PRESS START: A Ready Player One Story

[1]

The hallways of OASIS Public School #1789, were empty. As its name suggested, it wasn't any different from an of the other thousands of schools located on Ludus Two. There was, of course, the thousands of schools on Ludus One, but after the deal with the Copper Key, you were going to be hard pressed to find any students still using schools there. A few minutes before the first bell rang, the first avatar materialised in the hallway in front of his locker. Then, another appeared. Then another. Soon, the hallways were filled with students, all milling about awkwardly. What else they do in a high school?

Another avatar appeared in front of his locker. The small floating name tag above his head read Nick6. He wasn't a huge fan of the name, seeing as how he was so far down the line of Nicks, but it wasn't too bad. He grabbed a few items and textbooks from his locker, along with a lightsaber, and a Star Trek phaser, before dumping them in his inventory.

His avatar was about average height and weight, with sliver hair, and a strong jawed face. He wasn't anything too special, especially compared to some of the other avatars running around out there, but he didn't need to be. No one at Ludus knew who he was once he got out into the rest of the OASIS, and as far as he knew, no one cared.

"Hey there, Sixer." A voice chuckled from his right. Nick closed the door, and came face to face with Hunter3. Hunter was a well built young man, and a few years younger then Nick, roughly fourteen. Or at least, inside the OASIS. No one could be sure who anyone else really was outside the virtual world.

Under most circumstances, Nick wouldn't have been friends with someone three years younger then him. But, Hunter shared the locker beside his. The kid had looked so lost on his first day at the school, and Nick couldn't blame him. So, the pair had bonded. They were the only things keeping each other sane in the hell that was high school.

"Excuse me." Muttered a taller boy, with a black hoodie pulled low over his face, who pushed Nick out of the way as he dodged through the flood of moving students.

"Excuse yourself." Nick grumbled at him, turning back to Hunter. "So, what's up this morning?"

* * *

Riley12 leant against his locker, watching as students flooded past, hurrying to get to wherever they decided to go. It's not as if there was anywhere fun to go on a plant covered in schools. He pushed a long strand of beach blonde hair out of his face, and adjusted the pile of books in his arm. A large, muscular teen about his age, with curly red hair, barrels last, knocking his books to the ground. "Hey, watch it!" Riley yelled out, but the redhead was quickly lost in the crowd.

Riley stooped down to pick up his books, but stood back up as he noticed a pair of worn out old sneakers stop in front of him. "Morning." The young man said, pulling off his hood and revealing his greasy black hair.

Riley leant back against the locker, placing his books in his inventory. Vincent1 stood in front of him, placing his hands in the pockets of his tattered black sweatshirt. "Morning Vince." The pair were about the same height and build, both tall and lanky, though Riley proudly stood slightly taller then Vincent. "Ready for another day of hell?"

"You have no idea." Vincent drawled, falling against the locker, in a completely unenthused movement. The bell rang around them, and the small social groups began moving towards their individual classes. Everything was going along as normal. Until the entire back half of the school blew up.

* * *

Nick swore loudly, lurching forwards off his locker. "What was that?" He yelled to Hunter over the screams of students, flooding away from the explosion.