Determining Destiny (Book 3 of the Enchanted DVD Player tetralogy)

8 - Roller Blades

Y/n's POV

I wake up with a yawn, and immediately stretch out my arms. The cot was pretty comfortable, to be completely honest. And despite being surrounded by a ton of people, I slept pretty good.

"Lloyd, you up?" I ask. I hop out of my sleeping bag and poke him in the cheek.

His nose twitches. "I am now."

He groans as he sits up, and his hand flies to his ribs. 

"You okay?"

"Yeah, yeah," he says, almost wheezing. "Just slept funny, that's all."

The sound of a gong resonates through the palace lobby, and everybody else is up on their feet almost immediately. 

"All competitors to the arena!" Chen announces. "All competitors to the arena! "All competitors to the--for gosh sakes, people. MOVE IT." 

...

Chen's newest arena is set up as a race track. Some of his servants swing by and place a bunch of skates on the grass in the centre of the arena, and they urge us to pick out a pair.

"Why do we need rollerblades?" Lloyd asks as he ties his. He's sitting on the ground, and frequently has to take breaks from hunching over the skates.

"You know Chen likes to surprise us with spontaneous battles," I say. "Why did you even ask?"

"Why do we all need rollerblades?" Harumi asks.

"Because while Lloyd, master of power, and Camille, master of form, are the ones facing off, the rest of you can choose to help or hurt whoever you please!" Chen answers.

"Aw, come on," Lloyd whispers, his face crumpling.

"Are you sure you're okay?" I ask. 

"Yeah, you don't look too good, buddy," Kai says.

"It's nothing. I just... my back's sore. Yeah, I have a sore back. That's all."

His hand is once again on his ribcage.

"Hate to break it to you, but that's not your back," I say. "What's wrong with your ribs--oh, god. You slept in your binder, didn't you?"

"What? Nooooo. I wouldn't do that. That's... irresponsible. I'm supposed to be the responsible one." 

Lloyd stands with great effort and skates over to the starting position. I follow him, and Kai tries to as well, but he doesn't seem too comfortable yet on the rollerblades.

"Why did you wear your binder to bed?" I hiss. 

"Why do you think? We just spent the night surrounded by people I'm not out to. If I woke up without it on..."

Before I could lecture him further, Chen starts explaining the rules of the game. Once everyone knows what's happening, Chen allows us to choose teams.

"Psst, everyone," Lloyd says as Chen makes his way over to his chair. He's still wincing as he moves but he's getting better at hiding it. This really is a bad day for him to be competing. "We need to appear like we don't like each other. Chen really wants me out of the tournament, so it would please him if you all choose Camille's team. Zane, Kai and y/n will choose my team, because that's what he expects."

Everyone nods, but Camille just does a hair flip and heads towards the helmet rack.

Zane, Kai, and I all choose green helmets to support Lloyd, while the rest pick red ones.
"I hate to say this, but I don't think Camille is planning to help us," Kai states.

"You can say that again," I mutter. She's acting really self-centred.

"Ready! Set! Go!"

Lloyd and Camille are the first to start, and the rest of us are signalled to begin a few moments later.

Zane is really good on skates, so he pulls ahead to watch out for Lloyd. I stay behind to focus on not letting Kai drag me to the ground while he attempts to stay on his feet.

I pull him up and give him a push. I laugh as he bumps into multiple people with a scream, but then I regret my decision when he grabs onto Lloyd for balance.

Lloyd falls over, letting Camille pull ahead, but he gets back up and keeps skating.

"You're supposed to be helping his chances, not hurting them," Zane accuses as he helps Kai up.

"I'm trying! But I can't skate!"

"Then use that to your advantage!" I say, grabbing onto the back of his shirt before he can roll away.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Figure it out!"

———Kai's POV———-

At first, I wasn't sure what y/n meant, but as I started to move forward and grabbed onto the shadow dude, I realized what she wanted me to do: take down the others.

"Hey, watch it!" the master of shadow says as I pull him to the ground.

"Sorry!" I say, but I'm not really feeling apologetic.

After that, I keep skating into people—sometimes it's an accident, sometimes it's on purpose—and take them down with me as I lose balance and fall over. I'm trying to get to Camille, but she's too far away.

"Now you're getting it!" Y/n says as she passes by. "Keep it up!"

———-y/n's POV——-

Lloyd and Camille are now tied for points. Chen's been pressing buttons on his chair, trying to make Lloyd fall down a trap door, but I've been filling each hole with ice every time, much to his surprise. I can tell he's getting fed up, but he's not doing anything about it.

Lloyd is gaining on Camille, who's currently in a vehicle. I can't hear what he's saying to her, but I can tell he's trying to convince her that they need to work together. She was reluctant yesterday night to even consider joining our reliance, and she doesn't appear to be changing her mind.

I see Lloyd and Camille reaching their hands out to each other, as if about to shake on a deal. But I know better than that; Camille's just trying to trick Lloyd into thinking she agrees, but all she wants is to pull ahead.

Before they can touch, I take off my helmet and throw it at Camille. It hits the side of her face, and she turns towards me with a growl.

"Heh, heh," I laugh nervously with a small wave.

She huffs angrily, but turns back to the race. She pulls ahead of Lloyd again, and I know that he doesn't stand a chance.

I use the power of speed to get close to Camille's vehicle, and once I'm right next to it, I jump over the car and grab the jade blade from behind Camille's back without her noticing.

She crosses the finish line within the next few seconds, with Lloyd close behind. Everyone is silent until they realize that I have the jade blade instead of Camille, and then everyone but Chen and Clouse cheer wildly.

"Woo hoo, Lloyd won!" Kai cheers.

"No! No, Lloyd cheated!" Chen says. "Camille wins, Lloyd loses!"

"No way, man!" Griffin says. "Lloyd won fair and square!"

Chen growls at me, likely fed up with all my interventions. Clouse whispers something to Chen, and he begrudgingly smartens up.

"Fine. Master of form loses!"

A trap door appears underneath of Camille, sucking her down to the factory. I feel bad for her, but then my hope floats up a little when I remember Skylor is down there, likely coming up with an escape plan.

"As for the rest of you," Chen starts. "Meet me in the throne room."