//------------------------------// // Chapter 3: A Glitch's Accordance. (Xover 2) // Story: [Displaced] Save File 1: Captain G. // by DisplacedWriter //------------------------------// As they got inside, a pair of glowing serpent eyes gazed upon the three from above. “Welcome to my playground, heroes.” a disembodied voice spoke from all around. “So you’re the fabled hero? Strange, I expected you to be a lot younger, but of course, you would have been if I didn’t stop Lady Celestia from trying to send her message.” “T-the glitch?!” Rarity spoke out in fear as she backed away a step, but she quickly put her hoof down as she gained back her bravado. Sans meanwhile shouted, “Reveal yourself and fight us, you coward!” He then got out his bat and started scanning the room, spending a few CP points on Wide Angle to see if he could get it to work, however it fails to scan anything due to his lack of experience. Nonetheless, the batter displaced got into a defensive pose. “Ohohohȯ̶̠̽͜ẖ̷̖̭̔̎̕ǫ̸̯̺̠̐́̚͝ḧ̷̬̺̰͖̈́̚͝o̶̻̫̮͑̀̿̚ooh̵͔̯̀̿̒ơ̴̢̮̞̱͎h̶̥͈̫̊͂͌̃o̸͈͈̒̇!” The voice echoed, its laugh constantly distorted, sped up, rewound, and froze up. Everything in the room froze before returning back to normal, causing the three heroes to feel disoriented, a persistent ringing in their ears. They felt like they wanted to puke. “I’m sorry, but it wouldn’t be fair for you to fight the [Final Boss] so soon in the [Game]. You still have four more worlds to get through. That’s four [Games] total.” “Four games?!” Ryan almost screamed, then lowered his voice when he realized he had yelled. Sans meanwhile was freaking out in confusion at what he was witnessing. He felt like he almost just crapped a brick, and steadies himself before he then takes a deep breath and deadpanned to the glitchy voice, “Just who the hell do you think you are?” “We̴͈̿e̸̼̐ll, I was called The Glitch hundreds of years ago, I could tell you my real name, but merely saying it, let alone speaking it will cause you or those near you to bug out, or worse… G̵̢͝L̴̜̉I̷̱͋T̶̺͊C̵̳͆H̶͚̓  out of existence.” The voice said, the emotion in its voice was hard to describe, it sounded a strange mix of sadness, amusement and anger. Sans then starts to get worried, as he covers his ears in the case it tries to tell his name to them, the only thing the two could hear him saying under his breath was, “You sadistic...” “But I can’t have Ryan or any of his F̶r̶i̸e̶n̸d̷s̴ getting an early [Game Over] before the fun can start, so you may call me Glitchcord. It’s the only thing you can call me without the [Life] threatening headache. For now, I’ll be watching you play a little bit of [Shadowgate] for my amusement. Ta’ta~” The voice, the eyes slowly fading away. “...Jesus Christ, what have I gotten myself into…” Ryan said as he glanced at his [Powerglove] which was having its own freakout displaying a bunch of [Errors] [9s] and [1]s. Ryan held down the [Reset] button to reboot it. “I gotta keep this thing functionally correctly, or else I’ll end up with my own [Gameover]” he said. “Probably literal hell,” Sans commented as he then shook his head, “What do you think he means though by watching us play a bit of [Shadowgate] though?” “It’s an old, point and click game from the 1987 for the NES, same exact year Castlevania 2 came out on…” Ryan as he glanced around the room. “Same exact layout too, although the key opened the front door instead of the other..” he said. Just as he finished his sentence, a fast paced song started to play. Sans then said to nobody in particular, “Oh that’s just wonderful,” before turning to his two teammates, “Well then, I suppose standing around won’t do much. We should get moving.” Ryan held up his arm and slid the hologram screen to [Inventory], then with a pulling motion of his arm, he pulls out a [Torch], “If this place is anything like the game, we’ll need to have a [Torch] lit all the time, having it go out is an instant death. Don’t ask me why though, the main character always ended up hurting himself when he fumbles around in darkness.” The Batter was about to roll his eyes, however he stopped himself when he remembered what Rarity said outside. He closed the lower two eyes, and rolled the upper ones. “Oh don’t be ridiculous what could possibly happen in darkness...” he said. Sans then walked outside the range of the torch, before he was suddenly heard bumping into something as he fell down, taking damage and losing a whole heart piece. “...Not… ...a… ...word…,” was all the displaced groaned out. “I wouldn’t bother trying to understand the logic of the video game world, so don’t try to deny it.” Ryan said while Rarity gathered the two unlit [Torches] that hang from the [East] and [West] walls. There are two doors in this room, the one the [North] is a made of wood while the one to the right of it is a door that’s a few inches of thick stone. Sans then turns and asks Ryan, “So should we stick together or split up and cover more ground?” “Considering that [Shadowgate] is in [Hyrule], I… don’t know how I should treat this.” Ryan said in bemusement, looking deep in thought. “I suggest we split but tread carefully, if we run into danger we can’t handle, we should quickly retrace our trots... or steps in your cases.” Rarity said as she deposited the unlit [Torches] into her inventory. “I think the door on the right is locked so…” Ryan said as he made his way to the [North], he gave it a push, allowing himself through. “I might not remember the other things though.” Sans then tries to open the stone door, but to no avail. It seemed like a key is needed to open it. “Even though I have memories of this place, I think this Glitchcord character might have changed it up a bit.” Ryan said as he was in the next room with [Torch] in hand. The next room was more of a hallway with a stone door to the north, a book standing on a stone slab surrounded by candlelight, no torches though. “...Yea, I remember this had torches on the wall.” Sans, meanwhile, took a quick look at the book’s cover. It was in a language he didn’t recognize, and with no picture or image to help give him an idea of what it was about. He then was about to grab and pick up the book so he could ask if Rarity or Ryan recognize it. The moment the batter picked the book up, the floor suddenly collapse from under him. Ryan reached out to grab Sans’s arm, but he wasn’t quick enough, Rarity however grabbed hold of him with her magic. “Shit! I forgot Shadowgate had too many damn ways of dying.” Ryan said as he helped Rarity get Sans back up. Sans then wiped off some sweat and said, “Ok, lesson learned.” Before he then turned to unicorn,  “Oh and thanks. I’d rather not find out if I respawn from death with a heart loss or I just end up staying in my coma.” Ryan peered into the darkness below, shuddering at the thought. He turns to look at the [Book] Sans tried to pick up, he opens it up to reveal a hidden [Key] within it’s pages. [Ryan Obtained 1 x Key] “Would this key open that one door we came across?” Rarity asked as she eyed the gap between her and the other side. “Either that, or a trap…” Ryan said, gulping. Sans then said, “Well, whatever is in there I don't think it's ready for the three of us.” Ryan glances at his [Powerglove] to notice a map this time on his hologram screen, although it was filling up the areas they’ve been through. His eyes go wide when he noticed that there were no heart containers by their names. “...We should be more careful, that lil shit Glitchcord changed the rules!” Sans looks over to see Ryan's [Powergloves] screen and also sees the lack of hearts. “Well that makes us one hit wonders for pretty much damn anything.” Rarity was trying her best to put on a brave face as she leaped across the gap. She wasn’t going to allow the glitch to win. Ryan followed soon after, then Sans. They returned to the previous room and opened the stonedoor, although slowly with caution. Inside, there was a [Sword] and a [The Sling] resting on stone shelves. The batter then examined the sword for a moment before handing it Ryan, “Here, I think this might be a step up over that wooden blade of yours.” The [Wooden Sword] de-materialized as he takes the [Sword]. Judging from its appearance, it was either made of gold, or just made of the same pixelated colors. [Ryan Obtained Sword] Rarity took the [The Sling]. “It reminds me of a Slingshot, almost the same thing.” she said happily as she placed it in her pouch. With nothing left in the current room and the previous, the trio adventure further deeper into the dungeon. They upon in the third room with three doors, [West], [North], and [East] Sans then said, “So there’s three doors and there’s three of us. I’ll go this way.” Sans said as he goes to the [West] door. But before he opens it, Ryan gives him a lit [Torch] “Be careful.” Ryan said. Sans nods before opening the door and going inside. Ryan and Rarity went in the opposite door. Inside, was some sort of cavern filled with water, a dead skeleton holding a key clinging to the [North] wall as if it was trying to get away. Rarity’s eyes went wide when she saw the sharkfin casually moving through the water. Ryan gets an idea as he brings up his inventory, selecting the [Boomerang], with a flick of the wrist, he throws it at the key. The rang magically grabs hold of it and returns back to him. [Obtained 1 x Key] “Clever gamer…” A disembodied voice commented. Ryan chose to ignore as the duo go into the next room. They arrived into a wide cavern with a [Waterfall] to the [North], it appears there had been a small rock slide not long ago.  Rarity started picking up pieces of [Rock] and placing them into her pouch. Ryan examined the [North] wall, scratching his head as he was trying to remember the game. Raising his arm, he covers part of himself as he quickly sticks his head in, noticing a hidden passage inside. His mind clicks when he remembers something, he gives the rock a punch with his [Powerglove]. [POW!] Ryan had to blink his eyes a few times when it was literally flooded with the word pow. The rock loosens to reveal a hidden bag of gems. [Ryan Obtained bag of gems. 1 x Blue, 1 x Red, 1 x White.] Rarity’s eyes sparkle with interested when he returned with them. Before they can leave, an Zora emerges from it’s depth, revealing itself to be part shark, although parts of it’s body was glitching as it spit a rock straight at them. Rarity leaped in front of Ryan, raising her [Wooden Shield] to bounce the rock back at it. The Zora went down in one hit as it sunk back into the water. Ryan could have sworn he felt his heart stop for a split second at that. “Thank you, Rarity.” he said with breath of relief. The heroine smiled, she was about to put it away, but a thought made her think twice, she decided to keep the shield out incase of any more surprise attacks. They make their way back to the main entrance. Raising his arm to look at his hologram screen, Ryan notices that Sans obtained some new items. He gets an idea and slides the screen to his [Inventory], he drags the [Bag] from his inventory, and into Sans. “Hopefully he’ll notice a sudden shift in his inventory.” [Boom!] “...Was that a [Bomb]?” Ryan asked as he recognized that old 8-bit sound.