Keito and Enola were in the front of the game trailer battle against each other in the flight simulation like their lives depended on it. Keito was winning by three points but Enola was quickly catching up to him. Despite her just having entered the sim she tested the prototypes of air vehicles in the sim for Carmen during development which gave her some experience in piloting. As the two flew through a space course made of blue neon rings Enola quickly dove down and picked up a star worth three points before going through a ring making them tied for first.

“Hey looks like you have a cheerleader,” Enola teased Keito who quickly looked back and spotted Varian and Inez still acting like wild k-pop stans.

“I could say the same for you,” he responded with a smirk before going back to the screen, " you know them?”

“Siblings. They seem to have met your boyfriend. Would be a shame for him to see you lose,” she responded before speeding up and taking the lead which caused Keito to hardened his gaze in determination.

“Oh your on!”

The two tried to race towards another star in order to break the tie but forgot to check the clock showing that only a few seconds remained. As they were about to reach the star the screen paused with the message “Time Up! – Winner : Tied!” in bold green letters. The two groaned in frustration as they realized they forgot to check the time and make their way across the finish line instead of focusing of gaining points. Cheers could be heard more louder than before as people congratulate the two on getting the highest point levels out of all the flight simulation users. After the crowd finally dispersed the group reunited with the two gamers who shook hands in good sportsmanship.

“Now that you have finished kicking each others butts can we go to the ceremony now? They are starting in a few minutes,” Piers reminded the rest about the ceremony being held for the opening exams. matteo looked at his watch to check the time and his widened comically.

“Oh shit we’re late! We have to go right now! Come on!,” matteo said as he ran with a slight limp that the siblings have barely noticed at the moment. The group followed matteo to the front of the school were the ceremony was being held at. Rows of teens coming for the exams stood on the stairs up to the academy front doors as an old man with white hair stood at a podium at the top of the stairs. He appeared to be in the middle of doing a speech for the exams.

“Dang it! We’re late. Okay everyone act natural and don’t draw attention to yourselves. This is a top academy and that means they expect us to act professional,” Carmen reminded her siblings who nodded in understanding.

The group took their place at the bottom of the stairs and stood their quietly trying not to disturb the ceremony. After a few minutes of hearing unnecessary blabbering about the future of space exploration the team grew restless and started to try to make each other break character.

“Kentucky fried,” Enola whispered to Inez who was looking more annoyed by the second.

“Enola please don’t, I’m already hungry,” Inez whispered in response to her sisters teasing.

“Kentucky fried chicken.”

Enolas whispering of food made Hoku sigh in sadness.

“Damn. Now I’m hungry too,” Hoku whispered to himself. Laren looked incredulous at his friends unending appetite.

“Dude you just ate two donuts and three caramel apples,” Laren reminded him.

“Yeah but those are just snacks not a full meal,” Hoku said before brainstorming for a moment.

“Should I order Chuckles Chicken for us once we finish the exam?”

“You can’t be seriously thinking about food at a time like this,” Keito said exasperated by his friends prioritization of food over the ceremony.

“Hold on Hoku’s on to something here. I don’t know about you guys but I’m hungry as hell right now,” Inez admitted.

“You guys do know that we can talk about this afterwards right?,” matteo reminded them as he started to notice how loud they were becoming.

“Too late, already ordering. Do you guys want the family meal at Chuckles Chicken or do we order chicken sandwiches from Clown Town. They have a sale going on right now,” Varian told their options as they scrolled through their phone.

“Get the family meal and order some extra biscuits. We can make our own chicken sandwiches,” Piers suggested in a quite voice. matteo just looked at their sibling in exasperation before shaking his head in defeat.

“Good idea,” agreed Varian.

Carmen took off their headset for a second to see Varian also ordering food in real life at the same time. Looks like they were still hungry after eating their snacks. After putting their headset back on Carmen noticed that the old man has stopped speaking and everybody was clapping.

“Just smile and clap boys. Smile and clap,” Carmen whispered to their siblings before putting on a grin and clapping with the rest of the crowd. Soon enough the teens on the stairs started to enter the building for the exams. The team followed the rest down a white corridor with double doors at the end. Carmen soon turned to her left to see a door leading down a dim empty hallway.

“Perfect.”

She whispered to her siblings about her plan which they nodded while trying to hide their mischievous grins. As the group walked passed the door Carmen quickly opened it and her siblings dragged their new friends into the hallway before locking the door.

“Wow. That was easier than expected,” Varian said surprised they were able to go into the hallway undetected.

“What the hell are you guys doing!? The exam room is that way!,” Keito yelled while gesturing to the direction were the exam was being held at.

“We know but we aren’t here to do the entrance exam. We’re here to recruit you guys for a very important mission,” Carmen stated with a serious expression as she pressed her hands together like a villain that was plotting their next heist. The rest stared at her confused of what she meant by “important mission”.

“What is so important for you guys to mess with us on a day that will literally determine our future?!,” asked Keito incredulous at her statement.

The siblings looked at each other before nodding as if they talked to each other through telepathy. They actually discussed in the real world if they should tell them that their whole life was a lie and they actually lived inside a video game which they agreed to at the end.

Carmen took a deep breath and tried to come up with a way to let them down slowly before deciding to just tell them up front about everything.

“This world is a simulation and none of you are real!,” Carmen blurted out quickly causing the rest to look at her as if she was mentally insane. Laren just palmed her face at hearing that.

“Okay so you guys are completely insane. Got it. So we are just going to leave,” Laren said as he walked towards the door before a hologram neon green wall blocked him from leaving. The wall startled him and made him jump into Keitos arm at the shock.

“What the fuck!?”

He turned to Carmen who was pointing at the wall with her gauntlet that glowed green for a few seconds before she caused her gauntlet to disappear.

“Oh no! None of you guys are leaving until you hear me out! I’m running on a schedule to save your world and I need you guys to cooperate.”

As their new friends stared at her like she was a ghost Piers lit up at the power of Carmens gauntlet.

“How did you do that?! Is the hologram permanent or just temporary? Is it made of light or something else?,” Piers bombarded Carmen with questions.

Enola smirked at Piers reaction and leaned over to her twin to whisper.

“Looks like you have another twin Carmen,” Enola teased causing Carmen to shove her lightly before clearing her throat.

“Yes its made of light. No its not temporary and doesn’t work on a time limit. I can just summon it whenever I want before erasing it with this!,” Carmen exclaimed as she summoned her gauntlet again to show it off.

“My very own invention which helps me navigate the sim! Check this out!”

She caused various objects such as empty boxes and stacked plastic chairs in the hallway to move before erasing them from existence. The group besides her siblings stared in pure awe at the scene in front of them. Hoku shook out of his trance and started to panic.

“Wait so those that mean our world is actually a simulation?! That means we aren’t real! All of this is fake! The world could just be deleted from a computer and poof! We’re dead! Wait a minute! Can we even die in the first place?!,” Hoku exclaimed in a panicked voice as he held his head in his hands and paced around the hallway. matteo stopped him from walking and patted his shoulder to comfort him.

“Easy there bud. If you keep panicking you’re going to puke again. Deep breaths remember?,” matteo reminded him as he gestured to his chest. Hoku just nodded before taking several deep breaths which helped him calm down somewhat.

“Sorry. I didn’t know how to explain everything without sounding…insane. But back to what I was saying. There is something serious going on in the simulation and we need your help!,” Carmen continued.

“Why is this so serious that you would need us to tell us in an empty storage closet? Couldn’t you have just told us this outside?,” asked Keito.

“Uh well about that there are people out there that must not know what’s happening at all.”

Their new friends looked at her bewildered due to her cryptic explanation.

“Okay that did not make any sense at all. Are you guys running from the cops or something? Cause one would guess that if you created this world or whatever that you would be able to say anything here at all times,” said Laren as he looked at her with suspicion.

At this point Carmen was sweating with anxiety due to her not knowing how to properly tell them that their world could easily be deleted by a tech company. Talking to them about Killian is vastly different than her telling them about the drones that are outside. Drones that could report Cybrim about Killian’s glitch and cause them to annihilate the sim in an instant.

“Dude just tell them. It’s not like there are any drones in here,” said Varian before gesturing to the storage room they were in.

“Drones? What is that?,” asked Piers, curious.

“Kind of like government agents but bad. Like really bad,” explained Inez with a grim face causing the rest to become worried.

“How the hell did you guys get in trouble with in the first place? It’s not like you guys can do something illegal inside a simulation,” said matteo in disbelief.

The siblings glanced at an awkward Carmen who looked like they a few seconds away from exiting the sim entirely. She really did not like being put on the spot for anything. Even if it was in front of AI characters and not real people.

“The world you guys live in is a virtual world hosted in a VR system called Hologlobe that is owned by a tech company called Cybrim. They have surveillance npcs called drones which inhabit all worlds in Hologlobe for safety reasons such as glitches and cyber crime. If a drone were to find out that a world has a serious glitch or is being used as a place for criminal activity they could tell the company which is allowed to annihilate worlds permanently.”

As she explained about the existence of Cybrim and the Hologlobe system her new friends nodded along with some looking as if they understood what she was saying while others looked downright lost in confusion. She struggled to put into words the idea that they might all die due to her own stupidity before she finally snapped.

‘Fuck it!,’ Carmen thought to herself before blurting out the rest of her explanation.

“A character I made has started to glitch out of control and is on the verge of breaking the universe and now we have to defeat him before the company finds out or you all die and I get sued for an accidental cyber attack! There! I said it! Are you guys happy now?!”

She honestly did not care anymore at this point and was ready to face the rage that would come from her own creations.

Just like she predicted, the full news of the situation definitely did not go over well with the rest as the room was instantly filled with panicked shouting.