Phase Four: Obstacle Course Mayhem!

“Welcome to the final phase of the Gear Up! Games!” An announcement was being made amid the chaos.

“This is part of the Games?!” Mara yelled as they rushed toward the water, but she pulled Eligh back when he started to splash into the ocean toward where he’d last seen Oliver and Anton.

The problem was, Oliver and Anton were now nowhere to be seen.

“Olly!!” Eligh screamed, searching the water from the sand for his younger brother. “OLLY!” Eligh felt himself slipping into a state of hysteria. “What even are these fucking games?!” He yelled.

He’d joined the Games this year to reconnect with his brother, to find peace within himself and within his family. Not to lose his family!

“Eligh! Eligh!!” Mara shouted, holding on to his arm by the crook of his elbow. “It’s the Games! Don’t you get it? We have to wait. There’s a reason behind this.” She insisted.

Eligh looked her in the eyes. Through them, she appeared so earnest and reassuring, it helped him calm down a bit. “I hope you’re right.” He said and looked back out to the ocean. The massive sinkhole was closing up, the water raising until the surface of the ocean was level once more.

The announcer started anew. “This phase of the Gear Up! Games is the most exhilarating one yet! Phase Four is Obstacle Course Mayhem! The course begins here, runs through the arena at the island’s center, and ends at the extreme opposite end of the island, at the beach. There are three legs to this obstacle course. We begin now with leg one, Deep Dive!

“Of the remaining one hundred contestants, fifty have been sucked fifty meters below sea level. Those of you remaining on the sandbank have this task: Gear up! Follow the prompts given to you through your headgear.”

“Headgear?” Eligh questioned.

At that moment, a raucous buzzing sound filled the air, and a few thousand metallic black orbs whizzed into the sky. The sight immediately thrust Eligh back to those first moments of Phase One of the Games, and he could guess what was coming next. These orbs hovered over the beach, zipping back and forth between the sand and the water until finally pinpointing the fifty proper participating contestants for the final phase standing on the sand and wildly circling their heads.

He had about twelve orbs circling his head. Mara did, too. The orbs began dismantling themselves while in the air, flattening out into sheets. Then, like a lethal sneak attack, the hard metal sheets plastered themselves all over Eligh’s body, popping against him with such force it was knocking the wind from his body and his limbs in all directions.

“This is a little more than ‘headgear!’” Eligh cried, feeling like the Games organizers were always messing with them. “Ow! Goddammit!”

“Ouch! Agh!” The same sounds of hurt echoed up and down the beach as other contestants were assaulted by their own band of orbs. The sheets then filled any hard-to-reach spaces by extending metal fibers and connecting to other sheets.

“Oh! Hahaha! That feels weird. Why is it tickling me? Stop it!”

Eligh, whose head could barely move behind the metal sheets sticking to his chin, neck, and shoulders, snapped his head as well as he could toward Mara. And then he shouted, “I can’t believe this!”

Mara’s metal gear was clicking against her body piece by piece, as if layering itself onto a delicate piece of art for safekeeping. It shifted into place over her neck like it would be devastated to hurt her, which caused her to squirm against the ticklish feeling.

Eligh was awed by the special treatment and at once knew who was behind this. “Kaien!” He cried, “Not fair! Show some care for the rest of us! These things—”

As Eligh was about to say ‘hurt,’ a metal slab from the final orb-turned sheet smacked itself against his face, crushing his nose against the metal in a nosebleed inducing way.

Hurt… he finished and cursed Mara’s ridiculous brother in his mind. Within an instant, more orbs whizzed in front of Eligh’s face and spelled out two words one at a time with dramatic flair: CAN. IT. And sped away.

Eligh glared behind his watering eyes. I’m so gonna get that guy, he thought.

The sheets settled with a final click and the fifty participants on the sand were geared up for the third-last time. They stood along the beach like an army of sentinels, covered with black metal from head to toe and up to their fingertips. Their suits were sleek and form fitting, flexible now that the sheets were set in place, and the clear face covering allowed them room to breathe.

Eligh could feel a steady flow of air filling his gear from the inside. He breathed it in easily, his head clear as day. Oxygen, he realized, and shifted his weight. He was ready to jump in.

“This is a team battle!” The announcer started back up. “You will dive fifty meters below the water’s surface and rescue two people to be your teammates in the remaining legs of this race. The catch is—You can only save someone who matches the prompt you are given! Remember, this is a race. The faster you complete each leg’s challenge, the faster you can reach the end. The first team to cross the finish line wins and will be the Champions of the Gear Up! Games!”

Loud, carnival-like music played from absolutely nowhere, as if the sound came from inside one’s own body like it always did. Then, a skyful of small and curved rectangular screens caught everyone’s attention, forcing them to look up. The sight of the airplane-sized jumbotron being pieced together never got old. Seconds after, its screen blipped to life and one hundred moving images were broadcasted down to the contestants on the beach.

The announcer had one last thing to say. “Your families and friends are watching you. The people of your countries, cities, and hometowns are watching you. The people of the world are watching you. Give them a good show in these games of peace!

“Now, get ready! Set! Dive!”

The fifty contestants all moved at once, using their gear to dash into the ocean without a second to lose.

They dove like fish into the deep, and at exactly twenty meters, all received their first prompt. Eligh’s was simple: “Find someone you will meet again after these Games.”

Olly, was in his mind immediately.

He invoked the help of the gear and torpedoed the last thirty meters until reaching an area where the fifty contestants who had been swallowed were now arranged in a long semicircle, encapsulated in pods as if a piece on display at a science museum. The other divers were everywhere, blocking an easy view of the contestants in the pods and Eligh’s ability to find Oliver.

Eligh began his search. He moved through the water at a great speed, peeking into each pod as he zoomed by, confident he could find his little brother by a single tooth if he saw it. About thirty-two people in, other contestants were beginning to let their new teammates out of the pods after having found them quickly. This created more congestion for Eligh, forcing him to zig and zag until finally finding Oliver in the farthest pod to the right.

“Yes!” he said, his voice muffled by the mask. Then, he noticed a flash of movement out the corner of his right eye and realized someone was making a beeline for Oliver.

No, not someone, two people besides Eligh were heading Oliver’s way!

No, no! Eligh shouted to himself and increased his speed to the max. It was an all-out race for Oliver’s membership as a teammate, and Oliver himself looked a little bit terrified of what was happening judging by his wide eyes and swiveling head.

Just a hair before Eligh touched the glowing red button at the top of Oliver’s pod, one of the other two contestants slapped it. It opened at their touch and Oliver’s pod filled rapidly with water.

“Olly!” Eligh cried, instantly panicked, but Oliver’s body was already being equipped with sheets of gear. He was a bit dampened, but otherwise safe.

“Chill, big brother!” The contestant who won Oliver’s membership said, moving to hug Oliver around the shoulders.

“Aw, it’s you, Trip?” Eligh said. He was one of the people he and Oliver had stayed up all night gaming with the night before. Eligh thought he was a pretty good guy.

“Oliver’s a cool dude! Had to save a cool new friend.” Trip said, “I’ll take good care of him, promise!” He saluted Eligh with a goofy smile on his face.

Oliver shrugged, a wry smile on his face. “Sorry, bro.”

Then, to Oliver Trip said, “Let’s go, Olly!”

Eligh almost suffocated in his oxygen-filled gear. “Do not call him that! That’s my thing!!!” He yelled after Trip as he and Oliver zipped away. He couldn’t hear whether Trip was laughing, but he was sure he was.

“He’s not going to steal him, you know.”

“Ah! Mara Ono?!” Eligh cried and locked onto Mara’s eyes inside of her gear.

She sighed, “Really, you can stop saying my full name like that by now.”

Eligh blushed, “You’re right, sorr—wait. Why were you going for Oliver?”

“Oh!” Mara turned until she faced Eligh fully. It made him nervous, and he drifted back a little bit. “I had to pick someone I liked!” She said and zoomed off with a boisterous bout of laughter before Eligh could say anything.

“M-M-Mara!!” Eligh cried.

He really doubted he had any oxygen left to breathe in his mask, at this point.