Chapter 22: Challenge of the Mind
Characters (in order of first appearance):
Ibiki Morino / Russare Foresta
Dosu Kinuta / Ecc Seta
Oboro / Filtrato
Feeling down about the data on his card, Gelato looked at Casco and asked, "Are the games as tough as people say it is?"
"Yes, only much worse than the glossed version most people give you," Casco said shyly. "Now what I'm about to say is confidential information, but because you three look like you could use the help, I'll give you some helpful hints about the various opponents you'll be facing."
"But if you've been through these games before, can you just tell us about the challenges themselves?" Tony asked bluntly.
"I would tell you if I had the information, but unfortunately, they change them every year, and it's hard to predict the exact nature of the challenges without being an insider," seeing the dismayed look on Rosa and Gelato's faces, Casco flipped through his cards until he picked a few to show them. "Now if you don't want to get killed, you should avoid running into any of the team members from Squad Filtrato of the Pioggia family (Rain Village), the leader of Squad Seta from the Suono family (Sound Village), Beni Nero and Voluta of Squad Face from the Foglia family, and Tarma, or any the Rena Siblings for that matter. These people are very powerful and some of them are so psychotic that they kill whoever gets in their way."
"Great," Rosa said, looking down.
Gelato noticed and said, "Hey, what happened to the confident cheerful Rosa I know? I thought you wanted to do this to improve yourself."
"I did, but now that I know what lies in store for us, I don't know if I can compete with all these experienced and tougher-looking mobsters."
"Don't worry, Rosa, we'll do fine! Heck, I bet most of these bozos are just pushovers who just think they're tough!"
Tony face-palmed himself as several angry glares came in their direction, making Gelato and Rosa feel even more uncomfortable than they were before. Then, a couple of menacing guys wearing black suits and dark shades walked over to Casco and yelled at him for giving away valuable information. Casco tried to defend Squad 7, but he ended up getting lifted into the air by both of them and dragged away.
After a few moments of awkward silence, a big man arrived, wearing leather gloves and a green Foglia family tie sticking out of a long black trench coat. His baldhead was covered in various scars with one running diagonally across his serious square-jawed face. He stared at everyone with cold black eyes, and walked up to the door at the end of the hallway.
"All right, you maggots, listen up! My name is Russare Foresta, and I'm the warden (proctor) for the first challenge (phase) of the Gladiator Games, which will take place in this room behind me. Now before we begin, I will list the rules: only three-man Squads can participate, and if one person fails the whole team is dragged down with them. Those who do not feel up for it may leave now."
Nobody moved, but it was then that Rosa and Tony realized something terrible. Gelato, despite his boasting, was their weakest member, and if he screwed up, they were doomed to fail these games. The consequences of failure haunted their minds as they each took a slip of paper that Russare handed each person as they went in. It was an empty room with a wooden floor and plaster walls, as well as a single desk near the window. Once all the participants were inside, Russare held up the paper, which was a letter written in red ink.
He cleared his throat, and explained, "This is known as the Challenge of the Mind, because it will require your intelligence and logical thinking. The piece of paper I gave you looks like a letter, but it actually contains the location of the warden for the second challenge. Your main task is to decipher the letter and find her, but you have to do it without leaving this room. If I catch any of you trying to leave or use any form of Alchemy, your whole team will be disqualified. Is that understood?"
"Yes, sir!" everyone said.
"Then get started. You only have an hour to solve it."
A few shocked faces were left gaping as Russare slammed the door behind him and walked in circles around the room, keeping a close eye on everyone. It was then that a clock appeared, and everyone sat in their own Squads and concentrated on deciphering the letter, talking in whispers and staying as far away from the other Squads as possible. But as the minutes ticked, Gelato and a few others had a really hard time figuring the letter out.
Meanwhile, some tried to leave the room through Teleportation with their teammates covering their disappearance, and were automatically kicked out of the room by Russare. Tony was struggling too, but out of the corner of his eye, he noticed people using forms of Alchemy when Russare wasn't looking. He thought this was unusual, and thought about telling Russare about it. But then he remembered something Spauracchio said when he and the others passed the second test he gave them: 'If Soldiers just blindly followed orders, more of them would be dead'. His confusion was instantly cleared, and he leaned next to Gelato and whispered to him in a low voice.
"Russare said that we shouldn't escape or use Alchemy, right? Well, I've noticed other groups are doing that anyway, and I think that's the point of this challenge."
Gelato's eyes widened. "But why didn't he say s—
Tony covered Gelato's mouth and quickly lowered it when Russare walked by them. Then he said, "Do you want us to fail? Think, you idiot! What would we do if we were stuck in a room with guards, or we were given a coded message to find something or someone? Those are the kinds of scenarios that this challenge is replicating."
"Hey, guys, I think I have this letter figured out," Rosa whispered, pointing at her paper. "You take the first letter of each line and read it vertically while incorporating the random capital letters that are in each sentence, and you have a hidden message that says 'Take the paper, go to the desk'."
Tony looked at the paper again, but wasn't completely satisfied. "I can sort of see the pattern but where did you get 'desk' from when there's no obvious capital 'k'."
"That's because it's hidden as the first letter of the woman's last name 'Ken'. But how is going to the desk near the window going to help us pass the challenge?"
"I'm not sure. Let me see if the Specchio Occhi eyes pick up anything."
While Tony bent forward and activated his Specchio Occhi eyes, while Rosa and Gelato, pretended to be concentrating on their own papers as a number of groups were caught using Alchemy. But some of the groups were already ahead of Squad 7 as they snuck over to the desk and stuck their papers on it while Russare had his back turned. However, they seemed to have little effect on the situation. It was then that Tony noticed traces of nature energy emanating from the ink, which matched that of the energy coming from the desk. He figured there must be a connection, but the answer wasn't coming to him as time was running out for them.
"Come on, Tony, what's the holdup?" Gelato whispered, looking between Tony and the clock.
"Shut up, Gelato! Let me think!" Tony hissed.
"In case you haven't checked, we don't have much time, so you'd better think of something fast!"
"You're not helping!"
"Is it because I'm dumb, or because your brain cells finally decided to die on you when you needed them the most?" then Gelato stood up and grabbed Rosa and Tony's papers. "If all it takes is to put these on the desk, then let's do it already!"
Everyone in the room heard him, including Russare, who watched as Gelato made several Homunculi of himself, who pushed back the other Squads who were trying to get to the desk as he placed his teammates' papers on them. But unfortunately, the Homunculi couldn't keep them back for long as they were trampled and stomped into blood while the other groups pushed and shoved each other to get to the desk. While Russare was busy trying to control the chaos, Rosa and Tony managed to get through without getting hit and take cover under the desk where the real Gelato was hiding.
"Great plan, Gelato! Now we're gonna fail this challenge for sure!" Tony snapped.
"Wait, Tony, look up!" Rosa exclaimed, pointing to words that were carved into the bottom of the desk in the same ink as the letters.
End of Chapter 22