The Inside was divided into sections and that much was common knowledge.
But what the workers don't know was the fact that it's visibly divided into those sections. All of these divisions would get even more obvious when the annual mock battle comes to an end.
As the countdown to the cleaning reached zero, metal partitions seemed to fall off the Inside's artificial sky, separating all the sections into their place. These partitions were made out of the same metal that the humanoids are composed of.
The scene of the Inside came straight out of a grocery store when it's past closing time as those metallic partitions descended, separating the sections into their respective areas.
Gadge was the first one to catch wind of the occurrence. After all, when it comes to anything technological, Gadge would be the first one to hear about it. As soon as he heard the faint whirring of mechanisms outside the Humanoid-section, he suspiciously went out, wondering where the mysterious noise came from. to his surprise, metal sheets were descending from the sky like as if it was a huge garage closing off. "This is not looking good." Gadge bit his lip, grabbing the Lexor-450 drone from his bag and sending it to scout for Red and Blond. He could tell that the metal partitions would obviously cut the only path that Red and Blond have on their way back.
"Why? What's happeni... oh no!" Freckles gasped incredulously upon seeing the massive phenomenon. They knew they were already locked out from the staircase but who would've thought that they would also be locked in the Inside forever.
After a few minutes, Gadge finally saw Red and Blond, sprinting from a crowd of Outclass humanoids while carrying Scar who appeared to be on the verge of death. Gadge didn't want to admit it, but at the rate they were going, they weren't going to make it.
"Run faster!" Gadge urgently muttered.
"Gadge! Can't you do anything to stop it?" Freckles shook his shoulders as she looked up.
"I can't, it's probably manually operated. If it weren't, I'd have tried to hack the system and halt its descent." Gadge said. There was nothing he could do.
If Red and Blond won't hasten, then they'd be trapped in the Forest-section forever, along with the countless Outclass Humanoids that roam the perimeters. Still, speeding up was easier said than done. Red and Blond had been sprinting for almost the whole day now and they only got a little time to rest. By now, they were nearing their limits and any more exertion would put them straight to unconsciousness.
To their despair, the metal partitions accelerated its descent even faster due to some sort of outside interference.
"RED! BLOND! RUN FASTER!" Gadge couldn't take it anymore, screaming his lungs out while straining all his muscles to lift the metal partitions. To his disappointment, the metal partitions didn't even slow down, it just kept going down.
Because of Gadge's desperate screaming, Curl and Cat hurriedly ran outside, glad that Red and Blond were finally arriving. As soon as they got out, however, colors drained from their face after seeing the sheets of metal that blocked their sight. After a few seconds of observing and taking in what's going on, Curl and Cat noticed a small section of opening before the metal partition finally closed. Without further ado, they helped Gadge and Freckles lift up the metal partition in hopes that Red and Blond will arrive in time just before the small opening closes completely.
Red and Blond gritted their teeth as they mustered the remaining energy they have. Although they wanted to sprint faster, they knew that Scar was suffering internal injuries as of the moment, and shaking him up would result in aggravating his condition. Still, if they couldn't make it to the other side of the partition before it closes, they'd have to run away from the Outclass humanoids for who knows how long. With everything weighing on their minds like a huge block of steel, Red and Blond decided to sprint even faster, hoping that the consequences incurred upon Scar would be light.
When Red and Blond finally arrived a few feet from the metal partitions, they nodded at each other as they threw Scar. Scar weakly groaned as he slid on the ground, then finally arriving on the other side of the descending sheet of metal. He didn't know what was happening but he could tell that something inside him broke even more as he skidded on the ground. Red and Blond simultaneously sighed in relief knowing that Scar would be fine. Adding to that, Freckles could finally tend to him so they don't have to worry about anything anymore.
Two feet... One and a Half Feet... the metal partitions kept on going down. Nevertheless, Red and Blond weren't willing to accept their fate.
With legs pumping, Red and Blond hastily rushed at the metal partitions like a baseball player on his way to home base.
"WE CAN'T MAKE IT!" Red's mind screamed at him but they still continued running.
....
Dome, Asterisk
It's as if a procession was happening in the Dome Asterisk as the live feeds of the Inside came to an end. It had been a long day and a total of twelve blocks were able to escape the Inside.
"Seventy-five-percent and my block didn't make it." Jarxen was crestfallen. He knew there was no way that his block would escape the Inside. He knew about the metal partitions and the Humanoid-section but he was doubtful that his block would figure it out. Sooner or later, Jarxen would get another group and he would forget about his current workers. But right now, he was grieved to see them go. This was probably because of the fact that they were just teens.
"It's Block-1 who won again this year, huh?" Fujimoto muttered beside Jarxen. He then patted Jarxen on the back. "It's okay. They're smart kids. They'd probably figure out that the Humanoid-section is connected to the Outside."
"Don't give me hope," Jarxen said as he forced himself to smile.
Pretty soon, all the other block owners patted Jarxen on the back as if to give their condolences. However, their intentions weren't really sincere since Jarxen heard them talk badly about his block after they walked a few steps from him. The four block owners who lost their workers were downhearted just like Jarxen but Jarxen was the only one who received 'condolences'
It's all because one of his workers beat two Outclass humanoids and he was a threat to the next Runners Survivors. With him gone, the other block owners sighed in relief. Their block would have a better chance at winning on the Runners Survivors.
"Believe in them, Jarxen. If you don't then only one person would believe in them." Julia smiled her warm smile as she leaned in closer to Jarxen's face. This made Jarxen impulsively flinch back as his face reddened a little bit.
"Only one person?" Jarxen confirmed, thinking that he heard something wrong. "Shouldn't you say that no one will believe in them?"
"Well, I believe in them so that would be wrong in more ways than one. You should believe in them too and wait for the Runners Survivors." Julia nonchalantly responded.
"If Julia believes in them, I'd guess I'll do the same." Fujimoto consolingly said. "Don't worry about them. Just like I said before, they're smarter than you think."
"Right, I shouldn't be moping right now." Jarxen slapped his cheeks. "I should support them until the Runners Survivors."
Suddenly, one of the block owners perked his ears up after hearing their unusual conversation. He then approached the group with the biggest smirk one could ever wear. "You're crazy, you know that. We've seen them get stuck in the Forest-section. Adding to that, no one has ever been to the Humanoid-section and escaped from it alive. You should talk to yourself in the mirror to see if you're making any sense. "
The other block owners agreed, laughing their hearts out at the group's conversation. Only a small percentage of workers could figure out what the Humanoid-section really is, and from that percentage, only a handful might have the ability to get out of there alive. The place is crawling with different types of humanoids after all.
"Don't listen to them. You know how strong Red is. He could do it." Julia reassured Jarxen.
"Still, no one ever got out of the Inside after the mock battles were over." Jarxen contemplated. "Well, if Julia spoke highly of Red, then I won't change my mind."
"Thanks, you guys." Jarxen gratuitously said. "I'll believe in them too. It's not like I could do anything else, ri... "
*BOOM!*
.
.
Jarxen was interrupted by a huge explosion out of the blue. He immediately stood up and ran the explosion. Based on the sound, the explosion occurred on the second floor of the Asterisk.
"What's happening?!" Julia exclaimed, following Jarxen as they scaled the flight of stairs as fast as they could. Fujimoto also tailed them but he decided not to run since some form of danger might suddenly appear out of nowhere. "These guys sure are wild-blooded," Fujimoto said to himself, referring to Julia and Jarxen.