The Mischievous Mistletoe
Pt. III
The Gambit
*10*
1 As fate would have it, and in accordance with Tabitha’s prophesy, The Bobs set out in their Station Wagon early the next morning to go to the Winter Solstice and Yuletide Festival. The sun wasn’t even up when they set out.
2 Sven’s mother rocked Sven awake. He got up groggily in his jammies and didn’t exactly feel like getting out of bed, as it was quite cold both outside ... and inside.
3 The Bob’s began packing the car, especially stuffing the trunk with stuff for the trip. Sven rubbed his eyes watching the rest of his family busy about their business in the home. He walked about the house in his jammies, a nice little light blue number with cowboys and bandits, not really grasping the situation.
4 “Uh ... what's going on?” asked Sven still mentally half asleep.
5 “We’re getting ready to going to the that stupid Winter Festival that was your idea to go to you dingus!” said his older brother Sigmund snidely.
6 It took a moment for those words to register in Sven’s mind, but when they did he woke right up. He quickly rushed to the garage. “Where is it, where is it?!” he said in a panic. No good. It was no where to be found ... and Sven didn't have much time to find it either!
7 He rushed up to his room to go get dressed. By the time he had finished his parents were already almost done packing the car and getting ready to set off.
8 “Hey mom, dad, do you know where my sleigh went?” Sven asked.
9 “Oh hun, I don’t know if we have the space left in the trunk” said his mother apologetically.
10 “Come on guys, wait up …” said Sven as he rushed back in the house.
11 “Sven we don’t have time for this, just forget it” his father said.
12 Sven searched around in the garage in a frantic panic. He could have sworn he remembered the exact spot he left it, but it simply wasn’t there anymore. His father came in. “Sven we are leaving now, I’m very sorry but maybe next year.” He said sternly. “No dad. It was right here I swear. I can’t leave without it” he insisted.
13 It was then that his father noticed something slightly poking out from behind one of the shelves. “Is that it right over there?” his father said pointing. Sven then noticed it peeking out from behind. How had it gotten there, he wondered to himself. But there was no time to figure it out.
14 Sven got to the car and his father helped him find a space for it.
15 With that the trunk was forced shut and Sven took his place in the backseats.
16 His baby brother, Sedrick, was strapped in his booster chair, chewing on a rattle, next to the window on the driver side. Sigmund was situated in the middle, taking up most of the space, and Sven was seated at the window right behind the passenger side where his mother was sitting.
17 “Ma!! Why do I have to sit in the middle!?” complained Sigmund almost immediately.
18 “Now don’t you start! I told you to sit in the middle so that you can keep an eye on both of your little brothers. Make sure Sedrick is entertained and you be nice to Sven and don’t tease or fight with him, or so help me God, I’ll have this car pulled around and turned right back home…” she scolded sternly.
19 “pff … yeah right” said Sigmund under his breath.
20 And with that Sven’s dad started the car and they were off. Within minutes they were out of the safety of their little conservative community and driving out of The Valley, starting to make their slow ascent up the mountains that surrounded their hometown. It was snowing heavily yet gently this morning and it was beautiful to behold.
21 Sven stared out wistfully out the window at the snow covered mountains as they left the quaint and cozy confines of The Valley. His thoughts could not help but drift to Kyaw’s adorable face; the smile that inevitably creeped up on it whenever he was in the roo’s presence. A look both knowing and teasing, flirtatious yet sad, wise yet naïve. And though Sven didn’t know it, a smile crept up on his face in that moment too at the thought.
22 Sven knew he’d be heartbroken if it turned out Kyaw wasn’t there, but on the other hand a bit relieved as well, for there was a good chance Torvald, Helmer, and Cadence would be there too! And what should he do if he should chance upon all three of them at the same time? He also knew he’d have to be extra vigilante to keep his time with Kyaw a secret from Sigmund or risk being outed. Sven was preoccupied with plans for how he would sneak away to play with Kyaw and keep away from all his friends and family as well. What other choice did he have?
23
You could just tell them the truth?
24 He heard Kyaw say to his mind. Sven dismissed the thought. Just a meaningless figment of his imagination. He stopped looking out the window and slumped into his chair, as if repudiating the beauty of the sights out his window and the reflection of the rabbit who smiled so lovingly at him through it.
25 “I know why you brought that Sled”, whispered Sigmund to Sven. “I know your planning on meeting that faggy wabbit again”
26 Those words sent a shiver of terror down Sven’s spine. He’d hope it had not been quite so obvious.
27 That fear quickly turned to anger as Sven turned to his brother crossly. “You were the one who tried to hide my sled weren’t you!” he growled under his breath. “Of course” Sig said with a smug little smirk. “You jerk” said Sven as he gave his older a brother a punch to the shoulder and crossed his arms.
28 “HEY! What’s going on back there!” shouted their mother.
29 “Nothing!” the bickering brothers said in unison.
30 “I told you just to forget him. He’s not worth your time.” Sig said leaning towards his brother confidentially.
31 “and I told you Sig … BUTT OUT … I’ve got this under control” Sven said scowling at the seat in front of him, not even able to bring himself to look at his brother. He was too embarrassed with this whole situation. He was beginning to turn red again.
32 “Aw … your blushing!” mocked Sig.
33 “Am not!” said Sven a little too loud.
34 The car screeched to a halt. “Alright that’s it. We’re not going” said their father.
35 “No please, come on dad, we have to go!” begged Sven.
36 “It’s Sven’s fault. He punched me, alright?!” defended Sig.
37 “I don’t care who started it. The two of you better knock it the fuck off, or I’m taking you home and knocking some sense into both of you” threatened their dad.
38 Both the boys went dead silent. All that could be heard in the car was little baby Sedrick laughing at the proceedings apparently finding them all very amusing.
39 After a minute passed, “alright, we’ll keep going … but if I hear any more squabbling that’s it, you can forget it!” said their father sternly. And with that the car started up again.
40 After another few minutes of cautious silence from the boys Sig had the nerve to say very quietly only to Sven, “were too!”, to which Sven said under his breath so Sigmund couldn’t hear, “was not” ... and yet ... he knew his brother was right ...
41 Sven was in fact, blushing slightly. He couldn’t allow himself to admit that Kyaw wasn’t the only one that sometimes got butterflies in his heart though. The main difference between him and Kyaw was, Sven was far more uncomfortable whenever it was pointed out that he might actually have any kind of feelings for his friend, and wasn't even comfortable with the knowledge himself.
42 In any case, the rest of the ride was mostly uneventful. The resort, a skiing resort with an old school lodge, which had a large fireplace, and was being used to host the event, wasn’t more than about 100 miles from their home, so it wasn’t that long of a drive, easily under two hours.
43 “Welp, here we are” their father said parking the car in place in front of the Inn. Sven got out of the car and had a look around.
44 The sign ahead read "Welcome to The Snowvald Inn". The site as a whole was known as The Snowsvald Ski Resort and Inn, and it was a popular destination for many Furvadians. None of that mattered to Sven of course, only being six. He looked around instead at the snow, the mountains, and the beautiful little town about them, decked out in christmas lights.
45 It was indeed a beautiful sight. The Midwestern states were having an early winter and the resort was covered in a nice blanket of Snow. The lodge could be seen up ahead and voices could be heard of children playing. Sven was dressed in a thick coat to stay warm.
46 “Put this hat on” said his mother as she put a blue and white Christmas hat with a little pom pom on top on his head fitting his ears through the it.
47 “Oh mom!” protested Sven. “No Oh mom! You are wearing this hat” she said sternly.
48 “Awwww isn’t widdle Svy-bee cute” said Sigmund pinching his younger brothers cheek.
49 “Get off of me!” said Sven slapping his brothers hand away ineffectively with his mittens soft red mittens.
50 “Sig stop teasing your brother!” mom said to Sigmund. “Honey, don’t listen, you look very handsome” she reassured her younger son.
51 “Does he have to wear that? Don’t you have another hat he could wear? Are you sure that isn’t a hat made for girls?” Sven’s father protested.
52 “It’s a boy’s hat! I think it’s festive. Besides there isn’t another hat for him to wear” Sven’s mother defended.
53 Sven felt a little embarrassed about it, but there wasn’t much he could do about it, and it was in fact pretty cold today. It was the Winter Solstice after all, and tonight would be the longest night of the year.
54 Sven looked around to see if he could see anyone he knew. Where was Kyaw and his family? There was no guarantee they had come. Sven really was just going on a hunch that Kyaw would have noticed the same flyer and decided to come as well on the off chance he could meet Sven there. He had no way to know that this was completely right. Sven’s impulse was to go off and see if he could find Kyaw.
55 “Mom, can I go and look around?” pleaded Sven. “Well … we need to check into the Inn and bring the stuff to our room …” his mother began.
56 “Please?!” begged Sven.
57 “Well … only if you don’t go too far …” his mother began.
58 “Yippie!” shouted Sven getting ready to run off.
59 “AND Sigmund stays with you!” she added.
60 “Aw!” Sven pouted. There was no way he’d be able to find Kyaw and play with him with his brother watching like a Hawk the whole time. “hehe” Sigmund snickered next to his brother knowing full well Sven wanted nothing better than to run off and find Kyaw to play with.
61 “Let Sven go play on his own. Sigmund should help unpack the car” their father said.
62 “Seriously?! I gotta?” complained Sigmund.
63 “None of that, you are old enough to help out around here. Now get over here so I can hand you some stuff to carry” said their father.
64 “Ugh!!” moaned Sigmund throwing his head back in annoyance.
65 “hehe” Sven giggled. Sigmund glared at his little brother knowing he’d lost this round, and Sven just smiled a cocky little smile knowing this was his chance.
66 “Oh alright” their mother relented, “but just don’t go far. Here put this scarf on. When we are done unpacking the car and we are settled in the Inn we’ll come for you. If you want to come in sooner then go to the front desk and just ask what room the Bob’s are staying in. Okay hun? You understand?”
67 “Alright, alright, I get it”, and as soon as she was done fussing over tying his scarf around him he ran off.
68 Sven could hear children playing outside in the snow. They were throwing snowballs, making snow angels, and snowfurs and snow-forts and that sort of thing. Sven was thinking how it might be really nice to make a Snowfur with Kyaw. He’d always wanted to build one, but that wasn’t something he really felt comfortable doing with his other friends. Even making snow angels would have seemed too sissy to him. Mostly his friends wanted to run around and have snowball fights, and while Sven always enjoyed the camaraderie and competition in that, he also felt that he wanted to enjoy something more calm and less competitive for once. Playing with girls was completely off limits, not only because it would make him look like a complete sissy, but because he was so incredibly awkward and uncomfortable around girls that he couldn’t even bring himself to say hi or make friends with them. But with Kyaw … more was possible. And Sven couldn’t wait to try out all sorts of things with him.
69 Sven scanned the area. He wasn’t here to make new friends right now, though he probably could have easily joined in with the boys and been accepted. He was quite good at socializing with other boys and was easily liked. But all that was on his heart that early morning with the sun just beginning to rise to form a beautiful pink sky was to find the dainty little rabbit boy. He was also on the look out for Torvald, Helmer, and Cadence, not because he wanted to play with, at least not right now, but to make sure he didn’t accidently bump into them, thus foiling his plans. So far they did not seem to be around. Sven figured it was probably still too early and their families might arrive later in the day. If so … perfect! There weren’t in fact that many kids out just yet.
70 As Sven continued to search the grounds for Kyaw and terrible thought occurred to him. What if Kyaw had decided to dress up for the season in a Christmas dress? How embarrassing would that be?! This made Sven concerned. If that was the case should he completely avoid Kyaw during his families stay? But he couldn’t completely ignore him. Not after what happened. He knew he needed to reassure Kyaw that they were still friends; that he wasn’t about to abandon him or listen to his lummox of a brother.
71 Sven casually wondered through the town not really having any definite heading, though he was slowly moving towards the mountain range. On this side of the mountain it had a gentle incline and Sven was heading towards it. He then noticed that children were using the foot of the shallow side of the mountain to slide down. It looked like the perfect spot! Sven wanted to get a closer look when he noticed some girls ahead of him giggling and chatting amongst themselves. Very pretty girls, the kind that made Sven feel all tingly and like he could barely speak or move. He stopped dead in his tracks. Nope. Not going that way, he thought. Instead he decided to duck down and alley and go another way. He felt ashamed of himself, but he just couldn't bring himself to get within 10 feet of those girls. What if they noticed him, what if they said something to him, what if they laughed at him. He found it was better to just avoid the whole embarrassing situation. When girls realized how awkward he really was they often began to tease and toy with him and that only made it worse. And so, Sven went another way ...
72 Sven took a few turns through some small quaint little houses, again not really having a particular plan where he was going. It was about now that he started to worry instead that maybe Kyaw wasn’t there at all. He'd now wandered off a good distance from the Inn, despite his mother’s injunction, getting a bit desperate to find the rabbit boy, but still, there no sight of Kyaw or any of the Bits. He was about to give up dejected when he heard an unmistakable sing-songing.
73 Sven heard it coming from a wide alley way between two of the larger homes, not far from the foot of the mountain.
74 When he looked around the corner he saw Kyaw prancing around. Practicing his ballet as he liked to do when there was no one around to tease him about it, and Sven decided to hang back and watch a bit. It was a chance to see Kyaw unfiltered and Sven couldn’t resist.
75 He’d never want to prance around like that, but Sven secretly admired both Kyaw’s courage to do so and his dedication to his craft. He was in fact quite good at it, even if it was not really a typical “boy’s sport”.
76 Then Kyaw stopped and bowed to the sun, as it peered between the houses, pretending to do a little curtsy. “Thank you, thank you!” he said to his imagined audience. “I’d like to thank my mother and my auntie for always loving and supporting me, without them I wouldn’t be here today preformin’ for y’all.”
77 Sven giggled quietly to himself. He knew that Kyaw was pretending to be a famous ballerina like he had always wanted.
78 “but most of all … I like to thank the boy of my dreams, Sven Odd Bobs … sigh” Kyaw said unself-consciously, not realizing Sven was right there behind him listening. Sven blushed a tad embarrassed, somewhat out of fear but partly also out of feeling warmed by the sentiment.
79 Then Kyaw just stood there. He was clasping his paws to his heart and he sighed. “Oh Sven …” he said dreamily to himself. “Where for art thou”. And then he started to prance about lazily and sing-songing to himself again casually.
80 Sven realized he had a small window of opportunity to surprise his friend. So he tip toed behind him, and Kyaw didn’t notice as he was still distracted in his day dreams.
81 Sven cupped his paws around his friend and covered his eyes. Kyaw gasped and became momentarily frightened, which is perfectly normal for a rabbit. “Guess who?” said a sweet gentle and familiar voice. With that Kyaw instantly relaxed and melted in Sven’s arms. “Sven, you did come!” he said like he was about to cry.
82 “Yup lil' bud!” said Sven, and without thinking, he wrapped his paws gently around Kyaw’s chest closed his eyes and nuzzled his head unto Kyaw’s shoulder. Kyaw put his paws around Sven’s and enjoyed the warm and loving embrace.
83 A few moments later Sven again became self-conscious and realized what he was doing, essentially cuddling with Kyaw. He pulled back a bit and looked about to make sure no one had seen him do that. “hehe” he said somewhat embarrassed as he pulled himself back.
84 “Oh my gosh!” Kyaw exclaimed suddenly embarrassed himself.
85 “What?!” asked Sven confused.
86 “How much of that did you hear?!” Kyaw said turning around to face Sven turning a very light pink.
87 Sven blushed and broke eye contact with Kyaw. “Oh ... well … all of it … I guess” he said with a shy little gulp and took a furtive little glance up at his friend.
88 “Oh” said Kyaw, for once with a tone of sadness. He placed one foot paw on the other and nervously starting biting one of his fingers. He hadn’t wanted to give himself away so completely, especially since he didn’t know yet if things had changed between him and Sven.
89 Sven could see his friends discomfort and shyness and felt sympathy. He wanted to relieve his friends embarrassment so he said, “Don’t worry about it” giving his mate a little punch in the shoulders. “It’s no big deal. Really.”
90 “Oh … okay then … uh ... no big deal ... right” said Kyaw, somewhat disappointed by the fact that Sven seemed to be saying it didn’t bother him instead of saying that he too thought of Kyaw as his dream boy. But … at least Sven wasn’t shaming him for thinking of him that way, and that was still something. Again Kyaw had been rejected and despised many times before for opening up about his feelings to other boys. The most painful of these was in fact from another boy in his ballet class he had fallen in love with. Kyaw didn’t like to think back to that however.
91 There was an awkward silence.
92 Kyaw was the first to break the silence, "So ... uh ... yeah ... you never came out that day. I thought maybe ... maybe you didn't want to be friends anymore ... or like wouldn't anymore afterwards"
93 Then Sven remembered what had happened the last time they had met. He put both his arms on Kyaw’s shoulders and gave him a serious look of concern. “Did my rotten brother do anything to harm you in any way?! Tell me what happened Kyaw!”
94 “Uh, not really. I-It’s f-fine Sven, really.” said Kyaw nervously.
95 “Really? You can tell me if he did anything Kyaw. I really didn’t know he was following us. I was really worried he did something terrible to you. I was afraid he might have told you …” Sven began hesitantly.
96 “Told me what?” said Kyaw a bit confused.
97 “Told you … that I don’t want to be your friend anymore, that I didn’t want to see you anymore. Well it isn’t true. I don't hate you Kyaw and I still want to be your friend. I don’t care what my stupid brother thinks. Honest. What did he tell you Kyaw?” Sven said earnestly.
98 Kyaw began to play with his ears nervously. "Uh ... well ... he uh ..." he began clearly feeling afraid to say it.
99 "Kyaw!" Sven said to snap him out of it "I need to know what he said to you. I promise it will be okay. No matter what I'm not gonna leave you" he reassured.
100 "Well ... okay. He told me ... never to see you again" Kyaw finally said with resignation.
101 "sigh ... never mind him. I'm here right now aren't I?" Sven said.
102 "Yes ... but ... he also said ..." but Kyaw's voice trailed off.
103 "What?" Sven pried.
104 "Oh ... nothing ... just some mean words he called me" Kyaw said flatly.
105 "What? Did he call you gay? He's always calling stuff gay. It's worn out. It doesn't mean anything coming from him. Everything's gay to him." Sven tried to dismiss.
106 "Okay, if you say so" said Kyaw gripping his arm awkwardly, not really looking Sven in the eye.
107 "Hey. Listen to me Kyaw. Your not gay, okay. You not ... a fag ... or any of those other nasty words he called you okay. I know you. You are not that, okay? He can't tell you what you are and he doesn't know what you'll become. Only God knows" Sven said, and with that he held his little friends chin up.
108 Kyaw finally looked up at his friend, tears were forming in his eyes. "Do you believe me Kyaw?" Sven pushed. Kyaw couldn't speak. He just gently shook his head yes. "Okay, so there. That's everything. My brother can't come between us. I'm still your friend and that's not gonna change. Alright?"
109 Kyaw didn't want to worry his friend anymore, so he just smiled reassuringly.
110 What Kyaw hadn't said though was the parts that really worried him. Sigmund had said that Sven didn't need a "little sissy" like him. That he had friends that would look out for him. Kyaw felt that he was a burden. But he was to afraid to ask about any of that. And even though Sven said that Sigmund couldn't know what Kyaw would become, Sigmund was older and wiser. What if he was right after all? What if he was destined to be a ... fag ... whatever that was. Sven had said he wasn't one, and that no one could know what he would become, but the question that kept bugging Kyaw was ... why would that be a bad thing if he was? Why would no one explain what a fag was and what was so bad about it in the first place? But Kyaw didn't want to broach the subject.
111 The other thing that was bugging Kyaw was that Sven had said he didn't care what Sigmund thought ... but what about his parents ... and his friends? Did he care what they thought? Cause it sure seemed like he did.
112 Sven had said, "I don't hate you". Why did he put it that way? Sure, he didn't hate him. Sure, he "wanted to be friends". But ... did he truly love him? That's what Kyaw wanted to know.
113 But Kyaw wasn't going to press on any of these things. What mattered was, Sven had wanted to see him again. His brother hadn't turned him against him. Why rock the boat? There was no telling how tenuous and Kyaw wasn't willing to risk it when they'd just seen each other again for the first time in a week. There was one concern though he couldn't help but bring up...
114 "But what if your brother comes along? He's gonna try and keep us apart, I just know it!" Kyaw said concerned.
115 "Pff ... we'll just avoid him is all. It'll be alright. You'll see" Sven said dismissively.
116 Kyaw didn't exactly feel reassured by that simplistic response, but decided to change the subject rather than dwell on these troubling feelings.
117 “Hm.” He nodded. "Alright. Then. Let's talk about something else. Do you like my new coat?” he said, putting his paws behind his back and turning slightly to the side giving a flirty glance in Sven’s direction. He’d picked up how to be quite coquettish from his girl friends who taught him how to flaunt.
118 “Yeah … you look really … cu- … handsome” Sven said hesitantly, trying the words out to see if he could be comfortable saying so.
119 “Thank you” said Kyaw shyly, rubbing his footpaw in the snow.
120 “I actually was afraid you were gonna come wearing a Christmas dress, haha!” Sven laughed relieving some of his stress.
121 “Oh.” Said Kyaw a little unsure how to feel about that comment. “Well … I kind of almost did … but then I decided I really wanted to dress like a boy today instead. But I’m glad you like it. I picked it out for you. It’s really nice and warm and I really like the blue color. The fur feels really nice too. Hehe. Here feel it” Kyaw said, putting his sleeves out for Sven.
122 “Uh … okay …” said Sven a little unsure how to feel about this. None the less he removed his mittens and felt the soft faux fur around the end of the sleeves. “Yeah … it is really soft” he smiled.
123 Kyaw’s nose twitcha-twitched and he got a little closer and said, “You know ... my fur is really soft too. I am a bunny after all …” he said smiling mischievously. “Uhhh…” Sven said backing away a bit. Okay that was too much for Sven, the last thing he needed was thinking about feeling Kyaw’s bare fur right now. These were the times that Sven had to question whether he was in over his head. His brother kinda had a point. That was a really weird comment to make and it made Sven very uncomfortable, he had no idea what to say next.
124 Thankfully Sven didn’t really have to say anything, because Kyaw continued without skipping a beat, “huh … I wonder why bunnies have such soft fur?”. Kyaw’s comment was entirely offhanded believe it or not, and without a thought he had just said it without thinking of its implications.
125 “Uh probably to keep you warm hehe” Sven said awkwardly desperately interjecting anything he could think up.
126 “Oh yeah, silly me, that make’s sense. Hehe” said Kyaw absent mindedly. Sven really couldn’t be sure if Kyaw was being clueless or purposely pretending to be clueless to say something suggestive, but either way these moments always made him unsure what he was doing being friends with this boy. That said, it was hard not to like Kyaw in his blissful cheeriness. It was refreshing and allowed Sven to lower his guard and not have to constantly be so defensive.
127 It was then that Kyaw noticed Sven’s little winter hat. “I like your hat. You look really cute in it” Kyaw said enthusiastically.
128 “Really? Ya’think so … my dad and my brother thought it looked kinda girly” Sven said slightly embarrassed by it.
129 “I don’t think so. You always look like a boy to me” Kyaw said with a hint of shyness.
130 “uh well … thank you … I’m glad someone doesn’t think I look silly in it.” With that Sven just stood there and couldn’t think of anything else to say. It was then that he remembered the sled. “OH! I brought the sled!” he said enthusiastically.
131 “You did?! Oh boy!” said Kyaw clearly excited.
132 “Yeah. I just got to go back to the car and get it” said Sven without thinking.
133 “Great! Let’s go!” said Kyaw getting ready to hop on over.
134 Sven stopped him. “No! Just stay here. I’ll get it, hehe, okay?” he said nervously.
135 “Ugh! Not again! Come on Sven, would you stop. What, are you afraid your family will see me again? Let’s not hide. Sigmund can’t stop us if your parents end up being okay with us being friends” Kyaw tried to reason.
136 “Not now, Sigmund is by the car right now.” Sven began to plead.
137 “I’m not afraid of him” said Kyaw.
138 “Well you should be! He’s like twice our size and he’s a real bully”
139 “Hm. I don’t care” said Kyaw folding his arms and pointing his nose in the air.
140 “Look Kyaw, just trust me. I can grab my sleigh quickly and be back here in a jiffy. If you come along everyone will start asking questions and … well … please just stay here for me. I promise I will be right back” Sven reassured.
141 “You promise?” Kyaw began relenting.
142 “I promise”
143 “Cross your heart or hope to die, and turn you into to kanga pie?” pressed Kyaw.
144 “Yes yes yes! All that! Now just please stay here and don’t go anywhere”
145 “Alright fine. And then he can go up by the bunny slopes” said Kyaw more enthusiastically.
146 “What?” said Sven not familiar with what Kyaw was talking about. Remember that Kyaw had been at the resort for a day already, but Sven had never been to a ski resort before.
147 “It’s right over there” said Kyaw leading Sven around the corner to reveal the foot of the mountain. “It’s that little hill over there where all those cubs are sliding down.”
148 “Oh ... that” Sven said, immediately thinking of others seeing or even Torvald, Helmer and Cadence happening upon the populated area. “No, I was thinking we could sleigh down those woods over there” said Sven pointing off further into the distance.
149 “Uh, won’t it be heard steering around all those trees?” said Kyaw puzzled.
150 “um, maybe a little, but I’m sure it can be done. And anyway no one will see us-“
151 “Ugh! Again with this! Sven why are you so afraid. You can’t hide how you feel forever!” Kyaw exclaimed exasperated with his friend.
152 “Just this once. I’ll … introduce you to everyone when the time is right. Okay?”, and with that Sven held his paw under Kyaws chin and gave a little smile. He meant it, and Kyaw couldn’t resist when Sven would touch him gently like that.
153 “Oh ... o-kay” Kyaw said bashfully.
154 “Great! So just stay right here and I’ll be right back and we can finally try out the sleigh!” and with that the excited roo hopped off towards the car and top speed.
155 Kyaw stepped out into the open put his paws behind him and leaned up against the wall and looked up at the morning sky and sighed. His heart hurt a little and he didn’t know why…
156 Sven hurried back to the car as fast as his springy kangaroo legs could carry him. In short order he could see the car up ahead.
157 Sven leaned on the car to catch his breath. After a minute he attempted to open the passenger door but it was locked. He then went around back to try and open the trunk but that was locked too.
158 “You need the key you dingus” he heard his brother say from behind him. Sven turned around to see his brother swinging the keys to the trunk around his finger. Sven lunged to try and grab them and Sigmund just snatched them away last second taunting his brother with them, always dangling them just out of reach.
159 “Come on Sig! Let me have the keys!” demanded Sven.
160 “Nah ah ah! Dad gave them to me to safeguard. But never mind that. I know what you’re after. You found him didn’t you …” Sigmund said.
161 “No! … I … found Ca-ca-cadence … and uh … I said we could try out my sled together” Sven said trying to fib.
162 “pff … bullshit. I know it was ke-ke-kevin. So you ain’t getting the ke-ke-keys to run off and play with him. Not on my watch” Sigmund said with a taunting smirk.
163 Just then their mom came out on the Inn. Sigmund stashed the keys away into his sweater pocket and was sure to keep both his hands in his pockets as well.
164 “Sven where were you, I couldn’t see you! I told you not to run off!” his mother scolded as she approached the car.
165 “You said not to go far, and I didn’t. I was just over that way” said Sven.
166 “Well what I meant was for you not to leave my sight.” She said flatly, then she looked at Sigmund and said “Open the trunk Sigmund”.
167 Sigmund scowled at his brother knowing what would come next. Sven smiled a cocky smile. Sigmund dutifully unlocked the trunk, and without hesitating Sven grabbed his sled and hastily dragged it out of the car.
168 “And where do you think you are going?” his mother said standing in his way. Sven looked up and his ears went down.
169 “Uh … I was going to go sledding with Cadence …” Sven said hesitantly.
170 “There’s plenty of time for that, put the sled back in the trunk, let’s get settled and unpack first” his mother said.
171 “But mom?!” Sven began, knowing that Kyaw was still waiting for him.
172 “Don’t ‘but mom’ me. Put that away and let’s go!” she said sternly.
173 Sven knew there was no arguing with his mother. He reluctantly put the sled back in the trunk and Sigmund locked it again. Sigmund flashed a devilish grin and Sven scowled. Seems this round would go to his big brother after all. Sven kicked the snow in frustration and shuffled into the Inn with his hands in his pockets.
174 Sven felt bad about leaving Kyaw, but what could he do? He was already trying to hatch a plan for what to do next once events got under way.
175 I'm sorry Kyaw, he thought to himself, I'll find a way to make it up to you, I promise ...
*11*
176 The Inn was not far from the driveway in which the Bobs had parked. Sven was made to carry the last of his stuff up.
177 Upon entering the hotel it opened up to a large lobby area. There was a reception desk to their left upon entry, but the Bobs had already checked in. Up ahead was a nice warm fireplace, a necessity in these remote parts, especially in the dead of winter. There were red carpets and a nice large Christmas Tree near the fireplace, with inviting little red chairs and tables. The layout was square in shape, and on the first floor there were doors all around leading to the various rooms where families were staying. Sven wondered what room the Bits were staying in. They must be in one of them, this was the Snowvald Inn after all. This is where everyone checked in.
178 Sven looked up to see balconies lining the edge of the hotel, and there was a second floor of room doors along the path. Decorations of evergreen and holly were placed along the banister. The place gave off a pleasant woodsy smell and had a generally nice and welcoming atmosphere, especially when coming in from the cold, which was quite biting this year.
179 Sven followed his mom and older half-brother up the stairs to the second floor. They entered the room numbers 211.
180 The Bobs proceeded to settle themselves in to their new room. Sven got busy unpacking his clothing and placing it the draws near what would be his bed for the duration of their stay, all the while his mind was racing for how he could sneak off to see Kyaw again at the nearest convenience. Part of him just wanted to run off out that door, but Sven was too afraid of the trouble he would get himself in. Also, what if his brother decided to chase after him? No, Sven would have to wait for his opportunity to take off for himself.
No doubt mom and dad would want the family to stay together, not have everyone running off to do their own thing.
181 It took longer to unpack than anyone had hoped, over an hour and a half, and after everyone was done, everyone kind of milled about trying to get used to the room. Sigmund tried out his bed and flipped through the television channels to find something to entertain himself, without much success mind you.
182 Sven for his part, found himself quite restless and just paced back and forth, stressing out about having left Kyaw alone for almost two hours now. Was he still waiting right where he left him? Was he gonna be mad for standing him up? He said he'd be right back. What was he gonna do!
183 Sven finally screwed up the courage to ask to go play, but mom and dad wouldn’t hear of Sven running off. First things first they were going to have breakfast in the mess hall as a family. Sven felt guilty for leaving Kyaw behind when he had promised to come right back, but there was nothing he could do. He grumbled to himself but dutifully came along for breakfast. Besides without the keys to the trunk he couldn’t get the sleigh anyway. Sledding with Kyaw was the main thing he wanted to do from the beginning of this trip. He had a clear idea of how it would go in his mind. For once Sven wanted to be the one to show Kyaw a good time. He thought I’d be something special that his friend would enjoy.
184 Meanwhile, Kyaw had in fact never left the spot where Sven had left him. Kyaw refused to leave, refused to believe his friend would abandon him. He'd been out there for two whole hours. Despite his denim jacket, he'd begun to shiver. It was that cold. Kyaw grew increasingly anxious and began to imagine all sorts of terrible and irrational scenarios.
185 Still he tried to maintain faith that his friend would not abandon him and would definitely return, but as time went on he began to start sniffling, and even with his mittens on his paws began to hurt. Still, he’d promised he wouldn’t go anywhere, and he was nothing if not loyal to a fault, especially to Sven. He couldn't bare the thought of Sven finally showing up only for him to have abandoned him instead.
186 Flipsy and Skipsy eventually were asked to go out and find him when he had not returned after such a long while. They found him still leaning up against that wall, still looking up at the sky which had now become a pale winter blue. He had a look of resignation and he was shivering and was all pink and was looking something dreadful.
187 “Kyaw what are you doing just standing there?! Why you staying out in the cold?” asked Skipsy confused by his morose appearance. Kyaw was usually so jovial.
188 “Oh … hi Skipsy, hi Flipsy. Sigh … I’m waiting for Sven …” he said.
189 “Kyaw how long have you been waiting for him?” asked Flipsy concerned.
190 “Oh I don’t know. The sun was this low in the sky before and now it’s all the way up here” he said as he demonstrated with his arm acting as a sextant.
191 Flipsy did a little bit of mental calculation and then said “I’d say that was about an two and a half hours. Come on inside Kyaw you'll get frostbite”
192 “No No No, I can’t! I promised I’d wait here for Sven. He said he’d be ...” he trailed off.
193 “Right back?” interjected Skipsy.
194 Kyaw paused and then quietly shook his head in ascent.
195 “Come on. It’ll be alright. Sven will understand. You’ll have another chance to meet up with him." Flipsy reassured.
196 Kyaw reluctantly relented.
197 "Let's meet up with our moms. Then we'll go get breakfast together. and you can warm yourself up in the car. Now how does that sound?" Flipsy said sweetly.
198 "Uh huh" said Kyaw giving a weak smile while still shivering.
199 With that the three of them walked back to the family RV.
200 When the Bobs arrived at the mess hall there wasn’t really anyone there. Although guests were slowly coming to the resort for the Yuletide Festival, the main event would be the burning of the Yule log, which wasn’t due to happen until the sun set tonight, many hours away. In the meantime guests were free to explore the grounds and make merriment. Sven wondered if his other friends would be arriving soon and if that would present any sort of problem. Presently though he was mostly just wondering where Kyaw was and how upset he'd be.
201 “Why so glum, hun?” his mother asked. “huh?” said Sven momentarily being called away from his thoughts, “Oh. It’s nothing, I’m just-”
202 “-heartbroken” interjected Sigmund.
203 “I was gonna say sleepy!” scowled Sven at his brother. “Well if that's what you say.” said his mother sensing something was up. “But Sven” she began. “Uh … yes mama?” responded Sven. “Just remember you can tell me anything you need to tell me if something is bothering you” she said reassuringly.
204 “Nothing is bothering me. I’m fine mom really.” He tried to play it off.
205 “Pff. He’s just upset he can’t have a playdate with his boyfriend ... Kevin” Sigmund said snidely.
206 “Can you shut up! He’s not my boyfriend!” Sven said giving his brother a punch in the arm, and not a playful one.
207 “Sigmund, don’t talk about you brother that way! And Sven, keep your hands to yourself if you don’t want to spend this whole day grounded” mother said sternly.
208 “Yes mama” Sven said looking down at the ground. If that happened he’d never get a chance to hang out with Kyaw. Sven didn’t know why it was bad for him to have a “boyfriend” but he could tell from the mocking tone it was always said in that it was very bad. Of course it was silly for a boy to have a boyfriend. Boy’s had girlfriends. But it was more than that. It wasn’t just absurd … it was somehow shameful. That was the message that was clear even if Sven couldn’t quite understand the thoughts behind it: don’t get too close to your peers. Always keep some distance emotionally. If you got too close it would always be made fun of. It particularly was a thorn in Sven’s side because not only had this tactic been used on him before by his older brother with his other friends like Torvald, Helmer, and Cadence but this time … Sven felt a tinge of fear, because he was afraid that this time he really was getting to feel too close to this boy Kyaw. Sven tried to shove down those feelings now and just think about something else until he could get away from his annoying older brother.
209 The Bobs got on the non-existent breakfast line, following along the railed path. As they walked along they noticed some strange statues mounted along the walls of unfamiliar gods and goddesses.
210 “What are these decorations?” the mother asked out loud seemingly a bit concerned.
211 This caught Sven’s attention and he began to look around at the various figurines placed on mantles. He didn’t recognize most of them.
212 “Whose the creepy old geezer with the eye patch and the ravens that looks like Santa Claus. What's this, some kinda pagan Christmas god! Ha ha.” mocked Sigmund.
213 “Oh, I know that one! That’s Odin, the King of the Norse Gods! He has the eye patch cause he gave up his eye up to be able to see the future. And those are his two ravens, Hugin and Munin. They scout the skies and report to him everything that goes on in the mortal realm” Said Sven excitedly, recognizing the God from the Bits household speaking about him before. "Oh, and that one over there is Frigga, she's Odins Wife. Their son Balder died because that jerk Loki used an arrow made of Mistletoe to kill him" said Sven rubbing his nose matter of factily.
214 Everyone was silent. They looked at him like he'd just said that there were mice living on mars.
215 “How did you know that? Where did you learn that from?!” the mother gasped in shock and horror.
216 “Oh…” Sven realized he had spoken too openly. He couldn’t tell them who he’d actually learned it from. So he quickly made up a fib, “Uh … I learned about it from Cadence. There was a card called Odin The Seer that he showed me from that card game, what was it called, Summons&Sacrifices?”
217 “I knew that kid was trouble” said the father, as if this was merely confirmation.
218 “Sven I hope you aren’t playing that satanic game. You know that can be a gateway for the devil to come into your heart, right?” his mom scolded.
219 “I know mom. We weren’t playing. It’s just something ... we found ... lying on the ground ... honest.” Sven said.
220 “Well, you boys shouldn’t have even picked it up.” His mother said sternly.
221 When the Bobs finally got their food trays and went up to the attendant to be served their breakfast father started to express his outrage at the decor. “What is the meaning of this?” he said pointing around to the figurines.
222 “What do you mean Sir?” said the lunch lady, a young squirrel.
223 “These statues? What on God’s green earth do they have to do with Christmas?!”
224 “Look Sir, I don’t know. It wasn’t my call, I just serve the food here. I overheard some gossip about something something honoring all holiday traditions. There’s a family who made a big stink about it and apparently they got the mayor involved to allow them to put up their own traditional holiday decorations, it’s really none of my business. Would you like pancakes or French toast” she said offhandedly not really invested in the politics of it and certainly not interested in getting in the middle of it. She was here to make a little money for the holidays and that was all.
225 “Family?! What family. What kinda heathens would put up these sorts of ... satanic decorations on a Christian holiday!?” father demanded.
226 “Look. If it upsets you, take it up with the event organizers, alright. I’m just here to serve the meals, m’kay. I don't really know anything about them. Just that they are always difficult ... and persistent. I think they were called the Bings. The Bibs? I don't really know, something with a B” She said.
227 Sven’s ear’s perked up at that and a chill ran down his spine. The Bits of course! Oh great, now his family was gonna hate them and they hadn’t even met them yet!
228 “Apparently they have a reputation for making a scene at these sorts of events every year. Guess they finally caved in for some reason.” She continued.
229 “The Bings, ay?" father began.
230 "Uh yeah, I said I don't really kn-" the lunch lady tried to correct.
231 Sven's father didn't even listen, too wrapped up in his emerging witch hunt. "Well the organizers are gonna hear about this. This is a Christian community. This ain’t no time of year to be celebrating ancient demons that mock and mimic our traditions!”
232 After that bit of excitement, The Bobs eventually settled down to eat their breakfast. Sven was still anxious about what happened to Kyaw.
233 The Bobs had gotten themselves a nice of stack of waffles for everyone. There was plenty of syrup and butter available. They also got a side of hash browns, and some morning greens, some delicious freshly grown flowers and grass to have with their meal. The Bobs didn't go for the breakfast sausages as they were vegetarian. They didn't even feel comfortable eating eggs most days, so they past on those as well. But the was a sizable predator population that visited Snowsvald, so naturally those options were available, not to mention more exotic options unique to the Furthly realm.
234 Sigmund had greedily grabbed himself a whole stack of waffles. He had a voracious appetite. Eating was one of his few pleasures in life. He drowned his waffles in syrup until his mother got mad and told him stop.
235 Sven for his part had stuck to one waffle, and got himself a bowl of cold cereal, Plucky Smarms, his favorite. His mom didn't care for the marshmallow bits, but that was the best part of course!
236 There was some attempt at small talk, complimenting the quality of the waffles and the roughage and that sorta thing. But mostly the family was quiet. Sven always felt like there was something that was not being said, but he definitely wasn't going to be the one to say it. Still it was so unlike the Bits who at the table, when they'd even sit at one to eat, would never shut the hell up! It was nearly impossible for him to get a word in edgewise or even carry a conversation with Kyaw as he gabbed away with his cousins. Sigh. Why did that make Sven feel down.
237 Anyway things were pretty quiet for the next couple minutes ... that was until Sven's ears pricked up at a familiar approaching sound ...
238 Sven nearly choked on his cereal when he heard the unmistakable sing-songing of Kyaw and company walking up to the lunch hall. "Crap" he thought, and made a futile attempt to hide in his seat as if it'd make any difference.
239 This was bad! The minute Kyaw walked in the door he'd recognize him and his family. There was no guarantee that Kyaw wouldn't mindlessly blurt out something towards Sven. Worse, Sigmund would surely recognize him. If the subject of Kyaw's name came up the jig would probably be up! He'd be caught lying, and heaven forbid Kyaw's reputation proceeded him.
240 There was no time to think, immediate action was needed.
241 "OH! I forgot my mittens at the lodge! Gotta Go!" shouted Sven as he leaped out of his chair running before anyone could even say anything. He headed off the Bits just before they entered the hall.
242 "Stop! Don't go in there! My family is in there!" Sven said in a loud whisper to everyone. The Bits paused. Agatha and Tabitha gave themselves glances, and then spontaneously broke out in laughter. "Oh don't be silly dear. Nothing is going to happen. We're just going in to get our breakfast. They don't even know who we are" they said. "But I reckon we'll know who they are from nows ons, hehe" said Aunt Augie with a sneaky smirk.
243 "Hey you never came back! I nearly froze to death" said Kyaw with a little hmfph, folding his arms. "Kyaw, don't exaggerate" scolded Flipsy. "I nearly did though" Kyaw tried to argue.
244 Sven attempted to address Kyaw. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to leave you out in the cold. I got caught up with something. I couldn't leave" Sven said trying to quickly apologize.
245 "You left our Couzo waiting out there in the cold for two hours!" said Flipsy pulling on Sven's ear. "OW! Sorry! But I told you I had no choice. I had to help unpack the car!" Sven defended. He pulled his ear free and began to nurse it irritably. He hated when Flipsy did that. It made him feel like a little kid and she was just another mom.
246 "Oh, and they will to know who you are ... once Sigmund recognizes Kyaw!" Sven blurted out needed to gain control of the situation quickly.
247 "Oh, 'Sigmund'? Is that your older brother I heard about? Let me at him, I'll bet I can turn that punk into mince meat!" said Skipsy pulling up her sleeves and pounding her fist into her palm menacingly.
248 "No!" said Sven trying to hold the older girl back, and not with much success mind you "Please don't start trouble. J-just act like you don't know who they are" begged Sven.
249 "Sigh, please don't bother Sven's family. For me, Okay guys?" said Kyaw. "Oh thank you, Thank you Kyaw" Sven said genuinely pleased. "Your not welcome. You owe me for standing me up" Kyaw said with one eye open and a sly smile. Yeesh. And Sven thought girls were bad. He wasn't gonna let that one go was he!
250 "Alright fine, whatever. I'll make it up to you right now" Sven said, seeing an opportunity. "Miss Bits" Sven began, "Tabitha if you please" said Kyaw's mother. "Yeah, uh Miss Tabitha, could Kyaw and me go play now?"
251 "But Kyaw hasn't had his breakfast" began Tabitha bits.
252 "Yes, but if he goes in there it's almost certainly gonna start trouble. I know my brother is gonna end up saying something. The lummox can't help himself, he just loves trouble" Sven reasoned. "I love trouble too..." Skipsy threatened openly.
253 It was now that Kyaw offered up a suggestion. "Uh momma, maybe we could both get breakfast at the Rec Center. I'd like to get one of those breakfast muffins with some hot coco again anyway."
254 "Well ... alright." Tabitha said, and gave her son a little extra money for the vending machines.
255 "Alright, you can go get muffins and play, but Sven, a word of advice?" Tabitha began. "Yeah?" said Sven. "You aren't gonna be able to keep up this ruse up forever. You really should just be honest with how you feel" she said.
256 Sven just began to turn red in frustration. It was bad enough to hear it from Kyaw, but to hear it from an adult was humiliating. As graciously and respectfully as Sven could muster he blurted out "Okay. I'll keep that advice in mind. Bye, see you later" and with that Sven and Kyaw ran off towards the lodge.
257 When the Bits walked in, The Bobs indeed did not know who they were, and it was just as well. They'd never formally been introduced. They'd occasionally heard of the family from roomers. The family that got in trouble with the school for letting one of their children come to school with a bottle and a diaper. The family that tried to introduce pagan elements into all of the schools holiday celebrations, or tried to shut down talking about God in school, since it was suppose to be a secular government run institution, or they'd have to let them teach a class on world religion. Although they didn't know it, they'd also heard about their talented children as well. The teenage daughter that was already an accomplished violinist and flutist, an avid reader and skilled chess player, the young boy who was an accomplished dancer and had won some money for his family at a math competition for grade schoolers. But they never bothered to put any of the dots together. They lived on the other side of town, and for the most part the Bits kept to themselves, being a family of odd ducklings that didn't really fit in.
258 Sigmund certainly noticed their entrance although he too didn't really know anything about them. "Oh shit, The gypsies are in town!" said Sigmund mockingly as a joke. "Don't talk like that. You might offend them!" his mother said giving him a painful nudge. "Ouch! Mom!" protested Sigmund.
259 As they passed by, Sigmund noticed the teen twins eyeing him suspiciously. Flipsy quickly turned out a combination of evil looking finger signs, quietly attempting to cast a hex on him. Skipsy did that little thing with the fingers and the eyes letting him know she had her eye on him.
260 Sigmund completely failed to understand the signals they were throwing and thought they might be interested.
261 In particular, Sigmund noticed Flipsy and was momentarily dumbstruck by her beauty. As they walked past he said "damn ... she's kinda hot actually." looking behind him and watching her lithe form sway side to side. "I'd hit that" he said as he stared.
262 His mother straight up slapped him in the back of the head for that. "I told you not to speak about girls like that a million times!" she said. "Ow! Mom, don't embarrass me in front of them!" he said without missing a beat. Getting through to him was like trying to dig through an iron wall with a silver spoon.
263 The Bits went ahead and sat down to eat their breakfast. There seemed to be absolutely no regularity to how they filled their plates. Tabitha had only gotten a few greens a single carrot and a cherry tomato. She ate very little believing it kept the mind and soul clear. You'd think that'd mean she'd teach the kids to do the same. But nope! Naw in particular stacked up so much food on her plate there was no way she'd be able to eat it all. It was alright though, Skipsy would happily take off Naw's paws whatever she couldn't finish! Flispy's plate was very organized and carefully separated, while Skipsy's plate looked like a disgusting mess. Agatha for her part didn't seem to mind putting eggs and a chicken drumstick on her plate, even though rabbits aren't suppose to eat meat. She believed the life force made her powers stronger. Nobody seemed to be bothered by the complete lack of uniformity in selection nor outlook. Instead they just looked excited to have so many options for breakfast ... some of which weren't even intended to later in the day but they'd managed to finagle the squirrel girl to give them so they'd leave her alone.
264 They clasped their hands together in what looked like a seance. They didn't say anything and it was over in a moment. Was that a prayer? Or some kind of magic ritual?
265 Sigmund continued to stare as he greedily scarfed down his syrupy waffles. He was definitely not shy around girls ... for better or worse.
266 When the girls noticed him looking in their direction they gave him nasty looks. Skipsy pulled down her eye lid and stuck out her tongue while Flipsy tried to shoo his glances away to no avail.
267 They're into it, thought Sigmund.
268 "Sigmund!" father bellowed. "What?!" said Sigmund irritated at being interrupted from his gawking. "I want you to go after Sven and see what he's up to" he commanded. "Oh, is that all?" Sigmund said grabbing a waffle for the trip and putting it in his mouth with one hand. "hehe ... yes sir" he saluted with mock respectfulness his eyes gleaming on ahead towards his target.
269 When Sigmund had slowly sauntered off out the front entrance, Sven's father grumbled, "I don't like that boys attitude. You really need to tell that boy to shaped up". "I am always correcting him, and you don't do so nearly enough. I don't know what to do about him" his mother protested.
270 Meanwhile, Sven and Kyaw were headed towards the lodge and the car. Sven was so excited to have escaped from his family and found an opportunity to go sledding with Kyaw that he'd forgotten the obvious. But lest we forget, Sven was a kid after all.
271 "Alright, we gotta do this quick. I'm only suppose to be getting my mittens and coming right back." began Sven.
272 "Wait, did you really lose your mittens?" Kyaw naively asked.
273 "No! I have 'em right here. See? I only said that so I could run off with y-" Sven cut himself off not liking how that sounded, "I mean so we could hang out. We should have enough time to go once down that hill ... well ... as long as no one else is there that is."
274 Kyaw gave Sven a look.
275 "What? I'm trying here" said Sven.
276 "Just forget it. Let's see this sled" said Kyaw.
277 The boys walked up to the car. It was then that Sven realized the obvious fact eluded to earlier ... he still didn't have the keys to the trunk. They were being held hostage by his annoying older brother. "Ugh!" Sven said, slamming his head into the trunk window. "Sigh ... I don't have the keys ... my shithead of a brother has them" Sven said despondently.
278 "Oh" Kyaw said a little disappointed. Kyaw was quick to recover though, not one to let circumstances and things out of ones control get one down. "Well at least let me see what it looks like"
279 Kyaw walked up to the window and saw the beautiful red sleigh in the trunk. "Wow. That's a really nice sleigh. And it's nice and big! It's definitely got enough space for the two of us..."
280 "yeah ..." Sven said, breathing out in despair fogging up the window to the trunk a bit.
281 An awkward moment passed before Kyaw piped up again. "That's okay Sven. Don't be glum. I'm sure we'll get a chance later. Anyway, I've got something cool I've been meaning to show you instead!"
282 "Oh?" said Sven as his ears perked up a bit in curiosity. "Yeah. Come on I'll show you!" said Kyaw as he gently pulled Sven's paw leading him somewhere. Sven resisted.
283 "Wait. I should get back to my family. They're expecting me" Sven said timidly.
284 "UgH!" Kyaw blurt out throwing his head back in frustration. "Just tell 'em you had trouble finding your mittens. Now come on, let's have some fun already while we have the chance"
285 "Isn't that lying? I didn't peg you for a-", ugh, that awkward phrasing again, "I mean, I didn't think you were a liar Kyaw" Sven corrected himself.
286 "I'm not. I never have to fib with my family I can just be honest about what I want, and right now what I want is to run off with you and have a good time" said Kyaw flatly.
287 Why did everything this kid say have to sound so damn suggestive. Or was that just Sven reading into everything, in which case, what the heck was wrong with him.
288 "Yeah cause your family just let's you do whatever you want" said Sven a little jealous.
289 "Not always. Anyway, you already lied by telling them you needed to go find your mittens when you knew they were in your pockets all along. You could just tell 'em you wanna to go play with me, but noooo, you'd rather keep our little escapades 'clandestine'. Oh forbidden love, so bittersweet!" swooned Kyaw, teasing his friend a bit. Sven was blushing and feeling a bit uncomfortable. Kyaw just smiled to himself knowingly.
290 "I-It's not like that! We're just fr-friends okay. I'm only keeping it a secret to protect you" said Sven crossly. "Uh huh ..." said Kyaw skeptically. "Whatever. Come on let's just go. Show me whatever it is you wanna show me" said Sven as he pulled his friend by the paw in the direction he'd been already headed.
291 Kyaw just shook his head to himself with a smile. Sven sure held his paw a lot these days. That spoke volumes, even if Sven's words were always to deny and minimize.
292 "You don't know the way silly. Here let me lead" said Kyaw as he got in front pulling Svens paws along. He then broke free and pranced on ahead. "Come on, let's run!" said Kyaw not able to contain his enthusiasm. "Oh, your on!" said Sven, Kyaw now speaking his language.
293 The boys sped on ahead heading through the little town, headed towards one of the many complexes on the Resort grounds. They disappeared in short order down the byways.
294 It was several minutes later, when the boys had already made it quite a distance already, that Sigmund came waltzing up to the car, the first place to check. Huh, he thought. No sign of his brother or that faggy little rabbit. Sigmund munched on his waffle thinking what his next move should be. Could it be his brother really did go looking for his mittens? Sigmund looked up towards the lodge contemplating going up to see if his brother was there, but when he looked down he noticed that the window was slightly fogged. "He was here!" he said out loud, snapping his fingers in satisfaction. He then looked around for further evidence and sure enough he made out what was undoubtably cub tracks headed through and out of the little town by the shallow side of the mountain. "Oh he's so dead, and that sissy rabbit friend of his also ... hehe". He said swallowing the rest of his waffle down and cracking his knuckles. He slowly started to follow the tracks like a thirsty bloodhound with an evil smile on his face.
295 He really did take some nasty enjoyment in tormenting Sven, one of his few joys in life. The way Sigmund saw it, Sven represented everything he hated about his current family situation. He resented how happy and well adjusted he was, while Sigmund, though he'd be loath to admit it, still quietly suffered from the split up of his own parents. To add salt to the wound, Sven's dad would always pick on him and tell him to be more manly, be more like Sven! That's why Sigmund relished the opportunity to make Sven look like the sentimental little pipsqueak he knew he really was!
296 Sigmund was going to thoroughly enjoy this ...
*12*
297 Kyaw and Sven didn't take long to make it to the outskirts of the small town. They followed the contours of the base of the mountain and presently they came across a frozen lake to their right. The light of day still shown brightly and it was an austere sight. Nothing but snow and Ice and occasional trees where-ever you looked. You might think you were lost in the wilderness if you didn't look behind you to see the christmas lights of the town they were leaving behind. The mountain towered above them intimidatingly. It was quite a look up from it's steep cliffs.
298 "Hey Kyaw, check that out" said Sven pointing out a little island in the middle of the large frozen lake.
299 "Oh that. Yeah, they call it the lake of the Isle. It's a popular spot for skating in the winter and swimming in the summer. Kids like to go there" said Kyaw, as he continued to march forward through the knee deep snow. He was mainly focused on getting to their destination and he'd already seen most of the sights of the resort.
300 "Huh ... I'd like to go there" said Sven wistfully. "Then you'll probably want to get some skates. The ice is pretty cold against the footpaws and it's very slippery" Kyaw advised.
301 The Island had a certain magic to it for children who saw it. It was a remote place that could only be gotten to either in the winter when the lake completely froze solid, or, if one was willing to get there by swimming or boat. It wasn't somewhere you could just walk to. It was secluded in that sense, yet strangely close, like you could reach out and touch it. It was also small. Like a little kid Island all by it's lonesome. Lastly it provided privacy and cover with its trees. Parents and Adults rarely went there. As such it was a possible place for little boys and girls to sneak away and experience their first kiss together. In short, it was a little place of magic ... but one only little kids could experience. It was just a little island to everyone else.
302 In only a few minutes the boys had passed by the lake which had so enchanted and caught Sven's eyes, and presently he was now looking ahead at another one of the villages scattered out around the mountain. More impressive sights were to be had. The mountain towered above them. One particularly odd jutting peak could be made out. A Ski lift could be seen going all the way from the base of the mountain, carrying little red cab cars on a rail all the way up from the ground to that precarious peak, and then would carry them down to the Actually drop off point. There was something terrifying about that peak. As if it could crumble and send the whole thing tumbling down. There was also the childish temptation of getting off at that exact point to see the terrifying view below. In any case it made for an impressive view.
303 Kyaw directed Sven's attention to their real destination. "See there?" he pointed ahead. "That huuuuge building up ahead? That's where we're going!" he said enthusiastically.
304 "Oh. That is pretty big." Sven said surprised by the scale. "Yeah. They call it the Rec Center ... I don't really know why they call it the Rec Center though, your not allowed to 'wreck' anything there. It's ... well ... you'll see when we get there. I want it to be a surprise" Kyaw said.
305 "Alright" said Sven, not really sure what to make of all that. But he trusted Kyaw. He was sure he wouldn't bring him all this way to show him something lame.
306 Presently the boys were coming up to the Ski Lifts main terminal. It was like a little mini station. The little cars very slowly went up the mountain dropped of passengers, and then made another slow descent back to the station. Sven wanted to have a look but Kyaw waved him over toward the town instead. "Later" he said. "Come on, we're almost there".
307 Sven dutifully followed. He noticed a deep chasm below coming up on their right. He wondered if there was a way to get down there. There were safety rails around it to keep distracted kids from accidentally falling in. As it so happened there was a way to get down there, and in fact it was a popular hang out spot for kids exploring the caverns below the town, of which and intricate network existed.
308 They walked through the town's main square and there was a beautiful and very large Christmas tree standing in the middle. Kyaw paid it no mind and kept trying to hurry Sven along. Presently they came to the a ledge that was fenced off and Kyaw surveyed the territory to get his bearings. "There" he said pointing to some stairs they could see from the ledge. The had to go around and down another street, but sure enough Kyaw found the steps, and when they got to the top of them, there was the ginormous Rec Center looming above them. Sven could see up into the attic through the large windows. Kyaw continued to lead the way to the double doors and swung them wide open in suitably dramatic fashion.
309 "This ... is the Rec Center". The doors opened up to a large indoor basketball court where some older boys were practicing their shots. Sven stepped in and Kyaw closed the door behind them.
310 Kyaw pointed up to some windows at the top of the far wall. "See up there? That's what I've been wanting to show you. Come on" said Kyaw, clearly excited to show Sven his discovery.
311 The boys went around and behind the basketball hoops and came to the back half of the Rec Center. Opening up another set of doors revealed a pool hall with a crisp and crackling fire at the opposite end.
312 "Wow!" said Sven. They looked around for a bit when Sven noticed a strange pool table off to the side.
313 "Uh ... what's wrong with these?" he said. Instead of having spherical pool balls, the table had ones that looked squashed and flattened, like if you took a ball and pressed it down, and others that looked stretched out as if you tried to pull it's poles apart.
314 "Oh that ... that's a game the locales call 'Obes and Proles'. They said this resort used to be owned by a bunch of bloody loonies that believed some funny thing about the north and south poles being infinitely far away from the equator somehow. That's why you can never find Santa's workshop they said, cause it's like gajillions of miles more north than where a compass points? See this ..." Kyaw said holding up an "Obe", which were the flattened spheres, "they think The Furth is squashed like this and it gets more squashed as you travel towards Santa's workshop and that's why Flerfers exist. Oh and they think our sun is actually shaped like this ..." he said holding up a "Prole", which were the stretched out spheres. "... and it only looks round from here on The Furth. They also said The Furth actually does look round from outer space and that's why Nasa says the earth is a globe, but it's actually something called a hippo-glomping-something-or-other, but anyway, NASA actually knows better and only tell furs it's a globe so furs don't try and snag the infinite real estate tucked away within the 89th parallel! So basically everyone is right and also wrong. It's a globe and a pancake at the same time! They also said Einstein was only half-right, and you actually need something called hippo-relativity to figure all this stuff out which requires an advanced degree in their very expensive very exclusive seminary course. Anyway they're the ones that invented and played this game. This is the only table left. The locales say the game is broken and practically unplayable and they were all complete lunatics anyway ... literally. They worshipped the moon you see" Kyaw said rubbing his nose as if he didn't just spew some of the most insane random gibberish to ever grace Sven's ears.
315 Sven just nodded his head like he understood, but honestly he couldn't tell if Kyaw was being serious or was bullshitting him because it sounded absolutely incomprehensible and ridiculous ... perhaps too ridiculous even for Kyaw to have come up with. And how the heck were you suppose to play a game with pool balls that didn't even roll properly anyway?! Maybe it was some sort of practical joke the locales were pulling on visitors. An urban legend of some sort. "Uh ... huh ..." he finally said with an tone of skepticism that Kyaw completely failed to pick up on.
316 "Anyways ... that's not what I came to show you. Let's go upstairs" he said grabbing Sven's arm.
317 Kyaw led Sven through the various labyrinthine doors of the Rec Center, until they got to a path between two doors that led up a staircase. When they got up there, they entered a little dining area.
318 "Oh cool" Sven said, growing more impressed by this place the more they explored.
319 "Uh ... this still isn't what I wanted to show you, but we should get a snack first before we begin. We can get some muffins from that vending machine and that over there is a hot coco machine" Kyaw said enthusiastically.
320 Kyaw used the money his mother gave him to get himself a carrot muffin and Sven a chocolate and dandelion muffin, and then they both got cups of hot coco.
321 The room was a tad small but cozy and quaint, and nice and warm since the chimney wasn't far from where they were, providing heat throughout the back-half of the building. There were tiny tables on mounted on thin and very tall single pedestals. The chairs were likewise very tall and narrow. The boys had a little trouble climbing them and had to be careful not to knock them over on the way up, but they managed and then they were sitting across from each other munching on their muffins and sipping their hot coco's gingerly.
322 They didn't say much but there was a kind of glow that Sven felt. He felt ... happy. Content. Just to sit here with Kyaw and have this little adventure. It was weird. With his other friends it always seemed like silence was uncomfortable and needed to be filled with something inane and banal, but with Kyaw, he didn't feel any pressure. He could just look right at Kyaw and smile and he got it. He didn't need to explain. It was a nice feeling. With his other friends it would be "what you smiling at?!" and Sven wouldn't be able to explain. Whatever good mood he was in would instantly be shot after that. He didn't know why that sorta thing happened to him, but he was glad he finally found someone who didn't make him feel guilty for it.
323 After they finished their snack Kyaw showed Sven the attic. There was only a single room up there and it was absolutely massive. Kyaw said they used it to host performances but that it was usually empty. They looked out the large windows onto the vast wintery wonderland that surrounded them and it was kind of magical. Here they were in this cozy little place having this cozy little moment in this vast desert of cold emptiness. Sven felt he ... well ... it was better not to say what he felt. But he felt it.
324 At last they went back down to the snack room, and Kyaw took Sven through a small hallway at the back end of the Center. The floor was checkered in blue and pink and had a kind of stickiness to it, as if it hadn't been properly cleaned in a long time.
325 At last the hallway ended opening into a vista of vivid color ...
326 "Tada!" he said triumphantly with his arms raised.
327 Sven walked through the doorway gingerly to discover it opened up to a large room filled with arcade cabinets lights and noise. "Woooow ... uh ... what is this place?", Sven had never seen anything like it, though he had heard whispers of such places. What were they called again?
328 "It's an arcade silly!" said Kyaw with a little giggle. Oh right, those.
329 "Oh ... I think my brother hangs out at arcades." Sven said. "Wait ... but you've never seen one? Hasn't he ever taken you to one?" asked Kyaw confused. Sven just shook his head no. "Well ..." began Kyaw, "allow me to be the first to show you!".
330 Kyaw proceeded to give Sven a full tour. "Those are what we gamers call cabinets. They house various arcade games. Over there is an air-hockey table, and in the back there's a pinball machine. It's kind of like a mechanical arcade games I guess. And that over there is a crane game. They say they're rigged though". "Huh" said Sven absent mindedly taking in the sights and the sounds. All the colorful blinking pixels and bleeps and blips from the arcade cabinets. It was a lot to take in for someone who mostly stuck to playing sports and not much else. Sven collected baseball cards and would watch games with his dad, but all his hobbies centered around sports. When he was younger he used to like to draw pictures, but he had been made fun of for it so he didn't engage in as much or as openly as he once did.
331 Sven looked about thoughtfully, but kept his hands behind his back as if he was afraid to touch anything. Presently he came up to the Air Hockey. Sports. Now there was something he understood.
332 "Hey Kyaw how does this work?" he said gingerly.
333 "Oh that, you just flip it on". Kyaw hit a switch and air began to hiss out of it.
334 Kyaw and Sven played for a few minutes, but it quickly became apparent Kyaw was no challenge to play against. Not only could he not block his shots very well, but more often than not Kyaw would just hit the puck back into his own goal by accident. Kyaw lost 0-10 in short order. "Let's play something else" Kyaw said, feeling a little humiliated. "Yeah alright" Sven said looking around for something else they could try.
335 Presently Sven noticed a cabinet with a familiar game. "Oh ... it's Galagun, that game you always play at home!" he said excitedly. "The controls are built right into the cabinets huh." he said as he began to fiddle around with the joystick and tap the sticky buttons, the results of candy and soda from some careless kids.
336 After a few moments of no response from his inputs he started to get frustrated. "Oh it's broken! The buttons don't do anything!". Kyaw just giggled a bit at Sven's naivety on the subject. "He he ... no no no Sven. You have to pay to play that one. You gotta put quarters in the machine first". "Oh. Well how was I suppose to know? Anyway, I don't got any quarters" Sven said, pulling his pockets inside out to show he had no money. "That's okay. I've got loads hehe" Kyaw said. And with that he took out a little satchel he had strapped around his waist under his coat and took a fistful of quarters out to demonstrate. "See!". Sven thought the little satchel was kind of girly but he didn't want to say anything to make Kyaw feel bad.
337 "Pff! My parents don't give me any money! Your parents give you an allowance?!" whined Sven.
338 "Not an allowance. A stipend." Kyaw said matter of factily twitching his nose. "We get paid once a week for helping with the shop ... cleaning up, moving inventory, and sometimes watching to make sure the customers don't swipe anything while momma and Aunt Agie are busy"
339 "But still! I don't even get an allowance for doing chores around the house. Sigh ... why can't my family be fun like yours" Sven said, becoming a bit jealous of the bits.
340 "I don't know. Maybe they don't have any money left over cause they don't have any left after tithing to the church. Momma and Agi said that's what they used to make them do in their church, but now they just keep everything they earn and either invest it on the shop or us. We have savings accounts too"
341 "I don't even know half of what you just said. I didn't even know you were suppose to give church money"
342 "Oh sure ... how do you think they stay in business" said Kyaw off-handedly. "What?!" said Sven. "Anyway, let me show you how it works. Here watch"
343 Kyaw placed one quarter on top of the cabinet, intending to save it for later, and held another one in his paw. "Watch" he said. With that he took the quarter and slotted it in pushing the button. A little jingle chimed on the machine. "See, now it says 1 credit. That means you get one game. All you got to do is hit the player 1 button there, and it starts up". Kyaw motioned as if to say to go right ahead.
344 "Wait, you want me to play?" Sven said pointing at himself. "Yeah. I'll teach you all the tricks. Give it a try". "Oh no no, I don't think I'd be too good" Sven waved his paws nervously. "Oh come on. You tried to teach me how to play baseball" Kyaw said crossing his arms. "Besides I wanna watch you play. And you still owe me for abandoning me". "Again with that?! Look I'm sorry okay! It wasn't under my control!" Sven said a lot more angry than he had intended. Kyaw backed up a bit. He had only meant it teasingly. This was something girls tended to do to boys and Kyaw was just doing what came naturally to him. It did seem like there was a bit of a communications barrier between them as their intentions were often muddled in translation. It was only meant as a form of playful flirting so he could get Sven to do what he wanted. It wasn't meant to be taken seriously but merely played along with. Sven had basically killed the game. "I wasn't being serious Sven. I'm not even mad about it. I understand you wouldn't abandon me on purpose."
345 "Sorry. I don't know why I got so mad" Sven apologized. "It's okay ..." Kyaw said looking away shyly for a moment. Kyaw's thoughts became insecure, "You would never actually abandon me, right Sven? Or turn on me?". Sven was put off by the question and it took him a moment to respond, "Of c-course not! Don't be silly dude. I'd ... of course I wouldn't abandon or turn on you. We're friends right?" he tried to reassure, unsure himself what he'd really do if he were put in a compromising situation.
346 "Oh ... of course we're friends." said Kyaw a little downhearted. He didn't know why but somehow being friends sounded like it put some distance between them. After all, Kyaw knew Sven had other friends. It's not as if Sven was saying Kyaw was his best friend or anything. And if Sven had to choose between him and his other friends, would he really choose him? Kyaw didn't feel confident the answer was yes, and there was nothing in the tone of voice or the way that Sven had said what he said that instilled any confidence. None the less he forced a weak smile and didn't want to push the issue. He didn't want to put a strain on an already finnicky friendship. At least Sven was willing to spend time with him and Kyaw didn't want to lose that.
347 "So ... you ready?" said Kyaw with his paw just above the player 1 button. "Yeah" said Sven grabbing the joystick and hovering his hand just above the firing button. "All right" Kyaw said Slamming the button to start.
348 The machine came to life, loading up it's starting jingle. "WAVE 00" it read, and with that swarms of mecha-bugs began to start flying unto the screen. Sven had watched Kyaw play before. He knew what to do, in principle at least, and it seemed simple enough. How hard could it be? If Kyaw could manage it, then it should be a cinch for him, right?
349 Sven began tapping the fire button as fast as he could. The little bugs quickly popped and disappeared. "Easy" said Sven.
350 "They're almost in formation. Be careful Sven!" said Kyaw, knowing what was about to come. "I've got this Kyaw." said Sven a bit annoyed. Even though he'd only managed to kill off about a quarter of the bugs, it had felt like he was practically decimating their forces, and they hadn't even started to fight back. This game was too easy.
351 Finally the 0th Wave completed their formation and began to gently vibrate and vacillate across the screen. They didn't attempt any offensive maneuvers, but Sven suddenly found himself having trouble hitting the little buggers. They moved in weird ways, quickly swirling, spreading out and then regrouping, and his shots missed about half the time, making progress slow. It felt like he was pounding away but only really making a dent.
352 "Here they come" said Kyaw pointing at the screen. The buggers started to come down, launching shots as they went. Sven found himself just barely dodging. "Wait ... they're trying to crash into me?!" Sven said. "Well yeah!" said Kyaw. "But won't that kill them!?" Sven asked. "There's always more bugs, the galaxies got gargoobols of 'em Sven, and they'll happily die for their colony." Kyaw said with that theatrical tone that annoyed Sven. "Geez, you don't got to be so dramatic..." said Sven irritably. "Sven look out!" shouted Kyaw.
353 Three ships came down at once converging towards Sven's ship, the three of them weaved around each other as they closed in. Sven tried to dodge the shots but ran into one of the bugs in the process!
354 "Hey no fair. They trapped me" Sven said. "You needed to time a flow" Kyaw said matter of factily. "What?!" said Sven. "Oh. It's just a name I have for a certain trick. You need to match the Weaving pattern of the bugs. The three bugs are moving in a pattern similar to how you swap alternating strands when you braid someone's hair".
355 "Braiding ... -_-;" Sven said flatly. How was it Kyaw always managed to make everything so girly. It really made Sven uncomfortable and feel a little weird.
356 "Oh Sven!" Kyaw said covering his mouth. But it was too late. Sven had managed to get kamikazed again! "Dang it!" Sven said annoyed at himself.
357 "Great! I've only got one ship left!" whined Sven. He didn't like that he didn't seem very good at this game. It was only the 0th wave and he'd already lost two lives just being careless! Surely he could do better than this! "Hold on, I'll jump in and help" said Kyaw, and without waiting for an answer popped in another quarter and hit the player 2 button. He'd forgotten about the quarter he left on the control panel. He had originally placed it planning to jump in later anyway.
358 The game momentarily paused as Kyaw's ship warped to Sven's little sector of the galaxy. "Let me show you how it's done" said Kyaw getting ready at the joystick and buttons. Sure enough the bugs were about to dive bomb, but with reflexes as quick as lightning Kyaw would jiggle the joystick just right, and pop pop pop all the bugs would be popped before they barely left the formation. They didn't even have time to fire back! Within a few seconds, and some rapid and precisely aimed shots the entire right side of the formation was completely gone. "Quick Sven take safety on the right, I'll wipe out the left". "Oh ... oh okay I see" said Sven catching on. He maneuvered his ship over to the right of the screen where there were no longer any bugs. Sven could pick off the ones furthest right, and retreat to safety when their shots would come down. Kyaw went to work decimating the bugs in the middle and then on the left, and in mere seconds everything was nearly gone. Sven saw Kyaw's score quickly rack up. The faster and more precise your shots were the more points you'd get awarded for each successful shot.
359 "Here" Kyaw said as he quickly double tapped two buttons at the same time. A little jingle played and Sven had gained an extra life. "Hey what happened?". "I gave you one of my spare ships. Now concentrate. You need to get your score up and earn another life if you gonna stay in this game. Let's take out the last few enemies"
360 Kyaw had severely weakened the enemies phalanxes. Even if they were all to charge at once there would only be a manageable number of ships and shots to deal with. Sven did his level best to stay alive, dodging when necessary but he was finding it difficult to fight the game and stay alive while also landing shots. Suddenly a large mother ship came down and abducted Kyaw's ship.
361 "Oh Kyaw! You let yourself get captured!" Sven said surprised Kyaw had made such an obvious blunder. "That's the idea. Just watch" said Kyaw.
362 Kyaw's next ship loaded up, and sure enough he waited to the right moment to blast the mother ship and free his captured companion. Kyaw made some quick little taps and wiped the board clean, just as his two ships fused together forming what was known as A Champion. "This ship is called A Champion. It a bit larger but has better fire power" Kyaw explained.
363 "Aw man! I wanna Champion" Sven pouted. "I don't think you're ready but since I've got a champion we'll start getting power boxes on Wave 01. Imma let you grab 'em so be ready to pick 'em up. We're gonna need it. Things are gonna get a lot worse from here on"
364 "Shoot!" Sven said as he got more serious.
365 Kyaw smiled towards his friend "You ready for Wave 01 cadet?" said Kyaw. "Ay ay Squad leader!" said Sven loosing up a bit and having a little fun.
366 With that the two boys dug into "WAVE 01". Sven knuckled down and while he had a few close shaves, he had managed to stay alive. "Head left, I'll free up a power box" directed Kyaw. Sven got into position as Kyaw popped a special bug. It flashed and split into a formation of three bugs. With a bit of ducking and weaving, "flow" as Kyaw called it, Kyaw dodged all their shots and pop pop pop, Kyaw got a special score bonus and a power box popped out and Sven grabbed it. Sven's fire power was now a faster stream of blue plasma shots. "Wow! This is great!" he said as he easily mowed down the rest of wave 01.
367 Without even a breather "WAVE 02" fired up. Sven started to feel more confident again as they continued to mow down enemies successfully. Sven started to feel that warm feeling he felt in his heart. The same feeling he had that Halloween night when they were pretending to be a princess and a pirate. In short order Wave 02 fell just as Wave 01 before it. Sven felt invincible at the moment.
368 "We've got this" Sven said confidently. "Uh ... we are only in the zeroth sector. These are the baby levels Sven" Kyaw said flatly. Sven didn't like the sound of that. With that they quickly warped to their next outpost. "SECTOR 00: HIVE" the screen read. "Alright Sven, we've got to hit as many bugs as we can. This is a challenge wave. If we pop all the bugs we will get a Perfect Bonus".
369 The bugs swooped down following along curved paths. Sven didn't really know what to do so he just fired as fast as he could and tried to guess what the bugs would do next. Kyaw took out all the formations that were on his side of the screen and was able to hit the remaining bugs Sven had left in his formation as they went from one side of the screen to the other. If anything Sven made things a little easier for Kyaw since he didn't need to get all the bugs from both formations on his own, although he was plenty capable of that. He'd certainly memorized the patterns of the first dozen challenge stages quite well at this point.
370 "Yes! Perfect! Twenty Thousand Points". The points were split between them according to how many bugs they'd hit. The points racked up. A jingle played signifying Kyaw had earned an extra ship.
371 The screen then read "WARNING". With that a large bug-ship entered the screen. "What's the heck is that thing!?" said Sven a bit horrified at the extra large biomechanical bug. "That ... is a Sector Queen. She's mad cause we killed off all her babies! Watch out she can hatch formations on the fly Sven". Sven realized they were in for a fight.
372 "Focus your fire on the eyes, I'll handle the formations" said Kyaw. With that the queen started to fire her canons and launch formations at the same time. Sven tried to concentrate on landing hits, but he couldn't spend all his time shooting her eyes as he had to dodge the cannon fire. "Sven get out of there!" said Kyaw, but it was to late. The queen launched two waves of formations on either side and Sven was trapped in the middle. KERSH! Sven's ship exploded. Kyaw double tapped again. The jingle played and Sven got another spare.
373 "Oh Kyaw that was your last extra ship" said Sven feeling a bit guilty for dying so much. "I don't need it. I'll take care of the Queen. Park your ship here" said Kyaw pointing at a specific point on the screen. "Just don't move from that spot ... well ... unless you need to dodge shots as they coil around you" Kyaw said. "great ... -_-;" Sven said sarcastically.
374 Kyaw went to work firing at the queen with his double cannon blasters. Kyaw was well practiced and had little trouble "flowing" around bullets and enemies. Sven tried his best to stay safe where Kyaw had showed him, but he found it difficult to manage dodging all the shots in such a small space. Inevitably he moved out of the little circle of safety and got popped by a formation just as it was about to coil around the safety circle. "Shoot!" said Sven as he banged the cabinet panel. A few seconds later Kyaw landed his last shot on the Queen. "There" he said as the Queen started to burst into flames and explode. "SECTOR 00 CLEARED" The screen read.
375 "Now the game really begins" said Kyaw rubbing his finger on his nose with a bit of pride.
376 Sven felt a bit cross at having been thoroughly bested, but the feeling only lasted for a second as his ears suddenly pricked up. He heard the distinct sound of creaking would planks as someone was coming down the hall into the arcade! "Shoot! Someone's coming, quick let's hide" he said as he pulled Kyaw behind the cabinets.
377 The boys had no other choice. There was only one entrance and exit to the arcade and someone was walking straight towards it. Their only option was to hide and hope they might find an opportunity to escape eventually.
378 The boys crouched down behind the wires and both their ears were perked up and very attentive to even the smallest of sounds. Both of them had big ears designed for picking up even the faint sound of a pin drop from a furlong away. Sven had guessed from the particular way the foot paws were stomping about that it was his older brother Sigmund. He could just tell.
379 Sigmund did indeed enter the arcade and paused to observe his surroundings. "You in here Svy! I know you didn't go to get your fuckin' mittens!" he bellowed out.
380 Just then he heard Kyaw's Champion explode. "Okay now I know your in here!" he said, and quickly walked over to the Galagun Cabinet. "Huh ..." he said himself a bit confused. He'd expected to find Sven at the cabinet around the bend. "That's funny. Svy doesn't even play video games ... But someone has clearly been playing" he said as he observed the results screen pop up.
381 Damn it, thought Sven. His brother was too smart and always on to him. Why couldn't he just leave him the fuck alone!?
382 "Hah! 25,000. Pff. I can do way better than that!" bellowed out Sigmund arrogantly.
383 "So can I" shout whispered Kyaw. Sven nudged him to be quite.
384 "Wait a minute..." Sigmund said suspiciously. He noticed that there were scores for player one and two. The player 1 score was only around 25,000 while the player 2 score was well over 50,000. He then noticed the quarter left on the counter-top. Sigmund realized what must be going on.
385 Sigmund slammed his fist down on the counter-top. That made both boys jump.
386 "I know you're in here Sven ..." he said, "... and I know you've got the faggy little rabbit with you too!"
387 "quick Kyaw move" Sven said, realizing they were gonna get caught. Sigmund had realized the most likely place the boys were hiding was behind the cabinets.
388 Kyaw and Sven quickly hopped over the cords and hid on the other side of a cabinet, three cabinets down from the Galagun machine. Just as Sigmund looked around the corner "Ah ha!" he shouted ... they were already gone. "Huh..." he said disappointed. Little did he know both boys were huddled up very close together trying to conceal themselves, both their hearts racing at 300 beats a minute, trying to quietly catch their breath.
389 "Sven ... he's gonna catch us ... I'll give myself up and distract him then you can escape" Kyaw whispered ticklishly into Sven's ear. "No way..." whispered Sven into Kyaws ear. There was a path behind all the cabinets that would lead out of the arcade. But it would be tricky and he'd only get one chance to get past Sigmund behind the cabinets without him noticing. It was a risky plan, on the other hand, they would have to keep expertly scurrying behind cabinets if they didn't want to get caught, and there wasn't much chance they were gonna be able to keep this up.
390 Kyaw peaked around the corner to see that Sigmund was indeed checking between and behind the other cabinets desperately trying to find them.
391 "He's not gonna give up. He will find us ... but I've got a plan. I'll trick him into thinking I'm the only one here ..." Kyaw said he said sweetly in Sven's ear. Then he added sly "... and then you can swipe the keys while I distract him". Sven's ears perked up. That was a brilliant plan. Why hadn't he thought of it. But Kyaw was putting himself in danger. Sigmund might just decide to rough him up regardless. It was too dangerous.
392 "Don't do it Kyaw, he might hurt you" countered Sven gripping his friend with concern and to prevent him from leaving. "I can sweet talk him. I got this Sven. Just come when I tap twice. Oh sugar ... he's headed this way" said Kyaw.
393 Sigmund was indeed headed towards their side of the arcade having ruled out everything else.
394 Sven tried to pull on Kyaw's denim jacket to have them hide behind the cabinet again, but Kyaw was able to free himself from his grasp and popped out from behind the cabinet just as Sigmund was about to see both of them.
395 "You got me!" shouted Kyaw to his oppressor. Sven silently gasped, clumsily and awkwardly frozen in place backing up into the cords. He didn't know what to do but couldn't look away either. Kyaw took a step forward because he didn't want Sigmund to get any closer and see Sven around the corner. Big mistake!
396 Sigmund shoved Kyaw forward. "Didn't I tell you to stop hanging around my little brother fagbit! Where is he!"
397 "He's not here! It's just me." said Kyaw holding his ground.
398 "Bullshit. He's hiding and your covering for him. I saw there were two scores on Galagun!" Sigmund said as he got closer to the rabbit forcing Kyaw to back off a bit. Standing his ground would only invite more aggression. Sven snuck behind the cabinet just as his brother would have come into view. Now what, thought Sven. Sigmund had seen the scoreboard. He knew they had both played!
399 Sigmund looked suspiciously towards the gap between the cabinets. Kyaw noticed him paying attention and tried to get his attention. "HEY!" shouted Kyaw, surprised by his own boldness. This definitely got Sigmund's attention but not in a good way. Kyaw actually felt afraid with Sigmund staring him down clearly wanting do to something terribly violent to him. But Kyaw knew that he couldn't allow his fears to show right now. He had to play it off, to act the part. He could outsmart this bully if he just didn't waver and give himself away.
400 "I was going for a major high score dum-dum. That's why I was playing on player 2! Surely a Galagun player such as yourself knows about the player 2 trick!" Kyaw blurted out without cracking. Inside he was shivering and quaking with fear, but he showed no outwards signs. The acting was working. Sigmund looked carefully for even the smallest hint the rabbit was afraid or lying but he found none.
401 "Pff ... of course I know that! Everyone knows that..." he said defensively. He had indeed heard about the "player 2 trick" for advanced players, though he was surprised this little rabbit knew about it and skeptical he was good enough to need it, but he didn't actually know what the trick was or for. For those unaware in Galagun Player 1 only displays 5 digits and 1 hex, allowing a maximum recordable score of 1599990, but on player 2 it displayed 5 digits and 2 hexes for a maximum recordable score of 25599990. In any case, Kyaw had guessed correctly that he took some pride in his gaming chops and he wasn't about to admit any ignorance. "But there is no fucking way a little faggy twerp like you is that good"
402 A tiny smirk crossed Kyaw's face. He knew a way to defeat this bully now ... and he wouldn't have to even throw a punch ...
403 "heh ... oh I doubt your even remotely at my level ..." Kyaw said nonchalantly, mustering up all his courage to play the part of the cocky little grade schooler, stairing at his nails as if he was barely engaged. He'd never stood up to anyone like this before, but this was an arena he could actually play on equal footing. All he needed to do was keep playing into Sigmund's ego.
404 "Ha! Don't make me laugh. I've gotten higher scores by wave 02. You're no match for me." Sigmund said folding his arms. He wasn't about to let a little kid bluff him or fluster him. That would be stupid. He was twice this kids age.
405 Kyaw knew talk wasn't going to be enough. There was only one place left to go. "Oh yeah, prove it! Verse me right now. I dare you! And if I win ... if i win ... you have to leave me and Sven alone forever!" said Kyaw puffing out his chest. What?!, thought Sven. Kyaw's tail twitched nervously, but as long as Sigmund couldn't see it he wouldn't know. Kyaw was taking a terrible gamble here, but if it worked he might be able to finally get this bully to back down for good!
406 "Oh big talk lil floof. You're on! But let's make it interesting. If I win you never have anything to do with my little brother ever again faggot!" Sigmund said with a devilish grin.
407 No Kyaw, thought Sven, don't make that deal! He'll crush you. All my stupid brother does is go to the arcade and spend every little bit of money he gets his grubby paws on playing those stupid games! He'll destroy you! Sven wished he could say something, but all he could do was cower behind the cabinets and try not to make a sound.
408 "Fine! And when yoooou lose Sven and I can be together and you wont stop us!" Kyaw said crossing his arms with some sass.
409 "Aren't you pwecious" said Sigmund mockingly.
410 Kyaw scowled but said nothing.
411 "haha. You really think you've got a chance don't you?! You think just cause you can got past 50k at the end of Sector 00 you're hot stuff, but you've got no idea who your up against. I'm a regional champion. I eat smarmy twerps like you for breakfast. I'll crush you kid"
412 "I don't care! I'm going to beat you and then you are going to leave Sven and me alone for good." said Kyaw defiantly. Sven was always surprised by how bold Kyaw was for such a sissy boy. But right now he kind of wished Kyaw would stop being so courageous. Was Kyaw really willing to put their friendship on the line over a game? And what chance did a six year old have against a twelve year old? And not just any twelve year old, but a no good no life loser jerk whose only passion was playing those stupid arcade games!
413 "You've got guts ... but that's only cause your a dumb little snot nosed brat that doesn't know any better. Alright, you got yourself a deal faggot." Sigmund said with a smirk. As far as he was concerned this was a great way to humiliate the frail little rabbit and also get him to stop hanging around his brother. A win-win. Not to mention a chance to show off.
414 "Okay then. Let's shake on it" said Kyaw, extending his paw out. His paw was dainty and delicate. Sigmund could easily have crushed every bone in it if he wanted. If he wanted to be really evil he could have crushed it to injure Kyaw's paw and make it harder to play.
415 "Yeah, no, I'm not touching that. You probably stick your fingers up your bum all the time, so fuck that. Let's just get to it" Sigmund said, refusing to budge. Kyaw was left there with his paw hanging looking kind of foolish.
416 Kyaw definitely felt snubbed by the older boy but he couldn't allow his hurt feelings to show. "Fine. You go first" Kyaw said.
417 "Hahaha ... yeah no" said Sigmund.
418 An awkward silence past. Kyaw finally blurted out in frustration, "F-Fine! I'll go first then! You'll never beat my score anyway" and began to walk towards the cabinet.
419 Sigmund put his paw in Kyaw's way and pushed against his chest, stopping him in his tracks.
420 "Oh ho ho ... fuck no amigo! We're not playing the sissy way. Tournament rules. Simultaneous play, Competition mode. Let's see how well you do when you've actually got to compete against a Regional Champion. Comprende gaylord? Or do I gotta explain?!"
421 Kyaw paused. Now things were serious.
422 Although Sigmund believed Kyaw had no idea what he was getting into, little did Sigmund know, he actually didn't really know who he was up against either. While it was true Kyaw had never played in a tournament and hadn't really played seriously against anyone (unless you count the few times Skipsy bragged she could school Kyaw at Galagun and got spectacularly schooled instead much to her chagrin), he was definitely no slouch. Kyaw had gotten to incredibly high levels before and even broken a million points!
423 There were actually 16 unique Sectors in the game, comprising 64 waves. After that the game would repeat at a higher difficultly with the same bosses and challenge stages just amped up a bit. Kyaw had managed to make it all the way through the 64 unique stages. In fact Kyaw had made it all the way around twice and got to the fabled Sector 33, which contained the legendary Glitched Hive, called Hive 33, where all the bugs turned green and the formations never seemed to stop coming, one after the other ... even after the other bugs started breaking formation and dive bombing. The level was an absolute nightmare! He'd only ever gotten there twice. The first time he'd been playing for 5 hours straight, throughout the night when he finally got his first Hive 33 game. He got caught off guard and panicked. But Kyaw played for another 5 hours and only at the end did he make it to Hive 33 again. He was able to hold on for what seemed like ages, thousands of bugs fell to Kyaws double plasma canons, and yet the swarm just kept coming with more. Kyaw would have kept playing but his mom was incredibly mad when she got up to see Kyaw had never gone to bed and played the entire night. She unplugged the system. Kyaw was upset but he'd played the best game of his little life and he couldn't be too upset about that.
424 So, it should be an easy victory, right? Surely Sigmund didn't stand a chance. Well ... Kyaw didn't always make it through all 16 sectors even. It was a grueling marathon of attack patterns and quick reflexes, each sector with its own unique hive level at the end. But even that was not the real problem. If Kyaw concentrated he could probably pull off a high level game. Sure Kyaw had the endurance necessary, to probably outlast Sigmund ... if it were just each of them playing a separate game ... but now he'd have to compete with Sigmund for points ...
425 See one often survived to high levels by taking less risks ... not more. Kyaw wouldn't have that luxury now. He'd have to rack up points and pop more bugs faster and more accurately than Sigmund could muster or he'd have no chance of keeping up. Sigmund would just clear the boards and leave him no points to collect. Kyaw would have to play at the pinnacle of his ability non-stop and take just enough risk to edge out Sigmund without getting himself killed off prematurely. If that happened Sigmund would easily surpass his score with his remaining lives and Kyaw would most definitely lose. If Kyaw just tried to hang back a bit and stay alive then he'd fall hopelessly behind and never be able to recover.
426 Kyaw knew all this and that's why he hesitated. While he wasn't really part of the arcade scene and only played at home he understood what Competition Mode meant, and he knew it meant trouble.
427 But Kyaw wanted to prove to Sven that he wasn't a coward. That he was just as much boy as Sven was. He wanted to prove himself to Sigmund too and show him he wasn't just a little sissy rabbit. It's true he could never stand a chance against Sigmund in a straight fight, but this was one arena Kyaw at least had a chance at. It was just a stroke of luck that Sigmund also happened to be an avid gamer and had a lot of ego wrapped up in the game. It was the only way to get him to back down ... to injure his pride. Kyaw had to go for the gambit ... even if it meant risking everything ...
428 "No, you don't got to explain. Let's just play" Kyaw finally said, ducking under Sigmund's paw and heading for the Galagun cabinet ...
*13*
429 This was it. This would settle the score between them for good, Kyaw thought. You might think this was all part of Kyaw's ruse, and in part it was. It distracted Sigmund so he had now already forgotten that Sven was almost certainly hiding because he'd already seen evidence to suggest they'd gone off together. The plan had worked and the risk had managed to pay off. Sigmund was a brute but not a complete monster. He wasn't just going to beat the shit out of Kyaw without provocation. What about getting the keys to the trunk? That was also part of the plan, and Kyaw hoped Sven would follow through while he distracted him with the competition.
430 But Kyaw meant what he said. He was playing for all the marbles and he really did believe that if he could beat this bully in a game of pure skill, he'd earn his respect and actually keep his word to leave them alone. In any case, it was the only chip Kyaw had to bargain with. He knew very well he was a weakling, but that didn't mean he was a coward. That's what everyone tended to get wrong about him. Kyaw was craftier and more strategic than he let on. Furs often assumed that he was quite dull witted as well, despite him showing much aptitude in many areas. Kyaw's plan was three-fold, make Sigmund forget the Sven was there, steal the keys, AND force him to back down, and all with one master stroke.
431 Kyaw took a deep breath. Welp, no going back now, here it goes, he thought to himself, and reached into his little satchel strapped around his waist, unzipping the pocket to pull out another quarter.
432 "Oh. Do you need a quarter to play?" Kyaw politely offered. Even to an enemy Kyaw was ultimately kind and considerate at heart.
433 "Oh my fucking God. What is that, a purse?" mocked Sigmund.
434 Sven face palmed. Ugh, why did Kyaw have to be such a girly girl!
435 "It's my satchel. Here. I'll pay for your game" insisted Kyaw offering up the extra quarter.
436 "Satchel? Haha! Gay. Nobody says 'satchel', unless they're some kind of christmas fruitcake. And I don't need your money. I'm always prepared. Lemme show you how a real gamer holds onto quarters" said Sigmund. With that he pulled up his wool sweater to reveal a metal quarter dispenser. He pushed one of the buttons and unloaded a quarter for himself and loaded it into the machine. Sigmund always had it on him, and he converted practically all his money into quarters to play at the arcade. The money he didn't convert he spent on soda and junk food usually.
437 "Wow, that's really cool. I like your ... whatever that is" complimented Kyaw. Sigmund just looked annoyed by the friendly comment. "Flattery ain't gonna save your dumb ass. Hurry up and load in" said Sigmund impatiently. This kid made him uncomfortable. He wasn't used to anyone ever being nice, and he didn't like it. It just seemed like ass-kissing to him.
438 "Alright" said Kyaw, loading his quarter in and slamming the Challenger button. A new game loaded up and both Sigmunds and Kyaws ships loaded into position. Kyaw was ready to play the best galagun he'd ever played in his life, but he still had the where-with-all to remember Sven was hiding behind the cabinets. He gave two little taps like they'd planned to the side of the cabinet to signal that they had started playing and this was his signal to start moving over to the Galagun cabinet to try and swipe the key's from Sigmund.
439 Sigmund was on the player 1 side, and Kyaw on the player 2 side, so Kyaw was actually closer to Sven than Sigmund. Sven would be able to pass by Kyaw, and make eye contact before making his way around the cabinet to try and reach for the keys.
440 Sven heard the starting jingle and the double tap and knew that meant Kyaw was signaling for him to try and swipe the keys. Sven looked all the way down the row of cabinets and could see the opening to the exit. He could probably escape with Sigmund distracted with the game. Sven contemplated just getting out of there. But he couldn't abandon his friend. He couldn't trust that Sigmund wouldn't decide to rough him up anyway, especially if he actually somehow managed to lose to Kyaw. And Sven also couldn't bring himself to leave because he couldn't leave and not know the result of the game. Their friendship was on the line! He really wished Kyaw hadn't made such a ridiculous promise. Sven really wanted to punch Kyaw right now in the shoulder for making such a stupid deal. How could he risk throwing their friendship over a stupid fucking game!? When Sven realized how much that bothered him, he actually started to feel weird about it. Why'd he care so much? Why did he feel so personally offended by their friendship being treated like a bargaining chip? Sven tried to push the invasive thoughts away by telling himself that it was a bluff. Kyaw wasn't serious and it was all part of the ruse to get the keys ... or ... that Kyaw would never keep a promise like that even if he did lose. He'd never throw away their friendship so flippantly ... right? Stop it Sven, just forget about it, he told himself.
441 Was he really going to go and try to swipe the keys from his brother? Well, it was better than hiding behind the cabinets like a little scaredypuss. Maybe he really would be distracted enough not to notice his hand reaching out to his sweater pocket.
442 Sven started to crawl towards the back of the Galagun cabinet as Sigmunds and Kyaw's grudge match began. The more he inched forward the more his heart hurt. He was scared. Really scared. He really didn't want Kyaw to get hurt, and he was also afraid of something else ... but he couldn't quite figure out what exactly. Why should he be afraid of his big fat stupid brother anyway?! And yet, he just wanted to run away and hide from the situation. Sven's heart was very confused ... and yet ... he uncertainly inched forward ...
443 "SECTOR 00: WAVE 00" The screen read. This was it. The moment of truth.
444 The formations began to fly in, and Kyaw was ready to start tearing into them, but Sigmund was no idiot, he immediately flew into Kyaw's line of fire and began hammering away at the bugs unlike anything Kyaw had ever seen. p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-pop!!! The bugs disappeared faster than Kyaw had ever seen! And worst off he completely cleared Kyaw's side of the board, he'd only popped a few bugs and his score was behind! Shit! Sigmund then leaned quickly into the left side and was already clearing it in record time. He wasn't fucking around. Sigmund was playing at the top of his ability. He wasn't stupid. He knew Kyaw was probably good based on the high score so early in the game, so he knew that he had to completely destroy him if he was going to have a chance.
445 By the time Kyaw realized what was going on it was too late, "Hey!" he said heading into the left side of the board, and trying to gain some points while he still could. He managed to get a few bugs before the board was completely cleared. "Haha! You snooze you lose!" Sigmund Sneered. The cat was in the bag, this little kindergartener wasn't going to get the best of him. Especially not one who carried a sissy little waist purse to carry his quarter in!
446 Kyaw had only managed to snag 2,560 points at the end of Wave 00, while Sigmund had amassed 7,920! Kyaw was going to have to really fight if he was going to have a chance, he was some how going to have to be faster and more accurate at his shots than Sigmund or he'd never be able to catch up. But Kyaw knew one thing, "splits" was coming up and that would give him a chance. Splits was any level where instead of the formation coming down in one wave, it would be broken into two halves that would only join up at the end. If Kyaw was quick with his side he could force Sigmund to have to stick to the other side to have a chance since it wasn't possible to hit bugs on both sides of the board at the same time. Hitting the bugs at entry point was the way you gained the most possible points for the bugs, so it didn't pay to wait for them to get into their positions and shoot them later.
447 "SECTOR 00: WAVE 01" read the console. Kyaw wasted no time, he started heading towards the right to pre-emptively take out the right-split. "Oh no you don't" Said Sigmund, immediately following Kyaw's lead, determined to mirror him the whole time and destroy him psychologically. Kyaw smirked. Sigmund fell for it, Kyaw had shifted just at the right spot and fired immediately so that the very first bug that came down was immediately popped. Kyaw went into full berzerk mode, p-p-p-p-p-p-p-pop! Even though Sigmund quickly caught on, Kyaw had simply got the jump on him. Sigmunds shots were out of sync and he quickly realized he had no choice but to go over to the other formation because Kyaw was definitely gonna pop every last bug on the left-split, p-p-p-p-p-p-p-pop
448 Sigmund was behind on tempo now. The first bug had already reached its docking position so he wasn't going to be able to make as many points on his side of the board no matter what. FUCK! He was pissed. He fired away and just decided that he was going to completely decimate the right.
449 Both boys rapidly eliminated the board but Sigmund played a little conservatively to try and reserve a mother ship for himself. If he got the double ship first that would give him a competitive advantage and then he could just decimate all remaining mother ships and keep Kyaw from getting a double ship himself!
450 There weren't many bugs left and Kyaw saw the Mothership getting into position and quickly popped it with double escorts to score even more points, preventing Sigmund from getting captured.
451 "You butt-munch!" Sigmund growled slamming the console. "Oh No mercy for you pipsqueak" he vowed. Kyaw gulped, but didn't let himself visibly flinch. The score now stood at 10,240 for Kyaw and 13,800 for Sigmund. Kyaw still had a ways to go, but getting those extra points and the double escort bonus definitely had even things out. Still Kyaw would have to continue to play consistently if he had any hope of making up his loses. He also needed to keep double ships out of the game at all costs unless he got lucky and an opportunity presented itself to him first. It was the safest strategy for now. Power boxes wouldn't come into play until they reached the 1st Hive without Champions in the game. Kyaw still had a uphill battle. Clearly Sigmund was no push-over. Kyaw had never faced a real opponent like this before, and while his heart was racing adrenaline was coursing through his little veins, his ears becoming a very light flustered pink, he none the less felt the swell of excitement at the first time to really prove himself competitively. He'd always wanted to play against someone but had always been to shy and timid to ask. He usually also felt flustered cause he usually liked the boys he'd meet at the arcade and couldn't bring himself to speak up. So this was more of a big deal to Kyaw than you might expect. He'd finally found the courage to stand up to someone and stand his ground. And he owed it all to Sven, Kyaw thought to himself with a smirk.
452 There was no way Kyaw was going to let Sigmund win. He'd keep on fighting and hanging on no matter the cost. There was no way he was gonna allow Sigmund come between them. Darling, sweet, handsome, Sven, sigh, he's everything to me, thought Kyaw. I won't let Sigmund take him away from me!
453 Sven was now making his way to the back of the Galagun cabinet. He could hear the carnage that was going on and how frantically the two boys were hammering away at those bugs and practically pushing those joysticks and buttons to their limit, 'man' overwhelming 'machine'. If Sven felt nervous before he felt and absolute pit of fear in his stomach now. This was a bad plan. There was no way this could work. Sigmund would definitely see him. The game was pretty loud though and the boys were pretty engaged in their game, so maybe just maybe if Sven was real careful he could pull it off? Could he make it to Kyaw's side at least?
454 Sigmund and Kyaw had made quick work of Wave 02. Kyaw was sure to get rid of the motherships immediately this time even if it meant sacrificing some bonuses. It was simply was not worth the risk. Consequently he'd had to give up a bit of ground. The score stood at 20,480 for Sigmund to Kyaw's 16,200. The best chance Kyaw had was to try and make a come back from the Sector 00 Hive. This was a stage where it was possible to sweep up tons of points and really turn the tide of the game if he played his cards right.
455 "SECTOR 00: HIVE" read the screen. With that the Galaguns hyperjumped into the heart of the insectoid lair. For the first phase the goal was to maximize ones score by shooting as many bugs as possible. Instead of getting into their phalanxes, once they completed their flight path they flew off the screen never to return. So the key was to kill as many of them as possible before they exited to rack up points. Not only were they worth double what they would normally be, but if you got all the bugs in a formation you'd get a formation bonus on top of that. For Sector 00 this was an additional 800 points per formation. If all the bugs in a formation were shot by one player then the bonus would be given out, otherwise neither player would receive anything even if all the bugs in the formation were shot. The good news is that the formations always came in pairs that would be at near opposite ends of the screen.
456 Both boys knew what to do. Sigmund took left and Kyaw took the right. They had all the patterns committed to muscle memory. It was just a matter of not messing up by being the tiniest bit off aim. If the bugs completed their flight path on one side of the board they would fly to the other giving the other player a chance to snag the missing points. So they'd have to shoot every bug on their side as soon as they were in range.
457 What following was a beautifully choreographed dance of joystick jostling and ol' school button mashing. The bugs tried to weave in confusing patterns but both boys knew exactly the spots they needed to be in, lining up for their shots and getting every bug in the formation. There was no point risking a switch over and losing all the points on one side. p-p-p-p-p-p-p-pop went the weasels and in no time at all both of them had cleared the board. "PERFECT" the screen read, with every bug popped. Neither had made a mistake. Any mistake could be costly. The spoils were split dead down the middle. 17,120 to Sigmund and 17,120 to Kyaw! The scores were now 37,600 to 33,320 with Sigmund still in the lead.
458 Now it was time to face off against the Queen. 80 hits points, giant plasma cannons to dodge, not to mention newly hatched larva to deal with as well. But that's not what concerned them. They had the experience and know-how. This was a battleground not of war but of sport. Who would emerge triumphant after this cornucopia of points, bonuses, power boxes, and gaming exploits?
459 Sven had now managed to peak around the cabinet to see Kyaw standing there, eyes laser focused on the task ahead. Sven saw a seriousness and determination he'd never witnessed in him before. Kyaw was so focused that, indeed he didn't even notice Sven looking right at him. Sven took the opportunity to look at Kyaw, admiring his friends determination to fight for them. Wait ... what the fuck was he doing. Stop being weird and staring you you ... ugh ... just get the keys.
460 He now forced himself to slowly crawl, as low as he possibly could, up to the right-side of the Galagun cabinet. He was a little concerned he might freak out Kyaw and blow his concentration, worst yet blow both of their covers. So he was very careful to take his time and not make any sudden movements to alarm Kyaw at this critical juncture in the game.
461 Sigmund and Kyaw took as many pot shots as they could get into the Queens beady red bug eyes, racking up 80 points a pop, but they could just stand in place and had to dodge enemy fire. To maximize hits they had to weave as close to the shots as much as possible to minimize the time to returning fire. Kyaw got bold and actually weaved through a pair of shots to find an opening and get some extra shots in, a risky maneuver. If he'd died he'd have to wait a few seconds for his next ship to load. A few precious seconds could mean losing out on hundreds or a even a few thousand points that he needed to gain the lead.
462 The Queen dispatched her larva and the boys instantly switched stratagems, focusing on popping the young bugs as quickly as possible.
463 It was then that Kyaw saw his opportunity. A flashing larva who would drop a power box. But the window of opportunity was small and would only last a few seconds. Sigmund saw it too!
464 The larva's flight path had it circling in the middle of the screen ... right in the Queens line of Fire!
465 The plasma blasts came down in a particularly gnarly pattern requiring a tricky weave maneuver. Sigmund tried to make it through but got his ship shot down ... that's when Kyaw went for it, a lightning fast and precision jiggle of the joystick ... and he was through! He shot the bug down and grabbed the power up before Sigmund could even respawn!
466 "AARRGGH! NO FUCKING WAY!" Sigmund bellowed violently hitting the console again. Sven and Kyaw both flinched but Kyaw's focus was so ironclad that even this did not cause him to fumble. He managed some difficult movements, landing tons of shots on the queen now with double plasma cannons in tow and found the opening to escape from the center of the maelstrom unscathed!
467 Sigmund tried to keep up as best he could but Kyaw was now kicking butt and the point gap was quickly closing! Kyaw had managed to get three quarters of the remaining larva and was now hammering away double shots to finish off the queen.
468 Sigmund was livid. How could he make such a cataclysmic mistake! The point was to bait Kyaw into dying trying to go for the power box, NOT HIM!
469 Kyaw got most of the final shots in as Sigmund now had lost his nerve to get through the more risky canon fire, instead opting to blow out one of the canons to gain less points but make entry safer.
470 The Queen exploded and the wave was complete. The final tally: Sigmund 45,520 to Kyaw ... 44,600. Kyaw had managed to nearly close the gap with that little stunt! There was only a 920 point difference now, something Kyaw could definitely close on the next level. The first wave of Sector 01 though was a little tricky, but Kyaw knew he could use it as an opportunity to catch up. The next level was "The Loom", a level where the bug formations didn't wait for the other ones to complete and thus laced and phased through each other creating more intricate and tricky patterns. This was anyone's game now!
471 Just then as the Screen loaded up "SECTOR 01: WAVE 04" Kyaw caught a glimpse of Sven making it all the way to Kyaw's toes. He did a double take as if he'd completely forgotten he was there. He was that focused. But then he just glanced for a moment and gave Sven a handsome little smile before returning his eyes to the game.
472 Alright, thought Sven, this is it. He peaked his head under the coin operated panel and looked straight up ... and there was Sigmund ... and he looked pissed ... real pissed!
473 He had expected to completely smoke Kyaw and here he was now having to match him blow for blow just to hold on to some meager edge. The "baby levels" were over and the bugs were no longer so passive. They fired back as soon as they entered the screen, and more challenging maneuvers were needed to keep popping them fast enough to keep the board manageable. Before you knew it they were whizzing around in arced paths and both boys had to keep their eyes absolutely sharp to track all the movements at once. There were invisible highways that only experienced Galagun players knew, roads of safety and roads of high traffic to be avoided or for passing through to be precisely timed. Kyaw's double shots were currently taking out bugs faster than Sigmund could manage with his single canon rig. They were only about halfway through the wave and Kyaw had already surpassed him ... and was leading now by 880 points ... but all Sigmund cared about right now was finding an opportunity to power up and even up the match ...
474 And finally he saw it, a flashing bug about to split into three parts. Kyaw saw it too and was going to try and intercept it, kill the bug before it split but Sigmund was prepared this time. He made a quick maneuver to guide the shots all to one point that cut off Kyaws path. Kyaw had to back off and focus on the right side. The bug split and with a flick of the wrist that only an experienced player knew how to pull off, pop-pop-pop and Sigmund snagged the power box.
475 But it was too late, Kyaw was now had a 3000 point lead going into Wave 05. It was now 49,320 to 52,600 Kyaw!
476 Kyaw was on a roll! He could feel victory within his grasp! He started to let loose with some of his most fluid and inventive gameplay! I can win, I know I can, said Kyaw to himself.
477 "Enjoy that meager lead while you can twerp! It won't last" said Sigmund coldly. There was no way he was letting a little pissant, especially a little flamboyant pissant, humilate him at his game. This prissy kid had to go. No way he was gonna accept him being Sven's friend.
478 Sven could see the steely focus that Sigmund had to the game. Maybe, just maybe he could reach to his sweater pocket. It was so close! Alright, here it goes he thought. Slowly he reached his hand out, reaching around the cabinet. He was too afraid to actually look. He had his head pressed up against the side of the cabinet with his eyes closed as his hand slowly inched towards Sigmunds right sweater pocket.
479 The tournament raged on all the while, as points continued to rack up on both sides, but Kyaw was managing to hold on to his lead. Sigmund and Kyaw's ships weaved around each other pressing for minute advantages but they were about dead even in terms of skill.
480 That's when Sigmund saw an opportunity, Kyaw had taken to the left side and Kyaw was in trouble. He was starting to get edged to the far left side of the screen. That meant eventually getting trapped and certain death. Kyaw kept trying to maneuver back to the center, but there was lots of traffic cutting him off. Bugs whizzing around in circles of different sizes on the invisible highway. Kyaw couldn't find the opening to pass through to the other side. Being a few dozen milliseconds off could mean the difference between life and death. All it took was one bug to crash into you to burst into flames ... ol' school gaming at it's finest. Then Sigmund saw there was one mothership left and as his luck would have it she was headed his way!
481 "Oh you're fucked now!" Sigmund said as he dodged a couple shots, dodged a few bugs and patiently waited for his opening to get captured.
482 Just a little further, Sven told himself. He reached out his paw but realized he wasn't quite making it far enough. Shit, it wasn't far enough. He felt his way around when suddenly he made contact with something soft and warm a little unsure what it was. He realized it couldn't be Sigmund as his arm wasn't far enough. What was it? He gave it a little squeeze and notice it had a certain firmness to it ... an adorable little squeal was emitted in response ...
483 Oh god ... Sven thought ... I just grabbed Kyaw's crotch didn't I!
484 Kyaw momentarily lost his concentration and a stray bullet caught him off guard. KERSH! Kyaw blushed from a combination of being humiliated by losing due to accidentally being groped and also by being felt up, even momentarily by Sven.
485 "Haha!" Sigmund laughed at Kyaw's expense "You squeal just like a little girl! Now you're royally screwed!" he said as his ship was captured. Now Sigmund only had to wait for his next ship to load in. With Kyaw momentarily out of commission he wouldn't be able to widen the gap while Sigmund waited.
486 Both boys waited there for what seemed like an eternity while hoped to gain an advantage by loading back in first.
487 Then like the shot of a gun both boys loaded in at the same time and went straight into position. Sigmund just had to shoot down the mothership when it was in range, easy enough ... but Kyaw would have to somehow shoot Sigmund's spare ship without hitting the mothership and releasing it for him. No mean feat.
488 After Sven had recovered from being completely mortified for grabbing unto Kyaw's ... uh ... unmentionables ... he decided to peer around this time and swerved his head around the corner in order to have more give to work with. He grasped forward slowly so as not to trigger Sigmund's peripheral awareness and was just about to touch the hem of his pocket ...
489 Sigmund and Kyaw were engaged in positioning themselves in just the right spot despite all the plasma shots flying about. The mothership began her descent. There were some bugs in the way but Sigmund got to work clearing a path without getting hit. It looked like he was going to get his way. With a Champion he'd be able to edge out Kyaw for points and likely keep it that way for the rest of the game. He fired the shot destined to free his ship ...
490 ... but Kyaw had already let loose his own bullet only 12 milliseconds earlier ... both bullets hit their target at the exact same time! Sigmunds hit the mothership while at the same moment Kyaw hit the spare! Mutual Annihilation. "NO FUCKING WAY!"
491 For reasons only the gaming gods could comprehend it was very easy to shoot your own spare by accident, but very difficult to shoot an opponents spare on purpose. Yet somehow Kyaw had pulled it off!
492 At that moment, Sven was slowly worming his hand through Sigmunds pocket, trying to be careful not to have him notice by feeling a little paw reaching inside. Then Sven felt something cold ... THE KEYS! He just slipped his pinky around the ring when this happened ...
493 Sigmund slammed his fist into the console "GODDAMNIT!" causing both boys to flinch again as usual ... only ... this caused Sven's hand to tug at Sigmund's sweater. He felt that! He looked down to see Sven with his hand's down his sweater pocket. Sven gave a weak little smile, "hehe" he said nervously, "hi?"
494 "You little shit!" is all he managed to say cause Kyaw took this moment of distraction to shove Sigmund over a little bit. Kyaw rapidly double tapped on Sigmund's buttons forcing all Sigmund's remaining ships to be donated to Kyaw's side, leaving Sigmund with only the ship he was currently piloting.
495 "Wai- WHAT!?!" he said as he suddenly realized what Kyaw had done.
496 Sven took this moment grab the keys out of Sigmund's pocket and run around to the back of the Galagun cabinet.
497 "You little ass!" bellowed Sigmund as he lunged towards him. Kyaw did his best to hold the bigger stronger boy back as Sven made his way around to the other side of the cabinet. At that moment Sigmund's last ship exploded.
498 Oh ... that did it. He grabbed the little rabbit by his frilly little denim jacket and brought Kyaw face to face with the tween, smacking their foreheads together. "You little cheat! I am going to put out that little flame of yours!" he said as his thumbs wormed their way up preparing to strangle the life outta the dainty rabbit.
499 "Don't hurt him!" Sven said as he jumped on Sigmunds back and pulled his hoody over his eyes. Sigmund instinctively grabbed behind him. "RUN!" he told Kyaw. Kyaw wasted no time and leapt out of the way. Just like a real rabbit he made a few evasive hops and he was out the door, but then he paused to look back.
500 "You're Dead Svy! Wait til I get my hands on you!" Sigmund said, and he wasn't fooling around either. He was pissed off at being tricked by the two of them.
501 Sven was holding on for dear life so that Sigmund couldn't get a hold of him. Kyaw nervously panted but couldn't do anything to either move towards or away from the situation. Sven looked back at his friend, "GO!" he said. "I can handle him! Just get out of here!" he said waving his hand to shoo Kyaw away. "NO!" Kyaw said refusing to leave his friend.
502 "You wanna play Svy, alright, lets PLAY!" Sigmund said as he grabbed Sven's legs and rammed him backwards into the Galagun Cabinet. BAM! Ah that really hurt.
503 It was then out of pure instinct that Kyaw came scampering on the floor towards Sigmund. Rabbits are timid but you don't want to make them mad! They can have a mean little temper, especially when cornered. Kyaw grabbed Sigmund's legs and bit him ... hard! "Cheap FA-ARGHIT!" was all he managed to get out. Sven took this opportunity to pull Sigmund's hoody down and pull on his ears. Sven was able to free one of his feet and gave his brother an incredible kick to the head. BAM!
504 And with that Sigmund let go and Sven hopped off free. "LET'S GO!" he said to Kyaw, and the both of them made a break for it, Keys in tow!
505 Sigmund got his bearings as the boys ran straight down the checkered hall in a mighty hurry. "Oh ... you are BOTH SO DEAD!" he said as he started to run after them.
506 Both boys bolted as fast as they could, running into and pushing off the walls to keep going, with Sven pulling Kyaw by the paw as fast as he could. "Slow down Sven I can't keep up" he begged to which Sven could only manage to say "Can't!". They knocked over a table and some stool but couldn't stop to fix them, and they practically tumbled down the stairs. They slammed into the wall at the bottom of the steps. Now where? Sven hesitated, but Kyaw pulled him through the door leading to the Pool tables. Kyaw quickly lead Sven around the corner as they passed the Obes and Proles table, and then they waited to hear which way Sigmund would go.
507 Sigmund was not far behind them, bounding as best he could lugging his weight around. He also practically tumbled down the stairs. When he got to the bottom he also went right, the same way Kyaw and Sven had went.
508 Kyaw pulled Sven through another door, to a room where they stored wine and liquor and they hid. There was a window between the pool hall and the liquor room. Kyaw took a little peak around to see what was happening.
509 "What did you see?" asked Sven, trying to catch his breath. "... he's in there ... he's looking for us". "Let's make a break for it!" Sven said not wanting to sit around and wait to be found. "Uh huh!" Kyaw whole heartedly agreed.
510 The boys took the door leading back out into the basketball court, the older cubs none the wiser. They ran at top speed because at any moment Sigmund might check the large area. They raced to the very doors they had initially came in through.
511 "Come on" Sven said grabbing Kyaw by the paw. Both boys ran down the hall underneath the basket ball hoops to the other side of the building and exited.
512 They were outside again and the cold air hit them like a ton of bricks. Sven paused to catch his breath still holding Kyaw gently by the paw. He was so focused on watching out for Sigmund that he didn't even realize how he was holding Kyaw's paw like that ... but Kyaw sure noticed. It was stirring something up in him that strangely made him feel both like his heart was going to float out of his chest, but also very sad at the same time, a feeling of wistful longing he couldn't pindown.
513 ... and the moment was gone. "We can't stay here, we're too exposed" Sven said, and the boys were off again, Kyaw practically losing his balance as Sven forcefully pulled him along.
514 Sven and Kyaw took the liberty to let themselves in someone's backyard. There was a low gate that Sven was able to unlock. They then hid behind the high fence. But they couldn't hide here forever, and someone might see them at get mad besides.
515 Sven paused to catch his breath. He slammed his head against the fence. "Great! Sigmund is going to keep looking for us, there is nowhere to go! My brother is relentless he's never gonna stop coming after us now! ARG!" Sven said looking up with resignation.
516 Kyaw came up to his friend to try and calm him down. Very gently he came up close to him and held Sven's paw in his. "It'll be alright ..." he said sweetly. Kyaw kept getting closer, as Sven pulled away, but he backed up against the fence and had no where left to go.
517 At last their bodies met. "At least your brother can't keep us apart ..." Kyaw said. Then he gently snuggled himself underneath the crook of Sven's neck pressing himself against his chest. Kyaw sighed a satisfied little sigh. He felt safe nestled at Sven's chest. Every hair on Sven stood up on end as he bristled at the physical contact. Then an anger began to flash up in him. Kyaw could hear Sven's heartbeat racing, the "love" he felt for him he thought, "Oh Svyb..." he sighed. That did it! Enough of this, thought Sven. THIS, THIS is what started all this trouble in the first place! All this this ... sissiness! ...why couldn't Kyaw stop being such a such a ...
518 "Get off of me!" Sven shouted, shoving Kyaw off of him. Kyaw was so stunned he didn't know what to do, his body just became stiff. "Great plan Kyaw! We could've just gotten out of there, BUT NO! You had to piss my brother the fuck off! Now what the fuck are we suppose to do?!". Kyaw just babbled, attempting a response but feeling too hurt to make words come out right "bu- I was jus- I was jus-" he mumbled.
519 Sven grabbed the rabbit by the scruff of his denim coat and pulled him right up to his face so that they were now pressed up nose to nose. Kyaw's arms just went limp at his side, he couldn't resist Sven. "SHUT UP! JUST SHUT THE FUCK UP! DON'T YOU GET IT KYAW! THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT!" Sven finally blurted out right into Kyaw's quivering face.
520 Theirs eyes were completely transfixed, and their open mouths were not even an inch apart. Still winded from all their running and terror their cold breath escaped in little white puffs mingling together in the cold . Sven could feel the gentle boys every breath sweet breath. The nervous uneven breathing of a rabbit. So close, so warm, so soft ... so inviting. Sven felt a warmth begin to build though out his entire body. The rabbit boy was completely helpless. Completely at Sven's mercy. He could do anything he wanted to him right now and Kyaw wouldn't resist, he'd let him do it ... and for reasons he couldn't understand that gave him a strange and powerful desire. And what he wanted to do to him more than anything in this moment, was press his lips against his. So sweet so vulnerable so guileless so lovable ... and ... most importantly ... so close ... less than a breath away. Sven began to blush like he'd never blushed before his whole body turning red.
521 In this moment he couldn't bring himself to let the poor boy go. He just lingered on the moment as if savoring it, Kyaw's little whiskers gently tickling his face. Torturous Tantalizing temptation. Should he ... go for it? Should he?
522 The warmth continued to grow and grow until it had no where else to go ...
523 ... and that is why Sven let go and had to look the other way, red as a beat. He couldn't look at Kyaw a moment longer. He breathed heavily trying to get back to normalcy ... whatever "normal" was even anymore. He just wanted this feeling to go away, right now!
524 Kyaw was genuinely confused and concerned. Moments past. "Sven?" no response. "Sven! Sven what's wrong? Talk to me!" still nothing. Then Kyaw tried to reach his paw out to Sven again.
525 "Don't touch me!" Sven shouted recoiling.
526 Kyaw backed off. Then he said, "I'm - I'm sorry Sven. I-I- ..." Kyaw said tears beginning to well up in his eyes. Sven awkwardly glanced in his direction. "D-Don't cry" he said crossly "Please don't cry". "I-I can't help it. You hate me now..." Kyaw said pathetically. Sven rolled his eyes. "I don't hate you, I've never hated you ... it's ... it's complicated Kyaw ... I ... it's just .... sigh ... just forget it. Look, the important thing is, what exactly are we suppose to do now?! My brother is definitely gonna kick your sorry ass ... and mine too and we're not gonna be able to talk him out of it!"
527 "Where are you twerps?! I know you're here somewhere! Dad gave me the keys safekeep. Give me back the keys Svy, or I swear you won't live to see your balls drop!" they could hear Sigmund hollering. He was close, very close.
528 "Shit! He's gonna find us! We're screwed!" Sven said despondently.
529 "Let 'em" Kyaw said with a little smile coming through as he dried his tears.
530 "Huh?!" said Sven definitely puzzled by that response.
531 "Hehe ... sniffle ... I've got a plan" Kyaw said cheerfully. "Another one?", Sven said with a scowl. "Come on, I know my way around, just follow me" Kyaw said, grabbing Sven and pulling him along. Sigh, thought Sven, here we go again ...
532 ... but deep down ... he wouldn't have it any other way ...
To Be Continued ...
