AN: Well here's the next chapter, I hope everyone enjoys!

Guest N.O.1: Thanks for the feedback, it means a lot. I'll definitely check out the videos you recommended!


It was pouring outside. The air was cold, and the rain made it feel slightly moist.

Lincoln was sitting on the bed of his hotel room. He was currently flipping through the channels on the television, but nothing caught his interest.

He had long eaten his food, and it was starting to get dark outside. He felt the need to use the bathroom, so he reached into his Inventory and pulled out some spare clothes. He decided he might as well freshen himself up too in the meantime.

So he took a quick shower and stepped out of the bathroom. Now he wore a thin black hoodie very similar to his blue one. He stuffed the blue one into his Inventory, reminding himself to wash it later.

He then stepped to the large glass window for his room and gazed at the city. The sky was dark, but the streets were still as busy as ever. Bright lights littered across the city through signs, lamps, and rooms. It turns out Olivia was right. Fortune was much more alive at night.

He grabbed his Inventory and made his way to the elevator. There he pressed the button and waited for it to come to him. The bell chimed once it did, and he stepped in. Inside was only one other guy, maybe a few years older than him. He was still looking young.

"Headed to floor one?" He asked.

"Yup." Lincoln answered.

He nodded. "Same."

They rode the elevator down, and they walked out. The two of them walked in the same direction out the front door. Once outside, however, the guy went off somewhere, and Lincoln stood alone. Looking left and right before crossing the street before any cars passed.

Now it was time to look around.

He didn't find anything.

Nearly three hours later, he couldn't find anyone who had any atomosinc. Even when he asked them if they knew anyone else, they denied it.

He went to multiple places asked a bunch of people. It made him look like a lunatic. All in this stupid rain that was kind of annoying. Sure, it didn't make him catch a cold because his body could handle it. But he didn't prefer it, that's for sure. He wasn't having any luck today.

He couldn't help but be a little frustrated. He knew that atomosinc was rare, but his smart band pinged this city. If only it were more precise. He wouldn't need to walk around aimlessly.

He contemplated going back to his hotel to call it a day. He could probably get something nice to eat, get warm, and relax. Reset his mind.

That was until he spotted a very familiar girl walking down the street holding an umbrella. Before he had the chance to call out to her, she turned into an alleyway.

Wasting no time, he sprinted after her.

He went through the alleyway and met with another street. One car zoomed by, splashing some water on the sidewalk that didn't hit him. Then, he saw her not too far past some buildings.

He ran towards her shouting, "Wait!"

She stopped and turned towards him, putting on a confused look. She was wearing a dark red hoodie, most likely because of the rain.

Lincoln slowed to halt and waved now in arm's reach. "Shade, right? Remember me?"

She looked at him for a few seconds before gaining an expression full of realization. "Oh! It's you!" She said in her British accent. "Back at Club Volcano, right?"

"That's me." Lincoln put on a smile.

She stared at him for a couple of seconds, putting on a thinking look. Then suddenly, she asked, "What's your name again?"

"Lincoln." He replied. "What are you doing here in Fortune?"

"I live here." She replied before correcting herself. "Well, technically, I work here. But that means I live here nonetheless."

"Cool." Lincoln said. "What were you doing in Club Volcano a few weeks ago?"

"That, sir, is none of your business." She said with a smirk before putting her free hand in her pocket. "Anyway. Did you travel all the way over here for a nice rainy day or something? I'm pretty sure you don't live here. I would know."

"Nah." Lincoln shook his head. "I'm looking for some atomosinc." He said. "Or anyone that has some willing to sell it. Do you know anything about that?" He asked.

"Hmm…" She rubbed her chin in thought, looking at him top to bottom. "Why didn't you go ask the Big Bosses?"

"Big Bosses?" Lincoln asked, tilting his head.

"Oh, right! You wouldn't know. You're a tourist, duh!" She said, slapping her forehead.

They were now standing in the alleyway they came from a few moments later. Shade leaned on the wall holding her umbrella, and explained. "This city doesn't have any leader or head per se. However, there are five people at the very top of power. They are called the Big Bosses. With their wealth and power, they can control parts of the city. If there's anyone who knows where to find atomosinc, it's them."

"I was asking everywhere." Lincoln said with a frustrated groan. "Why didn't anyone tell me about them?"

"If you randomly walked up to me and asked, I wouldn't either." Shade told. "They probably think you wouldn't have a chance getting to them. The Big Bosses only talk to the people they think wouldn't waste their time. They're busy businessmen, after all. Luckily, I'm sure they'd like someone of your caliber."

"Where do I find them?" Lincoln asked her.

"You know, I might be able to help you with that, actually."

"Really?"

She nodded, reaching into her pants pocket. "My boss is one of them. Though you owe me one after this."

"You could have started with that." He said in a monotone. "But sure. I have money."

She chuckled. "I don't need your money. I was thinking of something else." She said, pulling out a card. "Here. You'd probably be perfect for this. My boss has been looking for someone, and I think he'll like you."

Lincoln took the card. It had an address and some information on it.

"In three days at midnight, head to that address. Do what you're told, and you'll see what happens. But you'll probably have some competition."

"Oh, uh, thanks?" Lincoln looked over the card. "But couldn't you just take me to him?"

"My boss wouldn't be happy if I brought a stranger to him. Besides, it'll be more fun for you, trust me."

"If you say so." Lincoln looked down at the card and read it.

"Until we meet again. Though it'll probably be soon." She walked off in the rain, leaving Lincoln alone in the alleyway.

He waited the three days, only walking around the city and lounging around in his hotel. Though, he visited some places to eat or entertain himself at times. When the night of the day came, at last, he left the hotel at eleven.

He looked at the address and typed it on his smart band. The map on the device gave him a route, and he followed it. He took a cab, and after twenty minutes of driving, he arrived at the place. He paid the driver with Tharite, much to the driver's shock and gratitude. Then, he drove off.

Now, he stood in front of a small rundown shop that looked like it was one hit away from collapsing. Nevertheless, Lincoln walked inside the building.

Inside wasn't that bright. The room had one small working light hanging from the ceiling that flickered now and then. Lincoln looked around and noticed was only a single person in the store. An old wrinkly woman seemed to be the clerk, wearing more jewelry than one should. She was currently typing on a computer. She looked up at him with a bored or irritated look. He couldn't tell which one it was.

"Uh, hi." He introduced meekly. "I'm here for the…" He peeked at his card. "Tryouts?"

The lady stared at him with a flat expression for a couple of seconds. Then she held a button down next to her keyboard and spoke into a mic on her desk. "We got another one." She said in a tired tone.

Lincoln became curious. He turned his head when he heard a loud clicking sound abruptly to his right.

A shelf of candies got pulled to the side, revealing a door. The door opened right after with a ding.

Lincoln stared at it for a couple of seconds before the lady spoke again, without looking away from her computer. "It's an elevator, sweetie." She told in that same dull voice.

Lincoln looked back at the elevator, and after a few seconds, he stepped inside.

The door closed without him touching anything. He realized immediately after entering that there weren't any buttons to press. But before he knew it, he felt the elevator move. So it was that lady's doing, he guessed.

He waited about ten seconds before the elevator stopped, chimed, and opened its doors.

Lincoln didn't expect to find a grand hallway with white marble tiles. But, his eyes were grateful. The floors, walls, and ceiling were all made of the material. And between upstairs in the shop and this hallway, the quality was night and day. Well, Lincoln assumed it was directly below the small shop.

The hallway led to a single door at the far end—a fancy-looking one at that.

So with nothing else to do, he went up to it. Thankfully, it wasn't locked.

When he opened it fully, he encountered another hallway going across from him. It was made out of the same marble.

There was also an arrow on the ground. It pointed towards a direction through the hallway, so Lincoln followed it. It led to another arrow, which led to the next. "Could have told me a bit more, Shade…" He mumbled. "At least I'm not lost… I think."

He followed the arrows until a red carpet floored lobby met him. A relatively large one with two other entry points containing a few cushion benches and a desk. At the desk sat another woman. She looked friendlier than the last, but Lincoln never judged a book by its cover.

As soon as he entered the lobby, she noticed him. "Ah! You must be our last tryout. You're right on time. Come over here, please!" She said happily.

Well, she was cheery, thank goodness. Feeling at ease, Lincoln did as told and patiently waited as she typed at her computer.

"Do you have a device on you that connects to the network?" She asked.

"Yeah, right here." Lincoln raised his arm and showed her the smart band, to which she nodded.

The network was like the same thing back at home. While most civilizations used it, none were connected from city to city. So while Lincoln was in Fortune, he was locked out from the other networks around World Island. Although, there were a few things that seemed to bypass this. Such as contacts, like calling and messaging, and major news.

The lady typed on her computer a bit more.

Suddenly, Lincoln's smart band gave off a signal he could feel. It gave off a signal very similar to energy, which he could sense. He took a look at it and saw a document appear on the screen.

"Please fill out the information. Then I'll lead you to the waiting room." She said kindly.

Lincoln looked at the document. Name, age, weight. All simple things to fill out. Then there was "home address." He didn't necessarily have one. He didn't even live in a town, city, or village. He was about to put Dawn Village. It was the closest to him. But then he remembered he named the forest after himself and put down "Lincoln's Forest." That sounded good enough.

He filled out some other stuff, and he quickly finished. The lady seemed to notice before he could tell her and said, "Right this way, sir."

She led him down one of the three hallways, exiting the lobby.

Lincoln got a glimpse of the name tag the kind woman wore. "Sidney, right?"

The woman smiled, turning her head to him. "Yes?"

"So what is this place, Sidney?" Lincoln asked as they traversed.

"Hm?" She put on a perplexed look.

"This girl, Shade, told me I could find the Big Bosses here. Is this an interview or something?"

"Oh, Shade!" She said in understanding." Atlas's secretary. She's the one who told you to come here?"

"Yeah." Lincoln affirmed. "She said her boss, who's one of the Big Bosses, could help me find what I'm looking for. She gave me a card with this address. She didn't explain what this was, though." He explained.

"I see." The woman turned her head forward. "Don't fret. I'll explain before it starts. If she told you to come here, then I'll trust her."

"Trust her?" He asked aloud, primarily to himself.

After some turns throughout the hallway, they reached another door. The door was numbered as thirty-one. Sidney opened the door for him generously.

"Change into one of the uniforms that will fit you and leave all your belongings in a locker. Then head into the waiting room until you are called. I'll clarify everything to everyone present shortly."

"Alright, thank you." Lincoln said politely, heading inside.

He didn't know what he was about to get himself into. He guessed it would be an interview or training, but he didn't know for sure.

He saw the beginning of the changing room. Some benches and lockers on one side and a rack filled with uniforms. At the far end was a shower room. He also heard some chatting in the distance, possibly in the waiting room that Sidney spoke about.

The uniforms all had the same navy blue color. The whole set consisted of a long tight sweatshirt, long pants, and matching shoes without laces—no pockets in sight. There was also a logo on the shirts—a tall building with a ring around it. Lincoln didn't recognize the symbol but was glad it wasn't that strange "O" for the Other.

Intrigued, he changed into them and stuffed his other clothes in his Inventory. Then he found an empty locker and tossed his Inventory in there. It was one of those lockers that locked when you typed in a four-digit code. Shutting the locker door close, he put in the code: 1216, and it locked with a click.

Now wearing the uniform and nothing else, he made his way through the changing room. An open exit was past the showers. Once he made his way through there, he met the group of people he heard chatting.

It was in a circular room with some plants for decoration. Wooden benches were placed on the edge to sit on. A screen hung up on the wall, and there was a closed door at the other end. Seven people were standing or sitting around, all wearing the same uniform as he was. The first one he noticed was a tall and slender woman with long red hair standing straight. She gave him a snappy look for a second before looking away.

An elderly man stood hunchback, only a little shorter than him, with a balding brown head. He kept his arms behind him, holding his hands behind his back.

A massive behemoth of a man who perhaps had a little too much to eat was leaning forward on a bench. He was looking around five-hundred pounds heavy. He gave Lincoln a dirty smirk. The boy wondered how he even ventured through the hallways and doors with that mass. Let alone how the bench didn't collapse.

An early adult man with blond hair sat on a different bench. He didn't give Lincoln the benefit of his gaze.

A woman on the larger side stood in another corner of the room. She currently had a hand combing her medium-length black hair and paid Lincoln no mind.

A boy his height leaned against the wall with slightly-messy black hair with his hands in his pants. He was using his pants as pseudo pockets.

The last person was someone he recognized. It was the guy that was a little older than him. He remembered him from his first day here in the elevator back at his hotel. He was currently talking to the old man with a bright smile on his face.

He decided to walk over to him. He didn't realize the hard stares some people in the room were giving him.

"Another brat, huh?" The fat man said, that dirty smirk not leaving his face.

The red-haired woman looked uninterested and looked away. "Is this some sort of joke? Now there's two of them."

The boy his height looked a little more intrigued. He kept staring at him with a single eye open. "At least he looks interesting. This might not be a waste of time as I thought." He said before closing his eye.

"Hey." Lincoln said with a wave when he got close enough.

The guy turned to him and smiled. "It's you! From the hotel!" He said with energy.

The old man turned to him. "You know him?"

"We met once while riding taking an elevator a few days ago." He said before sticking his hand out for a handshake. "Names Kenner."

"Lincoln." He greeted, accepting the handshake.

"I'm Wom." The elderly man said. He pulled his hands from behind his back. Then, using both of them, he shook with Lincoln as well.

"Nice to meet you both."

"I didn't know you were coming here." Kenner said. "What a small city, huh?"

Lincoln chuckled. "What is 'here' anyway?"

The two of them looked at him in confusion.

"You don't know what we're about to do?" Kenner asked.

Lincoln shook his head. "A friend told me to come here. I needed to meet with one of the Big Bosses because I'm looking for atomosinc. She left it as a surprise, I guess. The lady at the desk told me she would explain soon, though."

"Well, I hope your friend knew what she was getting you into." Wom said. "I wouldn't want you to get hurt."

"Get hurt?"

Just then, the screen in the room turned on and lit up, showing a thin blue line.

Kenner smiled. "You're about to find out."

A woman started speaking from the screen. Lincoln recognized the voice of the cheery woman from earlier. Every time she spoke, the line on the screen waved.

"Hello, everyone! We're about to start the tryouts." Sidney said.

Everyone in the room turned their attention to the screen.

"Let me go over everything one last time, so there is no confusion." She said. "In these tryouts, every participant will face off against two others randomly selected. After all of those matches are finished, four of you with the best performance will be chosen to compete in a final match. A four-way free for all. Before we start, there are a few rules we need to go over."

So it was a fighting tournament, Lincoln realized. Things just turned interesting. Shade must have remembered his moves back in Club Volcano to send him here. These other people could potentially be strong too.

"One: No weapons are to be snuck on stage. Two: No killing or attempting to do so. The match will end once the Big Bosses collectively agree to finish it. Now, may I present your attention to the screen."

On the screen were eight names. Wom's, Kenner's, and his own were included in the mix. Below the names were two empty boxes.

"We will now randomly choose who is going against one another." Sidney said.

Suddenly, the names started to randomize inside the boxes.

"So this is some kind of fighting tournament." Lincoln said audibly.

"Not entirely." Kenner said. "This is a showoff. You want to show the Bosses what you are capable of. Winning is your best bet, but if you can't win, you can still show what you got. You could still be considered for hire."

"Hire…" Lincoln looked at the screen once more. It was still randomizing with fun sounds playing every time the name switched. "So this is an interview of some kind." He smirked. "I'm game."

The names of the contenders finally stopped changing on-screen. Surprisingly, Lincoln's name was in the first box. In the other box was Wom.

"I wish you good luck, Lincoln." Wom said, bowing to him. "I'm not going to hold back."

Lincoln bowed back with his head. "Let's have a great match."

Sidney spoke again on the speaker. "Can the first two combatants please make their way to the stage?"

They made their way out the door, and were greeted with two more doors with the numbers "1" and "2" on them.

"I guess we each walk through a door?" Lincoln said to Wom, who nodded in agreement.

Lincoln took door one, and Wom took door two.

He noticed he was in a completely different place when he walked through it. He was in a player tunnel, one for a stadium.

There was light at the end of the tunnel, so he walked forward. He heard it, no, felt it. The cheers of thousands of people sitting or standing in the stands. When he finally exited the tunnel, he saw it.

It was a giant stadium. It was lit up by colorful lights and beating with music. Thousands of people filled the stands, a bunch with flashing cameras. In the middle, there was an arena filled with blocks, pillars, shapes, and other obstacles mimicking a battlefield.

Lincoln could see Wom walking out of an opposite player tunnel on the other side. He was heading towards the middle. It seemed the doors were some kind of portal that led to each side of the stadium.

He did the same as Wom and looked all around the stadium at the people watching. Five people were sitting down on luxurious chairs in one area high above the stands. The chairs looked expensive, all having a golden pattern. Those must have been the five Big Bosses. But unfortunately, Lincoln couldn't make out their features from this distance, however.

An extended mechanical platform connected to the wall was moving around the stadium. It was elevated high in the air, and it looked like it could extend over the arena. A man in a suit and tie with a microphone stood on top of it, only protected by some railings. He spoke into the mic, "Ladies and Gentlemen, boys and girls, are you ready for the Showoffs tonight?!"

The crowd screamed. By now, Lincoln and Wom were in the center, barely out of arm's reach.

"First and foremost, let's introduce our contestants!" He shouted. "On one side of the battlefield, from the forest named after himself! The eleven-year-old boy with the white-hair, weighing 76 pounds, Lincoln!"

The crowd roared, and the kid felt butterflies in his stomach.

"On the other side, hailing from Fable Country! The old but strong sixty-six-year-old man, weighing at 101 pounds, Wom Ishii!"

The crowd cheered for him as well. It seemed there was no bias with the audience.

"Let me go over the rules once more for everyone!" The caster said. "Both contestants have been stripped of any weapons. There is no time limit. But if you are knocked unconscious or out of bounds, you have twenty seconds to regain your footing! Once our main guests and judges, the Big Bosses, decide, the match is over! Is everyone ready!?"

The crowd went off. Both Lincoln and Wom heard the surrounding excited cheers.

"Participants, prepare yourselves!"

Lincoln raised his fists. He didn't have a regular battle stance, especially without his swords. But this one was self-made that he came up with on the spot. It came from one of the few he knew from watching others. With your arms blocking your front and your eyes focused, it was hard for the opponent to strike through an opening.

With his arms still behind his back, Wom raised one knee to a ninety-degree angle. Lincoln wasn't a martial artist, but the stance still was odd to him. The inexperienced fighter didn't know what the old man was planning.

The two of them locked eyes, and now the full attention of the entire stadium was present.

"Three!" The announcer shouted.

Lincoln clenched his fists, and Wom relaxed his muscles.

"Two!"

The crowd roared.

"One!"

The Big Bosses watched attentively.

"Begin!"