Speed Is King

When the aliens finally invaded earth, it was truly unlike anything even the world's most imaginative minds had thought it would be.

There were no declarations of war. No soul-stirring speeches of not fading away quietly into the night. No viruses to take down the alien's mothership. No collaborative defence by the world's superpowers.

It wasn't even a fight, much less a war.

The world's military didn't get to mobilize a single unit before the world's governments disappeared.

From the aliens' point of view, they were merely terraforming. Earth's best and strongest weren't even mentioned as an issue to be dealt with in the summarized report that the Chairman of the Board of the Gaming Commission was holding in his hands.

Planet: Earth.

Population: 12 billion

Target Population: 12 million

Key Attraction: Automobiles

Recommended Game Mode 1: Survival of the Fittest

Recommended Game Mode 2: Automobile Racing

Recommended Approach:

Step 1

City Levelling - 90% reduction in population.

Duration - 10 minutes

Step 2a

Beast Infestation - 9% reduction in population.

Duration - 7 days

Step 2b

Terraforming - Race courses in major cities.

Duration - 7 days

Step 3

Game Start - Automobile and Supply Drops

Duration - 1 year

"Open up fourteen slots for Adamantium Sponsors, two per continent. Increase resource drops by 5x. Double the Automobile drops and double the rewards for the monthly races and challenges. Triple the number of Hidden Challenges as well." Chairman El'Taras instructed his aide. He turned back to the Board of Directors and smiled his friendly and unassuming smile.

"And finally, raise the grade cap of the monsters to Mythical and the level cap to 399. Proclaim to the Universe. The Games of Earth will be a Battle of Kings!"

Despite all the politics and the misgivings the Directors had for each other, all of their eyes lit up together at the Chairman's words.

Battle of Kings!

The Games on Earth would be EPIC!!

*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

"Hawk, has the'¦ apocalypse begun?" Elliot asked in his mind.

[Affirmative.]

"Time to announcement?"

[Eight minutes and thirty four seconds.]

Elliot nodded as he stared at the familiar looking supply drones that were making their way towards him warily. He had been staring at it for one full minute, wondering if they were yet another attempt by the Game Masters to kill him.

But everything seemed normal.

Well, as normal as two meter giant dome-shaped drones could be anyway.

The five golden drones and the single purple drone landed before him and retracted their domes silently, revealing the precious resources they carried with them.

"Brother, are they the Resource Boxes you mentioned?" Jessica whispered. It was her first time seeing Resource Drones and she was suitably awed.

"Yes, stay here and wait for me. I will go and check if they are safe." Elliot told her before making his way towards the drones.

"Five A-Grade Resource Boxes and a'¦ Triple S-Grade Resource Box? What's this? A bribe to keep my mouth shut?" Elliot grumbled. But despite everything that had happened and all his misgivings about the Game Master's attempt on his life, his lips twitched lightly as he restrained his urge to smile.

"Jennifer was just taken, I shouldn't smile in front of Jessica." Elliot thought.

But his hands and feet were under no compulsion to restrain themselves, so they immediately got to work.

He went for the nearest golden drone and took out its contents. "Food bars enough to last five adults for a month, as usual. 5 mid-range light laser guns and ammunition to last a month. Not too bad. And the Power Up Pack'¦ 5 Speed Pills! Good! Hawk, quantify the effects of the Speed Pills!"

[Each Speed Pill will increase Reflexes by 1 point and Top Running Speed by 10km/h]

"Excellent. The record top speed by Usaino Bolto is 50km/h. If my top speed is half of his, eating two pills will make me almost as fast as him. And in my beast forms, I would be even faster! Not a bad power up at all. Am I able to feed these pills to my beasts, Hawk?"

[Affirmative. Speed Pills can be fed to tamed beasts only, and not summoned beasts.]

"Very good. Jessica and I will take two each, and I'll have to think which beast I should give the last one to." Elliot muttered to himself as he divided the pills and stored the remaining.

"Next box! Food bars again, a defensive portable bunker! Excellent! And the Power Up Pack'¦ 5 more speed pills!? Okay. I guess being fast is good. Jessica and I will be much faster than Usaino Bolto. Weird but interesting. And I can give both Brock and Winter a pill each.

Next box. Water generator! Perfect. 5 grenades. Good! And the Power Up Pack'¦ WHAT? Speed Pills? Ugh'¦ We'll be as fast as cars soon. But'¦ better than nothing. Rex and Ellie gets a portion too. The next one better not be Speed Pills again.

Next. Another Water generator? If this is your idea of a bribe, it isn't working at all." Elliot muttered as he glanced upwards to the sky. "5 mid grade light armor. Good. And'¦ Strength pills! Good, good. Very good. Hawk, one strength pill gives one strength point?"

[Affirmative.]

"Finally the last A-Grade box. Food bars. Fine. 3 flight systems! EXCELLENT! And'¦ 2 dimensional storages! Mighty generous. Good. Good. And finally'¦ Skill pills. Let's see. Consume one pill to receive an active skill called'¦ Ch-charge? Boosts speed by 100% for 1 minute?!" Elliot's jaw dropped.

"ARE YOU KIDDING ME? ARE YOU TRYING TO MAKE ME RUN YOUR STUPID RACES ON FOOT WHILE OTHERS DRIVE YOUR STUPID HYPERCARS?!" Elliot couldn't help himself but roar angrily at the sky!

*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

"What's happening?" Game Master Gerald Justice frowned as he looked at Elliot's angry outburst in confusion. "Why is he so angry at us? What did you give him?"

"I have no idea. The Resource Boxes are fully random. Let's see'¦ Ah. Oh'¦ Hahaha! He is truly lucky. Of all the powerful pills and skills he could have gotten, he got mostly speed-related ones." Game Master Seraphin Burns chuckled as she read the system's report.

"That's'¦ actually not a bad thing. A really good thing, in fact, considering all the speed-related hidden challenges we have in store." Game Master Gerald Justice remarked.

"Indeed. He thinks he got unlucky. But the truth is, he just struck gold. Again." Game Master Seraphin Burns said.

"Oh, scratch that. Definitely not just gold.. Diamond!" Game Master Seraphin Burns corrected herself when she took a peek at the contents of the SSS Resource Box.