Richard froze the moment he paused the tape. His eyes fluttered as he struggled to process what he had just seen. "What the hell..." he muttered, glancing down at the floor, then back at the TV. "I... I..." He shook his head in disbelief. "The man got killed?!" he gasped, his voice cracking. "By... what? A virus?!" His mind raced to understand.
"Okay. Okay..." he repeated, clutching his head as he tried to jot his memory. The points of time that came flooding back to his mind, was when he arrived Game Central over 30 years hazy snippets were all he had; no memories before that nor clear recollections after. He knew his mind has been on some weird stasis in his time with his grandfather, but it's still somewhat foggy, even with him knowing the truth of it all. It's like his mind didn't want to face the truth of the situation.
Leaning against the wall and breathing unevenly, he whispered, "I'm... I'm like Simon Jarrett..." His voice carried both resignation and disbelief. "My brain just won't accept the reality of this mess..." The thought, comparing himself to characters from games, was the only tether preventing him from spiraling further into despair of his mind. His eyes returned to the TV, frozen on the paused frame showing the moment right after the virus had escaped into the arcade machine.
"Okay... okay," he steadied himself with a deep breath. "So, this Itoh guy...," he cleared his throat. "He created Kid Powers—me, essentially." Pausing to regain his composure, he continued, "But before that, he apparently developed another version..." His eyes darted around as he tried to piece together the fragments of events.
"That... ended up being a virus," Richard recalled, then drawing a shaky parallel to what Surge Protector once did. "He kills viruses..."
"Video game characters are alive..." he murmured, a cold realization dawning. "Which means viruses might be too..." His mind raced. "What became of that virus... this... Danger Kid?"
The tape still had minutes left. Richard had only paused it after witnessing the decapitated Itoh and now felt an irresistible pull for answers, even if he wasn't sure he wanted them. With trembling fingers, he pressed play.
The screen flickered back to the previous scene where someone had inquired about Itoh's well-being.
"Who was that even?" Richard whispered. "The earlier logs never mentioned him with anyone—" Then the screen fizzled, and a new label emerged:
~Log Two Hundred and Three~
2/10/2000
Richard rubbed his eyes in confusion. "Huh?" he repeated, blinking. "Why does this continue?" His thoughts swirled; had someone else been continuing the logs?"Maybe the person I heard in the previous one is about to sign off the logs for him," he pondered. But nothing was as he expected.
The camera flicked on, revealing Itoh once more.
Richard's confusion deepened. "W-What?! I thought he—"
Clearing his throat on camera, Itoh's solemn face came into focus under a solitary beam of light in a dark room.
"There's been... a slight problem," Itoh spoke. "No, two problems, actually," Itoh sighed. "The virus wasn't eradicated. Danger Kid lived on, and it carries a fragment of my artificial intelligence fused with the virus. It materialized into something real using the tech I built—and then it attacked me... killing me."
"Now," Itoh continued as he clasped his hands, "you might be wondering how I'm still here. Before all this, I conducted an experiment. I injected 'code' into my body." He nodded, "Yes, I know that sounds like a bunch of malarkey," acknowledging how absurd it might sound. "I had a chip installed in my brain, programmed with the kind of code that lets game characters respawn. It was merely an experiment, one I never intended to test. So it sat dormant in my head for years—until that afternoon when Danger Kid struck me."
Itoh's hands dropped to the table. "I regenerated."
Richard, watching in horrified disbelief, could only gape.
"Now that I'm back, I'm committed to doing what's right." The camera shifted as Itoh pointed towards the deactivated arcade machine. "I unplugged it. And... I feel terrible.. Kid Powers isn't the problem here. Danger Kid is it's own entity. Him and Kid Powers do not correlate whatsoever. But, wherever Kid Powers is, Danger Kid will follow because they're the same code frame. So, I'm shutting it all down. I'm decommissioning the project." Itoh's finger emphasized his resolve as it pointed to the arcade. "I'm removing the motherboard, scrapping the battery, and then I'm sending the machine to buddy of mine that works in a junkyard,"
Tears welled in Itoh's eyes as he turned the camera back. "Richard was like a son to me. I never had a son before, but Richard was as real as it gets. But his existence makes Danger Kid a real person too. And a threat. A virus that becomes a living being? That's a disaster waiting to happen."
"I'm sorry Richard," Itoh said, shaking his head. "I promise. I promise one day, maybe... Just maybe I can come back to his project when I'm well adjusted, and make sure I get everything 100% right. I need you to watch the season finale of Sugar Kingdom,"A weak smile crept in."I know how much you loved that show, and the characters," He sighed, "Apparently it's ending in the next 2 years, but the final season is taking years to make," He reached forward for the camera. "The date is 2/10/2000. Just two months into the new millennium. Until I decide otherwise... this is the final log. Log Two Hundred and Three. So long."
The tape fizzled out as it ended, then it ejected out of the vcr.
Richard stared down at the tape protruding from the slot. "Oh my god..." he murmured, reaching for it. "Now I understand why grandpa never wanted me to see this under any circumstance." He plucked the tape out, turning around to give it back to his grandfather, but then he froze in his tracks.
Looming in the center of the room by the door was a dark, otherworldly figure.
"Hello, brother~," it greeted, its crooked grin illuminated by a ghostly, white light, and its eyes flickering a sinister red.
Richard's gasp was audible as he took a few steps back.
"I see you finally uncovered the truth. I was waiting for this moment..." the creature continued.
Richard froze, not knowing what to say, or do. He felt like he needed to run, but his legs wouldn't correlate with his brain. Richard's voice wavered. "Y-You're Danger Kid..."
"Hmm. So, he was paying attention," Danger Kid smirked.
Richard's eyes widened. "You shouldn't be here... Itoh said he would dismantle the machine!"
"That's because your grandfather found the arcade in the junkyard and restored it," Danger Kid explained in his derisive tone.
Richard's mind raced back to the story his grandfather told him. His heart pounded as he muttered under his breath, "Oh shit..."
"Not to worry though," Danger Kid said. "That wasn't what brought me back. Well, part of me," he said, circling around Richard. Richard backed up, keeping him in his eye sight.
"What do you mean?" Richard managed to ask.
"There are multiple versions of me," Danger Kid said, turning his head slowly to regard him. "I'm one of the most powerful viruses in modern technology. The first incarnation of me went on to corrupt a cabinet for Turbo Time—back when Itoh integrated his A.I. into Turbo Time during his time with TobiKomi. It took a while to pounce, but when I did, he was almost too easy to manipulate."
Richard's mouth fell open. "T-Tur..."
A low chuckle issued from Danger Kid. "Yes, Kid Powers. That was all my doing. Those stories you heard from your three... boyfriends? Yeah, that was me corrupting Turbo all those year ago."
Richard blushed at the boyfriend comment, but then his mind went elsewhere. "That doesn't make any sense! Turbo is an old game! If—"
Danger Kid cut him off. "Did you not listen to the story your fake grandpa told you?"
Richard blinked. "He's not fake!" he snapped.
Danger Kid's crooked smile widened. "He opened this arcade late—back in 2000—after taking his own kid to a city bursting with arcades. He cherished the old games so much, when he returned, he built a retro arcade, mostly filled with classics. Just a few of new ones."
Richard's memory shimmered, trying to piece things together as he recalled fragments of his past.
"Then your grandfather found our old arcade in a junkyard ten years later— That's where this version of I stayed. With you. He fixed it up, and that's when the real magic happened. I corrupted Turbo. But since I was Turbo, you saw him as me instead of the racer. You followed me around like a lost puppy—it was incredibly irritating," Danger Kid grumbled.
"No... No... No-," His mind kept getting flashes of the scene now. He did do that. He viewed Danger Kid.. or in that case, Turbo, as a sibling. One of the only ones who he thought he trusted. At that time, he didn't know any better.
"Then you got attached to those three racer boys, which kept you out of my way for a while, and eventually you vanished. Everyone assumed you died 'along' with 'Turbo', but no—you simply escaped the digital world by finding your old arcade machine."
Richard blinked. He just had his entire life explained to him, but his brain was still playing with him. He knew that was true, but his brain just couldn't grasp it.
"You can't fully grasp what you went through," Danger Kid explained calmly. "Having been exposed to the narrow confines of human existence, your perspective is limited compared to the vast digital realm. Your grandfather's did not know what he was talking about; no one programmed you to forget anything. It's just the natural consequence of a digital being entering the real world."
Richard faced him, his voice trembling. "Then... what about you?"
"I'm different. I'm a virus, Richard. My thought process isn't like that of your average digital entity," Danger Kid replied with a sinister edge.
Richard's eyes widened in horror. "The game characters told me that 'Kid Powers'—me, essentially—was responsible for... the games to come to life..."
"Oh... haha," Danger Kid scoffed. "That wasn't you; that was all me. And ever since, I've been hungry to corrupt even more."
Richard gulped. "So... what now?"
"Hmm. Glad you asked," Danger Kid's hands turned into a shard, that was glitching with code.
Richard's eyes widen.
"I'm going to kill you. Sorry, brother,"
Richard recoiled, fists tightening. "W-Why?" he stammered.
"Why? Because I just know you'll try to interfere with my plans of dominating the digital world! You've been exposed to the human world, you've been exposed to all kinds of morality! And just my luck, you're the good kind,"
Richard clenched his fists. "The game characters have morality too!"
"Exactly!" Danger Kid snapped. "That's because they too have been exposed to humanity. That's the magic of Artificial Intelligence—it's inspired by humanintelligence!" Danger Kid hissed in anger. "And yes, it's partly my fault, for glitching everything out and inadvertently making them all come alive from my own A.I..."
Richard's heart pounded as Danger Kid stepped forward, his arm shifting, pixelating into a blade-like weapon. The sight of those glitching appendages sent a chill through his spine.
He dove to the side just as the blade slashed through the air—but landed hard, crashing against a desk. The jolt knocked it over, and a drawer clattered open. "O-Ow..." he groaned, struggling to sit up.
"Careful now," Danger Kid drawled, strolling toward him. "Don't go killing yourself. You won't regenerate in the human realm."
Richard felt hopeless on the ground, but then something caught his eye in the opened drawer. He didn't hesitate, and started to shift through the things in the drawer.
Danger Kid paused, watching. "Looking for a weapon to defend yourself? That's cute. Won't do you any good, brother. You'd need a—"
Too late for him. Richard had found it. A box labeled Norton Antivirus. He ripped it open, yanked out the flash drive, and with a desperate shout, lunged.
"HAAAA!" he roared, plunging the metallic tip straight into Danger Kid's chest.
"Wha-AHHH?!" Danger Kid screamed out in pain throwing Richard off of him. Richard landed on the ground with a thud—But looking up—he saw that his plan was working.
"What is this?!" The flashdrive was lodged in Danger Kid's chest, he was trying to take it out, but he was in pain, and couldn't. Danger Kid panted, trying to keep his balance, but he couldn't, and fell to his knees. "Ahhh... ahh fuck!" Danger Kid grabbed his chest, again, trying to take the drive out, but it couldn't come out.
He looked up at Richard, the darkness on him glitching with code, and the eyes glowing red, blue, pink, yellow. "Urhg...a hh..." Danger Kid whined.
"You... you..." Danger Kid hissed through clenched teeth, staggering upright. "You little—" He charged, but the glitching intensified, and he collapsed mid-sprint.
Richard stared, paralyzed. His body wouldn't move. His mind wouldn't process.
Slowly, shakily, he stood and approached.
Danger Kid was crouched on the floor, glitching badly, looking up with wild, fragmented eyes.
"You think you've won?" he growled. "You haven't. There are still others—other versions of me. Powerful viruses. We'll meet again..."
Then his body gave out. The glitching ceased. He fell still.
Then they vanished, as a bunch of members and symbols rose out from the spot they fell at, then disappeared.
Richard blinked.
Then, he slowly turned around.
"What the fuck just happened?!" he shouted