Chapter 10- Dungeon Runner

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It's time for the YouTube Games to officially start! The first event is Smosh-related. Because they were re-kidnapped, remember? So...here we go!

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Ky's world is black. Again. How many times was he going to get knocked out? He sits up, groggy. Hey! He's not tied up this time. He opens his eyes. They widen.

"What the heck?!" he exclaims. He's laying on a bright blue platform with a pattern of stars on it, about 30 feet wide. All around him is rock and air,like a cave, except directly in front of him, which holds more platforms of the same design, including some red ones. They're built into the wall of the cave, which looks purposely sheared off in a straight line. It looks like an obstacle course of some sort. A bad feeling develops in his gut. He stands up and almost falls off the platform. The entire thing is suspended at least 50 feet above the cavern floor! There's water down there, but from this height it's not a drop Ky wants to make. Another loudspeaker crackles on somewhere, the voice echoing wildly off the rock.

"Welcome to the first event of the YouTube Games, Kyler Drevas. You have been specially selected to fight for your life and the lives of several famous YouTubers." Panic hits Ky. Wait, lives?! He has to save their LIVES?!?! The voice continues on.

"This first event should be recognizable. Back in March, Smosh Games did a GameBang with Doritos Crash Course. We have made our own USA level for you to run. On scale. Which means you are now over 50 feet in the air above water." A screen flicks on. The image is of Smosh, tied sitting back to back on a platform like Ky's. They struggle, trying to get untied.

"If you take too long running the course, we will drop Smosh down...down...down into the water. From this high up, it'll hurt. Badly."

"What?!? That's insane!" Ky shouts.

"And just to make things more interesting, if you fail, obviously you fall about 6 stories. But if you take too long, we will not only drop Smosh and leave them hurting, we will kidnap another YouTuber. And just to make it more emotionally scarring, you will chose the YouTuber. These are your choices: Shane Dawson or Tomska." That kinda makes sense, Ky thinks to himself. They both make videos that make people laugh.

"Ready, go!" the voice says out of nowhere. A timer appears on the screen. Ten minutes. 9:59. 9:58. Ky scrambles to the first obstacle. Just a simple jump to a ramp. The problem is, the corse is covered in protective padding that makes footing really unsteady. He jumps and makes it over. Another jump. The rest of the section is just jumps like the first. Ky breezes through. As soon as he crosses a yellow line, confetti cannons fire a few pieces of confetti, startling him. For a split second, he teeters on the edge, almost falling, but recovers in time.

"Congratulations! You've made it to a checkpoint! With every one you cross, a ladder will pop out of the support you're standing on so you can climb back up." Ignoring it, Ky keeps going, doing more jumps. He reaches a rope, swinging from the ceiling. As soon as it swings close, he grabs it and swings across. Not too bad. But what he's worried about is the chains. In the game, there are chains with a ball on the end of them that the avatar climbs up. Real life chains are hard to climb up. Shaking it off, he runs on and jumps on a moving platform, waiting for it to deliver him to the next part. He looks over at the clock. 8:26 left. He reaches the next checkpoint, and continues on, ignoring the confetti cannon.

The next 5 minutes are a whirl of jumping, rope swinging and running. At one point, there was a moving platform that nearly knocked him off by moving fast. Then he reaches the chain. The clock reads 3:15 and the Smosh guys are in sight, about 50 feet in front of him. Just the chain and some swinging hammers before the end. First things first, the chain. Ky looks up, dreading the climb. There's only 10 feet of chain between Ky's platform and the next one. He exhales and grabs the chain. The links dig into his palms. He grabs higher up with his other hand and begins the grueling climb. Every movement hurt, the chain links digging in.

After a minute of pain in his hands, Ky collapses on the platform. He glances over at the clock. 2:21 left. He heaves himself up, drained. Now he knows how the contestants of Wipeout feel. The announcers are always saying how exhausted the contestants are. He looks ahead of him. Only the hammers left, five swinging foam blocks from hell. He had hoped to be able to slide under them like in the actual game, but they swung super close to the ground. So he has to time this right. Swing swing swing....go!!! He makes it safely to the other side. Only a small strip of platform left separating him from Smosh. 1:36 left on the clock.

Elated, he steps on it and begins to walk forward. Ian, facing him, mmphs his encouragement. all of a sudden, the platform starts to dip downward. Ky looks down in panic. It's one of the breakaway platforms! He gets ready to jump, but before he can, it reaches the breakaway point and collapses under him! He free falls. Still looking down, he sees the water rushing up to meet him. He thrashes around in midair and somehow gets into a diving position seconds before splashdown. The water rushes up to meet him and then it's cold. Almost ice-cold. Ky paddles to the surface and takes a breath. He looks up in dismay. The platforms look tiny from down here. Luckily there was a checkpoint before the breakaway platform.

He swims over to the nearest support column and reaches the first ring of the ladder. Weighted down by his sodden clothes and sheer exhaustion, he begins to climb. He looks over at the clock as he does. 1:09. No! He climbs faster, fighting his exhaustion. He can't let Smosh down. Both literally and figuratively. He looks up. Almost there. Hand over hand, he climbs closer to the end. At the top of the ladder is a trapdoor leading to the platform. He pushes it open and climbs out. He stares ahead of him in dismay. The hammers again. Only 0:45 left on the clock. He waits for the right time and runs across again. This time, he's a bit slower and one of them gives him a glancing blow off his shoulder. He teeters on the edge before regaining his balance. Just the breakaway plank left. 0:26 left. He runs halfway across the plank and jumps before it breaks away.

Yes! He stands up and fist punches the air.

"Yeah! Take that, course!" he shouts, giddy with success and relief. Anthony's grunting brings him back to reality.

"Oh, yeah. Sorry guys." he bends down and quickly unties them. All three of them straighten up. 0:01 is displayed on the clock.

"Congratulations! You have successfully completed the first event of the YouTube Games." the voice on the intercom announces.

"YouTube Games? That sounds like the Hunger Games." Ky says.

"You will now be transported back to your cells to wait for the next event. Ky, rest up. You are the participant in every event." the voice says.

"Why me?!?" he shouts at the air. There is no response.

"Great. But seriously, why me?" he turns to the Smosh guys. Ian shrugs.

"I don't know dude. But thanks for saving us!" he says. Anthony holds his hand out for a handshake.

"Yeah, thanks man. No hard feelings about accusing you of..you know.." he says awkwardly.

"Yeah. No hard feelings." Ky shakes his hand. Anthony has a strong grip. The next second everything goes black as a dart full of drug hits his back. Ian and Anthony feel a similar sting. His last thought is a question. Won't all these drugs affect our health?

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Wow, that's a lot of words. Big paragraphs too. Oh, well. You guys deserve it. Hope you enjoyed it! So yeah. That was the first event. Hopefully it wasn't too odd. But, yeah. All the events will have something to do with the YouTubers and will involve the YouTubers. Most will be life-threatening. Some more than others. Heh heh. Take a guess as to who's next and what the event will be! Until next chapter, BOOP! -RyGuy

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