AN: I promised, and now here it is. BTW, I don't own anything.
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Chapter 2: Mike
Once I was done crying, I look up and explore my room. Since The Netherworld is the dominant power, they get everything, and all we get is crap; the beds are made of hay, the plumbing is Sanzu River water and I'm pretty sure the food isn't... edible. Suddenly, I hear a knock on my door and lazily stand up, expecting to see a Mooger at my door. I was surprised to see Mike, the boy in my dream and my ally in the Games. "Can I help you?" I ask cautiously. "Uhh… I was you know… just checking… to see if you were ok…" He stammers slightly. "I'm fine… thanks. I'm Emily."
I extend my hand. "I know who you are… although, we've never spoke at school…"Mike says shyly and he shakes my hand. Wow, he's so different from his school counterpart; when he is at school, he is cocky, lazy, rebellious… he was even threatened to be expelled if his shenanigans kept continuing. But looking at him now; he's quiet, shy and kind. "Anything else you're worried about?" I ask, still not having the feeling of trusting him.
"Oh, our Mentor says it's time to eat." Mike explains before walking to the "dining car". I follow Mike to the "dining car", and once we're there, we see a man, who's wearing a robe and has stick in his hands. "Ah… you must be Mike and Emily. I'm Mentor Ji, but you can just call me Mentor." He extends his hand and he shakes each one of our hands. "Please, come and sit. The food is about to be served." Mike and I look at each other, shrug and sit next to each other on stools. But the stools are so wobbly, that I clumsily fall and sprain my wrist.
I begin to whimper and Mike gets off his stool and helps me up. "Are you ok?" Mike asks, with Mentor looking on with a sad expression on his face. I shake my head, even if I have hurt myself too many times, this one hurts the most. The only reason being is because even if you have an injury, you still have to fight, and swinging my sword won't be easy, and I will be an easy target to the Nighloks for sure. "Here, let me look at it." He looks at my wrist, being careful not to hurt it even more. "Here, let's get some ice on that." He guides me to the First Aid station and I sit on a bench while he gets a bag of frozen peas and bandages. So far, this has been the only essential luxury they have on the train.
"Here, let me look at it." Mike is gentle with my wrist, even if I wince a lot. As soon as he puts the frozen peas on my wrist, relief floods my face. "Are you feeling better?" Mike asks, with a concerned look on his face. I nod my head. Once the frozen peas are removed, he gently wraps the bandage around my wrist. "Thanks… I don't know if you ever notice, but I'm the biggest klutz in our school. No wonder no one ever talks to me, except for Jayden." I mutter to myself. I hear Mike sigh. "Look, at least you're ok. And as long as you're with me, nothing bad will happen to you." I stare at him like he was crazy. "Look Mike, we just started getting to know each other; don't start being protective around me." I tell him. "Well, we still gotta stick up for each other. After all, we are fighting for our lives." I thought about it for a moment, and thought he was right. We do have to stick up for each other. All I do is nod and head back into the dining car.
"Great, you're back. Just in time too; the food is here." Right on cue, the food comes in. Boy, I'm starving! But my hunger soon vanishes when I see my food. It looks like bubbling goo and I suddenly have the urge to barf. "Uhh…I'm not really hungry at the moment. May I be excused?" I ask Mentor, who appears to enjoy the goo and he nods. I speed walk to my room and close the door gently behind me. As I slide down the door, I get a full view of it: a lumpy bed, a broken window, cracked walls and you won't believe what I discovered in the washrooms: Sanzu river water in place of pure water. I slump to the floor and sigh. Even if the Nighloks live in luxury, they still have to treat us like crap! I throw my makeshift pillow to the door, only to find it hits Mike. "Oops! I'm sorry! I was aiming for the door." I stand and get the pillow from him.
"It's ok. Look I know how upset you've been. But, I'll tell you one thing: as long as we can work together, we can win this thing. Deal?" He holds out his hand and I shake it, sealing the deal. "Alright then, Mentor has asked for us to go to the viewing room." "Do you always have to pick me up from my cabin?" I ask sarcastically. "Yeah, pretty much." He chuckles then leaves. Once we're all in the viewing area, I sit next to Mike as our cracked TV shows footage of today's lottery. But before they do that, they show us the history of The Nighlok Games
"Ever since The Nighlok's took over the world by flooding it with Sanzu river water, they decide to create an even bigger rise by sending one boy and one girl aged 12-18 to fight against The Nighlok army, so that they keep they're population in line and try not to overpopulate the humans."
I begin to cry when we watch past footage, where each and every participant is killed. I shield my eyes when more footage is shown, but I look over at the TV when they show the lottery. Our part of the world is always the first to show and you can see me volunteer for Serena, showing complete emotion on my face. As soon as our footage is finished, they move on to another part of the world, where a girl with dark hair and brown eyes tearfully lets go of what seems to be her brother and walks up to the stage. Soon, a guy with spiky dark hair and wears gold shoes is called, and he proudly walks up to the stage.
When we move on, a man with a blue shirt and dark skin is called, looking at his father as he walks up to the stage. And lastly, a young girl we short blond hair and green eyes walks up to the stage, and she reminds me of Jayden back home. It's like they look alike, as if they're related. Once the programs ends, I run to my room, slam the door and jump on my "bed", all while crying my eyes out. That's when I feel the train stop. We have just arrived in the Netherworld.
AN: Ooh! You know what this means? It's time for training! Anyways, hope you liked Chapter 2, and just so we're clear, I'm trying to make this a bit different from the books. Please review.
