He was so close.

There was the clock, ever-present, ever-taunting. Trying to distract him while he was trying to ignore it. Oh, the clock was important. The timer told him when the inputs would stop.

His muscles were tense now, so tense. Trying not to twitch, because every single motion needed to be important, needed to be exactly what it was. He had to be on top of it, needed to complete it all before the time destroyed all possibilities. He needed to watch, he needed to listen and he had to be one frame before-

Time ran out.

“Hah! Who’s the winner now?”

He shut his eyes and dropped the controller on his lap. Well, there went his title. He used to be so much better in brawls.