It was only once she had rounded many corners that she looked over her shoulder again. Something gnawed at her insides and she wondered why Jet hadn't started to follow. Had he gotten hurt on one of the obstacles? Maybe something awful had happened! Without thinking, Iris spun on her heels and ran back the way she came.
Why was she so worried anyway? It's not like she even knew the guy!
"Jet!" She called when got to where they had last seen each other. She gasped. There he was, the white haired boy tangled in a bunch of wires connected to the walls either side of them. "What happened?"
"Iris?" He asked, his voice muffled by the strings that pressed his cheeks together. "What are you doing here? I thought I told you to leave?"
Iris's lips quirked slightly as she looked at his tangled up body. He honestly looked like a puppet on a string. Slowly, she edged forwards, reaching out a tentative hand.
"I got worried when I didn't hear you behind me." She said, trying to laugh at his squished face and matted limbs. "I thought that you would give me head start, but it was just too long, so I came back to check on you." She paused and stifled a chuckle as she poked his nose. "Good thing I did too, huh?"
Jet glared and fidgeted in his restraints.
"I don't need your help." He muttered and this time Iris actually laughed. It was weird to think that in this situation she could even smile, let alone laugh – they were in a death match after all.
"Sure you don't." She teased and readied her wind magic to slice him free when suddenly the string snapped and flew around the two every which way. Jet smirked and stood up straight.
"See, I wasn't lying."
"How did you do that?"
"Wind magic" He smiled smugly as he twirled his fingers in the air, sending a soothing breeze in Iris's direction. "It's a complicated magic. You have to be very skilful to use it."
Iris giggled softly.
"Who would've thought it, huh?" Jet stopped his little boast and turned to face the mint haired girl, one of his eyebrows raised in confusion.
"Who would've thought what?" He asked.
"That both of us would be wind mages." She giggled again as a twinge of red fluttered across his cheeks.
"Then you know that half of what I was just boasting about was utter rubbish then, don't you?"
Iris nodded and poked the now unbound wind mage in the arm, another chuckle bubbling from her rosy lips.
"Yep."
Jet sighed.
"Brilliant."
How could this even be called a fight to the death? There was no flipping fighting, just lots and lots of obstacles. Granted, they were life threatening obstacles, but they weren't people! Sasha dodged another spike adorned beam and just avoided a guillotine when he skirted round a corner and into… a field?
Yep, that was a field. Lush green grass and everything.
And on the other side of the field, was a boy. Ok, man compared to diddy little sixteen year old Sasha. The blue haired teen skidded to a stop, his shoes embedding themselves in the thick mud as he slowed.
The man – almost – on the opposite from Sasha stopped picking at the grass and looked up, his brown eyes meeting Sasha's own midnight blue one. He was fairly ordinary looking – chocolate brown hair with matching eyes and slightly pale complexion. He looked to be about five foot something and seemed to tower over the younger, shorter teen.
"Who are you?" Sasha barked, his tone ice-cold as his body tensed, ready for a fight.
The other boy just smiled and held his hands up in surrender. He closed his eyes as he smiled and reached behind his head to scratch the soft skin of his neck.
"I'm surrendering, but I forgot that that's not one of the options." He chuckled nervously. "Bummer."
Sasha frowned and furrowed his brow. Was this guy joking? He seemed way too… laid back considering their current situation. Plus, he seemed like a bit of an idiot. Suddenly, Sasha froze as he saw the cheeky grin spread across the other contestants face and he chuckled.
"I guess that means we have to fight, huh?" Sasha felt an involuntary shiver run down his spine at the change in attitude in his opponent. One minute he was cheerful and seemingly slightly stupid, next he's crazy mischievous. "This will be fun."
They had been idiots to relax. Another axe swung out from the wall and the two wind mages barely jumped in time to avoid it's razor sharp blade. Iris gulped and flicked her green gaze over to Jet, who had sweat dripping down his face from the exertion.
They had been running and dodging non-stop for at least twenty minutes now. Obviously whoever was controlling the game wanted them to hurry up and reach whatever destination they were meant to get to. The idea of what lay ahead of them made Iris shiver.
"This…" Gasp. "Is…" Pant. "Getting…" Dodge a massive spike that tries to impale you from behind. "Ridiculous."
Iris nodded and then squeaked, ducking down low before regaining her speed as a heavy metal ball on a chain swung towards her head.
"Tell me about it." She said between breathes.
"Where do you think…" Another spike. "They're leading us." Jet asked, noticing that they hadn't seen any forked roads in a while, just straight turns.
Iris sighed and jumped over jet another obstacle, using the cool wind as support for her aching legs. She could feel the hot beads of perspiration trickle down her chin and neck. Suddenly she skidded to a halt and a wide grin broke out across her face before vanishing again. She darted forwards.
"Sasha!"
Sasha heard the voice before he saw the face. He quickly jumped away from his opponent, panting. And wiped his brow clear of sweat before turning to the oncoming girl, watching as he green hair blew in the wind. The blue eyed boy felt a trickle of blood from a cut on his cheek roll down his chin, but he couldn't be bothered to wipe it away.
"Iris." He gasped before glancing back at his foe. The older boy seemed equally as worn out, only with less cuts on his body.
Sasha wondered how many more spirits the guy had at his disposal. He had already taken care of two. The boy instinctively reached into the pouched at his sides and felt the metal marbles between his fingers. He had about twenty left – ten in each bag. He wondered if they would be enough.
But anyway, Iris was here now; she could help.
"Oi!" A voice called. "Wait up!"
Both boys – plus girl – looked round to the path that Iris had emerged from to see a sliver spiked haired man run out, sweat plastering his clothes to his body. Damn it, another opponent. Sasha readied himself into a fighting stance and gripped two silver pellets – one in each hand – tightly in his grasp.
His previous, wind spirit using opponent broke out into a huge grin.
"Jet!" He hollered. "It's about time!"
"Ken?" 'Jet' said, now standing next to Iris. "You're alive? Who would've thought it?"
Ken pouted and crossed his arms over his chest, back to being stupid and immature.
"You're such a brilliant friend." He mumbled.
"I try–"
"Oi!" Sasha roared at Ken, making the boy look innocently at the irritated sixteen year old. "Are we going to finish this or not?"
Ken was about to say something when another voice interrupted, only this one came from outside the arena.
"Finally, you are all gathered. We've been waiting for this." The announcer called, his voice booming through the field like stadium. "Now, my dear little cherubs, I have a choice for you."
"Finally, you are all gathered. We've been waiting for this." The announcer called, his voice booming through the field like stadium. "Now, my dear little cherubs, I have a choice for you."
Suddenly, the earth beneath the two teams feet began to shake and rumble and out of the ground erupted two well like structures. The teams stared at each of the black bricked tunnels before looking worriedly back to their respective teammate.
"What do you mean you've got a choice for us?" Jet yelled to no-one in particular.
"Now, now, my child, don't get your knickers in a twist." The announcer – Lues, if they remembered correctly – called again and the contestants could hear him sight through the microphone. "Your choice is this 'Strength, or Luck?'. The tunnels that have appeared lead to two places. One, back to your rooms, the other, to your death. You can choose to rely on luck if you so wish and jump down one of the holes, or, you can rely purely on your strength and battle it out. That is your choice."
There was a click as the microphone shut off and the field was plunged into a tense silence.
"I say we fight." Sasha said, being the first to break the quiet.
"I agree. I am eager to finish what we started." Ken agreed, grinning at Sasha.
Jet and Iris remained silent, both looking at each other. Then, Jet sighed and closed his eyes, running one tanned hand through his almost white locks.
"I don't want to fight, Ken." He said looking at his partner. "I'm tired, and I don't really feel in the mood for killing someone innocent. Maybe things would be different if I hadn't had breakfast." He posed a weak smile before turning back to the green haired, green eyed Iris. "I'm all for luck, how about you?"
Iris smiled softly and nodded.
"I'm going with luck too." She turned to Sasha. "Please, can we not fight? I don't want to fight."
Sasha frowned and was about to say something before Ken butted in.
"Fine. Luck it is then." He cast a sideways glance to Sasha. "We'll finish this another time, yeah?"
Sasha paused before scoffing, a smirk on his face.
"Yeah, in the afterlife maybe." He then sighed. "I've never been too good with luck, you know. This is not going to go in our favour, I fear. But it looks like I'm out voted."
More silence fell upon the group before a loud clap echoed through the still air.
"Well then, I guess we better get going." Jet said it as if he was just leaving a friend's house after a dinner party. "You ready Ken?"
The brown haired teen just nodded and wiped the dirt off his clothes. Jet looked back and forth from one well to the other and felt something heavy lodge in his throat. He swallowed and plastered a very forced grin onto his face.
"We'll take this one." He jutted with his thumb towards his right. "Are you two ok with left?"
Sasha grunted and Iris nodded.
"Excellent." The muscled man then began to walk over to his chosen well and placed his hand on the cool brick. He took a deep breath and then looked at Ken, who was just a few steps away. "Come on then, better not put it off any longer."
"Who said I was putting it off?" Ken said. "I was just trying to annoy you is all."
Jet chucked dryly.
"Yeah, sure you were."
Ken hopped from one foot to the other before sighing and joining his partner, also placing his hand on the solid tunnel. They looked at each other and then back to the looming darkness below their hands.
"I hate to say it, but you're actually a pretty good friend." Jet said, not looking at Ken as he said it.
"You mean a pretty good punching bag"
They laughed.
"But, yeah, you're a pretty good friend too."
Silence.
"Oi, Iris!" Jet called over his shoulder, causing the green haired girl to look up from the ground. "If this situation were different, I would totally be hitting on you right now. Just thought I would let you know."
Then, he jumped over the side of the well and into the darkness. Ken laughed softly under his breath.
"Idiot…" He muttered. Then he, too, jumped into the well.
"Iris."
"Yeah, Sasha."
Sasha kept his line of sight trained on the well that the two boys had just vanished into and wordlessly held his hand out to his green haired, green eyed partner. She smiled softly and took hold of it, giving it a reassuring squeeze.
"Let's go."
BTB: Yo, not such a long wait for this update (Intended Sarcasm). I struggled with this chapter, and I'm still not pleased with it at all, but hey, what can you do? I've been hooked on Morganville Vampires, I mean, like seriously hooked.
I read the first five books in five days. That's a book a day!
I've even met the author – she's American and I loved her accent!
I now have every bit of my Deidara costume and Daniel has his whole Tobi costume. We're all ready for the anime expo, woo-hoo! Anyway, I left this chapter open to suspicion, and will reveal the dying team next chapter ever... I think...
But, in all my happiness, I just have one problem. Carter…
Carter: Yay, I found your planning sheets!
BTB: …Won't go back in his profile…
Carter: Let's see here… Evil guy shows up, blah-de-blah-de-blah… Ah here's what I wanted! The End!
BTB: W-wait! Carter!
Carter: In the end of The Game-
(Hand slaps over his mouth and the rest of what he says is a muffled mess.)
BTB: You can't tell them the end you idiot! Did I forget to write you a brain?
ANYWAY! Hopefully it will be a speedier update this time. I look forward to seeing you guys soon. Bye!
…
EWWW! Carter don't lick my hand!
Carter: Heheh…