Reach For the Moon

“PLEASE! Please let me go again… I can win it back, I can win it back…!”

Dragged away by security, Guile laughed at the addict as he went. The MASCOT’s secretary quickly pretended to flick his masked head, wishing he could actually hurt him.

“Sir. There are children around, please keep your schadenfreude to a minimum.”

“Er- yes, sir.”

It made for a good contrast- the MASCOT’s all-black skinsuit with green pods for eyes that made him look like he belonged in Venge City with the rest of the comic-book themed characters, right beside the much taller gray-suited young man with pretty brown hair and a stern but composed expression. Though Ren wasn’t much for showing off, it never failed that a few guests would be coming to the MASCOT booth just to see him.

Guile shook his body as the next challenger approached. He could hear the rattle of tokens inside him- not just the ones he was granted as his original prize for the first competitor to beat him- but each of the hundreds of tokens he’d acquired per his unique twist to the MASCOT formula.

The little girl walked up to him holding her own token, and looked up with teary eyes. Part of him wanted to sigh, but even Guile didn’t like breaking character in front of a kid.

“Ohoho! Yes, yes! Another visitor to play my game! Please, do insert the fee.”

He stuck out his knee, revealing a permanent slot like an arcade machine. The kid gave up her last silver coin, and the games began.

The first thing Katie and Frankie saw when they reached the setup was a young girl walking back to her family as she bawled out loud. Neither sister liked to see it, but Katie was a bit more optimistic, as per the usual.

“Don’t worry!” She told her, rallying the half-goth whose makeup had all but washed away. “Maybe he can beat a kid, so what? We’ll be stronger than that.”

“That’s… not why I’m frowning.”

Once they got in line, they heard about the catch to Guile’s operations.

“It’s a whole prize pool thing.” One teenage boy divulged to another. “Each time you fight him, you give him a token, but whoever wins gets them all!”

The other was just staring at Guile’s secretary Ren.

“Are you even listening to me?” The first boy groaned. He didn’t expect it when Katie waved her hand inside his face. “Huh? Uh- what is it? You want something?”

“And… has anyone… beat Guile yet? Do you know?”

“Oh, yeah, everyone knows that.” He shut his eyes, consulting the menu. “Yep. Just the same as yesterday. Not a single one has done it.”

“And how many… have challenged him?”

“Over seven hundred…” Frankie interrupted before the boy could answer, drooling beneath her closed eyes as she too found the same information within her eyelids.

“Great! We’ll earn all of it.” Katie nodded, turning back to her little sis and leaving the boy in the virtual dust.

Frankie eyed the line ahead, all the people yet to fight him, and couldn’t help but get excited.

“They’ll all be my prize… Katie, this is it. This is how we earn ourselves first place.”

Katie nodded, pumping her fist.

“Goodbye criminal record! Hello Museworld!”

The boy ahead of them flinched a little at the “criminal record” part.

Soon enough, the girls’ turn arrived…