"So i guess you know the truth now," the voice said.

The pair turned around to be met with the face of Mr Ridley. They looked at him with surprise and confusion. Rhythm stepped forward, and talked slowly hands shaking,

"You knew about this?"

Mr Ridley nodded

"Who are you?"

Mr Ridley sighed and then told his tale. He was an AI the scientist created to keep an eye on them.

And they were currently in a simulated reality.

The scientist created it and placed his subjects in it to study their behavior, vitals, and mental states. He didn't want anyone finding out about his experiments nor did he want them escaping. Mr. Ridley controlled the simulation and knew everything about the subjects. As to keep them from finding out the truth, But the AI knew it was illegal so he gave them hints to help them escape since he couldn't stop the simulation due to his programming.

"So let me get this straight," Astral started

"We're a bunch of kids who were experimented on by a mad scientist and placed in a weird virtual world so he can keep an eye on us,"

Mr Ridley looked at her with a deadpan expression,

"Yes that's what i just said."

Rhythm slowly took in the information he just received.

"So what do we do now" Astral asked him

He was silent for a good moment before answering,

"We find the others escape this psycho's butt like in the movies obviously"