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

Chapter 18: Gaining Ground

The game that the members of the Running Man Team had all been waiting for had finally commenced. Thus far, the events that had transpired in the episode had transpired in the exact same way as in the game. At first, Lonky, Popo, Pala and Gai's brother were eliminated by the DV7s. However, the Running Man Team rose back up with the perfect plan.

It was the same plan that Liu had came up with once he realised the secret behind the zone numbers, but Sabriye made some adjustments. The plan was to hold onto DV2's emblem until Liu tested out his theory, which is that the zone numbers represent the levels of gravity in each zone when either team takes over a certain zone.

Then, they would lure the remaining members of the DV7 Team to Zone 7 before the Running Man Team tags the emblem into the zone's pedestal. Charming Gold caught onto that pretty quick and sent the remaining DV7 members to chase after Liu, who had the emblem in his hand. Liu passed it to Kuga, Kuga passed it to Miyo and Miyo passed it to Kuga again.

The DV7 members chased after them as they passed the emblem to one another, However, little did they know that the emblem that Liu, Kuga and Miyo were passing around was actually a decoy, a fake. The remaining members of both the Running Man Team and the DV7 Team heard a shrill whistle from the pedestal.

They turned to Sabriye, who was smirking and spinning the emblem around with her finger as she calmly walked towards the pedestal, about to tag it in. The eyes of the members of the DV7 Team widened in horror as they ran to snatch the emblem out of her hands, but it was too late - the emblem was already tagged in and the zone was taken over.

The gravity became seven times the original and all of the DV7s fell to their knees, unable to resist the pull on them. Liu praised Sabriye for the trick up her sleeves, to which the latter smirked in response. The remaining members of the Running Man Team eliminated them and took over their zones, ending up with the score of 0 to 6 and taking the lead.

Finally, the only DV7 member left in the game was their dear friend, Gai. Miyo removed the mask slowly and Sabriye noticed the malicious red iris in his eyes return to his usual hazelnut brown. That was when he started to have what seemed like a seizure, worrying them, especially Miyo. It was also then when they all heard a robotic voice, "Game suspended. Game suspended."

Liu noticed the mask Gai wore when he was brainwashed on the ground. Picking it up, he examined it, along with Sabriye using her Scanning Eye, and stored it away into his pocket. Meanwhile, Miyo could only watch Gai seize up mournfully, wanting to comfort him. Sabriye could tell that as she saw the pain in her eyes.

However, Kuga and Sabriye noticed the red in Gai's eyes reappear, while Miyo was unaware. That was indeed a warning sign. "MIYO! GET AWAY! NOW!" Kuga yelled, causing Miyo to look up at him and look back at Gai, noticing why Kuga yelled with such alarm. However, before Gai could attack her, Sabriye was prepared.

She transformed into Grass and used her vines to pull Miyo out of the way and to where she and the boys were standing. Grass caught her by her waist and quickly let go of her, asking with worry laced in her voice, "He didn't hurt you, did he?" Miyo could only shake her head, her voice trapped in her throat.

Gai pounced on them, but Liu, Kuga, Miyo and Sabriye scattered from the spot, dodging his attack. Gai then chased after Liu and threw a fist. However, it was blocked by a bandaged paw - Kuga's bandaged paw. Gai then threw more punches, which Kuga dodged. Kuga then grabbed Gai by his sides and shouted at him to stop.

However, it was all in vain as he kicked Kuga in the chest and escaped from Kuga's grasp, leaving the latter to hold his chest in pain. The female members of the Running Man Team rushed to Liu's aid as Miyo asked, "How come... Gai is still fighting? He's not wearing his mask." Sabriye knew why.

However, before she could say anything, Liu shot a bullet in Gai's direction, which he dodged, gaining Kuga's attention. "Kuga, get over here!" Liu ordered, to which he complied. "He's not snapping out of it. Something's wrong!" Sabriye then explained, her eyes fixed on Gai, "That's because this is not really Gai." Liu, Kuga and Miyo looked at her in confusion.

Sabriye clarified, "Literally speaking, of course, this is Gai. But, he's not the Gai we all know. This is DVX!" Miyo slowly uttered, "DVX?" Sabriye, again, explained further, not exactly answering the question at the start of her explanation, "The Gai we all know is different. He takes care of his brothers, he cares about all of us, he loves Miyo. But DVX does none of those. He is Gai's mind-controlled self."

Liu, Kuga and Miyo looked back at Gai, or rather DVX, as Sabriye deemed him to be. Sabriye added on to her elaboration, "Gai is still in there. He just doesn't have the strength. Sure, his strength is the same as DVX, physically, but he doesn't have the mental and emotional strength to break free. He doesn't have the strength to fight back DVX."

Liu, Kuga and Miyo then knew what she meant by that as they watched DVX walk towards them. Miyo immediately started pleading, "Come on! Come on, Gai. Don't fight us anymore! Please come back to us! Gai!" Those words caused him to stop walking and hold his head in pain. Noticing this, Liu realised that Gai had heard Miyo's voice and relayed that message to her.

However, before they could do anything else, a tall figure, a woman, appeared before and looked directly at Liu, Kuga, Miyo and Sabriye. Sabriye immediately felt a pang in her chest, knowing who the figure was. DVX took notice of the figure and started attacking her relentlessly, despite the team's efforts to hold him back.

However, when it came to Miyo, DVX stopped for a moment, indicating that Gai heard her again and had started trying to break free. Unfortunately, it wasn't enough as DVX slammed Miyo into a nearby pillar, much to Liu, Kuga and Sabriye's horror. That was when the mysterious woman started chasing after Liu.

Meanwhile, Miyo entered DVX's mind and found Gai. She tried to save him from the shadows engulfing him, but those shadows trapped her and started pulling her deeper into Gai's mind. Seeing his beloved in danger was enough for Gai to break free from the shadows and save Miyo. Miyo noticed her saviour smile at her and pulled herself and Gai out into reality.

They found each other hugging the other as they each leaned into the hug. Gai immediately made a flirty comment, "Can, um... I kiss ya?" That caused Miyo to perk up and push herself away from the hug, resulting in slamming Gai into another nearby pillar. Gai noticed Kuga, who smiled and, as Gai whispered an apology, lightly punched him in the arm.

Gai took notice of Sabriye, who also had a smile, but didn't take notice of the slightest bit of tears in her eyes. However, the sentimental moment was ruined when they were startled by Liu's cries for help. Sabriye then witness it all happen, from Mr Suitcase's destruction to the reveal of the woman's true identity, which was none other than Shan, Liu's older sister.

The reveal was rather shocking, to say the least. Liu rushed to his sister's aid, but was slapped and thrown to the side at the same time, causing him to drop the mask that was in his pocket. Shan, or rather DV1, walked towards Liu, seeming like she was about to attack Liu, resulting in Kuga, Miyo and Gai taking a protective stance in front of Liu, while Sabriye helped him rise to his feet.

However, as she extended her hand, she picked up DVX's mask, causing that realisation to dawn on Kuga, Miyo and Gai. The hollow, pitch black portal appeared beneath DV1's feet, preparing to send her back to where she came from. Liu desperately didn't want her to leave and tried to reach out to her, despite Kuga's attempt to hold him back.

It was too late - DV1 was already sucked into the portal and sent back to Charming Gold's tower, much to Liu's dismay as he screamed, "SISTER!" Sabriye, with a solemn frown, slowly walked over to Liu, squatted down next to her and placed a hand on his shoulder. Liu looked up at her with teary eyes and quickly pulled her into an embrace, crying onto her shoulder.

Under normal circumstances, Sabriye would've blushed madly, freaking out internally that a boy was hugging her. She knew that she was just like Izuku Midoriya in this case. Instead, she returned the hug, not caring in the slightest about the tear stains on her jacket. The others could only watch this with solemn frowns.

The members stayed like that, ignoring the cheers from the spectators.
______________________________________

A/N: Hey, guys. Back with another chapter. I know I haven't been updating the past few days, sorry about that. I've been busy with online classes. But I'm sure I'll be able to update tomorrow. Anyways, thanks for reading this, I hope you guys liked it, stay tuned for more updates and I'll see you in the next chapter. Bye. 👋🏼