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The Punk and the Gamer [Yuji]
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Post by Yuko Himura on Sept 13, 2020 21:00:54 GMT
If there was one place Yuko genuinely loved being at, it had to be the local arcade. She went there very often. She wasn’t huge on video games or anything, but this one old Fatal Kombat machine she was positively enamored with. The game might have predated her own birth by several years, but its extreme gore and violence really held up.
“Haha, yes! You’re dead, asshole!” Yuko triumphantly exclaimed, after killing her latest CPU opponent in a way that was far too graphic to elaborate on in this PG-13 medium. Suffice to say, it involved a ninja-like character violently urging his opponent to ‘get over there’.
After her session was over, the juvenile delinquent went to the vending machine to grab a soft drink. She wasn’t your typical scrawny, glasses-wearing nerd. Her punkish clothes, heavy eye shadow, hair that was dyed a multitude of colors and piercings on every conceivable part of her body (that was visible anyway) gave her a tough look. Perhaps even scary to some.
What kind of unhinged psychopath calmly sipped a soda after having just played the bloodiest, goriest, most violent early 90’s arcade game in existence?
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Post by Yuji Moriyama and Kazuo on Sept 13, 2020 21:12:28 GMT
"Here it is, Kazuo," Yuji triumphantly told his new partner as soon as they entered the building. "One of my favorite places to go in the entire city."
The disguised Digimon gasped audibly when he saw the inside of the arcade. Anime and video games were his passion despite not even being from the same world they originated from, so seeing a place like this with so many cool games to try out... well, it was like heaven for the little bug. "Whooooaaa..."
"I had a feeling you'd like this place," the human responded after seeing the Tentomon's reaction. He hoped no one outside of Digimon knowledge would see through his disguise, as it was the same one he wore when the two met: a yellow hat, a green hoodie and black sneakers. Hopefully he would just be viewed as a shy little kid.
"There are so many games here, I don't know which one I wanna try first!"
Looking around, Yuji would see someone at that one violent fighting game that's been there since forever. The girl that was playing it looked familiar... and she seemed way too happy to be dismembering her CPU opponents than a normal person playing the game should.
It had been a while since Yuji played that game and he wanted to refresh his skills. But he looked back down at Kazuo, wondering if it was a good idea to let him see a game like that. Kazuo was pretty innocent, after all.
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Post by Yuko Himura on Sept 13, 2020 21:35:51 GMT
A new face entered the premise, in the form of a crazy-haired teenage boy and a smaller kid wearing a green hoodie and yellow hat combo. Maybe it was his younger brother? He walked kinda weird. Anyway, that improbable, physics-mocking hairdo seemed familiar. Yuko thought she might have seen the guy one or two times at her school, but wasn’t quite sure. Either way, she liked his style, and judging by the way he eyed that old arcade machine, she had to admire his taste too.
Crushing her finished soda can in her hand and throwing it in the trash, the equally crazy-haired girl walked up to him, casually raising her hand to greet him in a rather unladylike manner. “Yo. Do you like retro games too? Not that many people appreciate Fatal Kombat for the classic that it was these days.” She said, popping her bubble gum, before bringing it back in her mouth to chew it some more.
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Post by Yuji Moriyama and Kazuo on Sept 13, 2020 21:58:17 GMT
Yuji blinked as he turned over to his right towards the voice that was calling to him. It was that girl that was playing Fatal Kombat earlier. She definitely looked like a delinquent, with her accessories and her unkempt outfit. Her hair was even kind of like a punk version of Kazuo's. Still, she looked at the very least like she didn't mean any trouble for now.
Yuji sort of recognized her; while they weren't in the same class, they definitely did go to the same school. Her name was... Yuu, as he heard someone call her before from somewhere he couldn't remember. Yuu was her name, right? He would need confirmation on that.
She asked if he liked retro games as well, since he was looking at this particular game cabinet. "Yeah, I like to play all sorts of games. Doesn't matter if they're new or old as long as they're enjoyable." Yuji's interest was increased when the girl referred to Fatal Kombat as a classic. "This game definitely is classic. It was so violent that it actually created a game ratings system in North America. People were NOT happy with it back then, let me tell you."
"How violent is it?" Kazuo asked, tilting his head a bit.
"Dude, I'm not even gonna let you look at the game, let alone play it." The teen turned back to the punk girl. "I'm Moriyama Yuji, by the way, and this is my... cousin, Kazuo."
"Hi there, miss!"
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Post by Yuko Himura on Sept 14, 2020 8:46:51 GMT
The anime-haired youth was versed in video game history, it seemed. Yuko nodded when he mentioned how Fatal Kombat was treated over in the States. “I know, right? If you dig on the internet, you can find all kinds of old interviews. Boomers were calling for the game to be banned, and said that any kid who played it could grow up into a mass shooter. Can you believe that? Not a single Fatal Kombat character uses guns!” The delinquent girl went on a semi-rant.
The young man introduced himself as Moriyama Yuji, while the short kid in the hoodie was apparently his cousin. He seemed eager to play the game, despite Yuji insisting that it was too violent for him. What a weird kid. He was too shy to show his own face, but was still sociable enough to say hi.
“The name’s Himura Yuko.” The girl introduced herself in turn. “Your hair looks cool. I think I’ve seen you around before. You don’t go to Shibuya High School by any chance, do you?” She curiously asked.
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Post by Yuji Moriyama and Kazuo on Sept 16, 2020 0:27:18 GMT
"Video games were still trying to find their footing in the West, after all. It was still barely a decade after their video game market crashed back in 1983, and they weren't nearly as big as they are now." Yuji definitely knows a lot about video games, so sharing this information with another like-minded person was very thrilling for him.
The punk girl introduced herself as Himura Yuko, complimenting his hair and asked if he went to Shibuya High. "Oh, well thank you! And yeah, I do go to Shibuya Academy. I'm a first year student."
Kazuo remembered that his previous roommate Kaya goes to Shibuya Academy as well, though she went to the junior high part of that school. The disguised bug was unsure if there were any major differences between the junior high and the regular high... he'd have to ask Yuji later.
Talking about Fatal Kombat gave Yuji an idea. "Why don't we have a friendly little wager?" he suggested, pulling out a roll of arcade tokens. "One round of Fatal Kombat. Winner gets these arcade tokens. Deal?"
"Yuji, what are you doing, don't we need those!!?"
"Don't worry, little guy, I know what I'm doing!"
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Post by Yuko Himura on Sept 16, 2020 8:22:26 GMT
Yep, that guy was a true video game historian! But he wasn’t the stereotypical nerd with the big glasses who constantly got beat up at school. He was a cool nerd. After he confirmed going to the same school as Yuko, the colorful-haired girl smiled cheekily. “That’s pretty neat. I’m a second year student. That makes me your Senpai!” She jested.
Yuji went ahead and proposed that they played a match of Fatal Kombat against each other, going so far as to wager all of his arcade tokens. “Oh, it’s on like Monkey Kong!” The young hooligan excitedly declared, totally ignoring the fact that she had no tokens of her own left in case she lost her wager. Hopefully that wouldn’t come back to bite her in the ass…
2-Player Mode was selected, and Yuko got into position, browsing the character selection screen. “I have to warn you, though. I’m a Fatal Kombat expert! This game is love. This game is life. If I could legally marry an arcade machine, I would be called Mrs. Kombat by now!” She bragged, perhaps a bit too much. Maybe a certain clown’s vanity was getting to her.
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Post by Yuji Moriyama and Kazuo on Sept 18, 2020 4:46:37 GMT
...wait, this girl was older than Yuji was? From the looks of it she looked like she was the same age as him, if not younger than that. Didn't help that Yuji was a few inches taller than Yuko as well. Still, she had a point; Yuko was Yuji's upperclassmen, so it would make sense to give her the proper title. "O-Of course, Himura-senpai."
Yuko seemed excited to accept Yuji's wager on the tokens. Maybe she was just excited to play the game again, or she just wanted to kill some more, who knew at this point. The only one who wasn't on with this wager was Kazuo, since he really wanted to play some arcade games as well and Yuji didn't have the money to buy any new Tokens if he ended up losing. "Yuyu, we won't be able to play anything if you lose," The disguised bug whispered to the teen.
"Who said I was going to lose?" Yuji whispered back with a wink before turning around to face the video game screen.
As they were selecting their characters, Yuko bragged about how she was incredibly skilled at this game, and made a weird comment about marrying this cabinet if she could. "We'll see about that," Yuji cheerfully said, his eyes glinting as he selected his character, a lightning user with a bo staff and a circular hat. Then the game started...
As skilled as Yuko had claimed to be, Yuji was twice that. He's studied the Fatal Kombat series, as well as other fighting games, inside and out, so victory was assured. It would be a close battle, but Yuji would be the one to get Yuko's health all the way down first, and performed his character's finishing move which was indeed too violent to show here.
"Bow down to the Kombat King," Yuji jested after the match.
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Post by Yuko Himura on Sept 18, 2020 10:24:49 GMT
“NOOOOOOO!!” Yuko screamed at the top of her lungs, alerting the entire store. Too dramatic? Possibly, but one could only keep their cool for so long when they had bragged about being the best at something only to be spectacularly proven wrong.
Some could say that it was an act of God that made Yuji effortlessly win their bout, but really it was the fact that his skill level was so much higher, this wasn’t even a contest. No matter how good of a fight Yuko put up, the outcome was essentially predetermined.
And like all losers, her first response was saltiness. “I totally blocked that attack! I think the game lagged or something. This is stupid! I want a divorce!” The young hooligan took her anger out on her ‘future husband’, kicking the arcade cabinet with her foot.
Eventually, she seemed to accept the fact that she just had to get gud, sighing in defeat. “Fine, you beat me fair and square… There’s one problem, though. I don’t have any tokens and we never agreed on what would happen if I lost, so… this is kinda awkward.” The pierce-faced teenager admitted, hoping that the guy wouldn’t be angry over coming out of this wager empty-handed.
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Post by Yuji Moriyama and Kazuo on Sept 20, 2020 3:22:55 GMT
Now like anyone in this situation, Yuji desperately wanted to jump up and cheer for victory. It was a natural instinct for a gamer upon beating a tough boss fight or a skilled opponent, which Yuko definitely was. But he felt like Yuko's declaration of the word "no" was victory enough for him, although he took that moment to do a secret fist pump in celebration.
"You did it, Yuyu!" Kazuo cheered, taking the victory jump in Yuji's place, "now we don't have to give up our tokens!"
"Told you I wasn't going to lose," Yuji told Kazuo with a small wink.
After she was done kicking and screaming and accepted her defeat, Yuko mentioned that she didn't have any tokens and they never agreed on what she'd give if she lost. Yuji pulled out his wallet and handed 1,000 Yen to Yuko. "I was gonna use this in case you won, so that Kazuo could at least play some games. You take it."
"That's very generous of you, Yuyu! Are you sure?"
"Of course I'm sure. Here, Himura-senpai, take it. Then we can play some more games."
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Post by Yuko Himura on Sept 20, 2020 9:13:43 GMT
The girl’s pink eyes widened. “Eeeeeeh?! You’re giving ME money? What’s wrong with you, idiot!” She yelled at the charitable youth, a faint blush gracing her cheeks. After all, 1,000 yen was almost equivalent to 10 dollars. There was no way she could accept such an exorbitant amount of money!
Speaking of exorbitant, a tall, slender, Caucasian man suddenly walked into the store, clad in a very fancy, expensive-looking and flamboyant purple suit. “Good news, Yuko. I finally figured out what flowers I should get for Hana!” The mysterious gentleman jovially said, stopping right next to the juvenile delinquent. With half his face being obscured by his long and luscious blonde hair, his one-eyed gaze fixated on Yuji and his ‘cousin’. “Oh, I didn’t know you were meeting another Tamer here.”
Yuko’s eyes widened yet again. “Wait, what?! Explain yourself!” “You see, I was reading Hana’s journal, and it said she liked magnolias--” “Not the flowers, dumbass, the other thing!” “Oh, I thought you already knew…” The gentleman blinked in surprise, before smiling widely and bowing modestly before Yuji and his partner. “What a pleasant pleasure to meet you! As you might have guessed, I’m Yuko-chan’s partner. You may address me as Jack White for the time being.”
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Post by Yuji Moriyama and Kazuo on Sept 23, 2020 0:55:21 GMT
Yuji smiled upon seeing Yuko's reaction to the money. "I was going to use this to buy some new tokens in case you had won. Since you said you don't have any of your own tokens, you take it. It's just gonna be spent either way..." If it were more money Yuji would probably be less willing to part with it, at least...
Suddenly a very flamboyant man walked into the arcade, a man who looked like he had no business being in a place like this based on the way he was dressed. Not only that, he seemed to know Yuko somehow, so Yuji and Kazuo were both very confused by his sudden appearance. "Dude, you look like you'd fit right in as a card game monster," Yuji said in response to the man's outfit.
However, both Yuji's and Kazuo's eyes widened like Yuko's when the man revealed each of them to be a Tamer. "Y-You're a Digimon? I thought they all looked like... well, monsters! And you're a Tamer, Himura-senpai?" It was definitely a lot of information to take in.
The disguised Digimon greeted both Yuji and Kazuo, introducing himself as Yuko's partner and asked to be referred to as "Jack White". "Um, it's nice to meet you... I'm Moriyama Yuji."
"And my name's Kazuo," the Tentomon said, temporarily lifting up his hat to reveal his true face.
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Post by Yuko Himura on Sept 23, 2020 8:31:40 GMT
After a bit of back-and-forth, Yuko reluctantly accepted the cash. This Yuji guy sure was weird. Did he always hand out money to the first girl he met? Whatever, they were free monies at the end of the day, so she couldn’t complain that much.
What she would complain about was the fact that a disguised Jokermon had shown up to ruin her peaceful day, but she was busy being flabbergasted over the fact that she had met a fellow Tamer in this exact place for like the third time. Digidestined really liked arcades, it seemed.
The punkish girl gasped as soon as Kazuo revealed his insectoid features, while ‘Jack White’ laughed heartily. “Ohohohoho! Haven’t you heard of a Holo-Suit before, boy?” The fancily-dressed gentleman said, his seemingly human form flickering for split second, as if having a graphical glitch. “Your partner clearly hasn’t. What an awful, unfabulous disguise!” He added with a slight pout.
“I guess it could be dangerous if someone paid closer attention to him. Maybe we should get to a less crowded place?” Yuko suggested, looking around her to make sure that nobody was looking at their general direction. “I know! There’s an alleyway behind the store. Wait for me there. Meanwhile, I’ll take this money… and buy us some food from Burger Jacks!” She pointed to the money that Yuji had given her.
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Post by Yuji Moriyama and Kazuo on Sept 24, 2020 2:20:04 GMT
The teenage Tamer couldn't put his finger on it... this "Jack White" character was a Digimon? Sure he looked extravagent still, but most Digimon he'd seen so far were definitely not this human looking. Was that a Digimon ability? How did this Digimon find a way to look completely identical to humans?
Yuji would then have his question answered when Jack White asked if they had ever heard of holosuits, before his form suddenly glitched out for a split second. The teen's eyes widened as he finally pieced it together. "Incredible... a device that makes digital beings look like something else entirely, that's how you're doing it! Hang on... why didn't YOU tell me, Kazuo?"
The Tentomon gulped. "Because mine, uh... broke. Besides, holosuits make me feel funny. No other human could tell I was a Digimon anyways, you humans are not very observant." Kazuo made an audible, overdramatic gasp when the other Digimon insulted his disguise. "At least I still retain my cuteness factor with this disguise!"
"Let's try not to start a fight in here, yeah?"
Yuko suggested that they go to a less crowded place for now, which would work if they wanted to talk more about Digimon. She told Yuji and Kazuo to wait in the alleyway behind the store, and she would join them shortly, with food from Burger Jack's. After she said that, a grumbling noise could be heard coming from the bug Digimon's stomach.
"Ah!" Kazuo yelped as he covered his belly. "E-Excuse me..."
"That sounds like a yes, it seems... we'll meet you there. Give us both the number two meals, by the way... and make it a large for Kazuo." He had a feeling that the bug would need that extra food.
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Post by Yuko Himura on Sept 24, 2020 7:59:46 GMT
“You’re cute, alright. Cute in how you think you can beat this handsome face of mine!” The Holo-Suited Digimon replied with a cocky smirk, gesturing to his own countenance. He tapped his aristocratic cane against the floor, before following Yuji and Kazuo outside, while his own Tamer went to the fast food restaurant across the street.
The alleyway behind the arcade looked like what one would expect; Narrow, desolate and a little smelly, but thankfully not a lot. After a few minutes of waiting, Yuko arrived, carrying bags of food with the iconic Burger Jacks logo on them. “Looks pretty shitty, right? It was either this or the public restroom, and trust me, you do NOT want to go in there!” She explained, waving a hand in front of her pierced nose.
“As if I’d reveal my glorious true form surrounded by a bunch of a urinals!” Her partner scoffed, his Holo-Suit being deactivated to reveal a tall, slender, humanoid figure clad in a garish outfit reminiscent of a Medieval court jester. “Ah, you thought I was Jack White, but I was truly Jokermon, Demon King of the Digital World! Bahahahahaha!” The clown-like Digimon laughed heartily.
Yuko ignored his flashy introduction, and instead gave Yuji and Kazuo their meals as requested. “Here you go. I got the extra large one for your little guy.” “What did you get for yourself?” Jokermon curiously leaned over her shoulder. “The usual. An Avocado Cheeseburger with fries.” The teenage delinquent replied. “And for you, I got a Double Bacon Madness.” “Ooooh, Double Bacon Madness! My favorite!” The demonic jester clapped his hands excitedly.
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