Thirst Games

The Thirst Games

By: @MrOOF600

Prologue

It was a solemn day in Paradise, which is rather abnormal for a place that is usually so vibrant and happy. Today was the day of the reaping, where twenty people would be selected for the Thirst Games, an event in which those twenty will fight for their lives. Only one will survive. Now, usually, death is not possible in Paradise, but for the twenty unlucky citizens, that will change. For some, today is a day to rejoice, because they have gotten tired of the same things happening every day in this peaceful place. The Thirst Games provides a look back into what the real world is like, the land of KOTL. Today is not a day of peace, but a day of war.

Chapter One - Oof

The people of Paradise began the walk over to the city square, where the twenty contestants would be chosen. A young man named Oof, a player from KOTL that was recently killed in "The Bad KOTL" and came to Paradise, was one of them. This would be his first Thirst Games, and he wasn't happy about it. 

"Knowing my luck, I'll be the first one chosen," Oof thought, sighing loudly.

He arrives quickly at the center of Cloud City, where the Mayor will RNG the tributes. There was already a large crowd at the city square, so he had to push his way toward the front.

"Out of the way, you dunce!"

"Clot, move to the side or I'll gouge out your eyes with a stick."

At the front of the square stands the Mayor on a large podium, with a list of names in one hand.

"ATTENTION, EVERYONE! QUIET DOWN."

The crowd quiets to a hush and looks toward the Mayor, waiting in anticipation.

"Today is the day of the 69th Thirst Games. Those of you who are chosen will bring honor to yourselves fighting against the others," the Mayor says. "I will now read out the names of the tributes."

Oof starts walking toward the podium, sighing.

"Oof. Toxic. Tomato. Pin. CN. Nubby. Type. Quach. Togepi. Auk. Austin. Oka. Eryxc. Felis. Ethan. Hip. Rick. Angel. Jeb. Oromis. That is all."

The twenty of them reach the podium, some groaning, some crying, and others smiling wide. The one called 'Tomato' sips tea from a small teacup. Oof just sighs again, knowing that this had been his fate all along. To die in the arena. The Mayor waves her arms and the twenty contestants disappear.

Chapter Two - Togepi

The twenty tributes materialize on small platforms positioned in a large circle, the same as every year. In the middle of the platforms sits a large, gold goose statue with all sorts of weapons, armor, and survival supplies sitting around it. Above the statue was a hologram with the number '60' shown to everyone. As they watched, it ticked down to 59. Then 58. 

Togepi looked around, surveying the competition. On his left was Eryxc, someone that Togepi knew would be defeated early on. On the right was a more difficult opponent, Auk. 

"I should avoid him, he's one of the most dangerous people out here. Maybe I should run away? Depends on what is behind me, I guess," Togepi thinks.

Quickly turning around, he sees a forest that encircles this entire area, making it the only place to run other than the statue. The timer ticks down to 20 as all the tributes continue to glance around them.

At 10, Togepi made up his mind. He would run for the left toward the forest, getting far away from the others.

5, 4, 3, 2, 1...

A loud voice cries out from a speaker, "GO! Let the 69th Thirst Games begin!"

Togepi darts to the left towards the forest, but Eryxc steps in his way.

Togepi groans, "Please step aside, I'd rather not hurt you."

"Hurt ME?" Eryxc laughs. "I've been trained in twenty-seven different martial arts, achieving the highest rank in all of them, fought two hundred and thirty martial arts experts and defeated them all, I've saved the world fourteen times with my amazing fighting skills. I can make bombs out of household items, guns out of-"

"Shut up." Togepi leans forward and snaps eryxc's neck, then runs off to the forest.

Chapter Three - Hip

"GO!"

Hip, one of the more aggressive tributes for this year's Thirst Games, immediately took off for the statue and the loot surrounding it. Around half of the contestants were charging at the statue, but not all of them would live. After a short run, he reached the statue first and quickly searched for weapons that he could use.

"I must find the most obscure and random weapon in this pile," he mutters. "Sword, no. Ax, no. Spear, maybe. Seriously, where are all the pole weapons in this place?" 

By now, everyone else has reached the statue and most have grabbed some sort of weapon. Hip yelled in frustration, then quickly grabbed a spear. The closest tribute was Toxic, one of the most pacifist tributes there was, and he was facing away from Hip.

"The perfect opportunity to show off my skill with pole weapons," Hip thought, with a wide grin on his face.

He quietly moved toward Toxic, who grabbed a sword and what looked to be a loaf of bread. Knowing that victory was near, Hip lunged forward, attempting to stab Toxic in the heart after doing a few loops and turns with his spear (to show off his pole weapon skills, obviously). Toxic was caught off guard and couldn't do a thing. He fell to the ground, gasping for breath, but there was nothing he could do to save himself. 

Breathing quickly, Toxic spoke his final words. "I should've said LFA......."

Hip raised his spear in triumph and looked around at the other tributes. "JOIN MY KOTL, OR YOU'RE NEXT!"

Most of the tributes nodded, or said, "I will."

However, there were two that remained defiant. Ethan and CN. 

Hip yelled, "So, you have chosen death?"

Both Ethan and CN loudly shout and charge toward Hip, swords pointed at his heart.

Chapter Four - CN

CN runs toward Hip, sword drawn and pointed at his heart. By his side was Ethan, the other player that did not submit to Hip. As they got closer, Hip lunged at Ethan, attempting to stab him in the leg. Ethan quickly stepped to the side, and CN took the opportunity to slice at Hip. 

"You fools, you can never defeat me and my trusty polearm!" shouts Hip. "Although, I wish I had a better weapon. A bardiche would be nice."

Hip raises his arm in the air to block the sword, knowing that his arm is too strong to be damaged by something as measly as a sword!

Sadly, this sword was made out of metal, which meant it chopped his arm clean off. CN chuckled and sliced again, this time aiming for the neck. Hip, who looked somewhat worried for the first time, stepped back. 

"I'll give you one last chance to join my KOTL, otherwise I'll have to kill you." said Hip.

CN laughed again and retorted, "You and what army?" He then settled into a fighting stance and ran toward Hip once again.

At this point, Ethan had rejoined the fight and was moving toward Hip. Hip, being the great fighter he was, threw his only weapon at Ethan's heart. Surprisingly, this actually caught Ethan off-guard and worked. Ethan fell to the ground as CN unleashed a flurry of slashes at Hip in a fit of rage.

"I have one last thing to say to you, Hip. !yfyab."

Hip, having no weapon and only one arm, was completely overwhelmed by the attacks. He died a bloody death, and his last words were: "Hey, nice job killing me. I think you're the perfect candidate to join my KOTL. Check it out at MKOTL on the chess.com forums. You heard me, that's MKOTL. We have guns with tons of attachments, all sorts of weapons, and much, much more! Join now at MKOTL." 

By the time Hip had died, another tribute, HTP, had pulled the spear out of Ethan's heart to use for himself. Ethan held on a bit longer, but also quickly died. Spears to the heart usually do that.

Four cannon shots sounded, signaling that there were only 16 contestants left. Only three people were left at the cornucopia, those being CN, HTP, and Quach. They stared each other down, none wanting to be the one to make the first move. 

Suddenly, CN fell forward onto the ground, an arrow sticking out of the back of his neck.

He unleashed a string of curses, including a rant about how LFA was a terrible mechanic before dying. HTP and Quach looked in horror, then looked into the forest to see Auk holding a bow in his hand.

Chapter Five - Tomato

It was night now, and no more deaths had occurred. Tomato had ran deep into the forest, stumbling upon a large tree that he had quickly climbed up. From the statue, he had only been able to grab a dagger and one bottle of water (reusable, of course). He sipped from the bottle of the water and looked around him. As far as he could see, there was nothing but trees, trees, and look over there! More trees!

"I guess I'll stay here for the night. Those fools, those absolute buffoons, they can never find me here!" Tomato thought to himself. 

At that moment, there was some rustling in the bushes off to the left. He slowly turned toward the bushes but saw nothing. The second he looked away, more rustling. Tomato decided to climb down and investigate, since having a fellow tribute nearby would not be very cool.

As he walked over, something darted out of the bush and ran straight at him, yelling something that sounded suspiciously like "HEHE!"

Tomato stepped back in surprise, then settled into a fighting stance. The figure ran closer, and at this distance it became apparent that the attacker was none other than Oka. 

"I've got you now! Hehe!" said Oka, who then tried to decapitate Tomato with a small hand axe.

"This is so sad," Tomato whispered as he jumped backward. "You're no match for me, fool."

He then rushed forward, pretending to throw his dagger but actually stabbing Oka in the head. Oka attempted to block, but couldn't block the full attack and ended up getting sliced in the face. Looking afraid, Oka dropped his axe and ran off into the forest, away from Tomato.

Tomato was about to chase after him, but was startled by a cannon shot. In the sky was the face of eryxc.

"What's going on? This isn't normal," muttered Tomato.

Another cannon shot sounded, and Toxic's face appeared.

Three more cannons fired in quick succession, showing the faces of Hip, Ethan, and CN.

The voice that announced the start of the games spoke again. "Five down. Fourteen to go. Only one will stand at the end of the... THIRST GAMES!"

Chapter Six - Oka

Oka sprinted away from Tomato, his face bleeding from the large cut given to him by Tomato's dagger. After a short while, he slowed down, not hearing any footsteps chasing after him. Looking around him, Oka noticed that he had reached the edge of the forest. In front of him was a small river, with surprisingly still water. Nobody seemed to be in the area, so he walked over to the river.

However, before he could reach it, there was a shout from behind him. Oof was sprinting toward him with a shield in one hand and a sword in the other. Oka, who was weaponless, started to run away toward the river, hoping to cross it before Oof could catch him. Sadly, as soon as he reached the river, it started flowing quickly, making it impossible to cross. 

"There's nowhere to hide, you dunce," Oof said in a very evil tone. 

"Why would I need to hide from a fool like you? Hehe," retorted Oka.

"Well.... YOUR FACE!" 

Oof walked over to Oka and slashed at his head. Oka swiftly ducked, then tried to kick him in the knee. He blocked with his shield, but was knocked backward. Not wanting to give him a chance to recover, Oka leaped forward and tackled Oof, throwing him to the ground. 

When they landed, Oka pummeled Oof in the face. "You're done for, weakling. Hehe!"

Oof did his best to block all the shots with his shield, but he got hit quite a few times before heaving Oka off of him with his legs.

"That was nothing, you clot. I'm not even trying yet," Oof said.

Oof threw his sword at Oka's heart, hoping to end the fight right then and there. Oka sidestepped, then ran over to grab the sword. While he was distracted, Oof rammed into Oka with his shield, but that knocked him even closer to the sword.

"HAHA! Take that, fool!"

Oka grabbed the sword and shakily stood up, then walked over to Oof.

"I'm not done yet," whispered Oka.

He lunged forward and stabbed Oof in the stomach with all of his might. Oof moved his shield to block the attack, but he was too slow. The sword drove into his stomach, with some very tasty blood and guts flying everywhere. Oof fell backward onto the ground, not moving.

"Even with a sword and a shield, you couldn't beat me! Hehe!" yelled Oka, confident in his victory. He turned around and started walking back to the forest, cleaning off the sword. Right before he reached it, Oka felt his neck being snapped from behind. He died on the spot.

His last words were, "Hehe!"

Oof grabbed his sword back in triumph and walked away, but turned around and said, "You should've aimed for the head."

Chapter Seven - Oof 2: electric boogaloo

Oof was dying. It was a slow process, but he was definitely dying. The stab wound in his stomach was causing him to bleed everywhere, Oof wouldn't be able to hold on for much longer.

He sat down and closed his eyes, content with what he had done. 

THUMP

Cautiously, Oof opened his eyes. In front of him was a bagel attached to a white parachute, presumably sent by a sponsor because of how well he had done. It was probably Squarespace, they love doing stuff like that. Or was it NordVPN?

Anyway, Oof grabbed the bagel and whispered, "Could this be... is this a BAGEL OF REJUVENATION?"

"Yes, fool, now eat it," said the voices in his head.

Oof stuffed the bagel in his mouth and swallowed it whole. Instantly, he felt better than he ever had before. All of his injuries were gone, and at the moment he felt almost... invincible.

"YES, FOOLS! I'M STILL ALIVE! YOU CLOTS ARE ALL GONNA DIE PAINFUL DEATHS WHEN I FIND YOU!" shouted Oof to nobody in particular.

Oof looked around him, to see if there were any victims nearby. Hmm, some forest over there, more forest, a volcano rising out of the ground, more forest-

"Wait... What's that?"

"Tributes, if you look to the east, you might notice a volcano rising out of the ground. This volcano is going to KILL most of you, which is very sad," announced that annoying voice that kept speaking.

Oof screamed, "HSUDHOUIASYUWIHENWUIODBNOHSD!"

Chapter Eight - Quach

Quach watched in silence from atop a tree as the volcano rose near the other side of the forest. It was a small volcano, but nothing to be trifled with.

"Volcanos, so loud and annoying. I'd prefer something more... subtle, like some acid rain," commented Quach. "This would be the perfect time for a nice, calm game of Gomoku, but that Mayor wouldn't let me bring it. Dreadful person, she is."

Almost finished rising, the volcano began to puff out steam, ready to erupt. From his perch in the tree, Quach observed other tributes running away, some yelling, some screaming. He calmly pulled out his bow, then shot three arrows, at Oromis, Austin, and Felis. All three arrows hit their mark, and within a matter of seconds the number of tributes had gone from 14 to 11. 

In the distance, the volcano spewed lava over the entire area nearby, frying several tributes. Angel, Jeb, and Type were all burnt to a crisp before they could even move.

Quach slowly climbed down out of his tree, as lava seeped closer.

Thinking to himself, he jogged away from the lava, not seeming to even notice it. "What is this, amateur hour? I would never get caught by something as simple as that. I am an intellectual, at least give me a challenge."

The lava seemed to stop in a place after a while, then slowly disappeared. As far as he could tell, nobody else had died.

A voice shouted from above him, "In only one hour, six more tributes have been eliminated! How exciting! For all the viewers at home, here are the final eight. Oof. Pin. Auk. Nubby. Tomato. Quach. Togepi. Rick. That's it, folks!"

Quach smiled. "Victory is near, and so is my Gomoku set."

To be continued