Bang

"Ah, I got excited for nothing.." Khai sighed in resignation.

Anna looked at him and giggled. "It seems you do know how to enjoy, after all."

"Hm?" Khai glanced at her, still somewhat saddened by his loss.

"Nothing. You just seemed uptight and all.." Anna said and raised a token to his face,

"Let's play till you win?"

Khai smiled. "Sure."

He'll definitely win! He believed in himself!

…

["You lose"]

…

["Defeat"]

…

["Defeat"]

…

"Loser"

…

["Defeat"]

…

["Congratulations! You Lost"]

…

Khai stared at the screen with a blank look on his face.

'Congratulating me on my lost?' Is the game mocking him?

This game.. really cracked his pride.

It was to the point that he was getting embarrassed.

"Wow, I never would have imagined that someone can be this bad at video games.."

He heard mutters beside him, which just made the cracks worsen.

"Shush, I'll win. One more time."


A fiery blaze was burning in his dull eyes, even his eye bags could not contain the fierce aura he was emitting.

"Hehe, I like your spirit!" Anna smirked and booted up the game again.

'Crap, I'm going to lose at this rate!' She thought. 'How can he improve so fast! He's executing combinations I've never seen before!'

As a veteran of the game, she too, was getting her pride chipped away bit by bit.

'Did I get rusty or am I just bad?'

She was even starting to doubt her own abilities.

Clenching her jaw, she decided that this round would be the last, if not, Khai would really beat him.

'What's up with his focus anyway? It's inhumane!'

Never had she seen anyone so adept at going in and out of focus.

She was sure that it wasn't out of desperation, thus she was amazed at how well Khai could filter the loud hustle bustle of the crowd.

["Begin!"]

The screen flashed and the battle begun.

'I have to take the upper hand quick-'

Before she could execute her combos, her character suddenly flew up high.

"HUH!?" Her eyes widened in shock.

'Godly Rocket Spear!'

A move that can only be executed by a fast and efficient pattern using the attack buttons and joystick.

'H-How did he..'

But before she even have the time to process her shock, she witnessed yet another scene that made her jaw drop.

Khai's character suddenly stopped its barrage of attacks and formed a claw with its fist.

'Hands of God!'

A combo that, as far as she knew, only Link could execute!

'HOW!?' Her mind was in a mess.

'I won't let you!' Khai was too new for Anna to let him win. How could she proudly tell others of her successive victories?

Her round, beady eyes slit into narrow gaps and she entered her laser focused state.

Bang!

Pow!

The two exchanged blows and Khai was swiftly gaining the upper hand, not showing any signs of faltering.

'Haha! Better luck next time, sister!' Anna suddenly heard a voice in her head.

"Huh?" She glanced beside her and Link replaced Khai in her vision, laughing cheerily as he was about to win.

'Never!' Anna's competitive character took over.

'It's just like back then!' She could still clearly hear Link's laughter as he decimated her in the game a few months ago.

'I will win!'

Suddenly, like her left foot grew a mind of its own; it began to move in a rapid speed.

The banned move that the siblings deplored but still used out of frustration!

The legendary; 'One Foot to Rule the World!'

Thud!

The silent sound of flesh hitting a wooden stool sounded out, followed by a screeching noise of a chair being pushed back.

Scrkk!

'Low sweep!'

Anna executed it in one swift motion.

Just out of instinct, her left foot kicked Khai's chair away.

However, she didn't know that her actions would have repercussions.

Khai, who was fully immersed in playing, suddenly felt the controls moving further away.

"Eh?" Before he could react, he was already looking at a few dazzling lights.

Thud!

His body hit the ground, making him grunt in pain.

Panicked, he quickly got up and got back to the game.

However, it was too late.

["Defeat!"]

"Ah.."

"I lost again?" He muttered in disbelief. "It looks like I have no chance against you.."

Admittedly, he didn't have the ability to match up to Anna.

"Y-yeah." Anna swallowed her saliva forcefully.

'He's talking about the game and not how he fell?'

Well, it wasn't that she had any problems with it, but people in their zones were truly scary!

She would have really lost if it weren't for her deplorable move!

'Well, I didn't do it intentionally..' She convinced herself carefully.

'It seems I, too was in the zone..'

"Congrats.." Khai offered his hand for a handshake.

"…"

Anna's eye was twitching. 'He's really not going to talk about the fall?'

"Mhm, you were an admirable foe." She took his hand and shook it.

Khai suddenly caressed his back. "Ugh, my back hurts for some reason.."

'Ah!' Anna was alarmed. Did he feel it, after all?

"I wonder what happened.." He muttered as he stretched his back.

"Huh? Weren't we just playing?" Anna quickly said.

'Get it together, Anna! Guilty is a man who looks guilty! I mustn't let him notice anything!'

Although she was still in shock at how her leg moved on its own, she didn't pay it any heed.

'Just act natural, Anna!'

'It's all in the name of Victory!'

"Yeah, maybe I sat too long and focused too hard.." Khai sighed.

He was really too prideful this time.

"Well, let's just move on to another game, then!" Anna stood up in a jiffy, moving away nervously.

"Uh- sure." Khai followed her, not noticing that his chair was a meter away from the machine.

'Gulp..' Anna was sweating profusely. 'I need to get my act together!'

'Let's just go non-competitive!'

'How about a duo game?' She quietly scanned their surroundings.

"That!" Her eyes sparkled like the stars coming out in the middle of the night.

Forgetting about what just happened, she grabbed Khai's hand and pulled him along with her.

"Hey!" Caught off guard, Khai almost tripped.

He was spaced out while trying to figure out why his back hurt!

'This girl..' He sighed in exasperation. 'She's really helpless, ain't she?'

"OOOHH! It has two hammers!" Anna stopped at a machine that's set up like a table.

The screen was parallel to the ground, making them look down to play.

["WHACK-A-MOLE"] A sign was shining brightly above it.

"This is going to be fun!" Anna excitedly exclaimed, placing a hammer on Khai's hand and holding the other.

"Mind explaining to me what this is first?" Khai gave up trying to communicate with her and just went with her flow.

But instead of explaining, she inserted a coin in the machine, "Watch!"

A system notice popped up and several options appeared.

["Choose a game mode"]

Anna was practically dancing in joy. "OHH! IT EVEN HAS DIFFERENT GAME MODES!"

She chose one the game modes that had a chicken as its logo.

"This game is simple!" She said, "Just hit the targets with your hammer!"

Khai looked at his hammer; it was plastic and its head was made out of an elastic material that retracts on impact, making it harmless.

Returning his gaze on the screen, he saw a big fat chicken, seemingly laying its eggs.

["Hatch the eggs!"] A notice popped up.

"Oh? The targets are eggs?" Khai watched with baited breath.

He was curious about the game she was so excited to play.

"Its here!" Anna shouted as an egg appeared on the screen.

Bang!

With a slam, Anna hit the egg ruthlessly.

'Ah..' His eyes widened in shock. What a violent game! Smacking eggs!

"H-hey, I don't think you're supposed to go that hard.." He advised with his mouth twitching.

Did she need to be so violent?

Needless to say, the egg cracked and out came a chick.

+1

A point was added to their score.

"I see." Khai nodded in realization.

"Come, come!" Anna pulled him closer as the chicken started to lay more eggs.

"CRACK THEM EGGS!" She cheerfully said, smashing her hammer repeatedly at the screen.

"Ah.." Khai was embarrassed, a bunch of eyes were already on them the moment she violently slammed her hammer, did she need to say weird things at that?

'Let's just play along..' He sighed and hit his hammer on an egg on the side of the screen.

Pwat!

Nothing happened.

The egg didn't crack at all.

"Eh? So gentle?" Anna muttered beside him.

"Ah, uh.." Khai was stunned.

Does the game really require hard impacts to be considered a hit?

Putting in more force, Khai smashed his hammer to the screen.

"…"

Nothing happened.

Meanwhile, Anna was having the best time of her life beside him.

Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!

+1

+1

+1

+1

She was racking up points quickly!

Like she had some sort of vendetta against the cute eggs, she was deleting them left and right!

'Fine! I'll give it all I got!'

Bang!

Khai used his full strength on swinging his hammer, successfully cracking an egg.

"Whoa.." He looked at his hand, pleasure was written all over his face.

For some reason, hitting hard was exhilarating!

"Again!"

Bang!

+1

"This is fun!" He chuckled.

"Right?" Anna giggled.

Khai wanted to feel it again. Like Anna, he frenziedly smashed eggs with violent swings.

And so, the duo garnered attention from the onlookers.

Only one thought was on the passersbys' minds, 'Savages!'

How could they be so cruel at a poor machine?