By: Allison Xu

Mark was about to enter the most nerve-wracking -event of his life. When Mark was exposed to video games, he became obsessed. Of course, he didn’t let that get in the way of studies, but Mark still played for hours. Now, Mark was finally seeing if his skills were enough.

Mark entered the first round against a boy named Ryan. Ryan was pretty good, but Mark killed him easily. That made him move into the second round.

Then, Mark went against a girl named Claire. Claire had moves up her sleeves, but Mark recognized them and beat her, moving on to the third round.

It was the last round before the final battle. Mark was getting even more nervous. He was against a boy named Jack, and Mark could tell that he was a born gamer, but Mark had a few of his favorite moves to beat him. Hours passed before a winner was announced, and Mark didn’t leave the building.

It was the final round, the time that Mark had been waiting for years. He was against Tyler, a guy with black hair and glasses. Tyler attacked first, and Mark dodged it. Tyler repetitively attacked, making it harder for Mark to dodge. Then, Tyler cornered Mark, and Mark knew that his time was over.

Mark returned home empty-handed and devastated. He had been practicing video games for over 10 years, and he lost the tournament. Even spaghetti and meatballs didn’t cheer him up. Then, Mark was determined to improve his skills in video games and win the next tournament.

Mark trained for one whole year. After one whole year of practice, it was time.

Mark was even more nervous than last time. He knew that if he didn’t win, all the work that he put in went to waste, but he was slightly confident. He memorized all the methods to the game, and he knew how to attack back.

Mark passed the first four rounds easily, and then, he was faced with Tyler again. Tyler continued what he did last year, repetitively attacking, but Mark knew how to deal with it.

When Tyler cornered him again, Mark did a trick that he learned. He ran up the wall and cornered Tyler. Tyler, not knowing how to do the trick, lost, and Mark finally won. All his hard work had paid off after all.