Chapter 1 – Arriving in Tokyo
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17 year old Tommy looked out the window as the plane he was on started it's descent into Narita International Airport. 

The view of a large river could be seen as they started the descent procedures and Tommy kept his laptop and fastened his seatbelt. 

This was the first time Tommy had ever left the US as before that he had only traveled domestically by plane. 

The landing was smoother than the takeoff in the takeoff in Houston, a whole 15+ hours ago.

He was here to participate in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, which has now been postponed to 2021. He flew in 1 month early to go through the 14 day quarantine and to get acclimatized to the weather and atmosphere before competing.

He was part of the US Shooting team, participating in the Trap, Skeet shotgun events and even the 25m Rapid Fire Pistol event. 

The rest of his team came from the military, so they would be joining him later. Tommy himself was a gun prodigy, being raised by gun enthusiasts in Texas. He regularly performed in trick shooting performances in gun shows since he was 8.  

As he traveled by himself, there were arrangements by the Olympic organizers to pick him up to quarantine him for 14 days before transporting him to the Olympic Village.

He had wished his parents and sister could accompany him, but in the post pandemic world, this was still not possible.

The organizers picked him up after he cleared customs and immigration and was escorted into a large bus.

In it he found he had to sit in a single seat, two seats away from the other passengers, like in the plane.

Even so, he introduced himself from seats away, keeping the atmosphere lively.

The 20 seater bus now only fit 10 people, including the organizers and translators. 

This left only 7 athletes on the bus including Tommy.

The others on the bus with him were mostly from the US like him, but from different sports. He had met them and briefly chatted with them on the flight here. 

They were skateboarders Skylar Evens and Jayden Watson. Skateboarding was a new sport to be introduced in this Olympics. 

There was also sports climbers Rachel Matthews and Andrew Grant, another new sport to these Olympics. 

Then there were cyclists John Manning and Emily West which filled up the other 2 seats on the bus. 

After a 45 minute ride, they were stopped at a 4 star hotel. The interpreter gave each of them a wristband to wear for the whole 14 days,  and informed them that they were not allowed to leave the hotel for the whole period. 

Food and accommodations were provided for the whole period, but they were not encouraged to mingle. Luckily, they were provided with free wifi. 

They were then brought to the lobby to test for COVID19 and to check in. 

Tommy sighed as he entered his tiny hotel room. Luckily he didn't have to share the room due to the COVID19 SOP otherwise the room would indeed be tiny. 

He had heard that the Olympic villages was a party village full of hormone fueled sex romps, but this Olympics looked like a dud as not even a condom was given out. They were even told not to mingle!

There went his hopes of popping his cherry in the Olympics after winning his gold medal as he had planned. 

He zoomed a call with his family to inform them that he had landed safely and then took a shower. 

Standing in his underwear after his shower, he went through his usual concentration practice with his unloaded air pistol and his shotgun, imagining the events he would participate in. 

The stay in the hotel was as boring as he feared and he only managed to talk to other athletes quarantined there with him during meal times. 

But everyone looked as miserable as he did, unable to go out and enjoy the town. The COVID19 testing every few days were annoying and uncomfortable as well. 

After all, their tests all came back negative, but they were forced to participate in testing every 3 days regardless and they were all beginning to feel like lab rats. 

Finally, after 14 long days of testing and loneliness, they were brought to the Olympic Village and were let loose to rejoin the US contingent. 

"Look! The Lone Ranger is here!" came a voice that Tommy recognized. 

"Andy! Am I glad to see you" Tommy smiled as he turned around and saw Andy Dunlap, the team leader of the US Shooting squad and the rest of his teammates. Andy was a bronze medal winner in the previous 2016 Olympics in Rio. 

"You look miserable! What happened?" Tony Raynolds, another teammate asked. 

"I just came from the 14 day quarantine in the hotel. Didn't you guys go through it as well?" Tommy asked

"Naw! We were all in the army base. It was barbeques every day!" Tony laughed. 

Tommy shook his head in disappointment. His whole team was from the military, so they stayed together at the barracks. 

While it was no 4 star hotel, they were used to the lifestyle and the camaraderie there. And it was not as if Tommy could use any of the 4 star facilities at his hotel anyway. 

Most of Tommy's teammates were older than him, and were serving in the military. Tommy was always treated like the young kid, having qualified at the final qualifications meet in 2019 to qualify for 2020. He was 18 then and was just allowed to compete by his parents. 

But being a shooting prodigy since he was 8, he qualified in glorious fashion, shooting perfect scores in the 25m rapidfire pistol even, and the mens skeet and trap events. He wanted to compete in the other categories as well, but the organizers did not allow him to due to time restraints. 

As for the rest of his team, Andy Dunlap as 35 and was participating in the 10m pistol category. Tony Raynolds was 10 air rifle and was 27 years old. Then, there were Susan Mcnamara 30, who was in the 25m Pistol and Angela Doyle 25 who was in the woman's trap and skeet rifle event. 

Tommy was closest to Angela in age and they both competed in the trap and skeet although separated in category. They regularly practiced together and helped each other in training. 

However, Angela was a newlywed and Susan was a mother with 2 kids, so Tommy never had any intentions with either one of them, even though they were both quite attractive. 

"How's your preparations going?" Angela asked

"I could only practice in the mirror in my room" Tommy sighed. 

"So, you'll be rusty huh?" Tony teased as his hand suddenly moved. 

"No way" Tommy laughed as he drew his pistol faster than Tony did. 

"Hey! We're not allowed to bring our weapons out!" Andy warned them. 

"These are not weapons! They're toys" Tommy protested.

"You know what I mean. Most of the other countries are not comfortably with we gun slinging Americans as it is!" Andy warned

"Ok ok" Tommy and Tony said, hiding their pistols under their shirt as they went for a meal. 

Tommy was finally with his team and this was starting to feel more like the Olympics experience he always dreamed of. 

 

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