Review Time:

Anime Borat - Perhaps my favorite aspect IS exposing Chiyo to all of these games we consider ground-breaking and revolutionary. It captures the wonder of a child, before we all became snarky teens and young adults, y'know?

James Birdsong - Appreciate that you're still reading along~

Chapter 25 - Kingdom Hearts 2: Final Mix

Later that evening…

"YO! Nyamo, let's go out to drink!" Yukari announced, barging into her friend's apartment with zero sense of tact or decorum. "Huh? Are you playing something?"

"Ah!"

She was, and from the signs of discarded water (and beer) bottles, she had been trying to succeed on her game's highest difficulty setting for a while now.

"Oooooooooh Kingdom Hearts 2? Man I don't get that game at all….but it's fun whacking people with the Keyblade! Lemme try!"

"No!" Nyamo pulled the controller out of reach. "I felt so embarrassed today. Am I really that bad at video games, Yukari?"

"Well which ones have you beaten?"

"There's-"

"-without me or a guide helping you."

Stunned, Nyamo could only name the titles of her youth, namely Pac-Man, Galaga, Pokemon Green, and so on. "God, why do I even care?! We're both college graduates and teachers!"

"Eh you're a gym teacher, that only counts for half."

Nyamo groaned. "For 4 hours I've been trying to beat Lv.1 Critical Mode…I haven't touched this game in three years! It's harder than I remember…."

"Critical Mode?"

The protagonist, a boy named Sora, would go around famous Disney worlds and fight the Heartless with Donald Duck and Goofy. KH2 was the title that introduced Critical Mode, the hardest mode. Enemies would do more damage, drops were rarer-

"-And you've gimped him with Exp Zero?" Yukari was impressed. "What a mode! So what, everything kills you in one hit?"

"Two if you have Second Chance and Second Wind….you really need to know the game well, I guess."

"Where are you up to?"

"Yukari, please, you can't-"

But she was already fiddling around with the controls, testing out Sora's jump and combo potential. The D-Pad cycled through the command menu, and O carried them out. X was jump, square was guard, and triangle activated Reaction Commands, special contextual actions.

"Oh hey!" Yukari pointed to the bottom right of the screen. "The Beast from Beauty and the Beast! He was in the first game, right? Does he kiss Belle in this one?"

"Uh…I don't remember….?" Nyamo blinked. "I'm on the final boss of this world. Maybe you can give it a try….?"

Yukari controlled a Sora a little more, testing out some of his magic and limit attacks. She seemed to pick it up well. "Awesome! Let's kick Gaston's butt!"

Much to her surprise, however, the boss was a shadowy creature resembling….a heart in chains.

"Huh? I know they're called Heartless but this is stupid!"

"Yukari, focus!"

The monster faded into the dark floor and emerged in the windows, shooting off four pillars of dark energy. They slipped past Sora but struck Beast head on….showing Yukari the horrors of Lv 1. Critical Mode.

"Crap, he's wounded! Donald, heal him!"

Then Dark Thorn came out from the wall, allowing it to be locked on….but it jumped to the chandelier above. When It crashed down, it spun and shot off more energy.

"Beast!"

"Is this duck stupid?! Beast healed himself with a Potion!"

Nyamo laughed awkwardly. "Welcome to KH2…."

A few air combos depleted the chandelier's health, and the Reaction Command expelled it out, allowing it to be hit a few times.
"Take that, and take that! Oh I know! I'll use Drive!"

But Goofy was not in the party, so Valor form could not be used. Sora took a nasty hit and was now on blinking alarm status.

"AUGH! Donald, heal me! I don't have a healing spell!"

"His MP is gone! You have to use items!"

Yukari fished out a potion, just in time to see her party members get into red health as well. But she had to save them for herself. "They can revive, right?"

"Yes….?"

So Sora charged ahead with more combos. But sadly, his health dropped to 0 against a counterattack.

"DAMN IT!"

Then the screen was white, with two options - "I won't give up!" & "It's all over….". So she picked the first one, where a dark-robed Mickey Mouse came out on Sora's behalf.

"Whoa?! Is this normal, Nyamo?"

"In some fights, yeah."
Unlike Sora, Mickey was restricted to only three commands, excluding jump. One command would charge up energy for Sora's Drive, the other attack, and third shoot balls of light. Yukari opted for the first approach. But a few attacks from the boss ended Mickey's run, and Sora was restored, with half HP.

"Alright! Let's go!"

The Drive command was still grayed out.

"YOU STILL NEED TO SWITCH TO GOOFY!"

Sora ran away.

"HOW DO I DO….oh!" Pressing right on the D-Pad revealed an alternate command window, and quickly Donald was switched out for Goofy.

"What?! You need a healer!"

"I need offense!" Sora switched to Valor form, where he gained a second Keyblade, a red outfit, and the ability to high jump. His quicker attacker speed was just enough to beat Dark Thorn. "Yeah! I win!"

"N-Not quite…."

Although Dark Thorn was defeated, a Heartless named Shadow Seeker stepped in its place. It was bigger, stronger, and had much more HP. Yukari tried to attack but Sora's low health spelled disaster for the both of them.

"Cheap shot! Mickey, help me out again!"

Nyamo shook her head. "He doesn't show up that often. We have to try again."

"…you do." Yukari passed the controller. "You're the one that was giving me advice, well practice what you preach! I'll coach you!"

"…."

"GAAAAAAH!"

"Damn it, Nyamo, you NEED to get past this first phase! Again!"

XXXXXX

"GAAAAAAH!"

"That's a little better but STOP healing so much! If Donald can regain his MP, that takes the pressure off you!"

"You saw how dumb his AI can be, and YOU'RE the one that swapped him for Goofy!"

"We can't play the same way," Yukari clarified. "I'm too impatient and just want to whack things. You're more cautious but running away won't save you in the harder fights! You need to break this habit!"

Nyamo looked down at the controller. "You're right….."

XXXXX

"GAAAAAAH!"

"Oh come ON!" Nyamo growled. "It only had half a bar left! Should I go for the gambit and use Mickey?"

"Worth a shot!"

So Mickey came back to the fray, and this time, Nyamo tried to squeeze in more combos. If Mickey "dying" didn't cause a game over, it was essentially free damage. She managed to push the monster far away from Sora's respawn, as well.

"Potion!"

Sora jumped back in with more combos, and the monster was on the ropes. Thinking fast, Nyamo used his Limit with Beast. "I'm invincible when I do this!"

"Good catch!"

A few more combos, some dodges, and eventually….

"IT'S OVER!" Sora's finisher had won the battle, scoring some neat bonuses for him and his whole party. Unlike the previous game, bosses didn't give EXP, not that it would matter.

"I….I did it!" Nyamo cheered. "Finally, this world is done!"

"Good on you, Nyamo! So let's keep going! Speedrun this bad boy!"

But her friend merely saved and shut the game off. "No thanks. I have to make some lesson plans for tomorrow. Why don't we just have some tea and chat?"

"Do you think it's weird we're….playing video games with our students?"

Yukari sipped her mug, winced, and dished in more sugar. "Weird? The only weird thing is acting like playing video games is like showing off a fetish. They're fun! And why don't we have some fun with them before they graduate?"

"I suppose…."

"I even had this really cool idea! See, there's this speedrunning circuit in America, and I submitted a Majora's Mask run to compete! If it gets chosen, I want to perform it with Chiyo and all them commentating!"

Nyamo spat out her tea, all over her houseplant. "That's completely nuts! When is this?"

"Oh, late January."

"Winter break is over by then! And you can't just take your students to some convention in America!"

"I can if I advertise it as some kind of big cultural project!"

"Uh huh, and would you REALLY want to watch over more than 20 students in a noisy convention with a bunch of gaming…."

"….nerds?" Yukari slumped. "Damn it. Oh well, I still need my run to get accepted. Maybe I can pretend to be sick or something."

"I'll just tell the principal…."

"Oh great! Then I'LL just tell the whole school about your love letter…."

That got her to shut up about that. "Yukari, how many people even try out for this thing?"

"I dunno, a couple hundred?"

"And HOW many actually get to the runs at the event?"

"…shut up, Nyamo."

FIN

Ending notes: Yep, it's exactly what you think. I realize it'd be a little too contrived for it to actually happen, but I still have a way for it to write it ; ). As for the story in general, it's easy just to keep going but I think I'll stop somewhere between...40 and 50? I dunno. Feel free to throw out more suggestions.

Next Game - Super Mario Maker [Chiyo, Tomo, Sakaki, Osaka, Chihiro]