It was meant as just a stupid little joke.  Nothing more.<br/><br/>But what it ended up becoming was quite a bit more than that.  Be careful what you meddle with, readers, because you never know what might be lurking out there, especially in a place like the Internet.<br/><br/>Let's meet our protagonists for the story, yes?  I'm sure you're excited to hear about them.<br/><br/>Meet Samuel Jameson (not that that will be of great consequence to you, reader).  Age 20, college student (busy studying History with a focus on East Asian Cultures), home for the summer from school.  Sam, as he'll be known for now, was quite into foreign media - again,<em>east Asian cultures</em>- specifically animation, but video games were in the mix, as well.  And every year, just a couple of hours from home, a massive five-day convention took place during those summer months.  He and his best friend - who you'll meet in a minute - had gone there themselves the last two summers, using money garnered from all over (birthday, Christmas, graduation, work) in order to fund the trip.  The summer before they had gone into their senior year had been the first time, but Sam's dad had come along for the first couple of days,<em>just</em>to make sure the boys didn't get in over their head.  (He drove home after that, convinced they would be fine.  And they were!)<br/><br/>So, as before, they were planning on going this year.  The convention was a week away, they already had planned out nearly everything.  Sam's friend had discovered a little-known Mom & Pop hotel that was within twenty minutes' drive of the convention center (a five-story affair of gleaming, shiny metal and windwos).  Now, most of the congoers occupied one of three hotels - the one that directly connected to the center; the one within sight of the center (which could be walked to in 5 minutes); or the massively big hotel ten minutes away, which was one of the big sponsors of the con.  All of them offered amazing things - pools, workout centers, 24-hour food and room service - the works.<br/><br/>But those hotels usually filled up pretty quickly, and even if you got in early, if you were taking a room for the week of the con, you got nailed with a pretty high room per night cost.  This hotel did not really have that problem.  Didn't have all the benefits of the usual hotels, either, but two things stood out for them.  One was the low cost (obviously); the other was that it was<em>never</em>full-up, even during con week.  So no reservation.  They could stroll in, drop cash on the counter, and have their room.<br/><br/>All other such arrangement were ready and in place.  However...Sam and his friend had agreed they didn't want this year to be like last year.  They wanted something different, but had no idea what.<br/><br/>Until now.  Sam had discovered something and had called his friend to come over and show him.<br/><br/>It was meant as just a stupid little joke.  Nothing more.