Where The Rich Folk Live [Julian + one other]

Hyde put his hands on his hips and started looking around. “Well, here’s a hint about the game I wanted show you. Pay very close attention to what I’m about to do, it’s actually based off on an anime. “Hyde then points at Julian with his occasional serious face, his eyes burned with intensity. “You are already dead…”

Spoiler:

After a while, Hyde wondered if Julian was able to guess it yet. “Figured it out? Well, it’s a Punch Mania game! “Hyde would say as he points over to the punch mania machine.[color=#ffccff] “It really does tire you out because the 100 crack fist does kind of require you to punch 100 times. Then again, it’s the most fun that I ever had in quite some time. Want to try it? I’ll even go first if you want.

Spoiler:

    ...

    ...The hell was he doing? Maybe the deadpan expression clued Hyde in to Julian's total confusion, since the redhead led him over to a game Julian couldn't remember playing before. "Punch...Mania?" That was...kind of a lame title. But Hyde was pretty enthusiastic about it, so maybe the game wasn't so bad.

    "You go first and I'll see how it works. Then we'll see if I can do better than you." The teen clapped Hyde on the back and laughed good-naturedly, but there was an unmistakable competitve glimmer in his eyes. Yeah, it might have been his first time playing this thing, but who said he'd do badly? Maybe he'd beat Hyde, or get a top score. It was worth the time to find out.

Hyde was ready to show Julian what he was made of. The arcade cabinet stands about 6'2" tall, 34" wide (when facing the machine), and about 4' deep. The monitor is recessed into the cabinet a fair distance, and in the front of the cabinet are six orange, sturdy punching pads with red LED lights embedded near their hinges. The pads are at rest along the inside walls of the recession of the cabinet, lining the monitor. Hyde then points at the two gloves. “These gloves are supposed to protect your hands from getting hurt. Hyde then puts on the gloves as he starts to explain the rules of the game.
“When an on-screen enemy makes an attack on the player, a punch pad will swing out on its hinge at a smooth pace, and upon reaching full extension at 90 degrees, the LEDs light up red. The pad stays lit for a short time, and then the pad returns inside the cabinet to rest. The player must punch this pad while the LEDs are lit. The strength of the player's punch is irrelevant to the game, and the game warns the player not to punch hard, to prevent the risk of breaking the machine. Only the timing of the punch is important, punches should be delivered at half strength, with exact timing. Then there's the regular life guard for each enemy and yours, so be sure to hit them!” Hyde would say this as he plays as Kenshiro and starts the game. “Wata!” Hyde actually made some sounds when he punched each pad, it was pretty funny that he took this game serous. It also showed that he was a fan, being able to beat three bosses before stopping. “ Your turn !”

Strength

Spoiler:

    Julian folded his arms and nodded at Hyde's explanation. So this thing was more built for speed and accuracy, and not so much power. You had to hit it hard enough to get it to register, of course, but it'd be good to keep it in mind that you never had to use full force on the thing.

    A light smile stretched across the teen's face as he watched the redhead play. Those sounds were definitely weird, but at least they were entertaining. He had to chuckle as he overheard some younger boys whispering to each other and pointing at Hyde as they edged further away from the Punch Mania game and the person currently using it. Well, at least he had lots of enthusiasm. That counted for something.

    As Hyde's turn ended, Julian stepped forwards, nodding slightly. So now it was time to see how well he could do. He slipped a glove onto his hand and flexed his fingers, adjusting to the feel. What a weird game. But a game's a game, and it'd be such a shame to give up before even trying. After choosing the same level Hyde had, Julian slipped the other glove on and began.

    It was all about his reaction time. As long as he kept up a steady rhythm and was quick enough, this game was pretty easy. But a few times he'd gotten distracted by a dummy light and punched too soon. By the end of the game, he'd gotten a level past where Hyde had, but still hadn't beaten the thing. Not bad for his first time. And he'd beaten Hyde, so that was a plus. His breathing had gotten ever so slightly labored, but he was able to speak quite clearly as he turned to Hyde with a grin and asked, "So how'd I do?"

Strength:

Well, you did way better than me. That’s the first time you played this game? Wow, I didn’t know that you were that good. I’d say it was beginners luck, but I don’t want to sound like a sore loser. “ Hyde then looks around the arcade for a quick second.  There were plenty of games to choose from, but Hyde already had his turn. To be fair, it should be Julian’s turn, it’ll be more fun that way. “Why don’t yon pick the next game this time? You got a taste of my type of games, guess it’s time that I got to learn yours.

    Hyde was a pretty good guy. Most people would be in awe and pout or whine a little, but the redhead took the loss well. Julian couldn't help but respect Hyde just a bit for that. "I think it was because I had a pretty good teacher." The teen grinned widely before blinking at Hyde's request. So it was his turn to pick out a game, huh? That seemed fair enough.

    Sweeping his gaze across the arcade, Julian pursed his lips and folded his arms in thought. Wow, this was a hard choice. He liked all kinds of games, really, so picking one was a little hard. Well, they'd just done something that was sort of strenuous, so maybe they should do something that included sitting down or something? There were racing games, he guessed. Or...huh? Tilting his head slightly, he caught sight of a red box at the back of the arcade. Was that...? ...It was.

    Screw the racing games. He found something even better.

    "Hey, Hyde." A smirk stretched across his face as turned to the other boy. "You're not claustrophobic, are you?"

“No, not really . There was this one time that  was stuck in an elevator for two hours, so if that means that I have to be stuck with someone that’s losing their minds, it could be a bit unbearable. They were sweating a lot too; the white t-shirt the guy had on started turning yellow. Makes me wonder is pee and sweat is related somehow, because that was totally gross. “ Hyde cuts himself off from mumbling and nods confidently. “You beat me at my game; let’s see if I can beat you at yours. I’m ready for anything !”

    That's the spirit! Julian grinned broadly at Hyde's declaration before tilting his head and looking upwards in thought. "This next one's kinda more like a ride than a game. But it's fun anyways. And," resting a hand on his hip, Julian's joyous smile morphed into a smirk, "it'd be more fun if we make a little wager on top of it."

    Walking up to the short line of kids, Julian gestured to the red box, in which kids were being strapped in tightly. "It's a simulator. But instead of experiencing a hurricane or something like that, you go through a roller coaster." He paused to watch the attendant lock the red box with the kids inside it. Then the thing started turning and twisting in all sorts of odd directions, and the kids inside were screaming their heads off. Oh, he couldn't wait to see their faces when they got off. "As for our bet...whoever's dizziest at the end of the ride loses. You game?"

“You are definitely on! I used to swing on vines for fun, and I never got dizzy from that. “Hyde would say this, eager to get the game started. Even though he never got into the virtual reality rides before. “This would be my first time trying out this thing though, I hope it’s fun. Then again, if this is something that you recommend, I’ sure that it would be pretty amazing. Do we have to wear those future glasses like Sword Art Online? That would definitely increase the intensity of this bet, but the technology is pretty average nowadays.

    "Well, guess I'm in for a challenge, huh?" Julian laughed lightly. Hyde was definitely a weird character. Who the hell swung on vines for fun in a city? Well, he did say something about living off the land or whatever, so maybe that's when the redhead did stuff like that. Though really, why was he living in the woods or wherever? Did he run away from home or something...? "Yeah, sorry. You just get a big screen shoved in your face. No glasses required." Not that Julian knew what Sword Art Online was in the first place, but Hyde didn't need to know that for Julian to answer the question, right? Right.

    As the ride came to a halt, the attendant lazily undid the lock, stumbling back as the two kids inside practically leapfrogged over him to get away. Julian grinned widely at the scene, successfully holding back a bark of laughter. Geez, what had those kids programmed the thing to do? Judging from the way that thing was twisting around, it must not have been fun for them. The couple in front of him jumped on the ride, and Julian took the time to look at a black box at the front of the line.

    "This is where you program the thing. You get to choose whatever you want your 'roller coaster' to do: loops, dips, curves, whatever." He tapped a few choices on the screen, filling up three boxes on the top left of the screen. Three boxes on the right were still open. "Here. I chose half the ride, you choose the other half. That makes it fair, right?"

“Alright, its my turn to choose.” Hyde would say briefly as he got up and started pressing the last three sections of the ride. Since they were going to  have something of a competition, Hyde was going to pick one of the most sickening parts of the ride, which was the loops. Having the machine go for the loops for a long period of time could really suck; it could also be something of a double edged sword for hyde. However,  it was the risk that he was going to take. After putting the loops in three times, Hyde sat down inside of the machine and waited for Julian with a small smirk on his face. “All I have to do is hold it in, I’m sure that I can do it. But, I did just have that ice cream float……” That was pretty bad, the fact that Hyde ate  and drank something beforehand was a bit discouraging.”

    Hyde sure took his sweet time to program the thing. By the time he'd finally made his choice, the couple had already stumbled off, leaving the attendant glaring at the two teens. Grinning unabashedly at the seething operator, Julian hopped in next to Hyde and buckled himself in before lowering the safety bar. Then the attendant, with a final sigh, slammed the box closed and locked it from the outside, leaving the two boys in total silence. For about two seconds.

    Suddenly the screen in front of them lit up, displaying a neon green track and a cloudless blue sky in the background. The machine didn't waste any time in throwing them back and forth, up and down, and even spinning them repeatedly. Immediately Julian shut his eyes and pressed his back flush against the seat, trying to drown out any sense of vertigo or dizziness or anything even remotely related to being sick. He was going to win this bet, no two ways about it, and he was going to damn well make sure he used all the little tricks he could think of to secure his victory!

This was Hyde’s first time riding this ride, and he wanted to honestly beat Julian with no tricks. Maybe this had something to do with pride, not wanting to lose to any kind of challenge without giving his all. Hid eves were wide open as everything was alert to him, he moved with each twist and turn. “!!!!” It really was hard to keep up this façade of being ok; this ride was really starting to get to him. “ After the ride was over, Hyde stumbled out and did his best to not throw up. “I’m.. *gulp* I’m ok…. i..” Hyde held his head for a few minutes; he was silent as he thought this over. “You win Julian, that was a bit tougher than I imagined. “

    As the ride finally ended, Julian shakily undid the buckles on his seat and took a few deep breaths. Damn, even shutting his eyes so he couldn't see the screen hadn't worked out quite as well as he wanted. This thing had been fine tuned or whatever to make it more intense or something. His head was starting to swim, and he could've sworn that his brain knocked into his skull once or twice. What else could make everything so fuzzy? ...Oh, that was because he was dizzy.

    Albeit on shaky legs, the teen clambered out of the box and came to a stop next to the redhead. One glance at his face, however, made Julian turn to the side and fake a sneeze so as to hide the sudden laugh that couldn't help but spring out. Geez, green was his favorite color, but he didn't really want to see Hyde's face in that particular shade. Besides, the red from his hair clashed with it and made him look a little like a creepy Christmas decoration. Or just plain weird, whichever you preferred. Point was, it looked ridiculous.  

    "Hold on a sec, alright?" After giving Hyde a light pat on the shoulder, Julian walked to a nearby vending machine and bought two bottles of water before coming back. Uncapping one and holding it out to the redhead, Julian grinned. "Here. Sip, don't gulp. Take a few deep breaths." He knew how sick the guy must be feeling; Julian himself had thrown up when his mom first dragged him on that thing. Despite how violent his stomach had become, Julian insisted on going on again and again until he could somewhat stomach the ride. It had been an...interesting experience, at least. After watching Hyde's face for a second, the dark-haired boy added, "There's a trash can to your left if you need it." before uncapping his own water and taking a few sips.

“Thanks….”Hyde would say with a weak smile as he opened the bottle of water. He would then take about four sips before closing it. That ride was serious, it’s a good thing that he managed holding the throw up. However it still totally kicked his butt. Hyde took a seat at a nearby bench, that was a bit exhausting. After looking at his watch, he realized that they spent quite a lot of time together. “Hey , want to exchange contacts? I would definitely want to hang out with you again. I mean, if you think it was fun. “Hyde really did appreciate the bottle of water, and he kind of wanted to return the favor. “ Do you like sushi? I work at a restaurant on this island; I could definitely hook you up. “