Chapter 13: A Long Day…
Shadow's P.O.V
"So tomorrow's the day of the tournament?" The teenager asked.
"Yeah, I heard that one of the puzzles is going to be a maze…" Another teenager replied. "And the maze will slowly fill with monsters as time passes."
The conversation drifted off as I passed through another hall. I sighed as the minutes seemed to last hours. "It's going to be one of those days…" I said to myself, letting my feet carry me forward, not paying to much attention to where I was going. The ring on my wrist vibrated. I grabbed the phone that was hidden underneath it & clicked the 'Talk' button.
"Shadow, report to the Sparring Arena." I heard a female voice say on the other end. There was a click as the line went dead.
"The Sparring Arena?" I thought to myself. "Why do I need to go there?" Regardless, I had already started running to my destination as I was looking forward to passing the time. Not exactly wise running there, since that didn't consume much time. Though, I find people tend to consume a lot of time just by doing things that shouldn't consume much time at all.
"That was quick." The woman laughed. "I didn't expect anyone to run for a cleaning duty."
"I wasn't told it was for cleaning…" I sighed. "So, my long day just got longer now because I have to do some boring chore?"
"Looks like it…" The woman said, opening the door & letting me in. "Have fun!" She finished in a teasing tone as the door shut behind her again. I turned & looked at the arena. I'll describe the room this way for you: If you could make a room (made entirely of concrete & titanium mind you) look like a pincushion, then whoever was in here last had certainly achieved that.
"What the hell happened?" I said out loud as I looked around at the cracked metal pillars & nearly obliterated walls.
"Are you Shadow?" A blond-haired girl said, landing in front of me. I nodded. "Excellent!" She exclaimed, clasping her hands together. "My name is Colette Brunel, pleased to meet you. We need you help cleaning up, could you bend the support beams back to normal & mend the cracks?" She gestured over to the three of the four support beams that were barely supporting the ceiling overhead. I looked up to see blue-haired woman holding her hands up, a multi-coloured shield holding a cracked roof.
"And could you do it quickly?" The blue-haired woman shouted. "My arms are starting to get sore & I'm hungry."
"That's Maria Traydor." Colette said. "She's holding the wall carefully, you know, in case it starts to fall." She smiled. "We've been working for an hour or so and~"
"Colette! Stop talking to him so he can fix the beams!!!" Maria screamed.
"Sorry!" Colette answered & went back to work on fixing the walls. I reluctantly started towards the pillars. This day seemed to promise me that it'd be a long one.
???'s P.O.V
The landscape around me whirled as I entered the warped atmosphere of the portal in front of me. There was a soft thud as my feet hit the ground. I had landed on the roof of what appeared to be a school of sorts. I walked to the edge of the building. I heard my companion land behind me & walk over to where I was standing. We looked down together, watching the people wander around, unaware of our presence.
"Wooooooooooow!" My companion said. "So many different types!" He looked over at me with a grin on his face.
"Yeah, now all we need to do is get down there." I rubbed my hands through my lime-green hair. "Without getting hurt." Looking towards one of the entrances on the ground, I noticed a new portal had opened & a black haired male was jumping out of it.
"Hey, Neku! Lookie! Lookie!" My friend was pointing to the new arrival & jumping up & down.
"Yeah, I see him, Veran." I sighed as my companion continued to jump up & down.
"That's Slate isn't it?" He questioned. His tail was moving very fast. He didn't bother waiting for me to answer as he jumped off of the building.
"God damn it, Veran! You can't just jump off of a building, when you don't know where we are!" I jumped after him head first, so I could see where everything was. Veran had already landed on all fours & was charging towards the vampire. I did a minor flip as I landed on my feet. I ran after him, not wanting to draw more unneeded attention. Veran was already pushing a finger on Slate's chest.
"You've got a lot of explaining to do!" I heard Veran shouting as I finally caught up.
"I don't need to explain anything!" He said, pushing Veran back. "Why are the two of you following me!?"
"Veran, stop it!" I yelled, grabbing his tail & causing him to hiss.
"You're here too!" Slate groaned. "I'll ask again. Why are you two following me?"
"We aren't…" I was holding Veran back to stop him from pouncing on the Vampire. "We just managed to find our way here & you just so happened to get here right after we did." I let Veran go as he finally stopped struggling.
"Well then, if you're not following me then how'd you get here?" Slate asked.
"Not really sure, to be honest with you…" I closed my eyes trying to remember. "After you beat us, & you opened the portal to leave. We tried to follow you, but the portal closed & then shortly after another one opened. Then this idiot…" I nodded to Veran, who grinned mischievously. "Decided to jump through."
"Well then, you should go see Kratos." Slate pointed towards the giant double doors at the front of the building we'd just jumped off of. "He'll get you organized. Now if you'll excuse me."
"Who'd you think Kratos is?" Veran asked, looking at me. I shrugged.
"I guess we'll find out, won't we?" I wandered towards the building, wondering what it could hold.
Zephyren's P.O.V
I began to feel itchy as the doctor summoned Dimethos to heal my head. He had said something like the wound being too deep & Dimethos being the only to heal it without causing more damage. Tifa was getting her legs treated in the bed next to mine.
"Why do they have to use that gel?" She sniffed, sneezing shortly after. "I mean, I can't take any deep breaths or anything."
"I know!" I agreed, sneezing shortly after as the fumes from it reached my nose. "I mean, the stuff helps relax you & all but..." I was cut short as I sneezed again. "It's not worth all the sneezing!"
"It seems we banged you up pretty good." Dimethos said as he entered the room. "I mean, how bad could it have been for me to have to heal you twice in a single day?"
"Well, excuse me for not being able to heal ridiculously fast." I replied, rolling my eyes at the anthropomorphic annoyance.
"Relax…" He sighed as he walked behind me & looked at the wound. "I was only joking. Now you're going to feel itchy for a bit."
"Going to feel? I already am itchy!" I snapped at him. "Just get it over with!"
"I'm already done." He said, walking to my front. My head exploded at that point. I screamed as the back of my head got really, & I mean really, itchy. The itch subsided gradually & I looked over to see that Tifa had fallen asleep.
"She's a good fighter." Dimethos said folding his arms. "I was surprised initially, but for her to be such an adept Wind Elementalist." He chuckled. "You'll have your hands full with her."
"What do you mean?" I asked.
"She's accepted Reikourin's offer to be one of your opponents in the Instructor match." He replied, getting up to leave. My jaw dropped & despite my efforts, I couldn't get it back up. "Well, good luck." He waved farewell as he departed, leaving me there dumbfounded.
