Chapter 21: Your money is in another castle.

A couple of minutes ago.

There is a huge expectation in the public about the finals of the amateur category. The match starts and in one of the screens the map is shown. The map is really huge for just 32 players, however, not much time passes and there are some fights here and there. The expectative is high when the public notices the struggle over the Lightning Reaver, there is a bit of commotion about who can pilot such vehicle.

Meanwhile, in a corner of the map, three players assemble and start traveling together. It is obvious that it was planned ahead, with so much money in prizes it would be very strange if an alliance doesn’t happen. This trio quickly travel towards the tower and quickly take control of it, activating the Orbital Strike which annihilates everything it touches.

The expectative the public had dies as they watch this. With an alliance and the control over the Orbital Control Tower there is no way any other player could fight on equal terms with them. There are some encounters here and there, but it is just a matter of time before the trio win the first, second, and third place of the Amateur category.

When I impale another player near the east bridge, there are gasps and looks of astonishment, but that is all, the general mood is awful and no one cheers or celebrates. Soon there is only 6 players left. Two of them charge shoulder to shoulder towards the tower, but they are killed swiftly by the alliance as any others who tried to approach the tower by themselves. Being in the tower gives them the advantage of being able to use a full map radar, with just that they defended the four bridges effortlessly.

4 players left. The majority of the public was present the day before, during the preliminary rounds. Some of them recognize me immediately, after all, I am the only Battle Droid that classified to the top 32. They know about my abilities but they think that the situation is really hopeless, they see as I just barely dodge a sniper bullet and then crouch behind a pile of sandbags as if I am nervous. In fact, if I really was nervous no one would blame me because they felt that the fourth place was the highest position achievable right now.

“Then… is it over?” Since there are only four players left, a technician activates the voice chats precisely when Ana said that line with a voice that is about to cry.

The public felt a horrible ache in their hearts, they felt that it was an unjust defeat.

“I said that there’s no way I win the tournament, but I’ll definitely be in the top 3!” My voice filled with pride and confidence resounds through the speakers.

Everybody turned to look dumbfounded. Even the ones that stopped viewing the screens couldn’t help but turn their heads to look. The next events just happened too fast.

In six seconds I broke their S-A-S formation and killed two players, even if at the end I died, it is still a feat worth of praising because just a few players could be capable of doing what I did, and even fewer could do it in just 6 seconds.

I do a side roll, stand up, and then proceed to charge, six seconds later and the match ends. Staff members, the public, and the other players who died previously, they just stare dumbfounded at the screens not daring to believe what they just saw. It happened just too fast! The screens turn black declaring that the match really ended and showing the positions table, but everybody is just staring at the screens with their mouths wide open.

*Clap.*

Someone reflexively claps his hands once and breaks the awkward silence, startling the ones near him. That clap is followed by another clap, and another, and another. Soon the entire audience bursts into cheers and applauses. It was short lived, but those six seconds were imprinted in the memories of every person who is present. The technicians quickly reorganize the highlights showing them as replays. Those six seconds will transform in the most successful publicity they will have in the next years.

In a corner of the lobby, a little lady stands up. She is about 150 centimeters tall, her face is round and cute, she has a ruffled blonde hair, and a pair of beautiful green eyes. She is using a seductive red lipstick and her eyes has a neat make up that match perfectly her gothic style clothes. As her little feet touches the floor, she tidies up her long black lace flared skirt, fixes the black tie in her white gothic style blouse, and then picks up a black lace umbrella that is resting in the chair next to her.

The little lady slowly unfolds the umbrella hiding her beautiful but expressionless face. She sighs and closes her eyes, then stares at one of the screens and mutters in a low voice, “Marcus Trevor… maybe with the proper guidance you can help me to take down 56.” After that, with tiny steps she leaves Gamer’s Corner.

♫ ♪ ♫

“Hufff…” I let out a long breath as I disconnect myself from the VRD. I turn to look to my side and see as Ana has her mouth wide open staring at the laptop’s screen in front het. I laugh inwardly and then I call her, “Close your mouth or a fly could enter.”

Ana regains a bit of her composure and looks at me, “Marcus, did that really happened? Did you really... killed a second player within 6 seconds in a 3 vs 1?” She says without daring to believe what just happened.

“It was just luck.” I smile and nod slightly. I stand up from the chair and stretch my arms that feel slightly numb. Ana stands up too and seizes the moment to run towards me and nest herself in my chest, wiping constantly the moisture in her eyes. She is extremely happy and emotional, seeing her I feel a warmth in my heart that I can’t describe with words. I embrace her, resting one of my hands on her back and with the other I pat the crown of her head, “Hey, come on, you are overacting,” I say in a soft tone.

“Mn.” She nods and slowly she makes some distance between us. She smile blissfully but then an uproar startle us. Everybody starts to clap and cheer loudly, Ana grabs my hand firmly and says while raising the tone of her voice, “Come on, let’s go!”

I nod and follow her.

Upon leaving the players only area, I notice a huge crowd of people agglomerated waiting for someone. I raise an eyebrow after seeing so many people, ‘Does the winner was a celebrity?’ I think inwardly.

“It’s him! He is Kortef!” Someone suddenly yells. As if he pointed to a bag full of money, everybody turns to see and rushes towards me. Ana gripps my hand tightier and leans her body towards me, as if she is afraid that someone would take me away from her. I laugh softly and scratch my head trying to act cool, I have no idea why but it seems that the reason of the uproar is no other than me, after all, when my nick was mentioned everybody turned to see me.

As time passes the crowd starts to act more and more crazy. Everybody is trying to take photos and even asking for autographs and my phone number. ‘Come on, you will forget about me in a week.’ My left eye twitches as I try to be polite. That’s the nature of the humanity, the instant something extraordinary happens, even if is something dangerous, they rush to be the firsts to see what happened but no matter how shocking something is, after their 15 minutes of fame everybody forgets about it.

A few moments later two beautiful females wearing a black shirt with a blue moon logo in the left of the chest area approach me. They identify as staff members and after checking the token, they proceed to lead me towards the award stage. It seems that I am the last one to go there but with this huge crowd it would be impossible for me to leave the players only area even if I want to.

Ana let out a sigh of relief after the two staff member come to our rescue. Seeing her expression, both attendants couldn’t help but chuckle because for them it is a common thing to see some players being swarmed when they win or do something out of the common.

After walking for a while, we get to an improvised wooden stage. Although improvised, it was neatly arranged. Upon the stage there is a large wooden table with a black tablecloth. Above the table cloth there is a second tablecloth arranged diagonally, and in each corner there is blue moon logo. The table has only one row of three chairs that is facing the public, in each chair a man with a suit is sitting. In one side of the wooden stage there are two rows of blue velvet chairs and one of the female staff members points me towards a chair located in a corner of the second row, signaling me to go there.

“There? But there’s only one?” I frown and then say in a casual tone. It was obvious that all this was prearranged and they didn’t take into account a possible “extra” player from the amateur category, in this case Ana.

Both attendants look confused at Ana and Ana just sticks out her lovely pink tongue. As I sense that one of them is about to say that the chairs are only for players and the companions must wait in another place, I quickly intervene, “Indeed I am Kortef and I am in the Amateur category and I know that you arranged the exact number of chairs, but she is the one that operated my Carrier Orb, so she is a player too, doesn’t she have the right to be on stage too?”

The attendant that was about to speak before I intervened slowly closed her mouth and turns to look at her partner not knowing what to do because what I said makes sense, in the pro categories operators and divers are treated as equal, by denying a chair to Ana it is as if they are saying to her that she is not worthy of being called a player. However, the second attendant just returned a nervous smile, she doesn’t know what to do either because she knows that there are not a single blue velvet chair spare, if she just looks for a common chair she feels that she will be disrespectful towards Ana.

As Ana sees their conflicted expressions, she quickly releases my hand and approaches them. She touches the head of the attendants, draw their ears towards her mouth, and then whispers something. I look at Ana’s actions a bit confused.

After some chit chat both attendants now have smiles on their faces and look at me, and one of them gives a thumbs up to Ana. ‘What in the world?’ I just shake my head not knowing what to say.

“Okay! Give me!” Says Ana with a sweet tone, pointing to my shoulder.

“What? The bag?” I say confused. As I see her nodding I take off the bag from my shoulders and put in front of her, however, she just opens it and takes out a smaller bag. “When did you put that in there and why?!” I ask. I only remember putting the optic link and the gloves on the bag to come here, I don’t remember handing the bag to Ana, much less her putting something inside!

Ana lets out a “hehe” laugh and says, “See you later!” After that she interlocks arms with one of the assistants and goes in another direction with her. I stare blankly and the second assistant points at me again towards the chair located in the left corner of the second row. With nothing else to do, I go there and sit quietly.

After I sit I turn impatient. ‘Just where did you go?’ I ask helplessly in my mind. The way Ana just left and took her bag from my school bag was just too mysterious.

Minutes went by and the award ceremony starts. The hosts starts to attract the attention of the crowd and I shake my head helplessly. Since I don’t know anyone near me, I can’t just sit and watch. However, after looking left and right trying to catch a glimpse of Ana, I notice that there is a pair of players that have an ugly expression in their faces and are constantly looking at me. I frown and shake my head one last time, ‘They have a grudge with me? It must be them then.’ I think inwardly and laugh.

With a round of cheers and applauses, the first category starts to be awarded. I join the multitude of claps but then my nose catches a very sweet fragrance. It was definitely a woman perfume and before I have the chance to react, I feel as someone sits on my lap.

“There is no need for another chair because this is the most comfortable one I can think off.” Says Ana with a charming smile.

‘She went for a change of clothes!’ I scream in my mind. She is no longer wearing the plain black pants and yellow blouse, she is now wearing a revealing blue blouse with a wider cleavage and a white mini-skirt. As she sits in my lap she just smiles at me. ‘Damn…’ I can’t remain calm with her sweet fragrance so close to my nose and her white legs at my sight. My breathing turns ragged, my face flushes, and my heart beats faster. I have to admit that Ana is beautiful, but when she puts some effort, her beauty reaches another level.

I see her fixedly and notice a rare look of satisfaction in her face and a thought flashes in my mind, ‘So you did all this because you just want to tease me? Two can play that game!’ I say to myself. “Well, if you think so, you are welcome any time.” I reply to her and then rest one of my hands in her thighs.

As I touch her skin, her body shivers and her face turns red, she turns her head away and she no longer dares to see me to my eyes. She lowers her head in embarrassment and puts one of her hands between mine and the skin of her legs. I just let her do as she pleases and laugh inwardly.

“There was a need for a change of clothes?” I ask Ana after I calm myself.

“You don’t expect me to look plain in front of the public, do you?” She says softly.

“Plain? You are not plain, fake or not you have a pair of mountains there.” I say as I point to her beasts.

“You!” She says between her teeth and pinches my leg.

“Arrghh.” I cover my mouth in order to not be too loud, that pinch hurts a lot.

“Hump.” Ana snorts coldly and closes both of her eyes while I rub the zone of my leg where she pinched me. After a while, she opens one of her eyes and asks without looking at me, “Do you like it?”

I stare at her back and try to analyze her question, then I answer, “Everything looks good on you, and your perfume smells nice too.”

Ana just smiles and remains silent.

The award ceremony proceeds with Ana sitting in my lap. The first, second, and third categories are awarded and then it is the turn for the final category: Amateur. Ana stands up with me and holds my hand. I do a quick glance to my right and notice the other two players that will be awarded in the amateur category, as I thought, they are the ones which were looking at me with hateful gazes. I grin widely and then proceed to go to the stage.

As I step on the stage, the crowd start to cheer wildly at me but at the same time they let out shouts of mockery and displeasure towards the other two. The hosts try to calm the public but it is almost in vain, just a while after the crowd return to their normal state but the anger and hatred of the pair that is on stage reaches another height.

As any other player, I receive a poster-sized check with 50.000$ as prize. That’s 2.5 the original first place prize, I couldn’t be happier and at my side Ana was happy too. After shaking the hand of the men dressed in suit and a pair of photos, I receive an additional prize of 5.000$ for being the player with most kills. The public burst in cheers once again and my smile widens, more money? Then I have to be happier.

When it is the turn to award the first place, the public explodes into shouts of mockery. This time is near impossible for the hosts to appease the crowd. It lasted five minutes until they finally calmed down. The staff just could shake their heads helplessly, because a hero appeared they turned to be the villains. In truth, what they did is actually legal and normal. There are multiple ways to design each round of a tournament, and they know that in a last man standing it is a common thing for alliances to be formed but at the same time it is hard to trust in an alliance because you never know when then can betray you. In a tournament of this scale if 2 of your friends made it to the final rounds, why wouldn’t you form a team and obliterate everybody together?

After a couple more of words from the hosts, the tournament officially finishes. Some people approach me and Ana again, I could see some of them drooling after looking at her, so I reflexively approach her and try to protect her from lewd gazes. Even if it’s her fault for wearing such provocative outfit it’s not like she is alone.

A couple of minutes later Gamer’s Corner starts to empty. I hold the poster sized check and then realize something, ‘This is not valid as money!’ In fact, that poster is just valid as a memento, no one will give you 50.000$ for just a poster check.

I look for a staff member with Ana at my side. I find the one who was in the registration counter yesterday and approach to her, “Excuse me,” I say tapping lightly my hand in her shoulder.

She turns and smiles upon seeing Ana and me, “Oh, hello there, congratulations.”

“Thanks…” I say scratching my head and then I continue, “By chance do you know who I have to ask for the real checks?”

“Oh that’s easy,” She says with the same smile, “You just have to go any working day to our building and just show your ID, you will be quickly attended.”

“…” I stare at her with a poker face, however I am punching her repeatedly in my mind, “Excuse me?” I say not daring to believe what she just said.

“Ah, my apologies, if you don’t have the address I can write it down for you.” She says motioning her hands as if she were writing, still with the same smile.

‘God damn it, to wait again?!’ I say inwardly clenching my fist.

END OF CHAPTER 21.