Draball-tbreakrs-(usa)-nswtch-nsp-[3dlcpack]-zi... -

There were no other survivors. No power keys to find. No Super Time Machine to activate.

Elias selected "Survivor" and entered the queue. Usually, it took minutes to find a match. This time, the screen flashed white instantly.

Elias sat in the dark of his room, the reflection of his own pale face staring back from the black monitor. He reached for the mouse to delete the file, but his hand stopped. DRABALL-TBREAKRS-(USA)-NSwTcH-NSP-[3DLCPack]-Zi...

The Raider landed softly behind him. The game’s chat box, usually reserved for preset stickers, popped up with a single line of text:

He wasn’t in the usual "Green Hill" or "Waterfront" map. He was in a void—a crumbling version of West City where the sky was a bruised purple, choked with digital static. His character, a simple human in a denim jacket, stood alone in the middle of a deserted street. There were no other survivors

A shadow descended from the static sky. It wasn’t a Raider Elias recognized. It wasn’t the perfection of Cell or the malice of Buu. It was a glitching, shifting mass of orange and blue—a "Goku" model, but warped. Its limbs were too long, its eyes were hollow sockets of white light, and its aura didn’t glow—it bled black pixels onto the ground.

When the game finally launched, the music was off. Instead of the high-energy rock of the lobby, there was a low, rhythmic thrumming, like a heartbeat heard through a wall. Elias selected "Survivor" and entered the queue

Elias tried to run, but his character’s stamina bar was already empty. He tapped the button to use a "Grappling Device," but the item icon turned into a red "X."