A piece of the sun danced on the dirt-steeped branch. The neon of the crackling light rivalled the darkness of the young Earth's horizon as Joaquim enjoyed its warmth.

Joaquim was hoping to glitch onto the taiga platform as he already glitched onto it twice before... but he instead was on a prehistoric Earth. He hoped so because he was desperate for any kind of pattern to emerge to make sense of the broken reality before him... but expecting that he would reappear onto the taiga platform under the manic sky for the third time... was simply an assumption.

Colonel... please tell me you're there.

Joaquim earlier was simply away from home, also known as the streets of No Man's Land, due to the space in between there and the flying city of Ember Tree Finance, but now he was also far away from it due to the time between now and then. Even though the air was even fresher than the man-made air in the flying city... it was still hard to breathe.

Hey, I am still here, Iker said.

Joaquim's lungs captured the deepest of breaths.

But how? Joaquim asked as he exhaled. If this is when... I think it is... the earthplexus definitely didn't exist. Even the old ass internet wasn't around.

Joaquim checked his phone artifact and it was indeed in his pocket. Wait... would it be considered an artifact in this time period?

My subconscious... or the universal mind is telling me...

All that was digital, physical, dark matter, and imaginary was blurring together. A specter of a golden monkey king marched in front of Joaquim before disintegrating into computer code, then a female homo erectus popped out of one of the bushes to observe him. Joaquim and the female great ape locked eyes for several seconds.

Influx was involved for sure. Also something about splatting and introns... I apparently knew what these words meant... I would be shrugging right now if I had shoulders, Iker said.

Introns, Joaquim's mind murmured. Isn't that the part of DNA we kinda don't use?

Interesting, Iker said. I've been thinking lately... what is the difference between an advanced AI using a data set on a computer and a human. Is there a difference other than what we're made of?

The female homo erectus grunted.

What did she say? Joaquim asked.

... the fuck if I know, Iker groaned. When I said I was bilingual, I meant that I could speak Spanish. I don't know shit about ancient grunting.

Even in a bizarre time and place like this, Iker managed to get a smile out of Joaquim.

Then an ominous and thunderous roar echoed across the land, and Joaquim jumped first before turning to the simulation rupture by the flaming branch.

Eve, Ace, and Isabella stepped out of the waves of binary code.

Joaquim raised his palms and bent his knees in their direction.

"Who are you?" Joaquim asked.

Eve had her eyes locked on the branch at first, but then her pigtails swayed as she turned her head to meet eyes with Joaquim.

"Doesn't matter," Eve said. "Your existence is too woke for us. I'm killing you after we get this fire."

"Nuh uh," the female homo erectus said from the bush. The time travelling children must have mistaken them for intangible grunts... because they were still staring at Joaquim.

Wait, is the ancient human playing stupid? Iker asked.

"Really?" Joaquim asked. "Go back to your show then. You don't see us going to it."

"No," Eve said. "Clearly we won't have freedom until we also get the freedom to take away the freedom of others."

Wow, at least she's honest, Iker said. It took several centuries, but we finally found it. The first ever right-winger that is sincere.

"NUH UH!" the homo erectus grunted louder.

"Shut up monkey!" Eve yelled. "Back off before I kill you too."

"You monkey too," the homo erectus grunted. "You grandchild."

The homo erectus glared at the children and lifted her arms high into the sky, specs of matter dancing on her palms.

What is she doing? Iker asked.

Well, she is really pissed off, Joaquim said. I don't like these kids either.

"Wait, I think she knows English," Ace said.

"I don't care!" Eve yelled, raising her teddy bear in the direction of the homo erectus. "She better know how to shut the fuck up too."

"Nuh uh," she grunted again, but this time she also frowned and shook her head.

When Joaquim stepped closer to examine what was appearing in her hands... the homo erectus was summoning...

A chancla?

"About time you covered your stinky feet," Eve said. "I don't know how you would discover sandals before fire... but the earlier the better."

Oh God, she has know idea doesn't she? Joaquim said. Even I know about the chancla.

She doesn't read or watch anything that's woke remember? Iker said. She is royally fucked.

"I'm out," Isabella said.

"Me too, let me come with you," Ace said. Isabella ran between two palm trees while Ace was quick to follow her.

"What? She is actually going to put on shoes! She won't have stinky feet anymore!" Eve yelled at her so-called friends that were running away.

Wow, she really has no idea, Iker said.

The chancla finished materializing and it fell into the hands of the homo erectus.

"Alright, make your second one. I'll be waiting," Eve said.

At this point, Joaquim had to clasp his mouth with both hands to contain his laughter.

And with the pop of the sound barrier, the homo erectus pulled her arm back preparing a throw, the piece of the jungle behind her flew off with the prehistoric breeze that passed.

"Let me show you how to put it on," Eve said, taking a couple of steps closer to the ancient human.

And before she could finish her last step, the homo erectus's chancla ripped through reality and a spacetime rupture manifested from a few feet away from the homo erectus to where Eve was now floating off to. Joaquim was not sure... but was that Ember's sillhouette he briefly saw?

And the memories from session fifteen came back to Joaquim... his eyes reddening from remembering the happiness he once felt in the matrix-like simulation he once was.

"REEEEE! Err... I'm blasting off again I guess..." Eve yelled, falling back into Derry Hill 2 once more.

A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

Joaquim are you ok? Iker asked.

Did you see that? Joaquim murmured.

No, I just felt your whole vibe change.

A massive husky with gallant and voluminous fur leaped from the bushes, walking in cadence with the female homo erectus. Her large stature was close to being as grand as a dire wolf.

"Wow, this whole kaya-cloning-shapeshifting majig is so trippy," Lucia from the future and the homo erectus said at the same time. "Oh my God, I have two mouths."

Mom!

"Lucia!" Joaquim yelled.

"Hey you ok?" Lucia asked as Joaquim ran to her. He placed an open palm under her snout, and she gave him a small lick allowing him to pet her. The homo erectus Lucia was apparently controlling also stuck out her tongue briefly. "You look like you're about to cry."

"Uhm..." Joaquim said. "I remembered something, but I am not sure if it actually happened."

It probably did, Iker said.

"We don't have much time," future Lucia said. "Is Iker with you?"

Joaquim nodded.

I wish I could tell her how much I miss her, Iker said.

Lucia swayed her snout towards the piece of jungle that was not ruptured by the chancla throw.

"Come with me."

image [https://img.wattpad.com/7dd7c460207075286c6b35fb44cc7b87ee1bcc31/68747470733a2f2f73332e616d617a6f6e6177732e636f6d2f776174747061642d6d656469612d736572766963652f53746f7279496d6167652f304b3356417a65737a7431574f413d3d2d313430363633333431352e313761323235656235376134383538373735383530343334363438372e706e67?s=fit&w=1280&h=1280]

SIMULATION: Bolsa Mágica

Bastian summoned two red gears, each of its teeth being able to house a cassette while both bases had a needle that could play vinyl, and he manifested his weapons because Maverick the talking lion kept prowling closer on the mansion's patio.

The lion deeply chuckled as his form glitched into binary code for a fraction of a second. "You know I already won right?"

Bastian raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"

His dark yet holographic suit covered his chest and forelegs and they created elegant glimmers even when Maverick would move under the occasional red flares of the demonic eclipse. The whimsical and cozy blue skies were as old as myth with how broken spacetime was. Violet and maroon handkerchiefs poked out of his chest pocket, and the dye used on them was so rich and refined that they could only be described as vivid and regal. If one dressed for the job they wanted, then this lion was definitely aiming to try and take Dominic's place as the Don of Earth.

"What song do you think is prompting the existing one right now?" Maverick asked.

"You're trying to get me to give it to you," Bastian said.

"You do understand your mind is naked here right my boy?" Maverick asked. "Uzi is no longer here to protect it."

Bastian glared at him. "Don't call me that anymore. You made me forget... that it was my parents that was raising me and Iker. You almost made me forget my parents."

"Not almost," Maverick said. "You do know how this all works right? If I am not careful, or if I never let you keep your memories intact at some point in your life, I risk transforming you into something else. This is where I choose for you to remember everything sincerely."

"Yet, you made me forget what you look like," Bastian said. "Tell me, what tech you're using to hide your human appearance?"

Maverick chuckled. "I already know the answer to the question I asked earlier. I only asked it because I want to have one final conversation with my adopted son. You're dying here my sweet child o' mine."

Bastian marched towards the hamaca on the patio, ripped it off the marble pillars, and threw it on the floor while he shouted. "Stop calling me that! I am not dying here!"

Maverick chuckled once more. "Like you have a choice in the matter."

And a terminal manifested above Maverick. However, Maverick stared at Bastian instead of typing a command.

"See, you know you don't have a choice," Maverick mocked, still not forcing his thoughts onto the terminal. "You know damn well that your life is in my hands in this simulation. I know both your carbon body and mind is here Bastian. Uzi uploaded your carbon bodies here... that is one of the conditions to use music to travel in time here after all. And that's how you two escaped the predicament you found yourselves in when Ameen betrayed us–"

"Ameen betrayed you?" Bastian interrupted. "Don't tell me... you're... you're on Ember's side?"

"You're going to call me a hypocrite aren't you?" Maverick asked.

"I know you don't have the ability to travel in time," Bastian said.

Maverick scoffed. "This is when you show your age... I never had to be in different timelines to know that you would think I am a hypocrite for working with Ember... or 0 or 1."

"You... wanted to kill them all," Bastian said. "All the billionaires and trillionaires in the flying cities."

"And we will," Maverick said.

"You want to kill all the people who are innocent as well–"

"You mean complacent," Maverick interrupted.

"They can't even vote dude," Bastian said. "Iker even tried to operate within the party you created... the Party of Love... to finally get democracy again. Dumb name by the way."

"It's not a stupid name," Maverick said. "Do you understand why I gave it that name Bastian?"

"If you want to explain it to me... I don't have a choice do I?" Bastian murmured. "You're right... as much as I hate to say it, you can choose to kill me at any time. You're like the existing one when you are in this simulation."

"I am glad I no longer have to put up with your displays of machismo–"

"Don't misunderstand me you piece of shit!" Bastian shouted. "I may have cared about being perceived as the most manly... I guess... the only reason I am acting the way I am now is because I hate you for what you have done to me. What you have done to Iker. And most importantly... what you did to Camilo and all the clones you created. You are probably the worst being to have ever existed."

Maverick laughed. "Morals are for the weak. There is a reason the existing one is either homeless or hitchhiking in the cosmos... yet I shall reign supreme here."

"The existing one is better than you," Bastian said. "He would rather be sincere than comfortable. You're willing to abandon your humanity... literally... just to win. You don't care about anything."

"Look at what caring gets you. And what caring did to the existing one," Maverick said. "It will grant you both an eventual death."

As simulations bled together... in the existing one's simulation... a raven stood by a chamber door.

Maverick finally typed a command on Bolsa Magica's terminal.

|play desecrationsmile.mp3

"It won't change this session," Bastian said. "I had to learn that the hard way."

"I know, but with that song... that is the song that will remind the existing one that he is Sincerus," Maverick said. "Soon, there will be a power vacuum across all the data that ever was and all the data that will ever be, and I will be there to take it. As the god of gods... the title of don of such and such planet will be dirt compared to that title."

"Or the existing one will just take that place instead," Bastian said. "I don't believe he will let you win."

"Why not?" Maverick asked. "I have decided to choose survival over believing in stupid things like kindness. I even encouraged the existing one to create simulations that would cause engagement. That is all that matters, engagement. Make as many people as upset as possible. 0 or 1 understands this."

"I think..."

Bastian's voice trailed off as he smiled towards the black skies above him. "I believe the existing one has more to him than pissing people off. I believe there are people out there that can see it too."

Maverick growled. "Naiveness disgusts me."

"Well good for you, because I believe I bought Uzi enough time," Bastian bragged, giving the talking lion the goofy smile of one that played stupid. "Good luck. Don't forget that you have two jumps."

Before Maverick could react... the folds in between the spaces of Bolsa Mágica... when he was on the receiving end of what Uzi was doing to Maverick in a different timeline, Bastian would have described it as reality in itself tessellating. He saw many simulations squeezed into perfect triangles around him, and the same must have been happening to a glitchy Maverick as his feline amber eyes widened as much as they could.

And Maverick vanished.

image [https://img.wattpad.com/92eebd0379ff86dad05ff4d2ce22bdcbf0fda5b7/68747470733a2f2f73332e616d617a6f6e6177732e636f6d2f776174747061642d6d656469612d736572766963652f53746f7279496d6167652f496158626b5769355f62487a54413d3d2d313430363633333431352e313761323235666162316135666164643234383438393630363630322e706e67?s=fit&w=1280&h=1280]

The stage where Maverick glitched into... was this the moon Hydris Lacuna in Brennisteinn? The moon with the ammonia lake where the araks' ancestors came from?

Maverick already made it a habit anyway, but Bastian did help when he mentioned that it was Uzi that was responsible for jaunting him... because Maverick already entered Kaya form so his carbon body would not succumb to the vacuum of space.

However, whether this was actually Hydris Lacuna in the Spiderland simulation or in another cartoony simulation... it would be impossible to tell. So the talking lion did not take any chances on spawning on the floating stage that was above the ammonia lake on Hydris Lacuna.

As Maverick's fur glowed from the influx that coated it and the distant stars shining on it, he glanced under the floating platform he was standing on to see that at least the lower two platforms inside the stage would eventually go under the lake. Only the third platform at the very top would not sink under the lake, and the lion imagined that he would lose 1 HP each time his body would touch the lake.

He was eventually forced into a human-like pose, standing on his hind legs with his front paws on his hips.

"I am not bipedal no more... this is quite uncomfortable," Maverick said as best as he could with his frozen snout.

In front of him, Maverick finally found Uzi also posing. Ve floated with vis limbs crossed as if ve was about to breakdance.

"I am quite comfortable myself," Uzi gloated. "Are you ready to lose?"

Maverick would smile if he could. Uzi must have figured out that Bolsa Mágica was on a running session of A Big Satan Under Your Pinky Toe on the Martian computer that used tens of thousands of vinyl and cassettes. The gargantuan computer was on the final simulation underneath the existing one, and above Derry Hill 2.

"I could ask you the same thing traitor. We could have wiped out humanity for good."

And with that, the announcer AI spawned, a headless mannequin with a metal rod sticking out with a red pixel floating above it. A redhatter bot.

Each player has five hit points while still being allowed to play if they drop to zero.

With each hit, the player must choose a limb they can no longer use to touch or stand on the stage. The lower the hit points, the further a damaged opponent will fly away from the stage.

Uzi has left the conditions to be negotiable. However, the winner has the final say on what the losing and winning conditions will be.

"Ah, this match heavily favors your species. You left the match rewards open..." Maverick said. "What if I decide to be completely uncharitable to you when I win?"

"I have no intention to lose buddy," Uzi said.

And as the arak and the talking lion were no longer frozen in their poses...

The battle to save the human race from 0 or 1...

The battle between Uzi and Maverick began.