Checking In

Sunday finally arrives and Nathan is over at Zach's waiting for him to get ready. Nathan worked it out with Zach that he would head to Firestorm's dive facility with him and his mom.

Currently, they are in Zach's room.

"You aren't going to say bye to your uncle at all?" Zach asks while tying his last sneaker.

"I wrote a letter explaining what I would be doing and left it on my desk. It's not like that bastard gives a damn about what happens to me anyway." Nathan replies with a slight frown on his face.

"He was kicking me out in a few months regardless of what was happening. I told him I'm not streaming so he doesn't try to get money out of me later. This is a new chapter in my life, and I'll be glad to never look back."

Zach finishes tying his shoe and jumps off his bed.

"As long as you're good, I'm good. By the way, if my mom asks, say you did so she doesn't freak out. You know how she is. Let's get out of here and get this show on the road. I haven't been able to sleep right this entire week from being so hype about this."

The two of them walk downstairs and head to the kitchen where Zach's mom is sitting. She has a breakfast spread laid out on the table. They grab plates and load up on eggs, bacon, and waffles.

Zach's mom watches them as they sit down. Her eyes are a little puffy and red.

"Make sure you boys eat a proper breakfast. Lord only knows when's the next time you guys will be eating a real meal." Zach's mom says while she adds extra helpings to their plates.

"Yes ma'am," Nathan replies politely.

"Mom, stop fretting we're fine," Zach says while trying to protect his plate from receiving another two slices of bacon.

"I only worry, that's all. You know the last big dive event lasted for 9 months." Zach's mom says while sniffling.

"Exactly, and remember how much those streamers ended up making? They're all set for life. Isn't that what you always worried about for me since you said my grades were so bad. Ha-ha, now those grades don't matter at all."

"You should have tested out as Nathan did." She admonishes Zach. "Your uncle must have been proud of you dear. Getting accepted and you taking the initiative to test out and get your diploma." Zach's mom beams at Nathan.

"He sure is something" Nathan dryly comments with a mouthful of food.

The three of them finish up their breakfast and hop in the car to start making their way to the facility.

Along the way, Zach's mom continues to worry about Zach and Nathan. The guys, however, are too excited about the start of the dive to truly worry about anything else.

After driving an hour, they take the turnoff to Firestorm's facilities. The facility has a huge sign that states Firestorm FIVR Dive Facilities. They continue to drive further and come across what looks like a beautiful apartment complex.

"We're supposed to go to the main building to meet up with the staff to check-in. It's almost like checking into a hotel reservation." Nathan says while looking around in awe.

Zach is bouncing in his seat as he points forward, "It's right there! That's the main building. Oh wow, check it out! They have statues of major characters from their previous games outside the main building."

In front of the building are statues of major characters from Firestorm's past franchise games. They line the street like protectors leading towards the main building.

Zach's mom pulls up to the entrance and gives both boys a hug and kiss goodbye. Tears are sparkling in her eyes as she bids them farewell.

"We'll be fine mom. Better than fine. Once we get out of this Dive, we'll be famous and take care of you for the rest of your life. Love you, bye!" Zach waves to his mom as she drives off.

Nathan and Zach turn to each other and laugh in joy as they start to make their way into the building.

Once they go through the sliding doors they're greeted by a huge atrium. The walls are sparkling white with hanging posters of previous Firestorm games. The floor is a shiny black tile that glistens from the fluorescent lights. The ceiling is opened toward the fifth floor and sunlight is sparkling through the glass panes that make up the ceiling.

In the center of the floor is a fountain that has a massive demon statue with horns and wings locked in battle with four human heroes who have an assortment of weaponry. On the pedestal that looks to be made up of fallen demons, skulls, and humans are the words "Sanctuary Annihilation".

"Dude, fighting something like that is going to be epic. I can't wait." Zach says to Nathan with stars in his eyes.

"Hell yeah man! This is going to be crazy. Let's hurry up and check-in. I know it doesn't matter, but maybe we can get in the same room for the Dive." Nathan says as he starts walking towards the reception desk.

The reception desk area is massive and has around fifty stations and multiple people are already at them checking in.

The two of them approach the reception desk and end up at a young man's station. He has glasses and an official Firestorm polo shirt on. On his shirt is his nametag which says his name is Frank.

Frank looks at the two of them and smiles in greeting. "Good morning, I am Frank, and I'll be handling your check-in process today. Are you both here to check-in for the Sanctuary Annihilation Online Dive? Or is it only one of you?"

"It's both of us checking in." Both Nathan and Zach say at the same time.

Frank smiles and says, "I can process both of you one at a time or, one of you can go to another station. It'll be faster to do them separately as there is a lot of information to gather. The choice is yours."

Zach looks to the station to the right and sees a woman working the station with brown hair and her shirt being tight in the right places for him. He smiles at Nathan and says to Frank, "I think I'll go to the next station to speed the process up."

Nathan shakes his head and begins to start the check-in process with Frank.

"Have a seat, may I have your GAIN please so I can pull up your information?"

"My GAIN is 3625367827." Nathan quickly rattles the number off as he pulls out the chair and sits across from Frank.

"Excellent, let me pull up your account and everything." Frank types in the number given and a screen pops up showing Nathan's information.

"Here it is. Nice to meet you Mr. Emblem. Let me first start by saying congratulations for being selected to play Sanctuary Annihilation Online.

To start, I see you have selected to have your content streamed through our network. Do you still want to keep this feature, or would you like to opt-out of streaming?"

"I would still like to stream my content," Nathan replies with an affirmative nod.

"Very good, that makes my life a little easier." Frank jokes. "This is everything we have on file from your account and pre-selection application. Can you please review all the information given and let me know if anything needs to be updated?"

Frank presses a button on his monitor that mirrors everything on his screen to the back of the monitor so Nathan can read the information. Nathan quickly reads through all the information to verify it is correct and since nothing needs changing, he lets Frank know it is good.

"This is a map of our Dive facility." Frank changes the screen to show a map of the grounds they are currently in. "We are currently in the main building that is located here." The screen zooms in on the main building.

"You'll need to get a physical done with one of our doctors on site which is going to be in one of the rooms behind me so we can make sure you are ready to be hooked up to our FIVR machines. Once your physical is completed and you get the green light, you will be able to go to your building and room.

The rooms will have two people a room and our staff will be there to make sure you are hooked up to life support properly. The Dive begins at 2:00 pm. Lunch will be served in Building Alpha Major which is this building." The screen zooms out and shows where Alpha Major is located and then zooms in showing where the cafeteria is inside.

"Any questions so far?" Frank asks Nathan in a polite tone.

"Am I able to pick who my roommate is going to be?" Nathan asks with one eyebrow raised.

Frank looks over at the other station Zach is at and nods in understanding.

"Normally, the rooms are auto-assigned once we submit everything and your roommate will be someone completely random. What is your friend's name? I can add that you checked in together and it should assign you both to the same room."

"His name is Zachary Star." Nathan answers. "Hold on one second Frank." Nathan turns to Zach's station and gives him a shout. "Yo Zach, you want to be roommates, right?"

"Of course! Bro, even if we're in Dive sleep, I'm not trying to be with some random." Zach yells back.

Nathan turns back to Frank and nods at him while saying, "Yeah, you can add that note in there."

"Understood, Zach Star has been added and we're ready to submit. Give me one second and it will process. I'll give your building and room information momentarily."

Nathan watches as Frank enters some additional information on the screen and then hits submit. The computer chimes and the building and room number Nathan has been assigned appear on the screen.

"It looks like you will be in the Annihilation building in room 505," Frank says to Nathan.

The screen zooms out to an aerial view of the compound and shows which building Nathan will be in. 'Luckily it is the building next to Alpha Major so Zach and I will not have far to travel for lunch.' Nathan thinks to himself.

"If you do not have any questions for me, you can take this slip and head over to the waiting area for the physical examination. Here is your keycard for your room and once you hear your number called, you can go in and have your exam."

"Thank you so much. I don't have any questions. Have a good one." Nathan accepts his keycard which he places in his pocket and looks at his slip. His number is 55. He stands up and waves goodbye to Frank and starts making his way to the examination waiting area.

"Have a good one Mr. Emblem. I look forward to checking out your stream soon." Frank waves goodbye to Nathan.

Shortly after Zach joins Nathan in the waiting area.

"I hope I get a hot nurse to do my examination and it's a full-body checkup," Zach says to Nathan with a wink.