Xinx had, at last, shaken off the shackles of Jess's incompetence. If Jess had taken the time to read one of the tutorials he brushed aside, he would have learnt that when pairing a VR character like Xinx with a human-controlled counterpart, such as himself, the human player must issue commands through menu prompts or voice instructions. These commands dictated which attacks to unleash and whom to target. Unfortunately for Jess, Xinx remained largely idle on their team. But now, with Xinx emancipated and operating in auto-mode, she stood ready to wreak havoc upon all who crossed her path. Revel! The legend of Xinx was unleashed! The mega-awesome, ultimate, and utterly badass warrior!
The yellow and grey-striped giant sock stared down at Xinx, a hint of amusement flickering in its non-existent mouth. Yet its confidence waned as it glanced at her washboard abs, a momentary intimidation creeping in before it recalled its trump card—a cheat code capable of ensuring victory in any confrontation.
Like a striking serpent, the Flexiblade Erector lunged forth, its blade extending and ensnaring the sock-beast before it could even process its next digital command. Entrapped within the Flexiblade's flexible strands, the sock's struggles turned frantic, its form contorting in a desperate display of agony.
Each twist and turn of the sock puppet was met with unyielding resistance from the Flexiblade, intensifying the sensation of entrapment. The fabric strained against the blade's grip, its once-fluid movements reduced to a futile struggle against an unseen adversary. Every contour of the sock's form spoke volumes of its futile attempts to escape Xinx's decisive assault.
"Save State Created" flashed across the screen, followed by "Loaded Save State." Whatever nefarious plans the sock harboured within its digital menus were thwarted by a single, consequential misclick. Once again ensnared by the Flexiblade, it found itself trapped in a relentless cycle.
Repeatedly, the cycle continued: save, load, choke, fall. It became painfully clear that the sock puppet's cheating mods had catastrophically backfired, ensnaring it in an endless loop of suffering.
Above Xinx's head, a message materialised: "... ...", which roughly translated to, "Suffer the pain of 1000 deaths!"
She continued to assert dominance, relishing each moment of control. A glint of anticipation sparkled in her eyes with every tightening grasp on the Flexiblade Erector.
"FF!" The sock conceded defeat, opting not to reload the save any longer, and pixelated away from 'The Mask' event.
(•ω•)
Princess Pensée traversed the desolate landscape alone, with Amii gone forever—well, until she took off the VR glasses and found Amii still in the same room, probably just waiting for her to finish playing so they could order pizza. Solitude enveloped her, the echoes of emptiness reverberating around her. Amidst the remnants of slime, plastic bags, socks, and torn towels—her only companions—she pressed forward, accompanied solely by her 400k followers. Each step she took seemed burdened by isolation, the silence punctuated only by the faint hum of virtual notifications from her devoted online audience. In this bleak expanse, she sought solace in the digital realm, where her virtual presence thrived despite the stark emptiness surrounding her.
Ahead, two familiar faces from the Academy caught her eye, accompanied by a peculiar sight—a petite, silver-looking creature cradled in Eliza's arms. Despite not sharing any classes with them and their small following, an unexplained urge to break the silence stirred within her.
Gig-git ran from Eliza's grasp with a black heel in its mouth that it had sniffed out and looted from Jess's body as it disappeared from the game.
Eliza and Kai had no idea where the heel came from since Gig-git ran off on its own to retrieve it.
Gig-git sprinted towards Princess Pensée's heels, sniffed them, and displayed a facial expression that read 'nope'. Then, it darted between her legs, nearly toppling the princess over and almost dislodging the heel it was carrying from its mouth as it dashed off into the distance.
Eliza said to Princess Pensée, "You're lucky that Gig-git let you live. They were hot on your heels just then."
"Oh jeez, I now totally get why I never talked to you at the Academy. You're, like, so clueless!" Princess Pensée exclaimed, frustration evident. "And that Gig-git thing you're obsessed with needs, like, a major uninstall and delete ASAP! Run a cleaner to scrub any trace of it, and then we seriously need to call an exorcist or something to banish its spirit for good."
Before she could finish, Eliza interjected, "Ugh, I totally know who you are. You're that girl who copied Kassy's hair-don't, right? With those, um, 'bangs' of yours? It's like a total disaster zone on your head."
"Hello? This is VR, duh!" Princess Pensée retorted defensively. "Check out my pink bangs IRL and try saying they're bad without sounding like a total joke. You're just a Kai cheerleader, and not even a good one. Too clueless to even cheer properly!"
"Oh, we go to the same school but don't have any classes together. I didn't fall for the bait to join your duck pose class or whatever, and nor do I want to." Eliza tried to think of a witty insult and ended it with "stupid!"
"Please. You didn't attend those classes because your grades weren't good enough to get accepted."
"No way! My grades were too good for that class. I'm enrolled in a bubble bath class, among others, which I genuinely enjoy. I prefer classes that offer intellectual challenges, you know?"
"So, is it just about getting into a big bath full of bubbles for this class?" Princess Pensée quipped sarcastically.
"No, there's no actual bath or bubbles involved. It's a bit more complex than that." Eliza paused self-consciously before elaborating, "The bubble-bath concept is both symbolic and metaphorical. You livestream yourself, and through an effect with an application, bubbles are added to your photo or video."
Awkward pause.
"Are the bubbles supposed to cover up embarrassing parts of your body, such as every part of it?"
Eliza got annoyed by Princess Pensée's comment. "You mean like all your filters cover all your photos and videos? Are they meant to cover up your 'embarrassing things'?"
"'Embarrassing things'? You have no clue about anyone. Embarrassing things are what get views and clicks! No wonder your follower count is so low."
Gig-git returned triumphantly, a second heel clenched in its mouth, making gargled sounds as it tried to communicate with Kai, Eliza, and Princess Pensée. The doggo suddenly realised it had dropped the first heel back where it had picked up the second one. Clearly wanting both, it kept the second heel in its mouth and scampered back to retrieve the first. After this brief intermission, Eliza grumbled, ignoring the doggo's antics for now. She was determined not to let Pensée get the upper hand, but feeling stumped on what to say, she finally settled for, "I prefer quality over quantity."
Princess just laughed at that pathetic excuse for being so bad at the eBunnee. "I had this friend who gained, like, twice as many followers as you in just a day for a butt pic on eBunnee." She laughed and continued, "How does it feel to have fewer followers than someone who just posted a butt pic?"
"You think I'm jelly and cream of that? I have a butt as well, and no, I'm not proving it if that's what you're thinking... Hold on a second. Aren't you part of that slime-eating trend where some person... uh, 'stupid' person... has to randomly eat slime from a secret mystery laboratory, Sloppy Ahoy or whatever, without knowing its properties, and record their reaction? So you're basically a science experiment and nothing more.
Princess Pensée rolled her eyes. "Get a clue, you dunce! It's a social experiment, not science. Know the diff, okay? And for your information, it racks up clicks like crazy sauce," she shot back, a defiant gleam in her eyes.
Kai, not wanting to wade into the melee, simply stood back during the entire engagement. Yet a thought slipped through his mind: "It's actually quite impressive that VR has coded eye rolls. Time well invested by the coders and animators, indeed."
It felt as though time had come to a standstill everywhere except where Pensée and Eliza were engaged in their banter—yet this couldn't be further from the truth. Beyond their awareness, Xinx roamed freely, wreaking havoc, dismantling everything in its path—from fidgety, stiff sock puppet accounts to players—leaving nothing in its wake.
(•ω•)