The crowd cheered as Hong’s platform spiraled upward into the air far above the transforming arena. Hundreds of metal squares lifted from the flat surface and disappeared, then reappeared at different angles, creating hills and cliffs. Each tile held a piece of the landscape, some had rocks, others grass, shrubbery, or even huge, leafy trees. Still others disappeared entirely, leaving a gap in the platform, which filled quickly with cobalt-blue water. At any given time, the coliseum had hundreds of different arena settings ready to go. It was rumored PKU kept over a thousand bots, which tended to the plant and wildlife necessary for each arena set.
Soon, the arena resembled a wooded forest, with several cliffs, next to a small lake. At the top of a hill, a hongbao floated midair. It looked exactly like the red envelopes Urban received every Lunar New Year with money in them. The only difference was this hongbao pulsed with light.
“Dragons, what’s the plan?” asked the Inventor. His voice amplified over the speaker, and a closeup of his face popped onto Urban’s retina display. Urban watched both the tiny figure in the distance of the arena and the closeup in her retina display simultaneously.
“I’ll scout the water for clues,” the Aqua said, taking off at a sprint toward the deep body of water.
“Everyone else, this way,” the Inceptor took charge. The rest walked quickly toward the hill. At the top, the Inceptor reached for the hongbao, but an invisible force field stopped him.
“Password needed,” a robotic voice intoned. “They look like twin brothers, both sturdy and tall. They work together and go everywhere together. But they only go near solid food and do not care for soup. Who are they?”
The Super sat down. “I hate riddles.”
“Hey, guys!” the Aqua yelled from the edge of the pool. “There’s another hongbao at the bottom of this. I need some help getting it. Flyer, Camo, you free?”
The Flyer and Camo trotted over to him while the rest of the group tried to work out the riddle.
Urban zoomed her augmented feed to the Aqua, Flyer, and Camo section of the arena.
“So, the good news is I can see the hongbao,” the Aqua was saying.
“And the bad news?” the Flyer asked.
“There’s some sort of sea creature guarding it.”
The Flyer ruffled his wings. “And you need us . . . why?”
“As bait. And to buy me time.”
“Which am I?” inquired the Camo.
“Time.” The Aqua turned to the Flyer. “How would you like to be bait?”
“Are you sure whatever is down there will go for something out of the water?”
“Only one way to find out,” came the reply.
Hong hovered above the group on a silver platform barely large enough for her feet. “Seems like the riddle still has not been cracked and things are about to get dicey for our contestants,” she narrated with a mischievous smile.
Urban found herself leaning in, even though she was mostly watching on her retina display. It looked just like it always did back home, but she still found it hard to believe she was actually sitting in the coliseum.
A roar sounded from the other side of the arena. A huge saber-toothed tiger padded out of the thick wooded trees. Then another emerged, and another, until they filled the whole forest.
“Well that’s a new one,” Urban remarked.
“It’s not nearly as terrifying as last year’s giant boa constrictors.” Hazel shuddered.
“Wonder how long it took them to recreate those saber-tooth tigers using their Nucleic Acid Sequences Builder?” Blossom mused. “Genetic engineering of extinct creatures takes years and millions of dollars. I wonder who sponsored the funding.”
Urban turned to her. Maybe I could get her to tell me more about genomics. It might have implications for Naturals. I have to be careful not to ask too many questions though, or she might become suspicions. “Are you involved with any of the genetic-engineering societies?”
Blossom eyed her a moment. “No.” She turned back to the arena, making it apparent she didn’t want to continue the conversation.
“Look!” Hazel pointed excitedly. “Someone’s in trouble.”
One of the saber-toothed tigers locked eyes on the Super, snarled, and bounded toward her. Behind the tiger, several more stepped out from the forest.
“Better hurry your smart brains up,” the Super said, stepping away from the group. She picked up a log and held it ready like a baseball bat.
The Super swung her log at the first saber-toothed tiger. The huge creature went hurtling into the thickets, its body bent in two, before rolling to a stop.
Another tiger leaped onto the Super before she kicked it away. Her damage counter dropped a fraction.
At the water’s edge, the giant glass wall holding the water served as both a barrier between the arena and the student body, while also allowing spectators to see inside the lake.
The Flyer hovered low over the water, while the Aqua slinked stealthily into the lake.
“I don’t think this is working,” the Flyer shouted.
Something caught Urban’s eye at the bottom of the pool. It seemed the entire foundation had collapsed. Or was moving . . .
“It’s coming!” the Aqua yelled as he resurfaced. “Fly up! Fly up!” The Aqua ducked back underwater and swam down.
The Camo disappeared, blending into her surroundings.
“An excellent diversion, but it might come at the cost of the Flyer,” Hong commented over the speakers.
The Flyer started flapping his wings furiously to gain altitude.
What looked like a giant alligator with fins swam upward toward him. The creature broke the surface with jaws snapping, barely missing the Flyer. It fell back into the water with a huge splash that drenched a good quarter of the stadium. But at the bottom of the pool, the Aqua grabbed a hold of the hongbao.
“He’s got it!” Hong cheered. “But will he get away in time?”
The crowd watched as the creature changed courses. It swam furiously toward the Aqua, who was a blur of cobalt blue shooting upward.
He burst from the surface, and the Flyer snatched him up. The Flyer strained to lift them both into the air and wasn’t going to get away fast enough.
The crowd could hear Hong take in a tense breath.
Right then, the Camo reappeared. Half of her anyway, since part of her body was still blended into the water. Her chest had a giant white circle with a smaller black circle inside of it. It resembled a giant eye.
The sea creature whipped its head around to stare at the peculiar sight and stopped.
The giant eye disappeared as the creature snapped its jaw several times in various directions, trying to find the Camo.
Realizing it had been a distraction, the creature returned its climb to the surface but the Flyer and Aqua were already out of reach.
“And they escape!” Hong said excitedly. “A daring and brilliant plan by the Aqua, Flyer, and Camo!”
“So long, ol’ pal!” The Aqua waved as the sea creature sank back into the miry depths. A moment later, the drenched Camo joined them on shore.
“Not bad,” the Flyer said to her.
She scowled. “I’m never doing that again.”
The Aqua laughed as he opened the hongbao and pulled out two slips of paper. “Only open the remaining note with an Inventor,” he read. He stuffed it into his suit, and they headed toward the others.
A growing pile of injured or stunned saber-toothed tigers surrounded the Super. Despite her victories, she was slowly being overrun. The Flyer instantly took off into the sky and began dive-bombing them and pummeling them with rocks.
Soon other tigers started falling here and there by an invisible force. As one tiger yelped and snarled, the Camo blinked into sight for a moment before blending in with her surroundings again.
The Aqua joined the crew at the top of the hill, where an argument had broken out.
“It seems like no one is able to solve the riddle, and time’s running out,” Hong informed the crowd.
The contestants stopped arguing and looked up at Hong.
“What does she mean time’s running out?” the Artisan asked.
In response, there was a low roar, and a new wave of saber-toothed tigers emerged from the forest.
“Hey, guys,” the Super greeted them. “I hope you’ve cracked the code.” She threw down her stick and began to run. “There’s too many for me to fight. Run!”
The Giver had her hands out. “Wait! I almost have it!”
“No time. Run!” the Inceptor commanded.
The Giver started, then tripped and fell. The nearest tiger headed toward her soundlessly, powerful muscles rippling with each bound.
“And we have someone down!” Hong shouted.
The Super turned and spotted the Giver. “Save her!” she bellowed. “We need her to answer that riddle!”
The Flyer swooped out of the sky and grabbed the Giver.
As he was taking off, the nearest tiger leaped into the air and bit the Flyer’s foot.
“The Flyer must be thanking his lucky stars for his suit,” Hong commented as the Flyer let out a yell. “He’d have a broken foot right now otherwise.”
The tiger dangled in midair like a giant cat holding onto a chew toy. Slowly, the Flyer and his burden began sinking back to the ground.
With a shout, the Flyer used all his remaining power to launch the Giver into the air, but was immediately dragged down and surrounded by tigers. His damage counter dropped into the red zone as it dipped into the low thirties. It stopped at zero. There was a flash of sky-blue light which scattered the tigers, and then the ground opened and swallowed him.
“And the Flyer is out!” Hong shouted.
Urban let out a pent-up breath. Even though she knew waiting beneath the arena was a squad of Beijing’s top physicians and medbots, injuries were still common, and every once in a while, fatal.
The Super caught the Giver and began running. The group of survivors made their way to the other side of the forest, and they frantically climbed up one of the enhanced giant pine trees.
“Jiayou! You can do it!” someone in the crowd shouted. It quickly caught on.
Soon the whole coliseum was chanting the encouraging phrase. “Jiayou! Jiayou!”
Only the Artisan, Inventor, and Aqua were in the tree as the first of the tigers arrived. The Super was still at the base, giving the Inceptor a boost.
Right as the beast entered attacking range, the Aqua roared. An ear-splitting screech filled the stadium. Urban covered her ears in pain.
The Super used the distraction to help both the Inceptor and Giver up.
“Whoever designed an Aqua’s genetics should have thought through what their roar would sound like above water,” Hong said, lifting her own hands off her ears. “Who cares if it enables them to communicate with sea creatures!”
When the roar ended, the tiger lunged. The Super leaped into the tree and pulled herself out of reach. “Everyone here?” she asked.
“We lost the Flyer and who knows where the Camo went.” The Inventor smoothed back his pompadour haircut.
“She’ll be fine. Anyone have a plan?”
The entire hill with the hongbao was surrounded by prowling tigers.
“Without the Flyer, getting the second hongbao just got much more interesting,” Hong said.
“Gah, she’s annoying.” The Camo suddenly appeared on the tree.
The Inceptor almost fell off in surprise. “You’re one to talk.”
The audience laughed.
“I have the answer to the riddle!” The Giver announced excitedly. “Listen! They go everywhere together and stay away from soup. The answer is chopsticks.” No sooner had he said the words than the force field around the floating hongbao vanished.
“Great. Now we only have an ambush of saber-tooth tigers to deal with,” the Inceptor said sarcastically.
“Let’s at least open up the hongbao.” The Aqua handed it over. “Only to be opened by an Inventor apparently.”
The Inventor took the red envelop and unsealed it gingerly. “Tools for your pleasure,” he read out loud. He looked back in the envelope but, apparently seeing nothing, shrugged.
Right then, one of the ground tiles retracted, allowing a hoverbot to come flying out. It towed a gift-wrapped box and set it down in the tree before flying away.
The Inventor tore away the wrapping, then gasped. “Tools!” He fingered the long metallic poles, screws, and hammers with admiration.
“Stop drooling and build this . . . this . . . whatever this is supposed to be,” the Super said. “What exactly is it?”
The Inventor was already hard at work and didn’t respond.
Quite some time passed. Normally, it would have been filled with ads, but since this wasn’t an official Game, Urban watched the tigers yawn and nap, and then she studied the restless crowds to pass the time.
Finally, the Inventor was done. “And here we have it!”
“Is that what I think it is?” The Giver raised her brow.
“If you’re thinking razor-plated stilts, then yes!”
The Super’s arms crossed over her chest. “And that’s supposed to help us . . . how?”
“Don’t you see?” the Aqua said wryly, “now we can beat back a hundred saber-tooth tigers while walking!”
“You’re not being very helpful.” The Giver tilted her head. “I think this has something to do with the Artisan. Her skills haven’t been used yet.”
“Neither have the Inceptor’s,” the Inventor pointed out.
The Giver shook her head. “Think about how all our gifts come together, as a team. These stilts are clearly meant to be used by someone. I don’t know about you all, but I don’t have the dexterity to stay on those things while surrounded by a pack of tigers. But Artisans are graceful and agile, and if I had to put my money on someone surviving a go on those, I’d put it on our Artisan friend here.”
The Artisan raised her brow at this. “So, what’s the plan? I dance right over to the hongbao on a pair of stilts, pick it up, and then get back on the stilts, all while somehow not being eaten by a bunch of tigers?”
“Close,” the Giver replied cheerfully. “We still need several others. This is a team sport.” Her eyes flitted over each person on the tree, then stopped at the Camo. “You’re up. I think the tigers are programed to guard the hill where the hongbao is but not the hongbao itself. If our Artisan friend here can kick the hongbao off the hill then continue to distract the tigers, can you get the hongbao?”
The Camo nodded. “I think so.”
“Add the Super and the Aqua into the mix for extra cover, and we’ll be set.”
“What about me?” Disappointment laced the Inceptor’s words.
“Your time will come.”
The Artisan fumbled with the stilts. “How do you use these confounded things? Why are there four of them?”
“These two are for your legs,” the Inventor explained, “and these are for your arms. You use them to keep balance or you can walk on all fours if it’s easier.”
She clapped her hands. “Let’s get this dance party started.” She glanced at the stilts. “This may actually be the craziest thing I’ve ever done. And that’s saying something.”
“Go get ’em!” The Giver encouraged the Artisan. The Camo vanished, while the Super and Aqua stood tense and ready.
Several tigers paced quietly, and some had dozed off. At the sound of the Artisan hitting the ground, their ears perked up, and they stared. The Artisan took one wobbly step and then another.
Some of the tigers began standing, several growled.
The Artisan kept walking, each step a little less shaky.
“Don’t forget to use your hand poles for balance,” the Inventor called out.
With a roar, the first saber-tooth tiger bounded toward the Artisan. The tiger ran up to her and bit into the pole. The Artisan yelled in panic as she began to fall. Quickly, using her hand poles, she steadied herself and remained upright.
The saber tooth yelped and backed away, a trail of blood forming around its mouth. Then the next tiger approached, and the next. The Artisan swayed dangerously but kept going, even as several more attacked. She tried to steady herself while simultaneously swiping at a few of them with her free pole.
Slowly, she made her way up to the hill, closing in on the hongbao when two tigers leaped at once, crashing into her mid-step. The weight was too much and she toppled backward.
With a yell, she extended the pole and knocked the hongbao away as she fell. A moment later, she was completely hidden under a mound of ravenous beasts.
The sky flashed orange, and then the Artisan, along with half of the saber-tooth tigers disappeared, swallowed by the retracting tiles.
“Where’s the hongbao?” the Inceptor asked anxiously.
One of the remaining saber-tooths turned slowly, then began sniffing a trail. Another came alongside it. Heads lowered; their pace quickened as more joined them.
“Uh oh,” the Inceptor said as the entire ambush of tigers began charging down the hill.
The Super sighed. “I suppose it’s my turn.” With a thud, the Super leaped to the ground and charged.
One of the lead tigers pounced.
“Throw the hongbao!” the Super shouted.
Out of nowhere, the envelope materialized and flew toward her.
The tiger landed on what looked like thin air. A second later, the Camo appeared flattened beneath the saber-tooth, and the sky flashed green. The Camo disappeared into the earth along with several more tigers as the Super, hongbao in hand, sprinted to the trees.
She raced lightning fast, but the tigers were Enhanced and fast learners. This time, some of the pack had remained near the forest edge, cutting off any retreat.
The Aqua roared, but they didn’t budge.
“Pass it!” the Inceptor yelled.
The Super leaped in the air and, with all her might, threw the hongbao. It sailed straight toward the tree, where the Inceptor caught it.
The crowd cheered wildly.
A moment later the sky flashed red, and the Super was gone.
“And now it’s just the four of us,” the Giver sighed.
The Inventor shook his head. “Great. All the brains and none of the brawn left.”
“Hey!” the Aqua protested. “I’m still here.”
“Unless that cliff has a waterfall you can swim up, I don’t see how you can help us.”
“Yeah, and what are you going to do? Lasso us up there? We don’t have any more tools—”
“Shut up.” The Inceptor cut them off. He opened the hongbao. Instantly, the saber-tooth tigers were swallowed by the flipping of tiles.
The Aqua came down the tree. “What does it say?”
“It says, ‘to climb the ladder of success, you must begin at the bottom’.”
The four contestants stared up at the looming cliffs.
The Giver blinked. “I’m assuming we have to climb that?”
“Hope you’re not afraid of heights.”
“Uh . . . actually—”
“You’ll be fine.” The Inceptor pushed the group toward the cliff.
“Twenty minutes left in the game with only one more hongbao to collect,” Hong chimed in.
They began climbing with the Aqua in the lead, followed by the Inventor, Giver, and the Inceptor bringing up the rear.
The Giver froze only a few feet off the ground. “This isn’t right.”
The Aqua snorted. “Don’t let your fear of heights stop you.”
“No. That’s not it,” the Giver persisted. “No one climbs the ladder of success out in the open like this. I think we’re too exposed.” She cocked her head, as if listening. Her eyes widened.
“It’s a trap!” She dropped back to the ground, knocking down the Inceptor. The two of them fell in a heap.
BOOM!
An ear-splitting explosion shook the arena. The topmost part of the cliff lit up in brash red and smoky burgundy.
The Aqua and Inventor hurtled through the air and landed hard, suits singed and smoking. There was a flash of cobalt-blue and gray, then the tiles spun and they were no more.
The flames on the side of the cliff vanished with the flipping tiles, leaving a ringing silence in its place.
The Giver picked herself up and helped the Inceptor to his feet. “There has to be another way up. Something more covert.”
The Inceptor looked up thoughtfully, then examined a part of the cliff and pressed on one of the stones. It gave way to a set of stairs. “Like this?”
The two of them quickly climbed the staircase until they emerged through a trap door. The Giver plucked the hongbao up and read. “You have almost won the race. You pass the person in second place. What place are you in?”
“The participants don’t have much time left!” Hong stated. “They must make a decision quickly.”
“It’s obvious. The answer is first—”
The Inceptor clamped his hands over the Giver’s mouth. “Stop!” He looked skyward, eyes narrowing. “It’s another trap.”
“What do you mean?”
“Hong is trying to get in our heads. To pressure us into making a quick decision. Her tone of voice . . . something was off. Let’s slow down and really think this through.”
“Thirty-five seconds left,” Hong announced.
The Giver chewed her fingernails nervously as the Inceptor closed his eyes to concentrate.
“Fifteen!”
The Inceptor remained silent.
“Ten!”
The Inceptor’s eyes flashed open. “It’s a trick question. The answer is second place, not first. If you pass the person in second place, you’re now in second place.”
Realization dawned on the Giver’s face.
“Two seconds!” Hong announced.
“Our answer is second place,” the Inceptor called out.
A moment later, a thunderous clap echoed through the dome, followed by the sound of gears grinding, and then a click.
“Correct,” Samson boomed. “Congratulations. The team has won the group challenge.”
The crowd cheered, multicolored lights flashed, and music blared. All the participants who weren’t hospitalized reappeared on the stage. They bowed and then disappeared again as the crowds started filing out of the coliseum.
“That was amazing.” Hazel sighed dreamily. “If only first years were selected more often to compete. I’d love to be in the tryouts.”
The thought terrified Urban. After what she had witnessed today, the last thing she wanted was to end up in the arena as a Natural!