NOVEL NEXT WORLD Chapter 33: Matchmaking
The students were distraught to see the audience thrilled about their upcoming game, but as they tried to ignore them and focus on Frost, their fears heightened as his vicious grin now showed a completely different kind of enthusiasm. His smile was more of a sadistic pleasure when the students began cowering, except for a few who were actually more excited after hearing about the combat rules of the game. Shade and his group in particular were the ones anticipating the game the most, shifting their attention back to Scott and his friends, who were just as eager, if not more, to fight in front of a large audience. They had already begun plotting schemes against each other in their heads while they kept exchanging resentful and derisive stares. But even they began growing concerned and nervous from their expectations of the game as Frost kept speaking, adding more and more details that only served to instill panic in his students.
–And to make it even harder, there will be three soldiers roaming around, acting as hunters. They will only roam around the center of the field, so around this stream and on the two sides, where you will mostly flank your enemies. You can only use melee weapons like usual, but the hunters will be equipped with fully loaded guns… I can’t say that they won’t hurt, but we’re hoping that you won’t get killed if you are shot… Right, guys?– Frost said with increasing malice, though he only seemed to be teasing his students to entertain the soldiers in the audience, who just laughed when he turned to address them. The students shared a collective anxiety that began downright nerve-racking for some, but after awkwardly waiting in silence for the soldiers to compose themselves for a moment, they tried to remain hopeful despite Frost continuing to pressure them with all of the game rules.
–Anyways, they are going to be a huge obstacle for both teams, so you might want to take them out before they become a bigger threat. I shouldn’t give you any tips since you should have learned this by now, but I suggest you confront them as a team because that’s the only way you can defeat them. So, either you do that, or you just run for it and pray you can capture a flag before they gun you down…– Frost elaborated with a badgering air, turning nonchalant as he showed less and less hope for his students to survive their last game.
However, as he called the three soldiers who would act as hunters, the trainees looked determined to fight no matter what. Even when the hunters showed off their automatic pistols, which were even bigger than Candy’s, with large magazines for continuous fire, most students gathered up the courage to stand up to them, with some even approaching the soldiers and getting way too close before Frost had to put them in place.
While some students couldn’t deal with the anxiety of seeing real and loaded guns, the majority appeared resolute and committed to their goals despite the threat they would have to deal with in the game. They even began returning aggressive stares at the hunters after they tried to provoke them with their guns, creating a fairly hostile tension between them, which Frost seemed proud of.
He noticed that his students were becoming confident again, and while he seemed impressed by their courage, he turned to the hunters to give them a subtle signal. They looked like they were just fooling around, having a couple of laughs as they scared the trainees. But while it looked like they weren’t going to play too hard before, now they were determined to hurt them or even commit something much worse after Frost ordered them to. The stakes were now serious, and despite not knowing if the hunters had actual bullets at their disposal, the students did not yield and were ready to start the game.
The students became a bit anxious when they saw the guns, but since the soldiers seemed to just be following orders, it seemed like they wouldn’t play too hard or try to hurt them, or at least that’s what the trainees’ expressions showed. Frost noticed their reactions to the soldiers but saw that no one looked confused or lost, so he ordered the soldiers to go back with the rest of them while he stepped forward to approach his students, leaving Tricky to help those three soldiers get prepared for the game.
–Alright, did I make myself clear? Are there any questions?– Frost asked casually, trying to hide his genuine, twisted desire to see a real fight between students and hunters. The trainees remained collected and even began discussing plans already, prompting Frost to give them one last chance to back out. But to his surprise, no one seemed to be lost, although he did notice that Chappy was about to ask a question before he resumed speaking.
–Who am I kidding? Of course, I won’t take any questions. You don’t need to know more than that, besides, I see that you are all ready. Now, onto the teams…– Frost added teasingly, getting a couple of laughs from the audience, though his students seemed to not pay much attention to him, at least until he started announcing the teams, which is when all of them shut up and listened closely. Tricky walked over to the hunters to help them prepare for their game, and after glancing back at them, Frost turned to his students with a suspiciously eager expression, which went unnoticed by his students, unaware of the danger they were getting themselves into.
–Each team will have a leader, but they only get to choose their teammates. They don’t get any perks, if you were wondering…– Frost clarified briefly before he raised the class list to begin calling names. The students turned anxious once again, but only to see who he was going to pick first. While most were actually nervous to be assigned leadership, a few students, like Ace, Scott, Zoey, or even Shade, were almost praying to get the opportunity to lead a team. Luckily, they didn’t have to wait much, as Frost seemed to already have a person in mind, remembering them as soon as he read the list since it was the first name on it.
–So, first… I’d like to choose Ace as one of the leaders…– Frost declared before pointing at Ace, who only smirked as he contained his excitement. Zoey and Scott seemed slightly disappointed, but they still gave him pats on the back for getting the role, though they had to focus back on Frost right away as he continued searching for names.
–And now, who could be a good rival?...– Frost asked himself in fake doubt, pretending to think hard as he always did until he built enough suspense. The students had gotten used to this shtick, but that didn’t mean it didn’t stop being effective. Like always, people looked at Shade in fear of him getting paired against Ace, who appeared to be getting the support of everyone at the moment. However, all the attention drawn to Shade eventually caught Frost’s eye, and before anyone could notice his stare shifting towards him, he brought their biggest fear to reality.
–Shade, you will be the second leader. Both of you, come here…– Frost added in a casual manner, not even bothering to check the student’s reactions as he called both Ace and Shade to the middle of the stream. While everyone began sulking over Frost’s decision, he pulled out a coin as both leaders stood next to him. They completely ignored the rest as they exchanged a deadly stare, with Scott, Zoey, and Chappy growing concerned for Ace as he was much smaller than Shade. However, he still somehow seemed more determined than his opponent, not letting himself be intimidated by Shade, even when he had put on more muscle and became brawnier compared to his small frame.
–Heads or tails?– Frost asked both of them, but since he didn’t look at either of them, they had to compete to get the first say. Ace was caught off guard and took too long to react, leading to Shade making the first choice as soon as possible.
–Heads…– Shade replied with tenacity, grinning maliciously at Ace to get in his head. He tried to ignore him and remained quiet as he was now stuck with tails, but he held his breath once Frost flipped the coin right after Shade made his call. The coin flew high, drawing everyone’s attention to the sky, as the sun was now almost right above them. They were blinded by the sunlight and didn’t get to see once the coin had landed in Frost’s hand, which turned immediately to place it on his wrist before uncovering the side of the coin.
–You get to choose first…– Frost told Shade after showing the coin with his winning side. While the students couldn’t tell from afar, they immediately realized that Shade had won, and while they were nervous, Ace didn’t seem too bothered. He did show some concern when his opponent turned to their classmates and began looking around for people to join his team. For a moment, he flinched at the sight of Shade staring directly at Zoey and Scott, but thankfully, he made a pretty obvious choice for his first teammate.
–I’ll choose Baby…– Shade picked without much hesitation, getting Baby to come over quickly and dap him up with a wicked smile. The students grew worried as Shade began forming his team with his friends, though they all tried to stand out now that Ace was picking. With so many options, he had to think hard about who to choose, glancing at Shade to see if he was plotting something. But after a while, Frost began to hurry him up, leading to Ace making an instinctive choice.
–Umm, I’m going for Sissy…– Ace said as he gestured at one of his closest friends to join his team. Scott was relieved to have been picked first, but as his friends were just as suspicious of Shade, he tried not to get too excited and just calmly walked over to Ace’s side.
–Yea, we got this…– Scott said to Ace as they shook hands and shared a brief hug before he positioned himself behind him. They seemed confident, though they remained on edge as they watched Shade carefully. He again was taking his time to make a decision, laying his eyes on everyone to intensify their nervousness, though he seemed to be messing with them as he again picked one of his friends, Grant.
–I’m choosing Zoey– Ace said right after Shade picked his second teammate, not even hesitating to bring another one of his friends into the team. She walked over to him and Scott with a big smile, but before she got in line, she giggled tauntingly at Shade’s gaze had been lingering on her for quite a while. He appeared upset about Ace’s pick; his whole demeanor changed for a brief moment. And while Scott picked up on this, before he could make sense of it, Shade returned to normal, only to quickly shift his attention to Chappy.
–I’ll go for Chappy– Shade said smugly as he pointed at a distracted Chappy, who was just as confused and shocked as his friends and pretty much everyone else. Ace’s team didn’t see Shade’s pick coming, though they seemed to have suspected it before, so they were left disappointed to see that he indeed had a trick up his sleeve.
–What? You can’t just…– Scott tried to contend in frustration, but he was silenced by Ace’s hand before Shade could hear him. And while he did seem to hear him, Shade just kept smirking after forcing Chappy to join his group. He refused to walk over to the other side, trying to beg Frost with a desperate look, but in the end, it was to no avail. Frost didn’t do anything to intervene; he didn’t even seem to pay attention to the argument that was forming next to him. But with Chappy being stolen by Shade and now forced to play against his own friends, Ace saw the opportunity to pick the best options as soon as possible to secure good teammates.
Luckily, after Ace picked a girl who excelled in self-defense, Shade didn’t seem to bother to pick more competent candidates. He stuck to choosing his friends over objectively valuable classmates, letting Ace secure some of the best players. While his teammates weren’t strong enough to fight Shade or any of his friends, they were known to work great in a group, and with all the experience and connections he had with each classmate, Ace got to form an ideal team to face Shade’s, which seemed to consist of mostly brutes and a few outcasts.
In the end, Ace even picked some friends like Jumbo and Turtle, and even though he seemed to feel bad for the unfortunate ones that landed on Shade’s team, he was overall pretty satisfied with his choices, unlike Shade, who started to regret picking so many people that he didn’t know, including Chappy, as well as the one guy that had broken his wrist. But as now everyone was a part of the team, both sides compared their forces, and it was only then that some insecurities began to show.
While Ace’s team looked more skilled in exercises and strategy games, Shade’s team was just too scary for them, with his brute friends seemingly capable of destroying all of them in combat. Seeing as they couldn’t stand a chance against bigger opponents, some of Ace’s teammates began to hesitate and looked like they didn’t want to be there anymore, forcing him to take action and try to reassure them before the game started. However, the soldiers and Frost were getting impatient, interrupting each team as they just began discussing their respective game plans.
-Alright, no one is left, right? Then both teams go to your respective sides. You can start building your base right away…– Frost ordered mindlessly after realizing that there was little setup left to start the game; the players just had to position themselves and organize their bases. He was a bit distracted as he began checking the path where he and the soldiers came from, waiting anxiously for someone to appear. With the players splitting up and going to their respective bases, he stayed in the middle of the stream, waiting and waiting until Candy and Nitro finally showed up. He took a big breath as the person they were all waiting for reached the stream, seemingly ignoring Candy and Nitro as they tried to keep them busy with meaningless chatter.
–So, what’s this all about? What is the special game you planned to end the program?– Indie asked with slight curiosity as she approached Frost with a keen eye, dismissing Candy and Nitro, who just stayed in place as she began looking around the stream. Frost allowed her to assess the situation while he thought carefully about a response. But after she had a good look around, he almost panicked when he noticed he was still carrying the backpack that Tricky handed to him, quickly tossing it back at her before Indie faced him with her usual stoic demeanor.
–A simple game of capture the flag, like we used to have back in the day– Frost replied nonchalantly, getting a small smile out of Indie, who got lost in the moment as she looked up at the bright sky before turning her full attention to Frost. He tried to remain calm and unassuming, but as Candy and Nitro stood awkwardly behind Indie, he couldn’t help but get a bit distracted. They looked remorseful, almost worried to see Frost’s reaction, but the more they stared, the more they seemed to upset him, prompting him to give them a subtle gesture with his eyebrows to make them go away to let him handle the situation.
–I see, this is going to get interesting. I hope they get to display more of the skills and improved their moves since the last time…– Indie retorted in a slightly sarcastic manner, though Frost was indifferent to her comment, turning to the right side of the stream to see Ace’s team right as they disappeared into the woods.
–Yea, they have, but there’s not much left to teach them. They only need to put their skills to practice…– Frost replied inattentively as he glanced at Tricky to give her a nod without Indie noticing. In response, she nodded back and took a seat behind some soldiers to stay relatively hidden as she pulled out what seemed to be a tracker display that she kept a close eye on.
But since all the students had gone to their bases to prepare for the game, Frost accompanied Indie to the bleachers, waiting for her to take her seat first as Nitro and Candy approached to whisper something to him before doing the same as her. And with everyone except Frost seated, they just had to wait in anticipation to observe what might be the greatest game of the training program.
Ace’s team reached their base on the right side of the wood after following the stream until it curved, continuing straight forward through a few trees until they reached the open area they were told about. While the size of their base was less than half the field from the attack and defense game, it looked like they were pretty secure and hidden in this area. Their base consisted of a big patch of sand and mud, with a couple of rocks surrounding the three blue, small flags at the center. Lots of wooden materials were lying around, with a weapon rack on the opposite side of where they came from, pushed way back to the trees that surrounded their base.
After the fifteen or so players inspected the area quickly, Ace, Scott, and Scott went straight to the weapon rack to see what they had at their disposal. There, they were surprised to see some blue bands for their arms, which they handed over to their teammates so they could put them on while they checked the weapons. To their dismay, there were merely two bows, with all the other weapons being wooden swords or daggers, and only a couple of axes, but nothing big and bulky like they had in previous games. Besides their small selection of weapons, they had a couple of wooden planks and short logs to build their base, which wasn’t enough to build a box around the flags, so they had to improvise.
Since they were handed very few resources, they prioritized the safety of the flags, setting up four barriers in front of the flags. Two of them were walls tall enough to hide the flags from a distance, but since they couldn’t fully conceal them, they didn’t bother adding two more. They used their remaining resources to set up two blockades right next to the trees, facing the direct path to the stream. They acted as cover but also the first line of defense against whoever attacked from the front. However, as their flanks were quite exposed, they used some of the weapons they weren’t interested in using to form a makeshift spiky fence at the sides of the flags. They didn’t seem to be too useful since they had to bury the swords deep in the mud for them to stick out, though they did create a menacing ring around the flags that they were satisfied with.
The rest of the weapons were distributed evenly, with each member getting a wooden dagger or sword to defend themselves with. But as Scott and Ace began assigning roles, they all had to choose according to them. Two flag guards were assigned to defend the sides with the only bows available, sticking close to the flag with a small pile of arrows, which they would have to use sparingly. The four people with the heaviest weapons, like Jumbo and Turtle, assumed positions behind the barriers closer to the flags, acting as backup in case the enemies got too close.
The rest were scattered around the front of the base, with Ace, Scott, another guy, and Zoey getting the swords in better condition, with Zoey sticking with her two daggers that she got used to. Unlike the rest, they were staying closest to the frontline, though it looked like they weren’t going to be staying there for too long as they were assigned as the flag carriers. They looked nervous to get out in the field and have to fight their way into the enemy’s team, but after checking back on their teammates, they saw that their defense was solid, and that was enough to give them the courage to stick to their strategy right as the game was about to begin.