Chapter 8: Tournament

Lasercorn

The video game tournament was a rousing success: everyone was enjoying themselves by the looks of it. The pure joy Lasercorn felt being in this room was unreal, even with Matt Raub being there. Seeing him sat alone, Lasercorn took it upon himself to make the outsider feel welcome. Besides, he wasn't playing, Mari was.

"Good luck" Lasercorn whispered as he kissed Mari's forehead and made his way over to where Matt was seated.

"Beer?" Lasercorn offered, holding out a bottle.

"Sure. Thanks" Matt replied simply.

With Matt having given no objections, Lasercorn took the seat next to him.

"So what's the deal with you and Joven?"

"What do you mean?"

Lasercorn gave him an exasperated look.

"Oh come on, you must know what I mean. He's always complaining about you, plus we can hear you screaming at each other down the hallway every morning"

"Oh... that" Matt took a swig of his beer. "Maybe he's jealous that I have a scholarship and he doesn't. Or maybe he's still pissed that he struck out at that stupid party"

Lasercorn nodded his agreement.

"Both entirely plausible"

"Either way, he's insufferable. Always having these ridiculous expectations of me whilst doing the exact opposite"

"Have you tried meeting him halfway?"

"Hmm" was the only response Lasercorn received.

"Alright, good talk" Lasercorn patted Matt's knee and moved back over to Mari.

"Told you I was no good" Mari commented upon getting easily beaten by Damien in a match of Mortal Kombat 11.

"In all fairness, he was playing Rain. He's tough to beat" Lasercorn reasoned, wrapping his hands around Mari's waist.

"Don't sweat it too much. I'll more than make up for it during Singstar"

"I don't doubt that" Lasercorn chuckled.

With Damien having just won, the Mortal Kombat tournament was down to the final 8: Damien, Shayne, Sohinki, Courtney, Noah, Boze, Matt and Lasercorn himself.

"Alright everyone, only half the competitors are left so we're ramping up the difficulty a little bit" Lasercorn brought out a box containing a sea of folded paper.

"I'm introducing modifiers!"

There was a slight murmur of excitement amongst the room.

"Each of the final 8 will pick one teammate from the other 8 players. The 8 teammates will choose a slit of paper from the box that will a modifier written on it either helping them or hindering the opponent. Teamwork and communication will be key, so pick your teammates" Lasercorn concluded.

Almost immediately everyone went scrambling to find the perfect teammate to see through to the finish line. While this chaos ensued, Mari calmly reached into the box and extracted one of the modifiers.

"Obviously I'm your teammate" she stated, smiling brightly at Lasercorn.

"Of course you are, and we're gonna win!"

"Damn right!"

Damien

Despite having just qualified for the final 8, Damien was in disarray. Not only did he have to have someone other than Shayne as his teammate (thus splitting up the dream team), there was a likely chance he would be facing off against Boze in this competition. He was not emotionally prepared for that scenario.

"Are still looking for a teammate?" Wes asked, breaking Damien out his trance.

"Oh. Yeah, I'd usually partner with Shayne but I can't this time"

"Well, what about me?"

Despite being at a big disadvantage from the start with his character selection, Wes had fought valiantly against Lasercorn, coming the closest out of the other losers to winning. Having Wes as his teammate would definitely be an advantage Damien thought.

"Okay. Let's do it"

Before long the quarter finals were underway. The first match pitted Lasercorn and Mari against Shayne and Ian. Both were skilled Mortal Kombat players but Damien knew which one would prove victorious.

"Lasercorn" Damien clearly answered

"Really, why?" Wes asked, looking taken aback.

"Just look at their fighters, Kotal Kahn vs Sub Zero. Lasercorn has the advantage from the get go"

"I would argue Kotal Kahn is the stronger fighter"

"I agree, however Sub Zero is faster and more skilled. Alongside that he has a lot of attacks that can render his opponent immobile. Trust me, even with the modifiers, Shayne won't put a scratch on Lasercorn"

"Huh. Okay then"

Damien's prediction was correct. Lasercorn achieved a flawless victory despite having to hold the controller behind his back, earning him a place in the semi - finals. Sohinki and Anthony followed suite against Noah and Keith, filling the second semi-final position. It wasn't long before Matt and Joven claimed the third semi-final position, easily defeating Courtney and Olivia.

"Oh no" Damien groaned, realisation dawning on him.

"What's up buddy?" Wes asked, concerned for his teammate.

"I'm up against Boze" Damien held his head in his hands.

"That shouldn't be a problem. You're a better player. Unless ... is there something going on with you two?"

"It's..." Damien sighed, raising his head and locking eyes with Boze, determination burning within him.

"It's nothing. Let's crush her"

Boze

Boze was beyond nervous, she had been all day. She'd broken Damien's heart after leading him on for weeks and instead of talking to him, she was forced to play video games with him and everyone else. The worst part of it was Damien was her opponent in the last Quarter-Final match. Scanning the room, Boze tried to find Damien in an attempt to plead with him. When she found him, her eyes weren't met with those filled with sorrow or sympathy but determination and hatred. Honestly, it scared her.

Taking her seat next to Damien at the front of the room, Boze was still quivering. Steadying her breathing, she felt a comforting hand on her shoulder.

"Hey, calm down, you got this." Flitz reassured her.

"Thanks" Boze replied, placing her hand over his.

"Don't hold back. I'm certainly not going to." Damien warned, staring at the screen in front of them, the fire of determination still evident in his eyes.

"Sure" Boze gulped before selecting her character and the arena; and with that, the match had begun.