Author's Note: Back with another chapter.
One thing before we begin though. I understand that the number of updates this week have been less than usual. I do apologize. Something personal kinda happened to me this past week. It's nothing serious. There's no need to worry. But it did hold back my writing by a bit. For that, I'm sorry.
Anyway, enjoy this chapter, which will introduce a certain Marvel character that has grown in popularity these past few months for his adorable nature. Any and all comments are welcome.
Five stopped his bike ride in front of the Hinobi store only to find that there was a crowd full of people fighting for a place in a long line. At that moment Tim also pulled up and parked his bike next to him.
"Yo, Tim." Five greeted with a fist bump.
"Hey, Five." Tim said before turning and seeing the crowd in front of the store. "Man, would you look at this group? You'd think Lincoln was here reading the Gettysburg Address."
"I mean, I can't say I blame them." Five said as he looked on the wall at a poster of a cool looking pair of shoes, his eyes sparkling brightly. "Those exclusive Hinobi Kicks look SO neat!"
"Totally. But let's see if we can't get through this crowd and get inside." Tim said.
The two stepped forward to the entrance before a woman with a red ponytail snapped, "Hey! Back of the line, you two! No cutsies!"
"Woah! Easy, lady! We come in peace!" Tim said, holding up his hands.
"Yeah, we actually work here." Five said quickly.
"Bring me three pairs!" a man in an orange hat called from the crowd, waving a wad of cash. "Whatever they're paying you, I'll double it!"
"Ooookay. Let's get inside before we start a bidding war." Five said. He joined Tim and the two weaved their way through the pushy customers on their way to the front desk where Miko, Zahra and Haneesh were at.
"Here's your voucher," Zahra said in a strained pleasant tone with an equally forced grin as she stuck a scan code on a customer's voucher. "Thanks for shopping Hinobi!"
"Hey, guys, it's…" Five said suddenly setting off Zahra's instincts.
"Get in line, creeper!" Zahra shouted, shooting Five with several stickers with barcodes on them. Tim, thanks to his early warning sense, quickly ducked to avoid them.
"Zahra, it's me." Five said making the girl feel embarrassed.
"Sorry, Five." she said with a sheepish grin and blush.
Seeing an opportunity, Miko grabbed a microphone and spoke through the intercom. "Folks, we've got a special today on tall kids. Buy now, and we'll throw in a free hairnet."
Five wasn't too amused, but Tim laughed as he stood up. "Good one, Miko. Up top." He held his hand up for a high five.
Miko froze a bit and looked at the hand to Tim's smiling and expectant face before her own face suddenly turned red like Zahra and she started to sweat violently. She chuckled nervously.
"Yep. Good joke, Tim. I, uh… I gotta go… over here!" She rushed to stand on the other side of Haneesh, hiding her face. The boy in question looked at her oddly, but shrugged.
"Whoa. What's up with her?" Five asked.
"I don't know." Tim answered lowering her hand. "Ever since the Black Cat thing, she's been awfully distant."
"The 'Black Cat thing,' huh?" Zahra asked as she leaned in too, a knowing look on her face. "Is that by any chance the one where that hacker girl smooched you and Miko became a blind rage demon? Mitch wouldn't stop blabbing about it in the break room."
"Great, I've become office gossip. But… yeah." Tim said rubbing the back of his neck with an embarrassed chuckle and red cheeks. "Since then, Miko's acted so oddly. She can barely be close without acting fidgety and strange. Even when she manages to, she usually begins acting weird after a few minutes. Do you know something about it, Zee?"
Zahra looked from Tim to Miko, who squeaked and tried to look ahead while sneaking small looks at Tim. Zahra sighed and looked back dryly at the guys. "Only that you boys are ridiculously blind." Before the two could ask what she meant, Zahra continued. "Anyway, sorry again about the sticker thing. Since the sneakers went on sale, this crowd's had us all on edge."
"Really. I never would have guessed." Tim said sarcastically looking over at Phil who was fighting an angry customer over a box of sneakers while insisting on "limit one per customer!"
"Why do people waste time lining up here when they can just preorder online like I did?" Five asked, pulling the last barcode off and pulling out his company tablet. He checked the order list, seeing Tim's name right above Five's, showing his own preorder. However, something else made Five drop his smile. "Wait. This can't be right."
"What is it?" Tim asked.
"The order list." Five answered. "It says… I didn't preorder. But I know I did. I opened up my laptop. I went to the merchandise website. I clicked on the kicks. I carted the kicks. I know I did all that!"
"Did you actually confirm your order?" Zahra asked.
"Yes! At least, I think I…" Five suddenly gasped. "Oh, no! I was about to, but Miko called us over to see that one guy who looks like the wizard from Ring of the Lords!"
"Oh, yeah." Tim said. "The resemblance was uncanny, wasn't it?"
"You don't get it, hermano!" Five panicked. "I didn't preorder! Phil, hold one pair for me!"
It was too late. Phil had already taken an armful of sneaker boxes and tossed them to the crowd to fight over. "That's the last of them, you vultures! We are sold out!"
As he said this, Haneesh clicked a remote and red "Sold out" messages appeared on screens all over the store. He then looked over at Five, who had his face sorrowfully planted on the desk.
"Mitch set aside four pair." he informed.
"He did?" Five asked raising his head up to gaze over at Mitch, who carried four boxes of the sneakers in question.
"That's right. Two for me, two to sell, one to stock, and one to rock." Mitch laughed. "Wanna buy a pair? I'll give you a nice friend discount."
"Wow! Thanks, Mitch!" Five said.
"Wait for it…" Tim said.
"That'll be $600." Mitch said.
"WHAT?!"
"There it is." Tim rolled his eyes.
"That's like three times more!" Five complained.
"Meh. We're not great friends."
"You are a horrible, horrible person, Mitch." Tim said dryly.
"A horrible, horrible person with four pairs of limited edition sneakers while Five has none!" Mitch bragged.
"Still glum over those cool shoes, chum?" Miko asked Five, joining him and Tim in the HQ lobby as he bemoaned his lost opportunity. "You'll find another pair."
"Another pair?" Five asked. "These were limited edition, Miko! The rarest and most exclusive kind of fan merch!"
"Then what's BITT got over there?" Miko asked. She and the others watched as BITT hovered past them with a box full of new Hinobi sneakers that had been sold out earlier.
"That's weird." Tim said. "BITT doesn't even have feet."
"Let's go check it out!" Five cried running over to BITT, who put the shoes on a shelf that then descended. "What are you doing with that, BITT?"
"Depositing it into the Glitch Tech loot locker." BITT answered.
"I thought the locker was just for upgrading Glitch Tech gear." Miko said.
"Gear, armor, power-ups, and company swag." BITT replied. "All purchasable by redeeming your Glitch Tech experience points."
"Yeah!" Five cheered. He rushed to the nearest screen and scrolled through it to find his sneakers. "One pair left, and it costs XP instead of money?"
"You better snipe it now, dude." Tim said. "Otherwise, Mitch might take them to bronze them or something."
Five quickly typed on the computer and tried to make his purchase. However, when he pressed on the shoes, his request was denied.
"I'm sorry. You do not have enough XP to purchase this item."
"250,000?" Five asked checking the price. "It would take a month of missions to grind that much XP."
"Sorry, Five." Tim said. "I wish I could lend you some of my XP, but unfortunately, I just spent some on my new Web Grabber skill."
"What's that do?" Miko asked.
"Oh, it's really handy," Tim said. "It shoots out a little projectile into a crowded area, and it fires weblines in every possible direction where a target is. Then, all weblines get pulled right into the exact same spot. Perfect for putting a bunch of Glitches into one spot to take them out at the same time. Pretty cool, huh?"
Miko smiled before suddenly blushing. "Uh, yeah. You're cool. I MEAN…"
"Guys, can we focus?" Five asked. "Where on Earth am I supposed to find 250,000 XP in one day?"
"Now depositing 250,000 XP"
The trio quickly turned around and saw the central hub being filled with a lot of XP. And the Glitch Tech who deposited that XP was none other than…
"Bergy?" Tim asked eyeing the small, bushy-haired klutz. "Bergy's suddenly getting more XP than we are in one day? This has gotta be some alternate dimension or something."
"Let's have a chat with him." Miko said approaching Bergy with her friends. "Bergster."
"Bergie-meister." Tim greeted.
"Robo-Berger." Five greeted in a robot tone.
"Hey, guys." Bergy greeted.
"Dude, how'd you earn that much XP?" Five asked.
"Well, low-level quests may not be that exciting, but they do add up. I'm just one more quest away from earning an achievement." He pulled out a holographic screen which showed a quest along with a town map marked with gems. "See? It's a timed quest to recover a bunch of glitched gems that are hidden all over town."
"What game are those gems from?" Tim asked.
"I don't know yet." Bergy said.
"I love gems." Miko said excitedly. "They smash so pretty when you blast them."
"Yeah, I've wanted to complete that one for a while now," Bergy continued, "But unfortunately, it requires more than one Tech."
"Aww." Everyone grimaced when Mitch passed by in a mocking tone. "Grinding low-level missions like a bunch of blueberries, are we?"
"What do you care?" Five asked sourly, likely still miffed about what happened with the shoes.
"I don't have time to care. I'm too busy earning my XP by taking out bosses… like a boss!"
"Not all missions are about taking down bosses, Mitch!" Bergy called to Mitch as he walked off.
"Just the awesome ones! Boosh!"
Tim groaned. "Why does that guy always try to get the last word in?"
"Bergy, I need 250,000 XP, and I need it fast." Five said. "If we team up to finish that quest…"
"I'll earn the achievement, you can have the XP…" Bergy continued.
"I get to test out my new Web Grabber…" Tim continued.
"And I'll get to pulverize all the gems!" Miko finished happily, pulling out her energy hammer before frowning and getting rid of it again. "Only my sister Nica and I are supposed to fake bond today."
"Fake bond?" Bergy asked.
"Yeah. Mom likes us to spend time together, so she schedules these little playdates for us. But they usually fall apart pretty quickly."
"So you two don't get along?" Tim asked.
"I mean, we used to." Miko said. "But then, she went to high school, and suddenly, it's like she's a different person. But enough about that. This actually works out for us. Meet you guys in ten?"
"Okay. I'll put on my lucky quest socks." Bergy said before beginning a chant. "Quest. Quest."
Immediately after, everyone else joined in. "Quest! Quest! Quest! Quest! Quest! Quest! Quest! Quest!"
"QUEST!" both Tim and Miko cheered jumping into the air. Miko noticed how close they were and immediately moved away from him.
"Well, I, uh… I better meet Nica in front of the store!" Miko chuckled before running off so fast, she left a Miko-shaped cloud where she stood.
"So, has that been a usual thing or…" Bergy asked.
"No, no it hasn't," Tim said.
Up in the locker room, Miko emerged from the portal and leaned against the lockers, trying to get control of her heavy breathing while placing a hand on her rapidly beating heart. "For the love of Gorf! Get it together, Miko!" the girl groaned to herself as she placed her head in her hands. "You need to do something about this crush thing you have going on before you go out of your mind and can never look at Timmy again! But how? I don't know anything about this sort of stuff!" She then perked up. "Wait… Maybe Nica does. Yeah, she goes to high school. I'm sure she's had plenty of crushes before. Maybe I can ask her for advice before we split! Perfect!"
"Hey, sis." Miko greeted her older sister, who stood next to their mom's car parked in front of the Hinobi store.
"Sup." Nica didn't remove her eyes from her phone.
"So, what do you girls have planned?" Mayumi asked.
The girls suddenly talked over each other with different answered.
"Sister stuff."
"Movie."
"Pedi."
"Movie-pedi."
"Hair braiding."
"Sharing secrets."
"Sister stuff."
"Fun." Mayumi said seemingly not believing her daughters. "Just one new rule: I want you to send me selfies of you both together every ten minutes."
"Selfies?!" Miko exclaimed in shock.
"Together?!" Nica asked in the same tone.
"Or you're grounded!" Mayumi threatened dramatically.
"Yes, mama." the sisters promised reluctantly.
"Pics, or it didn't happen, girls." Mayumi said before driving away.
"Ugh. Man, she's good." Nica groaned.
"Let's just roll with it." Miko said. "Come on. It'll be like old times."
"Fine." Nica said dryly. "Just do not humiliate me."
"Wow, dramatic much?" Miko asked. "I am not gonna…"
Just then, the two girls heard the sound of the word "Quest" chanting over and over. The Glitch Tech van driven by Five, Tim, and Bergy drove up and stopped in front of the Kubota girls. Nica glared at Miko, who returned with a nervous smile.
"Miko, the party's about to begin." Five informed.
"The adventure party!" Bergy exclaimed.
"And you know, no party is complete without its muscle." Tim said. "So you in?"
Miko blushed a bit before answering. "I may be longer than I thought, guys. Remember my sister, Nica?" She turned, but her expression fell when she saw that her sister had already walked away. "Ugh. Catch you guys later."
The boys waved at Miko, who ran to catch up with Nica. They then continued chanting as their quest had officially begun.
Tim, Five, and Bergy continued chanting "QUEST" until they stopped their van in front of the Nolan's Ark Pet Store.
"You have arrived at your quest waypoint."
"The first stage of our first quest together." Bergy relished. "Let's savor this moment." With that, he and the others took a moment to bask in the start of their shared quest.
"Okay. Now, how do we find the gems?" Five asked. "If they were in plain sight, people would have noticed them, right?"
"Right." Bergy answered pulling out a beeping device. "Our gear should give us their general locations, but the rest will be trial and error. Ready to start the quest timer, HF and WT?"
"Ready, B." Five answered.
"WT?" Tim asked.
"You know, for Web Tech." Bergy said. "Speaking of, shouldn't you be in your Web Tech suit right now?"
"Bergy, we're digging for gems, not fighting aliens." Tim said. "Putting on my black-and-green pajamas in a public pet store seems a little overkill."
Bergy shrugged. "You're not wrong."
"Quest timer starting. Thirty minutes and counting."
With that, the two jumped out of their van beginning their quest. They bolted right into the pet store and split up to check around the aisles. They held their devices and looked around the store getting the same frequency in their gear's beeping. After a while, Bergy's gear began to beep faster.
"I think I found something." he told his partners. "I got a signal from the… AAAH!" He was startled by a snake, which hissed at him from its glass cage. It sat beside a bunch of other reptilian pets. "…Reptile section."
"Oh boy. Haven't been much of a fan since Dr. Lizardo." Tim sighed as he followed his device which beeped some more when he reached a glass container full of turtles. "I got a signal from the turtles."
"Turtles. Why did it have to be…" Five said dramatically before laughing. "JK. I love these guys."
"Do any look like Glitches?" Bergy asked. "Check for martial weapons and bandanas."
Tim paused and looked confused for a moment. "Huh. You know, that sounds… oddly familiar. Anyway…" He started rummaging through the turtles. "Let's see here. You? No, you're normal. You? No, you're normal too. How about you? No, you're a shark in a turtle costume. Maybe you could give me some…"
Tim stopped when he finally noticed something. He returned to one of the turtles he checked on previously and picked it up. His eyes widened seeing the tiny, cute shark panting its tongue out like a dog in his hands. The shark wore a purple collar around its neck and a turtle costume over most of its body.
"There's something you don't see every day." Tim said. "Guys, I didn't find the gem, but I think I found a different type of Glitch."
"Let me see." Five took a moment to scan the shark in Tim's hands. When he got a result, his expression became immense. "Holy smokes! Tim, you just found Jeff the Land Shark!"
"Wait, for real?!" Tim asked looking back at the shark in his hand. "As in THE Jeff the Land Shark?"
"Um, I might be a little unfamiliar with that game character." Bergy said. "Who is that?"
"Jeff the Land Shark, from the game The Ultimate Treasure Hunt." Tim explained. "Jeff is pretty much the MOST helpful supporting character in the game. In fact, he was ranked among one of the top ten supporting characters in Hinobi games overall last year."
"They say that not only is he cute as a button, but he has a really broken ability that allows him to easily locate the objective for the players." Five said before giving out a gasp. "That's it! Tim, see if he can help us find the gems!"
"Okay." Tim turned to Jeff. "Uh, hey, Jeff. Would you, uh, mind helping us find any purple gems around here?"
Jeff nodded before jumping back into the turtle cage. A couple seconds later, something bounced right out. It was a turtle with a blue shell covered in purple gems. The second it started bouncing around the store, the Glitch Techs quickly chased after it.
Five pulled out his gauntlet and tried to aim, but the turtle was surprisingly too fast. "I can't even target this thing!"
"What's the point of a turtle if it can't be slow?" Tim cried out. "What, did they drink coffee or something?"
"You don't try to blast a glitched turtle shell!" Bergy informed. "You try to…"
Suddenly, Jeff jumped out of nowhere and landed on top of the gem-encased turtle, which quickly transformed into a single gem hovering in midair. Jeff stared for a second before leaping into the air.
"Woo-hoo!"
"See? He gets it." Bergy said.
Five proceeded to absorb the gem into his gauntlet.
"Gem acquired."
"Yes! 26 minutes on the timer!" Five cheered.
"And it's all thanks to this little guy." Tim said. He picked up Jeff and pet him on his head.
"So… I gotta ask," Bergy said, "Why is he in a turtle suit?"
"Jeff usually wears animal costumes to blend into their environment." Five explained. "He probably thought he needed to look like one of the turtles."
"Well, if you can help us find more gems in record time, you don't need this costume." Tim told his new fish friend. "You're coming with us on our epic quest, new guy."
Jeff responded by giving a playful lick to Tim's face making him laugh.
Over at the Joystick Jr. Pizza Arcade, Miko was working on one of the arcade machines while Nica stood beside it trying to hide herself from people around her.
"The CPU's connected to the Jamma board." Miko sang. "The Jamma board's connected to the power supply. The power supply's connected to the… everything. Nica, help me out, okay? Pull the bunny out, and then whack it, okay?"
"Miko, please come out from under there." Nica said. "People are going to notice us."
"Hang on. I almost got this." Miko added in a few adjustments until finally, the machine worked perfectly like it was supposed to. "Boom! Back in order!" She closed the bottom, then turned to her older sister. "So… since I have you here, I was hoping I could ask your advice for something." She took up one of the game's hammers. "Maybe you can give it to me over a round?"
Much to her dismay, though, Nica was too anxious to listen to her. When she wasn't on her phone, she looked in the distance to see other teenagers glancing in her direction. To her however, it seemed like they were staring intently at her as if waiting for her to do something. Nervously, she turned away from them and started walking away.
"We gotta get out of here."
"Come on. I really need you." Miko said following her.
"I don't have time for games, Miko." Nica said.
"First of all, this isn't about a game. And second of all, if you don't have time for games, then what are you always messing with on your smartphone?"
"Apps."
"Come on, Nica." Miko said. "I really need you here. See, I may, kinda, sorta…"
"Miko, not now." Nica brushed her sister off.
Miko groaned before realizing she was next to a ball pit. That's when an idea hit her. "Hey. What about the ball pit? You LOVE the ball pit."
"I do not love the…"
BAM!
Nica was cut off by a blue ball that hit the back of her head. She turned to find her little sister swimming in the balls. She even had a few of those balls in her mouth before spitting them out.
"Stop it." Nica warned.
"Ball pit!" Miko threw a ball at Nica's direction.
"Gross, Miko! Now come on!"
"Ball pit!" Miko continued to throw a barrage of balls over at Nica.
Suddenly, Nica caught one of the balls expertly. "Oh, it's on."
Just like that, Nica jumped into the ball pit and played around with Miko. The two of them ran around the pit throwing balls at each other and laughing about it. They even jumped into the pit together from the playplace. They continued to play around until Nica's phone began to beep.
"Ten-minute timer."
"Selfie time!" Miko cheered, actually excited. She and Nica grouped up and took a selfie. "So, Nica, now that I have you in a good mood, there's actually something I'd like to ask you." Miko suddenly got embarrassed as she rubbed her arm. "You've… had crushes before, right?"
"Oh, yeah. Of course." Nica answered. "Why do you ask?"
"Well…" Miko said nervously. "You see… I may… Well… It's hard for me to admit, but…"
While Miko continued to stammer, Nica gasped when her eyes caught a group of teenagers eyeing her as she stood in the ball pit. She was frightened for a moment before breaking off from her sister.
"Great. Thanks a lot, Miko."
"What?" Miko asked following Nica outside the arcade. "I'm actually trying to get help from my big sister, and you just want to ignore me to focus on your own problem?"
"Miko, you don't understand." Nica said. "I can't have anybody see me in a situation like that. I just can't."
"Why?" Miko asked. "Why do you care some kids see you anyway?"
"Why do I care?" Nica asked. She pulled out her phone showing a picture of a girl sitting in a school desk. "See this poor kid? I don't even remember her name, because everyone at school just calls her Frog Tongue. She yawned in class, and a fly flew in her mouth. So everyone posted a pic of it all over sosh meds. People at school are always watching, waiting for you to mess up. Because as long as they're busy laughing at you, no one is laughing at them."
"That is insane."
"THAT is high school."
Miko glared at her sister before walking away. "Fine, Nica. Do what you want. I'm gonna go meet up with my friends."
"But Mom will ground us." Nica argued.
"You'd love that. Holed up indoors where nobody can see us."
"I'm serious, Miko. Come back." Nica ordered. When Miko kept walking away, she groaned loudly and followed.
"Any signal?" Five asked Bergy as he drove further downtown.
"It's faint, but the next one should be right… here." Five stopped at Bergy's request.
"Where in particular?" Tim asked looking around.
"According to this scanner," Bergy said, "It's just on… that rooftop."
"Then let's go." Five said.
A couple minutes later, the Glitch Techs reached the top of the building. On the wall was a painted mural picture of a pink walrus with a narwhal horn swimming alongside several gems, ice blocks, and turtles that looked like the one they had seen before.
"All right, little guy." Tim said setting Jeff down on the ground. "Get to sniffing."
Jeff nodded and looked around the roof. He stopped when he looked at the painted mural on the wall and growled right at it.
"The mural?" Five asked. "You sure? Hey, Tim, are walruses and sharks natural enemies in the wild?"
"Well, I'm pretty sure most EVERYTHING is a natural enemy to sharks in the wild. Though this thing looks more like a narwalrus with that horn on its head." Tim answered just before his senses tingled. "Uh, oh. I think Jeff might be onto something…"
Suddenly, the narwalrus on the mural popped right off the wall, startling the group. It wrapped its flippers onto Five and held him tightly, causing everyone to step back.
"Whoa! We got a monster!" Bergy shouted.
"Guess this is a good time to go Web Tech after all." Tim said right before putting his costume on.
He then shot a webline and used it to cover the narwalrus' eyes. It roared out letting Five go.
"Now! Everyone, together!" Five ordered. He, the Web Tech, and Bergy worked together and fired their gauntlets at the narwalrus Glitch, which was destroyed leaving ten gems in its way.
"Cool!" Five cheered taking the gems. "Questiny is our destiny!"
"Quest buddy handshake!" Bergy yelled sharing a handshake with Five. Tim and Jeff did the same.
Suddenly, Miko's ringtone rang in Tim's gauntlet. He removed his costume and answered it.
"Five. Tim. Bergy. Where you guys at?"
"Headed to the next quest point." Five said. "The map says it should be at the car wash on the south side."
"And Miko, you're not going to believe this." Tim said excitedly. "We just found Jeff the Land Shark."
"OM-SQUEE! For real! Oh, I can't wait to meet him!" Miko cried out.
"So you're joining up?" Five asked.
"Oh, yeah! Uh, there's just one thing…"
"You brought your sister with you?" Tim asked seeing Nica lounging at the Hinobi van shortly after they all met up at the car wash.
"You know you can't bring your older sister on a mission." Five said.
"We're sort of a package deal right now."
"The next signal's inside, guys?" Bergy called out heading into the car wash. The others followed him.
"Welp, time to bring out our trained little finder." Tim said. He walked to the van and opened the doors up. "Introducing… Jeff the Land Shark!" He flung the open and Jeff bounded out, running around excitedly before plopping down and panting cutely at Miko.
Miko looked at Jeff and squeed with huge, sparkling eyes. She then rushed to Jeff to give him a playful hug. "AAAHH! YOU'RE EVEN CUTER IN PERSON!"
Nica looked curiously at the Land Shark. "What kind of dog is that?"
"Uh, it's a fish." Tim said. "I feel like that's obvious. Though, considering you're here, maybe I SHOULD'VE put him in a dog costume."
"Guys, there's only fifteen minutes left on the quest timer." Five said. "Tim, get him to work."
"No problem." Tim said pushing Miko away. "Jeff, start looking for gems."
On command, Jeff the Land Shark took point gazing around the car wash. Everyone else followed him.
"So what are you guys looking for in here?" Nica asked.
"Oh, we'll know it when we see it… OOF!" Bergy's face was suddenly flattened by a flat object no one could see.
"Or not." Tim said.
Miko tapped on an invisible object in front of her. She then equipped her visor seeing a peculiar shape she couldn't see before. "Whoa. Now, you see 'em… Now, you don't."
"These plixel objects are frozen in stasis, like a paused game." Five said.
"I can't see anything, you guys." Nica said.
"That's because these 3D models have no skins on them." Bergy explained.
"Ew."
"He means these objects don't have any graphics layers turned on." Miko said beginning to climb on the odd shapes that hovered in midair.
Nica's eyes widened as to her, her sister was climbing on nothing but air. "Uh, Miko… you're…"
"Don't freak out, sis." Miko said. "It's weird, but it's also science."
"And hey, science fiction is still pretty much science." Tim said climbing up along with Five to join Miko.
Bergy was the last one to jump onto the shapes. When he landed, the shaped finally took form. They were blue like ice, and the top layers were covered in snow.
"Whoa!" Nica exclaimed shifting her eyes around. "I can see them! I see them! How is all this real?"
"Let's just say it's… technical." Miko answered.
"Hey, I'm not finding any gems here." Five said looking around from the top of the shapes.
Tim looked down at Jeff, who was digging his fins into the ground. "Huh. Well, according to Jeff, they're not up here."
"These blocks seem familiar somehow." Nica said to herself just before her phone rang. "Miko, selfie time!"
"Ugh, coming." Miko said jumping back down to meet up with her sister.
"Hey, can I join in?" Tim asked climbing on down.
"Oh, I always wanted to be a photo bomb." Bergy said joining the others.
"Come on, guys! We're on a quest timer over here!" Five stated.
Miko and Nica proceeded to pose for their selfie. Tim stood right beside them, and Miko couldn't help but blush as soon as the picture was taken.
"Ugh, I need more XP if I'm going to get those shoes." Five said looking down at Jeff. "Come on, you tiny Jaws clone. Where are the dang gems?"
Jeff continued to sniff the ground until he stopped. He then tapped his foot on a certain spot a couple of times.
All of a sudden, the entire floor collapsed and the floating blocks fell into a large hole that was made beneath them. During the collapse, a large water hose was knocked off where it was and sprayed a large body of soap water onto Miko and Nica, washing them straight out of the car wash.
When Miko popped out of the soap, she laughed loudly while her head was topped off with a pile of bubbles. "That was awesome!"
Nica rose up from the soap in front of her sister. Miko took a moment to look at her before laughing some more at the beard-shaped bubbled on her face.
"It's not funny, Miko!" Nica shouted.
Miko just kept laughing. "You look like Santa Claus!"
"Yeah, well…" Nica tried to fight it, but even she couldn't help but laugh in amusement. "You look like you lost a fight with a 100-foot marshmallow."
The two of them continued to laugh together until a girl's voice called out to them. "Hey, Nica."
"You've got to be kidding me." Nica groaned before turning around. Three teenagers in a dune buggy stopped to take pictures of her before driving away laughing. Nica was left utterly dead inside.
"Wow." Miko said watching the teens drive off. "Everyone really is watching you."
After a moment of sulking, Nica and Miko walked back to the inside of the carwash. Miko then heard her sister's cell phone chiming making her uneasy.
"Uh… You may not wanna go on sosh meds for a little while."
"I want to find the nearest hole in the ground and throw myself in it." Nica said shamefully.
"Hey, you guys!" Bergy called out to the girls. "We found a hole in the ground!"
Miko and Nica looked and saw a giant hole that led to a sewer tunnel underneath. The only exits other than the hole itself were blocked by the ice blocks. The two of them climbed down, and stood stunned along with the boys as they found themselves surrounded by countless gems floating in midair.
"Whoa!" Miko exclaimed eyeing the gems. "You guys found a bonus level?"
"Either that," Tim said, "Or we stumbled upon a magic pirate's treasure horde." He gave Jeff a little pat on the head. "Good job, little guy."
"It's a treasure room!" Five said excitedly pulling in one of the gems. "There's more than enough here to buy limited-edition sneakers! There's enough to buy all the limited-edition everythings!"
Miko took her chance and punched one of the gems making it disappear. "Oh, yeah! When I hear that pop, I just can't stop!"
"Three minutes left, gang." Five said looking at his clock. "Farm all the XP you can!"
The Glitch Techs quickly proceeded to gear up and go all around the room, snatching up all the gems around them. Five dashed at them with his rocket boots. Miko swung her energy hammer at them. Bergy hopped on them like a video game character. The Web Tech used his new Web Grabber to bring a bunch of gems together for him to take at once. Even Jeff ran around excitedly as the group farmed the XP. Each of the Glitch Techs were racking in dozens of gems and XP by the second.
Meanwhile, Nica, who was fascinated by what she was seeing, took one of the gems and brought it closer to examine it. "This gem… I know this seems weird, but I think all these things are from a video game."
That made the Web Tech, Miko, and Bergy stop.
"Whaaaat? That's silly talk." Miko fake laughed before punching a gem behind her.
"And why is that guy wearing a clown costume?" Nica asked, pointing at the Web Tech. "And how is doing all that with the spider webs and stuff?"
"Hey! First of all, who are you calling a clown?" the Web Tech asked. "I may be able to make balloon animals, but I'm no clown. And second, these powers are the result of a bite from a Glitch-radiated spider."
Nica stared at him oddly. "THIS is the guy you played games with online, Miko?"
"Er, all this spider stuff was a sort of a… recent development."
"Guys, look! I found a big one!" Five cried out finding a very large gem embedded into the ground.
Tim suddenly felt his head begin to tingle. "Uh, Five, are you sure you should be touching that? My Spider Senses are tingling like crazy."
"I thought it was 'Timmy Tingle'." Miko said.
"I sorta think this one just has a nice ring to it, you know?"
Miko thought for a second before nodding. "Okay. Yeah, yeah. You have a point."
"We need that XP, Tim." Five said digging right for the large gem, and right as he unearthed it, a musical tone echoed from it.
"I know that sound…" Nica said before widening her eyes in terror. "Wait! Stop!"
It was too late. Five touched the gem, and instantly, a bright light shot out of it and into the space above them. High into the air, a familiar pink narwalrus Glitch looked down at the Glitch Techs and laughed in a seal-like noise.
"Five, isn't that the Glitch from the mural?" Bergy asked fearfully.
"This quest has a hidden boss!" Five exclaimed.
"And Mitch wanted to miss out on this." the Web Tech said.
"Look!" Nica pointed up. "It's opening its mouth!"
The narwalrus did in fact open its mouth, and a funny-shaped ice block slid out of it and dropped into the pit. It started to keep dropping ice blocks alarming the kids.
"Uh, I think we overstayed our welcome." the Web Tech said.
"Timmy's right, Five!" Miko yelled. "Now would be a good time to leave!"
"You guys hold them off!" Five instructed continuing to dig for the big gem. "I've almost got this gem uncovered!"
"Forget the gem!" Miko shouted. "You can't spend XP if you're a pancake, Five!"
"Don't worry! My man Bergy's got a plan! Right, Bergy?"
"You're asking BERGY?!" the Web Tech asked loudly.
"Uh, well, I always wanted to come up with a last minute plan in a life-or-death situation!" Bergy stammered.
…
…
…
"WELL?!" everyone asked loudly.
"Uh, nothing so far." Bergy answered.
"What about you?" Nica asked the Web Tech. "You've got a plan, right? All those powers! One has to be able to help us!"
"I don't even know what we're up against!" the Web Tech replied. He saw Jeff about to get crushed, but shot a web to pull him into his arms before he could get crushed. The narwalrus spat out more blocks of ice, beginning to surround everyone.
"We're gonna have to blast our way out!" Miko shouted. "Come on, Five!"
Five only responded with a vicious hiss.
"Ugh! Five's gone full Gollum on me, Tim!" Miko cried out.
More blocks fell, but these small ones had little surprises on top of them. They were gem-encrusted turtles just like they found at the pet store earlier.
"Turtles." Bergy said fearfully. "Why did it have to be turtles?"
"And in this case, that statement IS appropriate!" Tim cried.
The turtles shot themselves at the gang, who fired back at them with their gauntlets as well as Tim growing his spider legs and batting them away, leaving Nica even more shocked. They then turned their attention to blasting the blocks, but they were barely chipping away at them.
"I'm gonna see if I can't go up there and stop the blocks up-close!" the Web Tech said, pulling in his legs before tossing Jeff to Miko's flabbergasted sister. "Nica, watch over Jeff!" He then leaped up into the air over to the ice blocks.
While he was gone, Nica looked down at Jeff, who panted in her arms. She then widened her eyes adorably at him. "Aw! For a little fish, you're so cute!" she exclaimed as she hugged him.
The Web Tech swung himself upwards, jumping from one falling block to another. After a minute, he stuck himself right at the narwalrus' face, making the Glitch growl and shake around.
"Whoa, Nellie!" the Web Tech exclaimed trying to stay on. "If I wanted a ride like this, I'd go to the mechanical bulls at the corral!"
"Timmy's not gonna stop that thing forever!" Miko shouted.
"Miko…" Nica called out.
"Not now! Fighting for life here!"
"But I know what game this is!" Nica yelled. She then pulled out her phone showing a game on her screen. "This is Crystal Crush!"
"I thought you didn't have time for games." Miko said.
"It's an app!"
"Technically, it's both." Bergy informed.
"AAAHHH!" the Web Tech yelled landing on his back to the ground. "That low-rent Wally Walrus just punched me with his own tongue. He's gotta pay." He stood back up. "How do we win this game, Nica?"
Nice gave her answer grasping onto one of the purple gems they collected. "These gems aren't treasure. They're ammunition. Watch!" With all her strength, she thrusted the gem up at one of the blocks, which disintegrated entirely.
"Gamer logic!" both Miko and Nica proclaimed proudly.
"Oh, you say it too." the Web Tech said. "Well, you heard her, guys? Let's give that seal a treasured beating!"
The gang equipped the gems they acquire and started shooting at the blocks. This time, they were being blasted into nothingness. Five, however, was worried over what was happening.
"Not the gems! We need those!"
"Get a grip, Five!" the Web Tech yelled. "What's more important? A pair of fancy footwear or your life?"
Once the blocks were mostly gone, the gang refocused their firepower on the walrus head, which produced more turtles to try and attack them with.
"I think I almost got it, guys!" Five said just about to pull the giant gem from the ground. His smile then dropped when he noticed a large block on its way to crush an unsuspecting Bergy. "Bergy!"
Out of instinct, Five jumped over to Bergy and pushed him out of the way. The two of them barely escaped getting crushed before Five used one of his gems to destroy the block above them.
"You saved me!" Bergy exclaimed.
Suddenly, another block fell, and it landed right on top of the big gem Five had unearthed. It was destroyed, but upon realizing what could have happened to HIM if he hadn't moved, Five quickly got over it.
"Actually, I think you saved me. Quest buddy handshake?"
"Right after we crush some crystals."
Five joined the group and added his gem ammunition to fighting the narwalrus Glitch. They all dealt significant damage onto it, inching closer and closer to victory while quickly depleting their gem supply. Eventually, the narwalrus was totally red except for the tip of his horn and began blinking. Right before the final blow could be dealt though…
"I'm out!" Bergy yelled.
"Me too!" Miko said.
"Same!" the Web Tech shouted.
Angry, the nalwalrus Glitch vomited out a whole mess of blocks raining down at them.
"It's on its final leg! This is always where the bosses go all out!" Tim cried.
"If we can hit his mouth, we can take him out!" Nica informed.
"I've only got one gem left!" Five said.
"Me too!" Nica said. "Let's make them count."
Just then, Jeff the Land Shark jumped out of Nica's arms and offered up his empty flipper. He had a serious and determined look on his face.
"What's he doing?" Nica asked.
"I think he wants to be the one to finish him off." Five said.
"Sorry, buddy," the Web Tech said, "But it's too dangerous. I'll handle it. Five, get ready to hand me your gem!" Jeff looked blankly at that.
"I'll give you an opening!" Nica yelled. She ran and jumped like an expert to avoid blocks before throwing her last gem upwards at a block protecting the narwalrus' face. There was a clear shot between them and the narwalrus' open mouth that had a red X in the middle of it.
"Now, Tim!" Five shouted tossing his gem to his friend.
The Web Tech grabbed the gem and started swinging upwards again from one block to the next. He flew high past the blocks before coming face to face with the narwalrus. It roared at him, but the Web Tech didn't flinch. He just smirked, pulled out his gem and tossed it hard into the Glitch's mouth. It was a direct hit. "Trust me! This will be good for... Well, all of us, really."
The narwalrus barked and blinked green until it popped.
"Quest completed."
The Web Tech looked up at the score displayed above him after he landed on the ground. "500,000 XP? Five, that's twice as much XP than you need for your sneakers!"
"Yeah! We did it!" Nica cheered like a happy gamer girl.
"Wow, Miko." Tim said watching Nica with her. "Your sister has some serious skills."
"Yeah. Who do you think taught me how to play video games?"
"Really? Man, every day, you continue to surprise me."
That comment made Miko blush.
As Mitch left the Hinobi store after a long day's work, he brushed his hair confidently until he heard the repeated chanting of the word "Quest". A Hinobi van pulled up in front of him, and the team of Five, Miko, Tim, Bergy, and Nica jumped out in full celebration.
"Well, if it isn't the blueberry brigade back from patrol." Mitch said in a mocking tone.
"Read it and weep, Williams." Five said displaying the XP collected, which made Mitch drop his smile in surprise.
"What?! How'd you lowbies earn all that XP?"
"Yeah, turns out Bergy's crystal quest had a hidden boss that rewarded us with twice as much XP than we needed," Tim said with a smile. "Look at my face. Do I look smug? I feel smug."
"So you know," Bergy said, "Just defeated your ordinary, average hidden boss… like a boss."
Mitch rolled his eyes and sighed. "I guess you can bust out a pair of limited-edition trainers after all, newbie."
"Or preorder a pair of Hinobi's newest designer sneakers!" Phil cried out walking out of the store. He set up a poster for a new pair of sneakers for everyone to see.
"They're the same shoes." Five said.
"The laces are slightly different, huh?" Bergy asked.
"That's nothing." Tim said. "I can pretty much change my own shoes by replacing the laces on my own."
"Thanks, Phil, but one pair's enough." Five said.
"Suit yourself. I've got plenty of customers."
"Uh, I better go preorder." Mitch said heading into the store.
"He's worth ten pair easy." Phil said loving the thought of money.
"Hey, Phil, one more thing." Tim said. "Since Five only needs half of the XP we collected for his sneakers, I was wondering if I could use what's left to get something for myself."
"I thought you already have a pair of sneakers." Phil said.
"Oh, no. It's not that." Tim said. He reached into his backpack and pulled Jeff out. "It's for my new companion pet!"
Phil's eyes widened. "Whoa! You actually found Jeff the Land Shark? How'd you pull that off?"
"It was quite lucky for me." Tim said hugging the shark tightly, who then chirped happily. "So what do you think?"
"Uh, I mean, I have no objections." Phil said. "If you want to purchase him, go ahead. I won't stop you."
"Yes!" Tim cheered pulling Jeff to his face. "Welcome to the team, Jeff!"
Meanwhile, Nica pulled Miko in for a private talk. "You do realize you're gonna have to explain all that technical stuff we saw to your big sister, don't you?"
"Sorry, sis, but we gotta do a little thing with your brain before anything." Miko said. "But I promise to make it so you remember us having a fun time today playing games like old times."
"Aw, come on! Tell me!" Nica demanded playfully teasing her sister.
"Never!"
"Hey, Nica!" cried out a girl from a passing teenage group that were pointing their phones at her. They snapped their photos, but this time, Nica fully embraced being silly with Miko. The teens laughed as they walked away.
"Wow. Way to make a spectacle of yourself, sis." Miko said.
"Yeah, let 'em stare, Miko." Nica said. "I don't know if I'll ever make it through high school, but if I can survive Crystal Crush, I can survive just about anything."
"Yeah." Miko said turning her attention to Tim. "I think I can too."
Nica looked curiously before her eyes widened in realozation. She then pulled out her phone to look at a selfie she took earlier. She gasped when she noticed Miko blushing after getting close to Tim.
"Wait a minute… Miko, earlier, you said something about a crush. Do you… like that Tim guy you met online?"
Miko chuckled nervously. "It's that obvious, huh?" She then sighed. "Yeah. I admit, I think Tim's pretty cute. And amazing and funny and sweet and… just so darn wonderful."
"Aw, that's adorable!" Nica squeed, hugging her little sister tightly. "My baby sister has her very first crush! You really ARE growing up!" Her smile dropped, though, when she noticed Miko's frown. "What's wrong?"
"It's just… Ugh! It's so hard! I never knew having feelings this intense could be so difficult!" She paced around. "I can't eat. I can't sleep. All I think about is him and his smile and everything! Heck, I can barely be in the same room as him without having to will myself to not turn into a pile of giggling, blushing mush!"
"That's kinda how crushes work, Miko. Trust me, that's happened to me plenty of times.
"Yeah, but this is different, sis! We don't just work together. We play together. We have fun together. We've already got a great friendship going. What if… what if I tell him how I feel and it ruins it? Makes it all awkward? Or, what if we DO get together and things go wrong? The whole team would be shot to pieces! That's not even getting into the fact that I don't even know if he likes me like that!" Her expression then clouded. "And then, there's… her."
"'Her'?" Nica asked. "Uh oh. I'm sensing a love triangle."
Miko nodded and folded her arms. "Yeah. There's another girl who's interested in Timmy. She's sort of a troublemaker around town. She's messed with us twice already and she knows I like him and the last time, she…" She paused before taking a deep breath. "She kissed him in front of me."
"What?!" Nica exclaimed angrily "That is SO not cool!"
"Yeah, er, I kinda lost my head after seeing that and sorta… tried to rip her eyes out."
"That explains why you came back that one night saying you had gotten into a fight with a stray animal, but looked like you'd gotten into a scuffle with Attila the Hun." Nica stated.
"No kidding." Miko said glumly. "A lot of stuff happened that night that made me wonder about stuff I thought I knew. Not the least of which are my feelings for Timmy. And our argument during the fight didn't help." She looked at Nica with tears building. "Nica, not only is she WAY hotter, but she's got lots more confidence than I do! She told me herself she was positive that Tim would pick her. What if she takes him away? And Tim seemed to REALLY like that kiss and was all flustered when she flirted with him. What if she's right that I'm not good enough for a guy like him?" Some tears began leaking out. "All these stupid, stupid thoughts are just messing with my head so much and I just…!"
"Whoa, Miko, calm down." Nica said grabbing Miko's shoulders. "First of all, don't you dare doubt yourself. Otherwise, this other girl wins. And you don't want that, do you?"
Miko shook her head wiping her eyes.
"And secondly, just because you've got a great friendship with that guy, it doesn't mean it can be ruined." She smiled softly and knelt in front of Miko. "You're an amazing girl, Miko. Anyone who knows you would say the same. Don't let fear mess you up. Try starting with keeping up your composure while you're hanging with him."
"How do I do that? I told you, every time he gets near, I just get so flustered. It's a miracle we were able to get out of that Crystal Crush situation without me losing all composure."
"Well, try just remembering how great he is. And then, remember how great he thinks you are. Just don't run away every time he talks to you. Otherwise, your chances with him will slip away. For now, just keep up the good work and be the best girl you can be in his eyes." She then hugged Miko tightly.
Miko smiled and hugged back. "Thanks, sis."
"Welcome. And listen, I know I was a bit of a jerk for throwing you aside today in favor of my own problems, especially when you were trying to get my help. I promise you that even if you wipe my mind of whatever insanity happened today, things will be better between us," Nica promised. She then stood up and grinned at her sister. "Last selfie," she said, readying her phone and pointing it at herself and Miko.
"PHOTO BOMB!" Bergy yelled as the boys all returned and saw the girls preparing their picture.
The pic was taken catching all five kids in it. Tim was close to Miko again, but this time, she kept her composure and stuck with her smile, taking her sister's advice to heart.