The Black Market Games

"Step right up! Step right up! Don't be shy! Make your bets on who's going to finish second and third!" advertised a bettor. Behind him was a stand that said 'Egyptian Empire will win, but who's going to follow them?'. There were thousands of people calling out names of the other empires' black market.

"Fifteen gold coins for a ninja and spartan two-three!" called out a person.

"Twenty-five for an assassin and ninja two-three!" called out another.

As people were making their bets around the arena, somewhere inside, the Ninja Black Market was getting a debrief from Truman. "Any questions?" he asked when he finish giving the basic information about each event.

"What about the last round?" asked Owl.

"We don't know that one, that is the only one we'll find out at the end." stated Tony.

"Do they honestly think we'll get prepared for it while competing in these games?" asked one of the Assassin Twins.

"Out of all of us, you two, I and Truman could slip in the crowd unnoticed to get the proper equipment and be back for the events." stated Zhōng.

"I could do it," complained Tony.

"You're getting good at escaping, not hiding, you don't blend in like us." stated Truman. Tony sighed and Princess Zhen giggled, like Tony, she was getting better but she had a long way to go.

"Let's not worry about the last round right now." stated Zhōng who stared at Princess Zhen briefly when she giggled.

"If we perform excellently in each of the events, we should be able to stay with the Egyptian Black Market. If we take first in all of them, we'll definitely give them a taste of their own medicine." stated Truman.

"Which we definitely can considering everyone got drunk last night." added Tony.

"Dual Bladed Ninja, do you think you're alright to go first?" asked Run. Truman was one of the last ones standing in a drinking competition from last night.

"I'm fine, I haven't eaten anything since and I'm kind of hungry." joked Truman rubbing his tummy.

"I'm surprised you are, but if I did what you did last night, I'm pretty sure I won't function till I eat something." stated Zhōng.

"So your weakness is no food in the stomach for a long time." muttered Tony audibly.

"If you shorten my rations, I will not hesitate to leave you behind." threatened Zhōng, though he had a small grin when he said it.

"If there's nothing else, let's go." declared Truman and he led them into the arena.

The stadium was packed, and thousands of Egyptians were cheering for their empire. They wave their banner and chatted for their victory, the games were massive for them considering they were the best. The seven leaders of their respectable black markets we sitting in V.I.P. seats, they were discussing any rules that needed to be cleared before the games. Pharaoh Ay stood up and looked at Lord Tyron who nodded his head in assurance. "Do we need to discuss any last-minute things?" Pharaoh Ay.

"I believe not, your majesty." replied the leader of the Indian Black Market.

"Then let the games begin!" announced Pharaoh Ay. He returned to his seat as a trumpet bellowed in the stadium followed by a cheer of approval from the crowd.

Seven gates opened up and seven contestants entered the stadium. Each were representing their empire's strength in battle. It was the opening game and it was a fight to the death.

"Say, aren't you the drunk ninja from last night?" asked a member of the Medieval Black Market.

Truman had his cowl up, but it didn't hide any of his features. He grinned and his eyes glowed for the fight. "I am, what of it?" he asked.

"There sending their drunkest person first, you're no threat." noticed a member of the Assassin Black Market.

"Oh? What if I tell you I'm the best?" questioned Truman.

"Ah, then you're a fool! This is not a round where you show your strength." stated a member of the Indian Black Market.

"Then I'll make it fair, I win this with my eyes shut." promised Truman.

"Oh, I can't wait to cut you in half with my ax." stated a member of the Viking Black Market, swinging his ax into his other hand. He was also the winner in the drunk game from the previous night.

"How about we all team up to kill this ninja then it will be every man for himself?" bargain a member of the Egyptian Black Market. The others agree immediately thus creating Truman to smile more and closed his eyes.

The horn went off to begin the fight as Truman calmly reached for his swords. He calmed his breathing and listened and feel where they were coming from. The Viking member was first and Truman dodge his downward cut. When he realized he miss, he turned around just as Truman's blade zoomed passed his throat. With the Viking down, Truman heard the Indian and the Medeivalian were teaming up to attack him on each side. Block each strike with his swords before he twirled and quickly attacked the Indian and then the Medievalian. With each of them dead, he charged at the Spartan member and sent volleys of attacks. The Spartan held his own due to the shield, buying time for the Egyptian member to attack Truman. But Truman felt and immediately sent deadly blows to an all-out offensive warrior. When he was in pieces, Truman returned to the Spartan and pierced through his shield and heart. He stopped and focus on finding his last opponent. It was a battle of recognizably, with whoever flinches is dead. Knowing this, Truman grabbed his knife and threw it in the direction where he felt a presence. The blade soar through before striking directly into the Assassin's head and he collapsed as well. The crowd was silent and pale after watching someone that strong killed six others effortlessly.

"So that's your assistant," said Pharaoh Ay quietly to Lord Tyron.

"He's not the only one that deadly, we have more this year." promised Lord Tyron as Truman went to retrieve his knife when he opened his eyes.

The six dead bodies were dragged or carried away to their respective gates leaving a bloody trail. Truman returned to his gate where he came from as the crowd was still stunned from the massacre. "Did you seriously have to show off?" asked Zhōng. He, Tony, and Princess Zhen were waiting for him in the tunnel.

"Now they'll remember me as someone who embarrassed all of them." stated Truman.

"All part of the plan, get drunk then puke everything you had eaten then go into the stadium to show how strong you truly were." summarized Princess Zhen.

"Having me puke due to being drunk was not part of the plan, but I didn't show any mercy to them because they remember me as that." stated Truman.

"But now the first round is over, they'll definitely look for ways to have us lose." stated Tony.

"Then we better make sure we're ready." stated Zhōng, he traded Truman the Ninja Sword for his black Valtryek.

"If you destroy them in this round, they'll think we're unbeatable for this competition." said Truman after securing the Ninja Sword to his waist.

"Trust me, it would be the opposite." said Zhōng. He walked in the direction where Truman came from to enter the arena. His round wasn't even close as he won as well, giving the Ninja Black Market a huge lead over all the others.

The next match was a slow and long one as it was judging poisons and potions. The leaders would judge all of them and then the vote will be tallied. "Ah, greetings sirs and your majesty." stated Tony as Pharoah Ay, the leaders of the Medieval Black Market and Indian Black Market approached him.

"You must be the Poisoner, it would make sense you'll be doing this one." said the leader of the Medieval Black Market.

"That's why I was picked, I am not that strong as a fighter like my two friends are, but they're not as good as I when comes to potions." stated Tony.

"So what do have to show us?" asked Pharaoh Ay.

"Why this, your majesty," began Tony, he picked up a bottle and swirled the liquid inside around. "This is my greatest creation, my legacy that'll live forever, a masterpiece unrivaled, I call it Death for a Day."

"Death for a Day?" repeated the leader of the Indian Empire.

"What kind of poison is this?" asked the leader of the Medieval Empire.

"It's just as the named says, you're dead for a day." explained Tony. "Say someone offered you a job, you have to kill someone they don't like. You used this to kill that someone and get paid, then when the person you 'killed' wakes up, you explain what happened and who ordered his death. He'll then pay you to kill the original client and perhaps offered you double then what he paid you. In the end, you'll have three times if not more than when you first approached."

"That is if they don't go to someone else." stated the leader of the Indian Empire.

"Why would he look for someone else if you're responsible for his death and know where to look for him?" questioned Tony.

"What do you use to inject this?" asked Pharaoh Ay.

"Anything, your majesty, though I like to use my custom crossbow and darts." replied Tony. He pulled a dart for his weapon and shake the liquid inside of it. "There's also a medical use for this, if a patient is near the verge of death or will bleed to death, this should slow the heart to stop the flow to work on the patient without losing him. But if he is too close or loses too much blood, then this will ease his pain before he dies."

"In a way, this increases chances of survival as well." summarized the leader of the Indian Empire.

"This is also rare, sir, since I created it, I know how to make it. I like to make this profitable and no one else knows the ingredients except my two combated friends. I also after discovering it, burned the recipe so no one else will know. If someone did, all the ingredients are from the Ninja Empire, to my best knowledge no replacement materials can replicate my work." said Tony.

"A powerful, rare, and profitable, you definitely know what you are doing." praised Pharaoh Ay. Tony bowed gratefully as the judges left him, it was later declared that he won the competition.

The Ninja Black Market continued to do well in each competition, but there were those they failed miserably. Catch and Run's team event failed completely as they were the first to be caught. One of the Assassin Twins did well in their individual event but not the other one. Hangman and Owl almost had a scare in team jousting but only took third place overall. Princess Zhen's individual event was parkour, and though she wasn't the best, she was leading the entire course until something snatched her leg. She barely stayed on the course as whatever grabbed her disappeared and she finished third to last, ahead of the representatives of Viking and Medieval empires.

"You saw that?" whispered Truman to Zhōng.

"Let's go see her." stated Zhōng as he, Truman, and Tony got up and went to the tunnel.

Princess Zhen was rubbing her leg in the tunnel after losing the race. There were no marks around where she snagged and she didn't remember seeing anything on the course. "You ran a hard race, Princess." stated Tony as they entered, interrupting Princess Zhen's analysis.

"I almost had it if I didn't stumble," stated Princess Zhen, hoping they won't press her sudden fall.

"You didn't stumble you were tripped." said Zhōng coldly.

"Well I'm glad you noticed I was okay." stated Princess Zhen harshly.

"If you didn't stay on, I and Truman would have jumped from our seats to check on you." promised Zhōng, matching Princess Zhen's tone.

"Do you have any idea what caused you to trip?" asked Truman, trying to interrupt the tension.

Princess Zhen calmed down and shook her head. "No, I didn't see anything." she said.

"Might be a thin pieced of string that you didn't see and tripped over," suggested Tony.

"No, I felt it grab my leg to pull me down." said Princess Zhen, she showed her leg that was grabbed and Truman looked at it.

"No visible marks," he stated before he carefully touched the princess's leg. "Something did snag her, even if they were shallow, I can feel two bumps that were made from a string that laid in between."

"Are you done touching?" asked Zhōng, noticing Truman was still touching the leg.

Truman let go and saw that Zhōng had his sword revealed from under his cloak. "Are you seriously thinking about killing me?" he questioned.

"No, but if I don't want to be caught, I'm going to need your Valtryek again." stated Zhōng. Truman understood the message as they exchanged swords, the two knew this could be it.

"Even after squandering our lead, we can still win this if we win this round." stated Tony. They lost their lead to the Egyptian Empire a couple of rounds ago but were still very in it.

"That'll depend if you are ready," stated Truman as the boys turned to look at Princess Zhen.

Princess knew the next contest was her and Zhōng competing in a maze battle. The cold look on her partner's face made it uncomfortable but she knew it had to be done. "I'm ready," she stated.

The crowd cheered as fourteen contestants, two from every empire, entered the stadium. This was going to be the last battle if the Ninja Black Market didn't win, if they do win, the final match will be played. "Contestants, ready yourselves." stated a referee.

"This is could be a death match, if we knock them out we'll get more points. I'm going in and pick off any I see, you stay here and attacked anyone that appears." strategize Zhōng.

"I'm a good fighter, you saw that first hand. I'm not going to sit back and listen to you." argue Princess Zhen.

"If I'm not mistaken, I beat you easily. I want to win this, so stay here and don't get in my way." said Zhōng. The bell rang and he was off, climbing up the wall and leaping from wall to wall before encountering the assassins from the Assassin Black Market. He quickly took care of them as his balance and the way his blade danced caused them to fall and get knocked out.

Princess Zhen peeked around a corner to no one was there, she left the entrance where she and Zhōng started and was wandering through the maze. She didn't like that he ordered her to stay put while he was having fun. She heard a gong ring twice indicating that Zhōng took care of two people. "You're not the only one that can score." she muttered. Around the corner where the members of the Medieval Black Market, they were poorly equipped but stayed in a formation to prevent almost any surprise attacks from happening. Unfortunately for them, Princess Zhen had wall-jumped in between them and knocked them out. A gong ring again indicating they score points.

"At the rate we're going, we'll win this." stated Tony, as he and Zhōng's clone watched from the crowd.

Truman groaned and shook his head. "We wanted Princess to stay there so I can watch her and fight." he said.

"You took care of the assassins, there's no one who'll be interested in going after her when you are prowling from above." said Tony.

Let's not forget that there's an imposter in our ranks, if we have one, wouldn't be safe and assume others have one?" questioned Truman.

Princess Zhen continued to look for others throughout the maze. Other bells begin to ring but shortly after, the gong rang again. She spotted the Indian Black Market members, investigating a trail. She wasn't going to waste and knocked out one of them. Before she could fight, the other, a big club swung and knocked her backwards while killing the other Indian in the process. She looked up and saw a Viking with a bloody club, he was one of the Vikings that she recognized was sending quick glances at her the night before.

"I thought we got you, there's no way you're here. How is it that our mistress is here? What sorcery is this?" he mumbled out. He approached her while he spoke with the bloody club tightly in his grasp. "I guess he failed us, I shall take you with me, but first, I'm going to need you to look dead." he stated before raising the club as Princess Zhen's face looked pale.

"You are not going to harm her!" stated someone from behind. The Viking turned around and quickly saw a black blade before his head was sent flying away. The body collapsed in front of Princess Zhen, her face was still pale as Zhōng swiped his sword cleaned. "What part of stay put, did you not get?" he asked as he helped her up.

"I didn't want you to owe me." she stated.

Suddenly, two members of the Spartan Black Market appeared. They carried their swords and they had shields as well. "I think the Egyptians fell to them, I took care of the assassins, an indian, and the vikings, I assume you took care of the medievalists." said Zhōng as he tried to figure out who was left.

"I think we can take them." stated Princess Zhen, she saw a grin form on Zhōng's face and the two charged at the spartans.

"We have our winners," stated Pharaoh Ay as the crowd cheered and booed. The stadium was tearing down the maze and members were carrying dead or knock-out bodies for their respective empires. The Ninja Black Market was waiting at their gate to be called on.

"I've been doing the numbers inside my head, I think we needed just one more to have the finale." whispered Tony to Truman, Princess Zhen, and Zhōng.

"Well if that Viking didn't attack, I would have knocked him out as well." stated Zhōng.

"It could have been worse." assured Truman.

"If this is seriously over, can't we just go by ourselves?" asked Princess Zhen.

The boys looked at each other before Zhōng answered, "Our priority if we lose, is to ensure you get home safely. The imposter wouldn't go after you since it knows your secret without even asking. We'll go and rescue her while you return back to your palace."

"You're going alone?" summarized Princess Zhen.

"Princess, it's not because we don't trust you, you've done your end of the bargain. The deal was you'll be the Princess in the games while we find out who is the mole. You gave us enough players to compete but we couldn't find the spy. We failed our end and your mother is worried sick." reasoned Truman.

"But the games aren't over." said Princess Zhen.

"They are if Tony did the math right." stated Zhōng.

"Which I'm very good at," gloated Tony.

"I want to come with you," said Princess Zhen.

"If we scored one more point, we would have taken you but I'm sorry, this is over." said Truman.

"And now it's time for the walk of shame." groaned Zhōng.

The gate raised open and the group walked through with Truman leading the way followed by Princess Zhen and Tony, followed by the Assassin Twins, followed by Hangman and Owl, followed by Catch and Run, and Zhōng was the last. They were the only market left with their original starting line-up, the other markets lost a couple with the Viking Black Market suffering the most losing six of their members. The crowd cheered as they knew who won and they were just waiting to hear the official announcement.

"Citizens of the Egyptian Empire," began Pharaoh Ay once they were done counting up the points and deducting any penalties. "We have an updated standings. In seventh place, we have the Indian Black Market. In sixth place, we have the Viking Black Market. In fifth place, we have the Spartan Black Market. In fourth place, we have the Assassin Black Market. In third place, we have the Medieval Black Market. In second place, we have the Ninja Black Market. And in first place, we have the Egyptian Black Market." The crowd cheered louder, they believe they won, like Tony, they did the calculations and knew no one was going to beat them. A hand of Pharoah Ay went up and the crowd was silent. "Now I'm sure all of you know we won by a landslide again, thus making it another domination in the games. But I want to make we are the best and I'm willing to give everyone a second chance." he continued as the crowd murmured what was going on. "With that, the final round is a race to who can capture and bring back a princess from the Ninja Empire first. Whoever does is the true winner thus bumping any if not all down by one." stated Pharaoh Ay. The crowd complained about this as they want it to be over. The other markets liked the sound of that and hope returned to them.

"Well I guess we have a chance," stated Tony to Truman. Truman looked at Lord Tyron although he wasn't the only one as Zhōng also stared at him. Their eyes burned with rage at Lord Tyron who simply shrug his shoulders and turned to look at Pharaoh Ay who smiled at him. The games weren't over and the three of them knew it.

Princess Zhen looked up in her cell, she was beaten and whipped as she snugs deeper into a corner. She looked outside of her cell to see a full moon, with tears on her face, she tucked her head back down and whimpered, "Help me, brother."