It was a day like any other at Foster's. Wilt was helping Frankie with some chores, Jackie Khones was eating a sandwich, Eduardo was playing with the younger-looking friends, World was playing hide and seek, Mr Herriman was patroling the house in search of rule-breakers... All in all, the house was full of life and color.
Coco was wandering around when she found Bloo, with bags under his eyes, sitting on the sofa in the arcade room. And snoring.
"Co? Co co co coco co?"
The sudden break of silence startled Bloo out of his sleep. He jumped up, ready to punch someone, waving his arms dizzily in front of him. "Don't you even THINK about it, you cheater...!"
"Co coco co?" Asked Coco, confused.
Bloo looked behind him, noticing Coco. "Oh, it's just you." He said with a downgrading tone, and then sat down on the sofa again. "Uuuugh, what time is it...?" He couldn't keep his eyes opened.
Coco checked the antique clock that was next to the sofa. "Co coco."
"Three o'clock!? Mac's about to get here!" While he had looked dead tired a moment before, hearing the good news had revitalized him. Full of energy, he started jumping up and down on the sofa. "Oooh boy, this is gonna be GREAT!"
"Co co?" asked Coco, now interested.
"The videogame Mac's going to bring here today! He said it's the BEST VIDEOGAME EVER! He said it CHANGED HIS LIFE! And that I can't IMAGINE just how AMAZING it is! CAN YOU IMAGINE!?"
Coco was excited. She wasn't too much into videogames, but if Mac really said something like that, she wanted to try it out, too!
Bloo continued, "I've been waiting here since yesterday, guarding the seat! Man, it's been worth it to spend the night here!"
They heard a knock at the door. Completely forgetting about the meaning of what he just said, Bloo ran as fast as he could towards the door, "I'll get it!", leaving his seat unguarded.
He opened the door and, just as he had thought, it was Mac. "Mac!" he greeted his creator with the widest smile. "Finally! Come on, let's play that game! You didn't forget it, did you!?"
"Hi, Bloo! No, it's right here! Let's go! You're gonna love it!"
They both ran to the videogame room, Mac saying hi to Frankie in the way there, and Mr Herriman reminding them, as always, to not run in the halls.
When they arrived to the videogame room...
"I. can't. BELIEVE THIS!" The sofa was full. There was Coco, Sassyfrass, Wilt, Eduardo and George Mucus, all crammed up on the sofa.
"Hey, Mac! Coco told us you brought a really good videogame, so we all came here to see it!" spoke Wilt. Noticing there was no room for Mac on the sofa, he continued "Oh, sorry. Here!" he stood up to let Mac sit.
Mac, troubled, looked at Bloo, who was still in shock, trying to find his words. Then he looked at Wilt, politely offering him his seat. He loved being with all of them, but this time he had wanted to be alone with Bloo.
"Um, guys? This game... is single player. And, I mean, it IS a really good game, but to really enjoy it you gotta play it alone and until the end. You won't enjoy it as much if you just watch someone else play..." When he saw their smiles drop but they not moving, he continued "I can lend it to you once we're finished! And you can all play! But right now, well, um, I promised Bloo to let him play, so..."
They looked at each other. "Ok!" said Wilt with a brigth smile. "We'll just come back later! Is that ok?"
"Sure! Yeah. I mean you can still stay if you want to but it would ruin the experience for you."
"Well, honestly, I don't understand that, Mac. But, if you say so, I trust you. See you later!" said Wilt, not dropping his smile for a second. They all left, a little dissapointed, though Wilt didn't show it.
"Phew! Good job kicking them out, Mac. I couldn't have done it better myself." Bloo sat at the middle of the sofa, now uncaring, calm, and very proud of his creator.
"It wasn't like that! I just..." Mac felt guilty enough already, he didn't need Bloo telling him about what he'd done. "It's really going to be better for them. What I said is true: They'll enjoy it more if they play it themselves later." He smilled at Bloo, "You'll see why, now!" He grabbed his backpack and started searching for the game, "Ready?"
"I've never been more ready for anything in my ENTIRE LIFE! LET'S DO IT ALREADY!"
Mac found the game, opened the case and inserted the disc in the console.
"Thiiiis iiis boooooriiiiinnnggg...!"
After an hour of playing, Bloo couldn't take it anymore. He had imagined the game totally different than how it was, by what Mac had told him. How can a game without ninjas, karate, explosions or robots be any fun?
"Come on, Bloo. You just don't understand it yet. You have to give it a chance!"
"But it's ssssooooo BOOOOOOOooooooriiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiingggggggghhh! You said it was the Greatest Game Ever but it's the SLOWEST game ever! Nothing happened since I started playing! I'm just a wimpy kid hitting dogs with a stick! What the heck is so AMAZING about this, Mac!?"
"Sigh... It's pointless, anyways. You always skip all the dialogue, and without that you can't get its true meaning."
"DUH! Of COURSE I skip all the dialogue! I play games to SHOOT and KICK things! Not to READ! Reading is for NERDS!"
Mac just gave up, not answering to that so as to not extend the senseless conversation. He watched with his head resting on his hands while Bloo kept playing. Both of them bored and disappointed. Bloo was in a battle, and he lost. Again.
"GNAAAH! WHY WON'T THEY DIE!?"
"I told you, you don't even need to kill them! You can just run away or talk to them!"
"Yeah, and I told YOU that would be COWARDLY!"
"No it wouldn't! That's be just be nice to them! That's not being a coward!"
"They started the fight, and you expect me to COMPLIMENT THEM!? GAH! This game is just SO STUPID!" Bloo threw the controller towards the TV, full of anger, and it hit the GAME OVER screen.
"Alright, whatever! Let's do something else..."
Mac stood up, tired of trying to make Bloo like the game, and went towards the console to switch it off and take the game back. It just wasn't going to work.
"Finally! What a dissapointment." As Bloo watched Mac put the game back in his backpack, he noticed he had a sad expression. But why? "I really don't understand what's so good about that game!"
"Bloo, I got it. You can stop complaining now." spat Mac.
"No, but I'm serious! I'm not even complaining anymore. I just wanna know why you think it's so good. I'm confused!"
Mac sighed. "Well, I guess, since you're not gonna play it, you won't mind about spoilers..."
Bloo waited for Mac to continue, interested.
"It's... well, it's because of the characters, and because of the story. Because of the DIALOGUE." Bloo rolled his eyes. "But most of all... It's because of how it breaks the Fourth Wall."
"The Fourth Wall? What's that?"
"Oh, right. Ok, how do I explain it... I know! Imagine you're a character in a videogame."
"Am I the protagonist?"
"Yes- No. Uh... That doesn't matter. The thing is, you are living your life and that's everything you know. I mean, you have no idea you're in a videogame. So, even if the player were controlling you-"
"Ah! If the player is controlling me, that means I'm the protagonist! Right!?"
"Th- But- ...UGH! Alright! Ok! You're the protagonist! Will you stop interrupting me now!?"
Bloo just noded, smiling.
"Ok. So, as I was saying, you don't know the player even exists. You're completely unaware of the real world. For you, the real world is the only one you've ever known, which is the world of the videogame. You don't even know you're being controlled."
"Uh-huh. Uh-huh. Continue."
"So, what if... you KNEW?"
Mac looked at Bloo, expecting some sort of reaction that he understood how cool the concept was. But Bloo just stared back. "I don't get it."
"You're a character- No, you're the PROTAGONIST of a videogame, you're being controlled by the player who is in the real world, and you KNOW all about it! AND you can talk to the player because you know they're watching you! Just look anywhere you want to, having in mind that you want to speak to them, and then talk! And they'll see you looking at them through the screen, talking to them, and they'll controll you in a different way and probably change the story towards a better ending! You are aware of, and can talk to what would be some sort of God, and change your future! It's so cool!"
Bloo was shocked to hear all of that. "Wow."
"I know, right!?" Mac was so happy Bloo finally understood, and maybe, even with this spoiler, they could go back to playing the game and he could actually-
"I'M IN A VIDEOGAME!"
...What?
Bloo looked towards the ceiling and shouted "You hear me, player!? I KNOW you're there! And now you've gotta obey ME!... No wait, they wouldn't like that... THIS GAME is AMAZING, and you're gonna KEEP PLAYING IT! FOREVER! BECAUSE I'M THE COOLEST PROTAGONIST EVER!"
Mac facepalmed. Of course he misunderstood. So much for wanting to try the game again...
Bloo ran off, laughing maniacally, and Mac walked behind him, feeling totally defeated.
"POWER-UP PIE!" Bloo swallowed Eduardo's freshly made pie in one gulp.
"Aaayy noo! My pie!" Eduardo started crying. Frankie, who had been busy for a minute doing whatever ridiculous chore Mr Herriman had told her to do, came back to the kitchen. Upon seeing the scene, she immediatly knew exactly what was happening, as Bloo had been playing this pretend game all day.
"Bloo, for the last time! You are NOT in a videogame! You don't level up by jumping on people's heads, the rooms are not "maps" you need to finish by scaring everyone away, Mr Herriman is not a "final boss", AND SWEETS DO NOT MAKE YOU MAGICALLY STRONGER!"
Bloo approached Frankie with a smile, completely ignoring what she said "Frankie! I finally found you! This sword you gave me only had 30 hits or so before it broke! I need a new, better one." He explained, showing her a broken sword made of toilet paper tubes. Then, he brought up a green wallet and took out a 5 dollar bill, extending it to Frankie. "Here, I'll pay 5 dollars for a level 5 sword! It's only fair."
"No, Bloo! I'm not gonna keep feeding your destructive fantasies- Wait... Is that my wallet!?"
"No!" answered Bloo, offended, bringing the wallet closer to him protectively "I EARNED this loot when I finished a special optional mission!"
Frankie took her wallet and bill from him.
"HEY!"
"Now stop annoying everyone around the house and go watch TV or something! Jeez!"
Bloo crossed his arms, indignant. He turned back and walked away, murmuring something about a dumb shopkeeper and how not right it was that she had took his loot.
"Don't worry, Ed. We can make another pie! And this time it will come out even more delicious!" Frankie reassured Eduardo, who still had tears in his eyes, and he smiled at her.
Once outside the kitchen, Bloo suddenly remembered something that hadn't crossed his mind since Mac told him all about how he was inside a videogame. The player! He had forgotten about the player!
"Player!" He shouted towards the ceiling, pleading "I know this isn't what I had promised you... We only defeated one boss today! And I know that's not enough... The Best Videogame Ever must be full of non-stop action, and explosions, and robots, and ninjas! And we couldn't find much of that..." He looked down, sadly, and sighed. Then he realized something else, and looked towards the ceiling again, this time angry "But this is all YOUR fault! What am I supposed to do!? YOU're the player! YOU're the one controlling me, so it must be YOU who did everything wrong! You're just bad at videogames, aren't you!?" Then, he had another sudden change of mood. Scared, he continued "B-but it's ok! You'll get better! You don't need to stop playing just because some dumb Protagonist tells you you're bad! Right!? It's all fine! We just have to get better equipment and power-ups and we'll be unstoppable! YEAH!"
While he had been talking to the ceiling, some imaginary friends passing by had stopped to watch the performance.
"What are you all looking at!?" Everyone quickly dispersed without a word.