Chapter 3: 3 – Crawl Upon Your Knees and Scream My Name

"You'll never get away with this, you monster! The people of the Apple Kingdom will never accept you as their leader!" I shouted, pointing at the evil Pear Emperor.

"It will take more than your brave words and rosy cheeks to stop me, Apple Princess!" He held aloft the Staff of the Fruit Magi, the crackling arcane power throwing his cruel features into sharp relief.

"Well then, let me show you my true power!" I brandished the Summer Scepter, my ancestral heirloom. "APPLE BLOSSOM FLURRY!"

"Hey Zee, you busy in there?"

"It's not possible! That technique was lost centuries ago!" The bolts of energy raced toward me, our two magical onslaughts met and-

"Zee! We're gonna play some Smash, you want in?"

"Huh, what?" I shook myself out of my reverie.

"I said we're gonna play Smash. You wanna play?" It was Daniel, my second youngest brother.

"Oh, sure thing, Danny boy." I clambered out of bed and stretched. Who knew daydreaming could make you so sore?

"Hey, did you get shorter?" He asked, giving me a funny look.

"Ha ha, very funny." I slouched and stuck my hands in my hoodie pocket.

"No, I'm serious. I feel like we were eye to eye last time I checked. Now I'm looking at your forehead." He placed his hand on his head and waved it over mine. "Gotta admit it's hard to tell with you being hunched over all the time."

I waved his hand away. "You probably just got taller, ya little turd. Good job, you've been drinking your milk."

"You're never gonna let that milk thing go, are you?" He shook his head.

"NOPE." I smirked at him. "C'mon, let's get your butt whooping over with."

"Not this time! We all agreed, you're going on handicap 5 this time."

"Whatever makes you feel better, bud."

*** A FEW FAIRLY HECTIC GAMES OF SMASH LATER ***

"Ohh! Did I win?" I squeaked out, mimicking my character's victory line.

"I'm done. I'm done with this damn game." Connor stomped off to the kitchen.

"How the hell are you so good at Peach? She sucks!" Jay gestured wildly at the screen and slumped back onto the couch.

"I could play someone else if you like. Maybe Jigglypuff?" I grinned at him.

"Oh no, I'm not falling for that again. Conner has the right idea, I'm out." He left through the front door.

"How about you, Danny boy? Fancy going another round?" I grinned at him, waving my controller.

"One on one with you? No way." He shook his head.

"Ah well, you can do whatever you want on the cube, then. I'm gonna play Pokemon or something." I reached into my hoodie and pulled out my GBA, booting up my copy of Emerald.

He, for his part, put in our copy of Tony Hawk. As he scrolled through the characters, presumably looking for his custom character, he asked me, "Hey Zee?"

I grunted inquisitively in response.

"How come you only play girl characters?"

The gremlin seized me again. "What are you talking about? I play dude characters. Mario, Link, uh... Wes?"

"Yeah, but any time there's a custom character thing you play a girl. Like this." He gestured at the screen, where my skater was slowly rotating. She was, as he said, a girl.

"Well, duh. Games like that you spend most of them staring at your character's ass. I don't wanna stare at dude ass for hours on end." Thou shalt not lie. It's not a lie.

"Oh, that makes sense. What about games like Smash, though?" He selected his character and started skating.

"Well, the girl characters are usually faster. I prefer fast, light attacks to slow, heavy ones."

"Ah, so that's why you play Marth, but not Samus."

"Wait, Samus is a girl?" I put my hand up to my mouth in mock shock.

"Ha. Ha. Ha." He tilted his head to accentuate each sound. He looked down at my Gameboy. "Hey! Your Pokemon character is a girl, too!"

BAD. "So? What, do I gotta explain every gaming choice I make to you? Do you want me to pass my team through your rigorous examinations, O Master of Games?"

"Geeze, sorry! I just thought it was weird, is all." He shrugged and went back to skating and/or dying.

"You're weird." I muttered.

"No, you're weird." He retorted.

"No, you're weird." I returned.

"No, you're weird." He reversed.

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This could have gone on forever, if I had let it. But I didn't. Instead, I stood up and went outside. "Have fun, bud."

"You too, bro."

I tightened my hood. As I walked across the farm, I thought about what he said. He was right, of course. I did play a lot of girl characters. Even in games where it didn't matter. And why should it matter? I can play girls or guys if I want. I could play a guy right now! I made my way through the old block building. It used to be where the cows would wait to get milked when this was an industrial farm, but now it just held worn out old furniture and my cats. Well, they weren't really my cats. The lived on the farm and came and went as they pleased. But I was the only one who cared about them, so they were mine.

"MRAAAOW?" asked a raspy voice.

"Hello Maul. Keeping your claws sharp?" I reached down to pet the tough gray cat rushing up to me. She accepted a few pets and then climbed up my arm and into my hood. "Yep, pointy as ever!" I moved through the boxes and upturned chairs to the old couch. We had brought it out here when the leaning function had broken, but it was still perfectly serviceable. I took a seat and pulled my Gameboy back out. Danny is right. It is weird. I have been meaning to restart anyways... I selected 'New Game'.

The Professor went through his introduction to the magical world of Pokemon. I'd seen it a dozen times at this point. Then he got to The Question. The one that had plagued me since I first booted up Crystal.

"Are you a girl? Or a boy?"

You know the answer. You're a boy. You were born a boy, raised a boy, and you're going to grow to be a MAN, just like your father.

I stared down at the screen. The small cursor arrow pointed to 'BOY'. I pressed the butt-

"RAAAAAA!" A small shape squeezed up under my arm, and a pair of bright blue eyes stared up at me.

"Oh, hi there Babe." I stroked the furry interloper. Like most blue-eyed, white cats, Babe was deaf. But talking to her made me feel good anyway. "You keeping the rest of the kitties in line?" She purred, rubbing her face against mine. "Aww, I love you too, sweetie." Satisfied with my affection, she curled up in my lap and closed her eyes. Holding the Gameboy in one hand, I looked back at the screen. The Question was still there.

"Are you a girl? Or a boy?"

The cursor moved down.

Thou shalt not lie.

The cursor moved back up.

It's not a lie.

Maul shifted her weight on my shoulders and began purring.

The cursor moved down again.

THOU SHALT NOT LIE.

My hands trembled.

It's not a lie.

I pressed the button.

"Okay, so you're a girl! What's your name?"

I typed out Z-E-E. Then I stared at it.

You know your name, Ezekiel.

Yes, you know your name.

I cleared the text and started again.

F

Stop this.

A

You know your name.

E

You're not a girl!

D

You know your name.

R

Ezekiel! YOU. ARE. EZEKIEL.

A

YOU KNOW YOUR NAME.

I pressed 'start'.

"Faedra..." I whispered. It sounded nice.

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