Collision Course [+ Additional Levels]

Level Fifteen - Galaxy Beyond

"No! I lost!" he exclaimed pointlessly. It was a lame way to die too. He had noticed that barrel way before it had crushed him.

Andrew sighed, watching as the miniature plumber spun and fell into the abyss. After Moe had left, he wanted to see if he could do better than him. And he had just lost. Again. However, he had gotten a couple levels farther than Moe had. Sucked to lose all the same though.

"Can I play once you're done?" he heard someone ask politely.

Andrew turned his head to see another teenager standing nearby, who looked to be around his age. He glanced at the Donkey Kong game. "Sure thing. Actually, I'm done now, if you want to play."

The other guy chuckled. "Cool. Thanks."

Andrew shrugged, replying, "No problemo, man," as he stepped out of the way for him. He wanted to hang around and watch for a minute, so he stood behind the other guy, folding his arms across his chest casually. "So, how good are you at this game?" he asked as he watched him fish out a quarter from his pants pocket. "Do you know?"

The guy's lips quirked up in a smile. "I take it you're new to this arcade?" he asked, wiggling the joystick and pressing the button as if testing them, and then inserting the coin to begin the game.

"First time. How'd you figure?" Andrew replied, watching as the tiny protagonist on the screen walked forward and hopped about.

The guy shrugged, his eyes on the screen. "It's just that I'm not used to coming here and having someone not recognize me."

"Oh? Are you famous or something?" he asked him, interested.

The guy hesitated a second before simply responding with, "I just play a lot here."

"Ah."

They both fell silent, content with the ambient noises of the background music, games and chatter. Andrew watched the guy make it to stage two with ease.

"Hey, I like your outfit," Andrew said, looking at the other guy's attire.

The guy glanced down in surprise. "Hm? Oh, yeah. Thanks," he said, looking back at the game.

"And the hair's cool too," Andrew added. "How'd you get such a strong color to come out? And find that shade blue?"

The other guy chuckled; Andrew obviously hadn't been the first person to ask him that. "Would it be okay if I said that it was a secret?" he asked, arching a brow mysteriously.

He laughed. "That's alright with me. It's not that I want my hair to be like that or anything, it was just intriguing." He tilted his head. "Actually, it kind of reminds me of manga. Not too much, like in a crazy way, but just a little."

The guy paused, making it to the next stage already. "You know what, I've heard someone say something like that to me before, and I don't believe that I know what that is," he said.

"What, manga?"

The guy nodded.

"Hm... Have you ever heard of anime?" Andrew asked him.

Another nod. The other guy was more concentrated in the game, but not one of his movements seemed forced. He controlled the character with ease.

"It's kind of like that. It's a style of art from Japan," Andrew told him. "I've mostly ever seen it in their comics."

The guy stopped for a second, nearly costing a life in the game. "Japan?" he asked.

"Yeah," replied Andrew, watching the game character smoothly recover.