Pandora Queen: Aftermath
Ganessa & Arthur
"Here we are, my lady." Arthur opened the door and motioned for Ganessa to enter. "I had a wonderful time with you tonight."
"Yeah, yeah, it was great." Stomping across the threshold, she threw herself onto her bed. "Stupid Satellizer always stealing my spotlight. I'm the rank 1, but all anyone talks about is her. Ooh, it's the Untouchable Queen. She's sooo scary. Now, Pandora Queen? It's not fair!"
Sighing, Arthur closed the door. Crossing the room and kneeling next to her, "Don't take it so hard. I think it was the pure novelty that skewed the voting. I guarantee no one in the crowd expected to even see her up on that stage." Gently, "Ganessa, you'll always be number 1 to me."
Mumbling into the pillow, "You're just saying that because we're partners."
"I'd like to think we are more than just partners." Arthur reached into his pocket and pulled out a small box. "Miss Ganessa Roland, being your Limiter has been the happiest time of my life. When I heard that you'd won the Carnival, I wanted to do something extra special. Here Ganessa, for my one and only queen." Flipping open the box, he held it out so she could see what it contained.
"Huh?" Lifting her head, she regarded Arthur with a critical eye. Ganessa sucked in a breath and her eyebrows shot skyward. "Wha...wha..what are you doing?" At first, all she saw was Arthur kneeling, a small black box, his sincere expression. An iridescent twinkling from inside the box drew her gaze. Impossibly, her eyes grew wider and Ganessa squealed like a school girl. She launched from the bed and tackle hugged him.
"Whoa, Ganessa! Does that mean you like it?" Laughing, he wrapped her up with his free arm.
She plucked the box from his hand and lifted out a program chip. Above the surface, a flickering hologram proudly proclaimed..."Pandora Fighters Extreme!" Ganessa screamed. "Oh my God, Arthur, how did you get this. It's not supposed to be out for another month."
"Well, my Dad knows a guy and he was able to hook me up with a copy of the gold master."
"We have to play it, right now." She untangled herself from the boy and scooted across the floor on hands and knees to her game console. "Be a dear and break out the supplies." She set the little box in an empty spot on her game caddy. It looked out of place among the others with all their bright labels.
Arthur noticed her gaze lingering on it. "Yeah, sorry about that. He sent it in a generic one. Something about marketing hadn't given final approval on the art. Don't you worry, though. He's gonna get us a proper one when they're printed."
"That's okay. We've got the most important part right here." Deftly, Ganessa popped in the chip and snagged two controllers from their charging station. The display came to life as a hard charging beat thumped from hidden speakers. A Nova reared up, only to be swarmed by Pandoras aglow with power. The resulting debris floated and coalesced into letters that spelled out 'Pandora Fighters Extreme!'. The intro left Ganessa giggling delightedly.
"I hear the new graphics engine is supposed to kick ass." Arthur exclaimed, plopping down next to his partner. He set out a few sodas and placed a bag of red vines in easy reach before claiming one of the controllers.
Fingers flying over the buttons, Ganessa flipped through screen after screen. "And, since the game is co-funded by Chevalier, the fighters are the actual Genetics Pandoras from all the different academies around the world." Finally, she found the roster for 'Japan: Genetics West' and rapidly scrolled down. "Ah ha! And rank 1 is...Satellizer?" She screeched the name and began hyperventilating.
Reacting quickly, Arthur snatched the controller from her, worried she would crush it or snap it in two. "Hey, calm down." Capturing a hand in both of his, he began lightly tracing circles with his thumbs. "I'm sure it's just temporary. You know how games work. They lock down the code for final testing and no further changes get made." He had her attention now. Ganessa was red faced but at least her breathing was slowing down. "I will bet you anything that come launch day a patch will be ready to go with all the current rosters."
"You...You're right. That's exactly what happened with last year's release." She spent a few seconds taking in and releasing deep breaths. With a smile, she gave Arthur's fingers a squeeze. "All right, give me back that controller and prepare for a butt whooping."
Catastrophe averted, the two settled in for some serious gaming. Both were already familiar, having played prior versions. They started with some one on one. Ganessa played as herself, naturally, while forbidding Arthur the use of any second years at West Genetics. A new addition for this year was a secondary power bar called, 'Pandora Mode'. Whenever she reached full charge, Ganessa would cackle gleefully and unleash a 20 hit combo of technicolor devastation on Arthur.
Eventually, the poor boy had complained enough that they agreed to switch into coop story mode. The depth of the narrative was much more impressive than either had expected and the battles against Nova proved a real challenge. Time ticked away unnoticed as the pair fought and laughed and inched closer together.
"Murg...fuh...hrmm." Arthur cracked his eyes open and blearily surveyed his surroundings. The game had gone into some kind of demo mode and there was a small mountain of cans and wrappers around his legs. All up and down his right side, he felt very warm. Turning, he beheld Ganessa, asleep and tucked under his arm with her head on his shoulder. Squinting, he was pretty sure the clock read a little after 6 am.
Shifting slowly and carefully, he kept his arm behind her shoulders and then slid his left under her legs. It took a bit of doing. Finally, he was able to stand with her secure in his arms. After some thought, he balanced on one foot and used the other to drag at her blanket, praying that he not fall over. They must have been answered for soon she was safely in bed and he was tucking the blanket around her.
He remembered the mess they'd made and took a few minutes to clean up. Taking one last look around, Arthur ended up next to the bed. He watched her sleep and knew without a doubt that she was the prettiest girl he'd ever seen. He brushed some rogue strands of hair away before bending over and kissing her forehead.
"Arthur...my Arthur. You always take such good care of me." Ganessa whispered. Reaching up, she tangled her fingers in his hair and pulled him down for a proper kiss. After, she gave him a half-hearted shove and growled, "Now go away. I need my sleep." Her soft smile never wavered.
"Sleep well Ganessa. I'll stop by later." He let himself out the door. There was a click from down the hall. Arthur turned to find Kazuya staring at him, his cheeks turning crimson.
"Uh, hey Arthur. Some party, huh?"
