Brine burst into the common room, and said, out of breath, "Here it is!" He held up a game case for Beck, Yuna, Kishi, and Kennie to see. "Follow the Leader 4!"
"Whoa dude," said Beck through a mouthful of noodles. "Super fresh!" Yuna nodded in agreement.
"Can we play after dinner?" asked Kishi.
"Sure!" said Brine. "But we'll take turns since our dorm is not that big." He sat down on a sofa next to Kishi and set down the case and the opened package on the floor. He picked up his box of noodles and chopsticks.
"Wait," said Kennie shyly. "I've heard of Follow the Leader and knew it had something to do with music but ... what's the game about?"
Kishi explained, "Follow the Leader is a motion-based dance game series developed and published by Gobysoft. Each game includes a collection of songs each with its own dance choreography. One or more players mirror a dancer shown on the screen, follow commands that appear on the screen, and are scored based on accuracy—"
"Whoa whoa whoa, slow down there Squidipedia," said Beck, cutting off a now embarrassed Kishi.
"Oh yeah, Yuna," said Brine. "They added a decent collection of rock songs this time. I think you'll love it."
"I have to play this game," said Yuna leaning forward in her seat and pumping her fists.
"How many more of these Follow the Leader games are they going to make?" asked Beck.
"A lot more, I hope," said Brine.
"Well, then I bet they'll have to start naming the games with years," joked Beck.
After dinner, in Brine and Beck's dorm, Brine turned on his small TV and put the game disc in his console. Beck sat on his bed with Yuna while Kishi and Kennie sat on Brine's bed, looking at the screen with awe. "You're lucky to have a TV in your dorm. The portable version of the console doesn't support Follow the Leader," said Kishi.
"But the effort it took to get it in here, holy mackerel," groaned Brine. "Beck, remember when you tripped on the stairs and nearly cracked the TV screen? My toes were bruised for a week!"
"There was a fly on my nose, okay?" said Beck.
Once the game started up, Brine looked through the songs in the game. "Which song should I do first?" he asked.
"Ooh, you should do 'Rip Entry'!" said Yuna. Beck and Kishi agreed while Kennie said she wanted to see an Off the Hook song. "We'll all have turns, so you can choose whichever song you want on your turn," said Brine. He chose "Rip Entry" and waited for the game to load.
A faceless inkling boy with short orange tentacles on his head appeared on the screen. He wore a solid purple jacket, solid black pants, and solid blue shoes. His left hand was colored orange, showing that the controller had to be in the player's right hand.
"I hope I've still got the moves," said Brine, smiling as he watched the screen, waiting for the dancer to start.
Once the music started, Brine mirrored every move the dancer did. "Good" and "Fresh!" appeared in a corner of the screen after every move. "Wow," said Beck, his eyes widening. "It looks like you do got it."
After both Kishi and Kennie had a turn, Yuna suddenly said, "Guys, I have an idea."
"Oh?" said Brine.
"What if we start a Follow the Leader club?"
Everyone looked at each other for a moment, until finally, Brine said, "Let's do it." Everyone else nodded and said, "yeah!";
"But how do you start a club?" asked Kennie.
"I think you have to gather some people who are interested first and then talk to the Office of Student Life," Beck responded, putting a finger on his chin.
"Well, let's all finish playing first," said Yuna. "I've been waiting so long to have a turn."
"Hey, you!" Brine said to an unsuspecting Inkling boy who was walking in the courtyard. He turned around to face Brine with raised eyebrows. "Do you like dancing?" asked Brine.
"Uh... I guess?" said the boy, tilting his head.
"Do you like video games?" asked Brine.
"Well, I play a few, yeah..." the boy said.
"Then you'll like Follow the Leader club!" Brine said energetically while thrusting a flyer into the boy's hands. "Join us in Studio D347 to dance the night away!"
Yuna chimed in, stretching out her arms in a pose, and said, "We have free food, too!"
"Uh, okay..." said the boy, furrowing his eyebrows and walking away with the flyer.
Kennie, who was sitting at the information table behind Brine and Yuna, sighed and rolled her eyes. "I think you two are just scaring people away." The table had a sign taped on it with the Follow the Leader logo printed, and text underneath that said "Club". To the right of Kennie, there was a pile of flyers that Beck had printed off, and to the left, there was a pile of lollipops that Yuna bought at a bargain store, for passersby to take.
"I thought people liked free food..." said Yuna pensively.
"I think Kishi made the right decision to work on her project in the studio instead," joked Kennie. "And I don't even want to imagine what Beck would do if he was here. I think Beck's helping her or something."
A tall green Octoling girl wearing glasses stopped by the table, in front of Yuna and Brine. "Oh hey," Brine said. "Are you interested in joining Follow the Leader Club?"
"Yeah, I love Follow the Leader! When's the first meeting?" she asked.
"Next week in Studio D137," answered Yuna, who had also turned around. "Here, have a flyer."
"Wait, is D137 that abandoned dance studio near those storage rooms?" asked the girl.
"Yes, yes it is," said Brine bluntly.
"But we're remodeling it! And it'll be all ready by next week!" said Yuna cheerfully.
"Oh... Okay. I'll see you all next week, then!" said the girl.
"Score!" cheered Yuna, pumping down her fist.
On the day of the first meeting, the five members of the Follow the Leader Board of Advisors showed up to the abandoned dance studio an hour early. Beck plugged in the old TV that was in the studio, but when Brine pressed the power button, nothing happened. "Maybe plug it into another outlet?" suggested Brine. Beck moved the plug down to another outlet. Still nothing.
"There's a couple of outlets over here," said Kishi from the other side of the studio.
"Thank goodness this TV is on a wheeled cart," said Beck. He grabbed the cable and put his hands on top of the TV to push it.
"I bet you're really glad about that," remarked Brine.
Beck turned dramatically towards Brine and scowled. "What did you want me to do with the fly, eat it?"
"Better to get some extra protein than smash my toe."
"Oh my cod, you can't be serious."
"You're still arguing about that?" said Yuna. She was in charge of the snacks. She opened a box of mint Coreos on a table.
"Brine started it," whined Beck.
Kennie opened the door to the dance studio and stood outside with a clipboard, to record the attendees' names. "I think it's about time for people to start coming in," she said.
15 minutes passed, and Kennie still stood at the door, waiting. "Kennie, are you getting tired?" asked Yuna. "No one's even coming."
"Come on," groaned Kennie. "Not even that Octo girl who said she would come is showing up?"
"I don't think so," said Brine.
"More food for us, then," said Kishi, with a face full of potato chips. The bowl was already nearly empty.
Another 15 minutes passed. Now Kennie sat at the door, still hopeful, but also falling asleep. Yuna had joined Kishi at the snack table, no longer able to hold back.
"Well, let's just start playing ourselves," said Brine, and he grabbed the controller.
At that moment, the Octoling girl who had shown interest in the club at the courtyard poked her head through the door. "Uh, sorry I'm late, I had so much to do..." she began. She awkwardly tried to push her green tentacles behind her round ears.
Kennie instantly stood up and straightened her academy uniform skirt. She then clicked open her pen and put it on her clipboard. "Welcome," she said, looking up at the newcomer. "What's your name?"
"Meredith," said the girl. Kennie quickly scribbled it onto the sheet of paper. "Come inside, we're just starting!" said Kennie. "I'm Kennie, by the way."
"Are you guys the only ones here?" asked Meredith.
"Yes. Yes we are," said Brine bluntly. "How about you play the first game?"
"Oh, sure!" Meredith said, and she took the blue controller from Brine.
"Who else wants to go first?" Brine asked.
"I would love to go with Meredith," said Kennie, running to grab the red controller from Brine.
"Do you like Off the Hook? We could pick one of their songs," suggested Kennie.
"I love them!" Meredith replied. "I think we should pick.." She moved the stick on her controller to scroll through the list of songs. "Acid Hues," she said, settling on the preview for that song.
"All right," Kennie said.
As the song loaded, Yuna cheered on Kennie and Meredith. "I know you've got the moves, Kennie!" she cheered.
Meredith shot Kennie a smirk. "Well, let's see who's the better dancer," she said. Kennie's eyes widened with shock, but then she accepted the challenge.
Two dancers wearing Marina and Pearl's old outfits appeared on the screen.
Meredith's side of the screen showed mostly "Fresh!" and a few "Good"s, while Kennie's side showed some "Good"s and "Fresh!"s, but quite a few times it showed "Miss". Meredith didn't appear to even be breaking a sweat the whole time—she concentrated on the screen and copied every move smoothly. "How are you so good?" Kennie asked in between breaths.
"I've played Follow the Leader 1, 2, and 3," said Meredith. "But it's my first time playing Follow the Leader 4."
"Wow," said Kennie.
Once the song finished, Meredith was ranked at four and a half stars and Kennie was ranked at three.
"That's really good for your first try," Brine said to Meredith. Everyone nodded and clapped for Meredith and Kennie.
"Who wants to go next?" Brine asked.
"I'll go," said Yuna. "I'll go with you, then," said Beck.
Meredith walked over to the snack table and looked for something to grab. Kennie followed Meredith and started a conversation—"so which year are you in?" she asked.
"Third year," Meredith replied. "And you?"
"First year."
"You're young then."
"Yeah."
Kennie looked around and saw Yuna and Beck dancing to "Buoyant Boogie".
"I wish more people showed up," she said.
"The important thing is that this is fun," said Meredith. "I'll tell my friends to come next meeting."
"You know, you're right. Thanks for coming."
"I'm kidding. This whole club's a joke. You said you had food. I'm sick of noodles."
Meredith proceeded to take a mint Coreo and eat it.