1 Prologue

Year 2050, somewhere in the news department of Venington University, two freelance news writers are working past the schedule to keep their club up and running. Struggling with financial management, they hinted at each other that the office won't last much longer.

"Yeah, I think we should take the day off and grab a coffee or something." one of them spoke.

This young gentleman named Carl was tall and slim. A 24-year old and donned in a white t-shirt complimented by brown trousers made from your local seamstress. He had an average face with brown eyes and black messy hair.

"It's okay, you may leave first. I'll see what I can dig up by tomorrow" his colleague answered.

Differing from Carl, Fitch looked slightly older as well as lethargic. He wore the same white shirt but covered it up with a blue jacket. He was an Asian from the Southern East where snow was quite rare so the jacket served as a way of protect against the cold air conditioning.

Carl leaves the room with his belongings and slowly walks towards the cafeteria to grab a cup of Joe. After making his purchase, he starts his merry journey walking towards his home. Somewhere on the streets of Venington, his mind wandered off into the skies and he wondered if anything exciting was going to pop up in a week's time.

*sigh... "What am I even doing, I don't have a real job and I don't even have what it takes to score a big interview even if I tried. Clinging to an illusion is like taking sweet poison, it takes time to kill you but it usually does its job pretty well. Damn, since when did I get so poetic. Either something happens soon or I'll tell Fitch to disband the news department." Carl ended his thought.

As soon as Carl reached his apartment, he dragged out his keys to open the doors of his sanctuary. His mind and soul was ready to let loose until the sight of turned on lights caught his attention. Fearing that there was a burglar in his flat, Carl crept into his flat only to find a teen staring back at him.

"Yo, whaddup my brotatoe." he spoke while menacingly pointing his index at Carl.

"Ricardo, what are you doing in my home? No wait, that wasn't the right reaction. How'd you get in here and how have you been man?!" Carl shouted in both shock and annoyance.

Ricardo was a dark skinned teenager with muscles as a bonus feature. Friend to weirdos and foe to normies, he was a close friend related to Carl. One can say they are best friends.

"Right as rain, bro, right as rain. So I heard you were gonna disband your free lancing club of sorts." Ricardo piqued the new writer.

"I can't hide anything from you, huh…" Carl sighed as he finished his sentence.

The apartment of Carl was greeted with a moment of quiet. The silence rang around each person's ear for none of them knew how to properly continue the conversation.

Ricardo restarted the mood by asking Carl if he was up for some mischievous adventures to clear his mind and potentially catch a glimpse of inspiration.

"Listen, did you lose money and came to borrow some?" Carl investigated.

"yEs, but that is NOT why I am here today. Fitch said pack up, we got something big to uncover within our own University. The prey hides within the predator's hunting grounds. eh hehe…." Ricardo replied while nervously laughing.

Ricardo proceeds to play a voice message from Fitch: "I'm attempting something risky, if you don't see me by tomorrow, go to the Whiskey department and sneak into his office. The painting there is a hologram."

"Classic Rick", Carl thought. He showed discontent and disbelief in his friend's word as he felt like the world was trying to trick him into being naive.

However, Ricardo convinced Carl to look past his suspicions and treat the adventure as a key element to reviving their news club.

As the two discussed the boundaries of the mission, they packed their own things and decided to meet up at night where they would try and break into the office of Dr. William Whiskey, the man in charge of the technological development of video games.

The sky darkened to a pitch-black state with only the moon showing the way. The two misfits found each other as they agreed and began their stealth operation.

"Remember Rick, don't mess this up. We're screwed if we get caught. Ricky???"

At the front gate, two gentlemen were exchanging some words as Carl was trying to look for his friend.

"Excuse me, sir, would you kindly let us in since my friend left his phone back in his office. He kinda needs it back or he'll be in quite the pickle." Ricardo asked.

"So where is this so-called friend of yours?" the night guard spoke with an interrogative.

"He hiding in the bush over there. OI, CARL! Getchur arse out here BOI!" the oblivious teen spoke.

Inner Carl : "Ah, I see that we were gayed from the start."