It’s been a rough week for Cipher, sweat and steam all over the facilities and a serious training to the upcoming capturing games. As Keisha and the others trained, Jaden and Rhianna prepared for the arena. They wired and completed the machineries on projecting the nature activities such as storms and floods. It would be a very rough battle as they would perform to this magnificent stage. The dome had a very large forest field on the center, a large river dividing the forest in half, as well as a desert that was heated by the scorching sun surrounding the jungle full of wild animals and thorns.

Everything was set and ready for this day, 7th of August to begin the games between Cipher and Utopia. Both teams had their formidable groups to compete. Cipher’s team got Rocky, Jeffery, Renz, Veril and Goyo to compete under Keisha’s name. While the Utopians were five unknown people under Iyaz’ name.

“Tch! Recruiting such weak opponents won’t stop us”, said Keisha with a smirk on her face.

“They might look like they are easy to be beaten, but we still need to be careful. They might have something on their sleeves”, Replied Zhack who is our usual cautious person.

“They can use any tricks they have. They will lose anyway”

And so, the trumpets blew as the ten performers entered the battlefield. Wearing their respective over-all uniforms of red for Ciphers and blue for Utopians. With their gizmos and expertise, they stood off with pride, carrying the name of their factions at their backs.

“Okay, we can do this right?”, Asked Renz as he stretched to warm up.

“Of course! We have Keisha on our side”, said Goyo, fixing his hair so that he won’t embarrass himself.

“I think we are screwed”, cutted Jeffery with his deep cool voice.

“We will, considering the fact that you only depend on your guns, without them you are nothing”, mocked Veril as he imitates a gunshot pointing at Jeffery’s face.

“Why don’t you sing a song Veril? Hoping we’d win Beyoncé”, replied Jeffery who looked a bit pissed.

And so, the trumpets are blown for the opening ceremony, led by the head of NJG, Nix Cardona.

“Ladies and gents… We are all here to witness this great battle between Ciphers and Utopians. As we discussed from the last meeting, we do this so that there will be no more bloodshed between the factions. We, from the higher governance, have signed this game so that we could settle our differences and to have peace between all factions. In order to help the military from this horrible situation of ours, we need to be in one boat. In order to do that, settling the arguments is a must. Again, we consider this as the New Juvenile Government’s special training. As the words from a very famous movie we saw… May all the odds be ever in your favor.”

Another round of trumpets came filling the dome, signaling that this is the start of the games. All audiences were cheering their favourite champions from Cipher. The Utopians shouted as they sang a battle cry.

“The song is kind of intimidating though”, Renz giggled in sarcasm.

“Told ya… you should’ve sung a battle cry as well”, teased Jeffery while staring at Veril who blushed in embarrassment.

Keisha sat down on her chair as she spoke through the microphone so she could contact her allies from up the radio stations that were provided for the leaders. A little moment of silence covered the whole dome as the leaderboard decided who were the Hunters and who were the Sprinters for today’s obstacle.

“… Hunters… C I P H E R”

The largest screen projected the Cipher as the hunters, making the Utopians the Sprinters or the one who holds the flags. After the big letters that hyped all of the people, a countdown of ten seconds came beeping as it prepared the course full of traps and mine fields.

“10…”

“9…”

“We can do this guys…”, Cheered Keisha

“8…”

“7…”

“You know what to do…”, said Iyaz mysteriously.

“6…”

“5…”

“Game…”, Jeffery said with confidence.

“4…”

“3…”

“ON…”, He murmured with a cool smile.

“2…”

“1…”

*Loud bang!!!*

“B E G I N ! ! !”

The loud bang filled all the earlobes of every one, indicating the start of the games. Both teams ran towards the farthest part of the dome where they couldn’t be reached by any one of them. Cipher sprints towards the big forest as it is the most logical way.

“Come on guys, we got the bag. Veril, head south straight!”, commanded Keisha while tracking the team on her little map.

“Yes ma’am”, Veril agreed then ran off.

“Goyo and Renz, pick a side and head west and east.”, She continued ordering like she was putting every piece on its rightful place on a chess board.

“Copy that ma’am.”, Both of them followed and set off.

“Rocky! Search every hiding spot if there are Sprinters that are planning to hide.”, She commanded while crossing out the possible hiding spots.

“On It!”

“And Jeffery! Climb to that tallest tree at the south-east of the forest and watch out for sprinters that are trying to escape.”, She said as she pointed out the tallest tree where he can get the best view.

“Guess I have no other choice.”, He said like it was no fun at all.

“Every one, you know the drill. Look out and minimize the battle field. Keep on moving, don’t stop searching. If you found one, do any means necessary to capture those flags.” She ended with a little motivation.

“Yes ma’am!”, Everyone replied.

As ordered, Rocky checked all the possible hiding spots and found everything empty. “We are cleared here!”

As Jeffery witnessed that the three are almost going to meet at the south point of the map, he witnessed no one that was trying to escape. “It's cold here ma’am!”

“Not leaving is the worst possible technique you could do Iyaz, it’s a checkmate!”, Keisha said confidently.

On his site, Nix was carefully observing the whole scenario while drinking coffee. He noticed that the four of the members of Cipher are narrowing down all the escape points from the target location, “Yes, that would be the best move Keisha… however…”

Zhackary was observing all Nix’s reaction to the game. He is aware of Nix’s extreme war tactics and tried to figure out what he has in mind. The dissatisfied look on Nix’s face made him realize that Keisha’s plan… isn’t enough, “Keisha… I think you should pull everyone back.”

“And why the heck would I do that?! Look at them, they are almost there cornering the Utopians!”, Keisha said as her eyes turned a bit red.

“Something doesn’t feel right.”

“Stop whining Veras… I got this!”, Keisha scoffed and turned to focus on her business.

As Goyo, Renz and Veril narrowed down all escape routes, as well as Rocky who were getting close as well after clearing all possible hiding spots, they got their smiles and were already celebrating for victory.

“Those smiles… are the smiles of people that are losing…”

Nix stood up in discomfort. He felt that he shouldn’t witness the main event of the show. Rhianna noticed his sudden movement and ran towards him, climbing the two-story staircase.

“Nix! What is going on?!”, she asked while gasping for breath

“It shouldn’t come from me…”, Nix replied while he handed some water to drink.

The serious expressions from Nix’s face made her call Keisha on her cellphone. Unfortunately, she wasn’t picking up because she was too absorbed about the situation.

Goyo, Renz, Veril and Rocky were a few to each other and were ready to capture the five Utopians that were expected sitting at the very corner of the room. The flash of the dome’s light followed as they all got out of the forest. The footsteps stopped with the sounds of grass rustling indicating that the Hunters stopped from mobilizing.

“Ma’am…”, Veril called to his transceiver.

“Are they captured? If so, run immediately”.

“That’s not it ma’am…”, Jeffery added while spectating.

“Then what?” confused, Keisha asked.

“It’s empty…”, Renz butted in to deliver the bad news.

“What do you mean empty?! They should’ve been there if we narrowed everything down.”, Keisha’s eyes widened, startled about the news.

“We did but there is no one here!”, replied Veril and was as confused as his commander.

“Go back to the forest and search again! If they aren’t there, they must’ve gotten away already... Quick!”, Keisha ordered the four to set off again.

The four lads started to run when several loud bangs came from every part of the escape routes. It was soon as a few metallic cuffs hit the men’s legs, making them unable to run. Then three people moved under the tropical sands with nets and quickly wrapped the Ciphers up and tied to the tallest tree where they could never escape.

“Fuck!”, shouted Veril while struggling to get out.

“You pathetic scoundrels! Let us go and fight fairly!”, Renz mocked the utopians with a very deep voice.

One of the Utopians speaks, tying all four, “The name’s Leroy… actually, we ARE fighting fair. You guys narrowed every escaped path. It’s not our fault you guys fell right on to our trap. Now let’s just wait for twenty more hours and you guys will lose.”

Keisha slammed the table in front of her frustration, making her irises turn red.

“Keisha stop! If you face this while you are mad… you won't have good decisions for turning the table around”, Zhackary felt the sudden wrath inside him and tried to calm Keisha down.

“FOR FUCK SAKE... It was a trap!”, said Keisha and almost about to crush her transceiver with only her little hand.

“Don’t worry… we still have someone on the loose, Jeffery should be able to free the four of them”, He let Keisha break her radio and he pulled his own, “Right Jeff?“

“That’s right sir! I already got one of them that is trying to take me down.”, replied Jeff and ran towards his allies carrying the first flag. Leaving a Utopian that is stuck on a tree branch. “Filthy Utopians, trying to stop our mobility, it’s a good thing you didn’t let me dive in ma’am… Now… IT'S MY TURN.”