The prison was just as secluded and desolate as Gamer had intended it to be, yet it had suddenly sprung to life upon the arrival of the pair of royal siblings. Such was to be expected, as before their entrance, the area had been filled with emptiness and despair. The only living beings, ones made of flesh and blood, had resorted to moping about, muttering their defiances as they obediently fell in line to the cyber overlord’s demands. There wasn’t much they could do, though Kepler had been summoning the willpower to break free from his cage for quite a while. The appearance of two such…vibrant girls was a breath of fresh air, to be sure, thought that in itself meant nothing in the long run.
“Why don’t you share with us why your brother is degrading you?” Xena had said. “Or has he even robbed you of your freedom of speech?”
“…even Keith cannot entirely shut me up,” Yuffith replied, head still lowered in shame. “He…he has been acting strangely for quite some time now. He never fit in, unless it was with the wrong crowd. Then, when our parents died…”
“So the little boy had hate seeded within him so deep that he could do something like this?” the princess continued. “Even to his own flesh and blood?”
“It’s not Keith’s fault!” the soft-spoken girl suddenly snapped back. “He…he’s just confused, is all. I’m sure of it. He had always been such a good brother before…Once he realizes what he has been doing, I’m sure this all will be resolved. Please, you…you just have to be patient with him!”
“You…can’t possibly expect that from us…right?” Sage spoke up. “I mean…he’s done such a horrible thing to us. I-I can’t forgive him…”
There was something ominous about the smaller one, Yuffith pondered. She sort of resembled a mouse, both in appearance and attitude, but there was a fire in her eyes when she made her statement that sent a shiver down the Summers’ would-be heiress’ spine. She didn’t expect them to understand her position on the matter, but when it came right down to it, she still loved her brother. It wasn’t his fault that he got in over his head. If anyone was to blame, it was that hacker. What was his name, again?
“…Magnus,” she muttered.
“What?”
“Magnus is the other administrator’s name, from my understanding,” Julia explained. “He started involving himself with my brother a little bit after our parent’s funeral. Keith thought he found a friend, but I knew his greed right when I saw him. You could practically smell it on him as he walked by.”
Just as Xenia and Sage began to ponder that revelation, something brushed up against Sage’s thigh. Screaming a high-pitched warning, she raised her arm and turned around, almost swinging it down instinctively. Fortunately for pretty much everyone involved, however, the cyan-haired girl stopped herself before she could do such a thing, because before her stood the oddest-looking creature that she could recall ever seeing. He was very short, perhaps even half her own height, and adorned himself with such an odd red and green-themed costume. There was a word for it, Sage thought, but she couldn’t put a finger on it.
“Elf!” Yuffith’s eyes brightened upon the sight. “You came back!”
“I asked you not to call me that, little miss,” the elf glared back at her. “It’s offensive.”
“Yes, you’re right. My apologies,” Yuffith bowed politely. “Where have you been?”
“I was out, lookin’ around,” the elf scratched his head. “The program’s pretty big. That brother of yours and his hacker friend sure as hell knew what they was doin’, that’s for damn sure.”
“Any word on…the other thing we discussed earlier?” she asked, hope flickering within her wetted orbs momentarily.
“I told you before, Jules, it’s extremely difficult to hack from within the program. It’s technically possible, but there’s some trick to it that I haven’t figured out yet…” he responded grimly. Yuffith stomped out the flames of hope immediately, cursing herself for getting too far ahead. It was just…hard, being inside the prison for days on end. It would have been more tolerable inside her cabin, she knew, but she had long since resolved to be any sort of benefactor to her brother’s random generosity as long as the cruelty in his other decisions still remained.
“…who are you, anyway?” Xena inquired, crossing her arms. “Pretty random program Gamer made.”
“I ain’t a program, girly,” the elf shook his head. “The name’s Stone. Kurt Stone. Gamer…calls me Kepler, though.”
“Why?” Sage raised an eyebrow.
“‘cause he’s a fuckin’ idiot, that’s why,” Kepler practically pouted. “I don’t actually look like this’n real life. This is just Magnus’ way of bein’ funny, I suppose. Although, as I’m sure you can see, I ain’t laughin’. Anyway, I’m assuming you guys are the new players. Welcome to our own little hell. Make yourselves comfortable.”
“Thanks,” Xena replied sarcastically.
“You can thank me by helping me take this bastard down,” Kurt spoke lowly, though if Gamer had actually been listening in, he knew that he would have heard it.
“How can we possibly get out of here?” Xena asked. “I don’t intend on going down with a fight, but I don’t exactly see a whole lot of options here.”
“We’re trapped in this game, sure, but there’s still gotta be a way out. This is still, after all, a machine we’re talkin’ about,” Kepler explained. “It’s basically a video game. There should be a login and log out function, as well as a reset button. Normal players have access to that at the start, no problem, but we’re under special accounts. Just think of us as ‘guests’ with no actual abilities. We can’t do anything without the permission of one of them, sadly.”
“And there’s still the possibility of Keith coming back to reality,” Julia sighed. “I…still have hope. I just have to be patient.”
Sage and Xena exchanged dubious glances, but before they could speak on them, the devices that they still wore at the hip suddenly rang. Both women jumped at the occurrence, and backed further away when two separate portals opened beside them, one for each of the prisoners. Yuffith and Kepler watched, open-mouthed apparently from awe. The girl of the pair spoke up. “How odd. You’ve been summoned to another event!”
“But wh-why? Weren’t…weren’t we eliminated?” Sage frowned.
“Hey, Mixie! Get your ass down here!” Kepler shouted into the air.
On cue, the female AI formed in mid-air, a panicked look on her face. “Please, you two! You must hurry, or you’ll be late for your event!”
“What’s going on?” Xena inquired.
“Master Gamer has requested that all players be summoned to an event,” Mixie explained. “There are plenty of reasons why he’d want a couple prisoners participating, but my guess is that he’s just bored.”
“Typical of my brother,” Julia shook her head.
“This actually works in our favor,” Kepler added. “Without you two here just yet, I can still poke around a bit more without any of those bastards sticking their nose in everything. He’s probably lost interest in us a long time ago, the dumb kid.”
As Sage and Xena stepped through the portal, Magnus ran into the control room in real life. Keith was eating a bowl of Spaghetti-O’s, watching the monitors intently with a wide grin pasted across his visage. The kid was starting to get disgusting, the hacker began considering. It had been a while since he had showered, and he never brushed his teeth anyway, so all the fake pasta he was stowing away only served to worsen his sour breath. All the man could do was shake it off, however, as he entered the room. There were more pressing matters at hand, anyway.
“What, may I ask, are you doing?” Magnus sighed through gritted teeth.
“Hm? Oh, I’m, uh, eating lunch,” Keith responded, failing to even turn around to meet Magnus stare with his own. “I got really hungry all of the sudden.”
“I was referring to the game, you insolent little…” Magnus tightened a fist, and redirected his thoughts. “I thought we had agreed to end it after the first round. This was to be a test, after all.”
“I changed my mind,” the boy shrugged. “The game’s already started, and I simply hate starting over. Besides, everything’s going fine.”
“There are too many bugs in the system! It’s untested technology! Too many unknowns!” the hacker protested. “The brain is a fragile but complicated piece of machinery. We have no idea what they’re capable of doing with all our own machinery plugged into it. Besides, there are loopholes that, although small and difficult to find, could compromise the entire operation!”
“Operation? Magnus, you watch too many movies,” Gamer laughed. “This is just a game, a cool way to pass time. You don’t have to take things so seriously.”
“These people will kill you if they get out. Surely you must realize that,” Magnus gripped the boy’s shoulder. “Stone may be a sniveling fool, but he does know his way around technology. With the system the way it is now, he will find a way out, I assure you.”
“I’m not quitting now, end of story,” Keith glared up at the older man. “And I suggest you take your filthy hand off of me. I don’t need someone like you making me dirty.”
The hacker shook with rage, but did as the boy asked. He couldn’t afford to make an enemy out of him…
“…yet…” he began to speak. “Yet you refuse to bathe. Simply astonishing. But fine, I digress. I shall simply have to keep an eye on your elf friend myself. I need to log in soon, anyway.”
“Fine, then, go. Do that. Just leave me alone; the events are about to start. I put Lance in a solo event. He’s fighting that octopus chick from Metal Gill Sordid. I’m excited,” Keith waved him away.
“As you wish…” Magnus bowed and walked out of the room, muttering to himself as he made his way into the jack-in station. “You snot-nosed little fool.”
“Why don’t you share with us why your brother is degrading you?” Xena had said. “Or has he even robbed you of your freedom of speech?”
“…even Keith cannot entirely shut me up,” Yuffith replied, head still lowered in shame. “He…he has been acting strangely for quite some time now. He never fit in, unless it was with the wrong crowd. Then, when our parents died…”
“So the little boy had hate seeded within him so deep that he could do something like this?” the princess continued. “Even to his own flesh and blood?”
“It’s not Keith’s fault!” the soft-spoken girl suddenly snapped back. “He…he’s just confused, is all. I’m sure of it. He had always been such a good brother before…Once he realizes what he has been doing, I’m sure this all will be resolved. Please, you…you just have to be patient with him!”
“You…can’t possibly expect that from us…right?” Sage spoke up. “I mean…he’s done such a horrible thing to us. I-I can’t forgive him…”
There was something ominous about the smaller one, Yuffith pondered. She sort of resembled a mouse, both in appearance and attitude, but there was a fire in her eyes when she made her statement that sent a shiver down the Summers’ would-be heiress’ spine. She didn’t expect them to understand her position on the matter, but when it came right down to it, she still loved her brother. It wasn’t his fault that he got in over his head. If anyone was to blame, it was that hacker. What was his name, again?
“…Magnus,” she muttered.
“What?”
“Magnus is the other administrator’s name, from my understanding,” Julia explained. “He started involving himself with my brother a little bit after our parent’s funeral. Keith thought he found a friend, but I knew his greed right when I saw him. You could practically smell it on him as he walked by.”
Just as Xenia and Sage began to ponder that revelation, something brushed up against Sage’s thigh. Screaming a high-pitched warning, she raised her arm and turned around, almost swinging it down instinctively. Fortunately for pretty much everyone involved, however, the cyan-haired girl stopped herself before she could do such a thing, because before her stood the oddest-looking creature that she could recall ever seeing. He was very short, perhaps even half her own height, and adorned himself with such an odd red and green-themed costume. There was a word for it, Sage thought, but she couldn’t put a finger on it.
“Elf!” Yuffith’s eyes brightened upon the sight. “You came back!”
“I asked you not to call me that, little miss,” the elf glared back at her. “It’s offensive.”
“Yes, you’re right. My apologies,” Yuffith bowed politely. “Where have you been?”
“I was out, lookin’ around,” the elf scratched his head. “The program’s pretty big. That brother of yours and his hacker friend sure as hell knew what they was doin’, that’s for damn sure.”
“Any word on…the other thing we discussed earlier?” she asked, hope flickering within her wetted orbs momentarily.
“I told you before, Jules, it’s extremely difficult to hack from within the program. It’s technically possible, but there’s some trick to it that I haven’t figured out yet…” he responded grimly. Yuffith stomped out the flames of hope immediately, cursing herself for getting too far ahead. It was just…hard, being inside the prison for days on end. It would have been more tolerable inside her cabin, she knew, but she had long since resolved to be any sort of benefactor to her brother’s random generosity as long as the cruelty in his other decisions still remained.
“…who are you, anyway?” Xena inquired, crossing her arms. “Pretty random program Gamer made.”
“I ain’t a program, girly,” the elf shook his head. “The name’s Stone. Kurt Stone. Gamer…calls me Kepler, though.”
“Why?” Sage raised an eyebrow.
“‘cause he’s a fuckin’ idiot, that’s why,” Kepler practically pouted. “I don’t actually look like this’n real life. This is just Magnus’ way of bein’ funny, I suppose. Although, as I’m sure you can see, I ain’t laughin’. Anyway, I’m assuming you guys are the new players. Welcome to our own little hell. Make yourselves comfortable.”
“Thanks,” Xena replied sarcastically.
“You can thank me by helping me take this bastard down,” Kurt spoke lowly, though if Gamer had actually been listening in, he knew that he would have heard it.
“How can we possibly get out of here?” Xena asked. “I don’t intend on going down with a fight, but I don’t exactly see a whole lot of options here.”
“We’re trapped in this game, sure, but there’s still gotta be a way out. This is still, after all, a machine we’re talkin’ about,” Kepler explained. “It’s basically a video game. There should be a login and log out function, as well as a reset button. Normal players have access to that at the start, no problem, but we’re under special accounts. Just think of us as ‘guests’ with no actual abilities. We can’t do anything without the permission of one of them, sadly.”
“And there’s still the possibility of Keith coming back to reality,” Julia sighed. “I…still have hope. I just have to be patient.”
Sage and Xena exchanged dubious glances, but before they could speak on them, the devices that they still wore at the hip suddenly rang. Both women jumped at the occurrence, and backed further away when two separate portals opened beside them, one for each of the prisoners. Yuffith and Kepler watched, open-mouthed apparently from awe. The girl of the pair spoke up. “How odd. You’ve been summoned to another event!”
“But wh-why? Weren’t…weren’t we eliminated?” Sage frowned.
“Hey, Mixie! Get your ass down here!” Kepler shouted into the air.
On cue, the female AI formed in mid-air, a panicked look on her face. “Please, you two! You must hurry, or you’ll be late for your event!”
“What’s going on?” Xena inquired.
“Master Gamer has requested that all players be summoned to an event,” Mixie explained. “There are plenty of reasons why he’d want a couple prisoners participating, but my guess is that he’s just bored.”
“Typical of my brother,” Julia shook her head.
“This actually works in our favor,” Kepler added. “Without you two here just yet, I can still poke around a bit more without any of those bastards sticking their nose in everything. He’s probably lost interest in us a long time ago, the dumb kid.”
As Sage and Xena stepped through the portal, Magnus ran into the control room in real life. Keith was eating a bowl of Spaghetti-O’s, watching the monitors intently with a wide grin pasted across his visage. The kid was starting to get disgusting, the hacker began considering. It had been a while since he had showered, and he never brushed his teeth anyway, so all the fake pasta he was stowing away only served to worsen his sour breath. All the man could do was shake it off, however, as he entered the room. There were more pressing matters at hand, anyway.
“What, may I ask, are you doing?” Magnus sighed through gritted teeth.
“Hm? Oh, I’m, uh, eating lunch,” Keith responded, failing to even turn around to meet Magnus stare with his own. “I got really hungry all of the sudden.”
“I was referring to the game, you insolent little…” Magnus tightened a fist, and redirected his thoughts. “I thought we had agreed to end it after the first round. This was to be a test, after all.”
“I changed my mind,” the boy shrugged. “The game’s already started, and I simply hate starting over. Besides, everything’s going fine.”
“There are too many bugs in the system! It’s untested technology! Too many unknowns!” the hacker protested. “The brain is a fragile but complicated piece of machinery. We have no idea what they’re capable of doing with all our own machinery plugged into it. Besides, there are loopholes that, although small and difficult to find, could compromise the entire operation!”
“Operation? Magnus, you watch too many movies,” Gamer laughed. “This is just a game, a cool way to pass time. You don’t have to take things so seriously.”
“These people will kill you if they get out. Surely you must realize that,” Magnus gripped the boy’s shoulder. “Stone may be a sniveling fool, but he does know his way around technology. With the system the way it is now, he will find a way out, I assure you.”
“I’m not quitting now, end of story,” Keith glared up at the older man. “And I suggest you take your filthy hand off of me. I don’t need someone like you making me dirty.”
The hacker shook with rage, but did as the boy asked. He couldn’t afford to make an enemy out of him…
“…yet…” he began to speak. “Yet you refuse to bathe. Simply astonishing. But fine, I digress. I shall simply have to keep an eye on your elf friend myself. I need to log in soon, anyway.”
“Fine, then, go. Do that. Just leave me alone; the events are about to start. I put Lance in a solo event. He’s fighting that octopus chick from Metal Gill Sordid. I’m excited,” Keith waved him away.
“As you wish…” Magnus bowed and walked out of the room, muttering to himself as he made his way into the jack-in station. “You snot-nosed little fool.”
Quote:Round ends on Tuesday, March 16 at 11:59 EST.