You don’t need to be physically strong to win a fight. You just need to be smart, and patient, and honest with all the things you can and cannot do at the moment…

I thought about the advice I’d given to Sophie back when I’d helped her escape those monsters. Every now and again, she’d sulk about the fact that she had been too weak to save her parents. I tried to encourage her to be realistic about her abilities, to understand that she couldn’t take on a fight she wasn’t prepared for. The same scenario applied here, right now, as I was being transported to the arena.

Despite how many times I’d dreamed of this very moment, I had to be realistic about it. My team and I were year ones. We were going against year two and year three hunters. I’d tell my team that we’d win—it was what kept us motivated. In the same light, I couldn’t beat myself up if we lost, either. We had to understand that the guys out there were stronger than us. They had time to train, to build their stats, and to sharpen their talents. Not only were we year ones, we’d only been official hunters for a few weeks.

The goal was to try our hardest, but at the same time, we had to set expectations. We also needed to understand our disadvantages and work around them. To play smart, to play patient. They were expecting us to lose. So we’d let their hubris get the better of them.

The rift was as fast as Pachi said it’d be. In a flash, we were in the arena, dropped off in one of the spawn points. I held my breath as soon as it all hit me at once—the big timer ring in the clear blue sky, the hovering seats over our heads filled with supporters and spectators, and the overwhelming sensation of actually being a contestant in the Hunter Games….

Holy shit, we made it….

The crowd continued to cheer and shout for the new season, anxious for the games to start. I looked around me like I was seeing this spectacle for the first time, my adrenaline pumping fire in my veins. As my head turned, my smile widened. Their shouting ‘Hunter Games’ was like fuel I didn’t know I needed. I turned to Reina who looked just as enchanted as I did with her mouth hung low as she took everything in.

“Here we are!” Pachi exclaimed. “Pretty sweet, huh?”

“It’s amazing!” Ash tweeted, skipping around the field with her hands stretched wide. “All of these people are watching us! I feel like a real celebrity on the big stage!”

I pulled out my phone and called my mom. It didn’t even ring once before she picked up, her high-pitched squealing making me peel the phone from my ear.

“My nugget, you made it!” she cried, and I could hear Sophie in the background screaming her head off.

I chuckled. “I could barely hear you with all of this noise. I planned on calling earlier, but I was rushing out.”

“I’m so proud of you, Nero!” her voice shook.

“I love you, Mom,” I said, ignoring the lump in my throat. “I’m going to win this one for you and Sophie.”

“Love you more, my sweet boy,” she sniffled. “We’ll be watching you, honey.”

“NERO, YOU BETTER WIN!” Sophie shouted, her voice blasted in my ear. She giggled. “I know you can! Because you're a badass like that!”

I laughed. “I’m glad you have so much faith in me.”

“Remember what you told me, Nero?”

“I was just thinking about it earlier. I didn’t forget.”

Her voice softened. “I’m always counting on you… isn’t that silly? One day, I’ll make it up to you.”

“You already have. You owe me nothing, Sophie.”

“I will always support you. You got this….”

“Just in case, I’m gonna need the both of you to put your hands in the air and lend me your energy.”

“Hey Nero, it’s time,” Naomi called out, and I turned back to my folks. “All right, I have to head out now. Talk to you when the round is over.”

Mom blew me a good luck kiss, and we hung up. I took a deep breath to relax my nerves. It was now game time, and Pachi pulled out a bag where we were supposed to dump all of our things in.

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“I wonder where you stash all of our stuff,” I whispered to myself, the furball looking up to wink at me.

“Don’t worry. Once the round is over, you’ll be getting all of your things back. We want no distractions, and no cheating.”

“Please don’t break my phone,” Reina huffed. “I paid good money for it!”

“You mean your dad paid good money for it,” Naomi challenged.

“His money is my money. You’d know that if you were rich,” Reina slammed back.

“Are we going to make it easy on the other teams and fight each other?” I asked them, before our ride stood between us.

“Would be pretty nutty if you did!” He chuckled. “I’m a sucker for drama. But, we have to start the show. And this spot here is Beta 1’s spawn point,” he clarified. “I will make a short drop to your point. Felix, Ashley, and Gunther. Please, follow me. And to you three,” he turned to us, “good luck!”

“May the best hunter win, Nero!” Felix said, saluting me, before the four of them vanished, leaving me and the girls alone. I stood in front of them and set the grounds for their bickering. “All right. We need to set a few things straight. We—”

“I cannot let him win!” Reina growled, balling up her fists. “After that stunt he pulled, I don’t even want him in second place!”

“Then the both of you are going to have to make up,” I said, referring to Reina and Naomi. “If not, you’ll weaken our chances of winning. Reina, you said you wanted this money bad, so start showing me how badly you want it. And Naomi…” I turned to her. “I get that you don’t really care if you win or lose, but you do care if I win or lose. You promised to help me get to the top, well, winning this tournament will bring me one step closer to the leaderboard’s top ten. We can squabble and fight and diss each other after the round. Right now, we need to stay focused on the mission. Deal?”

Naomi shrugged. “Whatever….”

“Let’s get on with it,” Reina huffed, and on cue, I heard Molly Melody’s voice.

Over our heads, a large glowing disc descended. It stopped in the middle of the timer ring, and all of a sudden, a holographic screen about 50 inches wide popped up to the right of Reina. She shirked, startled by it, but then I realized that this was our angle to see what was up above, the popular and perky Hunter Game icon on that same screen.

“Oh, our hostess has arrived,” Reina said, clasping her hands together. “I always did love her energy!”

Naomi rolled her eyes. Perky and loud—I bet hanging around Molly would be hell for her.

“ARE YOU RRREEEAAAADYYYY!?!” she shouted through her microphone, arena music suddenly firing off. It was time for the opening ceremony, where Molly would hype up the crowd and introduce the players before explaining the game. The camera panned over to the crowd, where we got to see them up close. There were so many people up there who paid to be part of our experience, and it was breathtaking….

“You guys sure do sound ready! Welcome to the 160th season of the Hunter Games!” she shouted, trailing her last syllable. She sounded like a wrestling host, and I could see why she was a fan favorite. “I’m your host, Molly! And oh boy, do we have a great game for you today! So without further ado, let’s meet our contestants!” she yelled again, and the camera panned over to a line of three players. “Let’s give it up for Team Lynx!” The tournament teams would be listed off in order of rank, which meant that Felix’s team and my team would be listed last. Year threes would get the spotlight first, and then year twos. Not so strange enough, Felix’s team and my team were the only year ones who entered this season.

Team Lynx was big, like, physically big. There was a girl there by the name of Elissa the Hammer, clearly a hand selected fame name, who was as big as a bodybuilder in his prime. Team Lynx, which was the name they were given for this tournament, also had Mirkov, a smart looking guy in a white lab suit, and Bella, a rabbit girl with a big mallet about three times her size over her shoulder.

I’d never seen them before until today, but they were year threes. It then dawned on me that they could have been from another country, Elissa confirming that when she started talking to the crowd with a microphone they spawned for her.

“Our title will not be tarnished!” she shouted in a proud German accent. “We are the top hunters in the motherland, and we will reign supreme in this competition!”

Deutschland! Deutschland!

Deutschland! Deutschland!

A few sections of the crowd cheered, pumping Elissa up. Mirkov and Bella let her do all of the talking, before Molly introduced the next team, Team Hawk.

For every team was a name of a predator type—lynx, and now hawk. And these characters definitely had hawk energy.

The crowd roared, and the camera focused on Bram, who was the leader of Team Hawk, and then Yoleeha, the siren, and Sift, the gravity expert. Bram had a stern look on his face, not a lick of fear in his eyes. His team was just as composed as he was. They all looked like they were ready to kill, and just by looking at them I could tell that they were going to do everything possible to win this tournament.

Again, only year threes and twos had privilege around here. Team Hawk was given a microphone, but Bram didn’t say anything. Even after Molly suggested they speak to their fans. Nothing.

Served with cold stares, the crowd’s energy began tapering down. The looks on their faces confused, and some, afraid. Until Molly spoke for them and said, “Team Hawk is a team recently arrived from the west Netherlands,” Molly continued. “They have shown their dedication to Hunter Corp, earning their spot here through sheer talent and strategy! Let’s see if they can make it through the Hunter Games!”

“We can, and we will,” Bram said with a stoic and eerie look on his face, speaking coldly into the microphone. “Which is more than I could say about the two low ranked teams who entered this tournament.”

My chest tanked.

He looked directly into the camera like he was staring right into my soul. “Take the time before the round starts to say your prayers, because you’ll need it.”