Eniola was sure Rogue was in 8th place even though it had not been officially confirmed yet. As Eniola and Rogue walked into the arena for the second day of the first round, the holo-boards just showed game highlights from all the bigger teams, but as she analyzed it was mostly ULTRA. A frown spread over her face. She tore her gaze away and prepped for the journey ahead while her heart decided to vibrate. Today was when all the work would happen. A drone whizzed past them and their faces appeared on the holo-board. Eniola smiled through her nervousness while the crowd faintly cheered. By the time it went away, her face dropped again into frozen shock.

The rest of the teams were all spread across the seating area opposite the fans screaming in the stands and the commentators were talking rapidly about the games yesterday and what they predicted would happen today.

It was a side challenge day, instead of one big competition like a traditional SCOPE match, it was played as you would play outside of the Championships. Team versus team. They hadn’t gotten today’s roster, so it was a complete mystery. She hoped for steady competition, but knowing SCOPE that would never happen. Side challenges changed your score and were the most important compared to the big games.

They began climbing up the stairs to where they were seated, which didn’t seem that far when the hover took them up, but now it seemed super far away. As they sank into their seats, the arena went dark again before lighting up in neon colours sending the crowd screaming. Eniola sank further into her seat and swallowed back a gulp. A hover was now floating in the air, carrying Howie, and when the arena saw their beloved SCOPE creator, they went crazy as per usual.

“Welcome back, players and spectators, to the second day of the 10th annual SCOPE Championships!” Howie yelled. “I was so impressed by last night and all the players! Let’s give it up to them!” The arena exploded into cheers at her command and she smiled.

“Alright, alright,” she said, calming down the crowd. “Everyone played well, but despite that, we have to do my least favourite part of the competition. The elimination.” Suddenly, the neon colours disappeared, and only Howie was lit up by a dark gold light.

“The teams with the lowest scores will have to pack up and leave the competition,” Howie explained. “However, your player tattoo gives you free admission to watch the games. Team captains, please enter the playing pit.”

Theo rose from the seating area and let out a huge sigh, before turning back to give them a comforting smile before descending the stairs to reach the hover. Her heart didn’t slow down, instead, it shook and palpated as nervous heat spread over her body. A loud prayer echoed through her head, hoping they would stay as her breath hitched. They had to stay. The suspense was hanging in the air and right over Eniola like a dark veil.

Eniola focused on Theo as he went down the stairs until a figure suddenly bumped into him, sending him staggering. He regained his balance and looked the other person straight in the eye. Eniola could see from the outline of his body that it was Keone and she pressed herself back into the chair and pushed her head down. Theo kept walking.

The team captains all went onto their individual hover before being ascended with Howie. Fifteen people would be eliminated, and Eniola prayed once again Rogue wasn’t part of them. If they did, Eniola had to go home to her parents with the ugly truth even without a win.

“Before we do that, let’s look at last night’s results,” Howie said, and the screens transitioned to highlight reels from last night, showing in-action gameplay and audience reactions and close-ups on teams. Eniola felt a shy smile take over her lips when she saw her team on the screen over all the nervousness.

“And now for the Top 3!” Howie announced.

“ULTRA!” she broadcasted, sending the arena into an excited frenzy. Eniola also let the smile turn into a frown.

“Inferno!” she announced again, as the arena rejuvenated their cheers. “And finally, the Black Infinity! You are all safe!” The gold light poked at the captains in focus, and a look of relief washed over their faces. They slowly descended onto the ground as the other teams stayed in suspense. Eniola took in a sharp exhale.

“You are safe!” Howie announced,

“For the part that I hate the most,” Howie stated. “The elimination. Good luck to all of you.” Eniola thought she’d break her fingers with how hard she was crossing them. Audience members began yelling for their favourite teams, even though it wouldn’t change anything as the scores were final and automatic. But it felt comforting that a good amount of people were screaming Rogue’s name and wanted them there.

If they didn’t win, Eniola would go home with nothing to show her parents. She would have to be a doctor, which she wasn’t even sure about being. Goosebumps rose over her skin and tickled her clothes.

Howie began reading names, and when she finished, the scoreboard came back up to show the list of players. The bottom fifteen were all marked in red. A red light instead flashed on the fifteen unlucky ones who went expressionless. Some started crying right there on the spot, while some others had tears welling in their eyes. Some looked blank. Eniola would too if she had to go home.

But instead, a sigh of relief escaped from her body and she flopped back onto her seat.

“I’m sorry, but you have been eliminated,” Howie said solemnly, and then they descended again. But this time there was no gold light.

“To the rest of you,” Howie continued, “You’re safe! Give it up for the remaining teams!”

And the arena went crazy again. A wave of relief washed over Eniola as she flopped back into her seat. Theo came running back on the hover before getting off and coming to hug all of them. Everyone had a look of relief on their faces, including Lucia who sighed in relief and hugged Eniola again.

They were in. Eniola leaned forward to read the scoreboard and tried to track where they had placed. But instead, her bodily functions stopped when she did spot it.

Rogue 35th Place/// 30000pts

35th place? That means they’d barely skimmed the competition. A few points down and they would’ve been the bottom 15. They would’ve been going home.

“That isn’t right,” Iris shouted over the crowd. “I counted. We should be in at least 8th place. Even if I was off, we shouldn’t be so low.”

“How did we get to the bottom?” Eniola asked loudly, eyes wide and pinned to the scoreboard.

“Hello!”

Eniola looked up and saw Keone, with the rest of ULTRA behind him, she averted her gaze to the ground before slightly moving over and behind Lucia. Lucia snorted sarcastically in response to him.

“So nice to see you again,” he said before he looked Eniola up and down, and a creepy smile curved against his lips and Eniola hid behind her further.

“What do you want?” Theo cut to the chase.

“I’m surprised,” Keone admitted, giving an intentional sigh. “It’s so unlike you to get the last place. I swore last year people were calling you the underdogs.”

“You’re not part of Rogue anymore,” Jay said. “You left last year, so why do you insist on talking to us?” Jay clenched his jaw, looking like he might break out in a fight with Keone again.

“You’ve scored low,” Keone told them. “This just proves that you are worthless without me. You guys barely skipped on elimination.”

“Why don’t you just leave us alone?” Theo groaned. “We’re already stressed enough.”

A laugh spluttered from his mouth. “Okay. But just remember that I was drafted for a reason and you weren’t,” he looked at Jay. “You’ll never be a good replacement.” Another smile curved against his lips before he turned and walked away. Eniola finally exhaled the breath she had been holding for so long and moved away from Lucia, pushing her head down again.

“Shit,” Theo mumbled, unclenching his veiny fists and sighing loudly, before looking at the rest of the disgruntled teammates. Jay’s hair had fallen over his face and his eyes had gone dark. Lucia looked downright annoyed, huffing and brushing her short hair out of her face and Iris averted her eyes anywhere from them. Eniola’s heart was still beating fastly and the hairs on the back of her neck stood up even though Keone was long gone.

“Don’t be,” Theo said, before looking down onto his phone. “We’re up against ULTRA first. Me and Eniola. It’s so great, isn’t it.” Eniola could practically feel the sarcasm coming out from his voice.

“Calling Rogue and ULTRA to the stand,” a crisp AI voice announces. “2-on-2, E.N.I and New Moon vs Shadow and AE.”

Suddenly, the world fizzed again like it was a glitch in a camera before black started enveloping her vision. The goosebumps rose over her skin again as she swallowed back a shriek that also came from her throat.

“Hello?” she said.

“Eniola?” a voice came to her. Not a second later, she was back in the arena. The big, vast, loud, and neon-coloured arena pulsing at her. Heavy sighs escaped her, and her chest was heaving in a ragged motion. Her eyes went wide looking at the curious gazes from her friends around her. Theo’s words were finally registering to her. “Are you okay? You spaced out.”

“Yeah!” she lied enthusiastically, feeling uneasiness travelling down her spine as her heart steadied. She plastered on a fake smile to waver suspicions. “Let’s go play!”