Never the Same - Team Crafted Stories (DISCONTINUED)

Part I Chapter 1: The Victor

A/N: Okay, here goes! This is my first story on Wattpad!

Mitch's POV

Maybe I should start by introducing myself. My name is Mitchell Hughes. I'm twenty years old, and I'm a part of Team Crafted. I have sandy brown hair, brown eyes, six feet one inch.

What is Team Crafted, you may ask? Well, I'm getting there. Stay put while I tell you about my extremely not-so-boring life.

I have one brother and two sisters - Connor, who's eleven, Kyleigh, who's sixteen, and Maria, who's twenty-two. I was born and raised in the small village of Montreal. Montreal's in the Quebec Forest, which covers the northwest end of the Canadian Taiga. It's beautiful there. Snowy pines, frozen lakes, snow-covered houses... makes me homesick just thinking about it.

For some reason - I don't know if it's real or not - I have memories of playing on a sandy beach with Maria, and a clear blue sky, and a different language. I think it's just my brain making up memories for me. I don't know if it's real; I've never even bothered asking. (A/N: he's remembering living in Barbados before he moved to the Canadian Taiga)

So where was I?

Oh yeah, telling you about me.

Montreal was near one of the biggest gaming hubs in the north of our Minecraft world - the Nexus. The Nexus is amazing. It has every single PvP game I could ever think of - Hunger Games, Battle Domes, Capture the Flag, Time Bomb, Race for Wool... oh, man, the memories we made! I grew up playing games at the Nexus with my little brother, Connor, and my friends, Mat, Rob, and Preston.

Mat and I have been neighbors and friends for as long as I can remember. We always did everything together, exploring the woods, playing in the snow, pranking our friends. I met Rob at school. He and Mat were the popular kids, and together they changed me from a shy, quiet person to who I am now - loud, outspoken, wild, and daring. We met Preston during a Battledome game at the Nexus. He was team captain, and he chose the three of us for his team against four other boys I didn't know. Apparently, Preston knew those boys, and it was a rivalry match. It was Preston, Mat, Rob, and me against the four boys who I now know as Noah, Vikk, Pete, and Choco. We got to know each other better by playing together, and eventually, the four of us became the top-ranked four player Battledome team of the Nexus.

The Nexus is also where I met my best friend Jerome.

We were in a Hunger Games together. I was nine years old. Jerome and I were competing against older, more experienced players at the Nexus Annual Reigonal Hunger Games Tournament. I can remember at the time, not knowing all the big fancy words, just knowing that it was a big competition and I really wanted to win, even though I knew it was gonna be hard.

Mat, Rob, and Preston were with us too, just in different games. Rob and Preston had gotten knocked out already, and Mat somehow won a game. I was the only one who hadn't played yet. This was my game. Unfortunately, I was lucky enough to get placed into a game with thirteen to sixteen year olds who knew what they were doing. Just great.

The map was the Colosseum, one of the classic maps on the Nexus. I got nothing good at spawn, just a rotten flesh. I spent about half of the first day wandering around the edges of the map, looking for chests. I didn't find any. I ate my rotten flesh about midmorning, which made my hunger much worse. I needed food, fast. I was half dead, starving, and with no weapon. If anyone found me, I was dead.

I was going to the in-game shop to buy food when a gang tried to kill me. Lucky for me, Jerome was there to save my life. He killed two of the gang, and sent the third one running for his life. All on his own, I might add.

We looked at each other and seemed to come to a silent agreement. He had nearly full iron, and a stone axe. I remember being confused about that. Why would he use an axe when a sword was clearly a better weapon? I had nothing, so I couldn't take him on even if I tried. He kept a lookout for other people while I sorted through the dead people's loots. We didn't say a single word to each other. I got a stone sword, good armor, plenty of food, and other useful items like TNT, eggs, slowballs, a fishing rod, and stuff like that. I also got two iron ingots, five sticks, and a diamond. And it was almost nighttime. So while Jerome wasn't looking, I snuck away to the spawn, at the center of the Colosseum. I realized I still didn't know his name. Nighttime came, and the chests refilled. I got myself more food, full iron armor, and two more diamonds. Perfect. Everything I needed.

I couldn't craft my new sword at spawn. The crafting bench was at the top of a really tall flag that I couldn't reach, and it would take too long. I decided to go to the little village, where the blacksmith's house was. I knew there was a crafting bench there, and it was much safer.

I made my diamond sword and ran outside to see a fight going down. Jerome was being mobbed by five or six older guys, and they were shouting mean things about him. Just because he was a bacca. He saved my life earlier, so shouldn't I do the same now?

I charged into the fight and killed three of the guys, one of which was the guy Jerome chased off me earlier. The other two ran. Again, they're flacid. I held my sword out in a "team" gesture, and Jerome understood the message. Forced deathmatch was beginning in two minutes. As far as we knew, there were still the two flacid guys who ran away, another team of two, and one guy riding solo. We were the youngest, and had the least chance of winning.

So we teamed for the deathmatch. We spawned into the arena, and Jerome and I ran to a higher tier of the Colosseum. We - actually, I - had fun sniping the people down below us. Jerome watched my back, and we laughed together as I shot down the other players. I took out the guy riding solo, and one of the flacid guys from earlier. It was the first time ever in a Hunger Games that I wasn't scared that I would die. I was confident, because I had a skilled and trustworthy teammate. The other flacid guy died at the hands of the other team.

It was me and Jerome against them. It was pretty hard, but somehow, Jerome and I won. Now I felt bad about teaming with him. I had to kill him.

(A/N: Cue the Hunger Games Song! I wrote this part while listening to it)

He called for a fair fight - fistfight, with only our iron chestplates and helmets. We fought, then he pulled out his diamond axe. He threw it at me. I dodged it, and swung it back around, throwing it back in his face.

He disappeared, and I was left alone, as the winner of the Hunger Games. I went on to finish in seventh in the finals of the Nexus Annual Regional Hunger Games. Jerome and I talked afterward, and that was the beginning of a beautiful friendship.

If you want to know how I met the rest of Team Crafted... well, that's another long story.

So that's the first part of the story: Mitch's life and how he met Jerome. Do you like it?

~Anna