#uhhh to be more specific it was supposed to be a PIXELS rewrite

[mrdrhenwardhykle]

INSERT 25¢ TO CONTINUE : Into the AudoScape-Level 2: Cade Craze

Previous Next

The Arcade itself was an add-on building hidden underneath a large mall. They found it by traveling through the underpass that stooped and curved all the way down, passing the families entering and exiting the mall, as well as a long line of young women in short pants and roller skates. Through the isolated and constantly appearing space-themed decorations, our group knew they were finally almost there. Parking in an area close to the entrance, our group finally found themselves in the local haven for misbehavin' teens and children alike. The entrance was guarded by four tall golden statues of typical uncanny sci-fi-styled animals and creatures, alongside truck stoppers sloppily disguised as planets. The building itself was colored in dark blue and magenta tones sprinkled in with the imagery of stars and constellations, giving the illusion of looking up at the sky at night. Beyond the doors roared the loud and lively chatter of youth, excitedly tossing their coins in the machines to get their fill of playtime before the upcoming holiday break fully hit.

Allope's eyes widened at the wondrous sight of the larger-than-life establishment in all its spaced-themed glory. Making a run for the closest cool attraction, Rebecca managed to snatch her by her oversized jacket before she was out of sight. 

"WOAH-WOAH-WOAH!-Here-" Rebecca intervened, gifting Allope with a heavy quarter-filled sock, "Don't whack someone down with it...unless you have to, of course!" giving a grin and wink. The little girl existed loudly by swinging around the sock while charging at the games like some sort of barbarian.

"That was a lot of change, wasn't it?..." Freddie spoke his concerns, "Do you even have enough for yourself? How did you even get that much-"

"Relax," the teenage girl interrupted, "I'll be fine. I have my ways. I'm just going to disappear over by that room," she pointed to a dark corridor across the concession stand. Rebecca spotted her desired group of friends immediately as if she knew, leaving Freddie to play 'friends' by spotting any of the local jocks hanging around the arcade machines. 

Freddie didn't want to spend time with the jocks on his football team, nor did he ever find much excitement in playing virtual games; rather he looked forward to getting this anxiety fest over with, just to see his father's satisfaction in his son when he asked how the night was. Being gruff and damaging the brain that could lead him into the right college wasn't the most ideal future for Freddie, but he could at least pretend well enough; so there's no issue there, right? For the most part, he'd just stoop down to the jock's level well enough that they would never guess to how much he really despised being around them. Deep inside, however, Freddie would much rather stick with Rebecca or just always be there for Allope, but hated the thought of others lowering or increasing how they saw his security and masculinity. But perhaps if it weren't for Rebecca's odd habit to fall down unfamiliar rabbit holes of mystery and paranoia,  or the embarrassing thought of ever admitting to pretty much being Allope's 'third parent,' Freddie would have considered dropping the act.

For what felt like a lifetime away from her two companions, Allope greatly contemplated choosing the first game to play. Just like being left in the middle of a brand-new candy store, all of her options looked too good but too unfamiliar to figure out which one she should experience first.

"The art on the side of that one looks cool,"

"Oh but that one looks cool too!"

"Oh-Oh! Frogger! I like frogs!"

"All those kids seem to like that one, should I like it too?"

"OH! LOOK! PINBALL!....What's Pinball?"

Stumped, Allope considered stopping to take a full view of her surroundings. Suddenly, a black hole opened up from the wacky planet-themed carpet and sucked away all of the machines in question, except one: "Dragon's Lair."

What a night in the life of Allope! Discovering a new world, one spectacular step at a time. The demo seen from the screen displayed what seemed like a movie. "But why would they ever put buttons and levers on a movie?" Allope pondered. Questions were answered as the demo came to a close, with the silent main character making an attempt to kill a swarm of skulls, but failing by being knocked down and potentially killed by a hoard of them. "Woah!" Allope exclaimed loudly as passing children looked at her oddly. No thoughts other than "Waste all my money on this one game" came over her as she hurled herself towards it.

"OUCH!" a young girl shouted as Allope blindly barreled into her, knocking both down on the gritty carpet.

"OH! I'm so sorry! I'm sorry! Sorry! Please don't tell my brother!" Guilt fell upon Allope once she was able to put herself together.

"Oh um, it's okay!" The young girl looked about a few years older than Allope. She seemed hesitant over meeting someone so forward; as that didn't often go well with the impatient teens and kids that usually hung out at the arcade. Allope held the girl's arm as they both got up, "You're pretty fast," The girl remarked,"I was just about to play that Dragon game, and I didn't even see you there."

"You're pretty quick too! I didn't even see you there! I was just about to do the same thing!"

Both girls gave a look of sudden realization, "Oh..." the young girl replied, disappointed.

"OH! What if we help each other play, and take turns?", Allope suggested.

"Oh yeah- I like would that! I didn't want to have to end up fighting over it with somebody again. It's never fun to do. That would just take the fun out of playing it," The two girls made a truce, so one would patiently wait for the other to lose all 3 lives for their next turn.

Five stages strong, Allope pushed through far enough on her 4th quarter. Across the bridge, past the falling room, the magic wall, and beyond the trial of burning ropes, Dirk the Daring found himself in the middle of a predicament when the floor itself gave way under his feet. Becoming a true victim to gravity, Dirk's final chance of survival is to jump off quickly once an opening is spotted. "Now- Now!", her cade-companion demanded once hearing the hint's sound effect play off. Allope didn't budge to make the move, queuing in footage of the falling platform and Dirk suddenly crashing into the floor. Allope chuckled at the lack of help, as Dirk was last seen with a look of disappointment on his decaying face, just before disintegrating into dust and a pile of bones.

"Ah, man. I didn't see it, did you?" Allope grumbled while trading places.

"Yes!" the slightly-older girl exclaimed while maintaining eye contact, "It made the blinky noise, didn't you hear it? I even told you when to jump!"

"It makes a sound?! I didn't hear that, or you!" Allope exclaimed, instantly feeling regret in bringing light to her once friendship-ruining 'issue'. Now it was the young girl's turn, so both kids swapped sides. "Well-okay. See this thingy on my ear?" Allope asked, "My momma gave me this when I was really little and it became super hard to hear one  day. Ever since then, even with this thingy on, it's very difficult to hear people or things around me if I'm not lookin' at 'em. I can make it out better if I'm reading your lips."

"Really?" the young girl questioned, "-...but you're just a kid... Things like that usually happen to old people in retirement homes or kooks who hang around explosions. You didn't explode your house did you?"

Allope giggled, "I lost it when I was three, so I don't remember what I exploded to be like this. But momma says it's "geny-tick" and poppa says the hearing fairy came by one night and took it away cause' I was naughty."

"WHAT?! THEY CAN JUST DO THAT?!" exclaimed the young girl, cuffing her ears. They both laughed. At that moment, Dragon's Lair fell victim to the suffocating grip of the black hole in the carpet just like its brethren, allowing for the coolest thing in this whole building to be '... uh... whoever this is-'.

"You're so nice with everything I just said about myself! Kids I meet just think I'm some weirdo. What's your name?" Allope felt a deep need to ask.

"Huh? Yeah! I'm Jaquie, but I just like to be called Jack," Jack held out her hand to formally shake, for Allope to just lo-five it. "Hah-you know, I kind of know how you feel about that. My mom would probably kill me if she knew I was racing around here all crazy-like. My legs used to give up on me a lot when I was super young and I had to take lots a pills n' junk for it. They still do that sometimes when my body or brain get too much goin' on with em'. But it sucks for me because all I can think of is growing into the world's best athlete. All I want is to watch and do all those things, but mom won't let me anymore because it 'gives me bad thoughts'."

Both girls wadded up their small pile of tickets and took a small stroll down the aisles of machines and games. The lack of dinner beforehand caused Jack to feel very weak during their long-winded string of conversations. A rush of forgotten information came flooding back to Jack on a whim. Jack tugged Allope by the arm all the way to the shiny white and silver-colored concession stand. The adventure stopped right to a table seated by a peculiar boy.

"You done already, Jack?!" A bratty-lookin' kid with a large amount of poofy-curly hair attempting to escape his red, netted cap.  Alongside the he wore a pin-ridden jean jacket, he was sporting a baggy and worn-out Spiderman shirt. In his hand, the little sneak was covering a coin tied to his ring finger.

Pulling Allope's attention to her, Jack introduced Allope to her close friend, Dewly. Dewly said his 'hellos' just to chatter on about something for a bit, making it very hard for Allope to decipher what he was saying because of his quick and exaggeratedly hyper tone of voice. He seemed to talk on for a bit, but the most she read from his lips was something about "drums", "bike", and "Master of the Arcade;" those were the words he seemed to pronounce and mention the most. Jack gave out a laugh she must have given out hundreds of times before, with Allope awkwardly laughing as if she understood every word. He stood up quickly, leaving his half-eaten pizza to shake Allope's hand like a pure madman; it was assumed at this point that this kid had a lot of energy.

Despite their disruption to verbal communication, both parties began to become very fond of one another right away. Allope chose a moment to break whatever subject he was going on about to talk a little bit about herself to Dewly, soon after Jack described something about Allope to Dewly to make his eyes widen in realization. "IT IS VERY NICE TO MEET YOU, ALLOPE!" Dewly cuffed his mouth to make a tube shape with them and shouted, attempting to over pronounce every syllable as much as possible.

"THANK YOU!" She shouted even louder.

Dewly finished up his slice, but caved in for an excuse to get another because Jack was hungry. With her mom's spare cash, Jack was able to pay for all three of them to get a slice of their own. Allope's piece tasted like the chef melted cheese over a piece of cardboard, as well as the pepperoni looking and tasting like no other pepperoni she'd ever tasted before. She ate what she could to please her new friends, and threw the rest of the horrible cuisine away in a nearby decorative pot when the other two weren't looking.

Jack suggested they move into the "Party Room," a section across the way. Behind the arch, all Allope could see was a few glowing decorative stars and ufos,  but by closer inspection she spotted a band of slouched-over creatures, with pulled, wrinkly, flesh-like latex faces, and human-like eyes slightly detached from their sockets. The cartoony likeness of these creatures didn't soften the uncanny, creepy feeling that their eyes, teeth, and rubbery skin gave off. This sight gave Allope the feeling that she might get eaten up or taken away if she got any closer to them, so she made an excuse to head back to the game room immediately. They exited the little offside area into the main play zone. Although the other two didn't take much notice, Allope was bothered by the detail that the room is a tad darker than it was before, just like if a row of lights gave out when they weren't in the area. It wasn't blatantly obvious to the average viewer going about their visit.

The group was led by Dewly, who gave attention first to Centipede. Ducking down and shifting his head from side to side for clearing, Dewly inserted the coin attached to his finger and gave it a pull once he heard the game's start up theme. The quarter came out soon enough as Dewly jumped back up on his feet. Allope didn't know what to make of his actions, while not fully realizing that he was stealing, she contemplated as she never thought of using a shortcut like that herself. Dewly was locked in, he was able to move the cursor flawlessly without getting hit for about 7 levels. The thought that kids much like her not being fairly new to these alien mechanics was a distant thought to Allope until this very moment. That coin on his finger must have been pulled dozens of times before for him to be this good at something that looks so impossible. 'He must have the smartness to another world that I've always wanted to have!' Allope pondered.

Dewly quickly had become bored of playing with Centipede, and ran toward the front in search for something much better. Passing rows of good-looking games, Dewly seemed displeased with all of them, just as if he played them all to death already. At long last, the sight of a typical racing game caught his attention. "Oh yeah! This one!" He exclaimed while in the process of bending down to insert his lucky coin.

Allope, as bored as Dewly was with every other game in the arcade, was bothered as she suddenly remembered something very important, causing her to spot her brother's ride outside of the glass doors. She didn't think of it it until now, but she wasn't sure why she had just thought of it, as if its presence in the world had finally become disturbing to Allope as she stared at the immobile vehicle behind the glass doors. To a sudden, the vehicle itself gave an eerie green glow, as the space themed synth music over the speakers was interrupted by the blaring of a disembodied voice she might have heard once in Freddie's car. 'Maybe it's linking to the radio-' She thought as the lights flickered rapidly. Jack shielded her eyes and fell down to her knees in disturbance by this. "Freddie?!" Allope screamed in a panic.

The coin fell in on its own while Dewly was distracted, and was held onto by the shredding machinery. "It's stuck. It won't get out! Help!-HELP!" he cried out as the machine pulled in the string. Allope tried to help him, but was thrown out of the way by a strange figure in a weird-looking animal suit with a football-shaped head. Out of a hidden pocket, the mascot pulled out a pocket knife that was sharp enough to easily cut the string. "Thanks, Comet Cliff!" Dewly chuckled in an awkward guilt. The man proceeded to take off his mask, revealing a disappointed middle-aged man that Dewly seemed to recognize. "Oh.." he said upon realization of being busted by the staff once again.

"This is your last warning, Dewly. Now get out of the establishment!" he said while angrily pointing towards the door. The man placed his mask on once again, and stood back behind the prize counter. Dewly began his embarrassing exit with Jack following behind. Turning back to look upon Allope, Jack waved goodbye and wished to see Allope at Cliff's sometime again. Before she knew it, Allope's brand new friends were gone, last seen riding on their bikes with front lights past the door.

"Allope!" exclaimed Freddie in a dreadful panic, and Rebecca followed closely behind, "Did you scream?! What happened?"

Allope, exhausted in the typical droopy-eyed little kid fashion, stood in disappointment as she stared a hole through the doors. "Ah... What? No- I'm sorry, just- A kid almost passed out, and then another got stuck in a machine- and I just-"

Freddie placed his hand on her little shoulder, and looked proudly into her eyes, "You panicked, that's perfectly fine. You did good. But it's all taken care of then?"

The night's excitement was over, nothing held as much importance as it did a few hours ago. "Yeah. They're fine," She said in a monotone voice, "Uhm. Do you mind if we go home now?" She fell onto Fred's shoulder, as if she couldn't stand the arcade and its excitement any longer.

"Of course. I think it's about that time anyway." Freddie picked up Allope and headed out, with Rebecca following shortly behind, but not before claiming needing to  'fixing something' up before they went back home. The trip back went smoothly this time; however, Allope still found it hard to rest with how uncomfortable sitting in the middle compartment was. She couldn't remember much that happened the whole ride back, or at least until she was carried inside her house by Freddie. It was agreed that Rebecca and Freddie would deal with the object to Fred and Allope's parents in the morning, as it was much too late to explain it now. To his assumption, his parents were fast asleep already. Oddly enough, the lights and TV in the front of the house were left on; perhaps prepared beforehand for the kids to veg out once they came home. Freddie liked the channel it was left on, finding interest in the cool-looking music videos and graphics. Setting a sleepy Allope down on the couch, Freddie planned to catch up on the latest after he got ready for bed. Freddie sat down next to Allope in his oversized shirt and shorts, and invited Rebecca to join him.

"No thank you! I appreciate the offer n' all, but I don't think I'm ready to do that just yet, you know?" she replied fairly quickly. Though she despised discussing it, Rebecca Ashley Silverman found no interest in television or radio since the strange incident that caused her to lose her parents. Those with one glance of the situation would assume it was a for of self-sabotage or a sudden attack, for two people to just suddenly fester into a gruesome sight while watching television; but Rebecca always felt as if she knew better. Their compulsion became bigger and bigger each day; up to the point of forgetting to provide food for her or even taking her to school. The pure thought of this random occurrence happening once again filled Rebecca with a selective dread from head to toe, so she avoided the television completely. Years later, she had given up on attempting to convince Fred or his parents to be careful, and remained somewhat quiet about it. Forever still, she could not distance herself from the household enough to vanquish the fear of being alone.

Allope fell into a deep sleep and woke up naturally in the middle of the night with the lights dim, but the television still running. To her right was Freddie, who fell asleep while watching his usual programs. She was wide awake now, wasting time watching the strange shapes on the TV pass by, as she waited patiently for sleep to come upon her once more.

Even thinking about sleep was not an option from time-to-time, however, whenever the program was interrupted by the most bizarre sight the little girl had ever seen. Staring straight at her was a boxy-looking man wearing a suit and sunglasses, who appeared to be very uncanny. Behind the man was a backdrop of lines that would constantly shift and distort. He looked real sometimes, but not really. She didn't know how, but the lighting was off and made it seem almost like a clay sculpture or computer of some kind. His animation bugged at specific parts, yet she could easily tell what he was saying just like any other person.

"No-no-no-no-no-no-no-I'm not saying television c-created society, I'm just saying things just got a little more interesti ng one-once man decided to put down his spears and clubs just to change the channel and watch a  little Johnny Carson instead-instead... [hah]"

It took a few hours for Allope to finally get some rest by this point. Eventually she did resume her good night's rest, but was frequently disturbed by bizarre dreams and vivid thoughts of Ken doll-like men with shapeless teeth accompanied with twisted latex cartoon animals needlessly watching and laughing maniacally at her.