James: Hey everyone it's Saturday and you know what that means. Time for another update. So we shall continue with us having fun at the festival. Right Mel?
Mel: That's right James. I love things like this. Now at the bottom, there is the review responses and a VERY IMPORTANT AUTORS NOTE ABOUT NEXT WEEK! but please, enjoy that chapter! :)
Chapter 10: Reaching for the Goal just to Disappear.
Mel: Well, I'm thinking we should make our way towards the track and field sign up, but it doesn't start for twenty minutes, and it's only, oh, *glances at map* eight booths away, so we can take our time.
Dawn: We can look at some of the crafts and wares, or try another game.
Cole: Or go on another ride,
Kai: Or try some festival food.
Lloyd: *looks around, spies a cotton candy stand and tugs on James' arm* I know you said I can't have a lot of candy, but can I have some cotton candy!?
James: *thinks for a moment* Here's the deal squirt, you can have a cotton candy now, or wait until after lunch and join the rest of us in some homemade ice cream.
Lloyd: Um, I'll wait. I like candy, but NOTHING beats ice cream!
Jay: Except maybe cake, eh Cole?
Everyone but Cole: *laughs*
Nya: Oh, Jayden! Quit teasing your brother!
Lucas: *interrupts* But isn't that a sibling's sacred job?
Mel: *sticks her tongue out at him* Don't give James any ideas!
James: Hey! Keep me out of this!
Everyone: *laughs*
Mel: *gasps excitedly* Look! A face painting booth!
Zane: But isn't that typically for children?
Mel: Exactly! Lloyd, you want your face painted? Please say yes! Please say yes!
Lloyd: I guess so...
Mel: *looks up mischievously* Great! I've got an idea!
James: Oh no... Please, not what I think it is!
Mel: *smirks at her twin* Sure is! Now Lloyd, when we get over there... *whispers the rest into his ear*
Lloyd: *smiles* Sure!
Mel: *smiles back while James groans, shaking his head* You guys watch this... *takes Lloyd's hand and walks him over to the booth*
Face painter: Hey buddy, you want your face painted?
Lloyd: *looks up at her shyly* I guess so... I just wish Melody could do it.
FP: *looks at Melody* Is he a little shy?
Mel: *laughs lightly* At times... The reason he wishes I could do it is I did it for the carnival back in the town where we moved from once, and he really liked the design.
FP: Well, since you have some 'experience' I guess you can do it if you like.
Mel: *smiles* Really?
FP: Sure, what design are you going to do?
Mel: Depends, you want the same one as last time, Lloyd?
Lloyd: *smiles happily* Yes please, Mel!
Mel: Alright, do you have some green, red, orange, and yellow I could use?
FP: Here, *hands her the colors along with a brush, some water, and a paper towel* I can't wait to see what you come up with!
Mel: Alright... *starts by adding some green to his face, slowly forming the picture around his cheek and eye, adding a little of the other colors to finish it a few minutes later* There! How's that, Lloyd? *holds mirror up to his face*
Lloyd: *gasps, as he sees a beautiful green dragon whose tail wrapped around his cheek and eye was his eye, and a flame coming out of the dragons mouth onto his other eye* Cool! I love it sissy!
FP: Wow! That's amazing! I'd love to be able to do that!
Mel: *shrugs* I just practice a lot... Well Lloyd, we need to get back to the others so James can sign up for his contest.
Lloyd: Alright! Thanks again, Mel! I love it!
Mel and Lloyd: *walk back to the group as they were approaching the track and field booth*
Lloyd: Hey guys look at what Mel did for me!
Jay: Wow! That's so cool!
Nya: I love it!
Zane: Nice even strokes to give that give off that magnificent design.
Mel: Thank you. Ready James?
James: Yep. *walks over the booth and looked at the sheet*
Person: Hello there. *smiles politely* Here to enter for the track and field events?
James: Yes ma'am. *smiles back*
Person: Which event were you looking for?
James: Pole vault, ma'am.
Person: Alright. *grabs a sheet out for him* Sign your name here and your weight for the right pole to use.
James: Alright. *signs name and weight*
Person: Thank you. Just go over to that tent over there and they'll give you your uniform and pole. *pointing a tent with other vaulters*
James: Thank you. *turns to his siblings* You guys can't pass this line from now on and I'll be over there.
Mel: Best of luck, Jimmy. *gently kisses his cheek and left with the others behind her to the bleachers and took their seats*
James: *walks over to the tent and waited in line until he got in front*
Person: Name?
James: James Johnson.
Person: *reaches under the table and pulls out a number and a dark grey tank top and shorts with compression shorts and shirt and hands them to James.* Behind those curtains is the changing area and locker room. *points at a set of curtains* Change into these and report over there for your pole. Have fun.
James: Thank you. *and went behind the curtain*
*Mel and the others*
Lloyd: Where's James?
Mel: It's about to start soon. He'll be out here.
Lucas: Hope he does well.
Mel: *whispers so no-one overhears them* My twin is a good vaulter. He got second place in the first indoor meet we had at our school. He would've gotten first but his accident got him second. *Hears a high-pitch sound from speakers*
Announcer: Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen and welcome to the track and field event of the spring festival!
Everyone: *cheers with the uproaring crowd*
Announcer: Our first event will be the pole vaulters. Please meet out contestants. First up is Joseph Quick. Second is Trisha Jones. Third is Emily Mill. And last but not least, James Johnson.
Mel and the others: *cheers to the name of their sibling*
Announcer: Alright, let's begin. Remember to get this event finished with the others, each of you get one chance to go over the bar and will go on until we reach our winner. First up is Joseph with the height of eight feet.
Joseph: *stands back sixty feet from the mat and measured out his arms length and hoisted his pull up. Takes a step back and began to sprint down the runway and planted his pole in the plant box. Jumps and begins to bend the pole with his legs swinging up and began to gain height and flipped his body over the bar and pushed his pull out of the way and landed on his back on the mat*
Audience: *cheers for Joseph and wait for the next contestant*
Announcer: Up next is Trisha.
Trisha: *stand back forty feet from the mat and measured out her arms length and hoisted her pole up. Steps back and runs down the runway and planted her pole in the box. Jumps and swung her legs up, but came up late and knock the bar off.
Audience: *give off a sigh of disappointment*
Announcer: Oh that's not good. Better luck next year. Up next is Emily.
Emily: *stands back forty-five feet back from mat and measured out her pole and hoisted it up. Runs down the runway and planted her pole in the box and jumped and swung her legs over the bar and pushed her pole away and landed on the mat*
Audience: *cheers for Emily and waited for the final contestant*
Announcer: Congratulation Emily. Up next is James.
Mel: Go James!
Lucas: You can do it!
Lloyd: Come on big bro!
James: *took a deep breath and stood sixty-three feet back from the mat. Measured out his pole from his forearm's length and moved his top hand up a fist and hoisted his pole up. Took another deep breath and stepped back and began to run down the runway.* One. Two. Three. Four. Five and jump.*plants pole in the box and jumped off his left foot. Begins to bend the pole and swung his legs up and over the bar and pushed the pole away from him, but slightly tapped the bar with his chest and landed on his back and felt his blood run cold. The bar wobbled for a while and remained still*
Audience: *cheered for him on the close call the loudest*
Announcer: Close call on that one. Now we got a show running. Bring it up another feet.
*Two feet later. 10 feet now and Joseph is out. Remaining two are James and Emily*
Announcer: Alright it's our two finalist and the bar is ten feet high. Best of luck for both of them. Emily is up.
Emily: *hoisted her pole up and ran down the runway and jumped over the crossbar and landed on the mat. But gave a shout of pain.
Announcer: Uh-oh. We got a problem on the mat.
Paramedics: *arrive on the mat and exam Emily. Talk to the announcer and left with her on a gurney*
Announcer: Seem that Emily has pulled a hamstring on her leg and is doing alright. But if James can make it over, he'll take first place and wins. Everything up to him.
Mel: Come on, James!
Kai: We know you can do it!
Zane: We have faith in you!
James: *took deep breaths as he was nervous because he never made it over ten feet before but felt support from his twin and friends. He hoisted the pole up and took another deep breath. He eyed the plant box and started running down the runway while picking up speed and planted the end in the box. Jumps and swung his legs up over the bar and pushed his pole away to fly back. But his chest bumped onto the bar and landed on the back and gasped to see the bar hopping for a couple seconds and remained on top.*
Audience: *cheer for James as he won the event*
Announcer: Congratulation James! You have won the pole vault event! *hands him a gold medal and a handshake with a picture and left to announce some more for the next track and field events*
James: *looked at his metal and up to see his twin run up to him and embraced her tight hug*
Mel: *giggle* I knew you could do it!
James: And you were right.
Dawn: That was awesome!
Jay: We knew you could do it.
James: Thanks. I'm gonna go change and you nine meet me somewhere for lunch.
Mel: Deal. *and all follow her to find something to eat*
James: *heads back to the tent and quickly changed out of his tank top and shorts and back into his tee shirt and jeans. He looks at his metal to smile at his achievement and felt proud. But felt something covered his mouth to muffle his screams and was dragged away*
*With Mel and the others*
Mel: Where is he?
Kai: Relax, Mel. This place is huge so it may take him awhile to find us.
Mel: But the track and field is just down there. I'm gonna go see if he's still there. *and heads towards the tent. Looks around and found it deserted.* James, where are you? I swear James, if you plan to scare me, I'll hit you. *moves curtain and saw his metal on the grass* This is not good. He's missing again. *picks up the metal* I'd better tell the others quick.
*A few minutes later, still with Melody*
Mel: *runs up to Lucas and the others, clutching tightly to her brother's medal* James! When I got there, the tent was deserted. James' medal was lying in the grass and there were drag marks leading away! He was taken again! *tries to keep tears from running down her cheek*
Lucas and the others: *look horrified*
Lucas: *walks over and gently pats Mel on the shoulder* I can't really say anything except remember that your brother is strong, and won't go down without a fight.
Cole: Yea, we're so sorry Mel, one of us should have stayed with him.
Mel: *straightens herself* I-it's alright... As they say, the past is the past...
Lloyd: *reaches up and hugs her* And the future is the future. We can't change that James is missing...
Dawn: But we can do everything we can to find him.
Zane: Starting by looking back at the track area.
Jay: Yeah, maybe we can find some clues.
Nya: We'll find our brother Mel, don't you worry.
*with James*
James: *struggles against the arms pinning his to his side. Then has a gag shoved roughly in his mouth and his arms tied tightly behind his back. He glares up at his kidnappers*
Unknown: Uh uh uh, I wouldn't struggle if I were you. You'll just make things harder for yourself.
James: *recognizes the voice slightly, but doesn't know why. Tries to get up to jump on the person, but gets shoved hard back down*
Unknown: Hm... Doesn't seem like someone has very good listening skills. *turns to others* Blindfold him and tie him up somewhere. Make sure he can't escape. We need him for the test.
Goons: Yes sir! *one takes out a blindfold while the other holds a struggling James still. 1st guy gets blindfold over James eyes and helps his comrade drag James away*
Unknown: Perfect. Everything is falling exactly into place.
*With Melody and everyone else*
Everyone: *at the track and field tent where Melody found her twin's metal*
Mel: So where do we begin? *scared for her brother's sake*
Zane: Well I can search for clues by analyzing the drag marks when you found his metal. Then see if there's anything to search for.
Jay: And maybe I can upgrade my falcon to help search him from above.
Cole: Those sound like good plans, but let's search everywhere. *and began searching*
Zane: *walks over to the mark and changes his eyes from blue to green. Scans around the marks with his 'detective mode' to find something but only leading them outside and nothing else*
Jay: *upgrades the falcon real fast and brought it to life* Falcon, help up search for someone that was taken and report back to me. *The bird squawked and took flight*
*Ten minutes later*
Everyone: *met together and all shook their heads that they couldn't find much*
Mel: *tears ran down her cheeks for her twin was gone* Who would do this?
*With James*
James: *felt himself being dragged away as one goon had his arms and the other had his legs. He couldn't scream for help because the gag wouldn't allow him. He even couldn't see through the blindfold and doesn't know where they were taking him. Or why they want him. Feeling angry at them, he kicked his legs up and felt them hit something hard and felt his feet planted on the ground. He then struggled out of the other's grip and sent a kick to his chest and began to run away from everything. But was shoved to the ground*
Unknown: Uh, uh, uh, I don't escape is a options for you, Mr. Johnson. Remove his blindfold and gag.
Others: Yes sir. *one went over to James and removed the blindfold and the other did the gag*
James: *squints his eyes to the light and saw he was in the middle of the woods* How do you know my name? Where are we? And why do you need me for a test?
Unknown: Everything will come to you soon, James. Allow me to introduce myself. I am unknown to you and the world, but you can call me Mr. Smith.
James: Smith? Almost like from the Matrix?
Smith: If that's what you think, then yes.
James: *struggles out of bonds and grunted that he couldn't* Why kidnap me and what do you want with me?
Smith: *walks over to James and clamped his hand on James' jaw and directed him to look at the sunglasses* I want to see you fight. I want data. *and walked back from James.
James: That's it? Alright I'll fight you for my freedom.
Smith: Oh no. I don't want to fight you. The blood sample we drawn from you the other night has unleashed a memory of yours and you will be fighting that one.
James: Who? And untie me so I can do your stupid test!
Smith: Nope. We want to see you escape them somehow.
James: *begins to struggle more and sighed at annoyance at Smith* Who do you want me to fight then?
Unknown voice: Turn around and find out.
James: *turned around and gasp for the person he saw*
James: Duh duh duh! Don't you love suspenseful moments? I know I do. But not sure on my twin as I'm 'missing' again.
Mel: I love cliffhangers but not ones where you're missing! Now, next weekend, our update is going to be late as I am at a weekend Dads and Daughters retreat with my dad. And I start school this Tuesday, plus I'm in tennis. It's hard enough adjusting to being a freshman without having your (amazing, but still) dad as your English teacher. So if things are a little slow for a while, that's why! Also check out mine and James collection of one-shots we have started! So here's the review re-
James: Not this time, sis! I'm doing the responses! Lets see... First is...
ShadowEspeon: We thank you for your response and hope you're adjusting to our ninja life and customs. :)
Ninjagosbiggestfan: Thank you for you response and glad you enjoyed the pie. It is always fun that everyone is having a great time especially with Lloyd feeling healthy again.
Kaitoukiwi: We're glad to hear that things in your apartment have finally settled and we wish you luck on your future exams and reading. :)
Kokokringles: Yes you do have the longest review and we're glad that you enjoyed the pie since you haven't had a slice Thanksgiving and you never expect what happens at the fair.
Mel: *taps her foot in annoyance* you done yet Jimmy?
James: ya, I just finished. Why?
Mel: cause you're gonna get it for interrupting me! *chases James* now while I catch and beat my brother to a pulp, you review and maybe James will live to see the next chapter! Bye! *continues to chase James*