Lewis was a big fan of technology, but he never really saw the point of video games. Goob, on the other hand, loved playing on the old console someone had donated to the orphanage. He played for hours on end, even though he had beaten all three games countless times. Lewis just never really thought about them. That was, until the day the orphanage was gifted another game and a second controller. Then there was the opportunity for two-player games. Goob began to pester Lewis at every moment to play with him. The inventor would use his projects as excuses not to come. He had better things to do than stare at a television and push buttons. Goob persisted, talking non-stop about how great the games were and how much Lewis would love them, one game, just one game, and then he'd leave him alone, oh pretty please, would he play just this once please? Finally Lewis couldn't take it anymore. He snatched the glasses off his face and rubbed his eyes.

"Okay! Fine! I will play ONE game!" he said grudgingly. Goob grinned and raced downstairs. Lewis sighed and followed.

Goob still talked at his breakneck pace as he explained the system to Lewis.

"So this is a controller and that's the joystick, and there's buttons A, B, C, and X. You'd wonder why they used X instead of D, but I could never figure it out. Then the buttons on the back, L and R, but you barely ever use those. You push start to pause and unpause the game and a menu will pop up and you can do stuff with that. If you don't like the joysticks you can use the arrow buttons but the joysticks work so much better…" Goob continued on about the controller as he popped the game into the console. Lewis felt a bit overwhelmed. He pushed the buttons that Goob instructed him to, as the game loaded.

"Okay, so this game is pretty simple. Use X to jump, double click it to super-jump, use C to crawl, use B to attack and if you hit A-B-double X you will mega-slam, which…" The inventor was confused, and that annoyed him. He'd done much more complicated things than play a video game.

"Are you ready?" Goob asked. Lewis nodded. He could do this. He was confident of it.

Ten minutes later, he found himself staring at the screen in shock and anger.

"HEY!" he yelled. "NO FAIR!" He turned to Goob. "How did you do that? What was that? You destroyed me!"

Goob looked at the inventor with an expression of half amusement and half surprise. "You wanna play again?" he asked.

Lewis turned at narrowed his eyes. "You're on, Yagoobian."

Hours later, Mildred went around, urging the kids to bed. She turned the corner into the den and saw something she thought she'd never see.

"Lewis? You're playing those games?" she asked incredulously.

"Hmm?" Lewis did not look away from the screen. "Hold on, Mildred, I have to beat him this time." His fingers darted across the buttons, and for a moment he looked victorious, but the buzzing little tune sounded, and GAME OVER flashed on the screen. Lewis howled in defeat. Goob just smiled at his opponent. "Good game, Lewis."

Mildred laughed at the two roommates. "Time for bed, guys. You can play again in the morning."

Lewis stood up, and his mind shifted to science mode. "There's got to be some physics involved. Velocity versus time on the 23 degree angle will result in…" he continued to mutter to himself as he went up to his room. Goob turned to Mildred in mild shock.

"What have I done?" he said, half-jokingly.

Over the next few weeks, Lewis went on one of his research-rampages. He hit the library, the university, the skate park, the science center and the target ranges. Anywhere that could help him figure out how to beat Goob in a game. Lewis filled three whole notebooks with notes, equations and diagrams about the science of video games. He stayed up late at night poring over books on physics, agility, and computers. Goob was grateful he was only reading, because he didn't think he could go through another week of bright lights and noises from the inventor's experiments.

Finally, Lewis came downstairs at lunchtime one day some weeks after, and announced: "I'm ready!"

Goob tried to reply but his mouth was stuck from his peanut butter sandwich. "Mhmm?"

Lewis placed his bundle of notebooks on the table and reached for a sandwich. The jelly squished out the side and covered his hands. "Yuck," he muttered, finding a paper towel before they became sticky. "Goob, after lunch, lets play."

The dark hared boy nodded. "You're on."

A group of orphanage kids gathered around the two boys as they prepared for battle. Goob's eyes glinted wildly as he turned on the console. Lewis took a deep breath as he picked up the controller. He scanned his notes in his mind.

"You ready for this?" Goob asked, grinning.

Lewis nodded. "Let's go."

After fifteen minutes of intense gameplay, Lewis was staring at the screen in defeat.

"But how? I know how to do this! I had the perfect formula! It makes no sense!"

Goob laughed and patted the inventor's shoulder.

"Lewis, no formula or equation is going to help you win. A book can't tell you how to beat your opponent. It takes practice. Lots and lots of practice. That's all."

Lewis smiled at his younger friend. "Then lets play again." he suggested, picking up the controller.

--2037--

Cornelius Robinson knocked on his son's door. Unfortunately, the rapping was lost in the yells and blasts from inside the room. Pushing the door open, he walked into Wilbur's room.

"Dad, I've told you a million times to knock." Wilbur said, not looking away from his video game.

" I did, though. You wouldn't be able to hear Tiny knock on your door with this noise." The inventor said, crossing his arms.

"Well, what is it? I'm kind of busy." Wilbur said, slightly annoyed.

"It's time to do your chores. You've been cooped up in here for hours." Cornelius moved to switch off the console.

"No! Come on, dad. One more game?" Wilbur pushed the pause button and looked at his father pleadingly.

Cornelius nearly burst out laughing at his son's expression. He was so into these games. But there were chores to be done…

"Okay, Wilbur, I have a deal for you. Play a game against me. I win, you go downstairs and do your chores. You win, I'll do your chores. Sound fair?"

Wilbur looked at his father in disbelief. "Seriously? You, play video games?" He laughed. "Okay, but have fun doing my chores."

Cornelius picked up a controller and looked at the screen. "Don't be so sure."

"What?!" Wilbur screamed at the screen as GAME OVER flashed repeatedly. "How? What? But…but…"

His father grinned as he turned off the console. "I believe you have some chores to do."

"Dad, how did you do it? You don't play video games! How did you beat me like that?" Wilbur asked, still in shock.

"Easy. I've had a lot of practice." Cornelius replied as he left the room.

Thanks to superstoyboi124 for the inspiration, I was kind of short for plot.