Chapter 2: The Wait

I awake at around eleven in the morning halfway off my bed. This causes me to panic and I fall off my bed and hit the back of my head off the floor. I let out a short howl of pain and then while grimacing get up and change clothes. I change from a straight black t-shirt and blue jeans slightly faded jeans to a blue flannel shirt and a different set of blue jeans. I roll up my sleeves and button them. I pull my collar flat and take a look at myself. I may only be fourteen, but I look a lot older than I am. I could probably pass for a seventeen year old.

I don’t look ugly or exceptionally pretty, but as I said previously my looks are just average. I run my hands through my hair and ruff it up a bit and then walk down the stairs. Instead of hitting the last step this time I skip over it and take a short jump. I walk over to Chris who once again is in the kitchen. He is looking down at the counter with both hands gripping it. His knuckles have turned white from this and he honestly looks like he is about to take another trip to the bathroom and not for the purposes of relieving his bowels.

I ask him point blank “Boss what’s troubling you?” When he notices that I’m in the same room he looks up at me with a worried expression.

Chris says to me “I’m pissed about last night, but at the same time that customer deserved it. He is planning to file a lawsuit against our bar. I’m pissed that about it because I don’t want to lse this bar. I don’t want you to be homeless either. He never told me when he would press the matter, just that he would.”

“Boss what are we going to do about it?” I asked worried.

Chris says cooly “We aren’t going to do a damn thing about it. In fact I’m going to stop worrying about it until it happens. I already ordered your rig and game last night. They should be here around five in the afternoon.” Chris said quickly changing the subject.

“Are you sure that you have it taken care of?” I ask.

He says “Yeah I bought your rig its Horizon right? And the game you wanted was Evolution.”

“No I mean about the lawsuit” I say looking for confirmation.

“Oh, well it’s out of our hands so no point worrying about it” he tells me.

I have a couple hours to wait, but after that is up I can hop on Evolution. The wait will be worth it. I say to Chris “Whenever it gets here tell me so I can get it up into my room quickly.”

Chris says “Sure thing,” while ruffling my hair. I run backup into my room. If the game gets here at five then I will have two hours in between the announcement and the time I can play the game. Between the time the update happens and the current time would be five hours as well. I want to touch up on all the things I know about RPGs as of now.

What I know about RPGs: RPGs are called role playing games. RPGs don’t necessarily have stat and exp systems, however the majority of them do. Almost universally RPGs follow a storyline even if it's simple. Common more popular RPGs always involve two things system wise. They all have items that can be used and weapons that fit best for certain scenarios. When it comes to battle systems they are either entirely free roam or they are turn taking.

RPGs cover a large expanse of games. RPGs usually have strategies that can be followed and glitches or bugs that can exploited during the initial time the game comes out. During this time would be the perfect time to get ahead of players. Especially if I’m the one who finds the glitch. Usually someone can’t keep their mouth shut and post online about a glitch they found and then once its found it is corrected. In any competitive RPG games the top players either pay money to get ahead or they get an early start.

I know of many games nowadays where they have PvP in arenas for money. I could win big off that, but since Evolution is going to be mostly empty unless it turns out to be good I can’t count on being able to game and do PvP in this game. PvP was one of the functions listed about the game originally other than the fact it was online. I’m going to be starting a couple hours late so to make up for that I’m going to have to be prepared. I know only a few thousand bought the game since there aren’t large forums about it, but I still want to be a top player.

In the five hours I have remaining I need to spend all my energy studying the different types of RPGs so I know how to play this one. After that when the update comes and people start playing it I need to check the update log and see what is posted on it. The two hours in between when I go full dive and when the update on the page are going to be major for me. If any hints about the game come out I would still have two hours to study them.

I know it seems ridiculous to get so overworked about a game that may not even be good, but i have a strong gut instinct telling me this one is a good game. It doesn’t just tell me this is a good game either. This game is going to be exceptional and it will have great PvP. There will even be competitions for money. For me this was too good to pass up. I needed this game to start off my career.

If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

I touch up on all of what I already know about RPGs for three hours. That means two hours before the update and four hours before the release of the game. I want to stay up in my room and just keep checking out for the new update, but I decide that I should probably start my daily exercise. I head down stairs skipping the last step and head for the bar door. I can head to the gym without much trouble since its only three blocks away from where I am currently. As I put my hand on the door to walk out I hear Chris.

I turn around towards the bar where he was collecting glasses. He says “ Asher where are you headed bud?”

“To the gym to exercise” I respond.

“You’re planning to go to the gym in jeans?” Chris asks me with a hint of confusion. I look down and realize that I hadn’t changed out of my clothes. I was so focused on Evolution that I forgot to change my clothes before heading down.

I look at Chris and say ‘Thanks.” I jog up the stairs to change clothes. I change into a pair of red shorts and while taking off my flannel decide it's probably best to choose something black. I grab my T-shirt from yesterday and put it on. This might disgust other people, but not me. I do change daily, but if I’m getting sweaty there’s no reason to dirty new clothes when I could just wear ones that are already used. It is my way of cutting down on laundry. I jog back down the stairs and head out the bar.

The city still looks the same to me. The streets aren’t littered with trash, but they will be later in the day. Much like everyday it will be cleaned by morning and then it will be dirty again in the after hours. If I had the job of cleaning the streets I wouldn’t even bother. The point of cleaning it is so it looks clean, but it's apparent that people don’t give a shit about the streets so why take care of it. When it gets dirty and they start complaining just tell them it's their fault and they will shut up. After that they will either stop littering or they won’t simple as that.

I’m sure that’s not the way things should be approached because some people are willing to live in the filth, but it’s just how I see things at the moment. The street shouldn’t have to be cleaned because people shouldn’t litter. I’m not the kind of kid who simply thinks littering is bad because it hurts the environment. I could care less about the environment. I simply don’t want to walk through filth every day because people are irresponsible and lazy. The environment shouldn’t be used as a trash can, but that’s not why I hate littering.

Trying my best to ignore the pieces of assorted food, paper, cigarettes, and other oddities I continue jogging to my gym to work out. Once I get into the gym I check around for my usual workout spot. I haven’t been here in about a week. The walls are still here same drab white color they were. Honestly I should recommend a color change. It may change the mood here. The room is organized by what is used the most and equipment type.

In the first section on both sides of the room are the weight lifting stations which have red and blue benches with all the various weights hanging on either side. The bar is hanging closer to the top to avoid people bumping their head on it. In the middle of the room on both sides is a different bar that is frequently used for deadlifts and other exercises similar to it.

In the second section is the warm up area which has platforms for box jumps and other exercises like jump ropes. In the last section theirs all the cardio equipment. Treadmills, heart rate meters, and a new device that was put in recently. I know what it does, but I’ve never actually used it. It changes your elevation while you run. You can put it in a hill pattern, flat road, or an upward slope. It can even curve and change directions while you run. If you turn mid way through running it notices and turns with you to make sure you are still facing forward.

I usually start in the warm up zone and then head to my benching station. The stations aren’t marked by name or anything like that, but in a gym you typically have a unsaid location you should be. That’s kind of confusing so I’ll say it in a way that makes more sense. Depending on how often you come you get access to the same equipment you usually use. If you come every day and use a certain treadmill every day people avoid that treadmill. It’s kind of how like dogs piss on what they are trying to claim except in this case it's not piss its sweat and hard work.

I’m not too concerned with my warm up zone as much as my weights zone. I have things set up a peculiar way to make them easy for the next visit. I usually visit about three times a week a maximum of five times. I go to my warm up spot and start doing the basics like crunches and pushups. I do a couple sets of box jumps and then grab some jump ropes and do twenty reps of fifty consistent jumps.

I stretch a little bit and get my arms limber to start doing some bicep curls. I make not sure to stretch much though because its a proven fact that too much stretching before practice can decrease performance by five percent. That’s not much, but it can be what your running on in the last bit of exercise so it's better to be running at full.

I start to head over to my weight station and I see a guy already in my place. This man is fairly large in comparison to my size. I’m a bit young to be at a gym on my own, but this gym allows it provided Chris checks in on me every hour of use. I look around to the other weigh stations to see if one hasn’t been claimed and all of them are taken. I make a click with my tongue something I do out of annoyance and head back out of the gym. “What a piss off” I say out loud as I walk back towards the bar.

I quickly bolt back to the bar so I can at least get a little bit of cardio. I run at ninety percent the whole way there. Since its only a couple of blocks its not too much a hassle. I don’t stop to look at anything on the way home other than what’s in front of me. I get to the bar and open up the door. Chris looks up at me with some confusion. I had only been gone about fifteen minutes.

Chris says jokingly “What’s wrong did some cougar try and steal something precious?”

“Funny joke Boss, but no. Some asshat was using my weight station so I could do any weights exercising.” I say indignantly.

Chris says “That sucks. Well your rig should be here in a few hours have fun with it when it does come, but don’t destroy the house.” This was a joke about the previous VRs. There was a comical video about the original FDVR which had promised that all motor functions would be disabled. It actually only changed your visual acuity and surroundings. Some guy was playing a game and punched three holes in his walls because the game was so life-like he thought the things in the game were actually real. He later filed a lawsuit over it, but the damage had already been done. It was funny though that he managed to break all, but one of his windows before he realized that he was not actually in a game.

I start trudging up the stairs and Chris stops me by calling up “And Asher, you remember the rule. No cussing in the bar.”

I holler back down “Sorry, Boss.” I don’t really cuss all that much, but sometimes I do when I get pissed off. I usually don’t cuss in the bar, but if I do Chris is pretty relaxed about it. He doesn’t get on to me about it much because I don’t do it that often. I have a lot of respect for Chris because e runs this bar and can still provide for me. I’ll just have to make sure I can pay him back in due time.

I’ve still got around two and a half hours before the game starts. I’m starting to get antsy about the games release. I go through and check the blogs. Once again I don’t encounter anything. Chat has livened up a little bit more now though since the games close to release. I decide not to worry about it. I set an alarm on my phone ten minutes before the game comes out mostly so I can prepare myself once I wake up. I also won’t have to wait very long either. I know I won’t be able to get to sleep easily so I make sure I turn off all lights, close the curtain in front of the window and shut my door. I hop in bed and snuggle into my bed cosily. When I awake again I’ll be preparing myself to get into the game.