mission reunion

This past weekend I was so excited to be able to attend another mission reunion because I could see all of my old mission buddies. We love to talk about members and investigators that we taught, share humorous stories, and catch up on each others’ lives. This reunion was no different. Usually the reunions are held at a church building, but this year we all met at a fast food joint located in a mall. It was a little bit nicer than a Del Taco or McDonald’s and was a little like Chuck E. Cheese’s because there were video games, bowling, and Ski Ball behind the seating area.

Wally Doi and I were sitting catching up when we were ushered over to the Ski Ball area to play some video games. The seating area behind the Ski Ball lanes were staggered much like a bowling alley. Wally sat at the game console for our lane and I took the seat behind him. Each lane had its own console that looked like the front end of a Harley motorcycle, but the handle bars were much wider. Apparently whatever game we were to be playing (I assumed that it would be a racing game) used the handle bars for steering. There was also a laser pointer attached to the console via a curly plastic cord that would be used in the game for something. The cord was very tight and using it looked awkward. It reminded me of the wrist cords that you use when riding jet skis so that the ski stops when you fall off. The console in the lane next to us was out of order and the side panel was open, so I could see inside. All I saw was a standard, white-box PC that was used to drive the video game.

As I was taking in my surroundings, Kimberley Kettley came and sat on the ground by my feet facing me. As she was tapping my foot with her shoe, her mother came over and yelled at her, “You are not allowed to touch him! You cannot sit like that Kim. Here, turn around and slide over.” With that Sheri pulled Berley across the floor so that we were not in close proximity and walked away.

Next, a funny little man jumped up onto the Ski Ball lanes in front of us and told us to get ready for the greatest virtual reality video game on the market. A screen lowered behind him and he explained that we would be playing a first person shooter game that was more realistic than any we have ever seen. The handle bars of the "motorcycle" would steer our character and the laser pointer is what we could use to shoot. With that little introduction, he started the game. At first it looked like the movement of the character was difficult and the laser pointer on such a tight cord made it hard to aim and actually kill the enemies. I could see the screen in front of Wally and it looked like we were on one side of a wall with an opening directly in front of us. The two walls to our sides funneled toward the opening. Through the gap in the wall you could see an open field with men in the distance running toward us. They had little blue triangles floating above their heads much like any first person shooter to identify the team. Far to our right we could see the green team, but our main objective was to defend against the blue team, so we focused back on them. Wally walked right to the middle of the opening and started shooting the blue opponent. As he took a few indirect hits from the enemy, I told him that he needed to hide behind the wall on the right side for protection, peer around the corner, and pick enemies off one by one. As he was walking over there, he got hit with a head shot and blood oozed down our screen.

I could tell that Wally was going to need some help, so I sat in the open lane next to him. I rebooted that console and it began to work. I waited for the next round to begin and we started playing on the same team. I discovered the cord on my laser to be too tight, so I ripped it out of the console and found that it still worked for game play, but as I did this I felt myself being sucked into the video game. I was a character in the game and had a little laser pointer to wield against the enemy. As I saw the enemy approaching in the distance I dove behind the wall to the right. I peaked around the corner and started shooting the approaching blue team. I also found that I had grenades on my belt, so when they were within range I threw one killing half a dozen.

We exchanged gun fire for five minutes with men falling on both sides. Then there was a malfunction in the game and the digital world that was being projected ceased rendering. Everyone stopped and looked around as the lights came on in this world. All that was left of the walls were their frames and I could see that to my right past two walls was a large group of the yellow team hiding ready to ambush the greens. Then the game started up again, all projection returned and the gunfire resumed in full force. Because I knew where the yellow team was now located, I lobbed two grenades over the walls to where they were hiding and saw my kill count instantly increase by a baker’s dozen. Pleased with my cunning plan, I turned my attention back to the blue team as they drew closer. As I shot around the corner, two men climbed over the wall directly above me and luckily I got them before they got me.

As these two men fell from the wall, I stepped aside and another jumped over the wall and tackled me. It was Bridgette Briggs and she wrestled me to the ground trying to knock the laser out of my hand. As she reached for my weapon, I was able to grab her laser from her holster and shine it into her eyes. This stunned her and she stopped fighting me. Then, another female wearing a cat woman suit leapt over the wall. Lunging at me, I was able to grab my laser and shine it in her eyes just before she took me out. It seemed these lasers would not only stun, but also made the victim begin to go delirious. Their eyes grew large like a Japanese anime characters and they started to look loopy. They both began to plead for their lives and say that all they really wanted was a cigarette. They both said that if they could only have one smoke they would not try to kill me anymore and we would all be free to leave and to please just spare their lives.

did you read my first post?

As we were conversating, the world morphed back into reality and we all agreed that honestly was the most realistic video game that we had ever played.