Rise To Stardom - Chapter 209

Chapter 209: Awake
Troy and Jayce, tweens aged 11 and 12 respectively, bore a striking resemblance to each other and also, had the same passionate hobbies for gaming.

They were also brothers whom had jointly promised late last year, to play [A Pirate’s Odyssey] together whenever it released.

Considering the game had an online co-op mode, they figured messing together on its adventurous high seas as sworn pirate brothers would be the coolest thing ever.

However, after [Tech Wiz]’s surprise reveal at the gaming convention three months back, both had ended up having a major disagreement.

Whereas Troy, whom was now obsessed with the comics of [Tech Wiz] after picking it up in preparation for its release, leaned towards playing the superhero game, Jayce, his younger brother, was adamant on playing [A Pirate’s Odyssey] together.

A brother’s oath he had called their promise and rightfully so, at that.

And so, after a lot of back and forth, the brothers, surprisingly, compromised and settled their disagreement in the most amiable way they knew how.

Rock, paper, scissors.

The result?

Troy, lost woefully to his younger brother in a best of five.

Hence, he was forced to have to play the game with a gloating Jayce who kept teasing him all morning despite his grumbles of disapproval.

“Stop being a sore loser pumpkin. You called the game. You lost, fair and square.” Jayce playfully egged his older brother on.

“I’ll bite you.” Troy retaliated as his younger bro, melodramatically flexed his fingers before his face.

“Ooh~ I’m so scared. Save me.” Jayce had a good laugh in response.

In any case, when the time finally came for both to play the game after spending roughly an hour downloading its humongous 200GB file size individually on their gaming rigs, they braced themselves for a jolly good time.

Troy in fact, already had a change of heart, remembering that he truly was hyped for the Pirate RPG game.

Currently sitting in the basement of their house which they had remodeled into a gaming den of sorts, the brothers, pulled their individual chairs closer to their desks in tingly excitement.

However, the moment both launched the game in sync, they frowned.

A day one patch of 5GB had been released for [A Pirate’s Odyssey] and apparently, the patch was essential for the game to boot up.

And so, with a small sigh of resignation, they did what was necessary.

Five minutes later, having waited patiently, they finally launched the game with another wave of feverish anticipation…

… only to be hit with a pop-up message that GameSoft’s own designated launcher for [A Pirate’s Odyssey] was required to actually play the game!

“What the fudge?!” Jayce exclaimed in annoyance, his excitement plummeting right down to rock bottom in an instant, same as Troy who groaned audibly as he spoke;

“I just want to play the game man. Is that too much to ask?”

Glancing over to each other briefly, the brothers hoped to high heavens that there wouldn’t be any age limit to creating a GameSoft account.

And so, with grumbled substitutes for curse words, mumbling underneath their breaths, they proceeded to be redirected to the gaming giant’s website.

Fortunately for the brothers, their biggest fears didn’t come true as there seemed to be no age limit on whom could create an account.

Yet, they encountered another problem, one that added even more to their slowly building frustration.

They were unable to move past the homepage to create their much needed accounts.

Millions of frustrated gamers around the world, all of whom wanted to create an account just to play the darn game, were in similar straits as theirs, with only a few, getting lucky enough to create it.

Obviously, this resulted in massive loads and heavily congested traffic on the website.

Still, the brothers persisted obstinately, determined to have their accounts created.

But after an hour of literally no progress, Troy clocked out;

“Yep. That’s it.”

“Sailing the high seas be darned, I’m done here bud.” he got off his gaming chair, his tone fed-up as he spoke to his younger brother.

Jayce too, leaned into his chair and sighed wearily in agreement with his brother, although he still had plans to keep trying due to his more obstinate nature.

Still, he was curious about what his brother was up to.

So he asked;

“Where are you going?”

“Here.” Troy vaulted over their gaming couch situated in the middle of the basement, plopping right into it as he picked up the Virtustation 5 controller.

“Preloaded [Tech Wiz] yesternight so, might as well install it now.” he added, not a single hint of excitement in his tone.

To that, Jayce nodded, knowing fully well that once Troy was in a ticked off mood, it took a while for him to feel interested in anything else till his sourness dissipated.

And yes, that extended over to [Tech Wiz] which he had been so excited about for the past three months.

In any case, seeing as his older bro got about to installing the superhero game, Jayce refocused his attention on creating his GameSoft account.

Troy on the other hand, arched a curious eyebrow when he saw [Tech Wiz]’s measly 45GB size in comparison to [A Pirate’s Odyssey]’s 200GB.

In about twenty-five minutes, the game was done installing and Troy, whom had projected GameSoft’s rubbish onto the innocent superhero game, expected for it to also require a day one patch as he launched the game.

Yet, there was none as the game, smoothly loaded in.

“Okay…” the tween muttered skeptically, still expecting an annoying pop-up for a day one patch.

As the older brother watched on dubiously though, Jayce let out another audible groan of frustration behind him, his hands ruffling his light-brown hair in annoyance.

That said, when the SpawnPoint Studios logo spawned in with a virtual, hard-light construct aesthetic, Troy’s skeptical expression shifted into that of pleasant surprise.

A few seconds later, he was in the game’s menu, astounded by the breathtaking view of Tech Wiz, standing on the edge of a building overlooking the city with his back turned, his head angled sideways slightly.

Immediately, a noticeable yet slight hint of giddy anticipation surfaced in Troy’s nut-brown irises as the heroic theme of the game hit him!

There the tween sat, mesmerized by the magnificence of it all, despite the ‘Start New Game’ option, beckoning to him.

At the same time, Jayce whom had gotten tired of his lack of progress, was about to groan in annoyance once again when the heroic theme of the game, similarly cascaded over to his ears.

With a noticeably intrigued gaze, he twirled around with his gaming chair, instantly entranced by the same sight as his brother.

After about a minute of simply being captivated by the start menu and the evocatively heroic theme though, Troy eventually got around to hitting the corresponding button prompt to start the game.

And with a brief fade to black, the opening cinematic played;

–

It started with the same heroic theme from the start menu, although softer and distant.

A sprawling early morning shot of the beautifully and artistically recreated New York City followed, pedestrians and vehicles, already going about their busy, day-to-day life.

Then slowly, with just the right pace, the shot angled over to one of the opened windows of an old building in the city, the cameras following into the apartment.

On a table near the window, was a picture frame of a young Nathan and his grandfather grinning, followed by a bunch of awards and trophies he had collected over the years.

Then it moved on to a criminal investigation board with multiple tacked on notes, newspaper cut-outs and pictures, all of them pointing to a missing, Caitlyn North.

In the background, as the shot panned slowly over the length of Nathan’s haphazardly arranged room in line with the slowed down heroic theme, faint echoey taps could be heard.

And then, eventually, the cameras settled on the messy-haired man himself, hunched over a workbench as his tired eyes, directly projected a virtual holograph of what seemed to be an exosuit.

–

“Wow…” Jayce audibly muttered in awe as he got off his chair, walking to and vaulting over the couch as he settled in comfortably.

“Yeah…” Troy subconsciously responded, immediately drawn in by the opening scene of the game.

–

Dragging, removing, remodeling and inserting a bunch of stuff into the holographic exosuit projected directly from his eyes, Nathan soon heard the blaring sirens of the cops in the distance.

And then it was followed by an explosion! A very loud, explosion!

In an instant, the young man got off the chair as a gritty, high-energy rock song played, the vocals raw and unrestrained!

! 🎸 🎶 🥁 🎸 !

I, feel the charge beneath my skin,

A virtual, hard-light construct, slowly enveloped Nathan…

Heartbeat like a rhythm as I,

His pulse gauntlets took form first…

Feel the signal in my veins,

Then his grav boots took form next…

Pulses in my mind, frequencies collide,

The rest of the exosuit had formed, save for the helmet…

! 🎸 🎶 🥁 🎸 !

–

The moment Troy and Jayce watched that exact section play out, their excitement had started ramping up, both of them bopping their heads in anticipation for what was coming.

In fact, their legs were subconsciously tapping the ground.

Yet, at the turn of a hat, the raw and unrestrained vocals of the gritty-rock song, suddenly intensified in power and force!

–

! 🎸 🎵 🎸 🎶 🥁 !

But I’m falling, back again!

Back to my fears again!

Just before his helmet took shape, Nathan angled his gaze towards his door.

Back where I should’ve been!

I’m fighting a losing battle!

An eviction notice was slipped under it, reminding him that rent was due.

And again!

This city never sleeps!

There was a brief moment of contemplation in his baby-blue irises.

Everything’s buzzing and!

Sounds like nothing’s working!

‘Should I just leave this to the cops this time?’ his gaze seemed to say.

! 🎸 🎵 🎸 🎶 🥁 !

–

“Such a fire song though!” Jayce acknowledged as he kept bopping his head, his energy levels rising in sync to the pulsating yet distortedly relentless, fuzzy guitar riffs!

His older brother, even more hyped up than him, replied;

“Yeah! We should search it up later!”

Asides from being hooked by the banger of the song that contrasted perfectly with Nathan’s current predicament though, the brothers were also, instantly drawn to the young man’s personal stakes.

Going after whatever the cause of the explosion was, would probably result in him getting kicked out of his apartment today.

Yet, they knew what exactly he’d do as the song’s pre-chorus, similarly acknowledged their thoughts with a hint of rebellious swagger!

–

! 🎸 🎵 🎸 🎶 🥁 !

Still I run in its lanes, chasing its currents,

Nathan’s helmet formed, his visor initializing as it zoomed in further on the eviction notice…

I’ll dive right out, and take to the skies…

! 🎸 🎵 🎸 🎶 🥁 !

And then, with one brief look-over, he dashed towards his window, swan-diving out of it as the song’s self-empowering chorus kicked in!

! 🎸 🎵 🎸 🎶 🥁 !

I’m awake…!

I’m… breathing light…!

I’m…

! 🎸 🎵 🎸 🎶 🥁 !

Launching his retractable grappling hook, Tech Wiz, propelled himself forward and ran sideways across the length of a building, defying gravity as he leapt off of it with a stylishly exquisite corkscrew!

At that exact moment, the game effortlessly transitioned into gameplay, the tutorial prompt, popping up with the instructions; ‘Hold RT to launch the retractable grappling hook.’!

–

___________________________

{Awake} – (95%)

A high-octane, gritty garage rock composed and produced by Kyle Kestis, this outlier track, performed by Kickback Radio, feels like a call to action as its pounding beats, driving riffs, and rebellious lyrics combine to create a sense of exhilaration and empowerment! This song serves as an anthem for those who are determined live life on their own terms!

___________________________

All of Troy’s initial frustration with [A Pirate’s Odyssey] had long faded to dust by now as he excitedly followed the prompt, watching as his controlled Tech Wiz, launched the hook and upon him releasing the trigger as prompted once again, soared higher and forwards with a faster momentum!

Before Troy knew it, he was practically running along walls, launching hooks to swing around and chaining them perfectly as he chased after the cops, the explosion in the far off distance, his major destination!

“Let me try!” Jayce whom was just as hyped as his brother, requested like a bratty kid.

“I will bite you for real this time!” Troy declined in complete defiance as he watched his younger brother’s slimy fingers, extend towards his controller!

In a fit of pettiness, Jayce soon picked up the other controller, planning to mess with his brother’s controls by connecting to the Virtustation 5 console mid-game.

However, the moment the game pad connected, Troy and Jayce could only watch in absolute shock as the game, paused for a slight second mid-gameplay, had the screen split into two, and then, doubled the playable in-game hero with a new tutorial prompt explaining how the co-op mode worked!

What followed next from the two youths, was the most hardcore, gamer scream, their family and neighbors had ever heard them make!

“LET’S FUDGIN’ GO!!!”

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PS – Read Author’s Note