AN: Short and sweet chapter here. Hope you enjoy it anyway! Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!
In Game Central Station, things were going crazy. Characters rushed around, free to gossip and fret with anyone they wished now that night had come and the arcade was closed. Armoured samurai protected the path between their home game and Sugar Rush while Surge Protector showed their leader and her second-in-command the damaged entrance to Sugar Rush. Jay scurried around behind the trio, trying to see everything at once.
"Yeah, he banged around in here like some kind of hot shot," the Surge Protector explained as he motioned to the various dents indignantly. "Then he went barreling down there into that sweet little game like a madman. I always knew there was something off about that Cole."
Ignoring the character's continued mutterings as he wondered off, Nya studied the entrance to Sugar Rush with a steely gaze. "CySnakes will chew up that game faster than a chickenhawk in a coop of injured roosters."
"Uh. What was that now?" Jay asked, bouncing nervously on the balls of his feet.
Nya turned and stared straight out, deadly serious and ready to lecture. Then the side of her mouth twitched involuntarily towards a smile. She was so much taller than him, she was staring way over his head. Putting on a straight face and adjusting her gaze downwards, she began, "What are you, a thick brick? There was a CySnake on that shuttle."
Jay blinked up at her, rather confused and not at all concerned.
"Do you even know what a CySnake IS?" Kai butted in from his spot at his sister's side.
"I can't say that I do, sir," Jay replied cheerfully.
Nya sighed and knelt on one knee so she could look the small blue-suited character in the eye. As if explaining to a particularly stubborn child, she said slowly, "CySnakes are like a virus. They don't know they're in a game. All they know is eat, kill, multiply. Without a beacon to stop them, they'll consume Sugar Rush. But do you think they'll stop there?"
"Yes!" Jay shouted, matching the girl's heightened level of intensity.
"WRONG!" Nya barked, and Jay cowered. "Viruses do not stop!"
She was about to say more when a hand rested on her shoulder. Nya shot up into a standing position, eyes wild and hands firmly gripping her daggers, and relaxed noticably when she saw her brother.
"I think he gets it, sis," Kai stated, uncharacteristically gentle. "Now let's go. We have snakes to hunt."
With a nod and another sigh, Nya straightened. She looked over Game Central to all the tunnels leading to so many games, characters streaming everywhere. "If those CySnakes finish off Sugar Rush, then-"
"Then they'll invade and eat every other game until this arcade is nothing but an empty shell," Kai finished bluntly, the gentleness of a moment ago lost in his urgency.
Nya sighed again. She knew what she had to do. Her face hardened and she pointed down at Jay resolutely. "Kai, deal with him. When you're done, join me. I'll be prepping my cruiser."
The two boys watched Nya head down the steps to the tunnel.
Jay whistled softly. "Wow. Is she always this intense?"
Kai glared at him harshly for a moment, before realizing the fixer had no idea what was going on. He softened slightly. "It's not her fault. She's programmed with one of the most tragic back stories ever..."
Ahead of them and around a turn, Nya froze in place. Although Kai and Jay couldn't see her, she was just close enough to hear them. Nya stared down the dark, empty tunnel, trapped in a flashback of memories.
Kai, not knowing his sister could hear him, proceeded to spill the beans. "Years ago, Nya was going to be married."
"She's married?!" Jay yelped. There went his dreams.
"No. I said 'going'," Kai corrected flatly. "It was her wedding day and everything was going great. But she forgot to do a perimeter check. Then a CySnake burst through the big chapel windows and ate her fiancé."
Jay gaped at him. "Oh. I had not been expecting that conclusion. Um, good. I mean, not good. I mean- just forget it."
Back in the tunnel, Nya shook her head firmly, pushing herself back into the present. She tapped a red gem bracelet on her arm and it exploded out, creating a hoverboard cruiser which she hopped onto.
Behind her, Kai hurried up to her in the tunnel. He unsheathed his sword and pushed a small button on it, a similar cruiser unfolding for him to jump on as well.
Jay raced up behind them, in awe of the hoverboards but still determined. "Wait! I'm going with you!"
Nya snorted. "Sure you are, short stack."
"If you die outside your game, you don't regenerate," Kai explained needlessly.
Jay thought about that for a second. "Well, neither do you, sir. Nor you, ma'am."
Nya shrugged. "It's our job to fight the CySnakes."
"Well, it's my job to fix what Cole crushes," Jay countered. "And I cannot ask you two to risk your lives cleaning up his mess. No flex on this one, sir and ma'am. I'm coming with you."
That said, Jay stared at Kai. Kai bit his lip and turned to Nya, raising an eyebrow questioningly. Nya gave the small character a hard look and turned her back to him.
Jay pouted. Kai grinned.
Then Nya snapped her fingers and pointed down at the back end of her board. Jay cheered and hopped on, wobbling uneasily but on.
Kai groaned and smacked his forehead. "Fine. Let's go."
And with that they were off, two figures in red samurai suits and a smaller one in blue riding along, with no idea what they were getting themselves into.