Author's notes: The lyrics are from "Loser" by Three Doors Down. Yes, I named the story after this song. But "Quasimodo", the song I've been using, is more of a theme song for it, ne?
Thank you once again to everyone who reviewed. People actually like it! ^.^ This chapter's a little over-the-top compared to how uneventful the other two have been, but either way, I hope I don't throw anybody off. ^^; Again, I really appreciate the great reviews I got for the last chapter. It really makes me happy to know that people like my writing in so many aspects--and I'll tell you now that it takes quite a bit to make me really happy. ^^;
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'You're getting closer
To pushing me off of life's little ledge
Cause I'm loser
And sooner or later, you know I'll be dead
You're getting closer
You're holding the rope and I'm taking the fall
Cause I'm a loser
I'm a loser.'
I should have stayed in my room.
There they are--all twenty-two of them, "encouraging" me to go into battle. As soon as I came down to the arenas, they jumped me about this. Have they been planning it, or what?
"Well, what's it going to be?" my helmeted challenger says in a cocky tone as he folds his arms across his chest and shifts his weight to one side. "Are you too sissy to even face me?"
Still sitting on a bench outside of the Big Blue arena, I try to ignore the other battlers who are trying to persuade me to enter battle with the brash fighter by the name of Captain Falcon. I move my eyes from my fixed stare on absolutely nothing and towards Falcon. "It's first thing in the morning. The last thing I want to do is jump on the backs of a bunch of cars going a thousand miles an hour, swinging my sword."
The others burst out laughing at this comment. Although I keep my temper under control, I'm still tempted to snap my neck around to them and dare them to do it, instead. Where is Marus, anyway? He's the only one who isn't here...
"Oh, I get it. So you are afraid, aren't you?" Falcon sniggers. "I should've known better than to challenge someone so sensitive--"
In a heartbeat, I jump to my feet and pull my sword out. "Shut the hell up already! Do you want me to beat you that badly?" I realize right after speaking that I'm going to regret accepting before I even had a chance to warm up.
The others start cheering as Falcon steps into the entrance room to the closed off, transparent-walled arena and I have no choice but to follow him. Before stepping in, though, I see Marus hurrying into the benches, pulling his boots on and looking hurried. I try not to laugh to myself; I guess he didn't set the clock right after all. As he looks around to see what's happening, we make brief eye contact. In response to his look of confusion, I raise my eyebrows helplessly toward him, letting him know that it certainly wasn't my idea.
I see my opponent for a moment before we're both enshrouded in separate lights. I close my eyes to avoid getting too dizzy as I'm moved at almost warping speed into the battlefield. I feel the platform that I travel on ease up, and so I open my eyes just in time before being dropped a foot above Captain Falcon's ship, which is significantly larger than the others in the stage. I'm face to face with my challenger once again, and we both stay as still as possible until the booming voice calls for the battle to begin.
I predict Falcon's first move perfectly, and push my sword in front of myself in a defensive position to counter his Raptor Boost. He falls back, flaming for a few seconds, then jumps at me again. Before he can make contact with me, I send him back again with a smash of my sword. With the situation at my advantage, I jump into the air and land directly in front of him as he stands up, and grab him before he can attack. I knee his stomach once before slamming him onto the ship, causing him to bound off of the main ship and onto one of the smaller ones below. I expect he'll try something if I go down after him, so I run to the other side of the ship and jump down onto a different racer. But he apparently read me just as well, because before I even land, his foot connects with my chest just below my armor.
It's a hard hit, yes, but it's only my first; I catch myself before hitting my back hard onto the ship and quickly push back onto my feet. I see that he's planning to do one of his hard-hitting moves, so I beat him to the punch; I launch myself off the ground with incredible force as my blade erupts in large flames. I hit my target straight on and hear the cheers of the others watching as he shoots skyward.
I make one very simple mistake: I let my guard down as this happens. Almost as quickly as he goes up, I feel a horrible impact hitting me diagonally from above, pushing me into the ground. The hit dazes me, so I'm unaware that he's planned more until it's too late. Before I can pull myself together, I feel him grab the front of my body. A horrible pain shoots through me, and he soon tosses me away. I feel the strong wind against me as I'm sent upward and back down again, hitting one of the cars with a hard thud. As I try to collect myself enough to stand again, I hear the others cheering Falcon's name.
But I quickly notice something's wrong. Still on my back, I see that he's doing his infamous pose and gaining distance fast. Neither one of us is moving, so how could he be getting so far away so quickly? A thought occurs to me, causing me to jump to my feet. But he wouldn't...
Would he?
He's almost entirely out of sight now, and the car I'm on is the only one in jumping distance. I would most certainly be out of bounds now. Since I haven't fallen off yet, that means that there's only one possibility: he rigged the car.
A mix of rage and panic builds up inside me. I'm sure he's exited the arena, and he and his friends are now laughing about what could be happening to me out of the seen field. This has to be one of the lowest things that he's done in his time here: faking a battle to play a practical joke. But I can't seethe over this for long; I never noticed before, being too preoccupied with the battle, but not only does the track go at insane speed--it also loops and jumps. And maybe it's just because I'm noticing now, but it seems to be going faster than normal.
Or maybe that's part of his joke, too.
I let out a shout as the ship jerks down from a jump and I lose my balance. I fall onto my chin, straining the scar across my throat, which is still somewhat fresh. I let out another cry, but much quieter and more sore. Rather than trying to get back onto my feet, I clutch onto the ship to avoid falling again. The only thing I can do is wait until Falcon decides he's had enough fun and sets the rules right again.
But then another possibility arises. Not one that I particularly favor, however. The car is going much faster than the others, but when I see the other ships up ahead, I'm reminded that the stage circles. The panic takes over the rage and I immediately try to think of how I can avoid the situation ahead of me. The only thing I can come up with is to jump off the bottom to exit, rather than the side. It's painful, of course, but not nearly as much as colliding with the other ships, I imagine. But with the speed of my ship increasing, the wind holds me down against it, and I can't push myself enough to get off.
As soon as I shut my eyes and try to brace myself, a horrible screech of metal fills my ears.
Thank you once again to everyone who reviewed. People actually like it! ^.^ This chapter's a little over-the-top compared to how uneventful the other two have been, but either way, I hope I don't throw anybody off. ^^; Again, I really appreciate the great reviews I got for the last chapter. It really makes me happy to know that people like my writing in so many aspects--and I'll tell you now that it takes quite a bit to make me really happy. ^^;
__ __ __
'You're getting closer
To pushing me off of life's little ledge
Cause I'm loser
And sooner or later, you know I'll be dead
You're getting closer
You're holding the rope and I'm taking the fall
Cause I'm a loser
I'm a loser.'
I should have stayed in my room.
There they are--all twenty-two of them, "encouraging" me to go into battle. As soon as I came down to the arenas, they jumped me about this. Have they been planning it, or what?
"Well, what's it going to be?" my helmeted challenger says in a cocky tone as he folds his arms across his chest and shifts his weight to one side. "Are you too sissy to even face me?"
Still sitting on a bench outside of the Big Blue arena, I try to ignore the other battlers who are trying to persuade me to enter battle with the brash fighter by the name of Captain Falcon. I move my eyes from my fixed stare on absolutely nothing and towards Falcon. "It's first thing in the morning. The last thing I want to do is jump on the backs of a bunch of cars going a thousand miles an hour, swinging my sword."
The others burst out laughing at this comment. Although I keep my temper under control, I'm still tempted to snap my neck around to them and dare them to do it, instead. Where is Marus, anyway? He's the only one who isn't here...
"Oh, I get it. So you are afraid, aren't you?" Falcon sniggers. "I should've known better than to challenge someone so sensitive--"
In a heartbeat, I jump to my feet and pull my sword out. "Shut the hell up already! Do you want me to beat you that badly?" I realize right after speaking that I'm going to regret accepting before I even had a chance to warm up.
The others start cheering as Falcon steps into the entrance room to the closed off, transparent-walled arena and I have no choice but to follow him. Before stepping in, though, I see Marus hurrying into the benches, pulling his boots on and looking hurried. I try not to laugh to myself; I guess he didn't set the clock right after all. As he looks around to see what's happening, we make brief eye contact. In response to his look of confusion, I raise my eyebrows helplessly toward him, letting him know that it certainly wasn't my idea.
I see my opponent for a moment before we're both enshrouded in separate lights. I close my eyes to avoid getting too dizzy as I'm moved at almost warping speed into the battlefield. I feel the platform that I travel on ease up, and so I open my eyes just in time before being dropped a foot above Captain Falcon's ship, which is significantly larger than the others in the stage. I'm face to face with my challenger once again, and we both stay as still as possible until the booming voice calls for the battle to begin.
I predict Falcon's first move perfectly, and push my sword in front of myself in a defensive position to counter his Raptor Boost. He falls back, flaming for a few seconds, then jumps at me again. Before he can make contact with me, I send him back again with a smash of my sword. With the situation at my advantage, I jump into the air and land directly in front of him as he stands up, and grab him before he can attack. I knee his stomach once before slamming him onto the ship, causing him to bound off of the main ship and onto one of the smaller ones below. I expect he'll try something if I go down after him, so I run to the other side of the ship and jump down onto a different racer. But he apparently read me just as well, because before I even land, his foot connects with my chest just below my armor.
It's a hard hit, yes, but it's only my first; I catch myself before hitting my back hard onto the ship and quickly push back onto my feet. I see that he's planning to do one of his hard-hitting moves, so I beat him to the punch; I launch myself off the ground with incredible force as my blade erupts in large flames. I hit my target straight on and hear the cheers of the others watching as he shoots skyward.
I make one very simple mistake: I let my guard down as this happens. Almost as quickly as he goes up, I feel a horrible impact hitting me diagonally from above, pushing me into the ground. The hit dazes me, so I'm unaware that he's planned more until it's too late. Before I can pull myself together, I feel him grab the front of my body. A horrible pain shoots through me, and he soon tosses me away. I feel the strong wind against me as I'm sent upward and back down again, hitting one of the cars with a hard thud. As I try to collect myself enough to stand again, I hear the others cheering Falcon's name.
But I quickly notice something's wrong. Still on my back, I see that he's doing his infamous pose and gaining distance fast. Neither one of us is moving, so how could he be getting so far away so quickly? A thought occurs to me, causing me to jump to my feet. But he wouldn't...
Would he?
He's almost entirely out of sight now, and the car I'm on is the only one in jumping distance. I would most certainly be out of bounds now. Since I haven't fallen off yet, that means that there's only one possibility: he rigged the car.
A mix of rage and panic builds up inside me. I'm sure he's exited the arena, and he and his friends are now laughing about what could be happening to me out of the seen field. This has to be one of the lowest things that he's done in his time here: faking a battle to play a practical joke. But I can't seethe over this for long; I never noticed before, being too preoccupied with the battle, but not only does the track go at insane speed--it also loops and jumps. And maybe it's just because I'm noticing now, but it seems to be going faster than normal.
Or maybe that's part of his joke, too.
I let out a shout as the ship jerks down from a jump and I lose my balance. I fall onto my chin, straining the scar across my throat, which is still somewhat fresh. I let out another cry, but much quieter and more sore. Rather than trying to get back onto my feet, I clutch onto the ship to avoid falling again. The only thing I can do is wait until Falcon decides he's had enough fun and sets the rules right again.
But then another possibility arises. Not one that I particularly favor, however. The car is going much faster than the others, but when I see the other ships up ahead, I'm reminded that the stage circles. The panic takes over the rage and I immediately try to think of how I can avoid the situation ahead of me. The only thing I can come up with is to jump off the bottom to exit, rather than the side. It's painful, of course, but not nearly as much as colliding with the other ships, I imagine. But with the speed of my ship increasing, the wind holds me down against it, and I can't push myself enough to get off.
As soon as I shut my eyes and try to brace myself, a horrible screech of metal fills my ears.