It was currently a Sunny Sunday afternoon. The VSW cafe was busy and full of people as usual. Lucas, however, was sat on one table on his own in the corner. The bell chimed as a middle-aged man walked through the doors.

"Hi Sophie, is Lucas in today?"

"He is.. but as you can see." Sophie then looked over to the direction Lucas was in.

Lucas Currently had his eyes glued to the screen watching a certain match.

"He's been like that ever since he lost that game, he's been watching the same match over and over again," Sophie said.

"I heard it was a kid the same age as him, and it was pretty close between the two of them."

Lucas kept pausing the battle, watching every move that Novis had made in the game. When he decided to strike, how his foot moved, how he reacted to his attacks. He came to the conclusion that a child his age couldn't be that good. He wasn't just as good as a pro, he was better than most.

Lucas gritted his teeth.

"Novis, I need to find you."

Sophie had approached Lucas with the old man standing behind her.

"Lucas, Mr way would like to play with you in a match if you can?"

Lucas didn't even bother looking at the man or Sophie and replied, "I'm sorry but I'm waiting for someone."

Lucas didn't know anything about the boy apart from his first name and his age. So the only thing he could do was sit there and wait.

"Are you waiting for that child?" Sophie asked.

Lucas remained silent.

"Oh, I just remembered I gave him a flyer to that children's VSW tournament."

"Are you talking about the one today." The colour suddenly returned to Lucas's face.

"Yeah, he didn't seem too interested but you never know he might have gone."

Lucas straight away jumped up from his seat and started to run towards the exit.

"Lucas wait!"

As Lucas was leaving the shop he turned around and shouted, "Sophie if he comes back to the shop, make sure you make him stay!"

Sophie was lost for words. She had never seen Lucas act like this. The whole time he had been at the internet cafe he always acted in a calm and professional manner. It was sometimes hard for her to even believe he was a child.

"Lucas, he's kinda changed hasn't he."

The man smiled.

"Well of course he has, it's the first time he's ever had a rival."

*****

Novis was currently walking down the street to head to the subway station that was not too far from the centre where the tournament was held. He wasn't in the best of moods.

"So stupid, I can't believe we got kicked out like that!."

"It is your fault," Arthur said.

"If you had kept your mouth shut it would have been fine."

"I was simply speaking to myself, what are you a parrot that repeats everything it hears."

"Who are you calling a parrot, you big stupid ghost."

The two of them were arguing back on forth on the street. Many people who passed by could only see a boy shouting at the air. They could only think that Novis was crazy and chose to stay away from him.

As the two were arguing Novis heard someone shout out his name.

"Novis!"

As Novis turned around he could see a boy standing just outside the exit of the subway station.

"Lucas?"

Lucas was panting hard and was out of breath, he had run without stopping to get to the tournament as quickly as possible.

Novis recognised Lucas and was quite happy to see him.

"Hey, Lucas, what's up why do you look so worn out?"

Suddenly Lucas felt a bit embarrassed. He had finally met Novis but didn't know what to say.

"Oh, um.."

"So, were you not in the tournament?"

"No, what about you?"

"Me, I just came to watch a few games but then my plans got ruined," Novis said while looking over his shoulder at Arthur.

Novis then started to get excited.

"It was amazing in there, I've never seen anything like it. Did you know they had real holograms fighting and they can hear everything? there were so many kids, some even younger than me."

Lucas slightly frowned at Novis's words.

"You've never seen anything like that before. do you mind if I look at your hands?"

Novis opened the palm of his right hand. "You mean this thing, why do you need to look at.."

As soon as Novis had raised his hand Lucas was already rubbing his fingers across it, looking to see if he could find any bumps.

If what Novis was saying was true, that he hadn't played the game much before, then Lucas thought Novis must have trained with the sword outside of the game. This would leave several calluses and bumps on his hands and fingers.

But when Lucas went to check Novis's hands, he could feel nothing. It was as if Novis had never held a sword in his life before.

"Novis, are you going to become a pro?"

"PRO!"

Novis laughed out loud, he had never thought about becoming pro in his life before. He hadn't even played the game much himself.

When Novis eventually stopped laughing he asked, "Are you planning to become a pro?"

"I am."

Novis noticed that Lucas had a serious look on his face.

"Do pros make a lot of money?"

"Most don't and struggle to barely make a living but if you're in the top, the money is in the millions."

Novis's eyes started to shine with gold, he never knew that playing a game could make you so rich.

"Perhaps I will become a pro, win a few tournaments here and there."

Lucas was starting to get annoyed, Novis wasn't the person he thought he was. He couldn't believe someone this skilful at the game treated it as a joke.

Arthur was shaking his head at Novis in the background.

"You have no right to become a pro!" Lucas shouted.

Novis didn't know what he had said to make Lucas this mad.

Lucas continued to shout

"Do you realize how hard it is to become a pro, I've seen many people put in hours and hours of work to only fail at the last hurdle. To sacrifice friends and family just to become a part of this world!"

Novis remained silent, he was taking in everything he had just heard.

Then Lucas held out his hand and said."Play another game with me right now!"

Novis didn't know what to say or do. The person who Lucas wanted to fight wasn't actually him it was Arthur. Novis felt like he had no right to decide.

Lucas thought he couldn't have lost to someone who treats the game like this. The inky reason he lost last time was because he thought Novis was a beginner but this time he would be ready and go all out from the beginning.

Novis turned to look at Arthur.

"Let's do it." Arthur replied.