Alkalians (50 page)

In one corner of the building, the
green badge students are giving their scores to three professors,
Kaystone, Malkia, and Serpanz. They record the students’ scores by
each of them taking a badge and the student’s name, entering the
name on a computer monitor and scanning the badge, and the total
points in the badge are automatically entered with the student’s
data. The work process is going along casually until the crowd of
youths scatter to allow one man through. Nicholas Narqailien
strides up to the professors in a quiet demeanor while all around
him hush and hold their breath in his presence.

He hands his badge to Prof. Kaystone
and confesses his name. Kaystone brings up Nicholas on the computer
and scans the badge. He’s about to thank and congratulate Nicholas
for his efforts when he double takes a glance at the computer’s
screen with confusion. “Uh, Nicholas,” he says. “Either this
computer, the badge, or I might be mistaken, but your score looks
like, um, one hundred and twenty-six points.” The professor has
known Nicholas enough that he gets a huge high score in the Royale
Project. The students all know it, too, as ripples of shock and
disbelief go through the crowd of them.

“
Neither of the latter has
an error,” Nicholas replies. “That is my honest score made for this
year.”

The mass of students around him begin
to whisper their awes or doubts about it while the professors still
have trouble comprehending his confession. Prof. Malkia looks
worried, and Kaystone and Serpanz glance at each other unsurely.
Serpanz then asks him, “Are you sure this is correct, Mr.
Narqailein? Could you have accidentally misplaced your badge with
someone else’s?”

“
I am sure that is my
badge, professor. If you will excuse me, I have other places to
be.” With no more delay, in prompt military fashion, he turns
around and walks away from the astonished students and
teachers.

Once he is gone beyond the crowd of
students, Kaystone sighs as he taps a few buttons on his computer
and says, “Well, I hope he is aware this score is nowhere near the
high scores of this year. This will be the first, and last, time
Nicholas doesn’t advance to the Royale Project finals.”

As this statement spreads through the
students like a shockwave, one of them, alone in the hall’s shadow,
is greatly unsettled. Cain had always made sure that, every year
since Nicholas’ rise to dominance, he had the same badge color as
him. Now, however, he has lost this source of insurance for the
tournament, and he realizes he’ll have to beat Matt the hard way as
he creeps away from the scene, arguing with his own
whispers.

***

The next few days pass without any
sort of major event as the student community recovers from its
battle royale, except for the sudden arrest of Ryan Gertruiken. On
the second day after the end of the project, college officers
confronted him at the casino over rumors that he had been the one
responsible for harming Irene out of her morph the few nights ago.
When his behavior in response was anything but calm and honest
denial, they took him into custody for further interrogation and
suspension from further college studies or events, which included
his participation in the tournament coming up. There was no more
time for any gossip around that event, as well as Irene, to spread,
for the next day, the first of the weekend, the tournament portion
of the Royale Project begins.

All the students on campus and the
school faculty gather in the college’s gymnasium, then acting as
host to the major event. An audience eager to watch intense battles
in the arena below fills the coliseum’s rows of seats, their bodies
a sea of miscellaneous colors and their cacophony of voices in
countless conversations filling the air. It has already been
announced which students made it to the finals for their badge
color. The blue had consisted of Sean, Buster, Ryan, and James
initially, but with Ryan’s arrest a runner-up was selected to take
his place, Amelia. Meanwhile, the green sponsors Dante, Cynthia,
Irene, and Cain, and the red features Matt, Rose, Tony, and
Lyn.

While the audience settles into the
gymnasium, an overhead speaker announces the statistics of the
tournament. Unlike in the first part of the Royale Project, the
competitors would be fighting those of the same color, and whoever
wins their divisionary tournament would advance to the Alkalian
College Championship match. The rules for combat are fight until
one forfeits by demorph, and to not get the audience caught in the
crossfire. If a competitor does anything uncivil, or attacks a
demorphed opponent or the spectators, he or she is automatically
disqualified. The speaker finishes by wishing luck to the
competitors and informing that the blue division would play out
first.

In the few minutes left before the
preliminary matches kick-off, the fighters themselves are gathered
in the women’s locker room, then serving as the waiting room before
the arena. Thanks to the wide space of the locker room, with the
lockers themselves bordering the walls, the bathroom, and the
showering area out-of-sight behind a corner, the twelve students
within have plenty of room to divide themselves evenly about,
either in small groups of two or three for small chat or to be
alone.

Being one of the latter in the
scattering of the students, Matt is near a side of the room by
himself, leaning against one of the lockers, trying hard to keep
control over his habitual nervousness. He would be composed if it
weren’t for the wide pupils of his eyes darting about the room, the
rapid tapping of his foot, and the jackhammer that has replaced his
heart in his chest. He tries to look past the other students, some
his allies, some his enemies, but everywhere he looks he focuses on
them for the briefest of agonizing moments.

James and Irene are off in a corner of
the room by themselves, quietly conversing and trading smirks and
shrugs between each other. Lyn and Amelia are almost opposite him
across the room, speaking in hushed tones while glancing with scorn
at Irene or tenderness at him. Rose and Buster are further along
the lockers to his left, Buster clearly so eager he can’t stand
still and shut up while Rose laughs or shakes her head. And Sean
and Cynthia are on his right, the dazzling damsel clinging to and
trying to console the rather anxious freshman.

Beyond the pairs of his fellow
competitors, Matt then notices Cain. He finds himself surprised to
realize it had only been about two months since they actually met,
and yet so much had happened involving them. Oddly enough, his gaze
settles on him, because unlike the others, Cain is alone. Furthest
away, in a darker corner of the locker room, his back is to
everyone as it seems like he keeps rambling off under his breath to
himself.

His curious stare at his sworn enemy
is broken when Matt jumps at a familiar, calm tone addressing him.
“Very convenient, don’t you think?” He turns to his side, seeing
Dante there, who goes on with his arms crossed, “The most of the
big players in this conflict between you and Cain, gathered into
one room, to soon duke it out in the arena. A writer couldn’t have
set it up any better.”

“
Ah, yeah, I suppose.”
Matt sighs. “Where did you go?”

Dante raises an eye brow at him before
replying, “The bathroom.” Matt blinks, nods, and looks away before
he adds, “Had an interesting conversation with Tony in
there.”

“
Tony?” When he turns
back, Matt spots Tony emerge from the bathroom, a scowl on his face
while he skulks past the couples to find his own spot on a wall
around the room. “What did you guys talk about?”

“
Oh, nothing much. Just
that even his own lackeys aren’t fond of Cain anymore.” He aims his
sharp gaze at the senior in the shadows of the room. “But not
because they hate him, too. More because they feel something’s
wrong about him. He seems to be in his own little world half the
time, and whenever he does respond to others, it’s always in a
furious lashing out, like a vicious dog pulling at its chain. If it
weren’t for this conflict finally being resolved after this
tournament, as it should be, Tony tells me he would have dropped
out of Cain’s entourage awhile ago. Even he’s worried that, at
anytime, that chain is going to break.”

“
Uh huh. I wonder if he
knows about it, too.”

“
About what?”

Matt twitches, realizing what he
almost let slip. “Oh, nothing! Nothing important.” Dante bores into
him a moment more with his intimidating eyes before he shrugs and
looks away, silently staring at his sister with James across the
room. Noticing this, Matt asks, “You still worried about her, after
what happened to her that one night?”

“
Always. I always worry
for her, Matt. It’s one of the curses that love puts upon you.” He
continues staring at Irene until she notices it, upon which she
fidgets, grabs an unprepared James, and takes him with her into the
bathroom. Dante then looks back to Matt and says, “Good luck to you
in the tournament, Matt.”

“
Oh, uh, and to you, too,
Dante.” Dante nods before stepping away, going to join Sean and
Cynthia at their end of the lockers. He was still wondering over
the relationship between him and Irene, and what that was like,
having a sibling to worry for, when Matt gets more company. Lyn has
put on a happy face as she appears by him with Amelia in
tow.

“
Well, Matt, how are you
holding up?” she asks, leaning her shoulder into the locker beside
him, her ample cleavage in clear view.

“
Hmm? Oh, fine! I’m fine,
as fine as I could be, when I’m about to fight with an arena full
of spectators watching me.”

Both Lyn and Amelia laugh at him
before she replies, “That’s no surprise, with this being your first
time. It’s not so bad, though, trust me. Just focus on your
opponent, and you’ll forget you have an audience soon
enough.”

“
Yeah, if you say so. Um,
so how exactly will this tournament play out? Before we weren’t
supposed to fight our own colors, but now we will?”

“
Right,” Amelia responds.
“The four highest scoring students of each color go through
semifinal knockouts, and the winners of each color will face off in
a three-way final battle for the championship.”

“
Uh huh. I see. Which
means…” He looks eye-to-eye with Lyn. “I’ll end up fighting
you?”

“
Ah, maybe.”

“
Maybe? What do you
mean?”

“
Well, Matt, there’s a
nice twist to this tournament. Instead of one student representing
each color in the finals,
two
do. Which means if we’re lucky in the random
assortment, we won’t fight each other, and instead fight together
in the finals!”

“
Really? Hah, that sounds
great! I mean, I guess it does.” Matt remembers something else when
he looks to Amelia. “But then, we could end up fighting you, in the
finals.”

“
Yes, unfortunately,”
Amelia nods. “But there are usually temporary truces formed between
like-minded competitors at the start of the match. Which means if
Cain and/or Irene happen to make it to the finals, too, we can team
up and take them down, first.”

“
Ah, okay. Hey, speaking
of Irene, what do you two think about what happened to her? I
couldn’t help but notice how you were both giving bad looks at
her.”

The senior women glance at each other,
briefly hesitant, before Lyn shrugs with a frown, saying, “What’s
there to think? She’s a cold, cruel, reckless excuse of a senior
student, a disgrace to her noble family and state of
Saratu.”

“
Well, yeah, maybe. But
aren’t you somewhat concerned about how she was attacked,
out-of-morph, the other night? Who would do that to her, with her
being a student here?”

Again the women exchange
glances, and Amelia replies, “I, we don’t know, really, but we have
a theory or two as to
why
someone would do that. I mean, I do, at
least.”

“
Really? Why’s
that?”

Before Amelia tells him,
to Matt’s surprise, Lyn interjects, “Amelia, you don’t have to tell
him! He doesn’t need to know,
nobody
needs to know
that.”

“
Lyn, it’s too late for
that, the rumors have already been going around, before she was
attacked. I might as well tell him myself, before he hears it from
someone else.” Taking a deep breath, she looks down to an ever
curious Matt, explaining in a lowered voice, “You see, Matt, a few
nights ago, the night before she was attacked, in fact, she and I
happened to be at the same party, and we, we slept
together.”

Matt’s eyes go wide, briefly struck
dumb by images flashing through his head, before he asks, “You,
you’re serious?”

“
But it’s not like Amelia
wanted to!” Lyn adds in her defense, also whispering. “You have to
understand, Matt, that Irene’s been known to become
very
reckless in her
flirtatious, and even vicious, behavior. At that party, she,
she…”

“
I’ll tell him, Lyn,”
Amelia informs her, to which she sadly nods. She goes on to Matt,
spite in her tone rather than sorrow, “It was an all-girls party at
one of the senior cabins, and Irene had rudely invited herself. She
quickly got drunk, started making passes at some of the other
girls, and when no one was naturally responding in kind she
threatened to get violent, in her battle morph. No one, especially
me, wanted anyone, even her, to get in the huge kind of trouble
fighting within a cabin causes, so I, I stepped up to calm her down
and, well, satisfy her. So we went to a bedroom, and we, we did
what she wanted, until she passed out.”