"Thanks again Mr. Litwak. I really appreciate you letting me install my game." A young man in his 20s said to the owner of the arcade as he stood up from plugging in his game.
Mr. Litwak smiled at him. "No biggie, Billy. I'm just glad that you chose my humble abode to test your new game."
"Well only game." Billy answers sheepishly. "My boss says if it works well, he'll turn into a console game. I really need this."
"I'm just impressed you turned it into an arcade machine." Mr. Litwak patted it. "What's it about again?"
"Well,"Billy fiddled with the back again and the game turned on. "It's better to show you."
"Hello. You think you can beat me? I'd like to see you try." A woman haughtily says. She was really pretty as she sat sideways on her throne, with her legs resting over the arm. She's wearing a long dark dress with her ebony hair up. She looks semi-seductively from the screen.
Billy puts in a token and then a sequence starts.
She smiles and then starts chuckling. "Really? You think you can do it? Many have tried and failed. But it's your life on the line."
It shows her holding a crystal ball and the scene just goes into it.
"So that's Queen Darkness. She's in charge of the land and is evil. She can cast spells and controls an army of all kinds of monsters. The hero has a journey to defeat her. On the way he will befriend some characters and they'll form a team. Then they'll defeat the bosses and all that." Billy explains.
"So this scrawny guy is the character?" He points out.
"Yeah, see when he levels up, he'll gradually get buffer thus the name 'Macho Man'" Billy waves his hand over the sign. "He can also use weapons and items."
"I see. Well I hope your game does well. " Mr. Litwak pats Billy's back.
"I do too." They both leave.
Later that night...
The Queen of Darkness and the hero steps out. A lot of characters pop party poppers at them.
"Welcome to Game Central Station, newbies. Sign your name and occupation here." Surge Protector thrusts clipboards into their hands.
She looks at him, a bit annoyed but the hero grinned at her and nudged her lightly. She does it and hands it back, so does the hero.
"Okay thank..Wait what Villain!" He backed up immediately. "You!" He points at the hero and looks down at his sheet. "Damian! Why are you so chummy with a villain especially since you just got plugged in?"
"We've been plugged in before and we got to know each other." Damian said in his slender form. He then bulged out and became taller than her so he could put his arms over her shoulder. She rolls her eyes at him.
"Show off." She mutters. She gets out of his embrace. "Is there a good bar anywhere?"
"Uh, yeah. Tapper's" He points, seriously overwhelmed. "Just don't bring anything, that isn't part of your game, back." He disappeared.
She started walking there in her shiny black boots. Damian followed close by.
"Wait, Celeste!" He yells.
She stops and crosses her arms at him. "What?"
He goes back to his slender state and is actually a bit shorter than her now. "Is this better?"
She scoffs but smiles at him. She puts out her hand. "Yes it is."
He takes her hand and holds onto it. He whispers to her. "So how do you think people will react to us?"
"What do you mean that we're new?" She says as she finally found Tapper's.
"No I mean our..."
"I know what you mean you idiot. Who cares. If they do, we'll just stay at the castle. Okay?" She says as they go inside.
"Well, I..."
Suddenly they got swamped by characters and Celeste was somehow thrown aside. The mob were all heroes and supporting characters. She stood up and glared at them but shook her head and went to the bar.
"One, please." She says to the barkeep.
"You new?" Tapper asks as he hands her a beer.
"Yeah, my name is Celeste or the Queen of Darkness as my Creator has named me." She takes a sip. "Don't worry I won't do anything malicious outside the game."
"Most villains don't. If you'd like help with the adjusting there's a video game antagonist support group every week if'd you like to go?"
"Support group?" She shrugs. "Sure why not?"
"There's one starting soon in the Pac man game. Just head there and go to the middle."
She gets up from the stool and is ready to pay him.
"No, no. First one is on the house." Tapper says to her.
She smiles at him. "Thank you. Please keep an eye on 'Macho Man' there. If he is wasted, I'll come back to get him."
She goes out, stealthily avoiding the crowd. She sees her love in the middle soaking up the glory.
"Attention whore." She thinks to herself as she shakes her head in slight sadness. She finally pops out of the game and walked around. People avoided her and outright ignored her.
She just rolls her eyes and finds the Pacman terminal and goes in. She finds her way to the middle. She sees a banner "BAD_ANON:One Game at a Time"
There were some villains already there and getting everything ready.
"Um, is this the support group for villains?" She asked the Pac Man ghost.
"Yes, my name is Clyde. And you must be the newbie from the "Macho Man" game. Let me guess, without knowing you, people just would run away and speak badly about you?"
She nodded a bit sadly.
"Yeah. This is why Bad Anons was created. Meeting will start soon. Can you help with set up?"
She nods and starts putting chairs up.
Later the meeting has started and everyone already got acquainted with her. It was her turn to speak.
"Hi, I'm Celeste or the Queen of Darkness from the game "Macho Man." She stands up in the circle of villains.
"Hi, Celeste." Everybody said.
"Um, I'm new to this so I guess I'll just say some things. Um, I don't like people that much. I'd rather stay in my castle in my game."
"Then why did you come out?" A character asks.
"My uh..boyfriend, I guess is the correct term, dragged me out with him."
"Is he a villain just like you?"
"Um..nohe'sthehero." She murmurs.
"What?"
She takes a deep breath. "He's the hero."
Everyone gasps in horror.
"That's almost as bad as going Turbo!"
"What?" Celeste is extremely confused. "Turbo?"
"Turbo is game jumping." Clyde says to her. "But dating a hero, that can screw up your own game. The hero will be less willingly to hurt you therefore presenting a glitch. You will be unplugged."
"What?" She says a bit frightened. "No I can't let that happen." She shakes her head and sits down in mild shock.
"There is only one solution. You have to end it."
She looks troubled. Sure her hero is a egotistical goofball, but he does love her dearly. She hardens her expression.
"Okay."
"This seems like a good stopping point." Clyde says. "Now let's close out with the bad guy affirmation."
Celeste joins in even though she doesn't know it. She might as well learn it. She feels like she'll be spending a lot of time here.
Everybody starts saying. "I'm bad and that's good. I will never be good and that's not bad. There's no one I'd rather be than me."
After the meeting, Celeste heads out of the game. A mob of people were nearby and in the middle was Macho Man.
"Hey, Celeste!" He buffs out so she can see him.
She looks at him bitterly and starts to walk away. He became confused because she did look at him.
"Excuse me." He says to the group and gets away from them. He catches up to her and deflates. "Celeste, what's wrong?"
She stops and looks at him angrily. "Stay away from me."
She starts to walk away but he grabs her arm. "Celeste, what do you mean?"
"Don't touch me!" She pulls her arm away from him. "It is better for the both of us if you just hang out with your own kind. We're through."
She runs away and back into her game, leaving him confused and heartbroken.
In her castle, she ran to her bedroom. She jumps onto her bed and starts crying.
"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry but I had to." She sobbed. "If I didn't, we would be separated forever."
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