Virtual Danger

by TCSHAN

 

      Jacob Roberts was fiddling with the Virtual Boy he had been helping Nintendo develop.

 

      As he hit the "on" button, he saw his friend Kevin Keene.

 

      "Kevin?" he asked.

 

      "Jake?" asked the surprised Kevin.

 

          "Is that really you?" they both asked.

 

      Jake burst into a grin. "How the hell are you, man? I haven't seen you since you disappeared during high school!"

 

      "I missed you too, Jake," smiled Kevin.

 

      "So, you wanna tell me what you're doing in this video game?"

 

      "I was gonna ask you what you were doing in Videoland."

 

      "Videoland? What the hell's a Videoland?"

 

 

 

      Meanwhile, Dr. Wily, the Count, and Eggplant Wizard were seated in their headquarters, made from the salvaged remains of Metroid. They'd even managed to cryogenically preserve Mother Brain's corpse. King Hippo had gone home to Punchland to pursue his goal of becoming the Punchland Boxing Champion.

 

      "Count! Wizard! Look!" shouted Dr. Wily.

 

      "It looks like a warp zone to Captain N's home universe is opened," said the Count. "Strange...it seems to be moving."

 

      "A warp zone can't move!" said Eggplant Wizard. "Can it?"

 

      "This bears investigating," said the Count. "All rig"This bears investigating," said the Count. "All right, we move out!"

 

 

 

      Kevin introduced his friend Jake to Mega Man, Kid Icarus, and Simon Belmont, and to his wife, Lana.

 

      "Whoa!" said Jake, stunned by Lana's beauty. "No wonder you never left!"

 

      "I'll take that as a compliment," said Lana, arching an eyebrow.

 

      "What's with Jakeicus?" asked Kid Icarus, as Jake wavered between cartoon, digitized, and human forms.

 

      Simon touched Jake's nose, and got something like a mild electrical shock.

 

      "Yow!" he yelped.

 

      "I'm not sure myself," said Kevin, scratching his head.

 

      "It appears to be an unstable warp matrix," said Mega Man. "His spatio-temporal co-ordinates are in a state of bi-dimensional flux."

 

      "It's times like this I regret teaching you how to read," muttered Simon. "Back then you used words we could understand."

 

      "Yeah," said Jake. "He sounds like someone in Star Trek: the Next Generation."

 

      "What I said was," explained Mega Man, "that Jake's not completely in Videoland."

 

      "Not completely?" wondered the others.

 

      "He's partly in this world and partly in Kevin's," Mega Man clarified.

 

      "So that's why he keeps changing," said Kevin.

 

      "Let me see if I get this all straight," said Jake. "In this universe, video games are real?"

 

      "They sure are, Jake," admitted Kevin.

 

      "And the Virtual Boy enables me to travel between dimensions?" asked Jake.

 

      "That's what it looks like," said Kevin.

 

      "A technology like this can't be allowed to fall into the wrong hands," said Jake. "I'm checking out of here." He set the switch in the "off" position, and the warpzone closed, sending him back home.

 

      Jake removed his Virtual Boy goggles to find himself in the room he had left on Earth.

 

      "Whew!" he breathed. "What a discovery! Luckily, the N-Team and I are the only ones who know."

 

      But Jake was wrong. Someone else knew...

 

 

 

      The Video Villains had finished watching Captain N and the N-Team's discussion of Virtual Boy's capabilities.

 

      "Wow!" drooled Eggplant Wizard. "Somehow, that guy's doodad enables him to travel from Captain N's home dimension to Videoland and back!"

 

      "Hmmm," said Dr. Wily, "it doesn't take a genius, though I am proud to have thought of it, to realize the potential in this...Virtual Boy."

 

      "Yes," said the Count. "This means that we could travel to Earth...and conquer it!"

 

      "Now we will wait," said Dr. Wily, "for when Jacob returns."

 

 

 

      A week later, Jake rematerialized in Videoland. This time he touched down into Castlevania.

 

      "Kevin!" informed Lana. "The Ultimate Warp signature's opened again!"

 

      "It must be Jake!" realized Kevin. "Oh, no! He's in Castlevania!"

 

      "We'll rescue him!" said Simon Belmont bravely.

 

 

 

      "Well, well," said the Count when he saw where Jake was. "Castlevania, my old haunts!" He laughed diabolically. "Plot the course, Eggplant Wizard!"

 

      "Yes, sir!" said Eggplant Wizard.

 

      The villains' stronghold turned and headed for Castlevania.

 

 

 

      Meanwhile, Jake was already defending himself. When a werewolf smashed through the forest, Jake used the V-Boy's controls to blast it into oblivion.

 

      "That was cool," he smirked.

 

      Suddenly he heard a rustling. Thinking it was another monster, he turned and aimed.

 

      "Jake, wait!" yelled Captain N. "It's me, Kevin!"

 

      "And me, Simon Belmont!"

 

      "Kev!" grinned Jake. "How's it been!"

 

      "Kewl," smiled Kevin. "What are you doing here?"

 

      "I missed you, man," explained Jake. "I just hadda see what was new with you guys."

 

      "No," said Kevin seriously, "I mean what are you doing in Castlevania?"

 

      "Slipped a new game disk in," shrugged Jake. "Just popped me in."

 

      "And we'll soon be popping out!" said a voice.

 

      The heroes turned to see the Video Villains.

 

      "Hand over the Virtual Boy, Jacob," said the Count.

 

      "Make me," said Jake defiantly.

 

      The Count's eyes lit up. "A little mind-control then!"

 

      But the Count's hypnotic eye-beams passed right through Jake.

 

      "Sorry, bat-face," said Jake. "You guys aren't completely real to me!"

 

      "Bah!" shouted the Count. "If you won't give us the Virtual Boy, we'll take it from you!" He reached for Jake's displaced form while Eggplant Wizard and Dr. Wily attacked K"Bah!" shouted the Count. "If you won't give us the Virtual Boy, we'll take it from you!" He reached for Jake's displaced form while Eggplant Wizard and Dr. Wily attacked Kevin and Simon respectively.

 

      Using the power pad, Kevin dodged Eggplant Wizard's magic bolts.

 

      "Where'd you learn to shoot?" demanded Kevin. "Here, let an expert show you how it's done!" Captain N whipped out his Zapper and blasted Eggplant Wizard's wand!

 

      Dr. Wily didn't have much more luck against Simon Belmont, as the daring vampire hunter's magic whip encircled him.

 

      Simon grabbed Dr. Wily's blaster cannon and said, "I'll take care of that for you."

 

      But the Count had already grabbed Jake's V-Boy. His arm was beginning to move through Jake, as if through a ghost. But it wasn't really a ghost--more like a sentient Warp Zone in human form.

 

      In the real world, Jake felt the Count's hand clamping over his eyes, emerging from the Virtual Boy and pushing him back. In a desperate attempt, he grabbed the Count's forearm and upper arm, and pulled. The Count yowled with pain as his arm was broken in the real world. He released Jake, who immediately donned the V-Boy's goggles again.

 

      Jake continued to attack the Count with the V-Boy's video weapons.

 

      "Retreat!" screamed the Count. "Retreat!"

 

      "Nice going, Jake!" grinned Kevin.

 

      "Yeah, but...it's gotta end, Kevin," said Jake. "Knowing that a place like this exists, and considering the dangers that could come from virtual tech, I'll have to destroy the Virtual Boy."

 

      "No!" said a shocked Kevin. "Does this mean I'll never see you again?"

 

      "Maybe we will meet again," said Jake. "But until then...this is the only way our world will be safe." He turned the V-Boy off.

 

      "Kev...I'm sorry," said Simon.

 

      "He's just doing what he has to," said Kevin.

 

 

 

      Inferior V-Boys were produced on Earth. They didn't prove too popular. It was just as well, if you knew the whole story.

 

 

THE END