OWA's International Campus was huge! The front plaza had to at least be the size of a football field. The place was filled with various gaming stations, one for each game mode in Overwatch for players/students to practice their skills when not in class. Around every corner, a leaderboard was located where students could check out who ranked at the very top of the score board. Everything from most wins, to damage done, and everything in between. 

I admired the view from my seat up in the principals office, waiting for Dean Darin De Paul to come in. Also in the room with me was another new student, a guy. He appeared to be a few years younger than me, but not by much. He had light blonde hair with a black beanie over top, wore a grey Genji t-shirt with matching light blue jeans and sneakers. He appeared to be working on something on a tablet he carried in his hands.

"Earth to MadDog!" A voice yelled.

I snapped out of my daze, looking away from the window to see Darin sitting at his desk. He wore a nice fitting black suit with a red dress shirt under neath and a matching black tie. Darin De Paul was one of the co-creators of Overwatch, and he's the number one Reinhardt main in the world. He should know, because he designed and created him. 

"Am I getting through to you?" He questioned me. 

"Ah--" I shook my head, straightening up in my seat. "Yes sir, loud and clear."

"I swear, every year it's the same damn cutscene," he muttered, reaching into the side drawer of his desk. "Some media darling with a five-second kill feed just breezes on into my school with a golden ticket," He pulls a pair of Student ID cards, slaps them down on the smooth surface of the desk. 

A smile on my face, I began to reach over to grab my ID, until Darin slapped my hand away. "Ow!" 

"Buckle up, kid. Cause this ticket puts you on a plane straight to hell," He stated, hands folded. 

I stuttered, struggling as I was not quite sure what to say next. "Uh... understood, sir. I know it will be rough out there, but I did get some practice in at the Toronto Invitational..."

"Oh really?" He perked up, sarcastically I might add. He typed in a series of keys on his keyboard before pushing the computer monitor to the side, allowing me to see the screen. On it was the OWA Student Leaderboard. My rank? 436. Right on top of EXPULSION. "Still feeling cocky Ms. Toronto? You're the lowest ranked player in this school."

I leaned back, slouching in my chair slightly as I saw my score. Talk about completely embarrassing. Darin sighed, looking over at the boy that sat next to me. 

"And as for you," He quickly took a glance at the Student ID before continuing. "PopcornBox, I don't care that your parents helped develop the game---" he paused, noticing that the boy wasn't paying attention to him. "What exactly are you doing?"

PopcornBox finally looked up from his tablet, his chocolate brown eyes meeting the principal's gaze. "Well sir, you had such an imposing figure that I made a game about you." He carefully placed the tablet down on the desk, and tapped the screen. Instantly, two holographic 8-bit avatars of Darin and myself came to life. 

My eyes widened when I saw them. I was completely marveled by the sight. "Whoa, that's awesome! What are my moves?"

He tapped the screen, activating my character. It punched Darin in the arm, but the move was completely weak and my hand ended up getting all brushed. If it wasn't for the fact that Darin was wearing Reinhardt's armour, I probably would have done more damage. Possibly. Then to finish me off, Darin whipped out the rocket hammer and smashed me to the floor, the holograms vanishing as I cringed at the display. 

Darin chuckled deeply as he watched, smiling with approval. "Reinhardt always wins. Acceptable,"

PopcornBox smiled proudly, taking back his tablet. "Um, sir? Don't we need to meet up with our orientation guide?"

"I was just getting to that," Darin replied. He turned in his chair, typing away at the keyboard. "Your orientation guide is..."

The two of us waited anxiously for the man to say who it was. The principal simply smiled when he saw the name, telling us where to meet her. 

*******

PopcornBox and I stood before a crowd that gathered around a small station, complete with two computers on either side of them. On the left end was a young adult male with brown hair, the other was a female long dark red hair. She wore a black Zenyatta t-shirt with light blue skinny jeans and converse shoes. 

"AlphaSheek, 1,101,288 points in damage done, Zenyatta main, and she's captain of the Junior Varsity COMP team," PopcornBox recited, reading her profile on his tablet. "You nervous about meeting her?"

 "Of course I am!" I yelped. "Did you see her 360 charge orb snipe Krusher99?!"

AlphaSheek and her opponent appeared to be blindfolded. Their Pro Gaming keyboard and mouse had been dismantled on the desks in front of them, as on screen the two of them faced off as Zenyatta. The goal of this 1vs1 is to rebuild your gear and be the first to take out your enemy. The two of them chugged down an entire can of Mountain Dew before getting to work on rebuilding their gear. 

The crowd around them cheered them on as they occasionally placed bets on who they thought would win. I watched AlphaSheek move quickly, her hands working like clockwork as she managed to rebuild her mouse and keyboard before setting up, charging her orbs, then fired! She took out the enemy Zenyatta with a headshot! 

The crowd cheered her on as she took off the blindfold, revealing her bright green eyes as she slipped her glasses on, celebrating her victory. "Hahaha, not even close, son! Who's next?"

"Are you going up there to talk to her?" PopcornBox asked me. 

"Relax, I've got a secret weapon," I assured, quickly rummaging through my Hanzo laptop bag as I pulled out a fedora, slipping it on. Taking a moment to catch my breath, I made my way over towards her. "Hey, Alpha! Nice moves out there. I'm MadDog,"

"Ah, so you're Ms. KingMing killer," she realized.

I gasped, eyes widening. "You saw that?!" 

She nodded, humming in reply. 

"I mean- uh, yes," I coughed, trying to keep my cool. "Yes, I am."

"Templar, get MadDog here a drink," she called, looking over at her defeated opponent. 

"Wait, what?" Did she want me to challenge her next?! "No, I uh--"

"Which one's MadDog?" Templar asked, looking around at the crowd until he spotted me. "The kid with the lame hat?"

"Lame hat?!" Panicking on the inside as I chuckled nervously at his remark, I took the hat off and tossed it to the side, slipping my hood up. "No lame hats for me..."

A girl in the crowd shrugged. "I guess that's cool," Then after a moment, she looked to the side, her lips brightening up into a smile. "Hey! Check out the cool kid with the cool hat!"

Everyone turned around to see an adult male standing near the crowd. He was wearing my fedora!

"Hey, sweet hat MonkHound!" AlphaSheek complimented. 

"Thanks," He acknowledged, snapping his fingers as a pair of girls swooned over his appearance before walking away from the scene. 

I rolled my eyes at the scene that had just played out. PopcornBox appeared next to me. "MadDog, it appears your secret weapon has failed."

"Hey, are we doing this or what, Mad?" AlphaSheek spoke up, catching my attention. 

"Oh! I'm not here to fight, actually," I clarified. "You've been assigned as our orientation guide?"

Upon hearing that, the crowd sighed with disappointment, dispersing away from the station as they went on about their day. 

"What? She's suppose to show us around and... stuff?"

"Alright guys, duty calls," AlphaSheek sighed, untying the blindfold from her neck before grabbing her back and standing up from her chair, signalling myself and Popcorn to follow her. "Let's go,"

The two of us quickly trailed before her as we followed AlphaSheek through the campus. We followed her through the main halls were the classrooms were located, breezed by the cafeteria, briefly got a glimpse of the training rooms before walking across a glass skylight bridge into another building where the dorms were located. Oddly enough, during this entire time, AlphaSheek didn't say a single world. 

But the time we reached the main foyer of the dorms, the red head stopped and turned to face us. "And this concludes your tour of Overwatch Academy." 

"You technically took us in a straight line and said nothing," PopcornBox pointed out. 

I raised my hand in defense to AlphaSheek, looking over at Popcorn. "Hey, come on, she doesn't have time to show us noobs around. She's got the whole JV Team to worry about. Speaking of which---"

"Give me 5 good reasons why I should put you on my team," AlphaSheek stated, stepping forward towards me. 

I froze, my mouth gaped open as I struggle to form a single sentence as Popcorn moved to the side, snickering quietly. I composed myself, shaking my head before speaking. "That was pretty transparent, wasn't it?"

AlphaSheek rolled her eyes. "Yeah, a bit," she perked before walking back down the hall where we came. 

"Reason number one, I'm honest to a fault!" I called out after her. When she was gone, I slouched, slowing a strand of my brown hair out of my face. Way to make a first impression with one of the top players at school... 

"You probably shouldn't list one of your faults as a reason," PopcornBox stated.

I rolled my eyes at the boy, rubbing the back of my neck. "It's okay Popcorn, she's gone,"

He looked around for a brief moment before he slowly started to get anxious. "Wait, it's not okay, I don't know where my room is!"

One of the doors to a dorm room to our left suddenly opened as a girl with blonde hair and brown highlights was pushed out of her dorm room by two blonde chicks. One wore a Widowmaker shirt, the other wore a Junkrat t-shirt. The girl that was pushed out of her room wore a D.va t-shirt with black leggings and matching combat boots. 

"Seriously girls, fun's over now, right?" She asked nervously, as she was pushed against a wall.

"What's wrong, Tigersap?" The Widowmaker girl asked with a tease, swiping a D.va headset off the girl's head. "I thought you D.va mains knew how to tank?"

"Yeah, totally Annihilist!" Her partner agreed, high fiving each other.

"Okay, you guys got me---" Tigersap spoke before getting slammed in the gut with her headset. The Widowmaker girl set her down as she caught a glimpse of the two of us. She smiled with relief, extending her hand. "Hey! I'm Tigersap!

"Hey, I'm Popcorn," The boy greeted, shaking her hand a bit oddly, considering the situation she appeared to be in. 

"Welcome to the Frag Floor, Pop--" She spoke before being shoved back into the wall again.

"Hey, leave her alone," I spoke up, finally stepping up towards the two girls.

"What are you going to do about it?" Annihilist's partner asked, a cocky grin on her face.

"MadDog, maybe we should get the R.A.?" Popcorn suggested.

"Did your boyfriend just get here?" Annihilist scoffed, pointing over at Tigersap. "This loser is the R.A."

"Come on, don't just assume that they're dating---" Tiger defended before getting shoved back into the wall again.

"Nice," Annihilist commended her partner. Returning her gaze to me, she caught site of my bag, quickly reaching over and grabbing it from my side. "What's this now?"

"Hey!" I yelped. 

I helplessly watched as they tore my bag open, pulling out my laptop, examining it. "What is this? Asus? Where did you get this crap, the poor store?"

"Oh yeah, where did you get your manners?" I talked back, stepping closer towards them. "The... rude store?"

"Oooooh, good one!" Popcorn encouraged. 

The pair dropped my laptop back into my bag before it collapsed to the floor, their eyes widened as their nostrils flared with annoyance. Tiger sprang back up again, smiling. "Nice burn--- Ow!" she hissed as she was once again shoved back into the wall.

"Nobody insults my manners," Annihilist stated. 

"Well nobody makes fun of my gear," I defended. 

"And no one," Tigersap finally sprang back up to her feet, shoving her way past the two girls as she stood by my side, draping an arm around my shoulders. "Insults my new best friend,"

Annihilist cracked her knuckles, seeming a bit taken back. "That sounds like a challenge."

"Whoa, whoa, you girls cannot fight in my hallway," Tigersap stated. I began to sigh with relief, but when I looked over at Tigersap, she had a wide grin on his face as she fist pumped the air. "RUMBLE IN THE RUMPUS ROOM!"

*********

All of the students currently residing in the dorm had gathered inside the room to watch me and Annihilist fight in a 1vs1 elimination. We both sat at our stations, sitting opposite from each other. I had my laptop set up while she used a computer screen supplied from the school, along with the pro keyboard and mouse gear similar to AphaSheek had. Did all of the OWA students have those? 

"Ladies and gentlemen! I present to you a match-up of epic proportions," Tigersap announced, wireless microphone in hand as she stood before the two of us. "In the cool corner we got, MadDog!"

Half of the crowd cheered for me as I got everything ready, a few of the keys struggle to work properly, but I hoped that it didn't put me at a disadvantage. 

"And in the other corner we have some loser that was hardcore guffin' me," she scoffed, glaring at Annihilist. She shook it off before raising her free hand in the air. "Alright, you all know the rules! Single life, no respawns. Players, are you ready?"

"MadDog!" PopcornBox called as he pushed his way through the crowd, coming up beside me with his tablet in hand. "I really think you should look at the official rulebook, more  specifically paragraphs 12-90."

"Any chance you could paraphrase?!" I asked with a slight panic.

"Uh... read rules? Important?" He shrugged. 

"That's not what I meant!" I whined. 

The crowd erupted with cheers as the game screens came to life. "Alright, let's get ready to rumble!" Tigersap exclaimed. 

*********

Map: Eco-point Antarctica 
Mode: Custom 1 vs 1
Level: Competitive 

I selected Hanzo as my hero loaded into the game, spawning inside a research lab before I ventured out into the arctic site. Looking around for my opponent, the sound of laughter caught my attention as I looked over to the side to see Junkrat racing down the flight of stairs, firing his bombs at me. I quickly dashed to the left as I fired a few arrows at the junker before we both took over, hiding behind either side of a small building.  

We occasionally popped our heads out to fire a few shots before retreating back to our cover. I had a slightly advantage as Hanzo didn't need to reload his arrows, for his was infinite. That's where Junkrat had a disadvantage. However his mine and trap alt abilities made up for that. Speaking off...

Junkrat tossed one of his mine's forward, igniting it midair once it reached my corner of the building. I jumped farther to the left, the blast dealing a bit of damage as I retreated. But it was better than getting blown up completely. The wave of the blast pushed me to the other end as Junkrat quickly limped over to the other end of his side, throwing a bomb in my direction as I just managed to reach in time, just avoiding it as the bomb exploded. 

When I began to move out of hiding to counter attack, something went wrong with my controls. The keys started to act up, as I feared they would, and Hanzo ended up firing his arrows as he twirled around aimlessly. 

"No, no, no!" I hissed. 

I managed to make him turn back into his corner, just barely avoiding Junkrat's attack again. 

"Hahaha! You can't hide from me!" Annihilist yelled. 

With my keyboard and mouse button acting up, it however gave me an idea as I surveyed the area around me. I waited for the right moment, and right before Hanzo fired his next arrow, I poked out from the side, equipping his scatter arrow ability as he fired it, tiny arrows dancing all around Junkrat as they damaged him by half his health. As he was distracted, I made Hanzo quickly climb up the wall of the building, pushing himself up into the air. When I had a clear shot of the junker's head, I slammed my finger on the left mouse button, firing an arrow, nailing Junkrat in the head. 

The victory music played as the yellow "Victory" tag appeared on screen. 

*******

The crowd went nuts, and so did I. I sprang up from my chair, screaming out of pure joy and relief. "Who's working at the poor store, now?!" Tigersap and I celebrated together, and when I caught a glance at my defeated opponent, something felt off. 

I stopped, catching the horrified look on her eyes. Almost like she was scared that she lost. Her friend was equally as concerned, running her fingers through her hair with distraught. A sound went off at her computer, and suddenly a few of the members of the crowd came over and started... comforting her?

"Wait, what just happened?" I asked.

"Oh!" Popcorn came over to me, showing off his tablet once again. "Paragraph 90, Section 3. Should a student's rank fall below 0, then they are automatically, ruthlessly, and instantly--"

"Expelled," a voice spoke up, finishing the sentence. 

The crowd looked back, stepping out of the way of the new arrival as AlphaSheek entered the room, surveying the damage. Annihilist slowly got up from her chair, picking up her Pro Gear as she slowly began to leave the room, her friend trailing behind her.

"Annihilist," I spoke, placing a steady hand on her shoulder. "I'm sorry, I didn't know..." 

She gave me a sad look as she gently brushed my hand off, leaving the room. AlphaSheek watched her leave, her arms crossed as she met my gaze. "Four more reasons, MadDog. Welcome to OWA."

AlphaSheek left the room quickly after that, Popcorn running after her. "Alpha, wait! Where's my room?!"

Tigersap came to my side, placing a hand on my shoulder. "On the plus side, that girl was suppose to be your roommate."

"Tiger, I just got someone expelled!" I hissed harshly. "How is that a plus side?"

*******

Turns out it was a plus side because now that Annihilist was gone, Tigersap was now my roommate. 

As she stayed behind to clean up the Rumpus room, I was in our dorm room, trying to fix and clean my laptop keyboard. I've had this thing for a few years now, but lately it's been really started to act up on me. As I did my chore, I glanced over at my desk to see a box on it with my name on it. 

Setting my cleaning supplies down, I picked up the box and opened it, revealing my own Pro Gear. Perhaps this was fate telling me I should switch up and upgrade my gear?

After thinking about it long and hard, I closed my laptop and carried it out with me, finding my way to the back entrance of the dorms were the dumpsters were located. I took one last look at my laptop as I slowly began to place it inside the dumpster--

"The one-shot wonder, herself," A voice spoke up.

I looked over at the side stair well to see someone I didn't expect to see so soon. It was KingMing. He had black hair, wearing a black and white plaid shirt with a white t-shirt underneath, dark blue jeans, and black sneakers. He slid down the railing of the stairs, walking towards me. 

"We meet at last," he smiled.

"Hey, uh, KingMing," I greeted. 

"It's just Ming around here, MadDog," He corrected with a hearty chuckle. "I don't mean to pry, but uh-- are you okay?"

I raised my brow at the young male until I looked down at my laptop, quickly yanking it out of the dumpster. "Oh! I was just, uh, getting some air..."

He sighed, shaking his head with disbelief. "You were going to throw your gear out, weren't you?"

"I don't know..." I spoke with uncertainty. "Overwatch Academy is a lot different than I thought. Asus just kind of feels... out of place." 

"MadDog, look, who are you talking about here?" he asked me. "Your gear, or you?" I shrugged in reply as he pointed at my laptop, waving his hand forward at it. "May I?"

I nodded, handing him the laptop as I let him take a look at it. "Ah, old school Asus. Nice," he complimented. "Let me tell you something that I've always told myself. Fitting in at OWA is hard, but you can't be the best unless you be yourself. Okay?"

"Yeah, um, thanks for that," I thanked, tucking a lock of my hair behind my ear.

"Never forget that," He added. "Don't let anyone or anything break you." 

I slowly began to smile, crossing my arms. "You really mean that?"

"More than anything in the world," He answered. But not right before he lifted my laptop into the air, and then smashed it in half by slamming it against the rim of the dumpster! He chucked the other half of it to the side, a look of pure horror showed on my face. 

"Asus!" I screamed. 

"Too bad you're in my world now, MadDog!" Ming bellowed. "Don't you get it? I am OWA!" 

I watched in complete and utter betrayal as he turned his back on me, making his way back up the stairs. 

"Welcome to me!" He proclaimed.