Everyday, I Fight!

Chapter 25: The Great Z Tournament - II

"Please sign here, here and here."

"Uh-huh."

"Alright, welcome to the Great Z Tournament. We look forward to your victories and achievements."

"Okay?"

"Now please follow me to the Private Contestants Area, and remember, if you break the rules there will be consequences."

"Do they repeat the same lines to everybody?" I couldn't help pointing out the obvious, though not out loud.

I was escorted through an endless tunnel which they called a "corridor" and a nauseating sense of deja vu hit me. The sense that I'll be trapped once again and die... it made my stomach curl and I'd have killed the lady in front of me had it not been for Lucy.

"Hello, Gloria?"

The lady stopped abruptly and turned around, her creepy smile suddenly transformed into a frown. She eyed me and then her head turned to my pocket.

"Yeah?" I answered back, not sure whom to speak with.

"I'm afraid communication devices aren't allowed during the tournament, sweet heart."

I nervously looked at her and back to the walkie talkie in my hand. I didn't want to give it to her. If anything, her smile disturbed me more.

"Oh, please don't worry ma'am." Lucy replied via the walkie talkie, "She won't bring the walkie talkie to the stage. She will leave it at the contestant area."

"Still... I cannot allow any chances of an otherwise scenario..." the lady said.

"Please ma'am... it's my sister's dream to be on the big stage of the Great Z Tournament one day!" Lucy cried out dramatically, her voice cracking along with the occasional buzzing sound from the signal, "She has monophobia and doesn't feel safe without her twin, but I'm paralyzed from waist down and can't attend the tournament now, so she really really needs this device near her at all times."

"..."

There was an odd five second silence in the dim lit tunnel as the lady eyed me very closely. She got so close to my face that I felt her nasty breath on me.

"Ugh..." I exclaimed, feeling more nauseated as I stepped back a few paces. She really shouldn't breath so closely to a person after eating.

"I've seen more crazies before." I heard her muttering.

"Excuse me?"

She flinched, "No, that's not what I meant... um... le-lets get you safely to the private area first. We have no rules about devices being used over there. Come..."

The awkward silence continued until we reached a bright red double door that hardly seemed a fitting end for something at the end of a tunnel.

"Are you familiar with the tournament?" The lady asked.

Well this was definitely a first. She looked slightly more nervous compared to her plastic smiley face from before and was actually looking at me.

"Umm... yes, I think." I answered.

"The hand badge's number is crucial to the tournament. If you do not appear on stage within five minutes time of the number being called, you will automatically forfeit the match."

"What if I lose it?"

"Irrelevant."

"What?" I questioned her, but she didn't answer back.

"It means you must report losing the number to the front desk and only then will your number get cancelled." Lucy replied via the walkie talkie again.