Grand Prize

    ​I had never lost at a video game. I was not only better than you and your friends, but I was better than anyone I had ever met. Classic games? I'd make traditional gamers cry. Modern first-person shooters? Can you say three-sixty-no-scope from across the map while only holding the controller with one hand? I had a gift. Heck, video games were my super power. So when I found that secret arcade and learned that I could gain a real super power, I got pretty excited. And all it took was winning a game.
    

    I was walking home late one night from the library and decided to cut through the busy part of the metropolis. Taxis, a billion night-owls wandering the streets, late night vendors, smoke, pollution, and the smell of hotdogs all danced around my senses. Typical busy city right? Well anyways, I'm walking down one of those streets where you're being jostled by a thousand people and horns are blaring and some homeless guy is giving you a weird look and suddenly... from the corner of my eye I see some kid maybe a couple of years older than me lean against a wall and tap a brick. People get in my way and when the sidewalk clears up a little, the kid is gone. I almost took no notice— people disappear out of your vision all the time, especially in a crowded city—but the guy looked excited. It was the same look I'd get when I was about to play a really juicy game with Easter eggs, challenges, and secret rewards. I almost took no notice— except for the kid's look and that the brick wall was sliding shut. A secret entrance!

    I rushed over to where the kid had been standing, pushing my way through a dozen strangers and shooing a stray dog, and examined the wall. Seamless. But I had seen it open up like some sort of sideways mouth. I tried pushing against different bricks like I had seen the kid do. Suddenly, there was a whoosh and the wall opened up. Hands reached out and yanked me through.

    It was so sudden, I didn't even have time to process that one second I was being bombarded by city scenery, and the next I'm in some huge secret city plaza with neon lights flashing and reflecting off a million surfaces. Techno music was blaring, there was laughter, and I spotted at least eight different stores selling anything from pulse rifles to LED-attached sea snakes. Women with purple mohawks and vibrating sunglasses passed by and some man shot away on a hoverboard.

    The hands that had yanked me through belonged to some super tiny guy who could have been a stunt-double from an elf holographic movie.

    "Don't hover at the entrance when you come to Black Star Plaza." he warned me with a funny little growl. "You don't want everyone finding out about this place do ya kid?"

    I shook my head and the guy wobbled off into the crowd. I gazed at my surroundings with my mouth wide open. Remember when your parents took you to your first holo-show and the characters ran up and talked to you as if you were part of the movie? You didn't even speak back to them at first 'cause you were so amazed. The character would then shrug and walk away. That was like how I felt when I found Black Star Plaza. What? You've never been to a holo-movie? Alrighty then...

    So I'm walking down the center of this secret city block and there it was: Andy's Arcade. It had a classic arcade entrance—wide double doors inviting you in, loud catchy music, and lights that flashed so brightly you had to blink and look away. A couple of dudes walked past, heading inside. I heard them talk about the arcade, saying stuff like: Andy's Arcade's the best man! And Did'ja see the prize Chris got from beating that puzzle game with the robots? The guys disappeared inside and I made up my mind. I had to check out this arcade. I was good at games right? If the prizes were worth my time, I'd walk home that night like a king.

    Man, I cannot describe to you how it was to walk into that arcade. First thing I see is some kid going to town on a classic top-down spaceship shooter. He's holding the joysticks with a fervor, sweating up a storm... he's got other people surrounding him and cheering like crazy. So the kid wins; the screen flashed the WINNER! image and everyone's clapping... and suddenly the kid that was playing is hovering six feet in the air, a broad grin on his face. He's shouting, "I got the ability! I got the ability!"
Before I can even rub my eyes to see if I'm dreaming or not, two others start flying up in the air with him while some girl conjures a bubble around herself and floats after them. Yeah, go on, tell me I'm lying! I don't care! I'm not making it up! I'm not on drugs either if that's what you're implying. I swear to you, they honest-to-tech had powers!