When the day begins, many people simply believe that they will just go on with their lives. There are plenty of times when people think they're special. When someone had the ability to do something amazing, sometimes they took those chances. But the world is simply strange.
A number of individuals, two hundred and nineteen to be exact, were brought together. Some of them knew each other, they were split into two groups. The good and bad. Plenty had come to be in the tournament.
The two were split into two sides, the good and the bad. Most of the people in the rounds were normal as in many cases, two were put up each round to combat one another. With the loser being sent away for a good long while, only being brought back in special situations.
The first two people had been chosen from each side. Those who were in charge of each side had been blind to the other's decision. As for the criteria of the rounds, it would be made to the judges to decide.
For a single moment, he had been made to believe in his fear. When he entered what was a circular arena with walls made from tented glass that made the place beautiful almost. With his black hair and pork belly, one could mistake him for a normal dad.
Jacky was a gangster, the best. Nobody could debate that. He sent his crew from Jersey to the shores of the old world as if he was a reverse Columbus.
"Please don't be a freak." He was terrified of what he could have been facing. In the process of arriving here, he had awoken in an empty apartment building that held one hundred and ten members of the bad team. "So what is it?"
On the glass wall that was spotlessly clean, there sat the wheel. It wielded four words each with their own distinct color. Story, Fight, Smarts, and Assistance. The first three took up the most of the board but Assistance took up only five percent of the wheel.
"Let's get this over with." Andric was in the military for some time before he fell to a life of crime. He had done some things in the war and most famously, he had made it through a fight with thirteen sailors in one night. He wasn't afraid of what was happening to him or the outcome.
He lived his life and that was enough for him.
When both of the men entered the arena through the opening in the glass on both sides of the arena, they felt a mutual respect for one another. Or the closest thing that Jacky could feel to respect for another person.
"Allow the wheel to spin and of which the two of you shall battle." The voice was heavy and had a hint of arrogance in it. Almost on time, the wheel began to spin. Spinning around and around. Soon, it landed on a side that would determine not just the battle of the crooks, but also the next round. The wheel landed on Smarts. "Looks like we just have two normies. Nothing special today. Pretty disappointing for a first round."
The sand ruffled for thirteen seconds before the two were placed in a courtroom. They were both given a device that allowed them to search through each of their memories. For when both of them sat on each side of the courtroom, the judge was a man of a pale complexion. "Gentlemen, let's start with the first part of the debate, knowledge."
Both Jacky and Andric weren't big tech guys but they did in fact have a prebuilt knowledge of the device. Neither of them knew how they knew, but they knew.
Jacky had gone first, he searched his memories to find where he was knowledgeable, he found one memory but he figured he wasn't going to do so well.
"Okay, I'm ready."
Andric moved his course hands over the device, thinking of everything that he'd done wrong yet still persevered. Still, he was but a humble cog in the machine of the world, nothing special up there. But he went through his mind and found the things he was knowledgeable about.
"There it is."
The judge, with his pale face and striking eyes reviewed the knowledge before he came to the conclusion that shocked both of them.
"Point one, Andric."
Despite not being a gifted student, Andric learned everything he needed in a schoolhouse and then became a genius of small-scale warfare.
Andric felt good, this was one step in the right direction for the good. Jacky was sweating bullets the entire time. When the judge announced the next category, both of them had felt good about their chances. "Part two, planning."
For a few minutes, Andric searched his memory of the events of his life before landing on a plan he pulled. It was a bank in the middle of nowhere. He spent two days in town but had set up the job perfectly.
"Please work…" Jacky opposingly chose the last week of his memories to show up to the judge. In there, he almost perfectly maneuvered through the world of which he reigned supreme. His rule of the underground was supreme, until it was done.
"Nice to see that we got some pseudo intellectuals over here. One point to Andric, one point to Jacky." He grinned ear to ear. Jacky didn't care for his empire all that much as he somehow made life hard on himself, wanting to or otherwise. "Are you feeling peckish, son?"
"N-n-no! And don't call me that!"
The judge laughed at the rebellion of Jacky. He was going to have a fun time with him in the tournament. For no man was as evil as the judge. But he was still an objective playing piece in the tournament.
"Very well, son. Part three, manipulation."
For the fact that he was a war criminal, Andric was as clean as a whistle. He never yelled at anyone, or acted differently depending on whom he was speaking with. He was always him and that went the same way for his honesty. Never did he lie. He didn't lie about the things he did on the streets.
"I plead the fifth." That didn't mean he was incapable of humoring himself and the others present. Every day could be something new, that meant that he would constantly be at risk on the chance he escaped the battle without being eliminated.
"Well, I got thirty years worth." With a calming giggle and wiping the sweat from his forehead, he made a donation, every lie that he ever told to his family to hide things.
"Nice to see that someone is stepping up to play the games. Two points Jacky, one point Andric."
Every moment was the two teetering on winning. This was going to be a close one. "Now, the two of you shall see part four, memory."
The devices they used to bring out their memories left them and the two had to list the time themselves and if they had been inaccurate, the one who hadn't gone yet was going to get the point.
"Okay, uh… one time, a few friends of mine got together and we-"
"You don't have to hold back on us like we're the cops. No punishment will come your way if you don't but just know I already don't like you."
Andric was on the verge of laughing at what the judge told Jacky. He was rude and had no reason to be.
"Well, we just roughed up a guy real bad and we had gotten some money out of him. But then I remember one time when we were kids, he always had money in a box under the floorboards, so I went and pried the floor open before taking the dough." Despite how he had
"And what happened to him?"
"Does it matter?"
"If you remember or not, yes. But being honest, I don't care. I just want to know the details."
Jacky was disgusted by the likes of the judge. He had been so good at the process of being nice to get what you want but he had a sense that this thing was making him not enjoy this otherwise barbaric tournament.
"We dealt with him."
"Ah… how?"
"The usual."
"Very nice."
The judge was grinning ear to ear like the nasty creature that he was. For most of the time that he spent on this place, he felt alive.
"My memory is of the battlefield."
Andric had a photographic memory of the war. Every minute of the day, he thought of those times and what was there. This was no contest.
"As the fair and noble judge of this trial, I put it in a draw. Two to each. Finally, sensory processing."
They each were returned the machines from the judge. When they had begun back upon it, they were finding every moment they used all five senses. Finally, they found it at last.
"May I go first?"
"Sure."
Andric had put down the memory of him at a meetup. They were exchanging something with no arms on. But, he smelled gunpowder from their car and successfully escaped. Such a nice story.
"You're next, Mister Mob."
"Don't call me that." He thought of the time he was driving from the cops. For two whole hours he swerved through the streets of Jersey until he eventually got into his front yard after losing the cops. He had used all of his senses. There was something about the memory that embarrassed Jacky.
"Nice to see that I can drop off one point at the door of you fine sir. This was a hard match but you played well, Andric. Don't be ashamed of whatever lies beyond." On cue, the courtroom and judge faded until they were back in the sand arena. The entrance for Andric was gone. Jacky walked back out the way he came and when he left the arena, he was right back in the apartment building.
"I tried my best and that's all I can say."
To spite it all, Andric stood tall. He lit something long and tossed it to the ground before he knew what it was. He dropped the bad habit at the end as he slowly sank into the sand and was slowly but surely gone.
"The winner of the first clash of round one is Jacky S! This is with a ranking of high difficulty on behalf of Jacky!"