Energy'mon: Glitzy Pump Streaming (Preview) (Patreon)

Adjusting her hoodie again, she faced forward and cleared her throat. “H-hi all!” She waved. “ValHunter here w-with an-another trophy hunt stream!”

There was a little bit of fidgeting, but it did not last as her voice grew ever so subtly more confident. “One of m-my favorite games of all time is Psychonauts. Y-you ma-may have guessed that from the sub alert.”

She giggled but looked away as she did.

“Now, Psychonauts d-does not have the hardest trophies to unlock. M-most of them can be obtained by playing the game n-normally or checking in on the various characters after every level early on. There are tr-trickier trophies when you go for one-hundred percent completion, such as Fi-Figment collecting and mental health upgrades.

“But the most difficult trophy, the one that has always eluded me is “I Love Punching”, the punch target practice in the first stage.” She paused, looking back off-screen.

“There's several rounds of punching targets, and it gets harder with every round. It's… nerve-wracking and fr-frustating. So much precision and one slip up… it's over.” She held up her controller, a PS4. “Things are extra hard with the PS4 version having an input delay.”

She lowered her hands, looking off to the side. Even with the shadows on her face, her cheeks were turning even redder. “I-I get so fl-flustered so e-easily b-b-but if I can do this here, I can do it on Steam too.”

She took a deep breath and released it. “All of you is so kind and sweet, s-so let's do-”

Hey! Listen!

“O-oh!” A message appeared in the corner of the screen, an alert from a subscriber called PinkBuffBoyPants. The message read, Don't forget the challenge. :3

Valerie leaned towards the monitor off-screen and snapped back. “O-o-oh r-r-right! Of course!” She turned back to face forward. “H-hold on, I'll be right back!”

She quickly got to her feet, her hoodie falling back and revealing her raven black hair tied into a ponytail. She hurried off screen, the sound of a door opening in the background. There was nothing else but silence. The chat rolled on occasion, some comments wondering where she went.

Soon enough though, Valerie returned and sat down. She held up a narrow aluminum can, one that shined pink. There was a label stretched across it.

“This is Energy'mon: Glitzy Pump,” Valerie explained, her face partially obscured by the can. “For those who missed last stream, PinkBuffBoyPants gave a big donation and requested I try this when I started my next trophy stream. Given the amount, it only seemed fair.”

She pulled the can back and looked at it. “I-I don't usually have en-energy drinks. They're not my kind of thing…” She slowly looked towards the camera, biting her bottom lip. “B-b-but for y-you folk, I-I'll do it!”

She cracked the lid and took a drink. She seemed to twitch, her free arm jostling and tensing up as if she got a shot from a doctor. Finishing her sip, she brought the can down, biting her bottom lip again. Her eyes clenched shut, her head shaking.

After a moment, she sighed peacefully, leaning back into her chair. Her eyes opened once more, but there was a positive glow to them, even with the shadows. They looked as clear and blue as a bright, cloudless day.

“That tastes good,” she finally spoke, pulling her hoodie backup. “I'm not usually a f-fan of pink lemonade, but it was good.” There was a small smile. “Though, it packs a big punch. Really hard on the head…”

Placing the can down, she took the controller and hit a button on it. Harsh, military-esque music played softly in the background now. “I'll have more later. Right, let's t-talk about the challenge here.

“I-I'm on the final round of the T-Target Course. For this, I need to reach fifty points from punching the targets in 75 seconds. I lose one point from missing a target and two from hitting a baby target. KACOUGH… *ahem*. This is the final round between me and my Silver Trophy.

“So, let's hop in.” She leaned forward and hit her keyboard. The screen changed, showing the target arena of the game and the character of Raz above the button. Valerie was still visible, but in a smaller box tucked into the bottom left hand corner away from the HUD elements.

“Well…” Valerie took a deep breath, something blueish poking out from underneath her hoodie. “Here goes nothing!” Despite the moment to breathe and the bass in her voice, anxiety still leaked through it.

The button click could be subtly heard behind the game's music as Raz jumped into the air. The thing sticking out of her hoodie poked out further, revealing two blue points and then a pink band after that. After that was a very long layer of creamy white, the curious thing looking almost like a ribbon.