After splitting her time between Hidden Block and her other friends at lunch for a few days, Caddy finally invites Kakusu to join him and Hidden Block to play video games. How skilled will she turn out to be, and how will the Hidden Block boys respond to her play style?

Kakusu opened the club room door. Despite the bright afternoon sunshine outside, half the room was dark as one of the three windows had its blinds drawn. Chairs and desks lined the walls to make a wide walkway in the middle of the room. A cluster of black and golden yellow—all six members of Hidden Block—huddled in front of a widescreen TV. Their arms jostled each other as they cheered for their wins and yelled in frustration at deaths. The screen housed colorful characters running about and bashing each other on a floating castle platform—a Stupendous Stomping Sisters match, Kakusu determined. She closed the door behind her, careful to not make a sound. It looked like the Hidden Block club had started playing a game before she had arrived, but she didn't mind. After all, Caddy had only texted her twenty minutes ago to invite her to play with them, and she was relatively new to video games in general.

The boys' shouts grew louder as several of the game characters flew off screen. Luke facepalmed when he finally had to set his controller down, and Jimmy flopped onto the floor once Princess Pear soared to her final doom. Kakusu covered her mouth and giggled. She had started to find these boys' antics quite amusing, even when Caddy slung the most insults and threats of all the boys and geared most of them at Ian throughout the match.

Now only four characters remained on screen. Kakusu tread with silent footfalls across the room. Standing behind the boys, she clasped her hands behind her back and watched the match. Based on the video game information in her database, Kakusu determined that Caddy was playing as Bower the King Kooper Turtle, Ian controlled the psychic Wess, Wallid was playing as Dr. Nario, and Jeff controlled Pikachomp. Kakusu smiled, grateful that she had taken the time to download information about Stupendous Stomping Sisters and various other video games the night before.

Jeff's Pikachomp sent Wallid's Dr. Nario falling to his death. "That was an excellent move, Jeff," Kakusu commented.

Jeff glanced over his shoulder. "Oh, hey!" Jeff waved at her.

Caddy turned his head as he spammed the A button. "Kakusu! Hey!" He beamed at her; Kakusu couldn't help but smile back.

Bower got knocked off the castle by an attack from Wess. "Dammit, Moosey, I almost had you!" Caddy exclaimed as he whipped his attention back to the TV.

"Not my fault you got distracted by a pretty face," Ian replied with a shrug. Luke and Jimmy sniggered as Caddy growled.

"That's it, double the fire for you!" Caddy made Bower spew a river of flame at Wess, roasting the hat-wearing character to a figure of black.

"We'll get you into the next match," Luke said to Kakusu over Caddy's cackles and Ian's grunts.

"Thank you, Luke. I would like to try this game. It looks enjoyable." She tilted her head as she watched Bower punch Wess to the ground. "Even if it does seem to bring out violence in people."

"Hey, that's Stomp for ya." Jimmy shrugged, still sprawled on the floor. "And Caddy is always pretty violent, in case you didn't notice."

"We still like each other afterwards, promise," Luke added.

Kakusu knelt behind Caddy, sitting on her heels as she watched Caddy and Ian duel while Wallid knocked Jeff off the stage one last time. Eventually, after a three-way brawl full of fire (from all three on-screen characters) and much cursing (mostly from Caddy), Wallid emerged victorious.

"BOOYAH!" Wallid threw his hands into the air. "See guys? Dr. Nario isn't pointless!"

"Just because you're good with him doesn't mean he's not pointless," Jeff replied, poking Wallid's head with a single finger.

Caddy growled and slammed the controller on the ground. "Third place again?!" He pointed at Ian. "I was so close to beating you! But next time, Moosey, next time I swear I'll—"

"Yeah, yeah, we get it, you'll be second place instead of third." Ian rolled his eyes. "Seriously, James, it's an old song and dance by now."

"I will beat you, I swear to—"

"ANYways, on to the next round! Six lives again!" Jeff interjected. "Everyone push the 'A' button!"

"I'll plug in another controller for Kakusu," Wallid said.

"Thank you, Wallid," Kakusu replied.

Caddy smiled at her. "So, what'd you think of the last match?" he asked Kakusu as Wallid handed her a golden yellow GameBlock controller.

"It was very energetic and chaotic," Kakusu replied. "Truly it was difficult to focus on any one character at any given time."

"That's the nature of eight-player Stomp," Jeff replied. "Or six-player Stomp, in this case."

"Yeah, but…" Caddy began.

Ian chuckled. "He's asking very indirectly how you think he played."

"Moosey!" Caddy glared at Ian.

Kakusu lifted an eyebrow; she still didn't quite understand the dynamic of Caddy's friendship with Ian, but decided it was best not to question it at that moment. "Truthfully, based on what little I witnessed, I think you played well, although your timing against Ian's attacks needed some improvement near the end of the match."

"Yeah, Bower's tricky to get a good feel of," Caddy admitted with a shrug.

"You also were playing a slow character," Ian replied, "and I was much faster as Wess." Caddy grumbled but deigned not to reply to Ian.

The character select screen pulled up. Jeff and Wallid switched to the sword-wielding Lonk and the rotund Vario (Nario's counterpart, Kakusu recalled), and Jimmy went on another Pokemon tirade in Luke's ear. Caddy switched his character to Fayonetta and turned to Kakusu again. "So who do you want to play?" he asked her. "I'll tell you about any character you don't know."

"Or I can, since I know more about Gintendo," Wallid chimed. "And most of the characters are from Gintendo IPs."

Kakusu studied the characters on screen—then found the sole robot character she was looking for, with its square head, black eyes, and arms at stiff ninety degree angles. "I will play as this character for this round," she replied, moving her cursor over the character's picture.

Caddy tilted his head. "R.O.B.A.? He's tricky for a newcomer to get a good grasp on, and he doesn't have the best reach for grabs and such."

"I enjoy robot characters greatly."

Caddy shrugged. "If you say so."

"Hey, Kakusu, how about you pick the stage this round?" Wallid suggested.

"If the rest of you agree with the idea, I will pick the stage," Kakusu replied. The other Hidden Block members chimed in their agreement, and Kakusu circled her cursor around the stage selection screen as she pondered. Eventually, she picked a pastel colored stage that featured series of blocks and a tree with a gaping face. She pulled up her memory bank of the game controls as the screen loaded.

The round started, and chaos ensued. Caddy, as expected, mostly pursued and attacked Ian while the others engaged in a free-for-all clobber-fest. Kakusu rolled R.O.B.A. away from the edge she started on and focused on using 'A' button attacks whenever another character came near her. Side 'A', down 'A', side 'A' again… Was R.O.B.A. a heavy character? Kakusu was surprised at how little she was knocked off the stage by the environment or by the Hidden Block players. She pressed 'X' then up 'B', rockets lifting R.O.B.A. above Vario and Princess Pear. R.O.B.A. dropped onto the pink princess, sending Pear flying off-screen.

"Whoa, slick move, 'Kusu!" Luke exclaimed.

"What?!" Jimmy yelled. "I'm coming after you next, R.O.B.A.!"

Kakusu smiled. "I would not expect anything else, Jimmy," she replied as she made R.O.B.A. spin its arms in a blur of destruction towards Vario and Lonk. Lonk jumped out of the way and Vario got knocked back; Kakusu tried the 'B' button alone. A laser shot through Vario, Luke's character Zilda, and the brawling Fayonetta and Wess.

"Wait, what?!" Caddy gave Kakusu a quick glance of jaw-slack shock. "You picked this up super quick, Kakusu!" he exclaimed as he returned his attention back to attacking Wess.

"Thank you, Caddicarus." Kakusu grinned as R.O.B.A's arms spun furiously towards Zilda.

Princess Pear appeared behind R.O.B.A. and whacked the bot with a frying pan. "HAHA!" Jimmy exclaimed as R.O.B.A. turned around. Pear and R.O.B.A. circled around each other, dodging attacks until Pear landed a whack on R.O.B.A. with a tennis racket. As her robot tumbled off stage, Kakusu's smiled widened. Despite losing a life so quickly, Kakusu found herself enjoying this tumultuous game and was already brainstorming an attack strategy for when she respawned a moment later.

The crazed battle continued. Vario and Lonk were the first to lose all six lives. As Wallid and Jeff set their controllers down to watch the match, R.O.B.A. sent Pear off-screen with a single laser blast, leaving the princess with one life left. Zilda and Pear teamed up on R.O.B.A., and all three characters landed blows on each other equally, but a swirl of blue magic from Zilda and a punch from R.O.B.A. sent Pear flying off screen for the last time.

"Holy crap!" Jimmy threw his controller in the air, staring at Kakusu. "Just… holy crap! Have you played this before?"

"I have not," Kakusu replied, focusing on attacking Luke's Zilda. "Repeating Zilda's neutral special move is considered 'cheap', is it not, Luke?"

"Hey, whatever works!" Luke laughed as Zilda reflected another laser beam. "It's not like this is a pro match or anything."

"That is true," Kakusu mused as R.O.B.A. punched Zilda.

R.O.B.A. took out Zilda's last life just as Fayonetta launched Wess off the stage. "Ha ha! Take that, Moosey!" Caddy exclaimed. "Now we're both down to one life!"

"Well, Kakusu's got three," Ian replied.

"WHAT?!" Caddy counted the icons under R.O.B.A's name. "The bloomin'…"

"Let's take her out first," Ian suggested. "She's almost at 300 percent."

"No way! It'd be much easier to knock you out first!" Caddy made Fayonetta dash across the stage to where Wess respawned above R.O.B.A.

Kakusu pressed 'X' repeatedly. Once R.O.B.A. was in the air, Fayonetta and Wess dashed into her—and R.O.B.A. performed his neutral aerial attack. Both Caddy's and Ian's characters were knocked back, and a three-way brawl ensued. Kakusu swapped her focus between the two opposing characters, quickly mastering the bubble shield on the 'R' button. With R.O.B.A. hitting 300% damage, she had to play carefully, and—

Fayonetta performed a spinning kick into Wess and R.O.B.A. Kakusu activated R.O.B.A.'s final smash—and the laser beam sent the black witch and psychic boy catapulting off screen.

"GAME!"

All six Hidden Block members stared in shock at Kakusu. "And the winner is," the game announced, "R.O.B.A!"

"Wow," Wallid finally sputtered.

Kakusu met each boy's slack-jawed face with her content smile. "That game was very enjoyable, and very nuanced."

"You're bloody amazing, Kakusu!" Caddy grabbed Kakusu's arm. "Seriously, that was exciting and awesome!" He laughed as he shook her arm. "You're brilliant at this!"

"You… really believe that is true?" Kakusu asked.

"Yeah, no joke," Luke chimed, sliding beside Kakusu. "Seriously, you're a pro at this for your first game!"

All the Hidden Block guys chimed in at their awe of Kakusu's skills, Wallid further clarifying the exact techniques needed to perform some of the moves she made. A feeling of… pride bloomed in Kakusu's chest. It was an odd sensation, but it made her smile even more. Sure, she had enjoyed previous goals she had accomplished, but this felt different, being praised by a multiplicity of excited young men all at once rather than simply one person in a calm manner. "Thank you all. I appreciate your compliments," she managed to interject into their chatter. Glancing at the screen, she saw that Fayonetta won third place while Wess won second place. "Caddicarus, I apologize that I kept you from a well-deserved victory—"

"Psh, don't worry about it." Caddy flicked a hand, as if tossing her words away. "That's what I've got the next match for!" He cackled, rubbing his hands together with a wicked sneer.

"Sure, whatever, James." Ian rolled his eyes as the character selection screen came up again.

The club played quite a few more matches of Stomp together, Kakusu winning most of them. As enjoyable as winning every one of them would have been, sometimes the boys would come up with tactics that took her longer to counter than she initially expected, which she preferred. Throughout the gameplay, one thought repeated in Kakusu's mind:

Nokemon wasn't the only fun video game out there, and she wished to try more games, especially if she could play them with Hidden Block.