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Chapter 5
As I watch Lunar give the final blow, I scream, "I wanted to see her get beat up." I sigh in disappointment, but I was also relieved that she won against him. Remi screams with me, telling her how good of a job she did. I would like to say that I was surprised, but I wasn't. That guy was pretty slow anyways. I waited for Lunar impatiently, when this other random guy was walking with her. I could tell she liked him. She was almost as red as a tomato. "Ooo, I ship it!" "I don't know, I feel something weird about him. It just. . . doesn't seem right, you know?" Remi said. Don't you dare sink the ship! I give her a glare. "Come on Remi, lighten up a bit!" She sighed. "Fine, but remember that I told you so if something ever happens, got it?" "Mhm, okay." I just agreed. I never assumed anything would happen anyways. Probably just another one of her weird predictions, which are only right about 99.9% of the time. Even though it's not a lot, there's always that 0.1%! Lunar has his wrist around his and sprinting up to us. They run in front of us. "Hi g-" "Who's the new guy?" I raise my eyebrows, interrupting Lunar. "Oh, this is Lunarr- I mean Luke!" She smiles, embarrassed. We all laughed. "Good job Lunar, I knew you could do it! Remi congratulates me. "Thanks!" Lunar smiles. "Finally another guy!" I exclaimed, "I'm not alone anymore!" Luke turns around in my direction, and looks at me, not really looking that he cared, just to be nice. Oh well. "Really dude?" asked Luke. I start jumping around. "I've been friends with these girls since I was five years old! There weren't that many other kids in the neighborhood. "Wow, that's a long time." said Luke with pity in his voice. "Yep, I really need more fr-"
"Soren from Team Kemuri Vs. Blake from The Mighty Lions!"
"Oh, here I go! Wish me luck." I ran away. As I made my way to the course, I spotted my opponent. He was wearing light black and blue clothing that looked like one of those speed suits. Well that's gonna be an advantage to be really flexible and agile when jumping and dodging obstacles. When he came up to me, he raised his hand for a handshake. Quite the opposite of that Harper guy, who was a complete jerk! I gripped his hand and shook. "Hi, my name is Blake. Blake is going to beat you." I looked at him funny, wondering why he would talk in third person like that. What kind of weirdo talks in third person? "Ermmm, did you just talk in third person? That's a little weird." I asked. "Even so, I won't let you beat you even if it kills me! Blake smiled. "Yes, Blake just talked in third person. Yes, Blake knows this is weird, but Blake does not care." He shrugged, then turned around. He whispered something under his breath, though I couldn't hear it. Wow, this is going to be fun! He sounds like a tough opponent. There was a long, jagged sword on his back. He grabbed it and dragged it across the ground, making a horrible screeching noise that could break windows. I thought you weren't supposed to have weapons in a parkour course? I wonder what he's going to do with it. I guess I'll have to wait and see what he'll do.
"Soren, Blake show us what you're made of!"
The crowd cheered and yelled loudly. The course looks deadly. One wrong move and it could be fatal. They wouldn't put anything deathly dangerous in this right? I glance toward my friends. They're watching me and crossing their fingers to wish me good luck. I have to get our team in the top three to make it in. I'll give it my best shot! I walked up to the starting point, I heard Blake mumble under his breath, "Blake will win! Blake is the best, and with Blake's sword, no one will ever win except Blake! Blake will prevail. Not anyone. . . but. . . BLAKE!" Ok, now I really need to figure out what he's up to. It can't be anything good. I wait impatiently for the race to start. People cheer, and bet on who would win.
"The challenge is going to be a very dangerous Parkour-Course! You have to make it past 50 jumps. Each one gets harder as you move along. Don't fall or you'll get burnt to a crisp by the lava! Now here are the rules! No sabotaging or cheating. First contestant to get the artifact and come back with it wins. If you drop the artifact, you lose the challenge. Weapons are allowed to launch you or to use as an advantage. No flying, or using any potions. Good luck!"
Two doors open in front of us. I took a peek into the room, I couldn't see very far since the ground was covered in fog. For all I know, it could be a hundred times the size of what I could see. This course looks long and dangerous. I-I'm not scared. . . but. . . maybe my agility just isn't made for this. Hikari could just flash to the end. No! I gotta do this, not only for my team, but for myself also. They didn't pick Hikari, they picked me! I can't fail now. I heard the faint sound of Lunar yelling, "You've got this Soren, don't let him get to you!" I knelt down and got in my position. I was ready to dash forward at any second, but it felt like decades before the announcer was gonna start the race.
"Are you ready?"
I stiffen my muscles again to get in my starting position, almost about to shake from the pressure.
"Set. . . Go!"
I bolt forward, at full speed. I look over my left shoulder to see Blake Moving at least 3 times faster. I lost concentration for a second and tripped, I put my hands in front while I was falling and pushed myself back up. I tried to go faster to make up for lost time. I see my first obstacle. There were two giant hammers swinging back and forth, with just enough space to roll under them. I quickly roll, but being careful to stay as low as possible so it doesn't hit me. I start wondering why they put this challenge to me, I would rather do magic than this. Ahh, never mind . . . Next I see some sort of horizontal, thin line in the middle of the field. It almost looked invisible . . . Wait! It must be a tripwire. I found a couple in the woods when I was little. I jumped over it with no problems. Just after that I see a long hall of arrow traps embedded in the walls, ready to shoot. There's no avoiding the tripwires this time. There were ten of them going across in front of me.I ran straight into the tripwires, breaking every one of them. I ran as fast as I could through the long tunnel, barely dodging the titanium arrows zooming directly behind me. Right after I got through, I felt an intense wind pushing against me, almost like daggers, it took all of my strength to keep going through it. I look over my left shoulder again and he's . . . not there. I just saw him there, where could he have gone? I looked forward a bit and saw him quite a ways in front of me. I have to catch up. No matter what it takes. I have to do this for my friends! I then go faster, knowing that all of our dreams might be on the line if Hikari doesn't win her challenge. Though, I'm pretty confident she will. I push myself to run faster and faster! I finally started to move up slowly to Blake. A minute or two of dodging obstacles later, I caught up with Blake. It almost stuns me how he can do so much more than me with such little effort. I keep pushing forward, slowly I start to get ahead of him. I breathed heavily, trying to catch my breath, but I still kept going. Then, I feel a hand against my left arm, shoving me off the side. The crowd goes silent for a moment in shock. I fell quickly downwards. I watched the ground as it got closer and closer to me. It was all in a couple seconds, but I closed my eyes. I thought about how I lost. How I disappointed my friends. Was it all for nothing? I hit the ground below in an instant. A jolt of pain hit my back, like when your belly flopped on water. Then I realized as I slowly sank, that the substance was freezing cold, not hot like lava is supposed to be. I opened my eyes as I saw a bluish, clear substance. It was water. My eyes started to hurt as the water was making contact with my eyes. I get up and look around, gasping for air. Everything was blurry. I wiped the water out of my eyes. In a couple seconds, Lunar and Hikari climbed down the stairs as fast as they could, skipping at least three steps at a time. My back still hurts, but I walk over to them. "Soren! Are you all right?!" Lunar asked. I nodded toward her. She handed me a towel. I grabbed the towel and wiped the rest of my face with it. "Thanks." I looked up at Blake as the color drained from his face. He mumbles something under his breath. We start to go back up the steps. Lunar and Hikari go back to their seats.
"Blake is disqualified due to him cheating. Therefore, Soren is the winner of this match. His team will be advancing to the next round."
Blake slowly walks up to me hesitantly. "Blake is sorry. Blake should not have cheated." He apologized. At least he owned up to his mistake. "Blake is offering his khopesh to you." He said, handing me the curved sword. "Oh, um. . . Thank you." I said, awkwardly taking the sword from his hands. "Blake says goodluck to you and your team." He smiles. The guards of the tournament stormed the room, dragging Blake out of the place for this year's tournaments. That was weird, but . . . I have a new weapon thanks to it. I might actually use this. I put the sword over my shoulder and walked back to my friends.
