The wind swept through your hair as you ran, building up the momentum to launch yourself to the next roof. You planted a solid footing on the ledge and you soared across the span, a few stories above the alleyway. The rush of excitement fueled your energy to keep moving, you never stopped once; vaulting over ducts and barriers, leaping from wall to wall, climbing up pipes and rails. It was all so exhilarating. You launched your weight over your last obstacle, feeling that sensation of weightlessness as you plummeted down, and right before you hit the concrete at a speed that would have broken your legs, you curled at just the right time to roll out that momentum unharmed. To the world this was Parkour, to you, it was freedom.
"Allllrighty (name)!" Your friend Matthias laughed as he pulled the camera away from his face, "I think you just earned a place in the Jump City Free-runner Competition!"
"Aw thanks." You smiled, taking a drink from your water bottle.
Being accepted into the Jump City Free-runner Competition -or JCFC as it was commonly referred to- was every free-runner's dream. It was where dreams became reality. But what was all this hype about? You remember asking yourself this question when you first heard about the competition.
Rorakup-more commonly known as Jump City now-was an abandoned town in the middle of nowhere. Why it was abandoned is still a mystery, but that's for another day. What matters is that seven years ago some man, woman, whoever with a dream stumbled upon this broken town and built it back up from scratch, but about half way through the reconstruction the funds ran out, leaving unfinished buildings and abandoned equipment. To any normal person this project was a waste, but not to that dreamer. That's how the Rorakup Run began, with their friends in high places advertising the Run, and thousands of willing people paying the admission to run, jump, and swing through the site in the most creative way possible raised more than enough money to finish the city. However, after the run was over all those participants demanded that the construction go elsewhere and leave what became a free-runner's dream. The Rorakup Run soon evolved into the JCFC and while the construction in that area stopped, the expansion and revival of that dreamer's dream resumed, creating modern-day Rorakup, "The self sustaining city".
Just thinking about it made you giggle. Only the best of the best, the strongest of the strong were privileged to reside there. If you were chosen as a contestant you were granted an all-expenses paid "vacation" to the city where you would live there for the two weeks of the competition, and if you won? Well that would be a dream come true! You would win the $500,000 grand prize, a year sponsorship with Spero -some famous, not to mention pricy, clothing company-, and new to this year a contract with The Defiants. Who were The Defiants? None other than one of the most well known parkour troupes out there. You sighed dreamily as your mind wandered. You wanted this so bad. You could quit your dull job working in one of those infomercial tele-centers where the only thing you did was take down the endless slue of order and credit card numbers.
"Hey! (name)!" Matthias called you back to reality, "Let's get this up on the submission page, like, now!"
"R-right!" You answered making your way over to him.
The two of you headed back to your cramped apartment with its half-assed excuse for a kitchen, bedroom, and bathroom. You plugged the camera up to your laptop, chose which clips looked the most stunning, and compiled them into a 3 minute video of you leaping across the rise of the city. Now it was only a matter of time before the results came back.
After your friend left, you had a hell of a time trying to fall asleep, with all the anxiety rushing around in your thoughts, you lie in bed wide awake, for what felt like hours until you finally shut your eyes.