(Jared's POV)
Hideout...
We are looking at a monitor that has footage of some type of camera mode as it looks to be moving through TASCorp. It sees the bot-boy with the afro and hat before moving on to the speed running arena at the flash back where Belle was trying to get a world record at UJM and where Tari and I stumbled upon at the episode Wrong Warp.
"God! That frame perfect precision! All she has to do now is execute the coconut burst jump, and the world record is hers. To those new here, the Coconut Burst Jump is a newly discovered glitch that cuts this level in half! And we're about to witness it in all it's glory!" The announcer cheered, over the speaker.
A little spy bot was hiding behind a soda bottle as it keeps on hiding behind soda bottles as it keeps on monitoring.
"Then we saw everything that happened, and now we're here." Lamar said.
"Right.... I see...." Tari said, sadly.
"Oh my goodness!" Sofia said, checking Theo out. "Haha! This is so cool...."
"Haha! That tickles!" Theo said, excitedly.
"Wait...why were you guys spying on me and Jared?" Tari asked.
"We weren't spyin' on you and Jared. We were spyin' on Lucks!" Lamar yelled.
"Of course you were." I said, while Sofia knocks Theo's head like a watermelon a bit. "Lucks is an asshole."
"Hey! Stop! My head's not a watermelon!" Theo said, worried.
"Sorry!" Sofia cried.
"The original plan was to just get intel on Lucks and TASCorp. But that all changed when you and Jared showed up." Lamar said, looking between Tari and I.
"...You and Jared went into the video game! That's unheard of! I need to know how you both did it. Let me inspect you two a little bit...." Sofia said, happily.
"Um..." Tari said, frowning.
"Have you guys not heard of the NerveGear?" I asked, while I clutched the strap of my sling bag. "The AmuSphere? The Augma?"
"Those are twenty-first century pieces of gaming tech." Sofia said, laughing a little bit like an evil genius. "The NerveGear and Augma were dangerous. And I know the stories of them. The AmuSphere is low tech."
"Sofia! You idiot! Don't you recall what just happened at the arena?!" Lamar exclaimed.
"Sorry! I'll be good." Sofia said, letting out a sigh.
"Who are you guys exactly?" Tari asked.
"Oh! Sorry, my name's Sofia. And you've already met tall, dark, and weeb over here. We call ourselves MD-5 and our mission is to..." Sofia said, striking a vibrant pose. "Take down the evil conglomerate TASCorp!"
"It sounds cheesy as hell when you put it that way. But, yeah, that's essentially what we're trying to do." Lamar said, smirking.
"So, what did they do to you guys? Lucks and TASCorp." I said, looking down at the floor.
"Uh..."
"We... We each have our own reasons." Sofia said.
"Let's just say they destroyed many lives... including ours." Lamar said.
"But. With you three on our side...I think we have a shot at taking them down!" Sofia said, excitedly.
"Take them down?! I don't want anything to do with them!" Tari yelled.
"Tari, we should help Sofia and Lamar. They rescued us!" I said, angrily.
"That's true, but Jared, I'm trying to keep us out of danger, not get us into more." Tari said, looking at me.
"Well, I just thought since you had nowhere to go, and neither of us are exactly friends of TASCorp, you would want to team up...." Sofia said.
"Tari, I know you're scared. I was too when MD-5 found me. But I swear on all the 2D twin-tailed tsundere girls out there, that if you stick with us we'll keep you three safe." Lamar said.
"You know, back in my time, those 2D twin-tailed tsundere girls were real." I said, walking over to Lamar. "I've met them."
"You have?" Lamar asked.
Tari looks at Theo and I as we nod.
"Well if you put it like that..." Tari said, smiling.
"None of you are joining us." Masa said.
"Masa! Now? Really?!" Sofia exclaimed.
Masa hands Tari a controller, "Take this."
"Dude. Tari, Jared and the little man have been through a lot tonight. Just let 'em rest." Lamar said, annoyed.
"Don't let your emotions get the best of you, Lamar. We are MD-5. There is no room for dead weight." Masa said.
"Dang it! You can be so stubborn sometimes!" Sofia said, worried.
"It's okay. I'll do it." Tari said, taking the controller. "I'll play."
"C'mon, Tari. You don't have to." Lamar said.
"No. I want to. Maybe, at the very least, I'll learn more about myself."
Office...
Lamar, Tari, Theo, and I walk into the office.
"Welcome...to the office!" Lamar yelled.
"Whoa!" Theo said, excitedly.
"This is amazing!" Tari cheered.
"I like it." I said, happily. "Feels home-y."
"It's aight. Think of it as our training room." Lamar said, smiling.
Masa, Tari, and I sit in front of the TV.
"How much Battle Blaze have you played before?" Masa asked.
"Uh..." Tari said, chuckling nervously. "...I've played Ultra Jump Mania?"
"Right."
"Don't worry, Masa. Tari's ability to learn video games is incredible. Before when we were bein' chased by Lucks, the car was all like..." Lamar said, making crashing noises. "...and we were all like..." He makes yelling noises. "...and Tari was all like..." Lamar makes calm driving sounds. "...aww, yeah."
"...Yeah. Impressive or not, we need to see how she plays against an actual human player. Meta Runners are capable of amazing feats... But adding a human opponent into the mix changes everything." Masa said.
"I'll try my best... I guess." Tari said, frowning.
"Kick his butt, Tari!" Theo yelled.
The TV screen displays the Battle Blaze menu.
"So you guys are playing Battle Blaze! A first person shooter game. Find cover, use weapons at your disposal, and try to outlast the other player!" Sofia said, excitedly.
"Awww... I wanna play!" Theo cried.
"Ay. Don't worry, little man. I'll battle you later." Lamar said, looking at Theo.
"Yeah! Battle to the death!"
Lamar laughs nervously.
"Lamar. Have you played Splatoon or Gun Gale Online?" I asked, taking out chocolate chip cookies to snack on them.
"Aren't they old school?" Lamar asked.
"Okay! Are you guys ready?" Sofia asked, looking between Tari and Masa.
Masa is more than ready as Tari panics a bit.
"Wait! Which button was 'shoot' again?!" Tari exclaimed.
"Okay! Go!" Sofia said, excitedly.
Tari looks around in the game as Masa goes to get a gun for himself. Masa then aims the gun at Tari and snipes her from a distance thus instantly demolishing her.
"Uh...Masa wins." Sofia said, sadly.
"Go again." Masa said.
"Okay. Go!"
Tari goes again as she gets a gun as she then starts shooting around, "Oh! I got a gun! I got a gun!"
Masa peeks from cover as he shoots Tari yet demolishing her yet again.
"Ughhhhh!" Tari yelled.
"Hmmm..." Masa said, sadly.
"Dang, Tari. You're bad." Theo said, frowning.
"Hey! I'm still learning the game." Tari said, annoyed.
"Again." Masa said.
Tari goes inside the building as she sees Masa and starts to panic.
"WAAAAAAAAHHHHH!" Tari cried, starting to shoot randomly in a panic frenzy as she missed heavily.
Masa then takes the shot and instantly demolishes Tari again.
"Uh.... Maybe we should let her practice a bit before we go again." Lamar said.
"No. Keep going." Masa said.
"Dang it! Come on, brain. Do your thing." Tari said.
The game starts again as she hides behind cover and sees Masa as he shoots and she takes cover. She peeks from cover as Masa is walking over. Tari then decides to roll for cover as he tries to shoot but misses. Tari then carefully peeks from cover again as she shoots but no one was there.
"What?!" Tari exclaimed.
Masa shows up from behind and as Tari goes to face her she gets instantly demolished before she had a chance.
"Uggghhh- I don't understand! I should be picking this up by now! How do I make this thing work?!" Tari exclaimed.
"Doesn't seem like you know what you're doing at all. What a waste of time." Masa said, scoffing.
"Wait! Tari, show me your arm." Sofia said, sadly.
"Let her have a look at you." Lamar said, while Sofia starts to check Tari's Meta Runner arm interface. "When it comes to Meta Runner tech, there's no one more knowledgeable than Sofia. She pimped us out with these."
Lamar shows off his unique Meta Runner arm.
"Interesting... This is definitely a standard Meta Runner arm. But I've never seen this before." Sofia said, nodding to the crest that appears to be the logo of Meta Runner itself.
"Ooh! Press it!" Theo said, excitedly.
Sofia presses on the crest.
Tari gasps as she sees a kind of portal as she warps into the game itself as she heavily breathes as she looks around, "What..? Uh..."
(Open POV)
TASCorp...
In a hallway corridor where the staff of TASCorp is working a bit. Belle is walking down the hallway as she seems to have her interface up.
"Lucks. Why did you send me down to the research facility? Don't I have better things to do? Like, play video games?" Belle asked.
"You're there because of this." Lucks said, on comms, and pulled a picture of Tari where he puts emphasis on the crest. "I realized on the way back to TASCorp that I have seen this crest somewhere before. There's a specific lab I want you to investigate. Don't tell anyone. This is absolutely confidential."
"If this is so confidential, why didn't you come down here yourself?" Belle asked.
"Because I am busy with this." Lucks said, on comms.
Lucks pulls up the picture of the Ultra Jump Mania cartridge where it is a bit glitched out and has the crest on it again.
"I knew it. You're just playing video games." Belle said.
"WHAT?!" Lucks exclaimed, on comms. "No. This is the cartridge Tari warped into with Jared. It houses answers to all of this...I know it."
"You're just being lazy."
"Hurry along, Belle." Lucks said, on comms, growling a bit. "I want results ASAP. Search the room thoroughly."
"Hurry along Belle!" Belle said, turning off the comms. "Search the room thoroughly! Ugh- Jerk. Maybe he should come down here and then we'll..."
Belle gasps and looks at an ominous door where it says caution heavily. She decides to enter the combination to get access to the door. The door opens and she is greeted to a room that is messy and heavily wrecked.
"Ugh!" Belle said, coughing and wretches. "This place smells like crap!" She walks over to a mess. "Guess I will start here....Ugh...What a waste of my time. I could be playing Dragon Kart right now..."
(Jared's POV)
Office...
Tari is glowing once again after warping.
"Whoa! It's just like from that speed running tournament...Oh my gosh, this is so cool!" Sofia cheered.
Masa sits back down as he puts his headphones on again.
I put my AmuSphere on my head, over my face, and closed my eyes, "Link Start."
Battle Blaze / Office...
Tari in the game calls out anybody, "Hello? Guys? Can you hear me?"
"Yes, we can hear you." Masa said.
"Uh... Masa? Is that you?" Tari asked.
"Wait. Hang on." Masa said, pulling up the interface to switch through faces for his character.
As Masa swipes through the fish face character, Tari lets out a little shiver yelp a bit.
"Ah!" Tari said, worried.
Masa then settles on the mannequin face as to which he lets his arm scan his face as it transfers to the game, "Is that better?"
"Yes!" Tari said, excitedly.
"Good. Go pick up a weapon." Masa said.
"W-What? Now?"
"The match is still on. Let's see if you've improved at all now that you're in the game."
"Don't worry, Tari! If you get shot, you should just respawn!" Sofia yelled.
"That's....reassuring...." Tari said, letting out a sigh.
"Okay! Here we go. 3! 2! 1! GO!"
Tari runs to get the gun as she scans the surroundings as it automatically calculates the chances of her optimal play as she gets overwhelmed a bit.
"W-what? What does any of this mean? Stop! There's too much!" Tari said, running as she gets cover as she tries to peek out but Masa starts shooting which causes her to take cover again.
Tari retaliates back by shooting as Masa takes cover once again. Masa then starts to take another direction as he starts shooting again. Tari dodges as she goes back as she then runs away somewhere else. She then gets out to the open as Masa aims but Tari was quicker as she starts shooting as she nicks Masa forcing him to take cover. She then goes inside the building. Masa tries to stealthily go into the building but Tari takes the shot which misses forcing Masa to take cover yet again. Tari keeps on shooting as Masa then slides in the grenade which causes Tari to run away screaming but she still gets flung by the force of the explosion as it does not exactly hurts her but flings her out of the building as she lands on the floor. Masa then starts walking towards her as Tari gets a bit scared but Masa reaches out his hand instead.
"Huh?" Tari asked, a bit surprised.
"Get up." Masa said, while Tari takes his hand as she is pulled up. "Take a deep breath. Games are all about making the right decision, making the right decisions at the right time. Clear your mind and focus. The right actions will come to you." Tari turns around as she takes a deep breath as she closes her eyes. "Go."
Tari then opens her eyes as she gasps. She then sees the calculations and probabilities she can take. She then smiles as she starts to make a run for it as Masa then starts shooting but she manages to make the dive roll into cover. Masa tries to sneakily take her down. She then makes a calculation where she tries to see which has the most success. She then jumps as she does a barani as she lands and tries to shoot but Masa was faster.
Battle Blaze...
"Not bad." Masa said, chuckling a bit.
"Banana mines!" Theo said, angrily.
"Take this!" I said, excitedly.
"Huh?!" Masa exclaimed, acting surprised as he saw above him.
Theo, and I, out of line of sight and above, throw some banana mines and grenades near Masa. They beep rapidly as they then explode, sending Masa heavily flying away.
"Mwahaha! Take that! Foul beast!" Theo yelled.
"Theo?! Jared?!" Tari exclaimed.
"What?!" Masa exclaimed.
"Now that you mention it..." Lamar said, looking around the office. "The little man and the fanboy aren't here."
"That's right! And look!" Theo said, jumping super high as we land in front of Tari. "I got my jump back too!"
"Theo, h-how did you and Jared follow me in here?" Tari asked.
"Uh...magic?"
"I converted my character over from Gun Gale Online." I said, smirking.
Office...
"You guys! I'm bringing you three out now. This is so exciting!" Sofia said, pressing the crest on Tari's arm again.
Tari and I gasp as we return back to our senses in the real world. I removed my AmuSphere from my face and placed it inside my sling bag. Theo also returns back as well.
"Crackerjack! Let's go round two!" Theo said, excitedly.
"Ugh..." Tari said, taking a seat back down. "Well what do you guys reckon? Am I worthy of MD-5?"
"Hell yeah you are! That was some slick gameplay, Tari." Lamar said, looking at Tari.
"How was it? Did you feel pain? What did the world look like? Are these too many questions?" Sofia asked.
"It was...fun actually... I think with a bit more training I could really get the hang of this." Tari said, happily.
"And Theo, Jared! You both came outta nowhere! How'd you know where he was gonna be?"
"I dunno." Theo said, frowning.
"Spoilers." I said, clutching the strap of my sling bag.
"Well, what do you reckon Masa? Are you satisfied?" Lamar asked.
".....You, you have a lot to learn." Masa said, and Tari looks a bit sullen but then perks up a bit again. "But we definitely have a place here for you."
Tari smiles as some electrical glitching sounds was heard nearby.
"AHH!" Sofia cried.
"Crap." I said, when Theo was glitching heavily and turning red as he was not looking too well. "This is bad."
"Theo?! Are you okay?!" Tari exclaimed.
"I feel tingly..." Theo said, letting out a sigh.
"This...this could be because he's been out his game for too long." Sofia said, her eyes widening.
"We need to get him back into an Ultra Jump Mania cartridge. NOW!" Masa yelled.
"Tari...Jared...I'm scared..." Theo said, looking between Tari and I.
"Don't worry Theo. We'll fix this. I promise you, we'll fix this." Tari said, hugging Theo to comfort him.
"Theo, everything will work out." I said, hugging Theo to comfort him. "I promise. It will just take some time to do it."
(Open POV)
TASCorp...
Belle once again is still searching. She picks something up and throws it down crashing into stuff.
"God damn it! What do you expect me to find here, Lucks? There's NOTHING but GARBAGE!" Belle said, kicking a random box in frustration. The box hits the wall as a chip comes flying out and lands on the floor. Belle sees the chip. "Huh?"
Belle sees the chip as she goes to pick it up. She then inserts the chip into her arm as it displays the file. It says 'Project Blue' as she is surprised as to what she sees as it then starts playing.