Bad Split

(Jared's POV)

TASCorp Store…

Tari, Theo, and I are still surrounded by Lucks and his employees.

"Whoa! Is this that secret level, Tari and Jared?" Theo asked, looking between Tari and I.

"Not now, Theo." I said, clutching the strap of my sling bag. "We need to get out of here now."

"What…the hell?" Belle asked.

"Astounding." Lucks said, in awe.

Tari looks for a way out as she sees the exit.

"Tari and Jared, wasn't it? No need to panic. Forgive me for that unpleasantness. Understand that it was not my intention. My name is Lucks. And I truly wish to help you, Tari, figure out more about yourself and your abilities…" Lucks said.

"NO! Stay back! All of you!" Tari said, angrily.

"Calm down, Tari. Listen to Lucks. We are not here to hurt you and Jared." Belle said.

"Not here to hurt us? What was THAT just then?"

"Oh please, don't be such a…"

Lucks silences Belle, "That was us trying to get you and Jared OUT of the game. And it worked, did it not?"

"N-No. We're going to leave. I may not remember anything at all, but I can tell when someone is trying to manipulate me." Tari said, while I looked down at the ground.

"Goodbye final boss! We'll be back to kill you later!" Theo said, excitedly.

Lucks sighs in a bit of annoyance. As Tari and I try to exit out, a scientist blocks our way.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you, honey." Belle said.

"Let us through." Tari said.

"Please." I said, looking at Belle.

"Yeah! Let us through fatty!" Theo yelled.

"I am a man of opportunity. When I see an opportunity, I take it. And this is a huge opportunity for the three of us, Tari, Jared." Lucks said, as Theo gets ready to throw a coconut at the scientist. "You want answers… and so do I. I promise you will be paid handsomely…"

Theo throws the coconut at the scientist which blinds them. 

Tari hesitates a bit as she makes a break for it with me, "Come on, Theo, Jared."

"Right." I said, happily.

"Oh." Theo said, frowning.

Tari, Theo, and I run for it.

"Hey!" Belle said, trying to run after Tari and I, but Lucks grabbed her hand. "What?! They're getting away!"

"We can't chase a girl and the President of Earth in the streets. The press would be all over this." Lucks said.

"Well what do you suggest we do, then?"

"Grab all the equipment and the game cartridge. I want everything back at the lab for extensive testing." Lucks said, turning to the scientists. "As for the girl, the President of the World, and the game character…Leave that…to me."

Silica City…

Tari and I are running through the streets with Theo.

"Crackerjack…Everything's so shiny! I gotta touch everything…" Theo said, at a loss for words.

"Why aren't they chasing after us? This… isn't good Theo, Jared. We need to look for a place to hide." Tari said, as she and I looked around and Theo was missing. "Theo?! THEO?!"

"Crap." I said, bumping into a few people. "Sorry. Theo! Where are you?"

Theo is walking down the streets as passerbys look at him, "Hey NPC lady! Can you give me a hint on where the secret loot is in this level? The Elder Tomato isn't talking. I think he's mad at me."

"Oh my gosh! What an amazing cosplay! You look exactly like Theo!" The female pedestrian cheered.

"Huh? I am Theo." Theo said, glitching out a bit.

"AAAHHHH!" The female pedestrian said, visibly startled by Theo glitching out.

Tari then swoops in to carry Theo away as I'm running behind them.

"Hey!" Theo said, angrily.

"So sorry! You didn't see anything!" Tari said, running away with me and carrying Theo.

"Oh. Hey, Tari, Jared!" Theo said, looking between Tari and I.

"Theo, you can't run off like that." I said, looking down at Theo, who is still being carried by Tari. "Do you not know what's happening right now?"

"Huh? I don't know about you, Tari, Jared, but I need to finish this game." Theo said, smiling.

Tari goes into the alleyway with me to hide and the blue haired girl sets down Theo.

"Theo. Look around you! We're not on Simple Flip Island anymore. In fact, we're not in your game at all." Tari said, sadly.

"Huh? We're not…?" Theo asked.

"Nope. We're in the real world, and there are very bad people trying to capture us." I said, sadly.

"Bad people? Well, that's okay! I've got my trusty coconut!" Theo said, excitedly.

"Theo, your abilities won't work here. We can no longer jump super high like we're playing a platformer."

"That's nonsense!" Theo said, trying to jump but cannot jump that high at all. "What…?"

"…Ugh…okay, Jared…" Tari said, looking at me. "Come on… think…what can we do here?" 

Theo throws his coconut at the wall. He kept throwing the coconut at the wall as Tari continued looking at me for answers.

"Aww…." Theo said.

"Theo, can you give us two seconds here? Jared and I need to think and come up with a plan." Tari said, frowning.

"Oh, okay…. Sorry…." Theo said, sadly.

"No, sorry Theo. I…. I didn't mean that." Tari said.

"Oh. I know. Why don't we hide in there? It looks like a lot of fun!" I said, looking at the Hive.

"Ah! Okay! Sure!" Theo cheered.

We go inside the Hive which is powered by Nexus Gaming.

The Hive…

"Wow…" Tari said, at a loss for words.

We look around the place and at the streaming pods.

"Hey internet! Tashaplays here!" A female streamer said.

"WHAT is going on everybody! Pixeljumpgamer here!" A male streamer said.

"Tiltup32 just donated 30 coins! Thanks so much!" A female streamer said, excitedly.

"What?! What was that?! Augh! This game is rigged!" A male streamer said, angrily.

"This is…so cool…" Tari said, in awe.

"Heh, look at all these nerds!" Theo yelled.

Tari and I gave Theo a 'seriously' look. WE then enter an empty streaming pod. Theo excitedly gets onto the chair.

"I think we can just hole up in here until things settle down." Tari said.

Theo boots up the stream as he gets a controller.

"Whooaaaaa…" Theo said, playfully pressing a lot of buttons.

"Just try not to make any noise, Theo, Jared." Tari said, leaning back against the wall as she sits down. 

After taking a look at Theo enjoying playing the game, Tari then looks at the cup of coffee by the trash can which brings back memories for her.

"You know, I do love a nice cup of coffee." I said, while Tari has a flashback scene where the doctor was drinking a cup of coffee and a lot of flashbacks of his actions as a female voice yells. This ends in a kind of explosion as Tari jolts up from the memory as she gasps for breath. "A peppermint mocha is my favorite."

"Ah cool!" Theo said, starting up a livestream. "Hi world! I'm Theo! What's going on?"

"THEO!" I said, angrily. "Now is not the time to start a livestream!"

Tari and I take seats as our faces are shown in full view.

"Uh- um…" Tari said, as the comments start pouring in. "Oh!- Uh…" The view count goes up as she gasps. "Ah crap! No no no no! How do I turn this thing off?"

And then a message from Belle pops up which says 'Enjoying the streaming pods? ;)'. This causes Tari to gasp heavily.

"What? What is it?" Theo asked.

Tari goes up as she looks around and eventually she sees Belle waving her hand and a TASGuard accompanying her. This causes Tari to freak out and jump back down. Theo has picked streaming back up.

"Alright guys! Let's get this chat to 1 bajillion views! Be sure to smash that follow but…" Theo said, happily.

Tari carries Theo yet again as her and I exit the streaming pod thus causing the stream to shut down. 

"I love watching streams. I, um, wouldn't host one." I said, and Tari is holding Theo's hands as we walk away as quietly as we can. "Mint Fantôme is such a fun watch. Her along with Matara Kan and dokibird."

"Aww! Just five more minutes, Tari, Jared!" Theo said, annoyed.

"Theo. This is not the time for a debut stream." I said, clutching the strap of my sling bag.

Apparently, a TASGuard comes from the exit door in front of Tari and I. Tari gets a bit startled and looks back to see that we are surrounded.

"Couldn't let Lucks do his thing, could you? You just had to be difficult." Belle said.

"How…? How did you find us?" Tari asked.

"Company trade secret, honey. Now quit being difficult and come with us." Belle said, looking at us.

"NO! S-Someone! Help!" Tari said, worried.

"Let me guess, the streaming pods have noise canceling tech installed. That makes it so no one hears us." I said, pointing in a certain direction. "What the hell is that?"

Theo throws a coconut at Belle, causing her to recoil in pain.

"OW!" Belle yelled.

"Take THAT, foul beast!" Theo said, angrily.

"GOD DAMN IT! YOU LITTLE RUNT!" Belle said, while Tari, Theo, and I push them aside as we make a break for it. "Ugh…" She orders the TASGuards as she points. "Get them!"

Tari, Theo, and I are still running.

"Through there! We have to get out of this building!" Tari said, going inside the door as Theo and I stop midway as we turn back.

"Banana Mines!" Theo said, throwing some banana peels at the TASGuards who stop in their tracks and backs off a bit.

The mines do not explode as the Guards take time to regain their composure as an awkward moment happens between Theo, the guards, and I.

"Uh…" Theo said, looking around.

"Come on." I said, grabbing Theo's hand to pull him to the side.

"You two. Get the kid and superhero. Leave the chick to me. She's trapped herself." Belle said.

Tari pants as she tries to catch her breath. She looks around as she tries to find Theo and I.

"Theo? Jared? Where are you?" Tari asked.

"Video game boy has been captured. You should come with us now." Belle said.

"N-no… Why..? Why are you doing this?"

"Why?" Belle asked, chuckling. "How did someone so clueless get such incredible abilities?"

"What does it matter to you? I… I have no memory of who I am or how I did any of that." Tari said, sadly.

"That doesn't matter, babe. Lucks is gonna extract your abilities and extract Jared's abilities and give them to the rest of us."

"But you… You saw what he did to us. How he hurt us…"

"Lucks… Lucks has hurt a lot of people. But it's all for the better."

"No. Please. How far are you willing to go just to win video games?" Tari asked, getting backed up to the wall as Belle aggressively grabs her arms and restrains her.

"You'd be surprised what people would do to be number 1." Belle said.

The two TASGuards are in a secluded room as they try to find Theo and I. They look around and see the Elder Tomato sitting on the chair in the center. They just shrug as they see the Tomato there and then they hear Theo's scream. Theo jumps and bonks his coconut at one of the guards as he jumps off and I used my ghost powers to phase through one of the guards.

"Huh? The baddies here are dumb, just like back home, too!" Theo said, excitedly.

The TASGuards recover as they bring out their electro-batons out.

"So! It's a fight you want, huh? Hah!" Theo said, jumping to try to attack, but I grabbed him from continuing with the jump.

"Theo!" I cried, making myself visible and jumped in front of Theo, protecting him from the batons. "Don't worry. They were gonna shock you."

"Thanks." Theo said, with me protecting him from the TASCorp guards.

As the Guards start to close in, Theo looks at some boxes. He then throws his coconut at the boxes which causes them to fall over.

"Ha ha!" Theo cheered, as the boxes all hit the TASGuards. "How bad would the electrical shock from them be?"

"Bad." I said, and Theo takes the Elder Tomato with him. "I had to save you from that pain."

"Yeah! Teamwork!" Theo said, while he chuckles as we make our escape.

Outside the Hive…

Theo and I are making our way outside.

"Tari? Tari!" Theo said, seeing the van where the TASGuards are there in the fair distance.

"Are you serious?! How do two grown men lose a child and a superhero?! Find THEM!" Belle yelled.

Theo and I hide behind something. Theo uses his coconut as a stool to get a better view. It shows Belle cutting off comms as Tari is getting 'arrested' and taken to the back of the van.

"No…. Tari…" Theo said, pouting and getting sad quite a bit as he starts to cry.

"It's okay, Theo." I said, as a dude with a beanie and a mechanical arm appears as he walks over. "We'll save Tari. I know we will."

"Don't worry, little man and the Black Pearl." A man said, nearby.

"Huh?" Theo asked.

"I got this."