(AN: Well here it! The request story I teased last time! And also, here we are! First story of September! Honestly, I'm not sure if I wanna end this story JUST now... what do you guys think? Remember, if there's one more type of story you wanna see before I come up with the final decision, tell me!
Also, thank you for the almost 1.8k views so far! By almost I mean there's legit only 5 more views until 1.8k but whatevs)
Story 29-
Lost in Another World
Requested by Arbmaster 16
Vector, Knuckles, and Mighty introduce Espio to the world of video games and comics.
(Notes: Thank you Arbmaster for the request! Something like this IMO was super cute to make, seeing Espio entranced in something you normally wouldn't expect him to be interested in. Also I wanna thank miguelisasir for the umpteenth time for coming up with some of the names of the comics featured in this story. The name of the game store also comes from a local game store in my town, just removed like the first letter of the place tho XD
By the by, this story takes place only a few days before Chapter 12)
"Heyy… you know what I just remembered?" Knuckles said as he, Mighty, Vector, and Espio were hanging out at the echidna and armadillo's dorm.
"What?" replied Vector, sipping his sports drink.
"Did you ever play that one game where you were all the characters from the X-Furs, and it was like a fighting game?"
"Oh man!" Vector said, excitedly. "I remember that game! I think I still have it!"
"Well, why didn't you bring it to campus?! We could have had so many nights of fun with that!"
"I didn't know ya played it! Here, next year I'll bring mah system so we can play it over weekends."
Mighty chuckled. "Ha ha, nice. I assume you guys played Fawn Madden's games, right?"
"Don't even get me started," Knuckles and Vector said in unison.
"I've played those games fer HOURS. Honestly I think it was those games that got me into playin' football," The crocodile said.
"I remember I played the game once for the whole day. Mom and dad WEREN'T pleased," Knuckles said.
"You too?! Chaos, I did the same thing too! Though, it was Tilly that took me off from the game…" Mighty said.
"Gawd, I need to play some of our old games again. Like the one with the plumber with the mustache? I liked his games a lot when I was younger." Vector reflected
"You played the one with the bandicoot with no shirt and pants?"
"Oh, I know! Whadda 'bout the one with the dude wearin' green and his fairy savin' a princess!"
"I remember that one. I definitely remember the one where you caught small creatures in balls."
"SAME HERE!" Mighty said. "I know, I know, what about the kid with the possessed shadow?"
"…never heard of that one…."
"Oh. Ummm, ooh ooh, how about the one where a group of people using swords and magic save the world! And like the main dude has really spiky blonde hair and his… girlfriend or something, I don't know, his crush probably, gets stabbed through the chest!"
The two other athletes were quiet, realizing was Mighty was talking about.
"Mighty, only YOU would be into those nerd games." Knuckles said.
"Hey! Final Fantasy ISN'T a nerd game! …I think…"
As the discussion of video games continued, spiraling into discussions about comics ("Marvel is better than DC!" Vector yelled to at Knuckles and Mighty), Espio could only wonder what on Mobius were the three athletes talking about.
"Um… guys?" He said. Everyone turned to face the chameleon.
"What are… video games… and co-comics?"
Vector, Knuckles, and Mighty looked at each other for a brief second.
"We left Espio in the dust…" The crocodile said.
"I keep forgetting he doesn't have the slightest clue about stuff like this…" Knuckles said.
"Hey, I got an idea. Maybe we CAN introduce them to him!" Mighty said, smiling.
"How so?"
Knuckles parked his car in front of 2k Gamers, a local game store about 10 minutes away.
"Well, here we are, pal!" Vector said, placing his arm around the chameleon. "It's time we introduce another thing to ya, but don't worry, this one is pretty easy! C'mon, guys!"
Everyone got out of the car as Espio followed behind Vector. Mighty opened the door and saw the large racks filled with video games from all different kinds of consoles on one side, and movies on another side. Knuckles walked over to the movies and looked at each one.
"Hey, Mighty! Help me find a movie we can watch in the future!" He said.
Meanwhile, Espio wandered over to where all the video games where. Much like his first visit to the modern part of Northern Mobius, it felt like the transfer student needed a million eyes to see everything properly. He saw a rack full of games with all sorts of colorful spines, pulling one of from the shelf and opening it. He jumped back from slight shock and yelped as he heard the noise the case made when it opened.
Recovering from his minor shock, Espio looked at the booklet inside and touched the disc gently. Did something so small really carry a so called 'video game'?
"Hi there! Are you looking for anything" An employee said. Espio jumped back in shock as he looked at the employee.
"N-No thank you, I'm good."
"Well, that's okay! Just call me over if you need anything!"
The employee left as Espio sighed. putting the game back on the shelf. He saw the next shelf didn't have these cases, but instead, plastic grey cartridges.
Just as Espio was about to grab one, he noticed noises coming near him. He looked to his right to see a corner full of video game consoles and TV's. The chameleon looked at it in awe.
Vector then came over.
"Ya notice them, right? This game is easy; I can teach ya how to play."
The game's title screen read 'Tetris'. Vector selected the mode and the music and began to play.
"So this is a puzzle game, ya gotta fill up an entire row of blocks. Ya use this D-Pad to move around, this A button to change the direction of the block, and that's it!"
"That's it? It sounds quite simple."
"It is! Go one, try it!"
Espio nodded as he began to play the game. He kept letting his blocks stack up in one place, due to not knowing how to move.
"Espio! Ya gotta move left and right?"
"I can do that?"
"Yes!"
Espio moved left and saw the block moved left. Amazed, Espio focused on what Vector said; filling a row completely.
Somehow, Espio quickly got the hang of the game, and little by little, he began to tap harder and faster on the controller, his eyes moving along with the blocks falling down.
"This this… this is fun!" Espio said, laughing. Never did he imagine playing such thing as a 'video game', but here he was. Would his mother or Shami enjoy the game he was playing?
After stacking up the whole screen, 'GAME OVER' was displayed for a few seconds. Espio put down the controller and noticed another game playing. This one however, looked much different than Tetris. It was 3-Dimensional, had what Espio considered to be amazing visuals, and looked fascinating. Espio picked the controller up, which had three handles.
"How am I supposed to use this?" He asked.
"Err… I think I've seen one of these online, but never used it. I think it's like this."
Vector stood behind him and positioned Espio's hands, the transfer student feeling warm on the inside as he did.
"There ya go."
"Does this play like… Tetris?"
"Nah, nothin' at all."
Espio pressed random buttons on the controller, and deducted that the A button made the character on the screen jump, B punched, and the control stick on his left thumb moved the character around.
Just then, Mighty and Knuckles came around the corner, holding a bag.
"Whoa, Espio's playing video games? There's a sight I thought I'd never see," Knuckles said.
"What's he playing?" asked Mighty.
"The game 'bout the plumber. It's the 3-D one," Vector said.
"Oh hey! Kneecaps had one of these before," The echidna said, realizing what the system was. "I think it's still in storage…"
"Huh, is it now?"
As the athletes conversed, Espio continued to play the game, staring at the screen in front of him like a zombie. He had never seen ANYTHING like this before. The chameleon wanted to enjoy every minute of it, knowing full and well nothing like this is going to be in Northern Mobius.
It was amazing life's mysteries, what kind of things existed outside of the village. Being around Vector for the past few months has definitely shown that.
As he continued to play, he had beaten the boss, a large black ball, who exploded into a star. Espio made the character grab it as the athletes noticed.
"Wow… you got a star," Mighty said. "That means you beat the first mission."
"I… did?" Espio asked. He then began to smile. "Ha… ha ha ha! I did! I beat it!"
Everyone clapped softly.
"Nice job, Espio! Yer amazin' fer a first timer!"
Espio grinned. For something he had only touched today, it was like Vector had said, he was amazing.
After some time, the athletes decided to head back to Mobius U. But there was one thing stopping them from doing so.
"Umm… where's Espio?" Vector asked.
"I dunno, he just disappeared," Knuckles replied. "You better look for him though."
Vector nodded as he ran off to where the video games were. Not there.
As he turned to where the comics were, he saw the chameleon sitting down, reading… a comic book. The fuchsia chameleon was entranced by whatever he was reading.
Vector simply watched Espio lost in another world, like he had been playing video games earlier. Suddenly, a thought came to him.
The large green reptile walked up to the chameleon, and nabbed his comic, a Captain Mobius comic book, out from Espio's hands.
"Vector! What are you doing?!"
Vector grabbed a few more comic books off the rack as he walked over to the clerk. Espio, now angry, tugged at his shirt.
"Give that back to me! I was reading it!"
As Vector pulled out his debit card, Espio turned to hitting the crocodile on the arm. No reaction.
The quarterback turned around and handed the comic book back a minute later, along with a bag.
"Here, if ya wanna start readin' comics, ya better start now."
Espio looked at the Captain Mobius comic, then in the bag, where he saw not only more issues of Captain Mobius, but other comics like Ultra Dog, Bat Cat, The Adventures of Strong the Mouse, and many others. Vector grinned as Espio looked up at him.
"I read comics a lot when I was a little kid. When yer readin' one, it'll make ya feel like one too."
Espio shook his head as he hugged the crocodile, who smiled in response.
"Thank you… Vector."
"Heh, no prob, babes…"
And soon after, the four drove back to Mobius U, Espio enticed in his comic books the entire way back.
