Ring 1.2: The Arcade

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Ring 1.2:

The Arcade

The three teenage guys, Akio, Cole, and Rolf, walked down the sidewalk from Cole's house, each of them recently altered in body, and somewhat in mind, to be girls of roughly the same age. They were finally going to get in on the free arcade night, for the first time since what in their minds was the best arcade in all of recorded history had come under new management. So naturally they were excited, but not saying much. Not, that is, until Akio realized something. "Oh, hey!" She was in front, so when she stopped to turn around and look at the others they both nearly ran into her. "We need new names," she said. "I mean, a disguise isn't very useful if you just tell people who you are underneath anyway, right?"

"Yeah..you're right for once," said Cole. Rolf's head titled sideways a bit, as she started thinking.

"Twice now. Ha. Anyway, I have it easy. I'll just call myself Aki." She whirled back around and started walking again.

"Wh--bu--that's way too close to your real name," protested Cole. "It's literally just a one-letter difference."

"Yeah, but how close it is doesn't matter, as long as it's not the same, and it actually sounds like something you'd name a girl," said Aki, looking back. "I mean, who's gonna look at me and think 'that must be Akio somehow disguising himself as a girl who is also at least a foot shorter than he is'. What about you, Rolf?"

"I think I'll call myself Flora."

Cole asked, "Why?"

She shrugged in return. "I like it. It sounds cute, doesn't it? Makes you think of flowers.."

"I guess so. Me..I'm gonna think of a name that isn't just a near-anagram of 'Cole'."

"Really?" said Aki. "So what name would that be?"

"Give me a minute, I need to think about it."

"Okay, beginning timing now!"

The sunset began as the three of them continued to walk. After a bit of silence, Aki said, "Hey, you know what? It's kinda weird we're all able to walk this easily, given that our centers of balance totally changed. And in skirts, too. Did the swishing around on your legs even register in your head before I pointed it out?"

"Um, huh. No, I guess it didn't," said Cole.

"Well, hey, perfect disguise," said the third girl. "It'd give you away pretty fast if you couldn't walk right, or wear clothes like the person you're disguised as."

Aki said, "Minute's up, Cole. Collette? Hehehe." She hadn't meant for that giggle to sound so..girly, but didn't really mind it all that much.

"Definitely not. Why do you take expressions like that so literally?"

"Well if you mean you need some unspecified amount of time you shouldn't say 'a minute'. Just say you need some time. Or, like, a moment. Which is technically not a minute, but also probably less than an hour."

"Okay, okay. I just came up a name, just now, alright? I'm Jenna from now on. Or Jen, if you're lazy."

"That's a pretty name," said Flora.

Aki said, "Yeah, it'll work."

---

The three of them got to the arcade at about the time the sun dipped below the horizon. They didn't have any trouble getting in; the lady up front took a brief look at them and gestured for them to go through, which they did. After a brief agreement to meet back up at the entrance in a few hours or so, the three split off to go play.

This was no ordinary arcade. It was a large, open space packed to the brim with a wide collection of games that the old man had worked long and hard to put together. The central section of the store was dedicated to rows upon rows of arcade cabinets, their coin-eating functions disabled for tonight. There were some from every era of the arcade, from early pong machines to modern-day hi-res fighting games. The sides had rooms with console systems, again at least one from every generation, hooked up to TVs in them, normally rented out by the hour to groups, but currently open for anyone to play.

Aki went off on her own, while the other two girls went together somewhere. She was wandering around at random, looking at all the people and machines and wondering what to try first, and it occurred to her once again just how short she was. Even most of the girls around here were taller than her, taller by enough that she had to crane her head up to see their faces half the time. She was worried she'd need a step or something to see the cabinet screens properly. In the middle of this, she was interrupted by someone saying, "Hey!"

She turned to look at whoever was shouting, and found a tall brunette in a tank top and jeans standing front of a Gauntlet machine. "I haven't seen you around before. Up for some Gauntlet?"

"Sure!" Aki's earlier fears were somewhat justified; she had to stand on the balls of her feet, nearly on her toes, to reach the top of the machine properly. She was so concerned about that she didn't immediately register that she knew the person she was now standing next to, by virtue of being in a couple of the same classes in school. Obviously she wasn't about to let on.

"So what's your name? I'm Sam." (Samantha, actually, but usually only the teachers called her that.)

"Aki," answered the shorter girl. "Nice to meet ya."

Jenna was in the lead, with Flora following out of curiosity. Back when the free nights were unisex, Cole wouldn't have walked with this much purpose. "So where are we going?" she said after a moment.
"DDR machine. I've always wanted to try that, but, you know.."
"Wow, really? You could totally have played that before. Maybe it'd even help, you know."

"Not to be nosy, but what are you guys talking about?" said someone nearby. The two of them looked to see an unfamiliar girl, with short, bright red hair, wearing shorts and a t-shirt. She was a little taller than both of them, and even though her clothes were fairly loose it was obvious she had a great figure.

"Oh, um.." Flora hesitated, unsure of what excuse to give.

"I lost a lot of weight recently," said Jenna. It was true, but not the information that could get them in trouble.

"Yeah."

"Mmh. Well, congrats then. Anyway, if you're gonna play DDR..maybe you'd like some tips from a master?" She had a grin of pride on her face.

"I guess that's okay, if it doesn't make me feel stupid," said Jenna, starting to walk again. Both of them followed.

"I'm Kell. Sorta new in this town. You guys?"

"Flora, she's Jenna. So is this arcade sweet or what?"

"Yeah. Totally."

"Man, you're really good at this," said Sam. "Not even taking all the food."

"Yeah..Me and, uh, some friends used to play this game all the time. So much I actually bought the PS2 version." Aki was about to explain how the other guys, usually Rolf, had gotten to the point where he'd threaten to punch Akio if he rushed ahead to steal one more morsel of fruit when he didn't need it, but then realized that would probably sound odd for a bunch of girls.

"..You're kinda having trouble there, aren't ya? Would you play better in heels?"

"Umm, I don't think so. I'd be on my tiptoes then, too, just forced into it by the shoes instead of able to take breaks. Maybe just a block of wood would be better. They really didn't design these things for the vertically challenged."

Kell watched the two other girls playing one of the easiest songs on the easiest setting, her arms crossed. "You know, I've found wearing a skirt makes it that extra bit harder to play..and easier to flash people. I mean, if that's what you want that's fine, but..I'd come in shorts or jeans or something next time."
"Yeah, not..hhh..not a bad idea," said Jen.

"Well--hff--I wouldn't look as good in shorts," said Flora.

"Is looking good--hh--really that important when you're playing video games?" said Jenna, a little confused by the statement.

"I dunno--hh--maybe?" The song ended with both of them panting and a barely-passing score for both of them.

"Okay, you guys, step off and lemme show you how a real pro plays." Kell got up on one of the machines while the other two stepped off. "Hmm..this one's always fun." The song she was looking at was an 8-foot song on Maniac. She paused and took a deep breath, standing up straight before hitting the start button. "Let's do this."

Aki and Sam finally managed to get themselves killed by a boss. The smaller girl got down off her toes and breathed a sigh of relief. They looked at each other for a moment before Sam said, “You wanna go again, or try something else out?”
“I think I could stand to sit down for a while, if that's okay with you.”

“Sure.” Samantha led the way to one of the side rooms. They were lucky enough to find an empty one with an SNES in it.

Aki looked around the bookshelf full of games. “So, are we working together or fighting this time? Oh, hey, Street Fighter.”

“That'd be fun. But you know there's probably a machine out there with the same game.”
Aki was on her way to start up the system already. “Well..yeah, but then you'd have to give me a handicap for short.”

Sam laughed. “Okay, okay. Let's go.”

Panting, Kell grinned first at a near-perfect score, and then at the other two girls who'd been watching. “See...nothing to it.”
“Well..nothing but like a million hours of practice,” said Jen. “You weren't even watching the screen most of the time, were you?”

“Mmh, I guess not.”
“Maybe we should play something Jen and I aren't newbies at,” said Flora.

“Okay,” said Kell, “so what d'you suggest?”

“Well..I don't know right off the top of my head. Let's go look for something.”

“So, have you ever been to this free night thing before?" asked Sam.

"Well, no, I mean I've heard of it before but this was the first time I was able to come..what about you?"

"I got dragged here by a friend a couple of months ago. It took some convincing, I mean, an arcade in this day and age? But yeah, it was a lot of fun so I decided to start coming back. She's got practice, though, so isn't here tonight."

Samantha was losing..badly. "When was the last time you played this?" said Aki.

"I'm not sure. Long, long time ago, definitely. I think maybe it was one of the hyper alpha turbo whatevers, not the original. You must have an SNES at home or something."

"Ah, well, there's this wonderful thing called an emulator..."

"I'm just saying, if I had a body like yours I'd show it off a little more," said Flora.

Kell answered, "But if you're hot enough that it's obvious, do you really need to show it off?"

"Well, you know, I don't mean like, wearing dresses and short skirts all the time, but maybe something that fits a little closer..."

Jenna had no idea how they had gotten into this conversation and really wanted out of it as quickly as possible. Fortunately, there was an escape in sight. "Hey, you played this before?" she said, pointing at a Soul Calibur II arcade machine.

"Hmm..maybe, once or twice?" said Kell. "Not much."

"Ohohoh, you're in for a surprise then," said Flora. "Jen here's a master at this."

"Well, I wouldn't go that far.."

"Come on, let's have a round then!" said Kell, going to the joystick and hitting start. "I wanna see just how good you are."

"Okay, okay.."

"Yeah, thanks for not using the taunt, but I think I'm tired of losing," said Sam. "How about we go play something else?"
"Yeah, sure." Aki got up and led the way out of the room. "I think my toes are well-enough rested anyway."

They walked around, looking for a game to play. "So do you wanna go do something after this? Or, like, on Saturday?"
"Ummm..I sorta..have a, curfew, and, uh, lots of homework," said Aki, thinking fast. "I sort of...made a deal to be able to come here tonight. Maybe some other time, though?"

"Sure!"

Jenna didn't notice that Flora had wandered away until after she and Kell had finished. But she figured Flora could take care of herself. "Well, you adapt fast," she said.

"I guess so, but it's still nowhere near good enough to beat you."
"Well, you know, it's the same thing as earlier. Hours of practice. Oh, hey Aki."

"Um..hi." Aki hadn't realized Jenna was there at first. "Jen, this is Sam; Sam, Jenna.." her voice trailed off as she looked at the other girl Jen was with. "Holy cow you are tall."

"Aki, this is Kell. She moved into town recently..right?"
"Yeah." Kell had to look down to see Aki's face, but she grinned once she'd found it. "Oh, don't sweat it, I'm sure you'll grow some more before you're done, Aki."
"Heh, yeah, I hope so."
"And hey, even if you don't, you'll look young for most of the rest of your life," said Sam.
Aki looked back at her, and then to Kell. "Yeah. Accentuate the positive, right?"
"Totally."

Aki looked at Jenna. "So you were owning Kell here on Soul-cal, eh?"
"Well, I wouldn't put it that strongly..I mean, she put up a good fight. Also, she might have been tired out from owning everyone, ever, at DDR."

"Oh, hey, that'd be fun," said Sam. "The steps are up on a platform anyway, so you shouldn't have any trouble seeing the screen, right?"
"Yeah! That's a great idea. Okay, see you later Jen."
"See ya."

And so the night wore on, the three boys-turned-girls enjoying every bit of it. It was what they'd dreamed of reliving for months now, and even the fact that they had to do it as girls among other girls didn't dampen how great it was. Perhaps it was even a little more fun, with the added benefit of seeing things from a bit of a different perspective. But eventually midnight rolled around and the arcade closed down, the three of them walking out with all the others who'd stayed until the end. Eventually the three of them were the only ones headed their way. Each of them chattered about the great time they'd had, the people they'd met, conversations they'd had. Only once they had entered and shut the front door to Cole's home did they turn their thoughts to returning to normal.

To be continued...