(Jared's POV)
Game…
Theo looks at Tari and I angrily.
"You two are not gonna take my island, evil boss!" Theo said, pointing at Tari and I.
Theo shouts as he charges toward Tari and I. Theo traps a crab with his coconut and then gets his coconut ready to attack Tari and I.
"Wait, wait, no! We're not bosses! We're not bosses!" Tari said, worried.
"We're really not bosses." I said, clutching the strap of my sling bag.
"Huh?" Theo asked, falling to the ground. "That's something a boss would say!"
Then Theo grabs his coconut, ready to attack Tari and I.
"Stop, stop with that coconut! We-we are humans, like you, see?" Tari asked.
"Hmmm...." Theo said, while Tari giggled nervously and I looked down at the ground. "HMMMMMM....." Tari becomes embarrassed as she is relatively nervous and I'm still looking down at the ground. "Hmm...okay. What are you and your friend doing on my island?"
"I was thinking you could help us figure that out. I was playing this video game literally moments ago, next thing I know, we see a bright flash and now we're here." Tari said, as I walked over to her to grab her hand.
"Sounds like you and your friend died." Theo said, looking between Tari and I.
"Uhh...yeah." Tari said, sadly.
"Well, if you both are not here to kill me." Theo said, walking over to the mountain and jumps on top of it. "Welcome to Simple Flip Island! I'm Theo, king of all the land!"
Theo loses his balance and falls off the mountain.
"Well, it's nice to see you, Theo, king of all the land. I'm Tari, and this is Jared." Tari said, and I squeezed her hand.
"Tari and Jared, huh?" Theo asked, getting off of the ground. "Tari, you look like a Larry, and Jared, you look like a Gary."
"Ehhh…" Tari said.
"Ok, bye." Theo said, starting to walk away from us.
"Wait, what?!" Tari exclaimed, while Theo then sings a tune. "Kid, hold on!"
"Theo!" I said, as Tari and I caught up to Theo. "Wait!"
The theme song plays. Theo runs to the first level, jumps over a pit, dodges a ball, and jumps over a few spikes.
Tari and I catch up to Theo, with the two of us jumping over a pit.
"Hey, Theo!" Tari yelled, hearing a ball rolling and moving over, grabbing my arm to pull me into safety. "Has anyone from Silica City ever visited you?"
"Silica City?" Theo asked, and he was running. "Is that a Secret Level?"
Theo slides under an axe, and jumps over another few spikes. Tari wails when she sees an axe, then crawls under it, then manages to jump over a pit of spikes. I turned into my ghost form and phased through the axe. Theo waves as he does a wall jump and jumps from the pole as he collects some coins.
"You do know you are in a video game, right kid?" Tari asked, looking at Theo.
"Yup! Sure do!" Theo said, walking off as Tari sighs.
"Jared…was my life always this crazy…?" Tari asked, looking over at me.
"No. Mine is always this crazy." I said, floating in my ghost form. "Yeah. I'm half ghost, half human."
"Half ghost? Is that possible?" Tari asked.
"It's a long story." I said, sheepishly using my hand to rub the back of my head.
"Yo! You two coming?!" Theo exclaimed.
"Uh yeah…" Tari said, walking forth as she realizes there is a huge cliff to scale. "Theo, Jared, there is no way I can jump that high."
"Of course you can. You just gotta believe." Theo said, happily.
I flew over to Theo and landed myself down to him to watch Tari from above.
"Huh?" Tari asked.
"Believe Tari. Beliiieeeeeeevvvveee!" Theo said, excitedly.
Tari gets a little frustrated as she figures out a way to scale the cliff. As she readies herself she sees the data analysis once again.
"Ah! This again?" Tari asked, and she started to scan the area. "What the…?"
"Tari, hurry up. Tari, hurry up. Hurry, Tari. Come on, Tari. Hehe. Hurry, Tari." Theo said, annoyed.
Tari decides to run for it and make the jump as she lands on top of the cliff, "Whooaaa- Wow! That was amazing!"
"See? And you didn't even die." Theo said, smiling.
"You know, for a kid, you talk about death an awful lot." Tari said, looking down at Theo.
"Hehe." Theo said, laughing a little. "Yeah, I die a lot."
"You're not alone, Theo." I said, laughing a lot with Theo. "In my world, I am immortal."
"Riiiiiggght. Anyway, Jared and I need to find a way out of here. Theo, where are you headed to?" Tari asked.
"Oh, I just need to get to the goal post so that I can get to the next level, and the goal post should be… yep, there it is." Theo said, while we looked at the goal post.
Tari gulps seeing the distance, "Why would you wanna go and do that?"
"The ancient Elder Tomato told me to do it." Theo said, bringing out the Elder Tomato.
"Long ago, at the land of Simple Flip Island, lives three banana gods…." The Elder Tomato said, keep on giving lore.
"How long does this go for?" Tari asked.
"About an hour." Theo said, frowning.
"Hmmmm…" Tari said, as the Elder Tomato keeps on talking.
"That is an awfully long time." I said, turning back into my human form. "I hate hour-long tutorials. Thank you, Pokemon Sun and Moon."
Tari looks around until she sees the goal post, "Oh. Theo, Jared, I think I saw some monsters trying to steal the goal post."
"Oh, no, they don't!" Theo said, gasping. "Let's go beat them to it! Crackerjacks!"
Theo runs off. Tari sighs.
"Hey! Let's a go!" Theo yelled, pulling Tari's hand and my hand with him.
(Open POV)
TASCorp store…
Belle is looking at what is happening outside of the game and trying to get a hold of the situation.
"That's right, sorry folks." Belle said, leading people out of the store. "Store closed early tonight. Get out! Come on."
"Aw, but I wanted to buy a gaming duck…" A male pedestrian said.
"Yeah it'll still be here tomorrow buddy. Buh bye." Belle said, walking back into the store. "Alright Lucks! Store's been evacuated! Just you, the scientists, and the couple now. That's probably the creepiest thing I've ever said."
Belle walks by but then gets interrupted by a Bot-boy.
"Um, excuse me, ma'am." Bot-Boy said.
"Ah!" Belle yelled, getting startled as she then punches the Bot-boy. The Bot-boy yelps and recoils in pain a bit. "Ugh…" She calms down a bit. "Oh it's just you. Don't creep up on me like that dude."
"Yep so sorry ma'am. I couldn't help but noticed you've evacuated everyone out of the store. What would you like me to do now?" Bot-Boy asked.
Belle sighs, "Just go stand in that corner and face the wall or something."
"Roger that ma'am." Bot-Boy said, going off to stand in the corner and face the wall.
Belle sighs as she then walks forward to meet with Lucks. However, she stops to see the screen displaying her and a purple haired girl on the TV screen.
"Wooo! Yeah! Come on! Come on! Yeah!" Belle cheered, on screen.
Belle hugs the purple haired girl as she celebrates in front of the audience cheering for them.
"OI!" Belle said, starting to show visible agitation. "Why is this ancient ass commercial still playing?!"
"Uh- I- I- I…" Bot-Boy said, at a loss for words.
"It's over a year old! Get rid of it!"
"Yes boss."
"Ugghhhh…" Belle said, storming off.
"Hehe, I think she likes me." Bot-Boy said, happily.
(Jared's POV)
Ultra Jump Mania…
Tari, Theo, and I are going through the sections of the game itself as a montage. Eventually, we come across a kind of gate guarded by a bot-boy.
"Hey beach-bot, can we get past?" Theo-asked.
"Greetings friends! Please find the golden key to paaaassss! Or you can buy the $9.95 expansion DLC available at your nearest game shop." The Beach-Bot said.
"Aw man…Okay…" Theo said, pulling out his wallet as he looked annoyed.
Tari looks around as she scans for a way to get past. She finds a way to exploit as she laughs and chuckles a bit as she decides to make a go for it. She uses the Beach-bot as foot stool as she jumps onto a part where she can stand on due to faulty collisions.
"Hey friend! Please don't exploit bad collision like that!" The Beach-Bot said, worried.
Tari smirks at the Beach-bot as she then jumps on top of the gate and past it to the other side. I used my ghost powers to phase through the gate. Tari turns around and sees a big red button that she then pushes. This causes the gate to open up.
"Huh?" The Beach-Bot asked, while Theo runs to get inside."Hey friends, are you sure you do not wanna buy the DLC…? Aww…."
"Whoa! Tari! Where'd you learn that?" Theo asked.
"I don't know. It was just a feeling." Tari said.
"Huh- I thought those funny shoes would make it impossible for you to jump."
"Hey! Leave my socks and sandals alone. I think they're cool." Tari said, hearing the grunt of a facepalm as she gasps. "Wait, did you two hear that?"
And then a few facepalms start to show up from the ground. This causes Tari and I to get into fighting stances as we turn to Theo and nod. Tari then runs towards the facepalm as she strikes them with a punch, electrical shocks come out of my body to knock out a facepalm.
Tari then recoils in pain, "Owwwwww…."
The facepalm then spawns a coconut bomb as it rolls to the ground as Tari and I then dive out of the way of the explosion and lies face down next to Theo.
"Ooof!" Tari said, terrified.
"Tari, Jared, what are you doing?" Theo asked, looking between Tari and I.
"We are fighting the bad guys." Tari said, and her voice is muffled laying face down.
"Oh. Well, non comical violence is looked down upon for an E rated game. Hya!" Theo said, throwing a coconut at a facepalm as it hits it which causes the facepalm to disappear as it returns back to him like a boomerang. He then pulls out pineapple hammers. "Here use these instead."
"Oh. Who lives in a pineapple under the sea? SpongeBob SquarePants." I said, walking over to the pineapple hammer and grabbed one from Theo. "Who lives in a pineapple under the sea? SpongeBob SquarePants."
Tari looks at the hammer as she then gets a feel for it., "Oh…whoa…"
A few facepalms jumps and tries to attack Tari.
"Tari! Look out!" I said, holding my pineapple hammer.
"Huh?" Tari asked.
The facepalm lands which causes Tari to lose balance a bit as she then regains her balance by hitting the facepalm with her hammer.
"Yeah! TARRRRIIIII!" Theo said, excitedly.
"Wow…effective." Tari said, and there were more facepalm grunts as she gasps.
A horde of facepalms appear.
"Um- um- uh…" Tari said, at a loss for words.
(Open POV)
TASCorp store…
The scientists are talking and Belle is walking to meet with Lucks who is studying Tari and Jared.
"Hmmm, fascinating." Lucks said.
"This is a lot of effort for one transcended chick, Lucks." Belle said.
"Yes. Yes, it is. But can you imagine what technology like this could do for TASCorp?"
"Lucks, I don't know about you, but most people don't need some janky VR to play video games."
"You know, they said the same thing when I invented the Meta Runner arm. And now you can't make a name for yourself without one. This is the future, Belle, and it's literally within our grasp. Or would you rather those parasites LucidGaming get their hands on this or maybe those neanderthals EvoTech." Lucks said, looking at Tari and Jared.
"Hell no! If you think this is the future, then I'm gonna be the one leading it." Belle said, happily.
"Hmph, that's what I thought." Lucks said, while a kind of digital sound as the scientist finishes up booting a kind of program into the Ultra Jump Mania cartridge. "Ah it's all set up. Well then let's begin."
(Jared's POV)
Ultra Jump Mania…
Tari, Theo, and I are still in the predicament of having to fight a lot of facepalms.
"Uh, Theo, Jared, I don't think we can fight this many." Tari said, sadly.
"Sure we can. WHOOOO'S READY TO DIEEEEE?!" Theo exclaimed.
"Theo! Seriously, we should run!" Tari cried.
"Nah that's lame. Wahey!" Theo said, charging in.
"THEO!" Tari cried.
A few facepalms run towards Tari and I.
"Whoa…" Tari said, at a loss for words.
I electrically charged my pineapple hammer and used it to hit a few of the facepalms with it. A facepalm then goes over and puts Tari in a clash where she blocks with her hammer.
"Need some help?" Theo asked, jumping on one and throws a coconut at another one as well. However, a facepalm hits Theo and sends him flying. "AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH! Oof!"
Theo hits the ground surrounded by facepalms.
"NO, THEO! HOLD ON!" Tari said, charging in as she scans the best possible route to take down the facepalms. She then executes her plan as she beats up a few of the facepalms. "Theo! Are you okay?!"
"Yup! Takes a lot more than that to kill me! Speaking of killing, you don't suck at doing it anymore." Theo said, happily.
"Uh- thanks. I think I am getting the hang of this." Tari said, smiling.
"This is like a combination of Super Mario Odyssey and Crash Bandicoot." I said, smirking. "It's like a walk in the park."
We look at the remaining facepalms as we nod to each other as we execute a team attack where I sent an electrical charge on Tari's hammer. Theo is flung by Tari's hammer as he reinforces his head with the coconut.
"Yeah! Ha ha ha! Woooo!" Theo cheered, hitting a facepalm.
Tari and I hit more facepalms.
"Heads up, Tari!" Theo yelled, throwing his coconut at a facepalm which disintegrates it as Tari grabs it and chucks it by hitting it with her hammer.
This takes out the last facepalm who was running away.
"Ha ha ha! WOO HOO! We actually did it!" Tari said, excitedly.
"See! You don't suck at all! Hoo Hoo!" Theo said.
"We did amazing." I said, while Tari, Theo, and I high five each other but the game somehow starts glitching out a bit. "That was awesome!"
Tari, Theo, and I are a bit confused as to what's going on.
"Huh?" Theo asked.
"Wha?" Tari asked.
"Huh? Uh?" Theo asked.
Ulta Jump Mania / TASCorp store…
"I didn't jump between worlds." I said, as a red colored Theo appeared behind Tari and I. "Or I think I didn't."
"My, my…isn't this interesting?" Lucks asked, as Red Theo.
Tari and I turned around to see the Red Theo.
"Whoa…it's me…Hi, me! Are you my Spanish cousin? Hola." Theo said, happily.
"Who are you? What's going on?" Tari asked.
"Oh I am just someone who cares very much for the two of you. You see I am a very curious man and what's happened here has piqued my curiosity." Lucks said, as Red Theo.
"You are a man? No you are a boy…like me." Theo said, annoyed.
"What is really interesting is that you, Tari, Jared, you both seem to have consciously entered the game yourselves. Which brings me to ask. How on earth did you do it?" Lucks asked, as Red Theo.
"I don't know I-it just happened." Tari said, frowning.
"Well then let me help you and Jared figure it out. You see this here, what you have done is a gift and at my company TASCorp we are all about nurturing the gifted." Lucks said, as Red Theo.
"Like I'd help you figure out my jumping between worlds." I said, and electrical shocks came out of my body.
Belle sighs a bit.
"So, can you help u…" Tari said, recoiling in heavy pain. "AAAAAHHHHH!!! What?! My arm! It burns! What are you doing?!"
"Shit." I said, while more electrical shocks came out of my body. "I forgot they were going to do that, Tari."
The scientists are performing mechanical work on Tari's arm as some try to approach my body but get thrown back by my electrical shocks going off.
"Why, we are helping you." Lucks said, as Red Theo.
"No…Stop!…It hurts so much…!" Tari said, terrified.
"Pain is just an obstacle to greatness, Tari. What you and Jared have could change the world." Lucks said, as Red Theo.
Tari was gasping in pain as even more electrical shocks came out of my body.
"Tari…Jared…Tari….Jared…are you okay? Go away bad Theo! Uh!" Theo said, throwing his coconut at Red Theo which is just an apparition created by Lucks to converse with Tari and I.
(Open POV)
TASCorp store…
"Just bear with us, Tari, Jared. This will be over shortly." Lucks said, as Tari recoils and screams in pain as outside glowing lines start to appear. "How remarkable."
"Lucks, so-something's wrong. I think that's enough!" Belle said, worried.
"Enough?! Do you see what we are discovering here?! I will say when it's enough!" Lucks said, angrily.
(Jared's POV)
Ultra Jump Mania…
Tari is still recoiling in pain as everything still is glitching out and electrical shocks keep coming out of my body in anger.
"Tari. Jared." Theo said, looking very concerned. "Tari, Jared, what's going on? I feel funny…" Tari is gasping heavily. "Tari?! Jared?! Tari?! Jared?!"
TASCorp Store…
"AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!" Tari yelled, screaming as outside she created an electro shockwave that pushed everyone back from her.
Tari and I wake up in the real world as we turn around to see Belle and Lucks still needing to recover from the shockwave. Then we turn to our side where we see Theo who is looking around as he looks at Tari and I.
"Crap." I said, looking down at Theo. "Now I know how Morgan Spencer felt when the Mane Six ended up on Earth."