After picking up all the ingredients for Tater-Tot Hot Dish, Leonard drove her back home and helped her getting the bags up the stairs. "Thanks again, I probably would've had to walk the whole way and back."
"Well around here, that's not the safest thing..."
"Thanks again! Well, I should probably start cooking. Penny's probably getting hungry. You know... I bought more than enough food if you wanted to join us."
"Maybe some other time. You need to catch up with her. How long has it been since you two last saw each other?"
"Let's see..." after taking a few moments to think. "I was eleven years old, so six years."
"Wow! And your parents sent you to live with her?"
"Actually, I asked. They were going to send me to live with great auntie Marge... No thank you! That woman has a dozen cats that I do not want climbing all over me or possibly even mistaking me for one of their own." they laugh together, remembering the strange looks she got in the grocery store. "Anyway, I'll see you tomorrow then."
"See you tomorrow." he nodded, then walked into his apartment after handing her the other bag of groceries.
Walking into Penny's apartment, she saw that she hadn't moved from the couch and had just simply turned on the tv. "I'm home!" she announced proudly.
"Hey! Did you have fun with the guys at the comic shop?"
"Yeah, tons! After I throw this into the oven, I'll show you what I go while I was there." she giggles, then starts opening all the bags and cans up. Digging out a glass casserole dish, she threw each part in with equal measure, adding an extra layer of tater tots on top.
"Alright, now where did I put it?"
"Put what?"
"The stuff I got from the shop."
"I didn't see you bring anything in from the comic book shop honey."
Suddenly, it dawned on her. "I'll be right back!" she said before running across the hall and knocking on the door.
"Who in the world could that be this late at night?" she heard Sheldon say from the inside.
"Nobody else get up" she heard Leonard's sarcastic voice growing larger as he got closer. She giggled just as he opened the door. "Oh, hey Serra." she could see Sheldon, Howard and Raj all sitting on the couch in the livingroom. Sheldon paused the game, the other two abruptly stopped whatever conversation they'd been having before.
"Hey guys," she waved at them behind Leonard. "Oh and Leonard, I think you must've grabbed my bag with your comic book store stuff too." she smiled nervously at the mix up.
"Oh! Yeah, I think it's in my room. Come on in and wait while I go get it ok?"
"Yeah, sure. Thanks." she said, stepping in and walking over to the guys as he walked off to his room.
She smiled at them then looked at the screen. "Soul Calibur Four? Sweet! You guys mind if I try? Or are you in the middle of a tournament?"
"You can have my spot." Howard said, handing her the controller.
"Oh, thanks!" she took the controller happily and happily sat in the chair. "You're sure you don't mind?"
The one named Raj whispered something in Howard's ear. "Yeah, I wanna see what she's got too."
"Um... I'm not the best, but I suppose I'm decent..." she said as she chose her favorite character, Amy. "Who's my first opponent?"
"Well, if we go from the worst to the best, that would be Raj." Sheldon said, handing his controller over to him.
"Alright. Are you ready to go Raj?" He nodded nervously in response. "Ok. Don't go easy on me. I want to see how good I actually am ok?" Again, he nodded and picked his character.
The fight ended just as quickly as it had begun. With a few kicks, spins, and flourishes of her sword, she had won. Amy blew a kiss towards the screen and giggled.
"Who's next?" she asked the trio.
"That was all three rounds?" asked Howard, thinking it had gone a bit fast.
"Yep! Who's next?" she asked again with a sweet and polite tone.
Howard took the controller from Raj, picking Yoshimitsu.
"Oh, he's pretty cool, but I can never get the controls right for him." she said, picking Ivy. "I love how inventive Ivy and her father Cervantes are to have created the gun-blade and her viper-blades." Howard blinks several times as he looks over at her.
"You've played before?"
"Yeah, I love this game! I especially love reading the creative stories behind the characters. Sometimes I write my own story when I make a new character or I'll make a character that already exists. For example, on my xbox, I have a Taki-styled Mystique."
"You like X-Men too!?"
"Yeah, love it. All of it, the cartoons, the movies, and the comic books. You ready to play?"
He nodded and began the battle, sitting forward in his chair with a determined look on his face. The battle began with Yoshimitsu's signature katana pogo-stick move. Serra swore under her breath as she moved Ivy away as fast as possible, but was unable to escape. Having been knocked down, she rolled her away and stood her back up quickly. As her revenge, she ran at him and just before he could pull off his next move, she pulled the trigger on the remote to use Ivy's grapple move. Ivy knocked Yoshimitsu down, wrapped her whip-like sword around his neck, sat on his back, and yanked it back hard.
"Frack!" Howard cursed.
"You like Battlestar Galactica?" Serra asked, never looking away from the screen.
"Yeah, why?"
"When I play this game," she said, pulling off her finishing move, stabbing him through the heart at a distance then pulling him to her like Scorpion from Mortal Kombat, "I'm as heartless as a Cylon."
"Gah!" he said, seeing the finish screen. "Alright, so you won the first round. Don't get cocky."
"I wasn't, I was simply stating a fact. You ready to go?" she asked as each character said their usual introduction.
"You're on, Toaster!" He said, attacking her as soon as the screen said 'fight'.
Back and forth, they exchanged blows. After a while, Serra realized his fatal flaw. Howard never blocked, not once. Taking that to her advantage, she blocked and let him hit her sword only to grab him before he could get another hit in and finish him off a second time.
As the third round started, Howard furrowed his eyebrows together, putting in his all. He had to win this round or he would be finished for good. The third round began. Ivy took a few blows, but gave back twice as much. She finished by jumping over his head and in one swoop, quickly turning around and running him through the torso with her blade.
Leonard came out with a silver bag in his hand just as Howard held his head in his hands, resting them on his knees as he groaned. "Hey, I found all your books. What's wrong with Howard?"
"He just got his virtual behind handed to him." Sheldon said matter-of-factly. "Actually, you're just in time. It's your turn to face off against her."
"What?" he asked as he handed over her bag.
"I sort of got pulled into a small tournament with them." she said as she set the bag down on the floor next to her.
"Oh! I'm glad to see you're all getting along." he said, adjusting his glasses.
"Yes, now sit down Leonard. It's your turn." Sheldon said as Raj got off the couch to make room while he took the controller from the sore Howard and handed it over.
"Alright, sure. Why not?" he said, sitting down.
"Same goes for you, since you weren't in the room to hear it. No going easy on me."
"You've got it." he said, choosing Raphael. Serra chose Amy and began the battle.
Leonard was much better than Howard, more skilled and parrying her blows. They went back and forth in a grueling fencing duel, but after twenty minutes, Serra had won in five rounds. "Hope only brings disappointment." came from the television in Amy's adorable little voice.
"You're really good." Leonard admitted, setting the controller down on the table.
"You mean for a girl..." she rolled her eyes, sighing. "I knew it! You went easy on me!"
"Not at all! I tried my hardest and you won, fair and square."
"Really? Cool!" she punched the air happily.
"And now it's Sheldon's turn."
"Actually, I've got to go pull dinner out of the oven! Frack, I hope it didn't burn! It was nice meeting you all and thanks for letting me play." she smiles, then grabs her bag and practically flies out the door and back into Penny's apartment.
