✜// CHECKMATE (IC)

"Vinnieeeeeeeee! Where are yoooooou?"

Ugh, Mémé.

"Vinnie! They said there were meteors in Paris! Vinnie! They said we should evacuate! Where are you?!"

Sh*t. She knows! How am I going to keep her from dragging me out of here? I could tell her....no....I can....****. She'll pretty much call any bluff I say. I can't lie to her. No, its not like a "Oh I couldn't lie to my poor old grandma." Its more like "Oh my god oh my god my grandma is reading my mind." Eff.

"Uh, in my room! Er. About those meteors..."

My grandma walked into my room, eyeing me with suspicion.

"Uh, hey Mémé. Uh....those meteors were ....uh..."

"You know, if you didn't lie so badly you could actually get away with things."

Ugh, getting trolled by my grandma. How demoralizing.

"Uh, right. Well basically I think I started the meteor shower. But not just me, some of my friends. Er, they live in a different country. America, actually. And we downloaded this game, which lets me control Candice's environment. Uh, Candice is this girl and we are friends. Anyway, her town got destroyed too...but I saved her! She got sent to this world full of snow and ice in the medium, where he has to save the universe or some crap. Anyway, now the meteor is about to destroy my town, but Vieve, you remember Vieve, has to save me! And she's probably gonna start moving stuff around and dropping big machines in here. And I got this thing that turns stuff into item cards and crap. Its about to get crazy, like you don't even know."

For support I take off my charm and pull out my Rubik's cube card. I show it to her like I'm doing a magic card trick, and them "reach" in and pull out my Cube. I hand it to her. She examines it, and shuffles it. She gives it back and I put it back in the card.

"You're not gonna solve it?"

"Mémé, this is serious stuff. I can't waste a precious half minute solving a silly toy."

Mémé laughs.

"Are you on drugs or something?"

"Huh?"

"Oh I'm just joking dear. But your story is pretty dumb. You should think of a ruse in case you're dad comes home."

Facepalm. Of course my grandma would believe my most outrageous story. Lost my phone? Nope, had to call me out. Friends start meteor shower and save the world? Oh yeah, that totally happened. Like what the f*ck. But whatever. At least she wasn't dragging me out to the car to drive away. Anyway, I need to get down to business. Vieve really should start sending those machines. Mémé sat down on my bed, apparently waiting for the magic to happen. (Oh god that sounds dirty)

I hop on pesterChum.

BE: Only /I/ get to ban people around here… and let that be a lesson to ALL OF YOU!
AM: It's good to know CF is back.
AM: And I have to agree with Vieve with this...
AM: Dunno why he's banned though.
CF: Hahaha, about time that stick in the mud disappeared~
CF: You shouldn't have banned RT though.
CF: He's better than he seems ;}
CF: He's looking so grouchy now, I think he's pestering Ricardo.
CF: And this program we are using is some special form of pesterChum. Somehow we can do more things than just chat..
CF: I won't confuse you with saying what, though ~;}
CF: So you have connected now? Soon you'll all be in the medium~~
BV: The medium?
BV: Like Candices snow world, or the jungle world?
BV: Well all get our own medium?
BV: Do we?
BV: What else can you do? Spy on us when were getting dressed?
BV: /:P
CF: No, dear coolboy, all those planets are in the same medium~ Already. Even though your girls haven't even connected with each other yet~!
CF: Why?
CF: Because the game knows how it's going to end up already ;}
CF: It likely knows the endings of all of you as well. But it's having too fun watching us getting there to just tell you from the start~ At least I assume so :}
CF: At least I have too fun watching you ;}~~
BV: Oh
BV: I feel stupid
BV: Must be how Ricardo feels all the time
BV: Jk bro
BV: But hey Vieve, seriously
BV: There's an effing meteor above my house
BV: Lets do this

"Vinnie! Get off the computer! Saving the world, remember?"

Ugh.

"It doesn't work like that. I have to wait for Vieve to send me the machines. Gosh, haven't you played video games before?" Of course, I knew she hadn't, but I was just teasing her."

♣Vieve Gotle

Now all I have to do is wait for this installation to kick into effect and we'll be all set for me to help Vinnie. This means that I will be able to see Vinnie in his natural habit, which will be fun. I'm laughing but I quickly realize that I'm not alone when I hear a snort come from behind me. There's just a bad feeling I'm getting about Gavin and him being in danger because of me. Usually he stays the night at a friend's house for two days before coming home after a party. My eyes refocus on the screen and during all that thinking I click on the memo. I'm scanning the conversation before deciding not to add anything to it until Blaster's unbanned. At least Candice agrees with me! Oh, speaking of her I need to check our conversation they always made me smile.


I'm grasping out loud when I read that Candice has a bleeding arm! What the hell? We are in real danger? This is such a realist game I can't have my friends getting hurt. Gavin makes a shhing noise at me but I'm ignoring any of his noises for the moment. Giving me the perfect distract the pop screen for SBURB pops up. I'm not too fond of the music that's now blaring from my laptop but I don't take action to stop it. After the SBURB screen fades another one comes into view, it's a room. A menu is at the top where I can choose three options revise, deploy, or select. I know the first thing I absolutely must do is start deploying the machines. I click on the deploy button only to see there's four machines! Well, only one of them is unfamiliar so I know that I'm going to ignore that one. Back to the room I zoom out to take a good look at Vinnie's room it's small well big enough for two machines. In order to fit the third machine I'll need to zoom out farther. Clicking twice I realize how big his house actually is, I'm pretty sure he's rich. I'm taking a look around his whole house when I notice that he's talking to his what I'm assuming is his Grandma. Before I know it I'm taking a look in his basement, which clearly belongs to him. This is where I deploy the biggest machine of all the Cruxtruder. I might have accidentally just broke something but I didn't survey the basement much before I put the machine down.

Vinnie's needs a way to get up to the second floor where I think I'm going to deploy the other two machines. I'm scrolling up looking for the perfect room in Vinnie's house when I notice that all the rooms are perfect. Not so much for holding a machine but in architectural design, he truly has a beautiful house. There's a library, which is full of books more than anyone can read in a lifetime. I'm getting the feeling that Vinnie rarely sets a foot into this room. Deploying the Alchemiter and the Totem Lathe into this room I now realize I need to connect the basement to the ground floor. These game machines aren't my forte so I'm messing around and accidentally destroy the floor section between the two machines. I totally meant to do that y'know or at least I can convince Vinnie of this! With the use of the revise tool I start building a ladder that connects this library to the basement level. The ladder ends right next to the Cruxtruder and hopefully Vinnie can go up and down ladders… Oh well if he can't he needs to learn how to. This should do for now I take turn away from the computer and get a breather.

"The world around you is a whole planet, Genevieve! LOFAR floats in a ring of pure void called the MEDIUM. It divides light and darkness in the INCIPISPHERE, which is simply put a place untouched by the flow of time in your universe. The light is the center of the INCIPISPHERE and the darkness is what lies outside of it all. The light has a name. It is SKAIA, and legend holds that SKAIA exists as a dormant crucible of unlimited creative potential. It is what you think is the sun in the sky here~:3!"

He's still calling Genevieve which isn't acceptable but there's nothing I can do about it right now. His story has me wanting to ask a lot of questions but I don't think that Pussysprite has the answers to them. Medium? Incipisphere? Skaia? All of these words are unfamiliar besides Medium but in this context it doesn't make sense.

"Forces of light will always try to protect SKAIA, while forces of darkness are fated to try and destroy it. The two opposing forces duel in the center of SKAIA, stuck in eternal stalemate... until YOU showed up! Now you've changed the conditions around completely and the war will change!"

"How can Vieve mean so much? She's just a little prick in a... a weird jungle."

"Little prick? Are you sure you're not looking at your little prick?" Gavin makes me so angry he has no right to call me any insults. I can destroy his social life and ruin his so-called popularity I hope he realizes this soon.

"Through me!" Pussysprite declares this as if he's the best thing in the world, he's not. "Genevieve, the black and white orbs that erupted from me was the KERNEL, dividing in two. One goes up to the kingdom of light and comes to rest at a tower which grants the powers of the prototyping to the kingdom. But one also goes down to the dark kingdom and does the same there. And the BATTLEFIELD in the center of SKAIA also changes when the towers receive the divided KERNELS. That is why prototyping is crucial! The BATTLEFIELD in SKAIA must evolve and grow into its final stage! Only then can the game's true purpose be fulfilled!"

"Uh... and that is?" Gavin asks, clearly not listening as carefully anymore, his eyes drifting down to the boobs that the furry arms of Pussysprite thankfully are now concealing.

"Gavin, shut up!"

"That's something Genevieve will discover in time," Pussysprite blinks are terrible with long eyelashes. "But in order to even reach SKAIA, she has to proceed through all the SEVEN GATES. If she were to reach SKAIA right now, she would be too weak and could fall in battle against one simple soldier of the dark side. And that would be terrible. Don't you think?"

"Yes, I do think. I have to fight people? Why me? Seven Gates? This blows. I, this, what," I can't even complete the rest of the sentence because too much is swirling around in my head.

A beep on my computer signifies that someone is messaging me. It's just the thing to distract me from all of this Skaia, Seven Gates nonsense Pussysprite is babbling about. I bet it's Vinnie thinking he can boss me around. Look I'm right like always but what can I say I'm a genius or at least smarter than Vinnie.


It really bugs me when people tell me what to do but I'm not going to let it upset me. Vinnie will learn that I'm not the girl who's a pushover. I decide this is a great moment to look over Vinnie's house again. When can I take a vacation to Paris? I take a look in a room that I think is another library but it turns out to be a movie room. Forgetting to click on the zoom in button I accidentally click the bookcase causing it to tip over and spill the movies everywhere. Ooops, how can I fix this? Actually, I'm think I'll just leave it better go check to see how Vinnie's doing.

I hear three thuds and a pesterChum alert.


Check my library? My actual library or the movie one? The movie one is on the way, so I'll check it as I go to the book one. As I peek in the door, I see my movieshelf overturned. I facepalm.

"D'oh!"

Luckily that was a shelf full of Nick Cage, because there was enough for his own shelf. Anyway, none of those movies were that good. Like maybe if my Matt Damon movies were on there, that would suck. But the rest of my movies are organised by leading lady, so Matt Damon was scattered all over. I quickly run downstairs to ground level and look into my library. Aha! My real library had two machines in it. The...alchemiter and totem lathe I think. The cruxtruder could probably squeeze in here, but I wouldn't be able to get to it. So....where is it? I quickly scan each room on the ground floor. Nope. Upstairs? Running up the stairs again, I check Mémé's room. Not here. Oh man, that means its in the basement. Probably in "the batcave". Mémé comes into her room as well.

"Did you hear that big thud? Did somebody drop something?"

"Heh heh, yeah. Vieve dropped the machines. Check the book library while I go to the basement, but don't touch them!"

Mémé swept me away with her hand. I bolted down the stairs, subbing my toe as I go. Ouch. Regaining my posture, I go down one more flight and into the basement. My room is on the left. I go in, and see the cruxtruder in my room, along with a random latter. In the hole in my ceiling, I see the library and other two machines. Sweet. Vieve actually put these in reasonable places, even - BLUUUAAAAAAGH!!!!!!! Aaaaah! My final fantasy action figures! Those things are mint! I quickly do a roll call, and it seems everyone from FF6 except Kefka was killed. Kefka, even in toy form he's a troll. I consider mourning my losses, but that's dumb. At least they died at the hands of Kefka. (I am convinced he tricked them into standing there, even though he really is just a toy) His epicness is too much to resist, so I captalogue him. I climb the ladder to the library, and setup my laptop. As it boots up, I remember I have to knock the lid off the cruxtruder. Like I did in Candice's house. I tell my grandma.

"Uh, hey. I gotta go knock the lid off of that thing." She kinda ignores me, and I slide down the ladder like a badass action hero, only for a few miliseconds because its only like 5 meters tall. As I take out my weapon wallet, I quickly reconsider. It would suck to break the only sharp sword in my house. I had a few ninja swords and stuff, but they were cheap, flea market ones. I grab my night table and clear it of any contents. I climb back up the ladder with it, struggling. I finally get all the way up, and throw it down on the lid. The lid pops off, and.....

RICARDO: Be the Client

The green-and-cerise pendant is the first thing to grab my attention once I'm done installing the Client version of SBURB. Not really my colors, but I guess I could work with it… I will need a change of clothes to match to this later, however.

Regardless, I remember that earlier Vieve used this pendant to collect and store items, so I guess this is the physical manifestation of my SBURB inventory…

I should probably ask… "WHAT WAS THAT?!"

I gulped and felt a bead of sweat run all the way down my spine. Turning around slowly, I saw a huge machine colored in a slate gray hue.

Immediately I recognize the machine as the 'Alchemitizer', and immediately after that I feel my heart almost jump out of my chest when my door suddenly 'pops' away from existence. So that's how Vieve must have felt… For some reason I feel bad for Vieve now… oh no, wait, it's gone. But I guess I should say I'm sorry… eventually.

I can see the Totem Lathe right outside my room, and I become worried as to where the Cruxtruder must be. My question is answered as if on cue, when suddenly my bathroom's door is pushed off its hinges, revealing the corner of… my bed?

I double check the corner where my bed should've been. Yup… my bed.

I sigh and get on Pesterchum, although I have serious doubts as to whether I'll be able to stop Candice from rampaging my house to the ground…
I begin rubbing my temples. There it is, I just needed a headache right now…

I decide I might as well check the memo as well… OH HELL NO!

After I finished picking up the GRIST, FLUFFRICKSPRITE started to speak again. "You are already on LEVEL 3. You see, in order to advance, you have to slay an appropriate number of enemies to gain strength for growing a level. These simple imps are small enough for you to only need to slay the same number of them as the level you are currently on. When you slew your first imp, you instantly grew to level 2. After two more, you are now on level 3. If you slay three more imps now, you will grow to level 4. See? You will probably not feel anything physically when you level up, for a long time. But soon you might get rewarded in other ways than just by a title with a new number..."

"Really? So it's more similar to a video game than I thought," I said, a bit surprised. Slaying three more imps? I could barely slay the one who surprised attacked me just now! I guess I'll have to keep slaying...wait, did he say get rewarded in other ways? Maybe it's good to level up after all. A strange feeling spurred inside me. I have found a way to entertain myself in this white snow-coated land.

My thoughts were interrupted by a grumbling noise, and a few muttering words, from the living room. Dad has woken up! He doesn't sound freaked out, and there wasn't any imps that I knew of that were over there. I wonder what would happen if I went over there and tried to explain to him.....FLUFFRICKSPRITE's face suddenly turns yellow and happy.

"But you have definitely earned the next part of the story now, having helped your client. So, where was I... well, SKAIA. In its midst, two opposing forces have dueled forever. The kingdom of darkness and the kingdom of light. Stuck in eternal stalemate... until you showed up. Did you see the KERNEL divide into one black and one white orb? The dark one went down to the kingdom which resides at the edge of the INCIPHISPERE, just where the endless FURTHEST RING begins. In a SPIRE there, it comes to reside, granting the power of the prototypings to the dark kingdom. But the white orb went up, to the kingdom orbiting very close to SKAIA, granting the same powers to the forces of light. The BATTLEFIELD at SKAIA's center has now changed with yours and Vieve's entrances into the MEDIUM. The real game has begun."

"So basically it will change more once Vinnie AND Ricardo enter then? But that only means both Darkness and Light get the powers our sprites have...so...they're going to have arms that divide and do weird stuff," I was frightened by the idea. What if they look like Mr. Fluffy, kinda like the imps? I mean, it's possible for one of them to have an IDENTICAL look to Mr. Fluffy, which will make it hard to kill. I'll be sure to prototype Ricardo's KERNEL with something pretty useless at first. Even if it doesn't please him, at least I'm making the imps or who ever are on the...wait, but I make the good weak too? This is confusing.

His face is still yellow and he lets out a little friendly laughter, almost as if he is pitying me. In a totally friendly Mr. Fluffy-way, of course. Then it turns green.

"But the proper way for you to reach the battle is by passing through the SEVEN GATES. The first one lies right above your house..." He points up. "Can you think of a way to reach it? Hint: you will need your server player."

"Well," I start to think, and of course by server he meant Vinnie, "Obviously has to do with Vinnie then...but not sure what you mean. I can't jump that high, and he can't just select me and place me there...so the only way I can think of is if he can get me up there somehow." Sitting down on the device on the bathroom, which still feels weird, I started to ponder. What could FLUFFRICKSPRITE mean? Suddenly my laptop gave out notifications. It must be Ricardo. Still wanting to know what my sprite meant, I started to think as the Server player...despite being a Client. "What would I do...well of course, the obvious, build some stairs or something-wait...THAT'S IT. THANKS FLUFFRICKSPRITE!" I happily blurted out to FLUFFRICKSPRITE. I wanted to hug him, but I didn't want to get swallowed and prototyped, if that was even possible again.

Rushing to the computer, I checked to see who it was. Oh, it was Ricardo, and of course he didn't look happy. Being in an expensive house, I guess everything is important...now I felt pretty bad.

BE: Umm…
BE: Candice, are you drunk or something?
BE: And I guess I really didn't like that door too much since it was freaking HEAVY…
BE: But then again, I hope you got a ton of grist for it since it was an ANCIENT SOLID EBONY DOOR embedded with FREAKING IVORY!!!
BE: From the European conquest of Africa, where it served as some Portuguese viceroy's throne room door!
BE: Vieve put you up to this, didn't she?
BE: Anyways, I need you to explain how you use this pendant thing.
BE: … and can you delete my bathroom door?
BE: I won't be able to move that ever again.
AM: No, I am pretty sane right now.
AM: Oh right, sorry then...must have consulted you before trying to place the devices.
AM: And no, she...uhh, told me different things.
AM: As for the bathroom door...I suppose I can.
AM: You have to touch the pendants and they will transform into wallets. If it's from the green pendant, it will be a wallet with a STRIFE SPECIBUS inside. Put what ever you will in there that will serve as a weapon. The other pendant, the cerise one, has five pink cards. You can put anything in them, like magic, by just slapping it with the object of your choosing. As for taking them out...well, it's hard to explain.
AM: Maybe you ca imagine yourself taking out the item, and it pops out.
AM: Hopefully I didn't sound too confusing there.

Talking about the pendant reminded me of the pendant...and then an idea that might become useful. Taking out a blank pink card, I make sure to close the laptop. Slapping it with the card, the card swallowed the laptop whole. Succeeding, I take the laptop back out and proceed to do as Ricardo suggested. I removed the door to his bathroom and thought about what to use to throw on the lid. This time I looked outside his room, since I didn't want to upset it again. Finding a couch, which Vinnie had used and successfully worked on mine, I lift it up. Carefully trying to go over to the CRUXTRUDER, I get a notification from the memo, surprising me and making me drop it right beside Ricardo. Horrified that it nearly fell on Ricardo, I can imagine his hatred towards me. He's probably going to complain about...how I nearly killed him! There was something else though, something I forgot to do...as if talk to somebody about the game...but by now I forgot and I was more worried about Ricardo's life.

Curious, I check out the memo. Okay, the memo made it obvious that both Ricardo and Vinnie have meteors coming their way. Besides that, there was Nnthing special, and there was nothing I could add to the conversation. Instead, I talk to Ricardo again, getting ready to hear his mad words.

AM: Well, I guess I can say I'm sorry.
AM: So you can yell at me all you like while I try to pop open this lid here.

Trying not to be the bit of sarcastic, I read over the messages and realized I came out a bit colder than usual there. Ignoring that, I lift the couch again and this time drop it over the lid...

Obviously, my KERNALSPRITE comes out of the cruxtruder. It blinks - Red, white, and black. Thats kinda like a deck of playing cards, right? White card, with black or red face/numbers? Or even a really old chess set, with marroon peices instead of black....except marroonis too dark. Bad analogy. Anyway, I had only 5 minutes to do this! The sky was red, and people were either crying or screaming. Or a combination of the two. This one badass was just standing there like, "f*ck this meteor I'm finishing my Capri Sun no matter what" Anyway, I had to move. Okay....so first...I get a thingy from the cruxtruder. I have to turn the handle.

Prepping my sarcastically buff muscles, I roll up my sleeves and wipe the sweat off my hands, and turn the handle. Its actually pretty easy. A red dowel pops out of the metallic red machine. Easy enough. Now I gotta....carve it! Oh yeah. I throw it through the hole in the ceiling and climb up after. My grandma is watching me with content, amused at my physical endeaver. I hook up the dowel, but it won't carve. Huh? Oh....wait a second....I need to put a card in, right? The one that I sent Candice! The....(I slowly work it out in my head) prepunched card. Yeah! Alright. I do my awesome ladder slide and pester Vieve.


And I was banned from responding to the memo. Ricardo is being a douche bag. Whatever, no time for this crap. I gotta keep calm though. This is literally the worst time to be freaking out. So....just take deep breaths...2:55 remaining...

♣Vieve Gotle

"Yes, Genevieve!" He once again messes up my name. "You will be amazing at it. Maybe your brother can help too~:3 Though he has got to grow with his own strength, while you will become stronger rapidly if you take courage and man up! Uh, I mean woman up, of course!" Pussysprite gives me this weird wink but I'm not sure what to make of it so I just ignore it.

Then he suddenly freezes and his ears seem to twitch. "I think your enemies are starting to approach, actually. Let's play with them!" With a face like a kitten who is about to throw itself into a fierce playbattle with a puppy, PUSSYSPRITE suddenly zooms out from your room and down into the garden. "Bring your axe!" he calls over his furry shoulder.

"What did I do to deserve this?" I'm expecting an answer from Gavin but I get nothing, which might be a good thing. "You stay here, okay?" The urge to run away from all this mess is too great but I need to protect Gavin. Maybe I could get Ricardo to help me?


I almost start standing up when I notice that Vinnie's blowing up our conversation he's probably overreacting. I see he mentions something about a pre-punched card… Oh! As quickly as I can I deploy the Pre-Punched Card right in front of Vinnie's face so that way it will land on his lap. That should shut him up which means I don't need to respond to his many messages. Though, I guess I will because I need to make sure he gets that I'm in charge.


Okay maybe the whole grandmother thing is too much but he's getting on my nerves. I'm not even completely sure that I can do that to his Kernelsprite but I'm pretty sure Ricardo did it to me. I get up from my chair to go help out Pussysprite I know I can't leave him out there by himself. Walking down the stairs is a bit frightening especially since I don't know what I'm facing. All I know is that Pussysprite calls them enemies and this means I must defeat them in battle, right? That's what happens in video games you have to defeat creatures or bosses so they're just in my way. The Seven Gates are waiting for me but could I really do this? I'm looking out into the distance and see three creatures that look eerily similar. Making my way down the stairs is a lot more stressful now than it has ever been in the past. My mind is crazy full of thoughts and I'm not sure how to sort them at the moment. Oh, right I need to fight thes-- that's it they're reminding me of Pussysprite. They all have long eyelashes, look like kittens, and, and nipples!

"Pussysprite, look out!" Screaming is my only option because I don't know what to do. My weapon is too heavy but I have to at least try to do something, right? I'm taking out my green card before I know it. It's a lot easier this time to get the axe out because I know what I'm doing. Dragging the axe across the ground until I reach the disgusting creatures is work but I manage. Before I know it Pussysprite begins grabbing the closest imp and rubbing him against his chest. I'm covering my mouth with my hands, because I'm going to puke, when the other two creatures join the party. Gripping my axe with two hands I'm picking it up to rest it on my shoulders. I bet this makes me look like a totally badass right now. I let a smile sneak out before realizing that I need to destroy these creatures. The less effort I put into moving will conserve my energy better so I let the Pussyimps come even closer. The one that seems like the leader charges at me before I have the chance to swing s/he's knocking the axe out of my hands. This isn't turning out to great but getting physical is the only way until I can get my axe back. Wait, I have that steak knife in one of my pink cards that will help me, I hope. The second Pussyimp is now coming closer to me and taking a clue I shove the first one down. Unhooking the pink pendant I retrieve the right card and draw from it my steak knife. Before the one that's down gets up I hop on top of him which is a bit crazy but I'm in the moment. I face the sharp blade toward him and am lifting my hand to stab him when he rips the top of my dress with his razor sharp claws.

"You pervert!" The struggling beneath me is getting too dangerous as I see gnawing teeth and razor sharp claws coming towards me again. I see out of the corner of my eye that the second one is slowly coming up behind me. Being calm in stressful situations is what I'm best at I know I can do this. I jump up and back far away from the two creatures and run deep into the jungle knowing they'll follow. I reach a large tree with a enormous trunk. My dress is flapping in the breeze because thankfully it's still on me. There are only three holes where that nasty imp hit it. I'm using the steak knife and the lower branches to help me reach a much steadier branch. Though, it will only take a few jumps from myself to make this thing break… Yes, that's a perfect idea.

"Ow! I'm so hurt, I hope those terrible Pussyimps don't come after me!" I yell this after I cup my hands around my mouth. I hope I'm them to me and then I will finish them off.

A rustle comes from the nearest bushes and emerging is the Pussyimps. Their heads are swinging from side to side searching for me. I see them sticking their noses in the air hoping to catch my scent. Before they can get a proper tracking on my scent I shake the branch with my legs. Instantly their heads whip up in my direction and are baring their teeth at me. Now's my chance, I think as I stand up on the branch which is when I grab onto the branch above me with my two hands. Placing the handle of my steak knife in my mouth before I stand. I wish I could take a quick breath and then begin jumping up and down on the branch to crack it. As I figure the Pussyimps aren't as smart as one should be and just stand there looking up at me. The snapping of the branch is loud and is even louder when it falls from the tree. I watch as the branch falls directly on the two Pussyimps pinning them beneath it. I'm now holding on only to the branch above me with my body-dangling ready to drop. Okay, this is for Gavin and Pussysprite! I drop down onto the bodies of the Pussyimps, which cushion my fall quite a lot.

"This is for Narnia!" Maybe it isn't but I've always want to say that but never have the right situation to. Muffling the sounds of my words is the steak knife in my mouth and I take it out to end this. Taking it both hands I plunge it into each of the Pussyimps two times. Replacing their bodies are jewels this isn't what I'm expecting. Where's the blood? The jewels disappear as quickly as they appear. I sigh as I get up from off the branch and carry myself back towards my house. Pussysprite! I left him with one of those imps, how stupid am I? I start running toward the direction of my house. I'm entering the clearing when I see a very fatigue looking Pussysprite hissing and clawing at that Pussyimp. Entangling my feet is some vines causing me to trip. I know I can't get up in time before the Pussyimp finishes off my poor Pussysprite why does this stuff happen to me?

Vieve sends over the card, and once again tries to assert her authority. Thats great and all, but she's not going to be able to boss me around when I'm squished underneath a burning meteor. I only had about two minutes and some seconds here. Like "calm down chick, just trying not to die right now". Geez, when did she get so pushy? I seriously had a reason to be in a hurry. Speaking of hurry, I quickly grab the card and ladder climb up to the lathe. Sliding the card in, the machine starts to carve the dowel. It doesn't take long before I have a weird, red, curvy totem. Uh, what do I do again? At this point, I think Candice had turned her glowy thing into a panda head. So I guess I needed to as well...Oh wait! I gotta take the totem to the Alchemiter and let it scan. I unhook it from the lathe and bring it to the Alchemiter. I place it on the smaller platform, like Candice, and an arm comes and scans the totem. While this is going on, I turn to my flashing thing, and ponder a bit, before I prototype.

If I'm going to fight countless little monster things and have to do all sorts of shenanagins to save the world....who would be best suited to help me?

I instantly thought of Kefka. Super powerful, super smart, and shows no mercy. Yeah, that sounds awesome! I de-captchlogue his action figure and chunk it into the orby thingy immedidiately.

Oh, sh*t. Kefka is not a good guy, he hates everyone, successfully destroys the world, and is overly sarcastic and elitist. Oh f*ck f*ck f*ck! I am so screwed. Heh, I can even imagine what he'd say now, "Run run run! .....or you'll be well-done!" What a troll.

The KERNALSPRITE absorbed Kefka toy...and transormed into the KEFKASPRITE. The KEFKASPRITE looked confused at first....but soon let out manical laughter. He zoomed around the room, like a looney toon on acid. He kept making silly noises and laughter...oh god this is annoying. Suddenly, I felt a bow in my hands, and was yanked into the air.

"Whoa! What?!"

I immediately blamed Kefka, but soon I realized that my totem had been scanned. Before me was a large, pulsating heart.

"Oh, great. I gues now I'm suppossed to be Cupid or something. Why not give me a diaper while you're at it?"

Kefka's laughter erupted behind me. He giggled and flew about. Fantastic. The game had to make me look stupid in front of my Grandma and childhood toy. I guess I'm suppossed to shoot the heart? It's being heavily implied. I only had one Arrow, and my wings were taking me all over the place. I couldn't control them.

"This is highly unsavoury!"

Mémé raised her eyebrows. She was obviously surprised, but she also looked....amused?

"Mémé, wipe that look off your face!"

This only made her laugh.

"Oh, come on Cupid! I'm not feeling the love." Nice. Now my grandmother is giving me crap. I'd never even shot a bow before...how am I suppossed to hit this thing? It was a pretty big target, though. It can't be too hard, right? I saw some Archery Competition on TV before...it didn't look hard...but then again, neither did surfing or skateboarding, and I never could do that. Aw, whatever. Just shoot the damn arrow, Vinnie. Sh*t! Second person again!

I drew back the bow, when Kefka burst into laughter again. Starled, I fumbled and the arrow slipped down and fell. Luckily, I managed to grab it before it hit the ground, and reset it on the bow. Reset? It that the right term? Anyway, this time I pulled back quickly and held the arrow up. I waited for the wings to line me up......wait for it oh sh*t the timer! I had 12 seconds to hit this thing! Kefka! Shut Up! Breathe, Vinnie, breath. Dammit, Second person! Calm down.....and go.........NOW! I released, and the arrow flew from my hand.

I sat on my chair as I watched the lid pop off the CRUXTRUDER. Just like it happened to me, a KERNELSPRITE pops out too...but it wasn't the same as mine. Of course, the obvious difference was the gray, black, and white pattern. That wasn't it though...it just...was slow and looked as if it were tired or less lively. I remember very well how my KERNELSPRITE literally crashed my room and bounced around my room as it came out. This one just hovered there. The colors were pretty boring however, but that's just Ricardo for you.

The numbers appear on the screens of the CRUXTRUDER, but it wasn't ten minutes like my screens...but four. Only four minutes...this calls for Mountain Dew energy. Taking out the Mountain Dew from my pink card, which involved touching the charm and a wallet, I finally remember that I got a response from Vieve not too long ago...of course it slipped my mind! All this that has been happening really is getting my hands full.

Gulping down on my drink, I check what else Vinnie deployed so I could get out of the game's introduction. After searching the items, and reading their descriptions, the PRE-PUNCHED CARD's icon nudged inside my mind. I was sure this was one of the items Vinnie deployed, right? It didn't cost any GRIST, so it is! Not having much time left, I deploy the card and set it on Ricardo's bed. After I got that over with, I switched over to Pesterchum.

PS: You need to saaaave him so you can loooove him.
PS: Candice, you know I know that feeling.
PS: BLEEDING ARM. WHAT.
PS: Are you okay? Did you get that in your fight?
PS: Candice! You've got to be more careful?
PS: It's not bleeding a lot is it?
AM: Yeah, I figured.
AM: Not sure whether I really feel that way.
AM: And even if I do, this game is going to be...
AM: An obstacle, to put it simply.
AM: No, not at all.
AM: Just pints of blood.
AM: Okay that sarcasm sorry.
AM: But I got it dealt with for now...until another imp surprise attacks me.
AM: It's actually fun to level up, and I might as well level up to...
AM: Uhh...
AM: Actually I wont use the meme.
AM: I'm in a crisis.

RICARDO: Be the Server

I squint my eyes and find myself mouthing Candice's instructions regarding my pendant, or should I say, my inventory.

The thing seems simple enough: touching either pendant will bring up a wallet with cards in which I can store stuff. Except the green is specifically for a weapon, and I have to… imagine… stuff to get it out? I guess I'll work that one out when the time comes.

I take a deep breath. I do this every time I need to prepare myself mentally for something of great importance, like entering a boss level in one of my favorite games, or when I'm about to break my personal record on Nazi Zombies. Which is level 30 at the time… I suppose it's decent.

Anyways, I quickly grab my cerise pendant and it turns into a wallet… which is extremely weird despite the fact that I already knew that would happen. Trying to keep a hold on my nerves, I go ahead and open it before a couch falls right next to me. As in, one or two feet away from squashing me…

That sh*t straight-up makes me jump out of my seat.

"Candice" I realize a little venomously.

I still have the cerise wallet in hand, though. And I decide to test it out. Quickly, I grab one of the cerise cards in the wallet, and put it up against a half-broken lego castle I had built several weeks before. Much to my surprise, the cerise card absorbed the lego castle (as expected). What I didn't expect, however, was that the card went ahead and disassembled the castle, and it became marked simply as: Lego block (x347).

Cool.

Suddenly the couch takes to the air again, which reminds me that I should go on Pesterchum in order to berate Candice:
I am fuming now. I can literally feel the heat emanating from my body. It's like I suddenly developed a crazy fever. I am so pissed, as a matter of fact, that my head's beginning to hurt, and that damn beeping sound is not helping!

Wait, beeping sound? Someone's pestering me!

I look up and notice Vieve is the person pestering me, so I rush to our conversation:
Enemies? That can't be good!

I realize that I had completely forgotten to act as Vieve's Server, but now that I am back on her window… well… f*ck.
I decide that Vieve needs my help (obviously), but I'm not sure if I'm capable of committing murder… I guess I should at least disarm him though.

Swiftly, and without thinking (in case that isn't obvious yet), I grab one of Vieve's dining chairs… and I go ahead and just chuck it at Gavin.

It's super effective!

Gavin is barely able to bring up his arms to protect his face. He drops the axe in the act, and one of the chair's legs still manages to bash him on the hairline, which knocks Gavin down. Score! Me: 1 - Vieve's twin brother: 0… Woo-hoo!

After nervously waiting for Vieve's response, I get Ricardo's instead. Skimming over it, I was baffled that out of all things, even to the KERNELSPRITE, he seems to care more about the moment and...well, then again, so would she. She had to prototype is somehow, but she wasn't sure with what...what did he have in his room anyway? Some random objects were strewn all over the place, but none of them appealed to me. The countdown was getting close to zero, making me worry. No need to get upset now, but apparently he wasn't seeing the COUNTDOWN. Maybe I should freshen his memory.

BE: Why would I yell at you?
BE: It's not like you just ATTEMPTED TO SQUASH ME LIKE A FREAKING ANT OR ANYTHING!
BE: F*CK Candice!
BE: There's no point in yelling at you if you say I can…
BE: You did that on purpose didn't you
BE: ?
BE: You knew I'd yell at you and you just wanted to make me feel bad about myself before I even did…
BE: Wll guess what!?
BE: Well*
BE: It WORKED!
BE: Now tell me what else I have to do.
BE: @:<
AM: Well I did, since well, I've known you for a long while.
AM: Pretty much.
AM: If you haven't noticed, there's a countdown that's dangerously close to zero.
AM: While I find something to throw into your kernelsprite there...
AM: You can get that big dowel from inside the cruxtruder,
AM: And place it in the totem lathe.
AM: Then get that pre-punched card from your bed.
AM: Try to slide it into the slot in the totem lathe.
AM: After that, the dowel will be carved and err....
AM: From my memory...if it serves right...
AM: Put it on the small platform on the alchemiter.
AM: Then something should happen.
AM: Sorry for the long convo.
AM: Oh and, your servants are trying to get to you...
AM: Not sure what to do about that.

It was hard to explain to Ricardo, but I hope I managed to get the message across. I zoom in and out his room, trying to look for the perfect object to throw into the KERNELSPRITE. There was plenty to choose from, but as I said before, they didn't get my attention. If only I could somehow use something I have now, which can't happen. Zooming in, I found a very neat object by his bed. A...dinosaur like thing made out of legos? Well, it was legos, and they were scattered everywhere, so might as well get a good use of them, right? Instead, I find some pirate chest and smile at the thought. Maybe he had something inside? Trying to open it by using the cursor, all it did was basically make it jump. After a while of clicking, nothing was working. What would happen if I threw...wait, what was that on his desk? There was some sort of unfinished lego project there...oh wait. I'll just use the dinosaur-like creature, which I'll call Little Foot since it reminded me so much of that kid's show, and pick it up. Maybe it was an old lego project from when he was smaller? Well, it was there, had an unfinished tail and legs, but it will do....OH NO, it broke on the process. The legos individually fell on the KERNELSPRITE.

"Oh...woah. What did I just do. Great."

♣Vieve Gotle

My fingers are digging into the dampen dirt to help me get up which is no easily task. I'm latching onto the nearest trunk tree to help support myself because I think there's something wrong with my ankle. Holy !, Gavin appears from out of no where I left him in my room on purpose. Wielding my axe with ease he slices through the Pussyimp like, well, like it's butter. Cliché, yes, I know. He never listens to me but I will excuse this one time.

"Maybe you should stick with that knife or even switch to a little table knife instead, and leave the real weapons to the man."

"You misogynistic, sexist slob!" Ugh, he makes me so angry and how dare Pussysprite cuddle up to him after what he just said, hero or not! I foolishly decide to start walking back towards the house even though my ankle is killing me. He's a big waste of space and I hate him so much! Hate, hate, hate.

"You know what, I hat—" The next thing out of my mouth is a loud scream. My hands clamping to my face as I see a chair being thrown at him. It knocks into him causing him to just drop to the floor. I can't breathe, my hands rest at the base of my neck as I fall to the ground. Did someone just kill my brother? What am I going to tell my Mom, "A floating chair struck him in the head!" Wait, it's floating, which means that only one person that can do that is... Ricardo. Every ounce of hate I previously have for Gavin now is channeling itself toward Ricardo. I don't have time to be laying here crying, I need to be checking out Gavin. Gathering myself I wipe away my tears and make my way towards him. Placing two fingers onto his neck I can tell that he's still alive (Ricardo won't be for long) but just unconscious. I'm cradling his head in my arms hoping that he'll wake up soon.

"Can't, can't you do something?!" Since Ricardo's not here I'm releasing my anger out on Pussysprite. "Please, I can't lose my brother."

That's when I know I need a better way to get to my computer than climbing up and down these steps. I softly lay Gavin's head down on the grass and trek my way back to my room. Vinnie probably needs me because everyone knows that he can't do anything by himself. Looking back at Gavin one last time before I go sit at my computer. It's still on Vinnie's house and I see that he his Kernelsprite's different. A smirk comes across my face as I scroll through Vinnie's house, yes, that's what I want to do. I locate a room that has the object that I want. Picking the first one I see, a pink flamingo lawn decoration, I take it with me to where Vinnie's at. He's shooting some arrow(s) and before he lands the shot, well, if he lands the shot, I'm throwing the pink flamingo at his Kernelsprite. I don't want to know the results quite yet so I tab to Candice's conversation.


I'm restraining myself from answering Ricardo's messages because I know that every other word would be explicit. A cool head's what I'm going to need in order to talk to him and I definitely don't have that at the moment. Backing away from the computer I go back out into the garden hoping for some lively Gavin. I can't let him wake up and not be there.

Vinnieeboooyyy