"That was way more of a headache than it needed to be," Samira (╥﹏╥)
Minnie rushed over to Gamer. Minnie lunged herself into him and they hugged. Persica and Sam hung back and inspected the fortress ruins.
Sonia checked her high score. She balled up a fist and pressed it into her lips. She leaned back in true satisfaction, "Ooh ty, now that's what I'm talking about. It's not the same score as before, but a lot better."
"Your score is updated!" Samira informed Gamer. He opened his character screen and checked the number: 3,173,115. Gamer's jaw dropped – it was higher than his previous score before eternal gamenation. Samira celebrated, "We're less of a quarter million from beating the Total High Score!"
Gamer reacted differently. He leaned over and grilled Sonia, "If you didn't take all the other points, I might be making my wish right now! Gimme them points, you blue-loving bunny-bumper!"
"As promised," Sonia handed over the carton of chicken nuggets.
They pacified Gamer and he shared them with Minnie, "Worth it."
Asterion saw a weakness, "What'll happen if the developers throw a fast food chain at you as a sponsored boss?"
"Fuckin' die, I guess," Gamer said with a mouthful of nugs.
Persica and Sam watched Lord Shellie's people gradually recover. The state of the fortress, along with all the destroyed furniture, fazed Persica.
Sam picked up on it, "Are you okay?"
"I'm spiriting my mind to the first time Lord Shellie kidnapped me. It seems so long ago..." Persica closed her eyes and returned to previous memories.
"When we met, you were a very quiet and reserved person. It didn't surprise me that you went into hiding," Sam led up to a conclusion. "Today's proven you've changed. For the better, might I add."
Persica smiled in response, and she glanced over at Gamer, "I concur."
"I'll go ahead and prep the ship for our return trip to Cammy's castle," Sam turned.
"Ah, it's actually to be called Persica's Castle 2 now," the queen decreed.
"I will be sure to log that," Sam giggled and returned to her ship.
A draconic claw burst out the pile of stones and rubble. It startled the nearby troops and grabbed the group's attention. Lord Shellie pulled himself free. He breathed heavily, exhausted from the day's events, and glared forward at everybody.
"Is Gamindorf dead?" the lord inquired.
"Once and for all," Gamer breathed.
"Until the sequel! (๑°o°๑)" Samira teased.
Lord Shellie huffed his way to the group, and crushed any debris beneath his stomps. He gravitated to Persica's side, and the two leaned against each other. He showed gratitude, "You saved me."
"Of course," Persica smiled.
"We good, m'lord?" Gamer gave a faux bow. "I might be tuckered out from giving it to Shade, but I think I have enough stamina points to blow your back out."
Lord Shellie didn't understand the phrase, so he looked to the rest. They all used their hands to gesture penile insertion. Lord Shellie had forgotten about the prospect, "Oh! We are not going to do that!"
"He's really good, pookie bear. He'll take care of you," Persica patted his arm.
"Why am I the only sane one here?!" Lord Shellie was beside himself.
"Rules are rules. You become an ally of Gamer's, you become butt buddies," Asterion explained. Sonia couldn't deny it.
Lord Shellie bore his sharp teeth, "This will not go your way. I am Lord Shellie, the future of Chanterelle and the galaxy at large. I will not lower my standards and become..."
Gamer recognized that the monologue resembled a final boss's lament. It droned on, and Lord Shellie started to get very poetic. Gamer didn't care to listen and just waited for his next dialogue choice.
Samira opened his character screen for him. She ᥫ( ಠ- ಠ )つ to the return of a feature she disabled: the Skip button.
"Hmm, that's cool and all. But..." Gamer grinned in the middle of Lord Shellie's declarations. The big thiccums was too enthralled in expression to hear Gamer.
"Gamer...don't you do it!" Asterion recognized the tone and mischief. He started to activate his Super. Sonia raised an eyebrow, unaware of Gamer's tell.
Lord Shellie thrust a decisive finger forward at Gamer, "...and heed my words, Gamer! I will never be swayed by..."
"Atomic Clo..."
SKIP
"Wow! You are good," Lord Shellie admitted, the sheets barely covering the large shellie.
"I told you," Persica smoked a doobie to his right, with no clothes on. The way she folded her arms helped cover the ESRB fear-inducing female nipples.
The two were in a massive king-sized bed. The chambers they were in had red bricking, and an interior design of Persica's castle. What confirmed the jarring location change was the nighttime landscape seen outside the windows. Blocky hills and grassland; they were indeed inside Persica's Castle 2.
Gamer, on the other side of Lord Shellie, relaxed in his confidence, "I'm pretty good at this. What can I say?"
"Goddammit!" Asterion grunted next to him.
He checked his minotaur friend, but didn't see a bionic arm like last time, "What? You look fine to me."
Asterion tossed his portion of the sheets away to reveal his legs. From the waist down, he was all machine. An oddly, sussy rod was fixed between his hip gizmos. Asterion shamed, "Why must you be this way?!"
"Oooh...what that piston do?" Gamer lecherously coveted.
"How do you keep doing that? Is it your sister?" Sonia leaned forward from the other side of Persica. She couldn't see it, but her whole form was different. She was a legitimate furry, with a blue-tinted lycanthropic morphology. She resembled a monstrous, yet curvy, hedgehog. However, she was more attracted to Gamer's trick to even notice, "Show me how – that shit is vital to speedrunning."
"Uh, Sonia..." Gamer pointed at her furry tits.
She realized and gasped, "What the...?! When did this happen?!"
"Gamer..." Asterion snarled the answer.
Movement from beneath the sheets startled Gamer. Somebody brushed their turtle torso along his groin, and shortly after, Minnie pulled the sheets back. She didn't have any of the bruises or wounds from the battle; the bed did its job. She lounged on Gamer, "Did you guys get amnesia again?"
"Ye," Gamer went with the flow.
"A full twenty-four hours of peace. I will cherish these in my memory banks," Persica stayed docile and baked.
"Peace would be nice right now," Asterion rubbed the side of his head to relieve stress.
"You can strangle Gamer like you did earlier, Asterion. Both of you seemed happy," Minnie giggled innocently. It only made the minotaur slap his forehead.
"I need to logout and go to bed. It's been a...I have a tail!" Sonia's eyes lit up and exhaustion vanished when she twisted her supple hips. A small tail wagged right above her pretty behind.
"Ah, everything is back to normal," Gamer put on a smug smile and relaxed into his pillow. Being out of danger made him wonder and ask Persica, "How'd we get back?"
"Sam's ship."
"Oh! Where is the space mama?" Gamer's hopes could be felt rise up under Minnie.
"Sam is monogamous," Persica answered. Her answer deflated his hope.
"Speaking of, I need to go," Asterion dropped out of the bed party.
Gamer tried to convince him to stay, "Hey, c'mon, man! I skipped the group sex. We defeated two tyrants today. You're supposed to have celebratory orgies afterwards. We need to do the two-player twister, the split screen serenade, the muzzled monopoly. At least stay for the next round."
"Round 4," Minnie corrected.
"Round 4!"
"I'm too tired," Asterion threw up deuces before logging out.
"Hmm, something seems wrong with him," Gamer sensed a disturbance.
"His son showed up at the volcano," Minnie took Asterion's spot next to Gamer. She narrated what happened with Lord Shellie's troops and Dimitri. She didn't know what happened after she left Asterion, but she could tell they were upset at one another, "Like he said, we shouldn't get involved."
Gamer decided to get involved the next time Asterion joined. By all accounts, he no longer owed his Gamer's Gambit. He helped defeat Lord Shellie and secured Gamer a win. Would he even log in again?
"I'm going to head out, too," Samira let Gamer know.
"Everyone's tired, huh? I couldn't have done it without you. Thanks for all the help."
"Of course, fam. I got you! But I am feeling really achy (๑-﹏-๑) That was a long stretch of gaming. I'll hop off and leave you to your fun. Love you, bro! ⸜(｡˃ ᵕ ˂ )⸝♡"
"Love you, too, Samira," Gamer put his hand to his heart. Samira logged out.
Sonia asked with a wagging tail, "Round 4?"
"Yeeeaaah, let's do it!" Gamer clapped his hands together. Minnie copied him, Persica put out her doobie, and Lord Shellie shrugged. He seemed to be on board. Gamer faced him, "Welp, amnesia aside, I haven't seen your dragon dong yet. Let's see it."
Outside the castle, on the border of the castle grounds, the shroomans and shellies casually talked about new design plans for the town that would surround Persica's Castle 2. They then heard through the bedroom windows, "J. Todd Howard Christ! That thing's a fire extinguisher!"
***
In the real world, at the International Gaming Council Headquarters, the meeting chambers were steeped in darkness. A spotlight turned on in the center of the room. It highlighted three individuals with their heads bowed. Dressed to kill, but unnerved by the setting, they kept their heads bowed. The one in the front was Nathaniel. He adjusted his glasses each time they slid far enough over the bridge of his nose.
The light barely accented the long, crescent table that encircled them. Thirteen people cast in the shadows were seated at the table, all of whom looked inwards at Nathaniel and his two cohorts.
"This is an outrage!" the first councilor to finish the report of Gamer's activities slammed a fist on the table. The room was filled with chatter and complaints. All were directed at the criminal of the hour. Councilors went over the economics, optics, and legislation of the situation. There was chaos, and only chaos.
"Completely preposterous!" a British accented councilor scoffed.
"Such behavior is riling the public. His approval ratings are only increasing over time," a female member snipped.
"On point, councilor. The lackatoes we used to broadcast a live feed not only brought in record-breaking numbers, but solidified his popularity," Nathaniel confirmed. This caused another outburst of pompous huffs and puffs. Nathaniel fought to hide the smirk.
"What do we do? He's too close! At this rate, he'll be granted his wish and we'll be made fools! Fools, I say!" a sniveling councilor chattered.
"He's made quite a name for himself online. The masses are all for the underdog," a councilor with a whole lotta bass said. "In my professional opinion, I say we let him earn the wish."
Most of the members lambasted their colleague for such a suggestion, but a select few were silent or interested to hear him out. He laid out his idea, "Ask any surfer; don't fight the current. Allow him to achieve his goal, and focus on controlling the fire. Stop adding fuel to it. Take the loss; admit he bested us."
"It may leave a stain on our reputation and the community, but there is profit in all things," a councilor with a methodical speaking pattern agreed. The bandwagon grew and made the council reconsider. Money was involved, "Preemptively maintain our image, assure shareholders to move assets and stocks into the right places, merchandise the incident, and smear his name into the ground."
"Funding his wish will cost us dearly. We can blame him for the upcoming layoffs. So very selfish of him," a councilor snorted a laugh. Nathaniel took issue with this comment, but did not dare to speak out of turn due to it.
"Councilor Mortimer, your virus experiment failed," an elderly councilor said pointedly. His seat was the center, between the other twelve. Nathaniel looked over at Chad, one of the farthest members at the table. Chad leaned forward in his chair, casting aside the shadowy veil. Not an ounce of wrinkled worry. The council chambers fell silent to respect his words, "Unless you have anything else to add, we are out of options. Regrettably, the next person to beat the Total High Score will be..."
One of his robotic assistants cut the head councilor off with a well-timed torch. It projected out of its wrist like an overworked turbine engine. The assistant used the torch to light a cigar Chad put in his mouth. Chad took a few puffs, and then snapped his fingers. The second robotic assistant grabbed a folder from in front of him and marched down a set of stairs to Nathaniel. While Nathaniel received physical documentation, Chad sent digital copies to each of the councilors through their neural links. Their eyes lit up as they scrolled through the information, "I will guarantee that he will not be remembered beyond these antics of his."
"What exactly is this, Councilor Mortimer?" the contents tangled up the head councilor and everyone's comprehension.
They were absurd enough for Nathaniel to step closer to Chad and speak out of line, "These additions and changes aren't regulation approved. They'd take weeks, even months, to be made into DLC and patched into the game. It'd be too late to implement them. Not to mention Chanterelle isn't set up to handle these changes. It's..."
"I have spoken to your staff and arranged these additions to be ready for deployment in the coming days," Chad sliced with cold disposition.
His response upset many around the table, and stunned the rest. Nathaniel argued, "You can't do that! Forcing a change or addition into a video game is strictly, by every stroke of the law, illegal. Even worse, this implements violations rectified by the Tennis for Two movement. It's..."
"Silence!" Chad set his cigar into an ashtray and paralyzed Nathaniel's resilience. He was granted what he asked for, "I am not one so foolish to overlook discrepancies. My grandfather whittled chess boards out of wood to keep food and shelter for the family. My father opened a game store to share his passion and plant the seeds for an empire. Their drive established our name and built a secured future. My son took that history and threw it all down the drain by committing heinous crimes. The level of disrespect is immeasurable. It does not deserve anything other than erasure."
"Mortimer, you'll be arrested," the council member next to him uttered.
That's when Chad smirked, and Nathaniel saw a resemblance to his son. The similarities were uncanny. The father cut the suspense with finality, "This is my Gamer's Gambit."