Hard Mode Awakening Challenge

"The end is in sight," Tram stated, hopping into the elevator to walk with Ian to the match. "Only two matches left, you ready?"

Ian nodded. "I'm ready to get back to hunting monsters, but Lana mentioned that you two might take a week or so off to spend some time with your family?"

"That's what we've been trying to figure out, but we wanted to have a plan in place before we talked with everyone. Our parents want to do a family vacation before our oldest sister gets married." Tram looked at him and shrugged. "With Margie starting her own family, I think our folks just realized that everyone has started moving in different directions.

"Don't get me wrong," he continued as they arrived on the ground floor and left the elevator, "our parents are literally one of the best things that ever happened to Lana and me, and we are always going to be there for them. I just think it's starting to hit home that the dynamic has truly changed."

"Lana said something similar when we spoke during breakfast, but she seemed conflicted about it impacting any plans the party might have after the dungeon," Ian said, getting a nod from Tram. "I know we haven't talked about it yet, but I think everyone needs a little break once this tournament is over. Even Ash has been more irritable than usual."

"Yeah, she has," Tram said with a laugh. "I think that has more to do with not being able to spend as much time with Mara, Socks, and Spot, though. Even Nia has lost some of her cheer since the last fight."

Ian could only nod as they made their way towards the portal center. People kept wishing them good luck as they passed them on the walkway.

"I got a message from Adventurer Bramble last night, letting me know she wanted to meet with me in person," Ian finally said.

"Who's that?" Tram asked, waving at a female party that had called out to him.

"She's the adventurer who used her vines on me in our last match," he replied, chuckling at the shocked look on Tram's face.

"Why?" he asked after a moment. "That one seems a little out of the blue, especially when none of the other teams have so much as made a peep at wanting to talk with any of us. What she did to you was especially brutal from the replays."

"We would have done the same thing if our positions were reversed," Ian said with a shrug. "Lana's vines don't have the thorns that Bramble's did, but if she had that ability, you know she would use it to save our lives."

"Yeah, she wouldn't even hesitate, but it's hard to convince yourself of that when it's your friend being ground up in the attack instead of a hypothetical enemy."

"I give it a solid negative eight on a ten scale," Ian said with a chuckle.

"Glad to see you are at a point you can at least joke about it," Tram said, smacking Ian on the shoulder. "But I'll take your word for it. Are you going to visit her, or is she coming to visit here?"

"Not sure," he replied with a shrug. "She said that she wanted to wait until after the tournament and would reach out to set everything up. I looked into them, and this is their third tournament, but only the second one in which her party made it through the qualifier rounds. They were actually one of the favorites to win the entire thing."

"Yeah, that earth mage would tear apart the team we are getting ready to fight," Tram said as they came to a stop in front of the portal center in the AO. "It looks like it's time."

As they entered, they saw that the rest of the party was in the middle, talking with Mini. When the door shut, the entire group turned to look at them.

"Hey, look who finally decided to show up," Ashlyn said, giving Ian a put-upon look. "We only have like twenty minutes until the match starts, and you need to talk with Mini."

"I'll paper, rock, scissors you for it?" Ian said, giving her a smirk. "Loser has to make a fool out of themselves in front of millions of people."

"Ha!" she replied. "Why would I bother when you're gonna do it anyway?"

"Oh, don't say that, he does amazing on his dungeon dives," Mini cut in with a giggle.

"Don't build up his ego, Mini. Trying to keep it down is like my full-time job," Ashlyn said, not even attempting to hold back her grin.

"You're incorrigible," Claire said, motioning for everyone to move off to the side. "Let's get out of their way so we don't cut the interview time short."

Tram patted Ian on the shoulder again and walked over to join the rest of the team.

Ian turned around and found Mini touching up her makeup in a mirror, while her drone floated around.

"Alright, so this time let's have the portal device in the background," she said, putting her mirror away and moving so the arch was visible between them. "That should make a perfect backdrop. Are you ready?"

Ian gave her a nod, and she took a deep breath before letting it back out. As the drone came up to hover directly in front of her face, it was like a switch was hit as her face suddenly lit up and her bubbly personality came to the forefront.

"Hello, everyone! It's your favorite host, Mini, and I am coming to you live for the pre-battle interview with one of the most shocking teams in the tournament, Second Chance. To make the interview twice as exciting, joining me today is none other than their leader, the elusive Adventurer Zero. It is great to be here with you again."

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As she greeted him, she turned to the side to face him as the drone seemed to adjust slightly to put both of them in view.

"The pleasure is all mine," he said, finding her excitement to be infectious. "I honestly didn't think we'd get a chance to meet like this so late in the tournament."

"I see you are as humble as ever," she said with a small laugh. "Your party's continued success is something that has continued to shock many of our older commentators, as well as completely destroy all of the tournament predictions on your side of the bracket. How does it feel to know that you have already accomplished far more than people thought a team of your level could?"

"I'm extremely proud of my team and the way we have managed to fight in this tournament," he said after a moment of thought. "We have fought many tough opponents, and there were multiple times that I was convinced that our time had come."

"You had some extremely close fights with the teams from Threshold," Mini added with a serious nod. "Many of the lead analysts were shocked at how powerful the Threshold teams were. While their guild is extremely large, very few people from within spend any of their time streaming their dungeon runs. How did you view your matches with them?"

"Honestly, they were some of the toughest fights I have ever been in during my time as an adventurer," he said, being completely honest. "They have some absolute monsters within their ranks. There have been at least two matches so far with them that I believe the only reason that we got incredibly lucky that they were either focused on me, or that we managed to barely come out on top.

"While I don't particularly like the way they tried to point out our weaknesses during the fights, I do appreciate what they were attempting to show us. It's just really hard to be grateful to get advice from people who just killed a bunch of your friends—especially in the moments after it happened. However, we will take any opportunity to help our team grow and be ready for the intelligent monsters that we will soon be facing."

"That's an extremely mature way to view the situation," Mini said, giving him a wide smile. "What do you think about your upcoming match against Fast and Lethal? Do you think their unique setup is going to cause your team any issues, or do you think you have it pretty well in hand?"

"Honestly, this next match is going to come with a completely unique set of challenges we haven't had to deal with before," Ian replied with a thoughtful expression. "Their stealth-based approach is going to make it difficult for us to pin them down, and many of the things we would usually utilize to help track them down are not viable in this setting. It has made us think outside the box to come up with countermeasures."

"Do you think you're team has figured out enough to come out of this one victorious?"

"I think we will give them a good run for their money," Ian said. "It is hard to count anyone out until they have been officially eliminated from the tournament, especially this year. Fast and Lethal are in a similar situation to my team. We were never projected to make it this far, and in the few cases that Fast and Lethal were projected to make it this far, they would have gone up against a team that has a hard counter for their stealth."

"Yes, quite a few of the teams you beat have experience fighting and eliminating hidden or invisible enemies," Mini said in agreement. "It is hard to guess what the outcome would have been if you had been defeated by another team, but for the first time in the tournament, many of the analysts are saying that your team has a really good chance to win the entire tournament."

Ian chuckled as he rubbed the back of his head. "We're going to try, but I definitely don't want to make any promises or boast about our capabilities. We are doing really well, but anything can happen in these fights. It only takes one bad decision, and you can be the domino that causes the rest of your team to fall. I can only say that all we can do is give each fight our best, and even if we get eliminated today, I am proud of what we have been able to accomplish."

"Giving it your best shot is all anyone can really ask of you," she said before a smirk came across her features. "Since we have been so open and honest with me and all of the viewers out there, I'd feel like I was letting everyone down if I didn't ask a couple of questions that many of our viewers would love to have you answer."

Ian laughed for a second before shrugging. He was feeling pretty comfortable with Mini this time around, and if he decided he didn't want to answer any particular question, he wouldn't.

"Wonderful!" she exclaimed. "The first question has to do with how you personally feel about the tournament. Many people saw the replays from the other evening, and it seems like you really struggle with the whole premise of the tournament—a struggle that many other adventurers have admitted to feeling as well. For those of us who aren't adventurers, can you explain to us why this tournament is so difficult for you?"

Ian nodded and thought about how to answer the question. It wasn't difficult, but at the same time, it wasn't an easy conversation to have.

"It is really hard to find the right words to explain how it feels to be inside these fake dungeons for the tournament matches. We feel every bit of pain we would in a real dungeon. Every time we get injured, we feel real pain, and when we die, we feel what that feels like. In many ways, it is a great tool to help us make mistakes in an environment that will let us learn from something that is normally fatal, but the experience is completely real in pretty much every way that counts.

"What hurts me the most isn't the pain that I personally feel, but the pain inflicted on my friends," he said with a sigh. "The vast majority of the adventurers I have met just want to grow stronger. We celebrate each other's victories, and we share in the sadness when someone doesn't make it out of the dungeon. While the matches aren't real, they feel real enough that it feels like you are taking a life, and it feels like the people around you are dying.

"Some people, like my sister, understand it isn't real, and to her, this is just a really realistic competition. Unfortunately," he said with a shrug, "I know it's fake, but it feels too real for me to let it go. It bothers me when I kill an opponent, and the pain of dying can stick in your mind even after the match. I can handle it for this tournament, but I'm going to be happy to be too high of a level when the tournament comes back around in a decade."

"That's completely understandable, and I think many people forget how tough it can be on the participants," Mini said, giving him an understanding look. Just as she was about to ask another question, the arch behind them lit up as a multicolored portal opened, signifying there were only three minutes until the match started.

"It looks like we are out of time!" she exclaimed, motioning towards the portal before looking back at him. "Thank you for speaking with us today, Zero. I wish you luck in this match, and hopefully, we will get to have an interview before the finals tomorrow."

"Hopefully, and thank you for taking the time to come out here with us."

Ian gave her a wave before moving over and joining his team.

"Is everyone ready for this?" Lana asked as he joined, earning a nod from everyone. "Alright, remember the plan and stay close to me. I'll call out if anyone enters my aura's range."

"Let's do this!" Ashlyn yelled before throwing herself into the portal.

"Well, you heard the woman," Claire said, smiling at Ashlyn's antics.

"At least she keeps our spirits up," Ian said as he followed his friends into the portal.