Friends (August)

On the first Friday morning of August, Vanessa was once again at the Isekai Game Studio. She stared up at the studio noticing how big it was. It resembled 10 football stadiums with the height of a tower.

"So crazy how this giant ugly building is filled with so many wonders on the inside," thought Vanessa, playing with her long brown hair.

She stood at the door staring at her stats, on her phone, to come up with a game plan to prevent herself from dying. First, she stared at her power score of 523. Her fighting class was a Joza Monk, but her stats were balanced. Vanessa thought by being a monk type class she could beat her way through the monsters. Unfortunately, it doesn't appear to be so easy.

This month, The Isekai Game Studio offered Friday through Sunday evening stay in the Isekai Game Studio, allowing its players a full-on survival experience. Vanessa had already obtained permission from her parents to stay overnight and was determined to not die.

"How am I going to do this," she thought.

She looked at the hint for the month which read "to survive, but what if you never did"? Vanessa had no clue on what to make of it. She pondered until she came to forfeit the thought. Nonetheless, she had entered into the studio.

After checking in, Vanessa had put on her all-white gear and sensory patches. She followed a staff member who had walked her down a hallway and into a room where it was simulated to be an airplane. Subsequently, she took her seat on the plane.

Vanessa looked around at the virtual figures around her simulating crowded planes. She even saw a crying baby. Vanessa began smiling with her teeth showing a little as she sat down staring at all of the people. She had flown in planes before. However, something about this virtual experience was uniquely different.

It wasn't long, seemingly 3 minutes, when the plane had already announced its take-off and began flying. Vanessa couldn't get over the feeling she felt as though she was in an actual plane flying. Nor the loneliness that came with her being by herself.

The plane simulator was flying through the simulated sky when it had suddenly hit an air pocket. The plane began bouncing in midair. Vanessa looked around at a panicking set of passengers, while she remained calm and fully aware that everything was fake. The rustling grew louder leading to an explosion so strong that Vanessa felt its vibration.

She quickly looked over to her right and realized not only was half of the plane on fire, but she was also sweating. The plane began tearing on its right-hand side causing the passengers to fall out to their deaths.

The virtual passengers were staring at Vanessa as they flew out of the burning plane. She tried to tell herself it was all fake. The burning sensation on her skin fooled her mind into believing it was all real. During her panic, the plane flipped into a crash.

She hung upside down from her seat above countless dead bodies. Releasing her buckle led to a hard fall. In disbelief, she remained on the ground in shock from what she experienced. She had known The Isekai Game got intense, but this level of realism is a bit much.

Staring through the rubble of torn seats, scrap metal, and burnt victims, she realized the one side of the airplane was actually blown out and not a hologram.

Vanessa slowly rose to her feet as the sun shined upon her. Heading out of the damaged plane, her ankle was grabbed by a moaning man. Unfortunately, his grip was too strong for her to merely shake off.

Soon, the other dead passengers were groaning their way towards her. With haste, Vanessa began stomping the dead man in his face. Sadly, by the time she had knocked him off, she was grabbed by three other zombies.

A young Pakistani boy had run past Vanessa and grabbed a suitcase from the overhead.

"I got it!" he yelled as he opened the suitcase.

A husky black boy ran up, kicking one of the zombies off of Vanessa. The Pakistani boy threw a machete over towards the black boy who caught it and chopped away at the remaining two zombies.

The Pakistani boy had slipped on a ring before grabbing Vanessa's hand and running past the zombies along with the black boy.

"Quick, they're not fast on level one. But if you slack off they'll catch you," said the Pakistani boy.

"Got it," replied Vanessa as she pulled her hand away and began running on her own. Vanessa was nowhere near as strong as the black guy, yet faster than both.

She ran ahead of the two boys when the black boy yelled, "Hey, let's go this way".

Vanessa turned so fast that she almost fell.

Once she caught her fall the Pakistani boy had then spoken up, "Watch your step and stay with us. You'll die if you don't".

The two boys reminded Vanessa of Logan back in July when she first played in the Isekai Stadium. It was as though they were sent to guide her through the game.

"Whoa, let's take a break," said the black boy as they had reached a clear area.

"Anything else in the bag," asked Vanessa.

The Pakistani boy looked through the bag and found nothing except a pair of brass knuckles.

"Sorry," he said holding up the brass knuckles, "There's only brass knuckles".

Vanessa grabbed them to put on her hands and stared idly at the two boys.

The black boy asked, "How good are you with those things"?

Vanessa smiled and blushed while holding her brass knuckles saying, "Yeah, I'm a monk".

"We could use one of those," nodded the Pakistani boy.

"Thanks," she replied.

The black boy stood facing Vanessa holding his hand out, "My name is Andres. I'm a warrior".

Vanessa replied, "Nice to meet you Andres. My name is Vanessa and I is a Joza Monk".

The Pakistani kept his distance and held up his ring as he said, "My name is Hakim. And I am a black mage. That's why I use a ring".

Vanessa nodded her head saying, "Cool," with a smile.

"We need to get going to find the others," said Andres.

"What do you mean by 'others'?" asked Vanessa.

"So we're basically in a team of five," said Andres as he held up five fingers, "And we need to find our other three members before they ended up getting killed".

Vanessa had nodded her head asking, "How do we find them"?

With a great emphasis, Andres noted that was a good question and looked straight at Hakim.

Hakim laughed stating, "All of the pressure is on me".

"We're counting on you Hakim," cheered Vanessa.

"Yup, all on you Hakim," added Andres.

"Alright," said Hakim, "If we get to high ground and start a decent fire, get some smoke, we can signal the rest to find us. Sounds good"?

"Sounds good to me," said Andres as Vanessa nodded.