Reviews :
Snake577 : Aww, yeah Novus... Unfortunately for the blue floof, he goes on a bit of a talking strike due to all of this and is only ever like 'seen'. If there's anyone whose more angry about this mess than sad, it's Novus. He's pissed. Their 'brotherhood' becomes incredibly strained over this... Salvageable, but strained. And, yes! You're absolutely right, she has an easier time digesting this mess through others. Gideon already has a hard time just opening up and being transparent, so there would've been an awkward barrier and, it's one of those things Game Over officially destroys... Kinda humbles the pants off of Gideon, gives him some 'life' experience outside of the cushiness he's experienced thus far.
chuckiboo : You have to know just how huge of a compliment that is. Thank you, from the bottom of my heart! Yes, the next chapter is... well, you'll find out. This one's a good appetizer for what's going to come.
Song Listened To :
Shinigami Eyes by Grimes
TRIGGER WARNING : This chapter has descriptive gore
*Chapter 151*
"The ability to turn off," Callum's deep voice haunted Gideon's thoughts, the aimless blur of Gideon's exhausted eyes, nearly hazed over, stared across the darkened, cold bunker he had finally sourced.
Gideon diligently continued to replay Callum's words in his head over and over, he felt raw and exposed on the internet. After over twenty four hours of no sleep, Gideon had managed to successfully find the branch of dark web that included the Game Over Arena, a place in which he now understood was aptly called 'The Block'. His adventure into the internet was a joyous, sunny, futuristic kiss of promised glee, a happy arrival into a magical land he had only ever heard stories about. There was an itch in the back of his brain that was desperate to enjoy it while he could, he found himself meandering about and really taking in every single last ounce of diversity the internet had to offer, though somehow his mind wouldn't allow a single shred of it. Grateful to have the little nuggets of information so tediously laid by Flint, Gideon now understood he'd be dead meat if it weren't for Flint laying clues on just how to navigate sourcing the darker, lower, seedier aspects of the internet. Careful of signs, cautious of who he interacted with, he left no shred of information in the way of traceable tracks.
Having been sitting in this massive, dark, metal bunker-like entry way before The Block's entrance, Gideon gathered that the Game Over Arena was inside of a much smaller city, a branch of the dark web that was secluded and closed off from the rest of the dark web. A blackened city with high-rise buildings so tightly squeezed together, a maze of black mirrors and harsh environments no one was safe inside. Although the Arena was so securely patrolled and entry into it wasn't allowed without a rather pricey tournament ticket, for the average observing gamer, Gideon finally dry-swallowed and opened up the crumpled Game Over application in his big hands. He furrowed his eyebrows and re-read his name over and over, the glaring obvious of his sweet and noble last name glowered him down with hate. Gideon furrowed his brow and glowered back to it, feeling mildly delusional due to going over a day without food, water or sleep due to sheer, concealed, fight or flight terror. He finally tossed his eyes up for the first time in an hour and recounted his surroundings with rising anxiety.
Sat loosely about this bunker with him were other Game Over applicants, about seventy or so. The competition Gideon was surrounded by looked terrifying, though he felt comforted by the fact that Gideon certainly wasn't the smallest or most average contestant in this group. Having arrived nearly before the deadline, at least thirty applicants had been approved and moved forward to compete in Game Over, leaving twenty spots left out of the massive group Gideon sat in. It was here did Gideon feel entire dread, he pondered the harrowing idea of turning in his application, doing his best to prove that he was a viable contestant, only to be turned away. No win, no loss, no death, just a hung head and a scuttle back to Sugar Rush with no form of accomplishment. Gideon heaved a long, shaky breath and felt tears want to sting his eyes, the raw thoughts of just what kind of a predicament he was getting himself into, the realness that finally hit his cold skin, the simple glance about the terrifying beasts that surrounded him in silent wait with the promise to kill, it was here did Gideon understand that even if he did tuck his tail between his legs and return to Sugar Rush, right now, nothing would ever be the same between him and Kepa, him and his home kingdom.
The mere thought of Kepa's name had his eyes now properly welling with tears. Feeling dread, exhaustion, hurt, sorrow, a whole swathe of defeating and harrowing feelings, he silently cleared his throat and firmly replayed Callum's words, as if it were a life-line. In mild eavesdropping on the two women to his left, they quietly spoke of their knowledge about the winner's circle, just what kind of a life awaits on the other side. Every shred of it sounded desirable, every single word and notion out of their mouths was simply the thing further-cementing Gideon's rear to the concrete bench he shared with them. In his life-long desperation to fit in, to find friends, to be likable, he was almost relieved that he was now inside a place where he could simply afford to hate everyone, to view everyone through crosshairs, to prepare for murder, it was something that somehow made Gideon feel sickly delighted. He already felt misunderstood and hated anyways, he figured rolling with the feeling was natural.
He clenched the papers and allowed Callum's words to continue to fuel him, he lulled his eyes closed and allowed the full unleash of his imagination to sway in his advantage. Every image of Kepa's face, every soft whisper, every sunny flight they took, he diligently locked away into the back of his brain, never to return to the light of his thought stream. He knew keeping Kepa, or his past, as a constant flow through him was the one thing that would gain him a one way ticket to losing his life. He reopened his eyes in an aimless glower across the massive, dim bunker and allowed other thoughts to quickly replace the huge gaping hole left behind, the void he had previously filled with the very essence of Kepa, the love of his life, was now viciously replaced with allowed hatred, allowed anger, allowed desire for justice. It were these feelings did he allow to be his fuel, he knew the only thing getting him through this mess was turning off and succumbing to the build of hurt inside of him, a molten sea of lava he was reserving for a rainy day such as this one. He inhaled a long, deep breath and almost relished in the idea of being able to unleash, and though he knew he shouldn't feel too cocky about it all, he somehow held his chin up and understood that he'd be the next victor.
"Gideon Fox," The fried announcement speaker suddenly blared, and it was here did Gideon take a stand, amidst these new, empowering, darkened feelings and pressed through the group of scary gamers he was surrounded by.
As he confidently stepped through everyone, he held the thousand-yard gaze to the destination before him, the crowd parted in the way of lofted, glowering eyes. He knew he was being sized up by his future-opponents, it was obvious that humans typically didn't apply for this kind of thing, being average gamers, though Gideon shoved his application into his pocket and was well aware being misunderstood and underestimated was the thing he had leaned into hardest, in life. It was now his superpower, the ability to be overlooked and forgotten was now going to surely bite everyone in the ass, one final fleeting promise he laid into Sugar Rush, and everyone inside of it, as his bigger feet slapped the hollow chunks of metal he stepped on. He stepped with pride, firm fervor, shoulders back and eyes forward, he knew that deep down, he was secretly terrified. The only thing his soul truly wanted in this moment was to fall into Kepa's arms and cry like a little boy into her chest, to be raveled into an embrace of warmth and snuggly, purring love, though with one last shove, he diligently erased the desire from his being and stepped through the threshold a hardened man with a vendetta.
"Step through here," The man barked, a huge creature with the face of a war-worn hog and the hands of a clawed beast, he gestured through a smaller, darkened doorway that opened to what Gideon nervously took note of, it looked to be a room simply for a test subject.
Gideon dry-swallowed and squinted underneath the harsh florescent lights above. This room had pristine white walls, though as the walls got closer to the grated metal ground, they were absolutely caked in blood and all sorts of other dried, hardened substances that splattered about. Gideon heaved a silent, shaky breath and now felt the overwhelming urge to collapse, due to lack of sleep and food, though he jolted clear out of his skin the second a voice came over the speakers high above on the ceiling.
"Front and center, gotta be braver than that," The voice almost playfully mocked, to which Gideon stepped out into the big room with a bit more fervor. It was here did he finally notice a huge glass partition on one of the far walls, of which four judges sat behind a huge, intimidating black desk, an area that ultimately reminded Gideon that this was a judgment day, of sorts. The judge in the middle spoke up, once more, "State your name and gamer abilities, you can hand your application here."
Gideon stepped forward as the judge speaking lifted his hand, to which a slide of the glass partition slid downward and allowed for Gideon to reach in and hand off his application. This judge looked ethereal, a pale, ghostly being with haunting, glowing blue eyes that lacked pupils. Equally soulless and soulful in one glance, Gideon nervously stepped back as the glass slid up, it was here did Gideon understand that the thick glass was protecting the judges. From what, Gideon was scared to find out.
"My name is Gideon Fox Von Schweetz, I have manifestation powers alongside wrecking and glitching," Gideon rattled carefully and confidently, though he did his best to exclude the invisibility powers he had secretly picked up from Nox; the judge scanned Gideon's application, the other judges were quiet and seemingly secondary.
"Your mother is Vanellope Von Schweetz of Sugar Rush," The judge rattled, he cocked an eyebrow and eyed Gideon in a swing of almost plucked surprise, "Your father is Wreck-It Ralph?"
"Correct," Gideon mumbled, simply the sound of his parent's names had the trapped emotions, in the back of his brain, now pounding in the desperate, deafening silence. Gideon felt his heart begin to race the second the main judge leaned into the one next to him and began to speak to one another, though their microphone was now switched off so Gideon couldn't hear. He raised his eyebrows in concerned nervousness once the second judge firmly started nodding and held up seemingly someone else's application.
"Manifestation powers, is this a cutesy, spiritual ability you claim to have?" The judge asked in dry snide, somehow Gideon knew this kind of disbelief was around the corner.
"No, I can manifest anything I imagine into reality, at will," Gideon stated confidently with a nod, the judges stole glances to each other.
"Gideon, what brings you to The Arena?" the judge questioned as he set Gideon's application down and folded his interlaced fingers underneath his chin, in his lean, "Besides the excuse you put down... You're not applying because you have 'no one' and 'nothing else'. The kin of a cranky bad guy, like Wreck-It Ralph, surely came with his reform and acceptance into society. Especially one as tiny as Litwak's Arcade."
"I don't have anyone, what I stated was the truth," Gideon growled, now feeling the height of his anger want to finally come out to play, and due to his environment, he was floored to find that it was all allowed and accepted, "I'm tired of being forgotten, I'm tired of feeling disregarded, I'm tired of not being good enough. I had family the day I was born, somehow the in between wasn't kind to me. I hope they're happy..."
"You're here because of spite, you're here to win and rub it in their faces," The judge mused, Gideon huffed a dark chuckle and meanly glowered down each judge.
"For the whole entire world to see," Gideon stabbed through the grit of his teeth as he clenched his fists and was floored how fueled he was becoming over this.
Each judge stole glances to one another in pondering, cheeky delight. They each mumbled something as Gideon's application was handed off to one another, so to continue assessing just what Gideon was all about.
"Alright, Gideon, you've been deceived," The judge smiled as he gently tapped the pile of Gideon's papers on the table and delicately laid it flat with a lean and a stab of haunting eye contact, "This piece of paper was only a portion of your application, this room you're in is your main application. Your first test is to prove you can survive your first opponent. This is your final warning, if you do not wish to move forward with the Game Over Application Process, you have the right to see yourself out, right now."
"Survive my first opponent? No, I'm here to win, I'm not leaving," Gideon chuckled nonchalantly with a shrug, though he flinched in a jolt of shock the second a loud whirring of bars suddenly slid down from the entry's door frame and ultimately trapped Gideon in. Gideon inhaled a shaky breath, took a step back and now peered to the judges in a rising show of mild terror, "W-Wait, you mean my first kill happens in here?"
"Isn't this what you signed up for?" The judge lazily mused, though it was here did Gideon begin to feel heat on the soles of his feet, through the metal grating.
Gideon firmly peered down and felt his heart stop at the sight of what looked to be a slow crawl of lava boiling up from the grating of the metal flooring he stood underneath. About half a foot away from reaching the grate and officially touching his skin, the room began to immediately warble in the intense wave of heat. Gideon sucked in a breath of rising terror, adrenaline soaked his circuits, and in quick thinking, he cued his incredible coding and manifested a solid chunk of titanium flooring to cover the metal grated flooring he was previously on. With a thud, Gideon came back down to the cold, solid metal flooring and panted as he peered to the judges. All four looked equally plucked in frozen surprise, as if their first party trick typically weeded out the majority of applicants that arrived to this room. Gideon glowered them down and now understood that even the judges were going to do everything they could to groom ultimate beasts of winners, a method that felt like cold betrayal in these beginning stages.
"Thought the manifesting was a bluff?" Gideon barked angrily, the main judge cutely shrugged and looked to be getting comfortable, as if the show wasn't over, yet.
Gideon jumped in shock as the wall opposite the judges suddenly slid open in a reveal of a dark tunnel, though the second Gideon fixated his eyes to what he thought would be the shorter end of it, he felt his pupils tighten in riled terror the second an ear-shattering cry of a growl suddenly erupted from said tunnel. With nearly no time to properly understand just what kind of a huge, beastly creature was now tearing its way in Gideon's direct point on the grid, Gideon grit his teeth, threw his arms and fists in the air, true wrecking form, and managed to shatter the titanium underneath him. With a crawl of delirious adrenaline, Gideon cued for Nox's invisibility powers, dove out of the way of this four-legged creatures haphazard bull-dozing and was successful in getting said creature to stumble upon the crumbled mess, a mess of which now included oozing lava that began to seep through the point of wreckage. This creature's skin hissed due to coming in contact with the lava underneath, it screamed in agony and began to nastily thrash around, nearly catching Gideon in the cross-fire with it's long, dragon-like tail all tidily lined with foot-long spines.
Gideon knew he'd have to continue to act fast lest they sic more creatures on him. Due to his boggled mind, he stumbled to his feet and didn't think of any one particular weapon to manifest, so instead, he unfurled two long sword-like weapons that attached at his inner forearms, the molten, hardened, near-indestructible glass-like substance he had only rarely ever brought into existence. It glowed an electric purple, it dripped with molten coding equally as hot as the lava that now began to slowly pool into the test room Gideon was inside, a room in which he was unfortunately trapped in with the creature that continued to thrash around in full agony as it burned from the legs up. Although it was in the process of dying, it managed to somehow scramble to the stumps of it's legs and dive for Gideon in a last-ditch effort to end Gideon's life, inside this bloody box of doom. Gideon huffed an exhausted cry out to the room, glitched in a bounce to the side of this creature's direct-lunge and viciously swung for the jugular. Like butter, Gideon cleanly severed its head, its body thumped to the ground and into the mess of searing lava in a plop, Gideon heavily panted and held his weapons loosely to his side as he stood in his first victory.
He took nervous steps backwards as this beast's body continued to twitch and react to the sheer heat of the lava that now consumed it, though knowing he was now officially safe, due to the few moments that went by with gentle inactivity, Gideon finally peered his hazed eyes to the judges in darkened curiosity. All four judges did whatever they could to not show true surprise, they did what they could to metaphorically wipe their jaws from the floor before the beast's coding wiggled into a spill of deleted pixels, the flooring was vanquished of titanium and lava, the wall opposite the judges slid to normality, once more. Gideon heavily panted and remained still. Nearly unscathed, the only thing that was currently affecting him was the idea that he had been just barely splattered by little pops of lava that speckled his forearms. Vicious burns he was eager to soothe, though he long-blinked in unadulterated relief knowing that he had passed this first test, one of which he didn't know existed, one of which he had no shred of time to prepare for. Although a harrowing topic, he was somehow grateful for this trial run, he panted in heavy heaves of his chest and understood that he was definitely ready for this competition, of which the judges happily nodded and happened to show agreeing fervor.
"Alright, Mr. Gideon Fox," The judge mused with a chuckle as he gently rested Gideon's application to a rather small pile of kept papers off to his left, he gave Gideon a knowing smile and bobbed a nod, "Welcome to Game Over."
Gideon scoffed a breath of surprise and dared to let a small, mean smile sprawl his face. He dared to give each judge a knowing smirk, as if to surely understand that they had underestimated him, though his heart soared the second the judge bridged Gideon's thoughts into words.
"We all clearly underestimated you, it's not every day human-like gamers come into this room and make it out to the competition, I think it's only happened three or four times," He mumbled darkly, "If you've noticed, none of Game Over's current winners are human... Odds are heavily stacked against you, but we'd like to think you stand a fighting chance."
"I'm going to win," Gideon stabbed in annoyance as he felt his veins wiggle, he allowed his weapons to blip out of existence, though within the downswing of adrenaline, he began to feel dizzy with exhaustion.
"We love the confidence," He mused in a snarky return, though Gideon jolted in now fear-based shock as the same, opposing wall gently slid open, once more, though who came out was an assistant-looking Arena worker. The judge motioned to him in a waggle of regard, "Follow Mura to your bunk. He'll brief you on what to expect from here until Game Over."
"Thank you," Gideon mumbled politely as he turned and began to follow Mura down the same tunnel said beast had erupted from, though as he passed the freshly-blood stained walls and stepped into the darkened corridor with this Arena worker, Gideon held his breath and felt entirely floored that this was now his new reality. Somehow, it had him nearly-grinning like a dork, he was ecstatic, the feeling of winning so easily overrode the harrowing idea that he had just taken a gamer's life, even if it was one that wasn't entirely on par with Gideon's sentience.
"Congratulations," Mura eased, his deep voice was soothing and sure, as if this was just another day of work for him. He was a taller individual with honey brown skin, his eyes were the same glowing void as the judge Gideon was just in front of.
"Thank you," Gideon returned stiffly, the corridor they walked down was lined with bright red lights on either sides of the ceiling, where the ceiling met the wall. A dim setting that finally curved into another, much more open corridor with dimmer white lighting, Gideon raised his eyebrows and took note that they had now begun to pass big, metal doors with numbers labelled on them. Gideon felt his heart begin to race, as they walked down the corridor of numbered cells, he quickly gathered that all fifty of these individual cells held each of his future opponents. Gideon swallowed a gulp and knew showing a shred of vulnerability wasn't wise, though somehow he wondered if he could get away with it, with this simple Arena worker, "So... Can you tell me how this is going to go down?"
"You have the next twelve hours to rest up," Mura patiently explained as the two walked side by side in the silent, empty, metal corridor, "Since Game Over is filmed in one go, the tournament doesn't stop until a victor is crowned... So when I say that you have the next twelve hours to rest up, please take that seriously. I can't tell you how many applicants I've seen collapse from exhaustion not two rounds in, due to pacing in their bunk and avoiding the task of resting before this thing."
"Don't have to tell me twice, I'm so tired," Gideon mumbled gently.
"Good. You don't stand a chance in winning if you're not at your best, energy wise. You're going to compete in a tier-like fashion, you will battle and defeat your opponents in the open arena. For each of your wins, you'll be paired with another winner, and natural selection will carry from there," Mura continued to explain, the two rounded to the first opened cell, cell number thirty-seven. Gideon raised his eyebrows and peered inside, though every single last inch of his insides clenched with the raw visual his brain caught with. Mura chuckled and continued on as they stood in the gape of his cell, "You'll be sealed in this cell until game time, you'll be given one last meal at hour six. When your portion of the glass opens, it's your turn."
"My turn," Gideon huffed quietly, Mura gestured to Gideon's cell; a single room only big enough for a toilet, a bed and minimal walking space, though the opposite wall was a thick panel of metal-framed glass that so simply looked straight out into the infamous Arena flooring.
"Your turn to step out and fight," Mura stated knowingly, "Fair warning... The second that glass is open is the second your life is in danger. Don't think that just because you're tucked in your room, that you're safe. Anything can happen in your room the second the door is lifted, just understand that, moving forward... Do not consider your cell a base. Absolutely nowhere in the Arena is safe, just understand that, moving forward."
"...I'll take it many a death has happened in these cells due to carelessness?" Gideon dared, he cocked an eyebrow and gave Mura a cheeky look, Mura bobbed a nod and heaved a hesitant sigh.
"In Vye's season, a majority of her wins were achieved due to others running into their cells in terror, only to find that it was merely a trap," Mura muttered, he gently pat Gideon's shoulder and gestured for Gideon to step inside, "Just food for thought. Good luck, number thirty-seven."
"...Thank you," Gideon sighed as he stepped inside his dim cell, though as he looked back and watched Mura seal him inside the huge, closed-off metal door, the bunk clacked with a croak of an official close, sealing Gideon's destiny, once and for all.
Gideon heaved a trembling breath and glanced down to his bed. An uncomfortable cot, a metal toilet that was likely frozen cold to the touch, the glaring Arena lights beamed straight into his bunker. With nervous footsteps, Gideon approached the glass and peered headlong into the infamous Arena with a sense of pride. Not truly believing that he had made it, he ogled the sheer size of the round, colosseum-like arena underneath the dark web's blackened sky. Through the haze, Gideon could barely see the stands of empty audience seats, way up in the scale of the arena's hundred-foot walls, strictly for the audience's safety through this mess, as well as the harrowing task of making sure no contestants escaped. Gideon inhaled a long, deep breath and understood that it was game on, from here. Everything after this sleep, of his, was either going to be a blip of a kill on the radar, or remembered forever. He eyed his cot in knowing fervor, and though he wanted to feel scared and assure himself that this would be his last sleep, he laid down and allowed his eyes to close in the swing of pure exhaustion, knowing damn well he'd get to enjoy many more sleeps to come.
