We were all in the living room, Duncan had in fact made it back safely. He hadn't mentioned his late night adventures but he was the first to hear the envelope being slid under the door. We all walked over and Amberline picked it up. She thought for a moment and asked if Duncan wanted to read it. He said he'd rather not and after a few oppositions from everyone else, they finally got the point. Amberline shrugged and opened the letter. She started reading, "Dear Gamers," as it usually started off with. "You will meet in the lobby today at the usual time. You, again, won't be facing another team directly. You also won't be working with your teammates. The game is called Classic Solo and you will be given a series of classic games. Your score will be combined with your teams, however your individual performance will be remembered. We wish you all good luck."

"What games do you think we'll play?" Asked Parker eagerly. He had brightened when he heard about the game, and we all figured he'd have the best individual score of us all.

We made predictions but none of us were entirely sure. We got around and headed to the lobby, not in a rush. We'd learned our lesson from almost being disqualified at the beginning of the competition. We got to the lobby with a comfortable amount of time remaining, and there were no big events taking place before the people in charge told us it was time to begin. We all walked to our cubicles and the game started. We hadn't been given the choice of weapons or armor and I took that as a good sign.

The first game that appeared seemed to run on pattern and timing. The finish line was illuminated across the yard, a timer waiting just above it. I had just over two minutes to pass through as many levels as I could. Without thinking, I ran. I got about a quarter of the way through before a cow rudely smashed into me, returning me to the starting point. Trying not to think of how weird it was to be ran over by a cow of all things, I kept going. Staying optimistic, I started to run again and made sure to dodge the cow and the other obstacles running my way. When I reached the finish line I was transported to a highway, there were more cars and they were faster. Not to mention the path was longer.

Well aware of the clock counting down, I made note on the speed of which the cars in each row traveled along with the direction. When I thought I had it, I fought the fear of being ran over as I made a run for it. I wouldn't die in real life anyway. I came to a halt halfway across for a large semi to pass, fighting the urge to run away from the approaching car. I was relieved when I made it to the finish line and the timer went off, glad to be away from the reckless drivers. I could have done better, but there was a learning curve I had to go through.

In the next game I appeared to be in a maze, small bulbs of light scattered around. The timer gave me a much greater time and I started following the light. Touching one, there was a slight ding and a number lit above me. I continued walking forward, grabbing the balls of light when I saw a purple gas. I suddenly realized which game this was and ran in the opposite direction, gasping for air as I made sharp turns. I needed to collect all the lights but couldn't touch the gasses. This map was relatively small and I managed to do so without dying.

When I arrived in the next level I made a point of getting the lights quicker. The gasses seemed to instantly know where I was and I found myself being trapped. I ran, grabbing the lights, and saw an open end. Taking my chances, I jumped into the gap hoping that it wasn't a trap to make my death count higher.

I was rewarded yet I still faced the consequence. It felt as if my insides were churning and my body was swung around carelessly as I was transported to the other side of the maze. I was jerked upright and found myself crashing to the ground. Quickly trying to regain myself, I tripped over my own two feet before I found myself able to run properly. Loud hissing noises followed me as the gasses went through the portal as well. I had no idea why they'd go through that so willingly, though if I had to guess I'd say that the people in charge made them immune to the portals' effects. It was totally unfair, but it's what I was dealt.

I was almost finished with my third round when the timer buzzed and I was sent into the next game, silently hoping that my progress in that third round had been saved. This game had taken longer to load and I took the moment to catch my breath. When the game finally did load I knew instantly which game it was. I remembered playing it with my grandma when I told her I wanted to be a gamer; she told me I needed to play some of the older games to truly be one. I agreed to play on her historic console, designed with an ex on the power button.

The world around me was horribly square, Above me I found a list of objectives. Find three pieces of iron. Find three diamonds. Construct a portal to another dimension. In the corner there was an option called "useful recipes" and I tapped it. Ignoring them just then I remembered what my grandma had told me was the most important thing to do first in this game; gather wood and get food. I found some nearby trees and -unsure of what else to do- punched it. It stung but a progress bar appeared so I continued. Once I got more than enough pieces of wood I then went back to the so-called "useful recipes" and clicked the other corner labled "build." I put all the wood in it and made materials necessary for getting the iron and eventually diamonds.

I had forgotten to grab food, but luckily the trees dropped apples. I hoped it would be enough to last. I found a nearby mountain and started digging into it. Coal. Stone. Gravel. I wasn't seeing anything I needed. I started digging deeper but stopped. My grandmas words replayed in my mind, "never dig straight up or down." Taking her advice, I decided on making a staircase down until I thought I was far enough to start digging straight ahead. I was filled with joy when I finally found one, two, then three pieces of iron. That objective was checked off and I knew in order to dig the diamond I needed to upgrade my tool to iron. In my useful recipes I saw something called an oven and knew it was what I needed. I built it and placed it in front of me. Inside the oven were three spaces, I remembered them to be for fuel, raw product, and the end product. I put the coal into the fuel and watched as the iron ore turned into the useable form. I built a better tool and started digging.

"Diamonds are most easily found near pools of lava," my grandma had told me every time I came over. Her information was burned into my head, along with the other games she made me play. I was painfully aware of the time but was sure that I could finish. I grabbed some more iron as I traveled and found a pool of lava. I dug all around it until I eventually found three pieces of diamond ore. I looked at the recipe for the portal and was glad the block I needed was right there. When the oven turned the ore into diamond I upgraded my tool and dug the block, being careful of the lava. Some of the gravel dropped the materials needed to light the portal, so I ran out of the cave and constructed it there. The last objective was checked off and I still had thirty seconds remaining. I sat there emptying my bag from all the useless stone that had filled it, eating my last apple in victory.

I recognized this next game as one my mom loved. It was actually a game for the old virtual reality, where you have two controllers and your phone in your face. I had to laugh at seeing it transferred into this kind of virtual reality. If my mom ever got the chance, she'd play this game. If she couldn't; she'd be forever jealous of me. I had to go around and stack the cubes in the same pattern as the example shown. I had only a few minutes and hurried because this first one was easy. I passed about three more levels and in the middle of the fifth one I was stopped. I knew that had been the last game because I found myself back in the cubicle and grabbing for my milk. I put away the headset I hadn't needed and walked out to the lobby. There was a crowd at the leaderboard and I pushed through the people. I couldn't believe what I saw. My team won by a landslide.

"We were just that good, huh?" Said Duncan joyously as he stood next to me. Our team was already there and looking at our scores in awe. The board began to change into the actual leaderboard again, teams shuffling around as it had been put into the system. We remained at the top, and I was reminded of how lucky we were.

We were all too jubilant to stay in the lobby. We headed back to our flat to celebrate in the cafeteria. Their food wasn't that bad, not to mention it was the closest to a victory meal we'd get.

"That'll show D3!" Amberline exclaimed as we all took a seat at a table. I was glad they were the rounded ones with actual chairs rather than the lame benches we got at school.

"Those games were awesome," later commented Parker. He and Victoria seemed to switch roles today. She sat over in the corner of the table, taking part in conversation yet not in the celebration.

"Which of the games have you guys played before?" Asked Duncan as he took a bite of his food.

"The first one," said Amberline. "The game's real old but I like how they changed it. It's better than it was before." We talked about that game individually for a while, and it turned out I'd had the worst score in that category. I hadn't known Victoria's score because she was still sulking at the corner of the table.

"My grandma and I used to play the one where we needed to construct a portal to another dimension," I explained, trying to be brief. "She told me if I wanted to be a gamer I had to respect the classics."

"I bet D3 doesn't respect them," commented Parker as a wide grin crossed his features. I tried to memorize the moment, unsure of when I'd see him smile like that again.

"D3 wasn't even second place this time," added Amberline. As if on cue, Jasper and his "team" walked in. They gave us glares as they walked by, and I made sure nothing they could spill was in their reach.

"I think we should refrain from doing laundry tonight," whispered Parker. We were too happy to take him seriously and had to hold in immature giggles until D3 was out of hearing distance.

Once we all were in control again I took the moment to really listen to my surroundings. Usually, there was chatter amongst the crowd. Today, it was pretty quiet. Sure there were a few whispered words but nothing compared to what I considered normal. "What's wrong?" I asked making a small gesture to everyone in the room. I must've missed something.

Amberlines face turned grim. "Soon there'll be eliminations, it was posted on one of the walls. After the next competition the teams left over will celebrate," she explained.

"You didn't know?" Asked Duncan, attempting to make some of the tension ease. Even he couldn't make the situation better, which spoke legions. We had it good, we were on top, but the others weren't. Some people's dreams were going to be crushed, we weren't heartless enough to celebrate that we weren't being eliminated. Besides that, you never knew what the people in charge were going to do. If we were too confident we would definitely get their attention for the worse.

"How many teams are being eliminated?" I asked cautiously. We were so worried about staying on top, what I hadn't realized was that there were people here trying to actually stay in the competition.

They all shrugged but Duncan said he thinks they won't tell us because they don't actually know. He thought that they would want to be able to control the game completely, that they want a few groups to stay in order to keep hope for viewers at home.

After we completed our meal we went back upstairs and finished our day. It was as routine as it could possibly get. We talked, theorized, played games on our television. The only odd thing was that Victoria never took part of conversations regarding the game we played earlier. When it was time for bed I saw that Duncan snuck out like a teenager again. I wasn't too worried, what was he going to do when everyone here were video game nerds? Nothing bad, I supposed.

I did get up, though, because I couldn't sleep. I went to the kitchen area to get a drink. When I came out I saw Victoria lying awake on the couch. "Hey," I said as I sat on the chair. After she greeted me back I continued, "How've you been?"

She looked at me for a moment and I pretended not to notice anything other than my drink. "Terrible, I completely failed that game." She seemed to trust me enough to open up now that we were alone.

"We won, still," I pointed out. "Sometimes you need to lean on your team. Not everybody is a master at everything they try."

"It wouldn't be so bad if I contributed a little. I need to be good, if my parents see how bad I did they may not be as accepting about me playing games all the time. At first they were really disappointed and they weren't afraid to admit it, but when I proved I was good at it they let me do it because I kept my grades up," she said and I noted the extent of vulnerability she was showing. I wished for only a moment that Parker would trust me enough to tell me things more personal. I had to make myself stop thinking about that because this wasn't about Parker, it was about Victoria.

"We're still winning, and you're to thank for that," I reminded her. She was back to looking at the ceiling and I was trying to figure out what would be the best thing to say to her.

"They'll only remember the games where I wasn't good. They'll blame me for any losses we've had."

"Let's not worry about them. Why did you sign up for the competition?" I asked, hoping it would either inspire her or make her feel better.

It took her more than a few minutes to reply, but I wasn't going to hound her for an answer. "Mostly because I felt like I had to prove myself to my parents," she started. Her initial reasoning sounded eerily like Jasper. He'd said he wanted his family to take him seriously. "But by the time the callback games came around I wanted to have fun. And win, of course that's a big reason. How great would a first place trophy for gaming be?"

"It would be pretty awesome," I agreed. I stood up and was putting my cup away when I heard the door open. Duncan had come in and was surprised to see me up and Victoria looking his way. He slowly clicked the door shut, looking down because he'd been caught. "Welcome back," I joked.

"When'd you leave?" Asked Victoria. She must've been too deep in thought to hear him walking just behind her. "Wait, where'd you go?" Her eyebrows furrowed in confusion as she changed her initial question.

"Shh, don't wake the other two. I swear I will tell you two eventually," he said as he took off his shoes. It was enough for me but Victoria was reluctant to let it go. I wasn't so much worried as to what he'd been doing, but intrigued by what he'd be embarrassed about taking a part of.

"I was just about to call it a night," I said to change the subject. It called attention from Duncan and he looked relieved, knowing his interrogation had been postponed. They both seemed to agree and we all snuck back into our rooms, careful not to wake up Amberline and Parker.

Hey readers! I've been trying to proofread my chapters now before I update, but I'm kind of in a rush. I'll be fixing it up later, happy holidays! I would love feedback, follow for updates on my next project, "The Savior of Souls"