Chapter 1

"Well well well. It's that time of year again huh?"

A man of around 50 walked up on stage. Many cameras faces him, following as he walked on stage.

"Our new round of 18 year olds are ready for the Gathering."

From behind the cameras cheers rang out.

"Now, in case you have been living under a rock like Thaagbar from a few years back, and you don't know what the Gathering is. Allow me to enlighten you. The Gathering is a large simulator that happens every 6 months for our new 18 year olds. Basically from all around the world people will go to the nearest connection building, and enter the Gathering. The Gathering itself is an extremely large simulation that will test every aspect of an individual over the course of 3 months. Each contestant will be placed in a group of 3 and there is a twist. Everyone will have a randomized weapon, AND a randomized attribute. The possible attributes include all the elements, many transformative abilities, and Phil. If you get Phil... Yeah you're fucked if he gets one scratch, you lose. That tests your luck if you're wondering why he exists."

The crowd chuckled, despite hearing the same joke twice a year.

"Now, lets start. For all the contestants wondering why this is important, based on your scores you could go to a nice college or get into the some ah... yeah ok. They basically determine your future."

While many stares at their screens with blank eyes, some where excited. One person in particular had actually fallen asleep and missed the attributes part.

"Oh and you get grouped by people who have the same attribute class as you, so it's not gonna be the same."

At the word 'same', the sleeping person woke up. His name was Jack, and he was at the Washington DC connection center with many others.

"Are you all ready?"

The crowd cheers as the contestants put on their headsets, and fell asleep.

"Huh?"

Jack woke up in a bright white room. In front of him was a screen. It read: Hello Jack! Welcome to the Gathering.

Your weapon is: Gauntlets

Your attribute is: Pyrokinesis

Your teammates are: Raiden (England), Zephyr (Australia)

Good luck!

He stared blankly at the screen. Before he could process the words he saw a blinding white light and it was gone. Now in the room were to people. A boy with blonde hair and blue eyes, and a small girl with light brown hair, and deep green eyes. He wiped his eyes. The boy looked exactly like a dating sim best friend, and the girl was basically a loli. The boy had a soft yet excited face, like he was on a lot of caffeine. The girl had a pouty look on and was obviously in a bad mood.

The boy spoke first.

"Who are you people? I'm Raiden, nice to meet ya."

Jack was very confused. He spoke with the words of an American, yet he spoke with a very prominent British accent. The girl spoke next.

"Did I fucking ask?"

The Australian accent was very strong. Jack just stood there. he didn't know what to say

"No you did not, however I felt obligated to introduce myself like a normal human being. Is that a hard concept to grasp? At least before you curse at us tell us your name"

"Zephyr." She responded with a squeaky, but cold voice. "You happy?"

"Uh... I'm Jack." Said Jack

They both immediately looked at him.

Raiden was first to respond. "I would assume so. Ok Ok... Conversation starter... errrmmm. Have you ever fucked a walrus? I haven't."

Zephyr blushed. "Hey was this directed at me?"

"No. Have you fucked a walrus before?"

"... possibly."

"ok."

Jack was now curled up asleep. Raiden and Zephyr looked at him. They then both started sleeping.

What they didn't notice, was the faint sweet smell in the room, which was a drug.