Tourney

Chapter Three: Not AI

The girl behind the table reached out a hand, prompting for Enzo to give her the ticket. He obliged, giving her the paper. Slowly her eyes drifted over the words.

She then asked for the other one. Myra pulled out her own crumpled up ticket, trying to straighten it out as much as she could before handing it to the girl.

"Looks like you've been chosen; welcome newcomers!" She smiled, and pulled out a pen. "Can you tell me your names?"

"Enzo Wright."

"Myra Jaypir."

The girl scribbled down the names on each ticket respectively, before handing them back. "Since you haven't been here before, you'll have to go into that building over there." She pointed to the large building on the left. Myra and Enzo exchanged confused glances, why on earth would an Amiibo tournament need to be so... Complex?

"Oh, and if you need anything else, don't be afraid to ask me. My name's Lillian." She stood and outstretched her hand. Myra took it, and then Enzo. "I'll be seeing you around! Good luck." Lillian's eyes seemed to darken with the last sentence. Myra's brows furrowed as she looked to Enzo, who shrugged.

With a sudden YOLO smile, Enzo ran up the steps to the building Lillian pointed them to, Myra in tow. A plaque above it had a word scribbled out in a strange language Myra couldn't read. Nonetheless, they entered anyways.

Inside was warmer, but also dark and relatively uninhabited. The first thing Myra laid eyes on was a desk in front of them, surrounded by a couple of chairs. With no other direction, the two of them took a seat.

.....

Myra flinched as a crash came from a door behind the desk, and it slowly creaked open from what must've been an impact. A light slithered through it, and so did a couple of voices.

"Come on! What did I tell you about putting away those boxes?" One was deep, but friendly and somewhat protective.

"Hey, I may do some things for you, but I'm not your maid!" A second, much lighter and childish voice came.

"Fine. I'll do it later." Then a pause. "Well? What are you waiting for, permission?"

A bright light flashed from the room, before a stocky man with short black hair and a thin beard stepped out. He had a light coat with the same pocket as everyone else's winter jacket. Except his was a silver grey colour, and appeared to be meant for the indoors.

The man looked up, making eye contact with Myra and then Enzo. "Oh. There are people here." He put on a sheepish grin. "You, uh, didn't hear anything, did you?"

Not knowing what else to do, Myra shook her head slowly. Knowing what to expect, she looked to his pocket. In it was yet another Amiibo, this time Pit. She noticed Enzo stifling a laugh. I guess because we faced one in our match yesterday. That time seems so far away.

"You two must be the newcomers, welcome to the Tourney, yadda yadda. Tickets?" The man held out a hand, with a genuine smile. Myra warmed up to him almost immediately and handed him the still crimped paper. He studied it.

"Myra Jaypir? Did I say that right?" Myra nodded. "Good to meet you Myra. The name's Barley." he extended a hand, and she shook it. The girl recognized the name, from the note that came with the coats! This Barley must be an important figure in this strange, upside-down town.

"And who're you... Enzo Wright, pleasure!" Barley had taken Enzo's ticket, and repeated the greeting with him.

Enzo waited no longer. "Alright. Tell us what the hell is going on." He said, standing up almost violently. Barley looked fairly taken aback.

"Right, the Champion still has a habit of not telling participants where they are." He rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly. "Well, let me tell you then. You two are players of Super Smash Bros. Probably good ones, in order to be invited to the Tourney.

You two were chosen for your skills to participate. Our Champion and her companions sent you each an Character in the form of an Amiibo, which I can see you have with you." He nodded to the Link and Samus Amiibo, respectively. "So, after you received them, you were brought here to train."

"How? Why do we need to be here to train a stupid AI?" Enzo asked. But Barley ignored him.

"The Tourney is a test of skills, to see which team is the strongest. You must work hard to win, and get to the top. Each year, one winner is selected to face the Champion. She and her partner are undefeated."

"So, what's the prize?" Myra asked, curious.

Barley raised an eyebrow and looked into her sapphire blue eyes. "The prize?

You get to leave."

~*~*~*~

"Wait, what!?" Myra yelped, taken aback. "We didn't even want to come here in the first place!" Enzo added.

Barley bowed his head. "None of us did. Apparently only those who face the champion know what this tournament is really for."

Myra sighed and looked at the ground, realizing what this sudden adventure entailed. Slowly, her hand raised to her chest, where the pocket holding her Amiibo was. "Why Amiibo, then?" She asked, looking up at him. Out of the corner of her eye she spotted Enzo, who had finally sat down. But he was still seething.

That question made Barley smile. He reached his hand to his own 'Amiibo Pocket', as Myra decided to call them, and pulled out the Pit Amiibo that rested there.

"These particular figures that get you into the Tourney are not just some stupid AI." Barley said, turning the figure over gently in his hands. His face softened more than it already was when he looked at the Character. "You see, it's my job to introduce newbies like you to this strange concept, among other things. It can startle most people."

Myra had no idea what he was talking about, but there was obviously some reason for a nearly full-grown man to be attached to a toy. But her question was answered quickly, in the most surprising way possible.

It wasn't even logical what her eyes were telling her brain.

The base of figure in Barley's hand began to glow a bright gold colour, and pulsed with light. He held it in the palm of his outstretched hand as he stood, facing away from Enzo and Myra. The two were amazed as the light enveloped the figure itself, and curled through the air and to the ground.

And it didn't end there. The golden light began curling around itself in a circle right at the floor, like a dance. It began rising, more streaks of light spread from it as the glow formed a bright ball of intertwined ribbons than illuminated the room.

The entire spectacle took a few mere seconds, but to Myra it felt like longer. Each strand of light moved along its track, faster until the ball got brighter and brighter. In less than a second it flashed, and dispersed. In the place where the blinding ball of light was, now stood a figure.

At the same time, Enzo and Myra gasped. She felt like she was about to faint as whatever the hell had happened in the past 24 hours rushed down on her like getting trampled by a horse.

In front of her stood a boy. With a mess of brown hair and a pair of snow-white wings, no one could deny she was looking at Pit. The actual thing.

A real, living, breathing, Character.

*****

Apologies, this one's a little short. I hope you've been liking the book so far. Probably not, we haven't even gotten to the good part yet. But look at that, a real Character! Sounds awful familiar! What are your thoughts on the book so far? Leave a comment down below, and don't forget to vote!