"Hey, have you seen Valentina?"

Odebode sat next to Cyrus, who was casually eating some buttered toast.

"She's more than likely having her weekly extra hours. I wouldn't worry about it." Cyrus replied calmly.

"Extra hours?" Odebode asked.

"The life of a Nova is filled with many physically draining activities. So Valentina typically spends an extra hour in bed once a week to balance out an otherwise shoddy sleep schedule."

"Oh, for real?" Odebode asked, taking a bite out of his sugary cereal. "Then that's cool, I guess."

"Oh, is Valentina not with you guys?" Vanessa asked.

"Did you not see her?" Cyrus asked. "You two are roommates, right?"

"Well, I-I didn't do anything to her, before you ask!" She yelled. "She just wasn't in our room when she woke up, so I thought she was with you."

"Now that you mention it, the place seems way smaller." Odebode said, looking around the room. "There are twelve people left, right?"

"Correct." Cyrus added. "Amber, Andrei, Me, Eric, Micah, You, Silvia, Ulrich, Valentina, Vanessa, Wendy, and Yun-Yeong."

"Okay, because Amber, Valentina, and Ulrich aren't here." Odebode replied slowly, shifting his eyes around.

Cyrus quickly finished his toast in a few quick bites, downed the glass of water he had next to him, and rushed towards the door, which quickly slammed down. Cyrus took a deep breath which came out shaky, then typed a message to Valentina asking where she was.

"Yo, what's happening here?" Silvia asked.

"Nothing to be concerned about." Leonie announced over the loudspeaker. "And also, Cyrus. Three people are gone, but I can confirm that two of them are completely fine."

"Which two?" Cyrus yelled, protruding white spikes out of the end of his knuckles, rapidly punching the door with all the might he could muster.

"Alright, alright. Gimme a sec really quick." Leonie said, trying to stifle a chuckle.

The door opened, and Leonie stood in front of it in a dazzling red dress lined with gemstones, her one exposed shoulder smugly attached to the hand holding her hip.

"If you want to know where the two of them are, then come to NeoBunny stadium."

The nine of them followed her daintily prance her way to the stadium, while Odebode stood in front of Cyrus.

"You doing okay, man?" Odebode asked, afraid of what would answer.

"Valentina wouldn't let herself die. It'll all be fine."

"So…somebody died." Yun-Yeong said to Eric. "Any idea who it was?"

"Beats me." Eric answered slowly, adjusting his collar. "If it was Valentina, that would kinda suck. But other than that I don't really give a shit."

"Wait, you like Valentina?" Yun asked. "I thought you hated the Novas."

"Oh, I fucking do." Eric replied quickly. "But exceptions to every rule, you feel me?"

"Ah, got it." Yun-Yeong nodded.

"If I may interject." Micah asked politely, appearing behind Yun-Yeong like the world's most annoying ghost.

"Fuck off, Micah." Eric sighed. Wendy landed an enraged foot into his stomach, which caused him to stop advancing slightly.

"No, no. trust me, this is important." Micah gasped. "Remember my theory that Ulrich was the traitor?"

"Yeah. What's your point?" Yun-Yeong snapped quickly.

"Well, think about it. The traitor and two of the most powerful players in the game. This is clearly some weird inside scheme that Ulrich proposed. He more than likely faked his death and is free to roam outside the game, setting up a scenario like Huang against Wendy to kill one of the most influential players, and leave the rest of us running around with no direction."

"Can I join?" Silvia asked. "I think Micah's right." She shivered as she said that. "Like, what the fuck happened to make all three of them disappear at the same time? No other real answer other than someone there being in on it."

"Okay, stop the chattering!" Leonie yelled with a frantic turn around. All conversation ceased, and Leonie calmly opened the door, while the rest of them entered.

Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

"Hey, where's the other one?" Eric asked.

"Oh, Kalea?" Leonie asked merrily, closing the door. "She's under the weather. Lady sickness, you know how it is."

"You get time off for that?" Silvia whispered to herself, watching as Leonie walked in front of the door the obstacle course challenge.

"Now, I'm guessing no one here heard the commotion in the hallways last night?" Leonie started. "Anyone? Anyone?"

"What happened last night?" Cyrus asked quickly.

"Well, Kalea went through the hallways patrolling the area. It's just kinda something we do. When Ulrich, Amber, and Valentina all got together and attacked her with the intent to kill! We saw the footage, it was wild!"

"Show us the footage!" Cyrus screamed. "Why would Valentina work with Amber, of all people!? Show us the footage!"

"One of the smilers broke the monitor." Leonie shrugged with a smug grin. "But I memorized it, and it was insane. But anyway, all three of them broke a major rule, and Ulrich was killed in the event. Should have mentioned that sooner, actually. Damn lady sickness, preventing Kalea from writing scripts!"

"Okay, so where are Valentina and Amber?" Odebode asked calmly, standing in front of Cyrus to prevent any more incidents.

"Well, the 'attacking the hosts' rule carries two major variants, provoked and unprovoked. Provoked attack, like what Kapil did in the hotel, you lose a limb. Unprovoked, like with the triple threat, and you just die."

"So…they're dead?" Vanessa asked, her legs shaking.

"Well, three executions in one day is slightly excessive, considering the whole season worth of sponsors we got ready. And killing both also means no final ten, and you can see why we're doing what we're doing."

"What? What are you doing?" Cyrus asked. Odebode gestured to Eric, who wrapped his torso in a lasso of water, and gave a nod back.

"The nine of you can rest tight!" Leonie announced, finally getting to the point. "For todays challenge is Amber against Valentina, in a fight to the death! So sit tight, get some drinks, and watch the chaos unfold!"

Amber sat in the near empty room she was thrown in. It was a room inside the stadium, judging by the eye-bleeding pink and black colour scheme of the place. But aside her and her thoughts, it was just a bed, an admittedly nice TV, and a table with three water bottles haphazardly strewn about, alongside a fruit bowl and a bowl of airy potato chips. She lay on the bed, thinking about what exactly the challenge was. Another stadium game, wasn't that a bit repetitive? Then again, they had just done another explore the town challenge, so it was possible.

She got a message on her watch, with a message from Valentina. Everyone else was greyed out.

'Turn on the TV.'

With nothing else to do, she did as was asked, turning on the TV, and seeing Valentina's face on it.

"Can you hear me?" She asked calmly.

"Yeah, I can." Amber replied.

"Okay, so we can speak to each other, cool. Did you read the challenge brief?" She asked.

"No, I'll do that now." Amber sighed, opening up her watch, clicking on today's challenge. It was two simple words.

'Kill Valentina.'

"Wait, what? It says…"

"That you have to kill me, yes." Valentina sighed. "It says I have to kill you in my brief."

"But...what did we even do?" Amber asked putting her hand through her hair. "We got knocked out by Kalea, and then woke up here! And now we're being asked to kill each other?!"

"This might be hard to take…but I think we were set up. Nobody else besides us or Ulrich were in the area, and he helped to knock us out and lead us here. Both of us are fairly notorious, so getting one of us to kill the other makes for both good television and assures that at least one person running Nova will be killed off."

"But why would Ulrich do that?" Amber asked. "He didn't seem like he was hiding anything!"

"He was the mole." Valentina sighed. "Only real answer."

"But…Micah said he was the mole." Amber answered.

"I don't think the mole is allowed to mention that, though. Could be wrong."

"I…I…That little!" Amber yelled.

"I regret to say that you were tricked." Valentina said slowly. "But anyway, about the fight we have to do…"

"I'm not doing it." Amber interrupted. "You're too good of a person to kill."

"Amber, if one of us doesn't die, it's likely that it'll just be put to a vote."

"Let them vote, then! Seems fairer then getting framed and stabbed, anyway."

"Amber, listen to me!" Valentina yelled. Amber did as she instructed, looking Valentina in the eyes.

"One of us has to die, and it's going to be me. End of discussion."

"I'm sorry, what?" Amber asked. "You're just giving up?"

"I don't want to give up, but letting you survive makes more sense for the sake of Nova as a whole."

"Excuse me?" Amber asked. "You seem like a good person. You seem like you could fix Nova City!"

"It'd be a lot of work." Valentina sighed. "I'm willing to put it in, but the whole place is rotten. It's too stale. If you have a fruit bowl with only one good fruit, you throw the whole thing out. Honestly, what this place might need is the destruction of everything."

"So what, you want me to do it?" Amber asked. "How do I pull that off, exactly?"

"It's not that. You run a criminal organization, and while I don't condone that, I know your absence has probably created a power vacuum of people desperate for more power. Outside of the District Building, it's probably a bloodbath. One you could fix."

"I…I see." Amber sighed, looking at the floor. "But you don't just deserve to die! Look, you are going to fight as if you want to kill me! Because you do! There's something in you that wants to live!"

"Look, this isn't up for debate!" Valentina yelled out, panting.

Amber removed her eyepatch, throwing it aside. "My weak point is here." She said calmly, pointing to the hole where her eye should be.

"Excuuuusssse me, ladies." Leonie's voice said, causing Amber to scream something incoherent.

"Lovely to see you two." Leonie replied calmly. "Anyway, the doors are open, and the two lovely guards will escort you to the battlegrounds. Take some food if you need it, and most importantly, have fun!"

"Listen, Amber. Don't do anything stupid." Valentina replied, shutting off the TV.

Amber heard a knock on the door, and when she opened it, there were two armoured guards in front of her.

"Alright, let's go." She commanded quietly.

"Do you not need food?" One of the guards asked.

"Nah, I'm allergic to bananas." She replied with a hand wave.

The guard checked the fruit bowl, which didn't have any bananas.

"We're allowed to delay a small bit to get you some food." The other guard added.

"I'm not even hungry, anyway." It was a lie, but it was also a handicap. She wanted to survive, definitely. But killing someone who didn't deserve it was scummy. She was led by the guards into the hallway that led into the arena, where they stopped.

"Best of luck, miss." One of them said politely.

"Best of luck to you too." Amber nodded, walking out into the arena. No signs of smilers. Seemed like this was a pure test of might. The only others were the other nine participants sitting at the arena.

"And here we have it." Leonie yelled out. "One of the next generations of Nova's, and the leader of a deadly crime group. Who will come out on top? Get ready for this one-on-one rumble, everybody!"