Natural Contest: BRAVE

A gentle soulful music sets the mood for a moderately decorated room with dim lighting and very few contents - a mattress, a big rectangular box settled in a corner and lastly a setup of a recliner and a table, both currently occupied.

Seated on the recliner in front of a computer system is a young man deeply focused on the content of the computer screen in front of him, is age ranging between 23 to 25 and his build, well, typical.

Orange town, a secluded settlement popularly known for its wild orange trees which domineeringly dominate the town's once heavily forested vegetation. A home to a reasonable population of indigenous people, majority of whom invested in farming oranges, the major product of the town with tons of oranges shipped annually to the global market, a situation owning to the superior quality of the oranges. And all this in return as bless most of this land inhabitant with silent wealth.

This young man living in orange town- a farmer, one of the silently rich guys, owns a large stretch of land in the town's outskirt. His land filled mostly with orange trees and few creeks and a river crossing it, hides an unremarkable cottage, his pkace of solitude he calls home, lurking a far distance from the entrance of his property.

Grumpy, his nickname, living alone with no family is a big fan of online game and also a man who has chosen internet trolling as is divine calling, well this choice of his in the understanding of others might be an avenue to alleviate his loneliness slowly eating away at him.

"Its time to get supplies and prepare for a marathon gaming experience" grumpy muttered with a yawn as he stretch his body after finishing with his computer related business.

A few days ago;

Grumpy in front of his house tending to the flowers witnessed an ash colored van approached and stopped in front of him, from which three men came down.

In the lead was a man in a black headwarmer, black spectacles, black facemask, black suits and a black shoe. And behind this suspicious guy are two other identical suspicious fellow in an ash colored baseball cap, an ash colored mask, an ash colored rubber jumpsuit and an ash colored boots.

"Sir, i presume you are username SKYLAR, user ID AAB-..." the man in black asked grumpy after giving a short bow.

"Yes, and what do you want" sky his gaze not neglecting his flowers asked in a lazy and unconcerned voice.

"We are delivery from TRIBES, ehm, we have your package and ehm, we will be happy if you go through and sign these document."

The man in black addressed nervously, his voice shaky.

"Okay bring it, the documents" grumpy instructed the man in black nonchalantly.

Grumpy collected the papers, carefully went through it and signed them appropriately.

"Thank you sir, ehm, would you like us to ehm, help with the installation sir" the man in black fidgeting nervously as he collected the finalized document from sky asked, his voice still shaky.

"No just place it in a corner in the room to your left as you enter and leave"

sky replied dismissively as he returned his attention to his flower plants.

The trio happy and relieved, quickly and perfectly did as instructed, then scrambled back into the van which left at a faster speed than it came.

That's suspicious, " hmm", clearly on that van is a different logo and the name toy store, i don't think that relates in anyway with TRIBES corporation, well, maybe its one of their affiliate companies.

Grumpy thought as he watched the van fade away.

TRIBES, a mysterious corporation nearly 4 years old and famous for their leading role in online games evolution and AI in recent times, had their CEO, the tech idol, lady helen made an announcement that sent the world into an uproar with debates flooding all media outlets on the veracity of her claims.

She announced the creation of the world's first simulated reality that offers complete immersion and as stated, is indistinguishable from reality.

The simulated reality, scheduled to launch few days after its announcement, the world of BRAVE, was claimed to feature a VR-pod available on their online stores for public purchase and delivery. The simulated reality was also claimed to incorporate a little game elements and also rumored to mimic reality completely when it comes to sensory perception and all body metabolism.

On the eve of the lunch;

Back to grumpy in his room, stretching and planning to go get supplies. He dressed up in a casual wear and in his truck drove to the night market.

Grumpy arrived at the night market which accommodated people of different purpose - traders, buyer, gossipers and others. He alighted and headed to a large super market in front of him with a steady pace.

In the super market;

"Babe, there is this game my younger brother talked about, you know that popular new game"

"Isn't that the VR game that cost a fortune?"

"Yes, but i don't think its that expensive. Will you buy it for him babe?"

A baddie clinging to the arm of her boyfriend, coquettishly tendered her request to the handsome boyfriend. And Grumpy watching on with unconcealed irritation judged the couple's PDA.

"Okay, when i get my next pay in the next few days, i will get one for him and you too"

"Bae, thank you, you are the best, i love you so much, i will prepare your favorite food for you tonight."

The baddie burning with excitement said with a more coquettish voice as she squeezed tighter to the guy and kissed him on the cheek.

Idiot, why won't you get yourself one, so you can play couple together ... . Grumpy tought with his gaze ignoring the annoying duo as he carried on with his own business of browsing through the products before him.

Not long after a 7/10 bombshell married woman dragging a snort nosed brat in one hand and a cart with its content annoyingly disorderly with her in the other hand, pulled up beside Grumpy. This lady, also with the same interest as Grumpy, committ herself to browsing through the stuffs in front of her slowly and carefully.

Wow, what a great woman. And what's with this annoying brat, look at his face. He doesn't even understand how ... . Grumpy tought as he invested his partial attention on the duo.

"Baby, please don't leave my side" the lady with a soft and pleading voice implored the sulking snort nosed brat who is already few steps away from her as she dragged him back closer.

Wow, her voice, just like heavenly music... Many thought.

"Mommy, i want game, if no game, me will run away, mommy game, game, ... " the annoying boy screamed and cried loudly attracting gazes from all direction which made her mother pulled him closer.

"Baby, the game is not for children, please don't cry."

The beautiful woman begged in a teary and pitiful voice, as she nervously tried to calm her child who has become a source of nuisance and therefore center of attention in the building.

Now, Grumpy staring at the snort nosed brat with annoyance and a bit of anger, fetched an object from somewhere and hit the boy softly on the head with it while also gesturing to the boy by clamping his lips tightly closed with two fingers.

The boy coming to a realization of what the big person in front of him that's bullying him want from him, shut his mouth and composed himself, which result in peace returning to the mother and the building.

"Thank you so much uncle"

The beautiful mother wiping her smiling face and hugging tightly her quiet and obedient child in her ample bosom said with a voice expressing relief and happiness.

"Its okay, did you bring a car?"

Grumpy replied her with a brighter smile.

"Yes"

the beautiful mother replied as she released her child from her chest and rose to her feet from a kneeling position.

"That's great, i will help and stay with you till you leave here"

Grumpy demanded with a face not taking no for an answer and also switch his gaze briefly to the annoying brat sending a message to the mother.

"Yes"

The beautiful mother replied nervously as she felt overwhelmed by the aura of the young man standing tall in front of her.

After several minutes, outside the supermarket;

The figure of three people approached a red minivan, with one figure in particular burdened by what seems to be an excess load and the other two figure joined together, the bigger one holding the hand of the other, the shorter one.

"Is that your ride?"

Grumpy asked the beautiful mother as the trio, side by side walk along the side-walk towards a red minivan packed ahead.

"Yes" the beautiful mother replied.

They arrived behind the vehicle, and the beautiful mother approached the boot of the car and opened its door for grumpy to unload her stuffs he carried for her.

"Okay, did you recheck everything?" Grumpy asked as he put and arranged her load in the back of her car.

"Yes." The beautiful mother replied as she locked the door after Grumpy closed it.

"And are you sure you are not forgetting anything?"

Grumpy asked as he helped the mother into the driver's seat by opening the door for her after he had helped her fastned her child to the other front seat.

"Yes" the beautiful mother replied as she entered and sat, fastening her seat belt.

"Okay, you can start the car, i will watch the drive way for you"

Grumpy looked through the car window at the beautiful mother who sat in her car's driver seat with her quiet child next to her and instructed.

"Hey, you" Grumpy, suddenly, locked eye with the boy as he gained his attention.

"if you don't remain a good boy i will come for you"

He warned the boy strictly with a stern voice and stern look.

"don't forget" he added as he draw back from the car, giving space for the car to maneuver.

He turned and returned just as the car left.

"Uncle, thank you so much"

The beautiful mother yelled, waving her hand as she stopped the car briefly ahead and looked back at the back of the strange uncle blending into the crowd.

In front of grumpy cottage, beside his truck, after he returned;

The husband of that woman at the super market must be a very lucky bastard, well, except for the annoying brat, ... .Grumpy thought as he transferred his stuffs from the truck to his cottage.