Little Squid

Chapter 4

A/N: I just wanted to thank all of the people that voted for this chapter and the people who came over from my old stories to read this one. It means a lot and I'm excited to see how you guys like this one.

The arena that Spade and Y.U.G had booked for their trial game was enough to make me want to hurl all over the marble sidewalk leading to the entrance. Neon strips slashed across the cylindrical-shaped building, cutting through the late-night dark. In front of the crowded entrance, groups of fans milled, whispering with their homemade signs proclaiming: Kill 'em, Kracken, Go, Spade, and I love you, Boomie! The fan-base varied. BoomBaby played on Spade and KingKracken held the Jungle position on Y.U.G. It seemed that each team was evenly matched when it came to fanbase but that wasn't really a surprise.

With the burst of simulation gaming, it brought a new level to the competitive sports arena. Suddenly, you could watch people take "real" damage live. You could see the outcome of your favorite players winning. It combined the childhood fantasy of magic with the reality of failures and triumphs.

Just down the staircase, where the sidewalk met the entryway was the buzz of holographic projections, the two teams shifting in silent aggression as they stared moodily at whoever passed by to enter the arena where they would play. Positioned on either side of the walkway, they made impressively intimidating sentinels. The smell of freshly popped popcorn and sugary drinks coated the air, wafting through the halls from the concession stand booths just inside.

I moved through the crowd feeling slightly light-headed - as if I had entered a fever-dream that I hadn't been able to wake from in days. My body was on the edge of some ledge, waiting to tip over into the land of the living or the dead at any moment.

"Come on," Day sighed breezily, gliding through the crowd like someone who had done this a million times and was starting to become bored with the whole experience. In all honesty, that was probably true. She had been recruited by a modeling agency when we were still in middle school and had been doing weekend trips to Belize by the time we were sophomores. She knew how to slip through a room like a ghost, confidence acting as a one-way ticket out of any stressful confrontation. "He said he would be here..."

"Maybe this isn't a good idea," I whispered, looking around at the half-filled lobby with mounting suspicion. One wall was made up of glass elevators, shuttling late attendees up to their seats. Most people had already been ushered to their seats, the roar of the audience a floor above shuddering through the cement and metal of the building. It was all terrifyingly official, the walls lined with Spade and YUG highlight clips, a small camera-crew adjusting hair and makeup in the corner, people with posters starting to cluster near where we had just entered. "What happens if this was all an elaborate plan to-"

"If I let you meet Y.U.G and have them vouch for my authenticity will you believe that I'm not trying to toss you into a storage container?"

Anthony Kim was a much younger man than I had thought he would be. A finely pressed striped shirt tucked neatly into a comfortable blue suit made him look more like a librarian than the manager of a multi-million gaming team. Pinned to the lapel of his suit a gold medusa head caught the lights of the lobby, flashing in silent warning. His hair was pressed back in ebony waves from a pale smooth face, close-cropped at the sides. Dimples pressed up his face, making his dark eyes sparkle as he gave us a polite smile.

It was a face that I had seen many times flash across my computer screen and yet somehow never fully digested. I swallowed down the dizzying flutter of anticipation, slapping down that flare of wild hope with a ruthlessness that was learned.

A hand pulled from his suit pockets, reaching out to hover in front of me. His eyes were running over me in short, calculating sweeps, something that I had seen from auctioneers at the flea market my mother dragged me to sometimes. "You would be Little Squid."