Author's Note: Merry Christmas, everybody!

To celebrate this festive holiday season, I decided to upload this next chapter on this very day. It may not be a chapter that takes place on Christmas, but it's an original chapter that MajorBrony95 and I worked together to brainstorm. This is the first original chapter of the fanfic, so we thought this would make a good Christmas gift for all you readers out there.

Enjoy the chapter and happy holidays. Any and all comments are welcome.


On a relatively normal Thursday, Five, Miko and Tim weren't scheduled for patrol; instead, they were assigned to man the store. Five worked the counter, Miko provided customer support, and Tim headed to the back to check on their inventory. As the hours ticked by, closing time rapidly approached as evidenced by the setting sun outside.

While her coworkers were busy, Miko helped a cute couple of teenagers pick out a game from the shelves.

"So, what kind of game are you lovebirds lookin' for?" Miko asked the two girls with a smile as she saw the girls hold hands.

"Well, we just started a gaming streaming channel together." one of the girls answered.

"And we wanted to start with a friendly two-player that we'll enjoy playing and that everyone else will love watching us play." the other girl continued.

"Aww! That's so cute!" Miko gushed. "Must be nice having someone like that who shares what you love."

"It is." the first girl said, squeezing her girlfriend's hand and smiling at her before turning back to Miko. "So what would you recommend?"

Miko scratched her chin as she surveyed all the games in front of her. Her eyes eventually reached the top shelf where she gasped happily at a colorful cover depicting a tiny couple holding onto a little umbrella as they descended.

"Oh! There! It's called You and Me!" Miko pointed out. "It's a co-op game where two players have to work together and help each other to solve puzzles and advance to the next level. Perfect two-player game for you guys and loads of fun to watch too."

"Sounds like a blast." the first girl said before turning to her partner. "What do you think, sweetie?"

"I think it's perfect." the second girl agreed.

"Great! Just give me a second to bring it down," Miko said. She then jumped like a video game character and pulled herself up closer to the top shelf, climbing the shelf like a rock wall.

The girls looked nervous and awkward before the second one spoke up. "Um, not to point out the obvious, but shouldn't you be using a ladder?"

"Nah. This is way faster." Miko denied just as she got close enough to the game. She stretched out her arm, straining to grab it with her digits while sticking her tongue out in concentration.

At that moment, Tim walked out from the back room with handful of games in his arms. "Okay, so I think we might have a slow order because apparently, we're missing two copies of Tsukinachi III, and…" He stopped when he noticed what Miko was doing and cried out loud in worry dropping his games. "MIKO, WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!"

Tim's yell caused Miko to lose her focus and balance. She waved her arms in vain before she grabbed the top shelf. What followed was gravity pulling Miko down as well as the video game shelf she was clutching onto and every other shelf that fell beneath it. The commotion was enough to get Five's attention, and he immediately jumped over his counter to check in on his friend along with Tim.

"Miko! Are you okay?" Five asked.

Miko's head popped out of the pile of video games. At first, she was a little loopy, but she regained her senses and looked back at the shocked customers before happily pulling out Me and You.

"Here's your game."

The three employees were then overwhelmed by a large shadow that was cast over them. They looked up meekly at Phil, who was looking down at them with a furious tic visibly forming in his forehead.

Tim chuckled nervously. "You didn't see any of that, did you?"


The two girls bought their game and thanked Miko for the assist before they left, Phil thanking them and waving goodbye. Once they were gone however, he dropped his smile and turned his scowl back to Miko, Tim and Five, who were all still standing over the mess of tipped over shelves and video games.

"Okay, would someone like to explain why there was a massive spill of games right before CLOSING TIME?" Phil asked annoyed.

"Sorry, Phil." Miko said. "I just wanted to get that game for those two customers."

"You know, we DO have a stepladder you could've used," Phil said. He pointed his thumb behind him to show said blue stepladder resting by the locker room entrance.

"Well, yeah…" Miko said rubbing the back of her head, "But… you know… I thought I could get it down faster."

Phil sighed pinching the space between his eyes. "And these are supposed to be Hinobi's future protectors."

"Phil, please, give Miko a break." Tim pleaded. "She's still new to the whole job thing. We all are."

"Yeah. We're going to make a mistake or two." Five agreed. "Heck, we've ALREADY made a couple. Don't you think it's important that we learn from our mistakes?"

"Sure, in the store, maybe. But out in the field, when you're hunting Glitches, one mistake could get you hurt or worse. No amount of shortcuts can help you out of THAT bind." Phil admonished. "Now, as for your punishment, I'm putting the three of you to extra work after hours."

"Extra hours?" Five gasped.

"Three of us?" Miko asked. "Phil, wait. Don't punish the boys. I'm the one who spilled the games, remember?"

"Yeah, and since you're a team, you all get to SHARE the responsibility. Go team." Phil said sarcastically. "Hopefully, that will teach you to think twice before climbing up fragile shelves. Besides, the three of you getting it done will be much faster than just one of you."

Tim sighed. "All right. What do you need us to do?"

"Well, first, you can pick up all the games that fell on the floor and put them back in their place." Phil instructed as he pointed out the tasks. "And while you're at it, check the game disks to make sure they're undamaged. Can't sell someone a disk that's scratched up after a fall. And after that, you can go ahead and stock up all the shelves with their respective games for when morning comes. Then, you can go home. Might as well call your parents and guardians and tell them you'll be home late."

"Fair enough." Five said as he pulled out his phone and dialed in his grandparents' number.


Shortly after, the sun had set and night had fallen on the city of Bailey. It was closing time for the Hinobi store, but before leaving, Phil gave Tim a small key as he finished putting up the games on the floor.

"This here is a spare key to the front door." Phil said.

"Aww. But I didn't get you anything." Tim said with a smile.

"Hilarious." Phil said dryly. "Look, just when you're done, lock up. I'll ask for that key back tomorrow morning, and if you lose it, I'm gonna have to dock it out of your pay."

"Yes, sir." Tim said with a dramatic salute.

Phil simply rolled his eyes and proceeded to the front door. He closed it behind him and locked it with his primary key. As he headed off to his car and whistled a jaunty tune on the way, however, he had no idea that a pair of yellow, cat-like eyes were peering out of a bush, waiting for him to be gone.

Inside the store, the kids were finished picking up the spilled games and started checking the labels on the shelves for the games they needed to put on. While they started moving the games, Five was humming a special tune out loud catching his friends' attention.

"Uh, Five," Tim said, "Are you humming the opening music for Dominion Core?"

"It helps pass the time." Five answered with a shrug.

Miko groaned. "This is so not fair. When I called my mom and told her I had to be home late, she assumed it was MY fault."

"But it WAS your fault." Five reminded.

"Yeah, but she still shouldn't have assumed." Miko pouted. "I mean, what did your guardians say when you told them you had to work late?"

"Well, when I told my grandparents, they kinda said they were proud of me for getting extra work done." Five chuckled nervously.

"And my Aunt Geri was a little sad that I had to miss family game night, but she understood." Tim said. "Might as well. The only game we haven't played yet is backgammon, and I'm not really a fan of that."

"Don't you always lose to her when playing that?" Five asked with a chuckle.

"Yes. While I rule at video games, board games admittedly aren't my style." Tim sighed in an annoyed tone, making Five and Miko laugh.

While they were talking, a feminine figure approached the front store entrance but stayed in the shadows. She slipped her long, black nails into the keyhole and started fiddling around until the door popped open a crack, making her grin like a Cheshire cat. Lucky for her, the bell above the store door had been turned off, so no one was the wiser.

As she sneaked into the store, the light from a few lights still on briefly shined on her. It revealed Felicia Hardy wearing a black bodysuit that came with black, claw-like fingernails and a silver belt with advanced gadgets and tools attached to it. She also wore a black mask with yellow lenses covering her eyes and a pair of black cat ears on top of her silver hair.

Felicia looked around the store, but stopped in surprise seeing the three employees who were still in the store. She looked around and found a standee for her to hide behind. Thankfully for her, they were unable to see her.

"Que demonios!" Felicia thought to herself. "Why are there still people here? I thought this place would be closed by now. No, it doesn't matter. I just need to see what they're hiding in that locker room."

Felicia waited until the trio's attention was completely away from the locker room before she carefully tried to sneak past them while they talked.

"I'm just saying," Miko said as she placed a few more games on a shelf, "We've got access to some pretty sweet equipment. Surely one of them can help us finish this job faster."

"Didn't Phil just say no shortcuts?" Five asked.

"Pfft! He won't know." Miko scoffed before getting a glint in her eye. "You know, I heard that Otto was working on something for multitasking. We can probably use it to…"

"Even if we all agreed that was a good idea, which it's not, we can't." Tim interrupted. "I heard he just finished designing it on PAPER. He hasn't even started building this miracle multitasking tool, whatever it is. And even if he HAD and we used it, you know how he is. We use one of his precious inventions without his knowledge, he would likely be angrier than Kinga Konga when Giovanni beats him. And he'd probably SHOW us what he'd try to do to him too."

Miko winced at the thought of a furious Otto in front of a flaming background, arms crossed as his glasses shined. "Okay, good point, Timmy."

"For now, let's just do this the simpler way." Five said grabbing some more games to put up. "I think we're just about done anyway. Maybe another half hour or so?"

Miko still groaned loudly again. "I still hate this. If I wanted to be lectured on cleaning, I'd wait until Saturday morning for a talk with my mom when she tells me to clean my room."

"I know it's hard to deal with right now," Tim said, "But I promise, it won't hurt to…"

All of a sudden, Tim's thoughts vibrated making him stop talking. Something about it made him turn around. When he turned, he noticed a quick instance of movement heading into the locker room. He kept staring in confusion.

"Hmm? What's up, Tim?" Five asked.

"I… I don't know." Tim answered. "Something's wrong."

Over at the locker area, Felicia kept her eyes on the lockers and pressed a button on the side of her goggles. That's when she noticed something that made her eyes wide open. She approached one of the lockers and turned the dial on one of the locks. Through her goggles, she was able to see the tumblers within it and stopped when they changed.

Once she was finished, the locker before her and every other locker shifted. The portal to Glitch Tech HQ appeared in front of her, leaving her breathless.

"Curiouser and curiouser."

"Hey!" Tim's voice caught Felicia's attention, and she turned around and spotted the three behind her. "What do you think you're doing?"

Felicia didn't freak out. Instead, she gave a cocky smile. "What does it look like? I'm taking a peek behind your curtain. Adios." She quickly turned and jumped forward vanishing

"What… Who WAS that?" Five asked in disbelief. "And how did she get in?"

"We can't just stand here asking! We gotta stop her!" Miko shouted. She rushed forward and jumped into the portal following Felicia. "GERONIMO!"

The boys exchanged a look and gave a soft shrug. They proceeded to follow Miko through the portal.


Felicia landed in the Glitch Tech headquarters. The lights turned on just as she arrived showing the layout of the main lobby to her.

She leaned over the balcony handrail and gave a soft whistle while looking around at everything. [Muy genial. Kind of a Star Trek Enterprise theme going on here."

"ALERT! ALERT!" BITT appeared out of nowhere right behind Felicia, siren atop him flashing and wailing. "WE HAVE AN INTRUDER IN THE LOBBY! REPEAT! INTRUDER IN THE—"

Felicia was caught off-guard by BITT's presence and acted out of reflex. She quickly whipped out a small object from her wrist and turned around to ram it right at BITT. Right when she did, a sudden shock of electricity shot right over BITT's robotic body. He jittered and glitched out until his screen went black and he fell to the ground.

Felicia blinked twice at the shorted out bot. "Oops. Maybe I shouldn't have done that."

At that moment, the portal opened up again and Miko, Five, and Tim dropped in the same way Felicia did. They faced her as she was right beside the hand rails.

"Hold on, cat girl!" Five cried out.

"It's Black Cat, in case you're wondering." Felicia corrected.

"We don't care!" Miko shouted as she approached her angrily. "You can't just break in, jump into our lockers, and…" She stopped when she noticed something roll to her feet. She looked down and gasped loudly at BITT's powered-down body. She dropped down to pick him up in her arms and she sobbed loudly. "NO! BITT! WHY?! WHYYYYYYYY?!"

"If you're sad about the robot, I'm sorry. It was an accident." Black Cat said. "I'm trying to find Hinobi's secrets with as little trouble as possible, but it's just one surprise after another."

"Hinobi's secrets?" Tim asked. "What are you talking about? Why are you even here?"

Black Cat glanced at Tim and gave an interested look. "Would you believe I came over for tech support? Maybe you can help me out. I do prefer the cute kind of help."

"Cute?" Tim asked blushing at that comment.

"Hey!" Miko cried out, dropping BITT and standing between them with an angry look. "Don't go avoiding the questions, sister! Tell us why you're here, and maybe when you get a face full of memory wipe, I won't enjoy it half as much!"

"Memory wipe?" Black Cat asked. "So you people CAN erase our minds. Well, if you want to know anything else about me…" She gripped the handrails behind her and flipped herself over to stand on it. "You'll have to catch me first." With that, she jumped off and landed on the floor below before making her run across the lobby.

"Boy, she's good." Five said.

"Pfft. She's not THAT great." Miko grumbled. "Anyway, we gotta stop her!"

"Let's gear up!" Tim shouted. He, along with his friends, quickly changed into their Glitch Tech gear and chased after Black Cat; Five and Miko from the ground and Web Tech from above.

With his higher ground advantage, the Web Tech swung over to get ahead of Black Cat. He managed to land on the side of a wall ahead of her and formed a large web ball. Once she was within range, he launched it at her.

However, she saw it coming and incredibly flipped over it (one could almost say in slow motion), letting it hit the other side of the hall instead.

Black Cat gave another interested look at the Web Tech while she continued running. "Hmm. And the surprises just keep on coming. You better not put your goop in my hair."

"Don't worry. It comes off with ice or peanut butter." Web Tech countered continuing to chase after her.

"Lovely." Black Cat said. "I gotta say, you're a lot different from those other two. They don't have weird web stuff, do they?"

"No, but they're great at parties." Web Tech said.

"Not as great as you, I bet." Black Cat said with a sly wink.

That wink got Miko's attention as she ran alongside Five. "What… What's that pussycat doing?! Oh, I'll show her!"

"Miko, wait. Let's not…" Five tried to warn his partner, but it was too late.

"Come on out, Ally!" Miko pulled out her gauntlet and summoned her companion pet, who she rode on straight ahead at breakneck speed.

"And… I lost her." Five sighed.

Ally quickly dashed right past the surprised burglar and stopped in front of her spreading her wings to the side to block her path. Black Cat stopped in her sprint finding herself surrounded by the Glitch Techs.

"Gotcha now, Sylvester!" Miko yelled out.

"Well, aren't you a bouncy ball of energy." Black Cat said with a taunting grin. Her smile dropped when she noticed the bird. "Wait, is that a Chicky Chum from Bravestone 12?"

"Yep. Her name is Ally, and she's my best Glitch friend." Miko said stroking her bird's head.

"Glitch?" Black Cat asked before a sudden realization hit her. "Those files I pulled said a Glitch Tech's job is to contain Glitches. So… You're telling me you people hunt down actual video game characters that come to life?! THAT'S what Hinobi does?!"

"Well, more or less." Tim said before he had his own realization. "Wait. Did you say 'the files I pulled'?"

Five gasped. "Hold on a moment! YOU'RE THE HACKER?!"

"A-HA! I KNEW there was something about you I didn't like!" Miko called out. "Oh, wait until you bring you to Phil! He'll… He'll… Well, actually, I don't know what he'll do when he gets his hands on you, but I bet you'll totally deserve it!"

"I'd love to talk more, Bouncing Ball, but this whole thing means too much to me." Black Cat said. As she talked, she slowly reached for her belt and pulled out a small, white pellet. "So…"

All of a sudden, Black Cat threw the pellet to the ground as hard as she could. The impact created a large, white cloud that enveloped over the group. While her pursuers were caught by surprise and started coughing, Black Cat was able to run right past Miko and Ally and down the hallway.

The only one who wasn't affected by the cloud was the Web Tech. His helmet not only shielded him from the clouds, but it helped him look right through it. So he saw the Black Cat running down the hallway.

"I'll catch her!" Web Tech shouted as he swung down the hall. While he did that, his partners tried to recover from the smoke.

Black Cat reached a flight of stairs, but stopped to look behind her. Once she saw the Web Tech swinging for her, an idea entered her mind.

"Vamos, Webs! Come and get me!" Black Cat cried out as she grabbed the stair rails and flipped over it.

"Talk about a game of cat and mouse." Web Tech said. He reached the stairs and jumped over the railing dropping down to the next floor.

Unbeknownst to him, Black Cat wasn't on the next floor down. She smiled as she placed herself right at the underside of the staircase. Once the Web Tech had gone down, she flipped herself back onto the floor where she flipped from.

"Boys are so gullible." Black Cat giggled. "But, I admit, he is as cute as he is interesting. And he is VERY interesting." She then turned and ran down the next hallway.


Black Cat always kept looking over her shoulder for the Glitch Techs who came after her. Thankfully for her, none of them came close to catching up to her. She could hear them though.

"Where is she?!" Five cried out.

"I think she went that way!" Tim replied.

"Let's catch her!" Miko yelled in an almost feral way.

As amusing as this was, Black Cat knew she had to hide. As such, she ran into the nearest room she could find. She opened up the large, metal door and ran right inside before closing it behind her. It was then that she found herself in the Glitch Tech training room, which lit up as she entered.

"Well, I'm safe for now," Black Cat said before eyeing the central computer with a glimmer of mischief. "And since there is a Hinobi computer right here, might as well do what I came here for."

She approached the console and pulled out a USB drive, which she inserted into it. The screen suddenly displayed the words "COPY AND TRANSFER COMMENCING" along with a bar that was slowly starting to fill up.

"Okay. This'll probably take about ten minutes or so." Black Cat then looked around as she quickly got bored. "Ay! Should have brought reading material or something."

She was suddenly alarmed when she heard a pounding sound at the door.

"Guys, I think she's in there! I hear the sim starting up!" Five's voice called from the other side of the door.

"Hey, Fuzzy Boots, we know you're in there!" Miko yelled out. "Yeah, that's right! I can do nicknames too!"

Black Cat sighed. "Those three are harder to shake than spiked shells. I gotta find a way to distract them, or at least have a way to escape. But how…" She stopped when she looked at the screen. She fixed her eyes on a file that read "GAMES". A smile appeared on her lips.

"Wait. If this place can contain game characters, then maybe they might still be here. And if I can use them to keep that lot busy…" Black Cat minimized her loading bar and opened up the files browsing through its contents. "Let's see. Chancy True? No, that's a detective game. Hinobi Lucha Loco? Woah! They actually HAVE this?! I thought this game was gone for good! Eeeh, it'd probably be effective, but it's kinda complicated. Wait!"

She finally found a game that she realized might be just what she needed. She clicked on it, allowing it to open up its title screen, a red, flaming background with several tricked-out cars grouped up around a sign that read "HINOBI WHEELS". On the botton was the usual "G for Glitch" sign of the Glitch Techs.

"Hinobi Wheels! Perfecto!" Black Cat cried out. "With one of those weaponized rides, not only can I defend myself while the files transfer, but I can make my getaway no problem. Now, which one seems to be more of my speed?"

She pressed the start button, but rather than take her to a selection of cars, she was surprised when the entire screen lit up and blasted a green light that quickly filled the room.

Outside the room, Five, Tim, and Miko worked together to try to pry the door open.

"C-Come on…" Miko strained. "Open up, you stupid thing! It's your job! Let us…"

"WHOA!" everyone exclaimed at once when the doors popped open. The three of them stood back up, but they stared confusingly at the bright light that shined from the doorway and strangely stopped at the edge of the room.

"What did she do?" Miko asked.

"Maybe it's some sort of special feature in the simulator?" Five guessed hopefully though he didn't sound positive.

"Only one way to find out." Web Tech said. He, Five, and Miko nodded to each other before walking on into the blinding light in the room.


The three of them were forced to close their eyes at first from the bright light. Their eyes were starting to adjust while they heard an uproar of cheers growing around them. The lights then began to dim, and the trio dropped their jaws. The place they had entered didn't look like the simulator at all. Instead, it was a huge, sci-fi racetrack with a purple sky, a golden road, and stands full of aliens who looked like they were made of cardboard cutouts.

"Uh, where are we?" Five asked.

"I think it's some kind of racetrack." Web Tech said.

"Whoa! Back the Forza up!" Miko said looking around. "Guys, this looks exactly like Hinobi Wheels!"

"Hinobi Wheels? As in, the racing game?" Web Tech asked. "In that case, why are we…"

"LADIES AND GENTLEMEN!" A loud, booming voice was heard echoing all over the race track followed by the crowd cheers. "We are about to witness history in the making! Will any of these four racers win the Galactic Cup, or will our reigning champ, the Big Wheel, crush the competition again!"

"Big Wheel?" Five asked.

"Four racers?" Miko asked. She then counted with her fingers. "Wait, there's three of us. So who…"

The sound of groaning was heard, and everyone turned their attention to Black Cat, who was holding her head as she shook it.

"YOU!" Miko yelled. She ran over to Black Cat and grabbed her by her front to pull her toward her furious face. "What in the name of Satoshi did you do?!"

"Hey, don't blame me!" Black Cat replied pulling herself out of Miko's grip. "I just wanted a car. I didn't mean for all THIS to happen!"

"If you were looking for a car, then how did you turn our simulator into Hinobi Wheels?" Five asked.

"How should I know that?" Black Cat asked.

Web Tech thought for a second before realizing. "Wait. I think Black Cat accidentally unleashed a Mapper Glitch."

"A what-now?" Miko asked.

"A mapper Glitch. I remember hearing about that during that infuriating tutorial." Web Tech said. "From what I heard, it's a special type of Glitch that overlays the real world with its own gameplay environment, essentially turning the entire room into the game itself."

"Right. I remember now." Five exclaimed.

"Mmm, cute AND smart." Black Cat purred with a sly smile at Tim. "How are you still single, Webs?"

Miko's face turned red with anger. "Hey! Can we focus for a minute? Timmy, how do we beat this Glitch?"

"Uh, r-right." Tim stammered, likely thrown for a loop by Black Cat's flirting. "Well, from what I remember, the only way to escape is to beat the game itself. So I guess what we need to do is win this race."

"That should be easy enough." Black Cat said. "All we need to do is finish this race, right? If we're the only racers, all we need is one race to beat it."

"Didn't you hear the announcer though?" Five asked sounding worried. "We're not just racing against each other. We have to go against the Big Wheel!"

"He's the most powerful racer in the game AND the most ruthless!" Miko explained. "His idea of winning is completely destroying the other racers before crossing the finish line."

"Well, where is he?" Black Cat asked looking around. "No one here but us."

"In the game, he doesn't usually appear until the second lap. One of the advantages of being a champ is that he gets to skip the first." Tim explained. "If we want to beat the game, at least one of us has to cross the finish line at the end of the third lap before Big Wheel does."

"Then let's get ourselves set up to drive." Five said just as a selection of vehicles appeared before each of the four. "We should probably pick a well-balanced car since we'll need more than speed to beat the Big Wheel. Maybe this blue one with the…"

"I call dibs on the one with the hot rod flames!" Miko shouted, clicking on her selected car right away, which appeared in front of her.

Five sighed before selecting the blue car he talked about before.

"I guess I'll go with… this one." Web Tech said pressing on his selected car. A green, one-seated convertible appeared right next to him, and he jumped right in. "Nice."

Black Cat didn't say anything when she chose her vehicle. A black motorcycle with a cat face on it appeared beside her, and she secured herself on its seat with a smile on her face. "It's almost like it was made for me." She then looked around the arena for a moment thinking about something. "Hey, Webs, just to clarify, the real world is unaffected, right? It's just disguised by all this Glitch stuff?"

"That should be the case, yes." Web Tech said.

"Why do you ask?" Miko asked giving Black Cat a suspicious look.

"No reason." Black Cat answered, hiding a mischievous smile. She then pressed the side of her goggles and fiddled around with them for a second.

"Racers, are you ready?!" the announcer shouted just as everyone started revving up their engines. "On your marks… get set… GO!"

The horn sounded just as everyone drove forward at top speed. Their racing was boosted thanks to them taking off at the exact same time as the horn. They rode their vehicles across the racetrack, which began to rise off the ground and reached up into outer space.

At first, it was going smoothly for the four racers. But after two minutes of calm, that all changed when Five screamed.

"LOOK OUT!"

The racers all fixed their eyes to their lefts and rights just as a rain of meteors rained down on the track. They raced around trying to avoid the meteors.

"What's going on?!" Black Cat asked.

"It's part of the game! The track's full of obstacles and booby traps!" Five explained.

"Don't worry! These are easy!" Tim shouted. "Just steer clear of the black parts on the track! That's where they're set to fall!"

Eventually, the meteors stopped dropping, and the racetrack soon started to lose some parts to it, filling the road ahead with holes. The racers had to race around them, but at the end of it, Miko nearly bumped into Black Cat's bike.

"Hey, watch it!" Black Cat shouted, boosting herself to get ahead and alongside her. "You know, your lousy hot rod car is a ton heavier than my cool cat bike! Do you WANT me to get knocked off-track?"

"Oh, it's like you almost read my mind!" Miko snarked. "Don't go getting mad at me! It's YOUR fault we're in this mess!" Miko shouted. "First, you hack into Hinobi's servers! And now, you break into our store! What, were you trying to play new games early or something?"

Black Cat shot a cold glare at Miko. "You think this is about games? Well, you're wrong. This is about so much more."

"Oh, yeah? Like what?" Miko asked.

Black Cat stayed silent for a moment before bringing her smile back. "I'll tell you what, Bouncy Ball. Since our main goal is to beat this Big Wheel guy, why don't we make it interesting? If you or any of your friends can make it across the finish line before I do, I'll tell you everything."

"Really?" Miko asked giving a large grin. "Oh, you're going down, kitty cat!"

"Hold on. I'm not finished." Black Cat said. "If I win… I get to go on a date with your web-slinging friend."

"WHAT?!" Miko shouted instinctively slamming her foot on the brake pedal. She lost control of her ride for a second before regaining it.

"I'll take your braking as an acceptance! See ya, Bouncy" Black Cat called out before speeding up.

"Wait, you can't…" Miko yelled, but it was too late. Black Cat was already gone, leaving Miko very upset as she clenched the steering wheel til her knuckles turned white. "Oh, this! Means! WAR!" And with that declaration, she punched it and shot forward.

After a few more obstacles, the racers finally returned to the ground level where they all crossed the finish line almost at the same time. However, just as they headed up again, they felt a great rumbling sensation as a second road appeared interlocking itself with the racetrack ahead of them.

"Is that…" Black Cat asked.

"Oh, yeah. Get ready." Tim said.

A large, monumental circle rolled its way down the second road before jumping off and landing on the racetrack. It was a large, golden wheel with spikes around it and mechanical pincers reaching from its sides. A man in a green tracksuit and mask sat inside of it, laughing madly as he raced ahead of the others.

"Don't even think of beating the champ, chumps!"

"So that's Big Wheel, huh?" Black Cat asked. "How do we beat him?"

"Well, his vehicle has a limit just like the rest of us. If we damage him enough, he'll fall apart." Five said. "We can use the weapons on our own vehicles or use the racetrack's obstacles against him."

"Sounds simple enough," Miko said before driving ahead (particularly of Black Cat.) She reached the back of Big Wheel and pressed a button on her dashboard revealing a pair of flamethrowers popping out of her hood. "EAT FLAMES, SUCKA!"

Two blasts of fire shot out hitting the back of Big Wheel's vehicle. They kept blowing onto its backside for a while, but suddenly, they stopped.

"What the…" Miko checked her dashboard again and found a meter which showed the amount of fuel in her flamethrowers. It was empty and slowly building back up. "Oh, schmup."

Big Wheel laughed as he drove back and made his way beside Miko. "Get a load of this!" He raised one of his mechanical pincer claws and struck Miko's car with it. A lot of its parts were seen flying off.

Seeing his friend in trouble, Web Tech shot out weblines from both his wrists and attached them to the back of her car, which he pulled back away from Big Wheel with all his might.

"You okay?" Web Tech asked.

"Yeah, I think… METEORS!"

Once again, everyone was back in the meteor shower phase. This time, everyone focused not just on avoiding the meteors, but damaging Big Wheel too. Oddly enough, Big Wheel wasn't avoiding the meteors.

"Esta loco? Why isn't he dodging?" Black Cat asked.

"It's part of his character." Web Tech said. "He thinks his ride is invincible, so there's no point in dodging anything. That actually works out well in our favor if we can damage him enough. Does that bike have any offensive abilities."

Black Cat smiled flirtatiously. "Watch and be amazed, Webs."

She drove ahead and pressed a button on one of her bike handles. Suddenly, two extendable machines in the shape of cat claws popped out of her bike. With them, she slashed at Big Wheel adding more damage along with the obstacles. Of course, it didn't last forever, and Black Cat was forced to retreat once Big Wheel was about to attack.

The race went on and the racers kept trying to damage Big Wheel with both their vehicles' abilities and the obstacles. However, while the damage meter kept climbing and the huge wheel kept getting banged up, no matter what, Big Wheel always stayed in first place, even to the end of the second lap.

"Hahaha! You'll never win! Victory will be mine once again!"

"Ugh, what are we gonna do?" Five asked as they rose up to the stars again. "We can't get past this guy!"

Black Cat turned her attention back to her goggle lenses, which blinked for a bit. She looked around and began to smile before speaking up. "I don't suppose there's some kind of secret path that'll put us ahead of Big Wheel, is there?"

"Well, actually there is." Tim answered. "In the middle of the meteor rain, there's a transcendent road that leads to the other side of the track."

"What, there is?!" Miko asked. "Then why haven't we used it?"

"It's too dangerous." Tim said. "It's nearly invisible and pretty thin. You'd have to time your entry into it just right or else you'd fall right off the track."

"Well, with my keen eyes, I'm sure to get it!" Miko said.

"Miko, no! You…" Tim didn't have time to finish his sentence before Miko drove off.

"This is perfect!" Miko said to herself. "Not only will I win for the others, but I'll win the bet against that pussycat! This'll show her not to mess with me!"

Once they entered the meteor phase for the third time, Miko drove to the edge of the race track keeping an eye ahead. Much to her delight, she saw a flicker of a light coming from a nearly-invisible road. She drove away for a bit to build herself up before flooring it right back at her.

"WAIT, DON'T!"

Much to Miko's surprise, Black Cat drove herself right next to her. Miko's car accidentally bumped her back wheel causing her to steer uncontrollably. Black Cat soon lost control, and her bike fell to its side. She flew into the air and latched herself onto Miko's car with her claws.

"Huh?!" Miko asked greatly surprised by her rival's stunt. "Why? Why did you do that?!"

"Your timing was off! You would have fallen!" Black Cat yelled.

"You… You don't know that!"

"Neither do you! It's not worth the risk! Just…"

Just then, Black Cat's claws failed her. They slipped out of where they were latching onto and she plummeted off the track disappearing into the dark area below the track.

"NO!" Miko cried out right when Web Tech shot his weblines over at Miko's car and pulled it away from the edge, Five catching up with them as the grouped up. Miko was left speechless at what happened. "I… I don't believe it. She's gone. And it's all my fault. I tried to find a shortcut, but I…"

"Hey, it's not your fault." Web Tech said. "Look, she's probably fine."

"Yeah. I mean, it's a racing game. And it's all just plixels covering everything. It's not like she's actually gonna die," Five assured. "Right now, let's focus on finishing this race!"

"How?" Miko asked. "It's just the three of us now, and that jerk in the giant tank car is one-half a lap away from winning!"

Five gasped flashing out a smile. "That's it. 'That jerk in the giant tank car'! All this time, we've been wondering about what are cars did! But don't forget, we're all pretty special! Tim, you can still use your webs even in this game!"

"Ah, I see what you're getting at." Web Tech said smiling under his mask.

Explaining the plan quickly to Miko, everyone nodded as they raced ahead, getting through the hole in the racetrack phase. Five got close enough to activate his own car's special ability: bomb throwing. Several blue bombs were shot out of the car's hood and exploded right at Big Wheel.

While Five was bombing Big Wheel, Web Tech accelerated until he made it right next to the enemy racer.

"On your right, you flat spare!" Web Tech taunted.

"You don't deserve to be at my side!" Big Wheel yelled. He drove his vehicle to the side, but Web Tech hit his brake and avoided it before driving over to his left.

"NOW, MIKO!" Web Tech cried out as his partner hit the accelerator as fast as she could.

Big Wheel growled at seeing Miko start to pull ahead. He tried to race over to catch up with her, but right before he could, Web Tech fired web pellet balls at his vehicle, gunking up the wheel and preventing it from moving as well. What was even better was that these pellets had Five's bombs hidden inside them! As they exploded, the damage given was enough to make the damage meter fill up and the humongous wheel to start to fall apart. This allowed Miko to make it all the way down and drive right through the finish line before anyone else.

"WINNER!" the announcer declared as confetti rained all over Miko. The girl jumped out and cheered happily. Five and Tim then jumped out of their own cars and ran over to embrace and congratulate her.

"You did it, Miko!" Five cheered.

"You beat the game." Tim said. "And you didn't need a shortcut to do that."

"No. I guess I didn't." Miko said.

The three of them turned their heads over to Big Wheel, who crossed his arms and pouted in defeat. He then shook as quickly shrank down into his root form for Tim to absorb into his gauntlet. "Glitch Contained", announced the tool. Once Big Wheel was gone, the rest of the game disappeared in a flash of light, and the group were returned to the real world.


"WOO-HOO! We did it!" Five cheered as they found themselves back in the simulator room. "That's some expert-level racing, guys!"

"Wait." Tim said looking around. "Where's Black Cat?"

The Techs looked around and sure enough, didn't find any trace of their target. Her body wasn't anywhere on the floor, and the USB drive she plugged into the computer wasn't there anymore either.

"You don't think… something happened, do you?" Miko asked sounding worried for her for once. "I thought you weren't supposed to die falling off the track.

"Hold on." Tim said noticing something on the ground. He picked up a piece of paper and looked over it. "Wait… It's a note. By the Black Cat."

"What?" Miko asked snatching the paper to read it herself. The boys looked over her shoulder to read it along with her.

"To my funny Glitch Tech friends.

"Thanks for the fun. As you may have guessed by this, I'm alive. (Confesión) time. I actually have expert knowledge of (Hinobi Wheels). I already knew about the shortcut. I just made Bouncy Ball THINK she needed to take it to win our bet. Pretty great acting, huh?

"Also, you won't find me after you win the game cause I just walked out with what I needed. Your Glitch only altered the way we saw the room, but it was still the sim under all of it. All I did was adjust my goggles to look past the plixel things and escape safely.

"I know your head's are full of questions; who I am, why I'm doing all this. Can't say much, but this means everything to me. Know that. Hopefully, one day, you'll understand. I have a feeling I'll be seeing you a lot more in the future, especially you, Webs." A small black lipstick print was over the nickname, making Five blink, Tim profusely blush and Miko clench the paper harder with shaking hands.

"With love, the Black Cat

"P.S. Sorry I didn't finish our bet, Bouncing Ball, but it's not like you made it across the finish line before I did, is it?"

After reading the letter, the Glitch Techs were left with their jaws dropped and their eyes wide open. Miko lowered the letter slowly, her left eye twitching and her teeth clenched so hard they looked like they would break.

"I don't believe it." Five said in disbelief. "So… she figured out away to escape? Just like that?"

"AND SHE USED ME TO DO IT!" Miko suddenly screamed. Five and Tim watched in shock and quickly inched away as she immediately ripped the letter apart like a rabid animal and turned it into confetti, leaving her breathing heavily. "Oh, I can't BELIEVE that little, stuck-up, old lady haired… And to think for one blinding second, I was concerned about her figgin' safety! She is going down! You hear me?! DOWN!" She continued to pant in fury as Five and Tim looked at each other awkwardly.

"Soooooo… Do you think Phil's going to be angry with us?" Tim asked.


"YOU WHAT?!" Phil shouted. The moment he had arrived at the store, the trio had told him the whole story inside and were now looking very nervous and guilty.

"I know how this must sound…" Tim said with a nervous smile.

"It SOUNDS like you failed to stop a thief from breaking into Glitch Tech headquarters, nearly allowed a Mapper Glitch to escape its containment, AND didn't prevent BITT from being damaged!" Phil cried as he held the offline robot up and looked him over. "Thankfully, the damage isn't permanent, so I can fix him up in a jiffy. But still…"

"We know." Five sighed. "We did our best, but we failed."

"You're… not going to fire us, are you?" Miko asked worried.

Phil paused for a bit, then sighed. "Well, normally, I would. However, you three DID manage to actually meet the person who hacked Hinobi, so I suppose Oscorp might be willing to overlook this incident. Particularly if we're able to garner anything from cam footage. Any idea about what she was after here, though?"

"Not exactly," Tim said, "But I'm guessing she was looking for intel. There's nothing valuable to steal here, and she couldn't have unleashed any other Glitch other than Hinobi Wheels."

"Well, I guess we can finally put a face to the crime… sort of." Phil said. "Anyway, you three head on home. I'm giving you the rest of the day off. You had a long night."

Five sighed in relief. "Thank you, Phil."

"Eh. Don't mention it." Phil said. He then paused for a second then growled, "I mean it; don't." On that note, he walked away over to his office, no doubt to get to work on fixing BITT.

Five, Tim, and Miko walked on out of the store and let out sighs of relief.

"Sounds like we should probably let our guardians know we need rides back home." Five said.

"Yeah. Aunt Geri is probably wondering where the heck I am." Tim agreed.

"I'll even take my mom's lecturing over another big adventure. I could REALLY use some sleep." Miko yawned. "And hey, at least we finally met the hacker. Now, we're one step closer to stopping her!"

"From what?" Tim asked. "We still don't know what she's after."

"Doesn't matter to me," Miko said lowly with fire burning in her eyes, making Tim and Five look at her awkwardly again. "The next time I see her, I'm gonna make her use up ALL NINE of her lives!" She then stomped away from the guys who just shrugged as they proceeded to send their guardians messages for a pick up.

"You know, something tells me Miko may have just met her archenemy." Five said to his best friend as he finished his message.

"I believe you may be right," Tim agreed before blushing. "Though… at least she's a HOT archenemy."

Five laughed. "I know, hermano. Man, getting a girl like that to fall for you? Man, you REALLY stepped your game somehow. Teach me your ways!" This made the two laugh.

As Miko finished sending her mom her message, she couldn't help but overhear what the guys were saying a bit and hearing it made her stomach churn for some reason. Why, she had no idea, but it just made her more determined to find the hacker and make her pay.


Once she returned to her home, Felicia stretched out her limbs before removing her disguise features. Her goggles. Her cat ears. All of it. She then sat on her bed, opened up her laptop and turned it on before plugging into her USB drive.

As the drive files transfered, an actual black cat hopped up and rubbed against her, purring.

"Morning, Boojums." she cooed to the cat as she petted it. "You interested in seeing what I found too?" Boojums meowed in response.

Her drive finally opened up a file which she clicked and opened. Just then, several windows opened up on her screen, each had pictures of different employees at Hinobi AND Oscorp. There were profiles for Five, Miko, Tim, Phil, Mitch, Zahra, Bergy, Haneesh, and even old Glitch Techs like Barbara.

"Jackpot! So these are all of Hinobi's personnel, even some former ones," Felicia said, pondering over her selection. "Names. Records. Accomplishments. Even their likes and dislikes. Odds are, one of them is bound to know what happened to my…"

She stopped herself from speaking to frown for a moment. Boojums meowed again in concern, urging her to pet the cat once more. She then returned to the laptop, and her eyes caught onto Tim's profile, which she maximized and stared with admiration.

"Well, it looks like I got even MORE than what I wanted." Felicia said, gently tracing her fingers over Tim's picture. "Perhaps if I made him sympathetic to what I'm after, he could help me. And if he can't... Well, then I'll have to show him what'll happen when a black cat crosses his path."