Virtually Real
It is the year 2500 and in the data banks of the Cyberverse central system a mysterious cloaked man roamed the halls flicking through various data cube files, “Hmm... They have got to be here somewhere” Said the man with a deep voice void of any emotion; he continued searching deftly avoiding the security system and literal fire walls, “Ah I believe I have found it”; Searching through the data file the mysterious intruder found what he has been searching for, removing his hood revealing dark hair and pale skin he peeked over his shoulder every so often as he read the files.
“Sparcky, aged 19, he has the power of Electro-kinesis, an ability that allows him to control and manipulate electricity; I believe he is going to be a major nuisance” Muttered the mysterious man.
The intruder continued to flick through the data file while still keeping his eye out for unwanted attention.
“Blaze, aged 20, he can control fire with Pyro-kinesis, it seems that they both possess elemental control” Continued the mysterious intruder.
Having found two of the three files he continued his search, “Where’s the third, I need that crucial piece of data!” Shouted the now angry intruder, his rage was forced to stop as his outburst caused an alarm to sound, “What is this? Oh it seems that I have tripped an alarm” The intruder commented sarcastically
The man crushed the data cube having already taken the relevant data, in a blink of an eye guards swarmed around the intruder effectively blocking all possible escape routes.
Without a word the guards opened fire at the intruder but to no effect, “Oh, so you wanna play rough eh? Well no one gets as rough as me!” the intruder said in a dark and gruelling tone, suddenly from under his cloak a mass of thick red and black wires appeared in a serpentine like manner and shot straight at almost all of the guards killing them instantly.
“What the hell is this guy?” Asked a guard that managed to escape death by wires, the guard felt the urge to turn his head around as the intruder had just appeared behind him with his arm morphed into a blade, the guard didn’t realise it yet but he had just been bifurcated from his right shoulder to his left hip, blood poured out of his mouth as he muttered his last words “D...D...Dammit”, the guard’s upper body fell to the floor lifeless and cold.
The few remaining guards continued to shoot at the murderous intruder, their hopes dying with each passing second as they were all cut down by the intruder until one remained, “Who are you?” The last guard stuttered in fear.
The intruder let out the most blood curdling laugh imaginable and the look of death in his eyes could wipe out entire armies, the guard was petrified to the core as all he could do was watch as the intruder slowly walked up to him and lift him up by the throat, “You want to know who I am? Huh?” Asked the intruder as he raised an open palm to the elevated guard’s chest, “I AM RAVAGE BLAKE!” Shouted the intruder, the last guard was thrown through the air and shot with an energy pulse from Ravage’s hand leaving a gaping hole in his chest, the guard was dead before he hit the ground.
The floor was pooled with the blood of the fallen guards, standing in the middle of the blood puddle and corpses Ravage relished in his victory, suddenly turning solemn but not remorseful Ravage started to walk away, “I should have told you that you can’t kill malware, not with those pathetic weapons” Ravage let out a one sided smirk as he disappeared leaving a gust of air in his wake.
In the pile of dead bodies one guard had survived the brutal assault, limply reaching for his blood covered radio that had ended up a few feet away from him the guard tried to convey a message for all guards to be on high alert “W...We have confirmed the threat as malware... All thirty men sent to apprehend the intruder have been cut down” Said the guard in a weak tone as the light slowly faded from his eyes, the static from the non-responsive radio caused the guard discomfort as his life came to an end.
On the cliffs overlooking a valley two friends took time to catch their breaths after their latest escapade “Dude did you see that woman’s face when I set her skirt on fire?” Asked one boy.
“Yeah, but you should be more careful Blaze, Pyro-kinesis is dangerous” Said the other boy in a rather sarcastic tone.
Blaze not picking up on his friend’s latent sarcasm gave him a look of frustration as he sighed into his hands, “Oh that’s rich coming from the one who gave a five year old a little electric shock for a laugh eh? Well Sparcky”.
“Dude what d’ya want from me” Laughed Sparcky, the two boys had just been into town pranking various people to distract from their usual stealing food to survive.
Blaze looked up into the sky and sighed “Still, it’s tough to survive here Cyberverse is unforgiving, hell I hear Earth is way worse” Blaze said as he folded himself up and put his head onto his knees.
“Yeah I know, times are tough but we’ll manage as long as we have our powers, I heard that they don’t have abilities on Earth, I mean that if I didn’t have my Electro-kinesis and you didn’t have your Pyro-kinesis I doubt we would survive here, let alone on Earth” Sparcky said with a deep sigh.
The atmosphere around the two boys suddenly grew depressing as the boys knew it was fifteen years ago to this day that they became orphans, Blaze disregarded Sparcky’s statement and closed his eyes “Sparcky do you think we will ever see our families again?” Blaze asked.
Sparcky looked up at the clear blue sky and sighed, “I doubt it, not after...” He sighed again, “Not after that... I still can’t stop thinking about... That.
The boys had been through a lot since they were young. At five and six years old both of their respective families took a vacation to Cyberverse, their parents were good friends from college that also lived next door to each other so the boys knew each other from a young age and considered each other as brothers. While Sparcky and Blaze stood in the court yard playing cards their respective parents signed into the hotel, Blaze had once again beaten Sparcky at their card game and went to find their parents when suddenly a huge explosion engulfed the entire hotel in flames, causing a wall to come crashing down on to the two kids. Hours passed and the fire was finally put out by the Cyberverse fire squad and the boys had been found perfectly unharmed under a pile of rubble, after being rescued the boys continued to ask about their parents only to be met with sorrowful eyes from the chief, they were young and had no idea what the sorrowful look meant, but Blaze was the first to figure it out, he started to cry as Sparcky had finally caught on, the two boys with tears streaming down their cheeks looked at the burnt husk that was once a hotel as the fire chief signalled for them to follow him. Even knowing that the boys knew of their parent’s death the fire chief still had no joy in telling them, the boys cried all the way to the care facility where orphaned children go, it was there that they would be taken care of until other family members can pick them up, but this opportunity was not granted as the boys had ran away before arrangements could be made.
The boys had been running for fifteen years, this earned them the title of the runaways also in doing what they must to survive they had also earned the title of Cyberverse’s most wanted, both titles they didn’t want and could do without.
They had been running for so long that they no longer remember the names given to them at birth, only using nicknames they received after discovering their powers.
“Just seems so unfa...” Blaze was cut off mid-sentence as shadows started to roll over their heads, the two boys looked up and saw two Cyberverse patrol squad officers (CPS) looming over them with grins that said “Got you”. Both Blaze and Sparcky gulped as the guards look down at them with malice, “Oh shit” cursed Blaze as he jumped up off the ground, the Patrol squad officers pulled out their guns in an attempt to arrest the wayward street boys.
“You two are under arrest for disturbing the peace, theft and resisting arrest” Shouted one of the officers.
“And we plain just don’t like you” Said the other officer with a grin on his face, the boys knew that they were far from good cops.
Sparcky shot up from his spot on the ground and sent a small jolt of electricity at the two patrolling officers stunning them momentarily “If you’re gonna arrest someone at least make sure that they ain’t packin’ some volts, douche bags” Mocked Sparcky as he and Blaze ran away from the officers, “Err dude, bad news” Sparcky said with a stutter, Blaze looked into Sparcky’s eyes and saw that they had a problem. In a moment of pure ignorance and arrogance both Sparcky and Blaze had unintentionally cornered themselves on this cliff, “There is no were to hide here, I am afraid that the only way is down” Gulped Sparcky.
The boys took notice of the two officers regaining their composure, gulping in some air Sparcky and Blaze charged the officers, “Get outta my way!” The boys shouted as they barged past the officers and leapt over the edge of the cliff.
The two corrupt officers looked down at the free falling boys with looks of surprise, “They got balls I give them that” Said one officer.
“Tch, those kids are crazy, well they’re as good as dead anyway so let’s leave them to die, say we lost em’ and eventually someone will find their rotting corpses” Said the other officer
The first officer nodded and proceeded to call headquarters with the news that they had lost the boys while in pursuit, with sly smile’s the officers walked away not turning back.
Meanwhile Sparcky and Blaze had just started their leap of faith, “Okay, now we’re falling, what now?” Asked Blaze while free falling, Sparcky shot a look of frustration at Blaze, “Ah, almost forgot” Blaze used his Pyro-kinesis to produce a raging fire that slowed his fall, “Well that worked, wait...” Blaze took a second to think as he cut his sentence short, “Shit, Sparcky can’t do this... Why did that idiot think that this was a good idea” Lost in thought Blaze failed to realise that Sparcky was charging up a Power Sphere.
“Here goes nothing” Sparcky said as he released a Power Sphere Sparcky destroying the rocks a fair distance beneath him and continued to release a second larger Power Sphere from his other hand, “Now if this works and I’ve composed the atomic structure right...” Before he could finish his sentence Sparcky fell into the larger Power Sphere, opening his eyes revealed that his plan and altered attack worked like a charm. “HA! Its jelly... I wonder if it tastes like jelly?” Wondered Sparcky as he opened his mouth to take a bite out of the gelatinous Sphere causing it to pop and forcing Sparcky to fall five feet to the ground landing on his back, “Oh I see how it is it can handle hitting the floor and a crash entry but when it comes to being eaten it pops” Sparcky complained as he got up from off the floor, smiling at his successful but idiotic plan.
Blaze still descending slowly from his fall finally reached the floor and landed a heavy fist on Sparcky’s head knocking him down again, “You idiot, you could’ve gotten us killed, well... Yourself killed anyway, do you ever stop to think of the consequences of your actions!?” Scolded Blaze while glaring at Sparcky taking in the sight before him, Sparcky seemed genuinely regretful for his stupidity and stood up with a sorrowful look on his face, Blaze sighed as his big brother instinct kicked in, “Well it doesn’t matter now, we’re safe and that’s what counts”, The two boys walked away from their potential death scene and out of the valley.
Where we going now Blaze?” Sparcky asked.
“Ah... Well let’s go to the city of Server and find somewhere to rest then take on the Wilds tomorrow” Blaze quickly replied.
Standing on a high cliff behind the boys stood a mysterious figure donning a black and red robe with a hood hiding his facial features, the wind blew the figures hood down revealing his pale tribal tattooed face, “Subject one and two have been found” Muttered the figure, with a huge toothy grin the figure started to laugh, “Ravage gonna get ya”, Watching the boys walk away into the distance Ravage disappeared with the wind leaving no trace of his presence.
It was mid afternoon on Earth as two girls sat in their room, one reading, doing her homework while the other was playing video games staring intently at the screen, “Hey Amo would you turn down that noise” Asked the girl who was doing her homework, Amo seemingly ignoring the other girls request stuck her middle finger up, “Well that was rather rude wasn’t it...” The girl let out a sigh, “At least put in some headphones” after a moment of silence Amo put on some headphones and the room went quiet.
After five minutes of silence Amo paused her game and looked at the other girl, “Hey sis how do you feel about going to Cyberverse tomorrow?” Asked Amo, she was cut off by a glare of disgust coming from her sister, “Still with the Cyberverse is a waste of time seriously Plum you need to relax” Amo added, Plum was raised to believe that Cyberverse was a waste of time and that only scum lived there while Amo was also bought up to believe the same thing but she instead showed interest in the other dimension, Amo frequently visited Cyberverse to see her secret boyfriend, Plum knew about this but kept quiet as a favour requested by Amo after hours of pleading.
Plum let out an agitated sigh as she held the bridge of her nose between her thumb and her index finger, “If I go will you leave me to finish my work?” Plum asked with annoyance, Amo silently nodded and Plum got back to work. ‘Seriously Amo needs to grow up, I don’t see what the fuss is, Cyberverse is a waste of time and that’s all there is too it’ Thought Plum.
A few hours passed and the girls had just finished a really late dinner, their father was away on a business trip so they had the house to themselves for the week without supervision, on the condition that they do not slack on their chores and homework. It was a silent dinner between the two girls, Plum kept her face in a book and Amo continued her gaming but on a hand held console, the silence was awkward and painful, not one word was spoken between the sisters as they balanced eating with their own activity, Amo looked up at Plum and gave her a scowl, ‘She’s so uptight and serious, no wonder dad favours her’ Amo thought with a twinge of jealousy towards her sister, Amo didn’t know why she cared so much as she preferred being the disappointment, she didn’t mind that all the pressure to keep their dad proud was all on Plum.
The girls had stopped eating for an hour before they began to clear the dining room table and excused themselves, Plum made her way to the shower room grabbing her robe and placing it on a hook. The water was steaming as Plum stepped into the shower and turned on the water proof radio, “Welcome to the eleven o’clock news, I am Pete Freshman... Still no news on the Cyberverse run away’s...” static interference scrambled the names of the run away’s, “... They were last seen on the valley cliffs in Cyberverse, they have been evading the Cyberverse patrol squad (aka CPS) for fifteen years...” Plum turned off the radio as she couldn’t care less about some criminal scum from Cyberverse, it was bad enough that she was being dragged their tomorrow.
Taking her time in the shower Plum let the hot water rush over her body as she just stood there watching the water run down the drain, “Nothing like a hot shower to clear one’s mind” Plum said to herself while turning off the shower, Plum grabbed her robe and put it on, the robe hung loosely around her body before she tied it up into a tight knot, Plum made her way to her shared bedroom as she began thinking to herself, about the trip tomorrow, about her sister and about their father.
‘Amo refused father’s orders to leave the room we both shared as kids, I loved having her around but she did distract from my studies with her gaming and talks about Cyberverse, the arguments went on for weeks before father decided to have a wall removed to extend the room, Amo thought this was a favour to her but she was wrong, father extended the room and stopped Amo’s allowance until the remodelling expenses have been paid back in full, I do feel bad, father has always treated Amo like a pest, maybe I should go with her tomorrow’
Plum made her way into the extended bedroom still trapped in thought, “I just know I am going to regret this” Plum said while sighing, after a second of silence Plum took in a deep breath and called out to her sister who scurried so loudly up the stairs that every footstep told Plum of her exact position in the house, The bedroom door swung open revealing a flustered Amo breathing heavily with panic, “What... The... Hell!” Demanded Amo between breaths.
“I have given it much thought and I think that going to Cyberverse may not be such a bad idea after all” Plum said with an agitated sigh.
Ignoring her sisters obvious agitation Amo’s face went from worried to happy in a matter of seconds, jumping across the room Amo tackled Plum and gave her an appreciative hug, “Why the sudden change of heart sis?” Amo asked, Plum stayed silent for what seemed like an eternity before opening her mouth but no words came out, sighing Plum freed herself from Amo’s embrace and walked over to her desk.
“To be honest Amo I have no idea what caused this change of heart” Plum lied, “Just call it a thank you for being a tolerable sister” Plum continued as she was silently regretting her decision already, Amo seemingly oblivious to her sisters regret once again ran up to her sister and gave her yet another hug, barely able to breathe Plum kicked Amo in the shin to release her vice like grip, Amo rubbing her shin in slight agony looked up at her sister with appreciative eyes while Plum look down at Amo with apologetic eyes, the two sisters rarely had moments when words meant nothing, Plum silently knelt down and embraced Amo in the first sisterly hug they had had in years.
Retracting from the hug both Amo and Plum went to their own respective beds, knowing that something has changed; knowing that tomorrow will be an eventful day.
