YN hardly heard it when the voices around her started clamoring. The shouts of her peers sounded as though they were far above the surface of the beautiful electric ocean she was drowning in. Now deeper in Polybius's mind and world than she had been mere seconds ago, she felt like he was entwining himself around her, hypnotizing her.

Twick! Twick! Twick!, went the firing button as she clicked it more rapidly, the game becoming more difficult, much harder to see in the web of colors she could hardly give names to.

"Thaaaaat's a girl," he murmured, almost in her ear, and she jumped. "What'd I tell ya? It didn't take you long to beat out every kid who's played me before." He let out a raspy chuckle thick with the crackle of diodes. "You taste positively scrumptious, by the way."

She shot at a bomb, causing a good quarter of the playing field to explode, and he let out a purr of satisfaction. YN grinned, savoring his pleasure. She ever so wanted to give him her best shot, to show him what she was capable of...to impress him.

Taste?

YN had almost forgotten what Polybius had said before..."devouring the bland brainwaves" of the other kids. What was he doing to her? He was inside her head, and he was getting closer and closer to knowing everything about her. YN's head started to spin. Why? Why was he doing this? What did he want with her thoughts...with anyone's thoughts?

"Now, my lovely YN...I have a little question for you."

No! Yes! No! Ask me anything, please! NO!!!

The rhythmic bass feedback from the speakers sped up, deafening YN with what almost sounded like an organic pulse...his heart.

"What's a high-class, weapons-grade little cutlass like YOU doing in a video arcade?"

She felt something snakelike inching its way up her calf, and let out a sharp gasp, staggering backward.

GAME OVER.

The words flashed across the screen ominously, and YN's peripheral vision, along with her sense of hearing, returned instantaneously. She limped, disoriented and glassy-eyed, away from the now eerie and unsettling game interface amid shouts of "YOU KILLED IT, GIRL!" and "I'M GONNA KICK YOUR ASS!", not daring to look back as she headed for the door and out into the night air.

YN slumped against the side of the building, gasping to catch her breath. The shock of suddenly finding herself back in the real world after losing the game had winded her physically, but that didn't even begin to include how playing Polybius himself had made her feel. There was no denying it: anyone who played that game fell under his spell, unwittingly into his control. And she was no exception. But there was something about the way he spoke to her...she knew his mellow, lilting voice spoke like that to her and her alone. Such melodic, romantic words...YN shook herself, snapping out of it and getting onto her bike. There was no way she was going to touch Polybius again, now that she knew what he was after.

And yet...