(A/N) 2/2/14 I updated this with less bold and more detail.

I also fixed my run-on sentences and most of the grammar issues.

I hope you enjoy!

Chapter 1

A New Hero Pt 1

Friday 3:10pm

Ray dashed down 5th Avenue looking for a place to hide. He ducked behind a trash bin in an alley to save time.

"Where'd that traitor go?!" a voice shouted from around the corner.

"Let's try this way!" another kid shouted as the football team passed up the alley and ran off into the distance.

'You'd think that a senior in high school wouldn't have to deal with this crap.' Ray thought to himself as he emerged from behind the bin.

Ray might've been a 6'1, 220lb wall, but when you're outnumbered by a group of people your size or bigger, you run if possible. Not that Ray was a scaredy cat, hell no! He just picks his battles wisely. But sometimes he sticks his neck out for people and that just might put him on the chopping block. Let's backtrack to prove my point.

10 minutes earlier

School had just let out and Ray was walking down the steps of his high school. He was looking for his friend Chad when he spots him being manhandled by the captain of the football team.

"Leave him alone, Dimitri!" Ray barked as he shoved the jerk off his friend.

"Leave traitor! This nerd here hasn't paid his fee for crossing my path." Dimitri replied in a snarky tone.

"Just because I quit the stupid ass football team doesn't make me a traitor and your path is trash!" Ray spat in defense.

"Don't make me drop the ball on you Ray! I will!" Dimitri spat back.

"That's low even for you!" Ray shouted as he stepped between his friend and his rival. Both Ray and Dimitri noticed the sparks flying off of Ray's hands and the frost clinging to Dimitri's.

"What's he talking about?" Chad inquired obviously confused.

Ray leaned in and whispered, "Just meet me in front of L.A. in 5 minutes. I'll buy you some time."

"You done whispering in your boyfriend's ear?" Dimitri taunted in a knowing way.

"He's not gay dude! Don't even joke about that!" Chad rebutted angrily.

"I did steal Anna from you last year and then dumped her the next day. Not that she liked you for your personality anyways." Ray joked as the sparks disappeared from around his knuckles.

"You said you'd never bring that up again! You're dead!" Dimitri swung at Ray but he ducked and swept his feet.

"Later 3rd string wannabee!" Ray joked as he took off down the street.

"After him!" Dimitri hollered as the team dashed after Ray as if he stole their money.

Now we're back where we started as Ray begins his trek to Litwak's. He finally gets there 5 minutes later and sees his friend leaning against the doorframe.

"Took you long enough!" Chad groaned sarcastically as Ray walked up.

"You know me! Fashionably late as always." Ray joked with a smirk.

"Come on. I want to get to Hero's Duty before the after school rush hits." Chad complained.

"OK dude! Chill man." Chad opened the double doors and shedded some light on the darkness that is Litwak's Arcade as he waltzed in with Ray in tow.

"It's open!" Chad squealed as he booked it for the game.

"Such a kid..." Ray chuckled to himself as he followed his friend but before he got there he heard a commotion at Fix-it Felix Jr. between two boys who looked about 10.

"It's my turn, jerkface!" one boy shouted.

"I had next, booger-breath!" the other boy shot back.

"What's going on here?" Ray asked as he arrived on the scene.

"His quarter dropped so I had next." the first boy explained.

"No it didn't! you flicked it off!" th second boy barked back.

"Is this true?" Ray asked the first boy.

"I don't know. Maybe it's a little true..." the first boy mumbled.

"Well this is how I see it. Either you let him go first, or Mr. Litwak hears about your foul play and unlike me, he might not give you a chance." Ray explained to the first boy with his arms crossed and a deep glare plain on his face.

"Ok. I'm sorry." the first boy said as he shook hands with the second boy and let him go first.

"Nice work, Ray." a voice from behind him spoke.

"Mr. Litwak?! How long have you been standing there?" Ray queried as he turned around.

"The whole time. You fixed that situation better than Felix would've. Nice." Litwak complimented.

"It was nothing. No need to thank me."

"Your too modest. There's gotta be a way to thank you." Litwak thought for a moment and suddenly got a bright idea. "Isn't your birthday tomorrow?"

"Yeah. I turn 18. Why do you ask?"

"How about I hire you on part-time and let you play for free tomorrow?"

Ray's jaw dropped at the offer.

"Are you sure?"

"I've been sure for 5 years. If any kid in here deserves this job it's you."

"Thanks Mr. Litwak!" Ray shouted as he hugged him tight.

"Need...to...breathe." Litwak groaned as Ray released him.

"Sorry."

"It's okay. Just be here tomorrow at 7:30am." Litwak waved Ray off as he headed towards his office.

"Chad! Guess what?!" Ray shouted as he approached his friend.

"What is it?! I've almost beat the game!" Chad replied as he gunned down a group of cy-bugs without looking at the screen.

"I just got a part-time job here! Isnt that great?!" Ray squealed as he grabbed the gun from his friend's hand and shot a cy-bug that had been on the screen since his arrival.

Chad was speechless and trying to calculate what just happened as Ray beat the game and got the Medal of Heroes.

"He just up and hired you?! Why?!" Chad shouted after 2 minutes of uninterrupted silence... or at least arcade silence.

"He hired me after I broke up a potential fight."

"That sounds like you. So when do you start?"

"Tomorrow."

"On your birthday?! Why would you work on your bday?!" Chad asked shock clear on his face.

"You act like I have anything better to do. My mom is in France doing God knows what and my older brother is on a cruise with his wife and my nephew. I don't even know where my other brother is."

Ray's mood almost immediately nose dived after he said that.

"You okay man?" Chad queried kind of concerned.

"It's nothing just meet me here around 9. I'm going home." Ray saluted his friend as he waltzed out of Litwak's and began the long trek home.

15 minutes later

'Home sweet home.' Ray thought to himself as he crashed on the couch.

"At least I have food." Ray stood up and grabbed a cold slice of pizza from the fridge.

"I'm going to bed. There's no reason to stay up anyway." Ray slowly walked upstairs and sat on the edge of his bed noshing on pizza and kicking his Converse off his feet.

After he finished the pizza he lied down on his matress. Sleep took him quickly afterwards.

Ray was walking down a white corridor. Pictures of different men and women graced the pearly walls, but underneath each photo one word was the same. "Codemaster"

As he continued to walk, he noticed a door at the end of the hallway. He sprinted for the door hoping for a change of scenery, but when he turned the knob, he found a white room with a single desk and two chairs in the center. He was kind of tired so he sat down in one of the chairs.

"So glad you could join me, Ray... We have much to talk about..." a voice said from behind him.

He turned in his seat to find a middle-aged man, maybe 45, with golden hair down to his shoulders and a futuristic brace on his left arm.

"How do you know my name?" Ray asked him a little freaked out.

"I know a lot of things, Ray. I even know your deepest darkest secret." the man replied as he took the seat opposite Ray.

"What do you want?" Ray asked suspicious of this man's motives.

"I want to give you a chance to save that which you love."

"Huh?"

"Let me rephrase that. A chance to save the arcade."

"The arcade? What's going on?" Ray queried a bit taken aback by the statement.

"I don't have time to explain now, but just know that the arcade games you play at Litwak's are not just games. And if you're ever stumped on what to do, let the code guide you and you shall be victorious. Now I believe you have a phone call." The room and the man faded as Ray's cellphone broke him from his trance.

Next chapter coming soon!

And the new content is really noticeable then too.

Preview: Ray ponders his dream as he works at the snack bar and wonders why he had it. He decides to let his friend use his free games while he patrols the arcade. At the end of the workday, Litwak decides to give him something extra for working on his birthday, but that present might not just be for Ray's benefit, but for the benefit of the arcade.