Playdate with Morgan

A fight club? Surely Clara would understand right? No, no she definitely would not. Morgan gives you a coy smile, as if she knows she's tempting you away from your childhood friend and is relishing the thought.

"Okay. Let's go." Morgan's face lights up as she grabs your hand and begins to lead you. The consequences of your choice are sure to show themselves. You can only hope Clara's wrath isn't too outrageous. "You look worried." Morgan gives you the side eye.

"Just nervous about this fight club. Who runs it?"

"One of the seniors from school. He's in the Boxing Department, but he dabbles in all sorts of martial arts." Morgan stops speaking and looks you in the eye. "Do you feel like something is off today?"

She has purple makeup on, it looks stunning on her. "Yeah. I do." You kick at a pebble. Morgan screws up her face and apologizes for souring the mood. She begins walking a bit faster. Within minutes you're standing at the door of a opulent mansion. From inside shouts and yelling can be heard. "You ready?" Morgan stops her hand just before the knob. You're more than ready, you're excited at the prospect of battle, to learn and train with experience fighters is a gift in your eyes. There's also a bit of adrenaline pumping through you from your bout with Garrick, you need to burn it off somehow, somewhere, on someone. Morgan laughs, "Oh yeah, you're ready."

Morgan opens the door, and then it happens. For a moment everything seems to stand still and wait, waiting in anticipation for the thing that was always there, that thing that humanity was always striving towards. All goes black and your thoughts cease to exist, colors and shapes being to bleed back in, flaring with bright energy and renewed brightness. In the blink of an eye your entire world changes, you feel as if your mind is under going a million revelations. It feels like falling in a dream, only to wake up in a bed, and when you wake up, your world is just a little different. And the fall is the reason.

This phenomenon would later be dubbed the, "Snap." Due to the powerful, short, and sharp nature of the event.

You open your eyes and observe the world. Everything looks sharper, brighter, and in focus. You look at Morgan, she has baffled look on her face. You feel like your mind just got turned off, dunked in meth, cleaned in a power wash, then turned back on. A screen pops up in front of you it has the following message on it.

"Welcome Axel Hart to the Advance system. My purpose is to assist humanity in empowering themselves. The status menu button can be found in the lower right hand corner of this message box." The message ends there, you look at the lower right hand corner, and sure enough, there's a bright blue button that says, "STATUS".

"Hey A-Axel? You seeing this too? I'm not losing it here am I?" Morgan has a screen in front of her as well. She taps her finger on the button and another screen shows up, but it's blurry to your eyes and nothing is discernable. "I can see it too. Clear as day. Can you see mine?" You tap on the button and the message blips away, and is replaced by a status screen that displays all of your information. "I can. Holy shit, there's everything but your address on there." Morgan gets closer to you to try and touch your screen. Her finger just passes through.

Axel Hart

Gender: Male

Class: Fighter

Exp: 0/90

Level: 9

Perks: Martial Prowess (Gives the user a bonus in dex +3 and str +3)

Strength: 19

Dexterity: 8

Endurance: 13

Vitality: 10

Perception: 15

Intelligence: 6

Psychic: 0

Magic: 0

Charimsa: 17

"It's just like a video game." You manage to laugh despite your strange situation. You're still reeling from the effects of that strange burst of energy. It felt like a tiny bomb went off in your mind, except instead of blasting it to bits, it refreshed you, and made you smarter and less prone to rash emotions. Your mind feels clear and serene, and thinking is both delicious and quick. You get another alert, this time it is about an incoming quest. You try and accept the quest button with a mental command. Surely enough, it works and a new screen pops up.

INCOMING QUEST

Defeat The Boxer in a boxing match.

Rewards: 40xp

Special Conditions: Score a knockout

Special Condition Rewards: New Perk + Fighter's Gloves

Morgan sees you looking at a new screen but she can't make out what it says. You're too absorbed to see her open her own quest screen and quietly accept it. "Let's get going." You crank your right shoulder once and take a few deep breaths. You head down the stairs and into what looks like a basement training room. Only this basement is beyond opulent, murals of ancient warriors and fighters are depicted on the walls, ranging from knights in suits of armor to tribal warriors wielding bows and arrows. Images of war and combat also adorn the pillars around the room and then you have your usual gym gear of punching bags, squat racks, bench presses, and dumbbells. Dozens of people sitting down and chatting. One of these people is the Boxer. The crowd is a mixed bag of people, the ages vary from 18-27 and there are slightly more guys than girls. There are maybe fifty people in total. The basement is by no means crowded though. They're all too preoccupied by something to realize your entrance. You hear hushed tones about "Advance" and "Quests" and "Stats dude."

Morgan looks over at you with a knowing gaze. "It happened for everyone, and here I thought we were special." She opens up her screen again. You avert your eyes even though it's blurred. Finally one of the older guys notices your arrival. He walks over a with a jolly jaunt. "Welcome to my humble abode, and to I guess, to a new world. Some crazy shit am I right? Morgan, lovely to see you as always, I hope you will be fighting today. And who is this fine gentleman?" He's tall, has dark skin, and chestnut eyes. His hair is bushy and curled, and his smile belongs on a T.V screen. His name is Lucky Lewis, and he is the Boxer. You look at his knuckles, they're calloused and well worn with bruises and marks. "His name is Axel Hart. He's in the Martial Arts Department back at the Academy. I brought him here for a special reason actually."

Lewis has an eager scowl on his face. "Do tell."

"I want him to fight you." Morgan keeps a straight face, her eyes are hard. "And just why? May I ask?" Lewis seems genuinely curious. "Cause I think I finally found someone that has your number. Simple as."

"This guy?" Lewis puts a hand on his chin, leans back and peers at you.

"This guy." Morgan says.

You've been silent, just watching Lewis, you can tell he is a strong fighter. His breathing is deep and steady, starting high and ending low. A fire ignites in your belly. Screw the quest, you'd trade knuckles with this guy any day. "Maybe we should actually ask your friend first, Morgan?" Lewis actually steps towards you goes to shake your hand. He catches you a little off guard with his now friendly demeanor. "Sorry if that offended you, just bantering with an old friend of mine."

"It's okay no offense taken." You step forward as well and shake his hand, the corners of his lips twist a bit as he bears down on your hand with heavy pressure. You return the favor in spades. "So that fight. You game?"

Lewis' smile is as broad as the horizon. "Welcome to the Thunderfist Basement Dojo!" Lewis throws his arms up high. "You're on Axel!"

There will be six rounds and each round will last three minutes, you'll be wearing 10oz gloves with no head gear. You declined the use of a mouth guard, never did like how it felt. You feel Morgan's hands wrap tight around yours as she helps you put on your gloves. "He's fast. And slippery, he'll dodge punches that you're sure would have hit. And that right jab of his is a menace, you'll want to get in close Axel." This all happened so fast, you're unsure how these boxing shorts even got on you. And where did your shirt go? Morgan's hands feel nice at least. She smells like roses, deep red roses. A crowd has already formed around the ring, did Morgan plan all this out? You swear you can see people taking bets. Even the lighting in the basement changed to highlight the ring you and Lewis will fight in. You take a deep breath. Not how you expected lunch to go, but the thrill is intoxicating. You clench your gloves into fists and throw out a quite combination. Upper, left hook, left hook. You and Lewis get in the ring, a third also joins, a women in black and white stripes. "Are you both ready? Keep everything above the belt and clean, protect yourself at all times." Lewis extends his fist.