Chapter 4: No Limit

“Don’t tell me the sky's the limit, when there are footprints on the moon.” 

Elise and I headed toward Vurth International Stadium in Rockfort. We touched down on the grass outside, and handed our passes in. They were stamped, and we headed in. If we beat the Preliminary, we would fly to Vurth City, which was the world capital. There were 7 rounds in the preliminary. 14 teams. 28 people. The announcer explained the games to the crowd. “Hello, and welcome to the preliminary round of the Vurth. International. GAMES!” The crowd gave a huge cheer. He started explaining the rules. “The Vurth Games have 6 rounds. The Preliminary, the Qualifier, the Round of 16, the Quarter-Final, and the Final! The Preliminary has 7 rounds, the Qualifier has 4, and every single one after that has 1. So… Here are the rules! Each contender has a specific weapon or skill. Some have both. The deal is kind of like the gulag from Call of Duty, if you used to play that on Earth, except with different rules. In this round, we start with 3 teams in each battle. Once it is down from 6 to 2 teams, those 2 teams face off. The team that wins faces our All Star team. Whoever wins is off to the qualifier!” The crowd cheered, and we were instantly teleported to our bout. The other teams looked weak, so Elise and I smiled. We each took a team. Elise took out both members of the first team with a single high jump kick. My flaming arrow seared through both people on the other team. In less than five seconds, we had finished off both teams. We smiled and walked off the stage. As we watched from the second monitor, the three other teams looked weak. We knew we had it in the bag. After 30 minutes of chaos, it hit overtime, and the first person to knock a player out would advance to the next round. It eventually happened, and we came back out. Everyone was cheering for us, that’s how bored they were from the other people. We walked out, and the other team chickened out. So the ‘All-Star team’ came out. What they really were was two pancake looking ogres. We buried them in about one second flat. 

     “Congratulations to the winners of this Preliminary…” The announcer asked us our team name. “Black Mambas” was our response. “THE BLACK MAMBAS!!!” The whole stadium gave a cheer, and for the first time in ages, I had hope. As we walked out of the stadium, everyone wanted autographs. But we didn’t have any time. We had to be in Vurth City, stat. I grabbed Elise, and we flew through the sky. It took all night, but we made it to the other side of the planet. I saw Trinaritus, the continent that Vurth City resided on. We swooped down lower, and Vurth City came into view. We gasped. It was the most beautiful city we had ever seen. 

     We landed, and I took my coat off. The temperature difference was huge. It had been freezing in Rockfort, but you could cook an egg in the air here. We headed to a hotel and tried to get some rest. The qualifier was coming. 

     We walked into the city arena. We were the last team to get there, so all the other teams in the qualifier were ready to roll. We quickly changed, and watched the TV monitor. I noticed that the teams in the qualifier were a lot more menacing than the ones in the preliminary, indicating that the weak teams had been wiped off the floor. 

     “Welcome to one of the 16 qualifier rounds we have here. Tune in for the 64 teams that will be reduced to 16. But first, let me explain the new rules. From now on, each contestant will be given an emblem that determines whether they were awake or in a dream, as a lot of our test subjects fell asleep to the chemicals we are using. Check the emblem before every round. The other rules are the same, except, we are having 2 teams fight. Check out our website, and let’s do this!” The first two teams went out and fought a tough bout. I noticed a lot of physical fighting. 

     “There’s a common theme of physical fighting here, I think we have to use our long range weapons.” I said. Elise pulled out her gun, and after Team 1 won, we strode out with Team 4 for the fight. I pulled out my bow. The countdown on the wall said it all. When the clock hit zero, I drew my bow and hit my first target easily. He was immediately knocked out. The second one was the challenge. He dodged my arrow. But Elise had snuck up behind him, and the rest was history. As Team 1 made their way up, I realized that they were the only ones between us and qualification. I held back no mercy. I pulled out my bow, and strung an arrow. Me and Elise took our positions. The opposing team had fire in them. They took fighting stances. “FIGHT!” a voice said. They charged, and the only way was up. I threw my bow to Elise, who jumped up and passed it back. I gave my arrow some backspin and shot. It pierced the first one and hit the second. The first one immediately got knocked out, but the second one was just hurt, not fully dead. I passed the knife to Elise, and she stabbed him. He was fully dead now. If you died at Vurth, you couldn’t ever come back to life, even on Vurth. We had to be careful. 

     “The winners… THE BLACK MAMBAS!” Everyone cheered. We had a winning streak going. There were so many qualifiers to get through, we had a ton of time on our hands. We had made it to the top 16. We headed to a hotel, and got some rest. We needed it. The next morning, we got up and quickly showered, as we needed to do some chores. Elise walked into the marketplace, while I flew out of the city to learn something. Not even Elise knew about this. I flew to a serene mountaintop and stopped. There was a huge temple there. I walked in, and I saw a few signs. The first one said: Welcome to the Shogun’s Temple. To train with the Shogun, you must clear the entire temple. Beware of the traps, and be aware of the signs and the help they give you. Good luck. The second sign said: 

To clear the first level

You must be fast

For all the traps

Can tear you apart

I looked around, and didn’t see any traps. But that was the point of traps. I realized that this was the green-red game. The tiles would turn green if they were safe to walk on, but they would turn red and fall if they were not safe. I needed a way to test which ones were safe and which ones could tear you apart. I saw some pebbles in the corner. I picked them up, and started my traversal. I threw pebbles, and as expected, they turned either red, or green. Eventually, I made it to the end. I ascended the stairs. The next sign said: 

To clear this arrow dynasty

You must be agile

Time it just right

Don’t make your body fragile. 

These clues were getting weirder. I saw some dispensers on the sides. I stepped on a tile, and they started bursting arrows. I saw that every arrow came out after one second of the previous arrow, and not all dispensers were spitting arrows at the same time. I got past the first one, but nearly got hit by the second. After twelve more attempts, I finally made it. I climbed the stairs to the final level. The sign said:

This here, is the final ascent

You must make good use

Be quick, be slow

It’s up to you, so you choose

How was that supposed to help? There was just a staircase. It was probably filled with traps. But as I walked up, nothing happened. I suddenly realized that this was the Shogun’s attempt at making people skeptical. I made it to the top, and there he was. The Shogun.