Everyone turns to the newcomer

Standing in the doorway was a man in a business suit with a clean-shaved face and slick-backed hair. The man smiles pleasantly as he walks over to the group, a small pile of folders in his hand.

"Sorry to keep you waiting. There's a lot of people here, as you've seen. Just trying to get everyone situated. Now, let's get started with basic introductions."

He turns and looks directly at Alex, pulling one of the folders to the top of the pile. "You just be Alex, the little leader of this group."

Alex glanced at his friends before shrugging. "Not really the leader, no. It's a team effort."

"Well, sure," the man said as he pulled open the folder. "But every team has to have a leader. You know, someone who everyone else can turn to if they are uncertain. And, being that your application is the one that got you all here, I'd say that you're it, yes?"

Alex opened his mouth to argue before his buddy, Nick, cut in. "Yes, that's him. Though he doesn't see himself as one, he's usually the one strategizing and taking charge."

The man nodded and looked back down at the folder in his hand. "Exactly. Natural born leaders instinctively know when to take charge. Because of that, we're gonna start with you. Could you stand up against the wall, please? I need to get a scan."

"Scan?" Even as he asked, Alex stood and went to the wall, facing towards the man with a bit of confusion.

"It's for the devices. We scan everyone from head to toe. It checks your health to make sure you can handle the device as well as gets us proportions for your character in-game. We don't want someone who has Epilepsy to go into a sci-fi world with flashing lights."

The man pulled out a device that looked like the handle of a metal detector. At the end of it was a simple radar dish, pointed at Alex. Hitting a switch, the thing turned on and let out a gentle hum as the man swept it up and down, making sure to scan Alex entirely.

Alex's body was pretty much average. Average height, weight, muscle, etc. He wasn't fat but he didn't have abs. He had a bit of an adrogynous body with a slightly more masculine face. His brown hair was always messy because he never cared about fixing it up to look decent. He usually wore contacts but the instructions said not to, telling him to treat it like he was going to sleep. So he wore his glasses over his brown eyes today. Overall, an average looking eighteen year old.

"There we go. 100% healthy. Next, let's get... Nick up here."

As Alex sat down, Nick stood up and walked over to the wall. "Why do you need our body proportions? Aren't we picking characters when we get in?"

"Sadly, no. We haven't fully set everything up yet. Depending on what game we give you, you might be able to choose a class. But you can't choose a character. Here at Darhk Gaming, we believe in believing in yourself. Therefore, you will be keeping the same body in the game as you do here."

Nick sighed as the man scanned him. Nick always hated his body. A lot of people thought he was a girl when they first saw him, with his shorter frame, plump ass, and skinny chest. He tried working out but it never helped, only ever seeming to build more muscle into his legs and ass. Of course, it didn't help that he had shoulder-length blonde hair. But he was still convinced that girls loved longer hair. Even his face was smooth and soft, with light blue eyes that reminded people of a princess.

The man finished the scan and looked at the next file. "Allison?"

Allison stood and replaced Nick against the wall, smiling softly like she was posing for a picture. The ginger was never one to shy away from a photo; she loved how her body looked. Long hair in a ponytail, gorgeous green eyes, beautiful hourglass-y figure, light freckles on her face and... other areas. She knew she was pretty but she never cared about outside appearances. She loved people for who they were. But that didn't mean that she didn't like to look good.

"I'm not much of a video gamer so does that affect what kind of game we get?" Allison asked, wondering about her ruining the experience for everyone.

"Not at all. You see, with this device, you don't have to be a gamer. You just 'play' as if it was real life. Make choices; fight the best that you can, if you need to; talk to some of the NPCs and learn about the world. Just do whatever you think is best."

Allison smiled and stepped to the side as the scan finished. The man then called up Lucas, who shyly walked up to the wall. "How long is the trial period? If you don't mind me asking."

"Not at all, Lucas. The trial takes up about three hours in our world. Though, in-game, I'd say it's about... two weeks or so. Time will feel very different when you're in the device but don't worry, we won't keep you under for too long. Not unless you ask, anyways."

Lucas seemed a little relieved as he got scanned. Lucas was a skinny guy all around. No muscle, no fat, no ass. He reminded everyone of the one emo kid in class, without all the black. He was a shy person who didn't like to talk to people. The only reason he was friends with Alex and Nick was because they started the conversation. He kept his hair finger-length because when he let it grow out, it always curled. Besides, he thought short hair looked better on his dark skin.

As Lucas finished, Yasmin stepped up with a slightly bored expression on her face. "So what's the pay like?"

The man looked Yasmin up and down without any subtlety, admiring her amazing body. Her body shape was hourglass like Allison's, just a bit more pronounced with a bigger bust and hips. Her brown hair was flowing straight down her back and the shirt she wore really showed off her cleavage.

"You must be Yasmin. I should've known. A beautiful name on a beautiful woman."

Yasmin seemed a bit surprised by the comment but she smiled a bit sultrily, sticking her chest out a little more. "Well, what can I say? I got my mama's best genes."

The man nodded as he checked her out again before starting the scan. "Well, miss Yasmin, the pay is wonderful. If you stay the entire three hours, you'll walk away with three hundred dollars. If you ask to extend it out, depending on what options you choose, you could earn up to eleven hundred."

Yasmin seemed shocked by this but quickly smiled and bit her lip, looking the man in the eye. "What if, instead of using the device, I come back to your office with you? I'm sure we could spend three hours doing... better things there."

Lucas opened his mouth to object but quickly shut it, not wanting to start a fight. Thankfully for him, the man seemed to consider the offer for a good minute before he finally shook his head. "As nice as that sounds, I must decline. I have a meeting to get to after this. But don't worry. We can still spend plenty of time together after you're finished."

Yasmin giggled and winked before she sat down next to Lucas. She saw him looking at her and shrugged. "What? He's hot."

The man walked back up to the table and looked at his scanner before smiling at the group. "Good news. Everyone here is qualified. No health problems at all. Now the fun can begin."

He pointed to a door on the opposite side of the wall from where he entered. "Through there is a changing room with lockers. Each of you will enter into a section and strip entirely before changing into one of our suits. And don't worry about changing in front of everyone else, we have privacy screens to block off anyone seeing into your section. We have three options for suits: small, medium, and large. If you don't mind, I'd like you to try and fit into the smallest suit possible. This will help the suit to monitor your heart rate and anything else that may be affected inside the game. It's a safety measure, in case we need to pull you out. After that, head through the door on the other side of the wall from there and you'll enter the gaming room. Have fun."