The Garage Squad: Where the Chaos Begins

The late spring sun slanted through the cracked garage window, painting golden stripes over piles of empty instant noodle cups, crumpled *Star Guardians* posters, and a half-eaten bag of cheese puffs sitting on the workbench. The air smelled like fried oil from last night’s takeout, old plastic from worn-out game controllers, and the sharp, citrusy scent of the orange soda the four 10-year-olds had chugged ten minutes prior.

Xiao Ming hunched over the creaky wooden desk, his custom *Star Guardians* controller’s AB keys worn so smooth they were almost shiny. “Okay, last ranked match of the day, guys. If we win this, we hit Platinum rank, no more Bronze scrubs.” His voice was loud, excited, the kind of loud only a kid who’s spent three hours straight yelling into a headset can have.

Next to him, Xiao Hong adjusted her round glasses and tapped the strawberry sticker on her support character’s skill bar. Her mouse was a hand-me-down from her older cousin, the scroll wheel sticky from years of use, but she knew every cooldown time for every support skill in the game by heart. “I’ll stick to Xiao Li this time, okay? Last match I tried to help Xiao Gang and he died anyway.” Her voice was soft, the kind that got lost in the chaos of team fights.

Xiao Gang, who was sitting on an overturned bucket, grunted. His custom mouse pad had a faded *Star Guardians* team logo in the corner, the edges frayed from him dragging it across the desk every time he played top laner. “I can handle myself. Just don’t leave the ADC alone again, Xiao Li. You chased that enemy jungler all the way to their base last match and left our ADC to get ganked by three people.” His voice was steady, the steady of a kid who never got flustered, even when his character was on 10% health and two enemy players were charging at him.

Xiao Li, who was leaning against the wall picking at the wrapper of her chocolate energy bar, rolled her eyes so hard her whole head tilted. “The ADC was AFK! He was standing in the middle of the lane doing nothing! I would’ve gotten a kill if you two had come to help instead of arguing about minions.” Her keyboard was a loud blue switch model, the keys clacking so loud the neighbors had complained twice before, and her mid laner character’s skin was the limited edition fire one she’d saved three months of allowance to buy.

They’d been playing together like this for six months, ever since Xiao Ming’s family moved into the house next to the community center and his parents let him turn the garage into a gaming den. They played after school, on weekends, even on rainy days when they couldn’t go outside to ride bikes. They thought they were good. Better than good, even. They’d won dozens of casual matches against random online players, they’d beaten all their classmates who played *Star Guardians*, and Xiao Ming was convinced he was the best jungler in the whole fifth grade.

The Tournament That Went Horribly Wrong

It was Xiao Hong who saw the poster first, taped to the fridge in Xiao Ming’s kitchen when they went to get more soda. It was bright neon pink and blue, with a giant picture of the *Star Guardians* championship trophy and bold red letters: YOUTH AMATEUR *STAR GUARDIANS* TOURNAMENT – THIS SATURDAY AT THE COMMUNITY CENTER – FREE ENTRY – PRIZES INCLUDE LIMITED EDITION GAMING BUNDLE + $100 GIFT CARD FOR GAMES!

“Are you kidding me?” Xiao Li’s eyes went wide, the wrapper of her energy ball crumpling in her hand. “We have to sign up. That limited edition controller is exactly the one I’ve been begging my mom to get me for my birthday.”

Xiao Ming leaned in, reading the small print at the bottom. “No age limit, 5v5 teams, sign up today. Perfect. We’ll enter, we’ll win first place, and I’ll get that new gaming chair I’ve been wanting too.” He grabbed a pen from the workbench and scribbled their team name on the registration form he’d pulled off the fridge: Phoenix Squad. “Phoenixes rise from the ashes, right? We’re gonna rise and crush all the other teams.”

Xiao Gang nodded, already pulling up the tournament rules on his tablet. “The matches are best of three, first team to win two games moves on. Easy. We play casual matches all the time, we’ve got this.”

Xiao Hong bit her lip. “What if we lose?” she asked quietly.

Xiao Li snickered. “We’re not gonna lose, Hong. Look at us. We’re the best fifth grade team in the whole district. Those other teams are probably just a bunch of kids who play once a week. We play every day.”

They didn’t practice for the tournament. They didn’t talk about strategy, or practice team fights, or even watch videos of professional matches to learn new tricks. They just kept playing their usual ranked matches, yelling at each other when someone messed up, and telling each other they were gonna win the tournament no problem.

Saturday came faster than they expected. The community center gym was buzzing with kids, most of them wearing matching team jerseys with their team names printed on the back, carrying extra controllers and water bottles and snack packs. The Phoenix Squad walked in wearing their regular school uniforms, Xiao Ming carrying his controller in a beat-up plastic case, Xiao Li shoving a pack of gum in her pocket.

Their first round opponents were the Tiger Kings, three sixth graders and one seventh grader who were all wearing matching black and orange jerseys, and a guy who looked like he was in high school standing off to the side with a clipboard. “That’s their coach,” Xiao Gang whispered, nudging Xiao Ming. “They’re pros.”

“Pfft, coaches are for losers,” Xiao Li said, rolling her eyes. “We don’t need a coach. We’ve got each other.”

The first match started five minutes later. Xiao Ming picked his favorite jungler character, the one with the fire sword that could dash across the whole map. “I’m gonna gank mid first,” he said into his headset, but he didn’t press the button to send the signal to his team. He snuck through the jungle toward the enemy mid lane, but the enemy jungler was already waiting there, hidden in the bush. Xiao Ming walked right into the trap, and before he could even press his dash button, he was dead. First blood, Tiger Kings.

“What the hell, Xiao Ming!” Xiao Li yelled, her character dying two seconds later when the enemy jungler came to gank her too. “You didn’t even signal me! I had full health, I could’ve killed him!”

“I thought you’d see me coming!” Xiao Ming yelled back, his face already hot. “Just play safe!”

The rest of the match was a disaster. Xiao Gang’s top laner got ganked three times, because the enemy top laner kept luring him away from his tower. Xiao Hong’s support character ran out of mana halfway through the second team fight, because she’d been spamming her heal skill the whole time instead of saving it for when it was needed. The Tiger Kings’ team fought like a well-oiled machine, their skills comboed perfectly, their coach yelling instructions from the sidelines, and they won the first match in 12 minutes flat.

The second and third matches were even worse. The Phoenix Squad couldn’t coordinate anything. Xiao Li kept charging into fights alone and dying before anyone could help her. Xiao Hong kept healing the wrong person, or healing too late. Xiao Gang kept staying in lane too long even when three enemy players were coming to gank him. Xiao Ming kept making bad calls, telling them to push a tower when they were all low on health. By the end of the third match, the score was 32 to 4 in the Tiger Kings’ favor, and the whole gym was laughing at them.

Xiao Ming’s face was so red he thought it might burst. Xiao Hong was staring at her shoes, her eyes shiny with tears she was trying not to let fall. Xiao Gang’s fists were clenched so tight his nails were cutting into his palms. Xiao Li’s hands were shaking so bad she could barely hold her controller.

When the match ended, she slammed her controller down on the desk so hard the whole table shook. “I’m done,” she sai