There were fallen stars at the gates of a huge wall, barring everyone's path. They stepped aside to let Lilith through.
"Welcome to Shadow Manse, darlings. You will be staying here for the time it takes during the tournament." She opened the doors to a tall pagoda. "In the center of this hall is what you will be fighting for—the Claw of La Rocha (ROTCH-a), creator of the realm of Xanadu. If you succeed in getting to it, you have all the power in the universe. If you fail… well, let's say that you'll be getting the royal treatment."
"What does she mean by royal treatment?" Jay nervously whispered to Rudolph. Rudy whispered back, "She's gonna turn you into her prisoner. I know a few friends who have experienced it before. And that weapon on display is actually a fake. Those liars."
"Now my guards shall show you to your rooms," Lilith smiled deviously. "Alítheia! Kashrus! Show our guests to their chambers!"
Two Black Pearl kabuki ladies strutted down the stairs around the room and escorted the Elemental Masters to their rooms. Each was a similar design to the ones on Master Chen's island, only a duller color and barely any light. Well, glowworms called by Lorris fixed that. And so did Rudolph's nose, an anglerfish in a tank, Kai's fire, Comet's spark-fizzing, and Dasher's speed friction. So did another number of things.
"This is certainly going to be interesting," Lorris meowed to herself as she walked onto her balcony, sketching a scene of something. She could see all that went on below because she was at the top. On the right, one story down, Kai and Skylor were talking. Four stories below, Jay and Nya were laughing together. Next to her, Morro was inside and muttering to himself. He went outside and slumped on the rail. "Man, it's hopeless."
"What's so hopeless?" Lorris asked. Morro groaned. "I can seriously see Akira getting closer to Lloyd soon, and basically she's not cooperating right now. She won't try getting near him at all unless I somehow make her."
"What she needs to do is get out of her comfort zone," Lorris said. "She gets really defensive around the people she likes. When she went to high school, we found her all moony-eyed over several of the boys, but she didn't ever try to get near them. Mostly, when they talked to her, she got defensive, silent, and very icy. So that's what happens to a warrior who has never known that it's supposed to be a part of her life."
"Huh. You need to tell her that."
"I also see that Lloyd is moony-eyed around her. He definitely doesn't try to show off or anything, but. Ahem. Well. He gets super nervous, he uses Epoxy Eyes, which is Cupid's advice and means he stares whenever possible, and he also starts to get quieter. I think she's irresistible to him." She said the word irresistible as if using air quotes.
Morro spat out some water he was drinking. "No kidding."
At the worst possible moment, when Lorris was just about to finish off the background, a gong rang. She jumped and made a long mark down the middle of the paper. "Aw, come on! I was just about to get onto the people!"
She raced down and met up with Comet. "Hola, hermana. I saw you drawing a picture. What was it?" (PS. Hermano/hermana are Spanish for brother/sister.)
"Oh, Shadowstalker was near, and since he can sometimes see the future, he projected a mental image into my mind and I began drawing. It was a pic of a selfie—"
The gong rang again and this time everyone rushed to the center of town. Lilith was waiting. "Hello, contestants. It is time for our first competition. The competitors of this will be asked to find tools and create weapons, trying to survive for…"
Jay barely heard her now. He was open-mouthed in horror. "No! It can't be! We're doing the Hunger Games!"
"WHAT?" Dancer whisper-screamed. "You're kidding me! Whenever Lilith hosts the Hunger Games, she turns it into a death match or torturing your opponent! You have to kill your opponent unless she changes the rules!"
"… and our fighters for the day will be… Shade vs. Tox, Turner against Neuro, Ash against Kai, and Lorris against Camille. May the strong survive. GO!"
They raced off. Lorris whistled and called Cerberus again, while Camille turned into a fox. Kai raced into the middle of a lava pool and began shaping weapons from there. Ash found a blade hidden among the rocks near the lava. Shade found three invisible weapons in the shadows (of course he did), while Tox found some of the poison dart frog venom. Deadly to the touch.
After five minutes, they squared off. Apparently the rules had changed to "disable your opponent, and then pin them down." Easy-peasy lemon squeezy for some, not so easy for others. Neuro had advanced his powers after coming in contact with a mind-reading NightWing named Truthseeker and got Griffin Turner down. Kai against Ash… similar to when they had previously fought, with the lava weapons clumping the ashes together so he couldn't move.
As for Shade vs. Tox, well… the poison was effective in giving Shade a scare and getting the invisible weapons. "UNCLE!" (Always say "uncle" when surrendering.)
And finally, the shape-shifter against the animal. Shape-shift into Nilla. "You seriously don't fool me, notorious chameleon with a criminal record longer than my tail. In cowboy words, Cerberus, head her up and round her out. In real talk, get her. And no hurting anyone, okay?"
"RUFFF!" and with that, Cerberus took off. His huge figure pounced on Camille, panting and wagging his tail. All three heads licked her face. In dog speak, the left head: "I'm in love. Are you in love?" Right: "I'm in love. Are you in love?" Left: "I am in love." Middle: "I agree I agree I agree I agree…"
"Alright, now, since this competition is over, the winners will be moving on," Lilith roared. "And for the losers! Karris, Emilio, Garonne! Take them out of here and put them in the cellar for now!"
Three fallen stars, human-like, slipped into the places. Each grabbed someone. Garonne grabbed both Tox and Camille. In the cellar it was actually clean, but quite lonely except for a few star prisoners against the wall. There was just all the basic needs, and still more chains for more captives.
Now it was breakfast time at the round table that had just been set up. The winners walked out from their areas of combat, not looking very happy. Only Lorris was optimistic in how they would be saved. "There's always a weird plan in my brain. Oh, yeah, and I'm going back to finishing my picture."
"Guys-guys-guys-guys-guys-guys-guys! Iwasjustracingaroundandfoundoutthat—" Dasher quirked in fast speech. Prancer whacked him. "Slow down, mate!" she snapped. Dasher slowed down. "The next game starts right after breakfast, and it's the Hunger Games with a very violent twist so don't actually hurt each other if you're fighting!"
"Uh, okay then," Jay slowly said. "I hope it's not me next!"
"I hope it's none of us, but Lilith has already chosen people," Cole replied, stuffing himself on shrimp. "What I really don't want is for nightmares to crash in, because I don't see any."
"You're unfortunate enough to know that I can detect them," Zane tinned. "All are invisible so we can't see them, but my scan shows their forms."
"Aw, come on! And just before the next tournament!" Jay groaned. "This new menace is weirder than all the others we've faced."
"And more dangerous. They don't bother with a bunch of sweet talk, they just hop in and try to annihilate people," Kai jumped in. "Did you see how Soul Taker was ready to take Lloyd's life? And she could even touch ghosts!"
"Okay, guys, I hate to break it to you, but I think Soul Taker knows about this now. Lilith hosted it without her consent," Hyperfang said, her pupils shrinking in fear. "Now the games are starting."
Contestants—Zane, Cole, Lloyd, Morro, Gravis, and Nilla—had to do air battles this time and knock each other off. They were barely in the middle of it when Lilith changed her mind and brought them back, rescheduling the tournament for noontime.
That was enough time for Lorris to finish the picture of the selfie she had been drawing. Who exactly was in the selfie? Ask Morro. "Is that Akira and Lloyd? Together and having fun in an amusement park?!"
"Yup, in the near future. Not exactly now, but soon. And they're on the scariest roller coaster in Mega Monster Amusement Park."
Oh, dear. How could that be happening? Well, look down. It was only six in the morning. The sun was just rising. One story below, Lloyd was looking toward the east and the rising sun. There was a brilliant purple color in the sky.
In the next room, Akira noticed him. She had no idea that it was a symptom of crushes, but her heart was pounding so loud she knew everyone could hear it. She definitely didn't know how to get out of her zone, but as she had decided to take the advice of a certain ocelot, she had to. Akira stepped out on her balcony next to Lloyd's.
He turned to greet her, but she beat him to it. "Sorry I was so distant earlier. I'm just not used to sudden introductions and I don't exactly like meeting new people." APOLOGY ALERT! went off in Lorris's brain. She giddily giggled, but it sounded like a high-pitched pig squeal, so let's call it a piggle.
"What was that?" Nilla called from the other side of the building. Lorris piggled again. "It actually happened! I don't remember exactly why I'm doing this, but what was I doing again? Oh, yeah. Eeeeeh, the anticipation!"
Fortunately, below, no one had heard anything. Lloyd was staring at Akira in confusion. "What?" (WHY ARE THERE SO MANY QUESTIONS ALL THE TIME!)
She shrugged. "I just get distant whenever I don't really want to know someone or when I crash in. Mostly, I just hang out with the shadows."
"Why do you do that? You shouldn't spend too much time in the dark."
"Eh, I know. I just feel more comfortable watching the moon and stars. I feel safe with them."
"That's completely the opposite from me." They were suddenly interrupted by Lorris screaming at Neuro. "WHADDAYA MEAN SHE'LL NEVER LIKE HIM, I CAN HEAR THEIR HEARTS POUNDING RIGHT NEXT TO EACH OTHER! It's a perfect match, I tell you! PERFECT! MATCH!"
"That's not what their thoughts tell me! They're scared of each other!"
"You are SOOO not an expert at this. They are SUPPOSED to feel that way! Besides, I still remember all of those fights that went on, and YOU CAN READ ALL OF THEM IN MY MIND RIGHT HERE! HE WASN'T EVEN TRYING!"
"I think something bad happened up there," Akira whispered. Lloyd shrugged as he craned his neck upward. "It's not a pretty sight from what I see. Lorris is throwing things at Neuro."
"All that talking about spars up there reminds me of the ones Morro was having with us. Are you really that bad at fighting?"
"I still don't know how to fight the wind."
"You are a loser."
"It's not my fault that I lost! I didn't even know how to try."
"Why? Is it because you're so bad at it?" She snickered under her breath.
"How dare you!"
They talked and laughed for a bit more until noon. During the meantime, Lorris had pummeled Neuro with her memories of the spars. Once she was done, she roared, "Do you not see? He wasn't even TRYING! And listen to their conversation right now and how she apologized and them talking about the constellations and the sun and the moon and everything! Cupidity level in their situation now is Level 10, actual chats! Not some quick whipping sentences from time to time!"
Jay flew up from his place. "Guys, I heard the whole conversation!" he squealed. "Lloyd was about to ask Akira to go out with him after the tournament, but then he chickened out." His face formed into a sulk. "He's still stuck in the friend zone!"
"See, TOLD YOU it was perfect!" Lorris hissed at Neuro. Morro defended the mind reader. "What do you mean? He chickened out! That's not even a perfect match yet, he's being too nervous!"
She nearly killed everyone with her scream. "OH, SO IT'S FAKE? LISTEN TO ME! CUPIDITY IS NOT PRETENDING! I SHALL SUE YOU FOR ALL OF THIS!"
And so a very heated argument ensued until the gong struck noon. BONG, BONG, BONG! "YEEEEEEE! NOON DOES NOT HAVE TO BE SO LOUD!" Lorris screamed, jumping into the air. She raced down the steps with her sketch.
"Did you hear that argument?" Nya asked Lloyd and Akira as she joined them in the middle of the hall. Lloyd shrugged. "They were talking about something that did with Cupidity. I got a headache."
"You think you'll survive this fight?" Akira asked Lloyd, hiding her concern and only letting a sliver show. He sighed. "I hope I make it. I don't like this tournament."
"Ah, welcome back!" Lilith grinned, a gleam in her eye. "Now the Hunger Games will resume, and the winner will be given a small amulet acquired from Xanadu as a token of their championship! All fighters must now go to the gladiator arena, and—"
She never finished her sentence because at the moment, the doors pounded open and Soul Taker glided in.