Fandom (Glitch Techs Crossover) GT×: Gnu Fork

[Gadg8eer]

"Jeez, and they say I have a cybersecurity fixation." Gadg8eer grumbled, "I just use Neozilla Doglefox as a browser, and PopRock!_OS as firmware."

"Eh... You'd be surprised how much pull Hinobi has on the electronics manufacturing industry. You won't be working with something as simple as consumer hardware, it doesn't matter how old your hardware is or how open source you go software-wise, the equipment you're about to train for can and will be capable of interfacing with it. I know that revelation is a little concerning, but it is what it is." Dave explained.

 

[Lady Moldoma]

"I don't mind, I'm a sucker for backwards compatibility, I just wish they could do that with more of their consoles." Zoe states, holding a bit of reservation from the trouble she had with being unable to always stream the games requested by her viewer-base due to a lack of the appropriate paraphernalia. "Either way, I'm glad my modded setup won't be an issue, and your company won't be coming after me for using modified deprecated tech." She says, scratching the side of her head. "Trust me, you don't want my ugly ass here in person."

She was probably just joking, but Gadg8 would get the idea that, possibly, this cutesy TV-headed robot body was a shield, a mask to hide someone who was incredibly insecure of their appearance. Why else would she dress like she walked out of an anime the way she did? Well, aside from, you know, that was just how cyber-streetwear turned out a lot of the time. She may've been serious. Someone who was too lazy to show up wouldn't even bother sending their remote battle-body

 

[Gadg8eer]

"I don't mind, I'm a sucker for backwards compatibility, I just wish they could do that with more of their consoles." Zoe states, holding a bit of reservation from the trouble she had with being unable to always stream the games requested by her viewer-base due to a lack of the appropriate paraphernalia. "Either way, I'm glad my modded setup won't be an issue, and your company won't be coming after me for using modified deprecated tech." She says, scratching the side of her head. "Trust me, you don't want my ugly ass here in person."

She was probably just joking, but Gadg8 would get the idea that, possibly, this cutesy TV-headed robot body was a shield, a mask to hide someone who was incredibly insecure of their appearance. Why else would she dress like she walked out of an anime the way she did? Well, aside from, you know, that was just how cyber-streetwear turned out a lot of the time. She may've been serious. Someone who was too lazy to show up wouldn't even bother sending their remote battle-body

"Well, the thing about working for the company that can reset your system is... you suddenly become the one they expect to use the flashy thing, and no matter how well they pay you or your co-workers, there's no real guarantee that you won't end up spilling the beans. So they tend to try and keep their employees and affiliates happy," Dave explained as Zeke returned to repairing a nobiPhone H17+ Max Pro Ultra, "which is why you're here. The perks are nice but there is a real danger to this job and you do have to keep in mind Hinobi has hired teenagers for this position because most adults can't game worth crap."

"Wait, hold on. Are you saying kids have died because-" Gadg8eer began to say, concerned.

"Well, not died, fortunately. Mostly it's Corporate is getting sick of paying people's medical bills, and regional admins like me got tired of lying to the employee's family and friends - not to mention the Worker's Compensation Board of BC or, for my colleague who admins the Danville Glitch Techs just across the border in Washington State, your Health Insurance Provider - about how someone cracked their rib repairing a video game console. That's why tech like robot bodies and plixel avatars are becoming public knowledge all of a sudden, the job requires three skills..." Dave explained, "...tech skill, fighting or athletic skill, and gaming skill. You two know what plixels are from as a result of past experience, but have you ever asked yourself... if plixels exist, and they're like the holosuite in Star Probe: The Next Frontier, what really happens when a video game starts to glitch?"

"Oh. Um... You do mean when it glitches in a system that has plixel technology, right?" Gadg8eer asked.

"Maybe you'd better check out the tutorial first?" a voice said nearby.

The words were those of an asian girl with a surprisingly wide frame, a cheerful tomboyish face, and a T-Shirt over her uniform that featured an image of Helpy saying I see you're trying to do your job. Want some help with that? and a patch sewn onto it of the Hinobi "H" logo.

"Oh, hey, ZoeIRL! Big fan!" the young woman beamed with joy to the robot body.

"Ah, this is Tobi. She's one of our only technicians, and the only one who does house calls full time. Juan and 'riette alternate their full-time shifts weekly and, in case you haven't noticed, this town's finally starting to grow now that the old town council was run out of town on a railroad." Dave explained.

"Run out of town?" Zoe questioned. "You called me in from- well, from a long way away, that's damn sure. I don't have even the slightest clue what you think I should have noticed."

"There was a flood here a few years ago..." Gadg8eer pointed out, "...and then another one two years later, and then another 3 years after that, and finally the worst one so far happened just last year. They held an emergency election because the old mayor lives on the mountainside east of town, and basically didn't care because everything he owned was a long way above the water line, which meant half the town flooded and he didn't even flinch. Normally the only ones here that voted against the same 7 people that got elected over and over were homeless or working with people in poverty, but when that flood happened it destroyed most of the downtown area..."

"Yeah, t-l-d-r is that now they're literally replacing everything with new construction that uses Hinobi's new smartgrid tech. Installing all deez new modules is keeping everyone here busy and the town is growing a bit because those ashtrays who were in the city council skipped town when they realized they'd never be forgiven for wiping out the downtown area." Tobi explained. "We need more hands on decks if we're going to keep everything running."

"What do you mean?" Gadg8eer asked.

"Follow me." Dave motioned, and led them down a corridor to a door labelled Training Room. He held his gauntlet in front of the keypad, and it automatically opened. "Helpy? Load up Tutorial 2.0, and let me know when it's complete."

"Right away, Mr. Davenport!" a cheerful voice responded, and a hologram of the infamous Helpy the Helper from HinobiOffice 98 and the Portals XB operating system of the 00s. "Come on in!" A couple small red circles appeared on the floor. "Just stand on the marked circles, and the Tutorial will begin."

"In case you're wondering, you can back out after the tutorial's done at any time, but we'll have to wipe your memories if you do." Dave pointed out, "Have fun!"

"How long is the tutorial?" Gadg8eer asked, but realized the doors had closed behind Zoe and him already, preventing Dave from hearing the question. Shrugging, he walked over to one of the circles and stood over top of it, causing it to turn green. He glanced over at the other circle nine feet away, which remained red...

 

[Lady Moldoma]

Zoe let out a sigh from her machine body as she walked over to the circle, hands in her pockets and tv head tilted down. “As much as I like Asian girls — sue me — that Tobi girl is gonna be a huge inconvenience, I hope she can see me as just a coworker… I can’t talk to fans good when I’m not streaming.” Zoe says. “I can’t talk to anyone good outside of streams without being an asshole. And I don’t want to crush that girl’s dreams by not being the Zoe she knows who makes up words to express anger at shitty games.” She stands on the circle, and waits for it to activate.

“Dee tells me I need to go to therapy for that stuff. But I’ve never met a therapist who could help and I’ve been through 3…”

 

[Gadg8eer]

Zoe let out a sigh from her machine body as she walked over to the circle, hands in her pockets and tv head tilted down. “As much as I like Asian girls — sue me — that Tobi girl is gonna be a huge inconvenience, I hope she can see me as just a coworker… I can’t talk to fans good when I’m not streaming.” Zoe says. “I can’t talk to anyone good outside of streams without being an asshole. And I don’t want to crush that girl’s dreams by not being the Zoe she knows who makes up words to express anger at shitty games.” She stands on the circle, and waits for it to activate.

“Dee tells me I need to go to therapy for that stuff. But I’ve never met a therapist who could help and I’ve been through 3…”

"...I know we didn't hit it off good, but..." Gadg8eer started to say just before Zoe finished putting her second foot onto the floor within the circle.

"Detecting Hive user profiles... Confirmed. Connecting to Swarm network... Connected." a computer voice said. "Tutorial now active."

Suddenly everything went dark. Gadg8eer blinked twice to signal his goggles to go into flashlight mode; along with his parent's home, he was very good at understanding automation interfaces, and set up his goggles to toggle the LED rings around the lenses if he blinked twice in the dark, to activate sunshading if he blinked twice in well-lit conditions, and double-click (or equivalent) where he was looking if using Privacy Mode on his goggles' ApidWindows (another Plixel Tech innovation oddly inspired by ReSet/BeeBoot) regardless of light level.

Before he could look around, the big computer display on the far side of the Deck turned on, displaying one of those old things from films that counts down 3...2...1... with the radar-looking thing.

"Following the end of World War II, the United States of America and Japan entered a secret agreement known as the Maui Project. It was from this that modern technology, and by extension the Hinobi Technology corporation, was born!" said a very old recording of an announcer's voice that probably dated back to the 50s. Several historical photos appeared on-screen, explaining the origins of the company.

"What the world did not know is just how important the American military and Japanese Defense Force are to Hinobi's origins," stated what seemed to be a British documentary clip from the 1960s, "particularly exactly what technology Hinobi Technology produces..."

"Nyet. Plixar was smokescreen and propaganda. Americans paid them to make Plixel Tech public. Hinobi Technology poses biggest threat to motherland." said a 1970s Soviet leader over a TV news broadcast.

"The day Hinobi was privatized, I knew that the world was about to change." spoke a Japanese official in the 1980s.

"I guess that's the thing about weapons. You can only make a sword so single-edged before all you really have is a foam toy." an American general responded in a 1990s supreme court case about Hinobi going public.

"Hinobi fought long and hard to be privatized and then to go public. Plixel technology was invented by Allied scientists at Los Alamos in the early 1940s who were attempting to create the ultimate weapon, machine soldiers who could invade mainland Japan without the loss of American lives or robot troops to take back Europe from the Axis. For the first few decades of Hinobi's existence, these origins held back the advancement of Plixel technology, as government secrecy and political interests prevented Plixel Tech from becoming a civilian technology. Only problem is, Plixel Tech has very little safety features, making Plixel constructs potentially dangerous to use." stated Mark Sidney a few years before he died of brain cancer in 2001. "By partnering with Plixar, we hope to keep things Made in America!"

"Hinobi Technology has made headlines twice in one day, after being seemingly unaffected by the difficulties faced by other tech giants including MicroDyne and Quill Computers as we feel the effects of this real estate bubble, by buying the Federal Reserve Bank and making the cryptocurrency BeeCoin a form of legal tender and pegging the American dollar to the value of 100 BeeCoins." a news reporter stated in late 2008.

"Since 1945, Hinobi Technology has been advancing technology. Since 2000, we've been making what was once a weapon and a profit into something that benefits us all, is safer to use, and most importantly... is fun. Hinobi Technology. The Future is Fun!"

The screen then went dark again. "Well that's not suspicious at all." Gadg8eer pointed out.

Suddenly everything got bright, revealing that Zoe and Gadg8eer had somehow been transported to an empty white room. Standing beside an old TV, wearing a pair of oval kaybug sunglasses like the famous media franchise The System, was Helpy. Yes, Helpy the Annoying from AskHelpy, Portals XB and HinobiOffice 98. "Indeed. I imagine you're feeling a bit like Neon, tumbling out into a world that isn't what you thought it was?"

 

[Lady Moldoma]

Helpy. Yes, Helpy the Annoying from AskHelpy, Portals XB and HinobiOffice 98.

"Ah great we got the fuckin', diet coke PPonzi Buddyi ..." She says.

"Indeed. I imagine you're feeling a bit like Neon, tumbling out into a world that isn't what you thought it was?"

"No, all of this is pretty par for the course. It's like people who make up conspiracy theories to be made at a secretive new world order or something. You don't have to go through that effort, you can just be mad at the normal government." She says. "Honestly you guys are pretty much Iceberg Industries from Chewypaste Crisis. But ironically enough, I think anyone in the world who assumes there's not some sort of horrible conspiracy behind your guys work is pretty much fooling themselves."

"I'll take the black pill." She says.

"That's the biggest black pill of them all." She plays a clip from SleepyTooth.

 

[Gadg8eer]

"Alright, but remember, Zoe. All this tutorial is offering is the truth." said Helpy.

"Uh, Helpy? Can I call you Helpheus?" Gadg8eer asked.

"No."

"Please?"

"Fine."

"Helpius... What kind of dumbass thought this could POSSIBLY convince ANYONE to be a Hinobi employee after this?!"

"What if I told you... There's a very good reason few know the answer to the question you really want to ask..."

Suddenly, a plixel tech construct in the shape of a pair of basketball-sized robotic fists, which uncurled into relaxed hands, then tapped Gadg8eer's shoulder three times in one second to get his attention. The left hand passed a thick brown business envelope with the Hinobi logo on it to him.

"Huh?!" Gadg8eer said, confused, and then remembered that normal reality was no different than the Hiverse (or as the internet had dubbed it in memes, the Nobiverse, in reference to the crossover universe of Nobi Grossout Meleé, Brawl, 4 and Ultimate versions of the lost media video game Nobi Grossout). He shrugged and opened the letter like he typically did in VR.

Inside was a sheet of paper...

"Project Maui Test Results... June 1945... Sis really came through for us. The Pigma Machine, the world's first Plixel Engine, has finally been cracked. The Germans didn't suspect a thing even after they lost the war. July 1945. The artificial soldiers are ready. At the advice of Mr. Moore, we've implemented Asimov Strategic Edition, Mk I programming in Maui troops to minimize casualties. August 1945. Testing complete. I don't believe it. A 100% live capture rate every time. I hope this holds as well in the field as Asimov Civilian Edition, last time we made a fork it went psycho every time we tried to modify the code. September 1945. Field testing of Trinity, and deployment of Little Toy and Hat Man, has been completed. I don't believe it. Less than 2% injuries, no deaths, two cities captured. Japan has surrendered, the sheer number of Surgelings in our "rush" strategy apparently limitless. When their missions are complete, LT and HM units have around 24 hour half-lives during which they can be reactivated, otherwise the Plixels dispersed by the Trinity unit decay rapidly. With fine-tuning, I believe this number can be increased for peacetime applications such as locomotives or ocean liners that could go days or even weeks without needing to resupply or refuel, airships, maybe even... I can't read this part... It looks like random scrawlings. I think I see a 'Glitch Teh' in there but it's being corrupted by some... hex codes, or something... Wait, is this a virus email?! Like the kind that Make Rouxles Rich Again nutjobs and offshore call centers send you?"

"No. Unfortunately, no can be told what really happens when a video game starts to glitch... You have to see it for yourselves..." Helpheus responded. "Choose your character!"

A game appeared on the TV's screen, and a CPU selection chip materialized out of plixels was given to the two of them.

"No way... It can't be." Gadg8eer recognized that roster. "The Nobi Grossout 1991 Convention Prototype! *Nobody* has that source code!"

 

[Lady Moldoma]

a CPU selection chip materialized out of plixels was given to the two of them.

"What uh... What do I do with this?" She asks. Looking at the chip through the screen of her modified machine body. "Do I stick it in the port on my neck?" She asks. "Do I eat it?"

 

[Gadg8eer]

"What uh... What do I do with this?" She asks. Looking at the chip through the screen of her modified machine body. "Do I stick it in the port on my neck?" She asks. "Do I eat it?"

Gadg8eer picked up the other CPU chip. It looked like a gambling chip, but had the Nobi Grossout logo engraved into the material. He looked at the various characters and mentally chose one to place the icon on. "I know you play old fighting games, even if I don't really watch livestreams, but don't feel too bad. I kind of have a knack for understanding game menus." he said, and placed the icon on a small-looking, adorable fluffy creature resembling a cross between a dusty bunny, a house mouse, a racoon, and a squirrel known as Verminotr. The plixel chip remained stuck to the screen where Gadg8eer placed it. "Like that, right?" he pointed out, and a glow effect appeared around Verminotr's selection box.

 

[Lady Moldoma]

"It's lost media. The best I can do in that field is offer rewards for the safe location and retension of it." She says. "I 'play the shitty games that suck ass' not 'search for the games that everyone forgot about'." She taps her screen.

She moves her own chip and places it on Grenokunoichi, who she at least recalled having as a party member in one of the recent Flunky Quest games.

"This better not be conducive to a transformation. I like that stuff on my off time, but I'm not interested in doing it in front of someone who looks like a 10 year old kid."

 

[Gadg8eer]

"It's lost media. The best I can do in that field is offer rewards for the safe location and retension of it." She says. "I 'play the shitty games that suck ass' not 'search for the games that everyone forgot about'." She taps her screen.

She moves her own chip and places it on Grenokunoichi, who she at least recalled having as a party member in one of the recent Flunky Quest games.

"This better not be conducive to a transformation. I like that stuff on my off time, but I'm not interested in doing it in front of someone who looks like a 10 year old kid."

"Ready? Gross OU-OU-OU-OU-OU-OU-T!" the TV blared, as the graphics glitched up.

"Oh, crap... I think we just broke-" Gadg8eer started to say, when suddenly two bursts of Plixel energy fired out of the TV, slamming into the floor after arching a few feet away.

The first formulated into Verminotr, while the second became Grenokunoichi. Each turned and looked at the other, then at the new rookies who had just summoned them. Verminotr tilted it's head, flashed a mischevious smirk, and lunged at Zoe with its incisor teeth bared, while Grenokunoichi leaped at Gadg8eer before turning invisible in mid-air...

"Nothing personnel kid..." a poorly-translated voice mocked.

Gadg8eer shielded himself with his arms for impact by the invisible foe, only to be kicked forward onto the floor roughly. "Oof!"

 

[Lady Moldoma]

lunged at Zoe with its incisor teeth bared

Zoe caught the oversized lower jaw and upper jaw of the equally oversized rodent, expertly manipulating her own machine body, even if it was merely a heavily modded commentator robot, and slammed it on the ground behind her over her shoulder, judo-throwing it while maximizing the nature of her robotic body's abilities. It was almost as if she had done this before, although, perhaps being in underground robot fighting circuits helped a bit in that regard.

She then proceeded to aim a legdrop down at the poor glitch, leaping in the air and slamming her full mechanical bodyweight onto it.

Her fighting style was one that was coveted as being hard to learn due to it being less of a flashy, remote robot brawling style, and more of an actual body art, known as "Maxim-Mechanica" or "The Full-body Robotic Art" she had trained to manipulate her battle body, and downloaded dozens of files (and of course had Dee remove any unnecessary safeguards) to use her body's mechanical nature to her advantage. Anyone who couldn't afford or wasn't willing to implement esoteric weaponry onto their combat body only had a few choices, and in her case, the clear choice was either scrap the Commentator Bot (which wasn't really an option) or learn to use it in a way that weaponized the nature of it's on hand machinery to 100% efficiency.

Immediately, it became apparent that she had some serious demons to drown, the way she fought was indicative of someone who had come ready for a fight.

 

[Gadg8eer]

Zoe caught the oversized lower jaw and upper jaw of the equally oversized rodent, expertly manipulating her own machine body, even if it was merely a heavily modded commentator robot, and slammed it on the ground behind her over her shoulder, judo-throwing it while maximizing the nature of her robotic body's abilities. It was almost as if she had done this before, although, perhaps being in underground robot fighting circuits helped a bit in that regard.

She then proceeded to aim a legdrop down at the poor glitch, leaping in the air and slamming her full mechanical bodyweight onto it.

Her fighting style was one that was coveted as being hard to learn due to it being less of a flashy, remote robot brawling style, and more of an actual body art, known as "Maxim-Mechanica" or "The Full-body Robotic Art" she had trained to manipulate her battle body, and downloaded dozens of files (and of course had Dee remove any unnecessary safeguards) to use her body's mechanical nature to her advantage. Anyone who couldn't afford or wasn't willing to implement esoteric weaponry onto their combat body only had a few choices, and in her case, the clear choice was either scrap the Commentator Bot (which wasn't really an option) or learn to use it in a way that weaponized the nature of it's on hand machinery to 100% efficiency.

Immediately, it became apparent that she had some serious demons to drown, the way she fought was indicative of someone who had come ready for a fight.

Gadg8eer took all of two seconds to stare at the floor before getting up. He was knocked to the floor again in short order, but on the third try he braced his entire body for a shock and stood firm. The fourth attack was the kicker, as upon being hit by "Grenokunoichi" (Gadge knew the name had been replaced with "Kaerunoichi" and the gender confirmed as female... the original voice was gender-neutral... in the released version of Nobi Grossout Melee) he rapidly extended his fist outwards, striking the glitch in its froggy nose.

"K-O!" said Helpheus. "Okay, you'll want to pay attention for this part, attacking monsters not withstanding."

The smaller entity tried to struggle against Zoe while Gadg8eer was quick to grab Kaerunoichi's scarf-like tongue and look it straight in the eye. "NOT. NOW. Got it?" he commanded, clearly unhappy with it.

"Never mind then. Hinobi's primary technology is Plixel Tech, as I'm sure you're aware. How much do you know about how it works, however?" Helpy-Morpheus explained.

"PLixels, or Plastoid Liminal Voxels. They're mesomachines, really small robots of various microscopic scales, powered by a proprietary energy storage and transmission method owned by Hinobi." Gadg8eer tried to recall.

"In a sense, yes. It goes deeper, however. PLixel mesomachines are the size of photons and constructed from quark matter. Needles to say, its complicated. Combined with traditional electronics, PLixels form the majority of Hinobi's consumer, commercial, military and internal product lines." Oakley Sunglasses Helpy explained.

"Okay, but what does that have to do with... this?" Gadg8eer said, giving a quick glance to the ninja frog warlady.

"What do you think I'm made of?" Helpy pointed out. "Or the glitches in here that you're fighting?"

"Wait. Glitches are digital."

"So are you, registered owner of Non-Fungible Cryptoken PLixelf #10."

"Oh, crap. Can I... what happens if I glitch?"

"PLixelf Engineering Manual, page 8." Helpy responded, a book appearing in his hand. "To prevent glitches in PLixelf avatars, users will in a sense become the glitch; Their thoughts will, digitized, immediately serve to transform the user from a frail human into a Player Character glitch controlled by the transferred, converted consciousness. To prevent any unwanted incidents, PLixelfs are attached to Hinobi-integrated Non-Fungible Cryptokens. Among consumer uses, this also prevents the accidental De-Rezzing of a human being. Should this fail, please ask your Hinobi branch manager to unlock your equipment's quarantine to release the accidentally-captured human, and be sure to follow protocol after releasing the unfortunate bystander or technician and any other glitches containied in your equipment."

"Okay, that's good, but..." Gadg8eer ponted out, "does that mean glitches are sentient? Or are they AI?"

"Due to interaction with online connectivity, and with real people, glitches are often capable of surprisingly sentient actions. If possible, reasoning or negotiating with glitches is currently considered the first step in a Hinobi Glitch Technician's troubleshooting process. If this fails, please proceed to step 2, 'actually shooting trouble'. Please note that glitches are derived from software, which is software-locked to prevent the RAM and CPU usage of any glitch intelligences from surpassing that of a small insect. As a result, any attempt to reason with a glitch should be done under the assumption that they act on preprogrammed behaviors and the backstory in their lore, provided that they are produced by a gaming-focused product." Helpheus reacted.

"What happens if they're unlocked?" Gadg8eer pointed out.

"Hinobi technicians can unlock the software locks on a captured glitch for continued technical support purposes." Helpy said, holding up a photo of a girl, a boy, a robot and a red bird in a polaroid-looking PLixel photograph.

"What if a Glitch isn't gaming-related?" he pointed out to the machine.

"I'm sorry! That information is currently limited to technicians in other Hinobi tech support divisions." Helpy said in an oddly chipper and unsurprisingly familiar annoying voice, as if it had momentarily reverted to an earlier software version. Looking and sounding serious again, Helpy announced "Round 2!" Around them, the infinite white plain suddenly shattered and fell into a misty void, save for a platform which Zoe, Gadg8eer and the two glitches were standing on. "Fight!"

The pre-emptive jet of water to Gadg8eer's chest sent him skidding across the ground towards the edge of the platform...

 

[Lady Moldoma]

"PLixelf Engineering Manual, page 8." Helpy responded, a book appearing in his hand. "To prevent glitches in PLixelf avatars, users will in a sense become the glitch; Their thoughts will, digitized, immediately serve to transform the user from a frail human into a Player Character glitch controlled by the transferred, converted consciousness. To prevent any unwanted incidents, PLixelfs are attached to Hinobi-integrated Non-Fungible Cryptokens."

"Shit... Explains why Dee thinks I need to get one if I ever have the chance. A full Plixel avatar is literally something out of a video game. With that kind of power I'd probably be able to take on a whole army of the shabby ass battlebots we're playing around with in underground matches and win..."

Among consumer uses, this also prevents the accidental De-Rezzing of a human being. Should this fail, please ask your Hinobi branch manager to unlock your equipment's quarantine to release the accidentally-captured human, and be sure to follow protocol after releasing the unfortunate bystander or technician and any other glitches containied in your equipment."

"You guys are gonna make a buck with a lot of furries whenever you guys release that tech. I should know, my fanbase is made of them."

reasoning or negotiating with glitches is currently considered the first step in a Hinobi Glitch Technician's troubleshooting process

"My first instinct when I see an animal isn't exactly to talk to it. Maybe you should've asked me to pick something who can talk back!" Zoe lets out to Helpy.

"Round 2!" Around them, the infinite white plain suddenly shattered and fell into a misty void, save for a platform which Zoe, Gadg8eer and the two glitches were standing on. "Fight!"

Zoe immediately closes the distance again, and shoves her hands directly into verminotr's mouth, grabbing its jaws again, and this time forcing her leg down its throat and out the other side.

After throwing it aside and letting it dissipate into plixel particles, she held up her skirt and a big cloud of white exhaust blew out. She audibly sighed through her mic. This was how she dealt with the buildup of heat. Evidently she couldn't fight for long periods.

 

[Gadg8eer]

"Shit... Explains why Dee thinks I need to get one if I ever have the chance. A full Plixel avatar is literally something out of a video game. With that kind of power I'd probably be able to take on a whole army of the shabby ass battlebots we're playing around with in underground matches and win..."

"You guys are gonna make a buck with a lot of furries whenever you guys release that tech. I should know, my fanbase is made of them."

"My first instinct when I see an animal isn't exactly to talk to it. Maybe you should've asked me to pick something who can talk back!" Zoe lets out to Helpy.

Zoe immediately closes the distance again, and shoves her hands directly into verminotr's mouth, grabbing its jaws again, and this time forcing her leg down its throat and out the other side.

After throwing it aside and letting it dissipate into plixel particles, she held up her skirt and a big cloud of white exhaust blew out. She audibly sighed through her mic. This was how she dealt with the buildup of heat. Evidently she couldn't fight for long periods.

Grenokunoichi's jaw dropped.

"Uh..." Gadg8eer said.

"Yeah, that's going to give me nightmares. Good thing glitches can be, for lack of a better word, fixed. You aren't actually supposed to kill them. Well, not that you can. As you can guess from the Flunky Quest series, you're supposed to weaken them and then de-rez them with your Glitch Tech gauntlets. De-rezzing them utilizes Hinobi Anti-Virus technology, trapping the glitch in your File Quarantine. To help you out, try using the System Restore on the poor critter."

"I was also talking about- never mind." Gadg8eer wisely chose not to judge any further. He looked at the pair of gauntlets on his hands, and began dealing with the GUI as quickly as possible. Worst-case scenario, he was going to have to do this on the fly, so Gadge figured he had better learn the system. He hovered his poindex finger over one of the icons, finding it was some sort of blaster tool according to the PLixel tooltip his SpyWear goggles provided. Oddly it was inacessible. "What are these grayed out icons?"

"Hinobi uses an employee rewards program for lower-level techs. It's a minimum-wage job, sadly, we legitimately can't afford to staff every tech on the planet for more, but the perks are worth it if you already have a financial safety net." Helpy explained. "That's also why both of you are prime candidates."

"I guess?" Gadg8eer said, swiping to the left to find that his pair of Glo-Yos could be toggled individually on each gauntlet, and then another, the De-Rez Beam, and finally the last available icon, the System Restore. He aimed it where Verminotr had been and used it, restoring the creature to existence. "Hey, um... Can we just call it off?" he asked the glitch, "You kind of just got Fatality'd horribly, I actually feel bad for you."

Verminotr took a quick look at Zoe, then back at Gadg8eer, and nodded.

"We used to catch the electrical signals that make up disembodied glitches, admittedly. Ever since Hinobi scientists perfected the failsafes used in PLixelfs, Glitches have - unfortunately - adapted in response." Helpy explained.

"Adapted?!" Gadg8eer responded.

"There's nothing artificial about intelligence, as one of our experts used to say." Helpy cryptically referenced. "Fortunately, de-rezzing is now capable of working on weakened glitches. Try to bring them just short of death, if the glitch is defeated it becomes a bolt of electrical energy and tends to then cause more trouble by finding a new piece of hardware to absorb a digital form from."

"Oh. How intelligent do glitches get?" the boy questioned.

"In a sense you are one, but in the wild - so to speak - they can be as intelligent as the Hinobi-compatible software is designed to be. Fortunately, human minds are not Hinobi-compatible software - compatibility layer notwithstanding - and for obvious reasons it needs to stay that way." Helpy responded, and turned to Zoe. "As for robots, Zoe here is of interest for multiple reasons, but I've been advised to explain her desire to full dive into the Hiverse was one concern. Turns out that could lead to some very sticky problems. See, here's the thing. Glitches aren't rare. If the public knew that, they'd stop using PLixels entirely. It may not seem like it but that goes beyond Hinobi. If Glitches were allowed to run around unimpeded in today's high-tech society, the world would literally end. Even if Hinobi goes bankrupt, the world's governments already have contingency plans, so make sure that you follow all laws, regulations, and bylaws because having super gadgets isn't an excuse for illegal or immoral activity. Hinobi can't and won't protect you from something like CSIS or the CIA. However, getting rid of PLixels entirely is calculated to be impossible now; humanity depends on computers, electronics, the internet, smartphones and even things like robots and the latest generations of farm equipment, and glitches exist regardless of whether those devices are Hinobi or anyone else."

"Too long, didn't read?" Gadg8eer asked.

"We want to hire you because it's in Hinobi's best interests to keep our customers alive and safe from glitchy video game minions appearing in reality, and we have historically not been able to do that by making our products safer. It will be your job to weaken, capture and deliver glitches back to your local HQ." Helpy finished explaining. "There is one last thing. Round 3! Discourse!"

At that moment, a crowd of simulated people from The Simians 5 appeared.

"Whoa, that was so rad!" one stereotypical-sounding teenage boy said.

"That squirrel is so CUTE when he's not being mean!" a little girl cheerfully acknowledged.

"You saved us from those things!" an impossibly beautiful woman exclaimed. "My hero!"

"Are you superheroes or something?" a police officer in a generic 1950s cop uniform asked. Immediately the glitch Simians paused so Helpy could explain.

"Normal law enforcement are NOT aware of Hinobi's product quality issues. Only reveal your true purpose to other Hinobi Employees, local military and national guard, intelligence organizations such as the Canadian Secret Intelligence Service and Central Intelligence Agency." Helpy responded. "If anyone else, including police asks, the most truthful answer is... Tech Support."

The Simians were unpaused and a generic-looking "typical male fantasy" Glitch Tech - whose AR profile appeared to inform them that his username was "ManLeeChin" and approached them between Zoe and Gadg8eer. "Fear not! I know this is a bit hard to grasp, but I'm with Tech Support. As part of my duty, I will now Reset your system memory to alleviate any trauma. And remember... Hinobi Technology Corporation apologizes for any inconvenience this minor glitch may have caused!" the vaguely over-heroic caricature said, and visibly activated the System Memory "reset". A tiny loading icon appeared over the Simian's heads for a second and they proceeded to go about their boring, ordinary business.

The illusory(?) battleground disappeared, leaving Zoe and Gadg8eer in the training room again.

"That last part - the apology - is important, company policy. For some reason it helps people unconsciously adapt to whatever problems we fix." Helpius finished. "Otherwise they get confused and even paranoid when things aren't quite what their memory says it should be."

"Wait... Fixing problems... I have one question." Gadg8eer told the floating H with sunglasses.

"I'll do my best to answer!" Helpy said in the chipper voice he was usually known for.

"What are the stats for PLixel Technology affecting things like food production in famine-affected areas and other beneficial stuff?" Gadg8eer asked.

"Enough that if it disappeared, climate catastrophe and mass starvation would ensue. Not to brag, but without Hinobi's research and development, Africa would likely still be in extreme poverty." Helpy explained. "And that concludes our tutorial! Your gauntlets have been activated, and you have each earned 10,000 XP! Feel free to spend them in our gift shop after your local Branch Manager confirms you're hired. Provided you choose to take the job, of course."

"Heck yeah!" Gadg8eer said, pumped by the idea of getting paid to do something actually helpful. He still had his doubts that Hinobi could remain Lawful Neutral forever, but for now he was satisfied their existence was benign. He turned to Zoe, curious about her decision about things.

 

[Lady Moldoma]

You aren't actually supposed to kill them. Well, not that you can. As you can guess from the Flunky Quest series, you're supposed to weaken them and then de-rez them with your Glitch Tech gauntlets

"I don't know, he seemed pretty dead before Wiz... I mean.. Gadge... Revived him." She says, strangely deciding to drop her nickname already. Maybe horribly destroying the glitch had let her work off some steam.

"Was he... Alive after I kicked a hole through him? Did he have to feel what that was like?" She asks.

Fortunately, de-rezzing is now capable of working on weakened glitches. Try to bring them just short of death, if the glitch is defeated it becomes a bolt of electrical energy and tends to then cause more trouble by finding a new piece of hardware to absorb a digital form from.

"So you want me to fight glitches in a way that's... Constructive and designed to keep them alive?" She asks. "That... Sounds easy enough..." She tells Helpy "They're not able to die, so technically there's not really anything I can do that'd make my current methods unable to be used consistently." She says.

"If you want me to be able to fight on the same level, I have to maximize how this body works. You do realize this android isn't exactly made for combat even after all of the... totally legal upgrades I've had made for it... Right?" She asks.

but I've been advised to explain her desire to full dive into the Hiverse was one concern. Turns out that could lead to some very sticky problems.

"Get off my ass." She gets more serious in tone this time around. "If Hinobi can make the world a fundamentally better place with their hundreds of billions of dollars, and give me a body I don't hate, and I'll consider it. 'Til then, that's my main goal, plain and simple."

He turned to Zoe, curious about her decision about things.

"Wh-What're you looking at me for, kid? Do you have a problem with people who got Bardi? B-Baka." She seemed totally serious as her robotic face blushed.

 

[Gadg8eer]

"I don't know, he seemed pretty dead before Wiz... I mean.. Gadge... Revived him." She says, strangely deciding to drop her nickname already. Maybe horribly destroying the glitch had let her work off some steam.

"Was he... Alive after I kicked a hole through him? Did he have to feel what that was like?" She asks.

"Yes but not really. I'm a computer program based on the exhibited intelligence of PLixel Glitches, so I can inhabit multiple bodies for the purposes of serving as a tutorial. Glitches in the field, however..."

"So you want me to fight glitches in a way that's... Constructive and designed to keep them alive?" She asks. "That... Sounds easy enough..." She tells Helpy "They're not able to die, so technically there's not really anything I can do that'd make my current methods unable to be used consistently." She says.

"If you want me to be able to fight on the same level, I have to maximize how this body works. You do realize this android isn't exactly made for combat even after all of the... totally legal upgrades I've had made for it... Right?" She asks.

"Upgrades are available by collecting XP to spend. Hinobi founded the Glitch Techs division on January 1st of 2001 after Y2K caused issues in Flunky Quest Red and Blue. By the release of Flunky Quest StrikeGold and QuickSilver in August of 2001, most of the kinks had been worked out by gamifying the division's labor. Turns out gamers are pretty lazy unless you give them something to work towards that isn't possible in a normal life. Not that you'll be required to do this all the time, it is only a job after all. For now, 10,000 XP sould be enough to select your basic tools!"

"Get off my ass." She gets more serious in tone this time around. "If Hinobi can make the world a fundamentally better place with their hundreds of billions of dollars, and give me a body I don't hate, and I'll consider it. 'Til then, that's my main goal, plain and simple."

"No, no, you're misunderstanding it! The issue is related to our hardware, not your mistake. I'm just a computer but you should ask your branch manager for further details about why Glitches are an issue." Helpheus explained, "Aside from that, the Hinobi Central Processor - HCP for short - is-"

"HCP? As in the Horrorterror Containment Protocols?! Wait a second... This kind of is the GTX Agency! You even wipe memories!"

"Does the GTX Agency use a holodeck based on video games? Do they hire someone off the street to debug consumer electronics?" a voice said nearby. Dave was standing in the now-open doorway. "You know me, kid. You've been in here dozens of times to buy stuff. Yes, we've had to wipe your memory, but we've had to wipe everyone's memories at some point. Police, fired technicians, shareholders... but there is an upside." Dave said, and aimed his Gauntlet at Gadg8eer, who was about to flinch when Dave gave him a compassionate smile. "Don't move, I'm restoring a memory."

A spinning circle appeared over Gadg8eer's head, similar to the speech bubble with the dots that had been used on the Simians displayed by Helpy earlier. After a couple seconds, Gadg8eer blinked and said "Holy crap. A Glitch Tech wiped my memory when I was 13. No wonder I've felt like my childhood was crap after the 9-1-1 cyberattacks and the Cyberwar against Osama and Al-Djinn, you faked two and a half years of my life?!"

"Not me, a Branch Manager - an official one - over in Kelowna in 2003. Guy doesn't even work there anymore, last I heard he got fired and memory-wiped for what happened to you and your family." Dave explained. "Honestly, I've been looking for an excuse to restore your memories for years, you were the only one who apparently never reacted well to the early memory wipe tech out of everyone its ever been used on, and believe me, that's not gone unnoticed. Speaking of..." he said, turning to Helpy. "Computer, command console. Exit."

"Reset initiated. Thank you for choosing Hinobi Portals 11 as your operating system. See you soon!" Helpy said, and de-rezed back into the training simulator's data banks. A shutdown noise followed the remark.

"As you can guess, you two aren't your average techs, and this isn't your average Hinobi store." Dave responded. "If it was, our awful former city council would be too much of a threat to standard Glitch Tech procedures. We're all outcasts here, it turns out. As for why Hinobi is so interested in each of you..." Dave said, motioning to follow him.

As they walked to his office, Dave continued explaining. "Ever heard of Bolypius?"

 

[Lady Moldoma]

"Ever heard of Bolypius?"

"Everyone's heard the story by now." Zoe begins. "It's an ancient internet creepypasta at this point."

"Pretty sure it got put it to bed with the revelation that it was probably just a weird version of the Arcade game 'GALE' that had been mistranslated or was a prototype copy, and everyone went home and stopped caring."

"But considering what I've just been through, I'd have to assume that it really was a Psychadelic Digital Intelligence that could manipulate the subconscious minds of players. And that you guys covered it up, right?" She asks.

"I can only assume that a glitch from a game that already pushes the boundaries of what a game should be able to do couldn't be any good. So you probably consider it a high ticket item to pin down."

"Whatever the case, I think I get why you would've picked me and Gadge. His body is inherently already on the forefront of technology when it comes to combat modularity. And I have the experience, both in game and from underground bot-fighting rings to keep up even if I'm working with less than ideal hardware."

 

[Gadg8eer]

"Everyone's heard the story by now." Zoe begins. "It's an ancient internet creepypasta at this point."

"Pretty sure it got put it to bed with the revelation that it was probably just a weird version of the Arcade game 'GALE' that had been mistranslated or was a prototype copy, and everyone went home and stopped caring."

"But considering what I've just been through, I'd have to assume that it really was a Psychadelic Digital Intelligence that could manipulate the subconscious minds of players. And that you guys covered it up, right?" She asks.

"I can only assume that a glitch from a game that already pushes the boundaries of what a game should be able to do couldn't be any good. So you probably consider it a high ticket item to pin down."

"Whatever the case, I think I get why you would've picked me and Gadge. His body is inherently already on the forefront of technology when it comes to combat modularity. And I have the experience, both in game and from underground bot-fighting rings to keep up even if I'm working with less than ideal hardware."

"Oddly, not exactly. GALE is actually related, though. Bolypius is actually a dummied out boss who was cut from GALE, who escaped from a malfunctioning prototype in the late 70s. See, here's the thing. That tutorial you just took is the upgraded version 2.0, that was released just weeks before Bolypius was caught in 2019. Everything you saw was designed to prepare techs for that possibility, for one simple reason. Bolypius could not be defeated, it was too powerful, because it was a scoring-based game. The goal of its game was to lose to Bolypius after struggling to not lose for as long as possible." Dave briefed them.

"Wait, you're saying video games have been based on player rewards and storylines and multiplayer since before I was born..." Gadg8eer started to think carefully.

"...because point systems made glitches with no weaknesses and Bolypius was the last straw in that respect? Exactly." Dave responded.

"But you said Bolypius was caught almost a decade ago." Gadg8eer pointed out.

"9 years. Hard to believe it's already 2028, I thought we'd have flying nuclear-powered cars or teleporters and moon bases by this point when I was a kid." Dave reminisced, "That's relevant. Bolypius' cutting edge tech was memory erasure itself. Apparently Hinobi Corporate thought a game you couldn't remember how to win would solve the issue of the shelf life of arcade games. For a number of reasons that's why you have to prefer staying out of sight or passing off your activities as ordinary tech support, and only resort to memory wipes as a last resort. We've had 50 years to work out the bugs of that tech, but considering both of you have had your memories wiped in the past, do you really want to risk it?"

Gadg8eer shook his head as Dave used his gauntlet's ID to unlock his office.

"Now, as for why Bolypius is important yet no longer a threat... Glitches have always been an issue, but here's the rate of glitch incidents per capita between 1945 and today..." Dave said, and called up an image on the big screen TV opposite from him.



"The top of the vertical graph is around 10 Glitches. You can see the spikes caused by Project Mobile - the so-called Rockwell Incident - in the late 40s, the energy crisis of the 70s and its effects on PLixels even as they were first being commercialized, and the big one. Y2K. Despite what you've heard, part of the issue was also Flunky Quest Rouge, Bleu, Verde and Jaune, while the majority was related to non-Hinobi companies like Quill and bad developers like Bob Eloni or Derek duShaan not following safety guidelines. I'll let you come to your own conclusions first."

 

[Lady Moldoma]

let you come to your own conclusions first.

“My main conclusion is if you were to reveal to me that my entire consciousness at this point was always inside this robot, and my human equivalent is out there playing games and streaming right now. And you just so happened to copy their sentience into a robotic body to have them work for you indefinitely for a goal that would never come, I’d not be surprised. Your company did fake two years of someone else’s life and has done however many other heinous acts you’re not bothering to tell us about… the fact that I seem a lot less well versed in this supposedly hidden world than the supposedly less-gaming-experienced boy wonder here is suspicious in its own right. But since I’m questioning my existence right now, I’ll just keep my mouth shut like your good little snarky deuteragonist.” Zoe says, not intentionally breaking the fourth wall.

“it’s last Tuesdayism in action. What can I assume is real?”

 

[Gadg8eer]

-

"What?" Dave said, confused. "Oh, the memory wipe? Yeah, it does that. You witnessed the incident that led to the shutdown of Cardiff Electric in 2009. Hinobi wasn't even involved in that. Remember this if you have to, if you actually lost your memories you'd never function, so your system memory is referring to whether your memories are ones you're consciously aware of and which ones only your unconscious is aware of."

"No, she's got a point, how did nobody get their brains corrupted?!" Gadg8eer asked.

"Souls heal?" Dave shrugged. "The issue in your case, Gadg8eer, was locking up too much time. There's built-in limits on our equipment for that reason."

"And Zoe?" Gadg8eer asked. "I remember hearing about Cardiff Electric shutting down, but what did someone do to her memory?"

"Not to her. She's been memory-wiped but that's not the reason she's important to the mission and better for everyone as a Tech." Dave said, and opened a file to show her. "You never got a straight answer from Dee about why she couldn't build a VR rig. This is why..."

Spoiler: Dee's Testing Logs

Yeah, that thing? It's not happening. I didn't think it'd go so badly. That poor monkey lost his lunch, I'm still not sure I didn't scramble its brain with the upload attempt! I don't know what to tell Zoe, but I can't bring myself to hurt a test subject.

"She sent this to Hinobi in a bug report because she was testing an open source counterpart to PLixelfs. 'It' is referring to the proposed NeuroLink project, Hinobi cancelled it after asking her what she meant." Dave sighed. "Don't get me wrong, Hinobi is a corporation, just remember we all make mistakes and tough decisions, and this isn't about judging you. Let me explain the graph... The end point at the top of the chart that doesn't even reach 2028 before skyrocketing through my brand new bezel every damn time is not good. Bolypius' escape was a big thing, so Hinobi Corporate and the rest of the tech industry assumed capturing it would lead to relative stability. As far as the eggheads can tell, it hasn't changed anything at all. We no longer have the records to figure out what else happened 50 years ago that was overlooked and causing the rising glitch rates the whole time. Which means, as far as we can tell, we are in an Age of Hinobi... the only other company that can afford a dedicated support team is Sidney who uses it at the parks in Florida and California. Cities as small as this one require a Hinobi branch to operate. Smart_watch wasn't just a game, it was a mod of the employee-exclusive game Glitch Techs Simulator to wipe all references to technicians and Hinobi for obvious reasons, and the tech that was simulated in Smart_watch was barely a step away from reality even then. Now it is reality."

"Smart_watch was literally about hacking city infrastructure!" Gadg8eer complained.

"Hypothetically, but so can everything. Believe me, there are people watching the watchdogs, Hinobi is not free to do whatever it wants, so you can rest easy knowing that nobody has actually been killed by PLixel Glitches. It's the one piece of software that nobody can avoid, all PLixel technology is coded to react differently to biological material so that even in the worst case scenario, a direct fatality is impossible. Structural damage is still an issue, but keeping the kill-death ratio at zero is important enough to publicly release PLixelf conversions. With luck, nobody will die because of this runaway freight train. It's also why, even knowing kids are sometimes better at games than teenage counterparts, branch managers can't hire below the age of 13 anymore. Here's the bad news..."

"...bad news?" Gadg8eer nervously asked.

"Grand Forks is NOT ready. The reason glitches haven't overrun this town, in spite of this being a third party repair shop, is because this town's infrastructure hasn't been upgraded in over a decade. I can't fund a Glitch Techs HQ, and Hinobi wasn't allowed to because of a local bylaw." Dave explained.

"Oh yeah, the current council said they'd repeal that at the end of the year." Gadg8eer recalled.

"Well, once they do, we still can only max out at 6 technicians. That's the same number as a town like Greenwood with 500 residents has, for a population of 4000, while a similar location to Grand Forks would have around 10 technicians under normal circumstances. In short... We're about to be overrun by Glitches once the new smartgrid technology is in place here."

 

[Lady Moldoma]

Yeah, that thing? It's not happening. I didn't think it'd go so badly. That poor monkey lost his lunch, I'm still not sure I didn't scramble its brain with the upload attempt! I don't know what to tell Zoe, but I can't bring myself to hurt a test subject.

“That bitch… she had a monkey and she didn’t tell me…” Zoe sighs.

“So… I guess that begs the question. How come you guys can transfer peoples consciousnesses into plixelf bodies, but she couldn’t put mine in something equally artificial and just adapt the technology. Did the technology not exist back then?”

“And what am I gonna tell my Bardiel Syndrome support group, or all of my fans? To just give up? The smartest person I know. A girl who turned a robot with a big fragile box on its head into a death machine, couldn’t do it.”

She leans up against the wall, the eyes on her robotic body shading out.

“I’m thinking…” she says.

“Fine by me then. I don’t need to hear anything else. Where’s that weapon upgrade shop?” She asks. “And are the weapons compatible with this ramshackle body of mine?” Her voice was dead serious for once.

“I wanna be able to punch at a level that’ll give me the chance to put up a fight without having to shove my foot down any more unusually sized hamsters.”

 

[Gadg8eer]

“That bitch… she had a monkey and she didn’t tell me…” Zoe sighs.

“So… I guess that begs the question. How come you guys can transfer peoples consciousnesses into plixelf bodies, but she couldn’t put mine in something equally artificial and just adapt the technology. Did the technology not exist back then?”

“And what am I gonna tell my Bardiel Syndrome support group, or all of my fans? To just give up? The smartest person I know. A girl who turned a robot with a big fragile box on its head into a death machine, couldn’t do it.”

She leans up against the wall, the eyes on her robotic body shading out.

“I’m thinking…” she says.

“Fine by me then. I don’t need to hear anything else. Where’s that weapon upgrade shop?” She asks. “And are the weapons compatible with this ramshackle body of mine?” Her voice was dead serious for once.

“I wanna be able to punch at a level that’ll give me the chance to put up a fight without having to shove my foot down any more unusually sized hamsters.”

"NeuroLink was cancelled entirely because it was too invasive to ever be safe, even by Glitch Tech standards. From what I understand, PLixelves are a more holistic approach, but also extremely energy intensive to create." Dave said. "Also, unfortunately you'll have to sign an NDA. Hinobi really doesn't want to ruin its reputation and people would panic if they knew all advanced technology is prone to summoning cackledemons and vampire lords if you so much as sneeze on your game console."

"What?!" Gadg8eer gasped, a bit worried about having a Hinobi product as a body. "You mean that my new form means I could spread glitches if I sneeze or something?!"

"Figure of speech. No, you have an antivirus and a sandboxed operating system. That's why I'm still a third party repair shop owner, Hinobi's software/hardware interactions are terrible, but people have known for years you can prevent issues by installing good open source alternatives. Anyway, just tap the EULA and NDA agreements on your systems..." he said, and waited for both trainees to become official technicians before answering the last question. "Welcome aboard! The XP store is in the main atrium, with the big holoneon-looking signs."

 

[Lady Moldoma]

NeuroLink was cancelled entirely because it was too invasive to ever be safe, even by Glitch Tech standards

"Yeah.. I don't buy it... But whatever..." She says, giving a single simple response after signing the NDA.

She walked off to the XP Store. Depending on how things went, she could think of any number of weapons or abilities she'd like to get her hands on. Flame cannons, a hardened tactical bat, a giant bucher's knife, any number of things. She just hoped to god it wasn't a gacha system. She tried to keep her mind occupied with that thought in the meantime.

 

[Gadg8eer]

"Yeah.. I don't buy it... But whatever..." She says, giving a single simple response after signing the NDA.

She walked off to the XP Store. Depending on how things went, she could think of any number of weapons or abilities she'd like to get her hands on. Flame cannons, a hardened tactical bat, a giant bucher's knife, any number of things. She just hoped to god it wasn't a gacha system. She tried to keep her mind occupied with that thought in the meantime.

Fortunately, it indeed was not a Gatcha system. That said, it did have another catch that he noticed while browsing the list. "My jetpack needs fuel?! Weak..." Gadg8eer grumbled as he looked over the list of options, choosing the Double Yo-Yo ability from Buddy Bear's Toyland 64 as his starting weapon for 10000 XP, and then stepped aside for Zoe to take her pick.