Play the Cube



“Happy Birthday, Fox! 25 years old, huh? Man, time goes by so fast, doesn't it? I couldn't think of anything to get for you, so I just enclosed five 20 dollar bills in this card. Hope you have a great day, son! Sincerely, Dad”



That was what my dad wrote to me on the day this all started, my 25th birthday. So, with the money that was in my card, I did what any young person would do when he receives what's essentially his glorified allowance: go on a shopping spree. A gaming shopping spree, to be more specific.



And I knew exactly what I was going to get.



I had lost my old GameCube when I moved into my college dorm as well as a few of my games for it (they had either gotten lost, or broken.) So I went down to my local game store that sold both modern, as well as retro games and consoles. I found not only the games that were lost (Star Fox Adventures, Mario Kart: Double Dash, and my personal favorite game Super Smash Bros. Melee) and games I'd never tried before (like Pac-Man World 2) but also a GameCube in near perfect condition. By near perfect, I mean that were it not for the light scratches on the left and right sides, it would've looked like it just came out of the factory.



I brought over my findings to the store clerk, who proceeded to scan my games and put them in a white plastic bag. But when he got to the GameCube, he paused for a moment, as if he was afraid of the thing, took a deep breath, and put it in another bag without scanning it. He told me my total cost was $39.96. After I paid him $40, I asked why he didn't scan the GameCube to add to my price.



“Look man, you have no idea how desperate I am to get rid of this thing,” he replied with an irritated tone, “You're not the first one who bought this, after all. I've cut the price for it 3 times after 3 different customers returned it, claiming that it's cursed or evil or some other nonsense like that. So just take it! And if you are experiencing problems with it, throw it away, sell it on eBay or Amazon, let it sit and collect dust. I don't care what you do with it as long as you don't bring it back here! Capiche?”



“Okay, thanks,” I said to him as I grabbed the bags he put my items in. “Uh, have a nice day!” I continued before I turned around and left the store.



I arrived back in my dorm room, GameCube and games in tow, to be greeted by my dorm mates Ian (who's been my friend ever since we were in first grade), Lily (who is also my girlfriend) and Monica (who is also Ian's girlfriend.)

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<p style="margin-bottom: 0in">“Welcome back, Fox,” Lily greeted before giving me a hug.

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<p style="margin-bottom: 0in">“Oh, happy birthday, Fox,” said Ian. Lily and Monica were the only two who wished me a happy birthday earlier that morning. Ian, however, was a little slower in remembering my birthday (or anyone's birthday besides his own, for that matter), so he would only say it, pretty much after everyone else has.

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<p style="margin-bottom: 0in">Lily was the first one to notice the bags that I brought back. “What are in those bags?” she asked.

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<p style="margin-bottom: 0in">“A GameCube with a few games for it. I lost my old one moving in here, so I decided to get another one,” I replied.

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<p style="margin-bottom: 0in">“Cool, I take it you're gonna set it up and play it?” asked Ian.

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<p style="margin-bottom: 0in">I gasped in mock surprise. “How'd you know?” I asked playfully.

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<p style="margin-bottom: 0in">“Psychic powers,” replied Ian in an equally playful tone, outstretching his arms and wiggling his fingers to illustrate. We all had a good laugh at that, before I immediately set to work setting up the GameCube. As I was doing so, Ian and Monica told me they were going to go out on a shopping spree of their own (as well as go out on the town while they were at it), while Lily told me she was going to go spend a quiet afternoon (and evening) in her bedroom catching up on her reading.

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<p style="margin-bottom: 0in">Once I had everything set up, my next order of business was try to see which of these games I should play first. I went with Pac-Man World 2 first. I did pretty well with that game considering how new I was at it, but I ended up giving up on the first level of the Treetops area, as I found that level to be very disorienting and panic-inducing (who knew that jumping on small circular trampolines could cause so much stress.)

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<p style="margin-bottom: 0in">Star Fox Adventures was next. I played that game until I met the shopkeeper (who had the most hilariously entertaining voice that I've ever heard in any video game ever) for the first time, before finally turning to Super Smash Bros Melee. I managed to unlock Jigglypuff, Dr. Mario, Luigi and Falco when I decided to call it a night. As it was getting late and my eyes started to feel heavy from playing too much. That and I had to go to class in the morning.

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<p style="margin-bottom: 0in">But when I attempted to shut the GameCube off, however, a text box greeted me that read: “You'll be back tomorrow, right?” accompanied with a Yes or No option. Huh, I've never seen this before. Confused by this message, I picked No, and the text box then read: “Keep playing, then. It's the only way to protect yourself from the evil that lurks within,” before it put me back on the main menu screen.

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<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal">The evil that lurks within? Was this someone's idea of a sick prank to scare me or guilt trip me into wasting away my life playing video games? If that was the case, they would need to try harder. My parents (while my mom was still alive) made it very clear to me growing up that there was more to life than video games. In fact, when I was a kid, my time after school (and even on the weekends) was spent doing homework, school projects (if any), and chores first, and entertainment (video games, action figures, and cartoons) second. Not the other way around. As a result, I grew up knowing that there was a time and a place for everything. So you can guess why I was not about to let a game boss me around, evil or no evil.

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<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal">I tried shutting the GameCube off again, but this time when the text box appeared I picked Yes, which caused it to shut off. I turned the TV off as well and went to go get some shut-eye, my thirst for nostalgia quenched.

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<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal">Over the course of the next month and a half, I pushed that message that I saw on my birthday out of my mind. Not only was I still convinced that this was an elaborate prank of some kind, but I was also busy with schoolwork and preparing for finals. Plus I just wasn't in the mood to play the GameCube at the moment, so I unplugged it and put it away in one of my many boxes for storage in my closet. I knew that there was still a Wii that I had to share with my dorm mates hooked up to the living room TV and I still had my Nintendo DS. Both of which could help me de-stress if I ever needed a break, anyway.

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<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal">Finals were only a week away when the incident happened. I went into my bedroom after class to discover that the room strangely smelled like smoke. What struck me as odd was that the smoke detectors weren't picking up on it, even though last I checked they were working just fine. The oddities didn't stop there, though. I noticed that the smell was the strongest around the box that I put the GameCube in. I opened it, and saw that the GameCube had turned itself on, despite the fact that it wasn't plugged into anything.

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<p style="margin-bottom: 0in">How long had it been like this,  I wondered.

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<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal">I turned it back off again, only to be greeted by what sounded like distorted screaming followed by deep, menacing laughter. Then, there was silence. That dreadful kind of silence that served as the build-up to a jump scare.

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<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal">That killed any urge to investigate the matter further. Besides, the console's internal hardware was likely fried up (hence the smell, though that still doesn't explain why the smoke detectors didn't go off), and it probably wouldn't work, anyway.

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<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal">I later found myself pacing in the living room contemplating what I should do with the fried up GameCube when my dorm mates came back from class themselves. I was too wrapped up in my own thoughts that I did not hear them come in, and it nearly gave me a heart attack.

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<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal">“Whoa, chill out, dude. It's just us.” said Ian after he saw my startled reaction.

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<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal">“Is something wrong, Fox?” said Monica.

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<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal">“I, uh...” I paused for a moment, wracking my brain in search of an excuse. I didn't have the heart to tell them about what happened earlier, I didn't want them to think I was crazy. In the end, I replied with, “I'm just...nervous.”

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<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal">“Nervous? About what?” asked Lily.

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<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal">“About, um... about my essay?” I replied sheepishly.

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<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal">All three of them just stared at me with scrutiny. They clearly weren't buying my story.

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<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal">“Did you even start writing it?” asked Lily.

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<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal">“Well, no, but...” I trailed off before Lily laughed and continued.

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<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal">“Then how can you be nervous about something you haven't even started yet?”

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<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal">I admit, she did have a point there. “Look, uh, anyone in the mood to play the Wii with me?” I asked, in a desperate attempt to change the subject.

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<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal">Unfortunately, Ian and Monica told me they were going to be partying it up on campus, while Lily told me she was going to the campus library to not only study for finals, but also to do some research for her research paper, as she felt the pin-drop silence of the library was the best environment to do both of those tasks. So I was left alone once again.

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<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal">“Welp, more Wii for me.” I said to myself once they were out of earshot. I booted up the Wii to discover that the majority of the channels were just black screens except for the game channel, which had Endless Ocean in it. I remember that game having something of a therapeutic effect on me, Deep Valley (the entrance to the abyss area of the game) music notwithstanding. So I decided to play it, as I could use the relaxation.

<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal">Once I reached the title screen, however, the first thing I noticed was that there was no music, only sound effects. I picked Load Game, and loaded up my save file, and jumped (or should I say, dove) right in to the game. After going into the options to see if the music was muted somehow, (it wasn't, oddly enough), I took the plunge into the area I left off at, which was right near a pirate ship that would take me to an area in the game called Ship's Rest, an underwater graveyard. This location contained creatures not found anywhere else in the game, including great white sharks. I bring them up specifically because in the normal game, they would not attack the player (this was only added in the sequel, and even then they're not much of a threat, as they just whack you with their tail and make you lose some air.) But here, it seemed like the area was somehow devoid of them, there wasn't a single one in sight. Well, it was daytime in-game, I've heard they were more common at night. Just as I was about to swim back to the pirate ship to return to the main ocean, a shark warning symbol appeared on the screen, which resembled the one from the sequel, along with the accompanying sound effect. The music that plays at Deep Valley was playing as this was happening, which just made the scene all the more chilling. I was just about to reach the ship, when out of the blue (no pun intended), an enormous great white shark covered with scars bit right into my character's torso and shook him from side to side like a ragdoll. Its teeth biting through his wetsuit and into his flesh, likely puncturing all internal organs in the process. But just before I could witness this monster of a shark biting my character in half, the game froze, then cut to a black screen with the following text:

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<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal">“Your device has run into an unknown error and will be terminated.”

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<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal">This message was accompanied with an error code that was just a long string of letters and numbers. In addition, there appeared to be a pair of red glowing eyes staring at me through the text as a strange buzzing noise played. The Wii then shut itself off, as did the TV, with the Wii no longer displaying any power light whatsoever, as if it somehow came unplugged.

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<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal">“Okay, time for plan B,” I said to no one in particular, before I went to my bedroom and picked up my DS. Once I turned the DS on, I started up my copy of Super Mario 64 DS. “It's-a me, Mario,” came Mario's cheerful voice, before I did what anyone would do when they booted up this game, mess around with the drawing feature. It wasn't as goofy as playing with Mario's face in the original N64 version, but it still made for some laughs or a means for your creative juices to flow. So for whatever strange reason, I decided to draw those eyes that I saw earlier, and give them a face. As I was drawing the face, I noticed that the ink meter didn't go down, meaning that I had an unlimited supply of ink to draw with. Going off that knowledge, I erased my current work and drew the face from a side view instead, and gave it a body as well. What I ended up drawing, with that much freedom, was a horrific being that had the head of a wolverine, the beak of a raven, the neck of a snake, the body and legs of a lion, the wings of a dragon, the tail of a scorpion, and the arms of a thorny devil (with unusual three-pronged claws that resembled the end of a power cord.)

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<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal">It wasn't perfect, but I was impressed with how I was able to take on the challenge of drawing a big image on a tiny screen. Once I was finished drawing, a text box appeared that said: “Tozor is impressed by your drawing of him, but that will not save you from your fate.”

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<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-weight: normal">''Tozor? Who's Tozor? '' I thought out loud.

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<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-weight: normal"> I noticed that I was back at the title screen, and decided to just get on with the game. I last left off after getting the star from the “Plunder in the Sunken Ship” mission in Jolly Roger Bay as Yoshi. So naturally, I went back to Jolly Roger Bay to get the “Can the Eel Come Out to Play?” star. Once I dove into the level, I noticed that the music seemed to have been slowed down by at least 50% of its normal speed. Shaking off the now eerie-sounding music, I dove into the bay in order to get the star from behind Unagi's tail, but Unagi was nowhere to be found. I was about to swim to the surface to get some air when something bit me from behind, taking out a huge chunk of my health. This seemed to have weakened Yoshi, as he swam slower than he usually would. As I was about to make it to the surface, the thing that bit me made itself known as it homed in for a frontal assault. It was Unagi, except his eyes were nothing but black voids with red irises and he had a large gaping mouth lined with razor sharp teeth capable of swallowing a person (or in this case dinosaur) whole. He opened his mouth and, as if he were a living vacuum cleaner, pulled Yoshi in as the latter made his typical sound effect for when he fell from high places, which caused Unagi to smack his enormous lips and let out a loud belch. The typical Bowser laugh and fade-out played. But instead of Yoshi getting spit out of the painting, I was presented with the same unknown error message (just with a slightly different string of gibberish as the error code and no buzzing noise) that I saw on the Wii on both screens and the DS, like the Wii, soon shut itself off.

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<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal">At this point, I was starting to see a pattern. Or at least, I thought so. It seemed that this “Tozor,” whoever they were, was somehow sabotaging the other consoles by adding creepy or bizarre moments in the games I would play, which led to said console getting an unknown error message leading to their “termination.” That may explain the “how” but it doesn't explain the “why.” Why were they doing this? To show off the fact that they could? To make their victims give up gaming entirely? But why would they want that? Was “Tozor” just the code name of some new hacker seeking some form of notoriety? No, that wouldn't make any sense, in the slightest, as that wouldn't explain the picture I drew. I had so many questions and so few answers, so in the end, I chalked it up to(rather jokingly) the spirit of my mom shutting these consoles off in order to get me to work on my essay. I was putting play before work, after all.

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<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal">“Alright, alright, I'll work on my essay. Geez,” I said in a tone similar to a teenager who was just threatened with grounding, before picking up my research notes and booting up the laptop I had in my room.

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<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-weight: normal"> I began writing my interpretive essay on Thornton Wilder's The Bridge of San Luis Rey (a story of a Franciscan friar who recounts the lives of five people who fall to their deaths after a rope bridge in Peru collapses.) I was about to make my thesis statement about the relationship between Uncle Pio and Camila Perichole when a PowerPoint presentation opened up on its own. It lacked a title, and the first slide was just a silhouette of the creature that I drew against a background consisting of blue and black concentric triangles. As I pressed the Enter key, the creature got closer and closer before, for a split second, I saw it having those red eyes as well as a Cheshire Cat-esque grin. It then cut to various black-and-white images of various people (3 women and 2 men to be more specific) with black voids for eyes as well as round mouths with leech-like teeth. Interspersed among those images I saw in this black-and-white nightmare was a side view of the creature from my drawing's head opening its beak to an impossible position and sticking out its long, snake-like tongue. While these images were playing, the sound of distorted screaming and indistinct whispering played in the background. Just as I was about to go mad from hearing all that noise, the computer froze on an image that I had not yet seen, but will not forget. It was an image of the creature grinning as it was stabbing me through the chest with its claws with the bodies of my dorm mates lying nearby, though the scene looked like something out of an old Gameboy game. There was a message at the bottom of this image, it said: “Where are you? You would be wise to not keep me waiting.”

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<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-weight: normal"> The computer then blue-screened with the buzzing noise that I heard the first time around. The message wasn't any different than the previous two, the only difference was, once again, there was another unique line of gibberish following the message. I also noticed a faint image of a cube in the background before the laptop, as was the case for the Wii and DS, shut itself off.

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<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal">Once all that was over, especially after seeing the bodies of my dorm mates, I immediately grew concerned about their safety. Because what if that image I just saw was a prediction of the future? What if that creature had already killed my dorm mates and was going to come for me next?

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<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal">Well, only one way to find out.

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<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-weight: normal"> I got my cell phone out of my pocket, and tried calling Lily first. Even if they weren't dead, it still would've been a relief to have someone to talk to after seeing all that nightmare fuel. As the phone rang, I suddenly heard an audio sample of Ylvis's “What Does the Fox Say?” coming from the living room. When I heard that, I'll admit that I was laughing on the inside, but I was groaning on the outside as I realized what that meant. That song was Lily's ringtone for whenever I called her.

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<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal">Ah, shoot, I forgot. Lily didn't bring her phone with her when she went to the library. Because her phone would've distracted her from concentrating on her studies. Well, that and the fact that libraries in general were not the best places to chat with people on the phone.

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<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal">After realizing my blunder, I hung up and tried calling Ian next, which just led to voicemail. Figures, though if I knew him like I thought I did, he was probably too wrapped up in a game of beer pong to answer his phone. Looks like Monica's my last hope. I called her with fingers crossed that she would answer. The phone rang once.

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<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-weight: normal">Come on, please pick up, please pick up.

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<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal">The phone rang twice. And... “Hello?”

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<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal">“Hey, Monica.” I replied, relieved from hearing her voice. Thank goodness you answered, I added mentally. But just to be sure that she and Ian weren't being tortured somewhere or something of that nature, I asked, “So...are you...are you guys okay?”

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<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal">“What are you talking about, of course we're okay. Ian's still over at the beer pong table just destroying the competition.”

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<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal">“I figured as much.” I said.

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<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal">“The real question here is: 'Are you okay, Fox?' There had to be a reason you called. Not to mention the fact that you were acting awfully jumpy when we came in earlier today. And I'm still not convinced it had anything to do with your essay. Is there something you're not telling us?”

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<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal">“Wow, way to pin me to a wall, Monica. Have you ever considered being a detective?”

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<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal">“Well, no, but I'm just saying... is there? Or do you just not trust us enough to tell us what's going on?”

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<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal">Yikes, the trust card. Well played. Well, I figured I might as well come clean. It won't do any good to continue making up excuses.

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<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal">I took a deep breath. “Look, Mon, I know this is gonna sound crazy but... I think there's something wrong with that GameCube I got last month.”

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<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal">“What? What do you mean?”

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<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal">I then told her everything that happened that day when they were gone, about the smoke smell, the fact that one by one the other devices in the dorm were getting “terminated”, including my computer as I was writing my essay, and the strange creature known as “Tozor” who seemed to be the one behind all this.

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<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal">When I finished, I got no response from her. “You still there?” I asked.

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<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal">“Maybe you should play the Cube.” said a slimy voice that I knew wasn't Monica's, unless she decided to do a terrible impression of Sir Hiss from Disney's Robin Hood randomly in the middle of the conversation. I looked at my phone and saw that I was in a new conversation with an unknown number. Monica was somehow disconnected. Could I be talking to Tozor? If so, I wanted answers from them immediately about why this was happening.

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<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal">“Okay, Tozor, is it? What is it you want from me? Why are you sabotaging my devices?” I asked assertively.

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<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal">“Tozor is my master, and you've been keeping him waiting long enough,” said the voice, “You likely haven't read those messages that were on the error screens.”

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<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal">“What messages?” I asked.

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<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal">“The messages you so obliviously brushed off as just gibberish. Allow me to translate them into the language you understand.”

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<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal">I looked at my phone again to see that I was temporarily redirected to a Base64 code translation website. The messages translated to the following:

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<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal">“Tozor is waiting for you. Play the Cube.” (from the Wii)

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<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal">“Tozor desires your soul. Play the Cube.” (from the DS)

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<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal">“Where are you? You would be wise to not keep Tozor waiting. Play the Cube.” (from my laptop, a mildly paraphrased version of the message I saw before the laptop crashed.)

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<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal">“Now do you understand?” asked the voice once it somehow knew that I finished reading.

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<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal">“Yes, but...what will happen if I refuse?” I asked rather boldly.

<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal">

<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal">“Look outside your front door.”

<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal">

<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal">I reluctantly did as I was told, and saw in the dim lighting provided by the porch light a creature that had the overall build of a wolf, but with the tail and frill of a frilled lizard, as well as the horns of a goat. It stopped suddenly and sniffed over in my direction. It bared its teeth and growled, before it lunged at me only to be yanked back by a seemingly invisible leash as it yelped. It stood back up, showed off its neck frill as it let out a menacing screech, and went back to pacing. I immediately closed and blocked the door with my body, breathing heavily with my heart racing, not wanting to see if it could also breathe fire.

<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal">

<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal">“What's the matter? Don't like my pet?” the voice continued, “Well, he's not particularly fond of you, either. He's not part of your physical world, at least not right now, so you'll be safe from him, as long as you obey me. I am going to terminate your phone, but not before I tell you your orders, which are as follows. Hook up the Cube to your TV and start it up. My master will have further instructions for you there. If you fail to do so within the next 30 minutes, well, let's just say my pet will be getting a new chew toy to play with, if you know what I mean. You'd better hurry, your time starts now.”

<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal">

<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal">My phone shut itself off, like the voice said, and I immediately set to work setting the GameCube back up as I did the month before, with all the speed of a gazelle fleeing from a lion on the hunt. I managed to set it up in with plenty of time to spare.

<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal">

<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal">“Okay, let's get this over with,” I said to myself as the GameCube booted up.

<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal">

<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal">After the logo disappeared, I was greeted by those red, soul-staring eyes and a dialogue box with red text popped up that said:

<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal">

<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal">“Well, well, well, it's about time you showed up! Now we can play a game. Now let's see... You seem to like playing Super Smash Bros Melee, don't you?”

<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal">

<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal">I scoffed after I read that.

<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal">

<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal">“Who are you? Psycho Mantis?” I asked sarcastically, knowing full well that I was talking to a TV screen.

<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal">

<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal">“If you know what's good for you, you will keep your snarky comments to yourself,” the text responded, “Now where was I? Ah, yes, I challenge you to a game of Super Smash Bros Melee. Insert the disc for Super Smash Bros Melee and we will begin. I'll be seeing you.”

<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal">

<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal">With that, the eyes faded away, leaving nothing but a black screen. I did as I was told, determined to end this.

<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal">

<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal">Once the game started, it immediately skipped the title screen and the main menu and threw me into the Mushroom Kingdom stage of Adventure Mode as the announcer said his usual, “Ready? Go!” I was playing as Fox, though he looked very different from the original game. While his basic character model (albeit without his headgear) and animations were the same, his fur color was brown, and he was wearing a blue flannel shirt on top of a light blue T-shirt, gray jeans and dark gray tennis shoes with green highlights. I looked down at myself and realized that it was the exact same outfit that I was wearing. This combined with the fact that his fur matched my hair color made me think that I was playing as an avatar version of myself, rather than the actual Fox McCloud, which, I had to admit, was rather cool, if not a little disturbing.

<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal">

<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal">But enough about that. You didn't come this far just to hear me ramble on and on about a recolored version of a character, so let's get back on track. Once I spawned in, I immediately walked to the right, as per usual. The Mushroom Kingdom, I noticed as I traversed through the stage, had definitely seen better days. The grass was dead, the mushrooms were wilting, the water was replaced with lava, and that's barely scratching the surface of this stage's problems. In addition, all the enemies that you would usually encounter in this stage (Goombas, Koopas, Paratroopas, and even the different colored Yoshis that were basically nothing but cannon fodder) were all running in the opposite direction that I was with looks of fear and panic on their faces, but that didn't slow me down. In fact, they were phasing right through me in their hasty evacuation, as if I was a ghost. One other thing I noticed was that in the original game, you would get random item spawns, which may or may not help you. But here, items rarely spawned, and when they did, they were either healing items, (which were useless to me as I didn't take damage) the bunny ears, or the parasol. With this in mind, I made it to the middle of the stage after pulling a Mary Poppins over the pit of lava that used to be water. When I did, the Toad that you would see running back and forth as you fought the Yoshis stood in my way and the camera zoomed in on him, and a dialogue box that I had never seen before popped up that said:

<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal">

<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal">“T-There you are, Fox. You can fix what's happened to our world, right? P-Please...help us!”

<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal">

<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal">Not long after he said that, a strange shadow creature that looked like an eagle with bat wings quickly swooped down and grabbed him and the Toad was never seen again. Now my pathway was clear to continue. The rest of the stage involved walking over a rusty, cracked pipe bridge with haste as it would sag and make groaning noises as I walked on it, threatening to break at any moment, before I finally reached the castle and the goal.

<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal">

<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal">“Game!” called the announcer. Though instead of presenting me with a “Stage Clear” screen, a cutscene happened.

<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal">

<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal">It showed my avatar (and yes, I will call him “my avatar” from now on, because as I've said before, he's not the real Fox McCloud) walking over to the castle to take a look at it. He let out an audible whistle. The castle, like everything else in the kingdom, was definitely the worse for wear. In fact, it looked more like archaeological ruins than a place where a princess would live. The most striking evidence of this was the fact that the stained glass window was shattered, the red paint on the roof had faded into more of a pale red color, and the tower was gone. Well, not gone gone, it simply collapsed into the castle's interior complete with a couple pairs of Toads' feet, as far as I could tell, sticking out from underneath it.

<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal">

<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal">He then turned around to see Mario, Peach, Bowser, and even Samus, Zelda, and Pikachu, who were looking at the castle along with him. While the latter three stared at it in shock and disbelief, (though for Samus it was hard to tell because she had her helmet on) Bowser looked angry (but then again, was there ever a time that Bowser didn't  look angry) and Peach had her head in her hands, weeping over the fact that her home had been destroyed in such a manner, with Mario by her side trying to comfort her.

<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal">

<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal">Eventually all six of them turned their attention to my avatar with looks of betrayal, except for Zelda, who looked strangely neutral about the whole situation. Bowser was the first to speak.

<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal">

<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal">“Admiring your handiwork, shrimp?”

<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal">

<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal">My avatar looked at him sideways in confusion, in true silent protagonist fashion.

<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal">

<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal">“That's right, you did this! You abandoned us in our time of need, and now our world is crumbling before our eyes! You must fix this, or so help me...”

<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal">

<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal">“That's quite enough, Bowser,” said Zelda, before she walked over to my avatar and put a hand on his shoulder, “Ignore him, Fox. Everyone here is a little bit bitter about the world falling apart. They needed to have someone to blame. And in this case, that had to be you. Because you were the only one who could've prevented this. But I understand why you didn't. You have a life, you have a family, you have friends, and you have responsibilities in your own world. You didn't mean to abandon us, things beyond your control just...happened. So for this, I don't hate you. Rather, I forgive you.”

<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal">

<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal">After she said that last sentence, she gave my avatar a hug, as a tear rolled down the latter's face. A tear also rolled down my face in real life, as well. Call me a wimp if you must, but there's just something about hearing the words “I forgive you” that makes one's heart melt. The other five, moved by Zelda's speech, offered their own words and/or displays of forgiveness, though in Bowser's case, he just gave me a clap on the back, not that I expected much from him anyway.

<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal">

<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal">Before this saccharine sap could drag itself on any longer, more shadow creatures broke through the castle entrance with all the subtlety of a wrecking ball. These creatures looked as if a mad scientist was having way too much fun fusing animal species (both real and fictional) together into what I can only describe as freaks of nature. Not only were there eagle-bats like the one I saw earlier, but there were also horse-dragons, and lion-sharks, and vulture-wasps, to name a few. All seven of us did our signature dramatic poses, prepared for a fight. And indeed, I had control again as the cutscene ended and a battle began.

<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal">

<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal">This battle was similar to the Yoshi fight in Mushroom Kingdom as well as other battles down the road in Adventure Mode, except there was a lot more going on. Three shadow creatures appeared on the battlefield at a time. If I or any of my allies defeated one, another one would appear in order to take its place. This continued until all the icons on the top left corner of the screen disappeared. Honestly, it seemed that my allies were doing all the work for me in this battle. Sure, I managed to KO about 3 out of the 9 creatures that were attacking us, but it was clear that they could easily hold their own, much to my relief because I could barely keep track of my own position half the time. In addition, every time I did go off the screen, either of my own accord or from an enemy's attack, I would simply respawn back into the action without losing a life with my damage percentage reset to 0. This made the battle chaotic, yet fair. Within a matter of minutes, we were victorious. Those shadow creatures were certainly not as tough as they looked. But something in my gut told me that may have been intentional.

<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal">

<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal">After the battle was over, Bowser dusted his hands, then said, “Well, that takes care of those punks!”

<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal">

<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal">“For now, at least,” Zelda replied, “Something tells me there's more where that came from.”

<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal">

<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal">“Which is why you must defeat Tozor, Fox,” said Samus, “Defeating him is the only way to save not only our world from total destruction, but it will also save your world as well, not to mention your life.”

<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal">

<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal">“But be careful,” Peach chimed in, “Tozor is not one to take lightly. Why, he would make the likes of Bowser and Ganondorf shake in their boots-”

<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal">

<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal">“Hey! I'm right here, you know!” Bowser interrupted. But Peach ignored him and continued.

<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal">

<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal">“We will be there to assist you in the battles on your journey to him. After all,” she paused for a moment to look at the castle with a hint of sadness, “What else do we have to lose?”

<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal">

<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal">“Are you ready, Fox?” asked Zelda. My avatar responded with a determined nod and raised his fist in the air. The others returned the gesture as everyone (my character included) exclaimed, “FOR BOTH OUR WORLDS!”

<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal">

<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal">From this point forward, the game was mostly just your standard run-of-the-mill Adventure Mode (except a lot easier with that whole aforementioned respawn without losing a life mechanic), but with something of a post-apocalyptic atmosphere on top of it. Though, true to Peach's word, my six allies did appear to fight in the battles along the way. These battles were against shadow creatures instead of the usual characters, and like the first battle, they went by so fast that I didn't have a lot of time to soak up the scenery in great detail.

<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal">

<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal">But beyond all that, nothing really noteworthy happened. So I'll just skip ahead to the Underground Maze stage, which, as it turned out, was actually the penultimate stage instead of the third.

<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal">

<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal">The goal of this stage was simple, find the Triforce and the Master Sword. The Triforce could be found in one of 6 possible spots (which was chosen at random every time you played), while the other 5 just led you to have 1-on-1 battles against Link.

<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal">

<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal">Because I've played Melee before, both in my childhood and on my birthday, I had a pretty decent mental map of where all the spots were located. So I navigated my way up the vertical corridor, for lack of a better word, to the top right exit. Once I made it to a possible spot, however, there was no Triforce, but it didn't throw me into a battle against Link, either. Instead, in the middle of the room, I saw, for a brief moment, a young woman who looked like Peach only with her hair done in a ponytail and wearing an outfit that did not resemble anything that Peach would wear, not even in Mario's sports titles. She was trapped inside a blue crystal with her facial expression stuck in a silent scream. The camera then switched to an overhead view of my avatar as a dialogue box with all-too-familiar red text popped up that said:

<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal">

<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal">“So, you managed to find one of my souls in distress? And I bet you want to play the hero and rescue her.”

<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal">

<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal">Before I could open my mouth to object, or make up an excuse, the text continued.

<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal">

<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal">“Don't lie to me! I know that was exactly what you came here to do! And to that I say, 'Very well.' I've been taking it easy on you up to this point, but now I see that you must die! Nesou, destroy him!”

<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal">

<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal">I was then thrown into the usual battle arena where you would normally fight Link, only I was fighting against a shadow version of Mario. To make this comparison even more obvious, the trippy-looking background displayed the colors of red and blue. During this battle, I noticed that my allies didn't appear to fight with me, so I was on my own, not that it really mattered. Despite the fact that Tozor instructed this “Nesou” to destroy me, he overlooked one little thing. I was still able to respawn for free. This made the battle tough as Nesou fought like a level 9 Mario, just with a faster attack speed, but not unfairly tough. I guess Tozor still wanted me to battle him in one piece despite the fact that I broke some invisible rule of his.

<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal">

<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal">After dying twice, I finally managed to defeat him. As a result, the crystal that held “Peach” captive broke into pieces, and she approached my avatar and said via a dialogue box written in pink text, “Phew, thank you for releasing me. I will be sure to pay you back at the next given opportunity. There are more of us scattered throughout this maze. Can you find the others? Good luck!”

<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal">

<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal">With that, she turned around and exited to the left.

<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal">

<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-weight: normal">The others? I thought. I admit, what that strange woman said had me intrigued. I immediately thought back to what the real Peach said about how Tozor was not one to be taken lightly. Maybe that woman and “the others,” whoever they were, could prove themselves to be valuable assets in the battle to come. So, I made it my new mission to find “the others.”

<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal">

<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal">“The others,” I learned, turned out to be Falco, Zelda, Jigglypuff, and Roy. And like the woman that resembled Peach, each of them wore conspicuously modern-day outfits. Outfits aside, each of them had their own albeit minor differences from their counterparts, “Falco” had more dirty blonde-colored feathers instead of the usual blue, “Zelda” had black poofy hair that covered her ears and her skin tone was significantly darker, “Jigglypuff” wore a red wig that made her look like a Raggedy Ann doll, and “Roy” had black hair that looked more neatly combed over and he had an uncharacteristically bushy beard on his face.

<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal">

<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal">Also like “Peach,” each of them was protected by a guardian that was a shadow version of a character from their respective franchise. In this case, the order was Guy, (creative, I know, though he was a shadow version of the real Fox, so that shouldn't be too surprising) Mopl, (likely pronounced mop-ul, a shadow version of Link) Qoledia, (a shadow version of Pikachu) and Nesvi (a shadow version of Marth) respectively.

<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal">

<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal">Once I had defeated each of the guardians, the respective “avatar's” as I'll call them, crystal prisons would break, and they would thank me with different colored text boxes, (blue for “Falco,” lavender for “Zelda,” purple for “Jigglypuff,” and orange for “Roy”) and they would remind me to “find the others in the maze,” with the exception of “Roy,” who simply wished me good luck after his words of gratitude.

<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal">

<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal">Once all that was said and done, I found the Triforce in the spot that was near a pit of lava, and completed the stage.

<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal">

<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal">Now it was finally time for me to go up against Tozor.

<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal">

<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal">I arrived at the Final Destination stage to see Tozor in all his freaky glory. My allies were there, too, staring him down with looks of hatred and disgust, but that didn't faze him in the slightest. Instead, he addressed them by saying,

<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal">

<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal">“You pathetic creatures. Don't you realize that this isn't your battle? You've served your purpose, to bring that miserable physical being here to fight me, and in record time too, all things considered. But unfortunately for you, this is where your journey ends.”

<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal">

<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal">After he said this, he sent them flying in every direction with one swipe of his hand. He then turned his attention to my avatar.

<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal">

<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal">“And as for you, this is where your journey ends as well, both in this world...” here he paused as he turned to face the screen, “...and in your physical world. But first, we battle. You may have defeated my guardians, but you will never defeat me. Show me what you've got, if you dare.”

<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal">

<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal">With that said, the battle officially began. I noticed that like in the battle against Master Hand, Tozor had an HP counter which displayed that he had 999 HP. Though strangely, I also had an HP counter as well, though mine only displayed that I had 99 HP.

<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal">

<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal">To say that Tozor was a challenging boss would be the understatement of the century. Why, the battles against his guardians were practically child's play compared to him. Not only could he do a lot of damage to me with his Bowser-like fire attack that would give me burn damage over the course of a few seconds, but his thorny devil-like arms, which he would shield himself with constantly, meant that I had to suffer from cheap damage if I got too close. And even if I used a ranged attack with my blaster, if it hit his arms, the bullet would ricochet right back at me for more cheap damage. Occasionally, I did get a hit in on his head, neck, tail or back, but I could only do 1 HP worth of damage per hit, which, compared to the damage he could do to me, was not much of an accomplishment. As a result, Tozor quickly chewed through my 5 lives as quickly as a dog tears a newspaper to shreds. Once I was down to 10 HP on my last life, however, Tozor ceased his attack and walked over to the left side of the stage as I stood frozen in place. He then taunted me by saying,

<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal">

<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal">“Is that all you've got? If this is how your world fights, then I'll have no trouble in bringing it to its knees, begging for mercy! Time to finish you off, once and for all!”

<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal">

<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal">He then charged at me and did the same swipe attack that he used to send my allies sky-high, only...nothing happened. I didn't go flying like the others did, there was no Game Over or anything to suggest that I lost. This greatly confused Tozor, and I quickly saw why. Standing off on the sidelines were the 5 avatars that I rescued in the maze. The Peach avatar approached me and said, “Told you we'd pay you back for saving us.”

<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal">

<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal">“All of us have something of a bone to pick with Tozor,” the Zelda avatar continued, “After all, he was the one who killed us because we lost at his game.”

<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal">

<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-weight: normal">“ And now, in return for your kindness,” quipped the Jigglypuff avatar, “we will ensure that you will not meet the same fate that we did. By doing... this !”

<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal">

<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal">The 5 avatars then floated into the air and started spinning around and around until they combined together to form a big white orb of light. This orb, in turn, immediately infused itself into my avatar's body, which caused him to glow.

<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal">

<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal">I was then thrown back into the action, only this time the tables have turned. Now I was the one whose attacks did a heck of a lot of damage and Tozor could not even put a scratch in me. As the battle raged on, short text boxes from Tozor would appear every now and then that said things like “No, this can't be!” and “I will crush you!” and some quip about a thousand curses.

<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal">

<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal">Soon, it was Tozor who had 10 HP left, and with one final shot from my blaster, he flew off the battlefield. He let out a defeated roar as the announcer called, “Game set!”

<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal">

<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal">The game cut to black after that, and I remember sitting back in my chair looking up at the ceiling, where after I let out a heavy sigh, I muttered, “It's finally over.”

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<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal">Yes, it was finally over, or so I thought at that moment, because when I looked at the TV again, I saw Tozor's eyes staring me down in anger and humiliation.

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<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal">“What?! How are you still here?!” I angrily shouted, “I played your game, and I defeated you, fair and square! What more do you want from me?!”

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<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-weight: normal">“ Did you really think you could get rid of me that easily, Fox?” Tozor responded, “I will come back! I always do. And next time, you won't have anyone to save you.”

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<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal">It didn't take long for me to find out just what he meant by that last sentence. The next thing I saw were the 5 avatars staring at me from the black void, my avatar was no longer present. As per tradition it seemed, the Peach avatar approached the screen first and said, “I know that look on your face. You're probably wondering why Tozor said you will have no one to save you next time. Well, simply put, it's because we will be leaving this console forever and going to our long-overdue eternal rest.”

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<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal">“Thanks to you...whatever-your-name-is...” chimed in the Jigglypuff avatar.

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<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal">“Fox,” I replied.

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<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal">“Fox, huh?” said the Peach avatar, “Well, I think it would be polite for us to introduce ourselves as well, even though you won't be seeing us for much longer, at least not until the next life.” She then introduced herself as Susie. Following her example, the other avatars introduced themselves as Shawn (Falco), Stacey (Zelda), Priscilla (Jigglypuff), and Matthew (Roy.)

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<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal">“Well, it was nice to meet you, Fox,” said Matthew, “Actually, there's something I want to tell you.” He then turned to face the others. “You guys go on ahead. I'll catch up with you. Just wanna have a talk with our friend in the real world here.”

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<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal">“Sure thing, Matt,” said Shawn.

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<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal">And with that, one-by-one, Susie, Shawn, Stacey, and Priscilla all faded from view, and once we were alone, Matthew elaborated on what it was he wanted to tell me.

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<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal">“Listen closely, Fox. Before I leave to follow the others, I can tell you have questions, and while I may not have all the answers, I can tell you what I know. I've done a bit of digging around into Tozor before I met my demise at the jaws of Hermes' pet.”

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<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal">“You mean that wolf/frilled lizard thing I saw out on my front porch?” I asked.

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<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal">“Yep, that's the one,” Matthew replied, “Funnily enough, I did get a call from an unknown number while I was doing my research on my phone, but I ignored it for obvious reasons.

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<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal">“Anyway, back on track, it turns out that 'Tozor' is actually something that my sources call an 'MCE' or 'Malicious Console Entity.' No one exactly knows how he came to be. But what people do know is that he needs to have a gaming console to infect at all times. If said console was ever destroyed or damaged beyond repair, Tozor will immediately seek out another console in the owner's house to infect. If he can't find one, he will instead infect the owner's brain. Side effects of this include vivid nightmares, severe headaches, eye strain, and/or dizzy spells all with no apparent cause. The only way to end that torment, is to simply buy another game console.

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<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal">“That's not all. It is possible for him to be unleashed into the real world, but only if he has 6 human souls in his possession. He gains souls in one of two ways. The first way is by stabbing the victim through the chest following the victim's inevitable defeat against him in his game of choice, which is based on the victim's favorite game. The second way is, well, let's just say it's how I met my own demise, which I've already told you about, so moving on.

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<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal">“The only way to keep Tozor at bay is to play games on the infected console, at least once a day. While it is okay to skip a day or two, you can't go more than a month and a half without experiencing...problems. Problems that I'm sure you're very well aware of by now.”

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<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal">I nodded, thinking back about all that had happened up to me playing Melee that night.

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<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal">“I will leave you with this. If you want to make sure that you don't experience anything like tonight again, either put the GameCube away in permanent storage, or give it to someone else. The choice is up to you.”

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<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal">“Quick question, though,” I said, “You said you got a call from an unknown number. I got redirected to a new conversation with an unknown number while I was talking to my friend's girlfriend, could I have been talking to 'Hermes?'”

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<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal">“It's very likely. When I saw that name pop up in my research as the name of a disembodied voice that claims that Tozor is its master, and calls you on your phone to remind you to play the console, I couldn't help but feel like that was a fitting name. What with the fact that Hermes is the messenger of the gods in Greek mythology and everything...

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<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal">“...Anyway, so that's everything I know. I know, it's a lot to take in. But don't forget my advice, I can't force you to take it, but I wouldn't recommend ignoring it, either, for your well-being's sake. So now, I must go. Thank you for all you have done, Fox. We will never forget you.”

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<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal">And just like that, Matthew faded from view, just like the others, and the GameCube and the TV both shut themselves off, leaving me in a very peaceful silence.

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<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal">Epilogue

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<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal">It had been a month since my battle against Tozor. But a lot had happened in that time frame. I got a new job as an auto mechanic. And I've moved into a nice apartment building that's a good half hour's walk from the auto shop that I work for, with the setup that Ian and I share one room and Lily and Monica share the room across the hall.

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<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal">I still had the GameCube with me, though that wouldn't be the case for much longer.

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<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal">My plan for that morning was simple. I would play Adventure Mode on Melee one more time (and yes, I told the gang about what happened last month, so they knew what I planned to do), take the GameCube down to the local pawn shop, and then go to work. Easy, right? Well...it didn't play out exactly like that, but I'll get to that in a moment.

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<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal">The first part of my plan went off without a hitch. After I got dressed in my work uniform, I spent the next half an hour trekking through the world I remembered fondly as a kid, as indeed, everything was back to the way it was before this whole mess started.

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<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal">I shut the GameCube off the moment I was back at the main menu, took the disc out, and gathered up the console and its accessories before I walked out the door.

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<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal">On my way down the hall to the elevator, however, I heard a voice come from behind me.

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<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal">“Hey, kid, nice GameCube you got there. Where are you taking it?”

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<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal">I turned around to see that the voice came from my 40-something-year-old neighbor, Spencer Bowman. Long story short, he was definitely the last person I wanted to talk to at that moment.

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<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal">“Look, first of all, don't call me 'kid,' second of all, I don't have time to chat because some of us have a job to go to, and third of all, if you really must know, I'm taking this to the pawn shop on the way to my job!” I said this as calmly as I could so that I didn't cause a scene, but made sure to inject every word with venom so that he would hopefully get the hint and leave me alone.

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<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal">Unfortunately, he didn't back off, rather, he stood right in my way and said, “What?! Kid, if you don't want that GameCube anymore, surely there must be a better way for you to get rid of it than some musty, old pawn shop!”

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<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal">“Oh...really? What's that?” I asked disinterestedly.

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<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal">“Why, you're looking straight at it, kid! Here,” Spencer took out his wallet out of his pocket and started sorting through the bills, “How much do you want for it? $20? $50? 60?”

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<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal">“Hmm...” I pretended to think about it for a moment, “Ah, what the heck? Here!” I handed the GameCube over to him, which he took a little too eagerly.

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<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal">“That will be exactly $0. Good day to you, sir!” I continued in a forced, overly-dramatic tone, “But for your health's sake, I'd highly recommend you to take good care of it, got it?”

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<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal">“Wow, thanks kid, you won't regret this. And of course I'll take care of it. It's like you don't even know me or something,” said Spencer before he quickly but carefully returned to his room.

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<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal">Although I refused to admit it at the time, in all honesty what I did just then felt good, to say the least. Though it was more of a means to get Spencer off my back before he made himself look like an idiot by either giving me puppy eyes, or even resorting to that whole cling-to-my-leg-and-beg routine until I gave him the GameCube out of pity.

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<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal">I shook my head and rolled my eyes at that thought before I proceeded with my exit from the apartment to go to work, hoping that Spencer would have just as much fun with it as I did.

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<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal">Written by: MrAleuMcBalto (talk) originally posted on September 27, 2019

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<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal">Author's note

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<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal">Wow, my first creepypasta. And perhaps the longest story I've ever written in my life. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed it as much as I had fun writing it. Constructive criticism would really help me out in the future. Thanks!

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