Konichiwa.
Princess Fruity:Well that quote sounded like a bowl full of Mary Sue shit. Uh, Elemine. I totally just lost my lunch. Anyway. Thanks so much for being creative in your pairings, eh. /sarcasm
Basiliskwings: Ohohohoho, there you are! -Pokes you-
Daikoran the BlackIce Kitsune: Not very specific, but thanks.
Adriana Dimitriov: You have a rad name. It's like, Russian-full? Anyway, thank you so, so, very much for the review. I love getting this type of information. I've actually drawn the conclusion that you might have analyzed this story more than I have. -Stands Up- See? See? This is an example of a perfect reviewer! Thanks! I look forward to your other reviews! It's too bad you hate Trent so much, though.
Mr. Lefty: Not Canadian after all, eh? Well, it was still pretty smooth. I'm so happy you came to read my story, and even reviewed The Rise, which I must admit is pretty stupid now that I've come back to read it. This story is kind of random, too, the concepts I mean. I feel so inferior to your awesome-ness. –Bows-
Xiao23: I'm pleased you like it!
It seems the longer I do not update, the more reviews I get! That's not good for you guys, is it?
NOTE(s):
- I have a gallery up, a DeviantART one. Nothing good is up... I have pictures from Survival!! that I would like to put up, but I've gotten lazy. I was drawing this one with all the girls in the tournament, and XaNGrrR wanted me to put him in the middle. But I didn't. Then I brought it to school to touch it up, and the girls picked their favorites. Megan was smart; she knew that Ferah was the best. Ellen liked Karen (wtf?) and Victoria. Tori did turn out well. I don't remember who Mackenzie liked, though.
Yeah, you get a long chapter. Cause I love you and I'm sorry for not updating? No, because there is a bunch of junk to say.
XXXChapter Seven: Three Lynxes
XXX
Ferah had another nightmare last night. Roy had attacked her again, dark walls rising around her to fail her escape. His sword blazed, but his eyes were wrinkled and worried. In the dream, Ferah had seemed aware that there was no use in running, and kept her feet still, although they seemed to be magnetically weighted to the ground.
However, her physical body still struggled. In her bed she sweat and turned, throwing pillows off the bed and onto the dingy hotel carpet. The sound of her sheets sliding on her cat woke her up, and she stared, dazed, at the ceiling.
After a few more hours of trying to fall asleep and failing miserably, something happened that made her think she was going insane. A sweet, humming song sang from behind the white walls, convincing her that she was safe. She fell for it's dancing, swirling winds and dosed back into a slumber, more peaceful and fulfilled than ever before.
---
Ferah dragged herself up from her bed, and walked into the bathroom, Snow Fern dancing around her legs and meowing loudly in a demand for food. Ferah rubbed her eyes. The room whirled in strange colors. She pushed past Fern and into the bathroom, where she closed the door seconds after Fern rushed in after her.
Outside in the main suite, the Emerald Team was watching TV and eating breakfast peacefully. Ferah came out to join them, but a different sort of Ferah.
Her hair, which was usually done up in perky, messy pigtails, was now down, silk across her small shoulders. She had her left hand over her eyes, while the right hand held tightly onto the doorway entrance.
"Are you okay?" Asked Dominick, peering over. He had never seen Ferah this way. She wasn't a mess, but she seemed so much more frail than ever before.
Ferah dragged her hands from her eyes. Today they were tired opals, and made her appear gentle and mysterious, the green orbs hidden and dark.
"I can't... see." She said, a little softly. She could see a brown and orange blur that was Dominick, and Kaze sitting in the distance on a couch, but she couldn't see Selena or Aaron.
"What?" Demanded Kaze, he looked over from his newspaper reading and sat forward.
"My contacts... has anyone seen them?" Ferah tried.
Dominick got up. "You wear contacts?"
"How are we supposed to see contacts?" Asked Aaron.
Selena got up. "...I think I might have seen one... It was on the counter." Selena got up, and Ferah attempted to go after her, but almost tripped on her cat. Kaze lunged forward and caught her by the shoulders. Ferah's head slammed forward as a result, and her black-brown hair flipped forward. She stood upright and stepped over Fern. The Team followed Selena into the joint bathroom.
Placing her hands along the counter and watching where her hands slid, Selena found something slightly shriveled up. She picked it off and held it up. "Is this it?" She asked.
Ferah opened her eyes, which seemed like small pools of dark water that were twenty-times deeper than the length of the waters on the shore. "Looks like it." She squinted, and the forest-green orbs hid behind her eyelids.
Selena pulled Ferah's palm closer and laid it on it. Ferah picked it up in the tips of her other hands fingers, and then reached towards the mirror for her case. Carefully, she dropped it into the liquid. "So that's one... can anyone see any other?" She spoke softly, as if she was afraid she wasn't talking to the right people.
"It must have gotten washed out in yesterday's match." Said Aaron, frowning. They all recalled in the blue fish-woman and her water abilities. "That was really cool, though. I wish I could control water. Then I could flood my school and then..." Aaron rambled.
Ferah peered, watched the plastic lens unfurl in the cleaning liquid that was actually salt water. She pushed Selena's conditioner away and hoisted herself up on the counter, feeling that she wouldn't be going anywhere for a while. "This is not good. How am I supposed to fight this way?"
Kaze spoke in a commanding tone, resonance in the empty room. "You must rely on Roy to guide you now."
---
Roy's lie had become vast. In Pharae, Ferah had started as an orphaned girl that had wandered in. But soon, more and more people of the court began to inquire about the fifteen-year-old girl that was always training alongside Roy. Those who had seen Ferah and Roy combine had begin to think Ferah was a sort of Dark Mage, for she disappeared with the wind.
At length the to-be-Baron had become a storyteller as which he told Ferah's courageous tale. It had come that she was from a small village in eastern Lycia. Her family and the all the other boys her age and older had been drafted into the war, and ambushed. In her young desperate struggle to avenge her family, she had come to Pharae to serve under the Lord Eliwood, promising the other girls she would not return until the war was over and Lycia had won.
Ferah hadn't notice before, but Roy's lie was worse than hers. All she had said that she was going to go home, but continued to wander in dangerous fields. However, she was sure that if she confronted Roy about it, he would probably say something regal like his lie was for the common good, with the blonde Wolt ever to back him up. But Ferah had to admit, the lie was for a decent reason, however pulled to what extent.
"This is the first time I've traveled without my family." Aaron said that day, followed by a suggestion. "We have no parental guidance. I think we should hire some hookers." He nodded sagely.
A long, omitted silence followed, in which Dominick coughed genuinely.
Kaze looked up, raising his eyebrows over his tiny reading glasses, and shook his head lightly. His froth of dark messy hair slid gently from side to side. He appeared like a father who had given up long ago to raise a retarded son.
"Hmmm," Sang Selena, reading his obvious feelings. "I think you'll end up missing him." She voiced cautiously, unable to contain the comment. However, she did not want to find out what Kaze's bad side was like.
Aaron nodded, recognition finally hitting him. He sourly twitched his mouth. "This is our last day together. Our last match."
"And then so ends... the Emerald Team." Said Ferah. Her left contact was now in, but that was her better eye.
Ferah had returned home late last night, spending time around Pharae while Roy and Lilina were hanging out with each other. She had been invited to dinner by Wolt, but had politely refused.
She could not get her mind off Roy and Lilina together. When she had spoke to Roy a little that night, all she could manage to ask him was why had he not told her about the Double-Edge Dance. He explained simply that he just never knew about it, but using that move did feel right.
"I want you guys to know it's been so much fun fighting with you." Said Selena. She had noticed that during their team training, Kaze had stopped coaching so hard. Maybe it was because they were getting better, or because Kaze was trying to be friendlier, but she reckoned it was because he didn't want to help them if they – which was likely – became his enemies.
Dominick smiled as Selena poured mush all over them. He turned back to his laptop and continued his rapid typing.
Ferah released a sigh of stress as she stretched her arms out in front of her. With her pinky finger slightly lifted, she took a sip of what she assumed was Earlsgray Tea.
Selena finished her speech, of which no one was listening to, and professionally flipped open her black GBA. She moved the switch on the side, and the familiar Nintendo screen appeared. After pressing A a couple of times, being impatient, Selena's opal eyes enlarged. After she stared at the screen in disbelief for a few seconds, she snapped the screen shut and turned GBA off with a manicured thumb.
"What's wrong?" Asked Aaron. He had been the only one watching her.
Selena didn't say anything, but opened her GBA again in synch with her eyes. She pressed A quickly, very many times, and when she had stopped, she shrieked.
"I...I...I...IT'S GONE!" She yelled, her voice reaching high into the layers above their hotel suite. "Oh... my... God..."
"What's gone?" Continued Aaron, aggravation growing in his voice.
"GONE!" She hollered again. "IT'S GONE! ALL OF IT!" She flashed her eyes around everywhere, rapidly, as if someone was holding the answer and the solution on a large index card written in bright red Sharpie. Her mouth was ajar, and she was slightly smiling, hoping it was some sort of joke.
"Calm down!" Said Ferah, standing up and grabbing one of her prim, tan shoulders.
"CALM DOWN!?" She breathed a disbelieving laugh. "IT'S GONE! ALL IF IT! ALL THE HOURS! ALL THE SORES! ALL THE EXP! THEY'RE GONE!" Selena yelled at the top of her lungs, her eye sprouting tiny beads of tears.
Ferah had never seen Selena so upset, even when she had been nearly kidnapped. Selena stared at her GBA, and in one, swift move, sent it into the wall. It made a mark inches away from where Kaze's head rested against the wall.
Even Kaze flinched. He got up. "What the –"
Selena suddenly began to cry. She wailed as she dropped onto her thin knees. The fake diamonds on her manicured fingernails gleamed as she brought her long fingers up to her face and sobbed into them.
Dominick fetched the GBA from the other side of the room and tapped over, holding it out for her. The top screen 's ends had been mashed into the bottom, which had deep gouges along its black paint.
Aaron touched her shoulder. "Your... Pokemon game?" He asked.
Selena looked up, black mascara rivers swimming along her previously clean cheeks. She suddenly and very angrily grabbed Aaron's collar and began shaking him violently, his blonde-brown head rattling back and forth with alarming speed.
"WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK!?" She yelled in his face, little bits of lip gloss flecking his forehead. She continued to shout loudly, her hands still around Aaron's t-shirt's collar as his body sunk uselessly to the carpeted floor.
"Are you serious?" Asked Ferah, although Selena didn't have reason to lie to the Team.
Ferah didn't know what she could do for Selena. How do you get someone to give up on a video game? She remembered how hard it was to get Van downstairs for lunch while he was playing the new Final Fantasy game.
In Ferah's left hand was her teacup. She turned to bring it over to Selena, but Selena reached out to attack the GBA from Dominick's hand. Selena shoved the GBA into Dominick in one underestimated move, sending him into shock and slamming him back into Ferah, hot Earlsgray thrown into the air and sparkling all over Aaron and Kaze.
With a thump, Ferah landed on the floor, and Dominick landed on Ferah. He landed squarely on her chest, knocking the air out of her.
The teacup crashed on Kaze's shoe as Selena continued to wail and sob loudly. Aaron finally regained consciousness, awoken from the steaming tea, and tried to pull away. His attempts were to no avail.
There was a knock on the door. For a moment, no one moved. Ferah couldn't breath, Dominick was in shock, Aaron was scared, and Selena was crying. Kaze looked around at everyone's pale faces, and then strode over to the door. He swung it open casually.
An executive peered in, and as the pall of the room recovered, Selena began to cry again, as loud as thunder.
Kaze pulled the door closer as to block the executive's view of the poor princess, but he raised an eyebrow and peered around the corner boldly.
"Uh..." Started Kaze, about to explain.
The executive didn't want to hear it. He had suddenly remembered why he had divorced from his nagging wife and their four teenage boys.
"You're late for the match. The other Player's are waiting for your team down in the lobby." He said, and touched his thin-wire glasses, acknowledging Kaze as Captain.
"Okay, okay, get off!" Yelled Ferah as she shoved Dominick's chubby body of her frail chest. "Let's go." She pushed herself up, flipping her black-brown waves out of her eyes.
Kaze nodded, and lifted his foot a little, sharp, triangular pieces of Ferah's broken cup clinking onto the floor. "We'll be there in a minute." He closed the door before the executive could announce a response.
Ferah got as to come over, but the colors of the room swirling around her caused her to trip. As she flew downward, she instinctively grabbed onto Kaze to hold her up. They both tumbled down, and she banged her head on the table as he grabbed the fireplace's mantle to hold himself up.
He stroked a hand down his face as Ferah clawed her way up via the sofa and his arm. Her bang from the table made her dizzy, but he held her tightly upright.
"We are so uncoordinated." He mumbled to himself. "A crying girl, a blind girl, and an idiot." He said softly, and sighed.
Selena still cried loudly. Kaze decided to take charge as he moved over to Aaron, who was still subdued until Kaze roped his arms around Selena's stomach and pulled her up. She finally let go of Aaron as Kaze carried her out of the room, holding her body horizontally. She was as thin and stiff as a pole.
Aaron linked arms with Ferah, and she had to take his offer willingly and without complaint. With Dominick from behind, she felt honored that they were so genuinely looking out for her. Would it still be this way after they were split up? That was, of course, if she got into a Trinity.
She sighed as she ran her hand down the ivory walls. "For Van."
---
Ferah finally let go of Selena's arm. Selena had not only been guiding her, but pulled her away from the strange homeless on the streets that reached out to Ferah. She was rather unknowing of the world now, and only saw things that gathered her attention, like flamboyant colors or loud noises.
Hirogawa looked mildly pleased at the collection of Players littered across the metal risers. The sun was distant, but it wasn't too cold, and this was the end of the beginning.
"I am glad to see you all again." He nodded. "I must inform you to make this next match your best, because this will be the last of the Team period. The two Teams with the least amount of points will be disqualified. The other three will be separated into Trinities, meaning they will have three Players per team, and will move to their new suites."
A small hush, then a bit of anxiety rolled over the Players. They looked at each other, for the first time, as antagonists.
"So let's make these matches today count. The teams fighting today are..." here he paused, "the Sapphire Team versus the Topaz Team, and the Emerald Team versus the Amethyst Team." He turned around a left to his seating while the Players became hush-hush within their Teams.
Kaze looked over at them, and Ferah could see a faint emotion of sadness passing his face. "Alright." He commanded in a deep tone.
Selena sniffed, and looked up, holding a red GBA in her slim fingers.
"You have another one!?" Ferah asked, squinting a little to make sure what she saw was real.
"I thought you already killed your file." Said Aaron a little insensitively.
"This is my second GBA, and my second Pokemon game file." Said Selena, a little proudly regardless of her previous loss.
"What, how many do you have?" Demanded Ferah.
"I have six GBAs, and six Pokemon cartridges." Selena said, as Kaze and Dominick waited for their little chit-chat to finish.
Aaron almost laughed. "Why!?"
"My family is an extended one, and a lot of them got me GBAs for Christmas. Then, I got four cartridges, because I wanted to play Ruby, as well as Sapphire."
"Three times, for each starter Pokemon." Finished Ferah for her.
"Can we move on!?" Demanded Kaze sharply. Everyone fell silent and expectant, except for Selena, who looked back down into the gleaming back-light of her GBA screen. She hiccupped a little as her tears withered away.
"Alright." His eyes searched the faces of his teammates. "The Captain is Karen "Samus", so we should be able to expect power and projectiles from her. Who else?" He asked Dominick.
"Uh... Pikachu... Sheik, Popo... and Luigi." Said Dominick.
Kaze nodded with the received information. "So this is our last match. If we lose, we will be disqualified, and sent home." He took a breath. "So let's win."
Aaron swallowed and nodded. Selena looked up, and turned her GBA off, and then slipped it into her pocket with ease. She looked at Kaze, who looked at Ferah, until Ferah noticed and smiled sweetly at Dominick.
"Let's go."
They dropped off the risers and onto the grass, then met up with their executive.
As they merged with the Amethyst Team, they found their rivals to be a strange, mis-sorted group of individuals, especially the youngest. She had very frizzy, messy brown-red hair, much less appealing than Karen's. It was tied back in a messy ponytail, and even with a passing glance you could see that her long bangs, quite vibrantly, were green. The girl had oversized, thick glasses, which rim's were twisted and taped. Around her neck and laid onto her flat chest was a necktie.
Aaron noticed something as they walked, between Karen and Bridget. "You guys are wearing the same shirt." He pointed out.
Karen made an aggravated twist of her large but hard face. "They're both my shirts."
"Not anymore!" Chimed Bridget. She spread her arms wide and attempted to be an airplane, running up ahead and jumping off the wooden borders that separated the grass from the trail.
The executive meant to stop her, and hold her still, but she skipped away and off to their battle fray.
A hunched, black figure strode in a fast pace in front of Ferah. She was Tori, the pale, punk girl clad in contrasting clothing and band insignias. With a shiver of the wind, she cringed noticeably. Tori was good looking, of medium-short height. Her blue-black hair had obviously been dyed, and golden roots were beginning to sprout, quite unlike her submissive glances that made her seem dark and cutely evil.
"... like a fucking dog." Mumbled Tori coldly, ignoring whatever restrictions the executive had proposed on language.
Ferah switched glances with Selena as they reached the battle fray.
"Why is she wearing a tie?" Whispered Selena.
A boy with black hair behind them picked it up. "It's her dad's." He said, startling the blinded Ferah. "She said it will bring her good luck, and that she will win this tournament." He said it with no air of hatred, like the others, but more so with a tinge of entertainment.
The metal wire gates still rose high, as well as the long silver pole holding the stoplight-resembling lights. Inside the gates was a large, sheer hill of red, sharp rocks, where small patches of grass sprouted on. It was rigid and steep for the most part, other than a small set of wooden, engraved stairs on the right side of the mound, left side for the opposing Amethyst Team.
The teams split up and moved to either side of the fray, and waited as an executive opened up the doors for each of them. Once inside what may have been the smallest fray yet, Ferah and her teammates stepped onto their platforms, as the Amethyst ones were to do.
Kaze cleared his throat and brushed bangs of his eyes. The hill lingered like a dark mountain. Would it be the obstacle that would finish the Emerald Team off? "Fox."
"Link." Said Aaron, as Dominick roared "G-A-W!"
Selena sighed and let the wind caress her cheeks, were there were smudges of mascara. She welcomed the new power that was her royal companion. "Daisy..." She breathed onto the wind.
"Roy!" Ferah seemed to always be last, as she was always making a fuss over something she was wearing. She wished to look nice for the crowd, and maybe even for Roy. But today, with her hair down and her inability to see any small stains or fibers on her shirt, she didn't fuss for long.
He appeared next to her in the whirr of green smoke she had grown used to. She basked in his happy demeanor as he tapped onto his platform with his heavy green boots.
"Hello, 'Swordswoman' Ferah." He chimed lightly, unsheathing the beautiful Sword of Seals and holding it prominently in front of him. The blue-gray sky above reflected onto the white-silver blade and smiled back at the smooth skin of Ferah's perpetually flushed cheeks.
"Hi, Roy." Ferah replied. She pulled back her bangs and laid them behind her ears so she could properly feel the Avatar Band. She stretched her back out a little and rubbed her eyes, trying to readjust to new amount of sunlight coming in.
She heard Kaze sigh a few paces away, gaining the attention of the other teenagers. "This is not a good arena." He glanced at the red mountain for a moment, and then turned back to the Team, his gaze resting on Ferah. "And we have a disadvantage."
Daisy sighed, putting a hand on her cheek. "We started with an advantage." She said in her sweet, singsong, girly voice, recalling the fact that Van's Player profile was in the place of Ferah's. "So I suppose this just makes up for that."
"What? What disadvantage?" Roy felt the presence of alarm and turned to look at her. Nothing seemed different, apart from her hair was down...
Ferah rubbed her eyes again. "I'm having problems with seeing... I lost my contacts..."
Roy couldn't decipher what "contacts" where, but he knew that he had more on his hands today, when Ferah could not see well for herself. "Alright then, be sure to pay attention."
Link nodded gravely. The mound overshadowed even him, at his tall elven height. He pulled out his sword by his famous left hand, whirling it around playfully.
Selena began to complain to Daisy about what had happened to her obviously mega-sized game file, and Daisy was attempting to understand, but the emotions on her face betrayed her. They both looked up at the lights as they flickered from yellow to lime green.
The heat of battle had swallowed up Roy's previously chipper mood. He watched her figure sharply, inspecting anything she had not noticed with her poor sight. His blue eyes rested on her shoes.
"Why are you wearing such shoes as these?" He pointed at the black, small-heeled scandals that Ferah had on with the tip of his blade.
"I don't know. They were just there." She shrugged. "I mustn't been paying attention..."
"4..."
"She's been trying to avoid tripping and running into tables" hissed Dominick. "Give her a break."
Ferah and Roy were both quickly taken aback. Since when did Ferah require Dominick to stand up for her? Ferah felt confused, and held her arms close to her for warmth and security.
"Ahahah, you should have seen her when she ran into the Maid's cart in the hotel hallway..." Laughed Aaron.
Roy turned to the arena and the great mountain that stood before him. Not only would Ferah not be able to see her enemies, but now she was wearing loose, impractical shoes, that would most certainly spell out their demise on the rocks.
"Not funny Aaron!" Ferah couldn't see him perfectly, but she knew his voice and comments well enough.
"...3..."
He would have no issues with other women or girls in his army if they wore shoes like these, but that meant he had to balance Ferah on these. The heels were high, the straps were thin.
"...2..."
"...1...!!"
"SURVIVAL!" The Players' voices were accompanied by their Avatars, and the audience as well.
Roy slammed into her. Her chin was raised and her thin arms slapped back as a result of the sudden synchronization. She grit her teeth as a tingling wave of cold swept through her right arm, the arm of which was slowly beginning to hold the Sword of Seals.
She could feel a strange struggle from Roy, and the process of their morphing was going very slowly. She could already see a black anthropomorphic fox rush forward, not too far ahead of her teammates.
"What's going on?" Roy shouted. He stood with her, but his left arm hadn't synchronized with Ferah yet, as the whirling green wind shimmered through their hair, toggling from red to black.
"Mmm..." whimpered Ferah. Her eyesight was jumping back and forth from Roy's height to her own blurred vision, until their heights finally made an agreement around his. The last parts of their body finally merged, and when she reopened her eyes, they were together.
"Come on!" Yelled Dominick's stick-figure shadow from above. All the Avatars were cluttered along the stairs, being American and too lazy to actually scale the rocky heap that was now viewed as more of an obstacle rather than a scenic figure.
Fists, teeth, and swords locked. Fox swooped down, grabbing a side of the wooden steps as he balanced himself and tore up to the top of the red mountain like a cat bounding. A lavender ninja dashed after him, her thin body twisting like a snake with awkward limbs.
Roy shook his head, vibrant raid hair flipping from side to side and his blue headband drooping across his eyes. "What the..." He said, trying to peer forward. He triggered his eyesight between Ferah's, and then his.
"I lost my right contact, but I have my left one in..." Ferah said, embarrassed.
"What is a... we can talk about this later. Let's go!" He yanked her forward. Her ankle faltered and she almost fell before Roy threw out her leg to straighten her.
"Watch it. There are stones over by your right foot." He said.
Ferah acknowledged and tread carefully through the green and yellow grass, making her way over to the beginning of the stairs. She left trampled grass in her wake.
Before she could take her beginning launch off the first step, she was stopped, and a great metal ice pick swung down, scratching her cheek just every so slightly. It burrowed its tip into the rocky dirt.
Ferah's head snapped back and she swung around, holding the sword out. It slammed against the pick, and as she pushed against it's unusual, half-moon like shape. The blade slid down the arc and she was slowly losing the ability to brace against Jess.
"Would you look at that?" Smiled Jess. "You got taller, and I got shorter. Or even more short." He tried. He had been, originally, a vertically-challenged boy, who made up for his small sense of presence with being the center of attention, full of jokes and funny comments.
In response Ferah smiled. Her eyes continued to flicker back between Jess's warm face and her blade, until the sword had slid so far that she was bent and nearly on the ground. She swooped forward and rolled to the right, sliding her sword away carefully. She scratched one of her knees on the ridged, chalky stones that she had failed to see.
"Careful!" Roy alarmed. "And I'd like you to acknowledge, if we had had my boots on, that wouldn't of gotten through to your skin." Roy watched as a trickle of ghastly sky blue blood slid down Ferah's calf.
"You're warnings were both a little late." Growled Ferah.
Her hair flew as she turned around and their weapons met again. She tried to get up, but couldn't under his weight and the strength of his short and stubby arms.
Like two swordsmen, the two Players and Avatars pressed against each other, the momentum building up in their legs and arms. Popo, however, was beginning to slide backwards. He looked down in fright, and then looked back up at Ferah, try to force a rush of sheer power onto her.
Ferah smiled and started, foot by foot, to get back up. She noticed the scrapes and burrows in the earth underneath Popo's ice boots. The boots were large and very thick, obviously layered in goose feathers and wool padding, like the rest of the ensemble. There were wide, long stitches along the bottom, and great silver spikes seeped from the underside of the sole, piercing soil and clumps of crab grass.
"See, my shoes are good in some instances." Smiled Ferah.
Roy said nothing, and pushed her harder forward, until her face was nearly up against Jess'. Ferah could feel the emphasis of his pick against the Sword of the Seals slowly taper, so she took a bold step forward.
Together Roy and Ferah pressed forward, until she could feel Jess continuously skidding. He looked down, seeing the scratches in the stones and marks in the dirt. The cleats screeched loudly.
Jess stomped backwards, piercing the earth with each full spike on his right foot, until he was rooted. Ferah was unaware of this, and as she pushed and took another step forward, he saw his moment.
Releasing the pick away from the blade, Ferah dropped forward unexpectedly. He let go of the pick for a moment, the tip digging into the earth faithfully. Jess let her fall down to his right.
Ferah made a slight cough, unsure of what had just happened. Jess turned around and held his hands out before him, calling upon his magic.
"Icicle Onslaught!" he yelled, and around him appeared glistening spears of icicles. They shot forward, heading for Ferah.
"Move!" Yelled Roy, recollecting faster than Ferah. She couldn't understand why everything was yellow, green, and brown all of a sudden.
"I..." She stuttered. Roy rolled her away as icicles sliced into the dirt and sent soil flying inches away from her foot.
"Thank you." Breathed Ferah.
"That was close." Said Roy, keeping his eyes on Jess as he caught his breath and backed a little away in the grass.
"Thundaaaaarbolt!" Shouted somebody from atop the mountain in a high-pitched scream, of a child who was deeply out of breath.
"Roy!" Shouted Selena with her eagle eyes, from her drifting position near the plateau of the top of the mountain. Ferah looked up just in time, as a blinding flash lit the arena. The fizzing electricity shot through the air in a jagged spear, heading straight for Ferah.
With a whoosh of brown-black hair and a green armored ensemble, Ferah recklessly threw herself against the side of the mountain. She hit rocks and cut herself, then fell onto her skirted bottom. She rolled over, and the lightning shot downward and struck into her bony ankle.
She cringed from the pain but the center of the attack had been driven a few inches away, and didn't consume her. She tried to get up, and her injured foot buckled, not from her ankle, but from the shoes.
Her foot was on fire, and all but one of the black, fabric straps that held to base of the sandal had snapped.
"What the hell!?" She shouted skyward, to see the beast that had mutilated her dear shoes.
She tore the shoe off, and some of the bands snapped in her rush. Then she brought it up to her lips, and while hopping and balancing on one foot, attempted to blow it out. When it failed to disappear she rubbed it back and forth until the fire doused.
The stitching had disintegrated, and the soft, smooth black material of her shoes either now had scourge holes in it, or where completely snapped off so that she could see the material on the insides of her straps. Sure, with her, Ariel, Brooke, and Jasmine, they could mend it no doubt, but they would never be able to remake its expensive quality.
Whom she could only recognize as Bridget, bright-faced and eyes maliciously sparkling, poked her head over the side of the mountain top. From her fizzy, bunching red and green hair sprouted twin yellow, long ears, tipped in black.
"You little..." She slipped her other shoe off, feeling inequality. Hanging them daintily from her left hand's thin fingers, she dashed barefoot through the grass, past Jess. He stood forward to strike her, but she expected his attack and threw him down when she banged him in the head with the flat part of her blade.
She left him behind in a daze and charged up the stairs, worming her way past Link and a green mirror of Mario. Jess took after her, but was caught up when Aaron lit a bomb.
Ferah had not thought the mound was so high, and suddenly it was like a volcano of which did not emit heat, but painful light. Her body yearned for the little brat that had spoiled her precious scandals, only a minute ago in perfect condition.
An explosion of fire and gas wreathed behind Ferah as she stomped up the mountain, marking an impending doom for her opponent child.
Roy pleaded with her to calm down. "Calm down! What about Popo...? We still need to-"
"No! He's not important." Ferah jumped up the last three steps and breached onto the small platform that was the top of the mountain. Her scandals hung from her forearm as her left hand curled into a fist.
Ferah looked up, and sudden light reflected into her eyes. Above, dark and un-earthly rain clouds hovered menacingly. They threw sultry, shifting shadows along the ground as the bright summer sky attempted to break through. Lights flashed back and forth, and the small patches of grass along the rocks were on fire.
On the far edge of the platform was the source of Ferah's misery. Bridget still smiled, but in the position of a closed fists and bent knees, neck elongated and wrinkled face staring blankly into the sky. Her skin seemed a little yellow, but Ferah assumed it was the lightning or her sight issues that masqueraded her.
Thunder boomed, and the audience cheered. Bridget's lightning zoomed back and forth, striking none existent enemies, barely missing allies, and unmercifully not letting Selena get anywhere close to the platform. Selena and her lacy white umbrella were at the mercy of the wind. Below her, as well, was the violet female ninja again. From her hands she was throwing what seemed to be needles, either so small or so fast that they seemed invisible. In any case, Selena was having a difficult time dodging them.
Kaze, too, was trying to make his way to take out Bridget. He swirled and jumped high, like an autumn leaf in the cool wind. However, waiting for him was Karen "Samus", standing right behind Bridget, the only place on the mountaintop void of Pikachu's lightning.
"Pikachu." Spoke Ferah out loud as she swallowed. She growled, and followed Kaze's action.
"Little brat... my shoe..." Ferah dove into the lightning recklessly, trying to get revenge. Bridget's power suddenly became less strong, but greater in numbers as she attempted to hit Selena, Kaze, and now Ferah.
The air at this level was not at a high altitude, but yet was humid and burnt with the passion of battle. Ferah's sweat matted her bangs and slid into her eyes. She jumped over something and landed hard, a little strain surging through her bare ankles. It was easier now, though, to dance barefoot. She closed the distance between her and Kaze, but kept on the other side of Bridget so they wouldn't run into each other and meet their demise.
The yellow zig-zag lines soared through the air, some shooting like bullets, some hitting rocks and being soaked into the soil. However, after some length of their energy, the lines seemed to bend toward Ferah. She ran and screamed a little as they tore after her.
"What's going on!?" She said. One strong ray was suddenly redirected to her. Ferah's breath was the only thing she heard as she watched the electricity shoot forward, inch-by-inch in slow motion.
Kaze ran forward, and knocked her on the ground. He stood in a crouch, bent over her chest, balanced on his fox toes and fingers. Fox had one hand wrapped around his right forearm, and as he watched the electricity surge toward Ferah, clicked something on his arm.
A blue ray extended a short distance from his wrist and surrounded their two bodies in a close circle. The electricity hit the shield, and disappeared. More lightning quickly followed, like ray-gun bombs.
Kaze breathed, looking down at her. "You're sword is conducting the electricity." He breathed, and then, "Why aren't you wearing your shoes?" He noticed the black scandals on her left arm.
The blue orb shield around them flickered. Ferah had liked this ability, and was sad to see it go. "The sword...? Wait, the shield!"
"Lasts for only a few seconds." He ears flicked back and forth as thunder sounded overhead, shaking the earth beneath them. "So listen up!" He rushed.
Ferah slid her body out from under Kaze so he could straighten his back. "You're sword is conducting energy. It changes its paths. You've got to go near her and direct everything your way."
"Are you insane? She'll kill me!" She paused, and let her anger vent out in her breath. How much air was in the shield, anyway? "You want me to be a sacrifice?"
"If you can't pull it off, yes. But if you want to keep fighting, then I would suggest that when the electricity comes -" He was cut off. The shield flickered one last time and the neon blue disappeared.
The two quickly scattered left and right in a roll and a dive as lightning was sent their way.
Ferah jumped over electricity as it flew past her. Unfortunately, it reared around, drawn to the Sword of Seals, and came back for her.
"Ieeeeeeeeeee!" Screamed Ferah and she ran away from the lighting, the sword clutched in her right hand. It was her plague, yet she was unwilling to part from it, as she knew it was her duty.
Half of the lightning swerved towards her, curving from all sides and threatening to pierce her from all directions. She saw no alternative, she could not go right, or left, or forward, or backwards, and could not run downward. Her only alternative – was up.
Crouching and placing her half-gloved hand on the soil, she looked up.
"Can we pull this... off!?" She mind-spoke, and could not wait for a reply. As the lightning dragons soared to attack, she jumped.
For breathtaking seconds she soared in the air. The dark clouds were breezy and light, but appeared heavy from a distance. The audience was a colorful mix of bystanders, avid video game fans, as well as journalists and TV crews.
Selena floated in the sky, trying hard to avoid the lightning. She picked turnips out of who-knows-where with white gloves, and hurled them at Bridget, but Bridget's tailed body surged with so much electricity it was a shield that was impenetrable. Selena tossed an over-hand, frowning turnip again, and as it hit Bridget's body, deteriorated into a tiny wisp of smoke. She swerved her hips, gliding slightly to the right, as to miss a mirage of needles, followed by a shining whip.
Ferah dropped onto the ground behind Bridget, free of the electricity for however long she could stay directly behind her small, huddle body. She turned around to strike her and finally end the barrage, but Karen had been waiting for her.
They engaged in combat. Ferah placed her left hand, the scandals still dangling from it, on the hilt of the sword to join her right hand. She felt naked without her shoes on, for her legs were now bare up to her thighs.
They sliced and punched, dodged and jumped. Ferah was nimble, still weighted by armor but no longer Roy's clunky shoes. Samus was unable to use her beam cannon at such a close range, and she had worried that if she did, it would reflect off Ferah's armor. Ferah took this as a great advantage and began jabbing her sword forward. In Samus' thick armor, she had difficulty moving around.
Karen's eyes narrowed behind their visor, and she shot her left arm forward. Thick, armored-gauntlet fingers wrapped themselves around Ferah's bare throat.
Ferah coughed along side Roy, and their unmatched breathing cause Ferah's head to ache. Samus hoisted her above her head as Ferah tried to pry her hand from her throat.
Karen pulled her right arm back, and Ferah watched in agony as the cannon at her hand began to light up and pull in the energy of the earth. The glow reflected in Ferah's eyes, and Karen was satisfied.
Roy looked right and left for an answer, and saw what had been seconds ago their opponent become their valuable ally.
"Oh my count..." Started Roy.
"What!?" Gurgled Ferah.
"On my count, JUMP!" Roy's voice rang thick through her bones.
Ferah shot her leg forward and pushed of Karen's chest armor, flinging into the air and flipping backwards. She watched in satisfaction as bright rays of light plummeted into Samus' body, surging through the layers of her armor and breaking the visor of her helmet.
Ferah dropped back down hard, ignoring her ankles, and swooped forward. Roy's brown cape went flying as the Sealed Sword faithfully sliced through Karen.
Her body, now cleanly divided, fell off the edge of the plateau. Little drops of blue liquid slowly followed after, a bit flecked on Ferah's face and gleamed off the blade.
"Sandwich!" Cried Bridget, her voice sheer and toggling as energy still surged from her body.
The electricity did not wait for victory, nor Ferah's wonder of what "sandwich" had to do with anything, and began their search for her sword again. Did Bridget not tire? She knew she would have to stop her and avenge her precious shoes.
"Roy!" Shouted Kaze, from where he danced away from the lightning bolts. He knew to call Roy's name first, because he was more responsive and active than Ferah.
Roy turned to look at the black Fox as he dodged away from a lightning strike.
"You need to re-direct the electricity! I've got to go help Selena!" Thunder boomed, and a bomb by where Link was last seen exploded.
Ferah had forgotten all about Selena. Daisy floated above in the sky, but she had been stricken severely times by the ninja's needles. Her clothes, face, arms, and her umbrella were all cut with millions of little holes, and the ones on Selena's tan body emitted blue data. Now the ninja had a silvery rope around Selena's ankle, and tried to draw her down, but Selena fended off with kicks from her high-heel slippers.
"Right!" Ferah smiled now, now that she understood. She ran closer to Bridget, and the electricity rays were all directed her way as she held her sword strongly in front of her. The electricity surged near to her, but she jumped up every chance it got to corner her.
The closer she got to Bridget, the more electricity was drawn to Ferah and the Sword of Seals. Soon, she had cleared a path for Kaze.
A black fox clad in green dove straight up and punched the ninja in the face. The ninja buckled, but before her agile body could recoil, Fox had turned and sent another massive kick into her stomach. Her eyes narrowed, and Tori looked back in hatred and surprise.
She had no time to respond other than a jab, straight-fingered punch that missed his neck. In one more elegant, skillful move, Kaze had hoisted himself onto Sheik's shoulders.
Feet poised above, wild eyes glaring into Tori's purple-contact eyes, Kaze had poised himself right above her, holding himself up on her shoulders. She breathed onto his face, and knew her fate. She even smiled a little.
Quickly, for he could hold no longer, Kaze flipped down behind her and, with her shoulders still in his furry, half-gloved hands, pulled her down and slammed her body into the side of the mountain. He let go, and not too long later was the satisfying crumble as her body slid down the side of the mountain.
The crowd cheered wildly, and people got up from their seats to chant Kaze's name. He couldn't help but smile, just slightly, but looked back at Ferah, who was still dealing with the electricity.
Ferah was quickly running out of energy, but the knowledge of one last opponent and the audience chanting "EME-RALD EME-RALD EME-RALD, TEAM!" renewed her compassion for the fight.
"One more!" Breathed Selena as she landed on the platform. She and Kaze quickly separated as to dodge the lightning.
"And I need you up in the air once more!" Said Ferah. She ran away from a ray of light and skid under another.
"I can't go on much longer..." Said Roy reluctantly.
"Don't worry, you won't have to." Ferah said as she watched Selena jump and open up her umbrella. She drifted between Bridget and Ferah, and Ferah seized her chance.
Jumping once more both to avoid rays of electricity, as well as further her plan, Ferah swooped up and wrapped her left hand around Selena's foot and swung herself over, and then let go, aiming for the huddled shape of Bridget.
"You little brat!" Roared Ferah. She landed on Bridget and sent her body into the dirt. Wielding her blade downward, she meant to strike Bridget, but she moved once more, although Ferah was able to stab her shoulder.
Ferah felt no remorse, even if Bridget was just a child. She had never babysat, or even met, a child so rude as to light her shoes on fire.
Bridget screamed like a banshee and tore away. The electricity rays were now gone, and she was free for attack. Link and Dominick did not join them on the platform, but Selena and Kaze were quick to engage in combat.
Kaze sent a flurry of kicks towards Bridget as she nimbly dodged in-between him and Selena. Selena pulled out a tennis racket and whacked Bridget across the face. Bridget was sent flying, but as Fox caught her, swung her around, and threw her up, she recoiled and sent electricity towards Selena. Ferah ran infront of Selena bravely and the electricity was pulled when Ferah skid under it.
Bridget jumped at Fox, and went in to bite with small canines.
"Was that Pikachu or Bridget, just then?" Asked Roy, a little out of breath as Ferah nearly tripped.
Fox slammed his foot into Bridget's stomach, and she flew over to the edge. She flipped, and her yellow paws grabbed onto the edge as her last chance.
"Daddy won't let me lose!" She yelled, and began to howl like a wolf.
"You are so annoying!" Shouted Ferah, and, pulling her broken shoe off her left hard, chucked it at Bridget's face. Her head knocked back at the impact, and she was KO'd before she hit the hillside.
"AND THE WINNER!" Shouted the Announcer.
"EME-RALD! EME-RALD!" Shouted the New York audience.
"THE EMERALD TEAM!"
Ferah, Kaze, and Selena all looked around at the audience. They were wild and excited, like their match was a sports rally. Ferah smiled, and went to fetch her shoe.
"Hey." Breathed Roy. "Good job."
"You too." Said Ferah as she swooped to pick up her shoe. As she was about to separate from Roy, he stopped her.
"Put your shoes on first." He said, holding her still.
"Why, they're bro-"
"Just put them on, and then separate."
Ferah did as she was told, and as Roy disappeared, she felt whole again. Her wounds were healed, the data-blood on her clothes was gone, and ... her shoes were fixed?
She looked over at Roy, who slid the Sword of Seals back into it's scabbard and but his hands behind his red head casually. He looked up at the sky, and could hear members of the audience call his name, too.
"I told you your shoes were no good." He said.
Kaze rubbed through his spiky black hair as Fox separated from him, they shook hands, and Fox made a few friendly jokes, that Kaze was only prone to smile to. Selena and Daisy joined them, however, and giggled.
"Need a guide down?" Roy asked quietly as Ferah beamed at him.
"That would be great, thanks." Ferah took his hand and he went ahead, tugging her from behind and carefully watching where she placed her feet on the steps.
---
"Congratulations! Although the Amethyst / Emerald match took a long time, it was worth the wait!" He stepped back to view the electronic score board.
The board flashed "AMETHYST TEAM VS EMERALD TEAM", and then started with the Amethyst Team T-Chart. Pikachu lost –20 pts for using the same move for most of the length of the match. Samus lost –20 pts for "Cowardice", standing around while Luigi and Popo were having troubles with Link. Sheik did not gain any points, other than cool aerial moves she had pulled in an attempt to get a hold of Selena, even though none of them worked. After losing points for loosing the match, their total was around 30 pts.
Then the board switched to the Emerald Team, their font going from plum color to green. Their T-chart lit up, as did their faces.
Ferah are received a whopping 40 pts for "Elaborate Tactics". Both Ferah and Aaron got a good amount of points for taking out two opponents, although Aaron and Dominick both understood peacefully that Dominick contributed to those wins. Kaze received points for saving Ferah, Selena lost points for not touching down on the plateau to fight Victoria, and Dominick lost points for dying. In the end with their win, the Emerald team received 75 pts.
Selena clapped happily and giggled, forgetting her erased Pokemon file.
"Oh yeah!" Remarked Dominick, and threw up an ebony fist.
Aaron smiled mischievously, and Ferah looked on, not knowing what to expect.
Would these points be enough for them to go on? And if she did... would she have to say goodbye to the friends she had grown to admire so much? There was a chance that she could be in a Trinity with another teammate, but she was sure that they would not take three of a Team and make them a Trinity. She sighed. And if she got past the Trinities, she would be separated Individually. But she would be with her Avatar, Roy, for the entire length of the contest.
And only the contest. No further. Afterwards, she would be gone from memory, and she would never get to see him again.
Hiragana went on to explain the results of the Sapphire / Topaz Team match, and Ferah's sight of the scoreboard went blurry.
---
Selena had helped Ferah back to the room, where they took their showers. Selena had helped put Ferah's hair back into their pigtails, and Ferah was grateful.
As Selena walked off into the girls' room, Ferah dropped onto the couch. She pulled a pillow out from under her back and placed it under her head, hoping that the disinfecting spray was as 99.9 effective as they proposed. "Hey, Dominick, could I use your laptop, one... last... time?"
Dominick looked up. "Yeah, sure. Actually, I should give you my e-mail address. Then you can send me a message, and I can hack whomever's laptop your using."
"Oh yeah. That would be great." Ferah smiled.
Aaron scoffed, doubting Dominick could hack an Elementary school's webpage.
Dominick picked up his black laptop. He passed it over to Ferah, and she sat up, and then placed it on her lap. After she started it up and got on the Internet, she signed onto her E-mail provider.
She opened up Dameon's last e-mail so she knew what to respond, but she paused. The words were running together.
"Anyone want to read this for me?" She asked, looking around.
"I will." Said Kaze. He got up, and strode over. She scoot over and laid against the pillows, and he took the laptop off her lap and placed it on his own.
"Hey.
Intensive AI? Sounds exciting.
They seem like a real nice bunch. Enjoy your time with them, because when you are separated into Trinities, I'm sure you'll miss them. (You left your contest handbook at home, and I read it.)
Van is fine. I didn't tell him that you were having troubles with Roy. Raven actually came back. Aunty seems to think that he ran away to find Van, and took some forest path. He's been sitting by Van's side rather faithfully. Makes me want to write a book, or at least read one.
I got a job for the Sacramento Daily. I'm the new meteorologist. The original one retired. He's been working for the paper for thirty-nine years, so I've got some major shoes to fill.
Aunty was driving drunk last night, and she almost got into an accident. It makes me appreciate life more...but it also make me worry. I hope you never leave me.
- DRF"
Kaze read it fast, and his voice was bland, but he got the job done. "Can you type?" He asked.
Ferah flushed a little. "Oh... well, I don't spend a lot of time with computer, I touch-type, and I don't think I can see the keys well enough..."
"I'll do it." Said Kaze simply. He opened up a new, blank e-mail.
Ferah put her finger to her mouth and began. "Sorry it took me so long to respond!"
"It's that time, now, to change into Trinities. I suppose that's my way of telling you that my Team got pass the first period... but now we're separating. I'm sad to see everyone go. I felt like we were a family, and I was so proud to fight alongside them. At least, right now, I have Roy. I had to say goodbye to a good friend, though, for she was disqualified."
Everyone was listening. Selena, a towel wrapped up in her dripping hair, paused in the doorway as Ferah spoke out loud.
"I hope to go the whole length with this contest thing, In Van's sake. I can only imagine how proud he will be if he... lasts long enough to know I won.
"I do have a little problem, though. We were fighting in water, and I lost one of my contacts. You can imagine how blind I am without even one contact, so I've been tripping and depending on the Emerald Team, as well as Roy, for support. That would be great if you could call the Eye Clinic and order me another pair of contacts, as well as send it here. A pack of cat food would be greatly appreciated, too!
I'm glad you got the job. You deserve it! Better than minimum wage, I hope. And how is Van doing? Tell him about the contest. He'll be so proud."
"And sign it FMF." Finished Ferah. Her eyes were closed, and although she couldn't see everyone, she knew it was too quiet for them to be doing something else. The TV was even on MUTE, and she could hear it humming gently.
"Sent." Said Kaze, and he gave the laptop back to Ferah.
She signed out of her e-mail, and put it back on its place at the table. At least, that was where it had stayed through the length of that week, but next week it would be somewhere else, as well as the rest of them.
Selena took a seat next to Ferah, and Ferah rested her head against her shoulder, feeling the roughness of Selena's bath robe.
"I feel sort of bad, to be honest." Said Selena, breaking the silence. Instinctively, Aaron turned the TV off MUTE.
"Why's that?' Asked Dominick.
"Cause of Bridget. She-"
"You're kidding me!" Said Ferah.
"Yeah, she was really, really annoying..." Mumbled Aaron. "More annoying that Melanie..." he said, thinking of his little sister. Suddenly, he felt a little homesick.
"She said her tie would help her win. That it was her Dad's. I just feel a little bad that we proved her Dad wrong."
Kaze looked up. His lips, nor his eyes, would never show much emotion. "Her father, if he is Ruben Hampson, is a criminal."
Aaron was taking aback. "Who? Hampson? Is that Bridget's last name?"
"How did you know Hampson was Bridget's last name?" Asked Dominick, finding a new awe in his Captain, Kaze.
"Ruben Hampson was in the news for lighting several colleges on fire. And the last name Hampson was on the label of Bridget's right rain-boot, flipped out so it was visible." Kaze nodded.
Ferah and Selena both beamed at him, unbeknownst to each other.
---
Ferah took a seat at the Emerald Team table. The Players were all collected in the original conference room that they had been assigned in. But today, it didn't have an air of excited, talkative teenagers, but more the pall of kids having to go home from Disneyland.
The feel of the gray room was eerie. No one wanted to their teammates, and no one wanted to be disqualified. But it had to be done. The contest would go on.
Ferah looked at Kaze. He was distracted, looking at his hands, or other Teams, or sometimes just the table. She felt like she really should thank him for helping her with her e-mail, because it might have been some great strain for him to be so nice.
"It has come time that we disperse some of our Teams, the two Teams with the lowest score. Those two teams will be asked to pack up immediately, and to meet in the Lobby to be escorted back to the airport." He nodded. "In order from the most points to the least points follows..." Hirogawa stepped back, and his Assistant stepped forward.
"With 375 points... the Sapphire Team!"
The Sapphire Players did not look incredibly relieved. Ferah sensed that they knew they had all along the best chance at winning. There was no doubt, however, that their skill was clean and coordinated. They had beaten the Emerald Team, not incredibly easily, but with Trent, it had been a massive strain for Ferah.
"Coming in second is the Ruby Team, with 355 points!"
The Ruby Team had also previously defeated the Emerald Team. Ferah didn't know if it was fair though, for it been their first match. Ferah wondered now, if they had a rematch between the Teams, who would win? She wasn't glad to see the flirty and smug Cassandra was moving on, either.
Kaze finally looked up across the table. Everyone was unsettled in their seats. "We would know what rank we were in if someone kept track of the scores..."
"Too late." Said Aaron. He was watching Ferah's hands, which were shaking ever so slightly.
"And coming in third, a close tie with fourth place.... With 285 points.... The Emerald Team!"
A huge breath of release escaped the mouths of each member of the Emerald Team. Ferah was excited, and Selena began to smile and laugh again. But before the group could talk and say their good-byes, Hirogawa had to finish.
"The Amethyst Team and the Topaz Team have been disqualified. You will each receive a new GBADS, and three games of your choice."
The Topaz Team! Ferah had completely forgotten. And how could she?
The members scattered and ran up to each other, engaging in hugs and laughter and talking and friendly-punching. As Dominick moved into the circle to talk, Ferah rushed past him and into the Topaz Team's group.
Alice took her glasses off, holding them by the rims and rubbing her left eye with a slim finger. When she put them back on, she saw Ferah, her hair down, her eyes deep.
"Hi." Said Alice sweetly. "I haven't seen you in a while. But I did see your match. Good work!"
"You're... going now." Said Ferah, quietly. "I'm so sorry..." She walked forward, and they hugged each other.
With Alice's chin on Ferah's shoulder, Ferah pat her back softly.
Alice closed her eyes. "You guys deserved to win. I'm really happy for you."
"I wish you could be with me. That would have been great if we were in the same Trinity together." Ferah stopped. Talking of what-ifs would not help the situation. "I'll give you my e-mail address."
"I'll give you mine, too, then." Alice sighed, and a small bead of tear started in the corner of her eyes. "And we can talk. Don't forget me, okay?"
"I won't forget you." The girls separated from each other. Ferah could feel a lump in her throat. It was so easy to forget someone who lived in a different state on another side of the country, who you only saw for a week, and probably would never again.
Alice shook her head. It was inevitable to talk about. "Saria will forget me. And Plui, and Mido. I'm going to miss them. If you get to see them around – tell them I love them. I'll visit Kokiri one last time before I pack up."
"I'll tell them." Said Ferah. Somebody from her Team called Ferah's name. Ferah smiled, and Alice smiled, and they departed from the comfort of each other's companionship.
Ferah rejoined with the Emerald Team, to see Selena with her arms linked around Kaze's neck. Kaze was confused, and merely patted the small of her back for a few seconds, but she wouldn't let go.
For a brief moment, Ferah felt a rush of sudden, competitive jealousy, but was quickly distracted by Aaron, who was always a little jealous when things like that happened to a guy other than himself.
"So, this is goodbye." Said Aaron, smiling. The overhead lights made his blonde hair gleam. "You're a good Player, and a good person, too." He said, jokingly, as if being a good person came second.
Dominick came and said his goodbyes, and Selena gave Ferah a big hug.
"It's not as if we won't see each other." Said Ferah, trying to get some air from Selena's defeating hug. However strong she was, though, they were nothing like Damoen's hugs, of which Ferah had been longing for lately.
Kaze stepped forward. "The next time we will, it will be on the battlefield."
Ferah smiled at Kaze. They were about to say something to each other, but neither of them knew what that something was.
"Alright. If we could have the teammates of the Topaz Team and the Amethyst Team step aside to the right wall..." They separated and stood where all of them had first stood when they first came to New York.
The numbers of the Players seemed suddenly very small. Only fifteen of them remained, standing huddled in their clicks, afraid to leave each other's sides. They all had the same question on their minds. Will we still be friends? Not everyone had the perfect Team, but they had all grown close.
"... then we can begin separating into Trinities. Also, there are no Captains" some kids made quiet moans, "but Rival points do apply." Hirogawa nodded, stepped back again, and allowing his Assistant to step forward.
"In the Lion Trinity! Alex "Falco", Aaron "Link", and Selena "Daisy!"
Aaron looked very pleased to have Selena in his group. Selena did look slightly relieved, although curious as to what type of partner the vagrant Alex would turn out to be. They waved goodbye to Dominick, Ferah, and Kaze, and walked together through the crowd. They met up with Alex in the front of the room.
"In the Tiger Trinity! Ryan "Mario", Amanda "Ruto", and Kaze "Fox!"
Ryan and Amanda met up in the corner. Amanda turned around, millions of golden braids spiraling as she turned around to search for Kaze.
Kaze smiled slowly. "Good bye." He said to Ferah. His smile quickly disappeared as he walked away. Ferah felt empty without her Captain to tell her how to be better, and what to do.
"In the Cheetah Trinity! Cassandra "Zelda", Katrina "Crystal", and Mischa "Peach"!"
Mischa met with the other two. They all looked pleased to have members of the same sex, although they know it may have disadvantages too.
Cassandra looked confident, feeling that her name being called first was not a coincidence, but due to her royal personality and fighting abilities.
"In the Panther Trinity! Madison "Dragonair", Nick "Kirby", and Dominick "Mr. Game and Watch"!"
Ferah was the last one. Dominick looked at her. "You're cool." He said. "I'll see you later."
"I'll see you in the battle fray. Don't disappoint me!"
Ferah suddenly felt weak. They were gone. And she was alone, or at the time being. As he walked into the crowd, he turned around and looked back at Ferah. "I'm hungry." He whined, and disappeared.
As other Players swallowed him in, Ferah rubbed her eyes. Everyone swirled in deep blurs of color. She turned, and sought a face at the wall for comfort. She could see Claire "Nana", a sweet girl, sobbing slightly into the hand of her pro-team mate, Stephanie "Jigglypuff". Ferah kept searching until she saw Alice, smiling at her, and Ferah smiled back. She put her hands back into her pockets. In the mass of people, she could not see who was left, for no one was sitting.
"And last but not least, the Lynx Trinity! Cameron "Charizard", Trent "Marth", and Ferah "Roy"!"
Ferah could hardly believe her luck. In the same Trinity with Trent? Cameron seemed to feel the same way. They were both from the Sapphire Team, and so had previous experience fighting alongside each other. Ferah tapped over to join them, and almost tripped, but Kaze nearby caught her by the arm.
Trent had fidgeted to, as to catch Ferah, but Kaze had been faster. One had quick reflects, and the other was a gentleman. As Hirogawa began talking again, Kaze and Trent were staring boldly at each other as Ferah held herself up and greeted Cameron.
"We will be separating into new suites tonight, so I suggest you pack up your things as soon as possible. Meet in the 2nd floor hallway near the elevators to find your rooms."
XXX
Special Thanx to my Editor, XaNGrrR.
Ja matta!