"Aw, come on! And I was gettin' so close, too!"
Nick turned his head and came out of the other room, responding the young voice that sounded frustrated in tone. Walking into the living room and standing near the couch, the fox turned around to see the source of the muttering voice.
The vulpine's kit sat cross-legged, gripping tightly onto a black game controller as he continued to swiftly press a series of buttons on it. The expression on the young one's muzzle was enough of an indication that he had determination to get passed whatever it was he was trying to at the moment.
A sound came from the television that had the game on it, and the screen slowly faded to black as an indication that the game was over this time around. When his character disappeared off of the screen, the kit huffed and sagged his head a little bit.
Nick took a few more steps over and joined the frustrated child. "Hey, buddy," the fox breathed. "What's up?"
"Oh, nothin'," the kit replied, putting the controller down beside him and turning his attention over to his father. "Just tryin' to get passed this level, and I just can't."
Nick nodded his head. "So what's this game about?" he inquired.
The young one handed him over the game's case. The illustration on the front cover depicted an okapi standing proudly against a ragged pathway. Nick surveyed the front and back of the cover before putting it back down on the coffee table beside him.
"What you have to do," the kit explained, "is find these four objects by beating these four villains. Once you do that, you have to go to a wizard's tower and save the princess."
"Sounds pretty interesting," Nick replied. Turning his head over to the right, he asked, "You mind if I try it out a little? Maybe I could help ya get passed this level."
His son smiled and handed him over the controller. "Sure," he murmured.
Nick pressed a button, and the game on the screen restarted back where the kit had previously lost. "Okay, so what do I do now? How do I move ahead?"
Pointing to some of the buttons, the child let his father know the function of each of them. "You go forward with this button, press this button over here to jump, and this other one to duck."
Nick nodded, understanding how the simplistic controls of the game worked. "Got it," he replied.
On the screen, the game started to unfold once more. The heroic okapi character trekked through a very dark area, the pathway only partially illuminated by a faint blue glow coming from nearby. For a good bit of time, it felt like the mammal on the screen was just going straight without anything adventurous happening. Before anyone could go any further, however, a puff of black smoke arose in a corner of the screen, and a hyena with a vicious grin appeared as the dark cloud slowly dissipated.
"Coward," the hyena on the television cackled. "Do you seriously believe that you can overthrow a warlock?"
"This is who I can't get passed," the kit told his father. "He's pretty sneaky."
Nick grinned as he gripped the controller in his paws harder. His eyes dotting up to the screen again, he realized that the villainous hyena character had disappeared from view. For a quick moment, the vulpine wasn't sure what to do next until he realized that something had struck his okapi character down from behind.
"Come on, Dad!" the young one compelled to his dad. "Use the power-up!"
"Got it!" Nick replied, although unsure of how exactly to access the power-up that the child was pertaining to.
The vulpine with a few of the controller's buttons, unexpectedly opening up a menu of various selections above where his character was running. Going along with the first option that was highlighted ("Energy Spell" were the words that glowed upon selection), Nick pressed another button.
Upon doing so, the okapi on the television started to murmur a presumably magical phrase. Once muttered, a blast of blue energy came from his hooves and knocked the flagitious hyena bear down to the ground.
Within the moments that the villain was stunned by the blast from the spell, Nick moved his character away from the peril and down an available passageway. Once he was free from all interruptions, he guided the okapi to what looked like a chest. Inside of it was the first object that he needed to locate as part of the game's conquest.
Once he got as close as he could to the chest, the congratulating sounds of fanfare arose from the speakers of the TV.
"We have found our first artifact!" Nick exclaimed, jokingly announcing the proclamation in a deeper tone of voice. Turning his head to his son, he additionally remarked, "Where to next, brave one?"
A round of innocent giggles erupted from the little one at his father's antics. Pointing a paw to the right side of the screen, he suggested, "Let's try going over there."
One Hour Later…
Nick, after a good amount of time playing, now found himself fully submerged into the world of the game. On the television, the heroic character was now in combat with a kangaroo mage, who definitely had more stealthiness than the previous villains. Everything that he try to use was blocked by the foe, followed by the kangaroo character delivering a swift kick.
"Goodness, this guy's impossible to beat!" the vulpine ended up muttering. Handing the controller back to his son, he added, "Maybe you can try to get passed him."
The sound of the lock on the front door turning arose from the corner, catching the fox's attention for a moment before it turned back around. The door opened shortly after, and Judy walked into the room carrying a heavy bag of groceries.
"Hey, you two," she greeted. "Back from the shop."
His eyes still attentive on the game's fight, Nick simply replied, "Hey, Carrots."
"Hi, Mom," his kit chimed in.
For a brief moment, Judy just looked over at the two. She lifted the bags back up and walked them over to the kitchen, starting place some of her purchases on the counters in preparation to be put away.
"Guys, you think you pitch in and help me put some of these groceries away?" she asked.
"Sure, Fluff," Nick called back. "Just one second here."
Judy let out a small sigh, digging into her paper grocery bag and pulling out one particular item that she was certain would capture their attention.
"I got some fresh blueberries waiting here," Judy said.
Just as she suspected, mentioning what she did was the sure thing that would manage to get their attention away from the game. Nick and his son both peaked their heads around, their tails wagging excitedly in unison.
"Come on, buddy," the vulpine said to his kit as he started to walk over. "Let's get some of those blueberries."
"Yum!" the child remarked. "My favorite!"
Those two, Judy thought, shaking her head as she naturally smiled.