Waking up the Saturday morning I head downstairs, reflecting on the events that happened last night between the gunman and the bow and arrow guy. I grab a bowl and pour myself cereal. I think back to the incident last night wondering who the guy with the bow and arrow was. I reflect back on the training I had to endure for the table tennis tournament even though there wasn't a lot to do. Glancing at my phone I see that it was almost 10 minutes to 10 AM and I was going to be late for the tournament.
"Oh man, I better leave now!" I exclaim to myself as I put on my shoes and gulp my bowl of cereal, running quickly out the door.
Walking out of my apartment, I exit the lobby of my complex heading towards my car. As I enter the Yaris, I think about today's events wondering if my opponent Lionel is actually going to show up. Taking my keys out of my pocket, I start the engine and turn on the radio. As I back out of the driveway, I see an old man reading the newspaper. On the front page it read, "Robin Hood stops gunman on the roof." During the drive, I remember Tristan telling Gabriel about a dream he had about an Egyptian Warrior.
"Could this be one of the people Gabriel was referring to?" I ask myself as I abruptly hit the brakes of my car, almost running a red light.
During the drive, I reflect back on how I had prepared for the tournament. I think back to me practicing my swings. I could still hear the ping pong ball bouncing off the wall in my head. I remember practicing my serves in the living the room as my focus goes back to the road. The drive took me almost 10 minutes as I reach the packed parking lot to Wheeling Tech High School. Finding a parking spot, I run inside and head towards the entrance way of the gym where, I see limo pull up by the steps. I see a man with long brown hair and a beard groomed like my dad. From the looks of it, he seemed dressed for a board meeting rather than a table tennis tournament. I walk towards the man and tap him on the shoulder.
"Hi, my name is James." I say to the man as I put my hand out for a handshake.
"I know who you are. We talked on phone a couple of days ago." The man says smacking my hand away.
"Hey man, I'm just trying to be polite. There is no need for any negativity." I say.
"If you must know who I am. My name is Lionel Reaper." He says as he enters the gym.
As Lionel walks inside, I turn to his limo as it drives away. I start to wonder why a guy like him would ever want to run for Congress. I head inside the gymnasium and there I see eight ping pong tables lined up next to each other. Tristan and I are then handed sheet of paper, with the bracket of the table tennis tournament. In each of the spaces, I could see all competitors listed. Tristan and I then see our names in the first and fourth slots respectively. As the clock hits 10 a.m Tristan begins twirling his ping pong paddle like a ninja. I head towards the stage taking the microphone as everyone's attention turns towards the front of the gymnasium.
"Hello everyone, I would like to welcome everyone today to our first annual table tennis tournament here at Wheeling Tech High. I also like to take this opportunity to wish all the competitors good luck. Finally, the winner of the tournament will get two free tickets to WWE Extreme Rules where they will get a free VIP tour backstage by none other than WWE Hall of Famer Shawn Michaels. Let the games begin!" I exclaim.
Everyone starts clapping as I step off the stage. Tristan walks toward me as we hi-five each other. Tristan and I then turn towards the eight empty ping pong tables as the fourteen competitors abruptly begin warming up for their respective matches. Tristan and I stare down the other competitors as two of them stare back at us. I then turn to Lionel who is seen talking to one of the players.
"Hey James, you okay?" He asks me as I stare at Lionel suspiciously.
"Yeah I'm okay. Let do this." I answer.
Tristan then, taps me on the shoulder as he points to the concessions stand. Looking from afar we see a familiar face. To our shock we see Jeff grabbing a beer getting ready to enjoy the tournament.
"How many do you think he'll have?" I quietly ask Tristan.
"Not sure, but I might as well start keeping count." Tristan answers as Jeff takes his first sip of beer.
Tristan and I walk over to the front of the gym as we see a huge television screen. There, the two of us see the matchups for the preliminaries. Underneath our names we see our opponents for the matches.
The tournament kicks off as all of us go to our respective tables. In my first match, I'm up against a Korean guy. As the Korean guy serves the ball and spikes it across the table, I quickly spike it back to his side as the ball slightly hits the edge his paddle giving me the point. The Korean guy picks up the ping pong ball ready serve the ball again. I ready myself trying to sense where he intends to serve it. Throwing the ball up in the air he spikes the ping pong ball again, but this time to the left side of the of table. I lunge myself to the left smacking the ball back across the table, but my opponent spikes it again. Luckily the ball bounces off the table and deflects off my paddle bouncing off the table to other side. The match goes back and forth with two of us going for point for point. The audience around our table, pull out their phones streaming my match live on Facebook. With the score tied at 20 a piece, It is my serve. Bouncing the ball on the table I hit the ball, I place a heavy backspin to the ping pong ball. The Korean guy hits the ball back across the table but, I hit the ball gently. The Korean guy lunges forward towards the table, but, is unable to reach it in time as the ball bounces twice. The Korean guy gets back up and readies himself for the game point.
"Gamepoint." I say as I bounce the ball on the table and spike it across the table.
The Korean guy swings and misses as the ball bounces of the table and hits the wall. Everyone starts applauding and cheering as I had just won my first matchs. I walk across the table extending my hand to the opponent and as a sign of good sportsmanship. The Korean guy does the same as we shake hands. Jeff on the other side was holding a beer toasting to a good match. I turn around and see Tristan holding up two fingers.
Looking at the bracket I see that already that 3 people had already gotten eliminated. Tristian's match is up next. Walking towards his table, I can see him see bouncing up and down like a boxer preparing for his match.
"Number three!" Jeff yells holding a beer and chugging down until there's nothing left.
Tristan walks up to his table and stares at his opponent as he jumps up and down like a boxer. His opponent is a caucasian male in his mid 30's. As the ball is in the Caucasian guy's hand, he serves the ball. Tristan, still bouncing around uses his right hand and spikes it right back to his opponent's side. His opponent dives for the ball, but misses.
"You like that! You like that!" Tristan yells out towards the crowd.
Looking around, I see Lionel talking to three suspicious looking people. I revert my attention back to Tristan's match as he had just scored another point. Something told me that this tournament is going to take a turn for the worst.
YOU ARE READING
The Disciple: First Mission
AcciónA Year after Abaddon's defeat, James decides to run for congress. Standing in the way of James's desire correct to the government, is Lionel Reaper and his followers who try to destroy his campaign. Together with Gabriel, Tristan, an unknown egyptia...
