Chapter 39 Free For All Part 1

As the five-minute time limit came to an end, and the rest of the straggling applicants found their way back to the auditorium, Moon D's loud, cheering voice came back over the loudspeaker, "Well, here we are, ladies and gentlemen! Here we are! The second phase of the exam is about to begin."

As he said that, the auditorium began to shift again, just as it did when the exam first started. But unlike last time, a maze wasn't being created. Massive walls shot up through the floor. Only four tall walls were made, making a box, and all the applicants were neatly packed in the middle.

People began to look around. Some became nervous, having flashbacks to the first phase. "Oh, come on!" one applicant shouted. "We're doing this shit again?"

Moon D could hear the complaints from his viewing room. It made him laugh hysterically. "No, no, no! The second phase won't be a maze run. It will be something a bit different."

Another applicant screamed in response to the announcer, "So what's with the walls?"

Moon D smirked. "To make sure none of you little chicks run away from the chicken coop."

After he said that, doors appeared in the walls. As people, all dressed the same – white shirt, blazer, and tie – came through, "These lovely people coming through right now are assistants that are going to help a little in this next phase."

As the people came into the makeshift box, walking single file to the front of the crowd, many applicants could see they were all holding small black boxes with a hole cut out on top.

When the assistants made their way to the front of the army of applicants, they all stood horizontal in front of the applicants, standing shoulder to shoulder, still holding their little black boxes.

Once the assistants were set, one out of what seemed like twenty of them spoke up – a bald man with a goatee. When he spoke, his voice was loud and commanding.

"Applicants," his voice boomed as if it was the voice of God. Those who were unprepared flinched. "We will now begin phase two of the exam: Armband Battle Royale."

After hearing this, there was chattering among the applicants.

"An armband? What?" came from some.

"A battle Royale? Are they serious?"

Many were confused, some a bit nervous, but there were a small few that were excited. Zack, being a part of that few, thought, "A battle Royale? They didn't have that last year."

Zack smirked, his blood starting to run hot, thinking about getting started.

The constant chit-chatting from the applicants continued until the same loud, commanding, booming voice of the bald assistant spoke up once again.

"Quiet," he said. It only took one time. He only had to say it once, as all the applicants did just that and hushed all the meaningless chatter.

"Now, we assistants will start to move around, allowing all of you to pull out one armband out of the boxes. Once everyone has an armband, we will continue explaining the rules of this phase."

After the bald assistant stopped speaking, all the assistants started to move around, some circling the outside of the crowd, others weaving their way gracefully through the crowd, as each started passing out armbands.

"This is much different from the last phase," Jake said under his breath.

"I thought we were going to fight more robots."

"Naw, man. They got to keep us on our toes," Zack answered, standing next to Jake, holding his new rental blade. It wasn't as standard as the last sword he had. This one had a thin blade that curved like a fishing hook.

"To be honest, they don't just switch up the phases. They switch up the exams each and every year," Zack said.

"Yeah, no exam is the same. They happen at different locations, have different phases, even different announcers and examiners and everything, all to keep the exam itself fresh."

Jake couldn't help but squint his eyes at Zack. "How do you know this?"

"Oh, because I took the exam last year too."

"What? You did?"

"Yep. I guess you failed since you're here now."

"Nope. I passed."

"What?" Jake shouted, a mix of this information and Zack's seemingly nonchalant attitude threw Jake off. When he nearly composed himself, Jake was about to ask Zack a question, but he was interrupted.

"Wait, if you passed the exam last year, then why are you… Excuse me," came from a woman with her blonde hair pulled into a ponytail.

Jake turned to look at her, not even realizing she was there. The assistant presented a black box to Jake. He hesitated, and as he apologized to the woman for taking up her time, he reached into the box and pulled out an armband, and the one he pulled out was pitch black.

The woman then walked in front of Zack and repeated her actions. Zack smirked and reached in and pulled out his own armband, a pure white one. Both Zack "and Jake looked at their own armbands, then looked at each other's. Both their faces were questioning. 'Why were their different colors?' And as they looked at theirs, they quickly looked around them at the other applicants. There were some with white armbands like Zack, but there were some with red ones, others with blue ones. Each applicant was realizing that not all of them had the same-colored bands.

'What is the next phase going to be?' Jake said under his breath.

'I don't know,' Zack spoke, cracking a smile, 'but it's about to be interesting.'

As the last applicant received their band, all the assistants made their way back to their original positions, standing shoulder to shoulder as they once were. All black boxes, now empty, just like before. The bald assistant spoke again.

'Now that all of you applicants have your armbands, you're probably realizing that some of you have different colors. This next phase will be a point system.'

A point system, many applicants thought, none ever speaking, not wanting to interrupt the man.

'The goal of the second phase will be to collect other applicants' armbands and collect enough to have 100 points to pass to the next phase. You will have to have 100 points.'

At this, there were hushed whispers and chatter. After a moment, an applicant, a young man with blonde hair, raised his hand, asking a question before he was even told to speak.

'So, we have to collect 100 armbands to get are 100 points?'

The bald assistant looked at the applicant and shook his head.

'No, you see, the different color armbands will give out different points. For example, white armbands are the most common, so they only give 1 point.'

Hearing this, Zack looked at the armband he held with a look of disgust. 'Really that little?' he thought. 'Blue bands will give 5 points, red ones 10, green 20 points, and finally, black armbands will give out 50 points.'

At this, Jake's eyes went huge as he looked at the pitch-black armband in his hand. His knees started to shake a little as he felt the eyes of other applicants near him, staring at him and his 50-point armband.

'To succeed in this phase, you will need to not only collect other applicants' armbands but defend your own,' the bald assistant said, but these words fell on deaf ears as Jake knew with this armband, he was a target from the very beginning.

'So that little punks got 50 points,' a large ugly applicant thought, standing right next to Jake. He tried to be sly, pretending as if he wasn't looking, but it was clear as day to anyone with a brain that he was staring at Jake, or more like staring at his 50 points he held, the ogre-looking applicant took a peek at his own band; it was colored green. He smirked, his teeth were yellow and rotten.

'Perfect, I'll beat the shit out of this punk, then take his band. Then I'll have 70 points,' the garbaged-mouth applicant started to chuckle to himself. He was giddy with excitement; he could hardly contain himself.

Jake would have noticed this man's odd behavior if he wasn't lost in thought, but someone who was aware was Zack. The black spiky-haired boy looked, and noticed everyone around them, each applicant who was nearly going to start salivating like a starving dog at seeing the 50-point armband Jake had.

'They'll pounce on him to get that band,' Zack thought. He grazed his eyes over the people around him, never making it obvious, not even turning his head. 'I count maybe 10 or maybe 12 people watching Jake. About 6 in front. There were applicants that stood in front of Jake and Zack, many of them who were shooting glances back to look at the black armband. Then there's the guy next to me.'

A slender man with a mohawk and a braided beard was leaning forward, looking past Zack's little 1-point armband and gazing at Jake's. He was licking his lips and grinning like an idiot.

'There's the ugly son of a bitch next to Jake. Then I can feel almost three or more behind us. The very moment this next phase starts, they pounce on him, and with so many of them, they crush him or suffocate him. And if they're desperate enough, they'd…'

Zack stopped himself from continuing that thought but he knew that these applicants would kill Jake if they needed to. Scanning the applicants once more, he saw them gripping their weapons, all they needed was the sound of a starting bell and they'd go.

The last person Zack looked at was Jake. He looked at the look on his face; he was as white as a ghost. Zack smirked as he made his move. It was a quick, swift hand movement. In one stroke, Zack swapped armbands with Jake. It took Jake's brain a moment to process that the color of his armband had changed; it was now white instead of black. It went from 50 points to 1. Jake turned his head. "Towards Zack dramatically," as he saw the spiky-haired young man put the black armband on his left arm, "this action shocked Jake, and he wasn't the only one. It took all the brains of all the applicants, who were staring at Jake's band, just as long to process what the hell just happened. Many of the applicants were furious, believing Zack had done what he did to get ahead of everyone else."

"He cheated," the mohawk-headed thought.

"Greedy bastard," thought the troll-faced applicant, "I'll kill 'em."

As Zack put on the armband, Zack could only smirk. "Now, this next phase is going to be fun for me."

Jake was about to speak up, maybe to protest, but Zack put a single finger over his lips, saying, "Shhhh, keep listening to the rules."

As this ordeal was happening, the bald assistant finished giving the rules for the 2nd phase. "This phase has a time limit, a 10-minute time limit. If any applicant doesn't have 100 points by the end of this phase, they will fail. One last thing, there is no rule against having more than 100 points, meaning you will not be penalized if you do so."

With that, the bald assistant bowed towards the crowd, and the other assistants followed his lead with their heads bowed low. They said in unison, "Good luck to you all."

And with that, they made their ways out of the makeshift box. When all the assistants were gone, the voice of Moon D came back onto the loudspeaker. "Alright, alright, kiddos, it's time to begin. Let the second phase start."