Author's Note: Here is the next chapter of the Web Tech.
Before we begin, I'd like to make an announcement. Next chapter is going to be an original. So instead of uploading next week, MajorBrony95 and I have agreed to instead have it uploaded the NEXT week on Christmas Eve.
That's about it. Enjoy the chapter. Any and all comments are welcome.
"This is it, Tim. Your first real day at your new job!" Geri said happily as soon as she stopped her car in front of the Hinobi store. She looked over at her nephew with pride in her eyes.
"Aunt Geri, it's not my first day." Tim laughed. "I've been working at Hinobi for a week, remember?"
"Yes, for TRAINING, as you said." Geri said, also laughing. "But your training is over, and you're an official employee for real. And working with Five too!" She smiled fondly. "You wouldn't believe how happy and proud I was to hear that you and he started hanging out again."
"Yeah, that is a great perk." Tim agreed. "Well, I better be going. Don't want to be late for my new gear."
"All right. I still don't exactly know what kind of gear you would have while working at a game store, but I suppose every job has its tools. Just have fun, 'kay?" Geri said. She gave him a kiss on the cheek before letting him grab his vintage Newt Scoot lunch box and get out of the car. "Say hi to Five for me!"
"Will do!" Tim returned seeing his aunt drive off. Right as Geri left, though, Miko approached. "Hey, Miko! Great day for a first day, huh?"
Miko didn't answer Tim. She just walked right past him muttering angrily to herself. He stared at her curiously before following her.
"Uh, Miko? Hey, Miko." Tim reached out and grabbed her by her arm. "Yo! Miko!"
"Huh?" Miko asked before turning over to Tim and grinning. "Oh, Tim. Hi. Uh, when did you get here?"
"Right before you did." Tim said confusingly. "You walked right past me mumbling to yourself."
"Sorry." Miko apologized. "I guess I just wasn't fo… NO!" She smacked herself. "Don't you dare finish that sentence! You CAN focus!"
"Did I miss something here?" Tim asked slightly freaked out.
Miko took a couple of breaths before letting out a sigh. "Sorry, sorry. It's just... My mom dropped me off and she seems to think that I can't focus enough to keep my job. Can you believe that load of malarkey?"
"Well…" Tim said slightly, rubbing the back of his head and looked away embarrassedly.
"Wha- Oh c'mon! Don't tell me you actually AGREE with her!" Miko exclaimed. "Timmy, I'm CAPTAIN Focus!"
"Look, to be fair, you DO tend to lose sight of the obvious or get distracted very easily." Tim said. "I mean, you JUST walked past me without even knowing I was there a minute ago."
"That… That doesn't count." Miko said walking through the front doors of the Hinobi store. "Just wait. I'll show my mom who's focused once I'm saving her from giant Glitch-faced monsters… OOF!"
Miko didn't look ahead of her, which caused her to bump right into a girl who was also focused on the game console she was playing at the time. It flew up into the air as the girls collided. Tim tried to catch it, but Miko was in his way, and he couldn't reach it before it hit the ground and shut off. Miko freaked out at that.
"What have I done?!" Miko asked, picking the game up and frantically trying to turn it back on. "Come on, dude! Don't be broken! Restart, restart, restart! Don't give up on me!"
It took a miracle, but much to everyone's delight, the game turned back on, and everyone let out a sigh of relief. Tim took the game from Miko and observed it before smiling.
"It looks like your game is safe." Tim said passing the game back to the customer. "Flunky Quest, huh? Good choice. Enjoy your day."
"Thanks." the customer said before leaving the store.
"Well, that was a close one," Tim said before noticing Miko's worried look. The incident had obviously shook her confidence. He put a hand on her shoulder. "Hey, don't worry. That was an accident. If you just try hard, I'm sure you can focus, okay?" Miko looked at him for a second before smiling and nodding. Tim also smiled before reaching down to pick up his lunch box before noticing a brown, paper bag on the floor with his coworker's name on it. He picked it up from the ground to show her. "Yo! Miko! I think you dropped your…" Suddenly, he caught a foul smell coming from the bag and almost threw up. "Oh, man! What's in this?! It smells like rotten onions and raw sewage had a baby and it just did a Number 6!"
"Mung beans and seaweed." Miko said laughing nervously while taking the bag. "My mom made it for me for lunch. Thinks it's brain food."
"Whatever happened to the moms who just packed sandwiches and cookies for their kids?" Tim asked. "I'll even take the apple slices Aunt Geri packed for me over mung beans." He held up his lunch box for emphasis.
Miko chuckled. "Yeah, no kidding. Share 'em with me?"
"Sure. Better than leaving you to those rancid things."
"Sweet. Thanks. Anyway, let's gear up, son!"
The two of them left for the locker room to begin their first day, not knowing what was going to happen to them and how insane it would become.
After changing into their uniforms, Tim and Miko entered the portal and found their way into the Glitch Tech lobby, which was swarming with other Techs practicing, upgrading, uploading and mingling. A short moment later, Five appeared right next to the two.
"Tim, Miko, what's up?" Five greeted.
"Hey, Five." Tim said giving Five a fist bump. "Aunt Geri says hello, BTW."
"Oh. Tell her I said it back." Five said with a soft sad smile.
"Looks like the gang's all here then!" Miko cried out, bringing the boys together in a tight hug.
"Oh jeez! Not again!" Tim groaned as the smell from the rancid lunch entered their nostrils.
"Ay, Dios! What IS that smell?!" Five coughed.
"Oops, sorry." Miko said as she took all of their lunch boxes and set them down. "Like I told Tim, Mom packs a healthy but potent lunch." She then beamed at the boys. "So, it's our first patrol! You fellas ready to crush this day with a triple-S flawless victory?!"
"You know it!" Tim answered.
"Oh, yeah!" Five agreed.
Miko hugged them both again. "You DO believe in me."
"Okay, break up the team huddle, you three." Phil said, approaching them with Otto beside him, who was carrying a large, metal case. "We got some tech that needs support." The three saluted and stood at attention. "Today is your first official patrol as Level-One Techs. So what does that mean, you ask?"
"No one asked." Otto pointed out blankly.
Phil shot him a look. "Regardless," Phil continued before projecting a holographic screen to illustrate his next words. "You partner up, locate Glitches in your assigned area, debug them, reset any damage, and mind-wipe whatever stooges witness the disturbance." Five took out a pencil and paper and scribbled down notes while Miko took a purple sharpie out and wrote on her arm. Tim looked at them both and smiled before turning back to Phil. "Now, every Glitch you bag grants you experience points. The more XP you earn, the more Tech levels you gain. Unlocking achievements, loot, upgrades."
"Like an RPG." Miko said.
"Like an RPG." Phil repeated.
The screen then showed three different skill trees with Five, Miko, and Tim's faces displayed above them. They looked over at their own skill trees and smiled happily at what they found.
"We can get… real… rocket boots?" Five asked nearly tearing up.
"Dude, blazing gem swords!" Miko shouted.
"Hey, how come my skill tree is different from the others?" Tim asked as BITT hovered by.
"Because of your unique abilities, Hinobi and Oscorp decided to design a new set of skills to compliment your sp-sp-spider-like powers!" BITT explained.
Tim looked back at the skills closely. "Oh, my nerf! Look at these sick skills! Web Bomb! Ricochet Web! Ooh! Impact Web! THAT'S the one I want!" He jumped up and down like a little kid at Christmas, making Otto scoff and roll his eyes.
"Yeah, all that is cool and all," Phil said, "But don't forget, you need XP in order to use all those gadgets and upgrades. Everything the three of you seemed to admire require Tech Level 2, which is currently ten-thousand XP out of your reach."
"Ten-thousand?" Tim asked in shock. "But in RPGs, level two should usually take, like, ten or a hundred XP."
"Well, contrary to our brand's biggest products, this isn't a game." Otto stated.
"Don't worry. If today's a good day, you'll level up in no time." Phil assured.
"Please, allow me to assign you with your tier-one Glitch Tech gauntlets!" BITT said. He pressed a few buttons on the holographic screen and allowed a pedestal to emerge from the floor. The pedestal had two metal bracelets which hovered above it before turning into gauntlets that Five and Miko eagerly accepted.
"Wow, dang!" Five shouted.
"Hype, hype!" Miko cheered before speaking fondly to the gauntlet. "Hello, my beautiful. Today is the first day of the rest of our lives!" She then imagined a fantasy just for her to see.
Miko's fantasy had her in an edgy, anime-like suit of armor, standing in the middle of a city in rubble. Above her was a fleet of black, alien spaceships while a haggard and dirty Mayumi Kubota was laying on the ground, watching her daughter stand up to the aliens.
"And invasion of evil alien spaceships?" Miko asked dramatically pulling out an energy sword. "Not on my watch!"
Miko flew up to the sky against the aliens at incredible speed. She shot right through the ships, causing them all to blow up and crash with her sick sword skills. Once she was done and all the aliens were destroyed, she descended back down to her mom and held her in her arms.
"Miko, that took so much focus." Mrs. Kubota coughed. "I never realized how awesome you were. I'm so ashamed."
"You should be, Mom. You should be." Miko said simply as a spaceship exploded in the background.
"Miko."
A voice caught her ears and she immediately turned as her eyes were fixed on another figure. It was Tim Burns in his Web Tech suit (if looking a bit more muscular) standing proudly before her. The sight of him made Miko's heart pound.
"Timmy…" she whispered before she dropped her mom and raced towards him.
"Miko." Tim said romantically as he took her hands, the atmosphere around them turning pink. "You showed me wrong! You truly are the most focused girl… no, WOMAN that I have ever seen!"
"Really?" Miko squeaked, her eyes getting bigger. She and Tim leaned in closer. "Oh, Tim."
"Oh, Miko."
"Oh, Tim."
"Miko." Tim suddenly spoke to her in a not too romantic way, stopping her and making her look confused.
"Tim?"
"Miko!"
"Uh, Tim?"
"YO! MIKO!"
Suddenly, Miko was shaken from her fantasy world, noticing the others looking at her oddly. Tim especially was standing closely next to her with a quirked eyebrow.
"You okay?" he asked, sounding unsure.
Miko looked at him and blinked for a sec before jumping back a bit with a blush of red on her face, sputtering wildly. "Uh, yeah, yeah! Sure! Fine, pfft, totally fine! Just, uh, caught in the moment!" She giggled nervously before the others just shrugged, thankfully seeming to accept it. Miko breathed a small sigh of relief but inside her mind was racing as she snuck a peek at Tim. "Whoa. Where the gorf did that LAST part come from?!"
"Hey, hold on a sec!" Tim exclaimed, looking at his partners before turning to Phil and Otto. "Five and Miko got their gauntlets, but what about me? I took that cringy tutorial just like them! Where's mine?"
"What do you think is in here, my lunch?" Otto asked, holding up the metal case. "I had to make this gauntlet special for not only your powers, but for your suit. Speaking of…" He tossed Tim the band that Tim caught and put on his wrist. The Web Tech suit appeared on him in an instant. "All prepped and ready for true combat."
"Still totally cool!" Five cheered.
"Yeah… cool." Miko said, cheeks still flushed as she thought back to the fantasy a bit.
Otto then set down the case and opened it up. Tim's black-and-green gauntlet with web designs hovered in the air before the Web-Slinger took it and placed it on his arm.
"This… is… AWESOME!"
"Hey!" Phil interrupted. "Just remember, those gauntlets are your tools, not your toys. You lose them, we lose you. You got it?"
"Sir, yes, sir, Phil, mister, boss, sir." Five answered with a salute.
"BITT, just get them a vehicle, will ya?" Phil asked. "Otto, head back to the lab. We got some tech that needs a couple upgrades done."
"Fine then." Otto said. He walked away, but not before exclaiming something making sure the others could hear him. "'Run, Otto!' 'Fetch, Otto!'" He looked back at the others one final time. "Perhaps you'd like me to catch a frisbee with my teeth." He ignored Phil's glower and proceeded to be on his way.
"There's a vehicle?!" Five asked excitedly.
"Can we even drive?" Tim asked. "I have a learner's permit, but won't get a license yet until my birthday in a few months."
"Not to worry!" BITT said. "The state-of-the-art Hinobi patrol car comes with autopilot and a guidance system if you need a hands-on experience. All you need to worry about is the destination!"
"A self-driving car?" Tim asked, equally excited now. "We are in the future!"
"Yeah, yeah." Phil grumbled. "And don't forget, we're still looking for that hacker. So keep an eye out for anyone who looks suspicious."
The trio raced into their new sleek blue and white van and allowed it to drive itself. It raced across the room toward the farthest wall, where it opened up a portal for them to drive right through, cheering and whooping as they drove off on their newest adventure.
"The following signatures have been added to your patrol map." As the automated voice said that, the front window acted as a screen for a digital map of the neighborhood. There were certain points on it with the letter G displayed. "Please, select a target."
"Oh, these must be all the Glitches that are active for us to bag." Tim said.
"Ooh. Very open-world sandbox." Miko said. "This lad looks promising."
She pressed on a red spot, but right as she did, a skull flashed right next to it and a beeping sound was heard.
"Warning: the selected Glitch exceeds your skill level." The screen then showed that the Glitch was at Level 8.
"I guess we're not ready for a Glitch like that yet." Tim said.
"We can take that one on once we finish leveling up our butt-kicking skills." Five said.
"Right! Let's go wreck some fools!" Miko exclaimed before selecting a G that was accepted and the trio started Round 1 of their XP quest.
The van immediately drove around a couple of city blocks before screeching to a stop. Five, Miko and Tim all jumped out of the van, making an epic entrance. They landed on the sidewalk, their weapons ready for any monster they'd have to face.
Much to their disappointment, however, what they found wasn't a giant monster, but a tiny goblin with an itty, bitty dagger. It was trying to stab a fire hydrant while a broken phone was sparkling beside it. While it tried to attack the trio, it didn't take much effort for Miko to just stomp on it and suck in its root energy form.
"Well, that was anticlimactic." Tim said. "But it's a start, I guess."
"I suppose." Miko said slightly disappointed before perking up. "And hey, it's our first conquered Glitch. We are crushing it, literally!" She expressed her excitement by locking Tim in a headlock.
"Hey, come on!" Tim laughed slipping out.
"Did we level?" Five asked.
Miko opened up her gauntlet to check, but frowned when he saw that there was barely any red in their progress meter. "Not yet. What's a Tech gotta do to get a little XP bump around…"
"AWK! AWK!"
The loud sound of a bird squaking drew the trio's attention to the sky. A large, red bird with blue legs and a yellow underbelly flew in the air… before crashing straight down to the sidewalk.
"Oh, hello." Miko said interested. "What do we have here?"
Five held his gauntlet up to scan the bird, but grew confused. "Weird. No stats on this one."
"Really, cause it's definitely from a game." Tim said looking at it and scratching his chin. "I can't help but think I've seen that somewhere before."
"We should probably call it in." Five suggested.
"How much XP is it worth?" Miko asked.
"Enough for us to level up and more!" Five answered after seeing the result on his gauntlet. The group could practically see their upgrades before them, but Tim came to his senses quickly.
"Wait, hold on! That seems like a lot of XP for one measly bird. We sure this Glitch is within our level?"
"Who cares? It's right there, isn't it?" Miko asked. "Just snatch it with your webs, and we'll take in all that sweet, yummy XP."
"Well, I guess if it's that simple." Tim said. He took aim and fired his web at the bird, but it saw the web coming and suddenly poofed into thin air surprising not only him, but his partners too. "Okay, maybe it's not that simple."
"Well, I guess if it's that simple," Tim agreed. He took aim and fired his web at the bird, but it saw the web coming and suddenly poofed into thin air, surprising not only him, but his partners too. "Okay, maybe it's NOT that simple."
The big bird appeared again on the side of a lamppost before disappearing again. It reappeared inside of a car before rapidly poofing out and back in front of them before swooping at them, making them dive for cover.
"Did it just teleport?" Five asked.
Suddenly, the bird shook its behind at them and made "nah-nah-nah-nah-nah!" noises.
"More importantly, is it taunting us?" Tim asked. "Nothing's more embarrassing than being taunted by a bird."
"Don't waggle your tuchus at me!" Miko shouted at the bird.
"Uh, Miko," Tim said noticing his friend getting angrier, "You might want to stay focused and…"
"AYIYIYYIYIYIY!" Miko screeched running to the bird. "YOU'RE MINE, TURKEY!"
"Aaaand we've lost her." Tim groaned to Five with a facepalm.
The bird turned its attention toward the speeding Miko and opened its beak, firing blue balls of fire out like bullets from a gun. Thankfully, they missed her. Tim used his agility to dodge them while Five activated a shield from his gauntlet and used it to defend himself.
Miko followed the bird to the street and hopped off the top of a taxi to get herself above it. She fired a blast from her gauntlet at the same time as the bird fired another blue fireball from its beak. The two projectiles collided and created a bright flash that knocked Miko out of the sky.
Thankfully, Miko wasn't hurt when she landed on the ground, but when she did, all her gear suddenly disappeared, and she was left wearing nothing but her Hinobi uniform. She turned and found her gauntlet in the middle of the street right between her and the bird.
"Oh, no."
Miko looked determined as she raced for the gauntlet, but the bird managed to grab it first with its beak and pick it up right before teleporting out of Miko's snatch attempt. It poofed around a few times before Miko decided to stop and start approaching it carefully.
"Good birdy," she said softly. "Okay, you have proven to be a clever and worthy foe with talents beyond my paltry skill level. So if you just give me back my brand new gauntlet, my partners and I will GET YOU!"
She immediately jumped ahead once she was close enough, but she still wasn't fast enough. The bird hopped away and bounced off the trees. Tim swung over to try to catch it, but it already disappeared without showing up again.
"Oh, that can't be good," Tim said worried as he swung back to his friend as Five approached too. "So… the bird's gone."
"AND SO IS MY GAUNTLET!" Miko cried, quickly getting a shell shocked look before imagining a horrifying nightmare in her head.
Like in the last daydream, the city still lay in ruins and in flames. This time, however, Miko was not heroically saving the day. Rather, she had been defeated and caught by the enemy forces, revealed to be red bird-like aliens.
The two soldiers held her as she futilely struggled to break free. They then dropped her before the supreme leader and queen of the aliens, the hated foe responsible for all this destruction. But her anger turned to shock as she saw, sitting on a throne, was…
"Ma… Mama?"
Indeed, Mayumi walked forward dressed in a black dress with wing-like spikes in her back, a cape, a pointed headdress, and a robotic clawed left arm. Her eyes white and glazed, but still showing grim satisfaction.
"Don't look so disappointed, honey." Mayumi said evilly as she approached her still horrified daughter. "Winning galactic wars takes focus, discipline…" She held up Miko's face. "... and not losing your gauntlet." She then stood, turned around and commanded her soldiers,"To the mung bean fields with her! Caw!"
The bird aliens cawed back, grabbed Miko's shoulders and prepared to pull her up into a spaceship. Miko then noticed a figure kneeling by Mayumi's throne. It was Tim, still in his Web Tech suit, but now dirty and beat up like her mom had before. He also had his hands behind his back and a chain around his neck.
"Timmy! Don't worry! I'll get us out of here! I'll…"
"Don't speak to me."
Miko stopped and her already breaking heart snapped in two at his tone as he looked up at her with disdain. "T-Tim…"
"I thought you were a great hero, Miko, but I guess I was wrong! A fool! You have less focus than an overactive puppy!"
"But… puppies are cute-"
"All you had to do was stay focused! You failed your duty, Miko! You have failed ME!" Tim looked away from her. "Perhaps you deserve your punishment. At least then, I won't have to see your focusless failure face any longer."
Miko watched with tears in her eyes as the birds lifted her up to the light of her disgusting fate, feebly trying to escape, to get to her friend, her partner, her…
"NOOOOOOOOOOOO!"
"Miko, snap out of it!" Five shouted to the still in shock girl. He pulled out Miko's lunch he had brought and let her smell it to break her out of her trance.
"AH! NO, MAMA, TIMMY! I CAN CHANGE!" Miko pleaded before leaping back and finding herself back to reality.
"Uh, change from what?" Tim asked. Once more, Miko saw he was looking at her oddly.
She quickly laughed forcefully, her face red once more. "Sorry. Just… zoned out for a sec."
"Are you sure you're okay?" Tim asked slowly.
"Yeah. I'm fine. This whole situation is fine," Miko insisted in a growing manic tone. "Do you know why it's fine? Because this gives me FOCUS. Yeah, calm, cool focus. The kind that gets gauntlets back from deranged chicken Glitches, keeps people from losing their awesome jobs, and keeps their mothers from banishing them to the mung bean fields and their friends thinking they have a failure face!" She then grabbed the two and shook them like ragdolls. "No reason to freak out! SO STOP FREAKING OUT, YOU GUYS!"
"Okay, I think it's safe to say we're losing her." Tim stated.
"Yeah, Miko, I kinda feel like you're the one who's…" Five started to say, but he stopped himself when he noticed the very, very unstable look of insanity on Miko's face, making both boys sweatdrop. "Yeah, okay. I'm cool. We're both cool."
"Cool as cucumbers!" Tim agreed quickly before looking up. "Hey, look! On top of that tree! That bird left a feather. I bet we can use it to track it down."
"Aw, the taunty little toucan wants us to chase it." Miko said.
"Look, I wanna level up as much as you do," Five said, "But this is our first day. That bird teleports, breathes fire, and who knows what else."
"Well, it's not like we haven't faced a teleporter before." Tim said. "Remember El Dorado? And Otto told us that they can't teleport if we grab them."
"Tim's right!" Miko said. "Remember, it's a Glitch. Game code acting out a pattern. All we need is a little gamer logic and a plan, right?" She held his cheeks and smushed them "And you LOVE plans."
"…I do love plans." Five agreed. "But if the plan tanks and that bird goes all aggro on us again, we retreat and call for backup. Deal?"
"Deal, baby seals." Miko exclaimed.
"Baby seals?" Tim asked.
"FigureofspeechImadeupI'llworkshopitlet'sGO!" Miko said rapidly as she dashed off.
Tim and Five looked at each other, shrugged and followed her—Five on foot, Tim using his webs—to begin Round 2 of their XP quest.
Tim, Five, and Miko followed the bird Glitch to a children's playground where it was already chasing away the kids with its fire breath. It stood on top of a metal dome climber, playing with Miko's gauntlet. The kids were running and screaming by the time the trio made it.
"Okay. Five, you go and memory wipe the kids." Tim instructed. "Miko and I will ground the bird and get the gauntlet back."
"Got it." Five said. While he went in the direction of the kids, Tim and Miko jumped out to the bird's direction.
"All right, chicka-dork." Miko said. "Here… we… GO!"
The Web Tech raced above and managed to ensnare a green webline around the bird by its neck. He then tossed the other end of the line over to Miko, who then jumped on the creature's back. It tried to disappear in a flash of light, but it was unable to vanish with Miko latching herself onto its back.
"Aw! All out of poof juice? It's called research, Glitch!" Miko taunted. "Tim, get the gauntlet!"
"Way ahead of you!" Tim used his web to slingshot his way in front of the bird where he then tried to reach for the gauntlet, but the bird raced around him at a rapid pace, causing him to land on a marry-go-round that spun out of control.
"STOP THE WORLD! I WANNA GET OFF!" Web Tech cried as he struggled to stop and free himself before succeeding and staggering around dizzily as little glitch birds flew around his head. "Why yes, Aunt Geri. I'd love to sing Mozart for you on the gumdrop island. What key?"
"Give up the gauntlet, Tweety!" Miko yelled giving one hard tug.
That tug was hard enough for the bird to throw the gauntlet high into the air. The Web Tech managed to recover and saw it flying upwards before he leaped up to its direction. "I got it!" he cried. He reached his hand out to be sure to snatch it in midair. However, before he could touch it, the bird shot out its incredibly long tongue like a chameleon and wrapped it around it. It then pulled the gauntlet into its mouth, instantly SWALLOWING it!
"OOOOOOOOOOOHHHHHH!" Miko exclaimed in disbelief as the bird's wings began to glow purple.
"Oh shmup…" Tim whimpered as he landed and saw the display.
The bird opened its beak again. Only this time, instead of a fireball, it sent out a purple energy beam that almost hit Tim who dodged. Instead, it zapped a squirrel and a slide, transforming both into 8-bit versions of them.
"Whoa. This thing has the same powers as the gauntlets!" the Web Tech exclaimed. "This thing must gain the powers of whatever it eats!"
"Neat fun fact!" Miko shouted, trying to wrestle the bird down as it fired gauntlet beams rapidly. "What's your take on whether it has a gag reflex?!"
Tim thought for a second before an idea flashed in his mind. "That's it!" He swung over to the van and opened its car. He found Miko's lunch bag and pulled it out. "Miko, use your mom's disgusting lunch!"
He tossed it as far as he could to Miko, who jumped off the bird's back for a second to grab it in the air.
"OPEN WIDE!" Miko shouted right as she forced the entire bag down its throat, making it swallow the entire lunch. Miko staggered back into Tim's arms. "Did it work?"
The bird suddenly began spasming and flickering before it halted and seemed to become normal. After a moment of silence, Tim and Miko approached it before it spewed out a wave of red, yellow and purple colored plixel vomit right at Tim and Miko's faces.
The two stood with grossed out expressions. "I'd have to say that that was one radiant and resounding 10-4, good buddy." Tim groaned.
The bird then threw up many items from its mouth, including the gauntlet and a small, impish creature with red eyes and six horns.
"THE PRECIOUS!" Miko exclaimed happily seeing the gauntlet. Tim grimaced as it was covered in drool.
Five returned to the group, wiping the sweat from his forehead. "Whew! That's the last of them." He looked down and saw the little creature. "Hey, what's this thing?"
The little monster looked up at the three and shot out a small ball of blue fire at them. Miko was able to extinguish the flame with a simple wave of her hand.
"Well, whatever it is, it sure is rude." Miko said.
At that moment, the bird ran up to the three and cuddled and snuggled with them in a very friendly way with happy chirps. It then gave Miko a long, hard lick up the side of her head, making one side of her hair stand up.
"Ew! Dude! You just vomed!" Miko cried out, putting her hair back down.
"I think it's saying thank you." Five laughed.
The bird looked down at the little imp creature and blew a raspberry at it. The little creature replied by spewing out a weak flame.
"Birdy wasn't a fire-breather at all," Miko realized. "It just had heartburn all day from this glitchy dude it ate." She then grabbed the bird's face and spoke in a baby tone. "Aw! You weren't an enemy! You were just a big feathery ally with a tummy ache!"
"Gettting a clear reading now." Five said scanning the bird again. "That bird is a friendly NPC from a video game called Bravestone Twelve."
"Bravestone Twelve?" Tim asked. "Oh, so THAT'S where I've seen it before. It's called a Chicky Chum. Weird. Those things don't usually have high XP. They're not normally as strong as that."
"Tim's right." Five said. "It reads as level one. Apparently, it only read as higher before because it had gobbled up something apparently much… worse."
Upon seeing the darkness covering them, everyone then turned their attention back to the fire-breathing creature they had seen before. Only it was no longer tiny and nonthreatening. It was now immensely big and towering over the team! So when it breathed out another wave of fire, it actually was a threat this time! It would have succeeded in rotating them all if not for Miko taking up her gauntlet and creating a shield to protect her and her friends, including the bird.
"WATCH OUT, ALLY!"
"Who's Ally?" Five asked.
"I just named the bird!" Miko declared as she deflected the blast, though her gauntlet looked badly broken up.
Tim looked up at the monster again and took a hard glance at it. That's when he gasped after looking hard at it.
"Oh, no." Tim gasped. "Guys, we gotta run NOW!"
"HOLY SMOKES!" Five shouted as he and the others took Ally and ran away, avoiding the monster's fire blasts. They raced around a street corner where they disappeared from the monster's sight. Which was fine since something else had caught its attention.
After losing the Glitch Techs, the monster turned its head and fixed its eyes on an animatronic lucky cat statue on top of a far-off building. It then got wide eyes and started marching towards it. With each third step it made, a red spot appeared on its back for a short bit.
The Glitch Techs hid themselves behind a billboard watching the monster walk past.
"It looks like it's heading for the lucky cat animatronic." Five said.
"It must think it's some kind of Flunky." Tim said.
"A what?" Five asked.
"A Flunky. You know, from that one game Flunky Quest?" Tim asked. "I recognize that beast. It's called a Ginko, a type of Flunky in the game. It's a mid-level monster that grows in size as it walks. And… I think it came from that game that fell in front of us earlier."
"What game?" Tim asked.
"When Miko and I entered the Hinobi store, we accidentally bumped into this girl who was playing Flunky Quest. We thought the game was broken, but it looked okay. But now, it looks like…"
"That a Glitch was made from it. And it's my fault," Miko said sullenly, looking at her gauntlet, which was very much busted now as her visor and everything vanished. "I was so busy thinking how I was going to prove my mom wrong, I unleashed a dangerous Glitch out into the world. And if I'd kept it together and let you call for backup, Five, we wouldn't be in this mess now. My mom is right. I can't focus. I'm a total fail-fish who couldn't even make it through her first day of work without an epic disaster!" She looked at Tim, tears nearly falling as she thought back to the nightmarish daydream. "You were right too, Tim! I wouldn't blame you if you never wanted to see me again! I AM just a failure face!" Ally then cooed and got under Miko's hand to comfort her.
"Miko…" Tim said sympathetically before a beeping sound was heard from his gauntlet.
"Incoming call from… 'your boss'." An automated voice said followed by Phil's voice.
"It's Phil." Tim said. "What should…"
"Go ahead. Tell him." Miko said. "I'll take full responsibility for this. No point in all three of us losing our jobs."
Tim and Five exchanged a look before the Web Tech accepted the call. Phil's face was seen on the screen talking to him.
"Just a quick heads up. We're showing a major Glitch pattern in your area right now. Where's Miko? I can't get a signal on her gauntlet."
Tim and Five looked over at Miko's sad face before the former answered. "Nothing to worry about, Phil. We're all fine. Right, Five?" That response got a surprised reaction from Miko.
"Yeah, we are crushing it out here, and totally not in danger of anything crushing us." Five said nervously.
"…Yeah, just get her back online, come into HQ to turn in your XP."
"We'll return to headquarters as soon as possible." Tim said right before hanging up on the call.
"Why didn't you tell him?" Miko asked.
"Because you're our friend, Miko." Tim said. "And we're a team. Like it or not, we're in this together."
"You didn't drag us into this." Five agreed. "So let's get out of this. New deal, baby seal?"
Miko smiled and pulled the boys in for another strong hug. "Thanks, boys." She let go, allowing them to breathe. "So, Tim, you say you know that thing, right? What's the plan, Web Tech man?"
"Ginkos are strong, but they have a glaring weakness." Tim explained. "Every third action they take—like, say steps—reveals a red gem on top of their backs that acts as a weak point. If we can hit its gem, it'll cause the entire Glitch to be defeated!"
"Good thinking, buddy!" Five exclaimed. "So the Ginko's a higher level. That means the trick would be to use max DPS with a close and powerful shot."
"Tim, I know I haven't made the best choices today, and I know you're better skilled to reach it than me," Miko said, "But if Ally helps me get close, I think I could…" She stopped mid-sentence once Tim offered her his gauntlet.
"I think you could too." Tim said.
"You trust me with your Web Tech gauntlet?" Miko asked. "Even though I…"
"I trust you, Miko." Tim said. "I know you slipped up today, but you're very reliable when it counts. So get on that bird, fly up to that Ginko, and blast him to smithereens!"
Miko smiled before taking the gauntlet. They were ready to put their plan into action. Miko jumped onto Ally's back and rode on her off the rooftop they were on.
"You sure about this?" Tim asked. "No offense to Miko, but strategically speaking, you're better skilled to stop the Ginko."
Tim nodded. "She needs this. Besides…" He smirked and punched his palm. "I'm already kickbutt enough without that thing, remember? Now, while Miko gets in position, let's divert the monster's attention!"
Five nodded, ready to start the final Round 3 of their XP quest. "Game on!"
The Ginko reached the lucky cat animatronic and blasted it with its fire breath. Once it was destroyed, it heard Five's voice calling from below.
"HEY, DOWN HERE!" Five shouted, getting the Ginko's attention. He then began dancing around imitating Ally's taunting dance earlier. "I picked up this little maneuver from a taunty Glitch bird!" He kept making bird noises until he was certain the Ginko had him targeted.
The Web Tech, who was watching from a wall across the street, chuckled at the display. "Man, I wish I had a camera to record this."
The Ginko, however, wasn't as amused. It chased Five down the street, and once he made his third step, its gem appeared on top of his body. That was Miko's cue. She raced over to the Ginko and tried to blast at the gem, but she missed and it closed up. The Ginko then grew in size looking more monstrous than before. It turned over to Miko and Ally and tried to crush them, but they dodged out of the way.
"Hey, Gojira's ugly cousin!" the Web Tech shouted as he swung by. He swung past its face and stuck himself on another wall with his giant, green spider legs sprouting from his back. "Your mother uses garbage trucks as shoes!"
The Ginko roared angrily as Miko and Ally began climbing up its back. Miko jumped off and latched herself onto it. That's when Ally teleported out of sight. Meanwhile, the Ginko proceeded to chase the Web Tech, who swung across the streets allowing the monster to give chase.
"One step… two steps…" Tim counted right before the Ginko jumped high into the air. He barely missed as it almost crushed on top of him. "Miko! Hold on!"
Unfortunately, Miko fell off the monster as it jumped, but thankfully, Ally was able to catch her in the nick of time. "I LOVE this face!" Miko laughed, cuddling Ally as they continued to sprint down the road. The Ginko finally landed on the ground and sprouted its vulnerable gem.
"Now, let's dive-bomb that Flunky!" Miko shouted as Ally ran up the side of a building. The two of them jumped right off it and started nosediving right toward the top of the Ginko. She aimed Web Tech's gauntlet at it and focused to fire one, powerful shot right at it. It was a direct hit!
Suddenly, the Ginko's muscles began to expand grossly. Once every last part of it grew bloated enough, it suddenly exploded in a bright light that shrouded over the whole block. The whole explosion read 10,000 XP upon detonation! The Ginko (now in its root energy form) tried to crawl away, but was unable to escape before Miko caught it in her borrowed gauntlet.
"That… was… AMAZING!" Miko cried out Ally. "You're the greatest bird that's ever lived! Actually, I don't know if you're technically alive, and thinking about that makes me feel kinda weird, but anyway, you're amazing!"
"Looks like the Glitch problem is taken care of," Tim said, rejoining Miko along with Five. "Great work. I knew I was right to trust you." Miko smiled widely at his words. "Now, let's get going, guys. We still gotta mind wipe everyone who was unfortunate enough to witness this insanity."
"You got it!" Miko cheered, though inside, she felt worried, dreading what would happen upon returning to HQ.
After mind-wiping every witness, the trio returned to Glitch Tech headquarters, where the boys followed Miko worried as she walked into Phil's office and laid out the shattered remains of her gauntlet onto his desk.
"Uh…" Phil started to say before Miko spoke solemnly.
"Mr. boss sir, I have failed my station to an epic degree, and I humbly await the consequences."
"What are you doing?" Phil asked awkwardly.
"You said if we…"
"I said don't LOSE it." Phil said. "I didn't say you couldn't bang it up a little. Happens all the time."
"It does?" Tim asked.
"Yeah. In fact, there's even a shortcut on my keyboard that'll fix that." Phil said entering his shortcut.
The broken gauntlet parts hovered in the air in a pillar of light and spun around each other. Suddenly, in a flash of light, Miko's gauntlet looked good as new much to the girl's delight.
"So I'm still a Glitch Tech?" Miko asked hopefully.
"Uh… yeah." Phil answered.
"YES!" the team cheered.
"Okay then." Phil said. "Let's, uh, just count up the XP."
"Welcome back, Techs." BITT welcomed Five, Miko, and Tim as they approached the center of the room. "Please, insert your gauntlets into the main repository to offload all Glitches and claim your XP."
As per BITT's instructions, the trio placed their gauntlets into their slots and watched as all their Glitch data, including Ginko, was sent up into the main server. At that same machine, their faces were displayed along with their XP bars maxing out.
Most of the other Techs congratulated them on their fast leveling (except for Mitch, who scoffed at the three, muttering, "Noobs" and glaring at Tim in particular as he received many pats on the back and fist bumps).
"You may now preview potential power upgrades." BITT said.
Five and Miko went first, selecting their originally desired upgrades; Miko gained her energy swords and Five got his rocket boots.
"Haha! Sparkly hack-and-slash!" Miko shouted waving her sword around.
"Rocket BOOOOTS!" Five yelled as he flew up into the air. However, immediately after, he landed back on the ground face-first. "Ow! Surprisingly difficult."
"Yeah, you could each purchase those items with your individual XP points," Phil said approaching the back of their van. "Or you could pull them together to purchase unique loot. Like, oh, I don't know, say… a companion pet?"
"Eeeeer… Companion pet?" Miko asked as nervously as Tim and Five.
"Yeah, you know, like the unauthorized one you tried to hide in your Tech van?" Phil asked as he opened the back of the van revealing Ally.
"Yeah, didn't have the heart to zap her after all we've been through." Five said.
Tim chuckled. "I'll be honest. We didn't think you'd notice. Although, judging by your size, I suppose you'd have a knack for sensing chicken nearby." He lightly elbowed Phil's gut.
"Kid, I'm being lenient with you. Don't push me." Phil threatened.
"So… we can keep her?" Miko asked.
"Well, if you wanna pull your points together." Phil said.
"Let's do it." Five said. "I'm not sure boots were made to have rockets anyway."
"There is one last thing though," Phil said. "Two leveled-up Glitch Techs are enough to be able to purchase the Chicky Chum, so one of you MIGHT just be able to keep one of the personal upgrades you wanted. Which one is up to you."
"Wow." Tim said. "So, who should we pick?"
"I… think it should be you, Tim." Miko said.
"Me?" Tim asked surprised. "Oh, no. It wouldn't be fair. I wouldn't want to…"
"Tim, you stuck by me believing in me despite knowing how unfocused I can be." Miko said putting her hands on his shoulders. "Plus, you were the first to call out the Ginko's weakness." She smiled sweetly. "I'd say you more than earned this."
"Me too." Five said. "So go ahead, hermano. Take your upgrade."
Tim smiled before opening up his skill tree. He pressed his desired upgrade and confirmed his selection. His arm glowed before he aimed at the far wall and fired a large green projectile web right from his whole hand Unfortunately at that moment, Bergy walked by and was instantly stuck to the wall like a fly.
"AAAH! WHAT THE…"
"Oops! Sorry, Bergy!" Tim cried out. "But this Impact Web is awesome!"
"I'll definitely make capturing Glitches a lot easier if you can make a humongous web to trap them to the wall or whatever." agreed Five.
"And now, for Ally!" Miko said. She and Five pulled their XP together and made their purchase. With Phil's help, they were able to scan Ally and officially make her theirs. She disappeared in a flash of light and zapped herself into Miko's gauntlet.
"Companion pet acquired."
"Well, the three of you did great today. Good first patrol." Phil commended right before the three of them embraced him. "Right up until this hug."
"So… can someone get me down from here?" Bergy asked in a whimper.
That night, after Miko came home, she was reading a gamer manual in bed by the soft glow of lantern lights above while her sister Lexi slept in the bed beside her.
Suddenly, her mom cracked open the door. "Miko?" she said softly.
"Mama?" Miko asked, putting down her book.
Mayumi walked in and showed Miko a bowl of chips. "I brought you a snack."
"Thank you." Miko said heartfeltly as she took the bowl.
"I know you came home late today. I'm proud you're working so hard." Mayumi praised.
"Yeah. It was kinda tough, but I managed to pull through with my friend's help." Miko said.
"That's the best kind of job." Mayumi assured. She then frowned. "I also wanted to apologize for this morning. I suppose I was a little hard on you."
"Nah. I kinda needed to be told it. It really did help me to focus today, so thanks, Mama." Miko said to her as they shared a smile.
Suddenly, a beeping sound was heard, breaking the moment.
"What was that?" Mayumi asked, quirking an eyebrow.
"Uh…"
"You've got a video game under there, don't you?"
Miko laughed nervously at that. "No foolin' you."
Mayumi then smiled again as she stood up. "Well, enjoy it. You work hard, you play hard." As she got to the door, she turned with one last loving look at her daughter. "Just...not too late, now." With that, she closed the door.
Miko then pulled her gauntlet out from under the covers and pressed the screen, releasing Ally, who popped out under her purple blanket. She cooed and went after Miko's food.
"Save some for me, ya turkey!" Miko said laughing. She grabbed one ship before Ally used her tongue and gobbled the whole bowl. "Aw, you…" Miko laughed some more as she hugged her new pet. She then sighed. "Gotta say, girl. Today was pretty rockin', despite a few hiccups. Now that we're starting to get the hang of this, all that's left is to keep catching Glitches and hunt down that punk who hacked Hinobi. We spent so much time with you and the Ginko and the mind wipes that we didn't have any time to look for clues to who they could be." She then stared put the window at the city at night with a serious look as she petted Ally. "And that means they're still out there. Planning their next dastardly and insidious scheme…"
Secluded in her dark room, Felicia Hardy had her eyes fixed on her laptop screen. She continued typing into it before finally stopping. She continued to stare at the information displayed on her screen.
"Looks like I'm one step closer to finding out the truth about Hinobi." Felicia asked intrigued. She fixed her eyes at an image of Five, Miko, and Tim working in the Hinobi store. She smiled flirtatiously at the sight of Tim and caressed his image with her black, pointy nails. "Looks like I can't stay in hiding anymore. If I'm going to go any further with my investigation, I'm gonna have to check out these 'Glitch Techs' myself. Time for the Black Cat to settle her curiosity."