Chapter Seven: It'll Work

Demetra did not even register what Juni had just spoken she was in complete and utter shock. She blinked a few times to make sure that he was actually there, (or at least his image was still there). After blinking no less than ten times she realized he was not going anywhere. It was then she noticed he was looking at her expectantly as if waiting for her to answer a question she obviously did not hear. "Sorry", she said, "can you repeat that". In the real world, Juni had to keep from laughing he was somewhat surprised how flustered Demetra looked. He wondered if it was because of strictly him, or the fact that the Toymaker stood directly behind him looking thoughtfully at his creation. Her confused expression snapped Juni back to reality. Figuring she must not have heard him the first time he began his explanation again. "So," he began "Do you want the good news" or the bad news first".

Demetra thought about this. All her life she was built as the deceiver of the game, someone who was literal bad news. However, this was her life, her destiny now, she was going to try to embrace the good side of things. With that thought out the way, she said to Juni, "good news". Juni nodded his head, then began explaining his secret project. "Demetra I have been working with the Toymaker to create a simple computer-generated entity. The best way to describe it is me creating the equivalent of a stick figure. Like you it is composed of 1 and 0s. The idea is that if I can somehow make this program work then bring it into the real world, maybe just maybe we can do the same thing for you." Juni paused to see Demetra's reaction. Back inside Game Over Demetra's head was spinning. This is crazy she thought, and yet the idea intrigued her. She had no idea what it would do to her, but any chance she had to even remotely see Juni again she was game for. It'll work she told herself. She then returned her attention to Juni because she remembered there was also a negative side to all this. "Hey Juni", she said, "What is the bad news". Juni took a deep breath to gather himself, though, he felt 9 months could be sufficient he also knew how fast time flies.

"Well uhhh Demetra", he began, "We have a bit of a time constraint." While Juni was finishing his explanation Demetra's programming froze for a second, she knew what Juni was getting at. That horrifying scene of Mega Race being obliterated or soon be her. Since Demetra had again not responded to Juni's explanation he waited for her to respond. The only thing she could utter was "how long", to which Juni replied "9 Months." Juni could see the panic enter Demetra's eyes. He had to come up with something fast to ease her fear. "Don't panic Demetra, I have a plan I will get you into the real world." "Do you trust me". That took Demetra back just a bit, in that question Juni was basically admitting he trusted her which she found somewhat comical given the circumstance she was only a program… at least for now. Then she closed her eyes for a second imagining what the real world could be like. She saw herself and Juni walking through a meadow, but not in Game Over, but out beyond the vastness of cyberspace. Her eyes snapped open she looked Juni like a laser in the eyes and said, "Yes I do". "Alright", Juni said, "sit tight I'll be in touch soon." She waved to him and then he cut the connection. And just like that, she was alone, but that was not really true. This call proved at least one thing, Juni was still out there, and he cared about her.

Juni sat back from the screen his mind feeling so scrambled, Demetra was still alive. He turned to look at the Toymaker who had remained surprisingly quiet throughout his interaction with Demetra. In fact, Juni realized that the Toymaker did not say a word to his creation. Juni wanted to say something about that, but before he could the Toymaker began to speak "Juni we need to work faster." Juni nodded in agreement and reached into his bag to pull out his laptop. As he set it on the desk and opened it, the Toymaker abruptly shut the lid just as Juni's familiar lines of code began appearing on the screen. "Hey what was that" for Juni snapped, but before he could tear into the Toymaker, the Toymaker turned and picked up a new laptop that was on the desk beside him. "I said you have to work faster Juni", "this new laptop will help that process become a reality. At first glance the Toymaker's laptop looked like a normal laptop, black with some design decorating the middle of the top of the device, but as Juni opened it, he found that it was blazing fast. In fact, he was even more shocked to find that his lines of code were already there waiting for him. He turned back to face the Toymaker with a questionable look on his face, after a moment or so the Toymaker obliged him. "This new laptop I gave to you has the ability to copy files from surrounding devices if they are in range." I figured, in this case, it would keep you from having to copy and paste what you have already had." Juni did not answer, but his fingers were flying across the keyboard, and that is where he got his second surprise about his new laptop. Lines of code were writing themselves! Yes! This will make the process go faster Juni thought with a smile beginning to form on his face…