When we returned to the hotel, we ordered a takeout pizza with the highest rating online, La Leggenda Pizzeria.
“I still can’t believe my parents are coming out here.” I shook my head. “When I told them I was going to Miami, I was prepared to go into verbal warfare. They were just so accepting about it, and here they are coming out tomorrow night. Staying in their own hotel and respecting everything about the process.” I chomped away at the garlic and broccoli pizza. “I’m also excited because my brother’s best friend Lawrence, who used to come over to the house all the time, is going to be at the tournament to show some support. Which honestly could make me happier.” I stopped at the end as my eyes became a little misty.
“Yeah, my parents only come to this tournament. This will be the first time they see me, captain of my own team, so that’s about as exciting as it gets.” Amaya beamed.
“It’s kind of weird, though. My mom took the weekend off of work. I feel a little more pressured to win since missing a weekend you lose a lot of money, but I think my mom is just happy that I have this opportunity,” Darren said.
“I would love nothing more than to win, and then rub it in my dad’s face when I get back. I mean, I already have a huge sponsorship. I make enough just to get my own place in a cheap part of town and have several other roommates. But if we win, that $250,000 would be life-changing. Not sure how yet, but it would be.” Wyatt shrugged. He kept taking bites of pizza and talking with food in his mouth. “Maybe I would get a house or something. Anyways, I went on that whole rant just to say I’m glad that my mom is going to be here.” Wyatt smirked.
“Cheers to that, buddy.” Darren lifted up his glass full of water and toasted it with the rest of us.
“So during the flight, the seeding was released. What does the bracket look like for tomorrow? Who do we have first?” I asked.
“Here, let me pull it up on my phone,” Amaya said, sliding it out of her pocket. “So our team is actually seeded third. First up is Dayzees, of course, second though, which may come as a little surprise, is 75K.”
“Wow, I just can’t believe we’re in the top three like that.” I took a deep breath. “It’s still so surreal.”
“Tell me about it. Who are the other people in the top eight?” Darren asked.
“Smith is number four. KnyghtMare is number five. Clover Leef is number six. Mant1sC0re is number seven. Then last, Zlugburn is number eight.
“Rock on, I’m ready for this. That means we’re going up against Mant1sC0re’s team first, right?” Wyatt said.
“Yup, tonight we’ll try and practice as many different scenarios we’ll face tomorrow.” Amaya winked.
“You know what I’m really excited about? The controller I worked on with Hydraphin is in my possession,” Wyatt said.
“Yeah, we know. You wouldn’t shut up about it on the plane.” Darren grinned.
“Well, I didn’t get to sit next to Amaya and Gordie, so I didn’t tell them they had the controller ready for me. It was going to be a surprise.”
“Well, I’m surprised. How does it feel? Have you played with it yet?” Amaya said.
“I’m really amazed. For someone who’s never made it to the top eight in singles, I can’t believe they had me help with the design and modeling. This is the only one in existence right now. They might do a widespread release if my success continues.”
“It wasn’t just you, though, right?” I said. “Wasn’t it you and Zlugburn who collaborated on the controller?”
“Well yeah, why do you ask?”
“It’s not like Michael Jordan’s ‘Air Jordan’ shoe he released. Hydraphin wants to release a model of controller that appeals to professional players like Zlugburn, but they also wanted someone who wasn’t in the top picture regularly but also had some notoriety around them that anyone can relate to. I think they’re trying to appeal to both audiences here. That’s my theory, anyway.” I shrugged.
“Well, when you put it like that… It makes a lot of sense, but I tell you what, no matter which way you slice it, I’m still so excited to be here with you three and to have a sponsorship. Things are looking up for the old Wy-guy.” He beamed, which felt so warm, but it tickled my soul pink.
Friday night in Miami, there was particular electricity in the air. Walking into the convention center, they had a red carpet for the forty-eight participants, with a snake-like line to get in. Flashing lights flickered from photographers and the smell of cologne lingered in the air.
“Are you kidding me? Amaya, you didn’t tell us about this. I would’ve dressed up had I known this was a fancy affair! I look like a total jack wagon in this Hydraphin tank top,” Wyatt said.
“Oh, they must’ve just started doing this last year this year. I’m not really prepared either. Besides, hellooo? I’m just wearing my double sponsor T-shirt and jeans. I don’t think it’s anything to worry about, though. All the other nerds here are dressed up in their sponsor T-shirts, too.” Amaya straightened her posture as we continued to trot our way through the red carpet line up to the convention center.
I couldn’t believe all of the media members taking pictures, as well as fans lined up against the rail to yell out Amaya’s name and Wyatt’s. Amaya had a casual smile and politely waved to all the fans, chuckling every other minute (I’m sure at the absurdity of it all). On the other hand, Wyatt waved his arms like he was trying to get a plane’s attention while stranded on an island towards the fans.
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“I love you guys so much! Thank you, guys! You all rock! I love you so much! Woo!” Wyatt hollered. His face beamed so brightly as he skipped around. He looked like a dog whose owner just said, ‘let’s go for a walk’ after being cooped up in a house all week.
Darren and I receded behind Amaya and Wyatt, grinning at the whole circus that was the red carpet for geeks.
After the waves of cheers from the fans were over, we were separated into the green room, located underneath American Airlines Arena. We had to take a special monochrome (with yellow accents for safety) freight elevator to go down. We had to wait in the green room until all of the audience members made it into the building. A moderator explained the whole process. All of us would come out together on stage, bow, and wait for the crowd to applaud the eight different teams, and then seed one and seed eight would stay on stage while everyone else came back and waited for them to finish up. It reminded me a lot of the tournament in New York during the singles top 32. I imagined the other professional players felt the same.
My eyes were twitching all over the place. The sheer star power in the room was enough to make any dork who didn’t know them tremble. The participants looked like the average hipster or kid from a local high school band class, but deep down, they were cold-blooded polygon killers. This was my thing. It was more relatable than any sport could ever be because all of these guys looked like me. A few handfuls were more handsome than me, but they all had the same fervor for my game.
“Alright, time to head out there, everyone! Finish up your conversation. I’m going to do a count right now to make sure everyone is here, and then we will go out on stage. Any issues?” the moderator said.
The room full of tournament players fell silent as if the teacher in biology class asked a difficult question.
“Alright, sounds good. Let’s head upstairs, everyone! It’s time to get the show on the road!”
All 48 of us trotted out of the green room and through the underground veins of American Airlines Arena. I felt like we were part of a much larger united group. Darren placed his hand on my shoulder and whispered in my ear, “I hope you’re ready to go to war with these geeks.” He grinned.
I nodded, but I was too distracted from gazing at the deep innards of the sports arena concealed from the ordinary public.
Filing out on stage, the arena was dark, but multiple spotlights were racing around in the crowd as people made their way to their seats while applauding as if the Super Bowl halftime show was about to begin. The stage was lit with fuchsia and purple.
“Hello, all of you Elite Crushers fans! Thank you so much for attending the tournament organization’s most exciting event of the year. This is truly the Wrestlemania of gaming, but none of this is rigged or fixed. Oops, sorry to all wrestling fans out there,” Tommy Gotobed said as the crowd bumbled collective chuckle.
“The focus tonight is on the greatest tournament in all of gaming. The regular singles and doubles bracket isn’t the best indicator of all the talents out there. Sometimes outstanding players get eliminated way too early. But for this tournament, the top 8 scout three other players that they feel stand out from the rest and deserve a spotlight!”
All the roaming lights washing the audience in circles of white darted their focus on everyone on stage, blinding all of us.
“Let’s give a warm, roaring welcome to the fabulously best players of Elite Crushers!”
The crowd popped with a boom of cheers and applause, vibrating the stage like a subwoofer. There wasn’t an empty seat in the house. Even in front of the stage was a sea of general admission chairs, packing in as many people as possible.
“Some of the finest maneuvers, gameplay, and competition we’ve seen have come from this tournament. Not to mention this is a specialized edition of the game that doesn’t exist elsewhere. You can’t play four versus four unless you are invited to play here, so without further ado, let’s start crushing! The first match of the evening will be the great Dayzees Miami champ from last year going up against team Zlugbuurrrrrrrnnnnn!”
A moderator swept us towards the backstage area. However, this time, we did not go under the arena. We were ushered to a large press box with TVs mounted on the walls, showing the match. It was like sitting in a fancy suite with forty of us scattered around. They had a variety of hors d’oeuvres and refreshments, a rainbow of pops and juices in two-liter bottles in a bed of ice at a long catering table in the back. The scent of savory gravy and barbecue sauce tingled my nose. Meatballs, chicken wings, crab cakes, chips, and pizza lined another massive table.
Amaya guided us towards a spot where the four of us sat in a row, eyes fixed on the TV screens.
I sat at one end. Darren and Wyatt sat in the middle, with Amaya at the other end.
“Can you believe we’re here, guys? I can’t. I’m losing my mind, in a good way though, I promise you in a good way.” Wyatt’s eyebrows bounced, and his hazy smile wiped across his face, infecting me with a grin.
“Prepare to watch some incredible matches. Every matchup is best of five,” Amaya said, taking a sip of water.
Zlugburn versus Dayzees was a closer call than I thought it would be. I had watched these tournaments before, and usually, the battles were pretty evenly balanced, even with the world’s greatest player. I was expecting Team Dayzees to lose one game.
But two?
Back to back?
Hushed conversations broke out among the other tournament players. It didn’t matter which group I eavesdropped on. I heard the same message at each one, including ours.
“What the hell is happening to Team Dayzees?”
Even the moderators stared at the screens with their jaws dropped and arms crossed but with one hand touching another part of their face.
“I know Team Dayzees could still win three matches in a row, but I don’t think an eight seed has ever beaten a one seed at the Miami Invitational,” Amaya said.
“It’s not him that’s the problem. As you can see, he’s the last one standing on the team, and then he gets ganged up on by two other people. His guys gotta step it up,” Darren said.
And they did.
All thanks to Dayzees overcompensating for what his teammates were lacking, he performed another virtuoso display thrice in a row. They cruised through, bumping Zlugburn to the losers bracket.
Up next, Team Smith clashed with Team Knyghtmare, and when all of those guys went up on stage to start their matchup, Darren and I couldn’t help but snicker when they announced Smith’s teammate, “RaunchDressing.”
“I like that guy because he gets it. He doesn’t take this thing all too seriously. That’s what I tried to do with TruthOrDarren. Just an all-around solid pun,” Darren said.
The match’s winner determined who would pay their death sentence to Dayzees in the next round. Seed one and seed… four it turned out to be. Another clash of symmetrical battling that could’ve gone either way leaned slightly enough in favor of Smith.
“Gordie, we’re up next,” Amaya said.
I didn’t even notice it, but Darren and Wyatt had already stood up and started walking toward the path to get to the stage with a moderator.
“Oh shit! That’s right, wait up for me!” I said as another group started following us, Clover Leef and his bandits.