WARNING: It's rather gory at the end... Last paragraph. That's all.

Games

Ch 11: The First Mini-Challenge

"ATTENTION, PLAYERS! THE MINI-CHALLENGES WILL BEGIN IN NINE MINUTES. PLEASE REPORT TO THE PURPLE BUILDING."

"Gah!" I shout, covering my ears. "Why!?"

Ty laughs, tapping his headphones with a grin. He's back to being completely comfortable around me, which is good, I guess. I still don't know why he was acting all weird earlier, though.

I sigh. "Lucky duck. Why do you wear those headphones all the time, anyways?"

"I don't know. I guess I just like them," he replies, shrugging.

"Oh. Well, alright." I grab Ty's hand, noting the way he tenses and then almost immediately relaxes, and start dragging him toward the door of his room. We finished our showers about half an hour ago, and we've been making paper airplanes and other origami stuff since then. "We need to hurry up and get to that purple building before we end up late and the GameMaster blows a fuse."

"I heard that."

"I know you did."

Ty giggles at the almost inaudible sigh in my voice. Then he comes to an abrupt stop and tugs on my arm. I glance back at him with a confused expression. "Are you sure you're ready for this?" Ty asks quietly.

I nod, looking at the ground. "Yeah, I'm ready. Not that I have a choice."

Ty smiles sadly. "Don't worry, you'll get through this. The game show only has eight challenges, right? So when all that's over, we can go home, be safe."

I smile slightly for a second, but then I realize something. "Hey, woah! I'm not the only one doing a traumatizing mini-challenge today, you're gonna be doing one, too!"

Ty shrugs. "I'll be fine."

"But what if you're not?" I ask, starting to hyperventilate. What if he gets put through something really painful, or what if the GameMaster kills him, or what if-

"Dude, no, I'll be fine. I promise," Ty says, squeezing my hand.

"THREE MINUTES!" the GameMaster's voice blares over unseen speakers.

"Snap," I mutter, tugging Ty towards the door to the Living Quarters. We run towards the purple building and burst through the doors, surprising everyone else in the room (particularly Quentin, who was standing right next to the door and actually got knocked onto the floor when we flung the doors open). "Uh, hi, guys."

"Hi," Mitch says, helping Quentin up. "Thank goodness you're here. We were starting to think you'd be late, and we weren't sure how much the GameMaster would like that..."

Ian looks on with pain-filled eyes as Mitch comments casually about how Quentin really does look like a fish and Quentin does nothing but calmly push him away. Note to self: Have a nice little chat with Quentin about the way he treats Ian. That fish needs to be taught a serious lesson.

I glance away from Ian, who is so obviously trying to match the semi-happy expression of the person next to him (and failing), and turn my head towards the GameMaster, who appeared in the front of the room a few seconds ago. "Oh, hi. 'Sup?" I ask.

The GameMaster glares at me, ignoring my greeting. Gosh, rude. "Welcome to your first mini-challenge!" he shouts. "In this challenge, you will be forced to face one of your worst fears. Okay, not forced. You do have the option to back out and refuse the challenge."

He pauses. "Well, actually, not all of you have that option. Skybrine and Jason have no choice but to participate in today's mini-challenge. For each mini-challenge, two players will be randomly chosen to be forced into participation."

I sigh, not bothering anymore to argue or even groan in disappointment.

"The winner of the mini-challenge will be awarded one point and a small advantage in the next Challenge. Who wants to compete today?" the GameMaster asks.

"How do we win?" Jerome asks.

"The winner of the mini-challenge will be selected based on how well they handle themselves physically, mentally, and emotionally when faced with their fears. Anyone want to try it?"

Ty raises his hand, and I send him a worried glance. "If you're doing it, I'm doing it," he whispers in my ear. Oh, Ty, you're too good of a friend. Seto raises his hand as well, and then Ian. Mitch and Jerome shoot their hands up at the same time, and then Quentin sighs and hesitantly raises his hand, too.

"Well, then! Everyone's doing it, this is great!" the GameMaster beams. "Well, there's really no need to say anything else – let's start!" He claps his hands together, and the sound it makes echoes around the room.

PIGGLEBIGGLEBOOMZAPBANGTSSSS!

I glance around. My surroundings have changed – now I'm back in the room that the GameMaster pulled me into after I fell down that hole in the purple building yesterday. Oh, great, and here I thought he might actually decide to be nice for once and make me face some less-terrifying fear. But nope, the man-eating squids are apparently staying a little longer.

The room is a little different, though. Okay, a lot different. For one thing, the light in here is eerily bright. Plus, the room's ceiling is much higher, and there's a staircase that goes in circles, hugging the walls. One of the walls is just a huge mirror – it actually looks like the mirror is built into the wall. Cautiously, I walk slowly towards the mirror wall, glancing around nervously and half-expecting the GameMaster to pop up out of no where. He doesn't though, so I step forward until I'm right in front of the mirror wall. On instinct, I press my hand up against it, and a second later, I feel like there's something pressing back on my hand. I quickly tear my hand away and look down at it, examining it. It looks fine. But what was that... spark I felt?

I press my hand against the wall again, and a second later, that feeling is back, like there's someone on the other side of the mirror pressing their hand against the same spot that I'm pressing mine. I tilt my head, staring at the mirror. The reflection of my hand touches right to my actual hand, there's no gap. I think that's supposed to mean something, but I can't quite remember what.

"Skybrine! Are you ready to face your fear?" My eyes widen in surprise and I whirl around to face the GameMaster.

"Uh, if it involves man-eating squids, then no," I reply, trying not to shake in fear. I don't think I'm entirely succeeding.

"Oh. Sucks for you!" the GameMaster says, a wide, cruel smile decorating his face. "The squids are back!" He snaps his fingers, and the same eight squids from the mini-mini-challenge appear in the corner of room. They aren't in a cage this time, but they don't look like they intend on moving at all until the GameMaster tells them to. "This time around, you will be trapped in this room with the squids for three hours. There is no escape route this time, so you will be forced to either run around in circles for three hours straight or just resign and let the squids eat you. Any and all damage done to your physical being will be restored after the challenge."

I narrow my eyes. "You promise?"

The GameMaster cackles. "Yes, Skybrine, I promise, though I'm not sure how much my word really means to you."

Yeah, he's right. I don't trust this guy as far as I could throw him – and honestly, I'm not very strong, so I'd probably only be able to throw him a foot or two. And that's only if he'd ever let me get anywhere near him.

I need my powers if I want to have any chance of defeating him.

But I don't want to defeat him.

Not yet.

"Have fun! I'll see you in three hours," the GameMaster says cheerily before disappearing in a puff of smoke. I wonder what his original power was before he gained control of all these other people's powers. Was it that teleporting thing that he seems to do all the time?

"So we meet again," the biggest squid drawls, finally moving toward me.

I roll my eyes, feigning confidence even as I take a terrified step away from the squids. "We're gonna meet several more times, you mentally challenged squid. I mean, honestly. You're a squid, I'm the Budder God. We're gonna meet again eventually, it's inevitable."

"Which means your defeat is inevitable as well," one of the smaller squids says.

I shake my head, taking another step back as they step forward. Maybe I can run up that staircase that wraps around the room... "No, no. You're the ones who are going to be defeated." Yeah, I don't think they really believe me.

I don't quite believe me, either.

Three of the squids launch themselves at me, but instead of taking a quick bite, they pin me to the floor with their tentacles. Their many limbs hold down all of mine so that I can't move much other than to squirm a bit. "We've learned from last time," one of the squids who isn't pinning me down explains. "This time, we won't let you run."

Oh. That's great.

A particularly derpy-looking squid lunges forward to sink his teeth into my flesh, but the biggest squid tugs him back with a hiss. "No, you idiot! The GameMaster told us to make sure Sky is in view of the window when we hurt him!"

"Window?" I ask. Hey, if they're talking, they're not eating me, so why not make some conversation?

One of the squids pinning me down rolls his eyes and turns me slightly so I'm looking at the mirror wall. "That window, doofus."

"Good sir – er, derpy squid – that is not a window. That's a mirror."

The squid huffs. "It's a window, okay? Just go with it." What? No way! If I 'just go with it,' they're gonna begin their feast!

"Dude, no, seriously. Explain to me how that wall that is so obviously a mirror is a window," I say stubbornly.

"It just is."

"But I can see my reflection, Mr. Squid. Windows don't allow me to do that, at least not so clearly."

"Look, it's a two-way mirror kind of thing. It's totally a window, just not on this side."

"Yeah, uh-huh, I don't believe you."

"Well, fine, you can die thinking that wall is just a regular mirror. We don't care! We just want to rip you apart!" one of the squids says, sighing. "Is that so much to ask?"

"Sort of. Just a little."

The squids groan. Then one of them says loudly, "You know what? This conversation is over. We are going to eat you, and you are going to sit here and enjoy- okay, you are going to sit here and bear it." Then he shoots forward, digging his teeth into my arm and leaving a circle of gashes. I cry out in pain, squirming to get out of the three squids' hold. But before I can move even one inch, another squid is darting forward and chomping down on my cheek and I am squealing in pain and gasping as blood flows down my face. One of the smaller squids reaches a tentacle forward and tears a piece of torn skin off my cheek, and then he pops it into his mouth and eats it as dramatically as possible, carefully chewing it on the right side of his mouth. I shudder, and then they're all lunging towards me at once, and I'm just sobbing and screaming and struggling and not making any progress towards freedom at all.


Oops, long chapter, my bad. I couldn't find a way to shorten it without making it less awesome. :3

But seriously, MUAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHHAAHHAAHAHAHHAHA

Baiii, my be-a-yoo-ti-ful Rulers! Hope you enjoyed!