Astra grimaced as she followed May through the arcade. Strange machines blinked with searing lights and belted out high-pitched music, many of them accompanied by humans screaming emotion into a void only she could hear—along with the occasional regular scream. Noise had been a new and uncomfortable aspect to city life, but this place seemed to amplify the worst qualities of each variety to new levels.
Stepping away from the tantrum simulator, Astra stumbled as her developing headache made itself known once more. She rubbed her eyes, the pressure relieving the ache for a moment.
Ugh, sensory overload must be a literal headache and a half for a psychic like Astra. Shame, she'd probably enjoy the idea behind an arcade much more if it wasn't, you know, an arcade. ^^;
"This is pretty good!" she decided. "What was that yellow stuff?"
"Mustard," Brendan answered, smiling.
Blasphemy! Me and all my friends hate mustard! Ketchup supremacy gang rise up!
Astra ended up selecting a tall man with a massive circular ball of bifurcated hair who moved like he was dancing.
His special finishing attack is to toss out four Ludicolo + a Sudowoodo and have them beat up an opponent while they (and he) all manically dance around. One of his specials also involves pulling a Voltorb out of his hair and tossing it forward, which explodes after a short pause.
Despite her boast, Astra didn't manage to win any of the following rounds, even with her friends taking it easy on her. Part of this could have been her absolute naivety in the realm of video games, it could have been her unpracticed twitch movements and unfamiliarity with the controls, or it could even be that the buttons were so close together that her giant non-human fingers kept hitting two of them at the same time.
Well, she
is a Psychic type. Of course Fighting moves don't come naturally to her.
"You're just mad that you got PWN'd by my leet skills," Brendan said, grinning ear-to-ear.
Astra blinked and looked at Brendan, confused. "Pawned?"
It's pronounced
p-owned, Brendan. Gosh, this n00b can't even say it right.
"They don't even do anything with their arms!" Astra complained, exasperatedly gesturing at the two strangers currently competing against each other. They seemed to be doing well by the game's standards, but to hers they were abhorrent. "No spins, no flips, they barely even cross-step! You can't call this dancing! They're just—just throwing a tantrum on a beat!"
Flips? O_O Astra, I get your other complaints, but what kind of casual gymnastics feats does your dancing usually involve?
Astra's feet skipped around the platform, her legs seamlessly flowing from one pad to the next. She was right, this wasn't hard at all!
Maybe not now that you have
shoes. I imagine you'd be having a much harder time if that issue hadn't been rectified.
"I'm not sure, but it sure is soft!" Astra said, reaching into the chute and pulling the doll out.
It was a Ralts.
Astra stared at the vacantly smiling figure. Ten inches tall, the doll's glassy eyes were hidden under a dome of green cloth and a pair of plastic red horns embedded into a head about a third larger than it should be. Two stubby arms protruded from the solid robe, and though there were two legs the robe didn't actually have an opening for them at the bottom, instead having them be formless white pillars with a small coat tail.
"...huh."
*Plushtra joins the party!*
Also, it sounds like Astra is slightly annoyed about the inaccuracies, but I'd imagine it's actually
preferable in this case that the doll isn't anatomically correct. Now she can keep the tiny chibi effigy of herself without feeling weird about it!
"Yeah, I guess that would do it," he muttered. He shook his head and refocused. "Well, if you're short on cash then you could always enter a battle competition; you don't pay for losing so bare minimum you'll make enough for a week of cheap kibble. There's always one or two happening somewhere, and I'm pretty sure the Gym is hosting one tomorrow afternoon." Brendan raised an eyebrow. "Unless you wanna do some odd jobs like catching a dozen Shroomish for a pharmacy...?"
"Ah, trainer! Looking for a quest? Well, you're in luck! Simply fetch us
20 Ursaring Asses, and-"
"Nope."
"Just lunch?" Astra asked, smirking at May. "I'll beat them so hard they'll only be able to eat dirt for a month!"
Wouldn't go saying that just yet Astra, 'cause it sounds like if you don't win, that's all
you'll be eating for a month, and then your foot will really be in your mouth. With the dirt.
Anyway, hopefully you enjoyed.
I did! Slice of life is still fun with Astra along. As always, looking forward to the next chapter! d(OuO)b
