The Ranch

Tih & Friends (2)

The day of the tournament, a couple hours before it's supposed to start, Tih's team of nine and Henri meet up at the cafeteria to discuss the plan.

They explain what they already know as Henri wears the perpetual smile of a proud teacher. They discuss strategies and Instructor Henri goes into more details than they could get from random comments they overhear.

Importantly, he explains small details, like how before the round, they'll tell you the name of the game and number of players before giving you a minute to choose who's going up. This means they'll have a minute to decipher any clues from the name and pick members accordingly, so if you misinterpret the name, you could have combat-specialized players trying to solve a puzzle as the smarter teammates have to watch from afar in agony.

And every tournament, they'll have one game that's not named. It'll be a complete mystery.

Besides that, since it's a tournament for the whole island to participate in, as a group of mostly newbies, they'll be at a disadvantage. Compared to the older generations, who have been with their teams for sometimes even decades, their tacit understanding of each other will have been honed to a completely different level. No matter how well Tih's group know or trust each other, the fact is, they lack time.

Time. Maybe their biggest disadvantage this tournament.

Once their couple of hours are up, they head to the renovated colosseums, all of which have been changed to fit the style of competition.

Everyone arriving on the scene at this time are participants. File into the colosseum entrances, signing their application as they enter.

"...and put your team name here." The staff member tells the group.

Instructor Henri already informed them of this previously and they've already decided on a team name. After signing, they follow the crowd to find a seat on the peripheral.

They have to wait for their colosseum, colosseum one, to be filled before a customary speech is spoken by an announcer. The older generations groan at having to listen to the rules and such, but there's also a bunch of newbie teams. They've entered their first tournament with a couple months of practice under their belt.

This happens every time a new generation arrives. They'll enter at the first sight of the tournament, but none of them will make it to the last sixteen. It's just too unrealistic. How laughable would it be for a team of newbies, with no experience, to beat teams of practiced adults that have perfected their teamwork.

"In the first round, there will be a total of five games. Everyone has been divided into the three colosseums. The top sixteen with the most points from all arenas will get to move on. We'll be explaining the five games and rules right now. Each game has different rules for earning points." The announcer goes on to explain how each game works. Then, everyone moves down to the field to start the first game.

There's a circular, elevated platform only slightly smaller than the circumference of the arena. In the center, a pole sticks out, bending at a perpendicular angle, covering the radius of the platform, and half the height of an adult male.

Contestants are told to stand on the platform, but not before grabbing a weapon of their choice, or using one they already had.

"I think something with a longer reach would be better." Theodore suggests.

"You guys should choose weapons. Having a weapon isn't necessarily a plus for us." Kai says.

With that, Victor's combat-proficient group choose long-ranged hand weapons like bats while those in the parkour class remain unarmed.