Chapter One: The Axis DS
One piece, drop. Another piece, drop. I dropped another "l" piece down, increasing the score. Already at line one hundred fifty nine, I'm trying my best to get to two hundred on level nine. Pressing the buttons on my first generation game boy, the monochrome tiles drop down one by one. The jingle that I've heard almost a million times is already playing back and forth inside my memory.
"One hundred ninety-nine…" I said to myself silently. "What the…?"
Well, as expected, this twenty-year-old piece of trash passed down from my cousin will stop working sooner or later. A blob of black colors filled the game boy screen and smoke started coming out of the circuits. I threw my game boy away on my bed, and laid down my glasses on computer table.
My name's Kenta Shinozaki. Although I'm Japanese in blood, I know absolutely nothing about the Japanese culture since I'm born in Canada. I'm a lonely student who wears the thickest glasses possible, being considered as a nerd wherever I go. Although I obtain the best grades in tests, the best marks in assignments, I seem to have no friends at all. As expected, who would want to be friends with someone who looks like one of those beggars that sits in the streets all day long waiting for someone to help them?
My appearance? Sure, I have long dark hair, which I never bother combing or styling. I wear polo shirts stuffed inside my long jeans with old leather boots. I don't see what's wrong with that. My parents work almost every hour of their life and I never seem to see them home. Maybe they come home after I fall asleep and go to work before I even wake up. That's pretty much it.
I must look like some kind of loser right? Not really. I'm really deep into Tetris. My life feels like the game of Tetris, seriously. It's simple. The game rules don't change. It's the same sequence again and again. Everyday I would spend like six hours just to obtain a higher score in Tetris. During breaks and lunches, I would take out my game boy and just sit in the hallway playing Tetris till the bell goes. After seventeen years into my life, I have no friends at all. My only friend is the game of Tetris.
To solve the problem, I trashed my game boy into the garbage can. I grabbed a bunch of cash from the bin underneath my light and took out about two hundred dollars (CAN). Putting my wool coat on, I rushed downstairs, right out the door.
Wow, it's definitely been a while since I've been to a mall. Everyday after school I would just go straight home and turn my game boy on for a quick game of Tetris. After that I would just read through whatever I learned in school for a few minutes and I start to cook my own dinner. Okay, back on topic. I stopped by electronic boutique and starred around.
"Hello sir, how are you doing today?" The salesperson asked. He seems pretty good-looking, with a great smile flashing at me.
"I'm fine, thank you. I'm looking for a Nintendo DS and Tetris DS, can you help me?"I asked.
"I'm sorry, but our last ones are sold out already. Check back again next week, and we might have some more." He apologizes. Well, looks like my luck ran out. I waved to the salesperson and walked outside to the shopping centers.
Well, looks like my brain isn't functioning too well without Tetris. I remember some teacher told me in school that Tetris increases brain activity quite a bit and eventually cause stress. I guess this is coming to me already. Anyways, I stopped by one of the aftermarket shops that sells imported and pirated goods. I'm sure they'll have stock there.
I walked into a shop, and there I saw a Chinese teenager with golden hair sitting there, playing Mariokart Wii. I knocked a bit, and I walked inside.
"I'm looking for a Nintendo DS with Tetris DS." I started. He then dropped the Wii Remote and looked at me with a smile.
"Well, sorry kid. I'm out already." He says, and I let down another sigh. "But look, this is just in, and I only have one of these."
The teenager takes out a Nintendo DS box with the letters AX imprinted on there. He hands me a Japanese version of Tetris DS into my hands.
"…What's so special about this?" I asked. "It's just the letters."
"Well, I got this from a friend, and he says it's the Axis version or something. Something to do with the fourth state of matter, plasma or something."
"…" I starred at this weird DS box. Unlike any other DS boxes I've seen, this DS gives me a very absurd feeling. It's like the DS is meant for me to buy it. "Okay, how much?"
"Three hundred and you can have it. What do you say?"
"Er…" I started, and took out two hundred dollars from my wallet. I then took out another hundred-dollar bill from my back pocket. Usually I keep some money on me just in case something happens. "I'll take it."
Honestly, I don't think I'm THAT rich. Well, my parents usually leave like a thousand dollars every 2 weeks for me to use. Most of the time I save it up, and I just leave it stashed inside my bedroom. So far, I don't even know where my parents work.
Anyways, I took out the Nintendo DS out of the brand new box. It seems to be a white normal one, but underneath it has the words AX: Axis, SR:00087 on it. Some kind of special experimental product I guess? Well, I took out the charger. It looks different than the chargers I've seen at my cousin's house. Other than that, the stylus and the game looks pretty much the same.
"Okay…power on…" I said to myself, popping the power button on the DS. The same old, Nintendo DS welcome screen came on.
"Please insert recognition game card." The DS spoke out of the speakers. Wait a minute; I don't remember DS consoles knowing how to talk. What the heck? What's a recognition game card anyways?
"Please insert recognition game card and reset console." The DS spoke again. Okay, maybe it's asking me to insert the game card. Ripping up the seal on my Tetris DS box, I took out the game card and popped it in the game card slot of my DS. I re-powered my DS and the same screen appears. The following then appears in the screen.
Please select the language of this console.
--Synchronizing Recognition game card…done.
Tetris DS by Nintendo.
--Synchronizing Bio-Simulation engine…done.
Nintendo DS AX-Axis Version SR:00087.
--Synchronizing Body structure network…done.
Please select the gender for this console.
"…What the hell?" I said out loud. "A gender? What the…"
Okay, seeing how I always view my consoles like my girlfriend, I inputted an opposite gender for it. Female. Okay, the next screen.
Please input a name for this console.
"Name? Man, this is weird." I said to myself again. I picked up the stylus and I thought to myself. "Um…"
I picked up my stylus and poked in the name, Yui Sakamoto. Any meaning to this? No, it's just a random name that came into my head all of a sudden.
DS is synchronizing, please wait…
Please select a skin color.
Skin color? What the…okay anyhow, peach…color? Wow, there are over 30 tones of skin color here. Okay, next.
Please select a hair type and color.
Okay, since this is getting much more weird than I expected, I feel like I'm customizing some random person in my DS. Is this one of the new features in Tetris DS? Well, after half an hour of deciding, I finally created this weird simulation.
This girl, with straight, blonde hair and this SA-Peach 33 skin (at least that's what the DS called it), bright emerald eyes appeared in the top screen. Please select the measurements for this DS. Measurements? Like I know any. So, I just clicked random. B88-W53-H87 cm? I have no idea what it means.
I tapped next. Please connect DS console to Axis Console. "Axis console…? What is that…?" I asked myself. I sat there for half an hour, not knowing what to do. The DS's red led lit, so I pulled out the crystal shaped charger and jabbed it into the wall. Hooking the DS up, I left it and decided to head back to the shop the next day. Right now, I'll just go online…and play Tetris.
To be continued...
It's been a while since I wrote anything. This is a first attempt to connect a story with the game Tetris. It might revolve around the DS right now, but soon, the Tetris game will come into plot the next chapter. So, keep reading!