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On the day of the tournament, the Topolla Theater was packed to the seams. The ten teams from across the nation were ready to step up and represent. Adults and children alike were packing themselves into the main theater hall. The stage, normally reserved for dancers and singers, was now occupied with several arcade cabinets, plugged in and ready to fight. Team Shoryuken stood nervously on the sidelines. The same registration process as before in Onett, with James' excuse of having Asperger's passing over rather well without mishap. However, when it came to Roy, there came the mitigating excuse. "Uhhh Roy O'Brien?" "Yep that's me!" "Ahh, could you give us a minute? We have a slight hiccup concerning your entry." "Oh...u-um, okay." He played himself out as being nervous and confused while the event organiser began to confer with his associates. The boys had heard no word about Roy's mother entering the city, but there was a long enough pause for them to worry while a debate seemed to grow among them. Eventually, through the crowd towards them, came the figure of a woman. Roy panicked at first, until he realised the older style of clothing with a blue polka-dot dress and more pronounced wrinkled skin. "Mrs. Nora!" "Hello boys." James moved slightly away from them upon approach so as not to look suspicious to her. "Your mother's been spotted, your grandfather's going to try and intercept her. Just wanted to let you know dear." "Will he be okay?!" "Of course Roy. But, just be careful alright?" A few minutes later, there came a disturbance from where the judges were. Someone had barged in and was arguing intensely with them in a shrill female voice. Roy's eyes widened with fear and hid behind Nora automatically. "N-no!" "Is that her?!" said the older woman with appall. "U-uh huh..." "Just stay behind me, your grandfather's following her." James took the opportunity to glance behind the counter and see the rather frenzied argument. There was a woman there certainly, wearing a somewhat trasy yellow summer dress. Even from this distance he could smell the alcohol off of her, red wine to be exact. He could make out quite a few terrible insults and demands from the woman. "Where is he?!" "M-miss O'Brien please calm down-" "NO! WHERE. IS HE?!" "He's just over there, if you just-" "Get off me, I'm taking the little bastard home NOW!" He couldn't even see her face but James had the greatest urge to beat it to a pulp. The organisers tried to calm her down and explain they didn't want to cause a ruckus, but she wasn't having it. Soon however, she was halted by a larger male coming up behind her. The limited view of the counter's window only allowed James to see up to the shoulders of the man. "What do you want?! Did you put me up to this!?!" The older man either did not speak, or spoke at a voice too low for the raptor to hear. "Oh don't play the hero, this isn't some war, this is my son, he's just as much a pussy as his father!" "Wh-what's going on?" asked Tommy who came up beside James. "Roy's mom is in there, but some big older guy's trying to calm her down." "That must be grandpa Jack...yeah it's him, I recognise those boots!" The fight raged on for at least two minutes with insults roaring from the woman. Suddenly, without warning, she took on a terrified timid voice, her entire body stiffening before the grandfather. "Y-yes sir. ...N-no...I did write the slip. ...b-but I-...n-no you wouldn't! ...........o-okay. C-can I at least...see him? ........I see." With nothing more to say, she turned to the organisers, apologised, and left. The older gentleman walked up to them to explain a few things, to which they agreed with as the organiser came back to the counter. "Roy O'Brien?" "Y-yeah?" The boy shyly peeked out from behind Nora and walked up. "Sorry about that uh...I guess your entry's uh...good to go. Please take your place with your team until you're called for." "T-thank you!" The boy was elated and hugged his friends who hugged him in turn, squealing with joy at the plan finally working itself out. Nora smiled sweetly upon him and rubbed his hair. "Is everything alright now, dear?" "It...yeah. Everything's perfect." "That's good. Now, win this one for your grandpa Jack!" "TOTALLY!" With their team now fully signed in on the tournament, nothing could stop them now.

After taking their places with their registrations complete, the announcer came forward onto the stage, immaculately 80s with a pink suit and wavy blonde hair. The crowd cheered raucously with each sentence he finished. "Ladiiiiiiies aaaaaaand gentlemeeeeeeen! Welcome to the Eagleland Arcade Championship! We have from all five towns of the land, ten grand teams, each one of them raring to play their hearts out for that most coveted title of all! "Who shall be the greatest of them all to be left standing alone in this arcadium? Who shall be the last gamer left alive!?!? The comets from Onett? The shroomin' Twosoners? The ghoulish Threed lads? The boys of Summers? Or those fancy Fourside kids? We shall soon find out who shall become...the Finaaaaaaaaaaaal Gamerrrrrrrr!" "Final...gamer?" asked James curiously. The kids grinned up at him wryly as the applause began to reach a deafening cacophony that vibrated the room. Soon the compere stepped out of the way to reveal the cabinets behind him, as well as a rather impressive automated scoreboard screen. "LET'S START THE GAMES! First up, our brave players must take to the skies and battle against alien invaders! A member of each group within the same age range must play together, united only in their mission! But of course, whosoever brings home the most points, shall become the champion of their age! First up! The youngest of all!" Roy stepped up when his name was called, alongside his Onett rival, Lemuel Bernstein of Team Thunderstrike. The two nodded with respect, looking towards the other towns' teams in a brief moment of united home rivalry. But it would not last once the points start racking up. As the ten under-10 year olds lined up at the cabinets, James had to ask: "I don't get it, why two teams from each town? Wouldn't you wanna make this easier with just one from each town?" "I think this is just padding," said Tommy, "besides, if it gives more kids like us a chance to get in..." "Yeah I guess." "Are you ready kids?!" cried out the announcer who was met with a resounding whoop. "Then let's STOP THE INVASION!" And so the games began, with quarters jammed in and points firing up. The scoreboard activated above their heads showing each gamer's name and team name, colours corresponding to various towns. Roy was trying his absolute best to ignore everything he possibly could and focus purely within the pixellated galaxies of Galaga, like every other contestant. James was having a hard time trying to watch the points go up, let alone watch Roy, with Jack and Tommy murmuring support towards him, not wanting to throw him off. The crowd cheered incessantly for more, all while numbers above them shot up like the stock market index. The announcer would occasionally chip in with a few words of colour commentary. "Aaand we got a brave fine team of young space warriors with us today! Except for Threed's Jason Mars, OOOOH that was an unlucky hit, but he'll recover hopefully! And our heroes have passed stage three, this is just an exciting day folks, I hope you're all taking notes down on these numbers, just look at them! So far our best hitters are Jamie Balgreaves of Twoson, Thomas Smythe-Dunbarr of Fourside aaaaaand Lemuel Bernstein of Onett! Let's hope their fellow town rivals can catch up!" "COME ON ROY YOU CAN DO IT!" shouted Tommy after Roy lost his first life around stage 6. He was doing better than half of the contestants, but it wasn't enough. In fact, it wasn't enough for any of them when the highest scorer only managed to reach stage 18, Jamie Balgreaves of Twoson. Roy barely made fourth place, but was nevertheless greeted back into his friends' arms with tight hugs. "You did it Roy!" crowed Jack jubilantly. "I b-but I didn' even get third!" "Doesn't matter, you beat like HALF of these punks, that puts you up there!" "Y-yeah! I...g-guess I did! YEAH!"

Next came the 10-13 year olds. Much to Team Shoryuken's surprise, the name announced from them was not the hard-hitting Jack, but the reluctant backup leader. Tommy Bassett. Their faces blanched slightly. Tommy merely nodded with all the strength of a warrior into battle and strided forth towards his cabinet. There would be no backups here. One from each age group. "LEAD US INTO BATTLE TOMMY!" cried out Roy supportively. They fired up the machines once again for another daring number-crunching pixellated fracas. Tommy kept his eyes firmly glued to the screen and blasted down ship after ship, along with every other competent gamer in his age range. Nobody dared look up from the screens, rows of young faces lit up with utmost determination. "Look at this folks," said the announcer with applaud, "these brave youngsters and their quick young fingers, nothing's gonna stop 'em coming out of this battle without a good few scars on their hands huh?! OHHH and the first one is down, mister Weston of Summers, take a bow kid, you'll be a hero in your hometown." One by one the boys climbed ever higher into the double-digit stages, easily sneaking past the milestone of their younger contestants. As they continued to fight up and up, dwindling down to the last three, Tommy began to note one particular enemy around stage 21. There was one Galaga foe that did not attack, but did something else. His trigger fingers always kept blasting them down, but he began to take a dare as he neared stage 26. With daring bravery, he pushed his ship into an enemy's path. Unfortunately, he was too caught up to realise that he was on his last life. It was game over for him. His face was of absolute horror, as he almost collapsed from shame at third place. Slinking back towards his group with shame, he opened his hands towards them to beg for forgiveness silently. Jack merely petted his shoulder and brushed it off with: "Nice work man, you really got far." "I...I saw that...I thought I had another life." "B-but you're in third place!" shouted Roy excitably. "You did great!" "There was one guy!" Tommy refused to let go of his flaw. "There's an enemy in the game-" "Ohhhhh no no no," said Jack, "don't do this. Not when we're so close!" "I'm telling you, it's real! The extra-" "NO!" roared Jack. "Tommy, I know you keep telling us about this extra thing, but it doesn't matter, we're in the big games now, you can't be suicidal! You got third place, be thankful!" "Wh-what's he talking about?" asked James, genuinely curious. "It's this thing I found out you can do in Galaga, there's this one enemy that shoots a wide beam an' you can get like an extra-" "But it's a rumour," said Jack defiantly, "he's never been able to do it so it has to be!" "I CAN DO IT, I JUST-" "JAMES CAMPBELL!" The announcer's voice rang through their ears like a snapped bone. James mawkishly turned towards his team. "U-um..." "It's all down to you." Tommy nodded resolute. "Whatever you do, just keep fighting." With a stern nod, he made sure his disguise was on properly before stepping up towards the cabinet. The announcer apparently had been warned of the unusual contestant's need to be disguised for social conveyance, so he played it up for effect. "Well folks, looks like we have some mysterious strangers in our midst. What terrible secrets must lie beneath their masks, hmm? But are they friend or foe? We'll soon find out when they blast down the next invasion!"

James began his rampage across the virtual space alongside nine other teenagers, focusing with all his might, his superhuman reflexes serving him well. He didn't even consider how maybe it was unfair to be matched up against ordinary human teenagers. Or the fact he had those reflexes honed even further beyond an average raptor of his world. But he did ponder one thing. The extra something. What did Tommy discover? He didn't even hear anything of it other than an enemy with a wide beam. He didn't waste time however in shooting down every single fighter that came before him. Climbing ever upwards, he had no problem when it all came down to the last three gamers. He had two lives left and was steadily nearing his previous best of stage 29. And then...he saw it. The enemy. A wide beam. Slowly approaching him. Was Tommy right? What extra could it be? Taking a chance, he grinned and surrendered his ship to the tractor beam. The alien invader snatched it away and added it to the horde of fighters above, much to his team's surprise. "WHAT IS HE DOING?!?" roared Jack with blatant fury as Roy cried out. "WHAT'S GOING ON!?!" "HE JUST GAVE UP A LIFE TO THAT BEAM THING!" Tommy merely smiled with a knowing nod, and said to himself: "That's it...that's the extra!" "Wh-what?!" "THE EXTRA SHIP!" The raptor grinned at hearing such, and with carefully precise aiming on his last life, blasted the enemy holding his former ship hostage with one BOW. The ship slowly drifted back through the ether of space, before aligning itself to him. Two ships. Twice the firepower. His team were astonished and squealed excitably. "HE DID IT! HE DID IT! GO JAMES GO!" "YOU CAN DO IT JAMES!" "WHUP 'EM HARD!" Not needing any motivation, he tore a massive swathe across Galaga, racking up with a blindingly brutal score far above anyone else. All the way to first place and beyond, before things got too fast around stage 41. Three stages above the others. Victorious squeals from Team Shoryuken were resolute as James did everything he could not to cry with joy at being showered with praise. "YOU DID IT!" cried Roy. "YOU DID IT!!!" "WAY TO GO MAN!" whooped Jack with genuine praise. Tommy high-fived the raptor and said: "You...believed me, huh?" "You're not the kind of guy who'd make up stuff," said James sensibly, "I had to try." "But...wh-what if it didn't-" "Who cares, we won dammit!" "Not yet!" Said Roy tenderly. "There's the fighting games next, and it'll be one-on-one." "So how does that work?" asked the raptor as they tried to calm down and brace themselves. "The first and second best from each age group have to fight off against each other. Whoever wins moves up to the next battle. First there's six, then four, then the last two." "...shit." James suddenly became nervous and grinned awkwardly at the rather surprised kids. "But...I was the only one out of the team to-" "Doesn't matter," said Tommy sternly. "You got to survive at least three fights if you wanna get to the top." "But...three in a row? I-i can't-" "Listen to me." Tommy took a chance and grabbed the raptor's cheeks, pulling his face down towards him. "You're gonna win this for us. You're gonna win, and you're gonna be the Final Gamer. You either do it for us, for yourself, or for your friend back home. But you gotta do it. Whoever you do it for, do it for them." "...alright." He stood up with resolution and a firmly-clenched fist. "I'll do it. For you, for me...for Sarah." "Now get out there and kick their asses!" "YEAH!"

Age groups were now out of the window, and the contestants were randomly picked against each other. James felt lucky to find himself paired up against one of the under-10 year olds, but he remembered wisely the words of his master Sir Glenn. Never underestimate thine opponent. After all, this was the best of his age group, it had to count for something. James decided to play it safe and go with Ken for his choice. Vega was when he wanted to mess around, not when he wanted to get dangerous. Standing alongside his opponent, they braced themselves for a battle. Ken versus E. Honda. The stage was a Japanese-style sauna, and the raptor faced off against a large sumo wrestler. He had been able to recognise all of the game's fighters, but their moves were a different matter. Fortunately he knew the most common moves of this one particular foe. Unfortunately, the kid controlling him was skilled at playing as him. The first thing he did was a Flying Sumo Press, which James deftly dodged before giving a good spinning kick to the back of him and laying several punches into him. Honda pushed him away with the infamous Hundred-Hand Slap, forcing Ken to block and jump away. A few Hadoukens his way would help to give James time for his next move. What James didn't expect however was for the sumo launch himself head first like a torpedo with the super headbutt Chou Zutsuki. straight into his face and knocking him hard against the side of the screen. Honda came in for the kill, ready to grab and throw Ken into a terrifying Ooichou Nage, flipping James' fighter into the ground before crush-stomping him. He could hear the sucking of teeth from the crowd who saw it, but James was not down yet, when he was more careful to stun with Hadoukens, jump over any more super headbutts and Shoryuken him from behind, brutally tearing through the sumo wrestler and his first opponent. Match 1, complete.

Vying for second place against him was a 13-year old named Billy McDonald who chose a long-limbed scraggly-looking tribal man named Dhalsim. James had not faced much against him before, but was helpfully warned by his team shouting out: "GET IN CLOSE, HE ALWAYS HITS LONG-RANGE!" With that warning set, the raptor readily faced off against him and was immediately surprised to find his foe's limbs suddenly stretching out across 2/3 of the screen, knocking him a small low blow. Snarling silently, he tried to time his jumps with his enemy's attacks, a little tricky but not impossible, and Dhalsim was certainly not strong enough to hit him too hard. Unfortunately, James was not aware of Yoga Fire, a sudden fire breath attack that burned straight through Ken, sending him down in flames. Not down and out yet, he decided to show him his own fire with a good ol' Hadouken to distract him, before leaping behind it to sweep the leg low and uppercut furiously with a Shoryuken. Billy however was not deterred by being backed into a corner, with the use of some Yoga Teleport action to shift behind the raptor's fighter, and send a good Yoga Blast to his back, burning nastily. Now trapped in the corner in a reversal, James waited for his chance, blocking as best as he could against the strange burning attacks of this mystical fighter. Soon there came a mistake. A low punch that was blocked, setting the raptor up for a mighty Tatsumaki-Senpukyaku. He slammed a spinning bare foot straight into the Indian's face over and over again, until he was done and out for the count, much to the whooping cheer of Team Shoryuken.

It all came down to the final match. But James was rather surprised to find he was facing off against one of four girls in the tournament. A 17-year old from Summers, Brandi Andrea Dixon. No points as to what initials she put into the scoreboards. Luckily, James already knew never to underestimate a girl, and grinned in return when she came out with Sagat. The crowd gasped at selecting such a fighter. Either you were very good at being Sagat, or you were very overconfident. James was rather intimidated by the tallest sprite in the game. A bare-knuckle kickboxer with Thailand colours on his shorts, a mean deep diagonal scar across his chest, and an eyepatch above his smug face. Taking a deep breath, he began his attack, not even sure how to fight such a little-used character. Leaping forwards was his first mistake, when he was met with a violent Tiger Uppercut, a burning taller variant of the Shoryuken that slammed into Ken's jaw and knocked him down. Trying another tactic, James decided to go for a Hadouken, only for it to be cancelled out by a similar fire ball attack, the Tiger Shot. Now he was starting to feel this was some sort of mirror boss. Moving forwards, he tried to jump over but not forwards of the Tiger Shots, but this was part of Sagat's plan when a sudden brutal Tiger Knee Crush went straight into Ken's gut, a vicious knee thrust straight into the air. The raptor felt his victory would be out of grasp forever unless he learnt to shape up and learn the moves faster. Now he had to get serious. With little health left for the first part of the final round, he used the time to gauge out Sagat's moves, one of which were several Tiger Shots at varying heights to bewilder the opponent. Managing to score a few hits, he succumbed in the first round. The second round however, he was ready.

Leaping towards Sagat once more, he braced for a Tiger Uppercut, before initating an aerial Tatsumaki-Senpukyaku, feet straight into Sagat's face from the smaller jump he made to trick him, knocking him down and readily wailing into him with a variety of kicking attacks, sweeping scythe kicks falling hatchet kicks, even wailing powerfully into Sagat with a brutal Inazumo Kakato Wari. The lightning-fast heel-splitting kick cleaved through the foe, and James imagined briefly that it went straight down that wicked scar. Soon the final round was up, and whoever won this was the true champion of them all. Changing up tactics, both of them went straight for each other in a desperate clash, a spinning kick from Ken versus a Tiger Knee Crush that came down. Both hit each other and knocked themselves back, ready for another clash. James sweeped his leg low at the approach, and managed to get a few kicks in, but was cancelled by a furious uppercut from Sagat. Knocking him up into the air, it was all the raptor could do to keep focused with sweat dripping onto his hands, and only just now did he realise that his reflexes were balanced out against humans by one simple thing. Five fingers. With that realisation providing absolutely no help at all, James pushed onwards against Brandi, growling with determination to get close to Sagat and kick him everywhere at once, either blocked or pushed away until Sagat began to ready himself with what appeared to be another knee crush. But James heard a few extra clicks. This wasn't just a knee crush. This was his super move. Tiger Genocide.

Blocking himself with powerfully swift reflexes, James panicked slightly to counter back at the following uppercut after it, and in his haste, he had managed to bring out his own super special move. The Shoryuu Reppa. It was all over for Brandi there and then, when she mistakenly blocked high for an expectant uppercut, only for the first uppercut to hit low, sending Sagat straight into the air. The second burning uppercut made certain that he was defeated, pixellated fist slamming straight into the gut as it rocketed upwards. The resounding 16-bit death cry seemed to stop time itself. After the body fell onto the ground, the crowd suddenly whooped with a standing ovation at such a battle, the announcer sliding in. "LADIIIIIIIIES AAAAAAAND GENTLEMEEEEEN! OUR WINNER, THE FINAL GAMER! JAAAAAAAAAAAAAAMES CAMPBEEEEEEEEEEEEELL!!!" At that moment, James did not even realise he had won. His fingers were still tightly clasped around the joystick. Brandi had left with frustrated sorrow already, and it was only when his team came over to pull him away and congratulate him with a group hug, did he suddenly register it. "YOU DID IT! YOU DID IT JAMES!" "YER A CHAMPION JAMES, A FREAKIN' CHAMPION!" "YOU REALLY ARE THE BEST AROUND!" All James could do was regress briefly back to being a kid again, and cackle youthfully with excitement at winning. Even with his psychological disguise, nobody could deny him not being happy. "I DID IT! I FFFFFF-DID IT! HAHAHAHAAAAAAAA! WE DID IT GUYS, WE'RE THE BEST, WE'RE THE GODDAMN BEST!" With the tournament's end, came the prize itself for the team. "Congratulations James Campbell," The announcer proclaimed this with earnest joy, as a trophy overflowing with money was handed unto him with THE FINALGAMER proudly emblazoned upon it. "You just won the Eagleland Tournament! What are you and your friends gonna do?!" "I'M GOING TO DISNEYLAND!" shouted Tommy into the microphone. Laughter roared with whoops from the crowd before James was given the mic. He did all he could to maintain his act from under his hoodie. "U-um...I'm...g-g-going home. I'm r-really happy...thank you!" He could barely say anymore other than his honest intentions, doing his best to downplay his absolute bursting need to scream and crow about his victory. As the confetti showered upon the boys, they all smiled with absolute serenity. The kind of serenity that can only come when a plan comes together.