The Grand Melee

“Get up, we’re about to eat,” said Leo, hitting me precisely between the eyes with a pebble from the tent opening.

“Ow! I hate that you can do that.” I sat up, rubbing my forehead.

Leo laughed.

He was frying potatoes and eggs in a pan, and beside him was the entire week’s supply of bacon finally fried.

“Oh, where’d you get the frying pan?” I asked.

“We borrowed it,” said Leo.

I went to my menu to look at something and noticed there was a notification. It was the new points update, and this time it had a leaderboard showing the top 25.

“Leo, have you seen this?” I asked.

“Oh the leaderboard. Yeah that’s all anyone has been talking about.”

I scanned it for names I recognized. Right away my heart sank. Hashi was first. In second was someone named Kristoff. Third was Lilian. Joseph–from my team at the previous event–was ninth. Leo tenth, Kyle thirteenth, and Paelyn nineteenth. Then, to my surprise, I saw number twenty-five. It was Ori.

“Wow,” I muttered. To have already climbed to twenty-fifth after such a rocky start was no small accomplishment. I sat down to eat the first real meal I’d had in a week when suddenly I heard a familiar voice.

“Leo!” I turned and saw Ori, bounding up to him.

“Oh, hey Ori! It’s good to see you!” he said. “I wonder if we’re going to be paired up again.”

“I’d be down for that. Blue team forever, right?” she said laughing. “Where’s Lilian? I thought she was in your party.” She looked at me and gasped. “You have a goblin? You have to introduce us! Hi, I’m Ori.” I almost choked on the food in my mouth as she held out her hand for me to shake. “What are you, if you don’t mind me asking? You must be like a goblin warrior, or maybe a goblin magician? Gosh you goblins all look the same.”

I finally managed to swallow my food. “Hey Ori, it’s nice to see you too,” I said.

The look on her face was priceless. “Bastian!?” she shouted. “But where are your barrels!?”

“Pasqual made it so that I could unequip them.”

“I can’t believe it’s you,” she said, giving me a hug. “You look so different!”

I’d forgotten about the doublet–the one material upgrade I had made to my equipment.

“Look at you, you hardly look the same,” I said. “You look like a real priestess now with the robes and a proper staff, and congrats on making the leaderboard.”

“Thanks! And I still have the breastplate,” she said, “but my current party allows me to focus on healing since that’s what I do best.” She changed her robe for the breastplate to show me.

“Nice, and you even know how to equip it without getting naked first,” I said with a grin.

Ori went to hit me, but I caught her staff before it reached my face.

“Aww, you can defend yourself now,” said Ori.

“Hey, don’t sound so disappointed,” I chuckled. “That’s a big deal for me.”

“Of course!” she said, looking inquisitive. “Can you actually fight now?”

“No, unfortunately I still can’t equip any weapon I’ve come across, but at least I can use my arms to defend myself. So…how have things been? With your new party and all?”

“Good!” said Ori. “I get along with them okay, and they get into a lot of trouble which keeps me on my toes.”

“That’s good,” I said, trying to smile. “I’m happy for you.”

“Don’t look like that, you know I’ve missed you…” she said blushing.

“You have?” I said, excitedly.

“Of course I have, silly,” she said, affectionately tapping me on the head with her staff.

“I missed you too,” I said.

“Hey when this is over do you think–” She was cut off by Pasqual.

“Greetings my little toy soldiers! I want to thank you all for coming. I know some of you traveled a long way. I want to assure you that it will be worth it. The points up for grabs today will be far more than at any previous event. A first place finish today will net you three thousand points! But don’t worry, over half of you will walk away with some points, depending on how far you go in today’s tournament. The tournament is a grand melee, and the rules are quite simple. Defeat the opposing team to win. I have a special code in effect today which will prevent any death from being permanent–as long as it occurs inside the arena. At the end of the round everyone will be revived and the winning team will advance. If you died during the round but were still victorious you will receive a point deduction, but will still advance. Additionally, the tournament will begin with each of you on teams of four, but after each victory, the team will vote on which member of the defeated team they would like to bring with them to the next round. Those players can keep earning points but at a reduced rate. This is your incentive to fight hard in every round. Go ahead and divide yourselves into groups of four now, changing your party allegiances as required. The tournament will begin in twenty minutes.”

“I’d better go!” said Ori, hurriedly. “Good luck!”

“Good luck,” I said.

What had you been about to ask me? “when this is over do you think…”

Harold came running back to camp. “I want you three to team up with me,” he said, addressing the others. “I know that leaves Bastian to find a new team, but the fact is I’m better than he is, and he wouldn’t even deny that.”

“Oh. Yeah, you should,” I said, turning to go.

“Hold on!” said Leo. “I appreciate the offer, but my vote is to keep Bastian.”

“Wait, why?” I asked, shocked. “Leo, I appreciate you looking out for me as a friend, but you should take him up on his offer. Harold is way stronger than me. His ability would easily put him in the top ten if he wanted to be.”

“Would you just listen, Bastian. It isn’t out of pity that I want you on this team.”

“Oh, then let’s hear the reason,” said Harold.

“First, we're used to fighting with him. He’s a core part of our team, acting as our main tank. He’s also reliable and helps Paelyn and the rest of us with his advice, and then there’s the last reason–which is that I don’t trust you Harold. I haven’t forgotten how you solicited Lilian to betray us. It’s not that I haven’t forgiven you. I consider you a friend, but if it came down to it, I can’t be sure you wouldn’t betray us if the promise of being revived by the other team was presented to you.”

“Wow,” said Harold chuckling. “I don’t know what to say.”

“I hope you aren’t offended, but that’s how I feel,” said Leo.

“No, I respect it. No hard feelings.” Harold looked at the others, but they showed solidarity with Leo’s decision. He turned to me. “Goodluck,” he said, with a smile.

“You too,” I said, smiling back.

When Harold had gone Kyle turned to Leo. “I thought that was pretty clever of you not to mention the main reason we want Bastian on our team.”

“Why?” I asked, “what’s that?”

Leo smiled. “Usually you might have the worst abilities of anyone, but in this arena, with these rules: you have the potential to be the strongest person here.” It hadn't even dawned on me–I could blow up in the arena.

“I think we should keep it under wraps as long as possible," said Kyle. "In the best case scenario we can hold this strategy for the final. I wouldn’t be surprised if you could take out a whole team if they were bunched together.”

“An important thing to remember,” said Leo. “When you blow up, you’re probably technically the first to die to the blast, so it’s important that at least one of us is still standing when you use it or we could still lose, even if you take them all out. If we try to hold onto it for too long we could lose our opportunity to use it.”

“Alright everyone, the window is closing, if you do not have a team come to the front and I will assign you to one,” Pasqual announced. A few minutes later we received the bracket in our inboxes.

As I looked over the teams, I felt my stomach drop.

“You guys see who Lilian’s teaming with?” asked Kyle.

“Hashi and Garick, that’s two other top five members! And Garrett was somewhere on the leaderboard too, if I’m not mistaken. Not keeping much of a low profile.”

“No, but they’re going to be tough to beat,” said Kyle.

“They have a Garick and a Garrett? Doesn’t sound like a very diversified team,” said Paelyn.

“They’re on the complete opposite side of the bracket so we won’t have to worry about them unless we both make it to the finals.

“Who are our first opponents?” asked Paelyn.

“Rick, Sarah, Boregard, Alicia, and Fodel… Wait a minute, that’s five people–that can’t be right!”

“Probably just the leftover team Pasqual put together,” I said. “Do we know any of their classes?”

“I don’t recognize any of them,” said Leo, “and they’re not on the leaderboard either.”

“Well I guess that’s a good thing,” I said. “Wait a minute, wouldn’t they be on the survey?”

“Can we still see that?” asked Leo.

“I don’t know,” I said, going to check. “No, ugh, that’s too bad.”

“We’ll just have to make do with the information we can garner from the fight. The way they line up will probably tell us a lot about them. We’ll want to take out their backline while protecting our own. That’s the basic strategy I expect most teams will be deploying,” Leo said.

“I wonder who’s on Ori’s team. Wait–Samuel? Is that the little ranger kid that was on our team?”

“None of us were on your team,” said Kyle.

“Oh yeah, that was Lilian…” I said, with an awkward chuckle. “They’re on our side of the bracket. And I see Harold’s team is even closer. I think they’re our second round opponents if we win.”

“What do you mean, ‘if we win?’” said Leo. “Get rid of that loser’s mentality. We’re going all the way!”

“Who is this guy?” I asked Paelyn.

“I don’t know, but I kinda like him,” she said.

“Come on, let’s go line up. The tournament is about to start,” said Leo.

“Sir, yes, sir!”

We watched the first few matches, but I had a hard time paying too much attention, I was so anxious about our own. Soon our names were called, and we entered the arena, which was about half the size of a soccer field.

“Remember, save it if you can. If you have to use it, try to hit as many of them as possible,” said Leo.

“Right,” I said, taking a deep breath. Then Pasqual signaled to begin. Spells of some kind started to explode around us. I looked at Paelyn and saw her cowering behind a rock.

“Get up and shoot!” I yelled. Paelyn obeyed, but her hands were trembling. She shot an arrow but it flew wildly off the mark.

“I can’t do it,” she said, diving back under cover. “I can’t bring myself to shoot at real people!”

“You knew you would have to fight them,” I said, as a rock beside me exploded sending fragments everywhere.

“Come on,” I said to Leo and Kyle, “we have to try and get in closer.”

“Get me to that structure there in the middle and I can make their lives difficult,” said Leo, pointing to a sort of bunker halfway between the teams.

“Right,” I said.

Kyle nodded. “Go on the count of three,” he said. “One. Two. Three!”

“We dashed out from behind the cover, Kyle and I in front with Leo behind. Suddenly the attacks ceased.

“Seems like they’ve worn themselves out,” I said.

“Let’s hope that stays the case,” said Kyle. Just as we reached the bunker we found we weren’t alone. Three members of the other team had advanced at the same time. Leo unleashed his knives, while Kyle and I rushed on their midranged attacker–a girl armed with a whip.

It was a tough fight, but we managed to defeat two of them as the third fled back to his team. With a well timed throw, Leo hit him just before he reached cover.

“That only leaves two,” said Leo.

Just then the magic attacks returned with a deafening roar of blasted stone. We were completely pinned down, and what was worse, none of us had much health left after the fight. An explosion rang out in the bunker, and I felt my head ringing. I looked around, I was the only one left, but the bombardment had stopped. I peered out of the bunker. Through the dust, I could just make out that Paelyn and the magic user were volleying attacks at each other.

“Where is the last one?” I thought. Then it hit me. I climbed out of the bunker and dashed back to Paelyn. As she came into view, I saw a swordsman coming up on her from behind.

“Paelyn! Behind you!” I shouted.

In a flash she drew her sword and wheeled around in time to meet the swordsman’s attack. It soon became clear, however, that he was the stronger of the two, as he gained an advantage in the duel. I raced in upon them and managed to catch a hold of the attacker just as he knocked Paelyn down. She let out a cry of pain as we went tumbling onto the rocks.

I managed to pin the man’s arms, and Paelyn delivered the finishing blow, tears running down her face. With the man defeated she sunk down to the ground and dropped her sword.

“Come on, get up,” I said. “There’s still one left.” Paelyn didn’t seem to be listening. She was sobbing, almost uncontrollably. I glanced out from behind the rocks, but the spellcaster was gone.

“I guess she went to wait for her cooldowns or mana to come back,” I said. “It won’t be good if I let her recover. It also won’t be good if I have to reveal my secret attack this early in the tournament. What should I do?” I glanced at Paelyn, wishing her to recover her self-possession, but if anything she seemed to be becoming increasingly distraught. Suddenly I got an idea. I picked up the fallen enemy's weapon, a large halberd, and went to look for the mage. I found her hiding in the other team’s starting location, when she saw me with the weapon she surrendered.

“Winners: Paelyn and Sebastian!” announced Pasqual.

“What happened?” asked Leo, as he and Kyle sat up. They looked like they had just awoken from a deep sleep.

“We won,” I said.

“How long has she been like this?” asked Kyle, pointing to the sobbing Paelyn.

“A while, I had to bluff the enemy spellcaster with a melee weapon to win without blowing myself up.”

“That was good thinking,” said Leo.

“Yes, well done,” said Kyle. “Paelyn, get up. This is no time to go useless on us.”

Pasqual appeared and asked us who we wanted to take from the defeated team. We all agreed that the spellcaster was the best choice.

“I’m Alicia, it’s nice to meet you, and thank you for choosing me,” she said, quite formally.

“Nice to meet you,” I said, “I’m Bastian.”

“Ah it’s the ogre!”

“He’s a goblin actually,” said Leo.

“You gave me a fright when you came over the rocks. Was that Fodel’s weapon you had?”

“Yeah,” I said.

“He can’t actually use a weapon,” said Kyle. “He was just bluffing.”

“What!” shouted Alicia.

“You didn’t have to tell her that,” I said.

Kyle held up his hands. “Didn’t realize we were keeping secrets,” he said.

“Wait, was it just you two left,” said Alicia, pointing at me and the still sobbing Paelyn.

“Yeah,” I said.

“So I had a real chance to win?”

“Well, yeah, I wasn’t actually gonna do anything to you,” I said.

Alicia suddenly got angry. “You cheaters! I lost to a bunch of idiot cheats! That’s so unfair! I hate you! I hate you! I hate you!” She started firing spells at me.

“Watch out we aren’t in the arena anymore! You can’t be doing that out here!” I yelled, dancing around the explosions.

“I don’t care, I hope you die!” she shouted. After a few more seconds she stopped, panting heavily.

“Out of curiosity is that a mana or a cooldown restriction you have?” asked Leo.

“It’s mana, but also I hold my breath when I use spells, so I have to stop sometimes to breathe.”

“Oh, right,” said Leo, trying not to laugh.

“Winner: Orine!” shouted Pasqual.

“No way, Ori’s match is already over!”

“Who’s Ori?” asked Alicia.

“The girl he has a crush on,” said Kyle.

“Kyle!” I shouted.

“Sorry, I didn't realize that was a secret.”

“Eww who would want to go out with a goblin?” said Alicia.

“Notice I said, “the girl he has a crush on,’ not his girlfriend.”

“That makes sense,” said Alicia.

At that moment Ori emerged from the arena. She came over to say hello, but didn’t stay to chat. When she left I turned to Alicia and Kyle, who were shaking their heads.

“What?” I said.

“She’s outta your league man,” said Alicia.

“I’m not trying to date her!”

“Sure,” she said, glancing significantly at Kyle.

“When did you two become best friends?” I asked.

“We’re bonding over our mutual derision of an out-group,” said Alicia.

“What?” I said.

“It’s you,” said Kyle. “You’re the out-group.”