Emi woke up early in the morning to find her brother curled up next to her. Smiling down at him, she eased herself out of bed and carried him out of her room. Returning to her own, Emi tilted up the baby blue digital alarm clock. The red numbers shone 6:30 am. Emi groaned and flopped down on the bed on her back and stared at the ceiling, her thoughts trailing to the day before.
'I haven't seen him before, but Ecks said he came last weekend. I wonder what he was doing when everyone was in school? Where did he come from?' she wondered. Suddenly aware that her phone was ringing, she rolled over on her stomach and picked it up.
"Hello?" she asked. Everyone she knew would be asleep until 8, at least until they found jobs in a few days.
"Hey Ems. Sorry I woke you, but I had news for you" Ecks answered.
Walt woke up when the phone rang. Looking at his own clock, it was 7 am. Putting his glasses on, his blue eyes were magnified 10x and made him look like a bug. Walking silently down to Emi's room, he listened to his sister's conversation by picking up the living room phone and holding it upside down, so he wouldn't breath into the speaker.
"No, its okay Ecks. What's up?" she asked, yawning.
"Well, today until 9 am, all DDR games are gonna be free! I already invited a few dancers." he said excitedly. Emi sighed.
"I'm spending the day with Walt though. I guess I'll just pay for the games tomorrow." she said. Walt stared at his feet, the at Emi's closed door.
"Bring the Squirt with you Ems! I don't think my boss will do this again!" Ecks said excitedly. Walt crossed his fingers.
"Walt HATES Dance Dance Revolution...and all other video games Ecks." Emi sighed. Ecks echoed. "I'll just come tomorrow..."
"I'LL GO!" Walt yelped, not wanting to ruin his sister's day. He still felt guilty about upsetting her the night before. Deep down, he had an admiration for the dancers, being able to keep fit and so on. Emi and Ecks were silent for a moment, then Ecks burst out laughing.
"I'll see you in a bit then!" he said, still laughing and hung up. A moment later, Emi came out of her room and looked at Walt.
"You really don't have to go Walt. We can go to that science museum that you've been wanting to visit." she offered. Walt smiled up at his sister.
"Emi, it doesn't open for a month. Besides..." he blushed and scuffed his foot into the carpet. "I was hoping I could pass a song..." Emi laughed and shoved Walt to his room. get dressed while I take a shower. We'll grab breakfast on the way! And get enough money for water bottles!" she said, running to the shower. Walt shook his head, silently wishing that the Museum was open, so he could sneak away and look at the dissected shuttles.
"Hey guys!" Ecks greeted. Emi smiled and hugged her friend. There were about 10 other dancers that Emi didn't recognize watching someone dance. She cheered as the cata was passed and the dancer bowed and left the stage. "Emi" Ecks said, breaking Emi out of her trance. She turned around to see Ecks and someone else.
"Um~hello" she stammered, moving a few strands of blue hair from her face. Ecks smiled at Emi.
"You two almost met yesterday. This is Rage. Rage, this is Emi." Ecks introduced. Emi blushed and looked at the ground, feeling scrummy in her orange long-sleeved shirt and loose blue pants. Rage was wearing an orange vest, gray short sleeved shirt (underneath) and blue camouflage pants. He smiled at Emi.
"I almost met you yesterday, but I think I scared you. You ran form the arcade." he said, grinning. Emi blushed.
"No...my brother, Walt, he called me on my cell" she fumbled with her baby blue cell phone. "I was late getting home..." she stammered, trying not to look into his eyes, but failing. He laughed and she blushed again.
"I believe you Emi." was all he said before leading her to the stage. Emi couldn't help but stare at him the whole time. "Choose a song." he said. Emi shook her head, confused. "Choose a song to play" he said again. Emi suddenly realized where they were and turned pink. She reached out to the screen and chose her favorite song. "Butterfly?" he asked. Emi blushed, then turned her attention to the screen.
A few seconds into the song, Rage made a 180 turn and danced, facing the others, then jumped back. Realizing that they may be competing, Emi dropped down to do a knee drop. The crowd cheered, realizing what was going on. The mini competition went through Boom Boom Dollar and Dynamite Rave. Scoring almost exactly the same numerically, both scored A's. Walt walked up to Emi with a water bottle and handed it to her. Rage left for a moment. She stared at her brother.
"Where my bottle?" she asked. Walt shrugged.
"It wasn't at home Emi, I looked everywhere while you were showering." Walt said. Rage returned.
"Is that why your wet today? I thought you got caught in another rain storm" he smiled, holding a blue water bottle out. "You left this yesterday, I brought it home and cleaned it and refilled it for you." Emi took it and blushed.
"Home? You mean you live here?" she asked. Rage leaned against the wall, between a shooting game and the snack bar.
"Just moved here last weekend. I come from the 'Soul Express' dome. This is my first time in the Burning dome. Its nice." he said, smiling at Emi. Emi looked around, trying to think of what to say.
"'Soul Express' dome? the you know Tracy?" she asked. Rage smiled.
"My sister" he said, indicating his hair with a wave over his head. He tilted his head and looked Emi over. She shifted her weight from one foot to the other uncomfortably, not used to being 'looked over'. Suddenly, something landed hard on her shoulder, making her jump. Ecks laughed along with Rage, who had seen Ecks.
"Come on you two, I thought you came here to dance! Only and hour and a half until you have to pay again and more people are coming in." he said, indicating the doors, where more people were entering. Emi nodded and placed her expired green pik card on the machine. Rage placed something orange nest to her.
"What is that thing?" he asked, indicating the pik card.
"The Pika? That's the unit of money here in the Burning zone." she answered. "I used all my piks in it, so I don't have to worry if its stolen, which rarely happens here." Rage nodded.
"Mines a Cored Card. I think I have a few units on it, but you can't buy anything big." he said. Emi smiled and nodded, then laughed as Walt walked over. His arms were full of tickets and he was followed by a line of other boys.
"I guess I'm good at fighting game..."he said before walking to the ticket counter. Emi laughed.
"That's my brother." she said. Rage smiled, then tapped Emi and pointed to the machine. Emi smiled and walked on the stage, then noticed rage stepped on too. Choosing Dead End, they began to dance. The second song, .59, Emi noticed that Rage was mimicking her movements. Making them easy enough, they made a 'routine' together. Emi smiled at rage, not noticing everyone cheering for them. The third song, Afronova, was too hard to do a routine for, but Rage jumped over the bar in the middle. Emi stepped on his side and stepped on the arrow and nearly did a spilt hitting hers as well. Jumping back on, Rage smiled at Emi then looked at the snack bar and winked at Ecks. Around 9am, Walt found Emi and jerked his head to the door.
"Alright Walt, lemme just tell Ecks where we are going." Walt nodded and went to wait by the door. She walked to Ecks. "I'll be back later, alright?" she asked. Ecks nodded and went to serving some drinks. Walking by the DDR machine to the door, she heard someone call her.
"Hey Emi." Rage said. He caught up to her and placed his hand on her shoulder. "I'll see you later, alright?" he asked. Emi dumbly nodded. Rage smiled and patter her shoulder, then went back to watching the current dancers. Walt walked in front of Emi with a spring in his step.
"Emis got a booyfriend!" he sang. Emi swatted him, making Walt laugh even more.
"Do not" she protested, stopping at a curb, waiting for traffic to stop. Walt stepped in front of Emi and grinned.
"Then why do you blush when he talks to you?" he asked. A pink haired girl walked up besides them.
"Who's Emi's boyfriend?" she asked. Emi opened her mouth to say 'no one', but Walt cut her off.
"The spiky haired guy with the goatee, His name is Rage!" Walt said, running from Emi's hand. The woman laughed.
"My little Emi's growing up!" she squealed. Hugging Emi as they crossed the street. Emi squirmed out of her grasp.
"Stop it Lady!" she whined. Lady smiled.
"Is he cute?" she asked. Emi blushed even more and crossed the street.