Grissom Academy: Tournament of Champions: Chapter One
Matthew Shepard and Joker were lounging on a bed on a small ship called 'Sentinel'. Joker, a pale, shorter boy with short brown hair, was playing galaxy of war—a spaceship piloting game. He was playing on insanity mode and was frantically navigating a ship around the final boss: a batarian slaver ship.
Shepard was laying back listening to his current favorite artist—a hanar musician named Eezo Easy. Shepard nodded his head as he sang along, "Tell them girls that I'm already taken, kiss me baby I am always naked."
Shepard had deep dark skin and a buzzcut of bleached blond hair. His eyes were brown but the pupil glowed red and three glowing red circles were placed around the iris. His ear rings were quarter sized gold disks, placed inside the ear lobe like gauges. The electronic ear rings played music inside his ears, updated him on the news, and when the time was right, played conspiracy theory podcasts.
Shepard's song ended and he paused his playlist. He tapped Joker's arm and Joker flinched as he failed to dodge the batarian mega laser on his handheld console.
"Ugh!" Joker whined. "Slavery wins. Good job Shepard."
Shepard frowned. "I don't like how that game portrays batarians."
"They are slavers," Joker replied.
"So are the Blue Suns," Shepard reminded him. "Nobody bats an eye when they do it."
"What? The Blue Suns are not slavers," Joker argued.
"Slow Rogan actually has some pretty interesting evidence about that," Shepard said.
"He'll believe anything. Kind of like you, Shepard" Joker smiled. "What do you want, anyway?"
Shepard rubbed his thighs, "Just wanted to ask...are you nervous?"
"Nervous? Hell yeah," Joker laughed. "Who wouldn't be. The course of our lives is riding on getting through the entrance exam. Are you nervous?"
"A little," Shepard made tight fists with his hands. "A little nervous, but very excited. If I'm going to be the first human specter, the obvious first step is getting in."
Joker raised an eyebrow. "I just have to pass a written exam. You have to fight in a tournament, and you're just a little nervous?"
"I'm going to be a specter. Specters don't lose," Shepard said. "And I've got some tricks up my sleeve. Don't forget I've got these eyes," Shepard said as he pointed towards his glowing pupils.
"Those crazy eyes," Joker mused. "We'll see."
Shepard grinned.
"What do you want to do if we win?" Joker asked.
Shepard rubbed his hands together. "Chili cheese fries and we'll play Turian Combat until we pass out."
"Turian Combat? I'm gonna make you cry this time," Joker assured him.
"I dunno, I've been practicing tooo," Shepard said.
The door opened and the captain entered the room.
"Hey, boys. We're pulling up to Grissom academy right now. Best get ready."
The boys' eyes opened wide and they jumped off the bed and scrambled to their lockers. They quickly stripped and then put on their red Grissom Academy uniforms.
They quickly walked through the ship and rallied at the cockpit looking through the window with wonder. Off in the distance of space, orbiting the green planet of Elysium was Grissom Academy. It was a massive silver cross shaped space station decorated with red stripes. On the meeting point of the crosses was a yellow Varren—the mascot of the school.
Jumping out of the mass relays came one ship after another. Large and bulky freighters, sleek navy ships, and small corvettes coming from every race imaginable.
"Shepard that's the Normandy!" Joker said as he pointed towards the slender pronged ship.
Shepard was silent as he looked in awe of the beauty of all of the ships. He had never seen so many in one place. He was starstruck. Students from all across the galaxy had gathered here for a chance at glory. One after the other, the ships docked at the station, leaving the students in a massive hub where they waited for the exam to begin with nothing but their backpacks.
"Any other notes?" Principle Anderson asked.
He was a stocky olive-skinned man with a face that showed his age quite clearly. He wore a red suit decorated with medals. Two his left was vice principle Udina. Across the long table sat the various teachers in charge of the programs at the academy.
"I still don't approve of this exam," Nihlus said. The grey-green turian moved his head from his palm, now emerging from a realm of deep thought. "So many students...it's like playing the lottery. Do we want the best students or the luckiest?"
"You don't believe the best students will rise above?" Anderson asked. "I believe the landscape of the Elysium jungle is more than enough to give the best students room to fight their way to the top. They'll survive because of strategy."
"They're sixteen-year-olds," Nihlus complained. "How much strategy can they possibly understand. They've never seen combat."
"Part of the exam is intended to measure creativity, Nihlus. Improvisation," Anderson explained.
"It's clear I'm not going to get through to you. Do what you want," Nihlus waved of his hand dismissively.
"If that is all...," said Anderson.
"That is not all," Udina said with frustration. "I believe we should discuss the case of Matthew Shepard."
"Udina," Anderson began.
"No," Udina interrupted. "That boy's implanted eyes! The reports say they can see heat signatures through walls—and that's just one feature. It's just not fair. I thought we were looking for talent—for combat, not the wealth of someone's family!"
Anderson sighed. "Many students have different advantages. The Krogans can knock you off your feet with a single charge. The asari can master biotics to a level Shepard could only dream of. I don't want to even get into what the AI are capable of. Why not even the playing field for a 'squishy human.' Isn't that how you referred to them Geth Prime?"
The large red geth spoke up, "I told you that in confidence! Not prime!"
"You know what is prime?" Anderson said. "That military brat is the most promising human biotic We've ever seen. He passed the preliminary exam with flying colors."
"Also, we should remember that those eyes are useless without the brains to put them to good use," the elderly Hackett agreed. "Whether Shepard can make it will depend on what's in that head of his."
The students all stood in the large hub area of the academy. The air was full of students chatting with excitement and guessing on the exam details. On the silver walls of the hub hung posters of the sports team and school club advertisements. At the very front stood a metal platform with a large orange and blue drape saying 'welcome all!'
Suddenly, amidst the chatter, several blue lights began blinking on the platform and a loud melody played, drawing the attention of the students. A holographic virtual intelligence appeared, standing on top of the platform. It was an Salarian, made of green and yellow light.
"Hello future students," the VI said. "My name is G7. I am the primary VI in charge of managing Grissom Academy's many needs. In the future, feel free to call on me if you need help. You will notice two doors on either side of me. Students taking part in the Tournament of Champions go through the door on the left. Students taking the Academic exam go through the door on your right. Good luck!"
As everyone moved to the doors Shepard and Joker made their goodbyes.
"Have fun in your Tournament of Tampons thing." Joker winked with a smile.
Shepard laughed. "Have fun writing expository essays with a bunch of nerds."
"Ha! Have fun eating worms in the woods," Joker replied.
Shepard laughed. "See you on the other side Joker."
Joker made a peace sign and they parted ways.
Once all of the Tournament students had entered the room the door behind them shut and a musical melody of trumpets, flutes, and drums began. Confetti dropped from the ceiling and a hanar walked onto a podium in the back of the room.
"Hello future students!" the hanar said. "This one's name is Blasto—you may have seen this one in the holovids. Don't worry—there will be time for autographs after the exam." He held his front tentacles out as if to ward off a rush of students. "This one is the weapons instructor at this academy and if you make it, you'll be lucky enough to take this one's class! If you don't make it, hey, at least you met Blasto, right?"
There was a brief wave of laughter around the room accompanied by a girl saying, "We love you Blasto!"
"Alright, alright, settle down!" Blasto shouted. "Now, this one will gonna explain the rules of the exam. If you forget something you can check your omni tools later—this one will upload the data to all of you. Anyways, as this one imagines you'd expect, you're not getting real guns. There aren't real guns anywhere on the station—the school doesn't want any school shooters or suicides, after all. You'll be given concussion rifles that fire non-lethal bursts of concussive energy. You're abilities and technology will still be active and allowed, however measures are made to ensure your safety.
There are two hundred students that have been handpicked throughout the galaxy here. You'll be split into teams of four and sent down to Elysium to duke it out. That's fifty teams in total. Now this is called a tournament but really its more of a hunt. Down in the Elysium jungle you'll be hunting each other down and the teams with the highest kill count pass the exam. This'll be...what do you kids call it—a battle royale. Well, that's it. Any questions?"
A hand rose. "What's it like working with Saela Vespa?"
Blasto laughed. "She's great. Very funny woman. Doesn't do her own stunts though, which this one could never imagine doing."
"Now," Blasto began. "Come forward and you'll get a ticket. Go out the door to the left and you'll find the shuttles. Show your ticket to the pilot and they'll escort you to your dorms. Each squad shares a dorm, so you can get acquainted and decide on your squad leader. Now, this one will call you up, one at a time for your ticket.
Shepard waited diligently for his turn, boiling with excitement over his new team.