AvA: Corruption

Ch. 6 - A Chat with the Animator

Second burst out of the Wi-Fi icon on ALANSPC and immediately grabbed the pencil from Alan's open- and idle- Adobe Animate window. He began drawing a diagram of what was going on in the Interspace at the moment, hoping he could finish it before Alan returned from... wherever he was.

As he sketched the needle they'd found where Chosen had collapsed, he thought of all the corrupted sticks they knew of: King, Spartan, Hex, Chosen, Ragey, and- most recently- Positive, Smiling, and Vermillion, who'd been on lookout the three previous nights. The corrupted seemed to be taunting them, encouraging them to make the first move.

"Yeah, we're making the first move, all right," Second muttered to himself.

Alan exited the bathroom and trudged back to his office, checking his watch as he went.

15:47.

He had to catch a plane to California to attend a dinner party at DJ's at half-past-four. Deciding to check his Discord for any important messages one last time before he left, he re-entered his office... to find Second waiting for him.

Excited and confused, he sat down in his chair and opened up a notepad.

"What are you doing here?" were his first words.

"I came to talk to you about something," popped Second, "Lemme show you."

He jumped onto the Animate icon on the taskbar, opening the window which contained his diagram.

Alan was stunned. "What's this?" he typed.

"I'll explain," replied Second, "If you'll stay where you are and don't run off."

Alan was speechless. He had had no idea how much like a leader Second had become. The way his spurts of speech were displayed made him seem like a commander; the sophisticated grammar and complicated-yet-understandable diagrams made him seem mature, like he was Alan's age, even. It made Alan wonder if he'd taken any Skillshare courses during the time he'd been gone.

"That's why I'm here," Second finished, "To ask for your blessing- as my creator- to permit me to set off on this quest."

"Are any of the other sticks doing this?" Alan asked.

Second nodded. "Also, I'm asking on behalf of Green, Blue, Yellow, and Red."

Alan thought for a moment. Then, he typed, "The road that lies ahead of you is a long and treacherous one; you may perish in an attempt to reach the end, and even if you succeed, your current state of mind may not be with you when you return. You've done the correct move of questioning me, your creator and animator, for permission to embark on this perilous journey. I'd've hoped you wouldn't have to do this, as you are, after all, my greatest creation, and most beloved. But I understand that if you don't go, the Internet will fall into corruptive chaos. So I, Alan Becker, hereby grant you, the Second Coming, permission to set off on your travels. Stem the spread of the corruption. Save the Internet from descending into hell. That's what I created you to do, Second: to be the Chosen One's Return, and to make me and everyone else proud. Go and get 'em, for my sake, alright?"

Second nodded, tears in his eyes. He bounded onto the notepad and gave the cursor a big hug. On the other side of the screen, Alan smiled.

"Thank you, Alan," Second popped, letting go of the cursor, "I'll make you proud. If I can, I'll bring the others to come and visit."

"That would be nice. Now, off you go."

Alan watched him go, and wondered when the net time he would be able to return home was.

As Second hurtled back through the tunnel, he replayed Alan's word in his head. The Chosen One's Return. He hadn't thought of the term in a long, long time, even though it was his file description. Maybe he'd just wanted to feel... well... "equal" to Chosen. He didn't like to brag about what he was capable of doing; in fact, he avoided going super-Saiyan as much as possible, because then he'd only be able to focus on one single enemy at a time. Even unlimited power has its drawbacks.

He was so lost in thought, he didn't notice the tunnel exit coming closer and closer.

He burst out of the tunnel and rammed head-first into a pair of sticks. Together, the three of them plummeted toward the water far below.