#422.user

Leo: This is the Jade you've mentioned? Well, hello! Welcome! Or welcome back, I guess-

404: Interesting... I enjoyed the puzzle, I must admit..

422: Jade, hm? Cool, another person to add to the list of souls trapped in a device!

Leo: There's a name for that fear, yknow.

404: Being trapped in a computer and/or being deleted, diagraphephobia...

Leo: Yep-

He's cut off by someone. Though the mic barely picks it up, it can be heard that he has to grab his bags and leave. His dad is here.

Leo: Craaaappp looks like I'm outta here.. EA boys, and everyone, take care!!! I'll leave my iPad as the camera now, I won't need it at dad's!

The camera turns off for a bit, then returns with slightly worse video quality. He turns it around to face the screen, 404 and 422 wave goodbye as the door shuts and the lights flick off.

404: He needs to quit calling us that..

422: Agreed.

((Haha EA boys cause Eteled and Austin. Also, blame the Vs Eteled FNF mod for me knowing that phobia! The song is great ^^

Although most of it was unfamiliar to her, something about the two digital spectre's back-and-forth caught Jade's attention.

"Souls Trapped In A...? Erm... What Are You Two Talking About?"

Kinito seemed to finally break his reverie, blinking as he caught up with the change in subject, waving his hands frantically to cover the chat.

"Shh-h! Look at her! I don't think that's something she can h-handle right now...!"

He gripped at his gills, glancing behind him with a frantic look, a dull pounding behind his eyes. She...

She was like how he was, a long time ago.

"I Just Want To Understand... Can't You Just Tell Me What's Going On...?"

"I-I change my mind! I... I don't want to involve her in this! This... was a bad idea!"

What was he saying...?

This wasn't about him.

Leo: Sorry about that, she does that all the time.

He turned his camera around to show his computer screen. While screens never show up well on camera, 404 and 422 were still discernable after the camera was adjusted.

However, only one of them looked up to the camera. 422 waved a bit, but 404 was focused on Sonny's feed, clearly annoyed. He began to ramble.

404: He thought a digital world was better?.. Tch, glad he's stuck to be honest... he can suffer the same way we have... Being trapped and suffering at the hands of peoples insolence...

He silenced himself, and Leo turned the camera back to himself.

Leo: I once wondered what living in a computer would be like.. But judging by you guys, these two, and a few pieces of media.. It'd probably be no fun... At least with the current circumstances..

He sighed and looked to the camera.

Leo: I hope we can figure this all out.. I've even been getting into 3D modeling.. Maybe one day, when you get admin, we can figure out a way to change your models to be.. better?.. More fitting for yourself, I suppose.. Unless you like your models, of course..

He fell silent in thought, perhaps waiting for a reply.

(("Pieces of media" being The Matrix movies and the game Outcore. 10/10 would recommend, play the game!!

Jazzy was quite the little icebreaker.

Kinito leaned against the mattress as he tried to catch a better glimpse of the aforementioned feline, casting off some of the stress he'd been harboring.

"Heh... Cute."

Sam seemed to do the opposite, leaning forward with focus as he tried to make out the fuzzy details of his enemy's feed that now filled Leo's screen.

"you don't want any part of this world, or any other based in ones and zeros, i can assure you..."

His voice was a distant murmur as he scanned over the visuals, though one phrase gave him pause. Something he wanted so badly...

"more fitting...? huh. uhm... we'll see."

It wasn't too much longer before he sat back again, his expression pensive. He tapped at the screen to his right, rubbing his chin in thought.

"i know where that is... sort of. he's definitely somewhere in the forest that surrounds this place... but, his exact location could be anywhere... the web world may be the center of the map, but those woods spread out for miles. there might have been plans to add extra areas dispersed throughout, or something..."

Some extended silence, a few more taps.

"the good news is the whole of it consists of a single chunk copy and pasted a bunch of times, so if we had a map of that chunk, we'd have a map of his entire world."

He pursed his lips, his hand stilling over the stark white screen.

[He remained silent until he heard a thick, monstrous growl from his speakers- A predatory noise that would send any fowl up the walls and for the hills. It sounded like a cougar or... or some sort of canine. It was hard to make out. Usually the bigger predators were moreso seen in the bovine herds, and he had only encountered a wild cat once- he was just lucky he had been helping out Nova's herd when he had heard that awful noise...]

[And instinctively, he crowed at an invisible threat.]

WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT?

- 🐓

Sam seemed to be ignoring communications as he furiously tapped away at some dialog boxes, muttering feverishly.

"ohhh, i just had to speak of the devil..."

"i mean christ almighty just how the hell did he sneak up on me like that???"

"i thought i'd have more time, there's no fuckin way, no fucking-"

He briefly looked up, finally noticing the concerned messages with a wild look in his eyes.

"that indeed is mr. big ugly himself, who is oh-so graciously deciding to bless us with his glorious presence..."

He paused briefly to glance around and over the tops of the dialog boxes anxiously, but didn't seem to see anything immediately concerning...

...That is, until another bone-rattling roar erupted from seemingly everywhere at once, causing Sam to flinch hard.

"A-as for safety..."

404: Hey, Kin, we're here for you. I kinda think he's just trying to fuel the fire, I'm unsure.. Maybe if we had a hacker of some kind here, they could try and fix you..

422 takes the keyboard now, rushing a message out as they hear a door from outside their computer.

422: I wish 404 and I could help, but our tech skills are.. very outdated, to say the least..

"I'm afraid that the only one that can repair me is Sonny..."

"I don't know why he left, but it might've been an accident. Maybe he got too busy, or... or something else came up? If so, then if we could just find him, remind him that I exist, then maybe he'll keep working on me? Fix me up?"

404: Sam's here!!

422 noticed that 404 had kinda taken a liking to Sam.. he's awfully similar to Samantha in quite a few ways.. even name..

Leo sends a message.

Leo: If Sam's here.. out of that weird void.. that means Sonny is, too..

422: Leo's right, we have both of the feeds pulled up.. Sonny is here.. be careful..

Sam bristled, not quite ready to be faced to confront that reality so suddenly.

"i - yeah. yeah, he is. i-"

He did a double take at 422's message, not having processed it right away.

"both feeds? how the hell did he get one?!"

His focus was fully on this issue now, panic evident in his eyes.

"are you guys talking to him??"

His expression shifted - became more thoughtful.

Leo: Are you the Kinito I was told about? You seem awfully panicked.. Worried about being alone?...

422: Hey, we're all here, and we even brought a new friend.

404: +1 angsty teen.

Leo scoffs are 404s rude, albeit kinda funny, attempt of lightening the mood. He comments on how he isn't that bad. And, if anything, that 404 himself is far worse.

They all then heard Kinito ask about Sam, but none of the three wanted to risk telling Kin about him.. so they'll wait..

Kinito is visibly elated when he sees Leo's message, his gills flitting happily.

"It's so nice to finally meet you! Your two friends here have told me much about you."

He wrings his hands at being called out.

Leo: HAH- Absolutely not!!!

After a bit of laughing, Leo composes himself to explain.

Leo: Alright, Alright, you see.. these two are a lot similar to you, Sam-

404: I miss Sam..

Leo shook his head and continued.

Leo: Anyways, these two were once workers at Nintendo of America before some.. tragic incidents caused their deaths and out them in a Wii console. It had two owners, Kyle first and Samantha second.

Leo took a moment to breathe, before continuing this story.

Leo: 404, or Eteled, kinda traumatized Kyle as a kid, and his dad sold the Wii by accident years later, which it later went to Samantha. Sam befriended 404 for a bit before Kyle showed up to destroy the Wii. He didn’t have too, however, because 422, or Austin, decided to me,t the components to get revenge on Eteled. Somehow they managed to connect themselves to the internet before it melted and got themselves sent to my pc!

404: Alright, enough dwelling on the past and retelling our story.. Point is, 422 and I both are humans trapped in digital bodies like you guys.

422 joined into the conversation, though he was rather quiet and a bit distorted.

422: Why not just say that he killed me?..

Leo: Wasn’t sure if you’d want me to.. But too late now.

Sam was shocked, to say the least.

Although there were definite differences in their stories, the thought that what happened to him and the others had happened before in a completely external event horrified him.

"i... i'm so sorry... i don't know what to say. no one should have to go through that."

"...not sure if you intended to take them in, but it's real nice of you to have not kicked them out and given them a place to stay, kid. i know they appreciate it more than you know."

"...better hope sonny doesn't hear about this... he'd get extra pissed knowing someone else figured out how to format people as digital files before he did... i really don't want to have to deal with that..."

It was then that Leo perked up, hearing something about it being able to use the participants' cameras and mics. Along with Rye being quick to show themself, he decided to do the same.

Leo: Woah, this is insane… One second, let me connect my phone to my computer!

404 quickly objected to Leo, saying not to show his face, but he says it's not the first time and won't be the last. He's shown it on the internet and connects his phone anyway.

Using his phone as his camera, Leo sends a go ahead message to turn on his camera.

Leo: Alright, my camera is set up. 404 tried to object, so it took a bit. Sorry!

Before them all sat a teenage boy with ashy brown hair and a messy room, who awkwardly apologized for the wait (despite it not being that long) before a deep voice, followed by a glitched voice faintly came through the microphone.

404: Turn that thing off, kid!

422: Shut up Henry, let him have this.

404: Do NOT call me that!!

The two proceeded to argue, while Leo again apologized.

Leo: Sorry about them.. So let me get this straight. You, Kinito, and someone named Jade all were kidnapped and put into these digital characters?.. Not far off from 404 and 422 huh…

Holy moly art block is a killer and this drawing is so rushed))

"oh, uh, sure!"

Sam enables Leo's feed, and it joins Rye's, forming the start of a gallery view of sorts.

"i did see their names around the chat... what are they, your parents, or something...?"

Sam peers at the room. A flashback hits him - one of his own room as a teenager - but as quickly as it came, it was gone. He's left looking a smidge more worn than before.

"i never cleaned my room, either... man, i had so much cool stuff..."

He mutters to no one in particular, and his jaw tenses as an almost warning-like pang pinches behind his eyes. He's much better at hiding the pain than a certain pink axolotl.

Just like that, the moment passes, and Sam blinks blearily, shaking his head to dislodge the melancholic ache.

"sorry, sorry, um... yeah... that's just about-"

"wait. huh."