Author's Note: This story has finally been rewritten in a new style! In case you're in the middle of the story when you catch eyes with this note, I've done the same for all of the previous chapters as well. I apologize if it's a bit sudden, haha.

Markowski sat alone in Frogger thinking. I can't keep going like this. Am I really meant for so little? I've never even made it to level 20, let alone the top of the tower, and that was only thanks to some skilled players who kept me alive that long at the expense of letting others die.. He pulled a slip of paper from his left boot and stared at it intently. There was a code written on it that he got from a guy he met in Tapper's months ago.

It was the night after Calhoun had figuratively ripped him to shreds for having his armor stolen and getting locked in a closet. He was having a much needed drink after a hard day of being eaten repeatedly.

"Heyyy, bromigo," an especially chatty character from X-Treme E-Z Livin' 2 said. Unlike most other characters from his game, his dialogue did not solely consist of repetitions of 'good' and 'like it'. "Another hard day of killing bugs and climbing the building?"

"Yeah! Pretty bad!" Markowski said, "Worse than you can imagine." Everybody knows by now. No reason to keep quiet about it, as embarrassing as it is..

"It's all good bromigo, I got just the thing for you," the man said, "It's called cheats, man." He pulled out a piece of paper with a code written on it.

"I've told you before, soldiers do not cheat!" Markowski said as he furrowed his brow. Do you have to ask every time you see me in here?

"Woah, easy, bromigo, you're a little too loud, man," the man said somewhat nervously as he looked around, "There's nothing wrong with a little cheat here and there. Think about it. Without cheats, we would not even be having this conversation. How could I express my thoughts if all I could say is 'good good good, haha, like it like it like it'? Ain't nobody got time to write all the time, it's such a bummer."

"I see what you're saying," Markowski said, "but we soldiers are supposed to embody bravery, integrity, grace under pressure, and above all, dignity.." Admittedly I don't have bravery or grace under pressure when it comes to bugs..

"That's why I'm saying, bromigo," the man said with a smile, "Use this code, and you will embody those traits. It's all good." He handed Markowski the code. "Trust me man, it will fix everything." He could see that his case was made, so he continued to explain. "In the center of every game, there's this hidden room. It may not be so easy getting there, depending on the game, but I'm sure you'll figure something out."

"I'll think about it," Markowski said as he stood and placed his helmet on before walking out.

That day had long since passed, and until now Markowski hadn't felt so strongly that he needed to set things 'right'. But could something as small as a piece of paper really change my fate? And even then, the other soldiers would probably try to stop me. Rule number two is to stick to the program, after all. It's the only thing that kept me from trying it all this time.. But by this point, what's the worst that could happen? Surely it couldn't be worse than being ridiculed to my face day in and day out.. I'll do it..

Markowski tightly gripped his helmet and put it back on. All I need is a small boost, yeah. I won't change it that much.. He tucked the code back into his boot and his stomach lurched at the thought of being caught. How would I explain where I'm going? What if they follow me after getting suspicious? Maybe I shouldn't do it after all..

Markowski returned to Hero's Duty. Ralph was no longer at the gateway by then, not that Markowski knew anything about that.

Inside, Felix was listening to his 'new' friends telling stories, after having explained the situation after Ralph left. By then he was wearing armor that the guys had made for him a while back, with the exception of him still wearing his prized hat.

Markowski glanced into the gameplay area where they were sitting and swallowed hard. This is my chance. He grabbed a cruiser from the armory and slipped through, flying around aimlessly for a while. I don't want to head directly there, wherever it is.

They all saw him, of course, but none of them cared about where he might be going, except for Loya and Spears. They didn't say anything though. They were all licensed to use cruisers after all, so what reason could they give to stop him? None of the Cy-bugs were active since they didn't have to worry about 'playing' the title screen.

"This is it, dead center," Markowski said as he looked at the GPS on his sensor. It was inside the church. It was in a town that was technically supposed to be on Earth, unlike the rest of the game. It's a good thing nobody is here. I didn't plan this far ahead.. I don't know what reason I would use to be here should anyone ask questions.. He groaned as he saw where the code room was hidden, a confessional room. Just how bad are they going to make me feel about fixing my life?

Inside the room was nothing like what Markowski expected. There was nowhere to sit, there was no priest. It was just a hallway filled with tubes of flowing green light leading to a single giant door at the end that resembled some sort of gamepad. Upon reaching the door, he nearly tore the code as he quickly pulled it from his boot. That would have been just my luck.

"Forgive me.." Markowski said with his eyes closed. He could feel a lump in his throat that he just couldn't get rid of. He opened his eyes, and with a deep breath he entered the code. Up Up Down Down Left Right Left Right B A Start..

The giant door opened, exposing the code of Hero's Duty. He could immediately feel that there was no gravity inside, despite not even going inside yet. It's too late to turn back now.. He 'swam' inside.. I should be good as long as the door doesn't close. But what's with this place? He looked around for any signs of where to begin.

After a time, he finally located his 'file' and said, "Okay, so what do I do now?" He tried shaking it. Nothing. He turned it all over looking for a place to plug any sort of device in.. Nope, still nothing. Finally he tried tapping it a couple times with his left hand, being left-handed, and it finally opened. Nearly scared the crap out of me..

There wasn't much there. No medals or anything. But what he did find was two things. His character profile and something called a 'changelog'. He didn't read the latter as 'change log', but as 'chan gelog'. What kind of nonsense is 'chan gelog'? I'm sure this profile is what I'm looking for.. He tapped it twice, having quickly mastered that ability. As I thought, that's what made it open..

Everything there was either a textbox or drop-down selection. Somehow he could understand some of it, like 'FoB rating' is how likely soldiers are to retreat a bit when in close proximity to bugs. 'CA rating' is how appetizing Cy-bugs find them. Characters not wearing armor are regarded as 0.

While Hero's Duty is a 'rail shooter', the player's movements decided for them aside from shooting, these settings allow for limited randomization of the game experience based on what the player does.

(Drop-down selections are indicated by [v] while textboxes are [] surrounding the field.)

Name: [Leon Markowski]

Accuracy Rating: [10]/100

CA Rating: [25]/25

FoB Rating: [90]/100

Dialogue: Markowski1 [v]

Bio: [(To summarize, a bug jumped on his face when he was a kid and a few things happened here and there that don't amount to much in relation to the plot. There was also a sentence that stood out at the end.) Yeah, he also pees himself when really scared.]

Survival Unlock: [None], [None] Code: [None]

(There would be a code you could enter at the start of the game, allowing you to unlock a slightly different gameplay experience to add replayability.)

Markowski shuddered. The memory of that spider still burned bright in his mind. That last line is off. The developers may be so uncaring as far as I know, but the way it's worded.. This can't be right.. What was that other thing? 'Chan gelog'..

Character Profile modified October 23rd, 2012 7:25:38 AM (Let's say this is the day the game was plugged in, after a couple of games.)

Summary of changes:

Accuracy Rating: [10]/100 Previous: [84]/100

CA Rating: [25]/25 Previous: [8]/25

FoB Rating: [90]/100 Previous: [33]/100

Bio: [(Worded identically to how it was above.)]
Previous: [(The same minus the line that stood out.)]

Survival Unlock: [None], [None] Code: [None] Previous: [Markowski2 Dialogue], [5% higher ammo capacity]. Code: [XG8K5VN]

Markowski clenched his fists. Unbelievable.. Who did this? Why?! It has to be something more than just a sick developer's joke. He quickly went back to his profile and undid the changes. He took out his radio and sent a secure transmission to Calhoun.

"Ma'am, we've got a problem," Markowski said in a dead serious tone. She needs to know about this. I'll explain later..

"What is it Markowski? If this is another bad dream, I'll have you on toilet detail," Calhoun said firmly with Vanellope in her arms, currently traveling through the arcade's wiring on her cruiser with Ashley. Ashley had her hands extended above and below, forming a force field around them preventing the electricity from turning Calhoun and Vanellope into nothing.

"Much worse, ma'am. I'll explain later, but someone has been messing with our code," Markowski said, "I'm doing my best to fix it, but I think it would be best if you have a look yourself."

Calhoun let it sink in for a moment before responding again, "Stay put and don't let anyone else in, I'm already on my way."

Author's Note: Okay so I kind of wanted the files to feel like actual files when writing this. I think I did alright on that. There were lots of details that I considered, but didn't feel like fully thinking them through enough to write them out. And I'm not that confident I could make up every detail you would expect in a character profile either. Hopefully this made it seem more realistic though.