*+.The Golden Tournament.+*

5. Round 2

Lloyd woke, yawning. Suddenly, there was a loud beep that was heard. "Rise and shine, contestants!", Olunai shouted cheerfully. "Please allow the Ascemondai to guide you to the cafeteria for breakfast! They will enter your rooms after a total of 10 minutes, so I hope you're dressed! We also suggest you get a bag with a swim suit in it!"

Lloyd groaned and got ready, an Ascemondai entering his room right when he was done. "Ah!", Lloyd exclaimed, jumping. Couldn't they have knocked or something?

"Please allow me to guide you to the cafeteria", the Ascemondai said, bowing. Lloyd nodded, following the silver serpent to a vast dining room with buffet tables lining the walls. Every type of breakfast meal was here- except bird related food. He was taken to one of the tables, large and circle shaped with seventeen chairs.

The other ninja and elemental masters- including Wu- were taken to this table as well. "It seems as if they're trying to keep us together as much as possible, doesn't it?", Nya pointed out.

"Yeah", Jay agreed. "If they were plotting something evil, wouldn't they be splitting us up by now?"

Wu nodded. "This gives me all the more reason to believe that Makeyomi is included in this."

"Make-who?", Griffin asked.

"Ah! Right!", Zane exclaimed, "He is the reason we have come here. According to Master Wu, Makeyomi is an old friend of his that disappeared long ago. He was the wisp in the message!"

"Ah, Karlof sees!", Karlof nodded. "You are seeing if you can find friend!"

Wu nodded, taking a sip of some tea that an Ascemondai put down for him. His eyes widened, and he stared at the cup.

"What is it, sensei?", Kai said, jumping up. "Is it poisoned?"

Wu signaled for him to sit down. "My old friend is indeed implanted in the customs here", the old master said. "This is the same exact tea that he made for me before he went missing. A special cherry-mint tea that is meant to soothe the mind, give strength, and boost intelligence."

"Well now we know that whoever is running this sure isn't doing much evil", Nya said, blinking.

"Indeed", Zane inquired. "Either that, or this is a very incompetent villain."

The group at the table laughed. "Did I say something?", Zane asked, confused.

Everybody finished their breakfast, and as soon as their food was taken away, the buzzer blared. "Okay, contestants!", Olunai called, "Prepare yourselves for the next challenge! In this next contest, we will be testing strength and perseverance! You will all be sent to an area where you will find ropes. Everybody will take an individual rope, and pull the block to the other side. Keep in mind, using any short-cuts will get you eliminated instantly. This means gadgets, powers, and using the rest of the team so that you won't need to pull it. Jau will watch you the entire time, and she doesn't miss any detail."

Jau spread her wings, showing who she was. It was the angel from the entrance! So Jau is her name...

Lloyd grinned slightly, staring at her as they were all escorted to an area behind the building. There, in all of its glory, stood a large block. Zane scanned it, immediately going into shock.

"That is 7000-ton steel block!", Karlof nearly shouted, his metal knowledge making a correct accusation of the large cube. Cole stared at the glinting cube in disbelief. How did they even get it here?

"That weighs the same amount of a large cruise ship!", Zane commented, still in shock. "They expect us to pull that!?"

"Well at least we'll have a giant crowd helping us pull this thing", Nya pointed out, motioning to the astonished people behind her. Skylor nodded.

"We aren't in this one alone", Skylor said, her face determined. "All we gotta do is not let up on pulling this block, and none of us will be tossed outta here with a big gold door slammed on our faces."

The group nodded, their faces determined. "Let's pull us a cruise ship, guys!", Kai exclaimed inspiringly.

The numerous contestants all went forward and grabbed a rope. Suddenly, something launched out of the water. One of those feathery dolphin-like creatures leaped out and let out a blare-like noise. Immediately, the pulling of the large block began.

It was difficult, but the pulling seemed to get easier the more they tried. It took everything in Cole to not use his lava arms. In fact, all of the elemental masters had a struggle not using their elements. However, all of them pulled on.

Suddenly, Jau launched down, grabbing a woman out of the crowd. Jau put the tired lady down on the side, where she was rested. Soon, multiple people were being plucked out of the pull, making the task much harder.

Lloyd looked around and noticed a few elemental masters had been taken as well. The line they needed to get to was so close... yet it felt so far away. It took everything in the green ninja to not take a break from pulling the 7000-ton block behind him. Even if there was help, it was still EXTREMELY difficult.

There used to be 40 people pulling this block. Now there was only 21. Now 19. Now 17. Was it just Lloyd, or was this crowd deteriorating much faster than he expected? A whopping 23 people were about to get a golden door slammed on their faces—that's almost a whole dojo-full of people!

Cole nudged Lloyd and nodded toward the line. It was just a few more steps away! They pulled the steel wonder to the line, everybody immediately falling over once the buzzer blared once more.

"Great job, everyone!", Olunai sang from the speakers. "There are multiple confections in your tv/buffet rooms! As this will be the last announcement for today, you will have unlimited hot-tub time until breakfast tomorrow! As for those who will be eliminated; go to the dining room for your treats before you are sent off! It would be heartless to make you pull such a wonder just to NOT treat you, so there are smoothies, and the pool is open! The pool room is just next to the dining table".

Everyone cheered. "I thought we were gonna have to go straight back home!", Tox—one of the many who were pulled out—cheered gratefully.

"I know right!?", said a girl near Tox, already getting ready to charge to the dining room.

"So that's why we needed swimsuits", Mr. Pale, another soon-to-be-kicked-out-contestant added.

"Sorry you guys couldn't stay longer", Nya said, putting a hand on Tox's shoulder.

"Eh, it's fine", Gravis, a yet another expelled contestant said. "Why would I wanna stay in a place that made me pull a nearly-impossible-to-pull steel block?"

Everyone else chuckled, as it was very true. The pulled-out people went over to the cafeteria, waving to the 17 people still left in the tournament.

"C'mon guys, we got a hot tub to get to!", Cole shouted enthusiastically.

.

.

.

.

Oh dang-

1140 words-

O_O