Volume 1, Chapter 3: Unknown Origins

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! Sunny’s friends were suddenly attacked by a mysterious barrel cactus army. Barely able to fend off the initial wave, everyone agreed to regroup at the Mesa Convention Center to assess the situation. Will they figure out a plan before it’s too late?

Ash cracked his knuckles. “So we’re just going to ignore the part where literal plants are attacking us?”

“Barrel cactuses,” Sakura confirmed as she adjusted her cute glasses and looked at some sort of textbook, “which is very regional to this area of Arizona.”

Luna rolled over onto her back. “No, seriously. Why now? Why cactuses? The city is so lame and full of people that go to bed early. Attacking Mesa is very odd.”

“It’s not plants suddenly coming alive,” Solar said, his tone unusually quiet.

Everyone turned toward the door.

“It’s not something so complex,” he continued. “It’s extraterrestrial.”

Everyone glanced at each other.

“You’re saying… they’re aliens?” Leon said, getting a little nervous.

Solar raised one hand, and a fragmented image flickered in the air — old, corrupted, partially redacted. A distorted outline of something vaguely cactus-shaped surrounded by ancient alien glyphs. “After the initial report of what happened… Something tripped an old subroutine in my long-term memory storage.”

Kenji stood up. “So aliens exist?”

“Yes,” Solar replied plainly. “I don’t have full data, but I have enough to verify these organisms aren’t native to Earth.”

“And you’re just telling us now?” Honoka shouted.

“You never asked about aliens before.”

Everyone knew Solar was a very advanced AI robot built from a long time ago, but most of his memories were missing.

“You see, in this aspect, I’m more like a human. When I see or experience things, I tend to remember more of my past life,” Solar continued explaining.

“So if we asked you if the earth used to be an advanced civilization only to leave the planet with all of the smart people and then all of the technology was lost on earth?” Ash asked jokingly.

“That has not triggered any memories or subroutines. However, it may be a fact that certain memories or subroutines must be available to access other memories. Furthermore, that is also not a guarantee either.” Solar paced back and forth as he pondered out loud.

“All right,” Sunny said as she sat up straight, “let’s recap what happened.”

Kenji went first. “That portal? Just opened out of nowhere in the air, and cactuses flew out like they were on a mission.”

Sakura nodded. “Definitely. They flew everywhere and attacked in big groups.”

“Flying barrel cactus warriors,” Kenji added. “That’s new, but now it makes more sense if they are aliens and not actual barrel cactus.”

“They also don’t die easily,” Ash said. “Took four hits to break one down. They’re not made of regular cactus material.”

“Yeah,” Leon muttered rubbing his shoulder, “tell that to the one that tried to impale me in the park.”

Sunny took it all in without interrupting anyone. She wanted to let everyone talk first.

Sakura tapped her tablet, swiping through a few notes. “They appeared near landmarks like the café, the park, and the light rail stations. That can’t be random.”

“I thought they were attacking people,” Luna said, “but they weren’t going after crowds… more like making sure they run away.”

“So what? They’re clearing the path for something?” Kenji asked.

“Maybe it’s territorial,” Solar said. “Maybe they’re trying to claim ground for the next phase.”

“Or they’re searching for something,” Ash said quietly.

Everyone turned toward Ash, intrigued by his statement.

“For what?” Honoka asked.

Ash looked down at his daggers. “I don’t know. But the portals didn’t feel like an attack. It felt like a strategic deployment, but at the same time, it wasn’t like they were trying to destroy or capture the city either.”

“They weren’t trying to destroy things,” Leon added. “Just disrupt. Scatter us. Push us out of certain areas.”

“Recon behavior,” Sakura said. “Search and report back.”

“To who?” Kenji asked. “Or what?”

“Let’s capture one,” Sunny said. Just like any situation, information was power, and Sunny didn’t want anything to happen to her friends or the upcoming Taiyou Con that is less than a month away.

Leon raised an eyebrow. “And do what? Study it?”

“Talk to it,” Solar replied.

Everyone stared at him.

“They’re not drones,” he continued. “At least not fully. My scans picked up sound patterns — something like speech. Although, scans cannot pick up exact conversations.”

Sakura loved the plan. She closed her book and leaned forward. “So this is like alien first contact? There is something exciting about all of this!”

All those years reading Sci-fi novels and anime shows might come in handy, Sakura thought, as a smile creeped across her face.

“Indeed, this would be first contact,” Solar answered. “At least for us! And when we capture one alive, we might find who the boss is too.”

“I bet I can make it talk,” Honoka laughed. “I have my ways!”

Solar’s gave her a thumbs up. “You mean use your special powers of extreme luck and absurd humor.”

Honoka gave Solar a wink.

Sunny unfolded a new sheet of paper across the table. It was a plain printed layout of the hotel ballrooms next to the convention center.

“This is where we bring it,” she said. “We isolate it, we contain it, and we see what happens. The lack of windows in these ballrooms will prevent it from escaping.”

Leon looked at the map and then at Sunny. “And what if it says something we don’t want to hear?”

Sunny leaned forward and revealed, “Then we finally know what we’re dealing with. Let’s get to work!” The team knew what they had to do, but Sunny knew deep down… This is going to be a tough mission to pull off.

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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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