Let Me Go Gravity - The Reaper's Game CYOA

B's probably more durable and s***.

"Um...this one."

Mike handed over the pin apparently named "Burnt Rubber" and watched the guy give is a scan. It didn't seem to do anything, but he supposed it was like..."activated" now?

"There you are man, find a free machine and have fun!"

...poor guy, this enthusiasm thing doesn't seem to suit him.

Mike turned, looking for Zachi, but she seemed to have vanished into the crowd. Odd. Anyways...let's try to find a table with someone over the age of 12 on it. Upon closer inspection, some of the tables were larger and had 8 controllers. It was one of these ones that just happened to have an empty space, and Mike soon found himself jostled towards one by the oncoming crowd.

"Woah! Hey watch- hey!"

Welcome Player 8!

"Uh...what?"

Mike turned and found himself on some sort of platform. There was a controller in front of him...guess it's time to play. Control stick, three face buttons, two shoulder triggers. Hardly anything revolutionary, but in Mike's case he was thankful for the simplistic controls.

Players! Prepare to Slam!

Mike looked down and saw that the bare spot in the middle of the controller started glowing red, and had the words "Pin Here" light up. Thank you hand-holding in modern video games. The instant Burnt Rubber touched down, magnets locked it in place, the controller lit up, and it began violently rumbling. At the same time on the table, a burst of light shot up out of where Mike was and formed a holographic copy of the same pin in front of him.

...no wonder the kids are hooked.

The same special effects occurred at the other terminals, and once everyone had their pins ready, a timer appeared in the middle.

3! 2! 1! SLAM ON!

The holographic pins all hit the surface of the table, and in an extravagant summoning animation, creatures began to emerge from the impact site. Mike watched as his Tin Pin creature materialized and...

"Is that a dolphin?"

Directly in front of Mike's station, the grinning top half of a black and white dolphin bobbed happily on the surface of the table as if it were poking its head out of the water. Elsewhere on the table other creatures emerged and immediately sprung into action. Eagle, bear, hyena, moose, kangaroo, crocodile, dragon. It seems like their controllers knew what they were doing, since the pin creatures immediately started to engage in the middle.

Oh snap, I don't know how to play!

A) Control stick moves. Just run in and button mash.
B) No, run away and figure out what the buttons do first.

B. Let the others kill themselves in the meantime.

Eh B

Mike jammed the control stick away from the mob. The eagle took flight as the bear and dragon locked claws, while the other animals circled around looking to get a hit in edge wise.

Alright, buttons buttons...

He pressed something while keeping away. The dolphin dove into the arena, appearing as just a fin and a silhouette. Pressing the same button resurfaced. Another button sent the dolphin into a charge attack. The last one-

Mike noticed a silhouette similar to his dolphin's own approaching him, not to mention the moose now heading towards his location.

Looks like they're bringing the fight to me!

He pressed the last button and had the dolphin jump into the air, fortunately dodging just as the crocodile made a snarling noise and burst into view with a snapping attack. Unfortunately the moose at that moment roared and launched antler blades, which connected with Mike's dolphin. It made a squeak as it was thrown backwards a fair distance.

Was that bad? Wait...how do I lose? How do I win? I don't see health anywhere!

Mike took the opportunity to hit the shoulder buttons. They made the dolphin roll to either side. Dive, jump, tackle, dodge. Got it. He saw the moose try and attack the crocodile, but the croc dove to avoid, resurfaced behind it and, and counter-attacked, sending the moose flying into one of the arena walls. Upon hitting it, the moose was electrified, made a sort of cry, and morphed back into pin form, laying motionless.

Ring out for the win. Cool.

Mike heard another cry, and saw that the hyena had been defeated by the bear. The eagle was still soaring, but the kangaroo was jumping after it. Taking a hit in the air, the eagle fell to the ground with those cartoon stars floating around its head, leaving it open for an easy KO. Mike turned his dolphin away from the edge of the arena. The crocodile was hot in pursuit, once again in dive mode.

The kangaroo decided to jump in, quite literally, and landed a stomp on Mike's dolphin before he could react, landing him in the same stunned status as that eagle earlier. The kangaroo gave the dolphin a kick, sending it about halfway to the edge, but was prevented from following up by the crocodile that rammed it. It jumped again, but the croc was waiting with its jaws open. The kangaroo hit the teeth and got stunned, allowing the crocodile to ram it into a wall. Mike decided then to go on the offensive.

Alright jump and...

The dolphin charged for the croc, but just before contact he jumped. The croc dodged, but then switched to holding its mouth open like before, waiting for the dolphin to land.

There!

Mike missed the mark, and the dolphin landed behind its target. He hit the "tackle" button and the dolphin obliged, send the crocodile careening into the wall. He didn't get a moment to rest though since the dragon was the only combatant left, and was headed his way. It spat fire, which Mike dove to avoid, and seeing the dolphin in dive mode, the dragon hung back, waiting.

Ok if he can't hit me now, his only choice is to dodge and make a counter attack...

Mike blinked, and then flickered his eyes up from the game, landing on the only other player left remaining. It was a teenager younger looking than him, who was gripping the controller somewhat tightly,

...he looks kinda twitchy, doesn't he?

The dolphin charged, the dragon dodged, but the dolphin didn't surface until the dodge was over. Mike surfaced with a jump up from under the dragon, knocking it into the air and stunning it.

Whoo!

Thumb on tackle, dolphin slammed the dragon into the wall.

YOU WIN!

The speakers blared as his dolphin did a little flipper dance. Soon the table's holograms deactivated and Burnt Rubber disengaged. Mike took his pin and smiled.

This is kinda fun. When's the next round?

He didn't notice his phone buzzing.

---

Zachi was sitting on a bench a fair distance away from the raucous of the Tin Pin event. She was charging her phone on a nearby outlet when she got a text. It was from Sparkles.

Leaving library now. Something up?

A) "No."
B) "Playing games at the mall."
C) "Anything happen over there?"
D) Other

B of course.
We don't give a s*** if they're alright or anything.

As much as I would personally do B, D.
Something about finding the arena champ at the mall, hurry over, more players/chances to win, whatever.

*bzz bzz*

Sparkles checked her phone. Zachi replied.

Anything happen over there?

*tap tap tap tap*

Reapers all left in a hurry. Looked inside and found nothing. Chris maybe alive somewhere. No leads on mission. You?

*tap*

....

*bzz bzz*

Mall event. Might be mission related.

*tap tap tap tap*

See you there.

---

*tap tap-*

Zachi looked up. Spencer and CC were hovering above her. Spencer was wearing a new shirt, and carrying shopping bags.

"Hey, who you talking to?" Spencer said with a grin.

"What." Zachi looked up stone-faced.

"Ok, what are you talking to?"

Zachi scowled and just looked back down. CC giggled.

"But seriously," he continued,  "I have no reception." He waved his phone.

"You can still text other players. And I would guess reapers too. How else would we get missions?"

Spencer thought for a bit, probably wondering why that never occurred to him, and sat down next to Zachi. CC followed suit.

"...that's why you're the smart one. Here," he pulled out his phone, "Stay in touch."

Zachi looked at it like he just offered her a dead fish. She waited a second before taking it, never once making eye contact. Meanwhile Mike was making his way over, smiling childishly. CC saw him first.

"Hey! So you win?" she called out.

"Yep! I got a spot in the finals too." Mike replied.

Spencer chuckled, "Alright man. I hope we see each other there."

Zachi spoke without looking up. "No. The finals aren't elimination, they're score attack. Highest points get into exhibition against their company champ. You two want to be in different pools, ok?"

Everyone looked at her. Mike spoke first.

"How'd you know that?"

Zachi shrugged. "I asked."

Mike then noticed she had someone else's phone in her hands. He guessed it was Spencer's since CC probably couldn't use hers at the moment.

"Hey, put my info in too."

Zachi nodded. Mike's attention then turned to Spencer.

Even though he was sitting, he knew he was very tall, and also very skinny. He hid it well though, with heavy loose fitting khakis and a long-sleeved button up purple shirt. His blonde hair was styled and his brown leather loafers were polished. He was well groomed and well dressed...and something told him at least some of those items were freshly bought. Something just seemed kind of off about him, as if he's showing off how he can dress but he's still not entirely comfortable in his clothes.

"You're right Zachi, he does like to stare. I think you look good too Mike." Spencer said completely straight-faced. CC rolled her eyes. Zachi made no reply and handed back the phone, prompting Spencer and CC to get up. Spencer grabbed their bags.

"Um," CC said quickly as Spencer opened his mouth, "Do you want to do something together? Like shop, or fight Noise for cash or something. We still have time to kill and I could always use some more dough."

A) Shopping sounds nice.
B) Sure, let's fight something.
C) No, let's stay here for a bit.
D) One of the above options, but without Spencer and CC (specify)
E) Other

E) Ask Spency for potential Tin Pin advice. They're ultimately on the same side anyway.

And if we're pit against him, we can exploit and beat him to impress the ladies.