“I’m very proud of all of you. Especially those that practiced amazing teamwork during this round. Good job.” Lisa clapped and the rest of the team followed. “I… hate to be the bearer of bad news, especially after such a great round.”
“What happened?” Reilly asked.
“There’s been an… issue. With the programming. There was a glitch— a real glitch— with the schedule, and… the next pair round’s not going to be tomorrow. It’s going to be today.”
“What?!” The elevator filled with outraged exclamations.
“At 4. So… we have about… 4 hours? Give or take…? And a half? Yeah. 4 hours and a half to practice. That should be enough.”
Everyone groaned, sharing the immense exhaustion. Even Rosalina was looking forward to retreating to her room and taking a long nap. She took off her helmet and massaged her neck.
“We know that…” Gina started, talking over the noisy team. “We know that all of you are tired, and believe us, so are we. But unfortunately, this is out of our hands. Just keep in mind that the other teams are in the same code. Everyone is equally tired and equally upset about this ‘issue’… in other words, we’re all upset that people didn’t do their jobs.”
Everyone murmured, discontented. Rosalina did take comfort in that everyone was equally thrown off by this.
Maybe she could take a supplement… she’d long since stopped using anything that constituted as ‘cheating’, but this would be an exception. No doubt their opponents would do the same.
“I suggest you take this Break period to rest,” said Lisa. “We’ll shorten our Review period for this round and cover anything we missed after the next one.”
The elevator opened and they entered the fighters’ lobby. The other teams spoke with agitated, tense tones, probably reacting to the news. Rosalina passed the HARP screens, hearing commentaries about the change in many Earth languages she knew.
“… is now scheduled at 4:00 PM today! Take note that that’s Earth time, PDT zone in the USA. We’re not sure what caused this sudden change…”
“… la segunda ronda de pareja ahora está programado a las 5 de la tarde hoy…”
“… раптова зміна розкладу. Наступний бій відбудеться завтра о 2:00 ночі. Багато хто буде не спати всю ніч, щоб побачити це…”
“What do you want to do?” Reilly asked her as they walked, his large hand grasping hers.
“I suppose we can train. We have another surprise to look forward to,” she replied.
“Rosa, I hardly see you this exhausted. I don’t think it’s advisable. We should rest, at least a little.”
“They shouldn’t be allowed to do this.”
“Do you want to go back to your quarter and take a good nap?”
“No, it’s fine. I’ll be too anxious to sleep. We can… no, I’m not hungry. Unless you’re hungry? We can eat.”
“I’m not.” He glanced at her. “We could… watch that… game of football you were raving about.”
She looked at him, a smile stretching across her face. “You want to watch American football?”
“I figure I could give it a go.”
She laughed. “Maybe you might like it better than soccer.”
“That’s football,” Reilly argued.
“No, no, what we’re going to watch; that’s football.”
“That’s American football. American and European football are two different things.”
Rosalina giggled. “Soccer,” she sang.
“Football,” he sang back. He stopped and lightly put his arms around her. She tiptoed a bit to combat his height.
“You should take some shrinking pills or something,” she muttered.
“Maybe I will.”
“You would do that for me?”
“… Yes.”
“You hesitated!” She pointed at him accusingly.
“No, I didn’t. Hesitation is longer.”
“No, you hesitated.” She giggled again, her nose brushing against his. “I get it, though. Giving up your height, as a Voraxian… quite a loss.”
He leaned in and kissed her. After a few moments, Rosalina opened her eyes and noticed some dirty looks from other people— mostly girls— in the hall. Her feet lowered.
“We should probably stop making out in front of everyone,” she whispered.
“Why? It’s none of their business,” Reilly retorted, resuming their pace. “If they don’t want to look, they don’t have to.”
“We’re an eyesore. If I saw Medley and Cheater like that, I wouldn’t want to look. Ew.”
“Speaking of whom… how’s the new friendship going?”
Her good mood diminished a bit. “I’d say it’s going good.”
“Have you talked?”
“Not a lot. We just see each other in the fights.”
“You should talk more with her.”
“I know. Maybe later.” She walked towards their wing. “Let’s go watch football now, yes?”
“Ah, yes, that oval ball that’s somehow a football, even though you carry it under your arm, therefore, it’s not a football.”
“You kick it!”
“Not constantly. And it’s so complicated. Football should be straightforward; just kick it in its goal and gain a point.”
The Break period went by as they watched a recorded football match in Rosalina’s room. The break was short, only a half-hour, but they had Lunch to extend it. At around 12:15, Rosalina started feeling hungry.
“You want to eat out or eat here?” she asked Reilly.
“We can eat out if you want.” He rose from the couch they were sitting on and stretched. “I’ve endured enough.”
She chuckled. “Admit it, you like it.”
“Eh.” He shrugged.
They went down to the immense food court in the Arena. There were more than one, but this one was the largest, holding masses of people. It was amazing how many could afford passes to this competition. Only so many of them were lucky friends and family members of fighters.
Rosalina wished her family could come over for the prelims. She wondered how it was going in Hajja’s prelims. She watched a few updates every now and then, but it was hard to make time in her packed schedule. She was too stressed to think about it now. She prayed hard for Cohen to make it through.
And she prayed for herself to make it through. As great as she was in fighting, the prelims had quite a few rounds left. She had to tone down the ‘teamwork’ part a bit for the next ones. She would only concentrate on the members of her group in the Team-Up rounds, no one else’s.
If she didn’t get on the planet team, she would never see her family.
“Hey, it’s your new friend.” Reilly nudged Rosalina and nodded at a table a few meters away. Calista was talking animatedly with her family, laughing. Her sister and parents were present, but her little brother wasn’t.
“I don’t know about the ‘friends’ part yet,” Rosalina said, picking at the last few morsels on her plate. She was full already.
“Well, how about you try it?”
“Reilly-” She gave him a look. “Not now, please? She’s with her family.”
“She’s leaving.” They watched as she stood with them, hugging them.
Rosalina sighed. “I don’t…”
“If not now, when? You can’t just rely on the rounds.”
She watched Calista leave the food court. Finally, she sighed, standing. “Alright.” She kissed him briefly and followed Calista. She caught up to her in a hallway leading back to the fighters’ lobby.
“Hey,” she said, feeling a bit awkward.
The Earthian girl turned, her emeralds showing surprise. “Oh… hey.” She smiled. “What’s up?”
“Not much. Mostly stress. You?”
“Pretty much the same.” Her fingers brushed through her thick nylon locks, making a small braid. “Have you had to do this? Sudden changes?”
“Not really…” Rosalina tried to remember. “Actually- yes, but not quite like this. They moved a match up earlier in my first Versus. But that was it. This is much worse.”
Calista groaned, undoing her braid. “I’m not looking forward to this.”
“Everyone’s tired. We just need a supplement and we’ll be fine.”
“We won’t get caught, right?”
Rosalina rolled her eyes. “You’re such a goody-two-shoes.”
“I’m just saying! People hate me enough already.”
“Everyone will be using that. Trust me. Enough fighters use them in regular fights.”
The human girl scoffed. “And then they say I cheated.”
“Yeah, there’s a lot of hypocrites around here.” She paused. She needed to talk about something else if she wanted to be… well, friends. Guilt rose within her as she asked, “So… is your sister planning to be a fighter, too?”
“No, she’s into Augmented Design. She never wanted to go to the academy,” Calista said. “She could still get a job here, though. She’s great.”
“And your brother?”
“That kid? Pssh. He’s uber-lazy. He’s as slow as wi-fi and goes into sleep mode 24/7. He’s worse than me.”
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Rosalina ignored the Socializer lingo. “Well, my brother used to be like that. Now he is a fighter.”
“Really? You have a brother?”
“Yes. Cohen. He’s my only brother. He is… 20 in Earthian years. So… he’s grown. I haven’t seen him in a long time. He is in the prelims over on Hajja; I’m hoping to see him in the real Versus if we get in.”
“How long has it been?”
“18… sorry, nine years.”
“Nine? Why?”
“I’m… sure you’re aware of my record.”
Calista’s curious smile faltered a bit. “Oh… yeah. Still not sure how that works.”
“Basically, I glitched up, got arrested here on Earth, pretty serious crime. It was either prison or the academy. I chose the latter. Once I complete Versus parole, I will be allowed back home. I’m allowed to contact my family, just not face-to-face. The only ‘loophole’ I have is if they attend the competition and I am participating, which will hopefully be the case this year.”
“I see…” Calista’s eyes regarded her thoughtfully. “That must be… pretty hard.”
“You get used to it. At least I can talk to them.”
An awkward pause. Calista’s fingers formed her braid again.
“Do any of your Socializer friends watch you fight?” Rosalina broke the silence.
Calista snorted, bursting out laughing. “God, no. They’d rather die. They probably just watch me to cache on me. I got kicked off the channel the minute they found out I applied. Now that I’m here, and I’ve gone through… a lot… I realized. I kept that part of me locked away for so long, like, in a shadow file. They really didn’t want me to be me.” It was possible Elizabeth was watching, but she hadn’t checked her channel lately.
“So you had one of those ‘it was right in front of me all along’ epiphanies?”
She laughed. “Yeah, basically.”
“You are full of cliches.”
“Excuse you.” They finally entered the fighters’ lobby.
“Seriously. Your next epiphany will be when you’re trying to find ‘the one’ for you, and then you realize, ‘he was right there all along’! And then you marry Harrison.”
Calista gave her a look. “Don’t.”
“Joke.” She chuckled. “It’s not too bad, though. It’s not uncommon for Student Coaches to like someone in their Guild that way. Like me and Reilly. He liked the way I fought and invited me. And… we just grew from there. But he did make me a Favorite before we were together.”
“How long have you been?”
“About… let’s see, in your time, it’s… I was in my… first year 3.” She counted on her long, sharp fingernails. “So… about six, seven years.”
“Wow.”
“Yeah, a while. It feels so weird. On Hajja, we would’ve been together 14 years.”
“Have you thought about… merging the code?”
“Of course. All the time. We talk about it, as if it’ll happen in a few days.” She smiled nostalgically. “But with my situation, it’s complicated.”
“Oh. Sorry, I didn’t mean to pry.”
“It’s fine.” Rosalina was actually surprised at how easily she’d opened up to her. The guilt rose again, but she swallowed it down firmly. “You are close with Harrison, though?”
“Yeah. He’s a great guy. He’s helped me a lot.” She smiled. “He can be a huge pain, though.”
“How so?”
“He’s so arrogant.”
“Oh, please. Everyone knows that. That smile of his.”
“I know! He drives me uber-crazy. I guess it’s to ‘motivate’ me, but he should be careful. I might let him go in the next round if he keeps it up.”
“I hear you. I love Reilly, but…” Rosalina blew out her cheeks.
“Married couple fights?”
“Practically. He does this thing when someone makes a mistake. He just stares at them, like…” She imitates an impassive, pitiful frown. “And then he just sighs and says, ‘Do it again’. It’s so demotivating. It’s funny when he does it to the others, but not to me.”
“He gives you that look?”
“He doesn’t like to be biased in training. Most of the time, I just want to blow his face up.”
Calista laughed, prompting her to laugh, too. Her skin actually got goosebumps. This girl really was easier to talk to than she thought.
“Oh, but it would be a shame. He’s… how do you say it? GP.”
“Yeah, he is. Not that I’m interested,” Calista said hastily.
“Nah, you have your own Prince… something. I’ve heard people talk of that show you like.”
“Prince Rainer from Astrana. I feel like you’d like it. It’s really good.”
Rosalina quirked a brow. “Over my dead body.” They laughed again, entering their wing. They walked to the training hall to prepare for the impending round.
===
Lílitha had been lying on her bed staring at the ceiling for an eternity. She was debating over and over in her head, telling herself to just get it over with and move on. But that other half, the half of fear, impeded her, telling her it was better to not do anything.
In the end, she triumphed over her fear half and finally rose up from the mattress. She took a deep breath. “AIDA… call my family. Please.”
“I do not have a call address for ‘my family’.”
She cursed, sighing. “Interplanetary call. Planet code ILA-7. Continental code bik-lah. Country code ree-met-be. House of Houdge, Rowan Zone, number 71.”
“I have saved your contact information. The main head of ‘House of Houdge’ is… Kelaria Houdge. Is this correct?”
“Yes.”
“Would you like to place a call to this household now?”
“Yes, please.”
“Calling… House of Houdge. Interplanetary call fees apply to Ilamiko.”
Seconds passed by. Anxiety grew. Why wasn’t she answering?
“Call has been forwarded. Would you like to leave a message?”
Of course she ignored it. Lílitha massaged her forehead. “Yeah, sure. Why not?”
“I don’t see any current reason to refuse to leave a message-”
“Rhetorical question, AIDA. Just… record me.”
“Very well.” A laser shone over her.
She swallowed, hesitantly smiling. “Hello… Mother. Um… I don’t know if Father is there. Or Trillioris. I… wanted to give you… an update.”
She felt so stupid sending this, but she was already speaking. She preferred to finish things she started.
“So… I don’t know if you’re watching the competition. It’s only the prelims, after all. It’s going very good. Uh… they moved a round today. It was supposed to be tomorrow, but it’s today now, so two rounds in a row. Whew. A lot of pressure.”
What was she saying? She sounded as incompetent as they said she was.
“Anyway. I wanted to let you know I am doing well. Very well, in fact. Hardly any beatings so far. And no, I am not avoiding any Legends. I did at first, but so was everyone. Doesn’t mean I’m a coward. It’s strategic.” Her fists balled. “I have eliminated some Legends. You can check the records.”
Her message had turned from nervous and meek to spiteful and resentful in a few seconds. This wasn’t what she wanted. She wasn’t even sure what she wanted.
“I just hope you bother to watch, at least after the prelims. I feel like… you would like what you see. It won’t be like last time. I know it won’t. And…” She swallowed a lump in her throat. “You can stop commenting about Calista. She’s actually a very sweet person, and she’s a skilled fighter. She has her moments, but she’s good. But I’m still very much advanced. My skill level is still superior. I have more experience, after all. I’ve even helped teach her. So that tells you why she’s made it as far as me.” That sounded arrogant, but it was… pretty much true. She did help in teaching her. “Okay. Hope you’re all well. And… after the Versus, I may finally… come for a visit. Bye. End message.”
“Message saved. Send to targeted address?”
She hesitated. “Yes.”
“Message sent.”
Lílitha didn’t like breaks. Whenever she rested, she would start thinking about all of them. Her parents, her brother, her cousins, all of their friends… all of them mocking her.
Suffering discrimination and condescension from other species was enough. She got irritated, but she could handle it. Their words didn’t define her.
But this was her species. Even worse, her family. None of them believed she would amount to anything in the Versus. They preferred a mediocre life, continuing their stupid business in their stupid little town.
Okay, maybe the business in itself wasn’t stupid. It was successful enough. But she didn’t want to be stuck there. No matter how hard she worked, they always laughed and compared her to the other fighters. They really didn’t want her there.
Well, too bad. She would be there as long as she could be. She was an adult. She could build a new life on Earth. Ilamikoans were a very small minority on this planet, but if that minority could make it, so could she, especially as a recognized Legend. Her feistiness was her spotlight.
She didn’t even need to reproduce or have a family. Ilamikoans worked differently when it came to procreation. Once women came of age, they had a choice to go to a Rebirth facility and choose an egg. When they touched the egg, their DNA would be implanted and the egg would change its appearance.
From then, the men would choose the egg they thought was the prettiest and touch it, giving their DNA and starting the growth process for the baby. After two months, it would be ready, and they would be assigned to a new home to raise it. The parents didn’t necessarily have to get along, as long as they provided the foundation and education needed for their child.
Lílitha’s family used to be close. Her parents got along well and even decided to have another child after her, believing they’d raised an exceptional girl. But after she told them her dream of being a fighter, everything changed.
She’d imagined following her career, then retiring and starting a family back on her planet. Maybe her children would become fighters.
No, she was fine without a family. She didn’t need to raise any child. She didn’t need to go back.
She didn’t need them. She didn’t need to see them…
A sharp sigh escaped her lips. She refused to shed a tear for them. They didn’t deserve to be missed. They could just continue with their tiny life without her, and she could live the dream as a Versus coach on Earth. She could make it alone. She did a lot alone.
A growl tore out of her throat and she threw a pillow across the room. It teleported right back to the capsule. She covered her face and did her best not to burst into tears.
As mean as they were, as hurtful as their words had been… she still wanted to see them. Her mother, especially. She missed her, even though she had prompted her to leave with some cruel parting words.
Lílitha definitely got her pride from her. She’d run away in the middle of the night without a word, yet her family never called her or looked for her. Maybe they already knew what she was doing and figured she’d come running home crying at any moment. They didn’t need to worry… or care.
She needed to train. This break was driving her crazy.
She left her room, heading to their training facilities. On her AIDA band, she contacted her partner to meet her there when she was free. At least one of them could enjoy a good rest before going back into hyper-stress.
She went to a map training room and practiced a few of the games. She started with the most commonly picked; Capture the Flag, Chutes and Ladders, Earthquake, Zap Tag. It was a good warm-up exercise for the more grueling games like Blind Mole or Kidnap. So far, the games had been quite complicated, except for that stupid Dance Freeze game.
At the end of the Lunch period, Lílitha was exhausted. Her partner would probably show up now for warm-ups. Damaris was a very good fighter and an excellent teammate, but Lílitha wished she didn’t slack off so much.
When she entered the communal training hall, she stopped, spotting Calista and Rosalina walking together. They laughed, Calista nudging the other woman’s arm. She then separated from her, going to Harrison while Rosalina joined Reilly.
That girl was getting way too familiar. What was the whole ‘friendship’ schtick for? There had to be something behind it. There always was. How could she suddenly have a change of heart and want to be friends with the human girl she hated so much?
It was a repeat, wasn’t it? Just like when Rosalina was Lílitha’s friend. They were best friends, almost inseparable. Now they wanted to kill each other.
“Lílitha, you coming?” Damaris approached her.
“Yeah, I’m coming.”
“I’m sorry I didn’t come earlier. I was just so tired.”
“You’re fine.” Her black eyes were fixed on Calista.
“Something wrong?”
“No, nothing. Just stressed… about the round.”
She nodded. “You and me both, girl.” She fiddled with her blond ponytail. “We can do that thing again, where I spin you around and you stretch your legs out to kick everyone. That was cool.”
“Depends on the game.”
During training, she pushed everything out of her mind; her family, her ability, Calista and Rosalina. That last subject lingered, though, reminding her constantly to talk to Hothead before the game started.
She soon found herself in the changing stations at 3:50, armor clasping around her short limbs. Her armor was customized with elastic metal, which adapted to any length she stretched her arms and legs to.
She sped up a bit when she saw Rosalina walking to the elevator with Reilly. She entered and rushed into the seat next to her, confusing the woman. Neither of them said a word. Damaris frowned questioningly, hesitantly sitting on Lílitha’s right.
With a little tweaking, she connected her helmet to Rosalina’s. “Can you hear me?”
“What do you want?” Rosalina snapped back.
“I saw you earlier.”
“What do you mean?”
“With Medley.”
“Okay? So?”
“I know what you’re doing.”
Rosalina glared at her. “What am I doing?”
“Don’t play coy with me, likata. Why else would you suddenly be all friendly with Calista?”
She scoffed. “I’m not as much of a glitch as you take me as.”
“Please. One minute, you hate the girl, the next, you’re best friends?”
“Oh, please- you are such an exaggerator. We are not best friends,” Rosalina defended. “You are so obsessed with me. I can be friends with whomever I want.”
“And you can stab whomever you want in the back.”
“Just go to cachebin, Houdge.”
“I know you. The way you’re so nice all of a sudden. You’re going to hack her over. You’re using her.”
“No, I am not. Just because you’re a miserable cailat with no friends except Cheater, because he takes pity on you, does not mean everyone else is the same. I’m just making a friend. Why should you care?”
Lílitha looked away, fuming. Rosalina smiled spitefully, nodding. “Ah. You’re ‘friends’ with her, too, huh? Didn’t you hate the girl?”
“I didn’t hate her. She was just annoying at first.”
“Well, same for me. I didn’t entirely hate her.”
“You were the one that tried to beat her up many times, not me.”
“Says the one who broke her nose.”
“That was an exam!”
“You’re just jealous.” She leaned down, smiling widely. “You finally decide to have a friend, and now that she’s talking to me, you’re all afraid that I’ll steal her. Isn’t it true?”
“Couldn’t be further. I’m just the kind of friend that is actually a friend. The kind that warns her friends to not mess with snakes.”
“Well, newsflash, glitch, Calista can decide who she makes friends with herself. If you’re going to be that possessive kind of friend, you should really look at yourself.”
Lílitha shook her head. “I don’t know what you’re up to, but the same trick won’t work twice. You’re pulling the same cache you pulled on me all those years ago.”
“You love to hold a grudge. That was, as you said, years ago. Get the glitch over it.”
“You get over it. You hate me over something you caused for yourself.”
Her suit started smoking, catching Reilly’s attention. “What’s going on?” he asked.
“Nothing, love,” Rosalina replied.
“Piranha, why are you sitting here?”
“Oh, I’m sorry, Clocker, I didn’t realize these seats were reserved,” Lílitha retorted.
He ignored her, rolling his eyes, and grasped Rosalina’s hand. “Don’t start anything with her, please.”
“I won’t.” Rosalina cast a furious glance at the little woman.
She didn’t say anything back, but she prayed she would find her in this round. Whether she eliminated her or not, she would give her a good beating.