The Elemental Contestant (Running Man Animation Fanfiction) [Book 4]

Chapter 11: Team Change Battle

The Red team, which consisted of Liu, whose lilac eyes consisted of the embers of determination, Lonky, who seemed as if he had accepted his fate, Popo, who, unlike Lonky, still seemed to deny the fact that he was placed on Liu's team, and finally Pala, who still seemed rather disoriented and clutching to his staff protectively, faced the Blue team, who smirked, anticipating to win the match.

Sabriye, however, was seen sitting on her own pod, cross-legged, with her clenched fist on her chin and a bored expression. Apparently, she was the only one on the Blue team not feeling the determination or the excitement at the moment. "Looks like this game is over already," Gai remarked smugly with a shrug.

Liu then retorted, "Hey, you can't be sure till the very end. Right, guys?" However, none of his members seemed to agree with him. Little did he know that Sabriye was silently agreeing with him. Sabriye, as usual, tuned out the host's and the robots' voices, already knowing the rules of the game, until the said game began.

So far, it was all merely red and blue balls being thrown around, tracking down Liu and the said grasshopper being peeved with his team members, until the other contestants sensed the dark, malicious aura that surrounded Pala from the very beginning with their very own eyes. It all then turned into running away from Pala in terror.

Popo then used this situation as an excuse for Kuga to eliminate Liu, to which Liu felt frustrated about and Sabriye deadpanned at. Kuga supposedly complied and threw a ball, which was meant for Pala and not for Liu. The members of the blue team threw balls at Pala, but their efforts were all in vain as the said possessed deer either dodged or counter-attacked.

Kuga then told the others that Pala had the exact same vibes that the serial abductor, Kugaman, gave off. Liu whispered to everyone else to flee from the scene on the count of three. However, Pala was unbelievably swift for someone who moves as slow as him. Kuga then resorted to using his power, the Super Paw, against a pillar behind Pala, which collapsed on him.

"We have to find out why Pala's acting that way," Miyo spoke up. Sabriye looked at her with a grim frown as she knew the answer to that question. Popo then responded, "We don't have the luxury to do that! We could get hurt." Liu then alerted the rest of the contestants of Pala's reappearance as the aura around him grew even more menacing.

Eventually, the contestants found Lonky, who started arguing with Popo for startling him. As Liu attempted to break the fight, Lonky noticed what Popo noticed minutes ago and requested that Kuga should eliminate Liu right then and there, much to the other contestants' displeasure, especially Popo who shouted at him, "Lonky, ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR MIND?! Do you really want to do this now?!"

The members of the blue team and the leader of the red team looked at him weirdly, but knew better than to mention what he said minutes ago. Lonky then protested, "Why not? A game's a game, right?" Gai then shook his head in displeasure, remarking, "You two fools are exactly alike." Lonky and Popo then shouted, "We're WHAT?!"

Lonky scoffed and said, "Couldn't be more different. Unlike him, I'm royalty and much taller too." In response to that, Popo growled, "Let's not talk about height here!" Abruptly, the contestants rapidly turned around and cautiously looked at their surroundings, as if they had heard something suspicious - which they did. Pala then appeared before the other contestants.

It went from Kuga trying to land a punch to trying to separate him from the staff, once Liu realised that it was the source. Along the way, Pala kept switching teams and the robot announcing the team changes had to switch the colours in seconds, making Sabriye think that it was going to malfunction.

Tired from throwing their balls at him, they panted for breath, while Miyo spoke up, "There's gotta be a better way to make him stop." Liu agreed and added, "If only we could stop him from moving." He then heard, "I know!" and turned to the source. Popo then summoned his tarot cards and fused them into a seemingly powerful ice tarot card to freeze Pala in place, but it turned out to be a thin ice wall, which Pala destroyed and knocked Popo out easily.