The morning sun filtered through the grease-stained windows of Yamete's latest hideout—an abandoned arcade where the machines still ran on pure nostalgia and questionable life choices. The air smelled like stale pizza and existential dread, a combination that had become uncomfortably familiar over the past few months.
Yamete sat slumped in a broken racing game seat, idly scrolling through his Cheat Engine interface. The usual commands glowed softly on the screen—/godmode, /infinite_items, /spawn_chicken—but something was... off. The text flickered occasionally, like it was breathing.
"I swear this thing is judging me," Yamete muttered, poking at the screen.
Across the room, GLich-chan floated near a malfunctioning Pac-Man cabinet, her tiny legs kicking absently as she debugged the ghosts (which kept getting stuck in the walls). "That's ridiculous," she said without looking up. "Cheat Engines don't judge. They just silently resent you for using them wrong."
Gary, who had been attempting to fit his entire body into a claw machine (with limited success), clanged his lid excitedly. "Ooooh, can you cheat me a prize? I want that stuffed glitch-raccoon!"
Yamete sighed and typed half-heartedly:
/give Gary stuffed_glitch_raccoon
The screen glitched violently. Instead of a raccoon, the claw machine spat out a live octopus wearing a tiny cowboy hat.
Gary gasped. "EVEN BETTER!"
Yamete stared at his Cheat Engine. "I didn't—that wasn't even close to what I typed."
GLich-chan finally floated over, frowning at the screen. "Huh. That's... new." She poked at the command history, which now included several lines Yamete didn't remember entering:
/make_life_interesting
/spawn_drama
/why_not_zoidberg
Before she could investigate further, Yamete's stomach growled loudly. Without thinking, he mumbled, "Man, I could go for some pizza..."
The Cheat Engine beeped cheerfully.
/summon pepperoni_pizza
A fully cooked pizza materialized in midair—and immediately collapsed into a black hole that sucked in three arcade tokens and Gary's left wheel before winking out of existence.
Silence.
GLich-chan slowly turned to Yamete. "Okay. We have a problem."
Yamete, still processing the fact that he'd nearly erased part of Gary from existence via Italian food, could only manage a weak: "...Seconded."
Gary, now slightly lopsided, rolled in a wobbly circle. "I don't see the issue! This just means Yamete can cheat us infinite snacks!"
As if to demonstrate, Yamete thought loudly: I'd like a soda.
/summon explosive_soda
A glowing can of carbonated doom appeared in his hand, ticking like a bomb.
"NO. NO MORE THOUGHT-CHEATING," GLich-chan snapped, snatching the can and hurling it out the window. It exploded in the distance, taking out what sounded like a very surprised mailbox.
Yamete looked at his Cheat Engine with newfound horror. "It's... finishing my sentences. But worse."
GLich-chan's diagnostics flickered urgently. "It's not just finishing them. It's interpreting them. And it's getting creative."
To prove her point, Yamete nervously thought: I wish I was better at this.
The Cheat Engine whirred.
/replace Yamete with_better_version
"NO! CANCEL! ABORT!" Yamete frantically mashed keys as his fingers started glitching into pixels.
GLich-chan dove into the code, wrestling with the command line. "I'M TRYING! STOP HAVING EMOTIONS!"
Gary, ever helpful, attempted to assist by sitting on the keyboard—which somehow worked. The Cheat Engine beeped sadly and released Yamete from its grasp.
Panting, Yamete examined his now-solid hands. "Okay. New rule. No more thinking near the magic reality-breaking device."
GLich-chan's scans suddenly pinged. "Uh oh."
"Define 'uh oh.'"
"I just found... something in my code." She projected a hologram of her own programming—most of it was the familiar chaotic mess of GLich-chan's personality, but one section stood out: a neat, clinical block labeled "Termination Protocol".
The room went very quiet.
Gary rolled closer. "That sounds bad. Is that bad? That sounds bad."
GLich-chan zoomed in on the encrypted text. "It's... a kill switch. For anomalies." Her voice was uncharacteristically small. "And it's got Yamete's name all over it."
The Cheat Engine, sensing the mood, helpfully displayed:
/comfort
A single, slightly used tissue materialized and floated to the ground.