There was no known land route to Bear Gate; or air route actually. Pilots would waste an entire evenings searching for the city with no sign. There were however, widespread rumors of it being somewhere south of West Drop. No one knew exactly where. Pictures from inside the city depicted a rustic rural place with hints of modern technology scattered about. Regardless of the rumors, Jaquan and his companions were headed there. At least they had every reason to believe they were.
The tunnel they entered a half hour ago was marked to lead them there; as was the subway car they boarded. Jaquan occasionally checked his communicator’s compass, and for the third time it stated that they were headed northwest. Despite the discrepancy with known facts, there was nothing he could do about the travel plans now. They were in the car and no amount of unwarranted panicking would make any difference. Besides, he wanted to keep up appearances in front of Justice.
The subway car was much like any other only exceptionally clean, and empty. Shiny compressed steel surfaces were highlighted with burgundy cushions. There were windows but there was no point in looking through them. Bright lights from the tunnel whipped passed and didn’t add anything to the trip.
The crew’s luggage was packed away in a pushable cart just on the other side of the car. As much as Jaquan wanted to train by carrying the load, he didn’t want risk pushing himself too far so near the tournament. The maker of their healing water was off on an adventure leaving them no hints when she’d be back.
Again, he looked at the compass hologram. He blinked as it shifted slightly, pointing their direction more northward. Instead of revealing a worried face, Jaquan looked up and heard Justice talk about the tournament’s specifics. Justice made certain to stress that Jaquan should be especially careful not to lose any of the opening rounds.
“Why not?”
Liana slapped her face in frustration, “Listen for a bit will you,” she pleaded, “This is a coin based tournament.”
Jaquan’s confused face told Liana and Justice that Jaquan’s mind had been elsewhere for the last fifteen minutes. So after a deep inhale and purposeful exhale, Justice started again. “A coin based tournament is like this.” He thought for a bit to put things in terms that Jaquan could understand. “At the beginning of the tournament, all the fighters have two coins credited to an account,” he paused again to make sure he was saying everything correctly and that Jaquan was following, “At the end of a fight, the winner gets a coin from the loser. If at any point you run out of coins you’re out of the tournament.”
“So why do I have to be careful in the beginning?” Jaquan asked. The thought of losing was never a good one. To go through so much to acheive nothing was such a waste of time, money, and effort. He wanted to avoid it at all cost.
“Oh. I forgot,” Justice corrected himself, “on the third round, the bank takes a coin from everyone still in the tournament. They keep doing that every other round until only one player remains.”
“Oh!” Jaquan realized the severity now, “That changes everything.”
“So,” Liana chimed in to conclude the original point, “He was saying that if you don’t maintain a winning record during the first four matches, you’re done. Even a tied record causes elimination.”
“The chumps and wanna-bes are eliminated early.” This was truly going to be a challenge. In a tournament such as this, everyone will be on top of their game. Everyone will be looking for an edge on whoever they fight. “So who am I fighting first?”
Justice leaned back in his chair, covered his face with his hands and purposefully exhaled again, “I have no idea.”
#1 – Opportunity #37 – Opportunity #39