The Elemental Contestant (Running Man Animation Fanfiction) [Book 4]

Chapter 10: Team Blue VS Team Red

Pala was in his room fiddling a crystal he found the day before, which was as red as blood. He eyed at the vial, that he'd always carried on his staff, with his blank eyes, which had dark bags under them, and an ominous shadow to appear from behind as he placed the vial onto his staff.

Meanwhile, Liu entered the lounge and noticed Lonky greeting him with an awfully cheerful, "Good morning~" which Liu ignored with a scowl plastered on his face he took a seat on one of the couches, away from him. "Liu, what's wrong? Are you mad?" Lonky casually asked, as if he didn't even drag Liu by his foot, while he was being kidnapped by the infamous kidnapper Kugaman.

(A/N: I'm not doing the episode based on The Red Eyed Beast episode. You'll see why soon.)

"Well, you shouldn't have gotten caught in my arm. That was all your fault," Lonky accused, pointing a finger at him. Drawing a circle in mid-air in front of Liu with that same finger, he attempted to 'hypnotise' Liu into being convinced that it was his fault, chanting those exact words to him. Keyword: attempted; apparently Liu caught onto his trick as he grabbed Lonky's neck in vexation.

Miyo then appeared in the lounge with an irate pout and two band-aids - in a crisscross position - on one of her puffed-up cheeks, stomping over to an empty seat on one of the couches. Liu guessed that it due to Kugaman being able to kidnap her so impeccably, without giving her a chance to strike back, let alone single route to escape from his clutches.

Gai noticed her and, oblivious to her aggrieved mood, attempted to flirt with her, only to be scratched in the face. The other male contestants in the lounge looked at Gai with weird looks, slowly inching away from him. Abruptly, the door to the lounge opened, revealing Sabriye with a carefree look on her face, as if she'd just gotten back from a long vacation.

She noticed the other contestants staring at her with wide eyes, which slowly made her uncomfortable. Abruptly, Lonky and Popo pounced on her before she could react; it all happened too fast for her, unfortunately. "Sabriye, where have you been?! We thought you've been kidnapped just like us but we couldn't find you anywhere!"

There was a story behind this as well. Knowing that Kugaman was lurking through the hallways, trying to kidnap the contestants relentlessly, and the fact that Sabriye was nowhere to be found anywhere inside the dormitory, they all thought that she was kidnapped, just like them. However, upon arrival at the room where all the kidnapped contestants were held hostage, Sabriye wasn't there either, worrying them greatly.

However, it turned out that there was another series of events that occurred at the very same time as the kidnapping of the Running Man contestants; in other words, Sabriye had a mission for MATA and a relaxing sleepover at TAPOPS (A/N: From my Randomness book.). The contestants baffled and puzzled her as she said, "What do you mean? I left a note on my door, saying that I went on a mission. Didn't you guys read it?"

The tables were then turned as it was the other contestants' turn to be baffled and puzzled. "But, we passed by your room yesterday. I don't remember a note being there," Liu said as the others nodded in agreement. Sabriye's eyes widened as she raised an eyebrow. "What? But, I could've sworn I-"

Just then, her statement was interrupted by the abrupt appearance of one of Charming Gold's robotic servants, startling them, including Sabriye, "Good morning, everyone. Here is an announcement, regarding the game. The next game is a team battle."

Lonky then protested, with a cocky smirk, "What for? I can win all by myself," resulting in Liu shaking his head in slight annoyance, Kuga smirking ironically and Sabriye rolling her eyes and scoffing silently in annoyance, muttering under her breath, "Yeah, right." Kuga noticed this and smirked subtly a bit wider, apparently liking her attitude.

Kuga then retorted, with the smirk still glued onto his face, "Says the guy who's sitting in last place." Sabriye smirked and agreed with him, "He's right, you know?" Lonky then retorted back, "What? I've been easy on you guys. And that's my plan. Well, I don't expect a meathead like you to understand-"

Sabriye knew he deserved what came next - Lonky grabbed by the neck, a second time that day, by Kuga. The events carried on as Liu and Kuga were selected to be key players, or rather, team captains, for the next game, leaving the other contestants to choose who should be their team captain.

Sabriye had already chosen whose team she should be in as she formulated a plan to ensure the fairness of the game, although the strength of the team was anything but; she was planning on holding back during the game anyway. In the end, every contestant, except the two captains, disoriented Pala and Sabriye, chose Kuga to be their team captain, despite Liu's attempts to get them to choose him, leaving the grasshopper distraught.

When the time for choosing was up, Pala and Sabriye were left to be on Liu's team automatically. However, stories can have their own twist, Sabriye supposed as the robotic servant told them that, due to Kuga's team exceeding the maximum capacity of players, the team captains would get to select their own teammates, much to the other contestants' displeasure, excluding Sabriye, who was totally fine with how the situation escalated into.

The robot then explained how the captains would choose their teammates, "Each team captain will be given 3 balls. The captains can then choose whichever members they want on their team by throwing the balls and hitting the corresponding emblems. However, the captains can also use the balls to steal a member from the other team or to defend his members from the other captain. Once all of the balls are thrown, the remaining colours on the board will finalise the team members."

Lonky and Popo then protested, "Oh, come on! Then what's the point of this?!" Liu was seen shaking. With furious determination, he publicly promised that Lonky and Popo would be on his team, whether they like it or not, causing the said duo to hug each other in fear.

The team captains then stood before a circle of the other contestants' emblems as they began choosing their members. Lonky and Popo started cheering for Kuga to choose them to be on his team, much to Liu's vexation. Lonky and Popo then teased him in return as they noticed his dirty look. The said grasshopper threw one his balls first, which landed on Lonky's emblem.

Liu smirked at the said giraffe, who chuckled nervously before turning to Kuga and saying, with a pleadingly hopeful expression, "Well, that's okay. Kuga's got our backs, right?" With a stoic expression, matching Sabriye's stoic look, Kuga threw the ball aimlessly, which somehow landed on Sabriye's emblem.

Lonky then screamed at him, "What? You chose Sabriye instead of me?! Gee, thanks." More than the tiger would like to admit, he was pleasantly surprised that he now had Sabriye on his team; he wasn't even trying to steal Sabriye from Liu's team. What are the chances, he thought. Little did he know that he wasn't really as lucky as he thought he was - that it was all just a trick.

Liu, with his shock replaced with a competitive feeling bubbling his heart, thought, 'Oh no, Kuga now has Sabriye on his team. I better get enough members that could at least match her and Kuga's strength altogether and just hope that Sabriye would even consider holding back,' and threw another one of his balls, landing on Popo's emblem, leaving the latter just as pleadingly hopeful that Kuga would even try and steal him from Liu's team.

Noticing that the tiger threw the last of his balls back, Popo was left distraught as the members had been finalised - Kuga was left with Miyo, Gai and Sabriye, while Liu was left with Lonky, Popo and Pala.

Lonky and Popo began whining about how the situation escalated into and then noticed Liu maniacally cackling, causing the said duo to hug themselves in fear once again, Kuga and Gai to crack amused smirks, while the only females merely sweatdropped at him, smiling nervously. However, Sabriye was ultimately glad that she was able to pull that trick off.
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A/N: Hey, guys, I'm back with another chapter. Sorry to keep you all waiting. I just needed a break from writing and appreciate other writers' works. I'm seriously in love with some of their books. 🥰 You could say I was inspired. Anyways, thanks for reading this, I hope you guys liked, stay tuned for more updates and I'll see you all in the next chapter. Bye. 👋🏼