Make It or Break It! One Thousand on the Line!
Chapter 6: Make It or Break It! One Thousand on the Line!
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The second I heard the announcer yell for them to go, I saw twenty people rush for the middle of the arena. The music started blaring out for all to hear while they began to open fire on each other. I noticed that one of the figures from the red team had looked up and waved in my direction. I had to squint, but I quickly realized that the person who waved at me was none other than Tom Baker. I had waved back, and as I did, he was already focusing on the match and fired his laser at a randomly placed mirror. The laser ricocheted off of the mirror and hit a member of the blue team. When the blue team member got hit, we heard the sound effect of lasers hitting a target. Though it wasn’t long before Tom himself was hit.
He had to wait a few seconds before his gear powered back up in order to continue the fight, but during that time we heard the robotic announcer say, “Red Base under attack! Repeat. Red Base under attack!”
Almost the entire Blue Team had charged the Red Team’s base. Flashes of blue flew everywhere, and all we could hear were the sounds of Red Team members getting hit. It was then that a torrent of red flashes start flying out, hitting targets as we saw blue vests turn off for a few seconds. This had caused the Blue Team to spread across the arena while the Red Team had seemingly vanished from sight.
“Hmm... I wonder what happened to the Red Team. I can’t see them at all,” I had thought to myself as the Blue Team continued to scatter.
A bright beam of red emerged from the Blue Team’s base, hitting a mirror and getting a Blue guy. I quickly glanced to the Blue Base to find that Tom had stealthily moved his way past the enemy team and into the base.
I cheered on for Tom as I heard those magic words, “Blue Base under attack! Repeat, Blue Base under attack!”
It was an amazing sight as Red Team members emerged from their hiding places and began to unleash a barrage of lasers on to their opponents. All over the arena, there were light shows as we heard the guns fire off into the fog and hit their targets. This left the Blue Team in a panic as they shot in any direction that had an open path. They were absolutely helpless as the Red Team kept scoring points.
Wondering how much the Red Team had scored after that onslaught, I decided to head back into the upstairs briefing room just to see how much the score was. Though before I had headed out, I realized I needed to do something important. Throughout this entire road trip, I forgot to check my Facebook account!
Knowing that my laptop case was still in the Prius, I had to turn to Luis and ask, “Hey Luis, I need to check something on my laptop. Can I see the keys to the car?”
Luis, too engrossed in watching the match, simply handed me the keys without saying a word. I took the keys with my magic and had walked back into the briefing room. I turned my head to take a quick look at the flat screen. The Red Team was winning by over five hundred points! They had this match in the bag, so I quickly walked down the stairs back to the first floor. The front door was right next to the stairs, so I proceeded to quickly exit the building.
The Prius was parked not too far from the place, so it was a short walk straight to the car. Luckily, there wasn’t really any traffic, especially since the nearby area was still closed off thanks to that robbery from earlier. Still, I looked both ways before crossing the street. The Prius was still exactly where we left it, in the Police Station parking lot. I lifted the key to the lock, used my magic to insert it into the slot, unlocked it, and opened the door. I quickly jumped inside the car and crawled over the car console to the back seat, where my laptop case laid. Once I saw it, I levitated it over to me and slung the case over my head to rest on my shoulder. Luckily, it didn’t drag as I crawled back out of the car and onto the ground.
After closing the door and locking it again, I hurried back to the Final Frontier Arcade. I barged in through the doors and hurried my way back up the stairs into the briefing room. Since no one was in the room, I had guess that the match was still going on. I turned my head back to the screen to see the scores. The Blue Team had scored a few more points, but still behind the Red Team. I turned and laid my laptop case on a nearby table. As I climbed up on a chair, I began to open the case using my magic. As the laptop slid out from the case and on the table, I opened and powered it up. After being greeted by the login screen, I had to take out a pen that was in the case and type in the password manually. I still had no idea how to type using my magic.
When the desktop had appeared, it automatically connected to the Wi-Fi here, so all I had to do was open up my handy dandy Google Chrome. When the new tab page popped up, I had quickly clicked to Facebook. Since I already had a Facebook profile, I thought it would be pointless to make a new one simply because I transformed into Vinyl Scratch. As I browsed through my newsfeed, skimming past random pictures and pointless teen drama statuses, one post caught my eye. It had popped up as a suggested page that I should like. It was a YouTube video posted to Facebook by someone who was named Zecora. I moved my mouse pointer over the play button and began to watch the video.
“Greetings, fellow YouTubers, we are on the bus to Montgomery, Alabama, just leaving Pensacola and you will never believe who I ran into!” the guy in the video said as he leaned over his seat to face the passenger behind him, “Say hello to YouTube, Zecora!”
I nearly fell out of my seat when I saw Zecora. She was on the bus going to Montgomery, Alabama, and by the way things are being paced, we had a chance of meeting up in Alabama. I shocked myself at that realization. That was the second time I saw Zecora, the first being her image popping up in that weird dream I had. It made me wonder if fate had something to do with this, or if it were mere coincidence. I continued to watch the video as the bronies kept pestering Zecora until she finally snapped at them. After watching that video, I decided to leave a simple comment.
“Wow. Talk about being bothersome. Lol.”
I continued to browse through my newsfeed searching for anything else that could be interesting. Though after about a minute of browsing, I had received a notification. It was a reply from Zecora. Apparently, she was online right now. As I clicked back to the notification, she did indeed reply back to me.
“Yes, they were quite the frustration, but had left at the last station"
I giggled a little inside. She even typed in rhyme. After reading her comment, I replied back saying, “So, on the bus headed to Montgomery? I’m guessing you’re headed to New York as well?”
It didn’t take long at all for her to reply back to me saying, “Yes, with little time to waste, I've been trying to make great haste."
At first I actually wondered how in the hell she was able to reply back so fast. It takes me about two minutes just to get a simple coherent reply.
Eventually, I posted back a reply saying, “We’ve all been trying to get to New York. Though, luckily I’ll be able to find out soon what exactly is there to see in New York, since I have a contact whose living up there. So, if you want, I can message you some cool heads ups when I find out.”
Not even a minute later, I received another reply from Zecora, this one saying, “You’re trying to get there too? May I ask who are you?”
This sent a thought straight to my head. Should I just tell her the truth? Or should I just sidestep the question altogether? It was then that the dream I had earlier came flooding back again, so it didn’t take long for me to decide.
“Well, as you can tell, my name is Gage Ray LeBoeuf, though ever since earlier today, I haven’t gone by that name once. Although I know who I am on the inside, on the outside, everyone else sees me as a particularly famous disc jockey known as Vinyl Scratch, or DJ Pon-3. I’m currently in Mississippi right now, getting some more funds for my trip.”
There was really no point in trying to avoid the truth. I’d just have to get used to being called Vinyl for Celestia knows how long. After admitting to Zecora as to who I became, I received another reply from her shortly after.
“Thank You Vinyl, for now I'll have to bring this conversation to an end, but before I go may I request to have a friend?”
It was then that I received a friend request from Zecora. I immediately accepted it as I gave out one last reply to her.
“Hell yeah you can friend request me! :D Well, it was nice meeting you. Talk to you later... Zeccy.”
I laughed a bit as I coined up a little pet name for her. I thought to myself, “Maybe if I do meet her, I could call her that again.”
After that, I received one final comment from Zecora simply stating, “Cya later”
It seemed strange, seeing a response from Zecora that didn’t rhyme. Still, I had a little victory cheer on the inside as I got her to speak without rhyming. After checking a few more things in my newsfeed, I left a status on my profile just to let everyone know what happened to me in the recent hours.
“Well... It happened to me. I became one of those ponies just like some others around the country. In case you’re wondering as to whom I transformed into, it was DJ Pon-3, otherwise known as Vinyl Scratch. Already left home (Currently in Mississippi, heading to Alabama next) and travelling with a few close friends, so any plans I have are cancelled from here on out... Also some people tried to attack me, but it was no big deal.”
As I closed Google Chrome, I took one last look at the scoreboard. The match was over and the Red Team had won by fifty points. It was a close match then as one “kill” was fifty points. I turned to look back at the door that led to the observatory deck, and saw people exiting the door.
It was then that the intercom came on and said, “The second match of the first round will be starting soon. So all participants of the next match please proceed to the preparation room.”
I put my laptop back in its case and slung it back over my head before heading down to the preparation room. As I saw Tom walking out of there, I passed the case to him and asked him to watch over it for me while I headed inside the room. When I walked inside, everyone else and I were led to a second room which had twenty laser tag vests and guns, ten on each side of the narrow room. The vests on the right were blue while the ones on the left were red. I took a quick look around and saw Luis, Merille, and Serah already fitted with their gear. I also noticed an official at the end of the room, waiting for everyone to finish getting ready. I stood up on my hind legs and levitated the vest over myself, sliding it on easily. I then put the gun in the holster that now dangled on my side.
As soon as we were ready, the man watching over the match had began giving instructions to everyone within the room, “Alright, the match will be ten minutes long. Everyone on the Red Team, enter the door on the left and proceed down the hallway to the entrance of the arena. Blue Team, enter through the door right behind me and you will be in the arena. Now, when the announcer says to begin, you must find members of the enemy team and take them out to score fifty points. If a player gets to the opposing team’s base, then extra points will be awarded for every minute spent within the base. However, if you are hit by a laser and it starts back up within the opponent’s base, no extra points will be awarded. The team with the most points will move on to the semifinals. Oh and one last thing...” He then began to look dead at me, “As to any of those horse-creatures that have entered in this, only use magic to levitate your guns should you choose to. Any magic used on anything else is instant disqualification.”
We all gave an approving nod as he then stated, “With that, get to your battle stations and prepare for the match.”
I saw the members of the Red Team vanish through the door on the left, though I still heard cheering from them. Everyone else that was in the room had followed a tall, lanky guy through the doors into the Blue Team Base. It was made to look like the inside of a UFO that had just crash landed on Earth. There were ‘broken’ tubes, ‘smashed’ computers, and a big hole where the team would exit.
Before the match started, a tall, lanky man with black hair had said, “Well, it’ll be a few minutes before the match actually starts. Let’s take this moment to at least introduce ourselves, since we will be on the same team for the next couple of matches. Just first names will do. I’m Aaron.”
The black guy with the emo hairstyle was the next to speak up, “Alright then, call me Marston.”
The asian guy who seemed to have a chip on his shoulder followed up simply with, “Johnathan.”
Next up was the seemingly optimistic lady with shoulder length red hair, “Alyssia.”
After her was the young boy with the british accent, “You can call me Oliver!”
Then was the big middle-aged man with the goatee, “And I’m Miguel.”
After they had made their intros, I decided to introduce all four of us, “Well, the mexican with the glasses is Luis, the guy with the blonde hair is Merille, the white pony with the pink mane is Redheart, and finally there’s yours truly, Vinyl Scratch.”
Upon introducing ourselves, we heard the robotic announcer say, “The match will begin in thirty seconds. Prepare for the final battle.”
I watched my teammates spread out throughout our side of the arena, I found my place next to a small platform and a low hanging wall.
After waiting for a few seconds, the intercom blared up and said, “The wheel of fate is turning! The final battle will now commence! Three... Two... One... BEGIN!”
The second the intercom said to begin, an electronica trance theme began to be heard throughout the entire arena. When I heard the announcer state to begin, I rushed forward out of the base and into a narrow corridor. I used my magic to levitate my gun as I traversed the halls, alert in case someone tried to get the jump on me. As I took the next corner, I came face to face with a Red Team member. We both jumped back and fired our lasers at the same time. Thus, we hit each other. I took the time to run past him as my gear kicked back on.
As I galloped to the other side of the arena, I found another Red Team member as I yelled, “Get ya’ guns on!” and scored a hit on him. I continued to gallop down a hallway before coming across Serah. She was fumbling around with the gun trying to hold it right, but to no avail. She kept on dropping it each time. I used a hoof to tap her on the shoulder, which caused her to nearly jump out of her vest.
She looked back at me before saying, “Geez, Gage. You startled me.”
I noticed that that was the first time in a while that someone called me by my real name. I hurriedly shook that thought out of my head before stating, “Well, I noticed that you were having trouble with your gun.”
She blushed from embarrassment before saying, “I was hoping you didn’t see that. It’s just... It’s so hard to hold this thing without fingers!”
Before I had a chance to reply, there was a red flash in the corner of my eye, just missing me. We both looked up and saw a Red Team member camping inside of one of the small towers. We both watched as he aimed again, this time right at us. I glanced down and noticed that I accidentally dropped my gun. There was no time for me to pick it back up. I thought for sure we were going to get hit, but then a blue laser shot from nowhere and hit the Red Team guy.
We both turned around and saw Marston with a grin on his face as he said, “Always be on the lookout. Never know when the other team can get the jump on you.”
Both Serah and I laughed as we thanked him for the save.
Marston then walked up, picked up Serah’s gun and said, “Tell ya’ what, Miss Redheart, follow me and be a second set of eyes for me. I’ll handle any and all of the shooting. Vinyl, head on over to the other side of the arena, Aaron has a plan to help us win the match.”
I gave Marston a quick nod before galloping over to the other side of the arena. It was odd that I didn’t encounter any Red Team members along the way. I trotted past another corner and saw Aaron huddled in a corner with Johnathan. They were talking amongst themselves before spotting me and beckoning me to stand next to them.
Aaron looked back at both of us and said, “Alright, the Red Team has camped out in their base. They have vantage points all around the arena. It’s a good plan, though they have one fatal flaw. There’s no one guarding their backs. We just need to take out one of the campers, and we’ll be able to get the jump on the rest.”
I looked at Aaron and asked, “Well, how are we supposed to do that?”
He flatly stated, “Simple. You’re going to be the bait, just like Redheart and Marston are, “ He then pointed to the towers farthest from us, “See how they’re preoccupied with trying to get Marston and Redheart? Get the attention of the players on this side of the field while I meet up with Merille to get the jump on them. Even if we are found out, the warning sound will most likely scramble the Red Team. They think they have it good, but in reality, they’re just a bunch of noobs.”
Johnathan had glanced to me and asked, “You ready to do this, pony?”
I took a quick notice at how he simply called me “pony”, but I quickly shrugged it off as we rushed into the open and caught the attention of the Red Team. Out of the corner of my eyes, I saw Aaron and Merille sneak in the Red Base. It was then that the warning alarm sounded, and, as predicted, the Red Team members scrambled to find Aaron and Merille. Soon enough, I heard lasers firing from both ends of the arena. I rushed in and helped out the others in getting Red Team members.
I was able to get at least two people before the alarm blared out that the match had ended. As we heard the alarm, the crowd watching from the observatory deck started cheering and applauding. I looked up at them before giving a quick wave as I began to trot out of the arena. We headed back to the briefing room where an official was waiting for us with a projector set. He turned on the projector and it showed the scores from the match.
He looked at us with a grin as he said, “Well, by the looks of the scores here, the Blue Team won by two hundred points.”
While the Red Team members silently walked out of the room, the rest of us gave a big celebratory cheer. Well, everyone except for one. I noticed that Johnathan was the only one that didn’t celebrate. Instead, he silently began to walk out of the room.
I trotted after Johnathan as I said, “Wait up! Is everything alright?”
He didn’t even look at me as he said, “Just get out of my sight, okay?”
I was taken aback by that statement. All I did was ask if he was alright, and then he snapped at me? I pondered that for a moment before Alyssia snuck up behind me.
“I’ve known Johnathan for a long time. He hates ponies with a near passion,” she said as she patted my head.
I turned to look up at her before asking, “Why? Surely there must be a reason. I mean, I have some friends that don’t like the show, but they don’t act that cold when the topic is ever brought up.”
She sighed as I followed her to a nearby bench. I began to try and sit like a certain mint-green unicorn from the show, but found it nearly impossible. So I settled with laying down on the bench.
She began to explain to me, “Well, it all starts with a friend Johnathan had since childhood. The two were nearly inseparable. They shared almost all of the same common interests...”
I cut her off as I asked, “Almost?”
She sighed again as she continued, “Well, his friend became a brony. Johnathan himself hated the show, but the two still hung out with each other. That is... They did until a few weeks back. It started with a college project for a presentation. Johnathan, his friend, and myself were assigned the topic of certain ways positive and negative influences could affect the mind and psyche of the affected. The thing is though, while Johnathan worked on the speeches, me and his friend were working on the visual aids for the presentation. Well, we had worked really hard on it, but the thing is, Johnathan’s friend wanted to include ponies into the presentation.”
I asked her, “I’m guessing that Johnathan didn’t like that idea?”
Alyssia simply gave a nod of confirmation before continuing, “At first, it was just a differing of opinions. The two always debated on what they should do when the topic of the presentation popped up. They never came to an agreeable conclusion. Eventually, what were once simple debates became full-blown arguments. The project soon after began to take on their full friendship.”
After hearing that, I had to ask, “It got that bad between them?”
She had looked down at me and said, “It got pretty bad. They couldn’t even talk to each other without arguing. Well, on the day before it was due, Johnathan came by to check up on the project. Well, when he saw the ponies, he deleted the file, erasing all of our data, and demanded that we redo it.”
“So...” I piped in, “I’m guessing that the friend didn’t take it too well?”
Alyssia had simply said, “You guessed right. The two got into a brawl with each other. Resulting in a few bruises and a bloody nose. Of course, we all failed the project due to that happening. The two never talked again, and eventually Johnathan’s friend moved to New York... So they could never repair their friendship.”
I stared at her with shock, “So naturally, he blamed the ponies for ruining what was once a great friendship.”
As she nodded, I looked over to the arcade portion of the building and noticed Johnathan had hopped on Cruis’n World. I trotted over to the Cruis’n World machine next to his and inserted my quarter into the machine. He glared at me before returning his attention to the game. Since I started up my game immediately after his, it automatically went to multiplayer mode. Since he obviously didn’t want to talk to me at all, I figured I could break the ice, maybe even soften his view on ponies.
“So... I talked with your friend Alyssia...”
He just ignored me and focused more on the game.
“She told me some stuff...” I said, my volume getting lower, “And about what happened between you and your friend...”
He cut me off by saying, “She told you about that?”
I simply nodded and said, “She told me everything... And about your reasoning behind hating everything about me and what I’ve become...”
He stared intently on the game screen as he asked, “So why are you here talking to me then?”
I continued to keep my eyes on the race as I said, “Well, I just want to ask you... Why shun me? Sure, I became a unicorn, but I never asked for this. All I wanted to do was wake up and go about my normal routine. But, if you still want to hate me, then fine, but at least do something for me... There’s one guy who we’re going to be facing in the next round; his name is Tom Baker, and his eight year old sister became a Changeling, a creature from the show. So, if you ever see her, please don’t be mean towards her. She’s still a little kid.”
Johnathan didn’t answer, nor did I give him a chance to. I instead swerved the steering wheel to the left and hopped off the arcade machine, even though the race was still going on. As I walked out of the arcade, Yuna trotted by me.
She stopped to look at me and said, “Wow Vinyl! You did great during the match!”
I giggled a bit before saying, “Well, you know me. Lasers and fog machines are normal for a club hopping mare like me!”
She gave me a hug and said, “I bet! Well, I’m gonna play that racing game over there! It looks like fun!”
I watched as she walked over to the very game I was on and popped in her quarter. I saw Johnathan glance down as he saw her scoot the seat up as close as possible so she could try and reach the pedals. Johnathan looked back at me before giving me a silent nod. What I saw next surprised me.
I thought that because he hated ponies so much, he would have shunned her immediately, but instead I heard him say, “After you pick your car, I’ll pick the Hawaii stage since it’s the easiest.”
After walking off, I came across Tom and Merille chatting amongst each other next to the stairs. By the looks on their faces, I could tell it was a serious conversation. The two looked over to me and beckoned me to go over there.
When I reached the two, Tom had looked at me with a stern look before saying, “Your friend Merille just told me about the crazy group of people that attacked you at Wal-Mart earlier this morning. Let me tell you right now. Be very careful out there, for those people are a part of a large group called the People Against Ponies Association.”
Merille looked at me as well and said, “Apparently, they’re like the KKK, just against ponies.”
I began to think for a bit before speaking, “So, it’s a giant group of people nationwide? So, we’ll have to be a lot more careful on where we tread now, right?”
Tom had stared off into space before saying, “Yeah. They’re haters who took the hate too far. They’ll attack anyone even remotely involved in the pony fiasco. A group even recently tried to murder one, luckily she made a full recovery.”
That shocked me, for some of them were even willing to stoop so low as to commit attempted murder. I gave the two a silent nod thanking them for the information before walking off. Though, while I started to walk off, I heard a yell before a sharp pain coursed through my head. All I remember was feeling something heavy land on me before blacking out.
I found myself waking inside of a dark room that was completely silent. The only light came from above and shone down on a small pond. I crawled over to the pond and took a look at the reflection. What stared back at me was shocking. I saw my human form. The way the hair was styled, the brown eyes, glasses, and skin complexion were unmistakable. The most shocking thing however, was the color of my hair was now neon blue and the new white pony-like ears that perked up. I stood up and found a matching neon blue tail protruding from my lower body. I had become a pony-neko.
I heard a small giggle which caused me to take a look around. There wasn’t a person or thing in sight. I soon took a step forward as I heard music begin to play. I immediately recognized it as my favorite song from Kingdom Hearts II. I followed the sound of the music until I came across a stairway leading down. Cautiously, I began to walk down the stairs. Eventually I came across a small platform with a single light shining down in the middle. Underneath that light was Vinyl Scratch, set on her turntables and looking quite happy. It turns out that she wasn’t even playing the music. It seemed to be coming from nowhere.
Vinyl wasn’t wearing her glasses when she looked up at me and said, “Well, it seems you went and knocked yourself out.”
“I knocked myself out?” I asked with confusion.
She giggled a bit and said, “Yeah. Something fell on your head the second you started walking away from your friends,” Her tone became more serious as she continued, “But that’s not why I’m here. I’m here to show you something really weird.”
She turned on her turntables and the platform began to form a mural. I watched as the platform began to change shape and begin to form pictures. I gasped in awe as I saw the finished product. Circling the bottom was jack-o-lanterns, each with a different face. Circling the top were small portraits of Vinyl, Luis, Redheart, Trixie, Snips, and Snails. Strangely, Merille was missing from the ones circling the top. Instead of Merille, it was Soarin. In the center of the mural was Zecora, though she was looking up at the smaller portraits with an uneasy expression.
It felt ominous just being on the station, but there was nowhere else to go. I looked back at Vinyl, who seemed to be focused on the mural.
Without even looking back at me, she said, “I don’t know what these things are for, though it changed from that other picture right before you got knocked out.”
After staring at it for a few more seconds, we both shrugged said at the same time, “Oh well. We’ll find out what it all means later.”
Vinyl laughed a bit before saying, “Jinx!” Though she suddenly became more surprised as she finally got a good look at me, “Woah! Since when did ya’ get that bitchin’ hair color?”
I brushed a hand through my hair and said, “No idea. When I woke up here, it was like that.”
She began to think for a moment before saying, “I think I know why!”
She had begun to explain to me her idea as to why I looked like that, but I couldn’t hear her as my vision began to fade. Soon, I went basically deaf before feeling weak and crashing on the floor.
Next thing I knew, I suddenly felt a stinging sensation across my face as I shot awake.
I looked and saw Merille looking at the others who were on my laser tag team. They were all looking at me with worry, even Johnathan, which surprised me.
“See, I told you all slapping her would work!” said Merille as he laughed it off.
Oliver had walked over to me and asked, “Hey. Are you feeling alright? That bloke insisted slappin’ you would wake you up.”
I soon realized I was laying on a table in the upstairs room. I carefully climbed off of the table and said, “Yeah. I feel great, actually. Not counting what just happened to my face. Now, how much longer ‘till the second round starts?”
Miguel raised an eyebrow at me and said, “Second round? You completely missed it. You were out for about fifteen minutes.”
Needless to say, I was shocked. It had felt like only a couple of minutes had passed inside that dream-world-thing. Could it be that time passes by faster when talking to Vinyl?
After seeing my shocked face, Oliver piped in with, “Yeah, so we went ahead and did the match without ya. They didn’t stand a chance!”
I brought a hoof and rubbed my head a bit, “So, you won the match, but what was it exactly that knocked me out?”
Merille was the one to answer the question for me, “Well, apparently one of the members of the Red Team from the first round had her purse upstairs and while she was walking down the stairs, she tripped and her purse slipped from her grasp. The thing was surprisingly heavy! Luckily, you both were alright. Though she immediately left after she got up.”
I decided to just leave it at that before going to my next question, “So, when does the final match start?”
It was Aaron that spoke up, “Well, the next match starts in about a minute. So, let’s hurry down... And let the best man, or pony, win.”
Soon, everyone headed down to the downstairs area... Well, everyone except for me and Johnathan. Instead, he stared at me with the most serious glare ever.
It was about five seconds before he said, “Listen... I’m sorry for the way I treated you earlier. It was wrong of me to be rude towards you.”
I raised an eyebrow at him, “What made you have a sudden change of heart?”
He chuckled a little bit before saying, “Believe it or not, it was something that little girl... bug... thing said. I’m not even sure if she realizes how much of an impact it was. Now hurry up Vinyl, we have a match to participate in.”
We hurried down the stairs and once more into the briefing room. There, of course, was the official to gives us the rules for the final match.
He took a deep breath before stating, “Alright. This is the final match, and the rules are different now. You will all be playing by elimination, not by score. Each person is on their own as they will traverse the arena to find and eliminate others from the competition. Each person will have two chances. So, you can be tagged once, and still be in the match. Get tagged twice, and you will be eliminated from the competition. Your gear will shut down and you will no longer be able to play. You all know what the grand prize is, so get out there and show them who’s number one. Once we let you in the arena, find what you think will be the best spot and give ‘em all hell when we signal for the match to begin.”
The official opened the doors and we all rushed in. I quickly headed for the other side of the arena as I waited for the signal to start. Soon, I heard the sounds of the fog machines activating and then the neon lights had turned on. Soon, I heard my gear start up and then the music began to blare.
Then, I heard the announcer say, “The final decisive battle is now upon us! Now is the time! MAKE IT OR BREAK IT! ONE THOUSAND IS ON THE LINE!”
I rushed forward, turning every corner as fast as I can. My laser gun was at the ready should anyone come in my way. Sure enough, the first person I ran into was Miguel. The second he saw me, we immediately started firing at each other. We fired blindly until we each took cover. Surprisingly, both of us missed every shot. I hurried up and began to gallop away from Miguel only to run into Luis. As a reflex, I accidentally pulled the trigger and tagged him.
Luis had gave me a quick glared before laughing it off, “It’s alright dude. Mistakes happen.”
I gave him a quick brohoof before we parted ways. I turned a corner and saw Alyssia looking for any targets. She hadn’t seen me yet so I snuck up behind her and tagged her at point blank range. She was startled a bit by the sudden tag, but as she turned around to see who it was, I was already making a run for it. Though, as I turned a corner, I came face to face with Oliver, who took no hesitation in tagging me.
“Sorry ‘bout that Vinyl, but this is a competition,” said Oliver as he laughed.
I quickly took cover as my gear started back up. I had to be sure to be a lot more careful as one more tag would mean my elimination from the tournament. I took a look around to make sure no one was around me before I jumped out of cover. I ran to one of the towers where I came across Marston. I took aim and fired right at him, tagging him instantly. I took notice as he put the laser gun in its holster.
He looked at me with a small frown and said, “That’s it. I’m out. Aaron tagged me once earlier, so you know what that means.”
He began to walk off as he gave me a quick wave to me, saying goodbye. I set up at one of the windows of the towers. Looking through the scope of the gun, I noticed Miguel meet up with Marston and Alyssia as they began to walk of the arena, for they must have gotten out as well. Through my scope, I noticed Serah actually figure out a way to hold the laser gun and I watched her tag Aaron. Though, what seemed to be an immediate chain reaction, I saw Johnathan tag her. I took aim and fired right at Johnathan, tagging him.
I continued to look through my scope, trying to find anyone that wasn’t Merille, Serah, or Luis. After that fiasco, they all scattered so It was difficult to see anyone. After seeing no one, I trotted down the tower and back into the arena. I bobbed and weaved through corners and eventually made my way to the other side of the arena. I found myself standing in the middle of the prop spaceship, only to quickly turn as I saw Johnathan approaching me.
“Well, talk about cliché. The pony and the hater meet face to face. Well, we each got one tag on us. Oliver told me before I tagged him out,” said Johnathan as he readied his laser gun.
“Well, I need that money to get to New York, so I can’t lose now,” I said, readying my laser gun.
We both had our aim steady, eyeing each other like it was a western standoff. The tension in the air was so tense that you could cut it with a knife. The standoff lasted what seemed like forever, yet in reality was probably only a couple of seconds. We each focused on each other as we finally fired the laser guns.
“Well, it looks like I win...” said Johnathan.
It took a few seconds to realize that his gear was still on and mine wasn’t. I was out of the tournament. I silently holstered my laser gun and proceeded to walk out of the arena, the feeling of defeat hanging over my head. When I walked out of the arena, I saw Luis, Merille, and Serah all standing there.
Luis was the first to speak, “We all lost as well.”
Merille was next to speak up, “It sucks, but we should just head home now. We lost all of our money.”
Serah was the last to speak, though she was vocally disagreeing with Merille, “We can’t just give up now! We came so far.”
I can tell there was an argument about to brew, so I said, “Well, what are we to do then Luis? It is your car after all.”
Luis didn’t answer, he was too lost in thought, trying to figure out what to do. We were broke, we couldn’t finish the trip unless we became no better than beggars. Merille and Serah’s argument began to escalate as they continued to debate on what to do now. We were so lost in our individual thoughts that we didn’t notice someone behind us until that person tapped me on the head. I quickly turned to see Johnathan and Oliver.
Oliver had been the one to tap me on the head when he said, “Hey, the match is over. After you got out, Johnathan finished up the match in record time by getting Aaron and myself out in less than a minute!”
Johnathan had gave me a small smile before saying, “I know how to solve your dilemma.”
What happened next surprised me. He walked over to the official and whispered something in his ear. Johnathan looked back to all of us and gave us a big grin.
The official looked over to me and said, “Well, it looks like our winner has decided to give half of the prize money to you.”
I was in awe. He selflessly gave away half of the money just so that we could finish our trip to New York.
I looked at him with a big look of confusion on my face before asking, “Why?”
He gave me a stern look before saying, “Look, I was wrong to hate you for no good reason. So, after talking with Tom and his sister, they convinced me to do the right thing. Though promise me one thing...”
I looked up at him and asked, “What is it that you want then?”
He patted me on the head and said before handing me a piece of paper with a phone number on it, “When you get to New York City, and by some weird chance you come across a guy named Brennan Wallace, tell him that an old friend wants to apologize for being a huge jackass.”
-------------------
After chatting with everyone for the last time and getting Tom Baker’s Skype contact, we had the money in my wallet and were ready to set off. While we were in the parking lot, we were confronted by Tom.
He gave me a hoof bump to me and Redheart and he high-fived Merille and Luis before saying, “Well, my family is heading back to New York tomorrow, so whenever you get to the area, look me up. We’ll let you have a place to stay. And with that, I gotta run. See you later.”
Luis had started up the Prius and hooked up my MP3 player to the stereo system. The song that came up was unintentionally fitting, as we were back on the road, and nothing would stop us now, no matter what!
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Oh god its been forever since I heard Green Day thank you and amazing chapter loved it.
Awesome. Now see if you can find a nightclub and DJ for even more cash.
for some reason, I thought you meant Tom Baker the doctor who actor, messed with my head there for a bit.
2150357
That was the point of the character's name. 
So now that I messed with someone's head, mission accomplished.
I enjoyed this, from the music to the match itself. NOW SHUT UP AND TAKE MY STACHES!!
kasterborus.com/tardis/fourth-doctor-tom-baker/tbaker4.jpg
Nice music choice and nice chapter
Cool music choices!
It's a shame that "Sanctuary" got taken down, though.
2159232 Thanks for notifying me of it. I fixed it now though. So you can enjoy it the way it's meant to be enjoyed.
YouTube has seemed to have cracked down on that song.
The new title and cover image threw me off for a bit, but I got better. Good chapter. I imagined the countdown to sound like Fourze's Base States and the announcer's voice like the Administrator from TF2.
Awesome chapter! Love to see where this goes next! (And I was wondering how Redheart would be able to play..)