“It was my idea actually,” said Nevva Winter as she stepped up onto the platform. “What better way to let the people of Quillan know who they will be wagering on than to hear from the challengers themselves?”
As Nevva said this, she looked me square in the eye, as if she were trying to tell me something.
“We can say whatever we want?” I asked.
Veego chimed in, “So long as it doesn’t embarrass us, or Blok.”
“Oh, no,” I said sarcastically. “Wouldn’t want to do that!”
Nevva said, “Just tell them what you’re about, and why it’s important for you to win the Grand X.”
Nevva again looked right at me. I realized that she had set this up as a golden opportunity for me to tell the people why I was competing. Every person on Quillan would see this. I had to find the exact right words.
Challenger Green laughed and said, “You mean, there are other reasons for winning besides not getting killed?”
LaBerge was the only one who laughed. When he saw that nobody else did, he stopped. Idiot.
“Let Challenger Green go first,” I said. “He is the champion, he should have the honor.”
Actually, I wanted more time to think about what I was going to say.
“All right,” Green said. “Let’s do this.”
Veego and LaBerge stood together. A service dado appeared with a small camera and pointed it at them.
“Let us know when we are online,” Veego said to the dado.
Nevva stood next to me and spoke quietly, while looking at Veego and LaBerge.
“How are you?” she asked. “Ready” was my answer.
“You know this is an incredible opportunity,” she said. “The right words will put you over the top.”
“Yeah,” I said. “And the wrong words might bury me. Stop talking and let me think.”
The service dado nodded and signaled for the two to begin.
LaBerge put on his biggest smile and sang, “The time is growing near, the games are almost here; the challengers are ready, and now their words you’ll hear!”
Veego added, “This will be one of the most difficult choices you will ever face. Who best to place your wager on? We’ve done our best to educate you about the two challengers, now it’s time to hear from them, in their own words. First we will hear from the champion. Challenger Green.”
The service dado panned over to Challenger Green, who stood with his hands on his hips.
“You know me,” he said brusquely. “You know I don’t lose. I’ve been watching the games my whole life. Blok has never seen a champion as powerful as me. I’m going to be the first challenger to retire undefeated, and then tour Quillan to promote the games for Blok. When you think of Blok, you think of power and you think of me.”
He turned arid jumped down off the platform. The service dado quickly panned back to Veego and LaBerge, who seemed surprised by Challenger Green’s quick exit. I couldn’t have been happier about what he said. Nevva looked as if she were holding back a smile.
“That’s perfect,” she said. “He has totally aligned himself with Blok.”
Veego said to the camera, “And now we will hear from Challenger Red, the only challenger in history who is so confident, he actually asked to compete against Challenger Green. I give you… Challenger Red.”
The service dado whipped the camera to me as Nevva stepped aside. It’s a strange feeling to know that your image is being broadcast to millions of people. It was the biggest stage possible. I needed to make the most of it. I folded my hands in front of me and said, “You don’t know me as well as Challenger Green, but there’s something important you should understand. I didn’t come back to compete in the Grand X for myself. I could have disappeared and nobody would ever have seen me again. But I came here as a tribute to the people of Quillan.”
D. J. MacHale
The Quillan Games
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Veego and LaBerge give each other concerned looks.
“I’m here to prove that you don’t have to be big and powerful to triumph. I believe in myself, and I believe in the people of Quillan. And even though I know I will win the Grand X, I am asking each and every one of you to be brave, and as a protest against these brutal games, do not wager on the Grand X. Either on me or on Challenger Green. It’s the best way you can show Blok that you aren’t going to live by their rules any longer.”
“What?” LaBerge screamed.
Veego walked quickly to the service dado and pushed the camera off me.
“End this transmission,” she hissed at the dado. “Now!”
The dado hurried off the platform with the camera.
“How could you say that?” Nevva asked, faking surprise. “That was not authorized! The trustees will be very angry! I’m going to have to bring this up with them at once.”
Nevva hurried off the platform. Before she stepped down, she stole a quick look back at me, and winked. I had just kicked some serious Blok butt. Veego stood there, glaring at me, while LaBerge paced nervously.
“This is bad,” he clucked. “Very bad. We’ll be blamed, you know. How are we going to control this? Do you think the people will listen to him? What are we going to do?”
“We’re not going to do anything,” Veego said without taking her eyes off me. “Challenger Red will no longer be allowed to address the public. Beyond that, we will do nothing.”
LaBerge hurried off the platform, shaking his head fretfully and muttering, “This is bad; this is very bad.”
Veego took a step closer to me and said, “What are you doing. Challenger Red?”
“Just trying to get a little excitement going,” I said innocently. “That should get people talking, don’t you think?”
Veego stared at me for another moment, then turned and left. I wasn’t sure if I had gone too far. I didn’t think for a second that they would cancel the Grand X after all the buildup, but I couldn’t be sure.
There was one more event planned before the Grand X, and it was a big one. Challenger Green and I were to be paraded through the streets of Rune on the backs of two cars. The idea was for the people to see us in the flesh so they’d get all sorts of whipped up and excited… and of course make big wagers. Mark, Courtney, what happened that day was something I could only dream of. Up until that point, the idea of the people of Quillan seeing me and learning about me and believing in me as a symbol of their freedom was only a concept. It wasn’t real. I had to take what the revivers had said on faith. Though I had fully bought into the plan, somewhere in the back of my mind I wondered if the people were going to really care. What happened that afternoon shot those doubts to pieces. No, it vaporized them.
There were three cars in the parade. The first held Veego and LaBerge, I was on the second, and bringing up the rear was Challenger Green. We stood up through an opening in the roof so we could be seen by all. A line of security dados marched alongside the procession in case somebody did something silly and tried to get at us. I figured that was a good idea, because the streets of Rune were pretty crowded.
At the very least, the security dados would be able to clear a path for the cars to get through.
What happened was bedlam. I can only liken it to one of those ticker-tape parades they have in New York City for sports champions and astronauts and whatnot. It was absolutely, positively nuts. People were everywhere. They were packed on the sidewalks, hanging out of windows, and perched on top of buildings. They were screaming, too. As the parade turned off the side street and onto the main parade route, it was like being hit with a wall of noise from a thousand jet engines. It was such a mad sea of faces, it was hard to pick out any one person, but the thing that struck me most about the people was that they were smiling. I saw joy in their faces. It was something I hadn’t seen at all on Quillan, except for maybe the lucky few who had won a wager on a game. These people were ecstatic.