A DAY AT THE ARCADE

by 8-Bit Star aka KNDrefugee

One day, Mushi, Kuki, and Nigel walked into town, Mushi closely hugging a blue Rainbow Monkey as all the kids looked around at the big beautiful shopping centers and restaurants and arcades.

It was bliss.

Kuki immediately saw a Princess Dress-shop and said "Hey Nigel, can you watch my sister while I go shopping?"

"Uhhh..."

"Thanks!" Kuki said, and ran off.

Nigel personally wanted to go to the arcade, and said "Mushi, are you up for a game?"

"I guess so." The five-year-old shrugged, and she and Nigel went to the arcade together.

First thing they saw was a Street Fighter II machine, except with scribbles all over the screen. Nigel saw another gamer and said "What's up with that?"

"Oh, a lot of new players complained about not knowing any of the special moves, so we wrote them all down on the screen. Now nobody has an excuse," the gamer explained.

Then Nigel looked and saw a sign that read "You can not play the same game more than twice a day."

"So what's THAT for?" Nigel asked.

"Oh, there was this guy who kept playing Bishop of Battle 24 hours a day and everyone thought it was unfair that they weren't getting a turn. So we put that rule in place."

"Does it really MATTER who is playing as long as they're putting quarters in the machine?" Nigel asked with an eyebrow raised.

"I dunno, I don't work here." The gamer walked off.

It wasn't long before Nigel was seeing all sorts of other weird things he wanted to ask about. One machine had a sign saying "only for people bigger than thirteen inches," with a ruler next to it for direct comparison. The smallest person Nigel knew was Wallabee's baby brother, and even he met this rediculous requirement.

Nigel put it from his mind and looked around, and in the corner saw a rather innocent-looking arm-wrestling game.

He readied his quarter as he approached the machine, and was just about to slip it into the slot when Mushi tugged his sleeve. He looked, and immediately saw what her problem was:

Everyone in the arcade was watching.

Nigel could feel their tension, looked at them, then at the machine, and said "What, is this game THAT hard or something?"

A girl about Nigel's age stepped foreward and said "You're new here, aren't you?"

"Actually, I've been here before. Doesn't look like the place has changed much..."

The girl explained, "See, we pretend THAT game doesn't exist anymore."

"Why?"

The girl sighed, and began "Its a terrible story. Last month, two eight-year-olds came in. Both of them wanted to play that machine. They got into a fight over it. We had to break them up. Then, just a week ago, two more kids came in and they also fought over that machine. So you see, that machine is CURSED."

Crickets chirped.

"So..." Nigel said incredulously, "A couple of kids fought over a video game."

"Yes! Don't you see? If anyone plays that, it brings EVIL down on us!"

Nigel put his forehead to his palm and shook. "I don't believe I'm hearing this." Then he looked up and sighed. "Fine, I'll play that Shinobi machine over there."

"NO!" a hyper-caffeinated little boy squealed. "That game will summon THE GRITHER! He'll destroy the arcade!"

"What the heck is a Grither?" Nigel asked, then said "You know what? I don't care. Shinobi is one of my favorite games and I'm going to play it whether you want me to or not!"

"Are you trying to cause trouble for us?" The boy squealed.

"I remember you now!" said the timid girl who had told him about the cursed arm-wrestle game. "You're Nigel! Every time you come here you start trouble! First was that time you beat Donald Duck at Mortal Kombat! We were all sure you cheated, because NOBODY beats Donald Duck!"

"How can you cheat at an ARCADE MACHINE?" Nigel asked. "Besides, Donald always gets mad. Don't you watch his cartoons?"

"He only gets mad at people who deserve it!" The caffeine boy squealed.

"Sure he does," said Nigel.

Suddenly another face came in, this one Nigel knew on sight: Numbuh 86.

"What's going on here?" The redhead yelled. "Oh, its you. I thought I'd see you here, causing trouble like you always do!"

"Always? I just play the games, that's what you're SUPPOSED to do in an arcade!"

"Oh quiet! You cause trouble all the time, just like that time you beat me at baseball!"

"What? Hey YOU'RE the one who challenged me--"

"Oh shut up! The only reason you're causing trouble now is because you're still mad that I beat you at Halo!"

"That's not even an arcade game!"

Suddenly someone said "Hey, Miss 86, can you do something about this kid?" Nigel and 86 looked and saw he was referring to Mushi. "She keeps asking where the Rainbow Monkey games are, its getting annoying."

"Ah, spammin', are ya?" Numbuh 86 accused with a glare.

"I just wanted--" Mushi said, scared.

"QUIET! Can't ya read, nobody under the age of thirteen is supposed to be here!"

She was pointing to the rediculous height limit Nigel had noticed earlier, and Nigel said "Actually, that says nobody under the SIZE of THIRTEEN INCHES is allowed to play THAT MACHINE. Besides, if EVERYONE had to be thirteen here, then YOU would have to go too."

"Contradict me again boy, and I'll have you permanently thrown out!" Numbuh 86 regained herself. "Anyway, she's still solicitin' and that's a capital offense."

"She was just looking for something to play! Sheesh!"

"Waitwaitwait," Numbuh 65.3 suddenly appeared, and said "I think the only way we're going to resolve this is to ask the manager." 65.3 turned on the intercom. "Hey, manager?"

The voice of Mr. Boss came out over the speaker. "What is it?"

"There's a girl here wondering where the Rainbow Monkey machines are, and she's getting on everyone's nerves."

"Well then, throw her out!"

"Thank you," 65.3 put up the communicator. "Well, the manager has spoken."

Nigel grrred, then said "Mushi, wait for me outside. And don't look back."

"Okay," Mushi walked away, teary-eyed.

"So now that that's settled--" Numbuh 86 began, but didn't finish. Within five seconds both her and 65.3 had bloody noses and couldn't quite tell left from right. When they finally regained their sense of direction, Numbuh One was leaving.

Someone from the audience chirped "Yeah, that'll teach those meanieheads!"

Everyone looked at the one person who had the guts to cheer on Nigel, and tossed her out. It turned out to be that ponytailed redhead who keeps appearing in the show every once in awhile.

Nigel helped her up, and said "That's the last time any of us ever visits THAT arcade."

"Yeah..." the ponytail girl said, "But where are we gonna play games now?"

Nigel looked across the street, and pointed at a sign that said "New arcade to be built here! Grand opening: Two weeks from today!"

"I look foreward to it." Nigel said.

And the three walked off into the sunset.

THE END