Gray Heroics #5.4

"Hm. Surprisingly direct." Neath comments as he pushes each of the buttons one after another, testing out the inputs himself.

"Yeah, it usually is. Pressing certain buttons together will either give you an unique power attack or a grab. Pressing both left buttons together, or the right buttons, will always get you a grab."

"Like this?" Neath asks as he presses both right buttons on his side, successfully initiating a grab animation on Galivinth's character.

"Oh. Looks as if I managed to do it."

"Yup. Grabs are decent ways to through someone's guard."

"That and kicking people's ankles in!" Shurman adds with a cheeky grin.

"A-heh-heh-hah... Freakin' Gink players..." Galivinth retorts disdainfully after giving a dry and feign bit of laughter.

"But yeah, low attacks are also a reliable way to get damage in, too. For some reason, everyone kind of sucks at guarding their legs."

"Oh? Why is that exactly?" Naeth asks.

"Dunno', honestly. It's weird." Galivinth answers.

"And easy wins for ya boy." Shurman chimes in. Something Galivinth couldn't help but to halfheartedly roll his eyes at.

"Anyway...  The goal of this game is to K.O. your opponent three times before they do so to you. You can also win rounds by having more health than your opponent when the timer on the screen hits zero." Galivinth goes on to explain.

"Sounds simple enough." Neath states, taking a bit of time to mess around with the controls.

"Yeah, pretty simple. As you can see, there's more inputs you can do with your character. Not everyone can do the same things, so it's best to stick with a single character first and try to memorize the moves you learn while playing."

"A very reasonable suggestion. I'll follow it." 

"Nice, nice. Go ahead and mess around with the buttons. Hope 3 minutes is enough for you to learn a few good moves. Oh! And you block low by holding down on the stick." For the next three minutes, Galivinth lets his relative practice freely while he himself spends that time on his phone. Casually leaning and resting an elbow on the control board as he aloofly looks over weekly news and article titles. 

[ "Time up-- Raunhwao wins!" ] The in-game announcer informs at the end of the third round, drawing Galivinth's attention almost immediately.

"Oh, alright. Let's try playing a match this time." He inserts another coin and hits start. The two repeat the process of selecting their characters and the game begins the same way as last time. During, Galivinth decides to go easy on his relative. Usually attacking with light damage when Neath makes mistakes, which he intends to keep doing the entire game. From this method, Galivinth sees his relative learning from it. By the third round, Neath wasn't just carefully placing his attacks anymore, but also experimenting with counterattacks. Still, Galivinth ends up winning all three rounds with minimum effort.

"It's almost like actual combat. Very interesting."

"You were definitely getting a hang of it. Even surprised me a bit at the end. If you want, you can play again after Red has his turn."

"I certainly would like to try again. Maybe I can learn a bit from watching you two play, as well." Neath muses, moving aside to allow Shurman to take his place afterwards. He decides to stand beside Galivinth to watch the screen.

"Alright, lemme' show ya how it's done. I'm about to show G. that all that fancy karate don't mean a damn thing to the King of Grab City." Shurman confidently declares as he inserts a quarter of his own and pushes the start button.

"Yeah, okay." Galivinth retorts dismissively. The two swiftly pick their characters and load up into the match. As soon as they're given the cue from the in-game announcer to start, the two begin pressing buttons immediately. Naeth witnesses a flurry of attacks and a back & forth between the chosen fighters on screen. 

"Look at you, already trying to do that dried up combo you like so much." Shurman teasingly jabs verbally.

"Hey, just don't press any buttons when it's not-- Oh Caught you pressing buttons! Yeah, you like throwing out those wild attacks when it's not your turn, don't ya? Yeeea-ha-ha, take another ONE. MMM! One-two, three, FOUR. BOOM! The round's mine." 

"Ooohh, so that's how we're playing, huh? I got somethin' for you. I got somethin' for you. M'hmm!" 

"Playing like what, bro? You're just getting out played."  Galivinth cheekily retorts. 

The combination of banter and fluent gameplay Neath finds himself observing is something that takes him by surprise, especially when it came to Galivinth. To him, the energy behind the erratic sounds of buttons being pressed, the sound effects from the game, and the competitive nature it brought out in the other two was rather contagious. The excitement and anticipation to see who'd come out on top was washing over him like a tsunami storm.

"A-yo! How many times are you going to break my grabs? I swear nobody else does it as much as you." Shurman comments in amusement.

"As many times as you keep trying. Just stop, you're NOT getting one." Galivinth retorts.

"A'ight, fine then!"

"Oh, here we go with that ridiculous low kick..."

"Darn damn right, boy. Time to play my favorite guessing game." And with adjustments to his strategy, Shurman begins turning the tide of the match in his favor. For the next two rounds the two have a back and forth struggle, but the redhead ends up winning both and concluding the game.

"I hate playing this with you sometimes..." Galivinth mutters in annoyance.

"What can I tell ya? Shouldn't have been doubting my skills." Shurman smugly responds with a shrug of his shoulders.

"Yeah, yeah." Galivinth uses the next moment to insert another coin before pressing the start button.

"Here, Neath. You can play him next." He offers his relative before moving out of the way.

The three adolescents carry on playing various games all through the afternoon. By the time they finally take their leave, the evening begins drawing very near. As planned beforehand as well, the trio stop by the pizzeria across the street. Another hour passes, after spending time bonding with lighthearted conversation and tasty food, they head back home together. With Shurman living down the next two blocks down, he gives the other two a farewell and heads right for his house, while Neath & Galivinth continue on to the next one. Eventually turning at the corner on the opposite end and heading directly to Galivinth's home. 

They settle in soon after. Galivinth sitting on his bed and playing a home console game, while Naeth lays on several layers of blankets on the floor and reads through Galivinth's collection of comics.

"Hey, Neath?" The teen finally speaks up after some time.

"Hm?" A nonchalant response as the elder of the two turns a page. It's seconds after that Galivinth decides to pause him game before continuing.

"I just want to say that... I don't blame you." A string of words that grab the cryonean's attention and leads to Naeth turning his head.

"And I appreciate--... Eh.. Your positivity helps in dealing with things."

"I'm glad that's the case. I'm not one to dwell on less fortunate details. Though ironically as I say that, I have wondered if I had imposed upon your life." Neath responds, shifting to turn his body and sit up.

"Well... It's nothing I'd never think to ask for, but I'm not upset or anything. I mean, I feel kind of guilty because my dad could be in danger, but things are

.. Mostly fine. I'm still glad we met."

"That's good to know, and likewise. We'll get past this before you know it."

"Yeah, I hope so. I also should really tell my dad about it... I don't know why I didn't. I wasn't thinking. He should definitely know about this whole thing. It directly affects him, after all." Galivinth comments with a solemn expression.

"A fair point, indeed. You can tell him when he arrives tomorrow morning."

"Yeah. Yeah, I'll do that. Thanks, man."

"It's no trouble at all. As the Earthly saying goes, if I'm not mistaken; What are family for?"

End.