Hack and Slash/Transcript

[Theme Song Plays]

[The scene cuts to a stage where it shows Tari and Evelyn on the big screen as it shows it is packed with fans.]

Lucks: Thank you! Thank you to the fans and members of the media for joining us in the wanted Horizon Stadium. We are here to celebrate a new age of TASCorp. As we unveil the latest additions to our main lineup. Girls! Come on up here!

[Tari takes a deep breath as she tries to go forth but she gets pushed aside by Evelyn as she runs down the aisle. The crowd is cheering loudly as Evelyn waves and gives kisses to the crowd. The two girls then stand side by side with Lucks.]

Lucks: Tari and Evelyn represent a new generation of Runners and we are excited here at TASCorp. Girls! Why don’t you say something to your adoring fans?

[Tari was about to take the microphone but Evelyn instead takes the mic as she starts talking.]

Evelyn: Growing up as the youngest child in the Claythorne family. Yes! The Claythorne family. I never got the attention I truly deserved. [Evely keeps on talking as it is muddled by screen perspective.]

Tari: [Tari is looking around as she is looking imaptient.]Hmmm…Hurry you guys…

[The scene cuts towards a lobby as Masa decides to pick up comms.]

Masa: It’s almost go time! Team, what’s your status?

Sofia: All good Red Falcon. This is Yellow Canary reporting in.

Lamar: Hey wait. Masa! I thought you said we weren’t doing code names. I wanna be Green Peacock.

Masa: No we’re not doing code names! Focus people! Are you ready or not?

Lamar: Yeah yeah I managed to swipe a spare TASCorp suit. [Smells the suit] Egh. Wish it hadn’t been from a laundry hamper though. Yeesh.

Masa: And Sofia?

Sofia: Yup! I’m into the stadium’s network already. The Horizon Corp makes great arenas, not so great cybersecurity.

Masa: Then we’re good to go. Sofia send the signal.

Sofia: Roger! [Sofia types some things into her computer as she turns the lights on and off.]

[The scene cuts to Evelyn still doing her monologue of her life story.]

Evelyn: And to all the HATERS well let’s say I’m only here because of all the private coaches my parents hired for me. Well, I don’t see you on a stage in front of a pack of ADORING fans!

[The crowd cheers for her heavily.]

Female Fan: We love you Evelyn!

Male Fan: ACCEPT MY FRIEND REQUEST!!! Male Fan: SIGN MY CHEST!!!

[Evelyn roughly gives Lucks the microphone.]

Lucks: Thank you Evelyn for that very- [Tari recognizes the lights flickering a bit due to Sofia’s control over it.] personalized speech. Now Tari perhaps you have something to say? [Hands Tari the microphone.]

Tari: [Clears her throat] Thank you Lucks! And thank you to all of you! My friends for being here today. All I can tell you is- I’m ready for this! [She hands Lucks the microphone back.]

Masa: Okay she’s gotten the signal. Phase 2! Go!

[Lamar puts on the helmet as he goes to pass the line of TASCorp staff as the bot boy scans.]

Bot Boy: Clear. Clear. Clear. [Gets to Lamar.] Hey Hey! Hold up there a minute wise guy! Where’s your ID badge? [Pulls out an ID badge.]

Lamar: [Unintelligible sounds]

Bot Boy: Spare me the excuses knuckle head! You know the protocol. No ID Badge no access!

[Sofia smirks as she then presses the button to turn off the lights or the Klutz protocol.]

Bot Boy: So go home! Get your badge! [The lights gets turned off as Lamar points which causes the bot to turn.] Huh?!

Tari: Wha? [Trips and removes the power cord by accident.] Whoa!

Sofia: [Her computer shows that the main power has been turned off.] Hehe~

Evelyn: [Angrily stomps towards Tari] WHAT have you done you clumsy oaf?!

Tari: Oh sorry. It really startled me.

Bot Boy: Um- uh- Uh- uh-

Lucks: [On comms] You. Send some help up here now or you’ll find yourself in the scrapyard by morning.

Bot Boy: Yes boss! [Salutes before turning to Lamar in the suit.] You heard the man! Go get up there!

[Lamar salutes as he walks to the game console where he replaces the Hidden Heroes cartridge with another Hidden Heroes cartridge. He gives a thumbs up to Tari who nods as he walks away. Sofia then finally turns the power back on.]

Lucks: …..Heh. Stage nerves right folks? [The crowd just cheers as Lucks turns to give the stink eye to Tari.]

[The scene then cuts to Masa waiting on Lamar as he then walks in. The Bot Boy is searching as he passes by.]

Bot Boy: Now where did that bozo run off to? [Leaves]

Lamar: Hehehe.

Sofia: How’d it go boys?

Lamar: It’s all good Sofia. Our cartridge is in place good to go.

Sofia: Great job Lamar. Now so long as the cartridge is running it’ll connect to my phone back at TASCorp with Belle and download the data onto itself. Then once it’s done all we have to do is take the cartridge back and walk away with the server right under Lucks BIG DUMB NOSE.

Masa: Then there’s no turning back now. Come on. [He gestures for Lamar to come with him.] Let’s get into position.

[The scene then cuts to Belle sitting in a lab where she sees the news.]

Belle: Pfft. Who knew awkwardness could be a talent. [She places Sofia’s phone into a scanner as she readies her game controller.] Alright, show time. [She inputs some sequences on her controller.]

[It cuts to Theo screaming as he is running away from glitchy facepalms.]

Theo: AAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!! [The glitchy facepalms are chasing Theo down the path and getting closer.] AAHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!! [He then decides to hide behind some bushes as the facepalms run forward unaware.]

Belle: Yo! Kid! Can you hear me?

Theo: Ahhh- Now the weird voices are in my head too!

Belle: Ugh- calm down. It’s just Belle.

Theo: Belle…. Wait angry shouty lady?! You got a lot of nerve talking to me again! I’m stuck on crazy nightmare island and it’s all your fault! Huh? [The bush glitches out as he runs away from being spotted by some facepalms.] AAHHHH!

Belle: Yeah okay! I didn’t think Lucks would do something this intense but I know how to fix this. All we have to do is beat the game.

Theo: What?! Why would that do anything?! [He throws his coconut but it glitches into a crab that walks away.] Nggggggghhhh! [Runs away once again.]

Belle: Kid it’s my job to push this game to it’s limits. I’ve exploited and glitched out cartridges as bad as this one. But Ultra Jump Mania dumps it’s memory cache once you beat the game.

Theo: Uhhhhmm- Meaning?

Belle: Meaning that you’ll be free from what’s keeping you in here. All I have to do is run you through the game and then you can hitch a ride back to MD-5 on the link we set up on Sofia’s phone.

Theo: Mmmmmm I don’t know.

Belle: Okay I’ll be honest. I don’t actually wanna be here but if I’m going to save you it has to be now. While Lucks is too busy with the show match to wipe you from existence. So, it’s your decision kid. Just know your window’s closing real fast.

Theo: Ummmm- Uhhhh- [A facepalm appears all disfigured.] AHHHHHH!!! Okay! I trust you! Just get me out of here!

Belle: Excellent choice.

[Belle then inputs some sequences as she makes Theo run.]

Theo: [Theo tries to jump over the pit but a block spawns in front of him as he smacks into it thus making him fall and game over.] Ack! [He then respawns again.] MMMMMMMMGGGGHHH!!! I thought you were good at this game!

Belle: Lay off! This is a special case kid! This is going to be a very interesting run. [She configures her Meta Runner arm as she gets to playing.]

[The scene cuts to game art for hidden heroes as a female narrator presumably for the game starts talking.]

Female Narrator: The year is 20XX. The terrabotta army has been unleashed to wreak havoc on Neo Lantern City but two heroes arose from the shadows to fight the mechanical menace. They are- HIDDEN HEROES!!!

[The crowd applauds as they cheer heavily.]

Lucks: Now as you know Hidden Heroes normally pits two heroes against ten minions. [A splash screen of Tari’s and Evelyn’s avatars show up versus ten others.] But that seems a little unfair- for the minions.~ [The crowd is laughing heavily at Lucks joke.] After all two TASCorp runners are worth far more than ten ordinary players. So I’ve thought we even the odds a bit. [The splash screen then increases the amount of players as it is 2 vs 50.] FIFTY SOUNDS LIKE A BETTER FIGHT! [The crowd goes wild.] My money is still on TASCorp. [Walks back]

Sofia: Okay boys, this is it. Once the game boots up my program will use it as a back door to the TASCorp firewall and start downloading the data from my phone. The program will take 20 minutes to transfer everything though so you guys have to do whatever you can to stretch the game out.

Masa: Affirmative. You got that Lamar?

Lamar: Distract the goons on our team. Stall Evelyn. Protect Tari. Yeah, I’ve paid attention during your briefing man.

Lucks: Close the pods! [The pods start closing.]

[Masa, Belle, Tari and Lamar are shown configuring their arm settings along with Sofia fiddling with her computer to start the download.]

Lucks: Are we ready folks?! [The crowd relatively says yes as they cheer.] THEN LET THE GAME BEGIN!!!! [Horns play as Lucks dramatically poses.]

[Tari takes a deep breath as she warps into the game as she arrives at Hidden Heroes. She looks around as she senses something as she reflexively dodges as it shows a player thrusting their spear as Tari steps back. The player is trying to jump at Tari but Evelyn swoops in as she trips the player and plunges the sword straight into them thus demolishing them. The splash screen shows that a player card is destroyed and shows who destroyed the player which is Evelyn as it says “First Blood!”.]

Lucks: FIRST BLOOD TO TASCORP!!! Evelyn: [Turns to Tari] You know before you came along, Belle was going to be my partner for the show match. I wouldn’t have to carry her heavy ass through this whole game!

[Tari focuses as she then uses her sword to cut down an arrow headed straight to Evelyn as an archer appears readying their bow. Tari cuts it but then gasps.]

Tari: SCATTER!!!

[Both Evelyn and Tari move out of the way as there was an explosion that was there right where they stood. There was a player with a massive cannon or a Monster coming at them from far away as they ready their cannon as some lancers are coming forward.]

Evelyn: Oh look at what you have done. Now his whole squad is here.

Tari: Evelyn we have to retreat. There’s too many and we don’t have a stealth advantage here.

Evelyn: Ugh- fine. If you want to take the boring play!

[Both Evelyn and Tari then starts running as Tari dodges a lance attack aimed at her as Evelyn jumps on one lancer and slices them down as she runs. A archer on roof tries to ready their bow but Evelyn slices them down as well as both Tari and Evelyn jump onto the roof as another archer on a different roof starts shooting as Tari dodges and Evelyn uses her sword to cut it down. Another archer comes as both Tari and Evelyn keep on running. Tari is then seen doing parkour over the roof as she jumps from one roof to another and so does Evelyn. Evelyn takes the chance to slice down an archer as Tari kong vaults her way past some obstacles as Evelyn dodges an arrow as she wall runs to make it across. Both Evelyn and keep on doing parkour on the roofs as they both then land on the clearing where two items were there. Tari was about to take one for herself before Evelyn raises a sword against causing her to stop. Evelyn then takes the power for her self as she tosses the other power up to Tari.]

Evelyn: I’ll take the firecrackers. They match my stunning personality.

[An archer runs up with a ready bow as Evelyn quickly reacts by moving as she throws a firecracker at them. This causes the archer to be stunned as she then takes the opportunity to slice them down three times.]

Evelyn: You can keep the chain. It matches how you always dragging me down.

[An archer appears from behind and tries to shoot at Evelyn but Tari uses the chain to latch onto the archer and drag them to her where she uses her sword to demolish them.] Tari: Ugh! Evelyn! You need to stop rushing in without me!

Evelyn: Or maybe you should learn to keep up.~

[Evelyn then starts to make a dash for a place of vantage as Tari looks around as she turns blue as she sees an archer ready to take aim. She was about to strike but an arrow whizzes by past her as it strikes the archer down. The archer who struck their teammate then signals to Tari that he is a friendly as he runs off.]

Tari: Thank you Lamar. [She then makes a dash to somewhere.]

[The scene cuts to Lamar who is playing the game as an archer.]

Male Player: Hey! Who’s the griefer that’s team killing?! We’re meant to be working together dingus!

Lamar: [Funny voice] Ah I thought you were them. My bad. [Gets on comms with Masa] Yo Masa, I’m running guard on Tari. Where you at? Masa: I spawned with a squad on the other side of the map. Doing my best to slow them down. But we’re probably going to close in on you guys soon.

[In game Masa purposefully misclicks and throws a bomb where the other player run away as fast as they can but they get demolished. This causes a flood of players to be angry.]

Masa: [Silly voice] Sorry misclick. [Normal Voice] How’s Tari doing?

[Lamar makes another shot at another archer.]

Male Player: Seriously! Whoever’s doing that I’m gonna report you!

Lamar: [Silly voice] Relax is only game~ [Normal Voice] Yeah she’s fine, it’s Evelyn that’s the problem. I don’t know what children shows she grew up on but she clearly has never learned the value of teamwork and friendship.

Masa: Get ready. If Tari doesn’t have Evelyn backing her up then the job falls to us.

Lamar: Understood.

[Lamar hops around to moving to places to help with distraction as the scene cuts to Evelyn in some place along with Tari. Tari is healing as Evelyn is standing guard with impatience.]

Evelyn: Hurry up! We have to get back out there.

Tari: Relax Evelyn. It’s not like we are on a- time limit or anything.

Evelyn: You’re boring the audience! No one’s going to want to watch us hang out in this dingy closet! You’re going to RUIN my show match like you’ve ruined everything else!

Tari: Evelyn seriously WHY do you hate me so much? I’ve never done anything to hurt you intentionally.

Evelyn: Oh but you’ve hurt me anyway. You want to know why I hate you? Because unlike you I actually worked hard to get to where I am! [Flash back scenes happens] Years of training! Countless TASCorp screening tests! Night after night of yearning and dreaming of the day when I stand on stage and the whole world cheers for me. [Flahsback scenes stop] But then YOU came along and suddenly you’re the most important person to have ever lived. An upstart nobody who’s only talent is being a FREAK! You’re not even that GOOD!

Tari: Trust me, if I could leave I would. Being at TASCorp has been a nightmare and I am sorry to say that you’ve been a BIG part of that. So you know what Evelyn?! You want all the attention? You can have it. My only DREAM is that you PEOPLE would leave me alone! [Sounds as Evelyn leaves] Evelyn? Evelyn?! Oh no… EVELYN?! [Tari scours the area a bit to find Evelyn as she finds a vantage point to at least see where she is. She scans using her AI vision to search for her but instead gets a danger warning headed toward her way.] Huh? [She deflects just in time but the explosion knocks her back and into the ground level where she gets surrounded by lancers or soldiers.] Oh boy…

[Tari readies herself to fight the massive circle of lancers surrounding her.]

[Episode End]