FyreDraagyn12 - Thank you, I plan to do more chapters like those once I start introducing more of Lotus's family, including the family from Ethan's side.

Beckiiee - I do plan on adding more OC's, just not sure if I was going to give them powers or not. I do have one in mind who might have powers but I haven't solidified any ideas yet.

This is Lotus

This is Saiki

This is Saiki and Lotus

The Wonderful World of Olfana - Or Rather The Craptastic Game Olfana!

Today after school Lotus and Saiki didn't go right home, but instead made a detour to the local video game store.

The two teens bypassed all of the shelves stacked with the most popular games heading for the lesser-known and indie titled games.

Saiki avoided the better-known games as nearly all of them had already been ruined for him thanks to the spoilers he's heard from others' thoughts.

"Spoilers aren't such a big deal with me anymore since I just wear my ring whenever I want to hide other's thoughts. But wearing the ring makes Saiki so uneasy that he rarely puts it on. So as a good friend I will endure these cheaply made games with him, so he won't have to suffer alone. Who knows maybe we'll find a rare gem."

Lotus hummed searching the shelves trying to find a game that looked good, but both her and Saiki were having some difficulty doing so.

"Geeze they let almost anyone make a game huh? Who funded some of these?"

Lotus picked up a few cases reading the titles.

"Bad Street? Bookman Adventures? Daily Chores? This one doesn't even have a title it's just a bunch of symbols and special characters followed by a hashtag."

Lotus sighed putting the games back before going over to Saiki.

"Did you find anything? I'm trying to keep an open mind but these games are so bad." Lotus said

"They are. I think I found two games we might be able to stomach."

Saiki held up two game cases presenting them to Lotus. Lotus held back a smile seeing as they were bought two-player games.

"Let's see Olfana Story X-2, hmmm….the cover arts pretty good, and it's only 100 yen. And the other game…"

Lotus didn't like to judge a book by its cover but this one looked really bad. From the look on Lotus's face Saiki knew exactly what game to pick.

As Saiki only played games by himself he had only one controller, thankfully Lotus had the same gaming system and simply brought her controller from her house.

"Alright I got my controller," Lotus held up a small container, "I also brought a snack."

Saiki seems to perk up by the word snack. "What is it?"

Lotus smiled, "It's a surprise."

Now, Saiki was not one for surprises, but when it came from Lotus, he didn't mind. In fact, he kind of enjoyed them. Lotus was an unknown variable that brought a positive spin to Saiki's life.

Lotus set the container on Saiki's desk before taking a seat next to him in front of his TV. She plugged in her controller as Saiki turned on the game.

"Welcome to the land of Olfana."

"Well, that started abruptly."

"Wait how do you choose two players?" Lotus questioned

She picked up the instructions flipping through the small booklet.

"Ah, here it is two-player mode 'Unlock two-play mode by defeating the game.'". Lotus read

"Wait so you have to unlock the 2-player option?" Saiki said

"So I guess no playing for me tonight. I guess I'll just watch you then," Lotus said

"Those who live in Olfana are threatened by the threat of demons known as Necrosofia. Necrosofia poses a mysterious power called Mind. They are plotting to conquer Olfana and enact their fiendish limited edition plot…."

"It's just a bunch of words."

"So much exposition without anything happening," Lotus said

"Whatever I'll just skip the entrance I'm sure I can figure it out as I go."

Saiki started to press various buttons on his controller but the intro scene kept playing.

"It's not changing," Lotus said

"It won't let me skip."

"...The people of Olfana call this power EXCL."

"Why not just call them both Mind."

Saiki picked up the instructions book skimming through it, but the words written on the pages of the book made about as much sense as the dialogue coming from the television screen.

"There are even more words I don't understand."

"Run!"

"Saiki the game is starting," Lotus said

Right after the intro was over the game jumped the player right into battle. On the television screen there was a monster attacking Saiki's character while the game instructed the player to press A.

Saiki's controller vibrated as his character was attacked.

"Gah! I failed!"

The character fell to the ground dead from the single attack. The words Game Over flashed across the screen.

Saiki and Lotus blankly stared at the screen confused by the sudden Game Over.

"Well that was...abrupt," Lotus said

Saiki let out a small sigh. "Well that wasn't entirely the games fault I shouldn't have put the controller down. I'll just try again."

Saiki restarted the game which meant he had to start at the long introduction scene that could not be skipped.

Saiki finally got back to the fight sequence, prepared this time.

"Now that I'm prepared it's easy."

"Too bad we had to watch that long intro scene a second time though," Lotus said

"Hope I get to a save point so-"

Saiki stopped mid-sentence as the game glitched out and froze.

"It froze…."

"Don't play crappy games if you can't deal with little hiccups like this."

Lotus sighed, "Guess that means we're going to have to sit through that opening scene again."

So once again Saiki restarted the game.

The sun had started to set when Saiki finally made it through the intro gameplay. His character enters a town square where he approached a man in a suit of armor.

"Alright we're getting somewhere."

"Hey now you're not too bad kid." The Armored Knight said

"Hmm, is that the guy from the cover?"

Lotus picked up the game case studying the cover. It was the same guy but the cover art vs the graphics of the game were way off.

"You're still a rookie."

"The dub doesn't even match his lips. Oh well, no biggie gameplay is all that matters."

"Look at that. Necrosofia's are really giving us trouble invading our kingdom, but we're gonna stop them from having their way, in the name of Marshall!"

"Wait...is he named Marshall?"

"Okay, the bad guys are attacking the kingdom. I think I know what's going on here."

"I'm Tom, nice to meet you!"

"Wait, then whose Marshall?" Lotus questions

"I think it's some kind of title. Once you get used to them these graphics are so bad. This might have actually been a good buy."

A command came on the screen telling the player to press B.

"Huh?"

Saiki had no time to react as the NPC turned on Saiki's character.

"You don't wanna shake my hand! Are you one of the Necrosofia!"

Tom raised his sword and stabbed Saiki's character killing him.

"You can not be serious," Lotus blanched

Saiki had a slightly surprised look which really hid his anger quite well, but the psychic was clearly mad as he tightened his grip on his controller cracking the sides.

"Oh boy, this is gonna be a long night," Lotus thought

Saiki had to go through the entire thing again getting up to the point where he met Tom. He pressed B shaking Tom's hand.

"Let's work together buddy!"

"Finally."

"Were comrades now."

"Shut it, Tom. I only shook your hand because I had to. We will never be friends."

"Let's survive this together."

"I hope you die!"

"He's quite mad right now."

Lotus had never seen Saiki wear a glare so hard before.

"This game is sure taking him on a roller coaster ride of emotions. It's kind of funny seeing such a stoic guy act this way. I'm just glad he's comfortable enough to be like this around me."

The Necrosofia on the screen started to charge at Saiki and Tom.

"Here they come kid! Watch my back!"

"Alrighty, I need to watch for attacks from behind too."

Saiki 's character moved forward attacking getting 28 points of damage.

"Alright nice one Saiki!" Lotus cheered

"They're weak maybe this won't be so hard."

Next, it was Tom's turn to attack and when the NPC swung his sword he only got 2 points of damage.

"Only 2 points? Is this the guy who killed me before?"

Tom was then attacked by the Necrosofia and was instantly killed.

"He's hopeless, oh well, I'll just have to get through this by myself."

Saiki did not get the option to continue on as the Game Over screen came on.

"No way…."

"What? Seriously? In order to stay alive I have to protect him? The old man who stabbed me because I refused to shake his hand."

Saiki's anger was heightened as Lotus heard a loud crunch seeing that her friend had crushed the controller even further.

"I can't blame him, even I'm starting to get frustrated and I'm not even playing."

Once again Saiki had to replay everything to reach the point where he died.

Lotus was on the edge of her seat watching Saiki both fight and defend Tom.

"It's all over for me if they attack Tom."

Somehow though Saiki manages to beat them without having Tom die.

"Ha! What would you do without me."

"Oh shut up."

"I'm already sick of him. Why am I not at a save point yet?"

The defeated Necrosofia started to move again getting back up.

"What? They're not dead?"

"We have no choice we'll have to finish them with EXCL."

"Alright, I'll show you a true 16 per shot button mash. This is an unprecedented controller technique."

"You got this Saiki!" Lotus cheered

Saiki started to rapidly press the buttons on his controller at an unbelievable speed.

"I won't lose!"

"EXCL!"

"Alright!" Lotus jumped up cheering.

Mission Complete came on, finally leading Saiki to the first save point.

"You did it Saiki, finally a save point!"

"Never before had a save screen brought me so much joy."

Lotus held her hand out and Saiki, without looking away from the TV screen, clapped his with hers in a high five. Immediately Lotus froze her eyes widening surprised. She hadn't meant to give Saiki a high-five, she was just so excited and her hand moved on its own, but she was truly surprised when Saiki returned the gesture. It was a simple fleeting touch, but to Lotus it seemed like it meant more. Lotus pulled her hand back rubbing the palm of her hand.

Seeing the relieved look on Saiki's face caused Lotus to drop her hands and smile.

"That was a long battle."

"But it looks you have one casualty, your poor controller."

Saiki's controller was a mess, it was riddled with cracks, a thumbstick was broke, and the entire structure of the controller was a bit warped.

"That's an easy fix." Saiki waved his hand over the controller and it reverted back to normal. "Good as new. Anyways at least I won't have to watch that ridiculous intro-"

Saiki stopped as the intro screen of the game started to play.

"The cable was plugged in when I rewound time."

"This Olfana a land-!"

"EXCL!"

Lotus nervously laughed sweat dropping seeing Saiki destroy his console.

"Well, this was an eventful night."

"Well, Saiki I have to commend you for lasting so long with that frustrating game. I think this is the perfect time to get out the dessert I brought." Lotus grabbed her container. "Alright, today's treat originated from Italy."

She opened the container showing two small layered cakes.

"Its Tiramisu. You use coffee to make it, so I thought you might like it."

Lotus passed a tiramisu to Saiki before taking one for herself. Saiki bit into his dessert a heavenly feeling washing over him as his frustration over the video game was drowned out by the flavor of the desert. Lotus watched with a pleased smile, Saiki's pleasant look making her happy. It was rare to see Saiki so content so it really made Lotus happy when she was able to bring happiness to him.

Midway through her dessert a light bulb went off over Lotus's head, and she clapped her hands together with a smile.

"Wait! Saiki, I just had an idea."

"What?"

"Ethan and my parents. His family is from another county, so they must have some games over there that don't come to Japan. If I ask them I bet they'd be willing to send some over for you to play. The same with my parents, since they travel so much I bet they could find some good games that no one would have played here yet. I know a lot of games get released internationally but sometimes the good titles release dates vary by country, but I bet you still can get a few games in without them being spoiled. What do you say?"

Saiki stared at Lotus's bright smile mouth slightly open in both surprise and a touch of awe.

*DOKI DOKI*

"That...sounds good."

"Alright! I'll call up Ethan's family. I might have to send a letter to my parents since its kinda hard to get a hold of them, oh wait!" Lotus gasped getting another idea. "I could just teleport and get the games, that would save so much time. Ah, but I don't think I'm strong enough or had enough practice to teleport to another country yet…."

Saiki watched Lotus ramble to herself a small smile coming to his face.