Chương 100: [Fatalities And Finish Lines]

The group walked into the lads flat after their meal at the King John's, the heat had been beaming through the windows for most of the day so the room felt way too hot when they entered. Phil went straight to the kitchen.

"You know what this calls for?" he shouted from the other room. Before anyone could answer he came out holding a crate of lager.

"Where did that come from?" said Parmo, reaching for one.

"Found it this morning," Phil said, with a smug grin.

"Stuck them in the fridge before we left. Been sat on it all day."

"All day?" Sam said.

"You kept that quiet through training and everything?"

"Discipline," Phil said.

"Bullshit. I bet it was killing you, not telling anyone," said Leo, laughing. The lager got passed around, and after a month of being here, none of the lads complained it was Fosters.

"So, what's the plan?" asked Luka.

"More games?" said Leo.

"Sure, but let's see what else is installed before we go back to Elden Ring. I don't know how you idiots can enjoy being killed over and over," complained Phil.

"Discipline," said Parmo, with a smirk.

"Are there any of the Warhammer games on there?" Torren asked, from his armchair.

"I'd love to see one of those."

"There's a lot, if there's one installed on here though, it'll be Space Marine 2," Sam said. Leo looked at the PS5.

"It was pretty popular when it came out, it might still be installed if they ever played it. Let's check." He found the controller and pulled up the library. The list was longer than he remembered. He scrolled through it slowly.

"Right," he said.

"Half of these need internet."

"Which we don't have," Phil said.

"It's fucking criminal," Sam said.

"You pay for a game and then they just switch it off."

"Corporate greed," Parmo said, from the floor. Leo kept scrolling.

"Right. Ones that work. We've got FIFA, Mortal Kombat and Crash Team Racing."

"And Elden Ring," Luka said.

"And Elden Ring, yeah. Whoever had this thing had decent taste. No Space Marine 2, unfortunately. It's a fun game."

"What's Mortal Kombat?" Rika asked.

"Fighting game," Leo said.

"Two characters, one on one, you beat each other up until one of you runs out of health." Rika's wings shifted forward slightly.

"That one."

"We're going to need more controllers. Any idea if there were more than this one at the house?"

"No, that was the only one." Luka stood up.

"I'll run over to the games shop. See if I can grab a few. Crash is four player split screen right?"

"Yeah, it is. Good idea man," said Phil. Luka headed out. While he was gone Leo pulled up the character select and handed the controller to Rika.

"Have a look through," he said.

"Pick whoever you like the look of." Rika scrolled slowly. She stopped on a few, asked who they were, moved on. The lads answered as they went.

"That one's Johnny Cage," Phil said.

"Actor. Thinks he's better than everyone."

"Is he?" You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

"Depends on the player in game. In the lore, he's pretty good, not the best." She kept scrolling.

"Kung Lao," Leo said, before she could ask.

"He's my favourite character. His hat has a blade round the edge. He throws it." She moved on. She stopped on Mileena.

"Who is she?" Sam leaned forward.

"She's Kitana's clone, you see that woman in blue? She was made from her DNA and Tarkatan blood. That's where the teeth come from. That guy there, he's a Tarkatan." She looked at Baraka.

"Gods, what a creepy looking man."

"Yeah he's not winning any beauty contests," said Parmo. She went back to Mileena.

"I like her," she said. Shai took the controller next. She scrolled carefully, pausing longer on each one.

"What's the story," she said.

"Why are they fighting at all."

"Tournament," Sam said.

"Between realms. Earthrealm, which is our world, and Outworld. If Outworld wins ten tournaments in a row they get to invade. The whole game is about stopping that." Shai absorbed this.

"And all of these characters are fighting in it?"

"Different sides, yeah. Some are defending Earth, some are fighting for Outworld, some are doing their own thing." Shai stopped on Kitana.

"So, Kitana's an outworld princess, she fights with bladed fans. Her and Mileena have a complicated relationship."

"How so?"

"Kitana didn't know Mileena existed for a long time. When she found out, it didn't go well. She thinks of her as an abomination, Mileena calls her sister. At first she fights for Outworld but she defects eventually and fights for Earth." Shai looked at her for a moment.

"Against her own people," she said.

"Yeah, but those people are being led by Shao Kahn. She thought he was her father and acted as his assassin until she learned that Shao Kahn murdered her real father, King Jerrod, conquered her home realm of Edenia, and forced her mother, Sindel, into marriage. So yeah, she's not exactly happy with the people ruling the place." She selected her without further comment. Torren had the controller last. He went through the roster slowly. He passed over several obvious picks, paused on a few, moved on.

He stopped on General Shao.

"Who is this." Leo leaned forward.

"I think that's Shao Kahn but I don't know why he's got a different name."

"Different timeline," Sam said.

"Same guy more or less."

"The guy in charge of Outworld?" Torren asked.

"Yeah," Sam said.

"Conquered most of the realms he's come across. Not a good person by any measure." Torren looked at him for a moment.

"But he's strong."

"Very." Torren selected him.

Luka came back through the door with three more controllers, slightly out of breath. Phil and Leo went first. The trio watched from the sofa, Torren leaning forward with his elbows on his knees, Rika with her wings half open, Shai sitting back with her drink.

"Right," Leo said, before the match started.

"Each button does a different move. Direction plus a button changes what it does. Combinations string together into combos. The longer the combo the more damage."

"How do you know which combinations do what?" Torren asked.

"You either learn the move list or you work it out as you go," Leo said.

"Or you button mash," Phil said.

"Yeah, that too," Leo said.

"Button mash?" Shai asked.

"I'll point it out when someone does it. My money's on Parmo."

"Yeah, guilty as charged," said Parmo, shrugging. The next hour passed in a rotation of wins, losses and varying levels of complaint. Phil won the first match and did a fatality before Leo could stop him. Rika scrunched up her nose. Torren lost gracefully every time. Leo learned Shai had a competitive streak, which was funnier given she lost every match. The one time she played Torren it went three rounds before he found a gap and took it.

She set her controller down after that with an annoyed look on her face that made Leo grin. Rika worked it out faster than anyone expected. She lost her first few matches, discovered that pressing everything at high speed in Mileena's direction produced results, and didn't look back. Parmo was her first victim.

"That's button mashing," Parmo said.

"Pot, kettle," Sam said, without looking up. Shai set her controller down and looked at the screen.

"I don't understand how you're all so good at this." Leo grinned.

"Might just not be your game." She gave him a brief pout. He looked back at the screen. Holy shit. I didn't know she could do the whole cute pout thing. Was not expecting that. He took a long drink of his lager and suggested they move on to CTR. CTR took about thirty seconds to explain. Racing, weapons, first to finish three laps, don't fall off the edge.

"That's it?" Rika said.

"Pretty much," said Sam. First up was Leo, Phil, Sam and Shai. Shai found Pura and stopped.

"Good choice," Leo said. Phil looked at Leo then between Leo's character and Shai's.

"Polar and Pura," Phil said.

"He's got good handling," Leo said.

"Sure," Phil said.

"Piss off." Phil picked Crash. Sam took N. Cortex without comment. CTR suited them better. Rika had the boost system worked out before the first corner of her first race and won without it ever really being close. Torren found he was fine on straights and crashed into every corner he came across, which he took as a learning experience. Shai fell off twice in her first race and came second in her third. Phil won his first race and made sure everyone knew about it.

After that they swapped in and out as the afternoon turned into evening, the lager going down steadily. Eventually the session wound down.

"Fancy more of this tomorrow?" asked Parmo.

"If we still haven't found Lord of the Rings," said Rika, glaring at him.

"I'll keep looking, don't worry." The group stood up and started getting coats and shoes.

"I didn't realise you were so competitive, Shai. Must have sucked to have come behind me in every race," teased Leo. She looked at him then grinned.

"Just you wait. Tomorrow, I'll be the one coming out on top."

"That's what she said," said Parmo and Phil at the same time before laughing.

"What's that mean?" asked Rika.

"Oh, fuck no. You can explain this time, Phil," said Parmo, stepping away.

"Fuck you. This is your job, I'm not doing it." Leo was still laughing when he caught Shai looking at him.

"What?"

"Aren't you going to tell me what they meant?" she asked, an evil grin on her face. Leo realised teasing her probably wasn't a great idea.