A Glitch In The System

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The room you entered had code running down beams in between large windows that made the walls.

The city below was easily overlooked from in here.

A dark man with a robotic arm and blue eye piece that mimicked the code on the walls turned from the blue hedgehog to look at you and Isabelle, "What seems to be the problem?" He asked with a soft and calming voice that- somehow - calmed you down from your panic.

Isabelle gave a worried look, "Sir! We have a Player with less than a week to choose!" She yelped.

Sonic, who had looked over to examine you, looked startled, "What!? No way! Players usually always have time!"

The Gameboy waved his hand to calm the two characters and walked over to you.

The man paused, his eye piece looked to be scanning you over before he spoke. "Y/n. Correct?"

You nodded nervously, watching him as he smiled, "Ahh yes.  I was wondering when you would respawn." He turned his head to dismiss Isabelle.

She smiled and walked out.

"Give me a moment Sonic." he looked back at him.

Sonic gave a slightly impatient nod, but didn't protest.

He chuckled at looked back, "Next time, don't trust the flowers alright?"

"H-how did you..?" You began to stammer, but he cut you off, " Code, I know everyone here." The Gameboy smiled.

This made you less than comfortable.

"The moment Sans signed you into the code, I had all the information I needed to know about you." He turned to the code lining the collums now.

You never fully mastered reading code, so it was slightly overwhelming, yet cool to see.

The Gameboy turned his gaze back onto you, " I watched your code appear and couldn't help, but take interest. Your code was different than the others were."

You fell silent, taking this in. Why were you different than the others..?

What makes me special..?

The Gameboy kept his soft smile, "You seem to catch the eyes of several people, but I can see why." He removed his eye piece, the menu light that matched yours was shone.

"But don't all Players have those..?" You asked, remembering when Mugman had pointed it out to his brother.

"Yes, we all have it, but.."

"But..?"

"I was the only one with a blue light." His gaze traveled to the window to his left, overlooking a wide horizon of what looked to be hundreds of other worlds.

Your gaze followed his, looking out into the worlds that gave life to the land.

"My dear Y/n... You possess the ability I do." He smiled as if he was happy.

"What... What is it..?"

"An Admin."

Your brain seemed to stop.
You recalled the hundreds of times that game admins had enforced rules helped make the games fun - most of the time.

But what did that mean..?

Sonic seemed to be froze as he stared at you.

The Gameboy replaced his eye piece again, a smile still on his face, "A leader. You were chosen out of thousands.."

Disbelief and surprise were all you could feel. You were chosen for a leader..?!

But.. Why..!?

The Gameboy walked toward a few shelves he had in the corner where window turned to coded wall. "You have no idea how long I've been waiting for another..!" He seemed excited.

You couldn't help, but to smile back.

You were wanted..! All those times you had escaped into games whenever things were slow or you were feeling a strong emotion. All the times you felt sad about not believing you were fully wanted by the people you knew..

The idea filled you with a warm feeling.

It melted a bit, your shoulders sagging slightly.

You still had a family and friends at home...
You couldn't leave them all to wonder where you've gone...

The Gameboy paused, seeing your sad expression, "Is there something wrong..?"

"I have family and friends in my world though." You told him sadly, your eyes refusing to meet his.

He had fallen silently.

"Yes.. Yes of course... You're still deciding.." he turned and lifted up a game controller from your favorite system. It held the same buttons and accessories you remembered, but a switch sat on the middle that you had never seen before.

His robotic arm flicked the switch on, the controller lighting up, "I will do my best to charge it faster before you Glitch if you so choose.."

The excited look had melted into a serious posture as he focused on setting the controller on a podium that shone a faint green.

"I will try to bend your code to give you more time as you decide.. It would help me greatly if you stayed, but I will understand if you wish to leave."

You watched him sadly as he finished.

"In the meantime, I will set you with a few of my friends." He informed you, " They will make sure you don't accidentally meet anymore animatronic foxes in the alley" A smile reformed on his face as he walked back over to the Sega mascot, "You may go now."

You nodded softly, turning to the door you had entered, a new weight on your chest.

Do I stay..? Or do I go home..?