A/N: Yeah, Chapter Ten! That's a double digit!
Sora: Does that mean we get to have a party!
Rikku: No, that means we have a fiesta!
Sora: A what?
Me: Never mind, but here's the next chapter!
Chapter Eleven: Overcoming the Obstacle
"Okay folks, this time you're going to be running an obstacle course! All your teammates will be with you, of course. You all have to stay together. If you lose just one member, you're disqualified unless you can find that missing person in three minutes! Okay, Aerith's team will be wearing pink tags; Quistis's team will be wearing light blue tags, Beatrix's team will be wearing red tags, Zell's team will be wearing green tags, Leon's team will be wearing gray tags, and Cloud's team will be wearing dark blue tags," Cid explained as he watched the eager teens assemble their teams and put on their tags.
"I can't wait, Kairi! This will be the best competition yet!" Selphie exclaimed while literally jumping up and down.
Kairi laughed as she watched Selphie's excitement bubble over. "Here, put on your tags and stop acting like a rabbit on steroids!" she joked. Selphie smiled and hummed happily as she attached her tags to her belt loop.
"Okay, we should all try to link arms while running that way none of us gets side-tracked!" Olette suggested as she glanced around at the other teams.
"What if we trip? That means we're all down," Naminé stated; she glanced at Selphie when she said that. She'd been pulled down by one of Selphie's trips and it was an experience she didn't want to repeat.
Selphie grinned. "Don't worry! This time I put my shoes on the right sides!" Selphie assured. The group laughed.
Riku crossed his arms. He already had his gray tags secured. He watched his other teammates Seifer, Wakka, and Hayner prepare for the race. Or that's what they claimed to be doing. Hayner was staring at Olette dreamily, Seifer was managing to watch Naminé while still glaring toward Roxas, and Wakka was just being Wakka.
Riku glanced over at Yuffie and smirked. He watched her bend over to pick up the light blue tag she had dropped. In other words, you could say he was gawking. He had always been drawn to her, now that he had found out Yuffie liked him too he saw no harm in staring at each and every curve on her body. He was oblivious to the fact that Yuffie wasn't thinking that.
"Okay, here's the deal everyone, this will be our first all girls versus all boys. The first team to have all three groups finish successfully will win, while the first team to actually pass the finish line first will get an extra point but the overall winning gender will get a gender point! Okay, to the starting line!" Cid explained as he led the groups to the starting line, "Okay first, you must climb the rope wall all the way to the top and climb back down on the other side, then you must dive under the barbed wire and crawl through, then you must swing across the pile of mud successfully getting to the other side! And lastly, you must find your way through the maze then you just run to the finish line!"
"Sounds easy!" Tifa shouted pompously. She looked at her other teammates but saw their expressions weren't as confident.
"Alright then, Miss Show-off, get ready to start!" Cid announced.
The groups got into running position. They all looked at each other either frowning or smiling. It was obvious some were more competitive than others. Especially girls like Tifa and boys like Seifer.
"Ready!"
"Good luck, Kairi," Sora managed to whisper; he gave her a quick smile.
"Set!"
"You too, Sora," Kairi replied; she returned his smile.
"Go!"
The teams dashed away from the finish line making their way to the roped wall. Kairi, Selphie, Naminé, and Olette linked hands before starting. They remembered the rule that the teams had to stick together; of course, this put them in last place.
Tifa was in the lead while her team was scattered around the front and back. Beside Tifa was Seifer who was glaring at her very competitively. Tifa grabbed the rope and started to pull herself up. Seifer quickly followed after her with Sora's group right behind him. Vivi followed closely behind Sora; he didn't know whether to be more afraid of the height or Tifa and Seifer.
"See you, loser!" Tifa taunted before she jumped off of the wall. Cid saw this and quickly whispered to Beatrix to tell her to start over. Tifa grumbled and flashed a glare of Seifer who had already began running toward the next obstacle.
Most of the groups had already tackled the wall and started crawling underneath the barbed wire. Kairi, Selphie, Naminé, and Olette had only just begun their descent from the wall. Selphie hadn't exactly been in favor of heights and had her eyes closed tightly. The four girls reached the bottom in a few seconds and Selphie reopened her eyes. She smiled and said, "I wasn't scared!" Olette giggled and grabbed Selphie's arm dragging her toward where Kairi and Naminé were examining the barbed wire.
Yuffie was crawling through the barbed wire trying her best to keep up with Rikku and Paine. She couldn't help but be a little distracted by her own thoughts. All of them concentrated on Riku. 'Why did he wink at me? What's going on in his head?' she thought curiously. Up in front of her, Riku and Sora were racing to the swinging rope. Tidus, Hayner, Roxas, Axel, and Pence were hot on their trail. Yuffie finally made through the barbed wire, but decided to wait for Garnet before she went anywhere else. That's when she noticed the problem.
"Yuffie!" Garnet cried distraughtly. Yuffie bent down and saw that Garnet's hair had gotten caught in the barbed wire. Her long flowing dark brown hair was tangled and wrapped around the barbed wire.
"We don't have time for this," Yuffie grumbled as she fumbled through her pockets. She pulled out a small pocketknife that she always had on her in case of an emergency. "I'm going to cut off your hair," Yuffie declared. Garnet's eyes widened. She couldn't dream of parting with her beautiful hair, but it was either that or the race.
"Go ahead," she reluctantly agreed. Garnet closed her eyes as Yuffie cut off her long, dark brown locks.
"Okay, you're free, come on! We can fix up your hair in the hotel okay?" Yuffie added. She imagined it must have been hard for Garnet to part with her hair like that. She felt sorry for Garnet.
"Right," Garnet replied with a slight smile.
The two girls linked arms and started their run toward the swinging rope. Garnet's cut locks remained on the barbwire unable to be untangled free. Kairi, Selphie, Naminé, and Olette crawled through the barbwire and reached the end with no problems. Naminé yelped as she crawled toward the dark brown strands of hair.
"W-What is that!" she stuttered as she pointed toward the mass of hair.
"Don't mind it. Hurry, we have to catch up with the others!" Olette exclaimed as she wiped the dirt from her knees. The four girls quickly linked arms and then headed toward the swinging rope that Garnet and Yuffie had just gotten pass.
Somewhere in the middle, Yuna had just caught up with Fuu and Rinoa. She took in a deep breath and looked at her other teammates. "Where's Tifa?" she inquired as she dared to look around for the dark haired menace.
Rinoa shrugged. Fuu pointed to the running figure of Tifa who had just shoved Kairi to the ground causing a domino effect among the other three girls. Tifa saw her team waiting for her and quickly caught up. They started to leave, but Yuna frowned and dared to look back at Kairi and her friends. She wanted to help them and apologize.
"Hurry up, Yuna!" Tifa shouted causing the brunette to jump a bit. She nodded and ran to catch up with the rest of her group.
In front of the rest of the crowd, Seifer and Roxas were fighting for the lead. Sora, Tidus, and Axel were behind them. Hayner had gotten delayed; in other words, Seifer tripped him. Why he tripped his own teammate was unknown to the rest of the boys. The boys were now standing in front of the entrance to a maze. Seifer shoved Roxas to the ground and quickly ran inside the maze.
"Let me help you," Axel offered with an extended hand. He quickly helped Roxas to his feet.
"Thanks," Roxas replied before he wiped the dirt off of his face with his arm. Sora looked behind them and attempted to find Kairi in all the chaos. He frowned; he couldn't help but worry about her. He sighed. Roxas patted him on the back. "Don't worry the girls are fine," he assured.
Sora turned around to face the blonde. "We should wait for them," he suddenly said.
"Are you crazy?" Tidus exclaimed, "They are way in the back! I saw them start, we would be letting Seifer win!"
"He can't win without his teammates at his side," Axel decided to comment; he folded his arms.
"Yeah, Anthony's right!" Roxas exclaimed; he was filled with a sudden boost of enthusiasm for the idea.
"Axel," the red-head quickly corrected.
"Whatever, Amzel," Roxas replied casually. Axel frowned and glared holes in the back of Roxas's blonde, spiky head.
"Alright," Tidus gave in with a wave of his hand. The boys took a seat on the dirt in front of the maze entrance to wait for the girls. Zack and Setzer happened to pass by them; they dared to point and laugh as they passed by. Tidus rolled his eyes at their childish antics. Hayner finally managed to catch up; he stared at them quizzically.
"What are you guys waiting for?" Hayner dared to ask; he was almost scared of the answer. He was pretty sure they weren't waiting around for him.
"The girls," Sora replied quietly.
"Oh, well see you around," Hayner replied. He quickly ran past them with Wakka on his heels. The orange haired boy grinned as he past them. Rikku and Paine passed them. Rikku wanted to stay and chat, but Paine hurriedly dragged her inside the maze before she could say anything. Tifa's team passed them; only Yuna dared to give them a friendly wave. Riku passed with an arched eyebrow and a couple of minutes later Yuffie and Garnet ran by. Kairi, Selphie, Naminé, and Olette finally arrived at the entrance. Their arms were still linked and they all had shocked faces.
"What are you guys sitting around for?" Olette asked, "Why aren't you running like everyone else?"
"We decided to wait for you," Roxas explained. His enthusiasm was gone.
"How sweet," Naminé commented. She blushed as she watched Roxas wipe the sweat from his forehead. Selphie giggled and nudged Naminé suggestively, which made her turn even redder. Roxas was oblivious to this and only scratched his head; he thought perhaps she needed some water.
"Well, let's go," Kairi cheered happily.
"Ladies first," Tidus announced graciously. He winked toward Selphie as she passed by and Selphie blew him a kiss. Tidus happily pretended to catch it and was enjoying the moment before Axel slapped the back of his head.
"Ow," Tidus groaned as he rubbed his head. Selphie giggled and followed the others girls into the maze. Once inside, they linked hands again and stood in front of the four boys. They thought it might be more fun if they all went inside together.
Tifa's team was lost. They had no idea where they were in the maze. Fuu folded her arms and hovered next to Yuna cautiously. Yuna was mesmerized by Tifa's repetitively head-banging against a bush. Rinoa was behind the three girls deep in thought, but she wasn't thinking what Yuna believed she was thinking about. Yuna thought perhaps she might be thinking of ways to get out of the maze, but Rinoa was actually thinking about ways to talk to Leon. Rinoa happily giggled at the thought. The fact that she was lost didn't seem to bug her at all.
Rikku and Paine found themselves in yet another dead end. The blonde girl whined and started to shout her complaints. Paine wasn't listening though; through Rikku's shouts she heard footsteps approaching the spot they were in. Paine quickly covered Rikku's mouth. Rikku eyed Paine wondering what she was doing. Paine and Rikku peered around the corner and saw Seifer pass by.
"We're going to follow him," Paine whispered before she yanked Rikku from around the corner. The two girls quietly began to follow Seifer through the maze hoping he wasn't as lost as they were.
At the finish line, the team captains were waiting for their members. Beatrix and Zell were fighting over whose team was better. Leon was standing on the left side of the line in silence; he appeared to be deep in thought. Quistis was drawing pictures on the ground with a sharp rock she found; she had no other way to entertain herself. Cloud was standing in the center staring at the sky as if searching for something. Aerith was neatly seated on the ground enjoying the weather.
Aerith looked up. She smiled warmly when she saw caught a glance of Cloud's thought expression as he stared toward the sky. 'He always seems to space out now and then, but I guess it's good to think things over,' she thought as she stood up. She walked over to Cloud and tapped him on his shoulder snapping him out of his daze.
"What were you thinking about?" Aerith dared to ask.
"Nothing," Cloud grunted.
"Cloud, I know you well enough to know it's never nothing. Something is bothering you," Aerith commented wisely.
Cloud opened his mouth to say something, but was stopped when he saw Seifer followed by Rikku and Paine cross the finish line. He only glared at the three.
"You were supposed to finish with your teammates," Leon lectured after an hour of complete silence.
"They were slowing me down," Seifer boasted as he smirked at Leon.
"We got separated in the maze," Rikku explained in her and Paine's defense. Leon let the girls get away with it and told them to wait for their other teammates by Quistis. He had a long talk planned for his team.
Tifa's team was next to finish and they earned the team point as first team to successfully finish together. Zack and Setzer crossed the finish line. They high-fived each other and then turned toward the exit of the maze. They spotted Pence and Vivi running toward the finish line.
"Look, there they are!" Pence announced as he and Vivi continued to run.
"You still didn't finish together," Cloud muttered disappointedly. Beatrix smirked at Cloud and gave her team members high-fives. She felt they deserved the congratulations for finishing first and all together. She stuck her tongue out at Zell making him grumble curses.
Next to finish was Riku, who was still followed by Garnet and Yuffie.
"Welcome back," Quistis said greeting the rest of her team. The two girls quickly joined Rikku and Paine with high-fives. Riku glared at Seifer; he still felt sour toward him. Kairi, Selphie, Naminé, and Olette crossed the finish line next followed by Sora, Roxas, Tidus, and Axel. Lastly, Hayner and Wakka finally crossed the finish line.
Cid popped, practically out of thin air, with his microphone in hand. "The gender point goes to the girls! And the team point rightfully belongs to Tifa, Yuna, Rinoa, and Fuu! Congratulations girls! And we all thought males were the dominant sex," Cid teased not realizing he had just insulted himself as well.
Aerith greeted her team happily. "I'm so glad to see you all came out alright," she said that warm smile still on her face.
"Of course, we're fine Aerith, the important thing is we're all together," Naminé replied with a smile of her own.
"Right!" Selphie agreed excitedly. Aerith smiled and glanced over at Cloud who was talking to his team quietly. Kairi nudged Olette who smirked in return as they watched Aerith watch Cloud.
"We have got to get them to date," Olette whispered happily.
A/N: So what did you think? You should tell me in your review! I would like to thank all my reviewers! You guys are great now I name every person who reviewed!
Kairi159, damaster123, Sora's Final Valor Form, dbtzfan2004, imjackie, Khkid1312020, ImortalBlueFlame, and AznSnoStuff!
Thank you! You guys are wonderful!
By the way! Expect some fluff in the next one! I won't tell you who so you should probably just wait a couple of hours for the next chapter! I'm trying to at least get two done a day.
