The Ice Shadow (Discontinued)

Chapter Twenty-nine

"Begin!"

The gate in front of Team Animal slid open with loud screeching, and Mabel instantly ran forward alongside Jade and Nate. This was their third and final scrimmage for the Barotopla Tournament before the ice mages' trial tomorrow. It was more of a strategic game type called Complex. Within a large maze were three doors, and each door held a different challenge. The first team who beat the three challenges wins. Teams usually split up into twos or threes, but because the team only had three people and their pets to begin with, they decided to stick together. Plus, if one of them encountered the other team alone, they would easily be eliminated and sent back to the start, erasing all their progress made in the labyrinth unless they got past a door, which acts as a checkpoint.

The three ice mages jogged through the maze, zigzagging and using their best judgement to choose which way they should go at an intersection. Mabel briefly brushed her hand across the icy wall as if she could somehow feel where the first door was. After several turns later, Nate slowed to a stop, halting the group.

"Maybe we should split up," he suggested. "I know it's risky to possibly run into the others and be outnumbered, but once one of us passes the team teleporting line we'll all be together again to help with the challenge."

"I'll stay with you, Nate!" Jade volunteered a second later eagerly. "Mabel, you go that way" - she gestured to the left - "and we'll go this way."

"Is that alright with you, Mabel?" Nate asked.

Mabel nodded. "I still have Chill with me; we'll be fine."

Nate responded silently with a nod, and then the team split.

Mabel and Chill walked quietly between the icy walls of the maze, checking each passage to see if a door was at the end of it before randomly choosing one. The snow crunched beneath her feet as Mabel hesitantly turned to the right, but soon stopped abruptly as another mage appeared at the end of the passage behind a wall. The enemy ice mage attacked a second later, sending a series of shards toward Mabel and Chill.

But Mabel was quick enough to summon her own ice wall to shield her before either she or Chill could get hurt. She then continued to punch the wall, causing pieces of it to dislodge from the sturdy defense and fly toward the mage and her pet turtle. As their opponents dodged the ice, Chill ran ahead, gaining speed with each step. The rabbit then tucked into herself, and she rolled headfirst straight into the mage. With her off-balance, Mabel hurried forward, summoning a whirlwind of ice and snow as the angered turtle now fought with Chill. Throwing the whirlwind forward, Mabel watched the mass collapse onto the mage, and after a slice with another blow of ice, the ice mage disappeared in a rain of sparkles. Instinctively, Mabel turned around to help Chill finish off the turtle, and she did just that after sending a wave of snow crash on the turtle from behind. Only the caving in of a hole signified the turtle was eliminated.

Her victory was short-lived, however, as an ice shard narrowly missed Mabel. Turning around, she was horrified to see the two other mages and their pets.

"Shoot," she whispered. She and Chill were easily outnumbered.

The mages were preparing to send a joined attack toward her and Chill, summoning a scary wall of ice. Mabel seemed frozen by fear as she watched the wall surged toward her, thick enough that she couldn't see any hint of her opponents. Her vision faded to black, but she realized that the wall was still several feet away.

The next thing she knew, Jade and Nate were standing in front of her, smiling.

"We found the first door!" Jade announced proudly.

Mabel shook her head to get her bearings before looking around. They were standing in a passage with a line a few feet away; Mabel assumed that must have been what caused her and Chill to come here - the team teleporting line. The passage branched off in two directions, both with one door, one marked with a red line on the floor and the other marked with a blue line. Mabel recalled hearing Master Baltho explain how there would be one door for each team, but it would do the same purpose. If you were on the blue team and tried to go to the red team's door, it would be line you walked right into an invisible wall, and vice versa.