Glitch Techs Nexus

by Prismic123

Miko Kubota and Hector Nieves, also known as Five, had enjoyed a consistent and fulfilling life. As Glitch Techs, they lived the dream of being part-time heroes, tackling the dangers of glitched games. Miko, the fast-paced girl, and Five, the meticulous planner, were an unstoppable team. But now, new and returning foes threaten their city—and the world at large.

4. The Training Bout

Phil marched the thirteen new employees down the hall. The group gasped upon seeing multiple hub rooms. The facility quickly revealed numerous rooms, all dedicated to teaching new workers the ins and outs of how the place operated. The white walls gleamed, reflecting the group's images against the blue sheen and lights. Lines on the floor directed them to the tutorial hub.

The tutorial hubs were quite large, mainly because of their thorough, albeit tedious, training strategy. The dark blue and white lights illuminated the three major hubs, accompanied by an annoying mascot that a certain gamer girl passionately hated. Despite its slow and cheesy lines, the mascot was helpful. The only issue was the painstakingly long training sessions, lasting at least eight hours of study and file learning. Phil ensured that the screen plates and wires were out of reach after the last incident with the branch's D-Team. While other incidents had occurred, none were as severe as what those two had caused.

Although he relied on the floating bot BITT to manage most things, Phil was personally thorough in dealing with the hub. Despite his usual calm demeanor, he could easily lose his temper if someone made a significant mistake. The local D-Team often tested his patience, but he understood they meant no harm, and experience had taught him this was a common rookie mistake. While the overweight manager seemed too lazy to do much, Phil consistently managed to keep his cool when dealing with newcomers and new problems.

"Whoa, so many hub rooms," stated Ven, looking around.

"A bit much, isn't it?" Vex asked, glancing at Phil, who rolled his eyes.

"Yeah, well, after a little accident," Phil said loudly, glaring behind him, seemingly singling someone out.

Miko and Five, who had been watching from behind a corner, quickly shuffled out of sight.

Phil sighed and continued, "We decided to renovate the place and got the bonus of new hubs."

"O-oh th-that's r-really c-cool," stuttered Casey.

Phil nodded and continued, "Anyhow, you guys will be separated into groups, and each group will go into a hub."

White straightened up and asked, "How fast will this go, twenty to thirty minutes?"

Phil nervously gritted his teeth, recalling the last fiasco. "Err...sorry, kid, not likely. However, I can say for certain, the first three hours are the worst, but the last five really fly by!"

White groaned as Ven nudged his friend in.

As expected, the groups split up with Ven, Prism, Casey, and Grey going to one room; Red, Blue, Roxias, Hemlock, and Seki going to another; and finally, Cyane, Vex, Pyre, and Astra heading into their own tutorial room.

The tech headquarters were quite large, with lots of tables, chairs, games, and vending machines. There were numerous couches for people to talk and, of course, games. Miko and Five often spent their downtime here when glitch spawning was slow, or someone else had taken over the job. Additionally, there were more training simulators, but they were more relaxed and designed for techs to refine their skills. Resident tech Haneesh was currently on the virtual reality headset, fighting some artificial enemies. Meanwhile, two techs stood watching something unfold.

Miko and Five observed their redheaded boss heading towards his office down the hall.

Miko sighed, blushing about the whole 'tutorial incident.' Shaking her head, she said, "Geez, I still kinda feel bad for causing that fiasco, though I feel worse for what those guys are getting into."

Five shrugged, patting Miko on the back. "No need to beat yourself up. I'm sure they fixed everything in those chambers."

Miko and Five walked off as Five continued the conversation.

"What's the worst that could happen?"

"So, Grey... we haven't formally introduced ourselves. I'm Prism, Prism White," stated Prism smugly, offering a handshake, his white hair as bright as his red-blue eyes.

Grey looked confused but shook his hand, "Hey."

"Oh, don't mind Prism," said Ven. "I'm Ven and this is Casey."

Casey waved nervously.

"Grey," responded Grey.

White motioned to Ven, making a crazy finger spin by his head. Ven shook his head, "Errr... don't mind White."

Grey shuffled forward, "So this is the tutorial room."

"Ye-yeah, it-it se-seems thi-is is the but-button," stuttered Casey, pressing the button.

Elsewhere in another hub, a holographic letter H formed in the center. It was a big light blue H with eyes on the sides, a small mouth in the middle with a tongue sticking out, long dark skinny arms with white gloves, and a small dark blue cap on the left side of its head. This was the second mascot of the Hinobi tutorial settings, known as Helpie. Helpie wasn't very popular.

Helpie gave an exaggerated welcome, "Haha, welcome Glitch Tech newbies! Or 'noobs' as we like to call you."

Vex looked up in annoyance, "Oh, I hate this guy already."

Astra, her magenta hair shaking, put her hand on Vex's shoulder, "Oh, calm down, Vex. I think this guy is really cute."

Cyane nodded, his personality as bright as his namesake hair, "Yeah, Vex, no need to be a Negative Nancy."

Pyre shook his head, "I don't like this, but fine, I'll play along."

Vex sighed, "Fine, agreed."

"Welcome to your first day on the job, trainees. Today you guys will learn the ins and outs of this place," declared Helpie, smiling widely.

"Ohhh cool, I read the game manuals. I so want to learn how to use the vans," exclaimed Cyan.

Vex mocked him, opening and closing his hand repeatedly as he chattered. "Why, of course, the inner workings of the Hinobi engines and tires are quite a chapter, with forty minutes of information."

Cyan and Astra cheered, while Vex fell on his face. Pyre just sat back annoyed, "Tell me when we get to the battle part of the tutorial."

In the other hub room.

"Oooooooooooh, so cute," gushed Seki, hugging the H-shaped mascot. The girl squeaked.

Roxias rolled her eyes, "Oh, you find everything cute."

Blue shook her head at Roxias, "Come off it, Roxias. There's nothing wrong with Seki liking a blaring, annoying creature like this Helpie."

"Wowza, thank you for the appreciation, trainee," responded Helpie, trying to squeeze out of Seki's grip.

Hemlock curiously looked at him, "Physical hardlight? Interesting."

"Errr... let's get back to the... errr tutorial," stuttered Helpie, nervous at how Hemlock was looking at him.

Red snorted and snarked cheerfully, "Knock it off, plant brain. I don't want to be here any longer than I have to."

Helpie floated again, "As I was saying, let's begin with Hinobi early game history..."

"...Litter Glitter Kittysitter Deluxe was nearly created. While many falsely accused it of being a cheap game cash-grab, it had quite the important following, which led to an unexpected boom for the higher-ups at Hinobi..."

Ven was listening intently, while Prism was bashing his head into a wall, hoping it would stop. Casey, seeing Gray watching silently, walked over and formally greeted him, "He-hey, I-I've ne-never for-formally intro-introduced m-myself. I'm Ca-Casey."

"Gray," stated the grey-haired kid, tilting his head.

"So-sorry, I-I ha-have a st-stuttering prob-problem."

"Okay."

"I mean, I hate it because it makes me look like a cowardly pushover and people treat me like I'm a helpless child."

"You stopped stuttering."

"Wha-what? I-I've ne-never st-stopped stutter-stuttering."

"You did just—"

"Boring!" yelled Prism, trying to kick Helpie.

"I see you're trying to kick something. We will cover this in Step 11, Kicking!"

"What? There are steps teaching us how to fight specifically and thoroughly? This is—"

"—A dream come true," stated Pyre as Astra and Cyane straightened their postures to follow Helpie's directions.

"Turn a bit of leeway north, playas," stated Helpie.

"This is what nightmares are made of," complained Vex as he lazily posed.

"Come on, Vex, you have to try to act interested," responded Astra, a bit annoyed by Vex's lack of effort.

"Fine. Fine. Fine. Fine," snarked Vex, standing up and following his group.

"So... it seems pretty fragile. Like these consoles, they seem extremely unstable," commented Hemlock.

"Correction: only the Hinobi Central Processor is the sensitive part. The consoles themselves can handle quite a lot of punishment, allowing them to keep the processor safe from damage. In fact, Hinobi Consoles are constantly being tested to lessen the chance of the processor glitching out."

"So hard shaking would damage the processor, but what about light shaking?" asked Clover.

"Dude, stop overthinking it," stated Red, looking at his own files. "Hmmm, why are bows and arrows on separate steps? Wouldn't it work better together?"

Helpie chirped, "Why, of course! We must learn the different shapes of arrows and bow sizes."

Roxias, reading her own massive files, said, "So many rival companies."

"Ahh, indeed. Our technology tends to be quite coveted. While we remain a powerful monopoly over the technology and gaming industry, many rivals constantly try to upstage us."

Blue perked up, "Well, didn't anyone succeed?"

"Nope. Now on to the General Virtual Pets notes," stated Helpie happily.

"Yay!" cheered Seki, bounding on her feet.

Phil was sitting in his office at HQ, tracking something on his screen. His eyebrows were furrowed, as was the norm for him, but for once he seemed really annoyed.

Miko Kubota and Five watched. Miko commented, "Geez, he seems really serious about whatever this is."

"Mitch," called out Phil, sitting up.

"You rang?" asked Mitch in his oh-so-smug voice.

"Yes. Anyhow, I need you for this glitch. I have a suspicion. Do not attack, simply observe," stated Phil firmly.

"Trust me, I'll do more than that to that glitch," responded Mitch smugly as he stepped through the portal.

"Yeah, please don't," snarked Phil.

"Meeks, you don't think it's that thing, right?" whispered Five.

"I dunno, maybe. You really think it's that thing?" asked Miko, tilting her head curiously.

"Maybe. I mean, I have never seen Phil worried like this before."

"Well, if it is, even if I really don't like Mitch, heck, he seems like he hates me more than you, he is good at his job."

"Ahhh, I don't care if that jerk likes me more than you. I'll always be your Player 2."

Miko blushed, "Aww shucks, thanks, Five. Also, it sucks for those guys in the tutorial."

Five looked down sadly, "Yeah, but hey, at least they're probably doing better than us."

It was, in fact, not going better than the Dream Team.

Ven was holding Prism back. "Come on, Prism! Cool it!"

"Just let me tear that H to tatters," snarked Prism, trying to reach Helpie.

"You seem tense. Let's try some breathing exercises," Helpie gasped dramatically. "One, (inhales in a very annoying way), two..."

"Okay, okay, if you stop, I'll shut up," begged Prism, annoyed.

"Wo-woah, he-he's really go-ing ham on He-helpie," stated Casey, looking from afar.

Grey nodded. "Ah-ah-ah-anyway, y-you j-joined b-because of A-Aurum."

Both Grey and Casey were holding files, doing the tutorial work.

"Yes. He saw something. Said I need training. Before anything."

"A-a-anything? W-w-wow, y-you must be a t-tough cookie."

"I guess. A weakling anyway," said Grey tersely, pointing at himself.

Casey, wondering what to say to Grey, just gave up and stuttered the stereotypically common line, "W-well, I-I don't th-think you're a w-weakling."

Grey remained silent.

Casey facepalmed, blaming himself, "St-stupid."

"Thank you."

"Wha-what?"

"Thank you," said Grey tersely, still looking at the ground.

"Err...nn-no prob-problem," stated Casey, nervously rubbing his head.

Mitch trudged through Bailey's lush forest of greenery, his gauntlet beeping. He always preferred to be alone on missions, enjoying the quiet without the chatter of blueberry brains. And, of course, he wanted all the XP for himself. Mitch's gauntlet was one of the major weapons techs used in battle, capable of derezzing the plixel monsters that menaced the mild-mannered town of Bailey. Additionally, it could form the Glitch Techs' suits to fit any body and size. The gauntlet had a unique ability to wipe the minds of any onlookers during glitch attacks. While somewhat fragile, as long as it came back in pieces, it could be easily recovered and fixed. It was more of a glass cannon than anything else. If something could damage it, the gauntlet would be doomed. Worse still, if the gauntlet wasn't reachable or responding, a tech would have to rely on their wits and guile.

Meanwhile, the complex Hinobi-sponsored vehicle, known as the Hinobi Van, looked like a mail truck or delivery van from the outside. Inside, however, when the Glitch Techs were actually using it for its intended purposes, the rideable machine revealed a variety of buttons, keys, and other devices for the rider to use. Depending on the tech, the vehicle could go fully automatic, driving itself so the techs didn't need to use the wheel to patrol the area. It also had various screens and gaming units for use whenever the techs were parked and needed downtime. Additionally, it had replaceable supplies that the techs could use to fix consoles or give to the now mind-wiped owners of the tech. The van had a few surprises, too. In the event of off-road crashes, the van could hover with capabilities similar to BITT's floating and even flying abilities. Granted, this was rarely used to avoid commotion, but still. The van also carried serious engines and firepower, used only for threatening glitches like Code: Green.

That said, Mitch didn't need any of that. To him, this would be a one-and-done deal as he pushed through the flourishing foliage and flora of Bailey's forests.

"Alright, if I were a glitch, where would I—" Mitch stepped in something sticky and yellow. Tree sap, maybe... but Mitch Williams knew better. He used his gauntlet to scan, and the screen lit up, showing a trail of bright neon yellow goo. Sure enough, Mitch found the glitch, a Smooze Monster, though its slime was bright yellow like a warning sign.

"Well, well, well, a simple palette swap. I hope the XP you give is much higher than your creativity," smirked Mitch, aiming his gauntlet. Then he gasped. "What the?"

The glitch turned around. Usually, Smooze Monsters had a cartoonish face, but this one had no eyes and a large black serrated mouth with a huge smile.

"Ya know, I'm like, totally a creative genius, dude!" responded the glitch to the shocked tech.

"Ah, boosh, if that's your comeback," remarked Mitch, fixing his hair before continuing sternly, "then I'm almost going to regret capturing you." Mitch shot a powerful gauntlet blast at the glitch. Luckily, it was smart enough to slide quickly out of the way, getting behind Mitch and up a tree. Mitch tapped something on his gauntlet, summoning a holographic gun that shot the tree branches the monster was on. Wood chipped off the tree as the artificial smiling slime monster dodged with surprising speed. Unfortunately for someone as skilled as Mitch Williams, he eventually used the gun tracker to get a good hit. It showed the classic Smooze Monster weak spot. However, to his shock, the health bar was not only much bigger but seemed to be barely chipped.

The monster chuckled, "Hehahaha, you really thought that would fly? Man, you're like, totally more clueless than I figured!" The monster then generated black arms with yellow serrated hands, hopping off the tree and trying to slam its fists into the ground. Mitch was faster and dodged. Unfortunately for the glitch, it got its hands stuck in the ground, grunting annoyed. Mitch smirked, slicing the arms of the monster. Only for the monster to regenerate them.

"Ouch, bro," stated the glitch sarcastically. Mitch gritted his teeth, annoyed, but at least the glitch was on the ground now. Tapping his gauntlet, he generated a large sword crackling with plixel energy and started swiping at its arms and the slime on the Smooze glitch. Mitch bet on distracting the glitch as it tried to regenerate its arms. Mitch concentrated and generated dual swords from the gauntlet, speeding up his slicing to overwhelm the glitch.

"Gah! You little punk—!" Mitch didn't let the glitch finish speaking when he summoned a huge blaster, blowing up the whole area around the glitch. Mitch smiled but looked for the base glitch form. He looked around; there seemed to be no sign of it. He looked at the trees and the incinerated area. He wondered if the glitch had been annihilated. That had never happened before, but this glitch was strange, so anything was possible. Only to hear something loud land behind him and grab him before the elite gamer could react. Mitch was forced to face that smiling glitch with a gleeful grin. Mitch squirmed, trying to reach his gauntlet; the glitch only responded by gripping him tighter. The guy was shocked to find himself this close to the psycho. Granted, he tried to keep his composure, but the mask was falling.

"Ohohoho, so this is supposed to be the totally epic elite gamer of the Bailey district? What a total joke, dude," stated the glitch sadistically. Mitch grunted, ignoring the monster, though he couldn't reach his gauntlet.

"Yo, relax! I totally crushed it, no cap, bro!" snickered the monster.

Mitch grunted, "You better let me go, I'm Mitch Williams, you disgusting creature!"

"Whoa, take a breather, man. This was just a test!"

Mitch's mouth gaped, "A test…ALL THIS FOR A TEST?! WHY?!"

"Cool your jets, Mitchell. I had to try out my gnarly new possession skills on that brain-dead glitch." Suddenly, the Smooze Monster's pieces reverted to their natural coloration. "No way anyone's gonna say the legendary Mitch Williams got schooled by some basic vessel!" And with that, the arms, the bright yellow color, and the huge sharp smile disappeared, turning the Smooze Monster back into its normal slime form. With the arms gone, the elite gamer fell to the ground dazed, not that the glitch was much better, as it looked completely lost and dizzy. Mitch casually sliced the glitch and captured it with ease, giving him the XP as per usual.

"No way anyone's gonna say the legendary Mitch Williams got schooled by some basic vessel!" That line rang through Williams' head. Mitch sighed and shook his head. He pulled out his gauntlet and tapped the screen.

"Phil. We need to talk."

Back in the Hinobi high-tech HQ, Cyane was working on the files during Helpie's talk.

"So, that Mitch Williams fellow, he seems fun," said Cyane, smiling.

"Ehhhh..." responded everyone else with no enthusiasm.

"Come on, he seems nicer than he looks," shrugged Cyane.

"Mitch seems exactly as mean as he looks," responded Vex flatly.

"Well, Zahra and Haneesh seem fine. It's a wonder how they deal with Mitch," Astra chimed in.

"Whatever, I at least hope Mitch will act somewhat cordially toward us," replied Pyre, messing with his own files.

"Bergy? Bergoch? I think I know him. He was that guy on HinobiFAQs," reminisced Hemlock.

Seki perked up, "Woah, really?"

"Yeah, on HinobiFAQs, we were discussing which paths to take in Stories of Xialos and which path was the fastest. Bergy ended up calculating that the left path was 2.5 seconds faster."

Red asked, "So what does that mean? Is he fine?"

"Yup, considering his intellect, he's probably the best guy in this branch," stated Green cheerfully.

"Eh, I think you're hyping him up too much," said Roxias.

Blue shook her head at Roxias, "Roxias, come on, stop having doubts."

"Yeah, he sounds like a pretty okay guy," chirped Seki, squeezing a protesting Helpie again.

"Fine, I'll drop it," responded Roxias.

Meanwhile, in Hazard's base...

Hazard was in his new vessel form. While it looked human, his pupils were bright electric yellow, his hair bright yellow as well, and he wore a yellow coat with a hazard symbol similar to those bright yellow road signs. Under it, he wore a dark yellow shirt with two stripes, bright yellow of course. He also wore dark yellow pants and blue tennis shoes with yellow stripes on the tips.

Yeah, he seemed to like yellow a lot.

Interestingly, he was able to control how stable his vessel was. Specifically, the skin got more gray and the yellow eyes became pale and lifeless when his true form left his vessel. While he hadn't perfected how to control it, he was pretty skilled at walking and moving his new body.

Anyhow, Hazard was gloating over his first other vessel test, "Yo, that was dope! I'm crushing those lame glitches like it's totally rad. Like Williams, I'm ready to battle with the big dogs!"

Hazard got up from his screen chair and looked for Abbonox, walking down the hall briskly, "Yo, Abbonox, did your squad wrap up that sick virus mash-up yet, or what?"

Abbonox responded sarcastically, "Of course, of course, like I've been twiddling my fingers while looking for other groups."

"Alright, haha, really funny. So, how long 'til that portal's ready to pop open in the store?"

"Should be right about now."

Cut to a tutorial hub. Prism was groaning as he worked on a boring file.

"Button one and button two on the gauntlet are important on the gauntlet screen," Helpie drawled.

Prism saw a mysterious file on the computer screen. It was yellow and glowing. "Ooooo, what's this?"

"I dunno, Prism. We haven't gotten to that file yet," said Ven.

Helpie responded, "That is unknown and under no circumstances should we—"

Prism pressed the file.

"Boop."

The lights went out in the tutorial hubs, leaving the students chattering in confusion, before coming back on.

"H-Helpie?" asked Casey.

Helpie didn't respond. In fact, he didn't seem to be there.

White looked to Ven and Casey, "Do you think—"

Suddenly, all four boys were punched out the door of the hub, landing in a heap. Unfortunately, the nearby hubs opened, sending the other workers out, landing on Casey and the others.

Casey groaned, "Wha-what did you do, Prism?!"

The others, minus Grey, who was just lying on the ground unfazed, Seki, who was just trying to say something to everyone, and Cyane, who was just confused, struggled to stand up. They all gasped, seeing something coming out, inching like inky sludge from the screen. The game was Grossout, glitching as random assets poured out like trash and slop. From mud, trash, gunk, cartoony dead fish heads, and globs of goop, it formed a vaguely humanoid slime body with no legs. Instead, it simply spread on the floor. Its torso and chest had armor from Sanitron, which Hemlock recognized. It had three fish heads for hair, one yellow cycloptic eye, and a fanged underbite.

"Nobody... move," whispered Cyane.

"Why?" asked Blue.

"Because everyone knows in movies monsters can't see you if you don't move, duh," responded White.

"Guys, we can't stay like this," replied Pyre.

"You got any better plans, bozo?" snarked Vex.

"No, but both of you should shush," said Red, worried.

"Let's just inch away by the wall," whispered Ven.

"Uhhh... guys," pointed Grey.

The group of hapless coworkers looked to see the cycloptic glitch amalgamate turning to stare at them. It seemed harmless, more curious than anything.

"Maybe it's nice?" said Astra, reaching out.

That wish was immediately destroyed when the monster roared, spitting trash and gunk, covering the group of guardians. Cue screaming as the group scattered away from the trash monster. The monster itself punched a huge dent into the wall.

The group ran down the hall.

"We have to get Phil," yelled Ven.

"Three, two, one, alright, looks like they're done," stated Five.

"Done with what?" asked Miko, who was gaming on one of Hinobi's many couches.

"The tutorial hubs, remember?"

"Oh, ehehe, forgot."

The Dream Team walked down the hall to greet the newbies. Miko bounded happily as she saw the guardians.

"Hey newbies, ready for—"

"Where's Phil!"

Five tilted his head, "Why?"

"Oh, no reason, only because this jokester," Vex pointed at a guilty-looking Prism, "pressed a file unleashing something glitchy in the hubs."

"A glitch, like a real glitch?" Miko asked, shocked.

"Yes, 100%, a real glitch," answered Hemlock, panicking.

"What should we do?" asked Blue.

"I'll go get Phil," stated Five. "Miko, do you need any help?"

"Nope, I'm a pro at this now. And I'll fight this glitch," said Miko with a determined smile. Five smirked back before rushing off to get Phil.

"Wait, it looks pretty big," said Astra.

"Pfft, I've fought bigger," said Miko, rushing down the hall and tapping her bracelet, which summoned the technologically advanced gauntlet. The other ink guardians followed her.

"I'm sure the professional has it," stated Hemlock.

"Hey, could we help?" asked Ven, causing Miko to pause.

"Ye-yeah, I-I w-we can-can he-help," suggested Casey.

"We can?" asked Cyan, looking curious. "They said we should have clearance from registered tech."

"Uhhh, Cyane, we're looking at one," snarked Pyre, pointing at Miko.

"Permission granted, but I think I... got... this?" Miko paused, looking up at the sludge glitch in shock. It was huge, with yellow cycloptic eyes and black pupils. Miko saw three tendrils connected to the three tutorial hubs' computers. Currently, it was dormant, seemingly sucking energy from the screens.

"Hmmm, it seems like this thing is connected to the screens. If I cut the connection, it should die. Don't worry, this will be easy peasy, guys," Miko rushed over with frightening speed.

Miko sliced all three tendrils, confident the glitch would simply break apart. "Now that's a job well done."

Sadly for Miko, the glitch twitched, waking up and glaring at her, annoyed that its power sap was interrupted. Miko gulped and dodged when it sent an armored hand slamming onto the ground.

"Do you need any help?" asked Cyan as the group watched from the corner.

"Okay, okay, maybe I need a little?"

"Finally!" Prism yelled, rushing forward with a sword generated from light from his hands and rapidly slicing the glitch. However, it did nothing but aggravate the monster, which swatted Prism to the side. Ven caught him.

Meanwhile, the crew separated into their little groups to help fight back.

Hemlock generated vines from his hair, "Red!"

Red and Blue grabbed his hands and, to Miko's shock, flew up, carrying them much like a familiar hedgehog and fox.

Red tossed fireballs from his hands right into the eye of the creature, which screeched in pain as Blue punched it in the face. Meanwhile, Astra's hair glowed, summoning an aura around the creature and holding its arm with a psychic force, leaving the four-armed monster unable to move. Cyan and Seki then blasted the creature with cyan and spring green-colored blasts.

Cyane summoned stars that exploded on contact, slicing pieces off the monster's arms, making it yowl in pain, though it was able to heal. Seki summoned spring green spirals of air, which spun around the creature, sending its own slimy debris into its eye.

The creature screeched, distracted by Roxias and Pyre, who charged forward and slammed it right in the torso, sending it flying into the wall. Prism launched a small blade right into the creature's mouth, which exploded, stunning the creature. Before it could react, Ven's ink-covered hand grabbed the creature's face and slammed it into the wall.

"Err... wh-what ca-can w-we d-do t-to h-help?" asked Casey with Grey behind him.

Miko, whose jaw was on the floor in shock, picked it up, saying, "Wha? Oh-oh yeah, ummm, turn off those screens. It won't be able to slurp up any more energy if we do that, and then we can really destroy it."

Grey and Casey easily cut the first two screens' wires under the control panel. That said, the final screen remained. However, the monster seemed aware of this as it quickly leaped, freeing itself and splitting into three copies. Leaping in front of the hub, the three split creatures roared angrily.

"Okay, new plan: can you guys get me to the other side?" asked Miko warily, readying her hammer. The group of misfits looked at each other and then nodded.

Pyre, Roxias, and Cyane (summoning bright star-shaped brass knuckles-like weapons) prepared for the fight. Red, Blue, and Seki were carried by Hemlock. Finally, Ven, White, Grey, and Casey readied themselves to fight.

The split monsters roared angrily and charged forward. Unluckily for the first monster, which had to face Pyre, Roxias, and Cyane, it was given a triple uppercut, sending its head flying off its body and leaving the body to slide around.

Meanwhile, Hemlock carried his three partners. Blue and Red shot water and flames at the arms of the second monster, burning its left arm. However, the right arm remained. Blue nervously sighed and hardened her fists, summoning icy projectiles that froze the monster. Blue sighed, already exhausted from doing this. Hemlock simply used the vines from his hair to smash the arm to pieces. Seki used her powers to blow off pieces of the glitch, weakening its foundation.

Ven summoned ink from his arms, grabbing the final monster's arms, allowing Prism to toss an explosive knife into the creature's mouth, which exploded in fire.

Grey was about to attack only to see Seki get grabbed by her hair by the second glitch monster's mouth. Grey found his legs moving and he leapt into the air, his body spinning vertically into a rapid ball and slicing the sludge glitch's jaw off, freeing Seki.

Grey caught her and put her down a bit roughly.

"Thank—" started Seki cheerfully, only for Grey to run off to help Casey and his friends.

Unfortunately, the third monster was putting up a good fight, mostly out of desperation, blocking Miko's hammer and other attacks thrown at it.

"Ugh, this guy is a major pain! Any ideas, guys?"

Casey perked up, "I-I g-got a-an i-idea."

Casey summoned a paintbrush which sent a ball of energy shimmering with cyan, magenta, yellow, and black. It hit the creature square in the chest, causing it to explode and reducing it to a dizzy head. It sent flying stars right into the other remaining sludge glitches, sending them exploding into goo. What's worse, the glitches were running on borrowed time, meaning the other two were out, leaving only the last one, which was just a head.

The remaining creature only had time to look in horror as Miko unplugged the wires from the machine. With a simple ping, the energy stored in its head ran out, making the creature reduce to sludge.

Miko and the others were shocked when a small base glitch came out, struggling, stunned, and dizzy. Miko simply used her gauntlet to suck it in with a familiar ring chime, giving her 70 XP points. The rest of the body simply disappeared into the air like usual plixel defeats.

The whole group sighed in relief.

"Well, I don't think that could have gone any worse," snarked Vex.

"WHO'S RESPONSIBLE FOR THIS?!" yelled a very angry Phil, marching down the hall with a sheepish Five.

Everyone looked at Prism, who explained the whole file thing. However, the other groups paused when he explained the yellow file he got.

"Actually…" stated Pyre nervously.

"We all sort of got the same file as Prism," stated Red, sweating bullets.

"Yeah, we all just thought Prism did something else," stated Hemlock, looking at the ground.

"So it wasn't my fault," said Prism, smiling.

Phil sighed, rubbing his eyebrows, "Oh, no, you're still in trouble, all of you."

Miko coughed.

"Yeah, Miko had nothing to do with this," stated Ven, rubbing the back of his head.

"Okay, not all of you," started Phil, looking at Five and Miko. "And to be fair, since you guys got rid of the glitch for good," drawled Phil, "I'll let you off lightly."

"Really, does that mean we don't have to do the tutorial?" beamed Prism, smiling eagerly.

"Nope. After we fix everything, you guys are going right back in there."

Cue groans from many of the new recruits.

Later that day, Phil sat in his office at his computer. Mitch Williams had come in earlier looking worse for wear. He explained the strange being inhabiting the glitch that was able to hold its own against him. And then it spared him, stating how it beat him. It didn't just want to fight him; it wanted to prove itself to Mitch.

Phil sat up, eating a donut.

Yellow.

Every time something strange happens, the color yellow is involved.

The signs are located across town.

The glitch that attacked Mitch.

And now the weird tutorial monster hybrid.

Phil looked at the security cameras again, seeing that, yes indeed, the bright yellow files had all been pressed, which released the monster.

"BITT?"

"Yes, Phil?" asked the robot, floating in its hover engine, holding it in the air while the screen showed its smiling pixel face. "All the hubs are cleaned, no worse for wear, all the wires plugged, screens cleaned, and safe."

BITT, also known as the Binary Intelligence Tech Tool, was the Glitch Techs' very odd but still very helpful company techbot. He was one of many bots dispatched to the Hinobi stores worldwide, more versions than the phones on Earth. Each one had enough differences to be its own thing. While Helpie was pretty much the one to teach the ropes to the new recruits, he wasn't the only one responsible. BITT also helped fledgling techs whenever they were on the job. He was connected to the higher-ups and the bosses of Hinobi as well. He also acted sort of as a second-in-command whenever needed, directing, assisting, and dispatching help.

Phil, despite his remarks, cared for the outdated model, as they tended to argue like an old married couple. That said, Phil refused to upgrade the bot due to having many good memories with his loyal bot and along with hiding a few special things for the boss.

Despite its small size, BITT could make size changes for when the situation needed it. Allowing him to fight glitches of any kind, an example being his huge exo suit, which, though slow and heavy, allowed him to combat big glitches with somewhat ease. The only issues it ever suffered were lagging or crashing. Other than that, it remained a dutiful assistant whenever needed. Heck, it even worked overnight to keep the store up and running safely and needed, all on a daily schedule. This, of course, made sense considering he was connected to the entire Bailey store system.

Phil nodded, only to pause when BITT continued with something strange.

"But I did find something strange," responded BITT, his claw holding a capsule of something black and dusty. "I found this while cleaning the backwires from the machine."

Phil held the capsule. "Okay, well, have you analyzed it?"

"I thought you would say that," chirped BITT cheerfully. "It seems to be an ink-like substance."

"Ink?" asked Phil, peering at it curiously.

"Righty-o. It seems to be related to what caused the virus and has an ability to respond to plixel technology."

"And let me guess, it was partially responsible for what happened in the tutorial chambers?"

"Correct again," chattered BITT, bobbing up and down.

"I suppose the higher-ups will want to know about this," responded Phil, typing on his computer. He was planning on messaging one of the many clients at Hinobi. They kept in touch with the many, many managers of the Hinobi stores. Phil was messaging the usual when the computer glitched.

"Not another—" groaned Phil, pressing his gauntlet. "Huh?"

Phil noticed the computer showed a bright white H symbol, the symbol of Hinobi. The screen turned bright white, filling the office with a shining aura. Suddenly, text appeared on the display, which immediately made Phil sweat with fear.

AR.

AR: Hello.

HBPA1: Hey?

AR: Hey, Donut Lord came to check up on you.
HBPA1: Why?
AR: Well word got up to the higher ups about this whole new glitch buzz scampering around Bailey.
HBPA1: Really? That fast.

AR: Yup, anyhow you're not in trouble or anything but we are going to keep an eye on yours and nearby sectors.
HBPA1: Okay?

AR: Besides we were also asking for other things you noticed today.
HBPA1: Well, I did discover something behind the tutorial hub screens.

AR: ?
HBPA1: After a small bug in the tutorial hubs in which BITT discovered something.

AR: BITT? I didn't know I still kept that old version.
HBPA1: It's no matter, anyhow this was discovered: some strange type of ink-like substance.

AR:Ink?
HBPA1: Somewhat.

AR: Fine, just send it in.
HBPA1: Is that all?

AR: Yes.
HBPA1: So do I.

AR: Anyway, we'll be keeping an eye on your and nearby techs due to this oddity and the strange occurrences.
HBPA1: How much?

AR: No need to worry, we'll just do whatever it takes, we don't something like…well nevermind
HBPA1:Fine.

AR: We may or may not keep in touch.
_

Phil watched as his computer went back to normal as if nothing had happened. Drenched in sweat, he sat up, looking around. It felt longer, despite it only being thirty minutes chatting with this AR guy. He was definitely much higher in the chain of command at Hinobi Corporate.

"Well, that went as well as it could have," sighed Phil.

Though he wondered how strange things were going to get.

"BITT?"

"Yeah, sir!" responded BITT, scaring Phil as he realized the bot was right behind him.

"Errr... yeah, can you send this capsule through the Hinobi System?"

"Yes, sir!"

Phil then drank his admittedly cooler cup of coffee. Something told him that a lot would be happening around Bailey now. He then wondered what that message he sent to himself was and how it connected to this other problem. Phil silently sat in the office, pondering.

Late into the evening, the Dream Tech team, after a long day of fighting glitches indoors and outdoors, walked outside. Miko, being her peppy self, bounced around happily.

"Man, fighting that glitch was fun! I don't know why, but it felt like 4 months and 20-ish days since my last fight," cheered Miko.

"Oddly specific," responded Five.

"Yeah... oh hey, the new recruits are finally free," said Miko, pointing to the guardians leaving the store, exhausted.

Ven waved goodbye as he saw the others, minus Grey, Prism, and Casey, take their separate ways. "Bye, have a nice night, guys!"

"I'm just happy we're legal Glitch Techs," responded Prism, checking out his new gauntlet. "Oh hey, look, it's Five and Miko."

"Hey guys, finally finished," said Five cheerfully, waving at them.

"Th-thanks ag-again gu-guys. W-we m-might have be-been i-in de-deep tr-trouble," stuttered Casey nervously.

"Ah, no problem," shrugged Miko happily.

"Anyway, we can help," stated Five, blushing, though he did feel kinda overpraised considering he felt he did the least.

The group of boys saw their parents' vehicles pull up.

"Err... since we're running low on time here, could you know how to hang out?" asked Ven, shuffling slowly to his car.

"Of course!" stated both Five and Miko in sync.

"Yes. Thank you, guys!"

"By-bye!" waved Casey nervously.

Grey silently waved as he hopped into his car.

"What a strange, but cool, but strange bunch," said Five, heading home.

"Like we're any better, heheh," snarked Miko as she saw her family car roll up. "Welp, time for me to bounce. See ya, Five." Miko waved, winking at her best friend.

Unknown to the group, a camera watched them drive off to their respective abodes. It gleamed with a yellow light as it focused on each person.

Phil watched as his computer went back to normal as if nothing had happened. Drenched in sweat, he sat up, looking around. It felt longer, despite it only being thirty minutes chatting with this AR guy. He was definitely much higher in the chain of command at Hinobi Corporate.

"Well, that went as well as it could have," sighed Phil.

Though he wondered how strange things were going to get.

"BITT?"

"Yeah, sir!" responded BITT, scaring Phil as he realized the bot was right behind him.

"Errr... yeah, can you send this capsule through the Hinobi System?"

"Yes, sir!"

Phil then drank his admittedly cooler cup of coffee. Something told him that a lot would be happening around Bailey now. He then wondered about the message he sent to himself and how it connected to this other problem. Phil silently sat in the office, pondering.

Late into the evening, the Dream Tech team, after a long day of fighting glitches indoors and outdoors, walked outside. Miko, being her peppy self, bounced around happily.

"Man, fighting that glitch was fun! I don't know why, but it felt like 4 months and 20-ish days since my last fight," cheered Miko.

"Oddly specific," responded Five.

"Yeah... oh hey, the new recruits are finally free," said Miko, pointing to the guardians leaving the store, exhausted.

Ven waved goodbye as he saw the others, minus Gray, Prism, and Casey, take their separate ways. "Bye, have a nice night, guys!"

"I'm just happy we're legal Glitch Techs," responded Prism, checking out his new gauntlet. "Oh hey, look, it's Five and Miko."

"Hey guys, finally finished," said Five cheerfully, waving at them.

"Th-thanks ag-again gu-guys. W-we m-might have be-been i-in de-deep tr-trouble," stuttered Casey nervously.

"Ah, no problem," shrugged Miko happily.

"Anyway, we can help," stated Five, blushing, though he did feel kinda overpraised considering he felt he did the least.

The group of boys saw their parents' vehicles pull up.

"Err... since we're running low on time here, could you know how to hang out?" asked Ven, shuffling slowly to his car.

"Of course!" stated both Five and Miko in sync.

"Yes. Thank you, guys!"

"By-bye!" waved Casey nervously.

Grey silently waved as he hopped into his car.

"What a strange, but cool, but strange bunch," said Five, heading home.

"Like we're any better, heheh," snarked Miko as she saw her family car roll up. "Welp, time for me to bounce. See ya, Five." Miko waved, winking at her best friend.

Unknown to the group, a camera watched them drive off to their respective abodes. It gleamed with a yellow light as it focused on each person.

Meanwhile, Grey sat somewhat comfortably in Auburn's, also known as his "parent," SUV. Grey put his sword into his backpack, silently shuffling in his seat to get his seatbelt on. Auburn was a big man with purple hair, though unlike Miko's rather bright hairdo, it was dark, nearly black.

"Grey?" asked Auburn roughly.

Grey looked up.

"Okay, when does Aurum plan to meet with this Phil guy?"

"I dunno," shrugged Grey. "Never told when."

"Ugh... of course my brother would be vague with you. Well, did you have a nice day?"

"Yup," Grey nodded. "Made some friends."

"Finally—I mean, good, good," responded Auburn, quickly changing sentences. "Anyhow, your day was good. I assume you got into some trouble."

"I guess, we fought a glitch," shrugged Grey.

"Wait, really? I thought you guys were only doing that tutorial doohickey," snarked Auburn as he drove down the road.

"Something happened."

"Grey, were you responsible?"

"No," responded Grey tersely.

Auburn shifted in his seat as they pulled up to a rather big house, Auburn's and Aurum's abode.

"Fine, anyway, we're pulling up. Supper is on the table and yes, it is still hot."

"Thank you."

As Grey stepped out of the SUV, Auburn put his hand on Grey's shoulder. "Look, I'm only hard and asking questions just to make sure you don't get yourself in trouble. And I just know you haven't honed your skills yet, and I want to keep you and others, of course, safe."

Grey nodded, heading inside.

Auburn, standing outside, wiped his brow. "Err boy, what a day."

And with that, he walked inside, checking his texts on his eccentric brother.

A quiet day at the Brier's house.

Deep in the forest, back at Hazard's base...

Hazard watched footage of the groups of teens and pre-teens leaving the store. While he had already accepted that his tutorial glitch plan wouldn't work, he sat in his vessel, planning to explore Bailey himself. For now, he sent messages to his superiors on how things were going.

He at least wanted to test how Bailey's group would respond; his first "attack" was planned to fail anyhow.

Out of the portal came his crew. They too had gained their vessels.

Spyware had long green wavy hair with green pupils. He wore green gloves, a green shirt with black stripes, and green shorts with bits of black. Meanwhile, Keylogger had blue stringy hair with blue eyes, blue shoes, blue gloves, and a blue shirt. Greyware had long messy gray hair with pale skin, and he wore bland shoes as well. Ransomware had a tough build with a red shirt, red shoes, red pupils, and his shirt had a black stripe matching his red and black shoes. Rootkit had the most complex outfit: a gray shirt with TV error color stripes on the front, with red and blue gloves. He wore a backpack that had wires hanging out; the wires were actually appendages, though he made sure they looked lifeless. Trojan wore a black and cyan shirt with matching cyan shoes, and he wore a big set of goggles tinted with enough cyan plastic not to show his eyes.

Glitche had static-like gray hair with periwinkle-dyed tips. He wore a beige shirt with static markings all over it and black, gray, and white shoes. He had pale skin as well.

And finally, Heartspace had the most well-completed design. Heartspace had pink hair, bright brownish skin with pink blushes. Her shirt was dark magenta with two pink stripes. The arms of her shirt were white, and she wore pink gloves. Her eyes were bright pink, matching her long hair.

Hazard greeted them, "Oh, you finally returned. What's the good word?"

Heartspace responded friendly, "Hiya Hazy! Sorry to tell ya, I have bad news. The Emissary isn't interested unless something big happens."

"Sweet... or not..." remarked Hazard, rubbing his forehead with his fingers.

"But I have good news, bro," cheered Spyware. "The Forge seems to be interested."

Hazard looked eager.

"And my utmost gracious leader, Hazard," snarked Keylogger, "Ultravox is indeed convinced to work with us."

"As an arms dealer?" questioned Hazard.

"Yes."

Ransomware shrugged. "I find my news a bit more neutral. There is a new organization forming called the Insidious. Though it's a bit small, we could get them working with us if we do something major. Or have enough power to prove it."

"I also connected with some of Hinobi's rivals," stated Rootkit smugly. "Though they require payment."

"Just let Ultravox handle it, dude," responded Hazard.

"Fine, what about the other guests?" replied Rootkit snidely.

"Whoa, other guests?" Hazard was cut off by a loud noise in the other room. Hazard rushed over to see Abbonox's group, also known as the Marauders, currently playing cards and eating at the big table.

Four boys sat at the table. Abbonox was wearing his usual red shirt with a draped bright yellow cape, a bow tie, and yellow gloves. He had dark blue/black hair that was messy and frazzled. Under his hair, two yellow glowing pupils gave him an unsettling effect. Meanwhile, there was a big, extraordinarily large guy whose body was a mix of fat and muscle, giving him a stout look. He wore a green shirt with black chest armor and some type of Viking-like element with black and yellow or gold linings. He was busy chugging nachos and eating quite a bit. There was a shorter guy, shorter than both the fat green guy and the red one. He had greenish-black hair and dark, nearly pure black, chalky skin, with a red-black shirt with a dark red stripe. His huge hair covered one of his eyes, leaving him with only one sharp glare as he glared at the others. There was a fourth one, but he was hidden behind the big guy.

The biggest and fattest one, wearing a green shirt and black pants, was munching on nachos loudly and noisily. "Alright, I win. Give me my rewards."

"Curses, of course you would win, idiot," snarked a shorter teen with greenish-black hair.

"Cool it, Ramixe," stated an older teen with periwinkle white long hair, who wore a dark black mask showing only glowing white eyes.

"Heh... cool it, you made a pun, Pythos," snickered the big one.

"Shut your tap, G," droned Pythos, who froze G's head.

"Mmmm..." the ice cracked off, freeing G. "If anyone needs a chill pill, it's you. Get it?"

"Oh, shut up, G," snarked Ramixe, grabbing another set of cards.

"What's all this gnarly chaos, man?" rebuffed Hazard, looking at the group playing cards.

"Oh, we're on break," responded Ramixe.

"Break? Why?" asked Rootkit.

G pointed to the many boxes in the room. "Look what we've got for you guys!"

Hazard opened a box to find many capsules of ink.

"Intriguing. Now, you're probably asking about the Plixel amount?" said Hazard cheerfully. "With Ultravox, you'll be rollin' in Plixels, no prob!"

"Good!" stated Abbonox deviously. Abbonox came from one of the portal systems. "Our master will love these new resources."

Abbonox was about to call his contact, only for his contact to call him. "Errr... hello?"

"Abbonoxxxx... I would like to tell you that we have acquired Ultravox's resources," stated his contact. "For now, this will be perfect for our little master's project."

Abbonox smirked, "Perfect."

"Along with that, we have gotten new recruits in our little organization," stated Abbonox's contact. "They'll join your little Marauders crew as well. I'll keep you posted."

Abbonox watched his phone hang up, "Perfect, so how did the 'attack' work?"

"Everything went, like, totally according to plan. Got all the footage I needed. But I bet Hinobi's gonna crank up their defenses now," commented Hazard.

"Perfect, we have them scared," smirked Abbonox evilly.

"Chill out, Abbonox. We're still figuring out how to take down Hinobi for good," said Hazard.

"Yeah, he has a point," stated Pythos, drinking a soda from a wine glass. Such a wicked pretentious being.

"Plus, I'm thinkin' that tall dude and short chick might stir up some serious trouble for us," stated Hazard. "Yeah, no way anyone's gonna blow them off like they're nothing."

"Ha! I doubt it," stated Abbonox, only for a huge noise in the living room to disturb both of them. Hazard and Abbonox rushed over to see a black-haired, black-shirt-wearing teen with a smug grin and pale white skin.

"Ahh, you're a hard group to catch. The name's Charcoal," stated the pale-skinned creep.

Hazard and Abbonox looked at each other in confusion.

At the Dabney Branch of Hinobi was the unassuming store where Dabney Techs like Nameless and Simi resided. And now a new resident as well: Serue.

While the rivalry between Bailey and Dabney techs was put to rest, with only the managers barely tolerating each other, Dabney was definitely not out of Bailey's life. The Bailey Techs and Dabney techs tended to work together on missions either for fun or when Code Green or other threatening glitches arose.

That said, Dabney looked the same as the Bailey Store, with a huge H-shaped store display among other store markets. This is how Serue first saw the place.

While he felt it was a bit much, he was excited to be here. And granted, the Dabney techs seemed weirder than even the Bailey resident techs. That said, they seemed friendly enough and just really competitive. Even if his expression just made him look bored and unimpressed to be here. He definitely had a resting morning face.

Serue had tanned skin, black hair, and cerulean blue eyes. His suit was black with blue lines matching his gauntlet.

Serue had spent hours in the mind-numbingly boring tutorial. But at least he seemed to finally be an official tech. And with that, he also finally had his own gauntlet.

Speaking of which, the gauntlets were quite similar to the Tech Gauntlet. However, the Ink Guardians had some type of metal core ball. This core ball helped guardians control their powers for safety, to prevent dangerous friendly fire and other things like full control of their abilities. Other than that, they looked exactly like regular gauntlets.

Serue was aware that new recruits were joining from his school. That said, he didn't mind; he would make his own choices.

"Alright, this is a new chapter in my life," stated Serue seriously. "And—"

"Hey Serue!" yelled Perrie.

"Ugh... hi, Perrie," stated Serue, annoyed.

Xan pushed Perrie away, "Sorry you had to deal with my idiot friend over here."

Serue sighed, "No problem."

As Serue joined his group outside, he accepted that this was gonna be a strange year.