Inkshare Nerdist Video Game Book Submission

Virtual Reality – Felix Jackson

The protagonists, Caroline Robinson and Max Kingston, are a high school couple that loves to play video games together. One day, after they buy a used cartridge for their new Nundevo 63 from a shadier game shop. Once they blow into the cartridge a few times and end up starting the game, Max and Caroline get ready to play “[Insert Name Here]”. But once they “Press Start to Play”, a red beam of light, resembling that of Pikamon, comes out of the system and envelopes Max. Once it grabs Max, the game starts and Caroline is mortified and looks to the screen and notices Max on screen jumping and waving his arms trying to get her attention. She hesitantly moves closer to the television screen looking, wondering how, in the middle of the 64 bit graphic style, was the very realistic looking Max Kingston. He then tries yelling and it actually works. Caroline and Max are able to communicate even with his predicament. They both try to think of different ways that they could get Max out of the game. They decide on seeing what happens if they manage to beat the game. But since neither of them have even heard of the game before, they don’t know what happens if they lose all of the lives the game gives them. But they have to try. So Caroline jumps back to the controller and while Max is complaining that he can’t move, she flicks the analog stick, to the left and Max bounds leftward. He then asks how that happened. She exclaims that she has control over his movement. And Max groans. But as he turns as he can do that himself, he changes the camera angle. Realizing that the two of them control two very important parts to the 3-D platformer, they have to work together instead of just waiting for the other to finish the game on their own. But since they are both relatively good gamers, they concentrate and get to the last level in a couple of hours. However, the last level is easily the hardest. And even still, they manage to get to the last boss with two lives left. When they get to the boss’ chamber, they hear another human voice ahead of them. Once they get to the boss, they realize that the boss is another human that has been trapped. They stop and ask him what happened to him. He says that he was abandoned by his friend who turned off the system when they were here, cementing his role as the final boss because where the player is if the system gets turned off is where they become a boss. The man was the owner previous to Caroline and Max, and he and his partner had beaten all of the bosses that had been there previously, so that’s why the game had been empty of people. But since the man had been included into the coding of the game because he was trapped in the game while it was off, he can’t just let Max pass. So there was an intense fight between the two people. In a desperate attempt for Max to live, Caroline baits the man by having Max hang out back and then when he charges, Caroline makes Max jump over the man and escape without killing him. However, Max turns around and pleads with Caroline to put him out of his misery and kill him. Caroline and Max have an argument about it and they end up agreeing to try and help the man if they can. But when they get back to him, he starts chasing them in an attempt to no longer just follow the coding of the game, but to trap Max as well so he is not alone. Caroline and Max freak out and start running towards the exit and the end of the game. Right before Max gets to the end of the level and game, the man grabs his leg and pulls him backwards. Another fight between the two started again, and it ends with Max killing the man, causing him to disappear. The fate of the man is left to ponder. Max then hobbles over to the exit and finishes the game. After the credits are finished rolling, the same red light that took Max, deposited him on the ground in the fetal position, shaking from his experience. Once he has regained his senses, he and Caroline take the game out back and destroy it mercilessly so that it can never be repaired and take anyone else. Then their Nundevo 63 starts blinking red behind them.

Next Chapter: New Chapter