by Sylv Chiang
More smoke.
K.O.
There is a collective “Oooooh!” from the audience, and the energy in the room is over the top. If I win the last round, I’m in the finals!
Now that I’ve got the Dragon Fire Super working, Kaigo spends more time in dragon form than human form. Whenever my Super Meter is full I scroll through the alphabet and the dragon spins across the screen. I’m on the easiest letter—S for Superman—when Blaze hits the ground for the last time.
K.O.
Everyone goes wild, hooting and pointing at the stage. Hugh, Devesh, and Cali give each other high fives. Even Mom gets up from her seat and claps wildly.
Mr. Efram reaches out his right hand. “Congratulations, Jaden. I thought I had you, but obviously you had a few tricks up your sleeve.”
I shake his hand. “Thanks, but it wasn’t really a fair match.” I point to his other hand. “We should have a rematch when your thumb is better and you can use Solar Burst without crying.”
He looks down at his left hand. “Yeah, that really hurt. But if you figured out my weakness, you deserve the win.”
Chapter 27
I am mobbed by my friends and family.
“You made the final!” Devesh raises my arm in victory.
“You really did well under all that pressure, son.”
Hugh rushes over from checking the bracket. “Jaden, you play Umehara in the final.”
“That is the boy who won last year and the year before.”
The whole group turns and looks at my mom.
“What? I talk to people.” She shrugs and we all laugh. Then she looks at me. “You can beat him?”
“Probably not. I still can’t believe I beat Kn1ght_Rage . . . I mean Mr. E . . . man, that was so weird.” I shake my head.
Mom pulls a hamburger from a paper bag. “Here.”
“Xie xie, Ma ma.” I thank her.
I step onto the stage fifteen minutes later full of confidence. I beat my nemesis Kn1ght_Rage. I know how to relax and land Dragon Fire. Only one match stands between me and victory.
There’s so much hype in the room, and I know more people are watching at home. The energy fills me up.
Umehara is on the young side, probably eighteen or nineteen. His shaggy hair is tucked up under a black baseball hat he’s wearing backward. His purple T-shirt has Twitch written across it. He’s probably sponsored by them. I shake his hand and plug in my controller.
He selects Saki. Alright, I can do this. Just like playing Cali.
The FIGHT sign flashes.
I try my go-to combo. It’s blocked and I get thrown. Before I’m out of hit stun, Umehara is into his next attack. Everything is a blur. It only takes about ten seconds for all my confidence to drain, just like my Health Meter.
I feel like a noob. This must be what Devesh and Hugh feel like when they play against me. Umehara’s rushdown is so fast it’s impossible to keep up. All my fireballs miss and my blocks come too late. I try over and over to relax and hit Dragon Fire, but I never even come close. I’m so dizzy I can’t get past the letter A in the alphabet.
Totally dominated.
The match lasts no time, and I don’t win a single round.
When the final K.O. flashes on the screen, I breathe deeply through my nose, almost like the angry bull.
But I’m not angry; I’m trying not to cry.
Why’d I ever think I could win? I’m such a fraud.
I shake Umehara’s hand and unplug without looking up.
An announcer jumps onto the stage and turns us to face the spectators. I don’t want to see Cali. I let her down. No money, no ramp. She’s really going.
The announcer speaks into his microphone. “I’m pleased to announce our second-place player in Cross Ups IV, a young man who has become a crowd favorite today, Jaden Stiles.”
He raises my hand above my head, but I keep looking down.
The crowd hoots and chants, “JStar, JStar.” My face gets hot as the chant gets louder and faster.
When it finally dies out and the announcer presents the grand prize to Umehara, the clapping is polite, but far less energetic.
They really wanted me to win!
It doesn’t seem to matter that I lost. As I walk through the conference room, people give me high fives and clap me on the back.
I feel like the champion of the tournament.
A guy in his twenties approaches us with his hand out. He’s wearing a black toque and a red T-shirt with the name ArcadeStix, where the X is made out of two sticks of wood.
“Hi there, sir. Ma’am.” He shakes hands energetically with both of my parents. “I wonder if I could have a minute of your family’s time.”
“Okay,” Dad says.
“My name’s Kyle Obren. I work for ArcadeStix.” He points to his shirt with one hand and hands Mom a business card with the other. “We’re one of the sponsors for this event.”
“Yes, I see your signs everywhere,” Mom says.
“That’s us.” He turns to me. “Anyway, we also sponsor a team of gamers. They’re the guys you see around here in these red shirts. After watching you play today, I think you’d make a great addition to our team. I’d love to see what you could do with one of our products in your hands.”
“What does this mean?” Mom asks.
“We want to sponsor your son. If Jaden joins our team, we’ll give him an ArcadeStix product to practice with. Then, we’ll pay his entrance fees for tournaments and send him out to represent us. He keeps any money he wins.”
OMG, that’s my dream . . .
“And what’s in it for you?” Dad raises an eyebrow.
“Fair question. Honestly, I think Jaden could be the next big player on the circuit. He got a lot of attention here today. The guys at the streaming table never had so many hits before. And attention is what ArcadeStix wants. If everyone is watching Jaden play, we want them to see him using our product and wearing our logo.” He points to his T-shirt again.
“I don’t know.” Mom shakes her head. “He has school. This tournament is his first try.”
“That’s the amazing thing. But this won’t affect school. The tournaments are always on weekends, and you control how many he attends.” Kyle smiles. “Listen, you don’t have to decide this instant. Just think about it.” He turns back to me and gives me a fist bump. “Amazing battles today, kid. Godlike!”
Chapter 28
I’m surrounded by people who want to talk to me. Devesh and Hugh help me handle all the questions.
“Jaden is our best bud,” Hugh says.
“Oh, yeah,” Devesh joins in, “we play together all the time.”
My ears perk up when someone asks, “Are you guys as good as him?”
“Almost,” Devesh brags.
I glance over to see Hugh elbow Devesh.
“But this girl’s amazing,” Devesh says, pointing to Cali. “She’s the next one to watch.”
Mr. Efram strides through the crowd. “Look who showed up just in time to watch Jaden play the finals.” He looks over his shoulder at Ty and Flash, who trail behind him. “I’m so glad you boys are all getting along again.”
Mr. Efram turns to talk with my parents, leaving Ty and Flash rolling their eyes.
“Pff,” Ty puffs. “I knew you wouldn’t win.”
“Um, didn’t you see my man totally school Mr. E?” Devesh pats me on the back.
“What? Mr. E was playing?” Flash says.
“Um, yeah,” Hugh says. “It was epic.”
Flash looks at Ty. “I can’t believe we missed that.”
“Whatever,” Ty says.
“Anyway,” I say. “I want to thank you guys for putting up that banner. If you hadn’t told the whole school to watch me play, ArcadeStix wouldn’t have asked to sponsor me.”
“For real? You got sponsored?” Flash asks.
“Who cares?” Ty pulls Flash by the arm. “Let’s go.”
“And it’s all thanks to you guys,” I say as they leave.
I hear Flash say, “That’s cool, man. He’s our age and he got sponsored.”
Ty punches him in the arm. “Shut up.”
The moment I’ve been dreading comes way too fast. Me and Cali stand on the porch.
“It’s only six weeks until summer holidays,” I say.
My parents convinced Cali’s mom and dad to let her spend part of the summer at our place so she can see her mom. They’re going to see how Mrs. Chen is doing at the end of the summer and then decide if Cali can go to Layton with me in September.
“I really wish I’d won the money today so I could buy a ramp for you guys. You know, your mom actually helped me at the tournament.”
Cali raises an eyebrow.
“I used her alphabet game to help me relax so I could hit Dragon Fire.”
“No way! I’m going to tell her that. She’ll be glad she was a part of things.” She turns to pick up her duffel bag from the porch swing.
“Wait.”
She turns back.
“I . . . um . . . have something for you.” I dig in my pocket and pull out my uncle’s ring. It slips from my sweaty fingers, lands on the porch, and rolls. I scramble after it. Just as I reach out, it disappears between two boards.
“No!” I run down the steps and push through the bushes and the loose board. “Oh crap, oh crap!” I crawl on the dirt, searching for the small object in the darkness.
Cali follows me into Spy Club and crouches beside me. “I think it dropped over there.” She points to the desk and chairs.
I look over and spot the ring next to one of the tiny chair legs. Thank God!
I pick it up and blow on it to clean it off. Then I hold it out to Cali. “Here. Take this. It might keep you safe . . . or something.” Or something? I’m such a loser.
She takes it from me. In her hand it suddenly looks humongous. She slips it onto her thumb and stares at it. “Thanks.”
“Jade is for protection. It was my uncle’s. He’s dead now.” Shut up, Jaden.
When she looks up at me she’s half laughing, but I see a sparkle of tears in her eyes. “I’m going to miss you.”
Her lips touch my cheek for the best nanosecond of my life.
K.O.
Acknowledgments
Jaden was born at a Writescape workshop, so I will start by thanking these incredible teachers. When I first dipped my toes into the writing ocean, Ruth Walker’s encouraging words gave me the confidence to plunge in. Gwynn Scheltema helped me swim through various drafts and Heather O’Connor threw me life lines to navigate the currents.
Thanks to Ted Staunton, whose wonderful Writing for Children classes forced me to write the first chapters and taught me the value of a good critique group.
I am privileged to be part of the Writers’ Community of Durham Region, whose members have supported me in many ways; most importantly, they made me say, “I’m a writer,” out loud.
To my amazing WIP group—Karen Cole, Heather Tucker, Sandra Clarke, Patrick Meade, Anne MacLachlan, and Steve Chatterton. Thank you for sharing your fantastic stories with me and for helping me breathe fire into my story.
A huge thanks to everyone who read an early version of Tournament Trouble: Katharina Benning, Louise Butt, Edmund Chien, Marie Prins, Andrea Adair-Tippins , and Justin Gormley. You each helped to make this novel stronger.
Tournament Trouble was written for my students, particularly the ones who love video games more than books. Thank you to Rawl Chan for patiently playing a newb online. Thanks to Nicholas Victoria for answering all my questions and for calling on his crew at Basement Gaming to help. Jason Das, Brandon Smith, Chris Tapper, and M.E. Girard, thanks for reading gaming scenes and making them better.
I am grateful to CANSCAIP and its many volunteers. In particular, I appreciate the work that goes into The Writing for Children Competition, which launched Cross Ups into the publishing world.
Thank you to my agent, Amy Tompkins, for her guidance.
Heartfelt gratitude to the team at Annick Press, especially Rick Wilks and my editor, Katie Hearn, who helped me polish Tournament Trouble. Also my talented illustrator, Connie Choi, who took the characters I imagined and made them real.
Enormous thanks to my parents for so much support. From reading drafts to babysitting so I could write, without your encouragement my book dream would not have come true.
Finally, to Edward, thank you for not only supporting me, but pushing me to do what I love. I hope by reaching for my dreams I am teaching our children to reach for their own.
© 2018 Sylv Chiang (text)© 2018 Connie Choi (cover and interior illustrations)
Designed by Kong Njo
Annick Press Ltd.
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We acknowledge the support of the Canada Council for the Arts and the Ontario Arts Council, and the participation of the Government of Canada/la participation du gouvernement du Canada for our publishing activities.
Cataloging in Publication
Chiang, Sylv, author
Tournament trouble / Sylv Chiang ; art by Connie Choi.
(Cross ups ; 1)
Issued in print and electronic formats.
ISBN 978-1-77321-009-4 (hardcover).–ISBN 978-1-77321-008-7 (softcover).–
ISBN 978-1-77321-011-7 (PDF).–ISBN 978-1-77321-010-0 (EPUB)
I. Choi, Connie, illustrator II. Title.
PS8605.H522T68 2018jC813'.6C2017-905512-7
C2017-905513-5
Published in the U.S.A. by Annick Press (U.S.) Ltd.
Distributed in Canada by University of Toronto Press.
Distributed in the U.S.A. by Publishers Group West.
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Follow Sylv Chiang on Twitter @SylvChiang