It all came down to this: It was all, or nothing. Haruka torqued her grip on her tennis racket. It was Round Three, and she was not going to lose again. She felt confident; her controller seemed good enough. During the course of the game, Haruka had been able to pull off numerous combos, and unleashed every one of her special moves. Her controller was certainly competent alright, he'd just been taken by surprise by the steep increase in difficulty that the current Student Council President, Yamiko Kage, presented.

Haruka had only faced Yamiko a couple of times before, and both times she was utterly powerless against him. Who wouldn't though; Yamiko was designed as a Final Boss, after all. He hit like a truck, his ranged attacks could strike from literally anywhere, and he was practically a damage sponge. But this didn't deter her, through the use of long and short range attacks and combos, she and her controller had been able to beat Yamiko in the second round, and she felt confident that they could do it a second time.

The announcer commenced the battle, and Haruka immediately sprinted forward and felt her controller's input, Forward, Forward, Down, High Kick. Haruka shouted, "Double Fault!" as she slid into the surprised Yamiko, tripping him and opening him up for a combo. Haruka quickly followed up with a mighty swing from her racket, and when Yamiko was out of melee range, she felt her controller input Down, Back, Forward, High Punch.

Haruka performed her trademark giggle as she threw a tennis ball up into the air, then shouted, "Service!", striking the ball with her racket and sending it flying at Yamiko. The ball struck him soundly in the midsection. Haruka grinned as she closed the gap to attempt another combo. She knew she could win now...

---

A tall man, wearing a long coat and a baseball cap, walked into Lan Party. Unlike the rest of those who were simply here to play games, this man had more sinister motivations: he wanted to win. At any cost. He was what many gamers would call 'a cheater'. He thought he had the perfect hack. It was a nice little homebrew virus that would only react to his input. Press a few keys to 'awaken' it, and it would hack the game's code to give him anything he wanted from the game: infinite health, continues, items, gold...he could even disrupt the AI to make the games super easy...or super challenging for everyone else.

Hacking the Lan Party server had been child's play, all that was left was to awaken the virus. Then the world, as far as the games were concerned, would be his.

Sunshine found herself in the driver seat of her hot pink Camaro Berlinetta, with attatched machine gun, and buzz saws of course. That could only mean one thing. "I got picked?... I GOT PICKED I GOT PICKED I GOT PICKED... LOOK OUT BOYS!" Overcome with excitement, she punched her foot on the gas, and took off into the Destructo Bowl. "Kind of quiet. Where is every... oh no." A bit of fear took over her normally confident demeanor.

On the road in front of her stood an enormous monster truck. Weapons stuck out on all sides, and they all seemed aimed in her direction. "Come on... reverse... reverse..." No such luck. She felt her car scream forward, driving straight at the much larger truck. A spray of bullets tore up her hood, but didn't stop her player from sending her in. "I just had that repainted!" Bracing for what would be a painful ending, she continued forward.

A few missiles fired off in her direction, but she was too fast. They landed just feet behind her, blasting her forward even faster. Closer, closer... finally she closed her eyes. A few seconds later, the machine gun bursts from her car surprised her. She was under the truck! She smiled as she could see the holes being blasted into the undercarriage. Making her way through to the other side, the bullet spray continued. Her car spun around to face the back of the truck which still hadn't moved... weird... and then a missile fired off the side of her car at the truck. Wait she didn't have missiles.

The explosion of the truck on impact was enough to make her flinch. The resulting fireball was the most satisfying thing Sunshine had seen in a long time, even if the circumstances still seemed strange. She would worry about that later. She had won. She actually won a boss fight. It was time to celebrate. She casually exited her vehicle, and let her player watch her victory dance.

Entering Area: Underworld

A big, dark furred dog jumped down from a rock ledge as the player's chosen character came into being. Green eyes appraised the player, and a small smirk formed on her face. It was one of the regulars - someone who favored the child of Zeus and played like a madman. The dog approached the player, barking threateningly before transforming into a young woman.

Cosima dusted herself off before smirking at the player. "Congratulations on making your way to Hades' lair. I've gotta say, I didn't expect you'd get this far." The programmed script fell off her tongue like acid, but it was something she and the players were used to. She was, after all, designed to be the guide that attracted players with her sarcasm and mean attitude. The way she tucks a stray strand of hair behind her ear was almost robotic. "I'm sure you're curious as to how you'll-"

The screen turned black and Cosima was dragged away from the screen, barely hiding her shock. Once the screen lit up again, the scenery of the game had changed.

She couldn't believe it. The player had the audacity to skip her cutscene! Huffing in rage, Cosima allowed herself to transition into a Husky again before finding a cliff with a good vantage point. Oh, she'd love to watch this player jump into the game blindly. Her eyes stayed on the player as he navigated the cave-like system, unaware that a threat loomed in the next corner. And right on cue, Cerberus awoke with a mighty snarl from all of its heads. She watched the player scramble to fight the creature, but with weapons not meant to work against it. She eyed the lyre - Orpheus' Lyre - that she had meant to give to the player. There was no way to defeat Cerberus, only to knock it out. If only he had listened... If only he hadn't skipped her cutscene, she would have given him the lyre.

A scream of agony and the bright red message dripping with blood appeared on the screen. "Game over, sucker. See you tomorrow." She transformed back into a human and headed out, purposely avoiding the other characters of the game. She was sure that if they saw her, she'd be on the receiving end of a lecture about endangering the game by not giving the player the lyre.

The screen came to life once again as another player booted up the game. Sighing, Cosima headed for her station. A newbie. She hoped to the gods that he wouldn't play the tutorial. She wasn't in the mood for it.

Her head dropped dejectedly as the music for the tutorial began to play.

@Shadowpenguin07Engineer was on the floor for Destructo Derby tutorial stage. It always amazed the staff how much the racers ignored the signs and begging to stop causing so much damage to the track. They of course did the same excuse of "Its the players fault" Engineer was annoyed by it all. Missing the days when the players only believed themselves to be in control when truly they all decided the tide of the game. Where you went and all. The joys of being a largely luck based game, they never can change anything until its too late. Engineer sighed and realised as he climbed the rear steps to the technicians office thinking at that moment that it was the reason they were all unplugged.

As he strode through the door, the door that is only accessible or those lacking a third dimension. Going into the office he could see the basic layout of a technician, black walls and floor with only a wide window to watch the stages. A wide control pannle sits on the ground in-front of the window. Knocking on the door, the technician looked up at him, his red-cloak brightened by the artificial screen light that came through the window. In a high-pitched screech the Tech said to him "Engineer, as I live and breath" Engineer just laughed and hummed back "Just que the next race. I heard the kids car glitches and fired rockets" With and quick turn he looked at his controls "Anything for Engi" he said in a joking way as the next track moved on. The girl getting moved down with her car to the roster, the car getting moved into the garage that maintenance staff can access. With a nod and a flurry of a hand he bolted down the stairs into the garage. (Shadow. I give you the chance to respond to this)