Town of Beginnings
"Adventure Log: Entry 202. Month: Star. Day: X. Year: Heart. It has been two years since we were trapped in Aincrad. We could only wonder what had befallen the outside world because of our-"
"What are you mumbling about, Miko?" Jenny asked. "We've literally been here for less than a day!"
"Hey, I just wanna be dramatic!"
"Don't even joke about being here that long." Quill replied. "This is almost as bad as the Voyage…"
When they checked in at the inn, they made the selection for their avatars to sleep until 8:00 a.m.. It was instantaneous; they didn't have to wait to get tired, their vision simply faded to black and reloaded into a brand new day, a seamless transition with the smallest load time. The inn was a safe zone where their avatars were untouchable, so they could sleep safely. The sky was still cloudy on this new day, but sunlight tried to poke through the clouds.
"Hahaha! I still have my body!" Carmine ran outside and happily skipped along the pavement. "It doesn't hurt, it doesn't hurt, it doesn't—ow! Pebbles still hurt…" She lifted her foot to brush it off.
"Haha!" Miko giggled. Seeing her friend so happy made this situation a little less stressful. But Miko frowned, knowing not everyone here felt such happiness. She didn't know if Infinite was a rogue Hinobi Program or some other entity, but if it weren't for him, she wondered if this game could've been as wonderful as the creators wanted it to be? If everyone could've had fun and been happy.
"Alert! Glitch approaching!" Boly shouted. "Please derez the unrecognized Program posthaste!"
"A glitch?!" Miko looked around, the others doing the same.
"I don't see anything too weird…" Jenny said.
"User Me_K.O., please look to your left."
They turned that way, but all they saw was a tall, strong-looking swordsman in a blue, sleeveless robe and tights. He had brown hair and charming eyes. "Are you a glitch in disguise?" Miko glared, getting battle-ready.
"Forsake such thoughts, my comrades!" the swordsman declared, clasping the hilt of his blade. "I hath cometh to lendeth my aid!"
"Oh, dear Arceus." Quill groaned. "Is that YOU, Eddy?!"
"Eddy?" Miko perked up.
"Art thou surprisen to see me?" He smirked boldly.
"Dude!" Miko ran up and around the six-foot hero. "You're, like, TALL! And awesome!"
"Ew, I don't like it." Jenny cringed. "And the Shakespeare talk makes it even worse."
"Does that mean you're in the game now?" Carmine approached.
"Well, I… Carmine?"
"Uh, yep!" She smiled and crossed her feet. "We can be whatever we want, huh?"
"Indeed we can! But actually…"
…
In the real world, Eddy was cross-legged on a cushioned floor, his laptop attached to the NerveGear. He used a microphone to transmit his voice and tapped the keyboard to control his character's motions. "Carol found a way to hack our own Programs into the NerveGear. She passed the info to other computer users, so I'm playing in third-person!"
"Did you manage to get some sleep?" Carmine asked.
"Yep! Don't get me wrong, I was really worried, but I had to keep my stamina."
"It's okay! We were just sleeping ourselves because we were hoping you would catch up. It was Quill's idea."
"Aww, thank you, buddy!"
"Yeah, but I didn't think you would make yourself a pumped-up jerk!"
"Really?" Eddy frowned confusedly. "I thought you would've made yourself taller, too."
"Well, my shortness allows me to drive smaller and more versatile cars! But that design just makes you look arrogant."
"True… I guess it's not quite me, is it?" Eddy stared at his trim, beefy fingers. "Maybe I'll make some adjustments." His character went still for a moment as Eddy began typing within the Program's coding. In a moment, his muscles shrank into their normal scrawny form, complete with big glasses on his plain face, a mole above his lips, and his pale-blue shirt, shoes, and black shorts. "There! Now I'm normal."
"YOU'RE STILL BIG!" Quill shouted. Indeed, Eddy still dwarfed his friends.
"Well, a taller avatar gives the camera more field of view. Besides, from where I'm sitting, you're the size of a grape, so I'm bigger than you either way."
The real Eddy reached a hand over and pinched his fingers over Quill's avatar. "I'm pinching you right now! Haha!"
"You better be taking care of our bodies!"
"Don't worry. They've been sending soft and liquid foods to everyone, so I've been keeping your bodies nourished. I don't think you've had to use the bathrooms, yet, but… ehhhh…"
"Just don't, dude. Just let me go in myself."
"Uh, hehe." Jenny chuckled nervously. "So, let's get on with the adventure, shall we? And stop talking about creepy stuff?"
"Strange anomaly detected: unregistered glitch appears to be non-hostile."
"Boly, this is Eddy! He's a friend!" Miko said.
"Boly?"
The group took a moment to brief Eddy on the mission. "Okay… but even though you worked for Hinobi, you're not technically affiliated with them, anymore. So, wouldn't the developers have control over the MCP? I feel like it would be their jobs to fix this mess."
"I am unable to connect with President Kayaba or the Hinobi network. Only User Me_K.O. can serve as my vessel."
"It can't really be helped." Quill shrugged. "So, didn't Sector Hinobi say they were going to Dragon Towers?"
"Yeah! Hopefully, they've already found Lexi. We should be able to get to other floors using the Elevator Tower over there."
"Not exactly an organic way to traverse an open world." Eddy commented.
"It saves us the trouble of getting lost." Jenny argued. "Let's go!"
Many other players were entering and exiting the tower, with Sector Q becoming mixed among them. There were actually dozens of elevators within the tower, allowing groups of different players to travel to different floors without having to make too many stops. Sector Q entered their own elevator and studied the directory. "It's on Floor 13… right then!" Miko happily pushed the number on the controls.
As the elevator rose skyward, the opposite wall became transparent, providing them a view of the sinking valley. They bid farewell to the Land of Beginnings, darkness enveloping them as they transitioned floors. They began zooming past the 2nd floor, Urbus, which appeared to be a vast canyon where a town was situated on a platform in the middle of the chasm. The third floor was the Prism Desert, a vast desert with pyramids of many sides, and even some upside-down floating pyramids. The 4th floor, Rovia, was a lava land with a Roman colosseum.
"Virtual or not, this place is pretty epic." Jenny said. "But like, our real universe is pretty epic, too. Why would people need to play this game when they could have a real adventure?"
"Because this world helps people feel strong." Quill answered. "They can go wherever they want without worrying about dying. It's like when people wanna become a KND operative. They think fighting villains and having adventures is fun, but then they get to the hard parts. That's why playing games is safer… or at least it was supposed to be."
"Heh…I guess you're right." Miko said, remembering what Lexi last told her.
Gun Gale
The elevator stopped at Floor 23 as Sector SA stepped out. A drastic change from the fantastical first floor, Gun Gale was a muddy brownish city mostly filled with tough and dark-looking figures with guns strapped to belts. "Oooooo!" Nagisa drawled, drawn in by the atmosphere.
"I know you like watching people kill each other on TV, but don't look like such a fanboy." Goombella said with a reproving stare. "Frankly, this place makes me uncomfortable."
"So, what does your friend look like?" Morg asked.
"I mean, I don't know what Millium's avatar is," Fie replied, "but she has light-blue hair in real life. Sort of like you, Nagisa. Her screen name is Oz73."
"How're we supposed to find her in all this?" Nagisa asked.
"Just have to look around, I guess." Killua figured. "But since we're not in avatars, I'm sure other operatives will recognize you. You guys are famous, right?"
"For better or for worse." Goombella replied.
"I hate to suggest this, but perhaps we should split up." Morgiana said. "We are a little too colorful to be traveling together. But how would we keep in contact?"
"We should each have friend codes." Killua brought up his screen. "If we exchange those, we can contact each other."
"Sounds good." Nagisa agreed. "But just to be safe, it may be better to divide in pairs. How about… Morg hangs with Fie and Killua with Goombella? That'll mix things up!"
"Should've known you'd suggest that." Goombella glared. "But why're you going alone?"
"'Cause I'm the stealthiest!" he grinned. "I already have some pistols, so I can at least blend in." He indicated the guns on his belt. "Let's call each other if something happens. Otherwise, we'll meet up back here in, say, two hours?"
"Just be careful, Nagisa." Morg cautioned.
The five split into separate directions, unsure who to really look for or even what to do afterwards. Being trapped in this game, they had no real control of the situation, no idea if the operatives outside were working to save them, and unsure if defeating the 100 bosses would really save their selves. For now, it would feel more comforting to regroup with more friends.
Nagisa walked by an escalator and glanced up it… His brows perked up, seeing a girl with lightish blue hair, wearing green, white, and dark attire. She appeared to be aiming a sniper rifle across the town. Nagisa ventured up the escalator and approached her calmly. "Excuse me?" He tapped her shoulder.
"Ah!" She gasped, turning around. "Hey, don't just sneak up on someone while they're sniping!"
"I'm sorry! I was just wondering… is your screen name Oz73?"
"No, it's Sinon."
"Heh, okay." Nagisa blushed awkwardly. "I'm looking for someone with blue hair, so I thought…"
"Your hair is blue."
"I meant someone else!"
Sinon chortled. The girl looked over Nagisa's attire. "So, I guess you were on Floor 1? You seem a little 'normal' for this game."
"Yeah. I was supposed to be a Sheikah, now I'm just… plain old Nagisa!"
"Hmhm…" Sinon glanced to the guns on his hip. "I guess this is your first time at Gun Gale? Those seem like default models."
"You're right on the mark~" Nagisa joked. "…But listen, after that announcement, what are people actually doing on this floor? They're not playing against each other, are they?"
"No… all bouts were cancelled as soon as that happened." Sinon replied somberly.
"I don't suppose this game sells non-lethal bullets?"
"Not as far as I know. No one was supposed to die for real, so the devs had no reason to program those."
"Well, that sucks…" Nagisa's eyes fell a tad.
Sinon made a small smile. She could sense the worry in this girl's eyes, though her calm voice and tone helped to mask her emotions. Sinon was already feeling a slight kinship with her. "Maybe I could help find your friend. I spend a lot of time here, so I know the town fairly well."
"It's actually someone I don't know, I'm searching for them for a different friend. But, yeah! I don't mind some help! I don't really have any clues, so do you know a place people like to go?"
"Yeah, come with me."
Though Nagisa decided to go alone, it felt nice to have a new companion to hang with. "Oh, my name's Nagisa, by the way." He said as they began traveling. "Though my screen name is SK101."
"What's that stand for?"
"Silent Kill. I have a thing for assassins~"
"Oh. Uhh…"
"Don't get the wrong idea! I'd never kill anyone for real, I just like the aesthetic of it."
"Hehe, I figured that. With wanting non-lethal ammo and stuff."
"Yeah… Do you think we could escape if we beat the 100 bosses?"
"I don't really know. I'm still trying to process this whole thing. It just… happened out of nowhere."
"It always happens out of nowhere." Nagisa sighed. "But as soon as we get enough people together, we're gonna take that Infinite down!"
"Really? That's a bold statement." Sinon narrowed her eyes non-believingly.
"Hey, my friends and I are pretty strong. Especially my girlfriend."
"Girlfriend?"
"Yep! What, I don't look cool enough to have one?"
"No, just a little surprised." Sinon smiled. "But lucky you!"
A group of men seemed to whistle at them as they walked by. "Check it out, Sinon's got a cute little friend~"
"Can't wait to see her covered in blue~"
"Ew." Nagisa cringed, not even sure what he was implying. "I see you have your own fanclub…"
"Ugh, there are too many creeps in this game. Half of them are probably my subscribers. Dirty perverts."
"Yeah, but…" Nagisa leaned closer to her, "don't get mad at me for saying this, but your shorts are kinda short. I can see your…"
Putting the rest of his sentence together, Sinon flushed. "What?!"
"I'm sorry! I just glanced for a bit and thought you should…"
"Why hasn't anyone else told me?! I swear, I wanna… hey, come over here." Sinon pulled Nagisa into an alley. "S-Stand guard while I fix this, don't let anyone see." She began trying to pull her shorts up, much to Nagisa's discomfort. "Er, does it look any better?"
"Uh…n-no?" Nagisa looked for a second before looking away. "Why didn't you design yourself with more clothes?"
"Because I wanted some mobility! My friend made the design for me, but he never drew… never mind. Listen, just stay close to me while we walk." Sinon pulled Nagisa's arms as she resumed their walk, keeping him close to her back.
"U-Um, this feels really weird!" Nagisa flushed brighter. "We only just met each other, I don't think…"
"I don't like it either, but I'd rather have a girl protecting my ass than have guys look at it."
"Y-You know I'm a guy, too, right?"
Sinon stopped with a start. Nagisa was… a guy? He did seem kind of flat-chested. He also said he had a girlfriend, but Sinon just assumed… A guy? And she was using him to hide her…
Not far away
"And that's why I chose to work under CP0." Fie concluded her story to Morgiana.
"He sounds pretty important to you." Morg replied, silently awed by the story. "I can relate to that… I still don't fully trust you, but I don't think you're lying."
"Always keep your guard up. That's the first rule as a jaegar."
"DWOOOOH!"
They heard a cry and faced ahead. Nagisa was kneeling on the ground before a cyan-haired girl, gripping his aching head. "NAGISA!" Morg dashed over and grabbed Sinon's shoulder, forcibly turning her around. "Who are you?! Why did you hurt him?!"
"W-Wait, who are you?!"
"Eh heh heh heh…" Nagisa laughed weakly. "Maybe we should explain ourselves."
Floria
Lexi found an outdoor inn on this floor and decided to rest there until the sun rose. She didn't expect too much danger in a flower field, but exploring in sunlight felt safer. The main plaza of Floria had a fountain in the center of some paved roads. She left the plaza and begun to explore the fields, the flowers soft and welcoming on her feet. There were many other players who took the form of Harnitans, Kokiri, or Floro Sapiens, though Lexi watched her step for any small-size players. The relaxing atmosphere of this floor was helping to relieve the hearts of the players after the dreadful announcement.
Lexi saw a tree of flower-shaped fruits, smiling at their exotic-looking taste. "Hyah!" She kicked the tree to make one fall… but instead, a large bee, the size of herself, flew out, looking cartoonishly adorable, but angry. "Uh-oh." Lexi ran as the bee began pursuing. She wasn't about to engage that monster with direct karate. She tried to shoot lightning backward, but her weak bolts were unable to land a good shot. She kept glancing back to determine the bee's position, but before she knew it, she was running toward a 'girl' in a black kimono. "Whoa! Sorry!" Lexi tried to run around her. The girl narrowed her gaze on the bee and bent up a swarm of flower petals to slice the bee to pieces. "Huh…" Lexi stopped and calmed herself after witnessing this. "Thanks."
"If you're not going to fight, don't bother coming out in the field." Kalluto said, walking away.
"Uh! Did you see the size of that thing, it would've stabbed right through me!"
"It's just an insect. There are plenty like that in my world."
"Well, where I'm from, they're tiny, and they're still terrifying."
"Don't waste my time."
Lexi puffed her cheeks in frustration. She stomped after the boy. "But aren't you worried about dying?"
"I've abandoned that fear long ago."
"Hah, don't you talk big? How old are you again?"
"I'm turning 11 in May."
"Pfft, then you're younger than me. You must be a heavy gamer to act like that."
"Do you need something?" Kalluto turned to her with a glare.
"Well, I…" Lexi glanced down and twisted a foot on the ground. "Not really. I'm just kind of waiting for my sister to fix this game or something."
"Pathetic. If you can't rely on yourself, you won't survive." He kept walking.
Lexi fumed and stomped after him. "What, are YOU planning to take out 100 bosses?"
"If that is my test, so be it. My instructors wouldn't have it any other way."
"Instructors?" Lexi cocked a brow as she looked over Kalluto's Japanese attire. She then pieced it together: "So, you're a student, too!"
"Yes. I was sent in here as part of an assignment."
"Man, that sounds cool. Hey, maybe we should help each other then! It would be great if I could improve my karate while I'm in here."
"The first step is not running away from bugs."
"Ugh, fine! Next time, I'll show you what I'm made of!"
"I would hope so. I received a tip on where the boss is located. We're heading in its direction now. It's not my fault if you die to it."
Lexi cringed in worry. Though she had gotten stronger thanks to Maddy's training, she was unsure if she was ready for such a big task. "...Well, I'm still not gonna let you go alone. You're still my junior, so I have to bail you out if it gets too dangerous."
"I'll bet."
"My name's Lexi, by the way. What's yours?"
"Kalluto."
"Cool! Alright, Kalluto, let's show this boss what we karate girls can do!"
"I'm a boy."
Lexi froze in place. "Oh…well, cute avatar!" She hurried back after him. (Play "The Honeyhive" from Mario Galaxy!)
Stage 2: Floria
Mission: Defeat the boss of the flowers! It sounds more epic than it feels!
Lexi followed Kalluto up a hill, but it shortly ended at a ledge before a chasm. They jumped onto a giant floating flower, but the next one was further away. Kalluto used his bending to draw it in and fill the gap between them and the following flowers. The giant bees called Bzzaps flew to attack them. Lexi dodged left and dealt a karate chop to the bee, knocking it onto the flower, followed by a stomp that derezzed the bug. "Hey! I got it!"
Kalluto had bent petals up to destroy the others, ignoring Lexi and jumping the flowers. Lexi huffed and jumped to catch up. They landed on a hill with some large dandelions. Kalluto picked one up as a breeze carried him across the valley. Lexi struggled to pick one out herself, but- "Whoa!" was taken by surprise when she finally did and was forcibly carried away. The spores on the dandelions were breaking off as the flowers were sinking. Kalluto jumped to another floating dandelion, but Lexi saw one that was a bit too high. She hurriedly climbed to the top of hers and barely made the jump, grabbing the tip of the higher flower. She had to steer the dandelion around floating spiky plants before jumping to another dandelion. Afterwards, an updraft carried her up to a safe platform where she could jump off.
"Interestingly, Floria is the name of one of Hyrule's great lakes." Kalluto thought aloud.
"Wait, you're from Hyrule?"
"Yep."
"Cool! I'm from Coruscant, but I moved to Earth last-"
"Passive comments don't require conversation."
Some large flowers with multiple buds aimed at Kalluto, spinning and shooting seeds like a minigun. Kalluto nimbly dodged them with Paper Art and went to slice the first one with his fan. As he targeted the second flower, Lexi frantically dodged the bullets of another, ultimately just running away. That flower decided to target Kalluto, who used Iron Body to defend from its bullets. "Dude, your skin is hard as steel!"
"It's called Iron Body." Kalluto Shaved up to slice the flower.
"What kind of style is that?"
"Rokushiki. I don't know why you assumed I was a karate student." Kalluto continued along the road.
"Could I have given myself that in the game?"
"There are no options to equip yourself with advanced martial arts. That's because any person can learn these techniques."
"You have to teach me!"
"No."
The duo reached a chasm where small flower platforms were shifting up and down, with bladed, fan-like flowers serving to impede their jumps. Kalluto couldn't seem to bend the evil flowers, so he only avoided them. He had covered the course far quicker than Lexi did, the older student taking her time to carefully plan the jumps. By the time Kalluto made it to a ledge on the other side, the world seemed to glitch. A giant lawnmower robot began carving through the flowers ahead of Kalluto, sending the petal bits flying back like blades. Kalluto simply caught the petals with a twirl and cast them into Egg Pawns that had spawned, slicing the robots. "Hey, wait for me!" Lexi raced to catch up, dodging the mower's petals.
As they arrived at a garden of large dandelions, metal fans began spinning along the ground to slice the stems. The kids quickly grabbed a dandelion before they could ascend from their grasp. The dandelions were floating up to even larger fans, so they hurriedly jumped the dandelions before they could be skewered. By the time they could rest on some safe ground, the sky was steadily growing dark and cloudy. They could only walk a short distance before a lawnmower spawned behind them, the two switching into running mode. The ground ahead glitched and became a chasm with flower platforms, but that didn't stop the lawnmower from floating and pursuing. Lexi nearly stumbled on the edge when it glitched while Kalluto outpaced her again. She was frantic to catch up, and after jumping some flowers, they had to jump against some floating beehives.
This caused a swarm of Bzzaps to fly out and pursue them. They landed in a wider field, where fans floated above to suck flowers in. Lexi ran past and under those fans to make them suck the bees in. They reached a chasm where dandelions were falling into a giant fan at a slowish, but scarily fast pace. "Hmmm…this should be a decent challenge." Kalluto said as he began to jump and swing the dandelions with keen reflexes.
"W-Wait! WAIT!" Lexi screamed. "I can't do that! C-Can't you help me or something?"
"Then turn back the other way!" Kalluto called back.
"Come on, please? I can't make it back by myself! I'll pay you my allowance or something!"
"Sigh…" Kalluto rolled his eyes and decided to swing his way backward. "I suppose I could think of this as bodyguard training." He let Lexi onto his back and began to swing the dandelions again. He nearly missed the jumps at some parts and had to use Moon Walk to readjust himself. He followed the dandelions skyward until he could jump to a safe ledge.
"Phew…thanks." Lexi climbed off. "How were you air-jumping like that?"
"Moon Walk technique. Unfortunately, this game seems to have a stamina meter, so I can't overuse it. Anyway, I doubt you'll do much better at this next section, so hold on."
Wind was blowing against them as Spring Flowers were caught in the draft. Kalluto jumped on the first, sprung upward, used Shave to push through the wind, landed on the next, and repeated the process. Spikes were blown as well, requiring Kalluto to drop beneath them before Shaving toward the springs. Parallel columns of vertical springs were about to pass overhead, so Kalluto quickly caught himself in them as they auto-Wall Jumped him to a walkway. He crossed the walkway to a safe ledge where he could set Lexi down. "By the time we get out of here, you better have enough allowance to pay me."
"You don't play with many friends, do you?" Lexi remarked as she followed him.
"Only partners if necessary. Though you're not an ideal one."
"Hmph. Well, it's still better if we stick together. And I'd really fight a bit better if you taught me a few of those moves."
"Do you even know how to concentrate your Personal Chi?"
"Well, yeah! I learned how to break cinderblocks in my karate class. I've been trying to learn the two basic Haki forms, but it kind of hurts my brain…hehe."
"Then I don't have time to teach you Rokushiki."
"Come on, just one move?"
"I'm going to take out the boss for this level. Are you planning to fight or will I have to protect you?"
"Well, I'm gonna protect you, too!"
"I'll take that as a 'yes.'"
"Yes! …Er…yes to what?"
"Forget it." (End song.)
Dragon Towers
Sector Q stepped off on Floor 13, their heads craning up to absorb the view of the Chinese city. The sky was eclipsed in twilight, while flames and lanterns provided light. "Oooo! Very authentic!" Jenny admired. "So, this is the martial arts floor?"
"Correct." Boly replied. "There are numerous gyms, training halls, and arenas befit for any culture or style of combat."
"If it's any culture, why choose the Chinese aesthetic?" Eddy asked.
"President Kayaba put numerous cultures' names in a hat and drew one. He selected China. I detect the Pure Heart's presence toward the east, as well as those of numerous glitches. I recommend quickly searching for the Heart."
"I recommend rolling up those dragon roads like a cool skatepark!" Jenny excitedly zoomed toward a dragon that sloped up from the plaza.
"Don't start without us!" Miko and co. hurried after. (Play "Dragon Driftway" from Mario Kart!)
Stage 3: Dragon Towers
Mission: Find the Pure Heart!
Act 1: Dragon Road
The first road sloped up, curved down, then sloped up at a taller incline as fireworks launched from the distance and exploded against the road. The operatives maneuvered around the impact points, the road becoming straight once they were at the top. Dragon snake robots, whose bodies were made of segmented balls, circled around the road and spat fireballs with each loop, but Eddy raised his new sword and bravely leapt to chop the first robot's segments off, while Quill ran to set fire to the second one. The following chunk of the road glitched out of existence, with only a series of Ring Dragons to lead the way across, along with stacked blocks in-between. Each dragon had a hammer Pixl (Cudge) above it. Miko had to jump and bounce on the first dragon, with each bounce destroying one of the dragon's segments, whittle down the block stack with her hammer, and jump to the next dragon before that one ran out. She repeated the process three times before she could land on the other side and destroy a black-and-red, glitchy generator.
The dragon road repaired as Miko's teammates could catch up. The road sloped down and ended over a pit, with several horizontal fireworks crossing the gap toward a plaza area. "Me_K.O., please direct your attention toward that Pause Switch." Boly indicated a floating, yellow-and-blue clock at the edge of the road. "This device can Pause the game for a short time. It may assist in crossing this chasm."
"Yay, I'm a timebender!" Miko went to hit the switch, freezing the world save for their group. They jumped the frozen fireworks carefully before landing on the plaza. "Hey! Zahra, is that you?"
The Muslim Hinobi operative was charring Egg Pawns with pink flames. "Miko! You caught up!"
"Where's everyone else? Did you find Lexi?"
"No, we're still looking for her. But we think we found the Pure Heart."
"Really?"
"Look at that screen!"
Zahra pointed to a screen displaying a blonde, muscular guy in blue pants, laughing and raising a red heart above him. "That's Rumble McSkirmish." Miko acknowledged. "He's from the game Fight Fighters, everyone knows… wait! That's the Pure Heart!"
"Rumble is the boss of this level. His dungeon is the Tower of 100, where players have to fight 99 other warriors before facing him. It looks like he's giving the Pure Heart away as a special prize, so Mitch and Five hurried to the tower."
"The Tower of 100 basically sounds like a miniature version of this game." Quill said.
"Zahra, keep looking for Lexi. We'll head for the tower and meet up with them."
"You got it! You can get there if you take this road."
Sector Q followed the road in question, seeing giant flaming wheels rolling their way. The group hid in a gap in the road while the first wheel passed by. They ran further and saw a cracked part of the ground, which Carmine blew open with bombs so the group could hide in the gap. They continued after the wheel passed, but as the world glitched, a large series of wheels appeared ahead. "Down here!" Eddy yelped, jumping off the right side to find a walkway along the side of the dragon. The group joined before the wheels could crush them. Miko went ahead to jump some platforms and find a Laddie. The ladder Pixl stretched up to a platform in the air. Miko climbed up and found a Pause switch. She called her friends up before using the switch to Pause the flame wheels. They could land on and run up the wheels before they could branch off to a road on the left.
A huge, red Thwomp was shifting right and left. It would crush against a wall on the left, but to the right was a platform across a chasm. They had to jump against the Thwomp when it shifted right, kicking off with the momentum to land on the platform. Another Thwomp bounced up and down, so they used it to launch them up, having to immediately bounce some Ring Snakes to reach the next platform. There was a Pause Switch on the head of a Thwomp. They held off on touching it, but held on as the Thwomp fell downward. Just as it crashed, two other Thwomps threatened to pin them—Miko flipped the switch to Pause them. The group Wall Jumped the Thwomps to get on top. Either Thwomp would return to separate roads that curved down to the same plaza.
A horde of XANA Krabs waited in the plaza, surrounding a round Pixl with blue spikes. "Me_K.O., that Pixl will enable an invincibility barrier that can deflect attacks for 20 seconds."
"Miko, can I have it?!" Eddy exclaimed.
"Be my guest!" They both ran onto the plaza as the Krabs began shooting. Miko seized the Barry and transferred it into Eddy. As a spiked shield formed around him, he spun to deflect the Krabs' lasers back at them. The others ran to contribute to the damage, ensuring every Krab was destroyed. As they ventured up a new road, Miko collected another Barry, using it to deflect the fireworks fired by robots on the towers. The road sloped by a tower, where they could view into one of the training halls. A pigtailed human girl was throwing kicks at a muscular Glomourian.
"Why would anyone be fighting if they know they'll die for real?" Eddy asked.
"On the contrary, being KO'ed in the training halls will not boot players out of the game." Boly said. "It seems players are still able to battle in safety. However, be mindful that being killed in the Tower of 100 will result in the worst."
The road allowed them onto the roof above that hall. An Egg Bishop hovered over the edge and would conjure an endless horde of XANA Hornets. Eddy sliced the Hornets down while Quill shot and burned the Egg Bishop. They traveled around the building and could climb some fire escape stairs to the next roof. They could now see inside of a dining room where people naturally ate with chopsticks. They were being served by a blue-haired, pigtailed girl who had a Nimbi avatar. "Well, Ah suppose if Ah'm goin' to be trapped in here, I have plenty o' time to improve mah cooking." She said in a country accent.
"I'm sure other operatives are around." Raleigh said, enjoying her meal alongside some Shy Guys. "If only we had a way to contact the outside."
"Did you say you were a KND operative?" Jenny asked.
"Huh?" Raleigh turned. "Hey, I think I recognize you guys! You are…?"
"Sector Q." Quill replied. "You're one of the rich kids, right?"
"Carol figured out how to upload avatars without logging into the game directly." Eddy explained. "We can stay in contact with operatives on both sides!"
"Cool! I guess that means Carol's still outside. So, do they have a plan to fix this mess?"
They quickly briefed Raleigh on their mission. "Okay, I think I understand. Let's exchange Friend Codes so we can keep in touch. I'll try to be on the lookout for Carol's avatar, too."
"I'll tell her you're still here." Eddy replied.
"Um, excuse me?" the chef spoke up. "If it ain't too much trouble, could you tell Sector JP I'm trapped in here, too? Mah name's Megumi. I'm sort of a friend of theirs."
"You got it! Also, is that a Thwomp in there?" Eddy noticed the sleeping Thwomp behind Megumi. They curiously walked around to the side—the Thwomp woke up and launched into them, shooting them across the chasm to another road. A wide plaza lay before a great tower 100 floors tall, and the dragon's body led straight onto it.
There appeared to be a brawl taking place on the plaza… but Miko first recognized a friend standing at the edge of the road. "Five!"
"Meeks! Heh, you sort of came at an awkward time. Mitch got in a fight."
"A fight…?" They returned attention to the brawl they had just noticed. (End song.)
Mitch appeared to be fighting a shorter, tan boy with dark hair covering one eye, an orange top, baggy white shorts, and bare feet. Mitch raised his arms to block a flurry of punches, but suffered a kick to the stomach. Once Mitch's guard dropped, the boy jumped to kick his chin, but Mitch threw a punch with his Hinobi Glove and knocked the boy down. "Hey!" Miko yelled as the boy got up and resumed attacking. She rushed up to grab his shoulders. "Why are you attacking-" The boy kicked Miko off.
"This jerk says I can't go into the Tower of 100!" King Kazma shouted. "I won the preliminary matches, I won the right to go in there!"
"And I say it isn't safe!" Mitch stated. "I'm an official Hinobi officer and this tower is scheduled for mandatory de-glitching."
"Bullcrap! You just wanna defeat the boss yourself!" Kazma rolled behind Mitch and tried to kick, but Mitch grabbed his foot and tossed him aside.
"Mitch, you don't have to be so hard on him."
"But he attacked me! Besides, Miko, we think one of those Pure Hearts is-"
"I already know about that. But why are you fighting this kid over it?"
"Because only one competitor can fight in the tower, so it has to be me. After all, I AM Mitch Williams~"
"More like Dick Williams!" Kazma shouted. "You really DO just want the prize!"
"That's not the only reason! I really am detecting dangerous glitches around the tower. My team is going to deal with them while I fight the battles."
"Why can't YOU deal with them while I fight?!"
"Because I'm a pro, Kazma. And you're just a brat who picks fights without thinking."
"Wait!" Eddy yelled. "Did you just say 'Kazma'? As in, KING Kazma?"
"Yep." Five replied. "Believe it or not, that's what he really looks like."
"Uh, hello?" Jenny called. "Who is this Kazma guy, I've never heard of him."
"He's a gamer who always challenges the most popular gamers!" Eddy announced happily. "I'm one of his subscribers, he's the best!"
"You think so, eh?" Kazma asked drolly.
"Yeah! I totally get what you mean about popular gamers! They're the reason underrated games get such a bad rep, always following the objectively better or newer titles, and they have no eye for classics!"
"Exactly!" Kazma threw up his arms in exasperation. "At least someone gets it!"
"Great, you can bond over it out here." Mitch stated. "I'm going in."
"No you are freaking not!" Eddy grabbed his arm. "If he won the right to go in, then you have no right to stop him."
"Is he even a KND operative?"
"Not really…" Kazma replied.
"You do know that if your HP reaches zero, you'll die, right? This may be a videogame, but it might as well be real. You don't have the training for this sort of thing. Especially when you're dressed about as well as that hillbilly."
He had referred to Carmine, who shirked sheepishly. "Overalls are cute."
"Oh, yeah! I guess you were on the first floor, huh?" Miko figured. "Here, let me fix your avatar!" She flashed a light over Kazma, who suddenly grew to Eddy's height and morphed into his white rabbit form with a red jacket.
"Huh?!" He stared at himself in awe. "My avatar! It's back!"
"There's the Kazma I remember!" Eddy smiled.
"Yeah! Now I feel ready!" Kazma thrusted his fists in eagerness. "You still gonna stand in my way, Mitch?"
"You should still be the same strength with or without your avatar! It doesn't change the fact that-"
"I would like to interject." Boly emerged in its misty diamond form. "Mitch Williams is technically not the most capable of challenging the Tower of 100."
"What?!"
"Yeah, suck it!" Kazma smirked.
"User Me_K.O. is technically the most capable."
"WHAT?!"
"M-Me?" Miko blushed. "I mean, I kick butt in fighting games, but…"
"Indeed, your physical capabilities shall enable you to conquer the 100 fighters. You will also have further aid from the Pixls if need be."
"I don't care what you say!" Kazma shouted. "I won the prelims, so I'm going to battle! You can't stop me!" The rabbit turned and dashed for the tower entrance.
"Now, wait a sec!" Mitch tried to stop him, but Kazma was already determined. He was up the stairs and gone behind the tower gates. "Damn! He's going to get himself killed!"
"Now you can see why he's so infamous." Five figured.
"We shouldn't have to worry." Eddy said. "He's a pro at fighting games, so if anything, he's the best option."
"We need to back him up from the glitches!" Miko reminded. "And be ready to pull him out in case his HP starts dropping. Come on!" The group rushed to the tower.
Tower Boss Room
"Hwah! I sense, that a challenger, has entered my chamber!" Rumble McSkirmish (from Gravity Falls) announced in a battle-ready pose. "But wait! You haven't cleared any of the 99 floors! Have you used the forbidden art of Cheat Codes?!"
A muscular, grinning, crowned monster had entered the room. Love Machine narrowed its eyes on Rumble and cracked its knuckles.