Tunnel Rat Chapter 371 (Patreon)

In the deepest levels of the Rhebus-controlled sections, the Alphabet prepared for Silent Ninja Day. It would be a grueling twelve-hour competition involving gaming, cooking, intelligence tests, stealth, betrayal, and deduction. After the last event, the plans had changed significantly, and far more complex. Each person submitted their own challenges which were chosen randomly and administered by the game computer. While not intelligent, the machine had been specially designed by the Alphabet to help them administer and create their complex play-days.

The levels the game took up had been divided into a maze of rooms and corridors with dozens of movable walls that could seal off or open passageways and change the maze. While the alphabet had constructed it, and knew the overall pattern, the random changes would cost them time and energy while navigating it. As the day progressed, the number of changes would increase in frequency, turning memorized routes into dead ends.

Challenges devised by each person would randomly appear in locations throughout the maze that would take 1, 2, or 3 participants. Sometimes cooperative, and other times competitive. Priority went to who got to the challenge area first. Successfully defeating the challenges awarded points, as did correctly guessing the identities of the other ninjas in the challenge. Body stance, play style, and dozens of other 'tells' would be analyzed by each participant, made more difficult by each of them trying to give fake tells to throw off detection.

Each ninja costume was identical, and spares were stored in strategic areas. This negated the all-too-common 'accidental' mustard stains that had occurred priorly during hotdog eating contests. The tactic had been pioneered by the dreaded Pink Ninja but instantly became a favorite tactic. To add another level of chaos, the outfits were made using KodaChameleonTM programmable material. They were normally black, but 'Upgrade' stations could randomly appear. These stations would give special benefits to the lucky ninja and change the color of their suit. Dying would reset the suit to black. Extra points were scored by killing someone using a non-black suit.

Sniping and stealthy assassinations were included this year. Weapons might be found in some places, deployed by the computer, or rewarded for completing challenges. Challenges gave more points than kills, but hitting an opponent with a Nerf arrow in the right spot would register a 'Kill' and lock that person out of challenges for one minute and the computer would do its best to shut doors to limit the 'dead' players movement. Worse, for that minute the suits turned grey and stiffened up, making it difficult to move and preventing a 'ghost' from moving in the maze or chasing an assassin.

The Alphabet looked forward to the day, devising challengers for the game computer, planning their strategies with only limited data on what they might face, and making deals with each other they had no intentions of keeping. Alliances were fleeting things on Silent Ninja Day, and the last-minute ally could quickly become an adversary.

The only piece of technology allowed was their wrist bracers. These devices showed a rudimentary map of the area, alerting them to challenges, and where they would be held. The game computer used the bracers to track their movements, award points, and maneuver the maze around them. Each ninja waited impatiently as the timer ticked downward. Three challenges appeared on the map and the door in front of them unlocked.

A ninja that certainly wasn't Nina raced to the nearest challenge point, arriving first and slamming her hand down on the button to start the game of Sugar Punch. As she raced her boxing rabbit through the landscape, gobbling down cakes and pastries, another ninja appeared and joined the game. Her opponent went for quality over quantity, only eating candy and energy drinks, gaining a higher sugar buzz, but had less energy overall. They won the first two bouts, but lost when not-Nina won the last three, and scored a knockout. Not-Nina knew this was either Zander, or someone pretending to be Zander, but not Algernon. She guessed Bork and ran off into the maze to explore before the next challenge round.

Only one challenge appeared next, in the center of the maze. Four ninjas approached carefully, but the fifth found themselves locked into a small section of the maze and had to content themselves with the discovery of two javelins. Better armed, they waited for the maze to change. The other ninjas carefully entered a room full of food and looked at each other. In the center of the table was a pile of hotdogs, surrounded by chili, ketchup, mustard, buns, and cheese dip. The counter on the wall said "20" and the timer started counting down 180 seconds. As soon as not-Bork stuffed three hotdogs down his throat, the counter went to "17." The other three were slower, choosing their preferred condiments, knowing that if Bork was there, he'd do half the work. Not-Bork at 10 hotdogs and the others ate three each, then sat back, rubbing their tummies. As the seconds ticked down, not-Bork cursed them silently and reached for the last hotdog. He had taken one bite when the javelin hit him in the back, freezing him. The last two seconds ticked off and the challenge was a failure. Three ninjas charged after the assassin, only to give up as they slid past a closing door.

Paranoia was now in full swing, and the ninja became craftier. Stealth and scouting replaced their earlier enthusiasm. Not-Bork spent an entire three rounds ignoring challenges and looking for an upgrade and weapons. Equipped with a Nerf bow, six arrows, and the Mark of the Red Ninja he began moving toward the next challenge. Those killed by the Red Ninja were ghosted for two minutes, making his current build optimal for sniping people in challenges.

Sneaking up on the nearest challenge, the Red Ninja saw the White Ninja working on a complex physics problem involving the placement of cables to hold up a suspension bridge. This would be tricky since the White Ninja ignored the first hit. Concentrating on his shot, he put the first arrow into her back and drew back for his second. The White Nina turned and started to dodge, but froze at the horrific sight of the Red Ninja being stabbed in the back by the Dreaded Pink Ninja! The shock was her undoing as the Pink Ninja accurately hurled its dagger, killing the White Ninja.

Pink ran to the physics problem, finished it, then quickly grabbed the bow and remaining arrows from Red and vanished down the hallway, leaving two confused opponents who recovered after a minute and could move, but were blocked from challenges for three minutes. No one else came to that area, giving Pink points for the kills and a solo challenge. The former Red Ninja daringly began using sign language, an easy way to give up your identity. Not-Algernon scored two points guessing the finger wiggler was Bork. Bork last a point guessing the other ninja was Onyx. The message was simple. "Pink has to die!" The other ninja nodded their agreement and their alliance was formed.

Two hours and twelve challenges later, Pink had racked up another seventeen kills without dying. The alliance to take them down was dissolved at the first disagreement over loot, as all alliances were. A quick round of rock/paper/scissors gave not-Bork the katana, highly valued for its ability to kill six times before deactivating. His partner got the beanbag, good for only one kill, like most weapons. A moment later, not-Bork was hit in the back of the head with the beanbag and his ex-partner ran off with the katana.

Pink finally went down when the White Ninja and two black ninjas got the drop on them when a door opened, exposing them to each other. Pink took down the two black ninjas with quick shots, but couldn't run before White nailed them with a javelin. White got little time to celebrate as a fearsome robot glided into the room, its single glowing eye ignoring the dead ninjas and focusing on White.

"Kill the Humanoid! Kill the Intruder!"

White turned and ran, taking one hit to the back but surviving the shocking encounter. The three dead ninjas recovered and raced away in different directions. That was the first encounter with the robots and began a new phase of the game. A hit to a robot would stun them for 30 seconds, giving a quick ninja time to run. Being caught where the robot could see a ninja was almost always death. It helped that the robots were slow and liked to announce themselves, but completing challenges became harder and harder.

But these were experienced ninjas who loved a challenge. They persevered and continued to score points in challenges and by killing each other. The Red, White, and Blue ninjas appeared more regularly. Blue's advantage was always getting an extra use from a weapon before it deactivated. Weapons became common and the ninja fought back against the nefarious robots. Three hits within 10 seconds destroyed a robot's upper body and the lower part would flee into the maze. Victory often preceded the after-battle betrayals common among humans. With the robot threat taken care of, the ninja returned to completing challenges and scoring hits on each other. 

The final challenge occurred one hour before the day's ending. Five black ninjas found themselves in the gaming theatre. To either side were huge buffets of their favorite foods and in front of them was a large screen and five controllers with VR helmets. They heard the opening jingle of the theme song to Run, Run, Ramona. The victory condition was all five players making it to the cheese and chocolate shop five levels above them. Veterans of many RRR runs, they immediately saw the changes. Between each layer were previously hidden levels complete with air ducts, pipes, and service corridors. Monsters could be avoided, although new threats would be found. They dove into the previously unreleased add-on to the game, wondering which of them had stolen it.

The first run ended a minute later when not-Onyx died to a corrosive slime that fell from an air vent onto his head. The game immediately reset and the run started over. This time, by unspoken agreement, teamwork was paramount. They slowly worked their way up the levels, delving into the new areas and using them as alternate routes. On their seventh run and with three minutes left, they managed to get the whole team into Chez Bleusnout, made their guesses as to each other, and relaxed.

They shouldn't have relaxed, not with a minute left. The click of a safety being thumbed off alerted them to the new threat. Standing in the doorway was the Dreaded Pink Ninja and Security Roomba packing twin N-Strike Mega Mastodon Blasters. The Pink Ninja was armed with a Nerfomatic CS Elite Titan Mega Blaster. There would be no dodging the massive firepower of either gun. The Pink Ninja savored the moment. Not-Bork counted six ninjas and started to have a nervous breakdown. Not-Onyx lifted up the bowl of cheese dip above his head, making clear a threat to destroy the tasty food. The Pink Ninja shrugged, defeated. The clock struck midnite, and Silent Ninja Day was over.

The Pink Ninja removed his mask. "Hi, I'm back."

Bork rallied and joined the others as they surged forward, hugging their long-lost brother. There were tears, smiles, and many questions they wanted answered, but for now, it was enough to huddle together and be happy that he was back.