''The Missing Link''
//A Twine game created by Angel Gabriel Velez//
''Act One''
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Things have been quiet in the household lately.
A little too quiet, if you ask Cody.
Zack had left the house for a little pranking mission last night, and frankly, that's nothing new to Cody. Zack is often passionate about the art of pranking others, and it's not rare for him to leave the house at unusual times once inspiration hits him.
However, it's now morning and Zack is nowhere to be found. He's not in his room, nor is he in the kitchen. Heck, he's not even in the game room, where he spends most of his time when he's not out there pranking others.
This can only mean one thing: Something must have happened to Zack. But how?
Cody takes a quick glance around the house. There must be some clues nearby. What should Cody do next?
[[Let's look at a pile of crumbs in the kitchen.]]
[[Let's look at some candy wrappers on the floor.]]
[[Welp, let's try looking around again.]]After walking into the kitchen and inspecting the crumbs, all Cody can see are ants that are happily frolicking around the crumbs. Ugh, whoever left them there is such a huge slob, and it sure isn't Cody. Cody must have a serious talk with Zack about the art of tidying up this room...
[[Welp, time to go back to the living room.]]Looking at the empty candy wrappers on the floor provided no clue to Cody whatsoever. They also provide no value at all. Who would even want trash on the floor? Cody sighs as he only has one thought in his mind:
[[Welp, time to go back to the living room.]]There is an interesting trail of whoopee cushions leading somewhere. Cody must follow it. After all, they could lead to a valuable clue.
So Cody walks along, following the trail of whoopee cushions to wherever location they could be leading. Once the trail of whoopee cushions has reached its end, Cody looks around.
It turns out that these whoopee cushions has been leading Cody to the garage room. He looks around the room and sees three noteworthy objects to inspect. What should Cody inspect?
[[Let's look at a random oil spill on the floor.]]
[[Let's look at the broken window nearby.]]
[[Let's look at the banana cream pie splattered all over the wall.]]That random oil spill on the floor does look kinda suspicious. Cody decides to step on the oil spill in order to better inspect this potential piece of evidence.
He only ends up slipping and falling down onto the floor for his troubles.
Cody quickly gets up and glares at the random oil spill. How dare this oil spill trip him onto the floor for the sake of slapstick comedy?! After Cody calms down with his thoughts, he slowly walks away from the oil spill.
[[Welp, let's try looking around again.]]This broken window looks quite serious, to say the least. Cody grimaces after seeing how broken the window is, and then he grimaces even more after noticing a large rock nearby the broken window. This can only mean one thing: The rival prankster gang, "The Troublemakers", are at it again, and this time, they mean business, judging by that broken window.
Cody would need some help on this particular problem.
He calls up Pico to see if he would be up for helping him find his brother. Thankfully, Pico seems to be understanding of his situation.
"Ah, I see. Well, no worries, I'll always be happy to help, even for my friendly rivals! Hold on, I'm coming here soon," he said.
The call ends after that. Cody then notices one more piece of evidence nearby.
[[What is this random piece of paper doing here?]]Wait a second, why is there a random banana cream pie splattered all over the wall?
Cody rushes over to the wall with much bewilderment. He stares at the mess with confusion, and then with anger. This must be the troublemaking gang's doing. They must be trying to prove themselves as the best pranksters in the world, and they’re trying to achieve this by sabotaging the competition.
Well, not on Cody's watch.
[[Wait a second, what is this random note doing next to the pie?]]After grabbing the paper from the nearby wall, the paper turns out to be a note from someone. And not just any note, it's a note from Zack! Cody quickly reads with anticipation:
"Heya, bro! I'm off to launch a huge prank on that troublemaking gang! I'm gonna show them what a real prankster is made of! Don't worry, I'll be fine, I'll make sure they won't hurt me! I think."
After reading that note, Cody immediately gets ready in his room, packing some pranking equipment and whatnot. He now knows where he should go. It's time to get ready to deal with "The Troublemakers", once and for all.
And with Pico's help, helping Zack out on his goal should go more smoothly than ever.
[[Time to help Zack out!]]Shaking off his anger for a bit, Cody picks up the note to see that it's from Zack. Well, thank goodness he's safe. Cody starts reading the note:
"Heya, bro! I'm off to launch a huge prank on that troublemaking gang! I'm gonna show them what a real prankster is made of! Don't worry, I'll be fine, I'll make sure they won't hurt me! I think."
Cody immediately rushes to his room and packs up his pranking equipment. The message is quite clear: It's time to visit "The Troublemakers" and hit them with their best prank ever. And this time, "The Troublemakers" will see what it is like to be beaten by the competition.
Time to assist Zack on showing who the true pranksters are!
[[Let's go get revenge on these losers!]]''Act Two''
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The hot sun felt pretty oppressive when Cody approached the trio of "The Troublemakers" members on the basketball court in the park. Fortunately for Cody, he doesn’t really care about the oppressive atmosphere. He WILL get revenge, no matter what!
Look at them, smirking like they have everything all figured out. Especially the guy at the front of the group, who is wearing clothes that a typical delinquent would wear, complete with a blue mohawk. He seems like such a smug jerk. Cody sure can't wait to wipe that smile off of his face.
Mohawk guy notices Cody approaching the group and said, "Ha, look who is trying to approach the great Jay!"
Of course this guy has a big ego to match. As if he wasn’t already insufferable. And frankly, Cody doesn’t have time for this nonsense.
Cody growls and says, "Grr, you make me sick! You are so vile that I almost want to immediately join this gang, just to spite you!"
Jay raises his eyebrows. "Welp, that took quite a turn. That's such a strange reason for wanting to join us, but whatever! Any member is a valuable member for this gang! You better count yourself lucky that we follow this motto, squirt!"
"Whatever."
Jay scoffs as he rolls his eyes, and then points at the one guy wearing a chef's hat to his right. "Anyways, this one is Alfonso."
Then Jay points at the one guy wearing a basketball jersey to his left. "And that one is Grant."
Then he confidently crosses his arms. "Impress one of us and you'll be able to pass the initiation and join this gang!"
Cody narrows his eyes at all three of them. There's no way they are for real, right? They seem way too trusting for his liking. Perhaps they are just simply lackeys that are leaders of their own subsections in this gang?
Eh, whatever. Time to come up with a good ol' prank. Which prank should Cody use?
[[Time to use that joy buzzer.]]
[[Time to make them eat a pie!]]
[[Time to throw some dodgeballs!]]Ha, that joy buzzer trick will never go out of style. Cody believes that much, at least. He starts to snicker to himself as he extends his hand towards Jay for a handshake. "Fine, let's shake on it. I believe you will find my answer very shocking."
Jay laughs out loud. "Wow, this dude's got jokes. Well, whatever. There's no way he'll use that trick, right?"
Alfonso and Grant sigh. They can probably see where this is going.
Jay reaches out to shake Cody's hand with eagerness. He ends up getting shocked for his trouble. Needless to say, he slumps down to the floor while Alfonso and Grant laugh.
Alfonso points a finger at Jay. "Man, how did you even fall for this?"
Grant shakes his head. "Talk about embarrassing."
Cody smirks as he crosses his arms. Time to deliver a final blow with a roast!
[["You have quite a shocking personality!"]]
[["Now you'll finally have some energy in your unmotivated life."]]It's time to deliver a banana cream pie special, courtesy of yours truly!
Cody quickly takes this pie out of the backpack, runs at Jay, and slams that pie into his face, leaving him in a dizzy state.
Grant sighs with boredom. "Man, that's the oldest trick in the book."
However, Alfonso seems more interested. "Hmm, I see you have fine taste in pies and pranks, my dude!"
Nice, Cody is slowly starting to gain respect from one of the members. Now he'll just need to roast Jay in order to top off this delicious prank!
[["Actually, I'm hungry."]]
[["Ha, looks like you got your just desserts!"]]Seems like it's time to employ an old tactic that any schoolyard bully likes to use!
Cody quickly takes the dodgeball from his backpack and throws it at Jay, easily knocking him down to the ground.
Alfonso gasps and looks down at Jay with surprise. "Wow! That trick was quite barbaric, but it's a good trick nonetheless."
However, Grant is clapping wildly at this (apparent) spectacle of a prank that Cody just pulled. "Whoo! Now that’s what's up! Hit him with a roast and rub that salt in that wound!"
Seems like Cody is earning Grant's respect! Time to comply with his request and roast Jay!
[["You fail pranking class forever!"]]
[["If only your mother loved you, you would never have gotten pranked!"]]Cody sports a goofy grin after saying that. Now, how will others react to what Cody just said?
The trio all look at Cody with cringe. Yes, even Jay, the guy that is currently laying on the floor.
Jay groans. "Wow. That one just hurt. This corny joke hurts me more than the shock. And just for that, you fail the initiation. The members of this gang should never hurt each other with puns."
The other two members nod with agreement. Wow, talk about an arbitrary rule.
And just like that, Cody isn’t able to join "The Troublemakers" gang, therefore making the search for Zack impossible. All because of one corny joke. That's quite a tragic way to fail, huh?
[[Let's go get revenge on these losers!]]Cody smiles dangerously after saying that. He defiantly is in a mean mood today.
Alfonso gasps in surprise. "Whoa, that burn is so hot that it could easily heat up all of my pizzas!"
Grant nods with a small smile. "Respect."
Jay nods weakly as he gets up. "Agreed. That roast is so good that it solely earned you a spot on the "Normal Pranksters" subsection of this gang! I hope you're happy being led by the one and only Jay!"
Great. Dealing with this guy will be even more insufferable now that he's actually on a same team as him, but hey, at least he passed the initiation and became "The Troublemakers" gang member as a result. Now it'll be even easier to find Zack from the inside! Let's just hope Jay won’t become super annoying to him.
[[Just grin and bear it!]]''Act Three''
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Hanging out with the "Normal Pranksters" group of the gang is already nothing but pain.
Not only is Jay, the leader of this group, a super narcissistic person (he doesn’t even bother to refer to the only other two members by name, only referring to them as "Minion 1" and "Minion 2"), but he's also a horrible scumbag.
Cody stands by the arcade machines in the main part of the "Entertainment Arcade Stadium" building, watching his fellow "teammates" scour for any potential victims. Eventually, they find an innocent little boy walking by the arcade machines, and Cody immediately knows that it's all over for this kid if his "teammates" spot him.
Unfortunately, they do exactly that.
As soon as Jay spots him, he instructs his minions to catch the kid and hold him down so he can beat the kid up until the poor kid gives him some lunch money.
All in all, these guys are acting like straight up bullies. They are not true pranksters at all, especially not in Cody's eyes.
The minions do manage to successfully catch the boy. They hold him down as Jay cracks his knuckles, preparing to beat the kid up.
Cody hides behind one of the arcade machines. He must do something about this whole situation before it gets real bad.
Time to show these fools what a true prankster is made of!
[[Let's just tackle one of these guys.]]
[[Let's distract them with a penny.]]
[[Screw it, I'm out!]]After saying that, Cody suddenly realizes something: He hadn’t brought a single food item (that wouldn’t be used as a prank) for this trip. Cody certainly did not think things through at all.
As if to compound that mistake, his stomach rumbles. It rumbles so loudly to the point that it would be impossible for "The Troublemakers" members to not hear that.
They all smirk with malicious intent after hearing that. Alfonso lets out a hearty laugh. "Seems like you hadn’t ate anything today, huh?"
Cody looks to the side with much reluctance. "Guess not."
Alfonso's grin only widen. "Well, allow me to fix that for you!"
Before Cody knew it, he gets hit in the face with a coconut cream pie that Alfonso threw at him, knocking the former down. The rest of the members laugh at Cody as they make a run for it, with Alfonso following shortly after.
Welp, that backfired greatly. And the worst part? Cody doesn’t even like coconut cream pie. In fact, it's his most disliked pie flavor ever.
[[Let's go get revenge on these losers!]]Alfonso and Grant gasp after Cody roasts Jay with great prejudice. He's certainly not holding anything back. In fact, he has proven that he has what it takes to roll with one of the subsections of the gang.
Alfonso nods his head with approval. "Alrighty then, seems like you won the spot at the "Cooking Pranksters" subsection of the gang. Congratulations, I'm proud of ya! Now, let's go cook up some delicious pranks, shall we?"
Cool, that sounds like quite a promising group. Cody silently nods his head as he follows Alfonso to the gang's base of operations while others are following closely behind.
[[Let's go cook up some pranks!]]''Act Three''
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So, it turns out that the gang's base of operations is the "Arcade Entertainment Stadium" building. Cody cannot believe how much games there are in this building! It seems like these arcade machines go on from the beginning of this huge building all the way to the end! No wonder this building is huge. And no wonder "The Troublemakers" are secretly using this building as their home away from home.
Since Cody joined the "Cooking Pranksters" subsection of the gang, Alfonso leads Cody to one section of the building, which has one room in it. In an ironically big contrast to this huge building, this room is very small, almost like a typical apartment room. Upon closer inspection, Cody sees that this room is a small kitchen with a bunch of random ingredients and cooking tools.
Once Cody puts the apron on, he notices Alfonso setting up a camera in front of the table, making the former raise his eyebrows. What is Alfonso even doing? Isn't cooking his sole passion?
Then Alfonso turns to glare at Cody, giving him animosity for no good reason. "I swear, if you ruin my cooking show, I'm gonna beat you up so badly that you won't even be alive by the end of it!"
Cody gulps after hearing that. This unsolicited threat sure makes him feel uncomfortable now.
Then Alfonso smiles goofily at the camera as it starts to roll, as if nothing bad just happened. "Hello, guys, and welcome to 'Cooking with Pranksters'! Today, I have a special guest with me today, and his name is Cody! It turns out that he's a master cooking prankster himself! Let's see which dish he'll cook today!"
Oh. Cody is now starting to realize what is going on here. It seems that Alfonso actually has some sort of delusion about being some reality cooking show host.
Whatever, let’s just start cooking.
Cody takes a large bowl out of the cupboard and places it on the table. Time to add the first ingredient.
[[Let's add flour.]]
[[Let's add some motor oil.]]
[[Let's add nothing at all.]]
[[Actually, I'm getting out of here!]]As soon as Cody spits out that roast, an agonizing scream can be heard all over the park. That scream obviously scares all the birds in the park away, because wow, the sheer volume of that scream was unbelievable.
Once Cody stops covering his ears, he sees that the scream came from Jay himself. Wow, it seems that dude really couldn’t take that roast. He must really be dedicated to the art of pranking. It reminds Cody of Zack, in a way.
Alfonso stands there, stunned speechless, while Grant immediately approaches Cody to shake his hand. "And just like that, you earned all of my respect. Welcome to the "Sports Pranksters" subsection, my dude."
And just like that, Cody manages to find an in with "The Troublemakers" gang. And if all he has to do is to keep up with a few athletic pranksters, then so be it.
[[Let the games begin!]]After saying that, Cody is met with looks of confusion from the prankster trio. Cody gulps, sensing that he messed up somehow.
Jay raises one eyebrow. "What are you talking about? My mom loves me plenty! She’s the one who brought me pranking equipment in the first place."
Alfonso shakes his head after hearing that. "Oof, your roast is so non-existent that my cake is still a random assortment of ingredients!"
Grant laughs at Cody while pointing at him. "HAHA, your roast sucked so badly, my dude! You know what that means!"
Cody raises his eyebrows. He literally has no idea what Grant is talking about.
Soon, Cody receives the answer in the form of a dodgeball hitting his face at mach speed, knocking him out. The prankster trio laugh heartily at Cody's misfortune as they leave him sprawled out on the basketball court. This could have not ended much worse for Cody.
[[Let's go get revenge on these losers!]]''Act Three''
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''BAM!''
A basketball immediately gets thrown at Cody's face, hitting him. He rubs his face in pain while glaring at the fellow members of the "Sports Pranksters" group. It seems that they do not take kindly to newbies at all. Grant, the leader of the group, even laughs aft him after the event. What a bunch of bullies!
Ugh, whatever. Cody looks around the indoor basketball court that resides in one part of the "Entertainment Arcade Stadium" building. There's gotta be something in there that Cody can use to prank these prankster jocks.
Then Cody looks down to see a soccer ball and a basketball lying on the floor in front of him. One of these balls will start this epic sports prank for sure!
[[Let's kick the soccer ball.]]
[[Let's kick the basketball.]]
[[Forget this, I'm out of here.]]It's probably best to start off with the basics. The pranking part can happen later. After all, best things come to those who wait. So Cody adds some flour into the bowl.
This makes Alfonso clap with some happiness. "I see you’re trying to make some cake! That's pretty awesome, sticking to the classics like that! Now, what other ingredient can you add here?"
Cody looks around for some options, in hopes of progressing his revenge plan.
[[Let's add some more flour.]]
[[Let's add some eggs.]]
[[Let's add some cement.]]Alright, it's time to open the prank floodgates right out of the, well, gate!
Cody immediately starts adding motor oil into the bowl with a proud smile. So far, so good!
However, Alfonso sighs with disdain. "You have a bad sense of timing. It's not time for the prank part yet! Quit jumping the gun, dude!"
Cody slowly backs away from the dish...and then runs out of the kitchen. Welp, that prank already backfired.
[[Let's go cook up some pranks!]]Cody simply puts his hands in his pockets. He seems lost in thought right now. Perhaps none of the pranking ideas has hit him yet.
This makes Alfonso stare at him with ire. "How come you’re not doing anything? Are you trying to make a fool out of me?! I ought to chase you out of the show myself!"
Thanks to Alfonso's rapid-fire assumptions, Cody gets chased out of the kitchen. Seems like he should have done something after all.
[[Let's go cook up some pranks!]]Aw, what the heck? More flour couldn’t hurt, right? After all, it's best to play it safe.
So Cody adds some more flour into the bowl. However, once he finishes doing so, he notices Alfonso scrunching his nose up like he's about to sneeze.
"Ah...AH...ACHOO!"
As a result, piles of flour flies onto Cody, covering him in said flour. Dang, it turns out Alfonso is allergic to flour, unintentionally pranking Cody in the process. It seems more flour does hurt after all.
[[Let's add flour.]]Adding some eggs sounds like a smart idea. So Cody adds some eggs in the bowl. However, he forgot to crack the eggs, which leads to the eggs cracking into broken pieces upon contact once Cody threw them into the bowl.
This enrages Alfonso greatly as he slams his hands on the table. "Dude, you are so bad at cooking that I ought to do this to you!"
That's when Alfonso takes a rollin pin and immediately knocks Cody on the head with it. "That's what you get for being a bad cook!"
Welp, the more you know.
[[Let's add flour.]]Alright, time to put the pranking skills into action!
With a cheeky smile, Cody slowly pours cement into the bowl without Alfonso looking. Once he finishes adding the ingredient, Cody says, "Alright, I have finished adding the proper ingredient!"
Alfonso smiles with a thumbs up. "That's great! Now let’s move on to the final step of this whole process! Do you know what it is?"
Cody cannot help but notice a small sneaky smile on Alfonso's face. Oh geez, it seems like it's up to Cody to guess the final step, and avoid any possible tricks while he's at it. What is the final step?
[[Let's smash the bowl onto his face.]]
[[Let's mix the ingredients together.]]
[[Let's put it in the oven.]]Alright, time to stop Alfonso with a prank, once and for all!
Cody immediately moves to smash a bowl on Alfonso's face. However, Alfonso caught his arm mid-throw, rendering him unable to move.
Alfonso smirks. "Hmph, I saw that coming from a mile away. Next time, try to be more clever if you’re going to prank the master cooking prankster!"
And just like that, Alfonso pushes the bowl back, making it land on Cody's head and knocking him out while getting soaked in ingredients. Seems like Cody will need to be more sneaky than that.
[[Let's add some cement.]]Alright, let's just move on to the next stage of the revenge plan and simply mix the ingredients together.
After carefully mixing the ingredients in the bowl, the cement hardens, and then Cody pushes the bowl over to Alfonso. "I'm done. What do you think?"
Alfonso takes a careful look at the finished "food" in the bowl. He holds the bowl upside-down over his head to get a better look at it...and a cement block falls down on his head, knocking him out.
Cody only has a moment to snicker before someone suddenly crawls out from the bottom cupboards...and that someone turns out to be Zack himself!
Cody gasps in shock. "Zack, what are you doing here?"
Zack chuckles before replying with, "I simply snuck into this base, and I was biding my time here, but man, I didn’t expect you to prank this dude good! I'm very proud of you, bro."
Zack gives him a hug just to show him how proud he is. Cody happily returns the gesture.
After that touching moment, Zack looks at Cody with curiosity. "Well, bro, what do you want to do next?"
[[Let's get out of here.]]
[[Let's go on a victory lap.]]The oven seems like a reasonable next step, so why not try that?
Cody carefully plants the bowl in the oven and sets it to a reasonable temperature. However, the oven violently shakes as soon as he did that, and before he knew it, the oven explodes, blasting Cody out of the entire building.
Alfonso laughs hysterically. "Ha, you fell for my exploding oven trick!"
What a dirty trick.
And with that, Cody's blasting off again...
[[Let's add some cement.]]Cody sighs after saying this. He feels that he has done enough for today. It's best to get out while they still can.
Zack nods with understanding. "Got it. Then let's go already!"
And with that, the duo quietly sneaks out of "The Troublemakers" base without further peep. This feels like an anticlimactic ending to their day, but at least Cody manages to find Zack and prank Alfonso in the process. At least he achieved revenge on Zack's behalf.
//You achieved the "Bland Dish" ending!//
[[Welp, time to go back to the living room.]] Zack gives off a bright smile after Cody said that. "Then let's end this with a bang, shall we?"
And with that, the pair cause further mess in the kitchen. They spill water everywhere, threw eggs everywhere, and finally, they leave the oven on, setting it to explode.
They dash out of the room and the building as soon as possible. As soon as they leave the building, a giant explosion occurred throughout parts of the building, leaving a giant hole in one part of the building, leaving behind many grumbling and yelling from the gang.
Cody and Zack snicker as they high-five each other. The revenge plot has been successfully achieved, and with flying colors too! Needless to say, Zack is very proud of Cody on this day.
//You have achieved the "Revenge is a Dish Best Served Cold" ending!//
[[Welp, time to go back to the living room.]]''Act Two''
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"Sorry for troubling you with this, Pico."
"That's okay, Cody. I'm always happy to help, after all."
Cody and Pico take a look around the park while walking around. The current mission is to find Zack, and no distraction is going to stop them from achieving this goal.
The pair then spots a trio of "The Troublemakers" gang members tormenting some poor guy into giving them his money. The guy runs away after the trio finishes intimidating him.
Pico nods with recognition. "Hold on, I have seen these guys before. These three are Jay, Alfonso, and Grant. They often hang out in the park just to torment others, and they are the leaders of their own groups in this gang."
Cody rubs his chin with thought. "Sounds like they are our best shot in joining the gang, so we can find out about their location."
"Huh, sounds like a good idea!"
Pico then raises the hood from his black hoodie to cover his head and face. "I'm just going to conceal my identity though. I have a feeling that some members will recognize me as the guy who vocally opposes the gang's harmful ideals all the time."
Cody nods in understanding as the pair then walk over to the harmful trio.
Jay points at the pair as soon as he sees them. "Hey, who dares to approach the great Jay?"
Pico crosses his arms. "Our identities are none of your business. However, we do want to join your gang."
Grant chuckles. "Heh, I like this guy's attitude. Alright, show us your best pranks, and then the two of you will be able to join this gang."
Cody and Pico look at each other. Time to put their plan into action.
[[Let's just toss eggs at each other.]]
[[Let's create a mean banana cream pie.]]Hmm, the soccer ball seems like a good option. After all, the whole purpose of a soccer ball is to be kicked.
So Cody kicks the soccer ball as hard as he can. The ball zips around the room so fast that Cody can’t even see where it's going.
Before he knows it, the soccer ball hits him in the back of the head, knocking him out instead of his intended targets. Talk about an epic fail.
[[Let the games begin!]]Cody decides to run at the basketball and kick it with much force. The ball zips around the room, but it manages to land on Grant's head, due to the basketball being more manageable to kick than the soccer ball.
Grant rubs his head as he growls in anger. "Who the hell kicked the ball at me?! I swear I will beat them up as soon as I find them!"
Cody hides behind the bleachers after hearing that. Welp, time to come up with a plan. Otherwise, he might end up getting beat up by these bullies.
[[Let's scare them off with a haunting whistle.]]
[[Let's make random bird noises.]]Cody isn’t quite sure this would work, but oh well. Here goes nothing.
He tries to squawk like a bird, trying to draw attention away from him. "CA-CAW! CA-CAW!"
Grant looks around in confusion. "Who let this wild bird loose in this gym?! What kind of idiot does that?!"
Then he looks behind the bleachers, finding Cody there. "Oh, the idiot that makes random bird noises to draw attention from himself! Oh, you're gonna get it now!"
And thus, Cody gets beaten up for his troubles.
[[Let's kick the basketball.]]Oh, maybe scaring them off would do the trick! Time to put the whistling skills to the test.
Cody masterfully whistles a tune that is full of ominous aura. He tries to whistle the tune as clear as possible.
Sure enough, every member looks around the room in alarm. Multiple members are clamoring around in panic. "Huh? Oh no, that sounds like the whistle of Death itself! Let's get out of here!"
Only Grant appears unaffected by this. He witnesses his fellow members running out of the room and he facepalms after the fact. "Are you guys serious? You morons are way too easily scared."
He then walks over to the bleachers and pulls Cody from behind the bleachers, and then throws him down onto the ground. "I bet you're the idiot who did that whistle, huh? Well, now you're gonna regret it!"
Cody lays on the ground with alarm. He must figure out what to do next before he gets pummeled to death!
[[Let's fight back.]]
[[Let's just do nothing.]]There does not seem to be a solution in sight. Seems like it's time to accept fate then.
Cody braces himself for impact. Before Grant can even get a hit in though, a bunch of spiders suddenly crawl around his body. "Wait a minute. Spiders? OH GEEZ, THERE ARE SPIDERS ALL OVER ME! SCREW THIS, I'M OUT OF HERE!"
Grant gets scared by the spiders so badly that he runs out of the room screaming, all while a bunch of spiders are following him.
After witnessing this, Cody looks back to see Zack standing right there with a dumb grin on his face. He tightens the lid on a jar full of spiders, and that's when Cody connects the dots.
Cody nods in approval. "So you’re the one who made Grant run away with a tail between his legs. Good job. I see your little pranking plan worked out after all."
Zack beams with pride. "Indeed it has! Now, let’s put in the finishing touch, shall we?"
After kicking a bunch of balls around the gym room (making a mess in the process), Cody and Zack walk out of the gym room and the entire building hideout with no issue. On this day, Cody and Zack manage to achieve their pranking goals with the power of teamwork.
//You have achieved the "The Power of Sports" ending!//
[[Welp, time to go back to the living room.]] Welp, there's not much else to do, is there? It's time to fight back.
Cody tries to do a leg sweep move, but Grant catches his leg. Then the sports thug slams Cody down on the floor multiples times, battering him real badly.
After the beatdown, Cody is left unconscious on the floor. Grant laughs after the fact. "Looks like I win, and you'll forever stay the loser."
Well, that is quite humiliating AND painful.
[[Let's scare them off with a haunting whistle.]]Ugh, what is he waiting for? This is no time to come up with a clever prank! He must take action now.
He jumps from his hiding spot and immediately tackles Minion 1, starting a struggle between them. Unfortunately, Jay decides to take action and kick Cody in the back of the head, knocking him out with ease.
This truly is a pitiful plan, to say the least.
[[Just grin and bear it!]]It's best to take care of this situation step-by-step. It's a good thing Cody has a spare penny in his pocket.
Cody places the penny on the floor and rolls it over to the troublemaking group. He patiently waits for any results.
Minion 1 notices the penny stopping near him. "Ooh, today's my lucky day!"
He briefly lets go of the kid to grab the penny, only to crack his back upon reaching down. "Ah! My back!"
He then falls down, lying on the floor. Wow, Cody isn’t even trying, and yet, that took down one of the henchmen!
Now, what to do next?
[[Let's trick the other members.]]
[[Secret pie attack!]]Alright, time to use some smarts and wits for this one.
Cody casually walks over to the group with a smile. "Hey, maybe we should stop harassing this kid. After all, it's bad luck to do so. I mean, look at Minion 1! What if the same happens to you two?"
Minion 2 seems to be shivering in his boots. However, Jay does not seem very convinced. He just gives him a blank stare. "What are you, a scaredy-cat? Get out of my face with that quitter talk!"
And thus, Cody gets knocked out from Jay punching him in the head.
[[Let's distract them with a penny.]]Cody decides to do what he does best.
He takes out one of the banana cream pies from his backpack and carefully aims the pie at Minion 2. Once his aim is locked in. He throws the banana cream pie at the back of Minion 2's head.
"GUH!"
This manages to successfully knock out Minion 2 while coating him with the pie. Ha, classic prank achieved!
Now Cody glances over to see the innocent boy, who seems confused, probably questioning on how these pranks are even happening, but he still seems intrigued nonetheless.
Then he glances over to Jay, who is now holding the innocent kid hostage. Time to finish this jerk off.
[[Let's just punch him, once and for all.]]
[[Let's use the good ol' joybuzzer trick again.]]Cody jumps away from his arcade machine hiding place and throws a punch straight at the back of Jay's head.
And surprisingly enough, it actually works! Jay falls straight down onto the floor, out cold. Looks like the day is saved!
Except that not everything is resolved. The innocent little boy stares at Cody with fear. He runs away with tears in his eyes, clearly fearing for his life.
Cody looks down at his hands with shock. "What if I'm the true monster all along?"
That's when Cody decides to leave the building, feeling disappointed. Zack secretly follows Cody back home with just as much disappointment.
//You have achieved the "True Monster" ending!//
[[Secret pie attack!]]
[[Welp, time to go back to the living room.]] Okay, it's time to take down this bully with Cody's personal favorite prank: The joybuzzer trick! Let's hope Jay will fall for this trick again...
Cody approaches Jay with a casual smile, intending to lull him into a false sense of security. "Hey, dude! I just witnessed you and your goons-"
"Minions."
Cody rolls his eyes at Jay's insistence of using this term. "Okay, let me rephrase that. All I'm saying is that I'm impressed that you guys are able to take down this kid like that! Let's shake hands to commemorate this event!"
Jay jumps up and down with cheer. "Heck yeah! Let's do it, dude!"
Cody nods and the two shake hands together. As soon as their hands touch, Jay gets shocked senseless, and he lays down on the floor, unconscious, but still fine in a vital sense.
The innocent little boy laughs at the trick, and then gazes at Cody with wonder. "Wow, that was awesome! I love your funny tricks! My name is Teucer, by the way!"
Cody smiles a bit after hearing this. "Heh, thank you."
"He couldn’t have done it on his own, you know!"
Cody's ears perk up and he turns around to see that the source of the voice was Zack himself. He walks out from behind another arcade machine. "I'm impressed, bro. It seems you made my pranking plan work after all, just as expected. Great job!"
Teucer looks at the duo with wonder. "Whoa, you two work together to make funny and cool tricks? Awesome! You two are now officially my prankster idols!"
Zack chuckles. "Wow, looks like we have a fan, bro. Well, the more the merrier, I always say!"
Then he looks at Teucer. "Stick around and you will get to witness more funny and cool tricks! Deal?"
Teucer jumps with glee. "Deal!"
And thus, the three of them leave the building with peace, with the prankster duo themselves feeling satisfied for proving themselves as true pranksters, especially for Cody.
You have achieved the "True Prankster" ending!
[[Welp, time to go back to the living room.]] Alright, maybe this plan is worth trying.
Cody takes a couple eggs out of his backpack and gives one to Pico. The two then toss eggs at each other without dropping any of them. This can be potentially impressive.
However, the trio stands there, unimpressed. Alfonso shakes his head. "This is the most boring food prank I have ever seen in my life."
Jay laughs at the pair. "Ha, you two are so lame that I don’t even feel like beating you two up! Goodbye forever, losers!"
And with that, the trio leaves Cody and Pico behind. Mission failed.
[[Time to help Zack out!]]Alright, time to start with a classic prank!
Cody takes a banana cream pie and a whipped cream can out of his backpack. He gives the can to Pico, who then sprays some whipped cream onto the pie. Then Cody shakes the pie around, mixing the creaminess of the pie and the whipped cream together, increasing the squishiness factor of this pie.
Alfonso nods along, clearly interested. "Huh, I'm loving this take for the pie prank!"
Jay shrugs. "Meh, it's cool enough. What else can you add on to it, though?"
Cody scratches his head, trying to think of a solution to that.
[[Let's give it the joybuzzer touch.]]
[[Let's eat together!]]Time to spice this classic prank up!
Cody takes out the joybuzzer and inserts it into the pie, adding an electric touch into the pie. He holds the pie in his hands while Pico watches with awe, along with the trio.
Jay nods in approval. "Okay, okay! This is getting interesting! Let's see if you can add a finishing touch to this prank!"
Cody and Pico smile with confidence. Let's finish this initiation with flying colors!
[[Let's throw this pie at them!]]
[[Let's slam dunk the pie onto them!]]Cody's stomach begins to grumble. Welp, time to eat!
Cody eats half of the pie while Pico decides to eat another half. Their hunger may be satiated, but they have done literally nothing else, which means the trio are not impressed at all.
Jay snorts. "Wow, how lame AND hungry can you guys get? Whatever, you two suck."
And with that, the trio leaves the pair behind, destroying any chance of them joining the gang.
[[Let's create a mean banana cream pie.]] Cody and Pico smirk at each other. They both have the same plan of attack in mind.
Pico picks Cody up and throws him up into the air. Cody gets into position, falling down to the ground. He manages to slam dunk the shocking banana cream pie onto Jay, which shocks him upon impact. He lies down on the floor with a dazed look on his face.
Alfonso and Grant clap with approval. Alfonso smiles eagerly. "Wow, that was so impressive that you both deserve your own subsection group in this gang! What do you want to call this subsection?"
Pico perks up and jumps with glee. "Oh, we are the 'Friendly Pranksters' for sure!"
Cody winces as Grant gives them a blank stare. Then he shrugs. "Whatever, the more the merrier, I guess."
Cody sighs in relief while Pico gives the former a thumbs up. Soon, the trio leads the "Friendly Pranksters" to their hideout.
[[Time for the next step!]]Cody's eyes narrow at the trio. Time to finish this.
Cody aims the pie at the trio, getting ready to throw it. However, this action is not coordinated between him and Pico, so Pico ends up tripping over Cody, making Cody lose his grip and fall down to the ground with him, letting the pie fall onto them and shock them upon impact.
Thus, the pair lie on the ground in an unconscious state while the bully trio laughs at their unfortunate fate.
[[Let's give it the joybuzzer touch.]]''Act Three''
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Once Cody and Pico are finished being led to the hideout (which turns out to be a super huge "Arcade Entertainment Stadium" building) by the troublemaking trio, they part ways, leaving only Cody and Pico by themselves in the main part of the building.
Pico looks around with curiosity. "Welp, looks like we're on our own now. I guess that’s one of the perks of being in our group. No one gets to lead us around and force us to pull harmful pranks on others."
Cody nods with agreement. "Couldn’t have said it better myself."
Pico then looks back at Cody with concern. "Well, what do you think we should do next?"
Cody strokes his chin in thought. "I think we should go to the office on the top floor of this building and confront the gang leader himself."
Pico lightens up with intrigue. "Oh, we're gonna confront Malik himself? Alright, lead the way, my dude!"
Cody looks at Pico with one eyebrow raised. "Dude, I...actually don’t know the way to that elevator. This place is big, after all."
Pico sighs. "Dang... What do we do now?"
[[Let's just ask for directions.]]
[[Let's just follow the signs.]]
[[Let's find our own way around.]]
[[Let's call for help.]]Pico looks at Cody with confusion. Then he sighs. "Well, I guess it's better than nothing, I suppose. Let me solve this code."
Pico then walks over to the keypad and inputs a code into it, and this code turns out to be incorrect. "Huh, I could have sworn that was the correct code..."
A few more failed attempts later, and an alarm suddenly sounds off from the keypad after one too many failed guesses, alerting nearby gang members to their location. They quickly surround them, leaving the pair defenseless against the sheer numbers.
Needless to say, Cody and Pico get thrown into the "Goody Two-Shoes Prison" (which only consists of an empty room with no windows and one locked door) as a result. Well, that is quite a miserable result.
[[Time for the next step!]]Cody glances around the building, trying to see if there are any nearby members that have an elevator key.
And sure enough, he finds one member dozing off nearby with an elevator key sticking out of his pocket. Of course, Cody takes that elevator key with no trouble at all.
After inserting the elevator key and opening the elevator, Cody and Pico take a quick ride to the top floor. The elevator doors open to reveal a straight hallway that leads right to the office room.
The only problem is that a big and burly gang member stands in front of the office room door, guarding said room.
Pico sighs. "Oh boy. This is Gerald, a simple bodyguard for Malik. How are we going to deal with this guy?"
Hmm, Cody may have a few ideas.
[[Let's go fight him.]]
[[Let's go bribe him.]]Cody and Pico nod towards each with determination. It's time to start a fight.
Cody and Pico runs at Gerald, preparing to attack him. However, Gerald immediately grabs both of their faces, and then slams them into the wall, embedding the pair into them. Now they’re stuck there for quite a while.
[[Let's just swipe the elevator key from one of the members.]]Cody and Pico carefully approach Gerald. Pico casually smiles towards Gerald. "Hey, wanna move away from your guarding post?"
Gerald shakes his head vigorously. "Nuh uh! There's no way you can get me to move away from here!"
Cody takes one pie out of his backpack. "Really? Not even for a delicious coconut cream pie?"
Gerald gasps. "OOH, YUMMY PIE, HERE I COME!"
And just like that, Gerald moves away from his post, eating the pie with much ferocity. Cody and Pico quickly slip into the office room with no peep.
A snickering sound comes from underneath the deak, implying that someone is hiding underneath the office room's desk. The only question is, what is that person hiding from?
As if to answer that question, a loud booming laugh sounds off from behind the desk.
"Well, well, if it ain't the two intruders!"
A somewhat angry-sounding statement greets the duo. As soon as the brute-sounding guy turned around, the duo immediately see that Malik, the leader of the whole "The Troublemakers" gang, is the one that made that statement. He's just sitting at his desk, seemingly without a care in the world.
Pico quickly pulls his hood down, revealing himself to Malik. "We're here to stop your latest nefarious plan, Malik. You better give up now."
Malik chuckles mirthlessly. "And as if things couldn’t get any worse, one of these intruders happens to be my sworn enemy, Pico."
Pico rolls his eyes. He probably has heard something like that from him a lot, considering how he has to deal with Malik and his gang's attacks on a weekly basis.
Cody crosses his arms. "We'll leave peacefully if you let Zack go."
Malik sneers at Cody. "Oh, so you want your precious prankster brother back? Well, I'm not letting you guys leave without the fight! Isn’t that right, Jay?"
That's when Jay walks out from behind Malik. "Of course! I'll always be loyal to the coolest leader ever, after all."
Ah, so it turns out that Jay also happens to be a super loyal right hand man for Malik. How terrific.
Malik then stands up from the desk and faces Cody and Pico with Jay. "Give me your best shot, losers."
Cody and Pico prepare themselves for a fight. Time to finish this, once and for all.
[[Egg salad attack!]]
[[Water balloon fight!]]
[[Surrender?]]
[[Video game battle!]]Cody immediately takes some egg salad out of his backpack and lobs it at Malik, covering him with egg salad and making him smell super bad.
This immediately enrages Malik. "No one covers me with smelly substances on my watch!"
And thus, Malik hits both Cody and Pico with one huge punch, knocking them both out. Welp, it was worth a shot.
[[Let's go bribe him.]]Cody and Pico take out water balloons from their own backpacks. They both are really prepared for this coordinated attack.
Malik's eyes widen. "What the..?"
Before he and Jay know what's coming, both Cody and Pico pelt their loathsome opponents with lots and lots of water balloons. They get so soaked to the point that they feel very cold, making them very sick from the sheer cold.
Malik and Jay fall down to the ground soon after as they sneeze up a storm. Cody and Pico take a deep breath, relieved that this battle is finally over.
And just then, Zack crawls out from underneath the dark desk!
Cody immediately runs to hug his brother while Pico watches with a smile. "Bro, I missed you so much!"
Zack hugs back. "No worries, I was just hiding here until the coast was all clear. Thanks for the help though, guys."
Pico gives a thumbs up. "No problem! Now, let's go home, shall we?"
Both Cody and Zack nod with agreement. "Yeah, let's."
And thus, they all manage to walk back to their homes, happy that this situation is finally solved, thanks to Pico's assistance. Teamwork makes the dream work, after all.
//You have achieved the "Heroic Pico Assist" ending!//
[[Welp, time to go back to the living room.]] Cody sighs. Maybe Malik is just bluffing. Maybe Zack isn’t actually here after all. Maybe they came all this way for nothing.
He raises his hands in surrender, surprising Pico. "What the heck? Cody, why are you surrendering?"
Cody sighs once more. "Perhaps this little journey has been all for nothing."
Pico raises his eyebrows in alarm. "What, you think Zack isn’t here? You don’t know that for sure! He could be hiding somewhere in this room! We just need to take down Malik and Jay, and we can find-"
Malik immediately punches Pico in the back of the head after sneaking up behind him, knocking him out in an instant.
Jay simply pins Cody down while the latter does not put up any resistance at all, leading Malik to laugh at the heroic duo. "Capturing the leader of the bothersome "The Treehouse of Diversity" organization AND the troublesome rival prankster brothers on the same day? Today must be my best day ever!"
Cody just lies there while accepting his fate. Perhaps life is truly cruel after all. Maybe he should handle this situation differently after all?
[[Let's go bribe him.]]
[[Welp, time to go back to the living room.]] Cody takes out some video games from his backpack and shows them to Malik, silently suggesting a video game battle between two teams.
Malik just stands there, unamused. "No one cares about games, you damn nerd!"
He immediately slaps Cody and Pico out of the room soon after.
[[Let's go bribe him.]]Pico sighs. "Well, if you feel that there's no other way, then I guess we have to do this, huh? Let's hope some people in this gang are considerate..."
Shortly after, they encounter one member with a genuine wide smile on his face. He seems like quite a jolly fellow.
Pico waves his hand at the fellow. "Hey, do you know where the top office elevator is? We want to speak to your boss."
The happy member pointed to the golden elevator that resides behind him. "Oh, the elevator is just straight ahead! You can’t miss it!"
Pico smiles as he bows. "Thank you! We appreciate it!"
"No problem, chum!"
Wow, it turns out that this gang does have some nice members after all.
Cody nods and leads the way to the golden elevator with no trouble. This elevator leads to the 20th floor, which is the top floor of this building, but it's locked, of course.
Cody strokes his chin. There's gotta be a way to get past this roadblock, but how?
[[Let's just swipe the elevator key from one of the members.]]
[[Let's just guess random combinations for the lock code.]]Yeah, this seems like a reasonable enough answer.
Pico nods. "I see. Then let's hope these signs lead us to what we are looking for."
Soon, the pair walks all around the building's interior, purely letting the signs do the guiding for them.
Unfortunately for them, the signs are quite convulted, with the signs pointing all over the place, due to the large scope of this building. There's no clear path at all.
Soon, the pair collapses in exhaustion from walking for too long. That's quite a price to pay for blindly following directions.
[[Time for the next step!]] As soon as Cody says it, Grant turns around to glare at him. "What did you just say?"
Cody only stares blankly at Grant in response.
Grant crosses his arms. "Well, if that's how you want to play this, then say less! Guys, let's pelt this guy for dodgeballs for trying to leave the gang!"
And thus, Cody gets hit with many dodgeballs for his trouble, knocking him out. Perhaps he doesn’t want to deal with the athletic pranksters? Or perhaps he wants to approach his whole "finding Zack" plan differently?
[[Let the games begin!]]
[[Let's go get revenge on these losers!]]
[[Welp, time to go back to the living room.]] Cody turns around to leave. Nope, there's no way he's going to deal with someone like Alfonso. That guy is just too much already.
However, he gets a frying thrown at the back of his head, knocking him out. Alfonso points at him with an angry glare. "That's teach you for straight up leaving my cooking show! Learn to be more cooperative next time!"
Perhaps Cody should choose a different group to join. Or maybe he should deal with this whole situation differently. He should probably even stay and bear with this guy's antics. There are many possibilities, that's for sure.
[[Let's go cook up some pranks!]]
[[Let's go get revenge on these losers!]]
[[Welp, time to go back to the living room.]] Cody turns around and sneaks away, wanting nothing to do with this situation. This is so not worth it.
Unfortunately, he runs into a big and burly guy, who is already glaring at Cody. "Trying to leave, huh? Let me show you what happens to those who try to leave this precious group."
Not many members know about this, but this guy happens to be a secret member in the "Normal Pranksters" group of the gang. Yes, that's right, he is the secret "Minion 3" of Jay's group, and he's the most devoted one between his minions.
He proves his devotion by punching Cody out for attempting to leave this group. Welp, it's time for a group switch. Better yet, it's probably wise to acquire assitance for this whole situation. Or maybe he should help the kid out by staging an epic prank on these followers? What should he do now?
[[Just grin and bear it!]]
[[Let's go get revenge on these losers!]]
[[Welp, time to go back to the living room.]] Pico seems to be in deep thought, as if he's really thinking this option over. It seems they both do not have a choice here. Pico then sighs. "Fine, I guess we'll give it our best shot then."
Cody nods with agreement. He then leads Pico to the very center of the building, which seems to be the central hub for all of the entertainment stuff, like the arcade machines and the path leading to a rec room, for instance.
Pico smiles a bit after making that discovery. "Ah, it seems you're on a right track with this idea, Cody! What is your gut telling you now?"
Cody looks down in thought, silently wondering where to go next.
[[Let's go visit the rec room.]]
[[Let's go check out the arcade machines.]]Pico looks at Cody with bewilderment. "Calling for help? From these guys? Alright, whatever you say..."
Before Cody knows it, Pico screams his head off. "HELP! HELLLP! HELLLLLLLLP!"
Of course, the duo earns strange looks from literally everyone in the building as a result. No surprise there.
That's when Jay, Alfonso, and Grant return to where the duo is.
Jay looks at them with a small glare. "Geez, what do you guys need help for so badly?"
Pico clears his throat. "Well, we are kinda lost. You see, we actually want to give Malik a gift for accepting us into 'The Troublemakers' gang. Where can we send the gift to Malik?"
Grant looks at Pico with some suspicion. "Well, there are two areas where we can send the gang leader some gifts. We can either send them at the very top of the stairs or we can send them at the elevator area. Which area do you guys choose?"
Cody looks down in thought, trying to consider which option to choose in this situation...
[[Let's get to the top of the stairs.]]
[[Let's get to the elevator area.]]Pico nods with understanding. "Alright, the rec room sounds like a good place to start on the search for your brother, Cody. Lead the way once more, please."
Cody eagerly nods and strides on over to the rec room by following the path. Once they make it to the room's entrance, Cody opens the door, and the pair walk into the room together.
What greets them at the door is cold water suddenly splashing down onto their heads.
Cody silently curses to himself. It seems they both fell for the classic "water bucket over door" prank. The pair struggles to regain their footing on the now-wet floor before falling down onto their faces, losing consciousness almost instantly.
It seems going to the rec room isn't a good idea after all...
[[Let's find our own way around.]] Pico looks at Cody with curiosity. "Hmm, perhaps you think the arcade machines hold some sort of clue here?"
Cody nods. "Of course. Where else would these hoodlums hide some clue?"
Pico chuckles a bit. "You got a point there."
And with that, the pair walks over to the arcade machines, hoping to find some clue there. The arcade machines seem pretty typical, with bright lights and virtual sounds coming from them.
However, one arcade machine manages to catch Cody's eye: A cyan arcade machine showing off a game called "Prank Malik."
Cody snorts. "Wow, talk about being straighforward."
Pico looks at the arcade machine with a mix of wonder and puzzle. "Wow, we actually get to prank the entire gang's leader in this game? I wonder why they even have this game here. Aren't the gang members super loyal to Malik?"
Cody shrugs as he looks at the game. "Beats me."
In the game, Malik is sitting at a desk in some office while three pranking options are presented next to him.
Cody inspects the options with careful precision.
[[Let's choose the "anvil" option.]]
[[Let's choose the "water balloon" option.]]
[[Let's choose the "banana cream pie" option.]]Cody presses the "anvil" option on the screen with much prejudice, startling Pico. Cody smiles sheepisly at him.
Pico sighs. "You sure wasted no time to pick that option..."
The duo looks back at the game to see Malik suddenly getting squished from an anvil that fell from above. The game lingers on that screen for a good while, puzzling Cody and Pico.
All of a sudden, the game shuts off, rendering it inoperable. The pair stares at the arcade machine, dumbfounded, and with no way to continue progressing on the search for clues. Talk about overkill...
[[Let's go check out the arcade machines.]] Cody carefully presses the "water balloon" option on the screen. The pair watches the outcome of that choice with much anticipation.
A water ballon suddenly launches from the background onto Malik's head, splashing him with cold water. Malik stands up from the desk and runs all around the office, screaming his head off in anger. "Who did that?! Who did that?!"
All of a sudden, a fire alarm suddenly rings out from the arcade machine, greatly startling Cody and Pico.
Unfortunately, this also alerts every gang member to their presence. They all ran to the duo in great numbers, rendering it impossible for Cody and Pico to fight back. Just like that, they get apprehended by them.
Choosing the "water balloon" option is the worst mistake of Cody's life, no doubt about it.
[[Let's go check out the arcade machines.]] Cody presses the "banana cream pie" option. He patiently waits for the result that will show up on the screen.
A banana pie cream suddenly gets launched at Malik's head, blinding him. He gets up and walk around blindly in the office.
"Wow, this is getting real hysterical! Haha, keep up the good work!"
Cody's ear perk up after hearing that random voice. He looks around frantically, trying to look for the source of that voice. Nowhere to be found, it seems. He looks at Pico, who shrugs, seeming equally as puzzled as Cody. Then they look back at the game.
Two new options pop up while Malik is stumbling around the office like a bat. Time to see what these options can do...
[[Let's choose the "bird" option.]]
[[Let's choose the "jelly" option.]]Cody presses the "bird" option with much confusion. What exactly is this option going to do here?
As if to answer Cody's internal question, a flock of doves suddenly flies down into the office, swarming around Malik in the process. This greatly terrorizes Malik, leaving him screaming all around the office.
As if real life imitates art, a HUGE scream echoes out from the top floor, which can be heard all the way from the bottom floor.
Cody and Pico looks up at the top, utterly bewildered. Before they can process this event any further, they suddenly get pulled away from the arcade machine area by some mystery person.
The pair tries to struggle from the mystery person's strong grasp at first. That is, until they realize that they were getting dragged out of the Arcade Entertainment Stadium building.
Once they are all outside, Pico looks at the mystery person with indignation. "Hey, what do you think you're doing- Oh my goodness."
Cody glares at the mystery person...until he sees the mystery person's identity.
He then gasps. "Zack?!"
Zack nods with a confident smile. "Yup, that's me!"
Pico looks at Cody with confusion. "But how?"
Zack chuckles. "Well, you see, I secretly installed that special arcade machine last night without these doofuses noticing. That arcade machine is actually a virtual camera that shows the gang leader's office in reality!"
Cody and Pico stares at Zack in disbelief.
Zack continues. "I also installed some pranks into the machine, which can appear from Malik's many copy machines in his office. 3D printing truly is amazing, eh? Anyways, I secretly followed you guys all day today to see how my brother can prank others on his own, and I gotta say, you did not disappoint at all, Cody!"
Cody smiles and gives Zack a quick hug, appreciating his support. "Thanks, bro."
Pico nods with satisfaction after seeing that little heartwarming scene. "Aww! Welp, let's go home now, shall we?"
The prankster brothers nod with agreement. And thus, all three of them walk home, completely satisfied that this mission went off without a hitch.
//You have achieved the "Virtual Prankster" ending!//
[[Welp, time to go back to the living room.]] Cody presses the "jelly" option on the screen, curious to see what it can do. Hopefully, nothing bad will come from that choice.
A vat of grape jelly suddenly falls down on Malik, leaving stuck to the ground. He seems to be stuck there for a good while.
And that's when the game freezes up.
Cody and Pico stare at the screen with disbelief toward the events that just transpired in the game. Now what?
[[Let's choose the "banana cream pie" option.]]Pico nods with agreement, as if confirming what Cody just said.
The three troublemaking pranksters sneer at the duo, which greatly confuses the latter.
Grant chuckles darkly. "We got 'em, boys."
Pico gulps. "What are you talking about?"
Alfonso laughs madly. "There are no stairs in this building at all! No one in this gang ever wants to go through the hassle of using the stairs, so why even bother installing them into the building? That's what the elevator is for!"
Jay cackles. "And that would mean you two are secret spies that are trying to take this gang down! Let's get 'em, boys!"
And before they know it, Cody and Pico gets tackled to the ground with prejudice. Cody wishes he could have spotted their lie much earlier.
[[Let's call for help.]] Pico gives a thumbs-up, as if trying to make what Cody just said more valid.
Jay gives a thumbs-up back. "Ah, okay! That's understandable, the elevator area is the hardest area to find in this building. Follow me, guys!"
Cody and Pico silently cheer as they follow the troublemaking trio all the way to the elevator area with no trouble. So far, so good! Maybe pranking Malik could be the goal here. After all, it's always better to weaken the leader. That way, the main goal of searching for Zack would become easier.
They finally reach the elevator area after some time. Jay sighs with content. "We're here!"
Grant points toward the pneumatic tube system near the elevator. "This is where we send the gifts to Malik's office, by the way."
Alfonso nods. "Yup! I always send my best pies through that thing. I have no idea why they never get through though..."
Jay then looks at the duo. "Alright, do you two have any gift ideas? No worries if you don't, we all have gift ideas!"
Alfonso and Grant both nod to confirm this.
Pico looks over at Cody. "I have a gift idea of my own if you want to try that, dude."
Cody looks at all of them with thought, wondering whose gift idea would help the most...
[[Let's try your gift idea, Grant.]]
[[Let's try your gift idea, Alfonso.]]
[[Let's try your gift idea, Jay.]]
[[Let's try your gift idea, Pico.]]Grant pumps his arm with excitement. "Yes! I have always wanted to try this, but I was too afraid to do it myself!"
He then hands the basketball off to Cody, with the latter giving the former a look of disappointment. How is Grant afraid to put the basketball through the tube system?
Cody carefully inserts the basketball into the tube system, taking care to be cautious. It's too big to fit in at first, but Cody barely pushes the ball in.
And that's when the tube spits the ball out at Cody's head, knocking him out.
Ah, so that's why Grant was afraid to put basketballs into this thing.
[[Let's get to the elevator area.]] Alfonso claps happily. "Ah, I see you made a wise choice, my friend! Here you go!"
He then gives a banana cream pie to Cody.
Cody raises his eyebrows, wondering how that would ever work, and then shrugs. Welp, it's worth a try.
He then inserts the banana cream pie into the tube system. The tube system accepts the pie with no issue at first...until the tube system stops working, due to how messy the pie is.
The entire group groans with exasperation. Jay punches the ground out of frustration. "So that's why your best pies never go through! How dumb is that?!"
Cody could not have said it better himself.
[[Let's get to the elevator area.]] Jay laughs with utter triumph. "Yes! Believe me, I have the best gift idea ever!"
He then takes out three different-colored stink bombs from his pocket. "The thing is, I can't decide which stink bomb to send..."
Cody tilts his head while raising his eyebrows. "Why not all of them at once? The more pranking stuff, the merrier, right?"
Jay gasps. "Whoa! Why didn’t I think of that? Thanks, dude, I'm gonna send all of them right now.
Jay then inserts three stink bombs into the tube system with quick succession. Everyone waits in anticipation to see if the stink bombs made it to Malik's office.
As if on cue, a loud boom sound can heard coming from the top floor, which is followed by a super loud scream of anger. "UGH, THIS STINKS IN HERE! WHO DID THIS?! WHO DID THIS?!
Jay screams in horror. "No way! I can't believe this! How can he hate on my gift?!
Pico whispers to Cody. "I think that's our cue to go."
Cody nods in agreement and follows Pico before anyone notices, retracing their steps until they walk out of the building.
Pico sighs in relief. "Phew, I can’t believe we got away with that!"
Cody takes a deep breath. "Yeah, me neither. I think we're all good to look for...Zack?!"
Zack is standing nearby the duo at the entrance with a smile. "Oh wow, it seems like following you guys turned out to be worthwhile after all!"
Cody looks at Zack with wide eyes. "Zack, how did you get here?"
Zack chuckles. "Well, I was doing a little stakeout on this place last night and camped out on a nearby spot. I was going to resume my stakeout today, but I noticed you two entering the building, so I secretly followed along!"
Pico looks down at the ground in thought. "Ah, so that's how you're here now..."
Zack nods. "Yup! Turns out that was a good idea! I can't believe you made Malik's most loyal lackey unintentionally prank him like that! I'm so proud of you, bro!"
Cody smiles softly. "Ah, thank you, bro. That means a lot to me."
Pico beams after witnessing that scene. "Aww, how sweet! Let's get out of here before they notice us though."
The prankster brothers nod in agreement, and thus, the trio run away from the chaos, happy to achieve this mission with flying colors.
//You have achieved the "Chaotic Prankster" ending!//
[[Welp, time to go back to the living room.]] Pico smiles. "Thanks for considering my idea."
He then takes a card out of his pocket. "I'm planning to send this card as a gesture of goodwill. This card has a supportive message for him, after all!"
Jay snatches the card from Pico. "Hold on, let me read this before we send this."
The card reads: "I hope you and your stupid, horrid gang crumbles down into dust."
Jay looks back at Pico and Cody while growling with pure anger. "How dare you insult this gang and our leader! You will pay for this, you nimrods!"
And thus, he punches Cody and Pico out cold for their troubles.
If only Pico learns to be more subtle with that "gesture of goodwill."
[[Let's get to the elevator area.]] ↶↷The Missing Link A Twine game created by Angel Gabriel Velez Act One Things have been quiet in the household lately. A little too quiet, if you ask Cody. Zack had left the house for a little pranking mission last night, and frankly, that's nothing new to Cody. Zack is often passionate about the art of pranking others, and it's not rare for him to leave the house at unusual times once inspiration hits him. However, it's now morning and Zack is nowhere to be found. He's not in his room, nor is he in the kitchen. Heck, he's not even in the game room, where he spends most of his time when he's not out there pranking others. This can only mean one thing: Something must have happened to Zack. But how? Cody takes a quick glance around the house. There must be some clues nearby. What should Cody do next? Let's look at a pile of crumbs in the kitchen. Let's look at some candy wrappers on the floor. Welp, let's try looking around again.
