It was only a few days later when I signed up for a competition. There was only a few to pick from: One on One Tournament, Capture the Flag, Dodge Ball, Group Arena, Obstacle Course, Stimulation, and Fear Zone. One on One Tournament is when eight people or more goes against one another. One person would be placed randomly against another until only two are left. Then those two go against each other until one gives up or passes out. Capture the Flag and Dodge Ball was obvious. Obstacle Course was also obvious. Group Arena was when a majority of people are in an arena until one is standing. Stimulations are when you are put in a place and have to figure out the problem and resolve it. You mostly do it with a group of people. Fear Zone is when you face all of your fears.
Of course, being my childhood game, I chose Capture the Flag. It's been such a long time since I had last played it, but I shouldn't keep my hopes up. It is a high possibility that it would be different than the one I play at school.
I scribbled down my name in slot 43. Shivers went up my spine. I could already feel others sizing me up and calculating what is my worth in the game. I wonder how it would turn out and what team I would be placed in. Since it is a group effort, each person would put up a bet until the outcome would be equal in both sides. If your team wins, the points would get all of the points the other team bets and that is split equally in every teammate on your team. Usually the points betted would be high.
o-o-o
The cafeteria was loud, as usual. I managed to find a seat and scooted in my chair as tight as I can. There is a reason for this. Once, someone had their chair pushed far back to express how "full" they were to their friends and a girl was walking with his soup lunch in that direction. She tripped on the chair, spilling all her lunch on herself. Of course she was angry and lashed out at the poor boy. He was frozen to the spot and she was taken away and locked in her room for the next few days. The boy is still slowly thawing out.
I stuffed my mouth with ravioli. After lunch I was to go to the South Gym. But, I still don't have a team.
As if someone had answered my worry, a small group of kids pulled out the chairs in front and next to me; each letting out a loud screech. "You're Ponyboy Curtis, right?" A tanned girl started. I nodded, mouth full of ravioli. "Do you have a team yet?" That time I shook my head. They smiled amongst each other.
"What kind of power do you have? I noticed that you could fly, but obviously you are keeping something from people. I could read minds." A boy stated. Another person can read minds. This would be interesting.
"Telekinesis and I can talk to animals." I answered after swallowing my food. It was true and those were the few that would be even the slightest bit useful in the game. The game usually takes place in a forest near a lake. There are also a few caves littered around the area. Some large and some small. Of course there are other challenges, which includes the animals.
"Want to join blue team?" Another person asked.
"Sure."
They cheered. "So, I am thinking you should take air control near the border." One suggested. A boy shook his head.
"No, I think he should fly to find the flag and send a bird or something to tell us he found it. Then he should try to fly it back."
"Then the other flyers or weather controlling people would go after him."
The group bickered until I started to get annoyed. "Guys!" They turned to me. "Why don't I take border? I could send a few animals to watch your progress and you can say a code word which they would pick up and send it to me so that I could give you backup."
"That's actually a good idea."
o-o-o
Lunch ended soon after and we headed for the gym where the illusions already transformed the area to the forest. I could already see people on both sides of a white line. They were both huddled together, talking plan. I jogged over to the check-in area and gained my blue bandana. I tied it to my right arm and joined the blue team.
They talked detail; confirming the plan. The teams were even with 30 on both sides.
Warning horns sounded everyone to get into place. I walked to the edge of the white line near the lake. That is where I was stationed. Another horn sounded off and the game started.
I flew up in the air as soon as I could and went higher than the treetops. The weather was a bit rocky and I had to dodge a few storms. Students screamed all around me and they clashed. A few of them flew out from the mob, crashing into others or trees, and taken away on stretchers. People were taken out like wildfire. It was madness. The ones with the powers to control stuff, like electricity and water, consumed everyone. That was my sign to step in. The other team, having more of those people was starting to advance towards the border.
I landed in the middle of an average sized group, all attention went to me, but before they could react, I swiped my hand and sent them flying into another group. I squinted my greenish-grey eyes at the leftover standing group and knocked them against a rock. I continued this for another ten minutes, and I was beginning to become tired. More enemies keep popping up from the infirmary and it was making this game hard.
The air shimmered on my right. I ignored it, but my mind then clicked. Air doesn't shimmer. I whipped back around, managing not to get whiplash. Air also doesn't have an aura. I narrowed my eyes and a girl formed from nothing, clutching at her throat and dropping the blue flag that we hid in a bush. I grabbed it and flung the girl back to her side of the area.
I turned to one of my teammates who just rushed back to our side and handed him the flag. "Hide this somewhere and get new people to guard it." I ordered. He nodded, and sped off. A small robin landed on my shoulder that second.
"You are to try to find the flag and retrieve it." It squeaked.
"Alright. Thanks." I answered with a gentle smile. It flew off.
Once again, I flew up in the air to navigate the area for any flashes of red. Wind blew past my air, and honestly, it was slightly distracting.
I circled the area a few times before stopping in midair. I couldn't find the flag from up here. It would either be in a blind spot or in a cave then. I dropped to the flood in a clearing and whistled lowly. Below me, a few groundhogs dug up, poking their little heads up from their newly dug holes.
"Hi, I have a favor to ask of you. Can you tell the others to help me search for a flag? It should be somewhere on this side of the forest."
The groundhogs' noses twitched as if saying, Yeah, yeah. Sure. And ducked back in the hole. I turned around to start running on the floor, ducking low tree branches
A yell rang out behind me and I was pushed to the ground, earning me new scrapes all over my arms. A hand grabbed at my collar and picked me up. Legs dangled in the air and I was in a daze. Another yell and my body went weightless. I slammed into a rock, and gasped for breath. The stone behind me cracked…or was that my bones? Blood flew from my mouth and the stone made a crater not a second after. The next thing I knew, I was on the floor, looking up at the skies. For a moment, I saw stars circling me. A shadow loomed over me, a foot was pressed on my face, heels digging into my cheekbone.
"What is someone as weak as you doing in a Capture the Flag game?" The man asked. I tried to make a comeback, but my voice only came out as a staggered breath. I raised my right hand shakily, grabbing onto his ankle like my life depended on it. My eyes shut closed as I tried to block out the pain.
I want him off of me. I want to get out of here as soon as I can. I kept repeating those two sentences in my head, ignoring the chills I started to get on my right arm.
"Hey! Stop that! That's cold!"
What was he talking about? I forced open my eyes, but they only opened enough to see a small slit of my bearings. The ankle of the man that was crushing my face was starting to freeze over in translucent ice. Frost started to run up his body, ice slowly following. The attacker ripped his foot from my hand and fell to the floor and tried to break the ice off of him. He slammed his ankle against the floor, cracking a bit off at a time
My wounds started to heal and I stood up, taking off in a random direction away from the man that was probably going to go after me in a few seconds.
A squirrel jumped on my shoulder and said, "We found a flag in a cave up north."
I nodded to it, letting it get off of my shoulder, and jumped up in the sky. I looked at my surroundings. The game was still proceeding. As far as I could see, there are only two caves on this side. One was west and one north. I flew to the north cave and landed on the floor. I then snuck in the cave. It was dark, but I navigated myself through it and snuck past a few guards. The cave opened up to a larger room, but with many other cave openings in there. It was like an ant den.
What cave do I go in? Should I pick with eenie-meenie-miny-moe? Go to a random one? Voices echoed throughout the cave. Or go to the one where I could hear voices coming from? Probably the later. II walked in front of each cave, listening closely until I found one where the voices echoed the most.
At the end of the cave that I entered, I found the flag plunged in the center of a pile of rocks and two guards in front of it. Looking around, I found myself looking at a rock. I squinted my eyes and the rock was thrown to another cave entrance, making a loud thump on the floor. The two glanced at each other before both went to that direction and disappeared. I quietly, but quickly, rushed to the flag and pulled it out before quickly jogging towards the entrance.
I could just see the bright light when a loud shriek was sounded throughout the cave. The ground started to rumble and rubble started to fall on my head. The shrieking continued and my jogging turned into a sprint towards the entrance. The floor was shaking in waves and the plummeting pebbles turned into boulders. I was almost there. Move faster feet! My feet felt weightless and made me feel like I was about to fall over. The distance from me to the entrance seemed like it was stretching. Rocks tumbled down, blocking the entrance once I was a few feet from the opening. A boulder fell towards me but I rolled out of the way. Everything went black.
Clenching my teeth, I swung out my arm in attempts to push the rubble out of my way. Nothing happened. I then realized, I should have frozen time but in the heat of the moment, I did not think of doing so.
I tried again and again, but my powers didn't work. What's happening? There was another shriek, but this time closer. It was so shrill that I had to cover my ears. Even covering my ears could hardly block it out. When the scream stopped all I could hear was ringing.
Something shoved me to the ground and started to kick at my side. Something soon hard started to pound on my head and I raised my hands up to protect myself. Someone was bashing a rock against my head and I couldn't do anything to protect myself. I couldn't see, couldn't hear, couldn't use my powers. All I could do was smell and feel the blood that was trickling down my head. I could not tell if my vision was going black, but it probably was; I was getting dizzy.
The pounding stopped. I heard voices that I couldn't understand due to my lack of the ability to hear. A hand pealed me off of the ground and lied me down on what I think was the wall of the cave. My vision went back and I could see; though I was still woozy. In front of me were the guards who had a troubled expressions. I opened my mouth but all that came out was a cough.
They said something to me but all I could see was them mouthing what looks like, Get ahold of yourself.
My vision went black.
o-o-o
When I had awoken I didn't know where I was. I forced myself off of the rock to look around. I'm in a cave. Then everything came back to me. Capture the Flag. Cave. Right.
The two guards were getting up from the ground in a scurry. "You're awake!" One said. It was a girl.
"Thank goodness! We were beginning to think you were never going to wake up." A boy said.
"Well, who's the one who was banging a rock on my head?" I said, somewhat sarcastically.
"That was your head?" The boy asked, looking surprised.
"No, it was my leg that was making that sound that probably sounded like two rocks crashing against each other."
"Well, I couldn't tell."
With a sigh I asked, "How long was I out?"
"Felt like an hour, but I was bored so probably half an hour." The girl answered.
"That's not too bad, but can I ask you this? Why didn't my powers work moments ago?"
"That's my power. I can block the use of a person's ability." The boy answered.
"My power is a loud shriek that caused the rocks to fall." The girl said.
"That is why I couldn't tell if I was hitting your head."
"Which brings us to the other problem. We can't get out because of it. We didn't-"
"You didn't!"
"I didn't think it through."
'It's getting cold in here. I hope we get out soon.' The girl said in her mine. Getting cold? No it wasn't. What was she thinking? Then I felt it. The slight coolness on my hands. I looked down at where I was sitting. I was sitting in a circle of frost.
"We need to get out of here." I said, throwing out my arm and causing the rocks to be pushed out of the way. Light flooded the cave and I could finally breathe fresh air.
"Finally!" The boy cheered. I smiled, whipping off the excess blood and twirling the red flag in my hand. I jumped in the air when the two walked in front of me. I rushed to my side, seeing that, the game was still proceeding. I flew to my side and a loud horn went off.
"Blue team had successfully retrieved the red flag!" The intercom spoke. The blue team went crazy, screaming at the top of their lungs. A bunch of guys ran to me and placed me on their shoulders. I smiled widely, something I haven't done in a while.