Ch. 3: First Come First Serve

“The following event is a spectacle of blood sweat and violence on a radical scale, viewer discretion is advised.” Is a message that can be heard across all the televisions that were left in Discadia when the games were about to start. No one cares about blood sex and violence affecting society anymore as they have just become a part of everyone’s daily life. To not be desensitized to the things you experience as entertainment on a daily basis would be a miracle. Society had such a campaign against those things before the war. But in hindsight, regulating those things did absolutely nothing to prevent the catastrophic collapse that was the Clash of the Giants. It was all about the richest countries having a standoff. What finally ended the world as we knew it, had nothing to do with what art society was consuming and had everything to do with powerful men and their glass egos. As a result, those that were left not only had bigger problems to worry about than censorship and regulation, but they saw those things as completely meaningless now that society had already collapsed. The flood gates were open and if you had something to fill the airwaves, and it would get people watching, it didn't matter what it was. The message before the games became a relic of an ancient practice of priming the people about what they were about to watch, all the cool media of the past “the man” wanted to keep society clear of had that sort of message. so it became an ironic utilization of this measure for use of advertising. If your show had a warning label like this one, you knew you were in for some prime-time entertainment. But Wendy didn't know any of this history as she sat in the green room listening to the announcer's voice explain the rules of motorcycle jousting.

“The contestants will be divided into groups of three and together will man a motorcycle suited with two passenger carts. One on each side. one will hold the shield, one will hold the spear, and the last one will man the motorcycle. Together they will work as a team to eliminate their opponents in whatever way they can, be it incapacitating the players, damaging their vehicle, or knocking them out of the ring.”

“knocking them out of the ring? It's a colosseum! How would we-?” but before Johnny could finish the ring started rising up into the air via underground hydraulics. Lifting it far up beyond the point where a human could survive, far less if they were strapped into a motorized vehicle. underneath the ring was a massive array of television so that the audience in the arena could see all the action.

“last man standing, wins! And without further ado, let the games….BEGIN!”

as the announcer's voice echoed through the stadium, a hatch opened up at the center of the stage and a whole slew of motorcycles, spears, and shields of various shapes and sizes rose up from the ground. The contestants stood looking at each other for a second before they realized what was happening. It was first come first serve. suddenly, everyone was gunning it for the center of the stage.

“This is bad!” Neo said as the three of them sprinted to the center of the stage as well.

“if we don't make it there first, all the best equipment will be snatched up. But if there are too many vying for the best pieces, well lose before we even get started”

Neo wasn't wrong, Some were already incapacitated even before everyone was on their bikes.

But without much of an option, the crew nonetheless charged in headlong into danger.

They looked for the patch of equipment that wasn't getting much attention and chose to scavenge their gear fast. Johnny was the first one to get there for he was the most nimble of the three. he opened the box and found a huge shield. He eagerly picked it up to show his teammates

"Hey guys! Lookie what I found!” always the one to brag and let things get to his head. He was so focused on his accomplishments that he didn't notice the behemoth rising from behind him

“Johnny! Look out!” Neo screamed at the top of his lungs

“look out? look out for wha-?” as he turned around, before he could get the words out, before he could even see what was going on, he was knocked back by a 70-pound forearm swipe to the face dropping the shield and tumbling back to his friends.

“oooooooh! Rookie mistake! He took his eyes off the prize for just one second and it nearly cost him his life” the announcer's voice said through the speaker. “I think it might have cost him his front teat though” he later added inspecting the instant replay

“Johnny, you alright?!” Neo said picking him up.

“I think I’ll have the hash browns mommy” he said

“oh great he’s hallucinating, potatoes aren’t even a thing anymore!” Neo said

“what?!” Johnny said as he shook his head to stave off the concussion “what a sad reality to wake up to” he said

“ugh, enough horsing around! Let’s get some…” Erika began to say but couldn't finish for some reason. Neo looked at her

“what? what’s wrong?” he said as he looked at the center field. But what he saw... he couldn't believe his eyes. All the equipment. Was nearly completely gone. All that was left were the scraps. They got up and ran to see what they could salvage but there was only one left of each. A short spear, a small round shield that could barely cover one, and a motorcycle that looked like it came straight out of the 1950s.

“oh no, we're screwed. We're so screwed!” Johnny said

“it… it cant be… its already over and we haven’t even crossed the starting line.” Neo said

“hey!” Erika screamed at both of them “what are you two doing moping around for?! The game hasn't even started! And it’s not over 'til it’s over!”

“but with this kind of gear, were no match!” Johnny said

“it’s not about the gear! It’s about the person behind it” she said

suddenly Neo remembered a dear friend that told him exactly those words.

“she’s right” he said

“what?!”

“if we go by gear, then we’ve already lost! all we can do now is snatch a victory from the jaws of defeat. it's not about the gear. Now let’s go show them!”

“you guys are crazy!”

“Neo you drive, i'll woman the shield” Erika said

“you got it” he said

“Johnny! What are you waiting for?! Get on!?” she said

“oh my god. Were so gonna die” he muttered to himself