Chương 64: Its name is most certainly not Jellybean.

HUNTING ROUND—FOUR Entering Hunting Room: Floor is Lava Danger Level: • Low: Act I • Extreme: Act II Room Description: A stadium-sized chamber comprised of floating roads, elevated bunkers, suspended ramps, and portal-linked structures. Though the room appears stable during Act I, participants are advised that environmental conditions may become increasingly hazardous during later phases of the round—as the name of the room indicates. Ability Notification!

Threat Level 1 Knickknack Savant: Level 1 Bonus Event Quest Update! Description: Survive a voting or hunting round. Completed: 5/X Reward: +1 Will, +10 gold, and +1 skill point for each round survived. +50, 000 clicks. Delivered immediately. Received: +1 will (15 total) +10 gold (175 total) +1 skill point (28 total) +50, 000 clicks (900190 total) They were back in the enormous room of floating catwalks and bunkers where they'd begun the first hunting round.

Sunlight poured in through openings in the ceiling, casting long, rectangular patches of light on the walls and floor. They were on the ground floor in front of the same portal as last time. George wondered if players would still begin rounds in this spot during Act II when the floor actually was lava. >>Hey, we're back in our old digs! Talk about memory lane. So much has changed so fast. Last time we were here, you had to huff and puff your way up those ramps. Now, we can ride our dolphin up in style.

>>Wait a tic… >>Identify, show us any other players in this room. No lines appeared in George's vision. George held Cassie's retractable sword out to her and said, "Thanks for letting me borrow that. It came in handy." She took the small sword handle back from George and slipped it into the holster around her waist.

"I couldn't believe it when you were on the top of the leaderboard!" Cassie said.

"I know we found those prestige tokens in the zombie mall, but then the round was over, and the next thing I knew, we were back in the voting room, but you had way more!"

"We took a detour after you disappeared. I had an ability orb that gave us more time in the hunting maze," George said.

"I know," she tapped her head with one finger.

"Mind reader." >>Hanging out with a telepath is so much more efficient than lengthy exposition.

"Show me this jet ski!" she said. George took the dolphin keychain out of his pocket and tossed it to the ground. He clicked the fob three times, and it returned to its jet ski form. Cassie's eyes went wide.

"It's beautiful." >>Told you. >>No pre-teen female can resist neon fuchsia sparkle paint. It's the glossy gradients that do it.

"I want to drive it," Cassie said." Please!"

"I'm going to drive, but you can ride," George said.

"The question is, where do we go?" >>That's easy. >>We need to head to the Safe Room. We can stay there the whole round, and now that I have this map and you have the dolphin mobile, we'll be there in a jiffy.

"What happens in the safe room?" Cassie said. >>Anyone who enters experiences a recreation of their home. You don't have to leave until the round is over, and everyone gets their own instance of the room, so you don't have to worry about enemies crashing the party. The catch is you can only enter once. George nodded, "How do we get there?" >>It is three hops away. There is a portal on top of the bunker in the corner…

A white line appeared in George's vision that led diagonally across the large room and up a ramp behind the bunker. >>… That takes us to the Hub Room; then we go to the Change Is As Good As A Rest room, where all the objects are giant-sized. Then, we duck through a portal hidden beneath a bed the size of a tennis court, and we're in the Safe Room. >>Shall we? George climbed onto the jet ski, and Cassie hopped on behind, wrapping her arms tightly around his waist.

"Here we go," George said and eased the jet ski into motion. The route was easy to follow, and the room was still empty. George took the jet ski slowly around the corners and up the ramp behind the bunker.

"Um… George, maybe we can go faster than this sometime," Cassie said.

"I know how fast the dolphin can go. I can see your memory of that flat room with all the flickering portals."

"It doesn't have seatbelts," George said.

"I'm just being careful." >>Carefully boring. >>It's OK, Cass. You bring out the dad vibes in our friendly neighborhood quinquagenarian.

"There's no point in rushing when we don't have to," George said.

"Some horrible surprise could be waiting for us in any of the rooms we go through." Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author's consent. Report any sightings. >>Cassie. There is a massive slide in Change Is As Good As A Rest. The entire room is an enormous suburban house, complete with a playground in the backyard. Maybe Dad will let us detour and have some fun. That place is lousy with tokens, anyway. They came to the Hub room portal and looked through it.

It was a large, circular room with a high ceiling and portals dotting the wall around its circumference. George paused the jet ski outside and peered around, but the room was empty. He twisted the throttle and eased the jet ski through the portal. Entering: The Hub Room Danger Level: • Medium: Act I • Medium: Act II Room Description: A major portal nexus linking large sections of the hunting maze.

Participants who control the Hub Room may traverse the maze rapidly, though such advantages rarely go uncontested for long. The jet ski had floated into the middle of the room when they heard a voice from behind say, "Hey, guys! Wait up! It's me." At the sound of the voice, George spun the dolphin around, forcing Cassie to tighten her grip to keep from falling. Top was waving at them from just inside the Hub room.

They hadn't been able to see him because he was leaning against the wall, two portals down from the one they'd come through. George hesitated. — He's not bad. He's good. Just a bit dumb, I think, or… naive. —He doesn't have that gun anymore. Pine took it. >>Called it. — We needed to find him anyway. This is perfect. Cassie jumped off the dolphin, and Top walked over.

"Hi." He held out his hand to Cassie.

"I'm Top of the Morning." Cassie shook his hand and said, "I'm Cassie."

"It's good to see you guys! Me and Pine started in this other room because we're on the same team now. But then when the hunting round started, he just ran off. I ran after him and found this room, but I don't know which portal he went through. I was just going to do bubble-gum bubble-gum and go for it, you know? Then you two hovered up on that sweet cruiser. Where'd you get it? Think we can ride three deep on that thing?" His words all spilled out of him in a rush, with hardly a space between them.

"Isn't she great?" Cassie said and patted the dolphin's neck.

"Her name's Jellybean." >>Its name is most certainly not Jellybean. >>It is Bloodtide. —What about shimmergleam? >>Dorsalslice Soulreaver —Radiant Beauty of the Wild Waters. >>Foamspray Hegemon. —Blowhole Seasqueaker. >>OK. That one was funny.

"Hi, Jellybean," Top said, patting the dolphin's head. >>Ugh. >>Fine. Jellybean. >>We should have gotten out in front of this from the start, George! >>This one got away from us. >>As the Director of Branding and Public Image in the George-Nod symbiotic pair, I hold myself to blame. >>…But I didn't see you contributing much, either! >>And now you are stuck riding a sparkle dolphin named Jellybean. >>Your masculinity did NOT need this, George. >>So it is still mostly your fault.

"How did you and Pine start in the same room together?" George asked, trying to ignore the banter.

"And why are you in the same enclosure in the voting room?"

"Last round, I got ahold of this ability orb called The More We Get Together, The Happier We'll Be, which I thought was a hilarious name, so I popped it and—boom—suddenly I could make a party. It lets me add people to the party and kick people off, but we'll all start in the same room together and have the same enclosure. It is just me and Pine right now, but do you want to join?"

"No," George said quickly.

"Oh," Top said, looking at the floor.

"Ok. That sucks." >>I think he's going to cry, George. >>Let a guy down easy.

"It's not you," George said.

"It's Pine. I'm pretty sure he wants to kill me."

"Oh, yeah. I get it. He's super bossy and sort of a dick, but he sure knows a lot about the trial and what to do and stuff. I get not wanting to be on the team because of the kill you thing. Makes sense. Solid." Top nodded and gave George a thumbs-up. — They started in another room together, and then Pine just left him. He was in a hurry for some reason. He ran away as soon as the round started. I mean… he really ran. He sprinted. >> Where is Pine now? Can we check him on the screen?

Cassie held up her hand, and Pine's screen appeared in it. George bent close and saw the small figure of Pine running as fast as he could through an empty street beside a bright pink building with neon graffiti on it. He ducked inside the building and ran through a hallway that flickered with blue strobe light. He shouldered open the door to a concrete stairwell but instead of stairs, there was a ramp that spiraled upward.

Pine put his hands on his knees and breathed hard for a moment before climbing the ramp on his hands and feet. >>That's Weird Town. It is like the chaos-dimension version of New York City. It is maybe the most dangerous room in the trial. >>I hope Mr. Pine knows what he's doing…

"No way! You have a little spy box. Does it work for anyone else? Do me!" Top said. >>OK, Cassie. Hit him with the brain blitz like you did Ezra. >>We need to involuntarily enlist him in our anti-Neco plan and get on with our business. —I don't think I have to use that ability, actually. His level is low and his mind is extremely… suggestable. —I think I can just use…

Though Top was still talking, the second Cassie started doing whatever she was doing, Top's sentence tapered off to silence, and he went completely still. His face looked relaxed, and he breathed out a long sigh and said, "Oh… that's nice." — So… get this. He doesn't have any ability orbs. He had one that nullifies another player's orb, which Pine took, and one called True Colors that let him know if two players were on the same team. He used the second one on Pine to find out they were both on the blue team.

>>Can we give him some of our orbs and make them use them if it will get Neco out like you did with Ezra? —Yes. >>Here is what we have as far as ability orbs go: • Exit, Pursued By Bear: Create a new portal between this room and any room you have previously visited. To create the portal, throw the ability orb at the place where you would like the portal to appear. (From Ezra) • Bippity Boppity Boop: Increase your vote by ten.

(From the Challenge Room) • If I Can't Have My Druthers, I'll Just Take Yours: Acquire the voting strength of the lowest two players on the leaderboard. Their votes are rendered null and their voting points are added to your vote. (From the Challenge Room) • Look At Us Now!: Switch another player's team alignment. (From the Challenge Room) • Buckle Up, Chuckleheads: Deactivate the containment barriers in the voting room for the duration of the Voting round.

Any act of violence between players may result in the aggressor's expulsion from the game at the Moderator's discretion. (From Challenge Room) —I still have the orbs I started with. —One of them is the teleport one, and the other one is called This Won't Hurt a Bit, which instantly dispels any magical effects or curse conditions on me. >>Let's give him the bippity boop one and the druthers one. That way, he'll be able to boost his own vote for Neco by ten, steal my twenty votes, and throw them at Neco.

>>Leaving your hands clean. I like it. Cassie put her hands on either side of Top's head, and he smiled down at her with a relaxed, goofy expression. — You will take these two orbs into your storage and forget about their existence except under the condition that using them will cause Neco to be voted out during any voting round.

"Yeah, sure. Sounds good." Top held his hand out, and George put first one, then the other ability orb into it. Top made them disappear into his storage. — When you see your moment, use both orbs to vote Neco out and vote for him yourself. —You will forget this instruction until the condition is met, and even then, you will think it was your own idea. When I clap my hands, your mind will be normal again, and you will not remember that we gave you the orbs. >>Sorry, Top. Couldn't have happened to a nicer guy… >>…

But the tribe has spoken. Cassie clapped her hands, and Top smiled.

"Well, Top. We should get going," George said.

"Oh, yeah. Wait. Can I come too?" George looked at Cassie, who shrugged. >> We need to keep him safe now that he's been inducted into The Plan. >>Time for you three and Jellybean to get cozy.

"Sure, Top. Jump on."

"Yeah? That's awesome," Top said and climbed onto the back of the jet ski.

"Where are we going?" Top asked.

"We are going to a room called Safe—" but George stopped talking when a new notification appeared. Ability Orb Activated (Sarala) Said The Spider To The Fly: Summon all players who did not vote for the same person as you in the last voting round to your location in the current hunting round. >>Badbadbad. ⸨ ◺_◿ ⸩!!!!!! >>I hate being right all the time! Brace yourselves! Then the Hub room was gone and they appeared in a new room with, by the looks of it, all of the other players.