Disclaimer: I don't own Elfen Lied.
After the game arrives in the mail and Yuka's suspicion subsides, the rest of the household members crowd around Kouta's computer, waiting in awe. Thus, the games begin.
The Games Begin
"Anyway, who's up against me?" Kouta challenged. "Come on!"
Nana was still new to computers. However, the mere thought of her character kicking everyone's butt in the dueling style tempted her to try her hand at the game. Not to mention, she loved winning. At all costs. Even in small games like tic-tac-toe, she was notoriously known to be a sore loser. So try her hand, why not?
"I'll give it a shot", she stated as she walked up to the keyboard. "So, how do I do this?
"First, you have to configure your controls", Kouta told.
"And how do I do that?"
Kouta let out a small, exasperated sigh.
"That's right, despite the few months that I've known her, she asks too many questions", he briefly recalled in his mind. "She still hasn't mentioned anything about her past yet."
"Kouta-san?" Nana interrupted after catching his facial expression.
The others were also looking in his direction, wondering what was up.
"Oh, it's nothing", he explained. "Anyway, just press the keys that you want to use after you click the function for it first. For example, click this one, the VECTOR ATTACK option. When it shows a question mark, press your key of choice."
"Hmmmmm. I'll use the 0 key then!" Nana said as she pressed that button.
"Good, now do it for your other functions."
Kouta selected Mariko's clone. It was the most interesting one to him. At least, out of the entire set.
"Damn, why couldn't whoever made this add a male character in there?" he disappointingly thought. "Ack, never mind. More fun for the others, I guess"
After finally getting down the last of the functions, the Kaede residents were ready to witness the start of the digital duel.
"Let's go!" Mayu cheered as the versus screen loaded.
Round 1! Fight!
At said cue, Nana slammed down her VECTOR ATTACK key. Missed. Kouta wheeled his character around and hit Nana's from behind using his own VECTOR ATTACK with relative ease.
"Damage! Oh yeah!" he triumphantly exclaimed while Yuka cheered him on.
"C'mon Nana! Fight back harder!" Mayu encouraged.
Nana furrowed her brow.
"I…must…win!" she subconsciously said. "Nana must prove herself!"
Kouta's character, Mariko's clone, jumped in midair. With quick reflexes, Nana made her character jump into the air as well and launched a VECTOR TORNADO attack. Dead on. In three seconds of fury, she had taken a chunk of health out of his character.
"Take that!-"
Kouta cut her off in mid-sentence. Taking advantage of her cocky self-made distraction, he launched a twenty hit VECTOR ATTACK combo on Nana. Now the score was a little more even.
"Is that all you got!?" Nana growled as she threw a ROCKET PUNCH at his character.
"Not even close", Kouta answered coolly as he blocked the attack.
"Wow, even against that puny little girl, you're still a weakling in comparison", Lucy commented on the sidelines just loud enough for Nana to hear.
Nana tried to pay no attention to the comment as she dodged another attack from Kouta. There had to be a way to beat Mariko's clone! In real life, she remembered how she lost every single fight against other diclonii, be it Lucy, or the one time encounter with Mariko.
"No, Nana will not relive those defeats! Nana must prove herself!" she angrily thought.
Well, then again, it was just a game. A simple, little fight game, right? Nana pulled her thoughts together and strategized.
"Hmmmmm…I notice that he waits for me to attack first before countering", she further thought as she hit the movement keys to dodge another VECTOR ATTACK. "Then, he attacks me while I'm open…guess I'll have to fight strategy with strategy!"
Nana moved her character to the other side of the screen and waited.
"What the-what are you doing?" Mayu asked, completely bewildered.
"What's wrong?" Lucy taunted from behind. "Can't take the pain?"
"Shut up", Nana thought as she still waited.
"That's odd", Kouta thought in his own mind. "She's running. What are you up to?"
Playing it safe, Kouta moved Mariko's clone to the opposite side of the screen and waited as well.
"Gotcha!" Nana loudly whispered.
Immediately, she threw a ROCKET PUNCH across the screen, resulting in Kouta's character temporarily flinching. Now was her chance. She used her VECTOR DISABLE attack to prevent him from using any more vector attacks for the time being. Pressing the jump key and finishing off the combo with a VECTOR ATTACK, Nana defeated Mariko's clone with only a small portion of health remaining in her own bar.
"Woohoo! I won!" she cheered along with Mayu. "Yay!"
"Great job! That was a nice strategy!" Mayu complimented as she hugged Nana from behind.
Kouta smiled. He didn't mind losing as long as it made her happy.
"Congratulations!" he said to her right before Yuka gave him a small whack on the back of the head.
"Ow!" he grunted.
"Baka, you let a little girl beat you?" she playfully teased.
"I'll say", Lucy added as she slightly chuckled with Yuka.
Yuka looked up at the clock. It was already 5:15 in the evening. She had lost track of the time and still needed to cook dinner.
"Kouta-kun, I need to prepare dinner", she told him. "It's 5:15 and you have to come and help me."
"But-"
"Now", she sternly demanded as she dragged him by the ear to the kitchen. "You still have a large chore debt to pay off."
It was now just Lucy, Mayu, and Nana. The three of them were by themselves, with the fight game staring directly at them. Or vice- versa.
"I'm next!" Mayu said as she selected her own character.
"Likewise" Lucy stated, choosing young Lucy.
Mayu checked out her weapon arsenal. It wasn't too spectacular. Not to mention the blocking move that used Wanta as a shield sickened her. Lucy looked over her attacks as well.
"Nice." She thought.
After key configuring, Mayu loaded the versus screen while Nana watched with a fixed stare.
Round 2! Fight!
Lucy made her character charge toward Mayu's. Mayu in response threw out a KICK, catching young Lucy square in the face. Due to the said character's small physical strength, a large fraction on health was deducted instantaneously. Mayu followed up with DOG ATTACK, sending Wanta to sick on young Lucy. Despite the significant damage to the health bar. Lucy's character's eyes glowed red for a second.
"Yes, keep pummeling!" Lucy fiercely encouraged Mayu.
Mayu gave a partially scared look. She turned to Nana, who in turn, shrugged her shoulders.
Not knowing what else to do, Mayu threw out PUNCH while young Lucy idly waited. At that instant, a dark aura surrounded young Lucy and threw Mayu back, dealing small damage.
"Ha, that's it!?" Mayu laughed as she got ready to launch another offensive.
Then four vectors swarmed out and furiously pounded Mayu's character. Mayu tried to block them, but their striking speed suddenly increased and launched a fifty hit combo. Mayu was quickly finished off.
She took the defeat very calmly and checked the time: 5:23.
"Well, that was fun, but I have homework to do", Mayu said as she got up to leave.
A few seconds of silence emerged between Lucy and Nana in the few moments after Mayu left. Then Round 3 was next.
"You and me, let's go!" Nana challenged.
"You're on, weakling", Lucy accepted with complete confidence…
Nana is fully pumped, ready to win and show her strength as a diclonius. Lucy does the same. However, it is all just a game. Anyway, still got spare time, still typing. Expect next chapter quickly. What happens next? Come see next chapter: From Game to Reality. R&R!