26 Day of Exam Number Two

Jayce quickly sat upright disturbing the sleeping Jenira. Rubbing her eyes she looked over to Jayce and gasped. "Tara? Tara Sourcurl?" She exclaimed loudly. Jayce nodded and then connected his watch to hers so that they could have a larger projection of her before them.

"And you must be Jenira Marrow! My assistant tells me that you're a regular viewer. Are you perchance the reason Jayce said my name tonight on Leon's show?" Jenira nogged quickly as a smile overtook her entire face. "My dear I believe you and Jayce are both my best friends now!" Tara was smiling with the same delight Jenira felt in her soul. "Now I have to say that usually, you get permission from the host before you announce that you're going to be on their show but I'll let it slip this time." She then picked up a calendar and looked at Jayce. "So what day should I pencil you in?"

Jayce quickly opened the competition app on his watch and then glanced through it. "Ms. Sourcurl.." "Please! Call me Tara, Ms. Sourcurl makes me sound so old." She pouted then returned to smiling at Jenira with a wink. Jenira was starstruck and she blushed profusely from Tara's attention. Jayce smiled noticing her attitude matched how he had felt when they met C-4 and Dynamite. Glancing back to his calendar he cleared his throat.

"Ms. Tara we have eleven exams to go, so if we follow this schedule then in two weeks we'll be done and be able to come on your show. Is that enough time to set us up with an interview?" Tara frowned then paused her screen. Jayce heard muffled voices in the background. After 20 second Tara's smiling face reappeared. "Well Jayce you've messed up my schedule but I can't say that I mind too much. Having such a handsome team on my show will be great for viewers! And this news will certainly cause a lot of drama..." She looked wistfully into the distance after she said this. Jayce waited patiently unsure if he should break her out of her imaginings. She came back with a start and smiled again. "Well, two weeks from now it is! My wardrobe officer will come by your house a few days before to get your measurements for clothes. Where should I send him?"

Jayce felt bad about having taken over Micu's house but that was essentially their home base for now. "Well Micu's house is where we've been staying, so he can come there if that works for you?"

Tara nodded as she typed something out of view of their screen before turning back to face Jayce. "I really can't thank you enough for the little stunt you pulled on Leon's show today. I promise I'll do my best to protect you from his counterattack. See you in two long weeks!" She blew a kiss into the screen and then hung up.

Jayce was reeling and this last burst of excitement finally pushed him over the edge. He slumped into his seat and was quickly fast asleep. He was awoken to a slap to the face. Ralnas was leaning over the seat with a mixture of anger and laughter on his face. Jayce rubbed his head and sat up. As he did so he realized that Jenira had fallen asleep leaning on him. He grinned sheepishly at Ralnas and then carefully leaned her against the window as he exited the cab and waved goodnight to his friends.

Opening the door as quietly as he could he was halfway to his room when the kitchen light flicked on and his mom sat there looking at him. "Young man you are going to tell me everything about today right now." Jayce's shoulders slumped and he spent the next hour recounting the day to his mom. At the end of his story, she hugged him, "Our lives are about to get really crazy but you'll always have a safe haven here Jay." She kissed his forehead. He entered his room and tossed his clothes on the floor before falling asleep as soon as he hit the bed.

The next morning Jayce's head felt it was being hit with a hammer. He groaned and carried his aching body to the shower. He sat down and let the hot water just wash over him for a long time. He reflected over the previous day's events and found himself laughing again at the Leon situation. He had thoroughly enjoyed torturing him. After he thought about it for a second he also realized that maybe he had enjoyed it too much. In his head, he battled with himself until he heard his mom's voice through the falling water. "Jayce get out of the shower! You've been in there for half an hour!" Jayce quickly washed and joined his mom in the kitchen. She was watching some show that was talking about the next exam.

Jayce and his team were again scheduled to go in the late afternoon slot so he had enjoyed the small break from the stress. He poured a bowl of cereal for himself and sat down next to her at the table. The host was talking about the exam with some retired champions. "So what you're saying is that this exam is a winner take all format?" The former player nodded, "Yes indeed, this is one of the most popular exams for that very reason. You humans may not be aware of this but whoever wins this exam usually goes on to have a very successful career for one of the elite teams." The reporter opened his mouth to form an "ah" sound before continuing with his interview. "So how do they determine who wins if there are three different time slots?" The player who was being interviewed was replaced on the screen by a graphic that illustrated the competition. "Yes there will indeed be three overall winners, but there are so many teams that if you survive for more than a few minutes you're either very lucky or very good. So, in all honesty, the elite teams just want you to be in the top 50 for them to scout you." The screen cut back to the reporter who was nodding with understanding.

The station then cut to the two of them standing in front of the Coliseum. Behind them was a huge crowd with signs in all languages and dialects. They waved flags and tried to get the attention of the camerabots zooming through the various supporter groups. The player turned to the camera. "We've already received word that first place from the last competition is one of the final teams remaining in the early group. If they win again there will be quite a few elite teams sniffing around them." The reporter nodded again before the station changed to show the currently taking place group competition.

Jayce finished his cereal and put away the bowl in the sink. His mom watched him get ready, "Jay don't you have a few hours before you're required to check-in? He nodded to her as he packed his backpack with snacks. "Yeah but I get too anxious waiting around home. I feel better when I get there earlier." He smiled at his mom, "Do you have the day off?" She nodded with a smile. "Well want to go with me to the Coliseum?" Jane shook her head with disbelief, "You want me to go watch you compete in a game where you die?" Jayce laughed out loud. "Mom, it's just a simulation. I don't actually get killed, it just hurts a little." Jane shook her head violently. "Sorry, Jayce but I don't think I want to watch that live." She smiled softly. "I'll watch here on the TV, it doesn't feel as real that way."

Jayce nodded at his mom. He understood. It had taken him quite a while to get used to getting shot at when he was at the Chiron school. He remembered the first time it had happened. He had cried thinking that he was dead for a long time before Chiron scooped him up in his arms and pointed to the other kids in the arena. Even at seven years old he was already being prepared to fight in the team competitions. For Jayce, this type of exam was as familiar as brushing his teeth.

Finished packing up snacks for the road he kissed his mom on the cheek and bounded out the door. Jane smiled and whispered under her breath. "You better win the whole damn thing for the amount of stress you put me through."

Jayce was now well familiar with the train to the major hubs and he quickly slid into one of the window seats before pulling his hood up to cover his head. He watched the various safe zones fly past them and wondered what the other alien's zones looked like. He knew other races would never be allowed into safe zones unless they had special permission from the races governments. Still, he was quite curious if they were anything like the worlds he had grown up in.

He exited the train doing his best to not stand out. His dark hoodie still pulled over his head as he tried to move as quickly as possible to the competitor entrance. Just as he was about to reach the security robot a sharp gust of wind blew his hood off his head. "Hey! That's Jayce Good!" A voice called out. Dozens of screams followed this announcement and Jayce sprinted the rest of the way to the robot before quickly slipping into the protected area. Breathing a sigh of relief Jayce texted his team "beware fans are already crazy outside Coliseum." He slinked back to the spot where he and Micu had watched before and pulled his hood back over his head.

Micu appeared not long after him with a scarf wrapped around his face revealing only his eyes. He nodded at the mysterious figure before realizing it was Jayce. Pulling his scarf off he laughed, "I didn't even recognize you!" Jayce smiled at him, "Micu put the scarf back on, there's a ton of camerabots looking for us here. I have no idea when they started letting reporters back here." Micu's eyes widened before he quickly redid his scarf. His muffled voice came through the wool, "Are you serious? I thought they kicked the reporters out after the invasion of privacy that happened a few years ago." Jayce nodded, "So did I but I've definitely seen a few floating around. Or maybe I'm just being paranoid." He shrugged harmlessly and turned back to the giant screens before them.

By the time the train had dropped off Jayce the first competition had already ended. That same team with the bright red and green bird had won again. Though they had been pushed to their limits by the other teams. Now the Ogrium team that they had waved to during the team Nuke experience was about to begin competing. "It's obvious the other teams are targeting the top placed teams." Micu noticed. "Yeah, the Yuhru were under attack almost from the start from the highlights I saw." Jayce then pointed to the team being displayed in the right bottom corner of the screen. Micu gasped, "Is that...?" Jayce smirked, "Yep it's your lady."

Micu glared at Jayce before returning to watch Isabel's team pick their way through the simulation. The battlefield they had been given was a dusty planet with large rock formations dotting the landscape. "Was the first one the same kind of planet?" Jayce shook his head. "Nah it was a thick jungle. The birds couldn't use their wings as effectively as they had hoped. Some of the races that can change color really took advantage of it."

Micu remained glued to the TV screen. "I see..." he mumbled. Jayce smiled at his love-struck friend before returning to watching the Ogrium team. They had already lost two of their members and were in a pitched firefight with a race he didn't recognize. "How many lives do you have in this one? I remember last year it was only one life." "Yep same rules." Jayce pointed to a team being shown in a different corner. They were quickly eliminated by an ambush and each time they were hit with the brightly colored bullets they faded out of the simulation. "It's like paintball." Jayce returned his gaze to the Ogrium screen. He wanted them to do well, they seemed nice from the day before.

He heard a gasp from Micu and he turned his attention to Isabel's team. They were down to just her and she was being closed in from four different directions. "Micu I think she's toast." Micu shook his head no. "I think she's luring them out of their cover to try and get them all at once." Jayce looked at him with disbelief. "Micu it's four against one. I'm sorry but..." Just as he was about to tell his friend he was being an idiot Isabel sprung from her cover. Wildly firing she dashed in between three of the plant like aliens that had surrounded her.

She managed to hit two of them before she jumped into a ditch between two rocks. She held her gun over the cover and held the trigger down until she emptied the clip. She then sprinted towards a rock further away in a zigzag way to avoid as many bullets as possible.

"Well, I stand corrected. She's not toast, yet." Jayce smiled at his friend and laughed at the worry he saw in his eyes. "You better tell her how you feel before we become too famous and never see her again." Micu looked at him with a panic. "You think that's possible?" Jayce laughed uproariously at his friend and then just kept quiet.

Micu hated the person he was when he was around Isabel but couldn't help himself. No matter how hard he tried to look like he didn't care his heart betrayed him and his emotions always poured out of his every movement. Jayce had long teased Micu about this but he still bristled with frustration every time.

Ralnas and Jenira joined them silently. Both were also wearing hoods like Jayce and had done their best to obscure their bodies. Jenira saw through the top of Micu's scarf that his cheeks were flushed red. "Where's Isabel?" She asked teasingly. Causing Jayce to once again lose himself to a bout of laughter. Ralnas and Jenira looked at each other confused. Micu pointed an indignant finger to the screen she was displayed on. "She's right there."