Champion of the Bots ✔️

Chapter 28 ~ MARIOLA

Mariola found herself standing barefoot underneath a canopy of leaves.

"Wh-what happened?" She moaned, scrubbing her eyes to try to clear away the haziness in her eyes.

"You're here for the Evaluation."

Mariole turned around. A tall, bulky boy stood behind her shoulder with a grim smile on his skinny face. Over the boy's shoulder stood a figure with curvy hips and luscious black hair that melted with the dark night.

Mariola scrubbed her eyes again. Maybe she fainted at Loma's house. Maybe she fell into the shower cubicle. Maybe she was in a dream dozing off on Loma's wooden bench. Maybe...

The haziness didn't clear away, nor did the two random strangers. Mariola sighed. She was getting tired of events popping up, people telling her strange things, and places that she kept finding herself in; but she was getting used to it.

"Alright. What am I supposed to do?"

The boy lifted the right side of his lips, seemingly surprised at her boldness and nonchalance. He replied, "Just wait here until they call you." With that simple explanation, he left, the girl following in tow; and Mariola stood there waiting for something.

What could happen this time? Who is this they? Maybe they would evaluate her skills to assemble a house made of twigs. Maybe they would evaluate her ability to climb a tall tree using only a hammer. Maybe.

Struggling to conjure up more possible Maybe's, Mariola didn't notice the curvaceous girl return.

"They're waiting for you," she promoted, one hand on her dipping hip, the other hand gesturing for her to come.

After all that Mariola had gone through, she felt ready for whatever next task she had. No more breaking down. No more standing in the rain to cover her tears. No more. She could do this.

Shoulders back, head up, hair up, Mariola strode past the girl and through the bushes, where a pathway of uneven ground, roots, and brown leaves hid. Shafts of moonlight streamed through the cracks of the leaves; and even though Mariola squinted, she could not see the end.

"Just go," the girl snapped impatiently, both hands on her hips. "The night is coming to an end."

But when Mariola turned back around to look at the pathway, all she could see was night and bleakness and uncertainty. She hesitated, then she shook the feeling out of her head. Before the emotion could wrap its coils around her, Mariola took a step forward. And another step. Then another—

She tripped and fell and rode on a slide composed of dirt and twigs. The gasp of surprise caught in her throat; and all Mariola could do was widen her eyes, bite her lips at the pain stressed on her bottom, ignore the sharp claws of branches, and ride the rollercoaster to meet her Evaluation.

Lifting her head, Mariola glimpsed pieces of the moon that flashed unevenly through the skeleton leaves like lights through the windows of a train. She kept going down down down until her bottom became numb and—

"Agh!" The slide spewed her out like curdled milk, and Mariola tumbled onto the ground into a stadium.

Blaring lights. Thundering claps. Whooping shouts. Large audience. Mariola was at the center of it all.

Heat pounding, sweat trickling down, Mariola basked under the attention. It almost felt as if she was naked again what with every eye roving all over her. It almost seemed as if they were judging her, sizing her, evaluating her.

The boy had said she would be brought to the Evaluation, but she had no idea that it meant her standing in the middle of a stadium as an audience of teenagers raised their eyebrows and pointed at her like a zoo animal.

What did they expect her to do? Juggle balls of fire while tricycling? Catwalk across the grassy ground? What?

"Welcome, new contestant!" A voice boomed. Mariola's heart jolted, her imaginations of herself cat walking and juggling dissipating like dust. "Welcome to your first Evaluation!"

Trying to find the owner of the syrupy voice, Mariola tried to scour the stadium for a recording studio like where she had found that man in Eden before he pulled the lever plummeting her down here. On that event, the man had called it her Introduction. She hoped that this Evaluation wouldn't send her any deeper down into another hell.

"In this Evaluation, we will be judging your every move, every expression, and every action you do during your tests. Good luck."

Again with the terribly short and confounding explanations! Mariola thought just before the world faded away like blurry pixels and planted her in the middle of a the stimulation room like in the Trunk council tree.

"Hello, contestant 10010, Mariola," the computer said, as if programmed to sound happy just for her. "Which test would you like to take?"

The female voice—Via—echoed around the empty room, suddenly devoid of the teeming crowd of teenagers. In front of Mariola, stretching from ceiling to floor, stood the screen as before; except this time, the screen portrayed roundish rectangles, each with a capitalized, bold title and a picture.

Scanning the options, her eyes skimmed through JUNGLE ADVENTURE, PACMAN GAME, GHOST STORY, ALONE AND NAKED, and more.

"Well, this one doesn't seem too bad," Mariola muttered out; then she answered to Via, "High school life, please."

"You have selected HIGH SCHOOL LIFE. The stimulation will begin. Good luck."

Edie had wished her luck before pushing her onto stage for her introduction. Sir Eden had said good luck before he plummeted her down to this Level. Loma had told her good luck before she climbed up to meet the Trunk Council. Funny how luck didn't help her at all in any of those times, and it sure won't be helping her now.

So, Mariola took a deep sucking breath and stared at the screen, trying to stare intimidatingly at her next challenge; but she wasn't prepared at all when the screen popped up a naked mannequin woman with no hair, eyes, nose, mouth, anything.

"What kind of a sick joke is this?" Mariola spat out.

"Before the stimulation begins, you must create your avatar," the voice simply replied with a tinge of excitement. "Select the hair type, eye color, nose shape, mouth curve..."

Confused, Mariola only continued to stare helplessly as a mini screen with a keypad sprouted from a hidden compartment on the floor.

"And don't forget to give your avatar a name," Via chirped. Mariola could almost believe that the computerized female was a person.

"Can I just make my avatar like me? Can I name it with my name?"

"Yes, you can name your avatar as Mariola. Most people usually choose another name."

"Well, I'm not most people, and I like my name." Mariola shrugged and typed in M-A-R-I-O-L-A into the keyboard.

And she continued on transforming her feature-less mannequin into a medium-sized dark-haired girl with brown eyes, a button nose, and a thin curvy mouth. Mariola kept glancing at herself to change her avatar's shoe size or a freckle misplaced on her cheek.

"Your avatar is complete. The second stage of the stimulation will resume."

"Alright, let's do this," Mariola muttered to herself, rolling her shoulders and cracking her knuckles, all the while unaware that outside of the room in a small control room sat someone watching her every move to evaluate her. 

*･゜ﾟ･*:.｡..｡.:*･'*ﾟ▽ﾟ*'･*:.｡. .｡.:*･゜ﾟ･*

I just really really want to say thank you to the people who are reading this because this book would really not be here without you, and I probably would not have tried out for the Wattys 😭😁

Anyways. What is YOUR favorite character so far? What do YOU think about Mariola's many challenges?

Don't hesitate to give any feedback 😆 and don't forget to click on that glowing star 💖😘