Begin Phase One: The Gift Hunt!

“Whoa!!” Eligh cried, dodging sideways as a contestant half his size rocketed straight into him in her pursuit of an orb. She somersaulted as she captured the orb between her little hands and cried, “I got one! I did it!!” when she cracked it open, and a small metallic cube was found on the inside.

The sound of invisible fireworks broke across the sky in celebration of her success while the massive spherical jumbotron at the center of the city displayed a number twenty-six sliding up to twenty-seven. It was a mosaic of small and curved rectangular screens meshed into a sphere the size of an airplane so everyone could see it, audience and contestants alike.

“So, she’s the twenty-seventh to pass, huh?” Eligh observed aloud just as a glittering gold orb mashed itself into his nose.

“Gah!!” He cried out, head snapped backward by the force. He took one second to check for blood and sped off in the direction of the assaulting orb.

The orb was fast, dipping every which way and evading him like it had real eyes attached to its tiny body. While there were so many orbs the sky was speckled with them like an image of Armageddon itself, the sky darkened as if by massive storm clouds, Eligh set his sights on this one orb. He had a very good feeling about it.

Finally, he caught up. I’ve got this! He thought and clicked a button on the watch that had been attached to his right wrist. Bursting forward with breakneck speed, Eligh reached out to snag the orb and curled his fingers around cool air as the orb changed direction and propelled itself upward.

Dammit! Eligh lamented and set after it again, only he was hardly able to move before a young woman around his age captured the orb in one hand, performing a cartwheel above him in midair.

Eligh’s jaw dropped open; their eyes met each other’s at the highest point of her cartwheel—Eligh’s head tipped back, his eyes bugging out, his mind reeling.

When she “landed” softly in the air as if on a solid cloud, she spun to face Eligh with the orb in her hand and a pretty grin on her face. Her long hair trailed behind and fanned over her in the most beautiful way.

“Hey, Eligh.” She said and tipped the orb in her hand sideways, “Were you after this?”

Eligh, his mind totally gone after hearing her voice (directed at him of all people!) shouted, “Mara Ono?!” He nearly choked on his spit.

She laughed aloud as she answered, “Yeah, I guess that is my name.”

She’s joking with me! Since when has Mara Ono known I existed? Eligh rejoiced internally. He felt like his heart might explode.

Apparently, everyone else needed to know that, too. “Eligh, look.” Mara said, indicating the jumbotron with a tip of her head.

Eligh turned. “Gah!” He yelled for the second time, almost rocketing away in his metallic shoes. The hell am I doing on the tron?! He wondered and stared in disbelief as stats only a loser could own started flying across the gigantic screen with fervor.

ELIGH PERSIL. | AGE 23. | BLOOD TYPE: AB

SPONSORED BY YUU AND MAY BUTTERS. | FIRST-YEAR CONTESTANT.

SINGLE SINCE BIRTH.

“How is that necessary?!” Eligh cried out as the data continued to display.

HEIGHT/WEIGHT: AVERAGE

PHYSICAL ABILITIES: AVERAGE.

SITUATIONAL AWARENESS: AVERAGE.

INTELLIGENCE: BELOW AVERAGE. SOURCE: MAY BUTTERS.

ORBS BROKEN: 25. THIRD LOWEST IN THE FIELD.

SUCCESS ODDS: 13% | NO HOPE FOR THIS ONE.

Eligh’s mouth hung open like an unzipped fly. “Who in the hell is in charge of these readings?!” He complained aloud. Everyone, EVERYONE could see this!

But to his chagrin, the stats weren’t done.

“Says your heart rate’s out of whack.” Mara Ono narrated as if Eligh couldn't read. Her tone of voice made it obvious she enjoyed teasing him. "Need a doctor—Oh hey! They’re showing me too!”

Sure enough, the screen moved to show both Eligh and Mara. While the girl flashed a million-dollar smile and waved like a movie star, Eligh was trying to find the damn camera. And whoever the hell was responsible for the “HEART RATE: TOO FAST” reading that crawled across Eligh’s face on the screen. As if that weren’t enough, an animation of a burning heart-with legs ran around in circles on center screen until it keeled over and died.

Eligh slapped both palms over his eyes and pulled them down over his mortified expression. “Ugggh!” He groaned, wildly embarrassed, while Mara giggled happily.

“Look, look.” She said. Eligh didn't want to, but he peeked anyway. This time, the jumbotron showed Mara’s stats, and among them were highlights like, “ORBS BROKEN: 79. SECOND HIGHEST IN THE FIELD,” and “INTELLIGENCE: CERTIFIED GENIUS (bad competition for Mr. Persil).”

“But the footnote?!!” Eligh screamed at the screen and quickly calmed himself back down once he felt the weight shift in his gear. If he fully lost his cool, all the gear, which relied heavily on the wearer’s mental capabilities, would automatically power off and send him spiraling toward the ground.

Mara was cracking up; her big, pretty face was center on the screen. “I just can’t accept this.” Eligh grumbled. “Did you pay someone off to make you look good and corrupt my image?”

This statement had Mara really letting go, laughing with gusto in Eligh’s face. Eligh huffed, “Yeah, yeah, laugh all you want,” and tried looking at her with the world’s most unimpressed expression. He didn’t succeed.

He was looking at the Mara Ono. He could hardly look at her without gasping. In fact, with her this close and acknowledging his existence, he felt he might cry real tears of joy.

It made him wonder...

He asked carefully as Mara was busy wiping tears from her eyes, “So… why are you here, you know...? With me.”

“Oh.” Mara said, completely sobered up now. “I-I, uh… You know.”

Eligh shook his head, “Nope. No. Can’t say I do.” He watched Mara now, confused. She seemed totally flustered, her eyelids blinking tens of times a second, her teeth gnawing on her bottom lip, her cheeks gone a dark shade of pink.

Eligh's heart was officially out of control. He'd dreamt about a shy response like this from Mara about a hundred-thousand times. There was no mistaking it!

I-I think Mara Ono likes me!

“W-Well," Mara started speaking again. Eligh was all big ears, burning heart, and waiting. "It's sort of part of my mission--”

She was cut off by an announcement so loud the pair had to cover their ears. Though, that didn’t help at all. It was as if the sound came from the inside.

“There are fifteen minutes left in the Gift Hunt. Phase One of the Gear Up! Games will conclude in fifteen minutes. Twenty-seven contestants have secured a gift orb and will advance to Phase Two. Seventy-three gift orbs still remain! Will this be the lowest number of participants ever from our city to complete Phase One?! This could be a disaster!”

“Fifteen minutes?!” Eligh yelled. He hadn’t realized how much time had elapsed before, and especially after, Mara had shown up.

Worry peaked once more in his heart as thoughts of his brother flooded his mind, "Olly..."

It almost, just almost, made Eligh forget about what Mara had begun to say. Still curious, he looked at her now, taking all of her petite appearance in. "Mara?" He started, "About before--"

Mara cracked the orb she'd snagged from Eligh in two in her hands and tossed the bits aside when she came up empty. The shy blush she'd worn on her face earlier was gone. “Let’s go,” she said and took off in a powerful blast toward the center of the city without another word.

Not sparing a second, Eligh set off after her. But Mara’s mysterious behavior almost totally occupied his mind.

He wondered, pushing aside thoughts of reaching Olly, What had she been about to say?