Battle Universe

Practice Makes Perfect

"Matt, wake up." Matt felt Paul nudge gently him in the shoulder.

"Is he dead?" J-Fred whispered with a hint of panic in his voice.

"No...I think." Bryan stated uncertainly.

"Stop it!" Matt mumbled groggily as he waved Paul's hand away from his face, opening his eyes to see Bryan, Paul and J-Fred gathered around him from where he was lying on the floor by the rack of NERF guns.

He released a breath he didn't realize he was holding in as he got up off of the floor, confused by the worried expressions everyone had.

"What, did Gunner eat all the food in the fridge?" Matt joked to lighten the unusually tense mood in the room.

"This isn't the office." Connor shook his head.

"What do you mean, of course it is." Matt frowned as he sat up before pushing himself of of the floor with a soft grunt.

"Try going upstairs then." Connor suggested sourly.

Matt shrugged and followed his advice, walking up the black carpeted stairs.

Only to find a completely different place.

The upstairs area that once had his office was replaced with what looked like a futuristic arena made of a stainless steel and neon lights overhead. On the far back wall was a scoreboard with glowing red numbers, a giant screen nearby that showed the floor of the arena.

"Welcome to your training arena." A familiar voice welcomed him.

Matt whirled around to see the person who had knocked him out. He had a black bushy beard, short black hair and brown eyes. He was dressed in a referee shirt and black pants, a whistle around his neck.

"Where am I?" Matt asked, beginning to feel panicked. There was no way the office could change so quickly.

"You're not on Earth, that's all you need to know. If I were you, I would suggest practicing with your team for the Battle Between Universes." The man suggested, his robotic voice gravelly and stern as he glared at Matt with cold eyes before touching his whistle and disappearing in a beam of white light.

"This is one heck of a messed up dream." Matt shook his head, rubbing his eyes.

"Not a dream unfortunately." Kevin sighed, resting a hand on Matt's shoulder reassuringly.

"How did you guys even get here?" Matt asked.

"Mr. Creepy Referee Guy had somehow gotten into the office and set off some kind of gas bomb that knocked us all out." Kevin explained.

"And before you ask, I don't know what the Battle Between Universes is." Kevin added as Matt opened his mouth.

Matt promptly closed his mouth, unsure of what else to say.

"Guys, you have to check this out!" Bryan bounded up the stairs, black NERF gun in hand as he ran into the arena, shooting at the floor.

Instead of a foam bullet, a blue laser cane out and scorched the floor, leaving a black streak.

"No way!" Matt exclaimed as the others ran upstairs as well with the rest of the NERF guns, distributing them amongst each other.

Altogether there were eight people: Matt, J-Fred, Chad, Bryan, Kevin, Paul, Connor, and Gunner.

"I don't care what team I'm on, I just want to shoot Matt!" J-Fred playfully shoved Matt.

"Are these actually safe to use on each other?" Matt frowned, aiming his gun at his foot and firing. The blue bolt stung, but didn't injure him much to his relief.

"Matt, Kevin, Paul, and Chad are on blue team." Connor decided.

"How will we know the difference?" Chad pointed out.

Wordlessly, Gunner fired his gun at Chad, a red laser striking Chad in the shoulder.

"Hey, that's not fair!" Chad protested, wincing as the score board changed. Red team had one point, Blue team with zero.

"There's a button on the side that changes the laser color and the scope scans people to determine if you're on the same side. Pretty cool huh?" Paul grinned excitedly.

Without warning, Matt fired at J-Fred, hitting him square in the chest.

"There, the score's even now." Matt smirked smugly, barely managing to sidestep J-Fred's retaliation.

An all out battle broke out, the two pairs of brothers fighting each other while Paul managed to back Gunner into a wall, Chad currently trying to outrun Connor.

"Aw, dang it I'm out!" Gunner frowned, rubbing his head where the laser hit him.

"Same here!" Chad called out. Both players that were out stepped out of the arena to get out of the way.

"Yes!" Matt cried in victory after shooting Connor. A few seconds later he felt something briefly burn the back of his head, another point given to the Red team on the scoreboard.

"Shoot." Matt huffed in annoyance, storming off while Bryan snickered behind him.

Soon it was down to Paul and J-Fred.

"Go Blue team!" Kevin cheered.

"Nah, Red team's where it's at." Bryan watched J-Fred duck under a laser, caught by surprise when Paul fired another shot that hit him in the forehead.

"Blue team wins." A deep robotic voice announced from the scoreboard before it reset.

"Are you ready for your first challenge?" The familiar referee appeared behind the group, startling them.

Unsure of what awaited them, they hesitantly nodded.

"Good luck." The referee nodded in acknowledgment as everyone was enveloped in their own white beam of light, taking them to whatever their first challenge was.