Chaos Simulation

Jayce pulled himself away from the group feeling slightly relieved. Compared to how he had felt when he found out he was to be last he was a reborn man. "Even if I'm my potential isn't as high as the others then as long as we're a team then even elite teams will let me on." He thought to himself with satisfaction. He walked quickly still though as the anticipation from waiting for every single other kid to go before him had been a torturous experience.

Settling into the chair Jayce closed his eyes and was determined not to open them until he heard that robots voice utter whatever it was going to say. The assistants silently pulled the monitoring equipment onto him and strapped him in. They double checked that everything was normal on the chair before flipping the switch for the last time today.

The machine whirred to life, as though it was revigorated from the inspection it had just gone through. It hummed with authority for about seven seconds before the humming died off to be replaced by a strained spinning noise as it scanned Jayce's body. Jayce felt not one but four shocks on his back and each one made him squeeze his eyes harder shut and grip the arms of the chair tighter.

The assistants looked at each other with alarm and one ran next to the chair to turn it off if it looked like it was going to injure the boy. The other activated his glasses and started recording the chair to bring the video before his bosses later. The machine started making sounds like a rock was bouncing around inside of it and it seemed to be slightly smoking. Just as the assistant was about to pull the plug it went silent. They glanced at each other before taking a few steps back. The light blue light turned dark blue then violet then red then orange to yellow to a finally a brilliant gold.

The class gasped in shock, even the assistants stood dumbfounded at the chair doing this. Chiron adjusted his chair so that he could quickly scoop Jayce out of the chair if it looked like he was in danger. The golden light faded and the robotic voice finally sputtered to life. After a second or two if finally declared, "potential score is -10" and then shut off.

Jayce opened his eyes slowly. He had been shocked another four times during the chairs light show. He rubbed his back before replaying the events in his head and dropping his head. In a mumbled voice he asked, "So negative ten? What does that mean? Am I about to die?"

Chiron couldn't move and his mind was racing, "Negative ten??? What in the world? What does that even mean?" He quickly looked at the assistants and barked, "What does that number mean! You better check your machine and tell me what is going on very soon!"

The assistant clicked the button on his glasses to turn off the recording before commanding the video be sent to his bosses through his watch. The other scurried over to the chair and made it print a copy of its potential score data. As the paper slowly printed out of the back of the chair Jayce sat limply. A part of him had already resigned himself to being a crafter. "No maybe I can't even become a crafter, with a negative ten I should just be a dog walker, that's the only way I won't get injured in this world." Tears started to form at the corners of his eyes at this thought and the feeling of letting his friends down.

The paper finished printing and the assistant was about to hand it to Chiron to look over it before his colleague grabbed his hand and pulled the paper away. He held his watch up to his ear and appeared to be on the phone with someone. The class watched with interest hoping to find some resolution to their own questions by eavesdropping on his talk.

"Hello, sir... yes sir ... uh, one-second sir." The assistant on the phone bent down and flipped a switch on the bottom of the chair. "Yes, sir it's on now ... okay ... I understand sir. What do you want me to do with ... okay, I will ... yes, thank you, sir." He pulled his watch from his ear and looked at the class. "Class this chair is reporting accurately, the young man here is indeed a negative ten. My boss informs me that the last person to score this level was King Arthur of Camelot. Negative means that there is no known quantity to describe his potential. If you have any questions right now I will do my best to answer them but our own knowledge about this is also limited so I can't guarantee that my answers will be useful."

The class was as silent as a graveyard for many long seconds. Chiron's mind was spinning in circles, "Jayce? It had to be Jayce? Anyone but that joker. Why me? Why him?" His legs felt woozy and after standing up to yell at the assistants he sat down with a plop in his chair a blank look on his face.

The first voice to be heard was Jayce's, "So what does this mean for the capability exam?" He felt he was on like on the brink of a cliff and this answer would determine whether or not he jumped off into the abyss.

The assistant looked at him dumbfounded. "You do know the last human to win the grand prize was King Arthur right? You just became the most valuable human in this entire game. I'd be surprised if every team doesn't invite you to their facility for an interview."

"Wait... King Arthur was real?" Ralnas was looking at the assistant with disbelief written across his face.

"You mean all you humans on Earth forgot the stories from your time here? Where do you think all those legends came from? Don't they seem just too outrageous to be created out of someone's imagination? King Arthur was a human who won the grand prize most recently with his human team that he called Camelot. They swept the competition and earned humanity the privilege to try and ascend to the level of the Overwatchers." The assistant now looked like he was the professor now and was lecturing his class.

Chiron also listened intently as he had never placed great emphasis on the past winners of the game they were in. Other than knowing that humans had somehow won the last three grand prizes.

"All those heroes of ancient history that were categorized as "myths" had some layer of truth to them from humanities time here in this game. In fact, you can see the impact they left all across the cities, teams, competitions, everything!" The assistant grumbled, "Humans forgetting their own history and I have to be the one to remind them of their own past glories."

Jenira's face twisted and she raised her hand, "Wait I thought you two were humans, are you not?"

The assistants looked at each other before shrugging and pressed a button just below the collar on their shirts. The human faces they had been looking at suddenly turned metallic and lifeless as the back opened up. Two octopus looking blue aliens climbed out of the assistant's backs. "We are one of the first races to be trapped in this infernal gameshow. And since we have been here so long we've learned how to use almost all of the technology that the Overwatchers left for the competition races to use. That includes these chairs, in fact, we make most of our money through operating said technology for other races to use."

The students didn't seem surprised by this at all. After all, they had been living with the knowledge that other aliens existed for as long as they could remember. Chiron on the other hand after suffering shock after shock finally couldn't stand it anymore and slumped to the ground.

Isabel jumped out of her seat and along with a few other students helped carry Chiron to the nurses' office. Leaving the rest of the students to glance between Jayce, still sitting in the chair with his head down, and the two blue octopus-aliens who looked uncomfortable standing in their native forms. With silky movements, they glided back into the human costumes and their faces once again lit up with the appearance of life. "Now are there any other questions? If not we will take our leave from your school and wish you all good luck in all your future endeavors."

Jayce finally exited the chair and slowly walked to his friends. Jenira reached a hand up to comfort him before she realized he was barely containing a smile. She smiled to herself and pulled her hand back and prepared to watch the fireworks. Micu and Ralnas both looked stunned and as they watched their friend approach they didn't seem to register him until he was no more than a foot away from them both.

"Looks like I am the strongest of the four of us!" Jayce suddenly erupted and jumped in the air. This shook the class from its stupor. Quick as a flash Micu and Ralnas were in Jayce's face shouting how he might have a potential of zero they couldn't be sure as the rest of the class laughed at the three friends engaged in some friendly bickering.

The two assistants picked up the chair between the two of them and silently left the classroom as laughter echoed down the halls.

"That boy's life is about to turn upside down"

"I know, I hope he's prepared. I remember how hard the elite teams fought for Arthur's signature."

They smiled at each other and then proceeded to get lost in their own thoughts as they went down the school's hallways.

Isabel came back from the nurses' office and announced to the class that Mr. Chiron had canceled the rest of class. Cheers filled the room as students quickly stuffed their book bags and got out as quickly as they could. Isabel hung back and sat down next to Micu, "So I never thought I would have a lower potential than you." She bit her lip while traces of disappointment danced across her pretty face.

Micu was momentarily stunned since Isabel had rarely talked to him throughout their time at Chiron's. "Oh yeah... I guess I got lucky. I never would have expected to be higher than you either." He had a strong urge to retake the test at that moment and get a lower score so not to disappoint her before he snapped himself back to the present. "But hey, you've still got an exceptional potential score. I'm sure a bunch of elite teams will come looking to add you to their squad."

Isabel smiled slightly, "I never understood why you spent so much time with those three morons but after today it makes a lot more sense. You must be able to tell a person's potential pretty well. Thanks for trying to cheer me up Micu. Just know this doesn't mean that I won't stop myself from embarrassing you during the capability exam." She stood up and glided out of the room after grabbing her backpack.

Jenira watched this with bemus.e.m.e.nt on her face before laughing out at Micu blushing as he watched her walk away. "Looks like little Micu has a crush on someone," teased Jenira. Micu's face turned even darker red before coughing and shaking his head to clear the fog Isabel had cast in his mind.

"Come on guys we're the only four people left in class. Everyone else is outside enjoying the warm weather." Micu packed his bags and stood up to go. Ralnas and Jayce we're still arguing over who was going to be stronger but had pulled their backpacks on and were following Micu outside. Jenira hesitated at the door to the classroom before looking back. "This might be the last time I ever set foot in this part of the building." She turned back to face her three friends as they walked towards the exit laughing and teasing each other.

Jenira smiled to herself, "I hope things never change." Then she sprinted to keep up with her friends as their voices echoed through the halls.