Mike strolled down the sidewalk to the small cyber café on the corner and went in. It was dimly lit inside with most of the illumination coming from the rows of computers along the walls. He went to the front desk and was greeted by Jim, one of the employees.
"Hey Mike. How is it going? Did you get your fury of the night longbow yet?"
"Almost. I probably only need to run smoldering canyon 8 more times."
"Cool. Cool. What can I do for you today?"
"Give me 4 hours Jim." Mike said as he put his money down on the counter
"Okay man, have fun."
Mike went to one of the computers and loaded up his favorite military shooter. He browsed the servers until he found one that was playing one of his favorite maps. He loaded up on ammo, armor, and grenades then set off to pwn some n00bs. Another player stepped out from behind a car. Bang, you're dead. Someone else shot at him from the rooftop. Bang, you're dead. Mike knew this map so well that nothing really surprised him anymore. Then a game message caught his attention: Unicorn girl has joined the game. 'Wow, a girl. This is going to be so easy' mike thought as he ran around a corner. Bang. He could only stare in disbelief as his soldier collapsed onto the street. Bewildered, Mike skimmed through the game messages and found Unicorn girl killed Stealth assassin with the AK-47
At the end of the round Unicorn girl was in first place. Mike got up and walked past all the computers until he was at the one with Unicorn girl highlighted on the game scoreboard. The girl turned around and looked at him. She was around his age maybe 15 or 16 and very pretty.
"Hi there," she said.
Mike was caught off guard, and he felt like he was lagging. "You're really good," was all he could manage.
"Thanks. How long have you been watching me?"
"I was in the game."
"Oh. What's your handle?"
"Stealth assassin."
"I saw you in there. You're not to bad yourself. Good game."
"Uh. Good game."
Mike left the cyber café feeling confused and disorientated. He was very frustrated because he could hardly remember the last time someone had beaten him like that. Plus his loss had been to a girl, how embarrassing. Had anyone else witnessed his shame? He quickly reviewed who had been there and was relieved to know that no one he knew had been playing then. He wanted to stop thinking about this girl he did not really even know, but his mind kept going back to her. That night he slept restlessly and dreamed about her cutting him down with an AK-47 over and over again.
The next time Mike visited the cyber café she was there again. He felt terrified of her and wanted to run away, but at the same time he felt drawn to her. He did have to admit that it was kind of nice to have a real challenge for a change, and maybe he could learn a thing or two from her. He managed to work up the courage to go over and talk to her.
"Hi." Was his weak opening
"Hi. And by the way, I'm Tracy. What's your name?"
"Mike."
"Nice to meet you."
She turned back to the computer where she was playing the new online adventure game. Her character was a level 90 female elf ninja named Cleopatra. Tracy worked the keys like she was a master pianist, and Mike found it intoxicating. Cleopatra eradicated orcs, goblins, trolls, and minotaurs with unrelenting savagery.
"How did you spend your character points?" Mike asked.
"I went mostly martial arts with a little acrobatics so that I could get flying kick.", Tracy explained as another necromancer prince bit the dust. "What kind of character do you play?"
"What?"
"What class do you use?"
"Oh. Um. I have an archer."
"Nice. We should duel sometime." Mike knew that would be an intense battle.
When he left for home Mike felt even worse. His head was swimming. Was he going insane? Then for no apparent reason he thought about asking her out. What? There was no way he could do that.
A few days later Mike was watching Tracy play that old strategy game. A squadron of judgment tanks headed to the enemy base at a click from her mouse and was able to begin annihilating everything with their plasma cannons, since her opponent had neglected to put up enough beam towers. While the tanks worked Mike pulled himself together 'What if she thinks I am a n00b? What if she gets mad or laughs at me? What if she says no? What if she says yes? I can do this. It can't be any harder than getting a sniper rifle headshot from 600 meters'.
"Tracy, do you want to go out for pizza or something? I mean if you don't want to its ok."
"Yes."
Mike was shocked. The base was now a flaming pile of rubble. A message popped up on the screen Unicorn girl has defeated killer juggernaut. Tracy stood up and they walked out of the building together.