Author's Note: PRAIIIIIIIIISE GOD! I HAVE UPDATED! XD
XXX
"SO THAT'S WHY ALPACAS ARE TOTALLY BETTER THAN LLAMAS 'CAUSE THEY'RE JUST COOL LIKE THAT AND THEY BRING IN MORE PROFIT! ! !" Skye yelled at a thousand MPH.
"Skye, ya don't know how close I am to killin' ya," Vaughn said.
"So, Logan, where to next?" I asked.
"To the Phazon Mines," he replied.
"Wuh rr Hahoh Hiheh?" Skye asked, though we couldn't understand him very well because his mouth was full of chocolate.
"Well, first of all, Phazon is a kind of electric mineral. Very small crystals are used to power electrical things, such as televisions, stoves, and phones. The Phazon Mines are the place where traders mine these crystals to sell," Logan explained to us, seeming to understand what Skye said. "And we should get going soon."
"Hoh oh," Skye said, taking off his leopard-print jacket and dropping candy in it. "Le mi hau uuh!"
Vaughn heaved an annoyed sigh and pulled Skye by the hair, picking up his jacket on the way.
"Ow! Hey, let go!" Skye whined.
"Stop squirmin'," Vaughn ordered coldly.
Skye complained about his hair all the way to the cave where Logan was leading us to.
The mouth of the cave was huge. Pink-tinged water covered the ground, and the stalagtites dripped blood.
"There is no way I'm going in there," Skye said once Vaughn let go of his hair.
"I'm not doing it if Skye's not doing it!" Luke yelled.
"Oh, you're doin' it," Vaughn said threateningly to Skye.
"That's what she said" Luke said. Vaughn shot him an icy glare, then turned back to Skye.
"You're goin' in that cave, or I'ma tell Ma you're gay."
"You wouldn't!"
"Ya really think I wouldn't?"
"But that's a lie! I am so not gay!"
"Pfffft! Now that's a lie!" Natalie laughed.
Skye's lower lip quivered.
"You guys are a riot," Carl said. "Really. I'm having a blast here."
After another... small dispute, we entered the cave. The cave had pools of glowing, electrical crystals, which caused unnatural shadows to loom on the wall. It might just have been my imagination, but one of the shadows actually looked like a human hanging from a stalagtite.
"This place is spooky," Skye whispered, putting his jacket back on.
"No shit, Sherlock," Natalie hissed back. Skye pouted again.
"Quiet!" Logan ordered softly. "We don't want to disturb them."
"Who?" Skye asked.
Logan hesitated. "Well... this isn't the best place to explain, but I'll try when we get out of this cave."
Vaughn looked at one of the crystal pools a little nervously. "So, uh, what would happen if one of us fell in those?"
"You would probably die," Logan said. "If not, you would be mentally ill for the rest of your life.
Skye shuddered. "This place is scary."
Natalie slapped him. "We've already established that, Skye."
"Don't slap me!" Skye yelled at her.
"Don't tell me what to do!" Natalie shot back.
"Shut up!"
"You shut up!"
Vaughn slapped Skye. "Seriously, shut up."
"Why's everyone slapping me? !"
Someone cackled.
"What was that?" Skye whispered.
The person cackled again.
"Dammit, who's laughin'?" Vaughn yelled.
A girl hovered down from a stalagtite right behind Vaughn. "'Twas me."
Vaughn swirled around in surprise and tripped, landing in a Phazon pool. Vines shot out from the ground and pulled him into the ground.
"HOLY SHIZ!" we all yelled.
Then Vaughn shot out from a crack in the ground and landed face-first in the rocks.
"Vaughn?" I asked fearfully. He got up, twitched a bit, and collapsed again.
The girl started laughing her butt off. Sylvester grabbed her arm.
"Yvette!" he yelled. "Should have known 'twas you! What was that for?"
"Just a little entertainment. It gets boring around here, you know," the girl answered. "Oh, that was hilarious!"
"You could have killed him!"
"Oh, relax, I checked his Cyzum reading before I did it." She took out a small phone-looking thing and held it out for Sylvester to take. Sylvester took it and held it in front of Vaughn.
"What's a Cyzum?" Skye asked.
"It's a magic reading," Sylvester explained to us, except for Vaughn, since he was still face-first into the ground. "If you have a strong Cyzum reading, you're less affected by magic items and you might even get a secret power."
"So does that mean Vaughn has a magical power?" I asked.
"Not sure," Sylvester answered. "We won't be able to tell unless he uses a power."
"Hyng, gnys, ff ou hceel nk ou gngtt nlctrcrtrtry gning frng ur bdy, ds dzzt eanm ou gtt mm mmgc pwr?" Vaughn mumbled through the rocks.
Skye pulled his face out of the ground. Vaughn spit out some sand and pebbles.
"Excuse me?" Sylvester asked. "I didn't quite get that."
"I said, if you feel like you got electricity going through your body, does that mean you got a magic power?" Vaughn repeated.
"It might," Sylvester said. Vaughn twitched again.
"Hey, are you guys coming to the Arena?" a male voice asked.
"Sorry, Rocky, we can't," Sylvester said to the voice. "We have to take them to the Portal."
"Awwww..." the voice complained.
"Who keeps talking? !" Vaughn yelled.
Another person lowered down from another stalagtite. It was a guy who looked exactly like Sylvester, except with more unruly hair.
He raised his hand like a kindergartener, like Skye would. "Sylvester, can we introduce ourselves?"
"Go ahead," Sylvester said, a little fearfully.
"Okay! My name's Rocky," the boy said. "Sylvester's my twin brother! And she-" he pointed to the new girl- "and she's Yvette, my twin sister!"
Meanwhile, Sylvester was hiding behind Yvette, shaking to death. "OMHG please get him away DX!" he yelled.
Yvette looked over her shoulder. "You wuss," she told him.
Sylvester pouted. "Not my fault he tried to flatten me and feed me through a paper shredder..."
"Oh, I remember that!" Rocky yelled. "I ran you over with Dad's tank, didn't I?"
"Don't remind me," Sylvester shuddered.
Rocky ignored his disgust. "Will you guys pleeeeaaaaaase join the race today?"
"What race?" Vaughn asked with some interest.
"It's awesome!" Rocky yelled. "You get to ride on Lyalum Buzzers and fly around in the Arena!"
For some reason, I felt like checking the book I had got from Luke's library. I got it out of my backpack and flipped to the L section.
Lyalum Buzzer
These vampiric, winged creatures are mostly nocturnal, but a special medicine can be used to keep them awake during the day. They are sometimes captured and trained to be racers in events like the Lyalum Cup. The needle-like points on their snouts are sharper than javelins, and contain mild poison. The Lyalum Buzzers use them for defense and for sucking blood.
So that's what a Lyalum Buzzer is, I thought. I'm learning more about this place every minute.
My thoughts were interrupted by Carl. "Oh, I love the Lyalum Cup!" he said. "Couldn't we spare a few hours to enter?"
Logan thought it over. "Well, I suppose there wouldn't be any harm in it..."
"Is it anything like horse-back riding?" Vaughn asked.
"Yes and no," Sylvester replied. "It's sort of like a horse, except it flies."
"Very well," Logan said. "I suppose we can enter."
"Wait," Rocky said with a sly grin. "Can we take some crystals with us for good luck?"
"Sure," Logan said, sort of puzzled. We stooped down to the edge of the Phazon pools and grabbed a few crystals...
Later...
"You'll have to hold on tight to the reins," Logan told Vaughn once he was in the saddle on the Lyalum Buzzer. We were in the grand arena, where thousands of people were seated on the bleachers. The walls almost vibrated with the buzz of the crowd and of the Lyalum Buzzers.
"Now, Juliet, you get on," Logan instructed. I got in the saddle and wrapped my hands around Vaughn's waist.
The Lyalum Buzzers were like giant versions of a cross between a bat and a mosquito. It had bat wings and a mosquito's blood-sucking tube-looking thingy on its snout.
I looked around. Lots of Lyalum Buzzers were scattered around the arena, with two people saddled on each, with the exception of one. I saw Skye and Natalie on one of them. Natalie was in the front seat, and Skye was in back with his hands around Natalie's waist. Natalie looked like she wanted to die.
"Remember," Logan warned, "in this race, anything goes. Even knocking you off your Buzzers or cutting you with the Lyalum's nostril thingy. If you're low on energy, go to one of the tanks on the ground and have your Lyalum drink from it."
"How do we know if our energy's low?" I asked.
"You see the board up there?" Logan pointed to the big sign board near the top of the arena. "That displays all the information of the Buzzers."
"And what are we supposed to throw to the other guys?" Vaughn asked.
"Well, most people use their powers, but since you guys don't have any powers, you'll have to use the projectiles handed out by the attendants on the ground." Logan pointed to a few people on the ground holding buckets of vegetables, darts, and other stuff.
"Now, then, sports fans and fanatics, it's almost time for the race to begin!" the sportscaster announced. "If all the racers would be so kind as to get into places at the starting line..."
Everyone who was racing flew to the starting line.
"Thank you very much! Today we have some all-new contestants, sports fans, please look up at the board, if you would... Our new contestants today are actually human teams!"
On the board was a picture of everyone who was racing.
First Team
Front: Sylvester (vampire)
Back: Logan (ghost)
Second Team
Front: Rocky (vampire)
Back: Yvette (vampire)
Third Team
Front: Nathan (knight)
Back: Layla (flower princess)
Fourth Team
Front: Vaughn (human)
Back: Juliet (human)
Fifth Team
Front: Christian (ghost)
Back: Rachel (ghost)
Sixth Team
Front: Natalie (humanoid)
Back: Skye (human)
Seventh Team
Front: Witch Princess (evil princess)
Back: N/A
After we all looked to the board, a large wasp-looking thing dropped down, holding a traffic light. It flashed red, then yellow, and finally green.
"Watch where you put those hands," Natalie warned Skye, then we were off!
Random things started flying around, things like sharpened metal flowers, scythe blades, black orbs, and other stuff.
One of those sharpened metal flowers came whizzing past us. Vaughn dodged at the last second.
"WTF was that? !" he yelled.
"YO, VAUGHN AND JULIE!" a voice yelled from above. No, it wasn't God, it was Rocky. "THROW SOMETHING AT THOSE DANG JERKS!"
I shrugged and threw a crystal. It turned into a fire orb and nailed Layla in the arm. She yelled and dropped the flower Frisbee she was holding.
"Good job, Miss Juliet!" Sylvester called out, twirling a tornado on his finger. He let it loose and it threw Christian off his Buzzer.
"This is cool!" Vaughn said. He took a crystal out of his pocket and threw it. It turned into a lightning bolt. Nathan got electrified by it.
"Well, it looks like Team 1 and Team 4 are teaming up!" the sportscaster announced. "Let's see how strong they are together!"
Skye threw a crystal, which turned into an ice crystal and cut the Witch Princess's arm. She snarled and threw a black orb at him. His Buzzer swooped down before it could hit, but Skye fell off, landing right on top of Yvette.
"F OFF" she yelled at him, smearing blood all over his face.
"This race is weird," Vaughn said, throwing more lightning bolts.
"IT'S AWESOME!" Rocky yelled, throwing smiley faces at everyone that covered their faces and blocking their view.
The race when on like this, packed with full-on wild action, blood, falling, bruises, and dodging and swerving, for about a half-hour. Sylvester threw tornadoes, Logan threw rabid squirrels, Rocky threw those little yellow smiley faces, Yvette threw blood orbs, Nathan threw swords, Layla threw the sharp flower Frisbees, Vaughn threw lightning bolts, I threw fire, Christian threw scythes, Rachel threw bunnies with bows and arrows that threw hearts, Natalie threw ninja stars, Skye threw ice crystals, and Witch Princess threw those magic black orbs.
"The race is almost over, sports fans, and, surprisingly, it looks like the new contestants, Vaughn and Juliet, are winning! Can they keep it up for the remainder of the race?"
Just then, a bunny came up and knocked Vaughn off the Buzzer, leaving me to steer.
I never imagined it was so hard. You had to let go of one hand to throw things and dodge what people threw at you, and all the while the Buzzer was shaking like crazy and almost crashing into things. Then it got low on energy and you had to take it down to the ground for it to drink and all the while you had to watch out for people throwing more stuff at you. But, on the whole, it was pretty awesome.
I must have been doing pretty awesome, because someone in the audience yelled, "Go, Juliet!"
Then more of the crowd started cheering me on. "Juliet, Juliet, Juliet, Juliet!"
And at the end of the race, I was the one who won. The crowd went absolutely crazy, cheering so much that the arena sounded like it was gonna fall.
I parked the Buzzer on the ground and ran over to Vaughn. To my surprise, he picked me up and gave me a hug. When he set me down, our eyes met, and we smiled.
"DAMN THAT WAS FREAKIN' EPIC! ! ! ! !" Rocky yelled. A man came out of a doorway and handed me a trophy. Me and Vaughn held it proudly for the crowd to see. They cheered wildly.
Yvette frowned. "I didn't win... I win almost every year..." She glared at me and Vaughn. "This is all your fault." Then she flew off.
I blinked. "What's up with her?" I asked Sylvester.
"She loves to win in everything she does," he replied. "If she doesn't, she gets very angry."
Logan came, too. "We should really get going now."
"Why are you so nervous about this?" Skye asked him.
"Not a good time to explain, Skye," Logan said, a little annoyed.
Skye shrugged.
So we walked out of the arena, me and Vaughn holding the trophy, hand in hand.
XXX
Author's Note: Yeah, sucky chapter, I know, but I was having writer's block... Boohoo ;A; Plus, I felt like I should update ASAP for you guys. I'm a very mean author ;A; I was playing too much Lego Indy... then my annoying little sister broke it... boohoo... TT^TT
Anyway, all those new characters I introduced are going to have something to do with the story (except for the guy handing out the trophy). And this chapter was basically just to introduce everyone's new powers because I thought it would be cool if they had powers... plus, I liked the idea of them having a race... and about the ending, I just felt like that could be a little heartfelt moment between Vaughn and Juliet. You guys DID want romance, anyway.
I HAVE A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE! THERE WILL BE...
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(duh duh daaaa)...
A SEQUEL! A SEQUEL TO THIS STORY! ! ! ! ! ! Once I'm done with it, anyway. I thought I was gonna make a sequel even before I was writing this chapter, but the idea got finalized when I had a dream last night. It was an awesome dream that I am going to reveal when the time comes. And the sequel is gonna be even awesome-er and random-er than this one! XD
R&R! I'm hoping to get 50 reviews for this story by the time it's finished... which will be sometime around Christmas 2014... LOL not really, but, you know. Only some twenty reviews left, I think! So contribute!
~Arista ;)