Michael's POV

I was so late.

Really late. As in, 'Mario getting to the castle just to figure out that Bowser moved Peach to a different one' late. And my team was probably going to kill me for it. God, I was so screwed.

My legs had never pedalled so fast before, the bike propelling forward faster and faster with each push. I could practically feel my cheeks being pulled backwards due to the momentum, but I couldn't be bothered to worry about it.

I mean, how could I? Seeing as how I was already twenty minutes late to our team deathmatch, I'd be better off just playing Minecraft for the rest of the day.

Wait no, I was not about to be that teenage noob cussing out little twelve year olds in a game about building with blocks. Not yet.

Upon arriving at my house, someone - or two someones in this case - stepped right in front of my bike's path, forcing me to topple over in order to stop before I made contact. A pang went through my back as I landed on the grass, coughing and sputtering curses at them.

One of the two guys took a fistful of my shirt and hefted me up to their level, eyes filled with amusement and plain evil.

"Hey, Mikey," Roger sneered, pulling me closer. "Late for a match, are we?"

"Now that's not very responsible of you," Marco added on from behind his buddy, eyebrow raised mockingly. "How do you expect to reach smAsh's level if you can't even be on time for a daily game?"

"Just leave already," I growled exasperatedly, not too keen on listening to their taunts any longer. "You both know I could kick your asses in a match any day."

"So cocky. You couldn't beat us if you tried, Clifford," he tsked, pulling out a usb and connecting it to the wire attached to my phone that I kept hidden under my jacket. "Now, what do we have here? Resources?"

"Dude," I groaned, wiggling around to get out of his grip. "It took me months to get those!"

A beep sounded soon afterwards and the usb was disconnected, leaving my attackers with smug smiles on their faces. All my gaming resources: gone. I let out a weak sound of protest, which only amused them further.

They shared a hearty laugh, Roger releasing me and letting me fall back onto the damp ground. I cringed as my head bumped against the ground, sending stars into my vision.

"See you soon, bud," Marco waved, strolling leisurely away from me.

As I attempted to get back up, I watched them get onto their double bicycle before they pedalled off, laughter still audible from a distance.

"Jerks," I muttered under my breath as I finally got to my feet, brushing all the dirt and grass off my clothing.

Leaving my own bike abandoned on my lawn, I hurried up the stairs to my porch and into my house, where my mom was seated on the couch. Her headseat was over her ears as she played her own video games - just like every other day.

"Hey, mom," I greeted while speeding past her, though I knew she wouldn't hear me.

I nearly tripped up the stairs two times before finally getting to the top and making a beeline to my room, the door making a resounding bang behind me. Field of Fire was already open when I sat down and I clicked the 'join friend' button next to one of my teammates' usernames.

That's when I was transported into the world of war.

▶︎

"You're late," Craig said, shooting a guy who tried to get me from behind. "The game's almost over."

"Sorry about that," I rolled on one shoulder behind a concrete wall. "I got a little caught up."

With one glance to my right, I manuevered myself so I was aligned with one of the opponents and pulled the trigger, earning me the shatterring sound that signalled his death. My other two teammates joined us, and together, our five people group cleared off the entire roof, shooting and stabbing at multiple enemies.

I threw my gun to the side after using my last two bullets to finish off the final person on the opposing team, kicking him off the edge just for good measure.

"Oh," I laughed, turning to my team, all of whom were hiding behind a barricade. "Did you see that? It was insane-"

Two of them shot at someone climbing up the ladder behind me, causing me to jump to my left in surprise as the shattering noise met my ears once again.

"Yikes," I bit my lip, staring down at the dead body. "Thanks, guys."

"Let's just get down from the roof and finish this off, yeah?" Stacey rolled her eyes, letting me drop down the ladder before the rest of them joined me.

We scaled the side of the building, me in front, and I looked around the corner for opponents then turned back to my team, who were waiting for my instructions.

"Left flank...Occam's Laser on three," I ordered as Grant smirked beside me.

"Just like the invitational," he stated, bumping fists with me as we spread out across the concrete playing ground, guns at the ready.

"Get ready to rush the point!" I called out and-

▐▐

"Michael!" my mother's voice made my hands slip from my keyboard. "Take the cat out!"

I groaned into my microphone, "First I gotta put the cat out."

I ripped my headphones off my head and sprinted down the stairs, eyes scanning the floor for my cat.

"Pringle," I cooed. "Pringle! Here kitty, c'mon come to Mikey."

A small meow came from the corner and I ran towards it, but the cat escaped my grasp just as I reached it, running into another room.

"Hey kitty," I slowly approached the animal as it laid on the kitchen table, staring up at me innocently. "Who's a good cat? Who's a goo- FUCK- SHIT- WHAT THE HELL!"

Pringle's claws latched themselves onto my face as I stumbled back, trying to pry the furry ball of madness off of me. I managed to maneuver myself to the front door, despite the obstruction literally clawing at my eyes, and threw the cat off of me, making sure it landed safely before reshutting the door.

"Mom, where's the iodine?" I screeched, running towards the kitchen, only to get silence in response. Of course.

The toaster dinged just as I passed it, and I backpedalled to take out the hot pocket my mom had probably put in there. The hot bread burned my mouth as I held it between my teeth, and I made it back to my game just in time to see some curly-headed guy standing in front of me, finger about to pull the trigger.

My mind reeled as I thought up a plan. There was a grenade on my head and the other guy's finger was moving back on the trigger. I had to act fast.

I pressed the 'D' button on my keyboard, causing my character to step backwards, thus making the grenade fall off my head, then pressed the spacebar to use the butt of my gun to hit it away from me and towards the person standing a few feet away.

The momentum of the swing made me turn a full 360, the bullet barely missing my arm as I did so. I saw the bomb land near the guy's feet and got to one knee, assault rifle in position. With one click of my mouse, I shot straight at the bomb, sending the person before me into flames.

"Jesus...close one," I sat back into my chair with a sigh of relief as I took the hot pocket out of my mouth, taking a painful bite out of the steaming food.

My chat box started to beep and I looked down at it, my stomach falling as I did so. People were raging, spamming my chat with all types of praise.

LACTOSE: smAsh killer, SMASH KILLER

XpertAssn: michaelc you KING

DRPAIN: OMG!! WHAT

VunF: someone just PWNED smAsh?? i was there i'm so honored

ryUn: smAsh is a pompous prick, he deserved that

As more and more messages came in, I came to the realization of what I'd just done.

I beat smAsh, the greatest amateur gamer in our generation, at his own game.

-

The package in my hand seemed to get heavier the more I stared at it. It was just a plain brown box with no label except for my name and address, but from who?

"Only one way to find out," I mumbled, tearing open the cardboard.

I reached inside and grabbed what seemed to be a thin tablet, turning it over in my hands after chucking the box onto the floor. There was nothing really special about it; actually, the only thing I saw on it was simple button on the top, so I pressed it.

The screen came to life, brightening as the words 'You've been accepted to VGHS!' popped up. My heart skipped multiple beats as my eyes tried to soak in the words before they disappeared off the screen. 

"You're kidding," I glanced over at the cat on my bed incredulously. "This is a joke, right?"

I then jumped when a video of a man with white hair took the place of the words. He was seated at a desk with a nameplate in front of him that read John Feldmann, looking formal and sophisticated. 

"This is no normal school," he began, his loud voice vibrating the tablet in my already shaky hands. "You will not study physics! You will study physics engines! You will not study art! You will study the art of war! You will learn about biology by bathing in the blood of your enemies!

"Sound good? Well, welcome to VGHS."

+

aaand I sincerely hope I didn't ruin any of your expectations for this story bc I don't know if this is even good but hey!!!

cause i'm glad people know about VGHS and are supporting this so I really don't wanna let any of you down yknow?? that would suck.

anyways i hope ya'll enjoyed this!! i'm sure you all know who smAsh really is and i'm laughing just thinking about it tbh

also for clarifications sake:
-smAsh is my version of the law  
-and feldy is gonna be calhoun
-the '▶︎' and '▐▐ ' line breakers are for when mikey enters the world of the game he's playing (so sorry if that's confusing but it's easier to write those scenes that way)

i'm changing a few names and more (in the future) for the sake of keeping it original, but i hope you guys aren't too disappointed!!x