Twisted Wonderland

Growing Frustration

The boys all crowd around Riddle as he plays the game. Riddle tries to move around the obstacles while collecting the tokens all while the others shouting advice at the red head.

"Riddle, you have to collect the blue and yellow flames!" Ortho urges.

"You lose life when you hit the rocks!" Idia shouts. "Use the Up button to avoid them!"

"What?" Riddle exclaims. "But none of these buttons say up!"

Idia rolls his eyes. "Wow, you are REALLY bad at this, LOL. I mean press up on the D-pad, on the left side."

Azul laughs. "I've not been on land for long, and even I figured that one out, Riddle."

Vil tilts his head. "There's a big black dog coming up on the right. Is that an enemy?"

Idia grins. "LET'S GOOO! That's the guard dog of the Underworld! It kills on sight! Quick, down to the bottom lane!"

"Now you want me to go DOWN?"

The guard dog bites Riddles character and the game ends. Riddle glowers at the screen.

"Aww, you lost all your health." Ortho says. "Game over."

Idia laughs. "BOY, I gotta tell you, I've never met ANYONE who didn't know what the Up button was! Then again, seeing as I have no friends, this is the first time I've gamed IRL with anyone other than Ortho."

Azul chuckles. "So there IS something you're bad at, Riddle."

Riddle jumps to his feet. "You're using the wrong word. I'm not 'bad' at games. I'm inexperienced! How about you try, since you're so smug about it?"

"Very well." Azul holds his hand out. "Hand over the controller."

Within moments, Azul is already playing the game with ease. Dodging the obstacles and collecting the tokens much faster than Riddle.

"My. The ferryman is actually moving to avoid the rocks this time." Vil observes.

Idia holds his arm. "Hey, you're pretty good for a first-timer."

Azul only grins as he continues playing. "It's my first time playing this, but Floyd owns several terrestrial game consoles. So I've dabbled a bit. Plus, Riddle was kind enough to go first and provide an EXCELLENT tutorial."

Riddle glares daggers at Azul. It doesn't take long for Azul to dodge around the guard dog and beat the game.

Ortho claps. "Azul Ashengrotto, you've cleared stage one without taking any damage! Congratulations!"

Azul smirks. "I should think so."

Riddle growls. "Ortho! Can you put that game on the mini-monitors on the table?"

"Sure. Why do you ask?"

"I'm going to practice until I clear that stage with no damage!"

"Oh, really?" Azul grins. "As the first of us to achieve that feat, I could offer you some pointers for a reasonable price."

Riddle shakes his head. "Not necessary! I just need more practice with this controller, I'm sure I can do it."

Jamil rolls his eyes. "Good grief. So much for being above such things."

"Make sure you both take a break every hour." Vil suggests.

Leona scoffs. "All this fuss over a lousy video game. How immature are you guys?"

Ortho tilts his head. "Considering the average age of Night Raven College students, most of them haven't reached full maturity yet. It's an accurate descriptor."

Leona rolls his eyes. "That ain't what I meant. Can't you guys use your indoor voices? Your yappin' isn't exactly white noise, and I'm trying to take a nap."

"You should join us, Leona Kingscholar!" Ortho rushes over to the games. "I have just the game for you. It's called, The Hydra Strikes Back!"

Idia perks up. "Dude, HYDRA! It's a well-known, early-gen party game. There are tons of mini-games in it!"

"The story starts with a young, would-be hero meeting a legendary trainer." Ortho informs as he riffles through the games. "The hero overcomes the trainer's many harsh trials and goes on to slay the Hydra, a monster terrorizing the public. That's the basic gist."

"It's got a sequel, right?" Jamil asks. "I remember playing that on my handheld back in the day."

Ortho nods. "That's right! They made a sequel with a wider variety of mini-games for handheld systems.
It outsold the original! The original game was released twenty seven years ago, and then got a digital version a few years back. It's actually had a recent resurgence in popularity."

Leona flicks an ear. "Oh yeah? Why's that?"

Idia looks to his brother. "Uh, Ortho, do you mean...?"

Ortho laughs. "You'll just have to play for yourself and find out. Here's a controller, Leona!"

Ortho tosses the controller to Leona. The lion catches it, shooting Ortho a glare. "Hey, I never said I was gonna-"

"And here we go!"