To the readers
I appreciate any comments on the story.
Notes
[] are used to indicate stage directions
All dialogue follows a "Speaker: dialogue" format
{} are used for author comments.
CONTINUE
[Cut to Ethan dragging Inès into the woodland.]
Ethan: I [grunts] hate people.
[He props her up against a tree.]
Ethan: No cameras around here. Should be okay if she freaks out.
[He wakes her up by burning a hole in her beret with his plasma sword. She starts wrinkling her nose at the smoke.]
Ethan: Hey useless smuck!
[She wakes up.]
Ethan: Where's the lab?
Inès: What?
Ethan: The chem shack. Circuit City. The lab we all were at! The MIB showed up. Attack of the blue smears.
Inès: What, that wasn't real.
Ethan: Of course it was. How else would I know about it?
Inès: You're not real. You're trying to torture me.
Ethan: Well, the latter's true.
Inès: If you were there, then you would know how to get there.
Ethan: No, the MIB kept me in the back of a van on the way there. I have no idea where it is. Only you and Sherlock know after the time jump.
Inès: [confused and trying to figure out her own reasoning.] But that couldn't be real. Mabel got hurt because of me. Oh no. She got hurt because of me. I can't do it. I knew it would happen, but I couldn't stop it. No. Wait, she didn't know anything. [looks back to Ethan.] She would tell me if it had happened.
Ethan: Listen, we. Went. Back. In TIME! Sherlock said the only ones who would remember anything are the lucky snuks who went to the video game world. That's why no one else remem- I sound absolutely nutters don't I.
Inès: I sortta remember the lab, but nothing about another world. I stepped into the metal tube, and then… nothing. Then I woke up and everything was chaos.
Ethan: IT was real. The giant red candle thing, the cliché waifu girl, the virtual world. [gets in her face.]
Inès: [thinks] It's just a hallucination. He isn't real. He'll just hurt me.
[She runs away sniffling. Ethan doesn't bother to follow her.]
Ethan: [yells after her] Just don't nark on [trails off] ussssss eehhh I don't care. If she tells, we have time travel.
Ai: What did you mean, "that's your actual plan?"
Axel: Exactly what it sounds like. I knew if I told them the ambitions I had for this place, they would never believe that I would tell them something so self-damming. And that would throw them off from Ethan.
Ai: And what did you mean about Rinzler keeping this place? She said she was going to destroy it.
Axel: It was obvious that the MIB wouldn't destroy something this powerful. The boss was putting on a show to get those other kids who already used the upgrade protocol to help them take control of this place.
Ai: But what if they were trying to shut down the Annex. I mean if this XANA is as powerful as they all think it is, then I don't think they would take that kind of chance.
Axel: Of course, they would. They're a shadow organization. Those guys always want powerful weapons and technology, no matter what it might let loose. Greed overpowers logic.
Ai: Okay, but why would you want to take over the world?
Axel: [suddenly serious] Because I'm sick of hearing nothing but problems and seeing people acting the wrong way. I've always thought if I had the power to change things, I could make a world where everyone followed the rules. [Looks back to her on the screen] And now I can finally do that.
Ai: Okay, let's talk about at something less serious. Not to be rude or anything, I mean you did wake me up from nothingness, but I did say I wanted some answers after no one was in danger of being … plasmafied. Soooooo, WHO AM I?
Axel: I just found this place a couple hours ago. Well, a couple minutes ago the first time around. I need a chance to look around this place for answers. If you told me everything you know, then we're on the same page.
Ai: Can I do anything?
Axel: Well you've already shown me all of the codes and systems you can access and the only other records we have are these print outs, so no. Just watch some YouTube or something while I read through these.
Ai: What's that? Another monster?
Axel: No, it's a video streaming service on the internet.
Ai: What's a video? And what kind of net?
Axel: … I am not prepared to teach this. Look, here's something called google. Type any question you have into it. Don't bother me for a couple hours. By that time, the MIB should have cleared out.
[Ethan is singing while walking down the hallway. He's surprisingly on key.]
"…It's a gorgeous day to play. Oh yes the day is it full of life, I'm finally free to do what I like, it's a GORgeous day to. Play. IN [opens the door to see his room.] …"
[Sees both boys beds ripped to shreds. Everything in their closets is thrown on the ground. The monitors they placed on tables at the end of their beds have been thrown on the ground and shattered. Ethan looks at the ground in front of him.]
Ethan: That had better be chocolate or mud. [looks at the floor closer] WELP [ignites his plasma sword] looks like I'm gonna have to choke a shrike. [to himself as he leaves.] "I've come to topple Rook and his pawns." No. [muffled as he's moved to the hallway.] "Rook, you should have 'checked' who you're messing with 'mate.'" Ooooh, I like that one.
Axel: [is checking the MIB notes] Done with everything in here … All that's left is to figure out how to kill XANA, materialize virtual objects like it did, manipulate physics like it did, activate towers for energy like it did. I need to know what happened here, how, how it was abandoned, why people built this place. Oh, man, so much stuff to puzzle out. It's just soo many questions. It's, it's like a giant mountain you have to chip at and you know you're not going to get through it anytime soon, but you just can't help but start because you know with all that that stuff, you'll find something excellent immediately. Like these. What are they? [hold up what looks like a pair of contact lenses, but their case was plugged into the computer on the desk.
Ai: Sounds like you want it to give you the answers rather than kill it.
Axel: Huh? Oh, no. I was talking to myself.
Ai: Why?
Axel: [nonchalant] Eh It's just habit. I'm used to no one paying attention to what I say.
Ai: So, I wanted to visit the real world-
Axel: [offhand] Oh you want to talk now.
[Ai looks at him like she's waiting for him to talk.]
Axel: Again, used to not having anyone answer me. Continue.
Ai: … So, I tried the materialization on myself and it didn't work.
Axel: Makes sense. If we could just use it on anything, XANA wouldn't have needed a tower for the golems.
Ai: So, I was thinking that maybe you could find a way to make it work?
Axel: That sounds like a big-time commitment for something that's not a high priority. Like finding XANA. I know it went to the interior of the planetoid-
Ai: [sass sass] Oh, so you're talking now.
Axel: [doesn't appear to hear her] Planetoid? Shield world? Shield world. The first step is to find a way into the shield world, but the problem is that wherever that room is, it's probably guarded.
Ai: You need backup.
Axel: It think it's best if Beret girl, girl 2, and [clenched teeth] "Ethan" just forget about this place. The less people who know about this place, the better. Once I figure out all the rules of the virtual world, I can solo the monsters. Besides, anyone else besides me would mess things up.
Ai: You don't know that.
Axel: Yes, I do. I have no idea who Inette-
Ai: Inès.
Axel: Inès or girl 2 is, So I can't trust them. And Ethan only wants to use the supercomputer for its power just so he can have fun.
Ai: You don't know that either.
Axel: Yes, I do!
Ai: Why?!
Axel: BECAUSE HE'S ETHAN ALUCARD TOWNLEY. He only does what's in his best interest, he doesn't care about anyone else's opinion. We're not friends. The only reason he joined the club I made was so he could use the VR headset for watch… I know how to find out where XANA is.
[He takes off out the door.]
[Cut to Inès is walking down a hallway to her room in the school dorms. Above her one of the lights in the ceiling bursts and lightning scatters across the walls and floor around her. Inès completely ignores it, sighs, and walks on without changing her expression. To her, the unexpected phenomenon wasn't surprising at all.]
[It becomes night outside. Axel comes back to the school through the dock at the base of the cliff that marks the school's borders. He runs up the stairs built into the cliff face from the marina at the base of the cliff to the cliff yard. On his way up, he stops at the floor that connects to the veranda to Flint Cliff. He walks out on the rock where he took his dive earlier and listens to the waves lapping at the rocks.]
Axel: It's almost funny. How did I think this was such a big deal.
[He resumes his climb and passes through the cliff yards back to the residential courtyard where the club rooms are. He picks his way down the hill from the top at the cliff yard entrance. He avoids the cameras and a moving dot on his phone map he sees is Andrew making his patrol rounds.
The classrooms, Club rooms, and the dorms in this courtyard were built into the hill, one side of their green roofs flush with the grass of the hill. Axel slides from behind a solar panel on the roof to a window on the Club building that was waist height on this part of the hill, avoiding the security camera at the door. He runs through the rooms and down the stairs to the underground level to reach a specific room below the ground level.
The door has a poster that looks like the cover of a video game box with "Team EXO: E-Sports Club" as the title. Below that is a pretend quote from a review site.
"Video Games rule; Sports are for nerds."-IGN
He enters the room in a hurry.
The room has no windows. There is a medium sized collection of video games under a waist high table in the center of the room and a metal DDR platform in the corner. There is a couch on the wall opposite the door with the table in front of that and a monitor sitting on a cardboard box across from that on the same wall as the door. Next to the couch was a VR cage. At the far end of the room, desks line the wall with 2 on the short wall, and 2 right next to those on each adjacent wall for six in total. All desks have small computer monitors and a PC connected to them. Video game and TCG posters line the walls.
Two students are on the couch. Conner and Disc are sitting on the couch. They both have a VR headset on.
Axel taps Conner on the shoulder. Conner wearing grey shorts and long-sleeved shirt. His hair is cut short and he is very tan. He pulls off one of the headphone muffs. A movie's soundtrack can be heard playing through it.]
Axel: [With authority] I need to use those.
Conner: Really? Couldn't you just wait until the movie is over?
Axel: It's an emergency.
Conner: [sighs] Okay.
[Axel plugs his phone into the computer with the VR attached to it and puts on the VR headset.
A camera appears on the tower Ai is in. It just looks like a ball with an Annex symbol, a sideways eye made of a central dotted circle with lines on top and bottom with arcs on either side,on it. Ai notices it.]
Ai: AHHH!
Axel: It's just me.
Ai: [jumps up and grabs the probe & looks in its lens.] I don't see you.
Axel: It's a probe, a camera. It just transmits visual data. Hey, can you let go.
Ai: So, there's a scanner where you are now?
Axel: No, I'm using a VR headset. It's like having an avatar on the Annex but controlling with your body in reality. The scanners are just a more advanced version of this.
Disc: [taking off her headset] What's a more advanced version?
Axel: [To Disc] [holds up a finger for silence] I don't have time to talk right now.
Ai: So, what's the point of this?
Axel: To find that evil room that went into the planet.
Ai: So, if you can see into the virtual world, can I use it to see into reality?
Axel: No that's not how it works. But there might be something I can-
Conner: I thought you said this was an emergency. Is this a game?
Axel: [To Conner] What did I just say?
Axel: [to Ai] Later.
[Axel's probe zooms off out of the tower.]
Ai: Hello?
[The probe zooms through the platforms orbiting the planet and finds a shaft in the metal shell. It zooms through. There is another planet within this one. A smaller sphere was inside the first, the same blue texture, although now there was a metal sky of the outer crust of the first planet. In the space between there was more floating plateaus. But now they were bigger and looked three dimensional, more like fortresses with huge gapping entrances in their walls. They shifted as they accommodated platforms flying through and around them.
He spots a black aura. He sees the evil room zoom by. The probe swivels sharply and flies straight over it. He sees inside one of the fortresses. The black bunker room has lowered itself inside the defensive structure.
Axel: There you are. [the probe returns back the way it came.]
[It's the next day. Cut to science class. Other students are still working on the science project, a parallel circuit experiment with wires connected to batteries, LEDs, and a speaker on a breadboard. Axel is working on his computer, the VR headset from the lab next to him on the desk on his left and his module with completed circuits and worksheet filled out and set aside on the right. He's blinking a lot when typing and has noticeable bags under his eyes, but his concentration is strong. He has a 3D modeling software open and is adjusting something on what looks like a pair of glasses.
Ethan slides into the classroom, then casually starts towards the desk Axel is at.]
All students (but Axel): LATE!
Ethan: Sod off you filthy extras.
Teacher: [ignoring the situation with Ethan] Time is running out. Remember, for your currents, keep your metal bracelet attached to a ground while you're working with the circuit, so you won't be shocked.
[Ethan slams down in his chair so hard that it slides over and bumps into Axel's.]
Ethan: Where's the lab?
Axel: Good morning too.
[Axel goes back to working on the VR headset.]
Ethan: All right you've been calling aunt Mavis for long enough.
Axel: [finally answers Ethan] I'm not telling you where the lab is.
Ethan: You can't stop me-
BEEP
[The students in the background's project has a loud beep noise as the two students fumble with it.]
Ethan: -stop me from going back there.
Axel: I can if you don't know where it is.
Ethan: You owe me.
Axel: The room? Rook did that.
Ethan: Because of your narking!
Axel: Which you agreed to it.
Ethan: Rook has had hell coming for a long time for blaming-
BEEP
[The students in the background's project beeps again.]
Ethan: for blaming me.
Axel: If I buy us new equipment this time, will you drop it.
Ethan: Fine.
[Axel types]
Ethan: So, this upgrade program, any powers I get in the Annex, I get in real life?
Axel: Yes.
Ethan: [teasing] And you and the beret girl didn't get any abilities to start out with?
Axel: [there's a "go away" look on his face] It appears that way yes.
Ethan: So, you can't get superpowers.
Axel: No, once I figure out the leveling system for the Annex, I'll grind it till I unlock an ability. [clicks mouse] I have replacement consoles, replacement desktop, external drives, controllers… What about monitors? Want to upgrade?
Ethan: Why not?
Axel: 37.5-inch 4K, 144Hz refresh rate, overclockable to 165Hz, Nvidia graphics…
Ethan: Sounds good.
Axel: Netflix button on the remotes?
Ethan: Of course!
Axel: You want the curved screen?
Ethan: No that's a stupid MOFFing gimmick and everyone knows it!
Axel: Your dad's card or your credit?
Ethan: Non-Mom Parent's.
Axel: [clicks] There.
Ethan: You bought them?
Axel: Yep.
Ethan: Cool. [Forces Axel's computer to blue screen of death with technomancy] Where's the lab?
Axel: You said-
Ethan: We're even for Rook, but Annex and XANA…
BEEEEEEEP
[Ethan pounces on the extras' project tearing out the parts and moving and snapping them into a different configuration.]
Student: HEY. Stop-
[Ethan turns back to Axel. The two students take a look at the reconstructed circuit board. The LED lights up as it's supposed to and there's no noise.]
Student: Oh.
Axel: Look, you get to keep your technomancy ability, but you don't need anything to do with the Annex.
[The bell chimes.]
Ethan: It's aDORable you think you have control over the situation.
[Axel packs up and drops his fully completed worksheet in the "turn it in" basket. Ethan grabs a sheet off the pile of fresh copies, scribbles "E.A.T" on it and slams it on top as he follows Axel out.]
[Inès and Mabel are down by the inlet near a dock by the mouth of the inlet wearing bathing suits. Down below her, kids from Malhur Academy are partying on the beach and sand bars sitting in the middle of the inlet. The hills of the inlet are sharp faded tan stone cliffs. Off to her right, the bridge spanning high above the mouth of the inlet is connecting the two sides. She walks down to the throng of people looking for her friends. Music is blaring from someone's portable speaker. People are complaining on how they heard this song a million times while a group right next to them is singing away to the lyrics.]
Mable: They kinda got mad that you blew them off yesterday.
Inès: I'm sorry.
Mable: But how do you know Ethan Townley?
Inès: I ... I don't know how I know him.
Mable: [suspicious] Really? From what I saw, he seemed pretty confident that he knew you.
Inès: I don't know him!
Mable: Well, you don't have to tell me about the other thing, but when it comes to a walking disaster like him and the choir boys, tell me the truth. He's the worst bully in the entire school.
Inès: I am. I mean, I remember meeting him yesterday, but I swear I thought it was a hallucination.
Mable: Well, knowing his reputation, it's not surprising you thought he was unreal. Just relax, have a good time… and try to seem grateful for all the "hard work" Zoe put into this.
Inès: Didn't she just fill out a form and make a few texts to people coming?
Mabel: [sarcastic] A whole afternoon of hard work I know.
[They walk up to the end of the dock where the boat is docked. Zoe is letting people on.]
Zoe: Glad you could make it. Inès, Mabel insisted that you would want to come. Glad to see it. Would hate to have someone break away from the fun just to tow you over. [giggles slyly and steps off the dock into the boat]
Mabel: [whispers to Inès] VERY, grateful.
[Axel is exiting the school lecture auditorium at the bottom level and into the halls. He's holding a Japanese genki textbook as he walks with his bloated backpack in his arms; As he turns the corner the view of the inlet can be seen through the windows. The hallway is about to transition into a balcony with a walkway that merges with the cliff face before it joins the same staircase that leads to the docks that he traveled up last night. The entire space was free with no doors. A seamless transition from the carpeted school interior hallway to the sunny cliff face.]
Ethan: [runs down the stairs after him.] Hey, I want in.
Axel: You can't.
[someone starts calling from the top of the stairs.]
Coach Zama: Townley, the game starts in 20 minutes. Why are you still in normal clothes?
Axel: Someone forgetting about their academic commitments?
Ethan: Kick boring normal air-filled footballs or I could be kicking explosive footballs at robots in VR. To the lab.
Axel: [deep breath] Don't you rely on all your points from winning soccer games.
Ethan: It's called football. Yeah, why?
Axel: And aren't you close to flunking out?
Ethan: Not your business.
Axel: So, how are you going to get access to the lab if you're expelled?
[awkward pause]
Ethan: [turns to leave] You know Sherlock, one of these days, you're going to be wrong about something.
Axel: [smug] Not very likely.
[There are a bunch of high schoolers in swimsuits and quick dry clothes hanging out on the sandbar in the middle of the inlet. There's music playing from someone's wireless speaker on top of the boat that's beached slightly to prevent it from floating off. Inès is just hanging by herself against a tree and running her feet through the course grass poking through the sand. Mabel is talking to Zoe and some boys.]
Mabel: …Outback Steakhouse IS the Illuminati. You take the 5 locations in any city and…
[Inès tries to get up to talk with them. She walks over to them but before they notice her, she can't summon the courage just to speak to them. She hangs her head and trudges back to sit in the shade with her back to the tree.]
Axel?: Right choice. You would just fail like you did at lunch.
[A hallucination of Axel starts talking. He's wearing the same outfit he was in the video where he snitched on Rook and the football team.]
Axel?: They look happy. Don't ruin it for them by joining in and dragging them down.
[She stands up and looks down at the boy sitting against the tree. She can see the other side of his face from this angle. He has a red and green spiral mark on the left side of his face. The hallucination blinks out of existence.]
[Cut to the campus. Ethan in a locker room and has changed into a dark blue jersey soccer jersey with the number 77 in gold lettering on it.
His phone rings. He phases out the phone on the side of his arm so he can see the screen. He sees it's an unknown number. He cancels it and reabsorbs it. Then its rings again and picks up automatically.]
Ai: [phone] Hi!
Ethan: AUUUH! It's in my head.
[He phases out the speaker and microphone from his phone. They appear as a triangular microphone next to his mouth and gray casing around his ear.]
Ai: I used the supercomputer to force access to your phone. There seemed to be interference the first few times I called.
Ethan: You FORCED?!
Ai: Well yah. This machine, from the records Axel found, is meant to facilitate communication networks and thus has the highest priority on deciding which signals get through and what gets rejected.
Ethan: I thought we were trying to avoid the MIB monitoring our calls?
Ai: Oh, I rerouted all of your phones through the supercomputer. It has a higher encryption than anything else, so you don't need to worry about anyone else knowing what you do on them.
Ethan: Wait, does this mean I have unlimited data?
Ai: I mean, technically I'm splitting up the packet calls to different servers and using the supercomputer's own transfer protocol, so yes.
Ethan: Awesome.
[He hangs up on her. She calls back.]
AI: You did that on purpose.
Ethan: Duh. You're just a waifu.
Ai: That's why I wanted to talk with you. I think I got the jist of the history of the world after a couple of hours. But I can't find any mention of my existence using the "googles", but you seem to know what kind of species I am.
Ethan: Okay, you know how I know you're a waifu? Because you said "google" in a purposely cutesy way.
Ai: I did? Wait, so you do know! What is my function?
Ethan: You want me to tell you your purpose in life?
Ai: YES! [calms down.] Sorry. Yes. Thank you. Axel won't give me time to help me with anything. I mean the whole finding out what the Annex is important and all, but…
[Ethan gets a wicked grin on his face while Ai rambles in the background. Ethan puts her on hold.]
Ethan: Oh lord in heaven I thank you for this blessed opportunity.
[Un mutes her.]
Ethan: Sooooo, the first thing you have to do is make sure other people are always happy. Second, always give Axel the idea you think he's the greatest and care about him over everything else…
[He walks out the door to the hallways in the locker room building, while attempting to ruin another's person's life on the phone.]
[Ethan walks out onto the field. Warmup drills are almost over. The other team in green can be seen on the other end of the field while other Malhur students in blue jerseys are finishing stretches.
Ethan: …And finally, always make sure to throw yourself into any dangerous situation to save other people even if it isn't life threatening.
Coach Zama: Townley! Put away your phone now.
Ethan: Have to go. I'll make sure to tell you all about the holy book of Isekai later.
Ai: Thank you Ethan, this has been so helpful. I'll make sure research these "Animes". I'll try to finish them all before your game is over. [hangs up]
Ethan: Integration [absorbs his phone's microphone and speaker.] Best. Superpower. Eeeeverrrrr.
[Hainer and Korey walk up to Ethan as he approaches the group.]
Hainer: Was sending Rook to the hospital really necessary?
Ethan: They did something very. Very. Stupid.
Hainer?: Well now we don't have any reserve members. No one is going to get to rest because of you.
[Korey and the rest of the team gives Ethan a hatred look.]
Ethan: Oh don't give me that look, they were already suspended this morning. They wouldn't be here no matter what.
Coach Zama: [gets their attention.] Lincoln's team looks like they are in good shape. Remember your picks and targets. You've run the drills for them. You'll do great if you apply your training. And Townley. Try to score without making us-
Ethan: [still grinning after his conversation with Ai.] You know what. I'm in a good mood, so I'll throw you an upper.
Korey: You'll actually try today?! OH, we have this!
Ethan: Yeah, but after we get a lead, I'm heading out due to an "injury" acting up. You guys can win by playing defensive. I know you can do at least that much.
Hainer: We could have a better chance if-
Ethan: Great, glad we all love my idea. [claps] Break.
[Cut to Ethan and the rest of Malhur academy's soccer team. The whistle blows. Both teams scramble into action. Ethan steals the ball from an enemy player and passes it to another member of his "team". Ethan spins around a guy blocking him and heads for the goal.]
Coach Zama: Pass it back to Townley. We need his finisher.
[His teammate passes back to Ethan. Two opponent players move in to block him from the goal. He up kicks the ball into the air, jumps into the air after it, spins around...]
Ethan: Trip-
[He pinwheel kicks the ball at the enemy player on the right. It hits him square in the face. It bounces off toward the left player.]
Ethan: Da-
[Ball hits the left player in the side of his face and bounces up toward Ethan]
Ethan: KILL! [And he head-butts the ball into the goalie's head forcing him to fall backward into the goal for a point]
Referee: Goal! Malhur Academy.
[There are rapid scenes of Ethan and the team.
First, he and his teammates set up a triangle by the goal. He kicks the ball up in the air to the teammate on the right, who quickly passes to left teammate who quickly passes back to the right, who passes back to Ethan who shoots a curved shot around the goalie. Enemy players helplessly try to block or intercept him, his feet, or the ball. All fail miserably.]
[Cut to stadium lights in hallways flickering.]
[Second, Ethan slides across the goal to block a shot when he isn't even goalie.]
[Cut to outside the stadium where powerlines around the city start sending an overcharge of electricity toward the stadium.]
[Third, Ethan tries to get around a guy blocking him while he's dribbling the ball. He puts his back to the guy, fakes to one side, then the other, then kicks the ball straight up in the air. The enemy player looks up and Ethan sneaks around him and jumps up to headbutt the ball halfway across the field to a teammate. That player scores.]
[Cut to overhead lights in the stadium flickering constantly.]
Coach Zama: Break Time. Everyone get water. [The teams reunite at their benches. The other coach walks up to Zama.]
Lincoln's coach: Wow, I had heard about the Malhur's training regiment, but you really know how to make a solid team. You ever have to use some of the drill sergeant tricks with them.
Coach Zama: Well, the mentality has helped, but I wouldn't dare use anything of that level on high schoolers. But one of them temps me often.
Lincoln's coach: [sees which player Zama is looking at.] Speaking of number 77, I haven't heard too much about him, except from other teams. But you would think a star like that would want to be in the spotlight.
Coach Zama: Yes, well Townley doesn't do anything he doesn't want to. If that means winning the game, great. If it doesn't, then… you see my problem.
Lincoln's coach: [shocked] Townley?! Like Ethan Townley. The kid from that Grand Tournament massacre 3 years back?
Coach Zama: [stiff] Yes. Is that all? The break is almost over, I would like to get back to my team.
[His face and tone just say, "drop it" and leave no room for negotiation. Lincoln's coach backs away.]
Lincoln's coach: Absolutely, Thank you for your service.
[Ethan and the other players set up in the middle of the field with the lights still flickering above. One of Ethan's teammates kicks the ball behind him to another ally who up kicks it into the air. Ethan takes a running start and flips into the air. He's positioned upside down so that the back of his leg will connect with the ball for a kick that will send the ball straight into the goal.
But just as he's about to make contact, the lights above shatter and lightning spews down on the field. Startled, Ethan loses concentration and falls to the ground in a heap. He gets up dazed, lightning bolts crashing down onto the field all around him.]
[Ai has six different screens all with a different anime, YouTube tab, or web series on each. Ai is watching some anime about characters talking over the meaning of their existence.]
Ai: This is amazing.
[And then they immediately switch to punching explosions at each other {yes, this sentence is grammatically correct.}]
Ai: This is AWESOME!
[The tower rocks from pulsations.]
Ai: What was that?
[The tower rocks again and she falls on her hands and knees.]
Ai: Okay, looks like XANA activated another tower.
[She pulls up the phone numbers of Axel, Inès, and Ethan on screen. She thinks twice about it. Then, she leaves without a word.
Cut to her boarding a transportation platform. She jumps off and lands on a plateau just above the planet's surface. She runs to the end of the plateau where a long and narrow bridge hovers over the planet's surface.
At the end there is an elevator. It's a circular room broken at two points along its walls by doorways across from one another. She steps through the doorway and into the room and it begins to sink down.
She can see that where the elevator sinks, there is an opening in the planet's shell that is covered by the opaque blue energy around it. When the elevator passes through the energy around the planet, it passes through the open doors in the outer circle. She immediately steps back into one of the two semi-circles created by the shaft of energy dividing the room, the only safe areas.
She enters the middle zone. There were more floating plateaus. On a faraway one, she spotted the red halo of the activated tower.
She jumps on a single level transportation platform that moves toward that fortress plateau. This one has a few short walls at its edges and only has one level. And it moves fast, zipping from one huge platform to the next.
As it passes the fortress, she jumps off and through one of the huge entrances in the side. She takes a couple of turns, goes up a ramp, and then finds a bridge leading to a central platform with a tower on it. In the middle of the bridge are several long barriers dividing the bridge into two halves along its length. There are 4 other walkways, two on each side, that end above the bridge with no way to reach them from the bridge. They lead to other areas of the fortress plateau. Positioned in between the walkways on each side of the bridge are pillars that seem to be for suspending the bridge except they aren't attached to anything at the top. At the end she can see a room where the tower is on top of a pedestal that was taller than her. And behind that, parked at the plateau's edge, was the dark room.]
Ai: [disgruntled. Looking at the pedestal] Oh yay. More climbing.
[Ai is running toward the tower. New monsters spawn, ones that are new to her. They each have 4 long metal legs attached to an spindly insect body just bigger than a person. The ends of the tarantula's legs are covered in metal casing. The weak point is on the tarantula's face. The tarantulas go to a crouching position, lift their front legs and start firing lasers from them at Ai.]
Ai: AAH!
[She dives behind one of the pillars lining the sides of the bridge for cover.]
Ethan ignites his plasma sword and cuts a slit in the turf and sod. With the lightning still bombarding around him, striking some unlucky players, he jams his way under the artificial grass and inchworms his way across the field where the other players are making for the locker rooms.
He activates technomancy and phases out his phone.
Ethan: Sherlock.
[Back in the Annex lab, Axel picks up his phone as he's entering the warehouse that has the lab in it. He winces as a ringing pierces his ears.]
[Intercut – phone conversation]
Axel: Isn't it during the game? [he hears the screaming the background] Ethan what did you do?
Ethan: Oh, come on. It's XANA, not me. Get the waifu in the tower now!
Axel: Fine. … Thanks for the call. What's the attack?
[Ethan already hung up. Just then electricity starts sparking from the switches and lights on the walls in the stadium. Ethan bursts out from under the turf at the edge of the field and makes towards the entrance to the stadium interior.]
Axel: [To himself] Attacking again this soon? Actually, timing wise we have no idea towers are even activated until we see their effects. We really need a way of detecting them. [Axel activates a chat window on the terminal.] Ai looks like there is another attack. How do I check where the tower is?
Ai: [lasers firing in the background.] Oh, you don't have to worry about that. I'm almost there.
Axel: You're already moving? You shouldn't have put yourself in danger like that. [Looks at the screen.] You've already reached the middle of the Plasma Throne?
Ai: Wait that's what we're calling it?
Axel: [channeling inner level designer] Yeah it gives the place a mystic and imposing feel. Like some ancient technologically advanced seat of power.
Ai: [weirded out] Okay, that's nice. Can you come now?
Axel: It says I can't be spawned near a tower that has been activated.
Ai: That's when you're just doing a normal virtualization. Just set your virtualization location off of me. Shouldn't we call for backup?
Axel: I don't need them.
Ai: Are you sure?
[quick flash back to Episode 2 when Ethan kept on stealing kills and lead a megatank straight into Axel.]
Axel: In my experience, other people only get in the way.
[He types up a line on the keyboard, then dashes down to the scanner. Axel is scanned and virtualized.
Axel forms above the bridge. From where he spawns in the air, he falls down to chamber kick a tarantula in the face.]
Axel: CHAMBER!
[It goes sailing over the edge of the bridge. He spots a tarantula ready to fire on her. Axel chamber jumps across the bridge to Ai, pushes her out of the way of the lasers from the tarantula just to get hit with them. The force spins him around…]
Axel LP: 100 - 85 - 70
BING
LP has dropped below 70%. Switch to phase 2.
[He picks up his weapon, the halberd.]
Axel: Why did you try to do this by yourself? I couldn't even get past two of them without weapons.
Ai: I didn't want to bother you all. You have your own lives. I was just doing what Ethan told me to do. By the way, the way you got hit was amazing. You're the best at it.
Axel: Of course, Obelisk has something to do with this. Whatever. I'll handle the rest and then-
[The tarantulas start firing rapidly from a kneeling position. Axel spins his halberd to block the lasers.]
Ai: The notes said they fire rapid fire lasers. Attacking from multiple directions confuses them.
Axel: Make a wall on the end of my halberd.
[He holds out his halberd parallel to the ground. She makes a simple thin wall intersecting the weapon. He pushes forward and the wall scraps against the ground.
Ai LP: 100 - 50
Ai and Axel hide behind the wall as they advance with the tarantulas lasers bouncing against it.
Ai distracts the other tarantula, by the time it notices Axel advancing on its partner, Axel is already rushing it. The tarantula's metal legs are scrapping against the ground to retreat before Axel slams it off the side of the bridge. He immediately pivots to block the second tarantula's attacks as it attempts to circle around him.
It attempts to take out Ai. Axel drops the handle and runs over to jump kick the tarantula. He lands on his back as the tarantula skids off the edge, scrambling to grab the edge with its nonexistent hands.
Axel rolls back and kicks himself back onto his feet.
Ai: What was that?
Axel: Gaming rule #8. "Never waste time or resources fighting a battle the game environment is set up to win instantly". I need to think about how to do that by myself.
[There's more tarantulas guarding the room. Axel knows what they have to do but is hesitating on it.]
Ai: [look at him] I have to do just as much work as the people risking their lives to protect me. It's only fair.
Axel: I'm guessing Obelisk told you that too. You take left, I'll take right. Just … just distract them.
[They both run up the length of the bridge at the tarantulas, dodging from cover to cover.
Just as they get close enough…
Axel swings at the tarantulas. They focus fire at him. He slashes off both arms on the right one, sweeps the legs of the left, swings his axe head around to cut off the head of the right and chamber the larger axe head into the left tarantula's head, smashing against the ground.
Two monsters emerge from the room with the tower around the corner at the end of the bridge. Both are short and covered in black armor. They are about the size of Ai and the other players. Their necks, waist, torso, legs, feet and upper arms were filled with overlapping plates protecting every square inch. On their heads, they had helmets with tiny visor slits. Through the slit you can see part of the weak point; the broken circle with a dot in the center glowing crimson against the darkness. Their forearms were simply thick sticks with squares extruded out of them seemingly at random. They had a tail curling up from their torso up behind their head that ends in a spiral. The ends of the sticks glow red.]
Ai: [surprised] Those guys weren't in the notes.
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