(Poor neglected Nehru, forced to be a Bench Warmer for two months. Don't worry, she had fun waiting around in Charon's restaurant, but now its time to get back into the swing of things...or try at least)
"No Nehru! Don't do it! He's a beast at Dance Dance Revolution! You can't beat him!" Grave practically pleaded with her. "I'll tell you where to go next! Just don't do it!"
Stopping in mid-stride, Nehru glanced back to the burly man with her face all lit up with joy, "Really??"
Grave glanced left and right and mumbled, "Uh, not really...I'm just saying that in an attempt to keep you from facing Juke...*coughcough*..."
Like a balloon inflated with happiness itself being popped with the needle of reality, Nehru's face dropped to a sour expression as she grumbled, "Thanks alot..."
Juke, who was performing some painful-looking stretch that involved rotating his ankle around while his leg was held behind his head, said to Nehru when she finally arrived at the machine, "It's about time, buddy! You can't delay the inevitable."
Drenched from the rain, Nehru glanced at the machine until she noticed, "Hey, doesn't this thing need to be plugged in? I mean, it won't work without power..."
Juke did some silly little dance, which his legions of backup dancers copied, and explained loudly, "DDR doesn't need electricity, ye of little brain matter! DDR runs off the power of the SOUL, buddy!! Ha, ha, ha! Are you scared, Nehru??"
"Not really, I'm more soaking wet and miserable," she replied matter-of-factly (<- You too can make your very own adverbs by adding "ly" to the end of anything!). She stepped up onto her side of the DDR pad and asked, "Um...how do you play this game?"
Back by the Anti-Hero Shop, Grave slapped his face with his hand and commented deadpan, "She's dead..."
And as the others were recovering from Jackson's monstrous attack, Kelly was the first among them to ask, "What's Nehru doing?"
"will she be okay?" Fish inquired as she found a new shoulder to perch on in Nehru's absence, F-Zero's.
"Probably not," answered Grave flatly.
Fish started crying, and F-Zero tried to comfort her, "There, there, Fish. Here, listen to some extremely loud Death Metal..." F-Zero slipped a small pair of headphones on Fish's head, and she almost immediately went into seizures as the music blaired in her ears.
And meanwhile, Juke smirked when his challenger asked him how to even play the game. "Don't worry, buddy. I eat, sleep, breathe, think, and feel DDR; I've been playing this game my whole life, so you're gonna learn from the best."
"Oh yeah? Well, I'm a total novice who's never touched a Dance Dance Revolution machine in my whole life," Nehru said to her defense proudly.
Juke snickered and exclaimed, "Let's begin, buddy!!"
*beep!*
"DDR Max!" said the Announcer's voice on the DDR machine. Then it...sniffed the air? "Oh my god! I think I smell a little n00blet! Ready to get smoked, little n00blet?!"
Nehru recoiled as if physically struck, and, for all intensive purposes, she practically was slapped in the face by the snide game voice. "Did that machine just call me a...'n00blet'?"
"What's the matter, little n00blet?" asked the Announcer obnoxiously. "Can't hang with the big boys now?"
Nehru, obviously vexed, glanced at Juke and proclaimed, "No fair! It's calling me names!"
The Pop Singer just brushed it off and replied while he pressed the button on the machine, "Ah, don't worry about it, buddy..."
And when he touched the machine, the Announcer said to him in awe, "What would you like, my lord and most high master above all others, Juke the invincible and almighty god of all that is DDR, my personal savior from all that is lame and uncool?"
"And it's kissing up to you! Double no fair!" Nehru protested further.
Totally ignoring Nehru's argument about the machine obviously playing favorites, Juke announced, "There is only one song that could possibly stand up to the monumental stature of our showdown! KAKUMEI, buddy!!!"
Just before Juke could press the button to finalize his decision, Grave yelled, "Time out!!"
"You can't call a time out in DDR! What's up with that?" said the Announcer voice.
Juke checked his watch, even though he wasn't wearing one, and hummed, "Don't take too long, buddy..."
Grave hobbled over to Nehru's side of the DDR pad and motioned her to the side, provoking her to ask, "Come to wish me goodbye?"
"No, but listen to me, little one," Grave started, glancing around. "I didn't want it to come to this, but I brought a secret weapon with me. Look..."
Nehru looked down at the item halfway out of Grave's pocket and said disappointedly, "A can of soda?"
"Nooo!!" Grave hissed quickly, as the can in his hand vibrated slightly. "Do not call Full Throttle names other than Full Throttle!"
"What...exactly is Full Throttle?" Nehru asked, trying to get a better look at the can in the man's hand.
"Nooo!!" Grave hissed again, as the can vibrated more violently in his hand. "Do not stare at Full Throttle! Anyway, Full Throttle is an energy drink - sixteen ounces of pure carnage in a can. All the big names use it, like Goku, Superman, Popeye...just give it a shot. It could give you what you need to beat Juke. Here, take it, little one!"
Grave dropped the can into Nehru's pocket as she commented dryly, "Somehow, I don't think just an energy drink will help-"
"Nooo!!" Grave hissed yet again, as the can vibrated furiously in Nehru's pocket. "Do not mock Full Throttle!"
"Ok, ok, I got it. I got it!" said Nehru as the can of Full Throttle calmed down.
"Are you ready to dance or what, buddy?" inquired Juke impatiently.
Grave gave his best attempt at a smile, which turned out to be more like a kindergartner's attempt at coloring within the lines, and clapped Nehru on the shoulder, "Good luck, little one..."
"You know, you could just tell me where to go next and stop this right now..." suggested Nehru hopefully.
Grave nodded, "I know, but that'd be too easy."
Nehru frowned, then trudged back up onto the DDR machine while saying to the shop owner, "Thanks alot...again."
