AN: Hey, guys! Glad to see you back for another chapter! I'll try to update as often as I can but I'm aiming to finish crocheting my sister's scarf by Christmas so that's kinda my priority right now.
Oh, and this is where the Toby side to BlizzardStormshipping (aka Toby/Jessica) sorta starts, I guess, for anyone who's interested? Bear in mind that Toby is gonna be in denial for a while (ha, that rhymed!) :-)
Enjoy the chapter
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I am wearing my judo uniform while sitting on a bench inside the gymnasium. I was participating in the annual judo tournament that takes place on the same day every year.
I finger the orange belt wrapped around my judogi (AN: I had to look that up to know what it was called - I seriously know nothing about judo!). I was pretty confident I could win this tournament - I've been taking classes since I was five, after all. There's just no way I'm gonna lose!
I look up as Nick, who was closely observing the current match, turns to address me. "Okay, you gotta hit this guy hard and fast! He's quick with the roundhouse but his upper body is weak!"
"Yeah, yeah..." I say, only half paying attention. I hear a familiar voice and we gasp as we look over to our left.
"Come on, Jessica! Put on a hairlock!" Gina says encouragingly to Jessica who was sitting on the bench wearing the exact same uniform I was. Wait! Since when does Jessica even do judo? I've never seen her in any of my classes!
Nick and I, along with Lucas, gasp in surprise, none of us really knowing what's going on right now. "Gina, I don't think there's such a thing as a hairlock!" Jessica says.
Gina is not deterred by this in the slightest as she excitedly says, "So? Make one up! It can be your signature move!"
"Uh, Jessica, what are you doing?" Nick asks, confused. That's what I'd like to know!
Much to our shock, Gina snaps, "None of your business!"
Jessica looks a little uncomfortable as she holds her hand up and states, "It's no big deal, Gina!" She stands up and declares, "I'm in the judo tournament! I'm competing in my own division!"
I can't resist the urge to tease her so I ask snarkily, "What division is that - the amateur's division?" causing Nick and Lucas to laugh. I laugh along with them as the girls narrow their eyes at me.
"The girl's division is just as competitive as the guy's!" Jessica says through gritted teeth, her hands balling into fists by her sides as she glares at me. She's definitely mad at me and, for some reason, I find it kind of ador - wait, don't go there, Toby! Do not go there!
"Is that so?" I ask, in an attempt to make her even madder to distract myself from the weird thought I almost had. I grin and add, "Well, it doesn't really matter 'cos in this sport, style counts for points and points count for style!" I turn on my heel and walk away to get ready for my first match.
I hear her say, "We'll see whose points count!" and I have to try not to laugh. She seriously thinks she can beat me? Boy, is she in for a surprise!
I stand on a mat with my opponent as we bow to the referee then turn and bow to each other. The whistle blows and the match begins.
Immediately we grab each other by our judogi's, both of us looking for an opportunity to make our move. "You're doing good, Toby!" Lucas calls encouragingly. "Keep on him!"
Meanwhile, I hear Gina yelling in support of Jessica. "That's it, Jessica! Make her feel your wrestling wrath!"
"Watch the body, watch the body!" Nick yells to me as I use my foot to bring my opponent to the floor and hold him down. The whistle blows, indicating that the match is over.
I turn to watch the match between Jessica and her opponent. Now that I've won my first match, I, at least, want her to win hers!
In an impressive move, she tosses her opponent over her, causing the dark-haired girl to land on her back with a pained grunt. Once more, the whistle blows. Okay, I admit it - she's not as bad as I thought she was gonna be but there's no way I'm telling her that!
I walk over to stand near Nick and Lucas as they cheer, feeling pretty confident. "Look, the scores are being posted right now!" Nick points out excitedly.
I look at my image on the scoreboard and see that I have 121 points. Nice! "Yep! Pretty much what I expected!" I say casually.
"Check it out, girl!" Gina suddenly exclaims. "You did better than Toby!" Wait, what? I look at the scoreboard and see to my shock that Jessica got 122 points. One point. She beat me by one point.
Jessica hi-fives Gina as they start cheering and pumping their fists in the air. I sweatdrop as it hits me that she actually beat me. How?
"Dude, you were beaten by a girl!" Nick says, amused, as Lucas laughs, giving me a double thumbs-up.
"Nice one!" he adds.
I struggle to come up with a response as I'm still trying to process what's actually happened. "What's that you said again?" Jessica asks sweetly and I gasp as she adds, "Oh, yeah! Style counts for points..."
"...and points count for style!" Gina finishes as she flicks her dark hair.
"Yes!" They exclaim together, exchanging another hi-five. I narrow my eyes at them - they're completely humiliating me here!
"Speaking of style," Jessica says as she turns to address Gina. "Next round isn't 'til this afternoon. I think a celebration is in order!"
There was a pause before they both say cheerfully, "New shoes!"
"Don't you own enough shoes?" Lucas asks, mystified.
"You can never own enough shoes!" Jessica replies.
Gina seems to go into flirt mode as she adds, "Besides you always wanna look your best just in case you see that tough, special someone!" She flutters her eyelashes all the while but Lucas just looks plain confused as to why she's acting like that.
"Yeah, yeah," Jessica says impatiently as she starts pushing Gina towards the exit. "The mall calls!"
"And so does the Gorm!"
We all turn at the sound of the familiar voice and see Razzle casually sitting on the bench. Nick, upon seeing the green lizard, screams with shock, a gesture that Razzle reciprocates.
"What was that?" Gina asks from behind Jessica who keeps moving to try to stop Gina from seeing Razzle. Laughing nervously, Nick, Lucas and I squash up together in front of Razzle to block him from view.
"Uh, I totally forgot - I'm busy!" Jessica says apologetically, rubbing the back of her head.
"Is everything okay?" Gina asks with concern as Jessica starts pushing her towards the exit once more.
"Yes!" Jessica replies a little too quickly. "Sorry, I'll...catch up with you later!" she adds as she pushes Gina through the doors then leans against them when they close, letting out a sigh of relief.
I grab my backpack off the bench and unzip it while saying, "Quick, Razzle, in here!"
The lizard complies and jumps into my backpack but almost immediately he looks like he wants to throw up. "This thing smells worse than a Lava Gormiti's sulfur bath!" he complains.
"Not surprising!" Jessica says while I zip up my backpack, still leaning against the doors. "It's Toby's!" Nick and Lucas start laughing as they start walking towards the exit while I stand still for a moment.
"Ha ha!" I say dryly before following them. It hadn't been that funny!
After Jessica and I got changed into our everyday clothes, the four of us left the gym and started heading for home.
"What's the news, Razzle?" I ask the lizard, knowing that he must be here for a reason.
"You mean, aside from a tidal wave nearly destroying the Venture Falls marina?" he responds.
Nearly destroying the... I freeze before yelling "What?", the others echoing just seconds later.
I unzip my backpack and Razzle pokes his head out, gasping. "Relax, nobody was hurt...this time," he says, though the last part sounds kinda ominous to me.
Lucas looks thoughtful. "Obviously a Gorm connection!" he says, frowning. "Let's hit the Primal Pad for the full rundown!"
Razzle holds up one of my old socks as he adds, "and some fresh air!" He groans and falls backward into the compartment.
As soon as we get home, the four of us run to the pantry, closing the doors behind us. We slide our hands across the panel in order to gain access to the Primal Pad.
We walk over to the control panel and look up at the screen as Razzle begins explaining. "Terrible powers are being unleashed in Gorm causing dimensional ripples that made that tidal wave!" As he speaks, the image on the screen shows explosions in a rocky area of Gorm.
"Lava Gormiti?" Lucas guesses.
"Can't say for sure!" Razzle answers. "There's some sort of secret gathering in Corinthian Canyon!" He looks at us. "Your mission - bust this gathering before the next tidal wave wipes out Venture Falls completely!"
We run to stand around the Gorm Gate and together we say, "Elementals!"
"Air!" Jessica cries.
"Water!" I yell.
"Forest!" Lucas shouts.
"Earth!" Nick finishes.
As one, we chant, "Reveal to us the Keeper and give to them your chair!"
The chair begins to spin around at high speed before coming to a stop. "And the keeper is..." Razzle says before a light-blue icon with the Air symbol appears on the back of the chair. "...Air!"
"Wow, can you believe it?" Jessica says enthusiastically before turning to look at me and saying smugly "Not only do I score more points than you at the judo tournament," she then turns and starts walking up the steps to the Keeper's chair, "but I've been chosen to be the Keeper yet again!"
I frown. Being chosen as the Keeper would only be a reason to be smug if I had wanted to be the Keeper...which I didn't so, ha! Lucas and Nick snigger and I feel Lucas' hand on my shoulder. "Yeah?" I say, wanting to retaliate. "Well, points don't count where we're going!" Try and beat that!
"Then you're the perfect man for the job!" she replies without missing a beat as she slides the crystals around.
This is ridiculous! How can she throw back my witty comments with something even wittier? Why am I kind of im - no, don't think that, Toby! I decide to jump through the Gorm Gate before she embarrasses me - wait, embarrassed, I'm not embarrassed one bit! - again. Just as I jump in, I hear Nick say, "She's got a point, you know!"
We land in what I assume is that canyon place Razzle mentioned before - that Corinth-y place. Yeah. Only there seems to be more than one path. "Which way do we go?" I ask.
"I'm not sure," Nick replies.
"The location is secret," Razzle informs us as we turn to look at him. "Maybe Keeper Jessica can provide some assistance?"
Jessica's image is projected, showing her holding an open book. "I'm...still looking," she tells us.
"Yeah, through a fashion magazine!" I say, frowning.
"Ooh, two points for being witty!" she retorts before smirking. "Too bad you can't use that in judo!"
"She's got a point, you know!" Lucas says to me. "Another point, that is!" He and Nick start laughing at their running joke that wasn't even funny in the first place.
I kneel down and pick up a small pebble. "So funny I forgot to laugh!" I say through gritted teeth before frustratedly throwing it down one of the paths.
To my surprise, I hear an "Ow!" Guess I must have hit somebody. The three of us gasp nervously, not knowing who we may be about to face.
"What's that?" Nick asks.
A familiar Lava Gormiti comes into view, rubbing his volcano-shaped head. "It's Lavor!" Nick answers his own question. "And he's brought some friends!" he adds as Lavor is joined by a group of Lava soldiers.
"Quite a few friends, actually!" Lucas points out as the Lava soldiers cackle menacingly.
The Lava Gormiti continue moving forward. With a rock wall behind us, we have nowhere to run. "They must be the ones behind the disturbance!" I guess.
Jessica was ready for us. "You're good to glow!" she says.
The three of us begin to chant, "Elemental powers flow, Gormiti - Lords of Nature, go!"
As I transform, I cry out, "Powers of the Sea!" before letting out a roar. Once we've all transformed, we gaze challengingly at our opponents. "Bring it on!" I say confidently.
Some Lava soldiers start charging towards us and Nick runs forward before transforming his right hand into a hammer and slamming it onto the ground, causing it to crack open and send two Lava soldiers flying.
The other two continue advancing towards Lucas and I and they both shoot fire blasts at us. We both dodge before Lucas shoots out his fists with vines attached, grabbing the Lava Gormiti and slamming them to the ground.
Lavor looks menacingly at me. Well, now it's my turn. I roar before releasing a blast of water from my stomach, sending one of the Lava Soldiers flying over his head.
"Nice little trick, lad!" the volcano-headed Gormiti booms, "but, here, try some of mine!" He opens up a small crack in the ground and fires bursts of lava at me. I use all the agility I have to try and dodge but, after successfully evading the first three blasts, the fourth hit me in the chest, sending me backward with a cry of pain. I kneel on all fours as I try to recover.
"Watch out, bro!" Nick warns me. The three of us watch as at least seven Lava soldiers start charging towards us.
"We have to retreat!" Lucas tells us. "There's too many of them!"
Give up? To the Lava Gormiti? Not a chance! "No way!" I decline. "We can take 'em!"
Lucas grabs two of the Lava soldiers with his vines and tosses them before saying, "No, we can't! Jessica, which way do we go?"
"Hang on, I just about...got it!" Jessica replies from inside the Primal Pad.
"Jessica, we really need you!" Nick points out while trying to keep the Lava soldiers at a distance.
"Uh, I know! Give me a second!" She does realize we're in the middle of a battle here, right?
"Jessica!" Nick yells while tossing a Lava soldier into two others, knocking all three of them down.
"She's probably putting on lipstick!" I say irritatedly before I notice Lavor fire another two lava blasts from the crack in the ground. I dodge the first and transform my right hand into a claw in order to intercept the second.
"Jessica!" Nick yells again, but she seems to be taking her time.
"I'm on my-" she lets out a yell. What on earth is she even doing in there? It can't be that hard to find a map or whatever, surely!
The Lava soldiers approach us and, when Nick nervously calls for Jessica again, he gets no response. Typical. Lavor laughs as he walks towards us. "Let me guess - on the way to the secret tournament?"
Well, I presume we're supposed to be - which means that we have to stop these guys and their pals at that tournament! "No secret is safe from us!" I say. "When we're through with you, we're gonna find this secret place and take care of your friends as well!"
"My friends?" Lavor asks, confused. "Uh - Oh yes - my friends
"Insolent whel-" one of the Lava soldiers says, moving forwards but they are stopped by Lavor.
"Well done, well done!" he says, to my surprise. "But, you see, the lad has insulted me so I take this challenge personally!" He looks directly at me. "Come on, let's have a go at it! Give him your best shot! He's ready!" Wow, you don't hear that every day!
"But, sir..." the Lava soldier protests, only for Lavor to ignore him.
"Go on, give him everything you've got!" he commands. This is, by far, the weirdest situation I've ever been in!
"Your power orb!" Lucas whispers to me worriedly. "It must be nearly depleted!"
"A little is all I need to take down this chump!" I reply before releasing a blast of water from my stomach. It hits the Lava soldier and sends him flying. Down and out.
"Nice shot!" Lavor says. "You and your warrior friends are...free to go!" What - just like that? This is weird! "Well, go on! Make room for them!" The Lava Gormiti nervously scramble backwards to clear a path for us.
"Wow!" Nick says, clearly as confused as I am about this situation. "You don't see this very often!"
"Let's just go!" Lucas tells us and we walk through the path provided for us.
As we head away from Lavor and his Lava soldiers, Jessica finally gets back in contact with us. "Sorry, guys, I'm back!" she says apologetically.
"Better late than never, eh, Jess?" I say.
"Do you want me to bring you back or not?" she asks.
"Now you're talking!" I reply, hoping she doesn't make a mess of trying to gate us back to Earth.
Luckily, for us, she gates us back to the Primal Pad without taking forever about it. She lowers the chair down, rubbing the back of her head, as Lucas walks towards her. "Jessica, what happened?" he asks her.
"Wait!" she cries out, holding out her hand. Lucas lets out a cry as he slips on something and falls, hitting his head.
I walk up to her, frowning. "What's going on? Where were you?" I ask.
Jessica grins sheepishly. "I was reaching for the silly direction scroll when my bracelet got caught on the shelf and-"
I laugh shortly, unamused. "You mean to tell me that we almost lost a battle because of your bracelet?" She scowls at me before I turn away from her. I hold up two fingers and grin as I happily announce, "Minus two points for being fashionable!"
Lucas rubs his head, still lying on the floor. "Yeah, and minus two more points for this bump on my head!" he adds.
Suddenly Jessica's phone starts ringing. "Gina?" she says, answering it. "What!" she cries before saying, "Okay, we're on our way!" and ending the call. "The second round of matches is about to start!" she tells us.
"We've gotta go!" Nick says and the four of us run upstairs and leave the house, heading back to the school gym.
After I come out of the boys' changing room, tying the orange obi around myself, I spot an opportunity to ask Jessica something as I see her coming out of the girls' changing room. I walk over to her and tap her shoulder. "So how long have you even been doing judo?" I ask because I'm genuinely curious.
She pauses in the middle of tying her own obi and replies, "As long as you have." What? That makes no sense - I would have seen her!
When we reach the gym, I decide to put it out of my mind for now. I glance competitively at Jessica who returns the gesture as we finish getting ready. "What took you guys so long - I was starting to get worried!" Gina asks us before gasping. Guess she just spotted Lucas. "What happened to your head?" she queries in concern.
"Long story" he replies. Jessica and Gina away and I start warming up in preparation for my next match. Out of the corner of my eye, I see Jessica applying make-up while Gina helpfully holds up a compact mirror. Seriously? The second round is about to start any minute now and she's worried about her make-up? She doesn't even need it to look pretty!
As soon as I register that yes, I did just think that, I mentally hit myself. She's my friend - why does my brain not seem to be getting that? I can't have those sorts of thoughts about her - I thought I'd gotten over that tiny crush I had on her...when we were five but apparently, my mind seems to believe otherwise. I guess if I ignore them, it'll go away, right? Right?
I glance over at her once more, hating how she has gained the ability to turn my brain into mush without even doing or saying anything. "We'll see who gets the most points this time!" I mutter, doing my best to focus on my need to beat her this time around.
Our matches go the same way as before. We both defeat our opponents using the same techniques we used in the first round. The referee blows the whistle to signal the end of the match.
I glance at the scoreboard and see that I have earned a hundred points, bringing my total to 221. Unfortunately, so did Jessica, which means she's still one point ahead of me.
"Looks like I made my points back!" she says smugly.
I walk over to her. "Don't worry," I tell her as she yawns with boredom. "I'll get my points!" I was not going to lose this - I can't lose this!
"May I point you in the right direction?"
Gina spins around, looking both left and right frantically. "Who said that?" she asks, not knowing that the culprit was actually a small talking lizard. Jessica and I frantically wave at Nick and Lucas from behind her to get them to come up with an excuse.
"Uh, me!" Lucas says and she immediately looks at him. He thinks for a moment then adds, "I mean - may I point you in the right direction to find the drink machine?"
"What?" Gina asks incredulously.
Lucas walks forward and takes her arm, much to our surprise. When he speaks, he has a fake rasp to his voice. "Could you get me a bottled water, please? Thirsty!" he asks, pointing to his throat.
I'm pretty sure if anyone else asked her that, she wouldn't have accepted so easily but Lucas was the one asking and we all know she'd do anything for him. "Sure, Lucas!" she says, letting out a giggle before walking away, fluttering her eyelashes at him all the while.
Once she's out of sight, Lucas breathes a sigh of relief before glancing at us and shrugging. His eyes seem to be saying look, I did it! and I'm so confused right now! I doubt the poor guy will ever understand why Gina acts the way she does around him - I'm just glad no one acts that way around me!
Jessica looks at me and I give her a confused look before she holds up my backpack. I like the way she thinks! We both smile at a blissfully unaware Razzle before we each take a hold of my backpack. Razzle gulps as we loom over him and lets out a scream as we force him into the backpack once more.
Once we get back to the Primal Pad, Razzle immediately jumps out of my backpack and shoots Jessica and I a why would you do that to me? look. We simply grin innocently at him in return and he huffs before speaking. "Look, I think I know what this secret gathering is all about!" he begins as we listen closely. "Lavor said something about a tournament."
"So?" Lucas says, not getting what Razzle is saying but, then again, neither am I.
"So...Every year, in Gorm, Gormiti warriors gather to demonstrate their great powers in various competitions," Razzle explains.
"I don't get it!" Nick says, puzzled. "If it happens every year, why is it only affecting Venture Falls now?"
"Well, that's the thing," Razzle answers as he jumps up onto the control panel. The screen shows some place in Gorm that looks pretty empty. "It's always been held in the tournament halls of Kurgard but now it's time for the tournament and the halls are empty!"
"And you think it's been moved to a secret location!" Nick guesses.
"A location that's causing the tidal waves!" Jessica adds, holding up a scroll as she balances on the ladder.
"Precisely!" Razzle says.
"But why?" Lucas asks, vocalizing my exact thoughts.
"That's for you guys to figure out!" Razzle replies as he jumps back onto the control panel, the screen now showing an image of Gorm. "And fast before the start of the second round!"
Jessica climbs down the ladder and hands the scroll to Nick. "Here, this should narrow down your search!" she says.
"Ah, Direction Scroll!" Nick says. Wasn't that what she was looking for earlier? At least she didn't accidentally concuss anyone this time! "For a certain tournament, I suppose?" he asks and she nods.
Nick, Lucas and I jump back through the Gorm Gate and, once again, we land in that canyon place. Lucas and I look at Nick who unrolls the Direction Scroll before inspecting it closely. "So which way do we go?" I ask him.
Nick looks at the scroll again. "Easy!" he replies. "We go for the gold! 'For those who wish to find the tourney, let this arrow guide the journey!'" He peeks out from behind the scroll, looking confused when nothing happens. Suddenly he gasps as the scroll glows before yelping as it rolls itself up and disappears, only to be replaced with a streak of shimmering, golden light.
We gasp as it whooshes past us and walk to the edge of the ledge to see the trail head down the middle of three forks. "Come on! After that thing!" Lucas says and we start chasing the golden trail.
"Hurry up! It went this way!" I yell to the others. Man, it's hard to keep track of this thing! It almost reminds me of when Geo was a puppy and Nick and I had to help Mom and Dad spend hours trying to track him down in the house as he was pretty hyper and had an inability to stay still in one place for any amount of time.
We continue to follow the trail as Nick says, "See? The golden trail will lead us right to the tournament!" Unfortunately, after a while, the trail seems to have gotten all mixed up and we stop, now unsure of which way to go.
"Which way?" Lucas asks.
I look around before finding the trail. "Look!" I tell them. I point it out and together we look down to where the trail is leading.
"Wow!" Nick says in a hushed voice, clearly impressed.
Jessica projects her image between Nick and I. "Uh, guys? Venture Falls isn't the only strange tidal wave in the last twenty-four hours!" she informs us. "According to crystal readings, the tidal waves are due to interdimensional energy holes scattering out across the globe! I don't know why one silly Gorm tourney would have this effect but if you don't stop it fast, we could have a global catastrophe on our hands!"
"We read you loud and clear, Jess!" Lucas tells her and her image disappears.
We look down again and see three Gormiti - one from the Earth, Water and Forest tribes - presumably warming up for the tournament. All three of them are clad in armor but I manage to recognize the Sea Gormiti as Hammer, one of the most powerful warriors of the Sea Nation. He lets out a cry as he strikes the ground with a trident. "Whoa, this must be the place," I say in awe.
Nick walks over to a small rock and blows the dust away before saying, "Astreeg? No, wait, Astreg! What does Astreg mean?" he asks us.
Lucas and I shrug, neither of us having a clue. "Could be important!" Jessica answers from the Primal Pad. "I'm on it!"
We watch as the three Gormiti move in closer. "No time for that!" I say. "The tournament's second round is about to begin and we need to stop them!"
"You're good to glow!" Jessica informs us.
We raise our right hands in the air as we chant, "Elemental powers flow, Gormiti - Lords of Nature, go!"
"Powers of the Sea!" I cry as I transform again, letting out a fierce roar.
Once we're all transformed, we watch as the Gormiti start to charge towards each other, prepared to battle. Just as they were about to start fighting, Lucas jumps down, landing in the middle of the triangle the three Gormiti have formed. Nick and I quickly follow suit and Lucas, holding up his hand, yells, "Stop!"
The Gormiti stop running and come to a halt, clearly confused. "Intruders!" The Forest Gormiti says angrily. "How did you find this place?"
"That doesn't matter now!" Nick answers. "The tournament cannot continue!" Why do I get the feeling these guys probably aren't going to like this?
"Your battles are causing a cosmic imbalance!" Lucas explains. "We're talking tidal waves and who knows what else in our dimension!"
The Earth Gormiti steps forward. "Ah, who are these to challenge the tournament?" He spins his hammer around menacingly. "Perhaps they should be made an example of!" he suggests.
We bunch up together as the Gormiti advance towards us. "Jessica?" Lucas calls out nervously.
The Gormiti are almost in attacking distance when Jessica suddenly projects her image beside us. "It's not the tournament that's the problem - it's the location!" she explains.
The Earth Gormiti lets out a startled cry. "What manner of magic is this?" he asks, pointing at Jessica.
"In ancient times, the Battle Plain of Astreg hosted all the important Gormiti tournaments!" Jessica continues. "But the magic battles caused a weakness in the dimensional fabric of Astreg!"
"So new battles on that old weakness stirred up the tidal waves in Venture Falls!" Lucas exclaims.
"Bingo!" Jessica confirms. "That's the kind of trouble the ancients were trying to avoid when they built the newer tournament halls of Kurgard!"
The three Gormiti look around the arena before the Earth Gormiti sheepishly rubs the back of his head. They then move back and the three of us relax, realizing that they no longer see us as a threat.
"We have to hold our tournaments in secret from the evil Lord Magmion but he found us in Kurgard last year so we had to find a new location." The Earth Gormiti explains.
The Forest Gormiti adds. "This year, the secret location was here in Astreg!"
"Yeah, well, your secret might not be a secret much longer!" I warn them. "Lavor's on the loose!"
"Then we must postpone our sport until it is safe!" the Forest Gormiti decides before touching the ground with his wooden spear-like weapon. "No battles shall take place here today!"
"On the contrary," a mysterious voice says and the shadow of a huge Gormiti falls over us. We turn to see Magmion himself along with a few Lava soldiers standing on the cliff, leering down at us. The reptilian Gormiti was covered in black and red armor. "I most certainly wager that there will be battle today - a great and most terrible battle!" He laughs menacingly as dark clouds move in overhead and lightning flashes. "You think you can hide your tournament from me?" We gasp as we see the Lava soldiers running down to the arena, towards us!
For some reason, a glow surrounds Nick, Lucas, and I. I have no idea what is happening but the glow transforms into a purple beam of light that shoots up into the sky.
"This battle needs to stop immediately!" Jessica yells. "It's causing a global power surge!"
I use my tentacles to slam two Lava Gormiti into each other, knocking them out before muttering, "Easy for you to say!"
The Lava soldiers start charging towards the three Gormiti who use their skills in combat to handily defeat them in next to no time at all.
After the Earth Gormiti takes out Lavor with an impressive swing of his hammer, he stands up and says, "These puny Lava Gormiti are no match for us tournament players!"
Magmion lets out a cry before jumping down into the arena. "Ah, but I'm not so easily vanquished!" he warns. With a powerful sweep of his huge tail, he knocks all three of the Gormiti off their feet. All three of them grunt as they hit the ground.
"He's too strong!" Nick says desperately as we run over to the Gormiti to help them up.
"We have to try!" Lucas says, looking determined.
I help the Earth Gormiti to his feet and the six of us watch as Magmion moves to stand menacingly before us.
For a while, we just stand before I say, "Let's do this!" We charge forwards, the three Gormiti heading right while Nick, Lucas and I head left.
The Earth Gormiti throws his hammer at Magmion but it disintegrates upon hitting the armor. Hammer throws his trident and the Forest Gormiti stretches out his vine-like arm but Magmion grabs hold of it and tosses him, sending him flying along with the others. The trident, just like the hammer, also breaks apart when it makes contact with the armor.
Magmion then turns his attention to us. I release a jet of water from my stomach at the same time that Nick and Lucas are launching their own attacks. None of them land, though. With another sweep of his tail, the three of us grunt as we are swept off our feet. Poor Lucas ends up with the misfortune of having both Nick and I piled on top of him.
"You have to stop this fighting!" Jessica tells us. How exactly does she expect us to do that? We can't not defend ourselves!
"But how?" Lucas asks her while holding me up. "See how his armor protects him? Nobody can touch him!" Oh yeah, there's also that!
After a few moments, Jessica projects her image next to me. "Look at his feet!" she tells us. That has to be the weirdest thing she's ever said without a doubt. What do Magmion's feet have to do with anything?
I hold up two fingers. "Minus two points for not having a point!" I say, not getting what she's getting at.
"Listen to me!" she snaps frustratedly, holding up a book showing a picture of Magmion. "His heels - they're exposed! His heels are the only part of his body not covered in armor!"
"She's right!" Nick says, pointing at Magmion's feet. "Look!" Sure enough, just as Jessica had said, Magmion's heels didn't have any armor - and I...had a plan!
"You two create a diversion," I tell Nick and Lucas as I put my hands on their shoulders. "I'll sneak up behind him with a surprise attack!" I leave them to find a place to hide so I can wait for the perfect moment to strike.
"Diversion?" They echo.
"Once I've defeated the most powerful warriors of your silly tribes, then the rest of your people will bow down to me!" Magmion says after a skirmish with the Earth Gormiti.
"Ladies and gentle-Gormiti," Lucas announces suddenly, much to their confusion. "May I introduce to you the most amazing, uh, feat of balance and coordination ever displayed in the ancient Coliseum of Astreg!" He holds his arms out. "He's...Nick!"
To my amusement, I see Nick juggling three large boulders like they weighed nothing at all and, to him, they probably didn't.
None of the Gormiti seem to know what to make of it. I have to resist the urge to laugh when I see the awed expressions on the faces of the Lava soldiers. "Okay!" Nick calls. "I'm ready for another!"
Lucas uses his vines to toss a fourth boulder into the mix and Nick increases the speed of his juggling with the three boulders. Lavor laughs and claps his hands like a small child.
Magmion looks confused but I spot a rock big enough to conceal myself behind that's close enough to allow me to sneak up on him undetected. I quickly hide behind it, with nobody noticing.
I hear several grunts and thuds. Guess the entertainment part's over and done with! I see Magmion raise his blade-like arm over the Earth Gormiti. "Show's over!" he says menacingly. You got that one right, Magmy!
I leap out from behind the rock and transform my left hand into a giant claw before quickly pinching Magmion's heel, causing him to let out a huge cry of pain. He falls on top of Lavor who helps him to his feet and we watch as they leave, Magmion hopping on one foot and Lavor supporting him. "Watch where you're going, you clumsy oaf!" Magmion snaps. "Can't you see I'm hurt?"
"Well, seeing as how I took down Magmion, I guess that makes me the winner of the tournament!" I say happily. The others stare at me blankly and Jessica sighs heavily. I ignore them and walk over to the trio of Gormiti. "So what do I get?" I ask them.
"Congratulations, warrior," the Forest Gormiti says, bringing something from behind his back. As he walks towards me, I hold out my hands expectantly but, to my surprise, he walks right past me.
I turn my head and watch as he places whatever it is below Jessica's flickering image. "Your quick thinking championed this day!"
This is so unfair! First the judo tournament and now this! How does she keep beating me? I try to say something but I'm too shocked to speak. "Don't worry, Toby!" Jessica tells me, happily. "I'll let you play with it!"
"Ooh, burn!" Lucas says before he and Nick start laughing again. I still don't find it funny.
"Very funny, guys!" I mutter. "Very funny!"
We head back to the gym for the results of the tournament after being gated back to the Primal Pad. Jessica and I got changed into our judo uniforms and waited with the other competitors in the stands for the referee to announce the winners.
"And the winners of both the male and female divisions...Jeff Adbeck and Morgan Miles!" the referee says as the winners walk up to him and he holds their arms up in the air, "who each managed to edge out their closest competition by only one point!"
I was really getting sick of hearing the words one point. "One lousy point!" I say disappointedly.
"That should so be us up there right now!" Jessica adds miserably.
"Well, winning isn't everything, right?" Nick tells us cheerfully.
"Yeah, at least we saved the world from certain disaster!" Lucas reminds us.
"You know what?" Jessica says to me. "They're right!" I frown, knowing that they're all right but it doesn't make it any less annoying - all that effort and neither of us won. Guess being overly competitive won't get you anywhere.
I stand up. "Truce?" I say, holding my hand out to her. Now that the competition's over and done with, I want my best friend back. I've had enough of trying to one-up her.
"Shoes!" Jessica says cheerfully as she stands up before linking arms with Gina and the two of them walk off, giggling. I stare after them blankly, not really having a clue what to say. As they leave, Jessica turns her head and winks at me. I know then that things are back to normal, yet they don't quite feel that way.
My heart feels like it's beating a tiny bit faster than usual and I still have no idea why. I don't have a clue why these things are happening now. Something tells me I can't just ignore...whatever this is like I did before. One thing I know, for sure, as I mutter, "Pfft, girls!" and shrug, is that girls are the most confusing beings on the planet. Another thing is that things are changing and I'm not yet sure if I'll ever be ready to deal with it.
I wouldn't have to worry about it, though. After all, it's not like I like her or anything, right?
AN: So sorry this is late. I hope you guys enjoyed reading. Poor Toby's gonna be in denial for a few chapters. I've decided to scrap the once-a-week system for my updates in favor of updating as and when I have the time. Apologies for the inconvenience but I'm a carer for my mum so I don't exactly have a lot of spare time on my hands. Hope you all understand and I'll see you in the next chapter!
If you guys have any questions about this fic or anything related to my Gormiti headcanons, the links to my social media can be found in my profile. So tweet, DM or send an ask and I'll do my best to answer! Thank you :-) You guys are all awesome!