5
The next day, Sunday, the two new members were invited to join the rest of the Crystal Conclave for, what Rick had described the day before, as their "pre-territory battle pregame." It was, to the twin's joint surprise, an hour-long session at a retro-style arcade, including old school pinball machines from the 1970s and arcade cabinets from the 1980s and 90s.
Arcade fads had started up again in the mid 2040s, reaching a fever pitch in 2049, then slowly dropping in popularity for reasons nobody could quite understand. However, it was still popular enough in the present day to turn a profit, so the big gaming companies the world over still pushed their product.
In Manhattan, the center of the arcade universe was found in Soho, also the Mecca for every electronic need you could think of. There, you could find at least a dozen small arcades, as well as one particularly big one, based on the movie Tron called Flynn's. It was a good thing it was owned by Disney, or there probably would've been a lawsuit!
There were dive booths in most arcades as well, so you could have several gaming options, both on the global and local arcade net. Throw in the fact that most of the arcade machines still only took quarters to operate, and they were very popular places to hang out as a kid.
The conclave met their new teammates that afternoon in front of Quarter O'Mally's, a small arcade off of Grand Street that never really got a large crowd until the evening; mainly because they had an amazing menu, but the cook didn't get there until around 4:00PM. That said, it had a wide selection of classic games that Rick quite enjoyed.
"So, you do this every Sunday before Territories?" Jayne asked as she connected her neurolinker wirelessly to a change machine so she could deduct money for her account and get that amount in quarters.
Rick nodded as he waited his turn. "Yep. It's a good way to bond, you know? I mean, as a small Legion, why wouldn't we want to know each other better? Helps with our synergy, that's for sure."
"But it has another purpose, I assume," Sarah said as her sister dug quarters out of the machine.
He let out a sigh, eyeing Lisa and Leander playing a game together, a rare smile on the latter's face. "There is, but we... don't mention it much." He stepped up as Jayne stepped aside and connected to the machine. As per usual, he only took out five dollars in quarters, the amount he limited himself to for this one indulgence he let himself participate in.
"The whole thing was Lisa's idea," he continued as they prowled the arcade, checking out the old school games like Super Mario Bros. And Super Street Fighter II. "She claimed it was purely for bonding, after Leander joined us and we met him for the first time, that way we could understand each other when we fought as a team. Of course, Sam saw through it in an instant, and asked if that was all it was.
"She finally confessed that one of her biggest fears was losing Brain Burst and all of her memories of all her friends. Of course, Lisa won't forget me – we've known each other since kindergarten – but others, she might. So, she figured if we had a weekly activity we did together in the real, we would still have each other even if we didn't have Brain Burst."
The twins were silent for a second before nodding and going together to a shooting game for two players. Rick stuck his hands into his quarter-filled pockets and continued wandering. This wasn't his first time here, obviously, but he wasn't sure what he wanted to play today.
Lisa waved at him from across the room. Summoning him over as she left the game she'd been playing with Leander. "Hey, I think you should talk to him," she motioned back to the game when Rick approached.
"Why?" he asked.
"Well, you'll be joining Sam in the territory battles today," she replied. "It'll be the first time he's fought in a territory battle without you. I think he's nervous."
Leander? Nervous? He was always so analytical about everything though. Rick shrugged. If that was how it was, then so be it. Casually, he strolled over to the game Lisa had left, but Leander wasn't there. Taking a quick look around, he found the boy standing by the ski-ball games.
He watched as Leander managed to roll the ball up the slope and go into the 100 slot. Another roll and the ball went into the 200 slot. After the third ball went into the 300 slot, Rick let out a laugh, startling the boy who didn't know he was being watched.
"Hi Rick," he said in his quiet monotone.
"Hey there, kiddo."
"Did Lisa ask you to talk to me?"
Rick chuckled. "Well, she's worried about you."
"I'm fine."
"Oh, I don't doubt that in the slightest." He sat on the ski-ball lane next to Leander's.
"And yet, you're here." The next ball hit 400.
"Well, of course I am. Here, let me tell you one of the great secrets of life; if a female – girl or woman – asks you to do something, you do it. Doesn't matter if it's your mother, sister, friend, girlfriend, or second-cousin twice removed, you do it. It makes life easier if you just give up the struggle and accept the fact that women rule the world and we're just here for the ride."
"And as breeding stock," Leander said.
Rick winced. "Please, stop saying stuff like that. You're only seven bro. You shouldn't be saying stuff like that."
"It was a joke," the same monotone voice said.
"I know."
"Plus, why shouldn't I say stuff like that? It's a fact of life and my parents told me honestly where babies come from when I asked when I was five."
He groaned. "Well, I don't have a problem with honesty, but some people in the world aren't quite so... open. That's why our brains have a filter."
"Mine doesn't," Leander said.
"Trust me, I know." Rick sighed and looked at him, then smiled. "But that's why I like ya, kid."
He sat there and watched Leander roll a few more balls, never missing the hole he was aiming for. Rick was used to it by now; the kid was a ski-ball whiz for some reason. A minute or so later, the boy let out a sigh. The last ball sat, cupped in his small hand.
"I think my mom's pregnant," he said quietly to Rick. "They haven't told me yet, but all the signs are there."
"Oh? You're not jumping to conclusions?"
Leander shrugged. "I might be, but I don't think so." He rolled the ball up the ramp and hit the 1000-point bonus hole. He turned to Rick, looking at him for the first time during this conversation. His intelligent, brown eyes had multiped questions in them. Questions that needed answering.
Being an only child, Rick had no experience in helping out people younger than himself. Heck, before Brain Burst, he hadn't really had any experience in helping out people his own age! But since finding Leander, he felt like he figured a big brother would feel, taking care of the younger's problems or offering advice when ended.
He put his hand on Leander's shoulder, a gesture that his father did to him. "Here's the deal buddy. When your parents feel comfortable enough to tell you about whatever's up, they will okay? Adults always do things on their own timeline; you know that!"
"But why can't they just tell me?" Leander's voice was as close to pleading as Rick had ever heard it. "They know I can take it."
Rick shrugged. "Maybe they don't. Who knows?"
"But shouldn't they know me?"
"Of course they know you!" Rick laughed. "They made you who you are today! Look, at the end of the day, all you have to ask yourself is this: Do you trust that your parents love you?"
Leander nodded. "They say so."
"And do you love them?"
"My brain is mad they don't tell me things."
"Right, but love has nothing to do with logical thinking. Love is about listening to your heart and only you can decide how that feels. So? Do you love your parents, even though they make you mad sometimes?"
He nodded again.
"Then you have to trust they know what they're doing." Rick said. "As I said, you might be wrong about the whole thing. Give them time."
Leander nodded a third time, then reached down and snagged his tickets the ski-ball game had awarded him and walked away silently. Rick watched him go, wondering where all that advice had come from. It wasn't like he had any experience like that!
A hand on his shoulder made him jump up, startled. Turning to see who had snuck up on him, he saw the deep auburn hair and light tan eyes of Sam. "Oh, geez! You scared the crap outta me!"
Her smile – he called it her Dangerous Smile because he had trouble thinking when she did it- lit up the room. "That was amazing. How did you do that?"
He closed his eyes and shook his head. "You got me. Honestly, if I could only follow the advice I give, I'd probably be living a better life, right now."
She giggled and squeezed his arm affectionately, before strolling over to the twins, who were just finishing their shooting game. He decided to find Lisa and let her destroy him in a fighting game of her choice. He found her at one of the claw-grab games, trying to snag a stuffed animal.
"Wanna kick my ass at Tekken-Tag?" he asked casually. "I got pocketsful of quarters and nowhere to spend 'em!"
A grin spread across her face as he managed to grab a purple monkey with a visor over its eyes and a ray-gun in its hand. "Sure. You talk to Leander?"
"Yep. And, as usual, I'm awesome."
"Humble too, I'd wager," she said.
"Humble as a Trump!" he said proudly.
She rolled her eyes and the two of them went to the game, putting in their quarters and selecting their fighters. As he predicted, Lisa thoroughly beat him, though he did put up more of a fight than he'd expected. Groaning, Rick let out a held breath.
"All right, where to next?"
Instead of answering, Lisa nodded her head towards Sarah and Jayne, who were talking to Sam animatedly about something, the end result being all three of them bursting into peals of laughter. "Tell me about the Wonder Twins."
Rick shrugged. "What's to tell? You fought Periwinkle Pigtail yesterday. That should tell you more than enough. I mean, you have a better battle sense than I do."
"Maybe, but all I usually pick up is why a person's choosing to fight. You spoke with them at length after me, Sam, and Leander left, so I want your impression." She tucked her black hair behind her ear. "What do you think about them?"
He thought for a moment, remembering the stuff they'd told him about being in the Lupus Guard and what they'd been forced to endure. He also thought about the various bits of relationship advice they'd given him, but decided Lisa didn't need to hear that!
"Well," he started, "from what they told me, they had a pretty tough go of it in the Guard. Actually, more like everyone has a tough go of it in the guard. Duel quotas, win-lose ratio tabulations to decide who's useful and who's dead weight, harsh punishments for minor infractions, and a Metallic perv who's second in command! So yeah, just about everything bad we've heard about the Lupus Guard is true. And that's just the beginning!"
"And they dealt with it?" she asked
"They left, didn't they? Sounds like they dealt with it just fine." Lisa shot him a sardonic look and Rick shook his head. "No, you don't get it. People don't just up and leave the Lupus Guard. The whole Legion is like an exercise in Stockholm Syndrome. Those Burst Linkers in the Bronx are radicalized to trust and depend on nothing but their Senators and Governor.
"The fact they left at all should be considered an astounding feat in itself. I'm pretty sure that's why Sam vouches for them so hard; she probably knows more about what they suffered than I do." He blinked. "Come to think of it, you should know more about this than I do too! You're the one who taught me all this stuff to begin with!"
A grin split Lisa's face. "It's my duty, as your parent, to ensure you're learning all the proper lessons you should be. I needed to be certain you understood our new Legionmates."
"You... already knew all this stuff I just told you, didn't you?" Rick moaned.
Lisa nodded. "Of course I did. Both Sarah and Jayne shot me emails last night, explaining your heart-heart conversation, yesterday afternoon. They wanted to make sure that you're as sensitive and caring as you seem, or if you were just pretending to try and do something creepy or pervy."
"And you told them...?"
"Oh, of course, I told them that you're a stalker with a history of abusing anybody and everybody you've ever met and that you only eat the raw flesh of baby animals while spitting on the homeless."
"Of course."
"You know I'm only interested in the truth."
"Absolutely," Rick nodded. "I assume you also mentioned my toaster fetish?"
"In great detail," she replied. "I also mentioned that you'd solved the problem of world poverty, but you decided it was funnier to watch people suffer."
"Good. I was worried you wouldn't be honest and might try to tarnish my sterling reputation."
There was a moment of dead silence before both exploded with laughter.
"Toaster fetish?" Lisa asked between laughs.
Rick shrugged, or tried to, hunched over as he was. "It was all I could think of that sounded totally bizarre, yet could totally be a thing." After they had somewhat recovered, Rick took a deep breath and eyed Lisa. "Seriously, what did you tell them I need to make sure they don' think I'm creeping on them."
She shook her head. "You're good. I told them that, while you might be a little old fashioned – in that you actually listen and care about people's problems – that you were a good guy at heart and wouldn't be intentionally creepy."
"Just accidently creepy."
"They also said, after reading my reply, that Sam was lucky to have you."
Rick blinked again. "Sam was lucky to have me?" That made no sense!
"That's what I thought," Lisa commented.
"Gee, thanks," he muttered.
"Take it as a compliment," she suggested. "In the meantime, wanna get beaten again?"
"I'm supposed to be the expert on classic games in our group," Rick said, feeding quarters into the slot, "so how is it you always beat me at arcade fighters?"
She shrugged. "Just lucky, I guess."
"Uh-huh." She proceeded to beat him into the ground again, seemingly without effort, before he decided to go and play against a computer; surely, the AI would take pity on him.
As he played the most harmless old school game he could think of – BustaMove, with its adorable mascots and unusually catchy stage songs – the smell of flowers washed over from behind him and he knew Sam was approaching, even before he heard her footsteps.
So, he was surprised when he felt hands circle his waist and latch to each other and a head plop itself onto his shoulder. He then felt the body of the person behind him softly press into his back and a sigh echo in his ear. This couldn't possibly be Sam!
Somehow, he managed to maintain his concentration, and after completing the level he had been on, he turned his head to see the dazzling eyes of none other than his girlfriend! But she was never this touchy, even in private! Not that they'd had all that much "private time' together...
Trying to figure out what was going on, he heard another sigh – felt her soft chest expand with the air that sigh require – and he almost lost his grip on the arcade game's joystick!
"I really like this tradition," she murmured.
Trying to maintain his cool, like beautiful girls draping themselves across his shoulder happened all the time, Rick continued playing, even though his focus was absolutely elsewhere. "it's not a bad way to break any tension or stress before the territories, so we're relaxed." His voice sounded tense, at least to him, but Sam made no mention of it.
"No, it's more than that. Doing this shows that we're different form most Legions. It shows that we've connected to each other, not just through B.B., but in real life. We have a connection to each other that most of the other Legions can never have."
Rick shrugged, kind of getting used to her presence, but not really. "The other Legions are too big to do something like this. At least the major ones are; the Slip Circuit, the Pound Sector, the Empire, and I couldn't even think of the Lupus Guard doing something like this, the smallest in terms of members is, what, the Pound Sector with thirty-five or so members?"
Sam nodded, head still on his shoulder. "But I'm glad I revised my initial statement."
"Which one?"
He saw Sam smile out of the corner of his eye. "I'm not surprised you don't remember. It was a busy night after all. Think back to the night I established the Crystal Conclave, our first official meeting."
Rick thought about it, but a lot had been said. Not only had the Legion he belonged to just been formed, but he'd just discovered that he had the special item "Heart of Gold" he could equip, transforming him from Copper Tarnish to Gold Virtue, and it allowed him to survive a fight he really shouldn't have.
Combine that with the fact that he'd actually been coerced into staying the night over at Sam's house with her and Lisa while the rest of Sam's family was away and there was a lot of stuff on his mind that night!
"I won't lie," he said, staring right at the old school, lo-def screen, "I don't remember."
He felt Sam chuckle as her body rubbed against his back and he had to force himself to continue playing Bust-a-Move, the contact being almost more than he could bear. Was she teasing him or something? But more importantly, since she had initiated this kind of contact, was he now allowed to do the same with her?
So many questions!
"I said," she said, bringing him back to the present, "that only you and Lisa, as my Senators, would know who I was in the real."
Rick nodded. He remembered it, now that she'd brought it up.
"But I'm glad I never went through with it. After you'd introduced me to Mauve Dictionary, I wanted so badly to meet the little boy behind the avatar. Watching him in battle, with his natural ability and analytical thinking, I wanted to know the person in there.
Likewise, when I received the message from Periwinkle Pigtail that she and her sister wished to defect form the Lupus Guard to the Conclave, I knew I just had to meet the girls brave enough to defy the will of Silver Lupus. I'm sure you know, after your talk with them yesterday, that they've had a rough time in the Bronx."
He nodded again.
"So, I was thinking, that as we expand, we let the members of our Legion reveal themselves to us in the real, when they feel comfortable enough with us. Using this event before the territories every week, we could meet our new Conclavians in the real, in an open, public space, filled with these ancient games our grandparents and great-grandparents used to play, to show them exactly what it means to be a member of the Crystal Conclave."
Rick smiled. Her sincerity was genuinely refreshing sometimes. "I that sounds like the best idea I've ever heard," he said, finally losing the game he'd hardly been concentrating on for the past three minutes.
He felt her smile on his shoulder and she squeezed him tightly from behind before giving him a quick peck on the cheek and letting go, stepping back and walking away, light on her feet. Turning to watch her go, he saw both Sarah and Jayne observing from behind an arcade cabinet to his left.
Sarah quickly ducked back behind it, but Jayne flashed him a grin and a thumbs-up before her sister grabbed her and pulled her back.
Great. He could feel himself turning red. His only saving grace was that neither Lisa nor Leander had seen that.
There was more Rick wanted to mention to Sam, but that could wait until they were alone for the territories that afternoon. The advice that the twins had given him the day before had churned in his head since they'd given it to him, so he had resolved to talk with her later. He just hoped he didn't flake out on it! After that squeezing, he might!
A punch, not hard but noticeable, landed on his shoulder, and Lisa slipped next to him. "I hope there's no more of that kind of thing while you're fighting this afternoon. If so, I think we're in trouble."
"Have you answered Craig what's-his-name, yet?" he casually said.
Lisa scowled, punching him harder and stalking off. He caught Leander in the corner of his eye. The serious boy actually smiled and mimicked Jayne, flashing him a thumbs-up and walking away.
Suddenly alone, Rick let out a smile of his own. He had a gut feeling that this week's territory battle was going to be great. It would be the first time he'd fought alongside Crystal Seraph since that Battle Royal two months back, and it would be the first time they would be defending against the Slip Circuit with more than three people.
He had to admit that, while expanding the Legion could be a little scary, things were absolutely looking up!