(Co-written with Jumpropeman.)
Mega Drive opened the door and stepped into the room, taking a moment to just breathe it all in. This refinished basement was a shrine to Sega. Shelves were lined with hundreds of games for every Sega system (with the Genesis unsurprisingly the most prominent). Merchandise of Sega characters also dotted the shelves, with Sonic the Hedgehog getting a whole section to himself where all of his games and merch was concentrated. Original Sega store displays and posters went up anywhere there was space. Sega arcade cabinets were here as well. For space reasons, there was a multicade that could play dozens of Sega arcade originals, but for nerd reasons, there were also a couple of genuine OG cabinets as well, including a The Lost World: Jurassic Park pinball machine. A place of honor was given to Periscope, a 1966 electro-mechanical arcade machine that was accompanied by a plaque proudly stating that it was Sega's very first game. Rachel had bought it for Meredith for Christmas 2024. That darn red-hooded nerd had always been trying to top herself, getting Meredith more extravagant and obscure Sega gifts each year, and Mega was at a bit of a loss as to how Rachel could possibly top this one next holiday season.
Meredith put a hand to her chin in thought as she looked over the Genesis games, almost reaching for a curious-looking one called Socket, then looking over at one called Chuck Rock, and then her eyes settled on a familiar favorite - Toejam and Earl. "Ah, it's so hard to choose sometimes..." she mumbled to herself. "Do I play something I don't have much experience with, or do I stick with an old faithful?"
"I have a suggestion!"
Meredith jumped a bit in surprise and turned to see Rachel had slipped into the room. "Ah, Rachel! Do you? That would be nice. I could use some help settling on something to play."
"I'm always ready to give my Sega Princess a helping hand." Rachel said softly, coming in close and hugging Meredith. "Come, let's get you to the royal couch." Rachel grinned and swept Meredith off her feet, Meredith letting out a "WHOOP!" of excited surprise as the most athletic girl in Nerd Club managed to heave her up in a princess carry. Rachel's grin turned a bit cocky as she did a couple reps with Meredith, lifting her up and down like a barbell and making her blush deeply. "You make excellent weight training." Rachel said as she stepped towards the couch, bowing her head to smooch Mega on one cheek. Meredith was lowered gently onto the couch, then Rachel stood in front of her and started rooting around in her Nomad robe for something.
"Oh, are we playing on Nomads today?" Mega asked, her cheeks still pink.
"Nah, not today. But I've got the perfect game for us to play on the big screen!" Rachel pulled out a generic plastic game case, then opened it and produced a blank Genesis cart. Instead of a label, it simply had a piece of masking tape across the front with "SOR2" written on it in marker. She stuck it in the Genesis and plopped down on the couch next to Meredith, both of them soon holding controllers. The Streets of Rage 2 title screen appeared on Meredith's large CRT television, the nerd brightening.
"Ah! A classic for sure! And the perfect co-op game to unwind with!"
"You bet! This one's a little special, though."
Mega was about to ask what was special about it, only for the character select screen to make it abundantly clear. This version of SOR2 had new playable characters. Axel, Blaze, Max, and Skate were gone, and had been replaced with... Meredith, Rachel, Gale, and Sumireko!
"Oh my goodness!" Meredith gaped in surprise, moving her cursor around to flip between the girls and admiring their sprites. They looked quite accurate, right down to the fact that all four girls were cute squishy nerds instead of muscular street toughs.
"It's us and our best friends, heading out to deal with Mr. X." Rachel said, looking quite proud of herself. "I'm no hacker, but I got some help from the rest of Nerd Club to make this happen. Ready to play?"
Meredith wasted no time in selecting herself as her playable character, looking giddy as Rachel did the same. "Absolutely!"
"Oh, and can't forget." Rachel reached into her cloak again and pulled out a big bag of chocolate-covered pretzels and a couple cans of soda. "Gotta have some game fuel, right?" She placed the bag in between the two of them and handed Meredith a soda, Rachel popping the tab on hers and Meredith crunching down on a pretzel as battle commenced on the STREETS OF RAGE.
Meredith wasted no time in selecting herself as her playable character, looking giddy as Rachel did the same. "Absolutely!"
"Oh, and can't forget." Rachel reached into her cloak again and pulled out a big bag of chocolate-covered pretzels and a couple cans of soda. "Gotta have some game fuel, right?" She placed the bag in between the two of them and handed Meredith a soda, Rachel popping the tab on hers and Meredith crunching down on a pretzel as battle commenced on the STREETS OF RAGE.
It was certainly an impressive mod. In addition to the new playable characters (who had totally original movesets, like Rachel using hardware and tools to attack and Mega Drive summoning other Sega characters and whacking thugs with her book), some fun touches were added throughout to give Meredith a steady stream of pleasant little surprises. Enemies and bosses sometimes whipped out a new attack, there was the occasional new thug to beat up, and there was even an extra, entirely new level added in between the baseball stadium and the boat that added continuity to the adventure by starting in an underground tunnel before opening up into a harbor by the sea. R. Bear was the boss here instead of being the boss on the boat, which now hosted a musclebound sea captain swinging around an anchor and chain.
The final few levels didn't change anything too crazy until the final boss battle. When Shiva was defeated, his downed sprite stayed onscreen, unmoving, as Mr. X began his attack (showcasing a couple new moves in the process, like a grab and a sideways tackle). Once Mr. X was down to half health, though, Shiva got up and began to fight again, forcing Meredith and Rachel to fight both Mr. X and Shiva at the same time. In the end, Mr. X went down in a hail of scattered bullet casings, landing on top of Shiva and definitively ending the battle. And then something different happened.
A couple of policeman NPCs walked on screen and dragged off Shiva and Mr. X, leaving Rachel and Meredith alone in X's office. The two sprites faced each other in the center of the room, then approached one another and embraced. Little hearts rose off of them as they hugged, relieved that the fight was over... and then Rachel pulled back. The little sprite reached into its' cloak, rummaging around and then pulling out a small box. She got down on one knee and presented the box, the small sprite unable to clearly show what was inside but the implication all too obvious.
Meredith was doing a good job of resembling her sprite, both of them wearing the same open-mouthed expression.
"Meredith."
Wait, this hack had voice acting?! No way- Oh, no, that was coming from the actual Rachel. Meredith turned to look... and saw that Rachel was also on one knee, holding out a box with a sparkling object inside.
It was like one of those enamel pins, but instead of a pin, it was a ring. The body was shaped like a Genesis controller.
"Will you marry me?"
Meredith was usually pretty composed when playing a video game, watching things carefully out of both interest and a desire to perform as best she could. However, whenever Rachel was around, she was already more likely to speak and eagerly draw her girlfriend's attention to different elements of the game, sometimes even leaving her seat to point specifically at very small details.
This particular gaming session had her outright bouncing in her seat though, needing to pause at certain times to gush about what she was witnessing. She couldn't help but passively blush at seeing her own special moves or how Rachel was realized on screen, although perhaps the greatest embarrassment she felt was grabbing Rachel's arm and almost yelling about the new interim section added and the new boss fight. She was glad they had soda to wash down the snacks, she needed to outright cool down after the surprises.
She had still been yammering on about the interesting change of Shiva's return during the final boss when the new cutscene started playing, Mega Drive's cheeks incredibly warm as she imagined whoever programmed this game throwing in this little easter egg for them. She still watched with rapt attention, fascinated by the change on an intellectual and emotional level, but when a deeper purpose was revealed, her mind almost went blank.
Looking at the ring, she felt like this wasn't even her life anymore. Once there was a little girl who couldn't get anyone to listen to her. One who didn't make friends well, and even when she was close to someone like her cousin Gabriella, she had no idea how to maintain that relationship and accidentally pushed her away. Even after achieving this wonderful, lovely, relaxed life where she had most everything she wanted, she hadn't allowed herself to consider what was before her.
Quivering hands grab the little box, Meredith pulling it up her to watery eyes. "I always thought the Genesis controller was such an elegant shape. Such a clean curve, uncluttered even in its six button variant. It works so well as a clip, or a candy, or so many other little pieces or merchandise because it's so recognizable and distinct despite being a reasonably shaped and logical design!" Her eyes look up at Rachel, and she realizes what she's doing. She couldn't help it, her excitement was spilling out in the way she was used to doing so. She had never had to answer a question like this, so she defaulted to being a big Sega nerd because that was what was most comfortable.
But looking at Rachel's eyes, remembering all the time together over these last few years, doing things outside her comfort zone but still so wonderful and perfect... She's brought back to the moment. She remembers the question, blushing as she holds the ring box to her chest. "...Yes. Of course yes! I am absolutely sure of this! You didn't even need to ask to know!" she proclaims, the tears quickening as she launches herself down at Rachel to hug her tight, kissing her rapidly across both cheeks as she realizes right now she could just do exactly as she wanted. Rachel has never judged her, she wouldn't even judge that unusual moment she found herself talking about a game controller instead of their future, because Rachel accepted her utterly and fully.
Mega Drive wouldn't be able to help herself soon in considering all that a marriage would entail, the planning, the guest list, how much Sega she could get away with in the ceremony... but right now, her mind was all on Rachel as she was all over her fiancé. Right now, all she wanted to think about was her, and how happy they both could be.
The final few levels didn't change anything too crazy until the final boss battle. When Shiva was defeated, his downed sprite stayed onscreen, unmoving, as Mr. X began his attack (showcasing a couple new moves in the process, like a grab and a sideways tackle). Once Mr. X was down to half health, though, Shiva got up and began to fight again, forcing Meredith and Rachel to fight both Mr. X and Shiva at the same time. In the end, Mr. X went down in a hail of scattered bullet casings, landing on top of Shiva and definitively ending the battle. And then something different happened.
A couple of policeman NPCs walked on screen and dragged off Shiva and Mr. X, leaving Rachel and Meredith alone in X's office. The two sprites faced each other in the center of the room, then approached one another and embraced. Little hearts rose off of them as they hugged, relieved that the fight was over... and then Rachel pulled back. The little sprite reached into its' cloak, rummaging around and then pulling out a small box. She got down on one knee and presented the box, the small sprite unable to clearly show what was inside but the implication all too obvious.
Meredith was doing a good job of resembling her sprite, both of them wearing the same open-mouthed expression.
"Meredith."
Wait, this hack had voice acting?! No way- Oh, no, that was coming from the actual Rachel. Meredith turned to look... and saw that Rachel was also on one knee, holding out a box with a sparkling object inside.
It was like one of those enamel pins, but instead of a pin, it was a ring. The body was shaped like a Genesis controller.
"Will you marry me?"
---
Meredith was usually pretty composed when playing a video game, watching things carefully out of both interest and a desire to perform as best she could. However, whenever Rachel was around, she was already more likely to speak and eagerly draw her girlfriend's attention to different elements of the game, sometimes even leaving her seat to point specifically at very small details.
This particular gaming session had her outright bouncing in her seat though, needing to pause at certain times to gush about what she was witnessing. She couldn't help but passively blush at seeing her own special moves or how Rachel was realized on screen, although perhaps the greatest embarrassment she felt was grabbing Rachel's arm and almost yelling about the new interim section added and the new boss fight. She was glad they had soda to wash down the snacks, she needed to outright cool down after the surprises.
She had still been yammering on about the interesting change of Shiva's return during the final boss when the new cutscene started playing, Mega Drive's cheeks incredibly warm as she imagined whoever programmed this game throwing in this little easter egg for them. She still watched with rapt attention, fascinated by the change on an intellectual and emotional level, but when a deeper purpose was revealed, her mind almost went blank.
Looking at the ring, she felt like this wasn't even her life anymore. Once there was a little girl who couldn't get anyone to listen to her. One who didn't make friends well, and even when she was close to someone like her cousin Gabriella, she had no idea how to maintain that relationship and accidentally pushed her away. Even after achieving this wonderful, lovely, relaxed life where she had most everything she wanted, she hadn't allowed herself to consider what was before her.
Quivering hands grab the little box, Meredith pulling it up her to watery eyes. "I always thought the Genesis controller was such an elegant shape. Such a clean curve, uncluttered even in its six button variant. It works so well as a clip, or a candy, or so many other little pieces or merchandise because it's so recognizable and distinct despite being a reasonably shaped and logical design!" Her eyes look up at Rachel, and she realizes what she's doing. She couldn't help it, her excitement was spilling out in the way she was used to doing so. She had never had to answer a question like this, so she defaulted to being a big Sega nerd because that was what was most comfortable.
But looking at Rachel's eyes, remembering all the time together over these last few years, doing things outside her comfort zone but still so wonderful and perfect... She's brought back to the moment. She remembers the question, blushing as she holds the ring box to her chest. "...Yes. Of course yes! I am absolutely sure of this! You didn't even need to ask to know!" she proclaims, the tears quickening as she launches herself down at Rachel to hug her tight, kissing her rapidly across both cheeks as she realizes right now she could just do exactly as she wanted. Rachel has never judged her, she wouldn't even judge that unusual moment she found herself talking about a game controller instead of their future, because Rachel accepted her utterly and fully.
Mega Drive wouldn't be able to help herself soon in considering all that a marriage would entail, the planning, the guest list, how much Sega she could get away with in the ceremony... but right now, her mind was all on Rachel as she was all over her fiancé. Right now, all she wanted to think about was her, and how happy they both could be.
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