“What up fam?”

Calypso sits at the bar in his kitchen with his laptop and mini sound studio all set up in front of him.  Much like he was prior to War Games and just before Game Girl abducted him into the virtual game world.  His own voice screeches back at him through his headset as he prepares to record another vlog for his many followers.

“Can ya see me?  Can ya hear me?”

He adjusts the boom mic in front of his face and wiggles the camera around to get the perfect angle to accent every corner of his face.

“How’s that?  Better?”

Probably not, but it’ll do.  Calypso holds up a framed photograph of his winning team from War Games, War Games World Record Speedrun 100% Any% standing in front of the palace in Narfinex, and admires it.  He holds it so that the camera gets a straight-on, perfect view on of it while he does his admiring.

“I gotta tell ya ladies and bruhs…  I’m kinda coming off of a high here.  Can ya blame me though?  I told the whole world from the beginning, long before War Games even went down, that I drafted THE best team perhaps EVER.  It showed, didn’t it?  I may not have made it clear to the very end with my awesome partner and comrade North Korean War Criminal, but the team work and solidarity that we all had from the start is what got me as far as I did.  THREE out of four of us advanced to the main event that night and it took a whole heck of a lot of trying to get Game Girl and I out of that match.  Final four, baby.  Everyone is always so concerned about the numbers around here, especially mine, that I figured this statistic would look great next to my 70 losses in a row that Dolly Waters claims I’m carrying around.  I told her, 70 matches…  80 matches…  100 matches…  What’s it matter when this loser kicks dust in your face on his way by?  What’s the paper say when you lose to someone that’s not even worth being on the card or even acknowledged, per se?  How far do YOU fall?  I tell ya what, if I’m as bad as Peter Vaughn, and Dolly, and Mastermind…  and all THOSE losers say I am…  Then what do I have to lose exactly?  And this isn’t news to me, ladies and bruhs.  Not at all!  I’ve known that I haven’t had anything to lose for a long, long time.  Besides 70 matches in a row, right?  L-O-L.  Not talking about that.  I’m talking about pride and confidence and all that good stuff.  They can’t hurt my pride, man.  They can’t ding my confidence.  I know my place and it’s right here and there ain’t a single competitor in this whole biz that can tell me or scare me otherwise.”

“People like Peter Vaughn and, not mentioned from this point forward, Dolly Waters have everything to lose.  That pride.  That confidence.  Those darn expectations.  Rascally things, right?  Peter Vaughn came in here just at the right time and had the right name to, not shoot to the top, but land on top.  Kinda placed there if you wanna get really technical, but she is what she is.  I mean, you could say that he came in and cleaned up a few accidents that we made?  Much pun intended.  Someone had to handle the dirty work and I guess Peter Vaughn, at the time, was the best one for the job.  He’s renowned all over the world and was about as decorated as an XWFmas tree when he rolled in here.  Why not provide the star to throw on top?”

Calypso’s sighs into the microphone.

“It didn’t last long though, did it, fam?  Reality kicked in again and, more puns, Alias mopped the floor with him and balance was, once again, restored to the XWF.  So, fast forward…  Vaughn wins the Supercontinental Title where, again, things just seemed tipped his way somehow and before he can even defend the thing, he’s thrown into a match with your’s truly against the current and reigning, defending, dominating Tag Champs, North Korean War Criminal and Matt Flynn.”

Our hero looks down confused for a moment as if he’s checking something.

“MARK Flynn.  My bad.  The guy’s obviously overshadowed by my favorite comrade, so, yeah, my bad.  L-O-L.  Anywho, I’m the type of dude to take advantage of like ANY situation, right?  Regardless whether the odds seemed stacked against us…  I mean, we were the freshest, newest team on the market…  I was going to try my best and maybe, just maybe, earn some respect around here!  Especially from a guy as awesome as Peter Vaughn!”

Calypso bows his head and sighs once more.  Rubbing his neck, he comes back around to the mic.

“Well!  Peter misread his hand and immediately folded like the terrible poker player that he is.  We all witnessed first-hand what a train wreck of a partner he turned out to be, yeah?  First, he let me get man-handled by the tag champs and kinda just bailed.  And like I said leading into War Games, the guy never wanted to be there in the first place and apparently doesn’t mind losing as long as there’s an easy scapegoat nearby…  Even if he looks like a complete jerk and wussy for doing it.  In my words, not his.  He’s an odd-bird, though, ain’t he?  I’m not the only one he’s tried to pull that off on and now he’s basically become infamous for it.  I hope he’s stays relevant in the singles circuit long enough or else he’s going to have a lot of trouble finding someone naïve enough to hang in his corner again…  I was naïve, I admit that.  I try to look for the best in everybody and I guess I was just mesmerized by all the gold hanging from him.  Stupid me.  It’s those what-ifs that kill ya…  Just imagining how things could be right now had Peter pulled his head out of whatever hole he had it in that night and we pulled off the upset.  The dreams I had of becoming Tag Champs with the inVaughncible-one turned to nightmares when I realized the true nature of the dude.  Sorry for caring.  Sorry for dreaming.  I watched it happen over and over again, too.  Mastermind chose him for his first pick in the draft after watching it happen and the same thing almost went down for them.  After everyone else got wacked from the Warmasters, if Vaughn had a towel, he would’ve thrown it.  BUT!  NK, with an incredibly convincing dialogue, brought Vaughn back in to the ring to accept his fate.  AND the lucky ducky, in the process of it all, managed to get ONE elimination by pulling an Ol’ Sneaky Pete and pinning Hanari Carnes before NK finished the job and carried us to the main event.

“I’ll say it for the record, ya’ll, Vaughn and I are done.  No more inVaughncible--  I told Angie could have it, IF she still wants it…  It’s been trampled on and tarnished by someone way too Vaughnerable for coined name like that one.  I’m going to put an end to all of this myself, too, because it’s apparently…  my destiny.  Why else has the XWF Universe brought us together so much in the past couple of months?  First with the tag team match, then with the SC Title match, then War Games…  and now…  Calypso versus Vaughn for the title, once more.  Why is it that fate has brought us together this much?  This is one of those things, right?  Where, like, the universe is talking to you?  It’s not Peter Vaughn that has something to prove today, ladies and bruhs.  Everyone knows what he’s about right now…  It is I who has something to prove.  It is I who is going to shock the world.  And I don’t even know if I’m going to do that when I beat this guy.  After all of this?  Even if I lost to him already…  After everything else I think everyone’s expecting Calypso to take over the Supercontinental Division and show that title a better, more respectable home.  And that has nothing to do with the fact he’s been too busy beating me once and bailing on his teammates.  Well, I guess it kind of does, but in my eyes, I don’t think the guys is worthy of anything that he’s had around here.  Right place, right time, and the right hand guiding him.  He invaded the place and made it look easy to get to the top, but soon found out that the top is a really tight spot to hold onto and BOOP.  Down a peg.  Now, I may not be known to knock guys off of their high horses or knock them down any pegs or provide them with the good ol’ Alias twisted reality check…  but I’m more than capable of doing what’s best for the XWF.  I’ve bled nothing but XWF blood, dudes, and I’m totally down for showing some invader… some icon from another land…  that XWF people are just different.”

Calypso looks behind him and sees a package that Game Girl gave him prior to him getting thrown back into reality.  He leans back into the mic and holds a finger over the stop button.

“Well, ladies and bruhs…  I’m not leaving ya hanging this time, I’m actually gonna say goodbye.  I hope ya’ll tune in again sometime and we’ll chat some more about the XWF, Peter Vaughn’s denials, and what it’s like to be the XWF Supercontinental Champion!”

Calypso stops the live stream and hops off the stool to head over towards the package.  Before he was sent back, Game Girl gave him an upgraded, updated, brand-new Commodore 64000…  Not so much a gaming device, but more like a transport device.  Calypso could revisit Narfinex anytime and hang out…  and do whatever else within the virtual game world.

He pulled it out of the package and it was completely wireless.

“Nice!”

Excited, Calypso places it on the table in his living area and goes to power it on, but stops himself.

“Hmm.  I should suit up before I go in.  They may not recognize me if I’m out of uniform…  And heck!  I’d hate to blow my cover, even in a virtual video game world!”

He wooshes into the bedroom and reemerges after a few seconds in full Blue Tango gear.

“Sweet.”

He says as he notices himself in the mirror beside him.  He takes a couple of hero steps towards the new [s]gaming[/] transport system and NOW powers it on.

The trip was a lot less confusing and painful as the first time.  Game Girl simply reached through the game screen and pulled Calypso into a black void where he died, without counting, about 100 times during his visit.  He only hoped when he arrived it was somewhere safe and also anticipated to see if his gear was still around.  He was tired of dealing with folks like Peter Vaughn and especially folks like the Smoker, Mr. Teaze, and especially Kevin Spacey.  Making friends with Game Girl could be his ticket for her engineers to craft him something to help him in his real-life battle against evil.  What’s the worst they could say?  No?  They’re the one that gave him the open invite anyway, so..


Meanwhile…  In a Narfinex laboratory…

Within the palace in the city of Narfinex, the hometown virtual world that Game Girl hails from, is a laboratory where a lot of virtual science takes place.  It’s your typical laboratory with white lab coats and flasks and beakers…  A line of giant water tanks against the wall filled with different specimens…  But the main attraction of it all was this giant, circular gate that was barricaded off several feet away the entire circumference around it.  All of the scientists and engineers go about their tasks, no one paying any mind to the large machine in the center of it all.

As they’re all busy at their work, a breeze somehow blows through causing papers to stir and unoccupied swivel computer chairs to move.  The lab coats immediately notice and begin to scatter trying to figure out the source of this phenomenon.  With no doors or windows here, the place is sealed up, so the fact that there’s wind means something bad is about to happen.

Little streaks of electricity float through the air and strike around the circle of the gate in the center of the room.  The wind picks up now accompanied by more lightning zaps and claps against the gate.  The center of it fills up with a purple-ish mist and, after a few seconds, out rolls the Blue Tango!

As the smoke clears, the head lab coat comes out from behind a desk he and many others were using a shield.

“Who’s there?  What’s the meaning of this?!”

*COUGH*  *COUGH*  “It’s ME, ya’ll!  Cal--  I mean, the Blue Tango!  GG’s friend!”

The other lab coats all look confused and all go back to their duties like the sudden commotion was nothing.  The lab coat that was talking, the Professor, approaches the Blue Tango from across the room.





“You’re back already?!  Why?  How?!”

“Well, uh, GG said I could come back ANY time…”

“How, Tango?!”

“Oh!  Game Girl gave me a new Commodore 64 before I left.  She said if I turned it on it should transport me back here.”

“UGH!  That’s the Commodore 64000 and she KNOWS that we’ve barely tested it yet!  What was she thinking?!  You could’ve been vaporized!  Or worse!”

“There’s something worse than being vaporized??”

“I’m a doctor…  I’ve seen worse.”

The Professor and Blue Tango have a stare down for a moment before the doc finally breaks.

“So, what brings you back so soon, Tango?  Miss this pixely place that much?”

“Actually, I was hoping that ya’ll could craft me a suit.  Like, for the outside.  My world.”

The Professor scratches his head.

“For what?”

“For WHAT?  Dude, we have crime and evil in our home, too.  I mean, nothing much like the crazy stuff I’ve seen around here…  I’ve only encountered one dragon and that was in Hollywood and was nothing like the one I saw here…  So, uh, anyway, yeah.  If ya’ll could make me something for the road…”

“Well, I’m sure we could come up with something.  What happened to the armor you had?”

“I dunno.  After GG sent us back it was gone.”

“Did you check your inbox?”

“Eh, that’s not how things work there.  If I could maybe just wear it home?”

“Hmm…”

The Professor thinks it over a bit before a lightbulb that surprises Tango lights above his head.

“Yeah!  I’ve got a pretty good idea of what we could do for ya, Tango…  But I’m short on a few supplies…”

“What?!”

“I need some iron ore…”

“You gotta be kidding.”

“Some wood…”

“You’re seriously giving me a quest.”

“Dragon scales.”

“DRAGON SCALES?!”

“And some feathers.”

“Why would you close with feathers?”

“Of a griffin.”

“What the heck man?  I’m not equipped for that!”

“If you towards the mountain to the west of here, past the marshes, you’ll find an old, retired traveler living in the woods.  He may be able to help you find the things that you need.”

The Professor turns around and walks away from Tango.

“Woah, hey!  Don’t NPC me, bruh!  DON’T N-P-C ME!”

The Professor ignores him and walks out of the room closing the door behind him, which locks, leaving the Blue Tango alone in the laboratory with dozens of other deaf and dumb NPC’s.

“W-T-H, man…  Alright I’ll do it!  But my stuff better be freakin’ AWE-SOME, bruh!”

QUEST ACCEPTED!

A message appears over Tango's head that only he can see.

“Awe man!”

Tango reluctantly listens to the advice from the Professor, even though all of this sounds like a terrible idea now.  How did they not have supplies like iron ore and wood?!  What kind of lab was it and how were they able to do anything---  Forget it, he thought.  Why dwell on it.  Did he want the help or not?  And he knows some of the area pretty well…

Tango stops at a local weapon’s shop, Hanari’s Iron Claw, and uses he’s reputation to get a decent longbow for his journey.  He noticed immediately that he didn’t feel the same way about the bow as he did before…  The knowledge and passion for the weapon just wasn’t there, but he remembered what it was like to have it.

He throws a quiver filled with arrows over his shoulder and heads out towards the mountain.  After the long, yet very easy, trek down the path, Tango was not stopped by anything along the way.  No foes, no insects, nothing, which surprised him.  Was the shadow that they banished from the land such an influence on the creatures here that without that presence there’s no longer a threat?  Tango couldn’t help but feel a sense of pride in knowing that his deed showed good results and the land seemed at peace.

When he reached the base of the mountain, the path split in 3 ways.  One to the North towards a lake.  Another to the South to a dense forest.  And lastly, one up the mountain.

“The Professor said to go towards the mountain and the old traveler lives in the forest….”

Tango looks towards the dense woods to the South and sees a thin plume of smoke stretching up, touching the sky.

“I guess that’s my boo.”

Tango takes the path to the South and enters the forest.  It’s a lot more ominous looking on the inside than it is on the outside…  Within the walls of the trees, the sun is almost completely blocked out besides a few places in the canape that allows small beams of sunlight shoot through to the ground.

Tango takes careful steps, as the path has actually become quite treacherous to walk on with vines and branches crawling and lying all over the ground trying to trip him up.  The ominous feeling intensifies when Tango realizes the place is pitch quiet…  Okay, so, yeah…  You killed all the baddies in the place, but now the pitch silence will kill ya.  Perfect-o-mondo!  His senses tingle when a low hum drones through his ear drums and sends a shiver up his spine.

“What’s that?!”

He accidentally whispers to himself then quickly covers his mouth.  The low hum gains melody and rhythm…  And continues to drone through the trees as a whispering breeze chills the Blue Tango even more blue.  He takes a deep gulp then continues through the forest towards the sound.

“That has to be the source of the smoke.  What else could it be?”

He convinces himself that the mission is forward and if he ever wants to get those new threads, he’s gonna have to follow the steps in the quest.  He continues down the path and finally comes to a hollow with this 100 some acre woods.  The droning hum has stayed the same volume the entire time, so it was hard to tell if he was getting closer or not…  But luckily, even in the dense forest, he was able to follow the plume of smoke to this point…  Where he located the source.

Down in the hollow, sitting on a stump, is the Stranger from Tango’s last experience here.  The one he met in the cave that, the last time they met, Tango punched the crap out of.  He sighs, takes another thick gulp, and heads down towards the shadowy man.  The smoke, not so much to Tango’s surprise because he knows the guy is a weirdo, was coming from the Stranger’s cigar the entire time…  The Stranger either doesn’t notice Tango struggling down the small hill as he approaches him, or just doesn’t care…  It’s not until Tango is a few short feet away from him and out of breath that he acknowledges him.  He takes a puff from the cigar and looks up to him.

“Hello, my friend.”

Tango says nothing, but nods towards the Stranger.

“What brings you back?  And so soon?”

Tango, reluctant to talk with him again, does anyway…  Again, he thinks, what do I have to lose?

“I thought I knew why when I first came back…  But, after catching up with you again, I’m thinking a little differently.  I was a beast when I left this place before, and I know how it works.  I’ve already died a thousand times, but it doesn’t matter because each time I came back stronger than before.  And it may have taken me those thousand deaths to do it, but I became exactly what it took to be the baddest, craziest fool to roam these lands…  And ya know what?  I’m not afraid to do it again.  Ya know anything about a griffin?”