Elimination Exit

[Blink]

Blink woke up to a bright light. She groaned as a blazing gleam passed through her eyelids when she opened them, causing her to turn her head to the side. She noticed she was laying on a bed. The room itself was white, which led her to assume she was in a hospital bed. As he green eyes adjusted, it became a little easier to identify what had happened. She sat up in the thin bed, looking around at what appeared to be a medical lab. There were scientists running around, but most of them weren't paying attention to her. Only one of them was near her, actively typing away at a computer right by her bed. She looked over at the person, squinting her eyes to try and identify them.

"Please stay still," came a familiar voice. She wasn't sure why it was familiar, but it made her ears twitch. "I'm almost done."

She didn't listen to the voice, instead actively moving to try and see around the computer. Her emerald eyes bulged wide in surprise as she immediately recognized the worker that was operating the terminal. It was the same Native American-looking woman that she had spoke to outside of the sign up tent at the very beginning of this adventure. The woman had guided her to the right line, setting her on this path that led her into this crazy game. "You!" She squeaked aloud, finding her voice. She realized how different it felt to talk when she was hydrated, vice starving for clean water out in the Abyss.

"It's good to see you again," the woman said with a smile. "How do you feel? Can you stand?"

For the first time, Claire looked down at her limbs, as if wanting to ensure they were all there. It seemed like a silly thing to want to verify, but in her last few moments of the game she could clearly remember having one less arm. But for now, it appeared, all of her fingers worked how they were supposed. She moved her bare feet over the floor and put some weight on them, standing up with relative ease. It felt good to stand on clean tile floor for a change. She was already wearing her green and yellow cloak, but didn't have trademark slip-on shoes. Those were located at the foot of the bed, so she promptly put them on. "Looks like everything works," she said, relieved.

"What about your memory?" The familiar woman asked. "Can you remember everything that happened in the game?"

Blink thought back. The first thing she remembered was laying her eyes on that Super Barbie doll. It was a warm memory...it reminded her of how comfortable she felt between battles because of that silly toy. She recalled meeting Violet, the experienced lavender-topped woman. She remembered losing Violet very quickly afterwards, sending her in a downward spiral. There was the big man; Ganondorf, whom spoke very little but showed incredibly loyalty even in his injured state. She recalled her battles; killing the green-haired boy in the very beginning and winning the duel at the lighthouse. But the last thing she could remember was taking on the man with the giant gun. He had blew her arm off and sent the most excruciating pain through her body. Her hand touched the arm as if to verify it was still there. The last thing she remembered was stabbing that man through a portal with her charred bane, just before he wiped her from oblivion. It was a satisfying but painful memory.

"Yes," she finally answered. "My memory is fine. I remember...everything about Dante's Abyss. Even the parts I wished I didn't."

"You did good," the woman said, trying to comfort her. "You got 15th place out of 46. That's pretty far for somebody brand new around here."

Blink nodded. It did feel good to have made it so far, even though she felt a little unfulfilled. Outside of killing someone already half-dead, she hadn't gotten to do a whole lot. She hadn't fought her way to the top 15. She had just survived that long. It was nice to have done so well, but...she knew that she was going to need to do better if she was going to ever get home.

"Here are your personal effects," the woman offered her a box. Blink squinted. She hadn't brought anything with her.

"Uh..." she opened the cardboard container to see what was inside. There were two mechanical objects waiting for her. One was a rectangular device that looked like something akin to a phone from her old world. The other was a wrist watch with a glowing screen. Between them was a sheet of paper that had two words on it. Blink's eyes went wide again at the sight of the name on it.

Claire Ferguson. Coruscant.

Blink quickly snatched the box from the woman's hand. How could this have her real name on it? She hadn't told anybody anything about who she was or where she came from. The Indian woman looked confused at the girl's react, but she didn't ask any personal questions. She just sat back in her chair. "Well, from here, you can go to the viewing area to watch the finale that's coming up. Or you can head out back to one of the verses."

Her mind was still on the piece of paper. It was obviously something left for her. "What is Coruscant?"

"Really?" the woman asked in disbelief. "Wow, you really are new around here, huh? It's one of the verses. It's like, the largest city in the omniverse.

"I want to go there."

"Alright, well, come this way..."

Blink got up to follow the woman that had processed her out of the game. She looked around to see some of the other contestants waking up from their deep sleep; one of them she noted to be the big man known as Ganondorf. She had no intention of sticking around to say goodbye to him, but she was happy to see that he was okay even after what must have been his elimination.

As Ms. Dante's Abyss Helper walked Blink out into a plain room, the pink mutant considered what she was doing. She still had no idea why she was here in the Omniverse. She also didn't know where to go. But somebody here knew her real name and wanted her to go this Coruscant place. It was a good enough way to start her adventures here.

She was in a room for a handful of portals. The portals looked different then the ones she made. There were small, like glowing blobs of liquid. Her amazon-looking friend stopped her in front of one. "This is Coruscant," she told Blink. "I'll be heading that way too, once this is all over. I hope to see you there. It was nice to meet you."

You too.

Blink shook the girl's head. As she walked off, Blink took a moment to reflect before walking into the portal. She was no longer in a game. She was now in real life, regardless of how crazy this new place seemed. Jumping through this portal into the wide open Omniverse was scarier then playing this game of life or death. But she had to...she had to get answers. She had to find her purpose and learn about her new surroundings. She felt cut off from her friends back home and all she wanted was to find something familiar. Something that made her comfortable. She felt, as she had once upon a time, exiled from everything she knew.

She took a deep breath and stepped forward, into the only portal she was ever scared to enter.