The Cure To Boredom

Can I be the Hero?

The [blistering] sun bore down on James as he [sluggishly paced] home. One more day at school and he'd have a stomach ulcer from the stress at the age of sixteen. Aside from the school work, drama and homework, James also had great worry for the future.

The world was filled with various wars, but most noticeably the "war on terror."
He shuffled along the sidewalk and continued the long walk home. After years of moving around, he didn't have many friends and usually kept to himself. He always had a boring, expressionless face that effectively kept him alone for many years.
His mom, a new teacher had no time for anything but her classroom and let him do as he pleases. His sister however always got onto his case for even the slightest infraction. Without his dad to teach him about cars, girls, and life in general he became a weak nerd who plays video games in all his spare time. his dad was killed in a terrorist bombing at a train station in Afghanistan during his second tour.
Sighing James slouched and kept walking forward.
The shards of broken beer bottles stick to the bottom of his shoes as he walks with a crunch. The noise makes him cringe. Suddenly everything stops and an ambient white light fills the air. The cars driving by. Even the gangbanger wannabes behind him sporting their sagging pants as they walk.
James walks over to a car and looks inside to see the driver spilling his coffee upon hitting the brakes. The coffee remains suspended above his lap, frozen. The drivers expression of surprise remains on his face.
James backs up and looks around. Seeing himself paused in the middle of a stride.
"Is that me?" James says confused.
"Yes it is," a voice answers from all directions.
"Who is that?" James freaking out, "what is this?"
"I'm an entity that has granted your daydream," the voice answers, "and where you are, is your inner World."
"inner world?" James stutters.
"Your brain is a supercomputer and has the capacity to operate nearly a thousand times faster but is hindered by the fact you only use ten percent of your brain," the voice explains, "so I gave you access to one hundred percent of your brain and uploaded it with a neural interface."
James jaw couldn't be closer to the ground.
"The inner world is the area your brain perceives in an enhanced speed, using images from all the nearby cameras and your memories for you to walk and explore the inner world in your avatar," it continues.

"Avatar?" James says, "so this is my virtual self?"

"yes," the voice replies.
"Is there a catch?" James expression changes to determination as he asks, "why are you giving this to me?"
"Simple, to ease your boredom and mine as well as give you the chance to save your world from its self destruction," the being answers.
He looks around his new world and for the first time in months a genuine smile cracks his face. He walks over to himself and asks, "are there any restrictions on what I can do?"
"No, you have full authority to do what is necessary," the being says.
James raises his left hand and swipes down opening a virtual menus.
He swipes up and closes it.
"Do I have a way to defend myself?" James asks.
"There is an icon on your low far right," the being says, "clicking on that will give you the chance to choose anything you need and you can create sets that are faster to access than selecting specific things each time."
"Okay so can I go now," James bluntly says, "and fix the world and what not."
"Yes you may go and good luck," the being answers as his voice fades away.
A tutorial video appears in from of him.

In order to activate the inner world function the phrase "recall" must be verbally spoken. there is a limited number of times you can use this function. to use more "recalls" you must transfer your consciousness to another dimension to participate in the accelerated world. a fighting game that people compete in for the chance to obtain points similar to what you need to obtain. the "recall" can be used at any time for any reason. during a "recall" one thousand seconds is equivalent to one second outside of "recall". to end a "recall" a phrase must also be verbally spoken, the phrase is "end Recall".

An audible click and disappearance of the video confirm the tutorial for his inner world is over. The voice was the same as the being.
"end recall," James shouts.
Time flow returns back to normal. The driver curses as the hot coffee burns his legs. The gangbangers keep going as if they never stopped.
James sprints the rest of the way home.
Dashing through the door and straight down the stairs to his room, gives no chance for his sister to bug him.
He sits on his bed and opens the virtual menu. He clicks around and investigates his arsenal. Everything he would need was indeed here and much more.
Can I really be a hero? James thinks to himself, "I need to prepare."
"Recall," James states and watches himself pop out of his real body.
James mentally takes a deep breath and prepares for the hours of training and preparation to save his world.