Author's Note: Hello, everyone. I hope you all enjoyed the Spider-Man/Ninja Turtles fanfic, because now, I'm proud to start with a brand new story to be added to the Spider-Nick series: The Web Tech.
As some of you know, the Spider-Nick series is a Spider-Verse style crossover fanfic series featuring different versions of Spider-Man going on adventures with heroes from Nick shows. Some have versions of Spider-Man you're familiar with while others (including this one) will feature completely original web-slingers thought up my me and my friend who generously helped me a lot with this series: MajorBrony95.
For this fanfic, we will be introducing an original version of Spider-Man named Tim Burns, also known as the Web Tech. I know a lot of people were expecting Peni Parker or Margo Kess, but I've already got Peni planned for another fanfic and Margo seems more like someone more meant for cyberspace shows instead of one about fighting video game characters in real life. Because of that, an OC Spider-Man seemed like the best idea. And I must say, me and MajorBrony95 are quite proud of this character, and we hope you are too.
Now that all that's settled, let's begin this fanfic. Enjoy the chapter. Any and all comments are welcome.
"All right, let's do this one last time. My name is Tim Burns, also known by my gamer tag, W3B_Burns. I was bitten by a glitched-out spider, and ever since then, I have been your friendly neighborhood Web Tech. But I'm getting WAY ahead of myself. Let's start at the beginning, shall we?"
"When my parents—programmers for Hinobi Tech—passed away when I was young, I was left in the care of my mom's sister, Geraldine Lawson, or Aunt Geri as I call her. Who, believe it or not, owns her own retro video game store: Game Kingdom! It's so awesome being able to go a place where you can find all sorts of classic and favorite games and play them practically anytime you want!
"And Aunt Geri's pretty cool too. She's always been there for me through my life, encouraged my love of video games and knew TONS of tips and tricks to help me become a great video game player. Not to brag, but I got pretty darn good at them. I really had my old friend, Five, on the ropes back in our younger days. He hasn't been around much for… personal reasons, though our doors are always open to him. And I do see him every now and then online to say hi and trade gamer tips.
"But as good a friend Five is, no one keeps me on my toes more than a certain gamer who lives somewhere in Bailey. Her gamer tag is Me_K.O. She's won her fair share of games. I've won MY fair share of games. Either way, we still get a big laugh afterwards. We never really met face to face though. She said her family's pretty weird about making a friend online.
"Well, long story short, I know that me, Five, and Me-K.O. are all pretty epic gamers. And although we didn't know it, we were destined to take our talents up to the next level.
"You want to know what happens next? Well, here's the story…"
It all started late at night, within the home of Geri Lawson and her nephew, Tim Burns. While his aunt was sleeping, he stayed up in his room playing his video game against someone online.
The game was called "Super Soccer Starz", which was about super mutants playing an extreme version of soccer. Tim was playing his team against a team chosen by his greatest gaming rival, Me_K.O. The two of them played intensely while bantering in their respective headsets with microphones.
"Here I go!" Tim exclaimed as his character took control of the ball and guided it toward the enemy goal while imitating an announcer. "Where is that star athlete going? No one knows! He fakes a left! He fakes a right!"
"He fakes knowing how to play!" Me_K.O. declared as one of her characters intercepted the ball and took it away from Tim. "HA! How you like me now, Webhead?"
"About as much as I like doing this!" Tim answered as he surprised Me_K.O. with another character that took the ball away from her. He made a mad dash toward the goal, but he stopped when he found his character surrounded by Me_K.O.'s entire team.
With less than half a minute left on the clock, Tim knew he needed one last score to win the game. But he also knew that if he kicked the ball now, the other player would have one of her characters stop it.
"Looks like it's game over, W3B_Burns." Me_K.O. said. "Any last words?"
Suddenly, Tim clutched his stomach and groaned. "Yeah. Hold on, please. I think I got a cramp in my goluklike."
"What's a 'goluklike'?" Me_K.O. asked.
Tim took advantage of his opponent's confusion and instantly hit the kick button. The ball went through Me_K.O.'s defenses and, much to her shock, it landed right in her goal at the last second earning Tim the game.
"That's what a 'goal look like'." Tim laughed as his gamer tag was announced.
"Winner: W3B_Burns!"
"DOH!" Me_K.O. exclaimed on the other end of the call before laughing. "You really got me there!"
Tim shared her laughter. "Yeah. I did. So, you up for one more game?"
"I'd love to, but I can't." Me_K.O. said. "Remember, we got the Nobi Smash tournament happening tomorrow. And we need all the energy we can get."
"That's true." Tim said. "Can't believe after all this time, we're finally going to meet face to face."
"I know. I'm looking forward to it. Finally, I'll put a face to my worthy rival." She said this quite dramatically.
"Right back at ya. Anyway, good night."
"Night. See ya tomorrow."
Tim logged off his game and set his headset down at his nightstand. He then tucked himself in his sheets and went to sleep. He almost didn't though on account of how excited he was for the biggest video game event of the year.
The next morning, Tim woke up with more energy than he's ever had. He put on his clothes and looked at himself in the mirror.
Tim was a tall, slender teen with slightly light skin, black hair, and brown eyes. For his clothes, he wore a pair of blue jeans, red tennis shoes, a silver band around his left wrist, and a black T-shirt. The shirt had a Galaga arcade game with the following words printed around it: "I'm Not Retro! I Just Look Better With Age!"
After he was ready for the day, he headed down to his kitchen where his Aunt Geri was waiting for him. "Hey, there's my superstar nephew."
"Morning, Aunt Geri." Tim said kissing her on the cheek.
"Sounds like someone's excited for the big Hinobi event today." Geri said eagerly as she prepared a plate of pancakes for her nephew. "It's the seventh annual Hinobi Smash Tournament, and the best gamers in town are invited to compete. I'll even get to play with the four-time champion, Mitch Williams."
Geri sighed. "I gotta say, Tim, I feel so proud seeing you happy. If only your parents were here to see you like this."
"Yeah. They would." Tim said staring at the silver band on his wrist. "Oh, wait. Do you still have that the wristband Hinobi sent me? It's my entry into the tournament."
"Got it right here, kid." Geri said. She reached into her pocket and pulled out an orange wristband with Tim's gamer tag displayed on it.
Tim swiped the band and wore it on his other wrist contrast to the silver band he already had. "Sweet! Hey, are you sure you don't want to come with me to watch me play?"
"Oh, I wish I could," Geri said, "But I need to stay and attend the store. Don't worry, though. I'll have the TV on the whole time so I can watch it all from Game Kingdom."
"Aw. Thanks." Tim said hugging his aunt. After he broke it, he quickly went to work on his breakfast so he could immediately head out to the Hinobi store.
Meanwhile, in another part of town, Me_K.O. (or Miko Kubota as she was really named) decided to warm up her video game skills by playing a musical session on Magik Metal. With the upmost focus, she played each note perfectly making a rocking melody. She was totally in the zone.
"Yeah! Perfect! Perfect! You're a legend!" exclaimed the rocking wizard on her screen.
"I am a legend." Miko repeated as her younger sister, Lexi, woke up from the bed next to her. She groaned at the noise the game was making.
"Can't you play in the living room, Miko?"
"You see this?" Miko asked showing her sister her entry wristband. "This means your big sis is gonna wreck a bunch of fools today. I'm invincible!" She continued playing until suddenly, everything stopped. Her music was silenced and her screen became black as night. "What?"
Miko turned to the cause and saw that it was her older brother, Geoffrey, who pulled the plug from the wall.
"Mom says come to breakfast before you shake the house apart."
"You can pull the plug on my TV," Miko said dramatically, "But you can't the pull the plug on DESTINY!"
After getting dressed, Miko headed on down to the kitchen where the rest of her family gathered, including Lexi, Geoffry, her older sister Nica, and her youngest brother Lee. Miko struggled to get herself a bowl of cereal to eat before her parents, Mayumi and Hugh, joined their kids in the kitchen.
"Two minutes to minivan." Mayumi said. "Phones off, shoes on. No ifs, and or…" She stopped when she noticed Miko wearing her gaming clothes. "Miko, what are you wearing? I bought you a blouse at Bullseye."
"Mom, it's my good luck shirt. For the Hinobi Smash Tournament today."
"What is she talking about?" Mayumi asked her husband before turning back to Miko. "What are you talking about?"
"I posted a note about this on the busy board a month ago." Miko said. She pointed over to a calender on the wall… which was completely covered with post-it notes.
Hugh sighed as he looked through the notes. "I'm showing Geoffrey's ballet recital, Lexi's hockey playoff, Nica's science fair soft open, Lee's preschool parade, and… Huh? What exactly is Hinobi Smash?"
"It's an exclusive game competition." Miko said.
"Sorry, kiddo." Hugh said. "We've got a full day ahead, and we won't have time to…"
"But you guys wouldn't even have to drive me there." Miko interrupted. "I can just log into the game from home."
"You spend enough time in front of that screen already, young lady." Mayumi said. "Now, get changed. We have a lot of events today."
"You're taking everyone else to do the stuff they like, but not me?" Miko asked upset. "That's not fair!"
"Miko, chill out." Nica said. "It's just a game."
"But it's not just the game I'm looking forward to." Miko said. "It's my gaming friend, W3B_Burns. He's been invited to compete too. This is my one chance to finally meet him face to face. I can do that even when I'm logged from home."
Geoffrey chuckled. "Get a look at Miko. She's super excited to meet her boyfriend." Lexi snickered at that and made kissing sounds.
Miko blushed. "Whoa! Hold on! I never said he was my boyfriend."
"He's not your friend, period." Hugh said sternly. "Miko, you shouldn't be so trusting about some boy you met online."
"But he's not like that, Dad." Miko said. "He's funny and clever and overall nice."
"Sorry, Miko, but our word is final." Mayumi said just as her watch beeped. "Okay, that's time. I want butts in belts, people. Din, din. Do it now! Do it now!" She lead most of her kids out the front door until Miko and Hugh were left in the kitchen yet to follow.
Seeing her daughter's stunned expression, Hugh approached to comfort her by putting a purple hoodie over her. "Tell you what. You can have a little extra game time tomorrow. Okay, kiddo?" He didn't wait for Miko's answer. He just left the house to join the Kubota family in the car.
Miko, still determined to enter the Hinobi Smash Tournament, wasn't willing to give up that easily. She searched for an idea until she noticed her family dog, Cloud. That's when an idea struck her.
Miko covered Cloud in her hoodie and sent him into the family van. They thought that Miko had joined them not knowing it was really their dog. Miko just watched as her family drove away from the house leaving her alone.
"'Miko, it was very irresponsible of you to bail on family day. What do you have to say for yourself?'" Miko said imitating her parents before switching to her normal voice. "'I say, you're looking at a first-place champion, Mom and Dad!' Hang on, W3B_Burns! I'm comin'! WOO!" She rushed to the living room ready to play.
After a good bike ride, Tim finally reached the Bailey Square Mall. Other stores neighbored the big, blue store, but Tim kept his focus on Hinobi itself. A whole crowd of fans gathered up in front of the front doors while food stands were set up behind the crowd. Some of the people stood in line for their food and coffee.
"Oh, boy. This is it, Tim. This is it." Tim muttered to himself. "You're the best, around. Nothing's gonna bring you…"
He was suddenly interrupted by the incoming sound of a van horn honking the rhythm of La Cucaracha. He turned and saw a large, green food truck hit a coffee truck so hard, it pushed it away and stopped in front of its line.
"Oye, muchachos! Who's hungry?"
Tim looked over to see the crazy vendors behind the food truck. When he saw the elderly man and woman offering quesadillas and tacos to the customers, he widened his eyes and gasped. He ran to the stand to talk to them.
"Mr. and Mrs. Nieves?"
The man looked over at Tim and laughed in excitement. "Well, look who it is! It's Five's old friend, Tim!"
"Oh, how long as it been?" Mrs. Nieves asked before calling out. "Five! Look who it is, playa!"
Tim looked over and saw a skinny teenager in a green T-shirt walk out the back of the food truck. The two of them smiled at the sight of each other and gave a quick hug to one another.
"I thought I might run into you here." Five said happily.
"I could say the same thing about you." Tim said. "And your grandparents' truck? Did they actually drive it out of that alley? I thought it'd stay there forever."
"So did I." Five said. "Come on. We've got a tournament to get to and not a lot of time to chat before."
"Gotcha." Tim said. He and Five headed away from the Nieves' food truck and toward the Hinobi store.
"Wow. Look at all these people." Five said scanning over the crowd.
"Well, what did you expect?" Tim asked. "Everybody loves Hinobi Games, especially after they got their advancement in hardware and software courtesy of Oscorp."
"I know." Five said. "Still, it's a lot of people."
"I know you're an expert analyzer and everything, but try not to think too hard." Tim said. "I usually game by instinct, and you don't see me acting nervous."
Five took a breath just as he and Tim entered the store. "You're probably right."
"Cool beans." Tim said. "So… How are things lately?"
"Oh, they're good. Thanks for asking."
"And your dad? How is he?"
Five did his best to keep his smile up. "Oh, he's hanging in there. Been on his best behavior. What about Geri? How's she?"
"Still the same Aunt Geri as she ever was." Tim said following with a brief pause. "You know, Five, you're still welcome to return to Game Kingdom."
Five frowned slightly. "I can't. Not right now at least. You understand, man."
Tim sighed. "Figured. Still, I thought I'd..."
Suddenly, Tim felt a bump on his shoulder as he accidentally hit someone. He turned to see a girl who nearly dropped her laptop as a result of the bump. It was a very beautiful, teenage Hispanic-American girl with long, white hair and bright green eyes who was wearing a black and white striped tank top, black leather jacket and pants, and black and white heeled boots. Her laptop was gray with a small, black cat sticker in the top left corner.
"Uh, s-sorry about that." Tim asked in embarrassment while the girl safely caught her laptop. He was slightly entranced by her good looks.
"Esta bien. It's fine." the white-haired girl said with a dazzling smile.. "Just be careful where you walk, handsome." She winked and quickly turned to walked away.
Tim smiled. "Did you hear that, Five? She thinks I'm handsome. Do you think I have a shot?"
"Dude, you've been failing to get girls since elementary school. And a girl like her? No way." Five said. "Anyway, let's get going."
"All right." Tim said slightly despondent before cheering himself up and following Five to the back of the store.
Meanwhile, the white-hair girl walked until she found her way to the restroom. She looked left and right to make sure no one was following her before she entered. Much to her luck, the restroom was empty and she entered the middle stall. She wasn't really doing anything other than sitting down and opening her computer on her lap. Once it went online, she started typing on it with a smirk.
"Now, the cat's on the prowl."
On the upper floors of the Hinobi building, Mitch Williams couldn't help but dance quietly in the locker room. During the dance, he opened up his locker before removing his locker and change into his gamer gear. He was just about to remove his gauntlet when the door opened. It was a slim teen with red, curly hair and a gap in his teeth.
"Hey, Mitch." he said nervously. "The tournament's about to start, and Phil's getting impatient."
"Oh, keep your shoes on, Bergy. I'll be down in a minute to retain my title." replied the dark-skinned boy with the platinum-blonde Pompadour and a British accent.
Bergy looked nervously at the gauntlet that Mitch was removing and saw a green flash coming from its screen. "Um, Mitch, did you remember to empty out your gauntlet of Glitches yet?"
"I did remember, but unfortunately, I didn't have time," Mitch said, taking out a black comb and raking it in his hair. "I was focusing on what sort of dances I can use to taunt all the other losers I'll beat today." He opened his locker door and smiled at a poster inside depicting a young man with red hair in gamer garb grinning confidently under the words "The Big Man!". "Plus, The Big Man himself is here today! I need to find ways of ensuring that I continue to look good in his eyes. After all, just like I'm an inspiration to SO many, HE was MY inspiration."
"Um, Mitch," Bergy said, "You really shouldn't overfill your gauntlet with Glitches. BITT says it might let out leaks."
"It's fine." Mitch said rolling his eyes. "Remember, I'm Mitch Williams, four-time champion of Hinobi Smash, soon to be FIVE-time. I'm not scared of any…" He stopped when he felt something small tingling on his hand. He looked and screamed like a little girl a half-second later. "AAH! SPIDER!"
He dropped his gauntlet to fearfully rub his hand to brush off the small, black spider he found crawling on his hand. After a few panicked strokes, he calmed down seeing the spider disappear from his hand.
Bergy couldn't help but let out a short chortle. "Mitch, did you just scream at a spi…"
"Don't you DARE finish that, Bergy!" Mitch said aggressively. He stepped up to confront him and tower his face with his own. "Speak of this to no one or else."
Bergy gulped and shuddered nervously. "Uh, speak of what?"
"Good." Mitch said with a smug smile. "Now, if you excuse me, I've got a tournament to win and an idol to impress."
Mitch and Bergy stepped out of the locker room and headed to the tournament which was happening right underneath the room. On their way, they completely forgot about the gauntlet that Mitch dropped on the floor. After they had left, it started blitzing out a sparkle of green electricity while the spider climbed on it. Once it reached the top, the spider was suddenly hit with green electricity from all around it.
To escape, the spider jumped off the gauntlet and started to glow green around its body and inside its eyes. The spider then proceeded to crawl along the floor until it found a small crack that was still big enough for it to slip through. It proceeded to move on to the tournament happening below.
"We are coming at you live from the Hinobi Store located in the Bailey Square Mall, bringing you this year's Nobi Smash challenge, sponsored by Hinobi Games and Oscorp! And here to kick this tournament off, put your hands together for the man who without his technology and advancements, NONE of this would have been possible! That's right! It's none other than the former seven-time international video game tournament champ and now the current CEO of the renowned Oscorp himself! The one, the only… Mr. Norman 'The Big Man' Osbooooorn!"
Mitch blew a few kisses to his fans before bowing and graciously making way for a middle-aged man in a black, pinstriped suit and reddish hair. He looked like an older version of the man on Mitch's poster. He held a microphone to his face and gave his announcement.
"Hello, Hinobi fans! I'm so pleased to be here for this seventh Smash Tournament! I can assure you all that this will be our most exciting one yet!" The crowd cheered as Osborn continued. "Ah, I remember when I was your age and I got my first Hinobi Game. I could play Ping for hours. And that is what helped me get into video games and eventually become the seven-time international champ. A record that STILL holds today. Yup, I have Hinobi to thank for that. And then, when I retired from the circuit…" He chuckled at his little joke, which others joined in, Mitch most of all (a little too much).
"Anyway, afterwards, as you know, I went into the electronics business and grew to become one of THE most successful manufacturers of programs and parts from anything to toasters to motherboards to projects for the military! But video games still held a place in my heart. Hinobi especially. So imagine my surprise and joy when I not only was able to help build Hinobi up from their more humble past to create games that put Ping to utter shame, but to create an exclusive partnership with them, eventually bringing Hinobi into the Oscorp family about 16 years ago. I'm certainly living the dream here." He smiled softly for a moment before it grew harder. "But I know we're not here for a bunch of sappy nostalgia! We're here for the here and now! I'm sure you're all more than eager to see what goes on in this spectacular event! So let's get this party starteeeeed!"
While the crowd cheered at Osborn's speech, Tim and Five headed to the side of the crowd where the Hinobi Games employees stood. They both came face to face with an overweight man with orange hair and beard.
"Uh, hi." Five said nervously. "Sorry, do you work here?"
"No, I just make it a point to accessorize all my button-downs with manager nametags." the big man responded sarcastically.
"You know," Tim said with a grin, "When I first laid eyes on you, I thought to myself, 'The first thing that guy's going to say to us is a sarcastic remark'. I should've bet money on it."
"Oh, a smart mouth, are ya?"
"A smart mouth with a gamer band." Tim said holding up his wrist. Five chuckled nervous as he did the same with his.
"Whoa. Phil, they're the missing players." said a girl wearing a white hijab on her head.
"Took your sweet time logging in, didn't you?" Phil asked.
"Yeah. Don't you hate it when you forget to turn off the silence on your alarm phones?" Tim asked.
"Ah. So this is what I'm dealing with right now." Phil said rolling his eyes. "Well, let's incite this riot."
Phil picked up a handheld device and used it to shine a red light over Tim and Five's wristbands. After that, an announcing voice filled the room while Five and Tim's images appeared on the screen wearing ancient-looking space armor.
"Give it up for Hi_Five and W3B_Burns!"
After that, another employee proceeded to give Five and Tim their suits. They were both black with blue collars and the Hinobi logo on the front.
"All eyes on you, champs." he said as he stepped away. Tim and Five followed Phil to the platform where all the other players were.
"Okay. We're doing standard competition rule set." Phil explained on the way, "You'll be playing on a new map designed specifically for this tournament. So no outside communication is permitted in play, and there will be absolutely no respawns. Any questions?"
Five stammered after he and Tim put their tight suits on. "Wait. Did you just say no respawns?" His question came out too late. After handing him and Tim their goggles, Phil walked right off the stage.
"Yep." said the employee who gave the duo their suits. "If you're out, you're out."
"So treat it like real life." Tim said. "That should be no problem."
"No problem?" Five asked.
"Relax." said the girl with the hijab. "Just don't get nauseous, faint or freak out, and you should do just fine."
"Cool." Tim said. "By the way, um…"
"Oh. I'm Zahra." the girl introduced herself. "Chatterbox here is Nix."
"Right. So, Zarha, Nix," Tim said as they put chips in his and Five's headsets, "I was wondering if anybody with the gamer tag Me_K.O. logged in just yet."
Zahra thought for a minute before shaking her head. "No one came here with that tag. But maybe this player's going to log in remotely. Well, have fun."
After Zahra and Nix left the platform, Five turned with widened eyes at Tim. "Hold on. Me_K.O.? Me_K.O. is playing here? And you're looking for her?"
"Yeah. We met a couple months ago and decided to meet here at the tournament." Tim said. "Do you know her?"
"Uh… We played a few games." Five said nervously trying to hide the fact that every time they played, she always defeated him.
"Yeah, she really keeps you on your toes, doesn't she?" Tim asked. "Well, let the party begin."
Five and Tim pressed the buttons on their headsets, and their eyes were covered by a blue light which displayed a virtual reality to the both of them.
Both Tim and Five looked around at what can only be described as deep space with floating platforms of rock everywhere. They and the rest of the players wore what looked like ancient Aztec armor, but with a touch of spacesuit styles. Their right arms were cannons that held blue orbs they could shoot and pull back. At the far side of the map, there stood a great, big, stone giant with a computer screen at its chest displaying a symbol. It stood in the middle of a green platform that looked different from the rest of the rocks.
"Whoa!" Five exclaimed excitedly. "This is amazing!"
"This might be a good time to carpe diem so we can never forget this moment." Tim advised.
All of a sudden, a blue light flashed next to the new and a new player joined them. It was Mitch Williams, who wore the exact same type of armor as everyone else.
"Mitch Williams?" Five asked with even greater excitement. "Is everyone seeing this? I'm meeting Mitch Williams! Tim, can you believe we're meeting Mitch Williams? I mean, it's Mitch Williams!"
"Yeah. I can't believe we're meeting… What did you say his name was?" Tim joked. "Sorry, Mitch. I kid. Really, my friend and I are fans of your Let's Play videos. They were like lectures on some of Hinobi's top games."
Mitch laughed, though it sounded a bit forced. "Thanks."
"We'll be ready to start once our remote players finish logging in! Here comes one now!"
Right after the announcement was made, a blue-and-purple light struck the ground in front of everyone. It generated lightning all around like it was a focused storm. A figure with blue glowing eyes and a deep, monstrous voice called from it.
"I AM ME_K.O.! JOIN ME OR DIE… in my chipmunk boy band." At the last part, Miko's voice suddenly changed to be calmer and more high-pitched. She laughed in that same voice until it returned to normal. "Hey. Who disabled the voice filter?" She then suddenly coughed for a moment. "I'm okay. Just had a piece of popcorn go down the wrong pipe."
"No way!" Tim said. "You're Me_K.O.?"
"Yep. And you're…" Miko said before flashing an anime smile when she read his gamer tag. "NO WAY! It's a-you, W3B_Burns!"
Tim laughed. "Finally. For a minute there, I thought I wasn't going to finally meet you."
"You almost didn't." Miko said. "My family didn't want me to play here, so I had to get… creative."
"Well, I'm glad to finally see you, even if it isn't face to face." Tim said. "By the way, this here's my old friend, Five." He pulled his friend closer to his side. Five gave a nervous chuckle upon meeting Miko.
Miko took a moment to read Five's gamer tag. "Hmm… Hi_Five? Do I know that gamer tag?"
"Uh… We played a few games." Five repeated in the same tone.
"I think you might have beaten him before." Tim said.
"Eh. Oh, well." Miko shrugged.
Mitch could tell that Five was nervous, so he wrapped his arm around his shoulder to seemingly calm him down. "Relax, bro. No matter what happens out there, we're all gamers."
"Thanks." Five said just as the last remote player logged in. The game was finally about to begin.
"Three… Two… one! SMASH!"
Everyone was finally ready to play, but before anything, Mitch had one last thing to say to Five. "And gamers play to WIN!" Suddenly, he pushed Five so hard, he was thrown at Miko and they both fell off the edge of the platform they were standing on.
"GUYS!" Tim gasped before glaring angrily at Mitch. "I take back my praise! You suck! That was not fair!"
"Don't be a sore loser, loser!" Mitch said as he began his race across the map with most of the other players.
Tim was going to follow, but he had to check over the edge. He was glad that he did, because he saw Miko hanging off the edge with Five holding onto her leg.
"I got you!" Tim said grabbing Miko's hand. He then used all his strength to pull Miko and Five back up.
After finding herself free, Miko gave Tim a tap on his shoulder with her fist. "Thanks, man. I owe you."
"Like a head start?" Tim asked.
"Not that much!" Miko responded quickly getting up and running to catch up with the others.
"Yeah, I figured." Tim said running behind Miko.
"Oh, it's on." Five said being the last to run.
Miko ran between two players who tried to shoot her with their balls. However, at the last second, she sprinted making them miss and hit each other instead. They were both eliminated from the game upon impact.
Meanwhile, Five hopped from platform to platform until he found three other players to battle against. One of them tried to shoot him with their ball, but he deflected and countered with his to eliminate them. He then proceeded to defeat the other two players without any difficulty.
Tim found himself surrounded by four players who thought they had the advantage despite his cocky smile. One of them fired their ball early, but Tim easily deflected the ball so it would hit another player instead. Another fired their ball, but Tim ducked and countered with his own shot. His and the initial ball returned to their cannons, but Tim was the quicker draw and fired his ball at the other kid before he could shoot. As for the last one, Tim slipped behind him and called for his ball to return.
"Nothing's stopping that ball from returning, not even your face." Tim said right before the ball made the fourth player disappear and returned to his cannon. He blew on it as if it was a freshly-shot revolver.
Lastly, Mitch Williams jumped off a platform with two other players following him. He fired his ball at the both of them before landing on another. That's when he came face to face with a very young player who looked up at him in awe.
"You're Mitch Williams."
"And you're not." Mitch responded before kicking the kid off the platform.
Five, Tim, and Miko all regrouped on the same platform just in time to see Mitch being a poor sport and kicking a kid mercilessly.
"Can you believe that rager?" Miko asked.
"I guess that's why he's number one." Five said.
"I would have guessed he was number two." Tim said.
Miko laughed clapping at Tim's hand. "Good one."
"All right, look," Five said, "I just say we gang up on him. When it's down to just us, best shot wins?"
"I'm down for that." Tim said. "Unlike Mitch, I'm not a poor sport. What say you, Me_K.O.?"
"DEATH TO NUMBER TWO!" Miko declared dramatically.
"Uh… Was that a yes?" Five asked.
"It wasn't a no." Tim answered.
The crowd's cheers grew wider as the game went on. During which, the glowing spider from before slipped right through the ceiling and started spinning a string of web slowly making its way downward to where the players were. Meanwhile, Osborn and Phil were watching the game from their own station alongside the younger employees.
"Well, it looks like the latecomers are acting pretty well as a unit." Phil said sounding impressed. "They're certainly making more progress than the other alliances."
"Maybe," a cross-armed Osborn said in a more serious voice than when he spoke before, "But I wonder if they'll still feel that way in a short while since only one player can win."
"They're probably just sick of Mitch's attitude, and that's why they're working together." Zahra said. "That's what I'd do."
"I hear ya." Nix said before he heard a beep.
Alert, Phil followed that beep that came from his computer console. He switched the display on the screen to a server screen which showed an alert.
"Uh, oh."
"What 'uh, oh'?" Osborn asked in a dark tone, his eyes narrowing.
"Well… It looks as though… We may have a hacker." Phil said nervously.
"A hacker?" Osborn asked with a raised voice. "What are they hacking? The game?"
"No." Phil replied. "It looks like they're trying to get into the Hinobi network. If they somehow discover the Glitches…"
"Well, don't just stand there!" Osborn cried. "Stop them now!"
"We're right on it." Phil said moving away. "Zahra, hacking's your skill. Try to fight them off."
"On it, boss." Zahra said as she stepped up to the console and started typing rapidly.
At the bathroom, the white-haired girl continued to type as fast as she could. She kept her eyes focused on her screen while her fingers worked like magic. She only stopped as soon as the Hinobi logo appeared on the top-right corner of her screen blinking wildly.
"Uh, oh. I woke up the landlord. Well, no point in being sneaky now. Time to show them this gatita has claws."
The girl cracked her knuckles before typing even faster than before.
Back in the game, Five, Tim, and Miko used their teamwork to mow down the other players as quick as ever. Once they stopped, Five turned to the others.
"Wait up. I think I got a plan to get us to the final platform."
"Get your head out of the zone, Five." Tim said. "We're already on the final platform."
Five realized where he was as soon as his friend said it. They were on the edge of the same platform with the giant statue at the center. On the way there, there were three spinning rings with tiles that had symbols on them.
Miko looked up at a floating hoop above the statue's head. "There. First person to get a ball through there is the winner. Let's go."
"Whoa, slow down." Five advised. "Those tiles may be booby-trapped."
"Slow down?" Miko asked. "It's a race."
"COMING THROUGH!" shouted another player who ran right past them and jumped on a random tile. As soon as he did though, he was quickly eliminated by a pillar of fire.
"Okay, that's a game changer." Miko said.
"Well, until we know what the pattern is, let's keep moving." Tim said. "Just use your instincts."
The three nodded before jumping onto the rings. Whenever they felt a tile they land on shake, they immediately jump to another before they get burned.
Mitch saw the three catching up to him and decided to cut them off. He doubled back to try and shoot Five from behind. But before he could, he heard Miko's voice behind him.
"Hold still, you slippery sandworm!"
Mitch turned just as Miko shot her orb from her cannon. He jumped out of the way just in time and landed on another tile, which just so happened to have the third member of the opposing team on it. Tim was face to face with him before giving him a Spartan kick knocking him to another tile.
"Consider that a preview of your 'de-feet'." Tim laughed while pointing at his foot he used to kick Mitch with. "Guess the shoe's on the other foot now." He laughed some more which irritated Mitch.
"You three stooges realize this isn't co-op, right? There's only one winner: me!"
While the others were racing, Five took a moment to examine the tile he was currently standing on. When he saw the symbol glow, he became suspicious. That's when he looked out and saw tiles with identical symbols glowing blue too. He followed them up to the statue with the screen at its chest. He made his realization just as the screen displayed the same symbol as the glowing ones.
The symbol on the statue's chest began to change. Five looked around and saw another tile with the same symbol and jumped on it. It glowed blue beneath him instead of bursting into flames or falling apart. While the others were busy avoiding the fires, Five followed the trail until he reached the base of the statue's feet. Once he made it, the stone he stood on hovered carrying him upwards toward the top of the statue.
"Yes! This is for the win!"
Five was ready to make the win, but as he looked back at his friends, he noticed Mitch about to get the drop on Miko. He called out for her before firing his ball at Mitch's cannon which threw off its aim just as his ball was launched. Miko barely dodged it and found herself handing on the edge of the tile.
As if things weren't bad enough, when Five tried to pull his ball back to him, it suddenly froze in midair. It turned green and sparked over itself. He couldn't pull it back no matter how hard he tried.
"My ball, it's stuck!" Five shouted. "Did this game just glitch on us?"
"Oh, perfect." Phil groaned loudly. "And now, we have a glitch problem to worry about?"
"Are we certain this and the hacker are unrelated?" Osborn asked.
"Impossible." Zahra said. "They're bouncing off a signal the game is making, but there's no way it's creating this bug. This is a naturally-made Glitch right here, which is only going to make things worse. Thankfully, I think I can… Oh, come on!"
"What was that?" Osborn asked.
"It's the Glitch!" Zahra yelled. "It's interfering with my attempts to block the hacker! There's nothing stopping them now!"
"What do we do now?" Nix asked.
Phil thought in a panic before finally answering. "One problem at a time! The people here's safety is imperative, so first, we need to stop this Glitch!"
As soon as the Hinobi logo disappeared on her screen, the white-haired girl stopped typing and stared at the screen in confusion. "That's odd. Something cut them off from interfering. Well, since I'm home free…"
The girl kept on typing without anything stopping her. She went on for a full minute until she pressed the Enter key one last time. What came next on her screen was a gif of a black cat in a white hat meowing happily.
"Haha. Finally, it's in. Now, to enjoy the tournament with the rest of the crowd. But first…"
The white-haired girl turned her laptop to its side and pulled a chip from it, which she then plugged into her phone. She then pressed a few buttons on her laptop to erase it entirely. After that, she peeled the sticker off the computer to put it on her phone, dropped the laptop into the garbage can and left the bathroom to blend in with the rest of the crowd.
"Everything's now in place." she said with a smile flipping her beautiful hair. "Felicia, you've outdone yourself."
Meanwhile, the spider that was radiated with green energy continued its descent until it landed softly on Tim's hair with him too distracted to know what was happening. It then began crawling down Tim's body and across his arm while he kept on playing.
What was happening to Five's ball was also happening all around the map. Everyone noticed, even Mitch, who heard Phil's voice in his headset.
"Uh, I'm showing a major software bug in there, Mitch. We need to pull you from the game."
"Not until I secure this win." Mitch responded before looking down at Miko, who was still hanging on the side of the tile. He pointed his ball at Miko ready to fire at point-blank range. "Your buddy can't score without a ball, and you're dead meat. Looks like game over."
"Hey, Williams!" Mitch turned to see Tim confronting him with a serious look in his eye. He spoke in a Western accent. "Looks like it's down to you an' me, pard."
"Why are you talking like that?" Mitch asked annoyed.
"Dude, it's called setting the mood." Tim said dropping the accent. "Anyway, you better leave my friends alone or else."
"Friends?" Mitch scoffed. "I already told you, you can't have more than one winner in this game. There are no friends."
"That's where you're wrong." Tim said. "After all, friends share everything. And I do mean everything."
Miko was confused until she noticed Tim giving her a subtle sign with his hands. He was pointing his finger at his own ball, which he then tried to throw upwards. However, Mitch caught onto him and blasted the ball off-course before returning it. He then aimed it back at Tim.
"Nice try, griefer! Any last words?"
"Yeah. Before you hurt me, you should know something." Tim said. "I just replaced my goluklike."
Mitch's cocky grin dropped and he looked confused. "What? What's a 'goluklike'?"
"FIVE!" Miko cried out as she fired her own ball before Mitch noticed. But she wasn't aiming at the goal. She threw it at Five, who caught it in his own cannon and shot the ball and fired it right through the hoop earning him the victory.
"That's what a 'goal look like'!" both Tim and Miko said simultaneously.
"NO!" Mitch shouted angrily. "You can't score with another player's ball like that! That was not fair!"
"Don't be a sore loser, loser!" Tim retorted throwing Mitch's earlier words back at him.
Mitch growled before logging off. After he left, Five, Tim, and Miko grouped back up on the same time.
"Yes! I think the all-star just rage quit!" Miko laughed.
"Well done, Five!" Tim congratulated. "You know, we make a heck of a good team."
"Yeah, we do." Five agreed before noticing something. "Uh, guys…"
Tim and Miko followed Five's lead and noticed a spark of green electricity crawl up to the statue's eyes. All of a sudden, it roared out at the three.
"Did we just unlock a bonus level?" Five asked.
"I don't know." Tim said. "I have a bad feeling about this. I think we should… OW!" Tim yelled out and clutched his hand. "Something bit me! I think it was IRL!"
Just then, a big, green, electric wave flew right out of the statue and flew over the whole platform. Five and Miko were able to evade it, but Tim was too thrown off by the sting in his hand to notice until it was too late. As soon as the wave hit him, his avatar turned green and out of focus before disappearing.
"TIM!" Five yelled out.
"I think he's fine." Miko said. "Also, his real name's Tim? I didn't know that."
Tim's VR experience fell apart and his visor disappeared. He groaned as he found himself on the floor. When he looked at his hand, he noticed two things. Number one, there was a glowing, green spider crawling away from his hand. Number two, there was a small spider bite mark on his hand that was also glowing green. After a second though, the glow on his bite vanished.
"What the heck is…"
"PHIL!"
Tim looked at the manager's console where Mitch was yelling at his bosses and coworkers.
"You guys saw that bogus shot, right? It can't count! Tell me the game's glitched, so it can't count!"
"We got bigger problems than your high score right now, Mitch!" Phil yelled.
"What are they talking about?" Tim asked in confusion. He then turned to Nix, who stared at the high-tech gauntlet he wore.
"Plixel breach in three… two…"
At that moment, the big screen above everyone's heads glowed green, and suddenly, a giant, green arm reached out like a 3D image.
"WHAT THE WHAT?!" Tim yelled out. "WHAT'S GOING ON HERE?!"
"Techs, gauntlets up!" Phil ordered.
Suddenly, his employees materialized additional apparel on top of their original clothing. They now wore dark-blue chestplates with the Hinobi symbol on it. They then had gauntlets worn on their arms and blue visors covering their eyes.
After gearing up, the Hinobi employees aimed their gauntlets and fired purple lightning at the giant, green arm. It spasmed out as though it was in pain scaring the crowd.
Phil nervously pulled out a microphone and cried out into it. "Let's hear it for augmented reality, folks!"
"Good save." Osborn said sarcastically causing Phil to sweat.
"Augmented reality, my foot that kicked Mitch's butt!" Tim called out.
"HEY! YOU DID NOT…" Mitch yelled back losing focus on his laser.
"MITCH, DON'T…" Zahra yelled, but she was too late.
The employees' efforts to zap the arm failed as soon as it suddenly split into four smaller arms that shot out of each screen. The green arms then knocked Zahra and Nix away leaving Mitch alone.
"I'll do this myself. Let me show you how it's done." Mitch said before jumping up. He met each fist with a strike of his own and it ended with a shockwave that knocked him away.
"Nice demonstration, champ." Tim said sarcastically.
"Shut up." Mitch said before meeting another arm that reached out toward him. He held out his gauntlet and zapped it with another purple ray.
At that point, Five got out of the game. His visor fell apart and he was finally able to see the horror that was happening around him.
"What the?" Five asked loudly. He turned to his friend in confusion. "Tim, what's going on?!"
"I don't know! You know about as much as me!" Tim replied.
Zahra and Nix recovered and joined Mitch in firing their purple blasts at the last green hand that spasmed in their rays again. It went on until suddenly, another bright flash blasted out and the hands were erased.
Once the arms were gone, the Hinobi logo rotated on the screens for everyone to see while a female automated voice spoke from it.
"Hello. A minor glitch has been detected."
"Minor?" Tim asked. "What would they call a major glitch?"
"Please stand by as we restore your system's memory. 10… 9… 8… 7… 6… 5…"
"Okay, okay." Phil called out to everyone as he and Osborn wore visors to protect themselves. "Whoever wants a free T-shirt, you just look right there! Right at the big screen!"
Phil pointed at the screen just as the countdown had finished. Once it did, it sent out a bright flash of light that stunned everyone who was looking at it, including the white-haired girl who hacked them earlier. Above their heads were speech bubble loading symbols. Five and Tim were the only ones that weren't stunned since they were both underneath the screens when they flashed. But they were still confused.
"What kind of game is this?" Five asked.
"The kind nobody's gonna remember." Five heard Mitch's voice, but when he turned, he saw Mitch pointing his gauntlet at him. A bright flash of light escaped from it and Five ended up as stunned as everyone else. After that, Mitch grabbed Five's wristband and forced it off of him. "Good thing you were never here."
"Hey!" Tim yelled out. "You can't just…"
Mitch cut him off by firing a blast at him too. Tim fell on his back with the loading symbol hanging above his head as he was knocked out.
"I'm already sick of your smart mouth." Mitch said. "Thankfully, I never have to hear it again. And just to make sure…" He removed Tim's gaming wristband from him too.
Mitch turned away and awaited for everyone to be put back to where they were before. What no one saw, however, was that shortly after his emote beeped, it disappeared and was replaced by the word "ERROR" flashing in red a few times before it stopped.
When Tim woke up, he found himself lying on his bed. He felt a pain in his head which caused him to hold it for a moment until it passed. That's when he popped his eyes open and gasped.
"Hinobi! Five! Miko! That monster attack! Aunt Geri!"
Tim got out of his bed and raced downstairs. He ran right out the door and headed to Game Kingdom which was right next door. He headed inside to find his aunt tending to the counter with the TV screen on behind her. Relieved she was safe, Tim ran over to embrace her.
"Whoa! Easy there, Tim." Geri said. "I'm glad you still love me, but take it easy."
"Sorry, Aunt Geri. I just thought you might be in danger." Tim said breaking the hug.
"In danger?" Geri asked. "In danger of what?"
"The monster attack at Hinobi, of course." Tim said. "It started off okay, but then everything started getting weird with the giant monster hand and the Hinobi employees having some kind of Robocop guns and…"
"Whoa, whoa, take it easy." Geri said. "That must have been some nightmare you had, kid. From now on, no more snacks before bed."
"Nightmare?" Tim asked confused. "No, Aunt Geri, I'm talking about Hinobi Smash. You must have seen what I went through from here. I didn't know if it would happen here too."
"What?" Geri asked. "What are you talking about? You couldn't go to Hinobi Smash, remember? You lost your wristband."
"I didn't lose my…" Tim stopped when he noticed his band was missing. He gasped and looked around. "What's going on? Where is my…" He gasped when he suddenly remembered. "Mitch Williams! He must have taken it from me like he did with Five!"
Geri looked at her nephew with concern. "Kid, you're starting to freak me out."
"I'm freaking you out?" Tim asked. "You're the one who's acting like nothing in the tournament…"
He stopped when he looked at the screen. The local reporter, K. Moon, was covering a story on the Hinobi Smash tournament, and what she said next completely confused Tim.
"And surprising nobody, Mitch Williams secured his number one spot at the Hinobi Smash Tournament today."
"That… That can't be right." Tim said with a trembling voice. "That's not what happened at all." He looked at the date on Geri's computer. Sure enough, it was late enough for the tournament to have been over. It was as if he had missed it altogether.
"Tim, what are you talking about?" Geri asked.
Tim couldn't answer her. His head was too filled with a mind-numbing question that bothered him.
How does an entire town just forget?