Once school had finished for the day, Frank decided to head home as soon as possible to initiate his plan. He had an idea and was hoping he would be able to convince Alex to come back to Montem's VSW club. Frank went through his wardrobe and fished out his now old Hershel uniform.

"I hope this will work."

After putting on the Hershal uniform and getting Alex's home address from Scarlett, he was ready to start his plan.

He was now standing just outside of Alex's house in front of the gate. He took a deep breath before pressing the buzzer.

"Hello, how can I help?" Alex's mother said.

"Hi there, I'm a friend of Alex's from Hershal, He said he needed some help tutoring him so I decided to come by and help him," Frank said as he held up his books and pens to the camera on the buzzer.

Alex's mother immediately recognized the uniform that Frank was wearing and was very pleased. Hershel had a good reputation as it was a grammar school. A lot of grammar schools got the best results in the country when it came to academic studies.

"Oh yes please, come in, come in." Alex's mother said excitedly.

Then the next second the double-gated doors started to open immediately. When Frank entered the house Alex's mother was right there to greet him.

"I'm so happy my son stopped playing that silly game and now is starting to focus on his studies again."

"Ah yes of course," Frank replied.

Frank felt a little awkward lying to someone's parents like this but when the thought of his new teammates relying on him came into his head, he stuck with it.

Alex's mother went up the stairs to call Alex. When Alex was informed a friend had come to visit him, he had no idea who it was. Even if a friend did come to visit him his mother would most of the time just tell them Alex was too busy.

When Alex came down the stairs and saw Frank he was really surprised. Alex didn't even know that Frank had joined Montem school. After finding out he could no longer play the game anymore Alex had been in his own bubble. He didn't want to hear about VSW anymore and all he could do was study to help him forget about the pain.

After bringing the two of them some snacks Alex's mother left the two of them alone so they could study in Alex's room.

"What are you doing here Frank, I and you are hardly friends?" Alex asked.

"I'm here because your friends need you more than ever."

Frank then went on to explain to Alex how he had joined Montem's VSW team and how he had taken the role of a leader there but it wasn't going so well.

"Why does it matter to me, I'm no longer part of that team," Alex said.

"Look Alex, the whole team and everyone knows that wasn't your decision, I saw your notes on Hershal and Eton, no one would go into that much detail and just quit the game because of studies."

Alex didn't know what to say, his throat was starting to choke up and the words he wanted to say wouldn't come out.

"I know what it's like to have a controlling family." Frank said, "My father, after we lost that came stayed true to his words and kicked me out of the Hershal team, he said he never wanted to see me play a game again, and if he did, he would take me out of Hershal school as well. So do you know what I did?"

Alex shook his head.

"I decided to give my old man the middle finger and walked right out of that door, my parents split up a while ago and decided to go live with my mother. Originally, they thought it was best I stay with my farther to get a better education and I agreed so I went to live with my father and do you know what I learned from all this. That it is my life Alex, not theirs. They may think they own you and can do what they want but they can't, you are your own person." Frank said as he pushed his finger into Alex's chest.

Alex could no longer hold it in and tears started to run down his face.

"But I can't, they said they would kick me out of the house."

"Do you really think they would," Frank replied, "The reason your parents are being so harsh on you on the first place is that they want you to live a good life, they want what's best for you, but sometimes parents get blinded by this. They don't know how happy this game makes you and you need to show them that."

Frank then stood up as he was prepared to leave the house but he had one more thing to say.

"They need you Alex, if you don't help them in some way they're going to lose their next game. I tried filling your shoes and it was impossible."

With his last words said, Frank left Alex's house and started to head back home.

"I just hope that was enough to convince you." Frank thought

Alex left his living room and went up to his room. Although all his VR equipment had been taken away, Alex still had his computer to do research for studies and help with his school work. So far he had done his best to avoid Everything related to VSW, after all, he just wanted to forget about it.

Then when Alex hopped on to his computer to continue his studies, he noticed the date in the bottom right-hand corner.

"There's only four more days before the match between Woo Woo and Montem. Although I can't join you guys in the next game. Maybe I can help you."

Alex immediately went onto the VSW's websites and started to watch Woo Woo's previous games. He watched match after match and started to scribble down notes like a madman coming up with the best way for the Montem team to win.

****

Special thanks to Camden_Procter, Travis_Holstine, and MULTICS for the gifts. These gifts help me continue writing the story and possibly in the future right full time. Thank you, everyone, for the kind words last chapter as well.