Authors Note: Hello out there, I wanted to let you know that this is a story connecting to Walker's Path. Vic the main character of this story is Walker's best friend. This story is going to be heavily gaming oriented. However, it's also going to be a companion story to Walker's Path. The things that Walker misses Vic might not miss and vice versa. I hope you enjoy it!

The incessant tapping from Rob banging on his controller was getting to me.

“Vic!” Rob said in a panic.

“You have to use skills! Stop just spamming x!” I said.

“I can't!” he replied.

“What do you mean you can't?!”

Five enemies were chasing Rob around the room. He was doing a good job kiting them around but he was smashing them with his melee weapon whenever they got close. That wouldn’t be a problem if he were a warrior but he was a sorcerer and needed to use his spells.

I glanced at Rob for a moment and saw him slapping the controller with his palm.

How the heck did he last this long? I thought.

Then I looked at his health potions. All but two were left.

“Richie!” I yelled.

After about then seconds Richie popped his head from around the corner. “Sup?”

“Dude! Look!” I yelled as I pointed at the TV.

Rob had just used the last of Richie's potions trying to stay alive.

“Pause it, pause it!” Richie yelled back at me.

I quickly paused the game.

“Awww,” Rob said.

“You’re gonna get my character killed!” Richie said to Rob.

Rob was Richie’s younger brother and probably the most annoying kid I knew. He was apparently terrible at video games too. We were forced to play with him when we were at Richie's house though.

Being stuck in this room with Rob was the worst. It was my turn to wait though. Our D&D tournament was underway and I couldn't know what the other guys were doing so I had to sit it out.

If only Walker hadn't stayed at his girlfriend's. His and my character were together and he would have been here with me. I was more than a little annoyed, we'd been planning this tournament for weeks. He’d asked me to play his character for him but it wasn’t going to be the same.

I didn't even have a way to get a hold of him to tell him how things were going. If he even cared.

“Don't touch anything!” Rich said and rushed back into the kitchen.

There was no reason to hold the controller anymore so I put it next to the Playstation.

“Wanna play N64?” Rob asked.

“What game?”

“Mario Kart.”

That game was fun. “Sure?”

Rob got up and darted behind the TV and flipped a switch. The screen went black and he rushed over to a cabinet under the TV and pulled out two controllers.

I'd never get used to the weird three pronged N64 controllers.

Rob blew into the cartridge, slammed it into place, and started the system. It booted up and the game started.
It'd been a while since I played this game. Walker was more into video games than I was but I was still pretty good.

I chose Yoshi and the squirt picked Toad.

The round started out pretty neck and neck but I got knocked out by a red shell from one of the computer controlled characters putting Rob in first place.

“What the,” I said.

“I’m just good,” Rob said.

“You were just lucky, Lets go again.”

We went again and somehow he won again.

I let the controller rest in my lap and looked at Rob. The scrawny kid with gangly arms sneered at me.

Oh fuck this. “Again.”

After around five more games of losing I felt completely demoralized. The little jerk somehow always ended up ahead of me. It was like he wasn’t getting hit by my shells. Well, except for the blue ones.

This time I decided to watch his screen while playing. I noticed that he was carrying his shells behind him. “How do you do that with your shells?” I asked.

“Just hold the button.”

I tried what he said and it worked and then suddenly a warning came up saying that a red shell was about to hit me. Instead of causing me to spin out, it was blocked.

A smile spread across my face. I didn’t win that game but I came in 3rd place.

“Again,” I said.

Another few games and I was getting much better. I was just behind Rob on one game and he moved so that his shell hit me from behind.

“What the?” So, those things can actually hit people too.

After every game, Rob would look up at me and smile. The little shit was enjoying this.

“Again.”

This round I caught up to him and tried to do the same thing but he dodged to the right causing me to hit a wall and spin out.

“Damnit,” I said while watching the camera follow his character driving around the course. Then I suddenly spotted something. There was a part of the course that looked like it deviated from the normal path. Hmmm.

“One more time.”

Rob started it up and I missed the deviation the first lap but caught it the second time. It led to a ramp that had a jump at the end which would launch me over a gap. When my character jumped off he fell just sort of making it. The next round I was lucky enough to get a mushroom and I attempted it again. My character soared through the air and got back on the course ahead of everyone else.

“Yes!” I yelled.

I beat him finally.

“How did you get ahead of me? You cheated!”

“Nope just skills,” I said.

“Let's go again.”

Richie popped around the corner. “Hey Vic, we’re rea—” He stared at the screen. “What the hell Rob!”

“I just switched it over.”

I moved the controller I was holding to my left hiding it behind my leg.

“You know that breaks the sound! Now I have to reset it!”

My knees popped as I got up and went to the kitchen. I ignored the screaming bout that was happening between Rob and Rich. Rich could be almost as annoying as his little brother.

“Hey, Vic.” Rich’s dad said. He was standing in front of the stove cooking something. It smelled really good.

“Hey Mr. Newman,” I said.

Rich and Rob’s family were clean freaks. Their parents were the type that would clean up after you while you were in the middle of eating. It was weird but much better than Steve’s house.

Steve was another one of my buds; his house was infested with roaches. Steve knew it was gross but he didn’t want to clean up after his three brothers. Their parents didn’t clean much so there always ended up being trash everywhere.

I sat at the table with Johnny, Nick, and Steve.

“Sup,” I said.

“Yo,” said Nick. He was almost as scrawny as Rob.

Steve put his hand up over his DM screen. “Hey.”

Johnny ignored me and shook the dice in his hand and let them roll. “That’s a negative two.”

“Hit, but no damage,” said Steve.

“What?! I attack ag—”

Steve put his hand up again. “He gets to react first.” Steve looked at me. “Vic, as you were coming out of your room at the inn someone threw a bottle of wine at you. It broke on your armor and you took no damage. It did however leave a big stain on your white pants.”

“Was it white wine or red?” I asked.

Steve squinted at me. “Red.”

“I pull out my blackjack and close to melee range.”

***