Chapter 5
First enemy
The day of the tournament finally came and there was a lot of Guardians waiting at the front gate of Halicity waiting for this game to start. There were at least 10 teams from each squad. Although squad 15 only had 8 teams. So in total there were 750 Guardians participating in this event. There were all excited and eager for the game to start and when an announcer came out of nowhere in front of them the place fell silent. They all waited for instructions.
"Welcome to Halicity's first annual Guardian tournament. We hope you will have a wonderful time." The announcer smiled a suspicious smile that no one caught on to except for Keigo and Maemi. "The rules are simple: there are none. You may use any method to defeat your enemy to achieve your goal. You goal is to make it to the master's office with all of the element symbols hidden in Halicity. Thunder, fire, water, earth, and wind, they are all carved into a silver metal plate. Find it and bring it to the master's office. Easy as that. You can steal from another team if you wish or think of some other strategy, it doesn't matter but you cannot make any duplication. We can tell wheather they are fake or real and if you get caught, your team will be eliminated immediately. Everyone will go to a different gate. North, south, east or west go there now. In 30 minutes the tournament will begin." The announcer stood and watched as some of the Guardians disappeared from sight.
Keigo and the gang decided to stay at the north gate, which is where they were. Something about the announcer's smile made Maemi feel disgusted.
'This can't be an ordinary competition. There's just no way. But then what is it? What is the master trying to accomplish by putting us through something like this?' Maemi thought while looking around the gate.
"In 30 minutes huh? Time always seems to slow down when you're looking forward to something." Makoto smirked.
"Just be patient. First I say we should think ahead. Where do you think the elements are hidden?" Mamoru asked in wonder.
"No where visible probably. To test how we use our senses, it's probably in a place that can't be spotted with the eye but with your SE." Keigo said.
"You're probably right. Let's try to avoid unnecessary battle and get this over with." Mamoru said.
"No way! I came to kick some ass here! We have to get into battles as much as we can!" Makoto said a little too excitedly.
"I'm sure there's no way to go without fighting so don't' worry about it. Cool down a bit Makoto" Kiyoshi suggested. "We have to keep calm about this or we're gonna waste a lot of time."
"But it doesn't seem like there's any set time so I think we should be ok" Maemi pointed out.
"No I think there is a time limit. They just haven't announced it yet." Mamoru said.
"Yea there's no way that they'd let something like this happen without a time limit." Kiyoshi agreed.
"Then I guess all we can do now is to wait for the game to start" Maemi said just when the announcer came into view.
There were 3 other announcers at the other gates saying the same thing this guy was saying. "You have 7 days to get the hidden elements and go to the master place. And now the game will begin! Start!"
There was a loud "bang!" and everyone scattered about. They all thought that this would be easy if they use flash steps. Flash steps are one of the basic things that you learn when you become a Guardian. Almost every Guardian knows this. It's a simple technique that requires very little SE. Basically all it does is enhance your speed and let's you travel to far away places faster. What they didn't know that there were traps set everywhere in Halicity so letting your guard down even for a second was a bad idea. You had to have a lot of patience and think carefully to avoid traps and to find the elements.
Makoto was one of the idiots that fell for a trap as soon as he stepped in the north gate.
"You moron! How can you not notice an obvious trap like that?" Kiyoshi shouted down the hole.
"Seriously. How stupid can you get?" Maemi agreed.
"This is why I said that we need to be calm about this" Mamoru pointed out "there's gonna be traps every where so we need to be careful"
"Right… got it… traps… careful…" Makoto rubbed his head. He looked up the hole. It was about 2 meters deep and he fell right down. He smirked and jumped up. "A hole like that. Easy to get out of" he said acting all cool.
"And they're even easier to get into" Maemi stated.
"Shut up!" Makoto argued back
"Enough. We wasted time. We need to get going. C'mon" Keigo said and led the way.
They avoided traps and ran through the open are of Halicity. Even though there is 750 Guardian's participating, it seemed like team 1 was the only one there. They looked left and right to make sure they weren't getting caught into a trap that was well hidden and to keep an eye out for the hidden element.
"Stop!" Mamoru suddenly shouted. Every one came to a halt. "There's an element hidden about 5 miles west of here."
"What? How'd you know that?" Makoto asked
"I used my senses to help me locate hidden things within a 10 mile radius." Mamoru explained.
"Doesn't that use too much of your SE?" Maemi asked in concern for her teammate.
"A simple technique like this? No I'm fine." Mamoru reassured. "So c'mon. I'll lead the way"
"All right. Let's go!" Keigo said.
They went west and into the Halicity forest. There were more traps in the forest than there was in the open area. It was much harder to get through but it was still easy for them.
Mamoru stopped and look left and right. He spotted the element and went towards a tree trunk to get it when another Guardian suddenly appeared in front of him and snatched the element away.
"It's the water" the man said "3 more to go"
"Hey! We were gonna get that you bastard!" Makoto shouted in anger.
"Well too bad we got it first." A female voice came from top of the tree. She jumped down and landed next to the man. "Come and get it if you can" she challenged.
Makoto was raging with anger but also happy at the same time. "Time for the first battle" he said cracking his knuckles and his neck.
Mamoru sighed as the rest of team members came out of hiding. There were 2 girls and 3 boys. They were from squad 10. They all got into their fighting stance. "Well shall we wager the elements?" Mamoru suggested.
"Hmph. But if we win then we get nothing" the man in the middle said. He had pitch-black hair and he was wearing black pants with black tank top and a dark green vest over it. On his belt bared the symbol of squad 10. he had piercing dark blue eyes.
"but if you win then you won't lose the elements you have." Mamoru said.
"doesn't sound like a bargain to me" the guy in the far right said. He had long red hair that was tied into a loose pony tail on the back. he was wearing the same thing as everyone else on his team. His red eyes made him look evil but he sure didn't act like it.
"too bad you don't have a choice" Makoto said and got into his fighting stance. He stared at the red haired guy strait in the eye. They were ready to battle.
"then I guess we have no choice but to beat you guys" the black haired guy in the middle said. "from the looks of it you guys are from squad 15"
"shouldn't be too hard to beat." The female on the right of him said. She had strait long blonde hair with yellow eyes to match. She stared at Maemi with evil death glares. "I'll take her"
Maemi smirked. She already knew she could beat this girl but it would be bad to underestimate her. she got into her fighting stance and was ready to go at any time.
"then I guess I'll take this guy" the guy in the far left said pointing at Kiyoshi. "he doesn't look like much" his brown hair that was slicked back didn't seem to move even though a strong gust of wind covered the forest.
"that leaves me with a girl" Mamoru said disappointed. "it's not my hobby to hit girls"
"then you won't mind me going all out?" she asked in a serious tone.
Everyone was ready to fight. Maemi put on a black rest band on each of her rests. It was something new and she was keeping it for future battles but decided to use it now. It was nothing special really just a decoration to add to her out fit.
The first battle was about to begin. The winner gets 2 elements and the loser is left with 0. the tournament had begun and so has the battles.