62 Palette Switch

The loud beeping of the alarm clock next to their bed awoke Jayce and Jenira with a start. Jayce groaned as he rolled over and smashed the snooze button. He turned back to Jenira and she snuggled into him. The two enjoyed a blissful two minutes of quiet before the alarm began ringing once again. "Ugh!" Jayce turned and turned the alarm off. He knew it was too late though. Once he woke up there was no hope of him falling back to sleep. Throwing the covers off he stepped to his pile of clothes on the floor.

Jenira watched him get up and noticed his back had become far more muscular than it had been even a few days ago. "Jayce have you been working out without us?" He shook his head as he dug through the mound of clothing. "Why?" Jenira sat up and looked at his back more intensely. "Do you think having Neith and Tohil's power is affecting your body? Like your muscles?" Jayce paused and looked up at her. "Why?" She shrugged, "Your back. It's way more ripped than it was before we competed against Isabel." Jayce smirked and flexed his muscles in their mirror. Gasping he turned to Jenira. "Holy shit. I'm jacked." Jenira giggled. "Do you think I'm going to get "jacked" like you?" Jayce paused. "I have no idea. But I promise not to complain if you do." He winked at her and returned to trying to find an outfit.

Once Jayce was out of the room Jenira finally crawled out of bed. She closed the door as she examined herself in the mirror. As far as she could tell there weren't any drastic changes. Maybe slightly more tone than she remembered but nothing obvious. As she pulled her hair back to begin braiding it she gasped. Her ears were obviously beginning to form points at their tip. Just like Neith had. She pulled her hair back and moved closer to the mirror. No doubt about it her ears were becoming elf-like. She felt the tips and they felt just as real as the rest of her face. Sighing she began working on a hairstyle that would cover the tops of her ears. Mentally she was already making a note to herself to look at Jayce's ears next time she got the chance.

Once she had decided on her outfit she headed down the stairs to meet the rest of the team for lunch. She had been having a fondness for green lately and had chosen to replace the crimson of the past with green. Her black and green outfit of a long sleeve shirt and tights had a poisonous aura to it. Jenira was thrilled with the way it made her feel dangerous and couldn't wait to show it off to the rest of her friends. As she entered the kitchen she saw that the other four were already seated around the kitchen table waiting for the chef robot to finish their meal.

Jayce cracked a huge smile as he saw her turn the corner. She blushed under his attention. The other three greeted her warmly and they sat down to discuss the day's competition. Jayce cleared his throat. "Okay everyone we need to win today. Not do well, not impress, we need to win. Anything other than that is a failure. Understood?" The four nodded with Ralnas holding back his laughter. Jayce kept a stern face until it broke and he started laughing. "Just kidding, let's just go kill some people." The five broke out into wide grins as the chef robot presented their pasta lunch with grilled cococluck.

Micu then spoke. "You aren't going to believe this but the first team we're facing is Isabel's team." Ralnas knit his eyebrows together. "Really? Again?" Micu nodded. "I guess the audience liked what they saw last time because there is no way this is random." Ralnas glanced at Jayce. "You going to die in the first five seconds again?" Jayce glared at him. The other three started laughing as Jayce took a big bite indignantly. Anna had kept quiet throughout the last two days but the family atmosphere of the four of them had loosened her nerves considerably. As she dug into the food she noticed a distracted Jenira looking at Jayce's ears. "Everything okay?" Jenira jumped from her question. "Uh yeah. Yep. Everything's fine." She smiled and returned to eating. Anna stole a suspicious look at Jayce's ears before letting the matter drop. She didn't see anything out of the ordinary about them.

Once they had finished Jayce stood quickly. "I'm going to shower and get dressed. Anna, you have the other shower first if you want. We leave in 45 minutes." The other three departed the table as Jenira helped the chef robot clean up. Once they were all assembled downstairs their team colors had obviously shifted. Jayce was wearing a black hoodie with a golden lion printed over where his heart would be. He had black shorts on and stylish golden shoes. Micu was now wearing exclusively black clothes and his entire body was covered by the long sleeve shirt and running pants he now wore. Ralnas was decked out in green in an attempt to match his sister's fashion choice. Anna had borrowed some of Jenira's running leggings but it felt wrong for her not to have some white on so she had a white tank top underneath the black t-shirt she was wearing. Ralnas glanced among the five of them and snickered. "It looks like we're the bad guys with all this black."

Jayce smiled, "Then let's be the baddest of them all." Ralnas groaned, "And you ruined it." The five all laughed carelessly as they climbed in Steve's hovercar. As they neared the Royal Coliseum the other bases came into view. Anna gasped as she recognized the turtle island that Micu and Jayce had noticed earlier. "It looks exactly like you said it would!" Jayce raised an eyebrow, "Why would we lie?" She shook her head having no answer. But in the back of her mind, she was even more curious why Micu could see it so clearly and she couldn't. The Royal Coliseum finally came into view and it had drastically changed from two weeks ago.

The cyberpunk influence of the old major hub one was now barely noticeable. Instead, there were lush parks dotting the landscape. Training facilities had risen overnight and obstacle courses, shooting ranges, and outdoor gym equipment dotted the area. Flags proudly displaying the gold and green banner waved from hundreds of poles. Jayce smiled inwardly as he knew that somehow Tara was involved with this. The car coasted to a stop much closer to the Coliseum than they had before. Jayce had told Steve to get them close to avoid crowds and hopefully too many journalists. The five stole themselves inside and breathed a sigh of relief as they avoided getting hounded by any reporters.

As they strolled through the Coliseum they noticed the inside had changed as well. The previously white walls were not a dull gold color with black carpet on the floor. The lion symbol was painstakingly painted on hallways and throughout major walkthroughs. Jayce's quote about finally breaking free from the simulation had been painted on some of the walls as well. Jayce was stunned. Ralnas prodded him in the side with his elbow. "So how does it feel to be a god?" Jayce sighed but said nothing. It was a little over the top in his opinion but he trusted that whoever was behind this knew what they were doing.

They took the escalator down to the area where the final teams were waiting for their matches to start. Of the uncountable number of teams that had entered at the beginning of the day there now only remained 32. One for each Overwatcher and 28 random teams that had won the right to compete against them. The 28 non-Overwatcher teams lounged around snacking or tending to bruises and bangs. Micu leaned over and whispered in Jayce's ear. "Some of these teams have been competing since six in the morning." Jayce's eyes widened in surprise. "That's pretty impressive. We should congratulate them on making it this far." Micu shook his head. "Isn't that a little insulting?"

Jayce shrugged, "Is it? I thought it would be a nice gesture." Micu shrugged as well. "I would get offended if someone told me that." Jayce decided against congratulating them. Instead, the five simply waved to the other members of the teams. Receiving a smattering of waves back along with some derogatory noises the five entered into their private area. Jayce sat down heavily. "Honest opinions, is it too much?"

Anna gazed at him confused. "Too much? Jayce you've got two gods inside of you. This barely seems like enough." Jayce sighed. Jenira patted him on the shoulder, "You'll get used to it in no time. Don't worry. You're the only one who's bothered by it." Ralnas coughed, "Actually I'm bothered by it. Where am I supposed to worship Jayce in this place? We need at least three or four more statues of him so I can kiss his feet." Micu nodded, "I barely saw enough of Jayce's perfect face. This place should have made the wallpaper out of pictures of him. Then I might be happy." Jayce groaned, "I know you're joking but please make it clear to everyone else that you don't actually want that. They might do exactly what you just said." Anna looked at him even more confused, "Don't you want people to worship you? I thought Overwatcher's loved being venerated."

Jayce gave her a cold stare. "I'm not an Overwatcher. I'm a human." Anna then pointed at Jenira. "But her ears are already becoming similar to Neith's. I assume you will begin to look more like Tohil as well." Jenira gasped and quickly covered her ears with her hands. "Anna! Why did you point that out!" Ralnas was prying her hand away and trying to get a look at his sister's ear. "Just show us, Jen! It can't be that bad!" Micu also scooted closer to her trying to get a good look at her ears. Jayce stood and slowly pushed them back. "We can discuss this after we win. Right now we need to focus."

His teammates all nodded and sat down as they silently prepared for the coming match. Anna was shocked at how quickly they refocused their energy. At Pure, there was always nerves before a big match and people would need dozens of reminders to calm down. She sat quietly as they did and decided not to make a noise until someone else had done so. Jayce clapped, "Right so what's the plan master tactician Micu?"