Volume 1, Chapter 4: Bait and Trap

You are reading the official Taiyou Con light novel, Reset!!! We Tried to Run an Anime Convention… and Broke the Universe!!! Starring Sunny, Ash, Sakura, Leon and the crew as they put on the con — and save the world while they’re at it. Volume 1 is The Invasion Saga! (Note: The events and characters in the Taiyou Con light novel is a fictional story. For real convention event updates, go to our Updates.)

Previously on… Taiyou Con: The Invasion Saga! After all the chaos, Sunny and her Sun Squad finally regrouped to assess the mysterious barrel cactus invasion. Together, they realized the cactus army might be searching for something. So Sunny came up with a plan: capture one of the invaders and uncover the reason behind their arrival on Earth.

Inside the dimly lit staff room in the convention center, tension hummed louder than the vending machine.

“We’re really doing this, huh?” Ash played with his dagger while his eyes fixed onto the map taped to the wall. “All right, me and Sakura are the bait.”

Sunny addressed the team, “We have to do it. Capturing one is our best shot at finding out what they want. They’re not going to stop, and we need answers.”

Sakura adjusted her glasses while blushing slightly. “Based on what we’ve seen, they’re fast, strong, and coordinated. But don’t worry, Ash and I are pretty fast and we work great together. Right, Ash?”

“Yes, we do,” Ash agreed. “Sakura and I will antagonize a group of cactus and get them to chase us to the hotel. Once we are there, me and Sunny will lure one of them to the ballroom! You three”—he pointed to Solar, Luna, and Leon—“hide behind the doors. Once Sunny and I drag one in, you slam it shut. Done.”

Leon looked disappointed. “You guys get to have all the fun, and I’m just support as usual. Well, when the time comes, I’ll heal your injuries with my healing staff.”

“You all know that as a dog,” Luna said from her corner eating her dog food, “I’m more brains and vibes.”

“And me…” Solar tilted his head, “I’ll supervise and record whatever is said from a safe distance!”

“Meanwhile,” Sunny continued, “Kenji, Honoka, and Sakura—you’ll handle crowd control outside of the ballroom in the hotel courtyard. Keep the rest of the cactuses away until we finish the interrogation.”

Kenji confidently leaned forward and boasted, “Don’t worry, you will have all of the time you need. My strength boosting spiked gloves should last long enough for me to decimate them as long as my stamina holds up. Just don’t take too long. These gloves drain my stamina like crazy!”

Sakura looked up from her notes. “Same! My magic bow and arrows will decrease in power over time. The more I shoot, the weaker they get before recharging.”

Honoka twirled her giant Luck Hammer casually and shrugged. “You all know the Luck Hammer is… complicated. If I’m lucky, I’ll smash them all in one hit! If I’m not, they might just feel a cute tap, or I trip over my own feet.”

Ash raised an eyebrow. “Sometimes, you need a little random good luck to turn the tide.”

Honoka winked. “Always better to be lucky than good.”

“And of course…” Sunny summoned her sword out of thin air. A beautiful gem with a number inside was embedded in the crossguard. “This powerful blade will make sure we win.”

“But it drains fast. Each block, each swing—everything takes energy. When that number hits zero, you will be defenseless as well as… offenseless,” Solar chimed in and pointed at the gem. “So be careful. All your weapons have limitations, but your teamwork doesn’t. So fight smart and watch out for each other.”

Later that afternoon…

Half of downtown Mesa was in shambles. Deserted restaurants, broken streetlights and flattened buildings appeared everywhere. It was no surprise that everyone had evacuated the area to nearby cities of Tempe and Chandler. The news had said that the invasion had only affected about a 5-mile radius of downtown Mesa, so Sunny was relieved.

Still… Sunny thought if this kept up, it would not matter if they can stop the cactus invasion in time for Taiyou Con because there wouldn’t be a city left to host the convention.

Sunny, Kenji, and Honoka waited in front of the hotel next to the convention center anxiously. The water fountain sounded serene… almost like the calm before a storm.

Then Ash and Sakura appeared from around a building down the street. Both were running frantically and almost comically. Their faces were distraught like they had been crying as they ran toward the team.

“Why are they running like that?” Kenji squinted his eyes to see better.

Suddenly, about 100 barrel cactuses appeared from around the building.

The three of them screamed in disbelief.

Ash darted past the group and into the hotel courtyard. “Let’s go!”

“NOW!” shouted Sunny, chasing after him with everyone following as well.

The plan was simple except there was a slight wrinkle… a battalion of barrel cactus was rushing toward the hotel. Either way, there was nothing they could do about it.

“It’s very important that this plan succeeds, or we won’t find out what is really going on,” Sunny shouted. “Taiyou Con and the entire city… no, probably the entire world depends on us. We can’t let them down no matter what.”

“There are so many though,” exclaimed Honoka as she lifted her hammer.

“I know the plan was to lure one, but we can’t give up now!” Sunny summoned her sword, and it appeared in her hand. The energy meter on the gem read 100%.

The cactus army entered the courtyard of the hotel in a big swarm. Sakura shot down a few with her arrows while Kenji punched any of them that got near Sakura. It was a frenzy as Honoka, Sunny and Ash tried to thin out the numbers. However, Ash’s weak daggers took forever to destroy a barrel cactus. Honoka had more success in taking out several at a time while Sunny sliced through them like butter.

As the battle went on, Sunny thought if they don’t lure a barrel cactus into the ballroom soon, then this would be all for nothing. Her sword’s energy was already halfway depleted, and she didn’t want to wait any longer.

As Sunny blocked a blow from one of the barrel cactus’ attacks, she gave instructions to Ash. “I will go to the ballroom to tell Solar and Leon to start closing the ballroom doors. You strike one of them and follow me so we can trap it in the ballroom when it chases you.”

“You got it,” Ash replied as he zigzagged past the hedges and trash bins avoiding a dozen cactus needles. The entire scene was chaos as the team battled the score of enemies flying around.

Sunny sprinted past Honoka. “Keep fighting—but take the rest of these things to Kenji and Sakura and hold out until the rest of us come out of the ballroom!”

Honoka nodded in agreement.

As the fighting continued, Sunny ran straight into the ballroom and prepared the doors to be closed. Ash followed along into the ballroom shortly. However, as the doors closed… one, two, ten, fourteen total cactus also came into the ballroom. The plan, once again, had another wrinkle.

THUD.
THUD THUD.
BOOM.

The massive closed door shook as more tried to break in.

There was supposed to be one barrel cactus in here, but after seeing so many… Leon, Solar and Luna quickly hid under a table.

Ash stood back-to-back with Sunny in the center of the ballroom as the group of cactuses surrounded them.

“I guess my plan didn’t work out as planned,” Sunny sighed in exhaustion and raised her sword. “We brought in way too many.”

Ash gave her a look and told her, “If we can destroy all but one, I think we can still corner the last one to give us the information we need.”

“My sword is 75% depleted. Once it depletes 100%, I won’t be able to do anything but run around until it recharges a bit. I can’t believe this is happening.”

“Don’t worry, you always got us out tough situations before. While my daggers are not that effective, I can still hold my own. They won’t be able to keep up with my speed!”

As the enemies inched closer, Sunny’s mind was going blank. What kind of leader am I if I can’t think of a solution at the most critical moment?

She knew she could run an anime convention, but carrying out a tactical battle against superior enemies… that feeling was overwhelming.

“No time to think. All we can do is get through this together,” Sunny said as she blocked a few needles that were shot at her. The battle ensued between Sunny, Ash and the fourteen barrel cactuses in the ballroom as Solar, Leon, and Luna watched closely from under a table.

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Thanks for reading the Taiyou Con mascot light novel series — a fictional story for fans!! For real convention event updates, guest announcements and more, go to our Updates.

Go forward to Chapter 5.

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