163 Downtime (Part 1)

Zeris's Cottage, Lounge Room

A frosty wave of chilled air escapes as Sky opens the double-sided fridge.

"Looks like we got some stuff to choose from. And there's a lot too," cheerfully says Sky, retrieving containers of Tupperware and handing them to Ember and Forest behind her. "Chicken, potatoes, carrots, steak, rice, meatloaf, he's prepared a lot."

"More like these are his leftovers, and he couldn't be asked to cook again tonight," says Forest, examining a container of diced steak. "But I can't remember the last time I had steak."

"Same," says Ember, looking at the fridge packed with food. "This doesn't feel right at all."

"Why doesn't it?" asks Sky, having extracted a dozen or so containers before closing the fridge again. "He gave us permission to have this food. There's nothing wrong with what we're doing."

"That's not it," says Hunter, observing Sky as she searches through the cabinets for dishes to use. "Don't you feel like… you're out of place?"

"Hmmm, I guess… it's not like this is our cottage. But Zeris said we'll live here for at least the next few weeks, so try not to worry. Those feelings will go away soon."

Watching Sky set four plates down on the kitchen island beside the food, Ember and Forest awkwardly observe Sky shuffle to her next task.

"Hazel, would you like some? I got you a plate!" asks Sky, searching the drawers for silverware while Hazel sits on the couch.

"Yeah, I just want to relax for a second. Thanks, Sky."

"Okay. Forest, Ember, you guys can go ahead and heat up some food, help yourselves," says Sky, placing some forks and knives beside the dishes. "I want to see what else he has around here."

Opening a giant, human-sized cabinet with snacks from top to bottom, Sky smiles, "There you are."

Grabbing some large bags of chips, she walks back over to the island and plops them down, "These will go well with the food."

Stopping momentarily and looking at Ember and Forest, who haven't moved, Sky asks, "Are you guys okay? Is something wrong?"

"Um… what do you mean by 'heat our food up'?" asks Forest.

"We don't have a fire," says Ember, turning the Tupperware filled with meatloaf in her hand. "What is this food called again? And are these containers edible? What are we supposed to do with them?"

"Oh," mumbles Sky, taking a moment to gather her thoughts. "Have you guys never seen those containers before?"

They both shake their heads, and Sky walks over and picks up a fork.

"What about this? Do you know what this is called?"

They shake their heads again, and Sky slowly places the fork back on the kitchen island.

"I'm sorry–"

"It's not your fault, Sky," interrupts Hazel, standing up from the couch and joining the rest. "When Zeris brought me here, he mentioned that our memories weren't entirely erased."

Those words piquing the interest of the others, Hazel continues, "It's more like we've just forgotten who we are. Our names, who we knew, what we've been through… those kinds of things. If they actually went through with wiping our memories, we would all be like robots, but clearly, we aren't. Parts of who we are are still with us, our likes, dislikes, personalities… which means to some extent, our pasts still play a significant role in who we are today, even though we don't remember them."

Hazel holds up a fork, "This is called a fork. To Sky, she probably used forks every day before the trials, so she knows that it's a tool meant to help people eat. But for you two, you've never seen a fork or how it's used, so you have no idea what it is."

Setting the fork back down, Hazel glances at Sky as she takes the lid off a food container, "Don't apologize for things out of your control. That's something I've learned to accept recently. We all come from different pasts, lives that we were born into without any say. But we're all here together now, and I don't know about you guys, but I got your backs."

"Right. I don't know what my name was before, but that doesn't matter. It's Sky now. These trials might've stripped our pasts away from us, but they also brought us all to the same place," says Sky, smiling at Ember and Forest. "The four of us beat the first stage together, and now, I trust you all with my life."

After a few seconds of warm silence, Ember embarrassingly chuckles, "You both are being so cliche right now. I only asked what this was called…"

"It's meatloaf. It's really good, especially with barbecue sauce if Zeris has any," says Sky.

Hazel confirms, walking over to Forest and grabbing a container of miniature carrots, "And the plastic containers are not edible. It might be hard to see because the lid is the same color as the container, but if you just place your fingers under the top lid…"

Forest and Ember do as Hazel demonstrates, and their lids pop off easily. 

"Oh, that's it?" asks Forest.

"Yep. And now…" Hazel reaches over and grabs three forks. "Grab a plate and use your fork to put as much food on the plate as you want."

While Hazel and Sky walked Ember and Forest through how to dish themselves some leftovers and heat their food in the microwave, they were all in good spirits. One by one, they all took a seat on the couches to enjoy their food. Sky also popped open a few bags of chips and grabbed the remote.

"You guys know what a TV is?" asks Sky, tossing a potato chip in her mouth and gesturing the remote toward the mounted screen.

Ember shakes her head and says, "It looks like the thing we saw in the maze."

"Yeah, but this one is probably different," says Sky as she presses the power button. 

The television screen lights up, and the title 'Channel 2' shows up for a second before the running program is rendered. On the screen, a baseball game appears with an angle showing the pitcher changing his grip on the baseball behind his back, the batter tapping his bat against the home plate, and the squatted catcher pointing his finger down to the ground. Beneath them is a long stretch of visual information related to the game's current state, and at the top of the screen are the words: 'Skyball World Championships'.

Turning up the volume, Sky begins to explain, "On the TV, we're able to watch all kinds of stuff. This is–"

"Baseball," says Forest, tilting his head as he watches. "He's about to throw a fastball."

The pitcher briefly lifts his leg and lunges forward, firing the ball into the catcher's glove as the batter swings and misses. 

"I've played this game before. Not skyball. Just baseball," says Forest, turning to Ember. "Have you?"

Ember shakes her head, "No. I don't think so."

Forest focuses on the batter readying himself for the next pitch, "Well, it's pretty different here than where they're playing. It's all kind of coming back to me now that I'm looking at it. They must be in Opuree, the skyland nation."

As the pitcher winds up and throws a curveball, it smacks against the swinging bat and rockets into the sky. Dropping the bat behind him, the batter takes off toward first. The screen suddenly splits and starts following two different things simultaneously: the batter and the ball.

Running toward the island's edge, the batter's shoes light up before he leaps off. Flying through the air toward a neighboring floating island slightly higher in elevation, the batter's eyes dart toward where the ball travels before he safely lands. This tiny island is tilted, and after smoothly weaving through a few uphill obstacles, the batter reaches an angled platform and plants his feet on it. Leaping into the sky again to the next highest island, he lands on it and dashes along the flat surface to first base as quickly as possible.

Meanwhile, the ball he struck soars through the air past various floating islands before one of the outfield players leaps up from another mountain to catch it. Falling back down through the air, he throws the ball to a nearby teammate at the edge of their island. As his teammate catches the ball, he quickly places one foot on the vertical edge of the island. He pushes himself off, barreling toward the island where first base is.

Once close enough, he throws the ball to his first base teammate, who catches it, but the batter is already deemed safe by the nearby umpire. 

"That was cool as hell," says Ember with a grin. "There's a place in this world with floating islands?"

"Yeah. Skyball is super popular in Opuree, a country with thousands of different floating islands. There are always new fields every year for the championships."

"How do you know all this? It seemed earlier like you didn't have access to a TV," says Hazel.

"I'm not sure; I just know this stuff," says Forest, taking a bite of chicken and rice from his plate.

Just then, a slight ring emanates from the door before it slides open. Walking in, Alex quickly realizes that there are still other people, all of whom staring directly at him, and he immediately tries to leave. 

"You should stay," says Ember, and Alex stops under the doorframe. Slightly turning around, Alex looks at the four of them relaxing on the couch, unsure what to do.