Code Masters RP, Can We Save Videoland?

(Some info, the basics of this RPG, and a quick summary of the first scene you can see below is found here (RP Info Topic). Now then the first three people to join this must pick between the remaining three code devices(Obviously I'm picking one myself), this is to ensure we don't have a lot of one type. After the first three have joined, if anyone else wishes too, they can put their character up with a number in the Game Enhancer entry on their character sheet. I will then use a Random Number Generator to assign them one based off it. This will mean your choice of number affects the settings of the RNG. And now, without farther adu, the start of this twisted vision.)


Characters involved in starter scene, just so you know

Megaman X, from the game of the same name. A more advanced model of the original Megaman, and also far more of a warrior, his attitude shows it. He wanders now with Zero, the sole survivors of their world's destruction at the hands of the Army of Glitch, who were to decimate the home of Megaman, who had been such a thorn in the side of other villains.

Zero, from the Megaman X world, built using X's blue prints by Dr. Wily, he's a red armor Reploid(Android) with a sword as well as a blaster. He was originally built for evil, but he's not only gained a sense of honor and justice, but a reputation as a kind and caring individual, saving many people as he and X moved between worlds, looking for some shred of hope.

Terra Branford, the initial heroine of Final Fantasy VI. Half Esper she is more intune with the energy forces of the world than most, and can transform into a being of pure power. Her world, due in part to an easy why to do instant kill attacks involving invisibility increasing the chances of such attacks working, is holding its own against the Infinite HPed Glitches. However, such a stalemate will eventually end in favor of the enemy.

The Narrator, the Narrator of the Bard's Tale world, he's a snarky bastard who constantly degraded the hero of his game. However, unusually he was able to communicate with the Bard, and thus, do something to meddle in the affairs of the world of sprites. His was one of the first to fall to the Glitch Army, as well as any world with a narrator, as those disembodied voices are a threat to the Blue Emperor.


"Are you sure this place is abandoned?" asked Zero, slashing at another bit of debris that had shaken loose from the ceiling. The tower was a hodgepodge of different pieces of rubble, much taken from the former Imperial Capital of Vector, but other bits coming from the various cities that had once dotted the world.

"Kefka went to join the Blue Emperor inside the Glitch Kingdom, so yeah, we're pretty sure it is. He took most of his monsters with him too, to be turned into soldiers while he became one of the generals," said Terra, her light aqua hair streaming down her back as she shook a bit of dust off her head.

"Heh, good thing they can't seem to take unwilling generals, I suppose. He only gets nutjobs for direct helpers. Still, I thought you said you and the others killed Kefka in some kind of final battle against all odds, didn't you?" asked X as he blew away another bit of stuff. The walls shook violently for a moment afterward, and then again as something more distant exploded outside, where the others were fighting off the Glitches for as long as they could.

"Didn't you blow Sigma up, and didn't Zero sacrifice himself at some point?" countered Terra, which made the two reploids stop and look at each other for a moment.

"I withdraw the question," said X after a moment, turning back to face the half human female with a sly grin on her face, and he found he was smiling back at her. It was hard to find humor these days, with the Army everywhere, but Terra seemed quite adept at raising spirits. But then, she'd been surrogate mother to an entire town's worth of human children. She'd likely needed a skill like that on a dying world such as this one.

"I don't. We're reploids, and can be rebuilt if someone still has our cores. According to you, Kefka, even with his godlike power drained from the sources of magic, was still human," pointed out Zero as the three of them climbed up another stair case, coming face to face with a large hulk of a machine. It appeared to have once been some kind of bulky war mech with guns for arms, and stubby legs. Now it was just so much scrap metal, with holes in what looked to be several feet thick armor.

"The Guardian. The Empire's best weapon. We couldn't beat it the first few times we fought it, but with the powers of the Espers, we were finally able to here, just before we got around to kicking Kefka's rear end," she identified, walking a bit more cautiously as she stepped past it, looking like she expected it to leap up and attack, despite the fact that all the systems were dead, as far as the reploids could tell,

"As for Kefka's little repeat performance, we think it has something to do with the Glitches. He just sort of popped back up one day. A huge shimmer appeared in the spot where the tower once stood, and then it was back, and he was shouting things down about hate. Until Deathgaze told him about the Blue Emperor. Then he was off toward Glitch Kingdom, to join with someone who shared his Nihilistic goals," she explained as they kept walking, silent now, as if afraid their words might shake something else loose as they came closed to the core, where the pieces of the tower were not so loose, or so small, as they had been.

"Here, this is it," she said at last, and the two reploids looked somewhat disappointed. After all, they new what their own teleporters looked like, and they had expected something grandiose from a world of Magitek, but all it was was a point of light on the floor. Getting in party with Terra, walking into her and vanishing, they felt her move forward, looking out through her eyes as she stepped onto the point, and then a bright yellow shaft fell on her, and they rose upward into an impossible height, their senses blurred by the light.

"By Dr, Light," swore X as he stared around him, stepping out of Terra's party and becoming independent again. This place...it was impossibly huge. There was a sky, dark and foreboding beyond anything he had seen before. The clouds were full of hate, it was the only word that could even begin to describe them.

"This was Kefka's domain. At first, I thought it existed on top of the tower, but he landed near the top, and we never saw it, so afterward I did a bit of snooping in the rubble, and found it was a fold of some kind. Separate from the world, and from any world I've yet seen. If figured Kefka's return meant it would be back, and it's a good thing too. This is the only place I can think of that our plan can work," she told them.

"And if it hadn't been here, everything we've done would have been for nothing, right?" said Zero wryly, looking back toward the floor they'd come up, which looked no different than the floor in other places.

"No, we would have tried anyway. Lucca already said her machine wouldn't work a second time. It was by chance that it had worked the first time. This is our only hope. We need the ones who can touch both worlds," she said.

"Humph, if you can find any of them. Narrators are rare enough, and nowadays they're all but extinct. Most of them are so connected to their heroes that when one dies, the other dies with them," commented X.

"No, they don't die, not really. I can still feel them. But...they don't care. Their heroes, they were their friends, and their companions. They were their reason for being. Without that they just curl up and go catatonic. With no one else to talk to, no one who really knows them, they don't feel like being a part of our world anymore. Who knows, maybe they crossed to the other side the uncrossable boundary," she said wistfully, looking up into those hate filled clouds as she started to lay out the necessary components of the spell she was about to cast, a summoning spell she had learned from Rydia at Baron almost a year ago, when the assembled heroes had concocted this scheme.

No one remained now who would speak of Alex, the last Game Master. He'd been a jerk, insensitive, and cowardly at times. But he'd been heroic at other times too. With the others at his side, he'd beaten the Sovereign of Sorrow, and a dozen other threats, before the battle with another Game Master came at him head on. No one living knew the result of that battle. Too many speculated, but there was no one with hard evidence, besides the fact that neither Alex nor the Other ever returned.

For a time afterward, as the worlds, all of them RPG, Platformer, Puzzle, Action/Adventure, Strategy, and such, had built a new order. Nexus, the center point of worlds, became Conflux, where the worlds joined together. It was from there that the council had ruled for untold years, fairly, and justly. No one doubted it. And times then had been so peaceful that sprites had begun to forget the ways of war. Videoland had seemed poised for an era of undisturbed peace.

Then the first Glitch had appeared. That one event was marked as a turning point in the history of Videoland, in the same way the Game Masters' arrivals were, and the Mother Brain Wars. But, like with Alex's arrival. No one had even been aware of just how momentous an occasion it was, at least not until later. When that single Glitch had started to trash downtown Conflux, stopped only when Terra made the scene, using her own battle system to first make the Glitch invisible, and then use Death on it, killing it without any trouble at all.

But that was only one. A single Glitch, and it had devastated part of Conflux, despite dozens of heroes and villains trying to stop it. Anticipating more such entities, the S.C.O.P.E. system was reactivated, and when the next Glitch appeared, it was instantly vaporized, and then the next, and the next, and then the next, and then the...three came through next, two shielding the one behind just long enough for it to get out of the way. And then, as it started to attack things, more began to appear through holes it started to cut in reality.

Soon they were an army, but a contained one, as the S.C.O.P.E. cut huge swaths through their numbers. It seemed it would just be a matter of time until the Glitches were taken care of, as the citizens cut off the sector from the rest of Conflux. Then he came through one of the largest holes, torn by all the Glitches working in concert.

His arrival was seemingly anticlimactic at the time. After all, he was just a man in blue robes. Nothing too special. One could tell he was some form of humanoid too, though only a single hand was visible outside his robes, and sometimes flashes of light would come from out of the other sleeve, or from under his hood, as if his body was crackling with the energy it contained.

The S.C.O.P.E. operator was a hero at that time, a man from one of the newer worlds, who was a crack shot, if a bit unstable. He stared down the blue robed man, and fired at him without ever thinking a thing of it, other than he was an enemy. And for that one moment of bad judgement, he died, as the Blue Emperor raised that human looking hand, and with a flick of his wrist, sent out a burst of energy even stronger, right back into the warp zone. S.C.O.P.E. and operator were destroyed, and several of the operator's friends tried to leap into the fray, their leader, Squall only being stopped when Terra had transformed and kicked him int the head, knocking him out.

That was the first casualty of the war. And no where near the last. The Blue Emperor called forth anyone who would have vengeance on the makers of Videoland, the humans, claiming they were the source of all pain, and that they enslaved everyone who lived. He never once denied that Videoland would die with them, but he said it was more important to die free, than lived chained, and some, those who had been unsatisfied with the world of Videoland, or those like Kefka who wanted everything dead, joined him, being converted into Glitch Generals, with powers far beyond what they had before.

The heroes, and hell, even villains like Dr. Wily, Sigma, the Sorceress Ultima, Garland, Carltron, Ghaleon, and dozens of others had all met at Baron Castle, rebuilt into a stronghold of Videoland after the events of that Lunarian Moon. The point of the meeting was to figure out some way to oppose the Army of Glitch, and defeat the Blue Emperor. Dozens of plans were proposed, and all were rejected. Save finally one, desperate ploy, that would likely kill them all, even if it worked.

Call a new Game Master. The Power Glove that had created the original Ultimate Warp Zone, was long since turned to dust, and Lucca claimed her teleporter needed mater from the other side to become a bridge, like the one that had brought Alex to Videoland. So they determined that only a Narrator, a being who touched both Videoland and the other side, would be able to do what they needed done.

Of course, by then the Army of Glitch had attacked every world with a Narrator. Evil King Stan, one of those present, talked about the horror inflicted on his own world, and his one real friend, Ari. Every other one had similar stories, and all ended with the Narrators going silent. So Terra had hatched this scheme, their last, desperate play. Summoning one of the Narrators to this place, and hoping, hoping that he would help them.

"Oh Spirits of Creation, Destruction, and Change, hear the plea of one who focuses your will upon this world. I summon to my aid that which has no form, only a voice. Bring one of that before me now, that I might know it," she said, chanting the spell just as they'd planned No one had ever summoned a Narrator before, so this was the best any of them could hope for, summoning the most basic spirits, and believing they could summon a Narrator.

"X, take the right, I'll take the left. And remember, I'm Death, your Vanish," said Zero, the two taking up their positions. The Army was more than likely able to sense what was going on here, and they would bend all their forces to breaking through the line outside the tower. Zero and X were her last defense, should the Glitches get this far.

"Please, great Spirits, bring a Narrator to our aid!" she said, and then jammed a blood stained finger into the circle. Rydia had said sacrifice was not always necessary for summoning spells, but that she would recommend it for this one. For an instant afterward, nothing happened. There wasn't even the distant sounds of battle here, in this pocket world. Just silence. Then, suddenly, a wind began to rise, and the clouds above parted like curtains, allowing a blood stained light to shine down upon them, as a few mumbled words echoed.

"Who, who are you? Not the Bard, no, his songs were more crass, and his voice, not so lovely," came the British accented words. The voice was all around them as they stood there, and Terra, former slave of the Empire, former mother to a city's worth of orphans, felt tears sting at her eyes, as she darted her head about, looking for the source of the voice, and then laughing at how silly that was.

"No, I'm not the Bard, but I've heard of him. He fought valiantly, right up until the end, defending his world. I'd heard that his Narrator fought with him, altering things into his favor, but even that type of power was not enough," she said, wondering now if she might not be throwing the voice's failures in its nonexistent face, but there was only a short silence, and then a regret filled sigh.

"Yes, yes, that was the Bard. He did that...he did it just to spite me. To make me a lair. He had to play the selfless hero at least once, to prove that I couldn't be trusted. And to prove that he was a hero. That was his last words. That he was a hero," said the voice, and she could hear tears in it too. This Narrator had been through much, but she remembered others who had lost as much, if not more, and they needed him now.

"I see. Tell me, why are you still speaking. Other Narrators, without their heroes, become mutes, and speak not at all," she asked, hoping to get a measure of this one's worth, hoping he had a good reason, a reason that might mean he was more open to joining them.

"I'm still talking because I will not be outdone by the Bard. That snarky, scheming bastard. He...he was a friend. The only one who listened to me, even if we did spend all the time swearing at each other. I told him, I ordered him, I tried to force him, to run from the fight that he couldn't win, but he told me, if he was destined to die with his world, than that was what he would do, but that I, that his voice from above, had a higher purpose to his death. Perhaps he saw something I didn't, but I've been looking for that purpose since. And now you summon me, so that I might summon another, Miss Branford," said the voice.

Terra wasn't shocked that the voice knew who she was, or what she wanted. Narrators knew things about the worlds they were on, from history, to people's secrets. And they could use that knowledge to alter things. After all, knowledge was power, especially in a place like Videoland, where everything was made of information.

"Than I have no need to explain my purpose. Please tell me, can you do what we require?" she asked, almost pleading, and the voice went silent as if in thought.

"Yes, I can, but before you ask, no I won't," it said, after a moment, and Terra was shocked, so were Zero and X, all there stared into the infinity ahead of them, and all at once they started to demand to know why, before they suddenly found they were making no noise. Their voices had been muted by the Narrator's power.

"Good, now then, before you get off on some tangent about duty, I will explain why. You seek a Game Master, like the heroes of old, but in the end, this force, the Glitch, goes back to the very creation of Videoland. No Game Master, no player, can ever hope to match the power that the Glitches represent. It would be like an NPC facing down a final boss," he explained, and the three understood what he meant, and all three seemed to collapse in on themselves, bereft of all hope.

"Now, now, before you get all gloomy, I can do something better than just a single Game Master. I can bring in those who are like the Progenitors, and they, having the powers of those who made this world, should be able to oppose, and even possibly defeat the Glitches," said the voice, and Terra looked at Zero and X, who both shook their heads. They'd never heard of Progenitors, but if the Game Master wasn't powerful enough, than this would do.

"That's fine, can you bring them through now?" asked Zero, surprised to find his voice working again.

"I'm afraid it's not that simple. You see, I'm not as powerful as the Power Glove. I can't determine where the portals will open. I can only start them in motion, and we can hope, desperately hope, that the Code Masters, those who can go beyond simple players, are drawn to worlds where the Glitches aren't yet touching," he told them, and Terra nodded.

"Okay then you do that, and then tell us where they are and we'll go get them," proposed X, but after that statement, there was a long silence, which had one very obvious meaning. A meaning none of them could doubt, though it was Terra who gave voice to it.

"You'll be using all of your power up doing this," she said to the voice. A statement of fact, not a question or anything of that sort. All three present knew it would mean fragmentation for the Narrator. He wouldn't even be a ghost. He'd be nothing.

"Yes, so I want you to do something. Promise me. PROMISE ME!!!, that you'll seek them out. That you'll protect them as they learn their powers, and then guide them to the Glitch Kingdom. Their power alone has a chance against the Blue Emperor," he told them, and Terra, Zero, and X stared at each other for a long silent moment, before Terra turned back toward the infinity above her.

"We promise," she said softly, and with that, the heavens began to shine brightly, a new hope being born, as the barrier between two worlds was torn asunder.
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(And with that long sequence we're finally up to the start of this. I would like entry scenes to be whatever you feel like being. Mine of course, is based of the original Captain N entry, though your's can be done in any way you like. From Tron laser, to Slider vortex. Also any game is open for your starting point if you like. Except for Chrono Trigger, Megaman's Earth(Or any variation thereof), and Final Fantasy VI's world. And also, I hope to get a stickied topic with the characters in it. In addition to the basic stuff, the lists for the characters will include the codes they have. Note, initially you will only have codes dealing with yourself, and the world you're in, but as we travel you will find new codes along the way. Gameshark by hacking, Game Genie by wishing for them, Action Replay simply by meeting the heroes(Because they can only alter hero stats, they're automatically loaded) and Codebreaker by using the others. You will have access to your own character right off the bat, as that data is closest to your device, but only HP and MP values. Later you'll gain other stat codes.)

Name: Jon Alabaster
Age: 22
Gender: Male
Game Enhancer: Code Breaker
Physical Desc: About 6'9" in height, he weighs in at around 220 pounds. He has short cut, dirty blond hair and green eyes. His attire consists of a pair of blue jeans with faded knees and frayed cuffs around the feet, as well as tennis shoes that are velcro strapped and white all over. His shirt is about the same as the shoes, plain and white, it possesses not identifying marks at all.
Starting Game: Arc the Lad III for the PSX
Codes In Possession:
Personal Codes
HP Values, both Current and Max
MP Values, both Current and Max
Arc the Lad III codes
Party Modifier Codes(Can change who's in party)
Inf Items in Slot One Code(First Item Slot is always 99)
Item Slot one Modifier Code(Can Change Item in Slot 1 to other Items)
Character Stat Codes(Can alter stats of all playable characters)


"Oh come on, this is just too much," said the man as he pushed another button, and the creature on the screen, an overlarge squirrel, died with a scream. It was always neat to have a game where they did that, and the characters even spoke during moves, though the voices were in Japanese due to them not caring enough to get other voice actors.

"Still, for an oldie, this isn't a bad game. Now then, what's next?" he asked himself as he started to go over his inventory. He'd already gotten the Level Up Fruit, as characters in this game leveled up separately, rather than as a party. He also had Romancing Stones, which set all spell costs to 0. Best accessory in the game. Other than that he had a few modifier codes loaded in, and even some stat changers, but they weren't active.

"Let's see, I can either hack a bit more, maybe see if this game has a debug menu, or I can give up and go to town and finally start the game," he told himself, looking at the world map, which, while more detailed than some, was obviously not up to the standards of today's graphics. Which suited him just fine. He played for story, and for fun, and the Arc the Lad games where always fun. Even with the even leveling and the infinite move use, the battles would be a challenge, and that final boss was always difficult. A good game all in all.

"Or I could go to bed, it is 3 AM," he mused, looking toward a window. It was closed, with not only blinds on it, but a curtain too, making his room dependant on artificial light sources, which right now consisted only of a glowing television screen as he considered taking a brief siesta. The game would still be here when he got back, after all. Of course, the universe chose that moment to prove him wrong, as the world map with Alec standing in front of the bridge, vanished into glowing light, and he was forced to cover his eyes as he felt something tugging at him.

"What the hell did I drink tonight?" he asks, thinking he was hallucinating. After all, it wasn't like something of this sort happened everyday. He was smart enough to try and grab onto something, but the only thing close was the chair he was sitting on, which was wheeled, and that was rolling toward the screen at an alarming rate. Screaming for a single instant he felt himself fall into weightlessness as the screen's glow filled his eyes, and the world vanished.
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"Come on Alec, we have to find a hunter for the village. Those bandits are going to hurt someone if we don't hurry," complained Lutz for about the hundredth time. Oddly, his concern seemed unjustified to Alec. Hey he felt that way, he didn't know, but somehow he knew that the village would be safe until they returned. Which was why he'd fought fifteen battles on the bridge leading to the town. Smiling, he was about to start a sixteenth when something happened. His mind suddenly snapped out of the reverie it had been in, and he realized Lutz was right. Their home was in danger, and they needed to help fix it.

"You're right Lutz. Le-" Alex never got to finish that sentence, as suddenly a gut wrenching scream tore through the formally quiet glade in front of the bridge, and both Alec and Lutz turned toward the source, watching as the sky sort of folded in on itself, and then out of the hole that made came a human, in odd grab came tumbling out of it, the source of the scream, which abruptly cut off as he landed with a thud on the green flat plain, moaning in pain.

"Hey, are you alright?" called Lutz as he rushed over toward the other one, his hand waving in the air. Not seeing a reason not to follow, Alec did, though a bit more cautiously than Lutz. Something about this man...it seemed oddly familiar, and it seemed strange too. Like he shouldn't be here at all. Still, Alec wasn't about to leave someone in danger, and rushed to the man's side, both Lutz and himself helping the strange man up.

"Oh my aching head. What the frell was I drinking? Romulan Ale?" he asked himself as he shook his head, almost losing his balance and taking Lutz and Alec to the ground with him as he was larger than either of the two young boys. For a moment he seemed to be regarding them with thanks in his eyes, obviously recovering from his fall, but then it was as if he did a double take, staring at Lutz and Alec with eyes wide and full of fear, before they shrank into nothing and rolled up inside his head, both Alec and Lutz having to drop him to prevent them from falling over with him.

"Well, now what do we do?" asked Lutz, obviously having no idea what to make of it, and already seeing that even together it would be a chore to get the man into town with them. Biting his lip, Alec looked about, and then finally nodded toward the distance.

"It's not that far to town. We go there, and we ask the hunter to help us carry him back to our village. We can put the man up there and get his story later," proposed Alec, and after a moment of lip biting himself, Lutz nodded, the two rushing off toward the nearby port town, in the same way they always did at the beginning of Arc the Lad III. There they would find a hunter who could help them deal with bandits trying to rob their village. Only this time, when they got back, they'd have more than just the hunter with them. A series of events is now begun, that will alter the course of destiny, and change the fate of all worlds.

Name: Andrew Maddock
Age: 18
Gender: Male
Game Enhancer: Action Replay
Physical Desc: 5'10", 140 lbs. Brown hair, brown eyes, brown pants, blue polo shirt, brown shoes, brown belt, and a belt pouch with several knives bulging in it.
Starting Game: FFTA
Equipment:
Multitools
Pro Action Replay
--
Comfy Shoes
--
Codes In Possession:
Personal Codes
HP Values, both Current and Max
MP Values, both Current and Max
FFTA codes
All abilities for characters 1-16 codes
10 JP for characters 1-16 codes

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Andrew glanced at the screen one last time, making sure he had put the codes in correctly, and started the game up. He was in the habit of doing different run-throughs in different ways, and this time he was going for a low-level run-through, using any codes which did not affect level or stats, to see how low he could keep his levels as he went through, and for how long. As the familiar starting screen opened up, he watched the pages flip... but something seemed wrong. He was almost certain that the screen hadn't glowed like this before.

Then, all of a sudden, the screen turned blank, as though the GBA had run out of batteries. Andrew reached towards his desk where he had twenty or so Double A's and paused. The battery indicator light was still on, and green to boot. What was going on he-

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-re?

Andrew fell with a thud to the ground a building or so away from Marche.

When he awoke, it was to hear the hero make the mistake of calling a Bangaa a lizard, and rushed to the scene at the same time that Montblanc did.

This post has been edited by Newb on Apr 6 2007, 12:37 PM

Jon awoke later. How much he couldn't tell. He'd been in that blissful kind of sleep where time meant nothing, and everything was just darkness in an infinity around him. As he slowly began to drift through the void, he noticed that it was not truly unbroken, and slowly a small tear formed at the edge. Horizontal, it blazed brightly with light just beyond, and slowly forms began to take shape out of the blurriness beyond, until at last, he fully opened his eyes and stared into a lovely young woman's face.

"Finally. We were afraid you might have gotten hurt. Honestly. You pass out from hunger in the middle of a bridge and that idiot brother of mine just leaves you there. Never mind the monsters all around, or the fact that they can injure you, maybe even kill you, while you're like that, before you have a chance to defend yourself," she told him, nodding as she walked over to a nearby counter, and then pulled up an apple, slicing it into fourths and handing you one.

Sitting up, Jon reached for it, only to be startled by the fact that a weight tumbled onto his chest, and looking down, he found he was still clothed as he had been, with one very notable exception. He now wore a lock, one of the old turn combination locks, around his neck with a string tying it to him, looking quite weak, though for some reason, he knew he would never have to worry about it breaking.

"Oh my, that's a lovely little thing you've got there. Not quite as lovely as the hunter gave me though," she said, revealing a necklace. Jon stared at it, and then nodded, smiling at her. He knew where he was, and he knew who she was now, at least. Of course, that knowledge did him little good at the current time, as it implied two possibilities.

One was that he'd lost his mind. He'd been playing games too much and finally snapped. That meant he was never going to be able to be anything but a gamer trapped in an imaginary world. It wasn't a bad one, mind, but it wasn't his choice of locations to spend the rest of his life. Of course, the other, far more likely possibility, considering he believed himself to be reasonably sane, was that somehow, he'd been sucked into a game.

"It's quite lovely. Tell me, has Alec tried to leave the village yet? He and Lutz are likely to want the excitement of city life after this experience," he told her, and she looked at him for a moment, before rushing out the door, obviously going after her brother and Alec. That would buy him a few minutes, he mused, wishing he had his thinking rock. Something to toss around in his hands. With nothing else close, his hand began to play with the dial on the lock, which spun rapidly suddenly, and then a screen was projected in front of him. Hologram like, it had buttons on it, as well as a few already interesting entries in a list of things above. Taking a moment, he recognized them as the codes he'd had active for Arc the Lad III this time around.

"Well, those aren't mine," he said after a moment, touching an arrow key and scrolling up the code list. Two entries were at the top, marked with his name followed by HP Current, HP Max, and then the same two for MP. It didn't take him a heartbeat to figure out that these were his codes. He could probably find stat data too if he experimented a bit, but he didn't think it would be safe to play with his own code while inside a game. At least not without some other information about this place first.

"Heh, I guess following the heroes is as good a place to start as any," he said to himself, and quickly rushed out the door, to go join Alec and Lutz on their adventure to be the greatest hunters ever, which would eventually end with them battling, and defeating, the Dark One.

Andrew had always been able to win that first battle with very little problem, and when he was thrown into the mix as a third combatant, he figured it would become ridiculously simple. Not to mention the fact that he seemed to be able to move much further than the other people here could, even if he wasn't able to deal much damage. He had to wonder though... why was he here? The book was only supposed to grab people in the world inside the cartridge and throw them into Ivalice. Being outside, it just wasn't supposed to happen. Unless...

"Hey Marche, have you ever heard of somebody called Kevin Keene? Or Alex Williams perhaps?" Andrew asked, swiping at one of the Bangaa with one of his several knives.

"Who are you and how do you know my name? And no, I've never heard of them. Is this really important right now?"

"Well, kinda. I'm in a situation very similar to yours right now. Except with me, it's even more vital that I find a way the hell out of here, because otherwise I'm going to have the PPC on my tail. They don't take kindly to people busting into game worlds with knowledge of the future. Not to mention the fact that something seems off with Montblanc and they're likely to blame me for it."

"What are you talking about? And shouldn't we save this conversation till later?"

"Nah, don't worry about it. This conversation could take as long as we like and the battle, or 'engagement' as people here call it will just stick at the level of progress it's at. Oh, while I'm talking anyway, you two Bangaa dudes, take my advice, and be extra careful. For some inane reason, the prohibition on items is going to continue after the battle is over."

"You're giving them advice right after attacking one of them?"

"Sure! No hard feelings, right?"

Marche shook his head, and the battle continued.

As predicted, the Bangaa just couldn't help himself, and used a potion on himself after the battle had ended, and got sent to the Sprohm prison. As the Judge teleported out, Andrew couldn't shake the feeling that the Judge was glaring smugly at him.

Quietly, Andrew followed Marche and Montblanc as they talked about joining clans, and suddenly found that both Marche and Montblanc were staring at him and that one of them had asked if he wanted to join the clan too. "Uh, sure," something occurred to Andrew. "When Alex Williams went into a game world, the world would reflect his last run-through. Now, for me, I was just starting a run-through, so your adventure was just beginning too. If I'm right about this... I had some codes in... so... Tell me, how many JP do you have?"

"So you're saying that our whole world is a story in your's, and we win this battle, right?" asked Lutz as the seven of us walked through the ruins of the monolithic structure that held the Dark One imprisoned. I suppose I should go back a bit further for anyone just reading, but really, the details of my adventure to this point aren't really necessary.

After joining Alec and Lutz, I soon discovered I could actively edit code while the game was running, and with what I already had, as well as a bit of memory thanks to several previous play throughs, I was able to alter the code for items to give Alec and Lutz the best weapons they could equip. I also found that while I myself couldn't wield a weapon, I had a base strength stat, which wasn't a bad stat at all, especially after maxing out my levels.

Going through only the first ‘dungeon' in the game, the Crystal Cavern, I was able to prove to Alec and Lutz that I knew the game world, telling them what we would encounter in enemies, and then in the chests. I had at first tried to prove it by giving them the weapons, but, interestingly enough, I discovered that their memories altered with the codes. Now, logically they couldn't remember ever getting the weapons they now held, but to them, I'd had no part in getting them, which was an intriguing bit of data. It meant I could alter anything I wanted and it would never register with them.

As we sat outside the boss chamber of the cavern I did a bit more. I first summoned forth Theo, the third party member, and to the three with me, it was like he'd always been there. Asking how the three had met I got blank stares, and then some vague answers that sounded like the game story, but as if they weren't sure any of it had happened. Making Theo go away, I was quickly threatened by Lutz, who was in a bit of a panic as he watched a friend just vanish.

Wondering for a moment why he would remember Theo, I remembered the game code left the party slot open even when Theo went away, and a bit of extrapolation later and the slot was closed. Lutz and Alec went into a panic together at this little snipit of information, as it meant I could literally do anything to them, but I assured them I wasn't going to hurt them, in fact I assembled the whole party, plus the three story characters you got for a while, and then the secret one. Together we left the first dungeon to find we had the overland vehicle, a hovercraft, waiting for us, as the game thought we should have it due to having all the party members.

From there I took us to the final level area of the game, the ten of us breezing through it thanks to my own edits. It had taken a bit of extrapolating to find the skill slots from the stat codes I had, but after a bit of playing around I discovered the codes that would give my teammates new moves in place of old ones, and soon each of them had special attacks that cost nothing, but were unblockable and always lethal, as instead of doing damage, they merely set the enemy's HP to 0. It was an attack that the Dark One possessed but rarely used, but we were able to use it at any time. Or at least, my teammates were. I hadn't worked up the courage to try and edit myself yet.

After that we'd pretty much done a few quests to raise the last dungeon, which took very little time thanks to my own ability at the Code Breaker. And then there it was. The final battle laid before us. It should have taken an hour to get to it still, but I was able to re-edit a movement code, which determined how far you could walk on the map in a single turn of battle, and so whenever we encountered enemies we simply walked right by them. Coming to the series of fights leading up to the battle, and breezing through them as we hit the boss type with one super move and went on. And now we're here, before the final boss chamber.

"For the last time, yes. But there's something that's been bothering me about that. My powers wouldn't work in a normal world, one like mine, which means your's is close to a story type I've read before. I'd like you guys to hold off for a moment when we get inside. The Dark One will already be free, and so we won't be able to stop that, but I think I have a move in my personal arsenal that will take it down no sweat," I told them, smiling as I touched a small bit of paper in my pocket, before the eleven of us opened the door, staring at the shapes inside.

The Professor, Leader of the Academy was standing beside a large machine, which sparked and shook as the thing it was trying to drain of power was putting out more than it could hold. All at once the machine went boom, and then the cords connecting it to a sword that had been jammed deep into an obsidian alter glowed as they flowed with power, touching the sword, which disintegrated into nothingness as a shining ball of light, with a single eye, rose out of the alter to stare at us.

"Freedom at last from my long imprisonment," came a voice, and I balked for a moment. Reading that voice was so much different than hearing it. The Dark One really did sound like something from hell when you were listening to the real it, and for a moment, a single instant, I found myself wanting to turn and run. But then I stirred up all my courage, pulling the note from my pocket and holding it aloft as I stepped toward the creature.

"Excuse me, before you start ranting, I was wondering if you could do a puny mortal a favor?" I asked, and the eye turned to face me, the whole glowing mass moving with it. But I didn't falter now. People were counting on me, and I couldn't perform this particular test except on someone I really didn't like. And while the secret character, a prissy bitch, was tempting, it might alienate a few others. So raising the note, I pointed to the words I'd written on it.

"I was wondering if you might read this for me?" I said, and the eye seemed to squint a little as it mumbled the note in my hand.

"I AM INVINCIBLE!!! Or at least, that's how it seems to b-HEY! Where are you going!" shouted the villain as I rushed as fast as I could away, dragging the professor, and his attractive but brilliant female assistant with me, motioning for the others to help me as we ran away.

"Retreat? What did you do that for? That's no a spell!" demanded Cheryl, the gun toting machinist of the group, but Theo and the others looked at her with grim expression. They'd all seen my power work before now, and sometimes they weren't even sure what I did. So if this worked, it would just be another weird thing I could do.

"Trust me, if this place is what I think it is, we're gonna be knocked down by an explosion of some kind in five, four, three," I moved my hand in a two and a one gesture, and then closed my eyes and covered my ears. Everyone but Cheryl copied me, and for a moment, nothing seemed to happen. She was even about to say something to that effect when the ground was violently tossed about, a cloud of fire and dust coming from the direction of the Dark One's chamber before things finally began to settle.

"What the hell?" asked Lutz as he pulled himself to his feet, looking back down the corridor, through the smoke filled haze, toward the direction that had once held the Dark One's power base, but was now nothing more than ruins. Of course, joining him, I took away more from the view than he did, as a small blue sphere rested where the Dark One had been, and I instantly recognized it as a Chrono Trigger gateway.

"Well, at least I know I'm in Videoland now. I wonder which Zelda's in power right now?" I queried to no one in particular as I started to get closer to the gate. After all, I had infinite HP. No matter who or what came out, I really was invincible. Nothing could hurt me. Or so I thought. But I got quite a shook when the gate irised open, revealing the ones inside.

This was a disaster.

The PPC had in fact caught up with Andrew after only a few missions, they weren't going to fall for triggering narrative causality, they were immune to his rewinds, and it was only a matter of time before they figured out how to punch through his codes to take away his infinite health.

The one on the right nodded to his partner.

"It's ready," she said, aiming the device at Andrew. "I have a feeling you already know what's on the charge list. You want me to read it off or not?"

"Just get it over with. Maybe I'll wake back up in my room."

"Fair enough." She said, firing just as a blue sphere opened up in front of Andrew. Dumbstruck, she stared at it. "Whatever was on the other side of that gate you just opened isn't going to be very happy. Or very alive, for that matter."

Name: Roberto Saltez
Age: 24
Gender: Male
Game Enhancer: Gameshark
Physical Desc: Wears worn jeans and T-shirt which are usually brown, and carry brand names.
Starting Game: FF IV
Equipment:
Codes In Possession:
Stat shifters
sprite changers
HP Values, both Current and Max
MP Values, both Current and Max

Grabbing his gameshark, Roberto wondered if he ought to continue its use. FF IV was such a fine game, and he felt guilt occasionally at mucking up the system.The moment passed however, and he reasoned that since he beat it several times normally, there was no harm it. Powering up his SNES, he sat down on the old, worn couch. The power was going, but he saw no menu. The music was still playing though. He probably just had to secure the AV cables in the back. As he reached for them, an odd vortex started forming in the middle of the SNES. Unable to resist its pull, he let it suck him in, praying that fate would not be to cruel.

"You killed my mother!"
"Just come with us!"
"Never!"

Groggy, Roberto awoke to the sounds of a classic FF battle. For a minute he believed it a dream. He opened his eyes however, and saw two men in armor fighting a small child garbed in green. The one on the left swung his sword at thechild, though he seemed reluctant. Amongst the girl's screams, he heard the one on the right.

"Kain, look! There is another beside her!"
"What do you make of him?'
"Doesn't seem to have any weapons."
"Lets just focus on the girl."

Suddenly, a giant beast appeared and Roberto could see no more through the resulting smoke." This all gave off a strange sense of familiarity.He heard a sort of explosion and began to black out....

When he awoke, he saw the one in black armor standing over the girl.

"Uggh." Roberto groaned.

He suddenly found himself at the tip of the man's blade.Then he remembered why this seemed so familiar.

"uhgh..Cecil?" he forced out.

Cecil appeared to be taken aback by this. "How do you know my name?" he demanded.

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you."
"Oh yeah? Try me."

After a long winded explanation (a la several such cliched scenes) the dark knight looked at him long and hard. "Your explanation is outlandish, but not unlike an old myth..... We should see the Mysidian elder."

"I told you we were warping into a large energy mass," came a voice, one he recognized instantly. After all, it came from a voiced game. Stepping out of the vortex were two figures, both human looking, though the shorter ones mint colored hair was natural, rather than dyed, showing anyone who knew it that she was something a little different than human. On the other hand, the speaker was herself a pure human, one touched by the Ancients. In her hand she held a gladius, a short sword of Roman make, with a green aura shining around it.

"Yes, but by the time you pointed that out, I couldn't have stopped the portal from opening anyway. At least we're here now. And we can hope the Code Master wasn't caught in the blast," said Terra Branford, heroine of Final Fantasy VI, to her companion, Alexandra Roivas, the heroine of an all together different game, with another purpose besides. She'd saved that one too, thanks to a bit of help from the dead.

"Well now, I wonder if the Dues of the game world likes me, or if I should start running," said Jon, more to himself than anyone else. Terra mentioned a ‘Code Master', who was likely himself. After al, he had the ability to hack the games. And combining that with the fact that she didn't want him to be killed in the blast meant they were looking to get him alive, a hopeful sign. But then, they could just want him to drain the energies of the code breaker from him. If so, running was likely a good option, especially seeing as the belts they were wearing looked like the ones that made their realities' physics dominate over the local version. Of course, had I been thinking clearly I would have remembered how sensitive Alex was from her own adventure. Or that the sword she was carrying could be flung out as a ranged weapon, creating a copy of sorts.

"Oh sh~,"that was all he had time to say before the blade struck him full in the chest. Of course, his HP was unaffected, as it was set at maximum, but as he'd noted earlier, he'd forgotten about status effects, and this particular sword, with the green aura color, had a dozy of one. As soon as it struck him, reality began to unravel into madness. Alec and the others became zombies, and the two other gamely women became boss type monsters, possessing wings, fangs, and tails. At the same time he began to hear voices, loud screams, and nearly silent whispers, as the power of madness ripped at his mind.

"Alright, this sucks," he said as he closed his eyes to the approach of the zombies, one looking like it was going to attack the two boss creatures.

"Wait a second, hold it. Everyone just chill for a second. Alex didn't mean to do that, I think, and if they make no aggressive moves, you guys don't, alright?" he shouted, hoping everyone stopped. As he stood there, his eyes closed, he could still just barely hear what was really going on, but it was only an impression of voices, not the words that were being spoken. After a moment or two, silence finally began to settle, and he figured that the heroes of Arc III had made some kind of peace.

"Alright, I figure they want to help heal me. Let them. Alexandra, the blonde one, has a magik that can do it, make sure it's green or purple, those are the spell colors that it will take. And no, Cheryl, I can't see or hear anything. I'm in the grips of a sanity effect," he told her quite pointedly. He'd thought the rich bitch was a handful in the game, but the gun toting tom boy had proved to be more so when you're actually around her. Always making side remarks, and generally creating a bad feeling everywhere around her. Suddenly he felt lighter than air, a similar feeling to that of a healing spell, and as it did, the screams and whispers vanished. Smirking, he opened his eyes to stare at the assembled group, who all looked at him expectantly.

"Okay, I'm sane again. Or at least, as much as ever. And since those two have those belts, I figure they're the heroes of other stories. And more importantly, Videoland in general," he said, for the benefit of his teammates. Terra and Alex both nodded agreement with the statement immediately.

"That's right. We came here to find the Code Master, or at least, the one that got brought here. Lucca said we'd find it close by our exit point," explained Terra.

"She also had me bring Alex because the sanity effects work as well on any sprite, even Glitches, though they can't kill them," she added, nodding to her companion. It took a moment to make introductions, and then a longer one to explain to Jon's companions that their world was only part of a greater multiverse, a multiverse of varied worlds, and heroes and villains. Terra and Alex added their own bit, informing me of the Army of Glitch, and the Blue Emperor who was slowly destroying everything, all in his quest to reach the ‘Real World' so he could lay waste the creators. After everyone finally accepted that, Terra walked over to the gate, opening it with a single word.

"Right then, I suppose we should get out of here, fast. The Glitch Army's going to be coming in a little while, if they know you're here, Jon, and that means we don't want to be here when they come," she explained.

"What? You would have us run in the face of an enemy?" proclaimed the swordsman, who swung his blade in a wide arc. One of the most powerful party members in Arc III, he was also full of himself, and not likely to back down from a fight, even one he couldn't win.

"You know, he's got a point. These guys have moves that should work against even these Glitches. Even a few of them here might be able to defend this world, at least from what you've told us," said Jon, remembering that Terra had explained how the Glitches were errored HP, meaning that damage meant nothing. Of course, no matter what, they should go away when the HP hit zero, and since the special move the Arc III here's all had did just that, it should work to make them an effective force. At least on their own world.

"You're right. If that move works, it should. Okay then, they can stay here, but we need you to come with us. We'll send this world what aid we can later," said Alex, and Terra looked at her pointedly. Probably the half-esper felt her companion was overstepping her bounds, but she voiced no objection. Seeing nothing left to discuss himself, Jon began to move forward, only to have his arm caught by Alec.

"I'm coming with you. The others can hold here as well with or without me. Besides. I want to see these other worlds myself. After all, that's why Lutz and I set out in the first place," said the hero, and after a moment's hesitation Jon looked over in askance at the two heroines, who looked at each other before nodding. Together then, the four moved toward the gate, Alec waving to his friends as he stepped through, and the first Code Master was taken to the last bastion of hope against the forces of Glitch.

Name: Dave Lennard
Age: 21
Gender: Male
Game Enhancer: Game Genie
Physical Desc: About 5'6" in height, and weighs about 150 lbs. He has short messy brown hair and brown eyes. He has black sneakers and tan Khakis pants. His shirt is black with a large blue dragon decal thats clinging to the front.
Starting Game: Final Fantasy III (American SNES version)
Codes In Possession:
Personal Codes
Infinite Funds
Switch characters after a battle (random characters doesn't effect Code Masters)
Character gets new menu command "x" (aka. Locke gets command 'Morph')

Dave, an avid gamer and armature programmer (and and fan of Captain N and Captain SNES) had found himself taking out the American SNES version of Final Fantasy 3. He never had truly finished it before but had decided to do so since he had finished his newest accomplishment, the success in modding the SNES game genie and doubling the number of codes he could put in.

The Game Genie took 5 resets and a bit of tweaking to Finlay boot up correctly. Dave then typed each code he wanted quickly with quick glances at his computer to correct them.

The familiar opening scenes showed signifying the rest of the Genie's circuits working correctly!


Starting up his last save file before the final 2 battles Dave polished off the first boss chuckling as he knew his '"randomly" switch characters after a battle' code will change his first lineup to have Leo in his party. However the game froze came the final battle!

"Aw ****, I didn't expect Kefka to also show up now! It was not part of the set pattern!" Dave groaned at the game. "Dang code glitch with the Kefka playable character."

Dave started to reach for the reset button when suddenly a bright light flared from the screen and what looked like the ending started playing but it was yellow on white.

"What the... That glitch didn't do that last time. Wha? Whoa!" Dave said as he got pulled in the game.

_________________________________________________________________________________


Location: Thamasa
Game time: 3 months after the destruction of Kefka in that game world.

The world statues have been returned to their positions and the world was slowly starting to recover. Using the power of the plot (how Dave viewed what would happen after the game was done) some of the Espers were revived and magic was returned to the world.

Strago and Relm had returned to their village to create a school of magic to teach those who newly acquired the power.


*Thud*

Dave is on his back after being flung though the portal. He sits up with is eyes closed rubbing the back of his head.

"Oww. What a trip, I shouldn't have had that large spicy sub." Dave said.

Dave starts getting his barrings and starts looking around him. Some of the people in the village start to come out to see what the thud was, Dave doesn't immediately recognize them until a bushy haired elder and a young girl in a red cloak come out.

"Wait, what! Oh..." Dave exclaimed before he faints.

Some time later...

Dave wakes up in a bedroom that is vaguely familiar and also occupied by Strago and Relm who were sitting at the nearby table. Dave sits up.

"Oi, this isn't a dream..."Dave mumbled under his breath before asking out loud "Hey, where am I?"

Relm looks up from the table and shouted to her grandfather "Oh the stranger is awake, gramps!"

"So he is." Strago replied to Relm getting up and walking over to Dave. "This place here is Thamasa son. Specifically our house. My name is Strago and this is my energetic daughter Relm."

"Hi!" Relm pipped up energetically.

Strago ignores Relm's outburst eying Dave. "Ahem, so what might be your name mysterious traveler? Never saw you around before."

"I knew it..." Dave said quickly under his breath. "My name is Dave and I, uh, think I came here by accident." He replied

"How so?" Strago said quizzically.

One quick explanation with several side explanations later...

"I don't understand!" Relm cried unable to comprehend.

"Basically I came from a different world though a video game which is something that exists where I came from and this world is that game.

"Hmm, this is a very interesting matter for one such as you to know this much" Strago said solemnly. "Relm, please leave us alone. Dave and I have much to discuss and you mustn't be concerned.

"Awww, your such a fuddy duddy!" Relm complained, stomping off.
Strago gave a light chuckle "She still hasn't changed since the battle."

Strago's eyes narrow. "This explanation you have told me is one that I have known for quite some time and one that Relm shouldn't have been told but it can't be reversed."

"Wait, why do you already know this?" Dave interrupted.

Strago answered sullenly "Because of what occurred after the fall of Kefka. Gau, who returned to the Velvet after Kefka's fall, found a portal which he immediately rushed to Edgar who gathered us all excluding Relm to scout it out. It turns out that it led us to a place called the Nexus."

"The Nexus? The intersection of all Videoland?" Dave interrupted once more.

"I see you are familiar to the name." The lore-master replied. "Yes, thats the Nexus. The people there told us that our world had been created by the creators. They also told us of the legends of several creators at different intervals coming from another world to save Videoland from destruction."

"Wait, where those 'creators' Captain N and Captain SNES?"

"Yes those were of the names of legend, how..? I best not ask. Please stay a while as I send word to Edgar and Setzer to take you to Figaro. The would be much interested to meet you and hear what you have to say. He can also knows more about this then I. I also have to take care of my daughter who has been listening for a while now." Strago chuckles moving the opened chest reveling Relm.

"I told you to leave us, you weren't supposed to know what we were talking about. I supposed it can't be helped now. Still, no playing with your friends for a week."

"Your such a fruddy duddy! I was just interested!" The painter stomps downstairs to wallow in her punishment.

"Now then, feel free to stay at our inn, you will allowed free room and board for your stay here."

"Thank you sir." Dave starts to say before being interrupted.

"Now now, you can call me Strago."

"Ok, Strago. Thanks." Dave says leaving the house and talking around town before going to the inn.

Dave receives his dinner which he eats and he is left alone with his thoughts.

"Man, this place is everything that I had wished for. Even the bit of after history was like it was made for me. Going to have to check this Nexus though. It also looks like there is a new school of magic here. I wish I could learn while I wait." Dave says to himself before going to sleep.


End part 1

(I do hope this is fine despite the leght. )

"How very odd....." the elder remarked. " I know the legend you are referring to. There is however, more to it than you may know.

"What do you mean?" asked Cecil.

"Our world is one of many." The elder said. It is only a small, secluded part of a much larger place called videoland."

"As has been passed down through the old legends." murmured Cecil.

"Yes." he said. "This must be fate. go to Mt. Ordeals. If the legends are true, you will purify yourself and this one will not die. Take my apprentices, Palom and Porom with you."

(After Mt. Ordeals, because it's not important to this story, we all know it, and I'm just lazy.)

"Impressive!" exclaimed the Mysidian elder. "You have managed to become a paladin! And your friend there is still alive! Surley then, the legends are true!"

"What do we do now?" asked Roberto, getting his first line of dialouge.

"I know not. Fate works in-"

Suddenly, there was what seemed to be an earthquake. Tremors threatened to tear down the building.

"OH GOD!" yelled Porom. "I DON"T WANNA DIE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Roberto got a familiar sensation, as a hole seemed to open in the wall.

"OH GOD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Yelled Porom as she was dragged through.

She was soon followed by Palom, and Rydia. Roberto felt the irresistible tug agian, and knew that resistance was futile. Letting himself be dragged through, he watched Cecil fall in shortly after.

As he started to recover, he could justmakeout the shapes of a woman with green hair, one with blond hair, and one who looked like he was from his world. Having used most of his energy, e began to black out as he tried to remember these faces...

"So, those fools seek to hinder my advance?" said a voice as it stared out on the rubble of the form Conclave Building, those who ruled over Videoland for an age and more. Many were those who knew no life other than those under the Conclave, a council, whose membership was both elected and chosen, with such a balance that peace was maintained while they ruled.

The owner of the voice had ended that rule. He could still remember their screams, the cries of agony as he twisted the Conclave members to his will, changing them into mere glitches. One of his most power attacks, turning even the most powerful of foes into obedient slaves with only a single wave of his hand and a thought.

"Yes, my Emperor. The Narrator has fragmented, his power completely used up. However, the Rifts have opened, as you told us they would," came a voice. Not truly meek, the one who spoke stood strong and proud, his body having an aura to it that made the eyes slide off it. Not corrupted as a Glitch was, this one, with long silver hair, formally a child of Jenova and Hojo, named Sephiroth, was one of the many Generals at the Emperor's command. His code, enhanced so that he was a god, even more so than he had been before.

"Then it is almost time. Where is Gate? I need to know that my plans are in readiness," said the Emperor to his general, and Sephiroth bowed, before moving off. Gate, the one scientist besides his own father to join with the Emperor willingly, was the one chosen to head the project that was so important to the Emperor. The construct of a weapon capable of ending the creators, and thus, Videoland.

"Yes, soon, soon it will be over. All pain will be ended, and the final level completed," said the Emperor as he moved off, toward his throne, which sat staring out over his kingdom, where Glitches number in the millions toiled to make his dream a reality. Some raising weapons, some building constructions, and others simply milling about, doing something more than just standing still, all in the name of the Emperor.

"I'll prove you were wrong. That human nature isn't what you thought it was," he said, before laying back in his throne to await the words of his General.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Welcome to Neo Nexus," Terra said as the gate opened up, and the four disembarked from it. Around them was a bustle of activity. Sprites from dozens of games and genres doing their best to assemble things, from simple tools to what might be weapons. Other places they seemed to be doing maintenance to exposed circuits and relays in the walls. And in still others people seemed to just be living, trading, and going on with their lives while an ever present breeze blew through the chilly city.

"This place was built shortly after the Battle of the Lunarian Moon. While the Game Master was still here to help us plan it out. He and some others from a game called Breath of Fire II gave us the idea to make it a floating city this time, to make sure it would survive no matter what happened," said the half-Esper as she led the three through the city. Alec and Jon were both staring at anything that came close to their eyes, while Alex seemed to be disinterested, as if she wanted to be somewhere else.

"So, this place is like Vane, or, in this case, the city of the hero in BoF II. What kind of motor do you use to keep it up? Not one powered by someone's own energy?" asked Jon, remembering similar cities in other games. He was glad, at this point, that he didn't have a view off the edge, as he was more than a little afraid of heights, but he didn't feel like he was up in the air, as all he could see were city streets in any direction.

"Actually, that depends on how you define someone. After the last battle with the Sovereign we recovered the Shard of Tears. Suffice it to say that we wanted to put it somewhere it couldn't touch anyone again, so we sealed it up, but found you could still draw energy from it. So we used it to power the systems of Neo Nexus," explained Terra as Alex peeled off of the group, going down a side alley. Jon, staring after her, saw a sign that read pub, and then turned to follow Terra. Alexandra Rovias was going for a drink, which, while interesting, might not be very fun. Especially since she still had that glowing sword in her hand.

"Isn't that dangerous? I mean, what if you awaken the Sovereign or maybe create a new one?" asked Jon as he continued to follow, Alec looking at him. The hero of Arc III had only got a brief explanation on the Sovereign of Sorrow and the Game Masters. As it was, he only knew she was an evil that killed the first, Captain N, and was the First Trial of Captain SNES.

"We don't have to worry about that. No one can channel her anymore. Alex...he did something to her. I'm not even sure what, and I was there to feel it. He altered her, made her something other than part of Videoland, and then she faded away. There's no way she can ever return now, and so the Shard's just a power source. One that can be evil or good, depending on the use you put it too," Terra said confidently, leading us toward an open spot in the closed streets of Neo Nexus.

Here, where the buildings formed into a sort of plaza, pulling back and out, stood a great spire, not unlike a castle or a church, but with a symbol most gamers would recognize atop its highest point. A D-Pad, complete with arrows in the four directions. Staring at it, Jon wondered if they worshiped the gamers and humans, as Kwirk seemed to have implied in the Captain SNES comic, but he was given no time to ponder this as he and Alec were forced to try and keep up with Terra, who seemed to be running toward the building.

"We need to get back and report in. I'm hoping someone else got the other Code Masters already. We don't even know how many there are, but we were able to set up a scanner with Bently's help, and so we've been sending out teams to grab them," she said as the three approached, and Jon wondered why a Playstation 2 game character would be in Videoland, a formally Nintendo only haven. But then, things change, and an intelligent tortoise like Bently would certainly come in handy. And if she was here, maybe Caramlita Fox was here too. Thinking this Jon followed Terra toward the large spire, stepping into the heart of the resistance against the Glitch, and formally joining the fight to save Videoland.

As Roberto regained consciousness, he began to look around him. He saw sprites. Many sprites. Some were old, some were new. Roberto recognized many, and saw countless more that he did not. This had been a strange journey, no doubt, but this had to be the strangest thing he had seen. Not because he was surrounded by sprites from many different games, but because none seemed to find his appearance here odd. No one cast a single sideways glance, not a soul seemed perturbed by the portal that brought him. No, all here went about their daily routines.

At this point Cecil, Palom, Porom, and Rydia seemed to awaken. They seemed just as puzzled as he was. "What is this place?" Cecil asked of him.

"Well, do you recall how I mentioned your world was a "game" where I was from?"

"Yes." said Cecil, who still seemed slightly disturbed by the thought.

"Well, it looks like this is a hub for sprites of many different "games." In fact, it seems a lot like this old sh......."

Roberto's eyes grew wide with realization. "I should have thought of this sooner!"

"Thought of what, exactly?" asked Porom, who had been listening with the others.

"It was an old show that was on T.V.," said Alex. "In it, there was a person from my world who was dropped into a similar situation. He became Captain N. He had to rid the world of an evil alliance that was spread across several games. He eventually won, but he eventually disappeared. Then there was comic, much later, depicting the exploits of his successor, Captain SNES."

He then proceeded to tell them the story of Alex, the Sovereign, Bob, and the others. After this, Roberto looked at them and said, "But as I recall it, all of you were there to!" This drew looks of mild to severe confusion. "What I can't figure out, is why none of you remember this! But for now, we need to go to a place where we can find out more of this place.

"I agree," said Cecil. "That large spire would be a good place to start."

And so they approached the spire, hoping to find the answers to these unanswered questions.

Silly little journal montage!

Day 1- Went to school, got accepted. they sensed a hint of magic.

Day 2- Woo! first spell! I iced a Bomb. Oh look, accidental set a bush on fire. Oops.

Day 3- Easily learning magic. Got the basic 3 elements down to level 2. Will study them more!

Day 4- Defiantly learned vanish, doom, and X-Zone quite nice little to still be able to use this "glitch" , also found out I have infinite life! See? I just had cast vanish and X-Zone on the reaper.

Personal codes added unknownly: Skill add - Magic

The next morning...

Setzer comes into town and sits on the sidelines watching Dave practice his magic. "Your pretty good kid I can assume you are Dave."

"Hmm? Yes I am." Dave said turning around "Setzer..." Dave said suppressed to see Setzer so soon.

"Yes, it is I Setzer the gambling king. But we haven't the time for pleasantries, we must make haste to Figaro. King Edgar is dying to meet you. If we leave now we can make it before nightfall."

"Ok sure, lets go. I have never ridden on an airship before." Dave said as he bid farewell to the people of the village. Dave followed Setzer on to the great airship, Blackjack.

A half a day later, much ship exploration, and a good talk with Setzer later the Blackjack lands on the reaches of Figaro desert.

"Be careful, there still monsters around here." Setzer said as they got off the airship.

Sure enough the familiar battle screen popped up showing 2 Sand Rays. "Pft easy targets, we shouldn't have too much trouble with these guys." Setzer says throwing doom darts and instantly killing the first ray.

"Probably not." Dave replied showing off his magic skills by unleashing an Ice spell on the second ray killing it with more then enough spell damage.

The rest of the trek was uneventful and they reached the castle and was immediately granted audience with Edgar. Much more awe inspiring figure then the pixels made him out to be, which left Dave in awed silence.

"Welcome back Setzer, and I guess this must be one of those who were prophesied saviors?" Edgar asked breaking the silence.

"What? Prophesied saviors?" Dave asked.

"You mean that Setzer and Strago didn't tell you?"

"No. But I was told about that this world is connected to the Nexus."

"Legend of the Nexus tells us that when worlds become overcome by glitches there will be people from another world much like the Game Masters before them to save all of Videoland with their abilities to battle the glitches. Edgar said.

"Oh so thats is is the reason why I am here... There are others? And why don't I have anything like the previous game masters had?

"The legend doesn't tell us how many there are, just that they will have powers based on these "cheat devices" that they were using before entering Videoland." Edgar said getting up and starting to pace. "As for your item of power, you have it, you probably haven't checked your inventory." *Clue teaching of opening inventory*

"Hmm looks like a lamp." Dave said holding it out before rubbing it.

With a puff of blue smoke the lamp activates and a blue jinn came out.

"What is thy will? I can grant you what you almost anything you desire." The jinn said holding aloft what seems to be a transparent screen with codes that Dave had entered in his own Game Genie.

"So I have Game Genie, eh?" Dave mused. "Hey look, those what I used to gain magic! Ohh thats why I have infinite hit-points."

"Ohh, I want to try this out, may I borrow 3 soldiers?" Dave asked Edgar, while pointing to the Switch Party Members After Battle code and putting the Jinn and the lamp away.

"I guess it wouldn't hurt to test out your power right now. Just don't bang them up too much, I may need them later."

*Soldiers 1, 2, 3 temporarily joined Dave's party.*

________________________________________________________________


We interrupt this story that me, the narrator who has been narrating for Dave, has a short announcement to make this takes the duration of 2 boring battles.

I myself, have been pulled into being for this thankless job as soon as Dave entered Videoland.

The prophesy was foretold by the 7 sages of the Nexus of which includes, but not limited to, a recovered Tellah. It was this Tellah which prophesied the coming of the glitches and heroes from the world of the creators carrying items of power that can defeat the glitches.

Now we return to the story now in progress, hey look, we are at the third battle!

________________________________________________________________


When the third battle started the other party members randomly changed around giving Dave a magi-tech rider, a commando and Kefka as mindless party members as they got into the second battle. Suddenly the monsters started to glitch up and normal spells and damage won't work.

"Dangit this isn't good! At least the world isn't crashing. At least it seems that the soldiers still have their code underneath the game code overwriting, they seem a bit more mindless then before though. Gah!" Dave said a bit frustrated.

"Wait! It may be that just their hit points and their graphics are glitched up. There is one thing to do! Use the coded Kefka to cast Vanish on each of them then I cast X-Zone!"

Kefka clone casts Vanish on Sand Ray 1 and 2, Dave casts X-Zone! Battle is won!

"I think I will take the wish off for now and let them all be turned back to normal." Dave said as he does so.

The party returns to Figaro and tells Edgar "It works, I just have to be careful what I wish for."

"Really now, I guess it can't be helped yet. Come let us feast before bringing you to the Velvet tomorrow." Edgar says leading them to the banquet hall where the cast of Final Fantasy 3 has gathered.

'I can already see my place in Videoland already.' Dave thinks to himself as he meets with Terra, Mog and the others before dinner and bed.

The next day Setzer flies Dave to the velvet, tells Dave that what he seeks may be found at a spire, and sees him though the portal where he enters The Nexus.

________________________________________________________________

5 interpotal seconds later. (Heh, punny.)

"Oof!"

We find Dave on his back with the portal hovering over him, lets watch him as he comes to!

"Ohh..." Dave said finaly coming to after a few seconds.

"Are you ok there guy?" Asked a deep voice extending a large and seemingly blue hand to Dave's limited vision.

"Uhh, I think so. Thanks." Dave said accepting the hand as his vision readjusts.

Dave gets somewhat forcefully pulled up and his vision clears. Dave gets a large eye full of the scarring image for the second time in his life.

"GAH!" Dave yelled quickly averting his eyes.

"Dangit, it happened again! I don't know why I don't have a shirt by now! Oh right, money." The voice said clearly coming from King Hippo.

"By the way my name is King Hippo whats yours? You don't look to be from around here."

"Great not him." Dave muttered under his breath before actually replying, "uhh, my name is Dave. Uh, do you know where this place is?"

"Nexus." Hippo replied.

"Can you be more precise?"

"Slums."

"Where in the slums?"

"Cross of X and Y."

"Uh thanks, that was loads of help. I am ok now so I must be on my way." And so Dave left the company of King Hippo.

"Geeze, I am lost. But at least I know I am in the right place, if I remember what Setzer told me back in FF6 that he needs to go to a spire next easily finds it and heads to it.

Short walk and many familiar game spites...

Dave arrives at the spire and enters it.

(Just winging it.)

As Roberto entered the spire, he looked around at who was here. Some he recognized, such as Terra, Arc, and Alec. He then turned his attention to the door behind them. There was another who looked like he came from the real world. His sprite in this world looked to be in the FF VI style, but obviously had origins from elsewhere, much like himself. "Hold on a second." he said to his group. " If I didn't know any better, I'd say he's from my world!"Leaving it at this, he walked over to talk to the brown-eyed man in khakis.

Noticing a Final Fantasy IV sprite with the fashion sense of someone from the real world.

"Hello! Nice to see another who seems to be from Earth. Uh, if I may assume, your in this world for the same reason as I?" Dave ask feeling a bit inept in conversing.

"Yeah," he said. I'm Roberto. "As I would assume you know, these behind me are Cecil, Rydia, Palom, and Porom. I was sucked into their world, and then here after Mt. Ordeals. So what's your story?"

"Hmm. so they are..." Dave mused a bit, noticing Roberto's group.

"I'm Dave. I fell into the world of Final Fantasy 6, the original American release for the SNES. Heh, apparently when I fell it was several game months after the fall of Kafka. Edgar told me to come here." Dave told Roberto.

"My name's Jon, and I got sucked into Arc the Lad Three on the playstation. Good game too, inside or out," commented Jon as he joined the other two, having taken a moment to investigate the spire. The walls, on the inside, were made of something like obsidian, smooth and black. Yet it felt warm to the touch, like it was a living thing, and wherever he touched it, the wall would glow for a moment, like it was absorbing something from him, but it quickly faded.

"Heh, thanks...uh, I think," said Alec, not really sure how to respond to that, though he thought it close enough to a compliment to retort in kind.

"You're welcome. Now then, where's an answer or two in this place? Like how about telling us what we're doing here? Or more importantly, what we've got to do to get home?" asked Jon, turning about, his words were loud, indicating he wasn't talking to anyone in their small group, and a low chuckle, something warm and friendly, unlike a villain's laugh, echoed throughout the open chamber at the bottom of the spire. On the other end, a door slowly opened, behind it, a few winding stairs that likely led upward into the higher echelons of the spire's construction. It was the being opening the door though, that caught his attention right off.

"Well know, you ask some very interesting question. Alex believed himself to simply be drawn here by luck at first. Of course, until Zelda told him, he had no reason to know his destiny. And of course, the original Game Master always knew he was a hero, picked by the Gauntlet of Power to become a savior for all of Videoland," said a voice, and not the one he would have expected to come from the homicidal robot. After all, it wasn't just one voice speaking. It sounded like hundreds of them, all saying something in perfect concert, and thus making even a whisper from them into a loud roar.

"Yeah, well, I kind of figure this stuff only happens when you guys need someone to save you. And considering what Terra told me about Glitches, I surmise that's the problem you're having. Since they're a bit different from normal sprites, you need someone who's not playing by all the rules, and that means hackers, like me, and like them," he said, holding up his Code Lock, the thing starting to glow in his hand. Instantly the code devices of the others. The Lamp held by Dave, and the Game Sharker held by Roberto.

"Yes, those are the reasons you are here. The latter of your questions though. That will take some doing. Portals to your world are not easy to open. We'd need something powerful, and time to make it. It was not our original intent to force you to fight our battles for us. I had hoped we could offer a choice to the champion this time, so we didn't end up with another Alex, but it couldn't be helped I'm afraid," said Gato in that odd overlapping voice, Jon increasing his estimate to thousands of them.

"Hey, I'm fine with fighting. I mean, I agree with Alex and Kevin in their later days, this place is a lot more fun than the real world, but I'd like to know I can get home. I have a family to think of, and vanishing like this means I left them without a trace," responded the Code Lock master, his implement and the others ceasing to glow, as if that had only been to demonstrate the connection that the three of them had to each other.

"And what of you two? Will you fight with us against the Glitch? Mighty they are, destroyers of game worlds, and their stated objective is the destruction of your world as well," asked Gato, looking at them with a gaze that seemed to be pleading, though with only eyes for expressions, it made it hard to tell.

As the assembled people and sprites watched, the blue sphere turned black, flashed orange, and then turned blue again.

"I have no idea what you just did, but you aren't doing it again. What's more, that thing is going on the charge list. That thing is definitely non-canon," the agent with the gun said, raising it and aiming at Andrew.

Reacting quickly, Andrew dove through the open portal and rolled to a stop in front of Gato, the gate closing behind him.

A small icon popped above his head, telling the world that his move and jump stats had increased.

"This place... is a lot less blown up than I would have expected after that agent fired whatever-it-was through the portal."

Dave was about to reply Gato look alike when this new guy comes suddenly from a portal, quite a heck of a way to make an entrence I say.

Dave was speachless for a moment with a puzzled look on his face before he realized that the sprite structure looked like Final Fantasy Tatics Advanced which he had played a few months ago it was no character he reconized from that game. The guy certantly didn't look like a character that Dave could remember from the game so the guy must be from his world.

"Uh, hello? Hmm, you were chased by something? I doubt anything else got though the portal you went though. Though I think your safe here for now." Dave said walking toward Andrew and extending a hand to help the person up.

"By the way, my name is Dave." Dave said.