Thank you for the positive feedback. :) I appreciate it! I have a few chapters already handwritten out, so once I type them up I'll have some more to post. Here's one.
If you want to leave me a word or two as prompts for me to base future chapters off of, I'll mention your name if I choose your suggestion. Just singular words, or short phrases, or some random sentence you'd like one of the characters to say will work. No guarantees that I will use your suggestions, but if it will work with the major points I want to touch on then I probably will. I plan to start aging Kendra and Seth starting shortly after this chapter takes place. I'm toying with a few ideas.
Anyway… here's the second installment. I hope you enjoy!
Chapter 2: Competition
"Aww… Come on!" Seth loudly complained. "I've got to beat you at least once at something!"
Bracken smiled smugly. "No, you really don't," he said.
"Seriously, you always win! Give somebody else a chance, will you?"
"You want a pity victory? That's not much to brag about," Bracken pointed out. Then he shrugged. "Being locked up in a dungeon for countless years certainly gives you a LOT of time to refine your skills at games. Well… when they were available, anyway."
Seth frowned – how could he ever compete with that!? – then he suddenly brightened as "The Idea" popped into his brain. A light bulb almost visibly turned on over Seth's head and a mischievous smile began to sneak its way across his features. "I know something I can crush you at," he said slowly.
"Oh yeah?" Bracken's curiosity was piqued. "Bring it on," he challenged.
Seth leapt up from the floor where they had been playing some old version of Risk. A chess board and all of the corresponding pieces lay scattered around, as well as a deck of cards and a very worn-out set of Chinese Checkers. From the looks of the mess of games in the living room, they'd been at this for hours.
Rushing over to the cabinet beneath the television, Seth pulled open a drawer and removed what appeared to Bracken to be an oddly shaped piece of black plastic attached to some black cords with tri-colored tips that presumably plugged into something, along with two other even more oddly shaped pieces of plastic that were much smaller than the first and identical to each other. Colored buttons adorned the two plastic things that matched, as well as a couple of moving pieces that looked like they swiveled around.
"This," said Seth dramatically as he held up the largest piece, "is a Nintendo 64. Yes, there are definitely more recent video game systems, but this is the one we have. It's still in great condition." He passed one of the smaller plastic pieces with buttons to Bracken and kept the other one.
"Seth-" Bracken began, but was cut off.
"That is your controller. How about we start with a racing game?" Seth chose a game and placed it into the console.
"Seth-"
"This is the button you press to step on the gas. This one is your brake, but if you're going to beat me then you'll never touch it." Seth then showed Bracken how to steer. "Tutorial complete," he said after a minute. Then, with a sly grin and a twinkle in his eye he added, "Are you ready to die?"
Bracken gave up trying to say whatever he had wanted to originally and smiled. "Challenge accepted, but you're the one who's going to lose."
"I have played this game for hours. There's no way you're going to defeat me!"
They selected their cars and Bracken watched the screen as the vehicles lined up at the beginning of the race. "Why are there more cars than just the two of ours?" he asked.
"The other ones are computer controlled," Seth said. "We're playing against each other and fake people."
"Gotcha." Lights on the screen were flashing red as the actual room Seth and Bracken occupied lit up tremendously, although Seth didn't react at all. Bracken heard the soft footsteps he'd recognize anywhere, and sure enough Kendra walked up from behind them. Seth didn't appear to notice as Kendra quietly sat next to and slightly behind Bracken, on the opposite side as her brother. She put her finger to her lips and reached for the controller in Bracken's hand. Bracken, ever the gentleman, obliged to her silent request. Just as the light on the screen turned green, Kendra pressed the gas button and started racing her brother.
It was clear almost right away that she was better at this than Seth was, although the two were close. Bracken chuckled at Seth's frustrated sounds and Kendra's silent expertise. She kept taking the lead, slowing down just enough to let Seth pass her slightly so he could run into some trap or other that she'd set up for him, then she'd speed ahead again. Seth hadn't caught on that she was playing instead of Bracken until she passed the finish line with a very good lead over Seth and the computer players.
"What?! How is that possible?!" Seth exclaimed as Kendra gave Bracken a high-five and they both started laughing. Seth looked at them, realized Kendra had been the one to compete against and said, "Oh, ha ha. Very funny." Directing his comments toward Bracken, Seth continued, "I can't believe you needed my sister to help you win!"
"I never raced you – that was all Kendra. So technically, she didn't help me. She did it all on her own."
Seth's face flushed.
"Oh come on," Kendra began, cutting off any response Seth had been formulating. "It wouldn't have been fair otherwise. At least Bracken chose games you both were familiar with! You picked something he's never even seen before."
"He's had years of practice with everything else and I haven't! How is that fair?!"
"Are you really letting some stupid games bother you?"
"They're not stupid, they're awesome! At least they would be if I'd just win!"
"Guys!" Bracken said loudly, catching the siblings' attention. They both looked at him with the same questioning expression and suddenly he could see the family resemblance they shared. Temporarily distracted by this, he said, "You two have very similar facial features, you know?"
Seth scoffed. "I don't believe this guy!" he shouted, throwing his hands in the air. "First he asks for help from my sister to beat me, and then he says I look like a girl!" Kendra started to laugh, which annoyed Seth even more. "It's not funny!" he declared, although there was perhaps a tiny smidge of slight amusement in his eyes.
"Please calm down, Seth," Bracken began, "I didn't mean it as an insult. At any rate, what I had originally wanted to ask was… Can three people play this game?"
Seth's temper toned down to a slightly less frustrated level as Kendra responded, still smiling from laughter, "Yes. Up to four players at a time. Why? Do you want to try it?" The boys could have sworn they heard a lilt of teasing in her question.
Bracken smiled at the slightly competitive hint she was sending him. "I'd like to try," he said. "The game looks like it could be fun."
"Alright," Kendra shrugged, her tone changing to one of warning as she looked at her brother. "Go easy on him, Seth."
"No way," Seth replied, producing another controller from the drawer and handing it to Bracken. "You're player three by the way," he said as he again reminded Bracken which button was the gas and which was the brake.
The trio sat down on the floor in the same order as before with Bracken in the middle, all three paying close attention to the television as they chose their racing vehicles. In a couple minutes, their cars were lined up at the black and white checkered banner which marked the beginning of the race. The course itself was fairly simple – a rather large oval designed to look like a standard race track, with grass and sand in the center of the oval. "I'm choosing a beginner course," Kendra had explained. "So you can get used to steering. Stay out of the middle; the sand and grass will slow you way down."
"Stop helping him," Seth muttered while Kendra rolled her eyes.
"I may be going easy on Bracken, but I'm still going to beat you," she said with a matter-of-fact tone to her voice. Bracken grinned at her confidence – he rather liked seeing this side of her.
"Whatever," Seth grumbled as the lights in the game turned from flashing red to a sudden green and all three competitors raced off down the course. Kendra took the lead right away, but what surprised both her and Seth was the fact that Bracken remained even with them. In fact, he was quickly gaining the upper hand over the siblings by hugging the inside of the corners and making sure to hit all of the speed boosts on the straight ways.
"Have you played this before?" Seth asked through gritted teeth after a couple of minutes and several failed attempts to deter Bracken's progress in the game.
"This game? No," Bracken said as he passed the finish line, barely coming in ahead of Kendra who was, in turn, barely ahead of Seth.
A groan of frustration escaped Seth. "How are you so good at this if you've never played it before?!"
"I tried to tell you at the very start," Bracken began to explain calmly. "We did occasionally have a Playstation or X-Box to play while I was imprisoned. It's not that difficult to adapt to an older video gaming system after having played on more recent ones. The controllers and graphics are a little different, but that's about it."
Kendra laughed lightly as Seth purposely smacked his head against the floor. "In that case, you're on," she challenged Bracken. "We're going for the hard levels. Are you in, Seth?"
With his face still firmly planted into the hardwood floor, Seth responded, "I give up. Just… Aaaaaaaahhhh. Go on without me."
"I think you broke my brother," Kendra said to Bracken, who chuckled.
"Don't take it too hard, Seth," Bracken started, "I'm sure you'll best me at something random one of these days."
A muffled, indistinguishable response was the only sound aside from Kendra's shuffling noises as she re-situated herself next to him. Bracken smiled in contentment. He really felt like he fit right in.