Weight of Expectations

Ralnas was eagerly discussing the exploits of Jack-in-the-Pulpit with clips and video to support his hypothesis. Jenira noticed that Jayce had a glazed look on his face and a frown tugging at the corners of his mouth. She leaned her head up to his ear and whispered, "you okay?" He nodded but Jenira could tell that there was something on his mind. Still, she didn't push the issue and let him think in silence. She could ask him about it later and Ralnas looked so excited to be sharing his wealth of information with them.

Ralnas had moved on to the other two nation bosses. "These two are super new to the team but from what I can find online it's not uncommon for these type of things to happen." He colored in the last two faces on his slide of four. "When you join team Chief a lot of people like to talk on names of plants to signify their allegiance to the team. These two did that, one is Cowbane." A thickly muscled Minotaur with various thorns spiraling around his horns glared back from the picture. "And the other one took on the name Snakeroot."

An alien that looked like an offshoot of C-4 appeared. His orange tinted head was carefully framed by yellow and red leaves. A snake-like face with piercing green eyes and two protruding fangs sat atop a slender body with a green pattern coloring his back scales. "He is the newest one to take up the role of a nation leader. From what I could find he challenged the previous leader three weeks ago and won. Apparently, Baneberry thinks highly of him. But I couldn't really find much about him." Ralnas rubbed the back of his head in frustration, "I looked at all the capability exam records but he didn't participate in it and directly petitioned to join team Chief. I guess they liked what they saw because he officially was inducted into the team last season."

Micu nodded and continued to take notes. Jenira raised a hand and Ralnas motioned for her to speak. "Why are there only three nation leaders if they have so many tribes? Doesn't that make them kind of...disorganized?" Ralnas nodded, "Have you ever heard that expression, "the enemy can't prepare for what we're going to do if we don't know what we're going to do"? Well, team Chief function kind of like that. Everyone has a ton of personal freedom to pursue whatever they think will win their team points. There have been tons of battles that have started out against them before something random happens and suddenly they've completely overwhelmed the other team." Jenira nodded with understanding and Ralnas turned to the next slide. "Of course the risk with this strategy is that the opposite can also happen. They've been completely dominating a match and then someone will do something weird and their whole team falls apart."

"Now Micu asked about rivals and they have two main rivals." Ralnas started laughing before containing himself, "One is themselves. Two is everyone else." Micu groaned and looked at Ralnas with an annoyed expression. "Seriously?" Ralnas nodded, "No for real. They have cost themselves just as many victories as they have won. I wouldn't call it a coin flip because they batter lower level teams in tournaments but it's pretty close." Micu nodded, "but everyone else?" Ralnas smiled, "Yeah there's one main reason for that." He turned back to the slide with Cowbane and turned back to face his friends, "Cowbane is a team jumper." Micu raised an eyebrow, "what?"

Ralnas rolled his eyes. "You know, he was on a different team and then broke his contract and joined team Chief? On Ripple, we call them team jumpers, but it's pretty self-explanatory." Micu sighed, "No idiot I know what team jumping is. He jumped from where to Chief and why?" Ralnas made an "ahh" sound and then moved forward two slides to one with a glowing red dragon fighting a leaf. "Cowbane was in team Lazer, and according to inside sources they wanted him to join the leadership group there before he left." He smiled at Jayce as he knew Lazer was his favorite team. Jayce perked up slightly but the weight on his mind didn't lift and he struggled to focus on what Ralnas was saying.

"There are only rumors but it looks like Cowbane didn't want to join in their Phalanx style of fighting and said it was outdated. He pushed against his superiors and they demoted him. So he decided to leave and Baneberry invited him to join." Jenira was still confused, "but I thought you weren't allowed to switch between elite teams? Shouldn't he have had to go down a level and fight for one of them?" Ralnas nodded solemnly, "that's what was supposed to have happened. But Baneberry petitioned the governing body and somehow convinced them that Cowbane hadn't actually fought enough battles to be considered a full-time member of Lazer. So he was allowed to join." Jayce nodded remembering the firestorm that this had caused. "Yeah, the whole simulation said that this was unfair because Cowbane had obviously fought in a ton of battles with Lazer. They put a lot of pressure on the governing body. So they relented and said he had to sit out half a season."

Ralnas smiled, "Exactly!" He moved to his final slide where someone online had drawn all the mascots of the elite teams chasing after a laughing Chief leaf. "That's why this season in particular almost every team is angry at Chief. So I wasn't being a troll when I said that everyone is a rival. People think they bent the rules and are gunning for them." Micu nodded as he jotted down some quick notes. "That actually made sense. Well done Ral." Ralnas beamed with pride and flicked the lights back on. "This was fun, but I would prefer not to have to do it again. It's a lot more fun to see their actual bases." The other three nodded in agreement.

Micu yawned and rolled his shoulders. "I'm going to lay down, my chest still stings from two days ago. See you guys later." The other three waved him off and Ralnas called out, "have a nice nap!" He then sat down on the couch next to Jayce. "Alright, I'm being 100 percent serious right now. Both of you better figure out any little problems you have because I'm not picking sides." Jayce rolled his eyes, "I promise Ralnas I won't make you choose between me and your sister." Ralnas smirked, "damn right you won't. Because you won't get my vote." Jayce waved him off, "I know I know." Ralnas stood and headed towards the room he and Micu shared before pausing, "uhh should I bother him?"

Jayce looked up from the couch to where Ralnas was pointing, "You can have my room if you want?" Ralnas nodded and headed up the stairs before pausing and whirling around. "And where are you going to sleep! Not with my sister! No sir!" Jayce started laughing before a coughing fit overtook him and he wheezed. Jenira blushed and looked at her brother, "Well about that..." Ralnas glared at her, "you didn't." Jenira raised her hands in apology. "I was so tired!" Ralnas' face turned a deep shade of red. "You kissed and fucked him on the first night!"

Jenira's faced twirled into a rage. "What! No! I just slept next to him!" Ralnas cowered slightly facing the full wrath of his sister. "Oh oh that makes sense, well okay then my bad." Jenira wasn't ready to let him off the hook so easily, "And for your information, it is none of your business who I slept with or do anything else with!" Ralnas knew he had made a mistake assuming what had happened and tried his best to beat a hasty retreat. "Sorry Jenira sorry sorry," he was already backing up the stairs. "I'm not forgiving you that easily. Jayce is sleeping in my room from now on and I don't want to hear a single word about it from you." Ralnas' face contorted with frustration and hopelessness. "Ugh! Fine. But I'm just saying wear protection..." Jenira violently threw her shoe at him, "Leave!"

Ralnas quickly scurried up the stairs and slammed the door to Jayce's old room. Jenira was still fuming and Jayce leaned his head against her. "Hey, it wasn't all bad. I get to sleep next to you from now on." Jenira looked at him still angry but she couldn't prevent a smile from breaking through. "That's what you got out of all of that?" Jayce shrugged, "I don't have siblings. The relationship between you two is pretty confusing to me." Jenira considered this a moment before sighing. "You're probably about to get a crash course in it then." Jayce picked up her hand and kissed the top of it, "for you, I will go to brother-sister school." Jenira rolled her eyes. "The overdramatic thing is both charming and cheesy and I can't tell if it's cute or not." Jayce grinned, "all part of my devilish charm." Jenira laughed and shook her head. "Is that what we're calling it now?"

...

A glass dome surrounded by water glistened in the softly pulsing current. Ahti watched the fish swim past as his bulbous squid eyes reflected the lanterns burning brightly beside him. "Brother I fear our harmonious existence is at an end." Tatewari crossed all six of his arms and nodded his head. "With the return of those two, we're back to the infighting that plagued us for millennia." Ahti waved his hand and the current stopped. He turned back to face his brother. "I think it's time for drastic measures." He sat at the long table and stretched his hands to reshape the surface into a projection of the current simulation. The safe zones orbited lazily around the three major hubs and he spun the map with a long finger. Tatewari looked up from the map, "what are you thinking?"

Ahti zoomed out the map to encompass the whole simulation. The single continent his brother had worked so hard on filled the majority of the map. "I think it's time to crown a true king of the gods." Tatewari tilted his head and slit his eyes. "Speak plainly. I did not come here to speak in riddles like Zcerneboch." A slimy laugh escaped the tentacled face of Ahti and he zoomed in on the three hubs. "I say it is time for every side to compete for the right to rule above all others. As in, you and I compete against each other as well."

Tatewari uncrossed one of his pairs of arms and rested his head on them. "We would work together until the end right?" Ahti nodded, "Of course. We can't have Zcern winning. But once the other sides have been taken care of it would be the classic battle of fire against water." Tatewari chuckled and it sounded like cinders escaping a forge. "Of course you hold the advantage in that battle." Ahti nodded, "I wouldn't put myself in a position to lose." A flame washed across the painstakingly created continent and a dark shadow was all that remained of the once gleaming green landmass. Tatewari raised his head to face Ahti. "Then we will need an artificial intelligence to moderate for us. And we will need to be split into distinct factions."

Ahti waved a tentacled hand towards a door and a few two-legged fish pushed a large gleaming orb into the room. "I've already taken care of it brother. Fear not. This one we will call SAI short for simulation artificial intelligence. It will have orders to do whatever is necessary to protect the grand prize. Once the grand prize is claimed however it will self-destruct." Tatewari clapped all six hands together loudly. "Again you impress me with your foresight." He paused and examined the charred remains of his continent before looking back at the orb. "But why did you call me here if you've already mapped out the next grand competition?"

Ahti stood and walked to the orb. He patted it with fatherly love. "I have no knack for creating above ground environments. I need your expertise for that." Tatewari nodded and stood before touching the orb and focusing. "Then I will give it the bare essentials to create interesting areas, can't have you stealing my secrets before the grand finale." "My brother I promise you that the finale will indeed be grand." Tatewari removed his hands from the orb," Oh believe me I can't wait." The two clasped hands in mutual respect before sitting back at the table and beginning to draw up the changes to the simulation to make their plans reality.

...

Ionas sighed and checked his watch again. He wasn't used to reporting directly to his boss and his nervousness made him impatient. He checked his watch again and began tapping his robotic thumbs against his leg. A sleek android walked up to him and scanned him with her inhuman eyes. "Ionas, we're pleased to have you here." It turned and Ionas knew to follow without asking questions.

He followed the android into a darkened conference room. An illuminated chair was positioned before him and he sat down before putting on the monocle he had been given for his human eye. Five shadowy silhouettes appeared as soon as he had adjusted the monocle to a comfortable position. Ionas nodded slightly to each figure before turning his attention to the central figure. "What can I do for you today?" He asked with deference.

A heavily modulated voice answered his question. "You have a new assignment Ionas. We need to know more about Jayce Good. We understand he is your son's friend. We want to know everything there is to know about his abilities and where they come from." Ionas nodded, "I assumed you would be interested in that information. I have already performed a preliminary exam on him due to the incident on the second exam day. I will forward you the information as soon as I'm back in my office."

Another modulated voice, this one female, spoke. "Unfortunately we believe that others have already attempted to gain access to your data. We will be requiring you to print everything out and deliver it to a designated individual." Ionas nodded, "as you wish." The lead voice then continued. "Ionas you have been a faithful servant to us for many years and we are grateful for your efforts to ensure humanities survival. I must confess my fear that this may be the most important thing we've asked you to do yet."

Ionas had also assumed the same thing to be true when Jayce's powers had appeared. "I appreciate your concern and will do my best to tread carefully." The silhouette nodded. "Be careful Ionas. I fear the future of humanity rests in that boy's hands." Ionas allowed himself a small smile. His pride expanded slightly as he thought to himself, "and my son will be there right next to him in the history books." He looked to each silhouette, "anything else you require of me?"

The lead voice shook his head, "that's all for now. Disconnecting." Each silhouette flickered out of existence and Ionas stood. He brushed some dust off his jacket as he followed the android back into the heart of major hub one.