The NES Series:

Family BASIC

"Run, Olimar, run!"

"I'm running! I'm running!"

Villager glanced behind them. Popeye, Bluto, Olive, and basically every other cast member of the old sixties cartoon was currently chasing the pair through the streets of Popeye's home port town. Olimar and Villager turned a corner to find themselves trapped in a dead end.

"Well, this is just great," Olimar said as the two backed up against the brick wall, Popeye and his friends bearing down on them. "How did we get into this mess again?"

"Do we really have to rehash the entire past three chapters?" Villager asked.

"Maybe."

"Well, needless to say, it was all your fault."

"Mine? You were the one who got too excited over that Gomoku game and alerted Popeye and his crew to our hiding spot."

Villager bit his lip. "That's fair."

The crowd gathered around Villager and Olimar, torches in hand. Popeye stepped to the front of the group, shoving up his sleeves. "Any las' woids, chumps?"

"Villager," Olimar said, "if I don't make it, tell my wife and kid I love them."

Villager nodded. "And if I don't make it, tell Lassy that she can have my 3DS. And also tell Jazz that I think she is a very fine woman."

"Very fine woman? What, are you from the sixties?" Olimar glanced around at the surrounding mob. "Never mind."

"I'm going to give it to youse guys real good," Popeye said, twirling his fist around in a circle.

"Any ideas?" Olimar recoiled against the wall.

"Hold on," Villager replied, shuffling through his pockets. He produced a small keyboard. He stared at it for a second. "Oh, I've got it!"

Villager held up the board and rapidly punched in a combination of letters. He slammed the enter key and Popeye, the mob, and everything else vanished, leaving Villager and Olimar alone, floating through an empty black void.

Olimar looked around. "Whoa, what did you do?"

Villager twirled the keyboard around and stowed it in his pocket again. "I used the Family BASIC."

"What's that?"

"It was this old programming game for the NES. It came with a keyboard and a data recorder, and you could write, do math, play or create simple games, and all sorts of stuff."

"Huh. And this game had the power to rewrite the entire system?"

Villager glanced at his feet. "No, not really."

"Then . . . what did you just do?"

Villager stuck his hands in his pockets and bounced on his heels. "Pulled a Deus ex Machina."

Olimar stared at Villager for a moment before shrugging. "Works for me. So, now what are we going to do?"

The two stared at the black void around them. "We could play Mahjong again," Villager suggested.

"Sure, set it up."

Sorry, everyone. No Smash Freshmen today. However, I didn't want to leave you all completely hanging, so I managed to squeeze out this chapter of the NES series. See my blog at prastarkeepers blogspot com tomorrow for more information. Again, I'm sorry.