I haven't seen injuries this bad since...well, never mind."

He flipped his notebook open and read down the page, "You sustained multiple life threatening injuries, including: a punctured lung, abdominal bleeding, a serious concussion, and high blood pressure- relatively speaking. Most of the bones in your body are broken, and they in turn caused some damage to you muscles."

"The good news is that we were contacted by another young man who was injured, he was thankfully able to communicate your distress and came in time to save you. Nano-machines you know, interesting little devices." The doctor chuckled at his little joke, "You've only been out for a few hours, so the concussion did not cause any permanent damage. The bad news is that you will most likely be crippled for life. Even our advanced research can't fix the amount of punishment your body has taken, I apologize for our ineptitude."

Plat tried to speak, but the tube in his throat prevented him. Noticing his efforts, the doctor waved his hand at him, "None of that young man, your lungs need to heal and the tube restricts you anyway. Here, think with this." The doctor pulled a helmet down from the headboard and put it on Plat's head.

"What's this do?" Plat thought, and a voice repeated the words out loud. The doctor nodded, pleased, and said, "That helmet translates thoughts into words. It uses a similar technology as the VR system you kids like to use, so try talking to us with it." He urged Plat.

"Wha.....What happened to the other person?" He asked.

The doctor frowned, and anger radiated off of his body. "I don't know what went down today, but whoever did this to you really should learn better." He scoffed, then looked embarrassed, "Sorry, but if you aren't strong enough to fight back, then bad things will happen. That being said." A hard glint appearered in hie eye, "It obvious you were completely out numbered. Fights can and do happen, but this was a massacre, plain and simple. I don't approve of such tactics."

He regarded Plat, "To answer you question, the one who called you all suffered a beating, but not as badly as you. Still, we were more worried about his life than yours for a while."

He looked out the window, "They cut out his tongue and burned his mouth. He was still bleeding out when he called us, and used his own blood to tell us about you." He sighed, "That boy is a credit to the soul faction, but he'll never speak properly again."

Plat's eye burned with tears. His friend Dia, clumsy, loyal Dia would never be able to use his voice, and it was his fault.

"I've got to leave you for now, but don't try to move." The doctor warned, "Just rest and heal for now, your plans for the future come later."

Plat blinked, and the doctor nurse combo had left the room.

----------------------------

As it was the middle of the week, Plat had few visitors. Not that he had many people willing to visit him, especially now. A nurse had wheeled Dia into the room. His legs were recovering, but the inside of his mouth was black. Plat communicated his sorrow, but Dia merely smiled and held Plat's hand. The nurse informed him that Dia would be transferred to the soul faction monastery, where he would be gain an elevated rank for his deeds. Both of the them knew, though, that Dia would never be able to work properly again, he would mostly likely be a monk or priest for the rest of his life.

Keith had come to visit as well, an act Plat had found surprising. Even more so when Keith began crying after seeing Plat.

"I'm so sorry this happened to you boy." He weeped softly, "And I'm sorry I can't help you take revenge." Keith had had a long talk with the doctor before leaving. He told Plat that he was going to talk to some of his friends and be back soon.

The most surprising visit had actually come in the form of Sarah. She burst into the room after school and looked shocked to see Plat's physical state. She covered her hands with her mouth as she cried, her legs giving out from under her. "How did this happen to you?" She cried, "Why would someone do this." To Plat's shock and anger, Reva followed her into the room and comforted her. To her credit, Reva looked a little shocked at the extant of Plat's injuries as well, and failed to look him in the eye the entire time.

Sarah held his hand for awhile, talking to him about what they had learned in school that day. When she was done, she passed something into his hand when Reva was not looking. Smiling at him, she left the room. Reva took a last look at Plat, and muttered, "I'm sorry" before following her. Plat looked down at his hand.

A marigold lay in it.

------------------------------

Two days passed, and Friday came. Sarah had visited both days to tell Plat about what happened at school. He suspected she had an inkling about why he was hurt, and felt the subsequent guilt that came with it. Reva hadn't returned with her.

Plat was starting to feel the patient's worst enemy, boredom. It slunk in and slowly drove him insane. He passed the time being hyped on painkillers and trying to find patterns on the ceiling. The spot over there kind of looked like Hunie.

Lost in his drug induced delusions, he didn't notice the door open. He did notice when Keith's scary grinning face appeared over his eyes and looked down on him. If could move, he would have jumped three feet and would have screamed like a little boy. He had to settle with his monitor picking up the burst of activity from his heart.

"Well good morning boyyo, how you feeling today?" He asked with that smug grin of his.

"Great until your ugly mug showed up." Plat responded, "What's up?"

Keith grinned, "I've got good new and good news for you."

Plat waited.

Keith cleared his throat, "So the first bit of good news is that due to your injuries, you're out of school the rest of the year, and your injuries will probably keep you in this room for the same amount of time."

The monitor registered the increase in blood pressure that reflected Plat's annoyance. "How the heck is that good new? I'm crippled and bored out of my mind here!"

Keith held up his hand, "Peace little man, I'm not done yet." Keith reached down and pulled a piece of paper out from Plat's blind spot, "The second good news makes the first one good." He cleared his throat.

"So, I'm sure you are aware of who I am and what I do."

"Yes, and?"

"Well, I happen to be good friends with the developers of the game Everlife, and I talked them into a proposition that will benefit both of you. You see Plat, the game developers have been working with the pod makers and A.I.'s to create an immersive tub version for people with physical disabilities, you know, like you now I guess."

Keith had never been subtle or compassionate. Plat believed he has an idiot in that are.

"See, they'll let you use their prototype tube to play the game for as long as you need to heal. In return, they get to take measurements of how your body responds to full nanite healing gel immersion. Also, you'll be expected to do your best in the game, and work on the occasional bug for them, what do you think.?"

It sounded good to Plat, a little too good really.

"Too good to be true, whats the catch?"

Keith shrugged, "Oh you know prototypes. Typical death and maiming possibilities, having your mind trapped in the game, nanites bug out and your body is recycled, the usual stuff. Really though, what do you have to lose?"

Keith was right, Plat realized, he had nothing to lose now. If he could become strong in the game, he could make everyone who hurt him pay with their lives, multiple times. It was poetic to his ears.

"Okay."

---------------------------------

[i][i]

Keith must have known Plat was going to agree, because he had already had the new pod tube set up in Plat's room. Keith signed some papers the nurse gave him, and Plat was transported via mag-lift back to his room. There, technicians strapped him in to the tube, set up his breathing apparatus, and filled the tube up with the solution. It was a little nerve wracking at first for Plat, floating almost weightless in a liquid, but he quickly got used to it as the techs closed the lip, and he felt himself fall into the cyber world.

Opening his eyes, he found himself on a bed in his virtual house. The chair that was his old pod was still in the middle of the room, and the teleport pad was still in the corner that led to Everlife. To Plat's amazement, his body was perfectly fine! In his excitement, he ran, jumped, and flipped across the room, enjoying the sensations that had been robbed from him in the real world.

When he calmed down, he began formulation his plan. Hank and his buddies had robbed him of the joys of the real world, he would just have to return the favor in the virtual one. An evil grin came over his face as he contemplated how to make their lives permanently miserable: camping them to level 1, stealing all their loved ones, having them tortured. Everlife boasted perfect game realism, whatever that meant, so Plat hoped torture was possible.

"Still, got to get stronger first." He reasoned out loud, "Hank's in the human kingdom, but hes a squire, I need influence in order to take him down."

He also wanted to punish Reva, but leaving the human kingdom was not possible until he was stronger anyway, so Hank was first priority.

"First thing's first, get a weapon."

Plat stepped into the portal, and fell out of the world back into the void. Back to his new home, in Everlife.

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Okay, that ends the boring part. I'll be driving today, so expect another chapter tonight, one more interesting than this. But hey, had to get it out of the way- Thanks for reading so far!