~𝒯𝒽ℯ ℒ𝒾ℴ𝓃 𝒦𝒾𝓃ℊ: ℳ𝓎 𝒮𝓉ℴ𝓇𝓎~

~Chapter 56~ Challenge of the Brave Pt. 2

Season 4

Asha and I along with the other five competitors ran off with full speed to the first challenge. "Now, before our so-called brave competitors try to prove themselves, let's go over the rules. It's most likely that one after one competitor will fail on a challenge. So the animal that's last will win and be known as "the bravest animal in the world"." Kabira explained. I smiled at Asha as I was getting ready for the first challenge but she just glared at me and looked away in the front. I rolled my eyes and looked ahead at the challenge, too. "First, is the Animal Attack. It's simple. An animal that is gonna be released out of these cages will try to attack you. You get touched, you're out. The goal is to make it past that line without being touched by one single animal. Use all of the technics you know. Now that we have that out of the way, you can start. Think fast! One, two, three!!" Kabira announced. All the animals along with me started running to the blue-painted line. Well I didn't exactly head towards the line. I was watching for the attacking animals. So was Asha. Lots of animals came after me but I slid under some, jumped over the others, and leaped onto the pole Kabira was on. "Hey, this is my spot!" Kabira told me aggressively. "Sorry, baby sis," I smiled as I rubbed her head roughly but playfully, then jumped off back into the ring. Once I was clear of the animals, I took my chance and ran towards the finish line but still watched for attacking animals. Asha stopped at a sharp stop and spinned around accidentally for a minute from the sharp stop on her paws. "Ah..." She said then looked at her paw pad which was kind of burn. Like those rug burns you guys get. "Woah, are you okay, Asha?" I asked once I saw her paw pad. She growled but groaned just aggressively at the same time, turned her head right to me, and snapped, "I'm fine, Kia! Would you stop looking out for me!?! It's not like you even care!" "What?! Why wouldn't I care, I just asked if you were okay!" I told her snapping back a little. "You sure didn't care about how I felt when you signed up for this!" She yelled. I was about to say something else but I just sighed and lifted my left paw as looked back at everyone trying there best not to get touched.

My mind

I guess I could help them out a bit since I'm already at the line.

"Guys! Don't look at the finish line, just put all of your focus on your attackers!" I called out to them. One female looked at me then blew the bang out of her face and said in a snarky way, "Pfft, yeah, that'll work," she can do what she wants, I'm just trying to help. Lucky for the others, they did what I said and made it to the line as well. "Thanks, Kia," a tiger competitor said. I think her name was Harper. The animal that threw a comment at me was the only one that didn't make it and she lost. Asha smirked. "Jay, you are disqualified," Kabira called to her. The black panther whose name was apparently Jay hung her head and left. Kabira watched her leave then said, "And as for the rest of you, congratulations! You made it past the first challenge. But there's still four more challenges you have to go through. And the next ones are harder than the last. So good luck! What you all were supposed to do there was watch out for the animals attacking you. Not the shiny line. Good job to my sister whose idea it was first!" I smiled and waved at her. "Next challenge is the Spiked Balls of Doom! The rules may sound simple, but when you're in the middle of this challenge... well, let's just say you'll think that you're doomed. Now all you have to do is run across that thin and narrow square-ended log as you avoid the spiky rock-like balls. Now go!" Kabira yelled. She thinks that she's funny. She thinks that she makes it sound easy when it's really not. Honestly, I'm just happy to see her so happy. Usually, she'd never go to these things unless she had to like if it was an event that the royal family had to show up, nor would she offer to be the host. She wasn't the BEST host but she sure was a fun one. Maybe the war stuff is just kinda affecting her, too. I let everyone else go first so that I'd have the time to calculate the angle and think about the best way to do this without dying or getting seriously injured. Asha was walking onthe log going to the other side and panted through her words, "What's wrong, Kia? Too afraid? Is this war too much for you? You do know that's the opposite of this event, right?" I raised an eyebrow and said neutrally, "Duck," Asha looked up confused and saw a spike heading right towards her. She gasped quickly, lowered her head quickly, and let the spike ball pass above her head, just inches away from her ears. My jaw was closed but I was in total shock. I tried to act like I wasn't that interested. Asha groaned loudly at me then ran to the end of the log with me right behind. I tried not to push her. I looked behind just once and saw one animal that was an ostrich get knocked over into the ditch by the spiked ball. Instead of waiting for Asha, I jumped into the air into a flip and landed on the machine-thing that was moving the death-causing obstacles. I was a little surprised that the Southlands game had some things that could lead to death but I just figured I'd take care of that later. I had a competition to win! The thing I was standing on was way faster than it looked from down there. As it was spinning, I waited for the place that I was to get to the line so I could jump off. Once I did, I jumped off and landed on the line where Asha already was. Everyone cheered. "Nice job, Asha!" I smiled. "Yeah... thanks..." Asha said then looked back in front at the next challenge.

~After the other challenges~

So here we were. The last challenge. It was just me and Asha. "The last challenge before we wrap it up for the day! The Fight! Asha vs Kia! Wait... what?" Kabira said. She looked at the rules and thought, "This shouldn't be the last challenge... Asha vs Kia? That means Kia will have to fight her friend..." I looked at Asha unsure but she just growled and got in fighting position. "Asha, what areyou doing?" I asked. "You heard what Kabira said. The last challenge is fighting. Be prepared to lose." Asha said.

My mind

Is she out of her mind?

I just stood tall and said, "Asha, I'm not gonna fight you," Asha groaned in annoyance as looked at Kabira and said, "Kabira, can you tell your sister she can't fight while standing instead of getting in fighting position first?" I looked at Kabira and then looked back at Asha. "....... fine.... go!" Kabira called. Asha pounced but I just jumped the other way. "Asha, why have you been acting so... mad all day?" I asked trying not to raise my voice. "Because, Kia! You didn't even notice how I felt when you signed up! You just signed up for something that I wanted so much to win!" Asha yelled. "I was trying to-" I started then Asha said, "'Cause you don't THINK, Kia! You just do! Without-without thinking about how others are affected by the things you do!" Asha said. "Asha, the WHOLE reason I'm doing this is, is because I was worried that you wouldn't be able to compete if there weren't five competitors. This is all for you." I told her. Asha's jaw was dropped and she couldn't say anything. I sighed then walked away and said, "And you didn't even notice," "Kia, wait," Asha turned to me. I turned around and said in a harsh way, "What?" "Look... ugh, I'm sorry. I just really wanted to win this game." Asha said hanging her head a little. "But why'd you have to get this serious?" I asked then added, "It's just a game," "It's not just a game to me, Ki! If I won this, it would give me more respect. I would be known as- you know what? Nevermind. Let's just forget this ever happened." Asha said leaning her arm on my shoulder. I smirked then chuckled a little, "Yeah, I think that'd be for the best." "Wait, then who wins?" Kabira wondered. Asha and I looked at each other. "Uh, I guess nobody does," Asha said. "I can't even think about a trophy or reward right now. I'm ready for some sleep. And it's only like, 9:00 in the morning." I chuckled then yawned. "Yeah, same. I'm gonna get some sleep." Asha said heading back to South Rock. I looked up at Mom and could almost see my dad, too. I sighed and said to myself, "I miss you, Dad," I then walked back to South Rock for some rest.

Thanks for reading! Sorry it took so long for the update, I've been trying to set up for my little sister's birthday today. She's 10 today!! She's gonna be old before I know it, lol. Anyway, love you guys.

Quote for the chapter: The thing is, you're just trying to help them, but still, you're the bad one.