After training started, any chance of relaxation went out the window. Without Tarzan, training was a little bit better, but many were still a bit whiny about their team. Calista still couldn’t help noticing the drastic improvement from yesterday.
During Lunch, she sat with Harrison and Lílitha, going over the potential plans and games they would play. It became sort of fun; Harrison would ask them questions like, “The game is Wipeout Tower. What are your roles?”, then, “What if x competitor is eliminated?”, or, “What if you’re surrounded?” Calista felt a bit more confident that she would be able to perform well, even in a group.
At 1:50, everyone headed to the elevators. Team USA had 41 members left as of now. They definitely wouldn’t take the majority of the planet team, like Fistborn used to, but they needed a good number of fighters to keep their reputation.
Once they were on the arena, Calista noticed how much shorter the anthem ceremony was compared to the beginning. France and Germany got eliminated in the Battleship round. It was a bit eerie, how countries were taken off the list every day. Calista always felt the weight of the United States on her shoulders, but now she really felt it— whatever they did would reflect on the entire country’s capability in the Games and in their military.
The wheel spun. ‘PRISON TRAIN’.
Prison Train? The teams were split in half for that game. She glanced at Harrison, but his sapphires were trained on the barrier.
For this game, they would be fighting on running Sky-Trains. Half their team would be ‘prisoners’ on an enemy team’s train. The other half would work to ‘rescue’ their comrades while guarding their own ‘prisoners’. The team’s leader would always be on the rescuing side, but the co-leader had a 50/50 chance at either side.
The crowd’s feet counted down to 0 and the teams shot forward. Calista closed her eyes and crossed her fingers, waiting until she was on solid ground.
When she opened them, she didn’t see any of her teammates. Instead, she was in a narrow box with nothing but a barred window looking outside. Frustrated, she grunted, stomping her foot. “Are you kidding me?!” Of course they put her in the train.
So much for being more useful this time around.
===
Harrison landed in the locomotive of Team 3’s train with five others. “Okay, we practiced this,” he said. “Find our teammates, get them out, guard our train.”
“Yes, Cheater.”
“Good. Orthos, Eriiin, get to the controls and find the other train. Do what you can to hack into the prison cars.” The two ran to the locomotive. “Piranha, Calis…” Realizing the girl’s absence, he looked around, then groaned in realization. “Oh, come on.”
“Looks like someone’s a damsel in distress,” Geija commented.
Ignoring her, Harrison got back into focus. “Okay, whatever. Freezer, damage control. The rest of you, with me. We’re grabbing our teammates. Everyone understand?”
“Yes.”
“Good.”
There were no protests or complaints. Calista, Charlotte, Ghost, Hammerhead, Damaris, and Alka were all ‘prisoners’. They just needed to get them on their train and guard whoever they had.
“They’re on Team 2’s train,” Eriiin informed them through their earpieces.
“What Team 2?”
“Our Team 2. USA.”
“What?” They got pit against Disaris’s team? Out of over 50 teams, it had to be them? Who did they have on their train?
“Guys, there’s UK fighters in our train cars,” said Freezer.
There was the answer. The UK only had one team left, so they needed to prepare for a strong attack. They wouldn’t go down easily.
“Orthos, Eriiin, and Freezer, you guys guard our prisoners. Eriiin, you got Waterski’s train location?”
“Yup, two trains away. You’ll need to cross one of Ireland’s to get there.” In his visor, a screen appeared, showing a colored X-ray of the Team 2 train. He could see Calista and everyone waiting inside their cars, visibly grumpy.
“Let’s get moving.” Lílitha and Geija followed Harrison to the teleporter, which placed them on their train’s roof. Besides the locomotive, there were 16 other cars on their train; one being the caboose. The English team would probably try to get in through there. “Freezer, guard the caboose!”
“On it,” she replied through their earpieces.
From afar, they could see Disaris Okione’s train. Four fighters were guarding the prisoners. Two were on the roof, patrolling, and two guarded the locomotive and caboose. Harrison recognized Camelithia on the roof, accompanied by a Paesearthian.
“Basic rescue,” Harrison told them. “We want to start off without showing any cards. Piranha, you and I fight the guards on the roof. Geija, when I get one of the cars open, you come over and get whoever is inside. You’ll be our runner.”
The girl didn’t seem pleased, but thankfully didn’t complain. Lílitha was normally the fastest, but she was more capable of holding off Dropkick than either of the other two.
“When we cross Ireland’s train, they’re going to engage. Don’t focus on them or fight back unless they’re directly interfering. If you can get them to kick out one of the Team 2 fighters, that would be great.”
Using their jump boosts, Harrison and Lílitha launched to the other train. One of the fighters exclaimed, spotting them. They immediately bounced to the American train, hoping Ireland would open fire and distract their opponents.
Orthos cursed. “Brits are here! Freezer, where are you?!”
“Busy,” she said coolly through sounds of struggle.
“I’m still here, I’ll help!” said Geija.
Meanwhile, the Paesearthian fighter spotted Harrison’s trio, alerting Camelithia. The Seeyastian smiled at the sight of them. “Hey, guys!” She then paused. “Don’t tell me you guys are the ones-?” She looked through the one-way mirror on one of the cars. “Hey, Cali! Where are you?”
“Cam?!” the girl exclaimed from under Harrison’s feet.
Taking advantage of her distraction, Lílitha launched forward and attacked Camelithia. Harrison quickly turned and blocked the Paesearthian’s attack; he read the name ‘Gus Toro’ on his helmet.
Since he was in range, Calista was able to talk to him. “So I just sit here until you get me out, huh?” she asked.
“Not necessarily,” Harrison told her, ducking under a kick. “If you generate enough momentum, you can shake the car. Just don’t do it while I’m on it.” He punched at his opponent. “Jupiter, start heat boots, 2,000 degrees.” The bottoms of his boots started heating to 2,000 degrees Fahrenheit.
“How exactly are you going to open the cars without entering the train?” Camelithia inquired, attempting a spinning kick at Lílitha’s torso. The woman bent back like rubber, stretching so she could miss.
“You didn’t know there’s other ways to open them?” Harrison smiled at her and scanned the next car over. Brocato was leaning against the wall, waiting patiently. “Hey, Hammerhead, brace yourself!”
He flipped over Gus like a gymnast, increasing the boost. He launched himself in the air and increased the gravity force. His boots were almost at the requested heat.
Gus, realizing his plan, quickly ran out of the way. Harrison smashed through the car ceiling and landed on Hammerhead. His feet flew in the air, the boots cooling.
“Ow! What the bugs, Cheater!” Hammerhead breathed in, recovering from the blow.
“Sorry. Geija, get over here!” Both men climbed out of the damaged prisoner car. Looking up, Harrison saw a hulking, huge Mercurian running towards them with his head down.
“OH, GLITCH!”
Vyctor ‘Bull’ Audwin slammed into Hammerhead just as Geija arrived to fetch him. Gus threw himself onto her back and pinned her down. “Ow! Get off!”
Before Harrison could help her, Bull charged again and hit him, launching him across the cars. He stuck to one of the cars with his gloves, saving himself.
“Freezer, we need help!” he heard Eriiin yell. Out of the three left to guard their train, only Bella had experience in a prior competition. But Harrison needed Lílitha to help rescue the fighters, and as team leader, he couldn’t stay back and guard.
Up ahead, he noticed one of the cars shaking violently back and forth. Gus Toro, who stood on top, stuck to the ceiling so he wouldn’t fall. Geija took the chance to try and kick him off.
A sudden blast exploded the roof off the car, sending both Geija and Gus in the air. Lílitha stretched her arm and grabbed Geija while Gus fell into elimination. Charlotte blasted out of the car, a blast gauntlet around her arm.
Impressed, Harrison raised his brows. “Hope you don’t mind me copying you, Charlotte,” he said. “Jupiter, do me a favor?”
Their Pets only had three uses for the entire preliminary competition, lasting about 10 minutes for each use. Most fighters saved them until these last rounds to show them off. Pets were more commonly used after the Chaos Rounds in the interplanetaries.
Jupiter obediently detached from Harrison’s belt and flew to Charlotte, briefly tapping her charged gauntlet to copy the code. He then charged himself and soared in the air before plunging into the train car’s roof.
“Hey, that’s cheating!” Camelithia yelled, now in a struggle with Hammerhead.
“What’s my name?” Harrison replied with a smirk. If they were going to name him ‘Cheater’, he would own it. No more shame.
“Bugs! Orthos just got eliminated!” Eriiin yelled, a blue glow emanating from their train. “There’s a bunch of Puerto Rican fighters crossing our train, and they keep shooting at us!”
There were, in fact, Puerto Rican fighters on Ireland’s train, probably freeing their teammates. Some laser shots and fire streams shot out from the train, nearly hitting some of Harrison’s team.
He reached down and helped Ghost out of her car. “Geija, get them home!”
“I got them!” Geija pushed Hammerhead to go first, then Charlotte, and finally, Ghost, who turned invisible when she passed Ireland’s train. Geija then crossed after them.
Harrison ran to Lílitha, who was slammed into a damaged prison car by Bull. He grabbed onto Bull’s head and wrapped his arms around his face to block his vision. The Mercurian jerked back and forth, trying to shake him off. Lasers flew over them from the next train.
“What the bugs are you doing?” Camelithia exclaimed, climbing up the side of the car, apparently having been thrown off.
Lílitha fused her hands together and shot them at Vyctor’s stomach. He dropped to his knees, the air taken out of him. Dropkick ran over and tackled Harrison, pinning him on the roof, and raised her fist for a punch.
The train suddenly turned on its side. Both Harrison and Camelithia screamed, attaching to the wall. The train floated unsteadily, barely staying on its holo-rail.
“Tearjerker! What are you doing?!” Camelithia called her teammate. She paused, listening, and huffed. “Lucky for you, Harrison. Alka Betina got out of her cell and is- WAH!” The train turned over again, this time on its other side.
Below them, they heard screaming. Both looked underneath and saw a pair of legs dangling out of a hole in the car wall.
“What are you doing?!” Harrison exclaimed.
“Escaping!”
===
Calista impatiently tapped her foot. She’d tried kicking the walls and cutting the window open, but to no avail. The box was weapon-proof. She would just have to wait until Harrison and the others came to free them all.
“So who else is on the train?” she said through her earpiece.
“Me,” Charlotte said.
“Me,” Blair sighed.
“I figured I’d be here,” Damaris answered.
“I didn’t!” Alka whined. “Why couldn’t they put Piranha in here?”
Brocato imitated her and laughed. “They should call you ‘Whiner’.”
“Shut it, Hammerhead.”
“Is there any way to get out?”
“Not until they get here,” said Blair. “I tried morphing my arms through the bars, but I can’t get through.”
“They do it so you don’t start the fight before your teammates try to rescue you,” said Hammerhead.
“What’s taking them so long?” Calista wondered impatiently.
They heard something land on the roof above them. “Dropkick!” someone shouted.
Dropkick? No way.
“Hey, guys!” Camelithia’s unmistakable voice rang out. “Don’t tell me you guys are the ones-? Hey, Cali! Where are you?”
“Cam?!” she exclaimed. Instead of an answer, she heard grunts and yells of battle. She connected to Harrison’s earpiece. “So I just sit here until you get me out, huh?” she asked.
“Not necessarily. If you generate enough momentum, you can shake the car. Just don’t do it while I’m on it.”
“Shake the car?” she said, disconnecting. “What does that do?”
“So which team has us?” Hammerhead asked.
“We’re on Waterski’s train,” said Ghost. “Disaris’s team. Who would’ve thought we’d be pitted against them?”
“Of all teams…” Damaris sighed. “I wanted to get on Ireland’s! There was a really cute guy I wanted to fight.”
A long pause. “Really, Damaris?” said Alka.
“What? He was cute.”
“Humans.”
“What do you mean, ‘humans’? You were crushing on a Ukrainian guy yesterday,” Charlotte replied.
“No, I wasn’t!”
“I heard you talking with Geija in the lobby.”
“Blasted,” Damaris commented, chuckling at the Mercumartian’s embarrassment.
“How exactly are you going to open the cars without entering the train?” Camelithia said above them.
“You didn’t know there’s other ways to open them?”
Calista cocked her head. What did he mean by that? From what she learned, rescuers needed to enter the train through either the locomotive or the caboose. Destroying the train increased chances of eliminating their own teammates.
Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.
“That gives me an idea,” Alka commented.
“Hey, Hammerhead, brace yourself!” After a few seconds, an impact shook the entire train.
“Ow! What the bugs, Cheater!”
“Sorry. Geija, get over here!”
“Lindsay, can I… do something?” Calista asked her Pet.
“You can use me,” she suggested. “Weapons aren’t allowed, but Pets are. Remember, you can only use me three times. Save some of my moves for tomorrow.”
“What do I-?”
“OH, GLITCH!” Calista heard a huge BANG!
“Bull’s out,” Ghost announced. “I’m next to the caboose, so I could see him.”
“Who’s Bull?” asked Damaris.
“He charges. Like a bull.”
“That’s uber-lame,” Calista remarked.
“Freezer, we need help!” Eriiin yelled, probably from their home train. If they could escape and get there, they could help.
“Lindsay, give me an overview of your weapons,” Calista commanded.
“I can’t use my weapons, exactly. You can use me. Like, me-myself.”
“How?”
“That’s up to you. I programmed myself according to your style.”
Calista sighed. “I can’t remember that crazy interface of- whoa!” The cars started wobbling, followed by a blast. “What was that?”
“Charlotte used her Pet!” Hammerhead said, struggling. “That’s admittedly cool.”
“What is?”
“Hope you don’t mind me copying you, Charlotte. Jupiter, do me a favor?” Harrison said.
“Okay. Lindsay, show me your interface.” In her visor, Calista saw a vast array of commands and transformations, some of which were not fully available yet. She didn’t want to show anything impressive so quickly.
“Bugs! Orthos just got eliminated!” she heard Eriiin yell.
She cursed. She had to hurry. She spotted one called ‘Musical Lasers’. “What’s that one?” she asked.
“Oh, you’ll love it. In fact… I think I can melt the wall, but it’ll take a bit. You can climb out,” Lindsay told her.
“Do it.”
Music suddenly played and Lindsay detached, flashing in all sorts of rainbow colors. She rhythmically flew along the wall, tracing the edges, which started to melt away. Calista couldn’t help swaying her hips to the Z2Z song. Above them, they could hear growing chaos.
“I’m out!” Alka announced to the other prisoners.
“What? How?” said Damaris.
“My Pet. You guys should try using them now; it’s the second to last round.”
“I’m hearing music next to me… Calista, what are you doing?”
“Escaping,” Calista answered her. Lindsay finished melting the edges of the wall. With a powerful yell, Calista side-kicked the wall off. “I’m out now!” She went to the open hole, carefully balancing herself, and looked for a way to climb up.
The train suddenly rolled onto its side, forcing Calista back in her car. She yelped as she fell and landed on the opposite wall. “Lindsay?!”
“I don’t know!” The blue-red sphere hovered above her.
“Tearjerker! What are you doing?!” she heard Camelithia yell.
“Alka, where are you?” said Damaris.
“A bit busy at the locomotive!” she yelled. The train then turned over again on its other side. Calista screamed and attached her gloves to the car in time, leaving her dangling through the hole she made.
Camelithia and Harrison’s heads popped under the wall. “What are you doing?!” Harrison exclaimed.
“Escaping!” She kicked her legs and tried to climb back inside.
“Oh, my God! What did I do?!” Damaris yelled in their earpieces.
“What is it?” Harrison asked her.
“My Pet’s about to-” An explosion rang out and the train turned back upright. Calista fell on her face.
“Alka Betina has eliminated Emerson ‘Tearjerker’ McCannon with assistance from Damaris Delario!”
Harrison jumped down to the hole. “Come on.” He took Calista’s hand and helped her climb to the ceiling.
“About glitching time,” she said, huffing. “I waited in there for a while.”
“Doing our best here.”
“Don’t start complaining now!” Lílitha yelled. She glared at Harrison as she struggled against Bull. “A little help here?!”
Damaris suddenly landed on the hulking fighter, crushing him. The impact made him dizzy as he stood. From the Irish train, a laser shot got him off-balance, sending him falling from the train.
“Geija, we’re sending more over!” Lílitha yelled.
“Good! We’ve lost two prisoners so far!” she answered from their train.
“Not bad.”
“Better than us,” said Cam. She smiled at Calista. “I’m letting you go, Cali, but that’s it.”
“Why would you?” Disaris landed on the caboose, approaching them. Following him were about seven other fighters from Team 2.
“Oh, great.”
“You were lucky Korea’s train was so far away from here,” Disaris said with a smile. “You had plenty of time. Yet, five of you are here instead of assisting the rest of your teammates on your train.”
“What’s the delay?” Geija asked. “Two more have gone free!”
“I’ve got them,” Freezer replied calmly.
“Let’s get out of here!” said Lílitha. Instantly, Delaine Evistroma and two other fighters flipped over the group, landing on the other side to surround the four members of Team 3.
“Sorry. You’re going to have to accept defeat.”
They all stood back-to-back, frustrated. They took far too long to escape.
“Brocato ‘Hammerhead’ Piline has been kicked off his train by Christine ‘Strangler’ Dixon!”
“Guys, we need help here!” Eriiin yelled.
They suddenly entered a tunnel. Calista looked around at the darkness, panicked as passing lights flashed over them. “What is this?”
“Last five minutes of the round. Seems that our work will be easy,” said a Hajjian fighter, cracking his knuckles. Calista’s helmet identified him as ‘Hellhound’. She shuddered at the name.
“Bring it on, Waterski,” Harrison growled out.
As was the game’s purpose, chaos ensued. Calista was fighting a red-skinned Seeyastian one minute, then an Earthian man the next. Harrison was focused on Disaris, being forced along the length of the train until they reached the nearly-disintegrated car Damaris had exploded.
Lindsay assisted by wrapping sashes around Calista’s opponents’ throats and throwing them off the train. They managed to save themselves, but it was a good distraction.
Calista turned, ready to fight the next enemy, but stopped. Belinda looked back at her, her fists up. Both stood awkwardly.
“Hey, Bel,” she said.
“Hey, Cali.”
Alka suddenly appeared, tackling Belinda. She glared up at Calista. “What do you think this is, a playdate?” Below her, Belinda managed to slip out of her grip and somehow get behind her, kicking her harshly. Alka crashed into Calista, who fell towards the edge of the speeding train. Lindsay caught her with a sash and pulled her to the ceiling.
“Calista, time’s up,” she said, retracting back into her belt.
Harrison’s Pet also deactivated. “Are you guys doing okay? Because we’ll be here a while!” Harrison grunted as Disaris punched him in the gut.
“Ghost helped out a lot, so we’re fine! We can’t get to you until the tunnel clears!” Eriiin grunted, then yelled angrily.
“Impressive! Eriiin Samuels just kicked Lucita Valle into the void!”
The tunnel cleared, now showing individual bridges. Their train was now pretty far. It would be hard to reach their home train.
“We’re going to have to keep this train running if we want to make it,” said Alka, struggling against Belinda. “So, no bombs.”
“There’s a 20-second window at the end of the round,” Camelithia told them. She was fighting Damaris. “The trains get real close. Remember?”
“Whose side are you on?!” the other Seeyastian on her team yelled. She had dyed black hair and heavy makeup on her face, which made her look pretty scary.
“I’m just telling them the odds. Most likely, they don’t stand a chance. It’s demotivation. No need to get your numbers in a twist.”
Calista hid a smirk, then yelped as she ducked under someone’s strike. Beatrice Bustamante was in front of her. “How are you?”
“Good.” Calista dodged a punch and started fighting back.
“It’s good you made it so far. I would usually leave you alone, but…”
“Yeah, I know.”
They heard a loud scraping noise in the distance. Looking over, they saw strange blue arches forming across the gaps between the trains, then breaking into pieces.
“Is that…”
Bella ‘Freezer’ Yosta landed on the train with an icy blast. The force eliminated one of the Earthian girls from Team 2. “Need some help?”
“A little!” Lílitha, who fought Minx, was only fighting with one arm. Her other arm had slackened, probably snapped by her opponent.
Bella released a stream of ice, sending the opponents flying, but not eliminating them just yet. Hellhound countered with his fire, protecting his opponents— excluding Beatrice and Belinda, who were nearly blasted away.
The tunnel surrounded them yet again. Calista’s visor counted down from 1 minute 25 seconds. They were cutting it very close.
Harrison performed a judo throw and heaved Disaris’s large weight towards the destroyed car. Disaris grabbed Harrison’s arm, bringing him down with him.
“Harrison!” Calista spun around gracefully, kicking Beatrice in the face, and ran to her teammate.
“Calista, what are you doing?!” Lilitha yelled. She and Freezer were still fighting the third-ranking Student Coach.
Calista crouched at the edge, sticking herself to the roof with her boots, and reached down to help. “Come on, Cheater!” To her surprise, Disaris was dangling from Harrison’s legs, a long, thin blade stuck to his arm. Its shape was like… a waterski.
Really?
Calista pulled Harrison up along with Disaris, who swiped his ski at them both. Harrison was never exactly ‘friends’ with the second-ranked student, but they weren’t like him and Reilly. This was the first time he’d seen him so hostile, even in fighting.
“Bet your last digits that I won’t get beaten by the two of you!” the Voraxmartian man yelled, swiping his blade at them. They moved backwards towards the rest of the fighters. “I’ve been a fighter for… thirteen years! And I am not giving it up for a couple of human underdogs!”
“What the actual glitch, Disaris!” Harrison blocked another harsh attack. He knew Disaris’s opinion of him was much like everyone else’s, but to this extent? Maybe he didn’t expect them to free all their teammates so quickly.
Calista brought out her sashes to counter his attacks. Disaris chuckled at her pitifully. “What are you going to do? A dance-off?”
An explosion released once again. At the center, Damaris had activated a weapon, her glove glowing in orange. “Stop… calling me… BLONDIE!” she shrieked, attacking the gothic Seeyastian girl.
“Isn’t that an overreaction?” Alka commented, once again disoriented when Belinda appeared behind her and punched her.
Disaris was growing more and more frustrated, his attacks getting more reckless. This allowed for more openings, giving Harrison chances to strike. Every hit made the Voraxmartian angrier, like a Hajjian would be.
“Waterski, would you quit getting bugged off and help us?!” Delaine yelled.
“I’m busy, Minx!” he yelled back.
“You’re wasting-” Minx cried out when Freezer shot ice at her nose.
“One minute left!” Lindsay reminded Calista. “Just 40 seconds and you guys can escape!”
Both teams were determined. No eliminations occurred on their train, or on Team 3’s home train. Evidently, the rest of the team was doing a good job holding off Britain. With Ghost on the other side, they would probably be okay.
Calista slashed her sashes like whips. The soft, silky strips hardened whenever they made contact with an opponent, delivering sharp stings. She stood on her pointes and dodged attacks, her feet working nimbly.
The tunnel ended. The trains were close together. “Go, go, go!” Harrison yelled.
Damaris punched Hellhound in the face before leaping to the other train, followed by Alka, who nearly kicked Belinda off the train. Camelithia hurried to help the girl. Freezer followed Alka, then Calista went. Ireland’s fighters took notice, but they didn’t bother trying to take them down. Puerto Rico’s fighters leapt over Team 3’s train, hurrying back to their own train.
Harrison turned to leap off, but Disaris caught his leg, causing them both to fall and cling onto Ireland’s train. Calista looked back, already on her home train. The two Student Coaches started fighting on the other train’s roof.
“Cheater!” Calista threw her sashes forward so Harrison could grab them. Disaris shot a tether after him with gritted teeth.
Freezer shot a stream of ice at the Voraxmartian. The ice stretched across the Irish train, surrounding Disaris like a glove. The tether changed course, avoiding Harrison, but it grabbed onto Bella’s outstretched hand.
While Harrison landed safely on his train, the Klausian girl was yanked off her train, smashing into the frozen Student Coach. Both fell into the void.
“Oh, a sacrificial elimination! Bella ‘Freezer’ Yosta and Disaris ‘Waterski’ Okione are out of the games! What a blow to Team USA!”
The trains screeched to a halt. The force sent the fighters to the floor. Calista kept a firm grip on Harrison’s hand, waiting until the train stopped completely.
The round was over now… and they were three members down. But this time, their team wouldn’t be the ‘shameful’ one at Review.
===
When they entered the elevator, to their surprise, the rest of Team USA applauded. They paused in the doorway, confused.
“We could see your train from above,” Reilly explained. “That was quite a plan. Much more exciting than finding a code.”
“Whose plan was that, may I ask?” Rosalina followed.
Lílitha stretched her arm up so she could point down at Harrison’s head. He chuckled modestly. “It was just an idea. Everyone did their part.”
“Harrison, for once, don’t be so modest,” Lílitha told him.
“It’s true, though. You guys should clap for them.” He pointed at the three eliminated members of their team. “Freezer jumped on the other team’s train for us. She’s out of the games. All of them did awesome. And Ghost.” He touched Blair’s shoulder. “She did a lot.”
“Alright, then.” Reilly started clapping, followed by the others. The four in question acted modest, but it was clear they liked the acknowledgement.
“It’s weird that everyone’s so nice to us,” Calista whispered to Lílitha as they took their seats.
“They’re only clapping because Reilly told them to,” Lílitha snickered.
“Oh.”
“Yeah.”
“Nice to see everyone getting along… for once,” Lisa commented from the corner. The elevator started ascending. “All of you did amazing in this game. We’ve very proud of you.”
Some whoops erupted and they applauded again.
“Let’s have another round of applause for our eliminated members. You’ve come very far in this tournament.” They clapped again. “Now… tomorrow’s the last preliminary round. While I encourage the rest of you to train as hard as you can, I also encourage you to rest up and preserve your energy. The day we return to the academy, you’ll have a day off, then— for those of you who will be on the Earth team— we’ll start with light training and increase the workload every day.”
Calista got chills down her spine. Tomorrow was her defining moment. If she got eliminated, that was it for the year. She’d have to wait four more years for another chance.
So many Legends and experienced fighters on their team were eliminated, even though they made the team the previous year. Some Student Coaches were eliminated during this game. What about tomorrow’s game?
Then, if she got on the team, another hurdle. What if she got eliminated at the very beginning, like she almost was before? Just like Lílitha was last time?
They entered the fighters’ lobby, which was full of reporters, as usual. They would constantly crowd around the big, famous Legends and their coaches with their Pets, asking for comments and how they executed an impressive move in the game.
The only time anyone came up to Calista was when that small Socializer reporter asked for an interview. And a few snotty, conceited reporters from the big leagues would ask her stuff like, “Did Cheater teach you to run and hide?”, or, “Have you considered returning to your Socializing career?” in the earlier rounds. Harrison always steered her away, advising her to decline any comment.
This time, however, it was different. A good amount of reporters approached Team USA. While many flocked to Reilly’s team, like any other day, a few came up to Harrison, repeating his call sign. Some called for Lílitha, as well.
Harrison himself seemed quite surprised. He most likely got bad press whenever he interacted with journalists. “One at a time, folks,” he chuckled.
“Mr. Smith,” a newswoman addressed.
“Cheater is fine.”
“Cheater, that was an impressive display during the round. Your team was the only one using a non-traditional method to stop their train. In your recording, one of your teammates reportedly broke the brake lever. Is that true?”
Damaris shyly hid behind the others.
“Yes, it’s true. One of those rookie mistakes. Could’ve happened to anyone. But really, if the lever hadn’t broken, we would’ve stopped the train, and… it would’ve been kind of anticlimactic. Clearly, you guys enjoyed seeing that, uh… method.”
“What about your eliminated teammates?” a male reporter asked. “Do you think your teammate’s ‘mistake’ was what caused their run in the Games to end?”
What a cache-head, Calista thought, shooting him a dirty look.
As Harrison opened his mouth to answer, Freezer stepped in. “Mistake or not, we probably would’ve still done what we did,” she said. “It was fun. We’ll just try again next Versus. And honestly? I’ve always wanted to do that. Jump on an enemy… vehicle of some sort. This was the perfect chance. So, no, we’re not about to blame our teammate for our eliminations, unfortunately for you.” Her cold demeanor and detached tone seemed to frighten the reporter, causing him to shrink back.
“Cheater, how did you come up with this method?” someone else asked.
“I didn’t really ‘come up’ with it; it’s been done before. Just not that frequently. This game doesn’t come up that frequently to begin with. I just remembered it from a couple Versuses I watched way back. It was risky, but it worked, and we had the perfect set of fighters to do it.” He motioned to everyone else. Calista smiled. “Not to diminish anyone else’s efforts, but my teammate Blair ‘Ghost’ Bruning expended a lot of effort to help stop the train.” He gave her a fist-bump.
Another reporter interviewed Blair while the others continued. “What do you think are your chances of surviving the last round tomorrow?”
“I never think about the chances. The more you think about it, the less you have. We’ve got a great team. Whoever comes out, comes out.”
“You think your Favorites will make it on the planet team?” an Emitonian woman asked, her pupils expanding.
“That’s up to them. But I think they will.” He smiled at Calista and Lílitha.
“I’m confident.” Lílitha flashed a fanged smile.
The reporters looked at Calista. “With so many rumors and speculations about you, Miss Medley, you’re still willing to go into the interplanetaries?”
“I think… it’s made me work harder. The more cache people say about me, the more I want to prove them wrong. Because they are wrong.” She found herself smiling, a confidence bursting within her like never before. “So… do me a favor, girlies… and gentlemen. Talk me up all you want. Say the meanest things on your mind. You’re only gonna help me. Hey, if you’re mean enough, I might actually get on the team! So thank you in advance!”
The others smirked, some snickering at the reporters’ reactions. They started towards their wing for their Review session. At the entrance, they heard screaming, followed by a bunch of fans running in.
“Oh-my-God, it’s Harrison Smith!” a girl squealed.
“Oh, no.” Lílitha’s shoulders sagged, her face filling with irritation. “Who let the crazies in?”
They came running up to their group. Lílitha groaned, rolling her eyes, and turned to leave. Harrison caught her arm, giving her a ‘come on’ look. She only rolled her eyes again.
“Hi!” the leader of the clique said, skidding to a stop in front of them. “Um, we’re reporters— new reporters. Um… it’s for our channel. We’re sorry. Can we just ask a couple of questions?”
“Sure you can,” Harrison said, eliciting a groan from the Ilamikoan woman. Damaris gave her a nudge.
“Okay. Wow! Um… how’d you guys… do what you did? Like, when the lever broke. Wasn’t there a backup?” The lead girl’s Pet floated next to her.
“Yeah, but there were only a few minutes left, and by the time we found it…” Harrison shrugged.
“This was a lot more fun,” Calista added. Everyone else agreed.
“Calista!” a different girl exclaimed. She covered her mouth sheepishly. “That was loud, sorry,” she whispered. “Um… you did so good. Like… the part where you were blinding people on the other train, with the lasers? That was uber-smart. Stellar idea.”
Lílitha was lightly twitching at the Socializer lingo. Secretly, Damaris took out her Pet to record her.
“Thank you!”
“And Ghost, you were amazing! Turning your feet into an anvil? So. On. Topic.”
“Um, sorry to interrupt, but we have a Review period to get to,” Bella interjected.
“OH-MY-GOD, Freezer!” A Paesearthian girl pushed herself to the front. “You’re one of my favorite fighters! My cousin’s half-Voraxian, and one of his other cousins is half-Klausian, and he’s gonna apply to Fistborn next Versus! He’s a huge fan of yours. And me! And lots of us.”
“Thanks.” Freezer nodded, but her cold expression made it impossible to tell if she was annoyed or flattered. The girl seemed to expect it, however, and she was satisfied with the response.
“Anyways… um… we just wanted to say congrats,” said the leader. “And that we love you. All of you. And Calista, we don’t believe a word of what the SociaLights were saying. Ezerelle used to be a fan of your channel.” She pointed behind her at a Seeyastearthian girl with green hair like Alka’s. “She’s not anymore. We never really realized what glitches they were until you started at the Versus.”
“And we used to think it was a horrible war game, too, but now that we actually saw it, it’s actually really fun,” said the girl, Ezerelle. “You guys are really awesome! You work so hard, and you have fun fighting, right?”
“A lot of fun,” Damaris said. “It’s really a way to spice up your life. And make friends.”
Calista couldn’t ignore the ‘war-like’ part of the game, though, what with all the rivalries. As she learned in Versus History, the competition was a peacekeeping tournament, as ironic as it sounded. The more people got used to fighting each other and becoming friends despite it, the less likely they would start a war.
But of course, there was plenty of bad blood to hash out. The Versus was just their way of letting those rivalries grow without starting a war.
“Okay, we’ll leave you alone. Can we get your digigraphs, though?”
They happily obliged, pulling their more reluctant teammates into the fray. As Lílitha gave them hers, she finally noticed Damaris’s Pet recording her. “Put that back on your belt,” she said, swatting the sphere away.
“Your face is hilarious,” said Damaris as they left the fangirls.
“Look at that. You’ve got fans.” Alka high-fived Calista. “And you said you weren’t that good.”
“You see? I told you,” Charlotte interjected.
Calista smiled. It did feel good to have fans.