Well, artists usually have a sona or a version of themselves, so it was a matter of time before I got one.

This came from a conversation I had with my friend gameboyred  gameboyred who I also commissioned to draw this piece. Instead of going with the usual things that you might have seen on my page, this time I went with something...normal, let's say. Just a scene of him and Rita, one of the characters of Gameboyred, playing a game. Just our usual collaborations, he drew the piece and did the shading while I colored it.

If you are interested in getting a drawing by Gameboy, he is open for commissions:
https://www.deviantart.com/gameboyr.....open-965502223

If you want a tale, I'm also open for commissions and have a Patreon with some exclusive tales:
https://www.deviantart.com/mindtask.....024-1007106553
https://www.patreon.com/Mindtasker

Now, if you want to know what is going to happen to the masked man and cactus gal, read the story down below!

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Game Task

“I’m just thankful that they are my friends and that we got the chance to work together. I wouldn’t have it any other way,” Vic said.

After their first bad encounter, in which Rita confused him for one thief that she was trying to catch, the cactus gal decided to make it up by showing the man with the trench coat around Rusty Town. Both were there for their own reasons, with Vic taking care of a task he had to complete and Rita visiting one of her closest friends. While walking around the city, the masked man encountered the cheerful girl again and after catching up with their time in the colorful city, she mentioned a plan that caught Vic’s attention, but after arriving at the place, the trench coat noticed something strange.

“Wait a moment, this isn’t your apartment. How did you get the keys to this place?” Vic said in a puzzling tone. Looking around, he noticed some pictures of a man with neon pink hair, quickly noticing that Rita was in some of them. Even though some also had different versions of that man, it was easy to notice that all were him. It didn’t matter what he was, a punk guy, an egg, a ghost, a slime guy, a mech, a bird, the masked man knew that all were the same guy. There was a reason for why the cactus gal took him there and he wanted to get answers from her. “You said that we were going to play your special copy of the new Street Fighter game!"

“I don’t even own a copy,” Rita said while turning on a pink colored game console, an object that obviously belonged to the same pink-haired guy of before. The first thing the cactus gal did was apologizing to Vic for lying to him before revealing what happened. A few days ago, she found out that Jerry, the friend she was visiting, discovered that the copy of the game he found that same day was cursed. Upon losing all of his lives during his playthrough, he was sucked into the game. Rita wanted to help him, but as she wasn’t a good gamer, she remembered that Vic mentioned some of his favorite games and wondered if he could help her. “I know that it was bad lying to you, but I needed your help.”

“We will see about that. I’ll just take out my pocket watch and then this thing will be solved. Yes, once I get it I will…why can't I find it?” Vic panicked as he continued to look around the inside pockets of his trench coat. Thinking about the last time he saw it, he looked back at the moment he encountered the cactus gal, remembering that he handed her his trench coat before they went to Jerry’s apartment. It was obvious that the cheerful girl had his most important item with her and as the masked man was worried about if she would give it back. “Are you mental?! They don’t do those kinds of pocket watches anymore.”

“Don’t worry, I didn’t destroy it, have it in a safe place. Once you help me rescue Jerry, I give it back to you,” the cactus gal said while handing him the game controller. Doing it only to have his lucky item back, Vic grabbed the controller and sat on the couch. He still found the whole thing strange, that there was a cursed game and that Rita’s friend was trapped on it, but with the world he lived in, on which magical creatures like genies or outstanding places could be found, the man with the trench coat felt this could be possible.

The moment he got to the character selection, Vic discovered that what the cactus gal told him was the truth as he recognized the pink-haired guy. He wanted to check his status and what the game was about, but as Rita was eager to rescue her friend from the place he was trapped in, she pressed the buttons, making him start the first level, which was a fighting stage. The masked man struggled at first as he wasn’t used to the controllers or the attacks of the pink-haired guy, but after a few minutes, Vic defeated the 6 opponents of the stage. Upon reaching the second level, the man with the trench coat expected another fighting stage, but was surprised to see that it was a 3-D platformer.

“What kind of strange game is this?” Vic said while looking at Rita, who was as confused as him. Thinking about what was in line, the masked man decided to ignore the strange things of the game as he continued playing yet he couldn’t stop asking himself what he considered the most puzzling thing, the levels that were different from one and other, the enemies that were mostly female creatures that tried to get Jerry or that he still was kicking himself for letting the cactus gal take his lucky item. After he completed each of the zones, and defeated the boss, which was a giant plant girl, they moved on to the next level.

“Careful, this is the level where Jerry lost. I can recognize the music.” Rita said while pointing at the screen. Once again, the level was a different one, on which the pink-haired guy had to make his way to the other side of the map while also fighting against zombified versions of the women that tried to get him. Just one moment in that zone was enough for Vic to understand how someone could lose as the enemies not only were stronger, but they were also faster. It looked like history would repeat itself and that Rita and Vic would be trapped in the game, until the masked man discovered something.

“It looks like you can use anything that is around you as a weapon,” he said while making Jerry pick up a toolbox and using it to defend himself from the alluring zombies. Just like the other levels, they had to complete some tasks before fighting against the final boss, with this one being related to getting pieces to reconstruct a motorcycle. The only thing that was different from the other zones was that each building with the pieces had a mini boss that after being defeated, its weapon could be taken. After taking care of the bosses and getting the six motorcycle parts, the last thing to do was to escape from a horde of female zombies and cross a bridge. “Well, I think we beat the last level Now, can you please give me back my pocket watch?”

Being loyal to her deal, Rita revealed that she had Vic’s lucky item in her cleavage all this time. Being the gentleman he was, he looked away as the cactus gal looked at the object in her outfit, but just before she could give him his pocket watch, the two noticed that the game wasn’t over yet. It was unexpected as she remembered Jerry mentioning that the instructions of the game only mentioned three levels. Seeing what happened, the two deduced that as the pink-haired guy was trapped in the game, this was a special level, one that they needed to beat if they wanted to get him out of there.

As Vic pressed the start button, he and Rita found out that it was a boss fight against not one but three bosses at the same time and each of the women represented a character from each level. The first one was a karate mistress that sported a revealing version of a martial arts academy uniform. The second one was a princess with an orange dress and a bag that had all kinds of power-ups. The third and last one was a zombie woman whose weapon of choice was a pair of customized chainsaws. Before attacking, the trio of women showed Jerry the key to the door that was behind them, showing him that if he wanted to escape from the game, he had to beat them. They were so close to rescue Jerry and yet, they still had one last level to complete. “Something tells me that the game isn’t over yet.”

“Oh, how did you know?” Vic said in a sarcastic tone while looking at Rita. Fighting against groups of enemies wasn’t that difficult, but going against three bosses at the same time was an arduous task and it didn’t help that each of them had their own special abilities. The karate mistress was the fastest of the three, easily putting herself from behind Jerry before attacking him and the princess rarely stayed in her normal form, using her power-ups to change into creatures like a dragon or a nymph. The only one who still hadn’t used her special ability was the zombie woman, who didn’t need to as her two weapons were already powerful enough to do a lot of damage.

After countless attacks, and using almost all of their healing items, Vic and Rita found out that the three women had a pattern with each attack. As the karate mistress was the one who ironically had the easiest movements to follow, they decided to attack her before moving on with the other two and with the help of the special weapons Jerry had in his inventory, the first boss was defeated. The man with the trench coat and the cheerful gal felt proud of their strategy, but their celebration was cut short once they saw that the last two bosses moved closer. Not only that, but each of them changed their strategy, with the princess using one of her power-ups to become a siren and the zombie woman combining her two chainsaws with a metal stick.

“We got rid of one, I think we can defeat that singing mermaid and a crazy zombie gal. Right, Rita?... Rita? Oh, come on,” the masked man was puzzled to see that the cactus gal was a victim of the hypnotic siren song. Jerry was almost affected by it, if it wasn’t that he still had the special helmet of the zombie zone that improved his resistance. With Rita under the influence of the alluring siren’s song, Vic had to pay more attention to the attacks of the two women, who had a different pattern than the last one. He knew that things would turn difficult without the aid of the cactus gal, so he decided to go for the mermaid princess first. After attacking the seductive creature with both a sword that had electric powers and the axe from the zombie level, the mermaid met her end and Rita was liberated from her own trance state. “Oh good, you are finally back to earth. Now let’s get that key.”

As she was the last boss standing, the zombie woman started destroying the place, giving them 5 minutes to defeat her before the building would crumble. Unlike the other attacks, she didn’t have a pattern to follow, either going for a surprise attack or waiting for him to do his move. Just as they had 2 minutes left, Rita remembered about one special object they found on the inventory. “The box of the platform level you found, the one that we couldn’t open,” it was a risky move, but as they didn’t have much time and their weapons were doing nothing to stop the alluring zombie, they decided to take that chance and select it. At first, they were worried that history would repeat itself and that the box wouldn’t open, but to their surprise, not only the opposite happened, but they discovered that there was a weapon on the box.

“Well, that’s convenient,” the masked man said upon seeing the axe. He would have said more if it wasn’t for the cactus gal reminding him that they had almost no time left. It only took a few swings of the weapon to defeat the zombie women and once the pink-haired guy used it to open the door, the screen turned dark. Rita believed that this was the game not being loyal to its deal, but after a few seconds, Jerry was thrown out of the game, landing on Rita. After Vic helped the two, the cheerful gal presented him the two before she fulfilled her deal by giving the man with the trench coat his pocket watch back.

A few days later, Rita went to Neon City, the place where Vic resided. As she felt bad for tricking him, the cactus gal accepted his invitation to see him in the colorful metropolis. Jerry was also invited as he became friends with the masked man too, but he decided to turn it down as the cactus gal was because she mentioned Vic and his game collection and he wanted to have some time away from games after what happened. Even though the pink-haired guy wasn’t there, Rita and Vic decided to enjoy their time in the city, starting with enjoying one the favorite games of the man with the trench coat. “Don’t worry, as far as I remember, this is not a cursed game,” he jokingly said before giving the cactus gal her game controller. As the two enjoyed the game, Vic started to think about what would happen next. He was aware that Rita and Jerry were not the only colorful characters he could meet and he was interested in seeing what would happen next. If a night like that had this much of an impact.

He wondered what the future had in store for him.