Raiah picked up her glasses from the ground, her hand shaking as her eyesight tremored. Steadily her vision returned to normal as she put her glasses on. She glanced at her health bar, now red. The sight of it made her fall back onto the curb, her legs shaking, as her difficult breathing no longer came from the attack she suffered.

“How am I supposed to come back from this…?” She thought worriedly.

Raiah’s vision began to narrow and her breathing became more erratic. The only thing sitting in her vision was the flashing red bar before. Looming over her like a skeleton wrapped in night carrying a heavy blade, that rested gently around her neck. His skeletal face warped into a wicked grin, as Raiah could feel the cold of the blade around her neck.

“It’s no good. I’m stressing too much. My mind’s playing tricks on me. Even if the world changes, I’m still just little ol’ me. I don’t have what it takes to survive.” Raiah’s fingers hover over the run option as she shuts her eyes.

As her eyes remain shut a familiar scene fills her vision. A broken dual-screened device lay at the feet of a lavender-haired little girl, tears fall from her face as kids laugh at her from a distance. Her Battleboys cartridge was broken to pieces in the palm of her hand as she sobbed silently. A man with similar colored hair crouched down before her. 

“Raiah, no matter how hard things may get in the future, the things you love will always support you.”  a soft male voice states. “Don’t let the actions of others change who you are. There’s nothing wrong with being you.” 

“Dad…?” She whispers.

Tears form at the corners of her eyes. She wipes her face with her hoodie sleeve and his words replay through her mind, again and again. The tiny girl begins to warp into her present-day self. 

“It’s been years since I’ve heard those words.” Raiah thought.

She repeats the phrase to herself as a mere mumble and her expression shifts from despair. Her once narrowed vision begins to widen once again, and the cold touch of steel upon her neck fades like the illusion it was. Her breathing began to stabilize, and her heart slowed to an acceptable pace. Her memories of her days playing Battleboys begin to resurface and rouse her as she rises from the ground, dusting off her leggings and hoodie and the light of hope shines in her eyes.

“I almost lost it there. If I died there, my dad would’ve been yelling my ear off in heaven.” She thinks. “I used to get bullied so much, I must’ve repressed the memory or something. I used to play Battleboys religiously.  Battleboys has a critical system that relies entirely on where you strike the opponent. The sneak attacks weren’t critical hits because Orange here, is strong against ambushes. It saved my skin many times when I played that game. So I need to do something much more direct.” She states.

She presses an attack on the menu and her glasses glint as she dashes forward cloaked in darkness as she appears right before him. All the hairs on Orange’s body stand straight as she rewinds her foot. A look of horror at her leg and copious amounts of sweat dripping down his face as he shakes his head in disbelief. He grits his teeth and crosses his arms across his chest. A single tear streams down his face as she lines up the kick with the accuracy and grace of a professional soccer player.

“All the long nights I spent binging my favorite shows, grinding in my favorite games, I think I finally get it. This world. This crazy new world where fiction came to life was made for someone like me!” Raiah thinks. “I-I’m sorry but, I-It’s you or me!” She shouts. 

Her leg comes gliding forward through the air with a dolphin’s grace and a freight train’s momentum. Her target hung defenseless just below his abdomen. Orange’s body shook violently in protest as he saw the attack coming at him in slow motion, for him it was the most painfully long six seconds of his life. And yet, that was just the beginning. Like a baseball bat hitting a baseball, he was almost launched into the air, the momentum behind her kick had him rise with her leg. He was hunched over with one eye about to pop out of his skull, nostrils flared and his tongue hanging out. His life flashed before him, and his moments as a Battleboy flooded his mind. Everything faded to black.

“Critical hit! It’s hyper-effective! Battleboy Orange blacked out!!!~ You win!” The menu said as it popped up before her.

He lay on the floor before her, his body twitching as foam came out of his mouth. His health bar was empty as the menus and health bars disappeared from her sight. She was finally able to move her body, as she peered down at him.

“That felt cathartic, but uh… I feel bad for him. Orange doesn’t have a bad bone in his body, he just loves to fight.” She thinks. “Unfortunately, I can’t stick around, I need to catch up with Velle.”

As Raiah tries to walk away he grabs her shoe.

“Wait.” He gurgles as more foam comes out of his mouth. “It’s… Dangerous to go it alone, take this, your reward. My… Money isn’t good here so this is all I can give you.”

A veil of words began to surround her, flowing into the pages on her arm in a flash of light. The light faded, and she appeared confused. 

After handing over the rewards, Orange rose from the ground and ran away down the block, clutching his groin and hobbling. The action shocked her but caused her to grin after watching him in the distance.

“Let’s have a rematch someday!” He shouts.

“No matter the injury they could just get up and run to the hospital. I wish that was a phrase…” She thought. “The only thing that could keep them down was the almighty cutscene.” 

After watching him leave she ran toward the school after Velle. After a few minutes of running, she arrived at the school, pushing past the double doors and heaving with each step she took deeper into the building.

“Now… I just gotta figure… Out where she is!” She spoke between breaths.

As she continued down the halls, classroom after classroom was devoid of light, but as she turned the corner, she could see light coming from a room. 

“This is the nurses’s office.” She mumbled. “Wonder why this light is on.”

“This was my one spot to escape all the chaos during lunch. My home away from home.” Raiah grins. 

The frosted glass made it impossible to see inside so, Raiah clutched the doorknob and pulled it open.

“Rai?” Velle questioned, looking at her friend.

She was sitting on an examination table with bandages wrapped around her arm and stomach.

“What happened to you?” Raiah hastily enters the room.

“Some girl with a knife came at me.” She says while waving her hand dismissively.

She takes her other hand and gently grabs Raiah’s chin, looking at the slight bruises on her face from where she was struck.

“And what happened here? And don’t tell me you tripped, it didn’t work in middle school and won’t work now.” She says. 

“Fistfight. You should see the other guy…. No really, he was laid out.” She says confidently.

“Ahem.” Another voice sounds.

They turn their attention to the nurse, a woman with wrinkled features, a dignified expression, and long graying hair tied into a braid. Her piercing gray eyes cause the two to separate.

“Ah, N-nurse Kat,” Raiah says as she backs up. 

“Good to see the two of you again. Although I’d be happier if it weren’t while you were flirting.” The nurse says.

“F-f-flirting?!” Raiah exclaims.

“I didn’t stutter.” 

“We know better than to flirt at school, right Rai?” Velle winks.

“...” Raiah’s face turns red.

“Anyway, the school has no idea what to do.” She states. “None of the school board has said anything about this situation.”

“I can imagine. The whole world changed in the blink of an eye. People are running around with superpowers and whatnot.”

“I have an old connect from when I was in the military and things are not looking good,” Kat says. “He’s been giving me some info on everything.”

“What did he tell you?” Raiah asks.

“They managed to capture one of these so-called ‘characters’,” Kat explained. “Some rat-looking thing by the name of Lethargic.”

“Could that be Lethargic the ground-hog?!” Raiah says excitedly.

“Yes. They tried everything they could to wipe him out. Guns, RPGs, you name it. Conventional weaponry does not affect them. Not only are they immune to those, they can’t even be hurt unless they want to fight you.”

“Huh. That’s something.” Velle mutters. 

“From what they’ve observed, characters will roam around specific areas that appear related to them. And in exchange for doing things for them, you can be offered phrases or even items they use.” She says.

“Ah! Come to think of it, I have two phrases I got from the fight earlier.” She says.

“Who did you fight?” Velle questions.

“Orange from Battleboys.” She says.

“That name sounds familiar.” Nurse Kat mutters.

“I used to play that game all the time in here.” She says.

“Ah. that one. It was all the rage back then.” She remembers.

“So what phrases did you get?” Velle says with a catlike grin. Her eyes fixed on Raiah’s arm.

Raiah opened the pages within her arm and her eyes widened with surprise at the abilities listed.