Master of the Earth and Skies

5

     My punishment for zapping Harold was obvious the instant I returned to my cell. They'd taken my bean bag. That was incredibly annoying. I couldn't lounge in a regular chair the way I could in the bean bag. But at least Harold had recovered. According to my agent, he'd suffered some burns, and his heart had stopped for a moment. But they'd dragged Contestant David out to heal him up. Now he only had a couple of scars. That was good. Too bad I'd have to listen to Contestant David grumbling about it, though.

     Meanwhile, apparently Harold had liked some of the ideas Contestant Jess had come up with. I'd been given tapes to review, showing her and one of my clone brothers standing in for me, making out for the cameras. My sponsor had sponsored all of his Contestants, so we all had the same specs, regardless of powers. That meant we all looked exactly the same. We usually had different outfits to tell us apart. My clone brother was wearing my outfit for the tapes, of course, right down to the ridiculous headband. It wouldn't do to let the fans know that their beloved Master of the Earth and Skies had been going through remedial conditioning, so a back-up Contestant Melvin had been employed in my place. He had different powers than mine, so obviously he couldn't compete as me. But at least the script could advance as Contestant Jess competed. He hadn't done a half bad job, I decided after watching them. And Contestant Jess really did have some good acting talent. Her prowess in the Games seemed to be improving as well, based on the commentary. I still felt she had a long way to go before she'd be Tournament material, though. And of course, I only had the edited films to watch in order to evaluate her. I'd have to see her in an actual Game to make a complete evaluation. For now, it didn't appear that she'd displayed her ability to generate flame in a Game yet. I wondered when that would come up.

     Meanwhile, the public had likely started to wonder why I wasn't showing up in the Games. The Commission had been touting its new Games schedule for months. So many of my more-alert fans were likely aware that my scheduled Games had been moved back. As a result, I had three Games coming up in the next three days. That was going to be a workout even for me. I felt sorry for some of the weaker Contestants that would be competing with me. Oh well. If they washed out, they washed out. It didn't really make much of a difference to me. In fact, it was a good thing. Weeding out the weak made for better Contestants overall.

     Almost time. As instructed, my dresser tied on the stupid headband that clashed horribly with my outfit. The headband was bright orange with black lightning bolts spaced all over it. My outfit was royal blue, with shiny reflective white accents down my sides and along my arms and legs. Why anyone thought adding the headband to this outfit was a good idea was beyond my comprehension. The blue on my outfit was starting to fade, and the white looked a bit on the grungy side, despite the reflective coating. I'd certainly need a couple of new ones before Tournament. I'd had these for about a year. They'd been my colors since Tournament, almost four years ago. Prior to that, there had been a different pattern on my outfit, and different colors. For some reason, I couldn't remember them. Were they red and black? Or black and blue? I could picture both for some reason. Meh. Didn't matter. At least they weren't stupid enough to have me wear the cape in an actual Game. Wearing something like that was just asking to be snagged in a crucial moment.

     I took another glance at myself in the mirror, confused. My face seemed somehow off. For a moment, it seemed like I was looking at a stranger. I shook my head. My dresser didn't seem to find anything out of the ordinary, and now the guards had come to collect me for the Game. Time to get in gear.

     An hour in the transport brought me to the location of my Game. I crowded into the narrow hallway with the other Contestants in my team, and a moment later, the metal doors cranked open.

     I hadn't expected a live audience when I walked out onto the Games field. The roar that went up when the doors rose, sending my group out into the field, surprised me. Normally, they didn't sell live tickets to qualifying rounds until three months prior to Tournament. This should have been a month and a half away.