The ruins of the arcade provided temporary shelter, though "shelter" was a generous term for a building missing two walls and most of its ceiling. Yamete sat hunched over his Cheat Engine, watching as it periodically displayed helpful suggestions like "Have you tried turning it off and on again?" in a font that looked suspiciously like Comic Sans.
GLich-chan floated near the broken skee-ball machine, running diagnostics on herself. Every so often, she'd let out a frustrated noise as she hit another encrypted memory block. "It's like someone took a black marker to my childhood photos. But more digital. And somehow more annoying."
Gary, meanwhile, had taken to painting himself silver with a half-dried marker he'd found. "How do I look? More... mechanical?" He spun in a slow circle, revealing several spots where he'd missed entirely, including his left wheel which remained stubbornly trash-can-gray.
Yamete squinted at him. "You look like a garbage can that lost a fight with a glitter factory."
"Perfect!" Gary declared, completely missing the insult. "I'll infiltrate their ranks and learn their secrets!"
Before anyone could point out the numerous flaws in this plan, the distant whirring of debug drones grew suddenly louder. A lot louder.
GLich-chan's glow spiked. "They're here. A lot of them."
Yamete peeked through a hole in the wall. The street outside was filled with drones—dozens of them, hovering in perfect formation like some kind of malevolent marching band. Their sensors swept methodically across the area, pausing at every glitch and anomaly. Which, in Glitchvale, meant they were going to be busy for a while.
The lead drone pulsed red. "Sector sweep initiated. Purge protocol active."
Yamete ducked back inside. "Okay. New plan. We fight."
Gary gasped. "With what? Harsh language and poor decisions?"
"With this." Yamete pulled up his Cheat Engine and typed:
/time set night
The world darkened instantly, the sun winking out like someone had flipped a switch. Stars popped into existence, though several were shaped like smiley faces and one kept winking at them.
GLich-chan blinked. "Since when can you control time?"
"Since my Cheat Engine decided I'm responsible enough for cosmic power," Yamete muttered. "Which is clearly a mistake."
Outside, the drones' lights flickered on, casting eerie beams through the sudden darkness. But they moved sluggishly now, their sensors clearly not optimized for nighttime operations.
Gary squinted at them. "Are they... bumping into things?"
Indeed, several drones had collided with floating glitches they normally would have avoided. One was stuck in a loop trying to scan its own light beam.
Yamete allowed himself a small grin. "They can't handle the dark. Let's give them more problems." His fingers flew across the screen:
/effect @e[type=debug_drone] blindness 100
Several drones immediately spun in circles, their lights strobing erratically. One flew straight into a wall and got stuck.
GLich-chan floated higher. "Okay, that's good. But there's still—"
A golden light cut through the darkness. The elite drone from the pristine world emerged, its polished surface untouched by the chaos around it. Unlike the others, it moved with purpose, its single glowing eye scanning methodically.
"Primary anomaly located," it intoned. "Commencing deletion."
Yamete's Cheat Engine suddenly displayed a new message:
Warning: Admin-level entity detected. Suggest: Run.
"Not helpful!" Yamete snapped at the screen.
Gary, ever the tactician, chose that moment to execute his infiltration plan. He rolled straight toward the drones, calling out in what he clearly thought was a robotic voice: "BEEP BOOP. FELLOW DRONE HERE. JUST DOING... DRONE THINGS."
The nearest debug drone turned toward him. Its light swept over Gary's half-painted form, lingering on the obvious trash can features.
"Identification failed," it droned. "Target classified as: Recyclable."
Gary gasped. "Rude!"
The drone fired.
What happened next occurred in rapid succession:
Gary ducked
The energy bolt hit a parked car instead
The car turned into a giant rubber duck
The duck quacked angrily at the drone
Chaos ensued
Yamete took the opportunity to grab GLich-chan and retreat further into the arcade ruins. "We need to find a better way to fight these things."
GLich-chan's glow flickered as another memory block unlocked. "Wait... I think... I know something." Her voice grew distant. "The drones have a hierarchy. Take out the golden one, the others might reset."
Outside, the sounds of battle (if one could call a giant rubber duck attacking drones "battle") grew louder. Yamete peeked out just in time to see the elite drone effortlessly delete the duck from existence.
"Great," Yamete muttered. "How do we beat something that can do that?"
GLich-chan floated closer to his Cheat Engine. "You said it's learning from you, right? So teach it something new."
Yamete stared at the screen, then slowly typed:
/summon ElderGuardian ~ ~ ~
The air shimmered. Then exploded.
A massive, spectral fish materialized above the street, its glowing eyes locking onto the golden drone. The creature let out a sound like a submarine imploding and unleashed a beam of pure energy.
The drone barely had time to process this development before it was hit with what could only be described as "aquatic existential dread." It froze mid-air, its lights flickering wildly.
Gary, who had been hiding behind the now-deceased rubber duck, cheered. "FISHY FURY!"
One by one, the other drones stuttered and shut down, their systems dependent on the elite unit's guidance. The Elder Guardian, having fulfilled its summoning, dissolved into bubbles that smelled faintly of seaweed and regret.
Silence fell over Glitchvale. Or at least, as much silence as was possible in a world where the trees occasionally screamed.
Yamete's Cheat Engine displayed a new message:
Achievement Unlocked: Improper Use of Aquatic Mob
GLich-chan floated down next to him. "That worked. Somehow."
Gary rolled back to them, still partially silver. "Can we keep the fish? As a pet?"
Before anyone could answer, a new sound cut through the air—a deep, resonant hum that made Yamete's teeth vibrate. The ground trembled slightly.
From the direction of the pristine world's portal, a shadow moved. Something large. Something that shouldn't exist in either world.
GLich-chan's glow dimmed. "Oh no."
Yamete swallowed hard. "What is it?"
The Cheat Engine answered before she could:
Error: Entity Not Recognized