The Experiment Tournament
Chapter 10: Trial, Revenge, and Romance
5-6-4 was sitting in one of the seats in the stadium, looking down upon the empty rows of seats below. From the top row, 5-6-4 could see the entire stadium and how vast it looked from her seat. The stadium seemed so quiet compared to all the noise heard just an hour ago yet despite the gorgeous view, 5-6-4's thoughts were on her friend, 4-0-5. Jumba had aloud the two experiments time outside his office as he questioned some of the remaining contestants in the tournament. 5-6-4 spent that hour sitting on a hard wooden seat and staring down upon the empty stadium below, filled with anger towards 5-2-5. She knew that 5-2-5 was selfish and greedy but she never thought he would frame 4-0-5 for his own selfish gain. 5-6-4 had never felt so angry at anyone in her life. She just wanted to throttle 5-2-5 for what he had done and her thoughts surprised her since she was normally not a violent person.
Convinced that sitting there in the stadium wouldn't make her feel any better, 5-6-4 decided to go for a walk. She got up from her seat and then walked into the halls of the stadium, wondering the concrete halls that seemed just as empty and as silent as the stadium itself. 5-6-4 aimlessly ventured the halls until her journey led her to a men's locker room. There, she stopped when she suddenly heard the sound of someone behind the door. She pressed her long ear against the side of the door and she could hear clearly the sound of someone upset from the other side of the door. Curious and concerned, 5-6-4 opened the door, making sure no one saw her since she was sneaking into a men's room.
She entered the empty locker room which looked no different than the girl's locker room. Lined in-between the rows of lockers were large benches and sitting on the end of one of them was 4-0-5. He had his back towards 5-6-4 and he sat hunched over staring blankly at the floor under his feet. She walked up to him, being careful not to startle him, and when she got close enough to see her friend's face, she was shocked to see that 4-0-5 had been crying. His tear soaked cheeks revealed that fact. 4-0-5 gave no indication that he had noticed 5-6-4's approach. He instead continued to sit on that bench, sobbing quietly to himself.
5-6-4 was surprised to see 4-0-5 cry because, in the short time she had know him, not once did 5-6-4 had ever seen 4-0-5 cry nor did she know him as the type to show his emotions. Tears began to form in her own eyes as she watched 4-0-5 crying silently to himself. 5-6-4 sat onto the bench next to him and said, "I know how you feel. This is offal."
"I can't believe this," said 4-0-5 angrily. "Why is he doing this?"
"5-2-5 is trying to get you kicked out of the tournament so he could improve his own chances of winning," explained 5-6-4. "I read his mind. He knows that according to the rules, if an experiment is expelled from the tournament, the remaining rounds proceed without him. By removing you, that leaves 5-2-3 and 6-0-1 left to fight 5-2-5."
"But why doesn't 5-6-9 take my place and proceed to the next round?" asked 4-0-5.
"According to the rules, all victories and defeats are final once the match is officially over and nothing can change that," answered 5-6-4. "It's just the way how Jumba had arranged it and I guess he never thought he would be worrying about potential cheaters."
"I swear, if I get my hands on 5-2-5…" said 4-0-5 angrily.
"Violence is not the answer," said 5-6-4 feeling a little enraged herself about 5-2-5. "5-2-5 wants to win the tournament so he could maintain his image to the other experiments. That's what this is all about, wanting to look good in front of the other experiments." The room fell silent as 5-6-4's words held heavily in the air. 4-0-5 broke the silence by saying, "Maybe we could use that lie detector experiment, 0-3-2."
"Experiment 0-3-2 has already left the stadium with all the other experiments," said 5-6-4. "It will take hours to track him down and Jumba has to decide your guilt or innocence quickly so he could get to work preparing for the rest of the tournament tomorrow."
"Well, can we find any witnesses who saw you?" asked 4-0-5 desperately.
"Again, it will take time to track down all the experiments that were sitting next to me and even if they did see me, they still wouldn't be able to verify I hadn't used telepathy since I reveal no visible evidence when I use telepathy," explained 5-6-4. Out of frustration, 4-0-5 said nothing in return.
The two experiments said nothing more as they sat on that old bench, thinking to themselves of how they could prove 4-0-5's innocence. The two couldn't think of much so 5-6-4 decided to break the silence by saying, "Don't worry, 4-0-5," she said as she held 4-0-5's hand. "We'll think of something." 4-0-5 wiped a tear from his eyes using his free hand, being careful not to accidentally cut himself with his sharp claws. He said nothing in return but the appreciative smile on his face told 5-6-4 enough of what she needed to know. He held hands with 5-6-4, giving her hand a gentile squeeze in a sign of gratitude for her being there for him. Feeling tears drip from her eyes, 5-6-4 wrapped her arms around 4-0-5 and 4-0-5 wrapped his own arm around her. The two held each other in a gentile embrace, seeking comfort from one another.
It wasn't long before 4-0-5 and 5-6-4 had to leave the privacy of the locker room and head back into Jumba's office where 5-2-5 had been waiting for them. All three experiments waited in Jumba's office, not speaking a single word to each other, although 4-0-5 and 5-2-5 did stare at each other menacingly the whole time. Eventually, Jumba came into the room, his massive body taking up a lot of space within the small room. He sat back down in his chair behind his desk as the three experiments waited anxiously for Jumba to speak.
"Well, I was speaking with 5-6-9 in the infirmary," said Jumba. "He told me his account of what happened during the fight. Although he provided no explanation for why 4-0-5 was able to see through his illusion, he did tell me that 5-6-9 did make the mistake of not having his mentally projected figment of himself fight back which does calibrate with 4-0-5's story but that doesn't necessarily prove 4-0-5's innocence." 4-0-5 was relieved a bit by the news.
The chair creaked loudly as Jumba leaned back into his chair.
"Now, 4-0-5, tell me, in your own words, what happened during the fight," said Jumba. 4-0-5 began to explain what happened in the arena. He told him everything that happened, leaving nothing out of his story. He told him about the illusions he had experienced and the incident where he was nearly tricked into leaving the arena. He explained how he was able to see through 5-6-9's illusions which led to his victory. As he listened, Jumba sat in his chair, staring blankly at 4-0-5 without a single bit of emotion on his face. By the time 4-0-5 was done talking, Jumba just sat there, thinking quietly to himself. The whole time, he kept his eyes away from 5-6-4. Although 5-6-4's powers could not decipher exactly what her creator was thinking, she could still sense that he was weighing the odds of 4-0-5's story being plausible.
By the time 4-0-5 was done telling his story, it was at that point that 5-2-5 decided to speak up. "You know, even if 5-6-9 did reveal his bogus duplicate by not manipulating it into fighting, 5-6-4 may still have told 4-0-5 he was in an illusion and they simply used 5-6-9's mistake to come up with this story." 4-0-5 fought the urge to scream out that 5-2-5 was lying but he knew that would only make things worse. Instead, he grabbed the arms of his chair, digging his claws into the wood. Although she wasn't looking into his eyes, 5-6-4 could still sense 4-0-5's anger and she put her hand on top of his hand to calm him down.
When 4-0-5 didn't say anything to defend himself, 5-2-5 continued to talk. "Jumba, I can bet my life that 4-0-5 is guilty. How else could a failed experiment get so far in the tournament. Like how he managed to defeat that replication experiment, 4-8-2."
"I found the original 4-8-2 out of the crowd of clones because she was the only one who wasn't fighting," insisted 4-0-5, trying to keep the tone of his voice calm.
"That's just as absurd as your story about seeing through 5-6-9's illusion," said 5-2-5 smugly.
"No, he's quite right," said Jumba. "I watch the Experiment Tournaments and indeed, I did notice that the original 4-8-2 was not moving. Also, I saw nothing to even remotely suggest he was cheating during his fight with 5-0-9 so I suggest we keep this discussion focused on 4-0-5's fight with 5-6-9." Disappointed, 5-2-5 said nothing. The three experiments continued to talk to Jumba, going over the evidence with him.
Meanwhile, as 4-0-5 was being prosecuted, 6-2-5 and 2-9-7 (Shortstuff) was in the stadium's control room. After they had eaten lunch, Jumba give them the job of sorting through all the footage taken of the fights during the tournament. Jumba had told the two experiments about 5-2-5's theory of how 4-0-5 cheated in the tournament and they needed to find video footage of the fights in order to prove or disprove the claim. 6-2-5 and 2-9-7 were shocked to learn that 4-0-5 was being accused of cheating and they both agreed to help out in the investigation. The two were in the video surveillance room looking through all the digital recordings of the crowds and the arena.
The two experiments were watching six different monitors at once, each one playing footage taken from the fights. Four of the cameras had been recording the arena at four different angles while the remaining two had been recording the audience. Each of the cameras were linked by a single digital player which is controlled by a small remote which laid on the counter next to 2-9-7. Because all the footage from the cameras were linked by one unit, each of the screens were designed to play, rewind, fast forward, and stop at the same time in order to allow the footage to be sequential with each other. 6-2-5 and 2-9-7 watched the footage of 4-0-5's fight as well as the footage of the audience taken at the exact same time. The sound had been turned off in order to prevent a cluttering of noise in the small room.
The two experiments had been watching the same footage for the third time and none of them found anything of interest.
"I'm bored," whined 6-2-5.
"Will you please focus," said 2-9-7. "4-0-5 and Jumba need us to watch this footage for any clues that could prove 4-0-5's guilt or innocents. Not to mention 4-0-5 wont stand much of a chance of being exonerated if we don't find anything."
"I know," whined 6-2-5. "Look, I too believe 4-0-5 is innocent and that 5-2-5 is framing him but what can we do about it? We've watched this footage three times already and found nothing."
"I know but we have to make sure," said 2-9-7. "If you're so bored, then lets just play it again just one more time to make sure we didn't miss anything. Okay?"
"Fine, I'll watch it one more time," said 6-2-5 irritably. With that said, 2-9-7 pressed the rewind button on the remote with one of his four lobster claws and right before their eyes, the images on all six of the screens was moving backwards at a fast pace.
When 2-9-7 played back the footage, the two experiments simultaneously watched one screen from the next as they were shown what the connected cameras had recorded. 6-2-5 was staring at a recording of the audience when something caught his eye. It was a small speck of lavender in the audience that could have easily been missed do to the other colors that took up the audience.
"Hit the stop button," ordered 6-2-5.
"Why?" asked 2-9-7.
"Just do it," said 6-2-5 and 2-9-7 complied. He hit the pause button and the footage paused where it was.
"Okay, now what?" asked 2-9-7.
"Zoom in here," said 6-2-5 as he pointed towards the lavender figure on the screen. Complying, 2-9-7 used the remote to direct the digital footage to zoom in on the area indicated by 6-2-5. The picture grew closer until the two experiments could clearly see the experiment in the picture. It was 5-6-4. She was staring at an empty seat behind her and, for some reason, she appeared to be all wet.
"What's she doing?" asked 2-9-7.
"I don't know," admitted 6-2-5. "Try rewinding it." 2-9-7 rewound the tape and then played it again.
In the footage, they saw 6-0-4 spilling his soda all over 5-6-4. 5-6-4 got mad and she turned her gaze towards 6-0-4 who had disappeared.
"Wow, what a mess," said 2-9-7 but 6-2-5 was more focused on the other screens than on the mess.
"Play that back again," ordered 6-2-5 and 2-9-7 once again rewound the tape and replayed. As the footage of 6-0-4's accident was played, 6-2-5 had his eyes on the other screens, watching the five other separate images take place. When 6-2-5's suspicions were conformed, he was overjoyed.
"2-9-7, get Jumba and the others down here," said 6-2-5.
"Why?" asked 2-9-7.
"Because, if I'm right, then I have just proven that 4-0-5 is innocent," said 6-2-5. Not sure as to what 6-2-5 was implying, 2-9-7 did as he was told and left to get Jumba.
It wasn't long before 2-9-7 had rushed back into the room with Jumba, 5-2-5, 5-6-4, and 4-0-5 with him. Upon entering, 5-2-5--the most skeptical of all of them--said,
"Alright, show us this so called 'proof' you're trying to show us."
"Please, 5-2-5, no need to be judgmental," said Jumba. He turned to 6-2-5 and asked, "What did you find?"
"Well, I was looking through the footage and I found footage of 5-6-4 in the audience," explained 6-2-5 proudly.
"So?" asked 5-2-5.
"Well, look at this and you'll see what I mean," said 6-2-5. "Okay 2-9-7, roll the tape for them." 2-9-7 pushed the play button and the tape started. From the screen that showed a close-up of the audience, everyone watched the zoomed-in footage of 5-6-4. 5-6-4 watched the screen as 6-0-4 once again dumped cold soda all over her which made her feel rather embarrassed at having everyone in the room watch her get drenched.
The footage only lasted for about twenty seconds before it was stopped with 5-6-4 soaked and staring at an empty seat where 6-0-4 was. Unimpressed, 5-2-5 said, "That's very funny but what does that have to do with anything?"
"Well, look at the other monitors," said 6-2-5 in a matter-of-fact tone of voice. "All the monitors are in complete chronological sequence which means that whatever is shown on this screen," 6-2-5 points to the screen with the close-up of 5-6-4, "happens at the same time as what is shown on the other screens. As you can clearly see, at the same time 5-6-4 was distracted with 6-0-4, 4-0-5 was still busy fighting the illusion which means he hadn't gotten a telepathic message at this point and when we continue to play the footage, you'll realize that 4-0-5 stops fighting while 5-6-4 had her eyes off 4-0-5." 6-2-5 hit the play button to start the tape and sure enough, 4-0-5 had stopped fighting while 5-6-4's attention was away from him.
"What does that prove?" asked 5-2-5.
"I can only use my telepathic powers on people I'm actually looking at," said 5-6-4 as she smiled with joy. "If my eyes were off 4-0-5 at the time of the fight then I couldn't have sent him a telepathic message."
"She's right," said Jumba. "Then that would mean that 4-0-5 is innocent." The look of confidence that had been on 5-2-5's face all this time was quickly replaced with one of shock.
"But Jumba, she could have told him sooner, before she was drenched in soda," suggested 5-2-5 desperately.
"Then 4-0-5 would have stopped fighting sooner than shown on the screen in order to avoid falling into a trap or going over the edge," said Jumba. "No, I believe this proves 4-0-5's innocents. He is now exonerated of his crimes and free to be in the fourth round." Upon hearing this, 5-6-4 and 4-0-5 began to celebrate. 5-6-4 was so happy that she wrapped her arms around 4-0-5 and kissed him on the cheek and 4-0-5 was too overjoyed to care that she'd kissed him in public.
Outraged, 5-2-5 asked Jumba, "How could you exonerate him like that?"
"Well, for three reasons," said Jumba. "One, the video shows clearly that 4-0-5 is innocent. Two, your accusations are based off of hunches and suspicions with very little fact. And three, 4-0-5 has never lied to me before so I trust him." Angered 5-2-5 stormed out the room.
"What's his problem?" asked 6-2-5.
"Well, now that this has being settled, I'm going to go home and prepare for rounds four and five," said Jumba. "Be seeing you tomorrow." With that said, Jumba left the room.
"Well, I see my work here is done," said 6-2-5. "I'm going home for a nice long nap. What about you, 2-9-7?"
"I'm going to screw around some more with my electronic devices at home," said 2-9-7 as he and 6-2-5 left the room, leaving 4-0-5 and 5-6-4 alone. Both of them had wide smiles on their faces, relieved from all the tension they had endured for the past few hours. 5-6-4 turned to 4-0-5 and said, "By the way, I just remembered. I want to congratulate you on getting into the fourth round." 4-0-5 smiled in response. It wasn't the first time he had gotten a congratulations for getting into the next round but coming from 5-6-4, it meant a lot to him.
Once 4-0-5 and 5-6-4 left the stadium, the two split up and went their separate ways. 5-6-4 spent her day hanging out with her friends while 4-0-5 stayed in his apartment all day. Worried that the other experiments would mock him when they find out he was accused of cheating, he decided it was best to stay in the comfort of his apartment until tomorrow. He spent his day sitting next to his large window over looking the city below. He watched as the sun experiment, 5-0-6, descended below the horizon and the moon experiment, 5-0-5, began rising up to take control of the sky over Alyzaum. Admiring the view from his apartment window, 4-0-5 just sat there admiring the array of bright lights that lit up the experiment city. Seeing Alyzaum lit up at night always made 4-0-5 feel happy which aloud him to forget, for a moment, what had happened today between himself and 5-2-5. Suddenly, there was a knock from the door to his apartment, followed by 5-6-4's voice from behind the door.
"It's me, can I come in?"
"Come on in, the door's unlocked," said 4-0-5 without removing his gaze from the window. He heard the door open and 5-6-4 stepping into the room. She walked over to his side and sat down upon the windowsill next to 4-0-5.
4-0-5 turned to see 5-6-4 beside him and noticed that she was carrying a brown paper bag. 4-0-5 was curious as to what was in the bag. Of-course, 5-6-4 read his mind and said, "I brought you some cooked monka roots and Triski steaks since I figured you had not left your apartment since the end of the tournament."
"Once again, you always seem to know me too well," said 4-0-5 with a laugh. "Thank you, I haven't eaten all day." 5-6-4 smiled as she got up from the windowsill and placed the bag of food on top of 4-0-5's dinning room table just a few feet away. She then sat down next to 4-0-5 and watched the view below.
The two sat there, watching the glowing lights from the city down below.
"You certainly have a beautiful view from up here," said 5-6-4. "My apartment is on the ground floor so I don't get this kind of view." 4-0-5 said nothing in response. For a while, the two stared at the world below until 4-0-5 asked, "So, has word gone out about me nearly getting kicked out of the tournament?"
"No, apparently Jumba had managed to keep the rumors under control or perhaps few are willing to talk about it," said 5-6-4. "I've been reading minds all day and hardly anyone has heard about 5-2-5's accusations and, unfortunately, almost all who did hear about it believed you were guilty." 4-0-5 clenched his teeth in anger when 5-6-4 mentioned 5-2-5.
"I can't believe he done that," said 4-0-5 angrily. "I entered this tournament because I wanted to show everyone I was just as capable as anyone else but 5-2-5 just wants to be popular and he doesn't care who he has to crush just to get it."
"I know how you feel," said 5-6-4. "If I was in the tournament, there would be nothing I wouldn't give for the chance to wipe that smirk off 5-2-5's face. Too bad there's nothing I can do."
"But maybe there's something I can do," said 4-0-5 confidently. "I hope I fight 5-2-5 in the fourth or fifth round because when I do, I'm going to pound him to the ground. No matter what, I'm not going to let that trog win."
"But how are you going to do that?" asked 5-6-4. When he couldn't think of an answer, 4-0-5's confidence faded a bit.
"I don't know," admitted 4-0-5 bluntly. "But I know I will. I promise you, 5-2-5 will pay for framing me. He will pay for all the bad deeds he had done to myself and others. I don't know how but I swear I will find a way."
5-6-4 couldn't help but feel proud of 4-0-5. She always believed that he had the potential to do great things and now he has proven it. As if to show her feeling, 5-6-4 leaned over to 4-0-5 and began licking the bridge of his nose. To an experiment, licking each other's nose was a sign of affection and when 5-6-4 continued to affectionately lick 4-0-5's nose, he began to blush. 5-6-4 smiled upon seeing 4-0-5's face turn red. The two sat there on the windowsill, gazing into each other's eyes, their figures silhouetted against the glow of the moonlight. For a whole minute, the two sat there, gazing into each other's eyes as new feelings for each other began to rise deep within them.
As 4-0-5 gazed upon 5-6-4, he never noticed how beautiful she looked. With the moonlight shining down upon her, her lavender colored fur glowed softly as if the light was purifying her. 4-0-5 couldn't help but stare at her as if she was a goddess. He never felt like this before and he wasn't sure what to do next. 5-6-4 saved him the trouble by saying, "It's getting late. I'm going to go home so I can go to bed." Still enthralled by 5-6-4's beauty, 4-0-5 said softly, "Okay, good night." Knowing what was going through 4-0-5's mind—literally—5-6-4 smiled as she got up from the windowsill and walked towards the door. As she opened it, she turned around to face 4-0-5 and said to him, "You better go to bed too, you know. After all, you do have the fourth round to look forward too and you'll need your strength."
"I will," said 4-0-5.
"Good luck in the tournament," said 5-6-4 and then left.
With little else to do now that he was by himself, 4-0-5 decided to eat the food 5-6-4 had left him but for some reason, he wasn't feeling too hungry. He ate only about half of what was in the bag, leaving the rest on the table as he went to bed. After brushing his teeth, he climbed into his small bed for some rest. He turned off the light by his bed and as he curled himself under the covers, he took a moment to feel his nose where 5-6-4 had been affectionately licking just a few moments ago. He smiled to himself as he curled into bed, his thoughts and dreams were filled with the image of 5-6-4 silhouetted against the moonlight….