Game Start Part 2

As I walk along the edge of the ocean, I look out at it. It took me around an hour to get here, and now that I am it's not all that amazing. I remember when I was younger and my grandmother would talk about the ocean with a sparkle in her eyes. She would talk about it's beauty and how fun it was to splash in the water. Now it was a dull, ugly green and it smelled like trash. I hold my nose as I walk back up to the road and to the arcade.

As I walk inside, Sky is there to greet me, she has a sparkle in her eye just like my grandmother did. "We have an announcement in The Lounge." She tells me, and I look at her with surprise. I knew that SP worked fast but I didn't know they worked that fast. I hurry to where they are holding the announcement.

The Lounge. A lot of cool kids and the top teams hung in there. It was like the drink bars except it was sort of restaurant like. The only difference from a restaurant is that it's HUGE. It's about twice the size of the other parts of the arcade combined. I walk inside and in the center, theres a raised circular stage and standing on it I see Steve. None of us know the last names of the Sky Project officials so we call them by first name only. Steve was addressing a large crowd of people. Some of them were old, and LOTS were young. "Now all of you have registered for The Game right?" He asks, and we all nod. People have to find a squad and register with them and we all had already done that. Speaking of which I look around for my squad. I see Chloe and Quintin talking together and laughing. Chloe has black hair and is cute in a sort of sister way, but she's not really all my type, and Quintin is muscular, tall, and, blonde, so basically perfect. They were both my best friends, but they had started dating last month. I didn't think much of it because I dont really like either of them like that anyways, but I was disappointed that I was now only like a third wheel to them.

I found our last squad member, Jackie. She's my crush. Probably what you would notice right off the bat is that she has dark blue hair. But there are other things too, she's pretty smart for someone whos hair looks like a smurf rolled in it. I walk over to her and lean casually on the table. Quintin and Chloe both knew that I liked her, so they decided to ask her to be on the team. She had started dating this other guy though, so now I felt even MORE lonely. I sigh and she looks at me. "What's wrong you big baby?" She asks me. "What?" I respond, unsure of what she's asking of me. "What's with all the sighing and stuff?" She looks at Chloe and Quintin. "Oh my God, are you jealous of your best friends?" She asks, her eyes starting to sparkle. "This isn't one of those teen dramas Jackie!" I say, sighing again. "No, I'm just worried. Just because we applied doesn't mean we got in. I mean five million people applied this year Jackie." I tell her, and she nods. "You're right, but don't worry, we'll make it through."

And as if on cue, Steve clears his throat loudly. "Players! I am happy to inform you that you have all made it!" He says. As everyone cheers, I turn to Jackie. "This is bad.." I say, but she pulls me into a hug. "No it's not, we made it!" She yells happily. As much as I enjoyed the hug, I still thought it wasn't good. "Jackie! We're going against FIVE MILLION PEOPLE. That means we have to beat 4,499,996 people!" I yelled at her. Jackie stops cheering for a moment and looks at me. "For once in your life, you might me right..." She says.

| The Next Day |

We all crowd in a giant arena with a ton of chairs. I knew that there wasn't enough chairs for five million people, and I was confused for a moment. Steve and Sky are up on a floating pad. Steve is wearing an expensive tuxedo, while Sky is wearing a dress. She's holding a pad and both of them are wearing earpieces. Steve taps his earpiece and starts speaking. "Some of you might be wondering why there are so few chairs correct? Not enough for five million hm?" A few people nod, including me. "Well! Since there's so many of you, we decided to have tournament matches until it dwindles to one million. you'll all go in groups of one hundred, like in the arcade, and you'll have to win at least three matches to advance to the big game. You can join a game whenever you want to. So you're best chances of winning is to end the games fast, win, and have the bravery to join match after match. For example, if you doubt your skill to win, don't compete. It's that simple. Anyway, My assistant will send your team leader a box asking you to input your team name. So please, if you would send your team leaders to a chair."

Me, being the team leader, put on a headset. The only difference from a normal game was that I didn't feel my nerves shut down or anything. It simply told me to say my team name. I wondered what we could call ourselves. I think maybe Quartet is a good name because it represented a group of four but instead I decide on a random name from my head. "Uh... Calamity!" I yell, remembering the meaning from school. "Please wait" says a voice. "Accepted" it says after a few moments. I get out of the chair and walk back over to my squad.

"Our name is actually pretty cool!" Quintin says from beside me, high fiving me. "If you feel a tingle in your ID Chip please come to Sector 1." Says a robotic voice from above. It keeps saying that until, finally "if you feel a tingle in your ID Chip please come to Sector 5." I feel it in my head and start to follow my squad to Sector 5. When we get there, a helper robot, one from Heaven, comes and help us into our chairs. I feel my vision go black. "Let the games begin..." I mutter under my breathe.