51 Elimination Match Number 2

Ralnas groaned as he thought about it. Jayce was laughing already and didn't even try and think of a name for the two of them. The registration bot beeped with acknowledgment and scanned their four watches as they considered names in silence. Jenira was the first to speak, "Jayira? Or maybe Jence?" Micu nodded, "Jence is good." "Really? Jence?" Ralnas complained. Jayce shrugged, "Jence it is then." The four laughed and entered the current competitor room. Inside were dozens of teams stretching or discussing strategy.

The atmosphere changed as soon as the four of them entered the room. An equal mix of fear and admiration poured forth from the nearby teams and they shrunk from their view. "This is weird..." Ralnas muttered as he watched the other teams eye them warily. Jayce nodded, "why don't you break the ice?" Ralnas flashed him a smile and stepped into the center of the room. "Hello everyone! We come in peace! Do not fear us! We are just regular exam participants like you all!" Micu groaned quietly as he watched Ralnas try and calm down the room. "He's making it worse." Jenira chuckled under her breath, "did we expect anything better though?" Micu shook his head. "Exactly."

Ralnas finally finished his speech and returned to the other three. "There mission accomplished." Micu managed to stammer out, "er good job there Ral." "Yeah, really really impressive." Jayce struggled to keep a straight face as he spoke. Ralnas nodded, "what else did you expect?" The three of them glanced at each other and rolled their eyes. "Let's find somewhere to sit?" Micu ventured hopefully. The four found an empty area near the back of the room and reclined in the comfortable seats.

An alarm sounded and every other team quickly hopped up and stood in front of their assigned door. Ralnas watched them, "We don't stand right?" Micu nodded, "yep this is the first round and we've already been declared the victors." Across the room, a team of four humans also remained sitting. Ralnas pointed them out, "they must be the team that forfeited against us." Jayce raised his voice to call out to them, "Hey guys! Could we talk to you real quick?" One of the four of them pointed to himself before Jayce nodded and waved them to come closer.

The four approached them cautiously before stopping a good 4 meters away. "What do you want?" The boy who they assumed to be the leader asked them cautiously. Jayce tried his best to sound disarming and friendly. "I just was curious why you guys chose to forfeit your match against us. It's not like we're some invincible team that can't be stopped." The four laughed nervously before responding. "We didn't want to upset team Pure by fighting you." Jayce raised an eyebrow, "upset them how?"

The lead boy stepped closer to the four of them. "Well if you are really an Overwatcher then you definitely will join Pure won't you? We wanted to join team Pure too so we didn't want to make them mad by fighting one of their gods." Jayce scratched his head confused. "I'm not an Overwatcher?" Micu sighed and politely thanked the four of them before turning to Jayce. "You don't remember my dad telling us literally two days ago that there's a religion that's starting that worships you as some sort of Messiah?" Jayce grimaced, "of course I haven't! I just don't understand why they would think I'm some sort of god. I thought people thought I was the chosen of the Overwatchers." Micu groaned, "and you don't think some people will interpret that as meaning that you are an Overwatcher?" Jayce shrugged, "it's news to me."

Ralnas snickered watching Micu try and beat some sense into Jayce. He absentmindedly turned on the TV in the room and watched the other teams competing through the internal broadcast system. Isabel's team was torching the other human team that they had been matched up against. Already they had eliminated two of their four members and had the other two cornered in a desperate defense.

Ralnas tugged on Micu's and Jayce's shirts and pointed to the screen. "We may be participating sooner than we may have thought." Jenira stretched herself out in a chair and started massaging the shoulder with the spider tattoo. "Did it hurt right before the Coliseum round?" Jayce shook his head, "I didn't even notice it until we'd already killed that green thing. Then it started hurting really bad." Jenira nodded, "mine just itches, maybe it's because she kissed me?" Both Ralnas and Micu's heads spun around to look at her. "Who kissed you?" Jenira laughed, "why does it matter to you?" Ralnas scowled, "so Jayce can know but your own brother can't?" Jenira continued laughing and nodded her head.

Ralnas rolled his eyes and returned his vision to the TV. Micu was slower in changing his focus and stared at Jenira intensely. "You kissed a girl?" Jenira paused, "well it was more like she kissed me to make Jayce jealous." Micu turned to look at Jayce who was blushing slightly. "It's exactly what you think and at the same time not at all. Sorry I know that doesn't make any sense." Micu cupped his head in his hands. "You're right it doesn't make any sense at all." Jenira laughed again and pointed to the room Isabel's team had entered through.

Standing proudly the four of them exchanged high fives and hugs as they marched triumphantly out of the door. Ralnas waved to them, "congrats on the win!" Isabel smiled at them and directed her team to head towards them. The other three members of her team hadn't gone to Chiron's with them but they recognized them from pictures Isabel had posted on her Ripple account. "You guys ready to lose?" Micu had tried to make himself as relaxed as possible as she approached. Ralnas grinned, "Nah we forgot how to lose. Didn't you hear?"

Micu sighed, "Ral that barely makes sense." Isabel laughed and smiled at Micu which immediately shattered the calm mindset he had put himself in. Ralnas just grinned and waited for Micu to speak. Jayce came to his rescue before things got too awkward. "How long until you four are ready to face us?" Isabel glanced back at her three teammates and shrugged. "A few minutes?" Jayce smiled, "We're ready when you are." Isabel nodded and turned to walk away as Jenira prodded Micu incessantly. "Say something," she whispered in his ear. Micu shook his head violently. "I'm about to have to fight her, I don't want to say anything."

Jenira let out a disappointed sigh and returned to stretching in the chair. Jayce was instantly distracted watching the live feed with Ralnas. "I bet we can take them." He said pointing at the brightly colored Yuhru team that was corraling an unfortunate team into a kill circle. Ralnas nodded determinedly, "we can take anyone." Jayce patted his friend on the back, "That's what I like to hear."

Micu's mind was racing. Not only did he have a crush on Isabel but they had tied each other in wins and losses during their time at Chiron's. This match would give one of them the advantage possibly forever. He was going over all the times that they had come up against each other. He had never played against her with this current team of hers but was pretty familiar with her standard tactics. He sighed to himself. "It's going to be dicey against Isabel though," he said as he interrupted Jayce and Ralnas trash talk about other teams.

"Just because she's your girlfriend doesn't mean I'm going to go easy on her," Jayce said dismissively. Micu karate chopped him in the stomach, "Not at all what I meant, and don't call her my girlfriend." Jayce coughed in response. "She knows us all very well after ten years of competing with and against us. We know nothing about her team except what we've seen in vids and those are not exactly combat footage. We are at a serious disadvantage." Ralnas nodded slowly as he let Micu's words sink in. "We're still going to win though, right?" Jayce nodded as he rubbed his bruised stomach. "Obviously."

Micu laughed at his idiotic friend's mentality. "What would this team be without your blind confidence Jayce?" Jayce shrugged, "Losers?" Two swift punches from Ralnas and Micu followed his statement and Jayce yelped in pain. "Don't hurt me! You still need me for the exam!" Micu hit him again, "We're losers anyway, aren't we? So what does it matter if we don't have a full team?" Jayce groaned both from pain and annoyance at Micu twisting his words. "I prefer not to speak anymore," a resigned Jayce muttered.

A "ding" on their watches snapped them all back to the current situation. A simple message read, "Chiron's Chosen vs Elite or Bust will be taking place in 10 minutes. Room number 4371. One team member may preview the map at this time." Micu stood and started walking towards the door Isabel's team had just left. Jenira hopped up and grabbed his arm, "Where are you going so fast? We've got ten minutes." Micu shook off her arm, "I want to see the map." Jenira let go of him as he walked away from their group. She turned to the other two boys, "Is he okay?" Ralnas shrugged, "How would I know?" Jenira glared at him, "By being one of his best friends for most of your life?" Ralnas shrunk back from her words.

Jayce pointed to Isabel who was walking towards the door as well. "Maybe he's just really sneaky?" Jenira's mouth was agape as she watched the two of them enter the room together. "Did that really just happen?" She rubbed her eyes in disbelief and felt an arm wrap around her shoulders. She looked up to see Jayce standing next to her, "Our little Micu is growing up right before our eyes." He pretended to wipe a tear from his eye. Jenira smiled as she rolled her eyes.

Micu had noticed Isabel walk into the map with him but had forced himself not to make a big deal out of it. "Want to explore the map together?" She had asked innocently. Micu laughed, "And let you see all the hiding places that I want to use against you? No thanks." Isabel winked at him, "Fine have it your way." She had walked off in the east direction and Micu had chosen the opposite direction. As he walked he was severely distracted. "Did she want to walk with me? Was it a trick? Was it real? What's her plan..." he endlessly repeated questions in his mind and barely paid attention to the simulated terrain. Only when he finally walked face first into a building did he snap out of his daze and begin focusing on the map.

A dusty little village extended before him and he did a quick turn to see how far from the entrance he was. He judged that the map was barely big enough for the two teams of four to find any open space to hide out in. He began looking for ways to climb atop buildings and get a more clear view of the battlefield. He finally found a spot and quickly ascended a ladder. Looking out across the battlefield he was struck by how flat it was. There were few buildings higher than a story tall. Small walls dotted the streets and the dusty terrain made the whole area look a smudgy brown shade.

Sighing to himself he began picking out their starting position. He assumed that Isabel would choose somewhere on the east side. He picked out a clump of buildings that had one of the few towers he found that would have a good sniping position. It was exposed on both the north and south side but he hoped that he would be able to see anyone coming before they got ambushed. He climbed up a building a block away from where he planned on beginning and scanned for Isabel's figure. He caught sight of her waving to him from the opposite side of the map.

Grumbling to himself he waved back. "Is she playing mind games with me already? Does she know I like her?" Micu was annoyed with his own emotional immaturity. He cursed his mom and dad for not being home more often and teaching him these things. In truth, he wasn't sure why he couldn't control his love-crazed heart but was sure his parents were responsible in some way.

His watch dinged with a "three-minute warning" notification and he scrambled down the building and did a light jog back to the beginning. When he got there Isabel was waiting for him. "May the best team win." She smiled brightly and extended a hand out to him. He paused before grasping hold of it and smiling back. "Agreed." They exited the map together and quickly returned to their teams.

Ralnas was attacking him with questions as soon as he was close enough to hear him speak. "Did you two make out? Do I have to make a couple name for you now? How did her lips feel? Are you ready for the match?" Micu sighed, "Nothing happened." Ralnas frowned, "You're not going to share just like Jenira and her mystery kisser?" This caused Jayce and Jenira to burst out laughing.

Micu shook his head, "If anything happened I definitely wouldn't tell you. Maybe Jenira but not you, and definitely not Jayce." This caused both Jayce and Ralnas to begin pouting. Micu shrugged, "In other more important news I know where we are going to begin the match." This caused all three to quickly lean in closer to listen to Micu's plan as he described how they were going to approach the coming battle with Isabel.