On this late autumn evening, the rain beat against the leaves of the trees that surrounded the house on the outskirts of Brentwood, with no intention of stopping. Droplets drummed on the tiled roof, too, but their sound was lost in the attic room, where the Nintendo battle was in full swing. Ash and Kevin had been holding their joysticks for hours. Ash tried his best, but the owner of the console, whom he came to visit, won again, the words GAME OVER flashed on the TV screen.

‘Come off it! I’ve lost again!’ Ash sounded deeply disappointed.

‘Yeah!’ With a satisfied smirk, Kevin took a sip from a can of Pepsi and added mockingly, ‘Keep going to school.’

There was superiority in Kevin's gaze towards Ash. Round glasses, long bangs of hair, a red plaid shirt - all this gave away a nerd in a teenager who does not have problems with grades at school. In fact, it was so. Ash studied well, but at the same time, he did not maintain relations with classmates. At first, the guys unsuccessfully tried to make friends with him, and then fell behind. The school only bored him, however, like everything except video games. At every opportunity, immediately after school, the boy ran to his friend Kevin, who had the largest collection of video games in this tiny and dreary town. Even the latest novelties could be found with him, only not many could appreciate this at all, which is probably why he valued friendship with Ash with special trepidation.

Ash's mom was not particularly supportive of her son's passion for video games, but she was satisfied with his success in school and his accommodating, albeit withdrawn, character. The father worked a lot and spent little time in the family, so he paid attention to his child by buying consoles and games. In general, the boy was completely left to himself.

‘Damn bro, I need to take revenge in Ninja Turtles!’ - Ash said displeasedly and took a sip of coffee, covering his face, indignant at another loss, with a cup.

Kevin silently pointed to the shelf with cartridges. Ash reached over to pick up the game, but, as always, was clumsy and dropped the entire stack. Among the cartridges scattered across the floor, he saw one with an unfamiliar picture. The cover of the game caught his attention, and he held out his hand for the cartridge.

‘What’s that? I’ve never seen this game before’

‘Don't waste your time on it. this game’s got an error.’ Kevin took another sip of his Pepsi.

‘Which error?’ Ash asked, still holding the cartridge.

‘This game was incorrectly programmed, it's impossible to win in it, whatever you do, evil always wins...’

At that moment, the doorbell rang downstairs.

‘Oh, it's pizza! I'll go get it’ Kevin put down the joystick and began to descend the stairs to the courier who delivered them food.

Ash didn't take his eyes off the cartridge. From the cover, a cute, animal-like character with a red forehead band was staring at him. The game was called Redgauz. The cartridge seemed to have some kind of physically tangible aura that did not allow it to be returned to its place. From the cover, as if smiling, a hero with a red armband looked directly into Ash's eyes.

‘I'll play once, I'm still waiting for Kevin.’ Ash thought.

He took a sip of cold coffee he bought from a vending machine along the way, then inserted the cartridge into the console. The name of the game was displayed on the screen. Completely engrossed in the anticipation he kept a close eye on the loading line as it slowly moved forward, and didn't even notice Kevin's cat appeared in the room. It is not known what frightened the cat, but with a loud meow, he jumped on his knees to the guy. Ash twitched in surprise and spilled his coffee right on the console.

‘Damn!’ - The thought that Kevin would never let him in again instantly flashed through his mind. Interference and fluctuations appeared on the TV screen, Ash instinctively decided to brush away the spilled coffee, but as soon as his hand touched the console, the space around him began to distort. The loading line of the game on the TV screen ran to the end and Ash felt himself losing his footing, the floor seemed to dissolve under his feet, and darkness enveloped him.

‘Have I passed out?’ The first thought flashed through his mind. Several moments passed before he realized that he was conscious and clearly felt his body. Even as clear as ever.

‘Welcome, Player.’ There was a loud electronic voice, penetrating all the surrounding space.

A shiver ran through the boy's body, and his hands involuntarily clenched into fists.

‘We were waiting for you.’ The voice continued.

‘Me?’ Ash still can't get over it.

‘Our game was stopped on first launch.’

The boy closed his eyes in the hope that by opening them, he would wake up in his room from his mother knocking on the door and telling, that he is late for school. However, he heard the Voice again.

‘Each game must be completed.’ This phrase sounded without any emotions and light appeared in space.

Ash looked around. There wasn't any sign of Kevin's room. He was in a huge dark room without corners, it was impossible to visually assess its scale. He carefully looked around and saw a cup of coffee next to him, apparently he moved with him.

‘Your task is to complete the game. The game has three levels, when it will be finished, you will come back home.’ The voice continued measuredly.

‘Sorry... it looks like some kind of mistake... can I exit the game?’ Overcoming the fear that fettered him, Ash squeezed out of himself.

‘You must reach the end and defeat the main boss.’ The voice ignored all the boy's questions.

Ash began to realize that there seemed to be no way out for him, and he would have to follow all directions to get out.

‘This is Redgauz - your character.’ - said the voice, and a few meters in front of Ash, the same hero with a bandage, who was on the cover, appeared from a luminous sphere.

‘He repeats all your movements.’

Ash finally stood up, then timidly raised his hand. Redgauz raised his hand with him. The boy least of all expected such a method of control. He masterfully owned a joystick and was able to press the most complex combinations of buttons with great speed, but he was never very dexterous in real life.

‘Get ready for the first level.’

Hearing this, Ash made a few movements and made sure that Redgauz obeyed him. As he turned, he almost brushed against his coffee cup.

‘My throat is dry...’ Ash thought as he reached for his coffee and took a sip. Redgauz repeated the movement after him. Silence began to give way to a melody, but the source of the sound was not clear. And bright green grass began to appear under their feet, literally in an instant the empty room turned into an unusual forest. Ash was surrounded by beautiful trees with glowing flowers. The game voice with metallic notes resounded again:

‘First level. Destroy the enemies and defeat the first boss.’

Ash saw a character in front of him, very similar to Redgauz, but he was smaller and had a different color.

‘Looks harmless, even reminds of a child.’ Ash thought.

At that moment, the in-game voice turned to him again:

‘Evil is very insidious. Because it often covered with a mask of goodness. Remember this.’

‘Really insidious.’ Ash answered with a slight bewilderment, realizing that the voice did not pay any attention to him.

The guy took the first step, determined to end this game as soon as possible and return to his world, Redgoz obediently took a step with him. Ash rushed towards his first enemy and destroyed him with the first blow. It turned out to be much easier than he thought. The boy's mood and self-confidence rose, and he ran forward. “Now these two, left and right, It's easier to destroy the one on the left first” - Like a real gamer, Ash spoke his thoughts out loud.

Several precise moves and two more enemies were defeated. They didn't even have time to strike back before Redgauz turned them to dust. After getting a taste and mastering the controls, Ash began to easily overcome his opponents. And after the destruction of the tenth in a row, the voice arose again:

‘Now the boss.’

There was only one opponent in front of the boy, outwardly he was no different from the previous ones. Ash decided not to wait for the attack and made the attack first, to his surprise, it was successful.

‘The first level is passed. Get ready for level two.’ said a familiar voice.

Ash took a sip of his now cold coffee while analyzing everything that had happened.

‘Given that there are only three levels in the game, the first one was too easy for some reason... Probably this is a special ploy to make me relax and lose in the next mission.’ Ash’s thoughts were interrupted by a new transformation of space. This time he was in a small town resembling a medieval one.

Wow, I saw something similar in Zelda. - said the guy.

‘Your mission is to defeat two mage bosses and get the artifact.’ the explanations of the game voice were clear and understandable.

Ash concentrated: there were two bosses ahead, they also looked like Redgauz, this time they were already normal size, although for some reason they also looked weak. Behind them is an altar, a purple crystal hovers above the altar, apparently, this is the artifact. Ash took a step with Redgauz. Both bosses extended their hands forward, indicating that they would not let him pass any further.

‘Well, I'll have to fight.’ Sighing, the boy said softly.

Redgauz ran in the direction of the Altar, but unexpectedly, for the first time in the whole game, the enemy made an attack, firing a fireball at Redgauz. Ash felt the blow. It didn't hurt much, but for a few seconds he lost control of his character.

‘Understood! So, my connection with Redgauz works in the opposite direction, I need to be more careful.’ Thought the guy.

Deciding not to rush into attacking the enemy, Ash ran back and then approached a little again, noticing that before launching a fireball, the enemy chooses the direction of flight. It took Ash literally a few seconds to figure out how to dodge these attacks. Redgauz approached the opponents, they, in response, aimed at him, and as soon as their fireballs formed, Ash jumped to the side, making a sharp attack on one of them. One hit was enough to destroy the opponent with a squeak. Ash immediately sent Redgauz to the second boss, he did not even have time to aim, as was also defeated.

‘I overestimated the difficulty the level again... maybe it's just a game for children... if so, then I guess I'm lucky.’ Ash thought and directed Redgoz to the altar. He approached the crystal, absorbed it and became a little larger in size.

‘Level two completed, get ready for the final.’ Sounded in the game space. ‘A new skill is available: Fireball.’ - voice finished the phrase.

‘I'll beat the game and come home.’ There was confidence in the boy's heart. From the fear that he experienced being in this strange place seems to have disappeared.

‘Final level. Defeat the king and his followers.’ Gave the task an accompanying voice.

A Disney-like fairy tale castle appeared in front of Ash. There were four gate guards in front of the castle. Ash was in maximum concentration, he had only one task: not to screw up. In order to understand the strength of his opponents, he decided not to make a direct attack, instead trying out his new skill - fireball. Ash extended his arms in the direction of his rivals, mentally imagining the move. A small fireball shot out of Redgauz's hands like an arrow from a bow. But Ash missed, and, afraid that he would provoke an attack, he jumped with Redgoz to the side. What he saw was completely unexpected: the guards got scared and ran away. As soon as Redgoz crossed the gate, all the enemies began to run away.

‘Are they afraid of me? Do I need to catch up them?’ Ash wondered what was going on.

‘Time is over.’ The computer voice said loudly and calmly. At the same moment, the location changed to the one from which it all began.

‘Time?’ There was no mention of time. Ash yelled back.

The voice sounded for the last time. ‘The game is over. Unfortunately, you will be in the game forever.’

After this phrase, everything was again enveloped in darkness. Ash didn't move for a few more seconds, and all thoughts left his head. It was a state of shock. At some point, waking up, the most calm and silent boy in the world shouted with all his chest.

‘No!!! Come back!’ There was no answer.

‘It was all a hoax, right? It's a trap, right? Answer! I know you hear!’ It was only now that he realized that he had played the game with a mistake.

‘Fool.’ He thought to himself, no longer angry at the emotionless computer voice.

‘It's not just the lack of time that's wrong...? The whole game isn't correct, is it?’ He kept asking into the void.

Ash wanted to sit up and hit the ill-fated cup of coffee again. Groping for it in the pitch darkness, he carefully took the only object that connected him to the house.

Ash gave up. Tears began to well up in his eyes, and he did not immediately see how the cup began to heat up and lightly illuminate the space around him. Ash startled up, not understanding what was going on. He opened the plastic lid and Redgauz jumped out of the cup, illuminating Ash's face and hands.

‘Hi.’

‘H-hi.’ Answered the boy, shocked by what he saw.

‘Is it through this thing that you got to us?’ Asked Redgauz, turning to the cup of coffe.

‘Well, something like that ... maybe ...‘ The teenager nodded in confusion.

‘Thanks to this artifact that links our worlds, we were able to contact you! It's amazing how you thought of creating it