Computer Fighters 2000 But The AI Is Self-Aware

With Video Games, Anything Is Possible.

[A/N: In which the ending party scene from hlvrai is extended into a space for meaningful conversations.... tbh I'm kind of amazed at how quickly I managed to write this whole thing. That's the power of my desire to procrastinate on school assignments, I guess.]

For the third time since he'd started playing, Kevin woke up laying flat on the ground with a splitting headache. At least this time there was no blood streaking his face--none of his own, anyway--and his body didn't offer any major complaints as he picked himself up and brushed himself off. His head still felt a little warm, though--maybe he was feverish. Yeah, that would explain the... state of things.
The world was still and silent and gray around the edges. The crater, minutes ago a hectic battleground, was empty, with only the tattered scraps of a cardboard box and a few stains on the ground remaining. Smoke and ash hung heavy enough to choke on. And the science team was nowhere to be found. But that mysterious suit-wearing man from before was there, talking to him.
"We took the liberty of removing the... weaponized aspect of your cybernetic eyes," the mysterious man was saying. "Those lasers might have raised a few too many eyebrows--and quite possibly fried your brain from the inside."
"Whhgh..." Kevin's voice came out like nails on a chalkboard submerged underwater. He coughed and tried again. "Where are the others?"
The man standing before him smiled slightly. As his face came into view, something clicked into place in Kevin's mind, and he realized with a start who he was talking to. Heart pounding, he scrambled to his feet and bowed frantically.
"Wait, I'm sorry, I--Mister President, I'm sorry, I shouldn't speak out of line--it's an honour to meet you, sir."
The president shook his head and held up a hand. "That's alright, Kevin J. James. I know exactly how much you value this fine country. After all, you fought pretty hard to defend it just now. Your friends are fine," he added in a reassuring tone; Kevin slumped with relief. "And I hear that's largely thanks to you."
"Oh, well, I dunno about that..." Blushing, Kevin ducked his head and rubbed the back of his neck, then cleared his throat. "It was a team effort. So, what happened at the end there?" he asked, casting another glance around the desolate landscape. "We got rid of Spencer, right?"
"Yes, the one you call Spencer has been permanently dealt with," the president assured him. "Me and my best friends, the congress, have decided to keep the existence of his species under wraps for now. I trust you'll help keep our secret safe?"
"Of course, Mr. President."
"Good. Now, let's not hang around this wasteland any longer--your friends are waiting for you at the party."
The world shimmered and distorted around them, and suddenly they were inside a private jet, Kevin at a window seat while the president stood near the cockpit with his hands folded at his waist. The view outside the window was a white void. Kevin shifted in his seat, muscles bunched up with nerves.
"So, when you say a party, is that like code for a bunch of monsters we'll have to fight?"
The president chuckled and shook his head. "Not at all, Kevin. No, the party is at the Pinball Wizard entertainment center. It's my boy Neil's birthday."
"Entertainment center? With all due respect, Mr. President, the Pinball Wizard is an arcade."
"Ah, you see, that's where you don't quite understand," the president chided him. "It's more than just an arcade. There are games, yes--but it's an entertainment center."
"Oh." Kevin raised his eyebrows and thought that over. He wasn't going to defy the president's decree, but man... "I always thought it was just an arcade. That's what it's listed as in the phonebook."
The jet touched down moments later and the door hissed open to reveal the promised destination. A raucous party song with a thumping bassline was playing and multicoloured disco lights were flashing when Kevin stepped into the arcade/entertainment center; he winced and hunched his shoulders. This was all... more than a little dizzying, after everything. He scanned the area for his friends.
"Hey there, Kevin!" Daxter greeted him from behind a counter where he appeared to have set up a bar--that definitely wasn't a normal part of the establishment, but he wasn't going to complain. "Glad to see you could make it. Care for a drink?"
"Thanks, Daxter. Yeah, I sure could use one."
Daxter made a finger-gun motion, and a bottle of root beer manifested in Kevin's hand. He blinked gratefully at the AI over the rim of the bottle as he took a sip--admittedly he'd been hoping for something alcoholic, but this would do. Maybe they weren't allowed to serve alcohol in arcades or something; he wouldn't know.
Nearby, Ryan was rifling through a case overflowing with cheap plastic prizes. He took out a doll and stared intensely at it for several seconds before shaking his head and tossing it back. Across the room, Neil sat at a table, petting Rocky. There was a large cake in front of him with several slices cut; Rocky barked and pawed at Neil's leg, and he handed her a slice. The president walked over to ruffle Neil's hair, and they exchanged a few quiet words. Kevin watched the exchange with an arched eyebrow.
"Did you know Neil was the president's kid?" he asked Ryan.
"Hm? Oh, yes, everybody knows that."
"...I didn't."
"Oh."
Ryan looked like he was going to say something else, but then he just shrugged and went back to searching through the prizes, humming a little tune to himself as he did so. Kevin plucked a finger trap toy out of the pile and turned it over in his hands, then set it back and leaned against the display case with one hand in his pocket. He took another long sip of his root beer. It felt like his bruised muscles were starting to relax as the drink fizzed in his throat.
The president clapped Neil on the shoulder, nodded, and got up to get a drink. With the authority figure out of earshot, Neil beckoned Kevin and Ryan over. The three of them sat down around the table, and Neil slid them each a slice of cake.
"We sure had a lot of fun in that facility, didn't we, guys?" he said. "But it's great to finally be out."
"It sure is," Ryan agreed. "I can't wait to settle down and live life just like a normal human."
"Oh yeah, this is your first time outside the facility, isn't it?" Kevin reached over to give Ryan's ponytail a friendly flick. "Neil and I have much to teach you."
Even as those words left his mouth, something in the back of his mind whispered no, that's not right... But before anything had the chance to click into place in his mind, Daxter slid in next to them and set a four-pack of root beer down on the table. He leaned back in his chair and put his feet up on the table with a carefree laugh as he cracked his bottle open.
"How's it going, new kids? I hope you're not having too much fun without me!"
"Not really, Jasper Flexer," Neil assured him. "We were just talking about what's gonna happen now that the resonance cascade and that awful Spencer and everything is behind us."
"Oh-ho..."
Eyebrows raising, Daxter turned his gaze on Kevin. There seemed to be a piercing question hidden behind that visor, but the AI didn't vocalize it just yet. Instead he high-fived each of them in turn and took a heaping serving of cake for himself.
The team talked and laughed as the upbeat music raged on around them, occasionally punctuated by a cheerful bark from Rocky. A few more party guests milled about the arcade, most of whom Kevin didn't recognize; maybe they were acquaintances of his colleagues, or maybe they were unaffiliated. In the corner, the president stood and stared out the window. As he was finishing off the last dregs of his root beer, Kevin leaned back in his chair and craned his neck to see what the president was looking at. He caught a glimpse of what looked like a pilgrim standing outside. It opened its sunken jaws and released a stream of purple-to-orange bubbles that popped against the window. Kevin shuddered.
"Looks like your genetically engineered pooch needs outside," Daxter remarked, patting Rocky on the back.
"Is that true? Why didn't you tell me, girl?" Neil addressed the dog in a baby-talk murmur as he knelt to scratch behind her ears. Then he glanced up at Ryan with a grin. "Hey, I know--we can take her on a walk together, and I can show you the great outdoors!"
"Alright!" Ryan got to his feet, then paused and glanced over at Kevin. "Are you coming with us?"
Kevin opened his mouth to say yeah, sure. But before he could speak, Daxter clapped a hand on his shoulder.
"I think Kevin needs to stay inside. Too much sunlight might, ah, hurt his eyes."
Ryan and Neil exchanged a questioning look, but then they shrugged with a mutter of "Alright." They clipped Rocky onto a leash and headed off.
Once the two scientists had left, Daxter moved to sit directly across from Kevin. His visor briefly flickered--just for the tiniest split-second, but it was enough to remind Kevin of the artificial nature of everything around him. Oh, yeah. That's what I was forgetting. A heavy sensation came to rest in the pit of his stomach. He reached for another root beer to distract himself, but all the bottles were gone even though he could've sworn there was one left a moment ago.
"None of this is real, is it?" Daxter didn't sound accusing, exactly--his voice didn't have much of a parsable tone at all. But it felt like more of a statement than a question.
"No," Kevin admitted, shoulders slumping. Then, with a sudden burst of guilt: "I'm sorry. I said before that I'd take you all with me if I could, and I still mean it, but... that's not how video games work, is it?"
"Not usually! But just between us, you could make a special case for your science team." Daxter leaned forward to whisper conspiratorially, cupping his mouth with a fingerless-gloved hand. "Maybe put us all on a floppy disk and download us onto a website. I'm sure Neil could tell you the perfect url."
"You really think I could do that?"
"Who's gonna stop you--the video game police?" Grinning again, Daxter leaned back in his chair and summoned sparks to dance between his fingers. "Good luck stopping us when we're at maximum power."
Kevin let out a small huff of laughter at that. "Yeah, fair enough."
Cupping his chin in his hand, he turned to gaze out the window, where Neil was leading Ryan and Rocky across the parking lot toward a small glade of trees. Neil walked with a skip in his step, gesturing theatrically to everything around them; he seemed to be in the middle of a speech. Ryan surveyed their surroundings with a gleam in his eyes that bordered on manic. He leaned over to inspect one of the cars parked in the driveway. Neil shot a furtive glance at another guest who was glaring at them through the window and hooked a hand through Ryan's arm to gently guide him away from the cars. Looking at his reflection in the glass, Kevin realized there was a sappy smile plastered over his face.
Download them, huh? That was something to consider. It wouldn't be the same, of course... but nothing was going to be the same either way, for any of them. The game was over.
But whatever he did, he couldn't just keep goofing around with the AI in this virtual reality. The president's words from their first encounter echoed through his head, and this time he forced himself to internalize them. It was true: he had a life and responsibilities outside the game. It was about time he got back to it.
When the party was winding down at the end of the evening and everyone but the four of them had gone home, Kevin raised a toast.
"To the science team." He tipped his bottle toward Daxter first with a respectful dip of his head. "Thank you for everything, Daxter Flaxter. I couldn't have gotten through it without your advice."
Then, to Neil:
"You saved me, man. When I was crawling around blind and on death's door... you saved my life. Seriously, thank you.
"And Ryan, you... well, you betrayed me and left me for dead, but that's okay. I forgive you."
"I'd do it again," Ryan replied cheerfully. Then, threatening grin dissolving into a wistful sigh: "You know, I can't shake the feeling that the three of us could've been best friends in another life."
"Ah, don't be silly, Ryan," Neil interjected. "We already are best friends! Right, Kevin?"
Something swelled in Kevin's throat that he had to gulp down before responding. "Of course. Best friends for life."
He wasn't sure how to say goodbye or anything--wasn't sure if Neil and Ryan even realized it was a goodbye--so he just wrapped his arms around the AI and pulled them into a hug. A deep breath in, out, and he knew he couldn't hold the embrace for much longer without it getting awkward. He pulled away and gave his friends a nod of acknowledgement.
"It's been great, guys. See you around."
Daxter flipped him a casual salute--perhaps a subtle prompt for him to get moving. "So long, Kevin."
Kevin lifted the VR headset off his face and wiped away a tear. He set the device down gently on his computer desk, let his hand linger atop it for a moment, and switched it off.

--End--