Saturday, 7:00 AM.
Hunter was dropped off by his parents on time at a large local chain game store, where he would spend his weekend as usual.
After seeing the parents off in their car, he pursed his lips and then strode into the store.
Before he could even push open the door, Hunter heard a continuous stream of crying.
"Buy it for me! Waaah!"
The attack started with zero frames right next to Hunter, and a high-decibel wail that was so shrill it was headache-inducing suddenly erupted.
He turned his head away.
He was a younger brother who was a few grades below him.
The child's two paws were gripping the shelf tightly, almost bending it out of shape.
Beside him stood a woman with bulging veins on her head, clearly the child's mother.
"Be good, I'll buy you OmNom candy when we get back."
She struggled to pull the child, using her other hand to pry his fingers off the shelf.
This kind of situation is playing out all over the store right now.
Hunter blinked.
There were an unusually large number of children today, making the store quite noisy and annoying.
He knew why all of this happened.
Cut the Rope
The latest handheld game from GAMENOVA.
"Look! Hunter is here!"
In the distance, a child's surprised voice rang out, followed by a series of light, hurried footsteps.
Hunter took a deep breath, managing to force out his usual arrogant expression, and greeted everyone with his head held high.
As the king of the kids at the local game store, Hunter had a pretty good reputation among his group of friends.
Vincent approached him quickly from a distance, excitedly waving the NovaSwift handheld console in his hand.
" Hunter, come watch Cut the Rope! It's so much fun!"
Vincent got up very early today, dragged by his mother to the store more than an hour ahead of time, to snag a first-release copy of "..."
Cut the Rope.
I've been playing with the other guys who arrived earlier for a while now.
Upon seeing Hunter appear, he naturally couldn't contain his excitement and took the initiative to share it with him.
"Snort."
Hunter curled his lip. " Cut the Rope? That's too childish. I'm planning to play a couple of rounds of Command & Conquer today. I figured out a really good rebel strategy last night, I'll show it to you guys later."
As he spoke, his eyes involuntarily glanced at the cartridge inserted in the back of Vincent's handheld console.
The cover features an OmNom, waving at him with its big eyes wide open.
Hunter swallowed hard.
"Why do you play with such childish things every day? Look at your mother—never mind, it's okay."
His words trailed off as he glanced at the crowd. "Anyone want to play Command & Conquer? I saw the queue over there wasn't long."
silence.
Several people moved their lips, then either looked at the handheld console in Vincent's hand or at their own.
For a long while, no one took the initiative to speak.
That makes it pretty clear: no matter what you say, we're at least planning to play Cut the Rope a little longer.
Hunter shrugged nonchalantly.
"Oh well."
This is truly the first time such a situation has occurred.
It's clear that they really like " Cut the Rope ".
hateful----
[Commander, we have won!]
The adjutant's voice came through the earpiece, and Hunter excitedly pumped his fist.
Sure enough, my newly devised tactics worked unexpectedly well.
Although the opponent seemed to have a quick reaction time, he was still helplessly defeated by his new tactics.
"Damn, RTS games are so different! I thought I could dominate in another game."
"Come on, you're not even as good as that kid. Don't embarrass yourself here."
The headphones weren't very good at blocking out noise, and Hunter could hear the two men across from him seemingly chatting and joking.
He thoroughly enjoyed the feeling of defeating those seemingly formidable adults.
However, the other person's voice sounded vaguely familiar to him.
Hunter shifted his body slightly to the side and peered across the street.
The two people were fighting over the mouse, practically ready to tear each other apart on the spot.
One of them wore a gleaming silver medal pinned to his chest; it was a medal made entirely of some rare and precious metal.
The front features a picture of a [ Mew ], and the logo of Pokémon Victory Road can be faintly seen on the surrounding decorative ribbons.
This is the [ Mew ] Discoverer Medal, of which only ten were issued worldwide. It is a special award given by GAMENOVA to trainers who truly possess the Golden Spirit.
"No.1?! The world's first?!"
Hunter saw the ID on the badge clearly; it read "1".
This means that the other party is indeed the first person in the world to discover No. 151, also known as the Mew.
"Gulp"
Hunter swallowed hard.
If this medal were auctioned off, it would fetch an astronomical price; it is an absolute honor, a priceless treasure!
And now it's actually right in front of me!
Hunter shifted his gaze to the left, turning to the other person he had just beaten up.
"It's you! Mr. John!"
A star player from New Mexico, a powerhouse with one gold and two silver medals in the Street Fighter category at the EVO Evolution Tournament!
That's a national-level competition champion!
"Haha, hello, hello."
John, who was fiddling with the mouse with Mike, stopped and responded with a laugh.
John was genuinely embarrassed to see that the person who had just beaten him so badly was actually such a little kid.
"No, no, Mike, let me play one more round. It's too embarrassing."
"Dude, with your lousy skills, it'll be the same even if you play ten more games. The difference in game understanding is too big."
"How dare you talk to the champion like that?!"
"How dare you speak to No. 1 like that!"
"Get lost! I bet that was just a mistake."
"What if you lose again? Will you commit seppuku to atone for your sins?"
"Damn it! If I lose again, I'll—I'll just give him the NS I just got today!"
In the end, John got another chance and confidently sat back down in front of the screen.
[Battle Control Online]
As usual, start with the Empire.
Power plants, mines, military barracks----
Mike silently watched as he executed the exact same maneuver as before, then quietly moved to the other side and glanced at Hunter's situation.
He then went straight back and began unpacking the new NovaSwift that John had just received from the front desk.
He'd been waiting for this machine for a long time.
"Hey! Holy F--Fabulous!"
John dragged his armored formation into battle.
As it turned out, Hunter seemed to have been prepared all along. The seemingly much weaker light tank group split in two, directly sandwiching John's head and shaking him from side to side.
In a simple exchange of fire, he achieved an astonishing 1:3 trade ratio, instantly changing the course of the game.
On this day, John lost the new machine he had waited a month to receive.
On this day, Hunter happily received his first game console.