The Recovery
The arcade was closed. Stan paced back and forth, staring at the black screens, the flickering screens, and those screens that were simply empty of characters. He knew something had gone wrong. He was half afraid he'd made a terrible mistake. The other half of him was convinced he'd finally lost his mind.
A knocking on glass drew his attention, and he turned to find himself staring at Hero's Duty. Dr. Wily - from Mega Man 3 - stood there, knocking on the glass. "Stan," he said plainly, "we need to talk."
Stan slumped against the game cabinet opposite. "And now you're talking to me..." he mumbled. "I've gone crazy, haven't I?"
"No, you haven't," Wily replied. "It suited the situation to leave things as they had been until now...but right now, we need you. We need you to plug your laptop back in to the power strip and turn it on, but keep it disconnected from the internet. You still use an ethernet cable for that, right?"
Stan nodded. "Yeah, I do...but what about-"
"We'll take care of the viruses," Wily interrupted. "But right now, the laptop's the only system with the processing power we need." Wily promptly left the screen.
Stan blinked his eyes, trying to wrap his mind around what had happened. One of the sprites had talked to him directly...and asked for his help. And had told him he wasn't crazy. He shrugged. "Crazy or not, I'm not gonna turn my back."
Heading into his office, he pulled the ethernet cable out of his laptop and plugged it back into the power strip. He powered it back on, and found only broken code. Within moments, however, Ralph became visible, punching away at the code scattered over the screen, shattering it. Several other sprites followed behind, led by Felix, Dr. Wily, and Dr. Light. They worked with hand held computers and Felix's hammer, fixing the computer.
Then Nightmare came in, Nightmare Moon in his arms. As he lay her down, her image glitched, swirled, broke down, and reassembled. She did not move or wake.
"W...what's wrong?" Stan asked.
Wily glanced up, then turned back to his data. "Clyde, can you handle him?"
The orange ghost from Pac-Man floated up to the screen, far more detailed than he'd ever been on his own system. "I imagine you have lots of questions," he said calmly. "I'll answer what I can, Mr. Litwak."
Stan stared, trying to formulate his questions. He opened and closed his mouth several times.
Clyde smiled. "Perhaps I can address a few of the more obvious ones. Yes, all the sprites in the arcade games are sentient. Yes, we have our own worlds within the games that we live in, far more detailed to us than they appear on the screens. Yes, we interact with each other through the power strip, and even visit each others' games on occasion. Yes, that's what happened with Turbo. Yes, Turbo was also King Candy. And yes, we've done our best to keep all this a complete secret...although since you plugged in Mega Man 3, Dr. Wily's been changing a bit of the rules on how we handle such things, since he made it plain you obviously had some suspicions regarding us."
Stan sat back in his chair. "Till Nightmare Moon showed up, I thought I was going crazy. That was the first sign of it that was visible aside from just on the security cameras." He shook his head. "Where did she come from?"
"We don't know," Clyde replied. "We've been trying to find out. We thought that file about her possible game world was a clue you left us because you knew."
Stan chuckled. "The blind leading the blind..." he mumbled. "IS...is she going to be okay?"
Clyde sighed. "We don't know." He glanced back, where Dr. Wily started cursing up a storm as he hurled a piece of coded tech from him to shatter against the gate. "We've never dealt with a viral infection before. The closest we'd ever come was fighting Cybugs."
"What happened?" Stan asked.
"A worm of some sort came through from your computer," Clyde replied. "It was obviously an internet program of some sort, some sort of virus. We fought it, but it was being sustained. When you pulled the plug, it started to die. Its thrashing was about to crush Tara, Felix and Calhoun's daughter-"
"Wait, what?" Stan interrupted. "You mean that new racer that showed up in Sugar Rush, Tara Gum?"
Clyde nodded. "That seemed the best place for her to get started in the arcade and blend in. Nightmare Moon knocked her to safety, but got hit herself. If we knew what the worm was or how it got in-"
"I was hacked," Stan replied. "I don't know much about it, but-"
"Hacked?" WIly shouted. "Of course! That's why none of the anti-viral programs I've synthesized are working. It's a custom worm! We'll need a copy of the original program from the hacker to synthesize a vaccine!"
"How are you going to find him?" Stan asked. "Most hackers cover their tracks well."
"Moony cut off some of the worm's code during the attack!" Wily replied. "I'll analyze it and adapt Rush to use that code to track down his ISP, and we'll send a squad after him...and heaven help him if we have to go through him to get the program and he has any devices hooked up to the internet."
Ralph slammed his fists together, his eyes glowing. "...we're gonna wreck him..." he growled.
"Is there anything I can do?" Stan asked. "Anything at all?"
Wily thought for a bit. "Yes," he replied finally. Lifting a panel up in the 'floor' of the world in the laptop, he began tweaking something. "Plug the mouse in."
Nodding, Stan plugged the mouse into the laptop. Several icons appeared on screen, displaying various types of data in green and red.
"I've managed to stabilize her," Wily replied, "but I'm going to need to focus on crafting the antivirus once I have a copy of the program, and in the meantime I'll have to completely code the lab I'll need to craft it from scratch. The various display windows show the state of her code as she fights of the worm on her own. As long as the readouts are in green, she's stable. If she goes into red, though, click the icon. It'll apply a temporary anti-virus to help stabilize her. Can you do that?"
"I won't let you down," Stan promised.
Clyde chuckled softly as the other sprites scattered. "You never have, Stan...not in all the years we've been here in your arcade." Clyde started to turn away.
"Before you go, can I ask one more question?" Stan asked.
"I'm not going anywhere," Clyde replied. "I don't have hands to manipulate the programs, and all who do are either in recovery themselves, doing the healing work, or otherwise busy...but I can stay near her so she doesn't feel alone. Ask away."
Stan thought for a time on how to phrase his question. "...why keep it all secret?"
Clyde raised an eyebrow. "You mean the fact that we have our own lives?" When Stan nodded, Clyde smiled in reply. "So we can keep having our own lives." At Stan's raised eyebrow, Clyde chuckled sardonically. "Exactly how long would we be left alone in the arcade if word got out that we were self-willed inside here? Capable of making our own ethical and moral decisions? We've seen how much sci-fi you've got on your computer."
Mr. Litwak sighed. "I see your point. Still...it'll be helpful to have me in the know and on your side, right?"
"Hopefully," Clyde replied.
Both then turned their attention to Nightmare Moon's recumbent form, and the data read outs.
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WRECK HIS FACE AND SEND HIM INTO ETERNAL (internet) NIGHT!!!!
She'll be alright, right?
This is a suitably dramatic part of the story. Please make sure that when they find the hacker, he or she puts up enough of a fight so that a few other characters get hurt (but not killed). Also, without Nightmare Moon to control the cybugs, won't they be a bit of a problem?
6161182
Her standing orders still prevent them from being a problem. They just won't be any help.
Okay, first get all the information you can on him. Then overwrite every dang bit on the jerks pc, take control of the bios, turn off the cooling and run all the hardware at max load. Do that for all his electronics. Then discreetly give the FBI all the dirt you managed to get on him and watch him get thrown in the slammer for who knows how long. Make sure he's questioning his sanity Toy Story style too if you can manage it.
Wonder what will happen to the hacker when he sees game sprites take over his laptop and obliterated his programs? Would he report it to the police and they call him crazy and possibly put him in jail for a few years for hacking? Who knows. Lets wait on the next installment.
So the sprites have internet acess huh? Wait until they stumble across the anarchic wasteland known as 4Chan.
We are Anonymous. Expoct us.
She will get better...
either
far more detail than he'd ever had on his own system.
or
far more detailed than he'd ever been on his own system.
This feels awkward, "tech he had coded", maybe?
6161230
'Coded tech' as in a piece of tech made of code. In this case, it's a unique technical term.
This is getting exciting!
This story has taken a bit of a Reboot vibe here.
A hacker... man, if they ever trace back the connection, that guy is going to get...
orig13.deviantart.net/2371/f/2015/085/a/d/poison_joker_deal_with_it_by_wingweaver7-d8n73g9.png
WRECKED!
6161339 obvious pun is obvious....:D
6161351
So? I could have said that he would be getting nightmares tonight.
6161356 It is soooo....punny
6161303 I wonder if they'll have to fight off pixels while sailing a ship across the web?
Ralph's eyes just glowed.
he has some of Moonys power!!!
or its the power of a pissed off dad!
Another enjoyable chapter. Well done.
Oh wow.
One word.
Kaboom.
The perfect theme music for the next chapter
[youtube=https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=gTw2YvutJRA]
6161566 does this answer you?
orig03.deviantart.net/4c69/f/2013/178/f/5/i_m_gonna_wreck_it_by_karosu_maker-d6ayw4u.jpg
6161151 Quite the adorable virus.
Papa's angry~
guehuehuehue eue
Nice job.
I really feel Dr. Light should be the one making modifications to Rush while Wily codes the lab. Division of labor and all. Plus, what's the point of having Dr. Light show up if you're not going to use him???
Excellent explanation for where Tara stays during the day, genius!
The Hacker will never know peace again, all sprites everywhere will seek vengeance on them. And they should plant evidence he's into every illegal type of porn possible so even in jail the other inmates will want to beat him up.
And Lauren should show up, use the key her uncle gave her to let herself in, and find out about the sprites.
6161129 No, make it so he knows the Sprites are after him and will keep haunting him for the rest of his life. He won't be able to go near another computer ever again.
6161190 And put him on every anti terrorist watch list possible.
You know, it would be a problem. The hacker could easily cover up his identity. For example, he could buy a Amazon EC2 virtual machine and use it as a proxy. Then delete it and voila - no traces. And the best proxy of a kind is to buy a cheap smartphone from China, go to McDonald's and use their free WiFi, erasing their security data afterwards. And when hacking some exact target no security is excess.
So let's be ready that the hacker is not to be found...unless he is only a script kiddy who "hacks" right from home Xbox, or until he attacks another time - tracing an attack in action with all data relayed back and forth - is possible.
6162469
You're assuming they only track him based on his ISP.
If he's a hacker of enough professionalism, they could track him by his coding technique. They do have a sample of his code to track him from...and they aren't limited to how code and data actually behave as far as tracing him.
6162474 2 issues with this: a) Programs are being compiled from hign-level programming languages such as C++, Java and others to low-level assembly language. And it is almost impossible to go back to high-level. And if packers, obfuscators and other things were used, it leaves no way to recover initial program text. b) Code style is not a fingerprint. One needs a lot of samples of code written by the same man to maybe find some common variable names or functions or comments. Elsewhere there is too big chance to be mistaken. Also, this assumes they have samples of worm's high-level code, which is low probability from a).
And even if, they need samples of other his works to see whether this hacker is responsible. Where are they going to get it? From his computer? But they don't know it. And looking in open sources is a problem , because - too much data.
6162629
All of your counter arguments are based on assuming they're limited to the same tracking techniques that humans are when trying to track someone over the internet. This is a faulty assumption.
6162639
To be fair, I just don't want "real blood" in here. And seeing sprites that angry, anything can happen to the hacker.
A problem with tracking someone is that the hunter goes by pieces of data, like by breadcrumbs. He finds first link to him (code pieces from worm here), using it finds something even closer to the target, etc. But if the hacker covered up his tracks somewhere, oops, end of game.
And if the hacker covered his tracks, how can sprites link someone to the hack?
The thing is that humans and sprites are both limited as they can get the same data on hacker.
Now just imagine what's going to happen if the Hacker works from a VR rig? All his (or her) Nightmares, come to life.
And what happens when (s)he figures out that (s)he has managed pi$$ed off a little over hundred A.I.s, some off which are programmed to be geniuses.
6162658
Hackers work from console, they don't even have GUI usually.
And why would the hacker try to breach into a simple arcade cabinet's network? I think he knows about sprites.
6162659 As far as the VR goes, I was just thinking about what kinds of punishment Ralph could go for if they could trap the Hacker. A little medieval a-la SAO.
As far as the sprites and whether the Hacker knows or not, I just like to imagine the look on their face when they go to get on their computer and suddenly see a whole bunch of really angry programs, with distinct sprites, ready to tear them a new one.
6162682
If we exclude what happened to unlucky thieves, the hacker will just have to immediadtely shut down his PC, reinstall the system, and change identity to not to be tracked again.
Otherwise ... here happens a story of man who died of F3AR.
6162652
Oh, there won't be 'real blood' in any of this. At worst, you have Toy Story Cid's fate.
And as for other possibilities, the worm and code was an active hack. The hacker was actively trying to access Litwak's comp to get answers about Moony, and accidentally discovered the connector between the comp and Game Central Station. And in the virtual world, code has the 'scent' of the one who coded it. That's why they're modifying Rush to trace it. He'll be able to scent any code on the internet with the same 'scent' as the code of the worm, which will be any code activity of the hacker. It won't be an easy trace, but it will eventually reveal the hacker's home systems.
6162689
Assuming he hacked from home.
About scent: still too much data IRL. But this is not real world after all, right? Anyway, looking forward to next chapters.
6162703
You misunderstand. Even if he doesn't do his hacking from home, he would have a home computer where he does his coding. And that home computer has an internet connection.
And yup. ...ah, here's a good way to explain it! Humans operate on the rules we know. The sprites operate on Megaman Battle Network rules.
6162709
The hacker's problem then is that he lives by real world rules, and then he gets attacked by MBN rules. And firewall, antivirus, Taskman and shutting PC off cannot save him, because MBN rules are superior. Yeehaw!
6162743
Could you put that in spoiler tags, please?
6162752 Better?
6162793 EEYUP! FOR MOONY WREK 'EM GOOD!
This is war,Game Central vs Hacker Army Begin!
Though completly useless,i wonder what would happen if League Of Legends was plugged in?*thinks*Oh god too many characters!
I have a brilliant, but sad tale about how Moony ended up in the arcade. She was part of a custom game, created by a random tech wizz. Her game was created essentially in someone's house, not by a gaming company. Her game however experience a virus. The creator of the game knew that the gaming world is alive, and saw that the virus was killing all the creatures in the game world. Using a usb connected to his laptop, he used that to try to save nearly all the creatures. During this, Moony was holding off the virus for as long as she could. The virus got past her however, and destroyed the usb connection, killing everyone but Moony. Seeing this, the creator made a back door to a random arcade for her too escape. Moony made a break for it, but was slightly hit by the virus, thus causing her to lose part of her memories and powers.
I really thought there would be a scene with Felix hitting N. Moon with his hammer over and over and over again.
6162939 wow that actually sounds realistic
6163317 yeah, it would explain why no one at the arcade (both real life and arcade land) havent heard of her, why only she came to the arcade, and why she was in filly form.
In the shadows they will fight...
Their coded punches doing naught as their life is abduct...
And when Nightmare Moon lays in the Dying Light,
When all hope is gone, the heroes at a loss, stuck...
From the Darkness She will rise...
czechgamer.com/pics/clanky/18384_dying-light-good-night-good-luck-wallpaper-hd.jpg
hmm, i have an idea on how to basically link this story to 'Merc With a Moth" in a way. You said "Mavel Vs Capcom 3" is in the Arcade Right? Well In that game you can play as Deadpool right? Just gonna let ya connect the Dots.
Hint: 4th wall Breaking.
6162793 "RALPH SMASH!!"
6163643 0r maybe she was the virus infecting Luna, the character of a game. and when the online antivirus "cleaned" luna, the incomplete virus was released somewhere else..