Saturday, September 5, 1992, 10 AM

   "All right, guys." Kevin said, stepping up to a metal table in Dr.
Right's laboratory. "It's time for you to choose your weapons."
   Following Kevin up to the table were Rick, Stacey, Romeo, Julius, Lana,
Mega Man, and Simon. They all looked at the many various weapons lying on
the table.
   Rick smiled, reaching to pick some objects up. "I see the ones I want!"
   Rick chose a black belt that had a Power Pad on it, but it wasn't the
same type as Kevin, Lana, or Mike's. This Power Pad was white and gray. It
had a curved shape, rather than a rectangular one. It did have a cross key
and two black buttons like the others, but it had four round buttons instead
of two. The four round buttons were in a 2x2 pattern, and they were purple
instead of red. A neon blue power meter, similar to Lana's except for the
color, ran along the top of the Power Pad.
   Rick had also picked a long, purple, bazooka-style weapon.
   "Ah, those are two of my inventions!" Dr. Right, who was standing on the
opposite side of the table, said with a smile. "The new Power Pad design is
something I've been working on for the past two months. The added buttons
allow more special features!"
   "Like what?" Rick asked, curious.
   The scientist grinned. "You'll see! The other item you selected I call
the Super Scope. It fires a powerful laser blast!"
   Kevin looked at Rick and laughed. "Man, I'm jealous!"
   Stacey picked up a long, shiny, silver boomerang. "Wow, like, check this
out! This is mine!"
   Romeo's eyes scanned the table. He picked up a black remote control.
"What's this, Dr. Right?"
   Dr. Right smiled. "Ah, that's another new invention of mine. It has all
of the Power Pad and Zapper's functions on one device that looks like a
remote control."
   "What's it called?" Romeo asked.
   "A Remote Control."
   The others laughed.
   "The symbols on the buttons are self-explanatory: Up, Down, Left, Right,
Jump, Run, Pause, Laser, Ice, Heat."
   "He'll need the symbols." Simon said to himself. Lana, who overheard,
elbowed him.
   "Duh, a football!" Julius exclaimed happily. He picked it up off the
metal table.
   "Not just any football!" Dr. Right said with pride. "You throw it or kick
it at the enemies, and, upon contact, it electrocutes them!"
   "Are you sure that's simple enough for him?" Simon commented, to himself
again. Kevin elbowed him this time.
   "I gotta try this!" Julius said. He reached back, then threw the football
towards the wall with the door in it.
   "Everybody out!" Kevin yelled.
   Everyone except Julius ran out the door. It closed behind them. The
football hit it, gave off some sparks, and fell to the floor.

   Rick and Mega Man exited the warp and found themselves in the Drill Man
stage in Megaland.
   Rick looked at Mega Man. "We're not going to another world, Mega Man?"
   "This place will be mega great for you to practice in, Rick." Mega Man
said. "Dr. Wily doesn't have much of a force left after the war. In fact,
you can't even really call it a force. He's probably got only a minimal
amount of robots here patrolling this stage." He laughed. "All that
firepower of yours will be great for trashing them!"
   Rick laughed and took his Super Scope, which he carried on his back, in
his hands. "Well, then, let's get to it!"
   The two of them started walking.
   "So," Mega Man asked, "what are you doing during the week when you're on
Earth?"
   "Well, me, Romeo, and Julius are going to college. We're sharing a dorm
on campus. Our parents don't know we travel to another universe on the
weekends. We get our homework done during the week, so we're free to come
here every Friday night and stay here until Monday morning."
   "What about Captain N, Mike, and Stacey?"
   "They're back in high school."
   "You're kidding!" Mega Man said in surprise.
   "Nope!" Rick said, smiling and shaking his head. "Kevin was able, due to
all the stuff he learned here in Videoland, to skip the ninth, tenth, and
eleventh grades by taking a special state test. Mike did the same to pass
the eleventh grade, which he didn't complete, due to being pulled into
Videoland earlier this year. So, Kevin, Mike, and Stacey are all in twelfth
grade, and they'll graduate next May!"
   "That's mega fantastic!" Mega Man said.
   "Whoa!" Rick said suddenly, pointing with his right index finger.
   Mega Man looked ahead. Three robots were coming toward them.
   Rick aimed his Super Scope at the robot on the left. He fired. A bright
blue laser beam shot out at the robot. The Super Scope kicked a little, like
a shotgun does. Rick recovered and aimed at the next robot. He fired. He
then recovered, aimed at the third robot, and fired. He recovered again and
lowered the Super Scope.
   All three robots were gone. Rick was pleased.
   He looked down at the Super Scope. "Now that's what I'm talkin' about!"

   Julius and Kevin exited the warp and found themselves in the town of
Brecconary on Dragon's Den - in a well, as a matter of fact.
   Not only that, but a peasant woman was about to fetch some water, when,
all of a sudden, these two guys appeared.
   "Duh, hi!" Julius said happily.
   The woman ran off screaming.
   Kevin looked from the woman to Julius. "C'mon."
   The two of them got out of the well and began to walk down the street.
   "Your football's great, Julius, but we also need armor and magic herbs to
do battle on this world." Kevin said. "We gotta find a weapons store."
   "Duh, is that one?" Julius asked, pointing.
   Kevin looked at the sign on the blue-bricked building Julius was pointing
at. The sign was red. It had a picture of a black spiked ball on top of a
yellow banner on it. The word 'WEAPONS' was below that.
   "Why, so it is. So it is. And a very familiar one at that." He waved at
Julius with his left hand, indicating to come inside with him.
   The two of them walked into the store.
   The store looked exactly as Kevin remembered it.
   "Uh, hello!" Kevin called.
   The shopkeeper walked up to them. "Hey, what can I do for ya?"
   "Uh, I was here about three years ago." Kevin said.
   The shopkeeper looked at Kevin's belt. "Oh, yeah, the guy with the fancy
weapons."
   Kevin smiled. "That's me. Me and my friend here need some armor and magic
herbs."
   The shopkeeper chuckled. "Okay, but don't try to give me any junk in
return, like when you tried to pay with that Amakeran stuff last time."
   Kevin chuckled. "American. May we look around?"
   "Sure. Let me know if you need anything."
   Kevin nodded, and then he and Julius walked over to a nearby table.
   Kevin selected two pouches of magic herbs. Then something caught his eye.
He picked it up.
   It was a digital watch. A thought came to him. He turned it around. One
word was engraved on the back: "KEVIN'S".
   Kevin turned around. "Excuse me."
   The shopkeeper came up to him. "Yeah?"
   Kevin held up the watch. "How much for this?"
   "Ha! You can take it! Nearly three years and I haven't been able to sell
it!"
   Kevin looked at the display. "All right! It still works!" He strapped it
on his right wrist.
   "Is that all?" the shopkeeper asked, indicating the herbs.
   "Uh, we don't really need any armor, do we, Julius?" Kevin asked, looking
at the football player.
   "Duh, what?" Julius, who had been looking with fascination at the objects
on another table, asked, turning around to face the Game Master.
   Kevin smiled and shook his head, then turned back to the shopkeeper.
"Yeah, just the two pouches of magic herbs." He dug into his front right
pocket. "I don't think Lana gave us enough for much more anyway."
   He pulled out some gold coins and handed them to the shopkeeper.

   Romeo and Simon exited the warp and found themselves in a town on
Castlevania.
   "Castlevania, cool." Romeo said, then smiled. "My favorite game series."
   Simon smiled. "You have great taste - both in women and in heroes!"
   Romeo laughed.
   "Before we go out to battle evil, I gotta do some shopping." Simon said.
"Follow me."
   Romeo did. As they walked, he looked around, amazed with this world. The
town seemed so peaceful and happy. He knew that things would be different
once they got out of town.
   Finally, they stopped in front of a store.
   "'Honest Dave's Bullwhip Shop'?" Romeo asked, noticing the sign. "I don't
remember this place."
   "My favorite store." Simon said with a smile.
   They went inside.
   The two N Team members walked up to the salesman behind the counter.
   "Hi, Simon!" the salesman greeted with a smile. He offered his right
hand, which Simon shook. "How's it goin'?"
   "Good." Simon said, returning the smile. "I'm training a new member of
the N Team today." He looked at the football player standing to his right.
"This is Romeo Roberts."
   The salesman looked at Romeo. "Ah! Off to fight the Count, huh?!"
   "Nah, he's too easy!" Romeo joked.
   The three men laughed.
   "I'm looking to buy a spare whip." Simon said. "The best you got."
   "Well, then, you're in luck! We have a sale today!"

   Stacey and Lana exited the warp and found themselves in a small space in
a tree. They looked at each other for a moment, then crawled out.
   They stood up and looked at their surroundings.
   Stacey looked at Lana. "Bayouland?" she guessed.
   Lana looked at her and nodded. "Yeah."
   "Why'd you pick this world?" Stacey asked, purely out of curiosity.
   "Well, this is basically a wilderness world. You have to learn how to use
some non-powered weapons if ya wanna survive out here." Lana chuckled. "Just
ask Kevin. Anyway, this'll be a perfect place to try out your boomerang."
   Stacey nodded.
   "Okay, first we gotta get some power items." Lana said. "We can find some
in the trees."
   Stacey followed Lana over to a tree. Lana knocked on it with her left
hand. An ape's hand came out of a hole in the trunk, holding a first aid
kit.
   Lana took it. Stacey stared in disbelief. Lana looked at her, smiled, and
gave her a wink.

   Rick and Mega Man approached a door after going through a corridor.
   "Drill Man's chamber?" Rick asked.
   "If he's here, we're ready for him." Mega Man said. "Open it."
   Rick placed his hand on it and did.
   They walked into an empty chamber, and the door closed behind them.
   Then Drill Man came down from the ceiling.
   "Welcome to my domain." the Robot Master said. "Prepare to be screwed."
   "Oh, shut up." Rick said, and began firing.
   Suddenly, Drill Man did a leap and came falling towards Rick.
   Rick quickly felt his Power Pad with his left index finger. He pressed
the bottom left round button.
   Rick rose into the air. He quickly pointed his Super Scope down at Drill
Man and fired a few rapid shots.
   Drill Man exploded in circles of light.
   Rick landed on his feet.
   "Great job, Rick!" Mega Man congratulated with a smile.
   "Whoo!" Rick said. "I gotta make a record of this day when I get home!"
   Mega Man grinned. "You were going to do that anyway, and you know it!"

   "Oh, just look at this beautiful thing!" Simon said, kissing the long,
beautiful whip he had just bought.
   Man, this guy sure does love his weapons! Romeo thought, but said
nothing.
   The two of them were walking down the dirt road that led out of town,
where only warriors dared to venture.
   Simon's trusty whip, which was coiled at his side, made a sound that
indicated it might actually be jealous!
   "Oh, my little whip, I haven't forgotten about you!" Simon said in a
soothing, caring tone. "You're my precious - "
   He was cut off by Romeo's scream.
   Simon looked ahead of them. Three Skull Knights were headed right for
them.
   "Okay, Romeo, this is what we came here for!" Simon said. "Do your
stuff!"
   Romeo leapt into action.
   A Skull Knight walked towards Romeo. Romeo, his new Remote Control in his
right hand, aimed at it. He pressed the laser beam button, which had the
illustration of a blue laser beam on it. A blue laser beam came out of the
front of the Remote Control. It hit the Skull Knight, which crumbled to
pieces on the ground.
   "Not bad!" Simon said with a smile.
   The other two Skull Knights came at Romeo from opposite directions.
   Romeo firmly gripped the Remote Control and pressed the Up button, marked
with an up arrow.
   Romeo soared into the air, screaming. He regained his composure in time,
though, and pointed the Remote Control down at one of the Skull Knights. He
fired the laser beam at that Skull Knight, then at the other. Both crumbled
into a pile of bones on the ground, right next to the other one.
   Romeo landed on his feet, right on the pile of bones.
   He held the Remote Control up high and got into a victory stance. "Yah!"

   "One thing I don't get." Stacey said as she and Lana were walking along a
few minutes later. "Why did you volunteer to be my instructor? You really
only use shooting weapons."
   Lana smiled. "Well, I do have some experience with boomerangs."
   They walked along a few more steps, then Stacey looked up and screamed.
   Lana looked up also. A snake was on a tree branch. When it noticed the
two teenagers, it reached out toward them.
   "All right, Stacey, go for it!" Lana said.
   Stacey drew her boomerang, which she kept in a kind of holster on the
brown belt she now wore around her waist. The holster held half of the
boomerang. It was on her left, but she drew it with her right hand. Stacey,
who had never thrown a boomerang in her life, threw one now, and it landed
on the ground a few feet away.
   Lana threw Stacey and herself down to the ground and rolled over to the
boomerang. She picked it up, stood up, and threw it.
   The boomerang hit the snake. The snake disappeared with a blipping sound.
The boomerang returned, and Lana caught it in her left hand.
   Stacey got up, and Lana handed her her boomerang.
   "Thanks." Stacey said, then sighed. "I dunno, maybe I picked the wrong
weapon. I mean, I've never even thrown a boomerang before. I'd probably have
more luck with that football!"
   "Hey, don't get discouraged!" Lana said, putting her right arm around
Stacey's shoulders. "It was your first time, and you screwed up. It happens!
That's why we're a team! We help each other in times of crisis!"
   Stacey smiled.
   Lana smiled, also. "C'mon, I'll show you how to throw this thing."
   By noon, Stacey had learned how to throw her boomerang. She also killed
twenty snakes, ten alligators, three metallic buzzards, and the Frog Man.

   "Okay, Julius, we gotta keep a lookout for dragons." Kevin said as he and
Julius were walking along. They were well out of town by now.
   "How will we know when they're coming?" Julius asked.
   Suddenly, a large burst of fire went right between them, narrowly missing
them both.
   Kevin and Julius screamed and rolled off in separate directions.
   "That could be a sign!" Kevin yelled.
   They saw a large brown dragon flying down toward them.
   Kevin pulled out his Zapper and fired at it.
   The blue beam missed the dragon, but it was angered nonetheless. It spit
a burst of fire at Kevin.
   Kevin rolled out of the way and dodged the flames. He fired three more
shots. All three missed.
   Kevin got to his feet and used the Jump button to do a huge leap out of
there right before another burst of fire arrived.
   Julius got up and started running towards the dragon. "Duh, no one picks
on my buddy and gets away with it!"
   The dragon landed about twenty feet in front of Julius and began
breathing flames at him.
   Julius dodged them all without losing much speed. He pulled his arm
behind him, then threw it forward, hurling the football at tall, brown, and
ugly.
   The football hit the dragon in the stomach. The dragon screamed as it was
zapped with electricity. Finally, it began to fall forward.
   Julius started to run away, but he wouldn't have escaped in time.
   Kevin arrived in time, though. He grabbed hold of Julius with his left
hand and pressed the Right button on his Power Pad with his right. The two
of them escaped two seconds before the dragon landed.
   They arrived a safe distance away. They stood there and looked at the
dead dragon. It disappeared with a blipping sound.
   Kevin looked at Julius. "Thanks!"
   "You, too!" Julius said. "Duh, did you learn how to move like that on the
tiddly winks squad?"
   "It's the swim team, dude!" Kevin yelled, upset. "And no."

   That evening, thousands of people gathered in the Megaland concert hall
to hear Captain N & The Video Game Masters perform.
   "So," Mike asked as they gathered offstage, "how'd the testing go?
Everyone pick a weapon they like?"
   "Yeah, it went good." Stacey said with a smile.
   "I think we got some awesome new members for the team!" Kevin said.
   "I couldn't agree more." Lana added.
   "Let's get out there, guys!" Kevin said.
   The four band members walked on stage from the right. They received a
tremendous amount of cheering and applause. Their popularity had grown
immensely since they performed their first concert on July 6.
   They took their places and went through their setup routine.
   Finally, they turned on their mics.
   "Good evening." Stacey said. "Today, four of the new members of the N
Team, myself being one of them, picked our brand-new weapons that we're
gonna use! And in honor of this totally awesome day, we'd like to play some
totally awesome music from the totally awesome games whose totally awesome
worlds we were on today."
   "Totally awesome!" Kevin said, then faced the audience. "All right, - "
   "Let's, like, do it!" Stacey finished.
   "Hey!" Kevin yelled at her.
   Stacey smiled at him and shrugged. "2, 3, 4!"
   They started off by playing 'The Silence of Daylight', the town music
from Castlevania II: Simon's Quest. Then they got into Background Music A
from Bayou Billy. That was followed by the Brecconary music from Dragon
Warrior. They concluded with the Drill Man music from Mega Man IV. All four
of those tunes had been seemlessly blended into one piece of music.
   The band members enjoyed a very nice amount of applause and cheering
before they went on to their next tune.

GAME OVER