It wasn't so easy after that, once the grounds flooded with people. After five teams in the space of ten minutes tried to get the flag from us, we figured we should hide somewhere for the day and wait out the rush. We were worried about other teams getting the other flags in the meantime, but as Sierra pointed out, we had one flag, and those with the others would have to come to us to get it. Adrian didn't really like this anticlimactic turn of events, rushing away from a fight to find someplace to hide in the trees, but he seemed to recognize that it was the best solution we had. Mark, as always, was shy and quiet.
So we spent a rather boring day hiding in the branches of a tree behind the school building, where no one had come just yet, and planning. The next morning we climbed out of the tree stiff, sore, and very hungry. The sun wasn't even up yet, but what passed for our bed made sleeping rather difficult. "We should go find some food," Adrian murmured. "There won't be too many people in there yet." We all agreed, but made preparations just to be sure. I could see power sparking around Adrian as he stored up energy, the grass straining a little at Sierra's feet as she walked; preparing to manipulate the matter around her, and I kept a steady mental image of my spear in the back of my mind, ready to materialize at a moment's notice. If Mark did anything, it wasn't obvious, but maybe he didn't need preparation to teleport.
We entered the school building through the nearest door, a side door, and carefully made our way to the cafeteria. All went well until we got to the levitation hall, not far from the cafeteria. There, we ran into a literal wall. "Was that there last week?" Mark asked. "I don't remember seeing that." "I don't think so." I responded, skimming my hand over the surface of plain, unpainted metal. When I lifted my hand, there was a bright outline where it had been. Recognized: Hannah. Golden letters wrote on the wall. All remaining teammates please put your hand on the wall as well. The others exchanged nervous glances and obliged. Recognized: Team Scorpion. The letters on the wall wrote again before it all disappeared.
I could feel myself dissolving, disintegrating. It was a strange feeling, like pins and needles. I looked down and I wasn't there at all, until suddenly I was. My teammates appeared beside me a few seconds later. I was about to ask what had just happened until I looked around and realized that there were bigger mysteries. We were apparently on the other side of the wall, in what looked for all the world like a meadow. There was a blue sky where the ceiling had been just seconds ago, green grass at our feet, dotted with daisies. I immediately came to the conclusion that something this peaceful looking must be deadly.
Out of nowhere, seemingly out of the grass, a snake arose. I would've thought that it was a real snake, if not for the cold, glittering automaton eyes. The Matriarch was really getting fancy with this challenge! "There are four of you," it hissed. "What you seek lies at the edge of the garden. Two of you must take the Path of Force to reach it, two of you must take the Path of Knowledge. Whichever you choose, two of you must reach the end to claim your prize. You have one minute to make your decision."
"Okay..." Sierra said, calculating. "Adrian, you have to take the Path of Strength. You're probably our strongest fighter. Mark, you have to take the Path of Knowledge. You're too low-level to fight your way through. But what about Hannah and I?" Adrian and Mark didn't even protest her decision. Apparently they agreed with her logic. "I'm not exactly amazing at quizzes or anything, I'll take strength." I said. The snake seemed as if it had been listening, "Your decision has been made. Those taking the Path of Knowledge to the left, those taking the Path of Strength to the right." It hissed before sinking into the grass and disappearing again.
Right after is disappeared, two wrought-iron gates appeared, fenced paths stretching out behind them. At intervals down the paths more normal robots appeared. The power involved in this must be insane! I took a deep breath and reached out to touch the gate to the right. It swung open, and the instant Adrian and I were both inside the path, it clanged shut. I assumed Mark and Sierra's gate was doing the same, but I didn't have time to look over. The AI closest to us sprung to life. "In order to defeat me, you must hit me in the head or chest." It said pleasantly. When it was finished, it automatically fired a bolt of electricity in my direction. I ducked, and Adrian sent a small explosion at it, targeted at its' arm. It didn't even scorch it. It did, however, rebound in Adrian's face. As Adrian was blinded by the smoke, it fired a shot at him. "Adrian, move!" I shouted as I summoned my spear and threw it, aiming for the AI's chest. This time it went straight through. "Thanks." Adrian panted. "No problem," I said, extracting my spear from the robot's chest. There was no point in dematerializing it now.
Each android we encountered had a specific way it had to be killed. I would realize, later, that the point of exercises like these with the androids was to get us used to killing, to looking something that looked like a human in the face and stabbing it anyways. But in the moment it was actually kind of fun, especially the last one that could only be destroyed by destroying all of it at once. We were grinning as we stepped around the shrapnel and out the now-opened end gate. Sierra and Mark were waiting, but they were in far worse shape than we were. We had some scratches and bruises and a few small burns, they were both bleeding from numerous long, shallow cuts and Mark was covered in something that looked like spiderweb. "What happened?!" I asked. "Mark missed a LOT of questions," Sierra said tiredly. Mark looked ashamed. "It's okay. You're only Level One, you couldn't have known much." I assured him.
In front of us were four circular platforms. High above them, in a canister similar to the one we'd found the last one in, hovered a golden flag. Cautiously, with weapons out, we all took our placed on one of the platforms. The flag simply descended slowly, gently towards the ground. Sierra reached out and caught it as it came near. We all stepped off of the platforms and Sierra tossed the canister to me and I put the flag in my bookbag with the other one, putting the canister on the ground to be drawn back up where it belonged. That ordeal was over. But as we all touched the wall behind the platforms and were transported back from whence we came, our loudly growling stomachs reminded us that there was another yet to come.
"That was some really complex work." Sierra said, awed, as we walked away from the wall. "Think how much manipulation of matter that must've required. She would've had to manipulate the light to make us see that, and somehow even our senses to make us feel it! I knew she was powerful, but that's insane!" She said. We all nodded in agreement. Mark looked scared. I was impressed by the work, but it reminded me yet again of the graveyard in the woods. The Matriarch was merciful to us, in her own twisted way. We'd never seen the full extent of her powers. I hoped we never would.
But I had more pressing concerns. The hallway outside of the cafeteria was quiet, but we could hear the sounds of fighting coming from behind the doors. I thought about summoning my spear, but decided to just have it ready to materialize. I'd need both hands to grab the food.
As soon as we stepped in the door, a flashing sign informed us that there were three meals left today. Twenty or thirty people were already fighting, shoving one another away from the serving counter. "I'll get the food." Mark said lowly. "Just clear me a place to materialize by the counter and I'll meet you guys by the tree." We all nodded. I dropped my mental image of my spear. Such a large weapon would be a disadvantage in such a tight crowd. I channeled my desperation and my hunger and used my power to shove people out of the way. Sierra and Adrian were doing the same on either side of me, and between the three of us we managed to clear out a little circle. But one girl, probably normally part of Green Team, ran in at a speed that shouldn't have been possible, grabbed something, and fled. I didn't have time to look at what she'd stolen. Mark finally materialized beside me, grabbed all that was left, and disappeared.
Adrian, Sierra, and I had almost made our way back to the door when a team with a jaguar insignia on their shirtsleeves blocked our way. "You guys look awful beat up." One of them said. "Beat up means you went looking for a flag. Give it to us, now." He demanded. "We didn't succeed." Sierra lied smoothly. "Please, Sierra, someone like you? Of course you did." He turned his attention to me. "Give me the bag." He demanded. One of the others held their hand out menacingly, a shimmer of power hinting at a weapon that could be made. It made me sick. One of my own teammates- well, usually teammate- threatening me. The disgust gave me enough energy to raise a huge shield, big enough to cover all three of us, and run.
As we left, Adrian turned and sent a huge blast at them. I didn't see what happened and I didn't want to, but they didn't follow us after that. We soon made it back to the tree, where Mark was waiting with what he had gotten. One tray, with some spaghetti, a small piece of bread, an apple, and some water. My heart sank. This, for four people? We divided it up, each of us getting a chunk of bread, a few mouthfuls of spaghetti, and a swallow of water. We decided to save the apple and the rest of the water for breakfast tomorrow.
It was just enough to take the edge off of the hunger, but I could feel myself getting weaker. None of us had had anything to eat since breakfast yesterday. And, as one of my Basics lessons had taught me, we needed more calories than most people to maintain energy to summon our powers. The usual alarm on our Connnects had been disabled for the competition, but we were given the ability to set our own. We all set our alarms for four AM tomorrow. We HAD to get more food tomorrow, or find some, before we did anything else. After that, well, we would see what came.
