Chapter 13 - New Years Eve...

Sometimes I wonder if the things I bottle up would change me, especially ever since Christmas… Changing the way I act, changing the way I think, changing the way I act towards others… Each day, I can feel it growing slightly, and I’m afraid that one day it’ll just “explode” followed with every consequence… That was bound to happen along with every other shootty thing that I would encounter… All the things that will happen would have a great impact on me… But with all experiences, you’ll learn from it for better or worse… Looking back now made me realize all these things had to happen for me to become the person I am today. I couldn’t understand it at the time, why it was all happening. I didn’t know those life-changing things were gonna happen to me. I didn’t know. I’m glad I didn’t. And encase you’re wondering… I’m not talking about the past… I’m talking about the future, of all the things to come… But I didn’t know it at the time… Everything was fine back then… I know I must sound like an emo or something, but really, it’s not like that…



Every day I wore the necklace I got for Christmas. It’s been a few days since and no one knows who gave me the necklace. I asked around, but no one knows… I still got a hunch though…



I entered my own house and wiped the snow off of my boots and got out of my winter coat. I just came home from doing some groceries in town. You know, the standard stuff. Bread and all that. I heard laughing in the living room and as soon as I entered, I noticed Cody and Blain laughing all the way… Cody had tears rolling down his cheeks of laughing and Blain almost fell down out of the couch…



Nicole: Hey guys!

No response… They kept on laughing… At some point, they turned around, looked at me, looked back at each other and laughed even louder…



Nicole: What?! What’s so funny?!

Again, no response… There was no reason with the guys so I went to the kitchen to unpack the groceries as they kept on laughing… But then…



Blain: Bloody hell, look at those cheeks!!
Cody: A lump of lard with a diaper!!

Then they laughed even louder… Oh dear… I think I know what they were up to… I stood behind them…



Cody: Hey Nicole! I eh…
Blain: *chokes in drink*
Cody: I was just showing Blain a baby picture of you!!
Nicole: You what?!! How’d you get that?!!
Cody: I still had it. I don’t know how I got it…
Nicole: Gimme that!!
Cody: No… *laughs*

Then I jumped on him and wrestled for a bit. After a while, I got the picture and smacked Cody with a pillow on his head as he kept on laughing… I stared at the picture for a while…



Nicole: It’s been ages since I’ve seen this one…
Blain: Really?
Nicole: Yeah… I think I was… Around two years old on this picture…
Cody: And lost weight ever since!

Then I smacked him with a pillow again…



Cody: What?! It’s a compliment!!

They both started laughing again, and I smacked them with pillows. And a pillow fight was starting… After we were done smacking each other senseless with pillows, I looked outside. It was snowing heavily with really strong winds… No weather to be outside and have a snowball fight like last time…



Cody: Come on, let’s hook it up!
Blain: Yeah is cool.
Nicole: Hook what up?
Cody: … Videogame console I got for Christmas.
Nicole: We don’t even own a TV…
Blain: You do now…

Then he got a box from under the table and unpacked it… A small, grey TV… With remote of course…



Nicole: You bought us a TV?
Blain: No, Cody did.
Cody: Blain just went along to pick it up.
Nicole: When did you get this?
Cody: Yesterday.
Nicole: Ah…

And after they unpacked everything…



Blain: *scrapes throat* -Ahem- “Congratulations on you’re new purchase of the Ascari Reza 254-bit Game Console. Please be aware that”-

Cody: Yeah yeah yeah, got it. What’s next?
Nicole: I think you need to plug the TV in first.

Then Cody grabs the power cord and plugged it in an outlet. He pressed the “on” button and all we got was white snow.



Cody: What’s next?
Blain: Seriously, if I wanna see snow, I could just look outside.
Nicole: Yeah, yeah, yeah…
Cody: Dude, what’s next?!
Blain: Oh. Eh… “Plug the scart cable on an available scart Line-in. Make sure the game console is set “off” before continuing. After the previous steps have been completed, plug the power cord in an outlet.”

Cody: … Scart…?
Blain: I think it’s this thing.
Nicole: Can I get you anything while you’re busy?
Cody: A drink would be nice.
Nicole: …
Cody: Please.
Nicole: You want something Blain?
Blain: A drink please.
Nicole: See, Blain says it the proper way.

So… After I returned with the drinks, they were still busy.



Cody: Scart, scart, scart, scart…
Blain: I can’t see it…
Cody: Maybe we should call Tails.
Blain: Yeah maybe we should…
Nicole: Turn the TV around. *takes sip from drink*
Blain: *Turns TV around*
Nicole: No, the other way.
Blain: Eh?
Nicole: *sighs* Lemme do it.

So I turned the TV around and saw the scart line-in. I plugged it in the TV and that’s it. Seriously, it’s not that hard…



Blain: Right, moving on. What’s next?
Cody: Setting up the infra-red wireless controllers.
Blain: What?
Cody: It says right here. “Position the infra-red wireless receiver for the controllers in front of the TV. When the red led on the controller flashes, a connection can not be established with the receiver. The maximum distance is 5 meters for the controller to be recognized with the receiver. The controller will automatically go in stand-by mode if it’s not used.”

Then I grabbed one of the controllers and noticed a green light. Cody checked on the other one and noticed it was green as well.



Cody: We’re done.
Blain: That’s it?
Cody: Yup…
Blain: Ah… I just got one question.
Cody: Hm?
Blain: What the hell is a game console?
Cody: I’ll show you in a sec.
Nicole: You got games for it…?
Cody: Yup, two games actually…
Nicole: Which one?
Cody: “Recon Zulu 2: Behind enemy lines” and… “BlackOut Brawl: Back on the streets”

Nicole: BlackOut Brawl? I know that one!
Cody: … You do?

Then he looked baffled at me… Like I never played a videogame before…



Cody: Since when?!
Blain: Wait, wait, wait, what?
Nicole: It’s a fighting game.
Cody: Wanna go a round?!
Nicole: Lay it on me…
So after Cody placed the disc of the game in the console, Blain looked at the back of the box and was a bit puzzled…



Blain: “BlackOut Brawl is back! BlackOut Brawl lets you emerge in the underground fighting, taking on tough opponents who are just as eager to win like you! Do you have what it takes to survive the streets and be the most wanted?”

Nicole/Cody: …
Blain: … It doesn’t make much sense to me.
Nicole: Alright, take a look at this.

We watched the openings cutscenes. Just some random guys bashing each other senseless, switching from character to character… Two player mode… Character selection… Humans, as well as fictional creatures. Cody chose some bulky human as I chose one of the characters I still remember when I used to play the first game. A lioness that goes by the name of Selina. She kicks @$$. Like me. Heehee… As I looked back at Blain he just stared at the screen… After Cody quickly pressed start to select a stage, the game was beginning… I didn’t know that. I was facing Blain…



Nicole: Basically, you select a character. Each button on the controller represents a move the character does on the screen and the goal is to kick the shoot out of the other character.

Lots of beatings were heard and as I turned around, Cody bashed my character K.O…



Tv: K.O!!
Nicole: Hey!! I was talking to Blain!!
Cody: Ooh… Sorry… *chuckles*

Then round 2 starts… I remember some special moves from the first game with this character, and as soon as I pressed the button combination, she does the same moves. Hehehe, He’s going doooooooooown…



Tv: K.O!!
Cody: …
Nicole: … Ha…

Round three… Same strategy as I did with the second round… And won… Hehehehe…



Nicole: And you’re… How do you say… Owned… By me…
Cody: Pssh…
Nicole: Aw come on… It doesn’t matter if you suck at the game… As long as you have fun sucking…

That came out so wrong… Spontaneously, that fancied my tickle box and I burst out laughing. Just because of the stupid comment I made… Cody and Blain looked at me, wondering if I shouldn’t be put in the nuthouse… *Ahem*… Guess they didn’t understand that…



Then at some point it was inevitable for New Years Eve to arrive… Aaaaaaaand… With New Years Eve, there ought to be fireworks… We tried getting fireworks earlier, but demands were so high everything got sold out within a day. At some point, we gave up and decided to look around on the 31^st to see if there were any leftovers. It’s also a lot cheaper then…



When we arrived in town, and with “we” I mean Sonic, Knuckles, Cody and me, we saw a big sign that said “Fireworks”. State the obvious, to buy fireworks, you must follow the signs. Duh… We came to a store, where shootloads of people were waiting in line to get fireworks… Everywhere you looked, there were signs of “No smoking” and “No sales under the age of 16”. Sonic grabbed a folder that was on a shelve to get an impression of everything they got…



Sonic: This could be a potential bomb…
Knuckles: With nice effects! I’d set it off any day!
Sonic: Yeah well don’t get overconfident, remember last year?
Knuckles: Huh?
Sonic: You ended up with one of your dreadlocks on fire!
Knuckles: Well I told you not to get close with the lighter!
Sonic: Only because you said you were ready!

And as the line was moving, I pulled Sonic along with Knuckles. Only a few people were standing in front of us until some guy behind the counter stepped forward…



Guy: Sorry! We’re out!!

And everyone was starting to get pissed and angry. Hell, I was too. We’ve been standing for more then 45 minutes in line… More of those sales guys backed the other one up…



Nicole: You’re all out?!
Guy: I’m sorry, everything I have left are orders.
Nicole: Damn it!!
Cody: So, no fireworks…?
Nicole: No… I guess not…
Cody: Damn it…

We went home disappointed. On the way home we saw kids lighting up firecrackers and all sorts…



Once we arrived back home, we thought of ways to celebrate this day… A little more help would be appreciated… I haven’t seen Shadow and Blain all day, and it was getting late… It was 16:32 when we got home and we still didn’t come with a solution… Then all of a sudden, there was a loud bang… It was so loud, the windows vibrated heavily…



Cody: WHAA!!
Nicole: Whoa!!! What the he-
Blain: Whoooooooohoohoohoo!! Yeah!!!
Sonic: There’s Blain!
Knuckles: And Shadow!

We went outside to see them, and they carried a lot of bags and even a large cardboard box… It had a fireworks symbol on it…



Cody: You managed to get fireworks?!
Shadow: Yup!
Blain: I knew the right guy. He held back some stuff for us.

He grabbles in one of the bags and got out a lot of stuff. He tossed it to Cody and passed everything around to everyone else. Then he grabs something that looked like a firecracker… But not an ordinary firecracker. Its long, slim and didn’t had a fuse…



Cody: What’s that?
Blain: It’s a Striker. Check this out.

He got out the box of those things, and strikes it like a match. He throws it away quickly out in the woods…



Blain: Cover your ears.

And right after that, it exploded with a huge bang. I felt the shockwave in my chest and I couldn’t hear for a short while…



Blain: Hehehehee…

We all got together again to spend the evening with each other at Sonic’s place. Every once in a while some of us including me went outside to set off fireworks. Some were beautiful, others were just plain bangs… The closer we got to midnight, the more excited we were. At around 23:55 pm, Rouge got out the champagne bottle along with glasses. She poured the liquor in glasses and she handed it out to everyone. She was just in time for the final countdown…



All: TEN!!! NINE!!!! EIGHT!!! SEVEN!!! SIX!!!! FIVE!!! FOUR!!! THREE!!! TWO!!! ONE!!! HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!

Everyone was so happy once we all shouted happy New Year. We were all hugging each other as the girls also received kisses on the cheeks. Hehehe… I saw Cody looking at me and smiling, and although he was only a head smaller then me, I gave him a firm hug and lots of kisses. I lifted him up for short moment as he kept looking at me.



Nicole: Happy New Year bro…
Cody: Happy New Year…
Nicole: I love you…
Cody: Luff ya too Nic…

He hugged me again as I looked around. Blain was firmly hugging Sonic and he whispered something in his ear. I didn’t know what he said though…



Blain: Thank you Sonic… Thanks for everything…
Sonic: That’s what friends are for right…?

Then Sonic got hugged by Amy and before he turned around, he winked at Blain.



We could see fireworks in the pitch black night sky whenever we looked outside… Then everyone got outside as quickly as we could as the others got out the fireworks. Blain and Shadow got out the cardboard box, opened it and rolled out a huge mat filled with those firecrackers Blain had… Once they were done, Blain gestured to stand at a distance…



Blain: Fire in the hole…

He lights off the fuse and ran back to us quickly… Not long after that, loud bangs filled the air as I could feel shockwaves going through my body. I covered up my ears but that didn’t really work against the ear deafening noise it made. We yelled our lungs out to “talk”, but that wasn’t really helping as well… It took about 10 minutes before it died out… I couldn’t hear for a short moment…



Then they got out a plastic tube and stuck it deep in the ground. They placed a big @$$ firework rocket down the tube and set it off, as it shrieks through the air. It got high enough and exploded, and all the colors of the rainbow appeared in the sky, being reflected by the lake as the sparks slowly died out in the pitch black sky… Another one was fired… And another… And another one… Every one of them were reflected in the lake, and it was a beautiful sight to see it above the forests. As Sonic took over from Blain, Shadow and Sonic continued setting off firework rockets as the others set off fountains, firecrackers and all sorts of things… Blain was standing next to me, placed an arm around my shoulder and held his head close next to me…



Blain: Happy New Year Nicole…
Nicole: Yeah… Happy New Year…

We both smiled at each other and I gave him a kiss on his cheek as we both saw the fireworks being reflected in the lake…



At some point, we were running low on fireworks. It’s gotten late and the guys were still setting off the last remaining fireworks… Cody was grabbling in a bag and got out something…



Cody: E.M.P… Hmm… “Twist cap and release handle”.

He looks a bit puzzled at it first, but then twisted the top and released something. He throws it away and not long after that, it exploded and it sounded like something that short-circuited. You could see black and dark blue lightening bolts flashing out of it and it impacts on the houses. One by one, we saw the lights going off in the houses and everyone had their hair raised up…



Cody: Whoo!! Did you see that?!
Blain: … What the hell was that?
Cody: E.M.P!!
Sonic: That was tingling…
Blain: Aw damn it…
Nicole: What’s wrong?

Blain couldn’t move his left arm… He swings his upper body and you saw his arm dangling...



Blain: It’s dead.
Nicole: You look funny.
Blain: … You too.

Then I poked his butt. There was a sparkle and he yelled…



Blain: OW!!!
Nicole: Ooh! Static electricity!
Blain: Don’t you-

Then I poked his butt again… At some point, everyone was poking each other. Very funny to see everyone poking each other and yelling… Hehehe…



Sonic: Everything is fun and all, but we don’t have electricity!
Tails: … I’ll fix tomorrow…
Cody: I’m sorry…


Once we were all discharged of the static electricity that thing caused that Cody threw, we returned home. Seeing as we don’t have electricity, it was very hard to see where you were going once you got back home. I felt the wall and guided myself inside my room after lots of bumping my knee’s and toes to all sorts of things.



Cody: You think their mad at me…?
Nicole: Naah… You couldn’t know…
Cody: Well I just reminded that EMP means Electro Magnetic Pulse…
Nicole: As long as you had fun, it doesn’t matter. Come on, get to bed. It’s very late.

Cody: Ok… Goodnight...
Nicole: Sweet dreams…

I gave him a hug and watched him leave my room carefully in the pitch black. I heard a few stumbles and cursing, but at some point I heard a door closing. That means he made it.



I took off my shoes and lay down on my bed as I stared outside. I pulled the blanket over me and made myself comfortable. All snug and warm and I felt myself floating away…

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