The old Honda pulled up in the guest car park of the giant building. Jacob was still shell-shocked. Finally, after all of those sleepless nights of recording, all of those tireless days of calling, and after nearly an entire days drive, he was here.
Jacob pushed open the door of his car and stared on in awe at the building in front of him. The photos didn't lie. Sumi Gaming HQ was massive.
Before leaving his car, he went through his bag one more time just to make sure he had everything - camera, microphone, water bottle, and his ID card was already around his neck. As Jacob began to walk to the front door's of the giant building, his mind wandered, and he wondered how many other YouTube game commentators - budding and famous - would be there.

Jacob flashed his ID card at a heavy-set security guard as he walked through the labyrinth-like business offices. Even though he would be right on time at this pace, he still walked with a quick stride. This was his one and only chance to try out the Sumi Gaming-Simulator GenX , and was his best chance to gain his channel popularity. He already had two-thousand subscribers for his channel and a YouTube partnership. Now he was moving on to his next goal for his game commentating channel - get featured on the front page of YouTube.

Jacob was only nineteen, one of the young ones, and had been waiting for days on end for this. Sumi Gaming's headquarters in California were hosting a testing of their new reality simulator, advertised as putting the player literally IN the game of choice. Every gamer on the block was fighting to get a spot on the VIP invite list, and Jacob was still reeling after winning a free pass to test out the simulator. He'd called into that radio competition more nights than he could count, the disappointment tasting even more bitter after every loss. He felt so discouraged that he wondered whether he should even try the last night that they were picking competitors to put in the draw. When he was told that he was the 19th caller, and that he was in the draw to go to California, he could barely form words. All that he could do was force out a small sound of thanks, before sitting on the end of his bed in his family's small house in Colorado, wondering how he was going to tell then that he had a chance to live his dream.

The competition Jacob had faced for the golden ticket to Sumi HQ was fierce - guys who knew cheats for Call Of Duty off by heart, girls who could play Slender without even a hint of emotion, and all around just amazing gamers. In the midst of such extraordinary players, he just felt extra ordinary.
But there was a difference between Jacob and the others - while they were all specialized in only one or two games, Jacob had a wide general knowledge of many games. He was like a human memory card, taking in any knowledge he was given and storing it until he needed it most. He answered every question in the general quiz that he knew, fluking half of the ones that he didn't. What colour was Link's hat? What year was Nintendo founded? How large is a Halo ring? Jacob walked away with the highest score and nearly fainted when passed his ID badge.

He filled his lungs out of sheer nerves as he brushed some of his black hair from his face. He was nearly at the main office now. He stopped for a second to look into the reflective panels of the walls. He tidied his black hair, re-rolled up the sleeves of his plaid shirt and made sure the shoe laces of his shoes were tied. Looking down the corridor, Jacob could see a large metal door,two large men either side of it, both wearing black suits, one holding a clipboard. Jacob walked down the hall quickly, thinking of what he would say. He was so socially awkward and shy that whenever he did pluck up the courage to talk to someone, he always over thought it, and whatever he wanted to say always ended up coming out wrong. That's why he enjoyed game commentating so much. Instead of actually talking to someone, he was only talking to a camera and a microphone and playing video games. And some how, Jacob found that the video gaming helped. All he had to do was crack small jokes and narrate what was going on. He still couldn't fathom how some people loved it so much.

Jacob reached the door, looking at the two men and silently gulping. They had seemed much smaller at the other end of the corridor. Jacob walked up to the door and looked to the man with the clipboard, who glanced at him before back at the clipboard.
"Name?" he said in a rough voice.
"Jacob Harris," he replied hastily, almost immediately after the man asked him. The man with the clipboard glanced over at his compatriot, who gave a small shrug of his shoulders and nodded at the clipboard. The man went through several pages, every time he flipped a page, Jacob felt even more apprehensive, terrified that his name had been left of the list or that it had all been some cruel mind game that he played on himself. He bit down on his bottom lip trying not to break a nervous sweat, until finally, after what felt like an eon, his name was found.

"Ah, here he is," the man said, tapping the clipboard with a pen. He pushed open the door for Jacob to walk in. He gave a small nod to both men before walking in.
Jacob gave a breath of awe at the sheer scale of the room. It was a giant dome roof, enormous in size with large posters of Sumi's most popular games plastered all over the walls. Warren from Incriminating Evidence, Johnny Wonderdog from the arcade game of the same name, and Corporal Wallace from Modern Warrior were some of the few that graced the walls of the large room. Many people were also in the room, some early birds like him, but mainly workers for the company, all dressed in white coats, making sure that everything within the GenX was running smoothly. And GenX itself? It was in the middle of the room, standing in front of at least one hundred chairs. The machine itself was a platform Jacob gave a whistle of awe, which caught the attention of one of the workers. He was a young man, no older than thirty, dressed like the others, a pair of jeans and a blues shirt underneath his coat. He didn't seem like the type to work in video games.

"Nice to meet you," he smiled, holding out a hand for Jacob to shake. Jacob gave a tight smile, taking the man's hand and giving it a light shake. The man's dark brown eyes studied Jacob from behind a pair of glasses. "My name's Rodney Austen, head of the tester project."
Jacob nodded gently, deciding that the polite thing to do was answer him.
"My name's Jacob Harris," he said, "but my friends call me Jake."
Rodney smiled and nodded. "Ah, Jacob, I remember them telling me about you. The young budding YouTube game commentator who won the trip here, correct?" he asked, scratching at his whiskers.
Jacob nodded. "I didn't realise you were expecting me," he said, giving an awkward laugh.
"Well you won't be the only YouTuber here," Rodney told him, "Although you are the earliest."

"Well, I guess I should take a seat," Jacob said. Rodney took his cue and returned to his work, starting off by telling off some interns who were messing around. Jacob took one of the seats right in front of the GenX, barely able to wait until it was his turn. His attention was caught by the sound of the heavy metal door as two men walked in. One was of them was slightly round, but made up for it in his height. He was listening to a joke being told by his friend, whose silky voice Jacob felt like he almost recognized. The man next to him laughed at his joke and told him something, his voice having a soft southern accent. It took Jacob a second to process it, but when he did he nearly fell off of his chair. Because before him stood two of his favourite YouTubers - Cry and Ken


AN: hey guys, how'd you like that first chapter? I'm happy to say that I will do requests for this story, so if you want any of your favourite game commentators included just leave a review including their channel name and what games they specialize in. But keep in mind, chapters with multiple requested characters will take a while to write, because I have to check out their channel and find out their style to see where I could fit them in, and I'm sorry to say that I won't be able to fit ALL of them in :( oh well, I hope you guys enjoy :)