A/N: Welcome back! Here's the new episode where even in online games, virtual counterfeit crimes doesn't pay! Time to get online!
Take and Fake: Part 1
It was a sunny day in in Pallet Town, at Professor Oak's laboratory and ranch. In the back, Oak was having a get together with his friends, Ash Ketchum and his mother Delia, his assistant Tracey Sketchit, his grandson Gary, and all of his fellow Pokemon Professors.
"I can't wait to get to the Unova region," Ash said in excitement. "I want to see what kind of Pokemon in that region!"
"I hear they have Pokémon, that not even this region has ever seen over there," Gary said.
"Wow, that's a great opportunity, Ash," Delia said. "Seeing more new places and even more new Pokémon. Just like your father."
"Yeah, you should definitely go for it," Tracey added.
"I know," Ash said. "And I'm looking forward to it."
Meanwhile with the Pokemon Professors, Oak starts a conversation to his colleagues as he says, "And that's why Zapdos, Moltres, and Articuno are the superior legendary trio."
"No way, Entei, Suicune, and Raikou are much better," Professor Elm said.
"Wrong, Regice, Regirock, and Registeel are the best trio," Professor Birch said.
Suddenly, a bunch of dark clouds started to appear in the sky, and covered the sun, perplexing everyone.
"That's strange," Professor Ivy said. "The weather reports didn't call for any rain today."
"I don't think those are rain clouds, Professor," Ash said. Suddenly a dark flash occurred and a large group of men in dark cloaks appeared, with a bunch of other men behind them.
"Who are they?," Delia asked.
"What do they want?," Tracey asked.
"I don't like the looks of this," Professor Birch added in. Suddenly the men all lunged at the people and began to grab them. Everyone screamed and scattered around trying to escape them, but were quickly surrounded and captured. Oak, Ash, and Gary managed to run to the front of the ranch but the men quickly cut them off and rushed to seize the latter two.
"Professor!/Grandpa!," they cried.
"Ash! Gary!," Oak said as he tried to reach out to them only to stumble backwards and fall into a portal behind him. He screamed as he fell further and further away from his world.
Suddenly, Oak woke up in a cold sweat. He panted and looked around to see that he was sitting at his desk and still in the loft that Tina had bought for him to stay in. He then reflected on the nightmare he'd just had and Jordan's vow to help him.
Jordan: If that's the case, I'm going to help you! You forget, didn't you? They messed with the Pokemon world, they messed with me! Nobody, but nobody invaded my favorite world of all!
Oak then looked at several pictures on his desk of Ash and Delia, Gary, Tracey and the other professors.
"Don't worry, you guys," he thought. "I'll find you and free you all. I promise."
Later, Jordan got off the bus as she enters the school grounds of Fils-Ame Moffit School
"It's been 4 weeks since we learned Zeus's true identity. Ms. Reyheart is now sending elite Runners to raid Beverly Hills. So far, the raid is still going on and they managed to restore half of the city, including Sam's friends, Alex and Clover. They are now recovering back at CodeX United. As for Zeus, he still misses his loved ones. I really wish I could make him feel better."
After meeting Calla and their first class, they went to their lockers to prepare for their next class as Calla starts a conversation.
"So Jordan, what if I make two separate outfits for my avatar? One for dungeons and quests and one for strolling around the cities?" she asked, which she noticed that Jordan is not replying. "Jordan?"
When she saw her best friend, she saw her worried face while she's getting her textbooks until she noticed Calla staring at her.
"Oh, sorry Calla. Got dozed off."
"It's about Zeus, isn't it?" Calla asked in concern.
"Yes. He's very down at class today," Jordan explained. "He must have thinking about his loved ones again. I wish I can cheer him up."
"Don't worry, he'll be okay," Calla said. "As long as we stick together, everything will be fine. You shouldn't worry so much."
"I guess you're right," Jordan said as she got her textbooks and closed her locker.
But as they left the lockers after getting their textbooks, Calla accidentally dropped her backpack and when she notices it and picks it up, she is shocked to see that there's some kind of hall passes inside her backpack.
"Wha?! What are these hall passes doing here?!" she asked in shock.
Upon taking a closer look at the passes, Jordan is shocked as she declares, "More like forged hall passes! These are fake! Calla, what are you doing with these?!"
Before Calla could say anything two hall monitors walked up.
"Hey what's this?," one said as they both pick up the passes and examine them. "I think we have us forged passes here."
"You're in big trouble, miss," the second one said.
"What?!," Calla said. "Those aren't mine. I don't know how they got in my backpack."
"Yeah, right," the first one said as they both grabbed Calla by the arms. "You're coming with us to Roenick's office."
The two then dragged Calla away as Jordan walked with them and tried to reason with them.
"Now hold on, Calla would never do something like this," she said. "There has to be a good explanation here."
"I must say, Miss Gale, you are the last person I would suspect of having phony hall passes in her possession," Principal Roenick said as she and Calla were in her office. "This is a very serious offense."
"But I swear, I never bought those passes, and I don't know how they got in my bag," Calla protested.
"Nevertheless they were found in your bag. So unless you can give me a good explanation as to why and how, with solid proof included, I have no choice but to give you 2 weeks detention, and notify your parents."
"My parents?! Detention for two weeks?!"
"Unless you can give me hard evidence of your innocence. That will be all Ms. Gale."
Calla still stunned, left the office to find Jordan waiting for her.
"Well what happened?," Jordan asked.
"She says, unless I can solidly prove my innocence, I'll get two weeks' detention and she'll call my parents," Calla said.
"What?! But you're innocent! I just know you are."
"Tell that to Roenick, and my parents when they find out."
"Look, go to Bren and Itzal about this. Maybe they'll have a solution."
"Okay."
Later on, in the halls, Jordan had meet up with Zeus and told him what was going on with Calla, which shocked him.
"That's absurd! Calla would never be involved with something like that!," he said.
"Precisely," Jordan said. "Which is why it's up to us to prove her innocence."
"And we've gotta do it fast, too."
Just then they heard a commotion going on nearby.
"Hey, let me go!"
"Look at the little baby cry!"
"What a wimp!"
They both looked over to see Chuck Foley, and three of his football teammates, Axel Anderson, Paul Evans, and Victor Quan bullying a young looking sixth grader, by wedgie-ing him harshly. They both sighed as they walked over to the four jocks.
"Hey Chuckie," Jordan snapped. "Why don't you go pick on somebody your own size?"
Chuck turned and noticed Jordan standing there. He then said "And what are you gonna do if I don't, girlie?"
"Then you'll have to deal with her and me!," Zeus said as he walks up. "And you know what I can do to you, Chuck."
Upon seeing Zeus, Chuck remembers the first time he met him, where he flips him to the ground with no sweat.
"Uh, hey guys, let's uh, go find some lunch, I'm starving," he said nervously.
"But we're just–," Axel started to say.
"Just go!," Chuck said as he let go of the boy and pushed his friends along. Jordan and Zeus then helped the boy to his feet.
"Are you okay?," Jordan said.
"Yeah, thank you both," the boy said.
"No problem," Zeus said as the boy left.
"Anyway Zeus, I have to ask you, where have you been living since the Tundra invaded your world," Jordan said.
"Um," Zeus said. He wasn't sure he was ready to show any of his friends his place, and he was still sore about his friends and loved ones. "I dunno, I'm not sure if that's a good idea, Jordan."
"Oh, come on, I'm your friend, Z."
"No, no, Jordan, I'm not ready," Zeus said. He started to grow more depressed about his world as he walked off. "I need to be alone for a while."
Jordan stared after him. "Well now way I am I letting your guilt get to you that easy."
Later on in the cafeteria, Zeus was somberly getting lunch when Jordan popped up suddenly.
"Hey, Z, hope you're feeling better enough to show me your residence."
"No, Jordan," Zeus said, sounding irritated as he walked on.
After gym class, in the boy's locker room, Zeus was about to head to his gym locker, when Jordan, hanging upside down, swung down in front of him.
"Please show me you're place," Jordan begged.
"I said no!," Zeus said, sounding even more irritated as he pushed past her.
In the halls, Jordan was right next to Zeus, begging and pleading for him to show her his residence, with Zeus getting even more irritated by her behavior.
"Please show me, please, please, PLEEEEEAAAAASSSSSEEEE!," she said.
"OKAY, OKAY!," Zeus finally shouted in anger. "FINE, I'LL SHOW YOU IF YOU STOP BEGGING ME!"
"Finally, I knew you'd crack. Got this from an episode of The Amazing World of Gumball."
"Another show? Heh, you know Jordan sometimes you-"
Just then, Jordan saw at the other end of a neighboring hall, a boy sneaking around and acting suspicious.
"Huh?"
"What's wrong, Jor-"
Before he can finished his sentence, he got dragged away by Jordan to the corner as she says, "Shh! I saw somebody."
As the two looked on they saw the boy approach from one end and a hooded teen from the other. The two met in the middle and both reached into their pockets.
"Looks like some kind of deal," Jordan said.
"Yeah, but for what?," Zeus said.
As the watched, the teen handed the boy a slip of paper and then the boy handed a wad of money to the teen. They then saluted and walked back the way they came.
"Paper? Looks like cheating to me," Jordan whispered.
"Then time to expose him," Zeus agreed.
Before the boy left for class, his path is blocked by Jordan and Zeus as the former shouts out, "Sorry, kid! But in the name of UR Gamers and Investigation Club, you're under arrest for under suspicion on cheating!"
Seeing that they're onto him, the boy pulls out his skateboard from his backpack and skates away from the club members.
"Man, why do they always run?" Zeus groaned as Jordan went to her nearby locker and grabs two skateboards and safety gear.
"Here!" Jordan called to Zeus as she throws the skateboard to him. "We'll chase him with these!"
"But, I don't know how to ride a skateboard!" Zeus said in worry.
"Just watch what I do. Now come on!"
Jordan took off to chase the boy as Zeus reluctantly wear his safety gear and steps onto his skateboard.
Like Jordan he ran then jump on the board and pushed off, trying to keep his balance as he rolled after the boy and Jordan. The two chased the kid out of the school and all through out the school grounds all the way down to the football field where the cheerleaders were working on their pyramid as their coach cheered them on.
"Very good girls," the coach said. Just then, Jordan and the boy rolled right past the girls nearly throwing them off balance. But luckily they managed to stay standing. Seeing this, the coach "You see, nobody can penetrate our pyramid since we are solid like a Geodude using his Harden attack."
At that moment, however, Zeus, still inexperienced at skateboarding, skated into the cheerleaders knocking them all down much to their and the coach's dismay. He, however, managed to stay on his board just barely.
"Sorry," he called back to them as he quipped, "Who'd have thought adults in this world would know about Pokemon?,"
The chase continued on and on until finally, Jordan and Zeus were able to skate right up the sides of the student. Before he could react they jumped off their boards and tackled him to the ground.
"Game over, kid!"
"Okay, okay! Here! Just don't hurt me, I'm sensitive to injuries, you know!" the boy pleaded as he gave the paper to the UR Gamer Club members.
As Jordan reads the contents of the paper, Zeus asked the boy in a serious tone, "You're not out of this mess yet! What's that deal all about? Talk or we'll talk to Principal Roenick about your suspension!"
"Okay! I got this e-mail about an easy way to get everything and I got that paper from that mysterious guy at the restrooms in exchange for $1! I swear, I'm not lying!" the boy explained in panic.
"Zeus."
He turns around to see Jordan in a serious, but confused expression as he asks, "Did you see what kind of answers are in that paper?"
"It's either Math or a test for code-breaking," she answered as she showed him the paper, revealing that a set of 16 numbers and letters and another set of 10 numbers and letters are only written on it. "Whatever this is, it's not a cheat sheet for midterms or any exams and quizzes."
Seeing that this numbers mean something, Zeus turns to the boy and angrily asks, "What's with these numbers?"
"I-I, I can't say," the boy said. Zeus grabbed him and lifted him up.
"That's not the answer I want to hear," he said upset.
"Stop it, Z. We'll just send this guy to the HMs to let them do the interrogating. We better go to the computer room to examine this paper."
"Good idea," Zeus said as they dragged the boy to the hall monitors.
"Also, the rest of the gang might be there, so we better tell them about Calla's forged hall passes situation except Bren and Andre," Jordan mentioned.
"Good idea. Let's go."
They left the hallways as they dragged the boy to the hall monitors.
After sending the boy to the hall monitors and telling the rest of the club members (except Bren and Andre which Calla managed to tell them) about both Calla's situation and theirs when they arrived, everyone is shocked at this revelation.
"CALLA GOT WHAT?!"
"It's true. Looks like you're more to this, right cuz?"
"Yeah," Bren grimly said.
"Huh? You mean you two encountered this same situation before?" Kani asked in confusion.
"Only Bren. Back when he's still living in Manila, his classmate got framed for stealing lunch money from another student," Jordan explained. "He felt it's more like bullying than a crime, so he risked himself to do anything to clear her name. And I can't believe I'm saying this, but it worked. His teachers gave the culprit a 4 days suspension while they apologized to his classmate for the misunderstanding. I was there when that happened, but only when Bren successfully resolved it."
"And I intend to do the same for Calla here," Bren said. "This person, whomever they are, will not get away with this, Calla, I promise!"
"Thanks, Bren," Calla said as she hugged Bren. "You know, for a rebel you really can be a nice guy."
"When I find the time, yeah."
Then, Andre came back with the confiscated paper and declares in dismay, "Uh, may I interrupt? About the paper you guys found, I can't decode anything from it. I can't even compare what subjects are related to those numbers and letters, even Math."
"Seriously?! Did you try looking at anything else? Like juvenile or anything against the rules?" Jordan asked in shock.
"Nada. Sorry guys, but I can't decode this numbers," Andre said in regret. "I think you guys caught the wrong guy."
"No, we swear! That boy bought that paper from that mysterious guy in a coat," Jordan said in a desperate tone.
"Although I would regret about arresting that boy by mistake, Jordan is right. I have a bad feeling about that paper," Zeus agreed.
"Well, maybe that guy scammed that boy for money, just look at the random numbers and letters in it. I can't tell that this is a scratch paper for math or a sudoku answer."
"Well what do you think it is?," Itzal asked.
"Maybe a computer cheat code for ULO in a minigame or that new -Pirate Pillaging- quest, I dunno."
"THERE'S A WHAT?!" Jordan shouted in anger. "Andre, I can't believe you forgot to tell me about that event quest! And if you say, "You didn't ask," I DON'T CARE! I'm the -Quest Queen-!"
She then gets to a PC and turns it on as she says, "If that's true, I need to replenish my chest key stock."
When Calla takes a closer look, she is surprised when she says, "Hey, that's the internet browser, not ULO. I thought you said you're going to buy some keys or something."
"True, but even all of the shops in Black and White Union, including other stores in other Unions, don't have those. That's why they open a special item shop accessible through internet browsers."
"It's called the -Legendary Universal Shop-, it's a special shop that only accepts -Keys-," Zeus added.
"-Keys-?! Do we have to collect many house keys to buy something from that shop?" Bren asked in confusion.
"No, -Keys- are the purchasable versions of -qubos-. They can be purchased through Universal Legends Top-Up Cards," Zeus answered. "However, they can be converted to -qubos-
"Lots of MMORPGs have purchasable currencies, although some of them can be purchased through credit cards," Jordan added as she pulls out a card with the ULO logo on it as the side of the front card says, "$50 - 50,000 -KEYS-". "The expensive card is the $50 card, which lets you get 50,000 -Keys- upon using this card like this."
"There are many price ranges of -Keys- from 10,000 to 100,000. And in addition to Universal Legends Top-Up Cards, -Keys- can be purchased at several game stores as well though they tend to be more expensive there," Zeus said. Jordan then finished using her -Key- card and took a glance at the back. Suddenly she noticed something and became semi-shocked.
"What's the matter, Jordan?" Zeus asked in worry.
"This card and the paper, look at this," Jordan said as she shows him the said card and the confiscated paper. "Usually, $50 ULO Top-Up Cards has the starting numbers, "U5L8". Check out the paper and compare it."
When Zeus did as he looks closely at the paper, he was shocked upon this discovery.
"No way! It has the same starting numbers on the 16 set of numbers!"
"Actually, all of them are. And the set of 10 numbers must be the PIN codes," Jordan explained in a serious tone. "Judging from the number of these Card No. and PINs, these codes are total of 10,000,000 -Keys-!"
"Okay, this has to be a coincidence!" Kani said in panic after Jordan explained. "Maybe they could have just been written down in case the person lost the card..."
"Unless, these codes contains the said numbers of the -Keys-. This is no paper with jumbled numbers and letters, these are codes to a $50 ULO Card Card Numbers and PIN codes!"
"So they're using unauthorized card numbers and PIN codes to create -Keys- and by proxy, -qubos-!," Andre said. "It's basically an online game counterfeit currency scheme going on!"
"So you mean to say that there's somebody in ULO running a funny-money operation using game currency and codes?," Bren asked.
"Yep it looks like it."
"Well, I best notify Ms. Reyheart about this!," Layla said she stepped to a corner of the room with cell phone in hand.
"And we best get a move into Schwartz, so we can find out more about this operation," Jordan said.
"I can't help you guys since I'm going to help Bren and Andre clear Calla's name, but I do know a person," Itzal said as he gave Jordan and Zeus calling cards. "These are calling cards to my informer, Zen Kotorali. He's an underground hacker and information broker who knows all things underground-related activities in ULO and the players. He should gave you guys some info about the generated codes in the paper."
"And I just finished talking to Ms. Reyheart," Layla said as she returned to the group. "She's gonna look into it, and she wants you guys on it pronto, and to give her regular updates."
"Thanks a lot, Itz. Good luck at clearing my best friend's name!" Jordan said as she left the computer room. "Bren, I'm also counting on you! Your Calla's only hope!"
"Don't worry, cuz! I will!" Bren said in a determined tone.
"And make sure you don't do anything risky," Zeus added as he also left to follow Jordan to CodeX.
"I'll try to access the hall monitors' room to get more info about the framing," Kani suggested to the remaining boys.
"And I'll meet up with Ms. Reyheart to help her with the updates on this counterfeit scheme," Layla suggested.
"Well, now that that's settled, Kurosawa, Renald, let's move out and start looking," Bren said.
With that, he, Itzal, and Andre left the computer room to start their own investigation into Calla's case as Layla also left to go to CodeX United.
A/N: And they are on the move! What will Jordan and Zeus find in this virtual funny-money scheme? And will Itzal, Bren, and Andre clear Calla's name?
In other news, another Project Arcanum teaser is up and you need to share it, big time! Because this goal will be very, VERY important! If you guys get 400 hits before October 22, another teaser is up! Get 450 hits and get to see a new character in my dA profile! The Reveal Count is almost up to 100% and the official reveal is getting near! While you share Project: Arcanum to your friends, review the latest episode right here and make sure you visit Unitas Lounge forums just in case! Until then, I'll see you later!