Koushirou sat at his computer, about ready to take over France when he heard the phone ring. Not that he cared, as he was too busy concentrating on his virtual forces that were just outside the French boarder. Thus, as he was home alone that afternoon, the phone went unanswered.

    The phone rang again, this time just barely registering in Koushirou's mind. Before he was able to break away from his conquest, though, the phone became silent once more.

    It wasn't until the third time the phone disrupted Koushirou that he actually managed to get up and answer it.

    "Hello?" he asked, slightly annoyed to be away from his game.

    "Hey Koushirou, this is Jou. I called twice already, where were you?"

    "Trying to conquer France."

    "I figured as much. Anyway, my computer's not working, and I was wondering if you could take a look at it."

    Koushirou paused for a moment before answering. Checking on Jou's computer would mean he'd have to be away from his own. On the other hand, he was always happy to help out his best friend. But France was on the verge of falling....

    "Have you tried everything yourself first?" he finally asked.

    "Yes, I tried everything at least twice. The darn thing always freezes right after I boot it up."

    "Hmmm...Did you try running scandisk right before everything loads?"

    "Of course, Koushirou, I tried that three times," Jou said, sounding a little irritated.

    Koushirou looked down the hall towards his room. He really should go help out Jou, but darn it, couldn't it wait a little while?

    "Okay, fine, I'll be over in a few minutes." The two said goodbye and hung up.

    Sighing, Koushirou went back to his computer to disconnect from the game. France would have to be conquered some other day. He typed a quick surrender notice to whoever was playing the French forces and headed over to Jou's apartment. Jou's computer had better be completely on the fritz for this.

    Jou lived two blocks away, so it really was just a few minutes until Koushirou was ringing his friend's doorbell.

    "Hi Koushirou, thanks for stopping by," Jou said as he opened the door.

    Koushirou went inside, and once again noticed how much cleaner it was than his own apartment. Jou's parents were a lot more strict than his own, and he figured making sure the house was spotless was part of that strictness. Koushirou was glad his parents weren't that strict.

    "So," Koushirou said, following Jou to his room, "the computer just freezes after you boot it up, huh?"

    "Yep. For the life of me I can't figure it out. Here it is, if you want to take a look at it,"

    They both entered Jou's room, and Koushirou instantly noticed that Jou really didn't have any computer problems. In fact, on the monitor was a very, very familiar game...

    "Sorry, I gotta run. I surrender this time, but I'll be back later," Koushirou said, reading his own surrender message.

    Koushirou just stood there in astonishment. Of all the ways to win a battle...

    "Well, Koushirou, you were about to kick my ass," Jou said almost apologetically.

    "Jou, you're dead," Koushirou replied, still looking at the monitor.

    "I'll tell you what, let's go to the arcade, and I'm sure there's several fighting games you can kick my ass on. Deal?"

    "Deal." Koushirou grinned. Yes, Jou was definitely going to pay for what he did. Beating him at every single fighting game in the arcade sounded like the perfect thing.

    "And one other thing," Koushirou said as they headed out, "I'm never coming over to your house to fix your computer when I'm in the middle of a game."

    "Well, then," Jou replied, closing the front door, "I'll just have to think of some other way to get you to come over."

    Jou didn't even see the punch coming straight for his shoulder.