Within the Games: Part Seven

     “Cyber-Port 2000, take us to Faerie Racers!”

     AAA had no idea why he was talking to the machine. After all, it’s the type of machine that you actually TYPE the orders in! Not talk to!

     Then the machine was beginning to... talk back.

     “I AM SORRY, AAA. BUT I AM AFRAID I CAN’T DO THAT.”

     “AAA, what’s going on?” Marine asked AAA. They were both really scared.

     The Cyber-Port 2000 was beginning to grow... arms. The arms were grabbing onto Marine’s legs as a black hole appeared on the screen.

     “AAA! AAA! HELP!!!”

     Marine was trying to grab AAA’s outstretched hand, but her hand slipped and couldn’t grab on.

     “MARINE!!!” AAA screamed. He was trying to run towards Marine, but he couldn’t move. He was running, but he wasn’t getting anywhere. It’s like he was running on a treadmill that never stopped.

     Marine was about to sink into the black hole and-

     “NOOOOO!!!!” AAA shouted as he woke up from his nightmare.

     He couldn’t take it anymore. He didn’t care if it was 2:00 AM NST, he had to destroy the machine NOW.

     He got up from bed and put on his slippers. He took down his bathrobe and tied the rope around his waist.

     He slowly tiptoed around Abigail’s room, and right before he was about to leave through the front door-

     “Hey, big bro, what’cha doin’? It’s 2:00 in the morning!”

     It was Abigail, his little sister who just stepped out of her bedroom to get a glass of water. This was the last person he wanted to see right now. Abigail wouldn’t believe what’s going on and what AAA needed to do.

     “None of your business!” snapped AAA.

     “Geez, Aristotle! Polite, much?”

     “Sorry, this is a private matter!”

     “Oh please. Will you just tell me? What are you gonna do? Rob the National Neopian Bank?”

     “I told you! THIS IS A PRIVATE MATTER!!!” he screamed.

     “ARISTOTLE A. AVINROO!!! TELL ME WHAT’S GOING ON!!! NOW!!! YOU GOTTA HAVE SOME REASON TO GO OUT THIS LATE AT NIGHT SO TELL ME!!!” she screamed even louder. She wasn’t nosy, she just wanted to make sure that her brother was taken care of. What type of sister would she be if her brother did something fatal and she wasn’t there to help?

     AAA couldn’t fight it. He had to tell Abigail. She deserved to know, and he didn’t care if she would take it seriously or not.

     “*sigh* Alright, here’s what’s going on.” AAA told his sister about Marine and the Cyber-Port 2000. He told her the adventures that him and Marine had with the Cyber-Port 2000. Shenkuu Warrior 2. Destruct-O-Match 3. He even told Abigail about how Marine got hurt in Faerie Racers. Even the dream he had. He told her everything.

     Abigail didn’t joke around with him like she did like the last time he talked to her about the Cyber-Port 2000. She actually seemed a little... upset.

     “Oh. I see...” Abigail sighed. If she could go back in time when she and AAA were talking about the Cyber-Port 2000, she would have taken all the Floppy Tongue stuff back.

     “I promise I’ll be back later.”

     He hugged his sister and walked out the door. She looked out to him, worried.

     AAA finally arrived at the Game Room. He took out his set of keys and found the key to the Game Room. He unlocked the Game Room and walked towards his office. He unlocked and opened the door.

     He turned on the light and found the Cyber-Port 2000.

     AAA was pacing around his office looking at the Cyber-Port 2000. It’s been four hours and he just couldn’t decide what to do.

     “Oh, poor Marine! I let all this go too far! I have to tell Marine that I should destroy you!” he said as he pointed at the machine.

     He thought hard...

     He was beginning to have an internal war with himself.

     He didn’t want to hurt Marine’s feelings, but yet he didn’t want to put himself and Marine in even more danger.

     “What should I do? Because of me, Marine’s arm is broken! We could have gotten lost in cyberspace at any given moment! We could have vanished and never return to Neopia at any time!”

     AAA punched the machine with his fist. “Why is this so hard? I worked so hard on what I thought would be a device used for fun and excitement! Not a weapon to hurt people! That’s it! I have to tell Marine! I have to... to get rid of the Cyber-Port 2000!”

     He took out a piece of paper and a pencil from the drawer of his office desk. He wrote a letter that said:

     Marine,

     I have realized that the safest thing that we should do is destroy the Cyber-Port 2000. I know that you don’t want this to happen, but when you broke your arm, I became worried. We could’ve disappeared at any moment. I’m sorry, but I am left with no other options. I will do it, but I won’t be able to do it without you. Meet me in my office today.

      -AAA

     He went out to the mailbox outside of the Game Room and placed the letter inside it. He walked back inside, still with conflicting emotions.

***

     Later that morning, Marine and her friend Margo were walking around Neopia Central when they went to the post office to check their mailbox to see if they got any Neomail.

     Margo was leafing through the mail to the fact Marine’s arm was broken and couldn’t hold all of the mail with one hand.

     “Anything for me?” Marine asked anxiously.

     “Not yet. Oh! Yeah! This one’s for you! It’s from your friend AAA.”

     She ripped open the envelope and gave the Neomail inside it to Marine.

     As Marine read the Neomail, she was beginning to have a pained look on her face. You could see her eyes beginning to water.

     “Oh no...” Marine whispered to herself.

     “What does it say?” questioned Margo.

     “It says that... that...”

     “That what?”

     “AAA wants to destroy the Cyber-Port 2000! I have to get to the Game Room! And fast!”

     Marine ran quickly to the Game Room and Margo was still frozen in shock at the Post Office from what she heard.

     She was still not the biggest fan of video games, but she still liked them. She actually loved the Cyber-Port 2000. It was the biggest thrill she ever had.

     “Little girl, are you alright?” asked the elderly Chia as he looked down at her over the counter.

     “What? Yeah, yeah Mr. Post... I just... got some disturbing information in the mail...” Margo replied.

     Marine sprinted into AAA’s office even though her arm looked awkward wobbling around in her sling. She ran up to AAA, who had a sad look in his eyes when he saw her.

     “AAA? What’s this about?”

     “What do you mean?” he asked quietly.

     “I got this letter in the mail, and I... I was wondering if...”

     “If what, Marine?”

     “If you really wanted to destroy the Cyber-Port 2000.”

     “I... I... I don’t even know now.”

     “Will you at least tell me why you would even think that?”

      “Well, I first thought it was the biggest accomplishment of my life, but when you broke your arm, I felt like I purposely broke it! I didn’t think it was an accident! I felt like it was my fault!”

     “But I ran into a tree! That’s an accident!”

     “Yeah, but where did you break your arm?”

     “Faerie Racers,” replied Marine.

     “And if some Neopets on the street asked you how you broke your arm, what would you say?”

     “I... fell off of my bike.”

     “See? Not only did you break your arm because of the machine, but you also had to lie about why you broke it in the first place so you can keep the secret of this stupid Cyber-Port 2000! I had to keep this secret for years! I turned down my friends just so I could work on it! I even missed my own Birthday Party because of this evil contraption! You could have been even more hurt! YOU COULD HAVE VANISHED BECAUSE OF MY IDEA!” AAA kicked the machine and Marine watched with sorrow.

     “Oh, I never knew you... I mean I’m... I’m sorry.”

     “Why apologize of my past? The past has happened!”AAA screamed angrily. But he wasn’t yelling at Marine, he was more like yelling at himself.

     “When you first talked to me about it, you were thrilled!”

     “Believe me, I was thrilled! I just didn’t picture the negativity behind the machine until now! Yes, I did warn you when you first tried the Cyber-Port 2000, but when you came out in one piece, I stopped caring! I stopped caring about our safety! I began to stop caring about the side effects behind the Cyber-Port 2000!”

     “I guess I understand... well... are you going to...?”

     “Yes... will destroy it... today... now.”

     Marine looked around the room and found a mallet leaning against the pinball machine. She gave the mallet to AAA with tears in her eyes.

     “Whenever you’re ready, AAA.” She tried to hold in her tears, but it was fruitless. The machine was her dream, but she never knew that her dream was really a nightmare in disguise.

To be continued...