I found myself in the real world again, no more pixels or video game animation. I just had to make sure the time was okay, or I was screwed.
I made my way to the living room, and stopped breathing when I saw the time. It was almost one in the afternoon. That game took three hours!
I stopped thinking and searched the house for someone. I saw the groceries on the counter, and when I approached the window, Nathan's car was gone. I swore under my breath as I picked up the phone and called him, breathing in deeply and preparing for all the yelling he'd do.
"Hello?" Nathan asked, his voice shaky, and I heard the car engine in the background.
"Hey Nathan…" I trailed, and I heard nothing for a second, and I prepared for the yelling.
"Kairi, I swear to God-" He cut himself off, and he didn't yell, but it wasn't exactly calm either. "Where are you?"
"At home. Where else would I be?" I asked like it was a stupid question, but I tugged on my shirt nervously.
"You weren't when I got home." He sighed, but kept talking. "Just stay there."
"Okay, I can do that." I promised, and I turned the phone off so he couldn't talk again. I was dreading the moment when he would come home, because then I'd have to explain where I was…
I heard the front door open, so I stood up from the couch and waited for them both to enter. I stood there awkwardly as they ran over to me, wrapping me in their arms.
"My God, Kairi." Nathan whispered, breaking away but placing his hands on my shoulders. "Where were you? I thought they took you away again."
"I was here the whole time!" I replied honestly. "Really, I was."
"But we searched everywhere for you." Nathan countered, pointing to him and Serah. "We called you, yelled your name, we tried the neighbors, but nobody knew where you were." He looked deep into my eyes with his pure brown ones that copied Dad's so well. "Please tell me where you were."
I placed my hands on his shoulders, copying him. "I'm dead serious. I was here."
Nathan shook his head fast, flipping his hair to the side of his face. "Fine, if you don't want to tell me, just don't do it again, okay?"
I sighed, but nodded. I knew I was telling the truth, but I wanted them to believe me. Although I wasn't about to give them the secret of The System. It was the most exciting thing I've done in years, even if it was unbelievable. I'd tell them eventually, you know, once I get through all the games… but I don't know when that'll be, or how long it'll take.
I waited for them to get settled in and calm again before attempting to talk to them. I could tell Nathan was still pretty upset, making the guilt inside me rise. I wish I would be able to tell them without them freaking out, but I knew it wasn't possible. I really wished they'd leave again so I could get back on, but I knew that wasn't happening. I guess I'd just have to wait until night…
Dinner was pretty much silent with the exception of some small talk. I kept my eyes on my food and never looked any of them in the eye, but I kept myself occupied with my thoughts. It would've just been awesome to take them with me, to enjoy the games and have fun… and we didn't even have to travel. It could be the vacation we were looking for!
But I kept it to myself as I snuck downstairs when everyone went to bed. I entered the office, tip-toeing over with a flashlight so I could see. Once the screen lit up I turned it off, hooked on my controller and I continued the settings. I wasn't scared when I saw the red line. I was excited when I pixilated, and I was off to the next game in line.
~~~~~~~~~~
The first thing I see is the yellow dirt and a railroad track. The sky was blue, so there was a bonus, and the animation seemed alright, although it was very cartoonish. I took a step, and immediately heard the clanking of metal. I was in some sort of armor, and I had a gigantic wrench in my hand that was too oversized for me. I saw crates and bolts and floating things, and it seemed familiar, although I couldn't quite place it…
I stopped my thoughts when I saw another suit of armor run past me spastically, holding a different wrench and had long yellow-striped ears behind him, as well as a pointed tail. He looked human other then the ears and tail, so I decided to make myself friendly and go speak with him.
"Hi!" I greeted, and he whipped around, pointing his wrench at me. "Whoa, calm down, um, thing."
"Who are you?" He questioned, and even his voice had the friendly tone, way too familiar, and it killed me that I couldn't place it. He somehow switched his wrench to some form of plasma gun, but it was a video game, so I just didn't question.
"Um, my name is Kairi." I answered calmly, showing I meant no harm. Hopefully I wasn't messing with the game-time continuum in any way. "What's yours?"
"It's irrelevant." He shot at me, but put his gun down. "Pleased to meet you anyway."
"Yeah, great…" I muttered as he took off down the track, and I followed him. He started messing with some plant thing, and I wondered if I should've just ditched, but then he took off again, and I was right behind. Gold bolts were oddly just flying straight towards him, probably the metal on the armor, but then they'd disappear, but I shook my head in confusion. It's just a video game, anything can happen…
There was a ditch, and another creature with the ears and the tail like him, standing there awkwardly. I waited for somebody to say something, although it took a while.
"We have to find a way to raise that mining platform…" The other creature informed, standing still and emotionless the whole time. "Luckily I come prepared." He said enthusiastically as he threw a green glowing orb into the ditch. "There. Head to the bottom, see if you can raise the platform." He ordered the one I was following, but spoke again. "I'll cover you from here."
With that he jumped, and I gasped, running to the edge and watching him soar down with the rockets on his boots. It probably would've been better to stay up here, but I was in a video game. I couldn't die, right?
I found a way to turn on my boots and I took off, trying to gain control but epically failing. I was about three feet from the ground when I heard shots go off, and then I was on the ground, scraping the armor I had and skidding to a stop. There was no more rockets, at least.
I stood up and saw the creature with his gun out, aiming at my feet, but stuffed it back in his belt. He ran around the ditch platform to platform until he hit the bottom, where he turned the large dial and raised the platform, where I gladly hopped on so I could get back to the top. If my rockets were truly out, I couldn't get out of the stupid ditch.
Eventually he raised it all the way, and I heard the other creature yell to he could hear him. "Nice job, Ratchet! I knew you could do it! come on, get back up here and let's find that eye!"
Eye? Actually, I didn't really care about that. Ratchet? I looked over at the creature who was climbing his way back up. I smiled as I realized where I was, and which game I was in.
Ratchet and Clank: A Crack in Time.
"You did well. Come on, let's search the caves." The other creature said, and we followed him down the railroad track and into the cave. I wanted to help them search for whatever they were looking for, but I barely knew this game. I've seen my brother and Dad play it, but never played it myself. I didn't know what they were looking for, what it looked like, or where to find it. I was helpless.
Ratchet started launching random stuff at boxes, getting bolts and clearing space. They kept moving forward though, until we approached a black blob thing, and we all stopped.
"Hold on, see that nest over there?" The other creature asked, and I bugged me that I never learned his name. But these slimy long creatures with multiple eyes were slithering out, and it was so gross I almost left the game. "Tetramites. Stay close and whatever happens, do not let them touch you."
"What happens if they do?" Ratchet asked, and then they disconnected from their links and were bouncing around spastically. I was not liking this…
"Let's just say they can digest anything." He informed, and I had my finger on the button just in case. "Now remember, Tetramites hate water, so if we can get to the other side of that creek, we'll be fine." He assured as they all started coming for us, but luckily we were standing in water. "Let's move!" And then we took off, crossing the bridge and jumping over some that got too close. But they just chased after us until we hit a little pond, and that slowed them down, but they just jumped more and then so did we, platform to platform or we would fall into the nothingness below. Ratchet had to readjust the platforms for me, but I got across, with the rest of us too. Soon there were two swarms and we were stuck in a stretch of water.
"Yeah, what do we do now, Ratchet? I asked, whacking some with my wrench and batting them away. He just hopped on a springy blue mound and I followed him, latching onto bars and easing our way across until we dropped down into more water, and then we were done. I let go of the remote and let it swing on my wrist, ready for what happened next, but happy to be alive.
"What did I tell ya? A leap of faith!" The other creature exclaimed, but I just glared at him. Damn these in-shape video game characters. Then he took off down the cave, leaving Ratchet and I behind.
"General, wait!" Ratchet yelled, and I finally had something to call him by. Ratchet stayed behind and blew up some boxes, collecting more bolts, and then he was off, and so was I. He did a rocket boost thing with his boots, so I attempted to do the same, although we were going down instead of across. I did the best I could to hover down with these almost-broken rockets, but it took forever, and I didn't know what time it was in the real world. The area faded to black, and I just waited for something to happen…
The general lit what looked like a green glow stick, and suddenly we could see again. I only saw him though, and I didn't know where Ratchet wandered off to.
"General!" I heard Ratchet's voice, and then footsteps from behind, and then he was there. The General stuck his hand out, stopping him. "Will you just stop for a second? I wanna know what happened."
I drew a blank and stood there, waiting for more explanation. I didn't know what he was talking about, so I thought I might learn something.
"Questions, questions, you ask all these questions!" He yelled angrily at Ratchet, but beating on some rock with his wrench. "Ask yourself this- how relevant is the past when I can be changed? Your father would have said not very."
Ratchet stood there too, staring at him almost as confused as I was. but I was stuck on what he said earlier. The past can be… changed? Like time travel? I have to figure this out.
"That's him, and you still haven't given me a straight answer. Now why aren't you with the Lombaxes?"
"Because I failed them!" He screamed angrily, but his eyes softened, and we both went wide-eyed, and I felt like I was gonna cry. I'm so soft on the inside… but that's what we were? Lombaxes? Hmm, never heard of them… I guess they were just a made up animal by whoever makes this game. "I failed them…" and he backed up against a wall and slid down, sitting on the cold hard dirt. "I made a mistake." And then the screen faded into a new cut scene, and I sat down too, ready for the story he was probably going to tell.
"After the Great War, Polaris was a dangerous place. Even with the Cragmites gone, I knew steps needed to be taken to protect the galaxy." He stopped, dipping his head, and I could tell he was flashing back and remembering. "One day we were approached by an inventor with incredible ideas, technology light years beyond what we were using. The inventor was someone… someone your father warned me not to trust. Our kind grew suspicious of him, but I was convinced this was the right thing to do for the galaxy. I granted him full access to our technology, all of our secrets. Only when he was finished, they took refuge of the court, but your father refused. He would never have left your mother. When he made it back… she was already gone. I don't know how long he survived before Tachian caught up with him, but I know I was responsible for his death." He stood up slowly, but my eyes were filled with tears so it was blurry. What? It was sad! "And for my crimes, I was forbidden from joining the Lomabaxes. And so I live an exile." But he lifted his head determiningly, approaching Ratchet. "But I can make it right, Ratchet. all of it, I-" but he stopped, bent down and put a hand on his shoulder. "We can fix it, with the clock in our control, it'll be like none of this ever happened." He turned back around and looked at the wall made of stone. "Stay with me, and I promise I'll get your family back." And then he took his wrench that somehow formed a border or lightning and charged it at the rock, making it explode and crumble to the ground. Ratchet and I covered our heads until the last piece fell, but the General was already gone, and took off down the path he just created.
"Damn…" I muttered, standing up. It was just so… crazy. I wondered why I never really played this game, it seemed to have a good story and plot and everything. The whole game was mind blowing, and I had to make sure I legitimately play this game later.
"You coming?" Ratchet asked me, ready to take off down the path the General had created.
I wanted to, but I didn't know what time it was, and I didn't know how long that whole thing just took. "Nah, you go ahead." I told him, and he nodded, turning around. "I hope you get your family back."
"Thanks." I muttered and took off. I sighed and dropped my wrench, finding the controller again and pressing eject. I wiped the virtual tears from my eyes away and smiled at the Lombax who was now out of sight. I hope he get his family back, cause I know I can't.