Captain Gamer: Digital Defender

Episode 2: A Gamer’s Dream

            Mario Mario was going to be interviewed on live TV.

            No, not a conventional celebrity, nor the video game character represented by a three dimensional model with a voice actor behind the pixels, the real plumber in the flesh. It seemed like something out of fiction, yet that fact was buzzed on every media outlet throughout the world. Every daytime talk-show host expressed excitement at someday having him on their show for an interview while the late night talk scene cracked a joke every minute relentlessly.

            Video game fans all over the globe talked, phoned, and chatted to no end about this matter, almost desperate in their search for every scrap of data relating to the pending interview and making absolutely sure that none of it was an overly elaborate hoax.

            It wasn’t until a day before the interview was to take place that one such avid gamer, a college freshman by the name of Katherine Gaines, or just ‘Kate,’ had heard about it. Kate was a young woman of eighteen years. Her height rounded at exactly six feet of stocky frame topped in shoulder length black hair. Very clear glasses sat on her nose, shielding her emerald eyes. Not really one to care or have the budget for the latest fashions, she was most commonly seen in jeans and a t-shirt that was simply all one color or at least marked by a brand name. On this day, she had been passing the halls of her floor when she heard about the ‘interview with that video game guy’ on every news station practically all the time. Being absorbed in her studies, Kate hadn’t heard a word until then. Being so uninformed, she also had no clue just what ‘that video game guy’ meant in the first place. This is why she received the shock of her life when he entered the bottom floor’s common room and leaned on a chair to look at the TV.

            “They already showed this!” One of the seated students griped. For Kate it was new to her.

            “Mario. Just what comes to mind when you hear that name?” A reporter woman began with an overly cheesy tone to her hook. Even her attempt at a postmodern ‘cool’ expression was trying too hard. “A person you know? A contestant on a popular reality show? Or... a video game character? Mario Mario, as is his official full name, has been brought into the real world and let me assure you, this is no hoax.” The reporter waited for some footage to come up, “Over a past time, scientists have been working in an undisclosed location referred only as the IDR working on what was named ‘Digital Reality,’ a system in which models are created in three-dimensional programs and coded with the most advanced software, and literally transferred into the real world. How the scientists came to such a decision, to create video game characters with this marvelous technology, is not known. One thing is for sure, that it has happened, and Mario will be everywhere, his first appearance...”

            When something amazing happens, a person literally loses grasp of some senses. Somehow, Kate heard the name of her city, but didn’t register any sound.

            “That interview is happening only a block away?!” Kate gasped in awe. The following day was a Saturday, meaning she would be completely free to walk over and watch the interview in person!

            The student in the seat Kate leaned against exhaled, “I’d go just to see what that’s all about, but my frat’s having a party tomorrow, so, y’know…”

            “Party?” Kate repeated hardily, “Super Mario is sitting down with a local talk show host for an interview in a once in a lifetime experience and you’d rather blow it off to attend some asinine poor excuse for a social setting which you can have at any given time seeing as how this is college?” Kate finally regained her posture to realize that she was being looked at by everybody else in the common room. “... I’m just saying.” She then muttered lowly and sauntered out of the room.

            Up until that day Mario had been confined to the IDR and any meeting halls that he required to be. This would be the first time that their own creation would be leaving the IDR’s halls, and more importantly, into the eyes of the general public. All the scientists had watched enough science fiction and read enough graphic novels to know that they shouldn’t expect all to go swimmingly, much less anywhere as planned when introducing something so new and unusual.

            Near the exit to the IDR, Mario waited patiently for his entourage to appear and tell him it was time to leave and see the world for the first time. During this time, the Professor appeared before Mario. Any scientist who happened to catch sight of this immediately hushed and watched intently for any indication of what the Professor wanted to speak with Mario about.

            “It’s about time you went out and into public eye, Mario.” The sage scientist muttered, “It’s the first time anything of mine actually took that step. Are you so sure that all will go well?”

            Mario’s gaze had shifted from looking at the Professor to looking at the doorway out, representing ‘that step.’ After a long time of looking at that doorway, and thinking what only he knew what was thinking, Mario looked back to the Professor, and his mustache curved upward in a warm smile. “It is as you have said. If fantasy should ever flourish, it will need to seed in reality and then we can see if it will have a good environment to grow in!” Shortly, the entourage appeared and Mario was escorted out.

            The Professor watched Mario’s exit. Once the silhouettes of the many figures, one of them shorter than the rest, disappeared around the corner, only then did the Professor exhale. It was out of his hands now, and there was a certain comfort in that. The room had silenced out, and his footsteps echoed throughout. He hung back when he passed a certain huddled group, “We may have designed that smile and programmed that attitude, but ideas and perceptions can only be created from the individual. That is why the mind is such a wonderful thing.” He then nodded to the group and continued on his way despite every member of that group probably wanting explanation for what he had just said.

            On the day of Mario’s appearance, Kate made sure all her homework had been done prior to leaving for the news building where Mario himself would be interviewed. Giddiness resonated from her heart, reaching through to the farthest corners of her body, then rippled back and repeated. It made her think back to when she was first involved with video games. She led a normal enough life, going to school, doing her homework, and occasionally seeing friends. Due to circumstances, she never got into the ‘clique’ culture and had a diverse smattering of friends which she was fine with. It was when her father once returned from a business trip with a Nintendo Game Boy that Kate found herself with a new way to spend her free time. Kate tended to be more tolerant about things, trying them out before condemning like the rest of her peers. Playing a video game was a lot like opening a book, beginning a task, and playing a sport at the same time. Kate unfolded a story in which she herself took part in and worked toward finding out more about the characters she could not help to care about. Mind you, that was just with the limited potential of a Game Boy. Just imagine the wondrous experience Kate had when she flipped on her first console game. Needless to say, a gamer had been made of her.

            It was a shame video games were looked down upon for the most part, but Kate never cared. Apparently it takes an exceptional mind to take a video game for more than face value and look past passive recreation and see what really lies beneath the pixels and programming in the creators’ intents.

            Most games are just the same rehash of a sprite or 3D model interacting with an environment, but a game that truly contains the heart, soul, and imagination of its creators has its own rhyme and reason, methods and means. Just like any sport or equation, there are rules to know and skills to brush up on. Those who say video games are cheap diversions have never seriously played a game. Sure, most games are rather mindless and only capable of superficial entertainment, but just like film, television, and books, the greatest of video games are represented in the exceptions to the norm, which seems to be what those in high regard are having trouble overlooking.

Also, the protagonists in her favorite games were much better friends than the superficial kids in school who only cared about themselves, and only valued their peers by their looks and whether or not they acted exactly the same as the awful stereotype dictates. Some may call that sad, but Kate felt far from sad, so she had no problem.

            Would seeing Mario feel like visiting an old friend, familiar and personal, or more like watching a celebrity work the crowd, merely shilling their most recent works and with little amount of actually wanting to carry on a conversation? Kate had faith in Mario and that he would be more interesting to watch than most people would expect.

            “Whoa!” Kate swooned at the crowd gathering around the corner. Pretty much everybody in the immediate area and probably from all over the world had swung by to get a glimpse of Mario. It was a disappointment that she would not be close to the main desk where the interview would take place, but Kate couldn’t help feeling happy for Mario in that he was getting so much attention.

It was true that in the United States, video games were looked down upon whereas gaming is one the level of a national sport in other countries. As a matter of fact, Kate always had a feeling that, at least to fellow Americans, admitting to liking video games was something juvenile and to be ashamed of, yet in the same breath somebody can proudly admit that they used to play football in college or are taking up golf. That’s not right. This type of thing had been overdue for a long time, a mainstream bringing-to-attention of video games. Perhaps now gaming will leave the underground spectatorship and make ascension to a greater and more diverse audience. Who knows, maybe some day those gaming tournaments that normally only make the corner of some middle page could be covered in the sports page!

At this point, the thought seemed rather absurd, but did she think it absurd, or was it an engraved cultural status quo that made her think that way? Eh, that’s a question for another time. Right now all Kate wanted to concentrate on was her anticipation for seeing Mario’s reception on center stage.

            Every IDR scientist had been excused from coming to work that day. The Professor wanted as many people as possible to be home on that day, both to enjoy a day off that they have deserved, and to see the fruits of their labor with those they loved. Unfortunately for some, their posts could not be abandoned. They opened up the IDR and took their posts, but in an environment that was much more barren that usual. Those with the more mundane jobs even took to just leaving and roaming the halls, looking for any colleagues that were also in this limbo. When a scientist passed the Professor’s office, they noticed it locked with the lights on. Somehow, based on the previous display, none dared to even knock.

            One of such posts was in the ‘Realization Cube,’ the quarantined glass box where Digital Realizations took place. Pitt, a member of the famed ‘Flesh Cube’ trio, sat in his chair and looked at a wall of monitors. They all formed a big picture and outlined all vital sources.

            A knock on the cube made Pitt look away, and he saw a colleague standing outside the pristine door. He looked a little younger, but held a wide-eyed demeanor about him that made him more look younger. His brown hair was a little matted for style and he had a goatee, but otherwise he made no claim to any immediate difference to any person on the street. Pitt buzzed the door open, and the man walked inside. “What can I do for you?” Pitt mused, almost in a monotone.

            “This is where it all goes down, huh?” The other scientist asked, in awe, “With the strokes of a keyboard, history is made in science… no, in the world… or should I say ‘the REAL world,’ huh?”

            Pitt nodded, nostalgia of the Flesh Cube refreshed, “You’ve got that right.” He craned his neck to look at the name tag, “Cruise.”

            Cruise was still too busy looking around at his translucent surroundings to respond immediately. “I don’t know whether it gains or loses in majesty, actually being in here.”

            The higher-ranked man shrugged, “I couldn’t tell you. This process still amazes the hell out of me. I just look at things, but the other guys actually do things. I’m glad I can do nothing, but still do everything I can, but I can’t help but feel guilty. ‘Nothing’ is still nothing, after all. If you understood any of that, please translate for me.” He made a quick glance to the monitors, then back to Cruise, “I notice by your name tag that you are one of those apprentice types. You’re still taking classes, but visit this place to be taken under the wing of one of us officials. So what part of the process are you learning?”

            Cruise scratched the back of his head, as a nervous habit dictated, “Actually, I’m going to know a little bit of all three. I’ll be a backup, filling in the holes if need be. I’d only see action by my true self if there was some great need for it.”

            “A jack of all trades, I understand.” Like a teacher but still with a little injected theatrics he stood firmly and thrust a finger toward the monitor. “All right, do you know what all this is?”

            Cruise looked up at the big picture the monitors teamed up to show. Like a mouse staring up at a large lion, he beheld the sight of it. Slowly, he walked toward it and his mouth moved with inner monologue. He looked to Pitt and began indicating parts of the screen, “I can understand the basics, like what goes where, and was everything basically means… but it gets too advanced for me right about… there. These things.”

            “Not bad, not bad. I’ll just give you the complete run-down. You know Mario is going out to get some publicity, right? Well, with his location as a base, we have a several mile radius of tracking technology. Anything that registers a pulse and exhibits odd vital signs, we will see those vital signs here. Now, this technology won’t work with you or me, but since Mario’s practically a robot with skin and bones instead of sheet metal and L-beams, we can take advantage.”

            The thought that, in the end, a digitally realized being’s mind was nothing more than a series of bridged text files disturbed Cruise a little bit. When he noticed something on the screen and asked about it, the inquiry sparked a conversation of technical jargon between the two that would sound Greek to anybody else. After a particularly stimulation exchange concerning how the difference between muscle and fat is difficult to comprehend, Pitt sat in his chair.

            “I’m hungry.” The scientist said simply. He jutted his jaw out, and then looked at his surroundings. First the computers, then the Realization Pad. “Say… Cruise. Have you learned the ins and outs of realizing an edible substance?”

            Cruise racked his brain, “Um… yes. Yes, I believe that one of our most recent lessons was to remember the components of an apple.”

            “Excellent!” Pitt trumpeted, then landed a hand around Cruise’s shoulder to steer the other man to a computer, “Go right ahead, conjure up an apple.”

            “Ga-wuh?” Cruise stammered in response, “I’ve never… never actually done anything so hands-on before! Are you even sure it’s allowed?!”

            Pitt shrugged, “Probably not. But how do those educators expect you to learn by regurgitating knowledge on a piece of paper? Consider this your first real-life test. No planet-shattering consequences on the line, no midnight cramming, just going ahead and doing it. So do it!”

            Cruise gulped, and then looked down at the increasing number of keys on the board. He began by pecking at the keys with his pointer fingers, but slowly eased into the feel of the keyboard and began to utilize every member in his typing, increasing the speed tenfold. He then grabbed a mouse and began to scroll through menus.

            “Good god, man!” Pitt scolded from the side, “You were taught in programming, monitoring, AND design! Go and make your own damn apple!”

            Where did that language come from? Even though the voice was entirely poker-faced, it carried no malice. Did Pitt feel close enough to Cruise to be a little loose with his language? How interesting that such obscenity could be heartwarming.

Putting his out-of-body experience aside, Cruise ran a design program. The task was made harder, but the hypothesized solidarity between men of science kept thoughts of not going through with it at bay. Pretty soon, he had drawn up an apple and analyzed every angle for it. Cruise wheeled himself over to another computer and opened the file anew, but this time his fleet of finger worked text. After some hitting of the ‘Enter’ key, Cruise then wheeled over to Pitt’s station and looked over a switch, the one to begin the process for real.

            “Are you going to monitor the process?” Cruise asked weakly and hopefully.

            “You’re the jack of all trades. Do your own monitoring.” Pitt folded his arms defiantly.

            Cruise exhaled, and after a long of time consideration, reconsideration, and more reconsideration, he took one great big dose of will and just slammed the switch down. The Realization Pad hummed to life and began to go through with Cruise’s programmed instructions. Pitt happened to take a look.

            “No margin for error!? Cruise, if this holds, you’re a goddamn prodigy.”

            After a bit of time, the process died down and the monitors returned to displaying Mario’s signature. Pitt and Cruise both looked at the direction of the Realization Pad and saw it empty no more. An apple hung suspended before them both.

            “Did I…?” Cruise began, but trailed off in wonder.

            Pitt stepped forward, “Only one way to find out.” He walked to the pad, and then placed his palm under the fruit. He lifted it up and out. Pitt turned around, and faced Cruise. Cruise looked at his apple and reached for it. When his fingers touched the apple, the fruit appeared to deflate.

            “Wh-what the hell happened?!” the intermediate scientist demanded with a flushed face, not noticing his slip out of oratory character.

            Pitt made an interested mouth noise. He then held the flat fruit between two fingers, and ripped. He looked at what was inside, and then burst into laughter. When he saw Cruise still wanted an answer, he held up the ‘apple’ again. “You… you only realized the skin!! That’s why your margin for error was so low!” Pitt then started to laugh again as Cruise’s face turned darker shades of red at his mistake.

            Pitt tore off a piece of the apple skin and placed it in his mouth. After grinding it, he nodded, “Still tastes good, though. I’d give the entire attempt a B minus… at most.” He offered another piece of skin to Cruise.

            Back with the news building, the center of attention for media all over the world, a timer kept track of how long it would be until Mario arrived. To be more specific, it was a rectangular digital clock constantly counting down with a statue bust of Mario decorated on top. When the final ten seconds were reached, the entire crowd counted in unison, and when the counter reached zero, several speakers blasted an orchestrated version of the Mario Bros. theme, though one couldn’t tell because of how the crowd gave a deafening roar that more than covered the music. The daytime talk show hosts applauded out of courtesy and all eyes were on a door. After a moment or two of cheering, the door swung open and Mario leapt out, only making the cheers louder. Mario landed on the desk and spun around, ending in a trademarked pose and shouting into the audience, “Here a-we go!” Mario then hopped into the raised chair for his interview. The hosts and even Mario had to signal for the audience to calm down before it had.

            There was a bit of a silence after the crowd had finished cheering and the only thing heard was the ringing in everybody’s ears. Finally, one of the hosts cleared his throat and leaned toward Mario.

            “I, ah, I really don’t know what to say. This is probably the greatest reception any guest has had on our show.”

            It was true. Maybe it’s because Mario was so unreal and magic incarnate, or perhaps the every respective audience member was more of a fan than he’d let off…?

            There was a brief cheer, and then Mario said, “‘Welcome,’ maybe?” The red-clad plumber gave a titter.

            “Sure! Welcome to the show, Mario Mario! Wow... that really is something nobody expected to say, huh?”

            “I guess not.” Mario shrugged.

            “You seem tired.” The hostess cut in, mustering her courage, “Jetlag from the flight in from the Mushroom Kingdom?”

            A roaring laughter seared through the silence. After Mario finished his own laugh, he readjusted his position on his chair and said, “Actually, it is a form of jetlag. I am still freshly realized.” Mario’s trademark Italian accent was still present.

            “Now what do you mean by ‘realized?’” the host asked. The pleasantries and awed gaping had ended, and now a fascinated hunger for knowledge gripped the atmosphere.

            “Pretty much, being ‘realized’ is the term for when something is created using Digital Reality. Much like a newly hatched yoshi - Well, not everybody would know what I mean,” The hosts laughed in agreement, probably not knowing themselves, “I am still gathering my strength at the moment, not fully over my Realization, yet.”

            “I guess all the touring around does not help much with that does it?”

            “Nope.” Mario said simply, “I know my games have me running and jumping for hours on end with not as much as a pit stop, but even heroes need a rest now and then!”

            “Really?” The hostess interjected. “Aren’t you afraid of your image being tarnished by that fact?”

            Mario looked off to compose his thoughts, “This isn’t a game. I’m as real as anybody here!” It caused a little raise of cheer in the audience but nothing big or long lasting. “In fact, everything that I’m known for could never have happened without the help of every boy and girl, woman and man, who decided to join me. They- you, are all the real heroes, I’m just the on-screen representation of that!”

            Another rallying cry in the crowd rose and fell.

            The host quickly shuffled some card in front of him. “Were any other characters, um, realized at the time?” The host seemed to stumble over the terms.

            “I was the only one.” Mario shook his head, “Though I have heard plans for more video game characters in the future. I’m not really supposed to say, but I can say it will be often and very soon.”

            “Wonderful!” the host gestured as he said, “Now, we’d like to accept questions from the audience. Is that okay with you, Mario?”

            “Okie-dokie!” Mario gave a thumbs-up.

            “Excellent. Now, who wants to ask Mario a question?”

            A sea of hands shot up with just as many ‘Me, me!’ exclamations to go with them. Eventually the host pointed at an audience member and invited them up. It was a little boy, probably under then years old. They stared up at Mario with great, big, watery eyes. If Kate had been so eager to see Mario, just imagine how this boy felt to come face to face with probably his first idol, and at such an age when the world was still magical. Eventually, the kid asked, in a hushed voice, “D-does it hurt your head when you hit blocks?” A small amused murmur passed through the crowd. Any such question would have made them all coo.

            Mario’s mustache upturned into a smile, much similar to the reassuring one he had given to the Professor earlier. He snickered a bit, and then pat the boy on the head. “Actually… no. I think you are referring to when I hit question mark blocks from below, yes?”

            The boy nodded timidly.

            “Yep! If you were to look more closely, I jump with my fist up!” He struck his fist upward to illustrate. “That’s because I want to hit the blocks with my fist, and not my head. Do you think my head would be so round if it were constantly being hit against blocks? And just to answer your following question, my hand does not hurt. That is why I wear these gloves!”

            A combined ripple of laughter and mouth noises of revelation swept through the crowd. People like Kate had most certainly known this fact, but the majority of people probably didn’t, and merely assumed he was using his head. That little trivia about his gloves, however, was most certainly new information. When the boy sat down, grinning ear to ear, a call was made for another question. The people in the crowd farthest away from Mario stopped trying to get called on, for the calling of a boy in the absolute front signified that people in the front were more likely to be called on.

            It was a surprise, then, when Kate had lowered her hand and right before it had lowered all the way, Mario had pointed directly at her to make the next question! Kate wormed through the crowd and felt numb as she stepped onto the stage, Mario’s large blue eyes watching her ascent.

            Once she got on stage, Kate realized for the first time that she had nothing to ask. She had been so wrapped up in wanting to talk to Mario that she had no clue as to what to talk about.

            “What are you going to do...?” Kate muttered, which was a habit she dipped into whenever she was at a loss for what to do at a given point.

            Mario looked thoughtfully off into space. Apparently, he had heard what she had said, taking it as her question. Kate didn’t know whether to feel stupid at having accidentally asked her question, or lucky that she got a question out without looking foolish.

            “That’s a good question!” Mario nodded, “After these tours and interviews, I really don’t know what I will do with myself! No doubt the IDR will find something. If all else fails, I can always join the plumbing scene again!”

            Another ripple of laughter overtook the crowd. Kate also laughed, half out of humor and half of the nervousness. She looked at Mario one more time and saw him wink. He had known about her being lost for words!

            The interview continued as normal from there with some more questions, then the next guest, a popular actor, who never mentioned their most recent project, only fawning over Mario. Apparently, this celebrity was a big gamer in his spare time, too. Mario most certainly was the star of the show, and it wasn’t going to stop when the interview was over. Many times a lot of presumptuous things were said about Mario that were fantastical but Mario always interjected with no inhibitions to put them and ease and keep reassuring the host and the audience that he was a real being with real person limitations. It was off-setting, but it was the truth.

            The entire interview was seen around the world, and even in the IDR, Cruise had manage to get a mobile television and get it into the Realization Cube. He and Pitt watched the interview with as much wonder as anybody else.

            “To think…” Cruise mused, “Professionals who are at such a higher level than me created him, and now he’s the most popular name of the hour!”

            Pitt nodded, “How do you think I feel? I don’t know whether to feel like a parent, a teacher, or a freakin’ pet’s owner!”

            “But one must wonder...” Cruise began, but he saw Pitt had leapt over to the monitors. “What’s wrong?”

            “Dammit!” Pitt hissed, “How long has that been there!? I have to contact the Professor, now!!”

            Cruise had taken out a communicator by the time Pitt finished the statement. “Yes. Professor, sir? Please contact the monitoring team. There is an unknown life sign out there and we have good reason to believe there is cause for alarm. … Cruise, an intern. Yes. … Yes. … … Really? I’ll… look into it.” He pressed to disconnect.

            There was a silence between Pitt and Cruise until Pitt just outright blurted, “You noticed!?”

            “That’s right. A new life sign appeared, and normally I would hardly notice, but these were so irregular. A person who knew less wouldn’t see it, but we did. Well, you did… I just found it after you.”

            Pitt nodded, “Yes, but to still be able to see it when pointed out was still very good. Advanced, I dare say. Cruise, you really know your stuff about Digital Reality. You’re a step above all the other students.” He noticed Cruise chuckle at that, “Something I said?”

            “Actually… yes. The Professor had said the same thing.”

            “Is that so?” Pitt raised an interested eyebrow. They stood in those positions for a few seconds, and then sat back down. “Well, it’s out of our hands now. Let’s see who’ll be on the show next week.”

            Both scientists reclined and looked into the mobile television.

            The audience applauded heavily as the show ended and there was idle chatter amongst those on the stage, most likely to be shown when the credits rolled on national TV. The crowd was already starting to thin out, so Kate took it as a cue for herself to leave as well. She gently strode backwards, keeping Mario in sight as she walked. It was still so surreal, that she had talked with Mario and even shook his hand before she left the stage. She would have promised never to wash her hand again, but she was too realistic to even joke about that in her head.

            Suddenly, Kate tripped backwards. She fell painfully on her rear and exclaimed when she did. Painfully bearing her teeth, she stood up and sorely rubbed the area she fell on. After that, she looked for whatever crag or rock she fell over, but found nothing. Did she just lose her balance? Not likely.

            The answer came very abruptly as a noticeable tremor, accompanied by a booming thud rang. Kate lost her balance again and gripped the wall in front of her. What was going on? She noticed pretty much everybody in the area had fallen or held on to something. Another boom rang, but this time, no tremor. Kate listened for the next boom, and found it to be heading in the direction of where Mario was! Overwhelmed by curiosity, Kate sprinted to the news studio, making sure to tread lightly in case she got too close and another tremor claimed her balance.

            The hosts and guests, Mario included, were still sitting at the desk and looking around just as confused as anybody else. Another boom rang, this time on the other side of the building. Mario looked at the building, as if he could see through it to the source of the booming. Kate leaned against a wall, a little scared at just what could be causing those booms. There was a silence for a long time, and then the sun was blocked out. All eyes flew to the source of the blockage. A large figure stood on the roof of the building and in front of the sun, blocking it out whether by accident or intention. Nobody could make out who or what the figure was, but Kate tried to guess.

            “Is that a monkey!?” She called in disbelief.

            The figure seemed to look down at the ground. People gasped in horror, wondering if the ‘monkey’ was going to do anything. All fears were realized when the ‘monkey’ leapt from the top of the building and landed on the ground, upturning pavement and causing a grand tremor identical to the ones that had been booming before. Kate, among everybody else, yelped and lost balance again. When she picked herself up, Kate got a good look at this monkey. Immediately her knowledge of the old school Nintendo Entertainment System kicked in. This monkey had a perfectly round head and very beady eyes. His teeth were constantly borne and he pounded his chest in exaggerated motions, also swinging his legs about as he did this. This was no monkey; it was Mario’s first ever nemesis even before Mario had an official name: Donkey Kong.

            Mario shared this disbelief. “What are you doing here!?” The plumber demanded. It was a good question. If Mario was the first real use of the Digital Reality and no other announcements had been made, how was Donkey Kong wreaking havoc right in front of everybody? At the moment, it didn’t seem to matter, for that ape seemed liable to do anything at the moment. Kate, however, was not as afraid as she should have been. This had to be a publicity stunt! Nothing this ridiculously animated would ever happen in the real world. Mario seemed to be out of the loop, but he could also have been programmed to be a good actor.

            Donkey Kong didn’t seem to care. He looked around and laid eyes on his prize: The hostess of the talk show. After staring at her for a while, Donkey Kong leapt into action. He made a huge leap over Mario and landed in front of the hosting pair. With disdain Donkey Kong swat the host away. No video game or cartoon physics applied, so the host experienced what any body does when force is applied. He flew into a nearby wall and with no redeeming aspect simply fell to the pavement. Donkey Kong proceeded to grab the hostess and hoisted her over his shoulder. The woman shrieked and pounded uselessly on Donkey Kong’s back. Donkey Kong began to climb the building. “Momma mia!” Mario shouted, which was the general sentiment at the time.

            Kate, however, was less inclined to be alarmed. She muttered, “Yeah, kidnap the woman. Real original.”

            Once Donkey Kong reclaimed his perch on the roof, he simply dropped the woman. Considering the ape’s height it was a bit of a fall and the woman yelped out in a pain not only more fierce than she had ever experienced before, but done in a way so apathetic that it hurt her emotionally to be treated so coldly. She seemed to be wrapped up in her aching lower back to care about the kidnapping. Donkey Kong advanced to the edge of the building and beat his chest in triumph. No sooner did the police arrive, already called on the count of the booming that had been mysterious at the time. The officers exited their cars and all did double, triple, quadruple takes at what they were seeing. The chief of police, a bald mustachioed man who seemed a percent more “well-rounded” than the idealized chief would pack on, emerged from his car and looked at the rest of his unit.

            “I can’t believe I’m saying this, but that ape has that woman kidnapped and hostage! I know it sound screwed up but that’s the reality of the situation! Unless one of you guys can speak ape, we’ll have to use force, and that’s being reasonable!”

            Donkey Kong heard this, and responded by throwing a tantrum. Donkey Kong wailed and beat his chest harder. Finally, he stomped on the roof. Successive stomping weakened the structural integrity of the building and the wall began to give away. Finally, the entire front wall leaned and fell, crushing most of the police cars, but thankfully none of the spectators. The insides of the building could be seen and the floors were in no better shape. They were bent at acute angles and missing chunks at the ends. Kate could have sworn the building resembled a classic Donkey Kong arcade stage.

            “What do we do?” A policeman asked the chief.

            “I’ve had about enough of that monkeyshine, so I say we use that monkey for target practice, that’s what!” The chief snapped. All policemen aimed their guns at Donkey Kong until Mario leapt out.

            Kate couldn’t help but stare at all the automatic weapons aimed with little regard for the target and feel a chill run down her spine that quenched whatever warm feeling she had before. If this were a publicity stunt, the inclusion of guns may not go over well.

            “Wait!” Mario shouted, causing the policemen to lower their guns, “That woman is up there! You might shoot her!”

            “Yeah, but be utilitarian about this! It could be necessary. We don’t want that goddamn monkey thinking that taking prisoners will help him.”

“Wh-what?!” Mario stammered, “Don’t you respect a life?! What if… what if it were your wife up there?!”

The chief of police growled. Like any red-blooded American man, he loved his family; a soft-spoken wife whose legs weren’t a day over 25 and twins of opposite sex. He kind of got afraid when they dressed the same namely the same dress. Back in his own body, the chief scoffed. “Okay, little man. What do you suggest?”

            Mario looked at the building, tracing a path from the ground floor to the roof access, “I will go. I’ve dealt with that ape before... I can do it again!”

            “You? You’ve got to be kidding me. This isn’t some game where the valiant hero steps up and slays the enemy while all the expendables stand by gaping!” The chief folded his arms.

            Mario seemed at a loss for any way to enforce his point. He grinded his teeth in frustration. Kate was just as frustrated. Sure, this was happening in the real world. But no good came from such a sobered lack of belief. It was at this point that Kate’s tendency to talk before thinking acted up.

            “Let’s go, Mario!” Kate cheered.

            The police chief and Mario looked over towards where Kate’s voice came, but before they could pinpoint Kate as the source, other members of the crowd began to cheer for Mario, too. By that time, nobody could tell it was Kate who had cheered first.

Mario looked to the chief again, “It would seem that the game is alive in more people than you would care to think!”

The chief rubbed his forehead, “God… You know what... fine! You can go! But if you get in trouble, we’re coming in… or probably just shooting!”

            “Thank you!” Mario nodded, and then ran into the building, needing no door to do so.

            Off behind police lines, even behind the crowd, a group of IDR scientists huddled in a truck over some readings. “How is this possible!?” One demanded for the umpteenth time.

            “Mario’s got it covered for now.” Another scientist muttered. He then held a hand to his ear, listening to an earpiece. “Yes? Right. … Right. Yes, we got it from the Professor. It’s… Excuse me? ... Oh my g- Another one!?”

            “Another odd signature!?” An eavesdropping colleague asked. “Dammit… what can we do, anyway? We can only hope Mario comes through.”

            All viewers watched as Mario had traversed so he could be counted as ‘in’ the building. The plumber looked up at the ground of the second floor, hanging above him. He backed up, took a running start, then in a true display of ability, and leapt several times his height from the ground up to the second floor’s ground. Many eyes were rubbed in disbelief, but the gamers of the crowd had seen it coming. Despite the fact that there was so much peril, it was pretty cool to see Mario break out some real-live arcade action. Once Mario landed, he seemed to waver in his balance, exhale heavily, but look in good shape to keep going.

            “Jump, Man!” A spectator shouted.

            Donkey Kong looked at the building in front of him which was entirely covered in mirror-like windows. To his irate chagrin, Mario was making progress. In response, he bounded over to a rooftop shed and ripped the entire shed off, revealing the cargo: crates and barrels with content that made them heavy. Donkey Kong picked up a barrel and dropped it onto the top floor’s ground, letting it roll. The barrel rolled down the floors, eventually coming to Mario.

            “Momma mia!” Mario once again exclaimed. Out of instinct, he leapt clear over the barrel.

            “One hundred points!” Another spectator called in triumph. Was that a hardcore gamer or some Joe Anybody who quit video games and considered himself more mature for doing so? It could have been either. Seeing this must have been a great unearthing of the inner child in all spectators.

            Donkey Kong only seemed to get angrier as time passed, dropping more barrels in Mario’s path. Mario leapt over them all, but seemed to falter more after every barrel. Kate gasped, remembering something Mario had said.

“...it is a form of jetlag. I am still freshly realized.”

“He’s getting tired...” Kate moaned.

            Mario was all but three floors to the top when he leaned forward and landed his hands on his knees. The audience swooned in worry at this, for it was accompanied by panting and heavy breathing.

            “I need to cut down on the pasta...” Mario moaned, then resumed running. Incidentally he HAD enjoyed a pasta lunch on the way to the show.

            Donkey Kong dropped two barrels in succession, and then snickered at his brilliance. Mario waited for these two, and then leapt. It seemed to be in slow motion, for Mario’s jump looked a little short, and it was. The crowd looked on in horror as the first barrel brushed Mario’s legs, causing him to fall, spinning forwards. Mario literally fell flat on his face. There were concerned shouts trumpeting from the audience, but Mario could do nothing about them.

            “Mario can’t lose!” Kate shouted out and shook her head violently.

            If time had slowed down before, then it stopped in the next moment and only passed in frames. The barrel got closer and closer to Mario, lying on the ground and powerless to avoid or protect himself from the barrel. The barrel and Mario’s shocked expression came together.

            A sudden cobalt blur raced into the incoming barrel. The barrel tilted off axis and tipped over the edge and spilled fell on to the ground floor. The eyes of all in the area slowly opened, first looking to see that Mario hadn’t been flattened paper-thin, then immediately wheeling to the source of Mario’s rescue. Donkey Kong merely gaped down, wailing softly in disbelief and currently stunned at this turn of events. Mario stood up and saw his view blocked by an individual in front of him.

            This person looked to be about eighteen in age. The most prominent feature of his was a white - or maybe silver - visor with supports that receded into his short hair so dark a brown that they it could be mistaken for black. Two clamps around his ears kept the visor securely on his face. The visor was not transparent at all, meaning no eyes could be seen beneath. His attire consisted of a black long-sleeved undershirt with a cobalt t-shirt over it. On the chest amidst the sea of cobalt blue rested a lettered insignia reading ‘CG.’ A belted pair of charcoal denim jeans led to white sneakers with blue design on them. On this figure’s left wrist was what appeared to be a miniature computer with controls reminiscent of any video game controller. A clamp held this computer tightly on the individual’s wrist.

            Mario could not help but to blurt out the first thing that came to his mind, “Who are you?”

            The figure turned around to face Mario, and stayed silent for a bit, perhaps for effect. Finally, he spoke in a voice that was cool and unreeling, “My name... my name is Captain Gamer. I can help you defeat Donkey Kong!”

            There was another silence in which neither person - Mario nor ‘Captain Gamer’ - had a readable expression; ‘Captain Gamer’ merely because his expression could not be seen, and Mario, his mouth in a perfectly straight line.

Mario pat ‘Captain Gamer.’ “No thanks. I mean, thanks for the help, but leave the super hero action to the super heroes, kid.” Mario then ran past ‘Captain Gamer’ to continue his ascent up the building.

            One could literally hear the record scratch characteristic of an anti-climactic moment. ‘Captain Gamer’ froze in place as Mario simply whipped past him. There were a few murmurs amongst the crowd, some of them feeling sorry for this ‘Captain Gamer’ person. ‘Captain Gamer’ quickly shook his head violently, whirled around, thrust a finger out, and gave a loud high-pitched “HEY!!!” Mario came to a screeching halt. “What was that for!? I go ahead and keep you from getting pancaked and that’s the gratitude I get!?” It was a show that betrayed his earlier calm demeanor.

            Once again the crowd couldn’t help but share an awkward silence. One would expect somebody like ‘Captain Gamer,’ who was probably a fan who got lucky and actually helped out one of his idols, to graciously accept the thanks and take Mario’s words as truth.

            Mario sighed, “Let me guess, and since you are you and you have on some outfit and a cool name, you are the only one who can help me?”

            ‘Captain Gamer’ recoiled at the verbal assault. “Um… what?”

            “I was warned about this. Some fan thinks he can be a hero too and furthermore an inexplicable best friend to the video game character. No offense to you, Captain Gamer, but any of those people out there are just as capable, if not more capable of helping me out!”

            At this point a general tone of annoyance passed through the city. Even Donkey Kong wore an expression that showed how he felt ‘Captain Gamer’ was trampling on the moment.

            “I’m not an ordinary fan!” ‘Captain Gamer’ shouted, paused, and then adopted another angry stance, “I mean, I’m NOT a fan! I’m WAY more than a fan! I mean, I’m not a fan at all! I’m a super hero just like you!!”

            Mario folded his arms defiantly, “Super heroes don’t USE the term ‘super hero’ that way.”

            ‘Captain Gamer’ froze at that comment, half between a point and a recoil.

            “He’s got a point, you know.” A spectator mused.

            Mario made to leave until ‘Captain Gamer’ once again shook his head violently, “Okay! Okay. So, there are plenty stronger people out there… but are any of them actually up here?”

            At this Mario then was reduced to a state of thought. At first he had a response, but gave himself a second or two to consider that there was more than face value to that statement.

            “That’s ALSO a good point!” Another spectator called out.

            “Besides!” ‘Captain Gamer’ once again pointed squarely at Mario’s nose, “Don’t be a hypocrite! You had to bargain your way up here! What about me?”

            “I had support.” said the plumber.

            “That’s because you’re famous! Who wouldn’t support you!? I’m in the release stage where people don’t know what to think of me!”

            “So far you’ve given little to think about seriously.”

            ‘Captain Gamer’ showed minimal shock for a moment, “THAT was low. Let’s put aside reputation, okay? You got a chance, I should get a chance.”

            “All right!” Mario sighed, and then indicated ahead where the floor was split. “If you can follow me over this, I will consider you above a typical fan.”

            Mario took off and easily cleared the gap. He landed, turned around, and held out a hand of invitation for ‘Captain Gamer’ to follow.

            “He can’t make it!” A spectator shouted.

            “Get out of the way!” Another spectator called.

            ‘Captain Gamer’ seemed to stare at the hole as if it held a tentacle that would pull him down if he got close. For a while he just stood and looked. Mario waited patiently per his stipulation. Donkey Kong sprawled himself on the ground, interested.
            This was not just a challenge. This was a test of ‘Captain Gamer’s’ mettle. At one point every kid tries to cope with their mortality by ignoring it and carrying himself as if he were a super hero, and may even go as far as to jumping off the roof to see if they could fly. The problem with that is ‘Captain Gamer’ seemed to be much older than any little kid. This kid probably has parents who were worried and are now mortified that their son has made a fool of himself in front of the world.

            On the other hand ‘Captain Gamer’ had a point. If Mario had made his way up there by drawing on the belief in the fantastic being able to be real, then by all means ‘Captain Gamer’ deserved just as much a chance as Mario had. If ‘Captain Gamer’ truly was true to his heroism he would just make the jump. If he was just a kid with a visor and some sort of computer on his wrist he would not even bother.

            These things seemed to swim in both the minds of Mario and ‘Captain Gamer’. Mario closed his eyes in thought when a rhythmic tapping brought him back. ‘Captain Gamer’ was running toward the hole! Despite the show of ambiguous maturity he put on before, his form in running radiated something else. Even he was aware of how important this was to him, so his stride emitted an aura of intense concentration and determination.

            All eyes watched the running teenager intently, all expecting him to just screech to a halt before the hole. That was not the case. Once he reached the edge ‘Captain Gamer’ pushed off as hard as he could.

            A huge gasp rose from the crowd. Mario also had a start and moved to his edge of the hole.

            “Stay back!!” ‘Captain Gamer’ demanded in mid-air. Mario froze and backed up.

            ‘Captain Gamer’s’ arc of travel came out lower than was comfortable. He sailed low and it seemed he would not make it. In an act of doomed instinct, the traveling teen struck a hand out and that was the only part of him that made contact with the opposite ledge. A murmur passed through the crowd as ‘Captain Gamer’ dangled.

            ‘Captain Gamer’ betrayed the common action hero advice of never looking down and looked down. He emitted an obligatory mouth noise and shot his head up. His teeth bore first at the realization of his precarious position, and then wider at the ledge he had to lift himself up to. Rather than concentrate on what could happen, he concentrated on what he had to do. He swung himself and grasped with his other hand. The two hands worked together and slowly but surely ‘Captain Gamer’ lifted himself high enough to throw a leg onto the ledge and his other leg followed. He roughly rolled and ended on all four, then adopted a stance of kneeling. His head hung and he panted lightly.

            There was a silence that gripped all present. What had just happened was very surreal. It was odd to see Mario of all people get upstaged by somebody in an outfit. Furthermore he showed no regard to make himself look as cool as anybody in his place would try. As long as he could be up there and help, that seemed to be all that mattered. He just kneeled there and caught his breath, as well as his nerve. Eventually he stood up.

            “How about that?” Captain Gamer gasped.

            Mario was at a loss for words. Not only had Captain Gamer made the jump, but he refused Mario’s help and in a way that actually commanded respect. Any fan would love to be helped by their favorite character, yet Captain Gamer did not know if he needed help or not and chose that he would rather go through and prove himself than live through a fan’s dream.

            “I will admit,” Mario said, “I did not expect any of that. It took too much courage to do that to call it stupid.”

            Captain Gamer lifted a fist in some sort of celebratory pose. “Thank you! Uh, really. It’s the nicest compliment I’ve received THUS far… I knew that you aren’t some stuck-up glory hog, or on some throne. You were just looking out for me.”

            Mario smiled and nodded, “I just didn’t want anybody hurt or worse on my behalf. Looks like you showed me!”

            Without warning Captain Gamer shouted “WHOA!” and stumbled back. The reason for that besides his general personality thus far was the appearance of two words on his visor. “Link Established.” What everybody else saw was his randomly stagger back, then his shoes seemed to turn entirely white for a few seconds.

            “What was that?” Captain Gamer, of all people, wondered aloud.

            Putting the schizophrenic moment aside, Mario walked over to a far wall with a sad expression. “It was great that you made it this far, but I’m afraid that it’s as far as you can go! I’m just speaking logically here!” Mario indicated that the next jump was up onto the slanted floor of the building’s next story up. It was an easy jump for Mario to make, but even Captain Gamer with his apparent agility over the next person couldn’t make a vertical jump like that. To illustrate, Mario leapt at the wall and then kicked off the wall to make it to the ceiling above. “Sorry!” Mario shrugged out of sincere pity that Captain Gamer couldn’t follow in the same fashion.

            Mario was stopped when once again the sound of Captain Gamer’s footfalls from below stopped him. Once again the crowd murmured and Mario had to look. Captain Gamer was running at the wall! Surely he wasn’t going to attempt to follow Mario’s lead again! Gamer pushed off the ground.

            Any logical mind saw how high Captain Gamer was going to jump, but that assumption was very much shattered. In fact, Captain Gamer jumped just as high as Mario had! It’s a good thing nobody was paying attention to anything else because this took even Captain Gamer himself by surprise as he gave a surprised shout. He snapped back into his current situation and got his foot out in time to make a wall kick. He seemed to adjust after that and even laugh as he jumped high enough to easily make it on the same level Mario was. He landed, and seemed to lunge forward in a hunched stride until he firmly planted his feet down and straightened his back.

            Mario bounded over to where Captain Gamer had landed. “What… what was…?”

            Immediately Captain Gamer turned around with a jump. “Did you see that!? That was AWESOME! I jumped just like you!!”

            “Uh…” Mario scratched his nose, “You sound like you didn’t expect that to happen.”

            “Um…” The umpteenth awkward silence reigned. Captain Gamer took the initiative to break it. “Look! We have to stop stalling! That woman up there needs our help!”

            “‘Our?’” Mario echoed, “That’s a little presumptuous. However, you’re right, Gamer. Let’s-a go!” Apparently, saying ‘Captain Gamer’ was a mouthful, so it had been shortened to ‘Gamer.’ The crowd cheered at both Gamer’s being all right and at Mario’s acceptance of help from Gamer. Apparently Gamer had proven himself an ample amount. Gamer grinned widely as he followed Mario to the next floor.

            Kate breathed a sigh. This was too cool NOT to be a publicity stunt! Okay, the ruined building and the guns were a bit much, but apparently going overboard was no issue when it came to how much money could be made from this. Captain Gamer’s ten-minute rise from silly kid to recognized hero to-be was a nice touch, but they may have overplayed the ‘immature’ thing a bit. Maybe Captain Gamer was a new character and instead of making a game to introduce him to the world, the creators decided to have him fight with the biggest name so that the two would be associated!

Donkey Kong realized that the awkward moment was finally over and snapped to attention. Because he hadn’t done anything in so long he made up for lost time by lifting a whole group of barrels and dropping them down. Donkey Kong taunted Mario and Gamer afterward. “That ape!” Mario scowled.

            Gamer looked around, then pointed at a wall, “Are those what I think they are?”

            Mario now looked. On the wall was a pair of large hammers. Where they came from and their purpose in a business complex may never be known, but they were there. Knowing very well what large hammers did in the same context as the rest of the scenario, Mario and Gamer exchanged mischievous looks before grabbing their hammer. The members of the crowd who knew what this meant cheered very loudly. Mario and Gamer charged through the remaining floors, flailing the hammers and smashing the barrels to splinters every time. Donkey Kong reached for a barrel, but only gripped at air. He looked and his face fell; there were no more barrels. Gamer and Mario exchanged triumphant looks and tossed their worn hammers. They leapt to the final floor and opened the door to the roof access. The crowd cheered again.

The Realization Cube, supposed to be a secluded area of the IDR, now held a crowd of scientists. Every single person who was forced to come to work was intently bent over Cruise’s mobile television. Of all people, Cruise himself had excused himself most likely for a distant restroom. Voices flared in a great uproar.

“Who was that?!”

“I think it was GamerMan!”

“How did he do all that!?”

“No, no, it was Captain G!”

“Are you serious!?”

“Could he be more powerful than Mario?”

“He called himself Commander Nintendo!”

“Captain Gamer!” A familiar voice cut through the confusion. Every face turned to see the Professor had entered the Cube. He wore the demeanor of somebody who had been spooked and hid it well. “He called himself Captain Gamer. That ‘CG’ helps in remembering that.”

“… Just what I said.” A scientist spoke up weakly.

One of the crowd, the woman with the pseudo name Jordan, approached the Professor. “Professor, do you know anything about this? About the ape?”

The Professor shook his head, “Nothing. Not a thing.”

“What about Captain Gamer?”

“He’s a good kid. I think he wants to help and he possesses the courage and the will to do so. I’m sure the two of them have the situation under control.” the Professor turned to leave.

Jordan thought, and then reached out, “Wait, that’s not what I…” But it was too late, he had left the cube again.

            By now, news choppers had arrived at the scene and began to record the new development as it unfolded on the roof. Even nearby television sets broadcasted the news report for all those who couldn’t see all the way up to the roof. Mario and Captain Gamer burst through the roof access and came face to face with Donkey Kong. Mario looked aside to Donkey Kong’s captive, “Don’t worry, we’ll have you freed in no time!” The woman merely nodded.

            Captain Gamer rather looked to Donkey Kong himself. “We don’t want any trouble! Just, uh, come quietly!” He looked aside, “No… that would make him sound like a criminal.” He tried again, “Stop what you’re doing! You’re only making things hard for yourself!”

            Donkey Kong narrowed his eyes at the kid who had earlier been nothing but a nuisance.

“Uhh… nice Donkey?”

It was either Gamer’s words or just that he was rambling uselessly, but Donkey Kong got fed up in one form or another. The ape just dug his knuckles into the ground and hurled himself forward.

“Uh oh! I think we lost our chance of resolving this peacefully!” Mario took an apprehensive step back.

Gamer thumbed his nose, “That’s all right. I’ve got a plan!” Unfortunately for the rookie hero Mario had not been there to hear that. The red plumber left his spot next to Gamer to launch his own attack. “Wait! My plan!”

Mario looked back, “What are you talking about?”

Gamer’s teeth bore in concern, “Never mind! Just look at where you’re going!!”

It was too late for Mario. When the plumber looked back all he had to see was a large-knuckled hand and a furry arm attached to it.

What happened next could never have been foreseen. Even in the mind of the logical such an image of invulnerability had been built up about Mario. Mario himself had tried to insist that he was as mortal as any given person, but there was just too much bias. Donkey Kong’s punch was not only to Mario’s face, but through these fantastic assumptions about the plumber.

It wasn’t the punch that was different. Mario has been punched before. Reality came in a crimson ribbon. Mario had flown back from his blow and following him was a trail of blood from his nose and mouth.

It was a sound and an image that traveled the world over. Television sets were turned off, parents covered their children’s eyes, and a general wail arose. It wasn’t a wail of sorrow for Mario’s receiving pain, but it was one of protest. How dare Mario have the ability to bleed!? How does that soften the image of the surrounding world for today’s youth!?

Not only had the situation darkened through this sudden turn of events, but the veil of pixilated fantasy had been entirely lifted, especially for Kate who had seen it uncensored on a nearby monitor. Everything changed. What used to be Donkey Kong, a humorously animated monkey with limited movement, became a monstrous ape matted with wild fur and wearing a deranged expression that relished in violence and contained a cruel lack of regard for his victims.

The stage no longer was a nondescript gathering of red platforms. Kate could now look past it all and realize that a building has been nigh destroyed. What used to stand as a monument to man’s existence on earth had been effortlessly mutilated as if it were nothing. Vital supports had fallen or hung uselessly and the floors were askew, disillusioning any possible order that building still had.

There were no longer limits to perception. There were no edges to the screen where any possible effect on the outside world was hidden. Kate could see the horrified people gathered around and especially the crying children. Maybe they were crying about what happened to Mario or the chaos just made them generally upset. Countless dollars worth of police vehicles and equipment laid in ruin and the pavement was riddled with a web of cracks. Debris had flown up and even now people were still feeling pained parts of their body and panicking when they saw blood. The host of the show who had dropped from perspective earlier after being attacked by Donkey Kong finally came back into focus. He had not moved from where he had fallen. Apparently when he hit the wall he had broken, or at least very badly hurt his right arm and leg. A man of such prestige in the American media and with one effortless swipe he had been reduced to such a state. Two men had to come over and help him up so he could find medical help. It appeared that the fall to the ground broke his nose and let blood stain his suit.

The same effect seemed to keep Captain Gamer rooted to the ground. Only his head slowly moved to watch the popular new non-fictional hero suffer the effects of force like a rag doll, tailed by the short spurt of blood that the punch knocked loose.

“Oh my god,” Kate whispered. “This isn’t a publicity stunt.”

Mario picked himself up painfully. He lifted his gloved hand to his face and wiped the blood that had stuck there. The blood made a pink stain on his glove. The floored plumber looked up at the frozen form of Captain Gamer. “Well?” Mario asked through his teeth, “Did you think being a hero would be so clean and perfect and hardship would never follow? It happens. That is the reality. Mine is a digital one, but it is still reality. Hoo… I’m tired enough from the climb up! If I had a little more time to build up strength…”

The words seemed to surround Captain Gamer’s ideologies and give them an assault. Gamer simply stood where he was and hung his head. His visor did a very good job of hiding his expression, though the most likely case was that is was a disheartened one.

“I don’t know if that’s really how I want to think.” Gamer muttered, “I don’t know much for sure, if anything; but what I do know for sure is that I live by a creed of determination and not letting any little thing get me down. So one setback, no matter how insignificant, means that I should fear further setback and be too afraid to keep trying?”

It would appear that what Gamer had to say next was big so he took a moment. Either he was wondering if it was okay to say what he had to say next or he just wanted to pause for effect.

“Screw that!! There’s a fine line between being ‘realistic’ and just not having enough courage! I’d much rather have any chance of success than every chance of failure.” As he spoke he looked fiercely at Donkey Kong. At least, his unflinching demeanor made the look seem fierce.

This time, silence allowed a detachment from the moment as Gamer’s words swirled around through every head in the vicinity. Eventually one voice whooped and snowballed into a full cheer. Gamer looked down with a wide toothy grin at the show of support before looking back to Donkey Kong.

“It’s game time!” The world watched as Captain Gamer moved his feet at long last. Gamer hurled himself past Mario and took off on a dash to Donkey Kong as fast as his feet could take him. “This one’s for Mario!!” When he was close enough, he reeled his fist back then let it fly. It connected with Donkey Kong with a dull thud.

Unfortunately for Gamer the part of Donkey Kong that he had hit was one of the ape’s palms. The dull thud was more out of anti-climax than it was out of the reality of damage intake. Both Donkey Kong and Gamer held their positions for a few seconds as the futility of what Gamer had just tried set in.

Donkey Kong decided that he would not toy around and welcome Gamer to the jungle. In the same style that he floored Mario with Donkey Kong reeled a fist back to let Gamer have a taste. By pure luck and instinct the fist flew true but hit no target. With a shout of “WHOA!!!” that was louder than was necessary Gamer ducked the punch. The crowd gasped and swooned at the show. Donkey Kong followed up with a series of punches that were all dodged in a slipshod way, but at least no hits landed. Apparently Donkey Kong was one to hit a person wearing glasses, or at least a visor. In the path of a huge fist, Gamer was far from unflinching, but it didn’t deter him from keeping the confrontation alive.

            At one point Gamer must have remembered his sudden ability to jump like Mario, for after one punch he jumped instead of ducking under it. Gamer landed squarely on top of Donkey Kong’s head. He wobbled a bit. “Ha! Can’t get me up here, can you!?” Donkey Kong wailed in frustration and began thrusting his fists up over his head. “Gwah!!” Gamer yelped and quickly hopped again to avoid collision. “Guess you can!”

            This was followed by many more attempts by Donkey Kong to pick Gamer off his head. Gamer sure enjoyed making a show of using his jumping ability to embarrass Donkey Kong. While Gamer indulged in stomping Donkey Kong’s head from on top the perch, some members of the crowd speculated.

            “Why is he doing this? We’ve been surprised a few times, but if Captain Gamer possessed the ability to beat that monkey, he should have done it by now.”

            “He does. He just needs it to regain strength.”

            “What? Ohh… Mario!”

            “That’s right. Remember when he complained about needing time to rest? Captain Gamer is giving him just that!”

            Kate overheard the two spectators and grinned. Captain truly was a gamer. The values of friendship and teamwork may seem very corny, but that just makes them all the more true. Nowadays relativity is so rampant that teamwork has become looked down upon as so cliché. It really was refreshing to see a show of genuine interest.

            Just on cue Donkey Kong adapted to the situation. He swiped up, waited for Gamer to land from his jump, and then swiped with his other hand. Gamer looked down at his captured foot. “Uh oh.” He squeaked. In a fluid motion Donkey Kong swung his arm down and let go of Gamer along the way. With no holding force, Gamer kept his current momentum and sailed forward. It wasn’t exactly the type of flying that an aspiring super hero would enjoy. Mario had only a split second to hit the ground again before Gamer sailed into the space above and landed directly behind the plumber, rolled, and came to a rest flat on his back.

            “Are YOU okay?!” Mario demanded over.

            Gamer turned over and place his palms flat on the roof. He sat up and shook his head. “Ahn…  Mind tagging in for a bit?”

            Mario looked from the hole to Donkey Kong. “Gamer… thanks for the help. Really. Now I have a monkey to wrench!”

            Donkey Kong snorted as his pair of adversaries rotated again. This time, however, Mario’s face was filled with a burning determination that his previous attempt lacked. The ape knew that he was up for a real fight. As soon as his first counterattacking punch did not hit Mario, Mario had instead jumped and stomped Donkey Kong’s head. At last the first real blow to Donkey Kong in this encounter. The crowd cheered at this turn of events.

            Mario made an impressive display against Donkey Kong. He used his jumping ability to its fullest extent and landed blow after blow on his first nemesis. It appeared that fantasy was finally sticking it to and making itself the new reality.

            Mario fell off of Donkey Kong’s head after a stomp. Both were fatigued by the encounter. Mario turned around to see Donkey Kong beat his chest. It was a slow beat with exaggerated movements, but a tired ape was still an ape. At a slowed pace Donkey Kong began a run at Mario.

            Mario was prepared to receive Donkey Kong, but a small shadow over him made him stop and crane his neck up. Donkey Kong saw this as a chance to strike until he realized that he was the one being distracted. A pair of sneakers dug into his shoulders as Captain Gamer’s descent hit a terminal velocity. Unprepared in every way, Donkey Kong was smashed against the ceiling tiles.

            As Donkey Kong went down, a tiny chip lost its grip on Donkey Kong’s fur. It clacked over the edge of the building and fell to its demise.

            Mario and Gamer stood proud in front of the fallen ape. Gamer lifted his hand up then balled it into a fist and brought it in front of his face in a determined victory position.

            “Game over!” Gamer called.

            When Donkey Kong landed back on the roofing, he looked much different. His eyes now bore a much primal but still more intelligent look and feel to them and he actually closed his mouth, showing off the coconut shape of his lower face. His head was no longer perfectly round, rather sporting the spike of hair that had come to be his trademark. Finally, his usual tie with the letters ‘DK’ on them seemed to unfurl right out his neck. It seemed like in that time, he had transformed from the classic Donkey Kong to the modern DK.

            DK picked himself back up and scratched the back of his head, seemingly not knowing of where he was or what was going on. Mario did not see this transformation as any need to relent, so he ran forward for one final punch. The mood seemed to indicate that he was aiming for payback for DK’s initial drawing of first blood. DK saw Mario’s determination and wailed in warning, waving his hands frantically. Mario paid no heed to this and jumped at DK, landing an uppercut on the ape’s chin. DK and Mario flew with the upward momentum, but DK’s head bobbed on and off Mario’s fist, generating an inexplicably conceived yellow coin with every contact. DK flew up and over the guardrail for the building’s roof.

            DK hit the street with a great boom, his head crashing through and getting stuck in the pavement. Mario and the TV hostess emerged from the building, which merely consisted of stepping off the ground floor and into the street. Several stage hands came to the woman’s aid which she accepted, probably because she was having so much attention dedicated to her. DK had not budged since falling, but Mario edged forward just in case. Suddenly, DK’s legs began to twitch. Mario yelped in surprise and waited for DK to pull himself out of the pavement. He had done so with a popping sound.

            There was a great tension as DK sat, scratching the back of his head. Many people noticed how all the malice and madness had left DK’s new eyes and was only filled with a neutral contentment. It was confusing. Mario walked slowly toward DK and gently held out his hand. DK noticed the hand and grasped it, shaking vigorously.

            “The hell?! Now he’s harmless!? Everybody stand down!” The chief of police gawked and ordered. All guns went back in their holsters.

            Mario let go of DK, letting the ape resume his taking in the scenery, and turned to the chief. “Maybe that fall knocked some sense into him?”

            “I guess so.” The chief muttered.

            Immediately reporters swarmed Mario, shouting things over one another. “Are you okay?” “You’re a hero!” “How did it feel?” “Who was that who helped you!?”

            Mario decided to answer that last one. “He said his name was... Captain Gamer.”

            The reporters pressed Mario for all the information he knew about Captain Gamer as if Mario was the authority. Mario only told the reporters that Gamer was a determined young man who had the courage to live out his dreams no matter the hardship and seemed to know nothing else.

            “What a mess.” Somebody had said suddenly.

            Indeed, there was a great mess. Nobody needed to be reminded about the effects of the wall’s falling.

            “This’ll be expensive to repair.” The chief of police said out loud. “Unless that Captain has some ability.”

            Those words seem to have some effect on the crowd. Everybody looked up at the top of the building where the perceptively small form of Gamer stood. Gamer stared back at the crowd and a hush fell over everybody. What was he going to do? Reveal a hidden ability that would repair everything good as new?

            “Um…” Gamer scratched the back of his head. “I don’t think jumping can help anything.” He gingerly lifted his left arms and gave a blank look to the screen of the computer he wore on the wrist. “Haven’t used THIS thing yet… maybe…” Gamer pressed a few buttons and scrolled through a few menus that all had English words, but were still all Greek to him. His face, or at least the lower half as anybody could tell, scrunched in frustration. He chewed his bottom lip in an annoyed grimace and stopped pressing buttons for a few seconds to ball his hand in a fist. ‘If only,’ his stance said, ‘I could find a way to repair this building; all of the hard parts of this unfortunate incident could be dealt with so nobody else has to.’ The expressive stance gave way when something new appeared on the computer’s screen, as if in response to Gamer’s ambitions. He looked toward this new option with a sense of familiarity and in some far corner of his mind, a lock burst open to reveal something previously hidden. He pressed the blue button on his computer. After a comprehension pause, the computer’s screen burst forth with light. “GWAH!!” Gamer yelped in surprise and landed on his rear. When his left hand hit the roof, something that doesn’t happen every day took place.

            Starting from the hand, strands of green light ran along the roof and spilled over the sides. Soon the building was covered in a net of green light. When the light reached the wall that had fallen, it stuck to what remained. A second wave of green strands then passed and this time kept going out as far as the old wall went. When the light had finished tracing, it now had a framed outline of what the building used to look like before DK had wrecked it. It appeared that the framing fit to the current state, but later on went to correct itself to what the building used to look like.

            From there, the truly amazing thing happened. In places where the current building did not fit the corrected wire frame, such as a crag in the wall, what appeared to be a cloud of dust gathered around and solidified into a shape that completed the wall as if it had never been wrecked. Where the floors were slanted, they suddenly burst into clouds that redirected themselves and solidified into the firm straight floors that were originally built. The final touch came when a smoke-like pillar erected itself from the bottom up and replaced the fallen wall. The building looked just like it had before Donkey Kong had stomped it off its foundation. The green wires retreated.

            When the awe swept away, the crowd gravitated to the building to touch it and truly see if it had really been reconstructed. The walls felt real and a few people even kicked them to see if they weren’t just cardboard or something of the sort. Injured toes proved the walls real and repaired. The chief of police swiped a finger along the wall, backed up, and then looked up, “He certainly made me eat my words.”

            A spectator kicked aside a fallen brick. “What about the wreckage?” Even though the building was reconstructed, the wall that had fallen had not vanished. In fact, everything on the ground was just as much of a mess as before the building apparently reconstructed itself.

            “What about it?” The chief spoke up, “Clean-up is a hell of a lot less expensive than reconstruction, I can tell you that much!” Apparently the man’s tolerance for the unbelievable had been forced as wide open as his eyes.

            Captain Gamer looked over the wall and was even testing it out himself. His knocking on the newly constructed material was interrupted when a wave of cheers erupted. He looked over and saw the crowd’s fanfare of his achievement. Some of the news choppers decided to trust the newly constructed building and some tried to land. Gamer heard a silent “What just happened?!” come from the crowd.

            “That,” Gamer called out to the crowd. His expression remained firm until the visible half lit up, “That was my Reset ability! I just reset the status of this building! Just remember that not everything has a reset button! My work HERE is done!” With that, Gamer ran beneath the landing choppers and disappeared over the opposite edge of the building.

            “Wow...” was all that Kate could muster. Not only had Mario played the hero, but somebody completely new had arrived on the scene, granted that things did not go entirely his way in terms of acceptance and performance. In the end, though, Gamer really picked up and after his confidences were given validation he shined… as brightly as one could shine after being patronized and tossed like a rag doll, anyway. Gamer hadn’t handled the situation with the most tact, but the honest efforts in themselves had more effect than how Mario or Donkey Kong had received them. Kate had a feeling that Gamer was putting forth his best intentions and did not care that he knew or had nothing in pretty much every context. She couldn’t be sure if he really wanted to help out or just wanted to look cool, but he just had a sincerity about him that was undeniable. As a lasting note that was only slightly related, she wondered what color his eyes were with a thoughtful chin on her fist.

            A reporter stood in front of what used to be the wreckage scene and talked. “Fantasy and reality collided in battle today. What started as an interview ended up in a struggle. As soon as the interview with Mario Mario had ended, his first nemesis Donkey Kong had arrived and began to cause havoc. Mario looked unfit to stop Donkey Kong until somebody new going by the name Captain Gamer had arrived and helped out. This character was even MORE unfit to stop Donkey Kong… in more ways that one. However, his contribution of courage and morale was just what was needed for Mario to step up his game and both of them used teamwork to come out on top. Just who is Captain Gamer and why did he feel inclined to help out? More importantly, how did Donkey Kong come to be? It has been shown that he is as real as Mario, meaning he must have been digitally realized as well. If the official institute of Digital Reality had not created him, then who did? Stay tuned, for it looks like things are about to get very interesting.”

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