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

Chapter 11: Team Change Battle

Setting alarms in everyone else's heads, they made a run for it, while Pala tailing them. Eventually, the contestants lost Pala and stopped to take a breather. Miyo then started, "Liu. Tell me, why did you say to aim for Pala's staff before?" Liu then stated his reason, as well as trying to catch his breath, "It's because... It's because I think... His staff is the reason behind his current form."

They all started contemplating on the possibility. Liu then told them to 'gather up'. They gathered up and, unknown to Liu, Kuga, Miyo and Gai, Lonky was attempting to persuade Popo into placing him on the blue team, much to the latter's vexation. Finally, Liu went straight to the point, oblivious to the fact that Lonky and Popo were arguing, "You saw what happened, right? Pala is putting in every effort to protect it from getting harmed."

They then recalled how Pala getting dodging Kuga's punches effortlessly. "Also, he was obsessing over his staff right before this game too." They, again, recalled how Pala was clutching to his staff when he was walking down the hallways back at the dormitory. However, Liu received a few arguments.

The first one was Kuga's, "But, he always carries his staff around." Gai agreed and added to prove the tiger's point, "He's uhh... never been apart from his staff before." Sabriye, who hadn't spoken for awhile then, added to prove Liu's point, rather incredulously, "Don't tell me you guys were blind enough to not notice the red crystal in his staff before? It was basically showing itself the whole time when Pala was trying to attack us!"

That was unusual, they thought and they were right - there had always been a light green liquid in the vial on his staff. However, this time, it was replaced with the said red crystal. It should've set multiple red flags in their heads, but they all brushed it off as if it was nothing serious.

Sabriye then added, bringing them out of their train of thought, "And it's not just any sort of red crystal. Remember when Kuga mentioned that Pala was giving off the same vibes as the 'red-eyed monster yesterday? It actually belongs to him. The crystal dropped out of his mask when Kuga was fighting him."

The contestants stared at her with wide eyes. 'How could she know that?! She wasn't even there when it happened!' Sabriye, pulling them out of their trance, added, "So right now, Pala's being mind-controlled by that thing and we gotta do something quickly before the situation gets worse."

Kuga then added to confirm the solution to solve this problem, "So, we just have to get rid of the staff." Sabriye then smiled and nodded in agreement. Liu then started formulating a plan until he, Kuga, Miyo, Gai and Sabriye noticed that Lonky and Popo were focusing on bringing the former in on the Blue team and glared daggers at them.

Miyo did the honours of giving them a punishment by leaving scars on their faces. "So what should we do now?" Liu then answered with a determined smile, "Operation: Carpet Bombing! First, we need to divvy up whatever few balls we have left." The contestants started inserting them back into their watches when Lonky proceeded to grab one of Popo's balls to place himself into the blue team, much to the others' vexation.

Kuga then proceeded to grab him by the neck, gritting his teeth and narrowing his eyes at Lonky in immense fury. Sabriye then quickly said, with a tone so firm that she seemed like someone mighty and powerful, "Kuga, enough. Now's not the time. Pala is our number one priority right now." That persuaded him into letting Lonky go.

The contestants finally found Pala wandering around aimlessly and, on Liu's signal, they started throwing their balls at him, who deflected them effortlessly. Kuga proceeded to use Popo as a bowling ball to Pala's face before Gai proceeded to use Lonky arms as a rope to tie Pala up.

However, their efforts were in vain as Pala grabbed Lonky's arms and threw him, and Gai, out of the way, again, effortlessly. Miyo came next as she tried to grab the vial on Pala's staff with her bare hands - or paws, in her case - but to no avail, eventually using one her balls from her watch, which Pala dodged.

Kuga finally appeared behind Pala and grabbed him with his huge hands - again, or paws - followed by the other contestants to hold him in place. Sabriye even joined in by using Psychic's  Telekinesis. On their signal, Liu aimed at the vile on his staff and fired, knocking it out of the staff, along with the red crystal that was in it before the holder fell unconscious.

With a smirk, as well as adjusting his glasses, Liu said, "And that is carpet bombing." The other contestants circled the unconscious form of Pala to check if he was okay and decided that he was indeed passed out, but okay. Then, the unexpected occurred - Liu eliminated Kuga by simply touching him with one of the leftover red balls that he had.

Kuga looked at him in shock, while Liu told him with a smirk, "Well, a game is a game, right?" quoting Lonky when they first found after Pala lost control. The male contestants then started to look like that they wanted to murder him in all possible ways that they could think of.

Knowing that there could only be one contestant who could cause the most damage, besides Kuga, of course, Gai, along with the other male contestants, turned to Sabriye to see if she was just as furious as them. However, they found her bursting into hearty laughter. "Well... He's not wrong," Sabriye said with a smile, that looked close to a smirk, and a light shrug.

The boys were dumbfounded. She agreed with Liu! All of a sudden, Mr Suitcase jumped off of Liu's back and ran off. He went to fetch him but he was blocked by one of Charming Gold's robots. The other boys were still giving him weird looks, still angered by his previous actions. A pair of heels walked towards the remnants of the crystal.

Miyo used the scanner that was on her belt buckle and allowed it to do its work, muttering under her breath, "It's worth a closer look." The same robot that blocked Liu's path earlier congratulated them for their efforts and sent them back to the dormitory, blissfully unaware of a presence that picked up the shards of the crystal and walked away to where they came from, with Mr Suitcase tailing them.
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A/N: Hey, guys, I'm back with a... very late update. Sorry, I just experienced what most writers, or all writers, have experienced at least once in their life - writer's block. But, I'm good now. Pfft, obviously. 🙄 No promises that something like this won't happen again. Wait, why am I saying this? It's not like this is the first time. Oh wait, my word limit's exceeding again. Anyways, thanks for reading this, hope you guys like it, stay tuned for more updates and I'll see you in the next chapter. Bye. 👋🏼