Aftermath

In a shabby apartment on the floating island, New Asia, a boy lay on his bed. His snoring echoed in the room, which was illuminated by the light shining through dirty windows.

"Riiinnnngggg!" Dave's smartphone rang.

"Grrrrhhhh." With a last loud snore, he was startled awake by the unpleasant alarm of his handy.

He looked at the display and saw the words 'Incoming call' and 'Mike'

Still sleepy he accepted the call and pushed the loudspeaker button.

"Hey, Dave!" The unpleasantly loud voice of his best friend, Mik, came from the speaker. They were childhood friends, knowing each other for more than 15 years already.

Still drowsy, Dave answered unenthusiastically, "Hey Mike, good morning."

"Hahaha, Dave you were still sleeping?!? I see, but bro it is already 14 o'clock. Let us meet and grab something to eat later. 16 o'clock at Kowalski's Burger Palace, okay?!? Good, see you then, bye-bye." Just when Mike wanted to hang up, he stopped and added.

"Dude, I nearly forgot. Take a look at the news. You are all over the place!

See you later."

Then the connection broke up. It was always like this with Mike. He was always the enthusiastic, full of energy type of guy. Dave in comparison had a more introverted personality. They always were a good team. Mike as the vanguard, often defending Dave against the school rowdies, and Dave as the person overthinking things, helping both of them reach the most desirable outcome.

He took his smartphone and searched for news from the ALC world championships.

The first few titles were,

'The Ultimate Gamer: The hidden dragon of team Magma Asia',

'The fall of Ocean Atlantic, fans demand personnel consequences',

'Conspiracy theory!!! Were the world championships hacked',

'Guide: How to play Bubble Master',

'Analysis: How Dave won 1 vs. 7',

'Why Team Magma Asia hid their strongest player',

'Who gets the prize money?',

'Magma Asia, a team who only bullies the weak'.

Dave scrolled further down and found an endless stream of articles about him and the world championships.

He smirked,

'So it really happened, I really won the world championships. When I woke up last night, I was sure it was just a dream, but these articles are proof.'

Dave opened the article 'The Ultimate Gamer: The hidden dragon of Team Magma Asia'.

He skimmed over the article. The author praised his courage, his control, his fast thinking, and his decision-making ability. Dave felt as if he had grown 5 centimeters. As a backup-player, he wasn't used to being praised. In the last seven years, everyone just ignored him and not a single person ever considered letting him play an official game for the team.

'By the way, I wonder how the team is doing.' After Dave won, he went accompanied by thunderous applause backstage. His team was still there, surrounding a monitor and discussing the situation.

"There is no way... Our money... contract." Dave only managed to hear part of their conversation. Brian was furiously waving his hands around. His face was as red as the lava in the game before.

Finally, his team noticed him and came over to his side. Alex placed his hand on Brian's shoulder.

"What do you think you did there?" John, Manager of team Magma Asia, said through clenched teeth.

"What do you mean? I won the championship for our team!" Dave couldn't understand the situation. Why were the manager and his teammates angry? Shouldn't they celebrate right now?!?

"No Dave, WE didn't win anything at all. You won this making our team the laughingstock of the entire world. Can you even imagine how much damage you did to our team's reputation?" John lost more and more control over his temper.

"It wasn't my intention," Josh said apologetically. "But you know, I simply knew I still had a chance there. I knew the map and so I..."

"You don't know anything at all Dave. Tomorrow morning the newspaper will be full of articles describing how incompetent team Magma Asia is! That we can't even win a fight a single person is apparently able to win. And even worse that we didn't even dare to try something a nobody like you had the courage to do."

"Wait a moment, It is not my fault that Brian ran off." Dave tried to defend himself.

"What? Now it is my fault that you ruined our team's reputation." Brian pushed Alex's hand away and grabbed Dave's collar with both hands.

Brian went every day into the gym and had a perfectly toned muscular body, Dave, in contrast, couldn't even open effortlessly a glass of pickles using a can opener.

"It is not my fault that you ran away out of fear!" Dave was pissed. He won the world championship for his team and instead of celebrating with him, his team only attacked him.

KABBAAMM!!!!

Dave flew across the room hitting his head against a wall.

Blood dripped from the corner of his mouth where Brian hit him with his fist.

"Stop it you two!" Alex and two others pulled Brian away.

John glanced shortly at Brian and then said to Dave, "I can't let you stay in the team. You damaged our reputation, you cause conflicts with your teammates and you didn't follow your orders. From today forth you aren't a member of Team Magma Asia anymore! Take your stuff and leave immediately!"

Dave found this extremely unfair. Of course, his manager already fired him before and today was supposed to be the last day. He knew that but some part of him thought that after he won singlehandedly the championships for his team, they just had to let him stay. More so, he thought he might even get a chance to join the main team. But alas this wasn't what happened.

"No need to fire me a second time John. You won't see me ever again after I get my share of the prize money." Dave was disappointed. He knew he was never a central part of the team but he didn't expect that his whole team would conspire against him.

He was disgusted. He just wanted to get away from here but first, he needed the money. In his contract, it was specified that each time his team won, he got a share of 0.1% of the prize money. In comparison to the others, this was nothing. The main members got 5% for every win and the manager and team leader even more. Their share was 10%! Dave in comparison only earned 75.000 Dollars from the prize money of 75 million dollars. Dave wasn't a rich guy and gaming rarely paid off well. He needed that money to pay his bills and the rent for his apartment.

"You seem to misunderstand something here. You broke the contract by going on stage without my request. So, of course, you won't get any payment for this." John answered coldly.

"Hahaha," Brian was giggling. "Serves your right idiot. See you next time with my new sportscar."

Anger, grief, and all kind of other emotions were mixing together in Dave, taking the shape of pure hate.

"Keep your money John, if it is that important to you. There is nothing in this world, I would ever need of people like you." Dave turned around and left with quick steps.

"You should be happy that we don't make you pay for damaging the team's reputation," Brian yelled after him.

Dave reached the door and smashed it behind him.

This was what happened yesterday and even after a night full of sleep, he felt sorrow. It was as if his last seven years as part of the team were a waste of time. He knew that he never really belonged to the team but he didn't expect that their resentment for him was this big.

"Arrrrgghhhh." He yelled and stood up.

'I will take a shower and then meet up with Mike. I have to think about something else.'

Fifteen minutes later, he grabbed his jacket and left through the door.

Inside the ALC headquarters, two men and one woman were having a heated discussion.

"Mr. Takawa, you seem to misunderstand something! We are a company selling technology and innovation. Our only goals are higher market values and bigger profits." Nakamura stood behind his desk facing the pitch-black window.

"Mr. Nakamura, I beg you please don't release that technology. Street fights will break out. Criminals will gain unprecedented powers. People will die, children...!" Takawa stopped midsentence.

He took a deep breath mustered all his courage and continued.

"Think of your daughter. Do you want other people to share your fate?"

Enraged Nakamura turned around but before he could say anything the third person in the room, a woman around 24 years of age with long black hair and a slender figure, raised her voice.

"Stop it you two! Father, you know the doctor told you, the next time you get upset your heart might not be able to take it." Her name was Ayano Nakamura and she was the daughter of the chairman. Ayano raised her hands consolingly trying to appease her father.

"Jotaro, let us go. Father needs some rest. You two can continue this squabble another time." She took Takawa by the hand and marched out of the room.

Still standing behind his desk Mr. Nakamura looked at his clenched fists.

"Everything! Everything I do is only for my daughter!" A tear dropped from his eye and fell at the table.

Meanwhile, outside the bureau, Ayano pushed the button of the elevator. The door opened immediately and both stepped in.

After the elevator door closed, Ayano pushed the emergency stop button.

"Sigh. I am sorry Ayano but this plan is going to ruin everything. The company and the whole Island will suffer. People will die, you can't seriously expect me to silently nod and accept his decision." Takawa defended himself swiftly before she could scold him.

Ayano glanced at him with squinted eyes and said with an increasingly loud voice.

"I don't expect you to keep your opinion for yourself, but I thought you wanted to ask him for my hand. Do you seriously think it is a good idea to pick a quarrel with my father if you want to ask him for his daughter's hand?"

"Ahhhh. You know... ." Takawa scratched his chin.

"After what happened to Kimiko..." Ayano shook her head. Grief was visible on her beautiful face. "Forget it. We will go to a restaurant with him this weekend and then you can ask him for my hand. If you back down again you can look for someone else to marry you!"

Ayano pushed the emergency button again and the elevator started descending.