"OAKS, I'M REALLY HAPPY YOU'RE WITH US."
It was really nice to see a good friend once more. It's been weeks since we haven't seen each other.
"I'm okay with you, guys, though I miss my boo," Oakley replied.
After the announcement of clusters, the Sovietsky guards marshalled us towards our rooms. Across the great hall is a large dome and beside that large dome is a series of buildings that should be used as hotels for the participants. There are six buildings that are meant for more than 500 participants. Unfortunately, only less than 200 made it to the first cut.
We're in the last building since we belong to Cluster 6. Also, we're a floor away from the penthouse, so we went there and relaxed for a bit. There's a swimming pool nearby, and the sun's up, so we sun-bathed.
Oakley was just wearing his tight spandex trunks, which demonstrated his massive bulge. I wore a pair of board shorts. Ellis, on the other hand, tucked really well and wore a thin white and blue sailor-like bikini, a white hat, and she even transformed her hair into a long and blue one.
"Don't worry. Your boo will be all right. She's just downstairs, though. You can visit her anytime," Ellis said.
"Yeah, a floor below us," I said.
"I mean, I thought, I'd be part of their team," Oakley said.
"Oh, I see. Don't worry. We got you, Oaks. Now, let's talk about your powers. Did Rakisha give you the powers? Did she force you in any way?"
Oakley shook his head. "No, I initiated the talk. I told her about your situation, that you saw these dark clouds, that I didn't see. I thought that it would be really cool to be like you guys, to have powers. I told her that I wanna be like you and her. To be honest, she asked for a couple of days to think, so she went to Louisiana. She doesn't want to jeopardize my life."
"Aww, Rakisha's really a sweet girl," I commented.
"True that. Until she asked me to go to Louisiana. That, I did. Surprisingly, there was a hurricane that destroyed the most of it, so we had to use her voodoo magic to flee. The next thing I know, we're back in Queens. Also, I discovered that I had powers." Oakley blinked and his eyes turned into those of a cat's.
"That's so sickening," Ellis said. "Let me try that." He blinked his eyes really fast, but all she can do is to change the color, but not the form. We all laughed.
"So, Oaks, fine, you got the power now, but is it really your decision to join The Krieg?" I followed up.
Oakley giggled. "I saw the dark clouds, too. In Louisiana, before we fled. I told Rakisha about it, and perhaps, along the process of fleeing, she was transferring her powers to me. She knew that this would happen."
I sighed. "Just like mine. But don't worry. We're a team and we're gonna help each other. Now, let's discuss our game plan. Right now, my strengths are more of using the elements. The usual. Fire, water, earth, air, ice, electricity, and such. Ellis here focuses on transformation. How about you, aside from changing your eye form?"
"Oh, cool. I do transformation too," Oakley said.
Ellis grunted. "Hey! Take drag off of your list. That's my territory."
Oakley laughed. "I ain't doing drag, man. I do this."
In just a blink of an eye, Oakley jumped on Ellis and became a large ape! Ellis was terrified and screamed so loud.
"Oakley! Oh, gosh! You can be an ape?"
"Not just an ape," Oakley said, as he approached me and he transformed into a snake, and he slithered and constricted my legs. I outbalanced and tripped to the pool.
When we reached the pool, he turned into a shark and he was about to attack me, so what I did was I absorbed the water of the pool in my hand, so he had nothing to swim. Right away, he became a pigeon and flew all over.
"Oaks! You piece of shit!" I screamed and laughed. It was so cool that he did all of those things.
I got off the pool and refilled it with fresh water using my powers. Oakley went down and transformed into his true self. We did a high-five and went back to our seats.
"Sorry, Ellis, I didn't mean to scare you," Oakley said.
"Imagine what it feels like for a girl if you do that in front of her," Ellis replied.
"Bitch, you ain't one," I bantered. "Stop acting like one."
That was a great afternoon. After that, we discussed further our strengths and weaknesses. We planned our strategies and had some tips and tricks for us to survive. We are still the 'humans', after all. Who knows who we'll be facing?
We decided to go down to our room and the moment we entered, we heard that the TV turned on and it showed Jang-mi. "Good day, Cluster 6. I hope you are all well at this moment because we are now going to begin the Level 2 of the competition. In one hour, you must leave the building with these three objects we call the Orkatta Treasures. Two keys and a box. This will give you your passes to the next level of the competition. After this challenge, only four out of eight teams will emerge."
"What the f/uck. That's half of the teams here," Oakley uttered.
"Math shocker, right?" Ellis sarcastically said.
Jang-mi continued speaking. "All items are divided into colors and each team will have to fight for each set. These are the matches and the colors. Amsterdam versus Nairobi, harlequin. New Orleans versus Ho Chi Minh, vermilion. Dublin versus Acapulco, cornflower. Las Vegas versus Queens, goldenrod."
"Oh, gosh. What are those colors?" I said. "We're assigned with goldenrod. Is it like gold or something?"
"Close. It's a shade of yellow," Ellis spoke. "Vermillion is a shade of red. Harlequin, green. Cornflower, blue."
"Ugh. Why can't it be just green, red, blue, and yellow?" I complained.
"So, we're gonna deal with Vegas, huh?" Oakley spoke.
"Vegas? I haven't noticed there is such a team?" I said.
"Branson Brynn and his two sons, Anderson and Grayson. Rakisha and I were talking about them when we arrived. They're sly and cunning, so beware," Oakley warned.
I looked at the video and checked the members of Las Vegas team. The three men looked like they're the gambling masters. Branson was flickering an ace of spades in his hand. Anderson was holding a casino chip. Grayson was flipping a golden coin that looked like from those of slot machines.
"If your team only have one or two of the Treasures, you can't proceed to the competition. You must bring the objects in any way that you can, or in this case, fight for them. As all instructions have been given, we are now going to start the second level of The Krieg in three… two… one." The TV became an instant timer after that, dropping every second of the hour.
We all looked at each other with blank faces. Then, Oakley made a suggestion to break the ice. "Okay, how about this? I will look for the yellow box and you will look for the yellow keys."
"Are you sure we'll be okay? We need to be together, Oaks," I uttered in a worried tone.
"Let's meet outside in an hour. I promise I will be there," Oakley said.
"You better be or I'll turn you into a beef jerky after," Ellis threatened.
Oakley grinned and turned into a rat and went out of the room. Ellis transformed into her entrance look earlier. I fixed myself too and applied that force field shield to the two of us. Then, as we are about to walk outside, I thought of something.
"Hey, Ellis. How about we search the room? Just for a couple of minutes. We might see something here. What do you think?"
"Okay, let's do that," Ellis locked the door and he went to the bathroom and rummaged for the Treasures. I went directly to the beds and pulled all the sheets. I even pulled the beds and nothing was under them.
"Nothing on the bedroom," I shouted.
"Nothing on the bathroom too," Ellis said.
We then met again in the living room, in front of the TV with our irritated faces.
"Room check, huh? What are you, housekeeping?" Ellis teased.
I groaned. "Come on. Let's go out."
But before we go out, in the corner of my eye, I saw something sparkling at the back of the TV. I stopped walking and looked closely.
"Oh, gosh…"
"What is it?" Ellis asked.
I took it and showed it to him. "It's one of the two keys."
"Oh…" Ellis cleared his throat and snatched the key on my hand. "Good catch."
"Housekeeping, huh?" I returned him the sarcasm.
"Whatever," Ellis shrugged. "Let's go find the other key somewhere else. I'm sure it's not here."
"Really? You might wanna check again," I joked.
Before Ellis replied, the door exploded.
"You should listen to your friend, sissy. He might be right," a voice emerged from the smoke. Then, this person moved further and appeared in front of us.
Such a familiar face. Who is this guy again?