Leo was slowly awoken by the cold nipping at her hands and feet. Her eyes still closed, she pulled her arms and legs towards the warmth of her chest and wondered why it was so cold in there. When she realized she wasn't in the comfort of her warm room, Leo immediately sat up and looked around frantically, hoping to find any sign of familiarity.
Leo huddled under her large red scarf, hoping to get warmer from it's wool. That's when she noticed she was no longer wearing her school uniform. Standing up, Leo looked over her new outfit. She seemed to be wearing white traditional chinese clothes, which consisted of a sleeveless shirt with a high collar and some pants with a fancy design of flames on it's side. Leo breathed a sigh of relief that her signature scarf was still with her.
The breath was short lived when she realized somebody must've changed her clothes. "Ugn." Leo made a face, not hiding any irritation or disgust she had for the thought.
Deciding to pretend that magic changed her clothes, Leo looked around again, this time absorbing her surroundings. She noticed she was in what looked like a dark cavern, with the only lighting being few torches spread far apart against the wall. Despite the small heat coming from them, Leo felt unbearably cold, like she had just been doused with water and sent outside during the winter.
Leo only took a few steps, when her foot hit something metallic. The girl squinted to try and see what it was, since the torch's light only went so far. But with further inspection, Leo found the metallic object was a big red and white sword. The blade was ginormous, probably almost the size of Leo herself, so it came as a surprise when she could pick it up with ease. Leo wondered how she could carry the awkwardly big thing, but was happy to find it had a strap along it's handle. The girl slung the thing over her back, and continued on.
After another few steps, Leo was stopped again, but this time by a window that popped up in front of her, like in a video game. "Nye-!" Leo jumped, startled by this sudden appearance. Words began to come up on the window as the blonde ran her hand through the hologram to see if it was real: "WELCOME TO THE ULTIMATE CHALLENGE. TO COMPLETE THE CHALLENGE, YOU MUST DEFEAT EVERY OTHER CHALLENGER YOU COME ACROSS AND COLLECT THEIR TROPHY. IF YOU SUCCESSFULLY COMPLETE THE CHALLENGE, YOU WILL GAIN THE TITLE OF THE ULTIMATE CHALLENGER AS WELL AS BEING ABLE TO RETURN TO YOUR HOME. GOOD LUCK."
"What kind of fancy sci-fi riff raff is this?" Leo furrowed her brow after reading the text. Obviously, Leo had been kidnapped and was being put through some futuristic test or trial of some sort, like the Hunger Games or Master Chef. "I'M NOT GOING THROUGH WITH YOUR SO CALLED CHALLENGE!" Leo yelled out at the ceilings where there might possibly be cameras. The girl began to swing her sword awkwardly at the window. Eventually, the window went a bright red and made a ER-ERR noise, which caused Leo to jump back. The window disappeared after it's ER-ERR, leaving Leo with a feeling of triumph. "Eeeeyy, bringing down the system." She grinned.
Leo started her journey around the cavern, trying to find her way out as quickly as possible. The blonde once again huddled under her scarf, searching for an exit. There was a repeated 'droopdrop-droopdrop' that sounded like it was coming from stalactites being formed, but Leo couldn't figure out where since water seemed to be nonexistent in the cave. Eventually, after walking for a while, Leo grabbed one of the torches from the wall for heat. It seemed as though Leo was walking around in circles, because an exit couldn't be found anywhere. The girl pulled her scarf over her mouth in a cautious manner.
Finally, Leo heard a quiet thumping in the distance. Her immediate reaction was to head straight towards the noise, hoping to find some kind of exit. As Leo took turns and heading toward the noise, the quiet thumps turned into loud booms. Of course, this should have been an immediate sign to anyone that whatever was creating the noise was dangerous, but that went completely over Leo's head.
After one last turn, the booms stopped, and so did Leo. She squinted, looking to see where the booms came from. But to no avail, there was nothing around. Leo signed, and turned around. But instead of there being the empty cavern where she came from, an orange figure sat unmoving. Leo blinked, the image being processed in her brain, but was thrown back before she could even think.
Leo's hand went to her aching head as she tried to figure out what was going on. Suddenly, a roar erupted from the orange figure as Leo realized what exactly was attacking her. It was unmistakingly and undoubtedly Charizard from Pokemon. The blonde would've laughed if she wasn't about to get eaten alive.
"Waa-!" Leo quickly rolled to the side to keep from getting burned as fire bursted through the dragon's mouth. Everything happened so fast, Leo had barely anytime to process anything. The only thing she knew was that she had to get out of there as soon as possible. Leo scrambled to her feet, and started to run as fast as she could away from the monstrous creature. Leo rushed to the first turn as she heard the dragon following closely behind her. How a dragon could move so fast with it's amount of weight was a question Leo didn't have time to figure out.
Fire barely missed the girl as she jumped to the side. Leo pulled out her sword, and swung at the creature. Charizard dodged easily and used its claws to scratch Leo's arm. The girl let out a cry of pain, before the dragon knocked her back with it's tail. Leo grasped her arm with one hand, and put up her sword as a shield with her other. Fire erupted from Charizard again, but instead of burning her alive, the sword seemed to absorb the heat. But Leo had slammed her eyes shut once the fire came at her, feeling that she was either about to get burned alive or eaten alive. Charizard ignored it as well, and stomped towards the girl, ready to finish her off.
But suddenly, like a flash of lightning, something stopped Charizard. Hearing the sound of metal against claws, Leo looked up and saw the dragon being pushed back. A dark silhouette slashed at Charizard again and again, until it stopped for just a brief moment. Leo's eyes widened, the silhouette was none other than Meta Knight. Charizard roared at the sudden interruption, and fumed fire at Meta Knight. The cavern glowed red with the heat as the dark spherical knight jumped over the flames, and slashed at the orange creature once again. Leo stared in awe as the battle ensued, still keeping her sword in front of her. Meta Knight moved his sword so fast, it just looked like a whirlwind of metal. Charizard was pushed back, before it swiped its claws at Meta Knight. This was just a minor setback for the dark knight though, as jumped back and attacked again, his speed being overwhelming towards the fire breathing dragon. Charizard blew his fire again, but Meta Knight blocked it with his cape. Jumping over the creature, Meta Knight landed one final slash across the dragon.
There was silence while the dragon stood there unmoving as well as the spherical knight, and Leo for just a second wondered if time had stopped. But then, the dragon emitted a light so bright Leo had to shield her eyes. When she looked back, Charizard was a trophy. Leo held her breath, amazed at the events that had just transpired. A million questions ran through her mind, like where was she? Did this have to do with the game she just bought? How did she get here? And what the even?
But all of those questions disappeared the moment Meta Knight turned toward her, his sword still in hand. Leo felt horror come across her expression, realizing that if she couldn't even get away from Charizard, then how in the world could she get away from Meta Knight? The dark spherical knight pulled his sword up, and Leo slammed her eyes shut, certain that this was it.
.
..
...
Leo peaked one eye open, wondering if he suddenly died of a heart attack or something. Leo completely opened both of her bright red eyes when she saw that he wasn't moving. She blinked. He was just standing there, nonmoving. At least his sword was down now, but Leo couldn't help but be slightly creeped out. Maybe time really did stop?
"Who are you?" Leo jumped at the knight's dark voice. It was strange because not only was he completely still while he talked, but the coolness and deepness of his voice was unfitting for something so small.
After a moment of just staring, Leo remembered he had just asked her a question. "Oh, Leo! My name is Leo." Right after she had said that, Leo regretted it, realizing it probably wasn't best to give somebody who could probably kill you your name.
"... Leo. How old are you?"
Leo felt it was strange hearing her name in such a dark voice. Plus, that was a weird question to ask, and slightly personal too. Leo wondered what that had to do with the situation, "I'm sixteen. Why?"
Meta Knight ignored her question and shifted slightly, "You're a very young to be in this tournament. Why are you here?"
Leo pulled her knees to herself to sit cross-legged. She rested her sword in her lap, and answered. "I'm not sure. I woke up here only a little while ago. But I saw a message board that said-" Leo stopped, recalling what it said. It said she could go home if she defeated all of the challengers she would have to face, right? Leo pulled her knees to her chest as her eyes drifted to the ground. She couldn't even defeat Charizard, how was she going to get home? "Ngh..." Leo didn't finish her sentence.
The spherical knight seemed to be in his own thought, "So there taking unwilling participants now..." He turned toward Leo, "What did the message board say?"
Leo looked back up at him, "That I could go back home if I defeat all of the challengers."
Meta Knight's eyes glowed a vibrant red for just a second, making Leo worry about whether or not he'd try to attack her. But instead of his sword, Meta Knight said, "Stand up."
Leo immediately stood up without question and found it funny that she towered over the dark knight, but decided now was probably not the time for that.
Meta Knight grabbed the Charizard trophy and tossed it to Leo.
"Ack-" Leo barely caught it without dropping the thing. "Er, thank you." Leo looked at it, confused at the act of kindness, but grateful nevertheless.
"Follow me."
Leo nodded and so she did.
Oh snap! Jelly here, and it looks like our lovely heroine seems to be in a bit of a bind! Luckily for us, she won't despair for too long, especially with the mysterious Meta Knight by her side!
Meta Knight: ...
Stoic as always, the small spherical one! What kind of problems will Leo and Meta Knight face next?
Leo: IT'S. SO. DANG. COLD. IN. HERE.
Err, you might have to fix that problem yourself.
Leo: SEND HALP.
Maybe some reviewers will send you some blankets or warmers, you never know. Anywho, hope you enjoyed this chapter! Tune in to the next chapter to see where artemis is headed?