Chapter 1.5: The Brightest Day

Day 1, 8:14 AM

Waking up in bed would've been a far better start to the day. Waking up in bed without a hangover would have been something to die for.

And ironically, to think I was contemplating murder on the kind fellow who'd woken us up. I can't remember much of last night, but we left a bit of a mess on the bench and on the ground from spilled food and empty containers. I was going to take care of it myself but The Director insisted on helping. He looks pale, his hair is weedy and his clothes would need to be mowed over with a tractor to get all of the wrinkles out of them. I'm sure I look more of the same.

And I've got the headaches of all headaches. My face is tender. The slightest movements of my eyeballs hurt. As we clean up everything passes in a surreal blur and I don't really mind what I'm doing, almost bumping into The Director several times. It really doesn't help that this guy Blax stands there awkwardly watching us the entire time.

"That's it. That does it," Guzman says, darting his eyes around frantically. "Everything's in the trash and—are you alright, Ratchet?"

"Killer headache," I say, lowering my hand from my head. "We've gotta get a move on, now."

"Thank you, Blax," The Director says to him. "Have I said that yet?"

Blax bites at his nails, giggling nervously. "Seven times already, Mr. Director sir. So, uh, what were you guys doing—"

"Nothing and everything," I say impulsively, then shake my head. "D'augh…I mean, look, we've gotta go! Questions can wait!"

We book it all the way to the hotel, and I've got tunnel vision up until the moment I squeeze in through the doors before they're fully open. Guzman slides in after me, not being a meathead in his own right either.

The receptionist notices us first, acknowledging us with large eyes; the sea of guard heads in the lobby automatically swivel in our direction and all movement in the room ceases, no matter who's doing what.

Everyone's looking at us funny. It's not the nice or curious kind of funny. It's the kind that makes a nervous jolt shoot up through your insides.

Then there's Wade. He's not even the closest to us but that wide grin of his is magnetizing. It looks like he'd been talking to Lia and Kodiak. And yes, even those two look like they've taken potshots to their privates.

I glance right then almost immediately look back, staring. Clank is standing at the window on his tiptoes with his hands resting on the sill. Even he's got a peculiar expression as he gazes at us. Okay, what...?

The Director is doubled over, clutching his side as he catches his breath. "Oh I'm…I'm so terribly sorry everyone, who all has...been trying to…" he straightens, seeing the crowd of eyes on him. "…get a… hold of…me."

I can hear my own heartbeat, it's so quiet.

"...uh," Guzman finishes.

"...if...if I may." Wade steps forward, folding his arms behind his back. His beaming face looks so jarring amongst the faces around him. "Um...well, it's good you're safe, Mr. Vox. We ah...we've been looking for you. All night."

"I...well I..." The Director stumbles. All I can think of right now is him caving and telling everyone about our little hangout last night. I hope he won't because I feel like that was something that should stay private. Everyone's reactions is making making me a bit self conscious. But...there's no way they'd know, right?

Lia's bullish nostrils are flaring and her chest is swelling indignantly with each breath. Her murderface triggers a primal horror within me since Talwyn's looked at me like that plenty enough times.

"Can you please explain, Guzman?" Lia asks harshly.

Ohhh, brother. I have a feeling he'll be sleeping on the roof of the hotel tonight. Guzman stays silent. The room is so still and the aura is tense.

"No no, it was my...uhhh...he was just...something came up and..." I begin blathering, making all heads flip my way. They immediately flop back to the Director as he blurts, "It was all my fault, all of it! Right, Ratchet?"

"Ah..." I blink. "...yeeeeeah!"

"I, you know, just needed some time alone and I um…certainly didn't mean to cause a fuss," Guzman rambles. "You know how time can run away, even though it's got no legs heh heh, and I suppose I haven't been in the right headspace. I, er…"

He gives a nervous bark of a laugh. "Well, you know how it can be, right everyone? Right? We…all have those moments?"

Several guards glance discreetly at each other. A few seem to be smirking now.

"We all have those moments," Guzman says decidedly, sounding slightly—I repeat—slightly firmer. He runs his palms down his slacks, shifting from side to side. "So, so, how was the tour yesterday, did everything go alright?"

"Sure did. It was a trip," Wade says with a straight face. A few of Kodiak's loyal followers finally come to life, giggling at the indirect shot towards him.

Kodiak's jaw sets. I finally notice the brace on his right ankle.

"Good! Well, good work," says Guzman. "May I…may I ask why there's so many guards in here?"

"We—"

"To look for you," Kodiak answers, cutting Wade off. "We'd gotten done cycling out search parties to look for you when…we realized where you might've been, uh...? You just happened to arrive right before we could, uh, go and search."

Well, if that was the case they sure'd been taking their sweet time. And there's something about Kodiak's demeanor that I just can't place. It's like he's uncomfortable and agitated at the same time. He refuses to look at Guzman any longer than a few seconds at a time, darting his eyes to the ground repeatedly.

Lia taps a hoof agitatedly on the floor, fixing a stare on Guzman for a few long moments. "Okay. Well then," she says flatly. "We'll discuss details later. Back to it, everyone, we've a sharp deadline to meet and the queue's already almost full. Return to your original posts quickly, and for those who are in the stadium—like you, Moona, wrong way—you'll have to walk there since the competitors are using the teleporter."

She crosses through the field of moving bodies, frowning slightly at Guzman. "I'll meet you downstairs in a bit."

She gives him a pointed look. With a sigh he obeys, walking off with his head down. Lia runs a hand down her face, staring out of the front doors for a moment. "...Ratchet? One moment."

Crud! I freeze from where I'd been trying to sneak away, glancing back at her innocently.

Clank walks up. For a moment they both just stare at me.

"What?" I ask defensively, probably a bit too sharply.

"Guzman would have never failed to come back to the hotel last night normally," Lia says, matching my tone with ease. "What did you have to do with this, Ratchet?"

I can't bring myself to say anything. She pushes the inside of her cheek with her tongue. Up close I can see how bloodshot her eyes are. "You chose a poor night to be irresponsible. And then you...you brought Guzman into it. Why, oh why would you think it was a good idea to distract the Director of the events on the eve before they start? It's thrown off many and the first day was already going to be the most exhausting. Is this some sort of way for you to make him look like...like a fool?"

Clank gazes up at her. "Ms. Tauron, I do not believe…"

But by then I've already recovered from shock with my irritation revived.

"You think I was conspiring against him or something?" I demand. "Why would…I'd never do that! What, you think I hate the guy or something?"

Lia sighs tiredly, folding her arms. "Well, Ratchet...if I were honest, I've seen little from you that'd convince me otherwise. I don't even have the liberty of saying I know you well enough to trust your words."

I groan, taking a moment to massage my eye sockets. "...alright, fine, yes, that's fair. And yeah, it...last night was irresponsible on my part, I get that, but you're hearing it from me now, I'd never do him wrong like that. Even if I did hate him."

"What all did happen last night? What led to...t-to..." Lia stammers, blushing slightly.

"Can't you just ask him yourself? We're sort of running thin on time. Besides, I'm sure you'd want to hear everything from him."

"You…" she takes in a deep breath and lets it out. "Okay. For one. For future reference. In case…something like this ever happens again. Guzman takes medication, Ratchet. Medication he can't mix with alcohol."

"Oh...oh, no..." I say, ashamed. "But how did you..."

"Logically you wouldn't have known that. This shouldn't mess with him too much, I would think and hope. It's not just on you, he knows better himself."

"I think...we kind of got lost in the moment," I mutter.

Lia's mouth trembles and she snorts, turning her head away. Her cheeks and face are as red as her eyes. Confused, I glance at Clank and he only returns that coy look of his. Okay, what did they know that I don't?

"Um. Right," Lia says after a moment, taking her glasses off and rubbing her eyes. "Now please hurry and get ready, you two. Some of your block mates are already in the waiting room."

For a while after that, neither Clank or I say anything to each other. Then eventually, he has an epiphany that he can't wait to share with me.

"Ratchet, you should—"

"No."

"I did not even finish!"

"My answer is already no, Clank," I say, tugging on my gloves then adjusting my helmet. After a quick trip under the shower it barely leaves me time for anything else but getting in uniform. My eyes keep darting to the clock.

"You should get something in you," Clank says.

"I already have something in me."

"And that would be?"

"You."

"...what?"

"Sorry, I meant your words of wisdom. Oh, and Kodiak's tracker of course," I grin at him.

He reacts just as I'd hoped, rewarding me with an awkward grimace. "You kid, but later on..."

"Clank, look at that thing on the wall. See it, right over there? That's called a clock. You know how to read it? 'Cause to me, looks like we've got only twenty minutes left to be in the waiting room. Doesn't seem like ample time to munch on anything."

"Be my guest if you crash on the stadium," Clank says crossly. I frown at him, slipping my ID in my breast pocket.

"Your helmet's crooked. And what's with you and everyone else, huh? Everyone was lookin' at us like we were walking biohazards."

Clank hesitates, tapping his pointer-slash-middle fingers together. "I do not want to distract you. If I told you what it was…"

"There's only so many things it can be," I say, rolling my eyes. "You sure it doesn't have anything to do with us coming in late together?"

"I believe it may have been part of that, but not all of it. I…believe you will find out. Tonight. Hopefully not..."

"Tonight?" I kick my drawer shut, almost falling and doing a little pivot to face him again. "What's happening tonight?"

"If I give you a hint, you will figure it out."

"Okay," I sigh, too fed up at this point. I'll deal with whatever nonsense it was later on. "Fix your helmet, Clank! Are you so used to running around naked you don't know how to put clothes on?"

"...I do not walk around naked," he says defensively, adjusting his head gear. Knocking comes at the door.

"Might be someone coming to check on us," I say, hurrying over and pulling the door open. Kodiak begins pissing and moaning as soon as I do.

"I don't know what you think you're doing, but you're treading some thin lines."

I stare hard, but impassively, at him.

"I mean it. You'd better not forget what we discussed yesterday. Don't think Guzman can act as a cover for anything you do."

I slowly, subtly raise a brow.

"I mean it," Kodiak says, agitated. "You think I want to start constantly monitoring where you are? Wouldn't that make you paranoid, or do you not care? Because you wanna know something else, champ? That tracker-"

"Hold it! Let me guess," I say, leaning against the door frame. "It not only has a shock function to be used for when I step out of line, but it's also an explosive," I tilt my head, giving him the most insufferable smirk I can manage. "Was that what you wanted to say?"

Kodiak's expression sours impossibly further. Then, he's shoved sideways out of the door frame by a mechanical hand. Another person equally as large slides into view.

"Ratchet!" Helga screams. "THERE you are, you malnourished miscreant!"

"Ohhh, my ears, good morning and long time no see to you too, Helga," I say. "If Qwark put you up to something..."

"That buffoon is not of vorth now! For I! AM! CHEF! HELGA!"

I shoot a grimace back at Clank, who looks confused but hopeful all the same. I thought he may have summoned her here, but Helga seemed to transcend normal logic and boundaries whenever something health related needed her attention. The last time I saw her was about a year ago when Talwyn and I were on a date. I had my sights on a lot of cake that night, but I guess Helga's warning bells had gone off since she'd randomly shoved her head up through the table, screaming about me having too many calories.

She'd scared away everyone in the restaurant and we'd been the first ones out the door. I was still content that night since Talwyn had enough cake herself, though.

"Yes, just when I needed you, Helga. Please talk some sense into him," Clank encourages.

"He doesn't mean that, he uh, can't see straight," I say, slapping his helmet so it drops over his eyes. Clank begins blindly stumbling into things and I continue, "So uh...what's got you so upset?"

"I am chef Helga," she says.

"Yeah, I caught that the first time."

"You were missing in the cafeteria this morning! You dare try to attend the events without proper calorie intake? Look at you, pale and skinny like the dug up corpse of an Anklebiter!"

"Oh, you're the lunch lady?" I realize.

Clank runs into my legs, bouncing back and landing on his ass. He pushes his helmet up, scowling. "Yes. And the gym teacher. Each floor has their own cafeteria and gym. If you had gone to the tour..."

I snicker. "Helga...you're the lunch lady and gym teacher for all four blocks?"

"Yes," she says proudly.

"At the same time?"

"YES!" Helga yells. "Does this concern you?"

"Welll, only a little considering you make me paranoid. Do you like, have anything that can clear up a hangover in less than twenty minutes?"

"Helga is not here for plot convenience. And no shortcuts!"

"I'm gonna have to cut short this convo. We're a bit late. If you don't mind..."

"Not so fast, Ratchet! I will be disgraced if any competitor goes into play without passing their bare minimum calorie limit!"

I motion her to come closer, whispering to her. "Hey...between you and me, Kodiak's the one you should be watching. I heard the guy likes to steal midnight snacks from the cafeterias when everyone else is asleep."

Helga's eyes swell with anger, and she rounds on Kodiak who's been struggling to pick his big ass off the ground. "Don! Is this true!?"

He folds, breaking his normally gruff demeanor and looks horrified. "W-What? Is what true?"

I seize Clank around the wrist and pull him after me, fleeing for my life. She was probably going to do questionable things to me later on to make me fall in line with her guidelines. I'd have to worry about her later.

I have some events to wing with a massive hangover, first.

So, apparently the teleporter is calibrated to send us to the waiting room.

I say apparently because after the initial teleport I'm disoriented by the spacial displacement, something not helped by my hangover, and lose my balance. When I fall on my face all the voices that'd been talking die out.

"Is this the right place?" I groan into the void.

"Thankfully," says Clank. "I kept telling you to slow down."

Yeah, maybe I had tripped into the teleporter, forgot to mention that. I just lie here for a moment. The metal floor is hard, but also cool and feels good on my hot face. Of course this is the kind of headache that'll linger for the entire day like a thundercloud. I try not to think about how it'll affect my performance too much.

"You need help up?" asks Thing Wun.

"Oh, no thanks, Wun," I say drowsily. "Just give me a second."

A second passes.

"What about now?"

I let out a choked laugh, lifting my head to see his feet and legs in view. Three eyes lower in my field of vision. "You look mighty pale this morning, young'un…" Noinah says. She pulls her eyes back and chortles. "Didn't get the sleep you wanted last night, did you?"

I push myself up, shooting her a look. She looks oddly smug about something.

I take a good look around, met with the same general reaction in the lobby—like there's something in the air everyone knows about but I don't. Qwark, with Skrunch on his shoulder, looks like he'd been talking to Skidd. All three of them are grinning. So are the two Kerchu, who make a point of snickering as they leer at me.

Buz and Thing Too look a bashful; the former avoids my eyes and giggles when I glance at her.

Ravenda is outright glaring at me, which takes me off guard. Since it's dimly lit I can only catch the glow of his eyes from the darker edges of the room and they're positively glowing with aggravation. It's nice to see that Wun is the only one who seems to be in a normal mood.

"Oh, so the entire group knows but me, huh?" I quip.

"Weeeell," Noinah drawls.

"Nothing! Is nothing," Wun says pointedly, frowning at her. "Is time now for events, not teasing."

When he says that, I feel my stomach drop out. My mind couldn't be any less muddled and unfocused now. I've never entered a competition completely out of it before the violence and high stakes started. This was going to be different and not in a pleasant way. Nothing like a hangover to suck the joy out of potential adrenaline rushes. Can't blame anyone but myself.

I take in a deep breath and let it out, rubbing my temples. "…okay. Alright. So…we're all here, this is all of us, right?"

"All thirteen of us!" Too says brightly, patting his helmet.

"Uhhh…" Skidd leans off the wall, beginning to count the heads in the room. All competitors wear a primarily black suit, stylized with colored highlights. Each team has their own unique color and Skidd's is a light red that glows slightly pink under the light. "Dont'cha mean twelve, dude?"

"Yeah, I mean twelve. My bad. Twelve's even my favorite number, you know..." Too's eyes shift back and forth rapidly.

"Who cares if everyone's here?!" Qwark yells, making the walls shake. "What's left is we wait for the head honcho!"

He puffs himself up, looking around proudly. Skrunch facepalms. He whips Qwark in the back of the head with his tail, scolding him for his vanity. Soon, everyone goes back to their own quiet conversations.

We can all feel it, though, I'm sure—this little area is trembling with nerves and excitement. Not at just being here and competing in front of countless people, but being the first ones to do it.

My feelings are all over the place and frankly, I don't want to focus too much on them. If I wanted to make it through I had to keep a purely mechanical focus.

But my hands are shaking. Deep down I'm sort of glad I hadn't eaten anything, not with how my insides are doing gymnastics.

I try to calm my head, focusing more on my surroundings as a distraction. All it does is make my insides clench up with a sudden, inexplicable rush of claustrophobia.

The waiting room only has one bright light in its center, yet its outer edges were shadowed. I think it's built in a vague octahedral shape. The floors and walls are made out of smooth, polished metal. But there's no visible exit.

I revolve several times on the spot, prompting Qwark to ask me if I was chasing my tail. I don't see an exit anywhere, and nothing in here suggests there even is a way out.

Every cell in my body is agitated. I become unable to stand in one spot, alternating between staring at the ground blankly and glancing around at the others, hardly hearing their conversations. Some hide it better than others, but I can catch the subtle signs of unease. Too keeps fidgeting with his helmet. Teddy, one of the Kerchu, is sitting and staring at nothing, jiggling his leg anxiously. Skrunch keeps obsessively grooming himself, at least the parts of him that aren't clothed. Noinah has one of her eyes on Wun as she talks to him, but the other two are darting around the room to rest on people's faces and are slightly widened than normal.

Clank and Buz are nearby talking in hushed tones. I don't like the part of their exchange I catch.

"Ahhh, I don't know if I'm ready for this..." Buz says uneasily. "What's the capacity of the stadium?"

"A little over 500,000, I believe," Clank mutters.

That many people crammed in one spot is something else. It'd be so much noise and movement and…oh geez, is my body ready for that?

And this room…why was there no exit? Who makes a room with no freaking exit?

Where were we, anyway? I can't hear anything past the walls, and there's no other indication that gives away our location. Heck, we could be in a space capsule hurtling towards a black hole and we wouldn't even know!

This room…was like…a pressure cooker of nerves!

"H…Hey…um, Ratchet?"

I stop short, almost missing Too sitting against the wall with his tail curled around his body. He gives me a shy smile. "Do you mind not pacing? You're making me kind of..."

"Oh, yeah yeah, my bad, I got you," I say hastily. "I'll knock it off."

He raises his head, looking interested. "I guess even you're nervous, huh?"

"Yeah…I am."

"That makes me feel a bit better. Well I mean…it's relatable. It's nice knowing that we're all sort of going through the same thing," Too says with a nervous giggle. "This is all sort of crazy and the events are right in front of us. It's a biiiig thing. Though I guess that's the point of this all..."

"Yeah, weird how the past day took so long but went so fast at the same time…" I sigh, dropping down heavily next to him. "How's Tree taking it?"

"She's really happy about it all! She was just telling me this morning that any time spent with us is fun," he says enthusiastically. "She's so brave and outgoing. I wish I was like her, and she's only two!"

I chuckle, lying back with my arms behind my head. "I think we all could use a little bit of her spirit right now."

I shut my eyes to try to relax. It helps somewhat, but this was taking FOREVER. Seconds feel like minutes and the minutes are dragging their feet. Something needed to happen, anything! I'd like to just get started with the darn events so I won't have to wonder about the unknown.

"'hem..." Too coughs.

I know exactly who he's trying to alert me to. Maybe the more I hang around him the easier it is to detect Ravenda. I open my eyes and glance around, finding him lurking in the shadows to my right. "I have a question," he says the moment I lay my eyes on him.

"And that is?" I ask, amused.

He gives a quick glance across the room towards Qwark. "Is he your agent?"

"Eh," I shrug, lazily scratching behind an ear. "He's my legal representative, at least that what he calls himself. Outside of this, we're just friends."

"Just friends?"

"Just friends. I mean, every year I have this unnecessary urge to murder him, but the point still stands. Being around Qwark makes you feel certain feelings."

Ah, now I've admitted it out loud. I might need to get myself checked out, see if I'm under the influence of some sort of offshoot of Stockholm Syndrome. Ravenda still looks like he doesn't get it, I don't blame him, but continues.

"Menzoa was talking about you both last night," he says. "Ranting."

"Ha ha! That's no surprise. I don't know what got him started on Qwark, but…is he still upset about the whole incident in the park yesterday?"

Ravenda sighs. "I apologize for his behavior. If I did not need him around, I would not."

"You know, Skidd used to be just like you, you know, having an agent," I say, taking the moment to note that Skidd still doesn't have a partner. "…now he's sort of doing his own thing, no strings attached. Been doing so for years. He seems to appreciate the change."

"I'm sure," Ravenda mutters crossly.

"I'm not sure how he does it. I'm clueless about that sort of world," I say, taking a moment to yawn. "...oh, 'scuse me. But I'm sure if you talk to him he could help you with your roach problem."

Ravenda doesn't respond at first, eying me for a moment.

"Not feeling well?" he questions, narrowing his eyes.

I try to swallow another yawn, but it's a fighter and still slips out. "I could be feeling better."

He doesn't look any less annoyed, cocking an eyebrow slightly. "You failed to rest before the events started?"

"Uhh…I would've liked to, but…my plans didn't work out yesterday."

His eyes hike up and he snorts, folding his arms.

"Sorry if I've disappointed you or anything. I guess you were looking for some sort of challenge from me huh?" I ask, just to mess with him.

He glowers, standing straight and clenching his hands. He turns about with a flourish of his tail and walks away.

"Oh and, Ravenda," I speak up, "I've been meaning to ask. Haven't you got a partner?"

Ravenda jerks to a sharp halt. stop. Too, who'd been listening quietly, sucks in a breath and holds it.

A sudden stillness has come over Ravenda, something much different and somber than what I've seen so far. Every part of him has deflated, making it look like he's melting into the shadows. Ravenda turns, showing just part of his profile. He speaks, slowly and unsteadily. "Don't ever...ask me that...again."

He faces forward again, pondering for a moment.

Then he adds, "Please."

He goes and sits along the far wall, leaning his head back and shutting his eyes. I can barely make him out now and can tell at that he's shut the entire world off.

I give Too a questioning look. The Thug is watching him sadly.

"I don't know much, but his partner was his brother," he says.

"Something happened to him, did it?" I ask quietly.

"Yeah…Buz told me he was killed in an accident. Just a little bit before our banquet," says Too, straightening his legs out. "You know, he and Buz are friends now, heh, so I guess he told her everything…even the details on what happened to his brother. She didn't want to keep talking about it."

"Ah, man…"

"I couldn't imagine it. Losing a sibling like that," Too scratches his muzzle, glancing around anxiously. "It's already hard knowing it's going to happen to all of us who have loved ones. Or...knowing how they'll be affected when they lose us. And…until we see them on the other side, it's hard to...not have them there."

"I know. I agree," I say soberly, and my eyes flick about the room until they find Clank. My brief moment of illogical fear settles. It's gotten better over the past several years but I do still have moments where being separated from him grinds at my paranoia.

I...I totally don't have separation anxiety or anything.

"That's already tough," Too continues. "But to lose somebody in a tragedy or accident hurts in a much different way...oooh, my heart hurts for him so much. He must be very strong to still be able to compete without his brother. And keep a straight face. I couldn't do it, heh. I mean I...look. I think of myself as a pretty chill dude, but if something were to happen to either of my siblings, well...that'd be when my bad side comes out."

"I read you loud and very proud," I say with a chuckle, remembering tearing through fleets and murdering space mercenaries just to find Clank. Good times, and I'd do it all thousands of times more if I have to. "You'd do anything for 'em, but..."

He nudges my shoulder, grinning, "Hopefully not do anything illegal or incriminating in the process, right?"

I sputter loudly, and the both of us crack up.

"HELLO, PEOPLE!"

All of us in the room recoil, voicing our complaints about our now throbbing eardrums. I don't think Dallas has an inside voice, really.

He's now present with a small group of people: The Director, Lia, Wade...and Al! Finally I got to see the guy.

Dallas stands tall with his hands on his hips, glowing with some sort of inner exuberance like he's a superhero or some crap like that.

"Alright, everybody! I hope you folks are ready, because I know my chest hair isn't! Yeah, baby!"

He flings his arms out. One of them whacks Lia in the back of the head and she stumbles forward, almost dropping her mirror and lipstick. Whelp, he'd be dead within the next few seconds.