I sent out the challenge at almost exactly midnight. My post went viral within fifteen minutes. People were hanging on the edge of their seats. Would the greats just shrug it off? Would they laugh in my face? Would this daring move be my last? Had I overstepped my boundaries?
GideonF210 was the first to accept, very professionally and courteously. I’d like to say he set the tone for the night, but most of the other acceptance posts were a bit more harsh and biting. One by one, all of them lined up, claiming a spot in the queue to kick me around the arena. Gollymolly, AwesomePythor, sam8432, FrodoLovesBacon, WaveViper…they just kept coming.
Benboy and Skul were last. Both their acceptance posts read hotly of indignation that I had the guts to ping them. They were going to put a stop to this. Nobody else would attempt a challenge like this, not after they were done with me. Their names were last on a very long list. I was going to have to fight twenty-three of the highest ranking users in one night.
It was make it or break it time.
Kids started streaming in long before school let out, claiming places in the gaming lounge, and bombarding me with questions and comments. While there were some doubters, the majority believed I had it in me. They had faith in their local superhero.
Mateo showed up around five, toting in a garbage bag full of Doritos and a pocketful of unpopped popcorn packets. “Heyo.”
“You’re gonna turn orange.” I said, eyeing the supplies.
“They’re not all for me. Courtesy of my mom. She sends her regards. She also totally doesn’t get what this is all about, but she got the gist that it was big.” He shrugged, and held open the door. “C’mon guys.”
A long line of siblings trudged in, bearing snacks of all shapes and consistency.
“Oh, gosh, she didn’t have to do this.” I said.
“Hey, I wasn’t arguing! I’ve never had a shot at this many whale crackers before!” Mateo said.
“No, like, we’ll never get the Dorito cheese out of the couches.”
The toddler appeared at the door. “Yeah.” He said hesitantly, eyeing us suspiciously.
“Well, Alejandro wants one.”
“Fwuit punch, owange, kiwi, chehwy, or..”
“Kiwi.” I broke in.
He nodded sagely. “Wise choice.” He lugged a huge carton in, and extricated the appropriate flavor. He then resumed his march into the living room.
I poked the straw in. “That carton is big enough to double as a chair.”
Mateo headed for the microwave, ripping open a popcorn packet. “I have no doubts that Sam will settle on top of it and proceed to quizpeople on their favorite flavors all night. He spent half an hour memorizing them all.”
“Sounds like he’s put more prep in than me.” And with that, I headed for my room to review the line-up again.
~<>~
When I walked in that evening, everybody simultaneously shut off their consoles and stowed them beneath their seats. I was the main attraction tonight. I weaved my way through the crowd, exchanging some greetings. There were a lot of kids here. And they weren’t all from around here. There had been a crowd downstairs as well, there just wasn’t enough room in the lobby. They wouldn’t be able to see me play, but somebody with a wall screen was going to be projecting the spectator feed from our arena. I had already chosen one, and gave the competitors a time and place.
I settled into the couch, Celeste had saved me a spot. The cushion had a huge splotch of spraypaint on it that I didn’t remember. I gave Mateo a look from across the room.
“You might be making history tonight. We wouldn’t want to forget where you sat.”
I slowly reached down, and flipped the cushion over. He pouted. I sat down and logged in. Somebody had a wall screen up of my avvie before I even spawned. It was weird, having my actions mirrored by a larger copy on the wall. I had to block that out.
Somebody offered me their lucky mouse. I politely turned them down. Somebody offered me their lucky bag of M&Ms. I didn’t question the proposed magical properties of the chocolate, and gratefully accepted the package. I needed some sugar to steady the nerves.
Honestly, though, the butterflies weren’t there. I had faced worst. I had woken up with a tarantula in my lap. I’d had my foot ran over. I’d been in the trenches. I had apologized to Celeste. This was light work comparatively.
Kiwi's good, good lad Sam.
Ha apologizing to Celeste is on the list with the truely bad stuff, nice.
The toddler appeared at the door. “Yeah.” He said hesitantly, eyeing us suspiciously.
“Well, Alejandro wants one.”
“Fwuit punch, owange, kiwi, chehwy, or..”
“Kiwi.” I broke in.
He nodded sagely. “Wise choice.” He lugged a huge carton in, and extricated the appropriate flavor. He then resumed his march into the living room.
I poked the straw in. “That carton is big enough to double as a chair.”
Mateo headed for the microwave, ripping open a popcorn packet. “I have no doubts that Sam will settle on top of it and proceed to quizpeople on their favorite flavors all night. He spent half an hour memorizing them all.”
“Sounds like he’s put more prep in than me.” And with that, I headed for my room to review the line-up again.
~<>~
When I walked in that evening, everybody simultaneously shut off their consoles and stowed them beneath their seats. I was the main attraction tonight. I weaved my way through the crowd, exchanging some greetings. There were a lot of kids here. And they weren’t all from around here. There had been a crowd downstairs as well, there just wasn’t enough room in the lobby. They wouldn’t be able to see me play, but somebody with a wall screen was going to be projecting the spectator feed from our arena. I had already chosen one, and gave the competitors a time and place.
I settled into the couch, Celeste had saved me a spot. The cushion had a huge splotch of spraypaint on it that I didn’t remember. I gave Mateo a look from across the room.
“You might be making history tonight. We wouldn’t want to forget where you sat.”
I slowly reached down, and flipped the cushion over. He pouted. I sat down and logged in. Somebody had a wall screen up of my avvie before I even spawned. It was weird, having my actions mirrored by a larger copy on the wall. I had to block that out.
Somebody offered me their lucky mouse. I politely turned them down. Somebody offered me their lucky bag of M&Ms. I didn’t question the proposed magical properties of the chocolate, and gratefully accepted the package. I needed some sugar to steady the nerves.
Honestly, though, the butterflies weren’t there. I had faced worst. I had woken up with a tarantula in my lap. I’d had my foot ran over. I’d been in the trenches. I had apologized to Celeste. This was light work comparatively.
Kiwi's good, good lad Sam.
Ha apologizing to Celeste is on the list with the truely bad stuff, nice.
Gideon got the honor of being first. We had a short good-natured verbal joust before we entered the arena. It was a small one, little to no decorations. I couldn’t be accused of choosing an advantageous home ground to play my opponents on. And it was small to keep things short. We waited to make sure both players were in and fully responsive, and then had at it.
He had an electronic crossbow, his signature weapon. It was a special item, one that had been his first real jump to fame. He had remained up there ever since. It required no reloads, the main advantage over regular crossbows for speed. It also packed a lot more damage. I couldn’t take a direct hit, and only a couple burns.
My choice was a gigantic electric sword. The weapon wasn’t that important, though. It was my repertoire, my knowledge that would stay me through most these matches. The greats all had patterns.
To start things off he did a jump shot, getting a nice projector angle. That was his customary move, so I was already well away from my starting location, bounding forward. He tried move after move, and I countered, always a step ahead. My fingers flew on the keyboard, typing in number and letter combinations, and occasionally even spelling out a full move. My brain was running through code. I knew the sequence to beat him. It required on-the-field tweaking; I couldn’t just enter a big block of timed moves and watch him go through the motions. But I kept forging on with the basic set of commands I had memorized.
I actually felt kind of bad about knocking him out in thirty-six seconds. He was one of the few on the list that I really respected. He played for his native country, and yes, he was paid. But that didn’t make him a bad person. That just made this a job and him a professional. For me, this was a hobby, and I was just a kid.
But was I? I was seventeen. People grew up fast down here. The war had changed me. Part of me I had left on that battlefield.
Next was psychosrus. I knew his routine. He was back out of the arena in 23 seconds. Johnyjo lasted a minute thirteen. M4Jesus forty-seven. And so it went.
At some point somebody turned on the TV and managed to pull in a sports station. It was playing a recap of the event so far, waiting to return to live footage while I ate a handful of trail mix.
I was halfway through by eight. I won’t say that was the easy half, but I will admit that I hadn’t doubted I’d make it this far. Starting now it got hard.
The toddler appeared at the door. “Yeah.” He said hesitantly, eyeing us suspiciously.
“Well, Alejandro wants one.”
“Fwuit punch, owange, kiwi, chehwy, or..”
“Kiwi.” I broke in.
He nodded sagely. “Wise choice.” He lugged a huge carton in, and extricated the appropriate flavor. He then resumed his march into the living room.
I poked the straw in. “That carton is big enough to double as a chair.”
Mateo headed for the microwave, ripping open a popcorn packet. “I have no doubts that Sam will settle on top of it and proceed to quizpeople on their favorite flavors all night. He spent half an hour memorizing them all.”
“Sounds like he’s put more prep in than me.” And with that, I headed for my room to review the line-up again.
~<>~
When I walked in that evening, everybody simultaneously shut off their consoles and stowed them beneath their seats. I was the main attraction tonight. I weaved my way through the crowd, exchanging some greetings. There were a lot of kids here. And they weren’t all from around here. There had been a crowd downstairs as well, there just wasn’t enough room in the lobby. They wouldn’t be able to see me play, but somebody with a wall screen was going to be projecting the spectator feed from our arena. I had already chosen one, and gave the competitors a time and place.
I settled into the couch, Celeste had saved me a spot. The cushion had a huge splotch of spraypaint on it that I didn’t remember. I gave Mateo a look from across the room.
“You might be making history tonight. We wouldn’t want to forget where you sat.”
I slowly reached down, and flipped the cushion over. He pouted. I sat down and logged in. Somebody had a wall screen up of my avvie before I even spawned. It was weird, having my actions mirrored by a larger copy on the wall. I had to block that out.
Somebody offered me their lucky mouse. I politely turned them down. Somebody offered me their lucky bag of M&Ms. I didn’t question the proposed magical properties of the chocolate, and gratefully accepted the package. I needed some sugar to steady the nerves.
Honestly, though, the butterflies weren’t there. I had faced worst. I had woken up with a tarantula in my lap. I’d had my foot ran over. I’d been in the trenches. I had apologized to Celeste. This was light work comparatively.
I'm internally screaming "moar" right now, but I won't scream it out loud because I'm polite and I always CONsider the safety of other peoples ears.
I'm looking forward to this. I will politely and quietly request moar.
![[derp]](http://storage.proboards.com/6672327/images/YqNTPqyQUocVMYXZgUAI.png)
![[h]](http://storage.proboards.com/6672327/images/hfSwWMIrqfbcVMuaJTst.png)
![[h]](http://storage.proboards.com/6672327/images/nPCskakrdhDERqIVGKuw.png)
How come Con gets flash parties and I get angry mobs? XD
