An Unexpected Host

+ CHAPTER 2 +

"Of course! Thanks for the day off!"

"Mk!!"

A new voice approached, and Mei walked right inside, even though the shop obviously said 'closed' on the front.

"Mei?"

"Mei!"

Mk ran past a confused Pigsy to his best friend, hugging her.

"Mk!"

Mei repeated, hugging him back for a moment before letting go.

"You aren't gonna believe it! There's a new volume of Monkey Mech out! Mr. Pigsy! Could Mk pleeeassse come with me to check it out?!"

Pigsy could hardly even utter a 'yes' before Mei was dragging Mk out of the shop, walking towards the game store a few blocks away.

"I thought it came out next month!"

Mk spoke as he speed-walked next to Mei, trying his best to keep up.

"I know!! They released it early! Apparently, there's a super-secret boss level if you play for 100 hours!"

"Really?! Oh this is gonna be AWESOME!"

Mk flung his hands in the air in celebration, catching a few confused looks from passer-bys.

When they arrived at the game store, people were already crowding in. Mk and Mei slipped in, walking over to the spot that had the game. There was just one left, Mk grabbed it quickly and held it in front of himself and Mei so they could look at it.

"Oh cool!! And they fixed the health-drop bug!"

Mei pointed to some little red text on the bottom corner of the box, giddy.

"Darnit! No more cheated wins for me in PvP I guess."

Mei just rolled her eyes as Mk whined. She grabbed the box from him, turning it over, her eyes widening at the price.

"Yikes, that's a lot.."

"Well they did say that it was like- HOLY-"

Mk had been glancing around and just now noticed the price, he reached into his pocket, pulling out a little less than half the price.

"We could pool together..?"

Mei pulled out her wallet, flipping through it and pulling out some cash.

"Mhm!"

Mei grabbed the money from Mk, counting it.

"We've got enough, cmon! I hardly ever see you get anything nice for yourself, the last time you got something that wasn't vital was like- A year ago"

They walked up to the register and slipped the box over to the cashier, who scanned it and told them the price. Mei handed them the money and the cashier just smiled and nodded, giving them the receipt and game in a bag. Mk and Mei cheered, grabbing it and walking out of the store. As they walked back they began talking about the game.

"I'm hoping that the spider-boss got cut from the game, she wasn't on the box."

"Oh what? You scared of digital spiders? Is it 'cause of the run-in you had with the Spider Queen?"

"Yes, it's because of that! She's terrifying!!"

It panicked Mk just thinking about her. With those giant, sharp legs, and sinister grin.

"Oh shush, it'll be finneee, I'll play through it and you can hide in the bathroom or something."

When the two arrived back at the noodle shop, they immediately rushed up the stairs into Mk's room. They set up the game on Mk's old console and sat next to each other on the floor. They played for hours on end, until they got to a new area, it was all blue and gray, Mk found it quite boring. Until he noticed something, there were these bluish blobs that attacked you in dark areas.. Bluish blobs.. What if..?

Mk stood up quickly, pausing the game.

"I- Uh, I need to do something, could you come back tomorrow?"

Mei was a bit startled by how sudden and blunt Mk was, but she obliged.

"Okay then Monkey Man, I'll be back after your shift is over, kay?"

"Okay"

Mei waved, turning and leaving. As soon as she left Mk darted over to the trash can, pulling out the manual with all the NPCS in it that they always threw away. He searched through it until he found the description for the blue blob. He knew that most of Monkey Mech was based on old history, like The Monkey King, and each NPC usually had a description from where they were based, but when Mk found the blob.

There was nothing..

Mk let out an exasperated sigh, throwing the manual in the trash, walking over to his bed and laying down, getting comfortable under the covers and falling asleep quickly.

-------------------------------

Wooo!! Interesting... Let's hope this all straightens itself out before newyears..