“Here comes the crucial moment of this competition,” Howie announced. “The Top 3 battle. The four remaining teams will battle head to head, and two will come out and join the Black Infinity in the Top 3.”

Eniola stood there nervously on the hover with Rogue at her side. Nerves were racing through her body, partly because she was in the air again, but because today was the Top 3 battle round. If they didn’t win today, they might not even have a chance of stopping Paradox, and Eniola would have to go home.

“Rogue,” the light flashed onto them. “The Omega Riders, ULTRA and Inferno. Two of you will not be returning.”

“First match, Rogue vs Inferno,” Howie announced, and the arena cheered. They all gazed at each other as Vanessa stepped up to play today. She had basically revealed that Inferno was involved in ALTSCOPE but then pretended like they didn’t exist, and Eniola wasn’t complaining. Bloom had gone back to being intimidating.

Inferno was SCOPE legends and was one of the first teams to ever form. If you got drafted to them, then you had made it. They had won most of the SCOPE competitions and weren’t in the mood to lose. Their hovers moved closer until they were almost touching and Inferno was staring them down hard.

Eniola remembered back, and how this was at the point everything came crashing down for them last year. They had been pulled off to the side and had been informed that Keone had left and that it officially disqualified them.

And now they were going to reclaim that dream and snatch it. No one could take that away from them. They would hold on to it for dear life.

“There is a twist,” Howie added, and the arena erupted into gasps. There was always a twist for the battle rounds. Last year it had been that the team played with weapons from a different game world. Inferno had no problem going to win last year.

“For this semi-last round, the two teams competing this year will swap one teammate,” Howie announced, and everyone gasped loudly. Eniola had to put her jaw back into place as she gazed around at Rogue.

Did she just say swap? Swapping teammates had never been done before. But that was the point of the twists. They were unexpected, and trying to prepare for one was like picking each seed off a strawberry.

Useless.

Howie uncovered something from her pocket and showed a life-sized version of the game yeon. It was shimmering purple in the colourful lights.

“Inferno, you placed higher,” Howie said. “Heads or tails?” She flipped the coin to show one side being the SCOPE logo and the other being a pair of SCOPElenses.

“Tails,” the captain, Tessa Masumi or Kinesis, said instantly. “We choose tails.” Howie nodded and flicked the coin up into the air and sure enough, it landed on tails. The audience gasped.

“Take your pick,” Howie said, grazing her arm Rogue. Their gaze fell on each one member, analyzing them and picking them apart with their stony gazes. Eniola could practically feel their stares burning holes into her.

“We choose the tiny one,” Tessa announced, pointing his finger dead set on Eniola. Eniola tried not to look scared as she stepped forward. She gave a quick smile back to Rogue, who all had worried expressions on their faces.

“Alright E.N.I,” Howie agreed. “Rogue, who do you choose?” Her team tried to imitate the same way Inferno had picked them apart but failed to lack the same intimidation. Eniola ran her hand up her arm nervously, standing in the middle.

“We choose you, Kinesis,” Theo announced, and Tessa stepped forward, pushing her black hair behind her. She didn’t look scared, rather she looked amused like she knew something that they didn’t.

“Alright then, swap teammates,” Howie told them, as Eniola and Kinesis brushed past one another. “And let the semi-finals begin. Good luck to all of you.” Eniola almost went with Rogue before realizing Inferno was her team for this round.

Jay quickly flashed her good luck thumbs up from the other side, and she smiled back at him. This is going to be so confusing. She put her SCOPElenses and the Land of the Seeking was there, in all its mysticalness. This was like a regular 5 by 5; their disk was on the other side of the river.

But it felt so weird playing on a different team and trying to get herself to lose. If she won on this team, she’d lose in the other and go home. So that’s why she would not lose, she was going to just be there.

The all-familiar alarm went off, and all the players began running into the game field. Eniola had switched her weapon this time and had an arsenal of knives. She drew 2 from her back and threw it into the air at the creatures that were slashing towards her.

They all had cornered and surrounded, and it was easy for Eniola to take a swipe of the knives and slay them all, gathering her yeons. She flipped over the crowd and made it close to the body of water. Suddenly she was body-slammed and pinned down to the side, and the familiar face of Kinesis was hovering over her.

Kinesis reached forward and then touched her forehead. A jolt of pain surged through her body and she screamed. Her SCOPElenses fizzed, and it seemed the world glitched around her in a technicolour blur, suspending her in time.

“There is no place to hide!” Kinesis growled, pinning her down by her immense weight. Then she was hauled over her shoulder and threw her into the river separating the teams. Eniola submerged in the game water, feeling cold and wet water surrounding her. Her SCOPElenses told her she should respawn, but she didn’t. In games, when you fell into the water, you would emerge within seconds.

Something was wrong.

Eniola screamed bubbles out as she drifted to the bottom of the river and stayed there, water filling her senses. She almost weighed down, as she could barely move.

Red arrows started clouding her vision, the game signalling her to leave, but she couldn’t. She stayed barely moving under the water.

“Where are you?” Jay’s yelling sounded like a faint gurgle in her ears. “You should’ve been up by now.”

“Something’s wrong,” Eniola barely got out. “I can’t. It’s like something holding me.”

“People are saying you’ve disappeared,” Lucia came through. “I see nothing in the water, though. Where did you go?” They all sounded frantic.

“I don’t know,” Eniola told them. “There is one less teammate on Inferno. You have a slight advantage, go over and win!”

Eniola felt like she was falling until she hit the ground. It was black all over. She screamed.

“What?” she stammered, disoriented. “Where am I?”

“Where you don’t want to be,” the distorted voice came at her. She glanced around the black space but saw no one until the familiar dark green armour moved closer to her.

“Eniola,” he said.

“I know it’s you, Keone,” Eniola whispered. “You’re Paradox.”

He stayed silent.

“This isn’t right, Keone,” Eniola breathed, standing up straight into the air. “You’re taking this too far. Synthetic atoms.”

“SCOPE is too amazing to be hidden by SCOPElenses,” he told her. “It’s what connects us all and even brought you and me together.”

“It brought none of us together,” Eniola accused. “Despite being a part of Rogue, you were no teammates to us. You only used us, and me, for your gain. We formed Rogue and played SCOPE because we love it.”

“You naïve girl,” he yelled. “The only world I’ve been able to connect to was SCOPE and I believe anyone can too. Things weren’t always easy for me in this one.”

“That’s your motive?” Eniola wondered.

“Yes,” he confirmed lightly. “Wouldn’t it be great to spend your life in the SCOPEverse, having your days full of adventure? With what I’m doing, that can happen.”

“No, it can’t!” Eniola responded. “SCOPE is nice, but it’s just a cool game. Trying to merge it in with this reality is going too far. What if this type of technology gets into the wrong hands? This won’t just be some peaceful transition.”

Everything went silent for a while. “I won’t let that happen. I’m sure. I know what I’m doing and it’s because I want a better world. After all, it’s a shitty place. I want a new one.”

“But—”

Before Eniola could finish, the room transformed back from the black room. She was back in reality. Her SCOPElenses were now alive with red alerts, and messages with Theo screaming into her ear. It was clear what was happening.

Inferno had won, and they were going home.