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         Zachary woke to the sound of fighting. While he had been fading in and out of unconsciousness, he had at least heard enough to understand the basics of what was going on. They were all trapped inside a virtual reality and had to find a way to fight it out and get home alive. Zachary sighed, how had it come to this? The last he remembered he had been playing around on his computer, trying to find a new game that was worth his time. Next thing he knew, he was here. It was strange to say the least. Zachary sat up and put his finger to his lip, puzzling.

~~~~~

BEEP. BEEP. BEEP. BEEP. Thwack! Zachary sighed, sitting up slowly and rubbing his eyes. He yawned and stretched, thinking about nothing more than the ritual of the day. He rolled out of bed and put on his bathrobe. After tying a knot securely around his waist, Sachary went downstairs and made himself some breakfast. It was pretty standard, eggs, bacon, hashbrowns, toast, jam, orange juice, rice, a grilled fish, and some fresh fruit. While Zachary was small enough to be a ten year old, he ate like a sixteen year old, never seeming to get any fatter or taller. He quickly gorged himself before taking a shower and getting dressed in his business casual. He wore a nice white collared shirt, a black skinny tie, black slacks, shiny black shoes, and a red, argyle, v-neck sweater. Finally, before leaving his nice little flat, Zachary grabbed his suitcase and his train pass, locking the door on his way out.

The rest of Zachary's day passed relatively mundanely. He did his office work, tested games, went to meetings, had lunch with his co-workers, wrote coding, and filled out paper work like normal. While the days were long, they were exciting. Zachary loved the challenge and the thrill of creating a world that someone could immerse themselves in. To be entirely truthful, the reason Zachary was most excited was that his newest idea for a game, Monster Hunter(tm), was going to be out through! He had spent weeks, months even, creating the world in which his game would be played. The most exciting part was that all his co-workers, even his boss, loved the idea. It was the first time in history that an intern had ever made a game that would actually go on the open market. Zachary was so happy. If his game was successful, he could quit boring college and go straight to work for the company, he'd even have his own office instead of a boring little cubicle. He was so happy.

While he wanted to stay at work during the night, even requesting that he not be paid overtime, the boss kicked him out at quitting time anyway. While Zachary's enthusiasm was appreciated, the boss didn't want him to run himself into the ground over it. Sustained effort was what was required for game creation, you couldn't go balls to the wall right away. Regardless, Zachary took the train home, made himself a feast to celebrate, and then went right to his computer to do, "research". Zachary played all his favorite games online, and posted to his blog about the success of the game he's created. While he couldn't spoil the game itself, he did release that it was an RPG for the latest system. Content, Zachary was just about to go to sleep when a pop-up caught his attention. Bored, sleepy, and just a little curious, Zachary clicked it.

~~~~~

Zachary didn't know where he was, but he could tell a game-like setting when he saw one. In front of him were presents. One of them must have been his. So, Zachary got up, feeling a tad embarrased that he was wearing Pokémon pajamas, but walked over to the boxes. Sure enough, there was one with his name on it. Smiling, Zachary opened the box and found a black robe, black gloves, black boots, black pants, and a black shirt. He put the clothes on, secretly removing everything but his undergarments from the safety of the robe, and put on everything else. Sure enough, as he was struggling with the boots, Zachary stumbled and fell into his box. Rubbing his head, Zachary looked up to find that there were more presents in his box. There were a pair of spiked wheels. Whatever they were, they looked awesome, so Zachary grabbed them too, placing them on a neat little clip on his left hip. Thinking to himself, Zachary placed his pajamas into the box, smiling as the whole thing disappeared with a blink. He nodded. "We're actually in a game." Zachary said, trying to get everyone's attention. "Zachary didn't believe it at first, but it appears to be true. In that case, Aachary thinks that the only way to get home alive and claim the prize will be to work together. Isn't it always the case, that video game villains try to split up te party? If we fight amongst ourselves, the chances of all our survival drops quite rapidly. Zachary doesn't know about the rest of you, but he want's to get home soon." Zachary finished. "It makes the most sense to work together. That way, we can all team up on the final boss and have a much better chance at winning."