Volume 1, Chapter 2: Unseen Threat

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! As Sunny and friends were getting ready for the next Taiyou Con, they noticed that a lot of barrel cactuses were at the convention center. Thought to have been placed there as decorations by the venue, little did they know, that bigger trouble was afoot.

The walkthrough was a few days ago…

Kenji jogged around the parking lot, into the hotel, and back onto the convention courtyard like it was routine workout. But it wasn’t. This run was a self-assigned mission, and one he took seriously even if no one asked him to. He knew in his gut that if he didn’t try his best, something or someone could throw a wrench in the whole process.

Dirt gave way beneath him as he stepped on the courtyard that was supposed to be made of concrete. Soft, uneven. Like something had exhaled beneath him. He crouched low, pressed a palm against the dip.

“I definitely know this wasn’t here yesterday.”

A moment passed as he stared at the public library in his view. He would ask Solar to scan this patch of dirt later.

Back at the staff operations room inside the convention center, Sunny ran her fingers over thousands of attendee badges. Nothing seemed amiss, but she didn’t trust appearances. Attendance ebbed and flowed each year, but her main goal was to increase attendance every year. Sunny had big plans to achieve that goal. All she needed to do was make sure everything went right from logistics to marketing. However, something just seemed… off.

Sakura returned quietly and mumbled, “Hi, Ash. You look really handsome today. I mean, you look… healthier than usual.” She quickly walked to the corner and dropped off some paperwork.

Ash looked up. “Oh, it’s probably my new Korean skincare routine.”

Then Solar hovered into the room while projecting a diagram. “Ok, I have purchased all of the electricity use from the convention center, and let me tell you, it’s expensive!” Scrolling through the different invoices, he noted, “I’m just surprised that you don’t raise attendee badge prices when the cost of the venue has gone up 60% in the past 5 years.”

“Tell me something I don’t know,” Sunny responded.

“Did you know that Crunchyroll and Netflix have said that 80% of the audience watch anime dubbed? Subtitles are going out of style!” Solar claimed as he raised his metallic finger.

Sunny smiled. “And that’s why voice actors are so popular these days!” She opened her laptop to see if any emails were received.

Honoka sitting across Sunny just sipped her boba tea and scrolled on TikTok hoping to get an idea on what to post on Taiyou Con social media.

“This entire feed is just people spotting barrel cactus,” she chirped. “Where’s the drama?”

Sunny didn’t respond. She was already answering another email about the programming schedule again. The programming schedule was one of those things that changes constantly, mainly from panelists dropping out to rescheduling new panelists to new time slots.

If the programming schedule was messed up, attendees would be confused resulting in less fun. That would not happen under her watch.

The next day…

Kenji jogged beside Sakura as they both went through Main Street in Downtown Mesa.

“You seen anything weird lately?” he asked.

“It’s Mesa.” She knelt by a trash can to adjust her shoe. “Mesa is always weird and quiet”

“I guess you’re right.” Kenji knelt beside her to tighten his shoelaces.

“Now that is weird,” replied Sakura as she started up into the sky.

Kenji also looked up to see a portal about 100 feet above their heads. “Okay, this is giving me Solo Leveling vibes.”

Sakura didn’t move a muscle. “It’s just a portal, right? Portals are fine. Nothing ever happens when there is portal that randomly appears out of nowhere.”

The portal grew bigger and bigger. Suddenly, a bunch of barrel cactuses streamed out like bees coming out of a bee’s nest.

She let out a gasp, “I didn’t know they could fly.”

“What do you think Sakura, stay here and fight or run back to report this?” Kenji already activated his powers and transformed into his brawler outfit. His spiked gloves pulled up to his chest and ready to fight.

Meanwhile…

Ash and Honoka were sitting in a cafe across the street from the school. School had been over for the day, and nothing would beat a long day of school than some iced cold tea.

Honoka swirled her cup of tea around as if it melted the ice faster. She got this for 20% off because she randomly found a coupon on the table that someone had left. Her luck was always off the chart, and she loved her special skill. Always better to be lucky than good, she thought. Now if she was really lucky, she would have found something more exciting to do after school.

Ash adjusted himself in his chair so he can be more comfortable, crossing his left leg instead of his right leg.

“You know, I hope we get enough entries this year for the K-Pop dance competition,” Ash looked upward at the ceiling fan.

“You’re the best dancer around!” Honoka spun a nearby stool slowly. “If anyone can take charge and make an awesome competition, it is you! Unless you fail…”

Ash looked at her and smiled, “Who do you think you are talking to?”

Honoka loved trolling her friends, so she leaned forward a bit. “You want to make a bet on how many dance entries you get?”

Ash didn’t respond, and Honoka laughed. In that moment, a barrel cactus barreled through the window of the cafe. The both of them were startled, and Honoka jumped on the table shouting, “who threw a cactus through the window?!”

The cactus turned around with a smiling face but not a cute smiling face. It was a smiling face with violence behind its eyes.

Honoka grinned, “Finally, something interesting is happening.”

At the same time…

Near vendor hall docking area, Sunny talked with the venue coordinator. A metal pole leaned awkwardly along the wall and fell creating a loud bang.

Solar floated down to the first floor.

“Oh, this metal pole has a mind of its own,” Solar said. Solar knew it wasn’t true but lately, he’s been very chatty with himself. After being reactivated after 1000 years of storage, he knew that he should appreciate the simple things in life.

Sunny walked back into the vendor hall. “We got more VTubers this year so we will need to make space for their tables in the vendor hall.”

“Do we have any data that says VTubers attract attendees to the convention?” Solar tilted his head.

Sunny looked at him and said, “We don’t but just a gut feeling that this whole VTuber thing is, you know, a thing now.”

Solar’s eyes flickered. “I am, for lack of a better word, artificial intelligence, so I don’t have a gut feeling. But I do understand that new VTubers are appearing every day on the internet.”

His internal alarm suddenly sounded in his head as weird energy readings in the area were off the charts.

Sunny stopped and looked at him. “Is something the matter?”

Solar’s eyes widened and told her, “I think we are all in trouble.”

A few minutes later…

Down at the park, Leon and Luna stopped beside a bush, both out of breath. They had just run away from a few attacking barrel cactuses.

Leon peaked out above the bush and saw people running in fear as the cactuses were chasing them and shooting their needles at everyone.

“What aren’t you fighting back?” Luna asked.

“Because my powers are support and I don’t have any attack skills,” he replied. Barrel cactuses were everywhere, but they haven’t spotted the two.

“So now what?” said Luna as she sat down on the ground.

“Well, I’m a healer, and you’re a corgi,” Leon sighed as he sat down beside Luna. “We hide or we run back to meet up with the squad.”

Luna sniffed the soil and started walking off. “Then let’s get back to Sunny!”

A barrel cactus appeared in front of them, ready to strike.

Leon pulled out a weapon that looked like a futuristic silver laser gun of some sort and shot the barrel cactus. The enemy disintegrated, and nothing was left before Leon and Luna.

Luna, stunned and silent for second, turned to Leon and inquired, “What was that?”

“Oh this? Just a weapon I had with me. I don’t use it unless I must… it’s way beyond this planet’s tech,” Leon replied, looking away. “But desperate times call for desperate measures. We can talk about it later. Let’s head back to meet up with everyone and figure out what is happening!”

Luna ran fast beside Leon from bush to bush. “Laser gun and a barrel cactus invasion were not on my bingo card today.”

Leon kept shooting any barrel cactus that got in their way, but it looked like the enemies were endless as they ran through the park, hiding behind trees, and trying to get back to the convention center. Across the city of Mesa, barrel cactuses continued to come through the portals, attack people and cause mayhem. But one thing was clear to Sunny and her friends: this wasn’t random.

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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.

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