Infinity Train X Glitch Techs

by Autonomous Ultra Instinct

During one of the Apex's routine scavenging missions Grace and Simon find themselves separated from their group, and they realize that they'll have to rely on Tulip, Jesse, Lake, the Glitch techs, and each other if they want a shot at actually surviving the train's dangerous cars, especially with Zenith and Polaris hunting them down, determined to destroy the Apex...

1. Age of Hinobi

A/N: Hello. :) And now, without further ado, the first chapter of "Infinity Train X Glitch Techs"! We all know the main cast for it, which are Ashley Johnson as Tulip and Lake, Robbie Daymond as Jesse, Ricardo Hurtado as Five, and Monica Ray as Miko. More main characters will appear in the next chapter. Anyhoo, enjoy. :)

Infinity Train X Glitch Techs

Book Three: Prologue: Age of Hinobi

Act I

It all started when a man with white hair in a van with a big "H" on it was driving across the neighborhood, looking for a sort of anomaly, identified as a green virus-like enemy in the GPS before he pulled over, looked toward the house on his left and pressed a button on top of his headwear, causing holographic-like goggles to appear and indicate a green target in the area. At the same time, a couple of kids were playing a video game in their own home at night, stacking as many blocks as they can, not knowing that the center of a video game console was flashing green.

"We are Zoid. We will smash you to dust.", the game character spoke.

"Totally gonna block you this time.", one player smirked.

"Not if you can't see.", his sister retorted before waving her arm in front of him.

Then, their mother turned to them.

"All right, nuggets, five minutes.", the mother warned.

"Aw, we were just gonna beat it.", the boy groaned before his sister then gave him a slight push to tease him before the game then proceeded to the final stage with their mother giving a slight grin before turning around.

But little did anyone know that the green glow got worse as inside the game console, a small blue cylinder got broken and turned green as a green bolt of lightning escaped and started to cause trouble as, outside the console, the tv started to get staticky.

"Ah, it's broken. What did you do?", the player asked.

"I didn't do anything.", the player's sister responded before out from the TV Screen came a green block, which floated by and then landed on the ground before more green blocks came by and piled up, urging the siblings to speak to their mother.

"Mom!", the siblings called.

"Now, don't 'Mom' me. You can play more tomorrow. That game's not going anywhere.", the mother assured before the last green block arrived and started to go up, taking the others with it as the siblings stepped away in fear before their mother turned around and saw what was happening, hurrying over to the two on worry before the two blocks then completely formed a green Zoid before its yellow eye started moving from left to right and taking a few steps forward as the siblings' father was asleep in his chair.

"We are Zoid. We will smash you to dust.", Zoid threatened as the player's sister tried to use her controller on it, but to no effect when suddenly, a purple blast shot out from the door and hit it, causing the mother and her kids to turn around and notice a man with goggles just behind the door, who walked by the door, opened it via hole on it, and walked in.

"I'm with tech support.", the man named Mitch assured.

"Surrender to Zoid. You cannot hope to defeat us.", Zoid demanded.

"That's what they all say.", Mitch smirked before the family members quickly went for the chair and looked on as Zoid then blasted at Mitch, who dodged with a backflip and then fired back, causing the block to be dislodged from Zoid and hit the chair, causing it to spin.

Then, Zoid recovered and moved in to attack before Mitch jumped up and pushed the table toward Zoid.

"Take that!", Mitch exclaimed before the glitch only deflected the table and took a hit from the table's legs, allowing Mitch to then zap Zoid, disorienting it as it started bugging out uncontrollably.

Seizing the opportunity, Mitch opened his right hand and started sucking the Glitch inside as it tried to escape only for the green spark inside to be sucked away as Zoid lost power before the glitch was then stored inside the gauntlet.

"Glitch contained.", the gauntlet spoke as it showed a lock with an excited face on it locking with a jingle.

Neither the mother nor her children knew how to react while the father was still snoring before Mitch spoke to them.

"Hinobi Game Systems apologizes for any inconvenience this minor glitch may have caused and will now restore your system's memory.", Mitch spoke as he replaced the broken cylinder with a better one for the system and then aiming his gauntlet at the family.

"What did I miss?", the father asked as he woke before Mitch blinded them with a flash with the family giving wide-eyed looks as bubbles appeared on their heads before the house then got repaired with holo technology as the family spoke in slight reverse while being rewound before then continuing from right before the incident happened as if it never happened in the first place as the player and his sister continued playing like before.

"We are Zoid. We will smash you to dust.", Zoid spoke in the game as Mitch walked away before the hole in the door got fixed.

Just outside, Mitch got a call from someone.

"HQ calling. Come in.", the voice spoke before Mitch raised his gauntlet and then answered with a tap.

"Go for Mitch.", Mitch greeted.

Now, the man calling him was Phil Altiere, the leader of a branch of Glitch Techs.

"You finish debugging that Puzzler glitch?", Phil asked.

"Another flawless victory.", Mitch assured.

"Just be sure to upload all glitches from your gauntlet when you get back to HQ this time.", Phil requested as Mitch mouthed him with one hand.

"Thanks for the strategy tip, boss.", Mitch with a fake smile before hanging up.

Then, Mitch went into his van and then placed the glitchy cylinder on top of the passenger seat next to him.

"Like I need a walk-through.", Mitch scoffed before driving off to more apparent sources of glitches as said sources glowed green with screams filling the air.

Act II

The next morning, Tulip was dropped off to the Bailey Square Mall near the Hinobi Game Store.

"Thanks for dropping me off there, guys.", Tulip thanked.

"Sure thing, Tulip. Anytime.", Steven responded.

"Hope you get this job, Tulip!", Connie added with a wave.

"Thanks, Connie. And I hope you and Steven take care of each other!", Tulip waved.

"Thanks, Tulip!", Connie spoke.

"Don't be a stranger!", Steven shouted as he drove away.

"Don't worry, Steven! I won't! See you guys later!", Tulip waved before turning back to the Hinobi Game Store.

"Okay, Tulip. This is it. The start of what could be my first job. I wonder if it has anything cool going on here.", Tulip wondered as she went inside.

Sure enough, when she did, she saw Jesse and Lake (whose hair was now starting to grow back in since 3 months ago with her hair resembling how she first looked after Tulip freed her and before she set out to make her own memories) there getting their necklaces with Gamer Tags saying, "AllenDrac125" for Jesse and "MirrorGirl27" for Lake.

"I don't know about you, Lake, but I am totally stoked about this year's annual Hinobi Smash tournament! Mainly because it's my first one, but still!", Jesse spoke excitedly.

"You won't be this excited for long if you get your butt kicked real quick. I'm just saying.", Lake retorted jokingly.

"Jesse? Lake? Is that you?", Tulip asked in surprise.

"Tulip?! You're actually here?", Jesse grinned.

"I totally did not think you'd be here, Tulip.", Lake grinned.

"Yeah. Me either. So, what are you guys doing here?", Tulip asked.

"Oh. Well, we just heard about the 7th Annual Hinobi Smash tournament, so naturally, we signed up. Even got our gamer tags on our wristbands and everything. My gamer tag is AllenDrac125.", Jesse responded, showing his wristband to her.

"Mine says MirrorGirl27.", Lake added.

"Wow, that's cool, guys. But I was going there to go get a job at the hinobi game store.", Tulip responded.

"Funny you should say that. It says here that first prize is a job at the Hinobi Game Store.", Jesse responded before Tulip widened her eyes in surprise and quickly changed her mind.

"Any chance I could sign up for it?", Tulip asked.

"Uh, let me see.", Jesse responded before looking back at the sign-up sheet to notice that there are still some spots left.

"Uh, yeah. There're still some spots to fill.", Jesse responded.

"Thanks, Jesse.", Tulip grinned as she stepped forward to the sign-up sheet.

"Anytime, Tulip.", Jesse responded as he made room for Tulip before she signed the sheet.

"Congratulations. Here's your wristband. It'll automatically register your Gamer Tag for the tournament.", the employee named Nix spoke with a grin as he offered it to Tulip before she put it on and noticed that her Gamer Tag now says "GamerGirl23".

"Yes! I'm in!", Tulip grinned.

"That's great, Tulip.", Jesse grinned.

"Don't think I'm going to let you gang up on me, though.", Lake smirked.

"Oh, don't worry. I won't.", Tulip smirked.

"Oh, boy. Looks like things are about to get interesting and the tournament hasn't even started yet.", Jesse sighed with a slight grin.

Meanwhile, at an alleyway a few miles away from the mall, the man at the Taco Truck with tattoos turned to a certain chef inside.

"Okay, I need a moo shu pork carnita, two fried rice and beans, and an order of won-tonquitos. Rápido, Nieto!", the man motioned you the chef.

"Grinding as fast as I can, Papi!", the young man named Five assured.

He then went for the hot sauce, can of beans, and tortillas nearby around the kitchen before placing three tortillas on the griller.

"Ponzu! Chorizo! Tortilla! I choose you!", Five spoke before then getting out the meat cleaver with style, sprinkling the rice onto the tortillas, priming the sausage in flips before slicing it into three pieces (one for each tortilla), flipping the soy sauce toward him, and then spinning before sprinkling the soy sauce onto the tacos and pushing them close together.

"Player readies for melee. He sprinkles and unleashes his power combo, the triple chop! And for the finishing move...", Five commentated as he practically got 5 "Greats" and 1 "Perfect" with a "2X Combo" as he did so before noticing a small pepper on one of the tortillas and then flicking it off.

"Flawless.", Five spoke as he got another "Perfect".

Then, Five noticed the Hinobi News on TV.

"Okay, guys, it's me, K. Moon, and today is the day. The seventh annual Hinobi Smash Tournament is here, and the hype is off the charts.", K. Moon announced as the words popped up on TV saying, "Chart Shattering Hype" before fading away.

"It's set to be the biggest NS competition yet. I'm even hearing the company sent exclusive wristbands to the top-ranked gamers in each city. So, y'all, can I just say, 'If you got one of these things, I am mega jealous of that sweet, sweet swag'.", K. Moon added as it showed the events from the last Hinobi Smash tournament before it showed Five looking at his own wristband, which said, "Hi_5" on it sadly.

"Okay, so if we're talking competitors, we gotta talk reigning champ, Mitch Williams. He'll be defending his title for the fourth year in a row, but...", K. Moon continued before Papi suddenly called out to him.

"Five, you're not burning my frijoles in there, are you?", Papi asked, urging Five to quickly turn back to them before inadvertently tossing his wristband toward the stove, urging him to try and get it back so it doesn't burn out before nearly slipping his grip, although he got it before quickly feeling the burn on his hand, causing him to yell out in pain and drop his wristband again before sucking on his burnt fingers just as a woman with white, stylized hair walked in, holding a pot.

"Nursing those trigger fingers?", the woman asked with a slight chuckle.

"Sorry, Abuela, I was just-", Five began before a couple of children called him from outside the taco truck.

"Five!", one kid shouted.

"Five!", another shouted before getting pushed out by the first kid, whose name was Lupe.

"Five, you in there? We're stuck again.", Lupe spoke.

"Ten minutes. Make 'em count, playa.", Abuela grinned.

"Thanks, Abuela.", Five responded asking he took his hat off before dashing out.

Outside, at the alleyway, he cracked his knuckles, set down a small projector-like console, turned it on, and went for the controller.

"All right, my little rookie game grinders, you are indeed witnessing the hidden level of Hinobi's 1993 classic, Chomp Kitty. What? You heard it was impossible? Too much game to tame? Well, as long as you feed this cat enough power pellets, you can use pattern recognition. Boom! Endless repetition. Zoom. And your own ambition. Va-da-ba-da-voom.", Five stated as he then dodged the incoming enemies, feed it enough power pellets, eat the pizza, which makes it grow big, and then dodge some enemies while also knocking others down before reaching the end of the level and quickly completing it as it then showed, "Purrfect!" before showing "New Record!".

"To make the impossible possible.", Five finished before the kids cheered.

"Five, you're the best.", one of the kids spoke with joy before Lupe spoke up next.

"My brother, he said you got one of those bracelets from Hinobi.", Lupe spoke.

"You gonna be in that tournament today, Five? You'd dominate!", another kid asked.

"Come on, you guys know my grandparents need me here. If I left, who would cook?", Five only responded before his grandfather went out and called out to him.

"Oye, Five! Bring yourself back in here!", Papi shouted.

"Sorry, Papi. I was in the zone!", Five apologized before he then went inside the truck and closed the door by pulling on the knob with his foot just in time to notice that the fryer was turned off.

"You shut the fryer off?", Five asked.

"Found this on the floor. Has your name on it.", Papi responded.

"That? Oh, that's nothing.", Five fibbed nervously.

"Sure seems like something.", Abuela retorted.

"We looked online. Says only the best gamers

in the city get these. Says first prize is a job

at the Hinobi Game Store. I'd think you'd want

an opportunity like that, yeah?", Papi asked.

"Of course I would, but the game's today and I gotta work. Besides, even if I won, you guys can't afford to replace me, so...", Five began.

"That's not your problem.", Papi spoke before then putting the wristband on Five's wrist.

"All you gotta do is play your heart out.", Papi assured before Five gasped in surprise and hugged his grandfather.

"Really? You guys mean it? You'd leave work to take me to the game?", Five asked before Papi only pressed his hand on Five's head.

"Hey, who needs to leave? We'll take our work with us!", Papi assured with a chuckle.

"But this truck hasn't moved since before I was born!", Five responded only for Abuela to chuckle as she then goes over to the Driver's seat.

"It's only a few miles. We can still make it!", Abuela assured before she then put the keys into a slot, turned them, put in a CD titled, "Abuela's Sick Mix", and put the gears into drive before the truck honked and then drove away to the mall.

"Hinobi, here we come!", Papi shouted with laughter.

"Whoo-hoo!", Five cheered.

Meanwhile, a young girl's life was a different story. Her name was Miko and she was playing a sort of guitar game like a rockstar.

"Yeah! Perfect! Perfect! You're a legend!", the game spoke.

"I am a legend.", Miko spoke excitedly.

Then, Lexi, Miko's sister, woke up from the noise.

"Can't you play in the living room, Miko?", Lexi yawned.

"You see this? This means your big sis is gonna wreck a bunch of fools today. I'm invincible!", Miko spoke excitedly, gesturing to her wristband as Lexi walked out with a yawn before the TV was suddenly turned off.

"What?", Miko puzzled.

"Mom says come to breakfast before you shake the house apart.", Miko's brother reported as he then set the chord down to the floor.

"You can pull the plug on my TV, but you can't pull the plug on destiny!", Miko shouted as she jumped.

Later, Miko went downstairs to notice her two sisters and two brothers in the kitchen with the older brother named Geoffery helping Lexi with some training with a smirk as the younger brother named Lee was riding on the dog like a sort of horse before Miko went downstairs to notice a sort of commotion before grabbing the spoon (and putting it in her mouth with a cute smile), the bowl, and cereal (which was empty) before going for the next best cereal, only for the box to be hit by a stray ball, putting Miko in somewhat of a bad mood as she then scraped the remains of the cereal into her ball just as her mother went in the kitchen.

"Two minutes to minivan. Phones off, shoes on. No ifs, ands, or...", Miko's mother began before catching sight of Miko's current attire.

"Miko, what are you wearing? I bought you a blouse at Bullseye.", Miko's mother puzzled.

"Mom! It's my good luck shirt. For the Hinobi Smash Tournament today.", Miko explained.

"What is she talking about? What are you talking about?", Miko's mother puzzled to her husband and then her daughter.

"I posted a note about this on the busy board a month ago!", Miko responded, gesturing to the Busy Board, which was cluttered with notes before her father went over to look at the busy board.

"I'm showing Geoffery's ballet recital, Lexi's hockey playoff, Nika's science fair soft open, Lee's preschool parade, and...", Miko's father spoke as he looked through said events before noticing the Hinobi Smash note on it in puzzlement.

"What exactly is Hinobi Smash?", Miko's father puzzled.

"It's an exclusive game competition.", Miko explained.

"Sorry, kiddo. We've got a full day ahead and won't have time to...", Miko's father began before she interrupted.

"But you guys wouldn't even have to drive me there. I can just log into the game from home!", Miko responded.

Miko's mother, though, had made up her mind.

"You spend enough time in front of that screen already, young lady. Now, get changed. We have a lot of events today.", Miko's mother only responded as she was cleaning Lee's face.

"You're taking everyone else to do the stuff they like, but not me? That's not fair!", Miko complained.

Then, suddenly, an alarm beeped, saying, "Time to go!".

"Okay, that's time! I want butts in belts people Din, din. Do it now, do it now!", Miko's mother urged as Lexi, Lee, and Nika went in the car before Geoffery slurped the milk in the bowl as Miko's father went over to her.

"Tell you what. You can have a little extra game time tomorrow. Okay, kiddo?", Miko's father assured as he placed the blanket on top of her before leaving.

But the problem was, there is no game tournament tomorrow. She had to think of something fast if she wanted to get there. So, she turned to the family dog slurping the milk from the bowl before the dog looked at Miko and slurped himself in the face, giving Miko an idea as she smirked.

"Gang's all here. Let's go!", Miko's mother urged before she drove the family away from the house, not knowing that the dog was underneath the blanket as Miko smirked.

"'Miko, it was very irresponsible of you to bail on family day. What do you have to say for yourself?' I say you're looking at a first place champion, Mom and Dad! Whoo!", Miko cheered as she went back inside.

Act III

Meanwhile, at the plaza, the Hip Drip was selling coffee to a couple of customers when a horn resembling the "La Cucaracha" song sounded before the source of said sound was noticed by the owner of the truck. But the owner was much too surprised to drive out quickly before he and the truck were promptly pushed out by the Taco Dragon food truck.

"Oye, muchachos! Who's hungry? Ha, ha!", Papi spoke excitedly as he handed a taco to the customer in front of him, puzzling her.

Then, Five got out the back and saw the Hinobi Game Store, not to mention several people gathered around it outside.

"Man. Look at all those people. Oh, nerds, oh, nerds, oh, nerds.", Five spoke excitedly before Abuela gave him a slight tap.

"Get out of that head, you. I swear, you're gonna get lost in there one day, and I'm not gonna be able to get you out! Just have fun. Try not to think too hard.", Abuela assured before Five took a deep breath and went in while looking back at Abuela with a grin.

Inside the game store, Five was taking in the scenery before he noticed an entryway leading to the tournament with an electronic banner saying, "Smashjam Tournament Today!".

"We are coming at you live from the Hinobi Store located in the Bailley Square Mall, bringing you this year's Hinobi Smash challenge, sponsored by Hinobi Games and Buzzcore Beverages.", the announcer spoke as the crowd cheered with Mitch reveling in the attention before "Nobi" bumped into him and did some dances.

"And guess who's out there, pumpin' up this crowd. They know him. They grew up with him. Nobi, the Hinobi Honeybee!", the announcer added.

"Man, that thing creeps me out.", Phil commented.

"Uh, hi. Sorry. Uh, I, uh, do you work here?", Five asked.

"No, I just make it a point to accessorize all my button-downs with manager name tags.

"I, uh, have this?", Five responded, gesturing to his wristband.

"Whoa. He's the missing player.", the feminine employee with a hood named Zahra spoke.

"Took your sweet time logging in, didn't you? Great. Let's incite this riot.", Phil spoke before he scanned Five's wristband with his gamer tag and character appearing in the tournament.

"Give it up for High Five!", the announcer spoke, causing the crowd to cheer before Five was then handed a uniform by one of the employees.

"All eyes on you, champ.", Nix spoke to Five before Phil started up the stairs as Five followed him, putting said uniform on with slight difficulty.

"Okay, we're doing standard competition rule set. You'll be playing on a new map designed specifically for this tournament. So no outside communication is permitted in play, and there will be absolutely no respawns. Any questions?", Phil asked as he then handed Five the VR gear for the tournament.

"Did you just say no respawns?", Five puzzled.

"Yep. If you're out, you're out.", Nix responded.

"So don't get nauseous, faint or freak out,

and you should do just fine.", Zahra assured as she found a small cartridge, inserted it into the VR headset, and put them on High Five as the crowd cheered before Five then pressed a button on the right side of the VR headset, causing the glasses to change from sparks and lines appearing from the right side to a sort of dimension with numerous giant coins floating around as platforms with one of them even housing a giant statue before Five looked at himself and noticed that he has some armor on as his right arm held a giant blue ball with a sort of dragon-like glove.

"Whoa.", Five spoke in awe before noticing the statue up ahead.

"This is amazing!", Five spoke before Mitch Williams appeared into the game world in a bolt of lightning next to Five.

"Mitch Williams? Is everyone seeing this? I'm meeting Mitch Williams! Uh, I-I can't believe it. I learned so much from watching your Let's Play videos.", Five spoke.

"Thanks.", Mitch spoke.

"We'll be ready to start once our remote players finish logging in!", the announcer spoke before Tulip, Jesse, and Lake appeared near Five as well.

"Wow. So, this is the game world, huh?", Lake spoke in awe.

"Yeah. I heard about VR, but I didn't see it quite like this before.", Tulip grinned.

"Yeah. Neither did I. If I knew it would be this amazing, I would'be signed up sooner.", Jesse agreed.

"Here comes one more now!", then, suddenly, a flaming bolt struck before a sort of player wrapped in flame appeared and turned to the players as Tulip, Jesse, and Lake grew surprised before the player spoke in a deep voice.

"I am ME_K.O.! Join me or die!", Miko spoke in a deep voice as her eyes glowed bright purple.

"Get back! Back, you filthy demon!", Jesse exclaimed, aiming the ball at Miko, who then lightened up as the purple glow faded and her voice got higher than normal.

"In my chipmunk boy band.", Miko continued in a high voice before giggling while her voice goes back to normal.

"Hey, who disabled the voice filter?", Miko puzzled before suddenly coughing for a bit.

"I'm okay.", Miko assured.

"You're ME_K.O., aren't you?", Five asked.

"Yeah! And you are... Hi_5? Do I know that gamer tag?", Miko puzzled as she saw his gamer tag on the camera.

Unfortunately for Five, it brought back some unpleasant memories as the first time, ME_K.O.'s avatar beat Five's in one hit, leaving him a bit flustered with each defeat worse than the last.

"Defeated by ME_K.O.!", the game announcer spoke.

"Sniped by ME_K.O.!", the announcer stated, making Five groan.

"Obliterated by ME_K.O.!", the announcer declared, making Five frustrated.

"Aw, come on!", Five shouted in frustration, tossing the controller onto the couch as he walked away before flashing back to the present just as Jesse stepped in.

"Know him? You trounced him over and over!", Tulip responded.

"How do you know that?", Miko puzzled.

"Because you do that every time you and Five play against each other. And I know because I see every single one of your gameplay videos. And I just showed her one of them, but still!", Jesse added just as Miko scanned Jesse and saw his gamer tag.

"Aw. So, you're the one who's been subscribing all my videos.", Miko realized with a grin.

"What do you mean?", Jesse puzzled.

"Ah, you know, the killer K.O.'s and whatnot.", Miko reminded.

"Oh. Yep. That's me.", Jesse responded.

"And you didn't tell me one of your friends has gamer tag of her own.", Miko added in surprise.

"Uh, hi, ME_K.O. It's...nice to meet you.", Tulip greeted.

"So, you're ME_K.O., huh? Jesse told me about you.", Lake spoke as Miko scanned her and Tulip saw their gamer tags.

"Seriously? MirrorGirl27, I can understand. In fact, not really hard to guess why, but GamerGirl23? Who came up with that?", Miko puzzled with a slight scoff.

"Ahem! I came up with it! And I'll have you know that she is the best coder there is out there!", Jesse responded defensively.

"Yeah! Anyone who disses her like that is gonna get maced!", Lake added angrily.

"Geez, take a chill pill, you two. I was just asking.", Miko assured as Five laughed a bit nervously about where it's heading.

"Oh, nerds.", Five spoke nervously.

"Relax, bro. No matter what happens out there, we're all gamers.", Mitch assured as he out his arm around Five's shoulder.

"Thanks.", Five grinned.

"Three, two, one! Smash!", the announcer shouted as the countdown appeared before Smash appeared after the countdown.

"And gamers play to win!", Mitch finished while also pushing Five toward Miko, Tulip, and Jesse.

Fortunately, Lake managed to catch Tulip and Jesse while Miko and Five were barely able to hang on, giving Mitch his cue to take off as he chuckled with a smirk and took off, leaving Lake growling something fierce before Tulip exclaimed a little as did Jesse.

"Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow!", Jesse exclaimed.

"Oh. Sorry, guys.", Lake apologized before lifting them up just as the other gamers headed after Mitch with one just behind the others before he jumped and fell down, losing his life in the game before "Noober" was removed from the leaderboard in the real world. As for the game world, Miko was still barely hanging on.

"Hey, man! Let go of my leg!", Miko urged as she turned to Five.

"Uh-uh! I am not letting go of your leg!", Five refused before Miko's hand slipped a little.

"Ugh, fine. Then grab the ball!", Miko suggested.

"Why should he trust someone who trounces him over and over again?!", Lake added.

"Who cares about that?! There's no time!", Jesse reminded before Five then grabbed the ball, allowing Miko to swing him and toss him up in the air.

"Upsies!", Miko spoke before Five then fell and landed back on the platform.

"Huh. So, that's why.", Lake spoke in slight wonder.

"You owe me one!", Miko shouted as she ran past Five and got her ball back.

"It's on.", Five smirked.

"You two thinking what I'm thinking?", Jesse asked before Tulip and Lake smirked.

Then, as Miko ran closer to the other gamers, she decided to give a distraction.

"What up?", Miko smirked before running past the two gamers, who shot themselves with a cannon and removed themselves from the video game world.

"Whoo! Yeah! Yeah! Whoo-hoo-hoo!", Five cheered as he went from platform to platform before coming across another gamer, who tried to hit him, but failed as he missed before Five retaliated with a blast from his ball and vested him as the opponent faded away from the game world.

Meanwhile, Tulip, Jesse, and Lake were aiming their blaster balls at the other gamers from a distance like snipers before firing them at the players, sending them out of the game world.

"Yes!", Jesse fist-pumped.

Elsewhere, Miko was dashing toward another gamer.

"🎵Duh-nuh-nuh, this is my theme song, nuh nuh!

Bringing rainbows of pain

Miko is the best!🎵", Miko sang before leaping up above the gamer.

"Heads up!", Miko shouted before firing her ball at the player, defeating him, before landing on the ground as the ball then returned to her right arm.

Meanwhile, at home, Miko was flailing her arms and legs everywhere, even stomping on the table, which remained surprisingly sturdy before falling through the back of the couch and then going up back to the front and standing up as she played.

"Aw, yeah!", Miko cheered.

In the game world, though, the gamers pursuing Mitch, leapt off after him only for Mitch to blast the other three gamers as they fell with Mitch landing onto a platform.

"Ha ha!", Mitch chuckled as the ball returned to him.

"You're Mitch Williams!", the gamer grinned before giving a thumbs-up.

"And you're not.", Mitch only responded before casually pushing him off the platform and advancing.

"You believe that rager?", Miko asked.

"I know. That push was totally underhanded.", Tulip agreed.

"I guess that's why he's number one.", Five responded.

"Number one dingleberry, maybe.", Miko responded.

"Oh, no. Dingleberry doesn't begin to cover it.", Lake retorted.

"Oh, I so wanna beat this guy.", Miko commented as the ball then headed for Five, who sucked underneath before it could hit before popping his head back out.

"All right, look. If we both want to beat Mitch Williams, how about we gang up on him together?", Jesse suggested.

"Yeah. And when it's down to just us, best shot wins?", Five asked in addition.

"Death to dingleberries!", Miko shouted before charging in.

"Was that a yes?", Five puzzled.

"What do you think?", Tulip responded as she, Jesse, and Lake caught up.

Then, Miko took out another gamer in the tournament, making him frustrated as he took the glasses off in the real world.

"Aw, fudge!", the gamer spoke before walking out of the ring.

Meanwhile, in the game world, Lake managed to distract the gamer after her long enough for another gamer to grab him and squeeze him, booting him out of the tournament.

In the real world, it looked as though Five was dancing after dodging an incoming attack before he was bumped in the back by someone with big arms nearby.

"Sorry!", Five apologized before, in the game world, dodging the ball up until he was backed up against the same gamer who crushed the other gamer out of the tournament before he grabbed Five from behind, trying to crush him, only for Five to notice the symbol on the chest and hit it with his elbow, securing his place in the tournament before Tulip took out one gamer while Jesse took out another before all 5 friends put their backs against each other and looked to each other with grins as the leaderboard showed that Mitch is still number one before the five friends took out another gamer.

"Wait up. I think I got a plan to get us to the final platform.", Five spoke.

"Uh, Five? I think we are on the final platform.", Tulip spoke, gesturing to what they are standing on, which housed a giant statue.

"Yes! Okay, but slow down. These tiles may be booby-trapped.", Five suggested.

"Slow down? It's a race!", Miko retorted.

"Oh, really?", Jesse asked sarcastically.

"Coming through!", the gamer spoke as he butted in in-between Miko and Five.

"Hey.", Miko spoke just before the gamer stepped onto a tile that set off flames, burning him out of the tournament.

"Okay, that's a game changer.", Miko commented.

"See? Those tiles are booby-trapped.", Jesse reiterated.

"So, that means that it's more like a puzzle than a race. We have to look for the right tiles that won't set off any traps.", Tulip suggested before looking at the symbols appearing on the statue's chest.

"And I have a plan for that.", Tulip assured before Miko and Five only did a fist bump with each other and jumped forwards.

"Let's go!", Five spoke.

"But you haven't heard my...!", Tulip shouted before groaning in frustration.

Then, after Miko and Five landed on a flaming tile and evaded the flames separately two times, Mitch Williams looked back and saw them with a scoff and a smirk before leaping away and heading after Five, who landed on the right tile just as Tulip, Jesse, and Lake saw Mitch aiming at him.

"Dingleberry at 6 o'clock, Five!", Jesse shouted before Five turned to notice not only Mitch about to fire, but also Miko leaping up after him.

"Hold still, you slippery sandworm.", Miko shouted before firing at Mitch, who leapt away from the ball before Miko landed with Tulip, Jesse, and Lake catching up to the others.

"You two realize this isn't co-op, right? There's only one winner, me!", Mitch discouraged.

"It's exactly that kind of comment that makes you a dingleberry.", Jesse commented before the tile started to give off fire.

"Hey, look out!", Miko shouted before the group leapt off the tile and landed on other ones.

"Close one.", Miko grinned.

Then, Five curiously looked at the tile from which he is standing on before it started to crumble and fall, urging him to leap off and jump onto another tile, the symbol of which glowed bright blue before looking toward the other tiles and then seeing the symbols change on the statue's chest.

"Wait. It is a puzzle.", Five realized before looking toward the other tiles, smiling, and then leaping across tile after tile, avoiding the flames.

"Yeah!", Five spoke before landing into the designated tile, which glowed blue, before it then changed to another symbol just as Mitch caught up and was about to strike at Five when he leapt off just as the flames were set off, barring Mitch from his target as Tulip, Jesse, Lake, and Miko were nearby.

Then, Five leapt across tile after tile, 5 of which burst out flames before landing into the final tile, which started going up.

"Haha! Yes! This is for the win!", Five spoke excitedly before noticing that Mitch was closing in on the four friends.

"Hey! Look out!", Five shouted before firing at Mitch, managing to hit his right arm before he could fire, causing the ball to knock Miko off the tile, although she managed to grab onto it and hang on.

Then, the ball that was returning to Five suddenly stopped as it sparked out green lightning.

"Come on!", Five grunted.

"Uh, everything okay up here?", Jesse shouted.

"My ball, it's stuck! Did this game just glitch on us?", Five puzzled before green lightning started to surge out of control across the game world.

"I'm showing a major software bug in there, Mitch. We need to pull you from the game.", Phil urged.

"Not until I secure this win.", Mitch refused before heading after Miko, who was just recovering as she got up halfway.

"Your buddy can't score without a ball, and you're dead meat. Looks like game over.", Mitch smirked discouragingly.

"Not yet, dingleberry.", Miko retorted.

"You forget that we have you surrounded.", Jesse added.

"Yeah. So, it's game over for you.", Tulip agreed.

"Heads-up, Five!", Lake shouted before firing her bell over to Five.

"What?", Mitch puzzled before Five caught Lake's ball and fired it toward the hole at the top, scoring 10,000,000 points, much to Mitch's frustration as the portal then exploded in a white and blue light.

"No!", Mitch shouted.

Then, the crowd cheered for the victory with Papi and Abuela celebrating as well in the taco dragon truck.

"Yeah, that's showin' 'em!", Abuela cheered.

"That's right! You get 'em, mijo! Get 'em!", Papi added in excitement.

Meanwhile, the group celebrated their victory as they cheered before Lake, Tulip, and Jesse high-fived each other.

"Yes! Yes! I won! I won!", Five shouted excitedly.

"Technically, we all won.", Tulip responded.

"Not to mention that we also taught Mitch Williams a lesson.", Lake added.

"You can't score with another player's ball like that! That was not fair!", Mitch vented before leaving.

"Yes! I think the all-star just rage quit!", Miko grinned.

"Hey. Not his fault he can't handle losing.", Lake smirked before the green lightning sparked out and snakes it's way toward the statue with Tulip noticing it.

"Uh, guys? I think we might be celebrating a bit too early.", Tulip spoke before Jesse, Lake, Miko, and Five turned to see what Tulip meant as the statue came to life and roared.

"And we unlocked a bonus level?", Five puzzled.

"No. If there were any bonus levels, we would've known about it by now.", Tulip responded before the statue proceeded to step on them, but missed as the group dodged.

Meanwhile, in the game world, Mitch spoke to Phil in frustration.

"You guys saw that bogus shot, right? It can't count! Tell me the game's glitched, so it can't count!", Mitch demanded as he throttled Phil a little.

"We got bigger problems than your high score right now, Mitch.", Phil responded urgently.

"Plixel breach in three, two...", Nix spoke before, as if one cue, an arm burst out from one of the the screens on the Jumbotron.

"Techs, gauntlets up!", Phil urged before Mitch, Nix, and Zahra leapt up and changed into their Tech uniforms with tech-like gauntlets.

Then, all 3 fired at the arm on one of the screens as the crowd looked up in slight concern.

"Let's hear it for augmented reality, folks!", Phil spoke before the arm only multiplied by 3 more, adding up to a total of 4 arms and pummeled Zahra and Nix, even whacking away the Nobi head, showing that he was the mascot in costume before Mitch cracked his neck muscles.

"I'll do this myself.", Mitch spoke before jumping up and attacking the arms only for them to explode, knocking Mitch back against the wall of boxes.

In the game world, Five, Miko, Tulip, Jesse, and Lake were facing just as much difficulty's the statue turned around and stepped forward.

"Think we can take him?", Miko puzzled.

"Just one way to find out!", Five responded before he was suddenly stepped on before lifting his foot up with Five practically being stretched.

"Oh, nerds.", Five spoke before being promptly forced out with Miko gulping.

"Uh-oh.", Miko spoke in worry.

Back at home, Miko was the arm emerged from the tv screen as well as Miko still has her headset on and tried to get her, but missed as it smashed the coffee table before then moving in to grab Miko.

"Whoa! This VR is so tight...!", Miko began before being grabbed by the arm as the headset fell off before she shook her head and noticed the arm actually coming through the screen.

"Ohhhh. AAAAAAAH!", Miko screamed upon realizing how dangerous it could be.

Meanwhile, in the game world, Tulip turned to Lake and Jesse.

"We gotta get out of here. Right now!", Tulip urged before Lake and Jesse nodded with all three jumping off before the statue could step on them.

Then, back at the mall, Five, Tulip, Jesse, and Lake came to and saw Mitch, Nix, and Zahra holding the Glitch back.

"What the...?", Five puzzled.

"Is that Mitch?", Jesse puzzled.

"Yeah. And I think he might need help.", Tulip responded.

"Zahra, Nix, with me! Take it down!", Mitch shouted before all three blasted at Lake.

"HEY! What was that for?", Lake exclaimed.

"Oh, sorry. We got confused.", Zahra apologized.

"Our bad.", Nix added.

"It's a good thing I never leave home without protection.", Tulip spoke as she went for her backpack and then got out a weapon with a black-accented hourglass-shaped body with a pop-out drill and three foldout spider-like legs at its base, both of which popped out upon activation, with two little black straps underneath for the arm and a trigger for the fingers to grasp, a large hot-pink gemstone-like object with a heart-shaped facet, and a bright pink symbol of the crystal gems on the body of the weapon, resembling a star with a line underneath it and aiming it at the glitchy arm.

"All right! Time to pop that bad guy!", Tulip shouted before firing a pink laser blast at the Glitch, quickly disintegrating it, leaving Mitch and the others baffled before the broken screen fell out with Five, Tulip, Jesse, and Lake rushing away before it could land on them.

"Hit the deck!", Tulip shouted before the broken screen landed on the ground before a big blast erupted with the glitchy arm disabled before it let go of Miko and was promptly forced to return to the TV screen before the Hinobi Insignia appeared with "Please Stand By" below it as it spun around.

"Hello. A minor glitch has been detected. Please stand by as we restore your system's memory.", the voice spoke as Miko rubbed her eyes in disbelief.

"What in the...?", Miko puzzled.

"Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four...", the voice counted down as everyone looked on in puzzlement and/or worry with Mitch staring all buggyeyed at Tulip as she, Five, Lake, and Jesse recover and get back up.

"Okay, okay. Whoever wants a free T-shirt, you just look right there. Right at the big screen.", Phil spoke as the voice continued counting down.

"Three, two, one.", the voice finished before a blinding light erupted, practically leaving everyone who saw it looking dumbfounded.

Meanwhile, the TV gave off a wave, knocking Miko back before she hit her back against the wall and landed on the ground before a bubble appeared above her with three dots before it changed to a red word that says "Error".

Back at the mall, everyone looked just as dumbfounded before Five, Tulip, Jesse, and Lake saw what happened to them.

"Uh, what's going on here?", Tulip puzzled.

"Yeah. What kinda game is this?", Jesse puzzled.

"The kind nobody's gonna remember.", Mitch responded as he aimed at Tulip, Jesse, Lake, and Five before firing a blast that reset them as bubbles appeared on top of their heads before Mitch walked up to Five and snatched his wristband while also taking Tulip's, Jesse's, and Lake's.

"Good thing you were never here.", Mitch walked away as the last two words echoed.

"I was never here.", Five repeated.

However, the bubble on top of Tulip suddenly turned into an error word as it flashed before she noticed Mitch walking away, holding Five's wristband.

"Mitch? What do you think you're doing with our wristbands?", Tulip asked.

"What? How can you remember that?!", Mitch exclaimed before resetting Tulip, but to no avail.

"Mitch...!", Tulip growled before Mitch raised the memory wipe capacity to 60%.

"Everybody resets!", Mitch exclaimed before trying again only to be met with the same result.

"Just tell me what is going on over here and why you took our wristbands!", Tulip urged as she stepped closer with Mitch then pushed it to 100% and tried again.

"EVERYBODY RESETS!", Mitch shouted before firing again, only to see that it has no effect on her.

"Oh, boosh.", Mitch squeaked before taking off, not knowing that he dropped the wristbands.

"That's odd. Why would he try to reset me like that? How am I not resetting?", Tulip puzzled before looking back to the wristbands on the ground and picked them up.

"And more importantly, what is going on here?", Tulip puzzled.

Act IV

At the Hinobi Game Store, Tulip noticed Lake and Jesse taking a look at the games and hardware there.

"Okay. Where is that Zoid game? It should be here somewhere.", Jesse puzzled.

"Guys! There you are!", Tulip grinned.

"Tulip?", Jesse puzzled.

"You're actually here?", Lake spoke in surprise.

"Of course I am. Why wouldn't I be?", Tulip asked.

"Wait a minute. What are those that you're holding?", Jesse asked.

"Oh, those? They're our wristbands. They even have our gamer tags on them and everything.", Tulip responded as she gave Jesse and Lake their wristbands before they put them on to get a good look.

"Huh. I guess they look cool.", Jesse grinned.

"And familiar, too.", Lake responded.

Then, almost instantly they remember the time they were reset by Mitch as well as the memory of the time they ganged up on Mitch and won with Lake firing the ball, which was shot toward the hole by Five.

"Oh, no. Don't tell me we forgot.", Lake realized.

"Forgot what? The fact we kicked Mitch's butt?", Jesse realized as well.

"Yeah. That.", Lake responded.

"You guys didn't forget by choice. Apparently, you were both reset by Mitch after something big went down.", Tulip responded.

"Hold on. Reset?", Jesse puzzled.

"Yeah. He said something about everybody resetting while flashing some light on me. I don't know why he thought that was a good idea. The point is, I need answers for whatever's going on here, and I bet this wristband with 'Hi_5' on it might give us a clue. Any ideas on where he might be?", Tulip asked.

"Well, according to my phone, it says here that Hi_5, game enthusiast, usually works at the Taco Dragon food truck around the back alley.", Jesse stated.

"Wow. Who would've thought he had good skills with a background check like that?", Lake puzzled in surprise.

"I know, right? Anyway, there may be a good chance that he's still there.", Jesse responded.

"Good. Then that's where we're going.", Tulip spoke.

"Cool. Right after I purchase 'Zoid'.", Jesse responded.

Later, Tulip, Jesse, and Lake were heading for the alleyway in search of Hi_5 when they saw Miko apparently heading there as well.

"C'mon, Hi_5, where are you?", Miko asked.

"Wait. Isn't that ME_K.O.?", Jesse asked.

"Yeah. But why is she here?", Tulip puzzled as she, Jesse, and Lake got closer.

"Yes!", Miko spoke in a slight whisper.

"Hey!", Tulip shouted before Miko noticed Tulip, Jesse, and Lake.

"Oh, hey. It's you guys. You looking for Hi_5, too?", Miko asked.

"Yeah. But how'd you know that?", Jesse puzzled.

"That's why I'm here. Doy.", Miko responded.

Then, Tulip saw Five carrying a bag of trash out to the receptacle nearby.

"There he is.", Tulip spoke before she and the others went over to Five.

"Five! We found you! In an alley! No judgements. Man, I'm so glad that statue monster didn't crush you.", Miko spoke.

"Do I know you guys?", Five asked.

"Well, my name is Tulip but my Gamer Tag is GamerGirl23.", Tulip responded.

"And I'm Jesse. Otherwise known as AllenDrac125 in the game world.", Jesse added.

"And I'm Lake. Also known as MirrorGirl27.", Lake added.

"And it's ME_K.O.! Actually, my real name is Miko, but it closely resembles my Gamer Tag!", Miko added.

"ME_K.O.?", Five puzzled before suddenly remembering the times he was beaten by her far too many times.

"Defeated, sniped, obliterated by ME_K.O.!", the announcer spoke in his head before Five cringed, reeling from the losses.

"Never heard of you.", Five fibbed.

"We just played in a tournament together. You know, Nobi Smash? The game glitch? The statue monster?", Miko responded.

"We were in a tournament?", Five puzzled.

"How could you not remember?", Miko puzzled.

"Wait a minute. That must be what Mitch meant by 'reset'. He must've mind wiped us guys to try and cover up what happened.", Tulip guessed before Jesse gasped.

"Like a secret spy!", Jesse guessed.

"Hold on. He mind wiped you guys?!", Miko exclaimed.

"Apparently. But as soon as Tulip gave us those wristbands, we suddenly remembered everything that happened.", Jesse responded.

"Wait. How come he didn't mind wipe you, Tulip?", Miko puzzled.

"Believe me. He tried, but no matter how high the mind wiping capacity, it just wouldn't take. I think it might have something to do with my gem.", Tulip guessed as she looked back at her gem on her shoulder.

"You guys know what this means?", Miko asked.

"Not exactly.", Lake responded.

"It means that maybe somebody doesn't want Five to remember. Maybe some evil somebody

who's trying to hide the truth like some kind of...some, some... some-spiracy.", Miko guessed.

"So, you don't remember any of that?", Jesse asked.

"Come on, I think I'd remember playing Nobi Smash with a statue monster.", Five responded.

"So, to be clear, you didn't get a wristband, and you didn't go to the Hinobi Store?", Lake asked.

"Look, the only place I've been for the last three days is this truck. And trust me, it never goes anywhere.", Five responded.

"Oh, really? Then, what do you say about these? Boom! Tire tracks!", Jesse spoke, gesturing to the tire tracks.

"Look. If this a joke, I don't really get it, but, you know, ha ha! You got me!", Five laughed a bit before going inside to get the brush.

"You were at that tournament, Five! You need to believe us.", Miko urged.

"Why? What does it even matter?", Five asked.

"Because you won. And that wristband of yours is the proof.", Tulip responded as she gave Five a wristband that said, "Hi_5", quickly making him slightly surprised.

"Where did you...?", Five puzzled.

"He must have dropped it after he found out he couldn't reset me.", Tulip responded.

Then, almost instantly, Five began to remember the time he, Jesse, and Lake were reset as he stripped the four of their wristbands.

"Good thing you were never here.", Mitch spoke before the last four words echoed as it then showed the time he beat Mitch with help.

"I did beat Mitch Williams.", Five responded.

"Yeah. With our help, of course.", Miko added.

"We need answers for what's going on right now and Mitch Williams might be our best shot. Even if he is a dingleberry.", Jesse added.

"Uh, Abuela? Uh, did you or Papi move this truck in the last few days?", Five asked.

"This old beast hasn't moved in the last few decades.", Abuela laughed in response.

"Sorry, Abuela, I gotta go.", Five spoke as he then took his apron off and gave it to Abuela.

Then, the group went out for the Bailey Square Mall.

"All right, guys. I don't know what's going on,

but I wanna find out.", Five grinned.

"All right! Setting new quest waypoint for the Hinobi Store!", Miko shouted as the group set off with "Co-op Engaged" appearing.

Later, the group then arrived at the Hinobi Game Store before hiding behind a certain car in the parking lot.

"Well, so far, so good.", Jesse spoke.

"Man, I love this store. When I was little, my dad would bring me here for all the latest game releases. Sometimes, we'd even camp

outside the doors to make sure we got

one of the first copies.", Five spoke in joy.

"Wow. It's cool your family's so into gaming. Mine, not so much.", Miko commented.

"How do you figure?", Jesse asked.

"Well, Mom was really mad that I ditched out on family day for the hinobi smash tournament and after I told her what really happened in the house about how the table was smashed by a no-joke giant monster hand popping out from the screen, she flat-out grounded me anyway! The nerve!", Miko responded.

"Well, you have to admit, it did sound pretty unbelievable at this point.", Lake responded.

"Wait a minute. If Mitch wiped our brains, why didn't he do the same to you?", Five puzzled.

"Maybe he did, and it just didn't take.", Miko responded.

"Yeah. Same thing happened to me, too. It might be because of the gem on my shoulder.", Tulip guessed as she gestured to the gem on your shoulder.

"Wait. You had a cute gem on your shoulder?", Miko asked.

"A cute, magic one. But technically speaking, yeah.", Tulip responded before Miko gasped.

"Maybe we're, like, the ones, you know? Chosen by destiny to protect the innocent from trolls like him!", Miko fantasized.

"Really?", Tulip puzzled.

"Or not. I dunno.", Miko responded before she caught sight of Mitch speaking with Phil about something.

"There's that wrinkly little sandworm!", Miko shouted, pointing to Mitch.

"Wait. It looks like they're talking about something.", Tulip whispered.

"You're right. It even sounds like that, too.", Jesse agreed.

Little did they know how right Tulip was as Mitch was reporting his findings to Phil about a certain situation.

"So, you're saying you found some griefer who couldn't be reset?", Phil spoke in slight worry.

"Exactly! And that griefer is Tulip Olsen, AKA GamerGirl23! No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't reset her like everyone else!", Mitch responded.

"Not even at full power?", Phil asked.

"Not...even...at...full...power!", Mitch responded.

"And you did bring the wristbands, right?", Phil puzzled before Mitch's eyes practically turned into tiny black dots upon scarce realization that he dropped them when he ran off to report it to Phil.

"Aw, boosh! I must have dropped them when I dashed off to report this finding to you!", Mitch realized.

"Oh, no! This is bad! Like, level 100 Armageddon bad!", Phil exclaimed.

"Aw, man. Now, they know about you not being able to be reset.", Jesse spoke in slight worry.

It even showed Mitch and Phil yelling at each other in panic.

"And they're even laying into each other over it.", Lake spoke.

"So, what are we supposed to do now?", Tulip asked as Mitch then hurried over to his van.

"And don't come back until you get those wristbands back! Those people might already remember what happened by now!", Phil urged.

"Will just relax already?! I told you, I am on it! Right after I pick up some dinner along the way!", Mitch assured with a shout before driving away.

"New plan. We follow him, stealth-mode style,

till he leads us to his den of lies!", Miko responded as she set her bike back up and started riding towards where Mitch was headed, which happened to be Mama Miyamoto's Spaghetti in a bucket before the 5 caught up and hid behind a hedge while peeping from behind.

"Welcome to Mama Miyamoto's Spaghetti in a Bucket, where we put spaghetti in a bucket.", the clerk greeted.

"Uh, yeah. I'll have a small pail with a side of...No.", Mitch began before resetting the clerk once much to Jesse's surprise as he gasped and pointed to the scene before Lake put his hand down.

Then, she was reset to a few seconds ago.

"Welcome to Mama Miyamoto's Spaghetti in a Bucket, where we put spaghetti in a bucket.", the clerk greeted again.

"Give me two mega buckets and two apple pies.", Mitch ordered before the clerk then gave him the bag of food before the clerk spoke.

"That'll be $9.75.", the clerk stated as Mitch raised his hand toward her.

"Boosh!", Mitch spoke before resetting the clerk again.

"Welcome to Mama Miyamoto's...", the clerk began.

"You know, I'm not really hungry.", Mitch interrupted before driving away.

"Holy smokes! That guy really can mess with minds!", Jesse exclaimed.

"And just made off with about ten pounds of free pasta.", Miko added.

"New plan. Get him!", Five spoke before riding toward Mitch.

"Good plan!", Miko responded as she and the others followed.

Meanwhile, Mitch was driving and eating spaghetti when Miko and Five cornered him, prompting him to stop the van, causing the spaghetti and meatballs to spill on him before he shook them off his head.

"Hey, champ, we need to talk.", Jesse spoke.

"What the...? I remember you.", Mitch responded.

"And we remember you.", Tulip responded.

"You! You were the one who couldn't be reset!", Mitch exclaimed.

"You stole my win.", Five spoke to Mitch, who got off the car and closed the door.

"How can you know about that? I reset you myself.", Mitch puzzled.

"Maybe these will give you a clue.", Tulip spoke gesturing to her wristband as well as Lake's, Jesse's , and Five's.

"The wristbands! Of course! It had to be the wristbands! But it doesn't matter. Everybody resets.", Mitch spoke before then firing a flash at Five, Jesse, Tulip, Lake, and Miko, although Miko and Tulip took the bullets for them as they couldn't be reset.

"Is zapping people your solution to everything?", Miko asked as she and Tulip walked toward him.

"Pretty sad if you ask me. Especially since a tool like that could be used to help people, instead of cheating.", Tulip commented as Mitch tried the same thing he did with Tulip earlier.

"Everybody resets!", Mitch urged.

"You love to play the hero, but, really, you're just some bully!", Miko added as he again set the gauntlet to full power, but then realized his mistake quickly.

"Oh, what's the point? If I can't even reset you at full power, you might as well be on the same boat!", Mitch spoke exasperatedly in frustration before Five pounced on him.

"Stop it!", Five exclaimed, trying to get the gauntlet away from him.

"Let go! You don't know what this thing does!", Mitch urged as Five inadvertently pressed the gauntlet down on the ground, causing the glitch to be released from it as a small green bolt of lightning, snaking its way toward the arcade as Phil called him.

"Mitch, we're showing a glitch release from your gauntlet.", Phil stated.

"Got it under control. Don't send backup.", Mitch assured.

"Just be careful. If that thing goes viral, it could spread through the entire arcade.", Phil warned as the viral glitch went in through the cracks of the arcade doors.

"Oh, boosh! I am done playing with you two whack-a-moles.", Mitch spoke as he then prepared a portal gun setting before then shooting it at the ground, causing Tulip, Jesse, Lake, Miko, and Five to fall through it and land in the van.

"This is a serious Mitchuation. I can't have you morons make it any worse!", Mitch urged.

"Wait, wait, wait, wait. Seriously? A 'Mitchuation'?", Miko puzzled.

"Just who the heck do you think you are, anyway?", Five puzzled.

"I'll tell you who I am. I'm the guy who's gonna send you back to the alley you crawled from. And this time, you're gonna stay there...where you belong.", Mitch bluntly, coldly responded before closing the doors, which then activated the security lasers.

"Security system activated.", the voice spoke before the lasers disappeared with Mitch then going in alone.

Inside the van, though, Miko was trying to open the door, but to no avail.

"Come on, try everything. There's gotta be something we can use in here.", Miko urged.

"As soon as we find a way out, I'm going to find Mitch Williams and SMASH HIM!", Lake shouted as she banged her fist against the van wall, not only putting a dent on it, but also unknowingly causing a glass with the label "Gumminosis" to fall off and break, causing Lake to blanch out in shock upon what she did.

"Uh, Lake? What did you just break?", Tulip asked.

"I don't know.", Lake responded before a small gooey, gummy bear-like creature with cute blue eyes wiggled out of the glass and looked up with a squeak.

"Oh, my gosh! It's a cute little gummy bear!", Jesse shouted.

"Aw. This little guy is so cute. I wonder what he was doing in there.", Tulip puzzled as she set her hand down, allowing the small creature to crawl onto her hand and look up with a puzzled squeak.

"Never mind that. I wonder what it is.", Lake puzzled.

"Well, all the label on the glass says is 'Gumminosis'.", Jesse responded before gasping upon having an idea.

"How about we call this little fella 'Gummi'. It is shorter. Plus, it's also short for Gummy Bear.", Jesse stated as "Gummi" looked around with a few squeaks.

"So, you know the way out, Gummi?", Tulip asked before it squeaked and pointed to the panel next to a small gate.

"It's in here, right?", Tulip puzzled as she neared Gummi toward the panel before it pressed its stubby paw toward the upper arrow, opening the gate to show a sort of machine with a screen inside and a red button on top before Miko grabbed it eagerly.

"Oh, check it out, guys! A red button. The mother of all buttons!", Miko exclaimed.

"So, the only way out is with that?", Tulip puzzled.

"Well, when you put it like that...give me that.", Five spoke as he took the machine before pressing the red button, causing it to disappear before the screen powered on and said, "Activating" before counting down from 7, much to the group's panic.

"Aah! Please don't blow up. Please don't blow up.", Five spoke in worry before fortunately, the machine did not explode, but instead, spoke as a face appeared on-screen.

"Welcome, cadet. I am BITT! A Binary Intelligence Tech Trainer! Searching for updates. None found.", BITT greeted.

"Okay. That's new.", Tulip commented as Gummi squeaked.

"Hey, maybe he can help us get out of this van.", Five spoke.

"I am sorry but my services are for the exclusive use of Glitch Tech recruits. I also dispense food and beverages. Fresh-baked muffin?", BITT asked while baking muffins quickly with Miko quickly being eager.

"I want one for Christmas!", Miko exclaimed before hugging BITT.

"What's a Glitch Tech?", Lake asked.

"Citizens employed by Hinobi for the purposes of detecting and capturing glitch entities!", BITT responded.

"So, that's why he reset us. It wasn't just because he wanted to cheat. It was to keep us sane so that we don't get crazy from seeing glitches like that.", Tulip realized.

"Yeah. I think you may be right. And in that note, I, Jesse Cosay, and all my friends would like the esteemed privilege of being Glitch Techs.", Jesse responded.

"Yep. New trainees reporting for duty. Right, Five?", Miko asked while handing two earphones to Five while also handing out 6 more (2 for each person) to Tulip, Jesse, and Lake.

"Huh?", Mitch puzzled before Miko winked.

"Uh, yeah! They and we, we are trainees

employed by Hinobi for the purposes of whatever the purpose is you just said.", Five responded a bit nervously as he and the others put the headsets on.

Then, BITT stretched his arms toward 5 more gauntlets and grabbed them before handing them to Miko, Five, Tulip, Jesse, and Lake.

"Very well. Simply connect these Glitch gauntlet and choose 'start' to begin!", BITT spoke before all 5 put their gauntlets on and pressed "start", causing a sort of transformational power-up.

In said power-up, both Tulip, Jesse, Lake, Miko, and Five both had dark blue armor placements as well as the armor pads, white pants, and holo visors, although only Lake had a jacket on as the group looked on in wonder.

"Whoa! Look at us!", Tulip spoke in awe as Gummi squeaked with a hop toward Tulip's gauntlet.

"Yeah. Now, that is sweet swag!", Jesse agreed.

"It's got some kinda UI. Like a radar, a minimap and... a targeting crosshair?", Five spoke in awe.

"All right. So, now what do we do?", Lake asked.

"Move your wrists up, down, and side to side. This is known as your targeting area.", BITT obstructed as Tulip, Jesse, Lake, Miko, and Five did so.

"I am loving where this is going.", Miko grinned.

Then, the alarm suddenly went off.

"Glitch signature acquired! Now calculating the shortest route.", BITT spoke.

"Uh, the shortest route to what?", Five puzzled before BITT suddenly went inside his bigger version, otherwise known as BITT Prime, which then grew arms and legs before wrapping the group around him.

"The shortest route to intercept the glitch!", BITT responded before launching himself toward the source in the quickest route possible like a rocket.

Act V

Meanwhile, at the arcade, Mitch was lurking around, even passing by a boy playing on an arcade game, scanning the premises for the glitch when he heard a scream and turned toward the source and aimed his gauntlet only to notice it was a scream of excitement of getting a new high score as the girl jumped excitedly before powering down his gauntlet. But then, the virus snuck up from behind Mitch, catching him unawares as he tried to blast it, but to no avail before the Glotch snaked its way into the Chomp Kitty arcade, causing Chomp Kitty to appear from the game screen with a meow, surprising the three arcade-goers before it landed and smirked as it leaned in toward Mitch.

"I hate retro titles.", Mitch spoke before blasting it, leaving it scarred in the cheek only for said scar to heal right away before the kids then ran off in a panic only for Mitch to mind wipe them one at a time as they eventually stopped and landed on top of each other.

"Glitch Techs detected.", the gauntlet's voice reported.

"I said no backup!", Mitch responded.

Then, from out of nowhere, BITT arrived with Miko, Five, Tulip, Jesse, and Lake standing ready with their gauntlets.

"You have reached your destination.", BITT spoke.

"I've had it with you griefers! I am trying to clean the mess you made, and you keep making it worse!", Mitch exclaimed.

"Well, excuse us for trying to fix our mistake, dingleberry!", Lake retorted, making Mitch gasp dramatically.

"How dare you?! I will not let this stand, not as long as I...!", Mitch began right before getting chomped by Chomp Kitty.

"Chomp Kitty?", Five puzzled as Tulip and Jesse exclaimed.

Then, Chomp Kitty tossed Mitch up before eating him and swallowing.

"Strategic update. Run away!", BITT advised.

"Shall we run for our lives?", Lake asked.

"Oh, yeah. Let's!", Jesse responded before Chomp Kitty didn't hesitate to chase after the group as they ran right and turned left while avoiding the glitch as BITT ran off in another direction.

"This is no longer my favorite video game!", Five exclaimed before Chomp Kitty lunged past them, urging him, Miko, Tulip, Jesse, and Lake to turn right before BITT grabbed them and hid them with him behind the arcades as Chomp Kitty looked around searching for them.

"Is there an instruction manual?", Five asked, looking for said manual for the gauntlet before Miko noticed an incoming call from Mitch with Gummi squeaking in puzzlement from the sound and answered as she tapped, "Accept" before noticing Mitch's somewhat frightened face.

"Mitch? You're okay?", Five asked.

"I am stuck in the belly of a malevolent digital construct, so, no, I'm not okay! Help me, you morons!", Mitch shouted in response.

"Give is one reason why we should help a dingleberry like you?!", Lake retorted angrily.

"Agh! Again with the dingleberry comment?!", Mitch exclaimed.

"Guys, there's no time for name-calling! And it never solves anything anyway.", Jesse urged.

"You want our help?", Five puzzled.

"You're gonna admit what you've done and help us put things right again!", Miko urged.

"Fine, just get me out of here! The static discharge is frizzing my hair!", Mitch urged somewhat frightfully before the call ended.

"I never thought I'd say this, Mitch, but hang on. We'll get you out.", Tulip assured before Miko took a look at the Items menu.

"Ooh. Maybe these'll help.", Miko grinned as she looked through the list before finding a certain item.

"Let's see. Sparkly gem thingies, feathers, mushrooms...Ooh! Pizza!", Miko spoke before Tulip started to get worried.

"Pizza? Oh, no.", Tulip spoke in worry before Miko came out of hiding and aimed her gauntlet at Chomp Kitty.

"Hey, furball, ya hungry?", Miko smirked, attracting the glitch's attention as a pixelated pizza formed in front of the gauntlet before it was fired at Chomp Kitty.

"Miko, no!", Tulip shouted before Chomp Kitty only ate the pizza and grew bigger.

"You fed it a power-up?!", Five exclaimed.

"Seriously?! Everyone who plays 'Chomp Kitty' knows that pizza only makes Chomp Kitty bigger!", Tulip reprimanded.

"Uh..., oops?", Miko squeaked before Chomp Kitty roared, letting loose green bolts of lightning as they then came into contact with various arcades and released a zombie glitch, a flytrap Glitch, a robot glitch, and a medieval creature glitch.

"We probably should have stayed in the van.", Five spoke in worry.

"Target glitch has gone viral!", BITT spoke.

"What's a glitch?", Five asked.

"A glitch is an artificially intelligent plixel construct!", BITT responded.

"So, basically, video game monsters!", Miko guessed as she aimed her gauntlet before Five did the same.

"I got it!", Five agreed before Tulip, Jesse, and Lake did the same as Gummi gave a fierce, determined look on its face.

After that, Five asked at the dinosaur like Glitch and fired, destroying it as it then broke into plixels on the ground.

"Yeah! Didn't like that, did ya?", Five smirked before the other glitches only went after them.

"They didn't like that. Run!", Five urged before they ran with Miko getting another message from Mitch.

"Use your gauntlets to drain its power. And get me out of here!", Mitch exclaimed.

"Working on it!", Tulip shouted.

"Uh, hey, BITT? Do these things have multi-target?", Miko asked.

Then, the Multi-Target feature activated on Miko's gauntlet.

"Multi-target activated.", the gauntlet's voice spoke before Miko smirked.

Then, both glitch techs fired at the glitches before Five typed in a code on his gauntlet and then creating a holo hammer and then smashing it while Tulip did the same thing to make a good guy hoverboard based off of "Good Guys poppin' Bad Guys" before firing blasts from it at the other glitches while Miko punched a boxer glitch with her right hook before Lake and Jesse slashed at the zombie glitches with holo axes before all 5 destroyed all but one glitch remaining: Chomp Kitty. Then, they blasted it, only for it to regenerate and roar, sending the group aback before taking off elsewhere.

"Come on! Let's get him!", Five urged before they chased after it only to notice that it was headed for the ball pit as it saw it and the kid in there before proceeding to eat them by lifting kids up and then chomping them while while also eating the balls.

"Uh, why is he eating the ball pit?", Mitch asked.

"Glitch intelligence is limited to base programming.", BITT responded.

"Wait. That means Chomp Kitty thinks they're pellets!", Tulip realized before Miko got another urgent call from Mitch.

"Hurry! I am surrounded by toddler snot!", Mitch exclaimed.

"I don't know. They look pretty happy with him.", Lake smirked, earning a slight glare from Tulip.

"Okay. But only because we can't let the kids get digested in there.", Lake sighed.

"That gives me a plan.", Five spoke as he was tweaking certain codes into his gauntlet.

"He loves plans.", Miko spoke before Five moved in.

"Yeah. I can see that.", Tulip agreed before Gummi concurred with a squeak.

Then, after Five rolled over to the table and popped up, he then formed a big cannon, which proved a bit heavy for him.

"Heavy!", Five grunted before he lifted it up and fired a small mouse-like rocket at Chomp Kitty which hit it by the butt, causing it to turn to notice the rocket headed toward Five, who caught it.

"Oh, boy.", Five sighed before Chomp Kitty got excited and started chasing him around.

"It thinks you're food. Great plan!", Miko shouted only for Five to shout out in Spanish in fright before Miko fired at Chomp Kitty by the head, only for it to regenerate and then roar at Miko, sending her flying toward a wall, the impact of which broke her gauntlet and fractured it as a piece of it fell off before Miko landed.

"No!", Tulip shouted in worry.

"Alert! Trainee down!", BITT shouted.

"Uh, BITT, uh, can a power-up's effect be reversed?", Five asked.

"Power-ups can be modified to nerf a target.

"Uh, I'll take that as a yes.", Five spoke.

"You heard him, guys. It's now or never.", Tulip urged.

"You got it.", Jesse agreed before he, Tulip, and Lake began entering certain codes into their gauntlets just as Chomp Kitty closed in on Miko.

"Uh, nice kitty? Oh, looks like game over. Delete my browser history!", Miko exclaimed in fright as Chomp Kitty roared at her.

"Alert, a Tech needs support. Now providing backup assistance!", BITT spoke as he then ran and leapt on top of Chomp Kitty, causing it to try to shake him off before it tossed BITT aside, urging Gummi to leap up and stretch over to BITT.

"Gummi!", Tulip shouted before Gummi successfully prevented BITT from crashing before retreating back to the surprised Tulip.

"You can do that?", Tulip puzzled before Gummi replied with a squeak as it turned to her.

Then, Five, Tulip, Jesse, and Lake finished needing a certain power-up.

"That's it!", Tulip grinned.

"Miko! Over here!", Jesse shouted as he, Tulip, Lake, and Five aimed their gauntlets just as Miko ran from Chomp Kitty as fast as she could.

"Here kitty, kitty, kitty, kitty!", Miko shouted before she then slid underneath Five and turned around to see Chomp Kitty lunging toward them.

"You've picked the wrong ball of yarn to toy with, Kitty!", Lake smirked before she, Tulip, Jesse, and Five fires nerfed Pizzas toward Chomp Kitty with the five rolling away as Chomp Kitty rolled before turning around toward them only to start malfunctioning before it gave a soft meow and exploded into plixels, releasing the kids and Mitch, who landed on the ground before recovering with his visor coming off as Five aimed his gauntlet at him.

"Not bad for a few 'morons', huh?", Tulip grinned.

"Hey, pro, how'd you like your memory reset?", Five smirked.

"Wha...?", Mitch puzzled.

"Caution, a Tech gauntlet is not to be used aggressively. It is a tool to protect innocence, never to harm.", BITT advised as he flashed red for a moment.

"Yeah? Well, your MVP here really needs to read the dang manual.", Miko responded.

"You gotta believe me, I wasn't really gonna do it! At least not to you. Not after finding out that Tulip couldn't be reset, not even at full power. I was freaked you wouldn't reset just like Tulip wouldn't. Everybody resets!", Mitch explained.

"Until now, apparently.", Tulip responded.

"Wiping our memories because we saw something we weren't supposed to is one thing, but making us forget the fact that Five won is another!", Jesse exclaimed.

"You stole my win. Why?", Five puzzled.

"To protect your lame gamer status?", Miko guessed angrily.

"I'm Mitch Williams. I am the number one gamer in this city. You take that away from me, you may as well take everything. Besides, that win was bugged. He wasn't even the real winner. She was.", Mitch responded, even pointing to Lake.

"What? But Five made the winning shot.", Lake puzzled.

"Yeah, with your ball, remember?", Mitch responded.

"So, I guess you won.", Jesse spoke to Lake.

"Huh.", Miko grinned before Gummi squeaked in agreement as Tulip gave a light chuckle.

"No matter which one of us won, he still loses.", Five responded, still aiming his gauntlet at Mitch.

"Please, don't!", Mitch exclaimed.

"If we wipe your precious gaming career, you've got nothing left to protect.", Five smirked.

"I know I went too far, but do not take this from me. It's what I love. It's who I am.", Mitch pleaded before Miko ceased her glare and understood.

"Me, too.", Miko spoke.

"Me, too.", Five agreed before he ceased fire.

"Yeah. The same goes for us, too.", Tulip sighed as she turned to Gummi, who turned to her.

"How did you find that thing anyway?", Mitch asked.

"We found it in a can labeled 'Gumminosis', so we named it Gummi for short. It made sense at the time because it did look like a cute little gummy bear.", Jesse exclaimed before Miko got a call again, this time, from Phil, Mitch's Boss.

"Come in, Mitch. After the discharge, your signal went viral. What happened in there? And did you get the wristbands like I asked?", Phil asked.

"Look. You can have our wristbands, but do you wanna tell him or should we?", Tulip asked.

Later, Mitch was explaining to Miko's mother and father.

"So... your daughter wasn't lying when she told you a no-joke-giant-monster hand came out of your TV and trashed your living room.", Mitch spoke.

"I'm sorry, what exactly are you people talking about?", Miko's father responded.

"We're talking about offering your daughter and her friends here part-time jobs in the Hinobi Store's new technical support department.", Phil responded.

"A job? I do like the sound of that.", Miko's mother grinned.

"Especially if it makes you happy.", Miko's father added, exciting Miko.

"Whoo-hoo! Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you. Okay, guys, you can do it now.", Miko grinned.

"So, while I restore your system's memory, you will remember this. Your daughter's gaming skills have earned her a job with Hinobi Tech Support.", Phil spoke as he aimed the gauntlet at Miko's mother and father before Miko hugged them.

"And you're so proud.", Miko added before the flash lit up and reset them like it did Miko, but this time, it said, "Perfect!".

"Honey, wasn't Miko just here?", Miko's father puzzled as he stood up.

"You know her. Probably wants to be early for that new job of hers.", Miko's mother responded.

Only Lexi saw what happened without being reset and closed the door before turning around to take it in in amazement.

"Whoa.", Lexi spoke in surprise.

Later, Phil was showing the group of five the ropes about their jobs as they are in their Hinobi employee uniforms.

"So this'll be your day-to-day. Cash register's here, price gun's here, pooper's in the back and, uh, oh, yeah. Yeah, the place next door

sells old donuts at half off.", Phil responded.

"That's all?", Miko puzzled.

"What's better than half-off donuts?", Phil puzzled.

"Well, let's go over the Hinobi Game Store's benefits, shall we?", Tulip responded.

"Exclusive swag, early release games, live events!", Five spoke in excitement.

"Those things have definitely gotta be better than half-off donuts. Or at least just as good.", Jesse added.

"Yeah, if you earn points, you get the perks. Oh. And there are your lockers.", Phil spoke, showing the group their lockers, which looked normal with each one marked with tapes with each of the group's names on them.

"Uh..., awesome.", Five spoke a bit nervously.

"I got your awesome right here.", Phil grinned before pressing certain buttons on the controller to cause the lockers to open up to show a big blue portal, stunning the group with awe.

"Excuse me.", Phil spoke before stepping through the portal with a jump, making Miko gasp excitedly.

"Yeah!", Five spoke in amazement.

"You thinking what I'm thinking?", Tulip asked.

"Cannonball!", Miko shouted before Lake jumped in first with Miko, Tulip, Five, and Jesse following them before they went through a sort of current in-between portals excitedly.

"Whoo-hoo-hoo!", Five cheered as Miko laughed.

Then, another portal opened up at the ceiling before Lake fell through first with Miko falling in next.

"Whoo-hoo!", Miko shouted before Tulip, Five, and Jesse fell down next with Five landing on the ground before they all got up and saw what was below, which was a next-level headquarters with a central hub leaderboard and several rooms nearby, which are the testing room, the lab, the customization room, and the weapons and armory testing area, which Mitch just so happened to be mopping before Phil walked closer to the others.

"Kids, welcome to Glitch Techs.", Phil welcomes before the group spoke indistinctly in excitement.

"Awesome!", Miko shouted.

"This is amazing!", Five added.

"Whoo-hoo!", Jesse cheered.

"Nice!", Lake grinned.

Then, all of a sudden, an alert about an incoming call came up on the central hub.

"Alert! Incoming call!", BITT spoke.

"Really? Well, who's it from?", Phil puzzled.

"From the caller named 'One-One'.", BITT responded.

"One-One?", Tulip, Lake, and Jesse gasped in unison.

"Friend of yours?", Phil asked.

"Yeah.", Tulip responded.

"BITT, patch in the call.", Phil spoke before One-One appeared on the monitor at the central hub.

"Hello. I'm looking for someone called 'Phil'. Is there a Phil here?", Glad One asked.

"Uh, yeah. In fact, I'm Phil. Is there anything you need?", Phil asked.

"Two things actually.", Sad One responded before Glad One spoke up next.

"First off, I wanted to stop by and say hello to your fellow recruits. Hello!", Glad One waved.

"Hi, One-One. Glad to see you again!", Tulip waved.

"'Again'?", Five puzzled.

"You mean you know that robot?", Miko asked.

"Well, not just me.", Tulip responded.

"Ms. Tulip! Is that you?", Glad One spoke in surprise.

"And not just her.", Jesse grinned.

"Yup. We're here, too.", Lake added.

"Oh, that's a nice reunion! And I was just looking for you three, too.", Glad One grinned.

"Well, what do you need, One-One?", Tulip asked.

"It's about the Apex causing problems on this train.", One-One responded.

"The Apex?!", Tulip puzzled.

"Yep. But it's not all their fault. I think they just needed a push in the right direction. Like Lena and Damien.", Glad One assured.

"Except they aren't like these two, but you get the point.", Sad One added.

"Yeah, but are they even capable of changing?", Jesse puzzled.

"Well, that's what the train is for, isn't it? I'll wait outside by the exit for you near your present location. Hope to see you all there.", Glad One grinned before the call ended.

"Okay. What else is going on?", Five puzzled before the trio set out to go where One-One is.

"We'll explain on the way.", Tulip spoke.

Later, outside the Hinobi Game Store, Miko and Five we're caught up on their adventures.

"So, you guys had adventures on some otherworldly train and you didn't even think to tell us?!", Miko exclaimed.

"Well, we didn't think we needed to tell you. Not until now, anyway.", Jesse responded.

"And knowing something like that, there's bound to be an exit door leading us back to the train.", Tulip responded before taking notice of the exit door located on the side entrance for the mall.

"Bingo.", Tulip grinned.

Outside in the train, One-One shook a little as he eagerly awaited his choice passengers before the door opened in front of him to show Tulip, Jesse, Lake, Miko, and Five walking out.

"Okay, One-One. What's the problem?", Tulip asked.

---

Play Secession Studios & Greg Dombrowski Music: "Devour"

In the wasteland, as a man's voice commented, the train continued on before one car rose up from in-between the others before shooting backward as the screen faded to black.

"The young people today are sicker than ever...", the voice spoke before it showed Tulip speaking to Spinel.

"Neither of us can go back to the way things were. We have to adapt to the changes in our lives. It's the only way things can get better.", Tulip stated as it also showed the latter giving an angry look, making Tulip gasp before she then tossed Steven and Tulip upwards into the air before showing Tulip hugging Atticus and One-One with Steven joining in the hug as well as Spinel watched from afar, longing for another friendship and carrying immense guilt before it faded to black and showed M.T. speaking with Jesse as she blushed.

"You want me to come with you?", M.T. puzzled.

"Yeah. You're my friend.", Jesse responded as it showed Mace charging toward M.T. to sand her only to sand her hair as he barely missed while Tulip lifted her reflection out from the other side before showing One-One speaking to Jesse.

"This train is for fixing problems, not for hang-time with buds.", Sad One spoke up.

"Oh, I have a problem. My friend is trapped on a train.", Jesse responded, making M.T. smile with a blush before it faded to black and showed Amelia reaching her hand out from the open pod, speaking in a distorted voice while the steward handed her an orb.

"Take what we need from the car.", Amelia spoke in said distorted voice before then showing a young Grace looking on in awe as the suit which Amelia was using flashed with the red wave as the man's voice commented again as the screen faded to black.

"This is maddening...", the voice spoke before it showed an adolescent Grace ramming herself onto a Ghom, pushing and tipping it to the ground before taking a young Simon's hand and taking off before it showed them outside the train as they spoke.

"You...saved me.", Young Simon spoke.

"Yeah... I did.", Young Grace responded before the screen faded and showed the "Max Original" logo appearing in the background of the wasteland as the voice commented again.

"They're all infected with hero syndrome.", the voice commented before it faded in to show Grace opening a door that led to a giant jungle car with a grey sky before showing Simon running along a tree before it faded to black and showed the four glowing words, "A Max Original Series" before they faded away and showed Simon standing on a branch as they, and a girl named Amber spoke.

"What happened?", Grace puzzled.

"Where are we?", Amber asked.

"Looks to be a moderately-sized car. Jungle-themed...", Simon guessed.

"We all love nature. A stroll in the park, a hike on a sunny afternoon...", another voice spoke as it also showed a herd of multicolored squirrels popping up from the grass before hearing a giant roar, making them retreat to a nearby tree as they chittered while the screen faded to black.

"But what happens when nature invades? I've seen it all, but I've never seen anything as disturbing as what you see here today.", the voice continued as when it faded back in, it showed Tulip, Jesse, Lake, Atticus, One-One, Grace, Simon, and Amber looking up in fear as a sabertoothed wolf snarled as it moved closer before roaring as it leapt toward the trio, making the two girls scream before the screen cut to black for a moment before it showed her laughing followed by her companions as she, Amber, and Simon ended up being tickled instead before Hazel laughed as she put her hand on Tuba's arm. After that, the group introduced themselves before Grace got down on her feet as she introduced herself to Hazel.

"Hi, I'm Tulip.", Tulip greeted.

"I'm Jesse.", Jesse added.

"I'm Lake.", Lake added.

"I'm Atticus.", Atticus added.

"One.", Glad One greeted.

"One...", Sad One added.

"My name's Grace. And what's your name?", Grace asked.

"Hazel.", Hazel replied.

Then, Grace reached for her glove as she spoke up.

"You wanna see something cool?", Grace asked before she pulled it out to reveal her lengthy number just hear her elbow, making Hazel's eyes widen in astonishment with a gasp before walking to Grace.

"Do you have a number?", Grace asked.

"I do.", Hazel replied before she opened her palm, revealing her number "337" with a lack of glow, making Grace and Simon astonished as they spoke.

"Simon, take a look at this. Yours should be glowing.", Grace spoke.

"We need to get her to the Apex right away.", Simon suggested before the screen faded to black to show the train going down on an infinite railroad before it showed Hazel in Tuba's arms, bearing a sad look while Grace spoke.

"The train can be confusing, and lonely.", Grace stated before it then it showed a brief flashback of a portal going on the side of a train car and Jesse trying hard to hold on to M.T. before it showed his number going down as One-One spoke.

"When it reaches zero...,", Sad One began.

"Poof! Away you go.", Glad One finished.

"To be clear, that's a good thing.", Sad One added before, back at the Jungle Car, Grace had an idea as she spoke to Hazel, who became very interested.

"I know! I'm looking for Passengers to help. You can come back with us!", Grace suggested.

"Whaaaaaa?", Hazel asked excitedly before it showed Phil smiling.

"Welcome to Glitch Techs.", Phil greeted before it then showed a next-level headquarters with a central hub leaderboard and several rooms nearby, including the testing room and the lab as Grace spoke.

"You get to meet a bunch of other cool kids.", Grace added before it showed Jesse looking in awe as Miko was next to him.

"This is the best day of my life!", Jesse exclaimed in awe.

"Why don't you go talk to 'em?", Miko asked before it showed Grace and Simon dressed up in proper attire while dancing before Tuba and Hazel danced with the latter spinning under the gorilla's gentle hand as she laughed.

"This is so fun!", Hazel grinned.

In a snowy field, Simon was having a snowball fight with Grace and Hazel as he shouted while throwing snowballs before one landed near Hazel, worrying her as she exclaimed before Phil went over what the Glitch Techs do while even showing an example of a mind wipe when it was accidentally done on Miko.

"You partner up, locate glitches in your assigned area, debug 'em, reset any damage, and mindwipe whatever stooges witnessed the disturbance.", Phil spoke before it showed Grace and Simon watched Hazel play with Tuba as the gorilla lifted her up onto a big leaf while Lena and Damien watched over her as the former spoke with the latter.

"Tuba's good.", Hazel spoke.

"Listen, I'm new to this whole thing and I just wanna get it right.", Lena spoke.

While they watched, Simon turned to Grace as he spoke to her with a scowl.

"So when are we taking out that null?"

While Damien gave his answer, it showed Tuba suddenly jumping out at Simon and roaring at him before raising a rock to smash him, only to be stopped by Hazel as she held onto her.

"I hate to say it, but you have to prepare yourself for the possibility that you're wrong.", Damien responded before it then showed a Glitch Tech with a red visor naked Kazar giving a warning with Tulip getting puzzled before showing a black-robed leg applying its pressure on Tuba's hand, making her scream before it showed the wheels matching onto the car and going up with Grace taking notice due to the shaking.

"It's not gonna be easy.", Kazar spoke.

"How?", Tulip puzzled.

"He strikes without warning and he vanished with the wind.", Kazar replied.

"Zenith found us!", Grace shouted before she, Simon, Tulip, Jesse, Lake, Miko, and Five tan with Tuba and Hazel concerned as Kazar spoke next.

"Distract him!", Kazar shouted before it showed purple lightning striking.

"They're a bigger threat than they seemed.", Simon commented as he shot out two harpoons out toward the exit door of the unfinished car with them, Amber, Tulip, Jesse, and Lake (along with Atticus and One-One) as Zenith spoke up.

"You have no chance of escape!", Zenith shouted before it faded to show Grace speaking to the apex in the Mall Car.

"Apex!", Grace called before they cheered and then showed a pink, Dino-like Glitch in battle armor roaring as it grew before it showed Grace kicking the glitch back with Amber whacking the glotch with a swing, Simon then going up the wall and then landing behind it before sweeping it off its feet.

After that, it showed Grace, Simon, Amber, Tulip, Jesse, Lake, Atticus, and One-One running across the catwalk before getting cut off with Tuba and Hazel stuck on the other side as Grace gasped before it faded to show Grace and Simon looking to each other with smiles as the Apex cheered before Hazel then held Grace's hand as she gave a warm smile before it showed Hazel in her turtle form.

"This girl you're trying to save robbed you of everything you worked so hard to achieve! She's broken you.", Polaris spoke.

"You aren't leaving me, are you?", Hazel asked before it showed Simon giving a grin as he responded before hugging Grace as he finished before showing Amelia behind the entry door.

"I'm always with you. We're a team.", Simon assured.

"What have you been doing to the train cars?!", Amelia asked as it also showed a purple demonic skull looking up before roaring as it spewed out purple fire before it showed Grace stepping on Kevin's cheek for leverage and using her harpoon to pull herself closer due to the bizarre gravity in the unfinished car before showing Tulip struggling to keep her balance before seeing a debris falling down as Zenith shouted.

"If you didn't meddle with forced you didn't understand...", Zenith began.

"Simon!", Grace shouted before showing Atticus and Aloysius landing into the ground before Simon looked up only to see the debris fall on him and land on his back, making him grunt in pain before it showed a snake lunging at Hazel, making her gasp as she looked behind her before it showed Amelia sliding down a hill, an Alpha Ghom roaring, and the demon roaring as it raised its arm prior to showing Samantha giving a hiss in the cabin before showing Grace and Sinon firing their harpoons before it showed Tuba snatching Simon up in the dark before she ended up snatched by Tuba's hand as well, this time from a bush as Zenith finished and Kazar spoke next.

"...all of reality wouldn't be in jeopardy! SOMEONE HAS TO PUT AN END TO THIS!", Zenith finished.

"1..., 2..., 3!", Kazar shouted.

Suddenly, the screen went black before showing Miko in a slight haze before Hazel replied back with a grin, holding a jar.

"It's hard to find dependable portals nowadays...", Miko grinned.

"That's how you know it's the good stuff.", Hazel grinned.

With that, the screen quickly went to black before showing the Infinity Train logo with the Glitch Techs logo flashing and beeping just below it before an X appeared in between the two logos as well as "Max Original" being above the first logo as Tuba and Hazel sand before the words vanished with the second logo flashing before shrinking and disappearing to show new ones saying, "Streaming December 21st" before showing the HBO Max logo along with the words below saying, "where HBO meets so much more."

"🎵Don't be a worry, baby

No need to hurry, baby, when you're with me🎵", Tuba sang.

"🎵Just take it easy-peasy, my little lemon saueezy,

'Cause you're with me🎵", Hazel finished.

End Secession Studios & Greg Dombrowski Music: "Devour"

A/N: And this is the prologue. And the other 10 episodes will be released on December 21st, but this time, with 2 episodes per night on that week. :) I will also be releasing a rewrite called "Gwen 10: The Celestial Twins". Now, onto the next one. :)