(Jared's POV)
Simple Flip Island…
Tari, Theo, and I are walking together.
"Theo, you're back home." I said, clutching the strap of my sling bag.
"I don't wanna go back." Theo said, sadly.
"C'mon, Theo. You saw yourself glitching out. It's not safe for you to stay in our world." Tari said, frowning.
"But I've had so much fun being with you, Tari, Jared. I've… never had human friends before." Theo said, looking between Tari and I.
"I know Theo. But Jared and I can't risk anything happening to you. Especially with Lucks out there hunting for us."
"Lucks is a pretty dangerous dude." I said, looking down at the ground.
"I'll- I'll miss you Tari, Jared…." Theo said, letting out a lot of tears.
"Don't worry, Theo. We'll still come and visit you here from time to time." Tari said.
"Tari's not wrong. I've game jumped before." I said, happily. "Ultra Jump Mania wasn't the first."
"Really?!" Theo exclaimed.
"Yup. I jumped across games in an entire arcade and on the internet before. I did it with old friends of mine." I said, clutching a sugar cookie necklace under my hoodie. "They were Wreck-It Ralph and Vanellope von Schweetz."
"Crackerjack!" Other Theo yelled.
"Huh?!" Tari, Theo, and I exclaimed, at the same time.
We get startled as we look towards the direction where the voice came from. We see another Theo.
"Wait?! What?!" Tari exclaimed.
And then the game starts glitching out.
"This is very weird…" Theo said, frowning.
"Theo! Jared! What's happening to us?!" Tari exclaimed.
"Crap." I said, while we start phasing out of the game.
A garbled snippet of the UJM theme song plays.
Office…
Tari and I gasp as we wake up in the room again. I removed my AmuSphere from my head. We looked at MD-5.
"Hey! You okay?" Sofia asked.
"Uh- Yeah…" Tari said, rubbing the back of her head.
Theo spawns back in the real world, "Uh- ah- Well that was disturbing."
"NANI?! What the hell just happened?" Lamar exclaimed.
"Ugh, I have no idea. I- I think the game just kicked us out." Tari said, getting up.
"Hmmm- It must be THIS!" Sofia said, walking up to the game cartridge.
"What? What about it?" Lamar asked.
"This Ultra Jump Mania game already has its own Theo. So when it saw that Theo, it didn't know what to do. And booted the three of you out." Sofia said, looking between Tari, Theo, and I.
"I don't get it." Theo said.
"Well, this isn't a multiplayer game. It's a single player one." I said, walking over to the game cartridge. "It didn't know what to do with two Theos. So the cartridge exploded."
"Whoa…Does this mean I get to stay here with both of you?" Theo asked.
"No. This means you need to get back into your own cartridge." Masa said.
"Boo!" Theo cried.
"Oh! Theo's original cartridge is back at the speed running arena! Let's go and get it!" Tari cheered.
"Our Theo's game cartridge isn't in the arena anymore, Tari." I said, looking down at the floor. "Lucks took it back to TASCorp."
"No…!" Tari said, worried. "You have gotta be kidding me."
"That makes things a little harder." Lamar said.
"Don't worry! We'll get it back, guys! We'll find a way!" Sofia said, excitedly.
"Sofia. Do you remember Operation 'Silent Demon'?" Masa asked.
"'Silent Demon'… Oh yes I do!" Sofia said, looking at Masa.
"Oh hell no! I'm gonna stop you right there, Masa. This wasn't the original plan! We were gonna train her and get her and Jared to join the team. That's it!" Lamar yelled.
"And how exactly do you expect to get Theo's cartridge back? Just by getting them to join?" Masa asked.
"I— I'm not sure. But it's a whole lot safer than going on that near-impossible suicide mission, that's for sure."
"After seeing what these three are capable of… Hmph, I don't think it's impossible at all. If we train Tari and manage to pull this off, Theo will be able to go home. And more importantly. Lucks and TASCorp will be through."
"Sofia, Jared, help me out here! Tell this fool, this is a dumb idea!" Lamar said, looking between Sofia and I.
"He's… right, Lamar." Sofia said, sadly.
"He really is right, Lamar. Vanellope had a similar issue to Theo." I said, frowning. "But she was trapped in her game. Until Ralph and I helped her. Even so, she never ended up in the real world."
"What?!" Lamar exclaimed.
"He's… right! The longer we wait, the riskier it is for Theo to stay in our world. And I think with Tari and Jared here, we'd actually be able to pull that mission off." Sofia said.
"Uh… What is Operation 'Silent Demon' exactly?" Tari asked.
"Grrr… God damn it! See?! Now y'all gone and planted this dumb idea in her head." Lamar said.
"Get some sleep, Lamar. That goes for everyone else. Let's talk about this in the morning." Masa said, walking away from us.
"Oh, now you wanna go to sleep? Before y'all wanted to fight Tari first. And now y'all wanna sleep. HEY! I'm grillin' you here! Come back! God damn it…. Being emo doesn't mean you are smarter you know! Stupid Masa thinking he knows what's good for us…" Lamar said, walking away from us.
"Heheh. They're funny." Theo said, happily.
"Uhhhhhh…" Sofia said, looking between Tari, Theo, and I. "...let me show you guys to your beds."
(Open POV)
TASCorp…
Belle is looking at the Project Blue data file chip she just found. It then loads a video of a particular scientist doing a video log.
"Is this thing on? Hello? Cool? Cool cool cool cool cool! Dr. Sheridan here, and this is an update on Project Blue! Wait, do I need to say my name? Gah, nah, it should be okay." Sheridan said, as there is a flash as it transitions a bit forwards in time. "My life's work is almost complete! Hahahah! Lucks is finally going to see the fruits of my research and more importantly I'm not gonna be fired! Heheheh! Wait, I probably shouldn't have said that." There is another flash forward as he chugs down a cup of coffee. "Anyway, the AI program I made works perfectly. It can optimally beat any game you put in front of it. All that's left is to find a human host to download the AI into, and we can begin the final phase of my research! Hehehehe!" Sheridan chugs down another coffee cup. "Ah~ Oh god, oof. That is some good coffee."
The video goes blank as Belle then swipes to play another video.
"I'm…" Sheridan said, yawning. "…still… looking for someone. No one wants to be the host…. Not much time…" He hits his head on the desk by fatigue as he jolts up. "Oh god! I don't have that much time! I gotta find someone now!" There is another flash of time as it jumps forward. "Hehehe! I found someone! She's a Meta Runner here at TASCorp! And we've made incredible progress. A really basic version of the AI has been downloaded into her Meta Runner arm successfully! From what I've seen, the host's game playing skills have skyrocketed tremendously! Heh! Oooh, we are killing it aren't we? Hehe. I think we are ready to take this experiment to the next level! I'm gonna use a more advanced iteration of the AI. Oh…this is gonna be so good. Hehe. I have no doubt she is gonna become the best Meta Runner at TASCorp! Hehehe! Ooh, Lucks is gonna love this! Hehe. Oh… I'm out of coffee."
The video ends as Belle tries to press next but the file was corrupted.
"What?" Belle asked, deciding to play the next video file instead.
"Oh god no! No no no no no! Please, please! No! C'mon! Shut off! SHUT OFF!" Sheridan said, worried.
"Doctor! What's happening?!" A woman exclaimed.
"Just hang in there!!! I am trying to-!"
"AAAAAAAAGGGGGHHHHHH!"
"AAAAAGGGGGHHHHH!"
An explosion happens as the video ends.
"That voice…" Belle said, agitated as she fell down to her knees.
(Jared's POV)
Ramen restaurant…
MD-5 are having breakfast with ramen. A bot-boy with a chef's hat gives Lamar food.
"All right! Food time!" Lamar cheered, picking up his food.
"Uh… Is that a new body pillow?" Tari asked.
"Oh, Satsuki-chan here is my side chick." Lamar said, sitting next to his body pillow. "I've- uh- quite a few. I'm a bit of a player, y'know what I'm sayin'?"
"Right…"
"Such an ecchi." I said, when Sofia and Masa came in.
"Welcome! Welcome!" Bot-Boy said, excitedly.
"Hey Ramenbot! Goooooooooood morning everyone!" Sofia said, and we are just eating our ramen mostly. "Huh? Hmmmmmm, Hehehehe."
Sofia pulls out a tablet as she presses something. A kind of hologram appears as Tari gets startled and flips her bowl.
"Wha?!" Tari exclaimed.
"Whoa! Cool!" Theo said, waving his arm at the hologram as he gets a feel for it.
"It's time to get to work." Masa said.
Sofia presses some things. Chibi versions of them appear as they are in front of a castle representing TASCorp. The chibi versions of Lamar, Sofia, and Masa charge forth.
"Oooh! They're so cute!" Tari said, looking down at the chibi versions.
"They really are adorable." I said, enjoying my ramen. "I love chibi."
"I know right! I made them myself! I like Masa's miniature, he's…" Sofia said, as Masa gave her the stink eye. "I mean…" She coughs. "So it's been a whole year since we've formed MD-5. And we've tried tirelessly to disrupt and take down the evil TASCorp."
I looked down at the chibis in front of the castle.
"Don't mess with me!" Chibi Masa yelled.
The chibi models all pull out their respective weapons as Lamar wields an axe, Masa wields a sword and Sofia has water magic. The chibi Belle and Lucks laugh guarded by the TASGuard chibis. The chibis all charge forward as they attack the TASGuards.
"Ah hah! Hello!" Chibi Sofia said, shooting a blast of water.
"But no matter how hard we try and fight… Lucks and TASCorp always come out scot free." Masa said, and Chibi Lucks uses techno-psychokinesis to throw the Chibi MD-5 away. "That was until we came up with Operation 'Silent Demon'."
"Ugh. Here we go." Lamar said, annoyed.
The Chibi MD-5 get up again.
"The general idea is this. We hack into TASCorp's network, and get access to their private files and records." Masa said, while I looked at the hologram montage of the TASGuard electrically showing a Runner, Belle laughing at a Runner in prison and Lucks throwing a cash of money at a TASGuard. "Any records on the horrible things they've done or plan to do, we'll know about. Showing that kind of evidence to the public would completely ruin Lucks and his company."
"But, but, but, but! The problem is TASCorp's security system is suuuuuper tight." Sofia said, as a cage of metal appears to protect the castle. "From the outside there's no way it can be hacked. I've discovered however that there is one way to get in." Chibi Tari, Chibi Theo, and a chibi version of me show up. "And that's where you guys come in!"
Chibi Tari, Chibi Theo, and the chibi me wave.
"Hello." Chibi Tari said.
"Crackerjack!" Chibi Theo said, excitedly.
"Yo." Chibi me said, happily.
"Whoa! Awesome!" Tari said, in awe.
"Hehe. Hi little me!" Theo yelled.
"Who's a cute little chibi?" I asked, looking down at the chibi version of me. "You are! Yes, you are."
"Ugh. I'm not a pet." Chibi me said, rolling his eyes.
Sofia presses a button as a shack appears as the full MD-5 appear before it. We enter to find chips playing games on computers.
"A huge underground e-sports competition is coming up. It won't be broadcasted to the public, and more importantly TASCorp will be running the game on their servers!" Sofia said.
"What does that mean though?" Tari asked.
"It means that if the game crashes at any point during the competition, the servers will go down too. Which will give Sofia a small window to hack into their network." Masa said.
Theo scratches the back of his head as also Chibi Sofia waves.
"Now I bet you are asking, 'How are you gonna crash the game'?" Sofia asked.
"Actually, I was gonna ask for some more ramen…" Theo said, sadly.
"Same. Ramen is as good as sushi." I said, slurping on the ramen broth.
"Well, there's a glitch we can execute that should do the trick!" Sofia said, chuckling a bit.
Chibi Tari pulls out a magic wand, "Wah!"
Chibi Tari's magic shakes the entire chibiworld inside the shack.
"That's exactly why this is a dumb idea. The glitch is so difficult, so precise, that the chances of any of us doing it is next to impossible. And if this fails y'all can be sure as hell that Lucks will have our asses captured." Lamar said.
"Tari. That ability to go inside games… that lets you see things others can't, right?" Masa asked.
"Yeah… I- I guess you could put it that way. I haven't completely figured it out yet but… when I think of a goal or task, I can see the path to complete it." Tari said.
"Then think about it, Lamar. This glitch is ten times easier if she can utilize her abilities."
"I…" Lamar said, letting out a sigh. "...I guess."
"Tari's able to hop between games with ease." I said, while I looked down at Chibi Tari, shaking the place as the gate opened. "I have to worry about converting my character each time."
"After watching you play yesterday, I really think you can do it, Tari. You're the chooooosen one!" Sofia cheered, as everyone, except me, looked at her funny. "Hehe."
"Star Wars?" I asked, laughing a lot.
"Yup. Anyway…" Sofia said, and Chibi Sofia entered into the recently opened room. "When the servers go down and I hack into TASCorp's network, I'll be able to extract all of their information."
Chibi Sofia returns back with scrolls as the Chibis celebrate.
"Not only will this bring an end to TASCorp, but we'll be able to source info on Theo's cartridge…" Masa said, while Chibi Masa walks to Chibi Theo and chibi me as they nod to each other. "…and forge an order to get it sent back to us."
"Think of all of that information… All…that…power… Ooooohhh…" Sofia said, getting a bit excited. "...Sorry…"
"But we will only do this if you're completely in. Otherwise, you'll be putting all of us in danger." Masa said, looking at Tari.
"So... I play a game, execute a glitch, and we take down TASCorp right?" Tari asked.
"That's right!" Sofia said, excitedly.
"What do you think, Theo and Jared?" Tari asked, letting out a sigh.
"Yeah! Sounds fun!" Theo cheered.
"It is fun." I said, picking up some green tea to drink it. "Fun but dangerous."
"Would you guys…" Tari said, looking at Sofia, Masa, and Lamar. "…be able to find records about me on their system? I feel like we might find info on who I am. And why I can't remember anything."
"Yes! Of course we'll help you." Sofia said, happily.
"Okay then! Let's do it!"
"Yahoo! Alright!"
"If y'all honestly think you can do this then…" Lamar said, letting out a sigh. "…I guess I'm with ya's. But damn, this is a STUPID idea."
"Good. Let's get started. Go to the gaming room. We have under a week to train you up. And teach you this glitch." Masa said.
"Uh- What's the game we'll be playing in the competition anyway?" Tari asked.
"Oh! It's called Tempest! It's a magical battle royal game!" Sofia said, excitedly.
"Ugh…" Lamar said, getting up, as he picks up his Satsuki chan body pillow. "…man, why do I keep hanging with you crazies…"
"Because you love us!" Sofia said, in a singsong voice.
"Alright, Ramenbot. Back in the cabinet you go."
"No! Don't put me back in there! I love the taste of life! I just want to make ramen no…" Bot-boy said, when Lamar shuts it off.
(Open POV)
TASCorp…
Lucks is in the room testing out the cartridge, "Okay, try now. Turn it on."
The TAScientist types some stuff onto the computer to boot up the game as the TV turns on as they press something on the controller but the game still glitches out and shuts off.
"God damn it!" Lucks yelled, punching the desk. "Why is this NOT working…?"
Belle walks in as she is breathing heavily.
"What did you find Belle?" Lucks asked.
Belle holds up the memory chip containing the video files. They watch the video clip together.
"I have no doubt that she is gonna be the best Meta Runner at TASCorp." Sheridan said, while a flash forward once again. "Please Please no! Come on! Shut off! SHUT OFF!"
"Doctor! What's the hell happening?!" The woman exclaimed, on screen.
"Just hang in there while I'm trying to— AAAAAGGGGHHHHHH!" Sheridan said, on screen.
"AAAAAGGGGGHHHHH!"
The explosion happens as the footage turns off.
"So that's what happened to Sheridan. All along I thought he blew that lab intentionally to cover up his failures." Lucks said, in awe.
"Screw Dr. Sheridan! Do you hear that voice in the background?!" Belle exclaimed, replaying the scene once more.
"That does sound familiar…"
"It's Lucinia!" Belle said, pulling up a photo of her hugging a purple haired woman. "All that time we thought she was missing… When she… she… GOD DAMN IT! How did we not know about any of this?!"
"I've never heard of this Project Blue before. She must have secretly done this of her own accord." Lucks said, as he eyes something on the frame shot. "Wait… Belle. Rewind the tape." Belle rewinds the tape. "There!" Lucks takes notice of the input combo Sheridan did as he talks to the TAScientist. "You! Hand me the controller."
The TAScientist hands Lucks the controller as he then does the button inputs that Sheridan did as the game now displays the crest and something else of interest as well as Lucks and Belle are surprised and check it out.