OOC: If you know about Game Girl’s lore and backstory or don’t care about it, go ahead and skip this thing. I thought this might be good to do since her story has been going on for over 10 years and has been “reset” a few times. I feel an abridged version would be helpful to not just me, but anyone who faces GG and has to deal with her baggage, for lack of a better term. I’ll put a TL;DR at the end as well so people can just skip to that if they wish.

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The room is warm.

Red curtains fall in waves covering the walls.

A black and white checkered floor, like a chessboard.

Steve Sayors, a knuckle to his forehead as he leans an elbow on a grand piano in front of him. Smoke drifts up from the cigarette in his other hand as his knee bounces erratically, his polished dress shoe pressed against the tile floor.

With a quick head snap, he smiles. His leg stops fidgeting, the wrinkles on his forehead smooth as he looks to Game Girl who stands there awkwardly, never entering but wasn’t always there. She smirks and gives a small wave of her robotic hand.

Steve stamps the cigarette out hastily and stands up with a sigh of relief, rushing over to shake her hand.

“Game Girl!” He grabs her hands gently and smiles. “So glad you could join us!”

“Erm.” She shifts slightly with a cough of a laugh, “Thanks for having me?”

Her words lift in the end, as if she has no idea why she’s in this room. Steve sits on the piano stool and scoots it forward slightly and ushers GG to her seat across from him, she accepts and crosses one leg over the other, patting her knees with both hands.

“Off the record, honestly I didn't think anyone else wanted to talk to me! It’s just been Razor, Deena, Latoya, Bit Luchadors non-stop recently!” Steve chuckles to himself.

GG gives a “Hm” with a smile before replying, “They seem nice!”

“Oh they’re great don’t get me wrong but it’s nice to have a change of pace, y’know?” He gives a nervous laugh, adjusting his tie and sweeping his hair back. “You ready?”

“S-sure!” Her eyes widened as she looked across the room to the crew, cameras pointed at her. “Ready for what, exactly?”

“Your interview!” He scoffs, “You’re gonna tell us ALL about Game Girl, from the very beginning to right now.”

“All of it!?” She exclaims, giving a nervous glance around. “It’s a long story, Mr. Sayors-”

“Ah!” He points a finger, “Please call me Steve and don’t worry we’ve got time I just want to hear about you!”

His shoulders lift and drop as he smiles and Game Girl clears her throat, grabbing the water sat beside her and drinking heartily.

“We’re rolling in THREE…” A voice comes from the stage. “TWO…”

GG slurps the water looking off to the side.

“Hello XWF Multiverse!” Steve greets us with a smirk, “And welcome to an exclusive interview. You may know her as the ever-optimistic heroine who bested the likes of Bobby Bourbon and Sebastian Duke over ten years ago or the lovable Overseer from War Games: Fallout, or being the part of the House of Hardcore helmed by legend Scoops McGee, but most of you know her as Game Girl or simply, Paige.”

Steve unfurls a hand towards GG who smiles politely. “Hey…” :)

“Paige, thank you for being here today and listen I don’t want to waste your time, I know you must be busy prepping for March Madness VIII but can you share your story? How did you come to the XWF?”

“Well…” She gives a heavy exhale, “Like I said, Steve, it’s a long story and I haven’t really tried to think about it a lot.”

“Please.” Steve crosses a leg over. “You have fans old and new, I’m sure they’d love to hear all of it.”

“Hm… Okay…” Game Girl looks down pondering. The curtains around her slowly raise and the darkness behind them gradually turns into rolling hills of lush green grass and a beautiful cyan sky. “I don’t remember growing up. Just one day, I existed.”

“I was a normal girl! Kinda jaded I guess, didn’t really have friends or family, had this anger in me. Like it was encoded. Probably was, ha.” She looks to Steve with a slight chuckle who nods along quietly listening. “I didn’t like authority.”

“Then…”

“I met Game Boy. I was gonna beat him up or something, I can barely even remember now but he was stronger than me, faster than me and definitely more stupid than me. And that’s the last memory of my life. Like… MY life.”

“I’m sorry,” Steve inquires, “I don’t think I understand.”

She huffs before taking another sip of water and setting it back down to look Steve in the eyes. “I’ll try and give the best context I can.” The images behind show her and Game Boy running through forests, beating up skeletons, rushing over to the castle in the center of Narfinex City. “Me and Game Boy hung out, quickly became friends, he was endearing in a weird way. He made me laugh! It was fun.”

“We met other heroes, we met Princess, we… We started a quest.” She snorts a laugh shaking her head before her smile quickly fades. “There was, is, a corruption in my home. Something that twists things, deletes them and replaces them with entities I can’t describe. One of these things was something called a Titan, a huge monster capable of destroying a city.”

“Game Boy…”

She pauses for a moment.

“He… He sacrificed himself to save everyone, he knew he was on his last life but he did it to save us. And somehow, I got his powers when he died.”

“And his memories.”

“And his likes and dislikes, his joy and sadness. Everything.”

“I was him, and he was me. And that’s just how it’s been since.”

“Wow.” Steve nods slowly, “That’s a lot, I’m sorry. Just a follow-up, or a few follow-ups. Game Boy, he was on his last life?”

“Yeah,” she forces a smile, “We knew we were in a video game, or some of us did anyway, and Game Boy had extra lives like you would in a game.”

“Oh, interesting, do you have the same then?”

“I don’t know.” She runs itches across her chest, the large scar concealed under her clothes. “And I don’t want to find out, honestly.”

“But if you and Game Boy are the same, you’ve got these powers, surely you would have extra lives?” Steve places a finger against his lip.

“Maybe!” She shrugs, “But I’ve lived a lot of lives, Steve, I have no idea if I’m on my last one or not.”

“Of course, these lives being the"resets" you’ve talked about. Could you tell us more about them?”

“Ermmmm….” Game Girl furrows her brow.

The images behind her go dark and the world is thrust into darkness for a moment.

“Hi everybody!”

A fat man in a grey shirt gives a wave, sitting at his desk looking towards the webcam perched atop his computer.

“Gabe Bachgan here and today I want to talk about my game, Tale of Narfinex! Specifically addressing some criticisms you may or may not have had with it! But before I continue I want to point out that 90% of viewers aren’t subscribed to my channel-”

The screen jolts as we skip through in increments of 10 seconds.

“-more from them later in the video.”

“Now, when I was working on this game over 30 years ago with my crew at FunSoft, we knew we had something special on our hands. Due to myself being a perfectionist and dwindling funds, the game was never released…”

“Until now! And you can buy it on PC and console, today! I know reviews are mixed, but stick around and I’ll explain my roadmap to making everything perfect! And before you trolls in the comments say anything, no I am not refunding any of Kickstarter backers! It was stated very early on!”

“Anyway!” He forces a smile before adjusting his glasses, “Let’s get to the main topic of this video.”

“The dreaded resets!” Gabe puts on a spooky voice and wiggles his fingers. “OooOOoooOOOooooHHhh!!!”

He laughs to himself before sighing. “There’s been a lot of rumors going around about how the game USED to be before I had to carry on the work solo. And what these trolls are referring to is previous builds! Y’know, like any other video game!”

“The original version back in the 90s was super safe and not interesting, bland characters defined by one trait. A dime a dozen story about a boy with great powers saving the princess. Bleh! It was redundant!”

“So I took it upon myself to change it! And it has gone through hundreds, maybe even THOUSANDS of renditions to get to what I call today, my magnum opus!”

“People complained about the lack of choices in the current version, lack of RPG elements but that wasn’t what I wanted to make! The story has always been about Guy! Or Game Boy as some call him, which isn't canon! That was just a working title for him! People complain about how there’s no co-op mode like we advertised way back when.”

He scoffs.

“Nobody cared about Paige! She wasn’t meant to be part of the story! She’s a placeholder!”

“The story is about Guy and about a hero who gets turned to the dark side against his will! You-you don’t get choices in that scenario! I don’t know why you guys can’t understand that!”

Gabe breathes heavily, rubbing the stubble on his chin.

“This is my vision!”

“I changed the mundane into something unique!”

“Yeah! It’s buggy! I’ll fix it! I know what MY game is!”

“Jeez, just some of you guys are really up my ass.” Gabe smiles, “A lot like today’s sponsor MeUndies!-”

Blackness.



                             Then a buzz of static.





































“How did you and Scoops meet?”

A familiar voice asks.

A dry, old voice.

Paige’s head snaps upward, the smell of burning logs hitting her nostrils as crickets chirp out to the star-filled night sky.

Game Girl looks around at her surroundings, an oddly familiar campsite by the side of a dirt road.

She looks to the fire, a cauldron above it and Gretchin swirling the contents looking back at her with those glistening, yellow orbs of light.

“Gretchin!” Paige lets out with joy before almost tackling her into a hug, “I missed you!”

Gretchin lets out an “Ooph” as the wind is taken out of her and she lets out a slight chuckle, her wiry hand patting Game Girl’s back.

Paige doesn’t let go, the tears don’t stop either.

“There, there, my dear. It’s okay.” Gretchin soothes her, rubbing her hand down her spine.

Gretchin’s large hat pushes into GG’s neck as she leans into the hug.

And although you couldn’t see Gretchin’s smile behind the veil of darkness.

Game Girl could hear it, feel it.

A warm, caring but deeply sad smile.

The exact same one Game Girl has on her face.

The two release and look at one another, Paige giving a laugh as she wipes her eyes.

“I know you’re not really here.” She sighs looking at the witch. “You’d never let me hug you for that long.”

“We’ll see when we finally meet again…” Gretchin comforts her, running an arm down hers and squeezing her hand tightly. “I’m sorry about what has happened to you.”

“I’m sorry it happened too.” She sniffles, sitting back down. “So, is all this a dream?”

“Possibly.” Gretchin sighs as she looks around the world. “Or it could be another universe, timeline… Who’s keeping track anymore, really?”

“Pfft.” GG splutters her lips, bringing her knees close to her chest. “Why do I gotta deal with all this crud? I just wanted to be normal.”

“Being normal is a luxury.” Gretchin groans as she steps off the stool at the base of the cauldron and sits beside Game Girl to look up at the stars. “You think I grew up wanting to be an all-seeing witch that spouted riddles?”

Paige snorts a laugh, “Yeah, actually.”

Gretchin laughs too, “Well, I did. Paid off well.”

The pair chuckle some more before the laughter dies down.

“So,” Gretchin turns to her and slaps GG’s knee. “Tell me about this Scoops guy, he single?”

“Ew!” GG upturns her lip, “He’s my friend! He saved my life.”

“How’d you two meet?”

“By chance, I guess? I wanted to get out of my hiding, go see Urf again. I did and I made friends, Atara, Dolly! Oh, you’d love Dolly. I thought doing that would scratch my itch but it didn’t and one day I’m on an adventure with wrestling legend Scoops McGee to save Vinnie Lane’s... Interesting wife, Roxy.”

“And me and Scoops kept being friends and teaming up! We won at War Games, we made more friends! We’re doing something! Something that matters!”

“And I find it funny that I’d follow him through everything because he’s so different than me. He’s a grumpy old man with a heart of gold and the mouth of a sailor. And I love him for it. He’s the best person I’ve ever met.”

“I’d do anything for him, but I know he’d never ask.”

“Hm.” Gretchin murmurs, “I feel like you said those words about someone else.”

Paige’s heart skips for a moment as she looks around, “Is… Is he here?”

“No.” Gretchin prods a bony finger into GG’s chest. “And yes.”

“Huh.” She scoffs. “No escaping him for me really is there?”

“Sadly, you’re him.” Gretchin looks into GG’s eyes. “And he’s you.”

Game Girl doesn’t respond, chewing her lip she looks down at the fire and warms her hands. Both of them, the cold metal of her left arm replaced with something soft and made of flesh, she feels the heat from the fire for the first time in a long time.

“Paige. . .”

Almost a whisper, but one that strikes her with force. Like a needle of ice clawing into her heart. She slowly turns, the forest around her ablaze. Bodies lay strewn around her.

“No..” She whimpers.

Game Boy stands there, clad in black armor and a blood red cape flowing behind him. Corrupted, dangerous. Resembling the great evil known as Mordekaiser but… Different.

Game Girl steps up positioning herself between GB and Gretchin who stays still, almost lifeless.

Game Boy lets out a long, ragged breath from behind his helm, his hands placed over the hilt of his greatsword dug into the scorched earth.

“You finally came back. . .” There’s a sickening pleasure to his words as he drives the sword up and begins stomping towards her.

Paige’s breath grows quick, her legs tremble, she tries to move forward but her feet refuse.

She throws out a hand but it feels like she’s moving in water.

He throws a hand to the dead around him as he encroaches, “You ran, they failed.”

Paige lets out a shaky breath as a spark of light forms in her open palm.

But GB grabs her wrist and bends it up. GG lets out a shock of pain.

“Just know. . .” His voice vibrates her skull as his grip tightens. “. . .All of this is your fault.”

With a wrench of his arm, tendons and muscle rips and he tears her arm leaving a messy, bloody stump.

She lets out a blood-curdling scream.

That turns into a gasp as she sits up in her bed breathing heavily, sweat runs down her face.

Paige runs a hand over her forehead as she takes in her surroundings.

She looks at her hands, one flesh, the other metal.

Then to the sun beaming through her window.

She falls back down onto her bed and lets out a long sigh that turns into a yawn.

Her frown and furrowed brow looks up to the ceiling.

Pasted there are pictures of the people close to her, Dolly, Atara, Calypso, NKWC, Hanari, Scoops, Dickie, Amber. Drawings of her from fans. Letters. XWF stills from her matches.

She breathes deeply, laying there for a minute, her pupils dotting around at the collage and gives a wobbly smile.

Her head turns to the side, past the alarm clock reading 1:12pm and to the calendar on the wall, a big red circle over the words "Therapist noon".

She closes her eyes and gives a sigh of disappointment before looking back up at the images of her friends. She kisses her teeth but gives another smile, a brighter one.

“Okie dokie!”

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TL;DR: Tale of Narfinex was a shelved SNES game by its creator Gabe Bachgan and his company, FunSoft. Because it never saw the light of day for 30 years, some of the characters in the game became sentient. One of which was Game Boy who had super powers and could hop between universes/realities. He was a great hero who died saving Narfinex from a giant monster, and one of his allies named Paige inherited those powers, being the player 2 to GB’s player 1.

Paige or Game Girl, followed in Game Boy’s footsteps for a good long while until her world kept resetting over and over again with only Paige remembering everything. She got depressed and hid away in other video games until she came back and was convinced to stop Narinex's Big Bad Villian, Mordekaiser, saying if nothing matters, might as well go out swinging.

Paige tells her story of the resets, tells Game Boy he used to be the hero and through this, and Gabe wanting to change the game’s story, he “kills” Game Girl to take his powers back.

Doesn’t work, Paige is alive living with Scoops McGee who saved her life. She’s very messed up but optimistic and Game Boy is dealing with a lot of guilt and glitches.

Still TL;DR: Trauma happens to characters with stupid names. Video games bad.