Prologue

Deep within a trashy city was an arcade that withstands popular arcades despite its low-budget income in order to run the place. It was home to many old arcade games, many of which were not popular or prototypes that somehow found their way here. Kids were running around the oddly dark but vibrant arcade with floors that have the generic vaporwave pattern of triangles, circles, and random zigzags printed on the carpet with stains from everything. A disco ball light on the ceiling in almost every aisle of the arcade machines gave the place a funky vibe. The smell of stale popcorn and pizza filled the air, the sound of beeps and chimes of multiple machines going off. The owner of the place was an elderly man with thick brown glasses barely being held together with tape. He mainly spent his time behind the prize counter watching the news or organizing prize toys.

A group of loud kids entered the arcade causing commotion and headed straight to the coin machine to be able to exchange their hard earned allowance to play all the games available in the arcade. Machines lined up along all the walls. Each categorized by game type, there were fighting games, racing games, shooting games, etc. They all seemed to have their own personality, the worn out buttons and faded artwork printed on the machines told stories.

The sound of laughter fills the air amongst the laughter was a group of kids gathered around a particular arcade machine.

Their eyes gleamed with interest as one of them read the name out loud.

“Uki..moes?”

What stood in front of them was an arcade machine with eyeball graphics and veins wrapped around the boxy machine. Musical notes stamped down the side with a large fluffy bear looking character grinning on the side. The screen lit up with a bloody red cross symbol that had an eyeball staring deep into the players souls. The words “Click to play” flashed brightly in a bright white.

A kid shoved his hands in his pocket and grabbed out the last coin he had to use.

“Are you sure guys that you wanna try this game out its kinda freaky looking”

“Oh hush it’s just another dumb machine in this dump”

“Yeah yeah just put the coin in I want to see what's up!”

“Fine guys, I’ll put the coin in but I’m not going to play it”

“Pft stop being such a wimp I’d be more than happy to give it a spin”

The kid places a few coins in the machine and places one of his hands on the steering wheel while the other is on the buttons to the side. The machine starts up playing a catchy tune while yelling out the words “U K I M O E… WE ARE UKIMOES”, A select player screen pops up with a wide variety of characters to choose from.


“Woah there’s so many different options man…”

“That one looks so cool! It has little puff balls on his head”

“Woahhhhhh”

“Ehhh I kind like this one more”

The kid hovers over a character that resembles a dog robot with big floppy dog ears, stitches found along the robot's body. Her name was “MUO” a muted green zombie dog that rocks out to hard metal. Her pinkish purple eyes glowed, the paws also glowed and illuminated in the darkness of the screen. Her idle animation banged her head back and forth with flames appearing behind her. She hops on her motorcycle revving the engine ready to go as pink toxic drool drips from her mouth onto the ground.

The kid selects to play as her and the game loads up warning signs. “WARNING: THIS GAME INCLUDES BLOOD, GORE, VIOLENCE, AND VULGAR LANGUAGES DO YOU WISH TO PROCEED.” The same bloody red cross from earlier appears on the screen, its eyeball looks around the room and locks onto the main player of the game staring into the kids soul.

“Woah I thought this game was a kiddy game this eyeball things pretty cool it’s like it is actually looking at me”

They all laugh a little

“Yeah like a shabby machine in the old arcade would have tech like that”

“Eh I guess we’re in for a surprise or something”

“Damn right we are”

He smashes the yes button and a driving course with a line up of other bots appear. The countdown starts up

“5..4….3…2…1 GO BOTS GO!”

As the race begins, the screen suddenly flickers, and the racetrack transforms into something entirely different. Instead of the expected colorful circuit, the kid finds himself steering MUO through an abandoned cityscape. The toxic drool from MUO's mouth leaves a glowing trail behind her motorcycle, illuminating the darkened streets.

"Hey, this isn't what I expected," the kid mumbles, gripping the steering wheel tighter. The other kids lean in closer.

As Muo races through the apocalyptic landscape, the player notices the buildings have the same eyeballs that decorate the arcade cabinet and were on the loading screen. Each eye seems to follow MUO's movement, blinking in unison as she passes. The eyes direct their attention to the player. The game's cheerful background music slowly warped into a haunting symphony.

Meanwhile, in another part of the city….

A man hovers over a dead deer's body, the blood staining the grass beneath them. Another man standing somewhat far in the distance. The forest has a slight breeze while the moon illuminates the scene.

“Alright, that's another one down….”

He places his dirty work boot onto the deer's head, slightly squishy it down making the eyeball almost pop out of the socket. He starts to ramble about how valuable the body of the deer can be and other animals' body parts before getting cut off.

“Yeah…ok, thank you for your hard work. I’ll send the money transfer like usual. Just dispose of the body like you usually do.” He scoffs while placing one of his hands into the pants pocket of his fitted dark black satin suit carrying a suitcase in the other.

“Yeah I got it, nice doing business with you again.” he says after wiping the bloody knife onto his camo pants.

Back at the arcade

The man running the arcade grabs the tv remote and turns up the volume on the tv. He looks over scanning the arcade briefly checking on the kids before changing the channel to the news.

“Latest news shows a continuous decrease in the animal population. As we can see on the chart this year has been an all time low for many species across the nation. With the continuous uprising with technology creating synthetic food and use for animals decreasing we can see that we are headed towards a new future. Natural scientists have pleaded with the government over the years with their voices being silenced.”

The arcade owner sighs heavily at the news report, his hands adjusting his tape-covered glasses. Through the reflective glass of the prize counter, he watches the group of kids still gathered around the Ukimoes machine. The owner watches the scene unfold from his counter. The news continues to play behind him, but he's no longer paying attention to it.

As Muo approaches the final lap, the city scene becomes even more disturbing. The racetrack now winds through what appears to be a massive factory floor, the conveyor belts carrying dismantled mechanical animals. The kids notice that these robots bear a resemblance to the real animals they've seen in nature documentaries.

"This is getting weird, guys," one of the kids whispers, but none of them look away.

The race reaches its climax as MUO breaks through the factory's main control room. The screen fills with thousands of pictures, each showing different locations around the world where animals are being brutally murdered, the carcasses of the animals in grave detail (similar to photos of dead human victims). The child’s face drops, the blood from his face somehow disappearing leaving him with a ghost-like complexion. Suddenly, MUO's character stops responding to the controls. She turns to face the screen, her glowing eyes meeting those of the players. The game's interface glitches, and the same red bloody cross appears veins growing out of it like a virus. The screen of the arcade machine cracks in sync with the veins' appearance and the game shuts down completely.

"What the actual fuck, guys!" the main kid exclaims, releasing his hands from the controls as sweat drips down the side of his face. The other kids stand speechless beside him.

Outside the arcade, the city continues unaware of the truth being revealed through an old arcade game in a run-down establishment. The news report about declining animal populations continues to play. The kids slowly step away from the machine, their earlier excitement replaced by silence. As they walk toward the exit, they rush past the other games traumatized by their experience. The arcade owner left speechless, he didn’t catch what had happened other than the fact that he had to replace another arcade machine.