The Chaotic Ones

Chapter 12: Fun and Games

Lucas and Rose arrive at the entrance to the arcade. They go down an escalator into the arcade with a big sign above that read: Beneath Gaming. The arcade is huge and has duplicate machine sections everywhere. Shooting game sections, racing sections, air hockey sections, dance sections, etc.

Rose notices him looking around very surprised and asks, "You ever been here before?"

Lucas scans the arcade as he replies to her, "No. I've never even heard of this place before. This is amazing."

She replies sarcastically, "I'm surprised you haven't. Some gamer you are."

"I just buy my own video games."

"Well some of us don't have a super budget to afford those things like you do."

Lucas expresses his logic to her, "Well statistically, with the amount of money you spend here on a regular basis, if you had decided to save the funds instead of waste them on these machines for like three minutes of gameplay you'd actually be... able to..." He notices her staring at him oddly so he redeems himself by dropping the subject, "Never mind."

She smiles at him and adds, "And some of us like to be around civilization. Look at all these awesome people, communicating and not just hanging out with their brothers."

He looks around and notices two Asian guys that look alike playing a shooting game together. One has a beard and the other is clean shaven but they both have similar hairstyles. They have a small crowd of people around them watching in excitement.

Lucas says, "Correct me if I'm wrong but those two look like brothers."

He points over to them and she looks. She knows them well because she went to school with them. They were popular then and still are now.

She replies, "Okay yes they are but everyone else isn't."

Lucas asks, "What's going on over there?"

She explains, "That's Jake and Jack. They call themselves The Kingpins. A couple of guys who take their arcade career wayyy too seriously. They have the top score on every game in here. Even the duplicate machines."

"Does anyone ever beat their score?"

"Yeah but then they sit here all day until they get it back."

Lucas stares at them as they finish their game and high five each other.

Rose chimes in, "Anyway, you ready to get addicted?"

"Sure I guess."

She grabs his hand and pulls him in to her then says, "Let's go get tokens."

As they go further in, the music gets louder. They both go to the closest money machine and put their dollars in for their tokens. Lucas looks around at all of the games and people playing.

Rose shouts to Lucas over the arcade music, "Wanna dance?!"

Lucas turns to her and shouts back, "Huh?!"

"Do you want to dance?!"

"I don't know how!"

"Today is the day then! Time for one of my favorite games!"

They walk back through the arcade and to the dance section of the arcade. She stops at a game with him. They're hearing and voices adjust to the music.

Lucas looks up at the game title and reads it to himself, "Dance Session? What did I get myself into this?"

"Trust me, it's fun. Put your coins in. We'll go versus. All you have to do is step on the buttons with your feet as they show up on the screen. You'll get the hang of it after the first round."