Chapter Six: Contact for Real:
Demetra was full on running, she had never run this fast before in her life, but then again until this point she always knew how much time she had in any mission she undertook in the game. But the game was long over, this was as close to real life as she had ever been, and more importantly the person she was running toward was someone who was truly living real life. She had left the robot arena far behind, and as she continued to sprint in the direction where she heard Juni's voice she realized she was approaching the end of the moon level. Now normally when she wanted to travel to the green fields with the targets she simply allowed herself to float, because she knew eventually she would reach the fields. However, in this case she wanted to get to the fields as quickly as possible. As the end of moon flashed into view, she gathered all her strength and leapt from the surface. However instead of floating, she felt herself rocketing toward the fields. As she began getting closer and closer, her suit was catching on fire. Luckily the suits were designed to be fire resistant, but she still felt the intense heat as she fell and entered the atmosphere of the green fields.
She was going so fast she realized, she wondered what would happen when she landed in the field. She only had to wait a few seconds to find out. Demetra hit the field with such force, it made a gigantic hole in the field and a spray of dirt and grass flew into the air. She tumbled for a few moments before coming to a rest on her back. She looked up at the sky for a few moments, but then suddenly jumped up when she remembered why she wanted to get to this field so fast in the first place. She took off running again trying to also figure out in her mind how she was going to find Juni. At least she thought because the game was getting smaller it was easier to navigate. Just as she left the field behind and somehow found herself back at the beginning of the city she heard his voice again, this time it was short "Demetra", she could hear both the urgency and the longing in his voice. She thought, what the hell, maybe if I speak out he will hear me. "Juni I hear you! where are you?" After waiting a few moments then a minute, then two minutes she heard nothing. She was starting to lose hope and the feelings of going crazy and not actually hearing his voice.
However just as she was about to turn back and head back to the robot arena. She heard Juni's voice once again. "Sorry Demetra, the connection cut out for a bit, and we had to reset it." Without even acknowledging his response, the only thing she heard was "we". To say that Demetra had a mini panic attack inside her, was an understatement. She already felt her heart breaking. Ironic given the fact she was not supposed to be able to feel. She made a mental note this was another example of her defying her programing. After getting her heart under control she said to Juni "who is we?" "Me and the Toymaker", Juni replied. The name "Toymaker" made her blood boil. "So the Toymaker is with you in the real world?" "Yes", said Juni. "He abandoned me to the black pit of this game", Demetra screamed, "Yes and no", said Juni. "It is complicated, but get to my location or as close as you can and I will explain everything, I promise!"
Demetra did not bother responding, but rather took off at an even faster pace. She was running so fast at this point; her feet were barely touching the ground. As she flew toward the very beginning of the game, she was trying to put her thoughts in order. Juni was calling out to her. The Toymaker somehow made it into the real world, and she intended to have words with him about leaving his creation- her behind in the wreckage of Game Over, but she really cared about picking the Toymaker's brain about one thing in particular, if he was able to transport himself out of cyberspace into the real world, why couldn't she?
She was still running so fast, she failed to see a door right in front of her. She ran full force into the door, and was thrown back as the metal absorbed the energy from her body. She fell flat on her back. Now that she was stopped she approached the door again, but this time walked up to it. She saw a button on the door, and pressed it. The door opened. It was just a mess of programs and numbers running by. With faith, though, she called out into this new opening "Juni I think I have gone as far as I can go". Almost instantly she heard Juni's voice, but that was not what caught her attention. She heard his response, but more importantly saw his face. "Demetra" Juni said, "you made it!" Demetra saw the biggest grin appear on his face, which mirrored her own. "So what do we do now Juni?" "Let me tell you what I have in mind", he said…