Accessory Wars

Chapter 17-Felisa

            Terror. Sheer, pure terror. I wanted run away crying and bury myself into the ground. Kami stood next to me with her usual blank expression, although I felt overwhelmed enough for the both of us. This wasn't her first tournament. I wondered if she felt as nervous as I did. She wore more accessories than normal with plenty of rings and one of her favorite pairs of earrings. She carried a lace parasol over her shoulders to provide her shade. I stood there wearing my white blouse and a plain skirt, my gym shorts tucked safely underneath. In comparison, I looked dull.

We stood on the large boardwalk to the Waterliep arena, built atop the ocean a kilometer from shore. The sun shone brightly, making the crystal waters sparkle, but there was a definite chill in the air from winter. Serenhe got a lot of snow during the winter so seeing a green city in the winter brightened my spirits. My eyes looked over the outside of the arena. It was an impressive piece of architecture. Large chrome arches and sandy colored concrete stacked up like a tiered cake and glistened when the sunlight hit it just right. Hundreds of people strode past us as they made their way to spectate.

"This is crazy," I breathed. I looked to Kami, who remained neutral to the whole situation. I wished I could look that calm and collected. My knuckles were white clutching my bag straps.

"Calm yourself, Felisa. We're not even inside yet," Kami said. She flashed me a smile and led us forward.

The sides of the boardwalk were lined with souvenir stalls and security personnel. Banners, flags and children perched on shoulders filled the space above the crowd. Music pulsed from the stadium, the bass so loud the melody was lost. Kami hummed, keeping close to me so we didn't get separated. We passed through one of the many glass doors and my eyes widened. Shells adorned the walls with tile mosaics. Hundreds of colorful fish filled aquariums built into the walls and pillars. There was even one in the floor filled with sharks.

We turned off from the main crowd and headed towards registration. The line snaked back at least a hundred people. Kami and I stepped into the queue and I checked the time. Six forty nine. We had a little over two hours before the first matches started. The line moved at a decent pace and we soon found ourselves filling out the appropriate last minute paperwork before they handed us our competitor tags. Mine had a large E imposed in the background while Kami's had an A. I wanted to switch the tags so less people paid attention to me. People stared when they noticed my tag and I kept my gaze fixated on insignificant parts of the background in attempts to ignore them.

"We're starting on floor eight," Kami said, jarring me out of my thoughts as we checked in our belongings to the participant concierge. They took my bag, Kami's parasol and our phones, locking them away for security purposes.

"What time are we fighting again?" I asked to double check.

"Estimated start time is nine thirty six so we'll have a few matches to wait. We'll need to report to the queue right away, though. Times move up quicker than you think. They should have some screens to watch the matches on. We'll have to see if we can learn some moves while we watch."

Like I could retain any information when my brain felt like gelatin in an earthquake. We walked around for a bit behind the scenes while we waited for the tournament to start. A lot of competitors chatted vehemently with each other while others started to badger the newer people on the scene to intimidate them. I thanked my lucky stars Kami kept those kinds of people away, although the occasional comment did get thrown our way. I heard worse.

We made our way to the queue area quarter to nine, traveling up to the eighth floor. The place was packed with several dozen Elicits and Accessories. I doubled checked our program after finding ourselves a space to stand in. Even though Kami was an A-class Accessory, we were grouped into a sub-tier. It made fights a bit fairer. Kami was considered a mid-tier A-class which meant if all the A-class Accessories were grouped together, she would stand somewhere in the middle based on her statistics. I didn't understand how the statistics were ranked yet but I did understand classes were broken into three tiers: low, mid and high.